a summer weekend

Hello Friends!
Here's my weekend rewind, it's photo heavy but I had so many shots I loved and wanted to share.

Anna & Momma keeping cool.

Jackie Parker Park

This was a new park for us and I couldn't believe how huge & beautiful it is there!

Spray park at Jackie Parker- very cool but it was scorching hot out so this place was insanely busy! 

On the big girl swing now.

This girl loves to swing & she is so brave!

We're trying to wear her down for bedtime... it worked like a charm.

Pool at Churchill Square.

When I got too hot I came in and worked on Project Life (with my helper). 

That was our weekend, it was hot but wonderful. Thanks for looking!
xo

weekend rewind

This past weekend we celebrated the Canada Day long weekend. It was busy with both work, play and relaxing-I even had a nap & if you know me well you know that I hate to slow down & have a nap.
I also had an entire day to myself, Anna went and stayed at her Gramma & Papa's & Cory went fishing. I slept in until 10am! WHAT! I sat on the Starbucks patio in the sun and ate breakfast. I shopped. I painted. I sat in the backyard and drank a beer all by myself in the sun. I ate potato chip for lunch and didn't feel one once of guilt. I had a pretty great day. 
When I got back to my real life it wasn't so bad either, we went to a grown up birthday party, we golfed, tried out a new restaurant and played all day Monday at the spray park, enjoying the sun.
It was just what was needed around here.... now back to the nitty gritty. sigh.

Happy fourth of July to my sweet American readers!
Have a wonderful day friends!

Weekend Rewind

I didn't take a single photo this weekend, it was a pretty lame time. I was tired & sick all weekend so while Cory was at work Anna & I layed around watching Sesame Street, reading books and Anna tore apart her daddy's magazines- perhaps I should have been paying more attention. I did take a video of Anna and her new favorite meal- macaroni and tomato sauce. Afterwards I carefully take her out of her chair, take off her diaper and put her in the tub- it's a messy situation.

This week I am doing "A Week in the Life" that Ali Edwards does every year. You can find Ali's original post here and her 2010 finished Week In The Life here. She did Week In The Life 2 weeks ago, I never did get me act in gear to do it but after some encouraging words from my pal Ginger and seeing how great her photos were I decided I could do this any time.... 2 weeks behind or not. Basically I will take photos of our daily activities for the week, document and then scrapbook them. I was up for 2 hours and already forgot my camera when I went to Safeway this morning but took a picture of my purchases to make up for it. I think that will be the hardest part- whipping out my camera for random activities that I do every day and never even think about. I will share photos each day from the day before.

Have a great day friends, Anna is up from her nap and we are off to the gym. Here is a video of dinner time around here.

the week that was

Holidays- gone! I have to admit that while we did try and do something fun everyday I feel like the 10 days we had off together were spent trying to schedule & organize our lives. What we should eat, when we can work out, when we're both working, when we should clean, when we can have date nights, when we can have family time, when we can have creative time... the list goes on.  I feel pretty bummed about it, maybe because we didn't go camping and for the last 5 years we have always gone on a big trip. I'll get over it, I know that this organization & scheduling will eventually just become part of our routine but right now it seems a bit stiff. But I think stiff is just what is in order over here- do you remember the last time I created anything just for me, not for a deadline. I can't. {insert sad face here}

I have some other life related stuff I want to share with you, to show you another side of me. It's personal and leaves me feeling a little a lot vulnerable. I will hopefully have that finished up over the weekend.

Anna, she is certainly amazing but she sure can have a rotten side. To say she is trying my patience lately would be an understatement. She does not want to eat & spits everything out & she has now for the last 3 weeks been waking up at 1:30am starving (I would imagine that it's because she's spitting out all her food). The last week has proven to be the most difficult, up 2-4 times a night, eating twice- we never got up that much when she was a newborn. It leaves us tired & frustrated but I think I may have seen a new baby tonight- one that gobbled up everything we put in front of her, I am keeping  fingers crossed she sleeps soundly. She's lucky she's so freakin' cute!  Sounds corny but her smile makes everything just a little bit easier to deal with, that and the fact that she is finally saying Mama, Mama, Mama- melt my heart.

I just wanted to share some of our photos from the week that was...

 - Our trip to the Calgary Zoo. Anna was awesome, making grunting noises at all the animals.

-We took in Heritage Days and enjoyed the sun and some yummy foods. My favorite and most boring but the most delicious- an elephant ear
-We  walked down Whyte Ave and ate ice cream
-We BBQ'd every night and sat out enjoying the weather.
-We drank our morning coffee out in the sun, such a great way to start the day

-We had my family come over and I got to snuggle with Brayden
-Anna got her first hair bow- was not an easy task putting that thing in!
-We went to the family & friends event at the new Cabellas here in Edmonton

Those were my favorites, have a great week my friends!

ps... how in the world is it August already? HOW!



weekend rewind

Our holidays started this weekend, Cory is off for 10 days and I am so excited to have him here. We'll be staying close to home this year- no camping for the three of us. I'm sad we won't be going but I just don't have it in me to take a 8 1/2 month old camping! We have plans for a few adventures and plans to relax around home,  on the agenda so far- a trip to the Calgary Zoo, Fort Edmonton Park and Heritage Days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine but I'm looking forward to it all rain or shine.

As for this past weekend- here it is in photos:

We dressed Anna up in her cowgirl outfit- holy cute!

We napped.

We spent as much time as we could outside. The pictures below are taken at Wellingtons. It is such a beautiful greenhouse to visit in the summer. I go there and day dream of one day having an outdoor space like this. I can feel my spirits lifting as soon as I walk in the front gate. It's lovely!!!!!

Have a wonderful week friends!

Weekend Rewind- a baby shower

This past weekend we celebrated  Brayden's baby shower. I had wanted to be a part of setting this up for them since before he was born, that's how long I had been planning the various colors, decorations and presents. I love a party & I love decorating, I just don't get a chance to host one very often (I guess I could have a party for no reason), so this was very exciting. All my ideas were DIY and I had been working for weeks trying to make everything I had dreamed up a reality. I was really happy with how everything turned out, I may have let out a little squeal. Here are some of my photo's from the baby shower:

1- M&M's in blue, yellow & green- my mom & dad worked tirelessly at picking out the other colors and eating them ;-) 

2- the name banner I made for Brayden

3- the food table

4- pom poms- I love pom poms

5- a fabric garland and flowers made with napkins (thank you Kara for showing me this super easy, fabulous little decoration)

1- the table for everyone to fill in envelopes with their address so Lyndsey doesn't have to when she does the thank you cards. Such a great time saver.

2- a big "B" I picked up in Lethbridge and painted for Brayden

3- the front of mom & dad's with fabric banners & pom poms, they have been working so hard on landscaping and it looks amazing!

4- more fabric banners

5- Anna helping... sort of

6- I took plain gift bags and decorated them for my gifts

1- close up of Brayden's banner

2- Lydnsey opening the scrapbook I made her

3- Lyndsey opening the quilt I made for Brayden

4- Anna opening gifts from Gramma

5- Lyndsey & Brayden- she looks amazing and he is so stinkin' cute. I could just eat him up I love him so much!

I made a scrapbook for Brayden's first year, Each page is a month and Lyndsey just needs to add in the photos from each month. He now has more scrapbooking done for him than poor Anna does. I'm a bad scrapbooking momma!

And last but not least, my quilt. I was so happy with how it turned out, I may have got choked up when she opened it. Needless to say I am very tired and need about a month to catch up on my lost sleep. I hope she loved everything, it made me so happy to do this for them, to show them just how special they are to me.

On the agenda this week- simplifying our lives!! Everyday seems to be a bit hectic and a little organizing and planning never hurt anyone.

Happy Monday friends!

rainy weekend rewind

This weekend was definitely not glamours or exciting, it was spent trying desperately to catch up from my time off, staying dry and doing laundry. Anna & I hit up the farmers market for fresh, delicious veggies, took Cory lunch on Saturday & Sunday, made muffins, went grocery shopping and did many a load of laundry. Cory being the fabulous husband that he is tried to do the laundry but neglected to change the water lever from low to super for his loads... I had to rewash them... sigh. I love him. I spent the nights after Anna had gone to bed catching up on my PVR'd Fringe episodes & working on my projects for this weekend- Lyndsey & Brayden's baby shower. I can't wait to share.

weekend rewind

 Happy Birthday Canada! She celebrated her 144th birthday and while Anna & I stayed close to home we did get dressed up in Canadian colors and make maple leaf cookies to show our patriotic sides. Cory worked all weekend and I just didn't have it in me to take her anywhere for festivities on my own. Cookies seemed like the easiest thing we could do together. And when I say together I mean mostly me while Anna makes a ginormous mess on the kitchen floor. Saturday was laid back, Anna still has a cold and I have been doing sleep training (that's a whole other post) with her so I can't be too far from home for too long a time period. Yesterday we went and met Cory at work and had a picnic in our car, it actually ended up being a lot of fun. Anna thought it was pretty awesome to be in the car and not in her car seat- which she HATES! There you have it, that was pretty much it for excitement. I worked on a gift for my fabulous, adorable nephew which I can't wait to share, we ordered take out, had a little vino, enjoyed the sunshine and followed Anna around the house cleaning up her messes.

As for the rest of the week, I have a little solo vacation booked! I am leaving Anna and Cory behind and going on a little road trip to see my beautiful girlfriend Kara in Lethbridge. I would be lying if I said I wasn't freaking out, even just typing that I am leaving them behind makes me sad & lonely. I am going to do my best to enjoy some me time, some rest and some wonderful company. I'll keep you posted on how I do. It's just two sleeps, it's just two sleeps- that's what I keep telling myself.

xoxo

weekend rewind

The weekend was split into half fabulous / half sickly family & chores. Anna went to Gramma & Papa's for a sleepover Friday, Cory worked all day Saturday so I had the whole day to myself and I can't lie it was kinda nice. In the morning I went to the farmer's market for fresh veggies, to the German Bakery for their Coconut Macaroons (delicious), to Planet Organic, to Greenwoods (a fabulous local bookstore) then to Crave (a new cupcake shop in Edmonton). I got home and tried to have a nap but I had consumed an extraordinarily large amount of sugar and caffeine so that was out of the question. So what else can a girl do? If you guessed go shopping you'd be correct! I had a gift card to Anthropologie {I heart this store} so off I went.  I love everything about this store, okay maybe not the price tags but everything else! Then smell, the customer service, the cloths, the home decor, the bedding, even the bags and tissue they wrap your purchase in. I got the most fabulous top and found a bandeau to wear under- which I happened to be wanting for ever! I love a great shopping day!

Cory & I headed to my new favorite restaurant- Padmanadi for dinner. This is a vegetarian restaurant and it is delicious! So very delicious! After dinner we went to see The Hangover 2- hilarious. Incredible ridiculous and wildly inappropriate for many people but I laughed out loud too many times to count. Sunday Cory woke up sick, I drugged him up on cold medication, cleaned the house and then headed out to pick up Anna, who is sick for the first time. I am now pumping up my immune system with Immune FX. No time to be sick!

I'll leave you with a picture of the river valley where I go walking with Anna. With all the rain we've had everything is lush and bright green. It is gorgeous!  I think it's one of Edmonton's best features.

Happy Tuesday!