I feel...

...on cloud 9?
Seems kind weird not really having a big event or experience happen to me to say that, but it's just a lot of little things that are adding up.
Maybe it's because I am fully in the thick of 2nd trimester.  I feel rested and energetic!  For a while I wasn't sure I would ever crawl out of my exhausted hole but now I feel so good.
I'm kind of giddy.
Spring is in the air so I'm sure that is helping too!  I cleaned out some of our flower beds this afternoon with Kellan.  It's fun starting a new (smaller!) yard.  It has lots of potential and we have lots of ideas.  Nothing grand or anything just a cute yard and an outside place to call our own.  I'm pretty sure I will be spending A LOT of time out there this summer being ginormously pregnant and settling into life with this third (fourth) little blessing.
I'm reading a psychology book on families and it is suuuuper interesting.  Learning lots about me and both of our immediate families.
And I guess the BIGGEST excitement for me today was a phone call from a director of a couple funeral homes in the area.  He wants to be the 'Title Supporter' for our Okanagan Walk to Remember.  Seriously, I was blown away!!!  I hope to blog over here soon about it.
I had a midwife appt this am.  She is fantastic!  All is well in babyland.  I hope to write a post about baby progress soon - just waiting until I look decent enough to take a picture ;)
Another great event that happened recently was Brian's sisters wedding!!!  It was a resort/retreat style wedding so we spent 4 days at a gorgeous rustic camp/resort and had an amazing time with friends and family.  And we are super excited to finally have Wendell as our brother!!

Hmmm...what else is contributing to my cloud 9 state?...

We finally painted and finished our living room!  I'll try to get some before & after pics up soon!

Most of the winter driving is over for Brian so I'm enjoying him home an extra hour or two everyday.  It was glorious having him to myself for a couple extra days last week too!

Well, I better finish up my days work and find my way to bed.

I just reread this.  Wow, that was random! Sorry...

Windy & rainy Tuesday...yes my life revolves around weather these days.

Yesterday was (mostly) a success. For starters, we got a majority Conservative government now! Wootwoot!
Voting had been on my mind all day. We went for a walk in the morning and when I got to the polling station I realized I had forgot my voting card! (which I found out I didn't need afterall...) So back home I went. Then I decided to wait until Brian came home and I wouldn't have to pack up the kids again. So, Brian came home, we did a bit of yard work then he told me to go vote. Just as I was pulling away, Brian came running out to the car and had to go on a fire call. No biggie - I'd just go when he got back.... 2 hours later at 7:15, Brian was not home. So, realizing I was running out of time, I made it to the polls with the kidlets in tow with 7 minutes to spare. Nice.
I'm sure I didn't need to vote, but in my own head I know I did my part.

The Weatherman was gracious to us and came through with the forecast. We took a leisurely stroll in the morning, and worked in the yard for a couple hours in the afternoon. The front lawn is neat & tidy and 1/2 of the flower beds are prepped.

The kids were a wee bit underdressed and I did add a few layers, but it just felt good to pull out all the summer clothes...even if it is a bit premature.
The wind was a bit of a nuisance and I now have feet that are already in desperate need of a pedicure, but the sun and fresh air was good for the soul. Especially cuz today looks like a monster outside...

Potty training is having it's ups & downs.  Lots of downs at the moment :(  I've been doing lots of incentive work with only slight success and last night I even took away the overly loved puppy...which I don't think did anything - except make for a late night...and probably a grumpy day.  Darn.

2 Questions...
1) K, the first one is not a question, but I would love some potty training advice, tips & encouragement.
2) Now that he has had 1 night without puppy, do I give it back to him OR is this a good opportunity to take it away for good.  I don't mind him being attached to something, but he does suck his fingers when he has puppy, so I don't want to create a problem for later on.

Kalli girl has 3 teeth on the verge of popping through.  She's been eating up a storm and I feel like this phase has jumped on us instead of a gradual transition.  She LOVES food!  Grabbing at whatever we are eating and seems to never get enough.  Thankfully breastfeeding is still in full force - I think I am still grieving Kellan's early weaning and don't want a replay of last time.

Organic

Have you ever tried to do all organic?
Did you go bankrupt?!!
My goodness!  I went to Planet Organic yesterday to get a few things I couldn't find locally and could not believe my eyes when I saw $7.99/lb for peppers!  And I thought $2.49/lb was killer! 
Oh, how I long for the warm summer days of dirty feet and fresh goodness from the garden.

These days

Seems like time is going by in a blur...ever so slowly...
Our days are long with Brian gone early and coming home late but when I'm packing away newborn sleepers I know that the days are going by very quickly.

Funny though at 3 in the morning, it feels like the night will never end.... :)

Our garden is doing pretty fabulously. Potatoes & carrots are plentiful and we've had our share of fresh beans. Peas are waiting to be picked (again!) and this morning I just picked all the apples off our tree. Planning to bake something yummy with them this afternoon.
I wish gardens were all year around...

She wasn't too impressed with me making her pose in just her diaper but I had to snap a picture before they get too small...or should I say 'she gets too big'.

This kid definately doesn't hide his emotions - his face says it all. Although in this picture he's not mad, just saying "uh-oh!"

Before & Afters

I wanted to wait until the fence was completely done/stained and the yard looking extra beautiful but the chances of that happening this summer are pretty nil so these pics from today will have to do.

(The before pics are from when we bought the house in 2007)

Front of the house....obviously:

Before

After

Back of the house:

Before


(This was in 2008 when we were starting the patio)

After

(this one was pre-fence)

(the gate in the back corner is built but just propped up)


Backyard - looking away from the house:

Before


After


(the firepit, flower garden & vegetable garden are behind the fence)


Backyard - looking towards the house:

Before

After

Time marches on...

What?!? June is almost over? That means it's almost July! Yikes!


Here's a little recap of our past week or two:

Last Saturday it was our town's fair/parade. Brian was involved with the Fire Dept. stuff so I met up with my parents, s-i-l and neices to watch the parade. Kellan did pretty good getting candy and soaking it all in. The firetrucks were at the end so once K had watched most of the parade I passed him off to Brian who was in one of the trucks.


Loving his ride in the big 'guck!'

After the parade I met up with my boys and we grabbed some yummy fair food and wandered up and down main street. Kellan was pretty grouchy by 1 so I took him home to nap. Brian stayed because the Fire & Rescue team was putting on a demonstration (ripping apart a car with the Jaws of Life) so I was pretty bummed we had to miss out on that. Oh well, maybe next year.

Sunday was a busy day. We had practice/lead worship at church. Our group is mostly made up of highschool kids so it's fun teaching them and leading with them.

Kellan was filling in for me:


After church Brian had a tennis game with a guy in town (he's on the tennis league and they have a tournament all summer) and I cleaned up our house and got ready for the Father's Day party we were having with my family. My parents, grandma and brother & his family came over for cake and we had a good time chatting and watching the kids play.




Brian has been busy practicing and getting ready for this July 1st. He was asked to put together a band to play for a neighbouring town's fair/Canada Day celebration. He got together some young guys in our church and they are doing some rock/Christian rock covers. Should be fun!

Daddy's up & coming 'roadie':

Our fence is still in the works. Brian has most of the boards up then it's just the gates and it's done! We still have to stain it but apparently you are supposed to let the boards weather for a few weeks so we'll get around to that later.
It's amazing how our yard actually looks bigger with this fence! I think our neighbours were being a big generous in what they called their yard - so it's nice to have some definition and a property line (even though we are still 3 feet short - again our neighbours were being a bit generous to themselves - but we can't complain cuz our yard is still pretty huge!)

Speaking of yard - the weeds aren't pulling themselves!

This is what we do in the rain

Fence posts are in!
Now Brian's out cutting and staining the boards.
I'm staying dry and warm...until Brian needs me again.


Not sure if I am disgusted by how cold and wet I am or if I am confused with what I am measuring...either way my facial expression is pretty fabulous...

A sneak peek at the color:

The job Brian banned me from - not sure if that is a perk or a downside to being preggo...

Another drizzly day

You don't really notice how much bending over you do (especially with little ones) until you have a big belly to bend over with :)

Mmm...fresh bread & cinnamon buns hot from the oven. Best thing to do (and eat!) on a rainy day.

Last night we put up a few fence posts inbetween rain showers. It's hard work! - Brian is using a fence post digger that I'm sure my great Grandfather used (not too technoligically advanced) so he's getting his work out! Every night this week he hopes to get a few more done. This weekend looks good (weather wise) so we are planning to start getting some of the fence sections up. Wootwoot!

Taking a little gander in the neighbors yard. Have I mentioned how much I am looking forward to a fence?!

Not too exciting weekend things

We had a nice relaxing weekend. And by relaxing I mean we did nothing productive. Altho, in my books - spending some quiet time together, just the 3 of us, is pretty productive :)
Actually, we did get the garden planted on Saturday morning, but to us that is considered fun.
Brian was shut down in the fields Friday & Sat because of rain, so it was a nice break from the busy. He should get everything finished up tomorrow tho, so slower days are ahead!
We are planning to go camping this coming weekend at a small local lake so we are pretty excited about that. The forecast doesn't look great but that's ok too. We like each other enough to be stuck in a camper for a day or two...
My Mom and I went plant shopping on Thursday after a dentist apptointment that I had. [Apparently you *lose* a tooth with each pregnancy from the baby stealing all your calcium, so he had to fill in a hole in one of my teeth.]
Anyways, we both did really well. I got a number of flowers for pots and 4 shrubs for the flower garden. Mom came home with about triple the amount I did - but she has quite the amazing (and big) flower garden that she does up beautifully. Hopefully I was blessed with a little bit of her green-thumb ;)
Today I've been puttering in the garden off & on (when Kellan lets me) and it's starting to look pretty good. Or at least I have hope it will...
I haven't planted many flowers yet, just because of a frost warning for the next couple of nights. Maybe the end of the week or early next.
Sorry for the pretty boring post. Don't even have any pictures to make it exciting :(

It's getting there

The beautification of our yard that is.

Not sure if I've mentioned this....but I love our yard. If our house was just a teeny bit bigger I would want to stay here forever - oh, and if the town passed a bylaw for people to have chickens in their yard...
But then again, who says you can't have 20 kids in a 3 bedroom house?
And yes, 20 might be an exaggeration :)

K, back to the yard...
The tulips are finally starting to bloom, the weeds are in full glory and most of the trees have their leaves. I've weeded and cleaned up almost everywhere and we will have pots full of pretty flowers by the weekend. AND, if everything goes as planned, the veggies will be in the garden by then too.
Thanks to our wonderful neighbors for our nicely tilled dirt. We just have a little push roto-tiller that works great throughout the season but it's nice when the big tractors can come in and really dig it up.

In the works:

Tomorrow my Mom and I are planning a plant buying date at Walmart. I've got my list all ready for the seeds and flowers I need to pick up and some other extras for our yard.

So, it's been super hot the past couple days. I'm not a heat lover and I'm thinking with my extra furnace inside - it's going to be a long summer. I wasn't productive yesterday until after Kellan was in bed, but I've got a quite a few things done this morning already since it's only 23 outside today.

Brian went out on 2 fire calls in less then 24 hours on those super hot days. (Not sure if I mentioned before, but Brian joined the volunteer fire & rescue dept this spring). Holding a heavy water hose a few feet away from a roaring fire wearing a ton of gear on a 30 degrees day isn't something I'd like to do too often :)

Yesterday I got a trim. Or at least that's what I went in for. My regular hair dresser is due in a few weeks and is done work so I was on the hunt for a new girl. I guess I didn't stress enough that I wanted to keep the length and just get some more layers in.... It's not what I wanted but it's growing on me and I think it will be fun in the summer. It at least has style now and ANYTHING would have been better then the split-end mess I had before! And I know it's a better length for me it's just hard to let go of the dream of having really long hair. Maybe next time I'll get extensions...

Oh, we're at T minus 80 days today!