Taking possession on Canada Day!

We will be flying flags, chomping on watermelon and watching fireworks from our OWN yard. Yes it will be possession day of our cottage.

I am both nervous and excited about the venture and really hope it is what we have dreamt up in our heads.

What if there is a huge mess of stuff for us to deal with?

What if we hate it out there?

What if our dream is too big and we are overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done?

But...

What if we love it?

The fresh air and breeze off the lake. I can hardly wait to get out there already and find out!

TT will be stuck here at home...maybe washing my floors (wink, wink) I am just kidding sister, you should just kick back and relax and enjoy us being out of your hair for a few hours!

On Friday Kaitlyn got a hair cut.

While in the bath I couldn't believe how long it was and decided it was time for fresh do.

We cut the long wispy baby hairs. That first growth is now going into a keepsake envelope and into her baby book.

It is so springy now and although I only cut about two inches off it has a whole new life.

We waited for three days before embarking on another bike ride. I thought my butt felt better. I was wrong.

It was so painful! Though I have to admit the recovery has been better this time.

We took a break to let the kids play and give our butts a time out at a play park.

My whole life I thought this was the elephant (ephalent according to Kaitlyn) slide and had told Dave we should take the kids to this park one day.

Turns out it is a goose slide and always has been. I swear I was one dense kid or I had no idea what an elephant looked like!

Ethan's summer treat. I had wanted to wait till his birthday to get this but we were all sick of him stealing Kaitlyn's baby strollers to walk his toy trucks.

He is so proud it makes me laugh. It is like it was what he was waiting his whole life for and I am guessing that if we let him he would take it to bed with him.

Yesterday was hot. I don't know to what degree but the shade and the sprinkler sure felt good.

Ethan playing the water harp.

Now I am off to pack up some cleaning supplies, art supplies and a picnic to get ready for tomorrow.

I hope all have a great Canada day and eat lots of watermelon, get a great tan and watch awesome fireworks!!

Artsy fartsing and kicking it

The urge came back. Not an urge to tackle another 20 hour project but a 30 minute 6x6 mini painting. Kaitlyn claimed it immediately and rushed off to her room with it. 

Maybe the next one will make it into my shop. 

Not much else to report around here.

The last few days have been lazy and for the most part spent hanging out around here.

Playing in the yard and collecting caterpillars like they are going out of style.

We did make it out for one play date to the splash park with Kami and Little mommy.

A refreshing break to a hot day.

The evenings have been filled with family time.  Getting out for walks and bike rides has been providing great casual conversation times for Dave and I. Usually I am trying to kick him and the kids out so I can clean. I now realize that we need to nurture us over the house.

I am learning! 

Anyway my butt still hurts and it has been two nights since this ride.

I need a nice big fat cruising seat for sure!

Breaking for a cone in the sunset.

Mmmm, cotton candy.

Now this was my old certification card. It has now been three years since I practiced and I got a call a few weeks ago informing me that if I did not pay an annual fee of $100.00 to keep my certification inactive it would become void. To keep an active account it is $900.00 a year plus continuous upgrading courses.

I was sad that day. I did not renew and now no longer have credits to my name. I had no idea that I could lose my certification. Now I am a nobody to the working world.

I thought I would maybe go back to work when the kids were in school but truth is that my heart is with my art and would rather put the effort into that.

Anyway we are off for our evening walk, have a good night all!

Lazy lake days

Truth is we were kicked out of the house for the day. Dave had enough of our shenanigans and kicked us to the curb.

Just kidding.

He actually decided it was time to work on our closet reno and needed space so we split for the day.

Now I also want to thank those of you who commented on the last post. Thanks for being real back. I sometimes feel alone but knowing that everyone has their own struggles is comforting.

So, funny thing.

 Before I published that last post I had Dave proof read it for me. That way we were both on the same page and he wouldn't feel hurt or anything.

It helped us both to get it out.

I don't know why but admitting that things aren't always rosy was liberating and we are both going the extra mile for each other now. I just wish the floors would reciprocate the same way and clean themselves, no luck there though.

Still haven't washed them but I am working on the laundry and did Dave's fist....bonus gold star for me!

So back to our day on the curb. Mom and dads cottage curb that is.

Ever wonder where I get my kissy faces from?

Back at cha' dad.

Emily. So serious about being a biker chic. She spent the whole day motoring around the park.

 Fighting. Yes this is something we see at least once a day. If only there were two of everything everywhere we went. 

Chilling down at the lake. 

It was a relaxing day for us and a productive one for Dave. When we got home he had reconstructed the whole closet and it is now ready for new flooring, trim and an organizer.

Monday was back to the grind and off we trooped to return out 18 over due library books. 

We also made a pit stop for lunch with Chatty who was in town to hand deliver the gift I won from her blog. Actually she was really here for her brothers wedding and managed to squeak us into her tight schedule.

Thanks Chatty, we love our loot! It has now kept us busy for a few days and we are hardly through half of it, fun, fun!

So now I must get back to my house. We have been having fun all morning collecting caterpillars and playing Mario. Now the puzzles have been brought out so I have gotta keep on top of the clean up here and keep the peace.

Have a great weekend all!

Balancing on a string

Sometimes I wonder how you all do it. Stay sane, keep a happy spouse, a nice house and good kids, do your own thing and feel like you are not getting lost in the mix. When I do something for myself I feel like everything else is getting pushed aside and not getting done. 

Laundry, dishes, floors mopped, husband getting some loving and kids getting crafts made.

Seriously this balance thing is really perplexing me.

Something always gives and lately it has been the relationship between Dave and I.

We bicker over the recycling.

Snap over flyer's getting put in the right piles.

Argue about underwear getting laundered.

Squabble about when and where to do 'it' when it finally happens. (Sorry parents)

What is wrong with us?!

There is a tone in the voice even though there is no need and next thing you know we are fighting over how we talk to each other.

Dumb and silly useless stuff!

It seems that we vent on each other this way. 

When we do spend the right amount of time focusing on us we are fine.

Not annoyed.

Not irritated.

Not snappy.

But then something else gives.

Laundry, dishes, art, floors....etc. Then the irritation is back again.

Aghhh!

Balance. 

This is my battle. I have this beautiful picture in my head of how things could be perfect. Maybe in our next house I can work out the organization and lists and make things function.

Maybe all my craftiness and mess that comes with it is what is causing the stress. We fight over that. Dave hates mess. Hates clutter. 

I am a clutter bug and hoarder. By nature.

However I am also a simplistic desiring purger by nature as well. I stifle that side of me. That side of me is anxious. I am such a mix of both my parents. I can see both sides of the whole shebang and this just  makes me crazy in my head.

Anyway, I am going to work on a list of getting things on track so that I can start feeling more balanced. This perplexes me a little. I don't even know where to start.

I'll let you  know how it turns out.

Meanwhile lets get back to life.

My daily grind.

Kaitlyn is my little helper. She is all about the kitchen prep and helps with almost every meal.

She also shares my love for flowers and gardening.

Ethan shares my crazy hair wispies.

They also share my love for street vendor hot dogs. (Ethan's cheek is full of one in the photo above)

However neither of them love pickled carrots like I do. Mmmm, this is one of my favorite things about the farmers market. Yummy homemade stuff that I didn't have to make.

'Fallow's' for you mommy. 

And now the little princess as a sailor. We found this outfit in a drawer while visiting at my parents place. It was Uncle Dan's (He graduated grade 12 today)

and he wore it daily for at least 3 years. After growing out of the top, he wore the hat with every thing till he was at least 4. He used to tell us that when he was big he used to drive a ship amongst a load of other jobs.

Eth man.

Chilling in the yard with Auntie Em.

The days have been so beautiful we are rarely indoors. This does help the mess situation somewhat, but then again the other chores get ignored too. Sheesh, maybe it is a self discipline thing that I am lacking.

I do love my man though despite our bickers. It is not like we are screaming or anything. It is more of an annoyance thing. When I manage the house properly we are smooth sailing.

When I don't,  we are off.

I read so many happy lovey posts out there in blog land.

 Are you all really that in love and perfect all the time?

I am envious.

Sometimes we don't want to look at each other. Sometimes we can hardly wait to see each other.

We are all over the map.

However despite our persnicketies we are both in love with the kids all the time and even though we may get mad at each other we see through it when it involves them.

That in love head over heals feeling that we had in the beginning....8 years ago... is a comfortable deeper love now. 

I guess this is why the hurt is deeper too though.

Anyway there I go getting all off topic again. 

Back to the daily stuff again.

Ethan has inherited Dave's G.I. joe's and the love for them as well.

And with the hot weather the beach has been calling. No not our new place, though we do get possession in a week, yaahoooo!

We hit the beach across the lake from our place to be this past week.

The water was a little cold still and it was windy so we just played in the sand and hung out on the play structure.

Lazy summer days are being soaked in as the house stuff gets pushed to the back burner.

I know that time with the kids is more important than chores but I also know that striking a balance so that we are all happily functioning is important too.

Back again to the week.

I wanted to get a quick and nice photo of my family.

Ethan ignores me though and Dave makes a squinty cheese.

Kaitlyn thinks I want a princess twirl so the "hey everyone smile nice" gets a little twist.

Family portraits should be interesting this year.

I do love them though, so much. 

Now my man is calling me to hang out with him and the kids are in bed, I better gobble down my toast before the moment passes. 

Working on this balance thing is exhausting!