Weekending

I had the shortest but most amazing weekend with the family.  I am commuting weekly to Mexico right now for work and coming home on weekends.  Typically I will fly out on Sunday am and home on Thursday night but due to customer meetings, I needed to stay until Saturday.  My flight came in late and Adrian and the kids surprised me by meeting me at the gate...I could not have been happier or more surprised.  The kids had drawn "Welcome Home Mama" signs and Owen brought me a rose...it really was the sweetest thing...thank you Adrian!

When we got home, I lay in our bed with the kids watching a new movie Ponyo and they fell asleep snuggled next to me...it was bliss!  Then Adrian and I got caught up on each other's week.

On Sunday the kids and I spent the day together out of the house to give daddy a needed break and some time to work on his university work.  We took Oliver for a nice long walk, went to McDonalds and they played in the playcenter and hooked up with the Taylor's for a trip to the bowling alley.  I do not think I have bowled in a million years and we had the BEST time.  Check out the kids cool moves:

We snuggled up again that night and then I left at 5am to come back...bittersweet leaving after such a short visit...but only 3 sleeps until I am home again.

Hello Morning

With the thought of creating a specific scrapbook page, I set out a little while ago to capture a typical morning in our home.  Here are the results:
Adrian takes Oliver for a walk while I get myself showered and dressed.  Then while he gets organized for the day I wake up Owen, usually much more fun if Oliver jumps on the bed with me

Owen and I lie in his bed and sing I Got a Feeling (by Black Eyed Peas) sung by the Chipmunks.  He loves this CD and especially loves this song, I printed the words so we can follow along.  It is such a great song to start our day

Usually Bella wakes up and wanders in while we are singing, she jumps on the bed and joins in.  Unlike Owen, she is not a "natural" cheerful morning person...takes her a few minutes to wake up and smile (on a side note - Isabelle no longer has a soother.  On a recent trip to the dentist just before our Florida vacation, the dentist said the soother was affecting her teeth so that night the NUKie Fairy visited and she has not had a soother since...such a big girl!)

The kids each do "chores" in the morning and I have a chart to keep them on track.  Isabelle is here checking her chart 

Chore #1 - put NUKie away

Get dressed, brush teeth and hair - here she has put her own hair clips in

Make bed

Daddy shaving 

Throw a load of laundry in

Vitamins - gummies for the kids

Make Owen's lunch: sandwich with crusts cut off and cut into triangles, juice, applesauce, multi-grain nacho chips, 2 cookies, granola bar <-- this is his typical lunch/snack bag for the day.  On this particular day he requested a hot lunch, so macaroni and cheese in the thermos was substituted  for the sandwich.

Make breakfast.  Isabelle's current favourite is pancakes or "daddy cereal" (special K or rice krispies) and Owen's favourite is toast or "Nora eggs" (over easy, chopped up with pepper on top)

Eat breakfast

Kiss daddy goodbye as he leaves for work

High - five for the other one...not a big kisser and especially not in the am

Must have been a Monday because Owen is reviewing his dictee words (he has a French spelling test every Monday morning)

Pour juice for himself and his sister

Get dressed to take Owen to school.  Right now that means: snowpants, boots, hat, scarf, mittens and jacket.  It is quite a production and can take up to 15 minutes some days

Get Owen's backpack ready for school - check any papers that need signing, any money for trips etc...

Nora is a wonderful help in the morning and this is usually when she takes over and I leave for work

The 3 of them leave to walk Owen to school and Oliver gets his 2nd walk of the day

This was my favourite breakfast for a while - orange, whole wheat english muffin with nautral almond butter and bottle of water and diet coke...I would eat it in the car while driving to work

Do hair and makeup in the downstairs bathroom

Put on shoes and I am out the door

I am sure right now, as I am in Mexico and Adrian is running things at home in the morning, things look a little differently around our house.  I am glad that I captured these pictures to have a glimpse of what worked for us for a time.  What does your morning routine look like?

Catching Up

It seems I am always in catch up mode here...I go weeks without any posts and then when I do have a bit of time I do a whole bunch and catch up...I guess that is better than nothing.

I am currently commuting to Mexico for work every week and home on weekends, this is my first week here and the project is scheduled to last for several months.  This is going to be tough on the family, but Adrian and I are doing our best to manage that and stay connected through phone calls and Skype.  This is a great opportunity for me at work and I am so lucky to have a supportive husband, Nora and supportive extended family to make this happen for us.

It may mean, though, that there will be more regular blog posts - I have a few hours in the evening where my time is my own and so it would make good sense for me to try and stay caught up :)

Stay tuned for more...

Thanksgiving at the Cottage

Again, seriously behind on blog posts...trying to get caught up.

Here are some of my favourite shots from our Thanksgiving weekend at the cottage.

After demanding to be allowed to jump in the lake for several hours, Daddy suggested that Owen just test the water first...that was all it took..."too cold for me dad, but you can go in if you want to."

After a very busy day, Bella chills on the couch with doggie, wolfie, blanket (on her head) and NUKie. :)
We too long treks in the woods:
Tended to the fire:
With Papa:
Wearing the ultra-latest in smoke protection gear:

Oliver had fun:

We saw some cool wildlife:

And played a great game of "Hello Harry" and we all ended up with spots on our faces.
Kaitlin and I were the most "decorated". She ended up as a 5 spot:

And somehow I ended up as a 6 spot...and everyone decided it was more fun to call me clown...which I really did not understand until I saw these pics (thank you Justin for the rather large spots :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

10 Things

Using a wonderful template from the one and only Scrapbooking Genius Ali Edwards I whipped up these 5 layouts in only a few hours this week. It is a little glimpse into our lives right now, what we are doing, what we love, what we hate...10 Things Right Now for each member of the Gill Family...enjoy! (click on each image to see a larger version)

Owen:
Isabelle:
Adrian:

Jennifer:

Oliver:

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I turn 36. This past year has been wonderful for me personally. I joined Weight Watchers in November 2008, shortly after this photo was taken:
This is another "before" shot that was taken in Nov.07 on Isabelle's first birthday.
Here is a photo of me earning my 10% charm at Weight Watchers:
And a recent photos from this past weekend doing the 5K for Terry Fox:
I feel wonderful! I am almost 70lbs lighter than I was last year at this time and I know that next year, when I turn 37 I will be feeling fantastic.

Happy Birthday to Me!
xoxo