It's done!

My mom gave us a patio set last year. It's been sitting in my basement, because I didn't have anywhere to put it.

Until now.

This weekend, Cameron & I worked in the hot sun to put in a patio in our backyard. We edged it with 4x4 treated lumber and filled it in with crushed limestone. The kids got right in there and helped, too. (And they enjoyed riding in the wheelbarrow and we went back and forth, hauling the sand and then the limestone.)



We didn't have a lot of money to spend, but I'm quite happy with the results.

Quite the photographer

Austin's getting to a good age. At seven, I can hand him my camera and get him to take a picture of me. And he does a pretty good job, too. He took the photo of Sage and me in my banner.

Kids are kind of handy to have. Who knew?

This is the life!

School is out and we are enjoying our first week of swimming lessons at the beach.

Having grown up over an hour away from a beach, I must say that I LOVE the fact that Morden has a beach and it is quite nice.

Austin is taking swimming lessons there this week and next week. So every afternoon, after Sage wakes up from her nap, we head to the beach and hang out with one of my best friends, Val. (Her kids are taking lessons there, too. We usually plan to take our lessons at the same time so we can hang out together!)

So this means the kids play in the water and on the sand. They use their nets to catch crayfish. Val and I chat as we keep an eye on our children. And we snack. I tell ya, it is a great time!

Austin even got burried in the sand by some classmates on Monday-- he giggled the whole time! Too funny!

Happy Canada Day!!

Our Canada Day wasn't overly exciting. We donned our Canada t-shirts (halter tank for Sage!), went for a couple of bike rides, ate some ice cream cones and freezies and had a movie night after supper.



I love this wonderful country and feel very blessed and thankful to live here!

Good for me

At the beginning of 2006, I set two goals. The first was to lose 27 lbs. I’m about half way there.
The second was to run in the Terry Fox 10km Run in September. To do so, I knew I needed to start training.
I’ve never run before. Ever. I never liked it and would use my asthma as an excuse not to. But inspired by the Terry Fox movie last fall and all the runners I know, I decided to start.
So, I started slowly. I ran for a block and walked for a block. I did this for 2.5 km every few days, until I built up to running for two blocks and walking for one. Again, over and over for 2.5 km. Today, I ran 3, walked 1. After I’m able to do four blocks of running, I’ll increase my distance.
I knew that running would be good for my physically. However, I was surprised at how good it has been for me spiritually.
I get up at 6:15am to be able to be back before Cameron has to leave to go drive bus. I heard that it’s easier to get outside if you know someone is waiting for you, so I imagine that Jesus is waiting for me at the end of my driveway and we go for a run together.
It’s great. I pray, vent, praise and plan my day, but with Jesus in mind. I ask him questions and try to listen for the answer. I enjoy the beautiful day he’s given me, with him.
It has been so wonderful for me, I can’t even begin to describe it.So I’m very thankful that I started running. It’s been really good for me.

Happy 70th Birthday, Mom!

This Spring, I started wondering what to get my mom for her 70th birthday (she is the queen of shopping and never needs anything!) I came across an idea in Simple Scrapbooks Celebrations 2 of making an album called 70 years, 70 memories. I called and emailed family and friends to send memories of my mom so I could put them together in a 6x6 album. Here are the results:

Anticipating summer

Only a few more days until summer vacation… and until Austin is home full time. Jonah, Sage & I found a groove this year with Austin in school all day. I can’t say he won’t disrupt it either.

So, I’m making some plans…

First of all, to avoid the constant request for television, I plan on taping the CBC morning line-up so the boys can watch the shows after lunch while Sage naps, thus keeping our mornings tv free.

I’m also planning on encouraging lots of reading this summer, so we’re going to sign up for the reading program at the library. I also want to spend some one-on-one time with Austin, so I’m planning on putting Jonah and Sage to bed at 8 in the evenings and keeping Austin up a little later to read with him.

I’m also planning on keeping busy and having fun, with play dates, bike rides, trips to the park, the zoo and swimming lessons (which means trips to the beach.)

Here’s to a great summer of 2006!

Get to know me

I saw this on Heather's blog and thought it was fun so here you go...

1. FIRST NAME? Leigh
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last night after an argument with Cameron.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? yes, but not as much as other people's.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? roasted turkey breast
6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? three, Austin, Jonah & Sage
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? This is it.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Not really. ;)
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I think so.
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Runners, yes. Other ones, no.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Skor.
16. SHOE SIZE? 8
17. RED OR PINK? Probably pink...
18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My 15 pounds that I can't seem to lose!
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad.
20. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Woman's Pavillon at the Health Science's Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on August 14, 1972.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Khaki shorts and barefeet.
22. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a monster cookie (hmmm, could this maybe be why I can't lose the 15 lbs?)
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My computer hum.
24 IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? right now, I'd pick watermelon red.
25. FAVORITE SMELL? newborn baby
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE? Anita, oh no, wait, some telemarkerter after supper.
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MEET? I don't know. Their face?
28. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Changing the lyrics to songs spur of the moment.
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Skim milk
30. FAVORITE SPORT? Softball
31. HAIR COLOR? brown
32. EYE COLOR? green
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Rarely, because they make my eyes feel SO dry.
34. FAVORITE FOOD? French fries (Hmmm, could be more evidence towards the mystery of the non-missing 15 lbs...)
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? happy ending, not a fan of scary movies
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Scooby Doo with my kids tonight.
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? a black tank top.
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? definitely, without question, SUMMER!
39. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate. (Okay, mystery solved!)
41. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? just started a Ray Blackstone book (Lost in Rooville) from our church library today, but am not really enjoying it, so I don't think I'll finish it.
42. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? a picture of my family (a gift from Anita!)
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My kids sleeping.
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? neither
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? England
46. IF YOU COULD PICK ANY TWO PEOPLE TO HAVE DINNER WITH, WHO WOULD THEY BE? Francine Rivers and Angela Hunt (two of my favourite authors)

A day at the horses

Well, actually, it was a couple of hours at our friends' house who recently got a horse. (I actually took these photos a few weeks ago but didn't get around to posting them until today.) The horses name is King and he is the nicest, most gentle horse I've ever seen.

Sage had probably the best time of her life. She would pick grass and feed it to King and I don't think she stopped smiling.

That is, until...
Cameron decided to put her on the horse.
Then it was a different story.

She lasted maybe 30 seconds and then she wanted off.

The boys however, each went for a ride around the pasture and really enjoyed it.

Retreat!!

Our church held it's annual retreat this past weekend at Rock Lake. This is the first time we've had it there. Since the camp was less than an hour away, I figured it'd be very doable to take the kids there for the day on Saturday while Cameron cut hay. So that's what we did. The forecast was for rain, which held off until suppertime, leaving us with plenty of time to hang out at the beach. My kids had a great time: throwing rocks into the lake, "fishing," swimming, playing on the sand (& Austin getting buried in it!)
I had a wonderful time hanging out with friends and helping out with the younger kids during one of the sessions. My boys helped make monster cookies and they all made crafts in honour of Father's day.





The perfect end to a great day? The rainbow that appeared in the sky as we drove home.

R.O.X. is winding up

Well, our Sunday school program, ROX (which stands for Radical over Christ) is winding up for the year. I can't even tell you how much I enjoy being a creative communicator (aka large group teacher) there. It is such a rush. I love teaching the kids about God and how they can have a friendship with Jesus.

This morning, we did a bit of a review and asked the kids to talk about something that has stood out to them in the past 10 weeks of lessons. There were so many kids who raised their hands and shared about how they're trying to forgive, or turning off the tv or video games to spend time with their siblings, or living Jesus' way. It was really cool.

A couple of kids shared how they asked Jesus to be their forever friend, which was so cool. A grade six girl shared how she told her friend about Jesus and how they prayed together to ask Jesus to be her forever friend. It was so encouraging to hear. It's so overwhelming to think of how God uses me to teach these little ones about Him.

Definitely a highlight of my week. And of my life.

Not good!

So I've been trying to clear some perenials out of my garden to make room for some vegetables in one of them and convert a second garden into a patio. I've posted on MSS and asked friends: "Do you need perenials? Come and dig them up."

Yesterday, my friend Susan came over with her kids to get some. Adam, her eight month old baby started crying, so I offered to carry her last pot (think large) to her van so she could hold Adam. Everything was going fine until I stepped off the curb and fell, twisting my ankle and skinning my knee. I got up after a minute and my ankle felt fine, but while I was making supper, it started to feel worse. So, following the advice of my ER nurse friend, Marlo, I'm icing it and taking Advil.

And, we only had Dora bandaids in the house, so I looked pretty cool at Austin's baseball game last night, let me tell you!

And of course, today, I have plans to go to Winnipeg this afternoon with the Creative Communicators from ROX for a matinee, shopping and supper at a Thai restaurant. So I guess I'll be limping around Old Navy...

Hope you have a great (an spastic accident-free) day!

Good week

We've had a busy, but good week this week.

Most of the week was spent getting ready for the garage sale that my friend, Susan, and I had at her house on Thursday and Friday. Got rid of some baby stuff (yup, we're done!) and it felt great just to purge some stuff we don't need out of our house!

Yesterday morning, I walked 5 km in Winkler for the Crisis Pregnancy Centre walk-- my first "walk"! I walked with my friend, Lorie, who had injured her foot, so I told her that she could set the pace. Ha! She totally was cruising-- I had to work hard to keep up! But we got a good time: 51 minutes. (Or, at least, I thought it was good! We beat the two 9 year old girls behind us, so we were happy!)

In the afternoon, we walked to Austin's friend's house and the kids went swimming. On the way home, Sage was determined to pull the wagon (as usual!) However, when Austin and Niko climbed in, she kept on pulling it! She amazes me, that baby girl of mine!

So today, we had church, lunch at home and I scrapbooked while Sage and Cameron napped. In a little while, we'll walk to Warky's to meet some friends for supper.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Monday, Monday

Well, we had a pretty good weekend. Cameron agreed to paint my mom's livingroom, so we went drove to Winnipeg on Saturday morning. While he painted, I took the kids to Old Navy & the Pan Am pool, where we met some friends and had a great time.

Yesterday, after church, I worked a shift at our baseball canteen. I ended up working with two women from my church and we had a good time visiting.

Last night was the Alias series finale. I loved this show and am sorry it's done.

Today, I'll be doing some cleaning, yard work, laundry and hopeful finish pricing stuff for my garage sale. Ah, the exciting life I lead...

Have a great day!

Two blocks!

Okay, I went for my run this morning (yes, I'm actually still doing it!) and I was able to bump up to "run two blocks/walk one." I've tried this the last two times I've gone, but haven't been able to keep it up for the whole 2.5K.

But this morning (insert trumpet music here: Dum-da-da-dummm!) I did it for the whole distance.

It's cool to see my body actually getting better at this. I just know it's going to pay off in huge ways for me: feeling better about myself, increasing my endurance, helping me in baseball and hopefully, (my biggest reason) reaching my weight loss goal.

I've been kind of stuck lately with getting back on my eating program, but this morning, I'm resolved. To eat healthier, count calories (fun, fun!) and avoid sugar, white flour & deep-fried foods.

Gasp. Did I just write that down.

Hopefully, this will help me stick to it.

So if you see me eating anything I shouldn't, feel free to knock it right out of my hands!

*An update: I took Austin to the hairdressers and she beaned him. She set the clippers and cut off all of his hair the same length, so it's definitely the buzz he wanted! When she did it, I thought: "I could do that." But then I realized that, no, I guess I could not.

Note to self

Don't ever try to cut your kids' hair again. Ever.

It started when Austin wanted a buzz cut. I guess a few kids in his class have them and he wanted one, too. Personally, I'm not partial to them, but I figured, hey, it's just hair, so why not?

So, I borrowed my sister-in-law's trimmer and thought, how hard can this be?

Well, I found out.

It was extremely hard.

I did a horrible job. It was uneven, crooked and I don't even want to mention the butcher job I did around his ears!

I can't even bring myself to take a picture, it's that bad!

I made an emergency hair appointment for before school this morning. Here's hoping the hair dresser can fix it!

Yay!!

I'm so excited!

A bride-to-be and her mom came over this morning and hired me to make wedding invitations for them! Yay!!

This is totally what I wanted to do when I started LPdesigns -- make custom cards for people.

So now I'm off to My Scrap Shoppe this afternoon to pick up some supplies to get started on my sample.

Not much to say

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Not much is going on around here.

It's seeding time, so my husband, who farms his parents' land, is gone a lot lately. So it's just me and the kids.

The past couple of days have been gorgeous so we've been working in the yard. Today is cool and I'm wimping out and spending the days indoors. Doing laundry. Tidying up. Getting stuff together for a garage sale. Thinking about pricing the stuff.

And during Sage's nap, I scrapbooked. I got two pages done with the July kit at My Scrap Shoppe, which I'm happy with.

The kids want to go to the movie store and have a movie night tonight. The thought of snugling together on the couch and eating popcorn is very appealing so I think we might just do that.

Then, my friend, Darlene is picking me up at nine and we're going to DQ for coffee. (Okay, more like a pop and fries!) We have to go to DQ because it's the only restaurant in town that's open until 11pm. The other restaurants we've frequented have kicked us out at 10pm-- just when the conversation was getting rolling!

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!

Seven years

Well, my son Austin turned seven yesterday and we celebrated in style! I took him, Jonah & five of his friends bowling in Winkler, where they had a great time-- bowling and "playing" the arcade games there. Then it was back to our house for hotdogs, a dinosaur birthday cake (made by yours truly!), gift opening and a treasure hunt to find the kids' treats to take home. The weather was perfect. The party was done by 6:30 and went by really fast, which was nice.

I took lots of photos of the party (I know, you're shocked!) but my favourites are these two:

I just love how everyone is smiling (well, almost everyone) for the camera, but Jonah is smiling at Austin. Too cute!

I snapped this one right after Jonah blew out Austin's candle. Priceless.

Trip to Calgary

I had such a great time in Calgary this past weekend!

I never go anywhere, especially by myself, so this was a huge experience for me (& a treat!)

My flight was uneventful, but exciting nonetheless. I was greeted at the airport by this beautiful woman, Cindy:

She is such a sweet, loving and generous person-- I am so blessed to have her as a friend!

We spent the whole weekend together and had a blast! Swimming with her family, trying Vietnemese food for the first time, shopping at Ikea, meeting my friend, Heather, in real life (who turned out to be just as wonderful in person as she has been in her emails to me!)

Don't we kind of look alike? I think she's the sister I always wanted!

I also enjoyed meeting some of Cindy's new friends at a bar-b-q Saturday night & hanging out with other friends from Morden on Sunday afternoon. (Cindy is blessed with lots of wonderful new friends in Alberta-- I'm so happy for her!)

We also enjoyed scrapbooking together on Saturday & Sunday nights. Although, I must confess, Cindy is much more of a night owl than I am! And, I'll never be able to hear the song "I'll fly away" again without thinking of her (she sang it all weekend long!)

So, I arrived home safely last night, to be reunited with my family, who were all pleased with the gifts I'd bought them! Thanks for your prayers-- I really appreciate them!

An update

So, it's 7:17am and I have already gone for my second run (okay, walk/jog) this morning. I ran the same distance today, but it only took me 22 minutes. I'm going to take the weekend off and start again next week, eventually moving up to running two blocks and walking one.

I leave for Calgary tomorrow!! I'm 90% excited and 10% nervous. I've never left Sage before. I have gone to Calgary twice before with a group from our church for Children's Ministry stuff, but we always drove. This time, I'm flying!

I'm totally looking forward to hanging out with Cindy and going to IKEA, etc. It should be lots of fun and I'm hoping to scrapbook with her, too, if we have time.

I'm also looking forward to meeting Heather !!! We "met" through Scraptivity and have been emailing each other back and forth since before Christmas. She has become such a great friend to me and I can't wait to meet her face to face!! It'll be great!

So, I'm sending out a request for prayer for the weekend. If you would like to pray for me, I'd appreciate prayer for safety for me, as I travel, and for my family, as they stay here. (This is the 10% nervous part!) Thanks!

I spent last Saturday at Super Scrap Day, hosted by My Scrap Shoppe, where I had a great time! I got 10 layouts done in 12 hours, which I was quite pleased with. If you click on the link in this paragraph, you can get to my gallery to see most of the layouts. This one was one of my favourites, though.



Have a great weekend!

I found it!

Okay, I found the link on the Simple Scrapbooks website to my album. Here it is: My babies album

It looks so cool on their website. AND, they called it "her too-cool album." How awesome is that!

The only correction I'd like to make is that for the 6 weeks old layout on page one, it's turned wrong. It should have the title running up the left side of the page and the photos in a row from top to bottom.

I went for a run!!

This morning, I went for a run!

This is news because I don't run! Ever! I've always blamed it on my asthma, and, of course, my laziness.

But I set two goals for 2006: to lose 27 lbs. (I'm already half there!) and to run in the Terry Fox Run in fall, so I thought it might be time to start training!

So, this morning, shortly after 6:30am, I went for a run. Well, it was a walk/ jog. I'd walk a block, then jog a block, etc. until I got home. I haven't measured it out, but I'm pretty sure it might be a little further than 2 km.

So, now I'm tired and my head hurts a little, but I feel pretty good! Let's see how motivated I am to do this again!

*Edited: I measured it when I took Austin to school, and it was 2.5 km. That means that if I jogged half, I jogged over 1 km today!

Interacting

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm not very good at playing with my kids. Like playing with toys or Lego or cars.

However, I love this:



Talking to my kids. Listening to what they tell me. Joking with them. Teasing them. Interacting with them. Making them smile. Making them laugh.

Making a connection.

Ten years

Ten years ago today, Cameron and I got married. This is a real milestone for us! After the kids were in bed, we set up the tripod and had some fun with the remote for my camera. These are my favourite shots.




On Saturday, we're going to a photo studio to get some portraits taken of the two of us, the kids and the five of us.

Happy Easter!

Okay, so I'm a day late...

Our Easter weekend was a busy one. We went to the Good Friday service at our Rec Center (5 churches combined for the service) and then to my sister-in-law's for the rest of the day. It was beautiful, so we went for a nice long walk and the kids played in the park for a while. So nice that Spring is finally here!

On Saturday, we spent the day raking at my mother-in-law's farm. Lots of work. She has a big yard. I raked and worked on memorizing the drama I performed in on Sunday morning at our church. I think my nephew got a little tired of listening to me tell the Easter story over and over and over...

On Sunday, we planned an egg hunt for the kids. It was actually nice enough this year that we could have had it outside, but I hid the eggs in our living room. The kids loved it.



At church we did our drama, which went well (whew!) After lunch, we drove to Winnipeg to visit my mom.

It was a nice weekend.

Love this!

I got home at lunch, after picking up Austin, and the doorbell rings. And here is the UPS guy with my "My babies album" and the May/June copy of Simple Scrapbooks. How cool! It was neat to see my album in print (even if I'd already peeked at it this morning at Anita's!)



In the magazine it says you can check out the rest of the album online here: www.simplescrapbooksmag.com/mag, but I couldn't find it anywhere. If someone else finds it, please let me know.

Not a baby anymore

I've probably already posted something with this title before, but now it is official.

Sage is no longer a baby.

Why?

Because of this:





No, not the full head of curls (which are adorable & I know not baby-like!) but the fact that she climbed onto the top bunk of the bunkbed by herself. With no help. She climbed up that ladder, smiling the whole time at what she can do.

I hope this doesn't mean that I have to stop calling her "Baby Girl", because I don't know if I can do that!

Goodbye, Satellite

Our neighbour goes down south for the winter and as a thank-you for us keeping an eye on her place while she's gone, she lets us use her satellite.

However, she returned yesterday. Sigh.

So, the satellite was returned yesterday. Sigh.

I didn't realize how much I was use to it. I love scrolling through the menu to see what's on.

So it's back to peasant view for us. Now I'll have to flip through the five channels we get to see what's on.

Sigh.

Scrapbooking me

This is a layout I made for the international scrap yourself challenge. The journaling reads: "I am a child of God. I am a woman. I am a wife. I am a mom. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a twin. I am a friend. I am a life artist. I am a reader. I am a writer. I am sensitive. I am friendly. I am honest. I am both an introvert and an extrovert. I am genuine. I am caring. I am creative. I am organized. I am structured. I am content. I am thankful. I am loved."

Skating carnival

Austin has been taking skating lessons since fall. He is in CanSkate and got his level 1 & his level 2 badges this year.

Last night was the skating carnival-- their windup and presentation for the year. The theme was Grease. Oh, what a fun time! Austin was one of the football players at the pep rally-- so cute!! They skated to Oh Mickey (You're so fine).



The skaters got chocolate bunnies for participating, as well as a "record" with their name on it. Austin asked me what it was and I had to explain to him what people listened to before MP3s, CDs and cassette tapes!

Remember

Crystal suggested I scrapbook the photo of me holding my daughter while she's sleeping. I already did! So I thought I'd post the layout here:



If any of you would like to see more of my layouts, you can find most of them here:
My Scrap Shoppe Gallery (Leigh)

Everyday

We do this almost everyday. After lunch, we grab Sage’s soother and her blanket and sit together in the navy blue chair in our living room. Jonah often joins us and watches TV on the couch while I hold Sage until she falls asleep. It’s a nice cuddle time that I really enjoy. In the evening, we do this again, after we’ve eaten night lunch & her brothers are in bed. We sit together, I pray for her and she falls asleep in my arms.

Life artist

On Ali Edwards' blog today, she wrote this:

"I introduced my new name for scrapbookers/creative people who are into celebrating life through art: life artist. "Scrapbooker" just doesn't cut it - it is so much more than that name implies.

"So who is a life artist? Do you take photos of your family, yourself, your environment, your world? Do you tell stories? Do you bring them all together onto paper, into your computer, onto a canvas (or some other cool concoction)? Do you create art journals with all kinds of wonderfully interesting pieces of your life and thoughts and emotions? Do you celebrate your life through your art?

"You are a life artist.

"I am a life artist.

"And man, I love it."

I love this term!

I am a life artist.

So cool!

This little piggy...

... is so cute!

My mom bought this towel (along with a cat one and an elephant one) for the kids last Christmas. The boys were playing outside after supper (gotta love the longer days!) and I gave Sage a bath. She wasn't crazy about the towel until I started playing "This little piggy went to market..." with her. Then, she was giggling and pretty much just being her adorable self!

The ONLY way I like to camp...

I am not a camper. I never went camping until I was in grade 11 and didn't take to it well then at all. Cameron and I have camped a few times with friends or while travelling somewhere, but it's not something either of us have really enjoyed. The last time we camped was on the way back from B.C., where I was awakened in the middle of the night by Austin throwing up on MY sleeping bag! Not a pleasant experience at anytime, but especially unpleasant at 7 months pregnant. Needless to say, we stayed in a hotel the next night!

Now, however, I have a 3 year old who has been asking me lately if we can go camping. So, because I dislike it so much (& because there is still a TON of snow outside!), I came up with a good solution. This morning, I set up our tent in our basement so he and Sage could "camp". They loved it!

Five things

On CKonline today, I read this by Ali Edwards (love her!)

"Welcome to life. Before reading any further, stop. Look around and note five things in your environment, five things that are happening right now. "

Here are mine:

1) I'm chatting on the phone with Anita (love her, too!)
2) My laundry is waiting to be folded.
3) Jonah is watching Treehouse.
4) Sage is napping.
5)My furnace kicked in, warming up my cold basement.

Nothing too exciting, but this is my life on a typical weekday afternoon.

Easter cards

I worked on Easter cards this week to sell in the two stores that sell my LPDesigns cards. I decided to make them without buying anything new, that is, to use up some stuff from my stash. (I think I bought this Chatterbox paper right after Sage was born!) I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Coffee

Okay, so I don't actually drink coffee (a friend at church asks me when I'm going to be a grown up and drink coffee!) but I love to go for coffee. With Jonah & Sage as my constant companions, I don't actually get to go to a restaurant for coffee very often. But on Sunday evening, after the kids were in bed and Cameron was settled on the couch, I did get to go out with a friend for coffee. One drawback of the town where we live: the restaurants close at 10pm! So, the waitress let us linger a little longer as she cleaned up. So nice to visit, have a few fries (shh!) and talk without constant interruptions.
Then, this morning after taking Austin to school, our team went to another friend's house for coffee. So, my coffee comes in the form of hot chocolate (sugar free, of course!), but that's okay. It was nice to sit on her couch, with the kids occupied with different toys than they find at our house, and catch up. The days just seem so busy and are flying by, it was nice to reconnect with a very good friend this morning.
And now, with Sage asleep and Jonah watching Dora (even Sage can say "doe-a"!), I'm hoping to get some Easter cards made this afternoon, before picking up Austin and his friend from school this afternoon.
Just an example of the not-so-exciting, but ever-so-content-with life I lead!

Another inspiring quote

My friend, Heather, is doing a 21 day challenge, in which she creates a page for her art journal everyday. She's posting them on her blog and they are fabulous. Not only wonderfully designed, but filled with honest journaling and wonderful quotes. Here's one from today that really resonated with me:

"Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be." Karen Rayn

It's so true. I've been talking with a friend lately who always wants to get to the heart-- the centre of us. What really matters. And this can be hard for me. I don't always want to "go deep." Sometimes, shallow seems safest. But this quote reminds me that I'm only going to live a shallow life, if I refuse to "go deep." So, as hard as it can be, that's where I want to go.

Shopping!

It was a day off from school yesterday, so I took all three kids into the city to see my mom and do some shopping! We went to Old Navy, where we did pretty well. I've scheduled a professional portrait for Cameron and my 10th anniversary in April, so I was looking for clothes to wear for that. I found a coral cardigan for myself, and a coordinating cardigan for Sage. It's a lighter coral on top, with a strip of cream around the middle and a soft yellow at the bottom (the colours kind of blend into each other), so it's not the same as mine, but it'll match well together in the portrait. I also got her a black t-shirt, because I thought if we take some photos of the three kids together, I thought it would be nice if they were all in black. I got black t-shirts for the boys and Cameron--black with white stitching. (Although, Cameron said he doesn't like the stitching and the one for Jonah is kind of big. So I think I'll return them and try to just find some plain black t-shirts, which could be a challenge. Black is hard to find for kids.) I also ended up buying a black spring jacket for myself at the mall. We went to McDonald's for lunch-- always a hit with the kids! And we didn't stay too long at the mall. We hung out at my mom's condo for a bit in the afternoon, before driving home. All three of my kids fell asleep in the van, which made it a nice quiet drive for me, but a bit of a challenge for bedtime in the evening!

Something true

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
--by Marianne Williamson

I read this quote in a John Eldridge book (Waking the Dead) a few months ago. My friend, Heather, posted it on her blog today. I reminded me of how much I liked it when I read it and how much I struggle with believing that it is true about myself. I can so often swing between believe that I am such a loser and that I am great. I'd love to stop believing the lies that I've been told (that I'm a loser) and start living with the belief, the sure, unshakable belief that I am "brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous." Wouldn't there be a lot more joy in that?