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Blessed

Jaia had a doctor’s appointment today. With two kids on different schedules, you visit the doctor fairly often.  And we see a lot of faces sitting in the waiting room as we come in and out. Most just smile at me when they see the kids – they are cute, after all, and that, understandably, evokes smiles.

Today though, there was an elderly couple there who were bursting to talk to me after I’d let the receptionist know we were there.

Them, as soon as I sat down: Your children are lovely.

Me: Oh, thank you very much.

Them: It looks like the older one looks after the younger one.  Acts like his caretaker…

Me: She does. She’s a great big sister.

Them: (After watching the kids interact for a few minutes) And they are so polite, too.

Me: They are.

Them: You are so blessed.

Me:  I am.

And I smile again.

Some days we forget to hold our loved ones close and to remind ourselves just how lucky we are.  The daily grind makes it hard to see and harder to appreciate.  I’m so thankful to this couple for helping me to see that today.

March 9, 2012 - 7:22 am

Dan - how nice!

Vitamin D

When the sun shines, we eat it up.  Especially on a warm(ish) day.  Vitamin D really does the body good.

Pass it on.

 

 

March 8, 2012 - 8:02 am

Alicia - Yay! Jaia didn’t blow away! Great photos 🙂

Snow Day

Last week it snowed.  It was like magic as we pulled into the parking lot of the ski hill where we’d booked a room to stay overnight and get a couple of days of skiing in. During the week.  Not on the weekend that is often otherwise full of plans and other commitments.  No, this time we went away, last minute, together, as a family with no real agenda.

Magic, I tell you.

What was even more magical to me was watching my almost big girl in her element.

Unlike her mama, a tried and true scaredy cat, Jaia loves trying new things.  Anything.

This wasn’t her first time skiing.  It was her third, actually.  But this was her first with her dad taking over teaching duties from his dad, Grandpa Doug.  And just like his dad, Dan proved to be a challenging yet calm and patient instructor.  And Jaia proved to be an eager and hungry student.  She soaked it up.

After a few short runs down the bunny hill, Jaia asked to go up on the big hill.  Dan obliged.  I cringed at the plan.  “But what if…?” Dan had more faith.  They’d take it slow, and they’d be fine.

They were.  She was a superstar.

While Dan and Jaia were off getting their ski on, the dude and I walked around.  We took pictures.  We saw the sights.  We kept busy.

We waved at cats.

We kept our eyes peeled for Daddy and Jaia.

Two days was just enough time away to come back invigorated and ready to take on the last few weeks of snow and cold.  We are so so so close to saying goodbye to the white stuff for a few months and diving right into it on our little vacay seemed like a appropriate send off.  It was nice while it lasted, snow.  Now go away.

March 6, 2012 - 8:54 am

Dan - Great pics of a wonderful mid-week escape!

Upping the Cool Quotient.

Parents are rarely cool.  As much as you set out to be cooler than you parents were, you ended up making rules and set expectations for your kids that make them go “awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” when you try to enforce them.  Or maybe that’s just the sound emanating from our house 324 times a day lately.

So when we come up with an idea to do something that the kids will actually think is cool, we don’t hesitate.  Our latest project: a climbing wall.

Yep, that’s right, this weekend, Dan and I painted and built a climbing wall in the basement.  It was actually pretty easy and when it was done, Jaia took to it like a little monkey – as expected.  Wes was a little apprehensive, but ended up giving it a go anyway.  It’ll grow on him.  Or he’ll grow on it.  Either way…

It cost about $95 in total.  We bought a sheet of plywood (cut into 4 sections to fit in the car) and painted it with spray paint we already had on hand.  The climbing holds were purchased here.

So $95 for hours and hours and hours of fun.  And maybe a little bit of cool as a bonus.  Worth every penny.

March 5, 2012 - 3:03 pm

Sarah - What a great idea!

March 5, 2012 - 4:16 pm

Claudia - Now THIS is awesome! When can i bring my girls to climb?

March 6, 2012 - 9:22 am

Alicia - So cool.

We just spent Skye’s birthday at Altitude Gym in Gatineau. Amazing that you have your very own climbing gym in your basement 🙂

March 7, 2012 - 2:34 pm

Auntie Nissa - I would say your Coolness has hit its new maximum! Thats super, super neat!