149/365 one word Saturday

beautiful.

128/365 now we are talking...

dear mother nature...

you need to stop giving California

preferential treatment.

they have beautiful weather

can grow palm trees

and bask in the sun.

we have snow in May.

it is not nice to play favourites.

feel free to send some love our way.

first thing this morning

84/365 the tooth fairy drops the ball...

Kaeden had a long time wiggly tooth

that finally wiggled it self out during school.

He was very excited to put it under his pillow

and wait for the tooth fairy to visit.

To his great disappointment the tooth

was still there this morning and no evidence

of the tooth fairy visiting could be found.

He was so disappointed.

We talked about what may have happened

and Kaeden decided that it was due to

her not being able to find the tooth.

He was very ingenious and created

a sign outlining where the tooth was located on his bed

and a big arrow to show her the way.

Hopefully tonight she is able to get it together

and make the exchange

or Kaeden may be hunting her down tomorrow.

73/365 a sign of spring...

fresh fruit with my favourite

double chocolate frozen yogurt

such a spring/summer treat

and I for one,

was very excited for the

beautiful sunny day

and this delicious treat...

an update on the ongoing Family Operations.

Operation Healthy Family is still in full force,

there has been a few slips here and there

but in my mind that is what makes it

an authentic lifestyle change.

It has been a challenge with everything

going on recently

to stay focused on my meal plans,

avoiding the stress eating

and the daily tracking of what I eat

but these things are paramount

to meeting our health goals.

Operation Simplify is feeling like

anything but right now

but I do have an overwhelming feeling of peace

& that tells me this is still the correct

thing for our family.

It is scary right now

as I don't like the feeling

of not knowing

where we will live

or what the future holds

but I know this will be short lived

and we will figure out a plan,

we always do.

42/365 operation healthy family tip #1

I may get strange looks from my family and friends

but this is how I eat a lot of my food

right out of a set of measuring cups

it is too bad that they are ugly (orange) plastic

and not pretty like these ones I covet from Anthropologie

but they do the job

and keep portion sizes

especially for my non fat yogurt ice cream

under control.

365/365 that is it. that is all.

all done.

complete.

kaput.

the fat lady has sung.

it was a long last 15 days.

I am not sure the daily themes were a help

or made this a harder challenge.

On the positive side...

after 45+ self portraits

I can take one heck of a picture in the bathroom mirror

& I'm a titch more comfortable seeing pictures of myself.

I made some great new meals on What's for Dinner Monday and my family could count on getting at least one good meal a week!

Learned things I did not know about people on Friends and Family Thursday interviews.

Was able to indulge in my quote obsession with Quote Friday.

Near the middle/end of the year I became much more comfortable expressing myself on Wordy Wednesday. This particular theme really helped me develop my writing skills and expressing myself in a clear and hopefully not controversial way.

Could have lived without Numbers Tuesday.

I liked Objects of my Affection Sundays as it allowed me to pause at the end of the week to remember the important things in my life.

the big question?

do I have it in me for another 365 days?

if so, do I go back to free form or themes?

Like last year, I will probably make my decision sometime tomorrow while laying on the couch watching the Hockey Winter Classic!

No matter what happens, I want to THANK every single person that spends a few minutes of their busy days with me everyday.

I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEARS and a KICK ARSE 2010!

364/365 oops I thought it was Thursday

and was so excited that I had a F&FT interview to end the year

until I discovered it is actually Wordy Wednesday

oh well, this was an entertaining interview and

I was able to catch this little moving target in a focused picture

so we will just go with this as the last interview of the year...

Introducing 5 year old Mr. Aidan

~ Aidan is a favourite playmate of Kaeden (yep, it does get confusing and can be a tongue twister) and the son of Tracey, Colin's (my brother) girlfriend. They are down for the holidays from Fairview, Ab and stay with us when they are here for visits.

~ Aidan is my youngest interviewee and I am not sure he understood all of the questions but Tracey/Colin helped him out and his answers were humorous regardless.

~ He is also the most talkative and random person I have interviewed. I could not keep up with him and you will see through the interview I will type " blah blah blah"and it is with no disrespect, I just couldn't figure out how else to illustrate these tangents he would go off on.

the interview:

What is your favourite thing to do? My favourite thing to do is play with my transformers and to play gently with them so we don’t lose any parts and my other favourite thing is Colin, momma and I love Kaeden as they are the best

What is your least favourite thing to do? My least favourite thing is I won’t steal Colin's hat and I will listen to what he says.

Colin: so your least favourite is listening to me

Aidan: ah yeah, sort of... I am just joking, I am a jokester...blah, blah, blah (the start of many tangents)

What was the last film you saw at the theater?

Colin: He has never been to the theater, what is the last movie you watched?

Aidan: I watched Ice Age

What is your favorite TV show? Transformers and Robots ... I like the autobots on my old one who …(blah blah off he goes on a tangent)

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to buy a skateboard and blah blah blah blah (yep another tangent) …help fix machines, change oil… (Colin: be a mechaninc?) Yeah, that & I want to help take nails out, help build things , put tvs together..I am going to be busy all the time, like I don't think when I get back to Fairview...blah blah blah (wow, we may have wanted to limit his sugar intake, he is now talking a mile a minute!)

What food do you dislike? ummmm macaroni with cheese in it, or macaroni and ketchup

What is your favorite song at the moment? Hmmm, transformers

Favorite item of clothing? Transformer shirts ( I see a trend starting here)

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Ummm Spirit River to the beach, and to the swimming pool and a wading pool – all kinds of countries

Favorite sport to watch? my favourite sport is baseball & hockey, I like the Flames guys, as they have yellow on their shirt – but I don’t like the kings or queens (we were watching the Flames/Kings game while doing this interview)

Are you a morning person SURE I AM (or a night person)?

Colin: are you sure, you are not too happy in the morning.

Aidan: Sure I am except when I get up really early then I am very angry

What is your favorite candy? sugar

What is your favorite flower? yellow

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? yellow

If you were candy, what would you be? Yellow, red and blue

Favorite drink?hmmm pepsi and juice boxes

Favorite restaurant? Tim Horton's timbits

What are you afraid of hmmm, reflections of monsters

Favorite day of the week? My favourite day is being nice, playing gentle with Transformers and listening to Colin (I am not sure he truly understood the question, but it was a very nice answer anyways.)

Favourite Memory of last year? do you understand what I am asking? Sure my memory tells me what to do

Colin/Tracey: do you remember any of the really fun things we did, like taking the airplane, going to the east coast…

Aidan: oh YEAH, the airplane ride, that was my fun part.

What makes you happy? Kissing momma, hugging Colin

What makes you sad? (Makes a sad face)…when I am sick

Describe yourself in one word. (with a little help from Colin/Tracey) energetic

363/365

mother nature has been creating artistic masterpieces again...

it is just unfortunate that it has to be so bitterly cold to get the above beauty.

~ any one keeping score will point out that today is the last numbers Tuesday of the year. I just didn't have it in me to locate # 363 so I went with a picture of beauty instead.

~ I have been thinking about whether or not I will attempt a year 3 of project 365 and if I decide to do it again will I go with daily categories or just random posts? I have 2 more days to decide but what I can tell you for sure, is that there will not be a Numbers Tuesday. It truly was my least favourite day (even more than Self Portrait Saturday!)

362/365 - 13,505 days

on this earth

and what do I have to show for it?

a great husband

two unique children

many kick arse friends

and a supportive family

pretty good tally in my eyes.

yep, it is Birthday day

a time for reflection

and for some unknown reason,

this 37th celebration

is causing a lot more analysis than usual.

Is it because as my good friend Kim states,

we are now pushing 40?

or is it due to Shelby getting close to graduating

and turning 18?

perhaps it is because I have changed a lot

in the last year and I'm finally feeling that

I may be "getting" this thing called life and balance

or is it this unsettling feeling I have been having

that this next year may be a year of big change as I continue to

strive to be the the most authentic person possible.

I am not sure why this heavy thinking

is occurring this year

but the comforting thing is that I have a good life

any changes will only make it better

and thankfully with my birthday

so close to the end of the year

I have a few more days to reflect

and think about a game plan for 2010.

a self portrait - 37 years old

361/365

I am getting near the end of my "here we go again" project 365

and I'm feeling it

or perhaps it is the end of year blues

or the last effects of a turkey coma

or this never ending cold/cough

or that this is my birthday eve and I will only be 36 for 2 hours and 13 minutes more

whatever it is, it was tough to get a post/picture tonight

but after 726 continuous photos, never missing a day

I am not about to give up now

so when all else fails, turn to the candy bowl

for a yummy treat and inspiration.

360/365 my message to this cold...

talk to the hand

~ no self portrait today as trust me nobody wants to see what I look like after 3 weeks of sneezing, coughing and whining. I was out of bed for a total of 68 minutes today until I went for Christmas Dinner Take Two at mom/dad's tonight and knew I was not feeling well when I only had one serving of my favourite food in the world (stuffing and sweet potatoes).

~ the sassy one in the picture is my friend McKenzie who came over for a playdate while her parents went out for a bit. She was the only reason I pulled myself out of bed at all today. She is so cute, she could make anyone forget they were sick!

359/365 quote Friday on a joyous day!

the

best of

all gifts

around any

christmas tree

is the presence of

a happy family all

wrapped up in each

other.

—Burton Hi l l is

358/365 - O Tannenbaum

tonight we beautified our tree

I know I know...I can hear the

WHAT...I have had mine up for 2 weeks, 3 weeks, never took it down and so on

I hear you loud and clear

I know it is very unusual to wait until Christmas Eve

but we have a birthday boy on the 23rd and as I know what it is like to have a birthday near Christmas (mine is the 28th) we wait until the day after his birthday to start decorating for the holidays.

I don't think it will always be like this though as

he was the one that demanded we get a tree last weekend

and then was quite upset that we couldn't all be home at one time once this week.

Anyways, better late than never,

and it looks awesome and our main floor

is as Christmasized as this minimalist decorator is going to get.

a smile that can light up the room

(just in case it is hard to make out, he is holding the lights in a smile shape)

~ it's not dancing on the table with a lampshade on his head, bit it's close

357/365 a special wordy Wednesday is brought to you by a...

Mr. Kaeden

who turns 7 today

and boy has he packed a lot into his 2,555 days &

I can only imagine what things lie ahead for him (and us) in the next 29,200 days.

Anyone who follows this blog will already know what a hambone we have on our hands and we love 99% of every single moment we have with him.

My Birthday tribute list this year is going to be:

SEVEN things I LOVE about Kaeden

1. He can make you laugh when it is the last thing you want to do.

2. His quick one liners, that sometimes are so witty, I struggle to keep up with him

3. how gentle and kind he is with young children, especially newborn babies. He is loud and quick most of the time EXCEPT when he is around a young baby, he is so quiet and gentle

4. that he is very polite. Manners are very important to me and even though I know he is not perfect 100% of the time, for the most part he is a very nice young man who is kind to others

5. listening to him sing to the radio in the backseat while I am driving.

6. his quirky eating habits. pickles with every meal and chicken noodle soup anytime he can get it.

7. his excitement over Christmas this year, I have been struggling with getting into the spirit for some reason and Kaeden's exuberance is starting to rub off.

We had his big birthday party on Sunday so today he was able to pick dinner or a movie and he decided we would all go see the new Chipmunk movie (ah, the things you do for your children!).

here he is hanging out with the chipmunks.

numbers Tuesday makes it to the "to do" list

this is what I have become...

a list making, crosser offer, never going to get it all done mom who is making 2 dozen cookies at 11:30pm so her son can take a birthday day treat to school tomorrow.

baking cookies was the least I could do since I have told him for over 4 years that one of the bonuses of having a birthday 2 days before Christmas is that you NEVER EVER have to go to school on your birthday, oops... my bad. He is not impressed. I tried to explain that this won't happen often and it IS only a half day. The cookies have softened the blow but he still wants it well known he is not impressed.

355/365 What's for Dinner Monday

Kaeden's SLAP CHOP special

he LOVES his new slap chop

and he has chopped EVERYTHING in our fridge that can be chopped

for the second night in a row Kaeden chopped & Scott cooked

the ingredients:

anything that can be chopped!

(Kaeden used onion, celery, carrot, tomato and ham)

Shredded Cheese

eggs

milk

salt/pepper

the how:

call Kaeden to come over with his Slap Chop

he will turn your vegetables, meat into little bitty pieces

MIX all vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl

POUR into a large frying pan

SCRAMBLE until cooked

SERVE with toast.

* the BEST thing about this meal, hearing Kaeden repeat the commercial while chopping. He had me in tears ( "this onion making you cry, it's making me cry") thanks Miranda (Kevin and Logan) for all of the entertainment value in this gift!

353/365 self portrait Saturday

who needs ANOTHER picture of me

when we can oooh and aahhh over this

adorable face ...oh those eyes

that toque

this little fire ball captured my heart

~ see the next post for many more pictures of this wonderful family. Hopefully it will be tonight but could be tomorrow as I am busy crafting and panicking for Kaeden's Superhero party.

352/365 quote Friday

“I have nothing to say And I am saying it And that is poetry” ~ John Cage

just pictures tonight:

Matt and Shelby all dressed up

~ my new (and very red) colour

351/365 my own personal reindeer

go dasher, go dancer, go prancer, go...nevermind, who were we kidding anyways.

350/365 wordy Wednesday

just looking for a little...2nd Wednesday I have had something to say

yet once again greater powers STOMP on my efforts

and I will have to keep my soapbox opinions to myself.

I am coughing so much that there is definitely no PEACE around here

sounds like I have swallowed a baby seal &

even better,

a herd of dancing elephants have taken up residence in my head

so I am off to bed

as there is only 1 week 2 days until Christmas

and I have A LOT of very important things going down

like someone's 7th birthday and big superhero party

Christmas Celebrating & some serious egg nog drinking

so I am afraid the seals and elephants will

need to find a new home

QUICKLY.

ps - if this post makes no sense whats-so-ever, take half a bottle of cough medicine and give it another read!