Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

Byron and Laura-Mae’s wedding day was Kaylie’s favorite day of our vacation.

She’d been looking forward to wearing her new dress (thanks Shivohn!) and new sweater since she laid eyes on them. She was also a big fan of the mirror.

The FOB (father of the bride) and the bride. Laura-Mae was the calmest bride I have ever seen. She was so laid back on the morning of the wedding that she even took Liliana for a walk while the rest of us got ready for her wedding!

Sue and Laura-Mae. Sue made the entire dinner for the reception (with a lot of help from her mom and a teeny tiny bit of help from me), and we’re still enjoying it as we got to take some leftovers home. Delicious. Like I said before, we’ve really missed Sue food!

Goof balls. I got to stay behind with the bride and her parents so I could capture the last moments of her being a Wilson.

The site of the wedding was absolutely breathtaking. I could not believe how beautiful it was. It was perfect.

Russ and Laura-Mae came in on a carriage. I called it the marriage carriage. I’m witty like that.

For some weird reason, the above photo and the three below were from a series of photos that turned out blue. Apparently I pushed the white balance button in the TOTALLY WRONG direction. Lucky for me, they looked great when I turned them to black and white!

The groom, looking at his beautiful bride walk up the aisle.

Like I said, gorgeous location.

Noah had one line in the whole wedding. He goofed it.

“Who gives this man to be married to this woman?”

BAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh … um … whoops …

“Okay! Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

That’s better sweetie. Good job. He’d been a bit nervous about it, but Laura-Mae said that it totally lightened the mood and she was glad for it.

Laura-Mae, I give you this ring …

Byron, I give you this ring …

The kiss!

The dirt soil ceremony. Laura-Mae and Byron each took soil from places that had special meaning to them and put them all together in one glass bowl. It’s to represent their pasts coming together as a foundation for their future. I thought it was a really neat idea. They’re going to lay the soil in the back yard of their new home.

Byron’s sister, Catharine, sang a song written by a friend of hers. It was totally beautiful. Cath used to lead worship at my home church in Terrace (before she moved away) and I missed hearing her sing. It was beautiful.

The parents prayed over their children sending them off into married life.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston!

Kaylie and Liliana were the first to congratulate the new couple. They are huge fans of Auntie Laura-Mae and Uncle Byron.

Before: Byron’s dad, Brian, had to have oral surgery before he left Terrace and didn’t have time to heal before putting in a false tooth. I told him not to worry about it, and to smile away as he normally would.

After: See? No problem!

Oh my WORD I have a cute baby!

The marriage carriage could not have been more perfect. It took the newlywed couple and me and Scott (the official photographers) on a ride around the gorgeous property so we could capture it’s beauty.

Kaylie recently watched Flicka and now has a horse fetish. She ran behind the carriage until I asked her to stop for fear of her getting hurt or getting lost. She was quite disappointed. When I arrived back at the townhouse after all the photo taking was done, she greeted me with, “How was the horsie ride, mom?”

Ouch. Note to self: no more going on horsie rides without Kaylie.

Scott’s camera.  The coolest camera ever (because it’s EXACTLY like mine!)

She looked so SO beautiful that day.  Okay, well she looks beautiful every day, it was just so much more so that day.

This couple was SO easy to photograph.  They made it fun for us.

I guess I’ll have to frame this one for Kaylie!

Back at the Quarry.  Another beautiful Canmore location.

After we finished up at the Quarry, I got dropped off back at the townhouse for some down time before the reception.  I may or may not have had a nap.

I take no responsibility for this.

Aren’t those two of the CUTEST little girls you ever did see?  Everyone but Kaylie was looking at Scott’s camera.  Whoops!

A family photo.  Tali had straightened my hair for the occasion, and I LOVED it.  I had to put it up because it was SO FREAKIN’ HOT and forgot to put it back down for the photos.  I was quite peeved at myself.

Some lady came by with her parrot.  Apparently she’s friends with the owner of the property we used for the wedding and reception.

Kaylie and Liliana each got to hold the parrot.  They both totally loved it!  Kaylie was a bit scared at first until I convinced her that the bird was not going to hurt her.  She loved it.  Liliana giggled while the bird was climbing on her arm, but I did not get a picture since I was holding her.

The three Wilson children.  And Liliana.  I totally love these three (but Noah is my favorite, sorry girls).  I had so much fun on our six-day weekend hanging out with these kids.

Laura-Mae, thanks for inviting me to photograph your wedding day.  I had an amazing time and you made a VERY beautiful bride!

Another day, another internet play date!

Today we met Laurie and Reid at a splash park. It took us a while to find it, since I had the wrong street in my head and had to pull over and check my email on my cell, but eventually we got there and had an amazing time.

Liliana did not join us, since she had just fallen asleep when it was time to go. Her naps will be all over the place this weekend, so didn’t want to wake her.

Kaylie had a great time running through the splash park, and I, the smart mom that I am, forgot to bring a towel. Whoops!

Reid offered his receiving blanket to dry Kaylie’s face, for which she was thankful.

Reid is an adorable little boy and I had a great time getting to know Laurie. I’m so glad that my first couple play dates here have gone so well. It’s been wonderful to meet Jen and Laurie and I’m excited for our friendships to grow.

I had an interview today with a staffing agency. It was probably the best interview I’ve ever had. They were totally non-threatening and were easy to be interviewed by. They have one position in mind for me at a law firm, and it sounds totally exciting. It’ll be a fast-paced work environment and I know that I’d enjoy it. I also know that if they do not find a job for me, that God has something in mind. I’m doing my best to find a job and leaving the rest to Him, since He is the one that knows our needs and will provide for them.

Tomorrow we head off to Banff to hang out with Nick and Teresa and their girls and then we’ll celebrate Laura-Mae and Byron’s wedding on Monday. Speaking of, I should start packing. I’m pretty much a pro now with all the traveling we’ve done this month. Oh yes, and I have to prepare for Talitha to stay with us tonight - which Noah and I are stoked about. We’ve missed that girl these last 8 months.

Can you believe that my baby is going to be SEVEN YEARS OLD in just 10 days?

Neither can I.

See related post here.

‘Tis the season for meeting blog friends! Yesterday I got to meet Laurie and her family, and today I got to meet Jen and her adorable daughter Abby! We went to the science centre and had a blast.

Both Noah and Jordan (Jen’s husband) thought it was weird for us to meet someone we only knew on the internet, but to me, it’s not so weird. When you read someone’s blog for long enough, you kind of forget that you’ve never met them in person. Jen and I found out that we have a lot in common, including both having the best name ever invented.

We and our brown-eyed girls spent two hours exploring all the exhibits the science centre had to offer. When we first got there, Kaylie was gushing about how thankful she was that I took her to a place like that. She totally loved it. I think we’ll have to return, or maybe see an IMAX movie.

The smell machine.

I’m SO happy you brought me here, mom!

Kaylie and Abby totally enjoyed all the things that they got to touch. There weren’t many “don’t touch” things around, which is pretty much kid paradise.

We watched a short “science show” and Kaylie got to be involved in the demonstration, much to her delight.

We visited the bubble display twice. Abby is pulling the rope that makes a huge bubble all around them. Seriously, so cool.

There was a park outside that Kaylie had been begging to go to when we pulled up, so we let the girls play before we had to go.

We had a fabulous time with you, Jen and Abby! More play dates to come …

When Kaylie and I arrived back home, Liliana was wearing her signature baby back pack. She’s been carting that thing around for about two days now. It’s totally adorable.

She wasn’t too into the idea of me taking a picture of her scrape she got at church yesterday. This picture pretty much makes me laugh out loud every time.

Let’s party Mom!!!

My kids have been driving me absolutely mental the last couple days. Especially yesterday. I think it’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve spent every waking moment with them for two solid weeks. And due to the fact that I’m naturally moody and irritable, but let’s not go there. I’m used to having 25 hours per week away from them (aka being at work) and I kind of miss it. I’m not saying that I don’t love being around my kids, it’s just that breaks are wonderful. I truly believe that breaks make you a better parent. Maybe it’s just me.

The last couple nights, or I guess for the last week, Noah and I have had a ritual in the evening that has been totally calming. The kids are in bed and asleep by 9:00 pm. We put Liliana down between 7:30 and 8:00 and we wait until she is good and asleep before we put Kaylie down since they share a room and Liliana thinks it’s a party if they go to bed at the same time. And it’s summer, so we’re letting Kaylie stay up a little later. She doesn’t get into the cupboards and try to drink almond flavoring like some other kid that lives here.

Anyway, after the kids are in bed, we each spend a bit of time on the computer (we’re nerdy like that) and then at about 10:00 we grab a snack and sit and watch a movie together. This ritual started because we did not have the internet or cable and we cannot go out due to the fact we do not know anyone and the fact that we have not yet found a babysitter (due to the not knowing anyone).

This is my favorite time of the day. Watching a movie with a hot guy beside me and a bowl of dill pickle flavored popcorn on my lap with no kids around. It’s peaceful and quiet and absolutely wonderful. Right now we’re in the middle of the Mission Impossible trilogy. We’ve been staying up late and sleeping in due to the fact that we do not work. Yet. One day (hopefully REALLY soon) reality will set in and I’ll have a job to go to in the morning and will no longer sleep in until 9:00 am. (This morning it was 9:17. It was niiiiiice.)

Another great break we had recently was the visit of our friend ODB Bethany. It was so wonderful to see and visit with her. Besides earlier this week, I hadn’t seen her since her wedding in November, and Noah hadn’t seen her since our wedding, two and a half years ago.

Kaylie and Bethany haven’t seen each other in just over two years when we made a trek down south. When Bethany lived with us, Kaylie was only three, but she remembered all our trips to Wal*mart.

Liliana, as usual, had no intention of hanging out with anyone, but went and did her own thing.

My goodness I married a hottie.

Any time Liliana is snuggling with Noah or me, Kaylie has to join in. I think she’s still getting used to the idea that she has to share us with some other kid.

Liliana had enough after a while and tried with no avail to get into the building herself.

After we brought Bethany to the airport yesterday, I decided to try to catch up on some blogs. My Google Reader was still over 300, so the task was large. I started with some of my favorites.

As I was reading Dutch Blitz, I ran into this post. It blew out of the water anything I’d heard about photographing in sunlight. Amazing.

Noah wanted to take the kids to the park and he dragged me with him I decided to go too. He encouraged me to bring my camera, so this was my perfect opportunity to try out what I’d learned.

Unfortunately, the slide was not at an appropriate angle, so there are shadows on most of the following pictures. Oh well, they tell the story anyway!

Liliana is our little dare devil. She does not have any concept of danger. At all.

She decided it was a good idea to just walk down the slide. Yea, good one kid.

She also wanted to walk up the slide.

And go down any way that Kaylie did.

Tomorrow I’m back to the internet job boards. I’m hoping that by the time we get back from Laura-Mae’s wedding in 10 days, I’ll be going to work right away. Apparently it’s hard to live when you don’t have any income. I’ve applied to quite a few in the last couple days, so hopefully something comes of them.

We went and checked out a church near our house today. It started at 11:00 am, so I could still sleep in until just after 9:00 while Noah hung out with the kids. It’s a great system. While there, I got to meet a blog friend who’d told me about the church. We talked with Laurie and met her husband and adorable baby boy and we’re planning a play date later this week.

While we were talking after the service, Liliana took a face plant into a stair and now has a rug burn/big gash between her eyes. We’re hoping it heals before next Monday when she has to be in wedding pictures.

Liliana has been learning some new words in the last couple days. She’s been getting into the cupboards since we moved in and yesterday I put latches on them. Since we’ve been saying “no” to her when she got into the cupboards, she now tries unsuccessfully to open them, all the while saying “nonononono”. It’s quite hilarious. She’s also learned to sign please. I’ve half-heartedly been trying this one for a while, and tonight at dinner she finally did it. She wanted some salad, and after the first “please”, she signed please for every bite. What a polite little kid.

Kaylie and I went shopping today for something to wear to Noah’s sister’s wedding next week. I got dressed up a bit to do it but still the sales people ignored me so I should have just went in the big white t-shirt and cut-off grey sweats that I was wearing while cleaning the house before I left. Then at least I would have been comfortable while the sales people ignored me. Maybe it’s just that mall, or maybe I had a big red flashing light on my forehead saying “I CAN’T AFFORD THIS PLACE”. Unfortunately, even in the stores I couldn’t afford, I still didn’t find a dress I even remotely liked.

I did eventually find a dress, but I don’t think I’m going to keep it. It’s a bit too cleavagey for me. Although Noah doesn’t mind this fact, it makes me a little uncomfortable. I’m not a big fan of the whole dress thing. I can remember the last two times I wore one. My wedding and my prom. That’s it. But, since this is a very special occasion, I figured I’d put a little effort into it.

In addition to the play date with Laurie, Kaylie and I have one tomorrow with another blog friend we haven’t met in real life yet, Jen and Abby. Kaylie is quite stoked for us to hang out with people with kids. She’s doesn’t care the age of the children, as long as there are other little people around. Let’s just say she’s looking forward to tomorrow just a little bit, as am I.

Alright, I think you’re caught up now. There’s been a lot going on around here lately. Apparently there’s a lot that’s involved in moving halfway across the country. Noah and I got our Saskatchewan licenses on Friday, and tomorrow I’m applying for Saskatchewan health cards. Noah said it was his most embarrassing moment when he had to tell the insurance guy that he drove a mini-van. Poor guy. It’s almost as bad as his dad constantly reminding him that the only other person who drove a mini-van in their family was his grandfather.

He’ll get over it.

Today is a great day. My former college roommate, and my and Noah’s mutual friend ODB is visiting for a couple days. ODB = Old Dirty Bethany, who is neither old nor dirty, but Noah dubbed her “ODB” back in his early Briercrest years. She is, however, named Bethany.

Noah and Bethany went to rent a movie for the three of us and they rented Little Miss Sunshine. It is the most hilarious and disturbing movie ever. We’re really enjoying our time with her.

In really cool news, Noah was going to go to see Jimmy Eat World in Saskatoon earlier this week, but decided to go to Warped Tour later this summer instead. So it wasn’t cool that he couldn’t go, but when his sister Tali got off work the afternoon of the show, she ran into the lead singer, Jim Adkins on the street outside the mall she works at. She was quite star-struck, as well she should be. Noah was hardcore jealous, and was even sadder that he missed the show, but he survived.

So, I got a job the other day, and today I lost it. We even ordered pizza the other day to celebrate, but I guess it was in vain. Oh well, the pizza was great! Apparently the company had a family friend who needed a job. Oh well. To be honest, I wasn’t really excited about the job, so I guess it’s good that it fell through. I’ve been applying like mad though to other jobs.

So, while neither of us are working, we’re spending a lot of time at the pool. It’s right beside our building and it’s quite well maintained, so we’ve been taking advantage of it. Noah and the girls went in yesterday.

Liliana was excited about being by the pool, but had no interest in actually being in the pool. She cried bloody murder when Noah jumped in. I think she thought he was hurt or something.

Noah tried to coax her in and actually got her to come in a couple times.

She started screeching right away though and promptly tried to get out.

She’s her own little person though and knows what she wants and when she wants it.

Lemme go!!

She was getting a little cold, so I tried to put a towel on her. She was having none of it. When she had the towel on, she could not play with the keys. So, the towel had to go.

Kaylie, on the other hand, loves the pool. She’s asked to go in it every single day since we moved in. We’ve usually given in, but we’ve had some colder weather today so she missed out.

Hey mom! Take a picture of me!

Take another one!!

Noah decided to try out his skillz while Liliana freaked out.

Kaylie wanted him to jump in on his back, and he complied. Unfortunately, his back was bright red after that one.

After watching Noah jump in, Kaylie wanted to do it too but was kind of scared.

She gained a little courage, and some tough love.

Noah also tried to explain to Liliana that the pool isn’t actually a scary place to be.

It worked with Kaylie, she gained some confidence and started jumping in herself.

Over and over.

And over.

Liliana was not so much a fan. Hopefully we’ll win her over during the summer.

Oh yea, and sorry that I haven’t been commenting on any blogs. I’m a bit overwhelmed and behind in reading, but I’ll get there!

Have a good night y’all. I’m off to hang out with ODB.

Okay, first off I am SO SORRY for not posting until now. A bazillion pictures take FOREVER to edit. I DO have a life outside the internet you know! Goodness. (Hi Ann!)

Kaylie had her birthday party on Saturday, but since I did not get the permission from any of her friends’ parents, I cannot post pictures of it. She had a blast though. We held it at the local public pool. Best place EVER for a birthday party, in my opinion. There’s no mess at your house, and kids absolutely LOVE to swim. We put them all in life jackets and didn’t have to worry about watching them too carefully. Of course we watched them, but I didn’t have to worry about anyone drowning.

After Kaylie’s shindig, we headed out to another birthday party.

My Grandma’s 80th.

The 80th Birthday Bash for my Grandma was AMAZING. It was so great to see all my relatives I hadn’t seen in forever. It was hosted at Clarence & Cheryl’s place (my dad’s brother - where all family gatherings are). Their place is absolutely GORGEOUS. They have a huge property 10 minutes outside town and pretty much the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. That addition on the back is a green house. Oh. My. Word. It’s breathtaking.

Anyway, enough about the house. More important things …

So many of my cousins had fabulous cameras. I had some serious lens envy. Rayna has the same Canon Rebel that I do, just newer. AND, she has this neat little thing that keeps her from losing her lens cap, which is a bad habit of mine.

Ben has a sweet lens. Apparently he got it off eBay for next to nothing. I may have been a little jealous.

And Brandon? Well, he just had a point and shoot, but still, a really cool dude (who just happens to be my little brother).

Ome Geert (Uncle George) came all the way from Holland for the special occasion. I was never clear on whether he was my Grandma’s brother or brother-in-law. He totally spoiled Kaylie while he was here!

Grannie, Liliana, and Kaylie. We had just arrived and Liliana was wondering why she was stuck in front of a camera when there were so many awesome places to wreak havoc.

Like so.

Kaylie made sure that Ashley got in on the action. She definitely got her exercise.

And then spent the rest of the evening on poor Ben’s shoulders. That dude will need a serious massage after the trauma his shoulders went through.

Liliana and her Uncle Brandon.

My sister and my cousin, Chrissy.

I have a big family. This is not even all of us. My grandma had six children, and each of them had 2-4 kids, plus my one aunt and uncle are foster parents, plus in-laws, plus great-grandchildren … yea, it’s big.

My Grandma was pretty excited about the fact that all her children were able to make it for her birthday.

Have you ever seen a bunch of adult children try to decide who was going to stand where for a picture? It’s a bigger ordeal than you think.

Finally, though, they got it together.

My grandparents are Dutch. Born and raised in Holland. They were married there, and had three girls there. My Aunt Jane (second from left in back row), my Aunt Joanne (far right in back row), and my Aunt Hilda (front row). Then, they immigrated to Canada and had three boys. My dad (second from right in back row), my Uncle Clarence (far left in back row), and my Uncle Rick (in front).

My Grandpa died of a heart attack when I was a kid. He had already lived beyond what the doctors told him he would. He had diabetes and they told him he’d be lucky to live to 19. He lived quite a lot longer than that.

Um, yea. Kids will be kids.

In addition to her six children, my Grandma has 21 grandchildren (I think I counted correctly) and six great-grandchildren (with two more on the way).

Add spouses to that and family gatherings are never small. Ever.

Someone brought vintage family photos to the big hoorah and then got it in their head to take “now and then” pictures. Apparently there’s one of the granddaughters about 15 or so years ago. I think there’s two missing from this photo.

I’m still not sure where Uncle John freaking us all out comes into play.

Pam (right), Chloe (middle), and I were all born in the spring of 1983. The best year ever for babies, in my humble opinion. We all made sure to smile nice for a picture for Grandma.

We’re all about the serious family photos.

This is 3/4 of my immediate family. The other 1/4 were a long drive away and we missed them dearly. Apparently Mom and Dad didn’t get the “make a funny face” memo. Erica, Kaylie, and I got it. Noah got the “slack-jaw” memo (his favorite), and Brandon and Liliana are wondering how to make their faces look as cool as everyone else’s.

My parents and half their granddaughters. At this rate, I’m doubtful they’ll ever have a grandson.

I think this is my favorite one yet of our little family. We’re a bunch of whack jobs.

We sang Happy Birthday …

and then proceeded to do what we do best. What’s a Braam family get-together without a Braam family song? We do them for birthdays, baby showers, weddings … I think we should start a business.

When Noah and I were dating, we attended my cousin’s wedding. Which one, I cannot remember. Noah was adamant that he was not going to sing the crazy song with the rest of the family. Some family members were pressuring to make him sing. My Auntie Joanne was there and told Noah he did not have to participate in the embarrassing family ritual. From then on she became his favorite aunt.

I know, I know. This is a great picture of the background, with my brother and I in front of it. The bad thing about having a fancy schmancy camera is that it’s hard to teach people how to use it when you want them to take a picture.

That is a beer in my hand. A Coors Light to be exact. I am the heavy drinker in my little family, which is to say that I have a beer every six months or so. I know, rehab here I come!

Noah says it makes me a nicer person. He says I should drink it more often. I don’t really know what to think about that. Either it means he thinks that I’m a naturally unpleasant person, or he wants me to become an alcoholic. Either way, I don’t think I’m going to add to my 2-a-year alcohol consumption.

So there you have it Ann. I FINALLY posted again. Are you happy now?

ps. It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday today.  She’s 25 (times two).  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!!!

No, I’m not giving away a free XBOX. Sorry. BUT, Noah got one today. An XBOX 360. For free. I didn’t even have to steal it. It was a gift. He said it was the greatest day of his life, besides the day his daughter was born. What I want to know is What about our wedding day? Where does that rate? In third place after the day he got the XBOX 360?

We went to Wally World today to see if we could find some cheap games, but there were none (no interesting ones anyway) to be found. Our Wally World kind of sucks. Nine more days until we leave to live in a real city. Woot. I did see Rock Band there though. I love that game. Seriously, so much fun. I told Noah he could get it for me with his birthday money. He wasn’t too stoked about that idea.

I went back to work today. Apparently yesterday was more of a food poisoning problem than a flu problem, or so says my nutritionist friend. Whatever it was, I’m just glad it’s 95% gone. While being in bed all day watching the original Star Wars movies is relaxing between bathroom breaks and stomach convulsions, I’d rather be at work.

After dinner, Ann called me and asked me to go for a walk with her and Tam. I’m pretty much always up for a walk. I also wanted an opportunity to take some last photos of my home town.

This is the view off our back deck. The neighbors behind us were having a barbeque on their deck and probably thought I was shooting them instead of the mountains.

It’s always awkward when some stranger has a camera pointed at you.

The lovely Ann. I made her push Liliana in the stroller so I could go on with my photography addiction.

The girls. Kaylie, Michaela, Kendra. They’ve been three peas in a pod lately.

Liliana absolutely loves animals. She was loving on Riley, but was also guarding her soother with her life. Tam took it for safe-keeping.

“Oooooo. What big paws you have, Riley!”

Liliana just wanted to be one of the big girls. I let her chase after them for a bit.

They totally ignored her, as you can tell.

We left the girls (except Liliana) with Tam’s husband at the soccer fields and went for a nice stroll up the hill. It was anything but a nice stroll, it was more like back-breaking labor, but we made it half way up.

And eventually we made it to the top. You can see the soccer fields way down below.

I wish it wasn’t so cloudy so you could take in the greatness of the mountains, which was the whole point of these pictures. Alas, I may have to trek up this hill again and shoot them on a nicer, less cloudy day.

Can you see Kaylie?

My home town.

I’m sure going to miss it.

We’ve had a couple last minute changes that really don’t affect our move too much, but they’re blog worthy none the less (to me anyway, they may bore you to death).

1. I started a new job (ish). A (most trusted) friend of mine (Tam) convinced me to sell BeautiControl. I am now officially a BeautiControl Consultant-in-training. I really hate selling things but I’m actually quite excited about this stuff. Tam is a cosmetologist and knows WAY more than me about beauty, makeup, blah blah blah, so she’s going to be a huge asset to me. She’s also been doing the BeautiControl thing a couple months already (actually almost a year I think) so it’s nice to have a go-to person when I run into problems or have questions.

Another friend of mine is hosting a BeautiControl spa on Monday as an excuse for a going away party for me, so I’ll get some hands on training before I head out to Regina where I know NOBODY (except my blog friend Jen) and try to start doing spas out there.

Should be challenging and interesting. I can’t wait.

2. We added another person to our moving caravan. My friend and upstairs neighbor, Kevin, is going to travel with us as far as Prince George where he’ll meet up with a friend of his that he’s moving to Edmonton with. Our plan was for my dad to drive the moving van and for Noah to travel with him since Noah hates to drive long distances. I love it but it bores him to death.  I, then, would drive our car (or van, see next point) with the kiddos. Now I’ll have an extra set of hands, which will be SO wonderful.

(And don’t worry, Noah’s not worried about me traveling with another guy. I’m not exactly his type. We both like men. Hi Kevin!)

3. We might be buying a van that my friend might be selling. Yes, Noah’s nightmares might become reality.  Our car is old and has almost 300,000 km on it.  It’s been running great, and we’ve had no problems with it, but I’m not totally sure it’ll pass inspection in Saskatchewan.  And, the brakes have been failing on me lately.  I almost rear-ended Tam’s jeep when I stopped by there this morning and I almost blew through a stop sign.  Yikes.  I was going the speed limit or slower, since I was pulling in a driveway and an intersection, and they still failed.  It’s a good thing I have a dad who’s a mechanic.  He’s a lifesaver.

So there you go.  You’re updated.

2 children to start the day
- 1 dropped off at school = 1
+ 3 piled into the van to play at the park = 4
+ 1 picked up from Kindergarten = 5
- 3 given to their respective mothers to eat lunch = 2
+ 2 while mothers go grocery shop and nap other children = 4
+ 1 picked up on walk to another park trip in a different location = 5
- 3 picked up from park by respective parents/grandparents = 2
+ 1 picked up from school = 3
- 1 sent upstairs to her mom = 2
- 2 pawned off on their dad = 0

It’s not a boring life I lead.

ps. This picture’s for Sue!

Your granddaughter was eating rocks today.  Just thought you should know.

Welcome to the next edition of The Adventures of Finny and Flynny.

(Other editions are here and here.)

I think I’m finally perfecting this two baby thing. It’s still hard, but it’s also a lot of fun. One thing I finally learned today was to just feed them both out of the same bowl. They’re hungry at the same time anyway, and they eat the same food, so why bother switching bowls?

I also learned that when you’re carrying two 1-year-old babies, you have to be extra careful not to hit their heads on door frames. Liliana’s bruise is FINALLY disappearing, and now she’s got one on the other side of her forehead. I am totally Mother of the Year.

Aren’t they CUTE? A friend of mine and Nita’s (Finny’s mom) gave the shirts to us when the babies were born.

Obviously, she lives in Quesnel. (Hi Jodi!)

The babies got totally bored being inside, so I decided to take them outside in hopes that they would not eat any bugs.

The kids were having a blast, and I figured they’d have even more fun crawling around on the trampoline. I was half right. I learned one difference between the babies. Finny loves the trampoline, Flynny hates it.

Isn’t his hair AWESOME?

Finny and Flynny get along quite well. But? They’re competitive. Although, Finny is a little more laid back. When Flynny steals a toy from Finny, he just goes on to another toy; but when Finny steals a toy from Flynny, she starts yelling at him and snatches it back.

I wonder where she gets that from.

I’ve decided that I really don’t like taking photos in direct sunlight. I like natural light WAY better than indoor light, but photos turn out WAY better when they’re taken when it’s cloudy, not sunny.

In my humble opinion. Shadows suck.

While Flynny totally disregarded the pool (which only had about an inch of water in it), Finny loved it. It was all I could do to keep him from getting completely drenched.

When we got back inside, I went to wash my hands. As I was doing so, I glanced in the mirror. There was a CATAPILLER CATERPILLAR on my shirt. I hate bugs, insects, and anything little and creepy crawly. THIS IS WHY I DO NOT GO OUTSIDE! (And why I’m glad I married an indoor boy who hates camping.)

I started freaking out and flung it off calmly took it off my shirt and flushed it down the toilet. Then I proceeded to check every inch of the babies for bugs before I put them down for their afternoon nap.

I’m still getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about that catapillar. Everything is itchy. I feel like having a shower with a scrub brush. Maybe even steel wool.

I had to wake them up from their afternoon nap to pick Kaylie up from school. When we got there, Kaylie asked if she could go to Brynja’s for a play date.

I woke up two sleeping babies for nothing. Wonderful. Oh well, at least we got a walk. I asked Nita to bring her double stroller, since it’s WAY easier to push than two umbrella strollers.

The babies enjoyed the walk, although by the end Liliana was quite the grumpy kid. Apparently she is my daughter and has my lack of patience and gift of getting easily annoyed.

Except she likes caterpillars.

I know you’re wondering, and I’ve gotten a couple emails about it in the last episodes, so I’ll just tell you. Finny is actually Ethan, but his 5-year-old brother calls him Finn or Finny, because, you know, his name is EFIN. Liliana’s middle name is Flynn. So there you have it. Finny and Flynny.