Welcome to my parlor....

...said the spider to the fly. Big ass spider. He/she has taken to living in our front yard. A web has been spun from the cream separator to the tree. Thank god it hasn't made it's way into our house. I don't know what I'd do if that happened. This is not a trick picture. That is really the size. We used Kaedo's hand as a gauge so you can see how big it is. I have come to check everyday to make sure it is still in the web instead of MIA. I'm happy to see it spinning it's web. OUTSIDE.

Soccer 2010/2011

As you have heard me mention before, taking pictures in the soccer dome is very difficult. I don't know if it's the lighting or what but it is very difficult. Here are a couple of blurry images from week two of soccer. I neglected to take my camera on week one so here are a couple from Sunday. Sterling played at 8am (yikes) and Kaedo played at 3pm. We were hoping to have games one after the other but that will only occur twice in 26 weeks. Oh well. The boys are loving it. They are both having so much fun. Soccer is such a great sport and I am so glad that we got them registered.

Week 5

Week 5 and our new gnome has arrived. We will take a vote at supper tonight to decide what his name will be. I love him and so do the boys. He is a little rounder than our old gnome but very cute. He has taken a spot in our Fall display and I hope he and Gnommeee will be great friends :).

We are all anxiously awaiting the fam's arrival tomorrow. The boys have worked in their rooms, making it possible for Jessica, Avery and Em to have some space to themselves. The boys are looking forward to having Friday off and while I wish I wasn't working Thursday and Friday I am looking forward to Saturday and four days off to spend with them. We have lots planned, including Woodbine, dinner out with Jessica, pumpkin carving, celebrating GG's 100th birthday, soccer, and trick or treating.

Can't wait to see them as I know that it will be a long while before we are together again. I plan to enjoy every minute of it.

Pumpkin Picking

We took off for our annual pumpkin picking and family photo session yesterday morning and boy was it wet! The rain was pouring and at the patch the tractor wasn't running and the water and mud was ankle high. But we had fun. We didn't go into the field - just too wet, but we did find some fun pumpkins. Craig has been hard at work thinking up designs for this year's pumpkin and so he was on the hunt for the perfect one for his masterpiece. Sterling decided he was going to do a witch so we seemed to have picked up a few "wart pumpkins". The are so ugly they are cute. Love them.

I usually take a ton of pictures when we do this but the rain was coming down so much that I only got a chance to snap a few.

Just as we were leaving, Sterling comes up to me and tells me he lost his cell phone. He had been carrying it while we were there, so as Craig loaded up everything, the three of us frantically searched for his phone. Someone found it and called Craig's cell while we were looking for it and we were able to meet up with him at the patch and get the phone back. Sterling was panicked. His phone is one of his true loves. :) Everyone should put "dad" in on their speed dial list so that when you lose your phone and a smart Samaritan retrieves it, they can scroll through your speed dial and call the one person who probably knows where you are!

Medic Alert

We finally ordered a new bracelet for Sterling about 10 days ago. He has worn a Medic Alert bracelet since he was about 6 months old. I remember him wearing it around his ankle so he wouldn't try to rip it off. I have a love/hate relationship with Medic Alert. I love that if anything ever happens to him, the emergency services people who assist him will have access to his records and will better be able to help him. I hate that he wears a Medic Alert bracelet. I don't want him to have to. I don't want there to be anything 'wrong' with him. This time around it was especially hard. While we don't live in denial, we had hoped to never have to add Tourette's to his bracelet, but when I placed the new order I did. I'm sure I felt heavy hearted when we had to update his bracelet to add peanut allergy, but this really hurt. I don't know why this was such a kick in the stomach. When Sterling asked why we had added it, I explained that because he was taking medication for it, it needed to be on his bracelet in case he ever got hurt and had to be given something. He understood and has always been so great about it. He's a special kid and I am so proud of how he takes it in stride and goes on about his life. I could learn a thing or two from him.

year 2 week 4

Week 4 - this year is already going fast. We went on Saturday to see if our new gnome was in but he hasn't arrived yet, so another picture with our little gnome. The boys are back to school today after a PA day yesterday and I'm back to work in about an hour. Craig is enjoying his new job and is adjusting well to his new environment.

Only 8 days until the fam comes to visit. We are so looking forward to seeing them. We have a lot planned and it is sure to be a whirlwind trip. We are going to enjoy every minute of it.

Season Openers

Soccer started yesterday morning - at 8am - yuck! Kaedo played the first game of the day and he had a blast. The team did a great job, winning 4-1. Kaedo had an assist and about 4 head bumps. He really enjoyed himself and it was great to see him out there playing again. He was nervous at the beginning but once he got a couple of shots under his belt he loosened up and really showed off his mad skillz!
Sterling played at 6pm - the last game of the day, and he did great. It was terrific seeing him out there and he ran his face off. He doesn't really like to run so I was wondering how he would fair, but he was great and in the play and really showed off some great talent. I forgot my camera so I will have to take some video and pictures next week. Craig will have to get back to editing the video and adding the music.

Next week Sterling plays at 8am. They are killing me! Craig has football so he will miss the game. Kaedo plays late in the afternoon so he will make it to that one.

Tonight I have a School Council meeting for the Grad Committee. Not sure how the hell I got into that one but whatever. The woman who is chairing the committee lives in this house I have always wanted to see inside of so I am looking forward to that. I'm hoping it only takes an hour or so but we'll see.

The boys have had a good day off. We hung around the house in the morning, then Sterling went to C's house for a couple of hours and now they are both here. Kaedo and I went out and spent some time together and that was fun. Back to school and work for us tomorrow. The days off go by way too fast!

Silly Bands

Say What??? Anyone with children from 5 to 15 has no doubt heard about Silly Bands. What they are are elastic bands that are shaped and you wear them in a big jumbled mess on your arm. There are thousands of different ones and the kids share them and trade them like they did Pokemon cards, back in the day. Sterling currently wears 15 of them on his wrist and Kaedo just came across a package of Toy Story ones today so he has 20 more to add to his collection. They are cute and fun and the kids could collect worse things. My only question is...why the hell didn't I think of that???

Sterling went to Applefest this morning with his friend C and his family. They had a great time, had McDonalds for lunch, went back to C's house and played XBox and now they are here riding bikes and hanging out. C is staying for supper tonight and they are having frozen pizza. According to his mom he would eat cardboard to get out of having what they are having for supper, so we're glad to have him. The constipation from the cardboard would give me guilt. Ha.

Kaedo played with L this morning and then he and I hung out for a while. I start work in 20 minutes - 4-midnight. Not my favorite shift, but what can you do?

Tomorrow Kaedo plays soccer at 8am. I was supposed to be missing this one due to working tonight but I was pleasantly informed by my darling husband that he has football AGAIN and won't be able to take him. So, alas, I will be up at 7am getting him to soccer. Sterling plays at 6pm and we are hoping to see the new Bruce Willis movie, RED, in the afternoon. Love me some Bruce Willis.

The boys have a PA Day on Monday so I will get to sleep in and plan on doing just that.

year 2 week 3

Here is this week's picture. We are still using our travel gnome as the boys have decided that Gnomee is in fact retired. They wanted to buy him a little lawnchair so he could retire in comfort in the back yard but Craig nixed that idea. So we are just going to bury his feet in a little and let him enjoy being out in nature. Our new gnome should arrive at the end of the week or mid-week next week. Kaedo picked him out and he is AWESOME!

Until then, enjoy these photos with our mini-gnome.

Happy Wednesday!

Thaksgiving 2010

Chicken, smashed and roasted potatoes, corn, crescents and gravy. The 's'mashed potatoes weren't good but Craig ate them anyway.

Sterling was worn out from his bike park adventure and had a 45 min snooze before supper. He never full woke up and ended up heading to bed about 8:15pm

Chickens and potatoes before cooking

Cherry pie - no pumpkin by here

Kaedo enjoying his pie after showers and supper clean up

Thanksgiving was a nice day here. Kaedo played outside all day and Sterling spent quite a bit of time outside as well. Kaedo played with the neighbor and Sterling headed to the bike park to learn some new tricks. I made a chicken supper and Craig was busy getting ready for his first day on the new job, getting some tunes on my iPod and trying to fix his broken cell phone. He dropped it and I think it is done for. Today he becomes a Blackberry man as his new job comes with a cell phone. We'll see how he likes it.

Shirley mentioned asking what each person is thankful for = here is our list - out of the mouths of tweenagers

Sterling

health

bike

iPod

Kaedo

iPod

health

having L as his friend

Craig

family

job which provides the food on our table

health

Shannon

health

family

the opportunity to spend more time with the people I love

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

and so it begins

Indoor soccer season has started and with that came the first meeting of the team. We headed off to soccer yesterday morning to meet the coach and get his uniform. It turns out it is the same coach he had the last year he played indoor. The coach was funny and told Kaedo that he was looking for long blonde hair and so he didn't recognize him. The coach did the parent's meeting while the kids were scrimmaging and he brought up the 'yellow card' circumstances. Once he was done explaining how a child could get yellow carded I piped up and said "good", to the horror of the other parents. As they were gazing at me dumbfounded I said, "they shouldn't be playing that way and they'll only do it once or twice if they get carded". It might be a long year.

As soon a we came home Kaedo got all decked out in his new uniform and the above are the pictures from our mini photo session. His game times are all over the map from 8am next Sunday morning to 6pm on other occasions. With two boys in soccer I can see that we will be spending a lot of Sundays in the arena. Sterling meets his coach before his first game next Sunday and I'll get some pix of him for the blog as well.

Today will be spent grocery shopping, going through Kaedo's shirts, hanging out with the boys and Craig and a movie night tonight. Tomorrow I am planning on cooking a "quasi-thanksgiving dinner" - chicken instead of turkey. I'm sure you are all surprised so I will make sure to take photos. I have to practice up for Christmas dinner, although Shirley will be here so I may leave it in her capable hands. (hint hint)

Craig starts his new job on Tuesday after months of waiting. We are so proud and excited for him. It is bittersweet that I am at home as we were looking forward to being able to commute a together couple of days a week, but such is life.

Last but not least, today or tomorrow is Ketchup's 6th birthday! I can't find my forms but I know it is the 10th or 11th. He is one of the most special gifts ever given to us. We can't thank Scott and Cheryl enough. Happy Birthday Ketchup!

Happy Sunday

Since I'm Not Busy Enough!

For years I haven't wanted to be involved in the Parent Council at school. I didn't want to be one of "those moms" who were always in the office and seemingly in every one's business (what a horrible attitude I had). A couple of years ago my mom made the comment that if you choose not to be involved, you don't know what is happening behind the scenes. Around that time I started working evenings and it wasn't possible to become involved. Flash forward to Monday and my first council meeting. I decided I should go, as I don't work on Mondays any longer and I thought it would be good to see how our new Principal dealt with things and what the council was up to. My goal going in was to assist in a very limited capacity, offering my creativity as the only thing I could give. Newsletters, grad programs that kind of thing. You are now looking at a full fledged parent council mom - the only thing missing is my bumper sticker.

I don't think I will ever see another movie on a Monday afternoon as I am now officially on the grad committee, will write the council newsletter and am chairing the Health, Wellness and Safety committee.

I walked out thinking 'how the hell did that happen', but am glad that after 7 years I am becoming involved, will assist when needed and will bring another voice to the already exceptional group of individuals that all believe in giving our children the best educational and social environment possible. So, as of now, I'm looking forward to it. Don't ask me how I'll feel after being a part of the Lice head checks. I might be sick that day.

Alternate living arrangements

The boys decided on Saturday morning that they wanted to build a fort to sleep in. Mattresses were moved, box springs propped up, broom sticks and hockey sticks used to hold up the blanket. An argument at bedtime caused the demolition of the fort and each of them sleeping in their own rooms. Aahhh, the love of brothers. It warms my heart!

Y2W2

Week 2 - the kids are gorgeous - I love this weekly snapshot into their lives. Still haven't gotten a new gnome. Kaedo says it is on the agenda for this weekend. He knows the one he wants. We'll have to see if it's on sale. Happy Wednesday everyone. This is the first Wednesday I have worked in a long time. So far so good. Loving it!

Fall Is Here

Fall cleanup was in full swing on Sunday afternoon. The trampoline came down, chairs, table and deck box put away. I hate doing that kind of thing, but it isn't fair to Craig that he have to do it all. We all worked together and were able to get everything done and stored away in a couple of hours. Now we have it done and aren't waiting until it's cold out and we have to wear gloves. The flower beds are all pulled up and now we quietly await Winter to makes it's entrance. Hoping for a wonderful Winter like last year. For now we will enjoy Fall and all the great things that come with it. Wearing sweaters and scarfs, doing our annual pumpkin picking afternoon along with our yearly family picture, pumpkin carving, seed eating, family visiting and cool winter evenings sitting back together watching movies.

Happy Fall, everyone.

The resume of a 12 year old

Sterling is busy writing resumes for one of his classes. The students post jobs and then they have to choose other jobs to apply for. This is one of his. Craig and I thought this was hilarious. 9 feet tall. Cool. At least he went to Harvard!

What the *$%#!

So, Friday Sterling brings home a school trip form. I'm all for school trips, even though most of the time they require a significant outlay of cash by the parents. $50 for Medieval Times, $38 for the Science Centre, etc etc etc. This one however, took the cake. $515 (yes, $515) to go on a trip to St. Donat, Quebec for 3 days. You have got to be kidding me. After reading about the trip and recovering from my faint at seeing the price, and listening to Sterling say he did not want to spend 19 hours in a bus (each way) with 60 other kids, we came to the decision that he will not be participating.
First off - I do not have $515 to hand over this month for a school trip. Secondly, what about the peanut issue? Thirdly, they are not allowed to take their cell phones (which goes back to the peanut issue and the use public phones). Fourthly - $515!!!! Fifthly (is that a word? Is fourthly? who cares - it's my blog) - you also have to provide them with spending money and money for 3 days of lunches and one supper as well as there are special clothes (thermal underwear, two pairs of gloves, etc) that they 'just have to have'.
While some of you may disagreed, I am appalled that the school feels that a class trip, while all said and done, will cost a family close to $1000, is feasible in today's economy. This says nothing of the sleep away field trip Kaedo has on the agenda for this year. Thankfully his is very cheap.

For $1000 we could take the kids to Quebec as a family for a few days, for hells sake.

Needless to say, Sterling isn't going and neither are many of his friends. I hope the turnout is low and the school realizes there must be better opportunities for kids. It's not like they are offering 2 weeks in Europe. It's billeting in Quebec so you can eat Poutine 3 meals a day!

Ok - my soapbox is back in the closet.

and so it begins

Way back in the day when I announced I was planning to start working from home again, I said that my hope was that I would be in my new position by October 1st. Yesterday that became a reality. And it was October 1st. Go Figure. On September 15th when I was advised that I would be taking my computer and starting to work at home I was thrilled. After delays upon delays and many days of being what felt like a prisoner in my home due to waiting for this tech and that tech to come, yesterday I started.

It was great. I loved being by myself, in a quiet environment where I could concentrate fully and not be easily distracted by what was going on around me. I loved being able to finish my shift at 7pm and at 7:04pm be downstairs sitting with my family, hearing about their day. I don't know what took 4 minutes, but that's better than an hour!

I was nervous about Ketchup and how he would react. I was concerned about anyone ringing the bell, knocking on the door. I have to admit, I had a stomach ache. But he did great. He only barked twice and both of those times were solitary one barks. I was impressed with him. Craig disconnecting the doorbell and the big sign on the door didn't hurt either - haha.

So now I am home, working my 40 hours a week, not travelling 2 hours a day, able to take the boys to school and pick them up, able to put in a load of laundry or get supper started on my break, and I am thrilled with all of that. I have signed a two year contract and as of now I don't have any regrets. It's still early and I know there will be days when I will wish I was around my co-workers, but yesterday was not that day. And I don't think today will be either.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this decision. I appreciate all your kindness.

Layouts

While waiting to have my computer set up for my new job, I have had the opportunity to do some scrapbooking. I have not done any in about a year and it felt good to create these two layouts.

The first one if of my Uncle Ray. He passed away a long time ago. I have had this photocopy of the original for a long time and have never used it in a layout. I have been thinking about doing a page for a while. I hope I have done it justice. I am looking toward you, mom, to give me an approximate date/year of the photo so I can complete it.

The second one is of a picture that I have just posted this week. I had to scrap this one. I just love it. This way it will go into a book rather than be shuffled into a pile and be lost again for some time.

I'm hoping to do one layout a week in the upcoming months, both to get rid of some of my stash and to document the absolute coolness of my boys. I will post them here once I have completed them.