Beautiful

Wow! I wasn't kidding about my last post...B really was for busy! I have seen so many beautiful things during the past month, that I thought the best way to showcase my amazing last 4 weeks was via photos...

Beautiful Shower for my equally beautiful girlfriend in crime, Ashley:

My daughters visiting with their beautiful Great Grandparents in Thompson, Manitoba...priceless:

Celebrating a beautiful Canada Day with the best of friends at our 10th annual July long camping trip:

Celebrating July 4th with my American friends in beautiful Brimley, Michigan on Lake Superior:

Beautiful sights along the shores of Lake Superior:

A beautifully delicious Margarita at The Palace Restaurant & Saloon in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan:

 The beautiful wedding of Nate and Ashley Ward:

Lastly, my backyard in beautiful summer bloom...all while experiencing a month of beauty with loved ones:

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer so far...sometimes life flies by so quickly we forget to take in all the beauty of the  moments happening right before us.

B is for Busy

June has started and with that so has summer plans and activities! No wonder the summer flies by so fast...I can't complain though as each and every activity and event I am looking forward to and grateful to be a part of!
Let's start with this past weekend here is a list of what we tackled in 2 days:

birthday party
1 shower/stagette for my wonderful aunt
1 shower for my beautiful friend Ashley
2 Swimming lessons
6 Soccer games

It was a fast paced weekend and I don't think I really sat down the whole time. My auntie Barb's Shower stagette was a blast! We went to this little underground restaurant, The Creperie, downtown Edmonton with a group of women from my family. If you haven't been there I would highly recommend it! From there we went her daughter, my cousin Danica's place for drinks!

Ashley's MIL (mother-in-law) held a shower at my place for Ashley on Saturday night! It was amazing and the food was to die for! She went all out, and put together a pretty special shower for a pretty special person! We had so much fun and I was extremely happy to meet Ashley's best friend Desi from Michigan (she now lives in Calgary with her hubby and adorable daughter).

Kira and Taylor both did excellent in this round of swimming lessons! They both passed onto the next level and they are so proud of themselves! Seeing the pride on their faces after they've worked hard on the skills and sometimes fears in the water is a beautiful thing!

Then there was soccer...The girls both had their first soccer tournament. Taylor is in girls U6 (the Green Lizards) and Kira is in Little Kickers (the Purple Dinosaurs). It was so much fun for us to watch them play. Both of them had 3 games each and they did amazing! There were so many firsts for them. First tournament, first team picture and firs metal! They were so, so excited to receive a metal from their coaches. We're so proud of them!

This week is pretty low key....but not for long...This coming weekend is my aunts wedding and the girls are flower girls! I am so excited to see them all dress up and walking down the isle.

Then on the 15th the girls and I are heading to Manitoba to see my Grandparents and attend my cousin's wedding. We're retuning on the 25th. Home for 3 days and then on the 29th we're off to Rocky Mountain House for our annual July Long camping trip. This year will mark 10 years that this group of friends have been renting a big group site and spending the holiday weekend together. The kids are starting to out numbering the adults! We return home on July 2nd and turn around and leave for our wonderful friends Nate and Ashley wedding in Michigan! We're gone from the 3rd till the 9th. We are leaving the kids behind for this trip, so it will be a nice break!

Phew...! I'm tired just thinking of it all....but so excited to get this summer started in so many amazing ways. We are so blessed!

Sista!

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there. ~Amy Li

Many days my sister is my saving grace. Today was one of those days...

She is my absolute best friend in this world...she brings me back down to reality, calms my nerves and cools my head when it feels like this world is against me. I know it's not, but sometimes life gets overwhelming...

This is just a short shout out post to Twin B! Thanks for always being there for me. Love you 1000x.

High Five For 5

Over the long weekend our daughter Taylor turned 5 years old...that's half a decade! I just can't believe how fast the time flew by. Í know everyone told us..."just wait before you know it your kids will be walking...potty trained, starting kindergarten, off to university, getting married.....etc, etc" I'm here to say those parent vets are right..of course. Time flies by so quickly and life just has a way of slipping by without us even noticing...it's our jobs to take in the moments and appreciate them.

It really seems like just yesterday that she was born into our family and yet at the same time it seems like we've never been without her. Our home and our cabin were filled with love, food, friends, family and celebration this weekend.

Here are some pictures to see how much Taylor's grown in the past 5 years:

2 hours old:

1 year old:

2 years old:

3 years old:

4 years old:

5 years old:

Happy birthday sweet girl...

It's Your Choice

I came across this post on Facebook and fell in love. I have seen this quote before and it came to me on a day that I needed to see it. I am a believer that you choose to be happy. There are many situations or circumstances in life where one can choose to have a crappy attitude, and I have been there many times...I know, I know....hard to believe :)

Now that I am a mother to two beautiful daughters I know that it is so very important to teach my girls that happiness is a choice and even though we may not always choose it, we need to have the skills and tools to navigate through this crazy world and find it for ourselves.

Thanks John

The Mug Club

Sometime while I'm driving I'll see some 16 year old driving beside me or at a stop light...and I think to myself....a child has stolen a car...he/she can barley see over the wheel...where are their parents?!?

And then I promptly remind myself that I am driving a minivan...I have two kids in the back seat strapped into their seats...I am a parent. Obviously I never forget the fact that I am a parent, but I mean come on...those kids look like they're 12..behind the wheel... I too have been in their shoes...but of course I looked like I was at least 20..right?! Nope, I'm sure I looked just like them...acting "too big for my britches"as my mother would say.

So, my point is that sometimes these little moments in time happen where I realize that I'm a mini driving mom, just making her way through the day, making comments about teenage boys walking down the streets with their pants below there asses...really boys?! Do you think it looks good and for the love, no one wants to see you underwear...and then this thought turns into thoughts about how in not too long, before I know it, these boys will be on my door step wanting to "hang out" with my daughters....I hope the style is higher pants by then...I don't know if Craig will be able to control his inner thoughts. We can hope.

So, this random cluster of thoughts is about not being shocked when I see a reflection in a store window of me rocking out in my mom van, I embrace it. I am honored that we were chosen to be Taylor and Kira's parents. They make us better people, they remind us that we are not perfect and that's okay. They love us unconditionally and we love them the same.

Having children is something that we don't take for granted...however we are human and naturally sometimes we do that subconsciously. I love when a moment happens that puts me back in check and I realise that we need to be grateful for every moment and for healthy kids...It just takes a moment to put us back in our places. This morning my mom sent me a text telling me about a documentary she was watching about sick kids, or the article I read in the news paper this afternoon about a family with a very sick father and daughter...and their dream to take on more trip together as a family. I have my health, my husband and children are healthy. I am grateful...

A couple weeks ago I couldn't attend Taylor's field trip to a pottery painting store. My sister Tina took her for me as a special outing for the two of them. Tina told me that she painted a mug, and the store fires it and we were to pick it up from her school later.

When she went to school the week after and brought home her mug she had made and It was beautiful...I told her that she did a wonderful job on it and the I asked her if she was excited to have her very own mug to drink her hot cocoa out of. She smiled and said "no mama, I made it for you to drink your coffee out of in the morning!" My heart melted...I even cried a little...in my minivan...holding the ULTIMATE mom gift...a mug, hand painted just for me! It's beautiful, my daughters are beautiful....it's a beautiful life!





Bathroom..Check!

So a few weeks back I posted here that we had started a bathroom renovation. This was very much a random decision...very random. I am so happy with the results. Thankfully I married a very handy hubby who can pretty much fix anything...I am so proud of him for his first little reno! I have plans for renos around here...mahaha (that's my evil laugh....)

Although it was so fun to renovate the bathroom, it really was and eye opener to unexpected costs/issues that can come up with any renovation project. Of course we realised before hand that this is a reality, however we allowed the excitement to blind us. Blinded....but rolling with the
punches as they came!

Here is the before (no we didn't take a door off..it fell off a couple months before..)

Hubby working hard...

Ta da!! The finished bathroom!

Thanks Craig for all your hard work!