may may may

It's only Tuesday, but this week has already seen it's fair share of uncommon events. I got a call at 4:00 yesterday afternoon (while at the school playground) notifying us that there was an appointment open this morning at 8:00 for Jordan to get his tubes in... and I took it. We're just back from the hospital and le bubs is still asleep in his carseat, so I'm trying to scarf down some lunch and get a blog started. From beginning to end he did SO well; there was no food or drink for him this morning, but we were on the road by 7:15 and he had his soother, so all was right with the world. We arrived at the hospital in St. Thomas and the nurses checked him out and went over information before we were called (we were 2nd in line) downstairs at 10:00. Handing him over to the nurses was the hardest part for me, as was seeing him in tears after the procedure. Thankfully they didn't last long - after a bottle and some snuggles he seemed much more like his happy self.

Yesterday's notable event was my job interview - ! I applied for a casual position with the Catholic board (as a librarian), and I think it went well. I'm not sure when I'll hear a yea or nay, but my fingers are crossed (for the yea, obviously).

What else what else... Steve's been hard at work fighting a pretty terrible cold AND he's been putting in good time and energy with the solar panel installation gig. Golf is starting up and hockey is prime time so he's finding lots to do (baseball coaching too) with spare time. Hendrik still terrorizes his sister regularly (which drives me crazzzzy) but has been more attentive to Jordan lately which is nice. Instead of helping me empty the dishwasher last night he volunteered to make and feed Jordan his dinner - tres cute. I'm busy with regular house and kid stuff and put in quite a bit of time prepping for yesterday's interview. There may be another one as apparently librarians that speak french around here are hard to find, so I'll have to brush up. OH... and I've been riding my new bike and I LOVE it. There's a group of women that gets together on Sunday mornings and rides for an hour or so and we go out in the country and chat and get some exercise (much needed). There are a bunch of things that need doing around here and I need to (need to need to need to) get to bed early tonight so I have to sign off. Fingers crossed that everyone sleeps well tonight!

see a trend?

hendrik's books, organized (all him)

this morning, post-op

pre-op - super happy!

another before

and another before - babies are too cute in hospital gowns!

solar panelling (with no sun)

Birthday plus - our youngest is ONE!

on his first bday

Big news (that's not news to some) - Jordan is one! AND he took his first steps solo today! There are big things happening in the world for this guy. Steve and I went to Heeman's garden centre this afternoon and Jordan was fascinated by, well, pretty much everything; all of the plants, the people and.... the watering can tower. He was clearly so taken with it that he just walked there! I'd say it was a three step shuffle and he did it a few times - after I called Steve over to have a gawk. Apparently he repeated his new trick at home this afternoon, so the full-blown walking business isn't waiting too far in our future. We had a great birthday day last week, and Jordan enjoyed (sort of - not) an audience of Grandma and Gramps, Liz, Sandra and Bruce, and Hendrik, Alana, Steve and I while he figured out what to do with his birthday cupcake. He massaged and prodded and poked at it before he figured out that it was edible and delicious, and then he went to town. He was spoiled with gifts and showered with lots of love... 'twas a great day!

Alana has been dressing us up with Liz's costume jewellery - so fun :)

babe!

speeding through the woods

I took the kids up to Weldon Park in Arva on Sunday (Monday?) - Monday afternoon, and despite some cranky reluctance, Hendrik and Alana had SO MUCH FUN. They ran around, explored, played at the playground, and hunted for frogs with some other kids that were outfitted with a bucket and three nets. (I loved watching this part - my two approaching the other older kids (by a year or two)  and asking to borrow their stuff; and then, the interactions.... "there! come there's one over here!" etc.). Steve was a bit under the weather this weekend, but thankfully we had nothing planned for the long weekend. I went for a long bike ride (loved it!) and run on Monday, we went swimming on Sunday morning, and Saturday morning Alana and I played baseball in the backyard while Hendrik and Steve were at T-Ball (Jordan was napping). The kids were happy to be back at school today, and here I am getting a blog up, FINALLY. I know there's more to write about (like how our Vancouver trip is coming up soon) but the hockey sounds exciting and it's almost my bedtime (and I am T-I-R-E-D). Until next time!

running around in weldon park

jordan's own cat-stuffy... he loved it! and loved the card too 

alana and hendrik gave jordan bath toys for his bday - gifts that keep giving to all :)

figuring out how to cram cake in his face!

mid-may already...

Happy belated Mother's Day! I had a great day, with a perfect balance of time for me and time with the family. It started with some presents and cards from the kids, followed by an easy breakfast as I was running out the door to join some friends to run 5km in support of ovarian cancer. After lunch I spent an hour or so at the mall in search of a wedding outfit for Hendrik (found!) and then a surprise dinner made and orchestrated by the kids (with dad's assistance)... homemade pasta! I found the Silver Spoon Cookbook for Kids at the library book sale a few years ago and it's a gem. The pasta was delicious and the kids were very proud that I didn't even know what they were up to in the kitchen, and of course happy that it turned out... everyone wanted more! Alana also wrapped up a toy that she didn't want anymore (a beanie baby charm creature) and gave it to me complete with a second card - it was adorbs. Jordan gave me lots of mouthy kisses (a new skill of his) and the olders were showering me with "happy mother's day" all day (and night - when it became "happy mother's night").

This week Jordan turns ONE, and I've been thinking about Italy and Antonella and Luciano so so much as we were there when Hendrik was this age, and we have so many amazing memories of that time. We were in Canada when Alana was almost one, and we celebrated her first birthday at the cottage; when it comes to looking back I am SO thankful for this blog! It is so great to be able to see (and read about) what things were like - my memory can't recall it all the way this digital record can.  I'll do a more in-depth update later this week WITH birthday pics (cake!) - but for now I need to pound out a few more house-jobs before the babe wakes up. Hopefully everyone is enjoying spring as much as we are - it is the best!

from Hendrik :)

Alana :)

flower soup - perfection!

last week's to-school crew

post from home

Finally, a post from home! It's one week post-vacay and I'm almost adjusted to the time zone and change of pace, from relaxed and slow to up-tempo kid-crazy. The jet lag was not easy to get over, and I spent the better part of last week's nights awake, trying to convince myself I was tired and trying to not think about the fact that Jordan was sleeping peacefully all night long and I wasn't. He changed quite a bit while I was gone - he sleeps through most nights (10 hours), climbs stairs, drinks from a bottle (!!!), says "car", points at things in books, and is generally more vocal with the baby babble. The reunion with the two older kids was great; Alana came running out of the house to hug me and Hendrik hid... and then hugged me, but Jordan - he played strange! He dug his little finger-claws into Steve's shoulder and just looked at me. It didn't last too long and I wasn't offended as it meant I got to spend a bit more time with the olders before bedtime. It's all back to normal now, and like I said, I'm almost back in the swing of things... Now I need to / want to figure out what's next; work? Study? I need something for me, and I need to figure out what that something will be. For now though, we need to plan our upcoming trip to BC (next month) which I am SO excited about. We'll spend five days in Vancouver and three in Victoria and then three on Thetis Island before flying back home to catch the last week and a half of school... and then it's summer vacay! Which we also need to plan. I'll leave you with some photos - housework calls!

welcome home signs - with gold medals :)

me and the babe!

hendrik made these leafs signs while they were still in the running... love 'em

painting - abstract for alana, dragons for hendrik

alana and her friend audrey highjacked my camera = 37 pictures like these

hendrik made steve a scavenger hunt (my idea) - love what he came up with

jordan LOVES books... these two reading together 💗

NZ post #2

What an incredible trip! It's somehow come and gone already (I knew it would go quickly) and we're on our way home. The overview is this: the basketball was SUPER fun - with just eight of us we got lots of time on the floor, and because we were stronger than the competition we were able to run hard and (more or less) do what we wanted on offence and on D. Unfortunately there were only four teams in our pool and we were the one and only team registered in the premier division for our 30+ age group. This means that even though we were guaranteed a medal we feel that we earned it, winning all six of our games without much challenge. We also hit the town on multiple occasions, went shopping in various locales, and saw quite a bit of the Auckland area. I won't do the day-by-day sum-up but instead mention a few highlights:

Opening ceremonies
With a Canadian flag hanging out of the window we garnered lots of attention, and whilst stuck in traffic on our way to the ceremonies the co-pilot handed out pins - which earned us a complimentary parking spot just around the corner from the event. There was music, dancing and fireworks, and all of the athletes (I think there are 27,000+ from over 100 countries) paraded on the field on the way out at the end of the show.

Eating
We had some great meals at home (tacos, burgers, pasta, crepes, and more) and out on the town. Posonby was a favourite neighborhood that we discovered far too late in the trip, and we had a great meal at an open and happening cafe/resto. And if you know me you know I love visiting grocery stores in foreign countries - I like seeing what's on offer, even if the store itself (Pak'n'Save) isn't anything to write home about. Both out and in, the food was significantly more expensive than at home, and most of our cash definitely went to nosh.

Bridal Veil Falls and Ngarunui Beach

We made the longer than expected drive south to the beach / surf town of Raglan, and stopped at Bridal Veil Falls on our way. Getting to the falls involved a short 10 minute walk to the top, and another 20 minutes to the bottom, with a mid-falls lookout point along the way. It was nice to be in the middle of the woods, even with other people; it wasn't commercialized at all, so that was refreshing too. After a quick van-side lunch, we continued on to the massive beach at Ngarunui, just outside of Raglan. The beaches were a big highlight for most of us, many of which were massive - long and wide and never overpopulated.

Ngarunui beach

halfway point at Bridal Veil Falls

Mannequin Challenges

I need to find a few of these videos - there were three (or four?) in total I think, one of which we did at halftime of game three, with refs and the people working the table involved too. So fun!

Devonport

This lovely little town just north of Auckland was worth the stop. After lunch and a wander about the town, we drove to the top of Mount Victoria and enjoyed beautiful views of the city. We also found a bunch of little mushrooms - and played Never Have I Ever to switch and find a new mushroom; maybe the photo will explain? Super fun.

Seeing friends!

I was SO happy to be able to get together with friends that I hadn't seen for 10 years plus: Jen and Rowan and Kristin and Terry. We met Jen and Rowan in Romania where we met in the grocery store while looking for chocolate milk. We became good friends there and it was great to reminisce (mostly about life in Romania and the parties we had at their place) and catch up on the last 10 years. Hopefully we can all get back to NZ to visit them in Kati Kati, as it sounds like they have a beautiful place there. And KK! Kristin and I played basketball together at Gonzaga, and hadn't seen each other in at least 12 years. We were good friends there, and it feels like we picked up right where we left off. We also talked about our time at GU, and then caught up on life since uni as we haven't talked too much since the early 2000s, when teammates' weddings brought us all together. They're another reason we'll have to go back down under and visit!

with the one and only KK!

And did I mention the basketball? I feel like I'm hooked on the game now - I want to keep working out, play more, and make this master's tournament a regular every-four-years thing. During our last game one of the women playing for the other team came over and asked if anyone was keen to switch jerseys for the last quarter (we were winning by 30+ at this point) and so we swapped numbers and I played for the other team for the last 10 minutes. I was happy to run the whole time AND give a few teammates more of a run for their money under the hoop, and we all laughed as we jostled for rebounds and positioning down low. After that last game the green team came out with Tim Tams and we ate cookies at centre court before calling it a day. (There are lots of game shots but I don't have any yet - so you can watch me make a left-handed layup if you want...)

Lastly, it was incredible to spend time doing my own thing, and to occupy the one most essential role in my life - mine, and being me. Me first, and mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend next; often this is hard to do, but coming back home to my amazing life and the amalgamation of all roles I am lucky enough to fulfill, I feel refreshed, happy, and grateful beyond words.