WITL - Wednesday Photos + Words

Here are my photos + words for Wednesday:
 

First cup of coffee of the day. In my favourite mug. Isn't that silly? To have a favourite mug? If I have to leave the house in the morning, I won't pick it. I only pick it if I'm having a quiet morning at home.

After Mason leaves for school, Lib watches what's happening on the street. She knows we wake up Madelyn after he goes. As I head toward the stairs I say "Let's go get Madelyn" and she flies off the chair and beats me to the top of the stairs. Every morning.

There she is. At the top. Wondering why it takes me so long to get there...

I'm not sure how she fits so much on her bed. Barely enough room for her most days. But 2 things she loves, stuffies and being cozy.

Morning greetings on the stair landing. And yes, Madelyn is indeed wearing one piece fleece jammies.

Barry drove Mace to school early this morning. He had to be there for 7:30, he plays badminton on Wednesday mornings. This morning he came home with a surprise, Timmy's breakfast sandwiches.

 
Even Mad got a Timmy's treat this morning. What a great way to start off the day.

This little mook doesn't like to be too far away from her people. When I go to my computer, she follows and just sleeps near where I am.

The forecast is for a weather change, so we take advantage of a nice morning, and I walk the dog after I finish up my work on the computer.
 Today's lunch, a ham bun with blueberries and strawberries.

Sititng in the sunshine. Monday and Tuesday were chilly and cold. Today it's finally nicer, though the wind is cool. But sheltered in the back yard, this little doggie is pretty happy. 

Barry and I at a meeting at the school. 

Picking up a few groceries and things for dinner. I wonder how many people watch me set up my phone to take photos of myself and think 'what on earth'...

Tonight we grilled burgers. During the warmer summer months, we eat burgers. A lot. They're my favourite. Finally, Mason at nearly 14, is on board and enjoys them too. Miss Madelyn, not so much, but we always grill a wiener for her.

Mason has been putting in a lot of time practicing guitar. He's really good at it. He's shown great improvement.

 

This little dog gets so loved on. She often gets trapped caught in Madelyn's room. She does on occasion escape get out. She has come down wearing an outfit or two before. She's even donned a french beret. She's a pretty patient little dog though, and secretly I think she enjoys the attention.

Hot tub maintenance. There are always water and chemical levels that need to be checked. Barry's quite diligent about taking care of it.

A quick look at the photos + words of Wednesday.

PL2016 - Week 13

Amidst documenting a week in the life, I have to also add Week 13 of my project life album.

I've mentioned it a few times, it's a challenge these days, to get this boys photo. He is definitely not quite as smile friendly as he once was. Having said that, both my kids love looking through albums and do so all the time. When I see them doing this, I randomly say things like, 'Can't create memories to look back on, if I don't have any photos.' So far they're continuing to cooperate.

This was the week of spring break. There seemed to be a lot of sleep overs and friends getting together. It seems now, that mason makes his own plans and tells us about them after they've been made. We're transitioning into the real teen years. Even though it was spring break, the girl guides still went house to house selling cookies. We celebrated my birthday, decorated Easter eggs and celebrated Easter. It was a big weekend at our house. As usual, the week off went by way too quickly.

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WITL - Tuesday - Photos + Words

Another reason I'm semi bummed out and not feeling as motivated about week in the life this year, is my Nikon seems to be having issues. Major bummer. I had error messages on it before Christmas, and then googled what I could do to help. I cleaned contact points on the body as well as the lens. I bought a new memory card. I changed lenses, but yesterday I got the same error message. Again. Which really sucks. I guess I'll have to take it in for a service, but I'm afraid that will lead to lots of money being spent...

Thankfully I have an iPhone. Which takes pretty decent pictures. I mean, obviously not the same caliber as the Nikon, but pictures nonetheless. Memories if you will. Memories that don't care whether or not they're from a Nikon on an iPhone...

Here are Tuesday's photos + words:

Coffee and breakfast taking place.

Sometimes Barry has breakfast the same time as Madelyn. Usually he's working when she has breakfast. After mentioning yesterday that Madelyn eats porridge every day for breakfast, this morning she had Rice Krispies. I noticed after I loaded this photo, that Barry's covering his face. I'm sure he thinks he's being funny. And yes, yesterday's dry laundry is still sitting at the end of the table.

 Brushing teeth before heading out the door to school.

Going to school today is 3-D lenseless glasses and cat ears. Love this girl. Tuesdays is safety buddy day, so she needed to be at school early. Barry gave her a ride. He does most mornings.

 Libby watching her people disappear for the day.

Libby watching  a rabbit on the front lawn. There's no doubt she'd like to get a hold of rabbits and squirrels.

 Into the shower, after everyone has left for the day.

Making the bed. Love the sunshine that pours into our room in the morning.

On my nightstand. I'm currently reading a book called Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, after numerous reading busts over the last few months, I'm pleased to say this is a story that peeked my interest almost immediately.

Drying my hair. Last year at this time I was thrilled with my new short hair style. I did love it, but the upkeep was too much. So now I'm patiently waiting until it fits into a simple pony tail again. I like this length. Plan to keep it in a short bob, but long enough to have it in a ponytail. [Woody and Buzz light year are on the dresser, because when our student from France came, Mason no longer wanted them in his room] They have to be put away properly. Of course those two guys are keepers. I'm never going to get rid of them... But the realization that Mason is 'too old' to have them in his room, is a little bit bitter sweet. 

  Always dishes to do.

We had our carpets cleaned a few weeks ago and decided to change our furniture around. We put the leather furniture into our family room, and the stuff from our family room into the living room. It's been a welcome change.  Even the kids, who were dead against the idea, have come around.

A selfie with my Mum and Dad. I went over to their place for a visit this afternoon.

On my way to school to pick up Madelyn.

 

A sweet reunion. This little dog loves her people fiercely. And this little girl loves that little dog right back.

Tonight for supper, once again were just the 3 of us. We enjoyed Taco Tuesday, always a favourite. Again, I forgot about getting photos of us gathered around the table. Barry had to work late again, and this time didn't get home until just before 10. A super long day, when he leaves the house at 8:15.

Tonight we hung out on the couch in the family room, and went over our days. And enjoyed a beer together.

A quick look at Tuesday's words + photos.

WITL - Monday - Photos + Words

This is the week Ali Edwards is documenting A Week in the Life.

An intense look at the every day of one entire week. I have always participated and looked forward to this week. I have physically documented a week in the life, since 2008. I might have missed one year between 2008 and now. But this year, I just can't seem to get my head wrapped around it.

Having all these past 'year in the life' weeks documented, I can go through previous years and see how my kids have grown. I can see which things remain the same, and the things that differ. I can flip through pages in an album and watch my family grow up.

This week of documenting, is a HUGE job, and I've always welcomed doing it. But this year I just can't seem to get into the head space needed to compose pages. So, for the first time ever, I'm going to document photos here on my blog. I'm simply going to have photos + words. I'm not going to feel guilty about not preparing layouts and albums.

I do know that if this week comes and goes, and if I don't take any photos. If I don't jot anything down, I'll be very disappointed. I will regret it for sure. So, here simply are my photos + words:

Mad at the kitchen table, eating her porridge for breakfast. Which is her breakfast of choice 8-10 months of the year. Always for school, a bowl of porridge. This morning she was reading an article from Barry's 'Survival Edition' of Popular Mechanics. This girl reads anything and everything. [And yes, she does scare herself on occasion] But when the zombies come, I definitely want to have her around...

Mace was waiting for a ride to school this morning. Barry had to take our vehicle in for service, so was able to drop Mason off on the way. I have to say, Grade 8 has this boy taking city transit, getting up on his own, most mornings, and out the door without much help. He's become very responsible. 

The boys heading out the door. I'm not sure when or how Mason has become so tall. When I told him the other day, that I couldn't see the top of his head anymore, he said back to me, "Well, now I'm looking at your forehead." He's just a little bit shorter than his Dad, but I suspect that will change.

Doing Mad's hair. Every day. Still. And honestly, I love it. I love that it looks so nice and tidy. I love that she still let's me do it. I wonder how much longer that will last. She told me last week, "All my friends tell me what a good job you do on my hair, Mummy." [She still calls me Mummy...]

Driving Miss Mad to school. Today she decided to wear her cat ears to school. She's always deciding something. There's certainly never a dull moment.



After the drive to school. I come home, pour a cup of coffee and enjoy reading through the blogs I keep up with.

Chores that I don't photograph. Cleaning bathrooms. Doing laundry. It was a very unpleasant day today, so rather than put clothes outside to dry, and put them on the rack over our furnace. Because yes, it was on a lot this Monday.

Always so much laundry. And speaking of laundry, this little dog is sure I put a warm pile of to-be-folded laundry on the couch just for her.

 

Spending time checking email and doing some 'work'. I also am in the midst of figuring out Dropbox... I didn't find it very intuitive, but I was finally able to upload and share photos from when our student from France was here. And yes, we do have a Mac, and yes, I'm still attached to my PC.

 Lunch time. Peanut butter and honey.

A little snuggle on the couch after-school. It was cold enough that I put slippers on and covered up with a cozy blanket. It seems criminal that our temperatures can fluctuate so much. Saturday was 30° and today was about 8°. Seriously. No wonder we never know what to wear. 

The bright side of the cooler temperatures, although the wildfire in northern Alberta is still burning out of control [the size of the fire is as big as the city of Calgary] it has helped fire crews get into the city of Fort McMurry and evaluate the devastation. The areas in red were communities hit the hardest. Some of the communities are simply gone. We're still all watching the news and doing whatever it is we can, to help out. The best thing you can do to help, is donate money to the Red Cross.

There was just 3 of us around the dinner table tonight. Barry had dinner time appointments. We had chicken and salad. I thought I'd taken a photo, but I guess I didn't. I just got a dessert photo:

Fugcicles and Revello's. Favourite around our house. Mason looked through flyers with me a few weeks ago, found out where the ice cream novelties were on sale and insisted we buy them. 

Something new, since the start of the school year. The kids make their own school lunches. I couldn't be happier about it. It was one of the chores I disliked the most. Then I got grumpy when things came back home un-touched. I decided to let them make their own. It's been great so far. Here, Madelyn is getting a container for the pickles she cut up.

Barry came home just in time to help with Mason's math homework. I had just looked up on the iPad,  how to calculate volumes, when Barry walked in the door. [Thank heavens] Mason has a project due for school, he's making a robot and has to calculate the volume and surface area of all the pieces of the robot. The 3 of them also attached googly eyes to their foreheads. I love these guys so much.

We moved Libby's kennel and no longer crate her during the day. So this little spot in our house is a welcome sight. She still chews things, and loves to be sneaky. But she just turned 2 and thankfully we're finally able to leave her out when we go out. [Of course, all bedroom doors need to be closed and the basement needs to be blocked off] But it's nice.

I'm also loving how our days are getting noticeably longer. This photo was taken at nearly 9 pm. I love spring.

So, there's a quick look at Monday's words + photos.

PL2016 - Week 12

Here is week 12 in my project life album. This week centered around ringette. The girls had played in a huge game on Sunday, and won. Had we lost Sunday's game, we would have had to play and win one, maybe two more games to get to the cities. Because we won on Sunday, it meant we automatically went to the city championship game.

Talk about exciting. This whole season has been exciting. Back in September, I never expected we would head into the city championship game with no losses in league played games.

The last game was tough... The team we played against quite literally wanted to take us down. But they didn't! We came away city champs! Such an accomplishment. Best year playing ringette ever.

Win or lose this final game, we'd qualified for Provincials in Medicine Hat. So, after school on St. Patrick's Day, we loaded up our vehicle and headed to the Hat. Out of the 13 girls on the team, 12 of us were able to make provincials work. 

Again, what a special experience to be a part of. This was our first year in U12, and our first time qualifying to make it to provincials. Will that happen every year? I don't know. Maybe it does. Again, this team never lost a game in the regular season. We had one tie, and the rest were wins. [We did lose a few games in the tourneys, but they don't count in the standings]

Friday morning we played our first game against the Spruce Grove Rage. We lost 1-4, but it was a closer game than the score leads you to believe.  And those northern Alberta teams, they are GOOD.

We won our second game against Red Deer Elite, which was a feather in our cap for sure. In a tourney in January, we lost by one goal. We also lost to them in the gold medal game of the Golden Ring, again by one goal.  To say our girls were pumped up over this win, was an understatement. The parents were pretty pumped up too. 

Friday night, there was an opening ceremony that the girls all got to be a part of. It felt like it was kind of a big deal. The girls all got matching ball camps, and got to wear their practice jerseys onto the ice, carrying the banner with our team name on it. 

Friday night was full of a lot of laughs, have I mentioned these parents are awesome? We may have got asked to pipe down, on several occasions. The girls and the parents had a blast Friday night.

Then, Saturday morning, at exactly 5:23, Miss Madelyn jumped out of bed, flew down the hall to the bathroom, and threw up. Poor little peanut. She was sick for the entire day. It was heartbreaking when she finally realized that she wouldn't be able to play ringette. She was in tears and so upset, the last thing she wanted to do, she told me, was let her team down...

The girls all made her a 'get well soon' card, and played 'for Maddy' and subsequently won the next 3 games. [5-2 win against the Ice Fury, 3-1 win against the Leduc Jaguars, and 2-0 against Brooks]

They had a game first thing Sunday morning at 7:45am, which suddenly Mad bounced out of bed at 6:00am, and said "Let's go". Once she was up however, she realized how weak she was. There was no way she'd get on the ice. So, we went and watched the game. The girls on the team were so thrilled to see her, and they all greeted her so warmly. They lost that game against Lacombe Edge, 1-7. It was a hard game to watch. The girls definitely got a little down, but keep in mind, this was the team that ended up winning the gold medal. They were good. There was a bit of speculation that they were too good to be playing in this tier. Considering all their games were total blowouts, I tend to agree.

We played the Bronze Medal game, against the Spruce Grove Rage, we lost, the final score was 0-4. The most important thing about this game was, Madelyn played. I still am in disbelief that she did it. She was absolutely determined to be there, and be apart of it, and she did. Which was so awesome.

In the dressing room, there were lots of tears. Not because they lost, but because that was their final game. The season was over. They're done. These girls really bonded. It was our best season ever. 

So there you have it. An amazing accomplishment, especially to be the only southern Alberta team to make it to and play in the medal games. We called this weekend, the 'icing' to our amazing year. Wish I had some Tsunami Mommy photos to add.

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