I can't close my mouth!

The jetski has been a part of isaacs little water routine the past few days......last night he and chris were out for a ride and isaac yells: 'daddy, don't go any faster.....i can't close my mouth!!' He loves it and tonight was Elliots first ride on it as well (i won't take it personally that he freaked out to come on with me, but climbed happily on with Chris...hmmmm?)

I haven't blogged really about Elliots big birthday turning 2 - but it was a really great day with my dad surprising us and showing up in time for dinner though my mom had left for winnipeg the night before. (he has never come on his own, so that meant alot in and of itself!) but we had such a good time together-i sure love my dad and never really get to spend one on one time with him. Took him quading - and there was a bear just booking it up the hill as we drove by, but he stopped right beside it to wipe his eyes and i am yelling with my helmet on (so he couldn't hear me) but i was yelling to KEEP DRIVING!! BEAR!!! BEAR! Anyways--he was pretty bummed he missed it, so we turned back, but it was gone....pretty funny though!

Here are some shots of Elliots birthday - it was a special birthday because my dad showed up, but also because we just chose to have the most special people in our lives there - the only ones really missed was carrie (soon to deliver, so fair enough!) and my mom (dealing with her dying mom in winnipeg). I got the news that Grandma died as Elliot was patiently waiting for me to bring his train cake out to him on the deck.




I just got back from Winnipeg for a funeral for grandma....it was a nice time for my family on my moms side. We had a picnic together at a great park after we buried my grandma behind the house my mom grew up at. There is a cemetary there where my aunt and grandpa are buried too. Before Paul dug the hole for grandma's remains, we all talked about a memory about grandma that we loved. It was all so sweet. it rained too....which i guess we all found fitting. Here are a few shots:





i am glad to be home....this is where i belong, but it was nice to be on my own for a few days with my family and one of my greatest and oldest friends yanin.

i didn't get any of her and i this trip based on the busy-ness of my schedule and that i was being a sweet friend and not taking pics of my exhausted friend who is 6 weeks from delivery of her 2nd baby girl "Elliot"!

Big Week!

There has been alot going on these day--amazing things--lots of visits from good friends, family, camp has started, my dad was able to make it out for Elliots 2nd birthday on sunday, and my grandma passed away that day as well.

So, needless to say, i haven't been blogging--but i HAVE been taking pictures and plan to do a big update when i get back next week from her funeral in winnipeg. My grandma was a big part of my childhood and i am pretty happy to be able to get back to pay my respects.

We'll talk next week! i am off to bed now as i have a big day tommorow.....but here are some pics to tie you over til i get back! hmm...sorry, pic uploader isn't working right now and i am exhausted......g'night!

The Answer to "to pay or not to pay"....

The official answer is that 'its not in the budget'.....but the final decision was 'lets find something that Sharon can sell and get that $100 bucks back into her pocket'.

So, i am selling the camps huge water trampoline - we need to figure out a price since new they are like $5000! Definatly a few hundred!


So...i now feel justified and taken care of...end of story!

To pay or not to pay?

So here is the latest thing i am stewing over tonight. I just passed my level 3 first aid yesturday. I initially didn't pass the course last week based on a poor decision in one of my scenerios and it was enough to completly fail me though i got 100% on my other 3 scenerios and 83% on my written.

So, camp is starting this weekend and i knew i had to get certified before the campers arrived...so i trekked up to Comox yesturday (2 hour drive there and back) and paid the $100 to re-take the test. Now, here is the thing i have been stewing over: yes, the camp paid for the course fee (around $700)..but this is a binding contract that keeps me physically at the camp every thursday night and fridays all summer for this summer and the next since i am certified for 2 years. I am not being paid for this...i did it voluntarily (though i will never do it again). I was able to convince my doctor to sign the medical form for free (normally upwards to a $75 fee--so i have already saved the camp money). But i don't want to pay this money for a course i wouldn't have taken on my own, to volunteer my time for the next 2 years!

Vicki has already said i probably won't be reimbursed since they already paid for the course....so my question is 'is this a battle i want to fight or drop?'

This is also great confirmation that i could never work for the camp because of scenerios like this...if i were to get angry at some little issue that i can't let go of, i wouldn't be able to support Chris. What is the lesson i am supposed to learn here?

So, my attitude at the moment is pretty crappy and i am needing some perspective....got any?

Megs....this is for you.....

My week is prepared!! Here is a pic of my good friend Megs influence on me to prepare healthier eating and preparing ahead! See here for her super salad mondays

I have done it the last few weeks but tonight was the first time i had my camera close by, so i thought i would 'share'. She has great tips....who knew my salads would stay fresh and ready for up to 4 days...though i am not brave like her to put the salad dressing on prior to putting on the saran wrap!! And with camp season around the corner and desserts available at lunch AND dinner AND considering i am a total animal when it comes to portion control of great desserts (yup, i am still a sucker for camp chocolate pudding even after 12 years of it!!)--here is to eating mindfully!!

Mon-Day Off together.....

It was a great day for Buzzlight year who got a fresh new outfit - stocked with wings!! Here he is at Beacon Hill showing everyone how Buzz can do 'to infinity and beyond!!!' i love how this kid has no problems being the only guy around in a costume....he doesn't even seem to care that people are like "Hey!!! Its buzzlight year!! cool!!!"...yup, totally aloof....my kid.

Here is Chris and Buzz trying to be serious for the camera....

My smallest one playing havoc with the goats and the shavings......tries to make me think he is just going to brush them, but i guess he needs something to brush off them first right? Thinking ahead....yup...thats my kid.


The ultimate chilling out pose.....don't let it fool you though....you try to move this child and negotiate a better place to go and see, and he will let you have it!! seriously......all in his own time...
It was a pretty great day......
We had alot to accomplish today....i had a good long walk with amanda at 8:30am, dropping in quickly at babygroup at 10:15am, an amazing (and well deserved, i may add) massage at 10:30am, drop off and pick up stuff i was selling and buying at 1pm....and then fun with the kids at Beacon hill. So, it was jammed packed and i love when we have lots to do and are able to do it...its especially easier and more fun when chris is with us. But this week marks the end of 2 days off per week and the beginning of camp widow-hood! So...we'll see how we go--its all good when the sun shines!

it's all good.....(beware this is a long post!)

i can officially say that i am back on board with this motherhood thing, and you sure can tell the difference in my kids since i re-entered the race (though i came back kicking and screaming!).



Here are some of the highlights from the last few days.

Friday morning: still feeling ragged from isaac coming in every night needing to be re-tucked in, or hungry, or scared, and on and on....we got ready to go out--and i didn't care where, i was just packing a picnic while they had breakfast and we were going to get in the car cause mommy was feeling much cabin fever. We ended up at Christie's house (she and our friend faye exercise every tues and fri and watch eachothers kids while the other goes out for a run/walk--its a cool routine-i wish i lived closer...i would do it too). So we all sat outside together and watched 6 kids play. Sigh...just to be in another moms company was so great, i don't know why i wanted to be so solitary this last week? doesn't misery love company?? i'm weird.

So, we had lots and lots of laughs, ate such good food (Christie always has tons of fruit and she made some wicked deviled eggs)......so that morning was sort of my start back onto my 'thankful to be where i am in life' road on which i normal try to travel!!!

Saturday--there is something about saturdays isn't there? do you find this too? that though everyday you are a stay at home mom everyday should feel like saturday...you know--carefree, fun....why can't every day feel like that??!! Anyways....there was alot of beach playing, running around on the field....kids seem less overwhelming when they are being managed in a big space. Last night after dinner down there, isaac left with some of the new staff to play down on the beach and Elliot (get this)--walked over the to the playground and played on his own on the structure and in the sandbox for over 1/2 hour while i watched him from the dining room!!

This was the beginning scene of the summer and i am glad.

Funny things that happened this week:
Isaac found a feather on the beach, a huge eagle feather and then a robin landed on the lifeguard chair in front of us. i looked at the bird and back at isaac and said 'i wonder if thats his feather that he lost?'...and isaac looks at the feather and back at the bird and says 'hmmm.....its pretty big....' (like he was humouring me, but not wanting to tell me what a retard i was for thinking that...he's sweet)

Isaac likes to wear his buzz light year suit everywhere these days and he also likes to put his pants on his head when he is supposed to be getting dressed and run around yelling 'PANT HEAD! PANT HEAD'

Elliot has been bypassing meals these days down at the camp and waiting for dessert (grr). So, last night, he had the option to eat dinner, nope..so i let him down and he wanders around the playing 'peek a boo' with who ever will look at him and laugh. So, while he is occupied, i have dessert (the best white chocolate tarts ever!)....i eat it in secret, when he comes around, i hide it, and so on cause i want him eating GOOD FOOD right?! He comes around after i am done, sees the empty little mini pie plate...picks it up, looks at it and looks up at me with those little doe eyes like 'umm....you KNOW i like these!? where's mine??!

This kid, he takes the little tin and walks back up to the buffet table waving it around like 'anyone can tell me where my mom found THIS??'.....little investigator eh? He finally saw a crowd at another part of the dining room, put 2 and 2 together and wandered over with his tin and caught someones eye......my child had a white chocolate tart for dinner. After all that work, he deserved it, didn't he?

Here are some pictures from our last week - some of my favorites are of my boys throwing rocks in the water....i find it just captures them!

Marathon Mothering

i am going to be totally honest on this entry and say that i am finding the transition back into full time mommyhood really hard. It was nice getting up earlier than the kids and being out the door heading somewhere i would be acting, thinking and just being involved by myself with other adults!! Don't get me wrong, i found the transition OUT of full time motherhood tough too--but it seemed that as soon as i started to get into the swing of the routine (including getting home to a house where a bomb went off every single day), its now over and i am left feeling like a zombie wandering through the house methodically and continually picking up everyones crap, washing it, putting it away, making food i don't want to eay myself, but since these boys don't care too much for salad .. i am on full time duty and at this very moment in time, i am thinking it sucks.

It sucks, it sucks........weather doesn't help, continually messy house doesn't help, shrieking 2 year old who can't talk yet but shrieks at everything enstead doesn't help, failing that first aid course doesn't help......don't get me wrong, i am honestly not feeling sorry for myself because i know i do have a charmed life with healthy kids, money in the bank, in one weeks time there will be meals provided until the fall, lots of friends and family whom i love more than anything, and i rocked that first aid course - 83% on my written, 100% on 3 of the 4 scenerios...i just made a poor choice on a crushed hand that led my scenerio to go downhill from the beginning! And who knew they could dock you 15 points per mistake??? 4 mistakes and i was a goner......end of story--re-test next thursday. But all this is fine in the big picture and as i write, i am feeling better...so i best be getting back to vacuuming since the 4th male in my life has shed his whole winter coat around my house and its starting to really gross me out. Do you think that too much treehouse for little eyes today is a bad thing??

Anyways.....i hear shrieking..better run.

Camp Qwanoes Open House

In hindsight, it was a great day! We saw some old friends, revelled in our old stomping ground where chris and i met and fell in love (noted the old make-out spots) and showed isaac where daddy proposed to mommy (and we tried not to feel hurt when he didn't appreciate the beauty of it all and would rather know why there was a bucket full of mud there where the proposal was!!). The boys were exhausted, missed naps and finished up a really long past 2 weeks....but chris and i vowed to stay and have a good time! (1 out of 2 isn't bad i figured....we stayed, but a 'good time' was a little elusive!)

Here are some of the pictures from the day! And it was a good day, we were a family together, with no itinerary except to visit with friends and just BE in our old space.

Burning the candle at both ends....

i have officially 16 hours left of this level 3 first aid course....and am counting down!! It has seriously been the most exhausting few weeks!! I took this course a few years ago and had a wonderful (though gruelling) first time through! It sure makes a difference when you have a couple of cool cats in your class that you can goof off with and don't mind being in their space and you can handle them being in yours.....but this time through, it hasn't been that way. don't get me wrong, there have been laughs and i have found one cool cat who makes me laugh and we have fun, but i am still sort of reeling from a scenerio done the other day where i was partners with a guy who was big and sort of made me feel uncomfortable, and i had to do HIP SUPPORT!! Arg.....so that included (for those not familliar with the lingo) tying up their hips with triangular bandages--so, ahem, being in very private spaces! i am pretty sure he enjoyed it (which made it sort of worse) but this also included a secondary body check, where i had to remove his socks and shoes (after a long, hot and sweaty day) only for it to reveal not one but two nasty nasty black nailed toes! i am totally squeemish just writing and re-calling the scene. So, by now, its almost over, i have gotten very quiet and am just trying to work as quickly as i can to finish this awful awful scenerio..i finish....and the teacher says (insert gasp) "Switch Around" (NOOOOO...) I know you have no choice of who you work with in real life, thats cool, i go into 'mode' when i am needed...but that was one of the nastiest things i have had to do on someone that i really didn't want to be doing it on. Hence, why taking these courses are way more fun when you can take it with people you don't mind touching...because as my teacher said at the beginning of the week "where else are you going to pay to get groped for 2 weeks?" (Chinatown was one of the answers, but i don't really want to grope or be groped by anyone but chris.....so, this is why i am happy this is almost over)

But to conclude, i am happy to report that i have been paired with the fireman for our last two days of scenerio practices to prep for the exam. He's a competent and nice person whos feet i don't get too grossed out having to touch, even though he too, has 1 black toe!!

Buzz Lightyear turned 4!!

A few pictures from the birthday party of little Isaac - who isn't so little anymore! But since he has turned 4, there have been moments in the last few days (yes, i am a little exhausted from the busy week and yes, i am a little hormonal too), but i have gotten teary a few times at the sweetness that comes out of this little guy! Anyways--we were rained out on june 5th (big surprise there!), so we set up the inflatable climbing wall that was bought for his birthday (yay grandparents!) - it's super cool! (i think i may start up a little side business this summer to rent it out!-but thats another blog entry).

He had some of his little friends over-which included some of my little friends too! They are amazing friends...one brought the cupcake mix and made cupcakes when she arrived, they all made sure they didn't leave my house in a mess, all very conscious friends that i am very thankful for! But isaac had such a great day:

The staff came over that morning to sing happy birthday to Isaac...very sweet.

And last night we went to the Burdges for dinner, and on the way home, we got a flat--which isaac promptly wanted to help with! Amazing kid: our little 4 year old.

Becoming an Outdoor Woman

Taking aim....

The wildlife Federation puts on these amazing weekends at a different location each year throughout BC..this year, i was lucky enough to hear about it from my mom and luckier still that it was just down the road at the Cowichan Outdoor Center!! I took 4 courses starting on the friday--map and compass friday afternoon, Falconry sat. morning, Trap Shooting on sat afternoon and Self Defense this morning (ahem, i took most of that last course, til i skipped out a little early to take a much needed nap in a really quiet sunny room before the kids 'swooped' in to pick me up!!)

Here are some pictures from the weekend--no time to discuss much as my bed is calling and i have to get up early for first aid!

Elton the owl and i hanging out....

Duckie the Hawk coming in to land on my arm on the Hawk Hike
Still coming in....check out his determined face! You can see the piece of chicken on my glove!
My mom.....such a blast!!
There was nobody else i would have rather have done this weekend with....seriously an awesome weekend..one for the books!!

Sunday Morning

A quick snapshot of our morning before church! I practiced the piano (a rare occurance, but both kids were strapped in eating breakfast, so i got in a few minutes without additional fingers accompanying me!). Elliot had a little try when he got unstrapped:



Elliot also played trains quietly in his room for a few minutes this morning and i caught it on my camera, but some how deleted it....whoops. But it was sweet because at the same time, Isaac was playing with his new race track...so i thought it was very cool that both boys were playing quietly on their own!

i know! i know!

Lately, the last thing i feel like doing is blogging......especially the last few days! Wow!! Have you seen this weather!!! Summer?? is that you???

i would give a review, but i want to go back and sit outside.....i just wanted to check in and say 'i don't feel like it'...and since i am not a kid anymore and nobody can tell me what to do..i can get away with it! ;-)

i am more about the face to face communication these days, its important.....so, thats me...will be back when the rain comes or when the mood strikes again!