My heart is so full of love and gratitude for my life

As I was driving from Tim Hortons to the kids school today I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the life that I live and the fortune that I feel at being able to be a big part of my kids school lives. My involvement in the PAC has been very intentional and eventful over the past almost 5 years (how has it been that long already?) I love what the PAC stands for at the school and what we give to the kids and the opportunities that our fundraising brings to the kids. I am honored to play a leading role as an executive member of the PAC and I just wish so many more parents could or would find the time to join and see how much fun it is to be able to contribute to something in such a meaningful way.

I was also struck with thoughts of gratitude for the flexible work environment I have where when I have a day that I don't have daycare that I am able to switch my shift to accommodate the needs of my family. I appreciate my coworkers daily for the understanding that they all have of the importance of my kids and my schedule. Yesterday I was only able to work till 11:30 due to babysitter scheduling, but when I realized it was on Pink Shirt Day and I would be able to spend a few hours at the kids school I was so excited!

Each month the PAC gives away a prize or prizes to kids in the school for different things. This month it was kindness. We were at the meeting last week and trying to decide what the prize should be and rather than give it to just a few kids, or one class full of kids, I suggested that we buy Timbits for the whole school!! It was met with a resounding yes and I ran with it. 

Here is 800 Timbits (2 for each student, EA, and teacher), plus of course gluten free brownies and cookies and vegan fruit snacks too! We couldn't have kindness day and not have something for EVERYONE!

At the end of the assembly when Ms. Behan told the kids to come to the kitchen to grab the Timbits I was thrilled to get to see the smiles on the kids faces. The gluten free kids were so appreciative that they weren't forgotten and had something there that they could have too. But I don't think anyone was as excited or happy as the little vegan girl that came in with the HUGEST smile on her face and so many thank you\s for thinking of her and getting her her favorite fruit snacks. My heart literally almost burst for how happy that one small gesture had made her.

At the end of the day while I was walking on the playground I had at least 10 kids that recognized me from the PAC that ran by and yelled thank you for the Timbits. And I had a very kind teacher that sent me a video she had made of her class saying thank you to the PAC too. But the best of all was one of the little gluten free girls coming up to me to say thank you for getting treats that she could eat. It made me feel amazing and I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes.

I left the school that afternoon after an amazing two hours playing on the playground with Kennedy and helping make beaded necklaces in Jordie's classroom, with such a happy heart for the blessed life that I am able to live.

Now here's some more fun pictures of the day! When everyone is dressed in pink it definitely calls for some extra photos.

Here is KJ walking Gloria from next door.

And playing in the sunshine at the school in her bright pink kindness shirt

She's growing up too fast now and I can't believe she's going to be 3 in just over a months' time!

Matching with Mama

Had to sneak in some snuggles and a photo with one of her favorite big kids at the school!

We had the Doxsees with us after school today too so I had to snap this photo of this handsome fellow with his awesome pink shirt day shirt! 

This one was straight up MISERABLE at swimming lessons today and this was clearly why. She was exhausted from her very busy day and fell asleep in my arms while we waited for Jordie to get changed.

Now home and time to snap some pictures with this beautiful little lady.

Aaaawwww....I love this photo of me and Katelyn so much. She's such a pretty little girl, on both the inside and the outside!

And of course Kennedy had to be in the photo too!

And now for some photos of me and my monsters in our variety of pink shirts!

It was an awesome night for picnic dinner of pancakes and strawberries in front of Frozen 2

These are my favorite photos that I shared to IG and FB too!

I feel like that was just a suggestion??

Hahahahahahaha I know I'm not the only person that ordered cookie dough from the school with no intentions of cooking the whole tub! Right? Please tell me I'm not the only one?

I had to try out the product tonight to see what I thought about it and whether I felt that the serving sizes were pretty accurate. From what I can tell they were not bad at all. I made pretty much the whole tub of Monster cookies (save about 4 cookies worth that is still in the fridge for some snacking over the next few days!) and I can safely say that it would have made exactly 5 dozen good sized cookies :) And I think for $18 that's a hell of a good deal. In the span of just over an hour I have a big bag of cookies for the freezer for upcoming lunches for the kids! It's a win all around if you ask me!

And just because who doesn't love some reality sometimes....here's my MISERABLE very overtired toddler wanting one of those cookies that were still baking in the oven...and just moments before bed. This is real life my friends :)

I would do anything in the world for him....

...including getting into my swimsuit and going into the pool with him and his class. As soon as Jordie's class won the popcorn selling contest I went to his teacher and asked her if she wanted to do swimming or skating as the class party. We both knew the kids would have more fun in the pool and hoped that the Complex would allow us to do it with only a few parents in with the kids. In the end we only needed 2 and had 5 adults that came in with us and it was a ton of fun!

Truly the smile on his face when he heard I was coming on the bus with him just made my whole day. Would I have loved to sit on the side and watch and chat with the other moms, yeah sure of course I would have. But did I absolutely LOVE being there with him, engaged in play and just focusing on him, yes absolutely 100%.

I know so many moms that are super self conscious about being in a bathing suit and I am too, but to me in that moment, all that mattered was making my Jordie boy happy. I swore years ago that I was never going to be that mom that sat out of doing something with or for my kids because of my own stuff in my head. I just got in and did it and didn't think about what I looked like, and I'm so happy I did. He was so very excited and so proud that his mom came on the bus and was coming in the pool too. He swam with me, we did races, played catch with his friends, and I got lots of hugs and kisses in the process. Today, I was the best mom for him that I could be, and I'm so happy that I could be truly present there with him. So many times I will admit that even though I'm there with the kids, I'm usually the one taking the photos, so today felt wonderful to not have my phone and to just be with him. I hope these are the memories that my kids will remember about me. That I showed up when I said I would and always put them first.

I've said it before on this blog, and in my life, that I try so very hard to give everything that I possibly can to my kids, and today was no exception. I switched my schedule around at work, I made alternate drop off plans for Kennedy, and made after school arrangements for the kids so I could work later too. I am so very appreciative to my awesome coworkers who understand how much these kinds of things truly mean to me and are willing to go out of their way to switch shifts with me in order to make it happen. Without that flexibility I wouldn't get to do half the things that I have this year.

This smile is the whole reason I said yes and will continue to say yes whenever and however I can.

Fun Day 2018

Another year is just about done at Westview Elementary and another Fun Day is done too! I know I've said this before but I truly LOVE being a part of the Westview PAC family we've got there. I love helping out with organizing events, fundraising and making decisions about what we spend the money on. I also like having a bit of an inside scoop on what is going on at the school. It helps me when I tell James that I know everyone and that someone is always watching him so he better behave himself :) 

For now here are the highlights of the day! We were so lucky that the rain held off for us!

Next year I'll have two monsters in the school and even more fun times ahead!

The adventures of being a PAC Mom!

I think most people know how much I couldn't wait to join the PAC when James started school. I liked the PAC FB page over a year before he started school and couldn't wait to get involved. I sat through all the meetings last year and was gung ho to help out the best I could, while still working of course. I was lucky to be kind of 3/4 time at work so I had some extra hours and loved helping out where I could. Towards the end of last school year I was asked to join the executive of the PAC as the treasurer and I have enjoyed the new challenge and have found myself busier than I even knew I could be and still getting everything done!

I had hoped that this year I could help co-plan an awesome Winter Carnival at the school...and then I got pregnant...and wasn't sleeping well...and time just ran out so the carnival was a no-go for this year. BUT...one morning when I was laying awake at 4am and I started thinking about an idea that had been thrown around at a PAC meeting a few months before. I remember being in middle school and being able to buy Candy Grams for your friends for Valentine's Day. And so the idea to create Christmas Candy Gram gift bags was formulated...and all before 5am in the morning!

I took my ideas to the PAC and they told me to run with it, so I came up with a letter and basic order form then sent them to Kelly to make them pretty and that she did. Here is the ad that she created too. I really hope that lots of parents participate by even just ordering one for their own kids...but by donating a few extra dollars we may reach our goal of every child at the school getting one!

The absolute highlight so far for me was when James came home with the letter and form from school and was so excited to show it to me. And the best part was the absolute shining pride on his face and in his voice when he showed me that he had circled my name at the bottom of the letter. He loves that I'm involved with stuff at his school (I know most kids wouldn't even notice or care) and for that very simple reason I will continue to be involved as much as I possibly can! 

7 of the busiest days in the life of me

I have a mommy friend that has a great blog about her life as a stay at home mom with her 3 little munchkins (her oldest is the same age as James). Some of my favorite posts of hers are her "day in the life of" posts because they make me realize how much work she does and how hard she works at being a mom. I too am busy, but in very different ways. I still have most of the same chores she does (you know that laundry and stuff doesn't just do itself!) but a lot of the kid carting around I don't do so much because James is in full day school and Jordie is in daycare most days. But I digress....my life is very busy these days and just for fun I thought I would write out what 7 of our family's busiest days in recent months looked like!

Friday, May 20
9:00 - Jim and James off to school for class field trip
9:30 - Take cakes to Kelly's house for decorating
10:00-11:00 - Jordie t-ball at the Complex
11:30 - Drop Jordie at Nana & Papa's house for the afternoon
12:30 - 4:30 - Work
4:45 - load up van with party stuff, then back to Kelly's to pick up awesome Paw Patrol cake
5:00 - arrive at Nana and Papa's for dinner and party prep and decorating with the Reimer family
8:00 - home to get kids to bed!

Saturday, May 21
6:15 - drink tea and count down the hours until bed time tonight!
7:15 - Kids up and ready to go to N&P's
7:45 - head to N&P's for last of party prep
8:00-10:00 - party prep
10:00 - 12:30 - Jordie's birthday party, including games, cake and food!
12:30-1:30 - Clean up
2:00 - Home for Jordie nap from 2:30-4:30 (James stayed at N&P's, Jim ran errands like recycling, bottle depot and grocery store). I think I downloaded pictures during this time and did some party clean up at our house
5:00 - back to N&P's for pizza supper with Reimer kids, get kids bathed and packed up
8:00 - take all 5 kids back to our house for sleepover, make beds downstairs, tuck in at 8:30pm
9:00 - finally sit down for the night
10:00 - Jordie still awake...clearly he napped too late today!

Sunday, May 22
ALL kids up before 7am
7:30 - to N&P's so we could say goodbye to them, and Jim could make all of the rest of us a yummy pancake breakfast, great visit with Chris & Teresa!
10:30 - back home to take pictures of boys beds to get them sold to make room for new bunk beds
11:00 - 1:00 - Jordie early nap, I spent this whole time packing to move to N&P's for two weeks
3:00 - James karate
3:30 - Jim and boys to N&P's house to visit and start supper prep
4:00 - 5:00 - Kim at home gathering last of stuff to move to N&P's house
6:00 - Yummy steak dinner made by Jim and Teresa! Another great visit with the Reimers
7:40 - All kids to bed as Reimers were leaving early the next day. Jim to stay at home that night to clean out the boys old room to make room for the new bunk beds.
10:00 - Finally off to bed (only to be woken up 3 times that night by Diesel/kids/etc)

Monday, May 23 (Jordie's BIRTHDAY!)
4:00 - awake to say goodbye to the Reimer family
7:00 - boys up, 7:45 - mom up
9:00 - Jim left to go and get new bunk beds with Bill Parkin
10:00 - boys and I to our house to see new beds and to take Jordie's photos with Harris the Bear (that blog post coming soon too!)
10:30-11:45 - bike ride and visit with the Tassell's at Westview (this is fastly becoming a favorite activity for me....the boys play basketball or hockey and Ash and I walk around the school and catch up!)
12:00 - James and I off to get present for birthday party
12:30-3:15 - James's friend Macy's birthday party at the Complex (lunch and swimming)
3:30 - back home to help Jim make dinner for Jordie's family birthday dinner
4:00 - Garretts and Bumma arrive, time to open presents
5:30 - hot dogs and nachos for supper!
7:30 - early night after a very long and busy weekend!

Tuesday, May 24
8:45 - James to school, Jordie to daycare
9:00-1:00 - Strata work at home
1:00-6:00 - Kim work
6:00 - Rush to t-ball so Jim can rush off to Sunset for his own ball game
6:00-7:30 - T-ball for James
7:30-9:00 - visit at Willingdon campsite with Aaron & Kayla
9:45 - kids finally into bed...I stayed up until close to 11 to just have some quiet time!

Wednesday, May 25
8:30 - Jordie to daycare
9:00 - James to school and family reading day
9:15 - 10:00 - strata work before VIU work
10:00-6:00 - VIU work (with some more strata work thrown in on my lunch break from 12-1)
6:00 - rush to Willingdon to have dinner with Jim, boys and Aaron & Kayla. Jim and the boys stayed until 8 but I had to rush off
7:15-10:15 - PAC budget meeting

Thursday, May 26
8:45 - Jordie to daycare, James to school
9:00 - 10:00 - Strata work (last minute prep for AGM)
10:00-6:00 - VIU work (with more strata on lunch from 2-3)
6:00-7:00 - Strata phone calls and AGM set up
6:00 - 8:30 - boys and Jim ate dinner with Aaron & Kayla at N&P's because I cancelled T-ball because at 3:30 it was pouring rain, but at 5 it was sunny again (stupid weather!)
7:00-8:30 - Nootka's AGM held at VIU
8:30 - made it home in time to tuck my boys into bed!
10:45 - fell asleep on the couch...and my hubby took terrible photos of me but I had to share my favorite one :)

Friday, May 27
8:45 - James to school
9:00 - 9:45 - To Willingdon for Jordie and I to say goodbye to Aaron & Kayla
10:00-11:00 - Jordie T-ball at the Complex
11:15 - Jordie to daycare
11:30-4:30 - VIU work
4:30 - Mom pick up Jordie and head to Save-On to get stuff for supper and dessert, Dad pick up James and head to get glasses adjusted. Home at 5:15
5:30 - Slacks arrive for fun pizza/ice cream birthday dinner for Theresa
8:30 - Slacks leave and we get the boys showered, then FaceTime with Nana & Papa
9:15 - Boys finally in bed, Jim and I both fell asleep in the living room attempting to watch a movie at 10pm!

Wow! What a crazy week, definitely one of the busier we've had, but certainly not the only one we've had. Last week was again crazy with Monday night being ball for Jim, Tuesday being Rally Day for James at t-ball and then finally our first quiet was almost a week ago (when I thought I would get this post done....BUT, life is just that busy that this is the first time I've really been on my computer since then!) The current week we are in is turning out to be just as crazy again, Monday Jim's ball, Tuesday was t-ball and I was out of town all day for work, then tonight was a random mid-week family dinner with my visiting niece and her boyfriend! It was wonderful though to come home at 7:30 and just chill out!