okay...so why is my post starting off with this? Renee tagged me and when I went to the seventh folder of pictures it was my birthday party! I took the 7th photo from the end. I think i am supposed to tag some people, so I am tagging the few who read my blog ha ha...Stacy, Jeanette,Linda, Kelly and I dont know who else. SO you find your seventh folder and picture and post it. This was us shaking our thang!
I got a date night out last week and went to.....SUGARLAND! Totally loved that they played babygirl, love t hat song. My bf apparently gets annoyed by those paparazzi fans who take pictures (boo on him) But i took some anyways! ha ha !

I really think this one will be amazing with some photoshop action but Im posting it anyways
Below: She is just the cutest thing huh?

I loved this one of Jennifer in her shiny red hat and umbrella...it was so cool!

Ian will hate me for posting one with his eyes closed...but he doesn't read my blog so tee hee...he"ll never know

so off I go to finish spring cleaning...although it has recently snowed...I am willing spring to come! I can see victory as the bulbs I planted last fall toy with my emotions and threaten to bloom. I CAN grow something besides people! just wait until the may long weekend post! You will be wowed and amazed!

breaking news...

well for the two people who still read my blog, I am updating! This damn job thing keeps getting in the way of super important stuff like blogging, scrapbooking, surfing my friends blogs! Thanks to those of you who are understanding.
So lots to post about. I am back from costa rica and it was amazing! I have a bunch of pics on face book. I will show some of my faves here but my computer is hating on me and it seems to take forever to upload anything these days.


our favorite part was arriving and getting in a suit and getting a drink! wee hoo!
THE most amazing part of the trip for me was ziplining 30 metres up in the air through the rain forest to this beautiful waterfall! I would do it again in a second

had to post a picture of this gangsta! He had on so much bling, Jeanette told him the official rule about how much you can wear but I think it was lost on him ha ha.

The easter bunny visited and we took the kids for brunch at a local hotel. They had a huge buffet then the Easter Bunny showed up and took all the kids on a chocolate egg hunt. Porter cashed in with a total haul and I was so proud cuz my kids shared their stash with a couple little girls who were in the back and wound up empty handed. (tear) all this mom stuff does actually pay off sometimes ha ha

So here we are with the Easter Bunny, the hotel has really beautiful spots for pictures

who's this guy? If you ask Vaughn its "uncle". ha ha. Ill give the deats on the boy in a sec...

love this one and they are all being sooo good!
I hope everyone had a fabulous easter with a few days off, some chocolate and some time to hang with the family.
So I have a brother named Ian and he is Uncle Ian to the kids obviously. Unfortunately Vaughn can't differentiate that two DIFFERENT people can have the same name so he calls my Ian, uncle. Then Ian looks at me and says....sooooo how many "uncles" do the kids have? I reply 9! I do have 9 brothers ha ha.
So I hate to curse myself but I am posting publicly about the new man in my life. After being single for about a year I found a guy who makes me laugh, treats the kids amazing and makes me a little grumpy sometimes too. Why am I excited about the little bit grumpy part? Because then I know if he can make me mad, he's not too good to be true ha ha!
I had spoke to him lots before we met IRL and he cracked me up so I finally agreed to meet him in January. He lived in Toronto and was thinking of moving here as he was one who had been part of the huge layoffs by GM.
SO he arrives and has a wrapped gift box and I thought oooh hes hot but he has a gift so he can't be Ian.boo...but it was him! Then I never asked about the box. So we sit down and he says, I am old fashioned and I would have brought you flowers and candy but since you're doing Body for life, I figured candy would be bad. So I unwrap the box and there's a gift card for swimco! He said to buy a new suit once I hit my goal...what???A guy who actually paid attention during our phone conversations? no way!There was also a blackberry case as Vaughn had ruined my old phone and he hoped this would protect my bby from slobber. SO sweet! It has only gotten better since then.
He has stayed at he house with four sick, puking children, watched Vaughn for the day when daddy was MIA.He texted me pics of him and Vaughn at the collicutt centre swimming and palying at the toy centre. He's 34, never been married and has no kids. So wish me luck that I have finally kissed enough frogs and found my prince!
Off I go to catch up on everyone's blogs. I think, I shall be organizing the next blog retreat so anyone interested please let me know via email or here int he comments section:)

costa rica baby!

Well...I discovered why my whole body for life journey has been at a snails pace...seems my old thyroid is mad a t me. Darn! My doctor is hoping she can get me on track. I just couldn't seem to catch a break but then....
I got back a big fat income tax return and booked a trip for my BFF and I to COSTA RICA! We will be going for ten fabulous days and leaving on March 20. I can hardly wait. We were checking out all the beautiful wildlife parks and fun stuff to do...I'm not sure if we can wait until then.
Not like i am excited to turn 35 on March 16th but Jeanette is throwing me a party onthe 14th and I will get to see a bunch of friends I have been missing so terribly, especially CERYS! Coincidentally she just got back from costa rica.
Soccer is down to the last few games and provincials is in a couple weeks. I think Kian is more excited about his team track suit than the actual finals.
Irelands year end recital is in May and we watched tonight...I am sooo glad I put her back in the structured routine of ballet. I am so proud of how well she is doing this year.
Porter wants to turf soccer and join gymnastics so we'll see where that goes!
ANd Vaughn...OMG! Will I ever get this kid potty trained????I shoulda known when Kian was trained at one and the other two were trained by two that one was going to give me a run for my money...but enough poop already!

for those who missed the pics on facebook...my daughter was so sweet with her fellow scouter Mack at the cub Kar rally last weekend at the mall. They were holding hands and deep in conversation all day! It was so sweet. I tried to get a picture of their little hands but they were walking so close together, it wasn't possible.


last but not least...happy birthday to my baby brother, these are two of my baby brothers but Ian is on the right...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! and yes, somehow I didn't get the genetic mutation that my brothers did otherwise I would be 6 feet tall and thin, crap!

joy and sorrow

well well well....it has been four weeks on body for life and I took my four week photo today. Not happy that overall average for the month was only a 4 pound weight loss.WTF?????? I did thankfully lose 9 inches and of course, damn murphy! Had to be the boobs that were the first to go,not the dorito dimples(TM) on my butt, or that jello jiggly muffin top....
but i am going to keep on trucking and I hope that this month has a lot better results. I have fallen in love with smoothies! I tried this protein powder that tastes likes banana cream pie...a little powdery but good.

Sad news, my BFF is sad as her prince charming turned out to be a frog! DOWN WITH BOYS! We are having a drunk in a dress party. We are getting dolled up and going out on Friday night and hopefully she will remember that she has a bunch of friends who lover her sooooo much she'll forget about ol what's his name.Anyone near or far is invited to come...it will be followed up by the bestest pajama party ever at my joint! So RSVP me, i will be making some yummy appies also and they will be good going down so if they come up, who cares.

all the girls...See we found her smile

we were on a "winks" kick...cute huh?

one of my new BFFS...Ki!
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Irena...gotta keep her close, she has a line on an available bachelor ha ha ha!"
All the girls, Jessica, Pam , Ki, second row Irena, Renee, Jeanette and me!

So let's switch it up. What do you do on a sunday morning when your kids wake you up at the crack of your arse with their bickering???DO tell....you home reno! I did this crazy horoscope thing on the email that someone forwarded to me. I hate forwards usually and then they say make 2 wishes and they'll come true...but they threaten if you don't forward the email to five thousand people in the next 20 seconds you will have bad luck for 80 years. I wished for 2 things and they both came true! One was I wish I had some extra money. SO bam! I find a check from an investment at the bank for $511.42! No way!I also got another $1000 for this income tax crap I did and they didn't approve my days off until march SO I used it to by a new duvet cover for my room, a flatscreen for my room, then I got some hand from my right hand woman jeanette and we put up 2 shelves and some nice pictures in the laundry room. It is sooo home and garden tv! And in case we have never said it before: WE DON"T NEED NO STINKING BOYSSSSS! Feast your eyes...

and i still have some tweaking to do here but i ripped out the nasty particle board shelves and put in this unit from IKEA in the living room, way better!

Jeanette helped me with this but I added a top shelf to store cards, wrap and birthday stuff...cuz I always buy in advance once i choose a theme. Also I added one above the macines soI could fold laundry there. Zoe would be so proud cuz before i always threw the clean stuff on the floor till I folded it ha ha...is there a five second rule for clothes?

I treated my self to this little flat screen with a dvd built in and I caved....I got cable hooked up in here but I am happy to report that so far, I have mainly been using this for workouts. And yay, the kids all got their new furniture so my turn came (two years later ha ha) and I now have this lovely dresser...

and gorgeous bed. The night stand is in Irelands room cuz this set was too big for my room! Since I have no boyfriend, spouse, significant other or anything resembling it, I suppose I could push the bed closer to the wall and put the nightstand in here and give Ireland one of the vintage ones. Haven't decided yet. Love the new spring duvet cover with the dandilions on it. Matches my IKEA window treatments.

This weekend is supposed to be good for some scrapbooking and I need to post a pre scrap weekend page inspired by one of my other Lylas...this girl!
WHEW! caught up so enjoy whats left of the weekend gals!

update

Well it's been 2 1/2 weeks doing BFL and I was a little stressed that I didn't see the scale move by leaps and bounds. I did measurements and i have lost 8 inches...so I will rejoice in the fact that I haven't gained ha ha. I am not loving getting up at 6 in the morning but the total killer is that I wake up at that time on the weekend too!

love my little crazy bed head baby....even though he peed my bed. He has been staying with daddy the last couple weeks so momma has been missing him.

I took a little mini break from mom duty and went to Edmonton and I met Ki in person. She is one of those girls that you feel like you've known all your life. She even cursed at me ha ha! Gotta love her and add her to the BFF list! She gave me this amazing stash of scrap goodness...I mean her throw aways were my treasure! Can't wait to make something. I have not scrapped and again I fear I am losing the mojo...if anyone knows of any big scrap do's let me know. Maybe I need to fly somewhere and scrapbook instead of go to Greece ha ha! (I'm not joking about that though...anyone?)

Renee and I entertained ourselves at a little auction and I came home with a fabulous platter!


my friend DOug got a bit too big for his britches so he got put in his place...and hey ladies, he can take some abuse we ribbed him all night, but he is single so if there are any takers....BTW yes, we did make him get a haircut after this photo was taken.

here is a nice smiling one of him so you can get a good view...I can email the deats to anyone who is interested. We need to find him the "one".

Renee...she cracks me up...after one of Ki's "one finger" drink for pansy old me...I think I was pretty much done...

I was able to compose myself enough to take a good one.

I did some demo in the living room and built a shelf beside the fireplace all by my big self and found some fabulous fabric at IKEA to make little blind covers for my room.

aren't those pretty? I want pure design lady to come to my house and pull all my crap together! I want a house from a magazine which I know is impossible for us folk with kids but I can dream...here's to dreaming girls!

some pictures finally!

me on christmas day with my boy

the prettiest girls

Porter was happy for everything!
Vaughn's favorite gift was his quad from mama

ireland made the most adorable nativity set from clay...she wanted it to look like my willow tree people, I think she did a fabulous job!

Kelly...can you believe it? The three hour layout in real life! Ok...it's not 3 hours amazing but I was suffering from some serious scrappers block!

Here is my handsome son, dressed up for his first junior high school dance...junior high! Frick am I getting old!

It was a winter masquerade ball...here is his second date Sarah...apparently Janessa, his first date dumped him! The drama of sixth grade


This year I am starting out single and I was being a hater...everyone's all in love and shit...blah!But...I decided to take this time for myself. I am always wrapped up in the kids and their activities and work and I decided it was time to be a little selfish.So at the beginning of the month I started the body for life program (again). I completed it after Porter was born and lost 28 pounds in 12 weeks and went from a size twelve to a size 4 so it works! I half heartedly tried it once with this girl but lacked the time and motivation to complete it then.I think the difference is that my "before" picture then is what I would love to weigh now! ha ha!
I am off all my medication from my tumor and surgeries this summer and though I am healthy, that crap made me gain weight...they say its one of the side effects...You always wonder if the side effects are worth the actual medication!SO very diligently I have been getting up every morning at 6:15 and doing my workouts. Can't say I'm a fan of not sleeping in a little later but 7 pounds down so far makes me smile. I took a seriously nasty before photo and I will take one every four weeks.
So...here is where you my friends come in, at the end of 12 weeks I will post them...since I want to look fabulous in the after photo, It will be one more thing and you guys can help hold me accountable!
Don't worry, I will post an advisory warning before the "before" picture of me in a BIKINI goes up! ha ha. I made sure to get one in the size I want to be so it should fit perfect at the end.
Speaking of fabulous friends...apparently SHE thinks my blog is fabulous!SO I am supposed to nominate five other people ( there is a cute icon thingie you can get from her blog if you want)and list 5 of my faves right now

1. can't live without the gym
2. Love my son cuz he uploaded my ipod and it makes workouts fly by!
3.Sipping a strawberry smoothie while soaking in an epsom salt bath
4.bio oil...it really does work on stretch marks!
5. friends cuz you guys are the best and I really love ya!

oh and I nominate
Chanel
karla...but you already all knew she was fabulous
jude put the depends on before you read this gals blog!
Jeanette straight up, to the point no holds barred!
and last but certainly not least I have to nominate Kim! SHe has been doing amazing stuff with digital these days! love it!
whew! so super long post but I am done...check oyu all soon, big kisses!