Our Trip to the Urban Treehouse

My GF Erin and I took the kids to Airdrie to the

Urban Treehouse for a bit of an outing the other day.

We ladies do everything we can to maintain our sanity amongst all the diapers and spit up.

The Urban Treehouse is a Kids Play place / Mommy Coffee house.

Breast Feeding Friendly.

I really enjoyed taking the kids there. They have a cute little treehouse to climb in and on with a spiral slide!

There is a little stage and a costume cupboard.

Alex got right into the train table and Erin and I relished the leather arm chairs.

We didn't even have time for a puppet show, arts and crafts or fishing!

I can't even TELL you how helpful Sam was that day!

He kept Alex busy with a game of tag, was constantly checking on Hunter and helped carry the little girls around as well as shouldering a diaper bag or two!

Thank you Sam!

I love you My friend!

Alex and Thomas!

He is VERY serious!

My Lil Bird sleeping through all the action.

Livvie Playing with a sleeping Phoenix.

LOL!!!

Hunter was picking up chicks in his hotrod!

Winter Fun With Alex and Livvie!

SLEDDING WITH FRIENDS!

Ps! Erin is looking SWEET lately!

Keep Working hard Erin! You look Great!

Here is Olivia in the front of the stroller and Phoenix is hiding in the back.
The girls didn't do much sledding.

I, however, will forever owe poor little Livvie anything she ever asks for, as I made a silly mommy mistake and put her on a little sled with Hunter and sent them down the slope together.
Hunter did the old left hand lean and sent the two of them face first into the snow.
For Hunter this wasn't such a big deal because he is a tank and a bruiser but for poor Princess Livvie it was fairly traumatic to do a faceplant in the snow.

I'm so sorry Livviekins!

Here is Alex who hit a HUGE jump on his first run down the hill!

We Cheered so loud!

Way to go Alex!

Olympic Bobsled Champ 2022!

And As Always!

Mr. Bean!

Looking handsome and smiley!

He sure has gotten super good at sledding, going down the hill all by himself!

GO Hunter GO!

Lastly, Hunter was so exhausted by the end of our sledding adventure that he passed out IN the wagon on the walk home. We live 2 blocks from the park and Hunt was asleep before we even got a 1/4 of a block from the park!

LOL!

I laughed so hard when I saw him like this.

Funniest thing I've seen in WEEKS!

My Winter Boy!

This is my newest Favorite picture of Hunter Bean. We went Sledding on Saturday.

Crepes for Dinner!

We made crepes for dinner the other night and Hunter fed himself. For the first little bit he was just sucking the strawberries and whipped cream off of the crepe bits and then throwing them on the floor, but eventually he figured out that those were yummy too.

Phoenix at 10 weeks

Tea for Daddy

This is a Cute little email story my Momma sent me that I thought I should share. It made me laugh so hard, and I hope it does the same for you.

ONLY A MOTHER WOULD KNOW.....~ One day my mother was out, and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room reading the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and she watched him drink it up. Then she said, (as only a mother would know), "'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

Knew Knitting Knicities!

Ok I agree, The alliteration above is a bit much! But I LOVES my new knitting bag!
My momma made it for me for christmas to match the needle roll that she made me a few months ago!!!!

Phoenix Autumn Ross

On November 10th I went to the OBGYN for my 38 week check up. Once again my Blood pressure was extremely high and the Doc's were not happy. Dr. Steed decided on that Tuesday morning that it would be best to have a C - section as soon as possible to ensure that the baby was safe. He called the hospital and booked an OR for that Thursday at 2 pm. We were scheduled! I called my mom as I left the Doctor's office to tell her when the baby would be coming. She was going to fly out and spend some time with us once she arrived. (Funny how we say once the baby "arrived" as though it hadn't already been with us for the last 9 1/2 months, he he he). I told my mom that we were going to be having another c section on Thursday. She told me that Thursday was actually my Gramma's birthday! That was awesome! It also happened to be my friend Kyle's birthday as well. Early in the month I had been complaining to Kyle how I wanted the baby OUT! and that I was totally sick of being pregnant. He said I should just wait and have the baby "next Thursday" as though I had ANY control over it at all. Well, Happy Birthday Kyle!
I tend to be kinda spacey some times, so here I am drinking coffee and sharing oatmeal with Hunter first thing in the morning the day of my surgery. TOTALLY forgetting that I needed to have an empty stomach for at least 12 hours PRIOR to major surgery. When I told Nana that I had coffee and oatmeal she laughed and asked if I had forgotten that I was having the baby that day. I said no, that I had just forgotten I wasn't supposed to eat after midnight, as if I was a gremlin. It wasn't the end of the world though. The anesthesiologist just put the surgery back 2 hours so there was no chance that I would die during the operation.

4 pm they had Dave and I put on our scrubs and head down to the OR!

It was the same operating room that I had my C - Section for Hunty in. It was a very strange feeling to be back in that room but this time around I was more cognitive of the events going on around me. The last experience I had in that room was fairly traumatic and I really wasn't aware of what was going on. Major surgery is a scary, scary event! Iodine and BP monitors, drapes and nurses, anaesthesiologists and machines that go ping! "Your blood pressure will drop rapidly and you may feel like vomiting." David and his teary blueberry eyes! Not knowing if I was ever gonna make it up off the table. Three people PUSHING on my abdomen, heaving on my chest and stomach, "encouraging" the baby to come out. And Doctor Gibbons - "ohh, Did you know it was a girl?" Me - "IS IT A GIRL?!" Yes! Tears! The feeling of Joy, the feeling of Relief in my body to no long be pregnant! Numbness! Happiness! And David is there with me! And now I just want to hold her! and where is my Little boy?!

To make a long story short, so as not to bore you, Phoenix Autumn Ross was born at 4:57 pm November 12th, weighing 6 lbs 2 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches long!

If I have one word of advise to anyone who is pregnant, it is "READ THE CHAPETER ON C-SECTIONS! Even if you think you have no intentions of having a c-section, read that chapter! You NEVER know what could happen!"

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!

Well, I apologise profusely for my complete disregard for the blog. I have been rather busy. I have also had to disable anonymous commenting as I have been receiving some bizarre spam. I hope no one has accidentally ordered a Russian bride.
Now the reason for my resumed blogging is all thanks to Dave! Once again he has come to my rescue. We have cleaned out the kitchen and my computer was moved down to the little nook in the kitchen between the living room and the dining room. Now I can watch Hunter and not have to worry about him destroying things while I am on the computer. This will give me the opportunity to spend a few more hours a week online, updating my blog, posting pictures and doing some of the other online activities I used to enjoy! Farmville here I come!

So Welcome back Blog Buddies! I hope you are still reading.

October in Calgary

Ya Ya!

Laugh it up!

But it was plus 14 on the weekend and all the snow is gone now!

I Love Chinooks!

The Bean and the Big Boy Bed!

:'( What a big boy!
He's Gonna be going off to college soon!

He sleeps pretty good now in his new bed with very few problems.

Now when he wakes up, he just gets out of bed and destroys his room!

And I can lay in bed and listen to him play from down the hall, instead of listening to him shout

"Mommy I'm awake! Get me out of bed!"

Day 12 of 31 for 21!

Ugh! No time to post about the fabulous dinner last night. We are off to Rocky Mountain House this morning to have Thanks Giving with Dave's family at his Sister's house. I love hanging out with Dave's sister and brother in law and Sam is super excited to see his cousins. I will post pics of both Turkey Dinner Festivities tomorrow when there is more time. For now we are out the door!

Day 11 of 31 for 21!

THE TURKEY IS IN THE OVEN!

The Yams are whipped and topped with Marshmellows, awaiting their return to the oven.

The squash is squashed and back into it's pretty shell.

The apple pies were made last night and are also waiting their turn in the oven!

The bird was stuffed to the nines with Dave's fabulous stuffing.

The Cheese veg are mixed and in line as well.

Now to get the house clean, the kitchen clean, the baby clean, my self clean and shiny.... SO MUCH TO DO! And I just wanna sit on the couch!

Thanks Giving is Awesome, But So much work!

Day 9 of 31 for 21!

So... On Thursday My GF Christine and I went to the toddler gym with the kids. We Met up with another friend of ours there as well. It's just some gym time for the little guys at the Cardel Place Rec centre. They set up a bouncy Obstacle course, a little rebounder for the kids to jump on, basketball, loads of balls, a slide and all kinds of stuff for the kids to do. It's nice to get them out of the house and playing with some new kids. Socializing, I suppose one would call it.

I put Hunter in the Bouncy Castle and then realized, after he got all the way to the back and couldn't get back out, that I EXCEED the weight limit and also am 8 months pregnant, which was breaking another bouncy castle rule. So I had to get my friend Alisha to crawl in after Hunter. All the way to the end. Over and under and around! Rescued! Phew! I laughed the whole time. So did Hunt.

Later, after the Chil'ens was all tuckered out, Christine and I walked over to the Superstore to look at snow suits for Hunt. He still FITS into the one from last year, but he can't exactly WALK in it as it is meant for babies that don't yet walk. The feet are all zippered up. He basically just does the Maggie Simpson star fish in it when ever I put it on him.

We found a really nice winter jacket/snow pant combo for him there that was only 39$. The snow pants have removable booty covers and the jacket has a removable hood and removable mitts. It's is really nice and warm and I am very happy with it.

We also found something else. I was hesitant to share this, seeing as it's not TIME yet, and I will be spoiling the surprise but !!!! I can't help it. He is so Gawsh Darned Cute (as Nana would say).


So Here it is!

IT WAS THE ONE AND ONLY TODDLE TURTLE COSTUME AT THE SUPERSTORE!!!

When Christine found it, I was so excited I nearly peed! Then we got to looking at the costume and realized that the head piece was missing. So we ransacked the hangers and shelves looking for either another turtle costumer WITH a hat or the missing hat that perchance had fallen off. We looked EVERYWHERE. It was no where to be found. I was ready to Weep! Then I saw a pile of boxes. Boxes that looked like a mishmash of costume parts. Random masks and head pieces, gloves and wigs. I ripped through those boxes so fast. And LOW AND BEHOLD!!!! THE TURTLE HEAD!!!! He he he. Then we found a fitting little Pj Jumper that was the right colour to go underneath and TADA! Best costume ever!

Day 8 of 31 for 21!

I can't seem to keep up to this blog!

Well, we had some left over crab and a few left over shrimp. Roughly 1 whole crab didn't get devoured the night before so I used some creative energy and made Crab and Shrimp stuffed mushroom caps.

Sooo...

1 1/2 bricks of cream cheese

1 whole crab

20 cooked deveined shrimp

Garlic Plus (from Costco)

Worcestershire

Lemon Juice

Parmesan Cheese

Mix to taste!

Mash into Mushrooms!

OM NOM NOM NOM!!

I'll let you know how they came out later.