My Favorite Time of the Day

Is now. It's 11:06, and really I should be in bed. Especially since sleep was lacking the last few nights.

But it's nights like tonight that I get a little me time in. Kids and Chris are asleep. I already crawled into bed, but as soon as the snoring started, I crawled out.

I check creative blogs - scrapbooking blogs, photography blogs, cooking ones. I lurk through facebook. I catch up on stuff that my normal life is just too busy to check out.

I'm sitting here in a peaceful house. Some laundry got done. Some dishes got done. Even the oven got cleaned. Life is good right now.

PS - when I was taking a pic on the i photo, I always check out to see what the kids have done. Every once in awhile they re-find the feature and take pics of themselves. Kinda cool to see what they do and how they act without a grown ups influence. The Braydon photo is recent, but the KJ photo is old. Both adorable in their own right I thought I would share them.

this is

Thanks Harley

Our time together wasn't long, but thanks for the cuddles along the way.

Some days are tougher than others

This baby is all grown up. I love him more every day.

But as he gets older, he has the ability to frustrate me more too. You see he and I are a lot alike and because of that, we tend to butt heads.

Like tonight. He's getting into an "I don't like baths" stage. Tough - he still needs to have them. They don't have to be long, but they must include soap, water and the hair must be washed. If that takes 1 min - fine. If that - like tonight- takes an hour - so be it.

Every ounce of him fought it. After figuring out that just telling me he wasn't washing his hair wasn't working, he came up with his ear hurting. I spoke calmly, I took deep breaths, but I stuck to my guns.

Then the water was cold. Tough. He could get out when his hair was washed.

Finally, at the hour mark - when I was well past going in and talking to him about anything - Chris pops his head in, and within seconds Braydon is washing his hair. He doesn't dare argue with his Dad like he will with me. I know it's a Mom vs. Dad thing. I know that. It was the same for me growing up. Push Mom to the outer limits, but don't do the same with Dad.

So this sweet little boy is all grown up. And we have a long way to keep working on how to deal with each others stubbornness. Chances are, it will be a work in progress.

A quick photo challenge

I love photography, and would love to get better at it. One site that I get a ton of inspiration from is from Shutter Sisters

When I saw a photo yesterday of the heart shaped marshmallows, I thought I would send a quick photo challenge out to the SkrapNChat girls.

Take a photo of a beverage. Simple. Here is one, I plan to take more.

Homemade Goodness

My house smells yummy right now. Banana bread always smells delicious.

And I'm prepping some asparagus soup for the rest of the week too. Potatoes and asparagus. Mmm.

It's been an emotional weekend here so the smells are extra nice tonight. Harley has some health issues and we need to make some choices. I know I'm an adult, but I hate making grown up choices. (Thanks Mom for listening today, and for offering your help). For now, we continue with the meds and see what happens.

And have some banana bread.

The Sketch Challenge

Each month at Skrap N Chat - we offer up a sketch challenge on the 15th. This month, I picked this sketch from Creative Scrappers

The design team each does an example, and then the rest of the members have their go at it. This was my take.

And Suzanne's

Dawn's

And this month our Guest Design Team member Tash

My Personal Shopper

This crazy lady is an un-likely friend.

Suzanne and I first met about five years ago on a scrapbooking site called Kindred Creations. It was my first scrapping web site to visit, and I was hesitant about even being on there. But the women seemed friendly and WOW, did it do a lot for my scrapping ability.

Suzanne was very nice on the boards, and I loved her Hawaii album. She mentioned that she would be traveling to Vancouver, and that started our true friendship. I invited her and her husband to Grouse, but unfortunately I wasn't really able to spend any time with them (I regret not trying harder). When we met in person, we just clicked.

Just over a year later, Suzanne was the most gracious host when I went to Utah to CKU. Not only did she offer her home to stay in, but she was a ton of fun the whole weekend. We call each other our Internet girl friends and chat daily. If you picked the two of us out in a crowd you probably wouldn't put us together - different life stages, different backgrounds, different lots of stuff, but I adore her.

As you know, I was impressed by the beauty of Utah and hope to return one day soon. Along with the dessert mountain terrain - these lucky ladies have a kazillion scrapbooking stores around them. And not just stores, warehouses. In fact, I think scrapbooking may have just been invented in Utah!

Each year, American Crafts has a huge warehouse sale in December. For the past two years, I asked if Suzanne wouldn't mind picking me up stuff. She knows my style, knows what I like and I trust her to be my personal shopper. I give her a budget range, and let her go. The stuff that she can get me, for the prices.....well let's just say that the $40 she spent this year would have cost me well over $200. Well over.

Plus she threw in a couple extras for me, just because that is who she is. Sweet Suzanne! Thanks Suzie Q, I LOVE the stuff.

355 more to go

I will fully admit that I stole this idea from my friend Jenn. Thanks Jenn!!

Since picking my word "motion" I have done a lot of thinking. About what I want to accomplish with this word. What results I want to see. And how I will make this word work with me. For me. For the year.

So a simple way is to put a list together, a list of things that I want to make happen. The "motion" is the action part.

#1 - De-clutter. Specifically all the crap that seems to have surrounded me in my house. If we move, then I have too much stuff to move. If we stay, then I have too much stuff to stay. I am going on a purge mission.

#2 - Play more. I so enjoyed getting out on the hill yesterday, I want to do that more. I've really enjoyed playing with the kids games with them, classics like battleship and perfection. Less TV. More Play.

#3 - Exercise. Be it skiing. Wii. Walking. I need to get more of it. All of it.

#4 - Document more. Blog. Photo. Whatever. Document.

#5 - Date more. Date my husband. Some nights go out without the kids. Some night, plan a date for when they have gone to bed. Date my kids - we always have fun when we have one on one time.

Just a list of five for now. Let's check back and see how those are going.

I Knew This About Him

I married my opposite. I knew that.

I married a man who over thinks things. I knew that.

I married a man who is quiet. I knew that.

I married a hard worker. I knew that.

I married a stubborn man. I knew that.

I married a man who needed to learn what good relationships were all about. I knew that.

I married a man with a huge heart. I knew that.

I married a man who wasn't as sure as I was about having kids. I knew that.

But what I also knew, and he now gets - is what an awesome Dad he would be.

And when KJ got this quiet, over thinking, tired guy to dance around the kitchen like he too was a five year old, the only smile bigger than his and hers was mine.

I married a great guy. I knew that.

A shared passion

Onto the hill we go.

While I always said that I would have skiing kids, I have to say that I haven't done a great job of raising them. See when you only have one weekend day away from the mountain, it doesn't really make you want to go there for the other one.

But this year, this year I don't work weekends. So this year, the kids are hitting the slopes.

Braydon has skied a few times before, but I want him to have a few lessons. To build his confidence the right way. He thinks he can ski. What he has a hard time with is slowing down to actually build the right skills to ski properly. I took him down the Cut a couple years ago, and it was too much too fast. Now I want someone he will listen to do the same thing - then I will take him again.

He had a good time, but was pretty tired afterwards!

Now KJ, she was sooooo excited all week. This was her first time, and she wanted to ski so badly.

When I picked her up after her lesson - her response was just what I wanted "AWESOME MOM".

Both kids are keen to go back again next week, and I told them that I would have a special ski date with each one after a couple more lessons. I can't wait!!

While they were off on their lessons, I got to do some turns with my baby brother. We don't get to ski very often anymore, so it was a nice treat too! Even better when he said I had nice turns!!

My body is a bit sore today...guess that's what motion does to these old legs. Looking forward to getting back at it again soon. Even Chris' interest seems to be peaked!

An Alteration of Word Choice

Movement is a good word, but Motion is better.

Motion (n): A state of progression from one place to another.

My word needed a direction, motion has that. Motion forward.

I have also just joined in on an on-line class with Ali Edwards, tracking, journalling and documenting my word. This will help me stay on track, and a great way to look back on the year.

Another Chilly Day

The weather all week has been beautiful, clear and crisp. Chilly really. The fog rolled into the waterfront this morning, and we ventured for a walk down by the terminals. We used to come here all the time, Takaya would swim forever and then the wet dog smell would last even longer.

She's aged a lot in the past few months, and at the age of 10, her days are limited. So I let her run for a bit, but I know she will be sore tomorrow. She still had the mind of a puppy, but her body not so much. I can relate.

The kids are busy with their DSs right now - they used some Christmas money to buy some new games. KJ's needs some reading, so I am helping with that. Return to healthy eating Day 1 is going well, already realizing quickly that some of my old bad habits may be a bit harder to break than others. But I have a goal, and I will get there!!

Slow Movement

Well, the cold I was pretending not to have is winning today. So everything was a little slow. Thank goodness for Dayquil, it's the only way that the kitchen got tidied and groceries got done. As the last day before good eating is the way of life (needed groceries before starting this new way), I thought a big breakfast was the way to start our day.

Kaylee is my little kitchen helper these days, and today she helped make pancakes.

I also got to see two good friends today. One moved out to Calgary just over ten years ago and I miss her. She needs to move back, but that isn't happening.....yet. But it was nice to have the three of us catch up while the six kids ran around. We decided next time we meet at the Bear and skip the kids!

I did prep some soup for the next few days. A very low point asparagus soup. All ready to go and I am looking forward to it!

The first of the movement

It was a beautiful day 1 of 2011, so Kaylee and I decided it would be good to get outside and go for a hike in Lynn Headwaters.

Typically she is a slow slow walker. While we do a lot of walking, she is still slow. But today, we did the 2km fairly quickly, which was nice.

It was chilly outside, so we bundled up and headed out. It was a perfect way to start my Movement Movement :)

A new Year, a new Word

Well here we are at the start of another year. Yes, the blogging started so well in 2010 and then didn't end the same way. But this year is different. This year is about documenting. Documenting me, my life, the family and friends around me. The good, the bad, the ugly and sad. Taking out the camera more (I know, really you would think that couldn't be done...) but taking different photos. Sure the kids will continue to be my stars, but to take more character photos. Take more photos of the world around me. Take more photos of me. And of Chris. And my parents and brother and in laws.

Document my world. My work. My changes. With words too (that is where this fits back in). To write. To capture the moments, my feelings, my wants.

As you may know, each year Ali Edwards encourages people to pick a "word" that represents you and encourages you to work towards that goal. I have been thinking of my word all month, and changed it almost daily. So I came to think that maybe ONE word isn't enough this year. Maybe I need to change it up.

So to start the year, I am choosing movement. Movement for my body. Movement for my mind (I have really enjoyed 'learning' a new job this last few month). Movement for my weight to go down. Movement of house. Maybe that is a move itself, maybe it's a removal of clutter. Time will tell.

To embrace this word right away, I have moved two loads of laundry and one pile of garbage. My daughter and I are going to move our bodies and go for a small hike on this beautiful day outside.

And I will move my butt into this spot more often too!