Parks Family Christmas Party 2008

Click above to view online.  Click this link to download the high(er) resolution video.

Caleb says "Merry Christmas"

I finally got this video uploaded... but it jumps to a picasa album... click the image... this is the one that is dedicated to the Forsyth Family because Caleb was feeling chatty...

From 2008-12 (Dec)

slacker...

I know; so little updating... truth be told I've been pretty nauseous lately most of the time and the other half of the time I have been sleeping... my poor house is suffering the punishment of an undecorated tree and killer dust bunnies. Good thing we had company over on Thursday or those dust bunnies just may have taken us hostage.

So, yes, it's true... Caleb's going to be a big brother... maybe for his birthday... my due date is July 26; Caleb's birthday.

Off to watch a movie, but wanted to get this video up... more to blog tomorrow as we will likely be hibernating all weekend with the highs reaching a lofty -27*C (-17*F) feeling like minus a bajillion with the wind chill factored in.

This is dedicated to Auntie Melissa, Uncle Scott, Cousin Joel & Cousin Alisha

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

morning beverages of choiceWell; I'm no mennonite girl; but these were really good buns and really easy...
Caleb with a Pomelo helmet on. Karl has a picture of himself like this that I am determined to dig up and post... I need to get him to cooperate first ;o) stay tuned!Enjoying a new snowman blanket from the Forsyths :o) "sof', sof'" (soft) he says.

Couldn't get the video up after all... maybe tomorrow.

BQ...:2009 Brother of the Year

Sometimes we put two soothers (pacifiers) into Caleb's crib in case he loses one in the night. Turns out he doesn't usually lose them...
and a couple of videos... Caleb got a kick out of the magnets on his monkey; and a montage of munching videos... "Doe-dee" is Cantonese for "more"

you had me at flaxsicle...

Just gotta plug my brother-in-law's* business: Omega Crunch... he was in Calgary for a trade show (The Calgary Women's Show) and got me in for free. I am literally munching on roasted maple flax (in my yogurt) as I type this. YUM! Next stop... flaxsicle!

Check it out and buy some stuff!

See this smiling face at the Vancouver Women's Expo next weekend, and the National Women's Show in Toronto the weekend after. Men can eat flax too; men can even go to the women's shows.

* I guess he's not really my brother-in-law... he's married to my sister's husband's sister. I guess he's my sister's brother-in-law. Great guy though; buy some stuff!

5 year anniversary wedding bands

If Karl had his say, I'm pretty sure this is what our wedding bands would have looked like...
... maybe a 5 year anniversary set?

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!

HAPPY INDEED!!!

HTTP://WWW.ENGADGET.COM/2006/10/22/HAPPY-INTERNATIONAL-CAPS-LOCK-DAY/

THERE IS NOTHING HAPPIER THAN GETTING SHOUTED AT WITH EVERY SINGLE LETTER YOU READ!!! MAY BE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF GETTING OVER-STIMULATED BY THREE OR MORE EXCLAMATION MARKS AT THE END OF EACH SENTENCE!!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY!!! THAT'S ME!!!

Christian College and University Fairs...

Just gotta put in a plug for my former stomping grounds... if you're looking for Christian Higher Education for yourself or your kids, undergrad, graduate, continuing ed... leaders are life long learners! Check out when they'll be in a town near you and go chat with the reps (Calgary, Oct 24 & 25).

Skookum

Did you ever have one of those moments, probably somewhere in your mid twenties, when you realized, "hey. the world doesn't revolve around me." Or maybe you never felt like it did, but you still may have had a less-earth-shattering-but-similar moment; something like, "hey. The world doesn't all think like me."

I've had quite a few of those moments. Not sure what that says about me... I'm confident? Arrogant? Naive? Assertive? Not sure. Here're a couple of examples... one time I was teasing a person about needing some psychiatric assessment (the appropriateness of my sense of humour and whether or not "here are" can be shortened to "here're" are other posts altogether); I said, "soon they'll be sending you to the fourth floor..." [insert puzzled look from said person]... "You know? Fourth floor?" [insert shaking head from said person]... "HULLOW, fourth floor! Psych ward! Get it?" Then it hits me. hey. the world didn't all grow up in Duncan where the psychiatric ward is on the fourth floor of the only hospital in town.

A friend of mine grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan. One time we were having supper with her and her husband and got talking about what was cool when we were kids. She says, "Remember when it was so cool if you lived on a cul-de-sac?" Blank stares. Then it hit her. hey. the world didn't all grow up in Nipawin where the first cul-de-sac was apparently a novelty.

When I first moved to Calgary I used the word Skookumchuck. Sometimes shortened to Skookum. Seriously, the first person to comment on this blog or on my facebook wall with the right definition of SKOOKUM without looking it up gets a prize. Maybe a SKOOKUM bar. My mom thought it was so funny when I first used that word; to this day if she hadn't actually seen the Skookumchuck hotel with her own two eyes she would think I made it up. So yesterday she was shopping and found a Skookum bar... of course she had to buy it... and so here I sit, munching on my skookum bar. Oh. I guess the prize might be one third of a skookum bar.

I'd love to here your "the world doesn't think like me" moments.

Tune in next time when we discuss whether tighty-whiteys should be called GINCH or GONCH or GITCH or GOTCH.

ps; mom you'd be proud to know that while I did my research for this post, I came across the only skookumgal out there. Her name? Yep. Linda.

virtual renos...

No, you didn't make a wrong turn at albeqwerky... You're in the right place... Just a little virtual makeover :)

Dayna

Democracy...

"I am a Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong, or
free to choose those who shall govern my country.

This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind."

John G. Diefenbaker (1895-1979) Prime Minister of Canada

VOTE!

I'm far from a strong political voice and certainly not savvy on the depths of all the party issues... but I do know one thing; I have a voice... so do you... VOTE!

But the commute is bad, I'm homeless, I'm in prison, the lineup is long, I am tired, the kids are sick, I need cat food... I know... but VOTE!

But it's complicated; I need to work, I didn't get a registration card, I'm going to grandmas, I ate my ballot, I have no I.D., I live out of the country, it's my first time voting, I think the polls are closed, ... make it happen... VOTE!

Election day: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Okay I'm stepping off the soapbox now;
Have a great weekend
and be Thankful this Thanksgiving for the right to vote.

Happy Thanksgiving

a 3.5 minute video :: Caleb (what else?)

We've been having beautiful fall weather, mid 20s all last week... I went for a walk with Caleb and took some photos of a few of the views we have from paths near our home; mountains to the west (no kidding), Canada Olympic Park to the south, and the city line to the east. Karl and I have been discovering all kinds of paths around our place and doing some exploring; it's really quite beautiful.

And this is Caleb with his "second cousins" Vinny (Vincenzo), left, and Franky (Francesco), right. They're 2.5yrs and 4.5yrs. My cousin and her family live in Standard, AB, about an hour away from us. We don't visit nearly enough! They also have a beautiful daughter, Liliana, 6, who was at school when I was there.

Stay tuned for a new video collage...

D

Yikes, we've been so delinquent eh? Well, this is our equivalent of a "back to school" photo... Caleb's first day in his new carseat... compared to close to the same time last year...



And here's our little monkey, probably one of his last days in the jolly jumper... he likes it for shorter and shorter durations the more mobile he gets!






What more to report on except, oh yes, more Caleb ;o) A pictorial review:

Moon cake that we eat to "celebrate" Chinese Harvest Festival...

Aww, little "sweetpea"... Caleb was crawling around and I wasn't really paying attention until he sounded frustrated and I saw him in an awkward position reaching for something that he easily should have been able to crawl to... when I had a closer look, I could see why he was reaching instead of crawling...

Both of his legs were jammed into one leg of his sleeper... I had to grab the camera but don't worry, he wasn't stranded for long...


Here's Caleb flirting with Abigail, our friend Heidi's daughter, a few months younger than Caleb.
Next post will be halloween photos at the rate I'm going these days!

~D

Oh NO! I am one of them!

I was working on a server and did a manual test run on one of the tasks... at exactly 11:11:11! I AM one of them!

K

(click for larger image)

Starring Caleb Chu...

living a prolific life and other life hacks

Oh time for the blogosphere, where art thou? It seems like life has been getting ahead of me a lot these days and I am afraid fall is not going to have a reprieve for me. I'm excited about working more (Human Resources Coordinator at my church) and directing a program at my church called "EveryLeader," a leadership training course that launched last January. Mostly I am really beginning to appreciate the need to be more organized with my time in order to get everything done that needs doing and to not overcommit.

Karl's favourite expert on organizing life is David Allen, author of Getting Things Done (GTD); it's an excellent book/program if you're interested in personal productivity... though I've yet to complete it... it's one thing that I really need to get done... :) Here's a good blog that also serves as a bit of an overview of GTD.

A recent blog that Karl sent me that I have found quite inspirational is "Marc and Angel Hack Life" for which my entry today is titled. Check it out for such posts as, "50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do," 7 Clever Google Tricks Worth Knowing, "20 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Every Sunday", and "The 7 Habits of Highly Happy People"

Anyway, in other news... just winding down my night after a great day at the zoo (actually two days in a row at the zoo) and wanted to share this warm fuzzy with you... awwwww...

[I took this pic of the new baby giraffe]

Happy Birthday Leila!

Happy 10th Birthday Leila!

Leila is Karl's cousin (left) on his mom's side; her youngest sister's daughter. Here she is with Caleb and Karl's two nieces, Jessica (centre) and Josephine (right).

Not "doh", but "phew"

I have been working on a spreadsheet, and tonight, I transferred it over to Google Docs so I can easily share it with Dayna. Once I did that, I continued to work on it online and then I deleted the original files off my computer. You probably know where this is going, don't you? Long story short, somehow I managed to corrupt the file on Google's server and it kept telling me "a server error occurred" when I tried to open the spreadsheet! DOH!

Luckily, I use Mozy (an online backup service) to backup a few things on my computer including the original spreadsheet. I restored the original spreadsheet in just a few minutes and I only lost about an hour's worth of work on it. The service paid for itself tonight... considering that it is free (at least for the level at which I have signed up).

Actually, we had Dayna signed up for the paid service (USD$60/year) and it is keeping a current backup of some 25GB worth of photos and videos on her computer. If you are not using a backup solution now, I highly recommend putting one in place. Mozy is definitely one of the easiest ones I have used. Consider it insurance for your photos and other important files.

K

PS: If you happen to want to sign up, please use this link (https://mozy.com/?code=4237DB); it will give me a bit of extra storage quota on my free account :-) Thanks.

Caleb, Caleb and ... what else? Yep, more Caleb...

It was all good and fine until he gagged on a piece of cookie and barfed. Hm.

Caleb got a walker from Amma and Grampa. My favourite part is the variable speed options for the wheels, because it's not really a "walker" yet, more of a "propper"... more on that in the next few weeks!

Caleb also *can't wait* to watch his new Veggie Tales dvd from Auntie Elaine and Uncle Gary... okay, his mommy is looking forward to it too... He got a cute VT pillow too and an adorable "Lord's prayer" bear from Langa Amma. The Forsyth's got him a little dipper spoon, sippy cup, and a "baby's first photo album" that is soft sided and I finally get to put pictures in... we were waiting until we gave mom her book album for her 50th birthday with some of our professional photos in it that we got done while in NC..

Happy First Birthday Caleb!

More to come... but here's the cake I made yesterday :)

Wild Wild West...

Crazy but true, Karl is the only one who has gone to the actual Stampede this year (rodeo with his boss and colleagues), but if you live in Calgary or if you've ever visited during the 10 days of Stampede, you know there's a lot going on in the city that spins off of the "Greatest Show on Earth." I went with some friends to a free pancake breakfast at the mall on Tuesday (there are hundreds of free pancake breakfasts in the city over stampede week).Caleb loved the marching band and was surprisingly interested in the goats at the petting zoo too. [Note for those of you interested in marketing; a home builder was walking around handing out free (branded) single-use packs of sunscreen. Isn't that a great idea? Think Sonfest or Agrifair or anything outdoor... ]

I assured my crowd-hating girlfriend that the lines would be nearly gone by the time we arrived at 9:30... yeah right! But actually it wasn't too bad; about 20 mins in line... and we split up so a couple of us got food and she took her girls for pony rides and face painting. Here they are dancing to the country tunes!

One of the new foods introduced this year at the stampede... hot beef sundae. not kidding.

For a good laugh, check out a list of the other stampede foods on my friend's blog here. You'll gain weight just reading the list. Deep fried coke? eyeeee.

And today I went to the zoo with a friend of mine and her three girls... it was a good day for it: not too hot, not too cool, all the animals were out and about.The baby elephant hasn't grown as much as I would have expected it to from when I saw it last year.
There's a new baby gorilla that we got a really close look at. This is two month old "Yewande".
Call me uneducated or something, but I had no idea that hippos' legs were so short... I think they've always been in the water when I see them.

We got home just in time! The rain started pounding down shortly after we got in the door.

Getting Spoiled...

Yesterday was my birthday and look what was on my page-a-day! How serendipitous. Boy I got spoiled! I got greetings and flowers and chocolate and singing and lunch and supper and tickets to Cirque Du Soleil in August!... I just can't even go on more for fear of making you jealous ;o) Just Kidding! But I feel *so* grateful to have such loving friends and family around me! Thank you!

My Little stampeding cowboy :)

I hate government papers

"Hate is such a strong word", as I always say. But get this: I am filling out a form for the Alberta government and here is one of the instructions:

Item 5. All corporations must answer this question. If the corporation has not filed an Annual Return previously, this item will be blank.

So, does this mean I need to fill this out with some literal blanks!? How frustrating.

K

Caleb: "more"

this post is dedicated to sean and tim...

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Breakthrough...

Try as I might, I couldn't wrestle the camera into the mouth of my teething baby for a good shot, but trust me... they're there... two of them... TEETH... what a concept; he's only eleven months old!And here's Caleb on Father's day with his Grandpa, wearing his "grandpa is my hero" shirt that I got him down in Mooresville. Missed the photo op wearing his "my dadaaa is #1" shirt that he wore to church! aww, so cute.

Karl was playing with Caleb the other night and started winking, which Caleb found quite hilarious... here he is catching it on video (is it so last century to call it "video taping"?)

Okay, okay... since you insisted... here are more photos of the little prince that is the centre of our universe: Here he is using his "dipper" spoon that Auntie Melissa and Uncle Scott got him for part of his birthday present...Despite the rainy spring we've had, Karl has still been the king of the barbecue... beer can chicken with home-made rub, grilled pear chicken salad (my idea, his grilling...) burgers, and pork tenderloin... mmm I am one spoiled wife!