Beattie Gang

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T00:01:00.003-07:00

I personally think that staying up until midnight to say happy new year to whoever happens to be around is a little over rated. Party pooper, I know, "every party has a pooper that's why we invited you, Meeeghaaan Beatttttie."

We turn a new page on the calendar just like any other month and we have to adjust to writing 2012 just after I finally got into the habit of writing 2011 not 2010 and my three little alarm clocks (Brayden, Sydney and Madison) are pretty consistent no matter what time they go to bed. However I do enjoy taking the time to reflect on the past 12 months and think of all the things we've learned and accomplished. 2011 was a pretty big year for us Beatties and I'd like to share a few our accomplishments with you:

*We are a diaper free family! Yay. In the first half of the year Maddy was potty trained. No pull ups at night or anything. Toilet only family.
*Ryan made it to 5 years in the Philippines with Focus. 5 years in the Philippines

*Ryan started a new job

*We packed up and moved back to Southern Alberta, Canada. No more whirl wind weekend adventures exploring Southeast Asia
*Brayden and Sydney started their first year in the Canadian school curriculum and are truly thriving
*Along the way with our experiences I gained a greater appreciation for individual trials and that mine are mine
*We added a member to our family, Sage the cat
*We finally got our first HD TV
*We also finally got a van, and not just any van but a fully loaded beauty of a van. Worth the years of waiting
*Somehow I fell even more in love with my little family

Looking back at all the different things we did and learned throughout the last year I feel so thankful for everything I have been blessed with and extremely grateful for all the different opportunities that have been put in our paths and all the support we've been given along our way. Not to say that our lives are perfect or easy because that is far from the truth but in the end things have always seemed to work out to benefit us just how we needed it to. He truly does know what we need and what we need to learn.

SO, our new years eve was pleasant and uneventful. We brought our fondue stuff out to Invermere, B.C. with us for a feast on New Years Eve. We had an enormous amount of food and dips and just pigged out. It was awesome. After the kids were done with their grub we dumped them all in the tub with glow sticks, turned off the light and left them to enjoy (thanks to pinterest for that idea). They loved playing with the glow sticks and they were in the tub forever. While they were playing around we took advantage of the lack of kids fondue sticks filling up the pots and let the oil reheat and ate some more.

Some how I managed to stay up until midnight when we facetimed with my sister Kait who was in downtown Vancouver. She gave us a tour of Raw Canvas, where they were spending their new years. We lamely counted down and wished them a happy new year from the night club (Raw Canvas) her boyfriend Matthew manages (I hope you guys appreciate the Raw Canvas plug) and then I went downstairs straight to bed.
Cheers 2012!

Lussier Hot Springs

2011-12-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

Invermere is sandwiched between Radium Hot Springs and Fairmont. Both nice spots and as nice as i is to sit in the hot pools at Radium it always seems to be over flowing with tourists ... oh and did I mention the cover charge to get in!? Times 5. BOO. Instead of the over crowded, over priced Radium we went au natural and made our way to Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park to Lussier Hot Springs. It's a small group of hot pools located at the base of the river. The top pool being the hottest and each pool getting cooler the closer you get to the river. We've been before when Brayden was 7 months old but shortly after that they got flooded out and destroyed. Thankfully they've been rebuilt and ready for the public to enjoy ... for free and far better scenery!

We parked off the road and made the kids use the freezing cold porta-potties before carefully making our way down the ice covered path to the pools. Once at the pools we quickly stripped down in the freezing cold to our suits and jumped in the stinging hot water. We went early enough in the day there weren't a bunch of people there (I think at most 2 other vehicles) and we had a pool to ourselves pretty much the entire time. The only bad thing about finding a place off the beaten road is the getting out into the piles of snow in your bare feet, dripping wet, drying off as quickly as possible and trying to run up that semi-steep path covered in a shiny sheet of ice as quickly as possible without falling face first into the snow. This was not what I wanted to be doing 5 minutes after getting into the water and settled into a semi state of relaxation when my beautiful little girl looked up at me with those big clear eyes of hers and told me she needed to "pee real bad."
Looking at her, quickly looking up the snowy hill towards the porta potties and back to Madison I desperately tried to negotiate with her:
"Just go in the water"
Her eyes start to get frantic "NOOOOOOOO" and I can tell it goes against everything she's been taught since potty training.
"Please Maddy, it's ok. This is a special kind of pool."
Again, "NoooOOOooo." She's not budging in her decision.
What do I do!? I know, I'll tell Ryan. Maybe he'll take the hike up the hill with her if I'm lucky. "Ryan, Maddy needs to pee real bad."
He just kind of rolls his eyes as if to say sucks to be you.
Finally he takes her to the tiny warm pool off to the side making it the potty pool. He has to take her swim suit bottoms off and sit her in it as if she's sitting on the toilet and off she goes. Crisis adverted!
After sitting in those hot pools for a while you start to get over heated and there were a couple of quick fixes: jumping into the ice cold river or just dumping big chunks of ice from the ice cold river into the hot pool with you. Trust me, it works.

Natures Ice Rink

2011-12-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I don't take the kids ice skating!? They love it and they are pretty good. I had bought a couple of ice skating guides to help the kids keep their balance before we took off for the weekend which was perfect at the lake. At the ice rink they have pylons or chairs to use but on a lake it was great to have something. They took off without reservation. Sydney can get going pretty quick if she has something to lean on. Brayden has only been skating one time before and used the guide at first to get his footing and then he took off. He was so proud of himself and you could see how much he was enjoying it on his face. It was so fun to watch. Madison doesn't have skates but she ran around on the ice and played around just fine.

It is just so beautiful down on the lake with the mountains everywhere you look. It's nice to get out of the city sometimes and remember how amazing this world is and breathe in that fresh air. It was just amazing to get out there, watch the kids and see the views even if my toes were freezing off in my mesh toed runners. Totally worth it!

Canadian Hockey

2011-12-30T17:58:00.003-07:00

This is how hockey is meant to be played ... a cleared off patch of ice on a lake surrounded by mountains!

Finally! Snow!

2011-12-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

Thankfully this year it hasn't been too cold yet. We definitely need the time to thicken up our blood and adjust back into these low temperatures after being spoiled for so long in the Philippines. Even though I appreciate the mild winter we've had so far I do miss the snow, especially the 'white' Christmas part of it. Brown Christmas with the dead grass, leaf less trees, and wind just is not pretty, just bland. After Christmas we went to Invermere for a few days to get out of town and a change of scenery. The moment I got excited and new it was going to be a great few days was when the scenery changed from brown to white!

Lots and lots of amazing white snow. The drive went smoothly with a few pit stops to get out and move our legs. At one spot there was a creek with a path packed down from cross country ski tracks up into the mountains. The snow was a few feet deep, more snow then we've seen all season in Lethbridge. The kids jumped out of the van and ran up and down the snow piles, threw some snow balls at each other (or more like Ryan threw snow balls at them) and when it was time to pile back into the van we had to brush the snow off their pants clinging up to their knees. While the kids ran around the parking lot happy with the amount of snow there I ran through piles of my own snow to find the bridge crossing the creek to take some pictures of the amazing untouched white white stuff surrounded by the snow topped trees. Maybe I was just a little excited because it's been a while since I've seen that much snow BUT it really was beautiful I couldn't resist! Usually the best views are off the beaten path but totally worth the extra few steps to get there, such a beautiful place.

The drive went smooth, the kids were distracted enough that it seemed relatively painless for them and we arrived with enough time to let them run for a little bit before getting them settle and into bed with promises of swimming and skating on the lake in the next few days. Yay!

Neighbours

2011-12-21T09:06:00.001-07:00

We have one neighbour thanks to our corner lot and paved alley and she's amazing. She's always bringing over treats for the kids and Sage (the cat). Halloween she packs each of my kids a special bag of treats with a toy or two in there for them, she gave Brayden a big cardboard box of all the old LEGO she was getting rid of and since she's on her own she LOVES to chat. You need to give yourself a good half hour if you are going over to say hello but her stories are interesting and she has a lot of history to share growing up in Germany. Two brothers died in WWII and the third was lost for a few years until the end of the war in a concentration camp. This year before Christmas she brought over a poinsettia, chocolates, her daughter brought us a Christmas tray filled with home made treats and she got the kids a gingerbread house. In return we shovel her sidewalk and keep an eye out on her since she's getting up there in years and her husband is in a care home. The arrangement seems to work out for everyone.
So thanks Mrs. Hunter, the kids loved decorating this:

Fa la la la la

2011-12-17T09:16:00.003-07:00

I think it's amazing the time and effort people put into the kids school Christmas Concert this year. They had two performances, a matinee and an evening performance which made for a very long day for the kids and it was perfect. The whole student body stayed on stage (except for the two kindergarten classes who left to put on their little angel costumes) and they all sat patiently waiting for their turn to get up to sing. It was a short program that went smoothly, the perfect length, with great songs. I think what I thought was great was that they didn't forget why we have Christmas. It seems that so many of the stores don't wish you a Merry Christmas, just a happy holidays to make things politically correct, and it takes the whole Christmas Spirit out of it for me. There is something magical about so many people uniting for the same occasion together. If someone were to wish me a Happy Hanukkah it would in no way offend me so what's the big deal!? Spread the cheer people. Anyway - side rant over ...
The kids Christmas concert still had a nativity and even though they had fun songs they also had some great Christmas songs reminding us the real reason we have Christmas. There were some songs that made me laugh, Brayden had a one liner into the microphone to say in front of everyone and he was loud and clear (I'm a proud mom) and Sydney almost brought me to tears when the kindergarteners came out glowing in their angel costumes during the nativity scene because really, when you are that young you are pretty innocent and pure like an angel.

When it was over and the kids were getting ready for bed Brayden turns to me and says "mom, I'm SO tired of singing."
I don't blame the poor guy! But, they were awesome.

He Rocks My World

2011-12-08T15:46:00.004-07:00

Different cultures have different taste preferences. India tends to go spicy, North Americans like salty, South Pacific Islands love their root veg and the Philippines adds sugar to everything. The Philippines has a fast food restaurant named Jollibee that I would say is McDonalds main competition or the other way around. They serve lots of deep fried meals with rice, sweet style spaghetti, meat on a stick, fast food steak in gravy, and burgers that just don't taste quite like what we're used to. They have THE best spicy chicken joy hands down. Deep fried KFC style chicken with rice. It is so spicy and delicious picked apart with your hands and mixed with their cooked to perfection ball of rice wrapped in paper. YUM.
Aside from the mouth watering Chicken Joy the Jollibee mascot, The Jollibee, can not compare to Ronald McDonald, Wendy or the Burger King crown. It is SHUT THE FRONT DOOR awe-mazing. To prove it I am sharing this video of the Jollibee dancing at a birthday party. This is no joke. Although I have never seen the Jollibee perform this exact dance number I have seen him dance, and it's just as draw dropping good as this is so please enjoy!!!
PS It only gets better and better.

The Christmas Wall

2011-12-07T20:37:00.003-07:00

I love the smell of a real Christmas tree, there is just something magical about it. Memories maybe, that pine scent that screams mountain air, I just love it. We had a real tree every Christmas growing up and I even remember going up into the mountains to cut our own tree down one year. So do I feel guilty about robbing my children of those same real tree experiences by purchasing our 'fake' tree this year? Not one bit.
Real tree's that I saw this year are $45. To spend that every year just wasn't seeming like the best financial plan especially when I got a 7' tree that is so thick and full for that same amount! Yay to used items.
We don't have a lot of Christmas decorations. Brayden has been bummed out this year at the lack of Christmas in the house but I'll just blame being gone for the last 5 years and slowly start building up the decorations from this Christmas on. We set up our 5 nativities, put up the lights, decorated the tree and that's about it. I ended up buying a wreath for the front door and that's pretty impressive for us.... our very first wreath. So the tree, lights and nativities are all up on one wall. 1/3 of the room. It's the Christmas wall and it looks fabulous and it's just enough Christmas for me.
The cat is pretty excited about the tree, almost as excited the kids. It's her playground. She climbs up the trunk and swats at the decorations trying to get them off the tree. Thankfully all our decoration are hand made or hand me downs from the 60's and so nothing too valuable to worry about and so far nothing broken.
So cheers. I hope Christmas comes quick because we're ready for it!

Sick Days That Force Stolen Creativity

2011-11-21T09:33:00.003-07:00

Our girls have come down with a croup sounding cough. It really sucks to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a dog barking only to realize it's your kid. Sydney was so scared when she woke up coughing that she starting crying not understanding why that awful noise was coming out of her. Hearing it makes my chest hurt, my poor girls.
We had a very lazy day of sitting around and training Madison how to properly use the tissue box for her nose. The thing that sucks the most about these kinds of colds is you can still kind of do 'stuff' but you can't really do 'stuff' either. They were really lethargic but had a little more energy then sitting on the couch doing nothing kind of thing.
So what do you do? You go on pinterest and steal other peoples creativity. I know I've blogged about Pinterest before but it really has a lot of great easy idea's for days like yesterday. I have a craft shelf on the top and almost out of reach parts of our book shelf that was stocked with paper and paints so those were the type of crafts I was going for. We did some pretty generic stuff, Brayden brought up a huge cardboard box from the basement cutting arm and head holes out of it and made himself a robot shell and Sydney did her thing along side him. Maddy napped.
So here are some of the cute things we made thanks to pinterest which was how I got through the entire day inside my house. Today .... it's 10am and I'm already going crazy BUT I've got a list that can't wait so outside world, here I come!

On Dasher, On Cupid, On Donner and Blitzen

2011-11-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Ryan had heard on the radio that Santa would be arriving at the Park Place Mall Saturday night with his reindeer! I guess this is an annual thing but it was the first we'd ever heard of it and we were not going to pass on the chance to see Santa's real live reindeer, especially after watching the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie a few weeks ago. To be honest I was way more excited then the kids were because they had no idea what was going to happen and I think they were expecting to see little cartoons like the ones from the movie.
We set up camp right beside the pen for the reindeer because honestly ... we could see Santa any other day but the reindeer were a "one night only" kind of big deal. It was perfect. They announced Santa was in the building and all these hyper children and their exhausted parents stood there waiting and watching and then the cheering started. We couldn't see him but we knew he was there! Finally Santa was in our sites as he lead his reindeer into the pen and went and took his seat at the Santa display with one of his Reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer? I have no idea who the lucky reindeer was) and hunkered in for a long night of pictures and kids listing off their greedy idea's of what they want for Christmas.
Brayden had a melt down when we said it was time to leave. I guess we didn't state clearly enough all day long that we were going for the reindeer only and that talking to Santa would be saved for a different day. Not his best moment but I guess I did take a little pleasure in the fact that he was upset enough to obviously still believe in the magic of Santa.
As we were walking back to the Van one of the Reindeer was out for a walk and posing for pictures for some lucky kids. We totally were all over that action!

It was totally worth the late night. We only had to stand around for 30 minutes before Santa arrived and we ran into some friends which made the wait shorter and the kids burned off quite the amount of energy playing tag during that wait.
I am SO excited to plop the kids on Santa's lap and see what kind of picture we get this year!!!

You Yell "Fore," Shoot Six, and Write Down Five - Paul Harvey

2011-11-18T21:12:00.001-07:00

We took the kids mini golfing on Friday to celebrate Ryan finishing up his work day in the early afternoon. I had decided that it was going to go one of two ways. Madison would freak out and get frustrated with the whole thing or she'd love it and not really care what was going on and be happy just to have a club of her own. She went with the latter which was the route I was hoping for. Her club was just her size and she would just plop her golf ball down wherever she felt like it and tap it into the hole. She stayed out of the way when she needed to and did an amazing job fetching my ball out of the hole and bringing it to me and of course it helps that she's just so dang cute.
Brayden just seemed to be an all star. I don't think it ever took him more then three ~~shots~~ putts to get it into the hole and at the end hole he plopped it right into the middle slot winning himself a free round. As quickly as he picked it up it was a little annoying to hear him brag for the rest of the night and flaunt that free ticket around with him. Maybe i'm just jealous he beat me?
Sydney seemed to prefer to take a Happy Gilmore approach to golf and attack the ball like a slap shot at the puck. Since Friday's we do a movie as a way to end off the school/work week and the movie this day was "Tooth Fiary" which stars Dwayne Johnson as a hockey player, I'm pretty sure that's where she picked up that swing of hers. At least she had no problems getting the golf ball down the green towards the hole, it was the lightly tapping in that seemed to be a challenge.
Other then it being the coldest day to date for us Filipino's in a long long time, it was a good day! Lots of fun to get out of the house together as a family and just relax and have a good time. The bonus, we have to go back at some point to redeem Brayden's free coupon. Hopefully the next time it will be just as fun.

Filipino Nativity

2011-11-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas in the Philippines, which we thought would be our only, we stumbled across this great nativity. We loved it mostly because it had a Lechon (pig on a spit) which is totally Filipino. The characters were also wearing traditional Filipino costume and one man was carrying a rooster. It was very much Filipino and we loved that. It was huge though and super expensive so we couldn't justify the purchase. Every year after that around Christmas time we would bring up the nativity and contemplate purchasing it with the possibility of it being our last Christmas in the Philippines. Each year we couldn't bring ourselves to justify the cost of the purchase and so we just coveted it from a distance.
Ryan's very last trip to the Philippines was a few weeks ago and he mentioned that maybe we could get that nativitiy with the Lechon. This time it wasn't just the cost on my mind but the problem of getting it home. They recently went and slashed luggage allowance and we knew with excess things he had picked up for friends of ours we were already well over the allowance. Ryan decided to go to the store and see what good fortune his negotiating skills could provide for us. I have to admit he did all right. I think the amount that he saved was the amount it cost us to get our excess luggage home which every peso saved helps.
Sadly a few pieces didn't make it home as in tact as we'd hoped. The angels wings busted off, the pig on the spit was broken into at least 3 pieces and the caribow's horns were no longer sharp BUT with Ryan's amazing hands he glued it all perfectly and we got some good touch up paint and now it's like new.
It's huge, it's busy with colours and animals but it's Filipino and wouldn't be Filipino any other way. The different styles of clothing worn are beautiful and a part of their history. The pig, the man cuddling his rooster, the ducks and caribow are something we saw everyday and wouldn't ever think twice about seeing. It has been the last 5 amazing years of our lives and the memories and warm fuzzies it brings me every time I look at it were worth the money spent. It sits on reeds in the corner next to some sands from the Phiippine waters and our Philippines outdoor broom next to the fireplace. We are SO proudly Filipino/Canadian!

First Real Snow

2011-11-14T18:11:00.002-07:00

A little while ago we bought the kids some snow shovels of their own at Toys R Us. They've been pretty excited to try them out but other then the littlest skiff of snow there hadn't been anything shovel worthy. Finally that first legit snow fell from the sky and as soon as the kids were home from school they were outside shovelling away. They were out and then in and then back out some more making the absolute most of the snow fall. I finally had to force them inside because we were going to families for dinner. I have to say that for $5/shovel it was the best $10 i've spent in a long time.
Hopefully this excitement doesn't dwindle as the real cold sets in and the snow gets old but I guess I should just be happy and thankfully take what I can get. Besides it's the middle of November already!

The Price They Pay

2011-11-11T07:29:00.004-07:00

I think that one of my talents is my compassion. I used to be a little embarrassed about how I would cry at a Hallmark commercial or random tears would form in my eyes while I watched an elderly person walk solo past my house everyday thinking that he might be on his own having already buried his long time companion. Now I guess I've just come to except the fact that I'm a cryer. Often upon hearing bad news I don't know what to do to help or what words of wisdom to offer but I can easily share my tears.
I think that as we get older and gain more life time experiences compassion grows. I also think appreciation for life and our blessings, big and small, becomes deeper. We realize how precious life is, how rare perfect health is becoming and that sometimes we have to sacrifice the things we want for the needs of others. I think i've learned the last since becoming a mother. Parents often sacrifice for their children's safety, health and happiness, but today I don't want to talk about me as a parent; I want to thank those strangers who have fought and sacrificed for me to be free.
I look at my little boy, his freckles, his genuine smile and how he tilts his head to the side when making a goofy grin, his desire to learn and never ending questions. He has a thirst for knowledge and life. I can not imagine sending him off to war. To fight for me, for a stranger, to witness death that way, watching friends and enemies fall by the hands of others and taking away his sweet innocence. I think of Ryan, my rock. I think of those strong women who have said good bye to their husbands and stayed strong for their children knowing the battle their husbands are walking into. My heart aches knowing that some men never make it home and those that have are most likely forever changed.
Canada is a beautiful country. Rocky Mountains, prairies, beautiful lakes and forests. People (mostly American's) make fun of our kindness and politeness but I'm proud to be seen that way. I'm proud to be Canadian because my country is beautiful, diverse, accepting (for the most part) and free. "True North, strong and free."
I'm am SO thankful for the opportunity to set aside a moment today on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to think off all those who sacrificed their lives, do sacrifice their lives so that my family is free. I'm grateful for those mothers who let their sons leave, those wives who somehow made it through so that I can be a mother to my three amazing children in such an amazing country. Life as I know it is because of those who fought. I'm sure many of you have had family fight for our freedom and today I feel proud to know that someone in my family sacrificed because he loved his wife and son enough to fight for their freedom.
So on Remembrance Day I'd like to say "Lest We Forget."

First Christmas Decoration for The Year

2011-11-06T09:45:00.005-07:00

Last year I ordered the Fisher Price Little People Christmas Nativity but it remained unopened because it was in Canada and we were in the Philippines. I was excited to bring it out this year and check it out and it's been sitting in our dining room since August taunting me. A few nights ago the kids were running around the house making tons of noise right before bed time. I was trying to think of something I could do other then read books to settle them down and I decided that setting up the nativity would be perfect.
I just started to open the box up and as they sprinted past me it caught their attention. Within seconds I had 3 pairs of curious eyes staring at me and then moments later 3 sets of little fingers helping me pull out all the little characters. Of course we've always had a nativity or two set up around Christmas time but never one the kids could touch and play with. They set it up themselves, I told them the story and then they played quietly together re-acting it out until it was time for our bedtime routine.
The next morning I woke up to my kids huddled around the nativity lighting the star and dancing to the Christmas tune it sings. It was perfect. I love nativities. I love that I now have one that the kids can play with and act out the Christmas story of Baby Jesus. I love that they love it! I think that every family with small children needs a nativity that they tinker with. It's been out for a few days now and although I do find a random donkey on the kitchen floor or a Joseph in the hall, they are still playing with it and every time they do they are remembering what Christmas is really celebrating.

5 Years

2011-11-04T20:53:00.003-06:00

Wow. So 5 years ago this weekend we boarded our first flight to the Philippines. We had no idea what to expect and that probably was a good thing. What was going to be a 6 month stint while waiting for Ryan's US work VISA to come through turned into 5 years and no US work VISA. We took our newly turned 2 year old boy and 6 months old baby girl, took a deep breath and away we flew.
We survived and came back better people then when we left, being the first Focus sent over to the Philippines, they went above and beyond to make sure that we were happy and safe in our new home. We took advantage of the location and tried to see as much as that part of the world as we could travelling around the Philippines and South East Asia. I think that with all the wild and crazy things we did and saw the thing that blows my mind the most is that we left with my two babies and came back with 3, the youngest being older then the oldest was when we left! It is only fitting that Ryan is leaving Bacolod for the last time this weekend to officially mark his 5 years over there and I guess they had one big party his last day/night. I'm sure it was nice to see that he was loved and would be missed.
So we did more then survived, we thrived! Yay for us.

Christmas Countdown

2011-11-02T21:43:00.003-06:00

Halloween is over. A good evening with only a little snow that thankfully melted as soon as it hit the ground but it was enough that Madison didn't know what was going on! She's seen snow before but when she was a baby. Nothing that she remembers. She just froze staring at her little hands watching these little white flakes melt on her skin while her teeth chattered away. Now that we're into November I guess we all know it's coming and by it's I mean snow. *knock on wood*
So with this impending weather on the horizon and Halloween marked off the calendar I'm focusing my attention to the Christmas season! I dusted off the wood burning fire place and had a fire this week to make sure the chimney wasn't clogged. I pulled the newly washed electric blanket out from the closet and plugged it into the wall while making the bed and I sadly put away all the sandals and crocs that were crowding the shoe rack to make room for winter boots. I don't have Christmas decorations or lights up or anything but I'm thinking the Little People nativity will make it's appearance this week. I have to admit that after a nice warm Christmas in Thailand last year I'm excited for a white Christmas home in Canada surrounded by all our families this year ... so bring it on!

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T21:55:00.002-06:00

Halloween must be the best day ever for young children! You get to dress up in costume ALL day long, eat awesome snacks at school and totally clean up in the evening with treats! Seriously, I remember running from house to house to fill a pillow case with loot as a kid and if I remember correctly we filled pillowcases. *plural*
We've missed out a bit on the wonderful Halloween holiday known to North American's while in the Philippines. They don't really do Halloween and then those that do dress up are all pretty gothic. I think it's because November 1st is All Saints Day where they go to the cemeteries and light candles. The following day is All Souls Day. With that being said, we've never been trick or treating in the Philippines and so they were really pumped about going this year which made it a lot more fun for me. So here are my little rays of sunshine all excited for the big day:

My Halloween Treats

2011-10-31T07:03:00.001-06:00

I get to bring snacks into school today for both Sydney and Brayden. The school prefers healthy snacks which is perfect so I did a little google search and found a couple of cute ideas and went to town! We have coconut covered ghost banana's, strawberry ghosts, ghost rice krispy's along with black cats and monster mouths made with apples. Luckily Brayden has an allergy free classroom so we could fill those mouths with peanut butter! YUM.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my hours of hard work and fantastic idea's stolen from the internet!

Hopefully they taste as yummy as they look!

Jack-O's

2011-10-30T19:56:00.004-06:00

We finally got around to some pumpkin carving, just in time for halloween! Sydney actually got to carve her pumpkin Thursday at school with her classmates. It was pretty huge thanks to Brayden for picking out the pumpkins. Sadly though Madison's pumpkin got stolen off our front door step sometime Friday night so we had to make a special pumpkin run for her Saturday where she picked out her second pumpkin of the year. Seriously, who steals pumpkins from people's door steps, that's just so mean!
Anyway, I'm not too sure what Brayden was expecting but a pumpkin filled with slimy seeds was not it. He was actually a little repulsed by the idea of putting your hand inside that mess and pulling the gunk out. Madison absolutely refused and so mom to the rescue on the first pumpkin. I tried to make seem as fun as possible but they weren't buying it for some reason. I tried to explain it was just the stuff put into pumpkin pie and they actually have eaten that slimy gunk before but that didn't really work either. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the kids never ate pumpkin pie again by the horrified looks on their faces.
Finally once Madison's pumpkin was carved and lookin' amazing they got more into it. Sydney wouldn't touch it with her hands but she tried to scrape it out the best she could with her spoon. Brayden surprised me and dove in for a couple good scoops with his hands before resorting to a spoon.

Of course once the pumpkins were completed we had to make sure they looked cool and test them out.

They were so proud of their pumpkins and we had to sit with the lights off forever before the novelty wore off. I remember how exciting that was when I was a child. It's kind of interesting because it's been a couple years since we've been in Canada for Halloween and had the chance to carve pumpkins, the kids are almost experiencing it for the first time and it's so fun to watch. So bring on Halloween! We're ready.

My Newest Addiction

2011-10-26T19:41:00.003-06:00

I have no idea how long this Pinterest has been around, but I absolutely LOVE it. It's pretty much a collection of things that people like and they pin them up on the wall where they can share it with the world. There is recipes, home decor, fashion, photo's, seriously anything. When you find something you like you can repin it and share with your friends, you can post your own idea's or if you see something on the internet you can 'pin it.' It's great. So here is the first thing I took from pinterest and tried, these snazzy nails :D

Perspective

2011-10-25T19:14:00.002-06:00

Lately Ryan has been gone quite a bit back and forth to the Philippines for work and the kids and I have been managing on our own. It's a challenge but I suppose it's perspective and i've been trying to focus on the fact that I have these three little people in my lives that are healthy and happy. So for now I have to be the mom AND the fun parent. Being the mom gives me the picture above and being the fun parent gives me the picture below and in both pictures I see 3 wonderful reasons to be thankful.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2011-10-23T19:56:00.005-06:00

I've been waiting and getting prepared. We bought new snow suits for the kids and their outdoor winter wardrobe. It's been a while since we've had to deal with the Canadian winters combined with that *brisk* Lethbridge wind. I have to admit I almost cry in the mornings when I check the temperature and I see a negative sign in front of the number. The kids run to the bathroom shivering and Maddy's teeth were chattering the other morning as she was telling me how cold she was. It's mornings like that when I ask myself "how many more nice afternoons are we going to have where I can kick my kids outside when they are getting me annoyed?" I guess the only answer to that is to take advantage of the nice days because *knock on wood* who knows how many we have left. One thing I'm thankful for is that there are less and less days when the kids come down in shorts and I have to send them back upstairs to get 'cold' weather clothes on. They are starting to figure out that every day is a 'cold' weather clothes day. The only one that fights me anymore is Madison. It's a battle most mornings to get her into pants, the bonus is that she LOVES her new boots! I guess you take what you can get, right!?

The Boy is 7

2011-10-16T18:51:00.001-06:00

Well, we had a party which was a bunch of kids running wild through out the house and Brayden loved every second of it. He got spoiled with gifts and said he loved the cake pops I made so I have to say the day was a success. The most important part is that he is 7 years old. We have had 7 years of fabulous memories and laughs. He was the first, the one that turned Ryan and I from a couple into a family and so he's special (don't worry I tell all my kids they are my favourites!) So to celebrate our first born here are some of the few things we love about this kid:
*He is so compassionate.
*Brayden retains everything, his memory often surprises me
*He has the best freckles and they absolutely suit his personality. I just LOVE them.
*He's still not embarrassed to kiss me goodbye or wave at me from across the park at school
*He is pretty easy going and gets along with pretty much everyone
*He has this amazing sparkle in his eyes when he smiles, I can't help but smile back at him
*and, most importantly, he loves us and we love him

Cold As Ice

2011-10-05T18:28:00.000-06:00

Every Wednesday in October Sydney gets her ice skates on along with the rest of her kindergarten class and they skate away. The very first Wednesday of October was Sydney's first time ever on an ice rink. I bundled her up in her brand new snow suit (it's been a little while since we've done snow), a toque that was a few years too small and my mitts because I couldn't scrounge any kid sized ones out of our few dozen boxes sitting in the basement and her skates.
All I can say was that I was FREEZING! Seriously, winter is going to kill me. Other then it being terribly cold it was fun. I wouldn't say she's a figure skater but she didn't suck either. She was moving and she spent maybe 5 seconds on her butt the whole time.
So yay for new experiences!

We Love Cake

2011-09-28T20:26:00.000-06:00

Well, another year older, another year more mature. Happy Birthday Ryan.
Reasons we are thankful for Ryan:
*He's really, really, ridiculously good looking
*He's really handy
*No one works harder for his family then Ryan
*Ryan is definitely the 'fun parent'
*He makes us all laugh
*He loves us, without a doubt
*Did I mention he's really, really, ridiculously good looking?

1 Stitch, 2 Stitch, 3 Stitch, 4

2011-09-27T16:37:00.004-06:00

That is the end result of walking straight into the corner edge of a brick pillar. By far the least fun thing that could happen to a 5 year old girl. We were just walking along, she was holding Ryan's hand and SMACK.... blood everywhere. Ryan's hand immediately went up to her head to put pressure on the wound and it was so fast I didn't even really know it was bleeding until he picked her up in his arms and turned her toward me and blood was all I saw. By the amount of blood covering her face I thought she broke her nose but I was wrong. It was just pouring out of her forehead. We quickly took her back to the van and tried to wipe off all the blood with a semi-used napkin. Blood was all over her face and making parts of her hair red. We took her home, washed her face and I took her into the ER to see what the damage really was. The nurse came over, took one look and said it was definitely stitch-able and took us right back. First the nurse came and taped up some freezing so that the needle injection of freezing wouldn't be as painful for her. They mentioned that it takes about 30 minutes for that freezing to reach it's full potential in pain killing so in those 30 minutes the doctor came in, assessed the damage and gave me my options for stitching versus glue. For cosmetic reasons (the least chance of scaring) we went with undissolvable stitches. They went and wrapped her up like a mummy so she couldn't swat at the doctor or kick her, covered her face with a sheet with a tiny hole so her hair wouldn't get into the way and off they went. I've never had stitches or seen anyone get them before so this was a whole new experience for me. Sydney didn't move, didn't make a sound. Just layed there perfectly still with her brave face on under that little green sheet. She was amazing. So about 40 minutes after walking into the ER we walked out with 4 stitches and 6 princess stickers and I was one proud mommy! Proud of Sydney for being so amazingly strong and brave and proud of myself for not puking or fainting at all that blood!

Ryan Loves Me, Let Me Count The Ways

2011-09-25T16:22:00.000-06:00

As a token to show how much Ryan loves his family he let us get a kitten. My mom, Brayden, Sydney and I went to the Animal Shelter to pick up our new long haired grey kitten. She had been in the shelter for a little bit but was only available to take home this last weekend. Coming from the shelter she had all her needles and seen a vet to make sure she was healthy but because she is only 8 weeks old she had not been spayed. You have to pay the price it would cost and take your 'golden ticket' (the dark yellow slip on the receipt) to the vet who will then spay your kitten and collect the money from the government and not you. This was my moms birthday gift to me ... Sage:

The first couple hours at home she was pretty skittish. I'm pretty sure she was freaked out by the 3 pairs of big brown eyes staring at her and monitoring her every move. The kids did not give this cat a moment to breathe. I don't think she even touched the floor of the house until we forced the kids to go out to the park and let the cat explore her new home on her own terms. She was totally litter trained, has been eating great and has now gotten used to the constant attention the kids give her. She is quiet at night as she has free range of the house which is fantastic. Now that we don't have any babies waking us up in the middle of the night the last thing we want is some little kitty meowing at us trying to get into the bed. So far I' say she's a pretty good fit. Hopefully she survives us!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-09-21T19:03:00.000-06:00

How do you go to school when it's crazy hair day?

Photo Time Fun

2011-09-10T22:06:00.000-06:00

For my dad's birthday this year a surprise birthday party had been planned for him. My job was to get him out of the house so that everything could be set up and ready for his return. My sister secretly flew in from Vancouver to surprise him at the party so we had an afternoon of fun planned for my dad. She met us at Moxies surprising him that she was even in town using the excuse that she found a cheap seat sale she just had to take advantage of. If my dad didn't believe it he didn't let on and assumed that was the reason I had been acting a little off my game earlier in the afternoon. After a little time catching up we decided to go play around with our camera's because it's something that all three of us love doing. I got my kids all dressed up cute for his party and told him it was because I wanted them to look amazing for some cute pictures and off we went down to the river bottom. For the most part my kids are easy participants in posing for me but it seems there is always one child that has a different opinion of what we should be doing. As far as going down into the river bottom, they all loved it. Running through the paths and playing with each other, I love watching those moments. It's moments when I can take a step back and watch my kids truly laughing that make me extremely grateful that at least in all the chaos and learning curves we are doing something right.

After we spent some time walking around the river bottom we went up to Galt Museum to play around up there. The kids love climbing around on the structures they have set up there on the coulee edge. It was the perfect time of day to be there with the sun lowering in the sky giving off a nice warm glow to everything. They all looked so cute running around in their fancy clothes having fun with each other. Brayden and Sydney were running around climbing on everything and there was little Madison following after them refusing to be left behind trying to climb up with them and keep up with them occasionally tripping on her long dress and bouncing back up to not loose any time.

Off to the side of the Galt Museum they have an old brick wall with windows and you can go there and play around on it. People go there to get their engagement or wedding pictures done sometimes. It's a great setting with the coulee's in the background and the nice contrast with the red brick and green tree's surrounding the museum. I tried to take advantage of it and line up all the kids and get them all to smile at the camera at the same time. Near impossible task. I was able to at least get a few nice and goofy shots of my sister and I with our dad. We ended right on time too! Just long enough so that when we got dad home most of the guests were there to surprise hi when we pulled up.

A Little Hitch

2011-09-03T19:48:00.000-06:00

Brayden has always been my little man. He's kind, sensitive and cautious. Taking him to grade 2 that first day I think I was more nervous then he was as we found his classroom along with his desk and off he went. His first full day of school, staying at school for lunch and knowing no body in the classroom I hoped for the best. When I picked him up later that day he was so happy and excited.
The next day I asked him if he wanted to go to park and wait for the bell to ring and go in himself or if he wanted me to come with him. As I assumed he wanted me to take him to his class. We made it as far as the boot room when the first bell rang and a boy ran past Brayden saying "Hi Brayden" and off Brayden ran with his new friend leaving me standing there. So I turned and walked back to the van excited for him.
Friday (the next day) came and again I asked him if he wanted to go and wait for the bell at the park or have me come with him. To my surprise he said he'd find his own way to the class from the park and off he went. Sydney doesn't have kindergarten on Fridays so it was just us girls sitting there in the van. For some reason I couldn't pull out onto the road. I sat there watching him play waiting for the bell to ring and when it did he ran, grabbed his backpack and off he went into the school.
I slowly pulled out of my parking spot and drove home and as I was leaving the school zone I found there was this little hitch in my throat at the thought of my little boy growing up. When did that happen!?

First Day of School

2011-08-31T19:41:00.000-06:00

Well it's that time of year again. That time where parent's get a bit of breathing room and the kids go off to school. Mixed feelings ... not really. Mostly excited for them to meet some new friends and learn and grow. Also excited for myself to get a little time with Madison, just the two of us. We've never really had that before so, yay for new beginnings and fresh starts:

Homeward Bound

2011-08-26T15:23:00.000-06:00

When it was time to pack up and come back to Lethbridge we fit all our new acquired belongings into the van and started our drive. We stopped for the night just more then halfway home from Salt Lake in some motel in a city we never heard of before and started our trip again early the next morning. We did stop in Great Falls to do a little last minute shopping and enjoyed the absolute Montana-ness of it all with the quads or 4-wheelers driving on the streets, parked in the lots like a car and the different dress code they have down there. Not that I'm poking fun but it sure is different then what we're used to!

We took plenty of pit stops and let the kids move their legs. I think one of the nicest things about taking the trip slow was being able to enjoy the scenery. It really was such a nice time of the year with all the colours and warm sunshine. We usually do the drive through the night when it's too dark to even see what we're driving through. It was a good ending to our trip.

My Life Is Now Complete

2011-08-25T14:54:00.000-06:00

No week long road trip would be complete without a pit stop at an army surplus store. It being my first time in such a wonderland I had no idea what to expect. They had everything you could ever imagine. Camping supplies, army supplies, interesting little trinkets and flags. We walked down every single aisle and the kids explored army tents, tanks, Arctic sleds and Smoky Bear Hats. They had dessert storm coloured boots, and anything camo you could dream off. I think my two craziest finds in the store were these; the gas masks. It wasn't so much the gas mask that was so bizarre but the face that they were child sized... because you know every child should have their very own gas mask. And the second thing made me think immediately of my sister because she just loves such treasures as this Santalicious hot plate. I was just completely shocked that it had already been discounted one time. Seriously people, who could pass this sexy stud up at first sight? I know he'd be an essential at my Christmas table. ***note the sarcastic tone in my typing*** So we passed on Santalicious, in fact we passed on everything in the store and left empty handed. There was however was thing that tempted us, a sleeping bag for two. How cute is that!?

My Kind of R&R

2011-08-24T20:04:00.001-06:00

Kids love attention. Kids love to run. Kids love animals. What has all three? Morgan Utah. Ryan has these cousins that never let on that my kids are annoying or patience testing. They just play with them, cuddle with them and laugh at their goofiness. They take them on the 4 wheeler, the tractor and paint their nails. Not only are there these amazing cousins but friends their age. Brayden made a new best buddy and they quickly bonded over shared love of riding bikes and running wild.

Our first month in Canada was hectic. Ryan worked, went out of town on a short motorbike trip, left again to pick up our new van in Montreal, we had the Beattie family reunion, the Porter wedding and so when that was over and we had a few extra days before Ryan took off for the Philippines again I was all about the relaxing. So I just vegged while the kids explored and played with what they could find around and they did not come up short.

And if that wasn't enough there was this:

So it was no doubt we decided to extend our stay in Utah a few days so Ryan could work from there I could finally get a few days to recuperate from the time Ryan had spent away the last month and to re-enegergize myself before he left for another 3 weeks on his next business trip.

Foster Time

2011-08-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

One of the summers we were living in the Philippines another family from Focus came out to live for those few months. They lived down the road from us with their two kids. We had some really fun times and did a couple trips together in those few months and they even made it out of the country to Hong Kong. Sadly the end of summer came and we had to say good-bye. *tear*
While we were in Morgan Utah we were able to get together for a fun afternoon at the Foster's house. The kids had such a great time and it felt so amazing to catch up and just talk about life with people who knew what it was like to live in the Philippines and are just amazing people. It was nice to meet the two newest additions to their family and hear about the directions their lives have taken them.
So while the adults were catching up Sydney nearly loved their dog Chewy to death and Madison got into some awesome lipstick that would not rub off for 2 days!

Hopefully it won't be too long until we get together again!

Ice Cream and Cupcakes

2011-08-20T23:30:00.000-06:00

Our main reason for going to Utah was for Wesley and Beth's wedding reception which was at Ryan's aunt and uncles house. Saturday afternoon it was a buzz of getting everything looking top notch for Wes and Beth. The hundred's of perfect cupcakes needed to be picked up and organized, the decorations needed to be hung and placed around the yard and the center pieces needed to be laid. My kids got absolutely spoiled with attention from Ryan's cousins. Wesley took Brayden out on the tractor and Bryan took the kids out on the ~~quads~~ 4 wheelers and kept them busy playing all afternoon. Alyson painted Sydney and Madison's nails to perfection while they walked around showing off their new colours, the best babysitters ... EVER! Madison was a bit of a pill with all the craziness but she finally let me put her down so she could have a nap.

By the end of the afternoon the yard was so beautiful. The colours went together perfectly and everything looked amazing! The cupcake icings only accented it all.

My kids were in sugar heaven with the ice cream buffet and cupcake table. I think Madison ate as many cupcakes as Bryan (Ryan's youngest cousin ... who's 16) which I'm sure was in the double digits. The ice cream I had was cake batter flavour and it was dreamy! If I was younger and it would have been more acceptable I would have gone back for more.

It was another hot summer day and the poor line up was standing there with the hot sun beating down on them. So many people came out to celebrate and there was not one single break in that line up for them to take a break. Finally around the time the party was supposed to be closing (but with still no slowing of the guests arriving) this huge dark cloud offered a little relief to the heat. The downfall was it looked like it had potential to storm the party out. It was off to the side but was slowly making it's way to the house. Maybe I'm just used to the flash floods in the Philippines but I was starting to freak out that it was going to just start pooring down and drench the poor bride. Thankfully we got lucky. It did rain, but just a light rain for a few minutes. Just long enough for us to run and save all the gifts and the presents, move the line up out of the rain ... and then it stopped. No harm done and the relief it brought from the heat was totally worth the run up and down the few stairs a few times to save the presents!

With the clearing of the rain came this beautiful rainbow adding to the perfection of the evening!

Happy Birthday To Me

2011-08-19T21:06:00.003-06:00

Well it's that wonderful time of year again ... that time where we celebrate me, wonderful me. The kids and I dropped Ryan off at work in the morning and went out shopping for school supplies. We met back up with Ryan for lunch and headed to Salt Lake for the rest of the day. We had breakfast for lunch at the IHOP and bought a bigger then Brayden stuffed bear at Costco and then went to Temple Square.

Such a hot day and the kids seemed to have a lot of energy to burn. We take the kids to temple square every time we go to Utah but it has been a few years since our last visit and that's a pretty long time when you're 6,5 and 2! So off we went to tackle the heat. We started with a nice family picture in front of the temple, because you just gotta do it and then we went and let the kids run down where the water flows and play in the nice little water area in front of the temple. Of course the grounds were perfectly landscaped and everything looked amazing. It was a Friday and so there were a lot of brides. I think we saw 5 or 6 different brides outside the temple taking pictures as we walked around. In one picture I was able to capture three beautiful brides. I love seeing brides and just being thankful that's not me posing and trying to get Ryan to smile nice all day long in front of the camera. It's hard work! With that being said it's always nice to look at these other couples, their pretty dresses and their newly wed smiles... how quickly the time passes.

We took a lot of time to walk around since the day was perfect. We walked around the temple grounds, the tabernacle and the visitors center. It was nice to take the time to admire all the detail put into it all, all that detail and perfection done by hand. Walking around it and looking up and taking in the massive size, the design inside, all the stained glass window. It's no wonder it took 40 years to complete it.

It's not only the temple that's so pretty it's the whole tempe square and all the different building laced together somehow to fill those blocks.

Mr. and Mrs. Porter

2011-08-18T20:36:00.000-06:00

We woke up early from our KOA campground site just outside of Yellowstone to find it freezing outside. I hadn't seen my breath in years. Not a good wake up call. I reluctantly pulled myself out of my semi-warm sleeping bag and made a mad dash for the showers and stood under the hot water as long as I could. I am seriously a baby now when it comes to cold temperatures. It's pathetic. I then ran back to our tent with a towel around my head so my hair wouldn't turn into icicles to find Ryan had the van on with the heaters blowing like mad. We were trying to make a warm environment for the kids to transfer into. As we were rolling up our tent with our freezing cold fingers that were refusing to do what we wanted I could feel tears in the corner of my eye fighting the cold.
Finally we all made it into the toasty warm van and headed to Rexburg Idaho for Ryan's cousins wedding. We did our final beauty touchups in a gas station restroom and we were ready.
Wesley and Beth Porter were sealed for all time eternity in the Rexburg Idaho temple. It was such a nice sealing! After all us guests shuffled outside into the warm sun and waited for the new Bride and Groom to walk out and greet all their fans. The kids ran around on the nice grass, we visited with family and enjoyed the welcomed change in temperature from earlier that morning.

After a little bit out came Wesley and Beth. They looked great and Beth was beautiful. So congratulations to the newly weds, definitely worth the early morning freezing wake up call!!

And Hello There Yellowstone

2011-08-18T09:07:00.001-06:00

We took a little trip, just the 5 of us, to get some nice good quality time together before school started and Ryan went back to the Philippines. We were heading down to Idaho/Utah for a family wedding and so we left a few days early and went to Yellowstone National Park. I had never been before but Ryan's curiosity was sparked as he drove past the exits on his way from Montreal. I'm not too sure what I expected but it was not what we got. We pulled up to the national park entrance and paid our $25 fee and off we went ... in Yellowstone.

We entered in the north entrance to the park and headed southwest. We stopped at one of the first points of interest on the map because the kids were getting anxious and it looked cool. It was the Mammoth Hotspring Terraces and they were HUGE. They were so white from the calcium carbonate the is continually forming and reshaping the landscape. It was blinding the same way snow is on a clear bright sunny day. The further down the terraces we got the darker the stone became taking on this orange glow. It was so pretty with the mountains and blue skies in the backgroud!

As we drove from point to point I was awed by the views out my window. The colours were so vibrant I couldn't catch them with my camera lens the way I wanted to. The air was warm and clean and it was something I hadn't seen for so long, something so different then the tropical jungle I was used to covering mountains. I was a little bummed we didn't see a bear because I really wanted to BUT we did see a wild roaming buffalo and that was super cool!

Our last stop in the park was Old Faithful. You cannot go to Yellowstone National Park and not see him blow! So we did and it was pretty neat. Not to sound corny but it's something you gotta see, one of the things on the list. For example a few things on our list are: eat a hotdog from a vender on a NY city street, go on an African safari, and visit South America. So Old Faithful, crossed off the list.

So if you go by Yellowstone, most definitely take the time to venture around the park. It's quite the drive but we only saw a corner of the park and it was incredible. I would go back for sure.

Beattie Time

2011-08-14T21:36:00.001-06:00

Up on the top of a hill in Westcastle the Beattie's settled in for a weekend of fun. Grandma took Brayden and Sydney up to Westcastle on Thursday night in her motorhome so they could get an extra night in on the action. They sat on a couch at a table in the motorhome and coloured and read books the whole way up to the mountains. Talk about travelling in luxury! I stayed home and waited for Ryan to arrive home from Montreal with our new fabulous van so we headed out early Friday morning. As we pulled off the road towards the coveted camping spot Jes and Jim claimed two quads met us at the bottom of the hill with Sydney on one grinning to her ears. Brayden had already left earlier that morning to go fishing with the older boys (where he caught his first fish!).

We got our tent set up and enjoyed the ~~freezing~~ brisk air filling our lungs with crisp smells of pine. Loved it. Once we were all settled in and did a little showing off of the new van we all went for a walk down the creek to throw some rocks. I have seen so many breath taking landscapes in the last five years as we've been fortunate enough to travel through south east Asia but there is something magnificent about the rich green pine trees, crystal clear water and blue skies of the Canadian mountains. A little bit of snow caps still in the distance thanks to the late summer with the sun warming us. It got to be quite warm up there and after lunch after the boys got back from fishing we went swimming in the lake. I want to clarify by "we went swimming" I don't mean me. That water seriously felt like it was on the verge of freezing over so I decided to try to stay warm on the beach and watch all the kids teeth chatter instead.

The rest of the weekend was filled with just as much fun. Kaden has his own quad, perfect mini quad, and he took Brayden for a drive. We brought a small parachute with us and Ryan had some fun with the kids while we got lunch prepared.

My kids got so filthy it was on the verge of disgusting. If I didn't have the excuse that we were living in a tent I would be ashamed of myself but you know what ... we were camping, we lived in a tent and they are just kids. Kids are supposed to be disgustingly dirty when they play outside all day. If they came back clean I'd be suspicious. Who cares really when they cleaned off in the river wading or cliff jumping like Brayden!

We played games and had some great laughs. I can't remember what the game was called and apparently I've missed out on it's awesomeness on TV since being in the Philippines but whatever it was, Ryan kicked butt and won! The kids just ran around and were never bored exhausting themselves so that all three kids were easily put to bed even if all three of them were all beside each other in the tent. The first night we celebrated Brock's birthday so we had pinata and cake! Seriously I'm not too sure how we could have done anything more then we did. One night we all sat around the fire and we threw flour into it making it HUGE. Probably not the best game to be playing with Ryan the pyro right there but it was cool and the first time doing that for me. We had church up in the mountains and even got a primary presentation with all the kids singing us a song. It was great.

Of course we ended with a little photo shoot down by the creek.

AUNTIE KAIT!!

2011-08-01T19:10:00.000-06:00

Kait came home for August long weekend! YAY. Good times. She is definitely a fan favourite around these parts. It really really sucks that she's so far away now that we're home BUT I will take what I can get and be happy for that. While she was in Lethbridge we tried to get as much Kait time in as we could because *tear* we won't be seeing her again until *sniff sniff* Christmas. That's a whole 4 1/2 months away still.... 4 1/2 months and counting.
Anyways, it was a great weekend. Since Kait and Maddy haven't spent a whole lot of time together it was fun to have Kait get to know our quirky little monster and get to see all her outrageous facial contortions and dramatic fits. Nothing says it the way Madison's face does!

Sydney has always been one that loves affection. Her hugs are so tight they can stop blood flow and she's not shy to ask for lovin' when she wants it and she's always up for a good cuddle!

Birthday's Rock

2011-07-30T18:22:00.000-06:00

The end of July marked the 7th birthday of my nephew Kaden. Kaden is the oldest grandchild on the Beattie side only beating the next (Ben) by 5 weeks followed by Brayden 5 weeks later. The oldest of 14 grandchildren, 9 boys and 5 girls. Sadly Chris and Candice's family had a wedding to be at so they weren't there making the boys wildly outnumber the girls!

With that being said and us being gone for 5 years there have been a few babies born that we haven't gotten to know at all. The youngest being Marcus who we have just only met for the first time! He happens to be the smiliest baby I have ever come across!! And super photogenic already:

With all these little kids running around playing with each other it was so fun to sit back and watch from the side lines for a while. To see Brayden and Sydney playing with their cousins as if we had never left. Kids are so resilient and so excepting at such a young age, I wish that stayed the same as we aged. We ate corn dogs, cake, played games and bashed a pinata. Of course opened presents and let the kids run wild.

It was such an amazing morning and although it started out a little chilly (only for me apparently, still adjusting?) the sun quickly warmed me up ... it was a nice HOT day. The perfect way to spent the time .... hopefully Kaden felt the same way!

I Love These People

2011-07-23T19:59:00.005-06:00

This past week and a half back in Canada has been fantastic. We've been busy visiting with family, friends, work and random errands that come along with a move. Ryan had spent a few nights out in Medicine Hat working with his brothers while the kids and I got in some grandparent time in.
Finally Saturday arrived. This was the first time since we arrived in Canada where the five of us spent some good quality family time together. Not that hanging out with family isn't good quality but I mean just the five of us, no other distractions. We decided to get some sandwiches and head down to the river bottom for a picnic and exploration. The weather cooperated and the sun quickly warmed us. We started at a couple parks where we quickly ran into Ryan's older brother and his family! We spent a little bit together before they continued on their family bike ride and we went to find a picnic table for our lunch.
After lunch we went for a nice walk that lead us to the train bridge where Ryan helped the kids climb up to explore. Thankfully they stayed close to land while Ryan went for something a little more adventurous:

It was so great to get outside into the fresh crisp air together. Brayden saw a snake (apparently), we walked through mud, the tall grass and climbed on playgrounds and the train bridge. It was quiet and peaceful. It is great that with life as busy as it gets we can always find the time to get out, just the five of us to reconnect, laugh and make memories together ... those little moments where I can stand back look at these 4 other people and think to myself "man, I just am so in love with these people!"

Double Date

2011-07-22T19:30:00.000-06:00

Friday morning Brayden and I braved the freezing air, ran to the van, cranked up the heat and headed up to Calgary for the day. Kaden, Brayden's cousin, is staying up in Calgary with Jessica and Parker for a little while. We thought a day trip for the boys to play together and for me to spend some time with Jessica would be so fun.
When we arrived we headed to the hospital to catch up with Seely's. Brayden and Kaden were so excited to see each other they were bounding around the hospital. It is so fun for me to watch my kids with their cousins. It's as if we weren't gone for an entire year, they pick up right where they left of, no questions asked.
The weather really sucked. Freezing rain, hail and wind. We attempted to play outside briefly at the park but it was short lived, unfortunately. Instead the boys played in the play room at the Ronald McDonald House, they have a game room with pin ball machines, foosball, hockey, I think I even saw Guitar Hero for the Wii with the drum set! There was some farm animals set up the boys fed and pet, we went shopping, pigged out at DQ and watched a movie. It was a full day.

It was so nice for me to have the time with Brayden without the girls. We rarely get time just the two of us and for it to be doing something so fun. I loved it. I told Brayden it was a double date, Brayden and I with Jessica and Kaden except there was a 5th wheel ... Parker. It doesn't matter though because Parker steals the hearts of all the ladies around. When we arrived at the hospital one of the nurses was declaring her love for him and even with the doctor accusing her of being a cougar (an older lady going after a younger man) she just kept on flirting. Then only an hour later Parker was flirting with another lady at the Ronald McDonald House who was claiming to be in love with him too! He has no shortage of the ladies and I can understand it. He is SO cute and always waving and smiling at these girls, flirting with them! I seriously have the cutest nephew around!

And I Thought I Missed The Wind?

2011-07-20T13:39:00.004-06:00

I guess one of the biggest perks of not being in Lethbridge Alberta is not dealing with the wind. Seriously, it has to be one of the windiest places on earth.
One time there was a typhoon blowing through Bacolod so it was windy and rainy. The wind gusts even blew out one of the windows in our house BUT that window was super poor quality and half broken anyway so we weren't too surprised by it. There were some pretty big puddles and so we all piled into the car and tried to make the biggest splashes we could while catching it on video camera. We noticed that outside of our subdivision some of the big palm tree's had got knocked down which was a little strange to me because the winds were nothing like Lethbridge's. We went to the mall because our power got knocked out and burned some time there before coming home, lighting some candles and going to bed. The next day we went to church and hardly anyone was there. People slowly started to trickle in all looking like death. Finally, when enough people were there they started church a half hour late. Apparently what was a minor wind storm for us had wreaked havoc on everyone else in the city. For a lot of people lack of power means lack of water. With the rains and winds so strong the local transportation wasn't running and so people (who live meal to meal) had no way to get to the markets (which weren't open anyway) and buy food. As if no food and no water isn't enough ... their houses were flooding. One guy at Ryan's work actually had his tin roof fly off his house!! Sucks, don't it!?
Anyway, while rains and strong winds can cause a lot of damage in the Philippines, in Lethbridge it's a little different. So what did the kids do on their first windy day back in Canada!? They went outside and had a blast with Grandma!

In Good Hands

2011-07-18T06:35:00.001-06:00

Ryan and I went up to Calgary Alberta to do a few things and decided to make a weekend of it. We went and saw Wicked, which was really well done and we both enjoyed, I had lunch with a great friend and got to hear how great she is doing and amazing she looks and we got to play with my nephew Parker who has now been in the Alberta Children's Hospital for 6 weeks. I was totally blown away. Hospitals are hospitals and no one wants to be stuck in them BUT if you do need to be in a hospital, this is the one!! It's huge. There are multiple playgrounds outside with a new mini golf, a soccer field and lots of grass to run on. Inside there is a library, playrooms, a movie theatre room, an arts room where they do crafts, they bring in animals for the kids to pet and play with, fish tanks, clinical offices and of course rooms for children up to age 18. Although there is nothing better then being home at least they try to give something positive to these families while dealing with their problems. Parkers room had a small bed where Jessica can sleep when she needs to be there in the evening, all Parkers equipment, a large bathroom, TV and playstation, a place to store your clothes and foods and window. It seemed that Parker thought the hospital as his second home. It was amazing how happy this boy is. He was continually smiling and laughing with Ryan and waving at the nurses. He knew his way around and I only heard him cry once because he had a good fall at dinner. Seriously one of the happiest two year olds I have ever met. Jessica is so on top of everything, asking the doctor and nurses questions, explaining how it all works for us and making sure Parkers treatment is the best for him. She is 100% involved and made sure she know's exactly what's going on and why.
What was heartbreaking was all the little babies lying in their beds without family by their sides because of different situations. It just makes me so grateful for our financial situation so I can stay home with our children, my healthy children, Ryan's family support that has made it possible for Jessica to stay at Parkers side and again, Jessica's amazing example.

We stayed overnight in Calgary at the Ronald McDonald House which is where Jessica and her family have been staying for the past 6 weeks. Again, I was amazed at this facility. I have no idea what I had pictured in my mind but this was way nicer. There was a massive kitchen where each room has a space in a fridge and a little bit of cupboard space to keep their food, a big dining room with multiple tables, a patio with some BBQ's and picnic tables to eat on, a great playground inside and outside, 4 laundry rooms, a few TV rooms with big couches to lounge on and Jessica's room had 2 beds, cupboards and a decent bathroom. Again, it's not home but you can tell they really have tried to make it as comfortable as possible for these families. I love that people's donations have made these facilities possible and available for my family in their time of need so that their stay can be as comfortable and manageable as possible and so they have a place to take their families when they come to visit.

It was such a humbling visit and I felt in awe the entire time. In awe of these facilities, in awe of how happy Parker is despite of the wires and equipment that have become his life and in awe of Jessica and how she has handled all this with a smile on her face and how she has learned everything she has so that Parker gets the very best treatment! I left feeling extremely grateful that even though they are going through all this craziness right now, they are at least being taken care of the best that they can be.

Survival of the Fittest

2011-07-17T17:10:00.003-06:00

Each time we do these long flights to and from Canada/Philippines we learn a little. This time, the kids and I's finale, was by far the best we've ever had. I guess after 5 years we should have learned enough tricks to make it relatively painless and we decided to span the trip home out a little bit to make it as relaxing on me as it could be.

Tuesday morning we said goodbye to Bacolod and took our first of 5 flights to Manila where we spent the afternoon cruising around and enjoying good food and good sleep as our last full day in the Philippines. Wednesday we did flights 2 and 3. The first being a quick 2 hour flight to Hong Kong which provided just enough nap time for Ryan and Madison and where we spent a short layover running the kids. We then boarded our 11 1/2 hour flight to Canada around 4 pm. It was so great. We have never had a more perfect flight. By the time dinner was served and the cabin lights were turned off the kids were exhausted and ready to sleep. They finally woke up with only 2 hours left when they were starting to serve our breakfast. Just enough time to eat, change back into our clothes and get ourselves ready to meet Auntie Kait at the airport. No drama, no tears, no whining ... just happy go easy kids.
After collecting our 10 pieces of luggage and transporting them to the luggage storage at the domestic airport where they would be waiting for us the next morning we spent our afternoon and evening with my sister and Matthew (her man). We ran outside enjoying the crisp fresh air that smelled amazingly clean, we ate yummy food and spend some time in the hotel room playing and reading books until we couldn't keep our eyes open a minute longer. What was amazing was that the kids slept for 13 hours with the exception of Maddy who wanted a pillow and went right back to sleep. We have NEVER had a first night where all the kids just slept right through. It was awesome.
Thursday morning we continued onto our last 2 flights to make it back to Lethbridge Alberta where our amazing families greeted us at the airport with a banner! We are SO loved (yes, I'm bragging). We then had a nice BBQ where the kids ran wild with their cousins and we kind of caught up with everything. It was perfect. AND that night, other then a pee break, the kids again slept through the night. Actually other then one night where Madison freaked out about who knows what the kids have been amazing. If they do get up to use the bathroom, or because they are chilly, they go right back to sleep. Adjusting to a 14 hour time change is super hard so I'm really thankful this trip they just fell right in even though we were 14 hours behind what they are used to. Last night Ryan and I finally had our first sleep right through the entire night too!

SO cheers, to good night sleeps and Canada!! And to the quickest adjustment to date.

Pamilya Ko (My Family)

2011-07-11T17:56:00.001-06:00

How do you say goodbye to the people who have been such an instrumental part of who you have become? These last 5 years have been the most challenging, difficult, exciting, amazing, lonely, unlonely time in my life. We have been put through the refiners fire and made it out better somehow. Without our family to rely on we've had to make a new ~~family~~ pamily for ourselves, our Filipino Family.

I just want to say thank you to my Philippine family even though those words are hardly enough. Without you we would never have had such an amazing time in the Philippines or lasted as long as we have. It is because of you that we made it and enjoyed it! We are better people because of our experiences and your examples. I have learned humility as you have accepted our differences with love and without question. You have supported me and served me and at the same time allowed us into your homes and into your personal lives sharing with us your filipino foods, your trials, your successes and mostly love. I am proud to say this is my 'pamily':

Although this picture is just a few, as I board this plane on our journey home I just wanted to say I love you and we'll never forget you! Thank you for being our support group through our trials!

Forest Park

2011-07-10T18:40:00.008-06:00

Saturday afternoon we decided to take some of our friends up on their suggestion to check up the new improved Forest Park. We had been before when Sydney was still in diapers and it was pretty much an open space with a random spray park and monkeys so we'd never been too motivated to return. So off we went ready to get wet and we were pleasantly surprised with it's new awesomeness. They kept that small little spray park and the monkeys but added a nice big pool with a nice gradual slope into the water. The bigger kids could touch through out the entire pool which was nice. The ran around into the water, did some cannon balls and practiced their swimming.

Forest Park has this pool off in the corner that is just a perimeter of a circle with picnic tables in the middle with a nice patch of grass. You can go and get a blow up inner tube and the jet propelled water pushes you around the circumference which was a hit with the kids:

There was a lot of room with grass where you could spread your things out and relax or eat your picnic lunch. It was a really nice set up. They also had a covered food concession which is perfect since you really never know it's going to start raining. My kids LOVED the park with the seesaw's and wicked fast slides. I think the biggest hit for Maddy was running around the spray park with me chasing her around. She was squealing and laughing and surprisingly we only had one slip the entire time. I wish we had just bit the bullet and went out to Forest Park months ago because the kids had such a great time!

Bug Collectors Heaven

2011-07-08T00:46:00.004-06:00

There is something just awesome about a great big disgusting bug that gets me so excited. When I'm pulling my shoes off the rack and I see something scurry I jump back afraid of a cockroach but when I see it's something different (a spider or a lizard) I relax. Cockroaches are just the most nasty things EVER. EVER. I once brought in the laundry from the clothes line and was flapping it a bit to get that stiff feel out before I folded it and a cockroach came flying out of the shirt. I grabbed the closet thing I could, which happened to be a stuffed panda animal, and started beating that thing to death. Only it would.not.die. Seriously! I beat that thing so badly the panda's eye came off before that sucker stopped scurrying off.
So in summary: I don't do cockcroaches and thankfully this house has hardly any at all! Maybe 1 a month. If it's anything other then a cockroach them I'm golden, good to go. So whether it's the biggest spider I've ever seen or some cool new beetle I can't help but run and grab the camera! Maybe it's just my dedication to capturing ALL our Philippines moments, beautiful white sand beaches to big creepy crawlies that come out in the night. At least the kids are ok with these big spiders. They get kind of close but when a spider catches them off guard ... screams. The other morning it was early, too early and Brayden had made his way to the bathroom to use the toilet and was walking back to his bedroom and started screaming like a girl. I wasn't too impressed when I had to pull myself out of bed to see what in the world was going on but once I saw the size of that spider I understood. I ran downstairs and got my trusty bottle of spray and killed that thing! I'm the best mom, ever.

FRECKLES

2011-07-05T20:32:00.002-06:00

So, check these out!! My boy is a freckle face ... and I heart it. I'm totally claiming it to my side of the families genes with my dad being a red head! Not that there was ever any doubt BUT this kid is mine, no switches at birth ... he's got the Moffat gene's.

How Cute Are We?

2011-07-04T15:36:00.002-06:00

My kids love to pose for the camera but Brayden is starting to pose like Ryan which means his smile is super exaggerated on purpose or his tongue is hanging out, Sydney has weird poser smiles because she's trying too hard and Madison is into a strange smile faze. It's very rare I get a shot of the three of them all decently smiling but when I do ... it's a keeper!

Mommy Maddy

2011-07-04T02:10:00.004-06:00

Sydney got this talking, drinking, peeing doll that she just loves. It sings, hugs you, tells you jokes and pees in a diaper. It really pee's and I know this because it pee'd on me. It has these huge eyes that blink at you that are irresistible for little girls fingers to resist! Maddy has tried to slowly adopt this baby and takes advantage of any down time Sydney gives her baby. She loves to turn her on and play with her. She sings along to all the little songs and responds to the babies questions along with a lot of hugs, kisses and pokes to the blinking eyes. Sometimes in a quiet moment at home I will find her laying on the couch or on the floor giving this baby hugs and kisses. It's just so cute. The last time I caught her on the couch being a mommy to this baby I grabbed the camera and tried to sneak a few pictures of her because I wanted to share Maddy's cuteness with the world.

No Bathtub ... No Big Deal

2011-07-02T04:42:00.000-06:00

We've only had one house in the 4 different houses lived in during our time in the Philippines that had an actual bath tub. No nice long soaks in the hot soothing water ... actually our first house didn't even have heated water, brrr (I'm such a wimp I know). Well when you have a baby you need a tub. When you have kids you need a place where you can dump them and let them splash for a half hour while you just sit there regrouping so we bought a wash basin, the biggest wash basin we could find. This is what our kids have done for the last year and a half:

They love it so who cares, right! We use it to plug the massive drain and fill up the entire shower area although the tub water is so much warmer then the excess spillage it's a fun time for all. I think it's pretty genius actually but I have to admit that it's a little too small for me and I'm really looking forward to a nice, long, hot bath when we get back to Canada!!

Yay Canada Day

2011-07-01T03:53:00.007-06:00

This is the 5th Canada Day that we've celebrated in the Philippines. 5th! I had to go back and really think before I put that statement into writing but it's true.
Seeing as Canada Day is no holiday here we've never really done too much other then reflect on our awesome nationality and the privileges that come with it. This year we decided we were going to light off some of our fire crackers as a celebration. After dinner we took a walk with a long string of fire crackers down one of the streets in our subdivision where no houses are. Once we found a nice section of newly laid sidewalk Ryan carefully laid out the string while the kids anxiously waited up the street a little bit with their ears plugged (they are obviously well accustomed to noise makers).

Once everyone was in position "BOOM"

My ears were ringing so badly because I was too busy trying to get a picture I didn't have any free hands to protect myself. Along with ringing ears our fire crackers left behind quite the mess. A mess AND a nice little banner we can hang on our wall wishing us a Happy Chinese New Year! Yippee. I love free stuff.

A Woman of Inspiration

2011-06-27T18:21:00.002-06:00

In my blog I don't really get into my personal life to much. I tend to keep it light and positive and not get into the trials and tribulations. Mostly because our trials are our own and because we are so blessed that even when the rough comes our way I have so much in my life to be thankful for.

Well lately I have been really worrying about family in Canada. I have a nephew named Parker Seely (click on his name and here to read a little about his journey). He's been through so much in his two years I can't imagine what it's been like for his family. He and my Madison are only 1 week apart in age. Just a little over a year ago Parker had a heart transplant. Thankfully his body responded and didn't reject the heart but for the past 4 weeks (and for days/weeks in between his transplant and this year) he has been living at the Alberta Children's Hospital waiting for some type of diagnosis. During those four weeks his electrolyte levels have been low and somewhat stabilized, his magnesium levels were dramatically low and now his white cell count is at zero (I think, if not zero then super low). They have no idea how to treat him because they have no idea what is wrong with him. Just yesterday they did some tests in his intestine and his bone marrow so hopefully this will be able to give the doctors some insight into the problems. So from across the world here we are praying and worrying about Parker and waiting for the little news Jessica finds out as time goes by.

Jessica. She is the toughest most inspiring person I know. I can't even say I've watched her go through this because I really haven't. I've just been too far away. I don't think I could handle this situation with the strength and courage that she has shown. Her family has been separated while waiting for Parker's birth which had to take place in Edmonton, while they waited in Edmonton for months for a heart and now for the past 4 weeks while she and Parker have been in Calgary and her husband and boys have been in Lethbridge. How they make it work is beyond me. You do what you have to do I guess but to do it with such strength and positive attitude is Jessica. To watch your boy and not know what is wrong, to not get any answers from the doctors and to be away from the rest of your family is my biggest fear. Jessica reminds me of what a mother's love for her child is. She reminds me of the sacrifice a woman is willing to make for her family. She reminds me of the faith a mother has in the face of adversity and trail and that even when faced with these things faith can grow. She humbles me and makes me so thankful that I have her example in my life. It reminds me of my many blessings and that my trials are my own, designed for me. I see what I think are little miracles with this boy and it increases my faith. So although I have no idea why Parker, why Jessica and Jim, I know that everything will be ok in the end and I know that she is one of the few women I know that is strong enough to go through this and have her marriage strengthened, her testimony stronger, her children more united and just as warm as before.

I have an amazing family. I have amazing in-laws. I love them all. I am so blessed for all their examples but Jessica is one in a million.

So being across the world with nothing to offer but prayers I'm asking you at this time to offer your prayers for my nephew and for his doctors that they will be able to figure out what is going on so they can treat him and Parker and his family can be a family again. This is all I can do for them right now, ask for your prayers.

The Real World

2011-06-27T17:47:00.004-06:00

We took off last weekend for a trip to Cebu City. No fancy white sand beaches, just sun and sitting pool side with good food and a little shopping. Things have been intense for Ryan at work and with the anticipation of Canada lurking around every corner the kids and I have been unusually antsy. It has been a long year. We got back from Canada 11 months ago and the kids and I have spent 4 out of those 11 months alone without the Jarman family which we had gotten used to having just across the street for play time, companionship and venting. I'd say that we are all (Ryan included) are getting a little stir crazy and super eager for the next 14 days to be behind us as we board our first flight homeward bound to Canada. It's not that we don't love Bacolod, because it has been a great home to us the last 5 years ... we just miss our families and friends in Canada so much and nothing puts that into perspective then being on your own. Especially when life is going on for everyone else and you feel like you're missing it or when troubles come along and you are too far away to offer your help and support. It's a sucky feeling.
So after a much needed rejuvenating change of scenery for 4 days, here we are ... back in the real world.

The last week had brought some great successes and the next weeks successes to look forward to:
Madison is potty trained ... fully. Yay for me and pull-up's only at bed time.
The rain has stopped briefly and we had some great hot sun while on our getaway.
We've been to a few great movies as we get ready to say goodbye to $2.00 movie tickets.
I have extra motivation and ambition to get things all packed up. Only 14 more days. That means things can go into the suitcases that I can give up for 14 days.
I won't have to do much grocery shopping as we eat out the last of our cupboards.
We get to blow off the rest of our fireworks and firecrackers!! We've been saving them for July 1st, even if we aren't in Canada we'll celebrate Canada Day in style.

Sadly my kids are just as excited as I am to go home and therefore have turned into these horrible monsters I can no longer control. I can't really blame them for their excitment and 14 days, although a short amount of time, is still such a long ways away for such young minds. I am really going to have to be on my "A" game these last weeks to keep them entertained and busy. Hopefully the sun stays out so we can utilize the pool.
If anyone has idea's to keep my kids from being the death of me please share! I'm almost out of idea's and have crafted myself out. It's only fun for them to pretend to nap for so long before they catch on that it's really not a game ...

Poop, The Highlight Of My Day

2011-06-21T04:45:00.004-06:00

The middle of last week I decided to go ahead and start helping Madison figure out this potty business. I thought that if I put her in underwear for a few days she would figure out that pee feeling and realize how uncomfortable it is to hang out in soggy underwear. I had a stash of her favourite candies on hand and thought that if I could get her to pee on the potty and reward her I might be able to see some sort of progress out of it. I mopped up a lot of pee that first day and it was clear she could've cared less about the candy.
What surprised me was the next day. I sat her on the potty, her choice from the big or pink potty, and when she sat on it she would push out some pee. We had a party and we all celebrated and she ate up that candy and loved every second of it. That was the turning point. Since then we've made it 5 days inclusive of public outings (the longest being 3 hours of church and during that 3 hours 2 times in the public toilet) with only one accident in her underwear. The problem is that she won't poop! She waits until her nap when I put her diaper on her and poops. After her nap she gets back into her underwear and it back on the potty again. Also, I have to ask her if she needs to use the potty, she doesn't come to me and ask to use it. She does however say "NO" when she doesn't have to pee and runs to the potty after I ask if she does need to use it. I'm hoping the going on her own will come on it's own.
One funny thing is she thinks that farts are poops. The first time she was sitting on the big toilet and trying to push out her pee and she forces out this huge fart which was so loud vibrating the toilet bowl. Her eyes got so huge and she says in a deep voice "BIG poop" and jumps off to take a look in the toilet. Her face when she saw the toilet was empty was so funny, she was so shocked to see nothing in there her brain trying to figure it all out.

Tonight after dinner we were playing a family game of cards and as we were finishing up Ryan asked Maddy to go to the toilet and off she runs ripping off her underwear and sits on her little potty. After a quick pee she decides she wants to sit on the big potty so I go with her and help her up. She sits down and kind of makes her pee face. Her brows furrow a bit and she gets all serious and still and pushes a little bit. This time she starts farting and she's getting all excited. Because they were little farts, more like toots, she's excitedly saying "baby poops" and I'm answering "ya, ya, ya" as i'm brushing my teeth and settling down for the night. I finally go and take a peek in the toilet to decide whether to get her off and into her pajama's or let her keep tooting happily and I find out she's actually pooping. FINALLY!
Who knows if it was a lucky chance or if it's a turning point but I'm going to take it and enjoy the success of changing one less poopy diaper. So cheers to the little successes of parenthood!!!

The Number 28

2011-06-14T16:05:00.002-06:00

What does the number 28 mean to you?

For me it's 4 weeks. 28 is less then 30 which mean's less then one month. Most importantly 28 is the number of days we have until we board our flights to Canada for the last time.

28 is the number of days I have left in the Philippines ...

This number is brought to you by Meg

OINK

2011-06-13T04:40:00.003-06:00

On our way from church yesterday the kids and I took a trycicad ... a bicycles with a sidecar. The kids love it and it's really a special treat for them. Me on the other hand find it rather annoying. It's a super bumpy ride and my butt is sore by the end of it. Every single jeepney that drives by slows down and yells at us some type of hilarious to them statement (like "hey Joe" or "you like that white boy?") while our kids copy them and yell "HEY JOE!" to all the people staring at us. Between the yelling, the staring and bumps my brain was exploding in my skull. Even Madison was getting into it and waving and saying HI to all her fans.
We successfully made it to the gates of our subdivision when we started to hear this crazy noise. I could have sworn it was a pig. All at the same time Brayden, Sydney and I looked towards the noise and saw this massive pig! I quickly paid our bike driver and we went over to the pig and took a few pictures. The kids just loved it! Later that afternoon Ryan and I had to run out quickly to the church and brought Madison with us. When she spotted the main gate she remember there was a pig there and started snorting away. Sadly the beast was gone. He was pretty amazing.

Meatless Bacon!?

2011-06-12T04:22:00.003-06:00

To go along with some of the interesting things we find at the grocery I thought I would share something not gross, or shocking but more simply along the lines of not finding it in Canada.
Firstly I'd like everyone to know that Ryan seems to have this love for bacon that I don't understand. He could eat it everyday. I'm not talking about 4 pieces of bacon along with your breakfast but a whole package of bacon as a side to any dish. Usually it's rice, egg and bacon with spiced vinegar (sinamak and native to Bacolod, SUPER YUM) and soy sauce but he could eat it for dessert. So last week I was in the grocery store and found this snack Baconette Strips; a meatless bacon. I took a snap of it and meant to show it to Ryan but completely forgot about it. Yesterday afternoon Ryan and I quickly picked up a few things at the grocery store and walked down the snack aisle. He stops for a moment and says "hey! Look at this" while pointing to the Baconette Strips! I pull out my phone and show him the picture I took with the intention of sharing my find with him and he decides to throw them in the shopping cart.
This afternoon after church he rips open his bag of Baconette Strips and tries them. They look just like little pieces of bacon, baby bacons. He takes a few and doesn't really comment either way and puts the bag back on the counter and continues on with what he was doing. A few minutes later he goes back to the bag and admits "surprisingly they make me want more."
I don't think it's something I would ever buy again but it wasn't a failure like I was expecting either.

Who Can Refuse Those Eyes

2011-06-11T04:38:00.003-06:00

You know puppy dog eyes. Those cute big eyes that look up at you at the pet store and say "Love me, please take me home" and they are hard to refuse. Or your kids ... sometimes they just give you this look and it's all in their eyes. They've done something wrong but they look up at you with their eyes while their face is sort of looking down, their forehead creased slightly. It's the secret weapon.
Well I saw those eyes today in the grocery store fish display ... this fish was looking up at me with his sad puppy dog eyes saying "Please don't eat me, I really don't taste that good."
So we listened and kept on walking:

One other thing that I wanted to share with you all is the love for Spam over here. It's a delicacy. Honestly I don't understand the craze but they even have fake spam... fake spam. What's spam? Fake meat. So what's fake spam? Fake, fake meat. YUM!

Maddy's New Trick

2011-06-10T04:16:00.000-06:00

So Madison is going through the terrible two's right now. I have to admit that she's seems to be less stubborn and strong willed then Sydney which is a relief (knock on wood). She definitely has her moments though and we seem to have those day where I wish bedtime was immediately following nap time but we're making it out alive. Thankfully she seems to respond well to logical consequence and when told she needs to make a choice, for example give mom back her phone or go sit time out, she mostly chooses the better choice. Lately when I start to tell her she's making a bad choice she pulls one of these:

She gets this goofy half grin on her face and she shuts her eyes. Remember when you were really young and when you closed your eyes and couldn't see someone you thought they couldn't see you either (I hope i'm not the only one who thought that)? I'm pretty sure that's what she's doing. She's ignoring me and trying to disappear on me! She's 2 years old and already giving me the silent treatment. Is this foreshadowing? If so ... help me ... please.

Electrical Chaos

2011-06-09T04:50:00.001-06:00

I took this snap Saturday evening on our date night because Ryan said "Isn't that a perfect picture with the sunset shinning off all the wires and onto the street."
I had to agree. It was really pretty. It also perfectly captures the chaos of the electrical wires that line every street in Bacolod City. Just a few days before this it was raining lightly and Sydney and I were on our way from shopping driving down the main road. To understand what I mean by main road it would be Mayor Magrath Dr in Lethbridge, Mcload Tr in Calgary or since it's also the highway the I-15 in the States (but 2 lanes each way that they make into 4 lanes each way). All of a sudden right in front of me a wire falls from the street and hits my car as I drive under it. I clench my fists and wait for some sort of electric shock to go through our vehicle, something, but nothing. Life went on as if I hadn't just hit astray electrical wire in the rain with my metal car. No big deal, right?
We've also seen transformers explode in the rain at night as we're driving down the road and watched everything go black as a result. We are definitely spoiled in Canada with wiring ... or lack of! Just one of the small things you should appreciate that you probably don't even think about.

My House Infestation

2011-06-08T12:25:00.001-06:00

We have termites in our house. Well, thankfully it's not our house but the house we rent. They've been there for a little while now, maybe 5 months. At first we notice a dirt line along the floor board and I would scrape it to find lots of little termites. I would go and spray the crap out of the floor boards and scrub them down and we wouldn't see it again for a few weeks. One night I went to find something under the bathroom sink in the kids room. I never really go under that sink, it just has some light bulbs, bug killer refills, things I don't use often. So I go and I'm trying to be quiet because Brayden is sleeping right outside the bathroom door and I pull out what I'm looking for and it's moving, literally moving. I FREAK out. I throw the box and take some deep breathes trying not to scream. I slowly go and look into the cupboard and find the termite dirt all along the back of the cupboard and ALL the cardboard boxes from the lightbulbs, my leg wax strips, the medicine, all eaten. It was so disgusting. I sprayed the crap out of there and spent the next hour and a half cleaning all the dead termites out of the cupboard, salvaging all the lightbulb and other things from their skeleton boxes and trying to get myself to stop itching.
We told the land lord about it who mentioned it to the home owner. We ended up discussing it with the home owner when they were in town from the States on a visit a month later. At the time since I hadn't seen any evidence of the termites in a while we decided it wasn't really that big of a deal and left it at that.
This week I started to go through everything deciding what needed to be packed, trashed or given away and I knelt on the base of the cupboard and my knee sunk in. There was no more wood there, just the paint! The termites ate all the wood from that chunk of the cupboard. Good thing pretty much the entire house is made of cement! I just kind of brushed it off as it happened when I had cleaned the cupboard out before because I looked around and cleared everything out of there and didn't see anything termite.
I moved from the cupboard under the sink to the closet. I started with the top of the closet because we never use it and new I could pack whatever was in there or throw it away and it wouldn't be missed in the next 5 weeks before we move home. Well I opened it up and reached up (it's higher then what I can see) and tried to pull down the Uno cards I could see lingering barely over the edge. Yup, the box started moving!!! This time there were no sleeping kids so I called for reinforcement! "RYAN"

This is what we found:

It's like an actual termite house in my closet. Too disgusting. All I keep saying to myself is: 35 more days, 35 more days, 35 more days. In 35 more days we'll be out of here and they can treat the house, tear it down, I don't care... because I'm Canada bound and I'm not coming back!

Got Fish?

2011-06-08T00:21:00.001-06:00

Today's find at the grocery store:

Only In Disney Movies

2011-06-06T19:25:00.007-06:00

You know when the princess in the Disney cartoon, like Belle, Snow White or Cinderella, starts to sing while she's out in the wilderness and all the forest animals start singing along and landing on the princess. These types of things only happen in Disney movies. So much so that Dreamworks makes fun of it in Shrek when Princess Fiona starts singing with the little bird until it explodes and she cooks it's eggs for breakfast.
Well yesterday the kids are playing outside and some random 'brown worker guy' comes by and gives Sydney a bird with a leash. Here are my kids, outside, with some random bird with a piece of string tied to it's leg. They are holding it, petting it, loving it to death. I'm not too sure what to think. A little shocked and a little annoyed. Why would this guy give kids a bird like that!? Seriously. What are we going to do with it. We've had a dog ... we've had a cat ... we've had a turtle. Do you notice the common factor? HAD. We don't do pets. Especially not birds. So we take some cute pictures and tell the kids to get rid of it. Not mafia style "get rid of it" but more go ditch it by a tree get rid of it. So that's what they did. They cut the string off it's foot and made it a nest on the side of the road by the tall grass and we forgot about it.
Please, in the future, don't give my kids random animals because they will not be allowed to keep it and feed it.

I Have Fun Days Too

2011-06-04T23:45:00.001-06:00

Even though Ryan is the fun parent as discussed here, and again here... I would like everyone to know that I do have my fun moment too:

When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go

2011-06-03T16:51:00.002-06:00

I think that one of the most disgusting things I see ALL the time in the Philippines is men peeing. They pee anywhere, anytime. Side of the buildings, side of the road, into a bush, onto a flower ... whatever. I think I would be more shocked if I went out and didn't see some random guy relieving himself at some point. I guess the bonus of this is that when you're potty training you don't feel any guilt whatsoever when your kid says he has to pee and you let him, no matter where you are.
Just a little bit ago we were on our way into SM Bacolod (one of the local malls) and all the kids were with us. In the front entrance of the mall is a taxi line so we are walking past, taxi, taxi, taxi, little girl with her pants down peeing! Seriously, right in front of the door. Nothing could hide the horror on my face, or Sydney's. Sydney even had to make sure to point it out quite loudly that I'm 99% confident this child's mom could hear Sydney's absolute confusion and my disgust. In the very least you would have thought the mother would take her child (at least 8 years) to the parking lot so she could have hid in between cars, not in the front entrance for everyone to witness.
Ryan and I saw this painting and this is probably not legit to post this as it's someone else's art but this picture at least gives me the impression that Filipino's are at least aware that they pee everywhere at anytime:

Who Eats Who?

2011-06-03T04:41:00.002-06:00

So I love this picture. I think i'm going to start a new series in my blog about the cool things I see in the local grocery stores. I think that for my Filipino readers these are just every day scenes but for people who have yet had the privilege of grocery shopping in the Philippines I thought you'd enjoy it. This particular picture was shot 1 1/2 weeks ago when my dad was here visiting us at SM mall in Bacolod. They usually have a pretty fish display on the corner but this one was by far my favourites so far.

The one picture I'm sad I never got was the mouse sitting on the spaghetti noodles at a Gaisano City grocery store. By the time I pulled my phone out of my purse to snap the shot he'd run off onto the other side of the aisle. Hopefully next time I'll be faster on my feet and not so shocked.

Big Spiders Never Get Old

2011-06-02T15:25:00.001-06:00

Especially spider pictures with my 2 year old sitting inches away... granted there is a screen protecting her, but seriously; she's fearless!

Tumba Patis

2011-06-02T04:54:00.000-06:00

Tumba Patis is an Ilonggo street game. All you need are your slippers (flip flops) and a can or bottle. There is the one person who is 'it' and they stand facing all the other players with the can close by. Balancing on the can or bottle is one shoe. As a player you want to throw your shoe at the can knocking the balancing shoe off. If you throw your shoe and miss the miss the bottle you have to run and try to retrieve your shoe before the 'it' person can tag you. Once tagged you replace the 'it' person. IF you are able to knock the shoe off the bottle with your throw then everyone can run and grab their shoes. The 'it' person must quickly replace the shoe onto the bottle before the thrower can grab his/her own shoe. If the 'it' person can replace the shoe in time then they get to go enter the game and the thrower will then become the 'it' person.
Does this make sense? It doesn't so much to me but I'm more a hands on learner. I had to play the game before I could understand what was going on.

Tuesday afternoon we had the missionaries over and a family for a Spiritual message provided by the Elders, some food and some games. One of these games we played was Tumba Patis. The Elders hung out on the road doing what they do, talking and sharing the good word some people walking by and the rest of us chucked our shoes around screaming and running around like crazy people. Even though Brayden and Madison had no idea what was going on they were running around throwing their shoes like they were in the know unwilling to be left behind. Shoes were flying, people were charging and I felt like I was dodging football players while I tried to capture a few of their genuine smiles. I think that although tumba patis is meant to be a fun high energy game, it can be pretty full contact if played with the right people.

It was fun and of course even though I hardly played I was sweaty and gross and all these pretty Filipina's that were running back and forth giving it there all were completely dry. How does that happen!?

WOW! Negros

2011-06-01T05:05:00.001-06:00

Of course when you go on holiday the time comes when you have to return home. Bummer. Tuesday morning we packed up and took the boat back to Negros Island. We followed the Eastern coastline north before turning inward towards Bacolod. I love Negros Island! I think it is the most beautiful place. It's so re-energizing driving through it and reminding myself of how breath taking the earth is. Negros Island has it all! We pretty much covered most of the island on our trip. Our way from Bacolod to Siquijor is red and the route we took home is blue. The red is faster by about 45 minutes but the blue is way more breath taking! Also being able to take two different roads breaks the drives up a bit so they aren't so boring. SO, Negros Island. Here is a glimpse into the island we've spent the last 4 1/2 years on and all pictures I took on our way home from Siquijor.

Amazing rice terraces:

Spectacular views from the mountain tops:

Lost white sand beaches lurking along the coastline:

People using their livestocks with the vibrant greens int he background:

And of course piling as much as they can on their vehicles whether it be supplies or people:

I think one of the best parts of getting out of the city and into the mountains is the lack of people. Bacolod is about the size of Lethbridge but with 300% more people. It's so heavily populated there is always traffic, long lines at the grocery or when you just want to roll down the window and take a quick picture there is usually a head that pops up in the way. I love being away where it's quiet and peaceful, where I can quickly snap photo's like these without trying to dodge the crowds:

I love Canada. I really truly think it's the most beautiful place I've been with the clear oceans, Rocky Mountains, Shushwaps and golden fields. After being in the Philippines when we go home I'm in awe of Canada. BUT if I'm not going to be in Canada, being on Negros Island is a close second.

Paradise

2011-05-31T16:34:00.001-06:00

Our Monday morning on Siquijor greeted us with rain. There was an impending typhoon that was playing with the weather and I was worried it might not clear up. Thankfully just like the day before the sun fought it's way through the clouds and we were able to spend the morning lounging around the pool. We ate our lunch poolside and prepared for our afternoon at the waterfalls. We splashed around in the shallow pools with the kids, did some jumps and took some pictures. For the entire time that we spent playing in and around the falls we were the only ones there. It wasn't until we were leaving when the craziest thing happened. We ran into some people from the States. One of them is originally from Siquijor Island and was showing off how amazing the island was to his buddies. After a little bit of small chat with my dad he learned that we were Canadian and he asks if our last name is Beattie! He recognized our situation from this blog! I got to meet an American fan in the Philippines. How cool is that!? I guess one day he was googling Siquijor, his home island, and was checking out the most recent google entries and my blog popped up and so he checked it out. He was a really nice guy, we met his American friends who also seemed really nice. It always amazes me how small the world can be at times!!

We didn't do the whole island tour like we did the last time we were in Siquijor but we did stop off and that oldest tree on the island and of course the coral church. It was a nice drive but no matter how pretty I can make the church look, the waterfalls were still the highlight.

Rest and Relaxation

2011-05-31T05:00:00.001-06:00

Since there were these festivals in Dumaguete and on Siquijor we arrived at Coco Grove way past bed time and we all checked in and went straight to bed. It was such a long day, especially for Ryan having been up for almost 30 hours. The kids were so bushed they even slept in an extra hour and a half which NEVER happens, especially on vacation when the beach is calling their names. So we peeled ourselves out of bed and met my dad for breakfast. One thing that's great about Coco Grove is their free breakfast. You have a great selection. I opted for the fruit platter which is a huge plate with mango's, pineapple, banana, watermelon and papaya (which they didn't have this weekend). YUM. The kids had their pancakes and the men had their bacon, eggs, mango and juice. The only bummer was the rain. Thankfully by the time breakfast was finished the rain had lighted and it looked like the clouds were beginning to thin so we took the opportunity to explore the beach and see what treasures we could find. We started at the one of the beach as far as you can go and the kids climbed up some lava type rock with their dad and took a good look around. There were a couple of small boats laying in a cove with some kids splashing around with their mom. It was so peaceful and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Our exploration got cut short because the rain started to come down pretty heavy. We just ran under the tree's while the kids played a Coco Grove version of bowling and we tried to stay dry. After a little while Ryan and Madison went in to make up for some of the lost sleep from our day of travel and the kids and I retreated to our cottage balcony for cover with the iPad. Thankfully the rain didn't last too long and before too long the sun was warming everything up and we got ourselves a couple of lounge chairs by the pool. We spent the rest of the day at the pool roasting in the sun. We also played on the beach and went for a swim in the ocean. It ended up being an amazing day and I really needed a day of just laying around reading a good book plus the lack of sun until 10am saved us all from getting too burned although I have to admit by the end of the day I could feel the burn starting.

Sky Rockets In Flight. Afternoon Delight.

2011-05-30T16:28:00.004-06:00

Now get your minds out of the gutter! I'm talking about grub ... BUT I have to admit when Ryan and I saw this poster we shared a giggle and a knowing glance. Such a classic song!!!

Kabulakan Festival in Dumaguete

2011-05-30T15:27:00.007-06:00

My dad made the trip out to see us one last time before we leave the Philippines. We didn't have a lot of time but we made sure to head out of town for a weekend and get some much needed relaxation in. We drove down the western coast line until Kabankalan and turned east into the island driving to the tops of the mountains headed to Dumaguete. We planned to take him to Siquijor. The drive went perfect. The kids didn't fight once, they sat really well and we had some yummy snacks to keep our mouths busy with. Once we hit Dumaguete we stopped for lunch and headed to the pier to get our boat tickets. We were stunned to find out that there were some festivals happening that weekend and so the next two boats out of Dumaguete were totally sold out and that we might have to wait until the next day to get out of there. Thankfully our resort tipped us off on a different boat leaving late in the evening so we got our tickets for that boat and went out to explore Dumaguete.
It was the weekend of the Kabulakan Festival which celebrates flowers. We found the parade with street dancers setting up near the town plaza and each of the different dance groups was decorated as a different type of flower. Of course, in Philippine style, there were bright colourful costumes, choreographers, loud music. We waited a while for the parade to start but as we got hotter, sweatier and the streets became more crowded we decided to walk back through the parade instead of wait for the parade to walk to us.

It was nice to start moving and walk around the city. We took a detour along the seawall before heading back to the car where Ryan and Madison were napping. We still had a few hours to burn until our boat so off we went to find a place to eat dinner. We found some Mexican place right by the ocean and decided to take a chance with it. It was good, nothing to rave about but good. As we were finishing our dinner the parade made it's way along right in front of the restaurant! We had front row seats. We watched as they threw fire, showed us their street dancing and posed for our camera's.

By the time the parade was over the sun had gone down, the city lights were all on and it was finally time for us to head to the pier and catch the boat. I guess the bonus of taking the boat so late in the evening is that the water is calm and the ride is smooth!

Jubilee Cultural Celebration

2011-05-17T23:38:00.015-06:00

Well! 50 years ago the LDS missionaries were allowed into the Philippines to teach people about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To celebrate this special anniversary all over the Philippines different area's are having these amazing cultural celebrations filled with singing and dancing.
Our area held our Jubiliee celebration last Saturday. It was amazing and totally blew my expectations out of the water. There were colourful costumes, choirs and amazing dancing. The show started with a brief history of the church growth here on Negros Occidental and the first pioneers that helped make all that growth happen. At one point the first pioneer members here in our province got up on stage and performed their own musical number for us! It was humbling to hear of the dedication it took these people to get to church every Sunday and the time they must have put in to teach new church members and keep the church strong and functioning.

The show was held at a huge coliseum without air conditioning. Thankfully Ryan got to hang out in the lighting/sound booth because he was the dude in charge of the sounds and slide shows so when the kids were getting overheated they got to sneak into the booth for a while and cool off. We sat up at the very top row with a view directly to the stage so that we could be close to Ryan and his 'team' so although we were far making it hard to get pictures, we got an amazing view of everyone.

There was the stage and the floor where the choir and dancers performed while the audience surrounded them. Of course the primary (children 3-11 years old) got up and sang this amazing medley all dressed in white. It set the perfect tone for the evening. Along with the singing was a slide show with pictures of the pioneers and sharing their experiences. Then the dancing began. It was by far the best part of the evening. They were all so well practiced and captivating. I loved the show. They had traditional dances in the traditional dress. My kids recognized one of the outfits as what they wear to school during Filipino day and so they were immediately interested in that specific dance. I have to add the man in charge of the music did a perfect job!

Then they had the dances that had to do with the festivals in that area. These were vibrant costumes with loud upbeat music pumping the entire coliseum. They were the funnest to watch with all the high energy and jumping around. I couldn't imagine running around in their costumes in that heat! I was sweating buckets just sitting, it was gross.

The show ended with all the different dancers filing out together to fill the floor. The choirs were on the stage with the exception of the primary who came out onto the floor with the dancers and got to play with the balloons that fell from the sky.

The best part of seeing everyone in their fancy costumes together on stage was when the first 10 pioneer church members from our province came out in a line to the front of the crowd. It was amazing to think that these 10 people had helped build something strong enough to grow to the overflowing floor space and stage. It was the perfect finale!

Happy 50th Jubilee Cultural Celebration Philippines!!

Something Colourful For Dinner Tonight

2011-05-10T06:38:00.008-06:00

This morning my doorbell rings. Automatically I know it's not a friend because our friends now know to come through the property gate and up to the door to knock, strangers stay outside on the road and ring the bell. Usually when that happens it's the water delivery guys dropping off my water jugs so I just asked Brayden to go outside to the gate and see who it was. A few seconds later Brayden comes to the door and tells me it's a brown guy in a truck which means it's someone Brayden doesn't recognize at all. I go outside to see who it is expecting maybe a person dropping off a bill or something like that but instead I see this man and his son carrying a styrofoam cooler telling me he has crabs and lobsters for sale. We used to get these people all the time to our house selling their crabs, fish, prawns, squid but I rarely buy and so they just stop coming so I was a little surprised to see him there. I tell him I'll take a look at what he's got because the kids always love a good petting zoo so he puts down his cooler and we see these amazing coloured lobster. I've seen these lobsters before in Boracay and have been told they are from Palawan, the very most western island in the Philippines so they are quite expensive having come so far. I ask how much and he names his price which was cheap cheap (or cheap for me) so I told the guy I'd take his two biggest. He gets out his scale and tries to place the lobsters in the dish while the lobsters are freaking out and trying to crawl out with their antena things flying all over the place. The kids start panicking a bit and we all take a step back while he finally gets the lobsters to stay long enough to weigh them. The strange thing was that the guy brings a scale with him but it isn't working so he asks to borrow mine. I tried to tell the guy that I didn't have a scale inside and he was genuinely shocked. I guess that is a necessity!? So away he goes to get his other one and returns, I pay the guy, off he goes and inside we head to find a pot big enough to keep the lobsters moist in until dinner.

The kids poke around for a bit until they get bored and into the fridge the lobsters go. Around dinner time I start to prepare them making a nice broth to steam them with (salt, dill, bay leaves, onion, water and pepper) and forcefully fit them into my small steamer tray for the rice cooker. While they steam away I make my lemon, garlic butter with a bit of dill to dip them in after they are done. They turn out pretty good but I have to say they aren't nearly as pretty cooked as they are raw.

You Stay at This Table Until You Finish What's On Your Plate!

2011-05-07T05:30:00.006-06:00

So we are eating lunch and Madison won't finish her sandwich. I ask her if she needs to go upstairs to have a nap and she tells me no so I tell her she needs to finish her sandwich. She just looks at me and I say "just take a big bite Maddy" and so she goes and shoves the entire sandwich in her mouth ... and surprisingly finishes the entire thing.

Time Flies

2011-05-06T23:09:00.003-06:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been a week since I sat down to write something. It really doesn't feel that long. I guess we've been busy hanging out. It's not like we haven't done anything note worthy ... because a lot of strange and random things have happened, I just haven't been motivated to write about them for some reason.

Well I thought I'd share some highlights of the week:

*We went to Thor last weekend. It rocked. I loved it. Go see it.
*Our wedding anniversary was on Tuesday! 8 years. Pretty good day. Got 2 dozen roses with some chocolate, went out for a fab dinner as a family. It was a nice day.
*A bat flew into me and knocked the wind out of me on one of my morning runs.
AND some moron this morning at 4AM starts driving around with a megaphone yelling "good morning, good morning" and going off on some rant about something. It woke up all the kids. It was a really long morning and I think I'm going to kill that guy. I've memorized his voice into my memory and when I hear it again .... he'd better watch out.

The nice thing about this week has been that it's been a little overcast the last 2 days so we've been able to play outside and go for nice walks without killing ourselves in the heat!

When Dreams Come True

2011-05-01T03:50:00.003-06:00

For those of you who know Ryan know that he loves his Mac toys. I think it's mostly because of the convenience that they offer him. They allow him to be reachable for work 24/7 no matter where he is so he doesn't feel that he needs to sit around staring at the computer all day/night long. The other reason is because they are awesome. There is no denying that there isn't much that an iPhone or iPad can't do and they always seem to get better and better. Ryan has wanted an iPad since they released the first one last year. Even though he really really wanted one he told me that he would hold out until the second model was released. His reasoning was logical: they make the basic, get reviews and fix the bugs and then come out with something fab the second go around. This is exactly what happened! The iPad2 is pretty much everything that he dreamed it could be and I knew that there was no talking him out of it after waiting for so long so ....

Welcome to the Family Mr. Big Stuff

P.S. we LOVE you. I mean REALLY REALLY love you.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-26T01:47:00.004-06:00

Holy Week is right up there with Christmas as THE holiday time here in the Philippines. Hotel and resort prices all shoot up for the week and Filipino's tend to come home for the holiday. Easter is a big deal here with the parade floats carrying Jesus and all the different Catholic Saints and huge Mary's. People will walk amongst the floats carrying candles and looking a little zombie like following the mobs to the big old Catholic church in the middle of town. There outside the church people are selling candles, leaves, flowers, snacks and balloons (?) to all the bystanders.
The Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) people are lined outside the old Catholic church selling palm leaves in remembrance of when "Jesus walked from Bethany to Jerusalem. He rode into the city on a donkey, as a verse in the Old Testament said He would. People recognized Him as their King, shouting, "Hosanna," and laying down palm leaves in front of the donkey to keep dust from getting on the Savior. Jesus visited the temple and then returned to Bethany. See Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11."*

Then starting Thursday everything is shut down for Holy Thursday, Black Friday and Easter Sunday (or as Elder Holland refers to it in An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ: Passover Thursday, Atoning Friday and Resurrection Sunday). By shut down I mean nothing is open but the hotel restaurants and a few side stores independently owned. The roads are dead and people use the weekend to go to midnight mass, go to the beach or pool and spend time with their families.
We spent Sunday together as our little family unit. We went to church and spent those three hours with our ward family before coming home and reading about the week leading up to Jesus Christ's resurrection and sharing President Monson's testimony of the Savior. We read a couple of articles for kids about what that means for us and why it's so important and then we sat down and watched the movie 'Rio.'
After Ryan had to run out quickly for a meeting and the kids went and played outside in the rain while I got dinner ready. They ran splashing in all the puddles getting soaked and laughing like crazy.

It was such a nice Easter to spend together as a family and the kids got the message that Easter Sunday was important because Jesus lives. Actually they got really animated and excited because He lives, "see it's ok mom."
I know this is a little late but I hope you can enjoy this Easter message from our church:

*The Friend (Volume 41 Number 4 April 2011). Easter Week. The Friend: A Children's Magazine Published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pg. 24-25.

Easter Saturday

2011-04-25T15:21:00.000-06:00

This year we broke Easter up into a two day affair. I really wanted my kids to understand the role that Jesus plays in Easter but not take away the fun that most people do to celebrate the weekend. I thought about it and decided to separate the two. SO, on Saturday we celebrated Easter in the sense of spring. We decorated eggs, went for a nice walk outside as a family, shrunk our chip bags and had a dance party. Before lunch I sat my kids down and taught them about Spring. They haven't really experienced season's before, all they know is snow and sweat so to talk to them about rain and why it's important, and baby animals was interesting. I pretty much got a lot of blank stares and loud animal noises from an excited Madison but that's about it. I also told them that tomorrow the Easter Bunny would not be visiting our house. Wow, this did cause a reaction... big sad shocked eyes. I explained that Sunday wasn't about a rabbit but about the importance of Jesus' resurrection and that because of this event we can all live together as an eternal family. I said tomorrow we were reserving for Jesus. Still big shocked eyes so I just said "look, tomorrow is about Jesus, not the Easter Bunny. You'll just have to wait until we get to Canada and Nana and Papa are going to hide your Easter candy then." Well, off they ran happy as could be and the crisis was adverted. I hope Nana is taking notes and I'm really happy she showed them some Easter candy the day before so I had something back up my story.

So as I mentioned we decorated our eggs Saturday. It was fun. Brayden and Sydney knew exactly what to do and Brayden brought up the really pretty eggs that Auntie Kait made that one year. Seriously, this kid and him memory! That was 3 years ago! Maddy just was obsessed with making her egg yellow screaming at us "lellow, lellow" not wanting to share the colour with anyone else until finally we just grabbed her yellow egg and dumped it into blue and watched it turn green.
So what do you do after you make your eggs?? Well if you're my kids you eat your eggs.

Recycling Beattie Style

2011-04-25T04:52:00.004-06:00

For those of you who didn't know me when I was younger I used to be a Brownie and my mom was one of the leaders right through all those years of brown dresses, orange scarfs and yes, even brown underwear for both my sister and I. We did lots of fun crafts, camps and stuff like that but one of the crafts I remember the most is shrinking chip bags. I had attempted this once before with my kids but it didn't turn out. Something about fire blazing in the oven ... not too sure :S
Anyway, I decided to save chip bags to try again. The problem was that our chip intake has severely decreased and so it's taken quite a long time for me to find the perfect specimen. Finally ... we have it. What we did was wash out the chip bag so all the chip crumbs and oils are out of the bag and then we gently dried it with a paper towel. We then carefully placed the bag on a greased piece of tin foil covering the baking sheet and put it into an oven set around 350*F and sat there, watching and waiting:

Within a minute our chip bag started to shrink up. I think we kept it in the oven for 5 minutes before pulling it out to find this:

This works WAY better with those small bag of chips! You can make them into earrings, I know, I know! TOO COOL. So next grocery shopping trip I'm going to buy a couple of the small bags for the kids and we're going to have an oven party! I'll let you know how they turn out, the kids have already polished off some chips and we've safely put them into storage waiting.

Healthier Thirties?

2011-04-20T15:50:00.004-06:00

Food. Food = my weakness. I have had to work so hard to work on portion sizes and actually staying within those portion sizes because let's be honest ... portion sizes are SO small! Willpower is not something I'm good with but whatever. I guess I've come to some sort of realization that I eat what I eat and I run enough to keep me from getting huge. I do however have this account with myfitnesspal.com which is pretty cool. It keeps track of everything for you, you can write down all the ingredients in a recipe and it will calculate the nutrition and caloric values for you! It's a great way to keep track of what you are putting into your body. Now that i'm getting OLDer I feel like living a healthier lifestyle (one not filled with chocolate and salt & vinegar chips) is important. Of course I still eat half the bowl of cookie dough when I'm baking cookies or hide my chocolate bars so I don't have to share, I just don't do it as much!
SO, with that being said Ryan and I went to a new restaurant on last weeks date night. A Korean restaurant. There are quite a few Korean's here in Bacolod, especially throughout the Philippines. Strangely they come here to learn English, English with a Filipino accent and grammer? But English is English I suppose. This restaurant had been recommended to us on more then one occasion so we decided to just do it and try it. I was happy about it because it's not sweet fried foods and would go along with my healthier eating lifestyle goals. We had our waitress go through the menu with us telling us what the more popular items were and what she liked best. We settled on a few different things and crossed our fingers for the best. It turned out pretty good. Free appetizers which was some sort of pickled cabbage roll in spicy sauce, potato's in teriyaki sauce, bean sprouts and spinach type something in peanut oil (?). We ordered a pork bbq which was so yummy and we wrapped in lettuce along with a beef stirfry with all these great veg in it. They cooked them on our table and explained what it was and how to eat it, what sauces to dip it into. I'm not too sure if Ryan was sold on the whole meal but I liked it and my body was so happy to have all those nice fresh vegetables in it!

Never Thought I'd Say That ...

2011-04-18T03:06:00.003-06:00

Four and a half years ago Ryan and I were trying to settle into our new life here in the Philippines with our 25 month old boy and a 7 month old girl. Now here we are with a 6 year old, 5 year old, and 2 year old. I have 2 girls who favorite food is rice and a boy who loves red filipino hotdogs (which I refuse to touch) more then the normal brown (?) hotdogs I know and love. I'm positive that their time here will have a major impact on their lives and who they will become, how they view minorities in the future and hopefully give them a love to explore different cultures. When I hear my kids say things that sound Filipino or love to walk by the fish section in the grocery store to see the big fish eyes staring back at them, I expect it, this is the only life they know. When I hear myself say some things out loud ... I know it's been too long:

We are driving down the street past a little meat market and I casually mention to Ryan "You were lucky there were pig heads hanging here when you took your mom because there aren't any left today."

All In A Days Work

2011-04-17T04:34:00.001-06:00

Around here it seems that the roads are always under repair. The long narrow road that leads to our house is slowly eroding away including the bridge. There is only one route home and the road is crap. Along with navigating like a race care driver around these huge potholes (which have just recently caused us a flat tire) you also have to fight with all the jeepneys parked on one side of the road while the drivers have their nap. This makes for a long, annoying one way road. I don't know too much about road construction but the guys that occasionally fill these massive potholes with dirt and stand there with their tin cup looking for a gratuity all day long aren't fixing anything. Another thing I don't understand ... cement? Why use cement? It's obviously not working here people so why not try pavement? There is one section of our Island that has used pavement for all it's roads and highways and it's a dream to drive on, so quiet and smooth and the road damage is so minimal. Maybe it's lack of equipment? Because they seem to do it all by hand including chipping away the old chunk of cement road so they can lay the new pad.
While we were driving home from Siquijor there was a section of the road that they were putting wire meshing along the aligning cliff to help keep the falling rocks off the road. Great idea. Lets use our wood scaffolding to get up high enough to lay the cement frame for the wire mesh. Looks extra safe to me!

Picture Definition of Resourcefulness

2011-04-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

Sugar is Sweet. The Work Is Not

2011-04-16T04:56:00.002-06:00

I think that the crummiest job I have seen other then a Filipino garbage collector is a sugarcane harvester. These guys go out into the hot fields with their big machete's and long clothes and bend over all day long whacking at the thick hard sugarcane stalks to cut them down. There has got to be a zillion mosquito's in these fields and it would be impossible to wipe the sweat dripping from your brow with your hands dirty from work. So they work all day in the blistering sun in the humidity making roughly $2/day. The majority of sugar cane plantation owners pay less then the $4/day minimum wage for agricultural workers and they hire children which is illegal. Nothing screams to me the importance of education like driving by these guys working in the fields trying to feed their families. So they work chopping down the sugar cane and then load bundles of it up onto the truck that will then take the sugar cane to the sugar mill. This is by far the biggest export on our island, it's filled with the sugar cane fields which once made Bacolod one of the wealthiest cities in the Philippines! It's so sad that these harvesters are taken so much for granted while the owners gain so much. How is a country ever going to change when it's so corrupt?

An Alluring Beauty

2011-04-15T15:34:00.002-06:00

Siquijor is a smaller island with a coastline of 102km so as we toured the island looking at all the different sites we drove that entire coastline and then some. It was such an amazing drive. We were in a jeepney so the breeze kept us cool and without windows we got this spectacular view. The water was this vibrant colour around the entire island laced with little white sand beaches, mangrove tree's and little towns with houses right off the ocean. I wondered for a moment if these people even realized how beautiful the view was right outside their door but I guess if it's something you've seen every day of your life you might not 'see' it. That's how a lot of things were for me in Canada. It wasn't until the last time we came home when I really saw that true beauty of the mountains, Waterton and the canola fields. One of the best parts was to watch these people in their every day lives, just enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. Some were driving, caring for their livestock, and some were sitting on their porch with their families. One site we see on every island here in the Philippines are 1L glass Coke bottles with either a red or green liquid in it. It took Ryan to explain to me that they were filled with either gasoline or diesel fuel. Genius. So even if there is only 1 gas station on the island there is never fuel too far off ... and sold by the litre! Siquijor was no different. Every once in a while on the side of the road there would be a little stall set up selling fues for those that needed a quick fill.

As we drove around getting a glimpse of the beauty of Siquijor and seeing the people going about their lives I was humbled. No big malls, no grocery store, no real restaurants except for a person cooking on the side of the road and selling that food in their shack and here I am complaining because I have no Walmart. Also something we noticed was that no matter what they were doing they seemed to love to stop and give us a big smile and wave as we passed by.

Siquijor was so clean, the waters looked inviting and the different colours of greens were breathtaking. I loved it, one of the prettiest places I've seen without a doubt.

Lola (Grandma) Conching

2011-04-15T03:07:00.001-06:00

Just a short drive off the coastal road at the top of a mountain is a traditional Filipino style house with videoke blaring and hens being followed by their chicks. The house stands alone off a dirt road and as we pulled up everyone seated in the videoke room took a nice good look at us. Our driver lead us to the side of the house where we got to meet Lola Consolacion Achay the bolo-bolo healer.
Bolo-Bolo healing is a natural healing using clear water, a bambo style straw, a smooth black stone and cup. Lola Conching rinsed out her cup and filled it with clean water then dropped a shiny smooth black stone to the bottom. She then took the glass cup to the part of the body that was in need of healing. In our case we used Cheryl's twisted ankle and Lori's sore back. Lola would then start blowing bubbles through the straw into the cup and slowly the water started to become murky with these nasty floaties in it.

After a minute Lola Conching would examine the murky water. Apparently if the area is really effected the water will become dirty, then the blowing process is repeated until the water remains clear and the problem is cleansed. So she examines the water and dumps it out, rinses her glass and then refills it with clean water and repeats the blowing process. The second time, still dirty water forms but with less floaties so again she dumps the dirty out and starts again with clear water until the water remained clean while she blew her bubbles.
After the water remains clear she then takes some oils she keeps in a flask with special ingredients and rubs it on the affected area muttering something I couldn't hear with all the kareoke singing going on and blows onto the oil completing the ritual.

SO ... does it work? I'm not too sure. Cheryl seemed to find her sprained toes and ankles were better. Not completely healed but she regained mobility! And Lori? I guess her back felt better and she wasn't being sarcastic. How are they feeling now? I have no idea but I'm sure that flight back to Canada took it's toll. Maybe I could take up Bolo-Bolo healing and have a side line for when we move back home!? What do you think?

Paliton Beach

2011-04-14T15:54:00.001-06:00

I had asked our driver to take us to Paliton Beach because I had read that it was one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. I had just assumed we would take a dirt road to a beach, get out and take a quick swim and walk around and get back into the jeepney and continue on our journey. What I didn't know was that this dirt road was the worst, bumpiest road with huge lava rocks scraping the bottom of this guys poor jeepney. I felt so bad having asked him to take us but he didn't say anything other then the guy who owned this section of land also owned the section of land Coco Grove Resort was located on. So we drive to a dead end where there is a nice strip of white sand beach lined with fisherman's boats and get out and walk past that beach through a field. After a short walk we arrive on this other strip of white sand where this big boat is being finished and the water is smooth and this amazing colour. The water was like warm bath water and the sand was seriously like powered sugar, so soft on the feet. There were a couple of small schools of black fish skimming the surface just where the water meets the sand and this amazing piece of rock jetting out of the water at the one end of the beach bringing the rich greens out over the blue of the water. So picture perfect, other then the boat about to launch for the first time completely private and worth the bumpy ride to get there.

Cambugahay Waterfalls

2011-04-14T03:22:00.001-06:00

By far my favorite stop of the day was Cambugahay Falls. You walk down just 135 stairs until you reach the bottom tier of the falls. It's this amazingly clear water set in this rich green jungle that after the walk down seems so inviting and the perfect way to cool down. We walked up the path to the third tier before jumping and splashing around.

I was able to ride the kids on my back to go under the falls to the back part where we hung out looking out from behind the water while peeking out from the cascading water. We even took our turns jumping off the top of the falls into the deep pools below.

It was so pretty and peaceful. At around lunch time it seemed that everyone disappeared and we had the falls to ourselves so our driver brought down our packed lunch and we had a picnic at the base of the falls. It was such a good meal, grilled chicken with lemon, some oriental noodles along with rice or potato salad. It was the perfect picnic scenery and a great way to fuel us up for the short 135 step climb back up to the road.

Coral Killing Church

2011-04-13T15:33:00.001-06:00

So I'm pretty sure that you couldn't get away with this now a days but check out this church built in 1887! Walls and bell tower made out of corals. Yup! Coral. Someone killed a lot of coral, plants and fish to make this church

So they have this convent across the street that is claimed to be the biggest convent in all of Asia. I was seriously impressed by this until I was reminded that the Philippines is the only Christian majority country in Asia, now ... not as impressed. Also these fancy bell towers were used also as watch towers to warn the people if pirates were coming! COOL!
Inside the church is stank. It stank like it was built in 1887 and started rotting away shortly after completion. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration but it definitely smelled old and unused. The roof was rotting away with these big holes in it and the wood frames holding up the massive roof looked like they were eroding away. It was cool and big but that's about it. No offense to the building or anything and I'm sure it was just magnificent in it's glory it's just really sad that no one seems to be caring for it anymore so we went and took some shots and went on our way.

Siquijor's Banyan Tree

2011-04-13T05:30:00.001-06:00

Siquijor is famously known around the Philippines as the Island of witch craft and black magic. Apparently the island used to come alive at night with fire flies glowing and flying around. The rumour is that the Spanish first spotted Siquijor off the shore at night because the island lit up in the evening! Now I guess they still live in the trees but you have to go up into the mountains to find them. While we were out one evening at Coco Grove there were a few spotted in the trees flickering on and off but nothing like the stories I've read about. Along with these mystical legends of fire flies lighting up childrens cheeks and black magic healers there is the Banyan or “Balete” tree which holds the title as the oldest tree on Siquijor Island.
A Banyan tree starts off as a seed that finds it's way into a small snug spot like a crevice of another tree trunk and as it grows it's roots shoot out in every direction with a small trunk also starting to grow. Soon the roots take over and outgrow the trunk and continue taking over trees in the near area and also having it's own roots start forming it's own new Banyan trees. They can grow around in a circle leaving a small hollow center with these tree roots as it's walls where these natural healers will go and set up a special place to work their potions and rituals, oooOOooo.
Anyway this tree is apparently over 800 years old according to our guide!? I believe him, it was pretty huge and he referred to it as being just like the tree from Avatar. Looks about right to me, now we just need to find a bunch of wierd looking blue people and we got ourselves Pandora.

A Day of Rest and Relaxation

2011-04-12T18:15:00.009-06:00

Saturday morning we woke up to amazing sunshine! It was so hot and the water was so clear, really the perfect day for laying around the beach. The kids made a sand castle with grandma, went snorkeling and we swam in the pretty sea. The colours were so vibrant with the white sand and corals underneath and the warm sun intensifying the greens and blues. It didn't take long to warm up and dry off in the sun after a swim! That's how we spent the first part of morning, playing in the sand and suntanning on the beach. Ryan and I went out for a snorkel and found some really nice coral and big rainbow fish. We saw long sword looking fish and a pufferfish swimming through these little ravines made in the corals. It was so pretty, I loved it.

After some time on the beach we were well roasted and so we made our way to the swimming pool which offered both sunshine and shade. The kids swam some more while I was able to relax a bit and enjoy the beautiful view everywhere I looked.

After our lunch we decided to go for a walk to the end of the beach where Grandma had found some cool lava type rock formations and caves! We walked along the beach passing the marine sanctuary, the diving school and the main restaurant which are all apart of the resort. We made it to the rocks and walked through the water to explore them and climbed up a few to see what was on the other side. Ryan thought about jumping but decided the water wasn't deep enough for a safe landing so instead we just had this amazing view!

It was such a great day. We fed the kids first and put them to bed and then us adults went out for a really yummy dinner later while we again watched the sunset from our dinner table outside on the beach. The breeze kept us cool enough to enjoy our meal and the sound of the waves was so peaceful. The only downer was the Tom Jones wanna be that started singing not so great and drowned out the sound of the waves. But whatever, not even he could ruin our perfect day! Especially with adventure and exploration on our horizons for the next day!

Welcome to Coco Grove, Siquijor Island

2011-04-12T01:40:00.005-06:00

A few years ago we took a weekend trip to a little island named Siquijor. We didn't really do too much there, the place we stayed was on a beach but nothing super special and the 5 hour travel time to get there never seemed worth it to go back. Around the time Ryan's mom arrived we were trying to brainstorm of where we could go and I got a message from a friend suggesting Coco Grove Beach Resort on Siquijor Island. She said it was their best beach experience to date in the Philippines and since we really trusted her judgement we booked ourselves for a long weekend getaway at Siquijor's Coco Grove.
Off we went for the 4 hour drive through Negros Island from Bacolod City to the Dumeguete Port where we boarded our ferry to take us to Siquijor town. It was one rough ride. I'm sure that there were a few people on that boat running for the bathrooms as soon as we docked for a good old spew into the toilet! But for us this is what welcomed us right off the pier:

It was such rewarding site. Along with the green waters, white sandy beach and hot sun shinning on us was a guy holding a sign "Welcome Meghan and Family." We had arranged to be picked up at the pier so we wouldn't have to fight to find a decent priced taxi and it paid off. We were greeted with a big smile and lead to our own private bus which took right to Coco Grove. It was so hassle free and the staff at the front desk was waiting for us and had everything ready for us! It was one of the easiest check in's we've had in the Philippines. We were given a map of the resort and an explanation of where everything was before we were lead to our cottage. Our room had a nice loft where the kids slept and it was right off the pool and a short 1 minute walk to the beach. We checked out the pretty beach before splashing in the pool while Ryan took a nap. The kids burned off the energy they stored up sitting in the car/boat for the better part of the day and then we settled down for some grub. We took this table right on the beach so the kids played in the sand and swayed in the hammocks until our meals came, which were really yummy.

It was just so nice to be somewhere beautiful, with staff who knew how to make you feel amazing and to sit on the beach eating a great meal while watching the sun set!