We just went out and picked up Lily’s birthday present…a new trike!  We got this one…

I am SO excited to give it to her that I am not even sure I can wait until Wednesday!  She loves bikes and always wants to ride Hayden’s trike so she’ll be so happy to have her own.  We also got her a cute little helmet with matching knee pads that were 50% off with the purchase of a bike at Zellers.

Corey gave the bike to my Mom to hold onto until her birthday…because he knows me well!

It’s been a busy last couple of weeks.  Since getting the new car, it’s been one thing after the other and luckily I now have a car to run all those errands with.  There were some baby showers to prepare for and attend and they were SO much fun.  I love seeing all the tiny little things and the big round bellies!!

Corey and I both had our birthdays near the end of May and we did a camping trip in the middle.  One night with the kids and one night without.  They had so much fun at the campfire and we even had some raccoons come and visit our site.  It was a tad cold for my liking but we all snuggled together close and managed to stay warm.  I didn’t sleep much though and was rather relived when the kids woke up at 7 so we could hop in the car and go get a coffee.

This weekend we helped the MIL move into her new apartment.

Wednesday is Lily’s 2nd birthday.  I can’t believe my baby is turning 2.  Part of me feels like it was just yesterday that she was a tiny newborn but part of me feels like she’s been in my heart forever.  Also, it will be 2 years of breastfeeding for me which is something I am very proud of.  I am so happy that I have been able to give this gift of love and dedication to my girl and know that I can continue as long as she needs.

Wednesday is also Hayden’s junior kindergarten orientation.  I can’t believe my baby is going to SCHOOL!!!  Wow…how time flies.  He’s very excited to finally go see his school (which we drive by ALL the time) and meet his teacher AND he gets to take a ride on the school bus.  I was very nervous at first but as it gets closer I am getting more and more excited for him.  I know he will love it and I know he will do well.

Sunday we are going to have Lily’s birthday party.  We are just doing it in the backyard and depending on the turnout (hopefully I get some RSVP’S) we might rent a bouncer.  There will be a lot of kids of different ages there so I am not sure what else I can do in terms of games or activities.  If it’s nice out I’ll pull out the kiddie pool and the little ones can soak!  I was really off this year…for some reason it snuck up on me way too fast.  Heck…I JUST filled out the invitations today and will have to hand deliver most of them…LOL!!!

On Friday I got a new car!!!

It was about time. The van had no exhaust (fell off this winter), no ignition (after the attempted theft) and needed to be started by screwdriver, no gas gauge and was very temperamental (ie random stalling for no apparent reason). There is some new rule with insurance companies that before you renew a vehicle over 15 years old, you need an up to date safety…and my renewal was this month…and I needed a safety…and I wasn’t going to get one!!! I am glad though…it really IS a good rule if it’ll keep hunks of junk like my van off the road.

Soo…after looking around for a bit I decided on a Saturn Ion. There was one for sale at a local dealership and it was a great little car. It’s a 2004 4 door coupe…which means it looks like a 2 door coupe, but has rear doors that open to allow for better access to the back seats. I actually like the setup a lot better than a 4 door and am actually finding it a lot easier to get the kids in and out than my old 4 door car and even easier than the van.

So Friday was the day that I had been waiting for for weeks. I hardly slept Thursday night because everytime I closed my eyes I saw the car and got butterflies. How crazy is that??!? I was so relieved Friday afternoon when we went to go pick up the car. I drove all day Friday…all day Saturday….all day Sunday and all day Monday. By yesterday, I had already put 450 km on it and never even left my city!!

I am in love with my new car and what it represents for me. I have had a car since my 17th birthday and it always represented FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE. I have always been free to go where I want, when I want…except for the last 6 months or so. I almost feel like myself again…which seems silly in some ways, I guess…but having that space where I can escape to really does wonders for my sanity.

Last night we went for a picnic and then on the way home decided to stop for a few laps of go karts. I took Lily and Corey took Hayden. Corey and Hayden got a considerable lead and actually lapped us on their last lap. I was putting along, afraid to go too fast…but Lily just yelled “FASTER!” the whole entire time! She’s such a dare devil. As we walked away from the track she just kept on pointing and saying “That was fun!” Hayden loved it too…he thought he was a Nascar race driver!

Today my parents are supposed to be getting home from their mini vacation to visit my Grandma. That means today will consist of mostly cleaning up in hopes of reaching my Mom’s impossible standards of cleanliness.

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday…still not sure how I feel about that.

Lily’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks too…and then Hayden has his kindergarten orientation on June 4th. I can’t wait to take him in and show him his school and meet his teacher. He’s going to LOVE it!!!!!

Before I had kids, Mother’s Day was always about honoring my Mom and spoiling her with special surprises and gifts.  She would always tell me “That’s not what Mother’s Day is about”.  I never understood…because everyone tends to feel that Mother’s Day is a day for everyone else to reflect on how much their Mother’s mean to them.  Now don’t get me wrong, that’s what it’s about and I certainly still honor my Mom with special surprises and gifts but now I know there is something much more to Mother’s Day than that.

To me, now that I am a Mother, Mother’s Day is about celebrating being a Mother.  Motherhood has been the single, most special gift (and surprise) I have EVER received.  Now I understand what my Mom meant.

It’s been a quiet few days.  Lots of trips to the park and walks with the kiddos…just enjoying the nice weather.  Tomorrow though, I am meeting up with some CPO mommas at an indoor playground so I am sure I will have plenty to talk about tomorrow!  Present will be Scarletsmommy, Noahs_Mommy, Caydensmommy and Gr8Mommy.  I am SUPER excited!!

The weekend will probably be quiet as well and that’s fine with me.  I love those lazy summer (or spring..LOL) days..

We have been watching a lot of movies lately and starting to build back up our DVD library since most of our movies were stolen last year.  I bought JUNO which is an awesome movies.   For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I do recommend it.   It’s a great story with a great message.  We also bought SWEENEY TODD which was not at ALL what I expected, but hey, you can never EVER go wrong with Johnny Depp;)  As far as musicals go, I really did enjoy it.  Our most recent purchase was ONE MISSED CALL.  I have always loved horror movies and this one totally creeped me out.  Almost makes me want to throw out my cell phone…LOL!!  I hear THE GOLDEN COMPASS is out on video too and I think that might just be next in my list.  Has anyone seen it?

Happy Earth Day everyone! I hope everyone did a special something today to celebrate the Earth and and all it provides for us.

Today was a no TV day. We tried to use the bare minimum which meant we didn’t use the stove, TV, lights, microwave…and 2 of the 4 computers were off all day as well.

This afternoon the kids, my Mom and I went outside to plant a garden. I had picked up a flat of pansies earlier this week so we were all set. I am not much of a gardener…come to think of it, this was probably the first time I ever planted flowers, so it was kind of hit or miss. I was actually using a set of plastic shovels and rakes we got for the beach! We managed though and had fun, which was the point of the whole thing anyways. Here are a few pics of our afternoon…

Prepping the garden

Lily and her worm friend. Hayden was afraid…but not my girl!!

Hard at work!

Lily admiring the flowers

One of our beautiful little flowers!

I have really been making an effort to be more green. I picked up a Diva Cup earlier this month to reduce on the waste made by regular menstrual pads or tampons. I also grabbed a travel mug for Corey, so cut down on the number of cups he accumulates from his morning Timmies. Slowly but surely, I am making more Earth friendly decisions and hopefully showing my children how to do the same.

For more great green ideas, check out the Green Living Board right here on CPO!!

Another week has gone by.  This one was pretty uneventful, as usual!  I have been in the mood to create, so this week I have done a bit of baking, which I don’t usually do.  The kids and I made some banana muffins earlier this week.  They turned out really good.  I also did a homemade pizza for dinner Wednesday topped with left over chicken on one and leftover ham and pineapple on the other.  Since I opened a can of pineapple for the pizza and had lots left over, I decided to make a pineapple upside-down cake…and actually just finished a slice!  It was GOOD!!  I grabbed some ground sirloin from the market last week, so today I am going to make a chili.  Mmmm….

Tomorrow we are going out to buy flowers.  Since Tuesday is Earth Day, the kids ad I are going to go out and plant a garden.  I am not much of a gardener myself, and totally clueless about flowers.  I don’t know what to plant or where to plant it…so I am hoping I can get some guidance from somewhere.  (*HINT HINT CPO*)  I am planting along a fence that goes through the middle of the front yard…it gets a lot of sun…so I am not sure what would be best there??  Once I have it done though I will surely take pictures and post it, and you guys can let me know how I did!

I talked to my sister the other day and her hubby, my new niece and her are planning a trip down this way during the summer!  I am so excited that I can barely wait until July!!!  I would almost fast forward through the whole summer just to get to meet my niece and see my sister again…and meet her hubby!!  Oh this is going to be the best!  I have already started pumping up Hayden and Lily for the arrival of their cousin and just this morning Hayden was pretending that she was racing with him in his race car.  My Mom bought identical outfits for the girls…so we can dress them up alike and take a zillion pictures.  Man…we are strange folk!  LOL…

It’s supposed to be a beautiful day today, so after breakfast we are probably going to head outside for some sunshine and our daily dose of vitamin D…hehe!

I had never really thought too much about whitening my teeth (even though they could have used it) until a website I belong to called BzzAgent started a campaign for Crest Whitestrips Daily Multicare. I figured since it was a free trial I may as well give it a try!! I plan on bringing you along on my journey to whiter teeth…and we’ll see if these things really work!!

So far, I really like that I only have to wear them for 5 minutes a day. My friend had tried the overnight ones and not been impressed since they did not stay in place very well during sleep. She actually shared with me that she nearly choked on one! Let’s just say I would NOT be up for that! But these ones are only 5 minutes of my precious time, so I usually do it in the evening while I watch a bit of TV.

I will add that I am also using a toothpaste with whitening AND that I have a small cap on my front tooth. Even though the strips are NOT going to whitening my cap, I have decided to use them since I will be getting that tooth fixed permanently in the very near future.

Before Whitening

Well the sun is shining and the weather is beautiful and I just couldn’t be a happier gal! It’s amazing how much the weather effects us. One day in the sun and I feel like a whole new person. Well…a few days in the sun actually. It seems like the weather has warmed up we have barely been indoors!

Since my Photobucket account was deleted in some fluke, all my blog pictures are gone. Soooo…I’ll make up for it now and post a bunch of pics from out outdoor adventures of the last few days. Enjoy!

Definitely my fav pic from the last few days.

Get rid of that snow!!!!!!!!

Snacktime!!!!!

Loving it!

Cruising!

At the park!

Yesterday morning, the kids woke up at about 8AM and started to play quietly in their room.  Since they were playing so well I decided to lay in bed for a little while longer.  At about 8:30 I opened their door and let them come into my room to hang out on my bed for morning snuggles.  Lily came first and got under the covers for her morning nursing session.  Hayden stood at the foot of my bed, in the dark.

I looked at him and noticed his pajama pants were off so I asked him “Did you take your jammies off?” to which he replied “Yes!”.  It gets pretty cold since we are in the basement, so I asked him “WHY?”.

He then lifted his shirt and said “I wanted to wear these instead”.  I looked down and on his little bum were a pair of Lily’s polka dot panties!!!

What a silly goose!  I wish I had taken a picture…