Thanksgiving 2017 | Brigden Fair | HWY 21 Drive

Thanksgiving; gratitude, food and family. The awesomeness of Christmas without the pressure of gifts. This weekend we did all the things we normally do on Thanksgiving weekend, traditions like a trip to the Brigden Fair and a HWY 21 drive north to Port Elgin. I love it all, every bit of it. The craziness of getting our family out the door on a schedule, keeping kids happy on long car rides, a few disagreements with the husband because we have spent the last 24 hours very closely together, the hugs and kisses, the falling into bed with the best kind of tired, its all a blessing. Its life, its a good life, its a full life and God has blessed me with it all. I am grateful to God for what I have.

Holidays also make me feel nostalgic. As I introduce my children to the experiences that make up my memories and essentially shaped who I am, I experience a feeling, do you know the one? The one you get when travelling to Grandma & Grandpas house while looking out the window as you reminisce on the holidays gone by. You want to share your thoughts and emotions but its hard to put them into to words so you just keep staring out the window, soaking in that feeling and taking in the familiar scenery that somehow becomes more valuable the older you get. That one, that feeling. I am grateful for that too.

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I Am Thankful For Thanksgiving

Thankful

Happy Fathers Day 2017

A few weeks ago I was out on a full day of work and while Tyler was home with the kids, he captured this awesome moment of himself in all his dad glory. I am so blessed to have Tyler as a partner in life and our children are blessed to have him as a dad. He does things way different than I would do them but our children are better for it.

Check out the video here and happy Father's Day to all the dads.

I'm Starting To Feel Like Me

Sunday I took both kids to church alone and as I clambered into the sanctuary late with a fussing baby and wound up toddler, I wondered if I was awesome or crazy.

I sat in the warm atmosphere and nursed Lizzy while I followed Luke with my eyes and relied on the kindness of strangers to be patient with me. Corunna United Church is very welcoming to young families and I don't ever really feel like I am an inconvenience but I still want my children to behave well.

Last week I was thinking so much about how having children changes you no matter how much you resist it, your still you but different. I didn't want to be different.

When I was pregnant with Luke I resisted the thought that I would become any of the motherhood cliches that I had heard. I had no interest in changing anything about myself. I thought I would be different, exempt from the realities of motherhood.

I was not exempt from the marks my children will and are leaving on my body mind and soul and after experiencing motherhood, I am eternally grateful for the transformations. This being said, I still want to feel like just me once in awhile. Last week I also had my first outing without any children in 7 weeks and the next day I was so refreshed, energized, and excited to spend time with my children. Balance requires effort but being me, makes me a better mother too. The night after my time out of the house, I popped Lizzy in the stroller and went for a jog. I was slow and my run was short but as I breathed in the winter air, I gained even more of myself back. Slowly I am beginning to feel more and more like myself. I will never be exactly who I was before children but I will always make time to spend with myself, connecting with the person I have become, accepting the transformations that are to come and allowing myself to just be me.

Days Like Today

As I drove down Lakeshore Road today in the summer sunshine, surrounded by peeks of the lake and fields, listening to The Tragically Hip, the summer time vibes were on extreme high. I felt like I was home, I felt like I was a kid again and I felt like where I am, right now, is exactly where I should be.

I reminisced about my summer days as a kid. We ate sand covered chips and were up and down from the beach so many times in one day that at the end, you had to put on a wet suit and grab a damp towel for your night swim because we had used everything dry.

I thought to myself, I have lake water in my veins.

I grew up down the street from the beach, I spent my summer days in my bathing suit soaking up the sun and splashing in the water, to me this summer routine was the normal. I have always been grateful to live close to the water but my gratitude grows, the older I get.

As I enjoy the memories made with Luke swimming and building castles in the sand, I sometimes forget that we are forming his childhood. The smells, sounds, activities and surroundings that I expose him to are shaping his childhood and what will become the core of who he is.

So far I am pretty sure he loves the water and has a little lake water in his veins too.

I will hit my pillow tonight and dream about many more beach days ahead.

Sun, sand and summer fun!

Tending To The Garden

Its harvest season! I have been keeping an especially close watch on our garden lately, being sure to get veggies out as soon as they are ripe for the picking. A few weeks ago I spent a bunch of time weeding the garden (things were getting out of control in there).

Side step for a moment - This particular week I had been praying a lot that God come into the areas of my life that are holding me back from moving forward. I asked for His guidance in releasing things that were not good for me and help me to see what those things are. Sometimes the things that are blocking our growth, are things we think are harmless. God quickly showed me the areas I needed to work on and I was grateful.

Back to the garden - While in the garden pulling weeds, I couldn't help but see the parallels of my current action, to the work God was doing in my life. We weed the gardens so that our plants can produce good fruit. Removing the weeds allows the plants to get optimal nutrients and sunlight so they can thrive. It takes constant work to keep the plants in this state though, as garden tenders we need to go back to the garden regularly to review the soil and remove anything that will not benefit the plants.

Once the plants do produce fruit, all the tending seems worthwhile. The fruit is nourishing and allows gardeners to share their bounty with others. There is often so much fruit that it must be given away.

God is constantly tending to our lives, lovingly reviewing all the pieces of our lives and trying to help us remove the things in our lives that are preventing us from bearing good fruit. Some of the not so great things, have deep roots and take time to remove, or repeated tries to remove, and if we feed the bad things, they will continue to grow back. But if we persistently give those things to the Lord, they will be removed from our lives and allow new branches of life to grow, branches that will bear amazing fruit, enough to share and fruit that will nourish our soul.

As I weeded the garden, I tore out some weeds in my life. I talked to God and let Him know I was ready to lay some things at His feet. As I stepped out of gate and looked back at my refreshed clean garden, I was so pleased with what was left. The garden looked stronger, like it could breath easier with all the bad stuff removed. I thanked God for my time with Him in the garden and for showing me what I needed to remove from my life so I could be stronger, breath easier and bear good fruit.

A Visit With The Birds

A few weekends ago we went to visit my Bird family in Fergus. I love Fergus! I especially love Fergus in the summer, its green and peaceful and kinda dreamy. More than I love Fergus, I love the Birds who live there, my cousins, Aunt and Uncle.

This visit, we decided to explore St Jacobs Farmers Market. It was the first weekend of the new building being open and that market was a buzzing. We did a little shopping and a lot of eating. Luke was even into trying the different foods, it was so fun. We literally, ate our way through that market.

After a tour through the market, we went to visit some more family that lived in the area and enjoyed some time catching up. Luke was happy to play with someone his own age and we were happy to chat over more food and coffee.

I am blessed enough to have family members that are also my friends, and for that I am grateful.

I hope your weekend is filled with family, fun and food!!!

Artwalk & Our Beach

Sometimes the weekends pass us by and we don't get too much done around here but on those weekends, we also make pretty great memories. We are trying not to sweat the small stuff and enjoy all the fun stuff. May your weekend be filled with activities, that leave your laundry pile unfolded!

Here is a video of our activities from last weekend!

Happy weekend friends!

I Am Growing A Green Thumb

I am not much of a gardner, many plants have died under my watch. Tyler and I have tried to grow gardens before with little success but we thought we would give it another go this year.

When Tyler sets his mind to something, he goes all the way with it and our garden was no exception to that rule.

He started researching plant layout, watering schedules and what we needed to keep out any Peter Cotton Tails, that may want to try our lettuce.

The results are a beautiful garden that fill my heart with the most comforting sense of home, when I look out into our back yard in the morning.

Luke and I water the garden each morning and check on the plants when we get back from our walks in the afternoons.

I am really excited for the days when we can make meals with the food from our backyard. There is some work around the house, that just continues to make this place feel more like a home and me continually grateful for our cozy little spot.

Happy weekend friends, may your activities be fruitful.