officially fall

yup, the leaves have turned, the days are sunny but crisp. i really love this time of year.

pilot speed

c.j. and i have seen these dudes several times here in calgary. they are so, so good.

jackpot

i think we have a winner. going down this weekend to firm things up. yee-haw!

question

have you ever had one of those days that involves a sad, discontent baby, cheesecake for breakfast, a quilt on the floor in the hallway and a blow dryer?

totally one of those days.

cooling down

a cute picture of sis, for you
for tavi
for me + c

it is that time of year again. it is getting cool in the evening, the leaves on the trees around here are changing color. we need to take the kids down to bowness park and take some fall-ish pictures. i think a wiener roast is also in order. who wants in?

we participated in the annual city-wide food drive over the weekend that the church spearheads. we had a good turn out. last year the church collected more food on one day than had ever been collected on a food drive, ever. we actually got into the guinness book of world records for that feat. way to go calgary!

stake conference also occurred. it was very nice. a lot of talks on contention and thoughts on how to eliminate it in your life. excellent messages. eli participated in the senior primary children's choir and sang his heart out. i was so proud of him. he was just beaming.

i did a bunch of sewing this weekend as well. i decided to finish a quilt that i have been working on for several months. i wasn't really sure what i was going to do with it until we became acquainted with our realtor in california. he has become a fast friend and has a special little girl that i think will really enjoy a soft mermaid quilt to snuggle up with. i also finished a quilt top that i was making for our {c.j. and i} bed. i still need to put a border on it, but i feel good that most of the hard stuff is done, done, done. i have some blocks sitting here that sandra and i made LAST YEAR at thanksgiving for a christmas quilt that i think i will tackle next. maybe, just maybe i will finish it in time for christmas and we can use it as part of our festivities.

this next week doesn't bring much. ida is supposed to get her 6 month shots on tuesday, but she is coming down with a cold that i had last week so i may postpone them. eli starts piano lessons again with megan comin, something he enjoys. we have 3 different offers on 3 different houses in ladera ranch that we are hoping to hear something on in the next little while. maybe this week? it is bit of a waiting game.

soooo, just thought i'd write. YOU have a good week.

well done

c.j. brought me home chocolate covered macadamia nuts from l.a.

HELLO

hornet bites, hair cuts & house hunting stories

brad "wonder woman" cook

getting fixed up
mangy dog bites

some finished blocks for my circle quilt, coming along...
post hair cut
new do!
happy girl
pre hair cut with the morning sun in her eyes. i just love that squishy face.
happy little star needed a hair cut
big hornet bite on the really big toe
aunt marilyn, aunt allyson & aunt ruthanne = merv, ally & fan. i love these ladies. they are my dads sisters.

today was weird and eventful.

*eli asked me if he could be a hunter when he grows up. then he asked me what my favourite secondary colour was. i told him it was green. he then told me his big toe still hurts. a hornet bit him yesterday at a fun family function. he held it together, but i could tell it really hurt...

*i got message from c.j.'s mom saying she had received a call from a woman named "rachel" who found c.j.'s iphone while she was out on a walk. huh?? so i called the woman, she said that she had gotten ahold of c.j. and he was picking his phone up as we spoke. o.k???.... within minutes of that conversation, c.j. called me and said they {he and brad, our incredibly awesome realtor} had accidently let a dog out of a house they were looking at. apparently c.j. and brad ran around the neighbourhood for a long time after this dog and while c.j. was scrambling around in the bushes he lost his phone. once they caught the dog, brad tried to get it back in the house when it decided to go to town on his arms. so, they were on their way to the emergency room. {i am sure i am leaving so many ridiculous details out of this story, c.j. will have to clarify or re-tell at a later date.} poor brad. i felt so bad when i heard this news. the dude is a trooper/machine though. after the hospital visit they had some lunch and continued the house hunt. they even found a house that we really like and are going to put an offer on. talk about going the extra mile...

*i cut idas hair today. i am sure you will see in the pictures her hair was getting a bit out of control and silly looking. one long, scraggly patch on top only spells "comb-over", so i snipped it off with some kitchen shears. she looks like a whole new little woman. apparently c.j. also shaved his head while he has been away so the only one in the family without a new fresh do is eli. we will take care of that tomorrow.

pick a winner

here i am, sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed. the lights are out, there is a lamp on in the corner. eli is asleep on an aerobed on the floor and ida is sacked out beside me. c.j. is in california on a house-hunting trip. he called today and said that he found a house that he wants to walk through one more time before he puts an offer on it.

i have a head cold. i hate that. it is pretty mild, not a lot of snot, but i am congested and have sinus pain. i can't take anything for it really since i am nursing and don't want anything goofy to happen to my milk supply. i am idas only hope right now, kind of like how obi wan kenobi was for princess leia. speaking of which, i should be seeing the allergist next week regarding ida's FPIES. got to get that going on.

i sewed today.

ida has another tooth coming in!?! her top right front tooth. the other side on the top is red and bulgy.

eli said today was a super special day. mom and dad took him to the farmers market where he ate kettle korn, gelato, blueberry pie, sugar cookies, chicken pot pie and something else that i can't seem to remember. if i ate all that on an outing with my grandparents as a kid, i would think it was super special too.

isn't it funny, when you cut your hair short you wish you were about 50 lbs lighter?

i should just go to sleep right now, go to sleep. go to sleep. go to sleep.

tomorrow is a new day. fresh and clean.

hair

got my hair cut today. back to basics with the sound of music "julie andrews" do.

pretty. cute.

*today i tried to take a picture of idas teeth. they are difficult to see, i can feel them but can never get a real good glimpse. every time i would put my finger in her mouth she would stick her tongue out. after trying for a few minutes i gave up. i snapped a few more shots and then realized that in one frame she smiled just enough to show off her two little buds. so sweet.

*i have pieced together 56 11" x 11" squares that i now intend to sew into a king size quilt. it has been a bit difficult with the curved line and all, but i have a feeling it will be pretty spectacular in the end.

genius at work

12:10 a.m.

working on the cover of TIME

this is a pretty sophisticated operation we run here

climb every mountain

this is us at the bottom of the trail. excited, naive, and ready for anything. yes the picture stinks, thank you tourist lady.

the valley view from the gondola coming down
tippity top!

ida's patch of hair is my goatee! completely unintentional, but very funny now that i notice it...

hey! we climbed a mountain this weekend!

saturday morning we decided to drive up to Banff and hike up Sulphur Mountain. we have taken the gondola up to the top a couple of times and watched the poor folks trudging up the 5.5 kms straight up hill, er mountain. it does switchback, but it is quite vertical and little did we know it would be quite an accomplishment to push ida in her chariot to the top. every foreign tourist on the trail walking back down commented in broken english, "i compliment your efforts!" "wow, nice effort!" etc, etc...

poor c.j. did most of the pushing, i don't know how he did it. it was tough.

it reminded me a of a hike we took early in our marriage at Zion National Park. we were with my friend megan and her boyfriend. the highlights of that day involved being really out of shape, barfing, jello-like legs and heat stroke. it was sure a great day. *sigh*

the nice thing about our recent sulphur mountain achievement is, I COULDN'T BELIEVE WE DID IT. i really haven't done something like that in a long, long time and IT FELT GOOD. it was hard and taxing and difficult and pushed me to my limits. i got to the top in pain and was thirsty and could hardly walk with my cramped up calves. i just sat and stared and drank and drank. i needed a good 1/2 hour to get myself together. but we did it. we did it.

so to you out there. climb that mountain. go for it. you can do it. and if you are already doing it, good for you. push yourself, start an adventure. i am looking for my next one.

happy labour day

newsy news

grade 2 morning!
putting on his indoor shoes
check out where he sat. i love that he sat right at her feet and that he is so huge.

big girl news: ida is crawling. she started yesterday. crazy.

grade 2 news: eli is loving school. he has started to eat his sandwich at lunch. last year he would get off the bus and the first thing he would tell me was, "i didn't eat my sandwich because...{it looked yucky, i didn't like the taste of the crust, etc...}". i kept threatening him with, "if you don't eat your sandwich, i am going to fill your lunch bag with ONLY a sandwich, no snacks and if you are hungry, you will eat it."

dude pulled "i didn't eat my sandwich" on day 3 of school. what did he get the next day? just a sandwich. did he eat it? yes. has he eaten his sandwich since then? yes-siree.

it took just 1 day of nothing but a sandwich to solve that problem. {i should have done that last year...}

baby news: simon is here!