Delivery!! Christmas Card for you :)

I usually am so on top of the Christmas Card game but this year it was a no go.

Well at least for a card that you'd receive all bright and cheery in your mail box. 

BUT...

I really didn't want you to think that I have forgotten...or even failed to try - it came more down to the technical difficulties of trying to take our own family picture and then finding a photo that everyone was happy with. (Some sympathizers out there??)

Anyway to make our long christmas photo story short - I just collected a couple photos from some of my favourite trips this year and made you a digital card.

Please feel loved and appreciated :)

Thought I'd add my parents card too! lol at least its a better photo of my family!!

A Christmas Lighting Rant...

Ok I know, this may be an odd thing to rant about.  Rant might not even be the right word...I am not angry or frustrated but I am a little saddened..


WHY??


Well I just can't stand the LED christmas lights that are ever where.  Don't get me wrong - I love the power savings and world cataclysm avoidance they represent...I just cannot get over how anemic and understated they are.


Like really understated...the other day I drove past a place that used the blue and purple LED and I would almost venture to say they produce anti-light.  The dark vibrant colour emits so little light they are hard to focus on but because its not normal to the landscape your eye is almost inexplicably drawn back to it.  It really is like some sort of Christmas Light Black Hole of Anti Light.....You get sucked in wether you want to or not.
This does not bring me Christmas joy and make me want to celebrate....It makes me want to rub my eyes and go unplug the darn things.


Remember when Christmas lights not only illuminated the snow along the eves but the entire face of a house!  How cheery and warm and welcoming was that!  These poor little LED's if they get a true Canadian size dump of snow on them become faint orbs of colour again creating the CLBH of AL. I just find it a little disheartening. I love colour - I love light.....Christmas lights are supposed to bring those two things together, without giving me a headache.


Although I have to admit two things....I see hope for the LED's because someone has taught the manufacturers about the concept of colour temperature and they are now offering 'white' or clear lights that are not blue in tone but rather a nice warm cream....A big step in the right direction if you ask me.


And the second I have to admit rather abashedly - We have anemic Christmas Lights creating Black Holes of Anti Light on our house right now.

My Day in Terms of Food....

yup...the title was correct...I am talking about my day in terms of food....It really was a good day but...well, you'll see...

Breakfast:
So this morning for breakfast I had cornflakes...this particular variety of corn flakes was eaten from a bowl that walked around the house with me and despite my best efforts became so soggy that I doubt the term 'flake' could be applied anymore.

Snack:
Umm even though I forgot this particularly important event - my children didn't but since we were in the car driving to Vernon I just got to hear the pitiful yowls of children who surely must have been starving.

Lunch:
Thank Goodness for Tim Hortons.  I went and picked up a turkey bacon club EXTRA Long sandwich and a 10 pack of tim bits.  We then went and met up with Ed for lunch.  Half a sandwich for Ed and a quarter to each child.  I have never professed to be great at numbers...this sandwich scenario being case in point.  So I settled on eating half a box of tim bits.

Snack:
May I point out that snack in my kids mind is 10 min after lunch. (!?!)  Luckily we were on our way to the mall so we landed at the food court.  My oversight at lunch had been noticed and duly beaten to death.  The kids were thirsty and frankly so was I ( tim bits and the lb of sugar they represent will do that to you!) We grabbed some juice and headed out to enjoy the mall.  Only the enjoyment lasted about 10 steps as Eliana dropped her juice and my own juice was was the sacrificial price demanded for a quick return to peace.

.....4pm: Tic tacs and an ice tea are pacifying the troops


.....5pm: The troops revolt and there are many tears over broken dreams of having milk the moment they want it.

.....5:45pm: I walked through the door, crying kids in tow and made a b-line strait to the fridge where I pounced upon the mcain frozen cake thing in the freezer and ate about 3 pieces (thats the polite way to say I cut a whole row) and shoved it in my mouth.  The kids watching this feeding frenzy swarmed around to get their piece of the pie - I mean cake.

....6:00pm: Supper was cooking (macaroni and hamburger) and I literally set off every smoke detector in the house. leaving the element on Hi really isn't a time saving tactic.  Once enough pillow waving and fans on released our ear drums from the scream of a false alarm I finished super. And the kids ate...and I oh crap got distracted and started blogging.

So yes, I am going to go eat now.

Kids Christmas Lists...

On Thursday I was busy taking pictures of a whole bunch of kids with the man of the season - Santa.  Pop on over to my Twisted Lily blog to get the low down on the event.
Anyway I have to say that most of the evening I had a permanent smile etched on my face and it wasn't JUST because the kids were too cute for words.

It was the words that were coming out of their mouths in response to one question in particular, "What do you want for Christmas?"

Here are a couple of my favourite responses:

"I want kung foo lessons and a ticket to china" - oh and I asked his mother and YES he watched karate kid.

Little brother - " I want this truck with doors that open".....2 min later after describing every little detail it was Big Brothers turn - " umm I think I just want a fire extinguisher and maybe a couple of fire hoses"
Dad must be a firefighter!!

Eliana gets hung up on musical instruments at christmas time....last year she asked for a drum and this year so far it has been a piano and a flute....can you see me rolling my eyes!!!
I just got rid of the drum from last christmas and the recorder that Ed got me for mothers day (yup sometimes I think he is trying to drive me off the deep end)
I think Santa will be fresh out of flutes this year.....and pianos will be in miniature plastic form...lol

I heart Faces - Silhouettes

So all week long I was waiting for the sun....rise or set I wasn't picky I wanted to get that beautiful colourful shot and practice my silhouettes!  Needless to say the sun didn't come out which inspired this silhouette that is directly inspired from Cat in the Hat...

"The sun did not shine 

It was too wet to play

So we stayed in the house

All that cold, cold wet day."

My Days....

These days just don't seem long enough!  I have found myself delightfully busy with photography work and the daily rig-a-ma-roll of being a parent.
I wish for more time to sort things out in my head and to organize it all but I think that is a matter of me cracking down on my random nature and learning some better time management skills.


I don't know if I say this enough but my kids are awesome. My husband is awesome.  My family is such a blessing in my life. 


I am loving my work...I love that it is always something new...I love that I get to learn a new trick or angle or whatever pretty much every time I pick up my camera.  There is something so wonderfully satisfying about capturing beautiful people and beautiful places.


I will be hopefully posting a lot on my Twisted Lily Photography site this week...there is a lot in the works and to share so be sure to check in!


Speaking of sharing these are a couple of the little guys that I took pictures of last week at their Jui Jitsu club.  To check out a few more of these cute pics click here

 

Sitting At The Dinner Table....

So sitting at my parents dinner table the other night Eliana was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up
" I want to be a mommy" was her matter of fact reply.
My sister then asked her, "what do mommys do?" (May I interject here....what sort of question is that!!!??)
And Elianas response was once again strait to the point "they cut"
?????
We were confused as to what she meant but after some more questioning it became clear that she was talking about making supper....ie 'cutting up food'
Then my smarty pants of a sister once again probed eliana, "what do daddy's do then eliana?"

I love my daughter and her response reminded of me of one of the reasons why....

When she said "daddys watch."

I heart Faces - Orange Challenge

I haven't had an entry in a while - life just gets a little too crazy sometimes :)

So here is my orange picture...these are my kids and one of there best little friends on a walk.  This little friend just moved provinces away so it was an extra special time and I mostly just loved the mood that this pic expressed.

hope you like it too

Our Halloween Tale...

Our Halloween was spread out over a couple of days so that we could enjoy our traditional bonfire/wiener roast out at the farm and then go trick or treating with the kids in town halloween night.


It worked out quite well. Some how we didn't get any pictures of the bonfire but heres a few pics of pumpkins and our family costume..


Oh ya - we dressed up as a family this year and it was a blast.  I think the kids were more excited to see us dress up than they were! lol
We did an inspector gadget theme.  Ed was inspector gadget (we even had an umbrella to come out of his hat but then the kids broke the umbrella)
Eliana was Penny - she was really excited to dress up as penny but as you will see - she just looked like a little girl which I think confused people...lol
Gabriel was Brain (penny's dog) He was happy to be a dog but once again I think people were confused because of the hat we used to put his ears on made him look more like aviator dog - aka Snoopy
I was a MAD agent.  I was pretty pumped about my MAD logo on my shirt.  I was the only one that actually scared people....lol
We showed up at my aunts house and my cousin Morgan was home alone.  When she saw me get out of the car - and she didn't recognize me - she locked the door. 
Then she heard me talking to the kids and came out....pretty funny though.
So we were pretty happy with our family theme but I don't think it clicked for anyone seeing us on the street who we were trying to be. Next year we will have to try for something a little more current :)

ignore the watermark!!! oops

Random Car Conversations

Usually these conversations happen when I don't have our video camera around but Ed and Eliana were in a silly mood this trip home and I got to capture a bit of it.  I know it is a little long but some of Eds comments just got me giggling...

My Recipe for Mister Linky

Popeye Pasta


This is a super easy, super yummy pasta.  My kids even eat it - they are suckers for feta cheese so that helps!  From start to finish this recipe will take you as long as it takes noodles to cook!!

OK - Ingredients: olive oil, garlic, 2 lg tomatoes, 1 bunch spinach, balsamic vinegar, feta cheese and any type of noodle

Olive oil, garlic crushed and minced, tomatoes roughly chopped.....med heat

Once tomatoes start to soften just a bit add the roughly chopped spinach

And a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar  - Note that noodles are cooking in the background!!

Cook just until spinach wilts - take off of heat

Spoon over pasta and add feta on top and some pepper to taste....YUMMY!!

Ok its time to share....

Yup thats right  - its time to share your favourite on the go recipe.  Here's why...I have run out of ideas and instead of scouring the web for recipes I thought why not ask all of you.


So I know for myself - I am short on easy, healthy supper ideas for those nights when my creativity and energy only gets me to the Kraft Dinner and hot dogs category.


I also figured that I must not be the only mom (or dad!) that runs into this dilemma so if we each share one favourite recipe hopefully we will end up with a nice little stack of ideas :)


SO here's how to get involved.....Mr Linky is a cool little widget that is gonna help us out.  


FIRST: Write a blog that includes the recipe you would like to share
SECOND:View your blog and copy the address that is up in the address bar (make sure it is the address to that specific blog post)
THIRD:Copy the post address and paste it here into the mr linky box along with your name and they everyone can easily check out each others recipes! 


I Look forward to seeing lots of yummy recipes  :)

Taking Time to Count...

So here are a few numbers for you 


My house is approximately 1100 sq feet...which suits us just fine.
We have 3 bed rooms, a sunroom, a living room and a kitchen...again just hunky dory.
Yesterday morning I made about 10 dozen cookies (by accident - I doubled one ingredient and had to catch up with the rest)
And yesterday our mom bookclub group met at my place....
I did some counting yesterday and realized there were 9 moms that came - which is a great sized group...
And 18 children (all 5 and under)
LOL
We tried to send them to play in the bedrooms and some of them did - but I don't blame the ones who spilled out I am sure they would have been trampled.
We moms tried to squish in the sun room so that the kids would not have to run through the middle of our discussion but I think my love seat would have had to squish about 5 people on it so that idea went out the window.
So there we were 9 moms in the middle of kid hurricane valiantly try to talk over all the noise and screaming...we eventually gave up and settled with visiting in little clusters because you seriously could not hear across my little living room.
Now remember earlier I said I had been baking cookies right? So add to this whole scenario that the house temperature was   roughly what is needed to cook a turkey and I think you'll have the jist of our morning book group yesterday.


I love that the ladies in this group are so relaxed that they didn't even bat an eye at the craziness of our situation but made the best of it  - ate cookies - and some yummy dessert some other moms brought - and somehow made walking through a hurricane look easy.

MMMM Thanksgiving.....turkey how do I love you - let me count the ways

That may be my longest title yet - but can you blame me?  Turkey really is oh so good - I get to this time of year and find myself wondering why we only do it twice.


Anyway off of the turkey brain....
We also had an awesome weekend of spending time with my family....and of course because everyone was home at the same time (FINALLY)


It became a major photo op.

A Surprise 75th Bday for my Gram brought out my dads two sisters

My Grams was tickled pink by the surprise

Mom and Dad helped me play around with the setting on my camera

Timer + Two Kids + Mommy and Two kids running back and forth to reset camera = fun family photos

I got my exercise this day  - once again playing the start the timer and run game "The Girls"

"The Boys"....thankfully I did not slip off my precarious perch on the tractor hood

Uncle Jimmy with Gabe 

It really was a great weekend - besides my Grandma's 75th birthday we also celebrated my Dad's 50th on Sunday and of course Thanksgiving on monday.

Yup I think it is safe to say I have started gaining my winter insulation. 

Gabe's Revelation...

So I just had to share this cute little conversation I had with Gabe the other night...


Gabe was talking with Eliana and I tuned in just as I heard


Eliana: "I am  a girl Gabe"


Gabe: " I girl too"


Eliana: "NO your NOT Gabe - your a boy - I a girl"


Gabe: "NO" (starts crying)


So I grabbed him and put him on my lap.


Me: "Yes you are a boy Gabe...thats good you are boy, that is the way that Jesus made you"


Gabe: "Oh" (a few sniffles as he stopped crying - then he looked at me meaningfully) "Jesus make you a big huge one mommy?"


"Yup Jesus made me a big huge one"'

So Alive and Half Dead...

I know that my title is quite the paradox but it sums up so much of my life right now that I had to go with it.

Last night was my first night in just over 6 weeks that I have gone to Brazilian Jui Jitsu.

I have realized that for me - Jui Jitsu represents and greatly contributes to my health and by no means is my physical health the greatest beneficiary.  Mentally, emotionally I feel SOO much better after class - I feel de-stressed, revitalized and ready to face life again. 
**BLISS**

Of course my definition of bliss in this case is getting rolled around for an hour and a half - but it just felt so good to be in class again.
Until this morning - "Hello achy sore muscles - I missed you???" 
So alive - half dead.


I also have been busy preparing for a wedding trade show in a few weeks, as well as trying to meet the deadlines of the various photography projects I have on the go. It is awesome being busy, it is awesome having new opportunities to grow not only my business but also myself. It is challenging and exciting and I am grateful and eager to continue to learn, not only more in the field of photography but also in business. BUT of course there is a flip side to all of this (just because I am as human as they come) I am finding myself with elevated stress levels and more things on my 'to do' list than may be possible....So alive - half dead


I am working back in the school district again - thanks to Sarah who has taken on the somewhat chaotic schedule of casual child care. I don't know if working in the district really infuses me with life filling passion (although I do enjoy it) But it does add some pennies into our account so I guess with this one I will rate it a '3/4 alive - half dead"
Half dead because who in their right mind wants to work casual on call!! 

Another Date Night Hijacked

I was happily surprised when early last week Ed suggested a date night friday for us.  Our kids have had the foot and mouth virus and so I have been stuck at home more than I am used to and I was so looking forward to it!
Ed planned for us to go out and watch a movie while my sister stayed and watched the kids.
Sounds awesome right!
Come Friday afternoon though things started to unravel.  Gabe who even while being covered in a blistery rash around his face, feet and hands had been quite content to play happily began to fuss.
Then fussing turned to screaming...that horrible cry that lets you know they are not just whining - they are in pain.
We turned to tylenol....which really did nothing.
By midnight I was concerned enough that we took him into the ER...and at two in the morning just 5 minutes before the doctor came in...Gabe had one of those crazy poops.


And once he was cleaned up - he settled down.  He let me hold him, instead of pacing the room saying oww oww.


The doc confirmed that he was ok aside from the foot and mouth virus...the pain that I had thought was from blisters was actually a tummy ache.
It reminds me of that quote,
"when you hear hoof beats you think horses  - not zebras"


Oh brother. Anyway so our date night was not realized this week but we decided instead to go on a family date on Sunday to go check out the salmon run happening at a local river.  Very cool


I will post those pics as soon as I can :)

Well I had fun....

Well this past weekend found us road tripping our way down to the coast.  Ed was a part of a wedding in seattle so we left Thursday night with the hopes that we would have a nice relaxing weekend. HA!


We were about half way there (2.5 hrs into the trip) when Ed realized that he had forgot his entire bag - and his passport.  Back home we went.  We left Friday morning at 4am got there in record time. (yay no traffic)


Ed dropped the kids and me off with the Conrads and he continued on to Seattle.  Such a fun relaxing weekend.  Good friends and good food and fun chic flicks and happy kids!! Ed had a bit of a different weekend of busy, stress and little sleep but hey I had fun!! lol 


Here are a few snap shots of our time at the apple orchard

Leanne and Marti - I missed so many good shots of Leanne and the kids I just couldn't keep up!!

Mrs Marie and Eliana

Mrs Marie and Marti

I get nauseous jumping on trampolines and Gabe wasn't really into it either so we both got cuddles.

Gabe and Marti were racing to get around the corner first...apparently Gabe took this quite seriously

Marti decided that this bale was too high

Putting Auntie Jackie on the Spot

Mrs Marie helpin out Gabe

This Goat litterally walked right into the end of my lens - to get the pic i had to hold him back

We went on a hay ride around the farm - Marti settled in right away

Gabe settled in RIGHT next to here

Gabe found Mater

Hands down my favourite shot of the day - although this one was pretty easy to take because I had time to adjust my settings  - I think when I am out with the kids I should just leave my camera on automatic