This is my Tuesday {childhood}

The theme of This is My Tuesday this week is childhood. I thought of my own, just for a minute, and then this photo came to mind. It is one of my favourites.

My baby boys, at 1 1/2 and not yet 4, December 2008.

To me it sums up childhood perfectly. The wonder, the awe, the magic of Christmastime when you're very young... Remember feeling like that? That's the great thing about having kids, getting to experience that all over again!

This is my Tuesday {friendship}

Well here we are at Tuesday again. I love Tuesdays! I enjoy the quiet time in my library and the fact that Dylan's class comes to hear a story and exchange their books {he always gives me the cutest grin when they arrive, and sits right up at the front by my feet while I read aloud to them}. Plus Glee airs on Tuesday nights, and that's always fun! And let's not forget This is my Tuesday, my favourite ongoing photo project over on Red Boots. This week's theme is friendship.



I am lucky to have a lot of really wonderful friends. They are the people I can count on for a million different things: to make me laugh when I'm feeling down, to sit with me and drink tea for hours on end, to stay up until midnight watching Harry Potter, to babysit my kids at the last minute, or send me a lovely letter just when I need it most. I've made some fantastic friends through blogging, and I'm grateful for having found another way to keep in touch {a lot of my friends live further away than I would like them to}. I love my friends.

I especially love this girl! Em and I have known each other since the early days of university, and there is no one better at keeping connected than her. I can tell her anything and everything, and she is always there to cheer me on, regardless of what's going on in her life {and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that she has had a lot going on}. Even though she lives far away in France, I know I can count on Em to call and write and text me every single week. We are as close as we can possibly be, considering we live on opposite sides of the world. I am always so, so excited when we get to spend some time together in one place. I hope 2011 will be one of those times.

Here we are at Em's wedding in France, August 2009. This might just be my very favourite photo of us ever.

This is my Tuesday {happiness}

It's Tuesday again and time for my favourite photo project, This is my Tuesday! The theme this week is happiness. Now there are lots of things in life that bring me happiness- playing with my boys {especially when they're playing nicely together!}, an evening out with girlfriends, curling up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea, watching LOST with my hubby, writing letters, blogging... But one thing that has made me happy my entire life is Christmas Eve! To me, it is the most wonderful and exciting day of the entire year. From the time I was a little girl, I have been filled to the brim with the spirit of Christmas, thanks to my parents who always made it magical. Now that we have kids, we are striving to do the same for them. We sing songs for the elves who listen at the windows {and toss candy into the living room when we sing especially well!}, sprinkle reindeer food across the lawn, hang our stockings by the fire and read stories by the Christmas tree.

This is a photo of Dylan and I taken the night before Christmas, 2008. I love the smiles and the rosy cheeks, as we sit by the fire, below our stockings. This photo oozes happiness to me!

I have to say, I love Christmas Eve even more than I love Christmas Day itself. The thrill of anticipation, singing Christmas carols, leaving goodies out for Santa... There is so much magic in the air! I used to get excited about these things, but now that I have my little boys, I'm even more delighted by all of it. We're getting excited at our house. After all, there are less than six weeks left until the big night! How can you help but be happy when you think about that?

Thanks to Wendy of Red Boots, for This is my Tuesday. I look forward to next week's theme~ friendship. Because you know, I've got the very best friends in the world!

This is my Tuesday {family}

I know the idea of This is my Tuesday is to choose just one photo to represent the weekly theme, but this week I simply couldn't!

The theme is family. I talk about my family a lot on this blog, about the little family made up of me, Alan and our two boys. And I often talk about the family I was born into, my amazingly close, supportive and fantastic family. But I don't hardly ever share old photos... I think that needs to change, don't you? So I got out an album my sister made me for my 30th birthday, a "This is your life" kind of gift, and chose a few of my favourites. As you can see, they're all of me and Amanda. When you're lucky enough to call your sister one of your best friends, you know you've hit the family jackpot! Here we are, in our early years:

Baby sis and I on the grass in our backyard, circa 1977.

A few years later, I'm sporting some long skinny legs {where did those days go, and can I please get them back?} and my signature braids and glasses. That's our dog, Lady.

Reading the paper with Daddy. I can so see Sawyer in Amanda's face!

Swimming in the lake at Cowichan. We camped there every single summer, and it was the greatest.

Playing in the west coast snow! Man, I loved it when there was enough snow to go tobogganing... {and from the looks of this photo, even when there wasn't enough!}

I believe that your family shapes you, helps you to become the person who you are. I was lucky. I grew up in a wonderful family, one that valued traditions and fun and each other, and one where I always, always felt loved. I hope to give those same things to my kids, so that, in years to come, when they look back at the photos of their childhood, they get the same warm, fuzzy feeling that these pictures give me.

Have you got some family photos to share? Join in the fun over on Red Boots!

Happy Tuesday, mes amies... It's a blustery day here, with autumn leaves swirling and twirling about through the air. Simply beautiful, even if it is freezing. Hope your day is off to just as pretty a start!

This is my Tuesday {vacation}

I love the weekly photo project, This is my Tuesday, over on Red Boots.

This week the theme is vacation. I feel as though we've only just got back from our trip to England this summer, but already we've been home two months. Time just keeps on flying by!

Us Pughs up high, August 2010

This was a trip I'll never forget. It was busy and exciting and hectic and exhausting. It was challenging and expensive, happy and sad, and most of all really rather wonderful. The best bit was that we did it all as a family, and we really came together as one strong unit. We had some pretty amazing adventures. Like climbing up on the lions in Trafalgar Square. I don't think either of our boys will ever forget it! {confession: one day I am hoping to go on a vacation that is all about relaxing and lounging by a pool... but I do love my lovely London, bustling and full of so many things to see and do! it's just that sometimes this busy mum would really like a break}

My thanks to the lovely Wendy of Red Boots for this fun photo project. I'm looking forward to next week's theme... family. Won't you play along?

This is my Tuesday {love}

I'm excited to play along again this week with the "This is my Tuesday" photo project over on Red Boots. Today's theme is love.

slightly blurry photo of two busy little boys, always on the go!

^^ These two darlings fill my life with love {and noise... and clutter... but mostly with love!} They say the most amazing things, they soak up information like sponges, they have the most vivid imaginations, and they make me laugh a lot. I love how they love each other, too. Yes, they bicker and argue and occasionally give each other a shove {as all brothers do}, but they also adore each other. Yesterday they were sitting under yet another blanket fort they'd built, and I could hear them whispering and giggling together. It made me feel so good, and like I must be doing something right. I hope they will grow up to be the very best of friends.

If you'd like to play along, I'd love to see your photo and read your words. Let me know in the comments, and be sure to link up on Wendy's beautiful blog, Red Boots! I know my sweet friend Kim from Fill Your Well is taking part today, so go take a peek at one of her many amazing wedding photos and tell her I said hi, won't you please? {thanks, Kim, for your wonderfully kind comment on my post yesterday! it really cheered me up, so thank you! And let's get together for a chai tea latte one day so I can thank you in person!}

This is my Tuesday

Wendy of the beautiful Scottish blog, Red Boots, has come up with a great idea called This is my Tuesday. It's a photo project. Every Tuesday there will be a new topic, and the idea is to share a photo that relates to that theme, so that your readers can get to know you {and each other} better. Isn't that lovely? Of course I am eager to join in with this fun project!

The topic this Tuesday is home, something that is near and dear to my heart. As far as I'm concerned, a house is not a home unless it's filled with love. It's a place to come back to at the end of the day, a place to be together. So the photo I chose for today is this one...

Every Tuesday after work I pick up the boys and we head home to read, play, colour, relax {a little bit!} and be together. This photo was taken on our kitchen table a few minutes ago. Dylan's pumpkin colouring page from school is just about to go up on the fridge, and there's a stack of Frog and Toad books here to read as well. And of course, there's my cup of tea {the first thing I do when I walk in the door is turn the kettle on!}

Right now our dinner is cooking in the oven, Dylan is working away on a drawing and Sawyer is upstairs looking for some blocks. We'll eat dinner in a bit, and then I'll get the boys into the bath and ready for bed. Alan will be home in time for some stories and a chat before we tuck them in to sleep. Art and books and sitting round the kitchen table, cups of tea and cuddling up in bed. All these things mean home to me.

How about you? I'd love to see your photos, and so would Wendy, so be sure to link up on her blog if you decide to join in this project. Next week's topic is love.