School Supply Shopping

Sunday afternoon was spent back to school shopping. Armed with our lists provided by the school, we were off to Wal-Mart hoping for the best deals in pens, pencils and binders. We were able to pick up everything there except for a big box pencil case for Kaedo which he had to get at Staples. The boys were both allowed to purchase one "name brand" back to school item and Kaedo chose a pair of West 49 jeans (go figure) and Sterling decided he wanted a new Adidas hat. So after looking at various (read too many) stores, we found this non-Adidas hat he fell in love with. It does have a brim but this was the better picture. He loves it and doesn't care what he wears so the hat was a good choice for him.

On one of our many stops we popped into Winners to see if there were any hats for Sterling and look what Craig found? A pair of purple size 8 boot/shoes for Kaedo. Purple being his favorite color, Kaedo was easily swayed to try them on. Originally $120, the were marked down to $5. We had to buy them. I think he would have worn them to bed if given the option.

Piles O School Supplies - thank you Wal-Mart for not causing too big a strain on my Visa.

While at Winners Craig found this jacket that Sterling loved. Once we explained the "All truckers must have these naked ladies on their mudflaps" rule, Sterling was sure he wanted it for back to school. That got easily vetoed as I don't want a call from the school on the first day of classes advising me he has been suspended for inappropriate attire. He was bummed but good natured about it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent picking up some groceries and coming home for supper and a "Big Bang Theory" Marathon - our favorite show - we are watching Season 2. The kids were tired after having gotten up at 7am to get out biking again. One thing I can say about these early morning bike rides is that bed time is no problem. One more thing - Craig's team won their football game - Ya Craig!

Bike Park Videos

Here's some video I took on Sunday morning of the boys at the Bike Park. The one in the red is Kaedo.

8:08am

It's Sunday

It's 8:08am

Need I say more?

Sunday I sleep in. Until 10. 10:30. Not today. Sterling's annoying ring tone got me out of bed at 7:20am. N was calling to confirm they were still on for the bike park this morning. Who gets up at 7am on Sunday to go biking? Obviously kids who have no problem hopping out of bed, scarfing some Cheerios, and yelling "bye mom, text ya later". We'll see how that works out next week when I have to wake them for school!

Craig is on his way to football and I have cards to make. This afternoon will probably be spent getting back to school supplies and hanging out should the kids should they decide we are cool enough to spend some time with. (I joke - we are definitely cool enough!) If not, Craig and I will get the afternoon to hang out together. It's great that the weekend brings on the opportunity to spend time doing what you love. So glad.

Hope you have a happy Sunday, doing whatever you love to do.

New Shoes

Back to school is the bane of every parent's existence. With school supplies, new clothes and in Kaedo's case new shoes, the money flows out of your wallet faster than you can earn it. Kaedo picked out these new Adidas shoes last night and now that he is in adult sizes (8.5 mens), the cost goes up significantly. As you can tell from his old shoes, he really needed a new pair. One thing you can say about him - he wears his shoes until they can't be worn any more. He's thrilled with his new pair and now just wants to pick up a pair of blue laces to complete the look. So between that, a pair of West 49 jeans (god help name brands for stylecat kids) he seems ready to go. When we asked Sterling what he would like for back to school, he said "a new hat". He lost his favorite one sometime during his trip this summer and his ITA hat is getting a little small, so I guess on top of buying pencils, pens and scientific calculators, we will be buying a new ball cap over the next week. Have I mentioned I hate back to school shopping?

Sterling's New Bike

Sterling got his new bike last night and is thrilled with it. He pimped it up with a set of pegs and was out bright and early (7:15am) with Kaedo, N and J to go to the bike park to try it out. Who knows how long they'll spend there - probably until it gets busy with the older kids and then will spend the afternoon hanging out. Kaedo has it in his mind he now wants to pimp out his bike with a purple chain and some other things. We'll see if we'll get that done this weekend. Love to see them getting some exercise, but wish they would do it at 9am instead of 7am!

Sleepless in....

It is way past the time that I should be asleep. The men in my life are all in dream land and I am wide awake. Working day shift today and then we'll be off to pick up Sterling's new bike tonight. He is so excited! A BMX bike! He has picked out a pretty cool one - a Diamondback Viper - and is excited to be up bright and early Friday morning at the skate/bike park with his buddy and Kaedo. He can't wait to try it out. The above is a picture of the bike Sterling got from mom and dad for his 8th birthday. I can't believe that is almost 5 years ago. Now he's into BMXing and jumps, table tops, bowls, 180's and all these other things I have no idea about. Thank you to mom and dad and Stan and Shirley for going in with us to buy him a bike. It sort of sucks having your birthday in the winter when you like to bike. So thanks for the early present. I'll post pictures and video this weekend. Can you believe in a few short months he will be 13? OMG!

I took this picture back in August of 2004 and the series is still one of my favorites. I love sunsets and the peacefulness of them. I guess what it comes down to is that after months of not feeling peaceful - feeling restless, anxious, overwhelmed, sad, excited, depressed, exasperated, and all those other feelings that have gone through me, I am finally feeling some peace.
Today I got my new job. In about 4 weeks I will once again start working at home and will be more available to my family and be happier in my life. After living a crazy schedule for the past 16 months, working different shifts every day, never having two days off in a row, I will finally get a chance to be at home, working full time at a job I LOVE, take my kids to school, pick them up from school, leave my office at 7pm and be sitting down talking with my family about their day at 7:01pm. It is magical to think that all my hard work, my husband's patience, my children's unrelenting optimism is finally coming together. I will be signing on to do this for two years - quite a commitment, but I am committed to being more available to my family, to taking better care of myself, to sharing in the rituals that come with school and activities and kissing beautiful boys goodnight and having 2 DAYS OFF IN A ROW!
We still have so much going on and there is a lot to do in the next few weeks, but we can do it. We are hoping by November 1 everything in our lives will be settled. That is the goal. Who knows if it will come true. It is Craig's turn now to do the waiting game. As he has been for me, I am behind him 100% while he finishes this chapter in his career and starts a new one.

Thanks everyone, for everything.

week 48

It's 7:42am and the boys are already gone. Out to the skate park with N, on their bikes. They have their water backpacks, their granola bars, their house keys and their phones and are ready for a day of adventuring. Sterling, N and some friends have been heading out early (7-7:30am) to go to the local skate park before all the older kids get there. At that time of the morning they have the place to themselves and can practice their stunts and have fun without a whole pile of other kids being there. It sure is early to get up but it is very easy when they know they are going adventuring.

Last night N invited Kaedo to join them today and he was thrilled with the invitation. So, they are off, I am awaiting my home assessment, Craig is sitting on the couch with his laptop working and Ketchup is breathing a sigh of relief that he has a few hours in which the boys won't be tormenting him.

It's Official!

After many weeks of discussion and planning, it is official that Kelly, Tica, the boys and Stan and Shirley will be here for Christmas. We have never in 15 years hosted a Christmas before so it will be very exciting. It will be fun to have "little" kids in the house who believe in Santa. The boys are already talking about how convincing they are going to be and how much fun they are planning. The trip will be short as Kelly and Tica will be returning home on the 26th to celebrate with her family. Our hope is to convince Stan and Shirley to stay a few extra days.

I guess I better start thinking about a Christmas dinner - thankfully I will have Shirley - such a great cook - assisting, as I'm sure popcorn and a movie won't due for our company.

With a visit from Jessica, the girls and mom and dad in October and a visit from the rest of the fam in December, our Fall is full and we are so looking forward to it.

Last but certainly not least - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY!!!!!! We love you

Late Addition - see previous post

Kaedo took this picture of a car he made today and wanted to make sure I got it posted with all their other creations. So, here's another great addition to their collection. See the previous post for all the other pictures.

Show and Tell

The boys thought a Lego Fashion Show would be in order today as they have been obsessed with Lego (since the day they were born, it seems) lately and have been creating amazing projects, each with a name of its own. Beware, this is a very picture heavy post.

Sterling and Kaedo's muscle car - complete with Joe Cool

Nano Bug wrestling ring

Nano Bug race course

Sterling's House (his masterpiece)

Clothing Cart

Sterling's Van

Sterling's jet

Sterling's ant

Sterling's Quad

Sterling's Special Ops vehicle

Sterling's caterpillar

Kaedo's weapon's case/motorbike storage

Sterling's attack car

Sterling's pickup truck and motorbike trailer

Kaedo's death van

Kaedo's glider

Kaedo's Nano Hex Bug car

Kaedo's laser car

Kaedo's garbage trailer

Kaedo's gondola boat

Kaedo's ant

Found this picture in the archives from the boys holiday in 2005. That was the year they travelled back from Kelly and Tica's wedding with my mom and dad in the motorhome. While neither Craig or I are certain which boy it is we are both leaning towards it being Kaedo. What struck me about this photo was that maybe it was a sign of things to come. Kaedo and dad spent a lot of time together travelling this summer and formed a very close bond. Kaedo misses him very much and many of his memories of his time spent with mom and dad are of his time spent one on one with baba. I love that my kids love their grandparents so much and that they have such a close relationship with all of them. As a parent, it really is a blessing to know your children have grandparents they can depend on.

week 47

The boys wanted to make sure I got a good picture of the water coming out of Gnomee's broken arm. I think he needs to be retired. 4 more weeks. Maybe we'll have a party. We went window shopping for a new gnome yesterday and found the one we love but it is out of our price range.

So much going on here. Don't even know where to start or what to write, so for now here's another great picture of the boys. They have tons of new Lego they want to show off as well as a video of their nano bugs in their habitat. I will hopefully get those posted for tomorrow.

Lego Invasion

Sterling's new car

Kaedo with his maze

All the Lego in the upstairs hall

I thought we might be through with Lego but alas, the invasion has returned. The boys have got the Lego out in full force and are enjoying designing mazes for their nano bots, building cars, adding on to already fantastic buildings and pretty much spreading those little plastic pieces all over the floor.

Kaedo built a maze for his nano bot to race in. As you can see, it works pretty well.

The boys are always looking for ways to show off their "mad skillz" in the pool and they insisted I take some video of their antics. Sterling doing a belly flip, Kaedo on his wakeboard and both of them trying to catch frisbees or a ball in the air.

The pool was a great gift from Jessica and Ken and the boys have loved it. They have spent a lot of hours swimming, splashing, diving for treasures and making Tsunamis (too which our grass is always grateful). It's a lot of fun for them and we have held off having supper quite a few nights to give them more chances to swim. I would highly recommend a pool for anyone with kids who love the water or need to learn to love the water. It's great.

Sterling got a Ripstick from anti for his birthday and after watching Sterling have so much fun, Kaedo decided he must get one. So, last weekend, he bought himself one as well. They have been out every day practicing and they are doing very well. I haven't got any up to date video but this is the video from each of their first days. I think they are doing great. Now they are able to go up curbs, go around pylons and really get some speed. What fun and a nice alternative to riding their bikes.

800th post - I lied

Sterling walking on water!

I lied - this is my 800th post. I can't believe you have held on long enough to read 800 posts.

The second half of our summer has been filled with trampolining, swimming, trips to McDonalds and Dollarama, ripsticking, and the wii. They have been having a blast and some of these pictures show just how much fun they have been having. They love showing off their different jumps so I am often called on to be the action photographer for these displays of daring water olympics. I m loving the time I'm getting to spend with them. Sorry they are so blurry but you "get the picture".

something screwy

Hi All -
I have had a heck of a time posting all the pictures from the second half of their vacation. I set them up on Sunday which just happened to be 08/08/10. I couldn't figure out which 08 to change to make the posts appear on consecutive days, so I have gone in every day and posted them individually. Unfortunately, they keep posting under Sunday's date. SO - if you want to read about their vacation, you will have to scroll down to read about it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Week 46

These two cuties (and their pal) are enjoying the pool, the trampoline, the sprinkler, the freezies, the lunches at McDonalds, hours of playing the Wii and all the other things that come with summer vacation. Can you believe that summer is almost over? I am looking forward to tomorrow and getting the chance to spend the day with them doing whatever they want to do.

Flying Home

I think this is the only picture in existence with Amma and Baba with their four grandkids. This was taken at the airport shortly before they left Calgary. Starbucks, anyone?

The flight home was the scariest part for Craig and I as we were so scared about anything happening to Sterling. The flight crew was great. We scared Sterling and he has commented that he thinks we don't trust him as we (I) were drilling into him all the things he had to do to keep himself safe with regards to the peanuts. All I can say, is that if they do this again, I will do exactly the same thing. I would rather him be mad at me than regret not saying something. If I keep reminding him what he needs to do and nothing happens, awesome. But if something does, at least I know I did and said everything I could.

That being said, their flight home was awesome and they did great. I have never been so happy to see them. They looked awesome, were happy to be home and have wonderful memories of everything they did.

Thanks everyone, for making this possible.

POST # 800!

A Sunday afternoon spent riding was a great way to spend the day. They biked 24kms and Baba was a star getting four bikes and all the necessary stuff into and on to their car. They loved the biking and had a beautiful day with gorgeous scenery.