Saturday -
Just watched this movie - Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. We all laughed our heads off. I don't know how to embed the video onto the blog, but check out the link to watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CLx7XiOO_Y

Have had a busy week. Got to get on the phones on Friday night after all week in the classroom. It was great. We were rally busy so they pulled us out of training to work the phones. To say I loved it is an understatement. I'm sure I won't feel that way when I get my first nasty phone call but we'll see.

Sunday-
Have just gotten back from the ski hill, Wal-Mart, the library and the walk in clinic. Sterling did awesome at snowboarding and just loved it. Kaedo has been sick since Friday so he sat in the lodge with me and watched a movie on his iPod. We headed to Wal-Mart after the hill and picked up some Tylenol Cold for him. On the way home I figured the best thing to do was get him to the clinic, knowing how quickly he falls from cold to pneumonia. Lucky I took him as he has a full case of Bronchitis that the doctor says I need to keep a close eye on. He had pneumonia in December and is back on the antibiotics again. Poor guy. He's having a hot shower now and will crawl into his pjs and just watch TV the rest of the day.
Sterling is outside playing in the snow. It is the perfect temperature for building a snow fort. He loves it outside.
Craig played in the SnowBowl today and had a great time. They played in lots of snow and WON! All because of him, I'm sure. He has liberally applied Tiger Balm to his aching muscles (getting old, I guess) and smells disgusting, so he definitely needs to hit the showers. As for me, I am going to spend some time studying for my last three "exams" that I have tomorrow night before starting on the phones. Wish me luck!

ha!

Got this from a friend this morning (thanks Laura), and thought it was a perfect statement for how my days are sometimes. Got a good laugh out of it.

On the list of things that Kaedo wanted to do today, #1 was making cookies. This afternoon we got the chance to do just that. We had a blast, listening to some tunes cranked up and using a butter knife as our microphone. Turning the speed on the beaters up instead of down and spraying icing everywhere. Mixing lots of different colors of icing. Pouring sprinkles everywhere and just enjoying being together.
I am adding a video we made but please don't mention it to Kaedo. He really didn't want it posted but it is just so great I had to. Yes, I know, I'm a bad mom!

For those of you who may wonder what happens with Sterling while I spend this time with Kaedo I will let you know. Sterling and I go to bowling on Saturday mornings, just the two of us and play hangman, connect 4 or tic tac toe between frames. Kaedo seems to really need this time with me now that I am not home during the week, so it is important to give him this time so that Craig has an easier go of it during the week. Sterling and I steal some time together, either watching tv, making something or just talking. Why I am justifying this I have no idea. Lame. Hope you enjoy this video. This is the Kaedo we know and love!

grocery list

Found this on my pillow last night when I got home. He had already asked if we could make sugar cookies this weekend, so he wrote a grocery list so we would know exactly what we needed to get. Love it!

I also got a printout and a note on Wednesday night of a list of all kinds of POKER hands and a note that said, "Mom, hear is how you play Poker, Love Kaedo." Apparently that is on the agenda for the weekend as well.

Sleeping Beauties

This is what I see at midnight. Two beautiful boys in dreamland. As a mom with young children I was grateful when they finally went to bed. How much things have changed! Overnight, it seems. Now I don't see them when they go to bed, and I wish they were still up when I got home so I could tuck them in myself. Now I only see this part. Every night (m-f) when I come home I check on them. Tuck their not so little feet under the covers, make sure Baby and Fuzz aren't being suffocated, turn off stereos and iPods and kiss soft cheeks. Whispering I love you makes my day complete. I can then go to bed knowing I have completed the circle. I'm the one who wakes them and for me, I'm the one that "tucks" them in.

** I love this tea party Kaedo's dollys are having!

Lots of Snow!!! Craig has spent a lot of time shoveling the last few days. Our snow piles are taller than the boys. As you can see by the pictures, Ketchup is loving the snow. He spends his time outside with his head in a snow pile. All is well here. It has been cold but the roads are clear and so aside from the streets being a little narrower - there is nowhere to put all the snow - all is good. I'll tell you, I'm glad not to live in Alberta right now. A chinook would flood most houses. Mom and dad - I know you are laughing it up right now! Do you even remember what snow looks like? Do you even remember what pants look like?

This morning I turned up at school with my trusty camera with one goal in mind. To see our monkey "work it". Boy can that kid move. He was just amazing. He doesn't like the rope pulley thing that Sterling was on yesterday so I got a chance to take pictures of him doing a few other things. He really was loving it and especially loved the part that mom came to watch.

Trying out for the new Spider-Man movie

Just hangin'

Hello Gorgeous!

Wall climbing started at school yesterday. Sterling and Kaedo were both thrilled. It is a great week-long course they take for an hour a day. They learn lots and have tons of fun. Today I popped in during Sterling's hour and watched for a while and took some pictures. Tomorrow I will pop in and see Kaedo. I'll post those photos then. Can I just say this kid is breathtaking? My oh my!

Hello, Gorgeous!

No, he is not kicking that kid in the head! (or using him for leverage)

ski bums - part 2

First off, sorry for all the blog changes. I am working on a new header but couldn't stand the black so I have changed it like this for now.

Snowboard bums, I should say, back in action. They both did great.

Didn't get any good video of Kaedo, but will try again next week. Kaedo was disappointed in his progress. I think he thought he would be able to pick up where he left off last year with no problems, but he is a little cautious, so he didn't do as well as he hoped. We're going to go through this set of lessons and if he doesn't feel like he has progressed enough we are going to register him in skiing next year. Sterling loved it.

randomness

Some things I have been thinking about:

I'm reading this book right now and one of the researchers in the book talks about advertising and how it affects us, especially as women. She uses the following example: Cover of magazine that says, "Lose 15lbs in 10 Days" or "How to Get Healthy and Lighten Up by Summer", followed by a picture of a chocolate mousse cake. While we are lightening up for summer we need to whip up a chocolate mousse cake. It's funny because I have seen those magazines at the checkout. Hell, I've bought those magazines. I haven't "lightened up" but I do have that recipe tucked into my recipe box.

Also, yesterday morning I did NOTHING! By Friday, I am so tired in the morning, that I just veg. I ended up putting on the TV and watching my guilty pleasure... court TV shows. People's Court, Judge Alex, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Mathis, Divorce Court... the list goes on and on. What I found interesting was the ads that this channel played through the hours that I slovenly sat and killed brain cells watching these train wrecks called TV shows.
Some of the ones that played over and over were:
Everest College - a guy or a girl animatedly urging you to get off your ass, call them, and get a degree. "You're talking on the phone anyway, so why not call?".
GNC - SlimQuick Cleanse and other "vitamins" to help women lose weight.
Ambulance chasing lawyers, "Don't let your insurance company screw you, call Smith, Bernhardt, Zosh, Zosh, Peters and ....."
Maury Povich, "He's black, his baby's white and the baby's momma swears he's the father...the paternity results are in!!!"

Seriously, if you want some mind numbing entertainment, sit down and watch some of these shows and see these commercials. As far at the court shows go, I think the funniest thing I saw was a women who had smashed into a guys car in the middle of the night and left the scene and had no recollection of the accident. She felt that if she didn't remember the accident, she wasn't at fault. Or how about the man and woman who were engaged and then broke up and she wouldn't give back the ring? Apparently, even though she got a restraining order on him, "he makes cute babies", so she had sex with him TWICE, so she could have cute kids. Apparently there is a statute of limitations on getting the ring back, and the guy lost his case. He wanted the ring so he could sell it to pay for all the child support payments he has (4 kids, 3 moms).

So, I think I have it figured out. When I think my life is shit, all I need to do is turn on channel 28 anytime between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, and I will quickly remember how lucky I am.

One last thing. On Fridays I give the kids each a dollar so they can buy a cupcake at the MACSHAK, the canteen at school. Yesterday Kaedo got a white cupcake and when he went back to class to eat it, his friend said to him, "those cupcakes are racist, they are all white". He's black. What is he learning at home? Scary.

Snowboarding starts tomorrow, so we'll have some pictures and maybe video to show tomorrow. The kids are so excited.

Thank You

Two women who I greatly admire wrote some amazing comments on my post yesterday. I look up to them both and think the world of them.

Mom - you are the most amazing woman I have ever met. Your strength, courage, all-encompassing good and the way you love with your whole heart encourages me every day. You are not only my mom but a trusted friend who I know I can (and do) turn to whenever I need to. I can ALWAYS count on you, and you never let me down. You have stood by me in my darkest of days and rejoiced with me in my happiness. I can only hope to be as good a mom to my boys when they are grown up, as you are to me. I love you.

Shirley - I am more blessed than you can imagine having a mother-in-law like you. You are so very good to me, and I see your goodness everyday when I look at your son and what he does for our family. As a mother-in-law, you really didn't have to accept me as you have, but you have always stood by me and loved me. Thank you for that. I love you.

The Biggest Loser

Has everyone heard of this show? Jessica has spoken with me about this program for about a year. I actually taped all of last season, but didn't get around to watching it, so we erased it all. The new season started last night and I decided I was going to watch. Of course working at night means that I sat down and watched it this morning, but better late than never. I'll tell you, I really cried. For those of you who haven't watched this show, it is an emotional roller coaster.
I know some people really don't care about their weight, and accept themselves exactly as they are. Good on you! That is awesome! I am not one of those people. I have been carrying my extra weight for 11 years. 11 years. There is no excuse for that. No one can make me feel that is OK. Did this show motivate me to get off my ass and get working on this? Yes. Will it still be the same tomorrow? Who knows.

What I do know is that I hate what I see when I look in the mirror. Hate it. I am embarrassed, I am mortified, I am disappointed. On a recent O Magazine cover, Oprah says - "how did I let this happen again?" I know how it happened to me. I eat. And eat. And eat. When I'm hungry, when I'm full, when I'm bored. Whenever.

There are a few things that I know about myself.
1. I have no willpower. Jessica, and my mom for that matter, have willpower in spades. I am continually amazed at the things they do. In awe.
2. Eating for me is 10% sustenance and 90% emotional. I am an emotional eater. I always have been. As someone who doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs, I guess it is safe to say that eating is my drug of choice. That being said, I am killing myself just as I would abusing any of those other things.

Jessica has attempted to work with me on this so many times, that she has just quit trying because I don't try. What is the use of her doing so much work, when I don't hold up my end of the bargain? It's really dumb on my part. She has so much knowledge and so much willingness to be my biggest cheerleader and I still don't come through. Very disappointing.

Don't get me wrong - I am not having a pity party here. I guess I just thought that if I actually write this down, leave it out for others to see, that maybe, just maybe, I would quit making excuses and be the person I know I can be. My weight should not dictate the person I am but it sure dictates how I feel about the person I am. And to be perfectly honest, I don't really like that person. Will I be happier 75 lbs lighter? Who knows. What I do know, is that I will have one less obstacle in front of me, blocking my path to becoming the person I know I can be.

rocket men

So, the boys got rockets for Christmas and thanks to Kelly, we had a launch pad and controls. On New Year's Day, Craig took them out to the parking lot next to the Soccer Bowl in B'ville, and they shot them off. They had six motors and used all of them. Here are some great pictures Craig took of them and some video. The video is a bit slow in the middle waiting for the parachute to come down but it is cool to see the kids run for them in the end. Enjoy!

Can I just say that I am SOOOOO in love with Sterling's hair???

a year in review...

Hello All -
a not so brief year in review...
We had a very busy year this year. We bought a new van in January and promptly named him Oscar. I proceeded to smash him up in February but I won't go into that. The boys started taking snowboarding lessons and I definitely see the Olympics in Sterling's future. We had a leap day this year and celebrated by going out for supper and enjoying our time together. Valentine's Day brought heart shaped pizzas - a tradition I have with the boys. We celebrated Earth Day with our one hour of no power. Lots of candles and a game of Blokus. Fun but hard. Shocking how much you depend on electricity. Sterling finished grade four with good marks and moved into grade 5. He also made a huge change by going into an English class part way through his 5th grade year, which has been a godsend for him. Kaedo finished grade 3 having done very well and is happily enjoying grade four. The kids got to ride their bikes to school in 2007, which was very scary for me. They started riding the bus this fall and really love it. They took lots of trips to the dollar store by themselves and even picked up groceries on their travels once or twice. They spent their summer with family in the west and got a trampoline from anti, uncle ken and emma. They had 3 three week visit here at home with amma and baba. Kaeden finished up 2.5 years of TKD and started up playing soccer again. Sterling continued with bowling and added tackle football to his activity list. They both passed their swim tests and spent quite a few evenings swimming on their own at the local pool. We took part in our annual pumpkin picking afternoon and Sterling got braces. Kaedo got pneumonia and bronchitis and Sterling spent a couple of days at home with the flu as well. Craig played football and loved every minute of it. My company re-structured and unfortunately I lost my job aside from 8 hours a week. I got a new job working for Scotiabank and am busy training for my new position. Tree decorating was terrific as always. Christmas was great and the boys loved their gifts and we had a wonderful time with them.
Craig had holidays for the week before Christmas and we both turned 36 this year. Kaedo turned the big 9 and Sterling officially became a tween. We welcomed a new baby this year and we can't wait to meet him. Baba turned 65 and gramma turned 60.
Last night everyone waited up for me to get home and we brought in the new year watching the Times Square Ball dropping at the stroke of 12. My first kiss came from Sterling and was quickly followed by Craig and Kaedo.
The boys and Craig have gone off to shoot off rockets this morning. A great way to ring in the New Year.
I know this hasn't been in any sort of order and I am sure I have forgotten some important things, but for now, that's all I can think of.
Happy New Year to all of you. Here's to a wonderful 2009.