change.

the only thing constant in this world is change. seasons, people, trends..and in my own little world, my little family is changing. having emma the first go around was completely life-altering but the mother in me knew this path was my true calling. i embraced every milestone and watched her turn into this beautiful little girl right before my eyes. now our second, olivia, is doing the same..turning one in less than a month. its amazing how much gets accomplished in 12 months.

she's become such a little firecracker and even tests her own big sister at times. as she's become more and more mobile (furniture cruising..not independantly walking yet!) we've felt like our home has turned upside down, with toys being dragged everywhere. so, we decided we would transform olivia's nursery into a playroom and have the girls share a bedroom. moving the furniture around made my heart sink a little because it signified that my baby was not so little anymore and this would be the last time i would see a nursery in our home. (still waffling lol) but olivia just adores her big sister and often ventures into her room to play with toys on the sneak so we knew it would be a change worth making.

here is a photo of the new play room (it still needs finishing touches..but atleast all of the toys are in one place!)

complete with a reading corner!

shh! the girls are sleeping peacefully!

throughout my life i have come to embrace change eventhough most times i wish things would always stay the same. human nature and mother nature doesn't always see eye to eye and most times its simply beyond our own control. my girls are going to keep growing and i'm just going to have to keep up with them because of course, there will be a point in their perpetually dramatic lives where they might avoid me like the plague. i've got to keep myself current eventhough i want to be in my comfort zone just for their sake. for the meantime i'm happy, and there's no greater joy than watching my girls enjoy life, no matter what change brings.

a short time ago, in a galaxy far far away..

our family had the pleasure of attending a fantastically planned star wars 5th birthday party for a special little boy. we are new friends with this family..but it feels like we've known them forever so when we got the 'opening credits' style invitation..we were counting down the days!

(jedi keaton, the birthday boy)

the atmosphere was star wars-y complete with jedi cloaks and light sabers for each guest (sorry kids only lol!) star wars accessories and the orchestra movie soundtrack.

the kids had a fantastic time waving their light sabers around..it got a little crazy..no casualties thankfully!



it was a struggle to get these two in a picture..too much excitement to stop for a photo!

the adults mingled in the kitchen..munching on delicious appies and bevvies..some of us even colored a star wars page or two!

it took a lot of effort to keep these little rascals outta trouble..not as innocent as they look!

of course rolo, the star wars fanatic puts his daughter up to this...

he's already requested an adult sized cloak...lol!

darth vader made an appearance! the kids had fun battling him to the ground!

of course princess leia had to make an appearance as well...hehe

after a delicious dinner, it was time to break the pinata..every kid had a turn..here's the birthday boy in one of the many outfit changes (mostly star wars related no less!) taking a swing..

its a mad dash for the candy!

we all sang happy birthday and enjoyed some yummy red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and fantastic star wars toppers!

presents were opened and i'm pretty proud to say that we got keaton the star wars lunch box that "he always wanted!!" you know your child is having a good time when she's crying and devastated when its time to go.

thanks maria and steve for inviting us to such a fun party! we look forward to spending time with you again real soon! :)

inspiration for a first birthday...

olivia's first birthday is just over a month away...and i'm looking forward to it/dreading it. don't get me wrong..i'm super happy that my littlest little is growing beautifully doing all the right things at the right time, but i'm dreading the fact that my baby just isn't a baby baby anymore.

real life has to kick in which means i'll be heading back to work (yuck!) and becoming part of the masses who have children and make life work. but let's not get dragged into a depressed spiral..it's party planning time and there's nothing i like doing more!

so the theme for olivia's first birthday is alice in wonderland/mad hatter's tea party. as her birthday is in june, it'll be the perfect weather for a light and airy lunch! i'm thinkin:

vintage tea cups

multi-colored pom poms

yummy sandwiches

lewis carroll's alice in wonderland (accompanied by disney's music!)

delicious punches

decorative cookies

complete with a teapot cake!

i love celebrating parties..now its time to start scouting out places to rent items..any suggestions

or ideas around this theme would be more than welcome!

mama's day.

this weekend was filled with mama sightings: rolo's mom and grandmother and sister (who's joining the club in late september) my sister and my mama. for those of you who don't know rolo, he can't handle surprises. especially when they aren't for him. so, needless to say, we celebrated mother's day on saturday. his gift for me had been burning a hole in his pocket the whole week!

here's emma with her card behind her back that she made all by herself! (meant to take a photo of the card but forgot, its a blue heart with foamy stars and monkeys and popsicle sticks on it!)

now a disclaimer. this was early in the morning..so i'm in my pyjamas and have bed head and everything. apologies for the cleavage shot! anyway, i was pleasantly surprised by the little gift my hubby got for me!

back story: during one of emma's ballet classes i found myself flipping through an urban baby magazine and came across a little advertisment on the corner of one of the pages: odette alfaro hand stamped jewellery and immediately fell in love with her work. she is a local artist and specializes in personalized hand stamped pieces. i tore the little advertisment out with full intention to check out her website but forgot about it and left it on olivia's dresser. rolo had every intention of getting me one of her unique pieces but couldn't remember where to get it from when lo and behold he finds the little cut out i saved from months ago!

here is my piece:

when you turn the pendant around it has "mama" stamped into it. very cute!

i live and breathe these girls everyday and i love that i have a little piece of them that i can wear. now it was time to get all dolled up for brunch at de dutch! yummmmm!

me and emma coloring 'anna' and 'hans'.

me and my love..

the girls both polished off their kid sized pannekoeks; emma's with strawberries and cream and olivia's plain. i enjoyed my banana and walnut pannekoek while rolo had the farmer's breakfast. there was a point where i disliked de dutch..but i've now learned that i only prefer the sweet stuff over the savoury. the girls were monkeying around while rolo and i finished our plates.

too cute huh?

mama sportin her new necklace and drinking some much needed coffee! a very lovely day indeed.

another lovely treat was emma's ballet class, they danced to a song about mothers!

the rest of the weekend was spent visiting with other mama's and being more indulgent than usual.

hey, us mom's deserve it right!

becoming a mother is a gift. watching my girls grow right before my eyes 

and seeing myself in them is what makes every moment as a mother worth while.

i wouldn't be the mother i am today without my own mom

loving me and guiding me.

mom, thank you for being the mother i wish to be for my children.

thank you for letting me sleep with you when i was little and scared of the dark.

thank you for packing my lunches for school.

thank you for letting me use your grey high heels to play 'teacher'

thank you for having faith in me when times were hard.

thank you for always giving me advice and showing me that family

is the most important thing in life.

you inspire me. i love you!

happy mother's day! :)

a cheerleading squad of 3.

its been a long 9 months or so leading up to this date: the bmo vancouver marathon. despite all of my huffing of family time missed while the hubs trained and trained and trained, i was truly happy that he was able to finish a long time goal.

so sunday, we woke up at 5am and packed up the van with the 4 of us, pillows, plenty of snacks and movies to drive daddy downtown before his race started at 7:30.

we had A LOT of time to kill. with rolo running a full marathon..we basically had to entertain ourselves for atleast 4 hours, so we started off by watching tangled in the car. olivia thankfully was still asleep (gotta love infant car seats! from the crib to the car!)

once olivia woke up and was breakfasted, (about 9am) i figured it would be nice to go for a stroll and find a good place to situate ourselves at the race. boy was it a sight. lots of family and friends of runners with posters and noise makers and cowbells to cheer on the runners.

we managed to find a great spot on the overpass just before the finish line. during the week leading up to the race, emma and i worked on a poster for her to hold to cheer daddy with!

the sun was out, it was warm with a cool breeze. the music was bumpin..so needless to say, the girls were having a good time!

emma even made a friend!

finally. it was time to keep an eye out. at 4 hours and 30 mins (this is marathon clock time, as rolo will tell you his time was better than this according to his watch) we saw him running to the finish line!

i was proud. i think we shared the feeling of seeing the finish line. the excitement alone got me going!

 sure, i think i've

resented his running like, a bazillion times, but to see his hard work and determination

come full circle..its great.

once he crossed the finish line, it was a mad dash to the runners tents to try and claim the

now possibly disabled man that is my husband.

thankfully, he was alright.

he's a hero! i know emma will always look up to him for that.

"i really hope he gets a medal AND the trophy," emma said before the race was over..

well atleast the medal part!

well..until next year..maybe..