Live it!

Sundays at our house...

are usually fun. sometimes productive (but usually not - ha). relaxing - sometimes, but always kid-centered.

so... the kids (keaton in particular) wanted to paint. i had promised them they could paint yesterday b/c they saw me spray painting frames and wanted to help (ha - umm, no!) - So today as soon as Keaton woke up... he was on me about it.

Give me a fun, cool mom award for this... i took their artist easel outside, sat back and didn't interrupt them as they painted, fought over the brushes & went thru about a gallon of paint. ha. They didn't stop until they were completely covered in paint (especially 'Miss C') - this is why i let them paint only outside.

When they were done, they cleaned up by dumping buckets of water on eachother. Welcome to a springtime Sunday at the Lightfoot house!

On other matters: We are in the MOOD. Spring cleaning has become. We've also finally decided to put off adding an addition to the house, and will just be finishing our basement this summer instead. That will add on about 450 sq ft for a Tv/family room and I will also get a small studio finally. No more crafting in the 'dungeon' for me. I am excited and actually picked up my space a bit and organized. I'm not very good at that... I will admit. I never recieved the 'clean and sort' gene when God was creating me. I'm trying though. I also got some really awesome antique furniture (some for my s/b space) from my Father-in-law (thank you Larry!) which is giving me the push i need to clean and organize my home to make room for the new (and get rid of the clutter and old stuff).

It takes a long time though. It is Sunday afternoon now and mostly all I did this weekend was sort my S/B stuff, spray paint frames black and print photos to go in them (hello, photo update - i still had mostly photos from 3+ years ago up); hang with the kids & finally spend some time at HOME. I have missed just hanging at home.

Next on my list is to keep getting rid of the old & we are having our cold room/storage area in the basement fitted with shelving... so we can finally have a storage area for all that STUFF that accumulates over time. Hoping to do that next weekend :)

Cheers and happy weekend friends :)

Make a difference...

I am excited to be part of this fundraising event that you can read more about HERE - it involves  raising money for a really great cause: Women for Women International - there are so many women involved in this. Basically for $1 per ticket you have a chance to win artwork/ layout/ projects done by a huge amount of women who are prominent in this crazy scrapbook thing i am lucky to be a part of! You provide your photos, we do your layout. Fun and there is also a huge amount of prizes (product) donated by so many generous companies. I cannot wait to see who's photos I get to create with... It will be so much fun. Check out all the details on Karen's blog... we have already raised over $5,000 and we are just getting started!

I am an AUNT

We are so excited that we are FINALLY Aunt and Uncle. It has been a long time coming and I am now "Aunt Leslie" to a very beautiful little baby named ADAH LYNN MAUREEN LIGHTFOOT. Shaune's brother Aaron and his sweet wife Sarah welcomed Adah into this world while I was away traveling. We got to go in and see her last night at their home and OMG...she is so little and so pretty. She has strawberry blonde hair and the most perfectly round little head. I can't tell who she looks like but that will come in time. I think our excitement over the baby was overshadowed only by Keaton's excitement. After he got over the initial shock of baby Adah being a GIRL... even though he requested a BOY... he couldn't wait to meet her. He helped me pick out some girly clothes for her at the store and was smiling so big when he finally saw her and got to hold her. Look at him in that photo - he was thrilled. This is his only 1st cousin & he thinks that is a big deal :)  Chloe on the other hand was only mildly interested and spend most of our visit running around and trying to steal the attention away from this  new little Lightfoot princess. I am sure Chloe will love her to pieces once she realizes that she is bigger than her and can boss her around for many years to come (ha!).

Congratulations Aaron and Sarah. We cannot wait to be a part of this little beauties life. We love her already!

Happy for home

Back to everyday living for me. After a week away, it is always such a treat to just be home with kids cuddling around me. I left on Easter Monday and flew into Tallahassee Florida to spend a few days with my buddy Jenn Bertsch. It was mostly work but we did manage a little play too. I loved meeting her sweet kids that called me "Miss Leslie" in the sweetest raspiest voices ever. So cute. She let me borrow her scrapbook room a few times for last minute assignments that i had 'forgotten' about...woops. It was so warm there compared to here. On my way to the airport here in  Ontario I shivered on the shuttle ...and i had a coat on. When i touched down in Tallahassee, I was sweating.  Weird how you can fly for a few hours and go from really chilly weather to amazingly sunny conditions. That was NICE.

On Wednesday we headed down to Alabama (we drove)... it was about a 5 1/2 hour drive but we stopped at some antique stores along the way. It was a fun drive and we laughed alot. Noone can make me laugh like Jenn can. I didn't take my camera so the few photos I have will be from Jenn and some friends down at the event in Alabama.

The event itself was quite the experience. I think approx. 325 people attended and it was so cool to see so many women so excited to be there. I had never been to a teaching event like this and I learned so much from the experience, as well as from the amazing classes we were able to take. Heidi Swapp... well, lets just say she is probably my favourite scrapbooker. She is so artistic and experimental & I have followed her work since i started s/booking 4 yrs ago. Her class was REALLY good. I learned a lot. She discussed things that I had been thinking a lot on & made me think more. She is an amazing public speaker and really personalized the event for me. Cathy Z was the other class I was able to attend...and man she is funny. Well spoken and prepared come to mind too. A really smart woman that I finally got to meet. We shared a love for Chick-fil-a & I'm sure we both miss it now that we are gone (ha).

Renee Coffey (MOD for Autumn Leaves) came down from Atlanta and endured horrendous weather and traffic to come see her buddies : Jenn and I.  I think she got more than she bargained for and was a real trooper putting up with our shinanigans and silly antics. In fact, by the end of the event, i think she was acting even crazier than Jenn... well - at least close ;) Loved hanging with her and Jenn. We worked a lot kitting for our class and just doing last minute preparations - but we also had such a fun time. We stayed up way too late and we rented a few movies that will go down in history as  "interesting" to say the least. Who's idea was it to rent: "HOSTEL"- omg... skip it is my recommendation. brutal brutal brutal :)

I loved getting the chance to finally meet elsie and carrie (and her fiance) in person. Felt like i knew them already from being on the Garden Girl team together. I can tell you that Elsie is the sweetest girl, totally humble and level-headed. She helped us kit our kits as we hung out in our hotel room and I just loved being around her. It is hard to believe she is only 23!  Carrie - loved seeing you too. I still cannot believe you were teaching a week before your wedding but i think you are so sweet to have done it. I loved meeting Brad & seeing you together. Brad was a riot & knew how to hang with the girls :) I wish you all the best this coming weekend... I'll be thinking of you and that big smile you will have on your face!

Jenn...thanks for the hospitality. I loved spending the week with you. We will have to do it again soon. Hope your kids are polishing up their Canadian $$ I gave them (haha)... and tell them I miss them.

Here are a few photos I hijacked from my camera-ready friends. I am awful and never take my camera to s/b events because i know someone will have a camera there - that is a given, right?!

Renee likes her baked goods :)

Long weekend for us..

Shaune had Good Friday off yesterday and we started our 3 day long (haha) Easter feasting with a big party at Mom & Dad's place for the Whyte side of the family. It was a good time. The rain held off and we pretty much all sat outside until it got dark. Most of the family was able to be there. Keaton was thrilled to have cousin Joel to play with (although i think they argued as much as they got along) . All 3 of the kids played with the bubbles. It was a casual and we ate where we could find a spot on the back deck or inside in the family room. Love our family gatherings. I think we left around 9:30pm.

Good times.

Everyone wore pink...

or at least a little bit of pink.

Melissa had another of her amazingly delicious and extremely fun "girls nights" - she cooked us so much gourmet food, I can't even pick a favourite (although the surprise like of the night for me was the poached pear thingie in lavender honey, bree cheese and encrusted pecans - i don't like pears... but man, did i gobble that little morsel of heaven up fast!).

Melissa is such a talented chef. She is also such a giving friend. She cooked for 13 of her friends and family. All women... no men allowed (ha!) It was amazing. She had me take some photos of her courses, but i failed miserably and most are blurry (thanks to low lighting and a few too many glasses of Wine, Cosmopolitans and Ameretto Sours - enough said!)

Anyhow, the night was great. The food was BEYOND amazing. We each donated money to a great cause in leu of hostess gifts. Melissa raised over $700 for the Breast Cancer Foundation. I'm so proud of her that she chose this very important cause. On a personal level - it means a lot.

I wore as much pink as i could find and wore my mothers Brighton Breast Cancer Awareness charm bracelet for a little something extra - i guess i really should of had someone take my photo. ha. oh well. Too busy having a blast...

Anyhow, glad I took my camera, even if I only took about 15 photos.

Life with a doggie...

He is "Henry the dog". We love him. He is a lot of work (ha). My favorite time of day with him is at night... when the kids are in bed and he is calm and chillin' and just lying on the couch with his chin on my leg. He revels in my attention. I cannot stay upset with him. He drives me crazy when he is on his leash outside... constantly running until he can't run any farther... jerk > and then practically tears my arm off. He clotheslines the kids if they get too close. Eventually though he settles down and finds a stick that has fallen from the trees, lies down and goes at the stick. He is a stick-lovin' fool. He is beautiful. I love his freckles. I love the way he looks at me. I love how patient he can be with the kids inside... when they are crawling all over him. I adore how he will lie on the couch and let Chloe play with and twirl his fur while she sucks her thumb. They 'get eachother'. I love that he has quit nipping at Keaton. I love how the kids will crawl in the crate with Henry when I've confined him to it... just to keep him company. I love that (SO FAR) he isn't shedding much. I love the dangley name tag he wears proudly around his neck (from my pal Jennifer) that says "Our Buddy Henry". He is the perfect dog for us. He is hyper at times (like we are), he is super loving (like we are), he is pretty darn cute (like the kids are), he is freckled (like yours truly is), he is happy (like we almost always are) and he is part of our family now. After many months with him here, i can now not imagine life without him. He is more work than i ever thought 1 dog could be... but just like when you bring a new baby home - it becomes routine and it becomes special and you wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh, he is a pretty good photography subject too. If the kids aren't cooperating - i can usually turn to Henry :)

I'm back

Life got away from me there for a while... or actually i guess we were livin' the life and i forgot about my blog. poor neglected blog.

Anyhow... we have been enjoying this sudden burst of spring that has come our way. Finally. The Winter wasn't actually that cold in comparison to some other years... but it was still winter - and when you have 2 young children and a puppy... it just seemed very long this year.

So spring is here. Sunshine, Mud, Puddles, Rain and the start of budding trees and bushes. I am happy. I am starting to contemplate if maybe Spring is my favourite time of year... and Autumn is perhaps just the prettiest time of year. Ya, maybe.

So, Keaton has been busy with play dates and Beavers and school and riding his 4 wheeler every chance he gets outside. It is great that he loves his "boy toys" but seriously, he is 5 ... and has no idea what to do outside if he 4 wheeler or Jeep run out of battery. Well, he knows... but would rather not do anything but. I am looking forward to the start of Soccer season and I love that the clocks have went back and we can keep the kids out later in the evening on walks and playing in the back yard. Happy times!

Chloe is having fun being 2 . I can't believe this girl will be 3 in a few months. No signs of being ready to potty train. She talks non-stop. Gibber gabber and saucy talk every once in a while too. She has some red in her hair and it shows in her temper... especially if Keaton makes her mad. She is a 'screamer'.

Every spring Chloe likes to break in her new rainboots and coat by finding a big puddle and jumping and running thru it. She inevitably falls down numerous times, giggling and stumbling her way to happiness. Eventually when she is nothing more than a shivering wet mess... she concedes to going inside to get dry. Why do I let her do it every year? Because she is a kid. That is why i guess...and because that is what rubber boots are for :)

Henry "the dog" is more dog than puppy now. He is 6 months old and a little over 1/2 grown. He is as tall as Keaton when he jumps up (which is often!) and is pretty much finally house-trained. He figured out how to climb our stairs and now likes to think he has full run of the home... so we found a new use for our long-forgotten baby gate.

In other news, Keaton (aka: Romeo) came home on Thursday confessing his adoration and "love" for his little "girl" friend at school. They are the bestest of friends and that is cool. I like that he plays with both girls and boys. He always says that she is not his 'girlfriend'... she is just a friend that is a girl. But on Thursday, he had a different story. While I gave him his afternoon snack, he told me he loved her and was going to "marry her"...and that he kissed her at school. Whoa, Whoa... back up a minute i say. Then he tells me "I asked her first". Umm, he is 5. So i told him no more kissing at school, Romeo! He giggled and I think he was mostly talking to get reaction from me.

I had my camera out a bit later and this is the pose he gave me... almost like he is taunting me with his "romeo ways". Stop it Keaton, you are only 5. Cute - yes. Dating age - no!