True Love!

Real!

No love in the sun … Anna-Lena and Mika, with Anna-Bell at left, in a photograph taken by German police in Hanover. Photo: AFP

Kate Connolly in BerlinJanuary 7, 2009

IT IS a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries - eloping to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his seven-year-old sweetheart, Anna-Lena, who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year's Eve and set off from Germany to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun.

The children left their homes in Hanover at dawn next day while their parents slept and took along Anna-Lena's five-year-old sister, Anna-Bell, as a witness to the wedding.

Donning sunglasses, swimming armbands and dragging a pink Lilo and suitcases on wheels packed with summer clothes, cuddly toys and a few provisions, they boarded a tram to Hanover train station and got as far as the express train for the airport before a station guard alerted police.

Anna-Lena later told the German TV station RTL: "We wanted to get married and so we just thought, 'Let's go there'." Mika said: "We wanted to go for a bit of a stroll in the sun." Anna-Lena's mother, who has not been identified publicly, said she had known nothing of the plan, saying: "I'm still in a state of shock."

Asked why they had not let their parents know, the children said they thought they would not be gone for long.

Mika and Anna-Lena "are very much in love", said a police spokesman. The idea for the romantic trip began when Mika told the two girls about his recent holiday in Italy while their families celebrated New Year's Eve together. "From this, the children began to make plans for the future," the spokesman said. Two police officers managed to convince the lovers they would struggle to get to Africa without money or a plane ticket.

To allay their disappointment at the change of plan, Hanover officers gave the children a guided tour of the police headquarters, where they were particularly fascinated with the detention cells.

Guardian News & Media, Agence France-Presse

Quick Holiday Post

Tonight I decided (after going shopping with the girls when Emma got out of school today, and buying many breakable decorations...) that the little tree we have in our kitchen would be for the girls. They could decorate it any way they'd like.... It's all theirs!

And the big tree in the living room is all Mommy's! *LOL*

When I asked the girls how they felt about this.... Well they were all over having a tree to themselves! *L*

Here's some photos of the girls decorating their tree. I pulled out all the 'old' decorations that have been passed down for generations and let them take turns adding to it one-by-one.



They did such an awesome job! And I'm totally in love with the photo of Zoë and her hands... (#3). Every time she placed and item on the tree she'd hold her hands as if she was praying... Adorable! *L* As well... I didn't realize just how far up Emma could reach until she decided to place one of her bows near the very top! She did it all on her own!!!

Really??!

Who does this?

Emma: Mommy, my tummy hurts.

Me: Okay well I'll make you some soup for dinner and some other light things just in case.

After we've eaten Italian Wedding Soup, Crackers and some cheese and crackers things with water. As well as watched some TV shows (Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Little People Big World!) it was time for the girls to get ready for bed.

Emma went to use the washroom (oh yes, there's more to this story from earlier that I'll go into in another blog when I'm not so exhausted) and after whatnot decided she couldn't brush her teeth.. She just didn't feel well enough.

So I got her to lay in her bed, placed a towel on her floor (protect the 6month old carpet!!!!) with a bucket (2 actually! Why leave her there with nothing 'just in case!' They stack!) and went to deal with Zoë.

I had told Emma that I would take her temperature when I had Zoë settled in for the night.

I had just gotten Zoë to bed when I hear her out of her room asking Emma questions:

Zoë: Emma, are you sick?

Emma: Yeah.... My tummy hurts.... (then something else I couldn't quite make out)....

Zoë: Oh. Okay. (She went back to bed here)

Then I hear Emma in the hallway coming to my room so I meet her halfway, slightly annoyed* that she couldn't just wait for me to come and take her temperature as I said I would....

And then I saw it. She had tossed her cookies, held a whole conversation with her sister (this was what I missed) and was asking me if I would now take her temperature! *L*

I have an awesome child.

And she's been so well tempered throughout the whole ordeal! Even has my cleaning of the bucket routine down!

Poor kid.

*I'd like to let you know that I wasn't annoyed as soon as I got into her room! And yes, we did take her temperature!

So yes.... I just had to share this little bit of.... I don't know... Whatever it is. All I know is that I have an awesome little girl who isn't letting this little issue get in the way of her happy attitude!

ACK!

Well this week it snowed... On and off... Luckily (and I mean luckily) it didn't last and by morning the snow had disappeared.... Such.... Sadness (can you hear the sarcasm in my writing??!).

I love snow. I love watching it glisten in the light while it covers the ground in soft, fluffy goodness.

I am fascinated by snowflakes... How can there be not one the same? Not ONE! Which them always brings me back to my yearly thought of how we, as Humans, are not one alike. Even if you're identical to someone you become your own person... Your own identity. Hummm....

And I love how my girls get so, SO excited when it snows. Every year since Emma could express her over-joyness about it snowing she giggles and says 'IT'S SNOWING!!! YAY!!!! :D"... Then she asks when she can play in it! I blame that part on the fact that she's a winter baby. Honestly!

This year was neat watching both girls.... Emma did her usual excitement about the snow falling (and she didn't care that it was melting when it hit the ground.... White stuff was falling from the sky!) and then Zoë piped in! She was excited too! Looking out our front window with wonderment written all over her face.... And secretly hoping that this meant Santa would be coming soon!

I myself dread... DREAD going out into the snow. I hate being cold, I hate having a chill.... I hate the feeling of coldness taking over my body no matter how much I bundle up... I hate it! I like the idea of playing in the snow, making snowmen (and women!) all over the front lawn.... Snow angles and all that good stuff.... But quite honestly I'd prefer to be inside with a good book and some hot chocolate!

I hate (Uggggggghhhhh!) wiping off and scraping off my van windows only to make my way to the front again to do the process all over.

I hate shoveling.

And I really don't care for how ANY winter jacket (or at least one that will make my body heat attempt to keep me warm) adds at least 20lbs to my figure. Bah! *L*

Yup. Winter.

I am looking forward to more excitement from the girls... Maybe some sledding for them as well (if the wind cooperates... Oh the wind!).... I'm looking forward to nights in with popcorn and hot chocolate while watching those classic Christmas movies....

I'm looking forward to the feeling of Christmas... The spirit of it as I like to say. How you can just see the goodness of people (and some who may surprise you here!) radiate off of them.

I'm looking forward to Christmas decorations (Oh yes, I'm 'one of those people' who get SOOOO excited when they put out the Christmas decorations before Hallowe'en is over! But I refuse to buy until after Hallowe'en of course! ;P)...

I am looking forward to Christmas... Just not the 'Winter' part....

You?

My Promise to Jessica!

Okay so I'm going to make this long story quite short as I got caught up reading 'Eclipse' and totally lost track of time.

To Jess: None of my shows were on tonight (weird??!) so I picked up my book instead... Hence where I lost track of time... Honestly! Tyler came home about 11pm and I still hadn't put the kids to bed! *LOL* Although they had their PJ's on, Teeth brushed and such... But those are things they do themselves! *L*

Story:
I was offered this wonderful opportunity to open a dayhome for these two great children... There's a TON of great reasons to do so (money, friends for the girls, etc.) but there's also a ton of Con's to go along (schedule's of their preschool and when I have to drop Emma off at school, driving, winter weather coming -scraping windows!, diapers -we're TOTALLY potty trained here!, shift working Husband ...).

I had the interview today (ummm.... It's 1:56AM, so I guess yesterday) with the mother and her two children (we made the appointment at our house with enough time for Emma to be able to still get to school on time)... It was great! And I honestly think she'd really like to have me look after her children (even though she's still interviewing other dayhomes that are totally prepared for this... I'm not, and I'm quite upfront about that!).... But I have to be prepared to pick her oldest up from Preschool three times a week at 11:30am and then have Emma at her school by 12pm. Doable but not that great when I have to consider hauling a 9 month old, Zoe and Emma to the van (scraping windows and -40!), rushing to get her oldest and then dropping Emma off right after. And it's not even a loop.... I'd have to backtrack and then take a whole different road just to get to Emma's school.

Now, granted, Leduc is much, much smaller then Edmonton. So to get across town is a whole 15 minutes taking your time! But do I want to be that responsible for other people's children in my car at that distance?

I'm talking to lawyers to make up my contracts! *L*

Anyways... All of the dayhome Mom's from Emma's class say not to do it. It would be different if they were going to Emma's school or the one attached to it.... I'm already going to be there so no extra cost in gas or stress on my part....

We'll see. The extra $1400 a month would be nice though.....

On another note: So I opened a dayhome! *LOL* It's called "Zoggies Dayhome".... I thought it was neat. I haven't gone public with it.... Still figuring out contracts (so many!), prices, rules, etc. And I still need to get our basement done to a point that parents might not run away screaming "Boxes shall kill my child!!!"....

*LOL*

Okay so it's not that bad... But there are a ton of boxes in the back half of my basement... Where no child will go even if they weren't there. My office space and the laundry room... I mean really!
I'll keep you posted on Zoggies Dayhome!

So that's the quick updated version of my last few days (since Bridal Expo.... Which I also need to blog about... How on earth did I get SO behind??!!)

Promise Kept! :D

PHOTOS!

Okay so they're not photos off of my camera yet (still have to download all the stuff onto the new computer before I can unload all of my photos... And believe me, there's a TON!)...

Anyhoo, these are from my cell (pardon the graininess of the photos... Old cell phone!) and I thought this might (maybe, possibly) be able to hold you over until I get the camera photos on here!


Zoë was in her car seat and we were driving home from our very first grocery trip in Leduc... She reached over, grabbed the middle seat belt and swung it... Smack right into her eye. She had a sweet black eye for awhile! (Just so happened that we had bought frozen veggies! I pulled over and placed those on her eye! *L*)

Along HWY39 (the entrance to our area) this was happening forever and at all hours of the day/night. They're making top soil. The girls loved watching this process! And then to our right (where we would park) they could also watch the sun set!

Hop-A-Long-Daddy-Slipper. The girls invented this neat thing... Each took a 'Daddy Slipper' and placed both of their feet into it. Then they would hop! Hours of fun!

One day we were looking after Brooke-Lyn (a new friend the girls have made from down the street. Brooke-Lyn will start Kindergarten at the same time as Emma. Rebecca-Lyn is Brooke-Lyn's older sister who is already in grade school!) came over while her Mommy went for an interview... We had a great time playing, having lunch and making Father Day's paintings. Zoe got a little bit close to the table looking at Brook-Lyn's picture and ended up wearing the plate of paint! *L* We had a shower right after this (too funny!).

So on Monday the 16th I finally took the girls to the park during the day! *L* Tyler and I brought the girls to this awesome park that is right by a lake and many walking/biking paths here... But there's were too many 'flying bugs' and they ended up screaming and crying. We went home.... *L* Anyways, this day turned out really well... It was SO hot! We played at the park (were actually on our way for groceries...) and then took a walk on the path. Zoë realized just how much she LOVES the swing!
Oh! Remind me to write a blog about the path walk.... CHAOS! Ugh...

This was taken on this cute little bridge Emma found along an "off-side" of the main paths.... That's the lake in the background.... (like you couldn't figure that one out yourselves.... :P)

Last night us girls had dinner on the back deck for the first time ever. Daddy and Uncle Conor had been busy building a deck for a client after Tyler got off work (a very long day for him)... So I was left to find whatever we had in our freezer... The girls loved it! Emma was begging to eat outside (and like I'm going to argue, she didn't care if there were bugs!) so we did! Perogies, Sour Cream, Fresh Dill, Jalapeno Cheese.... Yum!

Tonight I stood on our back deck (okay so I call our back deck just that -or deck- and our front deck the 'Veranda'.... This way you'll not be confused!) and watched this beautiful sunset! I'll be sad when they get around to building Phase 3 (not anytime soon though, Phase 2 isn't even 50% complete! *L*) but will like it when someone else gets hit with the high winds, snow, etc. first! ;)
Here's Zoë after brushing her teeth tonight.... Cute as can be! She had a "wand" that helped her dance... And a magnifying glass to, ya know, see things... *L*
My beautiful Emma under her leaf above her bed... She loves that leaf!

That's all for now.... Hope this will hold you over until I get all of my camera photos onto this new computer!

Ear Aches, Hair Color, Foot Pains and Little Monkeys!

Hello All!

Sorry that it's been awhile since I've had the chance to update my blog... Things have been a little insane over here... I'll start with this blog and write another one later about what has taken most of my time...

Are you ready?

Yes, that's right... My hair is purple! Funny thing really... Family photos was a week and a half away and I had just told Tyler that I was going to color my hair a 'natural color' for the photos (which are being sent to everyone we know with our new address and such...) and then Chelsey over at Rice Photography asked if I would do a photo shoot for her the upcoming Saturday... What do I do? Color my hair a funky purple! *LOL* It took me a few days to realize just exactly what I had done... So purple hair for the family photos it is!!

In the wee hours (and I mean wee hours) of Sunday the 13th Daddy took Emma to the emergency for a ear infection. Poor kid was screaming and crying once it was bedtime! My heart ached hearing her.... So Daddy packed her up with the PSP and a movie and off they went! Amazingly they were back home on about an hour and a half! Apparently when you take a little kid in they boost you on the list a little and when you mention 'ear infection' they send you to a different area where only a pediatrician works! Go figure! Sunday morning I got up and bought Emma her much needed med's... Things have been much quieter since! *L* (AND we made it to our last day of Church in our current ward! Boo Yah!)

Monday Tyler came home with this....

Taken April 15th @ 1:32am

Wait for it....

There we go!

Taken April 15th @ 1:32am

Poor guy...

Taken April 15th @ 1:33am

Blah!

Taken April 15th @ 6:59pm

Ugh!

Taken April 15th @ 7:00pm

So long story short, he sprained his ankle... I should take a new photo... Blood is breaking under the skin everywhere... When he wraps it his toes do that Fred Flintstone thing...

He went to the Doctor after work on Monday and has been placed on light duty at work (erasing marks off papers before they're filed... Yippee! :P) until sometime next week.

Could this happen at any better of a time?

Nope.

I'm very thankful that it happen this week (although I would have loved it to never have happened!) and not next week as this weekend we take possession of our new home and will be painting our girls walls (two different colors with a chair rail in between!!!) and cleaning, tinting and sealing our basement floor. Next week is the big move and I need Tyler to be in his best health (feet included) to move everything!

Taken April 15th @ 7:01pm

Taken April 15th @ 7:02pm

Oh there we go! I forgot I had this on here... It's now like this everywhere on his foot!

Taken April 15th @ 7:02pm

(This photo reminded me of when Zoë was little and had pudgy feet! *L* Without the bruising and blood stuff going on...)

And tonight I went to see what the girls were up to in the room and this is what I came across...

Yeah... Lucky that thing is stable! Goodness!

Mommy wasn't very happy. They started to get down once they saw me in the room but, to their surprise, I said 'STAY!' and ran upstairs to grab Tyler's cell phone so he could see what his little monkeys had been doing... (He's been hanging out on the couch for the last few days and only moving if he really needs to! *L*)...

I do have to give the girls credit when they were getting down... Emma said 'Big girls first!' and then climbed down the side onto her end table and onto her bed all while Zoë waited patiently... then Zoë climbed down the side onto the end table and down to the floor.

------

So this is a quick update of how our life has been.... Oh wait! The house we're living in officially sold on Monday! We had the inspector here Saturday (this story deserves it's very own blog!)... Things went really well (obviously) and we did family photos out in Leduc Saturday! I'll post some of those soon!

Okay that's all for now! *L* Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment... Ya know...If you feel like it...Or something... Nothing negative about how I'm a bad Mommy for telling my kids to 'STAY' instead of rushing over and hauling them off the shelf please. Thanks!

The Chaos has just begun!

This morning the Realtor called and informed us that there was a couple that would like to look at the house between 2:30-3:30pm.


Ugh!


Now as some of you may know, our Church time is from 1-4pm... Yes, you read it correctly.... 3 hours! *L* Every Sunday!


So when the Realtor called you would think we'd automatically be saying 'Heck yeah, Bring them on over.... Why not have lunch??!' (Okay... Well maybe we'd leave out the lunch part... Maybe...) but we didn't....


You see... The girls have slowly been catching the chest cold that I've had for two months now... And I hate every horrible sounding cough they produce in the middle of the night where they can no longer breath from the coughing attack....


This happened a lot last night. Two nights ago Zoë got a bit scared at the fact that she could no longer breath (honestly) and came to our bed for awhile... Last night was no different (except for when Emma rolled off her bed at 4am and smashed her nose into the wardrobe which has some hard edges... Poor thing! *L*)... So this morning we decided that I would stay home with Zoë while Tyler took Emma to Church... This way not every child in Nursery would get the horrible, dreaded chest cold that lasts forever....


And then my cell rang.


*sigh*


So, of course, we prepared for people to come to the house for the viewing. Tyler would go to Sacrament while I did stuff around the house with the girls... This includes making sure that every one's beds are made (bounce a quarter off of them good! *L*), every room is spotless as they can be, vacuumed (including kitchen, living room, etc), dusted.... The dishes from last night are washed... Bathrooms cleaned completely through once again (this happens every day now... It's tiring! *L*)... I do not feel good about myself until this routine is done before we leave the house... Every time. Also, the just mentioned must be done while not allowing the girls to tear what I've just cleaned to pieces.... I think that's my hardest chore of them all! *L*


Anyhoo.... Tyler showered this morning while the girls watched some kid-TV and I got the bedrooms cleaned and got myself dressed. Then Tyler ironed his shirt (because, as we should all know, I DO NOT iron! *L*) and such while I made the girls pancakes and waffles... And tore apart the bins that were under our kitchen table (some may remember that I mentioned I had taken our table away... I did. It's still in pieces in the storage room upstairs... This is the craft table from the back room... Um humm... Not my idea...). I couldn't stand the fact that Christmas decorations were hanging out of the bin into your walk space in the kitchen. The kitchen is small enough as it is... So Tyler comes upstairs and is a bit flustered at the fact that I have now made more work for myself! In a few more minuets I had everything packed up where it's supposed to be and the bins in the storage rooms ready to move! AND my kitchen looks more open! HA!


Back to my story.... I started to vacuum which I think was going to make Tyler lose his head from total confusion (why, WHY would you do this to yourself???!!) when he took over. I showered (YAY!)... I gave him instructions to vacuum the whole house, every corner you can think of!


After my shower I came out and there's Tyler, all dressed for Church sitting in one of our living room chairs.... Napping! *L* Poor guy! And to add to this he didn't vacuum everywhere that I had in mind. Although he 'swept really well' in the living room! Ha, Ha, Ha.... Yup.


Tyler left for Church shortly after this while the girls played hockey and golf in our living room (with a death threat if they break the TV! *L*)... I did my hair and make-up...


Oh yeah! I left out one of the best parts of my story... Right before I went into the shower (but after all that cleaning) I got a text message from the Realtor, "Showing cancelled.... :) lol"


UGH!


Anyways.... Tyler went to Sacrament, I got myself and the girls ready... And somehow kept them busy enough that they didn't make the house look like a tornado had stopped by....


Now we're ready to head out to family dinner on the other side of the city... And I have some peace in knowing that the house looks 'show-ready' just in case someone want to view it while we're out.


And the chaos begins....

Zoë came tearing upstairs today after playing downstairs with Emma for hours and says "Mommy, I fell... Can you rock me???!"

My heart melted.

Then a few minuets later...

Emma: Mommy, Zoe took the lid off of the green stuff...

Mommy: Can you find it all? Is it in my carpet??

Emma: Well.... We can't find it all......

And what do I do next??

I laugh!

Oh goodness...

Music to my (poor, poor) Ears! *L*

The other day (the 20th) the girls made their own little band....

I'd like to thank my mother for constantly telling me how musical my children are... I totally believe it, and this only helps prove her point.... But REALLY! *L*

Oh! And it was really, really late at night! Daddy didn't seem as impressed as Mommy at the time... *LOL*

Sooooo cute! *giggle*

**Please pardon any mess you see in this video... It was taken in our office/spare room/ extra play room which is halfway packed up at the time. Hence the missing bed frame!**

Finding Nemo again and again and again and...

My girls love 'Finding Nemo'...

LOVE IT!

Or Zoë does at least.... If you ever ask 'what movie would you like to watch?' you can count on Zoë replying with 'FINDING NEMO!!!!'....

And so in goes the DVD....

I personally love this move as well... The underlying message about believing in yourself and, for parents, letting go. As well as overcoming fear and finding the courage to take risks in life... It's an all-round good movie! *L*

Now I wouldn't dare let my littlest one do this to our new main floor bathroom:

Isn't that adorable? Mini-sized for kids! *L*

But I will allow them to have something like this for the bathroom!

*LOL*

Anyways.... Random thing I came across while searching the net for information on this movie:

I couldn't imagine the tears that would come if my girls saw this full photo!

So if you find yourself looking for something to watch tonight, tomorrow or even next week... Maybe you'll find yourself reaching for the beautifully done 'Finding Nemo'!

Too cute!

Alright, so my friend sent me this link (for my Husband but I thought it was adorable and just had to share it with all of you!)

So here it is Star Wars Fans....

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

Please check it out and let me know what you think!

I think it's adorable... But that's just me! *wink*

Aloha Snow!

Alright...

So we got up this morning to.......

SNOW!

BLAH!

Why?? WHY???!!

So as the day went on I brought out the girls new grass skirts (which they took right to!) and we did some Hawaiian dancing....

Emma in her adorable grass skirt and Lei!

"Mommy, did I smile??!" *L* 'Uhh... Sure...' Emma's trying to master her 'model stare... With no pressure from me! Honestly!