Special Thanks.....

Reasons why this weekend was awesome:

• The Nana & The Bampi volunteered to come over and babysit the little people so Bob and I could go out on a date!  We even went to a movie - (see my movie post) and it was so great just to sit and chat with one another.  And I wish I could say the M&M's missed us, but I forgot my wallet and had to sneak back in the house, and there was so much giggling, that no one even noticed me......

Big Mack & Nana

Miss. Matea  & Bampi

Now there is STILL ONE MORE reason why this weekend was superfantastic.....
• The M&M's Uncle Jeremy got us a GREAT deal on some GEO TRAX trains sets from one of the teachers that he works with at his school.  We love uncle Jer because he is ALWAYS on the look out for super cool toys for the M&M's - Check out all the trains we got (6 sets) for 1/5 of the price!  It's all who you know I guess :)

Wow - thanks Uncle Jer

They had such a blast playing with the Sunday morning....and today too, and probably tomorrow

If we could just get Matea to stop pretending she is "Godzilla" and destroying everything

Big Mack and Bob plannd out - like would be GRANDE at the Schurman House :)

Oh well if that's is the worst thing that is happening we sure are lucky.....

Photography, Photoshop, Actions. Lenses?!?

When Big Mack arrived (all 10 pounds and 11 ounces of him) on Halloween night in 2006 - we had a cute little camera that fit in my purse, and we thought it was AWESOME. I'm not going to lie, we just purchased the same one my sister purchased (much like many things in my life from clothes to shoes, to baby stuff - she must hate getting copied ALL the time), then disaster struck. Fast forward to December 2006, my Mom and Dad rented out little family a hotel room in Edmonton so we could come down and introduce "Baby Mack" to all the Aunts and Uncles - it was a fun time :). Now you KNOW I forgot the camera in the hotel room, and didn't even realise it until we were at about Blackfalds - I called - it is still missing in action. So then we got a more souped up version of our old camera, I liked it, we still use.....as our video camera! Once Big Mack started running (which was at about 11 months, and let's be honest, those of you who know him and love him, know that he still hasn't slowed down) So low and behold Bob-a-licious came through with an awesome gift when I had Matea - our Canon Rebel - love it, takes great pictures, looks super cool, and I am STILL trying to figure out how to utilize all the awesome features on it - this may take awhile.


ANYWAY I get so overwhelmed when learning about photography, because with photography comes editing your photo's and when you are editing you are probably talking about Photoshop, and when you are talking about Photoshop you need to understand about Actions yadda, yadda, yadda - I want to take pictures like this:

But somehow they end up like this:

Still adorable, but too dark or something?

  Yikes - one of those "Photoshop Actions" that I pretend to understand

More Photoshop stuff - burned the edges a little, tried to make his eyes pop

I still like it :)

This one I actually READ a tutorial (kind of like directions-can you beleive I'm a teacher?!?)

on how to make "eyes pop"

I like this one....I think?

Digital Scrapbooking junkie :)

That's me...I bought these new templates for some digital scrapbooking....this one with Mackenzie is supposed to be like a "TopTen" page - but I used it as a "Mackenzie first 10 months - what do ya think?  i think I might use it for a "Top Ten Fave pictures" or something.....hmmmmm

Looking at my baby boy eating all that dirty snow made me realise how GROWN UP he is! 

Craziness

I promise no more posts tonight :)

Parenting has a steep learning curve....

So....Bob and Big Mack have spent ALOT of time outside this winter.  Mackenzie LOVES to run around, and seems to never care about being cold, so off they would go to the park, or to climb Snowy Mountain (yesterday the renovated Snowy Mountain and put in a new set of stairs, and some "secret hiding spots" - I would have LOVEd to have been helping with the renovations/taking pictures of it for this blog, but I was inside with the "teething monster" aka Miss. Matea) or just to take an extra long stroll to get the mail.  ANYWAY when winter arrived and was here to stay Bob came up with an idea for keeping Mackenzie "hydrated" while they were out on the "Arctic Adventures" - you guessed it - he taught the three year old to eat snow.  Now when he proudly announced this to me the next time we took Big Mack outside together, he assured me that he explained the differences between "dirty" snow (yellow, and or full of DIRT!) and "good" snow.  Somehow I was not totally convinced, mostly because boys are gross.

Let's just see how this turns out, shall we? 

Ew...snowy mountain, looking a little dirty, and grimy, right?

ooops and of course the little cutie was there too!

Big Mack trucking over to get something to drink

Yep...he is licking his mitt after he dipped it in the dirty, gross, snow.

And I am taking a picture of it....Mother of The Year 2010!

At first he totally thinks it is DELICIOUS!

UGH!  What the heck is THAT?!?

So needless to say I am pretty sure that we have now established a family rule regarding "snow-eating".

So cute, right?

We went on a ROAD TRIP!

This past weekend, we (when I say we I just want youto know that I mean Bob) packed up the van, dropped off Jada, and headed out to Grande Prairie, Alberta!  For thos of you who are not familiar with Northern Alberta, here is a map :

Now I am not going to lie...it was a long trip.  Well worth it, and my sister travels to us WAY more than we travle to her.  anyway the trip itself is about 7.5 hours once you factor in bathroom breaks and a stop at McDonald's Playplace so that the little people don't completly lose their minds :)  The M & M's did great!  And they always have a blast with their cousins.  Matea is loved, loved, loved by her cousins - and Big Mack just likes that there is someone who can keep up with him, and play video games with (just kidding Corbyn plays, and Mack watches)

Just so that you can keep up:

CORBYN

ALEX

THE WHOLE GANG

I don't know what I was thinking when I wanted them to pose for this picture - well I actualy said "let's try to make it look like on "The Cosby Show" when they all sit in a line" - do remember that?!?  I thought it would look cool, and it did - when the Huxtables did it!  They weren't ages 1, 3, 4, and 5?!?  Whatever Big Mack got in a few wrestling moves before bedtime :)  He was happy....

So here are a few pictures from a "Northen Extravaganza" - it was a great weekend

Corbyn and Mackenzie playing on Alex's bunk beds

How close can Mack get to Corbyn while he is playing on his itouch

this could get interesting.....

his cheek is actually resting on Corbyn's shoulder - what a good older cousin!

Big Mack looking like he is getting pretty comfy

And...yep...that's close enough

There is only so much you can ask of a five year old

One of Bob's creations

Snow monster and Snow Dora...Bob put these on the corners of the deck so we could

"appreciate" them while we were eating our breakfast, luch, and supper

Doesn't he look determined to conquer the slide

*Very Cool*

Jennifer and Darcy's house has a slide coming off one side of their deck

huge hit with the little people!

I just love this picture....he looks so proud of himself

and i didn't take it my sister did!

Snack time!  Matea was a holy terror at this little table....but she loved it, and their were no injuries

so that means it was a good day!

Little Big Man

This is me rocking my GP outfit, going puddle jumping with Jen and the little people

Matea...no puddles for her, she was happy having snacks in the stroller

All the Cousins

And of course I saved the best picture for last...this is Mack's cousin Alex, they are nine months apart

and like i ahev said before they sometimes steer pretty clear of one another

but when you glance at this picture.........

IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS!!!!!!

HAPPY THURSDAY!!!

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY

and a little "PS" - I recently put a little blog counter on this blog, and in the short time that I have been posting to it almost 300 people have viewed it!

Wow! 

Please fell free to become a "follower" or drop me an email and let me know what you think of this blog :)

Thanks

Jess

How does one solve THIS particular conundrum?

Remember a few weeks ago I posted that Big Mack was tripping over his feet and always telling us he had hurt his toe.  Well there is a new "issue" in town..... 

All bright "ideas" or suggestions will be accepted.

Just don't be like his Daddy...everytime that I ask him

"Why does he do that?!?"

thinking that Bob will provide me with some insight into the male brain....

He ALWAYS replies

"Honey....because it's there"

Say goodbye to 02/2010

Well that was quick!

Where the heck did February go?!?

Monthly scrapbook pages for Mack and Matea - two months in a row, woo-hoo!

Top10 Thing we LOVED about February 2010

1. Visits with the cousins (they are the cute little ginger-y kids in some of the photo's)
2. Telus World of Science
3. Naked Tuesday's - Matea's favorite day of the week
4. Mackenzie's new haircut
5. Big Mack's LOVE of the outdoors in winter time (thank goodness he doesn't take after his mother!)
6. Mackenzie and Matea FINALLY comprehending the word "gentle"...at least 65% of the time.
7. Puddle jumping with Mackenzie and Matea (no pictures but I love it)
8. One of Matea's new words: "hey-yo!" ~ it is her version of hello
9. Big Mack breifly returning to playschool gymnastics, with his teachers from his regular playschool, and getting through an entire hour...but still raising a "little" bit of hell :) and not feeling super sad afterwards
10. Miss. Matea is WALKING!