Fun at Tammy's house

I had a fun day even though it got off to a very slow start. I had planned to get out of the house early but unfortunately did not leave until close to noon. Jade, Nathan and myself picked up some Wendy's and headed over to my friend Tammy's house. It was great to catch up. It has been to long. The kids had fun and Jade stayed for a while and played with Madeleine. Tammy has a pool and that was a big bonus for the kids. Her back yard is the perfect set-up with a safety gate around the fence and then a play area in the main yard away from the pool. Excellent when you have a wild two year.

Big day for Jade today. It is her last day at Queenswood school. She is moving on to a new school and a congregated gifted class next year. Very exciting!
This morning Nate and I went to the mall to buy a reward for him for his potty progress. He got "Percy" the train. Nate came home and introduced him to all the other trains on his table. Very cute!
I also made a stop at Loblaws and was thrilled to see that they had 50% off their shrubs and perennials. My favourite time of year. Fun, fun!!!

Evening garden pictures

Tea with the girls

I had tea today at the Chateau Laurier with my friends Rupi, Norine and Roberta. Very elegant. Cute little sandwiches, excellent scones with jam and cream and delicious tarts and cake. It is all about the food!

Definitely an experience I would do again. Very relaxing and excellent company. Thanks girls!

Maxville

Saturday Darren had a competition in Maxville and Jade and I went to cheer him on. Darren did fabulous in the truck pull and really well in the farmers walk. The unfortunate thing is he got injured and was unable to complete the competition. Two weeks until the Ontario competition so hopefully he will have the time he needs to heal. The competition was fun to watch and it was good to see our friends Sue, Steve and the kids again. Congrads to Steve for the win. (above is a picture of Darren doing the truck pull...he was so fast, amazing to watch).

Unbelievable

Today I heard some unbelievable news from a friend. Her Father in law has been battling lung cancer and now her Mother in law has been diagnosed with the same. Unfortunately her Mother in law is in a very advance state of lung cancer so they will not be doing much treatment. Very, very sad! It is one of those things where no words can come than are helpful. Their family has been through allot lately and recently, my friend lost her Father as well.

One of the things we did talk about this morning was how important our family is. How special our time is with our loved ones (especially our immediate family). Life can change very fast.

Today I am grateful for my family. The people I come home to every day and the ones that love me with out conditions. The people that put up with my bad moods and enjoy my great highs. These people are the ones that make my life worth living. I am thankful for my family.

The kids

Five more days left of school for Jade. Wow, the school year went fast. Jade had an excellent year academically and seems to be finding her groove. The school did testing for giftedness and Jade has been identified. She has decided to try the congregated gifted class at a different school next year. That will be a big switch for her but I think it will be a good move. Very exciting!

Jade was a big help tonight with Nathan. He adores her even though he can be a little trouble maker sometimes. I am glad that they have each other to hang out with.

Today was Nathan's last full morning of preschool before summer break. The year went so fast! I am sure the summer will go even faster. I enjoyed my alone time this morning exploring in the ravine with Bear, very peaceful.

I was lucky enough to go to the dentist today as well. To be honest I was dreading going but if I look at it with a positive spin, it is nice to have the medical coverage and the ability to pay the dentist bill. There was days in the past that going to the dentist was not a possibility.

Jade is at soccer practise tonight and Darren is travelling. Big thanks to Roberta for taking Jade for me so I did not have to chase the little guy around the soccer field. Much appreciated!

I got a facebook message today from an old friend Helen Ford. It is great to hear from her and great to hear things are going well. Wow, the years are moving fast! I am liking this facebook connection!

Dad's Day

Father's Day today. An exciting day in our house. The kids were anxious to give Daddy his gifts, very precious.

My own Father passed away when I was 19 years old. I do feel blessed that I had him in my life while I was young but miss not being able to share my children with him now. The Father in my life today is Darren's Dad, Garry. He is a very kind, giving man and you can tell that his thoughts are with his family.

I have written about Darren in my blog before but today being Father's Day I will add a little more. He is a great Dad for both our kids and has been since the beginning. When I met Darren I already had my daughter Jade. From the time he met Jade he was a positive man in her life and has always treated her like he was with her since the day she was born. He makes the time for his family and puts the kids and myself first. Happy Father's Day Darren, we love you!

Reward

We had our first reward yesterday with Nate's potty chart. We went to McDonald's for ice cream. The kids were thrilled especially because it was at 8:30pm on a school night. They got to stay up a little later and eat ice cream, what could be better!

Toddler Creed

This morning I was on duty at Nathan's preschool. It was a nice experience to get the chance to see him interact with the other kids his age. He is an assertive little man. Yikes! He also used the school bathroom for the first time. Excellent! Still hoping for some more progress in that department but the boy will not be rushed. I am confidant that he will be toilet trained by kindergarten (LOL). What I did learn today was that "It's Mine!" is a very common statement for every toddler.

Toddler's Creed

If I want it, it's mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.
If I can take it away from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine it will never belong to anyone else no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks like mine, it's mine.

I do have an adorable picture of Nathan smelling these flowers but unfortunately it is not appropriate for the inter net. He followed me outside in his birthday suit and rubber boots the other day. Nature boy!

BIG NEWS

I just got some very exciting news! I am going to be an Aunt again in February. Big congrads to David and Oksana!!!

Busy day today. Spent the morning at the park with Nathan. What a great place to blow a couple of hours. I went with some friends so I had the time to chat and Nathan had the space to play. Perfect!

Roberta came over this afternoon for tea and I was able to convince her to hang around after the girls were finished school and have supper with us. Darren is travelling and Mike is busy working so it worked out well. For me it was great to have the company as well as an extra pair of hands at supper time.

This evening Jade and I spent some time playing the board game "Aggravation". Excellent game even if I did lose.

The picture above is one of Nathan with two of his favourite animals. He is really into seeing his picture on the computer and wanted to see himself with "Duck and Sheck the turtle). So cute!!!

A tribute to a Sister

Tonight on my walk I had the opportunity to talk to a woman that lives a couple streets away. She was working in her garden and the results were beautiful! When I commented she told me her reason. She was trying extra hard this year because she had lost a special sister that was a fabulous gardener. The lady was missing her sister but was using the garden tools that her sister had given her. I think the tools must be guided because the garden was coming alive. What a nice tribute to her special someone. Every time I look at her garden I will see it for it's beauty and remember the reason.

The picture above is one of Cliff's. Beautiful!

Eight years ago

Tonight I was able to take the time and go for a long quiet walk with the dog. My mind wandered back to eight years ago and I thought about when my life was so different. Life today still has struggles but the difference is now the struggles are not done alone. I am truly grateful to be married to a great partner and have a fantastic group of friends.

My family has changed in the last eight years. I have lost siblings but have gained a beautiful son and husband. I have also gained a whole new circle of girlfriends. With that the circle increases with their mates and their children. Their kids are friends for my children...Life is good! I am truly content, blessed and amazed at how quickly life can change. Time to be grateful which is exactly my purpose for this blog.

The weekend

Excellent weekend! The sad thing is it goes so fast! Yesterday the school had a garage sale. it turned out profitable, I made $200 and I got to hang out and chat with my friends Rupi and Claudia. The community center was also having a fun day so Jade was able to hang out there with a friend. The weather was perfect all weekend. Today we went as a family to the sprinkler Park. Nathan also made some progress with the toilet training. Very exciting! I am hoping our pull-up days are coming to an end.

More pictures

Fun in the heat

I spent lot's of quality time with the little guy at the park today. The weather was +30 and he had a blast at the water park. I should score some Mom points for that I would hope. I went back to the park later with Jade so I got the fun twice. Next time I am wearing my bathing suit and running through the water. I don't care how embarrassing it may be!!! Here is a picture of him this morning. VERY WET!!! (He chose to wear his boots-good choice considering he spend so much time in the water).

Danger flag!

Darren was told he had high cholesterol a couple of months ago. Thankfully I am married to a man that can see when a danger flag is waving in his face. Darren made the changes he needed to do and he is now back to normal for cholesterol. Good job honey!

Here is another picture from Jade's school project. It was a fun group of pictures beacuse they had such a great time.

Here is the link to Darren's blog and his secrets to fixing his cholesterol.

http://acfrequenttraveler.blogspot.com/2007/06/cholesterol.html

Pictures from Darren's last competition

Big kisses

Who new chanting "Socks away, socks away, time to put your socks away" would actually work. I know it seems kinda odd that this would be a highlight of my day but trust me whenever you have your crazy two year old actually listen to you, you do a jig! I was so ready to get Nate down for nap today...once his socks were finally away (he decided to empty out his sock drawer and throw the contents). After our chanting song Nathan got into bed and said "I want big kisses!!"
Ok it's worth it.

Above are some pics from Darren's last competition. Looking good!

Reconnecting.

I have discovered facebook. Fun, fun! It definitely is a time sucker but it is very interesting to reconnect with old friends. I was thrilled to get in touch with my old friend Shelley from grade school. I have not spoken to her in over ten years! She looks just the same and is living a life just like what I imagined she would be. I am so glad things are going well for her. It is definitely a highlight to reconnect.

New hat!

How cute is underwear worn as a hat? Very cute if you are a parent of a two year old. At this point it is the only use he finds for his underwear. This blog is about things that make me smile and this picture is definitely one of them.

Weekend activities

Amazing how fast the weekend flies by especially when you have a good one. Friday night we had dinner with the McKee's and Donaldson's. It is always nice to get together with them and hear all the new shocking gossip.

Saturday Joanne came over. She helped Jade make some apple pies for her pioneer school project. In the evening more family came over and we celebrated Joanne's birthday. Darren smoked ribs and sausages and they were great. Joanne is a big rib fan and voted them her favourite EVER!!!! Good job Darren. Saturday night ended with watching the Ottawa Senators win the hockey game. Very exciting!

Sunday Jade and I spent some girl time shopping and planting her garden. Jade picked out her plants and got some really neat things. It will be interesting to see how everything turns out. Later in the afternoon we got together with some friends and headed to the Pub for supper and then to the spa. We got caught in the storm but it was pretty fun being in the hot tub in the down pour. It was a jammed packed weekend, just the way I like it in the summer.

A small commotion this morning. We saw a skunk running through a front yard with a bottle stuck on his head. In hot pursuit was a grey haired, kind hearted British woman. The woman was able to trap the skunk and we called the humane society emergency. I was very impressed by the brave lady...after all we are talking about a skunk. She was very calm, care full and kind. Definitely someone with a good heart for animals.