Yesterday I turned 28. Despite the fact that Abigail perceptively noticed, and continued to point out, that my birthday was on "garbage day" - it was a great day! I got up early in the morning for my normal routine of exercises and reading in my hammock, when I found laying in the hammock, the sweetest note, homemade flowers and a rake from John. Now I know you girls might not think a rake is that big of a deal-but for me- it was the perfect gift. I LOVE working outside, and try to cram in a couple of hours a day in the garden or yard. This rake is a beauty too! So that is how my morning began. After the kids were all dressed and ready for the day-I headed out to the garden with my trusty new gift and went to work. It was awesome. After the rainfall last week there was an abundance of weeds so it was a big job. But it's all looking good now! A couple of hours into it my sister in law Luci phoned and told me that she was coming over to watch the kids and she'd booked an appointment for me for an "ionic foot bath" at the local spa. I was shocked...muddy...and the house was a mess. But I had been wanting to try this ionic bath thing for SO LONG and had always had to cancel the appointment for some reason or other. I was so excited to go-and it felt good to just drop everything for a moment.

Now a couple of words about the ionic foot bath. Holy cow it was the weirdest thing ever. The way it works is that you place your feet into a tub of water. ...Like this:


Looks fine right? The water is warm. They add some sea salt and two electric plates into the water. The plates generate a charge that enters your body through one leg, courses through you and exits down throughout your other leg. Your foot has over 2000 pores in it, so as these charges are coursing through-they also draw out all of the toxins and crap (for lack of a better word) out of your body. It is basically a cleanse. After 20 minutes the water is supposed to look more like this:



Malarkey you think? I was skeptical as well-but you should of seen it. Out of one of my feet seeped the strangest color. There were black specks. A bit of foam. Now I have to clarify the above pictures are NOT of my feet. I grabbed those pics off of fountainofhealth.com, but that is truly what happened. Isn't that SICK! Ew Ew EWWWW! Still when I think about it it grosses me out. Still, all that sludge is better in the bucket then inside me. In theory the more you go the cleaner the water will get and the healthier you should feel, because your body should be restored to it's correct PH level etc. Weird. and cool. Thank you Luci for being so thoughtful, perceptive and giving me that gift. I knew we'd love having you living here:)

The rest of the day was spent with my kids. We worked on the yard some more, (and when I say "WE" I mean "ME" but the kids walked alongside me pointing out every weed I'd missed. For supper we went out with Jordan and Luci to this cool burger place in town. I'd never been there before but it was OK food and even better- I didn't have to cook!!! No one should have to cook on their birthday right? That evening John, Abigail and I attended a little preschool party, in which Abby was given materials for a birdhouse and together we built it with her. A fun parent/child activity. Abby got a Home Depot apron and of course her amazing birdhouse. I enjoyed this hour alone with her. It made me want to try to spend time alone with each of my kids more often. She looked so sweet and it was funny to watch John as he helped her build this house. I could see the carpenter gears in his head just spinning as he tried to be as articulate as possible. He took this preschool project VERY seriously:)



We got back to Jewels home that evening to pick up the kids only to learn that she had organized a small surprise party for me. It was so thoughtful of her. (Not that she hadn't already given me the coolest gumboots, and flowers) Nope, she had to throw in a party as well. How does she think of it all? By this point in the day I was feeling a little awkward... what with all the attention I was getting. Don't worry though, I enjoyed every bit of it!!! Oh why can't it be my birthday EVERYDAY!! I can't remember the last time I had a cake...with candles...and people singing. It was such a fun time.

Of course I can't forget to express my gratitude to Rachel for the assortment...and I do mean "assortment" of goodies. Rach-I will never put on my Indian Feather earrings or munch on those delectable shrimp flavor crackers with out thinking of YOU. You are hilarious. Oh and Jordan I LOVED the LED lights that you got me...FOR JOHN'S PLANE!!!

That is how my birthday ended. Visiting with family, watching the Dad's fly their planes, and enjoying the beautiful evening! Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day for me.

I felt so lucky. So loved. So glad to be 28!

The Turkey has landed!

In other words - our furnace is here!!!! Can I just say how nice it is to have heat. Now it may seem like I've complained a lot about our lack of heat, but believe me, I haven't complained as much as I've wanted to!

Looking back I'm amazed that John and I were able to keep the kids healthy and semi-happy over the past two weeks. I might actually venture to say the kids enjoyed parts of our little cold spurt.





To keep warm at night-we moved our bed into the kids room. Their room is the warmest in the house, and we also felt that all of us together would generate more heat. The kids, as you can see above, LOVED the idea of having a trampoline in their room.

I as well will miss those nice evenings when John and I would sit around the fire and talk of warmer days. And when I say "fire" I mean the cozy and romantic glow of the space heater. Ahh.... I'm so GLAD that is over.

All about that weed I loathe

Have you ever felt that there was one thing that you really ...REALLY can't stand. John would say that the word "Hate" is too extreme to use, but I H-A-T-E dandelions. I spend hours digging those stinkin things out of my yard, only to wake up the next day to see new ones. Frankly I think those sturdy little weeds will be the straw that breaks the camels back so to say. That being my sanity!

As I was researching ways to obliterate them from my yard without using harmful chemicals I found some fun information (at essortment.com) about dandelions that made me almost think they could be a bit useful. ...Almost! I dare anyone to try one of these recipes. Enjoy!

_____________________________________
* A few RECIPES for the brave *

Dandelion Salad

Clean, dried dandelion greens, approx. two handfuls

Five strips of bacon, fried crisp, let cool and break apart

½ cup vinegar

Small red onion diced

¾ tsp. Sugar


In a shallow pan of boiling water, add dandelion leaves for just long enough to heat, drain off water and add remaining ingredients, only adding enough sugar to cut any remaining bitterness. It is best to experiment with the sugar. Salt and pepper may also be added to taste. Serve while still warm.


Besides salads, the greens can also be used as a sandwich ingredient alone, with a bit of salt and oleo to taste, or as a substitute for lettuce. The nutritional value of the dandelion greens is believed to include vitamins A, B, and C.


* Dandelion Folklore *
Dandelions also hold a place in superstition and folklore. If a dandelion blossom stayed open all night, it was believed to foretell of rain the following day. Sniff a dandelion, if your nose turns yellow, you are in love with a fellow, if your nose does not turn, no fellow is in love with you. It was believed good luck to carry a few (just two or three) dandelions amongst your wedding bouquet, as it would bring prosperity to the marriage in money, children, and health. It was good luck for a young woman to wear a necklace of dandelions if she made them, but not lucky if someone gave them to her. Bad luck to pick dandelions in a cemetery. Worse luck if they brought them home from a cemetery, and even worse if they gave them away after picking them in the cemetery, except to lay them on a loved one's grave. Some would rub a dandelion between their hands and rub the yellow on any spot that ached or swelled.

Four days of non-stop rain...

...beautiful! Grass is green. Worms are everywhere and the kids are LOVIN the puddles.



...and my new gumboots are the funnest ever! ( BTW Thanks jewel- the timing was perfect.)

Even better-our furnace is coming on Monday!! Sure, our summer play fund has taken a major hit but that blessed contraption is on its way!! Who wants to bet it warms up on Monday and we end up not needing to use our furnace until the fall?

Mommy doesn't ask for much

I truly feel that there is not much I NEED in order to be happy. Sure my life isn't perfect-but it is great. I'd like to think that I'm capable of creating my own happiness and that I don't need a bunch of stuff to make me so. Still though, there are three things that I've always felt, if I only had them, then life would truly be perfect. A "wish list" of sorts, if you may. Nothing major, just three little requests.

1) One wicked awesome totally great personality.
2) The assurance that nothing will ever go wrong.
3) Perfect Health + Wealth (since those rhyme it only counts as one:)


See that is ONLY THREE things! I hardly think that is asking too much. Some people have lists that are endless and I only have three itty bitty things on my list.

This past week however has opened my eyes to another desire. Something I've rarely had to think about. It is truly a luxary-yet until now it is something I have always taken for granted. ...HEAT!




Yes I've posted a picture of our sad little furnace before (the first time we had problems with it), but this time the damage has been more extensive. For some reason, something in our furnace is burning up all the wires. Fire? A "Hot" wire...who knows? Needless to say there is a lot of crispiness in there and it is literally toast. We are having a heck of a time finding anyone who can fix it. Either they don't have the ability, or they don't have the time. At first this all seemed fine. Sure we can live without a furnace right? We're coming up on summer here, and when the weather is nice we can tough it out just fine. Remember - I'm easy to please. Problem is, it isn't nice out. It is cold. Rainy. Windy. It's been almost two weeks since we started using space heaters at night.

So I'm going to take the liberty of adding only ONE more thing to my very meager wish list, and I hope this won't make me seem too unreasonable or anything.

So at the risk of sounding selfish here it goes. Item #4:
I WANT HEAT in the form of a New furnace. (Uh oh yeah...and it be great if we could get it for free.)

That's all I ask for;)

a few random things from our very random week

I had so many pictures that I wanted to post that I decided to turn them into a slide show.

Things you'll see in here:

-pics of our two trips to Waterton on Friday and Saturday. It was gorgeous there, and absolutely packed! The kids had fun picnicking, and walking around the town site. Of course they stopped in for ice cream at the Big Scoop!
-Pics of my kids with their little cousin Libby around town
-Pics of the kids' "crazy" uncle Jordan flying his airplane on a very windy day
-Jessica eating watermelon- we're so glad she's feeling better

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So those were some of the highlights of this past week. It was so nice to get out to Waterton, and with it being the May long weekend we were able to see lots of people that we knew and take advantage of some of the sales. John and I each got some hiking boots. I LOVE mine. They are good for day hikes and also great for jogging. (John also got some but for some reason he didn't care for me to take a picture of them) He's obviously not a blogger at heart! Needless to say we are planning our first hike of the year (and the kids'first ever) this week. Bertha Falls is what we're thinkin. Anybody done that? We are hoping it is easy enough for the little ones.

I found a couple of other fun little things in Waterton this week. Organic Herbal Tea...the cutest dip dishes and the yummiest Huckleberry Syrup EVER! If you've ever been to Waterton-chances are you've gone to the Big Scoop for ice cream. My sister in law Rachel is the manager there this summer. We stopped in on Friday to see her and she pointed out all of the tasty huckleberry products lining the window sill. It was so hard to choose what I'd splurge on that day - everything looked delightful. I think I chose well with the syrup, and I'm not kidding- it's good. So...if you are ever in Waterton, stop by for ice cream and say hi to Rachel! And don't leave without buying the SYRUP!!!!


Now that you are thinking about Huckleberries...

Huckleberry Pancakes

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup milk
4 ounces huckleberries, fresh or frozen, plus extra, for serving
Whipped butter and maple syrup, as an accompaniment
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Then, stir in eggs, oil, and milk until mixed. Do not beat the mixture.

Pour 2 to 6 ounce ladles of batter on a lightly oiled griddle. Then, add 1 ounce of huckleberries to each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Place the pancakes on a large plate. Then garnish with huckleberries, whipped butter, and hot maple syrup.

Great Idea

Don't worry-I don't actually like this template. I will be changing it soon... I have just grown tired at the moment of playing around with it. There is a reason why I don't scrapbook.

I did want to quickly post a fun recipe idea that we came across. Something about John is that he LOVES smoothies. He'd make one every day if he could. Recently I found a recipe on Laura's blog for "Shrek Smoothies." If I had the energy I'd link it, but I don't, so just know that it is basically a fruit smoothie with SPINACH in it. Spinach!!! Now, you might not think a smoothie with spinach in it would be any good-but you'd be wrong. It was Delicious!

This apparently got the juices flowing in John's brain because last night as we were looking for stuff to throw into our drink, you'll never guess what made it into the blender.





A bag of frozen BEETS! Have you ever heard of that? We hadn't, but we gleefully watched as the kids downed every last drop. Try it, and then tell us "yay or nay."

Here's what we did: We made up the recipe. Basically we had 1/2 a can of orange concentrate. One banana. One handful of cranberries, and about 1 1/2 cups of beets. And some ice. Good luck!

My favorite thing about Mother's Day is the cards that get made at school. This one this year is so cute. Obviously Abby's teacher sat down with her to determine how well Abby knows her mommy. If you click on the card you can read what she put. :) So cute.



For the record I am not so afraid of tigers. I think Abby must have heard me talking back when I was reading Life of Pi! And 9 Pounds? Seriously? I weigh a little more then that. So funny.

I love my kids.

This entry is for my kids. It is mostly for journaling purposes. You know, so that years from now I'll be able to prove to my kids that THEY were in fact, the reasons behind my insanity! ha. This entry is all about a bad day... and an important lesson I learned.

It all Started on Wednesday. Jess had been showing signs of a cold. Nothing major-a mild cough, she was a bit fussy. By noon-she was bad. Her breathing was so labored. Every sound that came out of her was accompanied by a deep awful "bark", and she was warm. Trying to access the severity I checked inside her mouth hoping for teeth. I tend to blame EVERYTHING on teething. ("What, Sam is being mean?" oh he's teething. "Abby's cranky?" She's probably teething...can't they still be teething at 5?) Sure enough there were two very big molars trying to poke there way through some very swollen gums. Still, I had to admit she was sick, so I booked an appointment for her to see the doctor that afternoon. So there I was, trying to get her ready for the doctor, when all the sudden I hear an awful scream. Sam in the other room. I run to where he is-to find him holding his hand in pain. That's when I saw it. The childproof cover had been pried off one of our outlets and in it's place Sam had jammed in a couple of keys. They were pushed in deep. After several attempts to kick the keys out of the outlet (sparks were flying) I finally got them out. The keys are charred on the end, as well as the outlet cover. Sam was hysterical, Jess was screaming of her own pains, and I was recovering from a near heart attack!! It was an awful moment, and FOR THE RECORD- you should never think your kid can't get through some safety plugs!!! I should have known Sam was capable of that. Childproofing is nothing when it comes to Sam!

So needless to say I called the Dr's office back to notify them that I'd also be bringing in my son to be checked out. That was a low moment. Could I look any more incompetent? Apparently I could, because when the doctor finally listened to Jessica's breathing and observed her for a moment, he rushed us to the emergency room. After four hours being treated and watched in triage Jess was admitted for the night. I stayed with her that night, and thankfully the treatments of epinephrine did help a lot with her breathing, but it was still a very VERY long night.


As I spent the night walking with Jess, pacing, and pacing...I experienced...I don't know, a change of heart if you will. You see earlier in the evening I'd complained so vehemently about how much this all sucked. I did not want to be there. My back hurt. I was tired. There were things I needed to be doing. I was hungry. This day had totally gone all wrong. blah blah blah. Yeah I know- who's the baby hey? However, after all had calmed down, and as I held Jess in my arms, I felt completely different. Suddenly, I was so grateful to have this time alone with Jessica. Not since she was born-had we been able to spend this much time together without any interruption. Having nothing with me to work on wasn't something to complain about- it was a gift. Just me and my little girl, and singing, and back rubs, and talking to her in a way that I don't get to do very often. It was so NICE to be forced to just focus on her and what SHE was needing. Of course my mind would occasionally drift off towards Sam and I'd say a silent little prayer that he too was ok. He was-and is. In fact that little jolt he experienced has not had any effect on him. True, he may never learn to read...but...(jokes).

So we survived the night (thanks to jewel, rachel and luci who pampered us with snacks and supplies.) I survived the day and I learned something very important about Motherhood. Despite what I sometimes think- being a Mom is not about making sure that everything ALWAYS runs smoothly- because it won't. As a mom I can do my best to make sure that my kids are healthy and safe, but I can't stop the bad days from coming. As a Mom I CAN learn to just be there with them, holding them when they need to be held, kissing their little fingers when they hurt, and loving those moments too. I can learn how to let the unimportant go so that I'm able to really focus on the important.

I think that is why I have been given such great sisters, sisters-in-laws, and grandmothers in my life. God knew I'd need a lot of practice in the area of motherhood, and that is why I'm surrounded by the best examples possible. That's probably why I was given the Mother I was given. She managed to raise four kids while battling a terminal illness the whole time. Now there must have been some bad days for her (far worse then I've ever experienced-that's for sure) I can't recall an unhappy moment with her, and I think that is because she understood what she was doing for us. She wanted us to know her HAPPY, to know that she loved us and loved being our mom. That's all I really remember, and that's what really want to pass on to my kids to. I'll continue trudging through those bad days, enjoying the great days...and learning EVERY day how to be just a little bit better the next day.

So a shout out to all of you MOMS out there, and especially those that I love. I hope this weekend is a great one for you. Happy Mothers Day!!!


Three reasons why my life is great-even when everything goes wrong!

What does it mean?

Do you ever find yourself using a word or a phrase and wondering how that ever became a part of your vocabulary. Abby had her first soccer practice last night, and John and I are the coaches of her team. I thought it would be a fun experience and somethig that we could all be a part of as a family. How did it go? Oh you know... fine. Fine, considering the evening consisted of 5 five year old kids all wanting at the ball, kicking ferociously at everything BUT the ball. Kids stealing the ball from their own team members. One hungry girl who kept trying to play while snacking on pretzels. Two balls in faces. One tooth through a lip. All in all - very little accomplished aside from that.

Since then I've pretty much referred to it as a "Gong Show." I caught myself at one point when I realized I didn't even know what a gong show was. What exactly was I saying when I described the first game of the year that way? I decided I'd better look up the definition.

"An event marred by confusion,ineptitude,and disorganization"

Yup I was right. That was our team. Who's in charge anyway??



Feel free to send any tips this way. We'll take all the help we can get!

It's the .True North Strong & Free eh!

So my brother in law and his wife just moved here. Isn't that great? Right here to this very town! We are elated to have even more family close by. Why should MY sister be the only one who has to put up with me eh?) I often feel as though I rarely have the chance to really get to know John's siblings and their spouses because they live so far away. And when they do come to visit, they “hardy” ever stay long enough! So we are thrilled that some of them will be here this summer.

So I thought I'd dedicate this post to my sister-in-law, Luci. She's a born and raised American (one of those:) and despite the fact that she parks her car funny, she's living proof that good things do come from that side of the border. Just kidding. I don't think Canada is without any flaws - but I am convinced that it is one of the finest places to live. So Luci, here are 5 great reasons to feel glad you live in Canada:


- It's the 2nd largest country in the world and one of the lowest populated per square mile .
- Gorgeous mountains in the west and some of the largest fresh water lakes in the world. We'll go fishing!!!
- Universal Childcare payments! Look into it eh. Seriously this almost makes me want to have more babies. ...almost.
- We have cool currency. Really. The "TOONIE" & the "LOONIE"? Lucky us:)
- In John's words: "We're small enough not to be noticed, but when needed we're big enough to make a difference."


Anyone reading this-feel free to share any of the reasons you love Canada. (you don't have to be a blogger even to respond. Just click on comments and add one anonymously) oh, C'mon-do it for Luci!


YouTube - Rick Mercer - Talking to Americans - 2 of 5

Here's to dirty socks

I've always felt that one thing that separates a boy from a girl is the amount of dirt that seems to cling to little boys. Their hands, their faces, their clothes, their socks, every inch of little boys just begs to get dirty. I couldn't help but laugh (and cry) the other day when I picked up Sam's brand new socks. Nothing stays new for long does it?
At first I wanted to get mad and list off a thousand reasons why I am SICK of doing SOO MUCH laundry! But then, I noticed the socks on my own feet. Hmmmm. Perhaps this throws my boy/girl theory about dirt out the window.









What's the reason for all this dirt? Well since you're wondering-it's this:


No this is not our weekly amount of garbage used in our home. We actually use slightly less then this normally. This is a picture of 15 bags of PINE NEEDLES! Not leaves. Not grass. Needles only- and LOTS of em. I spent two days raking under and around these blasted pine trees. Now at first it seemed enjoyable enough. Some exercise, fresh air, I got to watch the sunset last night as I worked. I think this is the sort of thing that brings out the obsessive compulsive part of me. You know it is bad when you realize you are "sweeping" the grass with a broom determined to get every last stinkin needle.


Needleless to say (hee hee), this morning at 6:00am as I unwillingly went out to finish the job I wasn't quite so optimistic. Quite the opposite in fact. Stupid sunrise. Stupid trees. Stupid pain in my wrists. Stupid...boring...hate it!!!