Are We There Yet?

Let 'Er Rip!

It is all about “Beyblades” in these parts as of late.  In case you aren’t in the know, Beyblades are spinning top type toys that are used to battle.  The premise is that the final “bey” left spinning is the winner.  These spinners bang, clank and bounce off each other and walls until eventually a winner is declared.  There are launchers, rip cords, battle domes and many more accessories.  Suddenly, Nate’s vocabulary is full of words like; Rock Leone, Aquario, Tornado Battlers, Earth Eagle, Saggatario ,Orso and Lightning L Drago.  I can’t help but chuckle when I hear him with his buddies repeatedly counting down, “1…2…3…Let ‘Er Rip”, and then watching them all stare into this big dome waiting to see who will be victorious for that round, with the last Beylade spinning.

It all seems pretty innocent and like always I am interested to see how long this newest craze will last.  However, I can’t see this phase ending anytime soon as apparently Nate is known in these parts to be a bit of a “metal master”.  A friend of mine overheard her two boys talking the other morning as one son asked the other, “What beyblade are you bringing today to try and defeat Nate, the grade one beyblade champion?”

Oh to be six again!  What is the latest craze around your house these days?

 

The House and a Heartbeat

I finally feel like our household is getting back to normal (kind of). It has been a complete gong show as we get ready for our house to go on the market this weekend. I am constantly working off of a "to-do" list and always trying to determine our best course of action to complete everything that needs to be done. 

Yesterday, dad and Judy spent the day with us helping with every job imaginable.  They washed windows, planted flowers, cleaned vents, and washed doors. Mollie was kind enough to take Ives for the whole day which was truly the biggest help.  Trying to accomplish things with a very busy two year old around is a very difficult task.  We are slowly but surely getting to the end and are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

On a lighter note, I got to hear my little babe's heartbeat for the first time last week- I love that sound!! All of a sudden things become very real. I am going to be 17 weeks tomorrow and cannot believe that I am approaching the halfway mark already.  I am feeling so much better than I was in the first trimester (other than the odd day where I feel like a really good cry would do me a world of good) and am crossing my fingers that I don't get hit by the tired bug again. 

This week is all house and then next week we are moving into Dad and Judy's for the week so we don't have to panic about keeping it clean for showings. I can't wait until we officially move into the new house!!

**I'm looking for furniture for Ivy's new room, any suggestions?  We already hit up Dufresne and don't really want to spend a bomb at e-Children- anywhere else for cute little girls furniture?

Whatever floats your boat

Today in my class, we tested penny boats. One by one, we added pennies to the foil structures, each one tipping the boat one step closer towards ultimate disaster. One second it sits floating in the water calmly, the next second, it sinks without warning to the bottom. It reminded me of lifethese days, where at any moment, even one tiny little hiccup could send our whole world into a tailspin and ultimately sink our boat. Every parent I run into these days has the same face on....hurried. Spring sports season has started and that means, along with all the other families out there, we are making daily treks to the lacrosse rink, soccer fields and baseball diamonds while still wrapping up Sparks and gymnastics.

Each day is one that Chad and I are facing with our best game face. It is a rush to get the kids and get home, no time to play after school, as it's a quick turn around of eating, maybe cleaning up after supper, maybe not. We split our family 5 days out of the week and go our seperate ways as they have all chosen a sport just for them. Arriving home means a race for bedtime routine, it's not enjoyable as it should be. Despite my best efforts, it feels rushed and panicked. I know what waits after they are in bed, supper clean up, lunches, backpacks, clean up, a dog to walk, laundry to do and maybe, just maybe, a moment for me. Maybe. And because we like to stay on our toes, we thought now seemed like as good a time as any to renovate our sunroom completely, new roof, new pine walls, new floor, the whole nine yards. That venture means that hubby is working every spare moment around the crazy sports schedule.

On more than one occasion, Chad and I have grabbed each other by the shoulders, looked at each other and said, "Come on, we can do this!". It's the mantra we have to believe during this season of chaos and disorder. So far, so good. Our boat is still afloat at the moment but we know that could change at any moment if we slip even slightly. The house will suffer a bit, the blogs have been infrequent, the bedtimes later and then in the blink of an eye it will be summer and I will be sipping sangria in my new sunroom wondering where the time goes.

That is, if my boat is still afloat.

Terrible Blogger!!

We've had a couple of crazy weeks which have led me to be a terrible blogger- I'm sure you've noticed. 

First things first, my sister-in-law and her two youngest were in from Calgary for 5 days for a visit. She also was here to run the Police half with Jared and my sister.  I am vowing now, I will be running it with them next year after my baby makes his/her big entrance this fall!  We love having them in, but it is always a gong show with family at our house.

We have also been busy house hunting and had our hearts broken yet again.  This time 45k over asking and we still ended up 13 shy of the people who beat us. There is a happy ending to this story.  Yesterday we put an offer in on a house that has been on the market for just over a month (overpriced) and we were able to make them a great offer.  After mulling it over for the evening, they finally accepted close to midnight.  The offer is still pending as we are waiting on a few things from them, but if all goes well, we should be able to wrap by tomorrow.

With the excitement of buying a new house comes the stress of selling your old one.  While others may not notice, we look around and see to-do's and touch-ups everywhere. Tonight we will start the big de-clutter (while watching The Bachelorette of course) and try to get our house looking like a two year old toddler and a tired pregnant woman don't live there.

As this is the first house we're selling, I'm anxious to hear if anyone has any suggestions for getting our house into tip top shape?

 

 

 

Nathalie Jean

The concept of “filling buckets” continues to be on my mind this week.  Wednesday brought the much anticipated arrival of a letter from our “sponsored child” Nathalie Jean.  The kids love to hear from her and this letter was not a disappointment. Nathalie is almost exactly the same age as Sarah and she lives in a small town in the Phillipines with her mother and 3 brothers. From what we have learned about her over the past year is that she is smart, sweet, very pretty and a very good student.  Her life is tough but she has a very positive attitude.

 We first crossed paths with Nathalie when a representative from World Vision came knocking on our door last spring. Like most people, Blaine and I are always looking for opportunities to teacher our children about being giving and charitable.  Let’s face it our kids live a blessed life and we need to take every opportunity to discuss those who are less fortunate.  We knew the day would come when we would make the commitment to take on this responsibility as a family but we were waiting for the kids to be the right age so that they could be a part of the process.  As the four of us met with the wonderful young man from World Vision a year ago, we all listen intently to the details about World Vision Sponsorship.  We picked Nathalie because of her age ans story and we picked the Phillipines, well for many reasons.  Our hope was that our children could correspond with this child and develop a relationship of sorts.  Sarah and Nate both write individual letters to Nathalie, which go along with our family letters.  They are so proud to do this task.

 Nathalie’s recent letter was so heartwarming.  She was thrilled to receive some pictures of the kids and she writes,

“Dear Sarah, Your very very beautiful in your picture.  I'm 9 years old and in grade 3 too.  I like puppies”. 

 “Dear Nate, I’m so happy when I read your letter and also when I saw your picture your very  very cute.My hobby is reading books sometime i play badmenton with my cousin and brother” The kids were tickled pink.

The section addressed to Blaine and I went something like this,

“Thank you so much for sending me a letter again. I’m so very happy when I received your letter and also the letter of your two kids.  I’m so very proud when I heard that you are a teacher because my ambition is to become a teacher someday like you. And I’m an honor student in our class.”  She goes on to later say, “  I hope and pray we will meet someday together with your family.”

 As we fill Nathalie’s bucket with our monthly contributions to her community development programme in an attempt to help her family attain self-reliance, in return Nathalie fills our buckets with her heartwarming words and her gratitude.  Her picture on our fridge is a daily reminder of just how important and rewarding it is to give.

 “Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.”

-Brain Tracy

 

 

Done Deal!

I can finally say that I have my first (but definitely not last) half marathon under my belt. Yesterday, I ran the Winnipeg Police Services Half Marathon along with 1700 other Winnipeggers. It was absolutely awesome. It wasn't just the run, it was the spirit of it all. the comradery of the other runners, the feeling of being a part of something electric. It was a community of people that I can say I was proud to be amongst, you could feel the passion and dedication to the cause in the air and I was moved by every moment of it. I'm more than a little sentimental about life in general but I was choked up from the moment the gun went off and the big bomber flew overhead. I was surrounded by woman wearing remembrance pinnies on their backs and I wished I had known so I could have carried Mom along with me.

I have trained for this day for a long time, a LONG time. I have encountered every road block along the way and never completed it. Some years it was knee injury, last year back. Some years it was pregnancies and some years, it was the babes. This year wasn't flawless, my knee flared up here and there but I learned to listen and to scale back when I had to. Even up to the very start, I wasn't certain of the outcome, I knew I'd finish but having missed a few long runs of training to keep the knee going, I had no idea of time. I finished in 2 hours and 14 minutes, about 6 minutes more than what my initial goal was. I really hit the wall at mile 11 and had to start taking walk breaks which slowed me down considerably but I was able to sprint past my family at the home stretch and I was on cloud 9 all day. Today, I wore my cheesy shirt proudly to school and I googled every half marathon over the next few months. I learned that accomplishments like this are as much will power as they are physical power and today I feel like I'm stronger than I thought I was. I did it!

How Full is Your Bucket?

Some of you may be familiar with this expression and the book of the same title that goes along with it.  The premise of this once bestseller by Tom Rath focuses on “The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket” explained below;

“Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people's buckets -- by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions -- we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others' buckets -- by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions -- we diminish ourselves.

Like the cup that runneth over, a full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in that bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic.

But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy, and undermines our will. That's why every time someone dips from our bucket, it hurts us.

So we face a choice every moment of every day: We can fill one another's buckets, or we can dip from them. It's an important choice -- one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.”Check out the book’s website for even more information.

Many schools use the concept of the “bucket” to teach pro-social skills and I was thrilled to hear that Sarah and Nate’s school was one of them.  What a great way to talk to kids about how we treat others and how we want to be treated! This picture book version  is a great way to introduce the concept to kids. I was even more thrilled when Nate’s teacher started regularly sending home “bucket notes” when the kids do something kind to fill someone’s bucket.  Nate was the first one to get a bucket note and on it Miss P wrote this:

“Nate filled a bucket today.  He fills buckets everyday and gave Miss P the idea for bucket filler notes! Thank you for making me smile Nate!” 

 My little grade one boy couldn’t have been more proud and even though Nate is now on his fifth or sixth bucket note he still can’t wait to show me them afterschool and he proudly displays each one on the fridge for weeks.

“The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket “ is a great metaphor for life.  It is simple enough for young children to understand yet potentially very powerful.

How many buckets have you filled today?

 

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

A bunch of girls out on the open road and a Target store there to meet us at the end, what more could I ask for. This weekend, we spent 3 days in Grand Forks, shopping, dning, toasting and vegging out completely, Shauna, Kate and I amongst the group. Long gone are the days when we head out looking for a wild time as darkness sets in, this time around we found jammies and the movie, Dear John, much more suited to us. It was perfect, the car was packed to the top and everyone reached their limit, somr a bit more than others, it was many laughs and too much crappy food but just enough time away to really miss the monkeys.

I always feel blessed to have a hubby that genuinley loves his alone time away wiith the kids. They always have an amazing time and always find creative ways to pass the time.

Here are the top 10 ways to know that mom has been away for the weekend:

10. There are 2 pizza boxes in the recycle bin.

9. There is a rubber snake living in a box at the end of Ty's bed.

8. All of my decorative rocks are snuggled up next to the rubber snake.

7. There is a bowl of leftover zoodles in a bowl in my fridge. 6. My kids ipods are loaded up with rock music. NO COUNTRY, WHAT?

5. Sades is wearing the same shirt that I left her in, coincidence I'm told.

4. The sprinkler and bikinis are out, only dad thinks it's warm enough.

3. They have decided that Ty can have 2 puffer fish.

2. My entire bedroom has been lined by pets and crates for a make believe pet shop.

1. The two men have decided that Ty should have a new pet ...a salamander. Not bought yet, thank goodness, I can still put a stop to it.

They had an amazing time, Half Moon, Pet Land, Home Depot, a sleepover with uncle and Ives and Olive, too. They had a fantastic time, the house was clean...enough and they were thrilled to see me. Perfect!

Housing Heartache

We experienced our first real estate heartache last night. We have excitedly been looking at houses over the past few months to make some much needed room for baby. It's not that the kiddies can't share a room, it's that I am ready for both a change and a bigger space.

Finally, we fell head over heels in love with a house in Bird's Hill, close to both my dad and Mollie. It was ideal. The perfect size and even a more perfect property. We saw it with our realtor on the first day of showings and then went back to the gong show of an open house on Sunday for a second take. We knew we were going to put in an offer regardless of how many people had the same idea.

We went in with our top price, almost $40k over asking, and nervously awaited the phone call about our "new" house. The phone call did come, but just not with what we wanted to hear. The listing agent said we were very close, but not quite good enough. I would say we were pretty crushed, but slowly getting over the loss today.

We've learned many a lessons through this whole process, but I think the biggest one is to not get emotionally attached to a house. Wherever we end up we will make our house into a home and will love it just as much.

HELP!

I wish I could say I was sitting here with ice in my drink but instead the ice is sitting here on my knee. I am signed up for the police man's half marathon on May 6th. I am signed up for a half marathon that is 2 weeks away and here I sit with ice on my knee. I have been hesitant to let anyone in on my plans for this year knowing that I have made the same claim for about a million years in a row. I run...all the time. I love running. I love what it does for my body, my mind and even my soul. It's where I find myself, where I clear my mind, where I revitalize. I can easily run 5, 10, even 15 km. It is the 19-20 km mark that seems to have my knee screaming, not yet loudly, but definitely starting to whimper. It is the return of runner's knee for me. Clearly, that is my knee's limit, if you remember it was the exact same time last year that my knee took me out of the Manitoba Half.

I ran 19.5 km last Sunday and was all set to run a 20 this weekend and start the taper to race day. It was overnight that I started to feel it, so I've put the brakes on. I skipped the long run this weekend and did a mere 6 km last night. I took my ache to a massage therapist this afternoon and we'll see. I am seeking some advice from all you training types. What do I do? Carry on with short runs so I don't agitate the knee and risk trying to run a half knowing that I will have missed my last long run before the wind down to race day? OR Do I try to take in a long run tomorrow night and hope for the best? I think I know my answer but I am dying to know yours. Just give me the advice that will help me to cross this biggy off my bucket list, I cannot will not quit this time, no way, no how!