Be Grateful

I am a pretty private person and as I was reading over what I wrote on Monday I was like man I am not being very grateful for what I do have. I decided to write some things I am grateful for and stop worrying about things that I can't change or that will eventually change with time!!!

Super grateful for this guy. He always makes me laugh and I think I only get on his nerves occasionally. Love you Ryan.

Grateful for this cutie pie who challenges my parenting skills or lack of them on almost a daily basis but is so cute at other times that you gotta love her.

I can't believe we are going in for her six month checkup and shots today. Time flies and I am so grateful for a cuddly baby.

Super grateful for the gospel, the temple, and everything else that goes with it.

Grateful for the beautiful world we live in. Super grateful for this beautiful land that I grew up on with the mountains in the distance. I love the mountains...

I feel so blessed to have what I have and looking at all the suffering and devastation in the world it sure makes me appreciate it even more. What are you grateful for today?

Monday

Mondays are typically my most productive days. I get out to the gym early and then on to the rest of my day. Today however I got to the gym with the kids dropped them off in the daycare area. About 30 minutes into my step class the lady brings me Natalie who has been screaming the whole half hour. Poor thing. She is making strange these days. I missed the last 15 minutes of my step class but discovered the play area with Abby who cried and cried when we had to leave.
After the gym we headed home and the wind had drifted the snow  all over the driveway. After getting stuck trying to shovel around the car and still stuck I decided to just leave it. Our car has the most pathetic tires on and whenever there is a lot of snow we get stuck.  So my apologies to all the pedestrians because the sidewalk is partially blocked but I am too tired at this moment to care.
Happy Monday!!!

Dreaming of winter tires!!!!!!

6 Months

Wow my baby is already six months old. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. Here is some of what our cute little Natalie is up to. First and foremost this girl is so full of joy. She is always smiling whether it is 6am or 10:30pm. She has such a happy go lucky personality. Now she does have her moments like every other person in the world but overall she is a really laid back girl.

She loves to sleep and sleeps really well most of the time. Lately those darn teeth have been bugging her and she has been waking up at night more but usually only up once a night if that. I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a great sleeper. Most of the time when she is sleeping we find her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth. I have tried multiple things to stop it but so far nothing is as sweet as the thumb.

She had her first taste of rice cereal on Sunday and she still isn't too sure about it.

She started rolling over today. She loves to sit up and be surrounded by toys. Her new favorite thing is to sit in her high chair and whatever you give her it goes to the floor.  It's great exercise bending  over every minute or so.

It has been a great six months and it is so fun watching her grow and develop.

Love you Natalie!!

Imagination

I am so grateful to have a daughter with such a great imagination. This morning as I was trying to get the laundry going and the bathroom  cleaned she says," Sit Down Mom" Why I ask? We are going to school on the bus. So out comes her blanket with all her stuffed animals and we sit down and head off to school. Then "Mom school is downstairs can you carry all the animals please?" We head downstairs where Abby pulls out her books and pretends to read them to her stuffed animals and I.
This afternoon we were out enjoying -7 yeah!!! She was climbing mountains and was asking why Natalie and I weren't climbing with her.  She wanted to work on her castle but Mom just isn't as good a builder as Daddy so we have to wait for Daddy to come home.

The world is so exciting to her. I just love it. It is so much fun to sit and play with her and see just how her mind is developing. This is a picture from Christmas time playing at her cousins. She is my little actress.

New Beginnings

Well today Ryan headed back to work. Yeah it has been almost two full months of no work. Abby is going through Daddy withdrawl. I finally distracted her with Caillou. She loves that show and will pretty much do whatever I ask if Caillou is involved. Pretty cute though how she totally got attached to her Daddy. It was my first day of going to the gym and having to take the kids. It was a little more work but still super fun. I am grateful for two kids who are not shy or nervous and will play with pretty much anyone. So far so good.
I finished Three Cups of Tea this morning. Such an inspiring story. I couldn't believe how much one person can accomplish in such a crazy place. Worth the time to read it will inspire you to somehow be better to mankind.
Here's a funny rant that I have so I will write it to get it off my mind. Today after my step aerobics class I was in the locker room and this girl was complaining about how the class was too full due to all the New Year's Resolution people. I can understand her frustration at the lack of space?? However from my nursing perspective I think one should take a step back and cheer on all those people who are trying to live a healthy lifestyle instead of becoming a burden on our already overburdened health care system. For some reason it has been bothering me all morning. I think it's from reading this book can't we all just love and support one another in our journeys of life instead of bickering and trying to outdo someone else. Just a thought??

Here comes 2010

 We had such a wonderful Christmas season and New Year's with family and friends. I sort of took a vacation from the computer.

Before Christmas we hit the train over by Assiniboine Park on a crisp winter night. When we arrived the line was quite long and it seemed to take forever but Abby loves trains and was pretty much in heaven the whole time. Well worth the wait.

We hit Tim Horton's after for my favorite Hazelnut Smoothie and a timbit. Abby was pretty much in heaven.

Christmas was totally awesome. Having a two year old around sure makes it fun. We were able to spend Christmas Eve and my sister's house we ate a ton of food and acted out the nativity. I love this tradition. Abby was the shepheard  and Natalie was baby Jesus. They were both totally adorable.

Christmas morning was pretty low key seeing as how lately my kids have taken to sleeping in?? I don't know why but hey I am enjoying it. I got up to make yummy cinnamon buns and orange julius and the blender woke up the girls. Abby got her doll from Santa and Grandma Smith sent her matching pj's for her doll. She was pretty happy. Natalie was pretty happy and got totally spoiled for being so little.

All in all we had a great time visiting with Uncles, Aunts, Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Ryan and I got  YMCA membership from my brother and it is awesome. I love going and getting some exercise out of my house. Somehow it is easier.

I love setting goals and this time of year always makes me happy and almost giddy as I write down things I want to improve about myself. I will share one with you all out in the blogging world. As a mother and woman I am determined to stop comparing myself/children to anyone else's. We are all individuals and it really is not important.

It sounds easy on paper but somehow for me it is big so that is something I am going to work on. I hope you have all set some awesome resolutions and good luck achieving them.