Wildflowers

Don't mind me, I'm just going to nerd it up a bit on here. I've had an idea in my head for a little while now, and so I'm going to go ahead and do it!

I've always been a keener my whole life. I adore the natural sciences. My dad once mentioned (when I was a grown up) that he was so sure I was going to be a scientist when I was a kid. It was such a funny comment to me, because as much as I love science, it had never occurred to me to be a scientist! A scientist in my mind, is a chemist or physicist. In a lab. White coat. Frizzy hair. Well, I've got the hair for it!

I had rock collections that I gathered, but not just 'pretty' rocks most kids pick, or the glossy polished ones from gift stores. I would scour wherever we went, for rocks I could name and categorize (you know, igneous, composite and sedimentary?).

I would bundle up in the pitch black middle of winter with a flashlight and my star maps to try to identify the constellations. I remember one year in school, going up to my science teacher and telling then about all the constellations I found. Were they impressed? The reaction I got was more of a "that unit is over. But good for you, little girl."

I was blessed with supportive parents though. I had a dad that would read his monthly National Geographics cover to cover. Therefore, I assumed he was the smartest man alive. My mom, while frugal, would almost always indulge our insatiable appetites for books. My parents thought it was great that I use to BEG for a telescope.

This whole preamble is a long-winded way to say:
I'm a legit nerd.

Long before hipsters made being nerdy cool.

And I recently bought myself something I've wanted since... About Grade Two. No joke.

I got myself a book on identifying wildflowers of the prairies.

Cool, huh?

Oh, did you think it would be more exciting than that? Nope.

But I sure got a giddy thrill when I purchased it!

As I have this riveting reference in my hands and I have been enjoying getting out and looking up specimens in it, I thought I would begin to record some of my findings! Mostly for my own enjoyment, so if you're not interested, just keep scrolling on by!

The below picture is a few blocks from our house. What a weedy, overgrown mess! Right?

Actually, as I stood beside it, I quickly recognized over a dozen wildflower specimens!

This hobby has helped me to literally stop and smell the flowers!

Who knows, you may pick up a tid bit of knowledge along the way too!

Hot Summer Day

This was Dexter today, enjoying his kiddy pool!

He got some pretty bad heat stroke on Saturday, so I have been trying to be extra vigilant to keep the little guy cool in this heat.

His nice cool pool in the shade is a pretty fun activity to still get outside, but stay safe!

After Party

Here are some pictures from Layla's after school, last day surprise!

Last Day

Yesterday was Layla's last day of Grade Two! Summer break has officially begun!

Here's some pictures from the assembly where she won a reading award (second year in a row! I'm so proud of my Bookworm!).

And with her fabulous teacher, Ms. Macleod. She was also the staff who helped me with the school Gardening Club. It was so great to get to know her! She was great!

The goofy class picture is missing the students who left right away after the assembly. Layla wanted a picture with some of her girl friends, but the boys all wanted in on the action too! She has a great class!

Teeth

I know it's a bit out of focus, but it's the best I've got so far!

Dexter now have four teeth out! It is amazing how such little things can really change how my baby boy looks! He's such a cute little muffin, but looking more kid-ish now!

Lewis at the Park

It has been so very busy around here lately. We are now moved into our new house though! We are still so thrilled to be here! It is such a blessing to our family.

This afternoon I took a bit of a break from unpacking and headed out for a hike with Dexter and Lewis.

It was lovely to get outside and enjoy ourselves! A welcome distraction!

Here's some pictures of Lewis enjoying his time there!

SOLD

You know what's cool?

When the official 'sold' sign goes up on the house you bought!

It still has not quite sunk in, but little things like this help to make it feel more real!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is my super handsome husband's 29th Birthday!

Hooray!!!

Poor guy is stuck in Fort McMurray today.  This is sad, because when he's out of town he works very long days and doesn't get many opportunities for fun.  

But don't worry, I got him a super awesome present!  So he will have fun when he gets back!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

We all love you and miss you lots!

Mini Adventures!

We decided to try to sneak in a couple more GeoCaching adventures before bed tonight. We quickly got dressed, grabbed our gear and made a beeline for a nearby park with two listed GeoCaches.

We had a bit of trouble with the first, as I was carrying Dexter in the backpack carrier. This hindered me from bending over to help Layla search for it. I was pretty sure of where I thought it may be, but it required getting way down on the ground and getting up close to an area that had many cobwebs.

Needless to say, Layla wasn't game for trying quite that hard to find it!

I was doing the best I could, but I just couldn't do what I needed to do. I didn't want to walk away though. Eventually I had to unstrap the hiking backpack and make Layla stay with Dexter while I went to explore the dark, cobwebby places.

After all that, I'm happy to report that YES we did find it!

The park we were in has a path in a big loop. We hadn't gone too far in yet and guessing for about where the next one was, we could either go quickly there by going back and walking past the parking lots and such, or take the long way around the lake and through the forested area.

Of course, Layla picked to go the long way. Through the mosquito-y woods. She wasn't carrying a 23 pound baby on her back!

But I gave in and we trucked it through the woods. We even detoured on a side path a little until it became too mucky. We also had some nice little chats along the way.

We came pretty close to getting the second cache, but the looming dark clouds finally began to surrender their raindrops. Between that, and the bug itchies, and that I was trying to bushwhack in my little flip flops, and I'd been carrying 'Two-Ton Grizzly' on my back around the whole park; we called it quits and hiked back to the car.

We finished the night soggy and a little itchy, but in good spirits from still having one success and having a fun time laughing and being together.

I'm sure we'll be back to try to find it again soon! But tonight's episode was a good reminder to me how the real treasure is in the detours and taking the long way on our journeys. That's where the magic is and that's where our memories were made.

I've Just Got to Ask:

Does anyone else GeoCache?

I had a friend a few years ago try to introduce me to it, but I never quite got the bug at the time.

But this past Sunday, Layla and I have officially been bitten by the GeoCache bug!

It's like treasure hunting with coordinates. Many use a handheld GPS, but I just downloaded the app on my iPhone and away we go!

You can learn more at geocaching.com, but if anyone else is hooked, let us know! We'd love to have some more caching buddies!

The following pictures are some of our finds!

A great activity to get out in the fresh air with your kids!

News from Friday

So, a lot has been going on lately, and as I try to use this as a bit of an alternative journal for our family, I wanted to record that on Friday, Dexter's first tooth finally started to break out! Saturday you could really feel it though.

This is quite exciting! Layla's first two teeth came out early at 4 months, but as Dexter just turned 9 months old on Saturday, we were waiting for a while to see when they'd finally make their appearance!

Here's a blurry picture that I took trying to capture it! You can hardly see anything! I've kept trying, but no luck yet for a good tooth picture.

It's a Big Day

Today is a big day for the Claytons.

Our cute little green house had been getting pretty crowded lately. We slowly started entertaining the thought of 'one day' getting a bigger place. But both for our personal finances, as well as the slow real estate market, we thought it best to bide our time and sit tight where we are.

Just the past few weeks though, things have started getting a life of their own. We didn't really move forward with the specific intention of moving as soon as possible or anything. It started by looking at a darling little house for sale by owner close to ours. More out of interest and curiosity, and the thought that sure, if this house was a total perfect fit, we'd start to look more seriously at our options.

Thing is, it WAS cute and had potential to be a good fit for us. But before we did anything, there was a house down by Layla's school I had been eyeing for a couple months that I wanted to see the inside of before we made any decisions.

That meant calling a realtor to get access to check it out... And from there the ball started rolling... And we were suddenly in the midst of house hunting.

Funny how things like that happen!

Well, looooong story short, we tried to get the house by Layla's school.

It didn't work out.

We were super bummed.

Daniel and I both likened it to a break up. You're so disappointed and you feel like all your hopes and dreams are shattered and there will never be another one that can compare to the one that slipped through your fingers.

It's funny, because Daniel and I were both super pumped after we found each other that we'd never have to feel that way again, and yet here we were totally funked out over a house.

But then came Willow.

We'd passed her by before and brushed her aside without really getting to know her.

We took her unglamorous exterior as a sign that she offered nothing more.

Little did we know this was going to be a slow burn. We started giving her double looks online. Drove past again more slowly over the weekend to get a better look.

By Monday when we went to officially meet her, we were nervous and excited at the potential that this could really be 'the one'.

It was quickly apparent from the walk through, with our scared nervous smiles, this could really be something great for us.

We felt like keeping our options open, and continued seeing a couple other girls, but they could never compare to Willow. No one else was good enough. No one else was pretty enough. Others were too high maintenance.

So we returned to Willow.

Just walking back up the steps, Daniel sighed out a "yup".

We'd found our match.

But we'd been burned before. So we've tried to hide our excitement. Not get too caught up in it all.

But the day is coming. Today we should finish our financing. This evening is the inspection.

Could it really be happening?

Here's a picture of the pretty lady when I was stalking her on a late night walk with Lewis.

I know she looks a little plain, but she's got great personality!

Backyard Adventure

Since Monday was a holiday, both Daniel and Layla were going to be home at the SAME time!!! This is exciting because it hardly ever happens!

The weather was very nice on Sunday and was forecasted to be nice Monday too, so we made plans to tent in the backyard.

Of course, you can't camp without a campfire! So we made a huge fire and kept it going until late in the night. It was great to finally make a dent in our tree pruning waste pile too.

All of us love fires, so enjoying our firepit is always a recipe for some great family bonding. Daniel even taught us a trick that he used to do when camping. He wraps a plastic grocery bag around the end of a fire poking stick and sets it on fire. Then the plastic melts and drips little drops that make a 'blip' sound. His family calls this a 'Drip Stick'. It was a lot of fun to play around with and learn this new trick.

Everything was going great until it actually came time to sleeping outside in the tent. Layla and I started out first, but even dressed warmly and having almost every blanket out there with us, we were still pretty cold.

Daniel and Dexter joined us out there after midnight sometime. Dexter slept pretty good in the tent! But the rest of us couldn't shake the chill off, so at four in the morning, we all came trooping inside and slept soundly the rest of the night in our own warm beds!

It was still a lot of fun and worth the effort!

I love doing things to break up our normal routines! I'm looking forward to trying this again on some warmer summer nights!

Backyard Memories

We had a spell of good weather for a while, and I'm so thankful for every moment I got to be outside enjoying it!

Here's some pictures of the Little Man exploring our backyard, all from a pretty close angle! I know some day all his baby chub will be gone, so I've got to get in there and get some close up shots while I can so I can always have them to look back on and enjoy!

Monday Night is Family Night

It ended up being another beautiful day today!

For supper we went for FUN instead of nutrition!

Melt My Heart

We took a lot of pictures yesterday! It was such a lovely day! I love bright sunshine!

I was flipping through the pictures that were taken and as I came across this one, it just melted my heart! I love this little guy!

Mother's Day

These two little munchkins are my whole world. It doesn't matter WHAT is happening, I'm good if I've got them right here with me. They make me happy right down to my toes!

Mmmmm...

I made my first batch of homemade, from scratch cheese buns!

They turned out good! Next time, I may try to make them even cheesier... But isn't that the way with everything?

I have started using a new bun recipe. It's quicker and easier with less prep work than my usual recipe.

Which is also exciting to me as I've been having fun experimenting putting stuff in my buns! It was cheese today, pulled BBQ beef on the weekend, and ground beef (some with cheese) before that!

Fun! Delicious! Convenient!

Monday Morning

Here are some images from our Monday so far!

I love my calm mornings with Dexter while he's at his happiest and we're not yet crazy busy with our day!

He's just the coolest kid! Love him to bits!

Saturday!

Although I'm pretty busy today with clients, my afternoon was open.

Although it was cloudy and dreary outside, at least it's not winter anymore!

These facts combined lead to me, Dexter and Lewis hitting the paths and enjoying some fresh air!