Live it!

typical day

a typical day at our house - a good day - a messy day - a play outside til chloe tries to run away day - a 2 hour nap for chloe day - a keaton is home from school day ...so lets play, play, play?!  Chloe was up early. 6:45am i do believe and her momma (insert: silly) didn't go to bed the night before til after 1:00am. silly, silly me. by 9am... it felt like we'd been up for 8 hours and the house was already looking that way too. So outside we went. To play. Front yard///back yard... back and forth we go. Me trying to read a book but ending up sitting on wet grass playing in a sandbox...making turtle 'homes' for Keaton. Chloe is all over the yard, she plays in the sandbox then just gets up and walks to something new (hence the back and forth from front yard to back yard). IF the mood strikes her, she will just take off and head to the neighbours yard. Repeat this 3-4 more times and i give up and back inside we go. During her nap, I finished up some pages for tonights new theme at 2peas CREATING GARDEN and then lie down on the floor and play superheroes with Keaton, Batman, and Superman. Liking this thing i have going on at home. Thankful for it. Enjoying it. even if today started out too early and the morning seemed to stretch on for an eternity (ha). Melissa invited us over again for swimming at their pool. It makes me (and Keaton) want a pool soooooooooo badly. someday perhaps?! Chloe is totally digging the swimming and wears waterwings in the pool with me there to spot her. she giggles like crazy. Keaton is the wild man and repeatedly jumps and cannonballs off the diving board into the deep end. He is desperate for a pool... even more so than me. again - i tell him: someday perhaps?! for now... Savannah and her pool are the best things in the world to Keaton - i think he has added yet another girlfriend to his ever-growing list ;)

US...

Keaton snapped this photo of Shaune and I on Mother's Day. I love it. It is natural. it is us being us. shaune in his ballcap because it is the weekend... unshaven because it is the weekend. casual. hanging out. happy. as we are. we get eachother. we like eachother.... we love eachother. and life is GOOD. i did this layout for Autumn Leaves new Web Gallery. I'm laughing now at the sticker placement "harmony" and "always". that was not done that way on purpose. i will be the first to say that no normal marriage is harmonious ALWAYS. but we've got something special - something really good. and we are harmonious 95% of the time... so that is good, right? ha.

Anyhow, thank you Keaton for getting this photo of us. i treasure it because you took it. we have very few photos together lately. i need to pass the camera to my boy more often... he might be a photographer in the making!

lots of picture taking

some people don't believe me when i say i can occasionally take 200+ photos a week easily. it depends on our week and what we have planned. if it involves parties or a beautiful day at the beach or a walk in the woods - i can easily shoot away in an attempt to "capture something". sometimes, i can take 200 in a weekend - but that is one of the advantages of digital photography. i need a solution for storing all these photos - if anyone has one - let me know. right now i burn to disk - but i also like them all handy on my harddrive - so there they all still sit... and my computer is hating me for it.

anyhow... soccer on Wednesday night was interesting. we didn't sign keaton up this year... he hated it last year and didn't play after the first 1 minute of the first game. a week before soccer started this year we asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted to play. i assumed we'd pay the $50 and he'd get his 1 minute of play in before quitting again. i was wrong. he loved soccer. he made us laugh so hard with how fast he runs up and down that field... he is a real hot rod... one of the parents commented: "man, now that kid has WHEELS". yes, keaton may be little but he is as fast as lightening... always has been! i think part of his enthusiasm about the game stems from the fact that this year he is on a team with his best friend Curtis... and Curt's dad Chris is the coach. He is totally in his comfort zone because of it and just is really excited to be playing and hanging with Curtis. i forgot my zoom lens but got a few cute photos of the game... his first of many i am sure.

yesterday, i went with Keaton on his last school trip of Jr. Kindergarten. We went with the other Kindergarten classes and i think that there was 55+ kids in attendance!! Presquile Park near Brighton was our destination and it was a fun place for Keaton. We had a marsh tour and they got to use nets to collect things from the marsh. they all wanted to catch frogs... but mostly they found little snails and rocks and stuff. I was chaperoning Keaton and his little buddy "Shay" as Keaton calls her. They are great friends at school and go on the same bus. she is so quiet and sweet and just giggles a lot at Keaton and his antics. They held hands the whole day and behaved perfectly - Shay must be a great influence on Keaton ;) We picnic'd on the grass and also visited the "Nature Center" where they had snakes and frogs, turtles and lots of fish from around this area. Keaton liked the frogs the best.

busy weekend...

again. all our weekends are filled with busy-ness. but that is what we do and i love it. This was Victoria Day long weekend. It was so so weather and kinda cold - overcast and rained off and on... but we didn't let that damper our spirits. I love long weekends - they seem to stretch the good times out longer & makes  you want to spend all your time outdoors with the fresh air!

we decided to have a last-minute planned BBQ for friends. Some were able to come and some were away doing other things. it was a blast. plain and simple - we don't see our friends often enough. i think we were all reminded of how much we miss our 'hang out' days and we all vowed to get together more during this summer. i believe John is scheduled for the next one in a few wks - ha.

we had our friends, keaton had all his friends and everyone was happy. we BBQ'd and had a bon fire. Shaune entertained the kids (and the rest of us laughing so hard) with "screachers" fireworks he bought at the grocery store. they were less than magical - but we all got a kick out of watching anyhow ;)

i waited til the kids had played for a few hours and then decided i wanted some photos of our day. i took 80... but here are a few of my favourites.

watching the kids play made me so happy. love that they all get along so well. they feed off of eachothers excitement. chloe ran along behind and was just happy to watch them. keaton was a whirlwind and the life of the party - as usual. he thrives on being social. i don't think there is anything that makes him happier than a backyard full of kids to romp around with. they took papers into the playhouse and coloured us pictures; they were dirty with dirt and sticky from the popsicles and kool-aid i fed them; they were covered in marker; there clothes were stained... and they were just being kids. and it was just kinda really nice to see it. to experience it. sounds 'deep' - it really isn't - but it made me happy to see my kids happy. doing what they love to do.

...and a fun weekend was had by all!

really really really like...

we are all addicted something - right? dependent on "things"... whether we want to admit it or not... there are things we depend on to get us through the day or to make our day better... to just plain make us happy.

my main addictions would probably be chocolate (ughh) and internet time.

Shaune's is definetly Tim Horton's coffee!

Chloe's is without a doubt... her thumb.

...and Keaton's is currently: "GameBoy"... i finally caved and got him a game boy on Friday... my mom talked me into - Grandparents can be such a bad influence when shopping with their grandchildren! The reasoning was that he wanted a game boy and a Star Wars light saber... the light saber was $40 fricking dollars that i just refused to spend... the Game boy was more - but "nana" talked me into it by reasoning that it was a much sounder investment. ha.

no regrets...he loves it. we are going to have to monitor the amount of use per day though... whenever he has a still moment - he grabs it and starts playing. I am enjoying the game boy too and i am slowly learning how to play. So far, he only has one game: Mario Kart racing (or something like that) and he is getting better all the time.

i found him this morning after breakfast: lying mid staircase entranced by the game... had to snap a quick photo.

time flies

wow, it has been FOREVEr since i posted on my blog. Life can get so busy and I honestly forgot for a while that i had a blog.

i have been keeping busy with the kids and scrapbook projects. it has been 2+ months since I officially left my job and I can honestly say that it has been such a good decision for me. i haven't looked back once. don't miss it. enjoying this time in my life COMPLETELY.

keaton is doing good with School again and it is hard to believe that his first year i have agonized over so often/much is actually almost over. i will miss his teacher (who is retiring) and know he has matured and grown so much this year but especially the past month or two at school. i know it isn't perfect, i know he is young, i know i will always worry - but he enjoys it - a lot and so he remains. he actually told me yesterday that he has a girlfriend, i just about died. he was blushing for goodness sakes and he is FOUR. her name is Willow. he wants to give her my MOD pillow chip charms as a gift... so we are going to get those ready for her for the next school day - ha ha.

keaton was bit in the face by dog on the weekend. he has handled it really well and doesn't seem upset by it or the bandage on his face. from where it stands right now, it looks like he will have no scar and i am so hoping that is the case. it has been upsetting for myself and shaune more than him for sure. all is well and we are thankful he will be fine.

Chloe is chloe - always making us giggle. she is babbling and talking more every day and her favourite saying at the moment is: "Oh JEEZ"  - ha. it is funny. she is a character and is becoming more silly and fun by the minute - while still staying slightly timid & cautious - something i truly love about her character. she is momma's sucky.

Shaune just finished his second of 11 courses in his pursuit to get his Masters - he goes on weekends and stays by the college while he studies and attends classes. i am so proud of him for pursuing this goal he has. he continues to work at *The County* full time and his masters program will take 2-2.5 yrs to complete because it is part-time studies.

Thats all folks. i will try and be more diligent in my blogging. somehow it got away from me for a bit! ;)

another great weekend

the weather was perfect this weekend. the best time of the spring - sunny like summer without the intense heat and humidity. perfect weather for Mothers day celebrations.

Saturday was an informal breakfast date for Mom, myself and tag-along Keaton. he adores my mom and had fun going to Denny's (mom's choice) - while we had french toast and other breakfast treats - Keaton chose a different route and ordered pizza with a side of cucumbers. he loved his "breakfast" and his morning with Nana and me. We spent the rest of the day outside and I don't think we really went in until the bugs started biting (mosquito and black fly season has started!) at around 8pm.

Sunday we started the afternoon with a picnic at Zwick's Island Park - we packed up a yummy picnic and met Shaune's mom and dad there for lunch and then lots of playing for the kids on the playground. Keaton also finally learned to ride his bike this weekend (with training wheels) and we took his bike so he could show off his new 'thing' to Nana and Grandpa Lightfoot. Chloe was happy to just run around the playground and sample all the different slides they had. The rest of the afternoon was outside again, washing his 'vehicles' and playing with Curt.

I had a great Mom's day. I am lucky. Shaune helped me have a great day. the kids were super good and we had a fun day. i took some photos this afternoon - and then Keaton took a few too. Keaton is so interested in my camera and knows now how to operate the focus on my SLR digital. it comes in handy sometimes and he feels so important taking photos. I got some great treats, including a Norah Jones CD i've been wanting and beautiful flowers. i must say though that my bestest gift came home with keaton off the bus on Thursday afternoon. he presented me with a beautiful card and a (wood) beaded necklace he had made for me at school. i think this is the first gift he has MADE for me. homemade. and it is pretty - i wore it all night thursday and all day today. He said he gave it to me "Because I love you so much Mommy". Of course, Chloe is a little young to be fashioning gifts for me, but her beautiful smile and one glance at her in her pigtails is enough to melt me. I'm one lucky mom!

puddles of FUN!

the weather has been weird with sporadic bursts of sunshine, then rain, then hail... then sunshine again. we ran for the backyard this afternoon when the sun finally came out again. of course, there were puddles - and nobody loves a puddle like Chloe. she is a magnet to all things messy - so a puddle is just another messy thing to add to her list. she wore her Barbie rubber boots out so she was set. she walked BACK and FORTH for probably 1/2 hr... laughing at herself as she splashed and waded thru the puddles. She fell a few times and lost a boot once too. all good fun. {{ Mommy probably shouldn't allow it (??) - but she does. }}

  Shaune pulled in the driveway and went inside and grabbed his rubber boots. (Kid at heart). Underneath that Vest is a shirt and tie (HA). he played with the kids in the puddle for a while until i got in on the fun... and slipped and fell on my big bootie - woops!

Chloe Captured

this is her... chloe happy. chloe laughing.... chloe thinking her brother is one funny dude! she delights me to no end!

a hobby for Keaton?

Rainy day here. keaton is bored. wants to go outside and play even though it is spitting rain and we've even had a few quick Hail storms too (VERY weird weather!). so, we scrapbooked. well - keaton did. i helped of course, he is especially fond of all the cutting instruments and really wanted to use my Tonic guillotine cutter bu t we (I) opted for the safer Fiskar trimmer. Obviously i had all my Autumn Leaves papers on my table... i let him pick which ones he wanted to cut up and he sliced away. he saw a stapler and wanted "lots of staples" but it ran out of staples after a few times. i wrote the journaling as he told it to me... not sure what the line: i like to kiss mommy outside" is in reference too - except maybe he thought i'd let him go outside if he was willing to give me smooches?  he did pretty good & made up the title himself. "Gettin' Bugs" is so much more original than "Catching Bugs"