Just Jordan

The Hamiltons love ourselves a road trip. We went on a great one this summer and another great one two weekends ago. It was a shorter jaunt to Calgary than Vancouver, which allowed for a few fewer adventures, but that didn't take away from the fun. Our main goal of the trip was to visit some friends that we haven't seen since Calder was Lawson's age. . . 6 years!!! It had been way too long, but because of circumstances out of everyone's control this was the first time we were able to make it work.  Alstyn LOVED Lawson! Like I mean LOVED!  It was so cute. She also loved having Boone as her side kick. As you can see from above, Boone loved being her side kick! We took in the Calgary Zoo. It was gorgeous out and such an amazing afternoon outside. I even got in a picture thanks to Calder! For the record the penguins were very cool. And VERY smelly. . . Sort of like a hamster cage that was left in a hot steamy bathroom and not cleaned for a couple months. ...

I haven't been finding the time to blog and have been feeling guilty about it! Why do I do that to myself?! LOL Here is a quick catch up . . . Mostly in photos! Halloween came and went. These costumes will likely go down as my favourite of all time. I am actually hopeful that the kids want to dress the same next year. It was a gorgeous evening on the 31st. No snow, no breeze, no toques needed. We had our usual 150 trick-or-treaters who were all done by 7:30 pm. I took the ultrasound photos down from our fridge about a week ago. This was emotional for me. Those big ones on the bottom were Tripp's, so they have been there 5 years. I have looked at them many times and wondered how long I would leave them up. They likely would have been up longer, but Lawson's picture at the front is starting to crack. I felt like if I was taking hers down, they all needed to come down. Hugh noticed right away that I removed them. It was a moment for him too. I don't know a ...

Two weeks ago I woke up to a door closing. Hugh had fallen asleep on the couch so I did a listen to see if it was him. My ears perked up immediately as I heard Boone's voice. I crawled out of bed and slowly opened Boone's door. He was standing just inside the door. His sleep sac had been pulled off and left in his crib. I asked him what was going on and he said, "I go pee. YOU GO. I go bed self."  He then closed the door in my face. I wearily crept back to my room and slunk down into bed. I looked at the clock. It was 1 am. . . 1 AM. I woke up a bit as it dawned on me that I had let my 2 year old climb back into his crib and put himself to bed in the middle of the night. At this point I got out of bed with a bit more purpose. As I opened the door to his room he was already back in his crib, laying down. Boone and I then had a battle to get the sleep sac back on. I won. Boone is good like that if he has options. When he didn't agree off the hop I told him shirt or ...

Hugh woke up Saturday night puking. He spent all day Sunday on the couch and I spent all day worrying I was on the brink of being sick. Monday rolled around and Hugh began to feel human again. Unfortunately, that evening I began to feel my guts roll. Envisioning the night spent on the toilet, I curled up on the couch to enjoy a couple shows while I still could. I woke up Monday morning shocked. I had slept through the night. I began thinking that maybe Hugh had gotten a flu the kids and I had already had. There have been a few times where everyone but him has been hit.  At 9:35 am that theory was blown out the window. I got a call from Calder's school. Calder had puked. I asked him if he did it in the bathroom and he said, "No, in my class." Ugh.  When I picked Calder up from the school he was surprisingly near 100%. He told me how he didn't even feel sick. He just puked. As we walked out of the school I glanced at his pants. Is that puke?  Yep. It was. He puked s...

We were so lucky to have Deena come and shoot some photos of us at the end of August. Or was it the beginning of September? Obviously it was long enough ago that there were leaves still on the trees and there was some seriously nice lighting at 6 pm. I truly value these pictures. I take lots of photos but never seem to get a collection like this even when I snap dozens. For me it is worth the money to have someone come in and take them. If my BFF wasn't available I would definitely be finding someone else to try and do the job Deena does. These photos seem to capture our family perfectly. The one above of the three kids is my favourite of the whole shoot.  This is a narrowed down collection of my favourites. My job this afternoon is to get Picassa working on my computer so that I can create a large collage for our living room wall.  I purchased school pictures of Calder for our immediate family this year, but really debated it. They are SO expensive....

Things that make me happy: Connecting over the phone. This is sort of a weird one for me, because I typically don't phone people and my introverted self occasionally even ignores the phone when it rings, but after having a good chat with someone I always feel elated. I need to figure out a way to make phone calls more a part of my routine. . . such an easy way to get a bit of a high. A good book. The problem with this one is that it typically will consume me. I will binge read it until it is finished. I won't do housework. I won't cook. I will even ignore my children. oops.  I haven't read anything since the summer. Clearly this is for good reason.  Coffee. Man, I love this drink. My acid reflux does not. I have found a product that reduces the acidity in the coffee that allows me to have the occasional cup. It has been a little piece of heaven on the occasional morning. My kids getting along. Don't the sounds of siblings who are working, sharing, and playin...

Boone-isms He calls cats "meows" and fire t rucks and ambulances "ah-wee-ohs". He likes to pretend sleep all the time. Even did it at Costco last week. I felt seriously jealous. I wanted him to shop so I could crawl in the cart and actually sleep.  Calls his fingernails toenails. This caused some laughs before we realized his mistake. He would say, "I chew my toenails" and "dare toenail in my mouth". Chewing fingernails isn't all that appealing, but it is certainly a step up from toenails! Lawson's new moves She is seriously motoring these days. The forward crawling has picked up speed and she has figured out how to get herself from crawling to sitting. This accomplishment has meant a much happier girl in our eyes. She doesn't get stuck places and can stop and play wherever she wants. Lawson eats a lot and will eat just about anything. Some of the more interesting things she likes include salmon, souvlaki pork chops, lasa...