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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paige...before naptime

Paige...after naptime

Poor kid.

Huatulco - Day 7-8

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.