Thankful Thursday - 171

This week I am thankful for...

1. Finally getting to the Honeybee Center! We've been living here 3.5 years and have yet to visit here, until now! Aunty Sonya came over yesterday and during Emilia's nap we walked down to the Honeybee Center with Dom. There wasn't any special event or anything, so we wandered the store, tried a bunch of honey, and then went to the Beestro for lunch! The food was a pleasant surprise; delicous! The service was a bit slow, but we weren't in a rush. Dom was having a blast watching the cars, stacking creamers, talking, and observing. He got comfortable there very quickly. This Spring and next time they do an event there we are definitely walking down as a family!

Dom was running around, mostly behaving. He tried MANY of the honey samples. Loved every single one. Here is Aunty Sonya giving him a taste.

Checking out the fishies and the baby fishies in the little pond.

We got some honey sticks, and Dom picked one up and goes, "GASP! Honey Noonoos!" (Honey Noodles) Made us laugh!

Killing time while we wait for our food

Dom digging in to our apple cumble dessert. Of course we forgot it might be hot... The combination of hot pie and cold ice cream made him aggressively spit out his first bite. Oops!

She brought over some new books, too! Always a win. I've only read the Moose one about a hundred times since yesterday! Haha

2. Forts! Dave built a fort in our living room the other day. My favorite part was when Dom was outside the fort and figured the blanket would be able to hold him, so he fell right through the roof. He was okay, and I laughed very hard. 

The demolishing of the fort at the end, courtesy of all 3 of our babies.

3. Tea Party. Dom loves to randomly decide it's tea time. Here he is bringing me some tea in the morning while I have my toast on the couch. Love his focus and the fact that he put the tea cups on the little saucers, and brought a set for himself as well. I also love that Emilia and Dom play in the kitchen together, peacefully, for relatively long periods of time. Dom mostly makes her "sandwiches" or something and she just chews on the play food. Regardless, it keeps them busy and happy and off in one corner of the house. Oh, and allows me to do a bit of typing :). 

4. Cold calls. Okay, so I am actually not really thankful for these, but I've been helping out with some marketing for Kimber Images. It's slow, although the nicer weather means it'll start naturally picking up a bit. What we're finding is that a lot of people are using the massive companies for photos because they also offer floor plans, feature sheets, etc. They also pay for all sorts of advertising and have hundreds of employees. It is very hard (near impossible) to compete with that, other than the product Dave supplies is high quality. Nonetheless, I've been doing cold calls this week for an hour or two a day. Awkward, but it's nice to have something to do that isn't just child-rearing and house work! Most of them have been relatively well-received, too. Any other suggestions for getting clients for Dave are welcome!

TheatreSports, Puppies and Adorable Baby Kisses!

Last Thursday Dominic, Aunty Sonya and I went to visit the Flinstones Oceantides Tollers litter one last time before they went off to their new homes. Nothing like some puppy therapy! The pups were just starting to wind down and get tired when we got there, so they were a good speed for Dom, who spent most of the time belly laughing and being adorably excited. 

Honestly a dream scenario. Sitting down and being mauled by puppies with my sweet little boy who is laughing hysterically.

Dom and this pup are equally interested in this play gym

Petting her so gently

Little wrestling match

This Friday evening we were able to go out and be grown ups! David's parents got all us kids tickets to Theatre Sports on Granville Island for Christmas, with the offer of baby-sitting for the 3 grand kids. SOLD!! We all piled into our minivan and drove down to Granville Island. We crammed around a 4 person table (we were 6 people) at the Granville Island Brewery and had some beer flights and some food. Dave and I are cheapies, so we ate before we went and just got a couple tacos. (We actually did order a flatbread as well, but there was a mix-up at the kitchen). 

Oh Gabriel. Everyone humored me nicely as I forced them to take pictures for the blog!

This was amusing. Reminds us of "No post on Sundays" from Harry Potter.

Then it was off to Theatre Sports, which if you've been, you know is always an amazing time. I laugh till my cheeks and stomach hurt every single time. I still think this would be the absolute perfect first date activity ever. 

Shelley commented that Dave looks like one of the Gerber boys in this picture. I was quick to point out that it's probably because they all have the same amount of forehead (fivehead?) haha!

Saturday we spent most of the day at home, trying to plan ways to get more business for Dave. To be honest, we've been feeling pretty discouraged and nervous about things. It always slows down in the winter, but never this much or for this long. Somehow we're still scraping by, but my maternity leave end date is rapidly approaching and it is crunch time. 

If anyone knows someone who needs photos or video...*nudge nudge*... real estate, renovations, architecture, interior design... You know where to go! 

Emilia found a new best friend

She moves quickly!

Doing a little workout with Daddy.

A game from David's childhood called Siege. It was pretty funny! You shoot little cannon balls at the other team to take out their guns and soldiers. Everything is spring-loaded (with elastic bands), so when you hit something, it SHOOTS away. 

On Sunday our church had its first week of two services, and we went AS A FAMILY at 9am! We haven't gone to church with all 4 of us on Sunday in many many months. Probably last summer. My mom had both kids in the nursery, and I actually got to listen to a sermon. It was lovely! 
Dom also FINALLY let me cut his hair!!

Don't mind how unimpressed he looks haha. I had to bribe him with a cookie and Paw Patrol just to get him to sit still and let me cut his hair!

Thankful Thursday - 170

This week is all about winter activities to pass the time with two kids. I didn't intend for it to be that way, but apparently that's what I'm feeling thankful for this week!

1. Libraries. Sometimes the 530-7pm slot can drag on, and the kids are either totally wild or grumpy and tired. We try to find ways to kill that time and this week we checked out the City of Langley Library. It was completely dead in there, and Dom had free reign of their awesome kids area! We didn't check out any books this time, but we did sign up for cards. 

This is what caught our eye on the website and made us come check this place out. Super cool!

He did all the puzzles (Foo-voos) many times. Just try to explain to a 2-yr old what "quiet" in a library means. 

Even Emilia got adventurous and went away to pull all the board books off the shelves. 

2. Tot Romp. Our church is now doing a Tot Romp on Mondays in addition to the Storytime on Thursdays. From 10-1130 you can bring your little ones (5 and under I believe) to the church and they have the gym set up with all sorts of toys. Let your littles run wild! (And supervise them of course). I thought Dom might be a little clingy and overwhelmed, but he had so much fun! He didn't ask once to be picked up, but stuck close by. 

I am on the back of one of the plasma cars with Dom pushing him along. Clearly he was happy about it! Haha

This is a plasma car

3. Glow stick party! The last thing on our Winter 2018/19 check-list is done! We turned off the lights, turned up the techno dance music and brought out some glow sticks. Dom and Em were dancing and waving them around, and then we started playing "hide the glow stick" for Dom. It was a brilliant way to kill 45 minutes of that 530-7pm time I was talking about!

Well the photos are crap, but at least we had fun and made memories!

Then there's these pictures because they're cute.

So sad this one is fuzzy bc my lens was dirty. His face is so classic.

Silly Yaya kept trying to stand up in the bath, and I was bathing them both by myself so I couldn't properly hold on to her. A quick wash down and took her out. They were both happier this way.

In the Spirit of Valentines Week...

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. David and I never really celebrate it. Maybe we will in the future more, but we don't do gifts or anything; just maybe make it a date night at home. It was mostly a normal day, but we did some scratch and wins (and won!), and had some delicious M&M dip as a treat. I also took Dom out on a date yesterday morning to get a donut, which was VERY special for him!

The sloppiest kiss I received yesterday

Dave and I really need some more pictures together. All my pictures are of the kids, the dog, and occasionally a bad selfie.

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I went to the Women's Breakfast at church last Saturday morning. There was a sheet on each table with "Love" and some hearts around it. A cup on each table contained some questions we were supposed to go around and ask everyone in the group, and write our answers on our sheet. 

I am terrible at thinking on the spot, and always come up with my answers in the middle of the night sometime that night, or on a walk with the dog, or somewhere very inconvenient when my mind decides to wander. 

So here are a couple of the new answers I came up with, for the questions I could remember, and maybe some I made up.

What is one thing you do to relax?
My ideal evening, would be having my chores all done, take a shower, grab my blankets, go sit on the couch and drink a bunch of wine. I would then catch up on the last 2 years of all the crap TV shows I have missed because of the little ones. Real Housewives (all of them), Teen Mom, Vanderpump Rules. Yup... crap!
I wouldn't want this every night, but I bet if I was to go away all by myself for one night this is exactly what it would look like. 

What is one thing you do to take care of yourself?
I take medication. Haha! But seriously, this is probably the best decision I could make for myself. On top of this, I really don't do much; not enough to take care of myself. I'm in desperate need of a massage and chiropractor appointment. My hair needs a cut and highlights. I don't take the much needed me time, or when I do I don't use it in the most refreshing way. I definitely need to work on self-care more. 

What is one thing that makes you happy?
My kids definitely make me laugh the most (sorry Dave). If I have to pick a non-person, I'll say animals. I have always had a love for animals, and if I'm at a house where they have a pet you can guarantee I'm hunting it down for some cuddles. If I had to pick a non-animal, I'm going to be honest and say wine. I love wine. I love wine tasting, I love wine drinking, I love wine pairing, I love wine shopping, I love wine glasses, I love wine talking. 

What movie genre do you love?
I like drama, action, comedy, documentary, sci-fi, etc. However, if I was going to sit down by myself with full control of the Netflix I'd watch - you guessed it - crap! I'd pick the dumbest romantic comedy I can find. I tend to dream about whatever I watch after I go to bed, so I like to watch things that are light, keep my brain calm, don't get my heart pumping. My brain works too hard the rest of the day to comprehend something like Interstellar before bed haha!

What is one thing you've purchased that you love?
I am not a frivolous person at all, so when I do decide to buy something, it is typically because I really love it, and it's practical. That being said, a few things immediately come to mind. First, I have this rain jacket I bought on a whim at Costco one time like 3 years ago. It was $60, and it looks like a black pea-coat, but it's rain coat material. I wear that jacket probably every day for 4-5 months out of the year. I love it!
Second, our minivan. So far it has been a great purchase for our family.
Third, and most expensive... our house. I am still so amazed and thankful that we were able to buy when we did, and that we went through with it. If we had waited a few more months we would have been pushed out of the market. The stars aligned for us somehow.

What is one place that you love?
The Cabin. I love the cabin. I grew up going there every summer, spending time with my cousins, and now get to take my own kids there to make their own memories. 

What is one book that you love? 
The book (series) that is definitely most read in our house is Harry Potter. Dave and I grew up with Harry Potter, literally turning 10 the same year the characters turned 10 (in the year that the movies came out anyway). I like to read, but it's hard to pick one book. There are lots of books I've enjoyed. 

What is your favorite season?
I have reasons to like all the seasons. 
Winter: It's cozy
Fall: The beautiful colors, hot chocolate, scarves, boots, vests!
Summer: It's so beautiful and happy and warm! Maybe sometimes too warm...
Spring: My favorite. Every day keeps getting longer, the flowers are blooming, the whole neighborhood smells amazing, the temperature increases, and late Spring often brings a heat wave that is just the perfect temperature!

There. Some random facts about me at this point in my life!