Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it….you know how it goes…

It’s snowing.  It’s been snowing off and on since last night.  We have about 6 inches of snow here, and I’m praying desperately that we don’t end up with a snow day tomorrow.

The kids would probably throttle me for doing so, but I really don’t want them hanging around the house all day tomorrow.  I have things to do and accomplish, and it’s hard enough to get it all done with just one little baby, let alone 3 big kids who are not pulling their weight around here as it is.

Although to their credit, they’ve done a lot of helping out this weekend.

My house is actually tidy, and I’m hoping to clean it tomorrow.  Mind you, their bedrooms look like a tornado blew through, but as long as I can close the door and pretend it’s not there I’m okay with that.  Not really, but I’m not up for “helping” them to tidy their rooms at this exact moment.

Well, I have another couple dozen cookies to make and then I have to either drizzle or dip them in milk and white chocolate……which should I do?  Drizzle? or Dip?

They are cinnamon flavored shortbread….not tons of cinnamon, just a hint, and they are freaking delicious.  I know ’cause I cheated and had one.

ps….note to self….in the next post – talk about Josiah’s accomplishment and the necessity of not cheating on your diet.

pps…apparently I am a HORRIFIC typer typist (You should guess how I just spelt horrific) and I make a crap load of spelling mistakes.  I just corrected 3 in this post, and after I re-read all that nonsense from yesterday I realized that most of it is spelt wrong, but I an’t going to fix it….it was hard enough to just get it up there without worrying about a few dozen spelling mistakes.

Bad, Bad – its all bad

So, I have posted about 5 or 6 updates below this. 

I was going to link to all my recent posts, but I’m typing left handed while Josiah rocks it out, and so that’s not going to happen.

If you want to read a really terrible synopsis of my life this past month – go back through all the posts I did today. 

Yes, I really do want to be entertaining and regal you all with the amazing happenings of my life, but I think this baby is sucking every last bit of funny right out of me, but you will all forgive me when I capture him on video giggling.  It’s the sweetest sound in the world, and definately makes up for all my suckage.

So, go and look at my pics and see what crap I spewed up there more for posterities sake than for yours…….sorry, but for right now, it’s the truth.

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Fun!

We don’t usually get a lot of opportunity to just get out with other adults.

A family of four requires an alignment of the stars and  cosmic balance to get a night out with out the kids, but with a babyistter, and to just get together with great friends without it costing an arm and a leg or two.

My sister invited 3 other couples to her house, and Jon and I lucked out and our names were chosen as the 3rd and final couple to grace their house and presence.

We all brought different parts of the dinner, and it was DELICIOUS!  I made Tabbouleh with quinoa instead of bulgar so me and my wheat free diet could be accomodated.  It was delicious, but the 3 hours of washing and chopping the 1 cup of fresh mint, 4 cups of fresh parsley, 1/4 inch pieces of cucumber and tomatoe……..let’s just say it wasn’t that delicious.  I don’t know if I’ll be making it again.  It was a freak load of work.

We all showed up, Kevin and Jennifer & Kenny and Tracy and Roxy and Jon and I and ‘Siah and Debbie and Denver of course ’cause it was their house.

We talked and ate and talked and ate….hmmmmm..seems I talk a lot about eating, eh?

It was so much fun to just hang out and not be dealing with the older three kids, and ‘Siah and Roxy were so cute.  they are only a month apart in age, and Honestly, I don’t know anyone else – close to me in actual kilometers – who has a little one close to Siah’s age, so it was nice to see another little baby.

We had some great conversation, and Debbie and Denver have an awesome house…when I grow up I want to be just like them…

ps. click on any of the pics to see the whole set.

Family Is Amazing! November 25th

Back in the summer before he was even born, my cousins had told me that they were going to plan a baby shower for me and Josiah.

I felt kinda goofy ’cause he wasn’t our first, but they said that they were going to do it, and I just needed to come and enjoy myself.

They called me up a couple of weeks ago, and said that late was better than never, and would we be free on November 25th.

They arranged for our families to come and for enough food for us all, and even games.

It was so much fun.

We showed up and hung around until everyone who could make it showed up. Then we ate and ate and ate – if there’s one thing my family can do – it’s eat….and there was some good food….Aunty Hope’s Dill chip dip and Aunty Ruth’s Jelly Salad….MMMMmmmm…along with everything else that everyone brought.  It was all good!

Then Janelle and Carissa started whispering about somthing and a few mintues later they came out with some poker chips gave everyone 7 and we all played a game called “I never”.  We all took a turn and said something baby related that we’d never done….like “I’ve never had a baby barf in my mouth.”  If you could agree with the statement then you were safe, but if that thing had happened to you then you had to toss one of your chips into the buckets in the center of the room whoever had the most chips left once we had all had a turn won.  I think that Ben or Jeremy or Geli won…..not a lot of life experience with babies….how fair is that?

Then Janelle asked for three volunteers….we volunteered Dad and Jon offerred himself up and then Ben wanted to play.  Janelle brought out 3 bottles and well, see for yourselves…….

The bottles had orange punch in them and the pulp got stuck in the nipple, but because Dad couldn’t have the juice, he got water, and it made it easier for him…..too funny! 

We had tons of fun!  Darryl and Janelle had even managed to borrow a Wii and the kids had a blast down in the basement playing with the different games…..even the big boys had a ton of fun….



But apparently Chris, sitting down and even after having a show-down with a semi can still play tennis beter than Jon can.

It was so much fun and I LOVED getting together with my family. Thanks guys for planning this speacial day to celebrate Josiah’s life. I really appreciated it. Pics of the party here.

Dinosaur Hunter – Nov 24th

I woke up on Saturday morning, and crawled out of bed, and dragged myself out to the kitchen.

Jon was making pancakes with the girls, and Jeremy was busy….

He had found a loney little piece of play-doh.  I thought I had thrown them all out, but apparently I missed one small cannister.  He is an amazingly creative person, and I marvel at some of the creations he comes up with, and that he can translate those ideas out into “creashuns.”

He had molded a dinosaur out of the play-doh, and was a pretty good replica, and I’m not just sayin’ that ’cause I”m his mom….see for yourself.

So, whatcha think?

Okay, on the with story…..he has this little dinosaur on the table and asks for the camera, and starts taking pictures.  That’s okay… I love digital, if they are blurry or if they suck or even if I just don’t like them – DELETE! 

Digital ROCKS!

Anyway, he takes a few shots, and then starts slamming the camera around and growling and  I’m like, “What the crap is he doing?“  Jon shushes me and starts killing himself laughing as silently as possible.  Jeremy has created a film off…..well, I’ll just show you.  Enjoy, ’cause we sure did.

His Very Own Hockey Man – Nov 24th

Tim & the KidsMy brohter Tim plays hockey, and actually plays quite well.

He plays with an Athlete’s in Action Team here in the Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley or wherever the heck it is that they are based out of.

Typically, the games are not at great times for Jeremy to get to go and see his Uncle (the athlete) in action (ha ha ha – get it??  I know, I know – it was bad, but when you have as many things that you are trying to get caught up on as I have – you really need to find the joy in the little things.)

Anyway, Tim called up and said that he was going to be out at the rink just up the street from our house and the game was at 8pm.

It was later than we normally have the kids out, but…….exceptions can be made for the special people in your life, and especially for family.

The kids loved seeing Tim play, and were a little disappointed that there wasn’t a fight. 

American Thanksgiving – November 22nd

So, We are lucky enough to get to celebrate two Thanksgivings every year.

Obviously, we celebrate the “normal” Thanksgiving in October, but then every year we get a second opportunity to eat waaaaaay to much of an amazing Turkey dinner, and if you are particularly lucky, then someone else makes it, and you get to enjoy it without any effort……that’s the best.

This year has felt a bit like an “off year” and while it’s been a wonderful year, full of amazing blessings like Josiah and Leanna, things just haven’t seemed like “normal.”

Seeing as Jon holds an American Passport (and a Canadian and New Zealand – just in case you wanted to know) and his father was a Naval Gazer Officer in the US NAVY (in case you didn’t get all that – I just wanted to make it extra clear), we celebrate American Thanksgiving every year with Jon’s family.

This year, however, Mum C. is over in Lebanon with David and Liliane (they moved there in June) meeting her newest Grandaughter for the first time.

So, our normal family gathering of 12 (which this year would have been 14 with the two new babies) consisted of our 6, and Papa!  We still managed to have an awesome time, and I think I have the best Father in law in the whol entire world.

He found a place that will make you a complete Turkey dinner, gravy, stuffing, potaotes, and veggies……all you do it pick it up and then you are good to go.

Jon ‘s dad brought the dinner and it was SUCH A BLESSING to not have to cook a HUGE meal for the 7 of us.

You’re an amazing man, Dad C.  Thanks for making this Thanksgiving a very thankful one.  You can see the whole picture set here!

Diwali Celebrations – Nov 15 & 16

We live in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and I LOVE IT!

The school where our kids go is maybe 75% Indo-Canadian, and generalizing (which I hate doing, but it’s just eaiser in this instance) they are the nicest, friendliest, most family oriented, group of people you’ll ever come across.

We just celebrated Diwali at our school.  There was food and dance and henna and the kids and staff even wore the cultural suits.  It was so much fun.

The girls borrowed some suits from our next door neighbor, and felt like princesses in them.  they even got their hands done by one of the mom’s at the school.  This was a week or so ago, and you can still faintly see the designs on their hands.

Here’s a pic of the girls in all their glory:

And It All Comes Crashing Down

So much for my “taking it easy….”

I think that today is making up for every bit of relaxing time I was trying to squish out of the past few days.

I have more things to try and accomplish than I possibly have time for, and now it’s just a matter of which ones are not going to get done.

I’d make a list here, but for some reason it helps for me to have it listed in pencil on a sheet of paper that I can carry around with me (I don’t need to refer to the paper once I’ve written it down, but for some reason it just helps me to write it down – it’s like it cements it in the ol’ sieve I call my brain these days steel vault…..I know, I know – a bit weird, but then I’ve never said thatI’m completely normal.

Speaking of which……do you have any little obsessive things that you do?  Like do you have to have the toilet paper coming over the top of the roll as opposed to just throwing it on there or * gasp * even worse putting it on so that the paper comes from under * oh the horror *  or how about lining up your cans inside your cupboard so that they all face out and stack up perfectly and equal distance from each other in nice neat little rows, or………folding your towels and having to place them in order from the biggest on the bottom to the smaller ones on the top of the pile…..or aranging your DVD’s in alphabetical order on the shelf  or lining up the library books that are stacked on the hall table to be returned in order from smallest to largest……..not that I’m admitting to any of this, you know, but someone out there might do stuff like this………….right??????

So, what do you do that makes you weird…, I mean quirky…, I mean special and unique?

Takin’ it Easy

I’ve been trying desperately hard to take a few down days….it’s sorta working…..really..that just means that I’ve not gotten anything done, and that’s a crappy feeling.  EXCEPT, that I’m not stressing out quite so bad about all the “things” I have to do.  Everythings still there, but I’m just happily ignoring it all for a bit.  That will only work for so long.

I will be spending a good part of tomorrow planning out the res of my week, and I’ll be back with oodles and oodles of stories to share.

Josiah is SO CLOSE to rolling over, and he’s laughed for us, but I want to catch it on video…it’s funny ’cause he almost sounds annoyed….it’s pretty cute.

Be back soon(er)……..as opposed to later.