"Track and Shield" Inaugural Race

A slightly more positive event from the weekend for you today.

On Sunday morning we ran our first race of the season.

The Edmonton Police Foundation Half Marathon 5K.

{Though I do love how our medals say half marathon. 

It was tempting but I just couldn't lie to you guys.}

It was a great day for running {this was prior to our late April snowstorm} and the race kicked off at Fort Edmonton Park, a great venue.

It was so nice to get out as a team.

I was even able to spring this photo-op on everyone before they could put up a fight.

This event gave me a chance to chat a bit more with Cecile {painter} and Gabe {bodyman}.

Since I do most of my work for the shop from home I don't get this opportunity often.

Gabe talked a little about his kids and their involvement in track and field.

I was never big into the sport but have fond memories of these events in my younger days.

As I was recalling this conversation today it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Track and Shield" is THE name for this venture.

Sorry "Team Shield", you're out.

First of Many, I'm Sure

Apparently this is a really busy time of year for us.

I still haven't finished telling you about last weekend and now another has passed.

This one was as eventful as the last.

Mostly good but as is customary, let's start with the bad news and get it over with.

Cedric had his first hospital visit on Sunday.

If you've met Cedric you know this kid is chill and super active.

How can you be both of those at once?

Beats me, but this kid has it down.

So when he started arching and wailing in pain we knew something was up.

I am determined to not be that parent that has their kid in the hospital unnecessarily.

For many reasons.

One being, I don't want a Peds Emerg Doc all like "your kid has gas, over-react much?"

On the other hand, I don't want to regret not following my gut for the rest of my life.

The latter would be MUCH worse.

Jeff and I decided to watch him for a while.

After 15 minutes of watching he went white.

Like his ears and lips were white.

That's when we got scared and split.

The Stollery Emergency is amazing.

We were in a room right away and seen within 20 mins.

They hooked the little guy up and vitals were looking good.

When in the room he even gave the nurse a half smile.

As she was about to leave he started another episode of pain and vomited his afternoon snack.

After that he had more colour and energy already.

The doc {who asked us to call him Kevin, so refreshing} was happy with his condition but asked us to hang around for a bit.

Soon after, another throw up produced a decent amount of dirt.

Yep, good old earth.

Turns out when the kids were "helping" me cultivate the garden, Cedric snuck a taste.

I knew this was happening but had no idea the extent of it.

I would say he swallowed a couple of mouths full.

Once this was all out it was business as usual.

He was up flirting with anyone who passed by the room.

Lesson learned, Cedric has yet to develop his garden helper skills.

This is not something that would have happened with Fiona at one.

You boys sure are a handful, you know that?

You Auto Know is 1

I made it.

I have blogged for a year.

A whole year.

I'm exhausted...

But back to blogging.

Sorry, I got distracted, blame the exhaustion.

Being introduced to the world of bloggers was life changing.

Really, it was.

It's one of those things that you can't imagine what you did without.

Like children.

Or a smartphone.

{Not that I'm comparing the profoundness of the above life changing experiences.}

But really, some folks who share their lives online are brilliant.

I honestly believe that I live my life better because of these people.

I'm inspired daily by the blogs I read.

I'm also inspired to experience more because I can't wait to share.

Most importantly though, it's given me the kick in the pants I needed to document more.

Jeff and I used to be the type that would come home from a vacation with 2 pictures.

Now I'm battling with the "not enough storage" messages on my devices due to the abundance of shots.

Thanks to everyone who reads this little outlet of mine.

Thanks especially to those who comment and follow.

It means a lot.

On another note, we spent time outside today you guys.

Our backyard is no longer a lake and the bike made the big move to the great outdoors.

This was a good day.

Shield on Shine

I meant to share this last week but it slipped my mind with everything we've had going on.

Jeff headed down to the Shine FM studios and got his radio voice on for our new ad.

I've posted it below for your listening pleasure.

You're welcome.

Fiona's Butterfly Party

This weekend was jam packed and I can't wait to share it all.

First and foremost though was Fiona's 3rd birthday celebration.

Thank you Chris for capturing this moment.

Having your birthday before the snow melts limits the spectrum of activities to chose from.

Fiona loves her gymnastics classes {and I love how tuckered out she is after them} so when I saw that they offered parties we were sold.

I punned like crazy on Cedric's invitation so in the spirit of fairness gave it another go.

Fiona chose a butterfly theme so we ran with it.

The mason jar terrariums were my favourite.

Homesense came through with some butterfly napkins.

Dollarama was to thank for the net, greenery and butterflies.

Since the chocolate cake recipe I used for Cedric's birthday turned out so well it made a reappearance.

The butterflies {yes, they're butterflies} on top were made of fondant using this recipe.

 There were too many fabulous pictures of the gym time for me to choose from.

Thanks Diana for these, they're fabulous!

 Grandpa West even helped Cedric get in on the trampoline action.

Fiona cleaned up with some amazing gifts so I'll share more about that soon.

 Thanks to all our friends and family who celebrated with us.

This Weekend

The Edmonton Motorshow is here.

This is our third year participating in the show and we're so glad to be back.

This event always falls at a busy time for our family.

In 2011 it was on the weekend of Fiona's 1st birthday.

Last year it just ended the day before Cedric's due date.

Now again, it falls on the weekend of Fiona's birthday.

I've never claimed that our lives weren't hectic right?

It's absolutely worth it though.

Here's a preview of our booth, the guys did a great job setting this up.

Most attend the Motorshow to see what's new and exciting from the manufacturers.

The Edmonton Motorshow has them all and many do have 2014 products on display.

We like to think though that the real action is at our end of the Expo Centre, in the Auto Emporium.

Here you can find everything you need to maintain and enhance your vehicle's esthetic and performance.

{Remember that show "Pimp my Ride"?  Is that still going?}

Even if you're not interested in an extreme makeover there's something for you.

The show runs today and tomorrow 10-10 and Sunday 10-6.

If you get a chance to go make sure to stop by the booth.

Hope to see you there and have a great weekend!

A Pair of Birthdays

April 17th is a special day.

Fiona is lucky enough to share her birthday with her beautiful Aunt Pamela.

Today they are 3 and 30.

Multiply those numbers to get my Grandad's age, add them together to get mine.

{I'm a perpetual math nerd and love to find equations in any given set of numbers.}

We started the day with 100 {well, 96 since we lost 4 in the late-night process} pink balloons.

I would like to point out that 9-6=3, I'm done.

Fiona was off to school for the day so we wanted to make the morning special.

For dinner, the birthday girl chose pizza so we headed to Famoso on Whyte.

We were sat at table 13 but we knew what they really meant.

This little beauty just never stops surprising me.

She's so smart.

I'm blown away at how she recites full pages of our bedtime stories.

She's so funny.

Expressions such as the one below are only the tip of the iceberg.

She's so sweet.

Always considering others, even her baby bro.

She's so strong.

I can already see her strong will.  

{We're going to have it out, let me tell you.}

The day was all about Fiona but I couldn't help but share a pic of these $5.94 boots from JoeFresh.

Today at work I found myself so looking forward to the end of the day.

Not because I didn't enjoy being there {I actually do, really}.

But because I couldn't wait to see that face again.

This is only the beginning of the celebration.

Fiona and 9 of her friends will be hitting the gym this weekend.

{Of the -nastics variety.}

Should we survive, I can't wait to share.

Here's a goodie of me and my dear sister Pamela.

She is the most loyal, dedicated and gentle person you'll ever meet.

Happy birthday Beautiful!

Ready for Spring

It's just not ready for us I guess.

Fiona's all geared up with these sweet little thrifted rain boots.

And this darling thrifted Mexx raincoat.

I've had my London Fog boots for a while but did snag this spring coat for $12 on clearance at Old Navy.

We got Fiona suited up at our favourite little thrift store Boygirl Rewear.

We even picked up a pair of rainboots for Cedric-of-the-future since I couldn't pass up the deal.

{Charlie's breaking them in for him below.}

The store is small but never disappoints.

I have always been able to find exactly what I was looking for and then some.

If you live in Edmonton and haven't been, it's worth the trip.

Better make it quick though since they're closing their doors in June.

After 20 years in business it's just time to move on, maybe explore some other passions.

However, the owner is not completely leaving the store in her past.

She's started a Facebook group {link above} and will keep the likers in the loop should she decide to open again.

Happy splashing!

Everyone to the Gymnasium

Just wanted to share some pictures from our first carnival experience.

Thanks to our awesome friends and neighbours we made it to this local fundraiser.

The favorites:

1. Fiona's favorite activity anywhere we go, hockey.

2. Cedric practicing for soccer in a couple years.

3. Decorating cookies.

4. Sliding is always a hit.

 It has been so long since I've spent a chunk of time in an elementary school.

I forgot about the cute little germ repositories water fountains.

My favourite stations were Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Bunny and Beanbag-Toss.

And the ropes, remember the ropes?

This one was a little past it's prime but still evoked the same memories.

All in all a great event with some great folks.

Taking Charge

Remember when I told you about our ridiculous charging situation?

It didn't get any better after that.

 Since it was always hanging to the ground Cedric mistook it for a toy.

We even lost a cord to the dogs .

Something had to be done.

After I wrote that post I had friends emailing me and tagging me in Pins with other options.

{I just want to say again that I really have the best friends.}

Obviously cords have become a huge annoyance in all of our lives.

The options for taming them are seemingly endless.

The most popular by far was the cheap and easy Cabledrop.

Then of course there are some more creative options such as Charging Charlie here.

These Wire Blooms are the sweetest but I wasn't really into nail holes in our island.

And of course you know I like a good DIY/Green project so this was a definite contender.

I have learned over the years though that Husband is not an everything-in-it's-place kinda guy so this most likely would have gone unused.

Finally I settled on what I think is the least fussy most practical, Une Bobine.

Now, thanks to this shapeable cord, our chargers are at a safe height even when unplugged.

The Photojojo website {where this purchase was made} is chock full of great gadgets, definitely worth a visit.

The Beginning of Our Giving

“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” 

~ Arthur Ashe

Running season is fast approaching.

For some it never left.

 I'm not that tough anymore.

When in University I woke up at 5am 7 days a week year round to run.

Those days are long gone.

I really tried to get to the indoor track a couple times a week.

 And I got owned at strollercize whenever possible.

But nothing beats running outside, especially since we're lucky enough to live down the street from Mill Creek.

You may remember that last year I ran the Melissa's 10K as my postpartum-get-back-in-shape goal.

Other than that I ran only for fitness.

This year will be a little different.

 Jason, Chloe {our partners}, Jeff and I have committed to running as many charity races this summer as possible.

{We are also hoping to rope a few employees in.}

It's important to all of us to give back to our community.

We are not yet in the financial position to give dollars so we're giving what we can, time.

Now don't forget, this is a precious commodity around this joint.

We're not busting at the seams with spare time either.

Today I signed us up for our season opener.

We'll be running the Edmonton Police Foundation race.

It's a half marathon but we'll be crushing the 5K.

Go Team Shield Autobody!

{I did say season opener after all.}

I'm partial to the idea of the races since we also get the health benefit.

I would love to hear of any other ways we can be of service though.

Anyone know of charitable events that a could use some extra bodies?

Just One More Stop Kids

I will start by saying again that I have great kids.

I don't ever want anyone to think otherwise.

The bottom line is though, I have 2 kids under 3.

This week I have picked up a couple extra shifts to help out my pharmacy.

So today, being my only day working way harder than I do at work off, is an errand day.

I dragged the kids to 4 {very uninteresting} stores before lunch.

Aside: I just had to look up the past tense of drag because that sounded so wrong.  I almost changed it to drug which gives the beginning of that sentence a whole other meaning.

Anyways, it was actually a very smooth trip.

 And I got home feeling so thankful for certain retailers.

I used to be one of those people who would roll their eyes at these types of signs.

 "Why do they get a special spot?" I would think to myself.

"I mean, is it really that hard to get two kids out of a car and into a store?"

Yes, yes it is.

Words eaten.

Younger self's kick in the pants delivered.

{My younger, childless self gets many of these.}

Some days these spots are a major contributing factor to a successful shopping trip.

So thank you {in this case Save-On} to those stores who have this.

The most effective of these factors I speak of though?

The free chocolate chip cookie {at Superstore} for good behaviour.

PS.  I know it's not the healthiest thing to bribe your children with treats.

If you have kids and don't ever do this then you are a parenting ninja, kudos.

If you don't have kids, someone very wise once told me: "I did all of my best parenting before having children too."

Easter Weekend in Pictures

Happy Easter, hope it was great.

A gift from our lake neighbours.

Determined to start running outside.

The cutest little church at our lake, seemed appropriate for Easter.

Cedric's first shiner.