Surprise!!!

Probably not what you were hoping to see when you logged onto the blog today.  Of course, wasn't what Shannon was hoping to see when she got home tonight either.  Dog must be pissed with her (it was the dog by the way, not me) or her shoes smelled worse and he was just trying to improve the situation :) (I'm gonna pay for that comment, ha ha)  At any rate, after I was done laughing I cleaned up the mess and the shoes and now she tells me she isn't going to ever wear them again.  What the hell, they only smell a little like poop.

Week 44

A little late but its been a hectic week for Shannon getting the kids packed and ready.  But they are on their way and looking forward to their vacation.  Not sure how the gnome pics will work but I know gnomee made the trip as well so I'm sure we'll get some cool pictures to post.

this is my 1306th post!

Yikes! 1306!
It's 5pm and I have 5 smelly teenagers sitting at my kitchen table eating popcorn like it's the last food on the planet. They are talking about scootering, biking, and travelling. They are talking about school, eating popcorn with braces, why there is no pop in the house, why you would spend money on braces when you could get a new bike instead. They are laughing about Kaedo's short soccer shorts and many other things.

I am sitting here listening and loving all of it. I love knowing that when Kaedo and I leave in 15 minutes for soccer, all these boys can stay in my house because I trust them. I have known them for years and just love the friendships that have formed.

They smell and they laugh and they joke and they tease. Music to my ears.

On Thursday morning Kaedo decided he would like to make cupcakes. Sterling was sleeping over at C's house, so it was the perfect time. The three of us trying to cook in our kitchen is a bit much. He decided on confetti cupcakes with french vanilla icing. He did it all himself and was mighty pleased with how well they turned out. The family seemed to like them as by the end of the day there were only four left! He told me that  maybe he'd like to be a chef when he "grows up". Hmmm - all those girls in high school Home Ec will sure love him!

week 43

The weather is beautiful, the boys seem to be enjoying their summer and a new gnome is close to making its debut here on the blog.  With only 9 weeks left I had to ask the boys if they were interested in year 4 and both said absolutely. I am so happy about that. Next week we will have our regular gnome picture but for a couple of weeks after we will then have our travelling gnome and pictures courtesy of one of the boys' cell phones. They are so excited to go on holidays with their Amma and Baba. Yesterday we watched "Night at the Museum - Battle at the Smithsonian". They kept saying, "oh, I want to go there, oh there". They can't wait.

Part 2

Fast forward a couple of hours from our shoe buying experience and the car breaks down on the way to soccer. We remained stuck on the side of the road for 90 minutes waiting for Craig as he was on his way home, in 30 degree weather. Craig figured it was the battery so we (read he) pulled the battery out and we headed to Canadian Tire to have the battery tested. Once there the clerk told us that the battery wouldn't even test and kept getting hot when they tried to test it so it was definitely the battery. We bought a new battery and took it back to the car. Next day Kaedo and I head out on some errands and on our way back we break down on the 401. We were able to start the car after a while and broke down two more times before blocking the middle lane of an exit. Thank god Craig was working from home as he came and we boosted the car. We were able to get it to a grocery store, where we had to leave it because Kaedo had a soccer game. After his game we returned to the store and Craig tested it and we learned it was the alternator. We charged up the car up the best we could then crossed our fingers we could get it back to our house. Craig miraculously was able to do it and now our car sits in the driveway.

To top that off I have been the victim of Identity Theft and have been dealing with the aftermath of that. You have no idea how horrible that is. I have spent hours talking to merchants, police, credit agencies. I can't believe it. I'm having a small pity party right now. You're invited.

Are those Runners???

The boys haven't had new shoes since last year. Sterling was absolutely desperate, so on Thursday afternoon I took them to the mall to see if they could find some they liked that were in our price range. We looked at a few places and in the end they chose these one. To be honest I was quite happy as they were $30 less than anything else they had looked at. Sterling's are a size 13 and the clerk told us that she would have to special order any larger sizes for him. Yikes!