Sunday, August 19, 2007

random

I am tired. Haven't been sleeping well lately. My mum is in one of her moods which always affects me. Sebastian has decided he no longer needs naps and we are entertaining again tonight. I love being with friends and entertaining but I am just not feeling the energy today. and to top it off I have a week from hell at work next week and am already getting anxious about it.

Luckily we are going on vacation next week and |CAN NOT wait!!!

and some random photos....

Seb at the science centre yesterday
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our beautiful daughter
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andrea and kenzie - this was taken last week, but this morning andrea took kenzie to get her nails done. so cute!
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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Animoto video




I found out about this site from Steve. it is super cool. Check out my first video. All photos in this video were taken by Nikki Beck, professional photographer and friend :)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Reasons I'm in a bad mood

1. Haven’t slept well the last few nights.
2. Have to facilitate a meeting this afternoon that I know will be stressful and mentally taxing.
3. I’m worried that Seb has another ear infection.
4. My mum is getting on my case about kenzie’s behaviour – it’s not bad enough that Kenzie is going through a trying phase, but having my mum on me about it just pisses me off.
5. We never have enough money to do the things I want to do – like finish our basement and make a huge Boden order.
6. I am being bullied into taking on more work than I can manage (while still doing a good job).
7. The house is a mess again.
8. Not losing weight as fast as I’d like to – having a hard time staying motivated these days.
9. Too little vacation time – there are so many trips I’d like to take (e.g. Seattle to see friends and for Rachel’s wedding, visit Erin, artsy ladies weekend with Sarah, etc)

Monday, August 13, 2007

let's feed the river rats

We actually had a relatively relaxed weekend. But it was busy enough not to be boring. On Saturday we hung around most of the day. In the morning we played outside. We brought the car in to the shop to get the brakes fixed and then we came home, had lunch and took naps. Weekend naps are so luxurious. I hope the kids never outgrow them, cause I know I will never get sick of them.

After naps we went to Andrea and Chris’s for a barbeque. It was a lot of fun. We brought some toys for the kids to play with (since Isaac wasn’t there this weekend). And they were happy and well behaved - at least to our standards ;-). Chris made a wonderful delicious dinner. I am still salivating over the tomato salad with that mustard dressing – mmmm. The kids blew bubbles, played soccer with CJ, played with playdoh and drew pictures. I took a bunch of pictures but then left my camera at Andrea’s so I don’t have any to share with you today. Oh dear, I just remembered now that Chris gave us a container of his barbeque sauce to take home with us. I don’t remember bringing it in the house. I hope it’s not still in the car.

Yesterday we had a lazy morning – the kids and I made some rice crispie type thing. Then we played in the house, watched some cartoons and CJ brought us McDonalds for lunch. Then we took the aforementioned weekend nap. When we woke up it was raining. We decided to go for a walk. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved carrying their umbrellas and jumping in puddles.

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Here’s Kenzie cleaning the playground with her clothes.

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CJ and I also had fun pushing them down hills in their stroller when they weren’t strapped in or wearing helmets. It’s like kiddie X-games.

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When the rain stopped we went to feed the ducks. There weren’t many ducks but there was this cool heron-like thing. I don’t know what it is but it was cool.

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I also saw some things swimming in the water. I thought they were small otters. I thought they looked so cute and sweet and I told the kids to feed them some cheerios. But when we got closer CJ was horrified to learn that they were actually water rats with long scaly rat tails. We got out of there super fast. SO GROSS!

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On the way back Kenzie and Seb decided to ham it up for the camera (I used my Nikon since Andrea still has my Canon).

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The rest of the evening went by quickly. We had dinner, the kids had a bath and then it was time for TV and bed. And just like that, the weekend was over again!

I will leave you with this picture of my very stubbly honey.
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Friday, August 10, 2007

is it an elephant?..... a rhino?.....

.... a giraffe?


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No, it's a camel!

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Thursday, August 09, 2007

Random Thursday Thoughts

1. How do you teach a child to be more resilient?
2. What should we do this weekend?
3. I think I’ll go to the sticker outlet store soon.
4. I can’t believe that school starts again in three and a half weeks.
5. I could sleep for 24 hours straight.
6. Why don’t I get tanned the way I used to – is it cause I am old?
7. How should I get my hair cut – or should I?
8. I want a day for scrapbooking – hmmm maybe this weekend.
9. I wish I could go to the zoo with Omi and the kids tomorrow.
10. Wait… Omi’s talking the kids to the zoo tomorrow – that means I have an afternoon to myself – WOOT!!!!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

boys

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Monday, August 06, 2007

Algonquin Provincial Park

Another weekend down. One of the great things about Canada is that we get an extra long weekend in the summer. I think its officially called the civic holiday, although I think most Canadian’s just call it the August long weekend. This year we didn’t have any plans. The “Oak Ridges gang” had plans to go camping and Brian was kind enough to ask us if we wanted to join them on their campsite. We jumped at the chance and even got Omi to take Seb for a couple days so that we could actually enjoy the experience without whining or crying or worrying about Seb falling into the campfire.

CJ took Friday off and got us packed and ready to go. We hit the road shortly before 4:00 and arrived at the campsite in Algonquin Park by about 7:15. The evening activities were just beginning. Of course Kenzie was in heaven because she had her friend Sophie. You should have seen them when they were reunited – like long lost friends who had been separated for years…

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CJ and I had an awesome time because we could sit back, relax, have a few drinks and not worry about anything. I had had a long and tiring week at work so the opportunity to relax was just what I needed.

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I am still so impressed at how the kids do camping. On this trip there were about 16 kids between the ages of 3 and 13. The older ones (i.e. 10 and up) seem to love practicing their babysitting skills with the younger kids. And of course the younger kids idolize the older ones. The kids had a blast playing in the tents…

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Anyhow, it was a nice evening with plenty of laughs, guitar playing, marshmallows and fun.

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Saturday morning was very relaxing. There are few things better than the taste of freshly percolated camping coffee first thing in the morning. It just tastes so good.

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After a few hours of drinking coffee, watching the kids feed the chipmunks and run around, the group finally got ready for a hike. We all headed over to the Beaver Dam trail. It was gorgeous. The more sure-footed kids ran ahead, while the smaller ones (eg Nolan) and their moms and dads brought up the rear. Along the was we saw turtles and frogs, a cool beaver dam and lots of beautiful views.

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After that all that exercise, we headed back to the campsite for a couple more hours of “downtime”.

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I loved sitting, chatting and listening to the guitars. But children just don’t seem to know what relaxation is. They wanted to go to the lake… so we all packed up our suits, towels, snacks and drinks and headed down to the lake. I was really surprised by Kenzie. After some initial apprehension she seemed to really take to the water. She learned how to swim wearing the lifejacket. I couldn’t get her or Sophie out of the water. It was so fun to watch her having such a great time. It also made me happy seeing how proud of herself she was.

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So… we finally dragged the kids away from the lake – Steve played a major part in this by offering the kids a ride back to the campsite in the back of his truck. Lela, Genessa and I sat at the back to make sure no chilluns fell out. It was fun. I’m pretty sure that Steve aimed for every pot hole, dip and bump on the way home.

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The evening was filled with more camping fun – barbequed dogs and burgers with plastic tubs of potato salad and coleslaw.

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A few drinks, way too many roasted marshmallows. The smells of campfires and mosquito repellant filled the air.

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I loved how the little ones – Courtney, Sophie, Sebastian (the other one), Nolan and Kenzie eventually found their way to their parent’s laps where they just fell asleep.

I slept for 12 hours on Saturday night. Seriously. We were all in bed by 10:30 and I woke up at 10:00 yesterday morning. It was amazing.

So that was pretty much the end. Kenzie was invited over to Sophie’s campsite for breakfast and CJ, Brian and I packed up our site. Then we all headed home. It was a very successful camping trip. I can’t wait for the next one.