~All Hallows Eve

What a great day! I limited myself to 2X on facebook- once this morning and once this evening and would you imagine the stuff I got done!! My basement is 1/2 done, the sheets are washed the clothes are 3/4 done and some are even put away. I even had time to play weebles with Jameson and Karley today. It was so fun! I'd say it was a good day...

And then halloween tonight. I was actually really impressed with my kids' costumes. They turned out so good and they all loved their costumes this year. It is still my goal next year to make their costumes instead of buying them- I do intend to do that!! Someday....

~Unbalanced

un·bal·anced
-adjective
mentally disordered; deranged

Yep- thats me- Just mentally flustered... Not all in there- I think I left some of my mind on Facebook- which I have to stay off of! What a waste of TOTAL time. I have such a full plate. And it's not all bad- It's just FULL. I love what I do. I love that my kids are playing hockey and I love that they love it. I love that they come off the ice and brag about being all sweaty and stinky. I love that 2 days a week I have to have supper ready by the time the bus arrives because we have to leave for practice shortly after and they're always starving after school. I love that I am managing their team and both jason and i are overly involved... But I'm just deranged right now. There are some things I'm going to try to do in order to get my ducks in a row and become more balanced: I'm going to take the evenings to do ME stuff- only me- not anything to do with my hubby or with my kids- I need some time to scrapbook, read, bath. After the last kiddo hits the sheets I'm NOT gonna do any dishes laundry or hockey stuff. I'm going to make it about me. I'm going to stay off facebook all the time. I'm sick off the time it takes away from and my crew. I am limiting myself to 1 time a day on facebook. I am going to try to get 1 load of laundry done a day- starting first thing in the morning... And I'm going to try to appreciate the little things- I'm still eagerly working on getting myself back into balance... Hold tight it's coming!!!!

break down

Yep- thats me- just having a pitty party here today- but I hope to be back to "happy go lucky" me tomorrow... Just today I'm broken...

~Fall Decorations & a 7 MONTH OLD!!!!

She's 7 months old today- I can't believe it. I'm really not ready for her to be 7 months already. I sort of feel like I was just pregnant with her... I guess they all grow at some time or another.

Here are some (7 for her 7th month) things I love love love about this girlie!!

1~ She has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes that can melt any heart

2~She's crawling like a mad woman- I don't remember any of my other kids crawling this soon or much!!

3~ She said "mamamama" 4X now, I wonder if she really associates the word with me? I hope so!

4~ She is a REALLY GOOD baby. She hardly ever cries (only when she bonks her head on the hard floor) and she is FULL of smiles

5~She still loves her sister and brothers. After a day of them at school she is SO happy to see them arrive home! She smiles and squeels with delight.

6~ She claps her hands when she's happy... I say "Yay" and she claps. (her daddy and brother mason taught her that)

7~ She is still utterly perfect in my eyes, and I can't imagine my life with her.

***If you didn't read about this before, I entered Karley in a photo contest and would LOVE it if you voted! You can vote once a day EVERY day once you have registered your e-mail. Karley could win a $2000 college RESP- so please take the time out each day to vote? and also if you felt so inclined please e-mail this link or blog this link to ALL of your friends and help me out? I'd really really appreciate it! http://photocontest.babystages.ca/en/vote/ballot.php?photo_id=145372***

~I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall decorations!~

I have been decorating for the season. I love fall time. The crisp air and the breeze are the best (mind you today we had 80F degree weather and NO wind! I liked that too). In Canada thanksgiving is in October so my fall decoration can come down in november and I can start the Christmas decorations, but really I'm not ready- fall can last a little longer! Here is a bit of what I've done- enjoy!

~I wish...

...that I never ever had to leave my house ever again

...that the laundry would do itself

...that Jason could cook supper EVERY night (he's an awesome cook people!)

...that my kids NEVER fought and always played so nice together

...that my family lived closer

...that jason's family lived closer

...that my baby didn't have to grow up

...that i could blog stock other people's blogs everyday all day

...that i had more time and energy to scrapbook

...that my arm didn't hurt from my flu shot

and last but not least...

I WISH... that you enjoy our little Christmas card sneak peak!!

I love being in control- I think

Hockey season is well underway, I'm sure most of you know. I'm actually loving it this year because I'm the manager of JJ and Connor's team and that means I'm in control. I actually feel important and that I know whats going on around the hockey world. I think I'm going to end up being a lifer with this hockey thing, because I admit I'm a control freak:) SHHH don't tell my hubby I admited to that fault- is it a fault?? ;)

Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving here in canada, which just seems plain dumb to me.. That is the American coming out in my blood, I suppose. But the beginning of october is supposed to be about me and turning a year older. Anyhow- we celebrated the long weekend by heading to Calgary- just the 7 of us- our happy little family. I had a few things up my sleeve planned as surprises for my kids, but I must say I was more excited then the kids, I think. Anyhow, we stayed at a really nice hotel with a waterslide. The great part about this hotel is that the waterslide wasn't in a water park so it was just the perfect size and not any people there- we had it to ourselves most of the time! The room was perfect with enough areas to sleep! We arrived friday and the first thing we had to do was waterslide! After watersliding we all dressed and headed to RED LOBSTER- yum yum! I love that place! It was awesome and all the kids LOVED their sea food- I wish we had a Red Lobster here:(

I made reservation's at a farm to go on a pumpkin hunt saturday afternoon. So we spent the morning at IKEA! Loved it, but refrained from spending too much and buying too much- maybe because we only have an expedition and with all the kids, there is no way we could bring lots of loot home. The kids enjoyed themselves because Ikea has a killer play area that they're allowed to hang out in for an hour. After Ikea, we went and bought a really nice roof rack for the expedition- when I go shopping in the states I can bring more stuff back now! thank you JASON! Then it was off to our pumpkin hunt. I must admit it was a little chilly as the elevation is a bit higher then the city of Calgary itself. We were all a bit cold- but I still loved it. This is what I was looking forward to the most out of the whole trip. I think I enjoyed it WAY more then the kids, but hey, a moms got to get her kicks somehow!




After the pumpkin hunt we came back to our room for some more family fun! We all played a board game together. I can't tell you the last time that the 7 (okay 6 cause Karley isn't old enough) of us all sat down together and played a game! We loved it! It was SO SO SO fun. I hope we get to do more stuff like this together. My favorite part of the game was Connor trying so hard to look UP at his card and couldn't see it to save his life:)

On sunday we went to the ZOO! The kids have been asking us to go to the Calgary zoo for a long time now, and we finally did it. We didn't tell them where we were going. As we were driving on the highway Alyssa noticed a sign that said 'zoo' and right away knew where we headed! They we SO excited and it was so nice at the zoo. Again in the morning it was COLD (i even bought karkey a hat (touqe for you canadians) and some mits. Still her nose was RED! Anyhow- we so
enjoyed our time at the zoo. The great part is that there was hardly anyone there. We had so much space to play and look! And of course it was nice to let the kids have some freedom to enjoy the animals without being afraid of them getting lost. My fav. part of the Zoo was when the kids fed the ducks! I love the pics! Jameson had the most patience and the best duck come to him to eat out of his hand. He then got to teach the other kids how to be still and feed the ducks from their hands. For some reason the pics and the act of him teaching them simply melts my heart. I think the kids' favorite part was the dinosaurs. We saved that for last and although we were ready to go, the kids wanted to stay with the dino's the longest! Anyhow we had so much fun as a family and I HOPE HOPE HOPE we get to go more of this family stuff!















*** just a note for all you photographer people out there... I did NOPT edit these photo's- they are direstly out of the camera- so please go soft on your thoughts of their quality!!!!***

I WANT to win!!

Isn't she a beauty? I wish I had the time to be so crafty- but hey I could still win her and SO COULD YOU! To the left is a link to click where you too can enter to win this beautiful creation!

PLEASE VOTE FOR KARLEY!

I'm not sure who all reads my blog, but I want to try to spread the word best I can that I entered my adorable Karley in a photo contest and really want her to win. She needs VOTES! So please if your reading this, take the time to go vote for her at this website:

http://photocontest.babystages.ca/en/vote/ballot.php?photo_id=145372

You can vote everyday ONCE a day- so PLEASE keep it on your morning TO DO list!!

And if you can get all of your friends to vote and all of their friends and so on and so forth! thank you so much in advance!

**Celebrating ME!!**

Who doesn't love a day meant just for them (and probably about 50,000 + other people) But just for today I'm thinking about me, and being 27!!

I love birthday's! And I really love mine. Mostly because I love to receive presents... how selfish? No matter what the present is, I love to get them! To me, it means someone was out shopping and thinking about ONLY me when they bought it! Ahhh... birthdays! Too bad they only come once a year.

So being 27, I'm planning on throwing myself a HUGE HUGE HUGE 30th birthday bash in 3 years... and I'm already planning it! So, this year we'll keep it low key and then in 3 years it'll be HUGE!!

And because I love the day being JUST FOR ME I'm going to do a little shopping for *ME* today! I'm going to go buy myself a new Chi Flat Iron because I just HAVE To have one and I'm getting it on my special all about me day!

Oh ya, and on that note- if anyone is super awesome at making cakes, please make me the cake at the top of the page, isn't it BEAUTIFUL?? Cheers to me today! :)

wordless wednesday

~she got places to go~

My beautiful baby is 6 months old as of sunday! Where has the time gone? Obviously it seems to move too fast. She keeps getting cuter and cuter every day and we love her so much. Here are 6 GREAT things about her 1st 6 months....

1. She smiles with her eyes and gives a look that lights up our whole universe

2. She LOVES the puppy dogs! Her favorite is Ruby and Ruby has tons of patience for her. She lets Karley pull on her and tug her and is okay with it.

3. She gets lonely when she is the only kid at home. She has gotten used to the constant attention she receives from 4 other siblings in the house!

4. She is growing out of her clothes left and right. She is LONG for her age and doesn't seem to be slowing down.

5. She is ON THE MOVE! And loves her independence. Hates being in anything that restricts her movement for very long.

6. Is becoming more and more of a mommy's girl... which of course mommy LOVES!

oh one more little blurp about our 6 month old Karley- WE LOVE LOVE LOVE her and wouldn't trade her for the world!!!

Wordless Wednesday ( I almost forgot:))