My Husband Rocks!

Those of you who know me on Facebook are already familiar with me bragging on my husband and then ending with "My husband rocks!". Yesterday, I blogged about a great company, Union28, that celebrates marriage and communicates this message positively in fun and stylish ways (also where I got that catch-phrase).

And my husband does rock! To be perfectly honest, I think he is a better husband than I am a wife. Here are just a few of the rockin' things he does for me and our kids.

He works very hard to support me and the children so that I can be a stay at home mom.

He is also blessed to work as his own boss, so he is able to determine his own work hours and he has made it a priority to be home at a decent time so that we are able to eat dinner together as a family virtually every evening, despite our rather busy schedule.

He is always thinking of me and trying to do things to make life easier for me. He does 99% of our grocery shopping, as well as most of our trips to Costco and Walmart - and he always asks me which of the kids I want him to take with him, so I can have a break while he's gone. He virtually never goes anywhere without taking one or all 4 kids with him.

He makes breakfast for the kids every Sunday morning so I don't have to get up earlier in order to get ready for church on time. He also makes breakfast for the kids on the Saturdays that he's home so that I can sleep in.

He reads Bible stories to the kids and prays with them every evening. If he has hockey in the evening, he usually makes sure to still do this before he leaves.

Before bed, he often takes the time to just chat with the kids, or tease them, or tell them made up stories (they love this!).

He takes the kids out for one on one dates.

If he's not going to come home for lunch on a workday, he phones me to see how my day is going.

He compliments me on my looks.... a lot!

He makes it a priority for us to go on dates regularly.

He initiates us reading devotions and praying together before bed.

My husband rocks!

Family Photo Shoot

We were blessed to have a friend do a family photo shoot for us last weekend and I think the pictures turned out fantastic - thank you Kim!! (Facebook friends, feel free to check out all the pictures on my profile page).

Our blessings from God...

Emma - 9 yrs old

Sophia - 7 yrs old

Olivia - 5 yrs old

Jacob - 2 1/2 yrs old

Our girls have attitude? Never! ;)

I love him, I love him a lot!

Disney - Days 4 & 5 Magic Kingdom

In case you missed it, you can find Days 1-3 here.

Day 4 (Sunday) - shopping!
Today we slept in and went shopping at Prime Outlets. I think Nathan fell in love with the UnderArmour store.

We had lunch at the food court, did a bit more shopping, then went home to swim and rest/nap.

Then we headed out to Uno's for supper - hmmm, hmmmm, good. There were a few mistakes on our order - we had ordered two different deep dish pizzas (deluxe for Nathan and pepperoni for me and the girls). Unfortunately she (and by "she" I mean our waitress who was likely in her 60's, by the sound of her voice she had been smoking since she was 12, and her name was Storm. I kid you not.) brought us two deluxe pizzas. Not good for us picky eaters. They brought us another pizza, but it took awhile.

Did I forget to mention that we're not above bribery to ensure a peaceful shopping experience? Nothing like a stroller and a lollipop to keep Olivia within eyesight.

Day 5 (Monday) - Magic Kingdom - Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, Cinderella's Royal Table
This was the day the girls had been looking forward to for a long time! And fortunately I double checked my reservations. I had originally been trying to book everything for Tuesday, but it didn't work out as well as Monday so I had booked Monday, but for some reason I kept thinking it was Tuesday. Can you imagine if we had missed it?! The horror!!!

Anyway, Nathan dropped us girls off at the Magic Kingdom ticket and transportation centre where you have to take either the monorail or the ferry across the lake to get to Magic Kingdom. Then he headed to Kennedy Space Center with everybody else. We took the monorail across the lake and were there early enough to get good spots to watch the welcome show that several actors and characters perform to open up the park.

After rope drop we headed for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. On the way we spotted Goofy and Donald so we made a quick stop for autographs before continuing on. I wanted to make sure the girls tried a medium rollercoaster before attempting Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. Anyway, they loved it!

After that we headed to the castle for our 9:40am appointments at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique inside Cinderella's castle. Each girl was given an invitation labelled Princess Emma (etc). It had 3 hairstyles to choose from - all 3 girls picked the traditional fairytale princess hair style. We had chosen to do the Crown package which includes hair style, shimmering makeup, nails painted, and a sash for $55. Each girl was assigned a makeup station and her own fairy godmother-in-training who would perform the makeover. They were each assigned chairs beside each other which was perfect for me and my camera :)

They start with the hair - putting so much goop in there that the girls wore that hairstyle for 3 days before washing it out, even after swimming! Next the girls got to select two colours for eyeshadow and a nail polish colour. All the makeup and polish is light and sparkly - very tasteful for children. Each girl gest to keep the eye shadow kit and both nail polishes along with a comb and stickers, all in a pretty pink to-go bag - for touchups throughout the day (or, more realistically - so they can play BBB when they get home!).

All transformations are done with the girls looking away from the mirror. Once they are complete, the fairy godmothers-in-training wave their magic wands over the girls, saying "Bibbity bobbity boo" and sprinkling pixie dust on them - then they twirl them to face the mirrors for the magical and exciting reveal! We went across the street where the girls got their photos taken in a studio - and here they are.
After our appointments, we had about 3 hrs to kill before our lunch reservations so off to the rides we went!

The girls wanted to go straight back to Big Thunder Mountain, but on our way we stopped to get the coveted autograph of Disney's newest princess - Tiana and her prince Naveen (Olivia was thrilled that the prince held her hand!).

Here they are back on Big Thunder Mountain for a couple more rides...

We then went on the Peter Pan ride where you ride on a flying sailboat over the scenes from the movie - another one of the girls favourite rides. And then Cinderella's Carousel a couple of times since it had a short line.

And then it was finally off to Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch.

Going to the BBB or eating inside the castle is the only way you can go inside and see what it looks like. The girls were so excited!

First you go in and meet Cinderella for autographs and pictures near a large fireplace. A 6x8 print of Cinderella's castle, one 6x8 and four 4x6 prints of your picture with Cinderella are included. There are probably 40 different crests scattered throughout the castle - quite amazing.

Once our reservation was called we went up the red carpeted spiral staircase to the second floor which is where the dining room is. It probably seats around 50 tables. Shortly after we were seated the princesses started arriving to royal introductions and applause. Each princess stopped at each table to talk with the kids, sign autographs and pose for pictures. The day we went featured Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Princess Ariel and Belle - I think this is the first time the girls have gotten Snow White's autograph and the first time they've gotten pictures with Belle in her "street clothes".
The food is all you can eat, but plated, so you order your food. Click here for the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. The girls all had chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and/or rice. I had the pork tenderloin with rice. Drinks are included, as well as dessert. The girls got sundaes with chocolate crowns and I got a huge muffin shaped chocolate cake with a cream cheese filling - it was delicious!! Each girl also each got a wishing star and a magic wand (boys get a sword).
After lunch we saw "Storytime with Belle" - there's a little nook type area by the castle where Belle tells her story with some acting help from selected audience members.

We happened to stumble upon the afternoon parade as it was almost wrapping up. The girls couldn't really see, but I managed to get a few pictures.
We went on a few more rides, including the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Your traditional ride, and exactly the same as the Dumbo ride (also at Magic Kingdom), but the lines are WAY shorter. Not sure why the Dumbo one is so popular, but it is.

We were going to see "Dream Along with Mickey", a musical style live production with Mickey/Minnie, numerous princes and princesses and other characters (we saw it last time and they loved it!), but it started to rain. Thankfully we had brought along our Dollar store ponchos and the rain started literally just as I was finishing putting the last poncho (mine!) on. I hadn't thought it would rain that much so I hadn't put the extra poncho over the stroller, which turned out to be a mistake. At the bottom of the stroller is where all the BBB and castle paraphanelia was stored (including their complimentary pictures with Cinderella) and I was so worried that they would get wrecked. The pictures were fine - the folder they came in and the BBB invitations are wrecked though. I was planning to stop by the castle and ask if we could get another one, but we never got around to it. After the rain let up just a little, we decided to head to the Winnie the Pooh ride - I figured we may as well wait inside for a ride instead of just huddling under a shelter doing nothing! Most attractions are built with the lines inside for a good chunk of the time. The wait was quite short, and by the time we were done the ride the rain had stopped. And then we went back to Big Thunder Mountain for one more ride - can you tell it was a favourite?!

Then we hurried back to the parking lot where Nathan was waiting to pick us up after a long and marvelous day! We were at the park from 8:40 to about 5:15 that day and we all had a blast - it was so fun seeing how thrilled they were with the magical events of the day.

We all went to Giordano's for supper and then back to the house, all tired out after a fantastic day.

Our Disney trip - Days 1-3 (travelling & Epcot)

Day 1
Thursday, April 15th we loaded up the van (virtually everything was packed the night before), and drove 3 hrs to the Big City where we stopped for lunch at Paradiso before continuing our treck to Minneapolis. We had made the decision to drive to Minneapolis and fly from there, because we got a killer deal of $200 including all taxes/fees for a direct flight to Orlando - instead of around $600 for a 2 connection flight from here. Times 6 people, that's a big savings, even after hotels, gas and restaurants.

We had decided to stay at a La Quinta, in just a regular room cause it was cheaper (and we were having trouble finding a hotel that suited both our family and our travelling companions' needs/wants/price point - Nathan's parents and his sister and BIL with their 1 yr old daughter). Big mistake. We always stay in at least a 1 bedroom suite when we hotel it with our kids and this night comfirmed that that is the only way to go for us. We virtually got no sleep. Not La Quinta's fault though, so don't let that stop you from staying there should you just need a place to crash and you like regular hotel rooms. The pool area did not look inviting but everything else looked just fine (breakfast included).

Due to the size of our rooms we decided to vacate the premises for the evening. We went to Chili's for supper and then headed to the Mall of America.

Day 2
After our disastrous night, we had a complimentary breakfast (waffles, fruit, etc) at LaQuinta and then boarded the free shuttle to the Minneapolis airport.

Can I just rant a bit about the ridiculous check-in policies right now? You have to pay for every.single.bag.you.check. You know what that means? Lots of carry-ons. Which ends up being the same amount of luggage in the plane and a whole lot more hassle for the passengers and the flight attendants (whom I would certainly guess make more $ than the luggage loader guys so I fail to see the logic of this plan). This policy meant that we checked 2 large pieces of luggage ($50 bucks total) and then we took 5 carryons, plus 2 strollers, 1 booster seat and several purses onboard the plane. After getting through check-in and security, we ended up checking 4 of the carryons (for free) so there would be less luggage in the carry-on compartments. Again - see how this new plan is just not working?

OK, rant over. So, we grabbed some subs from Quiznos to bring on the plane with us and away we went! The flight itself went well. We weren't quite able to get the seating arrangements we wanted, but it worked. Nathan sat with Jacob and Olivia and I sat across the aisle. Emma and Sophia sat with Grandma and Grandpa sat across the aisle. The kids all did great. After eating lunch, Jacob ended up sleeping for at least half the flight, and Olivia played her DS and slept as well. Emma and Sophia ate their lunch, played their DS and listened to their ipods.

After arriving in Orlando, we got our rental vehicles (we were upgraded for free to an SUV!) and set out for our amazing rental home through Romancing the Mouse. Quite honestly, I don't know why anyone would opt to stay onsite at Disney in a little hotel room, when for the same price or often cheaper, you can stay in a 2000 sq ft home with your own pool and hot tub! We stayed with them last time and loved it, so it was a no brainer to go with them again. Excellent customer service - they personally meet you at the house, give you the keys, go over how everything works, give tips on grocery shopping and anything else you'd like to know and leave their personal cell ph# for you to call should you need anything. This time we stayed in the 6 bedroom 4 bathroom home. Each couple had their own bathroom, and the kids shared the 3rd one - perfect set up for us! Plus we were really close to the parks - literally 10 mins from the time we left our driveway till we were parked at Animal Kingdom.

After settling in at the house, the guys went to Target to pick up groceries and supplies while the girls swam, and then we went for supper. We went to Ci Ci's which was a mistake. It's a pizza and pasta buffet, but we're just not buffet people (well, unless it's on a cruise ship!). The kids, on the other hand, LOVED it and begged to back for the rest of the trip, to no avail. :) The pizza just wasn't that good (little toppings, lots of crust), the pasta was really not good, and it wasn't quite as clean as we prefer our restaurants to be. The cinnamon buns were really good though.

After discussing our plans for the next day, we turned in relatively early for our first big day at Disney.

Day 3
Our family got up early and got to Epcot before the park to beat the rush. Armed with a touring plan (so worth it!) we hit the park! Unfortunately I had forgotten to put autograph books on the list of things to get at Targe, so instead of paying $2, we bought them at the parks while standing in line for $10. They are nicer, but still - argh. After we were through the turnstiles we saw Daisy so we quickly went to get her autograph. Once the rope dropped and the park was officially opened, Nathan and Jacob went to grab fastpasses for Test Track while the girls and I headed to the Character Spot to get in line for autographs with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald. Nathan made it back as we were about half way through the characters so Jacob got to interact with a few of them too - he was so excited!

Then we saw Soarin' using the child swap - Nathan took Emma & Sophia (Olivia didn't want to go) while I took Olivia and Jacob on the Land of the Living (boat tour about farming) - Olivia loved it! Once we were done I used my Child Swap pass to get in the fastpass line with Sophia and Olivia (the girls convinced her she would love it and she did!). You can take 2 riders with you when you use the Child Swap pass. On Soarin' you're buckled in and lifted up in front of a giant Imax like screen and you feel like you're soaring through various landscapes and famous places - very cool!

Next we all went on The Seas with Nemo and Friends. You sit in a compartment shaped like a shell and move sideways through the ride while watching a very condensed version of the movie. After that we went to see Turtle Talk with Crush. This is an interactive film with the surfer dude Crush from the movie. It starts off like a film and then the turle begins to have live conversations with audience members - and the guy is hilarious! I think the adults enjoyed it as much as the kids.

We then began the long trek around the worlds, trying to find the princesses in their native country. We found Sleeping Beauty in the UK right away (Sleeping Beauty LOVED Jacob!),but unfortunately after that they all went on a 20 min break. By the time we had made it around to China, Mulan was out, so we got her autograph too.

This conveniently (but not coincidentally - I'm such a planner!) took us to Test Track where we used our fast passes and the child swap pass to ride (without Jacob cause he's not tall enough). The Child Swap pass is so convenient - the kids get to go two times with virtually no lines! For this ride, you're in a car and you go through a course with lots of different testing, including turns and sudden stops and, of course, a really fast speed test! While waiting, Jacob got to play in the Test Track showroom, which is filled with cars and trucks. He was in his glory!!! They didn't mind if the kids were inside the cars, so he basically went from one vehicle to another.

The kids were all tired after this and we headed back to the house (around 2:30) to swim while Jacob napped. We met the rest of Nathan's family at Macaroni Grill for an amazing supper (so nice after the previous night at Ci Ci's) and then went shopping at Kohl's in the evening.

Here's a picture a stranger took for us of our "whole" family. The little guy got cut off - he's sitting in the stroller :)
Stay tuned for more Disney adventures!

We are going on a cruise!

As you can see by my ticker, we are going on a cruise! We're doing a western Caribbean cruise with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize City and Roatan (Honduras). I'm so excited! We went on a cruise 2 years ago (stops in Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica) and absolutely loved it! We've been to Puerta Vallarta twice, and though we enjoyed those trips as well, there was just something about the cruise that set it apart.

Last time we didn't do many excursions. In Key West we simply walked the island ourselves, which was fun. In Cozumel we just walked the main strip and did a little shopping. In Grand Cayman we did a snorkeling tour, and in Jamaica, we just did a little shopping close to the ship.

This time we'd like to do more tours of the islands themselves. Other than Key West, I felt like we didn't see much of the destinations themselves.

We'd also like to do a zipline excursion of some sort. After watching Amazing Race we're really excited about doing that. In Cozumel there is actually an "Amazing Race" excursion you can go on, but I know there's also a zipline one there so we'll probably end up doing that one.

And, yes, we are going by ourselves! Our kids are being babysat at our house, by my cousins for about 24 hrs, then my parents are coming down from the City (right close by) for a few days, then Nathan's parents are having them at their place (here in our hometown) for a few days. I think the kids will have almost as much fun as we will :)

Let the countdown begin!!!

When Nathan Met Tammy

A new friend of mine asked me how Nathan and I met and I thought it would be a good idea for a post ...

We were actually set up by a mutual friend. A guy I went to church with (Mario) and Nathan played on the same hockey team. Mario brought Nathan to church one Sunday to check me out :). Then Mario invited me to come watch one of their hockey games. I went and was introduced to his friend Nathan. I didn't really think anything of it at the time because I was enjoying having recently become single. It took a couple of months for Nathan to get the nerve up to call me and ask me out for coffee. And it was very unlike me to say yes to a guy I barely remembered!

But I did say yes and we went to Manhattan's restaurant for our first date. I actually remember hoping that I wouldn't have a good time because I was enjoying being single. But, obviously I enjoyed myself a lot! We absolutely hit it off right from the start. I was 17 (fairly close to 18) and he was almost 19 when we started dating in January of 1995. We knew very quickly that we would get married. When I re-read the Valentine's card I gave him merely weeks later, I can't believe what I all wrote in there!

We were engaged in November when he proposed to me at Manhattan's, and were married the following July - 12 wonderful years ago!

I love him more all the time - I am blessed to be his wife. I am a stronger and better person because of his love and encouragement.

These are the lyrics to the songs sung at our wedding.....

Years From Here (4PM)
Standing here face to face, I feel my heart overflowing with love and emotion
The moment you took my hand, there was no doubt in my mind about our future
I don't need a crystal ball, through your eyes I see it all

Years from here, we'll look back and treasure
this moment forever inside our hearts
And from here to there, we'll make a million memories
that we can share years from here

I can promise you this with every breath I take, I'll live to love you
I'll go above and beyond to give you everything that one man can give you
I know we've just begun and the best is still yet to come

Years from here, we'll look back and treasure
This moment forever inside our hearts
And from here to there, we'll make a million memories
That we can share years from here.


The Smile on Your Face (Alison Krauss)
It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll [always love] me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me where ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking aloud
But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's been said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll [always love] me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll [always love] me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all


[ ] lyrics changed by me
I know I also changed the lyrics to that crystal ball line but I can't remember it exactly right now!

Happy Father's Day!

Father’s Day Prayer

Lord, please bless our fathers, these men who mean so much to us,
who are greatly responsible for who we are
and who we are becoming.
Bless them for having the courage
to do what’s necessary to keep us out of trouble,
for making us do the right thing, for helping us build our character,
even when it makes us angry;
and bless them for pushing us to do our best,
even when they just want to love us.
Bless our fathers for being our protectors,
for leading us through stormy times to safety,
for making us believe that everything will be all right
and for making it so.
Bless our fathers for quietly making a living
to provide for those they love most,
for giving us food, clothing, shelter
and the other material things that really matter,
for unselfishly investing time and money in us
that they could have spent on themselves.
Bless our fathers, Lord, for saving some energy for fun,
for leading us on adventures
to explore the outer reaches of ourselves,
for making us laugh, for being our playmates and our friends.
Bless them for being our secure foundation, our rock,
for holding on tight to us...until it’s time to let us go
Lord, bless these men we look up to, our role models, our heroes,
our fathers.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

By Joanna Fuchs

I am so thankful for the husband I have. Our children are truly blessed to have a father like him.


Daddy's Footsteps
~Author Unknown~

“Walk a little slower, Daddy”,
Said a little child so small.
“I’m following in your footsteps,
And I don’t want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they’re hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For you are leading me.

Someday when I’m all grown up,
You’re what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who’ll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I must follow you.”

Baby Pictures!

Here are the pictures I promised.


Here I am right before heading out to the hospital.










Proud parents of our first son!










Our beautiful children.

D-Day

Well, today's d-day and nothin's happening yet. Ya never know I suppose, I could spontaneously go into a quick labour for the first time - but I'm not holding my breath. For some reason I'm thinking it's just not going to happen until next weekend at the earliest.

The girls are going to start getting impatient. They know today is the day the baby is supposed to come. I've made sure to emphasize that the baby might not come that day - it might be early or it might be late. And they do know that, but now that the day has come, I think they're going to be mighty impatient from now on!

Looks like the votes are an overwhelming consensus on using both middle names. Nathan and I talked about it more on our date night on Friday (dinner and a movie - The Keg & 27 Dresses) and that's what we're going to go with.

Did I mention yet my feet have totally swollen up? This has never happened to me before, but I literally cannot wear any of my shoes anymore. Thankfully my friend Candace wears a bigger shoe size so I borrowed some comfy boots from her for our date night on Friday. You can hardly even see my ankles anymore - ugh.

I have to say, I'm definitely in the "ready for this to be over" mindframe by now. I think I've just been so big for so long (at 6 months I already looked like I was going to pop). I've just found this pregnancy to be much more physically tiring (course moving at 6 months probably didn't help much). I'm still trying to treasure the moments - but looking forward to holding this precious baby in my arms soon!!! And finding out if it's a boy or a girl!

Middle name dilemma

Please vote in my poll. Here's some more details....


If we have a boy I'd like to use 2 middle names - Nathaniel (after my husband) and Glenn (after my 1st dad who died when I was 2).

Nathan thinks having 2 middle names is a bit much and would rather have just one. He wants to use Glenn.

If we did use just one, I'd like to use Glenn as well. HOWEVER, Glenn doesn't work as well with the 1st names we're considering (I KNOW - we still haven't decided for sure!!!), except for one of them. The one that Glenn works better for also starts with an N, which is why Nathaniel wouldn't work as well - two N names in a row and all that.

Nathaniel Glenn works for all names except the N one, in which case we could use Glenn Nathaniel.

Since we are done having kids after this, I can't "save" one of the names to use next time because there isn't going to be a next time.

I don't want to use Nathaniel as the first name, with Glenn as the middle name - because of the confusion between Nathan and the baby. Nathan goes by Nathan or Nath or even just Nah to his sisters. So, the only other nickname available is Nate and I don't like that one. I also wouldn't want to use the full Nathaniel all the time either. So - that's not an option.

So, the options are....

Just use both names - yeah it's long, but they're both sentimental so it's worth it.
Just use Glenn.
Just use Nathaniel.
Use only one - whichever one works best with the 1st name we end up deciding on.

Clear as mud? Vote and/or give extended advice/explanation in the comments.

Thanks!!

Finally

OK, finally a new post. I realize I've practically dropped off the face of the blogging earth lately. So, here's a quick update.

We moved at the end of October! Yes, our new house (5th one since 1998) was completely finished - upstairs and downstairs before we moved in. Moving was absolutely exhausting at 6 months pregnant - I felt like I was 10 months along instead! Thankfully my mom and mil both helped out - otherwise I don't know what I would've done! I think I'm recovered now though. :)

My brother got married! Most of you probably know this already, seeing as how Andrea had pictures posted either that evening or the next day. But they sure did have some cute flower girls!

We took the girls on a weekend trip to GF - the shopping was great, and they loved the swimming as usual.

Nathan and I took another trip, just this past weekend - this time we cheated on GF and went to F instead. :) And we went..... by ourselves! We wanted to go on one more trip together before the baby, so we figured we may as well go now and get our Christmas shopping done. Two birds with one stone and all that. We had a great time! So relaxing.

And, of course, my sister Michelle had her baby! (Also, probably already know that from Andrea's blog). The first boy on my side of the family - after 6 granddaughters I guess it was time! Maxen sure is a cutie! Jean-Guy was quick to inform me that the pressure was on to provide a boy playmate for Max. We shall see, we shall see! Ya never know I suppose, but I wouldn't count on it - not with our track record. :)

Oh, and we decorated for Christmas Saturday Nov 24th already! I love the Christmas season. I'm more than ready to take everything down Jan 1st - but beforehand, it can almost not be up too soon! We don't do a real tree, so that makes it easier of course, to start so soon.

I'll try to post some pictures of the wedding, Max, and our new house - but who knows when that'll be. :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season!

More in the A-Z

F is for Future
I am one of those people that would love a glimpse into the future. Only good glimpses though! I often wonder - what will the girls look like when they're older? Who will their husbands be?

And, most important - will they be sharing heaven with me for all eternity?

Of course, I realize that that is their own personal decision - and, yet, as their parents, we have the most influence over their belief systems that anyone can ever have - a huge and daunting responsibility! So, one thing we have determined to do is to be as open and honest and communicative as is humanly possible. Nothing is off limits in discussion. Our relationship with Jesus needs to be talked about in everyday life - not just on Sundays and not even just at evening Bible Story and prayers. They need to see that this Relationship is wholly applicable to each and every part of our lives.

On a lighter note - F is also for Fingers. A classy restaurant I worked in during my one year at university. I first started as a Hostess, then as a Busser and then as a Server. The tips sure beat Chicken Chef's! Though I have to say, the work was probably easier. :)

G is for Gravy
I love gravy!

That is the one down side to GF holidays (G is also for GF - our regular "holiday" destination with the kids). They don't have gravy for french fries in the States. In fact, I don't think any of them have heard of poutines. Gasp - the horror!

Gravy on perogies, gravy on rice, gravy on noodles, gravy, gravy, gravy!

H is for Hugs
I love hugs. I especially love hugs from my girls and my man. Can you ever hug too much? No, there's no such thing.

I is for Induction
So far I've had to be induced for every labour. With both Emma & Sophia my water broke and nothing happened so I was induced - both were born exactly on their due dates. With Olivia I had a leak the day before her due date (totally my same MO!), but StB is a pain and wouldn't induce me - until I was 10 days overdue and at the fetal assessment they discovered I had very little amniotic fluid left. Hmmmm, I wonder why?! So, they induced me then too. The pain about being induced is that they have to monitor you constantly - so showering and walking and all the other methods of pain coping aren't even options. So, I am REALLY hoping not to have to be induced with this one - but that's probably a long shot because apparently my body doesn't know how to go into labour on it's own. :)

D and E in the A-Z of Me!

D is for Dinner & a Movie!
Dinner & a movie is pretty much our traditional date night. We love eating and we love movies! We usually go to either The Olive Garden, Tony Roma's or if we really want to splurge we go to The Keg. I love The Keg - hmmmm, the bread! I think I could eat a whole one myself! And of course, at The Olive Garden - it's their breadsticks that do me in! Tony Roma's is all about the ribs of course. I'm not exactly an adventurous restaurant orderer. I always gets the same thing - why mess with a good thing, right?! At the Olive Garden I get the lunch portion of Chicken Alfredo on whole wheat linguine. As though the whole wheat makes up for all that cream! With the pasta fagioli soup and about 3 breadsticks. Tony Roma's it's the Honey Garlic ribs. And at The Keg it's the Teriyaki Sirloin steak. Hmmmmmm, good! For movies - we always use our Airmiles for 2 tickets, one popcorn and 2 drinks - not that I need more food after all that bread! We're planning on seeing The Bourne Ultimatum this weekend - can't wait!


E is for Emma Marion
That was a no-brainer! Our firstborn came into the world on March 30th, 2001 - exactly ON HER DUE DATE! I know - pretty rare! My water broke the day before. And when I say broke, I mean broke. I do not mean trickle. We're talking another global flood. You could SEE the difference in my stomach afterwards! Anyway, we went to the hospital and nothing happened. No contractions, nada, nothing, zip, zilch. So, after waiting and walking, they induced me. And she was born sometime around 1am (I have a horrible memory and I'm not getting up to verify the time!). She was 8lb 1oz and the cutest baby ever (until a few years later when she was joined by Sophia & Olivia of course. It's currently a 3-way tie until January!)

Anyway, Emma is quite the character. Her imagination is incredible (she certainly does not get that from me). When she just turned 2 she was already pretending to take her stuffed animals to our local amusement park, setting up a big production in order to do so. She loves to put on shows for us - ballet, singing, you name it she loves it! And she is an excellent singer too. Her music teacher at school actually told us that she'd never heard a Kindergartener sing as well as she does. I could totally see her auditioning for Canadian Idol if they had one for her age. :) A little performer that one! I think I can take credit for her inheriting a love of music. I've been starting to teach her piano and she's taking to it very well. I've been far to lacsedaisical (sp?!) about that though, so I'm determined to be more regular with her lessons this year.

8 Interesting Things About Me

I have been tagged by Tara to do write "8 interesting things about me."

The Rules: “Each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people and then visits those peoples’ sites and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do.”

1. I have had 3 different last names. I was born with my first last name. After my first dad died, my mom remarried and I was adopted by my new dad and so I got my 2nd last name. And after I got married my last name changed again. For the last time!!!

2. I lived in a tent for 2 months during a Teen Missions trip - this partly explains why I now hate camping/tenting.

3. I have been pregnant 6 times. We have 3 children and 1 on the way. Again, the last one - at least that's OUR plan.

4. I won the Governor General's Bronze Medal in Grade 12.

5. I completely my ARCT (piano performance degree) the same year I graduated from high school.

6. I took 1 yr of University in the Faculty of Education - I was double majoring in Math and French. I wanted to teach high school. Then I dropped out of university to get married and have kids. OK, we waited almost 5 yrs to have kids, but still. :)

7. We bought a piano for our 2nd year anniversary - and Nathan surprised me with an additional gift - an anniversary ring to match his wedding band. Of course, now that I lost the diamond in my wedding ring, that anniversary ring is now being used as my wedding band.

8. My middle name is Michelle. And my sister's name is Michelle. And no, Michelle's middle name is NOT Tammy.

Well, since I think all the bloggy people I know have already been tagged, I guess I can't tag anyone. Unless you're randomly reading my blog - in which case, consider yourself tagged!

Honour Your Husband challenge - Update #2

Well, it's not Monday, but here's my update anyway - better late than never right?

#1 - Greeting Nathan at the door with a fairly clean house. Well, as long as "fairly" is in there, then I think I've done a good job at this one. :)

#2 - Praying for him - I've done better at this, but still have a ways to go. How come so many of us seem to be struggling with this one?

#3 - Complimenting him - check! But I don't think you can ever do this too much - so technically, still more to work on!

#4 - Being cheerful, in spite of being pregnant - I asked Nathan if he'd noticed if I'd been more cheerful this past week - and he had! So, I guess I've been doing a good job. This will however, need to be a daily priority in order to maintain. So, still gotta focus!

Hmmm, I think I should add another goal, seeing as I did that last week too.

#5 - Offering free massages - especially necessary working the hours he is now. Who doesn't appreciate a good backrub?!

I think the biggest thing I've "learned" or perhaps had reinforced since I do know it already, is that true love (insert romantic sigh here) is no fairy tale. It's thinking of the other person ahead of yourself. It's being selfless especially when you feel like being selfish. It's going the extra mile. It's looking for ways to express itself better all the time.

And that means going completely against the grain of what society is trying to sell us. And it's so easy to get sucked into this "me first" philosophy without even realizing it.

After all the Word says it best.

Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1st Corinthians 13 - The LOVE Chapter

A new goal perhaps? Strive to be able to insert our names instead of "love". What a world it would be!

Honour Your Husband Challenge - Update #1

OK, I'm finally updating the progress I've made on the goals I set 2 weeks ago.

1. Greeting him at the door - this I've done very well. I want to add to this goal - make sure the house is relatively clean and clutter free when Nathan gets home. I always say I can have the house totally clean and then 5 mins later it's a mess again. But I want to make the goal to have those 5 minutes coincide with his arrive home time. I know he appreciates that.

2. Praying for him - this I haven't done as well as I hoped. I want to get the book, Power of a Praying Wife, but I haven't yet and I know I'm not likely to get it before the end of this challenge. But for now, I will make this goal more of a priority on my own. I'll still get the book though - because, challenge or no challenge it's always good to pray more.

3. Complimenting him - I think I've done a pretty good job of this one but I will continue to make it a priority. If I can manage to do it publicly, within his hearing that would be great!

Here's a little public praise. We just went away this past weekend and when we went shopping he often took all 3 girls with him so I could shop by myself. That was awesome!

I want to add a 4th goal this week.
4. Being cheerful. Due to still being in the throes of 1st trimester delight, I have the tendency to be a little on the crabby side by the time Nathan gets home. Especially as we're building another house again, my days at home with the kids are pretty long so I feel really tired by the end of the evening. But I need to give my best to him too and not just the girls. So, I want to complain less, be more cheerful and show him I really do appreciate him and enjoy being with him - because I do! So I'm going to show it more.

Stay tuned for more progress reports as the weeks go by!

Hmmmmmm, strawberries!!

Strawberries are my favourite fruit of all time. And it is now officially strawberry season - woohoo!

The first day of picking was on Saturday, but when I asked Nathan about it he said he wouldn't have time to go on Saturday because they wanted to get all the trusses up on our new house - with the goal to have the framing finished before next weekend. And, being the good wife that I am, I didn't bug him about it because I knew that he would go during the week sometime before work :)

BUT, Saturday morning he walks into our room with 4 pails of strawberries - what a surprise! And this morning he took Emma and they picked 3 more pails. She then got to go with Dad and Grandpa to the hotel for breakfast before they left to work on our house. She had a blast. What a great guy, eh?

Strawberries in cereal (Cheerios for me of course)
Strawberries and ice cream
Strawberry pie!!! (courtesy of Nathan's mom)
Strawberries by themselves

Hmmm, hmmmm good. Excuse me while I go eat another strawberry!

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

We were at the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert the other day! Believe it or not, it's the first concert I've ever been at. I forgot to take my camera, but I took my phone so here's a pic from there - it's pretty bad I know! And yes, we were in the nosebleeds - 2nd row from the top!
It was a beautiful concert. The special effects were amazing. The stage was set up like this.
And it was LONG! After a 1/2 hr opening act, Tim and Faith were on stage for 3 hrs altogether! They sang together first, then Faith Hill by herself for about an hour, then together, then Tim McGraw for an hour, then together again. In the middle of Faith Hill's set she got really emotional from all the applause, stopped and gave glory to God and then she sang "It is Well With My Soul" acapella. It was beautiful.

Honor Your Husband Challenge

I have signed up to be part of a 30 Day Honor Your Husband Challenge. With 3 children and a 4th on the way - it's all too easy for the husband to get shifted to the back burner.

My goals for this week are

• greet him at the door when he comes homes, instead of yelling "hi" from wherever I may be at the moment (unless I'm in the middle of a diaper change :)
  
• pray for him daily, throughout the day
• compliment him - speaking well of him both in public and in private (this is something I have always strived to do, but it's always a good thing to focus on)

Focusing on Nathan's good qualities is really not that hard because there are so many of them. So, here is some public praise.....

10 Things I love about Nathan

• his sense of humour, even when it's at my expense :)
• his commitment and priority to me and our girls
• his desire to make our lives easier
• the fact that he makes scrambled eggs for breakfast virtually every Sunday morning!
  
• his desire to spend time with our girls, just him and them. He'll take them shopping, etc and give me a break!
• his work ethic - he works so hard to make sure that I can be a SAHM
• his spiritual leadership, especially with the girls - reading them bible stories and praying with them before bed every night
• his ability to make me feel cherished and beautiful
• his ability to communicate, a rarity among men! :)
• the way he fathers our daughters - he plays with them, takes time to talk with them, truly enjoys being with them

The list could definitely go on!

So, if anyone else wants to join in on the challenge - feel free!

Event#2

Another event that changed my life was deciding to link my life forever with my beloved husband.

I'm sure some of you are thinking - yes, Tammy, you have a tremendous grasp of the obvious. Obviously marriage would be a fairly life changing event.

But, it didn't just change me regarding marriage/relationships, etc. My relationship with Nathan has changed me as a person. I am not the same person now that I was BN (before Nathan).

BN I was a much more timid person. Outgoing yes. But decisive ... not so much.

BN I was more of a people pleaser. Now, there are good sides to being a people pleaser of course! But I was more on the bad side of being a people pleaser - it was at the expense of being true to myself (OK, that sounded much more new-agey than it was supposed to). I was turning into a keep-the-peace-at-any-cost type of person. And frankly, peace at any cost is often too high a price to pay.

Confrontation can be a good thing. Does this mean I like confrontation now? NO WAY! I still don't like it. It makes me absolutely nervous. But is it sometimes necessary? Yes, I believe it is. Nathan has encouraged me to be a stronger person. He has encouraged me to realize that just because my opinion is different than someone else's (even his - gasp!), doesn't mean it's wrong, and it doesn't mean I have to change it to agree with the other person. Quite frankly, if everyone agreed on everything the world would be such a boring place! Being a "yes-man" (or woman in my case!) doesn't help anyone. Yes it can be flattering to people's egos, but it doesn't stretch anyone, it doesn't challenge anyone and it certainly doesn't change anyone. Not that it's my job to change anyone - but I believe that we are to challenge each other - especially as fellow Christians. Saying nothing, to keep the peace, can be the right thing to do, and it can also be the wrong thing to do. The key is knowing where that line is. Often it's much more convenient for us to place the line on the keeping the peace side of the fence. But I think more often than not, the line is on the other side, which means confrontation is inevitable.

And of course, confrontation must be done in love - which is very difficult to do without the other party becoming defensive. However, we are not accountable for their reactions. We are accountable for our actions and inactions!

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

needs to be balanced with....

Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

And

Luke 6:42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

needs to be balanced with

Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

Nathan also has this wonderful habit of complimenting me on my looks (and other things too of course). After the thick goggle glasses, and brace-face smiles of the past, this was/is music to my ears. Now, I'm not thinking I'm model material or anything. But I know that I am beautiful to Nathan and to the One who created me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made!

I know our marriage has changed me in other ways too, but this is starting to get long, so we'll leave it at that!

I am blessed to be Nathan's wife and I pray that our love continues to grow and mature, and that we continue to change each other for the better, as we celebrate the adventure of life God has given us ..... together .... as one.