The Tie That Binds

I love my family. On a crisp autumn day, we walked a little trail in this beautiful valley we call home. We looked at the mountain, and we just hung out together....Our girls are growing up. TOO FAST!
Vanessa took this picture for us, and I looked at it and thought....am I old enough to have three kids? NOT babies....GIRLS....talking and having a real conversation with us....

I love the fall (now, don't get me wrong, I know winter is coming, I just like the view for now), I love the smell, and the colours of the leaves, and the crispness of the air. Today was a nearly perfect day.

OK, OK...

I only yelled at the kids TWICE to 'LOOK AT THE FRIGGEN CAMERA'.

Back to reality!

Too Cool...Too Cool for School....

Can I just say something? I have a daughter who is COOLER than COOL. I HAD to post this picture when I sent it to my best friend Heather and she e-mailed back and said....'First of all if a Winnipeg Jets jersey doesn't say cool I don't know what does! Second of all, LOVE the slayer fingers!' I laughed SO hard because seriously, where the heck did those slayer fingers come from...I'm not much of a 'heavy metal' person anymore....Anyway, thought this was cute.

Self Portrait

I haven't written a 'new post' in a while....

Do you ever feel like nothing new is happening in your life? Well...TA DA....that's me in a nutshell. I basically get up, excersice (if it's a good day), wake up the kids, take the kids to school, play with Cammy (and by play, I mean, put in Leap Frog 'Letter Factory'), eat lunch, more playing (or maybe PRE-SCHOOL!), pick up kids from school, run them to their various activites, eat supper, bond as a family, put kids to bed, sit on couch, read or watch t.v. and go to bed. Are you a celebrity you ask? Is this kind of FANCY lifestyle really possible? Yes, Yes it is. Hold on, I'll tell you how.

Fall in love with a man at the age of 19 and badger him until he finally realizes he better fall in love with you because it might be more fun than being stalked. Get pregnant, then again, then again and VOILA, it's your life.

I'm joking around of course, but it's hard to beat those mundane day blues on a day like today. I'm having women issues and it's raining, pretty much a combo that is hard to beat.

My sister was over the other night, having a heart to heart with Calvin and myself, and she forced me to do a self portrait (she's obsessed with those things, and the sheer number of times we have to do that to make it look right...tilt your head, stick out your chin, suck in your tummy..HUH?? My tummy's not even in the picture!!!) and when I saw it today, I thought, wow, a picture really doesn't say anything about my life at all....

A picture is worth a thousand words? Depends who you talk to I guess.

Teach A Man To Fish....

Fishing. I don't get it. I mean, REALLY don't get it. Men like fishing even when they don't catch anything! (Would that still be called fishing? More like....stick in watering...anywho....) I've gone a few times this year with Calvin so we could 'bond' as a family whilst (oh yeah I just did say 'whilst') we waited for the elusive salmon to take the bait. NOTHING HAPPENED! Now, in Calvin's defense the fishing on the Bulkley wasn't great this year AND he did catch a bunch of Sockeye on the Babine later on. (The picture I'm posting is one my cousin Scott took when him and Calvin went fishing a few weeks ago.) Anyway, on Sunday my Mom made the mistake of saying fishing was boring. She said it out loud. So Calvin could hear! I mean, sure, think it but DO NOT SLAM FISHING TO A MAN FROM NEWFOUNDLAND. (oh, and side note, please do not pronounce Newfoundland, NEW FOUND LAND....that's also an insult. Please say New-fun-land...just like that.) Calvin then proceeded to go into a small tyrade (ok, maybe even a rant) about how there is an ART to fly fishing, you can't just trow (he was slipping into his Newfie accent) the line in the water, it has to sink and float a certain way so the fly is on the water but not bobbing too much, but bobbing enough....not zig zagging but curving if you will! Anyway, after a bit of back tracking, my Mom was in his good graces again....after learning a valuable lesson. Women don't understand fishing and Men don't understand....feeling sad after being done a great book, MAC makeup, Mom guilt, multi-tasking, scrapbooking, the TRUE pain of labour or breastfeeding (NO...it doesn't excite us to look at our boobs when they are engorged), best friends who giggle OR why we love Orlando. C'est La Vie!!!

Two Hours Alone...A Brief History.

If anyone out there has read my blog much, you'll know that a few days ago I had two hours alone. I mean, without my kids. In the day. It was SO wierd, because I went to a local coffee shop (Kokopelli) and leafed through an ENTIRE sears catalog. UNINTERUPPTED. Then I slowly sipped my iced coffee and read the rest of 'Tuesday's with Morrie'. After a while I decided to go look at Shoppers Drug Mart. Not for anything specific, just to stand amongst the breakables for a while. I bought a bottle of perfume (a J. LO. scent that is REALLY NICE) after smelling about 15 different kinds, and not feeling rushed at all! I just stood there. Smelling.

I left SDM and saw an old friend on the street who I hadn't seen in about 2 years, so we chatted. Uninteruppted.

The sun shone all afternoon, and at 3, I happily picked up my kids.....my two hours were gone.

The reason I love my time alone is because it's come so rarely...you know? When my kids are all in school, it might be a different story but for now, this feels nice. I was just a lady in a coffee shop. I used to feel sorry for people who were alone at coffee shops. Now I get it.

Until next wednesday.....

Our Little Singing Star

Camryn is going to be a singer...I know it!
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The King, The Queen and Their Royal Subjects

I had to post this, I thought it was so cute....Avery had a friend over (Aeidan Bjorgan) and all the kids came down all gussied up....Ave and Aeidan were the Queen and King. Ah to be in grade one!

We're Gonna Go Back...Back...Back..Back...Back to School!

So, it has happened. I have a grade 'two-er'....I am old enough to have two kids in FULL TIME school. My baby is in pre-school. Monday and Wednesday afternoons, I have no kids....for 2 hours. 'Do a little dance...make a little love...get down tonight! HEY!' Sorry...I was just doing the happy dance there for a second. Ok, back to being sad....it was weird to say good-bye to Ave this morning and realize that she's at school ALL day. When I picked them up yesterday from school (it was only a half day), I went to buckle Avery into her seat and she said, 'Mom, I can buckle myself, I'm a grade oner now.' WOW...that's all it takes to become independant? We've been trying to get her to do her own seatbelt up for months, but now that she's a grade oner, she can do it. Sweet action! Delaney is in a grade one-two split and she's all over the 'I'm older so I'm the helper in the class' thing....it's going to be good for her self esteem! Camryn is going into a 'rhythm and drama' class at her pre-school today and an art class on Monday's...trust me, she'll have no problem fitting in with the 'DRAMA' part! And what (I can hear you all saying) will YOU, Michelle Denise be doing with all your time? Well, Oprah's on at one, and I taped Rosie on 'The View' so I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy! Oh, and just so you don't think I'm a total couch potato, I am reading 'Tuesday's with Morrie' from my must read in life list. I'll blog tomorrow and let you know what 2 hours alone feels like.....