Life's Whirlwind Adventures

Water, bleh, I'm not a huge fan of drinking water, I love swimming, boating, even dancing in the rain (sometimes), but drinking water, fine if I have to. That is literally my thoughts and feelings on drinking water, but I do understand it's important, it's just so boring. While I was pregnant I was quite diligent about drinking a lot of water everyday, even though my trips to the washroom increased exponentially with each drop of water I ingested.  But I did feel great, no headaches, no bone aches (back and neck) no headaches and my skin felt great, I didn't feel like I had any dry skin anywhere, and that was going through the dead of winter in Alberta.  I drank a lot of water because I did, and I would drink water throughout the night, which really increased my water intake. Anyways, since Prince T was born my water intake has dropped off.  To the point where I am sure there have been days when I am lucky to have taken in 2 glasses of water.  I've had headac...

I've known about Hotpot Studios for a few years now but I've never gone in, I really wasn't sure it was something I would want to give my time to, so I just didn't pursue it.  Then in April with my dress club it was arranged for us to go. So I went not knowing what I was going to do or if I would even enjoy being there for a few hours painting ceramics..... Oh did I not mention that, Hotpot Studios is a ceramic painting studio. So you go in and pick out a ceramic piece then paint it however you wish and they fire it in the kiln and then you have a beautiful new ceramic piece.  They have everything from little figurines, to large serving plates, or large bowls.  So back to April... I wandered around the studio looking for a piece to paint, I thought of a coffee mug, but disregarded that because I like coffee mugs to have pairs and I didn't know if I would want to spend the extra time to do two.  I'm not always the most creative person but I do like to do a go...

Today many people are celebrating fathers, and we are too, but I am taking a small break to celebrate Prince T, he's one month today!! It's amazing how when babies join families they help everyone grow, and they show where  you need to develop new routines and ways of doing things so that everyone still gets the time and connections they need.  It's not an easy road but it's worth every struggle, because it builds your family stronger. So it doesn't matter if you have one baby, two babies, five or more babies or fur babies, whenever you change your family dynamic things CHANGE!! For us it's been a great change and I feel like my little family is complete.  Three boys, ranging from 15 to one month, a wonderful husband, the cutest kitty, a Dane and St. Bernard!! We are a busy family but I wouldn't have it any other way. But this post is supposed to be about Prince T, our little teddy bear!! He really is a teddy bear because he likes to be cuddled an...

Have you met Lil Man?  Whether you answered yes or no, I've talked about him enough on here and Facebook that you probably have some sort of idea about his personality and stuff.  He's an amazing Lil Man and I can see the amazing man he is going to become as he grows older as long as he stays true to himself and does not worry about what other people think. See little kids don't care as much as to what others think, they do sometimes, sometimes Lil Man and I have to have conversations about why it's not important that his friends not like something he does because he can be different from his friends and they can still be friends (he's four), but it's still not to the extent that adults seem to care what people think.  I've had similar conversations with his older brother at that age as well, my boys are very attuned to others emotions but also to what is fair and just. So let me tell you a little more about Lil Man. He loves babies, absolutely adore...

To all my mom's in Red Deer, I'm going to tell you about some of my favourite kids parks in town.  Red Deer has many parks, it's one of the great things about this city, there are lot's of green spaces and lot's of playgrounds around for you and kids to enjoy!! Some are very busy and some are less busy so it depends on your child's age and how many people you want to be around while at the park. Two of the best known parks for kids in town are Bower Ponds and Rotary Park. These two are great areas, but they are very well known and a lot of parents go to these parks so they are often very busy. They also seem to be built for pre school to school age children, if you have young toddlers they are going to need your assistance on the park, not going to be a relaxing place for you to sit and visit. Plus with all the bigger kids being there you are going to have to be very aware of what is going on.  For me personally, I like to relax while my child plays at the p...

I love when I receive little gems of knowledge to take with me and apply to my own life.  I have been on that dreaded "diet" cycle for many years, I guess since I had my first son (15 years ago) and there has not been one prescribed diet that has worked, not ONE!! I've counted calories, I've kept food journals, I've eaten six small meals a day and had a maximum calorie intake, I've decreased my portion sizes and watch the portions that I eat, I've done the shakes, the supplements and still I've not gotten the results I have wanted.  There was a time 6 years ago where I had finally lost a lot of weight I was at the size I had wanted to be (my ideal) but I didn't get there by dieting.  I had gotten there by eating when I wanted to, and moving a lot, so when I was sitting at a Muffin Talk event in the park, and they suggested that one only eats when they are hungry and they stop when they are full. Now this makes sense to me, and I'm not discou...

This will be a short post, I know we are all very surprised, but I was just going to update everyone on where I was for my 30 day challenge and how I feel it's been going. I've definitely forgotten to do a couple days, I've chalked it up to taking extra rest days, not because my muscles were sore, but sometimes exhaustion just takes over and with a new baby sleep is very important!!  I choose sleep over exercise, but we are working on our routine and hopefully something will start to fall into place and my exercising time slot will fall in somewhere that works! I've been doing this for just over a week, I'm on day 12 which should be a rest day, but I've had two rest days because of needing extra sleep, so today is not a rest day as day 8 was not a rest either so I can get back on track. I actually love doing the squat challenge! I have great legs!! They are quite muscular which is fantastic, but I don't feel the squats are too difficult to do, it seems...

For those of you that know me, you know I am a social person!! I love to be out and around people, having adult conversation, whether that's about the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy or how messy Prince T is when he nurses, doesn't matter so long as the person I am conversing with is an adult.  However, I have found that there are times when I absolutely love the quiet times, the times when I get to be alone with my own thoughts or even quiet time with my boys. These aren't the most sought after times but they are some of the most enjoyed times. I actually try to schedule quiet time for myself, where there is no television, no music, no computers or phones, just me, myself, my thoughts and maybe a little snuggle bug!  It usually happens at night, bedtime for the boys is the best time in my opinion.  I will crawl in bed with lil man for cuddles and he'll offer hugs and snuggles and it just puts into perspective what's truly important in life. When I...

It can be difficult to find people to look  up to in this world.  People will disappoint you, people will make choices that confound you, people will rebel and live their life their way which may not always be in congruence with your way of living.  But sometimes, a gem is revealed to the world, sometimes there are people who come into this world that live extraordinary lives, and who make great choices and really show others that it can be done. "It" being living a life in the public eye without making foolhardy choices! I don't feel these people are usually peers, or people who are in the same generation as you are, usually, much to the younger generations qualms, it is someone older, wiser and with much more life experience.  I don't think this is a bad thing, but it does show that maybe our parents, grandparents, elders may actually know things that we don't know and may actually be quite smart.  For me I found two Hollywood stars that have uttered some ...

The title of this blog is from a  group I follow on Facebook and twitter called Goodbye my Muffintop.  I stumbled across this group first on Twitter when they did some yoga in the park sessions by my work.  I was a little sad because I had to work and couldn't join them but it truly looked like a fun time.  I started following them on Twitter and Facebook to see what other events they had going on.  I have found that it is always good to have support systems when you are making any changes in life or just even when you are living life, without support systems life can get a little lonely. One of the things I took away from my few meetings with the girls from Goodbye my muffin top was how important it is to love yourself just as you are.  It doesn't matter that you may want to lose weight, drop a dress size, have stretch marks or any other type of imperfection, it just matters that you love yourself as you are in that moment.  You can still do what ...

Did you know that raising boys has very different strategies than raising girls?  I wasn't really clued in to this until I had my first boy (15 years ago).  Oh what was that, I don't look old enough to have a 15 year old, well thanks, I don't feel old enough to have a 15 year old either!!!  And now I have two more little scallywags to raise into proper men. I have been told by some of my friends that I should be a mother to a girl because I could impart on them some true gems of wisdom.  Things like love yourself, or don't let a  boy dictate to you how you should behave or act.  Things that my mom taught me and some things I learned while getting scraps and bruises along the way to becoming the woman I am today. Here's the thing I love Disney movies!! I love them all, especially the princess movies, but there was always a part of me that was like, I wish the princesses didn't always have to be rescued, I sometimes wish the roles would be reversed. ...

This year we had a long winter, a REALLY long winter.  It snowed in October, it stayed for November, December, January, February, March and we even got snow in April.  And not little amounts of snow, like record breaking amounts of snow.  I was sick of winter back in February and having to go through 2 more months of winter type weather just about drove me batty.  However, I persevered and made it through to spring which i am LOVING!!! But throughout winter we did make the best of things and here are some of the things we did!! Lil Man enjoys the snow much more than I do, thankfully we have a fenced back yard, so he was able to go out after the first snow fall and Hoe the snow off the sidewalks. He was determined to help with clearing the sidewalks haha. This is the first snow fall of the year!! It was a huge dumping and we got about three of four more snow dumpings just like this one!! It was a crazy amount of snow, nothing that I have seen in years, like yea...