Back Then...

How was your Mothers' Day?

Ours was great. The weather was beautiful, we had good visiting over at my parents place, and the food was fantastic!

The kids played outside all day long. Literally. No naps, not a lot of fussing, lots of laughs and giggling and squealing...and for mama, a quick solo trip to Michaels for some retail therapy. You know, the upside to Michaels selling off all their brand name stock is that its all massively marked down!!! I bagged a lot of goodies- including a really great sheet of rooster paper and a rooster stamp for an upcoming lo i'm doing about my other obsession: roosters! Unfortunately, a lot of goodies were still left behind. Hmm...I foresee another trip in the near future!!

My favourite picture of the day?...

...is this!!:

Isn't he cute???!


He asked mom if there was anything he could do to help her get supper ready, so she sent him to the barbecue to grill the delicious turkey burgers she'd made for us. Yum! She also dressed him up in Oma's {my Oma--the kids' great Oma} old apron. So, in a way, she was celebrating with us, too, though she wasn't there with us in person. And, on a side note, mom says she's doing good. She went to visit her the other day, and she was quite chipper and talkative- repeatedly mentioning something about flowers. Mom's not sure if she has a bunch of flowers in her room at Miller, or if she's in another place and time in her memories. She said she was sitting at the table in the dining room, which is really great news.

(And, for those that don't know, my Oma is going to be 93 on the 24th. She's suffering from dementia and lives in a long term care facility. Its actually the same place Grandma Murray lived- and on the same floor, even!!- before she passed away a couple of years ago).

And, its another painful reminder that I've got to get over to Miller and visit Oma...She's only seen the kids a couple of times. The last time we saw her, she asked me when I'd gotten so big. LOL. Apparently she remembers me as a little street urchin. And, she wondered who the little kids belonged to. Me, of course, but to her it didn't make sense :)

I have a lot more pictures to share- that my beloved sister took- but I don't have them to the computer yet. I'll get them up here sooner or later!! (The batteries to the camera died after a few pictures were taken, so the rest were taken with our iPhones, and the shots sister got were while I was gallivanting around Michaels').

It was a long day- but a good day!- and we got home about 10 o'clock last night. It was about 11:30 when the kids finally settled and fell asleep. Oi! Kyle and I were beat when we got home! We thought the kids would crash, because they'd gone nonstop all day long, but that wasn't the case. They still wanted to play outside- at 11 o'clock at night!! Maren kept saying while the sun set, 'mama, its dark!', and I kept telling her that it was getting to be mommy and daddy's bed time; when it gets dark like that everyone goes to sleep. She mustn't have believed me!

Hope you all had a fabulous Mothers Day, and I'd love to hear in which ways you got spoiled!

My own mama spoiled me with a beautiful hanging basket. I can hardly wait to get it hung up!!

78* solo anything
79* massive savings when shopping
80* good food
81* hot weather
82* memories


Ohhhhhh memories!

The picture I really wanted to use I can't find, so these will have to suffice. THese are from our move back to Alberta from Saskatchewan. The kids were still babies in these pictures! I can't believe how much growing and maturing they've done in the last year. It totally blows me away! The kids were 14 months old when we made the trek up here, and now they are just over two.

I couldn't help but reminisce while I was sitting in moms' back yard yesterday, thinking about when we had just moved here. Addison hadn't learned to crawl yet, she was still very clingy and sensitive. Maren had mastered crawling not long before we moved, and it wasn't long before she began walking on her own. They were just beginning to talk- at least Maren was. Addison was still fairly behind, and we were concerned about her development. Looking back now, I realize we had nothing to worry about. She just did things in her own time; when she was ready for it. Its amazing how quickly she's catching up to her sister!

Now, Addison is as talkative, busy, goofy, mobile, accident prone, stubborn, cuddly, sensitive and outgoing as her sister.

And Maren, well, when she discovered her legs, and she began kicking them, there was no stopping her. There's still no stopping her!

83* flowers
84* neatness and organization

...but, more on that later :)