welcome to winter

Yesterday we woke up to a covering of snow on the ground. I had this gut feeling that it was here to stay. Later in the morning a few Mom's at MMO said that it would be gone by late afternoon as it was suppossed to be +4 C. Well it's still snowing, I can no longer see ANY signs of grass and I've officially had my first shovelling incident. Welcome to winter!

Yesterday at Mom's we had our big sex talk. That's right all these weeks of sexual intimacy where the word "sex" wasn't even mentioned until yesterday. I had no idea what the topic was about until I got there (late for once) and Carolyn started talking. I felt like sex was all around me. First from my Babyzone (previous post) and now here at Mom's. Oddly enough as Steve and I were still bickering, sex was the last thing on my mind and yet I couldn't get it out of my head. So that was yesterday. Again, one of the things that stuck out to me was finding out from our husbands what they found attractive about us. Chances are, it might not be what we thought or expected. Like Carolyn said, her hubby finds her sexier in jeans and a T-shirt way more then when she's all dolled up and "stylish". So that's something to think about.

And I'm officially on the hunt for pregnancy safe cold medications. I called Nutters today and they said Vitamin C...and lots of it. I could also take zinc losenges. That's about it. I said thanks for the help (roll of the eyes). Sheesh. Then I phoned my friendly neighbourhood pharmacist and said my throat feels like it's bleeding from dry coughing and she said I could try a cough medicine with ONLY DM and use it sparingly and only if VICKS vapour didn't work and drinking lots of water didn't work and etc...etc...

I hate being pregnant and sick.

oh yeah, Steve and I got over our immaturity and made up last night. Something still feels kinda off, but we're definately on the right track again.

I just wanna add this

Lisa,Welcome to Week 20 of your Pregnancy!

Sex and more sex! Remember that unless you've been advised against it by your health care provider because of bleeding or risk of miscarriage, sex is fine , a good stress reliever, and a great way to "touch bases" with your partner. Don't feel up to it? That's okay, too.

It brought a smile to my frustrated face!

anger after a good weekend

can be so frustrating. One of our old youths has a blog that has caused a bit of heat in our house lately. It's not so much the blog itself, but that particular post and the comments that follow. I guess (and perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut as I don't know all the facts) what bothers us is that it suddenly seems like more and more people aren't believing in certain "facts" of the Bible (ex: the 6 day creation, Jonah, etc...) rather they think they're merely illustrations or parable-type stories. They didn't actually happen like it's written in the Bible. The thing that gets us hot under the collar is that once you stop believing in this part or that part, what's to stop you from believing in other parts? We shouldn't need proof that these things happened. Shouldn't it be simply that we have faith that they did and God is capable of doing these things?

We read something similiar in a book we're going thru at bible study called Velvet Elvis . The author Rob Bell says, "Somebody recently gave me a videotape of a lecture given by a man who travels around speaking about the creation of the world. At one point in his lecture he said if you deny that God created the world in six literal twenty-four hour days, then you are denying that Jesus ever died on the cross. " He goes on to say that this man's faith is like "a wall of bricks. Each of the core doctrines for him is like an individual brick that stacks on top of the others. If you pull one out, the whole wall starts to crumble. It appears quite strong and rigid, but if you begin to rethink or discuss even one brick, the whole thing is in danger." And then but "what if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archaeologists find Larry's tomb and DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing that Gospel writers threw in to appeal...to other cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births?"

But that's just it. Until proven otherwise, we have to have faith and believe that these things did actually happen. I mean that's what faith is according to Websters; "firm belief in something for which there is no proof: complete trust."

I don't know, the whole things just makes me angry.

Anyway, I had a pretty good weekend away in S'toon at the WJOF conference. Lisa Bevere was awesome, I had faith that she would be! ;) Our hotel was nice and comforting. I found $20 at Galaxy Cinemas which was a total treat. I found a nice long pair of maternity jeans on sale at Thyme. Other than the fact that I was sick and not feeling well for a few hours, the weekend was a hit. But it never fails that after a good weekend or any time away for that matter, something always puts a damper on it when you get home. I should've known it was going to go badly when I walked in on the last 5 minutes of the Rider game. You just don't do that in my house. Especially during the western semi-final. However things are looking like they might just smooth over, which would be nice, but it'll make us both think twice about letting each other go away for a weekend again.

And finally, Mom's tomorrow is part 4 of Carolyn's Sexual Intimacy thingy (the lack of the right word is frustrating and I don't want to say "talk" or "lecture" or "special" or whatever else one might add in there).

I think I need a nap. I'm frustrating too easily.

My "clean" man

In a few hours I'm taking off to S'toon with Dixie for the WJOF conference. While there are many women going, not many are going for the whole weekend, which we are. I have no real problem with this, I completely trust that Steve will be fine with the kids, and I know that the kids will love having their Dad around all weekend. It's the "clean" factor that I worry about. Whenever I go anywhere for a length of time Steve has a habit of "cleaning" things. I say "clean" b'cos this means he reorganizes and disposes of things that don't necessarily need to be reorganized or disposed of. I remember trips in the past where walls have been ripped out, carpet has been taken out (altho' I knew about this one ahead of time), stands and tables have gone missing, appliances have moved ontop of other appliances that most of our babysitters can't reach. So in saying all this, I'm a bit worried about what may be gone or "cleaned" when I get back on Sunday.

9:47 pm poutine run

Last night as I was getting ready to head out to bible study, I was thinking about what drink I wanted to make to take along. Sometimes I make a hot chocolate, others a caramel steamer. Depending on how I'm feeling. Last night, I wasn't feeling either, so I brushed my teeth and headed off. For the next 2 hours, my belly was thinking about something. My mind was trying to figure out just what we were craving. Then it came to us. POUTINE! Hot, gooey, cheesy poutine. Yum. So I dropped Matthias off at home and informed Steve that poutine was calling. He said, "yeah right." I said,"yeah. Right." So off to KFC for their amazing gravy poutine I went. And man was it worth it! Of course, my next weigh in at the doctors might say otherwise, especially now that my sweet tooth is also being fed from the leftover Halloween candy. But I'm telling ya, last night, sipping my Cranberry Gingerale and eating my KFC poutine was as close to Heaven as I had been yesterday. So good!

And in other news, apparently my hair is anything BUT sexy when I first wake up after going to bed with wet hair.

Yesterday Mom's was pretty good. Carolyn shared about her wedding day and her vows. Honestly there was more depth to it than that, but I have such fond memories of my wedding day that I drifted in and out of what she was saying. The best thing that for us ( after 5 years of marriage seems to have been a good choice) has to do with the fact that Steve and I met and married in 5 months. That's right, we met in February and married that June. We dated for about a week and were engaged the remaining 3 months. That whole first year of marriage we were thinking, perhaps we should have waited. But now as I look back and I see how we've grown and moulded together, those 5 months were long enough.

We were married at his Mom's acreage outside of Saskatoon. The day started cloudy and I thought it might rain, but by the time 2 o'clock rolled around the sun was shining and the pictures afterward (taken outside in the yard) had to be taken in the shade. I don't remember much about the ceremony except that when Steve read his vows I was blown away that he could write something like that. And in comparison, mine sounded really corny. I remember that his ring couldn't fit over his knuckle so in many of the ceremony pictures, he's trying to fit it on, and eventually has to lick it on. We had our reception in a huge hall just 5 minutes south across the highway where the DJ played no dance music. I got to wear my flip-flops. Everyone danced like alcohol had been served when infact none was. It was a really good time, and I'm not just saying that b'cos it was my wedding. Of course there were things that didn't get done that should have, and if anyone had told us how to plan a wedding, we would've known that we were doing it wrong. But nothing serious enough to damper the day.

And if there was a chance to do any of it over again, we definately would've had that pig on a spit!

I feel like chocolate

It's a completely insane feeling when you have this intense desire for chocolatey anything and you don't have any in the house.

I feel like I could rip something apart. Like Hulk getting mad over looking for chocolate.

Tomorrow is the final day to pay for or buy a ticket to the Women's Journey of Faith in S'toon. At least thru Mom's Morning Out. I have mine, do you have yours? Tomorrow is also the third installment of Carolyn's Sexual Intimacy talk. Should be a gooder.

I just got back from getting my hair cut and styled. I got it straightened, it seems like a long time since it's been completely straight. Steve's reaction was "lets have sex" so I think he likes it and even Matthias noticed altho' his comment was alot tamer, "wow Mom, nice hair". I was glad to hear them both. Whenever we take the chance to change anything it's nice to know that it payed off, however small the payback. So thank you Renita!

Some photos

Here are some photos from the retreat we went to at Kingsfold.

This is the staircase leading up to one of the fasting cabins. I thought it was really cool 'cos it's made entirely of trees and rock.








This is the chapel. Alot of wood and stained glass. Simply beautiful.







The view from the greenhouse towards the mountains. You can see a little winding path that leads down to the river. A nice easy walk.







A rock statue that I made. I've always wanted to make one of these.






And Callah...

so much potential, so little time

I swear I meant to update this thing sooner. I really did. In fact I can remember having some really good stuff to say earlier on in the week (of course for the life of me I can't remember now). But let's see...Monday just slipped by, Tuesday I was unusually tired, Wednesday was jam packed, Thursday the Mother-in-law was here and now it's Friday. I finally finished the little bit of baking I wanted to do for the bake sale tomorrow (Gateway Covenant Church, corner of 15th and 15th E, 9:30-3 pm) even tho' they were supposed to be delivered to the church by tonite (it's almost 10:30 pm now). Yeah, not going to happen. So you can see, it's just been one of those weeks.

Now to progressively recap...

Monday I had my post-ultrasound doctors appointment. I've been feeling the baby kick quite a bit lately, which has been nice. Sometimes at night I still lay down tho' and the little bump that's 'im is lost in the "jello" that's my belly. So I'm glad I can feel some proof even tho' I can't really see much yet. You still can't feel the kicks on the outside. Steve and I have both tried. Can't wait for that as well. When it gets really bad and keeps me from sleeping I love cuddling up to Steve so he can get kicked in the back as well! :) Anyway, was surprised to find that the ultrasound dated me 2 weeks ahead of schedule, making the duedate around March 10th instead of the previous 24th. Exciting.
Matthias also started level 2 swim. Half his class didn't show up Monday so there were only 2 boys, and the other little boy was either frightened of Matthias or the water, so he didn't even go in. Leaving Matthias the whole 1/2 hour with just the instructor. Turned out pretty good 'cos he really got to work on putting his head in the water and blowing bubbles. I'm amazed at how well he's doing. All that practice in the tub really does work!

Tuesday was Mom's and I thought it went really well. Was disappointed there wasn't a big turnout, but I'm quite confident that the ones who showed up had a good time. It was fun to get up and move around instead of just sitting down in chairs or at a table. Also informative in learning easy, no equipment, exercises that you can do in your living room infront of the TV. My kind of stuff.
Then let's see, I came home, had a spazz attack and the rest of the day pretty much blew chunks.

Wednesday was my "soccer Mom" day. Prepared all the ingredients for a stew and threw it in the croc pot, took Matthias to story time at the library, then we went to my Grandma's (which will have to be a whole other post some other sad time) followed by a quick pb & jam lunch, naptime, took Matthias to swim lessons, stopped for slurpees on the way to the final Carlton and St. Mary football game, picked up Steve from said game, came home for stew (previously made earlier that day) went to bible study, came home to mother-in-law and sister-in-law, talked for a few hours then went to bed.

Thursday was the day. I suppose in hindsight it went fairly well. Steve and his Mom only got in one heated argument, and that was about music, which really, they should just agree to disagree instead of arguing about it almost every time we get together.

I don't actually feel like talking about it much more than that. Perhaps I'm turning over a new leaf.

That leads to today. Which has been pretty good. Callah and I took Matthias out this morning for a brisk bike ride. I'm amazed at how well he's doing. We should easily be able to take the training wheels off next year. Followed by a game of tag with Gus in the back yard. Lunch and the start of my bakesale baking. Matthias informed me that today was Callah's dinosaurs birthday, so I decided to make gummi worm chocolate cupcakes. *As a side note don't put the gummi's in until AFTER you bake them. Lesson learned the hard way.* The kids loved them. Matthias' swim lesson went well, if you forget the fact that Callah spilled her water twice on the bleachers. Then after the lesson she ran into the street while I was unlocking the door. Then while making a quick shopping stop for more icing sugar to ice their cupcakes, she stuck her tongue out and refused to listen while at the check outs. Maybe I'm just super strict, but she is not allowed to do that to her dad and me. On the upside we got home too late to make supper so Domino's was called and they delivered. I got to watch my Men in Trees, finish baking pumpkin cookies and read the kid's a book before Matthias threw up in his bed. Ahh... I should've guessed the nites not over yet.

Steve just got home and that's my cue to finish up. This wasn't nearly as exciting as it should've been on Monday, but it's my life.

Chow.

2 legs, 2 arms...

Well we had our first ultrasound the other day and it was great. I mean you never seem to tire of seeing this image of a little baby move and shake inside you and you can't feel a thing. It was great. It really was. There was a head, 2 arms and hands, 2 legs and feet and a beating heart. That's all that really matters isn't it? I loved it. Of course this woman is showing us all these cool picture possibilities and the one she settles on to copy and give us is this obscure circular grey thing in a pool of blackness (the head). Gee thanks. I guess for them it's just a job. Not nearly exciting as it was for us (or any other couple who come along). Sad, you'd think you'd go into a certain profession like that, and actually want to and enjoy doing it. Or maybe it was just a bad day. We all know there's been plenty of those going around lately (or is it just at my house?).

The boy has mastered his peeing technique. Once again we are pee puddle free now for 2 days! Yeah!!

The pants are getting tighter and tighter. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad. Once again reminding myself of how excited I am to have this baby. Even at night, after I've made my 5th bathroom break, I remind myself how much I wanted this one. Or as I'm tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable sleeping position when all I'm craving for is to lay on my belly Steve rolls over and reminds me how much we want another one.

Really, I do want this one and I am looking forward to it, even tho' another person told me today how much of a "joy" having 3 children can be.

Really, I swear I do.

ultra...

Mom's Morning Out this morning was pretty good. Putting aside all personal, toturous (is that even a word?) feelings, the video itself went well.

That's all I feel like saying about that.

In a few hours Steve and I go for our first ultrasound of Baby 3. I always get excited when this time rolls around. This time especially I'm completely stoked b'cos I get to see that there really is something living inside me and that it looks (somewhat) human. This whole pregnancy has been different than the previous 2. So much so that I don't even feel like I'm pregnant. Being almost 4 1/2 months now I'm still wearing normal clothes (and I've come to a decision that I must be "larger" than I really think I am to be buying "larger" clothes than perhaps I should be therefore allowing me to still be able to wear them when technically if I were skinnier I really don't think I would be able to...just my thinking) altho' I will wear maternity once in awhile for a change or I just feel bloated and gross.

Right, what was I talking about?

Yeah, I don't even feel pregnant. And I think that the more I hear about friends and other women having miscarriages the more that thought is nagging in the back of my mind. So I can't wait to get a large belly and I can't wait to start feeling movement and kicking. That way I'll be reminded that yes, there is a baby human in my stomache and I'll get excited all over again.

I honestly can't wait.

potty peeing 101

I'm beginning to think that they should make a class for kids on how to pee on the potty. I'm not talking about potty training either. I'm talking about how to sit, or hold 'wee willy' down or how to aim or something. Lately Matthias has been having all sorts of peeing accidents, and he's fully potty trained. It's just that (and I finally realized this today) amazingly enough when he sits on the potty to pee, he somehow manages to unconsciously aim 'willy' directly between the seat and the bowl and therefore allowing pee to be "spewed" all over the wall, tub and floor of the bathroom. Or the other problem is that when pully down his pants, he gets them caught in the same place (between seat and bowl) and pees all over them. There has to be an easier way. Is it easier to have him stand and take his chances aiming the silly thing into the bowl? Or do we just continue to let him "miss-aim" and hope he'll grow a bit to fix that problem? I don't know. All I know is that I'm sick of cleaning up pee every morning.

Onto cheerier news, Mom's tomorrow we're watching a video by Lisa Bevere called Beautiful. It was taped at a live conference somewhere. I was watching it again last night and making notes (I felt like I was in high school again. This is my first video I've had to do myself, so naturally I left it till the last moment to make notes and am now getting more and more nervous by the hour to see if I can actually pull of a video and discussion by myself) and Steve was in the bedroom reading when he called out "what kind of video are you watching??" Lisa can be (and her and I are on first name basis' here....ha ha) kinda ...I'll say loud. She's very "power to the women" and "freedom of women" in a Christian way. If you don't know her or what I mean, you'll just have to come tomorrow to find out. I like her, I like the way she's real and honest about her life.

And speaking of that I should really get my butt in gear and start typing up my notes. The kids are "sleeping" Callah is actually quite miffed that I just separated her and Matthias. How foolish was I to think that they would actually get any sleep in the same room? But it's quiet upstairs now, so there's hope, for a while.

gone, but slowly returning

I spent the past week at a pastor/spouse conference in Canmore, Alberta. Or I should say I spent the first 3 days there then travelled to Kingsfold Retreat Centre just outside Cochrane. If I could pick just one word, altho' most unlikely, to describe such a place it would definately be...well really beautiful is too "undescriptive" a word. It was an extraordinary place. I'll put pictures up sometime.

Not only was the scenery nice, the food that was served was amazing. The company was always entertaining and I had plenty of time to chill and relax (in other words sleep). I wasn't feeling the greatest in Canmore, but luckily that cleared up (except for this unending headache) in time for Kingsfold.

I'm also not the best traveller, so the 8 hours drives there and back were not my cup o' tea, but somehow it was worth it. It was also totally worth returning to find our little rugrats sleeping peacefully at their Grandma and Grandad's. Not so much worth it on the car ride back to PA, in freezing cold and rain, with so called "peacefull" rugrats matching screaming pitches at incredibly high octaves. But then again...

Anyway, it's good to be home.

overheard...

...while hiking up a small mountain in Canmore, Alberta.

"Ugh...I feel like I weigh 400 pounds!"
"Naw...you're more like 300."

Sexual Intimacy

The funny thing about sexual intimacy is that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sex. Something I keep wishing it did. And alot of it (info that is). At our committee meeting after Mom's today we said it would've been funny to ask all the Mom's to raise a hand and see just who was all there to learn about "better" sex. We were guessing over half. So we're realizing there is a want to know, and we are trying to find something suitable. So "hang" in there. It shouldn't be "long" now. And if you have any ideas, drop us a line and let us know. We'd love the input.

So this morning was the first of 6 (yes six, I suck as a co-ordinator) session on sexual intimacy with Carolyn. I thought it was pretty good (again, even tho' I knew what she was talking about I was still hoping for sex...info that is) and I did learn some new stuff. So that's always a bonus. If you weren't able to be there in person, you can still check out what she said and what we're doing at Mom's here. Okay the link isn't completely done yet, so keep checking in and it should be up and running soon.

One of the things she mentioned and hearing her speak before, I know she's a fan of, is journalling. Carolyn refers to it as "journey"ing, which I think is pretty cool. I've always dappled (I'll say that 'cos I've tried to many times in the past, only to loose interest after a few months and gradually write in my journal less and less frequently) in journalling and this past weekend my Mom brought me a journal I had had in 1990 that I had left behind when I got married and moved out. After reading it I can see why, I was such a geek.

Here are a few of my favourite excerpts:
APRIL 14, 1990 Dear Diary: Today Kris, Amy, Jenny, Karen, Megan and me went to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It was awesome, totally narly.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1990 Dear Diary: Today I met my first enemy...Tea* (name has been changed). She's a mean, mean, mean old booby!! I found MY ROCK!!! (now this "rock" is referred to a few times more and I have no idea what'soever what I was talking about)

I know not really exciting. There isn't even a mention of a boy anywhere in there. But there are a few moody, depressing, really low-self-esteem entries and it's interesting to see how that progressed as the years went by to the point somewhere in 1994 where I would sit in a dark room listening to early Tea Party cd's and hating life. Sometimes when I re-read my journals it's like a bolt to the system to wake up and never let myself get like that again and try to help other teen girls from hitting those same depths.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see where Carolyn goes from here. And maybe, just maybe we'll learn something about sex too.

Crap Von Crappen

This past weekend, my hubby was away at a youth camp retreat (I'm going to go on a little rant here about "retreats". In my past retreat experiences, I can honestly say that I have only been on 1 actual retreat "retreat" where you can sleep if you want to and eat if you want to. There really wasn't much of a schedule to it. It was nice. You left the retreat actually feeling refreshed and not more tired and "snappy" than when you left. True not all retreats have psycho schedules attached with them, but most do. I mean honestly, think back to the past couple of retreats you've been on. I can remember some of mine with 7 am wake-ups and breakfast at 8 or 8:30 am. That's not a retreat! I don't like eating breakfast earlier than I do at home! Anyway, that's my retreat rant.) and like usual, he arrived home tired and a bit grumpy. Not to blame the kids or the actual retreat, but he was having trouble with the rental vehicle and had to drive the 6-7 hours home on only 6 hours or so of sleep the whole weekend. This is why I'm a firm believer in having a "driver" go along on youth trips simply b'cos the youth leader shouldn't have to do both, especially for longer trips. Anyway...
So he arrived home kinda pissy, making us kinda pissy, 'cos we were excited to see him. He stank of gasoline (rental problem) and "camp" and didn't want to "talk" about anything really. So...we left him.
After the kids went to bed, and to his benefit, he did get off the couch and read them a book, we watched the Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, extended version Tape 2. I tried talking to him about Matthias' birthday party this weekend, but all he noticed was that I wasn't "moving my lips when I talk" which according to him (and him only 'cos no one else has ever mentioned it to me, so if you have noticed that I do this, please let me know) I do often and it ticks him off, so we began our "ticked off" time once again. He was mimicking me and I was fuming mad. To the point where he went to bed, I said something about wishing he had never come home, and he snored annoyingly loud once I did get to bed. Jerk. It was kinda funny tho'. At one point, I think it was between 3 and 4 (I didn't get much sleep last night) I noticed the huge gaping space between us. It was like he had his pillow on the nightstand, it was that far over and I was as much IN the wall as I could get. We could've easily fit both the kids in there with us.
So anyway, having little sleep really didn't get things off to a peachy start again this morning. Somehow during the past few hours we've managed to get on a civil level with each other. Despite having one vehicle break down on us in the Peavey Mart parking lot, having to call CAA and getting it towed back home, and the other vehicle in the shop right now getting the tires looked at and hopefully finding the source of a strange (but very loud) banging noise coming from the back end, without raking up too much of a cash total.
I had hoped to possibly go out for supper one night with just him, but I don't know if we'd be able to survive. Let alone the pastor/spouse retreat we're going on next week. Thankfully we'll be in a vehicle with another couple, so that should keep the shouting and name calling to a minimum.

Tomorrow at Mom's we start the sexual intimacy 8 (I'm pretty sure it's an 8 parter) session special with Carolyn Carlton. Should be interesting so I hope to see you there! This friday we're also having our first Mom's Nite Out. We're going for a walk out at the Lil' Red and then heading to Shananigans for dessert/coffee afterward. Meet at the Cosmo Lodge at 6 pm.

cold noses, peanuts and other stuff

It is completely freezing in my basement. The little kids Batman sleeping bag on the couch is looking really tempting right about now.

So this morning at Mom's we had a Life Coach some. She said she wouldn't really call herself a Life Planner, but more a coach. I'm not really sure what she meant, but I'm sure she knows more about the differences than I do. It would be interseting to hear what other Mom's thought about it (so if you read this, and you heard her speak, let me know what you thought!) I know a few who said that they liked the way she spoke. Really down to earth and lots of personal stories. Maybe that's why I wasn't really fond of her, I think she could've covered more in the time she had if she didn't go off a tangent with every point. But that's just me, and odd for me 'cos usually I love it when people tell personal stories. I guess I was just having a bad morning. My nose was cold.

Next week is our first of 6 sessions on Sexual Intimacy (or maybe 8, how bad is that? To be the program co-ordinator and have no idea how many sessions your doing...ugh). You won't want to miss it!

When we got home Matthias wanted to go for a bike ride. That was good. Get some more energy out of them. Then they wanted peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch. So I made them pb & jam. As I'm scooping up some peanut butter Matthias comes up and looks in the jar. "Peanut butter..." he says thoughtfully, "pea..nut butter."
"Yes, "I say. "peanut butter and jam." Totally not cluing in to his "point".
"Is there pee in there?"
"No, "I say, "just peanuts." Can you guess where this is going?
"Penis?"
"No. Pea-NUTS."
"Peanus?"
"Yeah, just nuts."
I hope we both forget this conversation and can move on with our lives.

Onto another topic I sponsor a child thru Compassion. I'm partial to them 'cos I've been on a mission trip with them, and I've seen firsthand what sponsorship can do in the lives of a child and their family. Anyways, once in awhile we get a little Compassion magazine with stories and testimonials of workers, sponsors, etc. Usually I just flip thru them, read the odd article and recycle. But today this one article caught my eye. It was titled "Compassion Works - In a country you've never known." The story is about the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa. It's just a small 3 page article, but enough to pull my heart strings. More children die there from Malaria (from infected mosquitoes) than HIV/AIDS and a mosquito net costs $3.30 or a vaccination costs a mere $0.25 and families can't afford that. Men usually have 2 or more wives with as many as 20 children to help work the fields. Or they sell them for money. A child can bring in as much as $50. For cultural and religious reasons, 3 year old females experience genital mutilation. "It is believed that a mutilated woman is not likely to seek relations outside of marriage." That's terrible! The article goes on to say that a woman will not be viewed as a "complete" woman without the procedure. That's sick! I just can't imagine a place.

I don't often push something, but I'm going to push this. For $35 a month you can get a child off the streets and into a Christian school with proper food and medication. Please check it out. You could save a child's life.

Men In Trees

There's this new show on TV that I find amusing. It's called Men In Trees and stars Anne Heche. I'm not a big fan of hers, but I gave it a shot last week and watched it again tonite. I find it funny. But I think I really enjoy it for all the bug, bushy, "wild" men in it. To briefly summarize Anne's character is a famous relationship coach/author however she failed to see her own fiance cheating on her. So she leaves for a speaking arrangement in Alaska and arrives in this town completely inhabited with men. There are 3 other women, but mainly the town is full of men. Wild, lumberjack type men. And so she decides to move on with her life and learn about herself and men (more so why they act the way they do) and stay in the little "man" village. It's actually filmed in Vancouver, so you could say you have to watch it to support our Canadian economy. Or you could just watch it for the men. The wild, scruffy, lumberjack type men. Anyway, Friday's ABC 7pm (check local listings).

Speaking of wild, scruffy men...I'd like to take this opportunity to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my hubby Steve. I never thought I'd love a hairy man, but he's definately made me fall in love with him.

Thinking

One of our youth, Cory, was rushed to the hospital Tuesday night with a collapsed lung. Steve told me later that he didn't even say good-bye to the kid fully expecting to see him the next day (he's still in I.C.U. and we're praying that he'll fully recover) . Of course we never thought this would happen. You never do. I think sometimes we take for granted the safety of ourselves and those we love, even tho' we never know what's going to happen. I always tell Steve that we can drive as safe as possible on the road, but all it takes is some idiot driver to hit you and it's over. I read somewhere once about this guy who refused to say "good-bye" to anyone, like it was a sort of final farewell. So instead he would say "see you later" or "so long for now". I thought that was pretty cool and for awhile took it up. I've also read that we should always say "i love you" to those we leave b'cos you just never know what might happen. On the flip side, it can get repetitive and be taken for slack, but how would you feel if you didn't and something happened?

I don't know. I hate to live my life always afraid of what might happen. I know I'm ready for it, whatever it is. But at the same time, I want to be able to see my children and their children and hopefully even their children. A good long life of happiness and laughter. I'm sure that's what everyone wants. We just don't all get it.

Or do we?

One down, 12 more to go

Today was the first Mom's Morning Out and I shouldn't really say that. It went well this morning despite some forgetfulness, nervousness and lack of preparedness (if that's even a word) and really it was all on my part. I was wondering why I wasn't that nervous last night. Well I know that I should've been a bit more organized, but mental note, get more organized for next week. And next week...Yikes...it's suppossed to be a life planner, but I've been trying to get ahold of her for a few days now, to make sure we're still good for next Tuesday and I haven't been able to get ahold of her. So hopefully, we get in contact soon and things are still a go for next week.

Callah is another story. Apparently she's up to her old tricks of crying like a madwoman when left alone. Good thing Steve was there for this morning. I don't know what I'll do if she does that again next week. I remember it took months for to get comfortable last year. She's so different from Matthias.

I love this time of year. I love the coolness in the air, the change of colours, the sound of leaves under your feet as you walk (either a "swish" as you sweep them aside or a "crunch/crackle" as you step on them), the fact that there are fewer and fewer bugs to annoy and bite you (altho' last night as I was painting our door, these pesky little flies kept biting my ankles!). I look forward to it every year. Steve always tells me to take advantage of these sunny days, 'cos come winter we'll be stuck inside, but I like winter too. So long as it doesn't get to far below 20 C the kids can still play outside for a bit, get some fresh air, so I'm not too worried yet, but I do try to take advantage of the weather we have, while we still have it.

Matthias will be starting swim lessons soon, and after reading a friends blog about their daughters first swim lesson, I'm not too sure. It will be a different pool tho' so here's hoping it'll be better first experience. He also can't wait for his birthday. Soon he'll be 4. I told him when he's 5 he can start school, so I think he has it in his mind that he'll just skip the age of 4 and go right to being 5. He's so looking forward to starting school, maybe just maybe he can start during the winter. I know he'd love it, but we all have our reasons for if he should go or not.

Callah is still Callah. Eating and getting into everything in sight. A few weeks ago she dropped a 5 lb weight on her toe. Something my kids seem to think is a type of initiation or something as they've both done it, however with Matthias it was a 10 lb-er. Anyway it's still quite swollen and purple, I'll give it a bit longer then maybe get it checked on.

And I've reached the 3 months milestone. Yeah...forgive my lack of exuberance, but I'm already sick of being pregnant and I'm just getting started. Steve is going crazy with everything he should be doing and stuff he wants to do. This time of year always brings about tonnes of furnace jobs and things that have to be done before the snow falls.

And so our life settles back into a routine, the routine of church, work, fun and bits of rest inbetween.

But I still look forward to it all!

NBC and Big Idea

During my afternoon rounds I came across this and wanted to get the word out. Saturday morning cartoons need a good pick me up. So check it out and look for it on Saturday!

not that I'm bragging....

but when I got ready for my shower yesterday after I whacked my back, I noticed something stuck to the inside of my shirt. It was skin from my back where the edges of the drawer had dug into my skin! Sick!!

and yet...kinda cool. Maybe I will take that picture for Steve.

bad day

well. This morning I woke up with a headache. I thought a quick run to the gym would help, but our van was making funny noises so I had to bike. Not that bad I guess. I cut the gym short 'cos I knew Steve had a lot of work to do. Well ok. So the morning wasn't that bad. Callah was super grumpy (looks like all those 6 am wake-up times are finally starting to get to her!) so she went back to bed at 10 am. Of course you probably know what that means. When it came time for her to nap after lunch she was wide awake. This annoyed me incredibly as I was hit with a VERY BAD nauseous feeling right after lunch. Having to clean Callah's poopy diaper (we use cloth and on this particular occasion the liner slid to the front leaving all her poop to squish into the back of the diaper...needing a whole lot of cleaning to get off!) didn't help the vomitous feeling, nor did having to wipe Matthias' bumb after he dropped a load. Finally I was able to lie down and rub my belly. That's when Callah's sleeplessness hit. So fine. I layed there trying to get her to sleep for awhile until I felt better. Finally feeling a bit better I got up to do dishes and some work on the computer. When I returned upstairs I found my lovely daughter playing in playdoh IN MY BED. She had emptied all but one of the 10 containers and was making "shapes" with them IN MY BED. I won't say what happened next. Steve came home shortly after and asked me where his jogging shorts were. I said I had no idea, but helped him look on the floor while he was looking in his dresser. Without thinking I started to get up, not finding his shorts and slammed right into the corner of his open drawers. Nice. I broke down and started to cry. I asked Steve if my back was bleeding, 'cos it sure bloody well hurts and the first thing he said when he saw it was "wow! That's nice! You got the two edges of the dresser cut into your back! Let me grab the camera and take a picture!" I said, "no thank you." (or something like that) and poured myself a drink (of Pepsi...I only wish I could add some rum).

So that's been my last 4 hours really. I hope the rest of the evening goes well. At least I get to go for a dinner meeting and get out for awhile. Excuse me while I go ice my "cool" back.

golf

What is it about golf that make men forget everything and enable them to spend hours walking (when "normal" walking isn't good enough) swinging a club and hitting a little ball as far as they can? I don't get it.

Back into the swing of things

Well our holidays are basically done. We spent last weekend gorging (I'll use that word altho' I'm sure I'm misspelling it) ourselves in Saskatoon once again at McGuire's Irish Pub before heading to Davidson to pick stuff up for my brother who was moving back home (to Regina). The next day we (and I mean Steve and Kris - my brother) moved a bunch of my sister's stuff to her new apartment. Sunday, Steve watched the Labour Day classic, while Amy (my sister) and I watched the timeless classic Clueless (which is based on the Jane Austen classic "Emma"). We fed the ducks and geese while continually avoiding the swarms of wasps (or hornets...I can't tell the difference) that have inhabited the area and made our "routine" trip to Starbucks for coffee and my favourite, a double chocolate chip frappuccino. (Ewww...I just googled it and the nutritional information came up. I won't tell you how much calories are in a grande. Just remember...they sure do taste good!!) Yum!

But as we started our journey (back in S'toon) I heard stories (from the in-law camp trip) that I hadn't heard previously and it got me thinking about how different siblings can be even tho' they were raised the same in the same household. What makes them so different? I've often wondered about that. Growing up I never wanted to drink to get drunk or try smoking or any other drug for that matter. It took me forever to get interested in boys, whereas my sister was interested in makeup and boys in her teens and now has quite a few "wasted" stories to share. I look at Steve and his brother Adam. Complete opposites in EVERY way. One chose the path of alcohol, drugs and sex, while the other had no interest and instead chose youth groups, church camps and friends. Yet they were raised in the same household, by the same mother. And now I see more of Steve's Dad in Adam, even tho' growing up Adam rarely had anything to do with his Dad. So is there something genetic to it? Do we pass on more than our looks to our children? Or is it purely chance and some kids "just get into the wrong crowd"? Sometimes that thought scares me. It's like, I can do all the teaching/preaching I can to my children and they can still choose to turn away from everything I taught them and hope for them. It's almost infuriating.

And so I pray for them, my kids, every night. Pray that God will keep them close and help us, as parents to do our best for them. That's really all we can do. And quite honestly that bugs me. I want to be able to do more.

Sigh.

Mom's Morning Out starts in one week. Did I mention that I'm excited about this fall session? I totally am. You can check out the line-up here. And I will see you at the Registration next week!!

The Lighter Side

Boys will be boys.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the director, "We fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No" said the director, "A normal person would pull the plug ...Do you want a room with or without a view?"

For the record Callah has done this (to herself)...

and this....

and this.

How to Hug a Baby (info for your dog)

ATTENTION ALL DOGS!!!

THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW

Instructions for properly hugging a baby.

1. First, spy a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you spied was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.**Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier.

4. The "paw slide". Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close up.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented "hug, smile, and lean" so as to achieve the best photo quality.Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry, climate controlled environment for the rest of your life.

Good luck to all of you!

I only wish my dog was this talented.

oh, oooh and ugh

I just opened an e-mail from a friend that nearly made me gag. It's a story about a woman who (apparently) wore some new undergarments before washing them and eventually started getting this rash on her breast. It later turned out to be bug larvae embedded in her breast! DISGUSTING! I don't even want to re-look at the picture, and I'm definately NOT posting it on here. The moral of the story and photos are to ALWAYS wash new undergarments before wearing them.

sick.

My nesxt e-mail was from Babyzone with my weekly update. "Week 10: are you feeling a bit moody?" Uh...yeah! Do bee's like honey?

My weekend camping trip was alright. If you forget that it took 3 hours to get there (and there are PLENTY of awesome parks within an hour of PA), all the road construction, the fact that a regional park is no cheaper than a provincial park (AND they charged a $1 for showers!!), that everyone seemed to think something awful about my "whiny", "bratty", "always-get-what-they-want" kids, and that my mother-in-law thinks that drums (or more specifically "anything with a beat") is of the devil. Yeah, so if you forget about all that stuff, the trip was pretty good. I'd recommend Brightsand Regional Park to anyone. But seriously it did have good hiking trails. The beach was pretty good. The sand in the lake was awesome and all the campsites had beachfront "property" instead of cabins. That was nice. So I guess take what you want to remember and try to forget about the rest.

S-E-X

There, now that I have your attention I can tell you that this has absolutedly nothing to do with sex. We had our first Mom's meeting yesterday and it went really well. I was completely off with the whole "relationship" thing. The "special topic" is all about sexual intimacy and all that covers. So yeah, sex might just be in there a bit, and yeah, so will relationships, but there will also be a WHOLE lot more to learn. Like I said before, I'm TOTALLY looking forward to this fall semester at Mom's.

Tomorrow I head off to go camping with the in-laws. I write that with a huge sigh as I'm just not completely looking forward to it. I thought I was, but things in the homefront are a wee bit stressful, and I just know that'll carry on into the weekend. It's hard enough getting along with one family, but when you put 3 disfunctional families together, its guaranteed to be an "interesting" weekend. Of course I could be completely wrong and the next 3 days could be heavenly. In which case I will eat a mushroom (which makes me vomit) if the weekend goes by without any hitch or argument. As Dixie as my witness.

Now to pack.

I'll see ya'll on the other side.

Potty Conversation

"Mom, I have to take a poop."
"Alright, just go. You don't have to ask buddy."
"Ok."
(little feet walk to bathroom, pull down gitch and shorts and sits on potty)
"Here it comes!"
"I heard a splash!"
"Ooohhh, it's stinky!!"
"Matthias! We don't need a commentary!"
"Oh. Ok."

Just thinking

Sorry I got completely thrown off track in my thoughts here.

A few days ago we found out some good friends of ours are expecting their 3rd! Congrats Luke and Erin! We also found out that she has thyroid cancer. You can read about it here. I know prayers would be welcome.

On some Mom's News : The new year begins September 12th. I'm really looking forward to it, as it's not something we've ever done before. The whole Fall session will be about you: a Mom, daughter, sister and wife and relationships and how to take care of ourselves. We're having a guest speaker do 3- 2 week "specials" (sorry I know that's not the right word, but it's all I can think of) dealing with our marriage and relationship with our husbands. Like I said, I'm really looking forward to it. Every time I talk to her she gets me totally hyped up and I can't wait. So that all starts with Registration Day on September 12th.
The Fall Clothing Sale is September 22. I highly recommend helping out. Not only do you get to shop early (hey first dibs on kids stuff is pretty sweet!) but you also get to just experience the whole thing which blows my mind every time I help out. The amount of people who come through those doors. I tell ya, you'll never see as many pregnant women anywhere, in one spot, as you do there. It's really neat.

There, not bad for having very little sleep all week eh? I hate my neighbours. I wish the earth would crack open and swallow them up.

As you can tell, I'm also working on being a better Christian. I know that's totally cliche, but I'm realizing more and more that I have an evil mind (altho' I did this test and was named merely "twisted") and I'm trying to change that. I know that you can't really see a difference yet, but I assure you, I am trying. So please pray for me and my wicked ways.

Now I think I should go for a nap while my kids are still sleeping.

barf

I hate being pregnant. If there's one thing I hate about the whole pregnancy/labour thing, it's the whole 9 month pregnant stage. I hate it. If there was a way I could beam out of my life for those months and then magically re-appear to give birth, I'd do it. I hate not being able to sleep on my belly, and yes, I know I'm only 2 months, but it already hurts if I lay on my belly for a long period of time. I hate that I'm ALWAYS hungry and then when I eat, I feel like throwing it all back up. I hate brushing my teeth, b'cos it seems like the very act of brushing my tongue makes me gag in enormous proportions. I hate always being tired. I hate it when you finally feel like eating and do so, someone close to you says, "they don't really mean it when they say you should eat for 2." Yeah thanks.

Sigh,

I thought for sure this time I'd enjoy it.

On another note. The past 2 nites I've been laying in bed, being uncomfortable, and thinking. It seems like alot of people around us are being diagnosed with cancer. Some of them beating it, some still fighting and some loosing. We just found out yesterday that a friend of ours has thyroid cancer. She's also 3 months pregnant. It got me kinda depressed and wondering how can you beat this? How can you avoid getting cancer? It seems like everyone is getting it. I know some pretty "psycho" health nuts who have cancer. So how do you avoid it? It just seems like soon, if you live to die of old age, that'll be the abnormal. And that worries me. I want my kids to grow up and live long lives knowing their grandparents. I want Steve and myself to be able to grow and see our great-grandchildren grow. But is that possible?

I hope so.

I pray that it is.

Alright, alright, alright

I wasn't going to say anything, but I just think this is so cool. Dixie got me hooked on this website and I've been checking it out every few days.

I'm pregnant.

This is what it looks like.

"alien baby" indeed. Cool eh?

So here we go again.

Back...for now

A friend sent me this picture. I don't know where she got it, and I'm pretty sure it's not her kid, but it's funny all the same. Callah has done this before. Not as bad, but she's found my "collection" and made a nice path from the bathroom to the living room.

Well we're back for a week. I'd like to say for good. But it seems we (by "we" I mean "Steve") agreed to go camping with my in-laws for a week (really, would I agree to something like that?) so that's up for the week of Aug 21-25. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it. I'd really just like to stay home, altho' now that I think of it, the kids next door are getting more ballsy and more annoying so maybe a week away might do some good. Altho' the in-law thing causes a damper and to top it off I can't drink, b'cos if only I could it would make it that much more enjoyable.

So the holidays were a blast. The kids loved the Calgary Zoo. My sister had taken them to see Megamunch in Regina before we left, and they were quite terrified. In contrast the dinosaurs at the Zoo were nice 'cos they were quite dinosaurs. That was a definate highlight as well as seeing the giraffes and zebras for some reason. Those are all Matthias talks about. WestEd was fun also. Of course there's the sea lions show, and GalaxyLand (which turned out quite well as Callah got on rides for free and had to be accompanied by an adult who also got on rides for free!). The actual reason for our trip, a Reid family mini-reunion in Sherwood Park, was simply a good time added onto the rest of the week.

The kids travelled great and the van is still chugging. All in all a good time.

I'm so glad to be home!

tired

So tired. So very tired.

What made me think I could do 3 weeks of holiday with only 2 nights of sleep in my own bed?

What made me think handling 2 kids (under 4) with messed up schedules would be easy?

Must find energy.

Must enjoy myself.

Must make the most of every minute.

Must go to a movie.

thoughts from week 1

1. I swear I'll NEVER forget diaper rash cream again.

Ever.

Even if I don't have kids, so that if some other uncaring, evil parent forgets their diaper cream, I'll be able to offer them mine.

2. It's a loooong walk from the tent to the outhouse piggybacking a near 4 yr old at any time of day.

3. Kids eat sand. Sand scratches up bum. Which leads to point #1.

4. Sunsets are always beautiful up north.

5. Mosquitoes like backs and bums. Always spray repellant on the area of your back that becomes exposed when you bend forward and your shirt rides up your back a bit.

6. PB & J is always a good thing to eat. No matter what meal it is.

And finally (well there are many high/bad lights but these are just the ones I can think of right now) when you feel that you should go home, follow your instincts and go home early. It's usually better than staying, freaking out and causing more pain that was necessary to make.

A week here and there

Yesterday we celebrated Callah's 2nd birthday with some close friends and family. I'd have to say it was a good time, altho' I can't read minds, so who knows what other people thought. She may be miserable and sickly of late (to prove this, she puked up something incredibly stinky and nasty at about 3 am last night) but I love our little angel. Who knew she could get so incredibly dirty while eating, or create something truly "special" with a bottle of ketchup and a spoon. That she'd love her thumb so much it takes an "army " of fingers to pry it from her mouth. And that she'd delight us in unimaginable ways with her laughter, her non-stop questions, and overall cuteness. So here's to you Callah girl, may God bless you richly and may you always know we love you!


Call me crazy, but today I'm heading out camping for a week with our youth group (7 of them) AND our 2 kids. I'm still having doubts. It'll be an adventure if nothing else.

Then when we get back from that, we have a day to regroup and repack before we head down to Katepwa (near Regina) for a week at a cabin with my parents.

Then we'll head to Regina (not home to PA) to regroup and rewash before finally heading to Calgary and Edmonton for our family vacation.

I already can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. Pray for me! ;-)

what would you do?

9:45 am

It's been a busy morning.

8:17 am - Matthias comes into our room and says, "Callah's making a mess with the ketchup."

8:40 am - We listen to the kids rendition of the Veggietales theme song (which includes a bunch of screaming and head bobbing from Callah)

9:07 am - The 3 of us watch as Callah turns in circles, falls down, has difficulty getting up and then does it all over again.

9:23 am - Matthias throws a blanket over Steve's head, gives Steve directions on where to walk, and Callah has a blanket over her head hanging onto Steve's leg.

and here we are...9:49 am and the kids are playing hide-n-go-seek.

blowup dragons

It was really hot today. Sickly hot. Humid hot. I hate hot hot. The kind where you go outside and the air is thick. Granted it's not as bad as down south (Florida-ish) but too hot for me. So thinking of cooling off the kids and I went hunting for pool toys (you know, in the odd chance we ever own a house with a pool). We went to JYSK, Dollar Store, Wal-Mart and Liquidation World. We actually bought a blue ring with handles at the $1 store and a baby floaty thing (which wound up having a hole in it, so we took it back, I really don't know why I bought it anyway as the weight limit was 25 lbs and Callah is nearly 30...wishfull thinking I guess) . Then at Wal-Mart we found this cool "easy ride dragon" for $6.95 (which I thought was a good deal, and I still do, so please don't tell me if it's not). Of course the kids couldn't wait to get home and blow it up so they could ride it. Funny as hell. They would sit on this thing and rock it back and forth, then it would flip and they'd be flat on their backs. Well, to me it was funny, I guess you had to be there. They wanted to take it to the park thingys (every day of the week at local parks here in PA, they have a "hang-time" where they have games, snacks, and water in a paddling pool from 1-5-ish...it's pretty cool) but I said they couldn't. Of course, now I'm the "bad Mommy".
Whatever, so we get to the park, there wasn't too many kids there (Hazeldell area, I was given the "411" that there weren't going to be many kids) and my kids completely forget about any blow-up toys the second they hit the water and start splashing. Fun, fun!! The only thing I'd have to add is that I stepped on a piece of glass in the pool. It broke the skin and went in pretty good. I'm just glad I found it and not some 2 year old.

Hmmm...that could be a weight thing. Maybe if I hadn't had that revel bar at lunch, the glass wouldn't have gone in so deep. We'll never know...

I'd still recommend the parks thingy. Just maybe let them run around in sandals.

driveby's

I love plums.

*Yeesh. As a side note, a few minutes ago the sun was shining and there were few clouds. After sitting down here a bit, watching the weather station, seeing thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next 36 hours, and then looking outside to see dark grey clouds, I'm thinking it was a good thing I took down the tents.*

Right.
I love plums. I love how sweet, soft and juicy they are. How when you take your first bite, the juice runs down your chin. They're just so good. On the few occasions I've had the luxury of going to the West Coast, one of the highlights has always been buying fresh fruit at one of the roadside stands. Plums, peaches, and cherries. Yum. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

I think it's time we head out west again.

sleepless in PA

Last week Steve was away at a church camp. The kids and I had planned to go along, but more kids than we had planned on signed up (which is a good thing) so there was no room for us. Which was fine. My parents were coming up to stay with my Grandma, so I knew that I wasn't going to be totally "out there". I don't know about you, but when Steve leaves over night I have the worst sleeps. I try everything. Staying up late till I can't possibly stay up another minute-being so tired that I'll just collapse into bed completely unconscious, drinking alcohol (same result), grabbing a pillow and pretending it's Steve (the "cuddle" factor), and sleeping with one or both of the kids. I honestly don't know how I got thru the week.

Then of course when he gets back, having another body in bed again, throws me off and I couldn't sleep anyway. The next night Matthias was up sick from 2 am to about 8 am. I don't know how he manages to stay so active on VERY little sleep, me on the other hand, was a complete zombie yesterday. To complete the sleepless nights, last night Steve went to bed at 10 pm, but me, in my so called "infinite wisdom" had a nap yesterday making me less than sleepy last night, so I stayed up to watch the 2nd half of A&E's Pride and Prejudice. Again resulting in an after midnite bedtime, to which God answered with a vicious thunderstorm that woke both the kids screaming postponing my bedtime to after 2 am. As much as I love thunderstorms...well I'm just to tired to continue that thought.

And of course there's no EDO being a Mother, so there's plenty of stuff I have to get done today, so the nap is looking pretty slim, and the kids still have an abundance of energy. I think I'll take them to the park anyway and try to drain them a bit. Might make my day a little easier in the long run.

If you're in the PA area, next Thursday (20th) is the annual KIDZFEST at Kinsmen Park. I've taken the kids the past 2 years. There's cheap food and drinks (either $0.25 or $0.50) lots of games and activities for the kids to play and participate in. It's definately a good way to kill an afternoon. So mark it on your calendars and hope to see you there!

"Mom."

Today Matthias started calling me "Mom". For some reason it makes me kinda sad. Like he doesn't "need" me anymore. Like he's all grown up. I miss being his "Mommy".

sand, beer and men in tights

We had a really good anniversary last week. Makes the 5 years of marriage worth it. Hopefully it was productive as well (more on that hopefully soon!). The weather was stupid hot so the pool and waterslide were a cool comfort after a day of shopping. True to my mother-in-law's word she booked us at the Days Inn. Here's my hotel plug, if you want an enjoyable stay, this would be my choice. They also had a good breakfast selection and the price wasn't too far out there. It's also a CAA/AAA choice hotel. We had the best burgers at McGuires Pub in S'toon. If you're ever in the area you gotta try these burgers. They are so HUGE. Thursdays just happen to be their beer/burger night. You get a choice of 3 burgers and a choice of a 12 oz. beer for $6.95 (burgers are regularly $7.95 and beer is $3 something). Like I said, awesome deal. Then we went and saw Superman. I tell ya, nothing gets a girl in the mood like seeing a man in tights. And the actor who played Superman, well, by the end of the movie, I was ready to faint. What a great guy!! So that was our anniversary. The next day we hit Princess Auto (yeah!!) then went to pick up the kids and found out that Callah had dunked a 3 week old kitten in a bucket of oil.

When we got home I found out that my Grandma had been admitted to the hospital. My parents came up the next day and it's been non-stop action ever since. Today we just came back from the beach. I think Callah is finally over her fear of not seeing her feet in the water. But boy, was it funny when she was. We weren't home but 10 minutes when she pooped and tried to take her diaper off herself. That was disgusting. Now after a quick shower (for Callah) I left them upstairs eating apples and cheeze. Suppose I should go check on them. She has a habit of doing things she shouldn't. Like spraying disinfectant on the floor until there's actually a puddle. Or opening the playdoh and rolling it on the carpet. Or my favourite, helping herself to the juice in the fridge and winding up dumping it on the floor.

Tomorrow it's suppossed to be 37 degrees C.

Ugh.

tank tops

With the weather being so hot nowadays, I find it hard to not wear a tank top. I've never been a huge fan of them. I don't think I even wore them really until I was like 18. I used to always cut off the sleeves of old T-shirts. It wasn't until I married Steve that I actually bought and wore a spaghetti strap tank top. I don't know, I just don't like looking down and all I see is boobs.

hot fun in the summertime

Well yesterday morning I had 2 screaming kids before 9 am. I was pretty tempted to call beach day off, but thought, why should I not "enjoy" my day just b'cos of 2 screaming kids? I shook off the obvious reasons and saw only 1 thing on my "lisa-vision": the beach. So we packed up all our stuff, gave Callah some Tylenol and cough medicine and went to pick up Dixie, Madeline and Luke. After loading up their stuff, a quick stop at the office, the Co-op and Tim's we were on our way.
The trip there was fine enough. No major fits or tantrums. It wasn't until we actually hit the beach that they occurred. Matthias had a complete fit when he saw Madeline carrying the bag of beach toys. Apparently carrying lawnchairs wasn't exciting enough for him. So after a brief "time-out" he returned to the "party" and we all had a good time. The water was beautiful, only one leech was found, lunch went over great (rather than making sandwiches for the kids we cut up a bunch of stuff and they could munch on a little bit of everything in a cup. It worked great!), Callah and Luke waited until we were almost ready to leave before they pooped in their swimmers. It was just a really good time. I think we can definately do this again sometime. Way better than sitting at home going stir crazy!
But that's just my opinion. Dixie took some pic's so we'll see if she downloads them and hear her side of the story.

Then we came home and had a $6 large pepperoni pizza from Domino's. The kids had baths and went to bed early. It was a great day.

But then the day ended. And of course, most good things have to come to an end. Steve's been working his butt off trying to get things ready for camp (which starts on the 2nd of July - 8th, then again from the 17-21) and a lady from church asked him to put some new flooring in. He's been gone from 8 am to 10:30 pm, sometimes later, and I'm just tired of him being tired. I like to talk to my husband from time to time. So that created a bit of friction last night. There always seems to be friction near our anniversary. For once I think I'd just like to enjoy it. That would be nice.

You see Steve and I met 5 years ago in February. 5 months after that we got married. 6 months after that we found out we were pregnant (not planned). 5 months later we moved. 6 months later we moved again. 6 months later we moved one last time. In that 2 year period we went through 6 jobs between us. I honestly didn't think we'd make it to our first anniversary. I admit I'm an emotional person. Since getting married, we've seen friends get married and would always ask them if their "honeymoon period" was over yet. They'd always say no. Which made us feel like dirt, 'cos I think our "honeymoon period" lasted the span of our honeymoon. Of course, since then I've also heard from alot of people that their first year of marriage was anything but pleasant as well. Which is encouraging. Sure we've had our ups and downs. Since we've stopped moving, things have gotten better. More settled. More happier and uplifting. Babies have been planned and not a complete surprise. I can still say that he's a dream come true. I mean after all, not every guy will shave a leg for you if you ask him.

So, Steve, thanks for the past 5 years and I hope there will be plenty more and never a dull
moment.

oh yeah

I thought I'd throw this link on here too. Something Dixie threw my way. Check it out if your interested in that sort of thing.

beach day

Well tomorrow Dixie and I are going to attempt to take our 4 kids to the beach for the afternoon. I'll just leave it at that and I'm sure you'll hear about it afterwards, from both of us. Let your imaginations take control until then.

Chow!

Happy Sunday

I don't usually update or do anything remotely linked to a computer on Sunday, but the rest of my household is sleeping and I was told to NOT make any noise, so I went downstairs and here I am. I checked out this link courtesy of Dixie and laughed out loud (but not too loudly...). Like she said it might be a little crude, but worth checking out (especially this post). I've also added the link on the side for easy access. Enjoy!

dirty hands

Just a few moments ago I offered Matthias some cake and ice cream. We had just finished eating corn on the cob. He said, "no, I have to wash my hands first." So he went and washed his hands. Then he had cake...and had to wash his hands again. Then he had some ice cream. Does anybody else's kid do this???

KY

I just went upstairs to check on my kids and Callah had the lid off our KY and was playing on the couch. The tube was almost empty. I'm pretty sure there should be more in the tube. So now I'm wondering where did it all go?

Golf

Of course these are almost a month old already. I've been looking for them. I finally found them, and so here they are. The gang's all there: Renita, Bonnie, Kathryn, Wendy, Wendy, and Crystal. Bonnie wins for being the only one to wind up in a sandpit AND (believe it or not!) the one who took the biggest chunk out of the grass! Way to go Bonnie!! It was alot of fun, wish you had been here! Hopefully we'll see you out there with us next time (I'm thinking about making it an annual thing)!!

one more thing

what do you ladies think of this?

More thoughts....on the weekend and on nothing

Going back to the weekend (if you'd like to skip this part, skip down to here) I've never been around people1 talking to people2 on the phone as people2 are being pulled over by the cops as much as I have been this past weekend. I'm in awe of people who are in their 40-50's and don't have a care in the world so they spend as much as they can on booze and smokes. How do they do that? I'm also in awe of people who can't spend a weekend away from their Sony Playstation. Maybe I've just lived a sheltered life down there in Regina and don't know how the world really lives. I just don't know.

This morning I woke up to Matthias telling Callah to not eat yogurt in the living room. Tonite we're moving Matthias to the top bunk. I'm feeling impatient. He seems to be up and down with peeing the bed. He'll go for a dry week, then he'll have accidents every night for a few days, now he's on another dry streak. So whatever. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon saying we moved him back down.

Why is it that when you want to get pregnant, you can't?

I hate periods. I've always hated periods. They're disgusting and a total nuisance. I always ask Steve how he'd like to be leaking... (and I'll just leave it at that 'cos I can be quite disgusting sometimes). I don't care how evil we were in the Garden, I really don't think it's fair to have periods and all that includes and the ordeal of childbirth. Men have it so easy.

Going back to that pregnancy bit. So now we have to try again for another whole month. I was so looking forward to being pregnant and I hate being pregnant. I'm so disappointed.

I hate periods.

The weekend

Well the drive to North Battleford was nice.

That wasn't the only thing of course. True it is a road we don't take very often so the change of scenery was nice, the music was nice (I finally got to listen to my music on the MP3 player), and the kids were sleeping (which always leads to a good drive).

That leaves the actual weekend itself. Well. Okay so we when we get there, the people that are there are (about 10 people or so) look like they've been drinking since noon (we arrived at 4-ish). Everything we were supposed to arrive early for and do, was done already. Steve's Dad comes up to us, giddy like a drunken 50 yr. old (oh wait! He is a drunken 50 yr old!) and tells us that his longtime, live-in girlfriend (7 yrs) and him are getting married tomorrow. What??!! This coming from a guy who said he'd never get married again. Apparently hell froze over and he was getting married again. So good on them. His girlfriend, who the kids call Grandma Moe (Maureen) is a super nice woman. We honestly couldn't be happier for them. I just hope that the rings and it being legal and all doesn't freak them out and they split. I know too many long timers who have lived together and then got married and split. Not good.

So that was alright. We had agreed to sleep in a tent trailer in the back yard. Upon realizing that there was actually going to be a wedding in the garage not 10 ft away, I was beginning to rethink that agreement. Sure enough, Friday night due to the overall loudness of 20 some people drinking and having a good time and the fact that the highway is only a block up from their house, I'd say we had a good 2 hours of sleep (kids included). To keep this short and sweet, we booked a hotel for the next night.

It was an alright weekend. Not the worst weekend ever, nor by far, was it the best. Gas was 99 cents/litre which was super sweet. We ate lots of good food and everyone showed up and arrived home safely... so far as we know. And it was really good to get home and sleep in our own bed.

For some reason, I can't wait for July.

vomit

Well he did it. Matthias coughed so much that he spewed chunks. The best part tho' (if there can be a best part about vomit) was that I was in the shower at the time, so I missed everything. I could just shower and laugh at the sound of Steve gagging as he had to clean the mess up and Callah hitting the BuzzLightyear buttons. So picture this, Matthias crying, Steve gagging and the sound of "I'm Buzz Lightyear!! I come in peace!" echoing throughout our house.

It was a long night.

Afterthought

I forgot to mention that Steve and I watched "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" last night. It was Steve's first time, but I had seen it a couple of times before. There's something about movies like that, that I really enjoy. It has nothing to do with the actual concept or idea, but rather the woman's character. I love Kate Winslet's character. I wish I could be full of spunk like that and able to dye my hair with my moods. Same with "Sweet November". I love Charlize Theron's character. In both cases they do really spontaneous crazy stuff and live for the moment. Now I know that "living for the moment" can be dangerous and somehow un-God like, but there are times that I wish I could just be like that. Free to do whatever, whenever.

Time

For some reason I always find the time to sneak peaks at other people's blogs, while finding little time to update my own. Or maybe it's the fact that our dog keeps jumping our 8 ft high fence and digging up my garden forcing me to redo it over and over and over. Or maybe the fact that Callah has another ear infection and Matthias has a cold...again. Or could be just my lack of self worth, thinking "who in their right mind would be reading this?"

Anyway, I think I've mentioned before that I'm trying to hook up a good, clean, Christian based sex video for Mom's Morning Out in the fall. So far, I'm having no luck. We did this Marriage Uncensored series last year and one of the videos was called "The Top Ten Questions About Sex" (which was tabooed so we never actually go to watch it). A few nights ago a friend and I watched it to see what was so "taboo-ey" about it. We couldn't really see anything wrong (maybe we're just so warped it didn't affect us), nor was the video what I really had in mind anyway. So I'm still looking.

Last weekend we spent a night with the in-laws in S'toon. Not only did we have an irate "conversation" about Steve and I drinking (and I still shake my head in disbelief upon remembering) but also about women in ministry and evangelizing to people. I can't believe how "messed up" (I say that knowing it's not the word I'm thinking of, but can't think of anything else to describe her) she is. How Kent Hovind is as good as God in her books and every other author or person is nowhere near as good or Godly as he is. And I can't believe how EVERY time we go for a visit she ALWAYS brings up a family who has 8-12 kids and they were all homeschooled. Who cares? To top of the "visit from hell" it was raining all weekend, so the kids were running around the house like electricuted mice on speed. I will say this tho', they do make good popcorn! This weekend will also be a weekend to look forward to, as we hit Steve's other side in N. Battleford. Usually I don't mind visiting his Dad (who turns the big 5-0). If anything I feel totally relaxed to be who I am, but it's the fact that I know Steve's brother is going to be there. Him and I just don't get along very well. I'll leave it at that. And having to spend a whole weekend there is something that I'm just not looking forward to.

Of course in comparison, I think my family looks like angels coated in sugar. But you'd have to ask Steve what he thinks. So pray for me this weekend as I take my snotty nosed, coughing kids to a 50th birthday party that is sure to be anything but dull.

Confession time

That's right. I... am... a bear. And I sure feel like it this morning. After a grumpy, moody night (where alcohol, buttery popcorn and a Hugh Grant movie were involved) I can honestly say that I am still in a moody funk. I admit that I've always struggled with a bit of depression. And I REALLY hate that. I know that it's a totally selfish thing to do and completely not what a "child" of God should do. Regretably tho', I do. It comes in complete waves. Doesn't last very long, but when it comes, it comes and whoa!! Look out!!

So last night my bible study was suddenly cancelled. We had a free babysitter that we didn't want to let go to waste, so I called up a friend and we went to see The Break-Up. (Here's another little confession. 8 years ago I had a poster of Vince Vaughn where he was coming out of a pool and his dress shirt was clinging to his body.) I thought it was really good. Something every husband should go see. See in the movie, Jenn's character doesn't feel appreciated of all the things that she does (willingly without thinking) for Vince's character. (LIGHT BULB MOMENT) Of course I foolishly thought of my own marriage and how under-appreciated I felt. That led to the feeling that I should be the one appreciative of Steve for even wanting to marry a schmuck like myself. Which inturn led to a landslide of other negative thoughts too shameful to mention.

And where do I go to from here? I know all the sunday school answers and I know that this too shall pass. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I think I'll just leave off here for now

I have decided

that this is what I'll look like when I get older.

My Mom gave this to me.

"A woman who creates and sustains a home, and under whose hands children grow up to be strong and pure men and women, is a creator second only to God." - Helen Hunt Jackson.

So much to say

...little time to say it. Last week was crazy busy. I suppose it didn't help matters on Thursday when I begged Steve to take us out to Candle Lake for some R&R. Did I say "R&R"? How foolish, I should know by now that when you have kids, R&R doesn't exist anymore! But the day was beautiful none the less. The sky was clear blue, the water icy cold and the sand was...well the sand was smooth under our feet. The kids loved it, cold water or no cold water. Both of them, at different times, dived right in only to resurface with teeth chattering. And you can't go to the lake without having a weiner roast, so we had our weiner roast. Then, of course, you can't go to Candle Lake without stopping at the restaurant for large ice cream cones for dirt cheap. Yes the day was a VERY good example of living spontaneously and seizing the moment.

Friday I ran the Relay For Life. One thing I learned about myself is that I am no good to anything living after 36 hours of no sleep. And 3 hours of sleep won't help much either. But otherwise I'd do it again next year with some new ideas thanks to lessons learned.

I found this in a magazine and wanted to summarize it. It's all about how to make Mom's feel and look good.

Glow for it - just 20 minutes of exercise (yes chasing children is included) will increase blood flow to your face resulting in a radiant, fresh-faced glow (of sweat!! ha ha ha... I added that myself)
Update your mane - Get a good haircut. Rule of thumb: never leave the salon with a stylish new do you can't easily recreate in your own bathroom.
Switch channels - Next time you run an errand be sure to have your favourite music programmed in that'll make you pump your hands in the air and open the sunroof (who does this?) You'll be surprised (and so will those around you!) at how liberating 10 minutes fo your fav music can be. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face!
Lash out - Makeup artists will tell you the key to opening up tired eyes is curl those lashes!
Stay in condition - Take the 2 mins in the shower to let that conditioner soak in. Your hair will be softer, shinier and healthier for it.
Get an eye full - Grab a couple slices of cucumber and place them on your eyes. No cukes? Place a cold, damp clean washcloth over both eyes and lay back and relax for a few minutes.
Raise your hands - If you have time get a manicure. No time? Soak your nails in lemon juice to get rid of stains, then use a nail buffer to make them shine.
Follow your nose - A quick mist of a fresh, clean scent in the morning works wonders to jumpstart your day. Some energizing scents to try include jasmine, bergamot, hyacinth and basil.


So there you go. Don't forget Kinsmen tomorrow!