Christmas Morning......

The stockings were hung on their doorknob with care.....isaacs room.....Elliots room.....Its been such a nice morning, we woke up a nice way...with a giddy phone call from new mom Carrie!! The boys dragged their stockings onto our bed to open them....isaac rips through everything while elliot takes his time and plays with what he has just opened for a few minutes (drives isaac nuts!!) This is an R2D2 laptop that the boys were both very excited about! It was one of the many nice star wars gifts from the Inch's--THANK YOU!!! Below: Isaac hanging our new Star Wars Christmas ornaments from the Inch's.Opening the toys and helping put them all together--one happy dad!Isaac chatting it up with Nona.....telling her about all the exciting things he got for Christmas!Elliots turn......he was excited to communicate, he did alot of pointing to things for Nona to "see"

Our Christmas shot at the Winslows on our last day of holiday last week!

Here is our house covered in the white stuff...we are going to go play in it now....its a beautiful day. We are feeling pretty blessed this Christmas...we are all healthy, our family is all well, we have so much to be thankful for.....Merry Christmas!

Snow Fun!!

Don't you love when the snow falls initially before anyone walks on it and you are the first one to stomp through all the fluffy stuff!? Tonight that was Amanda and I.....the property hasn't been treaded on (unless you count my reckless husband on his quad bombing around yesturday)---but we haven't been able to walk due to the treacherous conditions....so we snowshoed tonight!! We turned our headlamps off on the mainfield and the sky was amazing......sometimes we forget to look up, you know?

And then came back and giggled over Mama Mia.......

Holiday Overview Part 1

As i sift through the 650 pictures that were taken on our 3 week holiday, i am overwhelmed with how to effectively document our time! So, i will do it in stages. I vow to blog a little every day so that i can look back on it and know that i gave it a good overview...unlike last year when i skipped straight to New Years because the idea of writing about such a special trip, i figured would NOT do it justice. This year, i will document it in pics with a few explanations...just enough to give a general overview because we did squeeze so much good stuff into such a short amount of time. (ie: 5 states in 10 days!!)

First full day down the Oregon Coast:

Highlights:

This was a really special day on an Oregon beach where we were the only ones. We played for ages in the sun....it was beautiful.

Carrie--doesn't this shot of isaac remind you of us in California when we were little? Wearing our red wind jackets, making the waves chase us? He screamed like us too.....very high pitch, you would swear it was a girl screaming!

The SeaLion Caves...you took an elevator down and were able to look at the Sealions in their own habitat...very cool!

The Perfect sunset at the end of the day:


How it is to get the boys to pose for a picture:

More to come tommorow....

Last Day in Studio City

Yesterday Isaac, Chris and i took in Disneyland!! It was a beautiful day.....it was nice to have isaac a year older than last year and be able to really enjoy the day enstead of being more freaked out than happy! The 3 of us walked around for over 7 hours.....my favorite, as always, is Space Mountain! Isaacs' favorite is Star Wars, and Chris is happy on any ride that doesn't make him barf!

We got home around 7:30 to see that Elliot was still awake playing happily with the Inch's.....Jackie and Kevin said they had a nice day with him, and that he is a very easy baby. He didn't nap, he helped them pick out a Christmas tree at Target, he grazed on grapes, apples, carrots, and ate his cheerios with a fork like everyone else at the dinner table.....so a pretty typical 'elliot' day. i have to be honest, we all missed elliot at Disneyland, which is why we headed home a little earlier than we normally would have (we missed the parade to get home)....but it was so nice to see that he had a fun day too.

We are heading out to Elizabeth's Christmas play this afternoon.....somehow she forgot to mention that she needed some antlers for the play (which is in 2 hours) so Jackie has been racing around to over 5 stores trying to find a pair for her--i guess i have that to look forward to too!

Chris, Kevin and Isaac are out right now looking to buy to snow chains for our van before we head out tommorow morning...the weather looks absolutly WICKED for the next 10 days! lots and lots of snow consistently...so we are nervous for the drive home. We are planning to log 10 hours tommorow and 10 hours the next day...sigh..i hope its not as scary as last year. We are going to do our best to avoid the higher elevations.

I walked with Kevin again this morning......i am not sure if he picked up his pace, or if my legs are just exhausted over the last 3 days of lots of walking (min. 5 miles each day..disneyland definatly more)--but i had a tough time keeping up near the end of the hour that i actually let him do the last long lap on his own.....i made his typical milkshake that i have been having since our arrival - just following suit since he has lost over 20 pounds doing this--but its ice, 2 bananas, yogurt, an egg, and an orange. Totally orange julius style--the raw egg still makes me hurl a little, but i try not to think of it!

Ok---time to get rolling here......wish us luck on the roads!!

Studio City

We are at the Inch's!! Our final stop on our holidays before heading back to snowy canada.....yup, snow on the roads i hear! I have gotten pics of friends kids playing in the snow already--sigh......and here we are, poor us, in the sun shine--though in case you are about to feel sorry for us, it is record cold here for LA--though, it feels like our fall! Mild, with sun....quite lovely.

This family, i tell you, is one of the busiest i have ever seen! its the weekend right? the time when people get to chill and relax! wrong! Here, these people are like passing ships in the night! Whether it is volleyball tournaments, basketball practices, water polo christmas parties, mass....they all seem to maintain good attitudes about the crazy schedule they all lead. its like watching a well oiled machine, Chris and i just stand back and watch. Our lives are so different...so its been really interesting to watch. I have some nice shots of the family......got a good one of little kevin watching a movie in betty's room with isaac and elliot, Big kevin hugging Jackie, Jackie helping betty with her outfit for tommorow.......we are doing what we were hoping to do, blend into their routine and see what they do on a normal day.

Jackie and i are going to see 'Twillight' tommorow morning (i KNOW!! shows ALL day!!)--i read the book on the way down here and really wanted to see the movie...so i am really looking forward to that. And then she and i are going to decorate the house while kevin and chris take Steph to a waterpolo game after lunch.

Chris and i are taking Elizabeth and Isaac to Disneyland on tuesday while elliot stays home with jackie......she feels bad for him, and says for the rest of his life is going to remind him that his parents left him at home while the older brother got to go to DisneyLand! aw........poor guy right? I would have no problem at all taking that little guy to Disneyland if he were easier to take places as opposed to how is really is at this stage--and that is stubborn and doesn't listen. With DisneyLand not being the most inexpensive place to go (Isaac is $60)....and though elliot would be free....we would still pay!!! ;-)

I think we are going to head out of here on wednesday because i think we have a very treacherous ride ahead of us with all the snow that has fallen so we want to give ourselves a long time to get home. We also would like to see Mike and Sue up in Washington on our way home too......its going to be a LONG ride that we are not looking forward to! But its been fun and hard to believe almost over already! crazy!

Thats it for now, i am off to bed to continue reading the 2nd book after Twilight!

Palm Springs

We are finally in the heat we've come looking for!! We saw the Grand Canyon yesturday morning--it was beautiful as expected! Took the token tourist shots, looked around....chased the kids (man, holidays are HARD when you have toddlers...you can't really do anything YOU want to do and enjoy it)...but we aren't complaining, we have just, more than once this trip, yearned to be alone.....i know, i know, that time will come sooner than we hope.......

it was a long drive from the Grand Canyon to Palm Springs, but we got here around 7 last night and plan to stay put for a couple days and then its off to see our favorite california family! Isaac has been asking the whole trip (every few days anyways)--when he was going to see elizabeth (who has promised him a Star Wars marathon when he arrives!!)

Thats it for now, i am going to head back to our room (that is next to the pool and the playground yay!!) for breakfast. Ciao!!

Leaving Las Vegas!!!

It's been fun....however, it wasn't until our 3rd day here that we realized the most fun to be had was when Elliot would fall asleep in the stroller and let us enjoy the holiday in peace!! Seriously, that poor kid has been so miserable and frustrated at not being able to communicate, its really been hard on everyone.

Here is a shot of the waterworks at the Bellagio that we saw last night, probably one of my highlights:

The water works they put on set to music is amazing! Isaac, Chris and i watched in awe.......i teared up a little, it was so beautiful (Chris laughed at me, bugger)---but afterwards we raced over to try to see this at the Mirage:

but we missed it by 5 minutes because we had taken a wrong overhead walkway!! But elliot had woken up by then, so we took him back to the Billagio to see the water show....he was unsure, i think i watched his face more than the show, it was so sweet.

But we are packing up to head out to check out the Hoover Dam:

and then onto the Grand Canyon:

We hiked Red Rock Canyon yesterday....totally amazing. We had a huge day yesterday: Red Rock Canyon, Western town, petting zoo (saw wolves!!), Lieds Children Museum, Outlet shopping (mama and papa bought coats since we packed for heat!!), searched out the vegas sign to do the tourist 'pose' to prove we were there, walked the strip to see the water show and volcano, in bed by 10:30....we were out and about for 12 hours! It was probably one of the best days.

These kids travel so well, it makes such a difference that we are able to stay in a 2 bedroom suite with 2 bathrooms, kitchen, livingroom, dining room.......like a home--makes it feel less like traveling when you don't have to eat out and can relax in front of the fire at night watching a movie. (thanks Mike and Sue!!!)

Time to check out some accomodations at the Grand Canyon......Ciao!!

Planned Holiday gone astray....but better.....

Its true, our planned holiday of flying to Las Vegas, renting a car, and toodeling around for 3 weeks went into the trash! It happened when we were all in line ready to fly when the westjet looks at me and says 'did you know your passport is expired?'..i was hoping it was a sick joke--you know, some westjet employees like to joke...they are encouraged to do that--but i thought 'lame joke man, not funny....got 2 toddlers here....not funny'

Turns out when we did get our passports, it was when Isaac was in my belly and we jetted off to Mexico...yup, that would have been over 5 years ago! So, we looked at eachother and panicked for a moment and then thought 'breathe......everything happens for a reason'

So, we tried to sort out the passport thing, it was not going to work....so we were all packed anyways---marg and gordon were both down in victoria thankfully at the same time (marg was set to take our van back home for the month!!)--so we threw our back bench of the van into Gordons little car, hugged them goodbye, and off we went--on an unknown holiday!

We have really had a great time....the kids travel well thankfully. We took the Oregon Coast down and are currently in Windsor California at a really great resort where the kids will have their own room, we had a rotisserie chicken dinner with carrots, asparagus, roast sweet potatoes......we have been trying to eat in as much as possible in the evening since we are all so tired, and lets be honest, dinner out with 2 tired toddlers really sucks and its expensive if they don't eat what you make. At least tonight, i spent $20 at safeway, loved the dinner and didn't really care what they ate (they ate alot btw-which rocked). (and as another side note, there has been NO fastfood stops along the way.....its a new goal to snack and eat well as much as its a bother to continually stop at grocery stores enstead of driving through somewhere....but i am hoping the end goal is that we will all stay healthy and feel well)

We are hoping to relax this weekend a little bit since this last week has been alot of driving.....i pretty much know all the words now to Wall-E and Peter Pan....not sure why they love those 2 so much, but its been 3 days of rotating between those ones!

I fell asleep sitting up this afternoon, and chris made fun of me when i woke up saying 'who am i?' and then he does this snort, a huge body spaz, and smacks his hand against the window--i figured it was me since i didn't know why my hand hurt.......

Each night we have been taking the boys swimming before bed, but i think that riles them up more than calms them down, so right now, the 3 of them are curled up in front of the fire watching Fievel goes west.

We have seen some really cool things since we have been on this trip down the Oregon Coast--we drove it on our honeymoon, but it was all fogged in so it's crazy to see what we all missed!! We checked out the Sealion Caves in Oregon, drove through a big tree (i thought that was sketch...but somehow we made it through with no scratches), the weather was hot and gorgeous so we played on the beach over these amazing sand dunes...we were the only ones on there!! It's been so fun!

The hotels have been really beautiful too...right on the water both nights, breakfast, internet, pool, and under $100 including tax (our 4 requirements) - we come in and the price has been double what we end up negotiating to (so we either look pathetic, or really, we just needed to ask and tell them our budget--either way, its been pretty easy to stick within our daily budget this last week).

So, thats the update til now, we aren't sure if we are going to head to the Grand Canyon anymore, part of me still would like to, so we'll see what happens in the next few days...but this weekend isn't for driving, its for chilling out and relaxing after a nutty week! Ciao!

Mama turned 33 today!!

There has been so much going on lately that i haven't made the time to blog! But as we are prepping for our big trip (hate to say much more than that on a pulic blog, but those i love know what we are doing!)--i will give a succint overview of the last few big events that i think are worth mentioning! Sans photos though since my camera battery has died.....

My wonderful mother flew out a few days ago to spend 2 full days with us...she cooked, stayed up late with me and slept in, played with the boys, made cookies with the boys (pics to follow soon i hope, cause THAT was funny!)--i am the same way, i have to admit, so i come by it honestly, but she has a romantic idea in her head of wanting sweet time spent with her grandchildren making cookies together....when in actuality, its alot of work to show them how to use the cookie cutters, place it nicely on the pan, try to stop elliot from putting handfuls of raw dough into his mouth. I think it was another 'lesson in spirituality' as she likes to put it! ;-) But honestly, i think she made some really nice memories with the boys this week.

She took Caleb home on the plane with her...we bought a crate on the way to the airport this morning for him to travel in..once he got to kelowna, she took him to the doggie spa....he definatly had a more 'pampering' day than i did!!! But he is going to be staying with 2 major major dog lovers while we are away...so i am thrilled he is going to be there.

What else......Duncan light up was last night and honestly, it was so nice for me as so many of my favorite people were there. i felt so lucky to have people around me i find interesting and genuinely care about. The light up itself really sucked, but having my mom there and alot of my good friends just made it pretty special.

Today is my birthday.....i woke up early to get my mom to the airport-5:30 alarm....out the door driving by 6. Decided to take Isaac with me, leave Chris and Elliot at home, and have a nice day out shopping with my eldest. He was quite good at lululemon (part of my birthday presents were from people who love me who know i love lululemon and pretty much live in them AND i was ready for a new pair--so i got lots of money to go towards them....thank goodness cause they are insanely expensive!!!) But isaac had opinions on colors and styles, for the most part was pretty fun. We went out for chinese food together....MEC, lulu....the regular stops.

Home by 4, totally exhausted....Chris had the house cleaned and ready for guests when i walked in....very lovely. I crashed on the couch for a few hours, Cristin arrived a little early to find me on the couch, in my pj's, with the drool drying on the armrest!! She bought me a beautiful bracelet from mexico-so sweet. Amanda then arrived with our favorite McCain cake (she tried to get McCaines to make it as her wedding cake, but they refused...aw)--and she brought ginger beer and a tim's card for me to have a coffee on her!! so sweet too!!

So, chris took care of the boys, while me and my good friends cooked...we made Rebars Santa fe Pasta salad with candied salmon (though neither of them wanted it in theirs!! (weirdos! well, cristin is allergic, so she is excused...)..anyways...we cooked, made an appie plate of brie, bread, apples and grapes, grabbed a ginger beer and hit the couch to watch SPLASH....an oldie but goodie.

I was so tired tonight from the whole day that had my other guests been able to make the party, i think i probably would have cancelled it. But with these 2 girls who can show up and i can still be in my pj's and feel fine about it.....i figured i could handle it, and i really had the nicest time ever...so chill, good food, lots of laughs......so lucky. To top it off, i got lots of phonecalls as well as 25 facebook emails with birthday wishes.....so i am feeling pretty good at 33 thus far!

I realize this is a very boring post to many of you, but i don't keep a journal, this is it--so i need to get down the thoughts while they are still in my head and can remember a few of the special moments that are important to only me.

So it was, in all honesty, a very happy birthday. My fortune cookie today read "you will have good luck today", when i think it really should have read 'you will be very blessed today'......because i was.

This video has made me happy for days!

(2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Crossing the Border!

It was time for an adventure, a time to get away from the dishes, cleaning and cooking, a sort of 'dry run' for the big December trip -- so, we headed South to see this woman:

She is my new favorite discovery! Her name is Susan and guess what i discovered less than 4 years ago?! She is part of my family! Her husband is Mike and she has 2 sons names Daniel and Eli.....they live in Mt Vernon just 20 minutes from the Mt Washington ferry.

You know those people you meed randomly and love right away because there is something about them that makes you feel good? She is one of them.....

We got there around 3pm on wed and headed back to her house to chill and play and eat, and to recover from the 2 hour drive to the ferry, the 1 hour wait for the ferry, and the 3 hour ferry.

The next day she had a really nice day planned for us - she took us to the childrens museum.

There was painting (Elliot was kind enough to spatter some nice purple paint on Susans bum so her jeans would look a little more designer'ish. (please also note how he is two-fisting the paintbrushes--there is a chance this little guy is going to be a lefty....seriously)

This was Isaacs favorite part of the museum--Crane Operator.

He was actually quite good...here he is trying to hit me with the bag that hung from the crane!

His little assistant....

Elliot loved this one too, but refused to go in with his shoes on....proper little guy.

There was a boat at the museum....have to be honest, head lice definatly crossed my mind.

Hitching a ride with Susan.....

Semi Truck Driver

We did a little outlet store shopping for the boys (isaac had NO pants left that didn't look like clam diggers on him!), we had chinese food for lunch, chased the boys around, watched alot of Veggie tales, and the kids were in bed by 7 and Susan and i were out the door by 7:05 leaving Mike to 'babysit' (he said it was the easier babysitting gig he's had in ages..the boys didn't make a sound)

Susan shops like me (and my mother too, for that matter)--we swing the doors open, do a quick scope of the store, decide in that second if it's worth is to go in, if yes, we swoop through the perimeter, back up the middle and out!! Time was of the essence!

I found a sweater and had to decide between these 2 shoes....which do you think was the pair that was chosen?
It was a really nice trip, to a really pretty place, with a really amazing woman.

R2D2

When Isaac wakes up in the morning, he heads upstairs to play toys and watch treehouse til we all get up.

To preface the story, Isaac got a new toy the day after halloween -- the deal was he was given the opportunity to give all his candy away in exchange for a toy.....which he gladly accepted. So, this is what he chose (please note the tiny R2D2 in the spaceship):

So, this is the tiny R2D2 that he has been playing with all week:
But THIS is the R2D2 he is used to playing with prior to getting the tiny one.

The story is this: Isaac is playing upstairs and while hanging out with his toys, he looks over across the room and sees the big R2D2 laying there...he then RUNS down the stairs to our room crying "I'm scared!! I'm scared!! R2D2 got bigger!!" and he is totally freaked that his toy is possessed or something. Kinda wigged us out too because he was so scared.....but chris heads upstairs to see what is going on ... and finds R2D2 pushed right against the far wall with a bunch of toys piled on top of it!! I guess Isaac thought he would stop the madness by burying it!! and then ran away crying........i love that he takes care of a problem before he leaves! It totally reminded me of when my parents bought me this life size clown when i was younger....it would sit in my room and stare at me at night and totally scare me....so one time, i took it downstairs in the middle of the night and hucked it into their office closet.

$60

Yes.....$60 is the amount I always seem to spend when i enter into the local village market for groceries! Even tonight--i went in with a list of 4 things: eggs, milk, apples and cheese...and came out with 4 bags totalling around $60'ish dollars. My fridge is packed since i am currently trying to make a conscious effort to eat well and eat at home....both require alot of planning and self control since subway is SO easy to pick up on the ride home!!

It's like going to the grocery store sans enfants is like a social outing----i peruse the aisles, leisurely look at the meat, contemplate how much sugar is in certain jams and cereals. Casually throwing things in my cart that we will enjoy eating in the next few days and voila!! Poof! $60 bucks gone.....and those nasty bakers put out brownies on their free little tray just as i had finished my hour long walk with Amanda.....seriously!!

Does that ever happen to you??

Monday

Hard to believe its November already! The leaves aren't all on the ground yet and it isn't that cold...but just the fact that i am writing November on my cheques sort of blows my mind!
Here is my day so far and i hope you are impressed by what i squeezed into the 2 hours that Isaac was in preschool! Got out of bed around 9 (elliot was still asleep until our friends arrived at 10)---we went to bed late last night, so it was a nice morning to sleep in.
Amanda and her kids arrived. I made snack mix and granola bars in the time she was here for a quick tea before Alex's dentist appointment. The boys and i had toast and fruit for lunch, i put the ribs in the crock pot for dinner, and hustled out for preschool at noon.

With Isaac dropped off, i did the following: took Elliot swimming at the new pool, went through the gong show re-dressing after!! (seriously--isn't that the worst part of taking them swimming???), went to the farmers market to pick up veggies and groceries, had a quick visit with my good friend Christie at the market, vacuumed and cleaned the van, and was right on time to pick up Isaac at 2:45. So......isn't it impressive what one can accomplish when under the gun!!??