can you say crazy?

for anyone that is ever curious about how some of my "photoshoots" go,

here is a little insight to the "set" - haha.

Note the little "model" just hanging out after the session ;-)

Let's just say this one was WAY more of a headache than I have ever tried to do...and I am hoping that I remember this when thinking of future ideas!!

Thank goodness I had an extra set of hands that day (thanks Shannon!).

We had a good laugh about the ton of sparkles littered around the house anyway (and for weeks later).

And the few photos that turned out were worth it (see Merry Christmas post). 

the carnage after skye was done ripping down the pretty sparkly snowflakes :-(

Wishing you a magical holiday season

& all the best in 2014!

Random Christmasy photos

Felt Christmas tree - c/o Pinterest

I thought that making Skye her own "play" tree would help to keep her out of our other Christmas tree. But it really hasn't helped.

She plays with this one every once in awhile,

but still takes decorations off the other tree and scatters them around.

It was wise to go with non-breakable...and somehow she still "breaks" them

(pulls off the top). 

our craft project on this snowy day

Skye had fun sticking the buttons on the stars with "Ga-loo" (actually just a sticky adhesive on the back), but she was more interested in pulling the buttons off once they were nicely decorated.

They lasted on the tree for a total of about 3 hours (of which was mostly nap time) and then she destroyed them.

What a kid...frustrating.

Maybe we will try again next year. 

Fun photobooth pics from my work Christmas Party last weekend (who brought the elf??!)
And then some pretty ones too.

santa visit

Skye LOVES her dancing Santa "doll" (he sings a milk & cookies song and she dances like crazy), so we thought it would be beneficial to take it with us when she went to sit on the real Santa's lap!
She was happy to show him her Santa, but a little more hesitant to sit on his lap without mommy right there. She did okay though and we got a partial smirk!

and a look at last years photo...

so grown up in only a year!

all I want for Christmas

is a baby goat. And two piggies.
(daddy - this does NOT mean go out and buy them!)

We joined some friends at Spruce Meadows Christmas

market last weekend for a few hours.

Skye was in heaven here in the petting zoo. She would have stayed for hours.

And these were her favourites. 

But this is her actual letter to Santa this year and thank goodness there aren't any pets on it!

feeling a bit happier

about the Christmas tree.

It's tiny(er) and more fun colors than our usual big one. So I like it after all.

Even after stringing the @#$%! lights. 

But Skye still won't leave the decorations alone even after I tell her not to.

So it's a good thing we went with non-breakable and a smaller tree. 

bah humbug

Christmas tree lights suck!

making soup!

This is Skye's second time at making soup and she is becoming a real pro!

The first time was at cousin Niki's house.

They even made Christmas cookies that day too! Very ambitious.

But since she (Skye - not Niki) was half naked in those photos I will leave them off the website - haha. She tends to get drenched while helping out. 

This time Skye was helping mommy and she did a great job at washing

vegetables (and soaking the cupboards).

I guess our cupboard is a wee bit higher and our sink a wee bit deeper than Niki's,

and Skye was determined to get that last carrot - so in she almost climbed.

What a kid!

The soup turned out delicious!!

more fall photos

I'm quite behind on this posting.

These photos of my sister Janessa, Brett, Vann & Veda (oh yes, and Dorothy the dog)

were taken at the farm on the weekend before Thanksgiving!

They turned out really cute. And the background was amazing. 

let's celebrate!

we're having a baby

girl or boy???

what is it? take a guess.

I'm having a brother!

(not sure how I feel about that yet...)

happy halloween

up, up and away,

fly mommy and pilot Skye,

thru the birds and clouds,

going oh so very high. 

we hope to make it back to earth

without a great big pop,

cause it would really, really suck

to suddenly drop, drop, drop!

what to do??

Along with planning for our particular new baby comes the BIG dilemma of - where will be put said baby??! obviously in a bassinet/crib...but located where??
This has increased my stress level...

For anyone that isn't aware of the layout of our current home, we only have 2 bedrooms upstairs - the squishy master bedroom and Skye's room. We do have two big spare bedrooms downstairs, but there is NO way I am putting one of my kids, by themselves, in the basement! So there seems to be only two options (well probably three, but I will explain why the third isn't really a practical option. Maybe the other two aren't either...).

option 1: Dino stays with Skye and I stay with new baby. One pair stays upstairs and the other pair moves downstairs. Obviously being split up sucks in every which way possible, but it postpones a move, if only temporarily...which leads me to

option 2: we move.

I really am not crazy about either option, but I am really, really not crazy about option 2 - although it seems inevitable. And we knew that years ago when we considered starting a family. But the plan when we built this home was to stay here for 3-5 years. Dino wanted to sell after 2 and I said no way - we had put too much time, hard work and personalization into it (and I didn't want to go thru that again so soon after). And so we got comfortable...and the market went up and then it went down and we just stayed where we were (and I get reminded ALL the time of how we should have sold when we had the chance). Well now that is coming back to bite me in the a$$ and having to deal with this whole situation.

And while I am still not crazy about going thru the whole building process again, eventually it will have to happen. So do we deal with an interim move BEFORE the baby (and time is flying by. I figure we have 4.5 months till baby, plus 3 months of bassinet in our room) or AFTER the baby when there is more to move? And that dilemma is a very heavy weight on my shoulders...

could this be a sleep option for Skye?? - we have plenty of chairs!
then we wouldn't need another bedroom

oh yah -

option 3: we put the two kids in the same room. This, to me, is not a feasible option at all. At least not at the ages they will be. Skye was a very bad sleeper from the beginning. She has been up and down since around 1 year. She is quite good now (knock on wood), but having a newborn in the same room as her would be a disaster - nobody would get ANY sleep. She would be up with every little noise, cry, night feeding, etc.  And there really isn't space in her room for a crib and a bed anyway. 

if only our ceiling was higher...

Pumpkin patch

Yup, one more little pumpkin to add to our family next year!

Skye will become a big sister! ...but I'm not sure she will be all that happy about it IF she has to share her birthday :-(

Timing, timing, timing…can you believe that out of all the 365 days of the year (and me being the 'planner' that I am), we somehow messed this up and I am due April 1, 2014 - no joke! Oh well, I keep thinking it must have been meant to be...can't change it now (even though I had major guilt for the first couple months).

I guess it would be no different than having a twin with the same birthday? Odds are I won't have the baby on my exact due date but stranger things have happened.

I felt SO much better about this, and a little of the guilt lifted (Thanks Nicole!), when I heard that one of my friends Nicole is in a similar situation. We were off on maternity leave together last time (Audrey's birthday was end of February 2012) and we will once again share time off :-) Her new due date shares Audrey's exact due date as well - so it could very well be born on Audrey's birthday too. Crazy...

I will be 17 weeks tomorrow. Time has flown by this pregnancy already, likely because I don't have the time or the energy to dwell on it everyday - some other little munchkin keeps me too busy to let that happen. There are days in a row when I actually have forgotten that things are changing. Although getting farther along now, the pants that won't do up, are serving as a reminder. Luckily I have been feeling not too bad. I haven't been sick at all, but am having food aversions - mostly to meat, but it depends on the day. I seem to be starving in the morning and at noon, and then my appetite dies down towards supper (and especially after I have to cook it). So I usually end up eating the veggies and carbs and then having cereal for a bedtime snack (not the greatest eating habits). Lots of cereal consumed at our house lately. And I have been very tired. Oh - and heartburn. These are all very similar symptoms that I had with Skye. Except the fatigue is probably way worse having to deal with a toddler at the same time. And so far our baby looks healthy, which is the biggest reason to be thankful!

3 more weeks till we find out if it's a boy or a girl...still haven't decided whether we will share that information this time or keep it our little secret again ;-)

Thankful

The past 2 weekends have been very busy -

and both have been spent in Saskatchewan -

2 separate trips!

Last weekend we went to the farm to spend our family "Thanksgiving", since we were supposed to have a busy weekend planned here in Calgary for the actual Thanksgiving weekend. All of my family was home and we did the big turkey feast, etc. It was a good, but short weekend, as we were only there Friday to Sunday. So Monday was already an exhausting start to the week...

And then Tuesday morning we got a call that my Grandpa Joe (my dad's dad) had passed away :-( He had recently contracted pneumonia, and at the grand old age of (almost) 91 he just didn't have enough strength to fight it.

But seriously - 91!!! How many of us are going to make it to be that old and wise?

He had a very good, long, happy life and we are all so fortunate to have been able to have him in our lives for so long. He was jolly right up until the end and always had a smile on his face and a story to tell. 

We left for our second trip to farm again on Friday and arrived in time for the prayer service Friday night. The funeral was Saturday morning into the afternoon, and it was a very nice celebration. Standing in the cemetery during the conclusion I couldn't help but think that Grandpa couldn't have planned for a better day - the sun was shining and it was a beautiful country afternoon.

After the formal part was over, everyone came back to mom & dad's for the tribute "party". It was a very emotional weekend for all and there were so many hugs passed around. But it was also one of the greatest weekends our family could have had together!
I think every one of us was/is so thankful to have such a fantastic and close family to support each other and to be able to celebrate all the blessings we have.

Grandma & Grandpa - you did the best job of raising your family and it shows all the way down to the great grandchildren. Thank you!

We love you Grandpa and will miss you dearly!
Rest in peace...