Our Big Girl!!

We have had a very fun filled last couple of days.  Yesterday after dinner, we all went to the park to enjoy some time outside.  I realized today that it's almost half way through August, and there won't be much summer left to enjoy!! We had a lot of fun.  While we were walking to the park Camilla kept pointing and getting excited and doing her "chicken dance", and "corny laugh".  She kept looking up at us with her crinkly-nose grin.  She was so excited she just couldn't contain herself.  It was adorable! As soon as we got to the park, she toddled over to the swings and said "up", so in she went for a while.  She tried to wave at me while she was swinging, it was cute, and she turned around to say hi to everyone she could see.  We then played on the slide, it took a while to get her off of it when it was time to go home. She loves being a big girl and sliding all by herself! She giggles all the way down. It's great!

Today, for the first time in a long time, Camilla and I went to the park with some friends.  It was fun to see the kids play together again and to visit with some other Mom's.  It was a beautiful day, and an awesome park to play at!! Camilla had a lot of fun (as you can tell by the pictures).  She thoroughly enjoyed the water this time and was running in and out and through it and laughing.  She would get wet and then "chicken dance" away from it.  She is such a Ham sometimes. She definitely loves life and goes all out!

Enjoying the swing!!

"Hmm, I wonder what I should do next"

Being a goofy gus

Talking with her mouth full...Gotta work on that one ;) P.S I totally LOVE this pic of her!

After a few good hours of playing, getting wet, and visiting with friends, it was time to go home.  We got her a "Big Girl" car seat the other day (Thanks Brooklyn for telling us about the Sale!), and she loves it.  She loves sitting forward, looking out the window, and feeling the wind in her hair LOL

A Grumpy Gus

Today miss CJ was up bright and early again, maybe a little too early!!  Lately, she has been throwing temper tantrums, like, a lot!!  If this is her at One, I'm sooo not looking forward to the "Terrible Two's".  With her Mommy's temper and her Daddy's determination she can be one mad kid sometimes.  This morning, I'm not sure what she was upset about.  It's hard when she's upset, and you can't help, or calm her.  She just throws a fit for a few minutes, and then she's better.  I'm still not entirely sure how to deal with it, except distracting her with other things, and if that doesn't work, I usually let her work through it herself.  It's no fun though :( What a mean mum I am, taking pictures of my sad little girl. It was cute though, have to have at least one shot of her upset for the book. ;) She would not reason this morning....soo, I got the camera out.

The poor girl though.  She gets to frustrated when she can't get what she wants, or express herself and her desires. We try our best to understand her and keep her happy though. After a short episode this morning, she eventually worked through it and I got my smiley girl back again.  What a day already and it's only 9:00am.  I have already changed 3 diapers (2 of them being very dirty), sent Mr. Stannix off to work with a hug and a kiss, put through a load of laundry, put the dishes away from yesterday, and prepped the kitchen for another round of dishes.  Camilla started rubbing her eyes at around 8:30 this morning, so I put her down for a snooze.  Hopefully she'll wake up in better spirits...or this could be a very long day.  Before Mr. Stannix left today he asked if I would be okay.  I half jokingly replied "no". He chuckled and said "well, at least your honest!!".  I will be okay though.  We will just keep busy and play lots today, and hopefully avoid the fits. HaHa

After rubbing her back and feet for a few minutes, I finally got my happy girl back, just the way I like her.

Cookies n' Cream

Today FLEW right by!! I got up early with Camilla again. There is no more sleeping in for that little girl.  She likes to see Daddy before he leaves for work.  She shared a few bites of Daddy's toast before he left, then we had breakfast.  Around 9:30 she decided she was tired again, so she went for a nap.  I was so worn out and tired (don't ask me why...because I really don't know) and went for a big nap as well.  At 4:00 this afternoon, I thought it should only be 1:00pm.  The day went by THAT fast.  I mostly played with Camilla today, and did a bit of tidying and A LOT of dishes, in fact, there is still some soaking in the sink as I type.  Mr. Stannix will tell you how much I hate doing dishes, just ask him.  He tells me that watching me do dishes is like watching a 7 act play.  I do some, then wipe the table, or go tidy a room, then I do a few more dishes, then I leave and do something else...it takes me all day. That's how much I hate them! Give me a vacuum or something, that's way more fun!! I also cleaned up about 10 water spills today.  Camilla has been wanting to drink out of a big girl cup for a while now.  If she could figure out how to work the water cooler, she could even fill it up herself. She puts her cup on the ledge of it, and plays with the button trying to get water out.  I gave her a plastic cup with an inch of water in it to try for herself.  She gets too excited and tips the cup up too high.  She then splutters a little and water goes down her shirt, pants and onto the floor.  By the time she's done there's a big puddle under her feet.  I went through a lot of dish towels today, it was cute though, and it's good for her to learn and explore things. Anyways.... After dinner, the munchkin and I went up to the park to play for a while.  She can now go down the slide all by herself, and loved it! When I caught her at the bottom she would point and want to go again, and again, and again.  It took a while to get her away from it and toddling back home again.  Then I needed to kill time in between that and bed time, so I decided to hit up the grocery store for some fresh fruit and odds and ends that we needed.  Then I saw that ice cream was on sale, and I couldn't resist! Cookies and cream is like, my all time fav!

Other than that, not much else happened today. I just got to spend lots of time with Camilla.  I tried catching a video of her fun animal sounds, I could only catch 2 before she started squirming and becoming interested in the camera.  Thought I would post it any way though, it's still cute.

I am now off to enjoy a bubble bath! Mike is in class until later on tonight.  He writes his final on Friday and then his evenings are FREE! I am excited.  15 hours alone is no fun!

A Day of Rest...Right?

Here's our Sunday afternoon in a nut shell.

When we got home from church, Camilla did this....

Mr. Stannix couldn't wait to do this....

It's kind of tradition.  If Camilla goes to sleep right after church, we lay down for a quick Sunday Snooze. I wanted to hang with my little sis, so I stayed up and

I did this...

After the sleeping beauties awoke, we spent the afternoon with my sister and just relaxed a bit

Camilla smothered me in kisses and I enjoyed every second!! Her new fav thing is to blow raspberries on my cheek, it's sweet. She kept leaning in for kisses all through church.  The bigger the mouth, the bigger the kiss right?  Gotta love the big wet ones. 

I do love hanging out with my baby girl!!

If you want to check out some pictures of the munchkin taken by a REAL photographer, head on over to her blog.  Our cousin Jacquie rocks with a camera, and was so sweet to take pics of CJ when she came to visit.  Feel free to leave a comment for her, share the love!

"Stellar Amazing News!"

So, Mr. Stannix really wasn't very nice to me on Friday.  He e-mailed me from work saying that he had some "stellar amazing news to tell me".  So I wrote him back asking what it was, and he said, "You can wait 'till I get home can't you?" and that was that.  So I waited, and waited, and waited.  He finally got home, but I practically had to beat it out of him!! (Although, I do love surprises) ....

After some small talk, and me prodding a little, he gave me that smirk of his and let the cat out of the bag.  It turns out, Mr. Stannix got a big fat bonus from work! He thought he was in trouble when he got called to the Partner's office, but instead, it was great news!!

We have been talking for a while about going on a shopping spree, and changing up our wardrobes a little bit.  I, for one, still have tees and a few pairs of pants from like, grade 9!! And Mr. Stannix, well, he's a boy, and his jeans are all acquiring holes in the knees. So we decided it was time (it was really Mike's idea).  We had a blast together!! Last night we went to a few places and got a few things, and today we hit up West Ed for the day.  It was nice to be able to get a few new things, without worrying TOO much about the $$. It was a nice treat, and a fun weekend.

Yeah, We're nerds, but at least we have fun!! LOTS!

P.S.

I'm pretty sure Camilla peed on the floor today in this camping store. (HaHa) I didn't want to wait for the line up in the bathroom (it woulda been like 10 gazillion hours) so I changed her diaper in the stroller. Apparently, it wasn't quite put on right. I turned away for like a second, then back again and notice a tiny puddle on the floor, and her wet pant leg.  She must have fallen down in it I think to myself... When we left the store, she was waddling in front of me with her pants hanging half way down her cute little bum (enough for a guy in the store to notify me "um, I think her pants are falling off...excuse me..lady?") so I decided it was time to investigate.  I changed her diaper (which was bone dry) and discovered that, indeed, it wasn't on the way it should have been.... Ah, the joys of being a mum. I'm still giggling, who's kid is she anyway? hehe

P.P.S

To The Camping Store At West Ed:

Sorry for the tiny puddle on the floor, I promise, it won't happen again! ;)

LOL

Baby Love

Today, I have an overwhelming feeling of love for my little girl.  I love being a Mum.  It's the best thing ever when she runs over and wraps her arms around my leg and gives me a "hug" when I'm doing dishes.  Or, when she comes over and rests her head on my lap and gives a short snuggle. Or, when she gives me a big slobbery kiss first thing in the morning.  Or, when she rests her head on my cheek and says "awww".  I love that she loves me, and that she comes to me when she needs a hug or a kiss.  

It's simply the best.

Me snuggling our girly

She has recently started giving hugs willingly.  It's the best when you hug them, and they hug you back, or when they hug you first.  It melts my heart.  If I ask for a "squeeze" she'll wrap her short little arms alllllll the way around my neck and squeeze.  It's awesome. You know what else is awesome? When she calls me "mum" in her sweet little girl voice.  I sure do love her.

Check out those nasty bites/pox! Poor kid.

This morning we spent a lot of time together chatting, coloring, playing and snuggling.  What a great way to start off the day.  She has started saying more words.  She can pretty much say "water", she says "bath" "ball" "pretty" "dog" "up" and a few other things.  She can also make some fun animal noises.  She does a sheep, snake, dog, and cow.  So much fun!! 

Scribbling up a storm!

French Toast

We have THE BEST neighbors ever! This week has been a hard week, and it's been difficult for me to stay positive (ask my hubby hehe).  Last night was a bad night with Camilla again. I can't decide if she just has a lot of bites, or if it's the chicken pox (post immunization) or if she's just working through some bottom teeth.  She was up at 5:00 am and didn't want to go back to bed, and she was such a grump this morning.  I am not a fan of getting up super early (especially when I went to bed late the night before), and I am definitely not a fan of grumpy kids in the morning (something I will get used to I'm sure...). Anyways, I decided to get up, do my hair and dress.  Yesterday, I stayed in my sweats all day and didn't bother with my hair, and I felt like a bum all day.  I already feel better today, just for that reason.  I also received a weird phone call at 9:00am from a lady saying *insert accent here* "Hi, I jus let you know that I be late, I jus woke up".  She hung up before I could ask who it was.  Anyway, so I decided to get up incase I got a knock at my door in a few minutes.  I made Camilla breakfast and then was going to pop some toast in for myself.  The milk expired (another terrible thing lol) and so I resorted to toast for breakfast.   Just as I cut the bread, I get a knock at the door.  Camilla is still upset, but cheers up as I head to the door to see who it is.  It turned out to be the neighbors son, and he was carrying a giant plate of french toast!! His mum even put a little cup of syrup on the plate.  Talk about inspired.  It made my day, and totally cheered me up.  I think we have the best neighbors EVER!

Yesterday, Camilla discovered she could climb into my corner cupboard.  I, of course, got the camera out. She caught me with it, and had to strike a pose (hence the arm stuck out). I love her little smile.   

Today, I have made it my top top priority to have a better day, be more patient, and more loving.  Service always makes ya feel better right?  I've had two songs stuck in my head all day.
1. L.O.V.E  you know "L is for the way you look at me, O is for the only one I see....."
2. When You Say Nothing at All  "The smile on your face, lets me know that you need me, there's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me...." it was our wedding song, and has been one of our favorites. In fact, the other day, Mr. Stannix blasted it in the bathroom while he was getting ready (at 6:30 am mind you) and came into the bed room with it blasting from the bathroom and planted a big wet one on me.  It was a fabulous way to wake up, to my hubby's smile and a big smooch.  I love the line "truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me"  because when I stare into Mr. Stannix's eyes, sometimes I get goose bumps, and I definitely see this "truth".  He's probably the most loving, patient, honest man ever.  Boy am I ever lucky!! I only hope that when he looks into my eyes, he can see this same truth.  It's time for me to step it up and be a better wife/mother. I have this quote on my fridge that I love (it has been hiding under a picture) and it's a great reminder.

"Am I the woman

I think I am,

The woman I want to be?

More importantly,

am I the woman the Savior

needs me to be?"

~Sheri Dew

I think that that's what has been bothering me lately.  I am not being the woman I should be.  Although I may be unhappy with outside/worldly things, Mr. Stannix reminded me last night that happiness comes from within and not from without.  So as I choose to be happy, and am doing those things I'm supposed to, I can be the woman the Savior needs me to be, for my husband, and for my little girl.  

There we go, problem solved.... haha Now, the sun is shining, and I think I have some fresh yummy peas to pick!

Happy blogging!!

What!? It's 3 PM?!!

So, my day started out pretty good considering the horrible night I had last night.  Camilla was up on and off between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 am.  Oiy. It takes a lot outta you when you're not used to it... Thankfully, Mr. Stannix didn't need a lunch today (he gets to go out for lunch with a manager) and he was able to scrounge up some breakfast.  I think he ate it on the bed, and tried to even feed me a grape in my half asleep state. I do remember spitting it out..... I've been working on uploading pics to the Costco website to get developed.  I have 25 free prints, and if I develop 200+ I get them at 10 cents each.  Pretty stinkin' good deal I'd say. So, a lot of yesterday and this morning were spent on that.  Then I thought I would be genius and change what I wanted printed on the back to the date each picture was taken.  After an hour and a half, I'd finished the last one, then it timed out and I had to sign in again. The pictures were thankfully all saved, but the changes I made to the writing I wanted on the backs wasn't.  So, I spent some of my afternoon re-doing them.  Then I realized, it wasn't saving all of the ones I was re-doing, and gave up.  So much for saving myself some time dating the backs later... Except for the fact that it's 3:00PM and I HAVEN'T accomplished ANYTHING, I'd say today was a success. I got almost 500 pictures developed for $40.00. Man, I love digital technology. 

Caught Reminiscing Again

Todays project: Organize all of Camilla's bajillion pictures on the computer, delete the "bads", "sort-of duplicates" and "don't need to develop's (because they are on the computer)".

I'm not entirely a fan of sorting through photo's, except for the fact that I get to reminisce.

Reminisce
Verb:  indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events


And reminisce I did.  It was a great morning!! I mostly want to be ultra-organized.  I want to make sure that Camilla has all her baby pics printed out/saved to CD's for when she is older.  I'm hoping to be able to do this with all of our kids (and I'm sure my youngest sister will hold me to it).  I love technology and the fact that I can take a million pictures without having to pay to develop them all inorder to see them.  I love that they can all be on my computer and saved so that I can flip through them once in a while.  I am now in the process of uploading them to develop online at costco so I can get a killer deal! (I'm cheap, what can I say?)

I miss her being this small :(

Family Reunion

We have been gone all weekend!! I thought I would post a quick entry before bed tonight.  This weekend we went out by Fort Sask. for some camping and family fun! It was great to see all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, and gramma and grampa. We had beautiful weather and a lot of fun doing a bunch of different things and just hanging out.  Everyone arrived Friday night and we all set up camp and enjoyed some time around the fire.  Camilla hung out until late around the fire.  She enjoyed her first night in a tent though!

Camilla was sooo dirty all camp.  She went to bed with marshmallow/dirt stuck to her face.  She and I shared a sleeping bag all weekend. It was great to snuggle!! I can't wait to take her camping again. She had a blast!

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we whipped out the sumo suits and had some killer wrestling matches.

It was pretty hilarious watching everyone.  My little bro snapped a few shots of Mr. Stannix and I wrestling (he creamed me.. I was laughing too hard to do anything about it). What a blast it was!!

After everyone had a chance to wrestle, we had lunch, visited, played some games, and chatted.  Camilla made lots of friends.  This guy, in particular, was her fav!

She was such a trooper the whole weekend.  In the late afternoon we all went into town.  We played some baseball and spent an hour at the swimming pool. It was great having the pool all to ourselves!! 

We then had a big dinner to celebrate my Grampa's 75th birthday. It was a great experience. I have a pretty special Grampa.  After dinner, we had everyone gather for family pics.  There was a photographer there who did a giant group shot, but I snapped a few after.

 On the way home, the sun was just setting. It was beautiful!! My pictures don't do it justice.  It was so romantic driving back to the campsite and watching the sun sink into the horizon.  It made me excited for sunsets at the ocean at the end of the month!!

Saturday night was jokes and fun around the fire. Camilla slept in someones arms until we took off to the tent for the night.  It was so fun to visit with everyone. Sunday we had "eggs-in-a-bag" for breakfast, it was delish! Then some of us went in to church.  

Camilla hamming it up again!!

The last night, we stayed up REALLY late to enjoy every last second with each other.  We played our traditional game of kick the can.  It was funny because we are all older and married now.  The "grandparents" took all of our kidlets while we had fun ;)

THE can.... Easy to spot!

Today everyone cleaned up and we were out of there shortly after noon.  What a fabulous weekend! It's great being surrounded by family and visiting with them.  We had a blast! Lots of great memories were made.  Can't wait 'till the next one!!