My Month in Numbers: July 2018

For me, July means quarter ends at work, 5 day weeks, auditors and busy days.  Thankfully, that is only for the first 3 weeks.  The last week of July we spend back in SK visiting all the family, eating all the food, and drinking all the drinks!  This is summer!

7: the number of sleeps we spent in SK
2: in Saskatoon with my brother and his kids
1: at Christoper lake with my Dad and and his crew
4: in Prince Albert at my Mom's and all the cousins

5: the number of quiet kids 10 and under you can cram onto Uncle James couch with electronic devices

3: times the kids went in the pool in my brothers back yard
1: night swim where Uncle James yelled because the kids were screaming.  In their defense it was before 10pm.  In Uncle's defense, they were getting pretty darn loud.

3: The number of parks we visited in Saskatoon
1: The number of kids we lost track of before we got off their street.  Who put Kolby and I in charge?
2: kids were on scooters, 4 on bikes
2: Aunts were on foot.  Not sure how we could keep up.  Good thing we had Madi, my oldest niece, with us on her bike.  Otherwise we would have had to jog.....

10: of us headed to Martensiville Pool on a very windy Sunday afternoon.  Apparently it is usually busy but not this day.  We were half the people at the pool!

2: people didn't even go in the water.  Myself included. Why are kids so immune to the cold? So glad I no longer have to actually get in the pool.  Unless it's my Dad's which is heated to a comfortable 87 degrees.

1: kid said this was his favorite part of the trip.  I can't remember which one.

1: kid said more than once he wants to move to SK but only if all his friends come. I think it's safe to say they had a great time.

19: degrees the day we went to the lake.  At least the wind died down.
1: The number of pants that I packed.  Poor planning.
2: pairs of pants gifted to me by my Mom for my birthday.  Not sure why I am not in pants in the photo below



1: giant fire
2: holes in my Dad's pants from ashes.  I promptly changed out of my new pants and put on my PJ pants.
18: logs thrown in and poked around by 2 pyros in the group (Dad, Kolby)
2: Marshmallow roasted by Grady and only 1 consumed.
0: minutes spent at the fire by Cooper.  He wasn't into it.



3: Parks toured in Prince Albert.
1: Park we visited more than once
5: days into our visit the sun came out and we hit up a the new spray park.  It still wasn't the warm and the kids didn't last long.  But we got a great picture of the boy cousins.  3 out of 7!



4: pedis before pool day!
1: selfie pro
1: set of blue-ish toes,  2 sets of pink, and 1 set of coral.  You can guess which color was mine.



1: hot tub the whole visit other than the warm one at the lake.    Grady lives for hot tubs and spent most of his time in this rather than the pool even though we finally got a hot day!  Weirdo.

1: successful family vacation.
24: friends and family visited

Vacation season around here is not over quite yet!  Looking forward to heading west soon!

My Month in Numbers: June 2018

June was busy, really busy.  How did spring become busier than winter?  Right, we put the kids in alternating soccer nights meaning soccer every single night.  Big mistake, big, HUGE! Let's see what I was up to in June.....

2: successful soccer seasons completed! Cooper kicked butt on his team an scored more goals then I can count.  We probably should have put him in competitive since some of his team had never played soccer before which put him in a league of his own, along with his 2 friends on the team.

Grady's team had a rock star season as well. I can count the number of games they lost on one hand and they were all great games.  He got to play with a few of his best friends which meant a lot of socialization for the boys, and the parents!

4: nights I spent with this beauty and her kids.  Her annual visit has become one of my favorites and one we all look forward to each year!  How are we old enough to have known each other for over 20 years???

21: kilometers ran in Banff with 3 of my great friends who love running as much as I do.  This is my second annual half marathon and I hope to keep running with these ladies for the years to come.  I insisted on taking my picture with this bear.  I may have a sh*t ton of chocolate in that brown bag.  I earned every single calorie of those sweets.

3: nights were spent in Penticton a mere days after I got home from Banff.  We stayed in a giant house with a pool drinking vodka and laughing so hard I cried on more than one occasion. I was too busy having fun to take pictures other than this selfie just before our plane took off.  We've already rebooked for next year!

10: years ago I became a Mom. How can my oldest baby be 10 years old.  10!!!  I feel like he is still the little toddler boy that liked to sleep with me and hold my hand.  Oh thats' right, he still is!

2: hours spent volunteering at Sports Day at the chalk station.  Apparently it is a sport.  These goof balls barely stopped at my station long enough to get a picture taken.

3: jackets ordered, 3 jackets returned.  After all the training I've been doing i realize that I need a wind breaker/rain resistant jacket.  i really, really like the one below but I also really, really want it in black.  The other 2 didn't fit right.  So, I will keep waiting for that perfect black one.  It is out there somewhere..

2: kids done school for the year!! Check ya later Grade 1 and 4!

8.04: seconds is my record on speed stacking.  Have you ever done it?  It's addicting and harder than it looks.  They had it at Sports Day (again, a sport?) and Cooper  talked about it non stop and insisted on buying it with his own money.

That's a wrap on June!  Bring it on July!

My Month in Numbers: May 2018

May brought good weather, lots of soccer and longer runs.  All in all a great month!

These THREE items have become my best friend as I continue to recover from by IT band injury.  I roll, stretch, strengthen and repeat.  It is exactly THIRTEEN days until the race and at this point I am still not sure I'll be able to run it.  I am currently running 40 minutes and still supplementing on the elliptical.  I'm going to at least try to run it even if I end up walking the last part.  Some may say I am stubborn.....

FOUR days a week we spend on the soccer field.  Both the boys played rec soccer this year so we could have a set schedule and allow them to play hockey once a week.  I quickly learned that I don't enjoy having soccer every weekday night. It has been a busy spring.  It feels busier than winter if that is even possible.  BUT, I've really enjoyed spending the evening with friends thanks to soccer taking friend requests!  The sunshine, the friends, the soccer... i take it back, spring hasn't been so bad!

FIVE new lip colors and THREE new shadows were purchased this month.  My friend started selling and got a discount on her first order and I took full advantage!  I hosted a party in March but I didn't love the colors I chose which meant I didn't love the product.  What I did love though was the staying power. Wow, it really stays on all day.  I figured out that I don't like any colors with shimmer.  At all.  I chose all from the cool matte colors and they were all a success!  The shadows are fantastic as well.  They blend well and are easy to apply.  I am struggling with which colors go together and how to apply.  Though I am no stranger to lipstick, i am a beginner with shadow.  Looks like I'll be watching a lot of YouTube videos....

ONE trip to Costco was enough to make me never want to go there again.  Don't get me wrong, I love Costco like the next person, but I hate the crowds, the line ups, and all the stupid people.  Its like Costco is full of them, people that leave their carts in the middle of the aisle and are just oblivious that you are waiting to get by. Yes, the deals are good but sometimes I'd rather just shop at Superstore Click and Collect where the deals are pretty good and I don't have to get out of the car.  I think I will just stick to the once a quarter trip to Costco since my blood pressure literally can't handle it there.

ONE romper worn in public and probably never will again.  I love my Smash and Tess romper and wear it day after day in the house but we did a romper dare and a few of us agreed to wear them in public.  I wore mine to the kids soccer game and not one person commented, good or bad.  I think that is a bad thing.  Even when I look at the photo I don't like it.  Why is it that I think they look so cute on others but kind of frumpy on me.  I will happily wear my romper at home and enjoy every second of it but I think it's public days are over.....

The FOUR legs on this moose that walked by our house were seriously taller than me.  There seems to be a moose issue in my end of the city as Moose sightings are popping up everywhere on Instagram and I'd be lying if i said I wasn't excited when he literally walked by our house.  I had never seen a moose before.  Ever.  It was way taller than I expected.   It pooped on our neighbors driveway and we all hovered around it to check it out.  #lifewithboys #gladitwasntourdriveway

EIGHT of us did the grassi lake hike over the weekend.  I took this photo on my iPhone, no filter needed. I can't believe this beauty is only an hour away from my house. Breathtaking.  Not sure why I don't go out there more often.  Oh right, see our soccer schedule above!

This book came from 2,758 miles away from my TBB gal pal, Andrea.  Thought I haven't had a chance to read it yet, I know I am going to love it.  These types of thrillers are right up my alley!
I have one book from the library to read before I crack this bad boy open.

We spent FOUR hours exploring Heritage Park a few weeks back as a belated Mother's Day gift to Marla.  James' family spend many hours at the park when James was a wee lad and it is a special place for his family as well our little family.  For the first time ever the kids won actual prices all on their own.  Usually we spend too much money and come home with a dinky little piece of junk.  This time they won legitimate stuffies!

We spent SIXTY minutes celebrating all that Cooper has learned this year.  His biggest accomplishment is learning to read and write.  To think he couldn't write anything at the beginning of the year to being able to write a full page of detail.  So proud of this kid.



I've been running every THIRD day since my IT band issues began and increasing the time by 5 minutes per run.  On my most recent lunch hour run I ran into this mama goose and her babies.  Is anyone else scared of birds? I totally ran around them because birds are scary and Momma birds are the scariest!

June will bring my second half marathon, a trip to the spa, and a girls trip away and a girls trip at home.  I am very much looking forward to all June has to bring!

My Month in Numbers: April 2018

FIVE or more boys is how many kids you'll find at my house on a regular basis.  I love that the kids want to have their friends over.  I will never say no to a kid that shows up at my door to play.  I didn't have any friends that lived close by growing up and I love that my kids do.  We even have one boy from down the hill that calls to see if Grady can play.  So. darn. cute.  As a side note, who do they always insist on sitting so closely together on the couch??

TWELVE hours minimum that Cooper has spent perfecting his You Tube intro.  Downloading (free) apps, watching videos on it, reading about it.  This kid is obsessed. If you remember, Cooper is my child that hopes to be a You Tuber some day so he is working to make this a reality.  The final product is actually pretty impressive for a 7 year old, or for anyone really.  Coopman is his You Tube name inspired by his hockey name and a talk by me saying that last names on the internet wasn't allowed!

SEVENTY TWO days ago, Cooper changed the name of the You Tube station attached to my google account to Brawl Fan Star Cool.  I told him he had to change it back as it was showing up on my blogger account, my calendar, and all other google products.  Well apparently after 3 changes you can't change it for 90 days.  I have the date in May marked in my calendar when I can finally change my name back.  Thankfully I don't use Gmail or it would have been a long 3 months....

Yup, this is me....

TWO new pairs of Nickel and Suede earrings ordered and currently loving.  I kept seeing them on bloggers and as my hair gets longer I want all the big earrings.  I saw these leopard print ones and couldn't resist.  I am getting even more use out of them than expected.  A new fave!

TWO poop emoji mugs that I bought the boys for valentines mug have come in handy.  I love the size and it just makes me smile when I think about the fact taht I am literally drinking out of a crap mug.  Sigh...

THREE stars I gave to the book IO was reading at the time.  Don't waste your time reading it.  Sophie Kinsella has far better books that you should read instead, like My Not So Perfect Life.

FIVE mojitos made with my new muddler from none other than Amazon!  If you haven't already heard, I've declared it the summer of the mojito at my house. So if you come over, and I have mint leaves, expect a mojito to be served.

FOUR times the boys convinced us to go sledding on the hill behind our house.  In April.  Notice that Cooper is in a T shirt.  They literally sledded until there was no more snow left.  They would come home drenched from sliding thought puddles of melted snow.  We sledded more in April then we did all winter combined! Boys!

THREE times I tried to curl my hair using my new flat iron.  I am still in the practicing stages and can only do it on the weekend when I have plenty of time to fix my mistakes.  When I look at it in the picture I think I did a pretty good job... but in real life I didn't lie it.  After having short hair for so long, learning how to style long hair is more complicated then I thought....

TWELVE easter eggs decorated.  This was definetely our last year of painting eggs.  Grady wouldn't leave the conputer to come and help and I think I guilted Cooper into coming to help. Easter was the day after we got home from vacation and being A-type like I am, I had already bought the eggs and the kits.  Mom win.... until nobody even cared I'd done it.  Insert sad face.

April is a quiet number before we get right back into the swing of spring sports.  I'll miss you April.  You brought some nice weather and some lazy days.  I am not yet prepared to jump into the chaos of May.  

My Month in Numbers: March in Mexico!

I am so excited to share the details of our recent spring break to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.  This was the first time for the kids to go and the first time James and I have been in 15 years!  We spent a wonderful week at Azul The Fives just outside of Playa del Carmen. Now fort he details....

7: days spent in Mexico

7: pool days

4-6: hours a day spent in the pool every day.  By the kids, not me

1: time I put my head underwater because the kids pushed me in.  I tried to only go in deep enough to bet myself to the pool bar!

We spent most of our time at the pool.  The beach was windy and to be honest it was kind of gross.  The waves were huge and the swimming area was quite small and surrounded by giant sand bags.  The worst part was that there were lots of floaties in the ocean making it look dirty.  It was so bad they were literally shoveling them out of the pool one morning.  I'm not sure this is normal or whether it was just due to the high winds.  The red flag was up every single day advising against swimming, which we didn't.

48: trips to the pool bar by the kids alone!  On average they each had 4 drinks a day over the 6 full days we were there.

That is what Grady was most looking forward to, the swim up bar! The first 4 days we spent in a room on the older side of the hotel but closer to the pool bar and we visited it often.  The kids quickly learned that they loved the daiquiris, both strawberry and peach.  While I enjoyed a few of the slushy drinks the first day, my drinks of choice were a margarita or a mojito.  I also tried a few oyo rojo (or something like that) which was the Mexican version of a beer and clam.  It was beer, clam, and a 'special sauce' and it came with ice cubes which was really weird.

4: days of the 7 total we made it down to the beach.  While the water was a little grungy, the sand was fantastic! I forgot how beautiful the white sand beaches are and how soft it is between your toes.

2: times Cooper put his feet in the ocean.

Cooper was scared of the oceans because of tsunamis.  When I was his age I didn't even know what one was!  He has also been very scared of the wind so being down at the beach was not his jam.

2: pics of James and I together!  I love that the kids can finally take our picture.  It means that I get to be in a few because James doesn't take any photos!  Selfies hope show that I was on vacation as well....

4: days into our vacation, our 5 friends arrived!

We surprised the kids and booked the trip to overlap with their friend's family  They have boys our boys age and a bonus 2 year old!  Once the kids got over the shock of seeing their friends in Mexico they had so much fun together!

4: days into vacation we swapped to the newer side of the resort and upgraded our room to a 1 bedroom. Best decision ever!  We should have upgraded from the start.  It was very cramped and small in the standard room with only 2 beds. 

4: boys playing dodge ball across the pool equals trouble.

There was one day the kids got yelled at multiple time.  They were essentially throwing the ball back and forth across the pool and they ended up sacking a dude with a ball. He didn't cry so it couldn't have been that bad... They apologized as did his Dad and the dude lost his mind and we ended up telling him to go to the adults pool!  Where there is water, you have to expect to get wet!  All in all, that day was a bad one and I'm guessing those adults that didn't like to be splashed or hit with a ball found a new pool to use the next day.  I can't say I blame them.  Ha!

5:  The number of a la carte restaurants at the resort.  They inluded Italian, Japanese, Thai, Greek, and Mexican.  We ate at them all, including the Mexican and Japanese twice!

17: plates of sushi.  But not for me, I don't do sushi.  My kids loved it!  Grady won't eat fruit but he'll crush raw fish?? Cooper's favorite sushi was the caviar eggs. Yuck!

4: plates of muscles consumed by 3 kids, including both of mine.  One of the other boys ordered a plate of them and my kids tried it and they each ordered another plate and ate them all.  Grady will tell you that was the best food he ate the entire trip.  Cooper will tell you that the mac and cheese at the Mexican restaurant was his fave.  He ordered 2 bowls and I said no when he asked for the 3rd!

1:  The numbers of time I had nachos and cheese.  I was so disappointed with how hard it was to find proper nachos.  Maybe nachos with cheese isn't really Mexican?  There were always plain chips, salsa, and guac, but I really like with with cheese and maybe even refried beans!  The only time we saw them was our last morning.  At breakfast. Apparently it is actually a Mexican breakfast item called chilaquiles.  They were SO good.  Our resort gets 5 stars for food.  Everything was so tasty.

0: times exercised.  Vacation is a week for my body to relax.  The greenery made me feel zen so I posed for this picture.  Please disregard the mojito in my hand.  Truthfully, I would have liked to do beach yoga or even water aerobics but we never got around to it.

I think that covers the highlight of our trip!  Grady and I can't believe that it is over so soon!

Also, when did Grady turn into a pre-teen.  Wow.

We had a great week away from the cold.  We hoped that by the time we returned the cold weather would be over.  Wow were we wrong.  I packed up all my winter jackets but 1.  That is my way of telling Mother Nature I've had enough!

I'm hoping April brings some more spring like weather....