T'was the month before Christmas

T'was the month before Christmas
and at the front door

There was a pair of Elf Shoes

Not from any old store

A note was close by

Explaining to me

The reasons just why

These shoes were all free

It said "One more month"

"Just 30 more sleeps"

Christmas is coming

For me and my peeps

The shoes, they are magic

Playing songs of the season

If you ever wondered why I believe

This is just one more reason

Even better

He's off the respirator!

The Roller Coster Week

I'm glad the week is over.  It was an emotional one.  Up, down, up, down, but ending on an up.

Up - well life as usual.  Snow on the horizon for the mountain, things are good.  Down - found out that my beloved scrapbooking site was changing, and most likely closing down.  Not only does this site provide me a HUGE creative outlet, it also connects me to a group of amazing women that I would not have met without.  It also keeps me in touch with some that I met through another site and are back together again.

Up - those incredible women, well they feel the same way about the site so together we found a way to keep it "live" and keep things as is.

Down - my close and dear friend Lori's father was admitted to emergency and then put on life support to try and get his organs functioning again.  While I wasn't able to speak with Lori directly, I was able to get some news and stay in the loop.  He was not doing well.

Up - Lori called last night.  He's doing better.  While by no means out of the loop (not totally breathing on his own), his organs are functioning and he did not need to go on dialysis.  It will be a bit before we know more, but the doctors are optimistic. 

Up - had a successful scrapping weekend.  Those ladies at compupro hosted a on line crop and we had a great time.  I got a few challenges done, and am totally inspired to keep going.

Since the weekend ended UP, I plan to start next week.  I'm tired.  I guess the emotions have won, so tonight I will sleep.  And dream of scrapping.

The Weekend is Over Again

So another weekend seems to have come to an end.  This is obvious to me as it's Sunday night, the kids are in the bath and I need to go make muffins.

Saturday was all about starting off with cold weather, rain and a soccer game.  Can't wait till winter and we start the games an hour earlier!! 

After the game, we did some arts and crafts, and hoped that the weather would clear - which it eventually did.  That afternoon, I got to go Christmas shopping, no kids.  Wish I had another hour or two as I would like to wrap it all up (pun totally intended).  Saturday night I made home made pizza, enjoyed a glass of wine and watched a bad movie with Chris.

Sunday, the weather held so we managed to pull off a family walk.  I love our walks, an hour long trek around our neighbourhood on our way to Tim's for coffee and timbits.    Then typical stuff like grocery shopping, lunch and the daily attempt to make the house look semi clean (although I seem to really be failing at this lately).  

I wanted to get some Christmasy photos, so the kids and I headed out for an hour and a half for some playing, exploring and of course, picture taking.  Got a couple good Christmas ones (to be shared later), and some even better portraits.  Braydon loves to "find" places to have his photo done, and Kaylee loves to act up, but still gives me the chance to get some pretty photos in too.

So, I guess I should stop typing and go wash some hair, read a book or two and start making muffins.  Then we have our Sunday night shows, and sleeps hopefully un-interupted (wishful thinking I'm sure).  I had a great weekend.

My Passion

I always forget to post my scrapbooking lay outs here, which seems strange, but I forget.  So, here are a few recent ones that I have done 

I so love this photo of Braydon, and think that he looks more like 12 than 5!  

And this one of Kaylee, well it's from last winter but it's so precious that I just scrapped it again for one of Tracey's challenges at compupro.

This is another KJ one - her wanting to have her photo taken over and over again that day.  I love how she goes from Princess to Tom Boy in seconds!

And in the fairness of equal opportunity scrapping - here is another one of Braydon

A good few days - Karma in the house

So the other day, I parked my car at work where I usually park my car.


Then my friend Norah parked beside me.

Then another car in the upper lot did not use their break, nor did they put their car into gear. It rolled down the embankment and onto Nora's car, leaning onto my car.

My car barely has a scratch. Hers is totalled. That is my white van in the photo.






Yesterday we were all home together, and once again the rain decided to play too. It rained all day long. But we made the best of it, and together we did puzzles, watched a movie, played video games, did some arts and crafts - all in all had a good day. Sometimes the rain slows you down enough to remember what is really important. And you might as well embrace it - because one of the best parts of the day was puddle jumping with the kids.

Today I know it's getting closer to Christmas. The reindeer arrived at the mountain. Fa la la la la, la la la .

Tagged

So here is the deal, I got tagged, and now you are tagged.

Open the forth picture folder in your pictures.  Then, find the forth picture in that file, post it and blog about it.

This photo of Braydon was taken summer of 2007 on our vacation in Saratoga Beach.  He's not paying attention to me, so I love photos like this, candid and close up. 

This trip was the first time either kid had roasted marshmallows, and it was a big hit.  Of course, this year's vacation HAD to include them.  While these white fluffy things are great in hot chocolate, both Braydon and I agree that they are best roasted over an open flame, and if at all possible, on the beach with your family.

Thanks for the tag Suzanne, this pic wouldn't have made it here otherwise.

#100 with perspective

Well, this is post #100. Who would have thought back in January that I would have actually kept up with this!!

Thank you to my two most loyal readers, Suzanne and Lisa. I know others pop in and out, so thanks for stumbling over here and reading about my day to day world.

The photo of Kaylee is old. She's just 1.5 years and her look there is the same sweetness I get today. I do wish that I was blogging back then, as it is a great place for me to jot down so "stuff". Like the Week in a Life - chances are if I didn't blog, I wouldn't have actually written much down.

This photo too is a couple of years old, but Braydon looks the same, a lot taller, but looks the same. I love how he loves animals - we share a special relationship with animals us two.

So for today, with no enlightened perspective on anything that will change the world - I offer this.

I hate umbrellas. I have lived in my beautiful city of Vancouver m whole life and would never consider living anywhere else. I do not own an umbrella, but have been known to borrow one here and there. Today, while walking Kaylee to school in the rain, along with Takaya on the leash and Braydon on his bike. I had my rain jacket on, but thought that my hair would do better with the hood off and using Chris' large golf umbrella. Wrong.

If there wasn't a sweet little girl who wanted to hold my hand and a 110 lb dog that wanted to pull in the wrong direction, I have a feeling that my hatred for umbrellas would have been less. But that was not the case. One hand for Kaylee. Two eyes on speedy bike guy racing ahead. One had for overly large umbrella while wrapping leash and getting pulled over to muddy / grassy area. At least I had the wisdom to not wear my heels and just go with running shoes for the walk.

Umbrellas, while potentially keeping your head dry, are a waste of money. A good hood on your jacket is all a west coast girl needs. Hoods don't get lost. You don't leave your hood at work when you really need it at the house. Hoods are with you, so if the rain shows up suddenly, you are ready to go. Hoods are good. Umbrellas are a waste of money.

Happy Birthday Baby Brother

I must be getting older, because my baby brother just turned 35. We celebrated at Mom and Dad's last night with a very yummy dinner (Chris stayed home with the flu).

As you can see from these photos, the kids LOVE Uncle Richard. They crawled all over him and couldn't get enough - I almost felt a bit sorry for him, then I remembered all the times he bugged me and I got over it.

And for the record, they aren't checking out his nose, I think they were playing dentist.

Happy Birthday Richard.

Halloween

Ghosts and goblins arrived at my door, in fact over 250 of them came last night!

Darth Vader and Tinkerbell had their own fun too.  Over an hours worth of trick or treating (including one drop and go load back at the house) the kids then helped me give out candy to the last hundred or so.

The rain poured all day long here, but seemed to let up just before the kids headed out.  Thanks Mother Nature, owe you one for that.  So they bundled up and headed out to collect enough candy to last us through to the next holiday.

We saw lots of great costumes, and for the most part I have to say that the kids were very polite.  

Now we have to find a way to ration the treats so that we don't have too much sugar overload.  That goes for me too!