Happy Halloween

Happy Saturday and Happy Halloween to all! A busy day today for our family. Sterling decided last night at 10pm that he wanted to go trick or treating. So, a NERD was he. He looks great as you can see. I'm so thrilled that he decided to go. Kaedo was too. Kaedo went as a recycle bin and his costume rocks. I worked on it yesterday and the boys made the toque last night.

Nerdly McFly

Football dog!

We recycle!

Today we went to bowling and they had a Halloween costume contest. Guess who won first place? Kaedo!!! It was great. He was thrilled. He won an electronic "Deal or No Deal" game.

We went to see GG this afternoon. 99th birthday. She is so sweet. She was thrilled we came to see her and loved our off-key singing.

Looking forward to hearing how our cutie nieces and nephews did tonight.

600!

Can you believe this is post # 600? Who knew I would have so much to talk about? No snide comments here please.

Today is Halloween dress up day at work. I hate Halloween but prizes are involved and 100% participation is expected. We decided as a team to do a sports theme and I hated to (reluctantly) ask Craig if I could borrow his UGLY jersey. I hate this thing. He made me promise to take a picture so I thought I would embarrass myself fully for all of you. What do you think Craig? Am I a superfan?

A special happy 40th Birthday to my brother in law, Kelly! Happy Birthday old man. Hope you liked our singing this morning.

Check back tomorrow to see Kaedo's cool costume. Hopefully he will win a prize at bowling tomorrow. I won't tell you what it is but here are a few hints - a big plastic box, lots of paper, a dremel, a jigsaw, and a hot gluegun. Yikes!

Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza

SpongeBob

Scary!

AutoBots!

The annual pumpkin carving evening occurred last night and as usual, Craig and the boys did a great job. Sterling did the Autobots (Transformers) symbol. Kaedo did SpongBob SquarePants and Craig did a scary pumpkin with one eye falling out, tucked into his mouth. The all are so cool. We had quite a lot of fun. This is my first time in years participating and I enjoyed myself, even though I got the crappy job of cleaning the pumpkin seeds. I don't often do things like that because there is something in the pumpkin that makes my hands itch. I have that problem with tomatoes, peppers, etc. Must be something inside the fruit/vegetable. Anyway, I cleaned the seeds and roasted them and Kaedo has a bag of them in his lunch today. Kelly - hope these are good for your class. Hope they are impressed.

Tonight is a dinner with my co-workers. We won two hours off the phone and a dinner at the Mandarin (Chinese food buffet). Should be fun. Two hours paid off the phone is awesome. Looking forward to that.
Also wanted to post this beautiful picture of Em in her new glasses. She looks beautiful.

Weigh In Wednesday

Welcome to week two of Weigh In Wednesday.
For anyone joining in today, this is a weekly post chronicling my much needed weight loss. There was a ton of positive feedback last week when I put out a very personal post about my weight loss struggles and food issues. While I know that many of the posts on this blog are personal, this one was probably the most personal one I have posted here.
So - without further ado, my weight this week is:
245.8
Hurray! I am so thrilled! I worked hard this week but did treat myself to popcorn on Sunday afternoon for our movie afternoon. I didn't have too many troubles this week as I found that knowing I would be posting on the blog kept me more accountable. It worked.
I know from the comments that some people said they would be weighing in this week as well. I am so looking forward to seeing how you've done or seeing where you are starting. I would also love to hear about your goals, as well.

Craig also weighed in this week at 193.0 with a loss of 2lbs. Ya Craig. He only has a bout 5lbs he wants to lose but anything is great. Good for him.

Anyways, keep checking back to see how things are going. I'm going to label this post Weigh In Wednesday so if you want to look back on previous posts at any time they will be easy to find under the Weigh In Wednesday label. If you click on the label at the bottom of the post you will see all the Weigh In Wednesday post in the same place.

week 8

Week 8 - can you believe it? All is well here. The boys are doing good and Craig is busy at work. Sterling is acting out a little, really testing Craig, but we are working on getting that taken care of. He has started really talking back and after a long day of work that is the last thing Craig needs. We are working on it and have lowered their bedtime from 9pm to 8:30pm in the hopes that they will settle earlier and be asleep when I get home. While I am missing my nightly hugs, it is definitely better for them and they actually got up on their own this morning. That is good as Sterling is very difficult to get up.

Anyways, cute picture, eh? They are so cute.

Look for a Weigh In Wednesday post later this morning.

Pumpkin Picking

Today was the annual pumpkin picking day. We had so much fun. We got some huge pumpkins and the plans are in the works for the great designs they are planning to carve. Craig is pulling out the dremel this year, so I'm sure they'll be great. The weather was perfect and there were lots of people at Pingles. It adds to the atmosphere when there are lots of people. We took the tractor ride down into the fields and walked and walked until we found the pumpkins that we wanted. We then had our annual photo shoot sitting on an old piece of machinery. I think the shots turned out well. The first picture of Sterling is my new favorite. Love it!

We came home this afternoon and had a "movie afternoon". We watched Nancy Drew. We have seen it before but it is really good so none of minded watching it again. I had a card to make for a co-worker, Kaedo had a homework assignment and Craig had a football game to watch. Sterling spent the time on iTunes searching for free games for his iPod. We had supper and now I am doing this, Craig is watching football, Sterling is watching a show and Kaedo is hanging out in his room.

Back to work and school tomorrow. The weekends go so fast.

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope your weekend is going well. I was home yesterday with the flu. Puking my guts out. Not H1N1. Feeling fine today. Yesterday afternoon Kaedo's friend Josh called to invite him for a Rib Dinner. It turned into a sleepover and Kaedo was thrilled. Got a call from Josh this morning asking if he could come to bowling so his dad dropped them off this morning and Josh came to watch Kaedo bowl. We are all heading out this afternoon to watch Josh play. He has requested our presence. What the heck. He's a sweetheart and his parents are very nice. He may come back here for supper and Sterling is going to invite a friend as well.
Tomorrow it is the annual "Great Pumpkin Picking Day" so we will be heading out to Pingle's for our sixth annual pumpkin afternoon. Looking forward to that. Our family picture is in the works for tomorrow as well.
Last night Craig, Sterling and I played Scrabble and had lots of fun. Boy is it easy with only one kid. He then got into bed with us and watched Two and a Half Men and King of Queens. It was nice having a snuggle. Craig kicked him out at 11:15pm and I was out like a light by 11:16.
Tomorrow morning is the weekly chat, which I am looking forward to as always.
Hope you have a great weekend. Will post the pumpkin pictures tomorrow.

Thursday already

I know I always say that, but man does the week go fast. All is well here. The boys are in school and Craig is working from home today. It is always nice to have him here. Sterling had an Ortho appt today. We thought they were going to track some of his bottoms this time but his tops aren't quite ready. I won't be surprised if we get a call today asking for a pick up. He usually gets quite a head ache the first or second day.

Thanks so much for all the great comments. You guys are so awesome. This is a long journey but I plan to celebrate my accomplishments with you are as well as log my disappointments. I know how much you all love me and are routing for me, so I appreciate it.

Love to all

Weigh In Wednesdays

Welcome to a new feature on Ye Olde Blog called "Weigh In Wednesdays". Those of you who know me and have seen me lately (most of you) know that I am currently 100lbs overweight. 96.7 to be exact. I am currently at my heaviest weight of my life. This is now not only a mental issue for me, it is also a physical one. My body is not going to last at this weight. Sometimes I feel like I am barely hanging on now. Even to work in the yard made me winded. How embarrassing is that?

This really hit home for me when I saw some pictures last week of Craig and I pre-baby. I was a good looking little chickie - I must say. I have had many "hits on the head" regarding my weight. My mother-in-law successfully shed a lot of weight, my sister is already looking like she never had a baby a mere 3 months after Sparkly's birth. My mom is fantastic looking, my dad has lost 25 lbs and a friend in Calgary (you know who you are) had lost 100lbs when I last saw her. She looked fantastic.

Food is not just a sustenance thing with me. It is a mental thing. I always thought the day my kids were embarrassed of me is the day I would quit shovelling in the food. Fortunately/unfortunately, my children love me just the way I am. It took my niece asking me why I was so fat and why didn't I go to the gym to really smack me in the face. You can't argue with a four year old telling you you have a fat butt.

The other thing for me is that my husband is drop dead gorgeous and has only gotten better with age. Anyone can attest to that. We look like Jack Sprat and his wife. While he is no skinny minnie, he is perfect and yummy. (have I made you blush, Craig?)

So, here goes. As of today, I weigh: 250.2lbs (gasp)

I am following Weight Watchers and have vowed to give it the college try. Sparkly's first birthday will be here before I know it and I no longer want to sit in an airplane holding my breath, spilling out onto other seats. My first goal is 10lbs. I can do 10lbs. I know I can. So here goes. Join me if you like.

In the words of the great philosopher, Yoda:
DO OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO TRY.

Week 7

**click on picture for larger image - you gotta see it!

OK - they look a little more normal this week. Down right handsome! Tuesday. One more day until home day! Pretty pathetic, really. The boys and I already have tomorrow after school planned and we have on the agenda to tackle a series of books that Kaedo really wants to read. The books are called "The Anybodies, The Nobodies and The Somebodies", by N.E.Bode. We don't know which one comes first in the series, so I plan to take a trip to the library tomorrow to pick up The Anybodies and The Somebodies. Kaedo owns The Nobodies. Sterling also wants to read another of his Hardy Boys books and a Rotten School book, so we have lots of reading ahead of us. Kaedo decided we would each take a turn and read one page. Sounds good to me. My children reading thrills me. Craig and I are big readers and I am an avid listener to audio books and so it is nice to have children who are interested in reading.
The weather is beautiful today. A nice fall day. Long sleeves and bunny hugs but sandals if you want. So nice. The leaves are changing and while I know Winter will be here quickly, I am happy to revel in the beautifulness of Fall. Love it.

Another from the archives

These pictures were taken right after we moved here. I love them. I know I say it all the time but these really are some of my favorite pictures. Handsome boys.
Weekly call with mom this morning. Great as always. Happy Sunday to everyone.

Not too much going on today. Kaedo had his "get together for the heck of it" this afternoon and so he went over to his friend's house at 1pm (until 6 - brave parents). Sterling and I went and picked up a book for Kaedo's friend whose birthday party is tomorrow. I am more than willing to buy books for kids. Love it. It is the "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for Kids". Kaedo and Sterling each have a copy of one and they love them. Sterling and I got home around 2:15pm and he proceeded to play video games with Craig all afternoon. Craig played football this morning and enjoyed that too. Not too much tomorrow. Kaedo will be playing Laser Tag with his friends in the afternoon and I will spend some of my morning making my weekly phone call.

Oh Week...where have you gone?

Dear Week,
Where have you gone? It seems like just yesterday it was Monday morning and you were shoving me out of bed to get the boys ready for school. It seems like just yesterday it was Tuesday and the boys were spending the evening in the emergency room. It seems like just yesterday we had homemade pizzas for supper (well, 3 of us did. the other had Kraft Dinner as that is his favorite food) and spent the evening together on my day off. It was just yesterday and everyone was working, whether it be school or bank jobs and I was marvelling at how fast the week has gone by. Today is Friday and my least favorite day of work. 7.5 hours on the phone with a headset is too long, but I willingly do it if it means I can be home mid-week.

Tomorrow Kaedo has his "get-together, just for the heck of it" at Andrew's house and Sunday he has a birthday party for his best buddy at "Laser Extreme" an indoor laser tag place. The boys bowled off this week (man is that slick - I wish we could do it every week) so that Kaedo could make it to his party on time.

I saw this on another blog and thought I would post it here. If you are so inclined, I would love to see your answers:
Outside my window.... I see Fall beginning. The leaves have not fallen off my tree yet but they will and soon.
I am thankful for.... The opportunity to spend an evening in the middle of the week with my family. Being able to cook them dinner, set the table, clean up afterwards, read my boys stories from our Fairy Tale books, talk with my husband before both of us go to bed and just be with them.
From the kitchen... Leftover Pate Chinois so no cooking to be done today for supper. Love it when a meal lasts for two nights.
I am wearing...Pajama top and jeans. Thankful it is casual day today and I can stay in my jeans for work.
I am going...to head out and run some errands this morning before going to work. Have a few things to do which will eat up my morning
I am hoping...to speak with my family this weekend, including my weekly chat with mom and hopefully a few minutes to speak with Jessica and Em. Hope to get a chance to talk with Shirley as well.
One of my favorite things...is writing letters to my family - the old fashioned way. Handwritten. I have some that I have written this week that will be winging their way to the important women in my life.

Happy weekend to everyone

Week 6

So, my kids look like stoners. They can't all be works of art.

Some excitement here earlier this week. Kaedo was scootering and slipped off his scooter and his handlebar came up and smacked him in the mouth. I should re-phrase that - he put his tooth RIGHT THRU his lip. That's right folks, RIGHT THRU! So Craig took him to the hospital where they cleaned it up and put a steri-strip on it. He was really freaked out at the possibility of having stitches but after the fact was a little bummed that he wouldn't have any to show his friends. No stitches.

So, the boys came up with some alternate stories as to what happened. Here is Sterling's: a piercing gone wrong, and he tried shaving with a pocket knife.

Some excitement. That's for sure. Saw my neighbor (the dentist) today and he told me to keep an eye on his teeth as they may die from the trauma. "Make sure to keep an eye on them. You'll need to get him to the dentist (wink wink, nudge nudge) if they go brown". Thanks for that!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope you have had a great weekend. We sure had a busy one. Saturday night the boys each had a friend sleepover. At 2:50am yesterday morning Craig finally got them settled to bed. Needless to say, he was not thrilled. They were all up early (although Kaedo says he never slept at all) and I made waffles for breakfast. This is a regular breakfast for my boys but both Josh and Dylan were shocked that they weren't Eggos. I thought that was hilarious. "Are these homemade waffles??" Funny. Both boys did not want to go home so I made arrangements with their parents to drop them off later in the day. Once we had them home, we got busy working in the yard. We got all the flower beds ripped out and the trampoline taken down. We got the swing put away and the garage cleaned up. Once we had that finished we were ready to sit down and watch a movie. Sterling was exhausted and Kaedo was wired for sound. We sat down and attempted to watch "Star Trek Nemesis", but none of us liked it so we quit watching that and the boys and Craig watched "Amazing Race". I'm not into those shows so I went upstairs and "Love Affair" (1939) was on TCM. I love that movie and so I tucked in with Ketchup and watched that. At 9pm they all went to bed and I stayed up and watched the remake "An Affair to Remember" (1959) with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant. Awesome. Have seen it before but just love it.

This morning Michael called while we were all still in bed and invited Craig to go mountain biking. Craig headed out at about 10:30am and I have been doing the weekly baking. In honor of Thanksgiving, I made Pumpkin Muffins and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. They both turned out well. I love to bake and so I have started doing that on Sundays so the boys have some stuff for their lunches and snacks throughout the week. It is much cheaper than buying pre-packaged products.

This afternoon I have to work (4-midnight) and the boys will be getting ready for school tomorrow. Showers, early to bed etc. It has been a nice day already and I am looking forward to a good rest of the day.

I thought I would briefly present a list of all the things I am thankful for. I hope you will "play along" and add yours.

I am thankful for:

My wonderful husband and beautiful boys

My loving parents who are the best there is

My beautiful sister and her fantastic family - they are so precious to me

My amazing in-laws that I never think of as "in-laws" - they are my parents in so many ways

My handsome brother in-law and his beautiful wife and children

A roof over my head

The love of a family that is the best. I know I can count on all of you at any time. I love you and am thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving.

Her Fearful Symmetry

I am currently reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Neffinegger and am absolutely loving it. I can't get enough of it but am savoring it by reading is small bursts rather than spending an entire day on the couch. It is wonderfully written. Audrey Neffinegger is the author of "The Time Traveler's Wife" another book I absolutely loved. If you are looking for a book that is deeply emotional, hauntingly written and with a story unlike so many of the cookie cutter books out there, I would highly recommend "Her Fearful Symmetry". I will be sending it out West so that Jessica, mom and dad can read but if you would like me to put you on the list, let me know. I will have it forwarded to you for your reading pleasure.

Are any of you reading anything you can't put down, or have you recently read something you want to tell me about? I would love to hear.

Happy reading!

Shave and a Haircut... $50?

Yes, $50 is about what it costs to get Ketchup's haircut. Granted they clip his nails bath him and shave him and only needs it about every three months, but still he gets freaked out every time we take him and the last time he came back he was quite hurt and yelped every time we picked him up. The groomer claimed nothing happened and since Ketchup can't talk we couldn't do much. Having said that, I always told Shannon that I thought I would be able to clip him and do a good job so this past week she bought me a clipper and gave me the thumbs up to give it a try.

Ketchup was very patient considering it took me about three hours with bathing and drying time included, but I think the end result was pretty good. He stood still for most of it and even when he was moving around it wasn't too bad. I learned some things for next time and won't probably wait so long between clips so it stays under control. After one haircut, the clipper has already paid for itself. Kids kept telling me that I should put up signs and cut other dogs hair (no thanks) but I'll let you be the judge.

Before

After

Before

After

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

I cut his ear with the clipper

He bled like a stuck pig

I felt terrible

Ketchup forgave me.

The end.

Saturday fun day

What started out as a simple weekend of just being sloths has turned out to be more busy that we thought. Kaedo was invited to his buddy's hockey game and then over for supper and as a spur of the moment decision, we invited Josh to come and sleepover. That prompted me to ask Sterling if he wanted to invite a friend, and everyone knows the answer to that! Sterling's friend has hockey tonight as well, so we are picking him up at 8:45pm and Kaedo and Josh at 9pm and then we are all trooping over here for a sleepover. I think I will be up making pancakes or waffles tomorrow morning. Fun. Talk about being out numbered! That's a lot of testosterone in the house! Tomorrow everyone will be here in the morning and then I'll have my weekly chat with mom and spend the day working outside. The trampoline has to come down and the flower beds all need to be cleaned up. Monday is supposed to be rainy so we'll get everything done tomorrow.
Hope you are not freezing and are having a great day.

Another picture from the archives.

This is from Halloween 2002. How the time has flown. Halloween is on a Saturday this year. Sterling doesn't trick or treat anymore but Kaedo is going again this year. 11 is the last year (if they last that long) so Kaedo has this and next year left. He loves candy so much I think he would trick or treat until he was 30!

Not too much going on this weekend. Long weekend for Craig and the kids. I am working on Monday. Bowling and football tomorrow. Craig is playing two games and reffing in between and the boys and I will be at the bowling alley tomorrow morning. I have a lot of laundry to do tomorrow (so don't feel like doing it today) and we'll just be hanging out. The flower beds need to cleaned out and the trampoline needs to come down so that might be on the schedule on Sunday. Weekly call with mom on Sunday morning, another highlight of the week.

Today I start my first 1:30-9pm shift. We'll see how it goes. I am willing to work any hours to be home on Wednesdays. I love it and so do the kids. I don't think Craig minds having someone else to cook and help with homework, either :) - he puts up with it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thursday - oh, where has the week gone? Just heading off to work. Sterling is home today. He sprained his left wrist last night rollerblading and can't even hold a pencil today. His teacher said there was no reason to stay in school if he couldn't write, so she sent him home. Good thing we are home today!

Guess what happened to me? I pissed off someone in a previous life! On my old shift I had no problem getting a parking spot, now however, it is a big hassle and I have to park a long way from the office. It seems that on Tuesday I parked in the wrong place and was honored to have a $250 parking ticket (indestructible, not paper) tucked under my windshield. F%#K. Needless to say I was pissed (sorry Shirley) and so was Craig. So, I am heading off to work early today in the hopes that I can skulk in the parking lot and pounce on the first available spot.

Love this picture of the boys. One of my favorites. My, have they grown!

week 5 and other frivolities

So - week 5 already. I can hardly believe it. Today was a great day. I didn't work today but was busy running errands and going to a doctor's appointment. The boys were thrilled that I picked them up and when we got home Kaedo and I made Bruschetta for their snack. We sat around the table while they ate and chatted. It was great. BBQ'd chicken for supper - at Sterling's request. It was delicious and I am so loving my new-to-me BBQ.

After a great dinner sitting all together and talking, I cleaned up the dishes, Sterling and Craig played basketball and Kaedo was crafting. Sterling and I took a detour out to McDonald's for a late night ice cream for everyone, and as always I loved the one on one time. He is such an amazing child.

Kaedo received a wonderful phone call today. One of his very good school friends moved through the summer to a new city and Kaedo was very upset that he wasn't going to see him at school. Andrew called him today and invited him to a party next weekend and Kaedo was so thrilled. He was pumped and couldn't stop talking about it. He will be very busy next weekend with a party on both Saturday and Sunday. He did remind me that the party at Andrew's was not a "party" but a "get together, just for the heck of it". Sounds like fun.

Back to work tomorrow and Craig is working from home. I am going to the Passport Office in the morning. That really makes our trip seem real. So excited!

Tuesday

Gnome picture to be posted tomorrow -
So much is going on - let me see - where to start...
*I learned yesterday that my shifts were going to be adjusted allowing me to work the same amount of hours without penalty and still be home with the boys on Wednesdays. Love that.

*Kaedo is participating in Harrier once again this year and is training 3 mornings a week at school. He is enjoying that and definitely has the body for this kind of long distance running. He's doing great.

*Sterling is enjoying school and is actually enjoying playing the clarinet. I am enjoying that he doesn't have to practice at home. I guess Craig would be the one to suffer, but I am home on the weekends.

*Craig has finished his project and has started to finally unwind. He is much more relaxed and is enjoying his evenings. I think he is catching up on all the TV he missed and is soaking up every football and hockey game on known to man!

Hope everyone is well. Will post some pictures tomorrow

Saturday - the 2nd day of our three day weekend. Yesterday was so fun. Everyone slept in, we went to Walmart to pick up some things, used all our free passes we have been saving up and took in a movie (don't see THE INVENTION OF LYING - sucks) and headed home where football was on, the rain was pouring and it was cozy inside. The boys and I decided to go to the mall (rare occurrence) and so we headed over there for an hour and window shopped. Came home and watched I SPY - awesome - love that movie - Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy - what's not to love??? I headed up to bed and the boys continued on with another movie. I was in dreamland by the time they got to bed and have no idea what time it was.
This morning Craig has gone to play football at 8am (eek) and then he has to ref and they have their mid-season party at Mel Pringles restaurant after that. The boys and I are headed out to bowling shortly and will probably just hang out this afternoon. We may head over to Costco but I'm not sure yet. Who knows what the rest of the day may bring but I am happy to have some time with the men in my life.
Tomorrow it is my regular Sunday Morning Coffee Chat with mom, and I am looking forward to that. Next week we have school pictures - they will be much different this year - no boys with long hair. Kaeden is also running Harrier, so he has practice three mornings before school. He is a great runner and his asthma doesn't seem to bother him too much.
That's about it - have I inundated you with info? Probably. Have a great rest of the weekend, whatever you are doing,
Shannon