It's good to be an Albertan....

This was straight from Dad, I think his comment was more like "It's great to be a redneck!" Ralph figures we'll have our $400 cheques by Christmas which is a nice bonus especially since Alex and Joey both qualify for it as well...doesn't that just seem wrong somehow?!?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! What a crazy day! The kids were all hyped on sugar for the most of the day which made it a long one. Trick or treating was kind of a hit and miss, the boys were excited to get their costumes on and go trick or treating until they realized that Daddy wasn't coming. Then came the crocodile tears, so we went back home and Aaron gave the boys some candy for their pumpkins and we went to the neighbours house next door, and then we came home to show Daddy that we got candy from Jacquie, and then we went to Judy's house and then home to show Daddy and then to Baby Anna's house (she comes to my dayhome in the mornings) and then home to show Daddy. After that Alex and I went to Colleen's house down the road a bit and Joey stayed home with Daddy. I think the boys were more excited to check the mail tonight then to go trick or treating. They helped us pass out candy for the next hour and a half and then we shut it down to put the boys to bed which took another hour. All in all I think we only had about thirty kids and only two of them had Unicef boxes. The community center was putting on a Pumpkin Gala of some sort between 6 and 8 PM, I'm not sure what that was exactly but I think it affected our lack of children. Maybe they're trying to deter door to door trick or treating. Times sure have changed!

And another one joins the cult...stamping cult that is!

Aaron's parents were over to visit tonight and Deb told me that Auntie Arlene has now gotten herself started in the card making hobby. Aaron swears it's a cult, not as bad as Curves (but only because there they have an automated voice tell you to move every thirty seconds), but probably more expensive and very addicting. I think when I first started my classes it was with the intention of only spending the obligated $22.50/month, but very quickly it jumped to $60/month to $100/month and sometimes a wee bit more than that. I think it's just the initial start up costs that get you, because you learn great techniques but need the tools to be able to do that, and then there's the stamps themselves and ink pads w/matching papers...For anyone considering doing stamping I'd highly recommend that you bite the bullet and get the started kit right off the bat. It costs $285 but you probably save $200 at least. Anyways, WELCOME TO THE CLUB AUNTIE ARLENE!

Aaron is showing his adventurous side tonight! I carved the pumpkins and now he's roasting the seeds. He's quite pleased with himself for all of the money he's saving me so I don't have to buy them. Good job Aaron! With the $4 you saved me I can get Starbucks on the way to my next parent seminar at Joey's school Thursday night. Thanks honey!

The boys had an uneventful day, we didn't even make it outside let alone to the zoo, I tried to get them to pick crabapples with me but I would have had better luck giving my cat a bath then getting them outside. Joey and Alex were just content playing in their rooms and having a two hour bath with their spray bottles. I suppose it's okay for them to have laid low today because they'll need all of their energy for trick or treating tomorrow night. I drew the short straw and have to take the boys while Aaron stays home to give out candy...shucks...

It's Been A Rather Quiet Saturday...

We had a pretty uneventful day today, I went to the dentist for a cleaning (yippee) and the boys got to go next door to play with their friends Braden and Dawson and baby Courtney. We all went to Superstore to shop for last minute halloween things and more stuff for Joey's treats for his classmates. What a fun trip that was! Joey was well behaved and poor Alex was bored to sleep (sitting up in the cart no less).
Dad phoned last night and what a surprise he got when Joey answered the phone, actually I think Aaron and I were more surprised, it took us a minute to realize that Joey'd picked up the phone in our room. He talked about Papa a lot today and every time we went out he asked if we were going to Nannie and Papa's house.
We'll see them in a couple weeks, I haven't finalized our plans yet for Remembrance Day weekend but I know it will involve Edmonton and a special veteran we all know and love...and if I'm lucky he will have picked up a little bling-bling for me. Uncle David got Aaron and my boys matching trigold puzzle rings so I figure now it's my turn...but Mommy has expensive taste and is going for a full carat.
Well we're off to the zoo tomorrow, we do go an awful lot if that's what you're thinking. We get zoo passes every year and get our money's worth! Sometimes the boys aren't so cooperative so we're only there for a couple hours but it's usually pretty successful.

The Weekend Couldn't Come Fast Enough!

What an incredibly long week it has been! The boys were both getting over their colds and a bit needier than usual but it doesn't happen often so I can handle it. Alex finally threw his soothers in the garbage...I'm embarrassed to admit it but sometimes it just seemed easier to give in to him. The bottle is long gone though!

So, I was feeling adventurous today with my dayhome kiddies and we started on making the ultimate haunted gingerbread house...well...once I read the directions this morning (after getting them all excited) I realized that the frame has to set for a minimum of one hour. That was just about the longest hour of our lives! We finally got everything assembled except for making a jellybean pathway and putting out the green coconut astroturf. I was going to take a picture but thought I'd wait for the grande finale! Well, there was no grande finale. As I was bringing Aislynn upstairs for her afternoon nap, Alex, Zeke and Ben were taking the house off of the top counter and proceeded to put it at the little table in the kitchen and strip it down to bare gingerbread! It's funny that Joey didn't squeal on them like he usually does, but as soon as I started to come downstairs Joey started laughing his head off and pointing at the table.

You gotta love kids!

A bit too tropical for the Christmas Cards!

Here are our last photo shoot pictures.  I think we'll have to book now to try and get a good picture for Christmas.  Getting my two kids to cooperate long enough to get a good shot could easily take two or three different picture days so if we start now we should be good!

I don't think we won the $40 million...

I'm not sure why I'm disappointed, I mean the odds are totally against us but still...we had a fairly quiet day today, the kids and I did our daily run around the water, played like crazy, Joey had a good day at school, unfortunately I thought today was Texas donut day and I got him really excited about his biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig chocolate donut...oops...it's not until tomorrow. Sorry Joey, my bad! I still haven't heard from my fellow freecycler, did I mention that I emailed her a second time and offered her forty bucks.Yeah I know, I'm pathetic! And yes Monica, freecycling seems to happen instantaneously. When I post things to get rid of I usually get 6 replies in about two minutes...some people really need to get a life...am I one of them?!?

Here are the boys on our daily walk around the big pond by our house. Alex is the last one of the pack with his homie pants - poor guy needs to gain a few pounds or I'll be buying some suspenders for him soon! 

The air has finally cleared!

After six loads of laundry and having the windows open all day and cleaning Alex's carpet in his bedroom my house smells normal again! Phew that was a lot of work! And as my reward Aaron has gone to the hockey game with Phil and left me home with the boys. Some days life's just not fair is it?
On the upside though, Joey has just about mastered the No More Monkey's Jumping on the Bed song, with actions even! And his teacher has noticed great improvement with his scissor skills, until last month when Aaron went to the Parent/Teacher interview we had never encouraged Joey to cut with scissors, in this household that's a weapon! But,we've loosened up a bit and went from paper scissors with no blade to beginner's with a blade for lefties, and by golly he's got it! The whole 'thumbs up' concept was pretty hard for him to grasp but I think we're finally there.
Alex has been working hard at figuring out which colours are which and he's got about 50% accuracy right now which isn't bad. And it's painstakingly obvious that his favourite colour is purple..Aaron said it may as well be pink...I'm sure it will change eventually.
I'm not sure if Freecycle-ing is a well-known thing yet but it sure is addictive! Sort of like Ebay but it's free stuff. I post all of our unwanted stuff on their website and then people will email me if they're interested and then they come pick it up. The latest I'm waiting on is a Peg Perego Sherpa stroller with the footboard on the back. That would make zoo days so much easier because after a couple hours of trotting around Joey usually is ready for a break so he'll sit on my shoulders or switch Alex for the stroller. We looked at the sit n stand strollers but a used one is $ 100 and pretty much the same size as my double stroller so there's no big benefit there. So, I emailed this morning and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and still haven't heard. I think it's worse than Ebay because you get your hopes up about all of this great stuff you could potentially get for free...anyways I should go and check, it's been at least five minutes...ha ha...

And the race car bed saves the day once again!

You know, just as we think we should move the race car bed out of Alex's room and let him just have the mates bed something happens that makes us change our mind...
Auntie Heather came over today after work and stayed for dinner, we bathed the boys and everything was going pretty good so we left the boys in Aaron's hands and did a little shopping for preemie boy clothes. Everything seemed normal when we came home, Alex was asleep on the couch, Joey was watching Batman quietly and Aaron was cheering on the ultimate fighter guys...so I brought Alex upstairs to bed and no more than two minutes after Heather left did he spew all over his bedroom leaving the race car bed the only vomit free piece of furniture. The poor little guy has been having some difficulty getting rid of his chest congestion until tonight...so I had the pleasure of cleaning Alex's room and am now starting load one of four to do all of his bedding because we did just dig out all of the wintery big plush blankets and comforters and Alex managed to hit all of the pillows and body pillows. The saving grace is that I'm still sick and have no sense of smell right now, poor Aaron just about threw up when we walked into Alex's room to see what the big commotion was about.
So Alexander is snoozing in the race car bed tonight.
On a happier subject Heather and I had the pleasure of shopping for some wee baby boy clothes tonight. A friend of ours that I went to school with in Victoria just had a little boy, Kaelin Joseph Andrew was about 6 1/2 weeks early and weighed in at 4 pounds 10 ounces. Nora is a very proud mommy and sent me a few pictures of him, he is so cute! It hasn't made me want to jump on the baby bandwagon though....tempting....but no...

Share and share alike...unfortunately I'm referring to colds!

Well Joey has managed to share his cold with Alex, myself and Aaron. We had a jammie day yesterday and only went out long enough to pick up my van at the Ford dealership. That's a whole other subject, in the short of it all when we bought it brand new in 2003 we paid the extra $2000 to get some paint protection or rust protection stuff put on and Aaron found some rust on the driver's door so he brought the van in to confirm that yes it does have rust so now we have to book time to get it repaired and they don't want to give us a rental but I can't be without a vehicle. So now it's a big ole pissing contest! Anyways, even though I feel about as good as I look, I managed to pull off a pretty successful baby shower next door! The guests were easily impressed by the diaper clothesline and diaper cake and the food so I'm good for good deeds until November at least. Dad's supposed to be making an appearance November 11th, coincidently I already booked off that day so we could go visit for a long weekend and now our reservations at Chateau MacAulay have been cancelled...we're going somewhere though...one of my daycare kids live four houses up the street and I think they'll wonder if I booked the day off to go away but then stay at home. Thanks everyone from far and near for reading my blog and I enjoy the comments it makes it worthwhile!

Here are the boys with their new Rescue Heroes Command Center! 

Is it possible to have too many medals? Dad, you never cease to amaze me and my boys! 

Joey's sick just in time for the weekend!

Well he seemed a bit under the weather this morning but I didn't think too much of it and sent him to school anyway. Upon returning home from lunch he was obviously sick with a head cold. Unfortunately for Joey he takes after me and gets the big red puffy face and little red mustache under his nose. Poor guy! So I think Aaron and I will be taking turns on staying up with him tonight, at least tomorrow's Friday and Alex isn't showing any signs of sickness! I went to Joey's school for a seminar about global development and ways to encourage gross and fine motor skills and vocabulary building. It was a lot to take in at once and they gave us a tonne of handouts to go over! Looks like I've got some homework to do this weekend.

Adventures in babysitting!

We survived, the boys made it and the babysitter wasn't too traumitized! Ha Ha! The game was alright, we have a lot of fun with Sheldon and Leanne wherever we are. The boys had fun with Michelle, she took them for a walk down by the water and to the park, at bedtime they put up a bit of a fight. Alex cried for a few minutes and then settled down to sleep, Joey on the other hand was in hysterics. Surprise, surprise! I thought Alex my little momma's boy would have been devastated without mommy to put him to bed but it was Joey that cried for me. Michelle phoned us so we could say goodnight to him and he went to bed about two minutes after we said goodnight. We are very pleased with our first babysitting experience. I suppose she's worth the $9/hour, actually I think we gave her $10/hour...it seemed rude to ask for change! So, we're tentatively booked for Aaron's work party and Mom & Heathers 50th &30th birthday night celebration Jan 5th. We're off to Jubilations to see Pirates of the North Saskatchewan. Should be a blast!

Tonight was Mommy's night out....and I was home by 9...groan...

Well tonight was Mommy's stamping class/girls' night with plenty of gossip, child rearing updates and chocolate cake. I've been asked by many people what is stamping class so I thought I'd scan and post my projects and then everybody can satisfy their curiousity! So, I've made it through Danny's birthday party, stamping class, next is tomorrow night's hockey game. For those who don't know tomorrow night is the first time the boys will be left with a paid babysitter...eek...I'm sure it will be okay but I'm a bit nervous. Were we ever in for the shock of our life when we found out that our sitter charges $9/hour plus she doesn't drive so we have to pick her up and drop her off. Wow! It's a good thing Aaron got the company hockey tickets because it could easily have been a $100 night. I know this is dating myself but I still remember babysitting and being happy to get $3/hour. Times have sure changed! On the upside Joey will be 4 next month and this is the first time we've had to hire someone...I guess I shouldn't complain too much!

And here's the last card. 

Here is project #2. 

Here is one of tonight's projects. 

What a sight this was when I opened the door to stick Joey on the bus! What strange weather we've been having this year. 

Here's Alex as photogenic as always! I realized that I had three Joey pictures and only one of Alex which wasn't even that good. Sorry Alex! 

It's 6:30 at night and the boys are asleep...thank goodness!

What a super busy day today! Aaron had to work so the boys and I cleaned the house and went to the zoo! Alex and Joey ran around the Canadian Wilderness for about two hours and we barely made it back to the van before they passed out. I managed to get Joey to eat dinner and bathed and then he was out, hopefully for the entire night! We've got a busy week ahead, Monday is Danny's 3rd birthday and I celebrate all of the dayhome kids birthday's with a little party and cupcakes, Tuesday is my stamping class, Wednesday Aaron and I have Hitmen tickets, Thursday night I have a seminar at Joey's school about Global Development, and Sunday I'm co-hosting our neighbour's baby shower! It's going to be a long week!

You know I usually feel bad for Dad being way over in Afghanistan by himself but if he wasn't there he wouldn't have his celebrity pictures for his bar. Here's Dad with Guy La fleur! I suppose there has to be some perks to being there! 

TGIF !!!!

Thank goodness it's Friday! What a long week! It seems that we've all had a touch of the flu or some infection of some sort, I had a sinus infection, Aaron had an ear infection and Joey a bit of an eye infection. Alex was the only one who survived without any big ailments. Joey had a professional day at school so he was home allllllllllllllllll day long! Alex was happy, he had his big brother to torment. Alex is such a little bruiser! He's obsessed with carrying spoons around and he's still doing his ninja punches and then a kick and screaming TURTLE POWER! Unfortunately they don't have a turtle costume in his size so he'll have to settle for spiderman. Aaron's Auntie Brenda came over tonight for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa and the boys were at their peak performance level! It was like having an ultimate fighting competition right in my living room.

Joey's taking dance class!

Much to Aaron's dismay (tee hee) Joey is taking dance classes every Thursday at school until Christmas break. I have visions of him in a ballet leotard leaping across the stage when in reality it's probably more like stepping side to side and twirling in circles. Joey's teacher wrote in his journal today that he enjoys dancing and tries to imitate all of the moves. Before bathtime Joey ran up to his room and turned the radio on really loud. By the time I got to his room he was stripped down to his spiderman underoos shaking his bootie!

Joey as Batman, practising for his school party, a two piece costume guarantees successful bathroom breaks! 

Joey as Spiderman getting prepped for Halloween. 

The newest Canadian and her boys! 

Auntie Kathryn and Lesley, taken by Joey, not the most flattering angle! 

I am Canadian...

Well we already knew that I'm Canadian but Auntie Kathryn is officially Canadian! We were very excited and wanted to celebrate so we had an impromptu pizza party with a cake that said I am Canadian. In green icing?!? For that statement you would think the baker would use red! Alex and Joey had a great visit with Auntie Kathryn, Joey told me that he wanted to go to Auntie's house and he grabbed his shoes and coat, and of course Alex wants whatever Joey wants so he was going too! Fortunate for me they settled for a walk to the loonie store and a few treats they got to pick out.

Trying something new...

Apparently I'm feeling a bit adventurous today and decided to try something new. For those of you with kids it could have been too much YTV because as you know they have these short commercials promoting trying something new. As annoying as they are, they seem to be effective. It was my New Year's resolution to keep in touch more regularly with everyone so I'm getting a head start. Which for those of you who know I've already started Christmas shopping and have made most of my Christmas cards already this shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm way too organized or have way too much time on my hands.

I'm not too sure how often I'll be able to update this diary I guess only time will tell.