Our weekend in Bathurst, NB

So this was our weekend - it was great! So glad we decided to go the the hockey tournament, rather than the basketball tournament!

Sunday, Jan 27, 2008 @ 8:00am
GAME 3

This game was tied 7 to 7 and Noah was the GOALIE! Up to this point, Noah's dream was to be a goalie. On the drive home, he told us that he didn't want to be the goalie anymore because there was too much 'pressure' from the team and the coach AND he wanted to be Captain or Assistant Captain (and you can't hold the Goalie and Captain or Assistant position together). WELL, little Mr. Man has his future all figured out!

The little girl in the below photo is Veronique - she's my new friend. She is a little sister to another player on the team. I played with her a little bit at breakfast on Sunday, then at the game she told her mom she wanted to sit beside me. So she sat beside me, sharing my new stadium padded seat, we chatted and had some fun! AND now I have a new friend!


Saturday, Jan 26, 2008 (after the day's games)

After the games, we all had a pizza party at the arena. Once we got to the hotel, we did what every responsible parent would do (especially considering we had an 8:00 am game to play). We all had some drinks, let the kids run up & down the halls, play guitar hero and stay up too late, while we got buzzes going on!!! Okay...it really wasn't THAT bad - but we did have a good time. There's something EXCITING about staying in a hotel!


Saturday, Jan 26, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
GAME 2

We won 9 to 3 and Noah scored another goal! Jacques always teases (just a father's pride) and says 'there goes our retirement package'!! LOL It's cute to see how proud he is of HIS boy! Hey, it's really getting to be some GOOD hockey. This game was played in the big arena where the Bathurst TITANS play (the local QMJHL team) - a pretty big THRILL for these little guys!

Saturday, Jan 26, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
GAME 1

We won 13 to 9, Noah scored the first goal of the tournament (we are SUPER proud of this) and continued to score a second goal in the game as well! To support the Bathurst High School tragedy, the team all sported stickers on their helmets that said 'Boys In Red'! Kind of ironic when our team is RED!


Friday, Jan 25, 2008
Our weekend started off with a really nice visit with Jacques niece (Michelle) and her family, Jonathon, Daniel, Sophie, Madeline and Moses (the dog)! It was great to see them! The kids had fun - the girls really took to Uncle Jacques while the boys did their 'own' thing - playing the Game Boy & DS! I fell in love with Moses, their Chocolate Lab!! Makes me want a big dog when we move to the country (but Daddy already said NO to Noah & I when we asked)!!! Hopefully, a YEAR won't pass (like this time) before we see each other again!!

Pictures from our weekend in Edmundston

Okay....so I'm a little late uploading photos! Give me a break - we've had a busy week with 2 showings and 1 agent open house this week (FINALLY)!! I've been busy cleaning and straightening - can we say STRESSFUL!!!!

Anyways...I took over 100 photos playing with my new lens and the ONLY photos I took was from pool & hot tub time!! This was the highlight from our fun 'mini-vacation' last weekend! We had so much fun - and can't wait to go away again this weekend. Busy, busy, busy....this weekend we are going to Bathurst (click the link to read the horrific story) to visit Jacques niece (Michelle, Jon and 3 kids) on Friday night then to stay at ANOTHER hotel with Noah's hockey team on Saturday night for a tournament!

Luckily, Jacques is home already (he had Thursday & Friday off) and I have Thursday afternoon & all Friday off - so we get some quality time getting caught up on some TV time and some more quality time putting together my new treadmill!!! YIPPY - should be another AWESOME family weekend! I'm so thankful!!

Screw it...

Yup, that's what we said about Noah's hockey tournament this weekend! It's not our usual practice when it comes to Noah's sports but family comes first and lately it hasn't felt like that. This weekend would have been Jacques second weekend NOT coming home (making it 3 weeks not seeing each other) :( When I asked Noah what he would prefer - going to see Daddy or the hockey tournament - he QUICKLY chose going to see Daddy (and that was before I told him about staying at a hotel, dining out every meal and an indoor pool and hot tub).

So Noah & I decided come to Edmundston for the weekend to spend some MUCH NEEDED family time! I picked Noah up from school at lunch, we went home, packed up the van (including Mimi) and 'hit the road'. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate so what should have been a 4 hour drive turned into a very stressful 5 and a 1/2 hour drive. BUT, we did arrive safely.

Since then, we were able to finally see Jacques new office, meet his boss (who seems to be a very sweet person), go to the pub for supper, play a game of pool, swim in the pool, soak in the hot tub and relax in the sauna (aaahhh, I so needed this after this stressful drive). Now we are just sitting here doing nothing but 'be together' (actually the boys are watching some alien TV show, euck and I am writing - what's new there!).

Tomorrow, Jacques has to work so Noah and I are going to go shopping, swimming, taking Daddy some lunch then going to visit Jacques mom for the afternoon in Grand Falls! I'm sure we'll have fun tomorrow night - or at least the boys will - Montreal vs. Pittsburgh - and I will have fun just being together!!! I'm pretty simple to please!

Good night for now....I have a little boy to get to sleep and a big boy to stop snoring already (oooof, it should be a long night)!!!

What a way to start my day!

This arrived in my bedroom (in the form of a paper airplane) as I was getting dressed! Noah had been working hard (just as I had asked him to) while I was getting ready for work.

Like the title says - what a way to start my day!

Actually - HE is the best and HE is the greatest son! This IS what life is all about and all the thanks I need!

My new toy...

Well....my new toy & Christmas present from my hubby arrived yesterday in the mail - yippy! It's a new lens for my camera - one that will be much more versatile than the two I have been switching between.

To my luck, Noah had a hockey hockey practice (which I love to take photos of) and he has the CUTEST smile now that he is missing his top front tooth (which I also love to take photos of because he looks so adorable with that gashing hole in his mouth)!!! I even took some of myself in the mirror - just to play some more!

Thank you honey....I LOVE my lens!


Just had to share this cute photo - check out the hole in Noah's mouth (oh and his hand in the back ground doing the bunny ears behind his head)!


Okay - so we had some fun in our house last night and he went to bed PAST his bedtime because of this. Oh well....I make the rules and we had FUN, FUN, FUN!!! So WHO CARES!

Rough Weekend

Okay, so I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't tough this weekend without Jacques home. We missed him dearly but managed to survive!

On the other hand, Noah had his own set of problems separate from Daddy not coming home. Friday night I noticed that he had a 'shiner' - that took 3-4 days to show itself. Earlier in the week, Noah came home with a cut over his eye. He told me (at the time) that him & his friend bumped heads - hmmm, okay! Makes sense to me! NOW, he tells me they were fighting over a girl, Elizabeth! Too funny - the details are still sketchy but the one constant is that they were fighting over this girl!!!

Secondly - Noah's loose tooth finally came out with a little help from Mommy!!! This was DIFFICULT knowing I was hurting my child (but funny too)!!! How bad am I? By the time we got the dental floss around and I started pulling, Noah decided he didn't want to do it anymore because it hurt too much....and he screamed! WELL - me being the amateur that I am (for pulling teeth out - this was my FIRST one ever, the other two were done by the 'tooth extractor extraordinaire' click to read previous blog post for details) had no idea what to do and fell for it 'hook, line & sinker'. BUT WAIT, then I realized the dental floss was STUCK. OH GREEEE-AAAAT, NOW WHAT? So, after making a few calls I decided that I would 'trick' Noah and pull it. So, what any GOOD Mom would do, I LIED and told him I was going to wipe the blood! As soon as I got my hand in there I YANKED! Then PLUNK - out it came! As simple as that! Man, was he ever happy - probably more relieved that it was done! Then he reminded me that I tricked him - oops, did I, ME, his mom trick him into pulling his tooth! Ooops...oh well, it worked!!!

Here is evidence of Noah's rough weekend!

Staging/Selling your house SUCKS

Well after much debate (considering we listed with Property Guys since only Dec 1), we've decided to list our house with Real Estate again. This time we are listing with one of the most aggressive agents in the Tri-City area as well as listing at a very aggressive price. We are tired from living apart for so long :( When you & your spouse feel like a visitor in their own home - you KNOW it's time for aggressive action. Now only having Jacques home on weekends feels like the norm and frankly, it shouldn't be this way!

To do everything in our power to get our house sold and quickly, we decided to have a 'Home STAGER' come in (click to read more)! WOW, what an emotional experience! Let me 'set the stage' for you - this stranger walks in to your house (that you have spent years on to make it just to your YOUR family's likings) and immediately starts telling you what needs to go like ALL the family photos, ALL the country decor, everything from the walls, your curtains, everything on the top of the cupboards, the dresser in the hall, the ping pong table, the air hockey table, the XBOX - and more). Talk about feeling like your under scrutiny or what! WAAAH! Like, what's wrong with MY taste, MY house, ME? WAAAH!

Talk about an emotional roller coaster last night....I was up until 12 midnight fretting and preparing and moving and packing and worrying and wondering how I could possibly get everything done by today at 1:00pm when our agent was coming to take photos (you know, the same house that I 'thought' I had already prepared 5 months ago to sell)! I felt angry and criticized and sad and worried and alone and scared, need I say more - I think you get my point! Even when I left for work this morning - I was still feeling angry especially when I saw Noah's reaction to all of this change while he was sleeping last night :(

When Noah got up this morning - he walked out to the living room & kitchen and immediately starting into a full fledge 'ball your eyes' cry, yelling at me stuff like "Mommy, how could you let her do that to our house, where's all of our pictures, she destroyed our house, MOMMY, HOW COULD YOU LET HER DO THAT, I hate her and I hate you for letting her do this, it doesn't even feel like our house, what's she going to do next move the air hockey table, the ping pong table, the toys in my room, my computer or my XBOX". He was so sad & I felt even more terrible then I already felt, but what was I to do? (Plus, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was going to be working on his room later) After about 20 minutes, I managed to calm him down and made him realize that it was to our benefit to have our house look like this to sell. Personally, I can understand why she made the changes she did but I find it feels really COLD and uninviting.

By the time I left work at 11:30 am, I had somewhat calmed down. Then I went shopping, bought 4 new lamps, some art work for our walls and some new frames for our family portraits (which I didn't even end up using, but we won't tell Jacques because I just scored new frames that I've wanted for a while - okay, it's our little secret - shhhhh!) and felt a little more positive about this whole experience. By the time I got home, I felt really empowered and embraced these changes as a step towards moving! Our CSP (Certified Staging Professional) came back to spend a couple of hours with me to help out - hanging the art work, more re-arranging and more advising. We DID end up moving Noah's computer and his XBOX - but Noah approves of the changes considering the XBOX move was to his room (arrrrrg - but I explained that this is ONLY until we move)! Funny enough, Noah is THRILLED at this change and now told me that he is sorry for all the mean and bad things he said yesterday!!! Hmmmm, I wonder why?

Overall, I would rate this as a really interesting experience and advise anyone who is thinking of having a home stager in to their home to BE PREPARED! It is NOT an exercise for the over emotional or faint at heart! On the other hand, I feel very positive with our prospect of selling and feel happy that I took most of her advise to prepare our house this way. Actually, I still have lots to do - but with the help of my great friend (Isabelle - Owen's mom) Noah is going for a sleepover Saturday night that will allow me much 'uninterrupted' time to finish all the things our CSP suggested! I really look forward to 1. time alone/alone just ME, all by myself & 2. actually finishing the suggestions - like closets, etc! I'm actually going out tomorrow to get some boxes from our moving company to pack items like most of our games, many of Noah's books, extra linens, etc. I LOVE Noah - my little positive one - in his exact words "Mommy, the good thing is that now that we are packing - this means we really are moving"!!!

Hopefully, I will receive the before and after photos from our CSP in the next few days. When I do, I will certainly share.

UPDATE: Okay - so 8 more hours on Saturday and here is the final results of the fruits of my labour! BEFORE & AFTER photos! I have to say - I'm impressed! Now, let's keep our fingers crossed that this sells our house!!

Leslie....

I just have to tell you about my friend Leslie. She is amazing at so many things....and I have learned so much from her. Although we never 'really' get to spend time together...I would certainly love to. But somehow despite this, we've managed to stay in (and sometimes out of) touch since we were (ummmm...) like in grade 7 or 8. This was the year I attended my first year at Camp Quin-Mo-Lac (sp?). Considering we lived several hours apart as kids, for a couple of years she would come to visit my family during March Break and then I would spend a week or two with her family (which I might add are amazing people) in the summer!

Over the years (especially over the last 7 or so) and despite our distance (she in Ontario and I in New Brunswick) she has taught me so many things from scrapping, to photography, to parenting, to simply being more generous, to finding information about adopting. I really admire her and I want her to know how much I look up to her. When you spend time (okay, even if only 'cyber-time') with her she makes you want to live a better life and be a better person and that feels amazing! Thank you LESLIE!

OKAY - this all may seem very weird. Like, why do I have a hockey photo of Noah to start off an entry about Leslie, right? Well, all I really wanted to do is upload this photo that I performed some quick edits on that again, I learned how to do from Leslie and share this link with all of you and NOW look at what this blog entry became!!! Although this photo is not the most stellar photo - I LOVED it! It was such a natural look on Noah's face and you wouldn't believe what this photo started off looking like! It just goes to show you how much you can do with a good photo editing softward like Adobe Photoshop.

So if you want to learn what I learned about some of the quick edits I learned....check out this link of Leslie's PHOTOG BLOG!

AGAIN Leslie - YOU ROCK! Thanks for all that you probably don't even know you do!

1ST Hockey Tournament - Jan 4-6, 2008

WHAT a game! MAN, it's starting to get good to watch! Our little man is skating his heart off....he's so into the game this year, it's thrilling to watch. Noah even scored 2 goals, one of which I managed to get on video for Jacques to see! Click this link to view. We have 2 more games this weekend for tournament #1 (but today I got a break considering Daddy is home for the weekend - thankfully because we still have 2 more tournaments to go for the month of January).

How are we ever going to sell our house like this?

Yep - this is our FOR SALE sign for our house!

Top picture - notice that it is almost completely covered in snow!
Bottom picture - this is what potential buyers can see from the road!
Click on link to view a video of our dilema! Can we say - EEEEESH!

ADDED: More photos just for my sister! Hope this gives you an idea of how high the snow ACTUALLY is! The bottom photo was the SECOND time the plow went by - NICE (look how high it is compared to the snow blower)!!

Family Game Night

Had fun a couple of nights before Jacques had to go back. I ended up getting my butt kicked at Monopoly and realized how out of shape & flexible I am while playing Twister. I refuse to show the picture of me at Twister - pretty scary!!! Nonetheless, we all had so much fun anyways. I absolutely LOVE quite nights at home like this.....spent as a family!