Thursday, August 30, 2007

this, that & the other

happy thursday! its been full week so far... starting with sunday when dave and i left for our little getaway.. we headed down to grand forks. we stayed at a nice hotel and enjoyed shopping, eating, shopping, hot tubbing, eating, drinking coffee, eating and swimming. of special note was target.. i enjoyed it not only once but twice, eating at red lobster and of course the all time best place Qdoba's Mexican Grill.. seriously just about the best burritos i've had. I enjoyed Starbucks twice and I introduced Dave to Cold Stone creamery. But by far the prize goes to the 45 minutes we spent with all the hotel guests in a hallway waiting out the tornado that ripped through grand forks. it actually landed about 7 miles south and even involved a fatality. we were fine but the light show was one i won't soon forget. we relaxed which was the goal and although i did not sleep through the night it was peaceful and so quiet.
we came back to the boys having colds (dave had one last week) so they have been a bit off but they have enjoyed having grandma and grandpa difrancesco staying with us. tuesday's big adventure led us to Landmark to have our apples pressed - we got 63 2L jugs of goodness. we stopped in steinbach at the mennonite heritage place which was interesting. i remember going when i was little.
yesterday the boys enjoyed the library with grandpa and had great naps.
today i have been playing catch up with laundry, cleaning and stuff. looking forward to scrapping tonight.
i think thats about it.. i will get some pics up soon.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

grumpy pants...


thats how i feel... not just today but in general. but aside from that today is a special day and i want to celebrate it for what it is and not let me grumpiness rob me of that celebration. three years ago today i married the best guy! its been a road with lots of bumps and some potholes, sometimes it was straight and sometimes the road was so curvy it was hard to stay on. but i wouldn't want to travel with anyone else. thanks for the memories and thanks for always making me see how many more we have to experience and even in my grumpiness we can find the reason we celebrate occasions such as this one. a little look back...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Saturday, August 25, 2007

did i say light??

uggg feeling very grumpy this morning... not enough sleep maybe. a few posts down i hinted toward something good in the house hunting department and felt certain that maybe something promising was on the horizon.. yea well forget all that.. rewind to where you didn't know anything was happening cause thats where we are. back at square one or zero. starting over. its disappointing of course but i guess there must be a pot of gold at the end of someones rainbow.. somewhere...

Friday, August 24, 2007

light at the end of a very dark tunnel

as i write this my children are both screaming... lately its all they seem to do. whether both just wanting me or they have hit each other or are not getting what they want. its been a tough week and i am so thankful its friday. thankful dave will be home in 8 hours. thankful my in laws arrive tomorrow for a week. thankful next week i celebrate 3 years being married to the best guy. thankful on sunday we are going away for a night to celebrate with no kids.
being thankful helps.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

no strength not even for a title...

thats how i feel today. ari is still crying which is what he has been doing since he woke up this morning... he is suposed to be napping and after putting him down 8 times already this time he is just going to stay there till he falls asleep. today i would just rather not be a parent.... somedays i just want to rewind to 2 1/2 years ago and really enjoy those days. i know i am blessed with my kids and i do love them but today i have no strength to deal with any of it. my house is a mess, i still have not gotten to shower, i know any minute ari will wake up noah with his screaming and then i will be even more mad than i am now.. take me away please take me away.
so i went to check in on ari who in his screaming had pooped his pants.. so i picked him up changed him, gave him some milk and now he is back to screaming in his bed oh and i forgot to say dave just called and said he'd be late tonight... perfect!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

ok thanks.

thanks guys for the comments on the last post.. just needed to know there were some of you there and since no one guessed. noah top ari bottom. cuties. oh and according to my counter i just passed the 40,000 mark.. someones watching.

disinterested?

ok so really how cute were those two little boys on my last post and 2 comments? are you all done with this blogging thing? or should i go on?

Monday, August 20, 2007

the weekend and other things


ok time for another installment of guess who's who?

another weekend has come and gone and judging by the dramatic change in the weather summer here in manitoba is almost over... luckily i don't mind the cooler temps. i have been sitting here trying to think of what we did this weekend and its all a blur... thursday we had dinner with my brother and family as they are leaving us to move to Victoria this week. other than the fact that my kids had major meltdowns, spilled soup all over the floor and were basically just plain grumpy it was good. yea right good. we went home shortly after supper and put them to bed - these days bedtime is getting earlier and earlier. they just loose it. friday i can't remember.. saturday we did stuff around the house.. lots in the yard which was great. it needed work.. we hope to be showing it soon and it definitly needed some tlc. it feels good to have that out of the way. sunday we went to church or as i call it nursery. dave also has been doing lots of projects on the house getting it ready... new fixtures in the bathroom, re-cocking the bathtub, cleaning up. we had a babysitter (thanks lena & jenelle) for the evening and we spent it with good friends celebrating Chris's birthday. Crystal cooked up an amazing meal which i ate so slow... and we sat around all evening with no kids to look after and just chatted. it was the best!
now for a bit of news... i'm not ready to divulge all the details yet as they are far from finalized but its possible we may have the chance to purchase our dream house. i feel inadequate to even express how much of a dream it is and how blessed i feel... more to come. stay tuned.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

You might be a mother of multiples if...

Stacie at The Twinkes has once again compiled the best list. Go HERE. I highly relate to these and of special note are 5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15,18,21,23,24,25,26,27,28,30,37,41,46,48,49 and 50.

Monday, August 13, 2007

challenge my unbelief

faith has always been apart of my life and in the last 10 years a big part. for those of you have only recently joined me here the last 10 odd years i have worked with a non profit non denomonational missions organization. worked all over, traveled all over and been able to take part in things that have blown me away... faith has always been a huge part of what we accomplished. it always seems that we were taking big ideas and running with them when there was no earthly way any of it could be possible but somehow it always turned out. i know i know sounds coo key (is that a word?) but stay with me... of course there was always unbelief because after all how could any of it be possible? like how when students needed like $3000 to go on outreach and the day before the deadline it all comes in, or how when our base in vancouver gave me and 2 other girls the task of driving across the country to our nations capitol to live for a few months with the crappiest van and no i mean no money to put on a huge conference for hundreds of people.. yea we pulled it off... and even now looking back i have no idea how???
ok all this to say i have seen faith put to the test and seen provision a couple hundred times but still my unbelief is stronger than my faith. since being away from ministry we have gone through the doubt of whether our lives count as much as they used to and also struggled to find peace in receiving gifts or feeling like we are slipping away when we were so immersed in "good works" (yikes thats a whole different post). the other day a friend reminded me that God wants to give me good gifts now too and not only when "life counts for something"
what am i getting at.. well we are house hunting and its not going well and i am struggling to believe i deserve a nice house that fits us and finding it even harder to believe that God can and will provide much more than i imagine i deserve.
so i am challenging my unbelief and believing that we all deserve a little more than we need and even want.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

how can i hurt so bad?

well its sunday and i can't believe it even made it out of bed. i am in pain! this weekend dave and i both played in a charity slow pitch tournament... dave was shocked at how sore he is.. me not so much. (the shocked part). after fridays game every muscle in my body hurt and in some places i didn't even know there were muscles. then after two more games on saturday... with that being said we had a great time. we played with our church and although we didn't do so good it was the best time we have had in awhile.
this weekend the Harvest Festival rolled into town. i have such mixed memories of it growing up. it always was the time when you got a new outfit and got to see everyone from school that you didn't see during summer. checking out your favorite cute guy, eating mini donuts, puking on rides and watching the queen contestants and secretly wishing it was you. we caught a bit of the parade on saturday morning which is my favorite part. we always meet up with all our family on my aunt and uncles driveway... ari loved the parade.. he waved and stared at each entry. although the horns on the semi's proved a bit heart stopping for him. noah on the other hand was not a happy camper. he didn't even want to watch. he was quite miserable.. so i took him in the shade a bit away from all the commotion and he calmed down.. then he puked all over me and seemed much happier and ready to go.
later after our games we took the boys to the petting zoo which was fun... again ari was into it but noah is a bit more skeptical and shy.... i got some pics which i haven't downloaded yet. they will come.
so today is recovery day.. just trying to move around without crying...

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

lonely and new stuff...

well i am officially lonely... why? because my parents left for three weeks!! it sounds so sad but really i miss my mom so much already (shes only been gone a day) its funny how much i rely on her and enjoy her daily visits.. not only is she so helpful with the boys she is a sanity saver.. she always picks the best times to stop by and makes me feel better. i am lonely without her...
this last week has flown by... ari and noah are walking.. not full fledged but on there way.. maybe a little too quickly. its adorable watching them teeter around and take so much pride in each step. they have also begun to be quite rough with each other. ari is into hitting and noah is quite sensitive in that regard so there is lots of consoling when his feelings are hurt. he is such a sensitive guy. bedtime is still a struggle.. there is a certain window where they go to bed easily but if you miss it then watch out. its either so much giggling or complete chaos... they tend to hit the wall hard. i am feeling a bit stressed out these days trying to juggle appointments without my reliable babysitter and its stressful to ask other people for me because i don't want to put anyone out. i am also having a hard time with my work schedule. what was supposed to be a fun two shifts a week is turning out to be harder than i thought. august is a busy month and dave is on call certain weekends and i tend to be scheduled for all the worst times. its feeling like much more of a chore.. conflicting stuff. it also doesn't help that the people i work for are good friends and i don't want to let anyone down...but i have to figure something out that works for my family and that has to be my priority.
in other news we are house hunting... its not fun. we have seen alot..some we like, some we don't. we have outgrown our little house and need more space. just praying the right thing comes along at the right moment.
more to come later just wanted you to know i am still here... are you?

Thursday, August 02, 2007

a pretty good day

yep thats right yesterday was a pretty good day...i feel my days getting better after really talking things out with dave this past weekend and everyday reminding myself i have a choice with my attitude.. also i have been blown away encouraged by this book i am reading by Kim McMechan called Tripping into Daylight.. I swear she is writing my feelings down in her candid book of poems and personal journal entries. more about that another post. this one is dedicated to my boys who love to get dirty and to a mom who is learning to give in and just let them be. yesterday after there great nap we set out to the park by our house initially to swing which they love and hearing there giggles makes me happy too... well after a bit of swinging i thought i would put them in the grass (as they have finally gotten over hating that)... they sat and picked at flowers and finally begun to crawl across to the dirt under the swings and played in there for awhile... they were so happy i couldn't help but just watch as they discovered rocks and pieced of wood mixed in with the dirt.. after awhile they spotted the play structure which for them must have seemed a long ways off.. off the went to discover what that was. the play structure is situated on lots of little stones which ari & noah were fascinated by... they picked them up by the handfuls and made piles stopping once in awhile to put them up to their lips after saying no a bazillion times i decided i may as well let them see what it was all about.. it only took once for them to spit it out and not try that again. we played on the slide and held onto monkey bars and when it was time to go home for supper even the screams as i put them in their stroller didn't dampen my spirits... that was a good day and even though i forgot my camera i have many pictures frozen in my mind.