Dinner at the beach with the Parkins & Leflers

On the evening of the epic meltdown of Jordie, the whole reason I put him down for a nap that day was so that we could go for dinner at Willingdon with the Parkins & Leflers that night. I just wanted him to be happy, which by the time we got there thankfully he was.

We got Subway and headed down to the beach where we met Jenn and Bill and their kids and Kelly and her kids (her hubby Derek was out fishing). We ate and then the kids played on the playground, then headed over to the water where they had a huge water fight that James is still talking about. He loves when we get together with these kids and always has a ton of fun..and so do I! I hope to have many more nights like this in the coming months.

My favorite picture from that night. Gracie is just too cute!

This picture is awesome...and I see a recreation years from now! Can't wait to see how their heights end up when they are teenagers :)

Spent way more time talking than taking pictures...and I love that just as much as when I am capturing photos of our memories. I like that when I hang out with my friends I just put the phone away and enjoy their company. It's something I've been working hard on lately.

Happy Mother's Day 2016

These two little guys are my whole world. I couldn't possibly love them anymore than I do...even though we've been surrounded by barf since Wednesday morning! Yes, first it was James and then today Jordie started...brutal. Worst Mother's Day Ever...BUT, I did get some beautiful flowers yesterday from James and some cards from my boys this morning (before Jordie started getting sick). It's been a long and trying week around here for us and I REALLY hope that it hasn't hit Jordie as hard as it did James. And I really hope that I don't get it either! 

I really wanted to get a nice photo of me and the boys together at Sunday dinner tonight but once the barfing started there was no way we were going anywhere, so this PJ one from this morning is the best I've got!

My flowers from my handsome big guy

This lady here....she's my best friend in the whole world and I wouldn't be the mother that I am without her. She has always loved me, no matter how much grief I gave her in those teenage years! She is the most amazing Nana and loves our boys with all her heart and both spoils them rotten and keeps them in line when they need it! She is always there for us when we need her and I have always taken great comfort in the fact that she is just a phone call away. When I first went away to university I had friends laugh at me that I called her every day, but I did it anyways, because I knew that I would never have to go a day without someone telling me they loved me.

This special lady here is my step mom Barb! I just love her and so wish we lived closer to her so that we could be a bigger part of her regular life. I love our visits when we do get out there to see her and love that now she has FB so she gets to see lots of pictures and these blog posts about my boys! Since the day Barb and my dad got together when I was 10 she has loved me with all her heart as her daughter and has never once treated me as anything other than that. She has been in my life for 25 years and has loved me every single day of those years, even when I was a hormone crazy teenager that got drunk and spent the day hungover and swearing I was dying in her basement. hahahaha...the Chilliwack days of my youth! :)

And my two mom's in one picture. The love I have for these two is indescribable.

To my oldest and best friend in the world Melanie! You had these little guys just a few months ago and you are an absolutely incredible Mommy to them. I came out to see you and we had the most amazing catch up visit that we've had in years and I look forward to many more years of being friends watching all of our little boys grow up together. I love you girl and look forward to seeing you 

in July!

Next up is my new step-mom Grace! She and my dad Wayne got together last May and this picture was taken of them on the day we met Grace for the first time last summer at Sakinaw Lake. From the first few minutes that we met her we all literally fell in love with her. She is a very special lady and has made my dad so happy and that's all that I could really hope for. She is very kind and sweet and caring and I couldn't be happier for the two of them that they have found love. They got married in early January just before they headed back for their winter in Mexico. 

One last amazing mom in my life is the other Barb in our lives...or as we call her...Bumma! This special lady is actually my step sister Andra's mom, who is of course also my step dad's ex-wife. Our family has an interesting past to it and because of this Barb has known me since I was born and has always been a part of my life. Now she's a beloved Bumma to my boys and we all just love her to death. Since the day she met Jim they've had a great bond and she's been there through both of my pregnancies and has welcomed our two boys with open arms and a loving grandma heart. She calls the boys her grandsons and I know just how much she loves them and how much they love her too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF THESE SPECIAL LADIES, AND ALL THE OTHERS IN MY LIFE! Some of these special ladies include my sister Andra, my sister-in-law Teresa. my auntie's Carol (x2), Karen & Susan, my very special mom friends Melanie, Kelly, Jenn, Ashleigh, Theresa, Sarah, Andrea, Shirley, Stacy, Diana, Margo & Sandy! Love you all so much and I wouldn't be the woman or mother that I am today without all of you!

Daily Photos - April 2016

April was an incredible month for us. We got up to so much fun stuff and I did a whole lot of blogging so my Monthly Memories Project post should be a big one. That one should be up sometime this weekend, but for now here's the daily photos! I still really love this project and find it so easy to keep up with compared to the weekly posts the past few years.

He did it...he finished his first year of school!

And not only did he finish, but he was given an awesome award at the end of year Awards Ceremony for overall excellence in his class which was an award given to a top student in the class who showed great work ethic and overall effort.

This award is nominated by the instructors of the course and was presented to Jim by one of the Associate Deans of Trades from the Nanaimo campus. James and my mom and dad came to VIU for the ceremony and I was busy taking pictures for the ceremony so I didn't feel like I really got to experience the moment like everyone else did, but I was happy to be able to at least get a good picture of it!

Luckily this picture wasn't as fuzzy as some of the shots from that day. The lighting in our gym is terrible and lots of photos didn't turn out great but man was I grateful that this one did!

Shaking his instructor Gary's hand before being presented with his award.

My boys and I really couldn't be more proud of Jimmy for all that he's done over the past year. He got laid off from his job in Alberta and while laid off made a huge life decision to go back to school at the age of 35 to try to start a new career. He has always loved working outside and building things was always something that has interested him so carpentry was a natural choice. We are lucky that here at our relatively small VIU campus that carpentry is one of the 5 first year trades that we do offer. We knew it would be a huge risk and big change for our family with him being in school full-time but we also knew it was time for Jim to really figure out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

From the first day he started school until the day the guys went out to their building site in November, Jim studied almost every single night....after learning all day, picking James up after school and either doing swimming or skating lessons, then picking up Jordie and making supper while I worked until 6pm. Then we ate as a family and got the boys off to bed, and then at 8pm he'd usually sit down for 2-3 hours to read his textbook or study for one of the many tests he had to take. He truly did incredible and I really couldn't be more proud of him. I know it wasn't easy for him to be the old guy in a class of much younger guys who a lot of the time just didn't care to be there. It was frustrating for Jim, but he did it, and I think not a single guy in that class would say they have anything but respect for him for what he did. On site he worked harder than all of the other 8 people put together and often got more done in an hour than 5 guys did put together. But no matter what, he knew he was there to learn so he put his head down and learn he did.

He may not have finished at the very top of the class (don't ask him about that though...he's maybe slightly bitter) but he did finish in 2nd and ended up with the most important award of all. I think it's way better to be recognized for overall achievement than just for having the top academic marks. It means something to work hard and to be recognized for that.

We love you Jimmy and we are so so very proud of you for all that you accomplished this past year! Now, onto a year of working with a great local contractor, and then hopefully some time in 2017 he will head back to school for his 2nd year of schooling!

What was I thinking? But I wouldn't have it any other way!

We got an email a few weeks back saying that James's T-ball league needed a division manager. I talked to Jim about it and he said the same thing I was thinking "you don't have time to do it" so I waited a few days and then just decided to send an email saying that if no one else had stepped up that I would do it. I got an email back saying thanks, but someone else agreed so you are off the hook. The very next day Jim was at karate and started talking to a dad of a kid that is James's age and he said that he had volunteered to do it too and had accepted the position. Jim said that I had also emailed but was told someone else got it. I emailed the guy's wife, because he had expressed to Jim that he kind of wished he hadn't volunteered, and told her that if he really didn't want to do it that I was more than happy to take it on. A few hours later he called and thanked me profusely and emailed me all the stuff that he had received from the league.

The next 4 or 5 nights I spent an hour or two a night putting teams together and making up a schedule (which I then had to change because people in PR are notorious for signing up late for shit so we ended up needing another team!). I also emailed with coaches and made up a little info sheet explaining how t-ball is played (I honestly thought it was the same as regular ball except with a T....nope...totally wrong on that). I also explained how the league tracks parent volunteer times and started a FB group so that I could easily get information to parents instead of just sending out mass emails and hoping they were getting them.

Anyways, the first night of T-Ball arrived and I showed up at the field with envelopes put together for the coaches and boxes of uniforms and was nervous to actually start talking to the 50 or so parents present and all the little kids, but luckily last years Division Manager stepped in to introduce me and from there we called out the teams and off they went. It was definitely a lot of work to get things started but I'm sure next year will be much easier to pull off because I'll have my templates all ready and will just need to plunk kids names in and make a new schedule if we end up with more or less teams. I really do love being involved in any way that I can, and it's true that I really wouldn't have it any other way. This is how I feel my skills are best put to use because trust me on this one...no one wants to see this mama out on the field actually playing or coaching!

James was lucky enough to get on a great team this year with some kids he knew and some he didn't which was fantastic. I think it's gonna be a really fun season for all of us and some weeks we will be at the ball park every night from Mon-Thurs between Jim and James's ball schedule. May not be too many blogs happening but we'll see!

James is #1 on the green and white First Credit Union team! Anyone who wants to come out and watch he plays on Tuesdays and Thursday from 6:00-7:15.

Huddling up to do a team cheer

The first night was just a practice and get to know your teams night. I was busy walking around making sure no one had any questions so I didn't get to take many photos of James at all. I'm sure over the course of the season I will though!