Good morning all you beautiful people! This morning has been a beautiful morning for me. First I got to sleep in until 8:30am, and awoke to coffee brewing (Thanks Honey). Then Orlund took Joy out for a father-daughter breakfast, so Olivia and I had a special one here too. Chocolate milk makes the 1year old happy After I was done eating, waiting for Olivia to finish I looked over my to-do list. I’ve been doing good this week and getting a bunch accomplished, however I have fallen behind some. So Olivia and I headed downstairs (she loves to play down there) I dusted the ceilings and walls while she explored the toys. After that I decided we should come back upstairs so I can get some other cleaning done. She found the swiffer to be great fun! I emptied the dishwasher and re-loaded it with our breakfast dishes. Then just as I was about to leave the kitchen a giant white casserole dish caught my eye. It was on the very top of the ‘drying’ dishes (they dried overnight). So I decided to empty the sink as well. Looks nice when all the dishes are away!

Well Orlund and Joy just returned from breakfast, time to get the rest of this day on track
(Just a side note. Orlund just told me that while he and Joy were standing in line to order Joy looked up at him and said “Daddy I happy” ~ awwww!)

Just a random shot of my messy girl

Today I was continuing on with my ‘fall’ cleaning when Joy called me into her room. I went in to see her sitting reading her storybook bible (has about 5 OT stories). She flipped through it quickly and said “Mommy,  No Jesus. Where Jesus?” “Oh, Jesus isn’t in there?” “No mommy. No Jesus, why Jesus not in Bible? No whale too”. “oh, No Jesus and No whale?” “Yeah, no Jesus or whale”………I tried explaining that they were just a few Old Testament stories but that’s hard to explain to a 3 year old. I told her that Jesus was in her other Bibles and this one just has a few stories, but not about Jesus or the whale (Jonah). She sure melted my heart though. At 3 asking why Jesus wasn’t in this Bible. SO CUTE!!!

I wanted to tell you all about a fabulous event I attend once a month, it’s called “mom’s night out”. It basically is held one night a month at a different restaurant at 6pm. No kids. No husbands. Sound fun? It is!
I’ve had people say to me that this ‘night out’ must consist of a lot of gossip. I mean lets face it, there are usually 5-15 women out for dinner. We must gossip all night right? How about I tell you what Mom’s night out means to me, and you tell me if it’s all about gossip….
First things first, Dinner out at a restaurant. Who doesn’t love that? You get to choose whatever you want to eat/drink. You don’t have to cook it or clean up after it. Dinner out is always fun even with the kids. BUT, when you don’t have kids, it’s even funner! When you are a mom, out for dinner with your kids you have ample to keep you busy ~ Do they have to go potty? (usually just as your food arrives) did they soil their diaper? Are they being to noisy for the other diners? Are they making a mess? Eating nicely? You order fries as your side, but really you’d rather a salad ~ but kids like fries. Our girls are very well behaved, however they can get to be a handful because well….restaurants are boring for kids.
So dinner out without kids is fun. Dinner out with the husband is fun, however really if you are a SAHM like me what do you have to talk to him about? he listens to me every single day. It’s nice to have a fresh set of ears to ramble on to.
We talk about our kids. Yup we do. Is that gossip? I don’t think so… We talk about milestones they made/missed, struggles in school, at home, etc. We all give advise and comfort one another in the decisions we’ve made. It helps to know you aren’t such a bad parent after all. We talk about work, school, housekeeping. I found out I’m not the only person who makes lists to do everyday! Nice to know I’m not as weird as I thought I was
Sure you know, I’ll admit it. Sometimes gossip does come up. I think rather rarely. I mean really, can you see 15 ladies sitting out at a restaurant gossiping? Rather hard to do. We are human so gossip pops up, usually though, just if you are carpooling and you need some advise on a relationship.
I’ve heard some ladies say they don’t want to come, just because they figure it will all be gossip. I feel sorry for them. They are missing out on a web of friendships. I find after Mom’s night out I feel uplifted. Alive. Ready to face whatever life throws at me for another month.
I thank Jamie who organizes and reserves the place and time. All the fabulous ladies who attend, and help me with all my life throws at me. And of course my Fabulous husband who takes care of our precious beautiful little girls. Thanks Hunny!
If you are a mom living in my town, you don’t have to attend our Church to attend our Mom’s night out! Just pop me a message and I’ll email you the info (when I have it) for the next one! We love having new ladies to make connections with, it’s a friendly environment and you’re sure to have fun!!

Olivia just wandered over to me showing me her soil covered fingers. The look on her face said it all “please mom, clean this off I don’t like it”. The soil around her mouth told me she didn’t like the taste. Told her to stay out of my plants. Perhaps now that she’s tasted it she might listen. Joy was a child who wouldn’t push the limits, at least not often. Olivia is a child who lives to push the limits. We have fun.

I have a list, rather simple list, but none the less a list. The list is of everything I need to do this week. With the exception of keeping on top of the chores once done ~ example; I have Clean kitchen on list, well I will have to do this about 3/4 times a day, but it’s just written on the list once. I could get the entire list done today. TODAY. Will I? Probably not. My mind is ready to do the list, my body is not. I’m going to have to push through and get at least some  more of the list done. It’s nap time. Nap time slows me down. If I could put the girls down and come out to work on things it would be fine. But I lay on the floor, getting Joy to lay still enough to fall asleep. I usually fall asleep. I wake when she’s asleep, but then I usually have a hard time getting motivated again.

Hard day's work.

Well it’s time to get Joy on the potty and Olivia drinking her bottle. Just felt like sharing my day today. I have the boys every day this week (other than today) from 8-4. Please pray for my sanity….. On a more serious note, but about praying ~ Please pray for Charlotte. She’s going back up to Calgary Children’s for some scheduled tests, but she’s been having a rough few days, please pray it passes quickly and she’s healed!

I was visiting with a girl friend of mine last night at Mom’s night out and she mentioned to me some struggles she deals with (in regards to house and kids, time really). And I told her about how I wish I could just get my house clean, and keep it clean. Why can’t I have what so many other people have? Umph as I call it. You’d think that if I’m not spending the time cleaning than perhaps I’m spending it playing with the kids. You’d think. I do play with them. I do clean. But I don’t feel like either is enough time put towards them. I think I’m spending it online. What a horrible thing. I blog (usually while kids are napping ~ or like now pretending to nap), I go on Facebook (feels like a connection to the world outside my house), I read other blogs (check them daily even 2x’s daily), and I have other websites I visit to read whatnot on. I try to do it all only while kids sleep. But the truth of the matter is, I’m addicted and I come online more often than not. NOT GOOD.
I have one friend who blogs regularly, almost daily. Today I just read that she is now stopping her blog. It’s gone as of tomorrow morning. Danica I will miss you!! You truly inspire me and help me be a better mom. I just wish I could write as beautifully as you do. Although I will miss her stories (even philosophy Fridays), I completely understand the desire to not put so much time into blogging. I have decided I do want to keep blogging. However I’m going to cut down on all my other online endeavors. I’m going to make myself have Umph, get the house the way I want it and spend that time with my kids. They are only little for a short time. I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on their childhood because I was online. That’s not why we decided I would stay home with them. We decided for me to stay home to raise them, and I want to raise them right.
So while Danica moves on to other things, I too have decided to move on. I have wanted to be a certain way since I got married. I keep getting there, or almost there, then falling back behind. But I’m going to just keep on trying! Flylady was working to help me reach my goals, and now I need to press on and get back into it. What is something you’ve been putting off doing? Or something you want to do?

Happy Father’s day to all you dad’s out there!! I hope you were spoiled rotten.. Orlund was. Before I get to what all we did this past weekend, I wanted to share a little ‘questionnaire’ that I did with Joy. She was SO cute when answering my questions and I hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I did~~

What is Daddy’s Name? Daddy
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Eat eggs
What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Go for walks with me
What is Dad’s favorite food? Cake
What does daddy always say? Daddy like baby, Daddy like Nemo (Nemo is our goldfish)
What is something special daddy does just with you? Go to Church
What is something you want to do with Daddy? Go for a walk to the park
How old is Daddy? 3
Why did Daddy marry Mommy? Want to so Mommy doesn’t cry
Why did Daddy name you Joy? Because I’m a girl

Isn’t she cute?

So on with our weekend. Saturday Morning I got up put coffee on and then made breakfast. A special breakfast, waffles with Strawberries, blackberries and whipping cream. I have to say, they were yummy! Then I got the girls ready and we went to Solomon’s 2nd Birthday party. Unfortunately it wasn’t the most beautiful day and I had figured it would be inside, oops nope. It was outside. And just as I was leaving the house I forgot to grab their jackets… So they both ended up wearing a sweater of Solomon’s. It was fun, but tiring. We came home for their naps. Once they woke up we headed out for dinner ( all you can eat Sushi!!!). Very yummy, very filling. Headed home for bedtime.
Sunday Morning we got up early and got ready for Church. 9am we got there for the Pancake breakfast~ yummy!! Had Church then headed to Orlund’s parents place for lunch ~ yummy!! Had a good visit and headed home a bit later than planned. We tidied the house and got ready for dinner while the girls napped. My dad arrived for dinner and we had a wonderful visit with him and again, yummy food

Well I guess I should get on with my day now… The boys are coming in 1hour and I’ve got lots to do before they arrive.. God Bless you and I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

So I should be heading off to bed right now, and Orlund is just about to shut off his computer. So I’m typing quickly, sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes (although even when not in a rush those pop up!).

So Saturday is my Baby girls 3rd Birthday! Yup. Joy is turning 3!! Where did the time go? I just told her about the party today as she kind of lets things go to her head and I didn’t want it going to her head to soon I’ve been cleaning the house ever since Olivia’s birthday party.. I mean, I’m always cleaning, but I’ve been cleaning keeping in mind I don’t want to be running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off last minute. And I”M NOT GOING TO BE! I worked two days last week, and spent one day doing errands (purchased everything I could early for the party). So every night while Orlund and I watched our TV shows I would write out a list of To-Do’s on my white board I keep on the fridge. And everyday I was sure to check everything off the list (as well as my usual chores). This week I’ve been doing the same thing, however I worked the first 3 days of the week, so kept the to do list at a minimal. Today however I flew at the chores. My plan was to get the house clean so tomorrow I can spend outside getting the yard ready for the outdoor party (although it’s predicting rain…). I found I only needed 5minutes in each room (plus vacuuming) and the rooms were done!** Now I didn’t get the Kitchen or Living rooms done as they are our most lived in areas, so they are for tomorrow (the last minute rooms). I have my list written out for tomorrow and I’m praying I feel motivated so I can get it all accomplished with time to spare. In the evening I will be decorating the cupcakes I baked today ~ SO excited!

Joy’s party starts at 11am. One of our guests and her daughter are coming at 10:30, so if we are needing to do last minute stuff she can keep the kids entertained ~ yipee! I’m hoping that we can have everything done tomorrow so that Saturday morning is spent calmly and with no need to work up a sweat… We will have setting up to do if the weather is nice enough for a back yard party, but all in all that should be about it!

Well my eyes are feeling like they might just close and not reopen here, so I guess I should head to bed!
I will post pics! Just gotta find that silly cord….. Or borrow Orlund’s….

** You might be wondering why if it only took me 5minutes per room why the entire house isn’t done, well I have two kids… two young kids… If you have kids you’ll understand. if you don’t have kids, well then…just you wait! LOL

While Orlund works on something mysterious downstairs I figured I might as well get to updating the blog. I have a bunch of pictures to post, however I can’t find the cable thingy to download from my camera to the computer. But here are a few snips of our life as of late;

~ Olivia got a cold the day after her 1st birthday. She still has it. The Friday after her birthday she had her 1year shots, two weeks later she had measles bumps as a reaction. We had a bunch of sleepless nights.

~ The week leading up to Olivia’s birthday she started nursing more, adding back in her 10am feeding.And still didn’t sleep through the night with 2-5 feedings.

~ The Thursday night BEFORE her shots she was up all night screaming. She couldn’t breathe due to a stuffy nose. At 4am we realized she was hungry as she hadn’t eaten all night. She couldn’t lay down to nurse, so we gave her the bottle.

~ Olivia didn’t go back to breastfeeding after that…. I was NOT expecting that sudden stop. Shed a bunch of tears. Orlund couldn’t understand why I was upset by this as even I had said she was old enough to wean. It was just so sudden, especially after she’d started nursing again. I felt like a special time with my baby was over, she’s growing up. It takes a bit to get used to.

~ Joy also got the cold the same day Olivia did. And she still has it. She also got Croup in there….fun… She’s over the Croup but still has a bad cough.

~Last night Joy didn’t sleep. So neither did the rest of us.

~ We’ve been looking at all the things around the house we want to do. It’s extensive! But this year we hope to tear down our old fence (on one side of the house) and put a new one up. Put mulch down in the back where Orlund had a garden last year (this will give room for the kids toys that isn’t on the grass). And install a ‘lattice’ like contraption on our back cement wall and plant some vines to crawl up them. I think that will be all we can afford this year. But it’ll make a HUGE difference around here!

~ Our neighbors trimmed our front Junipers (I think that’s what they are called). Completely cleans up the front of the house!

~ A bunch of people I know just had babies. I know a whole bunch more that are pregnant. Sigh. I held a -almost- week old today, he was so adorable! The same weight as Joy was, but 2″ shorter. So cute!

~ Joy is pretty much Potty trained. I say pretty much as she still wears a diaper at nap/bed times but otherwise she’s doing great! Even played at Grandma’s today and didn’t have any accidents. I told her if she goes until her Birthday (1 week away) without accidents then she can go to Sunday School with her friend “Ky”.

~ Joy is obsessed with her friend Ky. She talks none stop about Ky. “Ky nap?”"Ky nummies?” “Ky go outside?” etc etc. it’s cute. However whenever we actually get together with Ky Joy just stares at her and is shy! Unless we are at Ky’s house, then Kylie bosses her around and Joy is happy to play along.

~ Joy is getting better and better all the time with her language. She’s saying words I didn’t even realize she knew, and picking up words wonderfully. Sure she still seems behind other kids her age, but she’s doing GREAT.

~ I have a book (like a binder but not, forget what they are called) that is full of my “to do’s and goals” for the year. I have each month written out. Of course I’ve fallen behind, but I’m doing alright. I finished Olivia’s cross stitch and bought the frame today to finish it off completely.

~I also have another book that has other lists in it. Part is organizing for a trip we plan to take to visit our Grandparents, and the other part is organizing for Joy’s Birthday party. The first part isn’t very big yet, just dates and people to contact etc. Joy’s part is big. I have people to invite, time, what to feed everyone, and that sort of stuff. I have grocery lists, cleaning lists, organizing lists, decorating, and general prep work lists. I like my lists. And I’m getting them checked off wonderfully! I have the goodie bags all purchased, and any groceries I could prepurchase purchased, cleaning is on schedule. I actually got ahead on the cleaning, then I noticed and somehow fell a bit behind now….Oh well, it’ll all get done. I plan to have it all done by Thursday, so Friday can be decorating and any outdoor chores (we will be in the back yard). Then her party is Saturday morning, so before the party I don’t want to be running around, I want to be getting the girls dressed, hair done etc. I’m looking forward to it.

~ Have I rambled enough? Once I find my camera/computer cord I’ll upload some pics of Olivia’s birthday. Promise.

Oh I think Orlund is done the ‘mysterious’ business (think perhaps its to do with Mother’s day? Just a thought.). I’m going to go now and spend time with him! God Bless!

Monday is my 27th Birthday.
Tuesday is Olivia’s 1st Birthday.
We decided to have a joint party Sunday. Tomorrow.

I have my house all ship shape and ready to go (minus a bit of cleaning in the downstairs tv room). I do however need to cut out and decorate our birthday cake. When Orlund saw I’d purchased the cake mix he asked me “you’re going to bake your own birthday cake?”. Yup. Didn’t want to ask anyone else to do it, and besides I wanted to bake Olivia’s birthday cake. I baked the cake yesterday, Gabe helped, so it’s cooled off and ready to be cut and decorated. I usually try icing the cake way to soon and it just runs off. I wont have that problem this time. I am planning to cut the cake into the shape of a 1. Then ice it with instant pudding, and decorate. The icing will be interesting as instead of mixing it with cool whip we opted out of buying a big tub, so I’m going to make the icing different. Wish me luck! I’ll need it! Icing a cake is always very VERY messy for me! I don’t get how people do it without having to shower after (okay a bit exaggerated, but not by much).
We are only having family over for our party, so only 10-11 adults and 4 kids. That’s all! crazy!
As I sit here typing, in my nice freshly cleaned living room, Olivia is sitting in the toy box tossing all the toys out into the living room… the opposite of what I just did! At least it’s easy to clean up again.
I’ll post pics. Promise.
I’m also doing a cross stitch for Olivia’s birthday. I was hoping to have it done by the party, but I think I’ll have to give it to her on her actual birthday.

I’m excited for the party. For the pizza (trying something different, hoping it’s easy). For the family visits. And for the wonderful naps the girls will have tomorrow

God Bless you and hope you have a fabulous day!

Well, January had a sluggish pace to it. And the begining part of February hasn’t fared much better. However, I’m getting back on track. Whenever my mom heads home I automatically go into a gloomy phase. It’s not fun and I really get bogged down. This lasted for the last week she was here, I find I just have no motivation except when it comes to doing things with her. However she is safely home in Thailand now (with my dad). I miss my morning phone call with her ~ yup, we talk everyday as soon as I get up when she’s in Canada~ but I’m pressing onward. I mentioned to my mom about my sluggishness and she helped me pick out some vitamins that should help me out some.
The boys are back from their vacation, today was the first day back to work. Now that the sun is shining I just want to play outside. It’s still to cold to just throw their jackets on though…and well to get 4 kids and myself into snowsuits to go outside but not play in snow isn’t what I call fun! As we played downstairs this morning, I realized I was bored… It’s hard to find things to entertain the age group, no correction, it’s hard to entertain Gabe. He doesn’t do ‘girly’ things or anything he can pretend is girly, and just wants my undivided attention. Today when all the kids were up from their naps and Gabe was at preschool I realized just how easy it is to entertain the 10month, almost 2year and almost 3year olds. I have a bunch of idea’s for summer, but not for this time…. gotta get creative!
I find it is easier to keep on top of the house when I’m busier. I’m even getting some of my “to-do list” checked off! I’m still feeling sluggish, but the sun is definitely helping, And if I just keep going then it seems to help too.
I know I’ve been posting a lot about me, and my laziness sluggishness lately, but I’ll post some new stuff about the girls next time ~ promise! Now it’s off to bed for me. Good night all!