sweet n sour.

A decade ago when Simon and I were in our early twenties, we spent every Friday with a group of grade 6 and 7's at our church. We were youth leaders for at least five years or more. It's not easy to get a group of 10 or 11 year olds to open up about life so we came up with 'sweet n sour', we would ask each kids to tell us their 'sweet moment' of the week (anything that was awesome) and a 'sour moment' (anything that sucked) and to positively reinforce this sharing, we had sweet candies for sharing a 'Sweet' and sour candies for sharing a 'Sour' which served as great motivators.


Now that Natallie is at school, we started doing sweet n sour with her after the end of each school day and it's been a great conversation starter and giving us great insight into her day. And she actually likes doing it that we don't even need candy. Isn't that sweet?! (no pun intended)


 These are some of things we have learned...Sweet: Grounders was so much fun. Sour: too scared to tell the teacher I had to go pee. Sweet: teacher sat in the car on the fieldtrip. Sour: didn't want to play toilet tag. Sweet: the grade 5 buddies came to eat lunch with us. Sour: didn't get a chance to go to creation station for center time. Sweet: teacher read a book that glowed in the dark Sour: mom packed oranges (loathe oranges)


Last weekend we had quite the roller coaster of emotions. Sweet: Playdate at best friend's house. Built new Lego sets with Daddy. Decorated the Christmas tree. Family movie night.

But the Sour seemed to overshadow everything Sweet: Natallie's beloved pet hamster, Cutie (which she only has had for less than 4 months) suddenly died. This was her first 'real' pet and she loved it with all her 5 year old heart. It was so devastating. She was so upset. She sobbed and I held her in my arms and I sobbed because it broke my heart to see her so upset. It meant so much to her.

She asked for another hamster but I don't really want to go through the death of another animal again. She loved that hamster so much. We buried her beloved Cutie in the yard. I told her that hamster go to heaven. Bad theology I know but parents lie sometimes. Goodbye Cutie, you were the perfect first pet for our Nallie. If there is a hamster heaven, I hope you go there.

Pumpkin Patch Photoshoot.

I love the pumpkin patch. Fall colors. Fun displays. Farm animals. Hayrides. Corn maze. Fields of pumpkins. And the kids are usually so excited and in such a good mood, I can get some great shots without bribing them to smile. This year we went with our good friends and captured some genuine pumpkin patch joy. This is my favourite...

Thanks to Rachael for finding these adorable pumpkin dresses on sale and bought one for all the girls. Noah was devastated (I mean like bawling uncontrollably) when he realized he didn't have a pumpkin dress too. Seriously. "I wanna pumpkin dress. Waaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaa". Note to self: I need to hang out with people with sons. Its tough being the only boy sometimes....


He soon got over his non-matching shirt and had a blast with his fleet of girlfriends...

love this one. totally nailed the look of sibling love.

The best part of going to the pumpkin patch is comparing photos from pumpkin patches of years past.

So thankful for these two turkeys...even when they make each other cry with their crushing hugs and sob over not getting to wear a pumpkin dress. I'm still feeling very blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!

to be continued...

Dear Nallie bear - did you know that ever since you could talk and I could understand what you could say that we have been doing "the Birthday Interview"? I started doing this since you were 3. I would try to interview you on your birthday and see how you change. You started Kindergarten this week and I thought there might be some tears. I was bracing for some tears. I thought either you or I would cry. I didn't wear mascara on your first day of Kindergarten. Just in case. You did so great, you just skipped along to school, holding hands with Nala. You were slightly scared when we actually got to school, I could see your bottom lip tremor but we held hands and once you got inside the class, you and Nala picked the drawing table and the two of you happily starting drawing rainbows. I'm so proud of you sweet heart! You are going to rock Kindergarten.


I admit I am feeling pretty nostalgic, I can't believe you're going to be at school all day. I started piecing together your birthday interviews from the last few years. I am going to keep adding to it.....probably every September I will start to feel weepy how fast you are growing up and I'll keep working on this. Click on video to see your first few birthday interviews...

And you, my sweet boy, Noah....you surprised me with your smiley face at preschool today. I was also bracing for some waterworks from you. All week you were clinging to me whenever I mentioned the word preschool. When we were dropping off Natallie at Kindergarten you were super-glued to me and wailing, "I don't want to go to preschoooool!" and I was trying to hush you and tell you that this isn't even your class, it's Natallie's class. But today was different, you woke up brave and smiling. You waltzed into that classroom and picked out a toy and you ignored me when I told you I was going to leave. I made you give me a hug and you were all smiles when I came back. I am so proud of you.  Since you are turning 3 in just a few days, instead of the Birthday Interview maybe we will start the tradition of the September Interview for you. Now if you just sit still for long enough to answer the questions....here is the first segment to your saga

So this is an unfinished post, I am dying to know what you want to be when you grow up next year, will you still want to be a 'beaver teacher'! I love that when I ask you what you will teach those beavers you don't skip a beat and say, 'build a dam'!!! I had no idea you had such dam-building expertise my boy. You are the cutest future beaver-teacher a mom could ever ask for. I am so proud of you! I can't wait til the next year of interviews but don't grow up too fast babe!


To be continued...

Party it up Pups.

  The kids are exactly 2 years and 6 weeks apart and last year after planning a spectacular My Little Pony party, I was too exhausted to do anything for Noah so for his birthday, we took him to a movie and he got a bag of popcorn. He was still happy and it doesn’t matter because he was 2 and he doesn’t remember anything. I could of told him we took him to Disneyland and just forgot the camera for pictures and he wouldn’t know the difference.  But anyways,  this year I got the igneous idea that I will just combine the kid’s birthday party because the thought of doing 2 parties so close together was just too exhausting to fathom. And don’t tell Noah but he doesn’t really have any of his own friends, they are all Natallie’s friends that just seem to like him too.

After I convinced the kids that a Princess-Batman party would be too creepy, the kids decided on Paw Patrol instead.  This was back in January so I had 8 months to plan and that’s also about how long it took for my online order of Paw Patrol mini figures took to ship over from China.

For Noah's 1st birthday I painstakingly made tractor shaped sugar cookies and I swore I would never attempt themed based sugar cookies again but in a moment of idiocy, I promised Natallie that yes, I could make dog boned shaped sugar cookies with each of the Paw Patrol pup colors. Why ?! Why do I subject myself to these things? After finally finding a dog bone cookie cutter,  making two failed recipes,  dashing to the store for more eggs and burning my arm with the hot cookie tray, I had lovely dog-bone shaped cookies ready for icing. However, the icing did not prove to be any easier. I quit after the icing was running everywhere and I dyed arm hands and part of the kitchen counter blue with food coloring. I quit after that. The kids can decorate their own stupid cookies at the party.  If I ever decide to make themed sugar cookies again,  please hit me in the head with a frying pan. But I have to admit, even though I wasn't able to do cookies in all the pup colors, just the blue cookies looked pretty cool coupled with the red dog dish I found at the dollar store.

 I like planning parties but unlike Natallie, I lack patience and precision so I loathe things like intricate cookie decorating or piping delicate cupcake designs. Simon must of seen me in the kitchen with my ziplock bag of icing and starring at the 40 cupcakes in the kitchen that needed to be iced. I must of had the I-hate-my-life look on my face because he said, "it's just like caulking. I use a caulking gun at work all the time." And who knew that his skills from the construction site would transfer to mad skills to icing cupcakes for your kids' birthday. Simon didn't do just a decent job, he iced the cupcakes a million times better than I could. And the kids were more than happy to help lick the beater and the spoons with all the extra icing.

It didn't take long to set up all the Paw Patrol awesome-ness and we were ready to have a PAW-TY!

The party was a blast. My ingenious plan to not ice the rest of those stupid cookies turned out to be a fun activity for the kids.

It wasn't a super hot day but that didn't seem to stop the kids from playing in the spray park. I was in denial that it was the end of summer and didn't bring any warm clothes for my kids so they were shivering at the end. Oh well, they had eaten so much sugar it kept them running like maniacs to keep warm.

We had the music pumping and the kids (well at least mine) were showing off their bizarre dance moves.  They must get it from Simon because I did not teach them those moves.  

It was also a pleasant surprise that the kids were totally into the party games this year. Last year when I tried to orchestrate a relay race with a group of mostly 3-4 year olds, it was just a mass exodus of small people running everywhere but this year, the kids understood that they couldn't run until the person in front passed them the dog bone and it was a lot of fun. We also did a relay race with Paw Patrol masks which the kids thought was hilarious. The most entertaining game was Skye, Skye, Chase (Duck, Duck, Goose). Some of the kids still didn't understand the game and would just run around in continuous circles but it made for a really good laugh for all the parents watching.

 One thing I didn't count on was how incredibly difficult it would be to light a sparkler candle when it was slightly cold and windy.  One candle finally got lit but blew out before we could even assemble anyone to start singing Happy Birthday. It took all the dads at the party , 2 entire packs of matches and finally lighting some wrapping paper on fire to light the second pack of sparkler candles I brought. Oh well,  it was pretty entertaining just to watch all the dads trying working on it.

Thank you for everyone who came, played, danced, ate and gifted the kids with presents. I'm exhausted but it was totally worth it. I'm also really glad that I am not doing this again for another 365 days.

googling rhabdomyolsis.

Not going to lie, life is on fast-forward right now...I feel like the treadmill is on full speed and if I don't focus I am going to fly off. So when my dear husband has been telling me that he feels like he's barely holding on, I don't blink an eye and when he tells me that sometimes he thinks he is going to have a heart attack, I nod and agree. I feel on the verge of a mental breakdown on a weekly basis. And when he leaves work early and sleeps for 15 hours straight, I wonder how long it takes to catch up on 5 years of sleep deprivation. But when we are on vacation in Kelowna and my strong-as-the-Hulk husband can't lift my suitcase, I start to worry. We spend the first day at the waterslides at he says his muscles are seized up and he can't catch the kids jumping into the pool, I am concerned. Then in the evening when he can't squeeze toothpaste out, we decide we better go to the ER.

Our friend dropped Simon off at the Kelowna ER and we waited at the beach that was next to the hospital. There was nothing we could do but wait for results and the kids had a lot of fun swimming and digging in the sand while Simon was hooked up to IVs and getting vials of blood tested. Two bags of saline and 5 hours later, the doctors released him and told him to rest because his levels of creatine kinase were off the charts. Apparently endurance athletes like marathon runners or long distance cyclists will have these symptoms too. The doctor just said to rest and drink a ton of Gatorade and go back to the ER if he still doesn't feel better.

So we drive off to Enderby and to the family farm. There is a secret 'island' that only the locals know of and we retreat to the private sandbar and do exactly what the doctor says. But maybe because I google and read aloud everything horrible that is associated with high levels of creatine kinase, Simon doesn't sleep well and neither do I so Simon goes to the ER in Vernon this time and gets retested again. Another five hours, another 4 vials of blood, EEG scan and assortment of other tests later, the doctor diagnoses Simon with rhabdomyolsis (pronounced like this: rhab·do·my·ol·y·sis). Basically, its the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. But at least the doctor said he doesn't have the syndrome which is serious and could lead to kidney damage. He has the condition but not the disease.  I guess that is proof that being a dad is just like running a marathon or the Tour de France.

Simon didn't really like spending two days in the ER but with the assurance that Simon's heart was still ticking as it should and that he could recover from this gave us the reassurance we both needed to have a little fun with a few minor hiccups.

Natallie, our ever patient girl sat still in the warm shallow waters for so long with her net catching minnows. She did get a whole bunch of fish but she also got a leech suctioned to her arm! I was totally useless and panicking so it was good that another lady at the beach recognized what it was and was able to pry it off her arm. Blech. Leeches are disgusting creatures. Naturally, we built a jail for the leech in a bucket and the kids marched around it to make sure the leech served its jail time for its crime of scaring a little girl and her mother. And then a bit later, Noah stepped on bee and was crying uncontrollably. Again I was useless and didn't know what to do so Simon stepped in and was able to get the stinger out. It was his first bee sting and he didn't turn into a giant puff ball so its good to know he isn't allergic.

So other than a couple trips to the ER, a leech on the beach and a bee sting the rest of our trip was pretty relaxing and enjoyable. We paddleboarded, built sandcastles and sandmermaids and went to a farm market with animals. We fed donkeys and alpacas and ran away from a greedy goat and got really, really lost in a corn maze. It started out being fun but after awhile wandering around in a 34 degree heat in corn isn't that much fun so Simon helped bushwhack our way thru the corn and back out into civilization. If it wasn't for our short cut, we would still be in that corn maze right now.

Now that we are back home we are trying our best to slow down...it's challenging with 2 energizer-bunny lunatics that we affectionately call our children but we are trying to take little pauses in between the busyness to enjoy the little things - like having a slurpee picnic on the lawn when daddy comes home from work, going for a walk in the woods after dinner, tickling Noah til he squrims with his belly laugh, snuggling with the kids at bedtime and having a mini date night (i.e., watching White Collar on Netflix) together after the kids are asleep - we are trying to treasure these little things knowing that as crazy as this phase is that we will miss it so much when its over.

my city kids at farmer camp.

I am a city girl. Born and raised. When people say they grew up on a farm I think of how fabulous it must of been to grow up in the country - to walk barefoot in the wheat fields, having a little (talking) piglet like Babe as a pet, getting fresh milk from the cow and riding bareback on a horse in wide open spaces.

Then I married a country boy who grew up in those wide open spaces and it doesn't sound as glamorous as I was picturing it. Yes he did enjoy growing up with 90 acres of space to ride his dirt bike in the summer and had basically his own ski hill in his backyard in the winter. But as every farm kid knows, there are chores and a lot of them. And for Simon there were always chores that had to be done every day before school, on the weekends and there are no holidays. He said even Christmas morning he had to do chores before opening his presents under the tree. For awhile they had chickens and he collected eggs every morning. That sounds pretty fun but apparently hens aren't very fond of having their eggs stolen away. Simon ruffled a few feathers and endured a few painful pecks from their protective mothers. Legend has it that Simon's mom got so mad at a hen once because it hurt her little boy that she kicked it so hard that the hen  flew across the barn and never laid eggs again. I also forgot that farm animals get sick and taking care of a bloated cattle with pink eye is not so fun. I don't even know if I can mention it here but Simon can put castrating cattle on his list of super skills.

little Simon collecting chicken eggs

But who am I to ruin that country dream for my kids? They love going to the farm and visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going for tractor and ATV rides.  And Simon has been cultivating thier inner farmer with our backyard garden. Simon taught them how to plant seeds and water them and they were so proud to harvest our potatoes, carrots, lettuce, raspberries, strawberries and zucchinis the size of space ships.

But really experiencing the farm life means animals and we don't have any (except for the hamster which hasn't died in the 2 weeks we have owned it). Grandma and Grandpa don't have farm animals anymore either so when I saw "Farmer Camp" at the little petting zoo 10 minutes from my house, I was thrilled to sign them up.

It was the best way to experience the farm life without actually doing the hard work. The kids brushed the goats, gave a cow a bottle of milk, fed the animals their grains, had a close encounter with some pigs, collected chicken eggs (when their protective mothers weren't close by) and cuddled bunnies. Simon thought it was crazy that I was paying for them to do farm chores but now my city kids can say they were farmers for a week. Nothing wrong with that right?