Things (4 to be exact)

Okay Liz over at Mable's House does this all the time and I love it so I'm stealing it outright and trying it myself and adding pictures! Let me know if it works, as in do you like it, and if you don't check Liz's out cause her are great.

1. I love my new office, and I love that I built my own desk and it hasn't fallen down yet.

2. This year was a banner Valentine's day as we made our own instead of store bought and I love the way they turned out.

3. This little man is getting more grown up every day and it is making me want another, his personailty is really showing, sweet and kind and a firecracker all at once.

4. I could not resist showing everyone what I get to hang out with at work, man life is good.

Back in action . . . but changes are a foot.

I'm not sure what happened to January, when I looked at the blog the other day I had to take a second peek to see if it was really true that I had not posted in January 4th!

So much has happened, so here's the recap!

Helped with my first birth as a doula (although still training and still studying), what an experience it was, brave mommy Sam and little baby Duncan really gave me a day and night I will never forget.

The boys have been having lots of winter fun with Daddy outside (Mommy is not an outside girl in the winter, too many memories of freezing while snowmobiling with my parents when I was younger).

And the last big news of the month, was that I have resigned from my current fund development position with the Alzheimer's Society and will be starting on February 14th raising much needed money for our local SPCA. I'm really excited about the change, it comes at a great time and while I will miss the amazing crew where I am now, I'm sure that I will find an equally amazing crew at my new place!

Oh P.S. it might actually be my new addicitions to Pintrest and Instagram that is keeping me away from the blog . . . . I'll do better I promise.

A Zoo

No we did not buy one but my house feels like one these days. Too many days off for little boys who enjoy their routine. Drew is currently sporting a cut on his eyebrow that he sustained while riding his brother around the living room. In return the next morning William came to me with his finger bleeding because his 20 month old brother had attacked his hand with tongs! Come on now, you can't even make this up, and it's not like they are unsupervised, but who thinks that you can almost loose a finger to meat tongs at the hands of a toddler.

The cure for all our ails at the moment . . .

Auntie Julie cookies. After posting this on Facebook as my picture of the day I figured out that just about every culture has this cookie but calls it something different. I call them Auntie Julie cookies, we get them at Christmas and Easter and that's it. Always stacked high in a clear plastic bag with a twist tie. Give the boys one of these and everything seems to be alright . . . for a moment or two.

My salvation . . .

Could it really have been anything else??

Hello 2012 - What do you have in store for me?

I have no idea what my "new year's resolutions" will be this year, but I have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish. I want to finish my doula course and get certified, I want to learn to cook for my family better, I want to be a better woman, role model, mother, wife.

I'm also starting a picture-a-day as well. Instagram has been consuming my spare time, what a great little invention that is. I've recruited a few lovely ladies who will also join me and I can't wait to share their pictures along the way.

Today's picture, kinda speaks to what I've been doing and waiting for how I feel about 2011, icey!

So here is to melting the old year and warming up the new year. Any resolutions, goals, dreams? I would love to hear them!

Please, please bring on the new year already!

I know I shouldn't say that, I have a lot to be thankful for but really, 2011 has been such a difficult year in terms of family, relationships etc, that I really would like to hit the reset button with 2012.

If only it were that easy . . . . what are you hoping for most in 2012? I might need all of these to "take" if only it were that easy.

Heartbreaking Holiday

I took this picture at an industrial photoshoot back in the summer, and it kinda fits the story that is going through my head today. How do you build back something out of nothing?

William attends before and afterschool care through the YMCA, and one of his Y teachers and her family have suffered a devistating house fire. They got out (she, her husband and their two teenage children), but they lost everything including their pets. The thought of it anytime of the year would call me to action of course but this time of the year more than ever.

I put out a notice to all the parents who use the before and aftershcool program asking them to help us give a little something back. Where to start is the biggest, when you've lost everything, everything has to be replaced. Here is a woman who gives to our children each and every day and I just hope that the spirit of the season is enough to show her that our community cares. I'll keep you posted, and in the meantime hug your loved ones, and look around your home and be thankful that it is there. 

My first "client" . . . introducing Sam.

This is Sam, and in her lovely belly is Baby Duncan. Not only did I get to do this amazing photoshoot with Sam, her partner Duncan and the growing one, I am also going to support Sam during her labour as her doula.

I've done almost all my reading and of couse what I need now is some practical experience, and Sam was willing to offer me that. She is a barista at my Starbucks so needless to say she knows be quite well and I'm thrilled at the chance to help her out.

She and Duncan are excited but of course nervous as well, as a young couple of course it's a daunting thought to bring a human into the world, I thought it was and was well onto thirity by the time I had my first.

Baby Duncan is due to make his arrival sometime around or after January 9th, I'm preparing her to go over but that's the thing about babies, they really do call the shots. I'm extremely proud of the homework that she's doing, she's decided (all of this in a perfect world of course) to delay cord clamping, to try her best to breastfeed, and for immediate skin-to-skin contact with the babe.

It's interesting how much is not told to new parents about the importance of the decisions she's made above, and I'm glad to be able to have given her some knowledge and informed choice when it came down to it. And while I'm hoping she gets through this without an epidural, she's planning on one and I will support her. Truly I also hope that I will be able to draw her partner Duncan into the process, gently and without force, to a position that he will be able to support her as well.

This story will continue . . . .

I found it! My hometown.

That's my hometown, Erieau! Don't know where it is? Many people don't. It's a tiny little fishing village on Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario. My parents had taken us there as kids almost each weekend in the summer as we had a boat. It was about 15 minutes from where we had our house in Charing Cross, (an even smaller village!).

When I was in grade 8 or so my parents bought a cottage there, with access to the Bay and we spent from May to October there each year, funny because who has a cottage 15 minutes away from their real home. The only thing it meant was taking a different bus to school.

I will have to look up some pictures to post, but it's lovely, under 400 people, even less in the winter when the cottagers have all gone home. I spent summers working at the marina in the store while my friend Neal worked outside at the docks helping put boats in. It's quaint and lovely and when I find the pictures I will post more about it.

So the reason I'm so excited was I bought some of the Hometown canvas made of course by the lovely and talented ladies at Sweetwater, and found Erieau! I had submitted it when they had their little call out and didn't think much of it, until I was looking at the fabric today. Sadly the only problem is that I had bought it to makea gift for someone and now I don't want to use it . . . what to do????

A project of preservation

There are always things that catch my eye that I think "that looks easy, I could do that" and it seems to be happening to me a lot lately. That long with the feeling of envy when I see a really neat thing in someone else's home or in a magazine that sets a space apart.

My kitchen walls have nothing to do with my kitchen and that's going to change. I am in the process of trying to change that, and this is my start. Taking the recipies that my grams wrote out for me and sent along with letters that she's written to me over the years and making them into wall art. My first one, although the title says "frosty strawberry squares", in our house it's call "strawberry dessert" and grams only makes it once a year, Christmas time.

Since neither of my parents will be around for the holidays this year, each headed their seperate ways to someplace warm, the chances of me getting my dessert are nill. Hopefully getting it up onto my wall will make me feel better. I'm debating having it printed on to a canvas already stretched or onto a fabric and framing it that way? Any thoughts?

Here's what it looks like all ready to eat!

Holiday Crafting

Hard to believe most days but I still have a creative side I swear, and of course the holidays are the best time to get crafting for me.



A few holiday pot holders for friends from here to there. Check your mailboxes next week . . . who knows. Of course they were super easy, the labels from from Sweetwater's Etsy shop, I could spend hours and millions in there, and they make me look good when I can easily in an hour turn out things like this.

The other thing that has been hot in demand from friends and family since I posted this picture on Facebook!

I saw these in a home magazine and had one of those "I could do that" moments, and well as much as I love them, I might be sick fo making them once the requests are all in! Ha ha!

What is your holiday crafting looking like? I'd love to know.

William's Amazing School

I feel quite lucky to live where we do for many different reasons, but one of them is the school that William goes to. Ryerson Heights Elementary School is one of a few in Canada who have implemented the Leader in Me Program. They teach the children from JK on how to be leaders, and each month they have a different habit that they work on.



This morning we were invited an assembly that the JKs and SKs were having. They are short, fun, they dance and sing, they hear from older students within the school about how they are using the habit that the school is promoting that month. The best part is that there were at least four rows of parents there. Some were there because their children were getting "Believe" awards, and others, like myself where there because having access to the school in this manner is important to us.

The principal Mrs. V., is dynamic and I know from being part of the PTA this year that she cares about this school and her students in a way that amazes me. She wants every student in her school to succeed, and does her best through her own leadership to make that happen. Her passion to carry out this program on top of the regular curriculum has elevated the school to heights that no one could imagine, including having a group of principals and educators from the Netherlands come visit our school last week to learn more about our kids and how this programs works. AMAZING!

This months habit, Begin in the End in Mind. Humm how can I start using that in my own life?

Mama said there'd be days like this!

Yes I'm aware that "there'd" might not be a word, but it's what the song says right? Sing it to yourself . . . I'll wait. Yep it's "there'd" isn't it. I'm sure mama is right but I'm not sure she knew these days would be in November.



It is so fun to watch these two interact now. There is so much "monkey see, monkey do", sometimes it's the little man wanting to be big and sometimes it's the big man acting little. I just hope that these smiles are still on their faces when they are 14 and 18!

I also got a chance to have some fun with my macro lense attachment tonight as well.

There's nothing quite like a summer-like fall day. I feel more, I see more and I need to cherish it because all too soon that snow is going to hit, I'm not going to want to get out of bed, and I will have forgotten how fun today was.

Buzzing . . .

There are things I like and then there are things that I love, and if you're reading this, you are held hostage to me telling you about the things that I love. Today . . . Mabel's Labels.

I'm not sure I fully apprecaited these labels of all sorts until William started  school. Especially since in his daycare on his off days and his classroom last year there was another William! Who knew, we thought it wasn't that common of a name. So I bought in. There are a few things that I adore about them . . . I can put them through the dishwasher a million times, they can hang out in the rain, and they actually fit our last name on them!

Oh wait, and they are CANADIAN! Right close to me in Hamilton. There are some smart mamas working over there so I signed up to become a Buzzmama and get the word out. I love smart moms, I love MOMpreneurs, and we all love things that make our lives easier!

And my first purchase, the stocking stuffer combo, I managed to get for both my boys, and my nieces and nephew for $30, can't beat it. Head on over, tell them I sent you and tell me what you bought . . . Humm . . . what will my next purchase be??

Toes never get sick . . .

Toes never look sick, and that's what I love about them. I was recently called by a wonderful friend who needed a favor. Although it wasn't your run of the mill favor, I feel so blessed that she had the strength to ask me and also had the faith that I could pull this off.

These feet belong to Baby B. She's around 19 months old and having been born at somewhere between 19 and 22 weeks her entire life has been a struggle. She is also a twin, and her sister at the moment is as healthy as she can be and doing quite well. B is not likely to make it much longer, and her struggle has been long and she has been a fighter.



Her sister was able to come and spend a little time with her and I was there to capture the most amazing, precious moments they shared in the moments they were together. They were stunning, perfect features, and if it wasn't for the tubes and wires and machines you would have never has one inclination that this little one was sick.

More than anything this was a HUGE wake-up call for me. These two little ones are the same age as Drew, and (hold on for the tears . . .) I am so lucky that my boys are healthy and happy. They have a quality of life, they challenge me every day, and they make me be a better person. I am lucky, this was a harsh reminder that not everyone is. I will stop taking for granted my children, their laughs, their smiles, their tears, their screams, and all that comes with the world of kids. I will hug them more, I will call my friends, I will appreciate those who appreciate me and I will continute to try and cut out the crap. In moments like this it's really all that matters.

Candy is sweet, but not as sweet as these two!