Thank Goodness

By goodness, I mean my kids. In the midst of my frazzled attempt at accomplishing something this afternoon so I actually feel like I'm fulfilling my calling, and repeatedly telling Lucy to be quiet because her brother is sleeping, even though I know she's going crazy sitting beside me at the computer waiting for me to stop typing so we can play together, I turn to look at her and see this:
It put a smile on my face, and did the trick. And then, after an equally stressful evening while my husband was away at the Youth Activity, he came home to the kids in the shower and said, "hey, you go do something and I'll take care of this. Seriously, blog or something." Wow! Those are words I have NEVER heard in 6 years and they were music! So thank goodness for goodness.

Deep Breath

I am feeling overwhelmed today. It started out really great. I had a meeting at Lucy's prospective preschool this morning. I was really happy and satisfied with the teachers and the set-up. I felt really good about the whole situation, and try not to let thoughts of "oh my goodness my baby is growing up so fast!" flood my mind. The kids and I headed into the city to buy a whole schwack of presents. Emma's birthday present, Jacob's birthday present, and shower gift for Sara P, Father's Day stuff, and Grandma Janielee's birthday. Phew, June just got busy. We also enjoyed some foodcourt lunch and the kids played on the mall's coin operated carts for a few minutes. This afternoon I enjoyed putting some things together for my Dad's Father's Day gift and hanging out with Lucy...but since about 4:30pm, I have had a really overwhelming feeling and have been on the verge of tears at every moment. I'm dealing with new tenants, primary meetings and not much else, but I feel overwhelmed...I wonder why? Deep Breath...take it easy. I can do this. Heavenly Father thinks I can, so obviously I can. Time to go to our house in town and fix the washer and dryer, garage door opener and install new locks on the doors. Maybe we'll get some icecream when we're done. That'll cure it, right?

Little Girls

Little girls are made up of pink...that's all I can say. Ribbons and bows and pink and flowers and ruffles and babies. Tisha Elford came over last night with some little girl barrettes she is making these days and Lucy and I picked out a few for her to have. She got quite a collection and is VERY excited about them all. She likes this pink ribbon today because she thinks it makes her look like a present. Her auntie Sarah even picked up a few for herself...so I guess even big girls are made up of ribbons and bows too.And as a side note to my 'little boys' story of a few days ago...little boys are also made up of slivers because they walk around bare foot all the time. I think it's the 'Tom Sawyer' in all of them. We struggled with this foot sliver for about half an hour and then finally gave up, because we figured our relationship of trust with Max was more important that the dead piece of wood in his foot.

My Way

So I went for the big plunge yesterday and got my hair CHOPPED off. Well, it was short to begin with, but this is the shortest I've had it in over 10 years. I told my hairdresser I really wanted something funky and easy for the summer, but that I was nervous I would look like a boy (definitely down-side to the short haircut of 10 years ago...a few people thought Mike and I were twins! argh). I liked the haircut right off, but I always say, you can never love a haircut until you've styled it yourself...so here's a few shots of it yesterday after the hairdresser did it...and today, with my own blow-drying. I LOVE the pea-sized amount of shampoo it took and the less than 10 minute blow-dry. whoo-hoo for summer!

What are boys made of?

I've heard all those rhymes about snakes and snails and puppy-dog tails...which don't make any sense, since the only part of that sentence my boy would like is the puppy-dog tails. MY little boy? Well, he's made up of broken legs (just scratches at this point, but he likes to tell me it's broken), building towers, and hiding socks! I just don't know where he gets it, or why he does it. I will find little boy socks hidden in the strangest places around my house. I can guarantee that I will put a pair of socks on my boy first thing in the morning, and within 2 hours they'll both be gone...usually in different places. I don't know if he has squishy toes, or sweaty feet...but the socks MUST come off! If I ask him within a few hours of him taking them off, he can almost for sure tell me exactly where they are...but any more than that and his brain has filled up with other important information and the sock whereabouts falls out an ear or something...only to be discovered by me at some later date in the weirdest of places. I took some pictures today as I was tidying of some locations where I found socks. At the top of the stairs going into my bedroom. Between the washer and dryer. And the strangest? Under Lucy's pillow. I discovered that one as I was scooting Lucy into bed and trying to adjust her pillow. If we're out at other people's houses, he fortunately has learnt to stick his socks in his shoes, so we know where they are when it's time to leave. It'll forever drive me crazy (since most of the time I only find one at a time and that makes laundry a pain).
Fortunately, my little boy is also made up of chunkies and tasty-parts. The chunkies are his thighs, which he freely allows me to 'eat' and the tasty-parts is his neck...which again, he lets me eat, but not his dad...I think his dad's face is too scratchy for snacks. He is also made up of cuddles and hugs and kisses...which I love.

Welcome Home - bienvenido a casa

We headed to the Calgary airport to welcome my cousin Andrew home from his mission in Chile. He and his family live out in Kelowna right now, but they were flying into Calgary and as many as the Bourne/Jones clans as were available descended to show our happy greetings. His flight was coming in through Toronto, so most other passengers were local, but we waved our Canadian flags proudly, regardless of the stares. His parents had flown down a week earlier to spend some time with him in Chile and flew home with him, so we were able to welcome 3 people, instead of just one. It was fun to see his reactions to the huge crowd, and the culture shock was starting to show, even in the first few minutes. We got a nice shot of him greeting his two sisters...it'll be a nice reunion when Chris, his older brother, comes home from his mission in California. And here's a shot of the whole family (minus Chris) happy to be home and off the 19 hour flight! Our kids also enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with mom while we waited, and then heading upstairs to the airport play-place for a few minutes before heading back home.Welcome home Elder! Bienvenido!

When Upon Life's Billows...

In May, our 2 year 'anniversary' of being approved by the MD to have a trailer out on Scott and Janie's property came up at the exact same time that our tenants in our house in Cochrane moved out, so Tyler and I were faced with the decision whether to remain out here, or move back to Cochrane. We have spent almost 3 years out here, and have loved and hated a lot of it. The love parts are easy: the great outdoors, quiet, a beautiful view, and being close to family. The hates: frozen pipes in the winter, dripping roof in the spring, and a house that feels like a furnace in the summer...but we've taken it all in stride, making slight improvements as the budget would allow. Now that we have the home in a fairly liveable state, we were feeling a dilemma. Since we haven't received our approval from the MD yet, this may be a moot point, but we've decided we enjoy living out here...and try to look at the bright side of every situation.
We got snowed in a number of times this winter, as the wind howls out here and drifts the snow half-ways up our front door...Scott purchased a VERY well used snow blower at the beginning of winter, and are we ever grateful he did! It was frustrating a few times to get stuck....and then stuck again...and yet again. But we had plenty of times to step outside and build snowmen, or have a family snow-fight, or let the kids practice their skiing without driving to the slopes.I spent a lot of time in the fall laying sod, planting bulbs and cedar bushes, looking forward greatly to the 'after' shot I would take of my yard in the spring. Well, one of the lows of living here, is things are a bit more 'wild' and 'frontier'-like than in town. Instead of the beautiful garden I was hoping for, I've got a lawn that is about half and half, and 10 cedar trees that would make Charlie Brown's tree look lush...thanks to the deer, who had a pretty rough winter out here in frontierland and were appreciative of the buffet I left for them.The plus side though, is that my garden (two small flowers beds, now heavily protected with chicken wire to fend off any hungry deer) is coming along nicely. My tulips are starting to open, and I planted a few more 'who-knows-what-they-are' flowers (because I like the look, but can't be bothered remembering the names). Plus, the kids and I went for a walk around the property today to check out the bird-houses that were set up last year, and discovered some tiny little homes. I'm not sure what kind of birds are responsible for these nests, but we see a lot of bluebirds flying around.
This morning grandma was working in her garden. The kids exclaimed "Grandma!" with pure joy as they ran up the hill to see her. They get plenty of time to play with their aunties and to be goofy in ways I could never come up with. I can put up with some drifting snow, deer, and questionable plumbing to give my children experiences like that. The best part? A family reunion is no more effort then opening your front door. Ah bliss.