8 miles!

"Maybe strong is just what you have left when you've used up all your weak."

Reminder

I love this so much. It's going to go on my wall somewhere. So so true.

Give me CANDY.

First of all, let me start off by saying, "Do not judge."


Okay? No really.


NO judgement. It's my blog and I'm about to reveal a deep dark secret.


I love parades.


There I said it.

Around here, all I seem to hear is negativity - people hate parades. "Our parade is so lame." "Our parade is so short." Blah, blah, blah. I'm from Gilbert Plains, people! We have 5 floats, 3 cows, some bikes and a whackload of machine equipment. Winkler parade is fantastic and Morden's? LOVE!


There's just something about the excitement you see in kids as they watch floats go by and catch candy. I love it. This year we went to Altona, Gretna and Plum Coulee parades. My family got to watch the Winkler parade but I didn't - because I WAS IN IT!!

Okay, I know it's not that exciting. But I was walking in a pink tank with the Tyson Method 4 Moms ladies and I had a blast!
A sea of pink, coming your way!

(This is me, waving at Chelsea. I wasn't this excited for the whole parade, I promise.)
Chelsea got to join us and she also thought being in the parade was the greatest thing ever.
I've been asked to be in the Morden parade and I had to take a few days to think about it because I love watching the parade that much. It was a tough choice!


But I'm super excited. I've been attending aquafit bootcamp on Tuesday nights and I've been asked by Fittwell in Morden to workout on their bootcamp float. ME! People are going to be watching me workout on a float.


Wait - people are going to be watching me workout on a float.


YIKES!

Ah well, see you Saturday!!

Breathtaking.

So so so blessed.

Happiness - 2011.

2 blonde babes

Aww... they really do like each other. Sometimes it's good for me to remember this.

M'baby is all grown up

A twin bed has never looked so big.
He's got all he needs - two monkeys, a sippy cup of water and his blanket.

For the first time in almost 5 years, we're packing away the baby crib and changetable. This does make me sad, I will admit.

As for potty training, I'd like to say he's completely pottytrained, as long as he's naked. As soon as I put a diaper or gitchies on him, he's a mess. But leave him naked and we've got #1 and #2 on the potty, each and every time.

So, with that being said, I've come up with a solution.

He'll be naked, forever. No biggie.

So if you see me at superstore with the Pantless Wonder, just smile, nod and go on your merry way.

Choices.

We started out as babies. At least, that's how I feel now, looking back. We started dating the summer I turned 20.

We were engaged 9 months later. I did not know what marriage was all about, but I knew it wasn't easy. We tried to prepare ourselves with two different sets of premarital classes with two different pastors. We were very different people who needed to figure out how to live as one.

Then, the summer I turned 22, on August 9, 2003 we made our promises, said our vows, and began this crazy, wild ride we call marriage.

I wish I could tell you that it's been easy. I wish I could say that marriage is a simple equation of 2 people + marriage = happiness.

But the truth is, marriage is hard. Marriage involves making certain choices each and every day. Every day, I chose to love my husband. Every day, I chose to value our marriage. Some days, these choices are easy. Some days, these choices are the hardest things I've ever had to do.(2004)

We've had our struggles. If you've ever met us, you'll know that Chris and I are very different people. We've been told time and time again, "Opposites attract." Well, opposites also have to figure each other out. Opposites have to figure out how to co-exist without hurting each other. We had to figure out how to argue - a non-confrontational, quiet, slow to process, slow to anger man, and a rash, loud, deal in the moment, emotional girl. We had to figure out how to deal with finances - a husband who loved impulse buys, credit cards and never worried about money and a girl who pinches pennies, saves in order to buy, and loathes credit cards. (Edmonton, 2006)
We had to figure out how to balance each other. I loved being social, going out with friends, doing things and Chris loved quiet nights at home. (I swear, he would be quite content to never leave the house - ever). We had to figure out everything. Opposites attract, but man oh man, it wasn't easy.

We struggled with having babies. We fought about having babies. We were stressed and unhappy. Marriage was a choice. We had to reconsider our future. What would our marriage look like if we didn't have kids? How would we move on? This was a sad, dark time, but we turned to each other.

God stepped in and blessed us with our amazing daughter. Can I just say, "Woah - parenting." If your marriage isn't strong and built on a solid foundation, I'd recommend putting off having babies until that gets figured out. Babies are amazing and wonderful and such a blessing, but suddenly you don't have oodles of time to devote to your spouse and your marriage. Date nights become a thing of the past, free time is non-existant, and exhaustion seems to rule every decision made.

2008 was a true test of our marriage. We knew enough to reach out for help. We turned to our pastor and counselling. We fought hard for our marriage. Each and every day, we made the choice to stay married. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that each day was a choice. We talked late into every night, trying to figure out how this marriage thing was supposed to continue. We kept our problems a deep dark secret. Looking back, my stomach still churns. But we put on our happy faces and chose to honor our promises and commitments we had made on August 9th, 2003.

(Sept 2008)

As time passed, things got easier again. We began to relax and breathe and enjoy each other. Our choice to stay married was the right one. I'm a big believer that marriage is not always easy. It's not always chocolates, roses and long walks on the beach. It's messy and chaotic, but it's always a choice.

(Oct. 2009)

Marriage can be a wonderful and beautiful thing. I have a built in best friend. I know he's always waiting for me, ready to hear me talk about my day. He understands that I need to talk late into the night, even when he wants to sleep. He gets my frustrations and he's quick to celebrate my joys. He encourages me and gives me strength. We parent well together and love on our kids like crazy. We've slowly learned to balance each other out.

(Sept. 2010)

I think of what we would have missed out on, had we thrown in the towel and given up. I think of how our lives we be so different if we chose differently. During those rough times, I didn't ever think we would make it and that life would move on and happiness would return. I am so thankful that we continued to choose our marriage above everything.

(November 2010)

And here we are today. Eight years of marriage have passed. 8 years. That is such an accomplishment. In the years to come, I will fight for my marriage. I will protect my promises. I will strive to become a better wife, a better friend and a better partner. I will choose to continue to love my husband, even when our marriage isn't full of passion and romance, but rather exhaustion, poopy diapers and a to-do list a mile long.

(August, 2011)

Our marriage right now feels easy and right. It's full of fun, passion, love and devotion.

Chris is my rock, my saving grace, and my best friend. I chose him 10 years ago when we started dating, made the choice to marry him eight years ago, and I would chose him again today.

I choose love. I will always choose to love.

Almost a compliment

C - "Mommy, you work out a lot."

"Yup. I like how it makes me feel strong and healthy."

C- "You are rock hard, right Mommy?"

"Aww thanks Chelsea!"

C - "Well, except for all your jiggly bits."

...


Bahahahhahahahaa.

Projects

We are big on projects around here during the summer.

I wallpapered and painted our master. I haven't done the "big reveal" yet, because I'm still working on some artwork and bedding, but here is a little taste.

The before shot is more of a during shot.

And this is just a teaser of the wallpaper I put up.
Then, project #2 was finishing under the deck. We went from this....

...to this. There's even a hidden door under there so I can still use it as storage. I still need to stain it, but I'm in the process of talking to the paint store, because the stain I did last year did NOT weather well and we need to figure out what to do.

I also bought, primed, and painted a new bedroom set for Chelsea. I'll post pics when it's all set up in her room.

Possible to do still...

- redo our garden shed. Chris wants to make it larger and side it so it matches our house. I'll miss the uniqueness of the shed, but I won't miss the flaking paint and loose shingles.

- tile a backsplash in the kitchen. I'm so rooting for this to happen, but I'll need help picking out tile.

- finish the basement? We still need to finish the bathroom and Chris' office. I'm thinking the office might get done, but the bathroom would be expensive to finish, and really, do I NEED 4 toilets to clean when only 3 of us use them?

And that's it! There's not a lot of relaxing that goes on in our house during the summer.

G-man

This boy has me wrapped around his finger. I am always so amazed by the love I feel for him. We've started the process to move him out of his crib and into a big boy bed. This is a hard one for me. M'baby is growing up too fast!

We've also started potty training. Oy-vey, potty training. He's actually doing really well, and I am learning patience. Oh how I am learning patience as I sit and wait, and wait, and wait some more while he sits, and sits, and sits some more.

So - funny story.

I'm in the kitchen and the doorbell rings. As I walk down the hallway towards the door, I see that Gavin has peed on the floor. No emergency, so I go and let in my guest. As I lead this guest into my house, I'm trying to explain the pee situation going on and she starts laughing.

Oh, my friends, it's not just pee anymore. I watch, horrified, as he poops, and then steps in it. Then, as I'm rushing to clean all this up, clean that up, he holds out a poopy hand with this grossed out look on his face. Don't you wanna come visit me?? Good thing my guest had a sense of humour (and a strong stomach!)

And, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that we have a communication problem in our house.

For example:

me - "Gavin, you have to chew your food, Buddy."

G - "Choo choo? chugga chugga, choo choo!"

me - "Gavin, want to wear your big boy gitchies?"

G - "Yeah!" as he promptly runs to the fridge and points "Cheese?"

(Forever in my head, I will think of gitchies as "get-cheese.")
me - "Where are your knees?"
G - "Ahhh Chooo!"
me- "No buddy, that's 'sneeze.' Where are your knees?"
G - grinning wildly, "Chhheeeeeesssssseeeeee!"

me - "Gavin, go put pee in the potty." (Yup. I'm that blunt. Sigh for potty training.)

G - brings me the potty seat with 10 green peas in the bottom. "PEE!"

:) LOVE this guy, but looks like we may need a lesson in mommy-gavin speech.

Sandy cracks

Today we hit up Morden beach. Normally, I'm more of a stay-in-my-backyard-pool kinda girl, but we ventured out and it was awesome. Well worth all the snack, toy, diaper, clothes, blankets, and towel packing and the eating lunch in the car, carrying sleeping kids from the car, vacumming out the sand from the car and showering the sand off that is involved with going to the beach.

The kids loved it. Gavin's favourite part, of course, was the snacks. Mmm... popcorn puffs. It's like crack for kids, I swear. Okay, here they are eating hotdogs, but in my defense, they are the all natural hot dogs.

I adore this man. I do wonder where our blondie kids come from though! (Okay and this is a horribly awkward picture of him. Why does his arm look so skinny!?)

I just figured I'd post our "Fun Family Day" photo below. Seriously, we did have a blast and we do love eachother.

Chelsea is chowing down on what looks like could be more hotdogs; Chris, bored out of his skull thinking "I'd rather be at home"; Gavin - well, that's open to interpretation, and me, totally enthralled with my fam.

Children's Museum

We visited the new Children's Museum the other day. It was interesting, loud, and chaotic, just like any good kid's day should be, I suppose. It had been years since I'd been to the Children's Museum. It was really fun for the kids.
Once the big kids finished hogging all the building blocks, I managed to snag a few for G to build a tower.

The funniest/worst moment was when G decided that this little gap in the wall was meant to be a door. He kept just trying to squeeze through and would cry when he didn't fit.

Although the train is now equipped with all kinds of fancy lights, the conductor's chair was still intact.

I greatly missed the giant tree, but Chelsea thought crawling in the giant lasagna playstructure was fun.

The water station was a hit - again once we were able to steal one ball away from the bigger kids. Seriously - where are all the parents??

I always feel leftout when I look at pictures and see none of me, but all our pictures always wind up looking the same.

The cow station was kind of cool. It was a wall of vaccuum tubes that you stuffed these fluffy balls into. The kids had fun, again when the big kids were told to share.

And the tunnel of illusion was disappointing, but alas, the kids had fun.

It was really a fun day. I hope to make a few more memories like this during the summer.