we have not had our wedding photos on display in our new home. we used to have a montage of 4 photos displayed in our bedroom at our old house. these days that frame sits with the rest of the "where or do we hang these pictures now?" area.
i was 23 when we were married. i had just graduated with my B.Ed. and Kristian had a semester left before he was awarded his B.Sci. in Engineering.
my engagement ring and both of our wedding rings were purchased from the money obtained from an insurance settlement. good jobs were rare at that time. i had a degree and no contract with a school board. instead i was making $7 per hour with the YMCA child care. i also continued to work as a waitress at the University making the same wage without tips. as in, tips were not allowed to be given to us.
i still remember trying to figure out how we were going to put gas in the car to spend Christmas with my family. and that was the least of our problems. the month before Christmas we didn't even have enough money to buy presents. or food for us. it seems like so long ago. we used our wedding gift cards to buy presents that year. the rest of the money went to food and gas. Kris' brother taped a $20 bill to a big rock (old joke between the 2 of us!) so that we could go to a movie.
at the time, photos of a day etched into our memories were at the bottom of our priority list. enlargements were never done. all we had were 4x6 proofs.
i still have my dress and all the rest of the wedding outfit. the dress was purchased off the rack at a discount. the veil was handmade by me. no jewelry except earrings purchased at The Bay. my only indulgence were the hand gloves.
16 years later those details are not important.
now my outfit makes me laugh. i was the size of a toothpick when i got married, so it no longer fits. even my feet have grown! only the gloves still fit. so apparently it was worth it to splurge on something i will only wear once but never outgrow?
Kiara has been nicknamed 'Princess Tiara Kiara'. she was delighted to try on this special dress.
i hope to take photos of her in it as she grows.
she looks so regal.
we rarely see this dignified side of her.
adorable.
i told her that she is allowed to get married once she can fit into that dress. i wonder if she will remember that comment.
the kids also had fun looking through the photo album from our photographer. the wedding album i wrote in. they thought Daddy looked funny in his "big, round" glasses. Aidan reasoned that it was because they did not know how to make them smaller back then. too funny.
we chose not to videotape our wedding. if we had, it would have been on VHS. a tape we couldn't watch right now.
we were surprised to receive a cassette tape of the ceremony. which we could listen to in the car. or on one of the kids' players (and run the risk of getting wrecked!).
if my last post was nearly two months ago, it is safe to say that my priority has NOT been on this blog!
wow.
Kiara was only 16 months when i started this blog. Aidan was barely past 2 years old. my days were intense and busy. yet they were calm and relaxed. in reality day to day was exhausting. yet it was still nice to have the freedom to create our own schedule. when i think of how life has changed since then, i am really in awe.
Kristian had changed jobs and was working ridiculous hours. we thought it would be short-term and a move in the right direction for us. we couldn't have made a worse decision! now we know.
Kiara was so sweet. still is. but she certainly has had her 'moments' since then!
Aidan loved life. still does. he still has so many of the same expressions he had as a toddler.
me. where to start?! for one thing, life has not slowed down a whole lot. but my present place in life is more secure than ever before.
we. new home. new church family. some old friends. some new friends.
it has been an adventure! some parts i wish we could have avoided. other parts have been more incredible than i could have possibly envisioned
here we are today.
Kristian. still not working at his dream job. but sometimes the dream job is not always what we though it would be. however he has a high standard and his company values his work. there are still some rough edges. i am proud of him and the decisions he makes. unless it involves house cleaning....ha! the kids still race to the door when he gets home from work. definitely the hero in our home.
Aidan. our firstborn of two firstborns. the child who has parents who are too hard on themselves. it is no wonder he is the same way! he still has the same smile on his face as he did when he was a baby. eyes that are full of wonder and excitement. the only person in our family who wakes up with a smile on his face (most of the time!).
i think he has more introvert in him. although he is more outgoing and adventurous as he grows. he loves to learn. loves it like his daddy. in fact they even look more alike every day. kinda freaky at times! i am in awe over how quickly he catches on to concepts at home and school. yet he can't remember to "make his bed, brush his teeth, comb his hair" every day without being reminded.
it has been neat to watch him grow and make his own decisions. lately he has had a lot of questions about God. he is eager to learn more about faith at church and at home. we have some interesting conversations. some are challenging for me too! i love that he is not afraid to share his faith daily with his friends. he is so brave.
he - for the most part- makes some amazing decisions too. choosing friends. choosing activities. we are proud of him for this, and pray that he is always strong, brave and confident.
this year we found some jeans that actually fit! skinny jeans. he will hate me for it later...but i have to take a photo of his butt in them. adorable. the last time i said that about that body part....he was probably 18 months....wearing jeans and had diaper bum! baby bums are so cute.
here he is on the first day of school. he just found out who his teacher was. and which friends are his classmates. he has 25 kids in his class. there are still 4 classes in total. that, my friends, is the size of MY entire elementary school when i was his age. my high school graduating class only had 20 of us. i know what it is like to be on the teaching side of having 50 kids in a grade...split into 2 classes. this. this is a whole new world. i will never know what it is like for him. of course he will never know what it was like to have my school experience either.
he adores his teacher. she is very sweet. she says this is a great class and comments how smart they are and how well they listen in class. i am envious!
one of his oldest friends. they met in kindergarten. i think they met at school, then got acquainted at our local park one afternoon. they are BUDDIES.
can you tell?
as a result, i met his mom. found out we have a ton in common. lots not in common. but we hang out when we can. we are happy for our boys. and happy they introduced us too.
my sweet baby boy is now a cool and smart kid. some days it takes my breath away. i'm excited for the future. sad that the years have sped by as quickly as they did. i was warned. i did my best to enjoy that time. now i wonder if it is even possible to savour those days as much as we wish.
as he gets older, life gets more complicated with him. so many choices. the best we can do is love him, nurture his confidence and passions in life and encourage him to be who he was created to be.
he is Kristians' "mini-me".
Kiara. amazes me. she can be complicated. at times i believe that she is very intelligent and am in awe of her abilities. then other times i am frustrated at her lack of abilities! she is stubborn, like me. she is outgoing, like neither of us. she has grown up so much lately. she has matured into this nearly 5 year old body that we had hoped for!
since she was 2 years old, she has begged to go to school. cried when i dropped Aidan off and did not leave her too.
she told me this week that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. to be honest, i have often thought that she will be a teacher. i just was not sure what she would be teaching! she loves to direct activities. she is starting to think through situations and what she needs to be prepared. like the time she was upset that she forgot her purse at home. why? because you never know when you may need it. so funny!
she is different from Aidan. Aidan clung to me on his first day of kindergarten. he wouldn't say a word. just cling. Kiara ran ahead and told me she could go to school on her own. wherever Aidan would stay silent...Kiara is vocal and loud!
i have worried about her lack of and hyper-sensitivity to details. hoping that she could find a balance. praying that she would. praying that i could help her. we continually pumped up kindergarten and the maturity that she would need to be a part of it. i think she will be fine. she is so vocal, that i fear her extrovert nature may make her stand out and she will have to take the blame for others. then i think perhaps i am shadowing her with my own struggles. then i pray that i can find the balance.
when i picked her up after her first day, the teacher had nothing but praise for her actions. "Jimmy" could not speak English and he missed his mommy. he cried the entire time. Kiara covered her ears and complained about his crying hurting her ears. then she tried to calm "Jimmy" down and cheer him up.
she may land in trouble that was not just her making. but i am thrilled that her character to be brave and help a child she never met is present. now i need to pray for wisdom for her as she makes her choices of who to help.
she is my mini-me. she is who i wish i was and also who i wish i wasn't.
then there is me. where to start? as Dr. Seuss said, "There is no one alive who is Youer than You." and that is OK. back when i first started this blog i had compared myself to the character in L.M. Montgomerys' book, "The Blue Castle." i can related to Valancy on so many levels. the background story is so sad. i remember nearly crying as i read about her life. then for awhile, it seemed that the ending would not be so victorious and wonderful. thankfully the book ended happy. the Valancy at the start of the story and the Valancy at the end....were the same person, differing only in acceptance.
so many times over this last stage of my life i have wished that i could have passed through it 20 years ago. it would have been so much easier. but i did not. instead i got to drag my husband and children along with me. some days i feel bad that they have the company in me that they have....other days i am simply happy for the company!
i had never dreamed that i would be working at my favourite little scrapbook store. sharing company with artists i admired. teaching regularly. art. getting published. making the front cover of one of my personal favourite magazines. meeting scrapbook celebrities that i never dreamed i'd be in the breathing area of. i still think of teaching. but i can't imagine teaching without continuing what i am doing now.
my valleys have never been so low. yet my mountain top experiences have never been so high.
God is good. we pray for good things. i don't know anyone - yet - who prays for bad. sometimes the answers to our prayers are not exactly what we expected. and sometimes it is better. in the long haul.
We pray for blessings We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching(s) of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
and if we got down to it. i am very blessed. i need to get on this blog and share those things more often. such as the kindness of my babysitter to treat me to a tea latte when i picked her up at work. i know i would never have thought to do anything like that when i was her age. sometimes it is the small things in life that matter the most at the end of the day.
me. still growing. ha!
i don't think a blog is the appropriate place for me to share right now. maybe one day. but i am open to sharing my story with you personally if asked.
we. it has been a journey. one day at a time. leading us to today.
we would not trade today.
the kids hate it when i do this....but there is one song that i have to play once in a while. and sing LOUD.
it was a hit back in the '90's. it was written by Steven Curtis Chapman. before their lives took a journey they never expected. or wanted. Started out this morning in the usual way Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last I opened up the Bible and I read about me Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"! Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure Come on get ready for the ride of your life Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored This is what we were created for We'll travel over, over mountains so high We'll go through valleys below Still through it all we'll find that This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams
i used to think it was about someone who never read the Bible until that point in time. now, i think that it is about those of us who do read it and think it was not written for us.
so the phase of having preschoolers and toddlers in our home is now past.
the future of having school age children is upon us.
so i remind myself that the adventure is far from over. it is still going. we just turned on to a new road! and that is a good thing. a very good thing.
i am debating on ending this particular blog. i tend to be sharing more of my art related activities on my Projects blog than i used to. i may print it out into a book format. to keep. for my kids to read one day.
i may start a new blog. fresh start.
i may keep just one blog and simplify!
for the first time in the history of this blog...i have not gone back to edit. so sorry for any mistakes you most likely encountered!
today is Kiara's orientation for kindergarten. the day she has been waiting for. for years.
her main goal - it seems, at times - is to catch up to her big brother!
i still remember her at the age of 11 months when i dropped Aidan off at playschool for the first time. her tearful babble seemed to tell me that we were forgetting someone. during Aidan's second year of playschool she hated to leave and come home. i was always thankful that his time at playschool coincided with her naptime. she sometimes whimpered herself to sleep in her frustration! the day Aidan rode off in the bus destined for kindergarten she also wanted to ride with him. it helped that she was finally at the age to be enrolled in playschool herself.
i have a suspicion that she will either end up teaching one day. or she may fall in love with being a student and always attend school. {let's just hope she gets those scholarships and well-paying summer jobs!}
the difficult part has been to explain that her time spent in kindergarten today will be super-duper-short!
another concept she hadn't quite understood is that kindergarten does not start 'for real' for nearly 3 months.
sigh. although i am thankful that she is of the mind to be excited for this new phase and know that she will most likely enjoy school.
yesterday i mixed up some cornstarch with water. added some food colouring. {ran out of red and yellow! apparently we use those alot?} gave her a paint brush. she also had a couple of friends join in.
an old muffin tin was perfect. much less spillage.
i also use less than ideal paintbrushes. the concrete/asphalt is pretty tough on the bristles!
this girl of mine is so creative. lately her art projects have had some incredible maturity in them. it has been interesting. to say the least! i do feel bad for the Costco employee who is lucky to have us pass by them when we check out our groceries. they always give the kids a 'happy face' and they have always loved it. Kiara, however, has been more specific and wanting pictures drawn with more skill. we have yet to meet a Costco employee to meet her standards in Sharpie-10 second-receipt-sketch talent. yesterday the poor woman was blasted by the 4 year old for putting a happy face on a flower....flowers don't have happy faces!! i dread those embarrassing moments....and they have to be dealt with. as soon as we have her 'on track' with one issue...there is a brand new issue to take us off guard again. one thing is for certain, Kiara definitely knows when to say "I'm sorry". if only there was a quick and easy way to teach her how to AVOID situations where she will have to use those words!!
so she comes home and paints a flower. with. a. happy. face.
seriously?
this is cute! although the number of fingers on the hands freak me out a little.
well, off to walk through the rain to school. and a whole new era for this mother.
a whole year of creative ballet celebrated. it was a great relaxed and non-competitive introduction to ballet. we are still unsure what or if she will do dance next year. i really liked that the program did not have dance recitals and expensive-wear-once costumes.
the year end costume were pajamas! i think they would have looked cute with their tutus on, but my opinion was not asked for. the girls were as thrilled with their brand new "ballet pajamas" as they were with their tutus.
the song was 'Pajama Time' based on the book by Sandra Boynton. you can listen to part of it here.
the girls took it very seriously.
i think they were supposed to be pretending to sleep. the girl on the left just turned 4, and the girl on the right is 5. by watching their motions you could totally guess their maturity level. girls!
i think she REALLY enjoyed this part.
love that smile. they practiced the dance for at least a month. each week a different teddy bear joined her. lucky bear to be picked for the recital dance.
and now she lives in these pajamas!
mommy got to dance with her again.
daddy got a turn too. another chance to show off his 80's moves!
Aidan even got a turn. how lucky can one girl be?!
this poor blog gets so neglected these days. sigh.
there were TWO hills of snow in our backyard for the last {and final!} part of winter. hills? hmmm.... no. MOUNTAINS!
it was the best part about the winter. it's doubtful {i hope!} that we will have sled-worthy hills in our backyard again.
but then the snow melted.
the worst part about winter in the prairies....i've always said...is the kids get all excited thinking about snowmen. however the snow is so dry that putting a snowman together takes patience at the best of times. other times it is not even possible.
initially i had no idea why they had scattered the snowman hat and buttons on the pile of melting snow. then i actually looked at it from the right angle. my kids are hilarious!! this is so definitely going in their scrapbooks. {when i have the courage to scrapbook winter again.}
don't you love how there is a bike in the photo as well? only in Edmonton.
the kids are outgrowing bikes like pants these days. Kiara took a trial run to see how she would do without training wheels. if she could have focused, that would have helped. it also didn't help that she hit the brakes whenever Kris let go of her!
it is kind of interesting. Aidan totally breathes cycling. Kiara enjoys it. just not to the same level. in this way, the kids are the mirror images of their parents.
this was the nasty surprise of the season. note that we did put on a plastic bark protector. never would we have guessed that the snow level would be so high and cause some issues.
the culprit? Killer Bunny!
they didn't just rip off part of the bark. they ripped the trunk to shreds!
bunnies are no longer considered cute and funny in our home. they now get yelled at and run off the property. ha!
what is with the bunnies down here? we always found a bunny in our central city yard....never did they do any damage. it was the squirrels who caused the problems. maybe we need more squirrels?
so much for getting a few apples this year. i told Kristian that it would probably bear terrible and sour apples anyway. that stopped his tears for a few hours.
since this is just a random post. here is a total change in topic...
2 months ago i spent a day putting a scrapbook class kit together. Kiara was home. she wanted to help. actually she was a great help. i had bingo numbers and pins and brads for her to sort, then put into bags. it was awesome! for both of us. she got to practice counting. and sorting. then she had the fun to put it all into bags for me. she must have worked for an hour on it. i could have done it in less time, but i was beside her working on other parts of the kit. in reality she totally saved me some time.
it was a massive kit to assemble. Kristian and Aidan - and Kiara again - helped me a few days later with the rest of it. apparently they enjoyed it. Kristian and Kiara enjoyed it enough to help me last month. you can see the pile of filmstrip ribbon that was waiting to be cut and added.
this time around, the work for Kiara was much less. i think she knew it.
i do think she loves this embellishment as much as i do!
i thought i had created a simpler kit to assemble. sigh. so far from the truth. but it was fun to have help. it's fun to chat and let my family share in my work.
i am FINALLY taking time for myself to exercise. i find it hard to believe that i once had the strength and endurance to run a half-marathon. complete short triathlons. never fast {right, Carol!} but at least i could complete them...and manage to improve a bit. i have joined up in a Core Strength and Balance class. i should have been doing this long ago. better late than never! now to add in the running.
i was pretty good when Aidan was younger. it was Kiara who hated being squished inside the running stroller. it came to a point that i dreaded taking them out....it was not a matter of "if" there were tears....it was always "when".
my last run with the two of them had me at a poorly planned night race at Hawrelak Park. Aidan wanting to run, but totally slow. Kiara screaming. then Aidan screaming when i told him he had to be a passenger. i ran half the distance, with several runners lapping me. then discovered that all 3 tires were out of air. how i missed that earlier, i'll never know. surprising how i found that discouraging?! it was a course that involved 2 laps around the lake. i stopped halfway. i was nearly out of energy and completely out of patience!
in all the irony...it is Kiara who will point out my jiggles.
last Friday we got some more snow and Kiara cheered. Aidan too. they were alone in their enthusiasm. one thing for sure is that if there are still snow piles in the backyard in June....there just may be unified groans from everyone in our house!
at least the days are getting more obviously longer. i like to see the sun still in the sky at 4pm. the sunsets are also very pretty at this time of year.
we have had a few days' break with warmer temperatures and the kids have been able to play in the backyard mountains.
all smiles. until the snow got in her boots!
as long as Kiara didn't get in his way, he had big smiles on his face too.
it took all night for his winter clothes to dry out in time! i think i threw them right in the laundry. figured they were soaking, they may as well drip dry after being cleaned.
both of the kids have been growing like weeds in the past few months. i lost track of the number of times Kiara had wet socks in the last two weeks from snow getting trapped into her boots. we managed to find an incredible sale on a new pair. then i realized that she also needed longer snow pants. we had a two sided problem on our hands! new boots, larger snow pants and she is much more content to play longer.
i played a trick on them a few weeks ago. we set out their clothes for the next day and they leave them on their beds just before bedtime. after they were asleep, i swapped their pants. it had been a cranky few weeks and we desperately needed a good laugh. a good laugh was had. Aidan just figured he grew overnight and Kiara thought she shrunk. okay, maybe i was the one laughing.
i was proud to hear that Aidan and some of his classmates would be reading a special poem in their all school assembly today. it meant that Kiara missed an entire swim lesson, but it was worth it to be there.
he looks so grown up standing there with his hands in his pockets.
every kid, teacher and some parents were in attendance. approximately 700 students from K-9. he was a bit nervous, but he did it. even managed a bit of a smile.
can't believe this is the same kid who refused to participate in a little church Christmas concert when he was 2 years old. okay, i know 2 is young. but the same trend continued as he got older! i'm proud of him because i know that i could not have done this at his age. i could barely stand in front of my classmates...and there were only 10 kids in my class at the time.
well off to ballet class with Kiara. should be fun!
where is time going?! i am still needing to finish my Christmas shopping...but finding it tough this year to do without the kids. it was so easy to do when they were small and had no idea what i was buying....or i could even hide it from them. these days its tough to buy a pack of gum without them discovering it! the time passes so quickly when they are both in school and i don't have much time in the evenings to do it. online shopping looks very appealing right now. if i knew it would be delivered in time...
Kristian and Kiara bought a pet Beta fish earlier this year. he became known as Princess Purple. whether or not he knew the meaning of the word 'princess', he never let on. neither did the fact that he was purple. anyways it ended up being my job to clean the tank. and it sure got dirty with just one fish in it! last week i thought of putting him in a smaller tank that might be easier to clean. after doing that i realized that his castle did not fit inside it, and he loved the castle. so i moved him back to the original tank. too many moves or too much temperature change....the shock killed him in 24 hours. great. Kiara is having a tough time getting over this death.
even with Prince Blue in the picture. she was definite about wanting a blue fish. part of me wishes i had just gone to the store on my own and came back with a replacement fish. but then, she would have noticed a detail absent that i would have missed. when Princess Purple died, he turned gold. the kids noticed his colour was changing before he even became fully dead. so odd!
Prince Blue was purchased along with a new smaller tank. he is pretty active and outgoing. i can't believe i just described the personality of a fish. really. but it is true!
by the way, Prince Blue has a middle name. oh, i am not kidding. it is Frosty the Snowman. we are in for some treats. Kiara has quite the imagination.
last night was her preschool Christmas concert. she has been excited for weeks about this! it was also the first concert our kids have participated in that Kristian was able to attend. it was a very big night.
she sang with all her might!
they had yummy snacks and fun Christmas crafts after the program.
we came home and Kiara commented that we should leave out some cookies for Santa. what?! she apparently knew that Santa would come after the concert....and took that to mean immediately! this next week and a half will be a long one for her. and Aidan. so, essentially, it will also be a long one for me. unless i don't get my list completed by Monday!
