embrace the camera 08.16.12

my kidlets are gone for two weeks so these pics are from when i was with them....mere days ago. but it feels like ages. its funny how you look so forward to alone time, but then when you get it...you miss them. its nice to have a clean house that stays clean, but i am seriously missing my babies. sniff.

these are from my cousins wedding...which was AWESOME. why you ask? because it was super laid back, casual (yet elegant) and perfect for kids. it was on Sproat Lake, BC which is beeee-autiful!! so in between the ceremony and dinner, the kids went swimming and tubing and jumped on the trampoline and played teather ball (spelling?). there were snacks and drinks and shade and sun and it was dreamy. nearly felt like a mini vacay.

going to the wedding...

feast your eyes on this lovliness...

and by night...

wedding details..

the bride was lovely!

the kids got to swim after the ceremony and before dinner. they were in heaven!

It was a great wedding! so fun for the kids especially and so relaxed for the parents. yummy food too. a lovely evening.

embrace the camera 07.26.12

do i even HAVE a picture for embrace the camera this week? let's go see....

ah yes, yes i do... (PHOTO OVERLOAD ABOUT TO OCCUR).

my good, dear, lovely friend's birthday celebration. she's a gem i tell ya. love her.

And our trip to Elbow Falls last week... fun times with my family.

(do you see a theme? I can only hold the camera a certain way ya know!)

rewarded with ice cream. yum. oh and you must see the glory of the Lord's nature out there...it's so divine.

seriously! marvel at that. marvel.

embrace the camera 06.28.12

just posting whatever pics I can find that are somewhat current of me and my kiddos. life's been so crazy with the renovation that i don't think there's been much embracing going on! gotta get back at it. be/c it is a gift indeed. thanks emily!

date night...holla!!! and yes, little hearts float around us when we're together.

volunteering at his pre-school. love it. momma's boy.

the three of us...now that G. is off school I'll actually be able to get some wit her.

bring esther home....won't you?

i read THIS lady's blog. i love her. i don't know her, i've never met her, but i love her. her heart for orphans and children in general is AH-MAZING! i want to be more like her. truly. she has a house full of children with more on the way and i see her walk through it with grace, love, peace, joy and just the knowledge of knowing she is where God wants her to be. how often would anyone say that about me? sadly, i'd say never.

i love my kids dearly but i feel i am in a real process of the Lord changing me and working on me DAILY. i'm sure she feels the same way too. i hope He'll change me to more like LOVE(that is her name...is that not the best?) or really, that He'll change me to be however HE wants me to be. i want the fruits of the spirit - especially when it comes to raising my kids. Who wouldn't?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

Anywhoooo...about Esther. Love is trying to help the amazing family who are adopting her get her home. As you can imagine, adopting from anther country is expensive. They need our help. I know I have $20 to help them out. And if you don't, that's okay too...so pray for them! I have a heart for orphans too and often struggle with whether or not God is asking us to adopt. I work through that in prayer. At this point, I don't have that answer, but HE does. So I wait...and pray...and pray for others who know they are called to adopt.



Surprised? Don't be. I've always wanted lots of kids. But truth be told, I'm not so sure I have the personality for it! I'm a freak, to say the least. But I also know if God wants lots of kids in this family, He is more than capable of changing my personality to accomodate them. Pray about THAT one won't you??? Now...GO DONATE!!! (please?!)

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I'm sitting on the deck outside reading a book, eating an apple with PB and Nutella, knowing full well I should be inside doing chores. There's laundry to be put away, theres a dirty floor to be swept and alot of other things on the list that I could do. But not only did I not get the "i must spend every waking minute being busy and productive" gene (sorry about your luck Mum!) I can't help but wonder lately if I'll get to the end of my life and wish I didn't spend SO much time worrying about those kinds of things. I know those things NEED to be done but should I really feel guilty for taking a half hour to relax, enjoy a book and some fresh air? I'm not saying its my mum that makes me feel guilty (but trust me I do when her house gets so disastrous and my family is the cause of it) it's just that as a mum, wife and normal person of society I often feel guilty when I sit down, ignore the chores and just BE. I do often wonder if when I'm 90 I'll think to myself "gee. I sure should have kept the house cleaner and been more organized." Or will I look back and think "I should have played with my kids more, eaten more ice cream and had more fun"??? I actually want to ask my Grandma who is 90 what kinds of things she regrets or wishes she would have done now that she has the perspective of a 90 year old. What kind of things did she stress over as a young mum that she sees now was just plain silly and a waste of time? Our perspective is always so different as we age. I imagine if I spent more time getting organized and doing my best to keep it that way I'd likely cause a lot less stress in my life. Sometimes I let things get so out of hand and chaotic (think TEN loads of laundry to do at a time) I get extremely stressed and mad at myself. I WISH I was more organized but is it even possible after all these years? I wonder. I doubt it. But I hope so. Prayer request??? Dear Lord, please help me be more organized. Amen. Trust me, I pray it more than you can imagine!

embrace the camera 05.24.12

After a 5 day getaway with some ladies, it was so great to get back home to see my kids! What a difference a little break makes to a mum's life! It certainly refreshed me and helped me feel sane again - even ready to handle the craziness that comes with three kids, a husband, working part time, etc., etc.

Gabrielle claims to not have missed me at all. But after having an hour and a half alone with her a few days after I got back, I think she did.

This one missed me daily. She cried for her mummy every time her daddy got mad at her (and visa versa when its me getting mad at her!). Her phone calls were the cutest and it was obvious when i picked her up from school the day i got back that she was REALLY happy to see me. Even her teacher told me that she talked about missing me every day!

Maxy Max missed his momma too - but was pretty concerned with getting a gift as soon as possible when he saw me! It was nice to come home and have our morning cuddles like we do every day. Something i hope lasts a really long time - cuddles with my boy. But not to the point of it being weird or anything! My husband always jokes that it will be weird for him to snuggle with me when he has a wife! Its so good to miss your kids (for a little while) and for them to miss you. It definitely makes you appreciate them more.

remember?

I can post from my iPhone! Eek! That's cool cuz I have so many fantastic blog ideas but by the time I get to blogging, I'm too pooped! Now I can sit in front of the TV and blog. I read a certain blog today of a girl who has, like, 1400 followers and she talked about how she doesn't blog for her followers or for comments but just to record her family history. The stuff she doesn't want to forget about her kids while they are little. And it got me thinking that I just NEED to blog. Who cares if no one reads it, who cares if it's not as funny as I am in real life (cuz I am ya know), who cares if it's not written really well? As long as I am documenting the stuff I never want to forget about these 3 little people I'm blessed enough to have in my life...that is all that matters. I want to remember how Max says "ah-morrow" or "a-day" instead of TOmorrow or TOday. Or how he likes to play Barbies. Whether or not the girls are playing with him. He even defends it to his Dad, saying "they're BOY barbies!" And how he gets upset if we don't get our morning cuddle in bed.

Or how Lily gets REALLY cranky if she doesn't eat regularly. As in get her some food STAT or watch out. And after she eats she's almost instantly back to her normal self.

Or how she insisted on making me a belated Mothers Day breakfast in bed and then was so proud of the gift she made me. A tiny little jar with 2 chocolate kisses in it with some beads. And I want to remember her at her school dance a few weeks ago...how she danced with every thing she had while the other kids barely moved their little bodies. Lily was out there shaking her butt and moving her hips with the biggest grin on her face!

Or how Gabrielle is now 10 and her hormones seem to be kicking in and she thinks the rest of her family is friggin' stupid. Oh, wait, THAT is something I'd rather forget. But I do want to remember how spending an hour alone with her changes our relationship instantly and makes it better and good again. How even at the age of ten she needs alone time with her mum and how I need it too.

There is so much to remember, so much good and fun and joy in the midst of the grind, the routine and the chores. I want to remember it.

embrace the camera (4.26.12.)

date night...a quick dinner at Earls before clothing club. kind of awesome if you ask me. i'm really grateful for date night. without it, i honestly don't think we'd survive this renovation we've been doing for SIX AND A HALF MONTHS PEOPLE (cuz i have people in case you didn't know).

also thankful for instagram and their filters...makes me look HOT! ;-) !

embrace the camera 04/19/12

thank goodness for the iphone...dropped my camera back in january and still haven't replaced the lens. so, here is a quick shot of me and my girl (in the car, in the garage) after arriving home from bible study.



bad lighting,very grainy and some seriously ginormous teeth on my part but hey, i'm embracing all my imperfections (read: using filters)around here! love this girl and love any picture i can get of her. these days she gets highly annoyed at me when i whip my iPhone out to take a picture so i'll take what i can get!

embrace the camera - booya!

just a quick photo on the camera phone with my sweet little dude. i'm so blessed to have him...he is such a mama's boy!



here he is giving me his cheesiest grin ever right before i drop him at pre-school. not sure what's with the sucked in lip on the top, but he's still stinkin' cute in my eyes.

embrace the camera

even if all you can is your nasty wrinkles. embrace it (the camera that is. i'll work on embracing those nasty wrinkles later.)

these times and pictures are priceless. even if i did have to FORCE them to take a picture with me.

i wish....

...i had it in me to blog daily.

...i could was motivated enough to do project life, like so many are doing.

...i even felt like scrapbooking.

...i had time to paint and craft and make art.

...our house was done and ready to be moved into.

...i was going on a trip somewhere hot.

...that my kids never sassed me.

...that my grandma was healthy.

...i had an ulimited budget for decorating our house once its ready.

...i didn't lose my temper and yell over stupid things.

...i was a really talented and super famous interior designer and had my own TV show.

...i could live in New York City.

...i didn't like sweet desserts as much as i do.

...i was really good at putting outfits together with the clothes i own.

...i could work out every single day. and love it.

...i didn't have to wear this stupid splint.

...i didn't drop my camera two months ago and break my lens.

...i had time to make all the things i've pinned on Pinterest.

...i didn't always feel so drained.

...i had more time with my girlfriends.

and a million more things really. but whatevs. life is good and as my mum told me today "focus on the donut, not on the hole." Booya!

embrace the camera

it seems like posting the embrace pictures is too much work some weeks. so here is an overload of them. in no particular order.

hair today... gone tomorrow

i am transitioning back to blonde (yes, i'm STILL talking about my hair...lame, i know) and as i was looking through pictures today i came across this one.



know what? I LIKE IT. i might even love it. sometimes it seemed too dark on me. but when i see it in a photo, i kinda miss is. why go back to blonde then you might ask? well, when i was sitting in a crowd or with my brown haired friends, i missed being the only blonde head of hair.

what i DON'T like is the middle ground hair i am sporting right now. it never occured to me that it would be a process to go from brown back to blonde. so for another 5 weeks i'm stuck with an in between color that really, really doesn't appeal to me. it seems so mousy. so blah. so nothing. some say it is better because it isn't so dark.

i say i cannot wait to get back to blondey blonde goodness and no thank you to this mousy non-color of a hairdo.

date with lily

me and my girl had a date last week. it was AWESOME. i LOVE spending time one on one with my kids...and they love it too. she was vibrating she was so excited! as we drove to the mall she said to me "oh. i'm getting tears. i'm so happy!" she had happy tears that we got to have a date. how precious is that?


she had gotten a gift card to Toys R Us for her birthday and it was burning a hole in her pocket so we had to get to the mall so she could shop! she really had a heck of a time deciding on what to buy...she wanted to make sure whatever she got was the BEST toy out there! Barbie it was...actually Skipper and Chelsea - two of Barbie's sisters? it was a great choice - this girl plays with Barbies like no ones business.




of course we had to have lunch. she requested a baby burger and onion rings. YUM! we actually ate before she bought the Barbies, because we had to discuss her options. the other toy she was considering was a Barbie riding a vespa scooter. however, she decided on the 2 sister Barbies as she didn't have any of those before.





i hope my kids will always have dates with me. that time with them is so very precious...i love it. can't wait for the next date!