Hawaii 2013 - Other random stuff

 

• About 3 days into vacation my 'purse' camera broke.  Something happened to the lens and I can't get it to close.  It wasn't that big of a deal since we brought our big camera as well but it doesn't exactly fit into my purse like my other one did.  I love my purse camera because it comes with me everywhere.  I usually take pictures every day but hated the idea of leaving the big camera unattended so we brought the camera down every so often and took a bunch of pictures on the same day.  It worked but wasn't ideal.  I am now in the market for a new purse camera... any suggestions?

This picture does not even come close to showing the height of our hair!

• Now let's have a little chat about my hair.  My hair had a life of its own on this vacation.  It was beyond frizzy every. single. day if I didn't flatten it.  My pony tail would look normal and after a mere 10 minutes outside I had a halo of hair around my head.  I hated it.  The only consolation was that my mom had the exact same hair do.  It only made us look more alike I am sure.  She resorted to putting conditioner on her dry hair.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

 

• Cooper learned some new words while we were away.  My personal favorite being 'I to' and 'Apper to' after every thing.  Anything Grady said he wanted, Cooper was right behind saying 'I to, I to'.  He also learned beach and lunch which sound exactly the same but easy to figure out given the total different meaning.  Wiva (river) for the lazy river and 'hot pool' for the hot tub.  I love hearing him say new words and especially new vacation words that we usually wouldn't say, like beach!

• We had great weather.  Of the 14 days we were there it rained only once, on our second day.  We were already at the pool and we didn't even get out, we just moved to the 'hot pool' as Cooper would say.  We waited out the down pour and before you know it the sun came back out.  I think we were pretty lucky given the time of year that the weather was so dry.

• Kaanapali was very windy.  I had heard this but hadn't spent much time there the other times we were in Maui.  It drove my Mom crazy.  In the resort area, we were pretty covered and didn't notice the wind as much, but my oh my on the beach the sand would whip you like little pellets.  We had to carry Grady between condos one time because Grady did NOT like the sand in his face.

• Before G&G arrived we headed into Lahaina for an afternoon of shopping and strolling.  WE stopped at the infamous Banyan tree by the ocean and snapped a few photos.

 

My things have changed since our last trip to Maui more than 2 years ago.

 
• In Lahaina we also went to the Croc store.  Both boys wear crocs all the time in the summer and love their jibits.  We told them they could each pick out 2 for their shoes and what a big choice that was.  There are hundreds of jibits and narrowing it down to just 2 was proving to be difficult.  They each grabbed a Thomas of course and Cooper a Mater and Grady a train that looked like Percy but wasn't.  As we were paying, James noticed light up Thomas at the register and after all that decision making, both boys wanted that one!  Go figure!  

• James and I both saw our first whales as they are in season.  G&G had a great view from their lanai and always had a pair of binoculars handy.  You could always tell when there was a whale visible from shore because everyone stopped and pulled out their binoculars or camera to get a better look.  I can only imagine what it would be like on the boat.  G&G went on a boat to whale watch but we chose to keep the boys at the condo.  Some day when they are older we will venture out on a boat, but this year was not the year :)

• We hardly saw any geckos. It was really disappointing actually. Every other time we have gone there have been geckos everywhere.  It was over a week before I finally spotted one.  I think we saw 10 total and didn't come anywhere close to getting a pic of one.  The boys thought they were super neat but always tried to get to close so they took off.  I really missed my little geckos friends.

 

• It wouldn't be a Maui trip without a trip to the aquarium and wow was it worth it.  The kids, especially Cooper, ran from exhibit to exhibit excitedly.  Cooper would yell 'WOW' at each stop and say 'Mama' and point the the fish.  The coolest part of the place is a tunnel where water surrounds you and sharks, sting rays, and all sorts of fish swim around you both above and below.  Cooper and James could have stayed in there forever.  It really is something to see!

 

• On our second last day we went down to the coffee shop and there was a lady doing henna tattoos.  I asked Grady if he wanted one and he surprisingly said yes.  I asked her how long it took and she said only a few minutes as she just drew it on freehand.  So we went for it!  Grady was a champ while she drew the gecko crawling up his arm from his wrist.  All was good until she told us that he had to sit still, without moving his wrist, in the sun for at least 10 minutes while it dried.  We sat at a table and played eye spy for 10 minutes and it was no where near dry.  We got up to leave and he smudge the gecko before we even left the table. I started to regret the purchase.  But in the end he sat quietly playing on his ipad while the black stuff dried.  I was quite proud of him.

 
• Speaking of the ipad, it was a life safer!  We are used to having our PVR and access to whatever show we want to watch at any time.  On vacation, not so much.  Those kids logged many afternoons playing on the Ipad and/or one of our phones.  It kept them amused and allowed me a little more time to read.  Isn't that what vacation is about?

The blue wrapper is from the angry bird cookies!

• On the topic of the Ipad....  We have never let Grady buy an app.  We always chose them and put them on and we only choose free ones.  Over the course of the vacation, Grady learned where to find the apps and how to buy them.  The first one he asked for was free so i typed in the password happily.  A couple hours later, James started to get emails of all the app purchases Grady had made.  I guess the password stores for some time after you have made a free purchase.  Because of this we were able to teach him that ones with money cost money and he can't buy those.  Lesson learned!  

Tomorrow we conclude our vacation posts with what we learned on our vacation. TTYF.

Hawaii 2013 -The Food

We all know that one of the best parts of vacation is the food!  When I go on vacation, I give up exercise and bring on the treats.  It is like a vacation from my somewhat healthy lifestyle I try to lead at home and I love it!  And let me tell you there were lots of treats!

 

• Those that know me know I don't eat fish, or should I say didn't.  Every time we have gone to Maui, James wants to eat at Mama's Fish House, which obviously is seafood orientated so I declined.  I didn't want to 'waste' our date night at a restaurant that I wouldn't like.  My friend who just got back said they went for lunch and I thought that was a great idea, so we loaded up the kids and G&G and headed to Mama's!  I took one look at the menu and it was either fish or a salad.  I thought long and hard about it and decided that if I was going to try fish that today was the day.  I told the waiter that I needed something mild and we chose the special.  It was a macadamia nut crusted jack fish.  And it was fantastic!  I ate every last bit and even had some of my mom's.   She ordered a curry and didn't like the sauce.  She helped the kids finish their meals which is a good thing since they were $20 a piece... for a kids meal!  We also had $16 cocktails with lunch and Mom was tipsy off her one drink!  This place wasn't cheap, but it sure was delish!  

• The cost of food on the island was high!  The grocery store across the street was convenient but so expensive.  We did our odds and ends shopping there but tried to do our bigger trips to Safeway and Costco.  At Safeway, we saved over $100 with our Safeway club card so that tells you how much the food is marked up.  The only cheap things was pineapple.  They were $0.99 each and we ate a lot!

• We made a trip to Costco to get food and of course other stuff!  We always go to Costco in different cities to see what they have and it never disappoints!  James got lots of cheap shorts and shirts and we got some great treats. Cooper had a huge meltdown in Costco.  He wanted to buy this book with all the little Thomas trains in it.  Not a big deal except we have one at home and Nana has one to.  I just decided that we were not buying a third and we walked away from it.  Enter the screaming.  That kid can scream.  I frantically looked around for reinforcement and James just waved at me from the men's department.  Mom and I were stuck with screaming cooper.  We had to ditch one cart because I couldn't push mine.  It was a total disaster and lasted the entire time we were there.  We got some interesting looks while lugging around a 30+ pound 2 year old screaming his head off.

• The first night that G&G were with us we went to Duke's which is the restaurant right on the condo property.  The view was great and the food was pretty good to.  Since I did only did my hair twice on the whole vacation, we decided to do pictures before dinner.  This one is my favorite shot of the whole vacation.

 

When I announced it was picture time, Grady ran over to Cooper and started posing.  I snapped like 8 pictures in the 20 seconds that they were like this.  Then they started scrapping.  My mom suggested doing it another time but I was adamant that it was now or never, and I was right.  We managed to snap this one:

 

And this one:

 

Before we headed to dinner.  And that was about it for 'nice' photo ops the whole trip.

Sunset view from Duke's

•  The night G&G left, and our second last night there, we went to Duke's again.  We had no food by this point and just wanted dinner cooked for us.  That is one thing about staying in a condo vs. hotel.  You still have to grocery shop, meal plan, and cook.  While I did most of the planning, James did a lot of supper cooking.

• Because James did a lot of the cooking we ate a lot of Mexican. James loves Mexican.  He made a lot of guacamole while we were there so i did a lot of eating it.  I thought I didn't like avocados, but apparently I do, I really do.  I really like nachos to so it was a match made in heaven!

• One of the downfalls of the condo we stayed at was that there wasn't a private BBQ on the patio. This is the first time we haven't had a BBQ right there.  In order to BBQ we had to go to the shared ones by the beach.  Sadly, we didn't use our BBQ once.  We opted to just use the oven.  Thankfully, G&G were staying a few condos away and they had a shared BBQ by the pool and only a few steps away from there ground level unit.

We BBQ'ed there a few times and the kids loved it.  The pool was always empty because it was full of retired people who only use the hot tub :)  We got a few looks bringing the boys in but most of them were happy to watch our busy boys!

 

We even got a night swim in there with the pool lights on.  Grady thought that was pretty cool.

• One of the treats we discovered last time we were in Maui was coconut and chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  To. Die. For.   I could eat them by the hand full - and I did!  We had to stop buying them because we were eating so many.  If they weren't so heavy I would have brought bags and bags back.  Good thing we didn't because both our suitcases weighed in at over 50 pounds on the way home!

• On vacation, I love to splurge on Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  My favorite is Chunky Monkey - banana ice cream with chocolate chunks - Yummy!  This time we also got New York Fudge or something like that.  It was chocolate ice cream with milk and white chocolate fudge, chocolate covered nuts and walnuts.  Both were super yummy and ate in one sitting.  A pint doesn't go far with 6 people!

If you look closely, Cooper has an angry bird cookie in each hand!

• The kids favorite treat was these angry bird cookies that came in individual servings.  We went through 2 boxes of the cookies - 24 bags!  They ate a bag each every day at the pool and they quickly became the sought after treat.  I love those great finds... they do have some different snacks in the US.  Why don't we get them in Canada??

Notice our stock pile of wine on the table....

•  Another thing James and I do on vacation is drink a glass of wine a day.  G&G knew about this from San Diego.  I think they thought we were crazy at first but quickly slipped in to joining us for a drink a day.  How can you not drink in the states since the wine is so cheap.  My favorite white wine was only $5 there!  Mind you, it is only $10 here :)

 

• We tried to eat on the patio each morning since at lunch it was too hot and supper it was dark.  There is nothing like having breakfast outside.  One of the great features of our condo was that the patio opened fully so the patio became on offset of the living room.  I often sat outside and read while the kids played trains inside.

• Speaking of reading... I read 2.5 books.  WOW.  I can't remember the last time I did that.  While on vacation, while the kids played I read. I would never do that at home but with no chores or responsibilities while away, reading became my favorite thing to do!

 

• Thanks to G&G, James and I got an afternoon and night away from the kids.  We headed to do some shopping and then ate on the beach.  And I ate fish - again!  Maybe I am a convert?  We then picked up some wine and slept at G&Gs while they stayed at the kids at our place.  They had a great unit on the ground level where the waves hit the wall right in front of their place.  Totally opposite from our place.  We were so grateful for some time away to relax and be lazy.   Mom actually gave us a reverse curfew.  We were told that they didn't want to see us before 10am the next day.  We tried hard to stay away but were back around 9am after walking to get coffees across the street.

• This was the view from G&G's place pm their lanai... they were that close to the ocean!

 

Nice to wake up to :)

Next up is other random stuff you always wanted to know about our vacation. Ha!

Edited:  Stacey kindly reminded me of some other food related item.  Yes, I did bring my pineapple corer and I also packed my steamer.  It sounds very odd but I used both just about every day.  I wanted to try and eat a little healthy and we all love steamed brocolli so I just through the little metal one from safeway in my suitcase.  No, not the big one:)

Hawaii 2013 - Sleep, the Pool, and the Ocean

In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of our trip.

 

• We stayed at the Honua Kai in Kaanapali and it didn't disappoint!  It was beyond kid friendly and full of things for the kids to do.  There was a water slide, a lazy river, pools that were only a foot deep, a baby beach pool, and a traditional pool.  We are already talking about when we can go back!

• Our condo unit worked out great!  We had a 2 bedroom unit where Cooper slept in one room in the play pen and Grady slept on a blow up mattress in our room.  The living area was great and had a lanai with a great view.  My biggest complaint was that there was too much sun on the patio in the afternoon.  It was so hot out there that we had to sit on towels to have lunch on the patio.  Eventually the kids wanted to eat inside because the sun was too bright.  An umbrella would have come in handy!

 

• Cooper had a king size bed in his room as well as the pack and play we set up.  We initially thought that Cooper could sleep in the bed but that kid is sneaky!  He still sleeps in a sleep sack and he managed to get off the king sized bed, in his sleep sack, and made his way to the door where we could hear him trying to open it.  After that, it was right back into the sleep sack for young Coop!

• The kids slept really well all things considered.  I looked back in my trip diary from when we went and Grady was 2, and he didn't sleep through the night or past 6am once.  This trip, the kids slept through the night every night and never got up before 6.  Some mornings Grady even slept into the 7s Maui time.  James and I were going to bed around 9 each night so we had some good sleeps.  I swear the key to catching up on your sleep when you have kids is to go to bed early, because we all know that you never get to sleep in.  I actually was rested.  Until the red eye flight home.

 

• The water slide had a rule that you had to go down by yourself.  I.e. you couldn't go down the slide with your child.  Silly room if you ask me but I'm sure there must be some reason for it.  Anyhow, the life guard on duty our first day said that we could go down with him once to warm him up, so James went.  Then I went with him.  He still didn't want to go on his own.  By the lifeguards suggestion, James sat with him as if he was going to go down with him and then just pushed him down. I was waiting at the bottom to catch him.  He looked scared but then immediately went again.  We had to catch him for a few more times and by the next day we was going down all on his own wearing his water wings.  James' job was to stand in the water and watch him.  Easy Peasy.  

• The first day, Cooper was really into the water slide.  We took him down with us and he absolutely loved it.  The life guard said that for little guys, if they had a life jacket on they could go down.  So... we bought a life jacket, slapped it on young cooper and he willingly went down the slide.  He immediately fell over and went down the slide on his back.  He was not a big fan.  I caught him at the bottom and he was all tears.  Maybe not the smartest thing to do in retrospect.

 

• We weren't sure how the ocean would go over with the boys. We took them down to the beach on the first day and they both seemed to like it.  Grady would actually fall over when the wave went back out. Almost like he lost his balance.  Cooper loved it when the ocean wave would touch his feet.  They were both squealing with delight.  I was so happy that they weren't scared of it.  When we went last time, Grady wanted nothing to do with the ocean.  He actually didn't care for the pool either but it was first choice next to the ocean.

 

• The next day we brought the sand toys to the beach and the sand castle building began!  I would put a towel out to sit and and Cooper and I would bury our feet.  I would bury mine and Cooper would bury his.  James and Grady got into building the biggest castles possible and then decorating it with leaves and sticks.  Cooper would try and join in but usually that erupted in fighting.  Cooper and I would then have to build our own version a little farther away.  We did this every single day.

• Because of Grady's love for the water slide and Cooper's well... not so much, we ended up splitting up a lot.  James and Grady to the pool and me and Cooper to the river.  

 

• By the time Grandma and Grandpa arrived on our 4th day there, we had a nice little routine going on.  We were so lucky to have G&G there to help us out.

Hawaii 2013 - Travel Days

I'm sure by now you have figured out that we were on vacation by the lack of posts.  We spent the past 2 weeks in Maui.  This was James and I's first winter vacation since we met more than 10 years ago and it was fantastic!

I'm not sure what the best way was to share our vacation but figured that I'd start with the most common questions you get when you take a 2 and 4 year old to Hawaii - How did the kids do travelling?  Let's face it - it is a long flight.  And even longer when you have a layover.  So let me tell you how the kids travelled.

Grady was a superstar.  Cooper not so much.

Let's keep it real and start from the beginning.

We booked this trip way back in May.  We didn't really do a big vacation last year so I was excited to start planning our 2013 vacation early.  We booked direct flights there and back which was dreamy given that we had never flown direct.  I was pumped.

In about September they called and said the flight had changed so instead of arriving in Maui at 330pm it would be 930pm.   Not the greatest, but we could handle it.  Then in November they called and told us that our direct flight there was cancelled.  I guess that is the problem when you book so early, the flights may change.  So we had a layover in Vancouver.  I was half expecting the return flight to get cancelled to but in the end it didn't.

Vancouver is actually a great place to layover with kids.  They have an actual playground in the airport.  The kids loved it and burnt off some excess energy before loading the next plane for the long stretch.  We obviously had lots of fun there and stayed to long because as we sat down to eat our healthy burger king meals when they announced they were boarding our flight. oops.  We tend to not pre board anyway so we ate fast and brought the rest with us on board and of course the kids ate none of it.

Our seats weren't great.  We had the 3 middle seats and one aisle.  Any guesses who got to sit between the kids??  So.... I had one on each side of me.  James did as much as he could from the aisle, but I do not recommend this sitting arrangement to anyone.

Whenever we travel, I always pack of bunch of ziplock bags with different activities and have a snack bag.  And of course the Ipad.  They started fighting over that in minutes, so I brought out the big guns.  I bought a bunch of thomas trains for a buck each off kijiji and they turned out to be the best $10 spent ever!  I wrapped them up and put them in bags of 2 to be used as bribery on the plane.  It worked like a charm.  The kids played with the first 2 trains on the flight and that was it.  They even shared.  Highly recommend wrapping little gifts that you know your kids will love and then using it to your advantage :)

We decided to go with the just wait it out approach and eventually they would fall asleep.  During the 'wait time' Grady squeezed his cup of water to tight and cracked the cup and the water poured all over his pants.  I had forgotten about this until I saw this picture.  Yes, I guess my kids go pantless in public to, not just at home.

Grady announced he was tired and put his head on my lap and he was out.  Cooper wasn't so easy but with a little crying he finally managed to fall asleep.  So there I was with a kid on each leg.  It was quiet and that was all that mattered.  It lasted about an hour.

The kids had trouble with their ears on both flights on the decent.  This was new.  It was so sad as they both cried and there was nothing you could do for them.

We landed in Maui about 30 minutes late at 10:10pm.  Or 1:10am Calgary time.   Cooper cried for over 30 minutes while James got the luggage and I sat on the floor in front of the stroller Grady was in and just rocked him. Poor guy.  Grady was so excited to see the 'vacation condo' that he just kept asking when we were going to get there.  They both fell asleep on the drive there.

We got the luggage, got the rental van, stopped to get the key, grabbed some groceries, and finally crawled into bed at 5:00am Calgary time.

I also do not recommend that flight to Maui, but unfortunately there aren't many other options.  The one benefit to this flight was that it switched the kids to Maui time (3 hours earlier) very fast.  The next morning they were up at 7:15 Maui time (10:15 Calgary time!).  I am happy to say that we didn't get up in the 5s once all vacation, which was a bloody miracle!  More about that later.   And to top it off, Cooper slept through the night EVERY night.  Yippee!

I was blown away by how easy it was to travel with Grady this time around.  It was dreamy.  He listened, he slept, he was excited.  He just got it.  It was so much easier to explain to him what we were doing and what was coming next.  Cooper was just a bear and cried from sheer exhaustion and not knowing that the long travel day would actually pay off the next day.

It gave me hope that travelling when Cooper is 4 and Grady is 6 will be sooo much easier.   I can dream can't I?

Well the long day of tired kids was worth it when we woke up to this.

Jumping ahead while we are talking about travel...

The direct flight home was rather uneventful. I was optimist after both kids slept on the flight on the way there.

The flight left at 9:20pm and was a red eye. I hate that flight. It erased any rest you got while away.  We boarded the plane and Grady was asleep before take off and slept the entire flight.  James woke him up when we landed.

This flight, we had 2 and 2.  James got Grady, aka the sleeper, and I got cooper, aka party animal.

We had individual TVs on the way home and cooper loved them.  He watched TV played Ipad and just wouldn't sleep.  He tossed and turn and I was getting frustrated.  Not to mention the first 2 hours of the flight was the worst turbulence I have ever experience.  I was terrified.  I hate flying to begin with and the first 2 hours nearly did me in.  I don't know how people can be flight attendants, I HATE flying!

After many tears Cooper finally fell asleep.  When we landed, I woke him and he cried for over 30 minutes again. This kid does not wake up well at all.

He fell asleep on the way home and transferred into his crib for a 4 hour morning nap.

At the time I thought that the flights were terrible, mostly because of Cooper's refusal to sleep and his screaming fits every time he woke up.  It feels like we are always that family with the crying kid.  But as I type this, I realize they weren't so bad.

Grady was a cake walk and Cooper is still kind of a baby so I need to cut him some slack and accept that if we want to take the kids on vacation by airplane it is never going to fun or easy.  It will be trying and frustrating, but we are the ones making the decision to take them on vacation.  Thankfully, this vacation was fantastic and the travelling woes were well worth it.

More to come....

Diary of a Potty Training Mom - Part 8

 

no Cooper is not potty training and no we are not even considering starting the process anytime soon.  But in the mean time, we are having fun with learning about the potty and what goes in there.....

As you may or may not remember, Grady wasn't the easiest kid to potty train.  The pee was a cake walk, the poop was not.  It was less than a year ago that Grady was still in a pull up because he refused to do his business in the toilet. Now he gets on the toilet solo and only yells at me to get him a book and to shut the door.  Then he wants nothing to do with me until he is done.

Then there is Cooper.

I am approaching the whole toilet thing a little different with Cooper. Some people say that kids are scared to do their business in the toilet.  We never really introduced the toilet to Grady before we started training him... maybe he was scared of it? 

Anyhow, we talk to Cooper about the toilet often.  Every time we bath I ask Cooper if he wants to pee in the toilet.  Sometimes he says yes and sometimes he says no.  If he says no I don't force him, but most of the time he eagerly sits on the toilet.  He wants to be a big boy after all.   Two times he has peed on the toilet.  Totally due to good timing but we did a little potty dance anyway!

I find it funny how he has only peed in the toilet twice but that he stands in the tub and pees quite often.  So he is starting to know what he is doing.

He also now knows when he has to poop.  He high tails it to behind the couch for a little privacy. I remember Grady doing this do, however he preferred a different couch :)

The other morning as he was running to the couch I asked him if he wanted to pee in the toilet and he happily ran off to the bathroom. I put him on the toilet and he made a little pushing face that he often does to try and 'push' the pee out.  The next thing I hear is a 'plop'.

O.M.G.  Cooper pooped in the potty!

It was only 7:30 in the morning but I let out a little scream and shouted that Cooper has pooped on the potty.  Grady came running over to check out the poop (gross I know, maybe he needed to see evidence) and then told Cooper that he would get him a treat for pooping in the potty.

Does this mean that Cooper may not be terrified of pooping in the potty when the time comes?

I sure hope so.

Temptation

There is nothing like a sleeping baby.

Most nights before I go to bed I go into Grady's room to give him a kiss.  Sometimes I even crawl into bed to have a quick snuggle.  The kids sleeps like the dead.  He never wakes up.  He may open his eyes and look at me, but immediately rolls over and goes back to bed.

I rarely go into Cooper's room.  He is a very light sleeper and often wakes up when the door opens.  Not a risk I like to take. Often.

Every once in a while I can't resist the urge to watch Cooper sleep to.  He is so cute sleeping in his sleep sack in the crib.  At over 2 years old he is getting big for the crib and sleep sack but they keep him looking like such a baby :)  He often has bunny snuggled under his arm or even using him as a pillow.

The other night, I couldn't resist the temptation to go in and look at him.  I watched him sleep and then I touched his face.  He opened his eyes and looked at me.  I thought he was going to roll over and go back to sleep.  He did roll around but his eyes stayed open.  I thought maybe he didn't see me so I slowly made my way to the door. As I closed it, I hear a little voice calling for Mama.

I spent the next 45 minutes trying to get him back to sleep.  Eventually I did place him in the crib with a train and bunny and he didn't cry.

Not a mistake I am going to make again soon.

Apper

Sounds like rapper.  Apper.

This is the name that Cooper uses to call himself.  

It started out as when we asked him what his name is he would quietly say Apper with a grin on his face knowing that he would get a big reaction from his audience.

Now he has started to say it independently.  Like 'Apper's turn'.  It is music to my ears.

Our little man doesn't say a whole lot, but everything he does say is the sweetest thing I have ever heard.

Little Apper... he melts my heart.

Shoes

I think I am becoming the shoe lady.

I bought these 2 pairs of shoes right before Christmas. Not to wear together. I obviously took this photo to send to my Mom to show her my great purchase.

I want to add that it is James' fault that I bought 2 new pairs of shoes. Him and I were going to a Christmas dinner and he was late meeting me so I of course was strolling the mall and wondered into Aldo to browse. The sales were to good to pass up. The blue pair were $45 and the pink pair were $30! How can you pass that up? The catch was that they didn't have my shoe in either size so I ordered them to my house. What a great service by the way.

So there we were on Christmas eve loading into the van to go to our Christmas eve gathering and Cooper and I stopped to watch the UPS truck do what I thought was going to be a U-turn in front of our house. People do it all the time. Instead he pulled up right out front. When the lady hopped out and grabbed the package from the back I knew exactly what it was. They were my own personal Santa's delivering a gift I knew I would love :)

So when I went back to work last week I was eager to wear the shoes and incorporated them into my outfits.  Let's face it, when you buy shoes this bright you have to choose your outfit around your shoe.

The first day I wore the blue ones a man commented on them. I wasnt' sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. When does a man ever comment on your shoes?

I wore the pink ones and another man commented on them.

Yesterday I wore the blue ones again and I caught a male co-worker staring at my shoes. I called him out and asked him if he was looking at my shoes and he laughed because he was!

Don't get me wrong, woman have commented on them to but I am not sure how to take all the men talking about my shoes!

I think I am going to take it as a compliment and wear the heck out of my new brightly colored shoes!

Good neighbour/ Bad neighbour

Every night on my way home from work I call my mom. Just a little routine I got into where I can have a mostly uninterrupted call with her.  She complains that she can't hear me through the blue tooth and I tell her it is better than not being able to hear me over screaming kids, haha.

When I got home, I decided to check the mail box as I haven't been all week.  I took the mail out and noticed that there was an envelope from the Calgary Police Service.  Never a good thing.  If you know James, you'll know that he gets lots of photo radar tickets and this was the exact envelope that I found in the mailbox.  So I am thinking that one of us got a speeding ticket after a 6 month break from it. 

I got off the phone with my mom and quickly ripped open the envelope.  Turns out it wasn't a ticket at all!  It was some sort of documentation for our new alarm system because it is directly attached to Calgary police or something like that.  Once I realized it wasn't a ticket I wasn't nearly as concerned.

I proceeded on with my night as normal until the door bell rang at about 6pm.  I open the door to find a neighbour standing at my door holding my keys.

I left them hanging from the mailbox across the street.

I was so happy.  What a good neighbour!  I was thrilled that he returned them before I realized they were missing.  No harm done.

So where is the bad neighbour in this story you ask?

As I was walking to the mailbox to check the mail, the woman who lives kiddie corner from me who never says hello and isn't friendly at all was pulling up to get her mail.  How could she have not noticed that my keys were hanging from the mailbox.  She could have simply called out or simply walked across the street.  I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't see them, but I really don't see how that would be possible.

But in the end I got my keys back and all was good again!

Bikes

This weekend was great weather still so we tried to take advantage of it.  We got out the sleds and actually had to look for a hill with snow on it.  Thankfully there were some shaded areas at the school behind our house where we found some great hard snow that made the toboggan so extra far!

This year is Grady's first time going solo and he is loving it.  Cooper will go down with one of us (mostly 'mama') and he likes facing in as much as he likes facing out.  A few times we went earlier this year he wouldn't go down at all but this weekend he was all about it!  He had to keep up with is big bro after all :)

There was one incident where Grady went to far he hit a fence.  Not hard, but hit it just the same.  The same fence that Madi hit 2 years ago when they went sledding.  Must avoid that hill next time :)

Any how, it feels great to get outside and enjoy the fresh air after being cooped up the week of Christmas.

Upon coming home from sledding on Saturday morning Grady asked where his Dora bike was.  Let's back up a bit.

Two summer's ago, we bought Grady a Strider balance bike.  It is one of those bikes without pedals that has become quite popular over the past several years.  The idea is that the child will learn balance and never need to have training wheels. I was all over it and bought one for him for his birthday.  He wanted nothing to do with it.

He didn't touch that bike all summer.  So we hoped for the best the next summer.  He was all excited to get on his bike and took one go on it and again wanted nothing to do with it.  The boys ended up spending the summer riding down the driveway in their red fisher price cars they used as babies and loved it.

Toward the end of the summer I asked my Mom to bring up the Dora bike she had for Madison with pedals.  We got him on the bike but still wasn't that interested.

I wanted nothing more then for him to enjoy biking.

We kept the bike for the rest of the summer and then when my Mom came in November she took it home with her.

So in January, he asks where his Dora bike is because he wants to ride it.  In January.  He has a fit because we don't have it anymore.  I ask him if he wants to ride his blue Strider bike and of course the answer is NO!  Instead he wants to use the tricycle from the basement. With pedals. 

This is how we spent Saturday afternoon.

 

Cooper is riding one of the two suped up plasma cars that they got for Christmas while Grady rides the tricycle.  In January.

 

I told him that we would buy a new bike for him the moment the snow melted and he has already requested a Thomas one.  He informed us that he only likes Thomas now because he liked Mcqueen when he was three and now he was four.

 

Ahhhh... the things your four year old will tell you.... sometimes, they just make your day!

A year ago today

A year ago today, I went back to work.

I wrote this post after my first day, and after a year I can confidently say that I am happy with where I am at.

We made a change to our childcare situation this year that has made our lives easier.  The kids don't cry when I leave anymore and I no longer feel the need to rush home as soon as I am done work.  Though I often do.

I am comfortable in my role at work.  I've always believed that it takes a full year to really know if you enjoy the role.  And I do.  I know when my busy months are and I know that my summer is pretty slow and allows me to relax and enjoy the nice weather.

I have settled into my routine of going to the gym at lunch. I always found that while I was at home that the gym was hard to squeeze in.  I love getting it out of the way during the day and for the most part it keeps me out of the mall and spending money! 

I say 'for the most' part as I still manage to buy random unplanned for items.  For example yesterday I met Gina for lunch at the mall food court and on the way back I stopped at Smart Set to check out what they had left after the boxing week sale.  I passed on the dress I liked because it was full price, but I bought a great little patent fuchsia belt for $6.  It will go great with my patent fuchsia shoes I randomly purchased before Christmas :)  See what I mean?

I've met some great friends at work. I love the people I work with and this makes a huge difference.  On my first day back to the office after holidays , I made many stops at my coworkers desk to visit and ease back into the work routine.

Most importantly, I am comfortable with my decision.  When I went back to work after Grady, it was an easy decision.  As much as I did not want to leave Grady, I knew that we were planning to have another baby and that I would be at work for about a year before hopefully leaving on maternity leave again.

When I started looking for a job after Cooper, it was a lot harder knowing that it was 'forever'.  There would be no more babies, no more maternity leaves, it would be like this for the foreseeable future.  That was harder to grasp for me.  Did I really want to return to work and leave my babies in someone else's care?

I went out and got a job and went back to work despite my doubts knowing that the only way I would know for sure was to try it.  I wouldn't say the transition was easy.  Like anything else, it had its ups and downs.  Some days went great and others didn't.

One year later, I am happy with the decision and think it works for our family.   I miss the kids dearly and want to hear about their day first thing when I get home but I also enjoy getting up each day and heading to the office in my fancy work attire and make up on.

I love having that one extra day a week to spend the day just me and the boys.  I get to take Grady to school and spend some one on one with Cooper and then Grady and I do something together while Cooper naps.  For now, it is the perfect set up. 

For now, until Grady starts Kindergarten and Cooper starts preschool and we find a new normal that works.  One thing that we all know about kids is just when you get used to something it all changes!

Welcome 2013!

We welcomed 2013 with a family sleepover with great friends similar to last year.  This year the festivities took place at our house and Grady was very excited to show the boys all his Christmas loot. Cooper had no idea what was going on but was more than happy to have a few extra play mates for the evening.

Cooper slept in until 7am on the 31st.  Grady, on the other hand,  decided that New Years eve would be a perfect day to start the day in the 5s.  Go figure.  We didn't need that sleep in or anything.....

On the sleeping note, how is it that kids know that you are on vacation and trying to rest?  Our kids were sleeping until 630 every day which I was fine with.  The first day of Christmas holidays they started getting up in the 5s.  Sometimes one, sometimes both.  Like clockwork, the past 2 days they went back to 630.  Why couldn't we have slept in just little over the holidays?  Why?  Maybe it is a test to see how little sleep we can run on.  Yeah, that must be it.

We ordered a delish Thai dinner for the adults while the kids enjoyed some KD delight.  We even dined in our respective rooms with Stacey keeping a keen eye on the boys from the dining room.

The kids played and the adults visited while sipping on a glass of wine (or two).

During the play, they decided to search for the pickle - hiding it, finding it, and then repeating.  At one point the pulled the top of the pickle and he had to be repaired.  So... they decided to start hiding an ornament from the tree.  I soon realized that our elf Chippey was under the tree skirt and in the danger zone.  On Christmas morning I realized I forgot to put the elf away so I shoved him under the tree skirt so the kids wouldn't see him and forgot to move him.

As a result, we had to devise a plan to successfully remove Chippey from under the tree skirt without the kids realizing.  And we did!  I have no idea what we would have told the kids if they discovered him under the skirt a week after Christmas!

Then it was time for the kids countdown.  We got out the birthday party hats and some balloons leftover from Grady's party and started to countdown.

 

The kids were up until 9pm which is a late night at our joint, especially since Cooper did not nap that day.

With 2 of the 4 kids sleeping, we pulled out 2 games and more wine for the adults.  Apples for Apples, which I was no good at, and Cranium.  For the record the guys did win, but us ladies sure did a major comeback!

Similar to last year, we finished our game with 15 minutes to spare and turned on the local countdown. At 12:10 we were in bed.

What a great way to ring in the new year, with great friends, great food, and a few glasses of wine.    The only thing that could have made it better was a sleep in.  Until noon.  That would have made it perfect.

Happy New Year Everyone!