sex & the city and spa angels

So I saw the Sex & the City movie on Friday...

and all I can really say is...it was fabulous!!! And not only did I see the movie on opening night, I watched it with a group of great girls, while sitting in our free seats, reserved especially for us {thank you Kelly and your wonderful connections}! And this of course, was all after enjoying mani/pedis from Spa Angels, while watching Sex & the City DVDs and drinking fruity drinks. Good times!

Here we are with Matt from Cineplex, who hooked Kelly up with our tickets...

And this is us before the movie, getting pampered by the Spa Angels {get your girlfriends together and book them for a party...so much fun}...



Cheers!

rained out

Big disappointment for our 'little Sport' this weekend. His very first ever soccer game was over before it even started. Last night before bed, R laid out his brand new shin pads and soccer shoes, picked out the shorts he wanted to wear and a shirt that he said he didn't care if it got dirty. He was SO excited. The first thing he said in the morning was "can I put on my shin pads now"? I knew it did not look good when I was driving home last night in the pouring rain, and when I heard the thunder and still more rain all through the night. It was still raining in the morning, but I was hoping we could at least go to the field so R could meet his team and pick up the jersey he has been so anxious to wear. K got R dressed in his gear and with long pants over the shorts and pads.


When we got the call an hour before game time that there would be no soccer due to rain, I really did not want to tell R, I knew how disappointed he would be. We have been talking about this day for weeks now. I showed R the rain outside and told him there would be no soccer and you could tell he was trying not to cry. He said "yes there is", "it's not raining that much" and "maybe there still will be, let's go anyway" and then he said "maybe we can play when it stops raining"...so hopeful. Then R got defensive like he often does when he's upset, and started his "I don't want to play soccer anyway" routine...that is always tricky to work him out of. In the end he was OK, just very disappointed - but he is now looking forward to his first game ever next weekend....please, please, please no rain!!!

After the soccer let down we still managed to have a great day, showing my parents around our new city. They took us out for lunch and we made plans to go camping next week.

Now just keep your fingers crossed for good weather next weekend!

the grandparents visit and i need this book...

So my parents are on their way here to visit the grandkids! Just for fun I made them a ticker {see the bottom of my blog page}...let's see how long it really takes them to drive here. They keep telling me we live SO far away now... There wasn't a motor home ticker, so on my blog they are driving what looks like a red VW {I like that better anyway}! The kids are already asking me "when do Grandma and Grandpa get here???"...


And this is the book I need...
Postmark L.A.

So many creative women collaborated on this book - Teresa McFayden, Rebecca Sower, Charlotte Lyons, Pam Garrison, Carolyn Peeler, and Amy Hanna . I have been seeing bits of it on their blogs and have been looking forward to reading it. On her blog, Carolyn Peeler says this about the book - " We've been hard at work designing the kind of book that we would like to read. One that celebrates friendship, vintage findings and inspiring thoughts". Fun, fun - can't wait to see it.

being a tourist, again

I guess we love being tourists...

K is calling our adventures 'family fun days' but that just sounds a little too 'Chevy Chase National Lampoon's Vacation' for me {hmm...I wonder if there is a Wally World around here?}. Today we drove into Quebec and explored Gatineau Park - how cool that you just have to drive over a bridge and you are in Quebec.

We ate a picnic lunch by Mulvihill Lake, did some of the shorter kid-friendly hikes, and checked out Lake Meech. The Mackenzie King Estate is in Gatineau Park, as are 3 campgrounds and several lakes for swimming, fishing, etc. It really is a beautiful area and I'm sure we'll be back many times. Maybe with our bikes next time - Sundays in the park are bikedays.

On the way out of the park we stopped at a wonderful little ice cream shop in historic Old Chelsea Village, La Cigale.

They make delicious home made ice cream in unique flavors. We ended up back home once again with dusty, dirty and sticky, but very happy and tired children!

if we took a holiday...

took some time to celebrate
just one day out of life
it would be, it would be so nice...

OMG...I am so excited I am still shaking! I am going to see Madonna!!!

Tickets went on sale at noon my time today and I was ready. So was my sister - we were on the phone together and both logged on to Ticketmaster... By 12:07 after multiple attempts from both of us, I actually got through to the part where they said I had 2 minutes to enter my info or I would lose the tickets. I was so excited I was shaking...{maybe I need to get a life}! But I am SO looking forward to this concert. Madonna is one of those concerts I have always said I HAVE to go to in my lifetime...she's classic, an icon, and you know she will put on a good show. I was still online at 12:20 when they opened up another show in Montreal for the next night, so I am thinking tickets must have sold out very quickly for the first show. How lucky that she is coming to a city near me! For my sister - well, she will have to fly here and then we will drive to Montreal. But how much fun is that - a girl road trip! We can stay in Montreal for a night or two, go shopping...and she gets to come here and visit her favorite niece and nephew, all in one trip. Yeah!!! Now we just have to wait for October...

my first live show at Scotiabank Place...

and it was...


Diego is a rock star! R and Miss S were very excited. In the car on the way to Scotiabank Place, R was wondering if Baby Jaguar would be there, and Miss S kept singing "me see Go Diego, go Diego, go Diego go" {which by the way is part of the theme song for those of you not familiar with our favorite channel, Treehouse TV}!

K met us for the show...

although I must say, he really needs to brush up on his animal rescue skills - apparently he does not know the difference between a leopard and Baby Jaguar! Good thing R was there to point out the red-eyed tree frogs, kinkajous, and macaws.

Deep inside the jungle where nature's running wild,
Coming to the rescue is a very special child...

Here are my spoiled children sitting in their own suite {lucky us - I had no idea we were given tickets in a suite - maybe they knew Miss S couldn't sit still and they wanted to keep her away from everyone else!!!}...



Go Diego Go!

our igloo and laundry room joy

Just remembering something that made me laugh all weekend long... R kept calling our hotel room 'our igloo' all weekend long! We told him we would be going away for the weekend and going swimming at the hotel pool - he remembered when we stayed at West Edmonton Mall in the Fantasyland Hotel igloo theme room {it looked like ice and had bunk beds and a hot tub in the room that he thought was a swimming pool}... So now I guess he thinks every hotel room is going to be an igloo {???}. When I said it's not an igloo - he said 'yes, remember when we stayed in a igloo when we went to see the big penguin {that would be the West Ed Mascot}... OK. Anyway, for the rest of the weekend we heard "when are we going back to our igloo" and "can we go swimming in our igloo"...

And something else that gives me a surprising amount of joy...I have been doing laundry for DAYS now!!!

Weird, I know - it's not like I usually enjoy laundry, but we have been living without a washer and dryer since the big move. If it took any longer for the washer and dryer to arrive I could have lost one of my children under the MOUNTAINS of laundry that formed in my closet. There was some kind of mix-up with our order and the machines finally just got delivered Friday right before we went away for the long weekend. When we got home K thought he would go to Home Depot on Monday to get a hose that we needed to hook the dryer up...but he drove all the way there before realizing that apparently nothing is open here on holidays. What??? Back home only Christmas Day would stop people from shopping...

Having a working laundry room just makes this house feel a little bit more like home.

I don't like the cabinets in this laundry room but it's just temporary and I have big plans for the laundry room in the house we are building. Because it will be just off the kitchen {and the kitchen will have huge windows with lots of light coming in} I am even getting a french door to the laundry room {which is why we got stainless steel machines this time - to match my kitchen appliances, of course - although I was very sad to see my cherry red machines go with our last house}. I know K thinks I am crazy for decorating a laundry room, but why not do what you can to make laundry a bit more fun. Love what this woman did to her laundry room - I guess, I, too am a laundry room weirdo.

Back to sorting and folding now...

i know this is hard to believe

but I came home from the long weekend without good photos to post. I think the lack of photos are due to the fact that I spent most of my long weekend shopping! I did however come home with lots of nice new clothes and scrapbooking goodies and stuff for the kiddies...and a year's supply of products from Bath & Body Works (love that store)! For our first long weekend in our new home we headed south and crossed the border into New York state. I was SO excited - I've never been to New York (can't wait to go to New York City...)! We stayed in Syracuse for a couple nights to do some shopping and take the kids swimming and to see some sights. The drive was just under 3 hours and very enjoyable - even considering Miss S has now become a back seat driver {me see cows, mom - mom stop - go back dat way - go back - me see bird S window...it is funny that she always directs ME even though K was driving...}. The Thousand Island area is very pretty - we drove over a great bridge - this is an area that I want to come back to and explore.

Here are the photos I do have from our big night out in Syracuse, NY...(don't get too excited - we have children...) This is us at Chuck E Cheese! Miss S was really fascinated by the 'big mouse'...

until his hat fell off and almost knocked her out...

She came running back to us saying 'big mouse scared me'. {Everything scares Miss S these days - that is her new favorite saying - me scared}. Taking my kids to Chuck E Cheese brings back memories of going to Bullwinkles in Calgary with my family and grandparents...

So that is pretty much it for photos - oh, except for this one. These are cupcakes {there is cake under all that icing, I swear} that K saw and had to buy for a treat one night...


Aren't they just so cute! The four of us couldn't even share one complete cupcake there was just WAY too much icing - but you know how much Miss S {OK, and me too} loves a good 'cuppy cake'.


On our way home from Syracuse we stopped in Watertown to see some sights {ie more shopping} and have lunch. I'm already planning our next adventure...I'm thinking Lake George in the Adirondacks...hmmm

being a tourist, part d

It seems like all we are doing lately is "being a tourist", but that is more fun than finally getting our house put together. I spent half the day yesterday in the basement moving around boxes and trying to make a 'play area' for the kids big toys - but I much prefer being outside. Especially since summer comes a whole lot earlier here than it did back home! That's right - it is HOT here by my standards. I am not sure I like heat - I definitely do NOT like the humidity, I am glad we had air conditioning installed before we moved in. Humidity is just no fun for a curly-haired girl that is in love with her hair straightener.

Anyway, this is us exploring Stittsville a couple days ago. Stittsville is considered a part of the city of Ottawa now, and it is located immediately to the south-west of Kanata.

All the photos were taken while walking down Main Street in search of the bakery that is supposed to sell the 'best doughnuts ever'. Well, we didn't find the bakery right away...so we had to have ice cream at Papa Sam's instead (rough day, I know). K tells me I should have taken the GPS (aka: my new best friend) but I thought it would look weird - and I don't know how to plug it in to my stroller...???

Have I mentioned the GPS before? I love her, R even named her "Ella". K's boss back home gave it to him before we moved and it has come in very handy. The box calls her a "personal travel assistant" and that is what she has become to me - my assistant. I just type in where I want to go and she finds it. Ella is fun, but she can be a little bossy. Sometimes just for fun I take a different route than the one she tells me to, just so I can make her say "recalculating" and then she has to find a new route that I like.

Now I am off to get us ready for the long weekend. Really looking forward to it...

being a tourist, part c

WARNING - ridiculously long photo post ahead. I guess I got carried away with the photos, but it was a beautiful day at Dow's Lake, my kids are cute, the tulips were in bloom at the Canadian Tulip Festival and I finally just unpacked my Rebel...all that makes me a little camera snap happy...

cotton candy + candy apple = sticky hyper kids

Well, you were warned. I'm thinking only my Mom and maybe Shar made it all the way through this very long post! Have a good night...