Puddles

This morning I took Matthias, Callah and Gus (our dog) for a walk around the neighbourhood. What is it about puddles and ice that draws kids towards them? We were only gone about 30 minutes and yet we arrived back home soaking wet and covered in mud from head to foot (including IN our boots!!). Can anyone explain this attraction?

Mornings

I've never been a huge fan of mornings. Well I guess there was that one summer where I was obsessed with getting up early to run...boy was I young and foolish!! :) This week has been somewhat more challenging for some reason. Perhaps it has to do with Matthias running into our room and saying "it's okay Mommy, it's okay Daddy." And of course it never really is. Or the sound of a pitcher of water hitting the floor ... at 7:15 am. Or Matthias coming in and saying, "Callah's making a mess." These are examples of ways you don't want to be woken up with. Then there's the singing of theVeggietales theme song at the top of their lungs, which is cute...but not at 7 am. Sometimes there's the lighthearted sound of their laughter as they tell each other to "shush". Or once in awhile there will just be silence as one wakes up and silently leaves their bedroom, then the other wakes up some minutes later. That's a good morning. I like those mornings. There should always be mornings like that. Oh and I forgot this morning, Matthias yelled out, "I peed my pants!" at 7:20 am. Luckily he knows where all his clothes are and can dress himself, so I simply yelled back, "So get dressed." Then of course Callah came jumping into our room and yelled, "up! up! up!" wanting to get up on our bed and would not stop until she made it. Then my brother phoned at 7:57 am. We finally got up at 8:15 am.

I hate mornings.

p.s.

oh yeah I forgot to comment on my weekend to Strathmore. All the right spots were hit (IKEA and Krispy Kreme) and it was a super good weekend. The relatives were great hosts, the driving wasn't the best but we made it and the conference itself was...well the theme was dead on and they had some really cool visual aids to hit the point home. If you want to check out what is was all about click here. See ya!

Sunshine

I love waking up and seeing the sun shine through our bathroom window. For one thing, this time last year, we didn't even have a window in our bathroom, and for another thing it reminds me of summer and I CAN'T WAIT for summer. The longing for summer has finally hit me and I think there'll be no stopping it now till summer comes. Steve is gone this weekend at a hockey tournament in Saskatoon and he took the car, so feeling "summerish" I got the stroller out and loaded up the kids (it was a bit cool at -17 C windchill incl.) and we walked down to Shoppers for some movies to watch tonite. As we passed the ice cream shack, Matthias said, "I want some ice cream." I explained that the ice cream will open again once the snow is melted and summer comes. I think he's longing for summer too. He opened the sandbox cover to play with his toys only they were all frozen into the sand. Poor guy. So we'll wait. Patiently. Until then we'll push the stroller through the snowy streets, we'll play with our trucks in the snow and we'll sit in the sunshine...in our home and wait for summer to come.

This past week has been painful. Tuesday, at the urging of Steve, I went x-country skiing out at the Little Red. Being only the 2nd time on skiis this winter I took the shortest path I could find. However, I don't think it was short enough. My back has been in pain ever since and my chiropractor has told me to "take it easy" and "lay off lifting children". Right. Like either of those are going to happen! Every night Steve, being the good husband that he is (or else...) rubs Watkins on my back and then a heat pack is added. Man, does that feel good. Makes me wish it was night time all the time, that and the fact that sleep is soon coming. Tonite I'll miss my Watkin guy, it just won't be the same without him.

Next week at Mom's is a video day. On what? I have no idea, so come out anyway and it'll be a surprise for the both of us!! This Friday (the 31) is another Mom's Nite Out. If you live in the Prince Albert vicinity and would like a nite out away from the kids. Feel free to join us at Digger's Restaurant @ 6 pm. Otherwise, have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!!

Squeaky Farts

A few thoughts to end your week...

Last Thursday my younger brother, Kris and I went to see a movie (Just Friends) at the Rainbow Cinema in Regina. Something happened that I wasn't particularly proud of, but I learned something from it. There was a totally, and I mean TOTALLY annoying girl in the row ahead of us. She did numerous things that would have enabled her to be slaughtered (I think) in other countries. After the movie ended (which was funnier than I thought it would be despite the many annoying interuptions) I was kept awake with my own thoughts. A few weeks ago at our Ladies Retreat, the speaker Rosemary told a story of a time when she was in Trinidad. Every week she would have to walk thru a swamp to get to her bible study, so instead of getting her shoes muddy, it was easier for her to simply take off her shoes and walk bare-foot thru the mud. Another woman would see Rosemary walk thru the mud every week and wonder what was so important, that every week, this woman would take off her shoes and walk thru the mud to get to. Investigating further this woman found out that Rosemary was going to a bible study and eventually this woman became a Christian and started going to the bible study herself. The point of the story is that we should be aware that someone is always watching, so we should live our lives according to God's will. Last Thursday I did not live my life like God would've lived and I felt trememdously bad about it, so I prayed until I fell asleep. Something to remember...someone is always watching, whether it be your kids, husband, friends or a stranger.

This morning at my ladies bible study one of the ladies brought up this thought. If we talked to our husbands as often as we talk to God, would they think we love them? Now for me this idea blew me away. Shamefully, I don't talk to God as often as I should, so thinking about all the time and effort I put into the relationship with Steve, and how my relationship with God should be way stronger really changed my perspective. I need to really develop my relationship with God. Of course this is something that I've always learned and I'm always striving to better that relationship, but putting it into that different perspective really made me think.

So now the kids are sleeping, Steve is eating lasagna and watching TV and I'm thinking about tomorrow and our trip to Strathmore with our youth group for X-treme Impact. I'll be taking the girls in our van and Steve is driving with the boys in another van. It's a 50/50 time, sometimes good, sometimes bad. The good is always hanging out with our youth, the bad is the cost to go to Alberta to do it. I'm also looking forward to Krispy Kreme's and a possible trip to IKEA. We'll be staying with Steve's cousin and her family. They have a large dog and shedding cats. They also recently had a baby girl, so should be a fun time!

That's my thought process lately. Maybe it'll give you something to think about too. There's no Mom's Morning Out on the 21st, so enjoy your week off and we'll see you later!

25 cent bouncy balls

We just returned from Old Navy here in Regina. Who knew you could get large bouncy balls for only 25 cents? My kids are having a jolly good time throwing these balls around my parents house and chasing them before the (vicious) terriers get to them. It's great!

So our adventures today consisted of going to Starbucks (for the delicious double chocolate chip frappuchino, which my sister, who just quit working there after 3 years, has informed me is close to 600 calories....yum!), then driving around Wascana Park looking for monsters hiding in the trees (Matthias swears that he saw them), going to Old Navy (where I bought a pair of jeans - for me jeans are SO HARD to find and the treasured bouncy balls were purchased), then going across the parking lot to the PetLand, where my daughter proceeded to scare the poop out of the kittens (who were let looses) in the cat adoption room. Ever see the Looney Tunes with Elmyra? My daughter totally reminds me of Elmyra. She would stop breathing and squeeze these cats, then she would pick them up in really awkward positions that cats should not be picked up in. It was funny, but I felt sorry for the cats so we left. Now we're ready for supper.

Otherwise my trip here in the "windy city" has been good. That's all for now!

So cute I could just...

This morning after Steve had left for church, I was still laying in bed and the kids were eating cheerios watching Dora when Matthias comes into the room and says "Callah's making a mess." Last time he came into my room and said that, Callah had dumped the bag of Ritz crackers (crumbs and all) onto the living room carpet, so I bolted out of bed to see what my dear daughter had done this time. No, nothing in the living room, I look in the kitchen and the pantry door is open. Peering around I see my "cute", "adorable" daughter elbow deep in the bag of sugar.
"Caaaaaaaa-llahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I say.
"Yeah." she says in her matter-of-fact voice.
I pick her up, hose off her arms, take off her shirt and brush off her pants, all the while my bare feet are crunching on the sugar that is now all over my kitchen floor. Upon further inspection I found little clumps of sugar on the carpet in the living room. Yes, sometimes kids are so cute you could just....

This week at Mom's we'll be answering all those deep questions that didn't get answered last "Ask A Mom" day. So if you wrote something down, come and we'll see if we can find an answer.

As for me, I'm taking off to Regina tomorrow to spend a week with my parents. Steve is taking a reading week here at the church, so I thought I'd take this time to spend some time, maxin' and relaxin' in good ol' Regina. There's just something about that place that I love. Besides it'll be good to get away from the 35 cm plus of snow that has fallen here in the last few days. If I see any more snow flakes fallin' I think I myself will turn into a flake.

Have a good week!!

Sweet Hands of Goodness

This past Christmas Steve surprised me (I say surprised b'cos we weren't suppossed to get each other anything) with a gift certificate for an hour massage. I have never had a massage before, or should I say a professional massage before, so I was looking forward to it. After having a cold and being sick for most of February I decided that this would be my week to go for my massage. I went yesterday, probably one of the worst winter days we've had here on the prairies yet, but boy was it good!! I was a little self-consious at first, what with being naked on a sheet. But she talked me through it and actually said, that when she's giving massages, she doesn't see the person as a person. All she sees and focuses on is the leg, or back or arm or whatever she's massaging at the moment. Anyway, I cannot say enough, it was the greatest feeling I've felt in awhile and I totally felt rejuvenated afterward.

Mom's this week was also really good. We watched a video on parenting. I think I've mentioned it before, this Marriage Unsesored stuff isn't that great, but this video had alot of "meat" in it and I'm not the only one that thought so too. I highly recommend it. The guy they were talking to was named ...of course I can't remember, but I will find out and let ya'll know.

Unfortunately I actually do have more to say, but my kids are begging for food, so I gotta go feed them. Later!