this morning

i woke up to -36 Celsius.

with a -41 Celsius windchill.




when it was time to walk Aidan to school, i checked the temperature again. NO CHANGE!!

bbbbrrrrrrr.......


last Thursday the temperature was 9 Celsius for most of the day.


the only thing in common? the sun is shinning!



the good news? we are expecting warmer temperatures. which we have learned we have to experience to believe it! tomorrow it should warm up to -16 for the high. the day after that 1. yes. how is that even possible?! i am holding on to the hope that the forecast will actually happen. except for Sunday. when we are supposed to dip to -10 and have snow.


still, it's better than flooding. or earthquakes. or tornados.



that said.....i am sooooo ready for summer and tank tops!!

i-phone photos

the camera on my iphone4 is not bad. in fact it really impresses me for a phone camera. check these out.



yes. i had a birthday over a week ago. this is the birthday cake from Kristian and the kids. i think Aidan was secretly disappointed that the correct number of candles were not inserted. his concern may also be with his dad's ability to count properly?




okay. not an iphone photo. but a memorable moment! why is my hand pushing away Kiara's face? did i lose control of my arm muscles?




aaahhh. check out the photo from earlier. she wanted to blow out my candles herself. claiming it was HER birthday. that is one way to get her to 18 more quickly!



in a dark restaurant. from a distance because we were a large group. these are some friends that i hang out with from our new church. one of the girls i knew 21 years ago, back when we were brand new high school graduates living in the big city of Edmonton. another i was friends with her sister over 17 years ago while we worked together one summer. it turns out another one of the girls and i have several mutual friends. isn't it a small world?! and at least three of them have admitted that they also scrapbook. i hope we stay good friends for a very long time. they are a lot of fun! this photo was the night we went out to celebrate my birthday. a few of the girls couldn't make it, so are missing from this photo.


it was a good birthday. the past few have been quite difficult for reasons i won't go into. but this year held now unseen ghastly surprises for me. Kris apparently felt that he was outdone at Christmas by my bosses at Urban. (they gave me and a few other interested girls an amazing scrapbook tool - the Vagabond. seriously beyond anything i expected to receive. from anybody.) too funny! he figured he'd go right to them to see if they had any advice for him. it was really interesting listening to his tale. poor man. i think his saga of getting the perfect gift was a gift in itself. he really got creative in planning! to think he involved my bosses and to hear how they tried to help. above and beyond. i am very appreciative of all the 3 of them tried to do!! keep that gratitude in mind when you read the next paragraph!!

i should mention that he did not fail at Christmas himself. he completely and utterly shocked me with a very nice diamond necklace. diamonds that make my engagement ring look bland. my first thought was fear that i would lose it, or break it because it was soooo delicate. just what any worried husband wants to hear on Christmas morming, "what? why? i think you should return it!!" i did wear it that day. and as much as i can since. it did not get returned. his response was that we are better off than we were when he bought my engagement ring....so why shouldn't he gift me with something nice.

the funny part? i was telling my fashionista babysitter about this. {she is a Tiffany's girl and loves anything with bling and carats!} she shook her head and asked me why i couldn't have at least faked ecstasy over the gift. apparently a similar scene took place that same morning between her parents. yes, that girl is wise beyond her years. which is why she is our first choice babysitter!


birthdays are even more fun with my kids. Kristian always buys a card for each of them to sign. that morning he stacked the gifts on the kitchen table with the cards on top. i opened the cards before school, but told them we would wait until after school to open the gifts. we were running later than usual that morning! that drove the kids nuts to make them wait. they were so excited to celebrate with me.

usually i like to dress up and look my best on my actual birthday. not this year. put my hair in a pony tail. dressed in comfy clothes. Aidan spent the day in school, but i had to drop off and pick up Kiara at playschool in the morning. the rest of the time? totally lazy. it. was. the. best.



remember my previous post? the snow comparisons from November to now, and from last year to this year?

check this out:



here is just one of the snow storage yards in the city. in my own best guess....i would say that the hill is at least three times higher than i've ever seen it. i think the snow hauling trucks going down the road past the entry gate outnumbers the regular traffic 3 to 1. unbelievable.





until last week, this was our mode of transportation to school. the temperatures climbed above zero Celsius almost all last week. we also had rain. we also had a great deal of ice. then this weekend it snowed. life is not boring in the far north! at least not this year.



they re-plowed the path behind our home. which made the snow pile even higher. this pic is before they plowed. it isn't packed well, so it makes for quite the adventure to get into our backyard in this route.



no need to travel far to toboggan.



they may never be this lucky again in their little lives.

can you believe that all but 2 of the photos were taken with the iphone? makes for a great point and shoot!

on a positive note....typically....January is the coldest month. the days are getting longer, we're seeing more of the sun. groundhog day is nearly here. could we be lucky to have just 6 more weeks of winter?

on Friday, it snowed again. Kiara danced with glee. she is in the minority. was it any coincidence that i registered her for kindergarten on the same day? hmmmm.....sigh. that is a story for another day.

the golden globe in our winter sky

the sun came out today!

it has been so long, that we kind of forget what it looks like. Kris did some more shovelling. like another 3 hours worth. he decided that it might be a good idea to move the snow away from the house. thinking ahead to spring and the big melt.

so far the kids have 4 piles of snow. 3 of them aren't quite as high as this one, but still pretty good. i think they will be happy to be able to walk along a shovelled path and not have to break trail as well. 

the kids are pretty lucky to have so much snow around to have custom sledding hills and snow palaces in the backyard. with any luck they may never get to experience such fun again?

it really is a marshmallow world!

will it ever stop snowing?!

apparently we have only broken the record made in 1974. we still have several centimetres to go before we break the 1971 record. personally, that record can remain unbroken.




i snapped this yesterday morning after our walk to school. notice Kiara's feet do not touch the ground. i think the mountain of snow sitting at the end of our driveway is about 3 1/2 Kiara's high.

for comparisons' sake, i found these photos from last year and earlier in the winter season.....






the above 2 photos were taken nearly a year apart. notice the difference in the piles of snow?

i purposely did not adjust the photos. we have not seen. the. sun. for. days. it comes out in brief intervals to remind us that it does exist. then it goes back behind thick clouds.






in March 2010, we had a warm spell which melted some of the snow. then we had another spring snowfall. we had even been out bike riding the week before the snowfall. BUT notice the change in the height of the snow? the slide is really a joke right now.



watch the tree disappear.....






crazy!



oh, is that what grass looks like?



pretty....



and we thought we had a big snowfall at Christmas.



you can still see the plastic trunk protector on our apple tree.



we have all watched the snowdrifts grow on our rooftops. hoping our vents remain free of snow....and the trusses stay strong!



Kristian braved our garage roof to free up space for more snowdrifts. i was a bit worried he had frozen his brain and would try to climb to the second level. fortunately he did not!




the driveway was covered again right after clearing. i think he spent about 3 hours shovelling snow in total on Saturday. only to return and spend another hour on Sunday.







just last week Kiara had the "bright" idea to climb over the fence. using the chair. it worked. until she wanted to get back into the yard. i think she thought she could stand on top of the pile of snow on the other side of the fence... you can imagine her surprise. so she trudged through the snow to the gate. which Aidan decided to help her by digging a path in front of the gate. she would have been rescued by nightfall. ha! i came out and lifted her up and over the fence. using the very chair she had climbed over!

check out the snowpile on that little birdhouse.

ugh. such grey skies.




this is what our backyard view looked like yesterday.

it is snowing again today. big. flakes.

last week the temperatures were brutally cold. Aidan had a bad cold and missed the entire week of school. i'm just thankful that he happened to be sick the same week. between the snowdrifts and horribly cold temperatures, the walk to and from school would not have been exciting or enjoyable. it is warmer (slightly!) and most of the sidewalks have been shovelled.

yesterday took us to the doctor because of Aidan complaining about his sore ear for several days. (no infection, good news!) on the way home a car right behind us spun out and landed in the centre snowbank. amazing it did not get hit. so glad it wasn't us! and it was a 4x4, so it drove out pretty easily. in all irony, the vehicle behind it was a tow truck.

the day before i took our car in for an oil change. they discovered i had a nail in my tire. fixed before i had to deal with a flat. wow.

all true stories.

today is my birthday. this will be the last year i am 30-something. how did that happen?!! Aidan is feeling better, and wished me a happy birthday at bedtime and this morning. Kiara is now sick and is as grumpy as one could ever be. she proclaimed that it was NOT my birthday today. fortunately she lived. she finished her breakfast and is now quietly enjoying TreeHouse all by herself. and the peace is back. that's all i really need. although a hot beach and sunshine would be pretty nice too......

changes

earlier i had posted about an interesting posting from Cosmo Cricket (one of my favourite scrapbook supply companies).

the reason behind that was i could relate to the "being selfish for the purpose of being selfless" and "reward" discussion.

i agree that we can get lost in our role as moms, and forget that taking care of ourselves is important to our kids. i'm not yet dressing in skirts and heels at home, but some make-up or jewelry for no reason is closer to my style! when i was teaching the preschool kids i dressed similar to the way i did at home. i would never wear my best clothing if we were painting or doing something equally messy. if i'm cleaning or involved in something messy at home, i also don't 'dress up'.

i had an interesting discussion with Aidan one day last year. he had commented on a classmates' mother. she came in to help regularly. Aidan told me that she always looked nice when he saw her. it was the first time i realized that our kids love to be proud of their moms too and want us to look our best.

when i was teaching i do recall feeling badly for kids who came to school in dirty clothes, messy hair, etc. on a regular basis. their confidence often matched their appearance. not sure if they lacked confidence to dress nicely or didn't care about their appearance because they lacked confidence. or what order it came in? i think we are called to look our best. kids and parents. inside and outside. i also realize it is a bit of work to keep my kids dressed nicely. especially when they seem to grow an inch a day!! we all have our favourites, and my kids are no different. it is tough for them when their favourite t-shirt is too stained to wear outside of the house, or is too small. they are fortunate to have very full closets with lots of choices, but still tough to make sure the clothing is the correct size! it is a part time job some days.

when i stopped bringing home the regular paycheck myself, i also stopped investing in new clothes. it also was more complicated to shop with kids in tow. or arranging to go when they could be not-in-tow! after i started to work at the scrapbook store, i realized how 'kid-friendly' my wardrobe had become. i think i have a long way to go, but it was the encouragement i needed to shop for things that weren't always practical. it is nice to have some grown-up clothes to wear once in awhile. it is a work in progress.

i have also decided that our home is another place for our kids to be confident in. our basement was neat and organized when we moved. except for the pile of boxes and containers that needed to get sold or donated. after a year, and some changes the basement became more of a dungeon than a play space. with some rearranging, purging and organizing....it is now a safe and fun place. i want the kids' friends to enjoy playing here! Kris was home between Christmas and New Years, so that afforded me the time to devote to getting things better.

for me it is sometimes hard to find the balance between clutter and comfort. i love to be surrounded by nice things, and my counters are rarely bare. yet after some time, i start to breathe differently if there is too much clutter for my liking around me. i have to say that it is MUCH easier to handle clutter when pretty much everything has a place to be kept. i'm still figuring out what works for me and my family. for now, the kids' stuff each has a basket to be held, until i file it or throw it away. i realized when we were selling our old house that i did love my home to be clean and spotless. however, it also brought a certain degree of discomfort as well. oh, the balance!

once the basement was looking better, i knew it was time to move on to other rooms. along with the purging and organizing i also came to the conclusion that some of our possessions did not need to stay with us. unless it has a deeper meaning (like the needle work my grandmother made, or the oil painting my other grandmother made...both not my style, and not fitting anywhere), then the "just-stuff" needs to find a new home with someone else.

it took me a year to finally decide on the colours i wanted to paint the kids' rooms. with their permission, of course! after the basement was looking better, i was ready to commit. i had been uncertain with doing the work myself....questioning the quality of my painting! then i was reminded...'they are bedrooms...not beyond trying on my own.' Aidan had dreams of me painting a type of mural....when i told him that was beyond my talent, he was shocked. 'but you are so artistic, mommy', he replied. that sweet compliment also boosted my confidence!

Aidan has been firm that he has wanted a blue room. Kiara stayed adamant that hers must be pink.

i still think (especially after painting) it has been to our advantage that the previous owners did not add any new, non-builder colours. the main colour is Barn Swallow and the secondary colour is Grey Hearth. they are both good colours. i know we would have never chosen the grey colour, but we have really loved the contrast it has in the rooms.

they are neutral colours, but not exactly the kind of colour loved by kids!




the "BEFORE" picture is in Aidan's room. i didn't take one of Kiara's. same colour, different walls. ha! aside from the window (and clutter) there would be no difference.

if i had realized how badly the professional painter had made the cut lines, i would have repaired that before i started to paint. when you first looked at the edges, there were a few obvious paint mistakes...which we gave credit to the previous owners. guessing that they messed up when they spot painted before selling. they may take credit for some of it. unless you are looking closely for crooked lines, or misses...i don't think they are that recognizable.

the plan is for our real professional painter to repair the mistakes when we get the main part of the house repainted later. still undecided if later will be in the near or far future. i have some areas i need to patch and short walls to paint. if the spot painting is really obvious....then the professional painting will happen sooner!

all my paint colours are Benjamin Moore. i personally LOVE how they arrange their fan decks, and their  historical and classic colour collections. so far i have not been disappointed or mislead by the colours.



i am glad that Aidan INSISTED on blue. i chose to do 2 colours. the main colour is van courtland blue. while the theme wall is phillipsburg blue. i was worried that the second colour would be too purple...a problem i have had in the past! Aidan wanted as dark of a blue as we would allow. if he had it his way, it would have been nearly black! only because he wanted it to look like outer space.

initially i was going to keep the main colour as barn swallow (an ICI colour), and paint 2 of the walls van courtland. so glad Aidan refused to think that was a good idea.

his opinion on the after? he liked "his blue" better than "mom's blue". too funny.

i discovered that the grey undertones in the van courtland are very strong in dim light. i LOVE it when a single colour gives off different tones in differing lights.





i'm still not sure if i made a good choice using 2 contrasting colours here. i love each of them on their own. there is no way i could have handled an "all pink" bedroom. but i know that Kiara would not have been happy if there was no pink. this was the compromise.

the next item on the kids' rooms list is the furniture and decorations. i have some wall decals for the kids, but plan to put them on the walls next month. it takes at least 30 days for paint to cure....i'm concerned the removable stickers will peel off the paint when they are removed....even though we plan to keep them for several years. is that a realistic concern?

Aidan just had his desk set up last night. the shelf we want is on backorder. we've decided to remove a dresser and adjust his closet to make up the loss. i think his room would be too crowded if it remained. the desk will be well used in the future, and much appreciated by him in the meantime. sadly, his room is looking more like a "big boy" room. less and less of a little rowdy boy.

i'm undecided if i will replace Kiara's dressers or refinish them. the one dresser would look so cute white and distressed, then with cute girly handles/knobs added!! i found a fabulous dressing table with attached mirror that she would LOVE. she's not quite ready for a desk...but it is in her near future too. one of the shelves in Aidan's room will become hers for her doll house.

there you have it! not before/after photos. more like before/in progress! now that the painting is complete, i cannot wait to finish them off.

for me the reward is that sense of accomplishment. i still have other areas of the house that are due for re-organization and purging. it will happen. for now, the small changes are making this house feel more like our home. i'm letting go of some bad habits and making changes that will be more beneficial to ALL of us!

it has been a tough few years. much more that i have not mentioned. however, i feel like the changes happening in the rooms of our home are a good sign. a sign that i am coming back!

and my reward for the long days cleaning and painting?

heehee....

shopping and scrapbooking.

yes. you shouldn't be surprised!



next goal: finish decorating the rooms
next reward: more shopping and scrapbooking

i think the rewards and goals benefit all of us. don't you?!

note this!

getting back into routines....fun!

purging, organizing, cleaning, decorating....lots of work, but makes me breathe MUCH easier knowing it is getting done. finally!

now painting. i was soooo nervous about doing it. the change is good. so far the right colours have been chosen. sigh of relief!

i was taking a break and did some blog reading. this was a very inspiring post at the Cosmo Cricket blog . go check it out!

back to work i go....