Bring it home Boys!!!

Phew! Much better....

Ok, so apparently I am the only one who must have days like yesterday since no one else left me a comment....

Regardless, today was a much better day!  I am over the moon happy that my mom is here for a few days and that means just a little bit more me time while Matthew gets extra spoiled ;o)

Forgot to mention in my rant yesterday that we had a wonderful little getaway to Edmonton on the weekend!  We visited with friends, went to the mall to go on rides, saw a hockey game and spent lots of quality family time together... hopefully I will get a chance to blog about it very soon....

And isn't it great that we have weather that still allows us to see these?  Can't believe it's Nov 25 tomorrow and +8... I guess this is one time I won't complain about global warming!

There are Days Like Today

There are days like today when all I want to do is run away... far, far away....

Do you other moms out there have days like today?  A day when it seems like all you can see is every inch of dirt in your house.  A day when you want to hire every housekeeper that you could find because you feel like you're just going up the escalator the wrong way.

Today was one of those days.

Some days, I just can't do it.  There is a lot of stress at work right now.  Things getting shuffled, people getting moved.... change.  And don't we all love change.    Come home, see mess.  Child wants to play.  Feel torn between going to play and going to clean.

aargh....

Mondays are especially nuts days because I throw piano lessons into the mix.  Well then why do you do it you might ask?   Because not every day is like today.  I teach only because I love teaching.  Not because I need the money because 2 hours a week doesn't buy me much.  But I always wanted to be a teacher, and some eensy weensy part of me regrets not doing that and this is how I compromise.  I really do love it and I really do love my kids.

But there are days like today when all I want to do is run away... far, far away....

When I put M to bed, he tells me that he "wants to have a short nap so we can play" and "what do you want to do when I wake up??"  This question tears my heart out every time because the next sentence has to be "sweetie, Mommy has to work tomorrow", which is followed by "I don't like it when Mommy works.  It makes me sad..."

So why don't I just quit work then, you might ask?   Because I love my job.  Because I don't think I would be a whole person if I couldn't satisfy that part of my life that craves the challenges and makes my brain grind.   Does that make me less of a mom?  I hope not. 

But there are days like today when all I want to do is run away, far, far away.....

So, I am asking you, other moms out there, to tell me... how do you do it?  And do you ever feel like you want to run far, far away?   Maybe I'm the only one out there who feels like this, particularly around the 3rd week of every month (get my drift?) but I suspect not.

I do everything I do because it makes me who I am.  I give 110% of my energy to M when I can because I love him more than anything in the world.  I give my energy to my husband because I love him more than anything in the world.  I give my energy to my job because I love the satisfaction my job gives me.  I give my energy to my passions - to piano, to photography, to cooking, to gardening, because they make me whole. 

My challenge is only to figure out how to divide up the pie each and every day and that, my friends, is something I'm still learning.  There may be days like today when I want to run away, but really, in the end, I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world. 

There are days like today when I want to run far, far away... but they are luckily few and far between and even if I do run away, by tomorrow, I'll want to come back.

Sunday Chinook

Today was a Chinook day which meant 2 things....

1) the weather was warm enough to finally get the rest of the backyard cleaned up for winter.

2) I'd have a headache.. it's the small price you have to pay for the nice weather.

Anyhow,  today's chinook had quite the arch, so I photosynthed it here:

Chinook Arch

Pretty cool eh?


M and I took advantage of the warm weather today and decided we would finish cleaning up Mommy's flower beds!

Not long after we got outside, M's friend Miss M and her Mom and Dad came by our house on a walk. Miss M decided she wanted to stay, so M and I said "sure!" and her Mom and Dad kept walking..

So what do you do when you have two 2 year olds in the backyard? Put them to work naturally!! Raking, digging, collecting leaves... whatever kept them busy!





Don't worry though, it wasn't all work, we had some fun playtime on the swingset too!





But, like all Chinook days, eventually the wind picks up a little too much, and it's time to go inside...

But who's going to complain when on November 15... there's still no SNOW!

Today Just Sucked

In the 10 years I've been in the workforce now, I'd not yet encountered a day like today.

A black Friday   err Thursday.

I felt sick when I realized it was happening.

I felt horrible for those it was happening to.

I felt angry and frustrated knowing why this had to happen but wishing there could have been some other way.

I was thanking my lucky stars inside that I was spared.

And now I just feel sad.  And I am sorry.. so sorry to those it happened to.

In my spare time....

in my spare time, I like to take pictures.... in fact I love editing pictures more than I love taking them.  I guess it's where I release all of my creative energy  :o)

anyhow, I finally have our website somewhat close to finished, so I thought I'd share it with you..

Ever After Images

And I couldn't help but share these pics with you... this little guy was an absolute cutie and quite well behaved for the camera too!

Better Late than Never

...Sorry, the Hallowe'en pics didn't make it up as quick as I would have liked.

We did have a fabulous Hallowe'en. M had so much fun that he didn't even mind when I left him at the neighbours by himself for 10 minutes!

He collected a pail full of candy which thankfully he forgot about the next day when the Hallowe'en stuff went back into the bin for next year.

It was a bit hard trying to explain to him that he had to wait an entire year to go trick or treating again though!

Here I am!

Finishing Touches...

Make sure the Jack-O-Lantern is working!

Don't forget the balloons you promised your friends!

And off we go!

He refused to wear a buzz...

Let me start this post by clarifying a "buzz" is a nighttime pull-up with a picture of Buzz Lightyear on it.

Last night, after a meltdown because he didn't want to go to bed and the fact that we had company over, I gave in to the fact he refused to put a pull up on and put extra pads on his bed and said, "ok, we'll see you in the morning"....

I couldn't sleep last night. I kept waking up a million times thinking "has he already peed? Is the bed wet?" So upon hearing him at 6:30 this morning, I bolted to his room, thinking maybe, just maybe, he's still holding it, but I knew better.

Nope. Shirt, socks, jammies, bed, all wet. Good thing it's sheet washing day.

Now, I'm not the one saying he doesn't still need a pull-up at night. I know very well he does. But he doesn't understand why he can wear big boy undies in the day and has to have a pull-up at night. What to do? Let's just hope this is a very short lived protest because I ain't doing laundry every 24 hours.

Back to School Jitters

Today is my first day back to work in over a month... A month doesn't seem that long, but it's long enough to feel like I'm out of the loop on everything and I already forgot how to do my job! (which I know I didn't)...

Yep, I feel exactly like I'm in grade 4. I was up at 4am. Not by choice. Thanks to Mr. M. Tonight I teach piano, so this should be a marathon day!

Wish me luck.

It's only 6:15?? Yipee!!!

Ok, so I completely forgot that we changed the clocks last night... I love when the clocks fall back! It's that little gift that you never get the other 364 days of the year when you look at the clock.

I awoke at 7:15 today and suddenly nudged D... "did you set the clocks back?"... "no.." he answered...

"that means it's really only 6:15?!?!?!"

Now normally, that would mean I would be thrilled that I could sleep in longer! I'll be wishing that next Sunday, but since I've had a month of good sleeps, instead I thought... "yes, an extra hour to get stuff done!"

I got myself into the middle of a bunch of organizing projects as you might remember.. Well, now there are bits and bites here and there to finish.

Hopefully today, and hopefully I can show off the hard work soon!

Happy Sunday! (Oh and happy belated Hallowe'en).. pics of our adventures to come soon.