Last Weekend with Grampa

This was the reason for our outing today- to go see the Sheldon ruins.  It's a cathedral that was built in the 1700s then burned by the Federal Army.  It was pretty neat.  And we got there while a music video was being shot on the other side.  That was kinda cool too. 

I love it when a random snapshot turns out perfectly.  The natural light coming in from the patio door is so beautiful.  And I love this uplooking angle. 

Looking for hobbits. 

A classic.

We are a happy family. 

How perfect is this?!  Dad took this at supper.  Looks like we were both having a fabulous snapshot day. 

At Firehouse Subs.  Our favorite place to eat in Beaufort.  Their brisket sandwiches are to die for.  Plus the boys get free hats.  Anytime we mention going to Beautort, Dace asks "And go firehouse?"  yup, he loves it too.  There is a huge mural of a fire truck on the wall that he loves to look at. 

Today

Blogger is still useless in uploading video.  It's a good thing there is no one I can call and give an earful to.....

But we had a good day anyway-

This is Dace helping me select a cheese for tomorrow's French night.  He had quite a few worthy suggestions.  But what he found most entertaining was being able to take all the wedges of brie and shape them into a pizza.  That was so cool. 

Dace loves his treats but he also loves his fruits, for which I am grateful.  He especially loves peaches which is no surprise given that the boy was born in Georgia.  It's probably in his DNA somewhere.  While we were in the produce section, he went straight to the barrel of peaches and selected this one.  Then reminded me for the next 20  minutes that he wanted to eat it.  As soon as we got home, I washed it up and he gobbled down. 

Dem's is good!

I gave him 5 more minutes of watching Nemo before bedtime.  I came back six minutes later and grampa had just taken this.  Out for the night. 

Our little eating machine.  The kid is a 'two-legged vaccum', as grampa likes to call him.  He will anything and everything he finds on the floor.  His favorite things to eat this week (at mealtime...he wouldn't find these on the floor) are lasagna, spaghetti, squash casserole and potatoes. 

A Gramp's-eye view

My dad loves to make little movie clips of the every day goings on around here.  I have been trying to post a couple clips since last night but stupid blogger is being stupid again.

  I guess we'll have to settle for a few pictures:

Zade's first Sunday in a shirt and tie.  Needless to say, he was eaten alive by his million fans.  Yup, it was a hit.  Now to whip some more baby ties for the boy. 

We are sitting on the deck almost every day soaking up the sun while the boys share the motorbike.  I use the word 'share' loosely. 

Zade loves being a big boy using a straw now.  He prefers it over his sippie cup. 

I just can't enough of sleeping baby pictures. 

Not his typical Canadian winter afternoon

Only in a t-shirt.
No snow in sight.
Palm trees in the background.
Nice ocean breeze.

Needless to say, grampa is loving every minute of this sun and warmer weather. 
This is how we do January in South Carolina....

gramma, don't turn too green with envy.  ;)

A birthday preview

In less than a month, my baby will be one.  I try to reflect on the past year and I feel like I have been trapped in my house for nearly 12 months.  Did I do anything?  Did I go anywhere?  Where did that time go?  It feels like everyone else went and did except me.  But I am sure everyone feels that way some time.  So I won't dwell on it too long. 

I whipped up Zade's birthday announcement/invite today and love how it turned out.  I did his photo shoot yesterday to get the picture I wanted to use.  I think it took three separate attempts to get the lighting right, him in the right happy mood and for my camera battery not to die in the middle of taking pics.  But alas, I got the shot.  Here are some of my faves, unedited:

 And finally, the grand prize winner: 

Grandpa's in town!

My dad got in last Tuesday and will be here for another two weeks.  We are all enjoying having him here.  It's been a bit on the chilly side but we got to the beach over the weekend to enjoy the sunshine.  He and Dace have built train tracks every day and Zade is learning how to walk.  It's been a busy few days.  Sorry for my slacking off in the 'new post' department.  I copied some images and video off Dad's camera tonight, after the three of us are brain-dead after a horribly slow game of rummicube.  Here's a recap of the last 7 days:

 Further proof for my theory that babies really are puppies, and vice versa.

He fell asleep on the way home from the beach, at 5pm then slept through til 7am the next morning, a 14 hour stretch.  We adults are so envious. 



Naptime during grocery shopping.  Thankfully Dad was with me and willing to stay in the car.  What would have taken hours in and out of 3 stores with these guys, I got it done in less than an hour and a half and these boys got a good, well needed nap.  It's hard work playing with "gampa" all day. 

I hesitated to upload this video because, well, I really need a belt.  But it is the best footage of Zade walking, doing the longest stretch of steps to date.  Pay attention to his exclamation of glee once I pick him up.  He loves sucking in his breath like that and I love hearing it. 



Freeze

I want to always remember Dace just like this.  I want to freeze this image into my mind forever.  The little boy that he is, in his cute osh kosh jeans, sitting W style playing with his bap-baps, with that sweet look of concentration on his face. 

These are the moments. 

It's Wednesday

And we all know what that means....Yucky Vroom Vroom day!  aka Garbage Day. 
Dace can hear that truck as soon as it turns onto our street- all the way down at the other end.  He jumped up, cried "Yucky vroom vroom here!" and went crashing out to the balcony.  I tackled him into his hoodie then grabbed the camera to try and capture his reaction to his most favorite vehicle in the universe. 





I can hear it!



Is it coming?

There it is!

So excited he can't stand still. 

 Yelling "top!" (stop) at me for taking too many pictures. okay then!





And here is my chubby cherub.  I forgot how much these little guys change right before their first birthday.  I can hardly recognize him one day to the next!...okay, that's a little bit of an exaggerated statement, but nonetheless I am trying to up my picture taking.  This was his first time in jeans. 



A New Year, A Clean Slate with all sorts of room for improvement.

Once upon a time, I was a single girl.  A single girl with a great shoe collection and many excuses to actually wear them.  A girl who stayed busy with work and school, had somewhat of a disposable income, a great social life and a best friend named Jason. 

Jason was like a platonic soul mate.  For a couple of years, we were inseparable.  We were each others rock, shoulder to cry on and each other’s therapists.  There were a couple times when Jason would show up at my house between 2-3am on a cold winter’s night and want to go to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and to talk.  At first I was always mad that he had woken me up to drag my pajama’ed butt out into the way-too-cold Canadian night.  But looking back, those nights are some of my fondest memories of us. 

Another great memory was our annual year-in-review/ next-year’s-improvement Chinese food dinner.  I think we did this 4 years in a row.  Just before going our separate ways for Christmas holidays, we would go to one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, sit and talk and eat for hours, discussing our successes and failures from the year and divulge what we wanted to achieve or do differently in the upcoming year.  We would support each other, plan how we would help each other and hold ourselves as well as each other accountable for the things we wanted to accomplish and for the things we wished to avoid. 

I have thought about Jason all of December as I reflected on my year and plotted and schemed for a better 2011.  Our friendship has faded since 2005 through distance, relationships and lifestyle changes.  But my love and respect and fondness of him has never waivered.  He was one of those friends who made me a better person.  He pushed me to be better, encouraged me to be bolder and taught me so much about life and the gospel- lessons I could never repay him for.  My young adult years would have a dark, lonely void if he had not been a part of my life.  Thank God for that man. 

So with the memories of fried rice, wontons and ginger chicken dancing in my head, I will share with you my two themes for 2011.

2011 in a word- PEACE.

 My life has lacked a certain peace to it for several years now.  With the joys of becoming a wife and mother, so comes unavoidable stresses.  I have yet to learn how to effectively deal and manage that stress and have paid the consequences thereof, even to the point of being physically affected.  And I cannot live like that any more. 

So I am going to simplify. I have already given up multi-tasking.  I am going to work on staying in the present moment.  I am going to whisper more, yell less.  I will detach from the situation when there is no point in stressing or reacting to it.  Because if my son is throwing a fit, my feeling stressed and frustrated will not change his behavior.  I will take the time to stop and recharge during the day.  I will give myself a 15 minute time out to read and calm down when I need it.  I will validate myself and will not feel the need to live up to any expectation except my own, and have simplified and edited my own expectations.  I will quit my day at a decent hour, treating my household duties like a fulltime job and clock out in the evening.  I will take the time to unwind and do something for myself so that I may regain the peaceful, satisfying sleep habits I once had.  I will love and accept myself enough so that my own soul may be at peace.

2011 in a phrase- I have a choice. 

I usually just give my years a word but this phrase kept coming back to me over and over and so I decided to add a phrase category this year and I think it’s a good one.  I have a choice. 

I think sometimes we are too quick to forget that we are all in charge of our own lives and we all have a choice.  Everything I do during the day, I make the choice. 

I have the choice to be stressed or relaxed. 

I have the choice to eat well or poorly. 

I have the choice to make exercise a priority or to continue to neglect and abuse my body. 

I have the choice to feel frustrated or to step back from the situation and emotionally detach where I have no control over it. 

I have the choice to put an effort into my marriage and my relationship with my husband or I have the choice to continue existing in a non-satisfactory relationship. 

I have the choice to place an importance in having a social life and spending time with friends or choosing to spend yet another night watching tv. 

 I have the choice to stay positive or be pessimistic. 

 I have the choice to teach myself new talents, skills or hobbies or continue spending my ‘off’ hours on social networks, watching tv or other mindless, time-wasting activities of no value. 

 I have the choice to put in the hard work to teach my kids valuable skills, habits and manners or I have the choice to do just the bare minimum with the idea that someone else will teach them what they need to know.  I have the choice to break bad habits and replace them with new and better ones or I choose to continue neglecting or abusing myself.  I make the choice. 

I have the choice to create my own reality. 

I have a choice to make this year better than the last.  I have a choice to make myself a better person than I was last year.  I have the choice. 

And so with the dropping of the ball the slate is wiped clean and everything becomes possible once again.  Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.  So let's go, 2011- I'm ready for you. 

Love ya, Jase.  This egg roll's for you. 



My Baby Barks. What can your baby do?

Everytime Kaelee calls, she thinks there is a dog in my house because she can hear Zadek at my feet doing his little puppy barking noises.  She asked me yesterday if I had it on video and I thought I hadn't.  Then I found this from a couple weeks ago.  He is definitely a little character.  A vocal one, at that.