We're that kind of Special.

Dear Jen,

Today is a big day--if you operate on the metric system. Or, according to Brad, if you believe in statistics.

Apparently, if you make it to five years, your marriage will probably last the test of time.

Apparently.

So today, I got up at 6:00 with Gavin, who was (as is his habit lately) inconsolable for a good 30 minutes before I finally plunked him into his high chair and slapped some yogurt and banana in front of him. After a while I forced Brad to get up so I could have a shower alone while he watched the children. Once Brad got up, I had a shower with the children (alright it's not that dramatic. They have a separate tub--because we're fancy like that). Brad rushed off to school, and I didn't see him again until he came home at supper time. We ate our rushedly-made pita pizza, read scriptures, did After-Supper-Cleaner-Upper to some tunes (my sister's excellent idea), had a fun little Family Home Evening, rushed the kids up to bed, and then Brad sat down to study up for his calculus midterm while I did the dishes.

It was a really special day.

If you haven't figured it out yet, today is our 5th wedding anniversary!

Aww!



Okay I won't fool you into pitying me much longer. We decided to celebrate on Saturday because of Brad's big calculus midterm tomorrow. And Saturday was an excellent day. I know you'll love to see all the details, so I will share my anniversary day in photographs.

First thing, we checked out the "yard" sale going on at the Catholic church behind our house (which we discovered because when I looked out my window in the morning I could see the sandwich board advertising. Very convenient), from which we scored several excellent items, including, most excitingly, a rug for our cold bare livingroom--for only $20!

Then, because the weather was looking decent, we thought we'd check out the Five Islands area on the Bay of Fundy with the kids. This proved an excellent move for our anniversary celebration day, as everything hinged on the children being bedded by 7:00 pm sharp.

Great success.

So, after feeding the children a hasty McD's supper and whisking them off to dreamland, we began our special night. We got all dressed up, and headed downstairs for our candle-lit dinner of take-out pizza.

We bought dollar store candles, and Brad made a fashionable candle holder--or as he describes it, "functional".

Once our gourmet dinner was cleared away, we began our artistic renderings. I copied a photograph; Brad pulled his from his imagination.

You wouldn't believe it but we actually got those canvases (and paint and brushes) from the DOLLAR STORE! Incredible, I know. (Note: this is our living room wall. Hangin' 'em proud).

Finally, and I am sorry to say I have no pictures of this, for the product in question is already devoured, we gorged ourselves on Rolo ice cream (disappointingly few Rolo pieces--and the packaging even advertises  that it is "jam packed") and watched a movie from the cozy warmth of our bed.

Although not technically our anniversary date, that was a pretty excellent and special day! Not bad, hey?

Oh! I must add one post note though: today was special, but for an entirely unrelated reason. I had my first playgroup today, and guess what! Not zero, but one friend showed up! I would call that SUCCESS. Added bonus: She has two children, both five months younger than my own. So great to have a friend for Evelyn to play with!

Hope you had a good Jacqui's Anniversary Day. I checked my mail today, but that present you sent me hasn't arrived. I'll look out for it tomorrow.

Love,

Jacqui



Something's Bugging Me

Dear Jacqui,

So I ran 5K tonight with K... you'd be proud... 'cept for the part where a bug flew in my mouth.

If I was with you, I would have induced vomiting in the grass until that sucker came out.

Because I'm still getting to know K, I coughed politely and then swallowed the little guy down.

Then I came home and "chased" it with smores... one for each km I ran... minus one because 5 don't fit on a plate.

So 1 bug + 4 smores - 5K = ???  Now that baby "lypo" isn't sucking the life out of me 3-5 times a day, I have to keep track of these things.


Love, Jen

P.S. Wanna meet in Mexico for March break?  Might be cheaper than meeting up in Winnipeg... just sayin'.  :)

Two Seconds

Dear Jacqui,

I have only two seconds before baby wakes up & MIL comes looking for me.  (I'm pretending I need to 'work it out' in the basement bathroom so that I can have two seconds of privacy before 'day three' commences... who am I kidding?  "Day 3" started two hours ago!)

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!

You rock!  I love everything about it!  & I think you should have a job in PR (& propaganda)... you are such a wordsmith, that I wanted to join the group.  (Although it could also have a little something to do with missing you guys... hard to say for sure)

It is also ironic that you did it today... I spent the same (local) time here this morning wondering if I should put our group on hiatus... maybe that will also be something we can talk about and you can convince me that I am only being hormonal and irrational.

Did I mention that I'm pregnant?

Just kidding!

Nope... I'm just hormonal and irrational for no good reason.

I sure miss you... especially on Wednesdays... and Fridays... and all the other days ending with a 'y'.

Ahem.  Okay... back to that hormonal and irrational thing...

I hope your group is amazing and FULL of 3 & 1 year olds... and somewhat 'normal' adult conversation.  (Although in my opinion, if anyone needs to make friends on the internet... just kidding.)

Okay... that was like six minutes... any second you-know-who's gonna show up with more toilet paper...

Talk to you soon!

Love, Jen

Babes with Babes Truro Branch: Yellow Band Babes

Dear Jen,

Well, I finally did it. I got my act together and made a Babes playgroup! I tried searching for one, and found only a "moms" group, whose function appears only to be to inform moms about organized activites around town, and their sign-up days. Useful, indeed. But not a playgroup. I also thought for a while that the local non-profit-run Maggie's Place playgroups would suffice, and I had only to wait it out a little until I made some friends. But then I realized a couple things: I like the outdoors, and Evelyn needs friends now.

So this morning as I lay in bed listening to Gavin cry on and off for an entire hour (I am devoted to not getting him up before 6:00. I even resolved to get up with him at that hour and feed him cow's milk downstairs instead of bringing him into bed to breastfeed him. I have this wild hope that if I treat him more like a toddler then he'll start acting more like a toddler and sleep till appropriate hours of the morning. Updates to come on that one...) I had an epiphanical moment. I realized that it was time to make the Facebook group, and it was time to advertise on Kijiji. I spent that hour considering the day and time, and fleshing out all the dirty little details.

Alright! So here it is: Yellow Band Babes with Babes Check it out! You should be soo proud. I've stolen the format of your excellent playgroup and adjusted it to Truro life--adding what I felt was one really excellent element: the yellow headband. It's a good idea, right? I love it. It's not like I have to wear a uniform or stupid hat or nametag, and yet it stands out from a distance. I am very pleased with it.

Also I am surprised, because wonder of wonders, in this little ol' town of Truro, I appear to already have 60 views to the ad--which I posted hours ago--and already have six members signed up on FB. I just know you're beaming with pride right now. I am too. I finally did it! Although something else I've learned from my first-hand experience with Babes Chilliwack is never to have very high hopes for people who say they're attending something on Facebook. It's meaningless till they show up at least twice in a row. But six people--surely at least one of them will come! And this is only today! I have at least a week till we do this thing. It'll probably explode like your first group you made and I'll have this big annoying problem of having a giant virtual group of people who I've never seen in person or some such.

Well, I'll complain about that in a blog post when it happens. Right now I'm living in the clouds! Yay I feel so proud and pleasantly shocked at the speedy response! Now just pray that another 3-4 year old shows up for my poor dear Evelyn. And I guess after my first park playgroup next week it's on to phase two for me (gulp): NETWORKING.

Don't Kill the Messenger

Dear Jen,

Ok bad news: Brad says plants don't really like being moved. Something about light and dark preparedness and recognition, science blah blah.

However, he ALSO said all in all it probably won't do too much harm! So...if you want, you can just keep on keeping on.

Have you considered knitting little Iggy a sweater for winter?

It would be just...so darling.

Day 38 - Iggy Part II - Your Questions Answered

Dear Jacqui,

I will confess that I ever so slightly like moving Iggy around the house because:

1) It makes me feel useful
2) I can see the back of the planter without turning him away from the sun.

Now you know all my secrets.

Love, Jen

Day 37 - Iggy

Dear Jacqui,

So I'll be completely honest about the plant...

Alive & well-ish!  I think he misses you.

Although let me tell you... this is much like (what I imagine) having a puppy would be like.  I spent most of the day moving Iggy all over the house chasing the (what is becoming less & less) sunlight and praying that he doesn't die.

He starts over on the kitchen table and then slowly creeps over to the side table beside the fridge until he ends up in the living room waiting for the afternoon sunshine.  I've been trying to prepare him for the months of gloom that lay ahead, but he has already been through so much, I just don't want to break his spirit. 

On more than one occasion, I have had to get back out of bed when I have realized that I didn't move him out of the living room and back to the kitchen table before going to bed... Once I even awoke in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep without checking that he was in position for the morning glory.

I've even started leaving the blinds open over the patio door so that Iggy doesn't have to wait on me (just God) for some golden goodness.  AND I've worked it into my weekly routine (read: "on my calendar") when to water him.  I pray for him, sing to him and regularly swat away well meaning fingers.  He is practically my third child.

Anyways - just to clarify - I'm not OCD or anything about it...

***

Time is an interesting thing... In someways it feels like it was just yesterday we met at the park and our kidlings were tearing through the puddles together.  In other ways, I feel like we have been friends forever.

Wasn't it a great summer year though?


Love, Jen

P.S.  I'm so glad that you gave our SDS a name... Oh yes, I am taking it one step further and giving it an acronym!

P.P.S.  Really, really great year!

Life Goes On

Dear Jen,

As I am listening to the October General Conference of my church, I am suddenly reminded that last time we had General Conference--almost exactly six months ago--I was visiting your church with you and your family.

What a different time! Incredible to think of how much has passed since then. We started our Scripture Discussion Series (that's right--it has an official name, with caps and everything); we began suffering through that running program together (you being the ONLY reason I ever did something as outrageous as that); we started seeing each other practically every day (best every days ever); you moved to a detached house; we went to summer camp together; our babies turned three; we met tonnes of new friends at playgroup; we made each other sappy parting gifts (how dead is that plant right now? Be honest!); I moved...

Life moves quickly! Sometimes too quickly, sometimes not quick enough.

Strange though.

Love,

Jacqui

October 2011 General Conference