Sunday, May 29, 2011

May Days... Return to Blogging

May has been a busy month.  So much going on with school, Sam, life that I lost my love for photos for a while and got in a funk.  Fortunately, I'm back.  This BEAUTIFUL sun shiny weekend has pepped me up and I'm ready to record life once again.
We've been up to all sorts of things this month.  A BIG first is that my little baby is in a big boy bed.  It's been a battle.  Big boy bed has brought back bad habits:  First it was to sleep through the night, then it was to stay in bed until a reasonable time (I'm talking sometime after 5:30am, that's not so much to ask is it!!?!?!) and we are onto what I hope is the last battle... going to sleep all alone.  Last night I put him back into bed 27 times, not kidding.  My advice to you, if you are building or buying a home and you have a toddler - make sure you have door KNOBS not handles.  He has been able to open any door in our home since before he was one.  No huge issues up to this point.  I love seeing his sweet face as he wanders into our room in the morning all by himself.  Where the problem lies is at bed time he likes to coming FLYING out of his room.  As I escort him back to his bed, he pretends that he has lost his bed and looks for it in every room down the hall until, alas, there it is just where he left it.  Exhausting at the time, but easy to laugh about only minutes later.  He is a handful, but this too shall pass.  


Now, onto some May highlights...
#1) Shaun's mini Triathalon.  He's done this race 3 or 4 times in the past and each year he gets better!  His goal this time was to be in the top 50 (over 300 racers), and he came in 57th.  Not too bad for an old guy!!! :)
Bright and early at the race.  One pre-race shot... Sam still in his PJs
Waiting at the pool to watch Daddy swim.  This is the face of Shaun's #1 fan!
Getting restless (and maybe a little wild)
Chillin' on the bike course waiting to see Dad.
At the finish line with our favorite racer!  
#2) Planting our vegetable garden.  I'm definitely not the only one in our family that loves to put seeds in the ground and wish for the best.  Sam was a great help as we took some time to plant peas, carrots and radishes.  Tomorrow - pumpkins and sunflowers.  Yay!
The Connolley family fun center!  All sorts of good times to be had in Sam's yard!  Now if only that fence was finished... anyways, back to this post.  Sam is getting instructions on how to help mommy.  I poke the holes, he drops in the pea seeds.
Goooo team Connolley!  Can't even wait for these to grow grow grow!!!  Now cross your fingers for me that there will be no more frost this year!
#3) Daddy builds us a flower bed.  Shaun often will wake up in the morning to a list a mile long of things that I really wish we had.  Not expensive things.  TIME CONSUMING things.  Sometimes he probably wishes that he never showed interest in building stuff because I always seem to have one more project for him.  He's so amazing though!  From landscaping to craft tables, flower beds to garages, decks to refinishing the interior of our VW van... he does it all.  And generally with a smile on his face.  He's not the quickest worker (it could be that his day job is really getting in the way of my to do list!) but I know for sure that it will be done perfectly!!!  You may ask yourself, how many times can one board be leveled and the answer is there is no limit!  Love you Shaun for all you do!
So, I give Shaun the task of building me a backyard flower box.   Sam and I head off to a birthday party and return to a well designed matrix to be sure the flower bed will be level.  In less than a minute, Sam had not only kicked dirt all over,  moved the board around but also managed to snap the string Shaun was using to mark the height of the bed.  Sam's good at what he does!
Hobby - baby parkour.  Love to jump regardless that level of danger the landing could be. 
WILD BOY!  Needless to say, Shaun is now outside in the dark finishing off as Sam seemed not only to slow down the building of the flower bed but maybe even move Shaun back a few steps.  Two things are definitely true about Sam... never a dull moment and we love him more than anything!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Let's Go Fly A Kite

I'm sure if you've been on facebook lately, you've seen the endless number of status updates about this crazy wind we are having in Alberta.  There have been some extremely blustery days!  What is the best way to combat the windy day blues... A KITE of course!  We found a really fun, sturdy kite at Costco (that place has everything!) and off to the field we went.
Handsome face ready for some windy adventures!
Showing his "kark" kite to mommy.
Up, up, up!
Sam and Daddy flying the kite together.
Uh-oh!  Get that thing in control!
Gotta run to get it going again.
Love family time!
Little man watching his kite.
Spotted it!
Momma love flying kite too!
Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Planting the Seed

Last week's craft was to plant little pots.  Super simple little kit, basically just add water.  Perfect for two BUSY toddlers!!!
Drop the pellet into water and stir with a fork...
then scoop it back into the little pot.  We planted some herbs and hopefully in a few more days we'll see proof of our hard work!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mother's Day Run

We ran the Mother's Day Run for the second year, and again it was an amazing experience.  I was able to raise over $600 with the support of great friends and family.  The money goes to the NICU in Calgary hospitals, which is something very close to my heart and without it my entire life would be so different right now.  They truly work miracles on some of the tiniest little bodies... it's hard to think back to how fragile Sam was in those days when I look at him now as a big, healthy, wild boy.


This year my Mom and Aunt joined us for the run.  My mom is my hero and my Aunt was the mom of a preemie 26 years ago.  It was super special for me to have these two wonderful women with me.  My Mom ran the 5km 10 minutes faster than I did... she's a champ.  My Aunt paced us the whole way, ran the whole thing and inspired me to keep moving.  Shaun, my best support person, talked me through trying to stop running twice.  I realize by the way I'm talking, you'd think the run was 25 kms... but for me 5 km is plenty!  Sam cheered, screamed, cried, read books, ate snacks... all in all a great time!
Pre-race snuggle... nothing better in the whole world!

Team Connolley!
My Mom with us waiting at the start line.  Pretty soggy but lovin' life!
How far we were from the start line... 20 000 runners and walkers!  Amazing!
Watching the balloons released in honour of Mrs Forzani who passed away this year.
Loves of my life!
Looking exhausted but still running
Finish line with my Aunt, Mom and Sam.  What a perfect way to spend a rainy Mother's Day!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Thanks Auntie Bobbi!

Here are a couple super cute moments that my Aunt Bobbi captured at the farm on Easter...
Checkin' chickens... Sam liked their sound but was nervous of their looks.
Here are Sam's frogs... Mom and Dad.  They are super cool (and still alive I might add for those of you who said they'd only survive a week!!!)
Waiting for the chicken to lay it's jellybean eggs.  Cutest picture, wish I could take credit for it.