Our Spot 2018

James and I got married on a very rainy day in September. It didn't just rain, it poured. All day. From the rehearsal dinner all the way through to the time we left our reception after midnight.

 Rain on your wedding day is good luck... right?

I was so looking forward to having our pictures taken in and around Heritage Park and due to the extreme wetness this was the only photo we got outside.  For reals.

It is my absolute favorite picture of our wedding day.  It went on our thank you cards and a large one still sits in our family room and probably will forever.  I love it that much.

We held our reception at Heritage Park which is a local historical village.  James grew up here and lived quite close to the park so his family spent many evenings and weekends visiting the park.  It seemed like a no brainer to check it out when we got engaged since it had so much meaning to his family. Ironically, his brother also had his wedding reception there a few years later in a different building.

It was like it was meant to be.  You see, we got engaged on March 26 and married on September 10th.  We had very limited time to pull it together.  When James finally asked me to marry him I suggested the following September and he insisted we do that same fall.  We started calling all the popular choices and they were all quite expensive and booking up quickly.  We fully expected that HP would be fully booked withit being only months before the wedding, but they had one Saturday open in September due to a cancellation and we took it. Someone else's loss was our gain.

What I love about it is that we can return as often as we like and walk through the restaurant that we held our reception at and take photos on the landing where my favorite photo was taken on our wedding day. Like this one.

That balcony has seen us through our wedding, both pregnancies, the toddlers years which saw us at the park a lot, and now onto the school years when we may not make it their as much but will rush to the balcony for our family photo when we are!  Or I should say I rush and the other 3 moan and groan.  But they always do it because it makes me happy.  Even if they won't smile.  I'm talking to you Cooper....

Here's to many more photos taken on this exact spot where it all began.

Check out the other Heritage Park posts here.

A letter to our Brick House

Dear Brick House,

It has been exactly one year (May 26th!) since we moved all our belongings from our little blue house to you, our new brick house.  It was a 9 hour day ended with a pizza celebration in our new kitchen at our old table, one of the few pieces of furniture we brought with us.

That night when the others (James included) went to bed, I stayed up well into the night unpacking the kitchen, because lord knows I spend most of my time in there, and I wanted a sense of normalcy the next day not only for the kids, but for myself.  When I was done, I crawled into a lawn chair and watched the new Dirty Dancing movie, which was kind of lame.

I was so excited to finally be in our new home.

While I knew that I loved you I was having a hard time feeling like this big newly decorated home was ours.  After all, we got rid of all the stuff that made our old house a home and we were starting from scratch.  It kind of felt like we moved into someone's house to live.

Slowly we filled you with things we chose especially for you and over the course of the next 12 months it became obvious that you were meant for our family. 

I was so excited.  The first time I was in the house all alone after being handed the keys.

We've been through a lot, you and I, and working through some our issues is what made us closer.

We survived renovations before and after we moved in.  Remember when the railing contractor called me after not having a railing on our staircase for 5 days and telling us that he molded the wrong wood for the staircase and the job would be delayed a week???  I remember.  It wasn't funny then, and it still isn't funny now.  Though I am glad that we went ahead with the railing reno and that I didn't know how much of a nightmare it would be.  I am so happy with the end result.

We won the battle against the mice.  Yes, you read that right, mice, in the house.  Remember how I had to empty the bottom 2 levels of the pantry to make sure those rodents couldn't find food and I put all its content on the dining room table for weeks while we hunted for the issue?  Then, we found the entry point in the garage and boarded it up and waited less than a week for the mice that were now locked in our house to die. I remember.

We caught the leak in the basement before much damage was done.  Remember when Jasmin texted me frantically at work to tell me there was water coming from the ceiling.  James had to rush home to turn the water off since Jasmin and I didn't know how.  We do now.  Thankfully it was a slow leak and we only have a hole in the ceiling to remind of us our leaky pipes.  I remember.

Yes, we've had our issues but I like to think of them as relationship building.

On the flip side, you've given us so many new memories this year.  And with each one you become more and more our home.

We celebrated birthdays.  Grady, James and I all have birthdays between June 24 and Aug 17th, so we had the opportunity to celebrate all 3 of our birthdays very quickly after moving in.  Grady chose a red bedroom because of his love of the Chicago black hawks and so as a part of his birthday gifts he got a giant decal and new comforter.

He looks so young!

First days of school.  Moving at the end of May meant we only had a few weeks before school ended and didn't have a chance to develop a routine.  Well come September we got into the groove of our new routine with 2 schools, 2 drop offs, and 2 pickups, and you know what, it wasn't that bad.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving. This was our first holiday where I cooked a full meal and we sat at our new dining room table that I waited almost 6 months to receive.  It literally arrived with less than 10 days to spare.  When I ordered it in April all I wanted was a table by Thanksgiving and that was barely achieved.  Read about the issues I had here.

We celebrated Halloween.  Halloween this year was so cold that we had to take our costume photos inside the house.  I love this stone wall that we inherited with the house and I've always loved these photos of Freddy and scary clown.

We celebrated our first Christmas.  Christmas... I loved Christmas in our new home.  The best part was that we added a second tree that I decorated with fancy matching ornaments.  Don't get me wrong, I love our memory tree but I also grew quite fond of my fancy tree and the soft white light it gave off in our living room while I read.  It was the the first year ever where I wasn't over the moon to take my ornaments down. 

We filled the house with all the things!  I've spent the last year shopping for all the things that the house needed.  From new shelves, to vases, to photos, to couches, you name it, I bought it.  I really didn't realize how time consuming and expensive moving was.  Truthfully, I'm still buying things.  You'll notice that I have not toured the dining room yet an that is because I still have a really big wall that is completely bare.... should it be pictures or a shelf that fills the wall.....?  Only time will tell.   

We added stairs to our deck.  And by we, I totally mean we hired someone to do it.  Ha!  We tried out no stairs last summer and it resulted in a lot of kids running through our house with their shoes on leaving the sliding door in the basement wide open.  This summer brought a deck reno with new vinyl decking and stairs to the yard.  We've already got our money's worth and it is only May!

Met our great neighbors.  The hardest part of leaving our old house was leaving behind our neighbors.  Grady's best friend literally lived across the street from us.  It was hard.  Over the past year we've gotten to know one set of our new neighbors really well.  We both have 2 boys and they range from 6 to 9 (almost 10!).  She is a runner and he and James have mutual friends.  The friendship was meant to be.  To top it off, Grady's best friend can now bike to our house so we see him almost as much as we used to. Almost.

Boys, boys, and more boys!

After a year of living here I still sometime look around and am in awe that we actually packed up everything we owned and moved it.  We took a risk leaving our little blue house that held all the memories we've held as a family since we got married and before. I am not a big fan of change.  Change is scary, change is stressful.  After 2 years of looking i remember when we were finally $7500 apart in negotiations and putting out the last offer to split the difference.  i was terrified. I was laying in bed with cooper when James told me it was a done deal.  My first reaction was panic.  OMG we are moving, insert hyperventilating.  Then after an house and James talking me off a ledge I was excited.   I'm so glad that we took the risk and moved.

If I've learned anything about what makes a home, it isn't what is in it, it is who is in it.  I brought my family, my most prized possession with me, so no matter where we live, it is home.  You can never take our past memories away and we are always open to creating new ones.  Do the kids talk about the old house?  Sometimes. I choose to look at that as a sign that they have good memories in the old house, but so do I.  We've started making new memories in our new brick house and will continue to do so.

We had our good friends over for a visit Saturday night and she snapped this photo as she left.

Here we are, standing in the entrance of our home exactly one year after we moved in.  I feel like it was meant to be that she looked back and felt the need to snap the picture.  

Thank you Brick House for making our first year a memorable one. 

All our love,
Christy

A Field Trip to Remember - Southern Alberta History Tour 2018

Grady and I survived our field trip to Frank Slide! I went into the trip with very low expectations.  Very, very low expectations. Grady asked me to volunteer stating he missed us while he was away on his first trip in the fall.   I really didn't want to go and give up 3 vacations to chaperone a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds, but when you child asks something of you with those puppy dog eyes and you have no real reason to say no, you suck it and sign up to volunteer.

I am so glad that I did.

I had so much fun on the trip.  I loved it so much that I would willingly sign up to go on another.
And I would happily use my vacation days to do so.

Grady and I with all our luggage.  Must be able to carry in one trip.

I am very happy with the school.

Grady started a new school this fall and after almost a year in the books I can confidently say I am happy with our decision.  I'll blog more about this later.  His school focuses on technology and outdoors and this trip largely focused on the outdoor portion.  They were actually forbidden to pack any electronics at all.  My biggest concern of volunteering was that I thought I would be bored, and while I liked some activities more than others, overall, the trip was full of fun things to do, even for the parents.  These teachers are amazing. I saw first hand how dedicated they are to helping the students get the most out of the trip. 

Many opportunities to skip a few rocks.  As long as they were smaller than your fist and no one in front of you.

We could not have asked for better weather.

In May you can get snow and I am so happy we didn't.  Don't get me wrong, layers were a must, but if dressed properly, it was absolutely perfect.  What better way to spend a few days out of the office then hiking outside and taking in the beauty of the mountains?  We had some extremes, from sweating in the heat during a hike to a barely above freezing temperatures in the Bellevue Mine.

The Bellevue Mine was cold.  Brrrr.

You could feel the draft coming out of the mine before we even started into it.

In my almost 39 years, I had never been in a mine.  Ever.  How lucky are these kids??  However, it was cold, like really cold. Barely above zero.  As our group came into the mine the other was coming out and my friend literally took her pants off to give to me to wear.  (She had shorts on underneath!)  Grady happened to have his PJ pants in his day pack so I suggested he put them on, which he did!  My favorite part was at the very back they had us all turn off our head lamps so we could see just how dark it was at the back of the mine and then compared our lamps to what the miners actually used to light the way while they worked over a century ago.  I don't think I have ever been in complete darkness like that.  I literally couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed.

Frank Slide was my favorite.

Frank Slide was by far the highlight for me, it is breathtaking.  I had been to Frank Slide before and enjoyed, but this time with the tour guides and getting to hike around it, it was just phenomenal.  In particular, I loved the hike that we did around the interpretive center and through the rocks that came tumbling down from Turtle Mountain in 1903.

A quick blurb from Wikipedia:

The Frank Slide was a rockslide that buried part of the mining town of Frank, North-West Territories,Canada at 4:10 am on April 29, 1903. Over 82 million tonnes (90 million tons) of limestone rock slid down Turtle Mountain within 100 seconds, obliterating the eastern edge of Frank, the Canadian Pacific Railway line and the coal mine. It was one of the largest landslides in Canadian history and remains the deadliest, as between 70 and 90 of the town's residents were killed, most of whom remain buried in the rubble.

The weather, lighting, and our dynamic tour guide contributed to how much I enjoyed it.  Not to mention how well behaved the kids were. I am pretty sure they enjoyed it as much as I did!

Meeting other parents was an unexpected perk.

Grady's school is not a community school, so you don't run into his classmates at the grocery store or at the hockey rink.  This was a great chance for me to get to know a few of the other parents that he will likely go to school with for the next 5 years.  Grady asked me before we left if I was nervous about meeting the other parents, and I assured him I would make friends easily.  Not a concern of mine, but obviously a concern of my shy oldest son.  I was lucky enough to travel with one of my friends whose son is also in Grady's class.  I was thrilled to embark on this journey with her as well.  If only we smuggled in some wine.... who I am kidding, there was no time for that!

Meeting Grady's new friends.

I have not had the opportunity to spend any time with Grady's new friends or to see him interact with them.  It was such a relief to see how many of the kids Grady spends time with and that he also has his own little possy of boys that he gravitates towards.  New friendships take a while to form and I'm glad that he seems to have built a foundation with many of them that will continue to grow over the years.  This is an area that has always been more of a challenge for him and I'm happy to see him expand his friendship network.

Everyone was exhausted.  Parents included.

Was it because of the 20,000+ steps we walked in a  day or was it because the kids didn't settle down until almost midnight the first night.  Or maybe it was because of the full agenda that included little time to sit down.  Whatever the case, by the end of day 3, I guarantee that each of us was ready to sleep in our own beds.  The agenda was so full that by often had to skip an activity to catch up.

Hiking Towards the Bellevue Mine

The highlight for Grady was supposed to be swimming at the Sparwood pool.  We just went there this winter with his hockey team and he loved it, but since we were delayed leaving our first pit stop just outside Calgary we arrived at the pool an hour late and they only got to swim for 30 minutes.  Grady assures me that despite the quick swim this was still his favorite!

49 kids in the hot tub.  Pretty sure that is above capacity.

Grady still has a soft spot for his Mom.

I tried to give him his space and let him come to me.  He always checked in. Especially when he was bored.  He stayed by me a lot in the mine and I wondered if that was because he was just a little nervous with the dark, and that's okay.  As we finished our 1.5 hour hike which gave me 10,000 steps by 11 am, he reached out for my hand and held it.  That isn't lost on me. I know those moments of hand holding won't last forever.  He will soon stop showing affection for me in front of his friends and ask me not to come on field trips.  For now I am soaking in all hand holding I can and remembering that he will always be my baby.  {{tear tear}}.

Sneaking a pic is harder than it looks.

It felt like Vacation.

I didn't cook. I didn't clean (other than packing up more sleeping bags then I care to count).  I spent hours upon hours outside.  I read my book each night. I didn't have to plan.  I went on hikes. I drank many double doubles. Made new friends. Most importantly, I spent time with my son.

I can't wait to do it again.

Looking back, I don't know why I dreaded it so much.  My expectations were so low that I ended up enjoying it more than I ever expected to.  Though Grady and I didn't spend a ton of time interacting, he knew I was there. I could watch him from afar.  I'm happy to know that he is one of the kids that listens.  He's polite and respectful.  Don't get me wrong, he has his moments just like the other kids, but I am proud of him.  Overnight trips don't come easy for him and if having me there as a support person in the background helps him gradually get over that fear, then I will continue to do it for him.  Though after coming back and raving about this trip, I may need to fight James for the next one.

Almost as tall as me!

Thank you Grady for inviting me to volunteer.  It was such a special few days for us both. Not one either of us will soon forget.

Weekend Round Up

What a great 4 day weekend!  We had 2 days of company and lots of time to catch up on things around the house.  There just never seems to be enough time in a typical weekend!  So let's see if I accomplished everything I planned intended to this weekend....

{one} Watch the royal wedding.  I woke up on Saturday morning and rushed to the PVR to find the 6 hour royal wedding festivities ready to watch.  I fast forwarded 3 hours of footage because the moment I  really wanted to see was Meghan getting out of the vehicle.  I needed to see the dress.  At first glance, I was underwhelmed.  It was so plain and simple. The more I watched, the more the dress grew on me.  I pulled up a picture of Kate's dress and then decided I like Meghan's dress better.  It was simple, but it was also perfect.  I actually feel bad for them. How many people do you think compared the 2 dresses and picked a favorite?  #toomanytocount

{two} Hit up Nordstrom Rack.  You better believe Dee and I stuck to our plan of visiting Nordstrom Rack!  How lucky were we to meet Jordan there as well!  Her son was here for a hockey tournament and she decided to meet up.  Deena knows her IRL but I had never met her before despite her thinking we may have.  I feel like I know her, which is the same thing, right?  I had pretty good success walking away with 4 shirts and 2 pairs of shoes.  Can I just be honest and say that digging through racks is not my style?  I found some great things at great prices but I hate that style of shopping.  You need time to find the good stuff and time is precious.  I would definitely go again, but I am not in rush to get back.

{three} Hit the gym.  This week was my short 'run' week meaning 60 minutes total was all that I had to do. I managed to do a 15 min run and then 45 min on the elliptical at the gym.  I took 2 days off and went for a run outside on Monday morning and successfully ran 20 min pain free.  I'm starting to believe I may actually finish the race, even if that mean walking half of it.

{four} Buy Flowers.  15% off at Lowes?  Yes, please!  I headed there and had to make 2 trips to the car since along with flowers for the front, I also found 2 end tables for the deck.  When you find what you like on sale, you buy it.  #personalmotto.

Love my new teal tables!

{five}  Get out of the city for the day.  We closed out the weekend with the Grassy Lake hike in Canmore.  I love that 60 minutes from our house we are at the base of the mountain and ready to go.  Everything is more fun with friends and hiking is no exception.  After the hike we headed to the golf course for lunch.  Why have we never done that?  The town was so busy and this place was dead and had a view to kill for.

I love feeling that you had a great weekend.  Got to visit my BFF, hit the mall, and the the mountains.  What more could a gal ask for?

After what proved to be an a pretty good long weekend, Grady and I are off on a 3 day field trip with his class.  Truthfully, Grady and I had it out this weekend more than once and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the prospect of spending 3 days with other people's 10 year olds when I can barely handle my own.....  It will be good for Grady and I to reconnect.  I hope he isn't too busy with his friends to pay a little attention to his mom and appreciates the 3 vacation days I took to join him on this trip.

If only they were serving up mojitos on the trip.... wishful thinking.

five on friday

With on extra extra long weekend ahead (I'm off today to!) I have a long list of things that I'd like to get done.  Here are the top 5 I hope to achieve.

{one} Watch the royal wedding.  I love all things royal!  Of the two brothers, I prefer Harry.  First, he's better looking, even though he's a ginger.  I love how he isn't a rule follower.  Remember when the pictures of naked Harry in Vegas were leaked?  I guess what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas! Ha!  Because he is only 6th in line to the thrown he doesn't have to be so rigid and formal all the time. He is more real, IMO.   Also, I love his choice in brides.  Meghan Markle is so elegant, I love her style and the show Suits.  I can't wait to see if she follows the rules with her dress.  Enough said.

{two} Hit up Nordstrom Rack. My BFF is in town this weekend for her son's basketball tournament and our #1 goal is to hit up Nordstrom Rack.  One just opened in town last month and I have yet to go.  I have heard nothing but good things about the stock and the prices.  Target could have learned something from Nordstrom.....

{three} Hit the gym.  I saw my physiotherapist Tyson yesterday and got a great report.  My IT band is not as tight, my glutes are stronger and he thinks I'm ready to start running more.  Like 5 min longer each run.  I told him it sounded aggressive but he thinks I can handle it.  So.... I'm off to the gym to test it on the track and then finish off the workout on the elliptical.

{four} Buy Flowers.  I do not have a green thumb, but when we moved I felt inclined to buy some flowers for the front of the house.  Since I have no interest in dragging my flowers in and out, I waited until I was sure that it was warm enough to just leave then outside.  I think hope we are finally there. So off to buy some pretty flowers I go.

{five}  Get out of the city for the day.  I'd love to get out of the city and go for a hike if time and weather permits.  Between having some company and dog sitting this weekend, there may not be time.  But with the mountains only a short hour drive away I am hoping to at least squeeze in a short one.  Nothing beats mountain air followed by a beer on a hot day.  Fingers crossed!

I'll report back and let you know what I accomplished!

Enjoy the long weekend!

What I'm Priming Vol. 2

I must admit I love seeing what people buy on Amazon and get such great ideas of things that can be at my door within 24 hours that I can buy from my couch while drinking wine.  Sometimes I think it is too easy.

My strategy is to add things to my cart and not order them right away.  I ponder it and then in a few days I order it I am still thinking about it.   The first 3 items are ones that sat in my cart for close to a week before I ordered and they should be here tonight by 9pm!

Running Arm Band

While I attempt to prepare for my half marathon next month I really need something to hold my phone that doesn't sit against my waist.  Last year after the  run the home button and the bottom inch of my phone stopped working due to moisture.  The entire fabric band that held my phone in was wet and I don't want that to happen this year.  This is an Amazon best seller so I am excited to try it out.

Book Lamp

On Tuesday I am leaving on a 3 day field trip with Grady's class.  I really don't want to be stuck in the dark unable to sleep so I bought this book lamp to keep me amused after the kiddos go to bed.  It will also come in handy at home when James makes me turn off the light before I'm ready.  That is if he lets me use it.  Princess James needs his beauty sleep.  Ha!

Wireless Earphones

I already have a pair of Beats by Dre and absolutely love them.  Most people assume that I use them for running, which I do, but I prefer to use them while I watch Netflix on the iPad and do chores.   I leave the Beats at home because they are kind of expensive and I don't want to lose them.  I found this pair on Amazon for $35 and are rated 4.5 stars from 920 reviews.  I plan to bring these ones to work and use at the gym and for lunch time runs.  So excited for these bad boys to arrive.

Salt and Pepper Shakers

One day I just looked at my salt and pepper shakers and realized they were 15 years old.  Ugly and leaking salt everywhere.  I found these cute little ones for $20 and I love them.  Mostly I love them because you can change the coarseness and also because they don't leave salt all over my counter since they are stored upside down.  The grinder is in the silver part at the top. 
I should have replaced those years ago!

 Oil Sprayer

This one I saw on someone else's prime list and decided to order, funny thing is i don't remember who!  So far I am loving them.  I think I read that one spray is less than half a teaspoon which is next to nothing.  I use it to spray my frying pans and to grease my baking pans.  So far so good!

What are YOU buying on Amazon these days?

My Thoughts on..... Mother’s Day

I'm just going to put it out there. Mother's Day is not my favorite day.

For me, it is a day that comes full of expectations that don't exactly equal reality.  Let's face it, I have 2 young children who just aren't that into pampering Mom one day of the year.  I do get a happy mother's day but they are too young to understand the meaning of Mother's day.  Though I did get a gift full of toys from Grady's room which was sweet.  Neither of the kids did much of anything in school this year so I can't say I blame them for being a touch clueless.

For me, it seems that everyone is posting on social media about their perfect Mother's Day, their perfect kids along with their perfect husband.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family and husband, but at the end of the day, Mother's day is just another day in our busy life where, if I'm lucky, I don't have to cook supper.

It just seems to me that seeing all the 'perfect' posts on social media leads to unrealistic expectations that ultimately don't even come close to the reality of our day.

Expectation:  A sleep in.
Reality:  I actually got to sleep in this year.  I didn't hear the kids until almost 8 and they didn't come wake me so I didn't get up.  That was a pleasant surprise.  I'll take it!  I didn't surface until after 9am after having a quick chat with a great friend.

Expectation:  Time spent with my Mom.
Reality: Unfortunately, we don't live in the same city so had to settle for a chat over face time, which was honestly kind of nice.  I drank a cup of coffee with my sweaty mom that had just finished a run.  Because, that is the way we roll.  I miss not being able to celebrate with my own Mom.

Expectation:  A nice bike ride with my family was the only think I asked for this year.  A simple request, non?
Reality:  James' back hurt, Grady's knee hurt, and Cooper didn't want to bike ride at all.  We went anyway and the ride was longer than expected.  It was a 20k return trip.  Maybe a touch aggressive for our first ride of the season.  It was about 30 minutes too long for Cooper and at points I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  I, of course, was stuck at the back convincing Cooper to keep on pedaling.  Note to self, next year do the long bike ride solo!

Expectation:  A stop at the half way point to grab a quick coffee and snack.
Reality:  Everyone else had the exact same idea and the line up to the bakery was 30 minutes long.  We forgot our bike locks so James had to wait with the bikes.  After waiting and ordering, they missed James' coffee and gave us the wrong pizza for Grady.  They gave us a free coffee without having to hit up the line again but Grady lost his mind about the pizza and after settling down insisted that I remove every single tomato by hand.

Expectation:  A blizzard, the only day that I binge and eat an entire blizzard to myself guilt free.
Reality:  Our bike ride ran overtime so there was no time left to go for ice cream.  I made up for it with left over brownies and ice cream and an xlarge chocolate peanut butter egg leftover from Easter after the kids went to sleep.

At this point, my expectation for the rest of the day was bad.  And ironically, the second that my expectation plummeted, the day turned itself around and got pretty darn good.

Expectation: Set up the new patio set and enjoy an ice cold beer and clam
Reality: The patio furniture got set up in record time and I enjoyed two beer and clamato juice.  I've been waiting weeks to enjoy our new patio set.  We did some deck renos this month and when the stucco guy showed up this morning to finish the job I was thrilled. 

Expectation: To enjoy the evening sunshine on the patio
Reality: Enjoyed the evening on the patio watching the kids play soccer in the field with James.  Marla came over for a Mother's day dinner of pizza!  Good thing its my favorite!  WE didn't have time to go to the BBQ store to get the new cord extension so pizza it was!  Pizza and beer are 2 of my favorites.

This year, despite the rough start, I really enjoyed the day. No, it wasn't perfect, but it had its highlights.  The sun was shining, the kids were (mostly) happy, our deck is ready to enjoy, I got some cards from the kids, and I got to eat pizza!! 

If I had only a few more hours to the day I would have read my book on the deck, but thankfully, there is a whole lot of summer left to enjoy the deck.

I need to remind myself that to look past the imperfect part of my day and focus on the gestures that show me that my family loves and appreciates me every day and not just on Mother's day.  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by great Moms, step moms, mother in laws and friends that have always supported me in this gig they call parenting.

Happy Mother's Day!

Weekend Visitors

For the first 10 years of my life all I had a was a brother.  While he was okay, the little girl in me always hoped for a sister.  How lucky was I when I got not 1, but 2 sisters!  My brother may not consider himself as lucky with 3 sisters.  Ha!

This past weekend my sister Blaire and her little family came to visit and we were so excited to see them!  You see they spend the winters in Europe so her husband can play hockey, which means months and months spent far away from family.  Last summer they weren't able to come and visit since Blaire was very pregnant with little miss Sophia and then busy with a new born.  This year we were so happy that they decided to come visit so soon after they arrived back in Canada!

Picture courtesy of Cooper.  Glad he got most of my face.

Having them here this weekend reminded me of when my kids were young and also how I hate living so far from family sometimes.  However it is a great reminder of how lucky we are to have family that comes to stay and all the memories made.  Let me tell you a little bit about the weekend.

I loved watching my kids with their littlest cousin.  For the most part, the boys are uninterested in babies, and really any little kids.  They stick to kids their own size and for the most part, they only care about other boys.  Sigh....   While it took them a little while to warm up, once they did, they couldn't get enough of Sophia.  Cooper read to her and fetched the balls that she continually threw just out of her reach.  Grady wanted to give her all the things.  Fidget spinners, xbox controllers, and other non-traditional baby toys.  Grady even asked more than once if I could have a baby.  But only if it doesn't cry lots.  Ummm, no. You'll have better luck asking for a dog.

Seeing how good Sophia reminded me how spirited mine were.  I don't want to say they were bad babies, but they kind of were.  Sophia is an angel baby.  She plays quietly on her own, rarely cries, rides happily in the stroller and car, and is really just a pleasure to be around.  My kids on the other hand were better know as spirited babies.  You know, the ones that didn't sleep, had tantrums, needed to be held all the time, picky eaters, and the list goes on.  Over the course of the weekend I questioned whether the brain only remembers the worst moments of babyhood and maybe my kids weren't as difficult as I remember...  I do remember Cooper was easier than Grady.  He still kind of is.  Ha!

Those eyes!  Blaire noted that everyone comments on her eyes.  She gets them from her Dad.  And also how good she is.  I did it, and so did everyone else that we came across.  I remember we had similar comments on Cooper's eyelashes and how long they were.  And also about how his thighs and how rolly (sp??) they were.  You know, lots of rolls.  Adults, mostly woman, still comment on his eyelashes.

On being an aunt.  Being an aunt is hard work, especially when you have kids.  I've been so fortunate to have siblings that have loved on my kids for so many years before they had kids of their own.  I am thrilled to be able to start to repay the favor.  Though being an aunt when you don't live in the same city, or country for that matter, is hard.  While I am trying to spend time with my niece, my kids pull me in all other directions.  I want this, I need that, I'm hungry.  Sophia can rest assured that I will always spoil her with cute things.  After having boys I love buying my nieces the prettiest things that I never got to buy.  Pink, pink and more pink! And maybe a little purple.

She already looks like she is going to be taller than me!

Hockey! My kids couldn't stop asking when uncle Joel was going to arrive.  Apparently Blaire and Sophia were just his side kicks.  We rented some ice for the boys and their friends and Joel went on the ice with them.  What a great experience for the kids to see their uncle play up close and personal.  We haven't made it to Europe to visit them yet, but I sure hope that I get brave enough to book a trip soon.  What an adventure that would be.

Shopping with kids.  I asked Blaire before she arrived if there was anything she wanted to do while they were here and she expressed interest in going to the mall.  So..... we all loaded in the mini van and off we went.  I had to bribe Cooper with a slurpie just to get him there. On the other hand, Grady couldn't wait to go to the mall.  We had to separate because my kids reached their max time in lululemon so we were off to shop on our own.  We hit up the toy store, EB games, Cinzeo, the lego store and A&W.  You can guess how much fun I had.  Sounds like Blaire had a similar experience following Joel around.  I guess we should have gone just the 2 of us!

It was such a great weekend.  I feel so fortunate that they made a special trip to visit so soon after arriving back in Canada.  It was easier saying good bye to them knowing that I will see them again in the summer when we head out there to visit.  Looking forward to it already!