Wabi Sabi

I found a blog yesterday that finally got me excited to re-start blogging myself. It's a beautiful blog where she shares her life with her husband and two sweeties. Ah naturel. Earthy, and positive she focus's on the goodness. I needed to find that. All to often I find jer and I going through the motions, managing our wee ones but not taking the time to discover them. This society we live in is so unbelievably fast paced. It's cogs don't stop. But I can. I can say no to many things that don't beautify, simplify, or creatively inspire me. It's my family members that need converting. Ha! I always dream of that life. You know the one on the farm in Nova Scotia, where I raise sheep and spin my own yarn and my children's wardrobe consists purely of knits woven from wool, the very wool that came from our sheep of course. And we will live in an old rambling Victorian home on the coast and when we sit down to dinner each night the direction of our dinning room will be just so that when the sunsets it will be visible by all. And then it dawned on me. I can tweak my dream to fit my surroundings now. We live a stones throw from a beautiful waterway where the sun sets so beautifully, and although we cannot enjoy it every night from our dinning table we certainly can take a stroll after dinner and grab an ice cream. I may not have sheep to raise for wool, but I can sew, and make my own laundry soap, and beeswax candles. All of which bring me pleasure. More and more I find myself returning to the idea of the simple life. Where tv only consists of downton Abby and call the midwife. Where libraries invade Friday evenings, and games nights become a family tradition. Where neighbors invite one another over for dinner once a week, not once a year, and where I see beauty in the broken. Pretty, in the imperfect. Wabi sabi. With small children its so easy to turn into a hamster riding the wheel of life. Never stepping outside your cage to be re-inspired. So easy to become downtrodden in parenting. Angered so quickly and regretting later. I suppose this blog of mine which has journey'd along with me since I became a mum, has been re-invented. I want to remember the beauty of these fleeting years, the perfection that lay in the imperfection of our lives. To simply see the positive. The sweet words. The perfectly polished manners of my 2.5 year old daughter. The cute and mischievous grin of my 6 year old son. The smiles oh Lordy the smiles and giggle fits that erupt on the sweet face of my 6 month old baby boy. How he is such a delight all day everyday through it all. To see my eldest boy as still a small child in the big world. How little he was yesterday lined up with his classmates holding their booster seats off to the art gallery. How sweet his voice is when he chooses to sing. How my baby girl can recite over twenty different songs, and sweetly asks whatcha gonna sing mommy? No not that one (a choir song) hmmmm how bout bananaphone! This will not happen daily or even weekly at first but just taking the time to count my beautiful blessings will bless me in return

and the months they fly by....

here we are in the 6th month of pregancy already! 27 weeks along. My goodness this pregnancy is by far the fastest one yet! I am feeling so much better, now that the delightful nausea has passed. I am getting a wee bit uncomfortable at night, finding the right position, needing to pee, and getting thirsty but not wanting to move. However I am so thankful I have yet to experience any heartburn ( i know it's just around the bend) The kids have just experienced their first ever flu. That was fun, Mothers day was Kyries start date, and this long weekend Coles turn! Glad to have this end. Having flu and not in suite laundry does not bode well. I have as in all my pregnancies, been nesting like the dickens. I seriously go crazy at what I get accomplished while preggers. If I could just stay pregnant the rest of my life (minus the nausea of course) I could change the world. This pregnancy has been all about the furniture restoration and getting my craft on. So far I have: Thrifted and painted and had new foam cut and fabric put on a delicous phone bench that we can't fit in our current abode. Refinished a beautiful oak coffee table (also thrifted) stripped and stained the top and painted the legs white Painted a hand me down dresser in 5 tone on tone shades of yellow Painted an end table ( and have to finish the checkerboard pattern on top so we can use it for checkers) Painted the babys cradle yellow Sewn cradle sheets Sewn a cover for our new poang nursing chair from Ikea Sewn more newborn cloth diapers Finished our baby's closet nursery room and almost fully stocked it Gone crazy hemming up pants for the familia Purged and Purged and Purged some more making as much space as possible for this soon to be family of 5 I think I am almost done everything I wanted to do. We have a few more boxes to take to mom and dads storage facility, and a couple of baby clothes to bring back here. Other than that I think we are just about set. Which is lovley. Now I can just enjoy these last few days/months EVER of being pregnant. I know once June hits it's over. With my sisters wedding, choir concerts, Coles school coming to a close, then my trip to Calgary, i basically get home and could very well have a baby any day.... so it feels wonderful to be done all the stuff. Jer and I have also been feeling so much better about our living sitch as well. We have applied to the one co-op we would love to live in and were getting a bit sad about not hearing anything. However after by chance seeing a townhome directly across from Coles school, I decided to just for fun look into things, and it turns out because of this wonderful thing called equity, we can afford a top floor/apartment townhome, with our own front door, no backyard but a covered carport and a big ass balcony that I can turn into my outdoor paradise. So we are thinking we are going to wait until our mortgage comes up for renewl next February and then hopefully move up the real estate ladder. This is why I went full blown over board in decorating a nursery, knowing we will be here until baby is about 6 months (truth be told my babies stay in my bed most of that time anyways) but it was fun to decorate anyways, and is a pretty space to keep babys things in. So feeling positive, feeling unbelievably blessed, and feeling so thankful that this baby decided to make us third time parents.

Chunky Monkey

fatness. it is beginning. I guess your body has an idea of what to do the third time. It makes me a little sad. I had worked so hard for so long to loose so much weight and now, it's all for naught. Now I am fat. Lovley little spillage hanging out, can't fit into my 5's anymore, now wearing maternity clothes ALREADY at only 10 weeks, FAT. Ugh

Happy New Year

A new year, a new adventure. Oh boy what an adventure. Jer and I found out, oh I guess about two weeks ago now, that we are expecting our completley unprepared for, unplanned for baby in 6 months! I am 10 weeks pregnant (didn't find out until 8 weeks!) and due August 18th (which for me, means like August 3 or 4th or 5th) This has completley changed the course of home for us. We have to sell our sweet little two bed flat and move to something bigger. As we work all those details out, and after three days straight of crying. I think I am starting to get excited. I do not love the nausea, or the exhaustion, but the idea of having another little Koop/Garcia running around is exciting. And I may be biased, but my children are the cutest children in the world! Will keep you posted on everything as it comes. Right now I am excited to still be in the baby game. Excited at decorating a new home, having more space, a yard, and being able to drive up right to our front door, oh and have in - suite laundry! This is of course if we get into where we want to get into but still, change is exciting (once you get over the initial shock!)

and the season decends...

I never cease to be amazed at the power of simplicity. The art of living simply but Intentionally. This last weekend/beginning of the week has been hard. As in kids had fevers, flu, now hacking wet shake in your boots coughs. And Jer and I had little sleep, not just because of the kids being sick but also because when Remembrance Day hits we HAVE to stay up and watch Band of Brothers. Over the course of the weekend but from start to finish. So we did. And then we paid for it. I seem to be straying, back to simple living. We were running around in frenzied craziness with sick kids, and trying to fit in every last thing we HAD to do. Then last night I said NO. First to Cole's soccer practice last night, then my choir rehearsal last night (last of two before our concert GASP) then today Cole's pre-school and any idea I may have had to get out of the house. Today we rest. We eat chips, we bake, we play with little people and we decorate our mini christmas trees, we craft with glitter and glue and dollar store horses, we take naps, we listen to christmas music, we watch christmas cartoons, we play some more, we read books, we make smoothies, we dance, we enjoy. Our lives are full. But full in that different wonderful delightful way. By just saying no, i feel such peace and my kids feel it too. And this extra time at home affords us some time to make all those crafts on pinterest we never have time for! It also affords our imagination some fun as we find ways around our "no getting out the christmas boxes of decorations until after Jer's bday" meaning not until December 1st! But that doesn't mean we can't make some new ones! And forage for nature decorations! So we did. In the beautiful sunshine yesterday, my wee brood and I went on a nature walk and collected chestnuts (the last of them) pinecones, and evergreen. We now have a christmas table tray with our antique green oil lamp, some boughs of evergreen that cole stuck in modeling clay, and a candle. It's lovley and smells even more so. We also took out our christmas craft from last year - the snow globes! If there's time we may make some more, but this years craft is creating a winter wonderland on our desk under the tv. We glittered up some plastic horses from the dollar store for it today. So even though we havn't gotten out the boxes christmas has made it's way into our home! Now we just need to get crackin on our gifts. Luckily we only buy (make) for our immediate family members, and our God children. This year thanks to Pinterest - I have all my supplies for my sisters gifts, Jars for moms and dads and grandparents, and I just have to get crackin on my god-kids gifts by finding some small pieces of wood! Oooh i love this time of year, I just have to remind myself what it's all for and to Keep it Simple!!!!

Cookies

Baking cookies with my boy. I am sick. Baby Girl is sick. We are making happiness today, to make up for yesterday which was a VERY bad day. My little mixer turned to me with messy hands and looked up with me and said "mummy I just love baking with you" Then as we were taking the first batch out he says " mummy how come the red snake isn't at the bottom of the oven" The red snake? Ya you know the red snake that's usually on - This whole time my sweet boy thought the element was a red snake!
Love how their brains work at this age!

In Praise of Stay at Home Moms

Lovley Lovley Lovley....got this off a friend. A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?' 'Yes,' was his incredulous reply. She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.

.

Being Me

This is really a bit of a rant. I have no time to make proper sense of it all and let it follow a beginning middle and end...I just wanted to speak to this issue for my friend Karen and for all of us struggling to be just that..."US"

Just home from my regular beautiful Thursday morning with the ladies. We share a lot, we talk, we commiserate, we find solutions, we support all amongst delicious homemade treats and coffee. Our kids (over 18 months) play in the good shepherd drop in centre on site. One friend shared what a lot of us stay at home moms go through at one time or another. She shared her feelings of inadequateness as a homemaker, a housekeeper and a child raiser. I know I been there. And I'm sure I will again. Life is hills and life is valley's and sometimes the road is filled with blue skies and flat dry roads scattered with flowers, but other times it's raining or hailing and the roads are slick and the grade steep and narrow and filled with all these ducks crossing 6 lane highways. Being a homemaker is a job. It's a job I take very seriously. Just as someone who clocks in at a 9-5 would take care to do their best, meet their goals, keep re-educating themselves with up-grade classes by reading books and studying thier craft, as do we as homemakers. Read up on parenting books, read up on organizational blogs, talk to other homemakers and how they make it work, we are always studying, and we are always learning. Getting frustrated with the "kitchen that only stays clean when the kids are either not at home or asleep" the "never ending laundry" the chore that becomes finding time for mom (because all good mamma's need mamma time and it is NOT selfish and most definatley needed to be a good mamma) the cries that need attending to amidst cookies that are burning and the other child NEEDING the potty and needing it NOW. It's the crumbs that get vacummed once a day OR once a week depending on temperment of all who live here. It's the bums that never stay clean, (and faces and hands for that matter) the tantrums the windows filled with dirty fingerprints and the transformers that line the bathtub in my "paris only" themed bathroom. It's juggling, it's prioritizing, it's battning down the hatches for the storms to pass, it's the multi tasking, accepting that writing a blog post will result in about 6 interuptions and being okay with that. I once commented to a friend that me slowing mine and my family's life down and getting back to basics is really helping us and making us happier. Really spending time on people who matter, people who are real and true and give back, has meant cutting out people or parties or playdates that have no "nutritional value" so to speak has made me feel at times that I guess because i can't do it all, means I ain't no super mom. To which this dear sweet friend replied, actually I think it DOES mean you are super mom. Because you are putting your family and your priorites first and only. You aren't wasting your precious time on this earth with "the time vampires" as i call them. And those words stuck. Just because your windows have fingerprints on them doesn't mean your not a good housewife, it means you have kids that live in your home every day, and for that I am reminded to be ever thankful. When the laundry never ends, it means I still have these sweet beings sharing a roof over our heads, and this sadly will not be the case in 15 or so more years....When they are gone and moved in with their boyfriends, girlfriends, wife's or husbands or life partners, I will have ample time to blog without interuption. At that time Optimus Prime lined bathtubs will be but a memory. So we live in the now. And that is what is so hard. I am constantly torn between being the person God made me to be, and finding my niche in society. My dear friends call me the "hippie mamma" which makes me laugh because to them I am so different from the norm, from the mainstream society. I am the crazy mamma who wips her boob out wherever to feed a hungry babe (or toddler) I sew and create and sing and dance and wear more costumes than clothes. I make my own laundry soap and my own granola. To many in mainstream society these are things that don't happen so frequently (sadly) Finding that balance was what I thought I had to do to make it work. And part of that is true, but more than anything it was finding the confidence to be me. To be different, to be unique to be who I was put on this earth to be. And since accepting this it's made it so much easier to just get on with life. My home is rarley spotless. As I scan the living room I am embaressed to admit their are four articles of clothing strewn about bits of breakfast, lunch and snack laden beneath my girls high chair. The dishes are piled in the sink because dancing in the living room to Abba brought me away from them. The fingerprints are ALWAYS on the glass windows, but I also see my big boy loving on his sister. For today there is hugging and kissing and dancing. Tommorow there may be tantrums and melt downs but for today my road has no hills, it's dry the blue sky is sparkling and the sun is beating down on my pasty white skin. One kid is jumping on the couch the other tearing out every SINGLE DVD we own out of the cupboard. And I don't care. Because my priorites are in order. Their bellies are full, their pants aren't full a poop, and they are happy. And that makes me happy...

holding her first dolly

At Little Friends Pre-school mothers day tea....making fathers day picture frames!

Radical Homemakers - Notes

This isn't really a blog post. It's more of a jumble of quotes from this amazing book I've been reading called Radical Homemakers. I have to return the book to the library tommorrow and had about a bajillion post it's stuck to it's pages that i wanted to record. I figured this is my outlet, and because i don't share my blog with many, i feel safe in sharing these thoughts. I havn't connected so strongly with a book for a long time, and her words are still jumping out at me and resonating me with each day that passes upon finishing it. To some these ideas may seem "too out there" but for me and my family all I want to do is start!
So take these as you will - I just wanted a place to jump from...

Radical Homemakers have chosen to stop investing their life energy in any employment that does not honour the four tenets of family, community, social justice and ecological balance. Instead they invest themselves in the support of family, community, and environmental stewardship so that those things, in return, will pay them lifelong dividends.

"A thatched Roof once covered free man; under marble and gold dwells slavery"
- Roman philosopher Seneca (3BC 65 AD)

"To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest" - Gandhi

We have confused more money with a better life...

We buy take out and fast food when we don't have the time to cook dinner. We buy luxury goods for our loved ones as a substitute for spending time together. We wind up cash poor and time destitute, while corporate America accumulates our wealth

We are too focused on working and earning money - and not focused enough on family and community

Temporal Abundance buys far more daily pleasures than a paycheck can provide

Americans now spend 6 hours a week shopping and only 45 minutes playing with their kids

The pursuit of affluence, the ennoblement of excessive work and hyper indicidualism are not manifestations of the American dream, but causes for a national nightmare

Eschewing "enrichment" centered around piano lessons, pre-k soccor, ballet, karate, and play groups, these families value the ability of kids to just "be" and to learn how to truly play. Plain and simple.

Education has nothing to do with what money can buy, it has everything to do with capitalizing on childrens innate inquisitiveness and desire to learn. Encourage children to be independant thinkers. To make their own decisions, not follow the crowd, to be able to resist the media. My idea of success has nothing to do with job placement...

Having time to play, and use their imaginations is going to prepare them more than pushing them into reading earlier, excelling at piano or whatever..

A - I don't believe in pushing kids into these really structured activities before they are ready. Let them determine the pace.

A - I want to produce my life , not buy it...

"my greatest skill is to want but little" - Thoreau

Enjoy what you have, feel as though you have enough of what you need - enough True wealth (family, friends, community, nourishing food, interests, security- make the products and overtime work a day world seem repugnant and utterly unnecessary

Nothing is cheap that we do not want - ben franklin

Never let your schooling get in the way of your education

Be involved in your life! People have gotten away from the creative parts of life, and have gone to the consumptino parts. So people listen to music, but don't create it. They go to restaurants but don't cook the meal themselves. There is something fundamentally satisfying about being involved in your life, whether it's making music or making food or whatever - Kelly Robideau

The Pleasure is in the doing! Our national confusion over what constitutes pleasurable activity contributes to our unhappiness. Without the joy of becoming fully involved in our daily lives, things are less meaningful. - Kelly Robideau

To lead a life of one's own design takes courage.... Radical Homekers

We need to come together, we need to build community and we need to stop with the video games. We need to shut off the tv, we need to start reading and thinking and talking to each other.... I want to change my culture - Diedre Ianelli

D.I - Set aside our fears and muster the courage to live a life we truly believe in will help create a a world we can all live in

How thankful I am to have the oppurtunity to choose this life. To build and nourish friendships, to share these fleeting days with the loves of my life, and to find jedi's in my succulents.....

To make - Food Edition!

I am so inspired by this amazing book I have been reading - Radical Homemakers and I have some high hopes for this summer of my "things to make" food edition!
Am hoping I can complete all or almost all of them by September!

Granola - at least every three weeks
Yogurt - am going to try my hand at making it from scratch!
Strawberry Jam - Let me know if anyone knows of somewhere to get cheap strawberries!
Bluberry Jam - From the Koop family Bluedelphia farm
Applesauce - From auntie Henriettas apple trees
Can Pears - Found this quite easy and so delicous last year! Again if you know of anyone who has surplus pears let me know!
Tomatoes - Trying my hand at patio tomatoe plants!
Challah Bread - mmmmmmmm!
Frozen Peppers
Canned Tomatoe sauce
Canned Pesto

We'll see how much we get done

Cultivating Community & Making Time For your Most Fullfilling and nurturing friendships

Jer and I were in the car the other night....driving somewhere, can't remember. And I was thinking out loud (which means I'm talking - which is pretty much what i do best) And out came something that has been festering for a few weeks. It came about with all the books I've been reading....and blogs I've been following that seem to have the same ideas as me on life, and child raising etc etc...so anyways I came to the conclusion that I am happy. So happy. Like really happy. And I finally know who i am.....again. By again I mean I havn't felt this fulfilled since ten years ago at theatre school, when i knew who i was and where i was going. And I'm there again. It seems so trivial when you speak it out to the internets. But it was an awsesome revelation for me. I finally have found my niche. And I am so very happy. My picture of a life may differ from so many but it's mine and i am loving it, embracing it, proud of it and most importanly I am enjoying it. So anyways...to fit in the title of this post, I have discovered my second commandment so to speak from following the book the happiness projet. I came up with it a month or so ago and it's been quite a factor in becoming aware of my happiness. I have had to say a few goodbyes to aquaintances that were not true nurturing friendships and I have made time (wether I felt too tired or not) for the friendships that are two sided, that nurture me that are important to me and that i couldn't imagine loosing. It's been busier but not really. Because I have given up the time I dedicated to my so so relashionships and have spent that time with the goodies. Setting up specific friend nights has been amazing for me and for my family. Jer gets awesome quality time with the kids and the kids get a mommy that comes home to them rejuvenated and happy and refreshed and ready for the next adventure. Tuesday nights after choir have turned into wine tasting at lisa's, every three weeks or so have become dinner with the "core" where it's just me and some of my besties, and every month or so has turned into brunchies with another bestie and her beautiful expanding family. Play dates have gotten to be quite selective with the people my family and I absolutley adore and feel uber comforatle and happy with. If my last's years slogan was "Pick your Battles" I think my this years slogan has got to be "Quality not Quantity" what a difference a month makes!

Cell Phone Etiquette...

okay so mabye I am a little out of it because I REFUSE to text. However I do have a blackberry - (that sadly i do not use to it's full potential but i digress) But I am getting more and more infuriated by bad cell phone etiquette.
You know the ones, you are visiting a friend and she's like flipping beep beeping away and click clacking along and your like HELLO i am right here, IN THE FLESH visitng you because you invited me...so um could you mabye put that thing down - and while were at it could you mabye put it in the next room, because every time it buzzes or does whatever it does you like jump five feet in the air and it's kinda making me want to scratch my invisible itch..
or the ones who are constantly checking it to see the latest whatever while you are in a full blown rehearsal? Sitting next to you is annoying. I want to be moved, not because of your singing but because of your constant clacking...sweet jebus.
Then there's the movie goer iphone addict...i pay big bucks to go to the movies. Actually i rarley go anymore because i would rather see movies in the comfort of my own home and without the sticky soda resin left on my converse. However - when sitting in a dark movie theatre your screen (that you are checking at LEAST every 6 minutes and 5 seconds LIGHTS UP and blinds my delicate eye tissue. So STOP.
Oh i could go on...the iphone addict driver (plentiful in the beautiful city i call home) - the I'm in a public toilet texter, the smart phone stroller pusher (watch your ankles with these folk) but seriously am I just being a big fat cow or are these people hella annoying. I mean really what is so important when you have me, amy koop in the flesh....

The Happiness Project

So If you've checked out what's on my nightstand, one of the books I am into right now is called the Happiness Project. It's fairly simple and straight forward but has some awesome tips, resolutions, ideas and things to re think about living life to it's most awesome potential - reaching your personal height of happiness!
And I am pondering what my list of commandments will be to start off.
And here's what I think my first one will be!

1) strike up some serious silly's everyday (i think we all need to be a bit less serious in our everyday and make more time for some goofiness. It leads to laughter and that leads to some serious endorphin release that hello adds to the happiness factor. Today I impemented about 2 minutes of silliness (only two minutes) with cole on the swings at the park, the results were huge - because he started laughing uncontrollably and with a grin that only a cheshire cat could match, I in turn started laughing, and because we were laughing and being goofy baby K couldn't help but giggle her lil heart out in the stroller!

so only 9 more to go!

oh sheesh it's almost May!

Things have been busy. Between our wonderful month of sickness, we have been adventuring out more and more. Cole has had some wonderful extra days at pre-school with things like - class picture day, cinamazoo day, eye exam day, and all sorts of extras. Kyrie has had her 12 month shots, and a week or so later a lovley night at childrens hospital with her mother who must surley love her to bits to endure 12 straight hours in the middle of the night (not sleeping) All is well and all is good, just a high fever and some funny breathing.
We have been crafting, (for Easter, for spring, for birthday's and just for everyday) we have been thrifting (mamma has found some amazing vintage sheets that were oh so perfect for a baby girls crib! And a lovley vintage duvet for the bottom bunk that matches PERFECTLY with the grandma made pillows! The kids room is really coming together I am thinking I may post some pics! We have still been on our purge - donating more toys, clothes, and generally just stuff!
WE (I) painted and finally made our master bedroom a haven after three years of living here with it being dubbed "the dumping grounds!" Will have to post those pics too! Now it is beautiful and one of my favorite places to read and rest and reKOOPerate!
We have been bike riding! Oh yes as soon as Kyrie hit the one year mark or wait i think it was a week before that we suited up and went on our first family bike of the season! GLORIOUS, then a week later we went again! We have been spending a LOT of time at the beach, wether it be Gilberts beach here around the corner (with the amazing fort!) or east beach in white rock - The beach has become our new playground and i LOVE it.
We have also started watching the sunset from our roof every evening after dinner (if not out for a walk or at the park) And it has been a beautiful way to unwind as a family after a busy day or doing. Cole loves being on the roof - I love the fresh crisp before bed air (and so does K) And we all head down to start the routine of bedtime with a wee bit more energy and patience.
Here is a pic of our glorious roof top sunset....
We have been walking more, singing more, gardening more, dancing more, definatley reading more and springing more! As soon as I don't have a cute baby girl banging on the esc key I will post some pics - but I am alive and well and wanted to let you all know!

On Living

I saw this today on one of my favorite sites, I'd LOVE to print this at a printers and frame it and keep it in my room as a constant reminder of how i want to live. Because this my friends is how I would LOVE to live every single day....

The Many Cakes of Cole

This First one was beautifully contructed by my sister Jessie


This one I went a wee bit wedding overboard on for his party and of course decked it out with Wall-e figuries (Cole LOVES wall-e he says because there are no bad guys)


This one was made for Cole's little bday celebration with lola and lolo and ron


and this one was honestly just scrap cake from making the three tiered one - mamma just got creative and made it a "C" cake! Hee hee

4 Cakes for 4 years??? I hope this tradition doesn't stick!
Ha ha!

Our Third Bedroom...

Today is a day for snuggling. My sweet K has been feeling under the weather (she's definatley on the mend) but I am feeling a wee bit of a tummy rumble (that better be gone by tommorow) so today we are snuggling in our "new room" By new room I mean the bottom bunk on Cole's new bunk beds. This new bunk has become my haven. I had NO idea how much a bunk bed could change my life! With having two kids in a two bedroom, this little peaceful retreat has become my sanctuary. When Cole's gone to bed up top, and K's asleep in our room, and Jer is watching something in the living room, and all I want to do is curl up with a book, I head here. To the "cave" as cole has dubbed it. I sewed up some curtains, and strung up some white lights and I bring my tea and a good book here for some me time. Best idea ever this bunk bed!
So today we snuggle and read ooooodles of robert munsch books....

I have a crawler...
and my life will never be the same!
Sweet K is teething up a storm and is my vampire baby (fangs for teeth but nothing in the middles!) but not for long because she just broke her front left tooth today!

to do's....

- cover Cole's roller shade with fabric
- Paint out the valance
- re-cover umbrella stroller
- print out Cole's birthday photo's for birthday banner
- remove nasty brass hardware (including ceiling lights) spray with oil rubbed bronze krylon
- sew up freezer cover
- paint dresser
- make dresser pulls with label cards with pictures for Cole
- button wire heart wreath
- button wire jar jewels