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peekaboo

Happy Birthday to AMMO!

Yep even Ammo gets to feel special!  The day after my birthday...is Ammo's birthday:)  He is 5 years old now.  He acts a lot older because he is so BIG.  Being an over sized lab is starting to take its toll on him too.  He struggles to get upstairs because his back legs are so weak.. especially if he's been playing up at Gran and Grandad's running around.  He definitely can not jump into the back of the truck...although he does sometimes have those bursts of energy and manages to do it if Matt really pushes it.  We all love him dearly though.  'Ammo' is one of Gracie's best words and he loves when the kids climb and lay on him...he usually sleeps and acts like he cant even feel them:)  Anybody that knows Ammo, knows that he is an awesome dog...and the laziest lab in the world.  His favorite thing to carry around the house and leave EVERYWHERE is his blankie.  It belonged to my childhood dog, Bud (he also loved that blanket so much).  Ammo's had it ever since we bought him at 7 weeks old.  Its pretty special to him if he's not ripping it apart.  Ammo got a bone for his bday present and he was one happy dog!

Ammo with his blankie;)

Happy Birthday to ME!

I turned 28 years old on the 20th!  I don't feel too old or scared of being older...28 feels good.  Matt made my birthday so special!  He was off work that day and really put alot  of effort and pre planning into my special day:)  I think he really loves me..lol
I woke up to Cora's breakfast on my kitchen table:)  Take out is the way to go when you have little ones..it was even more delicious!  and with a nice full tummy..I went back to bed and had an awesome nap! (sleep is the best gift right now with sick kids keeping you up at night).  I woke up and got my present from Matt and the kids...which was a spa afternoon!!!  I got an hour and a half massage, manicure and pedicure!!!  spoiled eh?  It was heavenly and so quiet (seriously nobody was in there that day) I fell asleep so many times...I usually feel like I have to tell the girl working on me my whole life story, but that day I did NOT care.  I was just so relaxed and didn't feel like talking, so i didn't:)  I got home around 4pm and Matt had arranged for his Mum to babysit the kids so we could go out for dinner...so spoiled right?, it was the best day!! Sue got to our place at 4:30pm and we were out the door.  I hardly saw the kids that day...and yes I am happy about that.  I don't think I have ever had a whole day away from them...and that's just not right! anyways back to my happy story...Matt sucked it up BIG time and brought me out for SUSHI:) He is not a fan of sushi.  I just love that stuff...I'm not the hardcore sushi eater...I mainly stick to just the crab and shrimp ones.  Matt ate a few bites, but fell in love with the shrimp tempura...probably because he was starving..lol  Afterwards I was soooo full and my tummy was not happy (pre virus symptoms) so we cancelled our 'warm yoga' class...and went for a walk around Okotoks for a bit...(trying to prolong getting back home before Sue put the kids to bed:)  We rented a movie, 'bad teacher', which I do not recommend! Very dirty and just a dumb movie in our opinion.   I'm so grateful for my family and all that they do for me...I definitely felt soooo special and relaxed.  A few days later, after we all got over our stomach virus', that started the day after my birthday, Matt made me a birthday cake...Parks would not let him forget, so here I am blowing out my candles...he made our favorite 'icebox cake'!  Here's to another awesome year of life!!

1st Turkey!

I cooked my very 1st turkey this Thanksgiving!  It was easy and delicious:) 

What have I been doing....

Well this is an update on ME!  It wont take very long because I'm boring;)  but I thought this post was necessary.  I have been tending to my on and off sick children now for 3 weeks!!  Parks is good now,
 Grace should be good by tomorrow...haha that's funny because I've been saying that for the last 3 weeks, its mostly that she wakes up at night time EVERY night with a stuffed nose and just grumpy.  Grandad checked her out a few days ago...when I thought I was going to lose my mind and he says she is fine, nothing serious.  So that means its just the next worse thing to being sick...TEETHING:(  3 out of her 4 eye teeth have just poked through!  That had better mean she will start sleeping through the night again.  I don't know why but I just cant seam to get much done these days...laundry is everywhere dirty and clean.  I feel like I'm always picking up toys.  Dishes...well those are actually getting done somewhere along the way.  I just don't care.  Matt has been in a hazmat training course for the past month (he's finished as of tomorrow!!) and has been working a regular hour job 5 days a week.  I hate it.  enough said.  BUT I did manage to reorganize my food pantry in the kitchen!!  This made me so happy.  I went and bought these awesome 5L Rubbermaid containers to put my flour, sugar etc into.  And these cute jars for my baking powder, soda etc.  Everything is all labelled and so easy to find now!  It makes baking sooo easy.  In fact I've been baking alot lately.  Its just relaxing and ofcorse rewarding.  I made banana bread, rice krispies, banana nut oatmeal cookies (that are somewhat healthy from this blog that a friend recently sent to me called skinnytaste.com...they have awesome easy healthy recipes) and just yesterday chewy skor toffee bit cookies....those are my favorite and oh so bad for you:)  I thought I'd share that recipe because they are seriously AMAZING!  You have to indulge once in awhile right?!  Besides baking I've FINALLY completed MY RECIPE book/binder.  I wrote out all my favorite recipes and have them in this cute binder.  Its awesome and it makes me so happy that I finally got it done.  I also ordered Angie's Cookbook, in pdf because that's all she has left, and I'm SO excited about it because well she is an awesome cook and there are a ton of recipes in it:)
So to keep my 'no more cleaning the house' up I have started cleaning out/organizing my iPhoto pictures on our computer.  We have soooo many pictures not labelled or sorted through...like 15, 000 items worth!  This needs to get done before our computer crashes...hopefully by the end of the year I will have Grace's 1st year book ready to order as well as Parks' 1st and 2nd year that I still haven't ordered...along with ALL 3 years of my blog that I still need to put into books and order.  The thought of losing all those precious memories is really freaking me out these days.  So yeah! Here is that awesome recipe..ENJOY!

2 1/4 cup Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 (10oz) pkg. skor toffee bits

Beat butter and sugars in mixer, than add eggs and vanilla.  In seperate bowl mix dry ingredients together with a whisk and slowly add to wet 1/4 cup at a time and beat well.  Stir in toffee bits. 

Bake at 350 10 mins.

Calgary Corn Maze

This past Saturday we went to the Corn Maze.  The kids love that place!  They don't know where to go first..the weather was beautiful and sunny, we couldn't have asked for a better day.  Parks and I picked out our Pumpkins....He picked out a 16lb pumpkin, 3lb and 2 baby ones.  We went straight to Barb and Ben's were we had our Thanksgiving Dinner with Mike, Jessica and their kids too.  It was a small group for the 'Hill's' but nice none the less.  This year I am most thankful for the health of my family.  We are so blessed to not have any serious health issues, we live each day counting our blessing and enjoying our time together.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Parks chillin on the spider web

Grace loved this slide...she was the smallest kid to go down it:)

Grace brushing the billy goats

Parks showing Grace how to chase the chicken...

kids and daddy doing some jumping

Mommy pushing Parks around the track...Parks was not impressed that he couldn't reach the peddles..

Why I love being a MOM!

Grace at 16 months old...

This age is a little emotional for me because this was the age Parks was when we moved to Alberta...it was a really sad time in my life for awhile,  I missed my family and 'home' so much.  Its funny how I thought Parks at 16 months old was so grown up and no longer a baby.  When I look at Gracie she is definitely still my little baby:) Firstborns grow up way too fast in my opinion and I think it is all our faults...we (and I'm referring to myself as a parent) are so eager to push our little ones into growing up and seeing what they can do...than before you know it...your kid is 3 1/2 years old and riding a bike all by himself;)  Well let me tell ya I've learned my lesson and plan on holding Gracie back as much as possible!!  I'm totally kidding... I don't think I could hold her back even if I wanted to...she is a smart little cookie, just like her brother!  Besides having a cold ever since Summer ended with a non stop runny nose during the day and a blocked solid nose at night, Grace is doing awesome:)   Her big smiles brighten up a room and she is just a joy to be around.  We are so lucky to have Grace in our family.  She still loves watching Signing Time and its safe to say she knows a lot of signs.  It helps her communicate so well...she now will do the sign and usually say the word as she's doing it or she'll just say the word...and if we cant understand what she's saying we'll get her to sign.  She never has tantrums...just gets mad at her brother:)  Her favorite things to do are taking baths, playing with Parks, reading books, playing games on my iPhone, going to the park, doing anything outside...
She wakes up at 7-7:30am if I'm lucky...has 1 nap around noon now for 2 hours and is ready for bed again at 7-7:30pm.  She takes 3 bottles and loves her 'baba'.  She HAS to have her pink blankie and stuffed doggie Panda every time she goes to sleep.  She sleeps through the nights...hasn't lately because she's sick, so for the past 2 weeks Parks and Mommy are tired:(  I'm grateful its not like this all the time... 

Her other most favorite place to play is in the bathroom with a sink full of water

She was so happy with her new hat and mittens

Our sick little princess having a snooze with Daddy

Matt's Birthday

My hubby is 27 years old!  We are officially the same age, but only for 1 month...I'm a year older than him:)  Anyways we made Daddy's Birthday as special as can be!  soooooo Matt's wish was to go hunting bright and early that morning, the kids and I texted him a 'Happy Birthday!' with this awful morning picture (really special eh?)

haha poor Gracie

When he got home around 10ish I make him some yummy eggs benedict!  (Something even the kids LOVE to eat).  We spent the day together..brought the kids to the park, had a nap, and Matt's 2nd wish was to go hunting in the evening....I try not to take this personally;)  but he sure does love having his birthday during hunting season.  He got home around 8ish...blew out his sparklers on his carrot cake as Parks had been waiting ever so patiently for all night long...than ate some yummy shish kabobs (that he had to reheat!).  Luckily his real birthday dinner was the day after...his Dad and Mark/Anderson came over for some yummy Ribs/shrimp, seasoned baked potatoes and Matt's favorite spinach salad with strawberries and pecans:)  All ordered by the birthday boy!  We speak our love through food on birthdays...mostly because Matt never gets to open his presents on his birthday...he always convinces his parents, my parents and sadly even me to give him presents early so that he can use them at the beginning of the month for.........you guessed it HUNTING!

You know we love you Daddy and thanks for letting us make somewhat of a fuss over you;)

I'm happy to report that the 'hunting moustache' is GONE now:)

Happy Birthday!!