helllllllllooooooo summer!

Summer has arrived and I love it!!!!! The sun is shining. I am out on my bike again with an added little companion being towed behind in my bike trailer. It's wonderful. And on a sidenote...I feel like my bike was meant for a kid. The little baskets have great storage, it only goes three gears...I predict there will be quite a few bike rides in our future...not just the 4 we have had in the last 4 days.

What has happened in the last month....

With the little: she is practicing her gymnastics skills lately. Swinging on any bar she can find (even if it means it's right above the slide (mom panic). Practicing somersaults. And continuing her love of swings and slides, going head first down the latter. Not to mention the independence that she takes doing them. These adventurous skills were taught lovingly by her dad. She is turning more into a monkey as the days go by (and growing up).

Growing up so much that we are finally starting to see more sleep nights than wake up nights. WOW. I never thought I would see that day come and had no idea it would take a year and a half! Phew!

Her favourite song right now is Handclap by Fitz and the Tantrums. So much so that if you play it, it will need to be played over and over and over again or we will get our out "tantrum" ha. She loves it as it is fast to dance with and slow....but obviously she needs a companion, so as soon as it goes on she must grab a stuffy or doll.

As far as words, we are getting lots of no, and yeah's. Mom is definitely being said with meaning like Daddy and doggie. And we are getting the nods and shakes of the head. She really loves to say car and truck and being in both (the front seat playing that is). Whenever she sees a red truck she always points to it and says "Daddy" which cracks me up. Plus little words everyday that I can't keep track of. ABC's is still a fun song to sing and Frere Jaques, Shaker song, 5 little ducks and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Plus counting to 10 (can you tell her dad is a teacher...good dad).

We have had dates with friends that she particularly loves. Even though she has to assert herself that she is old too and doesn't need to be carried around all over the place. One particular fun day was going to the spray park/park with friends. All the adults got to sit around, eat pizza and talk and the young ones got to jump around on the playground and splash around in the spray park. It was a great night. Lots of geese and poop though...but still fun all the same.

Our gardens are in full swing. The veggies (Mark's passion) in the back and the flowers (mine) in the front. And some future landscaping next year as we tragically lost a tree last week in a wind storm. Crazily so, that we both watched it as it went from slightly bent to all the way over. The ideas now are flowing with some edible shrubs and pumpkins along with flowers and rocks. Next years project obviously as this years is all about the....

Bees. They have arrived. They have a home and it appears that they are producing. All good news and I am sure more to say except I am no beekeeper and really know nothing about it. Except to say that they are extraordinarily fun to watch. When people say "busy as bees" I actually know what that means now as they are busy. The combs look like artwork. And Mark seems to be enjoying it quite a bit which is fun to watch. Oh and only one stung person so far...me as I stepped on one when they first came in. Not bad. In all seriousness they really do keep to themselves and you can go right up to them without fear as they don't seem bothered. Now mess with their home....that's different.

Now it is just time to sit back and enjoy the BBQ's, the ice cream (toddler's with ice cream are hilarious), sport ball (golf last time) and the weather.

My car broke down the other day (oh game of life) and because of summer I am not even bothered by it. Mainly because of my dear bike (going back to the beginning of this post). I love that bike! However picking the car up tomorrow, fingers crossed!

In the news: The oilers are out of the playoffs. Sad night for me as I really started to get into it. Surveys are out to redevelop the playground in our neighbourhood (yay)!

I just finished Girls the last season. Girlboss. Beauty and the Beast 2017. Gifted. All wonderful shows and movies. And I watched Moana again because I love that movie so much! Also saw Love the Coopers...meh.

That's about it!
Happy Summer
xoxo

April (Snow) Showers Welcomes....SUN PLEASE

Well the news of April:

The Oilers made the playoffs and are presently in round 2 beating San Jose and currently playing the Mighty Ducks. Needless to say every second day is hockey hockey hockey (for Mark). I am usually to tense to watch it so I check the score every 15 minutes or so online...

I have finished watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix...a little mixed on it. Presently watching Series of Unfortunate Events. Plus finished watching Season 5 of Girls from the library and Moana and Allied.

I just did some spring cleaning. Or maybe just regular cleaning but since I hadn't done it in about a month and a half I will call it spring cleaning. I even took apart our dishwasher and cleaned out the filter and the blade. YUCK. Thank goodness for youtube though as it shows you how to do almost anything!:)

Income tax has been completed and filed. Phew. I hate tax season. Usually makes me annoyed with life as the game of life hits me with something. And it kind of did...but then didn't.

Other things that have been going on:

Two pieces of raison toast has greeted me in my rain boots thanks to a little one travelling all over the house eating.

With that travelling, dancing, climbing, singing, adventure seeking little lady we decided to sign her up in SPORTBALL. and why not. this girl loves kicking, throwing, rolling balls. Why wouldn't she love this. Well she was a little overexcited when we took her to her first class last week and spent most of the time running around (and at times attempting to steal other kids balls). Monkey. She did love the popcorn clean up game where you gather all the balls and put them in a basket. She rocked that one. :)

We also had a family filled evening of Raffi and Dairy Queen. Yes that is right. My childhood favourite. Although he didn't sing from my favourite album (the Christmas album). He did not disappoint with Baby Beluga, Brush your teeth, and Bananaphone. Plus the little lady did pretty good, thanks in part to a few snacks, entertainment and the girl behind her that would smile and talk to her.

Another thing I have noticed is she is starting to take a liking to dresses and barrets. Although I don't know if she has the same feelings towards leotards. It's kind of fun as she likes to pick out her clothes every morning.

Lots of park outings. Basically everyday before or after supper Mark takes her in her push car to the playground for a swing on the swings and if she is feeling adventurous sliding down the spiral slide. Whether it is rain or shine she is outside. Loves going out in the backyard in sock feet chasing the dog and "telling" him what is right or wrong.

New words like cracker, and cookie are emerging. HA. And whenever she wants to say something emphatically it is usually No. I don't think she knows what it means exactly as everything seems to be no...even if i asked if she wanted chocolate....she will learn soon enough what that word means! :)

I don't know if I have anymore news. The bees will be coming shortly. Seedlings of squash, tomatoes and garlic have been planted. The greenhouse has a door to keep in more heat. Voles are being captured everyday. Yes Mark is having lots of outdoor fun.

Let's hope we get some May flowers pretty soon!
xoxox

Happy Easter to ALL!

Easter takes on a full new meaning now that we have a little one. She had loads of fun on Thursday at her dayhome with an Easter party, cake and stuffed bunnies. Plus her bunny barrets that she loved to wear the whole weekend. So much so that every time we opened her "accessory" drawer she would pull them out and bend her head down so that I could put them on. Thanks Gam. They were a hit.

Alas I was working for the majority of it so it was a very eventful daddy/daughter weekend of fun. Swimming, visit to Granny and Granddad's, and music filled fun at the Mutant Conservatory. They seemed to have a blast! Then it was our family time together!

We fit in one evening at the Keg. Was it for Easter? Probably not but I had been talking about the Keg for a few months now and Mark suggested it so who was I to turn him down. Hello lobster tails and twice baked potato. I love you! And the little one? I was a little nervous as most of the restaurants we have gone to have involved quick delivery of food with a bit of appropriate toddler walking. She managed to sit and entertain herself with a few colouring pages to aid and a bit of playing of food for an hour and a half. Go chickita go! :)

An Easter egg hunt was also on the go to as the Bunny made an appearance. Little plastic eggs filled with raisons with a few gummy bunnies and jelly beans scattered amongst them. That Easter bunny was a bit frugal this year. I thought she would need assistance with knowing what to do but as I was making her breakfast she was right in the family room collecting the little plastic eggs and shaking them with glee. She loved opening them and eating the raisons. Then when she found the gummy bunnies and jelly beans the raisons became old news. So much so that when she found the raison ones after a gummy she would throw the egg on the floor and go to the next.

The Easter bunny didn't stop with just plastic eggs though. She was gifted with three smartie eggs and a kinder surprise. And being the ever patient girl she bit right into that tinfoil to get to the chocolate treat. Obviously loves her chocolate like her mom and dad. I took her to the Science Centre to run off some candy and she did just that.

We then had an Easter dinner that we brought to the grandparents place with Uncle "Jiggy" in tow. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, carrots, broccoli, salad and a fun dessert with lady fingers/bananas and pudding that involved two other families doing it and created a mess...a leaky milky delicious mess.

So what do I say at the end of these festivities. I had fun. I enjoyed dinner with family and the littles fun in the morning. What I don't enjoy is the massive sugar crazies that seem to be happening today as every time she enters the kitchen she throws down in fits of tears waiting for the chocolate to appear. And little did this mom know that one was in reach with stool in tow as she got eerily quite and then came sauntering into the family room with another one of her smartie eggs. Muhaha. A girl possessed with the sweet tastes of chocolate! Again I totally understand.

Love that little! And all my family combined! Happy Easter all!
xoxox

Springly Things

So it is still kind of winter...and by still i mean an occasional snow fall seems to be emerging every now and again. But spring is a coming. Why? The snow is melting super fast. The sun is out for super long periods of time. The trees are budding. It rains more than snows. AND it's April! :)

So what have we been up to in the last month...

Blokus! So a few weeks ago I went to the tabletop cafe with my besties. We played some pretty cool games like hamsterrolle, cards against humanity, dutch blitz (a fabulous classic that i still love) and blokus. Funnily enough I owned this game. Mark and I got it from his sister's family two years ago! YIKES. Life with a newborn seemed super busy and exhausting that we never did play the game...but since that fateful night at the tabletop....Mark and I haven't been able to put that game away. Although I may need to take a break as I keep losing. CURSES!

The game of life reared it's head once again as I managed to get a ticket and had to enroll into a car seat safety clinic. It's all good in the sense that I should know all this information. But that ticket is nasty. And with all the stuff that happened over the last three months and just a week after my car getting fixed all I could do is let out a big sigh....cause really that is all you can do.

The little gal is sure growing up. Lots of words being said: shoes, hot, socks, coat, cold, apple, nana, water, up and the list continues to grow and grow. She loves her dolls as she takes them to bed, the bath and they seem to be little companions as she plays with her toys. Singing songs like ba ba black sheep, zoom zoom, and the itsy bitsy spider. Really she sings the rhythm more than the words but she does seem to manage the actions too! She loves brushing her teeth, she knows her body parts and is a great little helper unpacking groceries, peeling onions, sweeping, and cleaning up after herself.

Her new adventures are dog walks as she insists on walking yet can't quite do all the distance that we cover so in and out of the stroller, our shoulders or the new (and used) little car we got her. Outdoors is definitely her new love at the moment. Jumping in puddles, throwing rocks, playing in sand/dirt, going to the park and playing with all her different sport balls.

We continue to go to the same places. We have checked out cafe o play again with a mom friend and her little boy. She is definitely getting more out of that place than she did before. We visited a petting zoo and some little play houses at the Mom and Tot's Fair. Been to our fair share of mini gyms and even managed to do a family swim trip to St Albert.

Dinner out x2 for us and pizza in x1. Special kind of awesome this month as I was exceptionally tired of cooking a couple of days and we eat fast and she can now eat restaurant food. I think she liked Boston Pizza over New Asian Village...but like I said....we eat fast.

Mark is busy with his bee making...really the hive making and he discovered his love for the redo centre. I have joined a Quality council at work that I am enjoying. BUSY BUSY BUSY.

In entertainment I have seen some movies: Logan (really good), Manchester by the Sea (too sad for me), The Light Between the Oceans (sad but really good), Trolls (LOVED IT), Girl on the Train (enjoyed) and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (a little blah). I finished the third season of Grace and Frankie (hilarious), have enjoyed Riverdale and just started watching reruns of Road to Avonlea again.

In books I finished a series finally that I started quite awhile ago. The Pittacus Lorre series. Very much a tween book series but light all the same. I am thinking of starting up on L.M.Montgomery again....

Loving the sunshine. Can't wait for all the fun the outdoors has in store for us this month.
xoxo

oh the game of life...you can be tricky

remember that game? the game of life. i actually had never played it until i had met mark 10 years ago. crazy hey? the 10 years and the never playing the game. i always chose the route of university and although i feel in real life it is worth it...the game version i always seemed to be racked in debt with triplets and twins and a house falling apart. ha ha

well cut to these last three crazy months. right before leaving for new brunswick in january our hot water heater goes kaput. nothing like a cold shower in the cold winter months to realize that that needs to be fixed stat. so it was. pricey but having a hot shower/bath made it all okay.

then february comes along all stealthy...then kaboom. our toilet finally needs to be replaced. the slow drip outside the toilet fixed lead to a continuously running toilet inside the bowl. plenty of money being racked up on our water bill and something that i couldn't fix with my FaceTimeing dad lead to a plumber visit and a brand spanking new toilet. a nice toilet all the same.

march...what possibly could happen in march? well a cold drive home from work last week lead me to check my windows to see if they had been unrolled. nope. someone had smashed my rear passenger window and stole my diaper bag. on a lovely -20 degree day nonetheless. sigh. fixed the next day but seriously....at work??!!! and a diaper bag of all things??!!!

so there you have it. bad things happen in threes and that is three so bring on the good now! :) oh and i did go to university...thank goodness there are no triplet/twin combos!

love

February you were short and sweet

Oh love month how fast you sweep through our lives. A little month in review again.

• the first two weeks I was still in NB with my parents and the little lady. Lots of walks. Lots of family. Lots of eating. A bit of shopping. Lots of movies: La La Land, Hidden Figures, Passengers, Arrival, Lion, Edge of Seventeen, Sing, and I am sure a few more that have been forgotten. AND I finished a few more pages in my colouring book...something I hadn't done since the last visit! A wonderful visit for both of us
• had a few little troubles when we got back as the adjustment to jet lag was a bit hard on both of us. I feared that I may have had the early toddlerhood drama come upon me and I wasn't ready for the tantrums just yet. Let's just say Valentines Day was a little nerve wracking. The best present given to me was a child taken by her father to the library so I could sit in peace with a glass of wine. Plus the flowers were nice too (wink wink)
• after a week, she settled into a routine and the parents did too. A few dog walks that have become a little slower due to the growing independence of little miss. She only takes to the sled or the stroller for a short period of time and insists on walking the rest. Slightly time consuming but cute when the puddles entice her to play. The other day she walked probably close to a 1.5 km to 2 km as her mom dragged the sleigh behind. As we got to the car she took a look (knowing she hates the car seat more than anything right now) and climbed promptly in the sled and looked at me in a pleadingly to take her on another walk. 
• Just as I write the above I think of other fun little ditties that she does. Like this am she watched as I made her her cereal and shook her head repeatedly when I was about to poor the milk. So she had her cheerios milkless and would repeatedly dip her banana in the dry cereal to get the cereal to stick. Innovative and hilarious (at least to her parents).
• I have been working quite a bit of weekends this month (mainly to make up for the ones I took off when I was on vacay). But we did manage to sneak away as a family on family day no less. A walk in the morning and winter fest (or slush fest in the afternoon). We missed a bit of the events in the afternoon due to nap schedule but we did have some most excellent food truck food (mini doughnuts and poutine). 
• Dad and daughter have been having a blast cruising the city with trips to the swim pool, sea life cavern, library and even shovelling a bit of snow. Plus lots of dancing around the house. Wheels on the bus is hugely popular. And a few rap songs mixed in.
• And I have seen some of my favourite people (Casey and Jeaninne) which is always fun. Casey even babysat for me one afternoon so I could attend a work function. I heart my friends with all I have. 

in the news

• The academy awards just came and left. Huge controversy as the best picture was named La la Land but it was a mix up in the envelopes and it was Moonlight instead. Never saw the actual show as I was working but it sounded embarrassing. 
• Garth Brooks came and went. Played 9-10 shows. I'm not a particular fan of his but was pretty impressed with all that I heard he did in Edmonton. Plus a friend of mine saw Trisha Yearwood in Zara. That was cool for her!

i have been enjoying

• supernatural. 
• working out again. 
• wine and baileys (not together..ha)
• reading the last pittacus lorre book
• getting a bit more engaged in work as i have joined a committee 

that's about it of the month of February. Bring on March. Although I may be a little absent from social media as I decided that is what I am going to try to give up for lent. Facebook, instagram and snapchat! wish me luck!

love

a date with gam and a date with dad

what does a gam do with a little girl?

• she reads her plenty of stories
• she feeds her goldfish crackers and fruit for snack and kd for lunch
• she takes her to see two big puffy white dogs who seem to love the little girl and follow her around the house
• she walks with her outside in the stroller
• she listens to music...raffi and muppets

what does a daughter do with her dad?

• they go skiing
• they have hot drinks with his brother, her uncle
• they have lunch overlooking the ski hill basking in the sunlight
• they soak in the cool air as they briskly make themselves down the mountains
• they enjoy the new brunswick getaway

sounds like both parties had a great time

love

Hello 2017 and Good bye January

Oh goodness...
I have been gone for awhile. I will try to blog a bit more as I always have things to say and thoughts to share with my older self. January tends to be my clean-up month. AND I am still not done all the clean-up that I want to do. But that is what I have been doing regardless. That and de-cluttering. Also getting my space bar fixed on my computer as it became a little difficult to blog without putting spaces in-between my words.

So what have we been up to in January

• winter walks, one including a snowshoe expedition. we have a small little sled that we have been able to truck our little 15 month old in. its been fantastic for dog walks too. love it. that and our little hand warmers has made dog walks fantastic so far. 
• hot dog roast in the outdoors. this was something i wanted to do over the holidays and we managed to make it happen on january 1st no less. it was a lovely fire in about -5 weather. the only mishap was slamming my front tooth in the shed door as i was getting hot dog sticks. it cracked but a visit to the dentist shows it is a small enamel fracture for now. AND i finally got feeling back in it so yay!
• sledding. that was a frosty day to say the least but fun with my friends and their kiddies. mine went down quite a few times, the last being somewhat a disaster as i feel like i bruised my rib....my oh my i am getting old!
• ice castle with the cousins and exploring the many little caverns, sliding down the slide, admiring the lights and watching the sun go down and seeing more beauty. plus an added pizza party at granny and granddad's was kind of awesome.
• another little relative get together in the party room at granny and granddad's place but this time even more kids, plus cousins. makes for an amazingly fun time
• adult time, hosting our annual "xmas/new years dinner". wonderful company. wonderful meal. laughs, games (telephone pictionary). always leaves me questioning why i don't do this more often!
• plenty of work this month to make up for the little bit of holiday i am taking at present (nb). so happy to be back at work. how i really missed it!
• little one is officially excelling in dayhome. she is happy to go and hang out with her little baby friend and watch all the big kids do big kid things. sometimes taking all that she is learned and doing it at home, like attempting to put on her shoes and going down the stairs on her bum. 

In the news

• the usa has a 46th president which seems to be headlining all our news right now. the next day the world did a women's march which was powerful to see. 
• jane fonda came to our province to protest the oil-sands. had some beliefs about it but didn't take time to hear both sides

things i have been enjoying 

• this is us, luke cage and my shonda rhimes shows!
• life with pets, storks
• stephen colbert opening monologues, seth myers closer look and cat and nat vblogs

That's it for the month of january!

I will see what I can come up with the rest of this month!