How long can we stretch out a weekend?

August 13 is my parents' 20th Wedding anniversary, so my sister planned a big surprise party. We headed out to GP on Friday - finally leaving Winkler around 2. Our van was so packed with stuff that I had to sit in the back seat and occupy myself, so I took pictures.

Friday night was a tangled web of lies. I had transported a cake to GP but needed to add the final touches. I had to get to my sister's to work on the cake, so we told my parents we were headed to Boston Pizza for a few drinks. Instead, we snuck over to Jen's, parked in the garage and went to work. When I got back to my parents, we lied about what we ate at BP and went to bed. The cake looked great, especially next to the awesome guest book (which my parents LOVED.)
Saturday morning, mom and I went to some garage sales and found the latest addition to Chelsea's park!! It can be set as a rocking toy, or a push ride on, or a trike! She LOVES it and I have a feeling the crowd that visit's C's park may like it too!


I was under strict instructions to bring Mom and Jerry to my sister's house for 2:30. It was 2:20 and I was about to try to lie again, when someone comes walking up the driveway with lawnchairs, chips, and a salad, asking, "Am I at the wrong house?" Well, seeing as how you are the only person here, I'm going to say... YES!

So the surprise was "ruined" but it worked out okay because then M&J were able to change into clothes they wanted to wear and adjust to the fact that they were about to be swarmed with people. PLUS I didn't have to lie anymore! It was cute watching them try to figure out what lies had been told and what had been the truth. I think the best part for them was seeing all 5 kids together at the same time - that rarely ever happens!

Jen had set up two kiddie pools. By the end of the afternoon, they were soooo muddy!

After the celebration, we sat around the fire, and then had a filling breakfast and Chris and I were off... without Chelsea. We left her with Grandma and Grandpa and headed to Clear Lake for two days and one night without Chelsea, and then she would join us for one night and day. It's been fun. We laid around on the beach then drove to The Keg in Brandon for supper. Today, Chris and I went on a trail ride, because Chris had never been on a horse.

Even though the ride was slow and well, kinda boring, he loved it!

And now, we are watching some TV, just relaxing, with Chelsea asleep in her playpen.

Now this has been a long, long post, just like my weekend. I've loved it!

Livin' the Life

walking
beach
napping
reading
sunshine
spinach salad
road trip
The Keg
swimming
hottub
spa
pedicure
movie
giant comfy bed
pretty toes
holding hands
napping some more
riding horses
reservations
browsing and shopping
more beach

ahh... gotta love little getaways

Work Shmerk

August is here. I dread August. That means work is just around the corner. I don't want to go back to work. I love being at home with C. I love laughing at her all day long. She rocks my world. I hate only seeing her for a few hours a day. I love this girlie.





(And please ignore the soother - she's getting her molars right now.)

My weekend of painting.

This weekend, I painted the garage door, side entrance, front door and pole. I love the new look!

Always fun to see the before and afters, so I thought I'd share!

These are a few of my favourite things...

Contrary to the first 9 months of her life, Chelsea loves her soother. Her latest thing is that when she goes to sleep, she wants one in her mouth and one in each hand. Throughout the day, she collects them. She finds them all around the house and carries them around. I took these from her just to take the picture. She's pretty cute because I'll ask her to hand me her soother and she will, only to stick another one from her stash in her mouth. Today, she climbed up on a chair by the table, just to reach over and get the two "soos" I had put on the table.

When is the right time to take something that she loves so much away? I like the soother right now. She is so happy when she has it and she's teething pretty hardcore right now and it helps her. When she is upset or crying, the soo takes all that away. I like it.

Will I still like it when she's 5?

We'll see.

The view from the outside looking in.

I love this. I love our time together.

Self Proclaimed Geek

Here's my deep, dark secret. Ready for it??


I'm a geek. Yup. Self-proclaimed, pretty geeky kind of girl.

Here's one of the many reasons. I really really want a label maker. Like really bad. When I get a hold of one at school, look out! I'm the labeling queen. If I had a label maker, I would label EVERYTHING if I could. I seriously heart organization (not that you can tell lately from my house.) I would label everything, if people wouldn't tease me.

I'd label the canisters. Flour. Sugar. Popcorn. Perpetually Empty Container I I Never Seem To Use. Brown Sugar.
I'd label the shelves in the pantry. Cake Stuff. Icing Sugar. More Icing Sugar. Pasta. Soup. Blender. Sandwich Maker.
I'd label the shelves in the dresser. Socks. T-shirts. Clothes I Never Wear. Painting Clothes. Junk Drawer.

I would label everything. So, I haven't bought a label maker... yet. I did stare longingly at one today in Walmart though. I even picked it up and almost put it in my cart. But then, I did the non-geeky thing and put it back.

Like superman, I will go on day to day, hiding my true identity.

Amanda - super geek girl.

We are family.

We did a photoshoot today for no reason really. We got a lot of great pictures! I think I'm done with studios for a while. I much prefer this casual stuff!

Oh and I know I have lurking readers. I'm intrigued as to who looks, now that I can see how many people are checking me out. Comment! I'd love to see who's reading!

13 Random Thoughts

1. Great day today. Love hangin' out with people on my front lawn, watching kids swim without suits, and eating supper on the driveway. Could it get any cooler?

2. I just made 8 pounds of icing sugar into icing. I am trying a new recipe and Chris isn't home to taste test, so I had to. Now I have a sugar headache. Today wasn't a great dieting day as I had already had cake today and now icing. eh-eh.

3. Dieting. Yeah. I've done really good. But I don't think I've lost much/any weight in the past 6 weeks. I need to just buck up and lose the last little bit. It sucks that I gave into temptation and have started taste testing my cakes and icing. My cakes are dang good, let me tell ya.

4. Mama Mia was a fantastic movie that made me laugh in a way that I haven't laughed in a long time. I needed to laugh.

5. This summer has been FANTASTIC. I'm glad I decided not to work at all, and just hang out with Chelsea and bake. It's been absolutely wonderful.

6. My garage makes me happy. I still have a few more storage things to buy, and a bit more organizing to do, but soon and very soon there will be one, if not two, vehicles parked inside. Woo woo for me!

7. Why did I choose cake decorating as a hobby? Oh, I could have scrapbooked, or done something else a little less tempting, but nooo... I don't or shouldn't eat white flour or sugar, yet I choose to immerse myself in the stuff daily.

8. I need a pedicure, but I'm waiting to see if it's going to work for us to go to Clear Lake. If it works, I'll get a pedicure there. If not, I'll get one here. I just desperately need one.

9. I have a long list of to-do's that don't seem to be getting done. Make curtains for our bedroom. Clean and organize our bedroom. Paint the spots that need touchups downstairs. Clean the tub. Wash the floors. Finish organizing the pantry. Organize the closet space downstairs. etc... the list just doesn't end.

10. August is coming quickly. August 9, I will have been married for 5 years. Wow. Long time.

11. Facebook isn't working for me right now and that irritates me. I will say it loud and (not-so) proud. "I'm addicted to facebook." I'm not even sure why - I just am.

12. I have 4 cakes to do this weekend. Whee!

13. Since hanging out with the DiFran's on a daily basis, I haven't taken Chelsea for any walks... oops. Bad mom. But she has so much fun playing outside and/or in her pool. I love it.

Beaches are a great place for family bathing.

On Saturday, we joined the DiFran's at the PC Beach. It was fantastic. Chelsea loved the water. She would just run right in, while the boys were content to play at the edge of the water. I know I'm an overprotective mom, but really, there was no reason to worry.

You see, Chris was on the scene. The shirt that says lifeguard, the matching trucks, the cool glasses, running on the beach. I knew that my daughter would be safe with this man guarding her life!

Okay, well he's running with a bucket in his hand, so maybe he was just in a hurry to build sand castles with Noah.
Here, Chelsea is sporting her cute green hat that her grandma loves so much. However, when Daddy put her hat on, somehow he managed to flip up the front and the back, giving a throwback to the early 90s.

Next, we decided we'd enter Chelsea in the America's Next Top Toddler Model contest. She was fierce.

Here she is doing her best runway walk.

And to finish it off, a cute picture of Ari's dirty toes. No worry though. All that sand made it safely onto Heather's towel.

Ahh summer. This is the life.

Cake turned out beautifully. You can read about it at http://www.amandascreativecakes.blogspot.com/.

Life has been smokin' busy. Seriously, lovin' it. I absolutely adore spending time with my Chelsea. She rocks. She is so busy, but sooo much fun. We are outside pretty much all day long, playing on the yard or driveway, or in our pool, or walking or biking.The days are passing so quickly. Pretty much every day, I open Chelsea's Park to the DiFran's and the boys come over to play with Chelsea (okay, well mostly her toys and pool) and H and I get to sit and chat. It's awesome. Awesome. It makes the day so much more enjoyable as the kids are all way happier and well, quite frankly, so are we. Here's some cute pics of our time together.

Here's Ari being his cute self. "Cheese!"

And well, what summer isn't complete without awkward tan lines? Sorry about this, Noah, but your bum is way too cute not to post!

Today we headed to the beach with the DiFran Clan, but I shall blog about that later, because it too will be a picture heavy post and I'm just too tired. So there you go. Something to look forward to!

Coming Soon...

I'm so busy with a cake for this weekend. It's consuming all my time at night.

I have lots to blog about.

Stay tuned.

Day of Fun.

I recently had a birthday and these two lovely ladies were not available to celebrate wtih me on that day. So... we planned a day of shopping in good ol' GF. So much fun was had. First, there was the many many pictures taken, before J told me that I wasn't good at it and she snapped this beauty (while she was driving. - Surprisingly, this is NOT when we were pulled over by the police.)

First stop was Target. Can anyone say good times? It was great. I got some clothes and a ton of icing sugar, cake mixes and Crisco. Then, let the bells ring and the chimes sing, we went to Michael's. I had two coupons. One for 40% off any one item and 25% off my entire order. I was PUMPED. I got a ton of cake decorating stuff for about a third of the price in Canada. I saw this and thought it was cool... (It says Amanda and Christopher.)

So I think that may have inspired H to do this, but I'm not sure.

And, because it was my birthday and every good birthday deserves costumes, we played dress up. Mine is a cowboy hat, but you can't really tell. And why, oh why, do I always smile like an idiot??

Well, after an amazing lunch and lots of laughing, we shopped some more, knocked over displays in the Big K, threw peanut shells on the floor and refused to eat bacon. Oh and H put on quite the fashion show for us in the Macy's changing room, but I'm told I'm not allowed to post pics. Too bad. It was HOT.

I loved the day. It was great. I came away with some good clothes (that fit) and lots of cake stuff. I had a blast with the best girls.

The fight to stay unoffended.

Serious post talk now. This post goes deep.

I've been thinking a lot about feelings; when to acknowledge them, when to voice them, and when to just let things be. I think recently I've started to acknowledge and voice my feelings and I'm not sure that it's always the best thing to do - for me, or for others.

When your feelings are hurt by someone close to you, do you just hide that feeling, or do you say, "hey. I'm feeling hurt..." or "when you said/did that, it really hurt me." I'm really good at doing this in my marriage because I know that no matter what, my husband will (and has to!) stay with me. He can't leave me because of my emotions or feelings. We will always persevere and work things out. But I think with certain people, I'm not confident enough to say, "Wow. My feelings hurt." I'm afraid to voice my concerns for fear that they won't be my friends anymore. I know, I know... if that's the case, they aren't worth being friends with... but I think they are. I'm just wondering why all of a sudden, I'm not confident in my relationships??

When I was growing up, it was always a struggle for me to have friends. I'm not sure why... I was very outgoing, not shy. I know all kids get teased, but it really affected my confidence. I remember going to my grandma's for lunch, or reading a book on the corner of the playground or hiding in the bathroom stall just so I wouldn't have to be alone at recess and have people see me.

In grade 9, I made a close group of friends and that was great. Then I started to make more friends and things were fine. But every once in a while, that doubt comes to the surface. That stupid junior high feeling of inadequacy. Why? Why now when, gosh darn it, I'm a great person, does that feeling of just not being good enough have to come back?

Don't get me wrong. I have some AMAZING friends right now that I know God has placed in my life for very definite reasons. These girls are encouraging and welcoming and loving and funny and just all around good times. I have an amazing husband who loves me unconditionally. But I think it's just that I know some friendships have their seasons and they aren't the friendships that stand the test of time. I am just so loyal to my friends and want those friendships to last forever. I still hurt for friends in my past who I'm just not close to anymore. It makes me sad because once we were so close and now we barely, if at all, speak to each other. I know it comes with growing up and changing and that's great, but sometimes, I still mourn for these friendships.

So back to feelings... I like to tell people my feelings. I tell people that I love them, and how awesome they are, and I tell them how I'm feeling, even if I'm hurting or sad. I know they can't fix the situation, but there's just something about putting it out there.

But not everyone likes to hear this... I know it's hard to hear that we've hurt someone in some way, whether it was intentional or not. But I like to tell people so that we can deal with it, clear the air, and become stronger. But what if that isn't how others like to deal with it... what to do... what to do....

Canada Day, eh?

Yet another day at home with Chris and Chelsea. I could get used to this!! We had a great day at home, playing around and then we went downtown for Winkler's Canada Day festivities. Although we felt a little let down because there really wasn't much there, Chelsea really loved the petting zoo. (If you click on the picture with the chick and the duck, you can see clearly Chelsea's wart on her finger. Doctors won't touch it because she's so young. Pharmacists won't recommend anything. Got any good home remedies??)

At home, Chelsea is keeping me rather busy. She has these walkie-talkie phones and is talking on them all the time. Perhaps she's giving me a glimpse into the future??



And her latest climbing trick. I went to the bathroom and came out, and there she was playing with the light switches. I almost had a heart attack (and then of course, grabbed my camera!)



One last picture from Canada Day. I'm not posting this because of Chelsea. I'm posting it because of the man in the background of this picture. If you have a special someone in your life who chooses to pull his socks up so they reach his shorts, just tell him no. No, no, no.

(Oh and Heather needs to come home. I miss her.)