Babysitting.

Confession. I love to babysit. If I could make it a full time job, I most likely would. I think I would love to be a nanny, and if I was single when I graduated from university I would most definitely have been on a plane to a foreign country to be an au pair.

For now however I have settled for spending as much times as possible with my niece. I love watching her grow up and as she learns new things all the time it warms my heart. Most recently she has actually started calling me 'Auntie'. Nothing makes me happier to be honest.

I feel like I love babysitting so much because we are not quite ready for children of our own, so it keeps me in check. I get to play with and cuddle with an adorable little girl, but at the end of the day when I am exhausted and dirty, I can go home and not worry about her any longer.

One of my favourite things about babysitting is planning activities. I love keeping her busy and entertained. We take trips to the Early Year Centre (even walking on nice days), we have made play dough and bathtub paint, gone on walks and bike rides and trips to the park. Even if its just going out and running errands, I love keeping her busy.

So that is my confession, if I could I would babysit. Most likely once we have kids, and once we have a house and etc. I would most likely consider babysitting full time as a way to feasibly stay home with our kids. Growing up my mother babysat and I loved having her home, I also loved that there were always kids around. We were always doing something from swimming at the local pool or church group activities I loved that we were busy and together.

For now however I am content spending as much time as possible babysitting Little Miss and any other offers I happen to get.

Gymnastics.

Yesterday night little miss had her first gymnastics class and I was so excited!

In preparation for her first class I wanted to get her a new gymnastics leotard. I looked around and found her size, however with the cost of it I quickly concluded we would see how it went and it would make a fantastic birthday present. The plus side is that they are size 3/4. She is currently a size 2 so I think it will be able to last a long while if she actually sticks with gymnastics.

While shopping I was opened to a world I never really knew, but as of late have been very fascinated by. A world of dance and gymnastics and figure skating, a world with pink and sparkle and glamour, and this makes me all the more excited to have girls one day. I grew up in a completely different world. I was a tomboy so my childhood consisted of hockey and soccer and playing with the boys.

As a result of being a bit out of my element a few items that the dance store sold shocked me in terms of modesty. They had outfits that consisted of a bikini top type top and mini short bottoms. The fact that this is available for older kids I have come to term with. I watch dance moms, I understand the comfort and the freedom of dancing in that, however when it gets smaller it seems to cover less and be even more inappropriate to me. What I do not understand however is why is this available for toddlers? I do not even know if my niece's diaper would fit into the shorts and I understand that she does not have anything too cover up, but I have never seen less material. Needless to say I also left that at the store.

Picture this, but significantly less material. Cute, but not for a 1.5 year old.

I was very excited to be able to go and watch Little Miss's first class. I was also very excited to step into a gym for the first time since I was about 5 (I lasted one year, I was younger then everyone and remember the uneven bars frustrated me). Now however, I wish I never quite. Gymnastics is easily my favourite Olympic sport and as of late I have been reading a number of gymnasts biographies. Plus I had an obsession with the tv show Make it or Break it until it sadly got cancelled, but that is another story in and of itself.

She is only 18 months so it is very much so a parent and tot kind of thing. Little Miss loved it, even if most of the time she was just running around laughing. She resisted things at first, but after that she kept asking for 'More Done', which is a combination of 'More Peas' and 'All Done', but when she then ran to the beginning of the task it was clear she was going for the first one and more then excited to try again.

Little Miss learnt to barrel roll and even walked across the beam all by herself. It was wonderful to see and she even kept looking up at me saying 'Auntie' to make sure that I was watching. It was wonderful watching Little Miss having fun, but it was also a lot of fun watching the other older kids practicing.

So I am excited to see if Little Miss grows to love the sport of gymnastics and I hope that at least she keeps having fun while there because to be honest, that's what it is all about.

Forever

June 18th, 2011

This is the date that I officially started on a journey of forever with the love of my life. This is the day that we planned for a year, that we thought about for two and that we in many ways prepared for, for five. This is the day that I became a wife and married my best friend. To think that we are quickly approaching two years of marriage is mind boggling to me. It feels like just yesterday that we were planning and preparing for the day, and not that long ago that I was dreaming of being able to do so on the long car rides to and from school with one of my best friends.

Brent had just graduated university and I was unemployed. Money was tight and this is how we planned our dream wedding on a budget of $12000, and came in well under at just under 10000. (my advice, never let money stand in your way of a dream wedding, we could have even been cheaper if we wanted, but there were certain compromises I did not want to make.)

We wanted a very personal, elegant wedding and to be surrounded with those that we love. We had the ceremony at our home Church in Chatham and the reception at the Florence Community Centre in Florence. We planned everything ourselves and with some help from friends and our wedding party we were able to complete a number of DIY projects that made the wedding perfect.

We made all of our own stationary from save the dates, to invitations and menu's. This alone saved significant cost as the cheapest a simple program can be purchased for example is 1$, and we managed to make ours for simply the cost of paper and a printer. We had the ladies group from a small country church cater the wedding, which resulted in fantastic local food at a low price and the knowledge that all the profits went back to the church. A friend gifted us the cake, we did the majority of decorations ourselves including the centre pieces and napkin rings. And our bombardier was bags of cookies that various family members and friends had made.

Brent made and designed the programs. They were a tri fold type program with our 'signature shape' cut out of the front. So the top folded up and then there were two pieces with information side by side.

The church was decorated by the Maid of Honours mother and looked exactly how I dreamed it would.

Through wedding planning I started my love and obsession for peonies. Although hydrangeas was the 'signature flower' I had to have peonies in my bouquet. I loved it! For the bridesmaids bouquets I went with a simple bunch of hydrangeas which cut the cost significantly. Then the flowers at the reception were arranged by my cousin so we just paid a per stem fee. 

We had friends pray for us and perform music which added a personal touch and also saved us a bit of money. (they were awesome!)

We followed the ceremony with family pictures which was hectic and so much fun. 

And now is the part when I can not narrow down my favourite pictures and add a bunch. We had a wonderful time with our wedding party driving around taking pictures in our bus. The bus was a splurge  but so much cheaper than a limo and a way for the wedding party to stay together during the trip. We started the pictures off with a refreshing stop at McDonald's  I don't think I have been there in years before this, but it only seemed a fitting location to visit when in a wedding dress. The tree that we are in front of has actually been called 'the kissing tree'. It is located across the street from my Grandma's house, in my second cousin's backyard. A number of my aunts and cousins have had wedding pictures taken in front of it and we even used to have family pictures taken here. It was wonderful that we could be part of the tradition. The red barn also has sentimental meaning as it is my Grandma's neighbor. 

The reception hall was decorated with the help of a number of people, the wedding party, my mom, and even the photographer and her mother (she also happened to be the Matron of Honours sister, so its not that weird). The decor took much longer then anticipated and the boys were actually there until after midnight adding the final touches. In the end there is not much I would change, I loved it all. 

A friend of mine made the cake. It was her first and she did a fantastic job. I loved it!

We made the seating chart. Each table was named after the location that the picture was taken. (this is all I would have changed, outlining the shape that said 'Brent & Stephanie' in eggplant, but oh well.)

A closeup of the seating chart.

The head table. I bought silver chargers for $1 (and then resold them for the same), and made the napkin rings out of wire and beads.

PlusSize.

To me this has always been a bit of a dirty word. No one wants to be called plus size. It has such terrible images associated with it. It is like being different, and hence they need to label the clothing as such.

I am finally ok to admit, I am plus size. I have as far back as I can remember been plus size. The smallest I remember being was a size 12 in high school. Looking back I feel like I looked amazing  at the time however, not so much. I have always had to go to the back of the rack to find something that fit. There were always a number of fashion styles that simply did not work for me. Trying on pants often ended in frustration and giving up or setting with the only pair in the store that fit.

I hate feeling limited with the clothing I wear. Recently I have decided to attempt to find clothing in an actual plus size store. That was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made. If I was fifty or lacked a fashion sense these stores or sections of stores might work. They attempt to meet the current fashion but it simply does not translate appropriately  Then if you add in that everything in those stores costs twice as much as else where I typically leave even more frustrated then I started.

To be honest, there isn't much I would not give for a store that had clothes I like that actually fit. To not have to try and shove myself into clothes that clearly do not fit. I know I need to lose weight, it is something I have been thinking of for a while and I will eventually be making some drastic changes to accomplish this. However, I am a realist. In high school I was on a number of sports teams, went to school, worked part time, had a social life and was constantly on the go. I will never be in better shape then I was at that time, and even then I was still what the world considers plus size.

So my goals are to get healthy again, I do not care if I drop pant sizes or not, as long as I feel good and to also find decent looking plus size clothes. To find pants that fit perfect and to buy multiple. So if you have any suggestions on wonderful plus size places to shop I am more then open to try them out. Currently my successes have been with OldNavy.ca. Mainly online shopping as I can send them back for free, but it is still frustrating to order and try on ten pairs of pants to keep only one.

Applications.

I hate job applications. I hate writing cover letters, I hate fixing up my resume and I hate applying to a million and one jobs and hearing nothing in response. I hate the waiting and deciding and the discouragement. I hate it all.

So yes it is that time again, my contract is coming to an end in a few months and I have gone into job application overdrive. Do not get me wrong, until I have a permanent full time job that I enjoy, the job application process never really comes to an end, I just now feel the crunch. I am currently thankful that it is like Christmas on the Conservation Ontario website, so I am excited to see if I actually hear back from the number of resumes and cover letters that will be going out over the next few weeks.

The only thing I currently am able to rest assured in is the fact that I know something will show up. God has provided for the husband and I thus far in our careers and I am positive that He will continue to do so. Throughout our marriage (a year and a half) we have worked at total of eleven jobs in four different cities and although we have never hand continuous employment, we have never been without. One of us has always been blessed with employment and at times at the same time! We have managed to move within a weeks notice and even done the long distance thing to take steps in our careers.

So I am hoping that over the next few months something comes from the number of job applications I have been sending out. I am praying for something a little more permanent  a year contract with health benefits would be nice, actually fantastic. Shoot, a six month contract would be wonderful as well. So who knows what the future holds, but I certainly am hoping it includes another job in my fiend.