To Everything There is an Opposite...

It has only been 5 days of taking a daily picture. And although they may not be gallery worthy, I am learning so much already.  It is interesting to spend time looking for those things that are photo worthy.  So far it seems to be the normal everyday things that I feel compelled to capture.
This is making me realize that life is pretty darn good! Yes I have messes, nights of very little sleep, dishes in my sink, daily tantrums- the kids too, scheduling conflicts, runny noses to wipe, mountains of laundry, repair man who don't show up, toilets that break, little ones running fevers and Christmas decorations needing to be put away... that is just this week!
But mixed up in all of this... chaos is so much joy.  Joy in the snuggles, the giggles, the little successes of each day.  Watching the wonder in the eyes of a little one discovering the sparkles in the snow, discovering that all of our hard work is paying off and that the children really do love each other as we witness them serving one another, loving the little moments of peace that come when we need them most.  
I believe that there is so much truth in the need for balance and opposites. We have to have the mess to appreciate the tidy, the tantrum to enjoy the smiles, crowds to love the solitude, noise to notice the quiet.
Today I am enjoy some time alone as the children and dear husband are all off on their various adventures. The house is quiet, I am sitting down to eat my breakfast! It wasn't that long ago that this was a regular occurrence and my heart yearned for a bit more purpose, my arms ached to be a bit more full.  Because I had those days, I can love today, I can feel gratitude for all of it! Yes, life is good!

I hope you have time to enjoy the opposites in your day... I hear the children coming home, I know I will!! 

Happy New Year: 2016!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Season!  We were blessed to have some of our extended family with us and Loved creating some fun memories.

It is that time of year again where I feel compelled to take a closer look at my past year and set some fresh goals for the year ahead! I had someone tell me the other day that their goal for the year was to not make any goals! But I love to do it I have a thing with lists!!

My biggest struggle is to keep it to a minimum so I am not completely overwhelmed and crash and burn!! And yes, I may crash and burn anyway, but I still think that writing down a couple of hopes for the new year is better than not.

So I have created a binder... divided into 4 quarters- January to March, April to June, July to September and  October to December. Each section has a song I want to learn on the piano, a sewing project or two that I would like to accomplish and a couple of knitting or croqueting patterns to create.  I have also started a photo challenge- check it out in the tab above under Photo Challenge: a photo a day! (This way I will be on here daily and maybe just maybe I will find myself compelled to add a few more posts!)

I printed off some patterns and ideas that I have been wanting to create and I found a great website for music downloads...

http://www.music-for-music-teachers.com/beginner-piano-music.html

As for my health, I am hoping for a bit more balance! Just like this wonderful gift that I received in the mail from a dear friend!  (Don't you love packages in the mail??!!)

A great reminder that there should be balance in all things!! So I am eating my so yummy macadamia nut chocolates while I read about eating and living healthy!

This is a great Book!!!

Thank you SARAH!!

Okay I also have a stack of books that I am hoping to get through this year as well! Hmm...

Only 21... did I mention I am also in a book club...

So maybe I am setting myself up to fail, if failing is measured by not getting it ALL done...

But maybe success should be measured by just starting and getting any amount of it accomplished!

If I don't start with a plan then I may not start at all! 

I do love this time of year! I do love new beginnings and the hope that it brings.

I am excited to increase my learning and to start creating a bit more. Here's to a fun filled 2016!

I hope you have a goal or two for your new year... I know I do!!

Over Coming the Natural Woman!

I have always had trouble doing what I am told when I am told to do it.  I have watched my dear daughter avoid following my pleas for chores to be done over the last few days. Not to the point that she wouldn't do them, but just waiting long enough that she could feel that she had the control over when she would begin. 
Frustration... but I totally get it.
What I don't get is why I do the same thing when it is my own schedule? What is that?  It seems as soon as I decide to take myself seriously about anything, I sabotage it and can't seem to follow the schedule I lay out for myself.
Even my menu planning. It is true, I can make a beautiful menu on my calendar, decide what to have and when, go out and buy all of the ingredients, and then it happens. I look at the day and decide I just don't feel like meat loaf today and I make Fridays meal.  WITHOUT FAIL!!!
Awe, maybe I need to be tested for ODD.
But let's be real it IS odd.
So about a month ago just as I was beginning to get this blog up and going, I decided to make a plan. Wrote it out on my calendar, looked up how to have a successful blog.. and. then. stopped. writing!!
So here is the deal, I am not going to write on a regular basis. I am just going to write when I feel like it. It might work out that I write Mondays and Fridays, but maybe not. You may find that a routine develops, but whatever you do...
DON'T TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!
I hope you have a very unpredictable day! I plan I mean hope to!

We Interupt our Regular Scheduled Programing! -A Bucket List Glitch!

Today should be a bucket list post and although I am working on it, it is proving to be more difficult then I had hoped.

So I thought I would share one of our Summer adventures instead. In a way it is a bucket list item... Jacob had wanted to go camping just the two of us for a couple of summer now. He seems to have had the hardest time adjusting to the littles in our home. Going from being the youngest to the 'big brother' of 3 is a huge adjustment!! One that he has done well with, but he was in great need of some one on one mom time!
With Jacob getting so big, camping in a tent seems just about impossible. But he doesn't like to be left out and I so wanted to fill this seemingly easy request.  Then I remembered being told of  a camp ground with cabins in Kananaskis country right here in Alberta. 
The William Watson Lodge!
It is a true blessing.  Each building has four "cabins" or units. Each unit is fully accessible. The bathroom, the kitchen counters and sink (My 15 year old was so excited to be able to wash the dishes for the first time!), the table, tracking in the ceiling for those who use it. All of the biking trails and walking trails are wheel chair accessible too- no roots to bounce over. A gem only a few hours away!!
So we made a call, booked a cabin, packed up the van and away we went!
(You have to have a priority number assigned to you before you can book. This requires filling out some paperwork and waiting to get it back to you)

Lunch on the road! We were packed to the gills for a four day trip!!
The bike, the bike trailer, art supplies, food, bedding...

We stopped a couple of times on the way there. He is so excited!

Beds are made!
Jacob Loved sharing a room.
It was a wonderful cabin that we stayed in!

Getting ready for our first of many bike rides!  I love our Wiki bike trailer. 
So does Jacob!
He did just about kill me!  We were in the mountains after all and it was up hill one way or the other! 

Getting book covers ready for binding!
(More on this in our next post!)

It was so beautiful! 

The view from Jacob's chair.
(This was a trail off of the lodges property - not wheel chair friendly.)
It was so wonderful to have accessibility wherever we went!

I love that smile my dear boy!!
We live in such an amazing part of the world!



"I told you it would be good Mom"

I told Jacob we could eat outside and have a picnic one evening.  I let him pick the spot. He said 'No' to many and then found this one. 
The look on his face says it all!  He was very impressed with himself!
Ah look at that view! Good pick Jacob!

Joy was felt by all!

I am so blessed to be this boys mom. I love that he wants to hang out with me!  He makes me laugh everyday and brings such joy into our world.
I love having one on one time with each one of my children. It gives us time to step out of our crazy lives and reconnect. I think it is so important. Not that is has to be 4 days away in the mountains, although I highly recommend it! But date night every once in a while can do the same thing.
Lets face it, it is easy to get so caught up in the hard parts of parenthood- discipline, homework, schedules, appointments, and just plain focusing on the difficulties and forget why we wanted to have these children in our lives in the first place! It is so important to have time where happy memories can be created for all of us!
I love being a Mom!!
Hope you can give the little ones in your life some time today, I plan to!

We are Further Ahead Than We Feel

I opened up my blog this morning wondering what I would write about. So many thoughts going through my mind, but none of them seem complete or enough to fill a post.  I am also feeling a bit discouraged with the progress I am making with my ideals. Limiting screen time is proving to be harder then I thought it would be and funny, but the members of my family are determined to use their own agency and not follow everything I want them to do...hmm
Then I gazed over at my 101 goals down the side and noticed an amazing thing! There staring me right in the face are 3 goals all accomplished and I didn't even realize it!
As a parent I often feel like I am always playing catch up~ with house work, laundry, scrap books, laundry, meal prep, teaching important lessons to my children,  laundry, losing those "last" 25 lbs., giving my children enough quality time and there is ALWAYS laundry... in most aspects of my daily life I feel like I am constantly running behind.
I think I have mentioned it before but one of my favourite books is Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison. I like to read it every few years just to help me refocus on what is important and where I need to be placing my time and energy. 
This work that I am doing as a mom is so important. There isn't anything else that fills this space for me. I had about 14 years of trying to fill the hole I felt in my heart before we opened our door to these sweet "Littles".  Now it is full to over flowing and I am content and happy.
BUT that does Not mean it is easy and unless we are looking it is hard to feel very accomplished. Let's face it many a morning my hair doesn't get brushed until... well I have to leave the house. (Some days that is not at all!). Many times I realize way too late that I have goopy hand prints on the front of my shirt where some little one has reached up to get my attention. Quite often the music going around in my head is Wheels on the bus or the theme song from the big Purple dinosaur and Not something from the latest record charts. And as I am writing this, every door knob in my house is sticky or crusted over and there are dishes in my sink...
But I spent a little extra time this morning giving warm snuggles to a little one just waking up, I helped trace little hands with purple crayon on sheets of paper, I listened to my Dear Mackenzie share her plans for the day, I looked through a book order form with a sweet boy and got excited about his favourites, I helped the "Littles" clean up a big jar of buttons and enjoyed finding ones that were sparkly or a favourite colour and remembered the joy of looking through my grandma's button jar. I have enjoyed arms being wrapped around my neck in hugs and kisses and witnessed big smiles and giggles...
So Maybe, just maybe I am not as far behind as I thought!

I hope you enjoy finding the accomplishments in your day, I plan to!

Boo Humbug!

I have a secret...
Halloween is not my favourite holiday. 
The year that we all caught the flu and had to stay home felt a little bit like a blessing.

Having to come up with costumes and then taking these little ones door to door to collect poison, I mean candy by the hand full so they can spend the next couple of weeks whining and crying and throwing themselves on the floor in hopes to consume the stuff before 7am just does NOT add up to fun for me. 
I know, Boo humbug.

I have tried everything, Offered a night out to the movies with a bag full of treats and popcorn, family bowling night, indoor waterslides... Nothing seems to equal the pull of dressing up and collecting free candy!
Thankfully it comes but once a year.  And who am I to deprive these sweet children of mine of the highs and lows that sugar brings??
So we have our costumes ~No, they are not themed, unless Old McDonald's farm have a puppy and bumble bee who are attacked by a large green dragon, has a kind nurse who comes to mend everyone back to health and  brings meals on wheels with her!! (Jacob and his wheel chair is covered with cut out food from the grocery store ads... Meals on Wheels!! oh yeah, it just came to me in the middle of the night!) 
And Yes, some are wearing the same costumes as last year.  And  yes, My dear daughter has warned be of the trauma this may cause in the future when looking through the scrapbooks!But it was their choice and they still fit! Win- win! Right?

So, We will carve the pumpkins, we will go door to door and we will fill the hugest bowl in the house with all of the candy.  I will be the one who eats the most and be moody for days to come because for some reason I seem to think the best way to deal with a problem such as this is to get rid of it!... By means of ingesting it... oh yeah, fun times!!
I hope that you enjoy your Halloween... I plan to try!
Boo humbug

PROJECT BUCKET LIST: Create a New Recipe for Supper

Our first bucket list project! 
Jacob LOVES to be in the kitchen.  He has been a helper for years. With hand over hand he can measure out ingredients and dump them into the bowl, stir and whisk like no other and of course he loves to be the official taste tester!
Now that he is 15 it seems only fitting that he take on more of a leading role in creating something delicious!  So here is his adventure in coming up with a new recipe for supper!!

We needed an idea for the protein portion of our meal.  Jacob's choices: fish, pork chops, chicken and stewing beef. Jacob chose pork chops and bacon... We went on line to see what other people were doing with their pork chops and Jacob decided that he wanted to stuff them!

He took a look in the fridge & cupboards then using his "yes" and "no" faces he picked out the ingredients for the stuffing!

Strawberries, spinach, parmesan cheese, feta cheese, cornbread stuffing (the kind that comes in a box!) and some Greek dressing.

The bacon he wanted to save to wrap around the whole thing!



Filling the Chops!

Ready to be wrapped in bacon!

Getting the bacon ready.



Checking to make sure Mom followed his instructions!



Ready for the Oven!!

 

They smelled amazing while they cooked! 
And what did the family think?
Yummy!  
Mackenzie really liked them, Dad ate his all gone, Nathan, our other "chef extraordinaire", thought they were "pretty good"!  And Mom... I think I would only use one of the cheeses next time, but they were yummy!!
Well done Jacob! I can't wait to taste your ice cream creation!!!