Trick or Treat and Other Happenings

Another week has come and gone! Holy smokes! I had intentions of sitting down and blogging a few times this week but somehow something else always came up.

I started Week 1 of the Bridge to 10k program today. If I keep up with it I will be running 60 minutes straight by the end of the 6 weeks. That seems like an unbelievably long time but I would really like to say that I can run 10k, and when I started the 5k program I never thought I would be able to run 30 minutes straight and I did that, so there is hope I think.

Halloween was on Wednesday. The kids had a blast. I personally hate everything about Halloween. Its cute to see them dress up but that's about it. It was so cold too so they didn't go out for long. -8 and sleet. Definitely not as nice as years past. I was lucky enough to get candy duty while Nathan took them trick or treating.

The boys had Thursday off from school as they do annually on November 1st (smart school). We just kicked around home and enjoyed staying warm as it was freezing rain and the roads were a mess. Kids were off the wall by the end of the day but what can you really expect when you load them up with sugar and keep them penned up in the house?

Friday we headed to Calgary for the day as I had my 1 year follow up appointment with my plastic surgeon, so we pulled the boys out of school for the day and made a family trip out of it. Took them to the big fancy mall with the Bass Pro Shop. I think they enjoyed it.. though April wouldn't walk so Nathan ended up carrying her the whole way because we forgot the stroller. By the end of it we were all exhausted and all 3 kids slept for a good hour on the way home ( April slept the entire 2.5 hours). Unfortunately my plastic surgeon doesn't like the look of my scars though and wants to revise them on December 10th. Not over the moon about being cut open again but I will be happy if it makes them less noticeable.

Today was a lazy day. On some strange miracle the kids let me sleep in until 10. Not sure how it happened but I will attribute it to bags of halloween candy and the new squinkies that Colin bought with his birthday money last night. This weather we've been having is leaving me really drained though. We haven't seen the sun in quite a few days. It was quite warm today though and I was able to sneak my last run of week 1 in today. Nathan worked until 4:30 so the kids and I just hung around home, and I finished my book "The Maze Runner".

Graduation Day!

This is me today after I finished the last day of the Couch to 5K running program!  I did it! And I couldn't be more proud of myself. Today I did 5.09km in 30 minutes. It was a chilly -5 today so I bundled up.

Life

Its been an awfully long time since Ive blogged. I wish I was more consistent with it. I am going to try to commit to blogging at least once per week. Whats going on in my life these days? Well I am glad you asked :-p. Things seem to have gotten really busy and I am struggling with that. I am the kind of person who needs lots of down time or I feel like I'm drowning. These last few weeks have been a bit too busy for my liking. Joel started curling and Colin started soccer and they play on the same day every second week or so. I also volunteered to be on the curling board and do the attendance. I like it but its just another thing that I feel like I have stacked on my plate. I really shouldn't complain. I am blessed to be able to stay at home and I just have April at home now and so I have more time than 99% of people.

About 10 weeks ago I started the couch to 5k program. Its essentially a program that gets you from never running a day in your life to being able to run 30 minutes straight after 9 weeks. I used to hate running.. and when i say hate I mean absolutely despise it with every fiber of my being. But now I love it! I look forward to it. I cannot wait to get out there and see what I can do! I have never been so proud of myself in my whole entire life! My last run is this Friday and then I will be considered a graduate! I injured my leg a bit and have been seeing a physio therapist for a few weeks now to get it back to where it was. He has diagnosed me with tendonitis which I am told can be a bit of a tricky injury to heal. But its not the stress fracture that I thought it was so that's incredibly relieving! Its been a big learning experience!

 April is such a sassy little thing. She is full of personality. She knows what she wants out of life and wont stop until she gets it. She is in the princess faze right now, and her favorite princess's are Tiana and Ariel. She loves to dress up and would wear her princess dresses before the rest of her clothes all the time if I let her. She's a real sweet heart most of the time, but watch out if shes tired or hungry. She likes to use words such as poopy and hate to describe things. I think the first one definitely is influence of having 2 older brothers.

 Colin turned 6 last Saturday and we celebrated by going to the movie "Hotel Transylvania" and having a sleep over with his cousin Drew and his friend Jaxon. It was a lot of fun other than the boys waking up at 5:00 am. That made for some tired cranky boys especially after going to bed at nearly 10 the night before. Oh well.. that's what makes the memories.. right?

 Joel.. hmm what is new with Joel. Not too much really. Same old sweet sensitive.. and a little bit bossy boy that he has always been. He's been really enjoying his curling and he is also on the cross country team at school with Colin. I don't hear much from either boy about it, but I am just happy they are getting involved in things. He's in grade 3 now and says he wants to be a scientist who studies rocks when he gets older. I'm sure it will probably change though. That's the unit they are working on in school right now.

 Nathan has also started running and I am so proud of him! He has kept it up with me and it gives us something in common. It helps us both stay motivated and its also nice to have someone to talk to about it.

Busy Times

It has been a very busy few weeks at our house. I have been remodeling our kitchen and it has been a lot of work but the results are incredible. We went from fake oak cabinets to beautiful black with silver pulls and a gorgeous mosaic back splash. It looks so good. I still have one more coat to put on the island cupboard doors and we need to grout the back splash but its so close. I will post pictures once it is fully finished. It feels really good to know that I did all the renos and it turned out so great. Very rewarding.

Joel lost his 2 front teeth this past week. He has a great big gap now and it looks so cute :) I can't believe he is so grown up already.

Here is a picture of him after her lost the first one. I still need to take a picture of the 2 missing.

Not too much is new with Colin really. He is loving kindergarten and it is a nice break for me. Having just one kid around the house is easy!

April is OBSESSED with the movie Mamma Mia lately. She loves the music and would sit there and watch it over and over if i let her. We borrowed an ABBA cd from my dad today so I am going to burn it and maybe she will like listening to it for a while rather than watching the movie. She can sing a few of the songs too which is adorable. I still need to record it on video.

Nathan is quickly approaching his 30th birthday! Where did the time go? I swear it was just yesterday we were celebrating my 18th. Crazy how fast the years fly.

Sweet Kitty

This last week was a very hard week for me. Our precious kitty got very sick from ingesting foam flooring that created an intestinal blockage. We decided that the risk and cost of surgery was not something we felt we could go through with and made the difficult decision to end her suffering. On Saturday we said good-bye. She will be greatly missed. I am blessed that the kids are too young to really understand. That was a very big concern of mine before we put her down, was that the kids would take it really hard. Luckily they don't seem to notice to much. The boys have both asked if we can get another cat. I just pray that when the time comes we will find a new kitty that can fill Eva's paws.

Rest In Peace Sweet Eva!

Hot Lips

We were driving in the truck today and April was bugging Colin. He was starting to get annoyed and he turned to her and says "Hey! Stop that hot lips!"

The things they do.

I wanted to start doing more posts.. shorter posts more frequently. I really want to document my kids more often before they are grown and I forget the little things they do that you think you will remember forever. Here are a few of their quirky little habits.

Joel has been doing this for a long time but I am sure with time it will fade away. It drives me a little crazy but it is who he is and I want to remember it. It used to be more frequent, like every time he had anything to say but now its more random. He will say to whoever he is talking to "Can I ask you a question" before every single question he asks. I always tell him that he doesn't need to ask if he can ask that he should just ask the question, but he still does it. LOL! Crazy boy!

Colin loves blankets! He will take as many as he can carry and use them to turn into different things. It started out that he used to turn them into cars but now they will be just about anything from cars, to a space ship to the moon. "Come on April come get in my rocket ship". He has a wild imagination. Below is a picture of one of the first times he decided that all big blankets could potentially be cars. He even pulled Joel and Grandma in on the fun.

April's newest thing is that she loves jewellery and she calls all necklaces "my pretty". She loves to try on all sorts of different pieces and even dress up the cat with them. "Mommy Eva pretty". I am sure this is just a small preview of things to come.