a night away??? you don't SAY......

Yup--its true...i was away with no KIDS!!! For a whole 17 hours with my fellow 'friend in the trenches' Cristin Smith. We ate way too much junk food, watched some chick flicks, dipped our hands in wax, laughed, drank wine.....everything that a sleepover consists of except gossip--we don't really have too much exciting to gossip about now that we're moms with different sets of friends pretty much. But it was glorious!! I was so giddy by the time she came to pick me up and the time flew by...seriously--way too fast.

Her folks have a house on the lake in youbou...here is a pic of the view from my room.

Fort Rod Hill

It was a good day out--finally a really nice day aside from a tiny bit of rain! But the boys had such a great day and i was thrilled to be out of the house!! It was a bit of a preview to what December is going to be like with Chris off for the month! He had hosted last weekend, so he had monday, tuesday and wednesday off and he has this weekend off--so it feels good to have him around a little more to play! However, for some reason, i find we spend more money when he is off...not sure why-but maybe its because i hang out at home more when he works hence moolah stays in the pocket!!

Fall.....

We love the fall--this morning while isaac was at playschool, Elliot and i were playing out on the deck. He was inspecting a leaf while i was cleaning off a toy and suddenly there was a huge gush of wind and a whole whack of leaves from the tree in our front yard came floating down. It was stunning--it was like god just bent down and gave a little puff for us to enjoy all the colors and sudden whirlwind of leaves.



Chris and i are doing some deep thinking about traveling and vacations etc...and i think we are deciding that when we truly think about traveling with these boys while they are so young--maybe it will be harder than its worth? To traipse them all over the states whether we fly or drive, it would be way more fun when they are older. We are thinking maybe we will save all our avion points for a really hot, relaxing vacation for our 10 year anniversary next fall for just Chris and i.....sigh!!!!

My dads cousin who lives an hour from Seattle has invited us to come and stay at their home while they vacation in florida...so i think that would be a fun opportunity--not too long in the van, financially a good idea, and still gives us the chance to make some really great memories.....so, thats the process so far!!

My friend Niki had her baby finally last night-i have been checking her blog 4 times a day at least for any updates..and yesturday she had a baby that weighed almost 11 pounds!!! I can't wait to hear the whole story! ok--signing off--need to make a grocery list and pick isaac up from playschool! Ciao!!

Bob the Builder, Superman and a Little Bear!!

Including a costume change on Elliots part, he was Superman indoors, and a warm little bear when heading outdoors! Isaac decided moments before leaving the house that he wanted to be Bob the Builder!! Such sweet little souls....aren't they adorable!?

...i can't look away!!!!!

Seriously......i started to watching this awful movie tonight, which i later found out was based (loosely) on true events in australia where tourists would break down on this lonely highway to be rescued by a Crocodile Dundee kind of guy, only for him to turn into a psychopath who tortures them. I kept trying to turn the channel, but then i kept turning it back for one second at a time to see what was happening next!! How sick is that?? i was totally disturbed through the whole thing, hoping they would get away from this awful man only to find out at the end that there was no real happy ending. It was graphic and violent and totally disturbing and i am sitting here wondering why i kept having to turn the channel back?? i actually, at one point, called chris in to take the remote and help me. He took it, then handed it back after a few minutes saying with a knowing nod 'Sharon, you watch what you want'.....arg! ok FINE--i want to watch the psycho! no i don't! yes i do! NO!! so, yup-watched the end, turned out to be called wolf creek....ever heard of it?? i am sitting here now very disturbed and am making sure that my doors and windows are locked. man--all the scary movies bombard you at halloween don't they???

Little Bear and Superman

The superman costume was originally bought for Elliot - but Isaac loved the idea of being a superhero - and though the legs were like knickers on him.....he loved it. This was yesterday at isaacs playschool halloween party. He had a great time running around in the gym with the rest of the kids, but i have issues with what junk they feed them at these parties--why hotdogs, chips, and cupcakes?? As parents, we all had to bring something assigned to us - for me, it was juice. But why couldn't we have buns, meat,carrots, apples and ok-the cupcakes were so good and i love the mom who brought the mini-cupcakes so my kids didn't have suger overload from the massive ones. But seriously--i kept saying, its only today, they don't eat like this normally.....sigh.

My little Diaper Heads..

i love that these 2 boys have a sense of humor and are starting to distinguish what would be pretty hilarious! The diaper on the head was Elliots idea....and big brother confirmed...'yup! thats funny! let's do it!'

My friend Cristin.....

....had a birthday last thursday!! We had a great dinner and her favorite dessert (favorite as far as i know, but how can a girl have only ONE favorite??? i'm sure she has more!). But Cristin has become a really great friend to me these past few years as we watch our kids grow up together. She is the most conscientious and thoughtful friend...and her husband commented to me tonight that Cristin will never say a bad thing about another person...and i can confirm that.

When she was pregnant, we met at Jitters coffee bar where she told me the news about Olivias arrival...and 3 weeks later, i brought her back to the same coffee place, same seat and told her that i was pregnant with Isaac!! So, we have some pretty special history...and i love her to pieces.

Sunday with the boys.....

Its been raining and raining......so we have been playing inside alot! Today Chris and i organized in a few places around the house - that always feels good to do that once in awhile--like, i de-cluttered all the pictures on my fridge to only a few...took down all isaacs art (which is lovely but takes up ALOT of room!) and i find now when i go into the kitchen, i breath alot easier...weird eh? To realize that fridge actually is white!!

We played in the rain, took a ride on the golf cart around the property, played in the new castle (chris put a sheet over top -so today it was a top secret hide-out!!) and went to grandma and uppa's house for dinner tonight...so it was an eventful day.






So-life is good at the moment. We are still stressing abit over the month off in december whether we will have the finances or idea to do something fun! The last 2 years have been a bit of a struggle since we have totally dropped one income....funny how an extra grand per month in maternity pay really does make a huge difference!! hmm..funny..not!! So--maybe we will just end up staying home, taking short road trips...maybe a motorhome will present itself and we can hit the open road with no itinerary, but we won't be doing it in the van (well, i won't be.... willingly anyways....). This is all a stage..i know this...because in my mind, i know that one day i will be wealthy..just not now because i want to play with my kids.

and that sits well with my soul.

life....sweet life (warning: Graphic Pictures)

Life feels a little on the edge the last few days..since thursday 4:45pm to be exact since Chris had his hovercraft accident. The blade behind him that propels the hovercraft forward (which is attached to the motor which is attached to the base of the hovercraft) came off and hit him in the back at 4500 rotations a minute. The motor came off the base and landed where he was sitting too, so who knows what exactly happened.....but he got about 15-17 stitches in the ER that night and has been going full tilt all weekend with the staff retreat because he has been feeling fine. Today is the 3rd day and everyone knows that after a car accident, you may feel fine for the first few days but that third day will be more painful if you've been pushing it the first 2 days--so here we are--3rd day and he honestly is a wreck. He started walking with his left side tensed yesturday to compensate for the pain so today his body aches from that, his wound leaked through the bandages onto the couch last night while he was sleeping, he feels lightheaded, exhausted...etc. So i have been pulling out all my first aid, but its not as fun when you are working on your partner and not a stranger!


The point of my blog today is just to get down on paper that i am feeling like i have had a layer of protection stripped from my senses. i have felt safe for so long with this man and to know that he was an instant, a movement, an inch from something worse happening on that hovercraft makes me feel pretty shaky. I feel shaky....i don't feel like things are ok yet--and this feeling worries me. Is it the little voice saying that things aren't ok? or is it just me being a worried partner? i love him more than anything in the world and he makes my life beautiful. So..i am feeling grateful but still very much on edge. My mom sent me some insight in an email yesterday saying:

...your heart is in your throat and you feel that you have been extra blessed and spared a really bad time...and it’s easier to keep that gratitude feeling when you know exactly what it is.

Thanksgiving Monday

We had our friends Dan and Karen, Mike and Christie and their kids comes over monday afternoon for a hike to go geocaching and a potluck--everything was so good! We had 8 adults and 9 kids total at dinner (yup-we were outnumbered!) But we had lots of laughs.....it was a great thanksgiving monday.
Finding the Geocache at Skutz Falls - lots of treasure on this one! There were 2 toonies, swim tickets, a little kermit and gonzo, a compass....more that i can't remember-but it was a cool one to find with the kids since there were lots of kids stuff in it!
This is me with Christie and Karen....Karen, as you can tell, is the real serious one
!

Walking Boy!!

This Blogger has left the building.....

BLOGGING SABATICAL!

9 years married....

Chris flew out to kelowna on our anniversary last thursday to spend the last few days of our holiday together. We were all very excited to see him! We went on a couple trips including a couple orchard tours, a honey bee farm, hanging out on the beach...and had a week of real "summer' together--the weather was so great-check out the tan! Even the boys are pretty brown with whiter hair than when we left!

So here is the castle story--we found this amazing castle structure at a garage sale saturday morning....its SO cool and perfect for both boys--but the only hitch is--its big! We were going to sell it (and did get a bite the day before we left but by then decided we really wanted it--) Its seriously one of the coolest structures i had ever seen - secret door, lookout tower...cool stuff for little guys! So, we packed it up as small as it would go and off to the airport we went.......this is us waiting to see if it could come home with us -nope...too big! sigh....so--anyone want to go to kelowna?? i am trying to devise a plan to get it to the island - anyone have any ideas???

Okanagan Holiday

It's day 3 and the boys and I flew to kelowna for a bit of a holiday. Days one and two are always great but very hard because everyone is out of whack - but now i think we are officially over that hump and finding our routine. Whew-those first couple days are fun but the boys are so out of sync, making me exhausted at the end of the day!

Anyways---Sunday we went to ArtWalk in Winfield which was cool - and then to the local apple orchard for brunch that overlooked the valley and then a tour around the orchard. Its interesting watching my parents out in public with my kids. After both boys were finished eating, they wanted to walk around the outside patio. People were looking at them and smiling but mom and dad seemed very concerned that they were bothering people...;-) So-i felt pretty 'on' those first few days.

The apartment above the garage is awesome--and its currently staged to sell (as their home is on the market) - but the place is windows all around..so its like daylight all day starting at 6am!! Arg! And by day 2 i am going squirly from lack of sleep and breaks from those boys! So yesturday my dad taped up garbage bags on all the windows and now we are all back on schedule with 2 hour naps and sleeps starting at 7ish enstead of 9ish!

Isaac got a bike with training wheels as a surprise from nona and granddad this morning....they put it beside the harleys and this morning let isaac push the garage door opener to reveal the big surprise. It was cool- isaac was pretty excited - but he was more thrilled to see the horn!!! (yes-and we are all still thrilled about that horn (not!!) ;-)

So-at this very moment-life feels a bit more normal--mom left for yoga in a panic, dad left on his harley for work to see a customer, elliot is napping and isaac is playing with the dogs in the courtyard where i can watch him from the computer. He keeps coming in to ask me questions or make demands...but that is pretty normal. Carrie should be here soon to hang out - i think we may go to the beach like we did yesturday..the weather is gorgeous here! I don't think i will tell her that isaac and the dogs wrecked her really nice volleyball..i think we will just go and buy her a new one..lame. i have some plans to see some old friends this week that i am pretty excited about - facebook is awesome for hooking friends back up--love it!

Chris arrives in 2 more sleeps on our 9 year anniversary...pretty excited to see him-there is a definate gap when he is not here.

Anyways--i should go play with isaac......

Its 4:30am......

...and here i am. I normally feel quite safe in my life but I just had a bad dream. I am surrounded by love, have a wonderful home, and a dog that will bark at any approaching thing - which i hate but love at the same time because it makes me feel safe - but tonight i woke up feeling scared after a dream i had: Isaac was over at his friends Alex' house and Alex had gone to bed but isaac wanted to have fun in their shower (weird i know - but...thats beside the point). Amanda and Gene were home but for some reason, Amanda went away and i was also at my home (so isaac is there on his own with gene - but gene doesn't show up in the dream) - so i head over to their house to be with isaac. While i am there about to head up the stairs towards the bathroom - amanda calls on the phone and says frantically that there were some men coming who said they were from the mustard seed but she just found out that they weren't from there-they were bad men...and by this point i see them coming and they are between me and the bathroom where isaac is. Its at this point where i am still currently feeling sick and uneasy...but a 'to the death' type feeling comes over me. The rest of the dream is pointless to tell but the feeling that i just woke up with is still here.

Do you ever go into your kids room and lie beside them while they sleep and just pray 'please....please..'. Its so scary being a parent and tonight i just lay there thinking how fast things could change, but mostly, i need to remember that there are bad people out there and i don't often think that way. So, tonight (or this morning), i am feeling still a little anxious but so thankful. My prayer to god has gone from 'please..please' to 'thank-you..thank-you!!'

Summer is officially over........

Camp is over, staff are gone, and the place is ours again....well, sort of--we just had a new family move in next door - and so far, its actually been nice. Between the 2 families-we have a week old baby, a 1,2,3 and 4 year old!! so-i think it will be pretty cool to have them all play together this year. Becky and i used to work at Qwanoes together in our younger years--she was the 'orange' girl---orange hair, orange knee highs, toques, etc....she was pretty cool--so hopefully we can become friends.

Today we are heading to the west coast to watch the waves come in and hopefully see some whales (which was Isaacs request). Sorry i have been slacking on the blogging--the whole reason i started this was so that my family would stay updated, but they never check it, so i am still pondering the reason i do this........anyways--Happy Long Weekend!!!

Hiatus?

This sunshine must affect me more than i give it credit for....but i can honestly say that i am blissfully happy today now that the sun is shining, Isaac is playing with Aunt Jenny today at the forest museum and Elliot is sleeping....life is good. I haven't been motivated much to blog now that i have discovered facebook....but for all ya'll who have been checking this site and emailing me 'words'.....here are some gorgeous shots of Isaac and Elliot taken by our friend Mike as a birthday present for Elliots first birthday. I am currently organizing all the pics i love to get them blown up and framed.

I hope the summer is treating everyone well....our summer is almost over and we are getting ready for some big changes. One being a new family moving in next door -- Anyone remember Becky Bates from our qwanoes days? She is due any day with her 3rd child -- her husband got the position as chris's assistant this year...so they are moving in this next week which will be really different for us not only sharing the property, but sharing it with a bigger family than our own! Will keep you posted on that one.......we are also getting ready for isaac to start 'playschool' 2 mornings a week starting in the fall plus a holiday in kelowna for 10 days in september. SO-again--life is pretty awesome right now. And i am pretty stoked for swedish meatballs tonight that i don't have to cook or clean up from...sigh--camp life!!

The Quest for Jelly Beans

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C: "Isaac, do you feel sick?"

I: "Yea, i do....in my tummy"

C: "Think you want to throw up?"

I: "Yea...."

C: "Ok, just hold on...i'll get you a bowl"...comes back with a bowl.."Ok, make sure if you throw up, do it in the bowl"

I: Looking up at daddy: "Daddy, if i throw up IN the bowl, can i get a jellybean?"

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Big Day

Two big things happened today with Isaac -- The first big things was that he got his red band on the waterfront!! So now he is allowed to officially ride in the boats and go behind them (he asked today if he could wakeboard....hmm--maybe next summer eh?) To get his red band he had to show Maren that he could jump off the dock on his own wearing a life jacket - and he DID IT! So he and I had a fun tube ride together - it was awesome to just play on the water with him!

I just peeked in on him as he is sleeping now and his arms are raised up like in "victory" with that red band around his little wrist - i am pretty proud of my little swimmer.

The second cool thing today is that our little dolphin fell asleep wihout a soother nor did he ask for it prior to bed.....such a great little guy.

Elliot is boogieing around in his new found mobility - and he is fast!! And incredibly happy to get around where he wants...he will crawl to a place where he knows he shouldn't go - like towards the dogs room (where there is little pieces of dog food) and he will stop mid-way and turn around to make sure you are watching and then he will laugh like crazy - its hilarious - he makes us giggle all day. Lucky! Lucky!