Today...

My mom is spending one week of respite in a home and today Taggart and I visited her. We cut a rose from the garden to take with us and Tag was excited to give it to her. I was hoping to take a photo of the two of them together but unfortunately, Mom wasn't very happy today about being where she was, so that didn't happen. Watching your parents age is a very tough thing.

On a happier note, Hudson had his first cross country race today. It was raining, windy and freezing cold but Hudson was really excited. He did great and came in 21st place. The first 20 get ribbons so he was a bit bummed out about that but not discouraged. He said that next week, all he has to do is pass one more person. I was proud of him. Not a great photo. I was trying to keep my camera dry by hiding it in my coat and then all of a sudden he was in front of me and I hardly had time to turn it on, never mind focus. I'll do better next week too.

Mr. Independence

He has been able to ride it for a while now but getting started always required some help. I think he was just a bit sick of the whole thing because when ever I asked him to go out and practice his answer was always 'no'.

Until today.

He just got it today and there was no stopping him. Riding all day long. His helmet became a fairly permanent fixture on his head, much like Reagan's goggles during pool season.

I think he was feeling some serious independence out there today.

Wait to go, little man!

Hot, tired, and proud

Cooper's first cross country race in middle school.


Grade 6, 7, and 8 all run together.

Cooper looked really, really little.

It was hot.

We had to wait a long time.

Tag and Hudosn were hot and bored.


Cooper did awesome.


#98 out of 200 kids.


Pretty good considering he was racing against kids who were literally almost twice his size.


I was proud.


So was he.

I've fallen....

...off the edge of the blogging world. I'm not really sure why. My camera has also not seen much action lately. I guess it's just all the September crazies of everything starting up again.

Reagan had her first art lesson today. Both Cooper and Hudson have joined their cross country teams and Cooper's first race is tomorrow. Reagan starts skipping tomorrow and Tag is full on into kindergarten. Everyone seems to be happy in their new places so I guess all is well.

As for me, I finally started the book club that I have wanted to be a part of for some time now. We held our first meeting last night here at our place. I'm really excited about it, I think that our group of girls is a good one and will provide some good conversations. Here are the party favors I made for my guests.

I'm climbing back up onto that edge, I can feel my grip getting stronger. See you all soon.

This gave me goosebumps

Do you ever hear a song that literally gives you shivers? I do ever so often. Usually it's the lyrics that hit home in some way or another that does it but with this one it's the passion in these two guys and, of course, the great music.

Reagan listens to this song by Taylor Swift daily and she knows all the words, she's becoming quite the luttle music fan, and I loved hearing the song done in a new way.

(scroll down to turn off my music before playing the video)

First day jitters

Lots of butterflies this week. They seemed to come at different times for different kids but they all had them (well, Tag, not really - his might come next week when he actually starts school).

Cooper was nervous about starting middle school - would he be in the class that he wanted, all that stuff. Once he got through yesterday and discovered that 'his school rocks', he was all good and actually wouldn't' stop talking about it.

Hudson was all good yesterday morning until after school when he was given his final class assignment and discovered he only had one friend and all the others were in the other class. "One is better than none", I said and he soon recovered. This morning he was feeling good and I even got a smile and a high five as he went to his new class.

Reagan - smiles and happy even when she discovered some of her friends weren't in her class. Her go-with-the-flow attitude makes her life (and mine) easier in times like this.

After school snack yesterday around the table was a good one with lots of conversations. About what was bad and what was good. Encouraging words going back and forth between the kids as they talked about their concerns. I provided the tasty treats and just tried to listen. Here's to a great year for all of us.

My traditional first day of school photos still haven't happened. With Cooper leaving half hour before everyone and Tag still not officially being at school we just didn't make it happen. It will though, even if it has to be staged on a Saturday afternoon.

It's a school night

I had a good bit of fun with this phrase tonight, especially at Cooper's expense. Back to school tomorrow. Honestly though, I am sad to see summer end. Not looking forward to those early mornings and packing lunches.


So as a last hooray, we had a family day today. We started the day at the crack of 10am and by 11:30 we were eating pancakes. We decided to go bowling since the weather was a little iffy. After that we headed back home for snacks, a movie, some b-ball and frisbee in the yard and nachos for dinner. Perfect. A few little remarks about nerves just before bed (cooper and hudson), but nothing too serious.


Here's a few bowling photos. (hard to get good shots inside a bowling alley but we did our best)

Seriously, this girl has fun wherever she is
Tag seems to pretty happy with his performanceBut sometimes the ball took a really long time to reach the pinsSo Tony stepped in to help speed things up and boost his numbersShe had the funniest little move where she lifted her right leg when she let go of the ball. I don't think it was serving her too well but she wasn't at all interested in any of my advice.

Cooper worked hard on his form and thought he was going to pull off a win but Tony's game improved in the last half and he was able to pull off three strikes in a row. Cooper was not impressed.

Serious and solid - that's Hudson
I thought I was okay at bowling but apparently I was mistaken. I think the lane was crooked.

Tony entered the names and yes, CHICKEN is me. I really have no idea why.
Now it's off to bed. After all, it's a school night.

My date with Cooper

Ever since we spent the day in Vancouver back at the beginning of summer, Cooper has kept saying that he really wants to go back to downtown just to 'walk around'. He, just like me, really loves the hustle and bustle of being in the city. So we decided that just him and I weould go one night this summer. Since school starts next week, time was running out. So we picked a night and last night was it. We headed down just after lunch and met Tony at the Shangri-La. He took us up to the top and and showed us the view, which was great. Tony headed down with us and Cooper and him had a crepe on Robson before Tony had to head home to hang out with the other three kids who were left behind with Nana.

Cooper and I had a great evening just walking around, looking at the shops, and having dinner together.

What I noticed most was how grateful he was for everything. So many "thanks Mom"'s all night long. Made me realize, once again, how important theses one on one times really are. This was sort of a big one but I know that all it really takes is a trip to get an ice cream. Mental note to me to make this happen way more often, with all of them.

FPOTM - August

How could this not be my favorite?