Sunday, December 21, 2014

Look At Me. I Can Stand!


Skates. Check.  Snow Pants. Check.  Gloves, helmets and skates. Check.  After counting down the Saturdays,  Skating Lesson Saturday had finally arrived for Peyton and Jonah.  Both kids were super excited to get on the ice and felt they were ready to become "the best skaters ever."

Well, after only a few moments after getting on the ice it was very clear that it would be awhile before either child would be proficient skaters.  Especially Peyton:(  The great news was that there were no tears although there was a lot of 'I can't' coming out of Peyton.

I have to be completely honest and admit that I was a bit flabbergasted with the fact that after a half hour lesson Peyton's biggest success was to stand up with her instructors help and stand without falling for a total of 30 seconds.  But... there wasn't any tears and she is looking forward to her next lesson.  So I clearly have to accept that while Peyton isn't going to be doing figure eights anytime soon, she may one day.

Jonah had a bit more success on his first lesson.  He actually made it across the ice in a step like fashion.  And grinning from ear to ear,  he was very proud of himself and rightfully so.  





 

Monday, December 8, 2014

Kamloops And Back In A Day

It was a whirlwind of a start today.  Get two boys off to school.  Pack snacks, clothes, movies, blankets, gifts and more snacks for my trek to the BC Interior with my girls.  Drag Peyton and Ava from their sleep long before they were really ready, with the promise of a Starbucks stop. Load them and everything else into the Acadia.  

Our first stop.  Starbucks.  Coffee for me and oat bars for the girls.  Then some gas for our ride. And just like that,  my co-pilots and I were off on our little one day adventure.  The roads were dry and the temperature was just right.so there was little worry about dangerous road conditions. Something that my hubby of course would be thinking about.   And, with the new speeds of 120 km it was a fairly quick trip up the Coquihalla and into the BC Interior.

The reason for our little winter road trip was two-fold.  I have some friends in Kamloops I really needed to see again. And  some key suppliers that I wanted to connect with and treat to a nice box of chocolates as a little thanks for another supportive year.

 So business and pleasure  into a one day trip made perfect sense.  Not only that, I really just needed a day away from emails, telephone calls and this was just as a good excuse to avoid it all as any.  No cell phones while driving!

Our first stop was the Tim Hortons in Merritt.  The girls needed some Timbits and I needed my second coffee.  Then it was off to a couple sawmills.  The first of which was NMV Lumber.  A small sawmill managed by a Dave and his son, Harry, and daughter, Parveen.  We've been talking to each other over the phone for a few years now but have never had the pleasure of meeting each other in person.  Their business industry is very different from our, but yet they are similar in that both our businesses are family businesses built on a similar value system and similar challenges and successes. 

After a much longer visit than planned at NMV, we travelled on to our next sawmill visit and after a short stop, we headed out for lunch at the amazing Perry sisters home in Kamloops. These fellow Chicks That Kick soccer teammates are so amazing and have left a bit of a whole here in Chilliwack.  They are certainly missed for there inclusivity, kindness and encouragement.  Thank goodness Kamloops isn't too far to go to get in a bit of a Perry Power Pow Wow:)

After a wonderful visit it was time to head out to our very last business stop on the way back home.  By this time I thought for sure Peyton and Ava would be a disaster.  But these littles were blissful and giggly all the way home and without even a complaint.  Kinda makes me want to do this again soon.  Well... maybe in the spring:)



Monday, November 3, 2014

October Came And Went

It is true that time 'flies'.  At least it sure feels like it.  As I look back through my pictures, I can hardly believe that all these moments and memories were made this past month. It feels like forever ago that I sat beside my two silly and water splashing little cuties while I sat nearby on my back deck in the warm early October sun.



After a little shopping trip at my friends store, Just Dandy, I dressed my girls all fancy and convinced them to pose for me.  Ava loves having her picture taken and is always ready with a smile.  I love that I saved a few of Peyton's cutest outfits and they are starting to get worn all over again by our littlest. It sure makes for shopping for new outfits a little more guiltless, knowing that in just a year or two they will get worn again:)




A little bikeride over to the nearby Chilliwack Corn Maze was another perfect way to enjoy the gorgeous weather.  And all the pumpkins definitely were a reminder that fall was here, even though it didn't feel like it.



A bit of an argument resulted in mandatory love. It wasn't by choice that these two bro's were sitting on the deck with arms around each other.  But after five minutes of sitting side by side, I caught them giving each other back scratches in sync.  It was such a wonderful moment, I even caught it on video!


On yet another amazing October day, the girls, Sam and I spent some time at Sardis park.  So much fun watching these kids track down the many geese and laugh with glee.  Especially Ava, who experienced her first visit to one of our favourite parks. 



My very first visit to Strong Start with Peyton and Ava was so rewarding.  Setting aside undistracted time reading and playing with these two was just what I needed.  I finally got to experience first hand how amazing this free and awesome pre-school like program is.  And wow, was I impressed at how organized and how much fun it was.  




Another daughter/mom date took us to Petey's Pumpkin patch with a group from family place.  It wasn't the best of days to be out in the pumpkin patch but with our boots and rain jackets on, we managed to have tons of fun any ways.  We did some learning here and lots of playing.  Dress up, bouncy castles and the maze were all a hit in addition tot the star of the show, the Pumkin Patch. 

One of my favourite moments took place at the expense of a dad.  We were over in the pumpkin patch after hanging out in doors and this dad went running after his little two year old to keep the little guy from falling into the mud.  After 3 long strides, this man's feet went out from under him and he landed with a splat right in the mud.  The poor guy!  The little boy turns around, looked at his dad laying on his back in the mud and smiled!  Oh boy, was I ever glad it wasn't me:)










This is the year that I am making being involved at the kids school a big priority.  So far I've been a part of pumpkin carving, hot lunch serving, 2 PAC meetings and a bottle drive.  I love it!  Being a part of the school has always been something I wanted to do, but work always came ahead.  Not this year.


I even managed to get out on the trail one morning with Tracy.  The crisp air and fall leaves made our little run absolutely perfect.  It wasn't even too muddy, making it so enjoyable.

 To round out a wonderful month, the girls and I managed a trip to Ikea.  What is an Ikea trip without hot dogs and cinnamon buns. Crazily enough, I left ikea having spent $1.00 on myself.  A chocolate bar!  That was it.  I felt proud of myself for not buying anything that I didn't need, but I also felt sad that I went all the way down there and came back nearly empty handed.  Although, I did come up with a number of decor and storage ideas for my new office.  So it wasn't necessarily a total waste.






Monday, October 20, 2014

A Muddy But Fun Affair

On a fairly regular basis I hear, "Can we ride the quad?"  And most of the time the answer is, "not right now, later".  I hear these come out of my mouth and Jeremy's so often.  Most often something else is more important or less of an inconvenience at the time.

As I have been working through the four quadrants of importance and urgency, I have been assessing where I have putting my priorities. Both in my business life and my personal life.  So,  yesterday when asked once again by my ever persistant children, I finally made the right decision first.  Putting aside my want to do's, need to do's and just simply saying, 'Yes we can'.

And what a blast it was.  We didn't even have to spend a bunch of time preparing for an afternoon away which was the best part.  We have enough mud and mountains to climb just across the street right now to provide a whole bunch of fun and mud.

Silke got her first atv'ing experience and couldn't get enough of it.  Mud didn't keep her away.  Neither did the bulldozer she managed to nearly crash into:)  Watching the joy of all the kiddos again reminded me that many things in life can wait.  This time in our life is quickly passing and moments like this are always worth the effort.  















Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Thankful For Family And Memories Of The Past

The weather of Thanksgiving weekend certainly wasn't looking too promising.  The outlook was actually quite depressing sounding.  But, I had made a decision a few weeks earlier that we were going to go on our final camping trip of the season rain or shine.

So, Saturday morning we loaded up the essentials.  Many clothes, food, rain gear, muddy buddies and boots and off we drove to Camperland for what we were hoping would be a great time hanging out with our whole extended family.

Much of the weekend was spent building memories to treasure.  As well, much of the weekend was spent remembering about people and times past. We had many a conversation, reminder and laugh about 'Grandpa-isms'.  Those crazy things my Grandpa would say and do.  He had passed away almost five years ago already but he certainly will never be forgotten.

We also spent so much time reminiscing and sharing stories, love and laughter about Beth.  She has been our families most recent loss.  And camping together and cooking a huge Turkey dinner was all in her memory.  She had a great passion for her family.  She also had a love of camping.  And big meals, that was her specialty.   So, we did it all.  For her memory and for her families healing.  And it was great!

Fifty-six people made it for Thanksgiving dinner.  And wow was it ever fantastic.  Babies got passed around.  Children hung out together on the playground.  Young adults proved there skills drifting a 3 wheel bike.  Grandparents sat with grandchildren.  Some energetic adults even took part in a post dinner hike and a game of manhunter.  We all have so much to be thankful for and it was nice to share together some of those things all weekend long. 

Cheers!