April Already

Hard to believe that it's April yet again.  Lots of things happened in March some great, some not so much.  Auntie Carol passed away on March 28.  We’ve all been waiting for it with more expectations of it in the past couple of weeks.  It was time.  I’m very glad that she and her family don’t have to suffer anymore.  That being said, it’s still a very emotional thing to deal with.  Mom is taking it much harder than I thought she would.  She’s trying really hard to keep up a brave front but I can tell how upset she is.  I think this really shows in one of her FB posts:

“Rest in peace Carol. After a long hard journey, peace is finally yours. Sister, Wife, Mother, Grandmother Aunt and Friend, you will be missed. You will finally be with Jim again. Give my love to Mom and Dad and Dave. I love you and will miss you.”

It’s just her and Auntie Ellie now.  That’s a very sobering thought.  The memorial service will be taking place on Thursday.

And then there’s the very interesting and joyful things that are going on in addition to all that.  I auditioned to be in a commercial last week.  It was a very strange experience but one that I’m really happy that I have.  I’m not sure if I will make it past the auditions - I should find out today or tomorrow.  And then there’s the upcoming job interview that I have this evening for an Administrative Coordinator position for Round-Up and Stetsons.  I’m super excited about this.  On the outside it’s the perfect job for me right now.  It’s basically doing all the administrative stuff for the bands.  For me this is pretty easy stuff; it’s all the things that I did in my spare time as a band director because I had no one to do it for me.  It’s something that I would hopefully be able to do from home so that I can continue to stay home with the kids.  When I go a little deeper into what it could be, I see so much potential for growth.  I see all the things that the bands could be and I so want to be a part of them getting there!  I really hope that I get chosen for the position.

Kids at Play

The kids are playing together. I love this.  I am so happy that they like each other and play well together (most days anyway).  Elliott adores Payton and I’m pretty sure that she feels the same way about him.  

I also really enjoy listening to the way they play.  They are so good at using their imaginations and making up games and stories.  They are both extremely creative.  Lately Payton has decided to teach Elliott how to play board games.  She is very patient with him as he moves his men all over the board in Snakes and Ladders - he just wants to slide down the snakes.  As I listen to them, sooner than later she usually decides to just go with it and join in the snake sliding fun.  I cherish this quality in them now; the ability to change and be flexible.  I know that one day both of them will be more concerned with the rules and that makes me a little bit sad.  I want to foster creativity and flexibility in them as long as I can; hopefully those are skills that they will continue to use for the rest of their lives.  Yes, there are times to follow the rules, but I also want them to know that there are times to let loose and just go for it.  It’s a balancing act and all I can do is guide them the best way I know how.  For now, I think I’ll join in on their latest adventure - driving rocket ships to hunt zombies (and I have no idea where they learned about zombies from)!

Momma Bird & Baby Bird in their nest

They got new helmets and insisted on wearing them all day.

Summer in the Great North

Last year we bought a tent trailer. This summer we have really tried to make use of it as much as possible and have been going out camping every second weekend.  I love camping; the feeling of getting away from the city for a couple of days on a mini vacation is absolutely wonderful.  And the kids love it too.  Elliott is always so excited to find out that we're going and will ask us what seems like a hundred times "we get to have sleepover in trailer?".  Some of our excursions have been to places like Sundre, Drumheller, Banff, Piegon Lake, and Bragg Creek (Ryan has even been brave enough to take the kids out for the weekend by himself - twice!).  This past weekend we went out with the extended family for a long weekend and some birthday celebrations for Payton - I can't believe she's 5 already!

Afternoon naps

Drumheller

Rainy Day in the Badlands

Atlas Coal Mine

Day Hike in Banff

Hiking in Style

Beautiful View

The Bikes

The rest of the summer has been just as busy with lots of things to do and places to go.  I was able to sneak away for a weekend road trip with a few of the Wild West Vixens to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

The Vixens in Whitefish

Riding bikes

There have been trips to Butterfield Acres, Calaway Park and Heritage Park, Canada Day Celebrations, Wedding Celebrations for my sister, the Stampede and of course lots of sunny days to just relax and have fun riding bikes and playing at the park.  Payton being the adventurous child she is broke her arm and spent a month in a cast, but other than that and a few scraped knees, everyone has survived the summer (so far).

Fun at the Playground

Watching the Crew build our new Parking Pad

We had a parking pad put in beside our garage so that we would have a place to store the trailer.  Elliott loved every minute of it and spent the entire two days watching the crew work.

Ducks Crossing

Rescued Babies

We also had the chance to take part in what we affectionately refer to as the 'The Great Duckling Rescue'...six baby ducks fell down the storm drain and we had to call the fire department to come and get them out - high excitement at the Donahue house!

Rainy Days

Butterfield Acres - Making Friends with Baby Goats

Queen of the Hill

Canada Day

Watching the Geese

All Dressed up for Auntie Cassandra & Uncle Neill's Wedding

Handsome Boy

Payon & Mommy

Nimrodel, Taylin & Cassandra

The Whole Family

Flying a Jet at the Stampede

Stampede

 

Watching Mommy perform at the Stampede Parade on TV

On the Ferris Wheel at Calaway Park

Heritage Park

Vegetable Garden

Double Rainbow

 I'm really looking forward to September and all the new adventures that it will bring us.  Payton is starting kindergarden and will be spending every morning at her new school (which is French Immersion so that's a something new for us as well).  She will also be starting in the Calgary Youth Singers which she is very excited about!  Both kids will be taking swimming lessons in October and I'm sure that many more opportunities will arise as life contiunes on!

A few pics

She loves reading to him :)

B-Boy in the making?

Not sure what she was doing

The game is 'headsies' - all I know is they have fun doing it!

The Outdoor Life

It is once again that glorious time of year where the kids wake up, eat breakfast, put on their shoes and go outside.  This year it is even better because Elliott is at the point where he too can play outside by himself without constant supervision.  They absolutely love being outside and it is sometimes a challenge to get them to come in to do little things like eat lunch.  That's all right with me, I would rather have them grow up this way than sitting inside playing video games (although I'm sure that phase will present itself at some point).

Today as an added outdoor living bonus, I took the kids to the stairs at Memorial Drive and Centre Street for a bit of fitness.  I met a bunch of girlfriends there - we are motivating each other to be active.  I did the stairs, all 167 of them, 4 times - once with Elliott in the backpack on my back.  It was great to be able to do this with friends because it meant that someone was always at the bottom of the stairs;  I was able to leave the kids at the bottom of the stairs playing while I made the trek up and down.  Of course Payton seems to be half mountain goat and I think climbed the stairs about 6 times on her own - we'd get down and she would take off up them again with the next group of girls.  If only I had her energy!  After the 4th time, a couple of us decided to do the hill path once as a 'cool down'.  I strapped Elliott into the backpack once again and managed to make it to the top of the hill.  Phew.  Feels good to accomplish something like that in a day :)


In addition to the stairs, I got up earlier this morning to do an hour's worth of yoga.  I've been able to keep this up since my last blog entry, doing yoga every second morning, and I remember why I love doing it.  I always feel so good and relaxed when I'm done - it really is awesome!

Fit and Active

Spring is finally here (I hope)!  The snow has almost all disappeared and it is once again time to get outdoors.  Yet again I find myself lapsed into my winter fitness habits and needing to kick start my healthy and active living goals...sooooo...I walked Payton to preschool today.  It's about a 20ish minute walk there, 40 minutes round trip; and there's a rather large hill on the way so that adds to the challenge.  My goal is to walk her to school on nice days, walk in general whenever I can and start back with yoga at least 3 days a week.  I would like to start doing some weights again, but that will have to wait as our bowflex is still residing at our in-law's place.  Small steps  :)

Tales from the potty

I have decided to start 'potty training' with Elliott.  He's two now and I'm sick of changing diapers.  Of course it's not really potty training so much as potty encouraging...but I think we're making a bit of progress!  Here's what I've decided to do:

1. Switch back to cloth diapers.  I started out with the intentions to do cloth all the way like I did with Payton, but something strange happened - I think his pH balance is off or something.  As I was washing the diapers, they started to disintegrate - literally.  Since we don't have the monetary resources to keep us in an endless supply of cloth diapers, I switched him over to disposables when he was about 4 or 5 months old.  I did however hold on to the box with the larger cloth diapers in hopes that he would balance out and we could use them again.  When I decided that it was time for him to start trying to go on the potty I figured that I'd bring out the cloth; the idea is that he will be able to feel when he is wet (and really, we don't want him to be too comfortable in his diapers).  It also forces us to change the diaper more frequently.  Which brings me to point #2...
2. Change diapers in the washroom and sit him on the potty at every change.  The thought was to get him associating the washroom with where he does his business.  I didn't really expect him to start going on the potty and never wear diapers again (although wouldn't that be nice?).  What did happen was a bit of a surprise though; even though he isn't dry when we change him, he is managing to actually put some pee in the potty when he sits on it.  Not all the time, and usually not very much, but he is trying and is managing to do something about 80% of the time.  I'll call that a good start!

That's about it.  So far I'm not doing a sticker chart or any other reward system.  I'm not sure that he's ready for that yet.  I'm not going to push him, just let him know that this is how things are done and encourage him to do it.  If he doesn't it's no big deal, it will come with time.  Even though he is not going to train as easily as his sister (she was kind of a potty training freak of nature) I'm pretty confident that he will not be in diapers forever :)

Knitting Blog

I've decided to start a knitting blog to keep track of all my knitterly thoughts :)  Feel free to check it out!

http://myadventuresinknitting.blogspot.com/

Love

I love that Patyon and Elliott are starting to play together. I love that she holds his hand to help him while going up and down the stairs. I love that he will ask her for help with the things he's not able to do ("Paytee elp"). I love that they will collapse together in a giggling heap over something that only they find funny. I love that they tell each other lame knock, knock jokes. I love these two little people in my life more than I can ever describe.

Just keep cleaning, just keeping cleaning...

We have decided to put our house on the market! So exciting...and so much work! We've decided that it would be really nice to live a bit closer to the rest of our family and friends in south Calgary. It would mean less time commuting when we want to drop the kids off at the grandparents, more time visiting with friends and family because the drive wouldn't be quite so far. I'm so pumped at the idea of a new house as well, I mean really, who wouldn't be! I am not, however, so pumped at the prospect of cleaning, fixing and decluttering my current house to put it on the market. 'Sigh'. I've been putting things in boxes for storage for the past week and there is still so much to do. Ryan has retiled the master bathroom floor (a year and a half after we pulled it up - that's a whole other story), I've ordered the parts needed to fix the broken glass on the oven and this weekend the kids are spending the weekend with Granny and Poppy so that we can paint. Things are getting done but that doesn't mean that I don't wish I could wave a magic wand and have it show ready, and for that matter sold, so that we can get onto the business of a new home!