Been a blogging slacker again lately!  Spring has sprung in Fort McMurray and as per usual, by spring I mean summer!  We have two seasons.  Winter and Summer.  Literally the river broke at the beginning of May and then it was summer.  Has barely been a day colder than +25C.  Here is what the weather was like April 28:

And....now....

We spent May VERY VERY busy....the first week (May 1-3) I was in Edmonton with my students for 3 fun filled yet very educational, days. The next weekend Chris headed to Etown for a guy's weekend full of farmers markets, West Ed mall shopping, golf and nosebleed seats for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.  The following weekend was May long weekend (Happy Birthday Queen Victoria! Thanks for the long weekend :) ) and we headed south yet again! Chris and I had tickets to see Carrie Underwood with Ariane and Rob.  We got to enjoy some catch up time with the Brzoza's and with Shannon, Joe and the kids. I got to have some Pizza Delight pizza and garlic fingers (yumm, now I'm hungry!), spent a day at the World Water Park in West Ed and let the kiddos spend their hard saved piggy bank money at the Disney store.  

In May we also finished up swimming lessons, started the next session of skating, started soccer, and became skating drop outs :( Who wants to spend their Tuesday and Thursday evenings in a chilly rink when it's 30 degrees outside?  Not mama! Owen has also learned to ride a two wheeler without training wheels! He would much rather be out biking than skating these beautiful evenings.  

Here a few pics of what we have been up to lately :)

Also in May, I took on a new challenge and started a thrice weekly outdoor boot camp.  I. thought. I. was. going. to. DIE! It has been really hard work, my shins and calves have taken a beating, but I'm proud to say I finished the first month strong (and quite a few inches smaller!) and am now on to month 2!  At this point I can now keep up (mostly) with the skinny bitches in the group and am no longer the "beginner" of the group. I'm now at the point where I can join the other girls and "make my workout harder" by adding weights to my squats.  I started out May 6 not being able to do a single burpee, now (even though they are the bain of my existance) I can complete a real live burpee! Yay me! And by not being able to do a burpee, I mean I couldn't even get in the right position to do it, I would get down there and be all like, ugh, my body don't work that way, you know I don't do that!

Weekends are madness!

Ok, maybe not madness, but they definitely aren't the relaxing, chill, boring days they were before kids!  Saturday wasn't too bad, Owen has swimming lessons at 1230 so he and I had lunch at Mickey D's, went to lessons, then he helped me get groceries.  We then chilled the rest of the day and I even got the BBQ started up (so fun when the snow is still waist high! lol).
On Sunday we had TWO birthday parties to go to.  At noon we made an appearance at a 3 year old little girl's party where there were a bunch of 3 year olds and Owen, who looked like a giant lol.  Lucky for us he is very good with little ones.  Griffin got his lifetime worth of terror in the span of an hour when a clown arrived.  The clown did balloon animals and face painting, by the end of it Griffin would finally sit in the same room and accept a balloon, but there was no way he was getting his face painted!  Owen got a full face spiderman done, that was fun when the host's couches were a lovely cream color!  Just kidding, he did pretty good not wiping his face on the cream couches.  After Olivia's party, Owen went to a party for a classmate, loving the age of the drop off bday party!!! I headed to run some errands and managed to lock my keys in the trunk of the car.....Chris had to wake Griff from his nap and play super hero, Griff was more than happy to oblige giving me a thumbs up when I thanked him for saving me ;)

What's going on this week?  Owen's reading is really coming along, I'm so impressed :)

Chris is still from what may now not acutally be gout.  I made him go to the walk in clinic last night, the doc gave him a prescription and ordered blood work.

Till next time ;)

VEGAS BABY!

This mama just got back from a MUCH needed 5-day girl's trip.

Kellie, Joella, Shannon and I just spend a glorious 5 days in Vegas.  No kids, no husbands, no work :)  

Day 1- As soon as we landed in Sin City, we checked in to Planet Hollywood, upgraded our room, changed clothes, grabbed a slush at Fat Tuesdays and hit the North Premium Outlets.  We shopped for about 4 hours, basically until we dropped.  

Shopping day 1- missing Joella's bags in the picture.

By the end, we were exhausted, I mean, we had started the day in Fort McMurray and this was only supper time??? We went back to the hotel,  freshened up and decided to check out Gordon Ramsey Steak for dinner.  AMAZING steak! Yum!!! My only complaint was the whole pick your steak and then pay for side separately, I hate when restaurants do that.  

Seriously, $12 for pureed potatoes Chef Ramsey??

The guy we thought might be Zac Brown, still not 100% convinced it wasn't him....

After Ramsey's we went for a walk over to Bellagio, checked out the shops in there (bought myself a present at Tiffany) and watched the fountains.  We slowly made our way back to PH and hit the hay, it had been a long 1st day!

Planet Hollywood at night

Day 2- We had a slow start the morning of day 2, it was super nice to get up at a leisurely pace, no kids waking us up (just Shannon, such an early riser even on vacay!) We headed over to Aria to check out their delicious buffet.  We then grabbed a cab and hit the South Premium Outlets.  Most people recommend the north outlets, so that's where we have always gone previously, we fell in LOVE with the south!  The south has almost everything the north has, but the stores are better (and some say cheaper!).  Michael Kors at the north only has handbags, south had the clothing collection.  We decided to split up so we could get as much done as we needed without having to wait/go in to stores that didn't interest us.  We split off and I immediately found Sketchers (that was the one thing Owen had asked me for, a pair of Sketchers running shoes!) and the Disney store.  I really needed a new pair of jeans, but I HATE shopping for jeans :( I went in to the Levis store (I haven't worn Levi's since Jr. High when the only jeans I would wear were Levi's 501s!), the girl there measured me and told me what size and fit I should be wearing.  I have to say, they are the nicest fitting jeans I have had in a long time, probably since getting hips! lol

I didn't see any of the girls again until I went in to the fitting room at MK and found Joella.  We had a great time trying on clothes with the help of my new BFF, Andre.  He was the sweetest, funniest little gay man I've ever met.  We had a blast chatting with him :)  BTW, MK is my new fav designer!

That evening we had tickets to see Shania Twain at Caesar's Palace.  We made reservations for Spago (now ALL our favorites for restaurants in Vegas!).  We all had the chicken at Spago which was amazing, but I'm not surprised, as the waiter told Chris and I in the summer, "Everything is fantastic at Spago!"  While waiting for our dinner Joella and I ran over to check out what was new at Jimmy Choo.  I picked out a couple pairs to try on after dinner.  Unfortunately Joella was let down to find out Jimmy Choo's don't fit her feet :( I felt bad for her, I know how much she wanted a pair and how disappointed she was.  I ended up going back and picking up a pair of gorgeous, shiny, sparkly girls to add to my collection, I'm in love! 

Shania put on an amazing show, that girl's still got it (show properly titled "Still the One!") and is my inspiration for how I want to look at 47....or now, I'd take looking like her now! lol  After Shania we crossed something off our bucket lists that I will not mention, has something to do with visiting the largest of something in the world, that's all I'm going to say, that and going on a week night was highly disappointing, apparently we should go on a weekend....after that disaster, Shannon agreed to go back to the hotel with me (I had been up sick all the night before, apparently my steak didn't agree with me) because we were exhausted, Joella and Kellie decided to check out Pure Night club at Caesars.  All I know is their night was EPIC and they didn't get home until 4am....

Day 3- Started out slow for Jo and Kellie, Shannon and I decided to walk down and check out Ross, basically like a giant Winners, so cheap!  I bought a ton of cute dresses for summer.  We headed back to meet the girls by the pool, pit stopped at Fat Burger and finally found some free wifi.  

The crazy line up at Ross, I met a new friend in line, who wanted to know how I kept my "lady parts" from getting sore (chaffing) in the heat??? We have concluded, there are MANY crazy Americans lol, my mom would say I was "wearing my Talk to Me sign....."

We relaxed by the pool for a couple hours before hitting the shower and getting ready to check out Cique du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio.

We went to FIX at Bellagio for dinner, it was really nice being organized and having dinner in the hotel where our shows were located.  Kellie, Shannon and I had been to FIX last year, it was good, I loved my lobster stuffed with a ritz cracker and crab puree, so yummy!  The girls were shocked I was able to take the ritz crackers before asking what it was, lol, sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes my overactive taste buds are a negative.  

Delish!

In the end, we were all a little disappointed with "O", it wasn't our favorite Cirque show, and no, it's not because I'm "bendier" than the cast (as the customs agent asked me coming back in to Canada), it was honestly kind of boring.  After the show we wandered Bellagio for a bit and then went out to watch the fountains again before heading back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.  

Each room at Planet Hollywood is decorated with memorabilia from movies, our room theme was Close Encounters, tell me the Alien hanging on the wall was not creepy???!!!! Good thing we were all so tired when we hit the hay no one had nightmares!

Day 4- On day 4 Shannon, Joella and Kellie wanted to check out Ross again, so we walked down the strip. I bought a few things for Brinley (my new niece), Jo and Shannon were going to be awhile so Kellie and I went to the M&M store then headed back to the hotel, we went to a couple stores in Miracle Mile Shops that we still needed to get to and then hit the pool again.  I have to tell you, the vitamin D we soaked up that week was MUCH needed since winter had started at the beginning of October in Fort McMurray, the weather hovered around or above 30 the whole time we were there.  

View from the pool at Planet Hollywood

Kellie and I headed up to shower and pack our bags (BIG job, had to buy an extra suitcase!) and wait to hear about Joella and Shannon's adventure to the ghetto (they had to go find a TRU).  Once we were all ready we headed to Jean George's Steakhouse for dinner.  Dinner was actually pretty disappointing, but the atmosphere was fantastic.

From there we headed to see the Chippendales, which I have to say, probably one of the most fun nights I have ever had lol.  I got to meet Jaymes and James, the Chippendales who came 2nd on the Amazing Race. They both were super nice.  

After Chippendale's (Jeremy keeps referring to them as "The rescue heroes"), we went to Haze Nightclub at Aria for a time.  We skipped the long line (got bracelets from a guy on the strip) and headed in to check out Nelly who was supposed to be hosting the night.  We danced on stages on the dance floor, around 1:00 Kellie and I went to explore the upstairs, that's when we saw Nelly come out, shake a few hands and disappear.  We figured that was it, he just made probably $10 000, we had to leave for the airport at 7, so we decided to call it a night.  Apparently Nelly came out and sang at 2:45....oh well, I really did need the 2 hours of sleep I got that night!

Kellie and Joella showing us they still "got it"

Can you spot Nelly?

 The next morning we got up, got dressed and packed and ready to go, some of us more bright eyed and bushy tailed than others....let's just say, we almost left Joella in Las Vegas.....Till next time ladies! Thanks for the time :)

Our luggage at checkout time, 3/4 of us had to buy an extra suitcase or bag to get home....

Finally an update

I suck at blogging. No excuses....actually I have a few, lol, I am pretty busy after all! It's been awhile, almost 2 years to be exact, whoops! What have the Organs been up to lately?

Owen- Owen is now 5. He turned 5 in December and like any great 5 year old, he got his law degree. Well not really, but he has turned into a pretty good defence lawyer. Not only does he defend himself, but he turns on his fancy routine for his brother. No idea where he gets it from (ok, maybe he gets a lil' bit of it from his mama).... What else does 5 look like? He's growing like a weed, his whole life he has had this growth routine, the skin and bones kid chunks up (mostly in the face) and we think, yay! he's finally gaining weight! (he JUST turned 40lbs in February, most of his friends have been over 40 lbs for about 2 years now), but nope, about a week later he's all skin and bones again, cause he's grown an inch or two.

5 so far has been super fun, gone are the majority of tantrums and crying for no reason.  He understands why we do things and is able to reason (to a point), he is fun, goofy but very bashful (would rather die than be caught looking silly or goofy).  He loves his "special days" in Kindergarten and even wanted to bring his brother for his show and tell a few weeks ago. He is doing very well in Kindergarten, at the top of his class for knowing his letters and sounds, he is also starting to read.  Chris is amazing with him in teaching him to read, it amazes me every day!

 








Griffin- Griff is now 3. 3 is looking very different for Griff than it did for Owen, but that's not surprising, 2 was very different too. 2, the terrible twos, Griffin was the sweetest two year old you could ask for. He was pleasant, loving, cuddly and oh so cute. He was so easy going, temper tantrums were RARE! Two was cute as a freaking long, curly blonde haired button!
                          

Griff turned 3 on February 9th, THIS is what 3 looks like:

I have no idea where my sweet baby boy went.  Wait, that's not fair, he's still here, but now he is mixed with a whole lotta stubborn.  When the child doesn't get his way, expect stomping feet, arm crossing, hitting walls and slamming doors.  Yeah, it's fun.  As much fun as that sounds, he really generally is still such a sweet boy who loves to laugh, tease and dance.  He's got some great moves, he's in a disco phase right now.  His favorite song is "Sexy and I know it"  I'm a little embarrassed that he knows all the words....also a little embarrassing, his love to "wiggle my bum at you!" Yeah, that's a fun one in public, at least he's wearing clothes when he does it there, it's a nudie bum at home....

It's really hard not to laugh at this 3 foot 3 jack ass sometimes though.  I know he's just trying to become his own person and he has a whole lot of his mama in there, Owen and I get along great, he and his dad clash, Griffin must have more me in him, he and Chris get on great, but he and I clash.  

Oh, and the speech I was worried about, yeah, he definitely got his dad's talking gene!  The kid never shuts up!  

Here is really what 3 looks like for Griff: