My Favorite Time of Year...

The best part about spring? Garage Sales! We thought it was more than a coincidence that the very day we planned to go Garage Sale-ing, there was a huge community garage sale in Sherwood Park. They must have known we were coming. My Mom and I hauled Hayley around to SO many of them. Carter and Jared tagged along for the first few, but quickly got bored and took off, leaving us to browse to our hearts content. Hayley even got all dressed up for the occasion.


Doesn't she look so summer-y? I think she is starting to enjoy being dressed up, probably because she loves it when I fuss over her. But can you blame me? She is like my real-life cabbage patch doll! Girls are so much fun!

Sunny Days

It's no secret that we LOVE summer around here. We have been taking every opportunity to get outside when it's warm and the kids love it. The other day, we spent almost 2 hours at "the bus park" (it has a school bus jungle gym-Carter requests it daily) and here are some pictures from the fun day:

Possibly why I've never excelled at the game of Tag...

So, I have been TAGGED by Ashlee to "list 8 unknown/odd things about myself". I have been tagged by a few other fellow bloggers before and never ended up actually doing them. So, I am going to bite the bullet and actually DO this one. Here I go...

8 Unknown/Odd Things About Me

#8. I am a sucker for greasy food, especially McDonalds. French fries are my favorite. Mmmm, they are so salty, and the worst part is, I actually add MORE salt (and pepper) to the ketchup before I dip them in. "Want some fries with your McSalt?" -My Mom asked me that one time while at McDonalds.

#7. My toes look like olives. Yep, olives. My family won't let me forget it, either. How can a toe look like an olive, you may ask? Well, picture a toe, with a very bulbous end, and the nail painted red (like the pimento). And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

#6. I am extraordinarily UNtalented (this may not be that "unknown"). My entire family excels at music - singing, writing playing, etc. I don't. Jared's entire family excels at sports. I don't. I am pretty average at doing alot of things, but not really GOOD at any one thing. Once while in high school, I was complaining about not having a talent and my Dad said, "Well, I think your talent is that you are great at being a friend." My response was, "...ok, so how do I preform THAT at a Talent Show?" (Thanks Pops, always so supportive).

#5. I played Barbies until well into high school. Yep...laugh all you want, but Barbies are cool. I still occasionally take a peek down the Barbie aisle while Jared and Carter are looking at monster trucks at Toys R Us. Ya know...just to see what's new...for my daughter, of course...someday.

#4. Have you ever taken a cottony blanket out of the washer, to put it into the dryer and it kind of...scrunches and it feels really weird? That feeling gives me the heebie-jeebies. I was watching my friend Bobbi dress her little girl Isabelle, and she gave her some cotton balls to chew on. Apparently, Isabelle loves the feeling, and was biting on the cotton balls, ripping them apart with her teeth, etc. Anyways, I had to leave the room, I couldn't stand watching it. Weird, I know.

#3. I like to memorize random sports stats/trivia so I can casually bring it up later in a conversation with Jared. Freaks him right out. It's hilarious.

#2. I still jump (or step from really far away when I'm trying to be discreet) onto my bed at nights in fear of someone under the bed, reaching their hand out and grabbing my foot. I have a feeling I'm going to regret writing this now. Jared doesn't know this about me. But knowing him, I bet he'll hide under the bed, just to find out what I'd really do in that situation.

#1. My children are witness to some of my very bizarre behavior I use to entertain them, which usually consists a song of some sort. "Spiderman" in falsetto (and I thought I wasn't musical...), "Baby Got Back" as a lullaby (hey-don't judge me. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do), you name it. You'd be surprised what kids find amusing these days.

Well, there it is. And if you think I'm weird NOW, just imagine the ones that didn't make the cut.

I guess now I have to TAG some others. So, Erin, Nancy, Corey, and Tara...it's your turn...

I am almost hesitant to check my "comments" on this post.

Is it that obvious?

I can guarantee that the first words out of Jared's mouth when he gets home from work will be "Rough day?".

The house is a mess, there's a pile of dishes soaking in the (now-cold) sink full of water, there's NO food in the cupboards, and I am still in my pajamas...unshowered.

The day began early - 5:14 am to be exact. I woke up with a start to Donatello, inches from my face, telling me he had to go to the bathroom. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thankful that he got up instead of me having to change wet sheets a few hours later, BUT I knew it would be hard convincing him it wasn't morning time yet. He wanted to "watch Ninja Turtles and have Life cereal" (and who wouldn't?) but I wasn't ready for that. He asked to sleep in our bed with us and I knew that would be easier than trying to get him to go back to sleep, without him crying and waking up Hayley in the next room. Big mistake.

Trying to fall back asleep with a three year in your bed is hard (thank goodness we opted for the queen), especially when he starts to occupy himself by playing with your eyelashes, scratching your back, playing footsies, etc. None of us got too much sleep from that point on.

At about 10:00 am, I notice the water has been turned off. Some construction has been taking place outside our house. Darn. Can't shower for a bit. No biggie, I'll just shower later.

The construction woke Hayley up early from her morning nap. She was ready to go down a bit earlier for her second nap, until I realized that the water was still shut off. No water to make her a bottle before her nap. So, I fed her some baby food, hoping I could hold her off from napping until the water came back on.

She was doing fine, sitting on the floor, playing with some toys. She was actually pretty excited, and when she gets excited, she does this thing which I can only describe as "the Crazy Baby". She flails all her limbs, rolls her head (and eyes) around while laughing. It's hilarious. Anyways, in the midst of all the excitement, she hit herself in the face 2 or 3 times with the toy she was holding. Must've thrown off her rhythm, because then she fell backwards and hit her head on the ground. Tears ensue.

The events that follow are a little foggy, but I'll try to recap. As I'm comforting Hayley, Donatello opens a cupboard beside me in the kitchen, finds his Dora place mat, which he has been looking for everywhere, gets excited, turns around to run and tell me, bumps into my leg, ricochets off my leg and bumps his head on the CORNER of the cupboard door (if you've ever had kids, you know they occasionally have these boneheaded moments).

As I'm trying to comfort BOTH kids by holding them on my lap, Hayley reaches over, grabs Donny's ear, and digs her fingernails into it. Thanks sweetie. That helps. More tears ensue.

Hayley is finally down for a nap (with a bottle, thanks to that ONE sample can of "ready to go" formula...Thanks Enfamil!) and Donatello is about to drift off while watching "Ice Age". He hasn't napped since Christmas, so...fingers crossed.

It is now 2:45pm and I feel like I've had the longest day of my life. Days like this make me wonder what I've gotten myself into.

And the water STILL hasn't been turned back on.

I just looked over and Donny is asleep. Hallelujah! This day could get better...

Some Random Happenings...

Have I mentioned how humorous three-year-olds can be? Carter has been doing some amusing things lately and I wanted to share a couple of them.

Lately, he is learning which foods are "healthy", mostly because he has to have something healthy before he can have treats like fruit snacks or granola bars. We were at a restaurant last week, and Carter asked Jared, who was drinking pop, "Hey Leo (yeah, he's still on the Ninja Turtles kick...), is pop healthy?". Jared told him, "no, pop is just a special treat sometimes". Carter then proceeded to lecture Jared on his unhealthy choices - "You need to have healthy drinks, like Raph's (that's me...Raphael...) water, or Mikey's (Hayley=Michaelangelo) milk! We shouldn't drink pop! It's not healthy!". And then he gave a HUGE sigh, as if he's some exhausted parent, lecturing their kid. We had a good laugh.

Also last week, I came down the stairs and Carter is sitting on the couch, bobbing up and down singing, "hey, you, I could be your girlfriend..." and I figure out he's singing "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne. If any of you know that song, you'll know how hard I was laughing when I figured it out. It's now his new favorite song and he requests it all the time. His last favorite song was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day. So, as you can see, he is clearly a product of his environment. I need to tell Jared to stop listening to Avril so much....

In Hayley news, she is learning how to wave. She first did it to some random people on Whyte Ave while we were shopping one day with Grandma. Now, she also tries to mimic the word "hi" when she tries to wave, which sounds alot like, "haaaaaa". It's so fun watching her learn new things. She turned 8 months old on Friday and I can't believe it went by so fast. We started working on the crawling thing. She has always been such a sedentary baby that I wouldn't be surprised if she never learns. She is very content to just sit and watch Carter do his thing during the days. Carter's little friend Ethan came over to play last week, and his mom, my friend Megan was shocked when I sat Hayley down on the couch and then just left her there! "Aren't you afraid she'll fall?", Megan asked. Hmmm...maybe I should be, but she hasn't even tried so far. Megan has a little girl Hayley's age and Ethan is Carter's age, so it makes for fun play dates.

I went to a bridal shower on Saturday for a girl who I went to school with. We had lost contact after high school, but when we moved here last year, I went in to Jared's new work and was so surprised to see her working there as well! So fun to reconnect! Anyways, at the shower was a few other girls from my school days and it was so fun to see all of them , as well as their mothers, too. Brought back some old memories....

We have been enjoying the long weekend, but we were hoping it would be nicer outside so we could get out and get some much needed sun rays, but, oh well. That's all folks...

Happy Mothers Day!

A shout out to our Moms, Grand-Moms and all the other great Moms we know. Happy Mothers Day - we love you! Smiles like these sure made my Mother's Day a great one...

The Zoo

We have been waiting for the weather to get warm enough so we could take the kids to the Zoo. Saturday was gorgeous so we finally got our chance. The Zoo was alot of fun and Carter especially loved it. He is still talking about "Lucy and Samantha" the elephants and "Boris" the tiger (which now makes me wonder: WHO is in charge of naming these animals? Cuz that sounds like fun job and I'm sure I would be much better at it than whoever they employ now...c'mon...Boris???). Here are a few random pics from the day:

First Picnic of the Season

It's been so nice here the past couple of days and this past weekend, we went on a little picnic together at the Jackie Parker Recreation area by our house. It's a really nice park. Part of it is an "off leash dog area" so Carter wanted to go and see all the dogs. We walked through the park and Carter ran to get licked (or pounced on) by every dog along the way. We were the only ones there NOT walking a dog, but Carter had a blast. He'd ask every single person what their dog's name was and they would, in turn, ask him what his name is. Of course he'd reply "Donatello" - that kid never misses a beat. Most people realize he's talking about Ninja Turtles, but I'm sure there's a few who walk away thinking, "Why in the world would you name your kid Donatello?"

Pretty in Pink...or Blue...?

So, I dress Hayley in pink pretty much every day (but really, can you blame me?). Even though I LOVE pink, I occasionally dress her in outfits of other colors, like blue for instance. I am always surprised at how much I like the other colors when she wears them, just because it is such a refreshing change. I took these pictures of her dressed in blue and wanted to post some because they are some of my favorites of her.

She'll never pass up a kiss from her big brother...

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are finally settled in the new place - just getting stuff organized now. The move went OK, but we had a few unexpected delays. Thanks again to Dad, Mom, Joel, Dallin, Carly and Gary for all your help!

Jared's 29th birthday was also on Sunday. We went to Swiss Chalet as a family Saturday night to celebrate, but we were moving the whole next day. We did have some cake and ice cream after the move was done, though.

Jared started his new job on Monday and is liking it. He already attended a job fair to scout out some new recruits. I'll have him write an update with more about his job later.

Last Saturday morning, we stopped by Brad and Kirsten's house to see their new little baby Skye (such a cutie!). Brad's dad put his Maple Leafs hat on Hayley and his mom started taking pictures....
Something about those Stevenson's...always trying to dissuade our children from liking the Canucks... :)