Today Sucked.

Today sucked.

My FB status was as follows:

: I think today should be labeled 'Forget this! I'm going back to bed until tomorrow!' day. Uggggghhh.

That was around 3pm.... Which was an hour after Tyler told me he had been laid off. 

Awesome.

We had been very fortunate that he was able to keep his job at this location for almost 3 years (a month shy)... And for that, I am thankful. We were able to live in our newly built home in Leduc, place the girls into sports, day camps  etc., go on our first major family vacation (Disneyland) for Christmas last year and buy our new home.... (While still having our other as a rental)...


But why did this have to happen..... Now? 

We'll be taking a break from sports for the Winter Session (can you hear my heart breaking? Parent Fail #1).... We will not be throwing Emma the usual extravagant Birthday Party that we normally do (Parent Fail #2... We also missed doing this for Zoë in the Summer... So lets boost that up to #3).... Oh and there's Christmas.

Christmas is my favorite holiday hands down.... I look forward to it all year long.... I secretly get butterflies in my tummy when I think about it during the Summer! But this year there has been a change.... Which is odd.... Was the Universe preparing me for this before I had any clue? Humm....

I pulled out one of  our trees (yes, we have a few) a few weeks ago to set-up..... I did the bottom branches and left it, not fully assembled. In the family room. For a whole week.... Then Tyler came home for his 4 days off and moved it to the storage downstairs so we could host our Movember Party... And it's stayed there. 

I did put a few decorations out... But I'm just not 'feeling it' this year... Boo! 

Do you think we could just.... post-pone Christmas? Would that be so awful? I'm happy to have family and friends over.... Enjoy the company... But do we have to do the gifts? Already we had talked to our girls about cutting back (honestly, Christmas with my family is a full day opening event).... We had them pick a few items they would like on their wish lists, we added a few and then they picked a few Charities to give to... The idea being, if it's not on the list, and you go to buy something else, look at the price tag and give that to one of the Charities. Both girls jumped on board with this, bless their giving hearts! <3 and="and" at="at" awful="awful" be="be" calgary="calgary" day="day" etc="etc" if="if" instead="instead" it="it" sigh="sigh" so="so" span="span" spend="spend" the="the" them="them" to="to" took="took" up="up" warms="warms" we="we" weather="weather" when="when" would="would" zoo="zoo">

Anyhoo.... That's what's up in our household.... I do hope life is a bit more upbeat for all of you! lol I'll take tonight to mope around and then hit the ground running tomorrow.... Until then! 

‎: What a day... Started off rough with Emma; Tyler was laid off and my cell fell screen first into gravel.... Is it bedtime yet??!!

A Quick New Year Update... Part 1

This past year has been a roller coaster at best. At time it felt like the drop of doom while others made you feel like you could fly...

Would I trade it in for a different year? Humm.... Parts of it maybe.

It's been a full year of Tyler working in the field away from home... For most of that year we were on a schedule of 24/4's (24 out and 4 days home).... Just recently (the past few months) we've been on a schedule of 10/4's.... With a random 24/4 here and there. It's been nice to have him home every other weekend.... And the girls have adapted to every schedule without any major issues.

Emma is in Grade 2... What a year! She's one of the stronger readers in her grade, reading at a Grade 4+ level with her writing right behind it. She's creative, fun loving, outgoing and brilliant.... In a book smart kind of way! *L* She likes to know what everyone is doing and why, why, WHY! *L* If she told me today that she was going to be a Lawyer or Judge when she grows up, well.... It wouldn't surprise me. She loves to follow what's right! She's also the one who LOVES jokes! She'll be the first to giggle at one being told and then loves to share it with everyone she knows!

Zoë is in Kindergarten this year and is growing into such a neat little individual. She's finally finding 'herself' this year with a bit of a rocky (not-so-sure-about-all-of-this) start at the beginning of the year.... But now she talks about who she's going to marry when she gets "big like you Mommy!"... *L* She's loving, kind and caring.... Wherever Zoë is an animal isn't too far behind her! I love seeing the moments when she's cuddled up next to our cats (and honestly, one of them is a total scaredy cat!) singing to them.... She also has this neat ability of sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night (without me even noticing until my alarm goes off the next morning!)... She says it's 'because you're lonely ('cause Daddy's not home)!!' Melts my heart!!

As of right now both girls would like to be a 'Horse Trainer, Rider and Vet".... For now though they've settled for Figure Skating Lessons! *L* Emma is currently in Junior and it's been neat to see her grow on the ice... She's doing moves I never thought she would! *LOL* Zoë is currently in CanSkate and seems to like it.... Although she's still not too sure about this 'slippery ice' thing. They both would like to try out Ringette, Soccer (Emma), Basketball & Dance.... As well as some music lessons on the side. I've also noticed (since they were little) that they LOVE to learn new languages!

I myself am very involved in the girls school.... Have been ever since Emma started there in Kindergarten. Currently I am the Chair of the Parents' Association.... And, because so many of you have asked, I'm also involved in:

Hot Lunch (every other Friday)

Workroom Wednesday (on a rotation)

Classroom Rep for Kindergarten (first year not being Emma's!)

Teachers' Appreciation Week

Spring Dance Coordinator

I cut back this year to have more time with my girls as Tyler is away from home more... I'm sure there's more that I'm missing but at this hour (wee hours of the morning) that was all I could think of! *L*

I'm also in charge of the Carnival with the girls Figure Skating Club.... It's the year end show which is proving to try and kick my butt.... *L* I've never done it before and there wasn't a whole lot of information that was passed on to me from previous years so I'm trying my best. We have a rehearsal the day before and the actual show the next day.... There was an awesome turn out last year for it and I cannot wait to see how it all unfolds this year. Currently I am booking costumes, searching for the others, making the schedules and booking a photographer! *LOL*

For my Birthday this past year (2010) I was given an amazing gift.... My Nikon D3000!!! GEEEE!!! I have unbelievable friends and family that love me sooo much!! Before the years end I started up my own photography company called 'Cinnamon Photography'.... So if you're in need of photos, please check me out! I'm on Facebook right now while I work on my web page! :)

I am still working with VIP Event Consultants as a Wedding Coordinator. I love how every client we have is a totally different experience! I've had a blast working here and look forward to the events planned for this year!!

Other then all of that (schedules, classes, meetings, etc.) I'm still a Stay-at-Home Mommy.... I'd love to say that 'I'm loving every moment of it' but usually I'm not.... *L* The girls are starting to really get their own personalities (which I do love) but they don't always mesh well in a houseful of girls! *LOL* For the majority of it though, I do love it. I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything else!

Tyler and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary last July (2010).... Crazy how the time flies by! And true to our crazy lifestyle, Tyler ended up having to be at work away from home so I spent our Anniversary in Jasper with Sarah (one of my best friends and fill in for Tyler! *L*), my girls & Jessica, Kevin and their little girl Juliet! JK&J came all the way from Toronto for a visit and we tried to cram in as much as we could! *LOL* It was an awesome time and I hope to get out to them this Summer!

We're all doing very well and are loving the City we live in. I adore being so close to the country and yet only 15 minutes away from a major City too. The girls are in an amazing school with kind, caring individuals. What more could I ask for??!

We look forward to this upcoming year which seems to be full of weddings (Zac & Amy, Jessica & Kevin... My Mom & Andy), a random reunion (Whoo Hooo!), my 10 year reunion, trips (Greece & somewhere stupidly warm for Christmas!).... and much, much more!

Hope you have an unbelievable New Year.... Make the best of it... And keep us posted!! ;)

Update 2010

Today I fully realized something... I had talked about it to others without thinking much of it... Just trying to 'survive' really.... But tonight, with a rare moment to myself at 12:30am it hit me...

Emma has been sick since October.

We've had a week here and there where she seems healthy but it just seems to be a lay over for the next thing that's about to hit her.

It all started with H1N1. By the time I got her to the Hospital she barely had a heart rate and was lethargic. I did, however, realize that Emma's mind would be one of the last things to go... After the Doctor had tried many times to find her heart rate with that finger heart rate taker and saying to her 'push your finger all the way to the end', she responded without moving a muscle: "I AM!".

That's my girl!

Emma the first night home. She was REALLY sick.

A check-Up at the Hospital. My Mom got creative and drew lips on her mask! *L*

Hallowe'en was spent sticking indoors taking med's all the time. Thankfully a friend from Church stepped up and made us a pizza dinner and candy grab bags for the girls! We were very, very blessed for that!

Emma made, what we thought, a full recovery from H1N1.....

The months that followed we dealt with colds, ear issues, throat issues and a cough that wouldn't let up. I have NEVER given my child so many different drugs in her entire life! Strep throat seemed to be hiding in her body just waiting for her to start to feel better!

The Olympic Torch after party. Didn't know just how sick Emma was! By the end of the night she just laid in this snow pile and couldn't move. Turned out she had the first major round of strep throat in her.

Last month, February, we had an appointment with a Specialist to see if there was something wrong with Emma's throat and/or sinuses. They gave her adrenaline to see if she had asthma... Which, thankfully, she doesn't... A little bit of a 'funny' feeling in her legs was all that proved to come out of that. Her sinuses were a bit swollen but nothing that a nasal spray couldn't clear up.... As for the cough that seemed to have taken up residence in her (honestly, she would get over every illness that hit her and there would still be this cough!).... We found out that Doctor's are still learning more about H1N1. Thinking we were in the clear was way off. Apparently the black showing up in her lungs (x-ray) was still from, you guessed it, H1N1! I guess it can stay in the lungs anywhere from 3-6 months after you're "healed". As well, the specialist called a few days later to say the swab they took of her throat came back.... And "nasty things (were) happening in her throat!'.... Yes, the typical med's they give you to clear up strep throat would no longer work for Emma (although she seemed healed from it!)... She needed the strong med's to kick it out of her.

Yet another trip to the pharmacy (I should get a special rate for being there so often! *L*) for another med...

Emma seemed to recover from her last bout of strep throat pretty well... I was starting to release my breath that I had been holding since the last time... Her snoring had stopped and everything had seemed to go back to normal. We had a final check-up with our family doctor and she gave us the all clear!

Finally! I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel... So close! Emma was feeling good and happy that I didn't 'have to' keep her home from school on some random days.

Not only was I thrilled to see my daughter healthy and happy once again (although I do have to say, Emma is a trooper when sick. She'll tell you up front if something is wrong and she's gotten quite good at explaining the different symptoms going on.... As well, she keeps up with her medicine chart really well!) but I could sleep again! It may sound a bit selfish but I hadn't had a good nights sleep since the H1N1 back in October. I've been getting up multiple times a night just to keep up with her medicine schedules! And my Husband has been working 24/4 schedules... 24 out and 4 in (at home). To say the least, I was getting pretty worn down!

Life seemed... Good, slightly back on track. Last week I ended up with what I thought was a regular cold. Instead it turned out to be bronchitis with a sinus infection and pink eye in both eyes. Awesome. Thankfully my family was able to pick up the girls so I could have a few days rest... And for the first time ever in Emma's school life, I allowed her to skip school and stay an extra night with my family so I could sleep more. If the sinus pain (wanting to rip my eyes out to release pressure was a vision I saw daily) and pink eye didn't suck enough... Coughing until you bruised your ribs, threw out your neck, almost tossing your cookies (from coughing over and over again) and not being able to breathe as your body wouldn't take a second to relax to, well.... breathe sucked twice as much.

I was lucky enough to be prescribed some med's.... The pharmacist informed me that it may make me feel nauseated but that would be normal. I spent the first four days wondering if I was pregnant and why I had this horrible flavour in my mouth... It would wake me up in the middle of the night. For some reason it made my brain think I was hungry... Acid reflux? Huh. Turns out that one of the side effects is 'bad flavour in the mouth'. Nice. Imagine that you held a Tylenol, Advil, whatever powdered pill in your mouth for too long... You know that gross flavor that takes forever to leave? 24/7 here! *L*

Anyways... It's been four and a half days and I finally had enough energy to sit in our living room and read to Zoe while Emma was at school. I'd been in bed all day everyday up to today with the exception of taking Emma to school, feeding the kids, etc. My energy would be done by 9am... When I was only up at 7:30am... Yeah.... Oh! I would like to re-thank the two friends from Church that were kind enough to cook us dinner while I was down for the count. I don't think you'll ever know just how much I appreciate that! Thank you!

But back to Emma. Wednesday morning she wakes me up and informs me that she can't hear out of her right ear. I checked it out and couldn't see anything that stood out as 'wrong'.... So she went on with her day, no pain, no fever.... She went to school, she went to skating.... I had hoped that maybe her ear would pop and let her be able to hear.. A seasonal thing? After skating I drove her to the Hospital where they checked her out. The doctor said it was a bit red inside and handed me a prescription. The catch? I'm only to fill the prescription if she *hopefully* gets a fever and/or ear pain within the next few days. That was it. I wasn't told what to do after those 'days' if those symptoms didn't appear. So I took the prescription (and knowledge of Polysporin drops for the pink eye that seemed to be trying to kick in) and went home.

Thursday Emma still couldn't hear from her right ear. no pain, no fever. As the doctor had put it, 'weird'. I called our family doctor and asked for an appointment ASAP. It's amazing how quickly you can get in when you announce that your daughter has 'no hearing in her right ear, no fever or infection'.... We're booked for (today at) 9am! (And her 'pink eye' went away over night! Phew!)

So *fingers crossed* that everything will work itself out. I suppose I should get some sleep. It's 2am here and we have to be up for 7:30am.

Thank you for taking the time to read my little 'rant' if you stuck around... I haven't been able to blog as much as I've wanted to, and now you all know why. I'm exhausted... Totally, completely exhausted. But it was nice to take some time to finally update everyone on the major stuff that's been going on in our household. Maybe next time I'll be able to write about the 'other' stuff that ties in with the information above.

Have a great day! :)

I Suck.

I'm so sorry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I must apologize to all my fellow bloggers... And my followers....

I have not been keeping up on my blog very well....

Let me give you a very quick update for now....

*The Spring Dance and Silent Auction went extremely well!

*Easter was good.

*It was nice to have Tyler home for three straight days where he was able to sleep for as long as he wanted...

*We were able to squeeze in some 'family time' (between sleep schedule's of course! *L*) for swimming, dinner out and then a movie! It was awesome!

*My Dayhome has slowed right down..... right down.

*Tyler's work sucks...... *ahem* Anyways....

*It's Alberta, last night it began to snow AND rain.... It's a bit of a weird blizzard to deal with. Things are melting yet you can't see in front of you.....

*This Summer I'm turning 26... This seems to be more of a milestone Birthday for me then my 25th.... Humm.. Decisions are being made!

*I had a kick-butt time in Vegas.... I've been working on my blog about this, don't you worry!! :D

*Sister Buck and her twin we're able to come up this Easter Weekend (we appreciate the 16 hour drive you did to get here!).... It was lovely to see Sister Buck again and to meet her Sister!

*I have the need to travel.... If only I had the funds!

I could go on and on but I bets pay some attention to my youngest while Emma's at school and my Dayhome boy is asleep (not scheduled to be here until next Friday but hey, they needed care and I like extra cash! *L*)....

More soon, I promise!

Schedule!

This Weeks schedule:

Sunday:
1-4pm: Church
Family Dinner afterwards until the wee hours of the morning.
Drive home (about 45min's).

Monday:
Have a bit of an insane minute and tear the master bedroom apart. *ahem*.......... ALL day and night.
Emma to and from school.
Able to stand inside the walk-in closet and close the door! Geeee!

Oh! Tyler hung the mirror in our room finally! *L* Nothing like an insane wife to get you moving on it! ;P

Tuesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry.....
DH Kid.
Emma to and from school.
St. Patrick's Day Party for the DH.

Emma and Zoë in their St. Patrick's Day outfits eating a green healthy snack....

More laundry....... (Folding).....
Missed Enrichment gathering *sigh* but had a wonderful steak dinner with my family made by Hubby... <3

Wednesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry..... (This is what happens when you tear apart the Master Bedroom that hasn't been unpacked yet for almost a year! Boxes and boxes and boxes of packed clothing.....)
DH kid.
Emma to and from school.
Drop off Emma's old glasses so they can transfer her lenses into her new ones (grrrr.....).
More laundry...... (and more folding....)
Meet Sarah at 'our store' (AKA: Wal-Mart) to pick up hair color and any last minute items for the trip......
Color hair.....
Attempt to pack.......

Thursday:
Hopefully all laundry will be done. If not, they'll do without!
Confirm packed bags.
Emma to and from school.

Emma's glasses: Get fitted in the morning.
Pack Zoë for her sleepover at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's starting on Sunday (until Thursday)....
Organize Emma for her week at school while I'm gone (I keep envisioning a week filled with missed library books, lunches...... Snow pants.... Ugh!)....
Confirm child care for Emma once again (she's going to one of her good friends house whose Mom happens to be a DH provider that I like! *L* Starting at 6:15am until 5pm with three walks to and from the school..... More later!).....
Confirm time my Grandparents will show for on Friday (they're watching the girls during the day and taking Emma to and from school as my flight leaves at 1pm).
Passport ready. Passport ready......
Last minute clean of the house (we have the professional sound checking guys coming on Monday.... Our neighbor is in control of our house at that time.... I'm a bit nervous that we won't be here.....)....
Cats food and water (I hear this keeps them happy......).
Clean out fridge...
Watch Grey's and ER.... (That ends at midnight)

Friday:
CHAOS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(More later!)

Weekend update!

Well here it is.... THE blog! I don't really remember where I'm supposed to start so I'm sure the next few major blogs of mine will be a back-and-forth mesh of the last few months....

So we're going to start with this past weekend!

Lately I've been exhausted by 11pm... Every night! For those of you who know anything about me, I don't sleep. I just don't. I need a minimum of 3 hours to be able to drive and have my head out of the clouds for the day.... Does this mean that I just don't like to sleep? Heck no! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to sleep! In fact it may be one of my top favorite things to do! *L*

But often I don't get to do my work (which is dealing with many thousands of dollars to make a couples dream wedding come true) until the girls are fast asleep.... And if you know anything about my kids, they're night owls just like their Mommy and Daddy!

Anyhoo.... Saturday morning I woke up with enough time to get dressed, hair, make-up, etc. done before having to be at the location (lucky for me it was Sarah as the main planner and the ceremony and reception were happening at the same location!) by 9am. Unfortunately I made it out of my bedroom to the top of our stairs and had to lay down.... I was ill and heck if I was going to be tossing my cookies, I have a wedding to set up!

I drag my carpet face up and get ready for the day... Instead of getting dressed in my jeans and a t-shirt I decided that I may not have enough energy to do that later on and opted to wear my formal dress all day long! *L* I made it to the location at 10am.... Thankfully I have a very understanding boss whom I'm always in touch with!

I knew all day/evening/night that I wasn't feeling myself... I was...tired! Not just tired but exhausted, worn out and not together. When things not exactly planned happened at this wedding I found myself sitting down instead of making myself useful.... Ugh!

I survived the night, had 200 people sing 'Happy Birthday' to me (how embarrassing is that? An no, they didn't just randomly pick me to sing that to... I was working on my 25th Birthday... Nothing stops me from doing my job! I worked on my 5th wedding anniversary a few weeks before as well! *L*), danced and was in the car ready to go home around midnight. On the drive home I could tell, I wasn't well.....

I come home and have enough energy to chit-chat with my hubby and pass out on the bed. Still dressed.

Hours later I'm sick. I'm wishing that I could toss my cookies! Something is seriously wrong... And Tyler knew it. I was on the floor in pain and could barely breath... Life sucked.

By 4am Tyler is waking our girls, changing them (which at the time I kept thinking to myself "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??!! Take them in their PJ'S!!!") and packing them into the van.... Off to the hospital we go!

4:30am I'm hooked up to an IV with Morphine and Gravol. I have many tests on the go (and yes, one of them being a pregnancy test)....

Emma was adorable! She held my hand the whole time, and I mean WHOLE time! She watched them put the needle in, give me my med's and all! Without being a single bit phased.... Maybe it was her time spent in NICU when she was first born... She just knows it's "all going to be okay!"... Anyways, at one point I remember saying to her, 'Oh Mommy can't hold your hand anymore, the medicine is making it hard to do so'... So you know what she does??! She sits on the stool that the nurse used while doing my IV and keeps holding my hand! Right until Tyler took them home to bed.

Zoë was great as well... But she was right by the bed when the IV stuff started up... I remember watching her face change from 'Hey what's going on here' to 'WHAT THE.....'... I also remember saying 'Tyler' and then seeing her run to him a little freaked out. No worries though, I don't think we've scarred her for life... Maybe just her childhood... She did come around later on to check out the IV in my arm and such later on! *L*

As I mentioned, around 6ish Tyler decided to bring the girls home and let them get some sleep in their own beds. They were being such great troopers! I have the most amazing little girls! Thank goodness! ;) We tried thinking of who we should call for help with the girls while on the way to the hospital.... We both agreed to try Sarah and Conor first and then move down the list... Dori-Lynn being second. I guess at some point Tyler did try calling S&C on their cells and home line but there was no answer (go figure! *L*).... So he decided to knock on Dori-Lyn's house... Later on we found out that she had woken up but wasn't sure if there was a problem until she realized later on that seeing the van out front meant there was (long story short, the van is always parked in the back, the car in the front...)... Tyler felt awful even having to ask people at that crazy hour if they would watch our kids while he tended to me at the hospital (S&C would drive in from the city while Dori-Lyn has kids of her own)... We've since been told not to worry about those things! *L* I promise those who told us this, we won't!

While Tyler was at home with the sleeping kids (and getting 45 min's of sleep himself) I was at the hospital hearing that all my tests came back great... Nothing seems to be wrong with me... My white blood cell count is exactly where it should be... there's no other concerns.... And no, I'm not pregnant! *L* So were not really sure what happened but all seems to be well now. I could go home and if anything else happened I was to go back ASAP. I think that I was exhausted and dehydrated. But that's just me...

Okey dokey.

So I text Tyler and tell him I'm ready to come home now! *L* What I didn't realize was that he hadn't found child care and was stuck in the position of 'do I wake them or leave them for the 5 minute drive??'.....

He picked me up and we headed home... I crashed. All Sunday I slept. Every so often Id wake up and hear the noise of my family being a family and then I'd go back to sleep. At one point I got up and opened two cans of Alphagetti for the kids. I had just enough energy to pour them each a glass of milk, grab them a bun I believe and turn on the microwave.... Then I came upstairs (where Tyler had finally found a few seconds to get some sleep... He was still running on the 45 min's from before) and announced that he would have to get the food out of the microwave as I was too exhausted to stand anymore. Yup. Our poor kids!

Taken July 31, 2008. 4 days after the IV.

That was Sunday.

Monday Sarah and I were going to a Wedding Planners Conference at the Chateau LaCombe. It began at 12pm. I had also booked my girls very first eye appointments for 10 and 10:30am.... *LOL* Tyler was originally supposed to stay home with the girls while I was at the conference and then I would be home in time for him to go to his night shift.... But the College needed him to help tear out the old theatre seats to prep for the brand new ones and the only time he could offer help was in the morning before his normal work shift... So he arranged the child care (which, to me, was soooooooooo sexy! *L* I'm usually the one who has to scrounge to find child care at last minute!)... He made sure that my Grandparents would be at our place by 10:30am to take over the kids which would give me half an hour to get ready before Sarah picked me up for our Conference (oh yes, she drove out from the city to pick me up and then drove me into the city! What an awesome friend!)... This was, of course, the plan before I booked the eye appointments.

Sarah met my Grandparents at my house (she has a key... so do they but they forgot it) while I was at the appointments with the girls (I'll blog about this next time!)..... We made it back to my place just after 11am (I was already dressed to go to the conference as I knew time would be tight). I'd like to say that I heard Tyler leaving the house at 6:50am, which I thought was insane!!! Anyhoo.... Sarah and I head out....

On our way to the Conference Sarah announces that her August 2nd bride is doing a last minute hair trial (came in from Fort McMurray!) and needs to pictures of what she wants done, which Sarah has (and what I had to avoid sitting on when I got into the car! *L*).... the Bride was getting her hair done at Avanti Salon and Spa, a normal venue for us. So we go to meet her there and agree that it needs to be a quick in and out thing as we'll be really late for the conference if we don't do so....

Then the phone rings, the appointment is later then we thought so now she's having lunch at the restaurant right next door... Ugh! How do you not spend time standing around chatting at a restaurant without seeming rude??! Bah!

We make our way to the west end of the city and pull into the parking lot... Sarah parked surprisingly well right beside this silly person who parked on an angle and cut off most of her spot... I have no clue how she did it, but she did! *L* So we walk into the restaurant and I ask 'What does she look like?' as I've never met this woman before... Sarah just kept walking! *L* Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a photographer.... Somehow this doesn't even phase me... The morphine maybe??! *L* And then something else catches my eye.....

MY MOMMY!!!

Oh yes! Sarah had planned a surprise birthday party for me and my mom, who as we all know had just finished paddling across Canada in the David Thompson Brigade for 67 days and was quite enjoying her relaxation time with friends in Toronto, had flown back early to be at my party!!!!

I love my mommy!

AND I had NO clue about this at all! NONE!

*ACK!*

It amazes me that I had no clue! *L* Way to go Sarah! I know everything, everything! So the fact that I had no clue is unbelievable even to me! *L*

Marika from Photosmiths.ca was there to catch the teary-eyed-joyful moments of my Mom and I! Thank you for the photos! Chelsey from ricephotography.blogspot.com also joined us for lunch (they're both good friends of mine!).....

My Mommy!!!

I love, love, love my Mommy!!!

Total Happiness!

I think here Sarah just asked me if I really had no clue!

Explaining it from my point of view. I cried telling the story! *L*

My Mommy, Myself and Sarah!

And then I'm told that we're not just meeting for lunch but spending some time at the Spa! I've never been to a spa before! As my gift a whole bunch of friends of mine pitched in to help send me to the Spa! GAH!

We had a quick lunch and then headed next door to Avanti! I had my first real pedicure (not that the one Sarah gave to me before my wedding didn't rock! *L*) and then a body wrap thingy... It was heavenly!

I quite enjoyed my time there and only wish I could have seen everyone else that joined in the fun too! *L* They would come and go from my room while I was being worked on! *L* Kaylin (Sarah's sister) joined us for the rest of the day and Lisa (Sarah's Mom who dropped of Kaylin) said hello!

After the Spa (Oh how good I smelled!) my Mommy, Sarah, Kaylin and I headed over to WEM to do some shopping. We grabbed a quick snack to keep our energy levels up and made a goal to find my Mom a new 'fancy' top as she's been in Voyager clothing for the past three months! ;)
I'll keep this part short, we had a blast! We found my Mom two lovely shirts (and wow! She's looking better then ever! I guess paddling for three months will do that to you!) and decided that we would meet at The Cheesecake Cafe for dinner (Dinner! I've been gone ALL day! My Grandparents had no clue that my Mom was back yet but did know about the surprise party stuff.... So they were good with the kids!)....

My Mom and I arrive at the Cafe after Sarah and Kaylin made it there... And who would have known but EVERYONE was there! EVERYONE! My Grandparents, my kids, Andy (& My Mom of course), Lisa, Frank, Sarah, Conor, Kaylin, Julie (who is ready to have her kid at any moment!), and my Hubby! Apparently he's had this planned for awhile to work the day shift (which is why he didn't answer me when I called after the eye appointments.... He knew I would figure something was up if I heard all the racket from his work in the background when he should be in a fairly quiet theatre) on his night shift week so that he could make it for the party! What an awesome husband I have! And I again had no clue!

Dinner was wonderful and I'm thrilled that I am surrounded by such loving and caring friends and family. I am truly blessed!