Fun Mom

I'm not like a "regular" mom, I'm a "cool" mom!

- Quote from Mean Girls (that movie is hilarious)

I was reading an article last week about how some famous mom blogs paint a perfect picture of their lives and kids and only blog about positive things that happen. And how other moms feel depressed when they read these blogs because they think that they will never be as good of a mom as them. I actually enjoy reading a few of those blogs though, it's entertaining reading about other people's lives.

I was thinking about this and being a good mom lately, because I have been purposely trying to be more of a fun mom lately. You know you're old when you have to purposely try and have fun. I feel like it wasn't that long ago when I was a teenager and only cared about having fun, but obviously it was a long time ago. No wonder kids always think their parents are so old and parents always think they're still young and fun.

I've already done my winter blues post so I'm not going to go there again, but I'll just say that I was really feeling it ever since we got back from Christmas. So finally when I couldn't even stand myself anymore I decided I was going to try and be fun!

So since it's supposed to get freezing cold again tomorrow I decided I would take the kids out to play today. We went for a walk in the sled and made snow angels.

We always walk down the street to this one spot where there is a big field and then a path through a forest. This rock is in the middle of the field and Jayna has named it the "sleeping rock". Every time we come here both kids have to lay down on it and pretend to sleep on it. I think Jayna could play on this rock for hours if I let her.

And then Kepler was begging to make a snowman. I didn't really want to make a snowman, I was ready to go inside. But the snow was perfect for it since it rained this morning, and usually the snow here is too dry to make snowmen. And I'm trying to have more fun with the kids, so we came home and made a snowman!

Kepler wanted to name him "Pop-pop" and Jayna wanted to name him "Pireze or Wendy" So we named him Pop-pop Wendy...poor snowman. (It looks a lot darker in these pictures than it was)

This may not seem like a big deal, but this is the first time I have ever built a snowman with my kids. Up until now Gibb has always been the one to do this with the kids. I just felt like it was more of a "dad" thing to do for some reason.

When Gibb got home from work and saw the snowman, he was so surprised. He didn't even think I made it, he thought we had friends over that made it. And that just proves my point that I really do need to keep trying to be more of a fun mom.

Winter Blues Part 4

I just realized that for the past 3 years I've had a post that has something to do with the winter blues sometime in January, February, or March. I thought maybe if I got it over with now, then I could just get it out my system for the rest of winter. Probably just wishful thinking. I know I'm not the only one, I feel like everybody is blogging/talking about this right now. I think this is pretty much just the worst time of year. But I'm going to try and stay positive!

This week has already been so much better than last week, especially since we're all healthy and it's finally warmed up a bit. We actually got to go play outside! Even though Jayna pretty much cried the whole time and said she was cold. I was a mean mom and made her stay outside for a whole 15, maybe 20 minutes before I gave in and we went in for hot chocolate. But I did get some hilarious pictures of Kepler and Ivy in the sled.

I can't stop laughing at these! They look like they're about the same size, but they're actually 18 months apart, even though they have almost the same shoe size.
I kept telling Kepler to give Ivy a hug to keep her from falling, but then he would just put his mitts in her face. But they both still seemed to be having fun, even though it does not look like it in these pictures.


My sister got Jayna a subscription to a kid's magazine, Chirp. It's really cute and ever since Jayna saw this snowman craft idea she's been dying to try it out. So we finally got around to it last week.
Kepler's on the left, Jayan's on the right.

I just realized I've barely taken any pictures this month. I probably just needed a break from the hundreds we took last month. It makes it so much easier to keep up with blogging when there aren't as many pictures though. But my goal for next month is to take more pictures of our everyday life. I like having pictures that aren't of us doing anything special, but just show what our life is actually like.

Pool Party!

Desperate times call for desperate measures. We were desperate for some fun at our house. We've all been passing around colds to each other for a month now, and it keeps going in the same order too: Kepler, Jayna, me, Gibb. And I don't think it's gotten above -25C for almost 2 weeks now. So, like I said, we were pretty desperate. We decided to invite some friends over for a pool party! The only thing is, when you have a pool party at our house it's BYO pool, so thanks Linds!

Gibb thinks I'm crazy for not just taking the kids swimming. But they loved this and I didn't even have to leave the house.

Jayna's favourite part was having a picnic snack sitting on the towels, just like we were at the beach.
Kepler's favourite part....well I don't know if he even has any memory of this even happening.
When Gibb got home from work today I told Kepler to tell Daddy what he did today. He just stood there shrugging and saying I don't know, until Jayna finally told him "We had a swimming party!"
I know he had fun at the time though, and if I had to guess I would say his favourite part was playing with Cohen's colour changing cars.

We have a pet!

Gibb has been wanting to get a fish tank for the kids for a while now. I am really not a pet person. But this week I finally gave in. I made a deal with Gibb that he could go get the fish, if I could have 2 hours at home to myself to get some stuff done and organized. (I know, I was desperate) I feel more like I made a deal with the devil. ;)

It was a good week to do it since we've all been sick and we're in the middle of a deep freeze. So its kept the kids occupied while staying home more than usual.
Gibb took the kids out to get the tank, supplies and fish. When they got home Jayna was jumping up and down and yelling "We got a pet, we have a pet now! I love pets!"

Transferring the fish into the tank

They got 2 sailfin mollies. The orange one named Pumpkin is Kepler's and the white one named Licorice is Jayna's. There are also 6 tiny little fish that are all named Flower babies.

Even though I wasn't that excited about getting a pet, it is pretty cute seeing how excited the kids are and how much they love the fish. They have spent a lot of time just watching and talking to the fish. The first night they sang them a bedtime song, and this morning Kepler ran to the tank and yelled "Good morning fish!"
I actually don't mind the fish at all, but I feel like I need to stay tough about it or else next thing I know we'll have a dog that's taken over the house, and I always said I would NEVER get a dog! (Famous last words, right?)

Christmas Vacation

We went to visit my sister and her family in Ontario for 10 days. It was so fun to see their new house, and for the kids to spend a lot of time with their cousins.

Kepler spent most of the plane ride like this, he was so excited to be on an airplane!

Jesse and Jayna

Gibb and Samantha playing bop it

Eating the pomegranate faster than I can peel it

Playing Hullabaloo

Playing Wii

Samantha had to do homework, boo

Cassandra being her amazing self and making fresh cinnamon buns

Cassandra had her Primary class over for a class party. Jayna just heard the word party and went and put on her fanciest skirt and shoes. Then she was wondering where all the Sunbeams were. But she was still excited for the "party", even though it was eight 12 year old boys eating pizza, haha! She told them "My mom's not sure yet if we're coming back for Easter and Halloween." I told her I was sure that we weren't coming back, but I wish we could too!

Tobogganing!

Brett, Jenny and Milo came to visit for a couple days, and I barely got any pictures.
Milo was so cute on the sled!

Playing at an indoor playground

Poor Jayna was kind of miserable, but being a trooper. She had some really bad luck while we were gone with being sick, getting an ear infection, and breaking out in hives all over her body for 4 days.

I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with a bunch of old friends while we were there. I had lunch with Cindy and Jill (but no picture yet).

Dinner with Aleccia, Charissa, Kayley, Janeth (and Alison)

Aleccia and me

Jayna with Aleccia's nephew and baby Ethan, he's such a cute, happy boy, and him and Kepler have the same birthday!

Me, Cassandra and Sami the night before Sami left. I think this was around 1 am and Sami still had to pack and leave for the airport at 6 am.

I still don't have all the pictures yet, but I figured if I didn't post this now, it might never happen. We're so glad we went, it was definitely worth it. But so sad to have the party end!