Tea Party at the Beach

When I got home from work (the day of the infamous pity party) Emily and Collin wanted to go outside and play. It was a gorgeous day so I agreed. Collin wanted to go out onto the porch but Emily wanted to go to the beach and have a tea party. I told her that since the backyard is still a swamp full of water that I figured the porch was like a beach. I agreed to bring out blankets and toys to the porch so she agreed to the compromise. (The beach is five minutes away but the thought of packing the kids up was enough to make me tired.) We had a great time. Emily and I wore our sun glasses and Collin kept throwing the toys into the watery grass. Yep he is definitely a boy. I had to make sure the toys were too big to fit through the slats of the porch because he really wanted to drop them through them. Since a family of raccoons live down there I was not a fan of having to go under there to retrieve. :) We had a wonderful time. The tea party ended with the Elders stopping by. Elder Dayton has been transferred to Kamloops and he wanted to say goodbye. We will miss him but he promises to give us a call if he ends up attending BYU-Idaho. It was a perfect ending to a day that didn't have the best start. (And yes, more often than not my children look like ragamuffins. Such cute children should have been born to a mother that would make sure they always look presentable.)

Yesterday was a pity party morning. Things have started to unravel in regards to our move and so I let the stress and disappointments over ride me yesterday while standing in the shower with hot water pouring over my head and face. I thought that it would allow me to let everything go and feel better. Not so much. Instead I spiraled into an even larger pity party. So I headed into the bedroom to vent to my wonderful spouse thinking if I said my concerns out loud they would magically disappear. Nope, just left two of us feeling overwhelmed. Has this ever happened to you? Where one annoying thing spirals into nothing is going right? It started with not having a job yet to not having enough money to move, to not having enough money to finish the process of getting a work visa to not having anywhere to move into to why does it matter if we move nobody will care. It spiraled to my struggles with losing this last 12 pounds to being a horrible house cleaner to those are the reasons that nobody wants to come and visit and so forth. Even into all the reasons I am not a good mom, wife or friend. Yep spiraled right out of control. As I drove to work I became angry that nobody cares enough to visit us that we are expected to make all the sacrifices to keep friendships going, etc. And then a quiet gentle reminder that I wasn't completely right. I have had some wonderful people in my life sacrifice to come and see me. The first example that popped into my mind was Todd & Bob Saunders and Alicia who all drove through the night to be there for me at my wedding reception in Canada. They didn't even stay for a full 48 hours. And then the names of those who have visited us came flooding into my mind. Rita and family, Becca and family, Janie, Mel and Vauna, Ashlee, Erik and Nykki (plus family), Jeremiah and Susanne (plus family), Susan and Jan, Auntie Margie, Grandma Knoll, Auntie Ruth, Uncle Lynol, Stephanie and Tye, Roberta, Belinda, Kristina, Brian and family, John and Diane (plus family), Bonnie.... the list goes on. Sure many of them were here to visit their parents or my parents but they took time out of the their schedule to see me. I realized that life goes on and everyone has struggles. It is not up to me to decide if people's priorities are correct. I need to only worry about my self. Suddenly all of my stress and disappointments felt lighter. They were still there but I knew that I wasn't alone in shouldering them. I have incredible parents who have stood next to me and offer me support without me having to ask. They help us out so much. I hope to emulate them as my children get older. I am grateful to all of my family and friends who have shown us love and support. I am sorry that I may forget about it momentarily during my pity parties but I want to thank-you. Now I need to take that step into the unknown and remember that this is what we are to do.

New favourite song....

This is so my life!
(I know its cropped off so this is the website if you want to see the whole screen)

Deep Breath

When Emily gets upset it is hard for her to calm herself. Part of our routine is to wrap her in her blanket then she and I do deep breathing for the count of 10. She doesn't usually join me until the last few but she know that we keep going until there are no more tears and she has started breathing as well. A few weeks ago I was really upset. The kids were destroying the house while yelling at each other as loud as they could. They weren't mad at each other. Just yelling. I thought I was going to go insane. Very loudly I yelled, "Be quiet or go to your room!" Emily stopped yelling, walked over to me and said, "Mommy deep breaths." She then started to take big breaths and count to five. I started to giggle and joined the breathing. By the time she got to five we were both laughing and I gave her a big hug and thanked her for helping me remember to breathe. It was so cute! Then a few minutes ago Collin was crying. I picked him up and Emily came walking over to us. She said, "Coyin, deep breaths." And she started deep breathing. Collin stopped crying and grinned at her. I joined in the breathing but was corrected because I was doing it wrong. I guess the right way sounds an awful lot like Lamaze. I promise Emily was not in the delivery room. :)

I love my daughter.

The Wonderful, Awesome Tyson

I have the best nephew ever. His name is Tyson.

Yesterday Emily was looking at the pictures we took at the temple last weekend and she decided that we should go back. Like right then. No excuses. It was very cute because she kept telling me why we should go. Since its six hours and two ferry rides away I said that we would drive by and see it another day. Then she noticed a picture of Cassie, my niece. So she decided that if she couldn't go to the temple she needed to go play at Cassie's house. Right then. No excuses. Well since Cassie lives in Idaho we live in BC I said no. I talked about how we would see Cassie this summer. Emily asked to call Cassie on the phone. So I called but Cassie was busy so she really wasn't participating in the telephone conversation. Emily kept saying, "Hi Cassie. (pause) I can't do it. I can't talk to Cassie." (Because she wasn't getting a response.) I told Emily we would call back another time. She was very sad and asked if she could talk to Tyson. So I called Idaho again. Tyson was gracious and said that he would talk to her. For a good couple of minutes Emily walked around the house babbling away to her cousin. Sometimes she would stop and listen and then start talking again. She told him about how she wanted to go to the temple but mom had said no. And about wanting to play with Cassie. And other stuff that I couldn't understand. She finally said goodbye and I chatted for a little while with Tyson. Emily was on cloud nine for the rest of the night. Thanks Tyson for making her night.

No you can't have him, he's my nephew. Rita and Nic you are doing a great job in raising a wonderful little man.

A word about Bears

I came home last night after being gone for two days to find that the bear had pushed open the door into my mud room, taken the garbage bag and spread it across my lawn and into the marsh next door.

I do not like bears.

PS My door does not shut now since the hinges are pulled out a little. Grrr!

"Mommy I want go to the temple."

During sacrament meeting (while in time out) Emily spotted a picture of the Vancouver temple. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, there's the temple." She looked at it for a minute and then said, "Mommy, I want go to the temple." I told her that it was a long car ride away. She said, "I like the car. Lets go in car to the temple. I love the temple."

The long hours in the car, the cost of the hotel room and ferry trip disappeared from my mind. My daughter loves the temple.

Crazy Cousins

When we arrived at church today Ethan ran up to me to tell me that he and Emily matched. It ends up he didn't want to get dressed today in his new suit and tie until his parents told him that Emily was wearing a new dress to church so he needed to wear his new suit to match. That did the trick. Ethan wanted a picture of the two of them together and I complied.

Emily's dress come from Mikarose. They make modest dresses, skirts, and shirts. I love their dresses. They had little girl dresses on sale for ten bucks so I bought some for Emily. The other three dresses are in 4T and 5T because she really didn't need any more dresses right now. But they were too cute and the price was so great I couldn't pass it up. This dress was only available in 3T but I had to have it. It makes me so happy to look at it. I wish I had a dress in the same style. You can't see the back but there is a big white bow and a really cute neck detail in the back.

Vancouver Temple

This last weekend we had the chance to go down and go through the open house for the Vancouver Temple. It was GORGEOUS! I saw some fabric on chairs that I want to have in my house. :) Emily loved it. As we pulled up in the bus that takes you up (if you park in the overflow) Emily looked out the window and said, "Mom I see the temple." (It was actually a church house but still cute) My Grandma Knoll, Aunt Margaret, Aunt Aileen, Jacob and my grandma's friend Jean were all able to come with us. (Plus my parents and Steve.) Since the others are not members it was great to hear their comments. I loved how they incorporated British Columbia into it. The murals were of the area around the temple and the Dogwood flowers were incorporated into everything. (For those who don't know, the Dogwood is BC's flower.) The Celestial room was breath taking. It truly is such a beautiful place and there is a special spirit there. It was incredibly busy but still a great experience. (We learned later that over 5000 people visited on Saturday) Emily loved it (Collin wanted lunch). I am so grateful that we were able to go as a family. I recommend a visit to the temple to anyone who is in the area. The open house continues until this Saturday. Here are some pictures we took afterwards.

My Aunt Aileen and Me

Our group (minus Aileen and Jake)
Our family with the temple in the background
Emily and Mommy
The front of the temple

Decorating Eggs

Matt, Ethan, Emily, my mom and I decorated Easter Eggs with the kids on Monday night. The kids were confused when they went to play in the toy room, came back five minutes later, and all the eggs were gone. We told them that the Easter bunny had hid the eggs and they would need to find them. They LOVED it. It is one of the things as a parent I love to do. When they had found all the eggs they wanted to do it again. (Matt tried to chuck the eggs when they weren't looking but they were too smart for that.) So they ran into the house and watched out the window while we hid the eggs. Grandma was supposed to distract them but it didn't work. They had just as much fun the second time around. Here are some of my favourite pictures.

A photo slideshow by Smilebox