Cleaning House

I've been feeling like such a loser house wife lately. I feel like we're all just in survival mode and at the end of the day we have nothing to show for all of our efforts. All we've accomplished are the basics: we eat, we get dressed, we clean, eat a little more, get ready for bed and start it all over again the next day. I'm sure every mom can understand and feel my pain. Some days more than others. Mostly this doesn't bother me but lately it sure has. Maybe it is because I'm reading about all the projects other moms are doing on their blogs and crafts and sewing projects or decorating their houses, etc. and comparing myself to them, I just feel like a dork. I mean, I know I'm not a dork really, but I sure start to feel like I'm not as good as other moms out there. Not fun enough, not stylish enough, etc. Luckily for me, I married a really good man who is always telling me how great he thinks I am and how important it is for me to stay at home with our kids. I'm not normally a cheesy husband blogger but he sent me a really nice email this week that just kind of put things into perspective for me a little more. He's going to hate me for putting it here, but this is an excerpt:

"So, what are you going to accomplish today? Probably not much. I bet you'll probably only make your daughter smile. I bet you'll probably help your son learn to walk a little more. I bet you'll probably help your oldest daughter feel like she can rely on you no matter what. I bet your children will tell you they love you, at least once today."

He went on to name more stuff but you get the idea. It was the boost I needed. I'm not saying I now am completely fixed and will never doubt myself again or ever compare myself again but it was nice to know that in our house, we try and measure our success differently. It was also a reminder that I need to be able to be more flexible with my to-do list and just remember that just because something doesn't make it on my list of things to-do, doesn't mean I can't change my priorities for the day. Like today: My goal was to vacuum the whole house. We have the heater on all the time and we've got more dust than a haunted house. Dust bunnies are literally reproducing everywhere. I busted out the vacuum and got every toy and piece of clothing off the floor and started. Just then, my daughter started asking me if she could vacuum. I quickly said no. Then my son started pulling on the cord and climbing on the vacuum. I couldn't really vacuum with him on the vacuum so I had to change my plan. I relented and asked Tati if she would like to vacuum and then picked Gavin up and held him while she vacuumed. It took her forever and when she was done there were a few spots she missed but she had an amazing time. When she was finally done, I let Gavin push the button to retract the cord and he laughed and laughed. So that was my success today.

The carpet on the stairs is still dusty and the upstairs is too but at least for a small moment, I was able to push my to-do list to the side and help them have a fun experience out of a normal chore. Now if only I can recognize opportunities like this more often and more importantly stop thinking about the stairs and upstairs that didn't get vacuumed and enjoy the cute worker who did vacuum the part that did.

Fun at the ER

Well I had my first trip to the ER this week for an actual emergency. I also have never been more mad at Tati. I was proud of myself for putting her into a time out with distance from me because what I really wanted to do was give her some "what for" instead. My mom called right in the thick of it all and told me stuff like, "Oh Julie, she's just a kid." and "She didn't mean to" which seemed to me so funny in my mind at the time because she never would have said stuff like that when I was little. That's what Grandparents are for I guess.

Anyway, Tati was supposedly upstairs cleaning her room so I brought Gavin up and put him in the room with her while I peed. Sorry people, but if I have him with me in the bano, he'll try and drink the water or be reaching to places that he shouldn't be. Anyways, I went into their bedroom to check in on the "cleaning" and this is what I found:

Instead of cleaning like she just told me she was doing, Tati had dissembled this dumb whistle flashlight and had left the tiny batteries sitting out. But that flashlight was supposed to have 2 batteries and I only saw the one. The worst part is that Gavin was right in the middle of all the pieces. I freaked out. But really freaked out. I was scared and mad and worried. All these horrible thoughts filled my mind of stories you've heard of batteries leaking acid in children and killing them, etc. So I put Gavin in his bed, put Tati in a time out in the hallway and between yelling at her and asking her important questions about the events that had transpired while I was away, I looked all over the floor for the other stupid battery. After 20 min, I couldn't find it. I called Greg and told him how mad and scared I was so he called Gavin's doctor. The doctor told us to go to the ER and get an x-ray. So I got an awesome friend to watch Tati (I think the break was especially good for me here.) and Gavin and I headed to the ER.

The good news was the battery was not in his body. The bad news was we didn't know where that dumb battery was. So I put the kids to sleep in my room in weird make shift nap spots (because laundry was stacked on the bed and also they couldn't be able to see each other or Gavin wouldn't nap). It's ok though because I ended up finding it. It was in one of the toy bins that I had already checked twice and emptied out once. The difference the third time though was that I prayed to please help me find the stupid battery. And yes sometimes you have to say the word "stupid" when you're praying. By then the kids were awake and Chloe was home from school helping me look through every inch of that room. So we all participated in the "stupid battery" prayer together and guess what happened afterward? Yup, we found it.

So finding it right after our prayer turned out to be a great faith building experience for all of us. Then we had to do a "thank you" prayer. And in case you're wondering, that prayer didn't have "stupid" in it.

By then it was like 4:00 so I was so dang tired. That's when Daddy called and said we should go out to dinner. Going out to dinner never tasted so good and I never needed it so much.

Photo Class

So I just finished up a photography class. It was pretty intense and overwhelming and yet so much fun and so educational. I forgot how much I really like the classroom setting. My brain is a bit spent and I feel like I definitely have like a LONG ways to go to really understand it all but I'm excited to improve. To help me remember what I learn, I share all the info with Greg too after the class and between commercials of Vampire Diaries (he, he). I'm taking the Part 2 of the class in a few weeks but until then I just need to practice and practice and try to remember all the stuff I learned.

Anyway, here are some from a homework assignment playing around with sepia and black & white.

The Northern Lights

Greg is on the email alert system for "Aurora Watch". Doesn't that sound super professional? Yeah, so he has gotten some "red alerts" in the past but we just haven't gone because of either being tired or it being too cold or not wanting to wake the children up or a million other reasons. But the time to leave Canada is looming and we figured that if we didn't go this Winter, we would always regret it. (It is too light in summer to really get a good view.) Anyway, so we woke the kids up at like 11:45 and got them all bundled and settled into the car and then proceeded to drive away from the city lights with no real destination in mind. After about 20 min. of driving, we saw our first burst of green light. It was so cool. We finally pulled off onto a country road and pulled over to set up our camp. I say "camp" because the kids didn't really want to get out of the car because they were tired and it was cold so they stay bundled up in their carseats and we opened the door. Well, that's not true, Gavin wanted to get out but he wouldn't keep his hands and feet covered in the blanket I had him wrapped in and he kept pulling off his hat so he was super cranky from being cold or cranky from us not letting him crawl around the car. We finally got home and everybody to bed by 1:30. Man, were we ever tired!

We knew we wanted pictures but we weren't really sure how to pull it off. It was basically just a bunch of hit and miss. One of the problems was that Greg put our short tri pod on the roof of the car and the car occupants were moving around quite a bit and that threw us off a bit. Anyway, it was awesome and beautiful. See for yourself.

And here's a link to the website with more photos and here are some amazing videos somebody posted from that night. I like #11. You can see how the light just moves and dances around. Very cool.

We're excited to go again and get some better shots now that we know what to expect and more or less what to do. They are supposed to be best at the equinoxes so we're crossing our fingers for March. I'll let you know if we go.

It totally made me think of Paul Bunyan and Babe. Remember that Disney movie? Supposedly them rough housing is what is making the Northern Lights.

Valentine's Day

I love being festive for holidays. The kids each got some heart glasses (that were too small for their enormous craniums) and a few candy treats. The big thrill for the girls was that they each got a necklace. We ordered them way back in October and initially I was going to give them their necklaces for Christmas but then I decided we'd save them so they would be able to appreciate them more and also Tati needed a few more months to learn better necklace responsibility. Anyway, they got this one with a birth stone. They got the heart shape. There are a bunch of other really cute necklaces on that site but I didn't want the girls to have their whole names on a necklace. Is that too paranoid? Anywho, they LOVED them.



That evening Greg and I went on a fun date. It was snowshoeing. I haven't gone snowshoeing since I was pregnant with Chloe so that was like forever ago. I forgot how much we really enjoy it. We definitely are going to be buying some snow shoes and living or vacationing somewhere with snow. Anyway, it was cold and dark but I still managed to get a few shots.


A frozen, little stream:

And my hubby helping me get all geared up. He's such a sweetie. I totally could've done it myself but what fun would that have been?

Then the evening ended with my worst nightmare.

A communal bowl of dough. + A bunch of dirty hands grabbing at it. + A pile of dirty sticks.+A fire=

Bannocks

Obviously I did not partake of said "refreshments". We got home and were so pooped so we watched some tv and then just as we were about to go to bed, Greg got one of his special emails telling us the Northern Lights were really hot so we went and saw them. I'll make another post for that. Leave you in suspense.

Daddy is getting old!

Greg turned 33! Too bad I'll always be older than him. He is so low key about his birthday and just kept telling us that besides an ipad (yeah right), he didn't want anything and not to go to any trouble. But birthdays are big days around here. Usually, the girls draw a picture for you for any given holiday but it was an early morning with lots of fighting and general crabbiness from the children so he declared unto them that they were forbidden to draw him a picture because he'd much rather they just be good as a present to him. So I printed out some sheets (no pics of this) with letters to Dad telling him what they would get him for his birthday.

Gavin said he would slobber all over Daddy's face and give him lots of kisses.
Tati said she would be a super good listener after dinner (apparently at no other time of the day) and give him lots of hugs and kisses and tell him that she loved him.
And Chloe said she would be good, not fight with her sister and give him a massage after dinner. I think this was a great idea for actual practical gift giving.

And as a present to Greg which was really a present to myself, he didn't want me to have to make dinner or a cake so we had a rotisserie chicken with some super yummy bread from Costco and one of their sinful chocolate cakes. The only thing missing was the smoked cheddar cheese for him (his weakness). I also bought him some ding dongs. Well, sort of. Canadians sure have a good sense of humor.

Once upon a time when he was little, he asked his mom for ding dongs instead of a cake. It is one of his favorite birthday memories. One time I bought a huge pack at Sam's Club for his birthday and I thought it would be fun to get some this year too. Sadly, their yumminess has drastically declined over the years as has their cake to filling ratio. :-(

The cake was insanely good though. CHEERS!

Our Big Boy!

Gavin is one! He is mostly fun but has been quite cranky lately getting over an ear infection and now teething. We're hoping these stinky teeth come out fast.

His birthday fell on a Monday this year and his Daddy had a very busy day so we decided to celebrate the following day. Let's be honest, Gavin had no clue it was his birthday but we still made some cupcakes. Chloe had never even tasted anything sweet until her birthday cake. Yeah, Gavin had cow's milk at 10 months and ice cream back when he was like 6 months old. Embarrassing but true. So was this his first cake? Nope. But he loved it all the same. He hated the singing though and he super hated not being able to touch the fire. Mean Daddy.

And of course not to be outdone:


It is mind blowing to think that a year has already passed since he was born. How time flies! My friend Jeanette came over with her family for dinner and cupcakes. I don't know how I won't think of them each time Gavin has a birthday considering thanks to her my kids had food and clothes while I was in the hospital (at least the first time). She really did amazing service for us. It would make her uncomfortable to make a big deal about it but it really was a big deal.

Some new stuff this month:

• He fell down the stairs and got a major rug burn on his nose and a big bruise on his face.
• Before the fall, he was expertly going up and down the stairs alone, now he won't go down at all.
• He can climb the ladder on the bunk bed and get on Chloe's bed. He is super dangerous and scary and likes to stand up once he gets onto the bed.
• He shakes his head yes and no--mostly no.
• He grunts and leads you to things he wants by pointing and directing you.
• He bobs his legs and shakes his bootie to music.

Here's a funny video of him eating one of his cupcakes because he might have eaten two of them. Our friend Lloyd was trying to make him balance his treat with some veggies and the kids thought it was HILARIOUS!