I love you and thank you...BUT

please do not gift anymore clothes, toys, trinkets, etc to my children for some time. They have enough. As I go through their toy room, closets, and other spaces I have come to one conclusion; There is too much stuff!! *You* are not the only ones guilty...I am too. My children DON'T need 6 hoodies to choose from. They don't need 25+ shirts to choose from. Too many toys does not engage them more, it actually distracts them more.

Please understand that I appreciate the generosity and am grateful for the thoughtfulness...but please let's take a break.

If I must, it may required that you take an item home for every item you bring/gift/donate to my kids.

New Years Resolution #1: Appreciate MORE and accumulate LESS.

PS. I realize this post comes right after Christmas when everything feels double but this has been building since long before.

Let's not pretend....

that I am going to blog over the next week. Blogging seems to time consuming these days and at the very bottom of my list of things to do. I don't have any wit with me these days. No cute antidotes. No words of wisdom. No Nobel prize winning philosphies.

Maybe the Zombies from Cori's blog have gotten hold of my brain? But then again I know nothing of Zombies and of what they feast.

If you get a piece of me over the next week or so, feel lucky. Until then...

Happy Holidays! Eat, drink and be obnoxiously merry!

1/2 Ironman Triathalon

Yup, I am going to do it! Its scary and exciting at the same time. It will be lots of training. Lots of dedication. There will be days when I feel like I am crazy and can't continue. The race will take place in Sylvan lake on July 25, 2010, 4 days before my 30th birthday (shssh don't repeat that). The following weekend is Big Valley so I can ease the aching muscles with a some great music, dancing and a drink or two.

I will be keeping a training bLOG for my own benefit but if you feel like following along...feel free.

Festival of Trees

Lost Tooth

Tyson

What a busy little boy he has become. And a boy he is. He loves anything with wheels. He's rough and a little mean. But he's sweet and smiley and pretty much steals the heart of anyone he smiles at.

Weird Ashley

I love this kid and she makes me laugh. A LOT. This is the scene I found one night when I checked to see if she was sleeping.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Ashley turned four in November. For her birthday she choose a penguin cake and bowling as her birthday activity. She was a little jealous because she didn't have a party with all her friends, like Natasha, but in the end it was forgotten and she had a great day. Next year she will have a party with friends. On the day of her birthday we spent most of the day in Camrose with my mom. On our way home we enjoyed a Dairy Queen treat. My mom is waiting for them to order a sundae or banana split but they always want a vanilla dipped cone. Adam is home working nights so the bowling took place on the weekend. We had the same teams as the last bowling (Adam/Natasha, Me/Ashley) and unfortunately our team lost again. HOWEVER, I did beat Adam this time :-)

You don't have to tell me...

I know I know, my blogging has slowed down. Ok maybe its stopped completely. Lots of events have happened lately and pictures were taken but I find my computer gets less of my time these days. Tyson is pushing the BIG ONE and is a busy, mess making little man. Natasha finally lost a tooth, her first one. Ashley turned four. Festival of trees. Random photos. Business of life.

So without delaying any further...here we go.

Still Alice

Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.


Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what's it's like to literally lose your mind...

I just finished reading this book and it was really good. It's a hard read, especially if you have someone close to you suffering with Alzheimers, as I do. I think it's a neccessary read too. It is written from the perspective of the Alzhiemers patient and conveys really well how it feels inside their heads. It really made me think of my Grandma and how the situations in the book applied to her. My grandma is 68 and is now in the moderately severe stage of Alzhiemers. I will share you with some quotes that really lingered in my mind for days to come.

"I am wife, mother and friend and soon to be grandmother. I still feel, understand and am worthy of the love and joy in those relationships." - Alice

"Don't panic or take it personally if we make mistakes, because we will. We will repeat ourselves, we will misplaces things and we will get lost. We will forget your name and what you said two minutes ago. We will also try our hardest to compensate for and overcome our cognitive losses." - Alice

"My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I'll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I'll forget it some tomorrow doesn't mean that I didn't live every second of it today. I will forget today but that doesn't mean that today didn't matter." - Alice

"I can't take watching you not knowing how to get dressed and not knowing how to work the television. If I'm in the labe, I don't have to watch you sticking post it notes on all the cabinets and doors. I can't just stay home and watch you get worse. It kills me." - John, her husband

"It's killing me, not you. I'm getting worse, whether you're home looking at me or hiding in your lab. You're losing me. I'm losing me. But if you don't take next year off with me, well, then, we lost you first. I have Alzheimer's. What's your fucking excuse." - Alice

"It's like you don't get that she's not gone yet, like you think her time left isn't meaningful anymore." - Alice's children

Watermark

I created this watermark for my photos tonight. What do you think? I donated a photo session as a silent auction item for Ashley's preschool fundraiser. Apparently it went for a good amount which makes me happy and nervous at the same time. If I can just trust my abilities and believe in myself this could be the start of something exciting!

Halloween-OVERDUE

We did our Halloweening in Alix this year. It was a nice change and a lovely day. We did hit a couple of houses in Camrose that were decorated to the nines on our way home. We only managed to get one pumpkin this year so we did a Picasso Pumpkin. Each person got a facial feature which they drew on and then carve out (girls had help). After each person was done, their contribution was covered up with a napkin. Once everything was done we did the big reveal (dumbass didn't get a picture). It was a fun way to share and carve the pumpkin together. Tyson was really conflicted when it came to the pumpkin. He was really curious and then was really unimpressed. The girls got a LOT of candy. They had a week of treating but now its locked up in our bedroom. I am not sure if having it in our bedroom is the best idea when I am trying to lose weight and remain healthy. But damn do those mini chocolate bars try to convince me otherwise.

Swine Flu

Forget getting a swab up the nose or blood tests to confirm Swine Flu (H1N1) all you really need is a mirror. If your reflection resembles the picture below....stay home, you have SWINE FLU.

Saturdays Walk

We went for a walk yesterday. It was a cool day but a nice walk nonetheless. I am not overly happy with my pictures. Its hard to get creative with your shots when you have baby on your back. I will say that I love shooting on cloudy days. Its the best lighting with no harsh shadows to deal with.