Guilty

I know when J Man has done something he shouldn't.  He hides.  When I found him like this yesterday...

I didn't have to look too far for the evidence....

He is also learning about lying.  When I asked him if he ate the donuts, he said no, twice, then I told him what a lie was and what the consequence would be and then he fussed up.  

Today I found him hiding under the kitchen table, then I caught him trying to eat the fresh baked bread on the table.  He had a consequence for that one!

Tonight we watched The Cosby Show with the kids, there was a point in the show when J Man went running and hiding and wanted us to turn the channel.  I got a bit of a laugh when I realized he didn't want to watch the kids on the show eating a chocolate cake that they weren't supposed too.  

Guilt.

HDR

So, when I got my iPhone it comes with a camera and the option of turning on the HDR setting.  What is HDR, well to put it simply it is taking a few pictures of the same thing at different exposures and then blending them together.  I have looked into this type of photograph and one of the best is Trey Ratcliff.

Here is my first shot at it.  My watermark needs some serious help, please don't hold that against me!

Here is the original, otherwise known as SOOC (that's for you my sweetie!)

Here is the underexposed picture.

The overexposed picture.

And the final product.

I will keep trying and see what I can do with HDR, I am excited about the possibilities!

Motivation

I often find that I lack this quality.  There are times though that it comes rushing into my life and I for instance pack like a mad women.

My kids are a better example of motivated people.  I have learned even how to manipulate this quality in them to achieve a goal.... but not often!

Cici has been asking for weeks about chores and what she can do to earn money.  Months ago, both girls had a job they did everyday and then at the end of the week got some money.  Their motivation was high until they reached their finical goal and funny enough the chores seemed to disappear.  I didn't force them into it, they could choose not to do it, they just wouldn't get paid.  There are many other chores around the house that they have to do when asked but these paid ones are special.

As a result of their high motivation this week for cash, I have not set the table once, or done a load of laundry.  Can you guess who is doing what?  Well, it may not be that hard.  Beaner quickly chose to set the table each night and to my surprise Cici wanted to do the laundry.  It shocked me.  I was doubtful that she could even do the whole job but Paul assured me that this 8 yr old could handle it.  She is one load away from her goal of $4 to by an Easter lamb at Superstore.

Honestly, she has amazed me.  Taking huge loads of laundry down 2 flights of stairs, starting and loading the washer, switching the load to the dryer, bringing the clean clothes up 2 flights of stairs, folding it and putting it away!

I love learning lessons from my kids and I love how they surprise me.

Maybe I should go pack.

iTrip Day

Let me be honest with you, for days now I have been wanting to get out of town.  It hasn't been just a fleeting thought or a wishful dream, I mean that I was tempted to get in the car alone and get out of town.  The urge was so strong.  I begged my family to take me away.  We thought of going overnight to the States or to Calgary, but today we decided to take a day trip to Fairmont Hot Springs.  Getting in the car today and heading away from home felt so good, even though it was only for a few hours.  We didn't tell the kids where we were going and they didn't even care.  Maybe they were just happy to get away for the day too!

So, with my phone with me, I snapped a few pics of our day to share with you.

This one was of our sleeping man last night, not sure how he got like this.

J Man wasn't happy about me taking his picture in the car...

Beaner didn't even notice...

And not sure what Cici thought of the picture taking!

If you have ever been around this area you know of the Hoodoos.  They are close to Fairmont and are amazing.  You can hike up them and I have heard the view is amazing.

The weather was chilly in Fairmont but the Hot Springs kept us really warm, almost too warm for J Man.  It was so nice to go and relax and do something fun as a family.

When we got home the sun was out and the deck was warm, warm enough to enjoy a Timmy's treat in the sun.  

Catching Up

Oh boy, it has been so busy. Spring Break has kept me busy keeping the kids busy. We got our iPhones and are loving them.  It was nice to text Paul yesterday from the SPCA and tell him that we would pick him up in 20 min. Usually I would just go to the church and hope for him to be there, and then he wouldn't be, and then we would go home to find a message on the phone to go back to the church in 5 min to get him!

Ah, what else... Oh this is G.I. Jude.

I took the kids to Fort Steele yesterday and even though it was cold we still had fun with the animals.  Oh, all the Fort Steele pics were taking with my phone... not too shabby!

Um, we had this for dinner the other night. It was yummy.

J Man was given this coat a long time ago, it is from the 80's. He rocked the look!

This horse and Cici were best pals. I was surprised how confident she was with them and these two hung out for a long time. The feed truck drove by and it was funny to watch Cici in between two loud and huge horses making a fuss over the food that they watched drive by!

There is still LOTS of snow here even though Fort Steele and Cranbrook have almost none. I know spring will come this way soon. Paul and I can get obsessed over the weather forecast. So, we have stopped looking, we have no idea what tomorrow will be. We now look out the window and see what it is! It is kind of freeing!

B and J Man are playing games on my phone. 

The sun just came out... oh, wait, it is now snowing... I am not joking. I was just about to type that I should go for a walk with them!

I am going to face the sun and snow with the kids, have a great Sat whatever the weather brings!

my iphone is here, my iphone is here, my iphone is here, my iphone is here!!!!!!

Youtube

Gotta be careful what you look up on Youtube.  I was looking up an old hymn to learn for Sunday.  It is called The Love of God.  Anyway, as I was looking at all the videos of that title to see how different artists did the song, I got a surprise... this... One little word at the beginning of a title gets you something real different!

blast from the past

When we were first married we needed to insure our contents.  We didn't have much, but what we had was precious to us.  As we were cleaning out some stuff for the move today we found these pictures of what we had then.  

The above picture still makes me laugh... VCR $200, Tape Recorder (pictured below) 1985, $100! 

This chair from the "broken" section of Ikea obviously needed to be recorded in case it was stolen.

I can't remember if this picture was to show the rose painting that Paul's father did, or our abundance of linens.

Golf clubs, enough said. Oh, and the vacuum cleaner that my parents gave us because they bought a new one.

Our Dell computer which we listed above at $3000.  I am sure that that some of you might remember that our office was a 6x6 storage room in our 400sqft apartment.

Our dishes were important to us, we bought them ourselves at Eatons for 70 percent off.

I am sure that I could go somewhere deep with this.  Talk about how in life we accumulate so much and  I am reminded about the fleeting value of our "stuff".  How the things we held as precious then we have all but given away or broken.  As I think about it, the only things that we still have are the rose picture and I think the golf clubs are collecting dust.  I could talk about how this move is again enforcing the truth that we don't take any of this stuff with us when we die, should I take it on my move ??  I could say all those things, but really, the laughter I get when I look at these pictures is what this post is really about.

Spring?

Nope, no spring.  We had our hopes up yesterday as we enjoyed a warm welly walk and sat on the deck in the sun.  Today, however, the kids are sledding down the ally and I can hear Paul shovelling.

More Beaner

Bean says, "Mom!  Jude just made me swallow my gum!!"

A bit later she announces to me, "Mom, the next time I throw up I'll be able to see my gum again!"

Just now as I am recounting the story to Paul she pipes in, "Ya dad, I miss my gum, I can't wait to see it again!"

My Random Day

What is Quinn doing on the shelf?

I don't know why but when my oldest came running into the kitchen begging me to take a picture of Quinn on the now empty shelf (I have been packing),  I took the picture.

Why is Quinn eating pickles?

I don't know, but when I came upstairs from changing the laundry and found Quinn munching away,  I figured a picture was in order.

Hmmm, you know that you live in a small town when you look out the window to find Finn the neighbourhood dog making friends with Switchback our neighbour's dog.  

I also thought that needed a picture.  

I also thought that Switch's sad face looking for Finn was also in need of a picture.

Ok, so I know that spring is on it's way, and perhaps it is closer than we think.  The birds are here, and I mean everywhere.  Robins, Jays, Woodpeckers, all flying around our house and eating like crazy.  

The phone rings this afternoon....

I say....

"Hi mom.... yup doing great.... kids are great too... oh, sorry... ya, I am taking pictures of the birds outside.... no, I don't have to call you back, I can do both things at the same time!"

Here is what I caught while multitasking.

I couldn't decide which edit I liked more of the Robin... what do you think?

This last one was a surprise... too bad that I didn't anticipate it and move my shot up a cm or 2!

Bye Bye Birdie.

Happy

Beaner- "Mom, this always makes me happy."

Me- "What makes you happy?"

Beaner- "Miniwheats!"

Spring?

This is our first sign of spring. 

However it is still not spring.

It is not spring when my oldest daughter gets her Welly stuck...

...in this snow bank that was over her waist and needed her mother to come and rescue her...

...almost causing said mother to get stuck and all snowy too.

It is not spring.... yet.

Puppy Sitting

This is Digger and she has come to stay with us for a few days while her owners are away.  The kids are so excited to have her here.  She is 10 years old but still has lots of spunk... all she wants to do is play ball with the kids.  

Cici and Digger especially have bonded.  I think she knows who the Alpha Dog is in this house!  In fact, they have bonded so well that Digger is curled up in bed tonight with Cici.  It is very cute.  Beaner has begun to open up to the dog and spent a long time playing ball with her tonight.  J Man keeps calling the dog and trying to get her to do tricks.  The kids want Digger to go to school tomorrow so their friends can see her.  It will be a fun few days!

On another note... as you can see in the pictures, spring is nowhere to be seen here.  It is sad.  I need spring to come.  I heard my first bird singing this morning, I was thrilled!  The rivers and puddles on the roads are also promising but we are A LONG way from seeing grass!  Oh well, 

Puppy Love

It's time to get packing

He is ready....

I am not.

Make Me Smile Day 7

Ok, I know, I took a bit of a break, but I have a good reason.... friends.

Our long time friends and their 3 kids came to visit this weekend.  It was so much fun having 6 kids running around.  They paired off,  and played and played and played.  It was sad to say goodbye to them today but we made some very fun memories.  

I had a lot to smile about this weekend.

I smiled as our oldest girls switched entire wardrobes and we kept confusing them.

I smiled as the middle two played as if there hadn't been years since their last visit.

I smiled as I watched our youngest boys learn how to play with another 2 year old!  Note to self, don't give two little boys swords unsupervised!

And I laughed harder than I have in a long time as we reminisced about fun times with some great friends!

There, a week of what makes me smile.  It was fun.  A good reminder of the little things that bring joy into my life.  I need to go there more often.

Make Me Smile Day 6

Baby deer on my porch...

...sometimes makes me smile, when they aren't eating everything!