TAG closing!

Have you all heard the news? TAG is going out of business! All their stores are closing...meaning good old Gagou Tagou is also leaving us. 

Very very sad. I love their clothes and I find the style so refreshing for kids. They have fun, colourful clothes for decent prices...*sigh. Right when I find a good, reliable store (or so I thought) with really cute clothes (even for adults) and neat house accessories, they have to go bankrupt. Irene and I just happened to pop into TAG in Calgary before I dropped her off at the airport this past Monday, and my jaw dropped as we turned the corner and TAG store came into view for, there, on the outside wall was a HUGE banner stating they were closing and everything in the store was 30-70% off!

(WHAT?!?!?! Last December I had gone to this exact store and they had told me they had just opened in October 2012. This did not make sense. There must be some mistake. But once we had talked to the manager, it became crystal clear that yes they were closing for good!)

My heart started pumping blood overtime and I wanted to race as fast as I could into TAG and buy, buy, buy! Yes, it's my uncontrollable, selfish, immature side coming out, I know, I know. I literally wanted to buy everything...when it gets to this point, you know you are out of control and I somewhat regretfully was aware of this and restrained myself and calmly walked into the store, looked casually around and began sifting through some racks close to the kids section. Even though this rack held no interest to me, I had to calm down...then I strolled nonchalantly to the kids section and noticed some personnel taking DOWN kids clothes from off the wall and putting them into a big bin! What? Hallo! What if I wanted to buy all that??? Where were they taking all these cute clothes? "Ok, GO! GO! GO!" my mind was screaming. Wow, I never realized how strong my covetousness was until that moment. Tsk. Tsk. So once again "Calm down, it's JUST clothes," resounded through my mind. "Yes, yes." I agreed. Yet...once out of the view of other customers, I began to pile my cart full. And I mean full. Kids clothes were everywhere. Then I took off to the house accessory section and bought a few cute things that I've been eyeing every time I've gone to TAG, so this time I just gave in and bought two big vases and two green shrubs. (pics below). After nabbing these, Irene and I went to the women's section and found a few nice articles of clothing. I also bought a new spring/fall coat which I desperately needed. I think the last time I bought one was like 5 years ago. At the cashier, I kept piling clothes on the counter and asking for a sub-total. And then adding more and taking some off. :) I ended up not buying about 1/3 of the kids clothes. I decided in the end I didn't need it all and to satisfy my covetous desires is never good so I tried to stay practical and buy the things I really needed. Except of course the vases and shrubs...here are some pictures. And if you also like TAG and Gagou Tagou I recommend you hit the closest TAG store before it's all gone!!!!

Still looking for stuff to put in them, but I'm thinking the next time I'm in Lethbridge to hit the Dollar Store. I'm sure I'll find something cute to put in them! 

Also just wanted to say thanks to Irene for a wonderful gift she gave me (for letting her stay at my house she said)! Totally unnecessary but very kind:

Also here are some more pics of James in the dandelion field (he loves it!)

It's the small things...(what a overstated expression, but true!)

Little Nicole has to make it on to the blog too! :)

Irene and I baked a few things while she was over and we let James lick the batter...:) First time for him...haha

One of my favourite pictures!

James or Nicole?

Alright...just for fun...which one is James and which one Nicole??? :)

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Irene is over!

Irene came over last week Friday and we have had a blast since she has come. Here are some pictures of the fun so far. We are going to go bake some delish choc.chip cookies from Sandra's blog...Irene says they're AMAZING so we are going to try them.

Irene gave James a belated birthday gift! 

Sand toys!!! And a Curious George book...Thanks Auntie Bean :)

New family picture

With James...

With little Nicole...

He is getting so big!!

We took a walk this morning in Nobleford, enjoyed the nice weather, James loved his swing and Irene entertained herself on the surfboard...good posture Bean! You'll be hitting the waves in no time!

Irene trying out the new outdoor exercise gym.

James was leary of this big machine...

Auntie Bean with Nicole :)

Awards

The first award goes to....my mother in law!!! She helped me out so much when she came to visit. We had such a nice time and she was such a help and always gezelligly making coffee and cleaning things up around the house. It's so nice to have her over. She came over when we had James too, and did so much for me. Bedankt!

The second award goes to my dear friend Irene! She has only been here one day and has already cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed and helped with laundry. What a true friend! She even sent me to bed to take a much needed nap. Thanks so very much Irene!

Weight and length

P.S. Nicole was big! 9lbs and 5oz. and 22.5in. in length! James was 9 days early and 8lbs and 22in.

New post!!! :)

Pffffffffffffffffffffffff, man it takes forever for Jeanette to post again! I know, I know! I will not apologize however, since I have been quite busy with the recent turn of events happening in our household. I will begin with approximately a month ago. So we had invited a couple (Gerrylee and Jason) over to our house from our church and the plan was for them to come on Saturday. So they showed up and they sat down on the couch in our living room and I went to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on and lo and behold. I look out the window and there was a SWARM of people all walking up to our house each one holding either cake, cookies, drinks or some snack in their arms. I was shocked and raced to our bedroom telling Jasper to open the door. Looking back now I'm not sure as to why. Gerrylee is doubled over on the couch laughing! :) She had planned it of course! But anyways they all came pouring in and it ended up being a surprise home warming party. It was so very cool. We had our house full and lots of food and gezelligheid. The ladies were all telling me not to go into labour and making sure I felt ok. They kept asking, "Are you ok? Is this too much of a shock for you?" Haha. I told them I didn't mind at all if I went into labour. But I didn't. The next day however, I thought I was in labour and so we called up Marlies Kleen who had offered to watch James when I started labour (it's 11 at night), we dropped James off and went to the hospital (and remember this was 2 weeks before my due date) and I was assessed, but no "Not in labour" was the verdict. Rats. So we went off home and I was disappointed of course, but hey 2 weeks is pretty early. James was 9 days early though, so I'm expecting this one to be early too. About a week later, I thought I was in labour again, and so we dropped off the little guy with all the bags and stuff (it's 11:30 at night again!!) and race to the big H. And of course, its the same verdict and we had to head off home. How embarrasing! Twice! And I had told myself not to bother Marlies until I knew I was in labour...oh oh. Anyways, of course by now I'm hitting my due date (April 29) and each day that passes I'm thinking this kid is going to be HUGE! I felt big and heavy. But we had a little problem. Jasper was summoned to Calgary on May 1 for an official interview to assess if he could become permanent resident or not and May 1 was quickly approaching. I was getting nervous. I called the citizenship office and told them I might go into labour on May 1 and they told me that I HAD to be present at the interview and if I did go into labour to write a letter to the office to explain the reason why and they would set Jasper up with a new interview date. Hmm. Predicament. If I don't go into labour, do we still make the 2 hour trek up there and risk the babe being born in Calgary, which ok, isn't the worst, but it's still a 2 hour drive home and I wouldn't have my OB.  Yes! Let's risk it! So off we went and the day was perfectly uneventful, Jasper passed his exam and is officially now a Permanent Resident and we even managed to shop at IKEA for some shelves. It was a fun day. We headed home and hit the sack at around 11. Of course at 2:30 am I go into labour...so off we raced to the hospital and I'm thinking, "It's not going to be the real thing, so forget waking Marlies up, let's just go, they'll assess me and then we will know for sure. If it is, Jasper can just drop James off. It's a bit of a drive, but I'm sure the baby won't make his/her appearance instantly! So that was the decision made. Problem was I really was in labour and they don't want little kids on that ward, so Jasper phoned Marlies up and she very kindly offered to pick James up in Lethbridge. The next 5 hours, were really honestly not that bad and we welcomed little Nicole into the world at 8:10 am on May 2. What an awesome moment! Never to be forgotten. She is such a gem. I will post some pictures at the end of this blurb. Marlies Kleen came to visit me in the hospital and brought James to meet his little sister. Well, that did not go well. He took one look at her and wailed. Wanted nothing to do with her. I'm sure that'll change. It's already a bit better now that he's back home. I went home the next day and felt really well. James stayed by Marlies Kleen for a week and then I picked him up on Friday last week. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law arrived in Calgary from Holland on Saturday May 11 to visit the little baby and see where we lived. So they are still over now until this Friday and then I pick up Irene on Friday in Calgary too. YES!!! Right now my mom-in-law and bro-in-law are with Jasper in the semi truck driving around southern Alberta dropping off fertilizer in Pincher Creek. We also had baptism this past Sunday already for Nicole, because of family being over from Holland, we thought that would be nice with them there. Here are some pics and till next time!

Marlies Kleen with Nicole