The Cranmer Family

My little movie star

2010-04-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Talon as a door salesman selling APX alarms. He made it last night with my sister and brother-in-laws durring their sleep over. It's pretty funny!

Having a baby...

2010-03-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I had my 18 week ultrasound and decided I NEEDED TO KNOW what we were having! So yesterday I went out and bought these new clothes and my sister even did a little shopping for me too:) I bet you can guess what we are having!

We are very excited!

2010-03-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

My sister Saren sent me this link on Facebook so I don't know if anyone else has read it, but I thought this woman did an amazing job of sharing the experience of the birth of her child and might help those who have gone through it before and those who haven't will get a deeper insight into what it's like to be handed a baby you were not expecting.

I know it goes without saying, but I love my Tommy and I wouldn't change one thing about him because why would you want to change someone who is perfect? And I feel very grateful this morning for the family and friends in our lives who love Tommy too because I notice it everyday and can see it in your eye's when he smiles at you or gives a little wave good-bye.
We love you too!

http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html

I dare you not to smile

2010-01-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Random Things I Love

2010-01-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

The other day I was singing a song from the sound of music in the shower and thought it would be fun to post it on my blog, and then though I should think of other random things I love and post all of them, so hear they are starting with the one that inspired me.

1) The lonely goatherd song from the Sound of Music

2) The show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan

3) Satisfying a craving;
The other day I ordered a large pizza for myself at 11:00pm and ate it in bed.
It was wonderful.

4) Singing with a choir

5) The funny things my grandpa says;
One that comes to mind was when Tommy was a baby and my grandpa was holding him, he broke out into song rather loudly, singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I laughed and asked him why he was singing that and he said it was the first song that came to mind.

6) Kisses from my boys;
Talon went for over a year with refusing to give me a kiss and it broke my heart, but now for whatever reason he's okay with them again and I love it!

7) Finding a pair of matching socks

8) Spotting wildlife
The most exciting animal I've seen was a wolf, but no one believe's me
(Kirk, I saw it!)

9) Watching people sing in their car, even though I'm guilty of it everyday.

10) Watching Tommy put on pants or Talons underware, it's pretty funny and he can do it too!

11) Hearing people talk in their sleep

12) A really good new haircut

Sometimes I feel blue

2009-12-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

My computer is driving me crazy! It takes 5 min just to open the Internet and another 5 to get to any website. I have to walk away in between so I don't get too frustrated and throw it out the window. And now for the second time in the past week I've actually had the patience to start a new post but it still won't upload any pictures, just a crazy code, so I don't know what to do anymore because I never have anything interesting enough to say without pictures.

I could talk about how I just had the WORST week ever, but no one wants to hear about that.

Or I could talk about how I'm still quite unprepared for Christmas, more so than most other years and I find that quite stressful, but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there. (I might not know of anyone but they have to be out there right?)

Then there is always the weather, who doesn't love -28c ? I just checked the weather network and that is what the temperature is right now, we must be crazy to live here, I can't think of any other explanation.

The list of complaints could go on but I don't feel quite right divulging anymore..

Sorry for the bad mood post, don't tell anyone but that happens to me every now and then ;) At least I have Monday night to look forward too, that's the night I will finally get to see New Moon, and I don't care if plans change AGAIN I am going by myself if I have to!

So to anyone who has ever had a bad day, week or month, this post is dedicated to you!

Lindsay

Right after I was finished writing this I went to Kathy's Blog and watched the Christmas spirit video and realized that's why I was feeling so blue, because I had let myself get wrapped up in presents and getting everything crossed off my list. I had forgotten to center myself with the spirit of Christ this Christmas.

I feel much better now.

Tommy's Birthday

2009-11-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tommy turned 2 years old on Tuesday and we tried to make it a special day for him despite his nasty cold. We started the morning with a big 1$ breakfast at IKEA, love it, did a little shopping and then came home for a nap. After lunch we went out to get some things for his party and headed off to Southland leisure centre for a family swim with cousins, aunts and uncles, and everyone had a great time, especially Tommy who forgot he was sick for a little while. After the swim we came home for pizza and cake and Tommy opened his presents to finish off the day. It was a great birthday.

Tommy accomplished so much in the past year, learning how to crawl, walk and starting to sign. He's developed such a cute and funny personality, but knows how to get into trouble too! I'm so excited to see what will come next. I'm sure a lot more of this

and this :)

I love you Tommy!

We're back

2009-09-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back from summer break, with some highlights from the past few months. I was terrible at taking pictures though so it pretty much jumps from the beginning of the summer with my brothers wedding and ending with Talon first day of pre-school so there is a slight gap there. I did take pictures of our camping trip Labour day weekend but they are on Kirks camera at work with him (bummer, I know).

{The Wedding}

The lovely couple

Family picture

Me and my boys

Me and Saren (we'll have her wedding pictures soon)

Farrah and her new beautiful baby Dana

The other lovely couple ;)

Isn't she gorgeous!

Neal the stud

Talon loosing his pants

The reception

Neal and Elizabeth rocking out together.

~First Day of Pre-School~

He spilt on his shirt moments before we had to leave.

*The Quad*

-Tommy-

Oh Tommy!

2009-06-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

I went into Tommy's room while he was napping to put away some laundry today, and this is how I found him sleeping.

How funny is that?

Tommy Time

2009-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to post this because Tommy was such a mess, but then I thought people might get a kick out of it anyway, dirty boy and all.

(He just finished eating yogurt)

I tried again after his bath, and again today to get him to wiggle with clean clothes on, but he refused.

But I did get some cute pictures of his tushie after the bath ;)

A few of my creations

2009-05-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is the cheesecake I made using my fabulous new standing mixer, an unexpected Mothers day gift from my family. It's unfortunate that I don't have many pictures from yesterday because it was a wonderful!

My first "real" cheesecake (Toffee crunch caramel)

Talon waiting to dig in!

My cute kids having fun in the box

This is totally random, but I thought it was funny.

Talon fell asleep like this one afternoon.

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T08:43:00.001-07:00

Talon woke up bright and early Easter morning, bursting into our room exclaiming "the Easter bunny came last night!" So we got up and started the hunt while Tommy stayed asleep.

Then we headed outdoors..

Tommy eventually woke up and Talon helped him find his bunny

We thought the bunny was funny because it's a cross between a bunny and the gopher from caddy shack.

I didn't take very many pictures here, but they also had an Easter egg hunt at their Grandma Cranmer's Sunday evening.

We had a great weekend!

Why am I the only one?

2009-04-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Something effected me today that I wasn't expecting, and it's something that I've been defending for over 6 yrs now and I think therapeutically it might do me some good to speak out about it.
Kirk asked me this morning if I wanted to go up to the new sporting goods shop "Bass Pro Sports" and said I would like it because there was a lot of animals there. I was confused so he clarified for me that they were stuffed and I was appalled that he thought I would enjoy animals that way. I agreed to go anyway because I'm slightly naive and thought how bad could it be? My question was answered when we walked up to the doors where the entry way is framed with countless antlers and I got a sick feeling in my stomach telling me this wasn't going to be good. And I was right, when we walked through the doors my jaw dropped at the sight of it. I wish I had my camera to help me describe what I saw. I looked up and there where animals everywhere because the place is huge and it seemed like every square foot was taken up by either antlers or animals that had been killed, stuffed and put on display. I'll admit it was an impressive place but I could not get the thought out of my head that most, if not all of these beautiful creatures had been killed needlessly to be put there. There where herds of caribou, black bears, wolfs, mountain goats, deer of all kinds, bison, buffalo, and a polar bear that must have stood over 20 ft high (on it's hind legs). It was amazing, and I could tell I was looking at it differently than other people because they were getting their picture taken with it and I was thinking of how beautiful it was and why it couldn't have just been left alone. It effected me almost as much as the moose they had set up. They were positioned in a way with the enormous antlers together to make it look like they were in a fight. I could not get over the size of them, and I just could not understand how someone could find something so awesome, point their gun and shoot it to take it's life. I feel blessed to live in a world where such animals exist and other people callously hunt them down for fun. As we continued our shopping I literally felt sick to my stomach and even felt emotional at times, because I believe so strongly against what everyone I was surrounded by supported. I know I might sound silly so some people and you might be thinking, "they're just animals!", but I can't seem to separate myself from it. And I feel very much like a minority here in Alberta because it's a sport so widely accepted. If there is anyone else that thinks like I do, let me know because I could use the support!
I want to clarify that I know animals were put on the earth for us and I understand that they were a source of survival even for some people today, but I don't support hunting when it's done for no other purpose than sport. There is very little talent in my mind, required in aiming a weapon at a defenceless animal and pulling the trigger.
As many of you know, my husband was raised as a hunter but I try not to see him as that because it's a very small part of who he is and in the past 6 years we've been married he's only shot something once (to my knowledge). At that time we had only been married a little under a year and it was literally one of that hardest days of my life, another thing I don't expect most people to understand. Every year since then I get very anxious when hunting season rolls around because I'm scared I might have to go through it with him all over again. I think it's inevitable though because I can't seem to get him to see it the way I do.
He has a million hobbies for crying out loud, can't he just drop one!
I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it again, we've got eternity ahead of us so something has to get figured out eventually :)

I do feel better now that it's out of my system, that place really freaked me out! I'll just have to remember not to go back to Bass pro sports Outdoor world anymore.

Lindsay

What do you think?

2009-04-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

I was shopping at the mall today because Kirk went out on his dirt bike, and in my mind that makes us even because it's a hobby I enjoy just as equally. When I was there I noticed Guess had a "50% off already reduced jeans sale" so I bought a pair. I've been wearing them around with all the tags still on because I think they might be too short (I had fun explaining that to some missionaries we ran into on our walk).

So I had Talon take some pictures of me and thought I'd get your opinion of them before I either return them or finalize it by taking off the tags.

Please let me know what you think and if everyone does agree they are too short I will return them for the less cute, but slightly longer pair.

Standing in a disheveled living room

With shoes on

Sitting with shoes

I'm back!

2009-04-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm been on some what of a blogging hiatus the past couple of months since my computer has been "under the weather", but I think we've gotten all the kinks worked out now, so I'm back baby!

Life at home with my boys has been a lot of fun lately. Talon cracks me up everyday, weather he's just saying funny things or playing with his invisible mouse. He has quite the imagination.

What we know about his mouse so far is:

- She is in fact a girl because he always refers to it as "she"
- She's shy, that's why she doesn't talk to me
- She use to sleep in her hole, but lately she's been going to bed with Talon so he's not lonely.
- Talon always makes room for her in his car seat, and gets upset if I sit him too far over. He yells at me saying I've crushed her.
- They have races around the house because talon loves to run.
- I know when he's playing with her because he uses a high squeaky voice when he's speaking for her and then switches back to himself throughout the conversation.

He also likes to pretend to be various animals like dogs & dinosaurs or TV characters like, animal mechanicals & backyardigans. The frustrating part is that he only answers to the characters name and it's difficult to talk to him when I tell him to put his shoes on and he says that dogs don't wear shoes and refuses to put them on.

Talon in his Tee Pee

Boys in the bath

Tommy seems to be growing up quickly lately. He's crawling all over the house and getting into everything. The other day I had him in my room with me while I folded laundry and the next thing I knew he had crawled down the hall and was splashing around in Talons pee. Sometimes talon likes to use his training potty still and apparently he had used it that morning.

Cute faces!

I checked tommy breath to try and see if he had drank any, and threw him in the bath.

He also started pulling himself up to stand on furniture yesterday, so I'm very happy for him.
I can't wait for the day he's finally able to get away from his crazy brother or better yet, give him a run for his money!

I made some cards at Elise's house recently, and I just love them. She always has the most amazing ideas, so even though I made these I give her all the credit. I wish I was this creative!

The waterfall card
You pull on the tab to show the sentiment, but I haven't put one in yet

The pop-up cake card

The most recent creations

Is anyone up for a card exchange?

I should mention the vacation Kirk and I took at the beginning of March. We went on a week long cruise to the Mexican Riviera, and had a wonderful time. I can't believe I was so lucky to have a whole week off alone with Kirk and nothing to think about but where we were going to eat next. I already can't wait until my next vacation, I'm hooked now!

Standing in front of our ship
Reading by the pool

Thanks again to my parents for watching the boys for us so I could drink endless pina coladas, and lay in the sun all day. We couldn't have gone without you!

Yay for Tommy!!!

2009-02-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Tommy started crawling yesterday so this morning I cought it on camera! This is about the 4th time I've ever seen him doing it, so it's still very exciting!

His therapists saw him last week and were blown away by his progress, and he wasn't even crawling then. I think they will be even more impressed when they see how well he keeps his legs under him and his back straight, so he probably won't have to use leg bands.

Basically he's an all-star!

"On-line Shopaholic" Update

2009-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

I don't have that many recent purchases to be ashamed of, but there defiantly are a few so I thought what the heck, I should just continue to embarrass myself and tell everyone about them!
When Jacquie told me about the dress she ordered on-line for Travis's Christmas party, I thought "hey, I should do that!" (shame on you Jac, you know I have a problem!) jk :)

So I went and picked one out and against my better judgement, I bought it knowing I'd have to lie to Kirk for a short time about the cost for his own sake. (okay for mine, I get the "talk" a lot.) Today he saw the Visa bill and was confused because the price I gave him was the american price without the shipping cost, so basically it had almost doubled when converted to canadian. Opps.. and the worst part is that I bought it to ware to Kirks work party tomorrow night and it hasn't arrived yet. So I had to go to the mall today and look for another dress and I found one on sale for 29.99$ marked down from 100.
Apparently I love throwing money away.

This is the dress I ordered from Shabby Apple.

That reminds me of the time when I got cash back at the self-checkout while I was buying some things from Wal-mart, and forgot to take the money when I left. I just left it there!!

I still feel sick about that.

The next mistake was a result of my excitement for booking the cruise we're going on next month. Right away I was on E-bay looking for sandals to buy and I saw a cute pair of sketchers that were cheep so I bought them. But then I found pair of Ugg's that I had to have, again against my better judgement because they were not cheep. I thought for sure I was going to get outbid... but I didn't so now I have two pairs of sandals, and I'm not even sure you can get the Uggs wet and that wouldn't exactly be practical. Maybe if they weren't both brown I could get away with it, but they are so I told Kirk I bought us each a pair. There's no way I'm going to let him have my uggs though so I'm probably in for another chat that I'm not looking forward to. I honestly can't blame him for being upset sometimes though, can you?

The Sketchers and the Uggs

I'm not done buying things unfortunately, I still have to find another bathing suit and a beach bag for the trip and I'll probably think of even more things before then.
I think I need someone who's "financially conscious" to give me some advise. Actually, just checking with Kirk before I buy things would probably work too.

2009-01-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about the post I wanted to do today, and when I sat down tonight to write it, I decided to go in a different direction.

I've been quite impressed with my hard working husband lately so I thought it was about time I wrote about it.

In November he spent what seemed like every free moment he had, engaged in one of his many hobbies

So when he asked if it was okay that he go quading for the 5th weekend in a row I said he'd have to work for it and to my surprise he actually did! I didn't even care what his motivation was, he was just so helpful and loving and the amazing part was that it didn't stop at the end of that week it was like he was a changed man, even once the snow started to fall...

Kirk, his brother and father stared a company a few years ago, and in the winter they do snow removal. So when it snows, which it tends to do allot here in Calgary, duty calls. One weekend in the beginning of December he went a full 48 hrs on 4hrs sleep, went to work Monday morning and continued to get up at 4am every morning that week and still came home in time to go to his normal job at 8am until 5. Some days he would have to call me on his drive home from work to keep him from falling asleep! It's not always quite as intense but it's not uncommon for him to be getting up in the middle of the night at least a couple times a week to be going out and working in -20 conditions while I'm asleep at home warm in my bed. I honestly don't know how he does it without complaining and is still just as wonderful as ever, I would be a wreck! I'm grateful that he works so hard for our family and at times I'm in awe, especially when I see little moments like this:

Obviously taken a while ago, but you get the point

Despite his efforts lately, he still has his flaw's (the nerve!) The other night I was comparing my recent passport photo, to the one I had taken 1yr 1/2 ago, I mentioned how much better I thought the old one was, and this is what he said to me;

"I gotta tell ya Linds, you're hair was allot better back then!"

I wasn't quite sure how to take it, I pretended to be offended for a minute but I knew he was right so I just asked if I could make a hair appointment for the weekend. He said no, so I said I guess he'd just have to live with it.

(Look who's talking)

And last night he spent way too much time on the computer looking at motorcycles while I struggled with the kids, but I guess I have to give him a break sometimes because he puts up with all my imperfections too (especially my hair!)

And he's finally letting us take a vacation somewhere other than Ontario this winter, even though the thought of spending that much money on something other than a vehicle causes him physical pain.

But in all seriousness, he's my very favorite person and being with him makes me happier than anything else in the world.

Christmas Holidays

2009-01-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New year Everyone!

I know I've been terrible at writing lately, I actually have been avoiding my computer all together just to avoid the guilt.

We had a nice quiet Christmas at home in Calgary this year, I missed seeing family but Kirk and I enjoyed the time we had alone to create memories and traditions with our own family. Luckily we had my sister Saren with us so I was still able to have a small part of my family with me, we enjoy having her over so much it's too bad her busy life prevents her from coming over more often.

Waking up on Christmas morning as a parent waiting to see the look on my children's faces was almost as exciting as being a child myself. I actually couldn't sleep and woke up early on Christmas morning waiting for my kids to wake up so we could go downstairs!

Talon was so funny and spoke in his high squeaky excited voice almost the entire morning, and Tommy sat in his chair from santa looking around at everything with an exuberant grin. I knew he could tell it was a special day.

This is actually all the pictures I took! I just thought of my new years resolution, to take more pictures!

After the gifts were over we had a fantastic breakfast made almost entirely by Kirk, and I think I enjoyed it more than Christmas dinner.

Boxing day was Christmas number two, because we spent it with the Cranmer family opening gifts from them, playing games and another big dinner. They were a great two days!

Over the rest of the holidays we really enjoyed having kirk at home (when he's not out shoveling snow). I got to go shopping while he stayed at home watching the kids! Last week we took Talon and Tommy to their first movie. We went and saw "Bolt" in 3D because it came recommended by the Hollands, and they were right, it was so much fun I can't wait to take them to another movie again. Most of the time we just had fun at home together, Kirk sat in the kitchen with me watching my new TV, while I tried to perfect making creme brulee with the new kitchen torch I got for Christmas and then we would eat them (well I ate them).

Now it's back to normal life again, Talon starts swim classes tomorrow so that's exciting! I'll try to remember to post a picture!

November in a nutshell

2008-11-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

I realized this morning that it's been almost a month since my last post. I knew it had been a while, but I didn't know it was that long. The sad part is I've been spending all my free time on ebay again, I'm so dissapointed with myself! My intentions have been to buy Christmas gifts, but after weeks of effort I decided it's impossible to by a new designer wallet for $1.50. I would even go as high as spending 10$ depending on what the shipping would cost, but the bid never fails to soar up to 90$ at the last minute and yet I always get my hopes up. Stupid waste of time..

I did manage to buy a Chi for myself at 30$ which Kirk is going to wrap and give to me at Christmas, so far I'm making his shopping really easy for him.

The boys are playing well so far, so I'm going to continue.

Almost a month ago Tommy turned 1 yrs old. I did write a post about it but I didn't really like how I wrote it so I just saved it. If I had better pictures I would have been more inclined to show them, but Kirk was in charge of taking them, so this is all we have. I'm still a little bitter.

This is us getting ready to open the first gift. But neither of us were looking.

I don't know what to say about this one.

At least that's a nice one of the two of them.

This is the Boston Cream Pie I spent hours on. It wasn't as good as I expected.

It took him a while to get into it.

Other than that, I havent been up to much. Tommy has been doing really well, we saw the therapist last Thursday and she was really impressed with everything he's doing and so am I! Now if I could just get him to take a bottle!

His first tooth is comming in now and it's very exciting, but I think it's crooked! I really hope when the other teeth come in they straighten it out and I really hope they all aren't crooked!

This is Tommy unwillingly showing you his new tooth. That looks really mean of me! I gave him a hug after and he felt better.

The other exciting news is Talons recent decision to start using the potty. Now I dont want to jinx anything by getting too excited but this is basically how I feel about not having to clean his poopy bum anymore.

That about says it!

Now all I have to do is figure out what to get basically everyone for Christmas, get a food storage orgainized, get Talon to brush his teeth without having to sit on him, plan cheep and healthy meals for my family, remember to read my scriptures everyday, keep the house clean and laundry under control, help my children stay busy and happy without having the TV on all day and I'll be almost stress free!

New Do and Yay Me

2008-10-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

The other day I was playing with Tommy, and I couldnt get over how much his hair bothered me even after I just spent $25 dollars on a hair cut for him. So I stuck him in his chair and shaved his hair off! I started to hessitate after the first chunk of hair was gone, but it was obviously too late to turn back. I actually really like it, he looks so hansome!

Tommy before the hair cut. I didn't like how the hair on top wouldn't lay flat.

another before :)

Tada! the after shot. I think he likes it too!

I made him pose infront of the fireplace for a few glamour shots.

On another note, I finally added a decorative element to my home that I'm proud of. You see, normally I see other peoples beautiful homes and wish that I had the same creativity to bring into my own home, but nothing ever comes of it.

A little while ago I had an idea for some family pictures and the bare wall in my kitchen and tonight I actually put the plan together! I am so happy with how it turned out, I get excited to walk into the kitchen now to see it. ( a little lame, I know)

So we'll have to see what else this little brain of mine can think up and If I'll actually do something about it!

2008-10-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my family and I returned home from our trip back to my other home in Burlington. This time Kirk was able to come with us, and that always makes it better. Originally the plan was for us to go home at Christmas this year, but my mom suggested we come home at Thanks giving instead so we could all go up north to the cottage together. I am so glad we did because I LOVE being home in the fall, it's my idea of paradise!

While we were there we were able to enjoy things like hot apple cider, canoeing around the lake, lots of picture taking, camp fires, playing euchre, horseshoes, badminton and nature walks.

These are some of the awesome pictures Saren took.

Kirk, Dave and Tanner

Mom playing with Talon in the water in October!

Kirk getting Talon ready for a ride in the Canoe

Sisters!

Kirk was sick of having his picture taken

I wasnt...

Cute!

Tommy's popeye impression :)

Mom and dad being cute

Everyone was amazing with my kids too, I always had someone there to help me, and I can't describe how much that meant to me. My mom and dad are so good at knowing when I need help so they would dress the boys in the morning, take talon for walks when they noticed he needed something to do, feed him when he was hungry and we all know how picky he can be but they would just laugh at him when Kirk and I would be pulling our hair out! Farrah and Dave were so good and taking Talon for walks too and teaching him things like, what moss was and pine cones, acorns and bark :)
I love being around my family!

After the long weekend at the cottage we spent the rest of the week at my parents house, and just enjoyed being together. I turned 28 that week and dyed my hair brown so now not only am I old I look old too! I like it though, it a fun change.

I look 35 here

I also went shopping in Buffalo with Farrah, Saren and Kirk. So my mom stepped in again and watched Talon the entire day even though she wasn't feeling well. (I didn't find that out until we got home)

Kirk discovered the show Heros one morning because Neal has the 1st and 2nd season on DVD so he felt the need to try and watch the entire 1st season in one day! He literally watched it for 15 hours straight. Unfortunately for him there was something like 22 episodes so he didn't complete them until the next day and then went straight on to watch the 2nd season after that.
I was happy to not have to keep him entertained though.

Then last Saturday Saren, Tanner, Kirk and I went to Canadas Wonderland to ride the roller coasters. I know I'm getting old because I started to feel sick almost right away. We had alot of fun, but I'm good to not go back for a while.

I just love this picture

goofing off while waiting line line for the ride

just being weird I guess

As for when I'll be returning home again, I'm not sure :(
I know it's going to be next year sometime (hopefully a wedding and a baby) but we will just have to see. I always feel better when I know when the next time will be, it makes it easier somehow.
I want my family to know just how much I love them and miss them, thanks for everything and I can't wait to see you again!

potty training update

2008-10-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

I've been working really hard with Talon and his potty training the past few days, and he's not there yet but I think he's getting closer! He wears underware when we are at home except for while he's sleeping and can go quite a few hours without an accident as long as I make him pee every single time I think of it!
I started using a magnet chart for every time he uses the potty, he finds a magnet that has a saying on it like, "amazing " or "good job" then adds it to the chart and he has been very excited about it.
The other night he went to get one and was looking at them for a while, I guessed he was trying to decide which one to pick and when he finally came out of his room he came up to me and said quite nonchalantly "mom, I peed on my magnets" I said what do you mean you peed on your magnets, so I went to see what he was talking about and sure enough he was right, there was a huge puddle of pee directly on his magnet board. After I cleaned it up and went back out to talk to him about it (he still wasn't wearing a diaper or underware at this point, you would think I'd learn) I sat down with him and he started to pee right there on the carpet beside me!! I actually didn't notice at first because I wasn't looking at him but I did hear it on the carpet, and I heard him say "aw man! I'm peeing again!"

So we have incidents like this everyday and it's alot of work but I feel like we've actually started to make a bit of progress. FINALLY! So that's encouraging.

Unhealthy Addiction

2008-09-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I've been a little addicted to e-bay the past few weeks. I started off just needing to find an inexpensive sling for carrying Tommy and then it was finding the perfect nursing bra, and I kept getting outbid on all the Sigg bottles I wanted so I just couldn't stop!! ...

Anyway, I joined e-bay addicts anonymous and started the 12 step program, I think it's been a week now since I've made a bid (yay me!) probably because I got the Visa bill on Friday and it was kind of gross.

Through it all I made some good deals and some bad.
These are the things I was excited about;

This new fossil watch was only 20 bucks!

I did find a pretty good sling, but it's slightly too long so I have to make some adjustments.

This wasn't the cutest sigg bottle I could find, but it was the only one I could buy right away. All the others would start off at a reasonable price and I would be winning it for like 5$ up until around 2 days left then everyone would start to outbid me. By the end of the auction they were going for over 25$ or more and with shipping on top of that, there was no way I could justify it.

This Halloween shirt I got for Talon is pretty cute. I found some really nice costumes but not any good deals. I ended up finding a Pablo and a Tyrone costume at Huckleberry Kids for 10$ each so I bought those and he's pretty excited about them!

This is the nursing bra I ended up getting, It's not perfect but it was nicer that the ones I have and it was a good deal. This is the one I really wanted;

See how happy she looks!

Man I was bumbed when I lost that, but I was such a rookie back then, if I had the chance now there is now way I would have lost!

This is what I bought Kirk for his birthday, the watch and one of the movies didn't get to our house in time so I was left frantically trying to find him a replacement gift on his birthday. There was no way I was going to just give him a used movie and an IOU! I have no idea what I'm going to do with it now, I'll probably save it for Christmas.

Now these are the things I was not so smart about;

After bidding on over 5 other Peter Pan movies, this is the one I ended up with. I went to play it for Talon but there was too many scratches on it! I went out and bought a CD cleaning kit and worked on it for over 30 min. It plays now except for the last half hour of the movie.. piece of junk.

These are camera batteries. I bought them after 9 hours of looking for my camera that I lost. I figured I could use my old camera until I found it, all it needed was a new battery. I bought these two for 8$ from someone in Hong Kong. After shipping it was like 15$ Not too bad right? So I told Kirk and he said that wasn't why the old camera didn't work and that I just wasted 15$. That wouldn't have been a huge deal If I didn't just waste 55$ on this;

**Sigh**

This was suppose to be an amazing deal. A portable DVD player for 37$! (I say 55$ because that's what it ended up costing after shipping.) But how could I go wrong?

Well you go wrong when you're stupid and you don't actually read about what you are buying. When it was delivered all I got was a CD-R that said "Wholesale list" on it. I put it into the computer and it was just a list of places where you can buy electronics at wholesale prices.... I wanted to die! I went back and read (for the first time) the product description on the DVD player I thought I was buying and sure enough, that's all it was, a CD that was suppose to "make thousands of $$ profit!".

Lesson learned.

The only consolation I got was when I realized it might help save me money when I go to buy myself a new camera.

Talon Funnies

2008-08-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

I love reading about the funny things kids say, and the past couple of days Talon has had me giggling a few times so I though I would share!

1) Sometimes at night when I'm putting him to bed he tries to get me to lay down and sleep with him but I'm usually pretty anxious to get out after I've had to sing him the same song 8 times, so I come up with an excuse like; "I'll go get your dad" or "I have to get my Jammie's on, then I'll be back" (secretly hoping he'll have fallen asleep by the time I come back). I know, I'm terrible. But the other night when he asked me to stay and lay down he started rubbing the bed beside him and said " lay down with me mommy, it's amazing!" I thought it was funny how hard he was working on convincing me to stay, so I stayed a bit longer. He was right, it was pretty amazing!

2) Then this morning he was playing with his train set, and he usually gets upset when the trains don't co-operate because he tries to put too many cars on the engine and it can't pull them all. This morning was no exception and I could hear him sighing over and over again getting more and more exasperated then he yelled, "I'm so frustrated, these trains are driving me crazy!"

3) Again this morning I was sitting on the floor playing with Tommy and when I looked up at Talon he had a devilish grin on his face, and this is what we said:

Me: "Talon, what did you do?"

Talon: "I ate a booger"

Me: "Talon what did I say about eating boogers!"

**Talon just stared at me for a minute**

Talon: "I'm going to get another one"

Me: "No Talon that's yucky!"

** Talon proceeds to dig, finds one, then puts it in his mouth**

Talon: "Mmmm I love boogers!"

So now everyone knows the shameful truth, my son eats his own boogers.

Family Vacation

2008-08-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

Our family was on a week long camping trip throughout the Kamloops last week with the 4-wheel Stampeeders (kirks wheeling club). We had a fun time, but I was lucky I had my book to read! We started off in Revelstoke BC, then moved on to Trout Lake and then ending in Nakusp. My favorite area was Revelstoke, because they had the nicest showers and bathrooms! We left on August 1st, and knowing that Breaking Dawn was being released on the 2nd, I called ahead to their only book store to see if they would be carrying it. When I spoke to the lady on the phone I simply siad that I was traveling in the area when my book was to come out. She asked what the book was called and the name of the author, I couldn't remember the name of the book but I knew Stephanie Meyer was the author so that's what I said, and when she heard that she started to scream, "You're Stephanie Meyer!" I was like no, and started to laugh but she didn't think it was very funny, she said "but you said it was you're book.." in a that's not funny kind of way, and I could tell she felt a little silly. oops!

There was the cutest kitten at the camp ground, and Talon loved playing with it!

When we were in Trout lake I went for a swim and got a leech on me! Luckily the girls were quick to get it off, but I didn't go back in the water. Almost everyone saw bears there but us, the guy at the restaurant we went to said he see's up to around 5 a day! We saw a cool eagel swoop down in front of us to catch a fish though, and every night the blue herrins flew in to eat, and we don't see that everyday.

On the Ferry heading out to Trout Lake

Our camp site.

This is the lake where the leech attacked me.

One of my favorite things to see was all the hippies! I didn't think they still made Berkinstocks, but it turns out the do, and everyone wears them! I went to a farmers market and a lady selling garlic was smoking pot..right there in front of me! Another girl at the hot springs with dreds and a large floral tatoo on her chest had never shaved a day in her life, it was hard to keep from staring!

This was the beautiful lake in Nakusp

I find I look better when I'm not looking at the camera.

So even though I didn't go wheeling everyday (because of all the huge freaking horse flies!) I still had a pretty good time. I'm actually looking forward to our next camping trip to Radium in a few weeks!

Once Upon a Potty

2008-07-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've been gearing to potty train Talon since he was 6 months old. I know it sounds crazy but I heard how hard it can be and I wanted it to go smoothly, so I started reading up on it around that time. When he turned two I bought the potty and I didn't want to pressure him into it before he was ready (all the books said that) I just wanted to show him how to use it and that it was available if he was interested.

He showed no interest for months so I went and purchased the book "Once Upon a Potty" and started reading it to him every night, thinking it might trigger something... but nothing happened.

When he was around 2 1/2 and I started thinking that I needed to get a little more aggressive so I put him on the potty, every 30 minutes until he went and sure enough, he went pee! We were so excited and I thought this is it, we just have to keep this up. It didn't turn out to be that easy though, apparently he could care less where he pees, If he went on the potty, fine, if it was in his diaper, who cares, so I let off on it again and decided to go back to the books.

One suggestion was to devote and entire day to it, no diaper or pull ups, just underware so he could feel what it was like when he had an accident, and it also said to go about the day normally... so we went to the mall. I made him go to the potty right before we left the house and as soon as we got there, so things were going really well! We stopped to play for a while and about 45 minutes later I called him to come over and I noticed something was falling out of his pant leg.. it was poop! I picked him up and tried to get him back to the bathroom as fast as I could and when I got him up on the table I noticed it was caked all in his pants and socks and had filled up his boots! It was so gross to clean up and the whole time there were people staring at me, in pity no doubt. I thought ahead of time to bring a change of clothing for him but not boots, so he had to walk around the mall for the next hour, barefoot.

So that was mortifying enough to stop me from trying again, until a week ago. He's three now and I keep telling myself that there are lots of three year old's not potty trained, and when he's ready I'll know, "he'll practically train himself" they all say. And to those of you out there that has trained their son or daughter overnight, without a problem, I don't even want to know. I can't take it right now.

We were at Ikea the other day and sure enough Talon had a dirty diaper, so I took him into the change room where two women were changing their baby's so I had to wait. I was standing their realizing how embarrassing it was but nothing was quite as embarrassing as trying to lift and fit my 33lb, 3 yr old onto a tiny change table. That was it for me, I decided I don't care if he's ready or not, he's old enough to figure it out now so I'm just going for it. It's been almost a week now and it's not going very well, but I'm not giving up. He fights me almost every time even though I have about 30 potty prizes waiting for him if he goes, all wrapped up in pretty paper. And he has the choice to use his small potty so he can watch a show while he waits or the Diego seat potty that fits on top of the big potty so he doesn't fall in. So I' kind of running out of ideas here. He's yet to poop on the potty, only pee if I'm lucky. He never fails to poop in his pants 5 minutes after he gets off the potty and will never tell me if he has to go. Why won't he tell me!!? I know he understands.. I just can't take it, but I know we have to just keep trying.

I wasn't going to use pull ups but I don't really have a choice, I'm not about to clean up after him 20 times a day.

So here I am, at the end of another day just trying to psych myself up for tomorrow. I'm going to go and enjoy my quite time now and not think about the moment I'm awakened again by Talon calling "mommy!!" through his wall, and another day begins.

I still love that kid though! I told him he had pretty eyes today and his response in a very stern tone was;

"I'm not pretty mommy, I'm cool! But you're pretty! "

Isn't that great?

My baby

2008-07-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but is this not just the cutest face you've ever seen?

That's all I had to say.

Boating

2008-07-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

I just thought I would post some of the awsome pictures Saren took of us on the boat last Saturday.

This is of her and Talon wearing matching sunglasses, they look pretty cute.

When we got there Talon saw this sail boat and thought it was a pirate ship. He spent alot of time with the "pirates" and any other family he could find.

This is just cute, I love how he was standing with one hand on his hip.

Here are the boys. And then me, there is never a picture with all of us together.

She took alot of Talon...

But these two were my favorite, good job Saren! Now you just need to get a nice camera.

2008-07-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Okay so first I have to say, I really enjoyed last night's So You Think You Can Dance! There was probably 3 or 4 routines I didn't love, but the rest was great. I absolutely LOVED the last two performaces though.

First was Twitch and Comfort doing Hip Hop (yay Comforts back!). I have been waiting the entire season to see the two of them do this, so I was thrilled. The song "Forever" by Chris Brown was perfect, I'm listening to it right now! And the entire dance was crazy. Dan Scott rocks! I'm pretty much in love with Twitch though. I'm going to try and figure out how I can post the dance from youtube on here so everyone who missed it can watch it.

Okay so next was Will and Katee dancing the Pas de Deux, which is basically a form of contemporary and ballet together. It was freaking amazing. I actually got chills, and I know how nuts I sound but I don't care. If there is anyone else out there who feels the same way I do let me know so we can go to therapy together.

My predictions for tonight are Mark and Kherington based on last night. It's going to be sad though, I love them all.

Okay so this morning Talon and I made brownies together for Death by Chocolate tonight. Normally I try not to bake when he's awake because it's all he will want to eat for the rest of the day, but I didn't get to it last night for obvious reasons.

He came downstairs after looking like this:

Just some chocolate on his face, and then I realized the beaters were missing and this is where I found them:

It's not a big deal, every kid should get to lick the beaters but he tends to get hyper without the help of sugar, so I know I'm going to pay for it later!

2008-07-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

I don't really know how to do this, but everyone else seems to be able to figure it out so I thought I'd give it another try. I would love to learn how to make this blog a little more interesting, but this is all I can seem to manage aparently.
I love reading the funny stories of my friends and their children every day, and I can pretty much relate to all of it, so I'm sure it won't be long before I have something of my own to post.

I don't have a recent family picture, but I do have pictures of each of them individually so I though for now that might work.

KirkTalon (with auntie Saren)

And Tommy

2008-03-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

It's now been an entire year since my last post, so my goal this year is to be a little more frequent with my updates (fingers crossed)!
So instead of writting a years worth of information about our family, I will start with the most recent.
Two weeks ago Tommy was admitted into the hospital with RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and brochiolitis. We have been home for a week now and he is doing great, but still on oxygen at home. We have the respiratory therapist comming tomorrow to evaluate and see if he still requires it.
I've been staying busy by reading the twilight searies books that Nancy loaned me, and completely ignoring my children. I finished early yesterday morning and I don't know what to do with myself. I've contemplated cleaning my house but I guess I decided a better way to use my time would be on the computer (talon is playing around me half dressed with a dirty diaper) i'm such a good mom!

Rascal Flatts

2007-02-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Last night Kirk and I had the privilege of going to the Rascal Flatts concert. We had the most amazing time! I sang and danced right along with them the entire time, I would go every night if I could. I've been a fan for the last five years so it was great to finally get a chance to see them in person.

2007-02-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Vienna loved the camera!

A night with the cousins

2007-02-23T18:24:00.000-08:00

The other night we had our niece and nephew, Vienna and Evan over for the evening. The kids had a great time playing on the slide Talon got for Christmas.

Welcome to our Blog

2007-02-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome, to all our friends and family!

I am so excited to start this and share with you all the exciting and probably more often, the not so exciting events in our life.

I can't wait to get started!