Run For The Cure 2015

I love the tradition of doing Run For The Cure with my extended family.  I know there is controversy around how much money actually goes towards detection and finding a cure, but some money is better than none and the main reason we do it is to honour my mom.  It's a time to think about her, appreciate our own health, and pray that it doesn't touch our own lives.  I've been doing the run for 14 years and have done several with my mom where she walked it.

I decided to run with Kai and then Gary pushed Nya and our Little One in the stroller while running with Koen.  Well...I kind of ran with Kai for the first kilometer and then he left me in his dust.  He finished the 5 km's in 26 minutes.  To me, that's pretty awesome.  I finished around 32 minutes.  Another HUGE surprise is that I turned and saw my niece Izzy running in and who was beside her?  Our Koey!  At 35 minutes.  His first 5 km race and he did it in 35 minutes :) I was so proud of him for not giving up and doing his best.  I don't think there's any way I could have run 5 km's at their age!

Kai was actually one of the first 30 people in...crazy, right?

I do love that this is one way my kids can honour and feel connected to my mom.  It's a time for family. And pop--they like that part.

My sister Jan and her family were away this weekend but everyone else was able to make it!

Afterwards we went to my dad and Joanne's for lunch. We had a feast and it was lovely :) So nice to just show up and eat!  Excuse Koen's eating.  

In just one year, I will have my first mammogram.  If you have an immediate family member who has had it, you get your mammogram 10 years before the age they were upon diagnosis.  I truly appreciate my health and hope that it continues.  I really, really, really want to meet my grandchildren!

I hope you had a great weekend.

Love, 

Louise

A Bit About Me

This might be a bit nerdy but I wanted to do one of the OneDay videos about me.  Many of you know me personally, but there are a lot that don't.  I find that whenever I meet an online friend in real life, they sound so different than I thought!  The questions that come up are random but this gives you a sense of who I am...and yes, I do come close to tears because, well, that's who I am (and I'm tired!)  By the way, these videos are so easy to put together and can be used for things like birthdays, Mother's Day, Christmas etc.  So, here I am, on "my spot" on the couch during a rare quiet moment, sharing...

{You need to click on the photo and then press "play" when it takes you to the OneDay page.  It sounds like a lot of work but it's not!}

If you watched, thank you. If you didn't, that's fine too.  It's kind of weird.

PS I had no idea I put my hand on my chin to think.  Oh ya, and when I say "no job at all" that doesn't mean I don't want to be a mom ;)

Love,
Louise

The Travel Bug

One thing our family loves is travelling.  Both Gary and I grew up doing a lot of travel--usually in the form of camping and road trips.  I don't necessarily need to camp (I'd prefer not to at my age) but I do love to see the world.  Now that we will have our summers free (teachers who are no longer doing wedding photography), we might as well use them to our advantage!  Travelling can be expensive so we usually take do it via road trips.

Some of our favourite trips as a family to date have been:

Drumheller, Alberta. Seriously, it's fun!

Nehalem Bay State Park, Oregon. We've gone twice.

{You can stop by Mount St. Helens along the way}

Thailand. Yes we all got some form of food poisoning (and Kai got Dengue Fever!) but it was worth it:)

{So hot that we had mango smoothies every day!}

The Philippines. Gorgeous. So great to visit friends there.

{How did we do it with three young kids? Not sure}

Mexico.  We rented a bus with about 6 other families that we are good friends with and traveled through Mexico! Not sure I would do it now but it was fun in 2007 :)

Disney World.  How did that even happen?  It's so surreal that we won that trip earlier this year!

Yearly trips to Ucluelet and Tofino.  We love it there; it is our happy place.

Our bucket list of trips (I LOVE having trips to look forward to!):

1.  Road trip up to Alaska (just doing the Panhandle as Gary and I have traveled through Alaska before), up to Whitehorse, and then back going through Liard Hotsprings.  We have been to Liard Hotsprings before but, ahem, have no photos from this trip. This will hopefully happen summer of 2016 dependent on whether our Little One is with us or not.

2.  Cross Canada trip.  We are trying to figure out how we will travel across as I don't want to tent all the way.  Maybe stay with people we know, cabins, and hotels.  The plan would be to do this in 2018.  I have been across twice before--once with my family (all the way to the tip of Newfoundland) and once with a friend on the train.  Canada is incredibly gorgeous.

3. Iceland.  Probably just Gary and I.  Maybe for our 15th wedding anniversary in 5 years? 2020?

4.  Road trip to Disneyland.  We will definitely do Disneyland one more time with the kids and hope to make it a larger trip going to places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.

I had always wanted to take our family to Kenya for a year but I'm not feeling as confident about it now.  I'm thinking we will revisit this when they are older.  We also have friends in India right now so that is another trip to consider!

What about you?  Do you have a list?  Where would you love to go?

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Louise

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1.  Fall leaves. Autumn is gorgeous. I love the light, colours, temperature and clothing!  Time to get out my boots!

2. Movie nights. We had to do it Saturday night instead of our usual Friday because Koen was at a birthday party.  This week was Lilo & Stitch.  

3. Family walks.  The great outdoors is a great place to be with our kids...until they try to see who can find the biggest stick (aka giant tree branch).

4. Pinterest.  We bought perogies on sale at Costco and usually we are kind of bored by them.  Put them in a waffle maker and ta da!

5. Koen's hard work. We get our kids to make birthday cards for the birthdays that they attend to personalize it and save $$.  Koen spent almost an hour trying to colour it nicely and write neatly. I was so surprised because he really, really does not enjoy it but he wanted it to be nice for his friend.

6.  Finally having a matching gate.  We didn't get it put in 9.5 years ago when we moved in because every single option cost so much money.  We got a great price and they installed it this past week.  It only took us taking care of someone else's child to get to this point ;)

7.   BIG WIN!!! Gary has been filling in each receipt's customer service satisfaction surveys and each month Loblaws does a draw for a $5,000 cash prize and a $1,000 one (in the form of 1,000,000 points).  Gary won the points one!! So great.  This will pay for food for a few months!

8. A free bike!  I had bought Nya a second hand bike last year but it's still a bit too big.  This one was being given away for free in our alley: a perfect fit for Nya.  She's so proud of herself.

9.  Beauty in the skies.  The supermoon has been gorgeous and throw in an eclipse....beauty!

10.  Sisters and friends.  I got together with my sisters and two different friends this week. I'm exhausted but I know it's important for me to see adult people :) 

11. Gary donating blood.  I was supposed to but I failed the past two times and knew my iron would be too low again. I sent Gary (who was due to go anyway) in my place.  Time to start taking iron pills and getting more vitamin C in my life!

I hope you are having a good day!  Have you ever received/found something for free that was super helpful?

Louise

Mama Bear Box {Giveaway}

Mama Bear Box is a local B.C. business that provides trendy and essential homemade baby products delivered right to your door!  Each month there are 4-5 new products and the fun part is that it's always a surprise what is in the box.   This would be a fabulous baby shower gift because who doesn't love getting a special package delivered right to their home?  And on a personal note, this would just save so much time and energy by ordering online!

This box is a sample from September's Mama Bear Box; drool-proof bibdana, teething necklace, glow-in-the-dark soother clip, natural lavender baby soap and natural healing balm.

I love the idea of supporting other mamas by buying from their small shops--this way you'll be exposed to some that products you've never even heard of.

You can buy month to month box ($39.99) or there is even a three month ($113.97) or six month ($215.94) option.  The value of the boxes ranges from $50-$60.00.  Upon check out you can choose whether you would like a box geared towards a baby boy or baby girl.  Here are some of the businesses that will have their product in the October Mama Bear Boxes!

You have the chance to win a Mama Bear Box valued at $39.99!  Whether you'd like it for yourself or a baby gift for someone else--it's a great prize.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter below and be sure to check back to see if you're a winner!  Open to residents of Canada and the U.S.A.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tea Time: Connecting with Your Kids

My mom passed away ten years ago which was just before I had kids of my own. I wish I would have gleaned more information from her; what a resource she was–she had five kids in eight years! I never thought to ask for parenting advice, actually, I wouldn't have known what to ask because I really didn't know what I was getting into. Sure, I learned from her example but as for actual tidbits about raising toddlers or teenagers, I didn't inquire.

There was one piece of guidance that I have in her writing:

Even if you don't like tea, drink it and listen, you will be amazed at the ease of the conversation; sometimes it is the only way to get a teenager to talk!

Pinterest Perogies

Perogies were on sale this week at Coscto.  We don't eat them often (hello, carbs!) and thought we would make them a little more exciting.  We boiled them and then put them in our waffle maker. Thanks, Pinterest!

Tomatoes would have made this much better but apparently we've eaten every last one from the garden..or someone has.

Now I think I need to start a Pinterest board on all the fun things you can make with a waffle maker!  Do you have any ideas?

Love,
Louise

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1. Health.  All of the kids are relatively healthy after weeks a variety of infections being passed from one to another.  Nothing like getting a phone call, during a mom visit, that your oldest son just vomited in the classroom.

2.  Bubbles.  

3.  Soup. I looooove soup.  It reminds me of my childhood and it's just so comforting on cooler days.  I miss my mom's meatball soup on Sundays.  Looking back, it was more than just soup; it was family time and tradition!

4.  Wedding photography.  I'm so thankful for the couples that we've met over the years.  We are now done all of our weddings for 2015 and we ended on such a high note--what a great September.  Now I need to edit them all, but ya, feels good!  Just two weddings that we accepted for 2016 and then GC Photography is taking a break :)

5.  Cuddles with my boys; movie nights are great for that!   

6.  CLASSES ONLINE.  I have to take 53 hours of foster parenting classes (as required in the first year of fostering).  I went to the first two classes and they were not my learning style....and long....and far...and difficult to work into our family's schedule by starting at 6:30 pm.  I found out that they have an online option and not only is it way more my style (succinct information while sharing our own stories/feelings while someone responds), I can complete it at my own pace and use my time more wisely!  My resource worker approved Gary and I taking it in this way--so thankful!

7. Chiropractors.  Gary's falling apart.  Okay, maybe not, but he's had quite a few problems with his back, hips and legs.  He saw the chiropractor three times and learned some new stretches and is slowly getting better.  The chiropractor says he's too big of a guy to be running so we'll see what Gary does instead!

8.  Netflix while editing. I don't know how I didn't do this sooner!  Well, I just got my iPad mini so maybe that's why?  We only got Netflix a year ago so that's part of it too. I have one wedding left to edit and one season of Scandal left to watch-- I hope it carries me through :)

9. Nya loves preschool.  How is my youngest in preschool? Wow. She is so incredibly sweet...just this week she was holding my hand while we walked through the store and she said, "I just love holding your hand, mommy."   She tells me daily that she loves me and how beautiful I am.  Oh man, what a gem.


10. Gift cards!!! I'm a little frugal so I LOVE having gift cards to indulge in things like Starbucks and frozen yogurt with my Nya Bear.  By the way, Chapters (I had a gift card so we also went there this week) could be my new favourite store.  Love it.

I hope you are having a good week!   If you could get a gift card to any store, what would it be?

Love,
Louise

Resiliency

Resiliency: the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy (Dictionary.com)

Life is fine right now but I would say there is definitely some adversity.  It's not easy being a parent under "normal" circumstances, and now, with adding another child with some special needs, we've found the transition to a new normal taking longer than we thought it would.  I feel stretched but I also feel hopeful.  At times I feel defeated but I also feel...strong.

One thing we are covering in our foster training class this week is self care and resiliency.  Some characteristics of resilient people are: self esteem, recognizing that life has challenges, knowing that your actions can affect an outcome, problem-solving skills, a sense of humour and support. This last one is huge for me. Studies show that resilient people look for support.

I'm a big researcher--I love getting as much information as I can. I search out people who have been in similar situations. I appreciate connecting with others in facebook groups or in person. I value the opinion of people who have been trained in an area that I'm uncertain of. I love reading for different perspectives and nuggets of wisdom.  Support. Support. Support.

When my mom passed away, I connected with others who had lost a parent (I still do),  I read books, saw a counselor (only once--I should have gone more), and talked with my sisters who were in the same boat.  Not only did I need to find help through the loss, I needed to find new supporters.  My mom had been my number one chearleader and when she died I realized that I needed to fill that position because I couldn't remain healthy without it.

I also know I am a big words of affirmation person and if I have to ask for it, so be it! It's not my job to "do it all", but I can take care of myself to do the best job that I can.   Last week, I asked people for encouragement on facebook. I. Asked. For. It. I felt a bit silly but I knew that I needed it. So, kind of funny, but at the same time, all those comments and emoticons lifted me up. "You've got this" "You can do it" "I believe in you"....who wouldn't want to hear that?!

I'm not good at asking for help--I feel like I'm inconveniencing people.  You know what, though? As my mother-in-law taught me, I can always ask and if it doesn't work for that person, well, they can say no.  I'm getting better at it.  I'm trusting that other people will be honest and just say "no" if it doesn't work for them.  Also, I know I have a community of people that will support me in prayer--what a gift!

I would encourage you that if you are feeling any adversity, please search out support around you.  Whether it's a facebook group, friend, family, book, or counsellor--they can help.  If one source is a dud, keep looking.   Where do you find your greatest source(s) of support?

Love, 

Louise

PS If you don't follow on facebook, I'd love to see you there!  You can find me here. 

Hamburger Bean Pot

This is a childhood recipe that we all loved; it's so easy and affordable to make.  Gary and I like it as a quick "go to" when we don't know what to make and are limited on time.  My mom put together a recipe book of all our favourite recipes before she passed away and I love using it – I have so many wonderful memories connected to food, do you?

As you can see in my mom's writing, it's "so easy, so good!"  I love, love, looooove this special gift that I have from her.

Hamburger Bean Pot

Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 apple peeled and diced
1 can of brown beans
1/4 cup of molasses
1/4 cup of barbeque sauce

Instructions:
Brown ground beef, onion and bacon.  Add the apple (I always add two), brown beans, molasses and barbeque sauce and stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

Super easy, right?

As my mom said in her recipe book to us, " It is a gift of love and memories to sit together and make time for each other."    What is a special family meal that you had growing up?   

Love,
Louise