The End of November

Phew! November was crazy. I made it through, but it wasn't easy. I feared burn out in the last week. Thankfully, Becca took some things off my plate (what a great friend), and gave me some down time - and I recovered quite nicely.
Today, mom and dad leave for Jamaica. Julie and Reg are there now - the wedding will be underway on Friday.
Here are some pic's from one of Julie's showers.

This one is Julie & Kim Nevada


This one is Julie's new "sisters". The one in the middle is Reg's sister Laureen, and the two blondes are Kari Lynn and Kim, Reg's step sisters.
Tanya Hagel and Julie

And this one is probably my most favorite picture we have ever taken together. We get way nicer pictures since Julie has become a little more snuggly :)
I've gotta admit, I'm pretty sad not to be going. It seems crazy that they would be going to one of my favorite places, for my sister's wedding and that I'm not going to be there. I did send a little piece of us with her, by making sure she had her something borrowed, new, old, blue, and a 6 pence for her shoe.

The "new" is the jewelery mom gave her for her birthday. The "old" is my Great Grandma's wedding ring. The "blue" is Blake's birthstone on the guardian angel I pinned to her garder belt. The "borrowed" is Roxanne's purse from her wedding day. And the six pence was my favorite. I looked it up online to find out the meaning of it. It said among other things - "Carry another valuable object like a different coin, jewelry, or a bill in the denomination of the bride or groom's ancestry". So I thought we would use something that was meaningful. I told the boy's they should find a special nickel. Jake thought they should find one from the year she was born. They ended up easily finding one from the year Auntie was born, and one from the year Blake was born, and gave them both to her so she could decide which one she wanted to carry. It was a great idea, and she loved it too. She told them she would wear them both. So that was nice, at least I got to have a little part of it all.

We had our fundraiser this past weekend for Jake's novice team. It turned out fabulously. I wouldn't have changed a thing about the whole night. The meal was perfect, the guests were fun, the d.j. was spectacular, we had so much fantastic help, and we made a crap load of cash. It was absolutely perfect!

Now we will hit December, and hopefully it won't be quite so busy as November, or December of last year. I enjoy Christmas so much, but it's very hard to enjoy it when things are moving so fast. I'm keeping Becca's kids (3 or 4 of them, not sure yet) this coming weekend, and we've got a couple of hockey tournaments, and some Christmas Parties to go to this month. It will be fun, but hopefully not chaotic! I'll post again, when I find a minute - I have been doing some fun craft/decorating projects lately - maybe I'll find time to share.

Love,
Jodi

What's going on?

Well, this week these are my latest projects........ Julie & Reg are getting married in December, so we are throwing them a party of sorts in honor of their upcoming wedding. I am in charge of inviting and food delegating - that is next Wednesday the 12th. That weekend I am working at Spruce Meadows craft show selling candles. The Monday after, Becca and I are having a Quilted Cabin Party - I think I have invited like 65 people or so - hopefully we will have about 20 guests (although so far I only have 5 for sures, and 7 maybes - wanna come?) The next weekend after that I work Spruce Meadows on the Friday again, and then up bright and early Saturday to head to Brooks for a hockey tourney. The next weekend I am part of the planning for our big fundraiser (dinner and dance cabaret style) for Jake's hockey team.
Did I mention we just bought a house that went into foreclosure in the framing stage? We are planning on finishing it in the next 6 month to sell (or rent) ..... Jeepers I'm tired just from typing it all

Here are some picture's from the Hallowe'en festivites


And here are some cute pictures of Drew that I came across.....


Love,
Jodi

A little about me & what I've been doing....

So I have recently determined that I am my happiest when I am either creating or learning. I've found a bunch of new blogs to read lately that are about primitive country decorating, and do it yourself decorating, and craft making etc. I can't stop reading them. I have learned so many new tricks and techniques to make or re make so many wonderful things. I'm completely addicted. I stay up for hours reading forums & blogs. I am awake early in the morning excited about all of the things I want to do.

Here was a lamp I re did. This picture would have been the 'before' picture had I remembered to take one. This is a mini version of the lamp -- it's re do is on the way!

This is the almost finished version. What a difference!!! The best part is that it only cost me a can of spray paint and a lampshade (9.99 @ Walmart).


I would like to dress the lampshade up a little. I've already stained it (it was stark white). I'm thinking about wrapping fabric around the bottom of the shade, these are my three choices..... Which one do you guys like best?


Many more projects to come - I'm so excited to do them all!

Jodi

Meet the Flames

Last Tuesday the Washington Capitals were in town to play the Flames. For those of you not so up with the hockey world, Alexander Ovechkin, plays for the Capitals. He is coined to be the very best hockey player in the NHL right now.
I found out that you could go to the Flames practices for free, and that sometimes you can catch the visiting team's practice as well. I thought this would be a good day to catch them, and hopefully see Ovechkin practice as well. So we took some good friends off our hockey team down to the Dome and this is what we saw......

This is Ovechkin.....

Here we all are sitting in the stands. This picture is a Kolt sandwich with Cash & Cain Dedominicis on each side.

This is a Jake sandwich with Cole Dedominicis & Drew on each side.


This is Becca & Me.

We heard rumblings around the practice that if you go outside and wait by the Flames parking lot exit, the players will sometimes stop and sign autographs. So we did that too, and this is who stopped.


Very handsome Matthew Lombardi.

New guy Mike Cammalleri


Wayne Primeau


Sweetheart Jarome Iginla - such a genuinely nice guy. (He's handing back Drew's jersey here, you can see her little pink fingernails poking up from the bottom of the picture to grab it)


My personal favorite on so many levels.....Dion Phaneuf (he is signing my shoulder)

Robyn Regher


Craig Conroy. He was soooo super with the kids - what another great guy.

We also met Prust, McElhinney, Giordano, Glencross, Pardy, Moss & Boyd. Apparently, we had just missed Todd Bertuzzi by seconds - next time......

It was a terrific day. We had great fun (Becca & I maybe more so than the kids). The kids jersey's are now covered in signatures, it was all so very cool!

Jodi

HI HO HI HO, IT'S BACK TO THE RINK WE GO!

Hockey Evaluations start for us today. Brian has been a busy little beaver trying to get his poop in a group and have himself organized as the Novice Director. He has around 150 kids in Novice, and they will all be evaluated 2 times. He has to organize their skates into 4 groups, notify everyone, organize jersey's, and check them all in. It's been a big job (sure glad I'm not the one doing it), but I think he has enjoyed it. He feels like he's made a difference - so that's fantastic!

The girls went scrapbooking last weekend and I don't have a picture to show for it :P. Had a fantastic time as always - it was a very much needed break after this spring and the moving nonsense - apparently I still haven't totally recovered from all of that.

We had a very busy week this week, we went to Big springs Park (where I was going to take some spectacular fall pictures of the kids and forgot my camera), the zoo, and had 3 play dates. Finally got my house cleaned up again (or a variation therof - it's never clean during reno's), and I'm working on finding someone to rent the trailer as Matt and Jodi are moving out.

Next job on the list is to get rid of these boxes of peaches I inherited from my mom via Judy.......love peaches, but it's gonna be a job that's for sure.

Anyway, I must go - hi ho, hi ho, it's back to the rink we go :)

Love,
Jodi

Digger this one's for you...

KITCHEN UPDATE

The good news is that the cabinets are on the assembly line in the garage, a few of the carcass's have made their way into the house - it's beginning to look a lot like a kitchen. Bad news is, I'm not feeling fantastic today, so all you get is pictures, and not much dialogue (maybe not such bad news to you, but I usually enjoy my rantings....)





Progress......



Love,
Jodi

3 Doors Down Concert

Last Saturday, we went to the Hinder, Stained, 3 Doors Down Concert. 3 Doors Down were surprisingly good. I expected it to be an OK concert, but they were really enjoyable, and put on a great show. They have a new song coming out that I really enjoyed called "Let me be myself" - here it is if you'd like to listen......



Enjoy.....

Camping with the Bohnet Family

Well hello!

I better be careful, or I may get back on a roll with this blogging thing! Brian and I were just scrolling back through the last year of posts. Am I ever glad I started this blog. To see how much the kids have changed, and all of the things we have done is incredible. If any of you out there think you should start one too, I definitely recommend it. Then we can link blogs.....I've always wanted to link blogs with someone ;)

I have a bunch of pictures from camping. It's been hard to pick which ones I want to post. We left on a Tuesday, Brian took us to Red Lodge and stayed that night. He then went home because he had the HOOTER's golf tournament (poor guy, I know), and the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce Golf tournament to go in. He came back up for Friday night, and brought us home on Saturday.

It was a fantastic week. Those Bohnets were so great to us. I was a little short on food, and so we just ate all of theirs. Shane did pretty much all of the cooking and the kids played famously together. Here's the pics....

This was the water where we played. The reflection was so pretty, I took a picture.


If you knew how much of an issue bum crack is in our house, you'll appreciate this next picture.... Since low rise pants became the style, I seem to have a little bum crackage occasionally (or you know, every time I bend down, bend over, squat, sit on the floor etc..). Brian has taught the boys to come and poke my bum with their sticky little jam hands. We have taken endless pictures of the boys bum cracks, but Brian always seems to get by without any crackage. This picture is priceless....and kinda cute too. The indian really comes out in Jake in the summer ;)





Brian, Shane and and all the boys spent hours throwing rocks trying to hit different objects in the water - this is Jake in action.....










Shane and Corina's son Reid.....
The third day was a stinkin downpour and freezing cold. When it would let up to a "rain" as opposed to "downpour" the kids would venture out to play and get rid of the cabin fever. Kolt spent hours playing with Travis's army guys. Unfortunately, evey time they ventured out too far, the down pour would start again, and they would come back absolutely soaked. You just can't pack enough clothes to make it through a day like that.



cute picture hey?

Finally, after not being able to really do anything all day, we loaded up and went to the little cabin. Shane brought the BBQ and built us a fire - it was a great thing to do, we had some much needed warmth, some room to move around, and some new scenery. Look at how soaking wet Jake's sweater is..... we were all that wet..... but very happy in our cabin...Fireman Shane, building a fire......



We did a photo shoot with Drew to pass the time, here is just a couple of the gems.....



This is what we looked like by the end of the rainy day........





The next day, the weather was beautiful again. Lisa and Reagan came up to play for the day - here's 3 of the little people sitting around the fire...



All in all, it was a terrific camping trip. Thank goodness for Shane and Corina, Shane was my surrogate husband (he said it wasn't quite what he imagined having 2 wives would be like - he worked his butt off - with no reward - poor Shane....). I was ready to go back camping 2 days later, but couldn't find anyone to go with. So we stayed home and worked on the house some -- that's good too.....

Love,
Jodi