Quiet Time

Hello All - Happy Saturday.

The boys are playing XBOX, Craig is at football and I am contemplating what to do today. You see, I'm not working today. Sounds great, but there is one problem. I have been struck mute by a killer case of laryngitis. I've been 'quiet' since Thursday. I think the fam is loving it but it really sucks to have to get out of bed at midnight and go downstairs to tell the boys to get their asses to bed. Love when I can just yell at them. I went to the doctor on Thursday and Friday and she says it's just Laryngitis and prescribed me some cough medicine (with codeine - ya me) and some other pills for what she says is a bacterial infection.

So, needless to say, I'm not working - as my job involves ALWAYS talking to people.

Hope you have a noisy, fun filled weekend - whatever you plan to do.

Computer Geek

Sterling is obsessed with anything to do with his computer. He's always got it running and can usually be found searching up something, customizing his desktop or watching YouTube videos. One of the things he loves is his USB stick. He uses it every day to complete projects, download stuff from school, etc. On Sunday he had the idea to take apart one of his 2GB USBs and a Hot Wheels car and embed the USB into the inside of it, being sure the wheels still spun. He and Craig spent some time working on it and VOILA! a Hot Wheels USB stick. Quite cool, if I do say so myself!

School Lunches

School lunches are the bane of my existence. I hate them. After 8 years of making lunches, 200 days a year, I am so sick of making them I'm sure I would sign up for a hot lunch program at school if it was offered as a daily option. Our average lunches look something like this - mini pizza, soup, rice , KD, or ichiban, plus a frozen yogurt tube, pudding, piece of fruit, and a couple of snacks. We top it off with a water bottle and they are good to go. With the boomerang lunches policy at school - there are no garbages in the classrooms - everything has to come home - I am learning to pack at least one thing in a sandwich bag so they have something to dump their garbage into. The only thing I hate more than packing school lunches is a lunch bag that comes home with chocolate pudding all over it because they couldn't throw the pudding cup in the garbage.

Week 18

Another week another gnome picture. It was very cold yesterday when we took this picture but today it is nice and warm and I'm hoping for some melting snow. We'll see if that happens. We have lots of snow but haven't had too many days of really cold weather. Sunday was probably the coldest. Yikes!

Can you read Korean?

Sterling has a new friend in school named Harry who has come as an exchange student from Korea. Sterling thinks he is totally cool and loves having him in his group in class. Harry took the time last week to write out Sterling's name in Korean and we think it's pretty neat. I don't know if I took the picture the right way but it's cool either way. Sterling is really impressed with how well Harry has fit in and thinks his translating gadgets are awesome. It is great that this child has been given the chance to come to school here and equally great that the kids here are able to meet and interact with someone from another part of the world. Hopefully they will become email pals once he returns to Korea.

Soccer Star

Both of the boys played soccer yesterday and they both did very well. Unfortunately, as usual, Sterling's team lost. It is really disheartening for the kids. They lost 6-1. They have yet to win a game all season. Sterling was a little frustrated yesterday as one of the parents was coaching him from the sidelines and he was very mad about that. That makes him want to do the exact opposite which doesn't make things any better. I really wish we could just go to a game and watch and cheer without having to listen to some armchair quarterback throw in their two cents.

OK - soapbox has officially been stored back in the garage.

Comfort Food

Tis the season of comfort food. It's cold and snowy outside so some good old chicken noodle soup and a delicious slow cooker stew were on the menu this week. Last night we had pizza. Don't know if that counts as comfort food but I sure felt comforted while eating it. Ha! Here's to a warmer weekend and more delicious family dinners.

Biker Boys

Following up to Sterling's love of biking, I'm posting these pictures from May 2003 when Sterling learned to ride his bike. We still lived in Alberta and Craig started him off in our huge backyard so that if he fell off his bike he would hit the grass instead of the pavement. Craig was able to teach him to ride in about an hour and he hasn't looked back since. Sterling has loved being on a bike ever since then and while Kaedo prefers his scooter to his bike, they will always jump at the chance to go on one of Craig's bike adventures.

Shoveller

On Saturday morning we got a pile of snow. The kind that is heavy because it is barely cold enough to snow. I made a deal with the boys that they could earn extra money by doing the shovelling and Kaedo was all over it. Sterling likes the prospect of earning more money but isn't really interested in doing the shovelling. Needless to say, Kaedo has more money than his brother. So, off he went, out into the snow and did a pretty good job of getting the driveway and sidewalk shovelled. Craig came in from football just as Kaedo was finishing and cleaned it up a bit but Kaedo did most of the work. He was thrilled to get $5 for his hard work.

Week 17

Week 17 and the weather is snowy. The boys are doing well and we are in the swing of things with school, soccer, family activities, video games. Sterling has a bit of the blues right now as the snow and cold are preventing him from being on his bike. He really loves to be biking and the winter has fit him hard. I'm hoping to find something that will snap him out of his blues and perk him up again. Maybe an afternoon at the indoor bike park?

iPad Frenzy

Yesterday Craig's boss mentioned to him that he should bring a couple of iPads home for the boys to try out. Since they have both drank the 'Apple Koolaid' and think there is nothing better, they were both thrilled at the idea of playing with these cool gadgets. They spent the evening playing and were back at it this morning. I think we will have to surgically remove them from their hands come Sunday night. They have both said they want one now but for $600 ea they will have to start investing in some winning lottery tickets!

One of my faves

Wanted to post this picture today as it is one of my favorite pictures I have of Sterling. It was taken in 2008 during a school sponsored rock climbing activity that had been set up in their gym. I went on one of the days and snapped about 50 pictures but this one is my favorite. I actually have it in a frame on my desk so I can see his smiling face 5 days a week. Notice the pre-braces teeth. Can't believe he has had braces for over two years. His teeth are looking spectacular. Now if only he'd grow his hair again!

week 16

Week 16 and we have a new player in the mix. Roughie the gnome. I don't know how many pictures he will be in going forward but the boys wanted him in this one. Looking at this picture I was really struck at how good that hat looks on Sterling. With two pieces on Under Armour and a want for more I am worried we may have created another addict like Craig. Kelly - notice the shirt?

Hope your day finds you well.

Assist Man

Kaedo had a great game of soccer on Sunday. He played at 1pm and I sat on the sidelines taking some pictures (resolution still doing well). He played awesome and had two assists and two breakaways. He really loved it and was so animated when he spoke about the game afterward. Even though I was there he still treated me to the play-by-play. These are just a couple of pics of him doing the kick ins. I love the look on his face in the first one and the size of his feet in the second one.

Thank you

On Friday we got a great surprise on Friday from Kelly, Tica and the boys. A Saskatchewan Roughriders gnome. He is so cool. The boys were thrilled. He's so cute and it was such a great surprise. Thank you guys so much for your kindness. Kelly was also kind enough to send Sterling this really cool t-shirt. It is on the agenda to be worn today. We have certainly got quite a collection of gnomes going on. At present count we have 4. We may be starting something!

Powder Hounds

Today Sterling and Craig spent the afternoon at Brimacombe - our local ski hill - redeeming a Christmas gift given to Sterling by gramma and grampa back in 2009. Last year there wasn't much snow and we were away during the best time of the season so we've held onto it and Sterling got the chance to get back on a snowboard and show his dad how it's done. Both of them were nervous but neither came home with any broken bones or bruises, although I'm sure their butts and wrists will hurt tomorrow.

One Word

Hello All - the end of the first week of January. How are your resolutions? Have you made them? Broken them? Kept up with them? Of my public resolution (take more pictures) I have done remarkably well, as I hope you have noticed on ye old blog. I have a few private resolutions that are coming into play and I may or may not share them. I have high hopes for this year. Do you? 2010 was a year of changes and challenges. Craig and I both changed jobs (although within the same company), Sterling became a teenager, I put an effort into my weight loss goals, family came to visit, Kaedo had a break-out year socially, we started year two of gnomee and travelled for our first ever real family vacation. There were many other ups and downs that affected us and our families, but we weathered the storms and rode the waves of good fortune.

2011 is a year in which I will move into my last year of my 30s - yikes - mom and dad, you are OLD! ha. Sterling will enter his last year of school before high school, Kaedo hopes to try out for rep soccer, Craig has many job highlights coming this year which will test him and show him to be the perfect person for the job (do I sound proud? I am - he rocks).

On some of the blogs I follow there has been an ongoing theme of choosing ONE WORD that will lead you through the year and be a focus word in your accomplishments. The woman who started this a couple of years ago, Ali Edwards, has done it again and millions of paper crafters and non-paper crafters are taking the plunge and choosing a word. I have done so this year, which is new as in the past I have not participated.

My word for 2011 is ACHIEVE.

I have many hopes and dreams for this year and I hope by using this "focus word" I will be able to accomplish the things I am setting out for myself.

So, the question is...would you care to join me? If you would like to I'd love to hear what your word is if you want to share, and hopefully we can be each others cheering section.

2011 is going to be a great year. I know it!

If you want to read more about 'one little word', check out the link below and read them all.

http://http://aliedwards.com/2011/01/one-little-word-2011-the-words.html

Thank You, Extended Warranty - we love you!

Monday morning Craig took the van in for some service. What started out as a 'stability light' going on and off ended up being the replacement of the steering shaft, the replacement of the trans axle seal, and a replacement of the p/s system. The van went in at 9:45am and at 5 when we were finally able to pick it up we still didn't know what would be covered by warranty. They are very cagey about telling you what is covered and what isn't. It ended up that we were only going to be charged for the diagnostic test but I think when the Service Tech saw our faces and knew he was in for a fight, he removed that charge and we got off with everything being covered. Craig was adamant, as was I, that everything should be covered under our extended warranty and we breathed a sigh of relief of not having a $700 bill at the end of the day.

The tech tells us that the light will probably still come on as they are not certain they got it corrected but we are happy with the work they did and will just have to hope this solved the problem.

Week 15

Happy New Year to all our Gnomees!

The first gnome picture of the new year. Sterling's eyes are a running joke in our family, hence the semi-stunned picture of him. Recently all photos of him have him looking like he is half asleep. I told him to look "bright eyed" and this is what I got. No one looking at this picture will ever think he's sleeping on the job.

New Year's Pictures

Here are some shots from our New Year's photo shoot. As I mentioned in a previous post - the one of all of us isn't great, so I sort of blurred it so my third chin didn't show quite as much. For all of you who like your pictures unaltered - too bad. Love the ones of us with the boys and it was nice to get one of Craig and I. The boys did a great job getting pictures. If you want copies of any of them let me know which and the size and I will print them and send them to you. No pressure! Ha!

Thank You, New York!

Heading out to NY

Smart guy - made the travel time seem very short!

Heading into the USA

The BEST STORE EVER!!!

Pizza Hut for supper

Kaedo's Supreme Lovers Pizza

Sterling's Pepperoni Lovers Pizza

Our Sampler

All the gear we brought home!

Cereal, Cereal and more Cereal

Craig's $10 football gloves

Books I stocked up on

Kaedo's gum

Thank you, New York, we had a lovely time visiting your fair state. Too bad your customs agents are such assholes.

We had the best day yesterday. We got up early and headed out - we were on the road by 9:15am - and were on our way to the land of Target and much to our surprise, a fantastic outlet mall.

We got to the border, with the use of our handy GPS, at 11:15am and waited 75 minutes to get through. The guy was a real jerk but what can you do? You would think they would be extremely accommodating of people heading into their country willing to spend their money, but apparently they like the status quo of their economy. Go Figure.

Target is only about 10 minutes past the border in Niagara Falls, NY, and so we were there in no time. We spent about 90 minutes looking around and stocking up on some things we don't have here. Sterling got a computer game we had had no luck in finding in Canada, Kaedo got some gum and some soda he had never tried, Craig got the deal of the day with a $12.99 pair of 'wrinkle resistant' dockers and I stocked up on books that were half the Canadian price. From there we headed to the outlet mall we had seen coming in and Craig spent some time in both the Nike Outlet and Under Armour Outlet stores. He was able to pick up some football gloves for $10 a pair and both he and Sterling picked up some Under Armour gear. We then stopped at this trendy shoe store and Kaedo got a new pair of shoes. From there we headed to WalMart to pick up some cereal we can't get here. We were looking for a specific one "S'Mores", that Kaedo fell in love with when we went to Florida. We weren't successful but we did pick up some other kinds the boys wanted to try. Needless to say, we are good for cereal for the time being.

We left WalMart and headed back to Canada as Kaedo had a Bulk Barn coupon for 25% off that was expiring yesterday and he had to stock up using his gift card he got from amma and baba. We GPSed Bulk Barn and got there in plenty of time for him to do his shopping. By the time that was over we were all starving, so we stopped in at Pizza Hut and enjoyed a fun dinner reliving our day.

We got home at 7:34pm (exactly the time our GPS told us we would) and then spent the rest of the evening hanging out. It was a fantastic day. Oh, and did I mention that we did not have to pay any duty??? The border guard on our end asked us how much we spent and when we told him he told us to have a good day and let us through. What a bonus!

Thanks to everyone who gave us Christmas money - we certainly enjoyed spending it!

New Year's Resolutions

At Boston Pizza yesterday we talked about New Year's Resolutions and it was quite fun to hear what the boys decided on for this year. As always, weight loss is a goal but I don't believe it should be my resolution. I chose a new one this year as did Craig and the boys. Here's what we came up with:



Kaedo - Eat More Ribs (he had just finished some when he made this decision)

Sterling - Eat More Slowly (he too had just finished scarfing down a pizza)

Craig - Walk Ketchup More

Me - Take More Pictures



Fun but practical.



I am a picture taker and often pull out my camera but have found over the last few months that I really only pull it out for our gnome picture and that just isn't good enough. So I want to take more, document our life a bit better, get behind and in front of the lens. We'll see how it goes.



Today we are heading on a road trip into Buffalo for a shopping trip to Tar-Jay (Target). We are so looking forward to it. We also plan to visit the Falls (since we're going right past - another reason to take my camera). The boys have saved much of their Christmas money and on Friday went and switched it to USD. $100 USD cost $100.13 CAN. Great! The boys have some ideas of what they are looking for as do Craig and I so it should be fun.



Our sweet neighbors are taking over 'dog walking duty' for the day and they never seem to mind as we always come through with some cash or a gift to thank them.



Hope you have a magical day - I read that somewhere and thought - that's a great thing to wish for.

Happy New Year!

Sterling always looks sleepy in his photos so I was trying to help him out!

A new year has begun and we spent the day having fun together. We all slept in after a late night bringing in the New Year with some friends. Once we were up and motivated we went out to Darlington Park for our annual New Year photo. Just like our pumpkin picking day (the only other day of the year we try to get a family photo) it was raining. We did find a shelter and got some great photos. Unfortunately we didn't really luck out in getting a great one of the four of us but many of the others were great. After that we headed up to Boston Pizza (thanks Jessica for the GCs) and had 'lupper'. The food was great and the company was awesome. After that we stopped to pick up a few things at the dollar store and headed to Rogers to rent a movie for tonight. We rented "The Town" as Craig has been dying to see it and we have heard great things about it. We'll see.

From our family to you, we wish you a wonderful 2011 and nothing but the best.