Good Thing, Bad Thing

Good Thing: Evalyn scored some new shoes today.
Bad Thing: It was because her original pair of summer play sandals was too cheap and crappy and stunk so bad and gave her a horrible blister on her heel.

Good Thing: When we went shopping, we went with Ev’s cousin and her newborn so we went to a different mall than usual. This mall has a Cinnabon. I have had a gift certificate for Cinnabon in my wallet since Christmas 2010 and haven’t been anywhere with one since then.
Bad Thing: When I went to order my pack of Cinnabons to take home (yes, I was going to buy a whole box) and opened my wallet, the gift certificate was no where to be found. No where. I searched for-ever. I am telling you I have just recently seen it so I’m blaming the toddler for taking it out of my wallet.

Good Thing: I still had actual money in my wallet that would have been enough to cover the cost of a Cinnabon.
Bad Thing: I was so mad about the situation that I stormed away from Cinnabon empty handed. Definitely regretting this now.

Good Thing: Evalyn and I will be spending a lot of time at the pool this week
Bad Thing: The reason this is necessary is because we are in for an insanely hot and humid week.

Good Thing: I am getting close to my due date and could go “any day now”.
Bad Thing: If this baby is like Evalyn, I will still be pregnant for two.more.weeks.

Good Thing: Evan chose to get take out cheeseburgers and fries for his father’s day dinner after the kiddo went to bed. I just so happened to have been craving a delicious burger.
Bad Thing: I ate it at 8:30 pm so it haunted me all night long. Killer heartburn plus the saltiness from the fries made me so thirsty and had me getting up to refill my ice water about 49292 times through the night. Which also meant peeing every 26 minutes.

Good Thing: Evan is working so hard and doing a great job getting things together at the new house so we’ll be able to move in in a few months.
Bad Thing: Who is Evan?

Zoo-rific

Yep. I titled this post “zoo-rific”. If that doesn’t make me a toddler mom, I don’t know what does.

Last week, Evalyn and I had the pleasure of spending the morning at our local zoo with our very best mates, C-Biscuit and Willmo. The weather was absolutely perfect – not too hot but not cold, either.

Neither C or I had been to this zoo before but we were both pretty impressed. It’s not huge – we were able to cover the entire thing (including a longgggggggggggggg, unnecessary detour through no man’s land where there were zero animals) in just under two hours, which meant we got to see everything but not have to drag the kids around for longer than they would be happy.

There was also an awesome looking playground, splash park and ropes course but we didn’t spend any time there this time.

Willmo is a wee bit young to really grasp the full beauty of the zoo, so he just chewed on his hat the whole time, but the girls sure loved it.

It was so exciting for me to see how much Evalyn enjoyed it. The monkeys were first on our path and she was so giddy with excitement. “Yook Mommy! Monkey” and “See it? Touch it? Hold it?” She also quickly figured out that there was so! much! to! see! and didn’t want to waste any time. She would spend a few seconds looking at one animal and say something like “Cute monkey” or “Hold it, monkey” and then look up at me and say, “Okay. Noser [another] animo!” and when we walked past cages that had nothing in them, she’d say, “Uh oh. Nobody’s der!”

The giraffes really excited her which I was happy about since they are one of my favourite things to see at the zoo. She wanted to stretch her neck to make it long just like them and kept asking me to “touch it, hold it”. Unfortunately, her desire to “touch it, hold it” was completely reversed just as soon as she got her wish. These guys were friend-ly! and when one leaned down and licked Eva on the cheek, she flipped.

It was a perfect morning. I love Evalyn’s age, where she is old enough to get excited and enjoy these types of things. The things that I’ve been waiting my whole life to experience with my children.

Nice to See You

This week has been gorgeous so far. Absolutely gorgeous. I’m talking, summa’ time gorgeous. And we have been soaking it up. I’m hoping that now we’ve hit the middle of May, we can count on this kind of weather to stick around. Hoping.

I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous of what this summer will bring for Evalyn. Will she get to enjoy it to the max, despite the major life changes coming our way? Will I be able to meet her needs for fun and adventure while also moving and meeting the needs of my newborn?

All I can do is know that I have 6’ish weeks left to take full advantage of being a Mom of one. And that I will. Now, if only someone could clue me in as to how to take advantage of summer weather with a 20 month old, prepare to move and be 8 months pregnant that would be fab!

For now – I’ll just say, “Hello, Summer! Nice to see you”.

August

When I went to bed last night, it was July. The first full month of summer. The beginning. When I woke up this morning, it was August. The last full month of summer. The end.

August brings with it many things. The last full month until my sweet baby turns ONE. The last full month of me being a full time SAHM. The last month until my 25th birthday. The month of our 5th wedding anniversary. It’s also (hopefully) the last full month of sweltering heat and humidity. The last full month of pool and beach days.

The last month of summer.

So please excuse us while we go enjoy the last bit of our first summer together.

B to the a-c-k

Remember me?

I’ve been on vacation for the past week and a bit. Well, to be honest, I’ve actually been home from vacation for over 72 hours but I’m struggling to pull myself out of vacation mode and back into reality mode.

The beautiful thing about returning from vacation on Friday evening is that you have the weekend to pretend your still on holidays. The not so beautiful thing is that at some point, you have to put your foot down and remember that life must go on as per usual.

We enjoyed an amazing week in Northern Ontario with my mom’s side of the family. My days were spent lounging by the lake and it was fabulous. Eva napped like a champ while we were there – giving me the opportunity to put my feet up, get a bit of a tan, drink too much Pepsi and crush a few good books.

Too much happened to write a recap so I’ll just let the photos do the talking.

The weather was fab, the food was delicious and the company was unbeatable.

Cherry Berry

Every mom has certain “firsts” that they look forward to. Of course, there are the obvious: first smile, first step, first word… but I think there are also firsts that may only be special to us and no one else. For me, living on a cherry farm, one of those firsts that I looked forward to was the day that I would get to pick and share a bowl of cherries with my girl.

July 1st is the big official opening day for Pick Your Own Cherries around here, so yesterday, before things got busy, I took advantage of the ripe cherries. We picked, washed and pitted a few and then headed outside with a blanket, some wipes and a baby stripped down to nothin’ but her gitches. I put her in a disposable so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting any stains on her diaper covers and away we went. The only thing I forgot was to get myself into nothing but a diaper – sure, she escape the stains, but I didn’t.

I set her down and let her start exploring the wonderful world of sweet cherries.

Within 2.3 seconds, the scene looked like. Who needs a hat? Forget the bowl! This is serious business.

She played around with them, squashing them between her fingers for a few minutes, until finally, she ventured to taking a bite.

That bite was quickly followed by an, “Mmm” as she reached down and tried to grab the rest of the pile another cherry.

I’m pretty sure more of the cherries ended up between her fingers and dripping down her chin than in her tummy, but who cares? We had fun.

If she thinks this is good, just wait until next week when she gets to try her Momma’s homemade chocolate cherry chip ice cream.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! And Happy Independence Day to those of you south of the border. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

We’re off…

A Picnic and the Park

Eva has two Nanas who love her very much and spoil her rotten when they are around. Unfortunately, one of them lives an hour and a half away and the other one lives three hours away. This means she only gets to see them every now and again. But, regardless of her Nanas being far away, Eva is a lucky duck because she also has some Aunties who live just down the road and love to hang out with her.

Last Friday, Evalyn and I met Auntie Marcia down at the beach for a picnic. Sadly, Auntie Linda couldn’t join us, but there’s always next time. The sky threatened to rain, but luckily, it just sprinkled while we ate our lunch of cheese, crackers, salami, veggies, hummus and pitas, fruit and yogurt under the pavilion and then stopped all together when we were done so we could enjoy a little walk along the boardwalk.

And last night was just another fun time spent with the Aunties. I took spaghetti, garlic bread and salad over for dinner since Evan is working there right now and after dinner, us girlies headed to the park.

Evalyn loved playing peek-a-boo with Auntie Marcia and trying to catch Linda’s fingers through the holes on the bottom of the jungle gym. And, Little Miss decided to show me that she can climb steps as she quickly scooted from one level of the playground to the next. She hasn’t quite grasped the concept of the slide yet, but I’m sure she’ll figure it out before too long.

I foresee many, many more picnics and park days in our future because she’s at a super duper fun age to enjoy all the goodness of summer. Thanks, Aunties, for all the good times. And here’s to many, many more.

(There, Marcia, now you can stop complaining that the picnic didn’t make it onto the blog. Sheesh. Happy now?).

These Days…

I haven’t been online as much these days. And quite frankly? I’m happy about that. Because what it means is that these days I’m busy doing other things.

These days, the computer has been replaced by a real, live book. And the couch has been replaced by a lawn chair.

These days, the freshly manicured nails (okay, so they never existed) have been replaced by dirty, garden soiled fingernails.

The boots have been replaced by my trust Birkenstocks and flip flops.

The jumperoo has been replaced by the baby pool.

The headbands have been replaced by sun hats.

The aroma of spit up and dirty diapers has been replaced by the smell of baby sunscreen and delicious line dried laundry.

The long, dreary days inside have been replaced by walks, trips to the park, and fun with cousins.

Because these days? We’re enjoying summer.

I hope you are, too.

Summer Dreams…

My good blog bud, Erica, is hosting a link up asking everyone to compile a list of the top 10 things they want to do this summer. She’s a teacher and she used this activity with her first graders and figured it would be fun to bring it to blogland. So, here I am.

1. Put my daughter in a sundress, shorts, a tank top – anything really. Seriously. Here we are, May 17th and she has been able to be outside wearing short sleeves once so far. I took her to the doctor and grocery shopping today. And guess what? She had to wear a hat. And I had to tuck a blanket around her in the car seat. So, yes. My number one goal for the summer is to dress her in summer clothes.

2. Enjoy our garden and the crops around us to the fullest potential. This includes canning peaches, pears, salsa, beets, dill pickles, perhaps some jam and eating delicious, home grown meals every night.

3. Travel 8 hours up north to visit my family for our family reunion. This will be Eva’s first BIG road trip. The longest she’s done is 5 hours, way back when she was 7 weeks old. She does great on the 1.5 hour trips to my parent’s place and the 3 hour trips to E’s parents house, so here’s hoping!

4. Go on a family vacation with E & E. Planning is in the works! We’re hoping to go camping and spend a few days in our capital city.

5. Celebrate with my in-laws as we watch my sis in law, Amy, marry the love of her life.

6. Go swimming with my little as much as humanly possible. We’ve got friends and family with pools who have extended invitations to us and we will take advantage of that. Aunt Shelley – watch out … here we come!

7. Make ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream. Eat said ice cream.

8. Celebrate our fifth anniversary. That’s half a decade, dudes.

9. Re-do the dining room which will include refinishing our hutch, a table and chairs set, and making a toy area for Evalyn. (Okay, so I technically won’t be doing much on this one, per say. But I will be supervising).

10. Enjoy the sun. Enjoy being outside. Enjoy the garden. Enjoy the park. Enjoy my husband. Enjoy my girl. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

There ya have it. The top 10 things I want to do this summer. Granted, these things all require summer actually arriving. Which doesn’t look likely at this point (see #1). But I can hope.

Now go over to Erica’s and link up with your own list!

Weekend Recap

This weekend, our friend's ventured up from Ohio to spend their July 4th long weekend in the Great White North. That is not so great and white right now - more like the Hot Humid North. When they arrived on Friday night, they arrived in style.

Yes, that's right, my sweet Rachel came bearing gifts of Chick-Fil-A for her Chick-Fil-A-less friend. Sure, the reheated nuggets aren't quite the same after a long trip in the car, but they sure were better than nothing!

On Saturday, it was a hot, hot day. We just took it easy and chilled out for most of the day.

In the afternoon, it was time to get the party started with the 2nd Annual Steeler Fest BBQ! A bunch of our good friend's headed to our place for dinner and a campfire. Of course there was some horseshoes and baseball thrown in there as well. We had a ton of delicious food thanks to the FD's exceptional grilling skills.


Here we are all chowing down. See that chubby one stuffing her face on the end of the row? Yup, that's me.


Our friends, B&D brought the newest member of the clan with them. Meet Sadie.

We finished the night off around the campfire.

There were chocolate brownie sundaes with homemade ice cream and homemade cherry sauce.

And of course, there had to be some night vision horseshoes - it just wouldn't be the same without it.

On Sunday we headed to church, came home and had lunch and then spent the afternoon by the pool. Having an Aunt and Uncle with a pool is really quite great, have I mentioned that before?

She makes me look so skinny doesn't she?

After our swim, we came home and the boys made dinner while Rachel and I rested on the couch. Then we spent the evening falling asleep watching Edge of Darkness and called it a night. Glen and Rachel headed out early the next morning just after E work and then I headed to the US and A to do some shopping with the BFF for the day. When we got home, we made some dinner, chilled out for a few hours and then headed to see Eclipse. Four late nights in a row and this little lady is tiredddddddddd.

So ends another great weekend!

A Weekend at the Lake..

I didn't do very good at taking pictures of our weekend at the lake but I do have a few to share. It started on Friday when the fabulous dude and my dad met my mom and I down there for supper. Since it was my birthday, supper consisted of many of my favourite things. The guys had steak, too, but I stuck with the grilled shrimp! Yum-o!

Then I got to open my presents. Can you guess which one is from the fabulous dude? That's right. The one that has a walmart bag inside a shoe box, covered with tissue paper that he stole from the other gift.

I had to laugh because he gave me a "gift certificate" for a store in his hometown that has a massive tent sale every year. Since he couldn't actually get to the store to buy a gift certificate, he made one himself. He printed the logo off their website and put it on a piece of paper with the value on the top and bottom corners. It looked like monopoly money. The best part was that he didn't know our printer was out of colour ink, so instead of a lovely wine colour the logo was a disgusting shade of lime green and pink. Very nice. I can't wait to spend it! He also gave me an extra set of measuring cups and spoons and a Pyrex 4 cup measure. I dropped and shattered mine a few weeks ago and I've been lost without it!

My mom and dad gave me some shoes, a wallet, some autumn decorations (which I will be showing off once I get my house all falled up) some autumn menu planning pads and a rooster recipe box with a whole bunch of cute recipe cards to organize my favourite recipes. Sidenote: Looking back on the list of things I got here, would you say my family knows me or what? I also got a cute shirt from my sister and a great gift from my brother and SIL (which deserves a post of it's own and will come tomorrow). The next day, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew joined us. We weren't sure how the little man would like the boat since this was his first time on it since he was 6 weeks old, but he sure loved it. He especially loved getting to drive it with Papa.

Of course, the fabulous dude had to show off. Boys and their toys!

Little H was so excited to drive on the little boat with Papa. He was making "Zoom zoom" noises the whole time.

On Sunday, my brother and his wife joined us as well. I got really bad with the picture taking this day. But, we enjoyed lots of good food and fun times on the water. On Sunday evening we had a party celebrating my birthday, BIL's birthday, Sis and BIL's anniversary and our friend Ashley's birthday. After visiting the same Brazilian steakhouse that we went to a few weeks ago, Ashley and her hubby decided to recreate the pineapple they served for dessert. It was so delicious!

Monday was our last day at the boat and we were joined by some of our good friends. We had a blast. The boys played all day on the jet ski. They were tubing like crazy fools and today I'm sure all of them are paying a high price.

We were blessed with wonderful weather and good company on the last weekend of summer!

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend! We spent Friday night and Saturday just laying low at home, watching a few movies, cleaning the house and getting some food stuffs ready for our BBQ on Sunday. Late Saturday afternoon my Brother and SIL and my parents arrived for a few minutes before heading out to a wedding. Then after the wedding, my Brother and SIL came back to stay overnight.

On Sunday morning we went to church for a special anniversary celebration. It has been 20 years since the new building where we worship was built. The building was packed and we enjoyed wonderful singing, two lessons from a past minister and our current minister as well as a cute cute cute performance by the "Spring Creek Kids". There was a potluck lunch of Swiss Chalet chicken, salads, ice cream sundaes and cupcakes. We were able to spend the morning worshiping and then spend some time in fellowship catching up with some friends who we haven't seen in months.

After the anniversary party was over, we headed back to our house to finish getting stuff ready for the BBQ. At this point you are probably wondering if we ever stop eating. The answer is no. Later in the afternoon some other friends arrived. There were 4 couples all together and it was such a lovely evening to spend with friends.

We watched a movie, ate a HUGE meal, and then headed out to the campfire where we chatted and had a great time. I was even able to accomplish a lifelong goal .... right Bigg Burd? We had so much fun that we decided to make this an annual tradition and are currently accepting applications for people who would like to join us next year. This is serious stuff, you know.

Nothing screams summer to me like a BBQ followed by a game of horseshoes and a late night campfire. Here are some pictures highlighting the afternoon/evening...

The girls and the food

Horseshoes
C-Biscuit and IWarming our toesies by the fire
The Fabulous Dude and I
B, Logi, Evan and The FDBigg Burd, Debu and C-Biscuit

I hope everyone else had a great weekend, I'd love to hear about it!