Mar 26 - Fun Stuff In The Mail

I love so many things about my job. This is just one of them. Two or three times a year I get new goodies in the mail. Woot!

Mar 25 - Coram to the Dentist

Coram felt a rough spot on one of his molars a couple of weeks ago. He though he had chipped the tip, and he asked me every day to get him a dentist appointment. We finally got in today - it's not a chip, it's a huge cavity. The good news is its not infected or anything (which is what happened last year). He was aware enough of himself and his mouth to notice the change and tell us in time, which is fantastic. The bad news is he has 4 cavities. We have 3 more visits to take care of them. I hope he is still smiling like this when we are done.

Mar 24 - Got Granola?

I work for a branch of our company called 'SWAT', which is basically a group of people who can do one-off marketing or merchandising tasks. This month we are doing a project for General Mills, part of which is to swap out expired or soon-to-be expired items from the shelves. I got a skid (yes - a skid - to my house!) of product. So now they live in my kitchen, in front of the dead dishwasher. Kinda fun, kinda funny. I never know what might show up around here LOL.

Mar 23 - Spring

I'm really enjoying the sunny weather, the emerging greenery and colour. It makes my time out and about in the car so much more pleasant. I am still playing with depth of field on my camera too - and discovering it's limitations. I would have liked a shorter depth of field on this - more blur, a really focused on or two green pieces in the front. But this is the lowest setting, so will have to do.

Mar 22 - Cute Boys

It wasn't even Friday night, and it wasn't even bedtime yet. The boys were watching a half hour of TV in Lucas' room, and they really wanted to sleep together (which we don't usually allow on a school night) so they went to sleep early. (side note - Lucas' room is still super messy, as you can see. He's compounded the issue by taking his mattress off of his bed frame and putting it in the middle of his floor.)

Mar 21 - Last Olympic Day

I worked downtown today again. I realized as I was walking through the streets that it's the last day of the Paralympics - so after today, all the Olympic signage will be gone. I figured I would take one last photo. This is the windows of The Bay.

Mar 20 - Coram Puppy

Coram came out of the shower swearing this puppy towel. It's funny because it was given to him for his first birthday. When he got it, it hung down to his feet and the puppy head hung down over him. He has shown little interest in it since, so it was funny when he came out wearing it with a big smile on his face and asked me to take a photo.

Mar 19 - Car Entertainment

Car rides are so much smoother and quieter since the boys got their netbooks.

Mar 18 - Pain Pain Go Away

I've been having a lot of back pain lately. I have an injury from almost two years ago, and greatly reduced core strength from it, and I am extremely prone to re-injure. Ibuprofen is my friend.

Mar 17 - Pretty Card

I am in a rubber stamping club that meets monthly. Sadly, I haven't been able to get there in a few months. I went tonight, and we made this pretty card. I take no credit at all for the designer LOL - I just followed directions :)

Mar 16 - Blossom Me

I was driving down this street, and I was struck by how pretty it was with the blossoms on either side. I tried to capture it in photo - it doesn't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

Mar 15 - Dirty Keyboard

I was playing with depth of field today. I was surprised at how clear I managed to get the keyboard of my laptop - right down to all the dust and dirt *blush*.

Mar 14 - Lucas the Athlete

Mom came into town today and we went exploring the events downtown. The Paralympics have started, so a lot of the fun things happening downtown during the Olympics have resumed, but the crowds are nowhere near the same. We got wet and cold, and by the end of the day a bit grumpy, but we had fun just roaming and seeing what as going on. Of course there were plenty of photo-ops - this being one of them.

Mar 13 - More Blossoms

I worked all day today, so was out and around the city again. I snapped this photo of a cherry tree on the way home. I like how stormy it looks in the background. That's the kind of day it was - stormy. Not stormING, just stormY.

Mar 12 - Um ... Another Kitty

So I don't blog every day. I do take my photos every day, but I sit down to blog them once a week. And from day to day, if there isn't something specific going on, I just take a picture of something that catches my eye. I don't always think about what else I photographed that week. So then I sit to blog and find all these kitty photos. LOL. Sorry about that. This is another one Coram asked me to photograph - Sampson is protecting my scrapbooking supplies.

March 11 - Another Kitty!

HAH tricked you! It;s not a photo of our kitties at all! Its the Cheshire Cat. The boys wanted to give his ears a scritch today as we left Alice In Wonderland. They both still had on their cool 3D glasses too.

March 10 - Another Photo of a Photo

Today is my older sister's borthday. This year, she has a nw super cute baby, and he is also super big. So, to show her shes not alone I pulled out this photo of Coram and Lucas. Lucas, on the left, was a slightly-larger-than-average size for a 14 month old. Coram, on the right, was an average size for a 12 month old. Only he was 6 weeks old. Yes. 6. Weeks.

Mar 9 - 1 Kittie

Oh dear. Another kitty photo. Coram liked how Cleo had found herself a new place to sleep - under this box (which is the Christmas tree box, still not put away from me taking the tree down in mid February.) He asked me to take a photo.

Mar 8 - 3 Kitties

Steve and I often joke with each other that we are kitties - we like to climb into bed and have a nap whenever we can, just like the kitties. Steve was being a kitty this afternoon and I caught him on camera.

Mar 7 - Coram

As you've seen in my photos, Coram often resists the camera. But occasionally he welcomes it. And it is wow.

Mar 6 - Cherry Blossoms

Spring in Vancouver means cherry blossoms. They are everywhere, and so delicate and pretty. We even have a festival around them. I love it because it's beauty in totally random places. One of the visits I make for work is right beside Burrard Skytrain Station, which is alive with cherry blossoms right now. I took two dozen photos and had a hard time choosing one as today's photo. I like this one because I like how the trees create a magical walkway of blossoms.

Mar 5 - The Lucas Journey

I have a thing for photos of people walking away. It's symbolic to me, of the journey they are on in life. This one, of Lucas.

Mar 4 - Elvis Is Alive

Yes despite all appearances indicating he's a statute, this Elvis street performer is indeed alive. And he wants your toonies in exchange for a photo of him. I'm so bad I just snapped one and walked away.

Mar 3 - Lost Mascot

A little post-Olympic humour in the neighbourhood. Sign reads:

Lost Mascot. Large and furry answers to the name Quatchi. Suffering from depression and existential anxiety. DO NOT APPROACH.

Mar 2 - Spring!

We had an extraordinarily mild winter this year. When the Olympics were coming, we were all worrying about the lack of snow and warm temperatures. However, now that the games are come and gone, we can all embrace how beautiful it is here. Our flowers are blooming, and it is definitely spring. This crop of daffodils is growing by a park bench setup on a local street corner. It's not a park. Its just a bench with some flowers, int he middle of the neighbourhood, encouraging us to just sit and enjoy being outside.

Mar 1 - The Boys

Wow I am so happy it's March already and I am still doing my p365 project! Last year I gave up early in February. I'm starting to feel like I can really complete this! WOOT!

Today's photo is the boys playing Coram's XBOX in his room. You can kind of see how Coram's room is a bit of a mess, too, but nothing like his brothers. He is looking down and pouting because he didn't want me to take a photo of him.

Feb 28 - The Moon In June ... No, In Squamish

We went up to Squamish to watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics with Mom. We watched them at the university, which is way up on the top of the mountain. The sjy was clear and bright when we went in - when we came out, there were these fascinating clouds all over the sky.

Feb 27 - Hariest Fan Again

Last year when our Vancouver Canucks were in the playoffs, I bumped into a dog all dressed in Canucks gear at the bank. I did a scrapbook layout of him and called it 'Hairiest Fan'. Well, today, with our Canadian Olympic Team playing tomorrow, I bumped into the same dog at the same neighbourhood grocery store. Now he's all decked out for Team Canada. How cute is THIS?

Feb 26 - Too Cute

For two boys who fight so much, its is really special one sometimes they surprise us and get along. Tonight at bedtime, Steve had to do a podcast and I was busy in a chat at a digital scrapbooking forum. Lucas offered to go lay down with Coram (who needs someone to help him get to sleep). They fooled around a bit, but they did eventually fall asleep. SO cute.

Feb 25 - Heart To Heart

At bedtime, Steve often climbs up onto Lucas' loft bed and they have a chat. Lucas gets some undivided attention (not easy in a house with an Autistic child) and he gets to talk over some of his concerns and triumphs from the day. Sometimes it's hard for Steve to keep it up, but it is very important to Lucas.

Feb 24 - Water

My recent re-injury of my back has made me keenly aware that these joints of mine can't sustain my weight. So I need to lose some. And in the past, one of my best friends for weight loss has been water. So I've committed myself to drinking three of these containers full of water a day. My new trust friend.

Feb 23 - Milk Shakes

I took the boys out to Red Robin for dinner. My back has been really bad since last week's Tug-O-War, and I can't stand to do dishes or cook. Steve was coming home late from work. So I Felt like I didn't have much choice if I wanted to get the kids fed. They were really, really good - a refreshing change from our last trip to a restaurant. So I let them share a milkshake on the way home as a reward.

Feb 22 - Go Gos

OK so I'll be honest here- I'm not really sure what these are. They are called 'Go Gos'. they fight each other and have different powers. They are collectible. Someone gave the boys each one set and they want more. I have no idea where to get them. LOL.

Feb 21 - Boys

One year for Christmas I painted this frame for Steve. You can't really see it, but in the detail on the two side pieces are the words 'father' 'hero' 'friend'. The photos are of he and the boys at one of our local beaches when they are about 3 and 4. Funny, I thought they were so grown up then. When you have a four year old they seem like such a big kid compared to babies. Then you have an 11 year old and look at a 4 year old and realize they were still so little.

Feb 20 - Long Overdue

We just packed up our tree today. Yes, you read the date right. Feb 20. OK so this is our first year with a fake tree. And there are many benefits to having one. One is you don't have to worry about packing it up right away because it doesn't became a dried out husk of a fire hazard like a live tree. Wait, is that a benefit?

Feb 19 - The Park

I've always found something very picturesque about this line of trees at our local park. If only the cars and buildings and other urban things would get out of the way it would be perfect.

Feb 8 - Cuddles

I thought it was just too cute how Sampson wasn't just laying on Steve, he actually had his little arm wrapped around him

Feb 17 - Playing

A group called 'Fusion' can to Lucas' school this week. We had no idea what it was so we went along with him to check it out. It's run by a group of young adults and if I understand correctly, it is connected with a group that started in Australia. There were games and balloons and hotdogs and crafts. Lucas said it was 'a once in a lifetime chance.' Steve found himself intrigued with this game - now we need to track down a set for him.

Feb 16- Another Collection

Much as I'm not sure when I started to collect suns, I'm also not sure at which point I decided it wasn't 'cool' to collect suns anymore. So many people had sun collections and it wasn't unique enough for me at the time. So I started collecting dragonflies instead. At some point I decided it was OK to have both collections LOL.

Feb 15 - Jewelry

I don't actually wear much jewelry anymore, but when I was younger I wore tonnes of it. I used to have a ring for almost every finger! I still have a lot of my jewelry. I laerned years ago that anything within easy reach of children or cats was not safe, so I put up this narrow shelf in my room. The boys could still reach it if they really wanted to, but it's too much work for them passing curiosity now.

Feb 14 - Fruity Valentine

Last year on Valentine's Day we had a chocolate fondue, and the boys all liked it so much they decided we should do it every year. This year I had to get creative and find a dairy=free recipe, but it was just as tasty. We always have it with tonnes of fruit and some angle food cake.

Feb 13 - All Ready

I just laid out the little bag of Valentine;s goodies for the boys so they will find them when they wake up. It's not much, just some chocolates and a little keychains of the Olympics mascots. They will be tickled - the love those funny little animals.

Feb 12 - Celebrate Take Two

And today, the same torch parade went by the street about 2 blocks from Coram's school. Coram really liked his Maple Leaf tattoo and wanted me to take a good photo of it.

Feb 11 - Celebrate

The Olympic torch parade went right by Lucas's school today. The whole school was out with flags and red mittens. It was exciting for the kids.

Feb 10 - The Beast

Coram goes to sleep in our bed, and we move him before we go to bed. If we are lucky, he doesn't come back - if we are unlucky, he keeps us awake all night. He needs to roll around and sprawl out. His single bed isn't comfortable for him because he can't move around - we need to work on getting him his own big bed. This is him on our bed - and it's a king sized bed too.

Feb 9 - Hiding

Sampson loves to find comfy small places to cuddle. Occasionally we open Coram's clothing drawers and find his little head pocking out.

Feb 8 - Cuteness

I found this post-it not on my computer well over a year ago (possibly more than two years ago). I have held on to it and I don't ever want to lose it. What I love is that it wasn't for any event or special occasion - it was just because.

Feb 7 - More Photos

When the kids were little I used to sell painted and decorated wooden frames at craft fairs. I of course had to use a bunch for my own cute kids. There are some on this wall that the kids decorated over the years - like the colour pasta LOL.

Feb 6 - Date Night :)

Steve and I don't get to go out much together, maybe two to three times a year. We decided to go out this weekend instead of next weekend for Valentine's Day. We went to a cool place known for it's selection of beers (Steve's favourite!). We shared some super tasty appetizers, too. IT was so nice to get out! Of course I tried several times for a photo and I'm still not happy with this one, but it's the best of the lot.

Feb 5 - Hamburger Soup!

Steve was going through our cookbooks recently, looking for recipes that would be fairly easy to make, tasty, and last a couple of meals. He came across this recipe from The Best Of Bridge for Hamburger Soup. When he told me the name I thought it sounded awful - but it is actually SUPER yummy! Now we have it once a week or so.