This morning I woke up with a freakish resemblance to none other than...

Yep, you guessed right Rudolph the RED NOSED Reindeer.

Yikes, I've finally caught the cold that's been whipping through my dayhome. Thankfully I only have the head cold and not the mysterious stomach bug.

Unfortunately Thing Two has the same cold and will most likely miss his first field trip today. I'm not sure if he'll be more disappointed in missing out on the Science Centre or the bus ride to the Science Centre.

With a little luck and lots and lots of fluids I'm hoping to be back to normal by Saturday. We've got a Robbie Burns dance/silent auction to attend and I don't to be too Rudolph-ish. It will be a fun night with a lot of this to look at:

Don't you just LOVE a man in a kilt?

I've been SNOPED!

At Bunco the other night, one of the Princess's told us this horrifying story as she was told by her nephew. Let me know you this gave everyone the willies. And tonight Jenn sent me an email to confirm that it's an urban legend. It totally has urban legend written allllllll over it BUT it's still entertaining.

So, I'll tell you a true story courtesy of said Princess - with her permission of course :oP -

Princess was selling her house (this is key to the story) and had one of those mornings of rushing around like crazy before leaving for work and trying to leave the house in showhome standards. Well, she arrived home and when she walked into her walk-in closet what was she greeted by? I'll give you a hint - Aunt Flo and bumper pad - draw your own conclusion. Now this wasn't discreetly rolled up and tucked in the garbage can. Oh no, this was proudly on display, almost under a spotlight.

Would you die of embarrassment? I'm not sure if I'd die of embarrassment or if Aaron would just kill me to put me out of my misery.

This girls been busy - so blogging's on the back burner for a few days...

I've had one of THESE days

You know when you can't quite say the right thing - well that was me today.

I'll never forget saying "I'm sad for you but I'm sad for me too", seriously it's not what I intended on saying BUT once I did you can't really take it back now can you? I'm really not that insensitive or stupid. Really, I'm not. I have serious guilt issues about it though.

Tonight's ER episode is called "Love is a Battlefield". Hmmpfh. That's original.

Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow night will be a better night.

Where's the Fun in Fundraising?

Just kidding. I know the night of our Beach Bash is going to be a lot of fun. It's just the donation solicitation that's no so fun.

BUT, we have been gifted with some AMAZING stuff this year!

Check it out.

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Tonight is my second class of Strippercise with Andrea. Although I've just been referring to it as my strippy class. Strippercise, Strip A Size or whatever it is just doesn't roll off the tongue, know what I mean?

Just clowning around

I don't know how many times I've looked at this book today but it just makes me laugh my butt off each time!

Tonight was dayhome meeting night, I've missed the last few due to scheduling with Aaron's hockey but was able to tonight. We had a financial advisor/insurance/benefits specialist do a presentation. It was worthwhile, BUT some of it was a little over my head :oP

Hi-Ya!

My kids are turning into Karate Kids, it's awesome!

Tonight they listened to Sensei Lisa and were amazing. I was so proud of them!

We even went to Wal-Mart afterwards to pick up a few things and they demonstrated their moves for the cashier.

Priceless!!!

One Scenario - 4 Very Different Viewpoints

Last night at dinner we were discussing weddings. Not sure how that came about but it did. Our next family wedding will be Jenny & Mike (Jenny is Aaron's cousin) and the boys asked where it will be. Well, the wedding is in Lethbridge.

Here's where the different viewpoints come into play.

JT: That's awesome we're going to stay up late!

Alex: Make sure you get a room with a hot tub like the last wedding.

Me: Hmm..I wonder what I'll wear.

Aaron: Hey! If you get the exact address of everything we can program it into the GPS, how cool is that?

Seriously folks, I kid you not. My husband is turning into a geek. LOL!

Strippercise was a freaking blast :o)

Is this what you have in mind?
Okay, we're not quite that athletic, we can't just grab onto a pole and fling ourselves around and around.

To be honest at the beginning I was having a hard time managing just the sexy walk. BUT it's only because I was wearing my sneakers - once I took them off I could totally strut in my socks :o)

The music was good, the instructor was good and the class was good. There were about 10 of us in this small MIRRORED room. And yes we had to look ourselves in the eye as we were performing/exercising. I think in this class there's a very fine line between the two.

Our instructor (can't remember her name) had 3 rules for the class.

1. Respect yourself
2. Respect others
3. and I can't remember the last one (Andrea can comment and add it) I'm thinking it was like Have fun or something similar

Anyways, our teacher said that we are our own harshest judge and that was totally true. When she looked at me and said 'good job, you're doing it' all I kept thinking is 'are you kidding me?, I am so NOT doing it the way YOU'RE doing it' BUT at the same time I was enjoying myself.

So why as women are we so hard on ourselves? Even the totally fit women in the size 0 Lulu's were critiquing themselves pretty hard and laughing at their lack of coordination.

Do we ever reach a point in our lives when we love our shape and size?

Maybe that's something to strive for in '09.

Are you ready for pics of LIAM?

After a highly-anticipated wait I got to see Liam Ryan for the first time tonight - IN PERSON!

In one word I'd have to say he is SWEET.

In two words it would be SUCH SWEETNESS.

Jeff, Kathryn and Liam are all doing well. If anything the new Mom and Dad are tired and can't wait to sleep in their own bed.

And Liam is just PERFECT.

Words can't describe the amazing contentment I had just sitting, holding Liam and chatting with Kathryn and Jeff. Some people are just meant to have children - their family is complete :o)

Is it bedtime for Thing One and Thing Two yet?

Love my boys but they've driven me crazy lately!!!

We went shopping for some preemie clothes for Liam and what an adventure that was! We started off on the ground floor at Sears and picked out 3 sleepers, a 5 piece layette, some receiving blankets and something special for Kathryn.

That was the easy part.

We waited in one lineup for about 10 minutes and were getting nowhere so we went to the exercise equipment right down the aisle where there was no customers standing in line yet the girl was too busy doing who-knows what on the phone and ignored me. So, then Alex has to pee so we trot upstairs to the 3rd floor by foot because someone has pushed the stop button on the escalators. We made it just in time, and then someone said to me, aren't your boys a bit old to be using the ladies room? Yeah, no. They're 5 and 7. I'm not about to let them into the men's unaccompanied thank you very much.

We paid for the baby items upstairs and the gifty for Kathryn was onsale BUT it came up at regular price and after 5 minutes of waiting we decided to pay for hers downstairs where the baby section SHOULD realize it's on sale. Yeah, no. After waiting in line for another 10 minutes they disagreed, so I put up a fuss and insisted they come with me to see that it is on sale. Which they did.

Was I a winner after all this fiasco? Nope, after the commotion of saving $4 (it was totally the principle at that point) and washing all of Liam's baby gear I realized that my 5 piece layette ONLY HAD 4 PIECES!!!

Now seeing as I have ZERO Liam pics to show you guys you'll have to settle for a pic of me:

Actually it's more my necklace than me. This was a holiday gift from Jenn, it has Joseph and Alex's name stamped in the pendant. It is beautiful and my fave piece of jewellry. A big thanks to Jenn!

And now that I've actually been serious about losing weight and toning up a bit I've discovered something that Michelle already knows about. They're muffin tops. Preservative free and taste FABULOUS! I know Michelle buys them online and freezes them BUT today while shopping Safeway I came across them. They are really tasty and have 7 grams of fiber in each one AND they don't taste like sawdust. I checked it out online and I think they're cheaper at Safeway but they only carry 2 flavours. So if you're looking for a healthy snack check out Vitalicious.

It's a FABULOUS day already

Last night at only 35 weeks and 4 days in utero, little LIAM RYAN decided to make his arrival into JEFF & KATHRYN'S world! ]

I just got the news this morning - and I'll admit I was a wee bit surprised but in a good way. Little Liam was born at 8:22 last night and weighed 5 lbs 1 ounce. He's perfect! Kathryn thinks they'll be going home tomorrow :o)

Congratulations to the family!

And a special congrat to Kathryn for keeping the name a secret - I'm totally impressed.

I'd better get dressed so I can go buy some preemie clothes for the little guy!

Pics to follow soon...

What would you do?

My boys aren't liking Beavers all of a sudden. They skipped the Christmas party and tonight's the first night back after the holidays and neither of them are interested.

So, as a parent what do I do?

Option 1: Make them go. They would probably enjoy the games for sure and they're making rainsticks tonight out of wrapping paper tubes. Who wouldn't like that?

Option 2: Let them stay home. Where they'll do the same thing they usually do in the evenings, dinner, playtime, bathtime, bedtime.

Hmm, I'll have to consult Aaron and see what he thinks we should do. He's anti-Beavers because he didn't care for it as a kid (probably because he swallowed his 25 cent dues one time) so he may lean towards skipping it BUT he's also a believer in following through with whatever you start.

Tough call...

We are about to embark on an exciting adventure

Remember Andrea?

Well, she has signed us up for Strippercise classes starting next week.

Should be fun! I'm TOTALLY looking forward to it.

Maybe we'll work up to Poledancing by the summer ;o)

***hmmm, Blogger's not working again - I was going to post a funny poledancing pic***

Oopsy daisy

I attempted to do a "blue job" tonight - take Thing Two for a haircut and he came out with a really shoddy haircut.

This is the before shot, in all it's bushiness:

And this is the after shot before bed, in all it's different lengths. I'll get a better shot of it's badness tomorrow:

I don't know what went wrong but from 20 feet away I could spot the uneven-ness. That's not a good sign. And I asked them what was up with the lines and if they could blend it in a bit which resulted in some more tell tale lines, so we settled for a shoddy half-priced haircut.

But doesn't he look cute with no front teeth? It's amazing at how fast these two kids are spitting them out like Chiclets! I'm thinking the Tooth Fairy should be bringing pocket change versus twenties...but HE obviously has a secret money tree somewhere.

Here's Thing One, I just broke the news to him that his fave babysitter is coming at the end of the month. He's been missing her like crazy, so have we. She really is the best!

Guess who like's Spiderman?
Jonathan and Heather came for a visit today and Jonathan brought out and searched for anything and everything Spiderman. Must run in the family ;o)

Happy Birthday Heather!

Okay not exactly a flattering pic of myself but still one of my faves....good times, good times...

and a

Happy Day to you Antie Hether from JT

Happy Birthday Mom!

My post is later than normal BUT it's still your birthday so it TOTALLY counts!

Glad you had a great day and enjoyed brunch with Dad at Hotel MacDonald. That's two of my favourite things GOOD FOOD and GOOD COMPANY!

Wishing you a great 5-3!

Happy New Year

We're off to a rough start blogging wise but I've been busy. So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2009 year filled with family, friends, love and laughter - that's what memories are made of!

What have I been busy with? You'll regret asking because I you'll be reading A LOT about this in the next 2 months.

It all comes down to this:

and this:

I've been working on our invitations, and donation solicitations for our next big fundraiser. Mom and Janine have been helping but I've got one of those obsessive personalities where I CAN NOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. They can definitely attest to how many copies of almost the exact same letter/invite they've been getting via email. But, what can I say? I'm a planner and I like things to go smoothly. The donations have already started to trickle in !

Last year's party was a huge success and a ton of fun but I can already foresee that this year's party will be even better.