summer evening dreamer

She is growing so much, thinking so much, and as always full of dreams. Sometimes I just have to stand back and watch her in amazement, my beautiful angel. This year she will begin grade four, turn ten and go through all of the changes and growth that go along with another year older. Friends will make her laugh and break her sensitive little heart and it is all a part of her journey. Sometimes the hardest part as a mama is letting go, standing back and letting that journey unfold.

love is beautiful...

and these two are totally in love and so wonderful to hang out with.
The day was freezing...seriously frigid Winnipeg cold. I was rolling around on the ground in my ski pants to get the right angles for their engagement pics, and Maureen and Shayne were incredible; smiling, laughing and striking a pose as if they were as warm as could be. In between locations we would all run for the car and crank the heat to try to get warm before doing it all over again.What a blast!
Thanks for such a fun day guys :)

Just popping in to share some of these engagement photos I have been editing in my down time out here. Getting super excited for their wedding coming up this summer! Same great fun I hope with MUCH warmer conditions LOL

peace and hugs from a far

onward!!!

We headed out in the wee hours this morning with our kind friend Cees. Destination: Rotterdam airport to catch our flight over to Italy. This is a new adventure for both Cam and I; it's somewhere neither of us has been before and always have wanted to visit. I feel like we are living one big dream come true.

The kids are still happy and having a wonderful time with both sets of grandparents. We got to talk to them on skype last night and those little faces were so perfectly perfect... *sigh*

Knowing they are all happy as can be makes me happy and able to completely enjoy being out here. That is the thing about being mama; no matter where I am or what I am doing my three little angels are always on my mind.

We will be staying with friends here in Rome. Going to see as much as we can and sure to have some RAD adventures!

here is a big "whoo hoo!" for Pizza, pasta, gelati, being tourist-ie, friends, fountains and ruins, and I don't even know what else yet; look out Italy here we cooooooome!!!

getting messy

It is out last day in Holland and I am having some seriously Happy-messy-playtime this morning, getting ready to teach a private class tonight for a great group of ladies. Should be a good time, we are going to be doing some really fun stuff with fabric, crumpled chipboard, and watercolor paper!

I just have to say that it feels fabulous to get my hands dirty and be creating a bit today. I am always so inspired when I teach at events I just want to pull up a chair and join the creative good times.

get messy and a little creative today, even just a little, I promise it will make you smile :)

Happy day!!!

happy as a clam at the sea

After a very happy weekend of teaching with the world's very absolute best and cutest assistant (pictured below) *wink*

we took a nice long walk down to Noordwijkerhout, still here in the Netherlands.

Neither of us has been at the Sea before so we gathered shells for the girls as the sun set and went to the "Pannekoeken Haus" for some super yummy Crepes. When in the world do we have time just to stroll along and enjoy the beauty of the world together?! WEll, we do go for a walk as a family almost every day but being out with three little girls is very different from this kind of time just Cam and I. Such a treat.

So many beautiful gardens and flowers in bloom for us to admire. WE are going to try and get some bulbs for this awesome purple one to take back home to Nana ( who happens to be an amazing gardener!)

I have this thing about cool signs and I take way too many pictures of them. It is a funny little obsession but it's just my thing, they catch my eye no matter where I am :)
Love this dutch signpost s'cool!

and the sign for the round-abouts...we don't have these and I would be super confused driving on them but RAD anyways!

I will have to download the photos from my classes and add some later; as usual I met some truly amazing people who really touched my heart, it is not a surprise to me anymore the way I am touched by my students and how amazing their lives and stories are, but it is just as special. Thank-you all for being willing to trust me and try new things, for listening and believing in the importance of telling our best stories and for being willing to open up and share them with me throughout our days together. Bless you all and I hope to see you again in the future!

Time to try and call my little ones and then get some shut-eye for now, but no holiday would be complete without a good self portrait.

goodnight friends

super cool

been seeing this everytime we get on the elevator

Here!

Cam and I are officially official Netherland-visiting-super-duper-Jet-lagged-people and happy as can be. We came out here with one day to relax and switch time zones before the teaching begins. So, today I took Cam on the train to Delft where my friend Yvonne had shown Kristie and I the finer points of this great little dutch town on my last visit out. What a fantastic day! It rained...a lot...and there was a good amount of time where we were soaked and freezing but as sweet as we both happen to be, lucky for us we are not made of sugar so we held up just wonderfully.

no melting Canadians in sight.

We had a blast eating melt in your mouth Poffertjes and drinking Chocomel mmmmmm!, tasting fresh warm stroop waffles and checking out all kinds of cute little shops. Everytime we sat down too long anywhere that was comfy and warm though we were both nodding off LOL. I'm sure we were quite the sight!

Today Lovin':

-the sidewalk bricks with moss growing up in between;

-bikes EVERYWHERE...it's just so happy;

-water-so much of it;

-cool old buildings;

-taking the train cuz it's something we rarely get to do;

-my new big rainbow umbrella what a cool find;

-skype- makes me feel not so far from those cute little faces I love so much.

T.T.F.N.

(ta-ta for now!)

notes from the air

1. we are high and dry.... thanks to both of our mom's and our own really RAWKIN' washing machine we have managed to wash through all of the clothes that were in boxes waiting for someone to grow into them and everything else that was attacked by the nasty bad angry hot water tank before we left. oh goodness it was honestly something like 20 loads in the end I think. Whew!!!

Good news is that our house smells like wonderful fresh hanging laundry.
As for the angry hot water tank; it has been fired and in it's place stands a shiny new well behaved model.

done. end of story.

2. It is official: we are off and flying on our June Europe adventure.
and as you can above see I am a total die hard airplane-window-cloud-photo-taker ( along with my friend B, lol you know who you are!) No matter how many times I fly I am always taken by the beauty and bigness of creation. the super blue of the blue sky and those amazing fluffy cotton ball clouds; I just turn into a little girl in awe every single time. The best part is #3.......

3. Someone needs to pinch me because I seriously can't believe that I actually have this adorable boy of mine on the way to Europe with me!!!

4. RAWK ON WORLD here we come! :)