Holiday Moments Captured...

We had an amazing Holiday Season! Always busy. Always loud. Always full of love.
Here are some photos I captured through Christmas.
Thank you for all that were apart of our moments and memories. I feel so blessed for all I have and all I love. My family and friends mean more to me than I will ever be able to express in words.
Where does the time go...our kids are growing so fast...please slow down!
To another year- more memories- lots of love and laughter-xo

Gotta love cranky kids that make photos with Santa, family photos with Santa :-P

 Road Trips to Whistler:

(Thanks Jodi for capturing this fun tobogganing day!)

Crafty Momma's...

Last week was Mom Club night. This post is a little late but better than never!
We had a great time talking kids, wine, breastfeeding...oh where conversations will go when a group of woman, let alone mothers, get into one room.

We sat and talked while decorating Holiday Goody baskets... and wine for some ;)

I must say, there are some pretty crafty moms in the group!

Now to fill them up at the next meeting :)

Private Parts

It's the things that come out a child's mouth that can truly brighten your day. Children seem to make all the sense in the world and at the same time, no sense at all! They are so innocent and yet so guilty. And one thing that is for sure, they are VERY honest...and at the best of times, those honest moments lead to a smile, a laugh, and maybe a much-needed conversation.

Kai is quickly creeping up to 3! Hard to believe that in April I will have a three year-old. And with growing, his vocabulary as well as questions are starting to fly out of his mouth. I thought a few recent ones had to be shared. I hope they brighten your moment as much as they did mine.

A few days before Christmas, I was in my closet getting dressed to head out. I had our nanny that day, and the kids were both with her...until I heard a pitter-patter of feet running up the stairs. Kai was going to hang out with me until I left, apparently. So I started to get dressed. The next thing that happened...

"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"

Oh my gosh! Before I could respond with any form of an adult like answer, I burst into an abundance of laughter. And with the laughter came another

"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"

And after the second time, he ran out of the closet, hoped on the chair in our room, and continued watching cartoons.

This left me with many thoughts in my head. The first being, I guess shower time and dressing time is over in-front of my two and a half year-old son! The second was, wow what a great observation. And third was how maybe next time something like that happens I should have a prepared answer opposed to a morning ab workout :-)

He hasn't said anything again since, and he hasn't asked, but I have said "girl" and "boy" a lot more often and using his sister as an example to being different then he is. It is a funny thing, private parts and kids. And with both a son and a daughter, it is amazing how different they are in observation. Sienna is almost 16 months and I swear has noticed differences since the time she could walk, around 11 months. I have this time frame as a note because it was when I would be changing Kai's diaper that I would hear her little feet  making their way down the hall in enough time to attempt to grab Kai's "privacy" as he would call it, before the diaper was put back on. Yes, she made us both laugh with this attempt, but also made be realize that she was being very observant of the differences.  Until lately, Kai hasn't given any thought to his own "privacy," as Sienna will always try to grab her's as I change her diaper. Kai's form of self discovery lately has been with toys being shoved down his pants! What!?? Oh the things they do! 

So my lesson, to answer more questions for my kids and to maybe read a few more books on the subject of girl vs boy.

December 16th brought another moment for me when I had to take Kai to the Doctor's office. We had a morning just me and him, which was so nice because that really doesn't happen very often. We went to Starbucks where he enjoyed a hot chocolate, that I am sure was 50% whip-cream! Then with his backpack back on his back, we crossed the street in time for his appointment. On a side note, Kai never thought much of his backpack until his amazing Uncle came over to visit him one day, and he was wearing his backpack. Now, Kai will not leave the house without one. So now in the waiting room, with a CLEAN diaper, I am trying to keep Kai entertained as we await the arrival of the Doctor. And then, just as I began to smell something, Kai came out with a comment:

 



 

To another year of love, laughter, tears and joy...goodbye 2010, hello 2011.

With 2010 now two days in the past I sit here reminiscing it in its entirety. With the question being posed, "was 2010 a good year," and "what was the best part" I am still dumbfounded in how to answer these questions. 2010 brought me much adversity, tears, laughter, love, joy and hope. Without the downs I know that I would not be where I am today nor be the person those struggles turned me into being. I thank the downs and the struggles for developing me into who I am today and allowing me to find the strength in myself to prove that I can do it.
January 2010 started with a bang, in Maui to be exact...how could that go wrong! Celebrating the New Year with my husband, our two kids as well as my in-laws, Maui is a tradition that we enjoy every other year. For that, we are very thankful.
Coming home from this family vacation we returned to my in-laws home to live where we had lived for the better half of the year. Awaiting our new home build was a feat that found us finding an inner strength and new-found sense of self and family as we entered their home as a family of three and exited May 2010 as a family of four. Through our living situations and a new baby, once we found peace in our own home, we found struggles in our marriage. I know through having had Kai, that babies change you. They change what you previously lived for, but they also change your relationship as you know it with your partner. And yes, this happened with my husband and I. But the second time round, with Sienna being born, we had a different adversity to add to the normal, living in a home that wasn't ours, with a one and a half-year old and a newborn. Our distance from each other set in to a more noticeable issue once we were on our own grounds.
After all of our excitements surrounding moving into our new home and accomplishing our goal of the Oliver Half Ironman, we began facing our issues as we delved deep into who we are, who we are as a couple, and who it is we want to be: individually, together and as a family. Our findings are and continue to be ironically similar! It is funny how communication is such a simple daily thing and yet in a relationship often times is the first thing to go and where the breakdown begins. Ryan and I aren't new to the world of being together. We have been together now for eleven and a half years, married for five and a half. Yet when our story together began, we were young; throughout the years we have grown and changed, much of it together and surprisingly, much of it alone. This is where the communication has come into play. We were feeling alone. Alone yet always surrounded by one another or one of our children. Ironic isn't it. You can feel alone and sad and yet be sitting beside the one person you wish would understand you most. And so we talked...we talked ourselves through sessions of therapy, evenings at home, phone calls and texts. And now we keep talking, but there is a primary difference, we talk because we know the other person wants to listen and is receptive to hearing the other ones thoughts. Be it a negative or a positive, that's why we are together; to help one another through the good and the bad "through sickness and health" and simply put, because I love him and now I know, he loves me too.
I am hoping that this blog won't pose a "negative conversation" between us now! Lol. I write this because I am thankful for the months, the years, of ups and downs we have faced because here we are at the beginning of a new year stronger than we have ever been. I know that most people face adversity in their relationships at some point or another, and through my experience, there is hope and there are options...but you have to be open to listening. Communication is an amazing world and for us, it works.

So now, with the start of 2011, I am looking forward to a new year filled with many new adventures, goals, love, laughter and fun. I know that there will be struggles, but I am beginning to look at them differently. Now instead of the struggles dictating my life, I am going to do my best to find the lesson in them.

2010 held many positives as well, don't get me wrong! Kai turned 2, Sienna turned 1, we had our 5 year wedding anniversary, we moved, I beat me husband in Oliver ;-), Maui, Mexico, Vegas, Italy, Arizona, Seattle Marathon, Christmas in our new home...MANY moments to be thankful for.

Thank you 2010 for showing me that I am stronger than I gave myself credit for; for holding amazing memories of our children and family, and for a year that came with challenges to make sure we enjoy 2011 that much more.

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."
Mother Teresa

~Happy New Year~

Thank you to the love of my life for showing me compassion, understanding, patience and most of all, love. To an amazing 2011 with much to look forward to, together.

Taking Back Christmas

What is it about the Holidays that makes us run ourselves ragged? Whether it's to the mall for that last gift, sitting in traffic to get OUT OF THE MALLS PARKING LOT, being out almost every single night of December for an event of some form, baking the holiday cookies, entertaining, pictures with Santa, the Christmas Train, okay my point is made. Why do we do it?  For me, I do it because, somewhere in all of its chaos, I am loving every minute of it.

Case in point, our annual tradition of pictures with Santa...



What does the photographer not get about "just take the picture." Here he is trying to wait for Sienna to smile for the camera not realizing that it is only going to get WORSE by the second and not any better...clearly not a dad himself, and maybe could have helped if the photographer was a female...?? Just a thought. But really, as my husband and I are standing back laughing at all that is going on, we wouldn't care if BOTH kids were crying, somehow it makes it all the more entertaining! On a side note, the amazing thing in kids growing up, Kai was able to actually tell Santa what he wants for Christmas this year.  A dump truck...a RED dump truck. And Santa's search began.

And then the rest of the minutes without agenda, I love turning on our Christmas tree lights, and sitting. There is something to be said of the song "Its the most wonderful time of the year." It is remembering to sit and enjoy the minutes, the moments, the memories through this crazy holiday season because when you actually relax, you remember what it is you love about this time of year. This year is our first Christmas in our new home and the first Christmas that we  have a REAL CHRISTMAS TREE! So in all efforts we got the tree up the first weekend of December...and with daily watering it is holding out! Here is a tradition I thought could be a lot of fun and another thing for us to do with the kids. There are several Christmas Tree farms in the Valley where you get to go and cut down your own tree, or even buy a tree that they cut fresh that morning. Something fun and different! Well, I guess you could say at least the thought was there!



We ended up at the North Vancouver Rona parking lot sale instead :-)

In the midst of all the things we have to do and all the things we want to do, slowly my husband and I are realizing that the only ones that have control over our time is...us.   Sometimes a lot of what makes the holidays so busy is based on expectation.  Expectation is a hard thing, but as you are able to let go of it a little, life becomes more of what you want of it. To me, and to us, family and friends are what matter and you learn quickly those who feel the same way and that will make the efforts for you as well.  "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss

We are taking back Christmas. Making sure that in all the hustle and bustle the Holidays bring, the most time spent is with the ones you love. So as I sit here typing this new post, the Christmas baubles are being removed from the tree by a set of very tiny hands, the centerpiece is being torn off of the table by another set of slightly larger hands and there is still a certain someone still "snug in their bed." So let go of the things you cannot change and embrace the half-decorated Christmas tree that is sitting in your living room. Merry Christmas from our crazy family to yours!

xo

Snow!

I love this time of year. The snow is falling outside, the house is getting warmer daily with all the Christmas decorations making their annual appearance, the kids are watching Christmas movies as Kai asks if Santa is coming to visit him..."its the most wonderful time of the year."

For me, as I sit here watching the snow fall, it brings a sense of relaxation...a calming. It is so beautifully serene and quiet. (the outside that is, inside our house is a FAR cry from quiet!)  Snow for me means Christmas, this is truly my FAVORITE time of year. It represents so many things, and the most important, Family and Friends. Through the holiday parties, the crazy mall line ups, the dinners and plays, the decorating and baking, pictures with Santa, the Christmas Train...there are so many things to fit into this one amazing season. Sometimes it gets so busy I find myself asking why. Why do we try to do it all? For me, the answer is simple; because at the end of the day, I love it all. Everything I fill my days with through this joyous season are for or with the people I love, and memories are made daily. With our young family, traditions are being made and kept and honoured. Love is felt.

It is a time that also puts into perspective what we have and how truly fortunate we are. It is so easy for this concept to escape us as we make our way through life with our own life struggles; but I feel fortunate because through all the struggles and life lessons, I still have an amazing family, wonderful friends, food on the table and a roof over my head. As we are turning up the heat in our homes because "baby its cold outside," think of those people less fortunate who can't afford the heating bill or even worse, have no roof over their heads at all...

So in this season of giving, I choose not to forget the less fortunate, as I have much to be grateful for. A small gesture that takes only time, I volunteer at the Christmas Bureau. For me this isn't work, I don't expect anything in return, yet I receive a lot in return for doing it. When I was there last year I met many amazing people and learnt many things about myself. This is why I will be back year after year after year. If I can help make even the smallest difference in someones day,even if it is just to listen to them, why wouldn't I? I think it's a concept that we all have a term for...paying it forward. It is a season for giving; and you don't need money to give, just some of your time.

What are you doing this Holiday Season? Will you Pay It Forward?

Here are a few pictures that capture our moments of the season so far...



 





 

If it's not one thing...it's another!

Why does it feel like life is always, "if it's not one thing, it's another!"

Lately, LIFE begins to settle in one area and then LIFE begins building in the OTHER. If it's not you it's another that you are affected by.

My question, when does life become your own...for a year, for a minute, for a second...

I am quickly learning...it never does. If you have family, in ANY FORM, it never completely resides in your own hand; because, the minute you care for someone, family or friend, you never know where life will take you.

If it is not your life experience and learing, it is someone elses...

To the tears, the laughter, the love...

To learing...

To life... 

Thank you for tomorrow.

xo

Photography!

A passion, a love, a hobby...an expensive hobby my parents would tell me =) Photography was a love that I ventured through school for to follow as a career. Becoming a Professional Photographer, I have photographed people, places, babies, families and events (weddings, parties). Somewhere along the way I ended up on another path...Real Estate. And now, I have two passionate career fields, and why not use them both if I love them both!

I would be honored to capture some of your moments! And my dates are booking fast for Christmas, yay! So book soon =)

Christmas Promotion:

A cup that means so much...

There are few things that are so simple yet stand for so much...

A sign that the Holidays are right around the corner :-)

Thank you Starbucks Red Cups!