Challenges and Fun times - Another Week

Occasionally we go out to eat with the kids to remind ourselves why it's not a great idea. So this is a pretty fun place really close to us. There is an arcade and like a 50s hockey theme. It actually wasn't too bad until we decided to have ice cream. I don't know if you can see the big tear on Tegan's face, but she had a bit of a meltdown over the ice cream. I got her vanilla in a cup. She didn't want it and was reaching for my pistachio ice cream cone. So I thought she wanted a cone, so I got her one and put some of her ice cream in it. Still mad. Then Gordon decided he didn't like his bubble gum flavor (not a big deal to him, he just went and played in the arcade room). So I gave Gordon's to Neil who liked the bubble gum flavor and then I gave Neil's strawberry to Tegan. Then everything was happy and Gordon even finished Tegan's vanilla. Leaving the place was another story.

The boys and Tegan playing during Neil's lesson and before their swimming lessons.

They are totally posing in this picture, trying to make it look like they are being crazy. In reality they were really good this week at swimming lessons and listened. =)

Mess of the Week

Someone thought it would be a great idea to shove a whole role of toilet paper down the sink while Mommy was switching the laundry. =P

Dress of the Week

This dress looked so cute on our little princess on Sunday. It is one from her cousin Elisabeth. Tegan says thank you to her fashionable cousin. Oh, and I found these cute little necklaces at Children's Place. She loves to wear necklaces, but always breaks the ones with beads so this was a great find.

Apples! We go through a ton of apples. Mainly because of Neil. He calls himself Appleman. He is like a walking garbage disposal. He loves all fruits and vegetables and eats them all. I had to quit doing a compost because... ok maybe I won't get into that but it was gross. Anyway that apple a day keeps the doctor away... Neil's got that covered.

So my broken foot has been getting better. The only time it really bugs me is at the end of the day when I think about it. Now I can walk on it without crutches which makes life MUCH easier. Hurray for getting better and being able to carry Tegan when I need to! I have another doctor appointment next week, so I'll be able to have my cast off for a few minutes anyway and see how things are going.

Happy Victoria Day!!

Hurray for the long weekend! Hubby had Friday through Monday off. I love holidays. I don't feel a real connection to this holiday since I did not grow up in Canada, but since my kids and Hubby are all Canadian, I like to find out what the holiday is all about.

Here is a link about Victoria Day if you are interested.

Made it through another week! This week I went back to the doctor and got a walking cast. HURRAY! At first it was VERY awkward, but I am starting to get used to it and things are getting easier. It is amazing how much a little broken bone can change your life.

I took a picture in between casts. You can really tell the difference with my feet next to each other. It sure feels weird to have the cast off. Especially when my cast is off, it is difficult to imagine how the body is able to heal itself. I think it will be quite miraculous when I am able to walk normally without a cast again.

Friday we went swimming, well the rest of my fam did. There's me, in the purple cast. =) Tegan didn't want to swim either, maybe because I wasn't in the water. But everyone else had a blast. The boys were practicing their moves they have been learning at swimming lessons.

Gordon going down the slide.

Brothers in the hot tub. =)

Dress of the Week

They had a Victoria Day weekend sale at Children's Place this weekend, so I stocked up on summertime essentials from there. 40% off everything. I love Children's Place. I am always amazed at how inexpensive their stuff is and it's super cute. Anyway, this outfit is from there.

I love her curls. =)

Mess and Dress of the Week and an MYC Recital

A picture of Neil just cause he would have been the only one not in this post and I LOVE his smile. That boy is the sweetest snuggle pie on the planet!

Dress of the Week

I was working on getting the kids in the car and Princess T discovered some sand. Hubby Wubby was tied up with other stuff. Luckily an awesome person came along and helped me get her into the van and I caught a cute picture.

... I didn't do it.

So I made it through another week. Another week of hoppin'. I am thoroughly annoyed with my foot, but I'm trying to stay positive and not let it dampen my spirits. Actually, today was a really awesome day. A super awesome friend dropped by and helped me put up some curtains and swept my floor and took out the garbage for me. Another super awesome person unexpectedly dropped off some tasty food for us. Hmmm... maybe I should break my foot more often. Totally not serious, but today was happy.

Saturday Gordon had a recital. The end to his music year. So he is done until fall. This year the MYC teacher decided to have two recitals because she was having trouble getting a day when all of her students could attend. It ended up that there not very many children that went on the same day that I chose, so the teacher invited Jamin to play a couple pieces at the recital as well even though he is now in private lessons with a different teacher.

Here it is. Enjoy.

Mother's Day 2011

I know Mother's Day is long past, but I never posted about it.

Here are my awesome Mother's Day gifts

from Jamin

from Gordon

I love the shoe. I thought it was so funny that he would make me this especially with my left foot broken.

Matthew asked the boys what they liked about Mommy and wrote it down.

Neil said - "I like Mommy"

"Mommy gets dressed"

"Mommy draws a paper for me"

Gordon said - "She helps me do music"

"She cooks me breakfast"

"I love Mommy because she gives me food"

Jamin said - "I love Mommy because she's nice!"

"She helps me with the things I need help with"

I thought it was super cute! I tell my husband not to buy me anything for Mother's Day because I like the homemade heartfelt stuff from the kids the best. =) He can buy me stuff on the other holidays.

Then my Father in-law and Hubby Wubby made an awesome dinner and I even got a couple pretty flowers from church. Overall, it was a great Mother's Day. It is always nice to feel appreciated.

Life as a One-footed Momma and Dress of the Week =)

Life is definitely interesting since getting back from Hawaii. Everything is a little more difficult. Since breaking my foot, I am not able to put any weight on that foot and have to hop, crawl or use my crutches to do everything.

Some of the hardest things are...

being patient and waiting for my hubby to bring the laundry up or down the stairs for me.

when children fall asleep driving home. What do ya do?

not being able to go outside because I can't get the kids back inside on my own.

the doctors voice in my head telling me I need to keep my foot up. Ok, fine I put it up.

getting the kids to bed when my hubby isn't home.

the blister forming on my good foot from hopping so much. =P

being so slow.

stairs. Stairs and I are not getting along at the moment, but I'm getting a little better.

getting out of the bathtub and not being able to shower.

having to ask for help sometimes.

not being able to run a marathon like I had planned.

Wah wah poor me.

Ok, now that I got that out...

Good things are...

a new perspective on life. Some moms live with disabilities all the time. I feel very compassionate towards them lately. Not that I didn't before, but I feel like I have a small glimpse.

my kids have been very helpful getting things for me and my hubby has been helping with stuff that is very difficult for me when he is home. I usually have a list of things I need him to do at the end of every day and he does the grocery shopping.

my kids are learning to be a little more patient.

I can still do most things, just in a different way than before.

I like cloudy rainy gloomy days because I don't feel bad about not taking the kids outside.

The doctor had a more optimistic idea of how quickly I will heal on Saturday. I might be able to have a walking cast next week! Sounds better than the 2 to 3 months the doctor in Hawaii told me to expect. So keeping my fingers crossed.

I don't feel bad now when I sit down and put my foot up because I know that is what I should be doing.

Funny Moments

On Saturday, the doctor asked me if I needed a note or something for work. I laughed and said something like Mom's don't get time off. He asked me what I did then. I said I had chairs strategically placed around the house to rest my knee on and I hopped around on one foot and crawled up and down the stairs.

Monday I was trying to show Gordon how to skip. lol It was entertaining.

Chasing Tegan on crutches at Gordon's and Neil's soccer practice and hearing her giggle because she was just as fast.

Gordon telling me right before bed that he broke his foot and needs a cast like mine, and then walking casually over to his bed to say prayers.

Dress of the Week

Matthew isn't much of a clothes shopper, so Little Princess probably won't have a new dress for a little while. She has plenty, though, so probably a good thing. =0)

Hawaii!!! Ten year anniversary trip. It was an adventure.

On our way to Hawaii, at 3:55 am. I slept 45 min. max.

We had a long layover in Vancouver, so we left the airport, and caught a train downtown.

We saw this tall tower that looked like the revolving restaurant in Winnipeg, so we decided to check it out and ended up having a nice lunch there. It was pretty awesome. I had never been to British Columbia before, so it was cool to be able to see so much in such a short time.

Landing in Kauai, Hawaii. I was pretty tired at this point, so I am not sure I fully appreciated the view at the time. Looking at the pictures, though, it was pretty.

Sunday morning on Easter we went to church. I love going to church at the different places that we travel to. It is a really good way to meet local people. Sunday afternoon we walked around some pretty gardens and a little along the coast. Rested after our long travels the day before.

At our resort.

I thought this was pretty cool. Every time a wave came in, water shot up into the air.

Chickens everywhere.

Monday we went on a Catamaran over to see the Napali coast and go snorkeling. It was beautiful. We had breakfast and lunch on the boat.

The Napali Coast

Sea turtles... kinda hard to see, but there were tons of them. We got to go snorkeling them. They would come up to us within just a few feet and look at us. It was pretty cool.

We saw tons of spinner dolphins. They were everywhere. They kept jumping out of the water. We also saw two humpback whales. The guide said it is a little late in the season to see whales, so it was kinda cool, but alas no pics of the whales.

They pulled the boat up right next to this waterfall, so that those that wanted to could cool off.

Right before we went snorkeling with the sea turtles.

Hula pie at Keoki's.

Playing tennis. We managed to get all of the balls out of the court. Yep, we rock.

Tuesday, we went zip lining. This was my favorite part of the trip. It was awesome.

Gettin ready to go.

Hubby Wubby loves these bouncy bridges. He's totally like a little kid. He bounces like a crazy man and especially enjoyed waiting for others to come on the bridge. Unfortunately for him, I warned them all before we got to the bridge. lol

Monkey man

You think Hubby Wubby was impressive. Try taking pictures upside down a few thousand feet from the ground. Yep, awesome.

Hubby Wubby being a monkey again on the zip line.

Heading to the van to go to the waterhole.

Swimming in the waterhole.

There was a little zip line into it.

Tuesday evening we went to a Luau. It was interesting. Lots of Hawaiian dancing and some cool fire dancing.

Swimming in the ocean.

Relaxing by the pool.

We went tubing down a huge irrigation ditch. There were long tunnels that we went through. We had helmets with lights on them so we could see while going through. It was pretty interesting. They used to use the ditches to water the sugar cane fields, now they just use them for tours. So you can tell who took most of the pictures. =)

I don't know what's up with that picture in the background, but we didn't take the camera with us tubing because we didn't want to get it wet so we took these back at the tubing place. It is a good thing too that we didn't bring our camera because Hubby and I had quite the water fight. =) Good fun.

There's me!

This was not in my vision of the island at all. I kind of pictured it as a remote place with little stores. It was pretty small and not that many people live there, but there was a Walmart, Costco, McDonalds, KFC, and other stuff you see everywhere.

On the the way to the Secret Falls, although they didn't seem like such a secret to me. We had to cross the river here. There's Hubby Wubby in the red shorts.

Here is the trail we were walking on. There were lots and lots of roots.

Here I am at the waterfall. It was pretty and very refreshing aka cold.

Hubby Wubby at the waterfall.

I have never ever seen so many chickens just wherever in my whole life. There were chickens everywhere on the island. And those roosters were cockadoodledoing all the time.

So on the way back to the kayaks, I broke my foot. I hopped over one of those crazy roots on the trail and somehow caught the top of my foot and I went down. Here is Matthew going to get our kayak and bring it to me, since I couldn't walk across the river or at all.

kayaking

There is my broken foot. Only the broken part was swollen at this point.

Hubby Wubby kayaking

At the hospital. Now most of my foot is swollen. It was a nice hospital. They got us in really fast and were super friendly. We just missed our massages that we had scheduled for the afternoon, but we were able to reschedule for the next day.

Hubby Wubby waiting at the hospital.

We were going to go hiking on Saturday to see some of the amazing canyons in Kawai, but since I was crippled we decided to take a helicopter ride instead.

Hubby Wubby

Here is the volcano. Half of the crater has been eroded away over the years. It rains all the time here.

This was kind of scary. We were up above the mountains here and the helicopter guy took us straight down into this canyon. It was kind of crazy.

The Napali Coast

A waterfall

There were waterfalls all over the place.

Hubby Wubby and I in the helicopter.

Here is what we came home to... yep, I just about cried. In reference to an earlier post, I didn't mean it. I didn't miss the snow. I would be perfectly happy if the snow would be gone... atleast for a while. Please. It is slippery and I'm on crutches... Thanks.