Holidays 2009

You may remember reading that we were planning to go to Yellowstone National Park for about 10 days.....well, we changed our plans.

After a few camping trips out, it was fairly obvious that they boys reached a limit at about 4 days in the trailer. Going for 10 might have been pushing it. So, we revamped our holidays.

The first week that Chris was off, we went camping for 4 days at Bow Valley near Canmore, our new favorite campground. We had a great time despite the almost constant drizzle and chilly weather.

Then we were home for a few days to do some yard work and things around the house. Wouldn't you know it, those days were in the high 20s and low 30s. Good weather for sweating in the yard!

Then we headed to Fernie, BC for a night and then into Montana to do some shopping. We stayed between Kalispell and Whitefish, Montana. The campground was great, but the problem was that it absolutely POURED the whole time we were there. Not just rained, but poured buckets. There really was nothing else to do BUT shop!

By the third day, our trailer seemed to be getting smaller by the hour and we were ready to come home. The drive home was no treat. We chose to drive the whole way in one day, which would be about 6.5 hours, but with 2 small children took closer to 8.5. It was a looooong day!

Then we were home for a few more days before Chris had to head back to work. And guess what? The weather when we got back was up in the high 20s and low 30s again! We just couldn't get good weather when we were camping!

On our way to and from Montana, we stopped in Sparwood, BC to see the world's largest tandem dump truck. Luca was absolutely awestruck! It was all he talked about and was definitely the hilight of his trip! The tires are 11 feet in diameter! The truck is huge! It used to be operational and was used in the coal mines at Sparwood, but was retired when something failed and was going to be very costly to fix. It is now a tourist attraction there. Check out the website.

Here are some photos of that trip:

Camping!!!

On Father's Day weekend, all of Chris' family (except Tom and Lisa who were in Ottawa...we missed you guys!) gathered at Pat and Joanne's house for a weekend of camping.

It was by far the best campsite I've ever been to! What more could you ask for than a play structure, sandbox, fire pit with an extra large tarp shelter nearby and toilet all within few meters of you?! All of the kids had a great time and the adults always enjoy hanging out together.

My family came out for a weiner roast on the Saturday night, so it was nice to be able to visit with them as well. Its always tough to get visits in with both sets of parents, even though they only live about 5 miles apart. With my parents both working fulltime, our schedules don't always match up. It was great that they were both able, along with my sisters to come out and visit for a little bit.

Here is a collection of photos from that weekend:

Luca loves to roast his own hot dog!

Father's Day Photos

We had photos done for Chris for Father's Day. A friend that lives on Dee's street is a very talented photographer and she took them for us.

I haven't scanned the prints that I ordered to show you all, but you can click on this link for her website and see a few of my boys as well as Adelynn.

She did such an amazing job and we are so very happy with how they turned out. I highly recommend her to anyone. She doesn't have a sitting fee and her print prices are extremely reasonable, especially when compared to some other photographers in the area.

Luca's 3rd birthday

Luca turned 3 on June 29th. It is so hard to believe that he is 3 already!




He managed to get 3 birthday "parties" this year! We had one when we were camping with Chris' family, then another the following weekend at my mom and dad's and then the night of his birthday we had the Andersons over for dinner and cake.

Blowing out candles on the cake at Nona and Papa's

Luca got lots of great gifts and chose his birthday meal of:

-chicken he can eat with his hands (drumsticks as they are commonly known)
-noodles (sidekick noodles are a big hit around here)
-and big corn (corn on the cob)- that kid will eat 3 cobs, easily! They are definitely a favorite!




Auntie Sarah made a John Deere cake for him, which he loved! How lucky he is to have such a talented Auntie who also happens to work at a bakery! :)

Playing with his new John Deere tractor from Auntie Jay, Uncle Brock and Donny

Camping

The last weekend in May we went camping with friends at Bow Valley Campground near Kananaskis. We had a great time and great weather. Here are a few pictures from that trip:

This past weekend we went to Drumheller, but cut our trip short. It had been raining the day before and everything was so muddy, resulting in us being cooped up in the trailer. A muddy dog, muddy kids who want to play outside and a 24 foot trailer can make for a long weekend. We went to the Tyrell museum and Reptile World as planned but then packed up and came home. Here are a few pictures from Reptile World:

We are really enjoying our trailer and are looking forward to many camping trips this summer, including a 10-14 day trip to Yellowstone National Park and Great Falls, Montana this July.

Viva Las Vegas!!!

We are so excited to be taking another trip to Vegas- but this time with our best friends, Dee and Layne.

We leave on our 7th anniversary, September 7th and stay until the 11th. We are very much looking forward to spending a few days without children, just relaxing and seeing the sights.

Chris came home one night and said that he heard on the news that trips to Vegas were super cheap right now because tourism was low at the moment. We checked it out and were surprised to see how cheap it was! Flights, 4 nights and 4 days at the Excalibur for about $450 per person including taxes!

We'd been wanting to go back (we had so much fun there the first time) so we decided that this was a good opportunity to take advantage of the sales. We mentioned it to Dee and Layne and were thrilled when they decided to come too!

Back to work!

Well, today was my first official day back in the classroom. Actually, it was just for a morning, which was a nice way to ease back into it. I decided in April to return to subbing a few days a month, but it took me until last week to actually take my paperwork into the office to get put on the list. Yup, that's how excited I was about it! Haha

I worked this morning at one of the middle schools in Airdrie in Resource (special ed). It was basically the same job that I had left when I went on mat leave, just at a different school with different kids. It was great.

My boys were safe and happy at Dee's place. I had no qualms about leaving them to return to work knowing that they were in Dee's loving arms. I know that Dee loves my boys like they were her own and our kids get along like siblings...including the fighting! :) We've got our little business plan- me going back to work benefits both of us financially. Yay!

I think I am really going to enjoy subbing again. Its funny, when I was subbing in Ponoka, all I wanted was a position at a school. Now that I have had a position, all I want is to sub! Subbing gives me the flexibilty that a contract didn't, it gives me time to spend with the kids- the reason I like teaching, which my contract didn't do as much as I would have liked (too many meetings and hours working on paperwork), and it allows me to leave at the end of the day with no work to be done at home! I get to go in, do the job and leave without all the extra hours of work and without the politics of being a part of a school staff. Because there are ALWAYS politics.

Over the course of my morning, I was asked by 3 different people (including the principal) if I was looking for a full time position in the fall, particularly in resource. As tempting as the paycheque would be, I'm just not wanting to work full time any time soon. I feel that I missed so much of Luca's days when I was working full time. I was really torn. My boys will only be this young once and I am determined to be there as much as I can to enjoy it all.

I love being a stay at home mom, but being in the classroom again reminded me that I am more than just a diaper changing, meal cooking, house cleaning mom. I am also a teacher, a job that I really enjoy. It is nice to get a bit of time to pursue my interests away from my kids a little bit too.

Our new trailer!

I am a little behind in posting this, oops.

As you may know, in the past we have had "junker" trailers that got us by, kept a roof over our heads. I'd like to say "kept us dry", but last summer that actually wasn't the case. Poor Luca woke up in a puddle of water that had been dripping down onto him all night. Chris did fix the leak and it would have done us another year, but we ran into another dilemma.

There were really only 2 beds, and we knew that the boys would never get any sleep if they were to be sharing a bed. If they were older, it wouldn't be a problem but a 3 year old and a 13 month old? That spells trouble. Last year Chris and I each shared a bed with a child, but that wasn't going to last forever.

This spring we decided that if this summer's camping trips were going to be enjoyable, that we would need to look at getting something a bit larger, with a better set up for beds.

We had been looking on Kijiji for a while and other advertising sites and did some research on what we might like. We finally decided on a layout that we thought would work for us- bunks for the boys and a queen (preferrably) bed for us. Not more than 27 feet in length including the hitch or it wouldn't fit in our driveway. Anything else was gravy.

We knew our budget and began looking within that budget. We found a few trailers fitting our needs by private sellers. We did some looking at dealerships but discovered that the layout that we wanted was very desireable and when dealerships did get them in as trades, they went out again very quickly.

So, it was off to the private sellers.

On May 2, we found our trailer. We are so excited about it. We know that we will have many good trips in it.

It is a 1998, 24 foot Fleetwood Wilderness Lite.

It has a queen bed in a seperate bedroom. With sliding doors for privacy. It is an actual queen mattress, not those uncomfortable foamy cushions that you normally sleep on in a trailer.

There is a roomy "living" area with storage, oven and stove and a large fridge and seperate freezer. There is also a dinette and storage above the dinette.

If we needed extra sleeping space, the dinette and storage above it convert to beds as well, so we could sleep 6-8 people if we had to.

The boys' bunks are at the back, and Luca quickly laid claim to the top bunk. Also at the back of the trailer is the bathroom with toilet, sink, tub and shower. Luca was pretty pumped about the little tub!

It also came with an RVQ, the BBQs that attach right to the trailer and run on the trailer's propane. There is also an outdoor shower with hot and cold taps.

We are so excited to take it out this weekend on its maiden voyage (with the Graham family, anyway!). We are heading to Bow Valley Campground in Kananaskis with some friends from Crossfield. Unfortunately, after we had bought it, all the weekends up til now already had prior commitments so this is our first chance to go out with it.

We are also heading to Drumheller the following weekend, Ponoka for a family camping weekend with Chris' family on Father's Day weekend, and then are planning a trip to Montana and Yellowstone National Park July 5-16 or so. We look forward to a fun summer of camping!

Six Unimportant favorite things

My aunt tagged me in this little challenge, so here goes my list. I am assuming that "unimportant" things means in the large scheme of things. Sorry about the lack of photos, blogger was being a bit tempermental tonight.

1. My bathtub. There is nothing like soaking in hot, bubbly water with the jets on and a good magazine. Actually, a magazine is not even necessary. The soothing water and silence is often enough.

2. My shelves full of books. I absolutely love books and love to read. I don't crack the spines on my books and I don't crease the pages. I am extememly particular about who I lend books to and all borrowers must endure my speech on the "rules". I know, I know, I am a bit anal retentive.

3. The smell of fresh cut grass. Need I say more?

4. Bed. I love to snuggle in under the covers to read a good book or watch tv. Our bed is just soooo comfy, it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our house. Of course, there are other fun things that happen there, too! ;)

5. My "zero gravity" lawn chair. It is so nice to be able to recline in a lawn chair to read. I find it extremely uncomfortable to try to read while sitting straight up.

6. Our annual zoo pass. Seriously, I think I enjoy going regularly more than the boys do!

Now I am tagging these people to complete this challenge. Leave me a comment here when you do it so I can go check it out!

Tasha at Shawn and Tasha Tompkins

Dee at Deirdre and Layne

Lilah at Keeping up with the Poltzs

In honor of Mother's Day

Check out this great video. I wasn't aware of my achievement til my friend Jackie sent this to me. Thanks Jackie!!!

Isn't that great? I loved it, especially the breaking news at the end!

My mom sent me this in my email and I thought it was so cute. Motherhood sure isn't always glamorous (ok, who am I kidding? Almost never glamorous!), and not always respected, but is sure does sound good with a fancy title!

JOB DESCRIPTION
A woman named Emily renewing her driver's license at the Transport office was asked by the clerk to state her occupation.
She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
"What I mean is," explained the clerk, "do you have a job, or are you just a...?
"Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a Mum."
"We don't list 'Mum' as an occupation...... 'housewife' covers it," said the clerk emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our local police station.
The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."
"What is your occupation?" she probed.
What made me say it, I do not know... The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations."
The clerk paused, pen frozen in midair, and looked up as though she had not heard right.
I repeated the title slowly, emphasizing the most significant words.
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire!
"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?"
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't), in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters, (the whole bloody family), and already have four credits, (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree.?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."
There was an increasing note of respect in the girl's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.
When I got home, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 10, 7, and 3.
Upstairs, I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt I had triumphed over bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than
"just another Mum."
Motherhood.....What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.
Does this make grandmothers "Senior Research Associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations", and great grandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates"???
I think so!!!
I also think it makes Aunts "Associate Research Assistants".

Author unknown..................but very smart


Happy Mother's Day!!!

Levi's first birthday party!

I'm 1 today!





Invitations





Luca helped make the cake

Happy 1st Birthday, Levi!!!!

This day last year started out like any other. Luca and I got up and had breakfast and got ready for the day. My plans were to go to Airdrie to get Chris some work shirts for the summer (he only had long sleeved dress shirts, mostly). So, Luca and I headed into town to get some shopping done.

We came home and had lunch, then it was off for a nap for Luca. Surprisingly, I wasn't tired this afternoon (I had napped ever afternoon for quite a while before this), so I watched a movie. It was the first afternoon that I would stay awake. Little did I know that I would be up a lot of the night with a newborn!

At 5:15pm, Chris called to say that he was going for some drinks with the guys from work as it was the last day for a few of them that were heading to school for a few months. I told him that I had had a contraction a few minutes prior, but we didn't think much of it as I had been having contractions off and on for a week now.

Within 15 minutes, there was another contraction and then another. After a little while, I called Chris back to say that he didn't need to hurry, but that he should come home. He was just going to finish his meal and head this way. That was fine by me, as I thought we had tons of time.

Within a few more minutes, I called back and told him to leave now and to hurry. My contractions were about 8 minutes apart.

I reached transition and was laying on my bathroom floor between heaving into the toilet. Luca was quite concerned that I was going to make a mess!

Chris arrived home at 7:15, got Luca strapped into his car seat and me into the Jeep between contractions. They were coming hard and I couldn't talk through them at this point.

Just before 7:30 we were on the road, only to have to wait for a train before we could leave Crossfield. Chris drove confidently (but fast!) and I watched the clock and timed contractions.

I don't remember a whoe lot about the drive except for at each town that we passed, I would think "Didsbury....40 minutes......Olds....30 minutes......Bowden.....20 minutes........Innisfail.......15 minutes......Gasoline Alley......5 minutes.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30, with my contractions 2 minutes apart and lasting about 90 seconds. Pat and Joanne were there to meet us and to take Luca home with them.

Chris got me into a wheelchair and pushed me upstairs to labour and delivery. When we arrived, I managed to tell the nurse "They are 2 minutes apart and strong. I want an epidural!"

She got me to go to the bathroom and then would check me. As I emptied my bladder, I felt the baby's head move down into the birth canal. I couldn't get up. At this point, there didn't feel like there was a break at all between contractions. It was just one constant one. The nurse and Chris managed to get me to the bed where I was to be checked.

At the same moment the nurse declared that I was 9.5 cm dilated, my water broke and I had to push. There was no holding this baby back!

2 pushes later, at 8:44pm, with only Chris and a nurse there, Levi Allan was born! The poor nurse only had time to get her gloves on to catch him. We had been at the hospital for 14 minutes. They didn't have a chart for me, and barely knew my name!

He was perfect! At 7lbs 7oz he was exactly a pound smaller than his big brother was. He had so much dark hair, and beautifully colored skin. His head was perfectly round, afterall, he didn't spend much time in there to get a cone head!

Chris managed to get this photo, my all time favorite picture. This is just seconds after birth, the cord still attached. You can see the nurse passing the scissors over to Chris to cut the cord.

We were so shocked to have had a baby that quickly. On the ride to Red Deer, I knew that I was in the advanced stages of labour, but had no idea how advanced! I honesltly thought that I was about half way there. We had no idea that Levi was so close to being born on the side of the highway! Thankfully, I had a full bladder that I'm sure kept him higher up!

Luca was a bit nervous to meet his new brother, but seemed excited too. Or maybe he was just interested in all the gadgets at the hospital!

We were thrilled to come home as a family of 4.

I can't believe that the year has passed so quickly. Levi is crawling; so very close to walking, says a few words (Mama, Dada, Hi, and Lula for Luca), and is a happy little boy. He loves to follow his brother around and tries to do everything he does.

The next year is going to be busy and fun- I'm looking forward to it!

Happy Birthday, Levi! We love you!

Photo blog

Here are some photos from my new camera over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Daddy and Levi checking out Easter eggs

Luca hunting for eggs


First family photo in quite a few months

Luca at Nona and Papa's

Finding eggs at Auntie Jay and Uncle Brock's house

I just love those lips!

The beautiful flowers my wonderful husband sent me while he was away last week.

My little man

Growing up so fast!

Luca and his best buddy George

Our mini vacation

Ok, so not so much "ours" as mine.

Chris had some meetings in Edmonton on Thursday and today. When he told me about them about a month ago, I sort of jokingly said that I should come. Mostly because there is something about staying in a hotel that I love. I don't get to do it very often and Chris does, so he thinks that I am silly.

Anyway, somehow my little joking comment turned into "Why not?". We made a call to Pat and Joanne and they were able to babysit, so it was a go!

I had been excited about it for a while, but a bit apprehensive, too. I hadn't yet left Levi overnight. Luca was 15 months before I left him overnight and it was tough. This time it wasn't nearly as tough. I don't know, maybe having 2 kids and really, truly needing some time to myself is what did it. Or maybe knowing that they were in completely capable and loving hands helped too. I think it was a combination of both.

Chris came home early from work on Wednesday and we were leaving Crossfield by 2:30 that afternoon. We marveled at how strange it was to be driving and having an uninterrupted conversation. And not having to point out to Luca every tractor, semi truck and farm animal that we drove past. We almost didn't know what to talk about. The comfortable silence was nice, too.

We arrived at the hotel just before supper time and checked in. Our room was very spacious and had been recently redecorated. I was really excited about the king size bed. It was a Sleep number bed, which I was excited to try out. (My number is 25, btw. I like it really soft). What I didn't know is that getting out of a soft sleep number bed is pretty much like getting out of a waterbed. Not so easy. Humorous though. So, after fiddling around with the bed settings we headed out for dinner.

We had chinese, which was ok. Not great, not bad, just ok. We then went to the movie, which is another big treat for us. My grandma had given us a gift certificate for the theatre for Christmas and we hadn't had a chance to use it yet. We saw "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. I have a theory that all of his movies are weird and I usually don't like them, but the preview for the movie looked good, so we thought we'd give it a try. And it was good. Until about 20 minutes before the end. I won't ruin it in case any of you wanted to see it, but the ending killed the whole movie for me. I was really into the movie until the ending. It was just so....stupid. Oh well.

On Thursday Chris didn't have any meetings until after lunch so we slept in (until 8:30!!! Big deal when your kids usually wake up around 6:30!), had leisurely showers, watched some daytime tv and just hung out.

It was my Auntie Linda's 50th Birthday on Thursday so her and my cousin Amanda picked me up and the 3 of us went for lunch. It was a nice visit, and I don't get to see them often. We then went back to my Aunt's house where I shopped in her store and got myself a new Louis Vuitton purse and a Coach purse for a fantastic deal. After my grandma arrived, they dropped me off at Chapters.

This was what I had been really looking forward to and it was the hilight of my trip. If you know me, you know that I love to read. A bookstore is one of my all time favorite stores to just "be" in. I was thrilled to be able to browse for as long as I wanted without children. It was a glorious hour and a half (I could have spent longer but Chris called to say he was done his meetings). I came out of there with 7 new books and only $50 poorer. I got 4 books for myself and 3 for the boys. It was great.

Chris picked me up and we had appetizers at Kelsey's before going to another movie. This time we chose a comedy, "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. This one was much better than Knowing was. It was funny and a bit of romance with a twist. It was fairly good.

We awoke to room service delivering our breakfast. Mmmmmm. Another fun thing about hotels- room service. Its a treat that you don't often get, so I appreciated it. Especially not having to cook my own food!

This morning while Chris was in his meeting I had a long shower and got ready for my date with my friend Carri. We went to the mall where I did a bit of shopping for myself and had a nice visit. It was short, though as Chris was done a bit earlier than he thought he would be.

Chris picked me up and we went in search of a new camera. We were sold on a new Panasonic 10.1 megapixel, 18x optical zoom. Very similar to the Olympus that I led to an early death, but newer, so faster and with a few more options. As I type this, Chris is playing with all the gadgets on it.

We then headed to Tokyo Express and had one of our favorite "fast food" meals- teryaki chicken and rice bowls. Mmmmmm.

Then it was time to head home to see our little munchkins, with a quick stop in Wetaskiwin to get my vinyl lettering from Jessica that I had ordered at her party.

The boys weren't quite as excited to see us as we were to see them, I think. I guess spending a few days with grandparents beats mom and dad.

The getaway was a really nice break for me, and I am home rested and rejuvenated. I better be, Chris informed me this morning that he has to leave tomorrow morning for a week.......

I guess my little vacation couldn't have come at a better time.