Summer Time

Wow July seemed to zoom by. We have done so many things and been to so many places where to start?
Well here are some highlights:
1. Natalie turned one on July 17, 2010. That is crazy this year has gone so fast and I feel like she is growing way too fast. We had two family get togethers. One with Grandma and Poppa and then one with my two sisters and family. She of course was spoiled but had fun. She is talking more steps and has lot's of fun laughing with her sister. She is still pretty quiet in the word department but she lets you know what she wants!! She makes a funny clicking sound with her mouth all the time and she loves to be cuddled.

Happy Birthday baby girl!!!! We love you!!
2. We have had a few visitors this month. Uncle Matt and Aunt Candace came and Abby was so excited to play with them.

My sister Leslye also came for 10 days. We had such a great time. We headed off to the train at Assiniboine Zoo (mostly for Abby's sake) it was super fun. We discovered a new beach at Selkirk Park (love it). We had some fun sister time and went for a cruise on the River. It was really neat. I am so lucky to have such great sisters!!!

We also found out this month that my sister will be leaving us to move to Calgary. I am pretty sad I will miss her and her family tremendously however I know they will be awesome there too. Lucky Calgary!!!!

This picture pretty much says it all!!

Lastly we had a family camping trip. It was so much fun. We went out to Bird's Hill Park set up the tent and had a blast. So much so that I keep telling Ryan we are going again. I love camping and being outside and all that fun stuff. The girls were amazingly  great. We had only one downfall sleep!!! Oh well it was well worth it!!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!!

Best Husband Ever

I know I just told you in my last post he was the best ever but I just had to share with you how sweet he was yesterday! He completely surprised me with a date afternoon/evening. It was awesome. We dropped the kids off at Grandma's and headed to the bike shop. I got my first road bike well actually cyclocross bike and we headed to Bird's Hill Park. The weather was beautiful and my new bike was fantastic. It is a little tricky changing gears on a road bike so I felt a little wobbly at times but I had a great ride with no wipeouts! After the park we headed home changed and headed off to dinner at "A Night in Bangkok" A yummy Thai restaurant where the food was much better than the service!!
We headed back to Grandma's where Abby insisted on a sleepover so she stayed at Grandma's. We came home and put Natalie to bed and started watching a movie. We watched Mr. Deeds which brought back some memories. That is the movie I watched when I was in labour with Natalie. This time however I quickly fell asleep. OOPS!!

Anyway it was a perfect treat as tomorrow night I head back to work parttime in the ICU. I was thinking about my job and how I feel like I need to study or something to go back. This maternity leave I really embraced my family and didn't think about work at all. It was so wonderful. I guess I may be hitting the books a little tonight to review but really I think it will all come back once I am there. I was thinking what do I love about my job. I came up with my top three:

1. I only have to work 1-2 days a week which is just enough for me.

2. I get to talk with and help people in some of their most trying times and I get to learn about their lives and families. This is essentially why I love nursing really getting to know about people.

3. I use my brain for things other than potty training, breast feeding, bedtime routines, etc. etc. etc. However at the end of the day I love being the Mom the best and if I could stay home full time I definitely would but for now I am heading back to work refreshed and looking forward to seeing all my co-workers.

Reflection

Today I went to a funeral for a wonderful gentleman that I had the opportunity to live with when I first moved to Winnipeg. Call me crazy but I love going to funerals. I love learning about people's lives and being reminded to be grateful for what I have now and not to take anything for granted. I loved listening to stories about him and really gaining an appreciation for what he accomplished in this life and all that is waiting for him in the next! I love all the neat stories. Today all his grandchildren shared their favorite memories. It made me wonder what my kids would share someday.

This picture is from Father's Day last Sunday. I hope I never take these amazing people for granted. They make everything worth it.

Abby loves the swings. Last week she really wanted to go to the swings even though there were huge puddles underneath them. So off we went. Well after I gave her a "super push" (Her new word for underducks.) She let go and took a big tumble right into the puddle. No major injuries just a lot of screaming and muddy clothes. After we calmed down thirty seconds later "Mom I want to go on the swing". She is one determined girl.

Natalie is growing like crazy. She is into everything. She is trying to walk and is now standing on her own. She goes to take a step then tumbles down. Today she was headbanging the stairs at my sisters it was all good and fun until she decided to go a little further and actually make contact with the stairs. She has a nice goosegg on her forehead. She is constantly making noises and having conversations that no one understands.

I have been so tired lately. Natalie is not doing well with the whole teething thing. She finally popped one through and is now getting about 3or 4 more. All my nonmedicinal tricks aren't working so we are back on the Baby Advil.
I have been soaking up the Conference Ensign lately. Isn't it just inspiring? I feel so much peace knowing all the advice and counsel given to us on how to raise our families is right there and we just need to follow it and use it. Don't you feel lucky? I sure do.

Enjoying the Moments!

Here is my cute 10 month old. I can't even believe she is that old already. She finally has a tooth poking through and I think that is why she finally slept through the night twice last week! YEAH!!!!
She is now crawling up the stairs and pulling herself to a stand and creeping all along the furniture.
She loves her sister and is always laughing. Abby was having a three year old moment in the bathtub and Natalie crawls over stands up and starts laughing and then Abby started laughing. I think this will be a great quality as they get older and she will be able to help Abby relax.
She is also my noisy girl. She loves baby talk and is constantly babbling away. It is so fun to be her Mom!


We have had lot's of walks to the park lately with the nice weather and she loves the rocks at the playground mostly eating them so her favorite area for now is the swings.

Abby is growing every day and has such an independant personality. Maybe it's the age or stage I don't know. I appreciate that she wants to do so many things herself and most of the time it is not a big deal. Today in fact she went to the park with a runner on her right foot and a sandal on her left foot and I didn't even notice until we were at the park. She got a few new books from her Auntie and we have been reading them daily. She loves "Cupcake" it is a super cute story about an ordinary vanilla cupcake. A must read with your little girls!



Mother's Day was awesome. I never blogged about it but I was treated like a queen. I do have an amazing husband. I am also lucky to have two fantastic Moms so it was a great day overall. I am just trying to enjoy the moments of motherhood each day with these two cuties!!!
Finally planted my garden last week. What an adventure with Abby wanting to help constantly. I am sure my carrots will be so close together that they will not be very big at all but the memories will outweigh the small carrots!!

Change

It seems like there is a lot of change going on in our lives.I guess this is typical of everyone's lives it kind of overwhelmes me in the blogging world and I quit blogging for a while and then realize I have way too much to write about. Anyway let's see:

-Natalie is 10 months old this month YIKES!!! Can we all say slow down. She is crawling everywhere,standing herself up against objects,making lot's of noises, and still loves to explore by putting everything in her mouth. I guess it is good in a way it keeps me on top of vaccuuming and mopping!!

-Abby turned three last week.! I can't believe she is three. We had her first party with three friends. It was pretty chaotic at times but in the end everyone had a fun time. I made her a bunny cake and she got spoiled by her friends and later by family as we had everyone over for a BBQ. She amazes me everyday with her memory skills and all the things she picks up when you just say them once. I do love how she loves music and we are enjoying her music class together. On Monday we went to the Barfuss's for FHE and she sang most of the words to Nephi's Courage. Yep I am one proud momma!!

-Ryan is loving the spring weather so he can ride his bike a lot!(He he poor guy the weather has been so terrible not the best for bike riding). He is looking for a wonderful new job at the moment so we are lucky to have him around a lot more.

-Myself I am just trying to enjoy the moments as they come. I was so lucky to have my Mom here the past week.  It was so  fun to have her around. Abby was pretty spoiled having someone to play games with her all the time. We had lot's of adventures: fabric shopping, flat tire during rush hour on Main Street/Portage (So fun), bubble tea, and oh yeah my Mom got her ears pierced for Mother's Day. What an adventurer.
 I got released from RS and put into the Primary Presidency. It was a bit of a shock but now I am enjoying being with the children and working with my sister it is pretty fun. Today is my four month mark of going to the gym,working out etc. I have been measuring and doing my weight etc. I won't give you numbers but I am slowly attaining my goal and I am super excited about that!!!!
I can't wait for the sun to return and start planting my flower and vegetable gardens and going to the park daily!!!

Easter

Wow time has flown by. I feel like I say that a lot but seriously since the weather got nice I feel like my time is taken up by walks to the park, riding my bike, and playing outside..I love this season.  Well the past weekend was Easter and we had such a fun holiday this year. We had a playdate early in the week with Abby's friends and made bunny cookies, had an Easter egg hunt, and made Easter hats. Do your remember making Easter hats in school? I used to love making them and have many pictures from elementary school of my Easter hat.  We had a special Easter family home evening and since then Abby is insisiting on having egg hunts daily. It has been quite fun.

Despite threats from Mom. Yes I used the threat of no Easter Bunny if you don't behave the bunny did come. Abby received a small Easter bunny and a Disney movie. She was so excited that the bunny came. Natalie got some yummy treats too!!

One of my favorite Easter traditions is the Easter dress. Growing up my Mom always made me one and I was doing good until this year. Grandma and Poppa bought the girls their Easter dresses and boy were they cute!!!

We had a really fun family activity last week and got to go fly in a small plane. One of our friends is a pilot and is moving away so we took the opportunity to go fly with him. It was so fun watching all the sights from above and watching Abby be amazed at everything she saw!! Ryan even flew for a bit.

Of course both of the girls are growing up like crazy here are some of the things they have been up to.

Abby has started riding a bike. It has been so much fun to help her and watch her catch on and just go. She is so excited to ride a bike just like her Daddy and wants to know why she can't go on his hour long bike rides with him?

She has also started saying mealtime and bedtime prayers seriously one of the sweetest experiences of parenting is watching your children's testimonies grow.

Now see this cute face. Our little Natalie started crawling last week and unlike her sister is into everything. I remember people asking me why I didn't have my DVD's locked up or my CD's put away but Abby was just never interested. Well here comes trouble. Natalie gets into everything she can she would still eat all the flyers if I let her and loves crawling straight towards the entertainment unit. Such fun!!!!

Now the past week we have had this little gal at our house.

Watching Skiddles for my sister has  been a lot of fun. My girls love having her Natalie is constantly chasing her and Skiddles is running away. Abby loves walking her and acts like such a grownup holding her leash. I am quite happy to return her to her family tomorrow. Not totally sold on the dog thing but it has been fun.I also think Skiddles is slightly overwhelmed being in our noisy baby crying house. I think she will be quite happy to return to a home of quiet days!!!

Wasn't General Conference awesome? Loved it. I was so thrilled to get so much counsel as a parent although I was telling Ryan it worries me about what might be coming!!

I also loved watching the final half of the NCAA finals. I haven't watched basketball in so long and I was so rooting for the underdogs but Duke won. So sad. It was such a fun game to watch.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!