Sunday, August 30, 2009

Caribou!

Matt and a friend went out hunting this weekend while I stayed home with our darling* children. They left Friday night and headed up into the mountains near Faro. Saturday our friend shot a nice young bull that we will split between us. That night they came home to drop it off, spent the night here and headed out again today. Sadly, they missed their chance at two bull moose this afternoon. However Matt is heading back into that area tomorrow with some other friends to track them down!

Setting up camp:


What a beautiful area!

The toys:


The num-nums for my freezer! Caribou:


*darling= evil
Cavan was up all night Friday, seriously all night, teething, snotting, barfing x3, etc. Hunter woke up with the noise and was awake from 2am to nearly 6am. I got one hour of sleep that night. ARRRGGG!! Saturday during the day was no better. I took the kids to the library for a kids group and Hunter was a monster while I was boobing Cavan. At that point I thought about investing in a shock collar with a remote. I was up most of Saturday night, however hubby took Cavan from 5:30 to 7:30 this morning so I got a couple of hours of sleep. And Hunter was pissy that he was getting no mommy time since Cavan was sick, so in retaliation he dumped half a can of pop on my laptop (this is my own fault for leaving the half can of pop out). Thank fark it was closed and I had invested in a protective cover.

My hubby is going to owe me big time. Having to sit at home with miserable kids while he is out hunting is no fun at all. I wonder what I should ask for...

Friday, August 28, 2009

Thank goodness for great neighbours!

I am spoiled in Faro with the most amazing neighbours!

Tonight I was having one hell of a time trying to get the boys down to sleep. Matt is out hunting again for the weekend and he is the one who does bedtime. Poor Cavan just got tooth number two and has been Mr. Cranky Pants the last couple of evenings. It takes forever to get him to sleep. Hunter kept running out of his room and it was turning into a gong show with the two of them.

I called my neighbour across the street and of course she came right over! I am so thankful. She held Cavan while I returned Hunter to bed a couple more times before he finally crashed. Then she sat and chatted with me while I boobed and rocked Cavan to sleep. Now I hope my husband is sleeping soundly in his tent on the side of the mountain!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ugggg... Potty Training...

So we are still going at the potty training with Hunter. It is improving, sort of. Yesterday it was three pees and a poo and then today just one pee and a poo. Yes, I know, you didn't come to the blog to read about pee and poo! Ah well- you will have just deal with it!

He now refuses to wear clothing in our house. If you drop in you will most definitely see a bare ass running around the house at lightening speed loudly proclaiming, "No Pee Mommy!" Uh huh... he says he doesn't have to pee and then 30 seconds later he whizzes all over my floor, does a little dance in it and then takes off running again! Little turd.

At least the floors are easy to clean, but the sofas are another story. While we did buy them just a year and a half ago brand new, I am already looking forward to purchasing new ones. But I guess there is no point in that until Cavan is out of diapers as well.

I think we might try the m&m or smartie deal here soon... although I feel like we will be the suckers in the end of that one. Should be interesting!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

My goodness he is cute!


Cavan is just four months old, yet he tops the scales at 17lbs and already has his first tooth! He is a spectacular sleeper and an overall happy baby. Of course we cannot imagine our lives without him!

Fun Times with Kennie

On Thursday we headed into Whitehorse to pick up our favorite Arctic Nerd Girl! (Thanks for the new term Megan!)

Well Kennie is just as entertaining in person as she is on her blog. We helped her do some last minute running around in Whitehorse and now we have her here in Faro. I don't think we are going to let her move to Ross River. Hunter is in love with her and now yells, "KEN" at the top of his lungs whenever he cannot see her.

Of course we introduced Kennie to the all important cinnamon bun as big as your head in Braeburn:


Next, Kennie got to partake in her first Fire Side Chat where she won a fishing flies and a wooden moose! The next day we all went to the Faro Fireweed Festival. She took some awesome pictures of Hunter playing on the firetruck. She won a prize at the festival too!




How flippin' cute are my guys! My husband, Mr. Sarcastic, is wearing a shirt that says, "I'll try to be nicer if you try to be smarter." I believe this is his favorite shirt!



Cavan got his face painted at the festival. He wasn't half as impressed as everyone else was with it!


Here is Hunter yelling at Kennie who was parked next to our truck. I am pretty sure he was saying, "Where did you learn how to drive??? Go faster next time, okay."
He will not leave poor Kennie alone! I think he is going to be pretty disappointed when we take her to Ross. Her she is reading another book to him:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

TOOTH!

While sitting in a gravel pit loading up the truck this morning I noticed that Cavan was sporting his first little tooth! My boobs begged me to let them dry up now before the chomp fest ensues. Poor boobies. Cavan will be four months old this week and his teeth are arriving two months earlier than Hunter's.

Now trying to get a picture of the little chomper was tough!

Mmmmmmmm, tasty fingers Daddy!


Oh Daddy, you are so funny!!


Finally! Success! Honestly, it is there!!

No Meat Yet.

My husbands hunting trip was hampered by rain, clouds and fog!

This is the view the first night. No caribou or moose to be had.


And this is the next morning:


The weather just kept getting worse, so they came home. Hopefully the next trip yields better results!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Please give me your potty training advice!!

So we are working on potty training and oh man what a pain! We let Hunter run "free range" right now, so no diaper or pants. He likes to sit on his potty, and he usually gets a poo on there, but the pee.... oh gosh the pee... This is like owning a puppy! I am finding puddles everywhere.

So please tell me how you potty trained your kids! I need some advice, pronto!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Survived Bedtime!

Kudos to you single parents out there!

Matt is out hunting so it was just me and my little men today (tomorrow and possibly Tuesday as well). We had a wonderful day playing outside, watching Thomas the Train, playing in the bath, peeing on the floor (Hunter, not me), and playing with toys.

I had been dreading bedtime. That is Matt's area! He does the whole bedtime routine with Hunter every night. And then he usually walks with Cavan to help get him to sleep. But I did survive! I had to escort Hunter back to his bed a few times, and he cried a bit, but it only took about 30 minutes to get him down. Cavan crashed an hour later. So by 9:30 I was done! Success!

Most of the house is clean, but the dishes will have to wait until tomorrow when I have more energy. Right now I am sitting in my rocking chair, eating biscuits and reading blogs.

Now hopefully my husband it out there having a wonderful time chasing down caribou and moose!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Family Fun

Caught a grayling this morning! Sadly, the rest ran away and I only came home with one.


Hunter was not too sure of the fish. He kept calling it "Nemo" and was a bit concerned when I was whacking his precious "Nemo" in the head with a rock! heehheeh
Poor kid is probably traumatized! We tried telling him that we don't eat Nemo-fish because they are orange, and that we just eat the tasty gray fish!


Playing on the side of the river:


Enjoying the swing set together... sort of! Hunter was upset that Cavan was in HIS swing:


Sir Pukes-a-Lot:


Learning how to use the digger at his new sand table:


Screw the digger! I shall use the wee-scoop and fill my shoes with sand!!


Happily swinging:

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Left Behind

August first was the start of hunting season here in the Yukon- time to celebrate! Last year our freezer was a little empty. You have to reside in the Yukon for a year before you can hunt. Now that we have been here over a year and a half, all is good. Sort of.

I am getting left behind. Booo.

I love to hunt. Seriously, I really do. I have been hunting large game since I was a teenager, and small game since I was big enough to hold a pellet gun. In Nunavut we only had to wait three months before we were able to hunt. Shooting caribou out on the snow covered tundra was a blast. Having a freezer full of meat the whole time we were there was such a help to our grocery budget.

I process all of our game and love experimenting with different kinds of sausages, jerkies, pepperonis and other meat treats. Just last month on our vacation I replaced the Bradley smoker we sold up north with the new and improved six rack version! Oh I am giddy to try it (which I will be doing tomorrow with about a dozen graying that are in brine in my fridge right now)!

Now getting back to the left behind bit. This is the part where breastfeeding really sucks. I cannot leave home on my own to go hunting. Cavan refuses to take a bottle of breastmilk, and even if he did, who would I get to take care of the kids?? Sure folks here are nice, but I don't think anyone is banging on my door to take Mr. I-am-learning-how-to-throw-a-tantrum and Sir pukes-a-lot.

Take them with me you say? Yeah... while we take them both on a lot of quad rides through the bush, once you stop this is all you hear, "GO GO GO MOM MOM MOM GO GO GO." And of course that is at the top of his lungs. Definitely loud enough to scare off anything for miles I am sure of it. While I am a professional multi-tasker, I highly doubt I can gut a moose and breastfeed the boy at the same time. So for ease and less stress all around, I get to stay home. Oh how I wish men's boobies had milk in them.

So on Sunday, Matt is heading out for a couple of days with a friend to go hunting. And then probably again in September with another friend. I will be left behind sulking. Yep, I am not above sulking.

Even with my sulking, I am still happy for my husband who gets to have some quality man-time with his friends. And I will be happy when he returns with a moose and hopefully a caribou as well to fill our freezer and keep me busy making meat treats.

Ah well. Hopefully next year someone takes pity on me and will offer to keep Mr. I-am-learning-how-to-throw-a-tantrum and Sir pukes-a-lot for even one night so my husband and I can have a romantic get-away in the bush hunting for moose. Fingers crossed.

New Mittens

After a three month hiatus, I am back to mitten making!

Seal, rabbit, and moose hide:

Monday, August 10, 2009

Progress Report

Well after 10 days of being home and back into a bit of schedule, I am feeling pretty darn good. I am now thinking I was stressed about going to see family and that was getting me off track. I usually get all out of sorts when I am about to visit family. This fall we head out to see Matt's family, so I am sure it will happen again.

But here is the good news. In that 10 days I have lost 9lbs without doing much other than tracking what I eat and trying to stay around 2000 calories. Last night I did a 20 minute walk on my treadmill and that was refreshing. I have had a couple small binging episodes since I have been home, but nothing like I was experiencing prior and during my vacation.

So I will keep plugging away at it. Thanks for all of the support everyone. It is really appreciated!

Blueberry Dreams

Last week Hunter fell asleep in his high chair for the first time, ever! He was in the middle of eating his frozen blueberries and just couldn't hack being awake any longer. Finally after 45 minutes he woke up and was raring to go again!

And the Lucky Winners Are....

Thanks to random numbers picked by the husband, the recipients of P(l)ay It Forward are:

#2: SummerKKO said...
I want in, if postage to TN won't be too much LOL!! I'll play it forward through facebook

#7: Morena said...
Sounds fun. Count me in.

and

#13: Just me said...
Count me in. I don't know what I'd make...but I'd like to see what I could come up with.


So if that is you, please email me at kara underscore went at hotmail dot com with your full name and mailing address! I will get your gifts out to you as soon as possible!

If I don't hear from you by this coming Sunday, I will get the hubby to pick another random winner!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

What became of my fish:




Yummy!

Last of the Vacation Pictures

I had misplaced the cord for our other camera when we arrived home from our trip. Today Matt finally located it in the camper! Hurray!

Here are the last of our pictures from our trip down south.

We ht the campground in Watson Lake and the temperature was over 30. Yuck! So we whipped out the screen tent, turned Hunters new sand box into a wading pool, and broke out the drinks. Absolutely wonderful! Here is my happy husband:


Look at this pose! Just like Daddy!


Matt cooling down his beer:


The boy is getting so big!


Our little boy has turned into a tank! He is now over 16lbs- no wonder, look at that tummy!


Cool dude, Hunter in the camper:

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Fishing the Pelly

Tonight some friends called and asked if I wanted to join them fishing. Oh, I was just giddy! I haven't been out fishing since last summer and I caught nothing the entire season. My awesome husband said I had no choice but to go!

I spent the evening boobing up the baby and Matt tried to get Hunter to sleep. Our friends came at 8pm just as I was laying the baby down. Well right as I did that, Hunter started yelling "Mommy" and Cavan started fussing.... and what did I do? I ran out that door as fast as I could yelling "I love you" back to my husband.

We quadded just out of town and down the Pelly River a little ways. I hooked on a lure and started casting. Over an hour later, six different lures, and a heap of casts later I finally hook a fish! I had actually been sitting on my butt on the edge of the river. My friend later admitted that just before I hooked the fish he had been thinking to himself- crazy woman, she won't catch anything sitting on her butt!

I thought I had hooked a log, but then the log took off up stream! I was giddy and jumped to feet to reel him in. He was a hoot to bring in- leaping out of the water and he kept taking off. Finally my friend got him in her net! I was so excited to see my fish! I caught a nice jackfish (pike) that was probably around 8lbs

So guess what we are having for supper tomorrow!!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Beans, beans the magical fruit....

Hunter finished a bowl of brown beans for lunch and of course had it all over his face. Matt walks over to him with a wet cloth and says, "It's time to de-bean you!"

Hunter then farted!

I giggled so hard I nearly cried!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Beauty of Canola

I love returning home when the canola is in bloom! It makes me miss living in the area so much. The smell of it in the morning is so fresh... I don't really know how to explain it, other than it smells like home to me.

Look at this view! This is about 10km south of Dawson Creek, 40km north of my parents home:


Farmer Boy!



Farmer Baby!

Handmade gifts: p(l)ay it forward

A little while back, Rachel over at The Waxing Moon blog had a wonderful little draw. She called it: P(l)ay it Forward. She offered up three handmade gifts and did a draw with whoever left a comment on her blog post that day. She had been the recipient of a wonderful homemade gift, so she want to pass on that good feeling.

Lucky me! I was one of the three names she drew to receive a wonderful homemade gift. Waiting for me when I arrived home from my trip was a wind chime made a copper pipes. Oh the glorious sound it makes outside in the wind!! Thank you so much Rachel, I love it!

So now it is my turn! Leave a comment here if you would like to play! I will draw three names this Sunday to receive a homemade gift. Just leave a comment here to consider yourself entered! The only catch... if you win (and perhaps even if you don't!), you should try to do the same. Pass on some goodness any way you know how to someone else.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A Gazillion Pictures from Home

We spent just over two weeks at my parents house on our vacation and it was splendid! There was a family reunion (pics of that to come later) and then fun time with my brother's family and us. My parents place is more like a resort than anything else. We were all supposed to go camping back up here in the Yukon, but my father's vacation time was canceled. Probably a good thing considering all of the fires in the area we were to head into.

Hunter spent a lot of time getting to know his cousin who is just seven months older. Cavan got gnawed on by his cousin that is two months older. Grandma and Poppa Hunter spoiled all of their grandsons rotten. Fun was had by all!

Excited to get into the pool:


Learning how to drive the gator:


Hunter and Grandma taking the RZR out for a spin:


Hunter and his Grandma Hunter:


Hunter driving the RZR with Grandma and Damon along for the ride:


Matt getting some much deserved relaxation time in:


My sister-in-law will kill me for posting this picture!! ahahahahha but it was too funny, I just had to do it! She tried so hard to get this kite up.... no success!


Damon showing Hunter how to drive the Gator:


Mud bogging in the Gator!


Quality time with Cavan:


Tired in the truck:


Our previous neighbours from Kugluktuk now live outside of Edmonton. They drove to come and see us! Well not us... the kids!


My highschool friend, Freya, and her beautiful daughter came out to visit us too.


My favorite blog stalker, Alyssa, sitting with Cavan. Please come visit us up here!!


One day we took all of the kids in to the local museum. The boys loved the farm equipment:


Hunter at school!


Oh these two would have been trouble back then in a one room school house!


Hunter just had to sit in this old truck:


Poppa Hunter with Damon and Hunter:


After a busy day we left the boys watching a movie while we visited with neighbours in the kitchen:


15 minutes later they were done for!!


As soon as these two woke up each morning they were running around the property each with their John Deere dump truck. Their poppa was so proud!


Look at these two! Kyler is two months older than Cavan, but I think my little tank is going to outgrow him quickly!


My new nephew is the happiest kid on the planet!


Hunter and Damon having a little picnic:


Very happy grandparents!!


I cropped this picture of Damon out of one of the family pictures we took. I love his look!! What a little wild-man:


My happy little boy:


Hunter wearing the captains hat his Poppa gave him:


Hunter relaxing with his Poppa: