camping

So we tried camping again. And it was great! Seriously, lots of fun, except for a few little things... Like while I had to hold on to David so that he wouldn't run off the edge of a cliff into a waterfall, Libby fell down and scraped her knee at the exact same time that Cadie got bit by a dog. Corey decided last minute that he wouldn't be joining us as he had to work, so I was a little apprehensive about setting up the tent all by myself - I shouldn't have been - Libby was such a good helper - she stood on her tiptoes and held up the poles so I could put them into the holes. She also babysat david whenever I took Cadie to the washroom (David still has a fascination with putting things -including his hands- in toilets) But I have to say the best part about camping was my PJ's. My warm comfy-cozy one-piece jammies that look exactly like an infant's sleeper - with feet. I thought they would keep me warm, and I love them - so I wore them. The kids were asleep one night when our rain fly blew off our tent in a crazy gust of wind - I ran out to save it from blowing away as I could tell a big storm was on it's way -well, I better preface this with earlier that day, 20 shirtless, built, rugged young guys pitched their tents next to mine. Turned out to be an entire army unit from England. So my rain fly blows off and I ran out to retrieve it in my sleeper and a whole army of good-looking (but mildly rude) men watched me flail around and wrestle it to the ground and then clumsily try to re-attach it to my tent in gale force wind. Guess you had to be there. But they sure thought it was funny. I was so proud of the girls though - Libby and Cadie both did the bear's hump hike (and I did it with a 28 pound David wrapped on my back) we did red rock canyon

and cameron lake, too. We had fun on the paddle boats and trying to catch gophers. (They did actually catch one in a butterfly net for a split second before it ran out)

David fell asleep in his camp chair he was so tired - I let the kids stay up late to see the stars - they'd never even seen stars before this!! But they of course still woke up at 6:00 the next morning...

David's highlight of the trip was throwing rocks into everything - the river, the lake, the waterfall, over cliffs, over steps, onto gophers and chipmunks- who surprisingly kept coming back for more... What a fun summer - I can't believe it's almost half way over!

So I'm blogging this simply because the house is still in showing mode and I don't want to drag out the scrapbooks from boxes in the basement but I want to remember this. We've been having crazy tons of fun lately - I had a great time at YW's camp - and my family did survive without me! We just got back from Lethbridge - and this feels like the bazillionth trip this summer without a DVD player - the kids are getting so good at amusing themselves in the van. However, today was an exception. We had gone swimming at the new swimming pool in Raymond and they all fell asleep on the 20 min drive back to lethbridge. This is bad because a short nap like that just makes them more grumpy and complicates bed times later one. So at 8:30 on the way back to calgary they are still awake and whining like crazy "I'm hungry" being the loudest. So I did what any good mom would do - I made up a game called "eating food." We had to guess two different kinds of food and then smoosh them together and pretend to eat them. We had so much fun until Corey decided to turn off his whine-drowner (Ipod) and join in. His first mix was steak with cottage cheese. When Libby was trying to guess "what comes from a cow" she guessed milk and corey said "no, a kind of meat" Libby laughed her head off and almost crying she was laughing so hard "who ever heard of a cow making meat!"

auntie paula's wedding!

My sister got herself married to the most wonderful man who has a wonderful daughter - I'm so happy to have a bigger, better family! My darling girls got to be flower girls- they were pretty excited, and did a great job. I wish you could see their hair better - Chelsea did such a great job, everyone thought it was professional. My husband was the wedding photographer and he did a wonderful job, too! Check out www.momentsmadevisible.com for more of his work! So, don't you want to hear more about my darling girls? Well, I lost David again the other day - only to find him in his playpen - Libby had hoisted him in and he was sitting in her lap, resting his head on her shoulder as she read him books. What a sweet big sister! She often asks me if she can be the one to buckle him into his stroller/car seat, etc, if she can serve him his meal, or if she can tuck him into bed at night. I hope he doesn't grow up thinking she's his mom! I've been so busy the last few months getting the house ready to sell and then keeping it spotless for showings that I've been neglecting my children. They have been watching way too many movies and I put most of the toys away months ago so they don't have much to entertain themselves with. Unfortunately, this has led to some behaviour malfunctions... Libby has always been very creative - she can make up games faster than I can shut them down. Yesterday she made up a game called "poop in the house." This involved finding rocks outside and "pooping" them into the house. (Pooping being throwing) Like at my piano. Not a happy mom. So I sent them outside to play and even started filling up the pool (Pool being inflatable dinghy) but got distracted by a lawn that needed mowing - turn back around to Libby spraying the hose through the neighbours open family room window. At the loss of the hose and the impending time out, she screamed at me "I hate you, you're a stupid idiot, you're a bad mom." Wow. I thought this kind of stuff happened once your kids are teenagers? Then when we were making "sorry cookies" for the neighbours she yelled at Cadie "I hate you, you're a stupid idiot, you're a bad sister." Poor Cadie loves her sister she was so sad she cried and I'm so bad, I actually put tobasco sauce on her tongue. It was the only thing that would get through to her, but Corey told me that's kid torture and not to do it again. Ahh, one of these days I will find a currency that works with that girl!

happy birthdays

so, I'm pretty much the worst mom ever because both of my daughters had birthdays in february and not only am I posting about it 2 months late but I also have no pictures... I promise I made cute cakes and they had cute friends and fun parties. Libby's theme was princesses and frogs. Cadie had a bug/garden party. (she has a lot of friends who are boys...) So instead of doing a birthday post I just want to write a little bit about my girls. Libby is fun-loving and energetic and has a hard time sitting still - she likes to always be doing things and she's very bright - always thinking about things in different ways. Her favorite book (to read to me) is The Elves and the Shoemaker. Her favorite movie is Ponyo. She still likes pink and purple and playing polly pockets and make believe games - as long as she's in charge. She loves to help and she loves to play with her little brother and sister - especially making them laugh. She can rattle off jokes like crazy and she's currently playing yankee doodle and cinderella's waltz on the piano. She is so good at sharing - she always saves any candy she gets from piano or at school/parties for her brother and sister. She's so happy to be 5! Cadie is sweet - she's always sensitive and loving - she adores her big sister and she's good at standing up for herself. Her favorite joke (which is often repeated 5-10 times) is "What do monsters do? Wiggly fingers!!" I think she made it up. But it still cracks me up to hear her laugh at her joke every time she says it. Cadie is tiny - she has TONS of clothes (hand me downs from Libby) but hardly any of them fit her because she's so small! She always tells me how she's small because she doesn't like to eat her vegetables. Cadie is animated. She is so excited about everything (seriously) she wiggles and looks like she's about to burst. She is SO excited if you walk into a room. She's SO excited to play. She's SO excited if company (including strangers) come over. She often strokes my arm or plays with my hair when I'm reading her stories and when I wake her up in the middle of the night to go pee she whispers "thanks, mommy, I lub you." Cadie's favorite everything is anything that is Libby's favorite. She loves David, too and he loves to snuggle with her in the morning - by resting his head on hers. She's SO excited to be three!

the dirty week

So, another "Julie" story -or so my husband has started coining these precious moments... when really, they could happen to anyone!

We had an interesting episode at the mall yesterday - corey was working and I had a few hours to kill with the kids so we hung out at the mall - and for a special treat I bought them a Jugo Juice. But of course that made them have to pee - so I put Cadie on first and the toilets are sooo high - we were in the handicap washrooms cause those are the only ones we all fit in at the same time. So I was lifting Cadie back down when David quick as a wink, had fished out her used toilet paper from the toilet. So, trying not to throw up, I carried him to the sink to wash him off; Cadie followed, so I picked her up to wash her hands and by the time I set her down he was gone - completely gone. Silly mall washrooms that don't even have a door -just those walls that you have to walk around - He's fast and big, but he can't talk hardly at all, so I was pretty worried. I checked all the stalls and he's gone so I went outside the washroom and asked a guy standing there if he'd seen a little boy go by and he said no so now I'm really confused until I figure out he's wandered into the men's washroom - that's the only place he could be. I have no idea what kind of mischief he got into in there, good thing he came out eventually on his own, cause I wasn't about to go in after him!

And then today we were on a Jesus walk at fish creek park (I had the kids looking for objects that reminded them of the Easter story - wood to represent the cross, a stone to represent the stone rolled away from the tomb, something prickly to represent the thorns, etc.) So Corey was working and I had David in the stroller and the girls were walking - all of a sudden Cadie had to go poo -"NOW!"- I had no idea she was feeling sick until that moment but I helped her go behind a bush and pulled down her pants right as she exploded all over me and herself. We were both covered and I had nothing to wipe us off with - I tried leaves but they didn't do much. So I wasn't about to touch the stroller with my hands in that condition so I had poor Libby push David's stroller back to the car - she was such a trooper - but a number of people were giving me scything looks as my little one struggled with the stroller and I did nothing to help her!! And her being her, hammed it up, of course - every time we passed anyone on the path she panted and whined until they gave me their worst looks. Luckily I had some wipes and hand sanitizer in the car, but poor Cadie had a few more accidents at home before I smartened up and put one of David's diaper's on her!

You want a piece of me?

I just can't get over how sweet my little guy is!!! He's so sensitive and LOVES sharing and cleaning and tries so hard to make everyone happy - he can't really talk yet but he pops out his soother or bottle to give to his sister if she is crying - even once when he was crying himself - he stopped to give Cadie his milk!

Isn't she getting old? Corey took these pictures a few days ago and it wasn't until I saw them that I realized how beautiful Libby is getting-but she looks like she's 8,not 4!

I know I've already shared this story with pretty much anyone who will listen, but I need to blog it for my own records. Sweet little Cadie who used to be so innocent and lovely, woke up on fast sunday demanding cereal. She does not like milk with her cereal so I put it on a plate. That was my first mistake. After she whined "I want mine in a bowl," I reprimanded: "what do you say?" (second mistake) she replied "You want a piece of me?" I was expecting "please" so I did a double take and asked her where she had heard that phrase from - "veggie tales." seriously? I totally thought with us not having TV (we have A TV, just not channels!) I was saving myself from some of the attitude and comments like this one... guess the Christian movies from the library are just as bad :)

Why do these things always happen to me?

So I had a crazy time at the mall today - the kids were begging me to let them go on the escalator - so I agreed -once up and once down. Well, I was carrying David and holding Cadie's hand so I told Libby to hold onto my jacket and we counted "1-2-3 step" and we all stepped on and rode up. We got to the top and counted "1-2-3 step" and Cadie and I stepped down - Libby got scared and stayed up. I could not coax her down and I couldn't put David down as he would run away so I convinced Cadie to stay at the bottom while I went up to get Libby - well, I got half way up and realized Cadie was following me up. Then they were both at the top scared to go down on their own. So I held Libby's hand and brought her down and left Cadie at the top. I told Libby stay at the bottom and went up to get Cadie but half way up saw her happily holding onto a stranger's hand coming down so I got to the top and rushed down as fast as I could, not realizing Libby had followed me up and was now stuck at the top again. Seriously. Thank goodness the stranger was kind and stayed with Cadie while I went back up ---and down again. And then they had the gall to tell me they meant "elevator -not escalator."