Proudest mama in the whole world

So today as Meghan was getting out of the van she mentions casually that she will be singing a solo of "I Believe" at the Fine arts/Sports award assembly this morning.  Great advance warning kid.  So of course, I wish her luck and head off to work, merrily oblivious until I get a phone call from last year's teacher who asks in a slight panic, "Are you able to come to the assembly this morning?"  I politely let her know that I can't as I'm at work.  She then lets me know that Meghan will be receiving the Fine Arts Award and a trophy with her name on it will be in the cabinet. She also tells me that it is usually awarded to a Grade 7 but this year it was going to Megs, who is in grade 6.  My stomach dropped to my hobbit feet because I missed that opportunity to stand there and clap just loudly enough to embarrass her.

So instead I told anybody who would listen about my baby girl and how great she is.  Until she pisses me off, then she's her father's kid.

Luckily my friend Shannon (no not me!) came to the rescue and just made it to the school in time to video tape Megs getting the award.  Once Shannon figures out how to get it off of her camera I will post.

My middle child, Logan didn't win any awards but he did FINALLY learn to read.  He's making good progress but is not all that pumped about going to summer school to get ready for grade 3. Go Figure.  He did have fun at Beaver camp a couple of weeks ago which was caveman themed and oddly fitting for Logan.

It's a good thing this one is so damn cute.  Or he'd be dead.            

Norah was in her first dance recital this past weekend and Scott went to go see her perform.  He said she was adorable as usual. Four hours of dance recital though.  Fun times.  Norah was in two of the dances.

And finally our baby boy, who turned two today.  I cannot believe it's been two years since I pushed this one out of my body.  Let me tell you labour and delivery seriously bites.  But the kid is worth it.

Hiking - and I survived

So since I've been neglecting my poor blog recently I think I will jam a whole bunch of posts in a short period of time!

I went hiking on Saturday morning, to a beautiful location in North Vancouver, BC called Lynn Valley Canyon.  I picked my friend Carol-Ann up just after seven (man too much more of that and I'm going to turn into a morning person, yuck) and we headed to another piece of paradise.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I had escaped from the husband and children for a couple of hours.  How do I spend my freedom?  Hiking for three hours.  What is wrong with me?

I actually really enjoyed it, just walking, through the peaceful landscape, all worries left at the car and like a sponge I soaked up the rays and the peace and the nature.

I call this picture "You want me to climb what?"

If I keep climbing up stairs like this I should have buns of steel in no time flat.  Again, an old man ran past us as we clomped up the stairs out of breath.  I swear it's the same old guy from the last hiking trail, he's following us just to show me how pathetic I truly am.

Luckily I made it up these stairs and a few more sets just like this one.  They look much prettier than they feel though.  my thighs were burning like the fires of Hades.  My lungs may have collapsed.  When I finally got to the top I convinced myself it felt good. 

I loved this rock.  We were walking along a trail when I looked down and saw this rock and the inspirational saying on it.  I took a picture to prove I was indeed there with that rock.  I'm happy to see I'm not the only person in the world with a decidedly warped sense of humour.  So as you can see, I have proof now.

We walked and walked and walked some more and still we didn't get to all the trails that we could have.  AND we didn't get lost, which is a bonus.    It was nice to be in the great outdoors for a change instead of being chained to a desk or a sink or a toddler.  Smelled much better that the toddler too.

This was me looking up to demonstrate how truly tiny we are compared to the world around us,  it was also a good excuse to stop and catch my breath.

This is "The dragon" which is really only a tree root but I prefer to use my vivid imagination to create a world filled with magic.  Needless to say it was a lovely morning of escapism that I would like to repeat again.  I figure it's either this or vodka

Thrilling days and stinky toddlers

I have been remiss in posting to my blog in the past couple of weeks. I have let my fans down. Sorry about that Scott and Mom (my fans). Anyway, what have you all been up to? I’ve been doing incredibly fun things like working and sleeping and changing poopy diapers. I know we can’t all live my exciting life but don’t all be too jealous, if you stop by I’ll even let you change a diaper. That’s how generous of a person I am.

Not much is new in this neck of the woods, same old day in, day out. I’ve jumped back into the eating clean thing I started in January and had slowly sabotaged with my Chinese food and butter chicken habit. Sadly neither is clean living so I had to choose from having an ass the size of Canada or eat clean. Speaking about my ass, I had the worst view of it ever in Safeway on Friday night. When I was at the cashier I turned around and noticed a mirror hanging, designed to be able to see the bottom of the shopping cart. Well I had no shopping cart but mother of Pete my ass filled the entire circular mirror. Let me tell you, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

So I’ve been eating clean and exercising every day this week. I’ve lost five pounds but I’m a bit nervous it’ll find me, like I’ve left little deep fried bread crumbs for it to follow. Dieting sucks though. I got Megs and her friend Kentucky Fried Chicken today and we were driving back home so they could eat their lunch. The smell was like a torture device for my fat starved body.

I know, I know, I’m hardly malnourished.

So being “back on track” means I have to drag my lazy ass back to the gym, which is fun. I especially love the really skinny girls who come to the gym in their cute little outfits and stand around chatting on their cell phones. I tried that method, didn’t decrease the size of my ass at all. There I was sweating like a middle aged fat man in an undershirt, shorts, black socks and sandels and not looking sexy at all. The skinny girls were probably talking to their friend on the phone about the fat chick with a red face doing the human wave. Those of you who have as much fat as me will know what the human wave is. For you skinny people, let me explain. It’s when you jump or hop or skip and all of your body fat rolls up and down like the wave. It’s not a sight you ever want to see when you look in the mirror, unless it’s the guy behind you. I did the Thursday after work torture routine, also known as low impact aerobics.

I’m getting much better, I only stepped on two peoples feet and managed a slight resemblance of the moves at least a quarter of the time. Let’s just say when it comes to all of these complex aerobic dance moves I dance to a different beat. Or a different song all together. I also did circuit training two nights and hiked for three hours on Saturday morning. I was proud of myself but my god am I exhausted. They say exercise is supposed to GIVE you energy but I must be doing something wrong because I feel like I haven’t slept in days.

So in a completely unrelated but just as crazy news my sister and three of her kids are moving in with me for the summer. So instead of four kids there will be seven. My house obviously wasn’t chaotic enough; I needed to add more adventure. I better stock up on duct tape. Logan is excited though, his boy cousin is coming to stay with us. Instead of always getting into trouble by himself now he’ll company.

Have I ever mentioned how gross toddlers are? I went to go help my sister get boxes late this afternoon, I was gone for maybe twenty minutes and when I returned I opened the front door and almost passed out from the stench. Grinning like a Cheshire cat Finnegan came around the corner and put his cute little arms up for me to pick him up. The instant I picked him up liquid poop soaked into my tee shirt. He had poop actually running down his legs. Now before children I would have been retching for sure. Either your sense of smell is dulled with the birth of children or you simply resign yourself to the fact of poop and its many fun appearances. Into the bathtub the kid went and into the laundry hamper went the tee shirt and clothing of the toddler. I was seriously temped to throw them away they stunk that badly.

Megs was supposed to be watching her brother but conveniently didn’t realize her brother had pooped. Considering the house reeked like an overflowing outhouse on a hot summer day I really doubt her claim, but I’ve learned from experience not to argue with a woman/child and her hormones. It’s to the death and my armour is dirty.

Speaking of children, happy daddy’s day to all of you dad’s out there, especially to my honey, Scott. He’s a great dad, he really understands them on their level, teaches them great morals, life lessons and responsibility, oh, and how to kick butt on World of Warcraft. Oh well, nobody’s perfect, but I’ll keep him anyway. Who else will deal with poopy toddlers and still make my toes curl? For father’s day I tried to convince him I was gifting him with the opportunity to spend quality time with his children. Then I went and had a nap. I know, what can I say, I’m so thoughtful.

The “quality time” however wreaked havoc on my clean house, which I paid for this afternoon as I cleaned up and sighed. If only he could clean. THEN he’d be perfect. I’m trying to convince him that I find him cleaning a total turn on. It’s a work in progress, I don’t think he’s buying it. 

So like I said, my life hasn’t been very exciting of late, hardly worth blogging about but I did anyway, what better way to torture your friends and family but with mundane. And poop.

P.S. I posted a picture of Scott in his Beaver Scout leader uniform, I've tried to convince him he looks sexy in this too.  The laughter didn't help my case.