Nerdy McNerdy Pants

Kaedo found these 3D glasses and decided he wanted the lenses popped out and wanted to add some tape to the bridge. This was the final product. He loves them and wore them all night and to school yesterday. His friends thought they were cool and really, that's what matters. Kids are thrilled today is Friday and they will soon have the weekend to hang out with their buddies.

Sterling has his bowling banquet tonight and Kaedo has his in the morning. Craig has football tomorrow and I work tomorrow afternoon. Nothing too thrilling. Hope every one's weather gets better and you all have a great weekend.

Week 31

Week 31 is upon us and it has been a very busy week. Kaedo rode his bike to school with his friend one day and has decided that it is still too cold so we are calling a halt to that for a few more weeks. Sterling had a myriad of appointments today that kept him home from school. It was a great day and we had lots of fun hanging out together. We were lucky to get everything done and were able to pick Kaedo up from school.

To top everything off today - getting his bottom braces, going to see Dr. B., and going to see his family doc - we also learned that he has the chicken pox. Can you believe it? The kid can't catch a break. Thankfully he is in good spirits.

I love this picture of Sterling. I think it is probably the best one yet.

More for tomorrow but now I'm going to go and watch Big Bang Theory and listen to my boys giggle. It is the best sound in the world.

Coupon Clippers Unite!

Great Sunday for us. How about you? Had the opportunity to spend the morning talking with my mom. It was great. Craig, Sterling and I then headed out to do our grocery shopping. We collected all the coupons we thought we would use and headed into the store to do our shopping. Craig kept a running tally and even caught an error by the clerk at the till - saving us $3.39.
We stopped at 3 different stores getting our deals that I had found on line. Once we got home I proceeded to put away the groceries and get some food prepped for the week. I cooked half the ground beef for tacos and/or sloppy joes, cooked the chicken for the week, made soup, muffins and a stew and ended up having Kaedo's friend come over and have supper with us. They had a great time and Sterling enjoyed showing off his mad whittling skills. He is practicing up for his time with Baba.

Today was another beautiful day. Kaedo was supposed to ride his bike but was too tired. He and his buddy plan to ride tomorrow. Sterling had a great day and even phoned me to tell me he had found his hat. He had bought it while we were away and had lost it at school. He says it needs to be washed but that is easily taken care of.

Tomorrow I work days and gnomeee picture in the morning. Yesterday I knocked Gnomeee over and his head fell off. Craig fixed him but I may have to break down and buy a replacement.

Wednesday Sterling is taking the day off and has lots of appointments, so we are going to spend the day together. I am looking forward to a one on one day with him. I have no idea when the last one was.

Hope everyone is well.

Saturday

Busy day today at our house. Last bowling of the year this morning. The boys did great and Sterling had a stupendous last game of his illustrious bowling career - 189. He has decided to hang up the bowling balls and pursue a different activity this fall. Kaedo will be using Sterling's balls come September as he loves to bowl and wants to continue. He was a bit teary this morning talking about this being the last bowling of the year. He is just a fantastic bowler and has the patience needed for such a game - unlike other children in our household - no names given!

Craig was thrilled to win at football this week and was looking forward to some more playoff hockey that just had to be watched with his dog and a bag of Spitz by his side.

Kaedo was invited to spend the afternoon with a friend and it has ended up being a sleepover, complete with a dip in the hot tub. He'll be home in the morning and after not getting too much sleep, will be happy with the prospect of watching a movie tomorrow afternoon.

Sterling got the chance to spend the afternoon with a friend as well and they ended up going swimming and then coming back to our place for hot dogs and Smiles and an afternoon/eve of Super Mario Bros. N just left at 8 and now Craig and Sterling are sitting down watching TV. I'm sure Sterling is eating his Spitz as I write this. He is trying to eat as many possible now as he figures come Wednesday he won't be able to anymore with his bottom tracks on.

And me, I'm working and since 2:02pm have been on the countdown to go home (at that point it was T- 7:58hrs). I'm at T-1:16hrs so I guess I have made it through another Saturday.

Looking forward to grocery shopping with Craig tomorrow. It has become our Sunday ritual. I have scoured the online flyers looking for the best deals and have a plan of action for tomorrow afternoon. Pitiful really.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend.

Bike Day

Last night while sitting down with the fam watching "24", Kaedo got a call from his buddy asking if he wanted to ride his bike to school today. Kaedo thought that was a fabulous idea and after speaking with D's mom, a plan was in place. Kaedo was up bright and early this morning, in the shower and having breakfast so he could get over to his friends house on time. What's hilarious about this is that this was his first ride of the year and his tires were flat, so at 8:10am Craig was booting his bike over to Esso to get the tires inflated. The other funny part is that we had to load Kaedo's bike in the van and drive him to his friends house so that they could ride to school. Sort of defeats the purpose of riding your bike but that's what memories are made of and I'll do it every day if that's what he wants. Sterling has an appointment this morning and we are hauling his bike to school so that he and Kaedo can ride with D home to his house then continue on to our place. The picture above is from their first ever bike ride to school back in 2008. Man, does time sure fly. All I can say is thank god for cell phones and text messages.

Week 30

Week 30! At least this week they don't look like stoners!

Video shoot went well. The client was happy and that's what matters. Tired today and looking forward to having dinner with the fam and maybe watching some TV with them. I'm sure Craig has taped something we want to see.

Hello all - thought I better put up a quick post so that I don't get a snarky comment from Craig on the neglect of the blog. So much going on here right now. I have been busy creating projects for Sandylion and tomorrow I am doing a video shoot for them for some advertising they are doing in the AC Moore stores in the USA. It feels like old times getting this done. Man, I have to tell you that I am so glad I don't do this full time anymore. I love the creating and have enjoyed stepping in and doing this again but I don't think I could go back to working in my little hole full time. It's nice they wanted me to participate and I am thankful for the opportunity. I'll let you know tomorrow how to shoot went.

I did take the weekly gnome picture this morning but can't stand the thought of having to Photoshop another photo today so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Until then -

Gettin' my BRAG on!

Sterling has always been mechanical. He has always loved to build things and has quite a collection of tools, including a Dremel and soldering gun. He is fascinated with how things work and can often be found sitting at the kitchen table with all his supplies around him building something or taking something apart. I was really impressed when he showed me this boat he built with some supplies he had and a coke bottle. It really is amazing. Check out the video to see how well it works. He is so very cool!

Saturday

The weekend is upon some of us - not me, unfortunately, but the rest of the fam. We are heading out to bowling this morning and Craig has started football again. The boys only have two weeks left of bowling - this week and next and then they have their banquets the weekend of the 30th. The season is too long, if you ask me and the boys have done quite a few bowl offs this year. It guarantees their perfect attendance but also gives us some Saturday mornings at home. I think that bowling should only be 3 weeks a month, but I'm not the one in charge. Sterling isn't sure if he wants to bowl next year but Kaedo does, so we will be back at it in the fall.

Craig is back to football from now until June. He is loving it so far and had a great game last week. He has a really good team so I think that helps. He likes to play well but he really likes to win.

I have to work today - the most hated shift of the week - but I am looking forward to tomorrow and a day off to be with everyone. Have a great weekend.

Thought I would post some pictures from Spring 2008. What a difference 2 years make. What a lot of changes for us since 2008. At that time I was working for Sandylion almost full time, Kaedo was in grade 3 and Sterling in grade 4. Look at all of that hair! Both of them with their long hair and both adamant that they wouldn't cut it.

Fast forward 2 years and Sterling is in grade 6 and Kaedo in grade 5. I am no longer with Sandylion and am working almost full time for Scotiabank. They both have their short hair and are adamant that they aren't going to grow it again. I sort of miss those mops of hair they had.

I am also doing some freelance work for Sandylion again and am working on a large project for them right now. It is funny how things come full circle, isn't it?

Mish Mash

Hi everyone - just some miscellaneous pictures of our weekend. The weather was beautiful this past weekend and the boys spent a lot of time outside on Saturday. Kaedo was sick on Sunday so he stayed in, but Sterling went to a friends house to ride bikes and was then invited for supper, so he had a great Sunday.

These strawberries were the biggest strawberries I had ever seen. They look great don't they. I was able to get a big box for $2.99, so they boys have been enjoying them in their lunches with some icing sugar. They love to dip the strawberries.

Kaedo has really taken up drawing and has bought his own sketch pad and pencils at a local art store. Craig is a great artist and so on Sunday they say down and decided to draw Woody from Toy Story. Kaedo really loves this time that he gets to spend with Craig and he has a great collection of drawings he has done.

Sterling checking out the action - about 1pm and still in his PJs. He hasn't shown any interest in joining Craig and Kaedo in their drawing but does like to check out their progress. He looks so old in this picture. 12.5. Can't believe it.

This one is for you Craig. Great picture of your tattoos.

The boys spent a lot of Saturday playing on the trampoline. They are loving it this year.

We have been so blessed with our weather. I am loving it and the boys are too. I am sorry to hear that our family in the West have been hit with snow but I am glad to see the grass turning green and our plants starting to come up. I guess Spring really has Sprung.

Week 29

This is by far the worst weekly gnome picture yet! OMG as Kaedo would say. Thank god the boys don't check out the blog. They would be mortified!
Sorry about the long hiatus everyone. The week sort of got away from me. I am usually quite good making sure the blog gets my attention at least 5 days a week so I don't know what happened this week.
Craig said to me last night, "you sure have let the blog slide this week, haven't you". So, I do have a post coming up tomorrow with an oh-so-flattering picture of Craig as payback. My retort of course was that he could have stepped up. A chuckle was his answer.

Have a sick one at home today. Sterling really likes to go to school and was adamant that he was going to school this morning. Once he had gotten up and gone to the washroom he came to me and said, "mom, I don't think I can go to school today". That is a big thing for him. So, he is in bed, watching Star Trek and eating Halls. He has a real seal bark cough today. Poor guy.

Last but not least - Happy Birthday to MY MOM!!!!!
Please leave a comment wishing her a happy birthday. I know she reads the comments and would love your well wishes.
Oh, one more thing - there is always a race in our family to see who calls first on birthdays. Jessica beat me for dad's birthday but this morning I WAS FIRST! (OK, maybe it is just me competing against everyone else - ha!)

Update

What a day. It started off with Kaedo and I taking Ketchup to the vet at 8am. He cried (Ketchup, not Kaedo) and hugged me like a little baby when we took him in. Poor guy. Returned home to get the kids ready and off to the bus so I could go to work. Left for work and for some dumbass reason the traffic was moving at 40km/hr all the way to Scarborough. I ended up getting to work with only 15 minutes to spare. I like to be there at least 20 minutes early. I drove around and around for 15 minutes looking for a parking spot but there were none to be found. I ended up parking across the street in what I thought was a closed jail parking lot. I finally rushed in at 10:10am - frazzled. I told one of my co-workers about my parking situation and she said "you can't park there, they'll tow you". Aaaahhhh - so out I went again to try and find a spot and ended up parking down a side street. I thought I might be able to get back into work with my boss being none the wiser but it turns out in my single minded quest to find a parking space I didn't see my boss drive by and wave to me. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

I talked to Kaedo after school and he reminded me that we had forgotten to ask the vet if he could have Ketchup's tooth. So, guess what he did? He asked me if he could call the vet and ask about the teeth and that's just what he did. He called them up, explained who he was and requested that they hold on to the teeth so he could take them to school tomorrow to show his friends. To say they are gross is an understatement. The vet doesn't clean up the teeth like the dentist does.

Well, our poor Ketchup is back home with us. He had quite a day. We went into his appointment thinking he would only have to have the one tooth pulled and it ended up he needed 11. That's right folks - ELEVEN. To say that Craig and I were shocked is the understatement of the century. The guilt we have over it is huge. Oh well. He is doing better now and Craig says he now just looks like a hockey player - missing his front teeth.

Today is surgery day for Ketchup. With an abscess and a much needed teeth cleaning he has gone to the vet - much to his dismay. Kaedo and I took him to the vet this morning and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot he started crying (Ketchup, not Kaedo). It was pitiful. We took him in and he almost pulled the nurse out of the clinic trying to come home with us when we left.

Love this picture of Sterling and Ketchup. This was taken the first weekend we had him. Can you believe that was 5.5 years ago?

Week 28

Good morning all. Week 28. Sterling looks like he just rolled out of bed and maybe he did. Tuesday's we have to get going a little earlier in the morning with having to take the bus and going to work.

All is well in our neck of the woods. The boys are doing great, Craig is well and I am doing good too.

Got a surprising call last night from Sandylion. I have been asked to do some freelance work for them, so I am going to be doing some work for them in the coming weeks. A large project for a chain of craft stores in the USA as well as possibly another video. It is going to be busy but one can always use the extra money.

Not too much else going on here. Sterling had a parent teacher meeting this morning and it went well, so I was happy about that, and we have our weekly appointment this afternoon so the boys are getting out of school 10 minutes early. They love that. Kaedo especially as he has music.

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday.

Jump 2, 3 ,4 Jump, 2 3, 4.....

Today was "put up the trampoline" day. After 3 year it is getting easier and easier to put up. They were so quick. I almost didn't get any pictures.

J is here this afternoon and Kaedo is going to his hockey game this afternoon then over to J's house for supper. You would think they would get sick of each other but don't seem to.

The weather is glorious and everyone is in shorts. Hope the weather is great wherever you are.

Feels like Saturday

Craig is home with the boys today and it has been a 2 + 1 day today. Last night Kaedo went to his friend's house for supper and first thing this morning they were back together. Craig took them bowling as the boys were bowling off (giving me the opportunity to sleep in tomorrow morning - ya me!) and J wanted to tag along. When I spoke with Sterling at lunch they were hanging out and Craig was making lunch. I think the plan was for them to stay at our place for the afternoon then Kaedo and J were heading back to his house for an evening of mini-sticks. Sterling was busy texting his buddy back and forth and I haven't heard if they were planning to get together.
Happy to finish at 6:15pm tonight and spend some time at home. Tomorrow back to my regular 2-10pm (yuck) shift. Sunday I am off and am looking forward to pending the day with the boys and Craig. I might even have to cook an Easter dinner. Kaedo wants steak. Does that qualify????
Hope you are having a great Easter break whatever you are doing. Plan to do a little Easter photo shoot with the boys on Sunday so keep posted for those pics.

Also - would like your opinion - would you ever take the maiden voyage of a cruise ship? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Friday,
S

SPRING IS HERE!!! (or else)

Spring is here, I swear it is. Apparently it is supposed to be +21 this weekend. The boys will be getting their bikes out and maybe go with Craig on the first bike ride of the season. I have officially put the shovels, and salt away in the garage. I have also taken their ski jackets and vests and put them in the basement. I wore sandals yesterday and Kaedo was playing in short sleeves. I love Spring. I love the chirping of the birds, the possibility of maybe getting a robin's nest in one of our trees, no scraping of the windshield, no jacket necessary when I go to work, enjoying the walk from the "back 40" where I have to park and listening to the laughs of the kids as they sit outside on the deck eating pizza with their buddies.

Easter weekend and a 4 day holiday for the boys. This is our first year that the boys "officially" don't believe in the Easter Bunny. It really is a little sad. I have to work on Friday and Saturday but Craig is off on Friday so the boys will get to spend the day with him. I am "lucky" in that I work 10:15am-6:15pm on Friday so I will have Friday night with the fam. Looking forward to that.

Mom and dad are now officially Albertans again. Boo hoo for them. I know the girlies out there will be happy to have their Ammy and Baba back. Welcome home to reality!

Kelly - I will get it set up and send the info to you. No creative writing necessary. I know you can do it. Check your mailbox over the next couple of weeks.