lego my lego

Lego has come into favor once again in our house. It cycles back and forth and now it is in. Which is why Craig and I have all these Lego prints on the bottom of our feet. Kaedo spent part of the afternoon on Sunday playing Lego with Craig and one of them had the bright idea to dump the entire box out. Craig??? Now it is necessary to dump out the entire box looking for the visor for one of the helmets. I tried to get pictures of Sterling playing as well but I couldn't. I'll try again another day.



The boys are doing good. Kaedo is on the countdown asking me when I'm leaving, which isn't a great sign, but that's OK. They are lucky to have the dad they have as he will keep them busy for the weekend.
Can't wait to see everyone. It's going to be great. Seeing my gramma tomorrow. Haven't seen her in a year. Looking forward to it. Can't wait to see mom and dad and Jessica and Emma. I'm going to teach her something to make her more of a brat than she already is! enter evil laugh here.
As I always say - "no more sleeps" because I figure I won't sleep tonight anyway.

tigercats

Sterling is the newest member of the Clarington Tigercats rep. tackle football club. Oh God! He is so excited. We have been talking about it, and Sterling is just in love with the sport, so we decided to bite the bullet and register him. It starts on May 26-27 and he'll practice 2 nights a week until he leaves on holidays. As soon as he gets back he'll have to do his weigh-in and start playing. He is going to miss the majority of the practices as they practice twice a week all summer. They have told us that this is fine and that they would still like him to play. Needless to say, he is over the moon.
I spent quite a lot of time on Friday speaking with the head of the program and we went to do the registering yesterday. We were thrilled with the program head and coaches and all and more of our questions were answered. As I write this I realize I have one more question, so I will have to get that answered this week. They play all the way from Bowmanville to Burlington and have a 10 game schedule, 5 home, 5 away. If you want more info go here.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know what we have going on here.
Go ti-cats!

Duet

I suppose I could have called this 'Everyone's a Critic' but I actually think that Ketchup is singing along with Shannon. Sterling has been working on a speech for French and it's all about Ketchup. He is supposed to use multi media so I helped him insert this same clip into a powerpoint slide. I think his class should get a kick out of it. Today was the big bowling banquet, I wasn't there so I'll let Shannon give the update on tomorrow's post, then Sterling was going to Sam's birthday party. As a result Kaeden and I spent most of the day together, playing football, basketball, trip to Tim Hortens and then some Lego building. We had a great time and since we don't get to spend that much one on one time together it was even more special. I thought I'd get warmed up to this blogging thing for when Shannon is away, I don't want this to lapse because of my laziness. Take care everyone.

just so you know...

my husband rocks!

room at the inn

Look what Craig found! In our twisting whatever tree. Gorgeous, don't you think? Four beautiful, perfect eggs. We are so thrilled to be the hosts. I have caught mama in there a few times, but she flies away when we walk by. Craig did an awesome job taking the pics. He had to hold the camera over his head to get some good shots. Anyway - a sign of Spring? This is something that is making me very happy today. Anything making you happy?

Book worm

Watching my son read is magical. He is entranced by the written words, anxious to turn the page and continue the adventure, all the while hoping it will never end. I love how he lays the book in front of him and lays his chin on his hands. When I watch him I feel like I am in the story with him. He takes his books to bed with him. Not just to read, but to somehow, through osmosis, be able to re-read the story again. They hold a place of honor - on the pillow next to his head.

He has started on the Hardy Boys series now. Hell, I'll give him a cereal box if it keeps him reading.

sorry for the bad photo - taken at the library on my phone

The boys of the family. How gorgeous they are. LOVE Sterling's hair. sigh. I think this is my favorite picture of Sterling. This summer they will be able to pose for another (or 20 if Shirley has her way) one of these photos, only Jacob will have one of them in a headlock.

Tuesday Blues and a thanks

Still feeling like crap.
Got to get rid of this. It shall however, be a good excuse to cancel my trip to Alberta if I can't wear flip flops while I am there. What the Hell? 2 ft of snow? It's April people, the end of April! In my fragile physical condition I don't think I can journey all the way across the country to see my favorite niece (and the rest of you) if you cannot do something about this emergency situation. Maybe you need to call out the army.

Seriously, this cold is kicking the shit out of me. The fam should be happy they even got a meal last night. Oh, who am I kidding? Any night they get a meal is cause for celebration. Mom and Shirley - you must be rolling over in your therapeutic adjustable beds right now. Just for the record - they did not eat cereal, Kraft Dinner or popcorn.

Went to bed at 7pm last night. Craig cleaned up supper and even washed the kitchen table - isn't he darling? He went out for milk, brown sugar, and soy milk and got the brats to bed - all without waking me up. The man is a god. I woke up at 6:10 - must of just missed him - dragging my bright eyes and bushy tail into the bathroom just so I could contemplate actually facing the day.

On the bright side, I m going to Markham today. On the dark side, I am going to Markham today. The show must go on.

OK - that is enough of my witty repartee.

GET THAT SNOW CLEANED UP!

hmmm

Feel like I have been hit by stampeding reindeer on Boxing day on their way to Hawaii for their 2 weeks vacation.

a gaggle

gaggle: noun? a group of children chirping in your basement

So, I have a gaggle right now in my house - 10, 8, 7, 6 years old. They are sweet, adorable and absolutely darling. My kids are OK, too. If they stay in the basement I will truly be content. The boys have had fun playing with these two cuties all weekend, and now they are in the basement watching "Herbie: Fully Loaded", eating popcorn, premium plus crackers, chips, and drinking pink lemonade. They seem to be enjoying themselves. I haven't heard a peep out of them. Maybe the basement door is closed.

It is 2:06pm and I am still in my jammies and may change later in the day - to some new jammies. Craig is on the way to the gym and I am kid wrangling for the afternoon. The weather is great. The kids should be outside, but this impromptu carpet picnic was too good to pass up, so it had to be done.

Another busy week, I think. TKD, Spanish, gym, football, bowling banquet and flute lessons. Oh ya - I have to work, as well. Off to Markham tomorrow for a project that needs to be done for Tuesday. Back and forth, back and forth. At 122.0 it kills me to put gas in the van. I might bike there. It'll only take me 8 hours and a coronary. Small price to pay.

Have been doing the dairy free thing for a week now. Feeling pretty good. I don't have the need to MOOO every time I see a glass of milk and my chocolate bar consumption has gone down to zero. Now if only I could be allergic to wheat and vegetables, all would be well. Oh ya, I'm already allergic to vegetables. Those suckers only have to look at me the wrong way and I get hives. Did I tell you Craig was eating spinach (and doing Popeye impersonations)? That stuff is disgusting. It tastes like dirt. I actually had to spit it out and when I did a flower started growing out of it. Bleccc. He says you just need to eat it with dressing. Trust me honey - no dressing on the planet will make me love dirt.

hmmm

woman walking down the middle of the road (busy street)

pushing a BBQ


Seriously people, I can't make shit like this up

With summer fast approaching (ugh), the boys are anxiously waiting to create new memories with everyone out west. Here is one of their memories from last summer that they are still talking about now.

Some of the things they are excited about:

driving in anti's convertible

science centre

riding in grampa's truck

long bike rides

sleeping in the basement and g&g's house

seeing emma

playing hockey with jacob

dremelling (?)

popcorn

swimming

gramma's car pumpkin

seeing anti's new house

rock tumbling

mcdonalds

and a jazillion other things

Craig and I are both so excited for them. Th only problem is that we are actually going to talk to each other for 2 months!

***if you want to see a bigger image of the layout just click on it

in my bathroom

1 extra roll of toilet paper
scissors
micro car
sterling's socks
4 paint brushes
a paperclip
soap (used in making potions)
7 magazines and catalogues
2 books
4 gobs of chewed up gum
and a Starburst wrapper

today

First off, got a question about the frappucino. I did what every good mother would do. I took him to Starbucks. With me going totally dairy free, it was a true sacrifice to watch him drink all that yumminess. In his defence he did ask if I wanted some.

Had my flute lesson last night. Just so you know - I am not full of hot air! In fact I can hold virtually no air. So there. It is going good. My instructor is cool in a jazz and sunglasses sort of way. He even had docksiders on last night. He is very cool. He makes his living in the music world and plays "gigs" every week. He teaches 3 nights a week and that is his only steady job. It is so cool to be living your dream. When I start playing with the Philharmonic he can say he knew me when. Not.

Craig is home today. I am supposed to go to a meeting today that wouldn't allow me to get home in time, so Craig said he could work from home. Now it looks like my meeting is going to be cancelled, so he has possibly stayed home for nothing. It really changes the dynamics here when he is home. I don't mind it except that I can't speak to Jessica for an hour at our usual 1pm time slot.

My regular night out is tonight, so I am looking forward to that. Tomorrow Sam is coming to play and Friday is Friday. Sterling's last bowling week is on Saturday. He is disappointed but that's life. Last week was the beginning of the two week tournament and right now his team is in first place. We'll see how it goes this week. If they keep it up they will win the Bantam title. Last week Sterling had his best scores of the season. He even got two strikes in a row. One game he bowled 40+ points over his average.

Kaedo is feeling better today and was anxious to get to school. TKD after school for him - if he isn't coughing too much.

Well, that's it. Hope you are all well.

sick

Got a munchkin home sick today. I think his exact words at 3am were, "mob, i'be god the snibbles". To which I not so promptly replied, "why aren't you wearing pajamas to bed? You're probably freezing. Go to the bathroom and I'll get you some toilet paper". Yes, I am a good mom. After tucking him in, handing over Baby, and got him all snuggly in his bed, I got a roll of toilet paper and a garbage can for him to put his "kleenexs" in. This morning when I checked on him I could tell he had made an effort to get the toilet paper in the garbage, and one of them actually made it!

He slept in today then went downstairs to watch TV, then came upstairs and played on the computer. Then he said to me,

"mom, you know what I would really like?"

"no, what?"

"a strawberries and cream frappucino"

need i say more?

EDITED:
* click on image to view larger

hmmm

sigh

A few weeks ago I bought myself some tulips. They were beautiful Tulips are my favorite. This is them after two weeks. Pretty pathetic, eh? Craig and I were in a battle of wills over who would throw them out. I won, if you're wondering. Let me just preface this by saying that Craig never buys me flowers.

Until now...

253

This is my 253 post. Amazing. Now if only I had something witty to say. All is well here. The weather is good, the kids aren't fighting (with each other or us). I'm sorry I don't have more to write about. I guess after 253 posts I'm at a loss. I'll be back soon with something worth reading.

S

Saturday

What an early morning. Heaven forbid, I think I may be becoming a morning person. Every so often, Sterling and I wake up at the same time on Saturday mornings and sneak out to Tim Hortons for a gab. This morning (6:50am), no one was peeping except me. So up I go, grabbed a shower, got dressed and headed out. First stop - Tim Hortons for a large tea. Second stop - Busy Bee for the Saturday edition of the National Post. Thanks mom, for hooking me on it! I'm saving you all the crosswords. By the time the first muchkin got out of bed (whose first words were, "mom, can I go on the computer?" - one guess to who that was) I was finished the first two sections and was working on the third. A nice way to start my morning.

Mom and dad are on their way back to the real world - boo hoo for them, and are planning on arriving in Alberta Monday or Tuesday. So looking forward to seeing them. TKD and bowling today. Today at bowling, the family sitting across from us kept tallying up money for their son. When I asked what they were paying for, the mom told me he got $5 for every game he bowled over his average. Kid was 15 bucks richer today. Now that's incentive!

Under the heading of "I AM THEREFORE I CREATE", here is Em in all her finery. Where are the parents, people? There's got to be someone you can call about this. I must not jest too much. Sterling once took a pot of Penaten cream and smeared it everywhere, and Kaedo has had some run-ins with a marker or two.

On that note - happy Saturday.

awww

How can it be that these pictures were taken 8.5 years ago? He's still klutzy. He's still gorgeous. He's still mine. Just loving being with him right now. He is amazing. We've had our differences, but we are really in sync right now. 10 is terrific. I recently did this layout of this funny (now) event. I can remember it clear as day.

Have a good weekend. Will share more soon,
s

hmmm

don't put off your happy life

'nuff said

7 random things

* I hate maple syrup

* I start thinking about what to make for supper at breakfast and still don't know at 5 o'clock

* If I'm not really into a book I'll stop reading it, even if I'm 100 pages in

* I can stop watching a TV show or movie 10 minutes before it ends

* My favorite activity is movie night with my four boys

* Ketchup likes my flute playing so much he howls in tune with me

* I would have tulips in my house all year round if I could. Even after saying that, Craig has never bought me any

How about you? Have you got 7 things you're just dying to tell me? I'd love to hear them.

later,
s