The birthday project for Mom!

Today is my Mom's 60th birthday - (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!)... and what an amazing milestone she has reached.  I remember when I was younger and thinking sixty was old, but now to be in my thirties and have my Mom turning sixty, it doesn't seem old at all! She looks great and now that her and my Dad are both retired, I think they both seem more youthful and relaxed than ever before.

My mom is not an over-the-top person... she is generally easy to please and agreeable, but she does make it known that she is not fond of being the center of attention - at all. With this milestone birthday approaching, I knew she would not want a big surprise party because she is just not that kinda gal, but I didn't want to let the occasion slip by without much mention of it.  After all she is SIXTY, and that deserves some kind of celebration in my (humble) opinion!

About six months ago I stumbled upon a link where a daughter did this fabulous project for her father... and it got me thinking that it was an awesome idea to put in my back pocket for a special occasion in the future.  Well fast forward and although I was in the middle of planning E's birthday party, I thought, what the heck, I think I can pull off 'my version' of the this project too.

So... I took stock of addresses that I had from my wedding folder, and then enlisted my Dad to do some undercover work with my Mom's address book (which thank gawd she still uses the old fashioned pen and paper style book thrown in the junk drawer, my Dad had no problem getting the info I needed). I emailed my invitation lady and got her to whip me up a quick request card informing people what I needed them to do, and BAM! ... I was off and running.

I complied a list of sixty candidates that I thought would be happy to participate and that she'd be happy hear from, if not surprised in some cases.  I located some colourful note cards and envelopes and got my stamping supplies out.  After a few evenings of dedicated prep work, I had sixty cards ready to mail out.

I really wasn't sure exactly how this was going to come together after I dropped the invitations in the mail, but when my Dad was at my house for Thanksgiving, he mentioned that he gets the mail most days, so he could collect the incoming cards as they arrived and save them up until today.  He took this job seriously, and did not disappoint as this morning he was able to present her with a mail bag full of wishes and I know she has enjoyed reading each one.

Thank you to everyone who participated and made this birthday project a total success.

To my Mom... you are a special woman who means a lot me. You are also a special Grandma to my two boys. I am so happy that you continue to play an active and present part in our lives, and I really can't thank you enough for always being at my side no matter what the obstacles or success stories have been. I hope you enjoy this milestone today... and PC, the boys, and I look forward to helping you celebrate many more years of health and happiness.

Love you and miss you.
xo
 

Made with love!

The last two weeks our household has been controlled by the flu bug so I have spent many days at home either being sick myself, or tending to pukey-poopy boys. Needless to say, although we were sick, we were also bored of being sick, and we had a lot of time on our hands, so I decided to break out the paints one day so that E and H could create a couple of pieces for the Grandma's for Mother's Day.

The beauty of these projects is that they didn't break the pocket book, and the results came out pretty good considering the combined age of the to artists is only 4! I got all the canvas' and the wooden hanging plaques at the dollar store (although each piece was more than a dollar - but that's a whole other blog).  The paints we had on hand from some previous projects - put those together with an hour of free time and presto! we had some pretty fun Mother's Day gifts to give two special ladies!

Take a look at the results. They didn't rid us of the flu bug but they definitely put a smile on the faces of Grandma Coleman and Grandma Bellerose - and E and H were pretty pumped about their artistic masterpieces too!

Happy Mother's Day to two of the best Grandmothers in the business!

 

Aliens from .... Embrun!

Sometimes when there is nothing to do, we do some silly things around here! Since E has discovered the photobooth application on our macs, he is all about 'taking those fun pictures'. We had some pretty good laughs over them! They are so many ways photobooth can distort your face - its actually scary, and at times a good motivator to eat well and exercise!

Here is a sample of our silly creations. Don't worry, no one was harmed during the making of these masterpieces!

 

Cupboard Organization

This post would be so much more effective if only I had taken a before shot of the state of my cupboards ...but my mother and a few close friends can definitely attest to that fact that they were awful... as in awfully disorganized, and awfully full of 'stuff' ... none of which went together, and all of which was jammed into these cubby holes our builder refers to as cupboards.

But... give a girl a year off with a baby at home, and 10 months in she'll get a little extra energy and decide to organize the crap out of the cupboards.  I think the 'nesting' energy that I lacked at the end of my pregnancy with H, was maybe held on reserve until now (and NO I am not pregnant again)!

So... in order to get this little project underway, I dropped forty bucks at the dollar store, got 20 little brown square baskets, add in a half day's work and Bob's your uncle!  Plus you get a lifetime of reward - as long as I don't overflow the baskets and start jamming shit on top of them. But for now... let's just sit back and admire!

I know I know... the working world is thinking, perhaps its time to get back to the office as I may just have a little too much time on my hands!  Whatever the case... I am loving getting stuff out of my cubby holes now! Let's take a dip mix out... no no, let's put it back in. Cooking is even getting more exciting as I can actually see the trillion Epicure spices I have in my cupboard instead of just the first three I could only view because they were at the front. Before it was a death trap... a small child could have been seriously harmed by a falling object when I went rooting through the cupboard... but now, no need to whip out the hard hats in the danger zone.  It's kid safe, and most importantly functional.

Yes... I'm beaming with excitement over this project! What a difference a little organization can make in your life!

E's First Year Memory Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Over the course of E's first year, I gradually put together a digital scrapbook of the memories PC and I have from that year. For Christmas we gave this gift to both sets of grandparents, and of course have a copy for us, and for E's future wife! A few people have been asking me about it, so I thought I would share it here for your viewing pleasure.