Getting our 'Spook' on

 I had planned to do another catch up post this morning, but I need to grab some of Cody's photos first and I forgot to! That just means I will post two of them tomorrow!

 Halloween is a mere 14 days away and I am not going to lie, I am having a hard time costuming everyone. We already had two costumes on hand for Mackynzie; one from last year and one that will fit this year/next year. you can see photos from last Halloween here. She took one look at last years costume and declared she wanted to be a chicken (I doubt she has much memory of last year.). We tried it on and what do you know? It still fits! Hooray! Her other costume is a fairy, but she has absolutely no interest in it. Who wouldn't want to be a big fuzzy chick? I think I am going to try and at least make us all animals (because pretty soon costume coordinating with mom and dad is going to be lame.), so I'm pretty sure I am going to be a cat. super simple. Now we just need to figure out something equally as easy for Cody.

 We are still deciding exactly how our Halloween is going to look, since being sugar/gluten/dairy free can be a bit challenging on a day full of candy. (If anyone would like to know how we plan to stay on track with our eating, and or more about our diet, let me know and maybe I will share some food stuff.)

In the meantime, we need to get some decorations up around the house! Looks like we will be in for a fun week of crafting!

Anyone else dressing up with their kids? Or have a super cute costume for your little ones?

New hours

I really dislike adjusting to new schedules. With a toddler, it feels like we are doing it all the time, but the one we need to adjust to now is the hardest yet.

 This will be our first winter with Cody's new company (technically the switch happened last December,  but things were still up in the air.) and they have a 'winter hours' policy  This is something we had never heard of prior to this, but apparently it's something a lot of American companies do. Anyway, this means that Cody will be leaving a little later in the mornings, but in turn, he will not be coming home until 6pm. Factor in the time he needs immediately, to shower and de-workify himself, we don't get to see him until about 6:30pm. That's approximately an hour and forty-five minutes later than we are used to.

 It may not seem like too big of a deal, but to us, it's a huge hurdle to work around. Mackynzie goes to bed between 6:30 and 8pm (depending on if or when she napped.) so that gives Cody a very small time frame (if any) to see her, eat dinner, and do his regular stuff around the house. Last night, for example, he brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, and got her pj's before his shower. When he came downstairs, she was already asleep.  The company tries to balance it out by not having him come in as early, but it doesn't mean a whole lot since everyone is still asleep.

 It won't last forever, but we have long  winters, so it's going to be a big balancing act around here until we adjust. I feel so bad for him.. he has to come home from a long day of work just to rush around and hardly see anyone. After Mackynzie goes to bed (time depending again) that gives us hopefully an hour to spend together and clean up. I am just realizing this post may sound whiny .. I hope not! That's not my tone about the situation, it's just new. And we have never had to deal with seeing each other so little in our entire relationship.

 It wasn't supposed to start until November,  but Cody was surprised with his new hours when he went back to work from holidays yesterday.

So far, we are just taking it one day at a time and not letting ourselves get down in the dumps about things. After all, we have a ton to be grateful for. At least we all get to see each other every day, no matter how short the time. Definitely gives me even more sympathy and respect for all the military/navy/rig work families I know. You guys are amazing.

 Plus, seeing this little face after a phone call with daddy makes me think we will adjust just fine.

Thanksgiving at Jamma's

Last weekend was thanksgiving for us. It was nice to have an awesome free meal that I didn't have to cook, between birthday parties.

Our thanksgivings are always short and sweet, seeing as we have a very small family. We went over to Cody's grandma's house which is just down the road from us. Mackynzie stayed on the porch swing almost the entire time (this kid loves to swing.), and only took breaks to color or do puzzles with family.

 I hope everyone (who is Canadian) had a wonderful thanksgiving!

The Morning Walk

There is just something about a morning walk on a beautiful day... This morning I didn't realize how much I needed to get out and breath in some fresh air, until I dragged our butts out the door. Everything is always so calm and quiet. You pass the occasional person out jogging or walking, or tending their lawns, but it seems as though everyone is trying to maintain the peace and quiet of the morning.

It was so nice, we decided to take a long walk and stop at the park at our half way point. Of course, our furry friends were much more fun; I caught Mackynzie trying to smooch Carly.

And of course we can't forget Fynn. The one who doesn't have size and weight to his advantage, making him the perfect target for surprise scoops and snuggles.

Cody and I traded walking schedules a little while ago, so this was the first time in what feels like a long time, that I walked Carly. Cody usually bikes with her, so I let her take lots of sniff-stops for a change of pace. 

I really hope I can continue to take our morning walks. We are in week one of test driving a new daily routine; fingers crossed it goes smoothly and becomes habit!

Mackynzie's 2nd Birthday party

 Oh my goodness, it's been a while! We started having internet problems at the beginning of last week and so I have been internet-less for the past few days. I have so much catching up to do! We have had thanksgiving,  birthday parties, treats, family outings, and Cody has been on holidays this week.  I guess the easiest way to do this will be in order of events, so we will start  with Mackynzie's second birthday party.

 Mackynzie and Cody's birthdays were on Tuesday, but we had her birthday party on Saturday to make things a little easier. As I had mentioned before, in this post, we were not doing a big shindig this year. Unlike her first birthday, we decided to keep things very low key and stress free. We let her invite a few of her friends, and kept the party between meal times so we didn't have to worry about feeding everyone.

 I didn't get many pictures; partly because I forgot, and partly because I was too busy (we didn't have a photographer there this year haha. well, technically we did, but she was a guest!)

 We had fun making her invitation this year. It was one of the easiest things we could have done!

We spent the evening before the party prepping. Mackynzie loved making her cake replacement.

Since she only had a few friends coming, we kept things simple with a play tent, tunnel, foam pit, and a bird house decorating and coloring station.

She awaited her guests like this:

We replaced a cake with rice crispy treats to keep things gluten free.

We had put them into pretty liners, and I had checked to make sure they came out of them. They did. Then 20 minutes before the party I decided to double check them. They did not come off... So we hurriedly tried to get them off a few different ways before everyone got there. I decided to pop them in the oven real quick and thankfully they came off. What's a birthday party without a little last minute near disaster, right?

 Like I said, I completely forgot about photos, I really didn't grab any of the decorations, so I snapped these afterwards. Still not much, but you can kind of see them!

These are the little bird houses the kids got to color. They were different shapes and sizes, and they were a huge hit! Everyone got to take their bird house home and they were all so proud.

Mackynzie's friends were extremely generous and they all had a blast checking out her birthday gifts.

The rice crispy treat cupcakes were a hit with the kids, and with the paper crisis averted, it all went smoothly. We had so much fun celebrating her, and the relaxed feel of the whole thing was heaven to my hectic mind. We sent Cody out to dinner with his friends afterwards, Mackynzie crashed really early, and I got to enjoy pizza and a rom-com. It was a super fun day, and I think we did our job of making some great memories for Mackynzie.

Thank you fall

 The crunch of leaves, an overcast sky, and a warm fall breeze; the recipe for a lovely afternoon that cleanses my soul and makes everything calm again. Thank you fall.

Vlog Time! Birthday chat and our nuts-o weekend

                

I should add that the water leak happened at 8pm on Saturday. That made it extra fun!

Again, sorry for the one-take video. If i do this regularly i will probably edit it down.