:: I've been here ::

:: Since last Wednesday, now I've returned and been running ever since ::

:: We were there {Paul & I} doing this show ::

:: Selling this, my families Cranberry Pudding ::

:: I'm trying on catching up on so many facets of my life so stay tuned; there will be many more delightful things to come in the next few days! ::

:: Oy ::

:: I'm not sure what instills more fear in me; having my kids spread crumbs, rice & other random items like my new mercury Christmas baubles around the house while just being kids or not having a vacuum to clean them up ::

:: Well last week all of the above was confirmed, in one day. I woke up to Jacob doing something that required the little zippy swiffer vac {yeah, I had to get a new stick vac as I killed aka over used the last one}...I think it was rice, again. Okay, so we're slow learners! Anyway, while I was vacuuming at 7:00 am he decided to take his dump truck and ram it into the front of the vacuum, everything was fine until I tried to turn it off and the dumb thing wouldn't turn off, that was until you slammed it into the ground, and then it would turn off ::

:: So, okay I have to return it {it was all of 22 days old}, that's fine, I can do that. Well later the same day, yeah, it was a hummer of a day, Jacob decided to take one of the biggest baubles, which is the brightest and prettiest and largest bauble on the tree and take it and throw it against the wall, what a great smashing sound it makes! What a great little pieces of glass it turns into. While he is in time-out in the chair, I run to get the other vacuum because the handy dandy stick one is on the fritz. I run upstairs and back down, he comes over to me as I'm running down the stairs and like a 4x4 rams my legs causing the vacuum to drop, in turn breaking the tilt mechanism. Great ::

:: On Friday night I headed off to the local W-Mart {cause that's what you imagine you're going to be doing when you grow up right?! Heading to the local mart @9:00 pm to shop for vacuums and diapers..right C&C?!?!?}to pick me up a couple new vacuums and I came home with this as my "big vac" and I love it! Totally worth the $94.98 ::

:: I also picked up another one of these to replace the last one. When the girl at customer service asked me what was wrong with it as it was still so new, I said "it won't turn off", she turns and hands it to two 18 year oldish girls that are her little elves for the Christmas rush and what do they do? Press the button to turn it on, she turns to them and says "she just said it won't turn off" then I said "until you smash it into the ground", so they do just that a voila it turns off ::


:: Oy, my life sometimes! I wonder why someone isn't banging down my door to record my life; seriously I could make a killing these things! ::

:: My first one... ::

:: We received our first Christmas card in the mail yesterday, December 1st ::



:: It's already started and I can't believe it! I'm looking forward to checking my mail more than once a week..cause I'll have better things to recieve instead of just bills! ::

:: Oooh La La ::

:: This is my lovely gift from my hubby for my birthday, isn't it beautiful?!? I have never owned a "real" watch, but I am a really good keeper of time, so I haven't really needed one ::

:: However when I saw this one I loved it and now that I have it, if I forget it I totally miss it! ::

:: Thanks for my great gift Paul, I love it & you too {Now just don't be late!}! ::

:: Daddy does Bathtime ::

:: I was downloading all of the pictures off my camera and I came across these from last week, apparently while I was out one night the boys had bath time, and boy does Daddy do bath time different to Mama! ::

:: No normal woman {who has to clean up after two toddlers all day} would ever fill a tub that full! Especially with two rambunctious boys! ::

:: But I will admit it does look fun! ::

:: Can you imagine the giggles coming from that bathtub!?!?! ::

:: The boys got the royal treatment with towels wrapped around the waist just like Daddy does ::

:: How cute are they!?! ::

:: That's amazing, he got them bathed, dried and not drowned all while documenting the whole thing for my viewing pleasure, great job babe! ::

:: D is for Decor ::

:: December is officially here and I'm all about re-decorating for the Season! ::

:: If I had extra cash and time I would have picked up one of these to go in my front hall, I love 'em! ::

{Pictures courtesy of Wonderful Graffiti}

:: Whistler ::

:: We had the fabulous opportunity to head up to Whistler for a beautiful Fall day and night, we met our friends M&L up there to enjoy the time, we had a beautiful time enjoying the last bit of sun that the Fall had to offer ::

:: Beautiful Fall foliage ::

:: My man ::

:: M&L & the girls in Whistler village ::

:: My boys playing in the village ::

:: The a visit to Whistler wouldn't be proper if we didn't hit Rocky Mountain and get a treat, the kids loved it and I wasn't about to complain! ::

:: Here are a few shots from the drive up, it was amazing! ::

:: Thanks for letting us stay over M&J and thanks for sharing the day with us M&L, it was a great way to take in our beautiful land! ::

:: Just Because ::

:: Paul bought these for me "just because" ~ I hate that I forget these little things that he does for me, it's at times like this that I worry that I didn't say thank you! ::

:: Babe, if you read this and in case I forget to tell you, I loved them. You are wonderfully sweet. Thank You ::

:: Our Birthday ::

:: November is a really busy month for us, we have Cole's birthday on the 1st and then Paul's follows on the 4th and mine is on the 11th. I think I am blessed to have my birthday a week apart from my loves as it's great to have a full week of celebrations! ::

{I received flowers delivered to my door from Jennifer, so sweet Jen, thank you!}

:: We had a few celebrations for Paul, one the day after Cole's 1st Birthday {yeah, that was one crazy weekend} then we went out on a date to dinner and a movie, it was a great time celebrating Paul's birthday....it's hard to believe that the first birthday I celebrated with Paul was his 23rd, that's almost 10 years ago! ::

:: It was great to have T&C & Denay along for the celebrations, thanks for coming out guys! ::

:: We headed over to Paul's family home to celebrate our birthdays double trouble style, we had a great dinner of Me 'n Ed's Pizza, DQ Ice Cream Cake and individual little desserts for each of us! It was a special night with a lot of love and fun ::

:: We then did a celebration at my parent's place for my birthday::

:: We had a lovely traditional dinner and a favorite for me, my Mom's homemade ice cream pie...do you see a trend, yes I LOVE ice cream, so much so that I can't have it in my house! ::

:: Thanks for a great night M&D! ::

:: On the morning of my birthday we woke up to the sound of rain, no that's not rain, water..no no that's not water! Ugh, it's rice...all over baby brother and the floor...oh what fun a full ice cream bucket of rice can be when dumped on brother's high chair! Jacob had a great time swimming in the sea of rice. Happy Birthday to me! ::

:: Once the rice was all cleaned up Paul and the boys gave me my gifts, I got a super cute willow tree ornament from the boys and a beautiful Fossil watch from Paul {I'll post pictures of that on my wrist tomorrow}. I LOVE it! ::


:: Paul and I went out for dinner for my birthday (thanks T&C) to Earls and had a lovely night out (thanks M&D for taking the boys) ::

:: Thank you all for celebrating Paul and I in such sweet ways, we are truly overwhelmed and blessed! ::

:: One more year down, and one more year older...ouch, just kidding, it's great I'm just glad to have November almost over! My goal was to have our celebrations posted by the end of November, so here I am 20 minutes left in November...posting away ;) ::

:: Bye Bye November, hello December! ::

:: Hello, anyone out there?!?! ::

:: Hello All (if there is anyone that has still kept up on reading this dusty old thing!), sorry for the delay in posts! It's not that I don't have anything to post about it's just that I'm too busy living to actually sit down and write it out ::

:: I have actually been really torn at posting things for a variety of reasons, I love being my candid self and being brutally honest but not at the cost of others feelings. If I were to write something or an opinion or something that we did in our lives I wouldn't want it to hurt or offend anyone. Well, we all know that is an impossible task! So I have had to think long and hard about doing this blog and having it be so personal ::

:: I don't want to shut this down or stop blogging, heaven knows I have enough to talk about, however I don't want to be guarded at what I do and don't say. I don't want to come across as being perfect or having a perfect life, Lord knows I have my issues and struggles just as much as anyone else ::

:: That is another reason I haven't been around. I have been trying to find balance in my life. I am a "keep everyone happy" kinda gal. That's great and all but that isn't necessarily the best way to be. It sounds good, sometimes feels good but the tower can come crashing down pretty fast when you are through with making everyone happy but yourself. So I have had to measure my life and all of the things I'm involved in and decide what kind of role and precedent they are going to take in my life and at what cost? ::

:: So there you have it, my heart on my sleeve...yeah, I know, that's so unlike me...well it actually is. I'm outspoken but not argumentative or confrontational, which is a bad way to be but remember I'm a "keep everyone happy" kinda gal ::

:: I will finish this and get on with posting all of the running nothingness that I have had saved on blogger for well over a month now...and then we'll get on to Christmas. I'm going home for Christmas, I'm staying right here focusing on the heart of the matter, my home, my love, my boys and in that I will find myself ::

:: To better things... ::