I am Now Officially an Author

Posts and comments by James will now say they're by James.

Cool. Thanks Nicki!!!

Some Long Overdue Pictures of the Girls!

Lyla in May saying enough pictures already.

Maggie with Grampa Mooney at Heritage Park during Stampede.

Lyla, Grandma Mooney, Momma and Maggie at Heritage Park. Yee Haw Nicki!

Maggie & her cousin Peyton watchin' Dora. The only thing that would make Sir Peyton look like even more of a boy in this picture would be if he had his hand tucked into his pants, eh Jordo :)

Lyla at Maggie's birthday party in June. Our little doll.

Happy Birthday Maggie - You're 2. Daddy, Maggie & Mommy in June.

A yummy cupcake and Maggie eats the wax #2 candle.

My Angels

The Soother Sisters. Lyla is about to sock Maggie..."Git Off Already!"

If you come to our house, Maggie will try on your shoes. She LOVES shoes!

Lyla is now smiling but she is still very "sensitive". She has the best Mad-Cry ever.

I have some better pictures of Lyla that are still on my camera that truly show how much red is in her hair and how blue her eyes are. (Next time). Maggie is a good big sissa.

You could wrap Lyla in packing tape and she would find a way to get her arms out. I'm starting to realize that the majority of our pictures of Lyla are of her sleeping. I think that is because there is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping baby.

Lyla having a bath back in early May. To get an idea how petite she was or how fat my fingers are, compare the two above.

That's it for now. A refreshing break from all the house stuff. The insanity is upon us. We'll try to keep you posted.

JRM 07/27/2009

We've Been Selected For The Show!!! My Rona Home Update

It is now mid-afternoon, Monday, July 13th. The camera crew, sound techs, producers and the host of My RONA Home have just left our little house here in Bowness. Nicki, Maggs & Lyla are fast asleep upstairs and I am sitting here alone at my desk, completely exhausted and totally stunned as I try to grasp the true enormity of what just happened this morning.

My heart is brimming with pure joy and awe as I reflect on how truly blessed a man I am.

Exactly 10 years ago this past June, I returned home to Calgary, broken and alone with little interest in chasing dreams. Today, I am a testament to how Awesome & Faithful our God truly is to those who trust in Him!

I am married to my best friend in the whole world, with whom I have the privilege of raising two perfect little girls. The love and genuine support of our friends and, most especially, our families has been truly humbling. I have a wonderful and fulfilling career through which all our basic financial needs are met and now... today... the dream of having a home of our own has come true.

If you missed it this morning on Breakfast Television and haven't yet got the word, Nicola and I were told this morning that we have been selected as one of the two families that will participate in the "My RONA Home" reality TV show airing this fall on City TV. Though we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us this fall, the end result is certain; we will have a home to call our own by Christmas. The only question that remains is will we have a mortgage or not.

I can't think of another person I would want to take on this challenge with. Nicola... You are amazing! We make a great team and I know together we can not only do this... but knock it out of the park.

LET'S GO YELLOW TEAM!!!

I have attached a link below to CITY TV's website. Click this link to see our introduction on Breakfast Television this morning.

http://site.btcalgary.ca/video/?bcpid=5173168001&bclid=5184558001&bctid=29331948001


JRM 07/13/2009

We got the call last night - My RONA Home Update

... But not exactly the call we were expecting.

So I get home from work yesterday (Tuesday, July 7th). Nicola and the girls are nowhere to be found and the phone is flashing that we have a message. I had called and left a message on my way home to give Nicola my ETA so I thought it was just my message waiting and proceeded to call in to erase it.

To my surprise there were two messages waiting... one from me...and the second from one of the producers of My RONA Home asking that we call her back. My stomach flipped as I scrambled to find Nic. I finally found her next door at Grammie & Pappa's house and asked her, calmly, (yeah right) to come home.

So... we sat down on the couch and dialed the number... hearts pounding... breath baited... minds racing.... Ring...Riiiiiiiinnnnggggg... Rriiiiiiiinnnnnggg... "Hello?" is the greeting from the other end of the phone.

"Hi... this is James & Nicola calling you back about..."

"Hiiii guys!" Bubbling, she gets right to it as I watch a gigantic bead of sweat crawl down Nicola's ghost-white forehead (I might have imagined that...)
"We're calling to let you know... (WHAT...WHAT... WHAT... SPIT IT OUT ALREADY...my mind was screaming.)
"... that you should both be ready for 6AM on Monday, July 13th.... (AHHHH!!! YES...YES...YES!!! I started celebrating in my head) ...we will be visiting EVERYONE between 6 - 7:30AM to let you know IN PERSON if you will be one of our final two families..."
"Ohh? Uhhh..." I pause to process what I just heard... "Huh? Wait a second," I chuckled a little bewildered, "let me get this straight... so you're going to go to everyone's house on Monday morning to either thrill us with the news or crush our dreams... on camera!?!"
"That's the way we roll." She replied with a snicker. "...and here's the rest of the info you need to know for next week:

• Be prepared to dedicate July 13th to the show if selected. We will be taking you from your homes for promo interviews.
• Have childcare arrangements in place for the entire day of July 13th by 6AM.
• There will be a full day photo shoot, with kids, on July 14th.
• There will be a half day shoot (morning or afternoon) on July 15th at the home site. This is when you will meet your support team (contractor, designer, manager). There will be no kids at this shoot so please arrange for child-care."

After a few pleasantries, our call ended. Nicola and I sat there bewildered analyzing every aspect of the conversation... trying to read between the lines and figure out their diabolical plan.

We have no idea. What we do know is that we'll likely go completely crazy sometime in the next 114 hours just thinking about it.

So the final word, at this point, is set your PVR's to record Breakfast Television on City TV (Channel 8 in Calgary) for Monday morning, July 13th. The show runs from 6am to 10am and at some point during the broadcast, they will be revealing the two couples that will be on the show.

Tick...tock...tick...tock...tick...tock... We gotta find something else to think about. Perhaps we'll try to put together a post with pictures from Maggie's 2nd birthday.

Please feel free to share your throughts or propose an amusing conspiracy theory. AND...keep your fingers crossed.

JRM 7/8/2009

My RONA Home Update

Just a quick update for those of you who are curious:


On Friday, June 26th, Nicola and I made our appearance on Breakfast television with another lovely couple (Josh & Misty). Though, at first, we all appeared quite nervous, the segment went well.... at least, we felt pretty good about it.


Actually, we did two segments; the first was a remote appearance on Breakfast TV in Edmonton which was really weird because we were sitting on a couch in a boardroom with ear buds in our ears staring into a camera talking to the hosts in Edmonton... kinda strange because you can't see who you're talking to. The second segment was live here in Calgary... many of you saw it and your encouragement / support since then has been much appreciated.


Following our appearance we were told by one of the producers that they would be selecting the TOP 5 couples over the weekend and if we hadn't heard from them by Saturday night, then it was the end of the road for us.


To our delight we didn't have to wait long (although it seemed like an eternity). Friday night at around 5:30pm we got the call... AND we were selected to the TOP 5 finalists.


TOP 5 meant that we would have a home visit early the following week (last Monday, June 29th). They came to our house with cameras and wanted to do a candid walk through our current home. They filmed everything... they even asked to look inside our fridge which was packed full of random stuff from Maggie's birthday party on the weekend.... it was also the only place in the house we didn't clean in advance of the visit. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!!


Following the tour, Nic, Maggie, Lyla and I all piled on the couch for a candid filmed inteview about our life. This wasn't the easiest thing to do with a 2 year old who wanted to have me read her books at the same time, jump on the couch and sing but we got through it. Maggie was a star!


The final "audition" was last Friday, July 3rd. For this audition we had to come with three 20" by 30" presentation boards which detailed what we think our floor plans would look like for a main floor, upstairs and finished basement. All we were given in advance was a picture of a square and told to design within the square. This was quite the task but fun at the same time and we were very excited about our finished product. ( I took pictures of the boards so I might post them later). So Friday morning we went down to the Delta Bow Valley downtown during the Stampede parade to do our presention and we left feeling like we rocked it.

It is now out of our hands and in the hands of the jury. The jury is made up of the producers of the show, executives for RONA and representatives from City TV. They will be making the official announcement who the final two couples will be on Breakfast Television on Monday, July 13th. Fortunately we won't have to wait that long to find out. They told us that whether we are selected or not they will call us sometime this week to give us the news.

So now we wait... what will the outcome be???

I'm not a guy who typically looks at horoscopes but I thought I would share what our horoscopes were in the Calgary Sun today:

CANCER: (James) "The actions of others will aid and support you greatly. Money will appear seemingly without effort. Let others take charge for a while. Reap rewards. Things have come full circle. Good luck."

AQUARIUS: (Nicola) "This is a wonderful time to make fun plans with brothers or sisters or another one of your favourite family members. Creative energies will flow freely. People will find you beautiful, witty, flirty, and charming."

I know one can interpret these things in many ways but I thought they were amusing anyway.

With our fingers crossed we hold our breath and hope we are what they're looking for. We'll let y'all know either way.

JRM 7/6/2009

Is The Mooney Family Bound For Reality TV?

So Thursday, June 11th I'm driving home from another long day at the office and I'm flipping through radio stations as I sit in traffic. I catch the tail end of a promotion for some contest called My Rona Home. I think Hhhhmmm... that sounds cool and then quickly dismiss it; gotta keep my feet on the ground and my head out of the clouds you know, I have a family to support.

I arrive home exited to see my girls. As I enter the living room, there is Nicola completely engrossed in something on the computer. Her face lights up, "...hey sweetie, do you want to hear about a really neat contest?" "Is it My Rona Home?" I replied to her surprise. "YES!!! I heard about it on Breakfast Television this morning. Come sit! I'll tell you all about it." So Nicola proceeds to read the details to me from the website (<--- Click to see site) and tells me that the online contestant registration closes on Sunday, June 14th.

After kicking the idea around for 2 days we finally decide to dress our family up (see picture above) and submit our online application. Saturday night, just before bed, we finally sent it in and proceeded to lay in bed daydreaming about all the "what if's".

Like any other raffle, contest, lottery or promotion we figured it was a complete longshot that we would even get a call but we still enjoyed the pillowtalk into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

To our surprise, the longshot became a reality on Sunday afternoon (June 14th). WE GOT THE CALL... and to make a long and crazy story short, a little over a week later we've been through two telephone interviews, one live interview and one live interview/presentation on camera. In an absolute whirlwind, we've gone from daydreaming applicants to Top-100 to Top-10. This Friday, June 26th (Maggie's 2nd birthday, by the way) sometime between 9:00am and 10:00am, Nicola and I will be on City TV's Breakfast Television, here in Calgary, to conclude a week long introduction of each of the the Top-10 families to the viewing public.

Naturally, we are both excited and nervous. By the end of this upcoming Saturday we will know whether or not we've been selected to the Top-5 from which they will ultimately select their two families for the show. I don't even want to talk about the steps that will follow this next selection. One step at a time.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. We'll let you know if we make it past Saturday. Does anybody know what color makes you look....ohhhh say, 60 pounds lighter on television? I'm just a little worried about looking like Shrek next to all these tiny TV people. :)

JRM 6/22/2009

PS: Sorry we haven't provided an update in over a month on Lyla. She is doing excellent... eating, growing, sleeping and full of smiles. Maggie is so sweet with her... it melts our hearts. Pictures to come... JRM

More Pictures !!!

We have now been home a month with our little Lyla. There is much to share but time is at a premium these days. I will eventually share some of the stories of our first month together. In the meantime, I thought I would share a few more pictures of Lyla with y'all. Enjoy!!!

There's nothing more beautiful.

Momma, Maggie & Lyla.

Last picture at the hospital.

Welcome Home Lyla!

We're Home.

First family photo. Man we all look tired.

Lyla.... so peaceful. Doesn't she look like Maggie?

Open eyes.

Maggie is so sweet and gentle with Lyla.

She's going to be a good big sister.

Lyla

I'm Lyla.... Waaazzzzuuuuppp!

More to come. Thanks for checking in!

JRM

5/18/2009