Caffeine or Carbs?

So there I was driving to work last week and the question on the radio was would you give up for lent, caffeine or carbs?  I couldn't answer the question.  I still can't answer the question.


I started off thinking that I would for sure give up coffee. I only have one cup a day generally, but it is how I start my day.  Every day.  Could I imagine having a caffeine-free drink in its place? Water? Juice? Herbal Tea?  No. No. NO!  Does this include chocolate to? That would be devastating.

So then my mind wondered to whether I could give up carbs. Seriously?  Bread, muffins, bagels, pasta, rice.....  I could not give up carbs either.  I am a carb girl and always have been.  My sweet tooth leads me to choosing cookies, cakes, and loafs over chips and salty things any day.  But come to think of it, I am pretty sure potato chips would fall under carbs as well.

When I started writing this post, I didn't think I knew what I could give up for 40 days.  But after listing everything out, it is for sure caffeine that I could give up.  I think I could substitute that one cup of coffee for juice for a month but I couldn't give up all the breads, cookies, and cakes that I love!

Sick Day!

I could just eat this kid up.

Last week when the kids had Hand Foot Mouth, they weren't actually sick, just contagious, so they had to stay home from daycare.  I took Monday off and did a lot of running around to doctors and pharmacy.  James took Tuesday off and took the boys for a visit to Nana's.  Wednesday we split the day. I went in to super early and headed home shortly after 11.  The afternoon was sunny and warm for February.  We put on our ski pants and headed outside to play.

Someone likes to play outside...

I tell you, these kids love being outside.  There are days after work that Cooper screams as I bring him in from the van because he wants to play outside. 

A well deserved break

We walked around the block while stopping to put our fingers in the melting ice puddles,  watching dogs, and chasing each other.  There is nothing but smiles from these boys while outside!

Snow Angels!

My favorite part of snow play is snow angels and Grady has grown to love it to!  Stop, drop, and wave your limbs!

I couldn't have had a better sick day at the home with the boys!  As much as I loved to skip work to play, I hope the boys never get HFM again!

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Getaway!

We spent this family day weekend in Edmonton at the West Edmonton Mall.  We thought it was a great idea.  And so did many other it seems as we got one of 6 rooms left in the entire hotel.  We only decided to go last week.  Talk about spontaneous behavior for this usually planned and organized lady!

The boys picked me up from work at noon on Friday with the van loaded down.  Grady was a great traveller and watched his TV and the trucks driving by on the highway to pass his time.

Can't get over how old he looks in this picture.

He also asked to poop once and pee twice on the ride there resulting in 2 bathroom breaks, one in the ditch and one at McDonald's.  Grady loved peeing down the hill on the side of the highway but couldn't bring himself to poop.  He told me flat out that he just couldn't do it.  Next time we will travel with the little potty and hope for more success.

Cooper on the other hand had a power snooze from the our house to my office and then woke up.  He only fell asleep again about half an hour outside Edmonton and was woken up by the door slamming on our second bathroom break.  That kid just has something against sleep.

I love me a sleeping baby!

We arrived at the hotel about 15 minutes before check in time and had a chance to look at the pirate ship in the mall. Grady exclaimed that he loved it there after only being in the mall a matter of minutes.  My BFFs extended family was also staying at the hotel this weekend so we had a chance to visit with them while we all waited for our rooms.

The room was worth the wait!

Although we didn't get a theme room booking only a week early, we did snag a room with bunk beds which the kids loved.  Grady ended up peeing the bed for only the fourth time, but he wasn't too hot and bothered by it.  Good excuse to crawl into bed with Dad!

Who goes on vacation and forgets their stroller?  We do apparently.  On the way to Edmonton I asked James which stroller was in the back and he hesitated before answering none.  We always have a stroller in the back but when my friends were here last weekend we needed to take them out to put the back seat up. The stroller never got put back in the van.....  So this is where we ended up:

Best. Ride. Ever.

The stroller rental place in the mall!  We contemplated getting two $20 umbrella strollers at Zellers but found these beauties for $5 each.  Score!  The kids loved them and didn't even mind being pushed around the busy mall.  All in all it worked out great.  Now you were probably supposed to bring the stroller back each day but we just brought ours up to the hotel room with us since we were staying right at the mall. We didn't set off any alarms so it worked like a charm!

After picking up our strollers we headed to The Disney Store, referred to by Grady as the lightening McQueen store.    He has always liked Cars 2 but recently has become obsessed and refused to wear anything that is not Cars 2 related. Some times he even wears the shirt all day, sleeps in it, then insists on wearing it again.  Sometimes I let him.  Not a battle I want to fight right now....

What surprised me was how excited Cooper was by the store.  He was pointing at each and every Lightening McQueen he saw.  It was super cute.

Grady picked out a box of Cars 2 cars for him and Cooper to share.  It really was a great purchase as that was the only toy they played with all weekend. I can't say the sharing went well but we made it work.

A very happy boy with his new toy!

The picture of me and Grady below is my favorite from the whole weekend. At that exact moment in time I felt great.  My family and I were on our first vacation just the 4 of us EVER, the kids were happy, James and I were drinking wine.... In that moment I really felt like a million bucks.  I see the pure joy and excitement in my face looking forward to what the weekend would bring.  I just wish I could have maintained that feeling through out the vacation and not just the first evening.

While at dinner, Grady still had to poop.  The big guy and I went to the bathroom no lie 7 times while we were there. He finally got his business done in the last 2 visits but it was painful going up and down the stairs each time he thought he had to go.  I am sure people must have wondered what we were doing.  Especially when we did our potty dance for first poop in a public washroom.  Big steps call for big dances!

The kids slept really well on Friday night. Cooper got up once for about an hour and had a really hard time settling back into a deep sleep.  We should have known that was going to lead to a bad second night but we ignored it.  Then kids both slept until 730am.  7:30... my kids.  That was such a treat.

We met up with Deena's family for a little McDonalds for breakfast and a mall run for the kids.  We stopped to look at the water slides which was what was on our agenda for the day.

I didn't bring my camera as the pool by our house doesn't allow it but I should have in the end.  No rules at this pool, go figure!  No news to report though.  As much as G loves watching water slides, he would not go down one.  We got him down the kiddie one only if we would ride with him.  Cooper fell in a few times and wasn't impressed but doesn't go on and on like G does.  I thought it was a success, James was disappointed that he didn't get to go down water slides.   I think both kids enjoyed themselves.

Next up was nap time for Cooper. Go figure, he slept 3 hours.  Grady went mini golfing with James and then spent the next 2 hours with me.  We walked through galaxy land, got a drink and people watched....

He did not take his new McQueen tuque off all day!

I needed some leggings from H&M so I conned him into thinking that it was a store for him.  They do have kids clothes in the back.  In the end, Grady conned me into a tuque and 2 shirts all with McQueen on them.  Smart cookie.

We hit up Galaxy land after Cooper finally got up.  This reinforced that we are NOT ready for Disney yet.  My oh my the crowds were something else. I got tired just looking at them.  Grady loved the kids play area. James and I hated it.  We kept losing track of him and once Grady went in he wouldn't come out.  James practically had to drag him out of the tunnel kicking and screaming.  Fun times...

Cooper just ran around trying to do what the big kids were doing.  Here he is trying to get out of the ball pit immediately after being put in.  He was not a big fan.

Grady loved the rides.   We only had time to go on 2 but he went on both by himself no questions asked.  

I just want to pinch those cheeks...

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Cooper.

My baby is not such a baby anymore!

Makes me smile each and every time I look at it.  100% represents his happy little personality.

I wish I could say the trip ended as good as it started, but it didn't.  Saturday night, Cooper was up every hour and started the day early, which meant Grady started the day early.  So we had 2 tired parents, 2 tired kids and a long trip home to endure yet.  The breakfast outing was probably our worst eating out experience to date and we high tailed it out of Edmonton earlier than expected.  Cooper was sleeping in the car before we left the city.

Looking back at the pictures it wasn't as bad as it felt driving home on Monday.  For me, our Friday night dinner was my highlight. All the anticipation and excitement surrounding our mini vacation and sharing those feelings with my sons.  Grady is his mother's son after and was jumping up and down squealing with delight... literally, and I was doing it right beside him.

Edmonton, we will be back.  Oh yes, we will be back.

No Bake Energy Bites

No bake Energy Bites

 

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

I found this recipe on pinterest. I have found many recipes on pinterest.  The difference between this recipe and the others is that I can't count how many times I've made this one.  It is that good!  We no longer take the time to make it into balls we just put it in the fridge and grab a handful and make it in to a ball as big or as small as we want.

Enjoy!   

A Gift for my Valentine.

James and I don't really do gifts at valentines but this year I made (literally) an exception.  I saw this photo from on pinterest which involved taking 3 pictures of your kids holding signs spelling out 'I heart u' and putting the black and white pictures in frame.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy..... right?

Not exactly... 

I obviously decided to have Grady hold 2 of the signs knowing he would be easier to get to sit still and hold a piece of paper. Or so I thought.  He was not interested. I told him it was a gift for Dad and he was just not interested, he even pretended to sleep!

Cooper on the other hand was full of smiles but would not hold the silly sign.  I took 2 full photo shoots to get the pictures I needed for the frame.

Despite the the difficult process of trying to get the pictures.  I am really happy with the final product.

Gotta love pinterest for turing me into a 'crafter'!

Happy Valentines Day!

Last week in anticipation of Valentine's day Grady and I sat down to paint his Cars 2 valentines for his friends at school.

Grady is really into painting and coloring these days so he was thrilled to get out the paint and decorate each and every card.  I was so excited for him to bring the cards to school today, but alas that will not be the case....

We are not spending Valentine's the way I originally planned. Cooper and I had planned a nice morning visit with a friend and her brand new little girl while Grady was at his Valentine's party at school That was to be followed by a play date with one of Grady's best friends that we haven't been seeing nearly enough of since I have gone back to work. He asks every other day when we were going to see her and now our valentine bake fest has been cancelled.

 The boys are sick.  Like yesterday's post said, they both have hand foot mouth disease. It sounds awful but is really just a fever and a bad rash that is very contagious. Although ours came with some vomit as well... lovely.

I will be spending the day at work after taking Monday off to take the boys to the doctor.  The doctor ordered the boys to be home from daycare most of the week so James is home with the boys today.

They are actually in quite good spirits all things considered but the nights haven't been great. The rash is itchy and uncomfortable.  They do well most of the day and then the evening hits and it is a revolving door in and out of our bedroom.  We are tired people around here.  Come to think of it, we are always tired people!

So in lieu of parties and cupcakes the boys are enjoying valentines day at home with their Daddy.  And that is a pretty good place to be.

I hope everyone has a day full of hugs and kisses from the people you love!

Happy Valentines Day!

Highs and Lows

Girl Time!

This weekend my favorite people came to visit! The weekend was a mix of highs and lows but the highs made the lows bearable. The girls helped me compile the following list.

High -  Best times with Best friends.
Low -  A call from the daycare Friday afternoon saying my littlest vaccinated boy has chicken pox.

High - Caffeine, Caffeine and more Caffeine.  Coffee, second cup lattes, James' nutella lattes, diet cokes....
Low - Sleepless nights for me and Candace (who brought her little girl).  Early mornings for everyone.

High - A scenic drive out to Banff
Low - Christy's driving.  Obviously not on my list. My driving made some of them nauseous.  Or so they claim.

High - Deena wanting to bottle up the fresh mountain air and bring it back to SK.
Low -  Deena wanting to take group photos on her phone in the middle of the sidewalk. Embarrassing.   See top photo.

Ironic that there is a Starbucks sign in the background.  We surprisingly did not stop.

High - many meals eaten out.
Low - A trip to the walk in clinic to confirm what Cooper had.  Dr. could not confirm whether the rash was chicken pox or hand foot mouth disease.

At Coyotes in Banff - the taco chicken soup was delish!

High -  A trip to the toy store in Banff where we all bought goodies for our kiddos.
Low - A text from home saying Grady was now throwing up.

High -  A trip to the chocolate factory in Banff. I cannot do a trip to banff without stopping for a chocolate.  This time I got a white chocolate murtle.
Low -  Worrying about how your husband is faring with 1 kid that won't nap and another that is throwing up.

High -  Beer and clam.  And wine.
Low -  Cooper getting into the empties and dripping beer on the floor.

High -  Shopping!  Taco time! H&M! Lipstick!
Low -  Candace getting the flu and spending the day in our bathroom and not at the mall where she belonged  Thankfully Deena shopped for her.

High - Spiros pizza

Low - Not getting to see Gina on the night before she delivered TWINS because she has never had chicken pox and we still didn't know what the boys had.  

High - Every moment we spent together.

Low -  Dropping them off at the airport.

In the end, it was hand foot mouth and not chicken pox.

I am not going to lie, I was stressed this weekend. I so wanted to devote my entire weekend to my besties but a part of me was worried about the boys. All three of them.  Were they grumpy, would they miss me, were they throwing up, did they have good naps?  Was James surviving? Was he mad at me for leaving?  Did he need me to come home?  I worried for nothing.  He did great!  He handled the puke better than I ever expected (normally I get puked on), put the dirty stuff in the washer, and didn't freak out at all.  The kitchen was a little messy, but I can live with that.  I was so grateful that I was able to enjoy my friends while James handled sick kids at home.  I'm sure he'll pay me back someday.....

All in all I had a great weekend.  If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times. I am SO lucky to have such a great network of friends to rely on, to laugh with, to vent to, and to laugh with.  I look forward to each and every time I see these girls.  Counting down the months until September already.....

Thank you for a great weekend!

3 things

I was listening to the radio on the way to work this week and they were talking about the 3 things you couldn't live with out (aside from family).  I thought my list was really easy - phone, PVR, TV.  The radio announcer made a good point that although most people would claim they couldn't live with out their PVR you need a TV to make it useful.  So there you have it, the 3 things I couldn't live with out.

What I find interesting about my list 2 of the items on the list are relatively new.  We have only had a PVR for say 4 years.  I literally could not live with out the thing.  I trust it to record all my favorite shows (and there are a lot!).  She has made few mistakes and for that I love her :)  She tapes the kids favorite shows, my favorite shows and allows me to watch them whenever I want without commercials.  How great is that?  Come on, you know you couldn't live without yours either!

The phone is even newer to me.  I just got my iphone in July. It was a life changer. No more rushing back to computer to check your email etc.  You have it all there, right in the palm of your hand.  I read the news on my phone, my blogs, check email, check texts, check facebook, browse pinterest, and the list could go on and on. How did I survive so long before stepping up from my old school phone? Now I know where my phone is at all times and it comes everywhere with me.  Seriously, why didn't I get a new phone years ago... worth every penny!

One of the other ones that came up a lot on the radio was a car.  I agree, the car would be a hard one to give up... but I figure James could put car on his list!

What would your 3 'can't live without' things be?

Our New Toilet

I can not believe it has come to this, I am posting about my new toilet seat.

While we were right in between Grady wanting to sit on the potty to poop but before he was doing it consistently, he fell in the toilet.  He is Mr. Independent and didn't want help with his pants so ran out of time getting the normal training seat on the toilet to do his thing.  He plopped himself on the seat and fell right in.  A few of my friends have the toilet seats where the childs seat is actually attached to it.

Introducing our new child friendly toilet seat!

With child seat up

The seat is normal when Grady is not using it and the child seat is magnitized (is that a word?) to the lid to keep it up.  When Grady has to go #2 all he has to do is pull the little seat down and he does not have to worry about falling in.

With child seat down

Why am I posting about this you ask?  Because I wish I would have gotten one months ago!  You can pick one of these bad boys up at home depot for $45.  And it was a $45 well spent in our house!  In case you are interested, this particular one is called the bemis next step.  I couldn't find it on the homedepot.ca page but they did have it at the store. Well the one we went to did.

And there you have it.  A post dedicated to our new toilet seat.  Oy.

Winter

We haven't had a winter this mild in years.  I actually can't remember a winter this warm.   Look! Look!  You can see the sidewalk, the yellow grass, and bare little heads in February.  In February.

                    

After I picked the kids up from daycare on Friday I let them wonder around the yard and eventually Cooper led the way and we walked around the whole circle we live on.  There was no carrying, no strollers, no nothing.  Just the pitter patter of little feet on the pavement.

Grady insisted on putting his fingers in each pool of melted ice to see if it was cold.  I reassured him a trillion time that yes the water was still cold.  This is coming from the kid who keeps asking to set the pool up in the backyard since there is no snow and it is nice out.  In February.  Sorry Grady, we sill have a few months before the pool can come back out.

As much as we have been trying to get out and enjoy the weather I still find like it is hard to find winter outside activities that you can do with no snow.  There is no ice to skate on, no snow to sled on.  It isn't quite nice enough to play at the park without mitts but to cold to go without on the cold metal.  

I am grateful for the warm weather after the farmer's predicted a very cold weather.  If nothing else, I am enjoying a not so cold car to get into, skirts at the office, no tuques, no mittens, and lots of sunshine.

With that being said, during the one cold streak we did have last month our pipes froze and we had to cut holes in our wall and ceiling.  Mother nature and I are still not besties, but the longer this gorgeous weather stays around the more I may forgive her for the damage she caused in my basement.....

Baby Clothes

Anyone with kids knows that at some point you have to start to sell things. There is no possible way to hold on to everything as much as I would like to. So while James was out of town last week, I dragged out the first 3 bins of clothes to sort, price, and re-pack until spring.

No guessing that we are a boy household!

I have been attending this second hand sale twice a year for 3 years now and I have picked up some great deals.  I am hard core.  I would gather a group of friends meet at the doors before they opened and rush in to find the items on my list.  Yes, I brought a list.  After an hour or less, we would all emerge with our purchases feeling great and head out for dinner and possibly a glass of wine.  The time has come for me to be a seller.

I knew it was going to be a walk down memory lane.  This was the clothes that my boys grew up wearing. The items they were wearing when we took them home from the hospital, on their first outings, on playdates, on vacation etc etc.  I was scared I would want to keep everything.  The first box I tacked was 6-12 months and I only kept a handful of items that I couldn't bear to part with.  I was pretty happy with myself.  

Then I opened the newborn box.

The box was filled with itty bitty blue everything!  I could remember who bought what as gifts and which kid it actually belonged to originally.  I wanted to keep everything.  In the end, I restricted it to a small pile with a few items I just had to take a picture of they were just too darn cute.

This outfit was bought for Grady from my brother.  Since Grady was slow to gain wait in the first few months he wore this newborn outfit for about 6 weeks. Cooper wore it twice.  It was his little dress up outfit.

The picture does not do the itty bitty size of this outfit justice.

I bought this one for Cooper at Superstore for $6.  He wore it often.  I loved that we had a 'little' to go with our 'big'.

My Mom but this one for Grady.  It is also beyond tiny.  The tag actually says 1 month.  Grady again wore this one when she came to visit for a well over a month.  I don't think Cooper ever squeezed in it.  Is it bad to admit that I saved this one for a future grandson?  Who am I kidding - I will have grandsons!

This next one is the outfit Grady wore home from the hospital on June 25, 2008. I bought it for Grady when I was in Vegas on a girl's trip when I was 6 months pregnant.

And finally, this was Cooper's coming home outfit.  I can not believe my chunky monkey was ever this small.

So in the end, this is the 'stay' pile.

I know, it looks big.  I just couldn't get rid of some of these items. Not yet anyway.  I expected it to be emotional, but in the end it just stirred up memories. Good memories.  I haven't looked at any of these items since Cooper outgrew them and I will probably never look at the items that I chose to keep until I have grand kids, BUT I will have a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart knowing that they are stashed away in the basement just in case I want to pull them out and see how much the boys have grown.