My life...

31 (point 5) Weeks

2012-01-29T14:20:00.002-07:00

So, this pregnancy is quickly nearing it's end. YIKES!! I'm so not ready for a Baby. Like NOT at all. We have NO idea what we're thinking of with names (probably because we have no idea what whether there's a mini-Meagan or mini-Ben cooking). I'm not 100% where the baby girl clothes are hiding in this house, and I'm 100% sure there are NO baby boy clothes hiding in this house. Paige is still happily occupying the crib...and if this baby comes out needing a diaper size smaller than a 5 (Paige's night time diaper size of choice), then we're in trouble too.

Anyway, I'm not too worried, because I've got two months to think about this stuff. And even if I don't get around to it, what harm can it do? I'm sure we can stop by the store and grab a few diapers in the right size. I'm sure Ben can dig out some baby girl clothes....or if it comes down to it, someone can go to the store and get me a blue sleeper (or ten). The baby probably won't even sleep in it's crib for a few months anyway. And I'm sure Paige has a soother or two she can spare. So now that I think about it, I'm totally READY!!

Except that I'm not at all.

Anyway, here's my BELLY at 31.5 weeks! It's getting B-I-G! And not a single person hesitates to tell me so.

Fresh Air

2012-01-24T14:33:00.009-07:00

We finally got some fresh air this last weekend! We've had a VERY mild winter followed by some brutally cold weather...the kind of weather that has you crawling inside your burning fireplace and setting up base until the world returns to normal. I know I live in Canada, so some cold weather can be expected...but it was so nice when the cold spell broke and we were able to venture out into the real world again. Breathing real air was such a treat for my deprived lungs. Eating snow was even more of a treat for my deprived children.

To celebrate we got together with Ben's Family for a day of ice fishing. It was CHILLY but so much FUN!! I kinda LOVE living up here...

All Bundled up sitting inside the ice fishing hut...it was dreamy and warm in there

Ben and I...we LOVE each other

Ooooh...someone is 30 weeks pregnant, and looks every week of it!

Sisters vs Sister in laws...can you tell who's who? Our hats are a good indication!

Silly Hailey and some of her cousins...in the sled waiting to get pulled around

It looks like we're having fun right?

So pretty....so fun

Paige...of course... fell asleep in my arms, and then I...of course...transferred her to Ben's

It was such a FUN day and we hope to do it again!

p.s. I have opinions on stuff...did you know that? One tiny little thought I had during the week of cold - when EVERYONE who grew up here was complaining about how cold it is - is that THIS is what we signed up for!!! This is NOT the first time in my life that the weather has dipped to minus 30 (C) PLUS windchill...and it definitely won't be the last! So why were so many people so surprised?? This is what life here is like! It gets a little cold from time to time. But life here also comes with so many benefits...such as: Family, Friends, Great Church community, beautiful LONG summer days, Sunny Sunny winters, and those miraculous, magical things called Chinooks that melt EVERYTHING in site allowing us to handle just one more week of winter (or maybe one more month...or two)

A LOT of nothing

2012-01-23T16:52:00.005-07:00

We've been up to a LOT of NOTHING, and that's just fine with me. I was VERY busy before Christmas, and life has seemed to slow down significantly since then. I'm just loving every extra minute I get to spend with these crazy Munchkins of mine. I'm also enjoying watching them play together. My closest siblings growing up were 4 and 5 years away from me, and although I LOVED playing with them I've never experienced a sibling close in age. So it's kind of interesting to see what kind of bond two years apart creates.

It apparently creates some weird-lings...

But it also brings out extreme levels of concentration when doing crafts together...

Maybe a little paranoia that some one's stealing her mom time?

And it also brings out some cute angelic profiles when there's a little quiet (and finally ALONE) time to be had...

But mostly, having these two little girls has brought on a LOT of adorable little cuddles like these..

They've created quite the little club...and I'm not sure if anyone else can even try to join. We'll just have to see what happens when we throw a third kidlet into the mix. If it's a girl, will she gain access to this exclusive club? Or if it's a boy....will he even care??

Favourite Activities

2012-01-10T15:47:00.003-07:00

I've been pretty beat up these last few weeks...cold/cough/stomach flu etc. I even spent a few late night hours in Urgent care here in town getting Fluids through IV to treat my dehydration. I'm getting pretty wiped out and as a result my girls are getting GREAT at playing on their own...which is good training for when the baby does come. We play lots of games that involve Mom hanging out on the couch doing nothing. One of our favourites is painting. Santa brought them a paint easel for Christmas (along with every accessory imaginable) and therefor we've been creating a LOT of masterpieces around here. The girls LOVE it and I love that my only involvement is opening paint bottles and squirting it onto their plates (along with singing praises to them and their beautiful artwork). Hailey usually paints pictures of people following the star to find Baby Jesus, and Paige just paints lots of fireworks. Totally indicative of their personalities.

Our 2011 Video

2012-01-07T10:00:00.002-07:00

I LOVE putting together our yearly family video. It's just so neat to see all our memories and pictures in one place. Most of these pictures have already been used on the blog, so none of it's really 'new' but it's fun to see how much we've done all year.

Untitled from Meagan McCance on Vimeo.

Another thing I REALLY love about making these videos is the music! Music is sort of a passion of mine. I LOVE finding music that's new, cool and maybe not super common. I also love popular music and oldies and every sort of music you could possible imagine. My rule is that the song has to move me to sing or dance along.

Both the songs in this video bring certain feelings to mind when I hear them. I heard the first song on this video months ago on a commercial and fell in LOVE instantly. The starting lyrics "Ah yes this is powerful stuff" reminds me how powerful and undeniable the love is that I have for my family. It's so powerful that I know I could never 'give this up'. I had to think long and hard about what the artist meant when he wrote this song...and I'm pretty sure he was talking about LOVE and all those sorts of GREAT things! Right? At least that's what I think of when I hear the song. The second song also means a lot to me. Since I'm not a big fan of change...and although I'm VERY excited for this new baby in our family, I'm also very anxious. This song just reminds me that even though things will change when the baby comes...we'll still just be our family! Nothing can get in the way of that kind of LOVE!

28 Weeks

2012-01-06T10:51:00.002-07:00

So I'm officially third trimester. Which means I've got to start thinking about this pregnancy ending soon. I'm getting a bit scared! I know how much work a newborn is and how little sleep I'll be getting. I LOVE to sleep and regularly get 9+ hours a night. So it's going to be a hard adjustment for me. BUT...this isn't the first time I've done this! So if I got through the sleepless nights twice before, I can do it again!

I'm also a bit sad to not have Paige as my baby anymore. She is so much a baby to me. I still cuddle her and rock her like she's a newborn. She's just so sweet and I don't want to disturb her perfect life in anyway. I'm not worried about Hailey at all...poor girl! But I know that she'll be fine! She's done this before.

Even with all my worries I'm still so excited to meet this baby and fall in love. I KNOW it'll be just as great and rewarding as my other babies were. And I know that Paige will be fine...especially with Hailey there to play with. We're going to have some good times!

But I still have about 12 weeks until I really need to start thinking about these things. Until then I can just focus on getting all the sleep I can. Maybe try to eat less junk. And mostly just LOVE on these two perfect girls I've got right now!

The Christmas Post

2012-01-03T16:22:00.007-07:00

These last two weeks have been divine! Seriously, I have loved every single second of this Holiday season. My favourite part of it all was having Ben home ALL week! Life was getting just a bit 'out of control busy' so it was nice to see him regularly and to not have any other commitments/responsibilities. I slept a LOT this last week. A LOT. Our kids figured out that their parents were exhausted and let us sleep in every single day (i.e. 10:00am). I'm honestly not sure if I could ask for more.

We spent Christmas eve with my entire family (which is something we haven't done in years). Christmas morning was at my home (Sarah, Nick and my parents spent the night and Santa got the message). We opened stockings and then all headed off to church. After church Sarah and Nick disappeared to his family's Celebration, and my parents came back to our house to open gifts. It was so NICE and so LAID BACK. I LOVED it!! Then Jeff and Yuka and Alisa came over for Christmas dinner with my parents and us. That was also so nice and so laid back.

We got together with Ben's family a few days later for a gift exchange (and of course I forgot my camera...so I'll need to borrow some from someone else). Santa came to visit us. The girls were mesmerized! They've been lucky this year and have gotten a few surprise visits from Santa. Lucky Lucky girls!

Then we got together with my WHOLE family again so the cousins could exchange gifts. We had a TON of fun...I was sick though (what's new?). My camera didn't make an appearance here either.

Then in New Years eve we got together with my cousins on my Dad's side. It was a sweet day. We ate delicious food, played games ALL day long, went swimming at the hotel, and played some more games. It was a GREAT New Years Eve!

It was just so nice to be with family so much this Holiday.

It was also so nice to have no plans in between all these family gatherings...my poor pregnant body needed some serious down time. And that's what I got! I feel so regenerated and ready to go! (maybe that's just the iron pills I'm taking to deal with the Anemia I was FINALLY diagnosed with). Whatever it is, I'm feeling so much healthier...and a million times less tired!

Now onto 2012! This is going to be a GREAT year!

And the pics:

A nativity reenactment...The Angle giving Mary the news of Baby Jesus

Something clearly had this Angel Embarrassed...she still delivered the message to the Shepherd and his lamb

The whole crew, Mary, Jesus, Joseph, Angel, sheep, shepherd, wisemen. Cute kids hey?

A "masterpiece" painted on a gift from Santa

Opening Presents with G-ma and G-pa

Daddy got some presents too

Oh and we can't forget G-ma

Or G-pa (and his fancy transformers wrapping paper)

The girls gave each other gifts...and hugs

And I got hugs from them too! Nothing better than that!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T18:37:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas! We're very excited for Christmas this year! We'll be eating lots of yummy food, opening a million presents, and spending LOTS and LOTS of time with our families this year! I can hardly wait!

Here are some adorable (and horribly scanned) pictures of the girls from their visit with Santa earlier this week. This was the best Santa display we've seen in a while (the free picture may have helped sway my opinion...and maybe the tiny 3 minute wait in line)

Christmas Preperations

2011-12-20T17:09:00.003-07:00

We've been getting ready for Christmas, slowly but surely this year. I'm pretty sure most of the presents have been purchased, the decorations are up, cookies have been baked and decorated, crafts have been completed, and lots of chocolate and treats have been eaten. Here are some pictures:

Getting ready for a Christmas Craft...concentration NEEDED

Watching very closely to make sure everything goes where it belongs

Working on the actual craft....serious serious business here

Finished!

Cookies cooling...waiting to be decorated and eaten (well, at least waiting for their icing to get licked off, we don't seem to actually EAT the cookies around here)

Decorating those same cookies...the ones that will get licked clean!

And that's it so far. We've been busy with our Advent calendar and all the activities it's provided us. We've also been very anxiously awaiting the return of some special cousins that were living in the Caribbean all last year. They came home yesterday and my kids (especially Hailey) were SO EXCITED!! Now we're just waiting for the rest of the 'sneezles' to leave our home so we can properly celebrate Christmas!

Working out with Mom

2011-12-17T21:48:00.005-07:00

There are a few things that I want my children to grow up always knowing, things like:

Who they are, and where they came from

Their Heavenly Father loves them

Mom and Dad LOVE them no matter what

Santa only brings gifts to believers

and...

Working out is important!

I want them to grow up knowing that physical exercise is not only fun...but necessary. I don't care how skinny you naturally are...exercise is still IMPORTANT (especially when you eat as much junk food as I do)!!

I am by NO means a fitness expert or even fanatic, BUT on the odd days when I feel good (i.e. not completely exhausted from this pregnancy), we get all geared up (panties and tank tops for Hailey, onesie undershirts for Paige) and head on down to the basement to get in a good workout.

We do things like:

Yoga - downward dog (with my back acting as a ramp for anything and everything)

We do a little 'modified' Child's Pose

And we try to get in some abs too

Sometimes we get some stretching in too

It's pretty funny...you've got to see them doing jumping jacks. And Hailey's lunges and squats are HILARIOUS!!!

Anyway, I feel like I'm teaching them a good lesson. I hope they remember these times and learn to love fitness even more than me one day! And hopefully...just hopefully their form will improve:)

Mexico

2011-12-15T16:14:00.007-07:00

So we went on another trip to Mexico...it seems to be our favourite destination. And why not? It's gorgeous! The Weather is perfect! The People are Great! And It's Gorgeous. Did I mention that it's gorgeous?

This trip we went back to Puerto Vallarta where I travelled two years ago with my girls (see This post). I had so much fun with My Mom and Brother, cousins and Aunts and Uncles, that when the opportunity came up to do it all over again, we JUMPED on it!! This time Ben came along, and this time we didn't bring our girls. Which honestly is a whole separate post. We wanted a chance to Holiday without kids, and it was wonderful; BUT I missed them sooooo much! Honestly, if we go again we'll for sure bring the kids! They make it so much more fun!

We did take full advantage of our 'freedom' and relaxed, played a LOT, and relaxed some more. Eating dinner at night was a DREAM! Sleeping in as long as I wanted was much needed. And spending some quality time with my hubby was perfection!

On this trip we:

We went shopping in Bucerias

Went swimming with the Dolphins (well Ben, my cousin's husband and their two sons)

We lounged on the Beach

Helloooo...model pose!

We ate breakfast on the Balcony with the crashing waves as our soundtrack

We Boogie Boarded a LOT

Helloooo preggo belly (23 weeks)
We went surfing (well Ben and my cousins husband did...the rest of watched)

We ate Tacos at little roadside stands and restaurants

We went on a sunset boat ride, landed on a candle lit beach, watched an amazing show (with crazy characters), and ate a delicious meal.

We went Whale watching and snorkeling....sorry I don't have pictures. I'll explain: I knew we were going on a tiny boat, I knew we were going to see Humpback whales (40+ feet long), and I knew that when my cousin went a few years ago the whale swam right under their boat and surfaced RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!! So I was worried that we were going to get tipped over and I didn't want my camera to get ruined (my life obviously wasn't as important). So I left it (the camera) back at the resort. My cousins have pictures which I'll have to bum off them, because it really was so exceptionally amazing!

Another thing 'we' did...that didn't include me was Zip lining! Ben and my cousin and her husband went and because I'm pregnant I wasn't allowed to. I can't even begin to describe how sad this was for me! Which means...I'll just have to go back to do it again when I'm not pregnant!

Anyway, the trip was so fun! I loved hanging out with a few of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles...getting to know them better. I loved going to church and having no clue what anyone was talking about. I loved sitting in the car while Ben did his best to fit in on the crazy Mexican roads. I loved the food...Pinadas, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole etc. I just LOVED it all. And best of all? I loved coming home to my sweet girls who were so wonderfully taken care of by their Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick as well as their Aunt Lauren and Uncle Chris. We're so grateful to them for watching our girls!

Another week via the iPhone.

2011-11-20T10:21:00.002-07:00

I'm a week or two late on this one...but at least I'm getting something done around here. Here is a glimpse into our life (2 weeks late):

Playing 'school bus' together...these two PLAY so well together 95% of the time. And the other 5% of the time? Well, we're still recovering.

Tired after a Day at cousins Max's Birthday Party

My pregnant Belly...22weeks

Decorating the Family Tree...Big sister Helping little Elf

Decorating the Girls tree...and clearly eating chocolate

Making Crafts...like robots and other fun things

More sleeping because the 'sneezles' made their rounds in our home

2:00 am self portraits after watching the latest Twilight movie never turn out well...you just end up looking like the Bad Vampires everyone's afraid of. (I was actually trying to get a shot of my makeup...it clearly was too late to even bother)

21 Weeks

2011-11-19T12:05:00.002-07:00

21 Weeks now! So I've already posted about our Ultrasound experience and not knowing what we're having. I'm actually kind of excited about this baby being a surprise. I'm still going to guess 'girl' though because that seems like a safe bet in my home.

At 21 weeks I'm definitely showing, there's no hiding this baby bump, although I'm notorious for forgetting it's there. I'm always side swiping my kids with this thing...or getting stuck in awkward places because the belly won't fit. I'm still trying to decide if I should make the full switch to maternity clothes. Most of what I wear isn't maternity...with the exception of a few pairs of sweats. But I think it's that that time...I may just need to take that leap. I really do LOVE maternity clothes, but I just hate being stuck in them for too long.

I'm still feeling good, not too sick, not sore yet etc. My blood pressure is CRAZY low though, and I find I'm constantly dizzy, lightheaded and exhausted! I feel like I'm being drugged...that's how tired I am. It could also be due to the fact that I'm actually really busy. I have two little kids to take care of, I teach a million piano students and I have a busy calling at church.

We haven't really started preparing for this baby in any way (I still have a little more then 4 months so it's no rush). But we did set up the toddler bed in Hailey's room with the hope that Paige will decide to leave the crib and sleep in there. She NOT interested at all. She LOVES her crib. She can climb in and out of it without problem, but when it's bedtime she willingly stays in it all night long. She just LOVES her crib!! So we'll have to see what happens in the next few months. We're not really pushing it because there's plenty of space in our room for the baby. But one day the babes will need it's own room...and bed. Which means Paige will be making the move. Poor girl.

Anyway, enough of the chatting, here's my 21 week pic:

A week from the iphone

2011-11-13T14:56:00.003-07:00

Playing Baby and (naked) Momma in Cousin Millie's car seat

Doing a little Jungle dance with the scarf Nana and Grandpa brought mommy from St Maarten

Me Tarzan, You...CRAZY?

Begging Dad to take us to the wave pool (which he did...and we had a blast)

Playing with Daddy's iPhone

Sunday naps...maybe a bit sick

I never thought

2011-11-08T10:56:00.001-07:00

-I never thought I'd defend my ability to have children to strangers so much. "Yes...because you asked...I AM old enough to have kids. I have been for quite some time. But that's not what you mean right? Ok, I'm married....have been for almost 9 years! Therefore I think it's OK to have two children and one of the way! Now send your judging somewhere else please!"

-I never though that after an hour of explaining germs to my 4 year old I'd just give up and tell her it's all magic and not to worry anymore. I was JUST trying to explain why she needed to keep her 'sneeze in her sleeve'.

-I never thought I'd hear my two year old walk into the room while I was in sweats, vegged out on the couch, and say "aaaawkward". Thanks 'child of mine' who I so lovingly have cared for all these years. Thanks.

-I never thought I'd be making pretend band-aids (out of kleenex and tape) for my kids because the real ones have magically disappeared.

It's a...

2011-11-07T10:29:00.003-07:00

Surprise!

Yes...we're having a surprise:

We went in for our 19 week ultrasound last week. We were desperate and excited to find out what we were having. I've felt like it was a boy this whole time, Ben was pretty sure it was going to be a boy too. We really don't have a preference either way though. I have pretty strong opinion about this actually. For some reason everyone seems to think that I NEED a boy. Well, I'd LOVE to have a boy. But I think a girl would be equally as fun! In fact it would be kind of magical! And contrary to popular belief...you don't need one of each to make a proper family. I am fully capable of LOVING the family I have, just the way it is!!

Can you tell I have a bit of an issue with this?

Anyway, on to the ultrasound. In the past my babies have been VERY active....so much so that I have always been asked to come back again the next day because they had a hard time getting pictures of my busy baby. Not the case this time. This little baby just slept the whole time. The baby was curled up in a corner and didn't budge the whole time. This made for a quick and very easy ultrasound...until it came to getting leg and foot measurements as well as gender guessing!! The baby was in the perfect position to hide it's goods...which means we don't even have a good guess at all! With Paige, the ultrasound tech didn't get a good look, but still was able to tell us she was most likely a girl. This time was different...she couldn't even come close to guessing. At all!

So we got one grainy little profile picture (another hard one to get because the baby LOVED getting all squishy with my placenta...which doesn't make for good profile opportunities).

With this picture I at least I feel like there's a baby on it's way...even if we have no idea what we're having!

P.S. After this Ultrasound...I'm leaning towards it being a girl now!

Halloween...as it really was!

2011-11-04T16:47:00.005-06:00

Life has been a bit busy lately...almost overwhelmingly busy. For example, on Halloween we went in for a our BIG ultrasound early in the morning (more on that later), then I drove to my sisters house (an hour away) and spent the afternoon cutting and prepping vinyl for our HUGE craft day at church this Saturday. We got stuck in serious rush hour traffic on our way home, and made it in the door just in time to throw these girls into their costumes and head out the door for some trick or treating.

In the mad rush of things...I forgot to try and get some decent pictures (i.e. use the right setting on my camera), so instead I got these blurry pictures of kids who wouldn't cooperate.

BUT, you know what? This is how our day really was. This is what my life really is. I don't have a perfect or clean house, my kids aren't models, they don't get along all the time, and sometimes life is plain ol' CRAZY!! When I think about recording our memories...I want to make sure I'm accurately recording them. I want to remember my REALITY and not my DREAMS! So there you have it! I've got a few rascally little munchkins who are dearly loved and adored! We have a LOT of fun being less then perfect..and that's just perfect to us!

p.s. in case you were wondering...the girls got some serious candy! Thanks to three rounds of trick or treating. The parents in this house may have been pushing the extra trick or treating so we could guiltlessly sneak their candy at night:) maybe.

Halloween Prep

2011-10-30T21:55:00.003-06:00

Hailey is VERY VERY excited for this baby to come...excited in the way that she asks almost every day if it's time to go to the doctor to get the baby out! So we've made a little countdown of fun events that will happen BEFORE the baby comes.

First is Halloween...

Hailey got all dressed up for a party at school and did a few cheerleader poses for the camera before.

Paige has an equally as cute bumblebee costume that she'll hopefully wear this year (she's the mascot for Hailey's cheerleading game, and also has a set of pom-poms in order to get the crowd excited).

Then tonight we carved pumpkins! So fun and soooooo gross according to the girls. I LOVE having kids around to let me enjoy these kind of traditions. I just feel so much better carving a pumpkin when there's a kid beside me who's more excited than anything to see the finished product.

Hailey brought out her scary face to get in the mood...

If I look a little tired here...it's because I am. Do you love Paige's new smile? Arrrgh.

So next we have the actual Day of Halloween. We've already plotted out our route and plan to hit up all the scariest houses on our street. Paige has been practicing her "boooooo's" to scare every one! And both girls have got their "trick or treat's" down pat.

After Halloween, we've got a few other dates on our 'countdown' to cross off, they are:

Christmas

New Years

Valentines Day

St Patrick's Day

and the BABY!

Did I miss any?

Maybe it's time for a weekly

2011-10-28T10:40:00.001-06:00

I have been reading other blogs lately...stalking a LOT actually (that's what happens when your library membership expires and you're too lazy to renew it). Without books to spend my time on I've had to read blogs...and because of that, I have decided that I like the idea of a weekly column - or whatever you call it. Anyway, I've been trying to think of some sort of subject I could use as a 'weekly' and I think I figured it out. My 'weekly' will be called:

"I never thought..."

The life of a mom is often so hilariously sad that I thought it would be helpful to share some of the daily battles I fight. So here are this weeks battles:

-I never thought I'd get in a heated debate with my 4 year old about Vaccines. Really? Since when did I even have that strong of an opinion? And why was I even arguing it with my 4 year old...who's all caught up on her vaccines for years to come.

-I never thought I'd get pantsed (i.e. pants pulled down) at the grocery store by my two year old? Really? I guess that's what I get for wearing maternity jeans that are a few sizes too big...but they're soooo comfortable!

-I never thought I'd bribe my two year old to go potty in exchange for getting her soother? Really? Shouldn't I be working on taking it away?

-I never thought I'd give my kids fake medicine to keep them quite. Really? Who does that? A little juice in the medicine syringe works every time....hehehe I'm evil

*and finally for this week*

-I never thought my two year old would be so good at putting on her own makeup...every single DAY!!

So that's it this week...I'll have more to share next Friday.

Update

2011-10-26T13:35:00.003-06:00

On me only...

I was the BEST at recording my pregnancy with Hailey, and the WORST at recording it with Paige. I really do cherish the pictures I took of myself with Hailey and I wish I'd done better with Paige, so this time around I've decided to take more belly pics. It's fun to look back and see if I'm bigger or smaller then I was in the past.

So here I am in my 17 week glory!
I'm feeling good...but still very tired!

I haven't felt any baby kicks yet (anterior placenta to blame for this)

I stopped my 'Insanity workout' a couple weeks ago because it was too much for me. I still try to ride to exercise bike 3-4 times a week. I remember with Paige's pregnancy that if I kept moving I felt a TON better. So that's my goal this time again.

I'm still morning sickness free! Sort of. I get nauseous here and there, but NOTHING like my other pregnancies.

We're going to find out what we're having on Halloween day (if the baby cooperates)

Hailey loves thinking up names for the baby (Princess, Raggedy Ann, Strawberry Fruitcake etc.)

Paige loves kissing my tummy and talking to the baby

Ben still hasn't quite accepted that another baby is on it's way.

Besides that we're just really busy around here with Ben working a LOT, School for Hailey, Super Saturday business for church, Teaching Piano, etc. I'm feeling a bit worn out...but this is the life I signed up for, so I'll gladly play along.

Why Yes...I did have a Birthday!

2011-10-11T13:45:00.004-06:00

Thanks for asking:)

So this year my Birthday sort of crept up on us...like it always does. Somehow life gets so busy in September that the early October Birthday's get forgotten. I'm not complaining....really. But it's true, it's also a little frustrating when your Birthday falls just days before Thanksgiving. Not as many people are excited about celebrating it with all the other exciting things going on. But this is my Birthday and I LOVE IT...plus I truly believe some of the best people are born in October:)

Anyway, Ben just so happened to work late on my Birthday, I just so happened to pick up 4 new piano students for the evening of my Birthday, and we just so happened to be broke. YAY Birthday! I did have a great day though, I took the girls to Walmart and closed my eyes as they each picked out two things to buy me...then I closed my eyes as I paid for them. I spent the day doing laundry (which sounds lame, but when you've been without a washer for over a week, and you finally got a new one the day before your Birthday...nothing is more exciting then 10 loads of laundry. Which clearly makes me a mom). Anyway, it really was a good day...just so normal and lovely. Lauren babysat my kids for me while I taught Piano (and so kindly helped them wrap their presents for me) and my good friend Lahni made me a brownie (with a candle) to snack on before piano lessons. With good friends and family, and a wonderfully normal everyday life, I honestly couldn't have asked for more.

When Ben got home LATER that night we had a quick little party.

Ben was sooooo excited!

I was very surprised with the nail polish the girls bought me

I had to read the fine print on the mascara Hailey picked out...it looked kind of interesting

And I helped the girls put on the 'lipstick' they bought me

Then the camera died...therefore no pictures of the fabulous cake (which I made). It was delish!

To really celebrate my Birthday Ben and I went out for Vietnamese and a movie on the weekend. It was fun. So we did make up for the kind of normal and boring Birthday I had. But like I said...I really was happy with the way the day unfolded.

Let's talk about the potty

2011-09-28T16:43:00.005-06:00

So it wasn't that long ago (maybe 4 months) that I snapped this darling picture of Paige using the potty.

photo courtesy of the iphone

I knew at that point that she was ready to be potty trained. I also knew at that point that I wasn't ready. So I did nothing about it. As the summer progressed it became more and more obvious that she was ready...and it became more and more obvious that I was just plain old lazy. It basically got to the point where she was exclusively using the potty, yet I still had her in diapers. Can you say lazy? Maybe denial? Crazy?

Well, two weeks ago Paige decided she was done with diapers. I literally could not get her into one...or to keep one on. So I said to my barely two year old:

"fine...but if you even almost pee your panties you're back in diapers!"

And so she actually listened. It's been two weeks...and not one accident. I didn't think potty training could be any easier than it was with Hailey...but apparently I was wrong.

Now before all you haters start your hating...let me remind you of a thing or two about this lively child of mine. So when you have "dream babies" that are so good you almost forget they're there, well I have babies that cry, some times a LOT. Or when you have toddlers that sit nicely and play...I have toddlers that empty entire toothpaste tubes, along with diaper cream, and lotion on a daily basis. And when your toddlers defy you...just remember this girl who potty trained herself is probably just trying to defy me. Once she figures out that I'm actually happy about it, I'm sure she'll switch directions. Oh and finally, when your kids are wonderfully/genius-ly/adorably smart...remember mine get to be too!

The legend of the Mini Van

2011-09-25T21:04:00.003-06:00

Back in March when we finally made the transition from Car to Minivan, my dear friend Laura warned me that it would definitely result in another baby...whether we'd planned it or not. I assured her that my life was fully under control and that I would have a baby WHEN I chose to have a baby, and not when my minivan decided. But really, when in the past have I ever been able to choose when to have my babies? Never. They always come WAY later then I plan, and so who was more schocked than me when I found out we were having a baby a few months earlier then planned? Maybe Ben...that's who was more shocked. We've never been blessed with super fertility powers so I do feel like this pregnancy is such a blessing. It hasn't stopped me from constantly worrying though (just ask the ultrasound techs at all three ultrasounds I've had, who've patiently dealt with my full on meltdowns before and after I see that heart beat each time). I'm a mess...and that's ok. Pregnancy is full of so much joy and excitement for me...and it has also been a source of so much sorrow and pain. So I'm just a happy mix of every emotion.

I am very happy to be taking pictures of my growing belly...and if this is evidence of what's to come, I'm POSITIVE I'll have another HUGE belly again!

I'm also VERY VERY VERY relieved that the morning sickness Fairy didn't find me this time. In past pregnancies I've been bedridden for months with awful awful morning sickness. In preparation for this sickly time I went to the doctor VERY early and got a prescription of Diclectin to scare that morning sickness away. And boy did it do it's job, I haven't had to take ONE pill this pregnancy! Which is amazing since I usually spend hundreds of dollars each month trying to just survive. So I am blessed. Now don't get me wrong, I still feel sick at times...but THIS kind of 'barely there' morning I will take and I can easily handle!

Anyway, the baby's due to make it's arrival sometime at the end of March...maybe early April (depending on how things go). We're not sure what we're having yet, but rest assured, we WILL find out (if we can). We're going to be over the moon happy either way. I LOVE being a mother to girls and I would LOVE (LOVE LOVE) to have another. BUT, I've never had a boy and I think that would be exciting and so fun too! If I were a betting person I'd say it's going to be a girl (our record proves that we like to make girls...4 for 4), but if I were to guess based on my gut feeling, I'd say it's a boy. So We'll just have to wait and see. Any guesses?

A blog from my iphone

2011-09-14T15:00:00.002-06:00

So there are lots of times when I'm running around or even doing really fun stuff but don't have my camera. I would love to blog about this kind of stuff, but what's a blog without pictures? Not worth it really. Anyway, I've discovered a solution...the blogger app. I'm not sure how this will work, but I thought it would be a fun way to blog about the pics on my phone. So here is a glimpse into our summer via the iphone camera:

Bike Rides...Hailey and Paige's view from inside the bike trailer

Calaway Park with the Taylor's

Camping Sept Long with Nate and Tan and Kids...these two LOVED each other

Cute babies sleeping

Spray park poses

Calaway park with Becc and her boys

Late night decorating for Birthday Parties

Spray park in teeny tiny bathing suits

Trips to the dentist for us all

Well...this was fun. I think I'll do it again. Maybe I'll find some more random pictures and share them on here.

First....Day of school

2011-09-13T14:02:00.000-06:00

Hailey started Preschool this year. Last year a few friends and I did a little "joyschool" program for our kids. We just created our own curriculum and met once a week. So it was a HUGE change for me (and Hailey and Paige) to send Hailey off to school 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. It was even a BIGGER change because her preschool class is smack dab in the middle of the elementary school. So she shares the gym, the bathroom, the library and the park with older kids. She also will have grade 6 reading buddies come in to read with her and the other kids. WOW!! This seems like real school to me! It's a good thing she loves it, because I'm still a bit mixed on the whole thing.

The night before, I let Hailey pick her outfit from 6 different options. Apparently NONE of them were acceptable because not a single outfit was going to be big enough for her on her first day of "high school" as she calls it. She was also very worried as we put her to bed that night that she was going to break the bed when she magically grew up while sleeping! So adorable...so innocent...so perfect!

Somehow when she woke up she was BIGGER...but magically still fit into her clothes - AND her bed was still in decent shape.

Paige was certain she was going to school too...and therefore insisted on being in the pictures with a backpack too).

I think this little girls is so precious! So sweet, so tender, so kind so loving.

These two friends didn't seem so excited...me thinks they were just playing it cool in front of the bigger kids. Either that or they were sick of my camera in their faces (I needed something to cover up my teary eyes)
When I had her to myself she gave me one last smile before running off into her classroom to start the rest of her life.

First...Dentis Visit

2011-09-12T15:00:00.000-06:00

So Hailey and Paige both had their first visits to the dentist this last month. Hailey's a thumb sucker and has two cavities that even I could see. So we knew we had to get her in soon. Paige just came along for the ride.

Hailey...what can I say about this child? She just breezes through life like she already knows what's going to happen next. Nothing phases her. She had no problems with the lights, or the glasses, or the loud buzzing of the polisher, or any of the visit. She was such a trooper!

Paige warmed up pretty quickly and let the hygienist count her teeth and inspect them. She wouldn't let the dentist anywhere near her. Which was fine...really she's only two.

"Mom look...I have teeth!!!"

I was the proud, sappy mom with the camera. I've been a little extra emotional lately and even the simplest of milestones has me nearly in tears. I thankfully held it together for this appointment...and will hopefully be ok when they freeze Hailey's mouth tomorrow to fill her cavities. She'll be fine I know...I'm the concern:)

The rest of our summer

2011-09-11T17:33:00.004-06:00

The rest of our summer was spent...(can you guess?)...CAMPING!! We spent every single weekend of August travelling around BC and Montana. We camped with friends and family and by ourselves. It was a fun and busy month. We would get home late Sunday or Monday night...then I'd spend all day Monday recovering and unpacking. Tuesday was usually spent just having fun with my girls (i.e. spray park, Calaway park, the regular park) or running errands/completing necessary tasks (i.e. groceries, dentist visits, doctors appointments, paying bills) then Wednesday and Thursday I did Laundry and packed for the weekend, and then we'd leave Friday and start the whole cycle all over again. We made August the month of the quad. Every trip we went on had to be planned around our quads and we made sure we got some good use out of them. I also made August the month without my camera. I just got tired of taking pictures and therefore boycotted it almost altogether. I wanted to make some memories instead of just record them. And boy did we make memories!

Tie lake with the Hills...we were too lazy to walk anywhere, so we road this quad around the whole time. Hungry? Ride the quad to the trailer. Want to swim/boat? Ride the quad to the dock. Want to sit by the fire? Ride the quad to the fire pit. There was NO walking done this trip!

Hailey decided to test her mother's fear levels and swim in deep water!! That's her in the pink box (and blown up larger to see). She wore a life jacket the whole time and was very very brave. My heart on the other hand was beating very very fast.

Paige (bless her heart) was too afraid of the water for most the weekend. The old me would have encouraged her to swim, the new me was fine with her staying far far away from the water.

In Elkford with Ben's family - the girls LOVED the bubble machine

Hailey also loved the crafts she got to do during quieter times
I wasn't feeling very good this trip...and Ben's dad was feeling even worse (if an ambulance trip to the hospital with a very painful kidney stone is any indication of how poorly he was feeling), so my camera sadly didn't get much use at all after this picture. But we did a LOT of quadding in. We saw some spectacular views and just really enjoyed the time together as a family. It was a good way to end August.

Stay tuned for my next post...all about "Firsts"

Life changing

2011-09-09T17:12:00.007-06:00

Sometimes you just can't pretend that things are normal...or ok. Or that nothing happened. Sometimes things happen in your life that change you forever. I've experienced a few of these kind of events in my life. The kind of life changing event that has you figuring out how to be YOU again....but with this new knowledge/experience. These kind of experiences aren't always bad...sometimes they are the best things ever, and sometimes they are important lessons disguised in heartache.

The first is when we lost the twins. I changed in so many ways during that time. I lost my innocent view on life. I found a deeper love for my husband. I longed for a baby more then ever. I grew up. I learned how to laugh and smile again. I learned what sorrow was.

The next was when Hailey was born (and Paige too of course). I learned how to love like I never had before. I learned what motherly guilt really felt like. I felt exhaustion like never before. I joined the 'motherhood club'. Again I found a deeper love for my husband. I learned what true joy was.

This summer our family experienced something else that changed me...and everyone involved. It's not really my story to share, but it's also something I feel strongly about. I feel like it wouldn't be fair to share the rest of my summer and not talk about this at all. I also feel like others need to learn from this. So I will share in minimal detail what it is that changed my life again.

My little family camped with my husbands family this summer. At one point we lost my sweet little toddler nephew and then found his lifeless body floating in a pond. We watched as his courageous mother performed CPR and brought him back to life. I can describe in great detail how horrifying this was for everyone there, and how awful the nightmares have been the haunt us still. But I won't. Like I said it's not really my story to tell. But, I do feel like sharing this with everyone:

PLEASE update your CPR! We're so grateful that my nephew's mother had recently re-certified her first aid/CPR.

PLEASE always watch your children. It literally takes 5 seconds for a child to disappear from sight. Be especially careful around water.

PLEASE always appreciate the beauty of your children...life is so precious!

Like I said earlier, this has changed my life in many ways. I have learned that no matter how difficult life with little ones can be, I need to be grateful for the blessing they are in my life. I've felt true fear. I've found comfort in my family and feel like family is more important then most anything. I've cried as my desperate prayers were answered. I'm still struggling to balance life with this constant fear I now have. I've learned to rejoice in every single breath my children take. I've learned to love a little bit deeper and a little bit more.

And then we had a Birthday Party!

2011-09-09T16:48:00.006-06:00

I'm still working on July here. If I blogged for any other reason then to keep a personal record of our life...I'd just skip it all and write something truly witty. But the main reason I blog is to document this fabulously normal life I live...and therefore, I must and will slowly work my way through each and every little thing we do. If there are actually people out there who read this blog (and I suspect there are few), just deal with the deal. My life is boring, my documentation of my life might be more boring...so if you're reading this - what does that say about you? Sorry Mom....and anyone else who reads this thing. I'm just kidding.

Anyway, between camping trips this year I decided to have a VERY last minute, VERY small and VERY unorganized birthday party for Hailey. Basically we invited Hailey's cousins and whoever happened to be at church the Sunday before. Who knew so many people would be at church on Sunday...and who knew everyone who was there was also available!! It ended up being a very last minute, very HUGE, very unorganized party. I also didn't even have a chance to invite half the people I would have wanted to...but I'm sure they're glad they didn't have to participate in this gong show:

Pin the clothes on the princess

A million little mouths to feed

Hailey marrying her prince charming

Me - more excited then anyone to open presents (either that or a woodchuck impression)

And Hailey blowing out the candles on her Ice Cream Sunday (my kids don't like cake...I don't like to make it...so why bother?)

Anyway...I make it sound like it was this terrible party. But it wasn't. I did do lots of decorating and cute things for the party - and I enjoyed every minute of it. Hailey and her friends seemed to have a blast. And it was well worth the little bit of craziness you get with 12 Four year olds running around the house! I'm glad and feel very blessed every year that I get to have Birthday parties for my kids. I'm one lucky lady.

Camping with My sister

2011-08-29T20:25:00.004-06:00

This summer my sister Becc and I decided to try something new...something crazy...something never to be done again...we camped for an entire week with our kids and without husbands!

Now when I say "camp" you have to understand what I mean. We both have well over 30ft long trailers with popouts, we have AC, plumbing, microwaves, and any other modern convenience you could think of. So it really shouldn't have been that bad, but somehow a week with no dads and camping on the beach with 5 kids was a LOT more work then we'd anticipated. I could easily do a week without Ben at home, but I also have a fenced in backyard, and cable TV, and the Internet. We didn't have those luxuries...so it made for a busy week. But it was still a lot of fun!

Paige and Max got along surprisingly well this trip...seeing how they are both the babies of their families and are both 2 years old. That could make for a tough situation, but they seemed to hit it off:

Especially when they were getting into things (like my toothbrushes) without their moms noticing...

Or when we went for walks and they couldn't touch or tease each other...

My girls had fun with their cousins...even the one's who look nothing like them (it's so funny to see how dark his skin is compared to his brothers and my girls. Genetics...so fascinating)

And they especially loved the cousins who gave them piggy back rides (I officially want a 10 year old)

Hailey even had fun all by herself...on the muddy beach after a late afternoon summer storm (which I will add was quite scary in a trailer)

Paige kept herself occupied with all sorts of activities...namely stealing her cousin's toys/bike

She also particularly enjoyed snapping and unsnapping this life jacket...ALL...DAY...LONG

And she really enjoyed pushing her cousin and 2nd cousin on the swings

And I really enjoyed it when my camera ran out of batteries! So convenient. I also really did enjoy spending the evenings chatting with Becc, hanging out on the beach all day long, eating whatever we felt like eating and not what our husbands wanted, and working out (Beachbody Insanity) on the beach...in front of EVERYONE!! Ok maybe I didn't enjoy that last one so much, but it was still a good idea! Overall it was a fun week...tiring but so worth it! I'm not sure if we'll do this again any time soon though, but we're glad we made the memories we did!

Still in July Here

2011-08-29T19:26:00.002-06:00

My goal is to catch up on July sometime before September hits...so here's another attempt:

Hailey turned 4 this year. I still clearly remember the day she was born (that's what us moms do though). It was a HOT HOT night, we had no AC, I had a bad case of PUPPS (google it), I was D-O-N-E being pregnant. Ben had just had wrist surgery that day and was knocked out on pain killers. I said a little prayer that night when we went to bed, pleading with my Heavenly Father to let this baby come ASAP. Then at midnight on the 14th of July Ben and I both woke up...me from pure itchiness due to the PUPPS, Ben from pain in his wrist. We gave Ben another strong does of Painkillers and then went for a walk to work off the pain...or something. We came back an hour later and went back to sleep. At 4 am I woke up...heard a pop...then saw my water break all over our nice new mattress! I tried as hard as I could to wake Ben up but he just wouldn't stir (darn pain meds/wrist surgery), so I called Ben's Aunt to drive us into the hospital in Calgary. We arrived with labour in full force...along with half of Calgary! I spent the next 11 hours of my labour in triage as I watched girl after girl deliver her baby in the HALLWAY!! It was a record breaking night in the hospital - and boy were things crazy! My mom arrived and we waited until a delivery room opened up for me. Soon after I made it into the delivery room I got my epidural, Ben also got a few pain killers snuck his way (shhhh...don't tell anyone, I'm sure that was breaking a few laws), and then Hailey arrived!! I was exhausted! I was emotional! I was so in love with that little baby!

I think all babies are special and miraculous...but there's just something so special about your first. And something even more special about that baby that comes and heals your heart after a devastating loss. I honestly never thought I would hold a baby in my arms...and that she would be breathing...and that I would get to take her home. It was such an amazing and lovely feeling! I'm always so grateful to have her in my life...that I get to love her and cuddle with her every single day!

I'm also grateful that I get to celebrate Birthdays with her...like her 4th Birthday!

4 year olds are fun because they get VERY excited to open their presents
4 year olds are fun because they make faces like this

4 year olds are fun because they still look so adorable blowing out their candles

Happy Birthday Hailey!! I'm so lucky to have a 4 year old to love and play and just enjoy!

Shaking the head

2011-08-25T14:41:00.004-06:00

This is my favourite picture of the summer:

It just totally sums up girls and boys. Paige was pushing these two cousins of hers on these swings (classic girl...taking care of the boys in her life), and the boys just weren't saying the kind of things that she wanted them to say (like "thank you" or "I really appreciate all the hard work you've done" or "your hair looks exceptionally beautiful today"). So she just covered her eyes and shook her head and said "Oh booooys". It's good to know that there are things she can change in her life, and there are things you just have to shake your head at.

I do this same shaking of the head when I have conversations like the following with Hailey

Hailey: Mom, is 'what the freak' a bad word?

Me: Yes

H: Is 'What the' bad?

M: Not really

H: Is 'What the heck' bad?

M: Yes

H: Is 'Underpants' bad?

M: ummm...yes it's kind of rude

H: Is 'Banana' bad?

M: uhhh...no?

H: What about 'banana pants'?

M: uhhh...??? (shakes head)

Shuswap

2011-08-09T09:11:00.010-06:00

Early in July we camped on Shuswap with our good friends the Chantelle and Sheldon and their beautiful kids. Do you have friends like these? Let me explain them to you...AMAZING! We met them years ago when Ben and I were managing an apartment building in Calgary. They were tenants there and even though I'm not even sure how it happened we very quickly became close friends. Maybe it's because Sheldon's one of those guys who gets along with everyone and had lots in common with Ben...or maybe it was because Chantelle and I could sit forever and just talk about anything. Whatever it is...our friendship just works. It was so sad when we both moved out of the apartment building and ended up an hour away from each other...somehow we need to live closer to this family because they're just so easy to be friends with.

Anyway, we planned our one major camping trip this year with them and I'm glad we did. We started the week out by spending a night at Chantelle's parents beautiful property near the lake. Stunning is all I can really say about where they live.

Then we headed to our campground and set up camp....nice set up hey?

Our kids got along great! So great in fact that they couldn't help being a little silly once in a while (well at least Hailey couldn't help it)

We made sure to keep our kids spotless at all times...camping is no fun when you're dirty. Ok I lie.

But Paige was especially easy to keep clean...in my dreams

What was surprising though was how horrified she was by the sticky stringy mess marshmallows made

We LOVED our evening campfires...can you see the baby sleeping behind that blanket? That's Chantelle's 3 month old baby who was AMAZING the whole week!

The kids spent a lot of time lounging and rearranging and lounging some more in these chairs

my girls and I figured our best bet at a decent picture was to just look silly...at least we're consistent right?

The best shot I could get of the guys...as they were getting the quads tied down to the trucks for a little fun

Popsicles...oh popsicles - we ate a TON of these all week!

Hailey explored and found little bugs to play with...she especially loved this caterpillar

Paige was a perfect doll and would sleep at the Beach during the day...seriously, isn't she so cute?

Hailey was a perfect doll and never sassed me at the beach

I occasionally asked Ben to take a picture of me to document the fact that I actually exist...most the time the pictures were blurry or over exposed. BUT at least I exist!

One evening we went for a walk to the nearby waterfalls. Ben and Hailey clearly didn't bring their faces.

another picture of me! Yay...I still exist!

Our little family at the falls

Anyway, the trip was soooo fun! I'm so glad that we finally got to camp with Chantelle and Sheldon! I hope to do it again next year! Thanks for inviting us and showing us around!

Canada Day

2011-07-25T22:07:00.004-06:00

We spent Canada Day in Raymond with Ben's Granny and Grandpa (and nana and grandpa and Chris and Lauren and kids too). It was fun...the parade was a blast! The Candy...oh the Candy. That's just not something I was used to having grown up in a big city. You sure don't get candy thrown at you during a parage where I grew up. So it was fun to watch. After the parade we went back to Granny and Grandpa's for a BBQ and my camera decided to grace us with it's presence.

Hailey LOVED playing in their backyard...it was FULL of bugs! She's been so obsessed with bugs lately...caterpillars, moths (or butterflies as she likes to call them), spiders, dragon flies and in this case Ladybugs.

The kids had a LOT of fun blowing bubbles

Nana (as my girls like to call her) had fun trying to teach Paige not to eat the bubble wand while blowing...and how to not spit while blowing either

We took a million silly pictures...this one pretty much says all you need to know about Ben and I

We found a perfect little grove of trees for pictures and took a million pictures here as well... only to notice after the kids were done that there was a big leaf in front of Ben's head (and that Hailey was too interested in finding bugs to even bother with looking at the camera). At least I look ok.

A normal picture of Ben and I

ooooooh....and a kissy one too. cover your eyes.

Ben and Paige hugging Granny Goodbye

And a goodbye hug for Grandpa too.

Overall the day was so relaxing and perfect. I'm glad we could get together and just have fun!

Ok...let's talk about june

2011-07-25T20:43:00.005-06:00

I can't believe July is basically over and I'm still just thinking about June. What is wrong with me? I guess you could call it "never ending RV-ing"! I am never home...which means my pictures never get the opportunity to even get uploaded onto my computer, which then means I never get to blog about them. But since I have a relatively quite week (I'm just planning one Birthday party and packing for a short 4 day camping trip) I think I might get sort of caught up here.

So, let's talk about June:

I pretty much covered most of it already, but I didn't talk about our trip to Tie lake. Some friends of ours invited us and a few other families who also have trailers to camp in our to their family's lake front property in BC. It was the perfect trip...tons of land (i.e. space) for us to park our RV's...beach front...with a pretty sweet boat...and great company. We had a LOT of fun. Really lots and lots and lots of fun!

Highlights of the trip were:

Loading all the kids (who obviously cooperated perfectly) into a canoe to take a million pictures...all of which turned out perfectly and not blurry at all.

Hailey just LOVED lighting the sparklers at night

Paige and I obviously captivated by something...not sure what though

We loved going out on the boat and killing ourselves...we especially loved watching these two get tossed on their tube ride

Paige loved struttin' it in her new 'life jacket'

The boys loved watching their smokin' wives go on a quad/bike ride...the babies loved it when we came back!

And that's it. The trip was just so nice, we all got along so well, we spent a lot of time just hanging around the campfire chatting and even more time watching the Hill's show us how the pros work the water. Thanks for the invite!

The Triathlon

2011-07-09T22:17:00.006-06:00

So I've been keeping a secret...sort of. Just a secret in the blogging world, but if you know my in real life or on Facebook then you know. BUT, I've been training for a triathlon...sort of. I haven't said anything on here before because I have never done a race of any sort ever, and I was scared if I put it in writing then somehow I would jinx myself. So I didn't blog about it.

Anyway, the last three months I've been semi training - meaning that I started to run (which I am absolutely terrible at), I continued with my swimming, and decided to ride my bike a bit more. Nothing hardcore that's for sure. I did make sure to get a good bike, run, or swim in every day - so I guess that's hardcore to some. Anyway, my sister Sarah and I have been training together/separately for this and although we were very very nervous about it all, we're SO glad we did it! We both came in under 2 hours! Neither one of us was last or even close to it...which I think is VERY impressive for two girls who don't run at all...aren't used to open water swims and haven't owned bikes for years. We kicked BUTT! And we're definitely going to do it again!

Here are a million pictures from my moms camera:

Me...getting suited up

Sarah and I ready to go

Sarah and I and Sarah's friend Mikyla

Me in my swim cap glory

Waiting for instructions

Waiting for the horn

More waiting

And we're off

Me finishing

Sarah and I getting ready to bike (I'm fighting with my shirt)

Sarah ready to go; Me doing up my shoes

Sarah taking off
Me taking off

Finishing the bike portion

Starting my run...I had some serious jelly legs and could barely even move

Me finishing the race...sooo happy!

Sarah finishing the race!

Our cheerleaders and us

Mom and us girls

The triathletes

And that's it! It was way better then I expected! The people were amazing and it was really a ton of fun. By the way...if you're curious, my times were: Total - 1:43; Swim (500m)-17 min; Bike (20km)-55min; Run (5km)-31 min

Paigey...how old are you?

2011-06-28T17:02:00.011-06:00

"Two" (with one finger held up of course)

So did ya know?

Did you know that my little baby went from this one day:

To this the next year:

And then this just this last week:

Can someone please tell me how that happened? How did she turn two?

Well she did...so I guess I have to accept it.

In an effort to show my acceptance to this unauthorized growing up, I decided to celebrate her Birthday. Her real Birthday was spent in BC with friends...but the next day we gave her some presents, let her open them, play with them and we let her lick her icing off her cupcake. Fun right?

Two seems to be a good age for Paige. She's talking a LOT more...she's playing a LOT more...and she's using the potty a LOT more. I like it...no I LOVE it! I just adore this little girl!

It's an early Birthday...sort of

2011-06-28T16:49:00.005-06:00

So Hailey's been wanting a 'real' bike for quite some time...and we thought that since that's just what parents were made to do, we would get her one. And since her Birthday so conveniently falls in the beginning of summer we'd get her one for her Birthday. But...we're cheap, and I have a hard time paying full price for anything. So we spent a LOT of time on kijiji looking for the perfect bike for our perfect child! We were lucky and we found a good bike for next to nothing...BUT we found it a bit before her birthday and this posed to be a bit of a problem. How could we hide this exciting purchase from her? Or how could we deny her the wonder of owning her own big girl bike for that long? So we just gave it to her early and decided to give her some small presents for her real Birthday. She really doesn't care anyway....especially since she's having so much fun!

We're really glad we gave her this bike when we did, because the very next day we went camping for our family reunion and all the big girls decorated their bikes and had a bike parade (in the rain). I can only imagine how devastated Hailey would have been if she didn't have a big bike to decorate. Thankfully I didn't have to imagine that....instead I got to see with my own eyes the pure joy of riding a newly decorated bike in a parade of other kids (with the help of g-ma who got all decked out in her poncho to battle the rain).

You've had a Birthday....shout Hurray!

2011-06-11T19:50:00.004-06:00

Ben had a birthday last week. So naturally Hailey and I put our heads together and decided to plan a REAL party for this special guy. Because what would a Birthday be without a party? So we made our guest list (Hailey, Paige, Ben and I), we bought the presents, we planned the menu and we organized games. And then we were lucky enough to have few surprise guests (i.e. the Allred's who popped in very last minute).

We started the evening with some delicious food - Parmesan chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, potato skins, garlic shrimp, steamed broccoli, Caesar salad and bread sticks.

Then we played a little pin the clothes on Daddy...who got very involved in the process. (p.s. do you like Hailey's artwork...his Hair? Very cute hey?)

Then Dad opened his presents...with a little help of course

Then Mom tried one present on...

Then we ate cake...and mom sang a amazing rendition of happy birthday. A performance that may never be seen again!

Paige attended the party in her own style (i.e. naked) which meant she wasn't in any pictures. But it also meant she was spending a lot of the time on the potty...and may have been successful in that area. Go Paige!

Okay...the winning outfit and prices!

2011-06-08T20:05:00.006-06:00

So to honour my only guaranteed commenter's (Christine and Caroline..well and my mom too - oh and Laura as well) I'll re post the pictures again...but with prices so you can recreate the look yourselves cause I KNOW everyone wants to look like me (Sarcasm intended). Really, it's so you can see how cheap I am with my my clothes - I hardly pay over $10 or $20 for anything (except a few solid basics). Also the winning outfit will be identified (i.e. the outfit I ended up wearing that night). I know you're dying to see!

Enjoy

Ok...this was fun. I think I should post pictures more often and let people help me decide what to wear to all my big events...like trips to the park, the library, or the grocery store. I really do hope to be the most stylish lady in the canned foods aisle.

The big Ol' High School Reunion

2011-06-05T22:17:00.003-06:00

This weekend was my high school reunion! I've been dreading this day for some time...and honestly I'm not even sure why. I wasn't miss popular in high school, so why did I suddenly think people who didn't care back then would suddenly care what I looked like now. But I was sort of worried that people would look at me and think "oooooh, so that's what you look like when you have kids." And not in a good way. One thing I am very grateful for is that one of my long term best friends (Laura) also graduated that year and we went together with our husbands. She was definitely my crutch for the evening and I needed one! Who knew all my high school insecurities would return for the night!

I was also a little bit worried about my identity...as in the answer to "what are you doing with your life?" I know that what I'm doing is important and amazing and oh so fun! But it really doesn't sound that glamorous. "So...I'm just staying home with my two kids - potty training, wiping little tushes - that kind of thing". Yeah, not so cool.

I also sometimes struggle with giving up my career. I mean it was a no-brainer to decide to give it all up for my kids...but I still wanted people to know that I did go to school, I got a business degree, worked for a few years in a pretty awesome career and was definitely going places. But how do you bring that up in a conversation 3 years after you gave it up? I didn't quite figure that out... so instead I just whipped out my phone and proudly showed the pictures of my amazing daughters. Because they're what matter right?

I was reminded of this very important lesson though:

Even though sometimes I feel like I'm struggling to figure out who I am and were exactly I belong in this huge world...one thing I do know without doubt is where in belong in the world of those two daughters of mine. Right smack dab in the middle of it! And that's just where I want to be!

Oh..and just for fun. I thought I'd share with you a little project I worked on this week. I wasn't really sure what to wear to the reunion, so I took a picture of myself in a million outfits (these are just a fraction of them) and emailed them to my mom and a few friends for advice. Have fun laughing at them at my expense. Also, be prepared for a few funny faces, a lot of blurry pictures and a few guest appearances by my talented photographer (Hailey).

May....wow, it's almost June

2011-05-24T20:34:00.004-06:00

Well...May has come and it's almost nearly gone! Yikes! That means it's basically summer. Which is so great! Soooooo great!

So I guess I should do a quick recap of May:

May first = mom being tired from a busy April. So Ben took Hailey to Claresholm for the day and I stayed home with Paige. Let's just say, ONE kid is way harder then two! I had to do so much more entertaining and playing then I normally do. We had fun though and even went to the park (and then dinner with friends who took pity on me).
The weather this month was gorgeous! I won't even get into the whole "it's about time thing" because I fully understand and accept that I live in Alberta. It's been a wintery mess like this my whole life. I don't have dreams to move anywhere else, so I better not complain about this beautiful beautiful place I live! Anyway, because the weather was so great we spent a TON of time outside. In fact I tried not to let my girls inside the house at all...unless it was absolutely necessary. And eating meals wasn't a good enough reason to come inside. So we had a TON of picnics on the back deck. I LOVE my backyard!

So this isn't so much a May thing...but more of an every day thing; BUT I've definitely got a little girl on my hands. We spent a lot of time this month having fashion shows and clothing parades (which apparently are NOT the same thing). We spent a lot of time dancing and batting our lashes and talking about how stylish we were. I'm not sure, but I think I may need to keep an eye on this one as she gets older

Mothers day rolled around. To celebrate Ben and I went out on a date...FINALLY! We did some shopping first - which is really the only gift I could think of for Mother's day - I might have a clothing obsession! Then we had a big mothers day dinner at our home on Sunday (with both sides of our family) which was soooo wonderful! It was awesome to have so many mothers in our home celebrating each other! We are great! At the end of the evening the stragglers all went for a walk to the park by our house. This picture is probably the best you can get of all the Grand kids on my side of the family!
The most exciting event in all of May for us (and especially Hailey) was that Alisa and Yuka came home from Japan. Hailey LOOOOOVES her cousin Alisa! Now if only Addie would come home from the Caribbean - then Hailey would be in Heaven!

Aren't they soooo cute together??

This last weekend we decided to take our trailer out for the first time this year....which means we had to stop in Claresholm to pick up an extra quad...which means the girls got to go on quad rides with their grandpa

Hailey got to ride her Christmas present for the first time....she's hooked!

Daddy also took her out on his quad a few times

Camping was great: I sat around the campsite and ate food. Does it get any better?

We bought a hammock when we were in Mexico this year. We Obviously LOVED it!

Ben and some of our nephews played on the Hammock

Hailey and her cousin played on the Hammock

Paige and I played with the Hammock. We all loved the Hammock...nerdy I know.

We camped in Montana - it was really kind of cool. We were right on Lake Kucanusa which is a reservoir. Apparently they had just barely closed the dam, so the water was really low. Which meant the banks of the lake were completely bare - and all sand! Picture sand dunes...now picture quads on those sand dunes. Amazing.

So that's it for May. Our June looks promising! We're hoping to camp twice in June, attend my High school Reunion, celebrate Paige's Birthday, and if Ben's on his best behaviour he might get a birthday and/or fathers day too (I think his gift this year will be quadding helmets for all of us, what do you think?)

I need to blog

2011-05-19T09:10:00.001-06:00

But instead I feel like doing this:

I'm not pregnant or anything terribly exciting like that (which is what I know you were thinking), but I'm just very busy and very worn out. I will be back next week though and hopefully something blog worthy happens in my life before then. If not...well, I'll come up with something.

Oh Right...we celebrated Easter

2011-05-05T16:52:00.005-06:00

How could I forget? Easter is only one of my favourite Holidays! Nothing...and I mean NOTHING beats the candy you can get at Easter. LOVELY!

We celebrated in the normal fashion...

An early rising for the girls so they could glance at their baskets before we headed to church.

(is this picture not perfect blackmail material one day)

This one too I guess...I have so much to work with:)

Then an Easter egg hunt with the cousins in the evening...

My girls were lucky because they had most of their cousins there...even Jaxson and Millie who are actually on the other side of the family.

We also were very lucky to celebrate a day earlier with Ben's cousins and their families. There was a LOT of candy involved...and I'm just fine with that! mmm candy! Really, I regret not having bought more Easter candy this year, it was all gone before I was ready to say goodbye. There's always next year I guess...or Walmart at least.

My everyday life

2011-04-29T10:32:00.005-06:00

It seems like I'm hardly ever in front of the camera (usually just behind it)...and thanks to a little project we put together with the sisters in my Relief Society at Church, I was forced to get a few shots of ME! We put together a little slide show/video of every woman that attends our church, and that's why I needed a picture of myself. The extra challenge was that we wanted the pictures to be of the every day variety. The kind of picture that shows what we actually do in our every day life. So I of course put on a cute outfit, did my hair and even put on a little makeup - because that's 'everyday' right?

I mean...of course we're this dolled up and happy when making buns. And my girls always have their hair done.

Or my computer desk is never cluttery when I'm playing on my computer and talking on the phone....I also NEVER wear sweats

And I always make sure the rest of the house if clean before I fold laundry. And I also strategically place the laundry so it looks messy...but really isn't.

So that's my 'everyday' life. Now just look at those picture again, and imagine my hair not done, my face without makeup, my girls still in their pj's with hair all over the place, my house cluttery and dusty and everything a little bit crazier. Now that...THAT is my EVERYDAY life!

Girls are no fun...

2011-04-25T20:06:00.012-06:00

There's just nothing fun about girls....nope not at all.

We don't get to buy girls fun things like a pink camo quad...and then let them play on it while wearing only pink.

They don't ask to have their picture taken constantly and strike beautiful poses every time...and they especially do not have their dad wrapped around their little fingers
They don't tell the most animated and fascinating stories about Princesses and their amazing adventures

They don't make hanging out in purple lawn chairs with gum boots seem so sweet

And they definitely do not rock the trike and tu-tu look. I mean...that's not adorable right?

I am NOT at all lucky two have two little girls. And I must be crazy to think it would be fun to have more. Because Girls....they're just no fun.

5 Years

2011-04-08T13:51:00.004-06:00

Do you know what 5 years does to you? It let's you smile and mean it. It's let's you sort of forget big dates....but not entirely. It let's you love what your life is today, and not worry too much about what it could have been.

I've been kind of weepy this week, and I've been obsessively remembering my life 5 years ago. I just realized today why. Five years ago this week was the week I was scheduled to 'deliver' the twins. 5 years ago this week I had no twins to deliver because they had died in utero in January. 5 years ago this week I was empty, and broken, and destroyed. 5 years ago this week was a hard time to be me.

Today...this week... I smiled and I really truly meant it. I snuggled with one daughter who was sick, and I played with my other daughter who needed some mom time. I hung out with my husband who also happens to be my best friend. Although I still sometimes wonder what my life could have been, I'm mostly just happy with what it is!

So to mark this date, I'll share a picture that means a lot to me. This was Ben and I at the memorial for our twins. We were definitely putting on a strong face. We were smiling...but not really meaning it. We were however, together and still strong as ever. And that...that very important detail hasn't changed. Life is good.

Perfect

2011-04-06T15:57:00.004-06:00

Someone was feeling a little under the weather this weekend (i.e. fever, chills, cough, runny nose, sleeping extreme amounts etc.) This child of mine never gets sick, so it really is heartbreaking when she does. And normally I would think it too mean to document a sick child with the camera...but she just looked so fragile, and delicate...not to mention graceful when she fell asleep on the couch, that I couldn't resist taking this picture.

Isn't she perfect?

P.S. If you want to see some pictures of her and the other child of mine when they were feeling better, head on over to: http://laurataylorphotography.ca/blog/ . I'm really very lucky to have such a great friend who is so talented.

Some good ol' Randomness

2011-04-01T21:28:00.005-06:00

So there's really nothing exciting to share these days. We're not really doing anything all that exciting around here. We've been playing with friends, we were still dog sitting this week, we got some great weather (but not enough to melt the entire enormous amount of snow we got this winter...but enough to enjoy), and we did a lot of relaxing/organizing/watching tv/decorating kind of stuff. Nothing all that noteworthy, but still worth doing.

So the weather...LOVELY. It finally melted the snow off our deck. And the girls got out and rode their bikes. Have I explained why we ride bikes on the deck? Well partly cause it's HUGE...and mostly because we live on a busy street, and this way I don't have to monitor very closely. It works for us. However, doesn't this one look too young to be on a tricycle?

Seeing this pictures gets me all nostalgic and makes me think about all the fun things I did with Hailey when she was Paige's age, and how HUGELY pregnant I was. It's sort of weird to not have a baby in my tummy right now, but I'm also enjoying the freedom it gives me. I really hope to have another baby one day (in the not too distant future), but right now things are good the way they are.

Speaking of good, Hailey's starting to really enjoy taking pictures with my camera. I think she's getting pretty good at framing her subject! Now if only her subject would cooperate and make a normal face...

And finally...something very random but so very worthy of being blogged about. I woke the girls up early this morning to get some pictures for a Relief Society project. I didn't feed them or even dress them first. I thought it would be like a fun sleepover / picnic type thing in the car. I just don't think Hailey quite agreed:

Anyway, that's it for now.

A glimpse into my daily life

2011-03-28T17:07:00.000-06:00

Sometimes my life is so wonderfully boring that I have to take pictures of little things like this:

A three (almost four) year old all dolled up and ready to splash in the puddles

Or that three (almost four) year old who refuses to wear clothes, and her 21 month (almost two year) old sister who wears them for her...on top of her own clothes

Or that same 21 month (almost 2 year old) who likes to sit and study the fliers...just like here dad!

These are the things that make my life just to so perfect...and just so normal. I love normal.

p.s. do you see that dog in the 2nd picture? No we did not get a dog...we're just dog sitting my brother and Sister in laws dog for the week. I have to say, I've learned a few things about dogs this week:

one - I'm still allergic

two - dogs don't like to listen to me

three - dogs remind me of a certain 3 (almost 4) year old I know...one that needs to be reminded to pee all the time, be played with constantly and is ALWAYS right on my heel.

Anyway, we really have had a lot of fun with Ni-Ni here this week, I know my girls are going to be BEGGING me for a dog for a long time to come. They can just count their current blessings though because I like things as they are.

Stunning

2011-03-26T16:46:00.001-06:00

I love my Country. I love my little town. And sometimes I need to be reminded of that...like when it's still clearly winter and we're just days away from April! I just have to say, this little home of mine is very lucky that it regularly surprises me with stunning views like these:

We're so used to the beautiful frosty trees we get here during the winter, but yesterday's frost was exceptional. I wish I was a better photographer so I could really capture what it was that I saw...because it truly was stunning!

Before and after

2011-03-25T16:24:00.003-06:00

Paige...before naptime

Paige...after naptime

Poor kid.

Huatulco - Day 7-8

2011-03-18T21:32:00.015-06:00

Day 7 (Santa Cruz)

On our last day in Huatulco, we woke up to this Sleeping Beauty

The kids were definitely running out of steam by this day...they just played SO hard all the time. Thank goodness it mean they slept hard as well!

After breakfast we all headed down to the snorkel Beach for some fun in the sun. Ben and my Mom played in the waves and the rest of us made sand castles

Later we headed over to the kids club and left the kids with my parents....Paige sure LOVES her Bumpa

While my parents watched the kids, Ben and I took one of these bad boys out (the Catamaran that is...not the resort worker)

It was so nice...and so relaxing. I loved just sitting back soaking in the sun while the spray from the salt water cooled us off. It was definitely a good way to end the day

The girls really really LOVED the kids club!

Hailey also really really loved all the towel art our housekeeping left for us each day

Later that afternoon my parents went on a Sunset Cruise of the Bays of Huatulco. Apparently it was really quite beautiful...but I'm not jealous at all. Really who would want to watch the sun set on the Pacific Ocean, on a Sailboat, in 30C weather, with your best friend beside you. I mean, that doesn't sound perfect at all...right? Ok, I wish I was there too!

But to make up for it, Ben and I and the girls went into Santa Cruz that evening o do some more shopping.

So I had been very careful this while trip to monitor exactly what my girls ate - we did NOT want them getting sick. But there was just something about the ice cream the street vendor was selling from a box at the front of his bike. Maybe it was the intense humidity that hit us once the sun set, or maybe it was because we just felt so safe in Huatulco, or maybe it was because it was coconut ice cream...whatever it was, we're glad we bought some because it was heavenly!

The girls loved it!

Now this is another thing I LOVE about Huatulco...it just felt so safe! It was getting really dark and Ben really wanted to run back to the market and buy this hammock he saw...and the girls and I just didn't feel like going with him. So...he left us alone in the town square to wait for him. I felt safe the entire time! I have been more scared in broad daylight in Calgary then I did in Santa Cruz in the dark. I just love this place!

I also love Hailey's imagination..."look mom" she said, "I'm an Elephant!"

Once we all got back to the resort, we went for our last "a la carte" meal of the week (dinner at a restaurant instead of the buffet).

we toured the grounds and said "goodbye" to everything we were going to miss...like the foot showers

And then we watched the final performance in the theatre and went back to our rooms to sleep. Our last night in Mexico :(

Day 8 - going Home

We were so sad to leave this little piece of paradise. Even though the heat was starting to wear on Paige, and I was sort of looking forward to my own room; we really did NOT want to leave. So on the last day we made sure to take our time getting ready. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and Ben and Hailey even took one last trip to the Beach...while Paige and I packed (why do mom's always get the hard jobs?).

anyway, I had two cute little helpers

Once we were packed we loaded all our stuff into this shuttle bus (just like the many shuttle buses we took to get us around the resort throughout the week) and headed to the main lobby to wait for our bus to the airport

Hailey was very insistent that she pull her own suitcase...and we were grateful for the extra hand, that's for sure

The airport was HOT...hot enough that Ben took the girls to the bathroom and soaked them in water in an attempt to cool them off. It sort of worked. Grandpa was good at distracting them from the heat and all the waiting we had to do.
The last picture of the group (minus my mom, who took the picture). We were HOT...they airport was completely open to the outdoors and had no circulation at all.

Once we cleared security though we entered into the most glorious air-conditioned room. It was so nice. I almost think they make the airport so hot so that we actually look forward to going home to our frozen tundra....almost.

But we are happy to be home, we just hope to return again soon. This trip was really fun. I LOVED bringing our girls with us, and I especially loved having my parents come along. We debated and debated about where to go, and we weren't really sure about Mexico because of how dangerous it is in other areas. But we did the research and felt really good about going to Huatulco, and I'm glad we did because I believe we've discovered a hidden gem. It's one of those places that we want to return to again and again...and keep a secret so that it never changes.

Huatulco - Day 5-6

2011-03-18T14:45:00.007-06:00

Day 5 (the Beach...again)

We spent a LOT of time just hanging out at the Beach this trip...and rightfully so, that was the while point of the trip!

We also spent a LOT of time drinking Pinada's...mmmmm

More pinada...

Ben and I...all dressed up and ready to go out for our "Anniversary Dinner"...alone

The view from our Restaurant...Beautiful

Mmmmmmmm
This is the kind of stuff Grandma lets my kids do while she babysits....I hope they're tickling her feet and not being forced to massage them:)

Day 6 (We found the Kids club!)

So up until day six we'd been working our way through the three beaches and the main pool...they were all fun, but none of them were all that relaxing. Have you ever travelled with a fearless 20 month old? Well let's just say it's BUSY! Especially when you're in potential drowning areas. So needless to say, we were very excited to find the kids club...with a shallow wading pool, a trampoline, a slide, a swing set, and chairs to lounge in!

Way more relaxing....as you can see.

The girls thought I needed to have a flotation device...so I humoured them (little do they know, my flotation is built in:)

Grandma and Grandpa got along great!

Later that day while Paige was napping we took Hailey into the shade to paint a little Iguana...she obviously loved it:)

We also decided to play a game of Uno: Hailey's tough competition...it's always so hard to know what kind of cards she has
Later that night they had a traditional Mexican fair for the kids - Pinata and all. Of course I didn't get a picture of Hailey 'tapping' so lightly on the pinata. But I did get a good one of Ben and I

The girls playing with the balloons....don't they have the best hair? I think they were made to live in that kind of humidity!

Stay tuned for the last two days of our trip

Huatulco - Day 4

2011-03-16T14:58:00.009-06:00

Day 4 (FUN!)

This was the day that Ben and I went on a Jet ski/Snorkeling Tour. Huatulco is centered around 9 Bays along the coast, all of which sport some amazing Beaches. Some of these beaches are in protected National Park land and are only accessible by boat. Which is why the jet skis were so important. We toured most of the bays and coves on the jet skis and then our guide brought us to one amazing beach so we could snorkel. It was pretty fun!

Waiting for our bus to come pick us up and take us to the Marina

A view from the Main lobby...still waiting for our bus

A pic of us just before we dove in the water for some snorkeling

The Beach we left the jet skis on while we snorkeled...we're pretty sure this was a boat access only kind of beach

One of our guides took pictures of us under the water with all the cool things we found and held - like blow fish and starfish etc. We bought the pictures off him and didn't realize until we made it back to Canada that all the pictures of us were missing from the CD. Oops. What can you do though? There were tons of us on the jet skis and tons of all the fish he saw...just none of us under the water. Oh well.

Anyway, my parents watched the Girls for us while we went on the tour (we're very grateful)...AND we were lucky enough to make it back into time to catch these little trouble makers eating ice cream in the snack bar/restaurant.

We loved the snack bar - it was located right off of our favourite Beach (the snorkel Beach) and it provided us with ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and Nachos ALL day long. The girls especially liked having some recognizable food to eat!

After the ice cream, Ben took Paige back to the room for a nap and Hailey, my parents and I hung out on the Beach.

We found an Iguana on the rocks just off the beach. Hailey was pretty excited about this guy...which is shocking since she Freaked out over s spider on our first day there:)

My little Beach babe....I just have to say: She was soooo beautiful this trip. The humidity made her wavy hair a little bit more curly and she just looked like the perfect little beach babe the whole time! Don't you agree?

So that's Day 4 - I'll post the rest later.

P.S. Did you notice that my camera was working again? We woke up to a fully functioning camera - definitely a Mexican Miracle! We just made sure to not bring it under water again.

Edited to Add Pictures from my Mom's camera:

While we were snorkeling....my parents took the girls to the 'theatre' to watch the practice for our nightly dance/theatre performaces (I have to say, these performances were entertaining....very entertatining:)

My parents took a kayak out for a spin that afternoon (after we'd returned)

Hailey and I...at the Beach

Huatulco - Days 1-3

2011-03-15T17:38:00.002-06:00

Woohoo!

Ben and I and the girls...aaaaaand my parents went to Huatulco Mexico last week. It was a last minute Holiday and I'm so glad my parents could come.

The entire trip was Perfect!

The food rocked! We ATE soooo much! We ate and ate and ate and ate....and when we weren't eating we were drinking Pinada's (aka virgin pina colada's).

And when we weren't eating or drinking we were lounging on the Beach (or chasing kids).

The resort we stayed at was marvelous.
The staff was amazing.
The company was perfect
The weather was to die for!

Now, to document the trip with photos:

p.s. I KNOW this is probably soooooo boring to anyone but myself, so feel free to just skim through the pics, I just need to record it all in detail for my records.

Day one (the flight)

We flew with Sunwing Airlines. The girls did great on the flight there. Hailey was captivated with the movies on my iphone the entire time and Paige was happy to eat and play and even nap. It was way better then expected! It helped that my parents had an extra seat beside them so we just sent Hailey over to sit with them, that left both Ben and I to deal with the Paiger.

At the Airport waiting to take-off. Paige was very into my moms bag...she can smell candy a mile away!

Day two (First day at the Beach)

We arrived once the sun went down (6:30 pm) so we couldn't see the ocean or the beach the first night. We did explore a bit but it was all a bit eerie because we just couldn't see where we were. So we were very excited to wake up and see what this place actually looked like.

Our room...the girls waking up to see the place. It was almost like Christmas!

The view from our room...we were NOT disappointed.

Me - day one (spray tan and all). Maybe it's vain to have a bathing suit shot of me, but I don't care! There are very few pictures for my from this trip and I will share the few I think I look ok in (eve nif my legs look a ltitle bit dwarfed in this picture).
Hailey couldn't WAIT to get her snorkel gear on... and I don't think I need to be biased to say that she was the cutest snorkeler on the beach

She was also a pretty cute Mermaid

Paigey LOVED the water (she's laughing not crying in this picture). She also gave her Bumpa and Bumpapa (or Grandma and Grandpa) quite the workout with her running and jumping in the waves. No fear I tell ya.

The resort we stayed at had three separate and private Beaches. One of the Beaches has a coral reef in it's bay and Ben spent a LOT of time exploring. We borrowed my sisters waterproof camera for the trip and Ben thought he'd take it out to explore underwater. Unfortunately the camera wasn't as waterproof as we'd hoped and this was the last picture we knowingly took with the camera.

Apparently the camera still took pictures though. How did we know this you ask? Of course we still randomly posed and pretended to take pictures (because we're cool like that). Who knew they would actually work:)

Hi mom!

Day Three (camera still on the brink of destruction)

A day the sport Beach. We had LOTS of fun at this Beach, we took the Sea 'kayaks' and Catamaran's out for a spin, we played in the sand, we lounged on our chairs...

And of course we drank Pinada's (and the camera still mysterious took pictures)

Later that day we went to La Crucecita (a 40 peso taxi ride away) and shopped in the little market. This place is SO different then Puerto Vallarta. I was expecting some serious bargaining to happen...but instead we basically paid list price for anything we bought. Which honestly, is fine. If I can afford this trip, I can afford to pay the asking price for anything I buy.

Another unknown shot - playing with Grandma's trinkets she bought in La Crucecita

And that's it ... for Day's 1-3 at least.

I'll post days 4+ later....I might even have had a little Mexican camera miracle - so stay tuned!

Edited to ADD pictures from my Mom's camera:

First Night:

Hailey saw an itsy bitsy spider and freaked out! She literally jumped on my leg and wouldn't let even an inch of her touch the ground until the spider was gone. WOW!

Day Two:

Getting the kids all 'hatted' and ready to play in the sun

Snorkle Bum

Playing 'rook' Mexican style (Those are phase 10 cards...that we re-labled so we could play our favourite card game)

Day Three:

Hailey and Ben coming back from a Kayak ride
Walking around La Crucecita...everyone loved the blonde kids!

A quick Hi

2011-03-12T21:23:00.003-07:00

We've been having fun...and now we're pretty busy. BUT - I thought I'd drop in and just give a quick wave. I'm still here, and I'll post more about this fabulous experience later.

Adios...for now

I might be biased

2011-02-25T11:33:00.005-07:00

I'm know I'm biased...but I think I have beatiful children:

Hailey, who let me do her Hair today:

Paige, who wouldn't let me even come close to her hair...or her soo

We're lucky in this house

2011-02-16T15:02:00.004-07:00

When Valentine's day comes around this house...we all get a little lucky. Why? Well because not only is it Valentine's (on the 14th) but it's our Anniversary (on the 15th). So that means we celebrate twice...and because this year our girls are ALL about princesses and all things fancy, the got in on the celebration. Romantic hey? Well, that's our life right now.

Being the lucky girls we are, Ben brought us all home roses. I am not someone who has a problem receiving roses on Valentine's day. I KNOW they are overpriced and blah blah blah, but if my husband wants to buy me roses, I'll let him!

Hailey and Paige were Lovin' their roses and were very grateful to their dad for supplying the goods.

Hailey was in Fairy Princess la-la land and couldn't stop smiling, and prancing around and batting her eyelashes and so on.

Paige thought her rose was a sword and kept hitting us with it "Whap whap whap".

Did you know my girls are cute? Well they are!

Especially in their new Valentine's PJ's

I got spoiled with a million roses...or just enough that I almost couldn't squeeze them into my vase. Which is fine by me...like I said, I don't mind flowers ONE bit!

Now, just so you don't sit there puking over how gushy I am...just know that Ben didn't get home from work until 8pm that night. And then I went swimming soon after. So dreamy!

Then our Anniversary was equally as gushy...we ate crepes as a family for dinner. No romantic dinner for two that's for sure, and I'm just fine with that! There's nothing better then spending time with my little family. Then we put the girls to bed and watched a movie...that Ben proceeded to sleep through! I guess that's what 8 years does to ya. We are hoping to get out by ourselves this weekend...and we're really really hoping to go somewhere tropical someday in the not so distant future where we might just get to have a dinner alone. We'll see.

Let down your hair

2011-02-10T15:31:00.007-07:00

I feel like I need to let my hair down and just relax a little. I've been so super stressed out lately...and sometimes I wonder if it's that I just don't have the coping skills to deal with every day life, or if maybe it's that my every day life really is stressful. These last few weeks I've been particularly busy dealing with my church calling (i.e. visiting with sisters in our ward, planning a special breakfast for the Young Women coming to Relief Society, planning our upcoming activity this month and so on), I've been kind of busy with the girls and making sure they are in all the places they need to be (preschool, naps, baths, potty breaks, meals etc), I've been kind of busy with Ben working so much (i.e. last week we didn't see him at all...unless you count the time I spend in bed sleeping, because he eventually made it there), we've been busy buying a new vehicle (hello minivan), and we've been the MOST busy showing our other house, renting the other house, and getting our other house ready for our renters. Seriously, that was a LOT of work.

This is good news...and maybe this will be a huge stress reliever (because in case you were wondering, we've been paying 2 mortgages for three months. And in case you were wondering, it's not fun at all). Anyway, it's been the kind of month where I think I might just develop an ulcer, or the kind of month where I literally forgot to eat all day long, or the kind of month where I realize I haven't showered in DAYS.

So here's to a new month, one where our financial burden is less, one where I am driving my kids around in a nice roomy mini van, one where we might see Ben more often and one where I might actually get some laundry done, and shower, and make dinner and clean my house! Good things will come our way!

So...speaking of letting your hair down, this one sure knows how to:

I was cleaning the bathroom today and could faintly hear "Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair" So I snuck into the room and found my very own Rapunzel letting her 'hair' down. So sweet.

Also, while we're talking about hair, this one sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out:
Or at least give me some more grey hair with all the climbing and getting into stuff she does around here. She's kinda adorable though hey? We'll definitely keep her:)

You'll always be my BABY

2011-01-26T12:02:00.004-07:00

A few days ago Ben took Hailey with him to wash the truck. Don't ask me why the truck needed to be washed, because it hasn't left the safety of our heated Garage for over a month...and it was clean when it entered it's hibernation. It was all beyond me. But I guess you can never really understand a man and his truck.

Anyway...the story. So he took Hailey with him. 5 minutes later he called and told me he left me a surprise in the mud room and to go check it out. I was pretty excited because he OWED me big time for the last 'surprise' he gave me *I'll tell you about it later*. So I ran down stairs and found this:

What a sweet little surprise. Even though this little 3 year old NEVER naps anymore - and hasn't for over a year, and even though she tells me to "get out of her room" regularly like she's a teenager, and even though she has the vocabulary of a 30 year old, and even though she's soooo grown up ALL the time...

She will still always be my baby.

p.s. the story about my last surprise. This last December I spent a LOT of money on clothes. I felt guilty so decided that they would be my Christmas presents from Ben. So Christmas eve I told him to wrap my presents...they were in a bag in our closet. So he did. Christmas morning, I saw that I had some presents under the tree...I also saw that MY presents were still in the bag in my closet unwrapped! YAY! That could only mean a surprise gift!! Ben's usually so great at Christmas time so I just KNEW he had bought me some amazing gift! I was truly excited to open the one present under the tree I didn't know about...what could it be? Imagine my surprise when I found a size 5T winter coat - meant for Hailey for next year - in the present addressed to me. Turns out Ben wrapped the clothes from the wrong bag in the closet (i.e. he wrapped the clothes I got on sale at Old Navy for the girls to grow into). Merry Christmas to me. Next year I'll let Ben do his own shopping...it seems to work better that way in this house.

Making Candy necklaces

2011-01-18T19:15:00.004-07:00

So a friend of ours dropped of a little 'make your own candy necklace' pack for each of the girls. So thoughtful. So fun.

We were so excited to get started. I figured this was an activity best left to the few moments during the day when Paige is napping...so we quickly put her to bed and Hailey and I got started.

The excitedment quickly turned to frustration. Is there anything more fun then 50 little tiny candy beads that need to be strung by 'three year old fingers' onto a tiny elastic string? This kind of thing is just up our alley...of course no one cried when the candies fell on the ground or the elastic moved a bit, I never tried to convince anyone that they should just eat the candy and forget the necklace part, I also didn't hide the other one from Paige. Nope. We just happily enjoyed making the necklace.

Actually in all honesty, the kit was really cute. We had lots of fun...and once we figured out how to work together (a little mommy daughter bonding here) it was really easy and fun! We definitely will buy more and make them again. Hailey LOVED it! She wore it for a whopping 45 minutes before all the candy was gone. She even begged me to buy her another one. And I will. Soon.

Pushing Chairs

2011-01-18T18:33:00.003-07:00

Someone...the 18 month old...Paige, has learned to push the kitchen chairs around the kitchen to facilitate her getting into everything she isn't supposed to. Things like:

the rice
the flour
the candy stash
the chocolates (which are not the same as the candy stash in case you were wondering)
the chips
the sink
the dish soap
the dishes
the silverware
the recipe books
the iphone
the ipod

The list doesn't end there. And neither does the list of things she gets into without chairs, these would be things like:

the tupperware drawer
the toilet water
my toothbrush...
...and the toilet water
my toothbrush and anything dusgusting you can think of
bath soap
toothpaste
diaper cream
lotion
shampoo
conditioner
her clothes
my clothes
Bens clothes
Hailey's clothes

You get the picture...or shall I go on? Other things she does that are a little crazy include:

jumping off the couch
jumping off the stairs
dives and somersaults
headstands on the couch
climbing out of the bathtub...headfirst
climbing back into the tub...or jumping in from the ledge that is
climbing onto ANYTHING!

the one thing she hasn't done yet?

Climb out of her CRIB!

Honestly, how has this child (the child who honestly has no limits) not climbed out of her crib yet? I'm not about to ask her though.

So many reasons

2011-01-11T12:21:00.005-07:00

There are just so many reasons why I love having two girls...and why I would love more one day. Girls are just so fun! I especially LOVE having these two little girls for each other - they LOVE each other (well, to be honest...there are times when the love's not so strong). BUT - the over all feeling is love and friendship, and I'm so glad they have each other to play with.

Now...today's reason why I love having girls is:

I just don't think boys would give you this kind of picture opportunity.... where else can you see Rapunzel brushing Tinkerbell's hair...while Tinkerbell is sitting patiently in a baby stroller. Do you see that little purse with a cell phone hanging out of it? Well, Rapunzel may have JUST finished her conversation with her Prince Eugene...I think they're planning to meet up to get married later this afternoon. Don't tell her Dad.

Or:

Where else can you see Rapunzel giving Tinkerbell a ride in the stroller because her 'wings are broken'?

Only girls. And that's why I LOVE mine.

The Year in Review

2011-01-05T22:06:00.003-07:00

2010...what a year!! This has been the busiest, most stressful, yet most rewarding year of my life...so far that is! Our Year Consisted of:

Babies growing bigger, Girls growing older, Husbands turning 30, Wives turning 27 (not quite as exciting), Houses being bought (well just one), Houses (just one again) being rented - and then vacated, Camping...and more camping, and then when we thought we were sick of camping - even more camping, trips to Vegas, Missionaries coming home, Siblings getting married, weight lost - and then gained and lost again, 3172 Pictures being taken, a million hugs and kisses given....even more received, 7 years of marriage celebrated, good friends enjoyed, cousins played with, some said goodbye to (for the time being at least), Grandparents adored and loved, grandpas/dads retiring, and so on.

It's been a good year. So in honour of this Good Year we've had, I put together a little video of pictures. You've seen most of these pictures, but some of them are new. I mostly just enjoy watching how the girls have grown this past year.

Enjoy (oh...and I should warn - when I was uploading this video I accidentally uploaded the wrong one...which means it's got some stuff wrong - like the month of the Olympics and a few other things. I would upload the correct one, but I maxed out my weekly limit. So next week, I'll fix it, and you'll get to see the newer and better version - with correct dates, and a few more pics. OK?)

Now onto 2011...what are our plans? Maybe we'll go camping some more, maybe we'll travel somewhere fun, hopefully we won't be moving or selling or anything like that, maybe we'll start thinking about another baby? One day. But mostly we'll just enjoy being together.

Christmas...

2010-12-30T10:45:00.006-07:00

Oh Christmas...how I LOVE Christmas! This year was just perfect! Maybe it was the brilliant weather, or all the snow on the ground, or the great family we got to spend the holidays with, or our sweet girls who were very excited - especially Hailey! She is at the PERFECT age for Christmas! I think she'll be the perfect age for a few years to come....which is great because soon enough Paige will be the perfect age. I can hardly wait!

I think one of the best things about Christmas this year was the "Santa Threat". You know, the "you'd better be good because Santa's watching" threat. LOVED it! One time Hailey was being exceptionally difficult (she's three it's normal right?), anyway, we told her she'd better be good or we'd call Santa. Her response?

"Santa doesn't have a phone!!"

Oh.

So we told her that we'd email him...and that did the trick. How times have changed.

Anyway, we were busy all month with our advent calendar activities. One of our favourites was making popcorn garland. The 1 year old dumped the bowl of popcorn on the floor, and the three year old vacuumed it up. What could be more fun? Needless to say, no popcorn garland made it on the tree. But honestly, this was WAY more fun for them!

We hosted Christmas at our home this year, which worked out great! Our kids got to sleep in their own beds - and nothing is more important then a good nights sleep. Ben's family all came up Christmas eve (except his sister and her family who are unfortunate to have to live in the Caribbean).

Grandma read the girls a new book. Hailey LOVED it. Paige learned to say "ho ho ho".

We ate food ALL night long, then got the kiddos into their PJ's and took a picture. Paige of course sent death rays to Jaxson/his bottle. I forsee a great friednship developing between these two cousins:)

We had WAY too many presents under the tree...don't worry they aren't all ours (remember?Ben's family was here too)

We had to eventually wake the girls up Christmas morning - who sleeps in on Christmas? My girls I guess.

Hailey had a lot of fun opening all her million presents...here's the apron I made her (Paige has one too, and if I get around to it, I will as well)

The last present of the day was this beauty:

Yep...it's a pink camo quad! It's real too. Gas powered and all. Don't worry, they'll have helmets and we even have a remote shut down. I'm not sure who was more excited about it...Ben or Hailey. Ben probably. (p.s. it's obviously hard to keep clothes on our girls...whatev)

We spent the rest of the day relaxing - playing with Grandmas ipad.

Ok - I didn't relax at all for the rest of the day...because I was busy making my FIRST ever Turkey dinner! It turned out perfectly! We brined the turkey over night and then rubbed the bird with spices...it was divine!

Overall the Holiday was so wonderful. Can I get any cheesier? I don't think so...but it really was that great. We all got SPOILED! The girls especially. They deserve it though...right? The company was great. The food was delicious. The weight gain was worth it.

We're still looking forward to the get together with my side of the family. Our schedules just didn't work this year...so we haven't got together just yet. But we will!!

Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas...and I hope you have a Happy New Year!

The Gingerbread house

2010-12-15T19:56:00.007-07:00

So we broke down.

We bought a pre made gingerbread house (because we're creative like that).

All we had to do was decorate it.

Somehow things went off course.

I'm not sure who started all the silliness.

Maybe it was Colonel Mustard...

in the library....

with the candlestick?

Or maybe it was this little person...

aiming for a little world dominance?

We had a fun night though, the gingerbread house got about half the given candy on it, and the Heating Technician in our house insisted it needed a HUGE chimney. I love my family.

It's beginning to 'feel' a lot like Christmas

2010-12-13T10:38:00.009-07:00

Yes it is...maybe it's because I have Christmas music playing all day long (Boney M, Nana Mouskouri, Bing Crosby etc), or maybe it's because the house is decorated and ready to go, or maybe it's because I have a little three year old who is especially excited this year, or maybe it's because I have the coolest stockings in the whole world, or maybe it's because the Christmas shopping is pretty much done, or maybe...just maybe it's because the girls got to see Santa this weekend. It's Christmas time, and that's all that matters right now.

So, the stockings. My mom knit these stocking for my little family. And they are honestly the cutest, coolest stockings I've ever seen. I'm almost tempted to have another baby so that my mom can make another one....because I want MORE! They're that cute. Don't you agree?

They're also HUGE! So lots of stocking stuffing will have to happen on Christmas Eve.

I love advent Calendars (I've got quite a few and I want more) but this is the main one this year. Each tin either has either an activity or a treat inside, and the girls get so excited when we open one each day. Cute hey?

One of the activities was to make a snowman. However, the organizer of activities may not have thought this particular one through, since the day we needed to make a snow man the snow was all icy and definitely not in snowman making shape. So we make a snow inukshuk instead. It worked for Hailey and her friend Denver....I think.

The advent calendar also told us to make cookies and decorate them...yummy

Other activities in the Calendar include: Eating a special breakfast with Christmas music, drive around to look at lights, watch a special Christmas movie, make popcorn garland, hang a mistletoe and get kisses under it, and make gingerbread houses. We're excited!

In other exciting news, we went to my parents ward Christmas party this last weekend. Santa was there, and Hailey was soooo excited to see him. Maybe a little nervous too.

This picture I had to post for my own memory (it's a bit blurry and I wish I was better with my camera so I could avoid these kind of problems). Anyway, this shows just how nervous she was. She never makes this smile, she never stands this still, she never listens this well. But when she's in line for Santa, she'll do anything.

And Finally our picture with Santa for the year: Paige lasted for all of two seconds before she lost it. Hailey was mesmerized with Santa and could barely even talk she was so excited/nervous. Overall it was a fun evening...and my girls were happy with all the candy they got.

We're looking forward to Christmas this year...it just seems like it gets better ever year. Plus, there might be a very very cool gift for the girls under the tree this year...it's a secret for now, but I can't wait to post about it!!

Hailey LOVED this...your kids need one too

2010-12-01T14:03:00.002-07:00

Santa sent Hailey a special message last night.

Follow this link and wait a minute for the video to load:

http://www.portablenorthpole.ca/watch/guest/FMzfZJgmEYifHh-HUAfZ4g

Isn't that so neat??

Things that make me smile.

2010-11-30T15:32:00.004-07:00

After a few crazy weeks in my home - and a few pounds gone due to stress (which I actually don't mind one bit...the weight that is) - I decided to take a step back and reassess the situation. I needed to decide what was important, and what maybe wasn't so much. After letting go of a few things, I quickly realized what was important in my life... important in the way that I never want to forget. Things like:

This 3 year old playing games on the iPhone by the light of the Christmas tree

The 4 of us on our first ever tobogganing trip as a family

This awesome husband of mine, who decided that taking matters into his own hands when the -30c weather hit, meant growing an extra layer of hair on his face.

Seeing this one lounge in the snow for the first time - in a hat she hasn't figured out how to take off yet

Hailey's face on her first ride down the hill...excitement? Daredevil?

This one falling asleep whenever she needs it, wherever we are

And finally waking up to this sweet face after she snuck into my bed (and fell back asleep) after her dad went to work

When life gets crazy - like it does - I just need to remember these small things that make me smile. Because they are important.

A Little Bit Stressed Out...

2010-11-16T15:14:00.006-07:00

I don't know if my mom can even count the number of times I've called her in full tears/hysterics this week. And it's only Monday!

I think it was about three weeks ago that I was sitting here thinking I was just barely getting to the point that I could catch a breath. We had a pretty stressful summer and I think the end of October was when I think things started to almost return to normal.

BUT...

There's always a but.

Things changed on November 1st when we tried to collect rent from our tenants. Turns out we no longer have tenants...which means we are madly trying to rent our other house out again, while paying two mortgages. That's enough stress for me.

But...

Add to it the new calling I got that same week. Relief Society 2nd Counselor in my ward. Despite the fact that I feel 20 years too young and inadequate in so many ways, I'm really excited about all the things I get to do with this calling. Like Super Saturday this weekend.

Did I mention I was stressed? Try taking over Super Saturday last minute. I've been on the phone or emailing people pretty much non stop for the last week. I've also spent COUNTLESS hours organizing the costs on my computer...and the sign up sheets. And all that wonderful stuff.

But really, joking aside, I am excited about this calling - it's going to be FUN! (p.s. a "calling" is a volunteer position that I'm asked to fulfill in my church. Being the 2nd Counselor in Relief Society means that I'm one of three people that run the women's program for our church. Thank goodness I'm not the President - she's the one with all the work!! "Super Saturday", however is a huge craft day where the "Relief Society" provides a TON of crafts for all the women in our ward to work on. BUSY basically sums it up)

Anyway...that's not it. With this new calling, I now have to find time to meet with the presidency regularly. But I'm having a hard time finding time, because I'm either in swimming lessons with my girls, teaching preschool, teaching piano to my 8 students, playing piano for the Young Women at Church, Hosting Book Club, babysitting my nephew, spending hours shoveling my driveway so I can actually leave the house, tending to my motherly duties (i.e. feeding my children, teaching them words and colours and so on), caring for my teething toddler and helping my three year old remember to use the potty. Honestly, I'm having a hard time finding a moment where I'm not frantically running around!!

I'm stressed.

Did I mention that Ben's stressed too? Yeah...winter means we don't see him. He's so busy with work...which is so good. I do like getting paid. But I don't so much like always putting my girls to bed on my own. Or them not even noticing when he's gone ALL weekend. I want to see him more, I want my girls to see him more, I want more time.

But this is my life. I love it. I especially Love my Husband and my two Girls. They keep me together when it gets crazy like this. And mostly, today I loved seeing these two anxiously awaiting their first venture into snow this year:

It's moments like that when I know the rest of it doesn't matter. I'm blessed. I'm loved. I love.

Halloween Adventures

2010-11-05T21:31:00.007-06:00

This years Halloween was a LOT of fun in this household. We did LOTS of crafts, shopped ALL month for the candy, and we spent a TON of time planning out our costumes - trying to find a theme that we were all ok with. One that was cute, and one that the dad and the three year old could agree on. The Three Year old wanted us to be princesses...the dad wasn't so sure. The dad wanted to do nothing...The Three Year old wasn't so sure. So the Mom came to the rescue and the baby didn't object. And since we were the only two in agreement, our costumes were the only ones considered. I like having a baby on my team.

So Hailey got to be a Pirate

Paige got to be her trusty Parrot

I was lucky enough to be Peter Pan

And the Dad - because he was so enthusiastic, got to be a Lost Boy - which means he wore his normal clothes. (I personally think Captain Hook would have been way cooler, but I can't really force him into his costume like I can the other two kids).

Anyway, before we actually did ANY of that, we carved a pumpkin (with our friends, the Allred's). I'll admit, I may have been the artist behind this amazing cat...who's left eye is just decomposing away, it really was there to start with.

Then Hailey got all dolled out in her gear for her Preschool Class:

Then next, I had a little Halloween party at my house for a few of Hailey's friends and siblings in town (with the help of some of my closest friends here)

They may have danced a little

And Decorated Cookies...which was apparently waaaay too much fun

I may have stolen the only picture of me in character from my friend Julie's Facebook album...of her daughter. Sorry.

The kidlets even went through a little Haunted House in the basement (which was too scary for pictures...but still very very cool)

Then the next day we went to the "Trunk or Treat" hosted by our ward...and the girls got WAY too much CANDY (which I may or may not have eaten too much of)!

And that pretty much sums up our Halloween this year. I can't wait for next year...I've already got a few ideas for costumes all planned out. The goal is creative, cute, themed and original. It will be fun.

Hello Blog...

2010-10-17T20:24:00.011-06:00

Hello Blog...Nice to see you. It's been too long. I wish I had some fabulous excuse for being so obviously absent. Something amazing like - I was traveling the world, or I was discovered and I am now a HUGE Hollywood star, or...or something like that. But nope. I've just been lazy, and living my pretty normal - slightly less fabulous life. We've been filling our days with playing, napping, going to the park (enjoying a bit of the summer we never had), babysitting my nephew, teaching piano, swimming, more playing, eating and so on. Life never seems to slow down, and yet it seems like nothing all that exciting is going on. I guess we did have a busy summer, so I can accept a boring fall.

The most exciting news of the month is that I'm a little bit blonder!
Make all the jokes you want...

I also had a birthday - I might be a couple years over 25...and a few under 30. Somewhere in the middle there. I KNOW I'm not old. But I really thought I'd feel a little more grown up when I hit this section of my 20's. Maybe that's what my 30's are for? Or will it be my 40's...50's? Will I ever feel like I'm not a little 19 year old girl?

Anyway, for my Birthday I got a little thing called the 'iPhone'. Have you heard of it? Hailey obviously had. She already knew all the fun games I needed to download...like Dora for example:

So my girls are cute as always...they really do love each other. And I love this picture (snow boot and all)

Paige is such a character...I wish I could properly describe her. She is all silliness, all attitude, all smiles, all tears, all tantrums, all 'every single extreme of mood you could imagine'. She is so entertaining and I just love this little girl.

I love her: even when she grows up right before my eyes...and proves to me that she's not just a little baby anymore.

I love her: even when she makes messes...and pretends it wasn't her:

I love her: especially when she still acts like my little baby...and cuddles with me and falls asleep in all the same places as she did when she was just a little newborn:

Oct 2010

July 2009

And then there's Hailey...this girl is also all smiles, and tears, and moods, and fun, and imagination and everything you could imagine a 3 year (who is going on 16) would be.

I love her: when she plays with her sister and makes her happy

I love her: When I see how her face lights up when she tells me princess stories that all end "Happily ever after" - and that might include a certain prince that she will marry in "three more months"
I love her: Especially when she reminds me of just how sweet and little she still is even though she's growing up ( i.e. heading off to her first day of 'joy school' and bringing along her dinosaur for protection)

Anyway...I hope I can keep up with the blog. But honestly, I imagine you won't see me back here until after Halloween when I share the pics of my girls in their cute costumes.

Sometimes it's nice to be beautiful

2010-09-21T21:12:00.006-06:00

So as you may know, my little sister Sarah is a talented massage therapist as well as an Esthetician (I hope I'm spelling that right). I know she's just my little sister, so I really have no right to be proud when she accomplishes things. But she is still my little sister and I watched her grow, so I still feel that pride. Anyway, yesterday I got a day off from my mommy duties. My parents watched the girls and I got to spend the afternoon with Sarah...in a make up course put on by the salon she works for. They had a talented - big shot - makeup artist there (http://www.bebebooth.com/). She was an awesome person and a great instructor. So I sat there and watched Sarah create different looks on my face.

I felt beautiful...I felt special...I felt proud.

The instructor was quick to praise Sarah in everything, really, everything she did ... and she may have even paid me a compliment as well. Overall I had a great day. Sarah gave me some serious cool eyes (including a pair of fabulous fake eyelashes). And I got to walk out of their feeling kinda cool...aaaaand maybe a little weird (since I did have two different looks on my eyes and extremely LONG lashes).

Well, since it was a Monday - and I had no where to go but home to show off the new 'look' - I decided to take a few 'model' shots of myself ... in the mirror of my bathroom ... at midnight ... with semi pouty 'Meagan' lips. You get the picture. I can't decide whether to laugh or cry when I see these pics because the faces I made are either very hilarious or very very sad. But one thing's for sure...Sarah did an amazing job.

These pictures are important to me because I want a picture of myself done up - trying to look good - so that one day my daughters can look at me and say "wow, mom actually wore makeup once". I hope to also add to that collection, a picture where they'll say "wow, mom was skinny once" or "wow, mom wore cool clothes" or even "wow, mom was a real person and not just our slave once". You know, those kind of pictures. So here are my makeup pictures:

Thanks Sarah for inviting me, and for spending the day with me and for so calmly and yet firmly having the courage to be who you are...which includes being especially talented!

A quick Compare...

2010-09-08T22:02:00.006-06:00

So I've been going through some old pictures of mine and putting together little groupings for frames in my home. One of my frames has 8 spots for pictures. For this frame I decided to use pictures of the girls at various stages of their first year (i.e. First day, blessing day, first time in the exersaucer and 1 year old). It's interesting to see how different they are! I normally think they look so much alike - because they really do. But in these pictures I can see so many differences. I'm curious to see how they grow...will they be little clones of each other like my sisters and I? Or will they have their own unique features, but still be obvious siblings?

We shall see.

Hailey - July 14 2007

Paige - June 26 2009

Hailey - October 2007

Paige - September 2009

Hailey - November 2007

Paige - October 2009

Hailey - September 2008

Paige - August 2010

One thing I do know...I've got some cute little girls:)

Finally all caught up...

2010-08-20T21:21:00.007-06:00

Caught up.

That is until I start taking pictures again. But for right now, we're taking a little bit of a break from summer. I'm trying to get my house in order...it's amazing how little unpacking gets done when you're never around. I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with my two little girls and just enjoying their company. I'm mostly trying to not forget how perfect my family is right now. One day my girls will be grown up and no one will be excited about 'hubatockers' (helicopters) in the sky and I won't have the chubbiest little 14 month old to cuddle with, and I might actually see my husband once in a while...wait, that might be a good thing. Speaking of good things that will come with time...one day I hope to not be dealing with the potty so much (Hailey has her moments) and maybe I won't have a 14 month old crying at my feet all day long either (Paige has her moments too). But this is the time in my life that I get to deal with and enjoy these young kids. So I'm really trying to cherish every moment.

Anyway, we did a lot of cherishing of moments last week as we camped/hoteled with Ben's family in Waterton. Ben's sister Rebecca and her family are leaving for the Caribbean this weekend to go to Med school. We're excited for them and this big adventure they will be embarking on....but I'm sad to see them go. I don't think Hailey can even comprehend how much she'll miss her cousin Addie, it makes me almost want to cry to think about them not seeing each other as often. But hopefully they'll be back one day!

So we spent this last week with the entire family as a bit of a last family gathering before they go. It was fun. I wish the weather had cooperated a bit more. But still, we made some really great memories...including:

Hanging out at the lake (sans makeup) and enjoying life
Finally letting Paige dip her feet into the Glacier water

Getting hugs from Cousins...

And sisters like Ashley

Or tackles?

Going on a boat ride on Uncle Chris's boat (and Lauren's too) ...I maybe could have used a few more hours of sleep...

Biking with the borrowed bike trailer (we ended up buying one when we got home because we loved it so much)...

Hi mom...I know the above picture has you a bit freaked out. I know you and dad bought the girls new helmets for these exact types of trips. We had them all packed and ready to go...and they enjoyed the trip from the comfort of the front porch of our home. Oops. We made sure to ride really slowly and to strap them in really well though. And we will never forget helmets again!

Pretending I'm a moody 14 year old again...

Hi Mom again...I know the above picture also has you a bit freaked out. I bet you and Dad thought you'd never see that face again...oops. I promise to never give you scary flash backs to my terrible teens again.

More bike riding - a bit happier this time...

An attempt at a little family picture in front of Cameron Falls...this is as good as it gets.

A hike to Bears Hump. So tiring with a 23 pound baby strapped to my front...but so worth it once we got there. The view is always gorgeous.

We did so many other fun things that week...unfortunately I had a problem with remembering my camera. So this will do for now. I'm sure one day I will get an email from Rebecca with some or her pictures from the week. But I don't expect it any time soon - since she is moving really really far away. Maybe we'll just have to take a little Holiday to the Island to pick up the pictures. Who wouldn't want a little trip to the Caribbean?

Sometime after the move

2010-08-19T08:50:00.008-06:00

So right now, my life is broken up into two periods...before the move and after the move. It's funny because it's been a crazy time and everything really has been such a blur. But I need to keep records of everything we've done, so when life calms down (it will right?), I can look back and remember that things weren't always just pure chaos. We did enjoy the summer. I do have happy beautiful children. I do have a great husband...and maybe I do need to start working out again. Ok...it's out, this picture log is to remind myself that even when the going gets tough....I still need to get my butt going. Yikes...it's amazing what two months can do to ya.

So anyway...the first thing we did after we moved (i.e. the day after we moved) we went camping with the Taylor's and my sister. We had so much fun! Hailey had so much fun...Paige had so much fun!

I'm honestly so in love with those pics of Paige (courtesy of the Taylor camera). Mostly because it captures Paige perfectly...the way I get to see her. She is the sweetest happiest baby ever. BUT - she's not a fan of strangers or big crowds or anyone that wants to take her away from me (or looks like they might). Which means, in the comfort of my own home she is all smiles and giggles; when we're out and about you don't see that so often. And that's why I love these pictures...that's the Paige I am blessed to see every day!

Hailey and Heidi hit it off...Hailey and Jadyn hit it off too (sorry no pic - by the way, these camping pics are all courtesy of the Taylor camera). I think Hailey's favourite thing about the weekend? The barbies in the sand! There's nothing better then playing with girls who understand that life really is all about Barbies and Princesses.

Paige and her Cousin Max getting dirty!

A little dinner with the crew.

So after that little trip we took a break from camping for a few weeks. We worked on getting settled into the new home, getting the old one ready for renters and so on. And mostly we just worked on getting excited for the biggest day of the year...

My brother Josh got MARRIED!!! To the sweetest girl ever (who happens to be Ben's cousin...it's an interesting story, but the result is that they really aren't related in anyway, just connected). We (as in the whole family) are so happy that they found each other! What a perfect match!

We tried to get a picture of the girls in their dresses...this is the best I got.

I love Hailey's goofy little smiles....so cute!

Paige and I were there too...although Paige was a bit blurry. I'm blond by the way...which I guess is not a surprise to many of you. But at least my hair now matches!Ben was there too...just not in the pictures.

The next day we had my family over for some dessert and to see our new home.

I think Hailey has a bit of a crush on Hondro...

Then the following week we went camping with Chris and Lauren and Jaxson. It was a cold rainy weekend. But that didn't stop Paige from hamming it up for the camera:

Or Hailey and Ben enjoying some ice cream by the campfire

Paige did get worn out though - totally out. We went for a walk and she fell asleep...about an hour before bedtime. So I got some cuddle time before I finally gave in and put her to bed.

After that camping trip we came home...cleaned the house and prepared for our next adventure to Waterton with the McCance's (pics to come soon). We had a somewhat rainy week at home The story of this summer)...and were lucky enough to spot this gem. If you look closely, you can see the faint outline of the second rainbow. This kind of beauty is what makes my little 3 year old's day...to her, the world should be full of princesses, and princes, and Rainbows and all that kind of stuff. So it's nice when it actually is!

So...that was what we have been up to the few weeks following our move. I have one more post with pics from Waterton. And then, I'm finally caught up...for now that is.

The week before the move

2010-08-18T21:34:00.009-06:00

This is a quick glimpse into our life, the week before we moved...well and to be honest, a few days after as well.

The week before we moved into our home was a bit hectic. We had a camping trip planned, a 3rd Birthday, a ton of packing (remember how last minute everything was?) Anyway, that didn't stop us from enjoying the simple things in life:

I wonder if Paige enjoyed her ice cream?

Anyway, besides packing and going crazy with the uncertainty of the whole deal - we had a very important day to celebrate. The day before we moved, my sweet Hailey babe turned 3! She has been looking forward to this day her whole life...well at least it felt like it. Why?? Because of this:

My sweet little girl got her ears pierced!!! I may have made the mistake of telling her that she was going to get earrings for her Birthday...just a few months too early though. Let's just say, the anticipation was killing us all! But the day finally came, she picked out the prettiest (and I'll just add, the most expensive) earrings, she didn't cry once, and she may just be the reason why all the employees at Merle Norman are suddenly wanting babies now. Honestly, the entire store was there watching and couldn't get enough of her sweetness...in fact, two of the ladies told me as we were leaving that they would have babies right then if they could have one as cute as her. Talk about making my day!

Hailey was so happy to finally have her earrings (she may have also been a bit stunned that it hurt so much...but she's tough).

Anyway, later that day, Ben and I took the girls to the Stampede. Hailey had been looking forward to the Stampede since last year when Ben took her. So of course I bought the girls matching shirts, and off we went.

This picture should make her Grandpa proud:)

Paige came along too...I don't think she got to experience the stampede quite like Hailey - although she did eat almost an entire foot long hot dog. To some, that is what the Stampede is all about. She's not complaining.

Then the next day - moving day we decided to open Hailey's Birthday presents (after a crazy morning of babysitting for Kyla as her parents went to have their baby, getting locked out of their house, missing the appointment with our realtor and so on). It was a crazy day, but we figured that although the earrings were all Hailey was looking forward to, she might feel a bit ripped off once she realized how much they hurt - and really how boring they are. So we bought her a few things to open. We planned to open them the day before, but we stayed too late at the Stampede. But really, who wouldn't want their Birthday to extend over a few days?

This child - let me tell ya, she is the perfect kid to give presents to. Every present is the best thing in the world!! But in this case, can you guess what she was smiling about?

This beautiful princess dress...with clip-on earrings of course.

Ok...to carry on with the Birthday theme, we decided to have a real Birthday party for the girl the next week. It was totally last minute and really small. My house felt like a bit of a zoo, but I thought I should still do something for Hailey and her cousins and one or two friends. So we had a little Safari themed party.

The best part of the day? My mom showing up in her Safari gear - even though she didn't know it was a Safari party!!

I love this little girl!

Anyway, my cousin Emily came out for the party and brought her two boys. Hailey and Roel hit it off big time when we were in Mexico last year, and it was so fun to see them pick right up where they left off!

This picture is a bit blurry - but you just can't deny the pure happiness on their faces. LOVE IT!

And finally - My cousins littlest guy Thijs. This kid stole my heart when I first met him in Mexico. He was just 8 weeks old and the cutest thing ever. He has these eyes...oh those eyes. They just look at you and plead with you to love him. And of course you do....because really, he's so cute! If you ever meet him in person, you'll get what I mean - when he gives you the look, you just melt!

So that's it for now. I have more picture to post...more stories to share...and maybe a little making fun of myself. But I'll have to do that another time.

We're getting there

2010-08-10T20:19:00.006-06:00

We're in our new home....and I am so grateful! We're not totally settled, but we're getting there.

So here's the story:

Ben has been looking at houses for some time now. He's been looking more for an investment rental property then for a home for us. However, he came across this little gem that we can now call our own and we just couldn't turn it down. It was the fastest deal I've ever seen happen. The house was a foreclosure...and I know what you're thinking - trashed, dirty, a TON of work, etc. Well let me tell you, this house is in amazing shape! It's only 3 years old, it has nothing - absolutely nothing wrong with it...and it was spotless. Somehow who ever lived here before had the decency to clean this place before they left. Not a speck of dust or a crumb of food could be found in the home. The only problem was the allergy I had to the home (i.e. there used to be a cat or dog in the home). However, with plenty of cleaning I can now safely breathe and live in this house. So anyway, things moved really fast since it was a foreclosure. We put an offer in on June 24th and were in the house by July 15th. Things got a little scary there for a while because of a mix-up with out mortgage broker. But in the end everything worked out! So now we're here, and we're trying to get settled. We have some organizing and setting up to do. We have some more furniture to buy. But all of that will come with time...because right now our main priority is getting our other home ready to rent! So...if you know anyone who is looking to rent a house Okotoks, you know who to call:)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the beauty! If you look at these pictures I need some help with a few decorating tips....

The Outside:

Ok, not my first choice of colours, but it will do. However, the door is a very very blah colour of beige (and not the same as the rest of the house). We need to paint it...but don't know what to do. The obvious choice is the rust colour - but I hate it!! I really do. I don't want to add more rust to the house. I had considered changing all the trim...but it's just not going to happen. The house is only 3 years old...it's in perfect condition. Why change it if we don't have to. So anyway...any tips on the door colour?

The Front Entry:

What should I hang on that oh so boring wall?

The living room:

Can you see the obvious problem here?? That big blob of a rock on the fireplace? That has GOT to go. So I need suggestions on way to re-do the tile. We'll start from scratch...but obviously leave the mantel. Oh and don't worry - that giant TV of my husbands will be GONE!! It hasn't been set up because we haven't yet agreed on where it's going to go. I think the only place for it is in the basement - which will be developed this year. But he thinks it needs to sit in the living room until then. I don't agree. I'll let you know who wins.

The kitchen:

No problems here. Granite, Solid wood cabinetry, giant island, under cabinet lighting...need I go on?? Oh...right, we have installed a beautiful stainless steel microwave above the stove since this pic was taken. She really is a beautiful kitchen.

Powder Room:
As you can tell I'm already planning to paint over that horrible rust colour. I've decided on the 2nd lightest blue on that colour swatch beside the mirror. Do you agree?

The Bonus room:

Besides obviously needing furniture (which happens to be stuck indefinitely in the basement of our old home), and a small tv, I'm ok with this room.

Paige's Room:

I'll hang some pictures...all will be ok.

Hailey's Room:

I can't wait until these two girls share a room - this room is definitely big enough for two beds. I can just imagine it now. By the way - that was definitely not an announcement.

Our room:

Our closet...so unorganized:

Our bathroom:

And that's it. We really love this house. We especially love the back yard - which I forgot to get pictures of. But the girls spend so much time just playing and playing and playing back there. We're really excited to get everything unpacked and it's it place, to hang pictures and to make it our home.

by the way...sometime in the next week or so, I'll have to post some more pictures of the last few weeks (i.e. Hailey's Birthday, my brothers wedding, and two camping trips). Stay tuned.

Sigh

2010-07-09T15:07:00.006-06:00

Oh life, honestly. Why so busy?

In the last two and a half weeks we have been to a family reunion where we camped (and visited with friends), we celebrated my dads retirement, we drove to BC to visit/camp with the Allred's, we celebrated a first Birthday, we camped in Montana for a week with my family, Aaaaaand we also may have bought another house (Things are still so much up in the air right now so it's not an official announcement, but hopefully things will work out in the next few days).

What do the next few weeks hold? A third Birthday, another camping trip, a move into a new home (which also includes finding renters for this home?), Stampede (Yeehaw!), aaaaaand my brother Josh's wedding!!! Yippee!

So life...you're busy...you're good...please continue to be good...but PLEASE slow down.

Also, house...please work out...please let things run smoothly...please let us enjoy this.

With that said - here are pictures from the first two events (Family Reunion...and Dad's Retirement):

I don't have a lot of pictures from the Family reunion (oops), just one of Hailey and some of her cousins on the train ride through the campground.

Oh and do you recognize this girl??

You may recognize her as Hailey's little friend Jocelyn from way back when they were little tiny babies (here, here, and here). We used to visit with each other all the time, but then life just got busy and we stopped getting together nearly as much. We'll have to change that because...

...these two just love each other!

We were so happy to see the Otto's there that weekend. It was a fun surprise to have so many friends to camp with!

And finally the whole family at Dads little retirement party a week later. I think I have 10 versions of this picture, this is the best (so no complaining anyone).

It's weird to think that my dad is retired. What is he going to do with his time now? I know he'll just do more church work, but surely that can't take up all his time. I'm sure my mom would like an answer to that question though.

Anyway, I have another two posts dedicated to pictures of everything else we've been up to lately, so please read on below....enjoy.

BC - Yahk

2010-07-09T15:06:00.006-06:00

Pictures from BC with the Allred's.

We had so much fun here. Kyla's Grandparents were so loving with my kids and so generous to have us stay for so long (and let us park our RV on their lawn). We had fun quadding, playing in the kiddie pool, sliding on the slip 'n slide, catching butterflies, sitting around the campfire, watching movies, watching trains, eating, riding trikes, and visiting. While were there, Paige officially celebrated her Birthday. So late that night we opened a few gifts with her. I just can NOT believe she's this old already.

Paige on the morning of her B-day.

Just minutes before we packed her into the car to start the Holiday

Opening Presents late at night on her Birthday

The fam on Paige's Birthday - Hailey wearing her new goggles

There is nothing more fun then a little slip 'n slide

Paige - you are silly

These two kiddos were lucky to have K's grandma cart them around. Lucky lucky girls!

Did I tell you? This baby girl is walking!!

This butterfly might have made this child's day!! Fun hey?

We had fun! Thanks to the Allred's for inviting us to stay. See the next post for pictures from Montana with my family.