The weekly lunch

Seems to be a weekly feature on here but until I hear a big giant STOP from you guys, I'll keep doing it.
Frozen pizza cooked this morning and packaged hot. The best grapes we have ever had - Costco. Microwave popcorn - Costco - great for munching. LeClerc peanut free cookies - Costco. Yogurt - Source - blueberry pomegranate - Fresh Co. Chocolate jello - my baby boys favorite - Costco.

Is there a theme running here? We seem to spend a lot of our grocery budget at Costco. Pudding lasts about a month, grapes a week, popcorn a month, LeClerc cookies 2 months. Yogurt is a weekly buy and the pizzas are only bought when I can get them on sale.

So there you go - more info on our lunch habits than you ever wanted to know!

Flashback Monday

June 15, 2007. My has time flown. The boys look so young here. Sterling with his hippie hair (which I couldn't pay $1000 for him to grow back), and Kaedo with his blondie blondiness. Who would have known that he would have hair to his shoulders now. The longest in the family.

There are so few things that children can control. Their parents are telling them what to do, when to do it, how to do it. Craig and I have always been of the philosophy that their hair is their own. Long, short, pink of green, it's fine with us.

What Luck!

The end of February and still no real winter. We just need to get through the next month then it should be smooth sailing. We thought we were in for it on Friday but alas, the bad weather passed us by once again. We have a little snow but not enough to worry about. Our lawns are still green and the buds are coming out on my neighbors tree.
I've been laid up with a cold over the weekend. Yuck. Yesterday I felt miserable and after bringing Kaedo back from soccer I immediately went to bed and stayed there until 5pm. I got up and spent some time with the fam then headed back to bed. Today I am feeling a little better - which is a good thing as I have yoga tomorrow. I am a little overwhelmed with all the therapy I am taking part in but it is what my doctors and insurance co. feel is best.
Hope you had a great weekend and the weather was manageable wherever you are.

1212 and week 22

Today is my 1212th post. Yikes! Maybe I better stop talking!
Here is week 22. The weather is great if not a little chilly right now. No snow as of yet. I have been advised by the boys that there is supposed to be a big snowstorm here tomorrow and at school they have already cancelled Hot Lunch program, extra curricular and they have been warned to warn their parents that busing may be cancelled as well. I hope it's a whole lot of melodrama for nothing. I for one am going out even if there is a blizzard as I have a new doctor to see and don't want to miss my appointment.
Lets all hope that it blows right past us and we can continue to enjoy Spring as we have all Winter!

Hot Yoga

All I can say is Holy Shit. Yesterday I took my first Hot Yoga class and while I struggled in some places and was more of a pretzel stick then a twisted variety, I enjoyed myself. 100F is warm and it gets warmer. As someone who doesn't sweat generally, I didn't have to contend with that as some of my counterparts did but I was hot - and I don't mean that in a good way. There is something very demoralizing about a room full of mirrors when you have 100lbs on every other person in the room and their downward dog doesn't look like there are other things facing downward. Last but not least, the lack of clock in the room had me forgetting to breathe and wishing for some type of super power or sundial that would tell me what the damn time was. "Apparently" you are just supposed to enjoy the moment and not worry about the time. I did not get that memo.

I finished up on a high note, happy that I had accomplished that and was feeling good and ready to go again tomorrow. The people were kind and the facility beautiful and I really thought it was a good use of my time. Then I woke up. I swear to you I am not lying - even my boobs hurt. I know I am meant to be working my core but have my boobs dropped so much they are considered part of that general area? Yikes! What will tomorrow bring?

Family day

Hello All -
What a weekend we have had. Hope yours was good too. Yesterday Sterling, N and I headed to Joyride for a day of BMXing (them, not me). They had a wonderful time and were tired and smelly on the ride home. Craig spent the day going to the gym and hanging out at home and Kaedo spent the better part of the day at home and then was invited to the mall with his friend J. Little did we know at the time that the parents were just dropping them off and that they weren't being supervised at the mall. Took me some time to decide if I approved. After talking it over with Craig we decided we were doing things like that at 12.5 years old, so we took a deep breath and were thankful he had his cell phone with him.

You'd think after all the time that Sterling and N spent together they would be sick of each other but they weren't so I took Sterling home to get showered and changed and returned him to Ns house for an evening of computers, gaming and pigging out.

Kaedo was invited to Js house for supper after the mall so Craig and I took to the streets and spent some time together. Didn't do much. We went to the library and then to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is one of those stores where I can poke around killing time for an hour and never feel the need to spend money. After looking through bargain bins, housewares and books, we got out of there for $1.08 (a tube of toothpaste).

Craig was kind enough to do pick up duty so I got to change into my pjs early. We spent the rest of the night hanging out. This morning Craig was up bright and early for football (yay!) and the boys and I hung out. The three of them were supposed to head to the gym this afternoon for a "bring your family-it's family day" event. At 11:30am Sterling got a better offer and is now at a Generals game watching from the second row. He has been texting me and is loving every minute. Craig and Kaedo have headed to the gym and I just finished watching a chick flick that no one else would watch with me.

Tomorrow it is back to school and work and I am taking a Hot Yoga class as part of my therapy. If I die I won't be posting here any longer. ha. Wish me luck!

Out of the mouths of babes

On Tuesday evening just as we were heading to bed, Kaedo presented us with a Valentine's Card. A beautifully cut heart with a heartfelt greeting. It went like this:

Happy Valentine's Day!
I wanted to get you something but didn't get around to it!
Luv Kaeden

this weeks lunch

This weeks lunch is courtesy of Kaedo's lunch bag. They are loving their lunches these days and I am trying to stay away from a lunch packed with cookies and treats. Both for their health and my pocketbook.

Yesterdays lunch included the following:
Pizza (Costco)
Popcorn (microwave from Costco split into smaller bags. I get about 3 days worth)
Grapes (Costco - best deal ever!)
Orange (Clementines from Loblaws)
Strawberry Yogurt (Fresh Co. - Yoplait Source - they always seem to have yogurt on sale)
Cookies (peanut free LeClerc from Costco in individual packs - my one allowance of junk)
Love note

Lunchbags are coming home empty so I must be doing something right, Have you got any tips or ideas for lunches? I would love to hear them.

week 21

Week 21 and the weather is great. Man am I loving this winter. Please don't snow!
The boys are doing great and everyone is well. Sterling's eyes are half shut because he really doesn't do well in the bright and should have sunglasses on.Shows off his fancy new hairdo though. I love it long but I love it this way too. So handsome. The boys are still enjoying this weekly picture so I'm hoping they keep positive and let their dear old mom do this. We are almost half way through year three. Shocking.

valentine's day 2012

We were very lucky to once again have the opportunity to head to Boston Pizza last night for heart shaped pizzas. I know I have said this before but my mom used to take me when I was a kid and so it was very important to pass this tradition on to the boys. We really weren't sure we could swing it this year but a kind text from someone made for the swing vote and we hastily made plans to take the kids out. You know, it's funny the things kids hold on to - this year we had no advent calendar - not a peep from the kids - didn't go out for New Years - not a peep from the kids - no heart shaped pizzas - kids were willing to pay in order to go. Just for the record, we didn't make them pay!

Kaedo and I shared a pepperoni and pineapple and Craig and Sterling shared a pepperoni. It was fun and nice and wonderful and all those things that go along with spending time with your best guys.

Sterling's haircut is pretty snazzy, eh?

This picture was taken in Feb 2005. My goodness. Sometimes I am awestruck at how much they have grown. I know I shouldn't be but I am. Sterling more and more reminds me of Baba with his stature and build and bear-like hugs. Kaedo is tinier and much thinner in build is getting so much bigger himself. Yesterday I had my arm around his shoulder and it was uncomfortable. We checked out the height board in the kitchen and both boys have grown about 2 inches since Sterling's birthday. Yikes!

As hard as it is to see them grow up, I'm just loving these teenage years. My god, so great. I know there will be many more ups and downs but I am just loving it.

Anyway, enough gushing love about my two most favorite people. Happy Sunday!

guess what?

A 16 year old just moved in! He tells me his name is Sterling and really he is only 14 but when I look at him he looks 16 to me. You see, he had all this beautiful hair, curls and everything. He hated it. Has for months. He kept saying to his mom and dad "I hate my hair", but they loved it and disregarded his pleas for a haircut. Apparently yesterday he had hit his breaking point and said he just had to have it cut. His mom was in tears but she took him to the local chop shop and he got all his beautiful locks cut off. Short hair for him. He loves it. His mom, not so much - she loved the long. So he had had enough and told his parents if they couldn't accept him with his new cut he was going to have to move. And so he did. He came to our house. When I first saw him I was sure he was 16 but he assures me that he's only 14. Thank god. I told him I wasn't old enough to be the mother of a 16 year old and because he was so cute I invited him to stay.
So here we are, a hippie no more. I took his picture but he hated it so no photo yet. I hope to get one this weekend.

and so it begins

While the season hasn't started, Kaedo is busy with soccer. He has been practicing once a week since October but now we have gone to twice a week and in April we will begin our outdoor practices.
And while the official season hasn't begun, you know another season of soccer is upon us when you go to the uniform fitting. That was Tuesday. Kaedo is not thrilled with the uniform this year, but I quite like it. This year they will get home and away jerseys, shorts, socks, jacket and pants, bag and cold gear shirt. The kids seem to think this is free, where as my Visa whimpers when I hand over the money.
We've already been given a tournament schedule which includes Oshawa, Whitby, Trenton, Ottawa and others. It will be a busy season of tournaments, practices and league games. I personally love it and Kaedo loves it, so I am counting down the days until I see him in action again.

week 20

I know I sound like a broken record but week 20 and the weather is fabulous. I'm sitting at the computer in front of the window and the sun is shining brightly on me. As someone who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), this winter has been so good. While it still gets dark early, the days are getting longer and the sun is shining so much that it makes the days more manageable. Loving it!

My hippie boys with all their hair - my goodness. Sterling wants to get his cut but doesn't want a pig shave so he's nervous and he keeps putting it off. Kaedo has the longest hair in the family and right now has no intention of cutting it. To be honest, I love that all my guys have long hair. Hippies rule!

happiness is.....

...rekindling a friendship you thought was gone forever. I am so thrilled that I was able to hook up again with my friend L after 3 years of no contact. We had a wonderful visit and have spent some of our afternoon texting back and forth. She was a wonderful friend to me then and I'm hoping we can return to a new and improved version of that going forward.

Have you made contact with an old friend lately? Do it! It'll make you smile!

thanks boys!

Last night while getting ready for bed I asked Craig if we could move the armoire from the office into the living room because I was SOOOOO sick of having the laptop sitting on the kitchen table. He agreed with the caveat that I not move it myself. He said he would help me today when he came home.

As I was lying in bed, a thought came to me - maybe if I got the boys up just a little bit earlier, maybe I could convince them to help me. After all, I couldn't imagine waiting ALL DAY to get it moved. That's me - instant gratification!

So the boys got up this morning, got ready, had breakfast and I casually asked them if they would like to take on a little project with me. Well, with the three of us, some major brain power and a few muscles, we were able to move it, clean it, put the computer and periferals in it and bring in a chair.

And they didn't even miss the bus. Almost.

A special congratulations to my good friend Cheryl on the birth of her first grandson. I'm so happy for you and your family.

Flashback

When I talked to Craig about not wanting to do the picture of the day any more he suggested I go back into our archives and pull out some pictures that have already been taken that you may have not seen. This one was taken in June 2004 and you can see the weather was great. Shirley and I must have been sitting in the swing hoping not to get soaked when this was going on.

Stan still looks exactly the same. Craig is now a hippie and the boys are twice that size. It's hard to remember them being so small. Sterling would have been going into grade one and Kaedo into Sr. Kindergaten. Now Sterling is graduating from 8th grade. Shocking.

If you're interested in some flashback pictures let me know and I'll start posting them regularly.

week 19

Week 19 and the weather is glorious. I am loving this weather and hope this is the extent of our winter. A little snow, a little rain, a lot of sunshine. Fantastic. I'm sure I've jinxed it now! haha

3 day weekend for us this week. The boys have a PA day tomorrow and Craig is off. Lots of small things to be done. Craig says he has a list. Yuck. Kaedo is having his buddy Z over and Sterling might spend some time with a friend as well.

Saturday brings soccer and maybe an activity in the afternoon. Sunday Craig will be playing in the "Snow Bowl" - minus the snow, I think. 3 games and some fun. He's looking forward to it. Cap that off with the SuperBowl and it is pretty much his perfect day.

Have a great one!

mom, what's in my lunch?

That is the daily mantra. I started out this school year telling the boys that they would have to make their lunches themselves. Somehow I got back to doing it again. I must admit - I don't mind too much.

Today Sterling has a stellar lunch and he was thrilled with it.
- pepperoni and marble cheese slices with crackers
- grapes
- 2 yogurts
- Welsh's fruit chews
- sliced strawberries
- pudding

It is a small thing, but I am always happy when I can make something they like and enjoy eating and is healthy!