Kitty Kitty

 

My girls are furry animal FIENDS!!!!!!  The Cartwright's adopted a little kitty whom they named Leia and the girls are absolutely smitten.  They met her a few weeks ago and have seriously been obsessed.  They pretend to be her, ask about visiting and they say they want a kitty almost everyday.   At gymnastics the other day Stella was running for warm up and told me she was being 'Princess Leia'....seriously smitten, hilarious.  It is all pretty adorable and she is absolutely an precious little kitty.

 

~ Mrs. P

good bye to a good companion

 

Oh what to write, what to record about our beloved pup Tula. On Friday September 6th we chose to let our sweet Tula go to heaven.  I truly believe that our pets will be up there chilling!  It has taken me a week to sit down and write this, too much emotion and honestly, grief.

 

Tula just had her 11th birthday in July, but she has had a rough summer with multiple visits to the vet. It stinks that animals can't tell us what hurts or what is wrong.  Tula and her brother Tony were our babies before we had our human girl babies, they had a special role in our lives.  It was a hard decision but ultimately we felt it was the right thing.  There was much discussion and ultimately prayer to know. It may sound odd but it had been a very spiritual week.  Hard though, so hard, many moments of just having tears come thinking about her.

 

My little sister Leslie sent us a sweet text (she lived with us while in school so had a special relationship with the dogs).  She wrote that it was 'the end of an era' and it is.  The day we let Tula go Graham and I talked about when we picked Tony and Tula from the SPCA, we actually kind of stole Tula from a little kid and made him cry!  We hadn't even been married a month and went to visit the SPCA.  We saw them, fell in love, went home to think about it and then picked them up the next day.....BEST DECISION EVER!  The little tiny black fur balls were so cuddly, so sweet and such crazy barkers!!!!!!  They were our fur babies and as our desire for human babies was left unfulfilled for so many years, the love these companions offered is cherished and so close to our hearts.

 

As Amelia joined our family, then Tony passed on and then Stella came Tula really rolled with the punches, just a good dog!  Our hearts are aching and it feels like a piece of our lives is missing.  The Graham & Jenny Polischuk Family has from the start included our pups!!!!!  The girls adored them and we feel super blessed to have had such great little furry companions.  Gratitude for the role they had in our family.  Tula is soooo missed.

 

 

Some fun flashbacks. 

Sadly we are all so old that photos of her as a pup aren't digital.

Still some cute pics of our beloved pet.

 



 

 

 



 

~ Mrs. P



BIG GIRL - say what?

Because of these...



panties

 

the BIG girl needs one of these...

toddler bed

 

I am not really going to speak of it other then saying the potty training has been going pretty well.  Stella was content and happy in her crib but when you gotta go, you gotta be able to go to the bathroom.   We needed to get her into a bed and ditch the crib.  What a week of milestones, my baby isn't a baby anymore. :(

 

 

We had some sweet bedtime moments tonight as a little family, cuddling Tula and just goofing.  Stella did some jumping on her bed and seemed pretty pumped about this whole new bed thing. We're pretty pumped for her too.

 

~ Momma P



Tea for Two

A bit of our family realness coming through here...

still in pajama's for mid-morning snack, yup it sometimes happens.

 

I seriously love the moments when the girls are playing nice together, it isn't always the case but when it happens for sure my mother heart beams.

Love them!



(always have to give the ladies a towel for the inevitable spills)

 

~ Mrs. P

Zoo-tastic

 

A little bit of September zoo fun for the girl cousins. We packed everyone into the Pathfinder (doesn't happen too often anymore) and headed into the city to visit the animals.  The weather has been stunning and we took advantage of the beautiful day.  There is something so bittersweet about seeing wild animals caged, oh that sounds sad.  It is sweet to see creatures that you read about or watch on the Discovery channel but certainly bitter to see them caged.  Anyway it is always good to go.  The zoo has a major expansion underway and some words on their big posters caught my eye;

 

CONSERVATION
EDUCATION
PROTECTION

 

 

 

 

 

Oddly of all the animals at the zoo the baby chicks were the favourite.  Oh my 'chicks' (get it hahahaha) they would probably love to live on a farm, that will NEVER happen.

 

Little Neely was so darn cute!!!

 

~ Mrs. P

celebrations

This week is big for us, my birthday and our anniversary both happen on August 29th.

It has been so fun for me, celebrating with our little family, friends and Mr.P!!!! 

 

 

On Thursday the 29th we actually attended a family work event for the hubs at Fort Edmonton Park, it was a blast.  A train ride, face painting, photo booth and a mini carnival made for a super fun evening.  Stella even wore underwear the whole day and didn't have an accident. I consider this a spectacular gift and we still don't even want to speak of it for fear of jinxing the potty training progress we have going on with Miss Stella.  Let's just say she is amazing us!!!!!  The day was also made special with beautiful flowers and tons of chocolate and sweet cards/notes that I have already re-read, totally warms my heart.  It was just such a lovely day!  The celebrating didn't even end there... on Friday sweet friends came by with brownies and even more love, I was soooo touched.  What a treasure good friends are!!!  I am richly blessed.  I was even sang to and wore a crown!

 

 



Another highlight of the week was the date Mr.P and I snuck in Friday night!  It is our tradition - 11 years running to hit up the temple to be reminded of our marriage covenant.  We LOVE going to the temple, especially together!  Dinner after was my choice and because I am a fan of pasta (I get this from my dad) we slipped into Chianti for some eats.  A charming corner table suited us fine as we chatted about the past 11 years and shared some dreams for the future.  The waitress kept asking us questions because we were dressed all spiffy.  Once we mentioned celebrating our anniversary by going to the temple she said she too was LDS.  Graham did look a little hard core churchie in his white shirt and tie but I liked it!!!  It actually kind of feels good to stand out.  The restaurant was on Whyte Ave and the whole area around the University was buzzing with returning students. This totally added to our reminiscing because 12 years ago, only 3 months after we started dating I headed off to Edmonton to attend the UofA.  Oh so many memories, it is crazy the history we've already created...good times, hard times, fun times!

 



 ~ Mrs. P

 



sweet n sassy

 

These girls of mine BLOW ME AWAY!!!!  Being a mother is both the greatest and hardest thing I have ever done, I think that most mothers would say this.  We have tender moments and then tumultuous moments....sometimes literally moments apart ha!!!  There is nothing quite as refining as being a mother.  I was reminded again (I am a slow learner) by a wise Grandma in the temple that we can only do our best and then the Lord takes care of the rest.   I know this but there are many things I would like to be better at, have more patience with or be more diligent at.   Uggghhhh!!!!! Anyway, just needed to record the great sweetness, as seen in these selfies the girls and I took but also the challenge of the sassy because the sassy is darn hard.  Even when it is hard I would not change it!  Well perhaps less sass and whining but other then that no changes, they are adorable and fabulous.

 

~ Mrs. P