Creative Christmas...

I gotta say that I'm pretty proud of a couple of my presents this year and thought I'd share the ideas. My sister in Law had the idea to make a memory card game with pictures of the family but never made it so I stole the idea and put my super creative husband to work. I knew what I wanted the cards to look like so I directed Talon and he made them in about a half hour. Would have taken me weeks I'm sure. I asked all my siblings to send me a head shot of everyone in their family. Talon made the backing and cropped everthing to a 3" x 3" size and I sent it off to the printers. They turned out amazing. I hope all the kids can play the matching game and get to know their cousins who don't live close to them and think about them sometimes..... especially little Leo;)

I had heard of this website called Blurb when I was doing some photography classes and you can make a book out of your pictures. What better present for parents and grandparents than pictures? The site was pretty easy to use and I made a book of pics since we've moved out to the coast.

While I was doing it I decided to make a book for Talon. We were set up by our mutual friend Sarah Low and I was living in Calgary and Talon in Vancouver. We emailed for a couple weeks before we started talking on the phone and then finally met about a month after we started communicating. I had all of our emails saved and always meant to print them out so I cut and pasted them into a book with a bunch of pics from that summer we dated. It turned out super awesome and was really fun to read all 53 pages of emails. Kinda made me fall in love all over again. It was a pretty crazy romantic summer.

http://www.blurb.com/

Here's the site. They are hard cover and the pictures are great. Only took about a week to get them too at Christmas. This is the first Christmas ever that I have been creative. We'll see if I get any ideas for next year or if this is just a one time thing!!

Talon's Birthday.

I'm a bit behind after the holiday so there might be a few posts over the next couple days:) It was Talon's birthday back on Dec 13. Birthdays are not as big a deal in his family as they are in mine. My mom would make such a fuss over us and we had the best parties every single year. Always a big day and we all felt the love. Talon's birthday being in Dec often was just a busy time of year. He doesn't remember really having many parties. So I've tried to make a fuss over him. This year I thought what does my husband like to do? Play video games? So I got a bunch of guys together and suprised him with a guys video game night down at the school that he works at. He was super happy and so were the other guys. The next day was his actual party and I had a few of our good friends over for a waffle party. It was delicious with cream cheese whip cream and of course his annual ice cream cake. Oh and I got him a new tiny ipod nano which he can clip on his shirt and listen to almost 24 hours a day. Don't know if I love that so much but he does so I'm happy. He had a great weekend and was a happy birthday boy. This is what he posted on FB after which made me smile.... " super thanks goes to my perfect wife for an awesome birthday." Glad you had a great one babe you deserve it.

Forgot to take a pic of him and the cake... but this is a rice crispy motorcycle with Talon riding made for his birthday by Lincon Chan.

A new year.

I'm always happy at the beginning of a new year. New beginnings. A time to reflect. I always look at the past year and hope that I'm progressing, that I'm learning, and growing from one year to the next. I think my lesson of last year was patience. I am a very active person and being pregnant was sure a lesson in patience. Not being physically able to do a lot of the things I was used to doing for 9 months and then Leo was 9 days overdue. Then a really hard birth added another 3 months to that and now I think my body is almost ready to become active again.

Since moving to Vancouver I've started teaching Yoga. The way I feel when I do it is something I want to share with everyone. The strength and lightness, the balance and stillness. Being quiet and focusing on your breath. Spending some time just with yourself. Its important to treat your body and mind to some quiet and I'm excited to be starting my practice up again. Talon is getting up in the mornings with me. I hope it will help him to have a bit more energy and fix the pain he is feeling from sitting in front of a computer all day. It is amazing the changes proper alignment will do to your body.

Its hard to get out to classes all the time so if you're at home and want to try some different classes here's a great website to try. It has all different levels and styles of yoga. Something for everyone.

http://www.yogaglo.com/

namaste

It's almost Christmas!!!!!

Well I have to admit I'm extra excited about Christmas this year. Not just cause its my first Christmas as a mom but that all of the family gets to finally meet Leo. He's such a great little guy I can't wait to share his smiles and cuddles with everyone back in Alberta!!

Only 3 sleeps and we'll be on our way there. I finished my last Christmas project tonight and I can't wait for everyone to get their presents this year. I've had some time to do some fun stuff and I'll be sure to post some pics once everyone has the presents. Can't spoil the surprise yet!

Leo and I had a photoshoot the other day in a little man outfit and these are some of the pics. I think he looks pretty handsome.

Enjoy!!

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas where ever you are.

Lots of Love!!

JT

Winter Visit...

Time is flying by and I feel like my little man is growing up to fast. I love how you arch your back and purse your lips as you're waking up. I love how you grunt and start munching and wiggle your head back and forth right before I feed you. I love your big smiles and wide mouth laughs, your handsome face and your chubby little legs. I could just watch you all day and my heart always melts. I love my baby Leo.

I started working last week and I've been busy, had a client everyday. I thought I might regret working so quickly but its been great. Its kind of nice to have a visitor every day so I'm not totally alone. I've finally gotten out of my pajama's and put on makeup! I've been able to schedule Leo with feeding and napping just fine and I wasn't to tired by the end of the week at all. Nice to be making some mad cash before Christmas too!!

Talon's brother Jared and wife Lindsay and there kids Jacob and Abby came down from Northern BC on the weekend to meet Leo. We had a fun day with them. Even though it was so cold we went down to the beach so the kids could run and play with Donk. He just loves playing with kids and they loved playing with him. I can't wait till he and Leo can run and play together. Lindsay was nice enough to take some family pictures for us. That's the problem with my new hobby is that I'm always behind the camera instead of in front of it. They turned out great and Leo of course was happy even in the cold weather.

Thanks so much guys for coming to visit us!!

Halloween!!!

Well another week has gone by and it was Halloween. I probably wouldn't have gotten around to buying or making Leo a costume this year but Talon's super awesome sister Nik sent us out this awesome Dragon costume!! It's for a 6 month old but of course fit Leo great and he looked super cute. We went up to a party at our church and took him trick or treating.... or maybe just showed him off:)

This is Cooper... Leo's new BFF. He's 2 month's older than Leo and the only other boy that we know that will be born this year in Vancouver. Hopefully these two won't get into too much trouble together.

We carved a pumkin... lit it up. Took some pics, and then I made him into soup. Yum!!

Janell and Ben came over from Victoria and spent the weekend. Janell had some good cuddles with Leo and Ben kept Donk entertained all weekend. He needed some extra attention and sure got it as well as lots of popcorn, walks, wrestling matches. He was one happy pup. We had a great visit and are sure happy to have some family out here:)

3 Weeks Old.

We'll we are home and happy with our son. I'm so happy to not be pregnant anymore and to be feeling much better after giving birth to an almost 11 pound boy. I kind of felt like I was in the twilight zone after 31 hours of labor and then after expecting a girl for 9 months having this giant boy plopped on my chest. I am in love with him and you'll see why. Such a handsome guy and such a good boy. He really just eats and eats and eats and then sleeps. He eats a lot but is trying to keep up his chubby physique. So here's some pics I took yesterday. I'll try and do weekly pics for everyone back in Alberta (mostly for my mom). Can't wait for you all to meet him!!