The Karate Kids

Last night the boys both received their yellow-striped white belts in Karate. They were both super excited!

More Beaver fun

Tonight we're going to the Okotoks Firehall for a tour. Last year JT and I went and he got to dress up in the outfit and spray the hose. Today we're having uber amounts of snow and I'm kind of thinking we won't be doing anything outside tonight. As long as the boys get to jump in the firetruck they'll be happy!

And although I'm hoping to see a little of this:

I know my odds are better of seeing a lot of that:

And so it begins...

and

will all roll into this:



Cooking With Irene

Can Alex's Kindergarten booklets get any cuter than this?

Obviously they've been studying bears at school. I just LOVE these booklets he comes home with, his teacher is the best!

And Lesley's birthday week continues with a little fairy dust :

Okay, okay it's wasn't really Tinkerbell that came to visit me today but she sure was a cutie :o) Janine and Alivia came for a visit and brought me this:
Ta da! Seriously, I'm not sure how she just knew that Alex had recently destroyed my fave blusher brush OR that I was checking out some uber expensive Shimmer powder this weekend at Sephora (that I didn't buy). See the big brush on the end? The base is FILLED WITH SHIMMER POWDER - LOVE THAT!!!

And here's something that didn't make the blog before we went out of town last week. My first present - no, second, the camera was the first. This was from Heather, Jeff & Jonathan. It's COACH!!! I own Coach. Not to be mistaken with Goach or Ooach - it's the real deal.

Some days I'm amazed at how well my friends and family know me - I guess I'm either an open book OR I secretly send them telepathic messages about a few of my favourite things. You guys are the best :o)

And something totally unrelated but made me laugh today and I'm sure will make you laugh too. Here's an excerpt from a blog I follow:

"so, yes, where was i…back to this morning where i may or may no have been dancing. to Spring Awakening. in nothing at all. and then i spotted her. my neighbor. staring back at me. i stared. she stared.
AND THEN SHE WAVED.
and then i died."

Wasn't that funny?

Guess the gift

Leanne and Andrew popped over last night with some birthday donuts and some FANTASTIC gifts. I'm not sure which I was more excited over. Actually yeah I do. It would have to be these:

Emus are one of those things that are pricey but you just gotta have a pair. I think it's right up there with Lululemon. I distinctly remember my friend Jenn telling me enroute to Bunco last month that she bought my Lululemon sweater before she could justify buying one for herself. This was right after I gifted Leanne with her Lulu, and how true this is. Just the day before Leanne had been in the store kind of looked around but then decided the sweaters were too much. Not that she's cheap BUT $100 for a sweater is a bit steep. Until you actually own one and then you see the difference...it seems extravagant to spend on ourselves but for some reason I wouldn't think twice about buying it for a girlfriend.

And the very close runner up was the first 2 Twilight books in hardcover. I wrote my name in them immediately - I seem to be losing my books somewheres but that's a whole other story. Aaron and I watched Twilight last night and Aaron was even interested in the movie and mentioned he'd consider reading the books. I know these books were aimed at tweens but I think they made a huge mistake on that one. It could be a grown up book too, couldn't it?

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Happy Birthday to you - cha cha cha -

Happy Birthday to you - cha cha cha -

Happy Birthday Dear Aaron - cha cha cha -

Happy Birthday to you - cha cha cha -

Yes I wore the moose hat

I really am the best mother, ha ha. My boys have been talking about going to Montana's so I could wear the moose hat for weeks so I couldn't let them down, now could I?
So, Friday we went out for a birthday lunch and then hit one of the malls to buy my birthday Lululemon sweater from my boys - I think Jenn started a trend :o) Lululemon is expensive but I think 1 new sweater on my b'day is totally reasonable. Mom also gifted herself with a new Lulu sweater.

Friday night we all went to see Race to Witch Mountain. It was fantastic! The boys loved it - and so did the adults. There were a few parts that were really fast that Alex had a hard time following but he didn't want to leave so all was good.

Saturday Mom and I hit the West Edmonton Mall for some shopping. We went in to Bath and Body Works and LEFT WITH NOTHING!!!! Hard to believe, I know BUT I couldn't decide on anything and still have a lot of soap at home so I kept my money for other stuff. I'm not really sure what? I used my Sephora and H & M gift cards, bought some more pants for Alex at Children's Place. Yep, I think that's about it.

Saturday afternoon we had a HUGE turkey dinner and then had some down time to prepare ourselves for a night of Real Canadian Wrestling at the Morinville Legion. Sound lame? Not a chance! It was action-packed and highly entertaining. JT and a wrestler had some kind of thing going. I think it started with JT cheering for him and the wrestler said 'shut up kid', so then JT had it in for him, went after him at one point and did a lot of stare-downs and showing off his muscles. It was really cool - I should point out that it was all meant in fun. JT can't wait to see him again - he said he's going to tell the big ugly wrestler 'shut up Turkey'. That kid cracks me up.

Today we headed for home and as usual the driving conditions sucked. We only passed 5 vehicles in the ditch this time.

Annoying sounds and a freaking hilarious new tv show

Tonight was date night for JT and I. We went to the school to watch Beverley Hills Chihuahua with a gym full of Division 1 families.

It was fun!

Until the girls sitting behind us finished their water.

And then for the next 45 minutes all I could hear was the crinkling of their water bottles. I turned around twice to ask them to lay off - in a nice way of course. But they would resume the crinkling and it would just send shivers up my spine.

Upon returning home we found Aaron watching a new-to-us TV show called The Exterminators. It's about a family of exterminators living in Louisiana. Google it. It's on A & E and it's some good mindless humour. Kind of like CSI for hillbillies.

I'm in SOOOOOO much trouble now....

Look we're grownups - FINALLY!!!!

We weren't quite there yet in this picture. We were definitely a wee bit more on the tan side that's for sure :oP This is Tina and we've been friends for more than half my life. I can say that now because we met when I was just 15 and I'll be 31 this Friday.

We met in high school and have kept in touch pretty regularly through the years. We've been there for breakups, new jobs, new houses, weddings ( kind-of....well in spirit anyways) and most memorably the births of our children.

Her girls and my boys are great friends too. I don't have a picture of them all together from this weekend but believe me there was a whole lot of hooting and hollering going on!

Look who made a friend too, hee hee.

Goo, Homemade Ice Cream and a Bazillion Trips to the Washroom

That pretty much sums up our Science Centre Sleepover Friday night.
The program was FABULOUS but unfortunately Alex had some tummy troubles and we spent an awful lot of time going to the washroom while I left Joey in the hands of the other moms, dads and leaders. At one point Alex and I had to make a quick run to the store to get some stuff to make him feel better. I was completely torn - I had packed rather lightly because I was parenting solo for the night and I thought the less I could lose the better. So what do I do? Take both boys home even Joey was having the time of his life OR run to the store, try some quick fixes and hope for the best. Obviously I tried the quick fixes and they worked. I would definitely go again - just not by myself. It's hard getting the boys changed and washed up for bedtime and in the morning when they don't want to go in the Women's washroom yet I couldn't go in the Men's washroom and the girls in the Women's washroom weren't crazy about them being in there either. Once again - I would do it again, just not by myself!

We've reached another milestone

JT is adamant that boys don't kiss boys or tell boys that they love each other.

Let me set the stage: I made some birthday cards last night and now that JT has completely legible reading we've agreed that he's in charge of writing and signing birthday cards (except for Alex's name which he does himself) so when I read Andrew's birthday card and seen that he wrote "like" instead of "love" I questioned him about it. And I got the whole 'well boys marry girls and kiss girls and love girls so as a boy I can't love Andrew but I really do like him'.

I tried playing devil's advocate and reminded that he loves Aaron but he said it's just different.

I lead a boring life lately....here's 10 things in my purse

1. $30 Gift Card to Sephora - I fought Andrea for it, won it and still haven't spent it
2. $30 H & M Gift Card - another Bunco prize I have yet to spend
3. $25 iTunes Gift Card - not sure where that appeared from
4. Bath and Body Works lipgloss in Brown Sugar
5. Arbonne Unwind Hand Lotion - travel size
6. A wallet filled with just about every store points card excluding HBC rewards, Shoppers Optimum and the new Sobey's card
7. Band-aids - all shapes, sizes and patterns. You never know when you'll need one, especially with rough and tumble boys
8. Tanning specs - haven't been used for well over a year BUT they still have their own zippered pocket
9. Stampin Up snail adhesive for my monthly class. I'd take it out but I'm too lazy and would probably forget to bring it next month
10. My iPod. I really don't enjoy grocery shopping unless I'm listening to music and completely oblivious to everything else.

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

The Good - visiting with family that we hadn't seen in a very long time. I'm not even sure if some of my family had even met Alex before - it had been that long. The Bad - taking a new camera for pics and not reading the instruction book first. Don't get me wrong I LOVE the camera, I just took a ton of fuzzy pics. The Ugly - the really bad drive home this morning. We skipped out on one last family hurrah at breakfast to hit the roads. We passed 27 vehicles in the ditch and stopped for a rollover. Aaron pulled over on the next side road and ran back (in a summer coat no less) to assist the RCMP who had just pulled. The boys and I were so proud :o)

Happy Early Birthday To Moi

Can you guess what I got from my parents?

Here's a clue:

Here's a second clue. Note the 'self-portrait'.
And here it is, my sexy little pocket-sized camera to capture all the moments

I say 'I wish I had brought my camera'.

Thanks Mom, Dad and Cody :o)

By the way, what did you think of the nouveau haircut without the straightener. A bit flyaway don't you think? In any case, I'm still liking it.