Tag Archives: kids

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My bleeding heart (plant)

The most beautiful moment of the day happened when I walked around the corner of my parent’s house this morning. My sister was kneeling beside my dad’s bed singing the most beautiful spiritual song to him. Her voice was filled with love and it very much was a moment where emotions and time were both suspended and very intense. It was all blurred together in a way that is difficult to describe. My heart needed me to just stop and be in that space. 

The happiness moment came later this afternoon at my house. Jenna and I finally got around to planting our pansies and our bleeding heart plant.  

There’s a bleeding heart plant at my parents’ place and as kids we would stand on the driveway and tell the story of the bleeding heart over and over. Although the same plant is still there it’s kind of cool now that we can tell the same stories at our house. 

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Sushi smiles 

   

 

Today’s happiness moment was a sneak away date for sushi with my girl. She’s always guaranteed to bring a smile and a warm happiness feeling to my heart. Blessed am I to have two warm loving souls in my life in the form of my kids. 

Jacob preformed a loving act of kindness this evening in helping care for my dad while he slept. 

Their unconditional love – the real and true kind with no boundaries is an inspiration to me to be a better person and to love more fully. 

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Karate kicks 

  

Today I went and picked up Jenna from her grandma’s place. As soon as we stepped into the elevator to head down to the car, we turned and started karate kicking each other. Complete with loud high-ya noises. Giggling and karate kicking all the way down. 

Thank goodness there was no one else around. 

The happiness moment of the day. Silly elevator fun. 

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How does your garden grow?

 
Spring! It’s a happiness time. New life, new growth, new hope. 

This spring there are lots of emotions going on here, but there is always a reminder that things carry on. That new life is always flying in on the wings of old. 

We all come from somewhere and to some extent carry along parts of our past with us. Nurture or nature, we all carry our ancestors with us in some way. 

I love seeing all the common family traits. Some of them learned by watching behaviours and some of them passed on through genes. 

Just like those seeds we are planting in our garden, all our new life here is sprouting hope and happiness and promise. 

My happiness moment today came buying the flowers pictured above. It carried on into this evening when I looked out my window and saw my brother in law digging the garden. 

That is hard work. 

 
Tomorrow for the first time in 10 years I will plant a vegetable garden. Beside the barn my grandpa built. Using potatoes my great grandpa brought over from Ireland. With my Mom, my Dad, my kids, my sister and brother in law, my niece, and my nephew. 

All those generations joining together to plant new life and new hope. To watch what was started carry on. Together. Surrounded by love. 

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An eclair to share 

Today, after a very busy and emotional  day I found a quick moment of happiness with Jacob. We came home and abandoned all responsibilities to sit in front of the TV, watch The Golden Girls, drink a cup of tea, and enjoy the sinful indulgence of an eclair. In that little moment all was good, all was right, all was happy. 

And isn’t life really all about the little moments? 

Quiet, simple, easy moment to breathe and regroup with one of my favourite people in the world. 

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Mother’s Day 2015

For the first time in 10 years I got to spend Mother’s Day with my Mom. What a blessing and my happiness moment for the day all by itself. But the day was made better by the fact that it also included my dad, sister and her family,bmy aunt and uncle (who have always been an extra set of parents to me), and my cousin’s daughter. What a blessed day to bring the family together for a meal and a visit. 

It was pretty relaxed and we were able to actually sit together and laugh and have conversations about everything and nothing.  Having family is such a special blessing and if I ever took it for granted before we moved I never will again. 

Extra happiness moment was sneaking off with my sister for a walk and some bonding time. We don’t get to spend enough time together just us and I treasure it when we do. 

Happy Mother’s Day. Mine was spent exactly as I wanted it. I am so blessed to have the kids God gave me. They have taught me how to be a better version of me. 

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Well, you can stick around… But I’m outta here!


My happiness moment of the day today is also the thing that consistently keeps me in balance. My walk. It’s supposed to be my daily walk but lately, for one reason or another, it hasn’t been every day. Some days I haven’t gone for a good reason and other days the reason has been too tired or too windy. Although in my defense, those Chinook winds can be brutal and my blood is still set to Virginia temperature.  

Today though was a wonderful walking day. The sun was warming my soul. The wind wasn’t bad. The mountains were beautiful. Things are slowly greening up. 

When we got back, Dottie bolted around the back of the house in hot persuit of something. I assumed it was the deer who stare in my windows at me every morning. But when I followed her, it was my parents’ cat Flower in his alter ego state of Killer   Not sure who should have been more afraid. 

This evening we were driving into town and we were talking about what superpower we would want. I wanted to be invisible so I could vanish when people annoyed me and  both kids wanted to fly so they could get away from annoying people (introverted family you think?). 

Then Jacob said you know how it is when you just get tired of being in a conversation and you want to leave but you can’t – so then your brain goes to your body “well, if you want to stay here that’s fine, but I’m outta here”.
That is the story of my life. I find myself in conversations I don’t want to be in anymore and my brain just walks out and leaves my body behind. 

I’ve been giggling about it all night. Love that kid. 

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Photo surprise

Every day I try and do a little unpacking. Today I attacked the study and found a little package of forgotten photos. I had to sit down and take a little trip down memory lane. They were all pictures during the time we lived in Rhode Island – when the kids were still little kids. 
Here’s me and Jenna during my blonde phase at a lobster shack near Mystic CT.  

  

Here’s the monsters at our local turkey farm in Connecticut. We used to drive to Baldwin Brook Farms to get our raw milk. Sometimes we would stop at Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm on the way home and have a turkey sandwich and oooohhhhh my they made the best little doughnuts. 

At Mystic Aquarium. My kids are consistently weird.    

Happiness moment for the day: remembering the good times we had in Rhode Island. Like with everything there was good and bad, but there was a lot of good fun there. The kids were little and we had a lot of really cool adventures together. I feel so privileged that I have been able to participate in the big and the little events in their lives. 

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A little Ayurvedic magic

 
First of all the happiness moment of the day. It was a beautiful, sunny 20 degrees Celsius out today and the kids and I took an early summer break and went to our old favourite, Mackay’s  Ice Cream in Cochrane. It was lovely and delicious. I had a very non Ayurvedic scoop of chocolate fudge chunk and blissfully enjoyed every bite in an Ayurvedic approved manner of mindful eating. OMG it was good!!

This weekend Jenna has been complaining on and off of a sore ear. Yesterday I pulled out my essential oils and tried putting some of them around her ear. While it helped a little nothing was solving the pain. 

This morning she woke up in terrible pain and I actually ended up keeping her home from school. As I was preparing breakfast I remembered where  I had stashed my mustard oil and decided to give a remedy a try that I’d been given by a friend from India a few years ago. 

At one point both Jenna and I had sore ears. I put her on antibiotics and I used the Ayurvedic remedy to see who healed faster. I did at a significant rate. 

So, you get a pot and put some mustard oil in it. Then add a couple of cloves of garlic and heat it until the garlic turns red. Remember it’s oil so hot is hot! I put a clear lid on the pot. 

When it’s done, let it cool and then put some on a cotton ball and place it in the ear. Leave it for as long as possible. 

Jenna wore hers for 3 hours and her ear is completely pain free. She went from not wanting to move to skipping down the road smiling and laughing. 

Magic

I love learning about and healing with Ayurveda 

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Party party 

Tonight we went to a big family birthday party. Thrown by a couple who really know how to throw a good party. Since childhood I’ve made it a point to try and weasel an invitation to one of their “hellabaloos” as he called it tonight. 

Good timing too because we really needed to get out and let our hair down and have some fun. I went with my parents and my kids and it was much needed fun and visiting. 

Every morning on our drive into school we pass a man driving a black truck heading the other way. We always wave and smile. In fact the kids and I judge how late we are by where we meet him on the road. 

Tonight at supper we were eating with my parents, my aunt and uncle and a few other people. One of them said I pass you when you’re out walking your dog during the day. I drive a black truck. So Jacob turned to him and said do we pass you on our way to school too? And he looked at me and said you drive the silver car through the hay valley?  We both decided now we will be giving big huge waves as we pass instead of little polite ones. 

I’ve told the kids that when they go out here they’ll always run into family. To find out this man is married to a cousin of my mom – their nana – just confirmed for them that they are home and constantly surrounded by family 

It was fun, it was important to be brought back into the loving arms of our clan. Today’s happiness moment. Out with my family with the family. 

Here’s the kids at the party:  
Don’t you love the cowboy light hat? 

 

Just to prove we live in the most beautiful place in the world this was the view towards our house on our way home. The pair of swans has decided to stick around for a while.   

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