Flashback Friday...2003

We started 2003 in Mexico...

 Kirk had his beloved BMW...

 We spend lots of time with Baby Marko...

Erv got his boat, and Kirk thought it was his...

 A trip to Vegas...

Ahh so much fun!!

Finding the Joy...

Somedays I feel like I Rock this Stay at home mom thing...Somedays not so much...Some days I have an infinite amount of patience and somedays not so much...Somedays I can be a good mom, a good wife and a good housekeeper all in the same day even!! Somedays not so much!

Today was not a good day for me, no particular reason I just wasn't feeling it...Awhile back I stumbled on another Mama's Blog post (I think it was Julia) and it said something along the lines of

"Seek Joy and you will find it".

What a simple phrase...but somehow its changed my whole perspective on life in general...and more times than not, I can literally Find the Joy all day long!!

Since I came home from Vegas its been pure insanity around here...My Darling Kirk has been working like a mad man...Several all day meetings turned into dinner and running til 11pm, and sometimes issues arise that need to be worked on until they are resolved...Sometimes that means him pulling all nighters and around the clock working for days at a time...When that happens, I also have to step up my game...Being supportive and helpful to him as much as I can to help avoid even more stress...and take on Full time parenting...That is however the nature of his job and while it takes a toll on everyone, I have been trying to Find the Joy in situations like this to help me through the rough times...there is almost always some joy to be found...Thanks to his hard work ethic he has worked his way up to a position that gives me the ability to stay at home with our kids...and he Finds Joy being able to provide for his family...

The weather last week was something like I haven't seen for years! The day time high was -30! One night the temperature was -36 with a windchill it was -49...I'm not sure I've ever seen temperatures like that...I am a very social person, and this whole being stuck at home inside so much with not much adult interaction can drive me looney...Trust me its true, I actually at one point this weekend layed on the floor and yelled and kicked my feet like a 2 year old...Finding the joy with -49 temperatures with a husband who has been locked in our room working on a problem for 4 days straight, 3 housebound kids and a looney mother is no small feat...I often text back and forth with another Mama who has a 4 year old boy and almost 2 year old twin boys and we Joke..."Not finding the joy over here, how about you?"...Perhaps the combination of all of the above is the cause of my mood today...

Since adopting my new Mantra, I have been trying to find the joy in the smallest things...and it makes me Happy...Even on days where my mood is questionable...there is always room for some Joy!

Saturday Morning Pancakes...

Playing Lego in my Pjs with my kids at noon...

 Painting tiny fingernails and toenails...

Tea Parties...
A walk on a Sunny Winter Day...

Watching a tiny boy line up his tiny toy cars ever so perfect...

A glass of wine with my Hubby chatting about our days...

A loyal puppy who follows me everywhere...

A Starbucks Americano...

A bubble bath and my book...

Like many others out there who are choosing a Word of the Year, I am choosing Joy...

 I hope this year I am able to find the Joy in the small things and be Happy because of it...

 Life is too short to be anything other than Happy!

Catch up..

On we forge without the other camera :(

Christmas Eve was Spent at Kirk's Sisters house...We had a lovely dinner the cousins all have so much fun playing together...we really need to try to do it more often...Ronda had sent me this picture from that night...Its about the best we can do for a family picture these days! I'll have to borrow Erv's camera and get some more pictures from that night so we can post some pictures of our nice night with everyone...

Christmas Morning we stayed home and the kids had fun playing with their new things...

This was after Santa arrived but before the kids woke up...It looked more like a bomb went off after they woke up...

Christmas Dinner at Mama and Papa's was great...Dinner was delicious as it always is, and the kids were spoiled with more gifts...We missed Kris & Jane this year, as they were over at Jane's sister house...

 Kisses from Mama Leanna...

Not sure where Leah picked this up, but she does it all the time now...

Fun with Papa!

Family picture Attempt...

                             Family Picture Take #2...                        

 Blakes new truck...all 3 fit in it, and Daddy pushes them around super fast

Boxing Day Was going to be spent tobogganing with Dinner at Kris's but with no snow and a few exhausted adults the plans were haulted for another time...

What was going to be a quick gift drop off turned into a fun lunch with the kids having fun together 

   ...Once again we were spoiled with more presents...

A visit with Great Grandma & Grandpa I Love their new place...

Sadly this week a pipe burst through half of the building and they were evacuated and are now staying at my Aunt Sandy's house...

   Grandma spent some time in the hospital a few weeks back for her oxygen levels but she seems to be doing better now

 Grandpa had sugery last week to remove some teeth and he seems to be in quite a bit of pain still...

Lots of love and prayers for them

so they can get back home soon and get back to feeling good!

Maja's 1st Birthday

Its hard to believe little Maja is already 1...This year just flew by!

Yummy Lemon cupcakes!

 Lots of helpers to open Presents!

Mama and her boy...

 Sweetest Girl Ever!!!

Funniest Girl Ever!!!

Cutest Little Man....

 New Years Eve we had our 2nd Annual Family Sleepover with Kris and Jane & kids...The bigger girls are missing from the pictures, they are at the age where they just go off and do their own thing...they did have a great time though! The little ones did a lot of jumping in the bouncy house, and hanging out with their Auntie & Uncle and little Gabe...

Snuggles with Auntie...

That Gunkle sure is a fun guy!

Once the wee ones went to bed we pulled out some board games, some drinks and had a Super fun time...After a few rounds of Cadoo Cranium we realized we were playing a kids game...hahaha...thats ok the decoder glasses were worth it...

Good times...Good times!!! 

Well I think I've finally caught up on holiday pictures...

Vent of the Day...

Boy Oh Boy where do I start...My mind is going to explode thinking about Schools...This process of deciding on a school for Alyssa has been going on at least 8-10 months...It took me months of research, a meeting with a Principal and countless conversations with other parents about where they send their children etc...I thought we had come to a decision and Alyssa and I even paid a visit to our chosen school and registered her for next year...This is not a decision I take lightly...this will ultimately shape her whole future and who she becomes...and I'm the one responsible for the decision... I say I, but its really we...Kirk is pretty trusting that I have all of our best intentions at heart and trusts my mothers intuition...

To back up a bit, we live in a nice new community in the suburbs...the problem is our designated schools are not super close and the one that is had a horrible rating... I went to one of the schools and check it out myself, I met with a Principal, and left with a feeling that I for sure can do better than that for my kids...I don't have to send them to a 4 out of 10 school that is ranked 500 out 520 schools in the Province...surely in a city of over a million people I should have better options...Why should we have to settle for something that is well below average...The truth is there really isn't a perfect option, and we don't have many choices to begin with....It was so frustrating to have no choice but to send my child to a poorly rated school or not close by where bussing can be longer than an hour! I have heard about people moving so their kids can go to a good school...I get that now...some of the charter schools I checked into have a 3-5 year waiting list!?! What?!? So when your baby is born register them for kindergarden!? Who knew!

We thought about it long and hard...we researched all feasible options decided on a Catholic Spanish Bilingual School...We had heard rave reviews from other friends who love the school...there is bussing options from  here should we need it down the road, and with Alyssa being almost a full year older than lots in her class we thought it would be a good challenge for her, her teachers now thought she would excel at picking up a second language...I never would have thought of putting her in a second language school until we had no options, and now the idea is exciting! This is the only year its an option, you can only decide in Kindergarten..

Alyssa and I went to the school to register, I teared up walking in with her and felt excited when we left...This also happens to be the school Kirk went to when he was a kid (although it wasn't a Spanish school then). This school isn't very close by however, meaning it will be a 25 min drive there and back each day, twins in tow...plus the start time for Kindergarten is horrible, starting at 12:20 everyday...How do we fit lunch in there? But if thats what it takes for Alyssa to get the best Education...so be it!

So yesterday as I was driving up our street there is a Big huge sign up saying that one of our designated schools has been changed...The new school happend to be close to home, 2 minutes from my parents, has bussing options available...It is not a Catholic school, nor is it a 2nd language school...I've sort have had it in my heart thats where she would go...Plus she is really excited about learning Spanish...

Just when I thought I could put this decision as rest, my whole plans gets a great big wrench thrown in it...

If any parents out there have any advise to send my way PLEASE! I'd love to hear it!!!

If you have small children and are unaware of schooling options for down the road...check it out now! Save yourself the trouble when its too late!

Christmas Morning...

I have a sick feeling that our old Digital camera with all of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning pictures, was lost amongst the wrapping paper, boxes etc...It is Missing!! Since I was so in love with my new camera I didn't give the old one much thought, until I wanted to find it so I could post pictures!! I think I'm going to have continue on without it, incase its never found..sniff sniff...Thankully Kirk took a video of the kids first thing in the morning...I think its funny how they walked right by the train table without even noticing it...It is now a permanent piece of furniture, it was suppose to be moved upstairs but they love it so much for now it can stay...The houses were moved to the basement though...All of the Santa presents were big hits!

Fingers crossed I find the camera soon!

Home Sweet Home!

I am back from Vegas!! We had an amazing time but I sure missed my little ones & Kirk, I was happy to be coming home...We did lots of shopping, learned to play a little Craps...

We had 7th row seats at the Garth Brooks concert at the Wynn...Amazing!! It was a great show! What a talented man! We happened upon the last 2 tickets to the Celine Dion concert at Cesars Coloseum...They just happened to be Front Row!! Wow!! Jane and I were completely star struck with her singing just feet away...what a beautiful powerful voice, we spent a good portion off the show with tears in our eyes...At one point she walked right over to us and shook our hands...The show was Incredible!!! Best show I've ever seen!

Kirk and the Grandparents made out ok with the kids, and now Erv & Joyce are down in Mexico for a little vacation too! Kirk is back full swing at work, still working on some big big things and has already had many late nights...

I sadly missed out on Alyssa's very first Hockey Ice time while I was gone...She loved it and looked so adorable in her full hockey gear...She will be playing every Saturday afternoon for the next 10 weeks...I can't wait to go watch her, and I can't wait to spend many years at the rink and to be a hockey mom!!

 

Now that we are into the full swing of 2012, I need to play catch up for December and post about our Christmas...Slowly I'll get there!!!

At the Beginning of December a new little Elf came to our house...He arrived from the North Pole to keep a watchful eye on the kids...Every night he flies home and reports to Santa how the children have been that day...And on Christmas Eve he returns home for the year and will return next December...Alyssa named him Chirpy and man oh man did we have some fun with Chirpy...You can't touch Chirpy or he loses his magic, and you aren't allowed to see him fly...

 The first morning we found Chirpy in the Cheerios...

 Alyssa just loved the little guy and couldn't get enough of all the crazy places he would hide...

 Alyssa's Ballet class is in a closed room so we don't often get to see her dance...Every week she says she forgot what she did, so it was pretty cute to see her dance, and do really well at it!  

 Alyssa had a Christmas concert at her school...Grandma Leanna and I went to watch her sing some Christmas Caroles, and even daddy was able to sneak away from work to come...the little ones had fun running around...and we went back to her class after for some snacks...Leah felt pretty special to be at school with Alyssa and I think Alyssa was happy to have her brother and sister sitting with her too...it was a special day!! 

A snuggle from my boy...

Still lots more to come!!!