As I sit, unmoving.

As I sit, unable to move because of my neck pain, I watch this guy build a Lego race car.  

Searching for a new neck that doesn't suck ....

Still struggling with neck pain.  I laid down for a little nap this aft before company was arriving and couldn't sit up without pain.  Pretty sick of this.... Going on 11 days now... Massage booked for tommorow.  But Rachel can actually be pretty funny sometimes, her text back to me today made me laugh:

It's 8pm now and company just left. Neck pain has gone from bad to worse. Not sure how I'm gonna keep managing this. 

Saturday night....

Sushi tonight ..... And then checking in with Marg and Gordon......

Not long now before both boys are taller than grandma!!!!

She told them both to take if their shirts, and I was surprised to see them boy oblige!!  She learned a new way to fold shirts up to super small packages!  So here she is showing them!

And here they are trying it out!

'Ranger Roll" I think it's called.  I love the fire and she turned on the electric blanket for me .... She knows I love the warmth.... It was a nice evening to catch up.

Best times.

Curled up after school and a snack, squashed together close to the heater. Best moment. 

Empty...

Why???!!!!! 

Day off!!

Almost done with the cold, lower back still aches, but it was a fun day! 

Dropped the sweet boys off at school and met Nikki for coffee at our favorite place. We headed to her studio afterwards. 

Headed over to Nicole's house for lunch-she feeds me so well. I love her company ... She's done really well on her 21 day fix of eating well and working out ... Getting ready for Maui!  We enjoyed the sunshine for awhile. 

Felt like summer!!

I headed down to Victoria to see Carrie on the ship afterwards. I was an hour early because I wanted to miss the traffic so I took a nap while I was waiting. I MAY have fallen asleep on my face? Guess I was tired and guess I should have taken off my sunglasses!  

We had a good laugh over my 'angry face'

Dinner on board was great. Little French cook made a great meal!!

She has the most comfortable bed!!

After dinner, we headed out for a soak in the hottub. It was such a beautiful night heading out.  

Reason #408 to why I love my sister. Along with all the other toddlers in the change room, she too, changes into her pjs before heading back to the boat.  

She's just my favorite and I wish the ride home wasn't over 2 hours!!!  So far!!

Tuesday

Laid in bed for too long this morning debating whether to get up or keep sleeping!  Ugh. Still half capacity but got up. Beautiful children were already fed and ready to go .... So it was just me. Threw a dress over my pjs and headed out the door. Upside is coworkers complimented my camo tights when I got to work. Said I was so 'funky'.... Thanks to JL for sending me home with rebar lentil soup from last family dinner. 

After piano, though dinner was planned, these clowns had convinced me to take them to Whitespot. (Elliot is demonstrating his air sandwich)... Such funny kids ....

Back was so sore when I got home. Still so achy. Love our hottub!!  Chris made us all chicken caesor salad and we had a chill night. Except for haircuts, it was pretty chill. Kids were NOT happy with their cuts:

Chris is reading to Isaac right now (he loves that his oldest boy still lets him read to him every night).... So Elliot and I hang out on the couch 

Honeymoon Bay Wildflower Reserve

I'm not well, but a walk in the woods with good friends is always good for this girls soul. 

We got home and Isaac got blankets and my hot pack plugged in on the couch, chris made a fire and now we are hunkered down to watch Big Hero 6... One of my favorite kids movies.  Love my family. 

Day 4 of this miserable cold ...

Day 4 pretty much in isolation on my back or on the couch. Been living off bone broth from Nikki.  Kids are still super attentive which makes me so thankful. Such nice boys. My neck doesn't hurt anymore which is a plus. But this needs to end soon.  Marg says I should expect 10 days of misery. Lol. 

Saturday: another down day ...

I've been sleeping on and off all day.  Chris was out metal detecting for most of the day.  Isaac got a sore tummy around noon and has been laying low with a hot pack on his stomach since then.

And Elliot?  He played video games for as long as I let him and then went outside and played with Marty.  Got to love built in friends.

Sick day ...

Elliot has been nursing this string that has been holding his tooth on, for days!!! He won't let me near it to yank it out!!  He eats dinner and chomps down on the tooth and gets teary because it hurts .... I totally remember that feeling ...

Since Thursday afternoon, I have been sick.  Sore throat, sore back, sore neck ...overall trainwreck.  The boys have been so sweet and checking in on me often asking if I need anything. Their words are "Is there anything I can do for you?"....oh my heart!!!   I woke up from a nap and they came in with their gifts ... here is Elliots joke ....

And Isaac has been drawing up a storm ....

Such sweet kids .... its miserably being sick .... but I guess it was my turn?  Nikki made me 3 bags of amazing stock that I have had in the crock pot since Thursday .... they are all gone now.  Hopefully I'm on the mend soon.

Parksville Conference

2 Day Staff Learning conference in Parksville.  The best part of the conference was checking into our sweet hotel, kicking off our shoes, and relaxing for abit before heading back for dinner.  Neither of us wanted to go, but Mary had made Randi go to an agency dinner at Christmas time, so Randi was pulling her favor and making Mary come to this one....so Randi got a 2 for 1!  The conference is in a older little hotel in Parksville but just down the road was the new Beach Acres resort that had a good government rate, so we checked in there!

Here we are, dressed and grudgingly heading back to the hotel where all the managers and staff were for the dinner ....not excited.

We had seats saved for us at a good table with people who loved to laugh ... see the woman in the glasses and the black t-shirt?  That is Lisa, she was my interim manager after Mark.  I wasn't a huge fan but she is a nice lady and did her best and really just wanted to go back to her old job....but tonight we all definatly saw a new side to her!  Turns out we were the loudest table .... which was nice ... I love laughing and don't do it very often ... silly country living.

So here is what we saw of Lisa tonight!!  She is a manager and has a ton of money hence continued to purchase wine bottles all night and kept everyone topped up.

And here we are ....

It got a little silly .... at one point, a poor choice in my opinion, the managers decided it would be a good idea to have a speaker after dinner for about 1/2 hour .. totally killed the mood.  But I am an adult and can be quiet while someone is speaking.  But half the table continued to whisper and be silly, it was really embarrassing.  The CEO kept looking over and it was like grade school again.  I felt bad for the speaker ... its scary to go up and speak to a room of people .... Lisa was leading the charge of whispering which makes me wonder if she is no longer is sold out.  I have seen managers get beat up by upper management, right in front of me, after awhile, I would assume you would lose your loyalty? or desire to be loyal?  You could tell she just wanted to have some fun.  Which we did.

But after the speaker, everyone started to disperse.  Lisa wanted Mary and I to go up to one of the rooms to continue to party.  There was a group of them heading up, and I was neutral.  So we headed upstairs but changed our minds when we got there and decided to ditch!  Lisa went off to buy another bottle of wine, but as we were racing to go down the staircase to escape, we could hear her and another girl coming up, talking loudly!  We did not want a confrontation to make us go back in, so we ran down the hall and hid in one of the alcoves!!

Here we are hiding....and giggling ....

Anyways ... we got out of there and went to the gym. (I know, aren't we lame?) - I wanted to get my steps in.

Mary pulled her shoulder that morning and it was starting to hurt ... and I started not feeling well either.  My throat was so dry and sore and coughing only gave it a moment of relief.  So, neither of us slept hardly at all that night.  At 2am, I couldn't lay there anymore, so I went off in search of something to help me.  The front desk man got me some tea and turned the fireplace on for me...so I was there until about 3 ....

Waking up at 7, we were both feeling pretty rough.   But we checked out and went for a nice breakfast.  My back and neck were aching!!!  Not sure what I did, but the pillows were awful and I woke up with a crinked neck.  We went to the first session together, which ironically was called 'Self Care'...but sitting there for 1.5 hours was making me feel worse, plus I had a 2 hour drive home! So, at the break, Randi, Mary, Lisa and I loaded into my car and ran to Starbucks.....such fun girls .... despite my pain, that was a highlight of the morning .... but I dropped them back off at the hotel and headed for home.  I needed my bed.  When things go bad with me, they come in multiples ... never just one thing can be wrong ... trainwreck, as my sister calls it.

Fitbit.

This silly Fitbit sure keeps me accountable!  Got home and had 1800 steps!  I don't think I've ever done a straight hour on the treadmill!!

But I got all my steps for today!!

Happy Valentines Day !

I woke up ready for a regular day.  But Chris started the day with a dozen beautiful roses that he gave me while I was still in bed.

Then we had a hottub with the boys ..... As I was changing, he made eggs for everyone's breakfast!!  I love having breakfast together but nobody else does, so that was special. 

He went out metal detecting for a few hours this afternoon and when he got back, he detailed the car!!!!  WOW!!

Beautiful JL delivered this cookie and I've never had a better cookie in my life!!! 

Dinner time!!  The boys helped set the table and Chris made a tasty salmon on the BBQ (thank you coast guard carrie!! We'd been saving it for a special occasion!)...

Vitamix strawberry sorbet for dessert!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Lampards bought a new house!!

It's such a sweet house - perfect for them!!  It's bright and open and lovely!!

Here are a few shots - here's my favorite of Quinnies little make up stand next to mom's!!

Gussie!!!

Gussie spent this lazy Saturday morning with me .... We had tea and lattes in the hottub and then hit up a craft fair in Honeymoon Bay today!

I made sweet potatoe and black bean enchiladas for lunch that were amazing.  

Love Saturdays!!!

Day in Sooke ....

After dropping off the boys and a quick coffee with Nikki, I drove down to Sooke to spend some time with Darlene. 

She made me a paleo breakfast of zucchini tostada with an egg, avocado, salsa and cilantro .... Quite yummy. 

After finishing our lattes on the couch, she received a call that her house had an accepted offer and I clicked of shot of the moment!!!

The rain had stopped and I needed to get my steps in, so we took her two big pups for a walk!

Grabbing some eggs for me on the way back to the house. I laughed as she spoke to her chickens "hey ladies, just coming to steal your unborn children!!"

And I drove home with my birthday canvas!! It's currently hung in my livingroom .... It sure was a blast to create!