Amazement and Awe

Amazement and Awe – that is what I was feeling.

Today is the RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER. A 200km ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls. To participate, you have to agree to raise $2500 for the ride. If you have not raised the money, you will not be able to ride, or you will have to put the remainder of the money in yourself.

My sister decided last year to take on this challenge. As with most things, she does, there is no half way. It is all or nothing and she goes for the gusto.

Last July when she made the decision that she was going to do take on this challenge, she went out and bought a road bike, special shoes, a helmet, riding clothes, gloves and whatever else she was going to need to do this properly.

She started training and figuring out how to ride with her feet attached to the pedals. She set up a trainer in her basement for the winter so she could still use her bike. While at the same time she was thinking of ways to raise money. She was talking to her friends and family. She was sending e-mails and Facebook messages. She was organizing a garage sale from August 2009 to be held in May 2010. She made flyers, magnets and posters.

She started riding outside again in the spring. She would train on her days off doing rides, learning about hills and building her stamina. She progressively was able to do longer and longer rides.

Today was the test!

This morning at 6:20am, Husband was driving Sister and her friend downtown to the starting line. Their bikes had already been dropped off the night before. There was breakfast, team meetings and the opening ceremonies.

The ride started at 8:30. At about 9:30, Husband, mom and I headed to the ‘cheering station’. It is a part of the route that was designated for ‘cheering’ on the riders. We got there and found a spot at about 9:45am. As we were walking to the edge of the road and the cyclists were pedaling by us in droves, I was in AWE. The sight is something to be seen. It actually brought a tear to my eye as well as mom and Husbands eyes. I think my mouth was agape in amazement. It was really quite a sight seeing all those people peddling away.

We stood there and clapped at every single rider that passed us. There were 4000 people signed up for the ride. FOUR THOUSAND!!!! We stood there for over an hour cheering and clapping and supporting those who chose to do this.

Sister came by the cheering station and I had more tears in my eyes – as I do again as I write this – I am so incredibly proud of her – for so many things – making a decision, sticking to it, following through, going outside of her comfort zone and putting her body through to in the hopes of being able to help those who have been stuck by this terrible disease.

WAY TO GO SISTER!! I have never been so proud of you!!! We will be waiting for you and cheering for you as you cross the finish line!

The Kids

Friday night we had the pleasure of having our niece and nephew overnight!

When we have them over, we try and do a fun activity with them. Friday was no expectation. We had craft night!

I wanted to share with you how exceptionally talented they are!! We provided a canvas and LOTS of materials so that they could hang their masterpieces up in their rooms.

Photo one is from Logan - he is just about 6 years old. Unfortunately this photo does not do the artwork any justice. You can't see the details of the gems in the sky, the sea shells on the doors, etc. - However - if you click on the picture, you should get a larger version.



Photo two is from Saige - she is just about 3 years old.



What budding artists do we have here???

Catching up!

On Saturday Mark and I attended a family BBQ. What a beautiful day and an excellent time! It is always a good time when we all have the opportunity to spend time together. We played horseshoes as a family and had a riot! What made it even better was that Brad - my partner - and I WON THE TOURNAMENT!!! How exciting was that!! Last year we were the runners up, but this year we took home the trophy!

WE ROCK!!

The troublemakers!

Measuring out the point

My Mom!

Watching the match

Family shot!

Action shot by Mom!

Sunday was a beautiful day spent in Niagara on the Lake. Every time I go there, I forget how pretty it is! Mark and I participated in a potluck picnic lunch with Dolores & Shawn, Nic & Tim, and our organizers Rhonda and Josh.

We were a bit worried at the start of the day. Mark and I found everyone and went to park our car. We unloaded and we walking towards the picnic site. Well there was an ADULT and his kid (say about 18) horsing around - perfectly acceptable in a park. However, they were not paying attention and as Mark and I were walking one of us on each side of the cooler and a bag in our other hand, they basically ran into Mark. I should say that we were also on a 'hill' at the time. Well down went Mark, over went the cooler and mud was a pile we made.

What a MESS! All our ice and the water from the melted ice went everywhere. Since he went down in the dirt, we had INSTANT MUD!! EVERYTHING was covered in mud. Our potato salad container broke and I was ready to scream and turn around and go home. I was so pissed at these guys.

HOWEVER - the day only went up from there! After a GREAT picnic, we took a wander around the town and then down to the lake. The weather could not have been more perfect!

To top off the already wonderful day - there were presents. I was shocked. I was not expecting this! Do you all remember when Rhonda was talking on her blog about how she ordered something from New Zealand but she wasn't revealing what she had purchased...Well she had purchased something for PUMPKIN! Check out this picture. It is ADORABLE!! This wonderful little 'pumpkin' toque - I LOVE IT!!! Thank you so much Rhonda for this EXCELLENT gift!

And then as if that wasn't enough, Nicole MADE us this wonderful print. It is stunning! The picture doesn't do it justice. It is a representation of our blog with the pumpkin in the lap of the lady. I just don't have the words...
Thank you so much Nicole. You have a wonderful talent and I thank you for sharing it with us. I can't wait to put it up on the wall.

You will have to check out Dolores' and Rhonda's blogs too as they were also lucky enough to receive this great gift!

Another EXCELLENT weekend!

The Tournament

Last night, Mark and I went to Jenn (Mark's Jenn) and Paul's for dinner and a Wii. Tournament that is!! Also in attendance was Leslie. You might remember that Leslie was the one who sent me the CUTEST quilt square!

We also got to make our own 'players'. That was cool - I made myself as SKINNY HOT CHICK IN A BLUE DRESS!! What a FUN night we had. We bowled, we played tennis, we did cow racing and shooting! What a riot!

I forgot my camera, but I took some pictures with Jenn's camera - I will post them later. I have to wait for her to send them to me.

So much laughing and jumping around we did!

It was WONDERFUL to meet Leslie and thanks the Jenn & Paul for the great night!

Thank you's all around!!

It started out as any other day. The alarm going off, me getting out of bed and getting ready for work. Mark getting ready for work too.

Like some days, Mark leaves water on the bathroom floor after his shower. Many times I walk in the bathroom in my sock feet - getting ready to leave for work and step in this water...

Today was no exception. Today I hadn't put on my socks yet and was in bare feet (can you be IN bare feet???). I walked up to the sink to brush my teeth and was quietly cursing Mark under my breath. AGAIN he left water on the floor and I stepped in it.

I quickly grabbed the shower floor towel (??) and placed in on the water on the floor so that it would be absorbed and didn't think about it again until...I started feeling water dripping on my foot. Hmmm - water dripping on my foot can't be a good thing.

I finished brushing my teeth and opened the cupboard under the sink and there was DEFINITELY more then a drip that came out on me!!

This is what I discovered:




The drain pipe in the bathroom sink had come disconnected! How the heck does that happen?? In the picture on the right, you can see my pen that I put down the drain to confirm it all! Very scientific of me!!

So this has all happened before 6:30am!!

I waited until the appropriate time had passed and I called Phil - He is just amazing!!

I came home from work today and this is what I discovered:



A brand new - WORKING - drain pipe!!!

THANK YOU PHIL!!!!

Also today when I got home from work, there was a package for me. Inside was this and a CD:



HOW CUTE IS THAT!!!! Thank you so much Nicole for the wonderful gift!! We are going to have one rockin' kid!! I LOVE IT!!!

Music on CD to be reported on later!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

What a great day today is/was!!

Mother's Day

I was a little worried about Mother's day this year - as you would have guessed from a previous post. I needn't have worried! Mark and I had a great day!

The day started out by me coming downstairs to a LOVELY daisy plant from my honey! He is just ALWAYS there for me!

There wasn't much time to dwell during the day anyway. We were up and out of the house pretty early to go to Mark's parents to wish them - well his Mom - a Happy Mother's Day! We had a little beverage and a snack and we were off.

We were home and preparing for my mom & Phil to come for lunch. We had fajitas - YUMMY!! It was a wonderful visit!

After some clean up and dishes, it was off to stop number three of the day. We arrived at Hortense's for a lovely visit.

Mark and I are so lucky to have 3 mother's to share such a wonderful day with!

Mark - the thoughtful one

My husband is such a cutie. He is so giving and thoughtful...

Yesterday I was cleaning up my e-mail and I discovered an 'e-receipt' for a donation I had made to the Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart in support of Dolores' riding.

Well we are currently out of ink in the home printer and I had not gotten around to buying a new cartridge. I didn't want to forget about the receipt again so I forwarded the receipt to Mark at work for him to print it out and to get him to add it to our ongoing tally of donations that we have made.

I didn't think about it again.

Then today I was at work and Mark sends me - what I thought - was the receipt that I sent him. It was not. It was the receipt for the donation that he had made towards Dolores' Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart. He is so thoughtful that his first thought when he saw that I had made a donation was that I wanted him to also make a donation and he did!

How sweet and thoughtful is he!!

The Kids...

Friday night we had the opportunity to have Logan and Saige overnight. What a great day for it too. The weather was fantastic! We went to McDonalds for dinner and then to playland. We didn't stay too long because it was so beautiful outside we wanted to take advantage of it.

Poor little Saige was walking up the steps to a little cubby hole thing in McDonalds and didn't 'duck' before she stuck her head in. She hit her head hard enough that it flung her backwards down the stairs. Thank goodness I was standing right there and I LUNGED to grab her, threw out my back, but she didn't hit her head! She screamed for a couple of minutes and then wanted to get back to playing! I must say, she healed quicker then I did.

As I said, we were off to the park pretty quickly after that! We had so much fun! The kids never stopped running around - which was the point!

Here are some photos of our time at the park and also my first experiment with the videos. I have tried two different venues for posting them. Please let me know which one you like better for future clips.


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


















After our time at the park and the walk home, the kids were exhausted and DIRTY - but I am pretty sure the slide are clean as all the dirt was now on their butts! Then it was time for a bubble bath. Again they had a good time in the tub. Time for pj's and a story and out they went.

It was interesting because we had Logan and Saige sleeping in the same bed - it was a first for both of them. Saige is too big (and doesn't want to) to sleep in the portable play pen and I didn't want to leave either one of them unattended in the computer room that also houses our files, tv, my make up etc. We were prepared to be up for a quite a while while they played and talked and laughed, but they were so tired, they were out in less then 5 minutes.

In the morning it was time for pancakes and a short walk before mom came and picked them up.

They are such a joy and we love spending time with them!

Busy Saturday

Mark and I, once again, had a busy weekend...well really just a busy Saturday.

We started out by going to Mom and Phil's to celebrate Tracey's birthday. Mom and Phil have been away and this is the first weekend that we could all get together for her birthday lunch. We had a great afternoon with lots of laughs! Here are some shots of the day!

Madison
Josh








We came home for a quick change and then we were out the door again to meet up with Rhonda and Josh, Dolores and Shawn and Heather and John! Heather and John were in town all the way from New Jersey! It was so wonderful to meet them and spend time with everyone.

Rhonda made the reservations and asked for a round table - as it is easier to talk to everyone and there was going to be 8 of us. The lady on the phone asked if we were having a meeting and Rhonda said - 'Something like that'...well we ended up with a PRIVATE dining room!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!! It was wonderful! We had doors at the end of the room that were closed and it was private and we could be loud and not disturb everyone else.

And we talked, and we talked and we talked! We arrived at the restaurant at 7:00 and didn't leave until 12:15!!! We closed the place! We were the last table in there. I am sure the staff were hoping that we would leave so they could go home!


There were also presents! Heather and John brought the ladies a present. The first is a key chain with a little shovel so that we can 'dig our own hole to China' and the second it is a mug with our blog header on it! How cool are BOTH of those gifts!! We were all stunned when we opened them! Thank you so much Heather and John for the VERY thoughtful gift!


Then there was a gift from Dolores - We had already received a gift from Dolores before and she was giving us another one. We are very lucky to have these wonderful people in our lives. From Dolores we received a beautiful bracelet and necklace in a very pretty bag! Thank you Dolores and Shawn for the VERY pretty gifts - you MUST stop giving them though...

I had a gift for Heather however it was left at our front door...It will be in the mail next week Heather!

The Weekend in Review

Once again Mark and I had a very busy weekend. We are very lucky to have such a wonderfully large family and the opportunity to spend time with them.


Friday was Saige's (our niece) 2nd birthday. We all gathered at Jenn (Mark's Jenn) and Paul's house for Saige's birthday dinner.









Jenn has asked if I could make a cake for the celebration. I thought I would surprise her and try a 'special' cake! Well she was surprised. I actually surprised myself as I have never made a cake like this before! I think it turned our pretty good if I do say so myself!! Mind you, it took about 1 1/2 longer then I anticipated to decorate...not something I am going to do every week!




Here are some other pictures of the day. Saige was MOST impressed with her Dora bandana and wanted to put it on right away. Isn't she just the cutest thing!!















































































Saturday found us visiting Mom and Phil for dinner and a night of card playing! We had a great dinner and a great night was enjoyed by all!

Sunday we were off to Hortense's for yet another dinner!! Didn't I tell you how lucky we are!! We had a great night there and there was more card playing!! Uncle and I even won!!

So far this weekend I have been waking up about 6:00am - WITH NO ALARM! What is with that?? Friday, Saturday, Sunday and this morning I was up that early. I figure that by tomorrow - when I have to set my alarm again - it will be a CHORE to get up that early!!

To top off this wonderful weekend, Mark and I are lucky enough to have today off also. How great it is to have a day at home to get caught up on things when you were out all weekend!

Catching Up...

Last Saturday we celebrated our niece Madison's birthday. She was 5!! Here Madison is modeling the dress up outfit that Mark and I bought for her. We all had a great time at the party and Madison received lots of gifts!

At one point during the party I was helping her put on her "Princess" necklace and she told me that she "was just getting so stylish"!!! I was cracking up! It was just so cute!!

Madison was most pleased to be blowing out her candles!

I am so late in posting this as I forget my camera at Jen's house and I won't get it back until this weekend and I have been waiting for a chance to get pictures from Tracey's camera.

As usual we had a great time and Madison was appropriately spoiled, as a 5 year old should be, by her aunts and uncles!!

I have also updated our quilt site. You can see our updated squares here.

We are up to 44 squares with 56 more to go!! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. You have no idea how special this quilt is going to be with all of the good wishes that we have received for Pumpkin!!

If I have promised you a square and have not sent it, please e-mail me.

Question about Blogger Comments

Tonight my sister Tracey came over. We were talking about the Spring has Sprung post. I asked her if she had read it and she said yes and she said she left a comment.

I said - I didn't get that comment e-mailed to me. We then went to the e-mail to double check and nope there was no comment e-mail there.

We then went to the post itself, and low and behold, there were 4 comments that were on my post that were NOT e-mailed to me.

This concerns me as I don't generally look at my blog the way others do, I usually only see it from behind the scenes and the e-mailed comments.

Now I am concerned that there are many other comments on my blog that I have never read as they were not e-mailed to me.

Has anyone else had this problem? I am thinking I am going to have to do a lot of backtracking to make sure that I have read all the comments that people so wonderfully left for us.

A bit of this and a bit of that

First off I would like to thank Rhonda and Kathy for the wonderful CNY cards. I am a little behind the 8 ball on that one – sorry... What a lovely gesture and it was very much appreciated! Thank you!!

Secondly – Last night we were at Hortense’s and we celebrated Mark’s birthday! We had a GREAT time as usual!! I made cupcakes and we had them in a ‘tree’. Very cool actually!

Thirdly– I have FINALLY updated my 100 Good Wishes Quilt site – you can see it by clicking here. We are at 37 SQUARES!! Only 63 more needed!!

Fourthly - I would like to address Blog Etiquette – if there is such a thing. Should one seek permission to put a link on your own blog to someone else’s blog? When I first started blogging I was doing this, but then I saw that I was on other people’s blogs and they hadn’t asked me (which I am o.k. with) so then I thought I was doing it wrong so I then just added who I “read” to my blog roll. Should one seek permission?

Fifthly - I would like to address that sometimes there is nothing to comment on. What I mean by that is that someone has made a post (generally a wonderful one) and I generally comment, but there are times when I either, don’t agree with what they have posted about, or I can’t think of anything to say to comment on. I sit here and rack my brain to think of something and either someone has already said it, or I just CAN’T think of anything prolific to say. So it is o.k. to read and NOT comment sometimes – though everyone LOVES comments!

Sixthly – about commenting – if there are a bunch of posts, it is o.k. to just comment on the most recent and not comment on all the previous ones – especially if you have been away and there are 165 new posts on your Bloglines account. I know it is o.k. as I can comment where and when I want, but I was just thinking about it out loud.

Seventhly – how do you get that little icon beside your blog in the address line? Like Rhonda has a little maple leaf, Kathy has a heart and C.J. has her little “picture” symbol??

Eighthly – It is always the question of how much to reveal on your blog. I know MANY others have also grappled with this dilemma as many of them have had some negative experiences. There are many things about myself that I don’t reveal on the blog and perhaps never will. But for now, I am happy with the blogging world and it keeps me in touch with SO MANY wonderful women and that (at this point in time) out weighs any negativity with blogging.

Ninthly – If you are not on my blog roll and you would like to be, please let me know as I am going to be doing some blog housekeeping in the near future.

Ottawa!

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Well Mark and I are back in town. We left first thing Saturday morning and flew to Ottawa to celebrate mark’s 40th birthday weekend. What a great weekend we had!! We were picked up at the airport by Mark’s cousin Elizabeth and niece Ashley and went back to their home. We had time to drop our bags, grab a quick bite and then we were off. We headed downtown to go skating on the Rideau Canal. This is something that mark and I have always wanted to do. There were 6 of us – Mark and I, Elizabeth, Ashley, Shannon and Hannah. What a great atmosphere it was down there. There were lots of people, ice sculptures, activities, Beaver Tails, Hot chocolate etc. The sun was shining and we really enjoyed ourselves. HOWEVER – we did discover that skating is NOT our forte!! We did sit down and enjoy a Beaver Tail and a hot chocolate. A visit to Ottawa is just not complete without a Beaver Tail. After skating we went to see the ice sculptures. They were really amazing. I do wonder HOW someone would discover that that was where their talent was.

After our afternoon adventures we made it back to the house. We had time to get ready and the 3 of us headed out to dinner. Elizabeth’s husband Jeff was on a business trip. We really missed him over the weekend – except perhaps when we were skating as he would have made fun of us!

Dinner was at the horse race/casino. We had a wonderful buffet dinner and made our way to the slot machines. Mark and I decided that we were playing with $20 each. I picked the best machine ‘cause in about 10 minutes, my $20 had morphed into $70!! I cashed out!

Sunday was another great day – it was Mark’s birthday party day! We were having a big celebration dinner. Elizabeth and I went out in the morning to pick up some supplies and the day was a realizing one – Just what we needed. We decorated the dining room fit for a 40 year old party dinner and Elizabeth made a FANTASTIC dinner! There was lots of gabbing and laughing! A great party!

Monday was some shopping and Scrabble playing with the girls when they got home from school. I didn’t win:( Ashley was the winner! Another great family dinner followed.

After dinner everyone disbursed. Krystal decided that she wanted to practice the piano. I proceed to the living room to listen. What an INCREDIBLY talented woman she is!! WOW is all I can say. She was playing a BEAUTIFUL song and when she was finished I told her how much I enjoyed it. She told me that she wrote it herself. She then played it again and sung the words that she wrote. I was transported away while listening. I was transported away while listening. It was stunning!

Tuesday morning was HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK day and it was great and relaxing – in the morning.... We had to leave the house at 11:30 to catch our flight. Before we left the house, we checked to see that the flight was on time. Everything SEEMED fine and Elizabeth dropped us off at the airport. But wait…Our flight was CANCELLED! We told the check in lady that we just checked and it was on time – she said it was cancelled 5 minutes ago.

For those of you who don’t know, Ottawa is about a 5 hour drive / 1 hour flight from the Toronto area and there are basically flights every hour back and forth. We were too late for the hour before flight so we got on the hour later flight that was set to depart at 2:00. The flight was PACKED and was late getting away from the gate. Then there was ‘de icing’ and a line up for that and then we FINALLY made it to the runway and HOUR after we pulled back from the gate! We should have already been home by the time we took off. Did I mention it was Mark’s birthday? Not the way he would have chosen to spend it! We made it back to Toronto right smack dab in the middle of rush hour! AAAGGGHHHH!!!

We made it home at 4:55 and were out the door 15 minutes later to be at Mark’s parents for dinner for his birthday...can you say RUSHED!!

PHEW!! We are home safe and sound and now are trying to get ourselves back in order!

Please stay tuned for the Adventures of the Golden Pig – coming soon...

2 Months Down...

Well today marks two months since our LID. I can’t really say that the time has gone fast as it has been 13 months since we started this journey. I know there are MANY more months to go – probably about 20. Accepting it is the hard part...

I know too that every month for a long time, I (along with everyone else) have been keeping my fingers crossed for a speed up. Every month I hope that, and every month, there is NO speed up. I am just going to have to resign myself to the fact that it is going to be another 2 years until our daughter is HERE. That is a very daunting thought.

However, in the mean time, we are CERTAINLY keeping busy. Sunday was Hortense’s birthday dinner. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures. We had a great time – as always – and Hortense got some nice gifts. We ordered in Swiss Chalet and I made a cake and a fruit tray.

Monday we had Dan over for dinner. He is Mark’s cousin’s son and we refer to him as our nephew. He is in College in Toronto. I popped by after work and picked him up and brought him back here for dinner. The weather was quite bad after work yesterday and it took us an hour to get home. This is a drive that would normally take about 20 minutes.

Regardless of the late start, we have a nice evening. Dan is very personable and good company. I didn’t crack out the camera. I didn’t even think of it until Mark was driving him home...Next time!

Tonight is AquaFit with Jenn (Mark’s Jenn). We have had no major ‘incidents’ since 'that time'. I now have a wonderful lock that works EVERYTIME I try it!!