Jemma is 3!

Today marks the third birthday of my favourite little girl, my niece Jemma. I cannot believe how fast the past three years have gone, and how quickly I could fall in love with her. She has her Auntie's heart and she knows it. She is a precious little girl who is full of energy, love and attitude.
I have been blessed to have a close relationship with Jemma and love spending as much time as possible with her. Jemma loves to come over and visit and she absolutely adores Baxter. A little jealous because he likes her best for sure. He lets her try and carry him around the apartment and put stickers on his paws, they are BFFs. She always wants freezies or frozen tubes of yogurt so we are sure to keep them on hand. Fort, Disney movies and my old barbies are common activities during visits.
Jemma loves to play dolls and names every one of them Kara, her favourite colour is blue (hence we are out of blue freezies), she is afraid of wolves, is a dare devil and loves jumping and going fast. She needs her stuffed dog Captain to sleep at night and every time we drive together she insists on listening to Taylor Swift's We are Never Getting Back Together, on repeat (she knows all the words).
I am so proud to be her Auntie and she continues to impress and amaze me. Happy 3rd Birthday Love!

Dance recital. Rocking out to the Backyardigans. 

Trip to the Detroit zoo. She fell asleep on my head shortly after, and was disappointed that we only saw baby wolves.

Jumping on her big trampoline is one of her favourite activities. 

She hates loud noises, but sparklers are right up her ally. 

I have so many selfies on my phone. 

She is wild and crazy. 

She is obviously an aspiring photographer. There is no view finder, which confuses her and she likes to touch the lens.

She loves to mother anything and is even willing to change poopy bums. 

Love.

March & April Books.

In March and April I took a break about half way through the third book in the Divergent series because I started to be unhappy with the path it was taking and instead started working on finishing the Karen Kingsbury series I started, hmm, two summers ago. Crazy to think I have been trucking along for that long. Now I can honestly say the end is near. One more to go.

Learning by Karen Kingsbury - As I might have mentioned before the Bailey Flanigan series has been far and away my favourite set of books thus far. It might be because it was a faze of life that I recently went though and kind of still am and therefore find it relatable or it might be because I am just a sucker for a great romance. And a great romance it was. This book is a little frustrating because 

Longing by Karen Kingsbury- This book was magical. I enjoyed watching the love grow and the grand (read: unrealistic) gestures that were taken. 

Loving by Karen Kingsbury - I read a few reviews on this book while I was putting in my most recently read books and currently reading into goodreads before I had actually started reading it. I therefore somewhat ruined it for myself, finding out who she actually chooses. However, I completely disagree with all of the negative comments this book was getting. I was actually very happy with who she ended up with in the end. I had wanted it from way back and I understand the frustration that fans felt after having so much put into a relationship. But I enjoy the explanation, some people just are not meant to be.This book was both wonderful and frustrating. You know that moment when you are reading a book or watching a movie and are so frustrated with the characters lack of communication. Seriously, who goes that long without talking? Or that everything could be resolved with one short phone call, yea I felt that. But all in all I am happy that the pretty much fairytale book series came to a fairytale ending. 

Family Day.

A few weeks ago we here in Ontario celebrated family day. Family day is kind of a silly holiday. It comes in the middle of February. You had Christmas just over a month ago and for school kids they have March Break in about a month. Maybe I think it is silly because it came around when I was already in university and always seemed to coincide with reading week which resulted in no extra time off. Now that I am working, I still think it is silly, but I will gladly take any holiday time off I can. Contract workers do not have a thing called vacation, so we take what we can get.

For me family day was a good day. I was able to sleep in, woke from a text from my brother about taking my niece skating and was able to get a number of chores accomplished. Sadly, it is not a holiday for all and the husband had to work. So I settled for a morning skating session with my brother and niece, followed by some grocery shopping, and errands.

I got home shortly after noon where I was able to spend the afternoon cleaning, baking and enjoying some time with the cat. I finished the day with a session of boot camp. It was a busy day, but a productive day, which I love. I could certainly take one of these each month, maybe then my to do list will not be as long.

So much fun. 

February Books.

Valentines.

I have never been one for Valentines day. I think it is the result of being a little bitter and left out at school dances and such throughout elementary school. I was one of those kids who then put on a tough face and pretended it didn't matter when really deep down it probably did.
Now however, I realise there are so many more important things in life and I have a valentine for the rest of my life so why do I need just one day to make a big fuss and put on a show to tell him I love him. Should that not be everyday? The hard part for me however is that on the one hand I do find it silly, on the other, gifts and acts of service are totally my love language. Brent has kid before that he should just wrap up random things around the house, pretend they are presents and I would be happy. He is right. This year at Christmas and my birthday I had a little helper help me open my gifts and it made me a little sad that I did not get that joy. You can also call it selfish. I did in the end resist the urge to push her down and open it by myself.
Anyway, as a result of all of these mixed emotions for a greeting card company day I still get a little excited. This year I woke up to flowers, a pile of presents and cute card from the husband. The real gift in all of it however was the fact that I got to sleep in and he didn't wake me for presents. I love presents, but I also love sleep.
So the morning was presents. The afternoon my work schedule worked out that I got to go and watch some hockey with dad on my lunch and tonight I get to spend the night with my two favourite people. Jemma and the husband. We are taking my niece to a church skate and then to Tim Hortons for a treat. We will then drop her off at her house and then head home for a late dinner and a movie. Low key, but eventful. I am excited.

This is us skating last year. Excited to go again.