Family

Out of this world Valentine’s Day

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This past Valentine’s Day I spent time with my parents, my kids, my husband and an astronaut. Yes an astronaut. We spent Valentine’s Day at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was an out of this world Valentine’s day.

I have been to Florida many times and the Kennedy Space Center was not on my list of destinations until I married an aerospace engineer. My oldest was an astronaut for Halloween so I knew that it would be of interest to him as well. As luck would have it my parents wrangled a mini-van as a rental car and we all piled in for a astro-ordinary Valentine’s Day outing.

In keeping with family tradition the kids were wearing their heart shirts. As long as they request holiday specific t-shirts and will happily wear them I will keep making them.

 

 

Family Day and Legoland

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LL2.jpgThis year we spent Family Day at Legoland in Florida. In case you are reading this in another part of Canada family day in BC is a week earlier than Family Day in other parts of Canada. I have no idea why.

Our kids are 3.5 and almost 7 which is the perfect age for Legoland especially when our 3.5 year old is really, really tall. Even though he is young he was tall enough for all of the rides (42″) which definitely made for a more pleasurable experience because we didn’t ever have to tell him that he was too short to ride on a ride.

We headed to Legoland on superbowl Sunday which I consider to be very smart planning (as a football fan my husband didn’t agree). The park wasn’t super busy and we didn’t wait in line very long for any of the attractions which meant that we could see a lot in the time we had. After a Lego overload at the park we checked into the Legoland hotel for a little more visual stimulation.

The hotel was a fantastic for place for kids. Inside the lobby there was a castle with moats filled with Lego, a pure delight for kids. The rooms were very well designed with a kids bunk area which made for some happy travelers. In the room there was a short quiz that unlocked a treasure chest with some goodies for the kids. I signed my oldest up for a master builder workshop where he learned how to build a shark from one of the parks master Lego builders.

After a restful sleep we attacked the park for another day of fun, but only after a swim in the heated hotel pool. The kids were excited to swim with Lego blocks. It was an awesome way to spend Family day, and I would highly recommend it if you get the chance.

The 90 day Lifelong Fitness Challenge

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imagesWhen I turned 37 I wished for health for my birthday which in hind-site was like hoping to win the lottery without buying a ticket. My health wish was followed a few months later with a brain tumour, which isn’t all that healthy. Fast forward a year and a bit and the tumour is gone but my health is still a little dodgy. I love sugar, alcohol and carbs, and I am not a big fan of exercise.

Last year as in the start of 2015 I made the resolution to get healthy and I started exercising which is what led me to the brain tumour diagnosis. I am laying it all on the line by telling you that I started the “Bikini Body Mommy Challenge”. I can hear you laughing from here, don’t spit your coffee all over your electronic device. By workout number 2 I was lying flat on my back (it wasn’t part of the exercise regime). I experienced a pain in my head that was blinding. Which I now know was Timmy the tumour telling me that he wasn’t going to let me exercise.

For the 8 long months pre-surgery I limited my exercise to walking, lots and lots of walking. I threw in a reduced sugar, carb and alcohol diet. For the record it was my neurosurgeon’s suggestion to limit alcohol not mine, unless I am growing a tiny human alcohol and I are BFF’s. Post surgery I ate like I have never seen food and un did all my pre-surgery healthy habits. But I also learned how fast muscles atrophy from the 6 days stint I did in the hospital. My calves have never been so small (read jiggly).

Here I am now tumour free and recovered. I started the “Bikini Body Mommy Challenge” again (I can still hear you laughing) and have successfully made it past workout 10. I told my husband about my plans before I started and this is how the conversation went.

  • Me: I started that bikini body thing again, you know the one I tried last year
  • him: uh, hun
  • Me: it’s 90 days long, that’s a long time
  • him: you realize that fitness and being healthy is really a life long thing right (says the guy who goes to the gym everyday).
  • Me: oh crap (I know he’s right, just don’t tell him that)

He gave a rather short lecture (because he doesn’t ever say much) on the importance of exercising our aging bodies and the importance of strength. I know that this is not optional, if I want to be healthy I actually need to act, not just hope or wish. I am committed to the exercise daily and have reduced my carb intake substantially to one donut a day (just kidding, no donuts) but the alcohol stays.

HIITWish me luck on this 90 day (78 days left but who is counting) fitness challenge. If you want a good laugh come by any day around 4 I will be attempting my exercises with my trainers aged 3 and 6. One rolls on the ground by my feet and the other constantly yells “look at me mommy” while attempting to follow along. It’s a full on shit show and I am the star (at least most days).

P.S. Laughter is the best medicine. I hope you burned a few calories reading my post.

 

 

Playing with Fire

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My kids have a small obsession with camping. I do not. Camping isn’t my thing. Going to the cottage or cabin is more my speed. I am a big fan of my bed, running water, electricity and flush toilets. Walls and doors are not overrated in my opinion. I like a lot of protection from mother nature and a piece of cloth between me and the elements isn’t quite enough.

I do however love my kids and I love that they use there imaginations when they play. One of their favourite things to play is camping. Sometimes this involves a couch fort, a ball tent or their teepee. Years ago I made the boys a teepee to play in and it now has a few miles on it. They have been roasting marshmallows on chop sticks over a red pillow with every camping adventure and I though that it was time to make them a campfire.

My timing could have been a little better because I finished it at midnight on Christmas Eve. I am guilty of running to the craft store on Christmas Eve to get supplies. Even among all of the store bought gifts that they received for Christmas this is what they were up to after Christmas dinner. My oldest opted for marshmallows for dessert in lieu of pecan pie so that he could try out the new camp fire.

Musical Resolution

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I have been celebrating a New Year and a new start daily since I had surgery to remove a brain tumour. But with the coming of the new year I still made a resolution.

When I was a kid my house was filled with music. No one actually had any musical talent, so it wasn’t filled with piano melodies or anything like that. More like constant classic rock blasting out of the speakers all day and night. My dad would turn on the stereo when he got up in the morning, and it stayed on until he went to bed each night. It didn’t matter if anyone was home to listen to the music, it played on.

He had an extensive record collection which was replaced with tapes and then CD’s and now his Ipod. He is musically obsessed to the extent that when he comes to visit me he brings his own speaker so that he can listen to music at my house.

Just after I was diagnosed with a brain tumour I couldn’t listen to music. I was interpreting every song as sad, and it was depressing. I asked my brother who inherited my fathers musical appreciation to make me CD’s of happy music, and my husband obliged as well with a happy playlist.

At some point when CD’s stopped being the method of listening and collecting music I stopped filling my house with music. When we first had kids the CD player got broken (that button that made the CD tray go in and out was so tempting to little fingers) and that was it, music died in our house. It has been my wish to get our house wired with speakers in every room so that when you move from room to room the music is already there waiting to welcome you to the next space. That has yet to happen, but the next best thing did.

For Christmas this year my husband bought me a pair of wireless speakers which we can add to over time. My resolution this New Year is to listen to music every day intentionally because it calms me and makes me happy. Whatever your New Years resolutions are I hope that they also make you happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

 

 

On the twelfth day of Christmas…

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Each year I make the kids a Christmas ornament. Usually the ornaments are a little different, as are they. This year I made them ornaments inspired by Scrabble. With a few ribbon scraps and my trusty hot glue gun I whipped these together in minutes.

I would like to wish you all Love and Joy in the holiday season!

On the eleventh day of Christmas…

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On the eleventh day of Christmas I was crafting for a birthday. Just a few days after Christmas its my nieces birthday. I have two boys, four nephews, and one niece so its very rare that I get to make anything pink. It is always nice to switch up the colour scheme and get a little pink in the mix. I made this superhero cape and crown for her birthday present.

If you are interested I sell them here on Etsy.

On the tenth day of Christmas…

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Here is my post from the tenth day of Christmas last year. Funny enough my model was wearing the same jammies this morning although they are getting a little small.

On the tenth day of Christmas Elf shoes

I should really make myself a pair because I don’t know about you but just about this time each year I feel a bit like Santa’s little helper.

elf 2

On the seventh day of Christmas…

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It’s well past the seventh day of Christmas and it has been a busy few days. On the seventh day of Christmas I did some baking, about seven dozen treats in under four hours. In an ideal world I would have a day to bake and a clean kitchen to do it in, but in reality Christmas baking was crammed in after an exam and before my helpers had to go to bed. I do like to get the kids involved in the kitchen which often proves to be a challenge. This time I put them to work smashing candy canes.

We made three different treats:

  1. Peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses. The recipe was on the back of the peanut butter jar, simple. When the cookies were hot out the oven I put a kiss in the middle of each and popped them into the freezer so that the chocolate didn’t melt everywhere.
  2. Peppermint Brownies. In an effort to be fast and efficient (read lazy) I made brownies from a box mix complete with frosting. The kids smashed candy canes which I gingerly placed (read dumped) on top.
  3. Gingerbread people. These were made from scratch, the recipe is here. I sprinkled powdered sugar on some of them, decorated the six in the photo but in truth most of them are naked in my fridge. They may or may not get all spiffed up before we gobble them up.

 

Capturing the Holiday Spirit

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Are you ready for the holiday?  I have been slowly preparing for the holiday season for a while now because I have 4 exams to write between December 11 and the 21st. It’s crunch time for me so I have attempted to get some of my holiday shopping and preparations done ahead of time.

One of our holiday traditions each year is a little holiday photo shoot in my house with my kids, and sometimes other families as well. This year I opened it up to my friends and had a large 6 family photo event. Here are some of the shots that I took of my own kids when I had a break between other families.