HIghlights from the Trip

Last year when Chrsitmas was over we decided to go away for Christmas this year. We have been going to Orlando for many years now, and Mom and Dad have time shares there, so we decided that would be our destination. We also invited our best friends and their family to join us, so it was a big group going down.

The flights were probably the biggest "adventure" of the whole trip. We found flights for 300$/person cheaper flying out of Edmonton, so we added 3 hours to our trip and then flying at Christmas, what were we thinking?

But the trip itself was great. Sunshine, palm trees and Mickey Mouse....... Here are some photos highlights from the trip.

Mom and Alexis enjoying a DELICIOUS Mickey Bar.

Darryl was missing the snow (ha ha) so he made a "sandman"

Lucas and I going down the waterslide.

All of us enjoying the pool.

Lucas loving slides and playgrounds.

At Beauty and the Beast. By this time Lucas was covering his ears or crying at most of the shows we saw. He didn't like the Beast in this one, or fire in the Indy show.

Lucas, above the crowd, watching the parade

Dad was one of the extras in the Indy show! He did a great job acting like an African.

Lucas, Darryl, Mom and Alexis watching the penguins.

Getting ready to watch the dolphin show.

An elephant of the Kilamajaro Safaris

Lucas riding in the "go carts" in Magic Kingdom.

Nathan and I savoring our first Mickey bar.

Lucas and Nathan chilling in the stroller.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

100 Things

THis has been going around. I first saw it on Goofballs blog and then Daddy Dan's. The bold is stuff I've done, red is stuff I want to do.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (outside of Calgary)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World a bunch of times - never Disney Land)
8. Climbed a mountain (many, many mountains)
9. Held a praying mantis (in Victoria with Lucas).
10. Sang a solo (I sing in the car even with other people, but I don't think that counts).
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris (twice)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (playing guitar)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (no but I've been there and do they let you walk all the way up anymore)
18. Grown your own vegetables (and they taste great)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (yep on the schooltrip in Paris)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort or a sand castle
25. Ate lamb chops (mmmmmmmmmmmm)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (next year)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (didn't ride on but have been to Venice)
29. Seen a total eclipse (in grade 10)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (Feburary)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (french in school)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke (many, many times)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (where is this??)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight(in Mexico and Jamacia )
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (at Darryl's Christmas Party)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (in Jamaica and Mexico)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (scrapbooking, but I am not a salesperson)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (I think so, Mom??)
62. Gone whale watching (on Vancouver island and St. Johns)
63. Got flowers for no reason (Thanks Mom)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job ( I was 15 and it was very upsetting)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (it was my blog book and I was the only one who bought it)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (I don't think so Mom??)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Wowers I'm a lucky lady...... 51 out of 100.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had a lovely, stress free Christmas. For those of you who have been reading for a while, or know me personally, know that I am kind of bah-hum-bug about Christmas. But we spent Christmas this year in my favorite way, on a holiday. I love it when Christmas is about family and friends and spending time together and that's what our Christmas was about. It's not about what you got but about your favorite memories. Plus it's a bonus to add a bunch of sunshine and swimming as well.

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Favorite Picture November : Broken Foot Adventures

Favorite Pictures October: Have a Very Merry Christmas

Favorite Picture September: Lucas and Friends

Favorite Picture August: Vacationing

Favorite Picture June: Gardening

Favorite Picture July; Hanging out in the Yard

Favorite Picture 5: Three Peas In A Pod

Favorite Picture April: Instant Love

Favorite Pictures March: One Crazy Family Celebration

Favorite Picture Feburary: The End of the Family of Three

Dear iTunes,

Here is an e-mail I wrote to itunes this week......

Dear itunes,

I am very disappointed in the latest update for the itunes. I went to burn a CD of my latest favorite songs and it would only burn 5 of the songs. Songs that I got from other people and songs that are itunes plus. But I want to listen to the songs I bought in the car, I have an hour drive to work and love to listen to the music of my choice. I usually burn them to a CD but I'm not allowed to do that anymore. Grrrrr I paid my 99 cents and now I can only listen to them on my ipod. Is there a way to fix this?

Dear Artists,

I would like to encourage you to apply the itunes plus to your music. I am happy to pay for your music. But I want to listen to them on my way to work in my car. I do not want to have to buy some other device and take my ipod with me whereever I go. I like to leave my ipod safe at home and bring a 20 cent CD with me. This recent change encourages me to download music from free sources rather then itunes. Again I encourage you to use itunes plus, as I will only be buying music that is itunes plus.

Jenn

Recap

For the next week or so we are away for Christmas, but I didn't want to leave everyone hanging so I thought I'd post one of my favorite pictures of the year for each day. For those of you busy with Christmas I'd love to see your favorite pictures of the year as well.

Favorite Picture One.

Tigger- she thinks Darryl's jokes are so funny

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

A Weekend of First

Lots of new things happened this weekend. Even though it was freezing, bageezing out we still went out quite a bit. But there was a bunch of firsts...

Lucas's first bowling experience. At first he was against it, didn't even want to wear the shoes. But by the end he was wanted to pay for another hour.




Nathan's crawling. I was having a shower and there was my little baby poking his head around the corner. Life is about to change as we all know it.

I drove today. I haven't driven in 6 weeks. I don't have to wear my walking cast anymore and I've started physiotherapy. I am on the path of healing.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Smartie Pants

Sometimes kids are so sensible...

Lucas and I are doing some activities from his Kung Fu Panda book. We are looking at this picture trying to figure out which one is different. I am racking my brain trying to find the different one. As Lucas and I are studying them intently Lucas points at the two at the bottom.

'Those two are different" he states
"Why, I don't see it" I ask him
" He points to the one on the left, this one has a 5 and that one has a 6" he states.


Ahh kids they are so smart. Can you figure out which one it really is???

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Kindness: The Spirit of the Season

One of the things about breaking my foot is that I have seen kindness in family, friends and strangers. To me this is what the holiday season is about. Not the gluttony of gifts or the pressure to get the right things (which I avoid this year by only buying gifts for 3 people).

So thank you to everyone who helped.

Darryl you were amazing. Never once did you complain about having to take Emma out almost every day or having to bring me tea or going to get Nathan after nap time.

Mom, thanks for taking me to all my appoitments and bringing groceries or other little things we needed to get. Thanks for listening when I was going stir crazy or taking me shopping, even though you had to push me in a wheelchair.

Lynda, thanks for coming out. Your visit was the best gift for us.

To Lesley, Kim and Andrea. I am grateful to all of you. You were never required to step up but you all did. I hold you all in the highest regard. Thanks for driving me around and making sure I didn't go crazy in this house. Also thanks for providing me with some adult conversation whether through e-mail or facebooking.

To strangers, thanks for holding open doors when you saw me coming or helping load groceries.

People could run away or complain about having to help, but no one did. This is the spirit of the season we are in. And although this broken foot totally sucked it does help renew the faith in people.

Thanks to everyone

Jenn

Interesting Reads

Is love a choice, read what this guy has to say!

Darryl and I were in Venice so these pictures really amaze us.

I'm all for adoptions, so this story and part two have me very intrigued.

Happy Reading

Jenn

A Different Kind of Picture Part 3- The Final Installment

On Sunday we went in for a 5 week check up. We've learned to go first thing in the morning and then the wait is almost non existent. Went over for my x-rays and good good news. After my 3 week x-ray showed no healing the 5 week one shows it almost all healed up. YEAH!! So the doctor said one more week and then I can be boot free and walk on my foot. I am suppose to go see my family doctor, but I am so happy about this. I've done lots of reading about Jones fractures and because of the location it doesn't have a lot of blood supply so generally doesn't heal quickly. But I've been wiggiling my toes lots and taking extra calcium and it may have helped. Ahh one more week and then freedom again.




YEAH!!

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Nathan's Monthly Newsletter: Month Eight

Dear Nathan,

Yesterday you turned 8 months old. I'm not sure if it was because you hung out with your dad all morning or if it was a coincidence but you were practicing all of your skills. You worked on crawling and your pincher grasp.





A lot of the day you were on the floor on your belly and although you don't have your crawl perfected you are working on it. You had started about a month ago, but kind of stopped while you fought a cold and got another tooth. So now that you are feeling better, you are spending more time concentrating on some other skills. You also love to pull up, so if you get close to Daddy or me you'll grab onto our clothes and try to stand up using us.


You continue to love me so much, which is good becuase I love you so much too. Most people who smile with their teeth you are okay with, but I continue to be number one. You are also very ananamored with you Daddy and your brother. You lean alot from both of them. This month Grammy came to stay with us and you were very fond of her too. She also has a great smile. By the end of her visit she was a expert at Nathan, changing bums, finding snacks etc.



Speaking of eating and snacks you eat almost all types of food we eat. We've integrated you much faster then I remember doing with Lucas. With your eating you've quickly become part of the family and not the baby. We still cut the food up small and make sure it's bland, but we feed you whatever we are eating.


Although we have had to find new an innovative ways to get you around with my broken foot. You have enjoyed riding around with me on the plasma car. We play with things at a much shorter level. But I have missed walking around with you on my hip. Next week we'll be able to walk around again, although you may be missing the car.




With all this staying home your routine is pretty down pat. You don't even cry when I put you donw for your nap anymore. Your nap are also evolving to be a little longer, which is nice for my Lucas time. One of the blips we have encounter is a stage I really remember with Lucas is waking up about a half and hour after going down for bed and you wake up screaming bloody murder. Not cry, whimper, cry whimper, but someone is making me eat brocolli and I REALLY hate it screaming.


Tonight I was upstairs nursing you after this screaming fit to get you to go back to sleep. I am a sick so as I was feeding you my nose started to run. I sniffed a couple of times but it seemed to startle you away each time. So I stopped. Here I was with snot running down my face, so that I wouldn't distrube you while you were falling asleep. Now I call that love.

love mommy

If it's Not a Full Moon It Should Be

Today has been one of those crazy days.

First I woke up with a burning sore throat.

Later, Darryl brought Nathan down from his afternoon nap and I noticed that his hair and shirt was all sticky. I thought poor guy must have spit up all over himself. So I went upstairs to investigate and found an open bottle of infant ibuprofen in his bed. I started to panic. How much did he take, was he okay. He must have grabbed it on the way to his nap and I didn't notice. Luckily there was only a bit left in the bottom, so when I called health link and they confirm he would be fine, even if he had ingested all of it which he didn't because it was all over his head and bed. Whew.....

Then to get out of the house we went to the mall to do the bit of Christmas shopping we have to do this year. So there's me in the wheelchair with the crutches beside me and Lucas on my lap and Nathan on Lucas's lap. To get upstairs to the food court we need to take the elevator. So we get one with another mother and her two kids and the elevator doors close, but the elevator doesn't move. The girl (who was about 7 or 8) starts screaming and crying. "Oh my god, we are going to be stuck here forever" "Mom I'm so scared". Even the mom was calling the emergency people was upset about putting her on hold. Luckily her screaming and crying didn't freak out Lucas and Nathan. We spent our time watching the Christmas trees and Santa (it was a glass elevator) After about 10 minutes the elevator started to move and let us out. Thank god, the crying girl was making me crazy.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

I'm so looking forward to...

trying on shoes again! In the last week I've seen a bunch of shoes I can't wait to try on.

Hopefully a couple more weeks till some shoe/boot shopping.

Jenn

One of my Favorite Parts of Christmas

is the music.

I played our favorite version of Jingle Bells by the Barenaked Ladies for the first time this Christmas season the other day. It was great to watch the anticipataion in Lucas's face as he remember how the song gets really fast. Here's the song, wait till about 1:25 then it gets really fast.



Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Funny Lucas

That kid just cracks me up...

Here are a couple of reasons why:

Lucas: Mom I have to go poop
Mom: Okay, are you okay to do on your own?
Lucas: Yeah can you just get me my book and pillow.
Me: laughing..... okay

Then he puts the pillow behind his head and relaxes back against the porcelian throne and cracks open his book.

Example Two:

Tonight we are playing pretend. Lucas lives in the pantry. Nathan and I live in the playroom and Darryl lives in the livingroom. We spend time doing neighboorly things like sharing sugar, visiting eachother, making carrot cake (which Lucas thought was pretty funny, guess we'll have something new to introduce him too). At one point he is in the livingroom talking to Darryl.

Lucas: Hi Neighboor
Darryl: Hi Neighboor
Lucas: Did you know me and mommy are neighboors.
Darryl: Oh yeah
Lucas: I like to sleep with my neighboor.
Darryl: (laughing) Do you now....

Which also got me cracking up. Then Lucas comes into the playroom and tells me the same thing, I like to sleep with you neighboor.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

True Cuddles: New Cool Find

I was reading a blog on my feed reader Modeco kids and they recommend a new baby and toddler site called True Cuddles. Every Monday they send you an e-mail with a great deal for that week that is only available till it's sold out. Last week I got a cute shirt for Nathan for 10 dollars and shipping was free. Coincidentally they are based right here is Calgary about 5 minutes from my house. So if you have a baby or toddler you may want to sign up.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn