King of the Castle

Ok. We all know that maybe I am a little overprotective of my children. These are my babies after all. I will be their biggest supporter, cheerleader, encourager, protector.... the list goes on and on. I also realize that my job as their Mom is to prepare them for the next stage in their life. So dealing with bullies will most likely be their next stage in life as they enter school on a more regular basis.

Let me take a step back. With this nice weather we have been having, we allowed Jack to go outside and play with his friends without us. One of the boys is 7, and keeps a really good eye on him. As long as they stayed on the hill in the front yard and didn't go on the street we were okay with that. So naturally, Kelly perched at the living room window (watching them from that angle), myself at the dining room window (making sure all angles were covered and that even though we weren't in arms reach of our little guy- we could see him). Did I also mention we had the windows open so we could hear? Overprotective much?

Jack's friends had a girl cousin over, so she was playing with them as well. I peg her age at about 6. I noticed that everyone has started trying to push each other over in a game of King of the Hill. By this time they were on the neighbour's front yard hill. This little girl pushed Jack down about 6 times in a row. Jack got up every time and tried to push her down. His size was definitely a factor in not succeeding. Game over.

They migrated ACROSS THE STREET to our other neighbour's front yard. Not impressed, I yelled to make sure to get off the street. 5 minutes or so of their back's turned to us, Jack starts making his way home alone. Weird. Then I notice he uses his mitt to wipe away a tear. Don't panic Mom. Maybe his eye was watering from the cold? Then he wipes a tear from his other eye. Jack is crying. My Jack, who is one of the most social kids I've ever met, who wants to play with friends or strangers or whomever at all times, is leaving the crowd in tears. My 3 1/2 year old. By this time I'm on my feet, getting ready to rescue my son when I noticed his friend run over to him and patting him on the back. Then he waved for the rest of the crowd to come over, and that little girl bully started patting him on the back.

This was good. Whatever was said and done was forgiven, because instead of B-lining for his safe home, Jack turned around and joined the crowd once again.

Now for me, it took EVERYTHING in my power not to run over to that little girl and push her down in the snow (possibly face first) to teach her a lesson on who's kid to pick on. If I had done that though, or even just yelled at them all for being mean- Jack would have missed out on his first lesson. Sometimes you will face bullies. Sometimes you will be the smallest and get left out. Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair.

And to watch him forgive and continue on definitely made me a proud.

When he came in, we casually asked him what had happened and he said he started crying because that girl was being mean and kept pushing him down. Then we asked him if he still had fun, and his response "YEP, I had fun!". So I guess his first lesson of King of the Castle, went fairly smoothly. Makes me just a tad less nervous for him in school.

Nursery!

It has been forever since I blogged. To my defence, I have been sick and just not feeling up for it. Admist all the sickness though, I did manage to swindle my mom and sister to come to my house and paint my nursery and help me set up her room.

Words can not describe just how happy I am with how it turned out. You know, when you have this vision of how you want it to turn out- it can go either way. You adopt a new vision once it's completed with what you have, or you sit for hours on end, completely satisfied, in your new rocking chair- in the room you dreamt about it (for yourself) and revel it all in. And that's what I do. Sit in there. Read the boys their books in there. Spend as many hours as I can just enjoying the beauty.

Less than 2 months until my due date and I can't wait to get my little girl in there. Nursing her on my custom ordered chair, wrapping her up in the blankets that I spent hours lovingly stitching for her, and putting her to sleep in her carefully thought out bed.

Ahhhhh..... all in good time.

Here are some pictures of the completed room. I wish pictures did it justice. I guess you will all just have to come over and see for yourself :)

White shag rug, white wainscotting, and the new window- all details that I love :)

I custom ordered this chair to fit me exactly for nursing. The back is like a huge pillow that will be comfortable to sleep on and the material is a nice fabric. I can't wait for the countless hours I will spend rocking her on this chair.

When you pull down her blind,  I thought this saying was so sweet. It's in the colours of her room (pink & grey). The curtains are a linen grey.

Her crib, trunk (which was my grandmother's that we painted to match the room). Room colour is Benjamin Moore's Strawberries and Cream. The colour is just a tad more pink than the pictures show.

Her change table with a mirror to look at.

The bedding set was a mod podge of different items. The bed skirt is pottery barn, the sheets are a soft organic cotton, the bumper pad which is eyelet lace is from the local thrift store, and the blanket was made by me.

Alternate view :)

Some of the decor items for her room. I wanted everything to be silhouettes and not a whole lot of colour. The shelves were bought at the thrift store and spray painted white to match.

All the light switches and plug in's have these vintage covers and just matched so good!

Instead of going for a mobile above her crib (it covered the painting), I chose to hang above the chair so she can look up at it while I am nursing. It is hung by fishing line so you don't see cord.

My sister and I made this large canvas to hang above her crib. I fell in love with this saying years ago and always knew I would incorporate it in a big way if I was to do a baby girl nursery. The large canvas (is actually a tulip painting underneath) has a mixture of cement grey and dove grey for the background and the light pink wording. With help from Kelly I was able to project the words on the canvas and just paint them on.

Every nursery needs a mirror. Finding the right placing was a little more difficult. I decided right above the change table was perfect. Off the floor for safety but still able to use it.

The mobile hanging above the change table. Made from a large crystal ball, then I found a flower with glitter on it to put inside. It is beautiful and so unique.

More decor items. 

Closer photo of her bedding.

Closer photo of her chest, which is housing the next size up clothing. The grey jewellery box is holding all the headbands and bows.

The lace detail on the bottom of her blind.

The saying when the blind is pulled down.

Christmas 2012

Well my Christmas has been fairly uneventful as I have spent since Christmas Eve 4pm in my bed. I think I have been attacked with every illness going around starting with the stomach flu, gall stones, then a respiratory virus which causes fevers for days (on day 6), cough, sinus pressure- you name it.

From what I heard tho, all my boys had a great Christmas and escaped the illnesses until after (they caught the virus on the 27th).

To say I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to enjoy it with them, would be an understatement. I mean, it's the Mom who makes Christmas, Christmas! We buy the gifts, we do the decorating, we plan the stockings and the events for the evening and day, make the meal. I am so thankful that I got everything done ahead of time and even though I didn't get to carry out my plan, my husband tried his best to take over and oversee. I mean, does it really matter that instead of wearing their Christmas outfits that I carefully made for them, that they ended up wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt? Not really. I bet they were more comfortable.

And did these two little boys get spoiled once again! In between naps, I am busy going through old toys and selling what no longer is played with to make room for all their new toys.

Since the boys have been down and out battling this respiratory virus too, we have some MAJOR reprogramming to do once we are feeling better. Their attitudes are showing me just how spoiled with toys and food they were, and just how lenient I have been with them since we've all been sick. UGH.

We are on the tail end of it all I hope! Charlie's fever seems to have broke today and he was the first one who got it. Now, just sit and wait while we all follow suit so we can get out and enjoy this lovely weather and this great New Year.

2013 is quite honestly going to be the best year yet as we complete our family with our little girl arriving in March. So let's get on with it :)

Charlie's favorite new toy- his drill.

Jack's favorite new toys- Toy Story Movie and Horse!

Spreading a little Christmas Cheer

Christmas time is usually a super busy time for me. I am a busy bee planning suppers for family, decorating my house to the MAX, making sure all my gifts purchased are just 'so', wrapped nicely, thoughtful, and yes.... even spoiling my own family just a little too much. I knew I wanted to make a difference, to change this mentality just a little. Now, I know there is nothing wrong with wanting everything perfect for my family. I think it shows just how much I really care about them. It is easy on the other-hand to forget how others are not so fortunate; that possibly Christmas time for them is not a season of joy. More a season of stress. Stress over how will I provide that Christmas meal that every family waits for. Stress over how to put presents under the tree. How do you explain to small children that Santa couldn't afford to come to their house? You can't. 

Cue Christmas Cheer.

Today I got to experience first hand the spirit of giving. I have always been a volunteer for various organizations but as life got busy with children, sadly my desire went down. That was until I found out about the amazing Christmas Cheer program in our community and just knew I had to do my part to help out. Hence, joining Kinette club, and now helping out with many other events to raise money to improve our community.

Let's just say I feel very blessed to be a part of making Christmas for 73 homes this year. Finding out just how little some people live on. Reading their stories about what they have been through and just what receiving a hamper and presents will do to improve their Christmas. The heartache that others go through; sharing their private information with us; trusting us that we will not judge- but that we are just there wanting to help. THAT'S CHRISTMAS. 

So after a month of preparation, organizing food drives, toy drives, getting sponsors from businesses and families donating their hard earned money to help out another; today was the day we got to see how all the hard work paid off- for 73 homes. 

I got to see our committee of about 8 women put on a truly amazing event. We round up our own families to help, got up early, and delivered all the food they needed to put on a turkey meal, make soup the next day and so much more. Every family received a large bag of essential toiletry items ranging from toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent (basically we tried to think of everything), even garbage tags and approximately $50.00 worth of toys for EACH child in that home. With help from so many, we made it happen.

And next year we will make it happen again. And the year after that. Because that's what we do. And as long as families need the extra help, I want to help. I want my own little family to help. I want my children to grow up helping. I want our community to continue on helping.

And the fact that it happens just so close to Christmas, well for me, that's just a perk.

The cutest little boy in class.

We got Jack's preschool pictures back and for all of you who are not on Facebook, I thought he was just too darn cute to not add here as well.

Now I don't want to brag or anything- but he could quite honestly be the cutest little boy around our neck of the woods.

Sick little kids

I love this time of year. I hate this time of year. I find myself repeating these two lines over and over again. I tried my best to quarantine the boys to escape them from the inevitable illnesses that they are bound to catch. My best efforts- did not work.

For the last week we have been battling fevers, ear infections, chest colds, coughing fits until they puke, weird rashes that have doctor's worried that I've been exposed to them, and asthma attacks.

 Lovely.
Just when one ailment leaves, another arrives. Sound like your home?

We have missed school, hockey, immunization appointments, visits with friends- but as long as we get this other with before Christmas I will be one happy Mamma.

Now I must leave to go rub some more Vicks on chests, check some more temperatures, and rest myself as now I am coming down with it :)

Scratching things off my bucket list

I remember making a post a while back about bucket lists. I have never had a desire to make a bucket list and do this myself except for this particular day when I started to see the purpose of these lists and why so many people create them for themselves.

Kelly would always ask me, what do you want to do in your life? I have never had an answer for him. What places would you like to see? What goals? And like my previous post, I had never really thought about it before.

As I'm getting older, and as my children are getting older, as I see people struggle, babies sick, friend's parents pass away- I am starting to realize just how short life CAN be.

So I searched deep down and realized some things that I would like to do. Things to do, while I can, while money allows it, while health allows- there are so many obstacles that can get in our way of doing things that we really want.

Bringing me to present day- when last week- I scratched my first item off my bucket list.

Garth Brooks in concert.

Seems like a pretty doable bucket list item for most. For me, it was a little harder. For starters Garth was only playing in Vegas and his last shows ended in November. Kelly's away season works into November. His tickets were also $250.00/piece. Now I know we can afford this, but you see, I come for a very frugal family and am having a hard time realizing that money sometimes is just money. Even if the ticket price is steep- sometimes it is worth it. And the largest obstacle- leaving my children. I have never left the boys longer than 1 night before and quite honestly didn't feel like I was ready just yet. I am kind of a protective mamma bear and I know they do just fine without me; I am more worried about how I do without them. My whole identity at the moment is wrapped up in those sticky faces.

So I pushed that all aside. Kelly and I left for 5 nights in Vegas and got totally wrapped up in each other again. Just the two of us. I never realized just how much we needed each other. Just how much we really get along. Just how perfect we are together.

Waiting for Garth to come on, our second last night there- I started welling up with tears. I was doing it! I wasn't just saying I was going to do it! And my supportive husband who really never had any desire to even go to Vegas let alone see Garth- was by my side- enjoying the experience together.

And can I just saw WOW. Garth had us on the edge of our seats, our hands folded together, singing, crying (ok just me) the entire 2 1/2 hours.

I will never forget this performance. It was not a concert. I will never experience that from him ever again. I feel lucky and so blessed that all the stars aligned- I got to scratch off my very first bucket list item.

And that the reality of doing something that I have always wanted, was just as good in reality and it was in my dreams.