Our house has been anything but quiet these past few days. In a way I am enjoying the chaos that comes with the change of season but my soul is clinging to all things summer and I am attempting to squeeze every last moment of outdoor summer fun out of these past few days. Although given that it is so chilly this morning I may have to crack and wear jeans. Yesterday I gave into pants for all because it was laundry day and instead of facing 7 loads of laundry to get clean shorts, I through jeans on Austin, yoga pants on myself and light pants on Amelia and ventured out the door.

We've been busy planning a renovation and I am very excited to say that the wall between Amelia's and Austin's rooms will be removed this weekend and rebuilt to give Amelia a little extra space and relocate closets. We have a few more things planned but by October 1, I should have the upstairs done and redecorated. There is just something about that floor that doesn't say home to me. I never really infused personality into the rooms knowing that we'd be doing the construction some day. I've scored some great finds on the Internet and I cannot wait to unveil the end results. I'm especially excited for the kids' rooms. I really want them to have a space they will enjoy being in (because let's face it....once I go back to work and start paying for childcare for two they are stuck with those rooms as they are until they go to school!)

Want sneak peak of what's in store??

This past week I finally managed to get myself to Chapters to pick up a book called Mamarazzi. I know I am that annoying mother that constantly takes pictures of my littles...and I take a lot of pictures trying to get the perfect shot. So I invested in a book about photographing children to attempt to improve my skills and get more frame worthy shots...like these (only better! lol):

Yes Aislynn we all feel like that some days!

More playing on the agenda for today and I think I need to tackle the Mount Everest of laundry that is accumulating in the laundry room...unless of course the sun comes out and then all bets are off baby!

Newborn pictures

Over the past few years I've had the great pleasure of getting to know local photographer Sue Siri through my work with the IWK. When I was pregnant with Austin we jumped at the opportunity to have maternity and newborn pictures taken by her and we could not have been happier with the results! So when I found out we were expecting our newest addition, I emailed her to book a spot. Here are a few pictures from both sessions:
 

Pink, as Austin used to call the baby, was growing like crazy in May! 



Hello gorgeous!

Fluffy bottom baby



Before the Stanley Cup final got started we had our colours of the whole family!



One of my absolute favorites!!!

Sue has an incredible way of capturing a person's spirit and her positive attitude and energy are just down right contagious! To me, there is something so important about ensuring that I capture my growing family and all the moments that we share. I absolutely love every picture that she took and am pretty sure I need to be putting walls up, not taking them down, so that I can display them all.

More cottage fun

I had so many pictures from our weekend with Gill, Cleve and Graham that I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to post...but this shot deserves a post all it's own!

We love you Cleve!

University Care Packages

My sister has moved away to school, so naturally I need to send a care package....Turtle cookies anyone?? My Baking Addiction has done it again...I swear everything I try just gets better!

My kitchen smells of warm caramel and sugary butter. I just pulled the last batch out of the oven to cool and will be sending them all to G's office tomorrow so that I don't eat them all. I had to test out the recipe before making it for the package. I actually followed the instructions to a tee. No low fat substitutions for this one, just pure cookie bliss. I couldn't find caramel bits and the thought of unwrapping Kraft caramels and cutting them was not a realistic possibility so I substituted chocolate covered caramels from the Bulk Barn.

This is a must try cookie!!! Turtle Cookies by My Baking Addiction

Once the care package is ready to go, I'll post the rest of it...very healthy with just a few treats. Drooling yet Janice? Love you!!!

A rose tinted view

It has been a hard summer. You've all read about my stress and troubles so I won't repeat the details. I just want to say thank you so much to our friends and family who have been there for us through it all. Thank you so much for your time, for listening and for helping me relocate my rose coloured glasses.

Back in February we had booked a cottage with good' friends and I have been looking forward to our stay on the beach ever since. Coming back from Newfoundland this last time I was counting down the days until our cottage retreat. I desperately needed to recharge and spend some quality time with my family without the worries and stress of the past three months.

We packed up and headed to Cambra Sands on shore of the Northcumberland Straight for the long weekend. I literally felt my stress melting away as we drove up to our cottage right on the beach.

I had been dreaming of this moment for months!



View of sunrise from our cottage



We spent our weekend exploring the tidal pools, catching "kermit" crabs, crabs, clams, little shrimp and finding all the best seashells.

Boys had a good time!

Amelia's toes went for their first dip in the ocean.

Doesn't she look impressed?

I nursed her watching the sunrise and I remembered all the great times that I had at my grandparents' cottage when I was little, running down to the beach, watching the sun come up with my Nanny and all those campfires. We had to share this campfire but the ooey gooey memories were worth it!

I am cherishing those great days with our friends. After all, the glass is half full!!

Three months

She's growing so fast! I can hardly believe that it's been 3 months and 3 days since she arrived in our lives.