Baby Jack and my Baby Sister come to visit!!

Its 2 weeks over due....but i needed to document the nice visit we had when Carrie and Jack came out! Here are Isaac and Jack at an outdoor concert at Beacon Hill........he LOVES Jack!! Elliot loves Jack too...but in a more distracted way...i think Jack picks up on that (see expression!!)

His mom left to go to the washroom, so he snuck me a couple smiles!

Beautiful mom...

Jack Attack:

Auntie gets a big, wet, open mouther......felt honored since carrie said he doesn't dole those out often!

i love jack

Pointing at some donkeys doing some interesting things......

Carrie a little grossed out by the unsanitary-ness of it all.....'where is the hand washing station??'

Carrie was also there for Elliots first day of Preschool.....this is Elliot meeting his teacher...nice eh?

and she was there for Isaacs first day of Kindergarden

This is how we walk Elliot....we dangle gummy worms in front of him

...seriously, its the only way to get him to keep pace!

Tired mom and baby...really tired.

I need to document that Elliot is holding my hand...something i LOVE and something he doesn't do often!

Chris and i had our 11 year anniversary, so Carrie and i picked blackberries and i made him jam as part of his gift......

The visit is always too short....but we decided when we do this again...our mom has to come along too to give carrie a break...we were both exhausted when it was all over.....but SO good to be with her.....i miss her alot....Isaac and Elliot really miss 'Gak' too!

Thursday....shouldn't be a big day.

It wasn't supposed to be a big day...but it sure felt like it!

Dropped Isaac of at school....little friend Rocco already looking for him as we pulled in.

Headed to Jenny's school for a 'strong start' program for Elliot and to meet up with Nancy and her little one. Man, i know those things are good for the kids, but i can't stand them.....the lady in charge talks baby talk, my kid doesn't play with me or crawl all over me when we go to places like that ....he explores!!! Which is what i WANT him to do...but i end up feeling like a tool hovering over him as he wanders with his 4 second attention span (cause when i sat down to chat with nancy, i overheard the lady talking to elliot 'oh....wee one....you want to cut? maybe your MOMMY will come and cut with you...' ....sigh......it was nice to see jenny....she seemed real happy to see him and introduce this blob of 3 year old on the floor as her nephew....yes...he melts onto his tummy onto the floor whenever he sees her and buries his head???

Picked up Isaac and little Rocco and brought them back to Roccos house to play for 2 hours!! Good mom eh? i just wanted to get home and nurse my new head cold.....its nice at their house....real chill, i feel comfortable with his mom and her place....so does Elliot.

Home to rest for a couple hours

4:30 - Chris isn't home yet so i gather up BOTH boys for speech therapy....Elliot LOVES Amy.....has been asking for her all day...today she whispered that she knows she shouldn't have favorites, but elliot is hers! He is quite smitten.....sits with her for an hour a week and loves it! We already see improvements.

6pm - Dinner at camp - Roast Beef!! BIG sigh.......yeees!!! yum!! It is 7:15 now, Elliot is down, isaac is in town with Chris checking out the new Home Depot and maybe going for a swim.....and i am about to wind down...FINALLY!! Its been a really big day....but shouldn't have been!

Just another day in paradise.....

My musical children.....

Why pay for classes and drive forever when they can do it from the privacy of our own home? Don't they look happy?

And doesn't Elliot look like the paparazzi??

After music class, Elliot proceeded to make Isaac a rock stew in the pot......

Darth Vader Attacks!

When the fat man falls over.....is it wrong to laugh?

He was pretty happy as a fat guy....... until he fell over.....

and couldn't get up.....

still couldn't get up...i think his head was stuck up in the leg by now.....

man, i laughed....was that wrong??

The Routine.....

Isaac gets to the school ground and hunts for his little friend Rocco.....Elliot putters around aimlessly on his own til i am ready to go. This morning we walked with Rocco's mom back to her house and let the kids play while we waited for our eldests.

Home by lunch.....we eat, we putter, we went to the beach again for the 3rd afternoon in a row--got to love this heat.......we had the property to ourselves from 4:30 onward...so nudity abounded! i wish i had a picture of their 2 little white butts running and racing on the beach side by side.....not so much when Elliot pretends he is a dog and goes to lap up the lake water....nice view...um..not!!

But its been wonderful to lay in the sun .... the only thing that would make it better would be some friends....sigh.....remoteness is awesome...NOT!! Thats another thing Isaac has been doing....being totally sickly sweet about something and then yelling 'NOT'!! Seriously...where did he learn that???

Tonight was his karate class.....he had one last chance before i would pull him. He ran right into it today and absolutly LOVED it!! He practiced his punches when he got home....his little friend Alex and his dad were there tonight (sigh)....so they played a bit together at the end-picking up right where they left off 7 months ago.....

My new friend Tracey took some pictures of him at class, so i will try to grab those from her tommorow.....

I made chicken noodle soup this evening with homemade noodles...my throat is sore.....it called for the soup!!

K--rambling....not the best post, but whatever...it was a great day.....really great.

He is tired...but he keeps going.....

'He is tired' is probably the understatement of the week....but after coming off a long summer, Chris has literally thrown himself and all his spare time into this reno....for the good of his family. I feel for him....this is so much bigger than we anticipated...and here is an example: the bathroom of the flip: ugly right? Even, unfortunatly, uglier underneath once he ripped it all out...... to the mud!!! He is the kind of guy that needs to have things done right....so when he see mold or anything that looks off---its gone....hence why you can see through to the basement in this shot!! But look how happy he still looks holding that hammer!!!

And, sigh, the ugly kitchen!! The cabinets are now in, but i don't have that shot yet....but its looking SO good! I would be overwhelmed....he just keeps his head down and keeps plugging....i try not to say anything (because the last few days, he has been feeling discouraged and overwhelmed, i think......)--but he has some quiet time on his own...and the next day he flies into it---today he did ALL the plumbing in the bathroom, bought all the supplies, the subfloor and the lino and got everything done except the lino!!!! Fast hey??

Ta-da! Clean Kitchen!

My job is to keep the kids busy so he can work, it is SO stressful when the kids are around while we are trying to do something at the house....today is his day off and he put in 10 hours. We can't wait for it to be done and he has vowed he will never do this again......and we won't.....unless it's a SCREAMING deal!!

Why??

Why can't the day following a perfect day be good? I am not even striving for perfect, like yesterday....but seriously was yesturday so great that today had to even out the score??!

Today we had 2, count them, only 2 things that we wanted to get done.....change the heater in the kids room and change the light switch panel at the top of the attic stairs so they weren't balancing precariously as they switched on the light. Easy things right? Well, the heater meant alot of stuff got moved around in their room=me wanting to clean, purge and re-organize. The switch also meant the power had to turned off for almost 3.5 hours this afternoon....meaning that everyone stopped--laundry, dishes....AND (gasp!) the DVD player! Don't get me wrong, it was fine for a few hours...but arg!! When you want to get a couple small things done around the house, its like a mini tornado follows you and when you turn around - its WORSE than when you went through it!! What is WITH THAT??? So...here it is...8pm...my back is aching, i am sore and grumpy, i ate 2 chocolate bars, and the house isn't close to being done!! The boys room looks amazing though.......maybe i will post a pic tommorow so i can remember that one thing did get finished.

Near Perfect Day....

So, aside from just now sitting on a seat FULL of pee that i thought was cleaned (i had wiped a few little tinkles....not having enough light to shine on the back of the seat?? that had a lake of pee on it....sigh...thanks elliot)--aside from that, i can safely say it was a near perfect day.

Here are the blessings i am counting today:

--First time back to Jazzercise all summer - and i got my butt handed to me on a platter!

--BOTH (count them) BOTH kidlets at preschool/school and enjoying themselves.

--Clean house to come home to.

--We are all healthy and happy and we laughed alot today.

--Only $12 spent today...at the farmers market = BIG box of stuff....man, i love shopping there!

--Canned 12 jars of peaches today.

--Made that awesome no-knead bread for dinner.

--Homemade lentil soup with feta and fresh lemon for dinner too.

--Talked with ALL my family.....they are almost ALL well too....couple 'glitches'....

--Still reeling with glee from homemade pasta (made with a new friend) last night with mushrooms picked from the forest moments before dinner....

--Elliot has been listening and holding my hand when we walk.

--Kids ate dinner....got ready for bed...and we went for a walk/isaac rode his bike.

--Met up with Chris and we all went for a quad ride together on the quiet property....

--and right now i am listening to Chris, cuddled up with both kids on isaacs bed, telling them a bedtime story about the adventures of isaac and elliot.

It was seriously a great day today.....the sun was shining which always helps, but today, all is well with the world.......in our little world.

Top of the World! .. in our world anyways....

Yes....they made it to the top of Mesachie Mountain! We hiked it with 5 kids last weekend when our friends Richard and Sheleah came to stay with us......it was....interesting!

Isaac keeps asking when we can do that mountain climb again...i think he mainly likes the 'candy stops'....you know, the 'get to that tree waaaay up there, and you can have a smartie'. It took one box of smarties between 5 kids and we all made it up and down with no major trouble.

Today was a special day. It was the first day both kids have been in school and i had the morning (2.5 hours to be exact), to myself. I have been thoughtful to how i will spend this time and i have come up with the following: i want to get into better shape = monday/friday mornings = Jazzercise. Wednesday = i will visit with people because i want to make new friends and strengthen old frienships. This morning i met up with another mom named Tracey, we had coffee and read together at a local coffee shop...pretty chill, but exciting as we seem to have lots in common and have some phases that we are going through at the same time (wanting to get a little more 'pioneer'ish with canning, baking, etc)....we are going to make pasta tommorow afternoon together while we let the kids play at her house! Strange to be invited out to her house because i am always the one inviting people to mine, or dropping in un-invited to others for a visit (ahem, Christie).....i like to think i am always welcome...but who knows? ;-) So...it was nice.

Tuesday = i have Elliot....tuesday will be to visit with grandma or coffee with cristin and Thursday = Train Museum with Elliot until they close in Thanksgiving. I am excited for this new routine....its nice to be done every day by noon....this last week we come home, have lunch and relax and play til dinner.....its really chill.

I have learned a few things today....Yelling or swatting at Elliot when he is acting badly (like before bed these past few weeks...like hyperventilating freaking out!!), worked with Isaac...but does NOT work with Elliot....if anything, it makes the situation escalate. You know the saying that your kids are given to you to teach you things and solidify your character? Well, i am needing to learn to take a deep breath and calm myself before dealing with him....because getting mad at him sucks and doesn't work......but holding him tight while leaning my face real close to his and talking in a low calm voice...does work. now THAT is going to take practice since high pitch noises always throw me into a tailspin and i want to end the noise as quick as possible (not unlike my barking dog!!)

So...there we are! One sleeping 3 year old, a 5 year old who has had a wonderful week at kindergarden with his new little friend Rocco (maybe i can get a pic of them together tommorow--SO cute!!). Isaac blew me a kiss in line up today before he headed in, and made another mom cry. sigh.......

Elliot goes to Preschool!!

This proud little soul started Preschool today at Agapeland! Armed with his snazzy new red snack bag.....he had a really nice day.

Aside from not listening to the teacher initially and coming inside to start the day...i had to be called to come and help get him inside because he wasn't listening. Once i got there and told him he needed to listen and be inside with all his new little friends...he was like 'oh! really? ok!!' and went to take his place on the circle carpet...sigh....Elliot...stubborn little Elliot.

I think he is going to love it......

Married for 11 years!!

The boys went to grandma's after we dropped my sis and baby jack off at the airport (more pics to come on that visit--she had all the pics on her camera this go round!)....but chris and i took the day to ourselves. Its funny how we racked our brains on something we could do..something special....but nothing jumped out. We finally decided to do something together outside.....where we are always most happy!! Before kids, we were often out on different adventures....now life is little more calculated - so it was a perfect idea. Waiting patiently while my partner in crime took a quad break to hunt for mushrooms!

Here was the itinerary:

**Drop kids off

**Pick up picnic stuff for lunch and fresh veggies, steak and dessert for a quiet dinner at home.

**Nap for an hour to get the energy back up for the big afternoon adventure.

**Quad out to Skutz Falls area (went through chris's favorite quad trail....you had to stay VERY engaged...lots of ups and downs, bridges, hills.....i became a better driver that day!! And i learned that i don't have to totally gun it when i am scared trying to get up a steep hill...i can put it into 1st and trust that it will crawl up itself....)

Part II: Caving

We stopped after an hour to hike into this cave.....my mom wouldn't have been happy to join us....as a side note, i took her caving 8 years ago and had it been snorkling, she would have bitten the little nobies off from nervousness). This cave kept going deeper and deeper.....we stopped at the bottom when it didn't seem we could go any further without crawling....yes, we have limits.

Proof of life...we survived the pits of cold and darkness.

It's been 11 of the best years of my life....especially the last 6 years...they have been a real trip. I couldn't ask for a better partner than my best friend......

Kindergarten

OK.....so i am a few days behind everyone elses 'First Day' blogs....but we've been busy!! I am not going to say much, but here are a few shots of my beautiful baby on his first day!

Here he is wearing the shirt that his dad wore on HIS first day of kindergarten! Meaning...i am saving his striped shirt for my daughter in law to put on my grandchild on their first day of school!

Note the star wars lunch box.....very exciting!

A little "Bop-It" before Bed!!

My kids love this new game...... do you remember it? This is a new version that (thankfully) has a volume control!! as well as some new ergonomic features that let little hands play easily.....

Please note how focused Elliot is on the Bop-it, while Isaac takes aim at the cameraman!

Each boy has their own 'way' to play and how they hold it...but when isaac has to 'bop' the middle button, he slams it against his face as to not have to let go of the 'twist' or pull' button!! SO Funny!!

Missing the command......

End of Summer Exhaustion

This is how i found my husband last night around 8pm....curled up in the fetal position!! It's been a long summer for him.....he is tired...but he has run the race strong and will finish strong and i am so proud of him.

Hard to find...hard to keep.

i have some pretty awesome friends....... here is one of them....remember her? One of the two girls i was pining for a few weeks back.....we were both able to carve out some time for eachother today (sans enfants!!). We put kids to bed (well, i waited while she worked at it....not unlike the beginning of my visit with Meg)...we had thai...it got cold as we laughed as the food would stay on our forks for way too long because our mouths were busy talking......we shopped (well, i shopped, she picked stuff out and gave reviews).....i was introduced to my first "london fog" at Starbucks, and yup Cor, i would have it again....as always...it was memorable and a highlight of my summer.

i feel like with Cor our conversations always have meaning...and i walk away feeling as though we have had a real interaction and that it meant something. i feel fulfilled when i leave her.....i feel happy that we are still friends....especially during a time when i find friends are hard to find and hard to keep.....i can count on one hand the friends i still have who know my history....who knew me before i married Chris and who still know us now. i feel blessed but sad at the same time that we don't live closer....it was a wonderful day.