Sicky Chicky

This long weekend has been one of cleaning for us. Talk about fun eh? As I mentioned previously in earlier posts, we have been on a huge cleaning kick, getting rid of junk and clutter around our place. As great as it feels, its extremely tiring, and I will be happy when it is finally all finished.

We did another stab at the storage room and managed to empty the huge set of drawers that we had filled with old animation and craft stuff. One of the interesting things I found was my old box of letters from when I worked at Tulahead. Dianne, I may have to scan some to email you. The ones from you are HILARIOUS! After a few hours, I am pleased to say the drawer is gone and our storage room is that much emptier! Woot! The plan is to eventually move the animation desk in and move the computer downstairs and make the office into Ariel's big girl room. I don't think that transition will actually happen till the new year, but I rather it be ready when the time comes and we can focus on the move rather than de-cluttering.

As some of you know, last night Ariel came down with a fever. Ken had gone out to see Batman on the imax with my brother Mike, so Ariel and I made it movie night too. We made some popcorn and watched the new little mermaid movie we had picked up at Costco earlier that morning. (By the way, she has finally noticed that she and the mermaid have the same name, her response to this, 'thats funny')


She seemed fine during the movie, however when it ended she came and curled up on my lap and I felt her head burning against my arm. Her whole body was quite warm and so I whipped out the thermometer and checked her. Sure enough it was 38.6°C and she was looking pale. We made our way down to the store to by some tylenol (since she thought she dump her all over our bed this morning. I still can't figure out how she got it out of the high drawer. Apparently, she thought it was a bubble wand, and her Daddy awoke that morning with her blowing it all over the place. Ah the joys of a big girl bed... and the tylenol is now in the highest cabinet where I can't even reach without a stool.)

She slept fine and yet when she woke up she was still quite warm. We called the nurse hotline just to see if we should do anything since we really haven't dealt with fevers before with her. Basically we are to watch her and keep the fluids up. They think its just her fighting off something, and since she has had all her shots we shouldn't worry. Ariel actually is seeing her doctor later this week for her 2 year appointment, so I am sure if its still lingering we will talk to her about it.

Ken headed to church this morning because I was to be in the nursery, so he was going to cover while I stayed home with princess. She ate 2 pancakes and happily played dress up. Check out that new look, whoa.


Then we played some indoor golf. Uncle Dan had given that set to her when she was 8 months old, we can finally use it. Yay!


She was pleased when Daddy came home and they played and snuggled while watching her favorite numbers dvd.


At some point she turned to him and said she wanted her 'binkie' which means she is sleepy. So we tucked her into our bed and she slept for almost 3 hours.


After working for several hours, we decided picking up a pizza would be a good move. I will cook something nice tomorrow, tonight I couldn't even think of doing another thing. Ariel was up and was eager for pizza as well, so that was the plan. Ken picked it up and we watched Snow White together. We are going to try and watch a Disney movie every night until we leave... 2 weeks and counting as of TODAY!!! Eek!

I also booked some character dining meals for our Disney trip, yep, I like to plan. Since the park opens at 10am every morning when we are there (fall hours) I thought seeing the characters in the mornings at meals was a good way to fill in the time. We also get a free character breakfast with our package from the travel agent, woot, and Ariel is free at everyone one of them since she is only 2. Hahaha, wait till they see how much she eats! I am so excited that I have all the details of our 'mommy meet up' finalized too. I can't wait to meet Amy and Allie in person. Its so cool how you can meet people online and get the chance to finally see them face to face. I'd love the chance to meet others from our chat board, maybe one day.

I also managed to book Ariel's fall activities. She is taking the storybook ballet class, I am so excited about that one. We both get to take part since its a parent participation one, whee. The swim class I was hoping to get her into is full, so we went on a wait list, but I did sign up for one that is twice a week starting in October, so that is still good if we don't get the other one.

Well thats pretty much it. Nothing exciting planned for tomorrow, just laying low in case Ariel still has a fever. I am looking forward to starting a new book tonight. My online mommy friends are all saying I need to read the Twilight series, so I picked up book one at Costco. I am eager to read, and I haven't had a good read since Harry Potter. Gack! I shall keep you posted. Good night!

Hello Long Weekend! Goodbye Summer...

Its so weird to think its the last weekend of summer... where did it go? Seriously, it seems like we never had summer at times with the late arrival of our sunny weather. At least tacking on our Disneyland vacation in September will help us feel like its that much longer, yay!

Today started out as another rainy day... again reminding me summer is ending and fall is coming. We had breakfast at Dad and Rita's this morning, gotta love pancakes on a regular basis. Ariel had a '2' shaped pancake and then demanded a '3' as well. Ah, that's my girl, 2 going on 3. Sigh.


At 10am we headed off to Richmond for our big 'radio moment'. We arrived at Crave 95 at our appointment time and met with Tara Jean who happened to be pregnant herself. After doing introductions we headed off to the recording booth. It was a very small room with a big fancy microphone and lots of computers. Well Ariel got very wide eyed and kept scanning the room. She focused in on the animated screen saver on one of the computers and kept naming the colors that would pop up, lol.

Tara asked how we should proceed and I explained Ariel should repeat words back as she was doing quite well the night before, however being in a strange room wasn't going to make the task easier. It was decided that we stick to the short 'speaking' lines STOP - Gimme a beat! since we didn't know how it would go. We managed to get a good 'stop' out of her. The rest wasn't so easy, Ariel kept thinking the microphone was a camera and would smile and yell cheese. Tara was cracking up saying she was better suited for tv than radio, and the blooper reel would be better than the actual finished product. I totally agree, especially when she broke into her version of baby beluga which sounds more like baby pika (think pokemon's pikachu).


We did managed to get the rest of the words out of her, and Tara said she had to totally send us a copy since it was just too funny recording her. So regardless if she makes it on the air we had a blast! If they do use her bit, they will contact us to tell us when it will air. I shall keep you posted.

During Ariel's nap today I took some time to research some possible fall activities to sign her up for. Now that she is 2, there are more options available for her. After looking things over, I think we will go for the next round of swimming lessons (H2O Hoppers). It will be nice getting to go to the pool on cold days. I also found a class called Storybook Ballet, an early intro to dance for preschool kids. Then after Christmas she will be old enough for Teeny Tiny Ballerinas! Eek!

Tonight when Ken got home we had a dinner of sushi to kick off the long weekend in style. So yummy and Ariel was dancing around yelling 'ushi'. Not sure what we will be doing, probably play it by ear most of the time. Well, off to enjoy the end of summer, hope you do the same!

Out and About

Wednesday proved to be a busy day for Ariel and I. Originally we had planned to pick up the dishes that we are inheriting from Nana at the old house and bring them home, simple enough. Stella was kind enough to offer to help us out so that was the starting point. It then grew into more fun as Kara's friend Jaks was still here. Since Kara was teaching her classes in the morning, Stella offered to play tour guide for Jaks and invited us to join them. So we did, yay!

First stop was the beach as Jaks is an east coast girl and this sort of beach was very new to her. Before getting into the sand, Stella wanted to see the 'secret garden' that Ariel's pictures were taken at.


It was kinda windy and cold but the garden was still stunning regardless. I think Stella and Jaks really liked it. Lala and Ariel checking out the plants.


Ariel and Jaks became good friends this morning. Ariel is really into making the 'cheese' face now when I pull out the camera. Haha.


Pretty girl in a pretty garden. Hee.


Then we headed to the beach. There weren't many people, just some skimboarders and kite fliers enjoying the low tide.


Ariel got really into throwing rocks into the water and seemed to forget she was standing on sand! Woot!


Exploring with Lala. Ariel didn't get too upset about her dirty hands either. She kept chattering about 'having fun' and 'dirty' so it was like her way of saying I am having fun and yet I am dirty and its ok. Wow, can you say progress!


Eek, watch out for the sea hag!!! Lol, by far the funniest thing I found that day at the beach. Hee.


After a quick stop into Nana and Papa's to drop off something and to change Ariel into some dry clothes, we were off to Steveston to meet up with Kara. We were able to watch the last part of her classes and see her kids perform. So cool! Ariel's eyes were GLUED to the kids, its like she was mesmerized. I guess I need to find a little dance class for her.


When the class was over Jaks and Kara did some dancing with Ariel to her fav High School Musical. Had to get a video of this because she was grinning ear to ear.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The teacher and student are ready for some lunch. Love Ariel's hair in this picture.


We went to this really cute cafe where Stella said my mom took her when they first came to Steveston together. How cool is that! Ariel had a very yummy peanut butter sandwich and I had a clubhouse, sooo good.


After lunch we dropped the girls off at the mall so they could go out to Stanley Park for the afternoon. At that point Ariel was in need of a little nap before our family get together. So we got home by 3pm and she slept soundly till 5pm while I cleaned and make up a bean dish to take with us.

At 5pm we left and picked up our picture present for Papa at LD to bring with us (remember the picture I took of Ariel sitting in the wheelborrow in Papa's old garden). He seemed to really like it and we all had a good laugh about sitting in that wheelbarrow as kids as well. Ah memories.

Mike and Jo celebrated their 2nd anniversary this week. Ah, so cute! Jo is getting ready for her big accounting exam that she writes in September! She will be doing this while we are in Disneyland, so we are gonna give her a shout out now, yay good luck girl! We know you can do it.


It was great to visit Kyle who was visiting from Calgary. We also got to meet Kyle's girlfriend Lindsay, who was very nice and actually worked with my friend Dianne at big firm, talk about small world. Ariel enjoyed everyone taking turns blowing bubbles for her to catch, Kyle takes a turn here.


We had a wonderful time and didn't get back home until after 9pm. Ariel was pretty zonked at that point and went to bed pretty fast. While Ken did some computer stuff I sat in bed putting our Yellowstone pictures in the album. Yes, I got them narrowed down from over 1000 to 200 good ones. Lol

Today is a very cold and rainy day. Ariel didn't want to get out of her pjs this morning so I had to find something in her closet that was similar and cozy.


Never ask Ariel to share her cheese, she is very protective of it. Just call her eagle eye, talk about the look!


We walked over to the quilt shop to say hi to Stella who was working, then drove over to the house to see how the rest of the dumpster stuff was going. After a quick visit and loading our vacuum to bring home, we returned for lunch and nap time.

That brings us to now, and we are practicing Janet Jackson lyrics. Seriously! Lol, our favorite radio station sent out an email saying they were looking for young kids to come in and record saying the lyrics for a contest. Basically, we will feed her the lines and then they will edit us out so it only sounds like her saying them. They will then play them on the air for people to guess what song they are doing. So we are booked to come in tomorrow morning and do lyrics from the song 'NASTY', should be a hoot!

"Stop. Gimme a Beat."

"I don't like no nasty car, I don't like a nasty food, huh

Ooh ooh yeah

The only nasty thing I like is the nasty groove, huh

Will this one do?

Uh huh, I know – SING."

If hers gets picked to be on the air we will let you know and they will give us a mp3 copy as well. I guess we better get back to practicing. Eek!

Daily Funnies

Ariel sure is becoming a little character. I always heard people say that this is the age where personalities really come out, well I believe them. Today when it was nap time I put Ariel down in her bed. When I went to check on her, I found this...


I thought maybe she was up hiding somewhere, instead I found this...


She was fast to sleep, so I didn't bother moving her. I guess she just loves naps in our bed. Oh well, it wasn't hurting anyone. As long as she takes a nap, I don't care where it is. Hehe.

Yesterday Ariel and I went to visit Nana and Papa. I managed to get this great shot of Ariel and Papa. Getting good pictures of Papa is a challenge, he likes to make it 'difficult', hee. Anyways, I love this one.


Ariel was a real ham that morning and was totally goofing for the camera. She kept flashing her silly smile and shouting 'CHEESE!'


Last night I started cleaning out our storage room. I just got the urge to do it after the massive cleaning that has been happening at Nana and Papa's old house. By bedtime last night it was half finished and we had 3 bags of garbage and several boxes and bags of stuff for the thrift store. Today I finished it up and Ken took all the junk away. Yay. Its so exciting to walk into that room and not trip over stuff. Soooooooooooo nice!



Want to leave you with a funny video tonight. Ariel got a really funny cd / dvd from Uncle Dan for her birthday and she has been watching it constantly. They Might be Giants 1-2-3. Ken and I are TMBG fans, so the fact they did a kids album is great. The girl is NUTS over this thing, so I think we will have to get her the A-B-Cs one with some of the money she got from Ken's Dad for her b-day. The songs are really bizarre, here is one of her favs, 'seven.' Enjoy!

Celebrating Life

Its been kinda crazy around here, but that's nothing new right? Hehe. Friday morning Ariel and went over to do some laundry at Dad and Rita's place and ended up going over to Nana and Papa's old house to clean out the attic. There was a large dumpster brought in and we needed to figure out if there was anything worth saving up there... needless to say, not really.

Ariel wasn't impressed with Daddy's old skeksis costume. (Yes he made it, we have video of him walking around Vancouver in it, lol).


I found some of my old college art projects and I may post some of them up here in a bit. Ariel was enjoying playing in the dumpster, aren't I a nice mommy. Lol. Don't worry, nothing bad in there at that point.


By the time we were finished it was lunch time, and Ariel was totally exhausted. We went home for a nap and then had to get ready to leave for a surprise party.


My friend Cindy from high school was turning 30 this year and her parents were throwing a surprise for her. The biggest surprise for me was seeing Cindy with short hair, I have never seen her like that in my whole life. She always had a long ponytail, so that was a real kick.


It was a nice evening filled with fun and food! That was such a good cake!


Ariel was trying to make friends with the 3 different dogs there. Jasper wasn't that interested as you can see.


The next morning Ken was home, oh that was such a treat. I love having him home on weekends. We got packed up and headed off to Sienna's birthday party! Ariel was very excited and talked about her friends and parties all the way there. Here is Ariel and the birthday girl Sienna.


The theme was fish, so the backyard was decorated so nicely and they had 2 pools and a bounce house set up for the kids. Lots of fun, and Ariel loved every moment of it.


She was a little concerned about the temperature of the water at first. She slid down, poked her toe in and said 'COLD' and proceeded to crawl back up the slide. Lol, what a nut. Eventually she was in the water, but it took some time.


A group picture was attempted, and for the amount of kids, I think it looks pretty darn good. Especially since they are all wearing the fish hats too. Ariel really liked hers and wore it home.


After the party was over we headed over to do some more laundry at Dad's. Since they were gone, we got a pizza, did the laundry and watched the food channel. Ahhh, so relaxing. On the way home we stopped by the house to see how the dumpster loading was going. Papa's old shed was gutted and emptied. I never realized how big it actually was. Crazy.

Today we woke up to rain... lots and lots of rain! We went to church and Ken got to do the children's story... so Kermit helped him out. Ariel went up and listened today and did pretty well for the most part. She did try and climb up on his knee at one point (but only because she did that in the practice). Thanks Kara for being up there with her.


After zipping home for a quick bite of lunch, we came back to the church for Irene's memorial service. It was really hard like I knew it would be. It just strikes such a chord with me and revisiting everything I have dealt with losing my mom. It was a lovely service and very touching and reflective. They had brought Irene's flower pots from her garden and had them set up in the entry way, very beautiful.


Ken and I had promised to help with clean up, so we were thankful our little friend Chloe was able to continue to help with Ariel. She watched her in the nursery during the service, such a HUGE help. Ariel had a ball with her, and was sad when it was time to go.

She wasn't sad long because we had been invited over to Stella's for dinner to get to meet Kara's friend from school, Jaks. Ariel seemed to really like her and when looking at her face she noticed a chunk of her bangs hanging in her front of her face, she pointed it out and said 'tail'! Yes, Jaks has a tail on her face. Haha. Needless to say that got a good laugh.


To try and make Jaks feel better I then shared how this week while getting dressed I had on white underpants and Ariel came up to me and said 'Momma... diaper'. I shook my head and said, 'no, not a diaper, Momma's big girl pants.' Ariel didn't seem to agree and said again, 'no, Momma diaper... stinky diaper.' I BEG YOUR PARDON! Ariel sure is saying some funny things these days. I have to try and remember to write them all down, such a silly girl.

As we were eating, Nana called and told us the house had SOLD! Yes, its both exciting and sad. Its going to be a quick closing because the house will be getting demolished. That's the hard part, but then I don't know whats worse, seeing it and knowing someone else is in it, or not seeing it at all. Either way, with so many houses on the market, I am so glad it sold as it was a huge burden. So its a big answer to prayer. Yay.

The week is slowly filling up... hoping for some sun so we can get some walking in. Looking forward to our big family dinner on Wednesday when my cousin comes into town with his girlfriend. So lots to come as August slowly winds down... weird, its almost September! Wow.

Busy Like a Bee

I have only been home a few days but things are almost back to running order around here. The suitcases have been unpacked and put away, food has been bought and put in the fridge, mail sorted and laundry ready to wash... yeah, I am so holding off on that one... ugh. Tomorrow, otherwise I will have nothing to wear at a party I am attending. Gack!

Today Ariel and I went to visit Nana and Papa and join them for lunch. It was good to spend some time together and Ariel showed off her new tricks of reading her name and doing 'This little piggy' with her toes. (I need to film that one, so funny).

After lunch we came home for naps and it was going well until a big truck started beeping outside Ariel's bedroom window and she comes running out shouting 'Scared... scared! Truck... beep!' So she ended up sleeping in our bed, which wasn't a big deal. Speaking of sleeping, Ariel's transition to the big girl bed has come with some funny sights. The other night I caught her sleeping like this...


Yes, she is asleep... standing and laying down... what a girl! Last night I woke up in the night to go to the washroom, and checked in on her and found her sleeping on the floor. Guess she rolled out and didn't wake up. I just picked her up and put her back... a heavy sleeper I guess.

Yesterday we had the repair man over working on our deck. We had a soft spot that I mentioned to the building manager, so they needed to patch it up. Ariel was very interested in watching the process.


Old area, looking kinda black and rotten.


Ripped out...


... and replaced! Yay!

They still have to redo the linoleum they ripped up to replace the board, so that will be happening next week most likely.

Ariel is also loving her new 'wolfie' from Grammy. He has been carried around the house since we returned. He even made it into her bedroom hall of fame! Pretty impressive for a new guy. Hehe. Kisses for wolfie, awe.

I mentioned we found some cute things at the outlets and mall while in the states, so I wanted to share them. This is a Gap outlet dress, super cute! Ken loves this one!


Then on to fall! Ariel is our little pumpkin, hee. This is her new 'ta da' pose.


Not much else to report, so I will leave you with a few cute pictures. Ariel wanted to lay on the floor this morning rather than get dressed.

What a nut... but a cute one. Hee.


To reflect our cleaning, Ariel dressed up like a busy bee... buzzzzzzzzzz! She kept it on till daddy came home.


Tomorrow morning Ariel and I are going to start the piles of laundry by doing hers over at Grandpa and Rita's place. Should be fun since we haven't seen them since we left. Then in the evening we have a surprise party to attend, won't say since its a surprise. Haha. Saturday morning we have birthday party that Ariel has been invited to, so we will go to that and not sure what will happen in the afternoon yet. Sunday will be church and then the memorial service for Irene. Not sure I am ready for that... its going to be hard... really hard.