Slushy Weather.......

I was starting to get jealous of everyone else posting pictures of their cute little kids frolicking in the snow....and we had no snow!!  we ALWAYS have snow....it was so weird....but today...we had snow!!

Tonight, ALL the boys, who live under this roof (yes, jon included!) made use of the rad BMX track that we have one site.......Elliot turned out to be the wild one, flying down the tracks on the crazy carpet while isaac, the skinny bean, decided it was WAY too cold, and waited in the car (which was parked at the track for the headlights to light up the track in the pitch black.....

 Jon got included in the fun....great having neighbors who play....

 Speaking of neighbors who play......Mel played with her blender this evening while all the boys were sledding....and we cozied up with the fire and an episode of 'Friends'.

And we made these:

Slushy weather calls for slushy drinks....doesn't it?

Bath Time!!

Seriously, who does not like cute (tasteful) shots of beautiful kids having fun in the water??

I love how these boys love eachother.....

Its been a good weekend....however, i have been husbandless for most of it (aside from last nights date-night).  The crunch is on for the camp brochure to get finished before our big departure.....so, the poor man has been up early and gone late.  It won't be long now......

Double Date

Actually, alot more has to go into going on a date than one would think. 

Much more than in my younger years, when i could take all day to get ready for the evening!

Not that i ever really did that....really, i was always the one waiting for my girlfriends to finish..

I mean, was i the only one who noticed that they looked pretty much the same after as before...

But maybe just more in color??

There are the babysitters; and not just any will do,

i mean, you are trusting your more valued possession!  Here is who we found and trusted:

 And among many other things, they made potions with Isaac....cheers!!

You have to try to get presentable even though you have been in sweats all day and

its taking everything not to crawl into bed!

You need to document the first time you have been out alone together in....umm......well, its documented!

And to make the night ALL worth it, you need to find some super fun friends who will make you laugh all night but be warned, that they will swipe your blackberry to take self shots when you get up to go to the washroom......  

Because they too, do not remember the last time they have been out on a double date sans enfants (which means 'without kids' Nic!;-)

It was a pretty wonderful night.....thanks to all who made it all possible!!  We love you guys.....thank you.

What to write.....what to write....

Not sure where to go with todays post....i haven't really picked up my camera in a few days.....today i slacked.....no gym...no jazzercise....i refused.  You know when you do something too much, it becomes more repelling than attractive?  well, thats me with salmon, spinach and the gym these days....NO MORE!!  Well, ok, 5 more days.......but next Wed. night...this whole 'transformation' thing...its over.  Weigh in Wed. morning, staff christmas party thursday night = happy woman with a dessert in each hand, and probably a bucket an hour later! ;-)

Snowed In....

We were snowed in a little today.....(not really, but yeah, there was snow)

But being snowed in with friends, pretty much rocks.

Playdoh snowman....to stay with the theme of the day!

Nicole and Steve loving the puffed wheat cake.....

So did Adessa, this is actually her favorite spot in the kitchen.....

We walked, played, read, cooked, ate, enjoyed the fire......

Great way to spend a snowy day....with friends....at home.

YOINK!!!!

Wondering about my title?  Its appropriate as well as an awesome word that rolls off your tongue!

Got a call this morning from Isaacs school saying he was in the office in quite a bit of pain with a loose molar, and this is what i arrived to:

{please note the stylin' 'tooth bag' necklace the school gave him!}

So i took him straight to the dentist as he wouldn't really let me near him....not sure why he wouldn't trust me.

We sat in the dentists for awhile, since we were being 'squeezed' in and still quite a ways back at the end of the line....

i got bored AND i remembered what a basic consult is at the dentist.

So, i lovingly called over my eldest, asking to take 'just a little peek in'......i also inquired if he would rather i spend $40 on him, or give it to the dentist?

Guess who he choose? 

I YOINKED it out right then and there!  We figured the money saved was 'half his entrance into Lego Land!'

Almost done....

There are a few things that are almost done:

There are 12 days left of this transformation course that i am on. I have learned to 'Eat Clean'....i have learned that i do cheat, sometimes i cheat often, depending on the time of the month! ;-) But i have also learned to enjoy those moments and get back on track the next day.  I haven't lost many pounds, hardly any to mention, but i have lost inches and my final weigh in with pictures is on the 26th....i may, or may not post them...probably not actually.....bikini shots in unflattering positions, i think not. 

Isaac and Elliot have 12 days left of school, if we exclude weekends, isaac has 8 full days left and Elliot has 5 before we shove off on another adventure together. 

I am directing a womans outdoor retreat next May, and today i was able to finalize many of the details for the brochure!  You should all come!  You will have choices in courses like: caving, repelling, falconry, fly fishing, kayaking, outdoor photography, bear and cougar awareness, gps and geocaching just to name a few...there are lots of others!  But we were able to somehow secure the most amazing camp cook; evie tennant, who i have no bones in yelling 'best camp cook ever!!!!!'  And every woman knows, that in a special weekend away, food is TOP priority!

I am almost done having to go to the gym....or should i say, almost done feeling guilty for NOT going to the gym during the transformation time....i did real well those first 10 weeks, but seriously, lifting stuff up and down gets a little boring after awhile!! 

Time is ticking......and its almost time for a change of scenery.

Day of Driving.....

home to school/preschool for drop off

school to gym - work out

gym to thrift store - dropped off purged items from weekend

thrift store to lady's house where i bought a dsi with a pile of games for roadtrip

lady's house to starbucks to have a latte and check out the dsi

starbucks to preschool

preschool to home

home to lake cowichan hair salon - hair cut

hair salon back home to pick up chris and elliot

home back to duncan to drop off chris at chiro, pick up isaac at school

school to piano lessons

piano lessons to staples to pick up chris

staples to costco in victoria - dropped of boys with their favorite camp program girls for the evening {they were spoiled with boston pizza, ice cream, movies.....chris was saying bye to elliot as he was trying to close the door to get going !!!!  'sheesh dad, we 've got girls here who are taking us away, get outta here!!'

Costco to Andy and Jennie-Lynns for a wonderful (kidless for us!!) supper with ryan and court too!

Friends house to airport area to pick up very happy, and not yet tired children at 9pm!

Airport to home.....

=do NOT want to drive anywhere tommorow!!

Blog Month

i am supposed to blog every day for Novmber...but you know, i published 3 blog entries yesturday and i am going to count those last 2 as my weekend posts--i just should have paced myself....but i didn't....see you monday!

Meghan visits for the afternoon!

We had the pleasure of having the company of this lovely little girl this afternoon! 

We are now all in front of the fire watching a movie.....waiting for megs mom and sis to arrive with pizza for dinner!  Its been a great day....

heads and sinks

Funny story about this little boy

He is a curious little soul

Just like my boys, he enjoys playing at the bathroom sink

However, he is more curious than my kids, obviously.

Because when he started hollering for his mom

Carrie came running and found:

Little Jack, was able to get his head stuck between the faucet and the porcelein

I don't think many can boast of that!

but i think the funniest part is the end;

Jack hollering and carrie trying to help him get his head out

Both working against the other

Finally (get this), Carrie PICKS Jack up,his  feet in the air, head further into the sink

And successfully removes the screaming boy from the nasty trap!

Quick cuddles and a muffin and he is fine.....that is until therapy in 20 years.

(Wo)MAN DOWN!!!

This morning, as i was trying to dance my way through my foggy head in Jazzercise...i felt like a rookie, a newbie.....i could NOT keep up, they would go left, i would go right..you know, THAT kind of morning! 

I think part of it had to do with the butt kicking i got last night from my trainer....not fun...still recovering.

This one routine, had us side skipping across the floor....all i remember is smiling and having a decent time at one moment, and then next moment, like slow-mo...falling, towards the floor..watching my arms and fingers scratch at the air, like that would help me stay upright!  It didn't help.

There i was, laying on the floor, wondering if i rolled my ankle bad enough to quit and go home.

I sat out for a couple songs...sort of laughing at myself, more embarressed than anything.

At the end of the class, Sabrina (teacher) comes up and says to me 'you know, its often harder for everyone else to watch another woman fall, than it is for the actual woman falling'

So, i look at Elizabeth and say 'Was that harder for you, than it was for me?'

Response; "yes actually, i am not sure i will be able to sleep without seeing you fall through the air"

Sigh.....so i jokingly fell through the air in slow-mo to re-enact for her and i think i pulled something.

Thursday....day 11 of 'blog every day of november' month!

It was a long but great day.

1 hour walk with Caleb along my riverside trail: perfect walk til caleb saw a dog he didn't like the look of and turned to run full pace AWAY from me....a long way....it was weird, and a little embaressing.

Morning puttering; cleaning, making a lasagna for dinner, prepping for company...chris went back to bed.

Afternoon walk with wonderful friends who bring us coffee's and ice caps for a rainy walk with the kids...too wet to take the camera out of the backpack......sorry.

Late afternoon chai latte's, electric blankets, warm fires, kids playing upstairs, girls talking and laughing on the couch while boys explore the camp.

A one hour gym session that kicked my butt so bad that i don't care to return, ever AGAIN!  Seriously, nobody likes the feeling of barf, rising up, wanting to make an appearance.

Cleaning the chiro with Elizabeth.......good times...and rushing to the restaurant after to spend all the earnings!!

She gave me the most beautiful pair of sunglasses that i have ever owned, in my whole life! It was an early birthday present....pictures to come later, but they are amazing from what i tried on in the darkness of the car!!  Lucky girl to have such a great friend....we laughed alot tonight...it was a nice way to end the day.

Tired...about to crawl to bed....night!

Today was the day to decorate.....

Elliot and I had an afternoon project.

We scoured the thrift stores

He found Christmas Crackers for our christmas eve table for $1.50

exactly 9....the perfect amount we need

I found garlands and ornaments

We were productive and its starting to feel like a 'holiday' is soon approaching!

Want to know how we travel?

Each December, we are lucky enough to have a month to do with as we please!  It's usually a very exciting time because each fall, the mystery of December slowly creeps up and we often have NO idea where we will go!

This year is no different; though we know a few basic things: 

Where we will fly into: Las Vegas{thank you westjet for having cheap, direct flights from Vic!}

What we will be renting: SUV {spoiled hubby, won't stand for anything smaller}.  Story on wonderful 'coincidences' on our trips to come on another blog, will include how we got this years rental for way less than advertised anywhere on the web!

Our first 2 nights: Already booked a sweet condo just off the strip with full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, free wi-fi, parking and only $50 a night.

Thats it.....that is all we have planned!

Flights were taken care of by visa points, car rental and first 2 nights already paid for. 

The sites we use while on holiday:
http://www.hotwire.com/ - great site, but once we booked through here and got a 5 star resort just down the road from the white house BUT no free parking, no free breakfast, no free wi-fi and NO pool - the fav four we look for in every place we stay!

http://www.priceline.com/ - this is a good site because you can actually SEE what you are booking unless you 'name your own price', which then works alot like hotwire.  But we have stayed in some sweet places for cheap.

http://www.wyndham-vacations.com/ - this site has 5 star rentals all over the place, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

http://www.hotels.com/ - new favorite website....the deals aren't as great as hotwire but it gives WAY more detail to where you will be staying and huge sets of reviews from other travelors, which i love.

Want to hear something funny?  There have been nights where we will find a sweet hotel, I go in to see what the rate is that i can get out of them {never ever take their first offer, and be ready to walk}, while chris is on the laptop hooked up to their wi-fi outside in the parking lot looking up that exact hotel on a place like priceline or even their own hotel website and we have found better deals online out in their parking lot than they give me face to face!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ - this site is on my favorites toolbar.  Any activity, any place we stay or any potential plans we have are always run through this site.  Reviews are always taken as a grain of sand, but you can often get a good feel.

I love the art of the deal....i love going after what i want {top 4: breakfast, parking, wi-fi, pool}, especially when it comes to where my family sleeps, plays and spend time together because at this stage of the game with young kids - we need space, we need a pool and we love wi-fi for our own sanity to feel connected.

A major aspect of our holidays are from some amazing family who own timeshares throughout the country that we can check out at any time to see if there are any units available on bonus time {when owners aren't occupying the units, we can use them for basically the cost of the housekeeping fee}.  Thank you Mike and Susan...love you.

So...we are open to adventure, to see where the road takes us, for a change of scenery, for an In N Out Burger, to see some wonderful cousins that we haven't seen in way too long down in california but mostly we are excited to go make some wicked memories as a family!! 

The countdown is ON!  So cheers to sleeping in closets and all over the place!!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Spontaneous birthday dinner at our house tonight!

 Sitting in the BIG chair!

Pretty much sums up the cousins....check out elliots 'crazy' eyes!  Oscar will soon be in the middle of all this--give it time!! 

happy birthday mike...glad it gave us all an excuse to get together!

play day with burdges and fitzpatricks

Dinner: healthy dinner, however, dessert...not so much!

Toy Story 3: went and bought our own copy to watch last night....THAT is how cute it is.

Isaac and Elliot show up as Spiderman and Ironman (thank you walmart for huge halloween sales)

Wonderful mucky trail walk with Nic in our rainboots up to the lake with puppy but sans enfants!

Watching Chris and Steve get all excited talking about gold and quads: awesome

Le Hibou

The day of the owl was the day I had to drive carpool.  The young young girl who sat next to me in the passenger seat had french as her first class.  We were going to be late getting her there so we could take the owl (who was on her lap at said time) to the bird sanctuary. 

As we drove, i figured we should practice her 'story' for the class. 

We got as far as 'Ce matin, j'ai vue un voiture frape un....un???'

Hey?!  What was "OWL" in french??  We both knew it, really, but could NOT recall what it was!

We continued to draw a blank....so off the cuff, i throw out "Hey Isaac....what's 'owl' in french?"

He looks up from his DS totally unimpressed to be interupted and says with total deadpan face

"Hibou"

**************

And what a coincidence that this is what Elliot made that morning in preschool!

The Boys......on Saturdays.

Saturdays have started to be a time when Chris and the boys spend some time on their own sans maman!  On this past Saturday, Andy and Jennie-Lynn took chris and the boys to the local corn maze in victoria....from what i hear, they all had a blast....but look at them; don't they look like they would have fun anywhere?

Friday~parts of our day.....

Morning:
Saw a poor Great Horned Owl hit by a truck...we pulled over, i wrapped it up and took it to a local bird sanctuary where they will put it down humanely since it broke its wing in a hard to repair area.

Mid-day
Lunch at Jinny's house...lots of veggies, homemade soup, hot tea and a ride in the jeep for Elliot:

Afternoon/Evening
Dinner at whitespot with good friend Court and Ryan and baby Maelle....mmm...butter chicken!  Followed by picking up new toothbrushes for all AND the new Toy Story 3 DVD {when i saw it in theatres, i knew i wanted to own it one day....}

It was a productive day full of friends and activity...it was super sad about the owl though....such a sweet thing--those eyes sure were piercing! i was really hoping that i was only going to be pierced by the eyes and not its beak as i wrapped it up. 

It was strange, when i turned the car around to go get it, it was sitting up on the shoulder of the hwy, with its wing bent in front of it.....i pulled over, and i think most people would have pulled over...wouldn't they? 

Isaac was mostly stoked about being late for school......

'Being Erica'

Friendship; two people choose eachother

Through some mysterious mix of alchemy and circumstance

On the surface, the reason for our choice seems obvious;

They share our interests, they make us laugh.

But is there more to it than that?

And do we ever stop and wonder 'why this person and not another?'


Friendship: it begins when 2 people choose eachother

But what happens when we outgrow our choice?

When little by little our paths diverge, our needs change

And one day, we wake up and realize we need to choose something different?

It was a good day for the boys....

All these boys were up in the wee hours checking and rechecking their clocks to make sure they didn't miss the alarm.

 I am sure Jake was oblivious of the time....but totally stoked to be the only dog allowed to accompany them.

 In their happy place.....

 Looking at a beautiful place....

 Coming home to a great place that had a 'clean eating' shrimp pad thai all ready to serve

Dessert was a 'clean' chocolate mousse (dark chocolate and lite silken tofu), nicole and i were stoked to see if we could fool the boys into eating TOFU!!  It was also one of steves's favorite desserts.

So, picture it:

We all sit down in the living room with our beautiful dessert

(sorry, no pic-but chocolate mousse with lovely fresh raspberries on top in a martini glass)

We are all about to dig in.

The goal was to let the boys finish before telling them

Nicole couldn't wait...

She looks like the cat who ate the canary as she giddily gushes;

"OK!!  you HAVE to guess what the ingrediants are!!!"

Chris looks up, totally unimpressed at me and says

'Tofu'

 'How did you KNOW?' she asks, all bummed.

'umm...i was sortof joking...really? its tofu?' 

sigh...as chris slowly puts his glass down and steve feeds much of it to little Adessa

not to worry, we WILL get them next time..mwah haha...

when they least expect it!

Taking up the challenge Niki.....Day 2

Here is Isaac just before bed.....posing (with great difficulty with a crazy flash) but you get the idea: his front tooth....should go any day, don't you think?

 And i wanted to post about their sweet little quilts that i get so much joy out of pulling over them each night.  Made with much love from their Auntie Jenny last Christmas...here is Isaacs: space theme!!

And Elliot didn't want to be left out of the pre-bedtime picture taking, though he had no loose front tooth to show, but he CAN stick his tongue through the 2 gaps those 2 front teeth left after they were yoinked out last summer!

 And his little quilt: TRAINS!!  i love them, they make me smile every night when i tuck them in.... 

Want to know a secret?

of course you do, we all like secrets!

here is one:

and i can only write it here because 'she' reads my facebook.

'she' is my watch dog,

'she' is my trainer

for 12 weeks...she tracks what i eat, what i do...

goal: transformation

But here is the thing:

All my friends who attended last night, know i am trying to do this.

But! There was one woman who attended who wasn't in the 'know'

All others brought fruit, veggies, greek pasta salad, bean dip...yum!!

This woman brought a cake.....

I did well all evening...even bypassing the trick or treat candy

Until 9PM when i looked at the cake

and thats when i ate half of it......

sigh....don't tell k?

Halloween Party 2010

So....the night was a huge success and i am feeling so blessed to have such nice friends and family.  I had too many pictures, so i just made it into a movie.  And again, the same thing happened, the screen isn't showing, but you can scroll down and press the play button!  Enjoy! It was a total blast!