spring break

good old fashioned spring break in calgary

ivy!

last year for spring break, we spent 3 weeks in oahu.  best. trip. ever.

this year, spring break snuck up on us and we found ourselves feeling frantic like we missed the "spring-break-get-the-heck-out-of-the-cold-train".  we had no plans, no destination and everything last minute was wicked pricey.  what to do?  must  get  out  of  the  snow  and  cold.  .  .  .  .

we decided to head to british columbia to mom and dads cabin for a few days.  it would be a good break and different scene/better weather??!!???  pleasssse?????  nena and the kids decided to come too.  the more the merrier!  how has spring break been going?  good news, we have pretty much hung out in our pajamas all week.  went into town...  in pajamas.  bowling?  pajamas.  c.j. and the kids built a makeshift rocket out of a root beer bottle and a bunch of other stuff laying around.  let's go shoot it off!  sure!  in pajamas!  who wants pizza? pizza pajama party... in the restaurant.  yeah for spring break!  it's been relaxing and pajama-ish.  can't been that... {except for 3 weeks in oahu}


p.s.
nena's little ivy is having surgery on her eyes on friday.  they need to straighten them out {see above}. it's going to be like a whole new world to her when they are all fixed up.  will be praying for you little sister.  it will all work out.

p.p.s
so bummed.  didn't make the project selvage cut.  by the looks of it, i wasn't what they were looking for. rats.

vote for burtonsnorth!

ok folks...

burtonsnorth has designed a fabric!

and when i say "burtonsnorth" i mean jessica {with the fancy fabricy vision/art direction} and c.j. {with the mad computer skills}.  a perfect team.  this little project is a submission for a fabric design competition through spoonflower.com.  i hope i make the first cut of 75 {there are about 780 submissions currently}.  the contest closes tomorrow.  will let you know if i made the cut on the 31st.  and if i do, BELIEVE ME you will know.

i hope you like it, i hope you will support us with a vote.

p.s.  the fabrics name is "eli", inspired by our sweet, one and only son.

 

you can also go here and find us on spoonflower!

oh canada!

who's a citizen of 2 fancy countries now?  this guy.

 before the ceremony

after the ceremony, he wore his red shoes just for the occasion.

watching some t.v. together

the "all canadian" party.  we had some pretty hi-brow guests...
from left to right front row:
snow boarder, justin bieber, eli with red shirt on, david suzuki, a first nations lady, ida with maple leaf tattoo and balloon.
from left to right back row:
noah sans costume was leif ericson, the queen of england, johnny was prince charles, bret "the hitman" hart, celine dion, a figure skater, CJ the newest Canadian family member, a Canada flag - that was me, jeff was a mountie sans the costume.

it's almost been a week.   last friday c.j., ida and i went down to the harry hays building and participated in a Canadian Citizenship Ceremony.  yes, cj is now a Canadian and an American.  how cool is that?  pretty fancy if you ask me.  the ceremony was lovely.  75 people from all over the world were there with their families and loved ones to watch them become a Canadian.  everyone was excited and happy.  i had the most amazing intentions to document it, record it, photograph it, soak it all in.  enter ida.  unfortunately i spent most of my time scooping her off the floor and containing the howling as i ran out of the room.  she even kicked it up a notch when he was called up to get his citizenship certificate, he walked one way and i was running out the other way.  it was all very disappointing.  ohhhh well.  i guess we will always remember the day dad became a canadian...  wahhhh, wahhh, wahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

to celebrate cj's happy day, we had a big fat "canadian" party the next night at jeff and nenas.  it was fun. we dressed up  canadian {the grand prize goes to chuck.  canadian AND calgarian with the bret hart get-up}.  we ate poutine, Tim Horton doughnuts and danced.  good times.

fine art

ida came to me the other night dressed in ALOT of white, silky material...

turns out she likes to pose for portraits.  not unlike the girl with the pearl earring.

street legal

 montreal olympic stadium and tower.  world's tallest inclined tower at 574 feet.

view of montreal from the tower at the olympic stadium.

 can you see the outline of a house on the side of this building?

old montreal

view from our room


well, we are back from montreal.  our flight time going was 3.5 hours, flight time back was 5.  the last time i had a 5 hour flight i was heading to hawaii...  sounds good right about now, eh calgary???

my green card hoop-la is complete.  it was fairly easy.  we showed up at the consulate, was man-handled by the power trippin' "security guards", went up the elevator, took a number, paid $404.00, went to window 9, handed in forms, got fingerprinted, sat back down in the waiting room, called to window 11, handed more forms in, back to the waiting room, called to window 7, raised my right arm to the square and swore to tell the truth, explained where i met cj, why were were moving, what i did for a living, then was welcomed back to the united states by a small squirrelly white man sitting behind thick glass - my green card was to be sent in the mail.  they didn't care my FBI clearance wasn't with me or completed, didn't take a second look at the ream of paper that we used to copy the last 3 years income tax returns and financial reports and only took 2 out of the 3 required 2 x 2 photos.  wow, thanks for being thorough.  glad i was so prepared.

all in all, it was a real treat to visit montreal.  our hotel was fantastic, would stay there again in a heart beat.  the trip was like a little taste of europe, really close to home.  can't beat that!  thank you montreal!


we are pooped tonight.  laying here in bed, i am watching ida on the monitor we have in her bedroom. she has completely undressed herself, diaper and all, 3 times since i put her to bed.  scratch that, just looked over, naked, again.  make that 4 times.  what the heck is going on?!  i go in, re-dress her, explain she has to keep her clothes on, leave and in 5 minutes she is naked again.
dude.  have fun sleeping in the buff.  3 strikes, you're out.

bonjour!

hotel gault.  our room is the 3rd floor, right there on the corner at the top.  we have all 3 windows in our room with amazing views out of each one of them.

maple toffee.  pouring the hot toffee on the snow to harden.

then you take a stick and roll it down the hardening toffee to form your tasty treat.  yum.

montreal is impressive.  

to date we have:  walked all over the cobblestone streets of old montreal, devoured crepes and french onion soup, slept in till 11:00 am {it was really only 9:00 am to us... but better than nothing and the usual 7:00 am alarm clock}, watched 3 movies in 1 day {back to back to back in a theatre i might add} and bought a old school SWATCH.  we have found all the restaurants we have dined in prefer to play '80's hair bands.  it is kind of hilarious.  from the quaint cafes to the hi-brow steak houses, they are hair banding it up.  maybe its a french canadian thing.  who knows?  anyone?

old montreal is like a little slice of europe {never been to europe, but this is how i imagine it}.  what we are enjoying are tiny streets, amazing old buildings with intricate facades, super clean, very friendly, very quiet, nothing is open on sundays and things {ie.  restaurants, shops, galleries} close early {we had a hard time finding a place to eat tonight at 9:30 pm}.

the night we got here i called home and heard that eli's throat was very sore and he was sad.  poor dude.  murphy's law, eh?  then i heard today that one of the brackets on his braces broke off.  so today he hit the doctor and the dentist to get fixed up {sorry mom!}.  turns out antibiotics and some glue patched things up and every things going to be ok.  just hate being so far away.  glad mom and dad are there to take good care of the kids.  

tomorrow {tuesday} i have my interview at 9:00 am at the united states consulate.  am i nervous?  no. am i worried?  no.  am i bummed to have to get up so early?  yes....  come on!  sleeping in has felt so good...    

vancouver

last tuesday, mum and i flew to vancouver.

i was scheduled for my immigration medical on wednesday morning at 6:30 AM sharp.  so i showed up, they x-rayed me, took my blood, weighed, measured, poked and prodded.  then mum and i walked all over the city of vancouver.  we ate and browsed around granville island.  we walked through gastown and yaletown.  the next day we went to the capilano suspension bridge which was very, very cool.  quite spectacular.  hard to translate the height and perspective on film, the bridge and tree-top walk was unique and amazing.

it was a quick trip.  cj and dad held down the fort with the kids.  good job guys.
thanks for being my travel-mate mum!  good times, i love you.

be my valentine?

over the weekend we were at the Glenbow Museum.  at the museum was an interesting dissection of a cell displayed on gels, hanging from the ceiling, lit with black lights.  we all walked into the enclosure, the kids thought it was funny that cj's shoelaces and shirt was glowing in the dark.  then they looked at me...  every freckle since the dawn of time had appeared on my face AND it became very apparent that i am pretty liberal with my lip balm application.  you know, lip balm does not belong just on my lips but ringing the entire parameter of my mouth as well.  the kids ran out screaming and all cj wanted to do was take a picture.

this is why i know cj loves me.  he knows exactly what i look like in different waves of light and he's still sticking around.

happy valentines day!

mike update

what to say.  we received a call last night saying they found mike. information here.

mike

http://www.fox5vegas.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4532573

there are some very sad things going on in las vegas right now.  the girl in the news clip is my niece amber.  we are praying for some comfort and strength and support for the kids and family down there right now.

please join in.

here is another report from a different news station:

making all his dreams come true...

eli is always asking why he can't be in any of c.j.'s shoots.  the explanation that "the client is not looking for a 9 year old boy" never seems to cut it.  until now.

when USA weekend called a few weeks ago and wanted to cast a "9 year old boy" for their bullying story, eli got the gig.  it just came out this weekend in USA TODAY.

go get your copy now, i am sure eli will autograph it for you.  hee hee

come on in

the house pics are up and running!

remember to take your shoes off at the front door...

out of elbow grease

HEY!

this house is shining like the top of the chrysler building.

do you know how much junk/stuff is in your house?  do something for me... walk over to the "phone center/area" in your house {ours is in our kitchen} and open the drawer that is probably there.  IS IT THE BIGGEST JUNK YARD ON EARTH?  or walk into your master bedroom and open the cupboards under your sink.  EXPIRED MEDS/CLEANERS/SUNTAN LOTION FROM 2001?!?  where does all this crap come from?!  holy dina.  now go into your closet and look around.  is there stuff in there you haven't worn for 6 months?  a year?  FORGOT YOU EVEN OWNED?

if so GET RID OF IT.  like, NOW.

that is what we did all weekend long.  'cause this house is going up for sale, it's ready for the photographer to show up and if it looks clean, it is, because every nook and cranny and cupboard and drawer was cleaned, gone through, wiped down, vacuumed, washed off, organized and dusted.  bags and bags of clothes were given away, bags and bags of "stuff" was chucked.  IT WAS AWESOME.  cj was wondering why we hadn't done this a year ago when we moved in.  i don't know.  life happens i guess.

i am now sitting in the last room to finish.  the den/office.  it is pretty much my space.  it is always a mess.  why, why, why, why.  i get it organized and fancy and in a day it is tossed.  fabric, mail, paperwork, bills, junk.  this room is a magnet for crap.  sooooo, i am looking around:  i have 3 filing piles, cheques to be processed, invoices to be entered, fabric to hide away.  it's 1:03 am.

i better give myself a time limit or i will be in trouble.

oh, by the way, re-reading "Joan of Arc" by Mark Twain.  i suggest you read it.  i read it while in university and it changed my life.
i hope it is as good as i remember it being or the book club ladies will kill me....

oh and...

getting rid of newborn baby clothes is really, really hard.

i want you to know...

i gave away most of my clothes today.

i am trying to weed out, clean out, pair down, simplify.

the house goes up for sale next week.

the weather is getting cold again.

food is my enemy.

all my sewing/quilting is going to have to wait until we move. tear, tear, sniff... sniff...

i am doing a lousy job at food prep in our house.

all my clothes are tight and unsightly.

this is going to be a longggggg weekend.

rice, rice baby

success!  ida's rice intolerance {FPIES} is officially over.

i cooked up some rice {which, at the appointed time of consumption she turned her nose up at} so i pulled out the emergency back up... rice crispy treats.

2 treats and 3 hours later we were discharged from the hematology unit with 2 thumbs up from the doctor.

what a relief.  what a day.  what a year and a half.  what good news.

weekender

 los angeles

officially 2

so.  we went to los angeles over the weekend.  

it was a quick trip full of looking at houses, eating really good food, hanging out with family, celebrating birthdays with best friends over sushi and a movie and just enjoying the INCREDIBLE weather. believe me, i'm not a weather girl, but the weather was... pretty much perfect.  

while we were there ida turned 2.  we ended up at the beach for a bit as you can see.  the kids had fun out running the waves.  they got wet, which means sometimes they didn't outrun the waves.  

i didn't really take any pictures this trip.  i'm not quite sure why.  

i got some shots today.  a MMR and a flu shot.  i had to get them for the immigration medical that is booked for mid february.  monday i have to go get the Tdap.  i don't like shots.

c.j. found out his canadian citizenship test is on tuesday.  he is going to have to cram this weekend. 'cause if he doesn't know what the provincial flower of nova scotia is or the ethnic diversity of manitoba... he's hooped.  {ha ha ha} 

ida goes in for her final rice food trial tomorrow morning.  10 am she will be eating 1/3 cup of rice and seeing if it agrees with her.  cross your fingers.

snow dance

coming soon to a theatre near you.

late night shenanigans

unscheduled food trial...

about 10 minutes ago as i was floundering around on the living room floor doing pilates, ida walked around the corner with an unidentified object in her hand.  her mouth was chocolatey and so were her hands, deduction:  she has been holding/eating that for a while...  the luna bar i had been eating for breakfast.  half gone??!!!!  ingredients?!?!
rice flour, brown rice oil, soy rice crisps, blah blah blah.  probably every combination of RICE known to mankind.

NOW.  you can imagine my horror.

she is actually meeting with the folks at the childrens hospital on the 21st and 24th for such things. like, a medically monitored food trial in case things go down the wrong road.

looks like i have 1:45 minutes to see what happens.  i better throw her in the shower so that she is prepared for the ER.

if you have no idea why eating rice is such a big, fat deal, go here and here and here.  and then look around some more.  there is more, i just don't have time to link it all, i've got to get ready for the ER too.

UPDATE:  all is well!  no reaction!  waited and waited and saw a doctor, gave her history, the doctor said they just had a internal seminar on FPIES and Ida was their case study!  hilarious.  anyho, it's all good, will still do the official rice trial later this month but i think we have a winner here.  ya-hoooo!