Three Words!

Busy, busy, busy!  Be back soon!

She can swim!

Caitlin has been taking swimming classes for the past year and can now swim on her own! This was something we made a priority since it's a very important skill to have, plus she will be going in the pool everyday with her camp during the summer. We enrolled her in the Olympic way courses and it was literally sink or swim since they started off in the deep end right away! I'm so proud of her, she toughed it out even though it was hard sometimes and she wanted to quit, but now she's a great swimmer and so confident!

We have such a great pool in our area and this session we were able to get a later class for Caitie and enjoy the leisure pool with Maddie during her class.  Caitlin was also so happy to end up with one of her friend's sister in her class.  Her friend Austin wasn't ready to take the pludge into classes yet so they enjoyed playing together in the leisure pool after class as well, these made for great Tuesday nights and they had so much fun! Next year Maddie will start classes as well since they only start them at 5 at that level. I'm confident she will be fine since she loves the water and doesn't seem to be afraid, although time will tell!

Her friend Austin

Caitlin and Brooklyn

Our little fish!

A Mother's Thanks

Today is Mother's Day.  On the way home from school the other day in the car, Caitlin told me that she really wanted to get me something for Mother's Day but that she had no way of getting to the store.  My heart swelled with love as I explained to her that she didn't have to get me anything because if it weren't for her and Maddie, I would not be a mother and that my two girls are gift enough.  She smiled and was really happy with my explanation.

After all, that is the truth.  My girls are my everything!  They give me reason to smile when I don't feel like it.  They give me reason to act silly and get away with it, and they give me strength to be the best mother that I can be.  Although I am not always perfect, they do their best to make me proud.  I am so thankful to have my girls in my life, for without them I would never know and understand the true feelings of being a mother!

Being a mother also makes you fully understand and be thankful for all of the sacrifices and patience our mothers made and had  when we were young!  So here is a shout out to the mother's closest to me and to every other mother.  A mother's love and support is something that can't be compared!  Happy Mother's Day!

My reasons for goodnight kisses and morning smiles!

My mother (Nana) with Caitie.  Thank you for always being there and for being my best friend!

My late MIL (with Maddie) who is so missed and loved each day.  Thank you for bringing my hubby into this world and for being my "Mum" to me and a wonderful Gramma to our girls!

My Oma, thank you for spending all the time you did with us as kids and for the love and time you give our girls!

Grandma Nickle, thank you for showing us your endless love and energy!

My sister (Auntie Tina) for being the mother that you are and inspiring me to do my best!

Musical Birthday!

Although it is a week after the fact, my hubby celebrated his birthday last weekend.  It was a nice day on Sunday and we treated him to some tunes and burgers on the bbq (which I prepared during his, and the girls' violin lessons, yes they are all taking lessons now!), and had Nigel join us for dinner and serenade Andy while we sang happy birthday to him (I did try unsuccessfully to upload a clip of that).  All in all a great evening with great company.

I do have to say that although I am thinking about investing in some earplugs or some alone time out of the house during practice, I am so happy that the girls are taking up music and that Andy has found something he really enjoys doing.  Also, Maddie's new violin lent to us by Nigel is a 1/10 size and is just so darn cute, especially when she is holding it!  She is very enthuastic that she gets to join in the fun as well!  Caitlin just blows my mind at how well she can read music already, and Andy is so dedicated and determined (unfortunate for my sanity, but he is doing so well).  Now if only I could get my rump in gear with the piano then we may even be able to put on a family Christmas concert, who knows, stranger things have happened!

Flashback Friday

I did a post here about Caitlin's soccer from one year to the next, only going through some old pictures I realized that she did actually try soccer the year before and it just didn't happen that year!  She was only four years old and wasn't ready to say the least (although she did look so so cute and little in her uniform)!

It started out with an, "I don't know about this"....to a full meltdown...

and ended with quiting and smiles once retreated to the park!

Frustration

Although I am on the road to recovery, I am still feeling so frustrated!  My health has always been pretty good all in all.  These past few months I was faced with so many challenging days where I was put in a situation that I'm not quite used to...being out of control!

This all started late last year when I slowly started going numb in my fingers, then my feet (leading me to fall down the stairs and sprain my ankle last summer), then my whole body, scary stuff!  The last day at work I could no longer hold a pen and after rushing to my doctor at the end of the day, I was immediately put off of work until I could get the surgeries done for my carpal tunnel, which I had been diagnosed with a few months prior, which was the next step.

I was also sent to complete a number of tests, including lots of blood tests and an MRI to rule out many different (scary!) things.  Thankfully the results showed that  I was suffering from a vitamin B12 deficiancy, which would explain the numbness in the rest of my body and my fatigue. So as well as not being able to do all that much, I also had not much energy to do that much either.  For a mother and wife, this is hugely challenging.  Mommys aren't allowed to be tired and have breaks, so trying to express this in words to my hubby and girls wasn't very easy, and of course over time, becomes repetitive and annoying, for both them and me, and also leaves you with a huge amount of guilt for not doing as much as you wish you could.

Having the time off of work to deal with all of these things has been great, thank goodness, I couldn't imagine having to work like this, although it would have been nicer to be home in better shape!  However, I have had the opportunity to have so much quality time on my hands (no punt intended!) which I am also so thankful for!  I've become accustomed to my weekly injections of B12, since my body stopped absorbing it, this will be a lifelong thing, and now that my second surgery is done, I just can't wait to start moving again!

First hand done!

Second one!

A big thank you for all of your well wishes!

Black and White Wednesday

Well this week I am back to one finger typing very slow since I had my second hand operated last week.  The surgery actually went a lot better than the other hand so that made it much easier!  Now a few more weeks and hopefully I'll be almost back to normal!

For this week's entry (I did miss last week!), I am posting a picture I love that I took of Caitlin last spring.  She seems to be growing up so fast and is turning into quite the little young lady, which leads me to wonder, where does the time go!?

From Babe's Mouths!

We had a discussion with Caitie the other day about birthday parties.  Every year Andy and I discuss the "birthday party" issue and as he put it the other day, "When do we stop trying to keep up with the Jones," as the saying goes.  What he meant was that every year, we end up spending a small fortune on the kids' parties.  Whether it be at the house or at a venue, they usually cost up to a few hundred dollars when you factor in the venue, entertainment, loot bags, cake, etc. 

And I find, in the end, it's really just the pressure of keeping up with all of the friends' parties.  What did this one do and where did that one have it.  Really in the end, it's a drag for the parents to have committments on their precious weekends and a whole lot of stuff the children really don't need. 

So, I approached the subject with Caitie the other morning and explained to her that if her and Maddie didn't have the whole big party for their birthdays every year, then we could use that money to do something special instead.  Example, like go to Niagara Falls to the Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend or something and when she's older, go to NYC for the weekend.  I figure if we make this sort of thing a tradition then at least they are getting something better out of the money spent.  She seemed okay with it, only of course the  obvious came up like, what will her friends think if she doesn't have a party, and I simply told her that she can just telll them that she gets to do something super fun and special instead.

Who knows, maybe we'll be the ones to break this terribly expensive and waste of time and money spent, but I guess only time will tell.  I just figure that Andy is right on this one and if we can make the girls excited every year about what are doing for each other's birthday I think it's a better thing in the end and could possibly be a trend setter in the making as well as a nice family tradition.  Time will tell!

Anyhoo, on the subject, on the way home from school yesterday, I started mentioning the Great Wolf  Lodge and Niagara Falls to Caitie and she says, "But Mommy, I want to go to Hawaii for my birthday!"  That's my girl!  All I could do was laugh, before I explained to her that that would cost a lot more than just her bday $!  Happy weekend!

Black and White Wednesday

Here is a picture I took of Madison when she was a baby when we were at Canada's Wonderland while Daddy and Caitie were splashing around in the pool. I just love how she was taking in the grass, like, "Hmmm, what's this stuff"!

First Communion

This past Saturday, our goddaughter (and niece) Amanda celebrated her first communion.  She is growing up so fast, I can't believe how quickly the years fly by.  She did a wonderful job presenting her gift in church and she also looked like a beautiful princess in her spectacular dress.  She was so proud of herself and so were we of her!  We went out for a wonderful dinner afterwards to celebrate with her and all the cousins had a wonderful time horsing around together!

Aunty Jenny with the princess

The proud God-parents

The proud parents

Our girl clan

Aunty Tina eating up Maddie

Amanda showing off her new ring

Caitlin got seranated for her bday