Last day of our Blogging Challenge

And I failed.

:o(

Actually I think it was pretty successful in that I was trying to blog more frequently and that I did.

Today was our dayhome party and it was a lot of fun - as always.

Jessica and I aim to have 2 colouring crafts, 2 stickering crafts, fun snack and 2 games.

Today the kids had puppets and ornaments to colour, bookmarks and treat bags to decorate, bananas and pumpkin cake for snack and we played ball toss into pumpkin buckets and digging thru spaghetti brains for the pingpong eyeballs. And tattoos and balloons. I think we always have tattoos and balloons.

Life is pretty uncomplicated to be a kid.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Thing 1 likes his music just as much as Mom

I have a video I'll have to upload onto Youtube of JT singing along to Make Me Wonder when he was about 4 yrs old, maybe 5 yrs. I'll have to check the date.

Anyways, last night on the drive to karate Maroon 5 came on the radio and JT asked me to turn it up so he could sing along. Then last night I was searching for a particular video when I came across his singing one. SO CUTE!!!

Aaron and I watched a ton of 20-30 second video clips of the kiddos. Those guys make me laugh!

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE VIDEO!

Weekends are getting shorter and shorter and shorter

This weekend I went to an Early Learning Childcare Conference which was rather interesting. The speaker has written a book Discipline Without Distress. Seeing as I have a house full of kids everyday I thought it would be worthwhile and it was for the most part.

The 90 minute lunch was a bit long but gave me the chance to talk to other dayhome providers and some of the ladies from the Chestermere Parent Link Centre. They are super nice - makes me wish I lived in Chestermere or that they would open a Parent Link in Mckenzie :o)

The icing on the cake was meeting the rep for Wintergreen - he offered FREE SHIPPING for anyone who attended the conference on Saturday. That is a huge deal because I had ordered two couches for the playroom and ended up cancelling the order when the $320 quote for shipping was emailed to me. OUCH! The couches themselves were $200 each and I just couldn't justify almost doubling the expense, especially considering I was picking them up from the store.

So, huge score for me!

Happy Almost Halloween!

Honestly I wasn't sure about these costumes at all BUT they seem pretty cool now that they're in them.

Fantastic customer service - a pleasant surprise

I was unfolding the buggy today and noticed the front arm bar had a broken clip on it. I bought the buggy in August so it is still really new so I figured it would be covered under the warranty.

It probably took me a longer amount of time to google the company to get the phone number and write down the model number etc than the time I spent on the phone with the company.

Debbie is the Canadian rep at Foundations and she was fantastic. Just needed the model # and my address/phone number and a replacement arm bar will be sent to me tomorrow.

I just can't put a price on awesome customer service!

I had an awesome post and I lost it :o(

Monday we celebrated Brian's life and we laughed, we cried, we laughed and we cried. Later on that day we watched the video of the funeral as the live version seemed really surreal.

Aaron gave a beautiful tribute to his dad - the boys and I were so proud of him.

We had a fabulous celebrant that really captured the essence of Brian and who he really was.

As I said before, we laughed and we cried.

We've been BOOED!!!!

Friday night -just when I think my kids needed it the most - someone Booed our house.

Been Booed is the link to the website.

The kids received anonymously two treat bags and a note that they've been booed. There's a cute little poem with instructions to "boo" a neighbour and leave some treats and a ghost picture to stick in your window that says you've been booed. We didn't know who Booed us so the boys decided to Boo the kids across the street that we don't really know. And then we thought about it after the fact and thought what if they don't boo anyone else? Then we'll look silly with the only ghost in the window. So, then we decided to boo our neighbours that we KNOW would take this seriously and would continue the booing. It is now Sunday and there are 5 houses in our cluster with ghosts in the window....

I really like this "spirit of halloween".

Good, clean, not so scary fun.

I love it.

Two pics from Aussie Rules

 Michelle says : Look how white I am. I say: I thought you were looking pretty dark at swimming last week. LOL.

I look incredibly short waisted for some reason and Tamara and Melissa look great. Not fair.

I'm sure we all know by now because I can't keep my mouth shut (although it really was a funny stotry kind of) that I puked in my purse on the drive home and wrecked my iPhone which is why I had to beg/borrow/plead for pics from everyone else's iPhones.

Was still a fantastic evening - only thing I'd change would be putting my phone in my pocket instead.

Live and learn I suppose.

Oh. My. Word.

Apparently a preschool teacher in South Africa packed 19 kids in her car and took them on a field trip! What the?!? Her punishment was $170.

That's insane. Thankfully there were no injuries, one could only imagine the disaster it would have been if there had been a fender  bender.

So now that school is back in there is a ton of traffic around the schools come morning, lunch and afterschool. And with that comes the problematic question - do I leave the kids in the car by themselves or don't I?

I have mixed feelings. Personally I have been known to do that at their present age of 11 (next month) and 9 but technically I shouldn't until they turn 12. When they were babies and strapped into car seats I never left them alone. They're just so helpless/defenseless at that point.

With the dayhome kids I never left them alone in the vehicle either. Period. They're not my kids. In the winter months when I needed to pick up the big kids from school I'd wait as close to the school as possible and they would just walk to the truck. And by close I mean they didn't have to cross any streets.

Now this year I've seen the same dayhome mom park across the street, leave all the dayhome kids in her vehicle while she stands outside at the bus stop socializing for 10 to 15 minutes with the other moms while waiting for her kids. It just doesn't seem right. I don't know why it bothers me so much, they're not my kids. I wonder if the families know - maybe they do and don't care.  At the same time I just want to yell at her "you're at the PARK, let the kids out to PLAY"

Edmonton Police Service has started a campaign this year Vehicles Are Not Babysitters. According to the video clip I watched seeing kids unattended in a vehicle should warrant a 911 call. The babysitter is in view of the vehicle technically just not necessarily of whats going on thru the tinted windows.

Maybe I shouldn't judge, but its every single day, not just once in a blue moon during a rain storm...

BECK, Thomas “Brian”
January 9, 1949 – October 17, 2012

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Brian Beck, beloved husband, father, and grandfather on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at the age of 63 years.
Brian was born in Roblin, Manitoba to Christine and Tom Beck. He met Debra in Calgary and they later married in May of 1972. Brian had many passions in life which included hunting, fishing, woodworking, a variety of handywork and spending warm days outside. Brian’s love and passion was the family cottage. Often times throughout his illness he would ask to go to the cottage to gather his thoughts and spend time with family and friends.
Brian is survived by his loving wife Debra of forty years; his sons, Aaron (Lesley) and Jason; and his two grandsons, Joseph and Alexander. Brian is also survived by his siblings, Arlene (Eric) Giest, Doris (Carl) Slugoski, Doug (June), Laurence (Sandra), Ann (Fidele) Carriere, Terry (Maurice) Carriere, Bev (Terry) Carriere, and Dennis (Debbie); as well as numerous nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles. Brian was predeceased by his parents; brothers, Dale (Laurie) and Garry (Bonnie); and sister Evelyn (Harry) Hart.

Getting in the holiday spirit

I don't have monthly card classes anymore but I do like to do Christmas card classes and a Spring class.

It's not a money maker but it lets me be creative, and gives me a few hours with some of my very best girlfriends.

This is a preview:

Friendship at its very best!

Alex and Aislynn have been friends since they were one and two years old. Aislynn came to my dayhome when she was a baby so at first they were most likely "forced friends" but over the years they have become the very best of friends. When we go on holidays or even just for a weekend jaunt to Banff, Alex is always looking for a souvenir to bring home to Aislynn. They both have a shared love for rocks and Justin Bieber, lol, and that can keep them occupied for hours.

 

 

There's a new place coming to Cowtown and I can't wait!

It's called Extreme Air Park and it looks amazing!
I was going thru the new Entertainment book and I came across the coupons so I checked it out and was blown away.

It looks like a place that my kids would want to hang out and maybe even Aaron and I.

Or the ladies - there's an Airobics class. I don't know about you guys but I'm willing to give it a try.

Sad face - no pictures to share from last night

 

 

I forgot the camera but did take lots of iPhone pics and then there was an unfortunate event which led to the demise of my very first iPhone which was only 7 months old.

 

 

Sad face indeed.

 

 

In any case I did get to try out the fabulous customer service at the local Apple store. Jenn has said on more than one occasion that they are awesome and I completely agree. By early afternoon I had a replacement phone and was busy attemping to re-input my contact list. I have to say I weeded A LOT out of my address book. If I haven't phoned you or made contact with you in the last year I'm probably not going to.

 

 

So, getting back to last night - it was a great night out.

 

 

Michelle and I went onstage to do our thing when our request for Strokin was played. The occasion? GROWN UPS NIGHT OUT!!!!!!

 

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oy Oy Oy!

We are going out tonight.

Pictures to follow

While helping Alex clean up his iPad we found movies!

This is exactly what he states - we are ONNNN the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is Alex spying on his cousins and I at our first camping trip in the RV this summer in Medicine Hat.

What a goofball!

Oh Blogger you drive me CRAZY some days!

For some reason I can't see the comment anti-robot verifier on The Family Banner. So here's my comment:

LOL- JT would also love a real suit of armor! Can you imagine the stunts they would try "hey let's see how much we can hit each other before we feel anything" comes to mind.

Interesting tidbits about the pee things- those are both phrases I've used!

Tuesday night fitness

Way back in January I started going to deep water workout classes with some friends. One night the class was full so we went to a different pool to try the tethered deep water class and I was hooked!

You wear these floaty belts with a strap on the back to hook to the lane dividers and then do different exercises.

I took the summer off but have been pretty commited the rest of the time for going to this one Tuesday class.

And now Michelle and Tamara are coming regularly which makes it just that much more fun.

Someone needs to laugh at me on those occasions when I find out I grabbed a hand towel and not a bath towel.

EEK!!!

Can you put a price on memories?

Not really but family photographers sure can. I really love the pictures our photographer has taken of our family in the past so I'm optimistic that at tonights viewing I'll want to buy, buy, buy!

But realistically I can't afford to buy them all. Now, at Superstore or Walmart when they print off extras and upsell you I can afford those extra prints, lol. But we wanted pictures that are more artsy than cookie cutter somewhat.

My plan is to buy the same sizes as the living room pics as well as updated family pics for our parents.

I had big plans to make a kick-ass collage downstairs on the wall that used to be cluttered with halloween crap with the pictures that are hanging in the living room now. Then Aaron told me he'd like to take some of those to work to decorate his office. Mmpfh. There goes that plan.

Maybe I'll just splurge and buy him a new picture to hang in his office.

Now don't get me started on the cost of framing pictures ha ha.

Six Hours Later ...

It was the perfect day weather-wise to hibernate inside the house and clean. Our downstairs was a bit willy-nilly to say the least.

 

We had Halloween stuff/cookware/playdough/snacks etc on the hutch.

 

 

Crafts everywhere... and the storage shelves were overflowing.

 After six hours the living room was back to normal again after being filled with all of the stuff I was organizing.

 Crafts are tidies up, the above shelf is still willy-nilly but its better than earlier.

 And the storage shelves are back to normal.

Inhale, exhale!

Have you ever opened your purse and realized your wallet is missing?

That's exactly what happened to me at the grocery store this morning and I think my heart skipped a beat, I felt like I was going to throw up and forgot to breath and got light headed all at the same time.

When I phoned home and found out it was on the counter I felt huge relief!

My sister recently had her purse stolen and the nightmare of cancelling/replacing everything is not something I want to do!!!

My addiction of JEANS!

Everyone collects something. Shoes, purses, make up, books, etc.

Alex collects shiny rocks, JT collects cards and I collect jeans.

To date I have 26 pairs. They range from trendy ripped up jeans that yes maybe I am "too old" to wear, to brightly coloured jeans that sometimes don't really go with anything but a black top to dressy jeans for nights out. The least expensive jeans I think were $8.99 from JCPenney and the most were my latest pair of LA Idol's at $149.

These are my two favourites, if Aaron wasn't busy with homework right now I'd have asked him to take a picture of me IN my jeans, lol.

If I had to take a guess when this all began I would have to say it was at Christine's designer jean party. (It was the one and only denim party I've attended.) At these parties the owners bring a variety of styles, sizes and labels of jeans and you try them on and buy whatever fits your body and budget. Well...out of the hundreds of jeans there were 2 that fit. Ok, one that fit and one that I pretended fit but really didn't and that's why I didn't model them for anyone. So I bought those and boy oh boy did I ever feel GREAT every time I put them on. I was pretty overweight at the time and was wearing ugly stretchy jeans from good ole Walmart. Once I began to lose weight and my jeans would get too big I really liked shopping for replacements as a reward.

Now that I'm at a healthy weight I should probably slow down on the jean shopping...

Movie Review

On our weekend away Aaron and I went to see End of Watch and it was not what I had expected but I really liked it.

The movie is about two beat cops in LA and has a love story, lots of action, drama and a lot of points in the movie where you are literally on the edge of your seat anticipating what is to come next.

I admit I did have to cover my eyes more than once but I'm squeamish so what can I say?

Highly recommend.

Is it just me?

Or do you also take self portraits of yourself to send your friends?

Sometimes they're "look at my awesome new sweater" pictures.

 

 

Sometimes they're more like "what do you think of this look? Am I too old to pull it off?"

Sometimes they're "look at me looking silly" pictures

 

 

Was anyone else reminded of Burt Reynolds in Striptease when they seen my short shorts and cowboy boots pic? LOL!!!

This is so unlike me!!!

 

WHERE DID I GO WRONG??????

 

 

I am typically an organized person with lists and such so I don't know where I went wrong with this situation.

We've had a cracked window pane in the boys upstairs bathroom for a couple years now. It was never a big concern only for the fact that it's on the outside pane and we hardly ever thought about it.

In August Aaron and I came up with a to-do list for household stuff to work on over the fall/winter months and then in the spring/summer we'll work on the outside stuff.

Aaron called a few window replacement places and out of those 3 or 4 only one called him back. That's how we picked who we wanted to go with, lol.

Four weeks ago today two men came over in their company van and checked out our window. They made a diagram and gave me a rough estimate and I gave it the ok. Seeing as we were doing business with them I decided to have our 3 misshapen window screens replaced as well. For that they took 2 of the 3 screens with them to see if they were repairable as opposed to complete replacement.

That was four weeks ago and I have heard nothing from them. Nothing.

I didn't give them a cash deposit so I'm not out anything except 2 window screens but they didn't give me a business card or anything and here's the kicker I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH WINDOW COMPANY IT IS!!!!

Sheesh.

I've left messages with three companies today asking if we had a file with them for window replacement/screen repair and feel like an idiot.

We have been bitten by the Halloween bug!

Yes it's a tad early but we bought candies for the trick or treaters this weekend and it's a good cold weather day activity to occupy the big kids.

They counted up all the candy and are dividing them up into treat bags. We only have 60 bags but we've never had more than that so we should be good!

And for costumes they are going to be Evil Jesters. It's not as wholesome as Thing One and Thing Two, and last year we made the leap to the Zombie Rockers so it wasn't a shock that they wanted something scary and creepy this year.

...sigh...my babies are growing up

Day 1 - SUCCESS

I started a blogging challenge with Jenn, then Michelle and my mom for blogging everyday in the month of October. Five out of the seven days must have a picture too.

I was really gung-ho with blogging in the beginning but then entered Facebook and so the blog was often shelved.

Anyways - here we go!

This weekend Aaron and I went on a mini-holiday without our kids. Second time EVER! First time was for Nannie's 75th birthday celebration in New Brunswick and that was a few years ago.

We went to Great Falls with our friends Kathryn and Jeff. It was a whirlwind weekend of shopping, shopping and more shopping. We ate out, drank out, drank in, and did a schwack of shopping.

Did I miss my boys? YES! But did the boys miss me? Probably yes but not as much, ha ha. The kids went to Nannie and Papa's house and were busy golfing and hot tubbing. Lucky kids, lucky us!

Here's me and the boys on our last holiday together :o)