Wanna Laugh?

Well, let me tell you, today was a weird day. But weird in a good way. First I'm gonna give you the good stuff...then you'll laugh...then I might even have some photos! It was a bit of a crazy morning. The kids got to bed too late last night and a couple of them have colds (including Xander). Convincing him to go to school this morning was not an easy task, though I have learned in the past that letting him stay home is also not the answer. Besides, I had to go to church this morning to lead our Thursday morning moms group. So, our schedule and order was kinda out of whack. However, I wasn't all anal about it like I usually am, I just went with the flow. Also, his bus has been coming earlier and earlier so we're usually running out the door. Anyway, I got back in and did a couple things and thought I was doing pretty good for having time even though the schedule was completely gone. Then, I realized that Jonathan wasn't even dressed yet. Oops. Very quickly the time slipped away and I was heading quickly towards late. (If I'm not 10 minutes early, I'm late - I hate being late). I realized then, that I could stress out about it and likely end up yelling at the kids...or I could choose to just get ready as we could and I would get there when I got there. The ladies could come up with things to chat about until I got there. Since we are studying anger (Mom anger, as I call it) in our group this morning, this really seemed to fit in. I made the good choice (today, anyway :) ). So, I was buckling kids into the car 10 minutes before group started and I was OK with that - very weird but God can work miracles. There was even a parking spot left in the parking lot. So it should have been a very stressful morning (and it would have been most days) but today it was good.

Now for the laugh. We came home, had lunch and set about our afternoon. After I had gotten the kids down for their naps (with some screaming and overtiredness...and still calm on my part), I decided to call my sister to see when they were planning on coming into town. I was absentmindedly putting my hands in my pants pockets and something seemed weird. Whatever. I kept talking...my pants had fit weird in the morning, too, but I just figured it was one of those "fat" days. So, I kept talking. Then, I went to put my hands in my back pockets, as I like to do, and there were no back pockets. What??!!? I looked down...I had my pants on backwards. No wonder they didn't fit right. Even better...I went to church and saw many, many people like that. My sister found it hilarious. I kinda did, too. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? I am too young for "senior moments" right?

Anyway, I hope that made you smile. I have a few more February photos for you.

Feb 17 - Jason & I finally started on the Valentine's Day treat I bought us (1/2 price Christmas Toblerone!!)

Feb 18 - Sledding one more time...this time you can't quite see it but the top of the hill doesn't have any snow on it. What a crazy winter we had...so mild and snow-free.

Feb 19 - Construction. They had to dig up the nice road they just finished repaving this past fall in order to fix a water main break, I guess. They worked all Sunday from early morning until late at night. Guess it was important. They did leave a big sink hole there this spring, though :).

Feb 20 - My guys playing their iPods. The boys decided that the Halloween sized Smarties boxes would make great iPods so they decked them out with sticker buttons and sat around playing them. Love that imagination.

Feb 21 - Xander's busy week off school. I barely saw him the entire week because, as he told me..."I have things I wanna do, Mom." Here he is off to a sleepover at his cousin's place.

Feb 22 - Jonathan eating spaghetti. I thought it was really cute, the way he stuffed it in his mouth. Then, I loved this photo...his expression...his eyes...the angle. I just had to play with it a bit. So, this is the plain one that will go in my book but there are some fun ones that follow.







Feb 23 - Xander played Risk at his cousin's place and now he wants to play it all the time at home. He doesn't quite understand what an involved game it is yet, so he doesn't get that we can't pull it out at any moment like Uno or Kinder Bunnies.
There you go...a laugh and a few more photos. I'm slowly getting caught up! Anyway, gotta head to bed now.

Until next time...

I Guess There Is No Life...

At least that's what you'd think if you were just following my blog!! Seriously, I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I don't have a good excuse. Things came up, sometimes we were busy, sometimes I forgot about my blog and sometimes it just wasn't a priority. Besides, it's curling season...I only have so much screen time available and that takes up a lot :). I have enjoyed watching the Scottie, Brier and World Women's (which I got to watch a lot of with a wonderful friend). Next week is the World Men's and then curling season is over for another year. Though, I have made a LOT of progress on my next cross-stitch afghan while I've been watching the curling so that is a positive note.

Otherwise, this month has just been much of the same old, same old. We did get our electrical panel replaced, which meant a day without power. I planned it out really well and thought I had thought of everything. I almost did. Until I went to drop the kids off at Auntie's place. I had planned for them to be gone, just in case it got cold in the house. I knew that I would have to eat cold or elsewhere. I knew that I would be off the computer and TV for the whole day. I knew that the fridge and freezer would have to stay closed to keep everything cool. I even planned out a simple supper that took little cooking so it could be done quickly after the electricians were done. The one (ONE) thing I didn't take into account was...the garage door. I bundled the kids up...went outside to put them in the car...pushed the garage door opener...nothing. What? Again...nothing. What? Oohhh...the garage door opener runs on electricity. Hmmm. Now what. There must be an override but what or where? So, it was off to three different neighbours' houses before I found one at home and a phone call to Jason at work. There's a lever...somewhere. OK. I'll find it (our kind neighbours did offer to give us a ride but I had planned on grocery shopping after dropping the kids off). So, off to the garage. No lever...not sure what I'm looking for but I definitely can't find it. Surely there are instructions. After a quick scan and finding the warning label, I did find a small section explaining what to do in case of a power failure. Though, it was all in pictures and I hate instructions in pictures :). I squinted and turned my head and finally figured that they must be talking about the red string with a plastic thing on the end. I'd always wondered what that was for. Eureka! It worked...not much more than 20 minutes later and we were off. The rest of the day went smoothly.

Anyway, I do have some photos to show you. I know, I'm almost two months behind but I have about half of February ready to recap...hold on to your hats...here we go!!!

Feb 1 - I finally got my linen closet entirely organized. Yay!! Everything is in containers or on shelves where it is supposed to be and I have a lot more room in there.

Feb 2 - Evan wanted me to take a picture of him with Jonathan so here they are - just too cute!

Feb 3 - This is Jonathan - silly goose that he is - watching TV. Not sure why, but he likes to stand like this to watch the TV. He's enthralled with The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. It's a very fun and educational show!

Feb 4 - Well, I had picked at the wall paper one too many times and the kids had taken my lead one too many times. Jason declared that it had to come down and so it did. Everyone got into it and it came off sooo easily. It was just in huge sheets - it was fabulous!

Feb 5 - SuperBowl Sunday! Giants vs Patriots...Giants won :) (if I remember right, anyway). This also means it appy night in the basement around our house. Here is the feast laid out (the wipes are there because they are FABULOUS on greasy fingers).

Feb 6 - Jonathan is such a big boy. He is very independent and always wants to do whatever his brothers are doing. Today, it was colouring, so we gave him a shot. He mostly stays on the paper.

Feb 7 - Xander being enterprising. He wants to save up his money to buy a certain LEGO set but would like to make money faster. He wanted me to come up with chores for him to do to make extra money. I haven't come up with much. I'd told him that if it snowed, I'd pay him to shovel the deck but it barely snowed all winter. This day he was excited to see snow (even though it would have melted by the next day...oh well).

Feb 8 - I don't have a picture because this was my "day in pictures". A designer I follow was doing this so I joined in, too. It was basically a challenge to document your every day day in photos. I have a ton so I will just have to post the pages I scrap when I am done them. It was really a lot of work to do but I think I will try it again, maybe in April and on a different day of the week.

Feb 9 - Very first time out. Jonathan is usually fairly easy going but he can also be a bit dramatic at times. I'm not even sure if this was for hitting his brother or just for throwing a little fit.

Feb 10 - Alexander was showing off his handwriting. They've been learning this at school after Christmas and he's really quite good at it.

Feb 11 - It was baby shower day for my sweet little nephew. You can see his parents, his grandparents and the two toddlers fighting over Papa here.

Feb 12 - Just one of those cute photos. They decided to sit in the laundry basket to watch TV. How could I not take a pic?

Feb 13 - We live in Regina and so you know it's bound to happen...business dealings with an ex-Rider. This was our day...our new investment guy is Mike Abou-Mechrek, former Rider with the 2007 Grey Cup team. The football cards were for the kids and I think he might have got a kick out of it when Evan stood in the dining room and said, "I love my football card".

Feb 14 - Valentine's Day - not a huge deal around our house but I am trying to be a fun Mom sometimes :P so I tried to decorate up a bit. You know the best part? All those candies - 50% off Christmas stock - just take out the green ones :).

Feb 15 - The end of my day. At least I try to make this the end of the day. Dishwasher finishes running and then, before I head up to bed, I open it to let the dishes air dry ('cause they certainly DO NOT dry in the dishwasher), otherwise I have to towel dry them the next day (yuck!).

Feb 16 - We learned about this much too late in the year...one of the south end community associations put on a free public skating once a week. We only got to go once but I sure did have a fun time. It's been years since I've been on skates. I am definitely not as in shape or graceful as I used to be (though it was coming back). Half an hour here was a lot and I used to do this for a couple hours twice a week!!

Well, that gets us to the middle of February. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Come back soon!

Until next time...