Her reaction was priceless… WOW that is beautiful! I’m not a Baker at all, I love to cook but baking isn’t something that’s comes natural to me..However I’ve taken baby steps and the reaction from my kids has been amazing, really makes a mama feel good!!!
The Birthday Girl
We had so much fun yesterday! Thankful to her friends and our family who could make it to celebrate with us!
Happy Brithday To Our Sweet Princess! {5 years old!}
I cannot believe that 5 years ago today, at this exact time I had been up all night the previous night and was just finally starting to ease off of my baby high thinking I probably should get some rest. Dad had come down to the hospital and took hubs out for dinner – to bring me back Chicken Parm of course and gave the lil lady and I some quiet t ime. Missing my own mom, who for a couple weeks could only see our princess through photos – yup thats what happens when you have shingles 😦
Ah the trials and tribulations this sweet girl has put upon us in her childhood as she has grown from our wee princess peanut into the beautiful young girl she is today. The day she was born our family truly was complete. I could not have been blessed more with two beautiful and healthy children, a mere bonus that we were blessed with both a boy and girl. Even today people still remind us we have the “millionaire family”, nah money might be a great way to describe or live life for some people, thankfully not us. Having been through infertility, I was thrilled to even have kids. Most likely why I am such a photo crazed mama-ratzzi with the camera capturing every and all moments of the kids. Thankful for them as they have been growing Im not as crazed 😉 Everyday is an adventure with you, some moments of frustration, many moments of pure bliss!
My sweet girl… you truly are a perfect blend of your daddy and me, leaning more to my side. I love your creative, energetic personality, the way you love to crank up the music and dance all through the house, how you can bring happiness and fun to any moment or situation, the relationship you have with your brother how you can mother him and be his best bud, how you care so deeply for those in your life – family, friends and animals, the way you embrace new situations, how you can make us laugh, your snuggles when mommy is feeling down, your geniuine kindness, your amazing curls – even your auntie Erin wishes she had those.
Especially the way both you and your brother have taught your daddy and I about what life truly is all about.
Life is not perfect, we’ve been through our share, however one thing remains constant throughout our days, months and years and that is our love for each other. Our love for our family and the importance that for your Daddy and I we can honestly say we appreciate so much more as parents ourselves.
I am SO excited to celebrate YOU this weekend with our family and your friends!
A flash back to when you joined our family… and tonight. Both photos of course with her blankey!
See… our sweet Miss you really do have 5 year old feet 😉
Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!
10 things I miss about life before kids | Today’s Parent
10 things I miss about life before kids | Today's Parent.
Haha what a seriously funny and fitting thing to read the early morning of our daughters 5th birthday!
I got a great laugh reading through these 10 things… in my own opinion 10 very exaggerated things.
Having children does drastically change your life, in many crazy ways both good and bad… ah heck good, bad, crazy, hectic, messy, deafening at times… but the most amazingly rewarding experience. I wont lie my life after kids is far from perfect, most mornings are crazy hectic, some evenings I cannot wait to have a few moments of peace, I would love to have an organized home everyday of my life but I dont…
But on a day like today, where we celebrated our daughters 5th birthday, yeah life is crazy at times, yes hubs and I crave alone time together and most times when we do have the opportunity to go away just us once or twice a year by the 2nd day we are missing our kids/life hardcore.
Today we celebrated our sweet girl, minor in comparison to what is to come on Saturday with her friends and a lot of our family! As I sit here and type this blog post, having edited some of the photos tonight of our miss, almost in disbelief that she is 5 years old… Ah I do not for a second miss my life before kids. Sure it was easier on days I might wake up with a hang over, ah those days are far and few between now and haha when they do happen, remind me of why they shouldn’t ha! Having a nice long hot shower now, yup may mean the quiet house is being schemed in, as they are getting older its easier to stay in for a few extra minutes. Time in my office editing is less, however being outside having fun with the kids and family is so much more!
Its amazing all these new stages and phases we enter into as the kids grow, how them telling me – no mommy I will do it is a slight jolt to my heart that yes they are growing up. Sure we have to work that much harder for things we want to do or purchase, ah all that does is make us appreciate those experiences or things that much more.
For someone who has always been a night hawk though… even though its been 6.5 years of motherhood, I still am not an early riser by any means 😉
The Patriots Do Us Proud | Mount Forest Patriots Jr C Hockey Team
Our 1st weekend since September we did not have a Pats game… I won’t lie it was nice to be able to kick back and relax, but of course we do miss the hockey action. This past week our local Mount Forest Confederate newspaper has a Feature on the team, starting with a letter to the editor by Chris Clark, the sports man!
The 4 page feature was awesome! Recognition the team deserves and needs!
(I missed the first two lines on the pages before, my bad!)
Now that hockey is over, which in the past few winter months has been a lot of my photography, spring fever is setting in! I cannot wait to get outside in some awesome warm light and get shooting 🙂
I did get to burn off some photo energy after our good friend and I kicked our hubby’s assessment in euchre and they had to take the kids saucers for a trip down the lil hill haha! Those poor sore men of ours 😉
We may have missed hockey this weekend but our lil man played and we enjoyed some much needed time with friends, who are more like family! This month for the camera club is Angles… I’m excited to play with this challenge inside and out!
Some of my favourite PATS photographic angle shots…
Jr C may be over but our lil man still has a few weeks left!
Planning for a princess party!
It’s almost hard to believe that our little girl’s 5th birthday is coming to up!!!
It’s huge excitement in our house and I’m actually ahead in my planning this year 😉 Lots of pink princess decorations have been bought, a few more to still pick up, very excited to meet some of her new school friends, see some of her “old school” friends and of course our family!
Lucky for our lil sweetie is that it’s not just her birthday party, the weekend is very much for her and spending as a family. Hopefully it all goes smooth, lol knowing me I’ll be stressed about getting things just right and worrying about keeping all the kids busy, making way too many snacks, heck we all know excited girls do not eat much lol and then my moment to shine and truly enjoy as I’m not a baker, or a decorator, but I shine behind my camera and I am so excited to capture of lil lady’s special celebration 🙂
Which of course will be ended with a well deserved glass of wine lol!
The weather we have now with the beautiful snow falling down, was almost like it was 5 years ago ensuring we could leave the hospital exactly at 24 hours and drove home in crazy snow, lol small town living at its best!
Any PRINCESS party ideas? I would love to hear…
One of those days, when everything fits, or does it?
It doesn’t happen everyday, sometimes not every week, but you know that feeling when everything seems to just fit. That was my day today. Extra thankful that hubs was able to take our boy to hockey practice and then meet my family at the arena. A day where everyone woke up well rested, happy and we all got out the door on time. A day where I felt and was very productive at work with things taken care of. Where even after two kids sports I could still take 2 children to pick up some groceries peacefully. Being able to prepare our home made pizzas for dinner while the Littles prepared themselves for bed after showers. To eat happily with my children and snuggle up for a book together. Tucking our babies into bed and heading up to my office to download and edit the photos from this past weekends big Patriots games, enjoying my pvr’d Young & The Restless, lunches prepared in the fridge… And blogging from bed.
A day where everything fits? Or a dose of reality. Because this doesn’t happen everyday. So why is it a dose of reality.
1. Hubby isn’t home as he has school bright and early in KW tomorrow… I can never get to sleep in good time when he isn’t home. When he isn’t home I always become sappy and typically pictures are involved 😉
2. Our babies are growing up. So. Fast.
Many moments of frustration, stress or walking through a cluttered hall will all matter in some way differently to each parent. As a parent who personally suffered from Infertility, each moment forward we make with them, each challenge that is not taught but navigated through together, it seriously reminds me just how lucky I am to have them. As a mother who still has and feels the physical pain of infertility, I can become a sentimental sap just thinking of how thankful I am. Thinking of a couple parenting/children frustrations we’ve been dealing with for many months now, I can finally see the light, wow its refreshing!
That is what a day like today does, as I lay here thinking that life has certainly not been easy, we’ve most definitely has our share of ups and downs, trials and tests, but it’s all led us to where we are today.
Now for it to hopefully continue tomorrow… I must get some sleep 😉
It’s been a very long time, very long, but really have I ever felt this content and able to enjoy life, to truly enjoy our kids, with all of the happiness and stress that comes with it?
I honestly don’t think I have, it’s been a long time coming, it feels good. Life sure is not perfect, I’m most likely jinxing myself for a morning from he’ll tomorrow 😉 Ah well. Today I earned it.
The Pink Dress [Your Angel Is Always Watching Over You]
I received an email early this week that has been circulating around. Reading it gave me goosebumps and I wanted to share.
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The Pink Dress
There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park.
Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad.
Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat And watched the people go by..
She never tried to speak.
She never said a word.
Many people passed by her, but no one would stop.
The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see If the little girl would still be there.
Yes, she was there, right in the very spot where she was Yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes
Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl.
For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone.
As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl’s dress.
It was grotesquely shaped.
I figured that was the reason people just passed by and made no Effort to speak to her.
Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different.
As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to Avoid my intent stare.
As I approached her, I could see the shape of her back more clearly.
She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form.
I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.
I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, ‘Hello’
The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a ‘hi ‘; after a long stare into my eyes.
I smiled and she shyly smiled back.
We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty.
I asked the girl why she was so sad.
The little girl looked at me with a sad face said, ‘Because, I’m Different…’
I immediately said, ‘That you are!’; and smiled.
The little girl acted even sadder and said, ‘I know.’
‘Little girl,’ I said, ‘you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent.’
She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and Said, ‘Really?’
‘Yes, you’re like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all the people walking by.’
She nodded her head yes, and smiled.
With that she opened the back of her pink dress and allowed her Wings to spread, then she said ‘I am.’
‘I’m your Guardian Angel,’ with a twinkle in her eye.
I was speechless — sure I was seeing things.
She said, ‘For once you thought of someone other than yourself.
My job here is done’..
I got to my feet and said, ‘Wait, why did no one stop to help an Angel?’
She looked at me, smiled, and said, ‘You’re the only one that could see me,’ and then she was gone.
And with that, my life was changed dramatically.
So, when you think you’re all you have, remember, your angel is Always watching over you.
Like the story says, we all need someone…
And, every one of your friends is an Angel in their own way.
The value of a friend is measured in the heart.
I hope your Guardian Angel watches over you always.
Mount Forest Patriots Jr C – SEMI FINAL PLAYOFF’s
These next 2 games are extremely important!
As the team photographer I am SO proud of these boys!
At various times during the games I capture both the game and the boys and coaches, trainers etc on the bench… its intense, its encouraging, its truly for the love of the game! Hearing the boys talk each other up, encouraging words, cheers, its amazingly uplifting and I am SO proud to be a part of it!
We would love for you to join the fans to cheer on the Mount Forest Patriots!
On behalf of the Patriots I would also like to extend my own thanks to all the Sponsors! We have two three sponsors who have very genorously donated prizes for tomorrow nights games.
Coburn Insurance of Mount Forest – Donated 2 $25 gift certificates for restaurants in Mount Forest!
Pike Lake Golf Course – 3 sets of a pair of Green Fee’s – one pair to be given out during each period!
WW Electric – Thermos and Lunch box!
And… as much as my dad (Jamie McLellan) does not want recognition at all, I have to give him props for the unbelievable amount of time he has put into this team for the years he has been involved and especially these past two years. He truly is someone I look up to and admire simply for this dedication and amazing business knowledge. Even though every minute he spends working for the team in any way, he is doing it entirely as a volunteer and for the community! He stepped up when the team was near the end, he has dedicated many long nights, has spent a lot of time to gain sponsors and get things organized. I am SO thankful now that the team has made it into the Playoff’s to see the smile on his face and gratitude towards the community for their support during these past (intense) few weeks. Of course as much as dad does put in a lot of time, so does the rest of the executive, who also are extremely appreciated and Cherie and Mike Noble have been involved since the beginning, as well as Heather and Stu – so greatly appreciated and have been involved for years!
This team is FOR the community.
Tonight in Walkerton 830 pm… fans be sure to dress warm! Its coooold in the Walkerton Arena
Wear green to support the team Saturday night back at home 8pm in Mount Forest!
We would also like to thank Derek Bridgewater for providing trivia questions and a ticket giveaway on the Mount Forest Minor Hockey website!
For some extra exposure for the sponsors… thank you!!!
For anyone wondering or interested in being a part of the Mount Forest Patriots team I would be happy to pass on your info or tell you some of the logistics…
1. The Mount Forest Patriots Hockey Team is a NOT For Profit – which means there is zero profit made by anyone. Its not about that, its about a community sports team.
2. The team operation relies entirely with financials through sponsors and game admission. Expenses for the team can be quite large with Referee’s (many games there are 4), Ice, Equipment, Plumeroom rental, and more…
3. Everyone that helps out with the Patriots hockey team are all extremely dedicated volunteers.
4. The Mount Forest Patriots Jr C Hockey Team has been playing since 1986. I personally remember spending many weekends in high school at the games.
5. We are always looking for more truly dedicated, giving, energetic, people to join the executive and/or sponsor listing. For those who would like to help out there… must work together as a team 😉
A moment of silence with respect and love
A moment of silence in honour of a life lost this past week RIP Steven Hutchison. I never knew you, however you were so loved and if this tragedy can save someone else from mental illness that would be a blessing. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
