Last Daily Thanks Post

... Greg's Flex Days that allow me to help out in Marley's kindergarten class! It was really fun to see her interacting with her new friends, to SEE who those new friends are and to see how well she is doing in "real" school.
... quick shopping trips that net not one but 3 different Christmas Picture Worthy outfits (for Marley and Paige, not me ... sigh) ...
... husbands who not only put up the Christmas lights but start dinner too!

Since tomorrow marks the start of December this will be my last post of my Daily Thanks Self-challenge. It's been fun! Some days it's been harder than others to come up with sincere things than others but it's been a real learning experience for me. I believe I started this in part because Greg was commenting that I was all "glass is half empty". I just asked him if he's seen any changes in me and he has so ... Yay!! I forgot to mention that I went for a short run yesterday. That in itself was a minor miracle and as Greg said "I'm getting my wife back!" Mayyyyybe! :) I DO feel more positive these days. Don't get me wrong, there are still days when I would gladly sell the kids AND Greg and move to some deserted beach somewhere  but I think that's actually normal. Who knew!!

One last thanks before I sign off ...
... Thanks to all of you (if there IS anyone out there reading this!) for coming along for the ride!

Blog Candy at Stamper on the Shore!

Hi everyone! Christmas is all about candy right? My friend Sandra over at Stamper on the Shore has some Christmas Blog Candy so hop on over and check it out. She's got amazing projects on her site too so be sure to explore her blog while you're there. One of her wishes is to get as many of her followers to post a link in their side bar ... I'm not totally sure how to do this but if I figure it out I guess it'll be obvious!! (Still learning how to manage and customize this here blog.)

Good luck to all!

Day 14 thanks

Today I am thankful for ...
... a break in the rain and the coinciding desire to go out for a run ...
... Grandmas ...
... quiet time to finish the advent calendar (Dec 1st is coming up quickly!!)

That's all for now - off to finish decorating the advent calendar and start filling the boxes!! Yay! I can't wait to share it with you -  it looks awesome if I do say so myself. I think the girls are going to go wild over it.

Thanksgiving challenge - Day 13

It's been a busy day ... as usual! Paige's Preschool had an Open House to which I am obliged to attend as the Enrollment Chair (I'll be pretty happy when I can pass the baton!) It was scheduled to run from 10 - 12 which REALLY means I was there from 9:45 - 12:30. We had one person show up. And she was a returning parent!!! Sigh. One person! Actually, considering the advertising was basically nonexistent I'm surprised we got anyone at all!!
Then we had a birthday party for a friends' little boy in North Van at 4:00. Greg had tickets to the Canucks game tonight so it was just me taking all 3 girls. Not too bad really. Not as relaxing as visits to our friends usually are though!!
We got home just before 8 and Paige started complaing about a stomach ache. She's been complaining about them off and on for weeks now and once it led to her throwing up (which is possibly why she now makes such a big deal about them.) I was willing to play along but when I heard her running around with Marley and putting her "sick bowl" on her head as a helmet while I was nursing LC, I decided enough was enough! But now they are all abed and asleep and I get to relax with the TV and my laptop!

Tomorrow is Disney on Ice ... a few quiet hours without the girls!

Today I am thankful for ...
... my girls and my husband ...
... good friends with cake and ice cream ...
... bedtime for little girls!!

Day 12

Today I am thankful for ...
... Pro-D Days and the relaxed morning that comes with them ...
... coffee ...
... PVR'd shows!

Day 11 of Thanks

I`m finding it tough to be grateful for anything right now. I`m in one of those moods where every little noise, question, comment, you name it, from the Peanut Gallery (namely Marley & Paige) grates at me. Today started off on the wrong foot when we all slept in til 8:00am. Considering I like to be out the door at 8:30 to walk Marley to school, that didn`t leave a lot of time to get all 4 of us fed and dressed! Oh well! No shower this morning for me!!
On the up side, it`s Thursday which meant 2 hours with only one child so I got some Advent calendar goodies purchased at Michael`s!

So, today I am grateful for ...
... morning activities that my kids love ...
... a baby that doesn`t mind ``running errands``...
... showers whenever they can be taken!

I`ve also got class tonight so I get some ``alone time`` later. Yay! Hopefully I`ll be able to get my mojo back soon!

BIG Blog Candy at Scrapmaster's Paradise!

Hey everyone, check out this BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY - it's HUGE because Scrapmaster Samantha is celebrating 90,000 blog hits. Wow!! Way to go Sami!!

H1N1 shots and today's Thanks

Out here in South Delta there was a Flu Clinic yesterday. I missed the previous one and was starting to feel quite guilty about not getting the kids immunized against H1N1. We are pretty sure Marley had it at the end of September but figured we'd better get everyone done anyway. Well ... what a pullava (not sure if I'm spelling that right - it's an word my parents used to mean "production", "chaotic", "big deal")!! The clinic was running from 1 - 7PM so I figured after lunch we'd go grocery shopping then get our shots and come home for LC's nap etc. Easy peasy, right? Ha! We entered the lineup at 2:20 and re-entered the van at 4:00! The girls were SO good in the line! No tantrums. No whining ... okay, not too much whining! At one point Paige had to go to the bathroom and Marley was left to watch LC and keep our spot and ROCKED IT!! She's so awesome a big sis! I don't praise her nearly enough. Paige had a complete freak out which was partly my fault for not holding her on my lap from the very beginning. Somehow I forget how little she still is! But ice creams at McDonalds afterward helped smooth things over! Ah, McDonalds!

So we are all protected ... except for Greg ... and a bit sore. LC actually slept last night! She was SO tired by the time we got home. She missed her afternoon nap and hadn't nursed since 11AM so she slept from 5 - 7:30, got up for a bite of dinner and was back in bed by 8:20pm. Then she was up at 11:30 and 3:30. That's what I call a good night! She has to get dose #2 in 3 weeks and I will eventually try to convince the older girls to get the regular flu shot later (THAT should be fun!) but for now, we are done.

Today I am thankful for ...
... scientists who work hard to protect us ...
... my wonderful, brave girls ...
... coffee (I'm feeling particulary sluggish this morning!)

Daily thanks

Today I am thankful for ...
... the safe arrival (and subsequent departure to Victoria) of Greg's parents from Mazatlan ...
... kids that love school so much they can't wait to get inside (so much so they leave me in the dust at the cross walk!!)
... quiet mornings to enjoy coffee and crafting.

The advent calendar is coming along nicely. Marley and Paige are VERY curious about the towers of itty bitty boxes on the dining room table. I've been very close mouthed about what they are for and it's driving them nuts - Marley especially! Heh, heh!! My little way of torturing my kids!! Such fun!

Have a good Tuesday everyone!

LC is 8 months old

Hard to believe that my little baby ... my last little baby ... is 2/3rds of the way through her first year of life already! So what does LC do now ... she drools, she eats many different types of food, she is more comfortable on her tummy but is still not crawling (not a totally bad thing!), she drools, she stands, she walks if you hold her hands (or if she's hanging onto the side of the recycling box - if I can get the vid posted you've got to check it out!), she drools, she chews books, blocks, shoes, did I mention she drools? I THINK her top teeth are coming in but I've thought that for quite awhile now so I'm not holding my breath anymore! I also remembered to go to the Health Unit and weigh her this month. She is 17lbs 15.6oz and 28 1/4" in length. Marley at this age was 18lbs 3oz and 28 3/8".

Apparantly my attempt at video upload failed so go here to see LC cruising' with the recyclin'!

Here are some pictures. I think she's actually wearing the same outfit she wore for her 7 month pics. Hmmm ... oh well. Different socks at least!

Today I am thankful for ...

... LC's smiles ...

... internet access (Telus is upgrading their lines and our access has been spotty the past few days - I take what I can get and do as much as I can while I can!)

... dry nights for Paige.

Day 7 and new challenge entry ... finally!

I finished the page below in about 15 minutes! It was magical how it all came together really.

This is for the weekly Trifecta challenge over at Design Dollies. This week the challenges were to use the colours red and grey, 7 - 10 flowers and their sketch. I had come across this picture of Greg and I the other day when I was searching for something completely different - isn't that always the way! It was taken at Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver by my cousin Crawford when he visited back in 2005. I originally thought it was pre-Marley but Greg reminded me how we were all worried about Marley and our nephew Matthew getting too close to the water. Anyway, as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to scrap a layout but originally I thought I'd use blue to pick up on the blue shirts. Then I put it on a piece of red cardstock and loved how it looked so ... the rest is history as they say. It really just was magical and I'm totally happy with the result!! Hope you like it too.

Here are some closeups of the details:

I also got a start on my advent calendar ... it is proving a bit more challenging than I had thought but I will keep plugging away at it and post pics as soon as it's done.

Today I am thankful for ...

... late night chats with my husband ...

... little girls that are now big girls - Paige spent her first night without a Pullup and was completely dry! Yay!!

... coffee (LC was up a LOT last night!!)

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

Day 6 - Gratitude Challenge

Ahhh ... Saturdays ... they used to mean sleeping in, having a relaxing breakfast and cup of coffee.

Then we had kids!

Now they mean being woken up by a 3-year old who yelled "Mom, where are you?" over and over from outside our closed bedroom door in a darkened house. Hmmm ... seems obvious to the rest of us where we'd be, why can't she figure it out and come quietly into our room to gently wake us up? Or, do as her 5 year old sister and head into the playroom to watch cartoons?!?! Sigh ... the joys of parenting?!

Today I am thankful for ...
... my kids - all of them! ...
... husbands who take on the coaching job so I DON'T have to freeze my butt off on the sidelines early Saturday monings! ...
... coffee and time to enjoy it!

Marley and Paige have a birthday party later this afternoon so I may actually get a chance to start the advent calendar! I finished my other "secret" project yesterday so now I can shift focus. Hope to get some scrapping images posted soon.
Have a great Saturday everyone!

Day 5 ...

Today I am thankful for ...

... quiet mornings to enjoy my coffee and a little Fringe ...
... babies that greet you with full body smiles even though they've pee'd through their sleeper! ...
... did I mention coffee? ...
... time to blog and surf my usual haunts ...
... winning more blog candy (Thanks to Studio Calico DT member Nicole!!)

Off to get LC up from her nap, shower and pick up Marley from school. Ciao!

Day 4 - Thursday Thanks

Phew! What a day! It's almost 11PM here and this is the first real moment I've had all day to get on the computer!! And I think I just heard LC starting to stir ... crap! Hang on ...

... okay, I'm back and if I hurry I may just be able to get this posted before I'm supposed to post Day 5's thanks!! LC hasn't actually nursed since about 2:30 today so I was pretty happy to ...um ... relieve myself?

Thursdays are usually busy ones as I have class at BCIT from 5 - 10PM, Marley has kindergarten and Paige has preschool. What made today especially busy was that I was the Duty Parent at the preschool which meant getting snack for them all cut up beforehand, plus getting Marley's snack ready, PLUS getting the Pack'n'Play, blankets, bottles, snacks, etc, etc, etc for LC ready. I did more before 8:30 this morning that I do by noon on most days!! After preschool/kindergarten I helped a friend out by picking her and her two girls (who just happen to be Marley & Paige's best friends) up and giving them a ride home. This friend also helped me out tons this morning by looking after LC so being a taxi was no problem! Fitting 2 boosters and a car seat into the back seat of our van was a whole other story!! We finally managed it but Trish and I were pretty wet by the end of it! (Did I tell you it's been pouring and windy again? Yuck!!) We celebrated by taking all 5 girls - yep there was a WHOLE lot of estrogen in that van today!! - out to McDonalds. I still had some homework to finish so rounded up the troups at 2 and we headed home. By 4:15 I was done and needed to get it photocopied so it was out the door again, into the pouring rain, to the copy place. Then home for a quick pack-up of my school stuff, kissed Greg as he came in and then fought rush hour in the rain. SO much fun!!

Well, I could go on and on about my boring Details and Construction Drawing class but I will spare you and get to my thanks for today. Oh, and for those of you who are interested in my scrapbooking projects, have no fear! I am working on some things and will share in good time. One of my current projects which is almost done I can't show you until after Christmas as it is to be a gift and you never know ... they may just check out my blog! Stranger things have happened! I wouldn't want to wreck the surprise for them. One of the other projects (do you ever have the problem of starting too many projects at once?) is an advent calendar for the girls. I got inspired by one I saw on the Lotus Paperie Etsy site. I'll link it up later, right now I just really need to finish rambling and get to bed!

Today I am thankful for ...
... good friends who help out in a jam ...
... babies that nurse and relieve the pressure so I can sleep tonight (maybe?) ...
... the fact that I only have one more boring lecture to sit through and then a final exam and I never have to think about door hinges and drywall thicknesses again ... oh wait, I'm going to be an Interior Designer, these things will probably come up!
... as always, coffee, coffee, coffee!!

Good night.

Here's a pic and the link I promised.
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=21503198

Cute, eh? Assuming I can get it done in time, I will post pics of my version!

Day 3 of thanks ...?

Today I am thankful for a number of things but before I get to them I want to give you some background ...

Last night was a rough one for numerous reasons.
LC would appear to be cutting new teeth and they are not coming in easy! She spent yesterday evening alternating between happily chewing on anything and everything and stuffing her fingers/thumb in her mouth while crying. It was fairly heartbreaking! Usually she goes to bed just after 7pm and we don't hear from her until 10-ish but last night she fought it. Not only did she not nurse well at 7, she woke up at 8 and then again at 9 at which point I decided to bring her downstairs with us. Tuesday nights are Biggest Loser night so Greg and I are usually cuddled on the couch - she could snuggle too! At 10 I decided to try nursing her again and see if she would go to bed. She did but was up again at 11:30 and 12:30 and then 3.
Also in the mix were Marley and Paige ... Paige turned up her nose at dinner (not too surprising) and Marley ate everything but the chicken. I had suffered headaches all day so when both girls snubbed my hard work I sent them to bed. Not thinking they would actually DO that though. At 7 we realised it was too quiet upstairs ... parents out there will know what I mean by 'too quiet'. With our girls that usually means they have snuck into the playroom and are watching TV (there's a no TV after 5pm rule in our house.) This time though it meant that they had both crawled into bed fully clothed and fallen asleep. Ah! How cute!!
When I was upstairs dealing with LC at 8, I heard Marley and went into their room. Marley acknowledged that she was in bed fully clothed but then just turned over and fell back to sleep. Paige wanted to get into her pj's and brush her teeth. No problem. Done deal. See you in the morning. Right? Not quite ...
Marley decided at midnight that she needed to get into her pj's and brush her teeth! Waking me up in the process!! Sigh ... kids!!
The third element to last night was the splitting headache I experienced at 3am! I had been woken up by it was trying to figure out if I wanted to go to the effort of going all the way downstairs for Tylenol when LC woke up and I had to get up anyway. While I was nursing her I could feel my heart beating through the back of my head and tried to keep as still as possible to avoid my head falling off!! The Tylenol must have eventually kicked in because I did fall asleep again but it was touch and go there for awhile!
So to recap ... all 3 kids acted up last night, I was woken up at 11:30, 12, 12:30 and 3, and had a splitting headache into the bargain. What is there to be thankful for?

Today I am thankful for ...
... coffee (although maybe the caffeine isn't the best for headaches!)
... cold brisk days for walking Marley to school in that cleared my head!
... mornings  signifying that rough nights are over ... until tonight!

That was a long post to say a few things! It feels good to vent into the ether!!
See you tomorrow!

Blog Candy

More yummy candy up for grabs over at Three Trees {paper} Creations. Check it out here.

UPDATE: I must be having beginners luck or something because I was one of 3 winners!! I get the "surprise candy" so I'm all a quiver to see what will arrive in my mailbox!! stay tuned ...

simple things

Today I'm thankful for ...

... breaks in the storms so that walking Marley to school is pleasant and so Paige can get outside playtime at preschool ...
... stolen naps on the couch ...
... coffee ... always thankful for coffee!!

Random thoughts ...

My father-in-law was telling me last night how he really likes to read my blog to get insight into my life and through me, the daily lives of his 3 granddaughters. He's not so interested in the scrapbooking posts though ... sorry Dad!

I came across a challenge at BASB called Simple Thanks that peaked my interest. I am in no way going to try and do it as laid out on their site (I'm two weeks too late anyway!) so relax Dad, there's no scrapping in this post!! LOL! But as I was recently challenged by Greg to stop being so "glass is half empty", I am going to follow along with the spirit of the challenge for the rest of the month.

Today I am thankful for ...
... coffee ...
... daughters who want lights turned on while I'm in the middle of a blog post ...
... Greg and his wonderfully flexible work schedule that allows him to be Marley's Kindergarten helper today ...
... not having to walk Marley to school today in the rain and wind!

More pages for Marley's Scrapbook

I managed to get the next two pages of Marley's Scrapbook done this morning. I've been having printing headaches which have held up the process. It may just be time to invest in a photo printer! Now I can see that the photo paper I've bought doesn't photograph very well. Hmm ... live and learn!

As the title indicates, these are pictures of all the people to came to visit us in the hospital after Marley was born. She was the first grandchild on Greg's side (4th on my side!) and I was the first out of my university friends to have a baby so Marley got lots of visitors! She's still one of the "popular girls"!!

To see close up s of some of the details, check out my Picasa Web album here.

Biggest Blog Candy yet!

http://thechroniclesoforange.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-candy-scroll-down-for-new-humble.html
Leah the Orange from Design Dollies is offering up the biggest Blog Candy I've seen yet! Check it out and her fabulous blog at the above link. To check out the Design Dollies site by clicking on their blinkie in my side bar.

Marley's Baby Scrapbook

I've just started scrapping an album for Marley and given that it can take me a week to do one page, it could take me a heck of a long time to document her 5 (almost 6) years of life!! Here's hoping I get it done to my satisfaction in a timely manner. We need our dining room table occasionally!!

This first page was started as a challenge entry but life got in the way of the challenge deadline so .... the important thing is that the page got finished. One down ....

The challenge was the Striped Challenge at Design Dollies. Marley picked out the main striped paper and once she did, the idea of entering the challenge and then the rest of the striped paper and other stripey elements just sort of fell into place. The layout actually came together quite quickly but ... well, life is crazy and sometimes deadlines become a little "soft". :)

Here are a couple of close ups of the details.

 

The next two pages took me some time to finish. Here they are:

Sorry about all the carpet in the shots. I had it all cropped in Picasa but for some reason the crop didn't translate when I imported it into my Blog. Hmmm ... blogging stuff to learn I guess.

So I had the base laid out and knew which pictures I wanted to include (I'd worked it out during one of the more boring sections of my construction detailing class at BCIT!!!) but while the layout of some of them came easy, the littler ones had me stumped for awhile. My printer screwed up so not all of them had a white border that I could easily use to mount them. I could have reprinted them but I'd already fought several times with my printer so ... I finally got the idea of mounting some onto a bit of brown cardstock which had the added bonus of tying the two pages together more. Then the journalling and the embellishments had me stratching my head again. I'm still getting the hang of journalling. I could say so much! How to condense it onto little bits of paper is my problem!! Also, what do I really want to be recorded for all eternity?! Hopefully when Marley looks at this 20+ years from now my scribbles make sense!!

Here are some close ups of the journalling and embellishments:

I have to give a big shout out to my friend Sandra (Stamper on the 'Shore) for the butterflies. I won those in her Blog Candy contest a little while ago and they are awesome! Thanks Sandra!! Marley also loved picking out which ones went onto this layout. (BTW Sandra's having another Blog Candy giveaway which you should check out here.)

Well, that's all I have done so far. As I get more pages completed I'll post them. Shall we start a pool on when the whole album will be finished? 2015?! LOL!

Pumpkins and Candy!

I know Hallowe'en has been over for a week but somehow I just didn't make the time to Blog about it until now. And of course I'm also working on Marley's Baby Scrapbook and entertaining LC who just got up from a nap at the same time!! Really, it's a miracle anything gets accomplished around here!

The picture above was taken at Westham Island Herb Farm when we were out there for Paige's Preschool Pumpkin Patch Field Trip a couple weeks ago. The sight of the orange pumpkins against the purple lavender was too pretty not to photograph. I'm betting it'll find it's way into a Fall themed layout some day!!

Marley's Kindergarten field trip was the same morning but to a different pumpkin patch so she went with her best friend and her mom and I took Paige, HER best friend (who happens to be the sister of Marley's best friend - very convenient!!) and LC to Westham Island. The tour of the farm was manageable with LC in the Baby Bjorn but I realized two things as we headed out to pick the pumpkins. One, I forgot to bring bags for the pumpkins, which led to two, how was I supposed to carry three pumpkins?! Because of COURSE LC had to have her very first Hallowe'en pumpkin!! This next pic was taken by one of our teachers as I was heading back in from the patch. They may be small, but my arms were pretty sore by the time I got to the van!! The little one in pink with her back turned is Paige. She was particularly uncooperative when it came to getting a picture of her on her first Preschool field trip!! Grr!!

Somehow I fogot to get a picture of the Jack -o- Lanterns that we carved out of the girls pumpkins. Double grr!! If anyone out there has one please send me a copy!!

The next big event was of course Hallowe'en. Greg's nephew Griffin was 1 on the 28th so we did a combined 1st Birthday party/Trick or Treating Extravaganza on the 31st. Because you know, it's essential to send the kids out the door to procure their yearly sugar fix already buzzed on sugar!! We had our two nephews (Jasper, 3 and Griffin, 1) and Greg's cousin's little guy Kieran who will be 2 in December. He was hilarious! I'm not sure he totally grasped the concept of ringing the bell, saying "Trick or Treat" and waiting until they put candy in his pillowcase, but he sure had fun running from house to house!!  He's the tiger in the picture below. Clutching his pillowcase. Not sure if he thought someone was going to steal it or not! LO!!

Paige did really well this year and only came home after hitting the haunted house at the end of 63rd! She was a Ballerina. A Pink Ballerina. Natch! Marley was Hannah Montana. Sigh. Let's hope this love affair ends soon!! Her costume was darn good, if I do say so myself. The pic I took of her "in action" is barely recognizable as Marley!

And then there was wee LC - the Panda. She got given this bag of Cheezies at our neighbours and spent the next 20 odd minutes in heaven chewing the crinkly package! So cute!!

Last but not least ... the posse!

Our kids were probably the safest ones out there that night as they were VERY closely followed by 6 adults - I only managed to catch 4 in this shot. I think we had about as much fun laughing at the kids exuberance as the kids did actually Trick or Treating!

It was a totally fun and crazy night. Thanks to all for making it so much fun!

Next holiday to get through ... Christmas. Marley is already making her list for Santa. Sigh! Heck, Marley is already making a guest list for her birthday party in February!! Stupid Day Planner Genes!!! :)

Tooting my own horn!

Okay, so I've been at this scrapbooking thing for all of MAYBE 5 months and I only started entering challenges the last couple weeks so imagine my surprise when I discovered one of my layouts posted on one of my usual blog hopping sites.
http://alacartechallenge.blogspot.com/
Scroll down a bit and you'll see my "BOO" layout under the "some layouts we LOVE" line.
I'm so chuffed!! (for all you non-Brits out there - chuffed means "proud", "happy", "please with oneself"!)

Hee, hee, hee!! I guess I really CAN do this thing afterall!