dog days

I'm not really sure what "dog days of summer" actually means, but for my purposes, this is what I refer to as the "dog days of summer". You know the time when school starts up again. Groups start up again. If you go camping, wearing a toque to bed is a necessity. You don't have to cut the grass quite as often. You don't salivate every time you drive by DQ, or the local cone shop (well okay, maybe you're one of those people that live off of ice cream even in the winter...well good on you!) and slurpees are no longer your favourite drink of choice (again, maybe you're one of those people that like to stand in the freezing cold of winter sucking on a slurpee b'cos you honestly believe that by making your insides really cold it will somehow make you actually feel warm). The leaves start to turn colours and you have to start worrying about frostbite on your baby tomatoes. The temperature is a steady 15 - 20 degree C, which amazingly enough feels quite cool. So cool that you find yourself wearing slippers and a nice cozy bunnyhug with the hood over your head (sadly remembering that only a few months earlier this same temperature made you believe it was indeed summer causing you to dust off your tank tops and shorts).

Yes these are my dog days of summer.


I went for a massage yesterday. I might've cried and I think I stopped breathing 3 times. It sure felt good.

Mom's Morning Out starts up again soon. September 11 to be exact. 9:30 am at the Alliance Church. Check out the link on the side for the hot topics.

minute by minute

I seem to be waging a war with myself on an emotional battlefield lately (hurting those around me in the process) and the best piece of advice I received today was to just take things minute by minute.

Right now that sounds about all I can do.

"take me to your leader..."

Yeah, Keziah's already a real head turner...and she's only 5 months!

So this is how you do it....

Well according to Mr. Clear Blue (thankfully) I am not pregnant. However, I cannot say that taking the test was quite exciting. I can see why people get addicted! I was really nervous at first, this being my first test I've ever taken before. I didn't want to take it too soon, but then they say they need the first urine of the day (and now I'm wondering, do you really want to know about this?) and I was actually loosing sleep over the whole situation until I finally got up and took the stupid thing. To be honest I'm a little disappointed. For some sick reason the thought of having another baby right away was kind of exciting. But whatever. I'm not, so you can all rest easy now that you know.

And last week Steve and I took the youth group and our own 2 kids camping at Narrow Hills. It was alot of fun as I knew it would be. Some of the highlights were the fact that our 2 kids were the ONLY kids that caught fish the entire week. I wasn't out in the canoe with them, but I hear it was quite the event. I guess they (the kids) were fine reeling the fish in and then watching as Steve slugged it unconscious, but when the fish jumped again Callah just freaked and wouldn't stop screaming until they landed back on shore. I wish I had seen it. We had a hard time getting her to pose with her big catch. This was as close as she would get. And always a sucker for sunsets, this is why I love camping. Matthias also did us proud once again but climbing the fire lookout tower. I don't know how much truth there is to this, but I heard someone say that he was the youngest person to ever climb it, which he did last year at the age of 3. That's him, 2nd from the bottom, green shirt.

And now reality is once again upon us and Keziah has been fussy ever since we picked her up from the sitters on Friday. I don't know what special gift that family had so I'll just leave it to the luck of the English. That accent must hold some sort of magical power to soothe. Maybe we'll just play some Sean Connery movie over and over until she settles (and yes, I know he's not English, but who can resist that voice??).

Wind down

There's nothing like a cold drink to take the edge off an emotionally stressful, dusty, hot, tiring long weekend at your step-father-in-laws family reunion.

there's a reason

If you check around, there's not alot of blog action happening around the web these days. I'm blaming it on the heat (as I sit here, all stinky and sweaty...yes I know I have to shower). If all else fails, blame everything on the heat, that's what I say. That and the fact that our household has just been busy. Here's what we've been up to...

As it turns out Callah didn't eat the sea shells. A few weeks after the incident we found the shells in a cubby hole in the van. Matthias was ecstatic and claimed Callah was his hero for the rest of the day.

Keziah is teething and a drooly mess.

We spent a week in Regina, where we checked out Chuck E Cheese for the first time. What a hit! I'm glad they're still young enough to know that it's not about how many tickets you get, but how much fun you have. Right?

We then spent a week at my parent's cabin at Marean Lake. Where we went minnow fishing EVER SINGLE DAY at least 2x a day. Now I gotta tell you, the funniest part of this whole experience was when Callah fell off the dock into the lake. She completely freaked out! Matthias and I were on the next dock and I started to run towards her, but when I realized that the water only came up to her chest, I slowed down a bit. She was fine. We also caught a few frogs and a crawfish (which Matthias still believes to be a "baby lobster"). Lots of "cool" wildlife and a week well spent.

Immediately following our return was Callah's 3rd birthday. You know the phrase "it's my party I can cry if I want to..."? Well she took it literally and not only cried, but pooped on the sidewalk (in her swimsuit) and threw up her cake in the new pool her dad bought her! It will be a birthday to remember (for us anyway).

Add onto that with a few melting hot days, a hot trip to Waskesui for the day, a 24 hour whirlwind trip to Regina, a box of ice cream sandwiches, a slurpee a day (thank goodness for 99 cent refill cups!), the start of Pablum for the Kez, and me literally thrusting my body forward 2-3 times a week wildly flailing my arms around trying to continue on with my running (or more accurately jogging)...believe me, it's not a pretty sight. And that's what we've been up to.

Now if you'll excuse me, my eyelids hurt and and I have to wash off this layer of sweat before the next one starts to stick.

heartburn...a cause for concern

I know normally heartburn wouldn't be a big deal, but you see, for me I only get heartburn when I'm pregnant. So last night, when I had some heartburn, I was a little concerned. I asked Steve, "wouldn't it be funny if I was pregnant?" He just kinda dry laughed and it was one of those funny/scary moments, not really a funny ha ha moment. And it doesn't really help that I haven't had my period yet since going off the breastfeeding.

I suppose I should drink now while I can...

And on another positive note, at least I'd be done.

mmmbblllaahhhhhhhhh....

for those who don't know...that's the sound of me melting.

I don't do well in heat.

Callah

Three years ago today I was dreading the impending thought of possibly being induced the following morning. Already 14 days overdue, the doctors didn't want to wait any longer and looking back, I was pretty ready to get this baby out too.

I remember shopping at Sobeys and then heading back home for supper and a relaxing evening on the couch watching TV and the thunderstorm approaching from the north west. A few hours later and about 15 minutes into America's Funniest Videos I started having some contractions. They were a little tense, so I timed them to the clock on the VCR. I finally told Steve and my folks (who were in town at the time) that I think this baby is finally ready to be born! 4 hours later out popped little Callah and we've never been the same since!

(unfortunately Steve and I were never very technologically advanced so we didn't - and still don't- have a digital camera, so I went back as far as we have on cd and these are some of the best that I can come up with...)



Life with you has been anything but dull. Happy 3rd Birthday my little princess.


I know you'll stop eating things you shouldn't soon.

a little delay

I know it's been a while and you may be thinking "she's been gone, like, forever and this is what she posts when she gets back?" (or maybe not...) but I swear I have more to say, just not enough time right now.

Anyway...

TICK WARNING!
I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it
myself a couple of times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's
important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e- mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due
to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around
with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.



I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

sea shells

"Mom! Callah took my sea shells!"
"Callah where are Matthias' sea shells?"
"In my belly."
"No really. Where are the shells?"
"In my belly." She points to her belly.
"Oh no, you didn't." I look at my daughter. "Callah, did you eat the sea shells?"
She nods her head yes.
I put my head in my hands and sigh.

This is my daughter.

fred the fly

Today we mourn the death of fred the fly who was brutally murdered by a 2 year old girl early this morning. It would appear that fred flew out of nowhere and scared the little girl who ran and got a pretty blue fly swatter and proceded to "fwap" poor fred until there were little pieces of him everywhere. Fred will be sadly missed by his hundreds of relatives.

*the reason this is so notable is that it's her first "kill". She was pretty excited.

the cereal game

I've been wanting to post this for awhile, but never did. Until now. Lucky you.

Every morning I have this breakfast routine. First I pour about 10 mini-wheats (preferably the brown sugar ones) into a bowl. Then comes a handful of Shreddies ontop of the mini's. Followed by another handful of Honey Nut Cheerios and a "sprinkling" of Fruit Loops. Now of course, there's a certain way I eat this concoction. First I dig deep for the mini-wheats and eat those. Then I carefully spoon out the cheerios and fruit loops. And finally I eat the soggy shreddies. How sweet it is. For a little adventure I have frosted flakes instead of the "o's".

I need a life.

no words

I'm totally getting hooked on this whole Facebook thing. It's addicting and as a mother of 3 I'm finding it hard to be addicted to much of anything (other than caffeine). While endlessly cruising last week I came across this one from my sister's "page". I knew Chris when he helped out with this youth retreat event that I was co-organizing like 5 years ago. He was a solid faith guy. I was instantly weeping when I read what happened to his wife and when I was explaining to Steve what Chris had written, I started weeping again. That's all I'm going to say. I hope the links work.

sorry for treating you....

There is a reason why I haven't blogged much lately. If you haven't noticed anything odd, then don't worry about it. It's because of my new neighbours. Of course not directly b'cos of them, but they've had a hand in my madness. You see when we first bought our house there was a super sweet 90 year old man living next door. He was the best neighbour you could ask for. He'd give us fresh veggies from his garden and bring candies and snacks over for the kids. He was a great guy. Then came the time when he felt like he just couldn't shovel the ol' walk anymore or mow the lawn. Time to sell and move into a seniors place. Life just hasn't been the same since. The people who bought the house were younger and so we were excited. Then we realized that they were making it into a rental house. Not good. Well I shouldn't say that, b'cos we were renters ourselves for the first 2 years of our marriage. So instead I'll say we were hopeful. That hope quickly turned to fear and hate. I won't go deeply into that 'cos that's a whole other story on it's own. Anyway, a year later (and 5 renters later) the house sat empty for a few months. We were glad. Then a few weeks ago, Steve noticed something stirring next door and sure enough a new family was moving in.

Now as far as I can tell there are 3 little girls (around the 5-6 year age mark) and a baby/toddler in there somewhere too. 2 women (one possibly an aunt) and they just got a puppy on the weekend. So far, they seem good. The girls are polite and play well with our kids. My only complaint is that they want to come over ALL THE TIME. We've told them numerous times that they're welcome to come over and play when our kids are outside. I guess that must translate into "keep coming over and knocking on my flippin' door and asking me if my kids can come out and play." Seriously they come over all the time. At least 2x in the morning and again in the afternoon, followed by a few more times around supper. And of course, they don't have "normal" sleeping hours like most children do. Oh no. Instead they're out playing on the grass (which is right outside our window, which is right by my head when I'm suppose to be sleeping) till 11:30 or so, laughing hysterically. I guess I should be glad they're getting their excercise. (??)

Whatever.

So all this to say that I haven't had a good night's sleep in almost 2 weeks. Therefore I've been a grumpy ogre, storming at my children and freaking out at the hubby, wanting to hurl things across the house and maybe hit something along the way. Which brings me to the main brain attack. Mother's Day 2006. We went to a friends house to watch the Survivor finale and they had bought a DQ ice cream cake.
This is what they had written on it. At the time I couldn't fully comprehend the statement. But now I know quite well what she was thinking. A few days ago I was thinking that if this were a real job, I would have quit long ago. Fortunately (or un- depending on how you look at it) this particular job I can't run away from. The perks may seem few and far between some days, but they are there. You just have to look for them. Now I need to listen to my own advice and look for a perk before I lose my sanity for good.

finally...

..ha ha just kidding. Hot off the press, here are a few shots of our exciting Mom's Nite Out 2nd Annual Golf Nite. If you have any complaints, write to her. I don't remember if I mentioned anything about the actual night itself, but it was a blast. It always is. There's nothing more therapeutic than hanging around, kid free talking to a bunch of other Mom's about stuff that your children have done. There were anatomy stories and bowel movement stories and your everyday good kid stuff stories. I loved it!


I also just noticed that our Galaxy Cinemas has started the stars and strollers program, where you can go watch movies with your babies. I don't know how long they've been doing it, but I can remember seeing an ad for it a long time ago and then finding out that it's not offered here in PA. So anyway, now it is! You can check it out here for details.

Today...

...is a day that I wish I could just start over.

drool

Did I mention that I seem to have a problem drooling out of the left side of my mouth?

tick...tick...tick

It's amazing how slowly time seems to slip by when you're laying awake in bed listening to the partygoers down the street. Before you know it it's 3:37 am and you've decided to give in and phone the cops (who were already on their way for the 3rd time that night!!).

All is quiet.

KAW-KAW-KAW! Apparently every crow in a 5 mile radius decides to catch up on the latest news...in the tree right outside your window. 4:13 am.

5:07 am and Keziah starts getting fussy. Feeding time!

6:24 am you finally crawl back into bed, hoping to catch a few zzzz's before the alarm goes off in just over an hour and your hubby starts snoring. The kind of snore that sounds like one of those toy noise makers they give to little kids at parties. Only this noise maker has been stepped on a bit so it's really low and super wheezy.

7:32 am the alarm goes off. You hit the snooze.

7:37 am the alarm goes off. You hit the snooze.

7:42 am the alarm goes off. You hit the snooze.

You finally leech out of bed (at the promise of bacon & eggs at A&W) and begin your day.

I

love

summer.

note to self

I watched Oprah today (for the first time in a long time) and saw a clip from a previous show about forgiving yourself. The clip was about a woman who was driving home with her 6 small children in the car and she fell asleep at the wheel. The van (I'm guessing) hit the side rail, flipped and slid down a deep bank landing in a river or lake. She was able to free herself and one child and paramedics freed 2 more, 3 other children died. I can't imagine that. There's been times when I've been driving on the highway and my head has dozed. I've had to stop the vehicle and get out and stretch or stop somewhere and buy something to snack on. I just can't imagine what might've happened. Something we need to remember. Wherever we're going is not so important that we need to take such chances. Note to self.