My Creatively Random Life

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info:  My Favorite Meme . This is a tough one for me, I have many, many great childhood memories.  I grew up in a small town in Nova Scotia surrounded by relatives and close family friends and I got to roam free in a way that kids do not get to today.  Picking a single favourite memory is difficult. One I think stands out for me above all others though, mostly because it is one of the few clear memories I have of the golden time before my sister was born when I was an only child.  (I think I was 3 or 4) We had a cabin out in the woods and we used to go there on weekends as people do but on the way in next to the road there was a giant anthill (well at least giant to the very small child that I was) and I was quite young and extre...

We had some family pictures taken as a present to my mom a few weeks ago and I just got them back yesterday.  Ace is starting to go through that I don't want to go do anything stage so he refused to smile but I think they still turned out sort of all right. One of these days I am going to figure out how to rotate pictures on the blog, then we will really be working out well. And here is the first one of the whole family, where at least he attempted to smile.  Ugh! Preteens! There are some more great shots that I am looking forward to having of me and the kids and one of me and my mom and my sister that is fantastic.  This really sets the tone for the year though, I want to have more pictures of my kids with my parents and even with us so that one day when they are sitting down with their kids they can share the memories. Whether those memories are formal pictures like these or silly selfies taken on a cell phone. Do you make sure to be in the picture...

Such a sweet little bundle of joy, I can't believe she's going to be six in just a few days.

Another one of the little one when she was a bitty little thing.  I can't believe how fast she is growing.

With Cat's birthday coming up in a few weeks I thought I would throw up a few post to celebrate how much she has grown.  What a cutie eh?

This was the most insane Christmas present that was ever purchased for a child in my house.  Back in the days before I regained sanity and restrained the Christmas monster in our house.  This was part of what prompted it because to this day I can count on one hand the number of times he used the stupid thing.

There's nothing I love more than seeing my kids get along and in the weeks leading up to Christmas they are always on their best behavior as much as they can be because Santa is watching.  They don't quite look this innocent but it is close.

It's hard for me to believe when I look a him now that this picture was taken only a few years ago.  He's gotten so much taller.  Blah!  I want them to be small forever.

Seventeen years ago today I lost a huge part of my world, and it created a void that has never really healed.  People say all sorts of things when someone you love passes away, They say that things will get better with time or some other sort of cliché type thing.  That didn't seem to happen for me, sure time moved on and the pain gets duller but it's still there.  I had a very close relationship with my Nana and especially once I had my own kids there where a lot of times I wanted to turn to her in my life.  When I was going through her photo albums a while ago to find some old family pictures to use for the blog for Throwback Thursday posts I came across this picture of her: It's the youngest picture of her I have ever come across of my grandmother, it's something I'm going to look into getting restored.  One of my favorite memories from my childhood was spending weekends with  my Nana, we would go to church on Sunday night and the out for ice ...

The day we brought her home, what a sweet little angel she was.

With all the trouble they have caused me lately it's good to look back and remember when they were sweet and talked back a lot less.

I can't even begin to remember all  the stupid nicknames me and my sister had for each other over than last twenty some years.  At some point though she started calling me sister mouse. I have no idea why.  It possibly would have made sense when we were children but we were long into adulthood at this time. As a loving tribute to my sister I decided to post a picture of us when we were much younger, because I am past the point of being embarrassed of the days of horrible hair and worse glasses. How much though do my kids look like us?  Cat is almost a dead ringer for my sister and if you were to give Ace a wig and a tan he could be me no?

Cat's costume from two years ago, can you guess what she is supposed to be?

This picture is from last year's  Hammer Town Comic Con  which is now called Hamilton Comic Con. It was a fantastic time being their first year running the convention and this was one of my favourite pictures of the day.

Flipping through my pictures today I came across this cute picture of Mike and I from towards the beginning of our relationship that Ace took. Such a lovely memory of a fall outing. 

Little Miss Diva has been extra demanding this week so I had a lot of fun looking back to pictures of a time before she was as up in your face.  It reminds me of how fast time goes by and that no matter how frustrating she is being I need to take a deep breath and snuggle her close because she will be all grown up before I know it.   I wish I could reach back in time and squish those little toddler cheeks.

When I was going through my pictures I came across this picture of Cat and Ace from the summer of 2011. I just thought it was the best picture, they look so adorable.  And clean, it's not often they look clean.  It must have been taken at the start of the day.

Last year we went on a awesome walking tour of the battle ground of The War of 1812 with Richard of Muddy York Walking Tours .  It was a great experience and the kids had a blast. This is my favorite picture from that day, happy family.

When I look at Cat now I have trouble remembering when she was this small, it just won't connect in my mind with where she is now.  She's just growing up way too fast. This picture is from the Santa Claus parade a few years ago.

There is nothing quite like the kids heading back to school to make me feel all weepy and nostalgic.  With Cat heading into Senior Kindergarten and Ace going of to Grade Four it's a sharp reminder that they are growing up far faster then I ever though possible. Despite Ace being too grumpy to late me take a back to school picture this year (apparently 9 is too cool for that?)  I thought I would throwback to last years pictures and remind myself of how much they have changed.  I got a little teary eyed at this.  Miss Cat at least has changed so much.   It's hard to believe a whole year has passed already.