New Years Eve - Beauty & The Beast

This afternoon, all the ladies got gussied up for Beauty & The Beast. We were SO excited. Jacob was sweet and commented on how 'fancy' we all looked. Nice boy.

We had a nice time. It was really special and fun to go with Lucy. What a sweet girl. She was so excited. There were a few technical difficulties at the beginning with the sound, so we didn't get started until 20 minutes late. But once it went, it was good.

As for my review of the show? It was good, not great. Maybe I'm getting to picky, since I've been to TWO whole shows now. Wicked first, and now Beauty & The Beast. I enjoyed Wicked more, but this one was still good. I wasn't a huge fan of the Beast. He was a bit creepy and whiney. Not fierce and commanding.

My favourite scene? Be Our Guest...naturally.

It was a great time.

Tyler and the boys hung out at home with Papa, and Jason and Ali's kids. They had smoothies, played on the quad, and got dinner started for Maurine's birthday.



Tonight, Tyler has gone to the movies with Sarah & Tyson and Papa to see Sherlock Holmes. He was hoping to get tickets to the World Juniors Hockey game next week, but wasn't quick enough, so he was a bit disappointed with that. The kids are in bed and I'm checking out sales on the Old Navy website and getting organized for church tomorrow. Happy New Year Everyone!

Resolute

It has been a while since I've blogged, and I have a TON of stories and pictures to share from our trip to Alberta. I will get there, eventually. I've been spending my time having fun, or totally exhausted from the fun, instead of blogging. But today, since it is New Years Eve, I thought I'd take a moment.

I have been thinking a lot this month about what sort of New Years Resolutions I wanted to plan, if any. I just really couldn't come up with anything. Not that I like to be stagnant, because stagnant = stinky, right? I just couldn't come up with anything good enough to put the "New Years Resolution" stamp of approval on it.

As a family this year, we have completed the Book of Mormon (which we started long before this year), the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants, finishing the 2nd declaration on the evening of the 21st, before we flew to Alberta. It was our goal to finish before the end of the year. That's the whole Triple Combination this year! It's a pretty major triumph for us. Then, we all agreed that we would go back to the Book of Mormon and start again, trying to finish it before Lucy turns 8...hopefully more than once (that gives us 17 months). Wow, that's a surreal, thrilling and terrifying thought all in one!

So I already knew that reading the Book of Mormon was on the list. That was for family resolutedness...but what about me? I must admit, I haven't put hours of thought into it, just moments here and there, pondering. A friend of mine spent all of 2011 setting and accomplishing goals. A different goal every month. Every month accomplished. Amazing. I thought of copying that, but worried that copying wasn't the same as resolving. And I wasn't sure if I could come up with 12 different goals...let alone just one.

Then, tonight, as I was pondering and mostly killing a few minutes of time while my little one was falling to sleep, I fiddled with my phone. I was up-to-date on Facebook status updates, and I had already checked the weather forecast. I wasn't much in the mood for sudoku, so that leaves me with one option...scrolling through photos on my phone. So I did. The very first photo I saw was the most recent one I took. A shot of me and Lucy smiling just before Beauty and the Beast was about to begin today. Man that was a fun afternoon, me and my girlie. And as I looked at the photo I thought, 'does she know how much I love her?' So I quickly uploaded the photo to Facebook and asked the question to the anonymous void...not expecting an answer, just throwing it out there. And it was in this moment that my resolution was born.

Maybe it sounds simple for some, or most, but this one will take some effort on my part. This year, I resolve to express love more. I love my family, DEARLY. Chokingly. Like, tears in the eyes, lump in the throat at the thought of it, kind of love. Like, wrecking my back (quite literally), trying to DO for them. Cooking, cleaning, caring, cleaning, changing, scheduling, cleaning, saving, cleaning, all out of love for them...but I'm constantly wondering if they've heard the words, "I love you" enough to make it stick. Does a 4-year-old know that when his mom does laundry for him or makes his lunch for school, or buys his favourite juice boxes, it's because she loves him? I'm not sure if it translates, and I don't want to leave this life...and now, consequently this year, without being SURE that they KNOW.

So, my resolution is small and simple. 3 little words. My husband and children will hear "I love you" WAY more often this year. I'm not sure how to go about measuring this to make sure that I am keeping up, because I didn't keep track of how often I said it last year, except that my heart knows it probably wasn't enough. I'm hoping that my mere acknowledgement and desire to achieve this goal will somehow work in my favour. But as of today, my strategy is this: I will say "I LOVE YOU" 5000 times this year. That number may sound huge, but here's my reasoning. There are 365 days a year, which means I should be saying those words 365 times at least. But, there are 4 people in my family...so I should be saying it once a day to each of them. So that's 1460 times a year. But surely I can say it more than once a day...even twice a day (morning and night), would be 2,920 times a year. And I want to say it MORE than I have...so more than once a day. More than twice a day. If I say it 5000 this year, then I will be expressing my love to each member of my family 3.4 times a day. That number, is not so big. 3 "I love you's" a day, plus a "love ya" to cover the 0.4 and that gives me 5000 verbal expressions of love this year! I think I can do it.

So there you have it. I will be reading the Book of Mormon with my family everyday this year. And I will be saying I LOVE YOU 5000 times this year. And I figure, if I do those two things, everything else will be pretty much right as rain.

December 31st - New Years Eve Morning

Today is Grandma Maurine's birthday, and so she asked us to come over for breakfast so she could cook waffles for everyone at her house. It seems strange for someone to cook a meal for a LOT of people on their own birthday, but I think she is realizing that she won't be in that house for much longer, and wants to create memories there as much as possible. Plus, I imagine she wants to do something sometimes, instead of always just being invited.

So we all got ready and headed there for breakfast, hungry and excited. The food was great. She treated everyone to waffles with ICECREAM on it. My kids loved it. Dessert and breakfast at the same time. Actually, I found that the ice-cream was more mild than syrup...not sure the sugar balance between the two, but I was all for the ice-cream.

Tyler always spends a few minutes at Grandma's helping her with something techie. She got an iPod for Christmas so she could listen to her scriptures, but she doesn't know how to work it. So he helps.

Funniest moment this morning (to me anyway), was Max coming to me and whispering in my ear (very gravely), "Mom, I just went to the bathroom and my poo was all blue. I think something's wrong with me..."

I stiffled a giggle and said, "I think you had a whole bubble-gum milkshake yesterday..."

A huge sigh of relief that washed over his whole body: "Oh yeah!"

About 20 minutes later it dawns on me that he rarely flushes, so I ask, "Max, did you do that here? Or at home?"
"Here."
"Did you flush?"
"Oh yeah, I didn't know how...!"

Trip to the bathroom. Yup, that's pretty blue! Flush.

Logan took his own time to use the bathroom too...

December 30th - Telus SPARK Science Center

Today was the anticipated day. We were ALL heading to the new Science Center, together! Whoot.

As we drove into the parking lot, Tyler commented that it was annoying that you had to pay for parking, and for admission. Lucy responded by saying, "You have to pay twice?! It must be REALLY good."


The kids had a great time. How could you not. We spent the first hour checking out exhibits.



Then we had lunch and spent the following hour in the kids play-museum. I think the play museum was the biggest hit. Plus, there was more chances for grown-ups to sit down and just observe. Nice.







I love this picture of Max trying to rock-climb. He looks like he's trying so hard, even though he's only inches off the ground. He didn't go any higher than this.

Before our lunch break, the kids enjoyed some toys that were set out in an open area. They were great. Max had fun trying to run through a rolling hoola-hoop. Logan tried too and got beaned in the face. Shake it off buddy.





Tyler and I left just after 1:00 to take Logan home for a nap. Plus, I was feeling super tired and not myself, so I decided to take a nap too. It feels awesome to sleep for an hour in the middle of the day, no? Especially when it's guilt-free. Lucy and Max stayed with everyone else so they could keep playing. Janeen met us there late and wanted to see some of the stuff we had done earlier. Plus, they were able to go to another room we hadn't seen yet and build their own robot.




On the way home, they stopped and got some Peter's Drive-in. Lucy and Max were going to share a milk-shake, but since they couldn't agree on a flavour, grandma got them each their own. Wowza! That's a lot of milk-shake for a little person. Max choose Bubble-gum, Lucy choose Chocolate. I could've guessed that.

The whole day exhausted Logan and he was ready for bed even earlier than usual. Bonus.

December 29th - Chillin

Today, we be chillin' like a villain. Tyler and I headed over to the mall this morning to check out some Boxing Day Sales while the kids hung out at Grandma's. We did pretty good. Seriously, it's so much easier to shop without kids. Sorry guys.

We checked out a few things at Ricki's and Old Navy that I was interested in, but no luck. Tyler bought a sweater. Then we headed to Aeropostale, and that's where we crashed it. I got a t-shirt, long-sleeved tee and hoodie. Tyler got 2 t-shirts, a hoodie and cologne. I love a t-shirt for $5.

After Logan's nap, we headed, quickly, out to Cochrane. Scott had to register the truck before the year was over, and we were looking forward to some home-made pizza dinner. Plus, all the grown-ups were planning a games night that night, after the kiddos went to bed.

The kids were being a bit rambunctious waiting for their pizza, so Grandma had the brilliant idea of playing Simon Says. It worked great while Grandma was Simon. She really had their attention...but when it was Max's turn to be Simon, he really got Grandma back. Jumping off couches, swimming on the floor. She's such a good sport.


After some awesome pizza (roasted veggie was the best), made by Sarah, the kids started a dance party in the living room. Ali took her kids home and to pick up their babysitter, so she could be back for games, but Lucy and Tyler kept the dance party going strong!




There was a brief moment where ALL the kids sat and watched a movie...I think it lasted about 3 minutes. So it was worth getting a picture of.

We played games (Shoot the Moon and Spit in the Ditch) until well after midnight and laughed and laughed. It was a fun relaxing day. Love it!

December 28th - Airdrie Lights!

Today, we spent the day hanging out at my parent's house. Actually, the kids and I hung out, and Tyler headed to the movies with my brother and my nephew.

My kids love playing with their cousins. Logan loves trying on shoes...so trying on cousins shoes was inevitable. Here he's wearing Cy's (Cy is huge, by the way - he was hoping to be taller than me. He's taller than my mom already, and I'm next on the totem pole...not quite, but SOOOO close).

Logan also likes to try on people's hats...or making me try them on.

Then, it was back to my parents so Logan could have a nap, because after the nap we were going to head out to Mike and Tammy's for the kids to have a chance to play together for a bit, grab a bite to eat, and then head to the Airdrie Lights Festival. It was a ton of fun!

We had pizza and vietnamese for dinner and headed to the lights all bundled in snow-pants and mittens. The lights were beautiful, and the kids had a lot of fun.

There were lots of boards with cut-out faces for the kids to stand by and get pictures. I don't know what they're called...or if they're even called something. It was dark, so taking pictures in the dark with TONS of Christmas lights was difficult.





We finished the evening playing at the park for a few minutes before heading home.

Of course, it wouldn't be a family get-together without a little drama. While playing at the park, we all said goodbye and went our separate ways to the different parking lots that we had parked in. Alison went one way with Jillian and Lucy; my parents and Mike & Tammy went the other way with their kids. Tyler and I were still at the park trying to get the boys to come with us, because they didn't want to leave the park. At one point, we thought Emma was missing, so Tyler took off looking, but it turns out she was fine. When he got back, I was pulling Logan off the park and he started screaming and hitting. Typical these days. When I turned back to the park, Max was gone. Like, GONE. We both looked around the playground, to no avail. He ran towards my parents to see if Max was with them...nope. All the while I'm calling, "Max!" A friendly couple close by stops me and says, "Are you missing a child?"

It isn't until I'm asked this question that I actually start to get worried and panic, and the emotion starts to creep into my throat. "Yes!"
"What is he wearing?"
"Blue plaid coat, blue hat"
"How old is he?"
"4"
"What's his name?"
"Max."
And they're off calling for Max too.
I'm hefting Logan around trying to find him. The park is so big and dark with so many people. It's 9pm now and they're starting to turn off the Christmas lights because it's closing for the evening. I check the ice-rink, Tyler's running around, the other couple are calling for Max. Finally, Tyler runs to the parking lot where Alison is waiting with the girls to see if Max is there...and of course, he is.

There are so many times when my panic and worry turn into frustration and I can't help screaming, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?!"

Not today. Today is total relief. A big hug. And buckle into the vehicle, with a gentle reminder, "Max, you NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED to make sure Mom and Dad know where you are..."
"Ok mom."

Panic over.

And Logan had a blast riding home in Papa's truck with Cy. What a great big cousin.