One Day at a Time

• We survived the blizzard!!! I have no idea how much snow actually piled up out there once it was all said and done, but boy, was it ever nasty business for a good long while. Glad that's over!! It has all melted now, and we are back to having an abundance of muck outside. Wonderful.
• Matt has absolutely mastered the Wii! I'm wondering if one of our controllers has a stronger connection to the actual Wii than the other one, because Matt always insists on using this one particular controller, and he kicks our butts but good! I think I'll proceed believing this theory, because it beats having to admit that my four year old can smoke me at boxing, golf, baseball...
• Speaking of sports, we called to inquire about registering Matt for Lacrosse. Wow! Were we ever in for a shock! The lady on the other end of the phone politely told Barry that the Lacrosse league has some requirements of families wanting to be involved. The registration fee is around $100, then the equipment can run $300 -$350, depending on where you manage to find it, there are two practices a week, and games on most weekends. Some of the games require travel, and they do want the entire team there, so we would pretty much have to pack up our bags and go to wherever the games are held. They also like to see about 100 volunteer hours coming from each family. Barry asks her, politely though, "So, you know that he's four, right, not fourteen?" Yah, so, we've registered Matt for soccer.
• Things are going well for me at work, I'm learning lots in some different departments, and there might be some movement coming up, so we'll see what happens. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would, and Matt is loving daycare so much I'm almost jealous!! Well, he really only gets overly excited about Fridays - show and tell day. The daycare director tells me that he LOVES to be the centre of attention, and apparently, he holds the crowd quite well. Oh my.
• As usual, Matt had some interesting stories for me lately. We borrowed a video from the library (a documentary sort of thing about African animals) and while we were watching it this afternoon, he turned to me and said, "I have three elephants you know. One is a girl. She is the mom, and her name is Crossy. I keep the two babies in a giant cage. The babies are named Lefty and Fastie. Fastie is the Fastest you've ever seen! Yup, I keep them in a cage at Home Depot. Do you think they have toys at Home Depot?"
• Barry headed to Mackenzie this weekend for a multitude of reasons. He needed to finish the seemingly never ending Peach Tree renovation, and view it since the vast majority of the restoration is complete (the pipe bursting incident after all his hard work was really the icing on the cake). This time I think we're really done! He also picked up the patio set and other outdoor items that were too far buried under the snow to get at when we moved the majority of our belongings in February. He is also pulling a friend's RV here (well, to Calgary) for him, so it seemed like there were enough reasons to just bite the bullet and go.
• I, however, am exhausted now. With Barry gone it has been a full plate for me this weekend. I have cleaned, done laundry, ironed, done the grocery shopping, played Wii with Matt (and been soundly beaten) been to the park, played chaotic (whatever that is, Matt pretty much tells what to do, how to do it, and when to say what), ...and it feels like the list goes on and on.

So, folks, it is possible to feel completely drained and completely happy all at the same time.

Hugs,

Laura

Spring in Alberta

Wow! I thought the weather was crazy in Mackenzie!! It was +15 yesterday, wonderful and sunny - and the forecast for tonight is an overnight low of -18!!! There are heavy snow fall warnings out for Canmore and Banff, thank goodness we only get the tail end of what they're seeing. It' s snowing, blowing, and generally terrible out there right now.

Last weekend was super busy - that's why no blog post. We went into Calgary on Friday evening for a surprise 30th birthday party for a childhood friend of mine, and was she ever surprised! The party caught her totally off guard, and so did the fact that we were there. I haven't seen her for 6 years, I've never met her kids, she's never seen Matt - so it was a great night! It was also wonderful to see her parents again, as I don't think I've seen them for over a decade!! Saturday and Sunday were booked full, too and by Monday I was sure ready for a weekend!!! No such luck though.

Barry and Matt have started to build us a shed. Matt just loves being outside helping his dad around the place. I, however, try to avoid our yard at all costs. We don't have grass yet, and I just can't stand the dust when things are dry, or the muck when things are wet. One of the customers at the bank was asking me if we're going to seed the lawn...I told her that I have a 4 year old and a puppy - she says to me, "Oh, dear. You should absolutely go with sod. If anyone needs instant grass, it's you." I think she's right. With a street behind us, I also feel like a bit of a fish in a fishbowl. A fence is definitely on the wish list for this summer. I suppose we'll see what time and budget allow. All is well here, we're having a quiet weekend (thank goodness). We've rented a few movies and a game for the Wii, so we'll settle in, avoid the blizzard, try to stay warm and pray for warmer weather. I told my co-workers that I really think this April blizzard stuff is truly uncalled for. I was informed that spring in Alberta is always a dicey thing. Hmmm. Not sure I quite like spring in Alberta.

That's about all for now. Just a quick hello! Hope all is well with all of you, I'm off to try and stay warm!

Blessings,

Laura

What's Happenin'

Cutest puppeteer ever!

Barry opening his Wii

Kitchen

Great Room

Coziest Corner

Decorating eggs

The Hunt

I'm back, and I remembered to download some pictures from the camera onto the computer to give you all an update on what's been happening around here.

We're at the tail end of another weekend here in Didsbury, and it's been a busy one. I gave Barry his birthday present early, as Ashley arrived on Thursday evening, and I thought we might want to play with it this weekend. He now has a Wii!!! He was so surprised!!! I am one of the most practical people I know, and he thought that never in a million years would I give him something so completely unpractical and just plain unnecessary! The funny part? I really like it! It's just so much fun!

On Saturday we went to Calgary to enjoy some sale hunting time while Barry and Matt took in Horton Hears a Hoo. Ashley and I stopped at a hairdressing distributor and picked out two colours that I thought I'd really like to have highlighted into my hair. One is a dark caramel blonde and the other is a light ash blonde. When we got home, she foiled both colours into my hair, which we thought would give a very flattering effect, seeing as one shade is darker than my natural colour and the other is lighter. It processed, she checked it, we rinsed it out---and it looks the very same!!! You can't even tell that we did anything! Ashely smiled and told me, "Well, at least you know you like your natural colour!" Her flight left at 8:00 this morning, so her and Barry were out the door by 6:00 in order to have her there by 7:00. I went for a jog on the treadmill, did some laundry, and was playing Golf on the Wii with Matt when Barry got home at 8:00 - no wonder I'm ready for bed now. Matt is one heck of a good little Wii Golfer!! He told Barry this afternoon -" I put your ball in the hole for you, because I'm sorry I beat you." So kind of him to help out the less talented.

Oh, I've posted a few pics of the new house - we are starting to feel more at home here now, we can walk from our room to Matt's in the dark without crashing if we have to, and I can find the light switches without feeling all over the entire wall. I'm guessing that's progress in the right direction?! Oh, and by the way - the RV is home now - and it makes great guest quarters if any of you are coming our way!!

Blessings,

Laura

Whoa Momma!

So, Easter weekend was quiet around here, with just the three of us. I'll post some pictures soon, we relaxed a lot, got a bit more organized around here and enjoyed the time together.

We are looking forward to having Ashley visit us for the weekend, and a day in Calgary shopping!! I'm finding that I have a hard time creating "business" wear out of my current clothing selection, so I really must boost up the wardrobe a bit.

Matt cracked me up so much the other day on our way home. I had to brake fairly hard to let someone cross the street (not at a crosswalk) and Matt says to me, "Whoa Momma!!! Nice headers!" He has recently watched the Transformers movie with Barry, and they say that line while looking at a vehicle, so Matt figured it would be an appropriate thing to repeat at that particular moment!!

Will write more soon!

L