par for the course.

i LOVE that my husband takes the time.
he's pretty rad.

happy 2014.

Halloween 2013.

Halloween this year was wet, wet, wet. Half the decorations didn't happen because of this but of well. we started the week off by getting pumpkins from a local farm - Roland Cloutier. awesome place up frasinere. then we rounded off the week with pumpkin carving, a party at brownies, a carnival at school, one fallen trick-or-treater that never got to go out, our usual hunting party who always visits our house first, visits from 8 other little ghouls {slow this year} and one little jeni-fire long who happily split her treats 50/50 with her sick brother who slept through the whole thing.

hope you and your family had a fun and safe halloween!!!

now on to christmas.....

see i have this friend and she is pretty cool. then she went and wrote a book for kids about bullying and that makes her a rockstar.

sorry for the long title but when i tried to think up alternatives nothing said it better.
because it's all true.

three and half years ago we moved to this little french town, {which i know i have told you multiple times already....} and after three weeks of unpacking tony declared a day off and we all trecked down to our local cinema and saw shreck 4 together as a family. {they still had the english version for a couple more weeks! happy about this.} anyways after the movie was over the kids wanted to play in the dreaded "kid zone" - not like going to the movies with a family of four isn't expensive enough!! - so we let them and we lingered. all of  sudden tony looked at me and said, "hey those two women are talking english...go and talk to them." so i did.
that's how i met vicki.

she was so nice to me, answered all my questions, took my email to really get me some good neighbourhood info, hooked us up with a local softball team, recommended which school we should send aydan too AND invited us to her daughter's birthday party the following weekend. i did everything in my power not to shatter into a pool of tears and gratefulness right then and there.

fast forward three years and a lasting friendship and we have right now. cause now is the time to celebrate - she wrote a book and it's in print. Dear Bully of Mine.

and you know what: it's a really great book!! it's awesome!!

she wrote a book about bullying in time when we all have to stand up and shout at the top of our lungs enough is enough.
we all have to rally together and say you are good enough.
you are great.
you are fantastic.
be who you are.
you are loved.

we need to stop saying boys will be boys, they are just being teenagers, no harm done. well harm is being done. kids are hurting themselves over this.
we are not raising kids here, people - we are raising adults. is this who you want them to be?

want to know my most favorite thing about this book? besides the fact that she asked me to take that picture up there of her for the cover!! - is that my daughter loves it. she is at that critical age where things are starting to matter, cliques are being formed and actions might be starting to hurt. i want her to take these words from these pages and use them in her life. words that will help her to know that she does have self worth and so does that other girl across the hall.
treat others as you want to be treated.

we talk about this a lot in our house. difference. how someone might be different that you - in looks, behaviour, style - and that's okay because - to quote cooper, which brought a lump to my throat - "we are all people, right mom?"

right, honey.


get this book.
read this book WITH your kids.
discuss this book.
celebrate this book.


Dear Bully of Mine can be found through the Domnizelles Publications, through Amazon.ca for kindle or Amazon.com as well. also check your local stores!

photo of vicki courtesy of me.
photo of book courtesy of domnizelles publications.

our week.

this week seemed to have flown by but yet it was jam packed with goodness.

i'm going to start talking about a week ago friday cause that's just how it is.
around these parts that day is known as Terry Fox day. We all help in finishing his dream and running to find a cure for cancer. and run these kids did! they had to go around and around the field collecting stamps along the way to track their progress. it was supposed to be a stamp a lap but then it became about how many stamps you could get in a lap and then it was just fun. they got sweaty and exhausted and had a grasp on the cause and that's all that matters! what a fun day and it was the first day that i have EVER been able to volunteer at my kids school and they were so excited about that.

last weekend tony had to work all weekend so the kids and me decided it was high time to go apple picking. after that day i will only ever go on week days thank you very much!

holy smokes there were a lot of people there!!! wowzers! we were planning to meet friends rom the city there but that never happened. they got caught in the traffic coming out and decided to head deeper into the country than where we were and since i don't have a cell phone...yes i know, just call me mrs. brady!...we missed hooking up with them there. the place was a zoo! since i don't get the montreal paper i was not privy to the fact that this was the big weekend for that particular ochard and they had been advertizing like gangbusters. after the THIRD tour bus showed up i started to clue in.
and then the sun came out - boy did it come out! it was unbelievably hot! like july hot.
after finally giving up waiting - and after the kids exhausted the fun the playground could offer -  we went and picked our apples.

it took all of 15 minutes. really?
thursday's after school now sound like a good idea to me......we left a little grumpy and miserable but we had our 20lbs of apples that no one is going to eat and we did get to stop by a favorite veggie stand on the way home so not all was lost...just look at those pumpkins!

then we had picture day on monday - which of course i forgot to take a picture of - and we were late so i drove them to school and took them in for some strange reason...which i never do....and was accosted by the other mother volunteers to help out. so i did. so fun!

i took time this week to work on our week in the life album as well which i will be sharing shortly. i am so excited that i got right down to it and completed the picture part all thanks to our new printer and the fact that i was trying out a new photo filter program that i have heard great things about, Rad Lab - free 14 day trial - and am hooked and hopefully i can get it.
loved how it lightened and sharpened the photo's with just a click.

also i am trying to make more of an effort for play dates. i remember going over to friends houses during the week and loving it. since i am home for right now {not for long i hope!} i have decided to embrace that. they both had a friend over last week and loved it...again void of any photo!! aarrgghh.

but...

i did download my camera and find these gems in there. these, my friends, are hidden treasures.

aydan took these and her explanation for it was - well this is an outside set so i had to take her pictures outside.
of course.

friday afternoon we went to target to go birthday party shopping and treat ourselves to a starbucks - that will put a smile on anyones face!

this weekend was full of swimming lessons {they are doing so well.}, running into friends at the pool, walks, bike rides, yard work, another birthday party {number 3 in our 6 rotation. two more this coming weekend and one more the following week....then who knows!}, groceries, friday night home movie - Castle in the Sky, so good!, new fish for the tank, a water hose fight between tony and me {yes we are twelve - i walked outside and all i heard was "WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!! and the next thing i knew i was soaked. then i got him good.}, he tried to instigate a tomato fight - a couple went whizzing by my head - but i didn't bite on that one. finally getting to painting the upstairs two-story stairwell - it's a two man job and we have to make one more pass at it but what an unbelievable difference! plus one of the best chicken chili's i have ever made...well the ONLY chicken chili i have ever made!
all in all a great week and an even better weekend to get me out of my friday morning funk.

oh and we are ready for halloween.....

and i am so glad my mom convinced me to plant dahlia's - we have vases of these all over the house!

favorite quotes of the week:

"what are little boys made of? trash packs, skylanders and video games. that's what little boys are made of." ~aydan

"me and my kids, we are going to chase rainbows when we see them." ~cooper after seeing a rainbow in the sky last night on the way to aydan's irish dance.

*********

Also i came across this post by one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Ann, and i think i am going to play along. It's called Embrace the Camera and it's to get you, whether you are a mom or not, out from behind the camera. monday's prompt was Smiles and tuesday's was Making Memories and today's is Everyday Moment.
i will post mine here throughout this week.
{i will be using my big camera and not the iphone as i don't have my own and will want weekday shots.}

are you going to play along?
are you guilty of being behind the camera too much?

the graduate. part II.

it's official.
one year down. many more to go.
coop graduated from kindergarten. he rocked it.

this year tony was out of town and i was officially on kindergarten graduation duty.
i wasn't available to go to aydan's, so it WAS my turn.

i was a mess.......
{i don't think it was wise i went.}

they walked in to commencement. they had on graduation caps they made. they sang songs so show off their grasp of the french language. they were so proud...and rightly so.
when cooper was called to the front i was crying attempting to take video and snap photo's - i had the iphone and of course attempt number one was blurry. i did eventually get one to be proud of and a snapped a couple of him with his best buds.

cooper with his teacher.

the ceremony was done so well by the teachers and volunteers and went off without a hitch.

the best part - hearing him call to his friends as we were leaving, "see you in grade one!!!"
what a guy.

it was also last day of school for aydan too!

on her way to grade three...it's going by too fast!!!!
happy summer.

you know it's summer when.....

mastered.

last weekend cooper mastered his two wheeler.

cooper is a funny apprehensive little guy. he's so gung-ho to try things out but usually at the last minute he chickens out. that's just how it is. and some days it's up to us...his responsible parents...to give him just a little shove push.

that's how it was with the bike.

i think if it was up to coop he would have the training wheels on it forever. he didn't care. he felt secure and for him that's tops. if it was up to him he would always just sit on the sidelines - the ultimate spectator.

this spring {except is this summer already? sure feels like we just dove right in!!}, we took it upon ourselves to give him that push. now i am not talking that we took him to the top of the backyard hill on his bike with no training wheels and no concept of riding a bike, pushed and sent him down full blast like my dad did to me {true story - surprised i ever got back on!}, no - we did it our way.

as the snow flurries got fewer and fewer and the road was becoming more and more visible we decided to pull the bikes out of storage and get those wheels on the road. but...before coop had time to protest, those little side security-blanket wheels were gone and in the garbage - oops! if he wanted to go out and have fun with his sister - who took off like lightning mcqueen once those wheels touched asphalt - he had a choice: 1) sit on the front stoop and watch aydan have a blast biking around the neighbourhood or 2) figure it out and join her.

after some whining and a slew of i'm bored, and me saying you are more than welcome to go bike riding with your sister {we live on a circle type road that caters only to the residents.} he got on and gave it a shot.

attempt 1: disaster. nothing going in his favour. bike put in the garage awaiting the cobwebs.

attempt 2: a little better but not much. more confidence. a little....just a little...less whining about it. a couple fights a long the way and again a bike destined for the back of the garage never to be seen again.

attempt 3: THIRD TIMES THE CHARM!!! he gritted his teeth. focused and about halfway through he said ever so casually to tony, who was holding on to the back of the bike , "okay dad - you can let go now." and he was off.
golden moment.

everyday has now been filled with bike riding and i am so happy for him.
wait-a-go cooper!!!

now on to the next skill - swimming....oy.
{not looking forward to that one.}

happy summer spring!! 

perfecting the stay-cation.

most terrifying photo i have ever taken - so scared i was going to drop everything! but i love the shot!

he's 6 and he's 12!!

so we had spring break.
it was awesome.
we toyed around with the idea of taking off and lounging somewhere.
the plan last year was to take off for this week somewhere hot but between work commitments and lack of vacation $$ we decided to stay put.
then i took a look around and realized we didn't need to go anywhere.
we could have gone somewhere that offered outdoor pond skating or...just go into our own backyard and skate there! complete with fire pit and ice cold beer!
we also headed down to the frozen lake {river?} and went for a walk on it - people travel miles for this kind of adventure and we walked 5 blocks to get to it!!
we could have gone to one of the many ski resorts that are about a 3 hour drive away or....we could hit one of the 6 ski hills a 40 minute drive from our house - so we did that.
we could have done a road trip to toronto {burlington to be exact} to visit with friends or....have them come here! which they did!!
yes we could have gone to a hotel and lounged in the hot tub. we have one here so we checked that off the list. {it was also equipped with the possibility of doing a snow/ice run midway through!}

so there you have it - the perfect stay-cation!

:)