what?...another tag?

Once again, not much too say other than it's FREEZING outside! So I decided to tag myself again.



This is kind of about Derek, well us as a couple I guess. But now you get to know Derek a bit better too!

What is his name? Surprise surprise, Derek.
How long have you been married? 5 and a half years.

(seems like only yesterday...sigh...)

How long did you date? a yearish
How old is he? 29
Who eats more? Usually him, but I can keep up on occasion when the food is right.
Who said I love you first? He did, he was so nervous, it was cute, and then I said right after because I love him too!

(ahhh, young love)

Who is taller? He is
Who sings better? We can both carry a tune, nothing great though.
Who is smarter? Well...depends I guess. I don't like to figure things out, just tell me how to do it and i can do it. So I need Derek to figure it out and tell me how to do it.
Whose temper is worse? no tempers here. ok, me
Who does the laundry? mostly me, it's part of my job i guess
Who does the dishes? mostly me again, in the job.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? which is the right side? when you're looking or laying? do you really care?
Who pays the bills? mostly me, but derek did do it the other night!
Who mows the lawn? I'd love to have a lawn to mow, we would probably both do it!
Who cooks dinner? We share. If Derek is ever home he can't not take over, so I just clean up after him along the way.
Who drives when you are together? Always him. But i am the annoying driver right beside him.
Who is more stubborn? I don't think we are very stubborn. Or maybe it's me and I just don't know it.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? This doesn't apply to us because I'm never wrong!
Whose parents do you see the most? It's pretty fair, but mine a little more because we always sleep at my parents when we visit.
Who proposed? He did.
Who has more friends? Probably me, he puts fourth zero effort to keep in contact with anyone.
Who has more siblings? Derek. he has 7 siblings I have 5.
Who wears the pants in the family? I've got a leg in and so does he, thats the way it should be right?
I now tag....anyone who hasn't done this and is at home enjoying the freezing from the inside out!

Now for a few of the children.
We went to Ice on Whyte on Saturday before the temperature dropped to to -40 and the blizzard came. Alli could have stayed all day, the cold doesn't bother her. Also, you might no really be able to tell, but Alli's outfit is not quite right for the weather and such. She only wants to wear skirts everyday (little cold for that lately). She is picking out her clothes and it does not excite me, BUT you have to pick your battles with a 2 year old and I'm not gonna fight this one!

I'm still playing with the new camera and lighting and such.
Going through the maze.


So excited to see "Prince Charming."


James just hanging out once again in the stroller.


And the slide, the slide, the slide. Alli loved that of course. Make sure you look at Susie's blog for more pictures, and the BIG slide.



Sadie and Alli in their twiner jamma's. Alli was freaking out at first thinking that Sadie was wearing her pj's


Here's James. Can you see his little tooth?


Ah! I just love this face!

tag i'm it!

The kids started swim lessons a couple weeks ago. They both LOVE it. Alli gets so excited every week. And when she sees the pool when I go to the YMCA to work out she goes crazy wanting to go swimming every time. We had one SERIOUS meltdown for all to see the other day because of it. It was fun.




Ok, so I didn't really get tagged. I see these everywhere and I NEVER get tagged, so I tagged myself because I don't want to write about the barf that is my life again right now.

A few things about me you may or may not know.

Four Jobs I've had:

1. ironing laundry for my dad's clinic ( i HATE ironing to this day beacause of it)
2. nursing attendant at the raymond long term care
3. cashier at iga in edmonton
4. nurse for old old people and little brand new babies. (i like the babies best!)

Four Places I've Lived:

1. Raymond
2. Edmonton
3. man, i need to live somewhere else!
4.

Four Movies That I Love:

1. Scoop
2. Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 ( i wouldn't recommend these to just anyone, but i LOVE them)
3. Moulin Rouge
4. Stranger Than Fiction

Four Favorite Foods:

1. Fajits
2. Cookies ( i love them so much and i am horrible at baking them, somebody help me PLEESE!, but i know just which ones and where are the best to buy)
3. REAL mexican food and anything with cilantro and/or guacamole
4. Fresh cold fruit

Four Weird Things About Me:

1. I like the toilet paper to be the right way. You know coming from over the top. It just makes sense. I don't think it's weird, but I have found myself changing the roll around at other peoples house on occasion.

2. I like fast food. Not very often, but I do like it. I don't care what anyone says McDonalds fries are good.

3. When I was finishing my first year away from home and was deciding what to do next I sooooo wanted to stay in Edmonton. But i had this feeling that I should move back to Raymond and go to the college in Lethbridge instead. I had this feeling that I needed to move down there because I was going to get married. So I REALLY didn't want to do it in case it was true! I moved home hooked up with Derek within a week or 2 and 15 months later were were married! Sidenote: the weird part is Derek moved to Edmonton 4 months after were started dating, so I'm not sure I really HAD to move down to make it all happen? But I'm sure happy it did happen!

4. I haven't shaved my legs since sometime over Christmas holidays. They are disgusting. Good thing Derek still loves with hairy man legs, and good thing it's blonde hairy legs.

Four Favorite TV Shows:

1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. 30 Rock
4. America's Next Top Model

Four Favorite Songs:

These are my ALL TIME favorites
1. Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam
2. Elderly Woman behind the Counter, Pearl Jam
ok, I LOVE Pearl Jam and i think it's pretty good that i narrowed it down and didn't use all 4 spots
3. The Luckiest, Ben Folds
4. The Promise, Tracy Chapman

Four Places I'd Love To Go:

1. Hawaii, Mexico, or some sort of cruise
2. New York City
3. Paris (anywhere in France to eat the food again, oh yeah, and see the sights too!)
4. Japan


Alli fell down at the gym last week. She would stick out her lip and show everyone her "ouchie lip"
I think she would not fall down so much if she didn't have such teeny feet and run around on her tiptoes. I don't know how she does it!



James going down the slide.



And I tag EVERYONE who hasn't done this yet.

do you feel like a parent?

It really sets in you are a parent sometimes.

Maybe you first felt like a mother the moment your little one arrived and you cuddled them in your arms.

Maybe it was the first time the little one looked right at YOU and smiled.

Or when she cries and cries and only stops when she gets kisses from mom.

His first word, Mom.

Well, I've had a few moments where I SURE knew that I was a mother. It might have hit me first the time when we were on our way out the door for church when Alli was just a few moths old and some explosive contents spilled out the diaper and onto the floor. Or maybe the time a few months ago when I tried the no undies to potty train and this (#8 the unthankful) was the result.
But on Tuesday evening it really set in. And it set in all through the night.

I am a mother.

It started with the puke in the car from Alli. Then it was an all night adventure. It was a stinky mess. Both of the kids at it until 6 in the morning. As I was scrubbing the carpet, it hit me. I am a mother. As I was rinsing the second set of bedding for both kids. I am a mother. As I was changing my pyjamas for the second, I am a mother. As I was doing laundry at 4 in the morning. I am a mother. I am their mother, and NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO CLEAN THIS UP!!! That's when I know that I am a mother.

no pictures this time, your welcome.

I'm pretty sure it set in few times for Derek that night that he is a dad. I really couldn't handle all that on my own! He did clean out the car, he bathed the kids in the middle of the night, and gave the best cuddles to name a few.

I love my dad. I wonder what he would say his moments of feeling like a dad are. Happy Birthday Dad!

what's new?

So what is new? Not much around here.

Here's my craft!




It was an all day affair with Rhonda keeping us all very positive about the whole experience. (thank you Rhonda) It was a good times and I'm so happy we did it because look at the results! I really want to have a crafty side, I do, so Rhonda is helping me get there. (by doing some of the work for me, hehe) It's a little christmas advent calender. It's a little muffin tin. Those little squares (decorated by mostly me) are stuck on with magnets. You put a little treat or ornament inside for the kiddies to find! Excited to use it...next year. And I'm happy to say we already know what we are doing for the gals craft day next Christmas. I'll still post my quilt, but it's in Alli's room and she's asleepin.

Derek and I started all our new year goals on Monday. Since we got back last week and didn't really get into the routine until Monday we decided that would be our new year start.

Thought I'd share a couple of my resolutions.

1. I'm kinda of excited about his one. Not overly excited to do it, but for the results. I guess that is how lots of goals go right. I'm going to do 15 minutes a day of the non daily/weekly cleaning tasks. As in, wash the walls, scrub under the fridge, or clean out cupboards. You know, the stuff that should be done, but always get put off because sometimes keeping with the regulars is enough. And now when I think about the nitty gritty cleaning that I really don't want to do I won't stress about it and try and get it all done in one day every few months with kids and other distractions annoying me through and through.

2. My next one Derek and I are dong kinda together. We are doing push-ups and sits up and squats everyday. I do a just a few less than him, and I also do the girly push ups, but will work my way up to the real ones soon.

3. This one I already do, but I'm just going to keep on going with it and maybe add to it. I go to the gym 3 days a week in an effort to ditch these last pesky 10 pounds. (I'd really like to lose 15 to be my real pre James weight, but I'm not sure I'll ever get there again.) I have been out of shape for a good year now. And I HATE it so much. It's not me, it's not who I have EVER been. I've never had to lose weight before. After Alli when I started working out again it was gone in like a month. (where oh where have you gone my teenage metabolism?) I want some results so I am working my butt off even more than the last few months (I'm so stiff right now)

So there it is. Feel free to harass me at anytime to see if I am keeping up.

Here's my tough boy James. Who has nothing to do with my stress eating because of lack of sleep...
He had his shots last Friday and didn't even cry. The look on his face was all "why did you just do that to me?" just a slight whimper with the second shot and he was good to go. But he's not that tough as he was sad with a fever the whole night after. He's used to the pain of just being him with the crawling into things and cruising along the furniture, the falling, the bonking...



And Alli. She found a new use for he Christmas present.



And notice my fantastic looking pictures? I got a new to me present. My dad got a new camera for Christmas and his old Canon Rebel needed a new home. Thank you dad!

i have returned!

We made it back from our 2 week stay in Raymond. We had a fantastic time with family and friends. Dereks parents and a brother and sister were away in California for the holidays visiting Mindy, so sad. So my family got their fill of us I'm sure! First ones to arrive at Grandma's Last ones to leave! We did have a party with all Derek's siblings that were around and of course that was the night we stayed up the latest all holidays. Such a Baldry thing.

These aren't in order, but I'll start with Christmas eve.

We had surprise performance by Regan on the accordian. I'm not about this instrument, the accordian. Does it ever not sound annoying?



Alli opening her jamma's from grandmaa and grandpa. I mostly love James here. He is such a poser for the camera! That face cracks me up.



Christmas eve. The kids in their new jamma's. Guess I didn't get the memo to wear red.



Alli loved Christmas. On Christmas eve every time the doorbell rang she was all excited and wondered "Is Santa Here?"

On Christmas morning, she made us start a new famliy tradition. Alli saw that santa brought Derek a little bag of Lindor chocolates. There were none of these in her stocking. She was not impressed. She was begging for one. Like I am going to give her one of the GOOD chocolates. I offered her presents to open, all the other chocolates in the house and cookies too, but the tears had started. I didn't want a crying girl on Christmas morning. I give in. Alli happily eats the chocolate and is ready for the presents. So the new family tradition is to eat a yummy chocolate before opening presents. What a fantastic idea, thanks Alli!



James had a great time learning how to get around at my mom's with all the stairs. He was just happy and smiley the whole trip. But I think he was turning into a bit of a momma's boy at the end. Crawling after me and crying for me. What can I say, the kid loves his mommmy.

Here is James just about finishing his obstacle course. He would start in the middle of the room, crawl under the coffee table around the couch, through the rocking chair and up the first few stairs, (seen here) and then attempt to keep going up the steep stairs before he got caught.



Guitar hero. Alli bounces her leg to the beat when she plays. It's pretty cute.



All the Steed grandkids all ready for church. Lucy was literally laughing with excitement to hold Sadie, it was so cute. For some reason Sadie wasn't quite as excited about the whole thing, weird I know.




Alli loved playing in the snow. I wish you could see my sweet sorel boots I was wearing. They are sooo coming back.







All the Baldry grankids minus the 4 in Califonia.



Lucy and Alli just playing the piano after a bath. The day after Lucy left Alli was asking where she (and the rest her fam) went and I kept telling her she went home to Calgary. So later on Alli was saying "I wanna go home" over and over. I figured it out, she really wanted to go to Lucy's home. They got along really good. They giggled and only had a few disagreements..."NO PUSHING!"



Love this little picture of her.



A few non picture moments.
1. I made a craft! (i might show ya a pic later)
2. I went to my old friend Chyna-Rose's wedding, she was beautiful, and I'm so happy for her.
3. I finished my quilt (more on that later, maybe with the craft picture)
4. My bestest friend Jacklyn had herself a little baby girl Lily, and I wish I was there with her.
5.Derek and I had a night or 2 out without the kiddies (thanks to mom for babysitting, even if it was a gong show and they weren't in bed when we got home at 11)
6. The team Derek helps coach beat Raymond in the Sugar Bowl (shhhhhh, yay! he was really happy for his team)
7. Alli bawled when we pulled up to the apartment last night. "NO HOME!! GRAAANDMAAAA"S!" She is going through grandma and grandpa and just a full house of people withdrawl. Also, sugar withdrawl too, as am I.


and.....WE GOT OUR CAR!!!!! and i am in love with it.

It was such a fun holiday. I love this time of year with all the merriment and happys. My christmas tree lights are glowing as I type for their last night. We are so blessed with so much in our lives. We are so thankful for our BIG families when we get together and our little family when it's all over. I just love the spirit of Christmas. It's a little bit sad it's all over for another year. But I am very excited for this year. Things are going to change soon, so I hope I'm ready! ok ok ok, i'm finally finished