Happy Birthday GG

While this picture is old - October 31, 2004, it is special to me because to shows the love GG had for the boys and that which they had for her.

She would be 102 today. Can you imagine? 102. She was a wonderful, amazing woman. One who I got the opportunity to know so much better over the last 9 years. She loved us to bits and spoiled the boys like crazy. She had a wonderful laugh, a charming personality and a loving heart.

Even after 7.5 months I still think of her every day. So GG, I know you are surely looking down from Heaven watching all of us, so I hope you can hear me singing Happy Birthday to you.

I love you

The aftermath

To say Kaedo loved the midnight launch would be an understatement. He was so happy to be there and be a part of it. He was the youngest by about 10 years and I'm happy to say I wasn't the oldest. There was one other woman there - playing some handheld video game for two hours. I on the other hand had nothing. My cell phone died in the midst of bbm'ing with Jessica and mom and Kaedo didn't turn on my iPod dock when he plugged it in, so no iPod for me. Kaedo on the other hand had a sweet set up against one wall sitting down, his phone between his knees playing a movie, listening through head phones while he played a game on his iPod.

To say the event was full o'nerds would also be an understatement. There were about 30 men there for most of the night trying to one up each other as the who was the better gamer. After a while it just sounded to me like the teacher from Char.lie Brown. wawawawawan

Interestingly enough, while Keado was the least nerdly, out of the group of nerds standing around us, he was the only one who had beaten Assissi.n's Creed 2. Alarming.

When we left the mall last night, at 12:25am, the traffic was light and we didn't think much about it. Until we got close to home and saw that all the power was out. The shops, the houses, all of it. We used our cell phones to see our way to our beds, and I got extra blankets just in case.

Today has been fine. I'm not sure what the evening will bring. I hope the storm will pass us, but I guess we'll see.

Right now I'm just trying to drown out the noise in my head reminding me I have a midnight launch with Sterling on the 13th!

Midnight launch for As.sassin's Creed is tonight, so Kaedo and I will be standing outside in the rain starting at 10pm with 500 nerds waiting to get this game 10 hours before the rest of the nerds who will go when the store opens for business tomorrow. What's funny is that he won't be able play when he gets home at 12:30am, so what difference does it make. Apparently a lot to him. Did I mention that I have to do this with Sterling in two weeks when the game he wants comes out?

week 5

A little late this week. All is well here. Yesterday the boys and I spent way too much time at the mall buying SIZE 14 shoes for Sterling, looking at a camera for Kaedo, talking to the staff at EB.Games about the As.sassin's Creed night launch tomorrow night and walking around. As much as I complain, I love being with my boys and if going to the mall is what they want to do , and they still want to go with me, I will gladly take them.

Friday

Since my mom seemed so shocked and amazed I was posting (wink) I figured I had better keep on keepin' on. The weekend is here and I couldn't be happier. Lots of stuff to do this weekend but sleeping in is definitely at the top of that list. I love me some sleeping in. How I lived so many years with little kids that get up at 6 freaking o'clock, I have no idea.

I think the rain is coming, which will be crummy for football tomorrow morning but will good on the yard work front. Really don't feel like pulling out the ground cover or chopping down the Hostas. I really do feel that all outside jobs should be blue jobs. Then again I think all inside jobs should be blue jobs. Haha - I'm just kidding. Craig really is so great about doing the jobs that I absolutely don't want to do (read clip the dog), and we all chip in and get the outdoor furniture put away and clean up the yard, but he's the one that gets up over the garage and puts everything in its place, and all those other really crappy jobs.

Montreal was tres bien, merci, and he was actually home earlier than usual (which is 7:15pm these days) and said he was glad to have gone and the Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich was very good! He of course complained that now he was a day behind work but what can I say, never satisfied!

Sterling is at Ns house tonight celebrating his 14th birthday with a BMX biking, video games and pizza party. We'll be picking him up at 10pm. The kid has a better social life than us. Kaedo has been home sick today so he's stuck watching a movie with boring old mom and dad.

Craig just got hoe so movie night begins. Will post gnome picture this weekend!

Sue Me?

A few weeks ago I received a strongly worded letter in the mail from an attorney advising me that his client was prepared to sue if I didn't remove everything about my little hat shop from the Internet. I was shocked. Craig did a little research about the other shop - whose name was not the same but close enough - and they don't even sell the same type of hats. Once I read what the client was prepared to do, should I not do as was asked, let's just say my Facebook and Etsy got closed down immediately!

 I called the lawyer and told him I had done as requested and the dates in which the closing of the accounts would be finalized. The lawyer was happy with my answers and casually said, "I don't really think he has anything to worry about".

hmmm, well I never!

Hoity Toity

Thursday my HOTTIE husband will be travelling to Montreal for the day - yes, you read that right - for the day. He is one of the presenters at a big meeting/convention for some of the bigwigs within his company. It should be funny to see how they are going to translate everything to French without tripping him up, but I have faith!
The one thing you have to keep in mind when you are flying to another city and back in one day is that you have to get up damn early to make your flight. Craig advised me yesterday that he was meeting one of the other presenters at 5:15AM and she would drive to the airport from the meet spot. It was what he then said that really killed me, "so, can you have me there at 5:15am?". Really, what am I going to say? NO? So Thursday will come early. 4am early. I`m already half way to work when I drop him off so I will continue on. I figure by 9am I`ll be on my 9th diet coke.

Progress Reports

Amazingly enough, Sterling has already received his fall progress reports. I was shocked when he brought them home as he had only been in school for about a month. What I wasn't shocked about was how well he was doing. What we learned is that he is getting fantastic marks, his teachers love him and he is excelling both with his education and socially. He is loving high school and it shows. His math teacher told us he was her favorite student and his English teacher couldn't say enough good things about him. His Learning Strategies teacher has raved about him and his maturity and his French teacher said he is at the top of the class for verbal communication.

So, needless to say, we are bursting with pride and are thrilled things are going so well. He's amazing and we're so happy for him.

Clifford

Last week the boys volunteered at Kaedo's school for a PJs and Books event. There was a big book fair and a professional storyteller and the kids came in their PJs with their dollies and blankies.
The boys weren't too sure what they were going to do for 2.5 hours, but they quickly learned that being Clifford was going to be part of it. Sterling was first up and he was great. He shook hands, he posed for pictures, he ruffled hair. And he sweat. Alot!
Kaedo was up next and he danced with the kids, he had his picture take at least 30 times, shook hands and had a lot of fun. He spent about an hour inside the costume - big, red and furry with a long tail. When he got out I was sure he had lost about  10lbs. They had fun though. They said it would have been very boring if they hadn't done it.

That's Kaedo, by the way. I'm sure he wasn't giving a thumbs up at the end. He was so tired I don't think he was able to. haha

Week four is a little late, but better late than never. The week was busy with late nights for Craig as he works on completing a huge yearly project for work. We have missed him in the evenings but he always tries to get home as early as possible. A few 8 o'clock suppers this week but its been good.

A family trip to the doctor one night. Scared our poor family doc, I think. Thankfully I was organized and had my list of concerns and questions all ready. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful doctor. I just love him.

A second interview for me for one job I had applied for and a first interview for another this past week. I am still submitting applications but learned on Tuesday that I would have a 6 week extension on my contract to allow me to find another position. After all these weeks of one week and two week extensions, 6 weeks seems like a dream. In saying that, I am hoping to secure a new position this week.

Today I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with Sterling. We had a wonderful time together, as always, but missed Kaedo and Craig.  Craig played football, as usual, and then was home working (boo), and Kaedo spent the afternoon with a friend. He's quite the social butterfly this weekend, with a friend over yesterday and then out today.

Sterling also spent the evening out last night at his best buddy Ns house. Now he's talking to him on the computer while they are playing some Zombie killing game on the X.BOX.

Tonight a family movie, which I love and tomorrow morning one of my favorite hours of the week. A chat with my mom.

Thanksgiving Day we went out to get some family photos and to say it was a disaster is an understatement. We took a pile of pictures, went to two different places and I am not kidding when I say this is the only good one. Actually that's not quite true, there is a great one of Kaedo and Craig but I don't have an equally great one to compliment it with.

Everyone here is glad it's the weekend. I'm glad to have two days to recuperate from this cold, Craig is happy to have football, Sterling plans to spend the afternoon with a friend and Kaedo and I plan to photoshop (I'm going to teach him some fun stuff) some of the great pictures he took (not the butt shots). I have given him the wall on our downstairs landing for him to showcase his work. We'll see which ones he likes best.
Oh, and have I mentioned that we just got a new Wal-Mart about 1 minute away from us? We might go check it out this weekend too.

week 3

Week three and the weather is chilly. Sweaters are needed now and the trees are turning their beautiful reds and yellows. I love looking at the changes, even though I know it means winter is on its way. Boys are doing great, I've got the cold everyone else had and Craig is counting down to the mid-season football day tomorrow.

Lots more to write about but my bed is calling me in the hopes I can get rid of this cold pronto. More coming through the weekend!

Kaedo's Camera

Kaedo really likes photography and has asked to a camera for Christmas. He has also spoken about about taking a photography elective in high school as well as joining the photography club. Now we know why.
He recently had a photography assignment in school, and while he took many pictures pertaining to the assignment, these ended up on his camera as well, along with about 5 other similar pics. When Craig and I teased him about it (Craig's fist bump request might have put him over the edge) he was not happy. At all. He advised us that he was just holding the camera and randomly taking pics though it seems all the random pics have the same relative content. Apparently his friend Z likes the girl in the purple sweater. I'm not sure what the protocol is in this circumstance - do I print off these photos for him?

Week 2

Week 2 in all its glory. Sterling wearing jeans and a sweater and Kaedo in his shorts. I'm not sure who was dressed for the weather that day.

Sterling went out with his friends last night for dinner and a movie. His friends' brother drove them to the theater. To say there was a lot of turmoil surrounding allowing Sterling to go is an understatement. We made a deal that he could go with them in the light as long as they weren't going on the highway and that I would pick him up after the movie as riding with them in the dark was not going to happen. He was really good about it, even after his friend questioned it, so I was proud of him. When he got in the car after the movie he was so happy and just thought the whole night had been so cool.

It is very scary for us , this growing up thing, but we trust him and the choices he makes. As mom said he is a very honorable young man. Honorable, a good word for him.

Stay tuned for a funny post about Kaedo tomorrow. At least we think its funny!

In the midst of upheaval in my work life I am trying to focus on the really positive things that are happening around here. I want to mention a couple of different things that I hope will make you smile. 

First off - Sterling. He is doing great in school and we are so proud of him. High school and the responsibilities and rewards that go along with it are really just making him more and more amazing every day. Lately he's been talking about one specific teacher and she seems to be making a really positive impact in his life (I wonder if she's cute????). I thought it was important to let her know how happy we were with her class and how much Sterling enjoys it. This is what she wrote back:

"Thank you so much for the kind words. Sterling is doing fantastic. I find
him on-task, very polite and loves to answer questions. Yesterday, he was
one of five students who sat down before bell and started reading! We
spend the first 15 minutes reading and it was great to see Sterling (and a
few others) start early. He also uses part of the class to work on his
other class work (in particular--math) which is great because if he needs
any extra help I am there to help.
    I do love how he specifically comes up to me at the end of class and
wishes me a good day. So far, he is showing so many learning skills which
will help him be VERY successful in high school and it is great to see!"

Next off Kaedo - he is is just the coolest kid. Man - he is just the best. Poor kid spent 4 days this week in his pajamas, sick as a dog. But thankfully he is back to school and feeling much better. What I wanted to say about him is that he is READING!!!!! Anyone who knows him well knows he hates anything to do with school (up until this year, that is) and will not read. I have tried to bribe him with comic books, graphic novels, leveled readers, anything - no luck! Imagine my surprise when he came home and told me he was reading SKETCHES by Eric Walters and was loving it. So much that he has recommended it to Sterling. I am so happy to see him picking up a book. Craig and I are avid readers and Sterling does pretty good too, so I am hoping that maybe he will continue on this reading journey.

Last but not least, Craig. He had a chance this week to attend a Staff Appreciation dinner and lo and behold he came home with a trophy and a prize! For what? you may ask.... for most good hair days! hahaha - I personally think that is hilarious. He got a trophy and a $25 gift certificate. I have to say, when he came home and told me that it made my night.

As for me, that's for another day. Thanksgiving Weekend here will hopefully be filled with family time and maybe even a Thanksgiving Dinner. No promises though - the boys have already said they would rather go to the movies. And everyone knows how shitty my mashed potatoes are!

Great Things....

There is nothing better than hearing your son say his goal for Math this year is 85%

There is nothing better than your son saying, "mom, when are you coming home, I miss you"

There is nothing better than your husband kissing you in the parking lot at work and not caring who is watching

There is nothing better seeing the sun shining and the trees turning beautiful shades of gold and red

There is nothing better than hearing your son empty the dishwasher - now if only he'd learn to iron!

There is nothing better than hearing your son say "thanks for letting me stay home and get better. i think I'm ready to go back to school tomorrow"

I wish everything was great, but that never seems to be the case. What's important is taking the time to focus on what is. And there is a lot!

Happy Tuesday!