one a day

I've moved!

Because I can't ever stay in one place for too long......

you can find me here: http://growingupbond.wordpress.com/

See you there!

That was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Today I registered Sarah for ballet.

I phoned the studio wondering about class times and it turned out that Wednesday afternoon worked out the best for us, so the lady on the other end of the line suggested we just come out for today's class.

So, home from preschool, a quick lunch and we were off to ballet.

I never took ballet, or any dance for that matter, so I'm totally unfamiliar with the terms -- tutu, studio, onesie (?), or the etiquite of going to class. Fortunately when we got there, there was a little girl in the class who was born on the same day as Sarah so I know her mom from back then. So Sarah and I are both learning. She was pretty excited though and could hardly believe her good luck when she saw what was going on around her.

Picture this: 7 little 4 year olds, in tights, ballet slippers and tutus, hair all done up, jumping and dancing around the studio following their teacher.

I think my heart is going to burst.

If you ever want to know the truth, ask a 4 year old.

Tonight, in the spirit of keeping the score equal (Sarah's trips to the hospital (aside from BEING BORN) - 3, Ben - 1 big one) , and because we haven't been to Emerg for a while, we found ourselves on the way to good old Penticton Regional. As though I don't spend enough time there, even though I am cutting back at work - really I am, and I love it! But I digress......

Where was I? Yes, on the way to the hospital.

Sarah, Ben and I had been playing after dinner -- well, **confession here** I was actually pinning him down to cut his grodie toe nails, and yes, I have to pin him down, and yes they were grossly long. But this time, it was a bit fun, and he wasn't screaming bloody murder. So I felt ahead of the game a bit. So Ben starts yelling, 'save me, save me' -- which is another game we play, so don't go calling children's services just yet -- and Sarah grabbs his arm to pull him out from under the 'tickle monster' (me). In the process, poor Benny's elbow got hurt.

Even worse, it was his left arm, and one thing you should know about Ben is that he sucks his left thumb and OoEe's right ear. Always.

So when he was upset, and wouldn't sunk his thumb, I knew there was a problem. That, and his left arm hung limply at his side, he cried alot, and then he told me his elbow hurt. Gotta love it when they can talk! :)

Off we went to the hospital. Travis couldn't come with us as he was doing a presentation for Penticton City council - believe me a WHOLE other story that I could totally bore you with, but has actually overshadowed our lives for the past 5 months or so, so I'll leave it for another time.

Anyhow, as we're standing in line to check in with the receptionist at the front, an RCMP came in. He was probably around my age, and a friendly guy, so we were talking a bit. The kids were pretty impressed, and said hi, and Sarah proceeded to carry on telling him all sorts of random details.
"Why are you here?"
"This is my computer." (a leap pad)
"We painted today at preschool and then we fingerpainted, and I got my hands dirty."
"I'm 4, my birthday was Semtember 4th."
"This is my brother, he's hurt."

"So why do you always pull my dad over?"

He thought that was pretty funny. And, I have to clarify, it's not always, right honey?

In the end, Benny had just dislocated his elbow, and after a brief wait, the Dr came in, poked around at his elbow a bit, and ta-da, everything was all better.

Said my Benny as he waved both hands in the air, "I'm not crying anymore!"

Happy Birthday to my Sarah bear.

On Tuesday, my little bear turned 4!
I can hardly believe we've made it.

This past year, Sarah has really become my sweetheart. Not that she hasn't always been, but if you know us, and know my little girl, you know that mixing of all our personalities together has made for some tough times. And we still have those tough times a plenty, but we have so many good ones, they far outweigh the bad. Far, far outweigh.

We had her birthday party at the park a couple of weekends ago. Apparently, the first go of 'Happy Birthday' was too loud, and hurt her ears, so she cried through the whole thing. So, I asked her what was wrong, and we went through the song, one more time, all of us whispering. One of those moments where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I did both.

This girl is a girly girl. Through and through.
She loves to dress up like a princess, and her favourite colors are pink and purple.
In fact, this summer, she has refused to wear shorts. It has happened twice, but not without a battle extrordinaire. She will only wear skirts and dresses. When I asked her why she doesn't like shorts, she replied, "But I don't want to look like a prince!!!!!"

I will have my work cut out for me this winter when it's cold.

She loves to sing. And sing and sing and sing.
And dance. (kind of like Elaine)
She is quick to kiss and is full of hugs.

She is my girl who introduced me to my journey of parenthood. She teaches me that it's not all about me, about unconditional love, about the ability to forgive and quickly forget. I get to see life through the eyes of a child. I get to go to preschool. I get to go to swimming lessons. I get to play in the sand, I get to swing on swings. I get to teach her how to ride her bike.

I am a blessed momma indeed.

Love you, sweetheart!!

What I did on my summer 'vacation'

Don't we look great?

Basically (to make a really LONG story short), we turned this:

(feel the love)

into this:

Sigh. What a summer. Aside from 3-4 small camping get aways, Travis spent about 12 hours a day at this place. There is literally not one square inch of the whole suite including ceilings, walls and floors, that was not touched by either him or me. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I really have to put a special thanks out there to both mine and Travis' Mom and Dad, my sister Rachel, friend Deanna, Trav's brother Kevin, and our friend Lance who all helped us at the place, and a big thanks to those who babysat so I could spend time there. Anyways, the kids were troopers, and I feel like I made it through by the hair on my chinny chin chin, but.... we're done! (except for the ceiling fan and knobs on the cubboard doors). :)

Estro-fest 2007

Also known as the weekend of good food, good wine and great company!

We went to the market.

We went for lunch at Hillside Winery.

We went to 5 (ish) other wineries and tasted what they have to offer. (Can I take this opportunity to HIGHLY recommend Elephant Island? If you haven't been, you must go. MUST!!)

We went to Starbucks.

We had the most delicious, best dinner ever. Think cheeses, breads, dips, oil and vinegar, meats and wine. mmmmmmmmm.

We had a campfire, and sang some songs.

We floated the channel. That picture above is me, relaxed.

I got a chance to visit and laugh and eat (always important), and walk and just hang out with some of my aunts and cousins (and adopted aunts and cousins) and sisters and momma. It was truly a great weekend. Rachel and I were going over her and Deanna's um, 500 pictures and looking forward to when we could do this again.

Estro-fest 2008, anyone?

ps. for more pics that are a better size too, check out facebook!