Only Monday?

Worked out first thing (thank you Mia) .... Boys got ready while I worked out and we were all out the door by 8.

Work was ok, highlight was a surprise visit with Mary so we stole away for a quick lunch at the nearby Pho!

Kids had a self defense class that got cancelled so Nic and I did a quick set of stairs!! Both pretty shakey when we finished our 10 reps!

Got a pile of groceries before heading home for the kids lunches and was able to lie down for 10 minutes before having to head to the kitchen to help Court with the guest group. I laid out bacon for breakfast but pots really needed to be done from a few days ago ... The sinks are too low for this tall gigantore!!

Plated ice cream on 100 brownie plates ...

And still ate this for dinner ...

Pretty tired ... But the day was good. 

Lazy tooth fairy can't keep up ...

So, he's been a tooth losing machine lately and the tooth fairy keeps forgetting ... So he's packaged them all up nice and asked me to let the tooth fairy know where the container is. 

Mystic Beach ....

I love Sundays .... Today we packed a lunch and headed out to Mystic Beach to explore the local wilderness!!

Mystic beach has this beautiful waterfall onto the beach as well as this amazing rope swing!!

Isaac spared no wasted time getting on that rope!!  I love his attitude!

I got this sweet new chair that I set up and Elliot promptly took over ;-)

Chris and Isaac went and explored a cave down the beach. While he was gone, Elliot sat with me and it was th best part of the day. 

This kid is pretty cool to talk to and I love being close to him.  And he's never been one to be close - so when he curled up on my lap, I grabbed a few shots so I don't forget!!

As beautiful as the time on the beach was, we were unfortunatly there during highest tide, so I couldn't really relax!!

Best part of my week .... Right here. 

Chris and Isaac coming back from checking out the cave but it was too full of water ....

We had a really nice day as a family but that drive is so long. When we got home, the kids watched a movie and Chris and I went to nap for 2 hours!  When we got up, I made pasta and court came over for a hottub .... Happy Sunday! 

Sunday morning ...

Mia let us sleep in.... She's an awful cat in the morning but we all really like her despite her fleeting feelings for us.

Made egg and cottage cheese pancakes this morning. Not my best recipe but the kids ate it. 

Isaac ate quickly and started playing the piano. Love when they play. 

Chris is somewhere in the house eating his bowl of mini wheats. I can hear his spoon clang. We are heading out to mystic beach this morning ...

Cabin Sharon pictures 2016 - Elliot is 10

Wildside 3 cabin picture 2016

Aisha is moving ....

So we're trying to soak in as much time together before she moves to Victoria. 

This girl gets stuff done!! We found some boxes for her to use for packing and she jumps right in. 

I'm really going to miss this new friend of mine. Yes, she gave us Mia, so that goes against her (lol), but she has so many ideas and is such a do-er!!! We have so many great talks about life and we plan together and bounce ideas off each other all the time ... I wish I had more people like her in my life - I'm going to really miss her. 

Chris, my treasure hunter ...

18 years of marriage ....

He says yes when I ask him to walk with me this morning .... You know, because it's our anniversary.  We leave this guy in his hottub with his bowl of cereal. 

It was a beautiful morning. 

Mornings are my favorite time of day. 

After work, there was piano and grocery shopping. The boys helped with dinner and Chris set a beautiful table for dinner.  I made homemade shrimp and chicken fettuccine (fresh noodles) Alfredo.  

I think it looked better than it tasted (you know, because there were no processed and fatty ingredients, and that always makes it better???). But everyone ate their dinner!

After dinner, Chris cleaned up (big points), and we all went for a beautiful walk.  Mia came too ....

Everyone including the cat in the picture! And Chris bought me that sweet infinity scarf. Pretty hey?

Isaac found a broken arrow and kept us laughing for the rest of the evening. 

Chilling when we got home .... It's been a nice day. 

Back to Routine ....

It's a hard transition and doesn't get easier. Re-incorporating Chris back into the family on a full time basis has its challenges in the fall-it's like I have gotten used to doing everything on my own, and now he is home. My attitude has not been awesome the last few days, so I laid out my workout gear last night so at 6:45 this morning, I got back outside and will be starting back on a workout routine too - it's good for everyone when I exercise!!

Boys need to get back into packing good lunches - figs, ham roll up, yogurt, peas and animal cookies. 

And tonight, Chris helped me prep dinner and cut up his moms pears for the dehydrator. He seems to know when things are rocky between us because he helps more then....and then I settle down  so while dinner cooks (and because my mom will want to know: balsamic honey chicken, roasted beets and potatoes)... Kids played outside:

Last Monday off before fall routine!!!

Started the day with a coffee and seasoning my new (and first!) cast iron pan!!

After breakfast, Chris wanted to hike through the forest research loop trails with us. It is always a great idea, and we are also happy once we are out. But this morning all I had on my mind was getting organized for our fall routine!! Clean, cook, organize, plan .... All the stuff he hates ... But what I love about him is that he and the boys wait patiently while I rush around doing last minute things like put the dishwasher on, put on another load of laundry, put soup in the crockpot for lunch, and then meet them outside.... Ready!!  It was a nice morning even though we were expecting rain. 

We love this screaming tree trunk!

We did just under 5km once we were done!  His legs were abit tired!

Isaac taught us about old man beard, a common firestarter that he learned about at wild side during their fire building lessons!!

My favorite is they still hold our hands ...

Now we are home... The boys cleaned their room and did the dishwasher, Chris left (again), and I am just sitting down to a cup of tea

....while my chocolate zucchini muffins bake (thanks Jenny)...