Moved

the blog to a new home.

http://raisinganarmy.wordpress.com

Future updates there!

Technical Difficulties

I've been having a lot of problems with this blog lately (ie: People not being able to comment, my Twitter feed not showing up, etc). Currently working on resolving those issues. If that can't be done, I may just move the blog to a new host. Keep checking back!

New Posts ARE Coming...

Just probably not today. For the past two days I have been tired beyond all reason and not getting much of anything productive done. I feel sort of like this:

Or maybe even this...

Yeah...that about sums it up.

(These were pictures taken a while back at the old apartment, but I just felt they were too good not to share. Look for a better post over the weekend. For now, just enjoy the cute.)

And he grew and he grew and he grew....

I don't know how many of you have ever read the Robert Munsch book "I'll Love You Forever", but it's the story of a boy and his mother. It starts with a mother rocking her very new baby boy in her arms and singing to him a song;

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always.

As long as I'm living,

My baby you'll be."

This book has always been a favorite of mine. Except the part where "he grew and he grew and he grew" because I sort of want to forget that part. I want to keep my boys little for as long as I can. These moments are far too precious and fleeting. I want to cling to them for as long as time will let me.


Today let me tell you a story. A story about a boy and how " he grew and he grew and he grew" and how much his mommy loves him.

Once upon a time, there was a dream.

Possible names that we had chosen for this dream: Paris, Madeline, Roman...but one name stood out above all. Hayden. Which was odd, since we were pretty convinced that he was a girl.

Early one cold November morning, that dream became a reality.

Our little bundle of perfection; Hayden Joseph Edwin

And here's where he grew...and today I took him to kindergarten for the first time.

Please stop growing so fast.

Day 42 - Meltdown

I'm normally a very good cook. You can ask anyone that has had dinner at my house and they will testify to it. Heck, ask Johnny and you may never get him to shut up about my cooking.

But tonight...I epically failed.

I decided to be a bit of a smarty pants tonight and cook tomorrow's dinner today. That way I'd have less mess and fuss tomorrow, right? I thawed the pork chops and put them in the oven, seasoned just the way we like them. At the 30 minute mark I turned them, marvelling at how well they were coming along. Popped them back in the oven and set the timer.

That's where the story takes a turn for the worse.

I then went downstairs with Johnny to our office to play some games...and didn't realize that the timer isn't loud enough to be heard down there. When I remembered the food I dashed upstairs to check and found this:

Fail in a roasting pan

The picture doesn't even do my insurmountable failure proper justice. These things are shriveled, burned, and so hard you'd break your teeth trying to bite one.

I immediately had a meltdown. I cried and berated myself for being so stupid as to ruin food when we're already trying to be so careful with our budget. I felt like an idiot. How could I forget? How could I not have brought the timer downstairs with me so that I would be sure to hear it?

My sweet husband put his arms around me and told me how much he loved my cooking and that everyone makes mistakes...that burning the food once in the past few years really wasn't that big a deal.

Did it make me any less frustrated about ruining the food? No. I think I love him just a little bit more though.

Day 39: New Home, Part 1 of...Several

So on Monday, the move finally went ahead. My Mom and Dad arrived with their truck and we started to put the boxes that we had stuffed our lives into on their truck. We left our 2 bedroom apartment behind forever and made our way to our three bedroom, two bathroom house.

My new house!!!!

So far we love everything about this house. The trees in the front yard are just like the ones I had in my yard when I was a little girl. I plan to plant pansies in the "wishing well" in the front yard in the spring. I have two rhubarb patches and two plum trees in the backyard.

What do the boys like best? Well, they love the playroom and their new bedroom but I think that perhaps their favorite part is...

Silly Hayden

...being able to look out the window! Since our old apartment was a downstairs one, all the windows were too high for the kids to be able to look out of without help. Now they can stand in the living room and see everything that goes on outside. Watching the mail be delivered is a particular fascination to them.

I don't have pictures of everything yet because I haven't really had a chance with all the unpacking, but here are a few since I know some of you are curious.

Silas, James and Hayden watching television in the new living room

Can't see much of the living room in this picture but you can see that it has hardwood floors, the walls are a gold color except the one directly behind the sofa, which is an off-white.

The Mom is unimpressed

This is the armchair and bamboo divider between my living room and dining room. Mom is not greatly excited about having her picture taken and I don't blame her. We'd been waiting for Dad and Johnny to return from the apartment for ages and were starving.

Ignore the mess...

This is my dining room. What you can't see in this picture are the glass cupboards on the wall to the right. They house my Willow Tree Angels, my Cherished Teddies and my pretty teacups.

Some things never change.

Despite having a new bedroom with a new layout...Silas still manages to somehow get out of bed and end up in the strangest places.

Breakfast at the new place.

This is me, early in the morning the day after our move. Showing my face was not an option.

Just like last year...Silas has eyes only for the cake.

This was my first big dinner in the new place. My mom's birthday was Wednesday and since she couldn't be in town that day, I did her birthday dinner a day late. It was a fantastic dinner if I do say so myself. We had baked pork chops, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and peas...and of course birthday cake for dessert!

More pictures coming in the next couple days. Keep your eyes peeled and the comments coming. Please don't make me beg.

Day 33 - Endings and Beginnings

Barring unforseen circumstances, tomorrow is the day we move into our new home. There have been some happy memories of this place, however.

Moving is HARD work.

August 1, 2006 was the day we moved into this apartment as a family. We'd lived here for a couple of months the previous year with my sister, but this time it was going to be home to us. Our idea of "unpacking" was to dump boxes of stuff on our bed and sort through them a few at a time. This strategy proved unsound and we will not attempt it again. At around 9 pm when we were still trying to find Hayden's pyjama bottoms, the poor little guy fell asleep on top of the pile of clothes. Not optimal.

Since moving here we've added another baby to the family. Silas joined us on December 5th the year we moved in, and it was this apartment that we brought him home to. This apartment is soaked in the cries of babies, the shrieks of toddlers, and the giggles of preschoolers.

Tomorrow we will start fresh in a new home. A home to be filled with more laughter and joy. More memories.

And we can't wait.