A 7 year old conversation with James

This has turned into one of my favorite yearly posts to do and this year is no exception. I love hearing James's thoughts on different things and will continue to do these posts for as long as he'll let me!

What is your full name: Alfred James Barrows
If you could change your name what would you change it to: I would change it to Jim
How old are you right now: 7 years old
What did you do for your last birthday: I, what did I do? I don't remember what I did. Jordie chimes in: I remember, it was at the gymnastics club. Oh yeah, it was Star Wars.
Where were you on your actual birthday: In Vancouver, because of Kennedy Joanna. 

Your favorite things -
Snack: Treetop fruit snacks
Drink: It's obviously milk, come on
Vegetable: Cucumber
Fruit: Grapes
TV show: Power Rangers Dino Super Charge
Movie: Hotel Transylvania 2 (we had never seen it until last night!)
Game: Mario Kart Wii
Book: Night time Ninja
Toy: The Wii, right there (pointing at it)
Animal: The Lion
Holiday: Halloween, cause I get all the candy that I want (insert evil hehehehehehehe)
Restaurant: Magpies
Color: Red...Jordie chimed in with his trademark phrase "knew it!"

What do you love best about -
Me: I love you because you are pretty
Your Dad: Because he is intistic, he's a pretty good athlete. Jordie then adds for him: And he lets us pink belly him.
Your Brother: It's because he's fun to play with, very tough, really fast on his bike, and all those other things that a little brother like him could be like.
Your Nana: Because she always gives snuggles, I love LOVE snuggles
Your Papa: It's because he takes me golfing.
Diesel: Because he cuddles with me on the floor all the time and gives me kisses for love.
Kennedy: Because she's cute and everything a baby could be.

The coolest person on earth is: No one. All of you in this family is. 

When you're outside what is your favorite thing to do: Play squareball

What thing are you the very best at: Math, in my class

When you were little what was your favorite thing to do: at the ball park, at the tournament when I was doing the beer gardens, I liked to go crack open beers (chick...imitating a beer cracking open)

Where would you like to go on vacation this year: Mexico

What do you want to be when you grow up to be an adult: I want to be a mayor, so I can make the rules!

Here are some new questions for James this year (cause I was dying to hear his responses)
Where is the most wonderful place you've ever been? Mexico

 What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you? I love you

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do? Play video games

What is the worst smell in the world? Poop (massive giggles from both boys), and also when my mom busts a fart. Ewwww

What makes you cry? When I get spanked

What are you scared of? I am scared of NOTHING.

What is your favorite song? Love Gun by the rock and roll band KISS, and I'm actually being them for Halloween

What is your favorite memory? Is going for lunch at the driving range with my family....Jordan, Nana and Papa

If you could, what type of animal would you be? A fish

Who is your best friend? Cooper Lawry

What is your favorite thing to do with family? Go out mini golfing

What is the most important rule? Hands to yourself

If you had a million dollars, what would you spend it on? Nerf Guns

If Diesel could talk, what would he say? I love you James, come here

If you had super powers, what would they be? Fire power

What's the best thing about being a kid? That you do not have to go to work, and you get to play a lot which adults don't because they have to look after their kids, and the adults have to feed the baby, and the kids get to play while the feed the baby and all that stuff

What is something that you don't understand about grown-ups? Is that why they don't like to play video games? Why don't you ever play video games Mom?

What is your favorite word? Why? My favorite word is love, because it's a really caring word and it spreads across the world, having people join and making the world a happier place.

What do you dream about when you sleep? I dream about my shows and different ways of how I think of it being a good way as well.

What 3 words would you use to describe our family? The Barrows Family. I told him to give me 3 descriptive words so then he said we are smart, we are nice, we are caring.

What's something you'd like to learn how to do? Back flips

If you had to give away all of your toys but one, which one would you keep? The Wii

What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? Give away a few of my toys that I loved

What does your 7 year old self want to tell the world? That everyone is awesome!

Newest photo of James from our photo session with Jenn in late August

Sometimes I feed them Eggo waffles for supper....

Some days I feel like a total rock star mom who has her shit together.
And some days I feel like the craziness of my life has rocked me completely.

Some days I talk peacefully to them all day and they actually listen to me.
And some days I shout more than I should and they seem to tune me out even more.

Some days I put my phone down and engage with them like I know I should.
And some days I play way more Cookie Jam than I should.

Some days I clean up the mess they make when they make it.
And some days it gets left until I have more energy.

Some days I have tons of patience and can feel myself completely connected to them.
And some days they drive me completely bat shit crazy and I just want to hide in my bed.

Some days I am lonely when they go to bed at night.
And some days I am counting down to bedtime from 3 pm on.

Some days I take them out to the park and do stuff with them.
And some days they stay inside and play Wii or watch TV and movies all day long.

Some days I keep my house tidy and neat.
And some days it looks like a bomb went off in it.

Some days I have the energy and patience to take on this life that I've created for myself.
And some days I am completely overwhelmed by it.

There really isn't a point to this post other than to let others know that we all have these feelings of just not being enough some days. I post a lot of happy stuff on my FB and my IG but that doesn't mean that that is how my life is all of the time. It is hard, and messy, and just shitty sometimes. A lot of the time I feel that I am doing really well as a mother, but some times I feel like a complete failure at it.

I make sure that no matter what the day has looked like and whether they have been wonderful or terrible that I ALWAYS put them to bed and tell them how much I love them. Even when I don't like them, they KNOW that I will ALWAYS love them. Even when they are acting like the biggest shit heads, I always remember the reasons why I love them far more. I make a point every single day of telling them numerous times that I love them, and often the reasons why I do. I love when people tell me why they love me and I want to foster that love and feelings of joy for them as well. I never want them to wonder why or how much they are loved.

My kids are good kids and I am so proud of them and of us for getting them to this point already. They are respectful and usually very well mannered. I can usually trust to take them places without them acting out too horribly and sometimes when they do act out I can keep my cool and discipline them fairly and appropriately. Sometimes I spank when I feel like I need to, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I'm not even close to a perfect parent, but damn do I try hard to be consistent and fair with them.

I love my children so much it seriously makes my heart hurt sometimes. And even though I love them that much, I do also get overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for all 3 of them, both physically and emotionally. I feel a huge responsibility to raise my children to be polite, caring, helpful, contributing members of society who do not feel that the world owes them anything. I want them to learn how to work hard, try hard and get back up every single time this big mean nasty world knocks them down.

So, last night was Eggos for dinner (which they were fine with) but tonight is some pizza and salad that I made from leftovers in the fridge. Nothing gourmet by any means, but they will be fed!

And just because no post is really great without a photo in it...here's a recent one from our summer photo shoot with Jenn!

A Day In My Life

I did a post like this last spring with what a very busy week of our life looked like and it's still one of my favorite posts of all time. You can read it HERE if you are curious. Another blogger friend of mine does these posts once in awhile on her blog and it always fascinates me what other people get up to during the day, whether they are stay at home moms as I am now, or working mothers as I was when I did the week post last year.

So I decided to do another post but this time just a day in my life instead of a whole week. This was a particularly busy day but I do have these kinds of days quite often! Between daily chores like feeding the kids and making dinner, I also had household chores to do like recycling and washing bottles. Throw in something at the school, a swap and shop pick up, treats at Timmy's and playing after school it did make for a very busy day!

7:00 - up for the day (this is a sleep in for me, I'm usually up sometime around 6:30 but I had stayed up late watching a trashy MTV show and then didn't sleep very good through the night!)

7:00-7:45 - Drink my morning tea, play some Cookie Jam, surf FB and IG (my morning routine)

7:45-8:00 - Make the boys breakfasts, James's lunch for school and Jordie's snack for preschool

8:00-8:15 - Make my bed, have a shower and get dressed

8:15 - Get Kennedy up and dressed for the day

8:35 - Kiss James and send him off to school (after gathering last minute pledges, signing his agenda and packing his backpack)

8:45 - Take Jordie to preschool

9:00 - Wash bottles, tidy up house

9:15 - Feed Kennedy her first bottle

9:30-10:15 - Infant Development lady came for an assessment of Kennedy because she isn't holding her neck up straight yet and we are slightly concerned about torticollis (James had it too).

10:15 - Put on dishwasher and pack Kennedy into the stroller. Isn't she just adorable in this outfit and all snuggled up in the awesome blanket that Jenn made her!

10:30 - Walk over to the school to help with cutting and putting out fruit trays for the Terry Fox Run!

She fell asleep just a few minutes after we got to the school

Warm up time!

Yup the pants are definitely too short....but the jacket fits him good. He's got these weird giraffe legs lately!

11:45 - Done at the school so we walked home from school and gather the recycling into the van.

12:15 - Pick up Jordie at Nana & Papa's house (Papa had picked him up from preschool for me)

Nana needed a quick little snuggle

12:30 -  Meet someone in the parking lot of Tim Horton's for Jordie to try on a hockey helmet, then we picked up some donuts as an after lunch treat.

12:35 - Me and Jordie did the recycling at the depot near Timmy's.

1:00 - Home to make lunch and give Kennedy her second bottle.

1:30-2:15 - Kennedy nap and quiet time for me and Jordie boy. I was so tired so I had a cup of tea and tried to get motivated to figure out something to cook for supper.

2:30 - It was a beautiful day so we went over to Westview to play on the playground and visit with friends...except in my visiting I forgot to go over near James's classroom door so he didn't see me and left to walk home...oops! I left Jordie at the school with Ash, threw K in her seat and quickly drove back home to pick up James...he was not happy with me!!

3:30 - Bang trim at the salon

4:00 - To Westview Optometry to get James's glasses adjusted

4:15 - Home to feed Kennedy again and have another tea (yes 3rd cup of the tea...so tired!)

5:15-6:00 - Kennedy napped while I made supper and filled up the bottles for the next day

6:15 - Jim home from work and we all ate supper (very gourmet KD and wienies....hahahahaha)

7:00 - The boys tried on their hockey equipment so we could figure out what they still needed for this year. Kennedy just hung out in her exersaucer while Jim and I both helped one boy out.

7:00 - I fed Kennedy another bottle and then while we were FaceTiming with Nana and Papa she pooped out of her diaper and got it on my chair, but luckily missed me!

7:30 - Daddy and Kennedy had a shower while I helped the boys out of their gear.

7:45 - Boys upstairs to have their showers. Jim helped them while I got Kennedy ready for bed, and attempted to take some cute pictures. She wouldn't smile for me so I had to call in my brother reinforcements to look over my phone at her to make her smile :)

8:15 - I brushed Jordie's teeth while Jim snuggled with and read to Kennedy and fed her her last bottle.

8:30 - I read with James while Jordie went to bed (he was super mean to James so didn't get to stay up with us).

8:45 - All the kids were finally in bed so I come downstairs and clean up the kitchen and dishes while Jim was finishing up with Kennedy.

9:00 - I finally sat down in my chair and started this blog, then I laid on the couch while Jim tickled my feet and I proceeded to fall asleep.

A long and busy day...and I loved it! I just wish I could sleep better or wake up feeling more well rested. I think more exercise would make me feel better, but finding the time is proving to be difficult to me (oh and the motivation too!)

Bear Photo Comparisons

I suppose I should wait to do this at 6 months but I feel like today is a good day to do it because I always think she looks like James....until I look at pictures of her and Jordie side by side....then there is no denying it that she does look more like him. I do hope she ends up looking like me at some point...or at least that she grows into the Barrows ears a little bit :) hehehehehehehe

1 month old Barrows babies!

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

Forever friends or forever love?

For the past 2 years these two little ones have been joined at the hip. They both love each other and irritate the piss out of each other. They take off to rooms and "play baby" together and rarely fight (as long as Jordie does as he's told). They sometimes play hard to get if one wants a kiss and the other doesn't want to (we never force it!) but usually always come around and leave any time together with at least a hug. They have both been known to start to cry just moments after being separated after a long day of preschool and daycare together. They regularly and spontaneously will tell each other that they love the other one and clearly are being shown at both homes how to express love to those closest to you. They have a true love and I hope that even if they end up as just friends forever that they always stand by each other, even through the awkward teen years. :)

PS: This is the first time I've taken these photos with just my phone and they look blurry to me. I usually always take my good camera but was rushing this morning and didn't! Oh well, they are cute pictures anyways!

He loves her so much

Thanks to Nicole for taking these adorable pictures today while I was at the school today helping out with the PAC project. I love both of these photos so much, but especially the first one because it shows the love between these two!

She is so adorable in this photo! Even though everyone sees Jordie in her, most of the time I just don't. I can't wait to see what she looks like in the next few months!

Watch him grow from 3 to 7 in just 5 first day photos

Aaaaawwww....look at this big kid of ours! 

Age 3 - first year of Busy Bee's - Sept 2013

Age 4 - second year of Busy Bee's - Sept 2014

Age 5 - first day of Kindergarten - Sept 2015

Age 6 - first day of Grade 1 - Sept 2016

Age 7 - first day of Grade 2 - Sept 2017

The best way to get back into blogging? Write more posts!

I'm going to try my best to post a blog at least 5 times per week for the month of September...even if it only has one photo from our summer in it! We've got some very busy and special weekends coming up but with so many wonderful memories to share I'm hopeful to get some big posts knocked off during the quieter mornings and afternoons while the boys are in school.

For tonight...here is a great photo of James and Kennedy from way back in June. I've been downloading my photos and it has me going back to when this little lady was just a tiny baby and this is one of my very favorite photos of these two.

Lots more photos to share coming up! So many camping memories in particular to share!

Daily photos - July 2017

July was probably our busiest month of the year! So much camping, baseball, house sitting, and fun time with our friends. I love summer!