Year 3, Baby!

Here it is - first pic of the new gnome and our new year! Here's to 51 more great photos. New blog header too, if you didn't notice!

Have a great one!

8 years ago today...

... we moved to Ontario. Craig had already been here for 6 weeks, but today is the day the three of us arrived in Ontario with everything we could stuff into our suitcases. Mom, dad and Jessica came to the airport to see us off and there were many tears. Once we got into the air and knew this was to be our new life, we were anxious to arrive and finally be a family of four again. We lived in a condo right downtown on Front Street, overlooking the Rogers Centre. It was exciting and scary and amazing and overwhelming. Craig had rented a van to pick us up and we were so thrilled to see him. We got loaded up in the van and immediately drove out to our "new home" (which we wouldn't be taking possession of for another month), so we could show the boys. It was dark, and a little scary without the GPS but we showed them our house, and their school, and drove around showing them our new home. We decided we should get something to eat and headed up to the only area we knew that had restaurants. In our haste to get there we almost drove into a ditch. It was SOOOO close. Scared the hell out of us. We got up to the restaurant and because it was Saturday night, the waits were about an hour. With two little boys to feed, that was not an option. So we slowly headed back to T.O. and stopped at Denny's for 'smiley face pancakes'.

So, eight years have gone by and we are still here and we love our life in Ontario. The weather is great, the school is awesome, Craig loves his job and I'm still as crazy as I was when we moved here. The boys have a nice life here as do we and with the semi-regular visits from all our favorite people, it makes living on the other side of the country a little easier.

So, thank you to all of you who encouraged us, although we know you were seriously pissed - you rock.

Here's to 8 more great years!

On the Eve...

On the eve of year 3 beginning I thought I would post the week 1 pictures from previous years. Many of you know that I have no idea what happened to week 1 and 2 from year one, so week 3 is the first one I have (damn). So here is the one that started it all, along with last years. See any changes? Haha. Kids are anxious for year 3 tomorrow, so we will be doing that bright and early and I will post it Wednesday.

On a side note - Happy Belated Birthday to my dear father-in-law Stan who had his birthday on Friday. I'm sorry I neglected to mention it here. Happy Birthday - we love you and I'm sure your ears are still ringing from our terrible singing!

Sunday

It's Sunday morning and all is quiet here. Kaedo is sleeping over at J's house and isn't expected home until 3:30pm. Sterling is at the bike park, Craig and Ketchup are still sleeping, and I am doing this. Not too much going on here. Just life. The weather is beautiful here and we are enjoying Fall.

As you can see, I have opened a small Etsy shop, where I am selling some of the hats I have been crocheting. Please take a look, if you like. I find crochet very calming and it soothes my anxiety. In saying that, I can't very well make 30 hats just for kicks. So, we'll see how it goes. Would love your thoughts or ideas. I'm working on some baby and kids stuff now so don't be surprised if a little cap finds its way to your house.

I was asked on Friday to attend a Mental Health Symposium on behalf of the day program I am attending. I'm not sure if it is an honor to be asked or not but I'll tamp down my crazy, dress up and show up. Should be very interesting. Only two people from my program were asked. Only the craziest ones????

This week we have soccer practice for the school team, 3 days of rep soccer tryouts, school pictures, doctor's appointments, football, a PA Day, school, work and program. It should be busy. We will also be introducing our new gnome and blog header. That will be on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and your week is full of lots of fun and not too much work.

Doc Martens Unite!

The best part about Fall is that I get to pull out my Doc Martens again. I LOVE them. They are so comfortable and keep my feet nice and cozy. They are a cool color and I get lots of comments (I'm sure not all good) but I don't care. I love them and how I feel when I wear them. They are my favorite. So right now while it is just cool enough to wear them but not cold enough to be freezing my ass off, I am happy. Welcome Fall - me and my Docs embrace you!

A new home for the gnome

Gnomee was loving planted in the backyard near last years gnome. He said he liked the idea of having some company as sitting with the flowers all summer had been quite boring. I think I heard them out there partying about 3am.

WEEK 52!

Well, we've made it. Another year of gnome pictures. The boys decided on an action shot this week, and so I caught them in mid-air celebrating what we feel is a pretty momentous occasion. To some it may seem silly but to get teenagers to pose with a gnome every week for two years is a big deal. Our new gnome will be presented next week along with a new blog header. We have retired this gnome to the back yard and I will post pictures of the "retirement party" tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in every week to see them all. Gnomeeee was just telling me yesterday how much fun he has had!

Fall is Here - almost!

Before it gets too cold, we thought we should take down the trampoline for the season. This included a lot of grumbling about having to take it down and some stern talking to but all in all it got completed and put away. I thankfully was away during the tear down, but did help in getting everything loaded into the garage. Kaedo helped by passing everything to Craig and I put everything at the edge of the garage to make for easy access for Kaedo. Craig climbed up into the crawl space above the garage and put everything back into the box.

Sterling was enlisted to mow the front and back lawns as I figure this will be the last time of the season. At 13 they are allowed to run the mower, so he still thinks it's fun and doesn't mind the job.

Do you remember when the pool and trampoline took over the entire backyard? This is the ultimate proof that Summer is over.

Congratulations Kaedo!

A big congratulations go out to Kaedo this week for making his school soccer team. We are thrilled for him and the hard work he put in proving to the coaches that he was the best candidate. He was over the moon thrilled and repeated the story of how he found out numerous times. I am just so happy for him. He LOVES soccer and has improved so much this year. We celebrated Friday night by watching a movie with popcorn, just the three of us. (Sterling was in his room grounded - but that's another story). Kaedo was thrilled to have all our attention focused on him and we enjoyed spending the evening with him. Hopefully we will get the chance to see him play in his big tournament in October. Will keep you posted.

In Full Force

Homework is in full force at home these days. The boys spend many after school hours sitting at the kitchen table working through their assigned work. I have mixed emotions about homework. On one hand I understand the need to complete work that was not finished in school, or students are working on large group projects that take time to get together as a team to complete - which they seem to love to do. On the other hand, assigning homework simply for the sake of it, is wrong. If these things cannot be done and completed in school, the issue lies with how it is being taught, and after a full day of school - which frankly, is their job - they are sent home to "do overtime". Now don't get me wrong - I believe that my kids should have to finish any work they started in class but were to slow to complete. What I don't believe in is adding extra items that the entire class must complete, simply because their aren't enough hours in the school day, or as in one class, the teacher is too busy putting on deodorant to complete his lesson.

OK - I'm jumping off my soapbox now. Maybe I'm just a little punch drunk from having to figure out math homework last night.

Dove Chocolates

Most people know that I am in love with Dove chocolates. I love what their wrappers say and must have 50 of the wrappers lying around and stuck in my purse for inspiration. Right now the one in my wallet says "Smile". I really like this one that I recently unwrapped. If you can't read it, it says,"You know what? You look good in red". I love that. I think I would love to have the job that thinks up uplifting comments for inside a chocolate wrapper. It's like writing birthday cards.

Some other says are: "It's definitely a bubble bath day" and "Too much of a good thing is wonderful".

Nothing better than a smile before the guilt of eating the chocolate you really know you shouldn't have. Anyway - if you're looking for something inexpensive to perk up your day (and you love chocolate) this is the way to go

And as dove says, "SMILE".

Most Dedicated

Last night Kaedo had his rep soccer banquet at the indoor soccer facility. He had a great time and was so thrilled that he won a special award for "Most Dedicated Player". We are so proud of him and all he has accomplished this year and he was thrilled with his award. He was the only kid on his team who never missed a practice or a game, and never complained about what needed to be done. He always showed up with a smile and hard work ethic. It has been a long season, and he is desperately missing playing, but trying out for the school soccer team has helped getting him over the hump before he can try out for next year's team.

Congrats Kaedo - you rock!

Note to Self....

... do not make gluten-free butter tart bars. Enough said.

week 51

I know I say it every week, but man these kids are growing! Week 51. Only one more week and we will be retiring this gnome. I love him so. It will be a sad day. ha. Sterling almost refused to take the picture this week because he was pissed off at me. Finally I got him to have his photo taken and all was well in my world. You can't tell from here, but Kaedo has been sick today. He stayed home from school with a runny nose, fever, chills and sore throat. Poor kid.

The weather is cool here today and the rain is on and off. I must say, I love it. Long sleeves and a scarf. My favorite attire. The boys are still wearing shorts but it won't be long before the leaves start changing and the jeans come out full time. I'm looking forward to our family photo in all the Fall beauty, next month. Hopefully it won't be raining like last year!

School soccer tryouts start tomorrow and guess who's trying out? Both of them!!! Kaedo's background made it seem like the perfect fit and Sterling's gym teacher (the soccer coach) approached him about trying out for goalie. As of this morning, they both are up for the challenge - we'll see if they both want to go tomorrow. I'm excited. If they both make it, they'll play on the same team. Cool. Do they make lettermans jackets in middle school? haha. Seriously though, can I paint my face gold and purple to support the team????

Let's get it started....

Craig has been waiting for about 9 months for this league to start up again and today is the magical day! Football season resumes. While he has been playing all year, the league he has most recently been playing in has been a huge disappointment, so much so that he has decided he won't be playing in that league again. However, today starts his favorite. A new team, a good quarterback and hopefully a lot of fun. He has his hopes up. He plays at 11 and is already gone. And of course I must say - he's the best looking footballer I've ever seen. Long hair and all!

Soccer is Officially Over!

Well that's all folks, a wonderful season of soccer has come to an end. After 15 regular season games, around twice as many practices, and 5 tournaments where the average return trip was about 3hrs things wrapped up on Tuesday night with an unfortunate loss. It was a trying year for the team as there were only 3 returning players and a bunch of new to rep players and one who had never kicked a ball before. Although they lost more than they won they put up a fight in every game and played some really great soccer. At the beginning of the season if you would have asked me and Shannon if we were looking forward to sitting on the sidelines of a soccer field watching a bunch of sweaty boys chase a ball around a field I can't guarantee the response would have been positive. However, almost immediately we both found out how exciting rep soccer can be. The kids have been involved with organized soccer before, both indoor and out but the level of play by the kids on these teams really surprised us both. When they first started practicing we were a little skeptical of whether Kaedo would make the team but coaches saw potential and gave him a shot. Thank god they did as Kaeden had a great year and we enjoyed watching him grow as a player and as a young man. He really did awesome!!! He loved every minute of it and plans to try out again next year. The hardest part for us was putting up with the other teams parents (and some of our own) who yelled to much and criticized too often. Thankfully the kids are pretty good at ignoring parents so they played disregarding the other 20 coaches on the side of the field.

In honour of his season I put together a short video for your viewing pleasure. I hesitate to call it a highlight reel as there were so many great games and short of filming them from start to finish there is no way I was going to be able to capture all his great playing. These are just a collection of some fantastic pictures and action shots and video. For those who saw him play this will look familiar and for those who didn't, hopefully this gives you a good idea of how well he played.

I have embedded the video in this post however if you would like to watch it in a larger format and in stunning HD, just click on the 'Kaedo Rep Soccer' link below the video and it will take you to the site where it is located.

Enjoy!

Kaedo Rep Soccer from Craig Klassen on Vimeo.

Week 50

Now I officially have an 8th grader and 7th grader. Sterling looks like he had just gotten out of bed and I think that was the case. Working now on the year three header for the blog and counting down to the unveiling of the new guy. The boys said they were up for another year, so we're going for it.

Boys are both still loving the new school year and format and Sterling even had homework tonight. It's going to take the week to get into the routines but I think so far we are doing ok. 2 more days this week, which of course means only 248 more days of making lunches! Yuck!

Oh well, such is life.

On last thing - a very happy congratulations to Annette (our cousin) who is expecting her first babe after years of trying.We are thrilled for you and Jeremy. Congrats!

First Day

First day of school and the kids LOVED it! Don't get me wrong, they would rather have summer all year round but they were really happy with how their day went and were thrilled with their teachers. Kaedo was a little concerned about his as he had never had him for anything before but he really liked him, so that was a plus. He's the one I worry about as he is so adverse to school.

As I wasn't going to be taking them this morning, I wrote them each a note and tucked it into their lunchbags - they really liked it. Thank god! Sterling had Kraft Dinner for lunch and Kaedo had cereal.

I picked them up from school - there were about a million cars there - and now we are just getting ready for the last soccer game of the season and getting back into the routines of back to school and all that entails.

Thanks to everyone who wished the boys well on their first day. It really meant a lot to all of us.

Kaedo's pencil case - I swear he has been collecting pencils since 2nd grade! There must be 100 of them!

More....

Sunday and Monday found us busy working in and around the house again. On Sunday, Craig and I headed to our neighborhood garden centre and picked up some potting soil. We got that taken care of and came home and transplanted our hibiscus and other house plants. While at the garden centre we came across a hibiscus that was slashed in price to $5. We couldn't pass it up, as it had blooms on it and we are hoping that if we put it with our original one it will propagate. I guess we'll see. Now we have three hibiscus all lining the back wall of the house (as you can see). While we were at it, we moved the furniture in the living room as well for a new Fall look. We cleaned up behind the love seat and put all that away, washed up the floors and moved stuff around. As you can see from the photo above, it is a nice change. We also flipped the kitchen table around lengthwise so that the plants would have more space. We figure no one will be sitting at the foot of the table for a while - haha.

The laundry is all done and put away, the lunches are packed, the clothes are picked, the school supplies are in the backpacks and I think we are ready to go for the morning. I'm so thankful Craig will be home to take them in the morning as I can't. Look for first day pictures tomorrow.

On another note -

Sadness engulfs me today as this is the last day of a wonderful Summer I have had with the boys. They too have enjoyed being together and so it makes it even harder to know that I won't be there in the morning. This is the first time in 9 years I haven't taken them to school on the first day. I know they are old enough and it really isn't a big deal, but to me it is momentous. Sterling is going into his last year before high school and my baby is going into 7th grade. How has this happened? I, like many other moms, feel like I was just wiping snotty noses and putting kids in time outs, waiting for them to grow up a little and now they have and I just want to stop time. They are perfect right now and yet time is slipping right past me. I guess I just have to remember that this is what we as parents do. We raise our children and get them through their schooling so that they can become productive members of our society and in turn have families and raise children of their own - should they wish to. So far, I think we have done a great job with them. Good luck, my boys. I am excited to hear about your first day tomorrow. Now if I can only remember to smile.

Saturday

Yesterday we spent the early part of the day as a family just hanging out. We went and returned an RC car Kaedo had bought and didn't like, headed to Costco, took a visit to my favorite store (Value Village) and then came home, just in time to drop Kaedo at J's house for an afternoon and evening of hanging out together.

Sterling has a fantastic time at Joyride on Friday but fell and sprained his arm. He's in a lot of pain and was miserable yesterday, but that didn't stop us from putting him to work. When we got home, we took a look at the backyard, and decided it was time to get the pool down once and for all (the process had been started earlier in the week) and get the yard mowed, etc. Once we started, we were on fire. We got the pool down, the lawn mowed, the summer flowers thrown out, the weed whipping done, the weeds pulled out of the flower bed and the lawn raked. We assisted K & C, our neighbors, in getting the front cleaned up as well. It felt good to get everything done, and Craig was surprised he had such a willing helper in me. My hands are paying for it today from my scratching due to to the weed pulling but it was worth it and I'm so glad I can say I haven't left it all to Craig to do. I talked to C yesterday and she told me I should plant my tulips on Thanksgiving, so I am FINALLY going to do it. You all know how much I love tulips, so I am going to finally plant my own this year! I can't wait.

Today we will be transplanting our Hibiscus plants and re-potting some others that are in desperate need. I don't want to bring in the Hibiscus from the back until they have been transplanted - too many bugs out there!!! So, we are off to the garden centre and who knows what else the day will bring. Must check all my school snacks as nothing is open tomorrow and school starts on Tuesday. I can't believe it. This summer has gone so fast and was so wonderful. The best I can remember. Thanks to all of you who made it possible!

Happy Anniversary Part Deux

Thought I would post this shot taken on our actual anniversary. Not bad for a cell phone held at arms length. Dinner was less than stellar and the movie was good albeit a little depressing but it was just nice being out and together. We also want to thank everyone for the wonderful anniversary wishes!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband - 16 years and still going strong! Craig is the most amazing man. He is kind and caring and wonderful and loving and generous and most of all patient! After a short courtship (10 months - 4 of which living in different cities), we took the plunge and made it official. We have had wonderful times and hard times. We have moved across the country and bought way too many cars. We have had fish, turtles and our sweet dog and most importantly, we have the boys. They have brought so much joy into our lives and have only made our life together better.

Craig - today, like everyday, I want you to know that I love you so much. As Jerry Maguire says "you complete me". Thank you for never giving up on me, always standing beside me and helping me be the best person I can be.

I love you - Always and forever!

Cedar Park - round two

On Tuesday the boys were lucky enough to get the chance to return to Cedar Park for a day of sun, smiles, and lots of water. They headed out about 10:30am and didn't get home until almost 4pm. Everyone had fun in the water. Sterling was jumping off the board, they got soaked by the dumping bucket, Shirley got in a water fight with Sterling, a girl picked them up and they got to eat lots of greasy french fries. As you can see, the weather was perfect and another wonderful day was had!