i don't miss THIS stage....

Funny how quickly you forget brutal stages in your kids lives.....but we

 lived through a long one where this was Elliot!!!  Here he is on our family holiday back in 2008.....we were in vegas at the time and i am so glad that i snapped this picture because oh MY did it ever capture what he was like for much of that trip.......

 And believe it or not, THIS was one of the highlights of the vegas trip!!  When he finally fell ASLEEP!!!  I remember it clearly...the sweet relief of quiet and only the chaos of vegas in the background!!  Isaac and I shared a mother-huge chocolate dipped strawberry that cost $7 for the one, and we shared it in front of the Bellagio fountains while listening to 'my heart will go on' while the fountain water show played.....it was quite the moment!!  {i may have cried a little: moved by the music, or sheer exhaustion and happiness that there was no crying?  We will never know!!}

Oh Elliot!!! We love you little monkey!! 

Spa Night Continued.....

As fun as it was to laugh and giggle last night.....as i lay in bed last night running the evening over in my mind, i felt a little bit sad.  We all don't get together very often....and when we do its fun, but i didn't really get to chat and really catch up with anyone last night.  I wanted to know how things are going with kim and her new little baby, how Ashley is doing with her photography business, how lana is doing commiting to full time work as opposed to the part time, how Malea is doing aside from being a fabulous teacher to my boys.....

Note to self: make a deliberate effort to find these things out soon.....yes, we can have fun...we proved that!!  Now I want to log some real time......

This morning, we all woke up at 7am!  Isaac, btw: tried to wait up for me and he made it til 10:30......i don't know where all his energy comes from, but he's had it all his life!!!  I mean, remember THIS!!!???

The local hockey arena had a day camp planned for kids this week (hello strike!!)....so isaac and elliot packed up their lunch and helmets and gloves!!  We arrived at 8 and i suppose all the employees were waiting for the throngs of parents to arrive....but it was just us!! ;-0  Oh man, the kids took off running!!  The curling lounge was converted for the day, there were a pile of games along the wall, coloring books, toys, even a huge movie screen with curious george playing.....they will go skating and/or evening try out curling later too.....the woman in charge of the day says she has boys at home and she is excited for the day......so, i don't think they even said good bye!

I clearly remember feeling so anxious dropping the boys off at places like this (even at this arena, for playschool not that long ago!!).....i love that they feel confident enough now to take off running, excited for the new adventure SANS maman!!!

SPA NIGHT!!!

What a great night!!  After our day...i came back and had a half hour power nap, and at 5:30 i needed to get up and make family members dinner before i left (hello eggs on toast!!)....but i really just wanted to crawl back into bed!!  Sleep when you are dead right??

Well....it was a mix of some pretty fun girls tonight!!!

Here we started out with eyebrow threading that nearly killed Nic and I....but gorgeous outcomes!!!  Right??  It was worth it, right??  At one point, i felt so nauseous like i was going to throw up it hurt that much!!

After threading (aka: torture)...was time for an 'aftershot for nic' (oh man...that was quite the after shot!!) and a Black Jack with Spa Bucks!!

 Black Jack!!! Kelly and Mel both killed it!! Check out the dealer?? Pretty fast eh?

Jinny=intense!!!!

 Love this girl.....

 Kelly getting a little mani!!!

 Jinny, Mel and Malea!!

 Mel got a hemp tatoo and wasn't able to get wet...so she grabbed a drink and still joined us on deck...such a good sport!! 

 "Before Shot" - nic and i had not yet done a roll....but it was about 3 minutes after this shot!!

 We pretty much closed up the place!!

We aren't sure where all the girls went...but whatever!! 

We got to own the pool!!! 

 This one is for you dad....got to give the bunny ears right? 

And at the end of the night.....we pooled our spa bucks with Mel and won the final prize! 

 A whole pile of 20 swim passes!!! 

I think we were up to over 350....the others didn't stand a chance!! 

We have started a monthly (ish) girls night out and each time needs to be planned by one of the girls, tonight was Nics night and she rocked it!!  I am glad it all worked out the way it did.....we laughed alot, and had alot of fun....it was so nice to get out and just be goofy and get a little bit pampered and be with my friends.......

How my amazing Chiropractor got her start......

She did this....hence really admired how her own chiropractor could fix her body....so

she became one herself when she stopped being an olympic freestyle skier.......

Couple of notables on this low key (aka: boring) Saturday!!!

Yes...i said it....a boring day.....perhaps its the weather...perhaps i was just grumpy....perhaps the house felt overwhelming and explosive.....but there were a few highlights on this lowlight kind of day:

Lovely Rachel came over around 2 with a London Fog in hand for me as well as ingredients to make up our own laundry detergent!!  Nothing like a little break in the day!!

First i grated up 1/3 of a bar of sunlight hand soap:

 We melted it and she added a few things and here she is mixing the whole cauldron together!!  And voila -- a really nice smelling, natural (HUGE amount of) liquid laundry detergent!

 This afternoon, i stumbled upon an ad for a free bunny that came with an outdoor hutch and indoor cage....so i gathered up the kids and we went to meet cocoa!!  Sweet little bunny!!!  Oh man, so sweet.....but in the end...it was one hairy mother!!!!  Both Chris and Elliot said no to the bunny.....

So....here is the picture of the pet that never was!  Good luck Cocoa!!

Introducing Kelly!! Dog Groomer Extrodinaire!!!!

Caleb loves Kelly......they had a little bonding time out on the deck this aft!! 

I wish i had a before shot .. but see that bucket?  yup...ALL hair!!

 A little thank you kiss!!!

Movie Night at the Burdges

So...its friday....which has developed into sorta a 'fend for yourself, eat what you want, and we will watch a movie together' kind of night!!

Chris came home from work around 7:30 to discover that isaac had eaten a kiwi, i had a grapefruit, elliot had a banana, and we all tried a little bit of rice with milk and cinamon like my grandma used to make...however, she didn't make it with parboiled camp rice....so it was sorta nasty.....chris made us some rasberry pancakes and we put on October Sky....Elliot was so bored, he searched out his flashlight so he could read books beside chris in the dark while the movie played....and promptly fell asleep around 9ish....

Here are the funny shots post-movie!!!

 oh .... have you ever seen a more beautiful boy?  sigh......i sat there for a few minutes kissing him as much as i wanted and stared at him....he never lets me do that!!  {psst, don't tell him i kissed him....}

 2 fakers....one real....guess who!!!

Friday Nights sorta rule around here.....Jon joined us for a little while, but he got bored and left....ah well! 

Milk, anyone??

Fridays i bring milk to the classrooms at the boys school....i love it...it gives me a chance to see a little bit of their day.....

Elliot is always happy to see me, but then he is also happy to walk away from me, kicking stones as he walks off alone......happy loner....kids run past him yelling "Hi Elliot!"...he gives them no attention.

 He is so goofy!!  His 'schtick' right now is to tell inside jokes to his friends that he thinks is hilarious, but his friends have NO idea what he is talking about...he could care less....he just laughs.

 And here is Isaac and Evan at recess today.  Isaac and evan have been great friends since day one at school....they aren't in class together, but i can often find evan hanging off isaac during recess.  Isaac doesn't seem to mind.....

Teachers strike next week from monday to wednesday.  So far we have playdates set up and quite a few ideas of what to do together....because then its pretty much Spring Break for 2 weeks!  Oh my....that is a long time!!  They are stoked.....

Those aren't Kneepads!!!

Want to hear a funny story?

Of course you do, who wouldn't??

Ok, so picture this:  Chris and i go to volley ball last wednesday, and we start to play!

But i am suddenly uncomfortable and realize that i haven't removed my 'day bra'!!

I quietly remove myself from the warmup to take off the uncomfortable, (but amazingly uplifting) beast!!!

I come out of the bathroom, holding it discreetly wondering 'where i should it while i play'???

Hmmm....well, in the sleeve of chris's jacket seemed like a smart place!!  Right??!!

Fast forward 1 hour......

We are all stading in a circle, just chit chatting, getting our coats and stuff...getting ready to leave.

Chris puts his arm through his coat, looks confused, grabs a strap and rips it with great vigor out of his coat.....for a moment, he stands there, holding the beast out in the open for all to see!! 

Until his neurons fire and fast as lightening shoves it back into a pocket.
We are all laughing like crazy as he mumbles..."i thought it was your kneepads..."

Yes folks....THAT is how padded that beast is....mistaken for KNEE PADS!!!

Caleb so Crazy!!

Oh, K-Dub!!

 Here he came in this morning to the boys room with the parrot head on....

oh man, the boys laughed like crazy.....crazy caleb!!

Waffle Wednesday......

So, the girl on the right stayed over last night....and the girl on the left is staying over next week....and this makes me happy......Sarah is great company....she just comes in, chills, pretty low key....i dragged her to the morning out at teen challenge to hear andy speak and jon and some of the students lead singing.....

Here was a quick snapshop of our morning.....

 He looks the part, doesn't he?  Andy is a perfect fit....we all love him to bits!!

Mel has made a tradition of taking the students out for coffee each wednesday morning....i tagged along today and got the best london fog of my life.....however, i did feel in the hotseat as they all took a seat across the table from me.....sheesh, panel of judges or what?!!  When i offered that they could "Ask me Anything!!!"...the best they came up with was 'whats your fav color?'  really?  thats ALL you want to know when given a free pass??  hmph....... i expected more.

 Felt like a dog going for a ride in the car today......accompanied mel to her happy place at the chiro....here is her happy chiropractor as they had just successfully cracked mels neck...TWICE!  bleh...i had forgotten how much i hate listening to other people get their bones cracked (ahem, carrie!!!!!)

 We grabbed the boys from their bus lineup .... they were not expecting us .... they came running across the parking lot and just start talking to us at the car window....like we are some kind of drive-thru....umm...you going to get IN the car boys??  We got home, and i had a small window to put the house back together .... lovely sarah had cleaned up the kitchen before she left since i had made a mad dash out the door to meet up with mel ... she knows one of my love languages: cleaning my kitchen!!  The others are folding my laundry, or bringing me grapefruit OR a dozen eggs (ps: you rock zalinko!)

Zalinkos, Rentons, Lampards, and Fitzpatricks decended round 5:30 for enchiladas and french toast!
Yes....that is 10 adults and 9 children!!!

Everett and Jon....thank you for keeping your tongue in your mouth this time Jon!! 

Its really hard to catch a nice shot of him like this....but here they are!  2 sweet boys!

 Oh Nic and Mel!!! 

 A few of the kiddies......

 I love her lovely 'side-look'!!!!

 Rach was an angel and watched Steve and Nics girls while we all went to volleyball. 

It was a good day.....all round.

It's tuesday.....

This morning i spent almost 3 finger-numbing hours cutting and pasting pictures for isaacs kindergarden teacher!!  Teachers do NOT get paid enough.....seriously...they are amazing!

I met with a financial advisor around noon to talk about moving our money around so we can do more of self directed rrsp/stocks......

Then it was time to help in isaacs class with a few projects they had going on!  Even Marg joined in!

Here she is helping isaac to make his first red and white pom pom!!

 After school, it was time to head over to Maleas for piano!  I love that the boys love their lessons....here is elliot (yes, he is in his pj's.....happy pajama day at school!)...isaac was just finishing up with a Black Eyed Pea song!!

 After lessons, we got home in time to have a little visit with Sarah and show her a little bit of the Princess Bride (she had NEVER seen it !!!)....and then the lovely Mel (and her hubby) joined us for Fish Tacos!!  Seriously...my fav meal these days!  All gluton free....almost NOT gluton free since i tossed the fresh fish in bread crumbs not thinking about it....yes, we did corn tortillas, but bread crumbs??!!  come ON sharon....use your head!!  Luckily, we were able to catch the last batch and we rinsed off the crumbs and just fried them up!! 

After dinner...Jon and Chris went to watch the hockey game while mel and i sat at the tables for hours like we used to do....i really have missed her alot....i try to slough it off like its no big deal, she has her own life and its ok that she is working on that life on her own and not visiting too often....but its really not ok i guess...because our time tonight really made me very happy....love you mel.....

That was our day.....as i type, isaac is snoring beside me, and chris is at camp and life is good. 

i want to be this......

Highlights from Monday.....

The morning was putting sharp knives in the hands of 5 year olds, 15 of them to be exact!!! 

This is how i felt about it as well!!!!

They cut up and peeled beets and picked off fresh thyme from the branches..... 

 After cooking class, i met with Amanda and though this picture didn't really show the magnitude or height of this hill -- but at one point in our lives, Amanda and i pushed double strollers up this hill!!

We logged 10 km's on this mornings walk....i can still feel it.

This afternoon we stopped by the Zalinkos for a play and some hot chocolate....