Going under again.....

Hello friends..... After all the chaos and change that's happened in our little family these past few months, I am feeling a need to go a bit more quiet for awhile.  So I will be putting the privacy settings on a little higher this weekend ... So I can write a little more freely and perhaps be a bit more honest on these pages that my beautiful boys will read when they are older.  Thank you for coming along with us .... And reading about our lives.  This life is quite the journey!!

Thursday....

Oh the days of having a toddler and a new baby !!!  I walked in to her clean house, happy kids ... But after we sat for a little bit, she looks at me and says "oh man, it's not til I sit that I realize how tired I am..."   Try watching what you're doing JL.... I'm exhausted just watching you!!

My favorite speaker is here this week. He had a rough day in class today so we played Mancala and Kings in the corner for a couple hours.....

Zalinko boys are over tonight while Paul is at first aid training.... Here they are getting ready for bed and listening to the story Chris reads them every night: 

Not normally the one to self medicate.... But sleep finally came after I took a night quill at 1..... And I just took a DayQuil now..... Here we go.  

Stupid Cold.

How can one be awake, when one is just so tired?

Here I am, back in the spare room.  I tried to get back to my bed only to wake up at midnight.  Not falling back to sleep was keeping Chris from falling back to sleep.   

So here I am..... Stupid cold.  

One of my favorite pictures.

I can't remember why his face was painted, but I do remember this was taken right after I finished my first Flash Mob!!!  

Family .....

Chris met us at the library and we headed to the Rock Cod for dinner .... Elliot's been asking for awhile now when he can see his 'second cousins'.... Here is Elliot turning to Isaac as Roz's mom was about to blow out her candles "She is waaaay older than YOU Isaac!!l"

A little late to the party.....but Roz was letting this little guy nap so as not to be a 'screamer'.... He's all smiles now, but wouldn't have been earlier....

We were unexpectedly treated to a wonderful dinners by Marg and Gordon .... So generous. Isaac thoroughly enjoyed his clans and mussels (don't worry Marg, they were appie prices!). And guess who got his new night mouth guard and was showing it off to grandma?  Can't wait til he gets dentures..... That'll be a whole new level of awesome!!

Canadians and Brits.... Waiting at the bar.

After dinner Jenny took us to her school to show us these chairs that some kids use..... Ones who have trouble sitting still to learn because they always need to be moving.  I think Elliot would benefit from one of these.  

After it was time to tour her classroom.  She has ALOT going on!  You can tell that she is a very engaged, excellent teacher.  

My kids didn't want to leave..... And if I wasnt about to fall over from exhaustion, I would have let them explore more with her.....it's nice to have a teacher in the family who loves my kids and freely offers her advice and opinions when needed.  

I wish I didn't have to work tommorow.... I am wiped.  Good day all around though.  

Paneling for Permanent.

This last year and a half, I have been working for the government on a contract basis.  It's been great....but my awesome manager is nearing retirement so he wants to make sure I am permanent before he leaves.... I was supposed to panel on a phone interview with head quarters.....and the last time I did that, it was a nightmare.  Not sure how he got me out of it this time, but it was the best gift of 2014 so far.  He wanted to hear about my challenges on the job this past year.  I didn't expect it to be as informal as it was, but I was ready with 2 pages I typed notes that I pulled out.  I suppose I lead the interview really.  It ended with me asking if there were any improvements he saw I could make?  There were not....(mom if you want to see my two pages of typed notes, I can email them to you!)

Mary, my other analyst brain, (because put together, we make one awesome analyst), went out for a celebratory lunch!!  Highlight of my week.... It really is important to meet and debrief about our experiences here since we both were hired at the same time....trying to do our best in a government agency that is still so young in it's processes, but doing such important work at protecting our most vulnerable members of community. It's a great job, and now I am happy to say, I am permanent!

Picked up the boys from school, and after a snack, we headed to the library to do homework.....Isaac had a good time making googly eyes at a teen girl, and had an even better time listening to these guys swearing.  I finally told Isaac to 'close his ears' loud enough for these boys to hear, and then said to them "hey, you guys are teaching my kids a bunch of new swears".....they were apologetic and did a bit better after that. 

Oh these little ears.... So tuned to everything...

Oh these little ears.....still so amazingly oblivious.   ;-)

This is how the morning started.

My English muffin was on the dash as I was backing up the car this morning.   When I stopped, it gracefully flew into my bullet cup perfectly, without a splash, down below in the cup holder.  

The day ended with this meal ( this is mostly for mom ....). 

Mongolian Beef on rice with beets and a salad.  

One of the highlights last night was chatting with this crew.  Brett just finished doing the netty pot before coming to say hello.... He and I both have colds.  

It was super tough getting Isaac up this morning.... Chris read to them way too late last night...9:30!!  So, this was Isaac as we arrived at school.   So it's 7:20pm now, and when we arrived home and worked hard at homework, piano, lunches got done, dinner prepped....

Malea , their piano teacher has had all these assignments for them to do through the month of January , none if them got done so we tried to get them all done tonight.....yup, we crammed.  Here is Isaac organizing a piano recital.  

Elliot's turn.....

Taco salad for Chris and I..... Homemade pasta and shells for the boys....

Dinner in front of the tv for a very tired mama.  Finishing the Sound of Music..... Want to know how I know I'm tired?   I cried through much of this movie.  It's actually a very touching movie!

Kids are in bed, Chris is delivering a pool table to Auxano house, I face timed with Mary to talk about Tommorows interview I have for the permanent position, it was a very busy and productive day.  

I am sleeping in the spare room to be close to the fresh air ... Trying to fight this cold .... I may be losing!

Well aren't I just a lucky girl?  Woke up with a major head cold in full swing.   I guess I should expect no less considering this year so far.  Ok .... Time to get out the sinus rinse, smoothies, Kleenex and Tylenol and get ready to roll.  

Here we go ... I really can't believe this. 

Dupe Dinner....

Pre-Dinner Smoothie Shot...each kid finished their one cup shot....

Isaac loves this dog...I don't blame him....Tucker is pretty awesome.

Dinner.....it was nice when all the boys finally calmed down and stopped yelling.  Perhaps we need to do this more to make it a regular occurance so they aren't all so excited.....Paul made his speciality; fettucino alfredo with a buffet of additions; tomato, bacon, mushrooms, shrimp....i brought a salad and some beets.  

Nice to have some friends live next door....its hard to really get to know eachother though when we can't really have proper conversations because we are all do busy dealing with the needs of our kids.....but you know, living life together is good for now.....

Remember when you would do this as a kid?  I don't really (since I lived in Winnipeg and would have LOST toes)....but Isaac chose to wear no shoes while going between the houses......crazy kid.

Sunday.

Rach and Madi were heading to Victoria for Erin and Jerimiah's wedding....I hitched a ride with them mid morning to town.  It was a nice drive, hot drinks in hand, a little catching up.  Rach dropped me off at chiro to get that done.  Here is I am at chiro.....I had trouble staying motivated to keep cleaning....so I threw out a few texts and was happy with what came back....

Lisa, Erins sister, took a picture of herself moments before leaving for the church!!  Isn't she stunning?  I just loved that she sent this to me on such a special day, it made me feel like a little part of me was there too.....

First glimpse of Erin.....

Gussie and Erin.....pretty excited to have my little Gussie back this summer...I have missed her quite a bit.

The next fun text to come visit me at chiro was from Meg.....she and Brett snuck off to Disneyland last week!  She said I was the first person to see these shots too! Aw!!

Only Meg would walk hours at Disney in tiny jean shorts and flip flops!!  This shot made me happy....this girl loves Disney more than anyone I know....even my own kids!

Next stop was work....I know it was Sunday, but I have been so swamped during my actual work hours with an allegation I've been trying to sort through, that I haven't had time to finish up mundane paperwork that needs to be done.....it felt good to get alot of it done so I can hit the ground running tommorow!  Elliot had a fun birthday party to go to at a local 4Cats Art studio.....but when he arrived, he saw he didn't know most of the kids, and the only seat available was next to .... A GIRL!!!  He hid behind Chris for awhile.....but then he warmed up and Chris left to go metal detecting in the rain.....Isaac distracted me and jammed up our paper shredder while I tried working...so that was not so awesome...but whatever....it was all fine.

Rainy Duncan = Blizzard Mesachie!

Rach got the car stuck near the arena, so as Paul and Chris went to get her, the boys self regulated and played a game for awhile, then lego, then we started a movie.....its nice how they play together....

Home day! Loved every moment.

Started the day waking up in a room with only my husband.  It's been a long run of the boys sleeping in our room but I think his seizures are under control.  It didn't stop either of us from checking on him every few hours.  

The day started with Chris bringing the boys outside to work with him.  I stayed inside to clean and fill the freezer.  Elliot couldn't hack it outside so he came inside for every job I threw at him. First it was laundry, then mirrors, then the bathroom, then Jax came to join his buddy. He helped to stock our wood box and vacuum.  

Big pot of spaghetti was first on the list this morning for the freezer..... It was perfect for a hot lunch after such a busy morning.  Love moms homemade noodles. 

Calvin and Hobbes on this rainy day....

Freezer filled.....lots of sauce, and a bunch of chicken and beef dishes.....

After all this cooking I felt like none if it for dinner.... So my lovely friend made an extra shepherds pie for our family. 

Best I've ever had.  She's a great cook.... Yet here is Chris's dinner - hey camp!! thanks for wrecking my husband for shepherds pie!!

The power went out around 8.... So a few games by candlelight happened as well as an early bedtime!

Funny story.....

So valentines morning, Chris comes into the kitchen while I am making everyone breakfast (don't make bacon if one is heading to work afterwards as one will smell like bacon all day!).  He is holding cards in his hands (big and pink), and hands one to each of the boys.  

It is assumed Elliot doesn't recognize that he's holding the card that he chose for me, because he looks delighted as in "oh! For me ?" and proceeds to open my card!!

He is quickly stopped by Chris and Isaac that the drill is to look cute and pass it to me......

He sheepishly shrugs and passes it to me.  

Happy Valentines Day

It's been quite the day.  Linda and I were the only ones at work, both of us sort of wanting to be somewhere else.  There is just so much to do, it's overwhelming somedays that you almost can't do anything but look at eachother, shake your heads and just laugh.   

Nice little visit from cristin was a sweet break in the day....after school we headed to the grocery store.  The boys pushed the cart so I could just throw the stuff I needed into it.  It was kind of awesome.... This weekend I am going to do the 20 meals in 2 hours meal prep for the freezer since I am out of meals!!

Then it was time for curling.....I was going to go home to unload my groceries but ended up sitting with Amanda and watching the boys curl..... They did great.  The coaches actually put all the camp boys on the same team..... So their dynamic was very positive together. 

Then it was home for homemade pizzas! TV went off early and now it's bath time and story time soon. But more importantly ... The boys first night back in their own rooms.....

This mama was blessed with some pretty  funny cards that sang!!  I actually brought them to work to open through the day!

Elliot's!!!!  No such thing as too much happy!

Chocolate lips....

Kids are hopefully heading to bed early...cause they are very full of beans and quite annoying to both chris and myself.  

Here is Isaac looking forlorn after a bit of a chew out from Chris and I ... He's looking at his dad as he's being spoken to about life and growing up... And 'off buttons' 

Happy Valentines!