Good to Know

*Meatloaf is old, grumpy and I really only know 3 songs.. but that was a fun night!

*My family is the funniest group of people I have ever met..

*Tossing the football around with your husband,uncles and cousin is a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday Afternoon.

*A trip to see your Uncle at work can make a 4 year old boys life!!

* somethings may get older but never change

*People who only think of themselves never hurt themselves only push those around them away...and never seem to see it..

* seeing your friend happy can make you smile for days.. the headache from the wine can last that long too..

*I heart LAZY days!!

*something is better then nothing! Thank you Ron!!!

*OH Boyfriend you be careful this week... someone maybe gunning for you!!

* Jays game with our peeps, dinner,drinks and a sleepover DON'T MIND IF I DO!! Happy Saturday!!

Top Five

Top Five is a short one today.. got a bunch to do with my kids to get ready for tomorrow!!

So Top Five Pictures from this past week....

loves him xox

syd has to run to keep up!!

a bit heavy!! ha ha

learning your papa is cooler then you even thought!

What the Hell!!

A letter from a mom to her son

Dear Toad,

I know someday I will sit beside you on the couch begging you to talk to me. I will hope all day that you will tell me just one story, give me one nugget of your day.
I will long for the days that you told me what your friends said at school or give me a the play by play of your favourite movie. I will  want you to call me to help or answer a question you have but after the last 6 days I am enjoying the quiet of today.

I love you to bits and please know I know you are who you are because of your chatty mom, BUT MY GOD!! You are a talker!!!!

I watch you in awe and wonder many things like, how you can talk that long without getting annoyed by your own voice?

I wonder if you talk to keep yourself awake at times or is it cuss your brain is overflowing?
I love that you have a billion questions but wish they were spread out over a 5 year period not all in one day.

I wonder how you ever get to sleep with all these questions blowin around in there. 

I think dude don't you know I have seen Cars I don't need to hear bit by bit over and over again.

Jax I hope your excitement for life and love of questions stays with you, I hope you share it with me but remember when you see mom in the corner blood coming from my ears, rocking and crying just shut it for 5 minutes!

Love you always and forever

Mom

7 weeks and counting

Well friends we have hit the 7 weeks marker. 7 weeks left of mat leave!!

BOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOO! I remember this feeling last time around however I went back to work 7 weeks early with the Toad. I remember the last week we were home and I wanted to kiss and hug him every second, I wanted to take 10000 pictures to remember that time, I wanted to explain to this little man why his mom had to go back to work and that I was not leaving him but helping provide a better life for him.

I remember the day I took this picture

I remember thinking how can I put this little man out in the world by himself ? How can I ask him to operate and function on his own he is just soo little.. I worried about how he would feel if he hurt himself and i wasn't there, or when he was tired and I could not put him to bed, or if he would look for me during the day.

The first day I packed him up to take to daycare I was crying  the whole 2 minute drive there, I pulled myself together long enough to snap this pic

He was happy, he was excited but I was scared and nervous. I found myself awake last night with Lovely for an hour or so and all I could think about was how 3.5 years later I was feeling the same way.. Oh sweet girl I hope you adjust like your brother did. I made a choice last night that after this post I will let it go, I will put only positive thoughts and energy towards my return as I am excited to go to work just sad to leave my kids. I will also be planning a ton of fun stuff with the kids so if you see my post getting smaller I hope you understand. I want to spend this time huggin, kissin and snappin pics of my kids and I enjoying this time.  

Bring on the best 7 weeks of my life !!

Wise Shopper

Yesterday I was at our local Shoppers Drug Mart with my two kids at 4 pm.. yeah bad time of the day but it was a must shop.
I was on a mission, I found my item and noticed it was on sale YIPPPEE a dollar off! Sweet..

I took my item and heading to the cashier she scanned it but it came up at the non sale price? I asked her if she would mind to double check cuss I thought it was on sale.. One dollar I know but my wheels were turning just wait for it! 

The cashier called for a price check and while we waited she handed me a 3 dollar off coupon she had at the till, Yipppee 3 dollars off LOVIN IT!

We got word back that yes in deed I was correct and the price scanned was higher then the advertised or ticketed price on the shelve.. CHA CHING...

See here in Canada we have a little thing called the Scanning Code of Practice which most retailers hold to, I know from the past that Shoppers does for sure. I mentioned it to the cashier who had no idea what it was but her supervisor heard and said yes she is right please take 10 dollars off the price.. CHA CHING.. momma is on mat leave and in total got 14 dollars off a 19 dollar purchase!!

Based on this code I have gotten free hairspray, free shippy cups, free babyfood, and 10 dollars off countless times.. I think this is a secret that most people don't know about so here below is a bit of info on the code... happy shopping and if the price is wrong you remember your code and put it to practice...

The Scanning Code of Practice is a voluntary code that nearly every major retailer in Canada adheres to. It promises the customer accurate price scanning at the register on all UPC scanned or Price Look Up (PLU) merchandise. If an item scans in at a price higher than the shelf price the customer gets it for free (or $10 off if the item is more than $10)

The scanning code is endorsed by The Competition Bureau of Canada was created from the collaborative efforts of the Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors.

At participating retailers you should see this sign on the entrance doors and at the till that reads:

Scanning Code of Practice If the scanned price of a non-price item is higher than the shelf price or any other displayed price, the customer is entitled to receive the first item free, up to a $10 maximum. If a Code of Practice problem cannot be resolved at the store level, please call 1-866-499-4599 to register your complaint.

By Kimberley Clancy - www.frugalshopper.ca

Flash to the rescue!

Do you ever feel like you can see something happen before it does? I have watched Lovely movin around and knew she was gonna fall before she does or see the milk spilling before Toad knocks it and this is what happened last Friday.

Toad wanted to go swimming and Lovely was inside sleeping so I ran in to get my suit on, as I passed the front door I double checked it was locked since we would be out back. I grabbed all the essentials on my way out the phone, my blackberry and a beer.

Our sliding glass door that leads to the backyard has a security bar on it and as I took the two steps down to the living room I thought imagine if that fell down when I closed the door?? Oh man..

I pulled open the door , stepped out turned and pulled the door closed. I watched it happen, I tried to stop it but it was too late. BOOM we are not locked out and Lovely is inside.. SHIT!!

In the background I heard "can I go in now mom? Mom Can I go in now? NICOLE i am going in now... splash!

I took two seconds to think.. I knew the front door was locked, I knew the back door was locked and I knew the Van was locked (so no garage door opener)CRAP CRAP CRAP... I will call Rob..

CRAP Voicemail...
I knew the kitchen window was closed but not locked so I tried to pop open the screen but this thing was like a bank vault... CRAP...
I did the only thing I could think to do run around the backyard freakin... ? I don't know why.. it felt right at the time.
OH CRAP Lovely is waking up... crap crap crap I scream...only now does the Toad take notice that I am freakin... he tells me very calmly to just open the door.. thanks buddy NOT HELPING...

I tried Rob again and got him... here is our conversation.

FM = frantic mom

FM- Can I cut the screen?
Rob- Why?
FM- I have an emergency
Rob- you have a premerency?
oh man..i took the phone away from my ear and actually gave it the finger...
SM=spazzy mom
SM- EMERGENCY!!! Toad and I are outside and the door locked behind me and Lovely is in her bed screaming..
Rob- Just go through the front door
yep this is how smart my husband thinks I am ...
SM-it's locked.
Rob- Why?
are you kidding me.....
SM-cuss we were going to be out back and I didn't want someone to come in and not hear them well she was sleeping!!!!
Rob- yeah that door almost locked behind me the other day..
SM-CAN I CUT THE SCREEN...
Rob- do what you have to do..
CLICK...

I did what any Mom of a superhero would do and I called on Flash to get out of the pool. I put his undies on him and tossed him through the window. I made sure he was safe on the counter and told him to jump down and unlock the door.. He told me I got this mom ...

For a moment I got lost in the thought of how cute he is but was quickly brought back to reality with the screams of my baby girl.. As I stood at the back door for a few seconds it occurred to me now I am locked outside and BOTH my kids are inside MOTHER FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!

SM-Toad come on hurry up
Toad- Mom I don't think I can jump from up here......(scared)
SM-Toad I know you can do this.. I know you can find away to save your sister.. come on baby!

Seconds later I was greeted by my boy who stood in front of me blocking telling me that he turned around , slid down till he felt his tippy toes touch and then let go.. I said AWESOME now lets go get your sister... and that we did! We both ran up the stairs, I flung open the door and we grabbed Camryn from her bed!! Thank god we have a superhero living with us I said..

Now back downstairs I think mom earned that beer!

soooo blender time

Happy Tuesday Peeps!!

Blender time again, I am tired and just deleted a freakin awesome post so this is all you get today :(

* our house is now a prison.. with Lovely on the move we have to block off some area's to allow me  to go pee, cook dinner and hell just leave the room...

I remember doing this for the Toad in the old house.. Our doorways are too big for gates so we will make do for now..

* we have some great friends the Loebach's who have been so kind to us over the years. They are so fun to hang out with and we cherish their friendship but I could cry when I think about how much I appreciate them selling us our new pool at a dirt cheap price.. Duane and Laura you have helped add so many amazing memories to our family's story!! xoxoxo Thank you guys.. Laura this gets you one extra long hug from my husband :)

Here are a few pictures of the fun we have been having

hope you all have a great night.. i will re write my locked out post :(

HUGS

Good To Know

We made it to Saturday HOLLA!!

~If you tell my son your a superhero he will sit quiet and let you cut his hair... looks like momma found Toad's new hairdresser

~Cars 2 you are going to bankrupt us and p.s why do we need 13 versions of Lighting McQueen.

~1 full day of cleaning (most of it on my floors) 30 mins in the backyard and my floors are trashed.... pissed for a few minutes but then thought I want a house my kids can live in... so I have decided to stop cleaning.

~My new idea of torture is a needle to the roof of someones mouth YIKES

~I am a 100% over reactor I have know this my whole life but am taking the first step in admitting i have the problem.

~Water park with 4 kids under 5 didn't feel like as fun as it looked for the moms with kids that were older... someday we will be there Nikki..

~Lovely will be walking in a few weeks.. Fart!

~I love you Big Brother where else can a whining man toss a tamper tantrum and I will call it entertainment?

~Note to Self don't lock both doors and go outside well your baby is sleeping!! see 4 points above....just imagine the call Rob got at work...

~Loved Bridesmaids for many reasons but this has to be #1 this is my jam..

~ Today has been perfect and the reason is my husband, kids and I have spent the day in our yard laughing and having fun.. I am truly blessed!!

Friday Five

Hip HIP we made it to the weekend, as each week passes my throat starts to close a bit more at the thought of going back to work. BUT it was a great week! We had a blast and enjoyed the weather 100%...

Today My Top Five is my top five Dinner parties I would like to host... Came up with this idea all on my own!!! special right...

1. My fave Life Teachers-These are the people who share the same belief system as me, or have taught me a lot in my life. The list would look like this Oprah... yeah I know everyone just rolled their eyes. I love her and would love to talk to her a bit about her thoughts on life. I would include Rhonda Byrne the author of The Secret , Iyanla Vanzant, my aunt Dawn, Mrs Nicolette and my mom. This would be a dinner I would wish I could bring a notebook too.

2. My funny Crew- This party would be filled with the people who can make me laugh till I can't breath, the ones I make sure I have a seat beside at any party. I would sit there and take it all in. I would enjoy the night and know that I would not want it to end anytime soon. The invite list would be long so long, but a few peeps on the list would be my hubby, Dawn and Doug for sure, our buddy Steve and his super funny wife Pauline,KL and Nugent 100%. Like I said this list would be long but what a great night it would be.

3. Blog Moms I love- In this crazy adventure of starting a blog I have come across so many amazing women, they have made me laugh, made me cry, touched me and made me think. What better way to say thank you then to have them over for dinner. I would invite the Not so silent mommy Sarah, Home C.E.O Lisa, Kathy from My dishwasher's possessed, Staceroo at Mommy again and my buddy T from Married with Child. The funny stories, laughs and cold drinks that would be exchanged makes this a sleepover dinner party for sure!

4. A dinner for Two- Just me and Hubby! We would get to finish our sentences, I would get to sit the whole meal, he would not have to feed Lovely and Toad would not be screaming in the background. I would love to spend 1 hour with my man.. hell make it 2. I miss those meals of our past. I would not change our life for anything BUT I always like when we go out and get to enjoy each others company and if it was on a patio even better.

5.My Girls- These girls get me, they love me for me and of course they make me laugh like hell. We can go from topic to topic never missing a beat. We get each others humour and we enjoy each others company this is a great combo for any good dinner party.

I hope you all have a great weekend and get to spend some time with the people you love... smile, laugh and eat well!

Melt Down

Last night Rob and I decided to take the Toad and Lovely for a walk after dinner and get some ice cream. Rob is working like crazy and I thought it would be nice for Jax to have some time with us outside the house and besides what better way to celebrate a great Dentist visit then with a huge Ice Cream Cone.

We are lucky to have a sweet little Ice Cream shack at the end of our street, we have on a few occasions walked down and had ice cream after dinner and every time we go Toad drops his cone. Then freaks out but ends up eating it after we clean it up and tell him it is fine.

Last Night I was snapping pics of him and his cone when it happened and actually caught the drop on film...


Oh no THE DROP

The FREAK OUT

DOUBLE CHECK for Grass

and Life is good again...


May all your falls be so easy to recover from!



Chomper Check

I feel like I am losing you sweet boy! I have on a few occasions this past month watched in awe as you leaped from toddler to big boy before my eyes.

One day you were in the pool with your water wings on and then the very next your swimming without them, how is this happening?

Today as I stood snappin pics of you like you were getting married, I again felt my heart pull. You are a boy now. A wee little man all his own. I was proud as any mom could be of your brave face, your grown up composure and the manners you used after.

Toad I want to tell you that both your dad and I have from day one encouraged you to be you! To do things on your own, to be confident and to try things even if they scare you. You have used this encouragement and ran full force out into the world.

You are determined, you are brave, you are funny and a sweet and loving boy. I know you just went to the dentist today but I feel like I will be dropping you off at college in a blink of an eye.

I love you baby boy and I want to hold you back and keep you at 4 forever but know you need to grow and mature.... and I count my blessings to be able to tag along for the ride.

So I may have taken 45 pictures today at the dentist but I was just soo proud of our Toad

had his mouth open and waiting ha ha she wasn't even in the room

Lets see what can happen in 30 days!

So I have mentioned before how I feel like I still look pregnant, and I am done with it. I am starting today July 11th the 30 days of hell..or the 30 day Shred with Jillian Michaels, I am going to do this video everyday for 30 days, I will add in some runs here or there and some long walks with my peeps and their shorties as well as make the following changes.

1) stop adding salt to anything.. if it has salt awesome if it doesn't oh well (This is going to be SOO hard for me)

2) other then beer and a coffee or two I will not be drinking any calories.. Water is my new best friend and LOTS of it.

3)I am going to try to not eat after 7. This is another hard one but I think it will be key.

I love how it feels to work hard and see changes so I will make some changes and see what I can come up with. I know what I weigh as of today (sorry not sharing) and I will report the lose in 30 days. I feel like if I put it on here I am not accountable to you all as well as myself so no quiting..

Bring on the pain and the rewards from it.

Good To Know

YIPPEE Saturday!!

~ I got an extra 3 weeks of Mat leave!! YIPPPEEE cuss I am a moron and said I had 6 weeks when I have 9 weeks left HA AH but i love the extra time !

~When you remove the wings the fish will swim.

~Just cuss you don't remember falling doesn't mean you didn't!

~A kid with no fear makes a mom with tons

~Coming home is the best feeling ever.....

~Watching your shorties with your buddies kids is always fun, watching these two grow up side by side makes me smile....

~Ah Daycare how I love you... now if only Lovely would let me put her down our house may get cleaned.

~ The words Yard Sale makes my back hurt...

~Pauline and I can laugh at just about anything... but this was a classic..


something we came across



like twins HA HA

~I can sell a t-shirt for a dollar even if it was marked .50 cents..

~I may have stolen a nickname at our yard sale from an awesome lady.. Now Steve's job is to get it to stick..

~Our Pool was the best fifty dollars we ever spent..

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend! I have the pleasure of hosting a sleepover with my favourite Superman tonight well my hubby is at a bachelor party..

Friday Top Five

Happy Friday All!! I love today it is sunny out, my shorties are workin with me, the van is packed for the Legendary Garage Sale tomorrow and I get to have a sleepover with my girl P... Life is GREAT!

Today's Top 5 is my Top 5 things I will do with my lotto winnings.

Our Lotto 649 is at 32 Million which belongs in the Gundry Bank Account... so here we go.. These are my idea and not Rob and I so we will see what happens after we cash the cheque.

1. Hire a Cleaning Lady! what? do I need to say more? Na didn't think so

2. Book the Disney Cruise we will be treating our family, friends and their kidlets to... Oh and book Eric and his family to come and take pictures!! OHHHH this is my dream to do..

3. Make the best call in the world.... to our parents and tell them to retire!!!!! Oh god that brings tears to my eyes what a gift that would be to do for our parents.. but it is a win for us too cuss with all the traveling that Rob and I will be doing we will need sitters Ha ha I am kidding or am I.

4. SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP and not look at one price tag! NOT one.. I would come into my house and toss out all my clothes and replace them all! EVERY piece.

5. Buy my Jeep that I have been waiting 20 years for!

Happy Friday Everyone.. Its Fun to Dream!!

Pool Side PSA for birth control

Well we survived our vacation!! The kids were awesome  good Okay. Well the kid was, the baby not so much. The poor thing is cutting a tooth or ten, add in a terrible cold and you got yourself a fussy baby girl.

No biggie normally but it is when you are sharing a forty foot trailer with 3 or 4 other sleeping people! I have countless funny stories from the mini vacation  so why not start at the beginning.

Thursday Morning the kids and I left and headed up to Bayfield, the drive was great Jax was pumped to get there. We arrived and that is when it dawned on me shit I have to unpack all this by myself with a baby on the move who is desperate to get out of her car seat and a kid that is repeating "can we go to the park NOW???" a thousand times.

BUT I did it and everyone survived..
Weellll Lovely who we now call Mariah as she is a TOTAL diva, was screaming the WHOLE time but we survived.
By the end Toad had switched to can we go to the pool NOW? I was sweating like it was my job and so I said of course! We will take the princess for a swim!

HA! Lets just say that by the end I was the poster child for birth control in the eyes of the 5 teen girls soakin up the sun around the pool. I mean they should play that scene on tv before they air the MTV's show Teen Mom it would scare kids straight on to birth control.

I had one diva baby screaming, kicking and trying to get out of her stroller, I had a four year old who had tossed himself on the deck of the pool screaming "its not fair!! she should just BE QUIET so I can swim"!! Embarrassed I tossed around (empty) threats to him about getting his shoes on and going or this would be his last swim ALL vacation while rockin that stroller like my life depended on it.

ALL this and I had nothing to eat or drink all day.. The next five minutes of my Public Service Announcement went like this,  I dragged a 4 year old and a stroller out of the pool deck, past the park, down the hill , up onto the deck and straight to the fridge. CRACK ahhhhhhh Ice Cold Corona

LET THE VACATION BEGIN!!

A dose of reality

Well the Gundry's are back from vacation, we are tanned, we are tired and we are blessed to have an amazing family to hang with! I wanted to come back and write a post about my fish boy, or miss lovely and her battle with not only a tooth but a cold or all the amazing and funny stories we got to share with our family this vacation but sadly they will have to wait as I have to comment on the not guilty verdict.

Casey your karma is going to come and get you!!! Your baby is still dead so I am not sure what the high fives were about? I think you have gotten away with murder and that poor baby was born to an evil monster.

I did not watch ALL of the trial but I do know that I do not know one mother who would not report their baby miss the second they could not find them. I am sad to come home to this reality!

Fun post to come I promise! Just need a day to get unpacked, recharge and get over this heartbreak..

Good To Know

ON VACATION!!!! YIPPPEE funny thought how do you go on vacation when you don't work???


~Spending the night dancing, laughing and eating candy with your buddies is the perfect Saturday. To be doing it in celebration of an awesome couple EVEN BETTER!!

~ Cars 2 ROCKS

~I thought the toad may wee in his pants out of excitement as we waited for Cars 2 to start.

~I had my first cavity at 35. I am pretty proud of that.

~I would rather have our little attitude case then a kid with zero personality!

~10 baskets of clean laundry ARE YOU KIDDING ME.. they were spread out over my house can you tell I hate putting away laundry...great way to end my week AH mother father!

~Rob and I got some driving to do this weekend!!Worth it to see everyone!

~let the count down to Big Brother begin!! Good Bye 3 nights a week HELLO summer drama!

~Gundry OUT!

Top Five Friday

Hello ALL and for my peeps here in Canada HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
Today Rob and the kidlets and I will be at the beach! With Rob's Fam Jam enjoying a great holiday with amazing people..

So this Friday Top Five is .... Top Five things I love about Canada..

1. I know it is hard to believe since I drink so much Corona BUT our beer ROCKS

2. Our sites... we have breathtaking mountains, beautiful skylines and farm fields like NO other.

3. Our girls Rock! For real! No Really We Do!!

   4. We are nice people! Most of us are polite and kind. Now we still have a bunch of asses around here but for the most part we are a pretty nice bunch of peeps..



I feel safe here. Now I live in a small town but I think our country is safe or as safe as I think you can get! I always feel much better when I cross the boarder or get off a flight and know I am home..

These are my fave things about this awesome place I get to call home. I hope you are spending this holiday surrounded by people you love, sharing a smile, a yummy meal and a cold drink. I plan on looking around and soaking my surroundings and enjoying my fam jam..Life is Short!!