Wednesday already! Man, where has the week gone. Craig and I are sitting side by side at the computer desk. He is working on his laptop and I am doing this. A bit weird, actually. Don't remember we when we last spent an hour sitting beside each other when we weren't sleeping. All is well here. The boys are taking an extra class after school today called Motorworks. I'm not sure what it all entails but I do know that they are building cars of some sort, so they are both thrilled.

I am in the process of packing up and selling my scrapbooking supplies. If anyone is looking for some great deals on paper, stickers, stamps and other goodies, get in touch with me. I've put together some great kits that have tons of different elements in them. Let me know and I can send you some pictures of what I've got.

The weather is beautiful here today and the boys weren't sure whether to wear shorts or not. They didn't but definitely could have. Hope the snow is gone out West. I will try and blow some of our good weather out to you.
Have a great Wednesday.

Bummed

While the weather is not cold, and there is no snow, it is drizzly and a bit rainy, so no cookout for us today. It sucks because we were all looking forward to it. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

Had a great day yesterday. Sterling had his last day of bowling, Craig had a great time at football, Kaedo had a friend over to work on a science project and then hang out and Sterling and I got to spend some time together.

The kids were so funny yesterday. Kaedo's friend Luc was here and man, that kid is hilarious. We were led to believe that he was quite reserved. NOT. He was hilarious. Man, Craig and I laughed our heads off. They got their great crane built for school (will get a picture and post it), and then went outside and rode bikes then Craig took the three of them on one of his world famous bike rides, down to the BMX track. They loved it. Until they were almost home and it started to pour with rain. The kids thought it was fun, so that's good. We had supper and then the three boys decided trampoling in the rain would be fun, so out they went and had a blast acting crazy and jumping in the rain. So fun. Love to see those kinds of things.

Watched a movie last night - not good - then Craig stayed up and watched Hockey and the boys and I stripped and made our bed then tucked in to watch Two and a Half Men. I think I only made through half of the first episode and I was out of it. Nothing better than clean properly tucked in sheets. Love it.

So, today finds us with Craig and a bit of a cold, Kaedo doing homework, Sterling watching cartoons, me doing this and a trip to Costco this afternoon.

Hope you are all well. Thought I would post some pictures from some of our previous days at Darlington Park, since we won't be making any memories there today.

Happy Sunday (did I really day that??)

Some good clean jokes a la Kaedo...

What is green, slimy and has wheels?
A frog in a pick up truck

What is black and white and red all over?
A zebra with a sunburn

What do you call a monkey in a hot air balloon?
A hot air baboon

What happens when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
You get frostbite

and not to be outdone...
here is one from the Sterman

How many times can you subtract 5 from 25????

Sterling would love to hear your answers. He will post the winner OR the answer, if no one gets it - on Monday.

Was looking through some old pictures and came across these ones from November 2003. I love these pictures. Even after all of the pictures I have taken in the last 5.5 years, these are still among my favorites.

Lots of changes going on here. A little scary for us, but we know we can get through whatever is thrown at us. We'll keep everyone posted.

We have had some good news - Kelly, Tica, Jacob and Caleb are coming to visit! We will get to meet our cute new nephew and see Jacob again, too. The boys are so excited! We went and bought Jacob's birthday present today. His birthday is right around the corner. We know he's going to love it. It took Craig forever to pick it out.

Some other good news - actually, a wonderful gift from some wonderful people. Anti, Uncle Ken, Emma and the babe bought the boys a 14ft pool for the backyard! What a wonderful Christmas/birthday gift for the boys. They phoned Anti this morning and raved about how thrilled they are. Craig says it will just fit in the backyard with the trampoline. He definitely won't have much mowing to do. The boys are trying to figure out how they can jump from the trampoline to the pool. EEK!

The weather is fantastic here. I have capris on - the first time this year. The boys are outside playing, and Craig has the day off. I'm getting ready to go to work and the boys (3) are going to clean the house tonight. Kaedo is having a classmate over tomorrow to work on a Science project. so the front entry definitely needs to be cleared out. We also seem to collect stuff on the back of the couch. I never thought much about it until my dad mentioned it. Now I notice all the time. (thanks for that, dad)
Bowling ends tomorrow morning and that's the end of the boy's activities. Thank god the weather is good and the trampoline is up!

Hoping to get out to Darlington Park on Sunday for a cookout, some rock skipping, bike riding, scootering, picture taking and sun worshipping. Looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Kaedo was lucky enough to get a new bike for his birthday - a few months early. He had his heart set on a BMX bike and amma and baba took him shopping for the perfect one. He just loves it. He's been out riding it tons, doing jumps and riding on the back pegs. He's not gutsy enough yet to use the front pegs, but I figure that will only be a matter of weeks. Here's some great pictures and a video Craig caught of the boys and their jump. Check out those eyes in that last picture!

Wipeout!

Peace!

Transformation

To see the transformation more clearly, here are before and after shots of the kids.

He Just Showed Up Today...

He says he comes in peace. We'll keep him.

YOU MUST WATCH THIS!

I wish I could embed this video here for you but please take the 7 minutes and watch this. Sterling's teacher (who is AWESOME) played this in his class yesterday with the message "you can't judge a book by it's cover". This really hit a note with Sterling and he was anxious to show it to me. The comments from the judges at the end really show how easy it is to "judge" and how you really can't judge a book by its cover. Just take the time. It's worth it. I promise. I still have the goosebumps and I've seen it 5 times!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

We picked up a stray...

...on the way home from bowling. He has yet to introduce himself, but he's cute, so I think we'll keep him.

funnies for Friday

Read these on one of our news links at work last night. They are cartoons and I don't have the pictures but I think the words will make you laugh just as much. I am in no way condoning smoking - it is totally gross and disgusting, but you'll have to agree, these are funny.

Doctor: "I'm prescribing you a patch to help you quit smoking...wear it over your mouth".

Patient to Doctor: "I don't have time to jog or lift weights. If I weren't smoking my lungs wouldn't get any exercise".

Have a good weekend.

pee my pants

Let me just start this by saying that Jessica gave me permission to post this picture. Let me also say that Emma is the funniest kid I have ever met. One night at supper she was making all these crazy faces. She would cross her eyes and wiggle them around and make funny noises and pull on her ears and I just have to say that it was so funny I seriously peed my pants. And I wasn't the only one! I honestly don't think I have ever seen Craig laugh so hard. I know that I was laughing so much that I couldn't catch my breath. It was so funny.
On a serious note - I just want to give kudos to Jessica. Emma is amazing and Jessica is so much of the reason why. Watching Jessica parent Em shows me why Emma is so kind, sweet, strong headed, funny, always wanting to "be in the play" and just plain old awesome. Jessica - you are doing such a great job with her. She is fantastic.
I do have a video I plan to post some time this week called "Emma's Rock and Roll ABCs". More hilarity. Stay posted!

Happy Birthday to You...

Today is my mom's birthday.
Happy Birthday to you!
We love you.

Here are 9 things that describe my mom: (6+3)
my mom is:

1. kind
2. caring
3. an awesome mom
4. a great friend
5. a terrific amma
6. funny
7. loving
8. generous
9. and lives with her whole heart

I love you, mom! Always

In celebration of my mom's birthday, here are some cool quotes I found:

Of course I can do anything. I am a mother. - unknown

A mother's love perceives no impossibilities. - Cornelia Paddock

A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose no one can take. -
Cardinal Merrimold

and the one that reminds me the most of my mom -

Being a mother means that your heart is no longer yours; it wanders wherever your children do. -
unknown

Had a great Good Friday at Niagara Falls. Went left about 9am and got home about 6pm. It was so much fun. We walked for miles, had a picnic, people watched and just enjoyed being together. Baba brought his binoculars (the same ones I used to use as a kid) and the boys loved getting the chance to see through them.

All is well here. We have had a great visit with everyone. We loved having Emma and Jessica here. Emma is so hilarious. I haven't laughed so much in a long time. I have a hilarious picture and story about her but will wait to get Jessica's permission before I post it.

A bit of sadness here yesterday. Sterling and Kaeden were playing on Saturday and they came across their gifts from the Easter Bunny. Sterling thought they were from us and thought nothing of it. When he did the hunt and found those things from the Easter Bunny he was devastated. He cried and cried. It was so sad. He now believes that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy are not real but surprisingly does believe in Santa. It was very sad. I think Kaeden is probably done believing as well but he didn't even mention it. Needless to say, I was pretty upset myself. He was bummed out for a lot of the day. Well, he made it 11 1/2 years, so that is pretty good.

Mom and dad are going back West tomorrow and the kids go back to school after having a four day weekend. It is going to be very quiet here.

Hope everyone is well and you had a great Easter.