Merry Christmas!

It's actually Christmas Eve here for another hour but close enough. I've been busy with company for the last few days. My parents have been here and my little brother arrived a couple of days ago as well. It's been a really nice time. The girls love getting up and spending the morning in bed with Grandma and Grandpa and then bugging Grandpa until he makes them porridge. I know it's weird for kids to like porridge and actually ask for it, but Grandpa allows them a whole lot more sugar on top than mommy does, so of course they love it. If I'm nearby Grandpa will even try to distract me so they can scoop one more spoonful on while I am not looking!

We had our Christmas meal this evening. We always have a big lunch of snacky things on Christmas day starting at about 11am and lasting until supper so Chris thought that this year, to avoid the bloated and sick tummies, we'd eat the turkey on Christmas Eve. It worked out very nicely. We started the turkey cooking early this morning, okay, Grandma started it cooking early this morning while I slept in, and then we just visited until it was time to cook the rest of the food. We've watched a few Christmas movies and played quite a few dice games to pass the time. As I said before it's been a very nice time!

Tomorrow will be filled with more food and of course PRESENTS! The kids are so excited and could not wait any longer for Christmas to finally arrive.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family! Have a wonderful day and cross your fingers that this year is the year I will finally get the puzzle roller I have wanted for so long!

Gift Wrapping Tips for Men - Author Unknown

Christmas is the time of year when we think back to when the Wise Men went to see the baby Jesus and, according to the Book of Matthew,"presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact: there is no mention of wrapping paper.
If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth,'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than the frankincense."
But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:
1. They were wise.
2. They were men.
Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion, this is a scientific fact based on a statistical survey of two guys I know. One is Rob, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is "if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it." The other is Gene, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said. "They were the ones that looked like enormous spitballs."
I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motor skills, I can never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping, you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage this sector with a marking pen.) If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.
On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like many women, actually likes wrapping things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.
My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills like having babies that come more naturally to women than to men.That is why today I am presenting:
Gift Wrapping Tips for Men:
* Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If, when the recipient opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.
* The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. They must be smoking crack.
If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it. This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky recipient on Christmas morning:
YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?
YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!
YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.
YOU: Gas-powered! Five horsepower!
YOUR WIFE: I want a divorce.
YOU: I also got you some myrrh.
In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give, or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.
Author Unknown (but definitely male)

Bad, bad mommy

I never remember my camera.

Last night was Anna's preschool Christmas Program. Did I have my camera? Of course not. I am sure I am in all the videos though since I was sitting near the edge of the stage to keep one of the little boys in line. Then when Santa arrived I was helping him with the kids' names and handing out their presents, so I am in all the Santa photos too. Was there a picture taken of Anna with Santa? Nope. But mommy's in all the pictures! Maybe I can get each of the other parents to send me a copy of a picture of Santa, their kid and me for Anna's photo album? Oh yeah, she doesn't have an album, in fact I don't think we've printed a picture of Anna since her baptism when she was 2 mos old. How horrible.

Four

That's how many days left until I am done this crazy babysitting gig! It hasn't been all bad, but I miss the freedom I used to have. Last year I babysat too but only every other day and some evenings. This year it's been ever weekday, and a lot more kids. When there was no school I would have seven children here including my own. Most days I would have 3-5 which is still a lot. With only weekends I never had time to run errands. I hate going into the city on a Saturday since the stores are always crazy, especially at Christmas time! Dr's appts, dentists etc all had to be booked in advance so I could give notice to the parents so they could arrange alternate care, and I would try to work around Chris's schedule as well. It got pretty hectic at times. I am so, so, so, so glad it's almost done!

After Christmas holidays I'll still be babysitting one extra every other weekday, and I may have another extra once in a while, but this every day all day thing is over! I'm looking forward to being able to sleep til 8am some days, and spending the day with just my kiddos. Yay!

Tinsel is to Christmas as Sand is to the Beach

Christmas time is kinda like going to the beach. No matter how careful you are, you come home with sand in your pants and socks. Even if you just drive by a beach you end up sandy.

Today I was sweeping and to my surprise I swept tinsel out from just under the stove. Not really surprising except for the fact that we did not use tinsel to decorate at all this year. Where on earth did it come from? It must have migrated over here from the neighbor's house or something. Too bad baking wouldn't just appear in the same way!

Long hair woes

Those of you with short hair, and mostly boy children probably don't understand the problems long hair can cause (and by mostly boy I don't mean each specific child is mostly a boy, I mean most of your children are boy children, just thought I should clarify). A few woes us long haired, mostly girl children people have to deal with are as follows:

• Lice. I'm not sure if long hair is more prone to 'catch' it, but's it's definitely a much bigger pain in the ass to get rid of with long hair. Thankfully we have not had to deal with this for quite a few years...knock on wood.
• "There's a hair in my food mom". At our house 'Guess whose hair this is? is a favorite mealtime game.
• Clogged tub drains. Every couple of months we have to pour industrial strength drain cleaner down our tub drain. Regular Draino just won't cut it. We need the stuff that when you pour it down it not only smells like burning hair, but smoke comes up out of the drain. It cannot be good for your pipes, but the other option is standing in half a foot of water while showering and then waiting 15 minutes for the water to drain when you are done. Of course with a slow draining tub there is a whole whack (that word was for you Brenda ;)) of soap scum left on the sides of the tub every single day. Ewwww.
• Hairy socks. Chris has these yucky feeling polyester socks he was given for work years ago and they attract hair. Everytime I wash and dry them I have to pick the long strands of hair off them so he can wear them again. It's weird and kinda gross really.
• And today I have discovered that long hair is also the cause of my computer mouse being so touchy lately. It's an optical mouse so I figured you don't have to clean it. Although it does not get the crunchy dirt the ball mouse used to get, I've found out it can get a very long hair lodged up inside by the little red light which when you are trying to navigate around a webpage, makes your mouse pointer jump all over the darn place, causing you to abandon the mouse and start using the touch pad, which then annoys you to no end because a regular mouse is so much more versatile. However when this long hair is removed, the mouse works perfectly again, and I can now get back to my regular scheduled web surfing with no mouse interference whatsoever.

A new dining experience

Our family was invited to the nearby Hutterite Colony this evening for dinner and to watch the school's Christmas program. We've been out to the colony a few times before, mostly to buy vegetable and corn, but a couple times for the year end school picnic where they host a very large bbq outside. Tonight was more 'traditional'.

I've seen the kitchen and dining hall before and I know that the men sit on one side and the women on the other. They also seat the older, more important, people at the head tables. In church they sit segregated as well and sit in order of age, older at the front, younger at the back. I suspect it's the same at meals. I wasn't sure how they do things when they have guests as I have never eaten in the dining hall before. I also had the girls with me, and usually the children eat in a seperate room or before the adults. We were waiting outside the dining hall with the other guests, sort of in the kitchen area where there were about 6 women taking care of the food preperation. They have an amazing kitchen, which includes a pressure cooker, or maybe it's a deep fryer, large enough for an adult to sit it! The women cook for the 100 or so colony members for 3 meals a day and that kitchen is still spotless! Anyways, after we had been there a few minutes the men started to arrive. I still was unsure how we would be seated until Frank, one of the older men, who is in charge of the barns, said to Chris and pointed to the dining hall "Okay let's go". He only was referring to Chris, so my question was then answered, lol. Luckily I knew some of the other women visitors, so I didn't feel quite so abandoned.

Because of Chris's job, he is quite respected by the colony and he knows many of the men. He was asked to sit at the head table with the old guys. I on the other hand ended up at the very last women's table. I didn't have to sit at the end, but I was not invited to the front like he was. I had the choice of the last three tables, so I sat at the one with the most people I knew, lol. The meal was very nice, nothing fancy, but good. We ate duck, which I have never eaten before, and it was very good. Even the girls liked it. Beth and Katie thought it tasted like chicken and Anna thought it was a chicken, lol.

After dinner the women did the dishes. I was able to get out of that since there were lots of visitors helping out and I had the kids with me. Lydia, Frank's oldest daughter, said we could go to their house while we waited for the Christmas program to start. She had to stay and do dishes (they have 3 rotations of which women do the kitchen work) so we were just going to wait for her, when Chris and Frank came along and she told Frank we were going to their house and Frank decided Chris and he would go there too. So we went ahead with Frank while Lydia worked. Lydia's mother and brother were there when we arrived (3 houses down from the kitchen, lol) and the mom made us some coffee while Chris and Frank and the brother chatted and Frank shared some wedding photos with Chris. I was busy encouraging the girls to try to play with the grandchildren Kerri and Darren. Kerri was probably a year older than Beth and could speak english but Darren only spoke german. He was not quite three. They didn't play much. Lydia was home soon after and we visited a bit before the program started.

The school at the colony has 18 children who attend from about ages 5-15. They generally only go to school until it is no longer required by law. Because they all speak german from infancy many of the children had very thick accents and with my kids being squiggly and a few little Hutterite children bouncing around nearby I had a hard time concentrating on the program. The program was completely in english though, and the kids seemed to have a very fun time showing off their english skills. After the program the colony sang about 3 german songs while we stayed seated and a few of the men and women set out the lunch. Man is the food good there, or in Katie's words "Mom, the food here is AWESOME!" They make the best salami I can remember eating, and they had lots out as well as lots of homemade sweets etc. We sat with Lydia and Darrin (her nephew), her mom was behind us somewhere and her father did not come, he went to work in the barns instead. After we ate Lydia showed me around the school and the church (all in the same buulding) and then she had work to do and I went to visit with Chris and some of the other colony members. It was getting late though so we got the girls ready and made our way out and to the van.

All in all it was a really nice evening. I would love to spend a day at the colony seeing how things run on a daily basis, how they run their households etc. I have so many questions about things, none that I felt comfortable asking when I barely know the people. For instance Lydia is the oldest sibling (she's probably my age or a little older) but her younger sisters are married and she is not. She has a married brother and her youngest brother left the colony. He's in Fort Mac working on the rigs. He may decide to come back to the colony one day, maybe not. Most young people who leave the colony do end up coming back. I'm not sure why she isn't married or if she even has to get married. Things I'd like to know but didn't ask. Anyways, if you want to know more about Hutterites read this Wikipedia link. It mentions they trace their roots to similar to the Amish, but do not confuse them with the Amish. The Hutterites are completely modernized in so many ways. They have the best farm machinery etc. We saw their milking barn a few years ago and it was amazing, completely computerized. And amazing spotless, even sparkling, of course thanks to the women, lol.

Time for a change

I'm going to get my haircut on Saturday. It's been a year since I had it done last which is just crazy. I really need to get it done more often. I'm going to go for a style like this:

That's the same picture I took in to the stylist last year, but she was a little worried with my hair being as thin as it's become that it wouldn't 'flip' the same as in the picture so she tried something a little longer with less flip. My hair flipped just fine, so I think I'll get the stylist to aim for as close to the picture as she can this year. As for the color, I'll get some highlights again, I'm not sure how dramatic. The nice thing about Christmas time is if the haircut is bad, I can wear a Santa hat everyday and everyone will just think I am in a holiday mood and not know that secretly I want to deliver some coal to salon in the city.

Come and share a bite to eat with my family!

Tonight I made Corned Beef Hash for supper. It’s something my mom would make when I was a kid, but I don’t think I’ve ever made it for my kids before. Basically you boil some potatoes and drain them, then add a can of corned beef and mash it all together. My mom would add fried onions as well, but I knew that would send the kids right over the edge so we did without. Being the picky kids they are, they took one look and every single one of them said…Ewwww! What’s that? I’m going to try to remember as much of the dinner conversation as I can…

Me: It’s corned beef and potatoes mashed together.
Katie: What’s corned beef?
Beth: It’s a cow, I saw the can, it had a cow on it.
Anna: I don’t like it.

So I start to dish them out a small amount each.

Katie: I think I am a vegetarian.
Beth: What’s a vegetarian.
Katie: Someone who doesn’t eat meat.
Anna: It not meat, it a cow, I don’t like it.

Then I dish out some corn.

Katie: Not very much I don’t like corn very much.
Me: You’re not much of a vegetarian if you don’t eat your veggies.
Beth: You’ll get sick if you don’t eat vegetables.
Katie: Yeah, you get scurvy.
Beth: I know what happens if you get scurvy.
Me: What happens?
Beth: You turn into a pirate.
Anna: A scurby pirate (you have to watch Backyardigans to get that one)

So I explain what scurvy is and why pirates would get it, and that you don’t turn into a pirate if you don’t eat your veggies and get scurvy.

Beth: The cats would love this (the corned beef hash she means).
Me: Why?
Beth: It looks just like cat food, and it kinda tastes like cat food.
Me: It does not taste like cat food, it tastes like potatoes and corned beef.

The conversation just went downhill from there, lol. Finally all was quiet, the kids were eating their cat food/corned beef hash and Anna pipes up (after staring intently into her cup), “Dis smells like cat pee.”

Don’t you wish you could eat over at our house?

More Proof

Last night after Chris and I were finished watching a show and were turning out the lights our cat Rufio started chasing something. It was dark, the only light on was the Christmas tree, so we couldn't tell what he was chasing at first. Once our eyes adjusted we realized that Rufio was chasing his tail. Yep, more proof that my cats think they are dogs. So far we have:

1. Drinking out of the toilet.
2. Laying on their backs to get their belly's rubbed.
3. Chasing their tails.

On mark against them is that they are too picky to eat table scraps. That is very cat like I guess.

Christmas Concert

Last night Katie and Beth had their school Christmas concert. I've always felt the school here had their concerts too early in December. It would be so much nicer if they had the concert closer to the end of school so that visiting relatives, like grandparents for instance, would have a chance to watch. I guess because in a small town everyone is related and pretty much everyone's family, grandparents, aunts, uncles etc. live here too, they don't really have to take that into consideration. You might think to yourself that since the concert is done and over with the last couple of weeks of school will be filled with actual school work, but I don't think so, lol. They have school parties to get ready for and the big Christmas Feast! The feast is something I have always loved about this school. Every year on the last day of school before Christmas Holidays the whole school, kids and staff, gather in the gym and eat a complete Christmas meal together. The older kids pair with the little ones to help them serve themselves and sit with them while they eat. The parents donate all the sides (mashed potatoes, veggies, pickles, buns and butter, etc) and the SRC provides the turkeys which are cooked by parent volunteers. It's very Harry Potter like, all the students gathered in the same room at long tables for a big feast, lol. When we are transferred I hope we are lucky enough to find a school half as good as this one has been. We've been very spoiled I think.

Here are a couple pictures from last night's concert. It was very difficult to get a good picture, sorry. The first one is Beth's class of kindergartens and grade ones. They sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town. She's the one in the very middle.

Katie is even harder to see. Her class of grade 3 and 4's sang Silver Bells and they were all dressed in old fashioned clothing. She is on the very far left. You can sort of see two kids there and she is the one on the right. Terrible pictures, but what can you do?

Santa, the Dentist and all that fun stuff

So I discovered last night that Katie no longer believes in Santa Claus. It's so sad. And she didn't even ask me or anything like that, she just made a comment. Not one of those comments that let me know she is unsure and asking for me to reaffirm her faith in Santa, just a comment that let me know she didn't believe, she knew it was us, and that was that.

It actually kinda took me by surprise in a way. She's a pretty mature kid in many ways, but she's always had a wonderful imagination, and is very emotional. I thought she might be one of those kids who believes for a long time. She's only 9. I don't know when I stopped believing, so maybe it's a normal age, but it was just too soon. On the other hand having met some of the kids in her class, and knowing a couple of her friends closely, it didn't surprise me that she no longer believes and neither do her friends. After it sunk in though I decided to just have a quick chat with her about Santa and tha magic of giving at Christmas. We also talked about how there are some kids in her class who still believe and all the little kids at school and her sisters who still believe of course and how sad it would be for them to quit believing. She understands she's a part of the magic of Santa in keeping that belief alive in her sisters.

Maybe I should have sat her down and told her she was wrong and that Santa was real, but I'm not positive that would have accomplished much. I told Chris that instead of a present from Santa she could get a note that said "Dear Katie, I don't believe in you either, so there!" Maybe then she'd start believing again. I'm kidding of course.

I on the other hand have decided that I'd much rather believe in Santa than dentists though. Dentists don't leave presents, they are not jolly, and they discourage cookies. There is no magic going on at the dentists office whatsover. That was proved to me yet again today. This morning Katie, Beth and I all had appointments. The girls were getting a cleaning and a checkup and I was supposed to get a filling and if there was time, a check up. The dentist had a cancellation so she was able to do a check up, so I told her about the tooth pain I was having on the top right side. That's where I was having pain the last time I had a check up apparently, but she couldn't find anything so just asked me to keep an eye on it. Then I had to book myself in for this filling. I forgot and forgot and then when I finally remembered I was having the tooth pain again, and thought that must be the tooth I need the filling in. I was wrong. The tooth that needs the filling is on the bottom and it doesn't bother me at all. The top tooth however has really been hurting the last couple of weeks though, so she did a bunch of tests on that tooth.

First the x-ray showed nothing wrong, no cavity. She she banged on the tooth with something metal, and made me jump in pain. She did that a few times for some insane reason. Then she looked at the xray for a while again. Then she took an ice stick out of the freezer and held it on various parts of my tooth asking me to tell her when I felt the cold or any pain. I never did feel the cold, so she tried it on some other teeth which felt it just fine. Again it was time to look at the perplexing xray. Next she tried a pulp tester or something to that effect. Dentists should maybe explain things through sometimes before they scare you. She nonchalantly says she is going to hold this metal pole agains my tooth and I have to hold onto the pole as well to complete the ciruit. Huh? Complete the circuit? Like mini electroshock therapy for my tooth? Maybe they are going to shock it into behaving so they can figure out what's wrong, I don't know? She must have seen the worried look on my face as I was slowly reaching for the pole because she then laughed and said "It's not going to shock you or anything, don't worry." Well maybe the not shocking part should have come out right before or immediately after she mentioned completing the circuit and I wouldn't have looked so concerned. No wonder I and so many other people, hate going to the dentist. Anyways, it turns out I couldn't feel anything with the pulp tester either, and again they tried it on another tooth so I could feel what it was supposed to feel like. Funny for a tooth that has no feeling it sure has been causing me a lot of pain.

So basically the only explanation the dentist can come up with is that perhaps the filling I currently have in that tooth goes deep and that over time it killed the nerve. She wants to remove the filling and take a look since we have exhausted every other avenue to discover why it's causing me pain. She decides to do this tooth today and leave the other filling for another day. So to make this long story slightly shorter, my quick filling turned into a root canal on a completely different tooth. Santa would never do that to anyone! My 1 hr appointment turned into 2.5 hrs and I have to come back one more time, maybe twice to finish the root canal, another time to do the filling on the bottom and then 2 more times to put a crown on the root canal tooth. Stupid teeth. Santa wouldn't make me come back 5 more times. Considering he can fly around the whole world in one night, I'm sure he could fix my teeth lickety split without any circuit completing and maybe even a cookie.

The Tree is up!

*I wrote this last night but was having trouble posting it with the pictures.*

I love Christmas. I love the smell of Christmas. I love the smell so much I spent a small fortune on Christmas smelling candles a couple of months ago. Chris wasn't impressed with the amount at the time, but I am sure once the house starts smelling like Christmas everyday, he'll soon forget, lol. I love the decorations. I love sitting in the living room at night after the kids are in bed with the tv on and just the Christmas tree for light. And I love the music. I have two new Christmas cd's that I just received in the mail last week that I cannot wait to listen to over and over. I've already listened to them a couple of times each and they are wonderful!

Today we put up the tree and decorated the inside of the house. The kids had a blast. Chris helped move decorations from the bottom of the tree to some of the empty branches at the top but for the most part, the kids decorated the whole tree all by themselves. We also hung the stocking and put out the Christmas candle holders (for those pricey candles I mentioned above of course). Here's the end result...

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Or not.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.
In the stores they are yelling,
and everyone telling you,
"Don't hog the cashier!"
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

There'll be parties for hosting,
and turkeys for roasting and
trying to shop in the snow.
there'll be scary ghost stories of
shoppers who've got lost in shopping malls
long, long ago.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.
There'll be much stepping-on-toeing
and cash will be flowing,
when shoppers are near.
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Okay, I can admit that it's not great, but I bet you could tell that I've been Christmas shopping today, lol.

It was crazy busy! I knew it would be, it's the first Saturday in December, but I don't have many shopping days left. I babysit everyday until the 22nd except for weekends. I could do an evening trip, but I'd rather not drive in the dark with all the deer out there if I don't have to. I did manage to get all Chris's gifts bought and a couple for the girls. The rest will have to be done another day...or ONLINE!!

3am and the Race is On!

I woke up suddenly last night at 3am to the sound of the cats chasing one another across the living room, through the kitchen and into my bedroom...up one side of my bed and down the other. It was pretty funny to listen to the chase. Our living room and kitchen have laminate floors and the cats always have a hard time running on them. If they are startled and try to run, you can usually hear their claws hit the floor and try to get a grip, almost like they are running on the spot, before they fall over. It was the same last night, or should I say early morning. I could hear them start at one end of the living room, claws clicking all over the floor and they tried to run, and then you could hear them slide as they tried to maneuver their way around the dishwasher and slide through the bedroom door where they could finally get a grip on the carpet and go flying up and down my bed. It was all very cartoon like actually. Chris woke up too, or else he was still awake, as he worked til 2am and I have no idea when he got home. He told me the cats do this every single night he comes home from being on nights. So they cats have a couple more races and then Chris gets up to close the bedroom door as there is no way we can sleep with all the clicking and sliding sounds, much less the mad dash up and down the bed across our feet. I said "Do you think they will run into the door?". They can't see our door until after the dishwasher turn, and then it's right there. Chris says "I guess we'll see." just as we hear the beginning clicking start again.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click....slide.....click, click, click, THUNK...the distinct sound of a cat's head hitting our door. Then click, click, click, click, THUMP...the sound of a whole cat hitting the door. Chris and I burst into laughter. That was the last we heard of the cats. It put a lot into perspective for me....if they run their heads into doors, perhaps they have brain damage, which really would explain a lot of their behaviour actually.

Why?

Why do they wreck things just for the sake of destruction?

Why do they take everything out the desk drawers simply to throw it all over the floor and stomp around on it?

Why do they take all the little numbers off of my embroidery cotton so I don't know what colour is what anymore?

Why when I am cleaning up the mess they made do they scamper off to find more trouble? (I'd make them clean it up, but they'd wreck what was left to salvage)

Why do they take all the papers I need to deliver to the preschool and throw them all over the bedroom floor when I specifically asked them not to touch them?

Why do they keep dragging all the toys out of the closet and onto the top bunk when they know they are not allowed up there?

And why can they manage to do all of this in less than 10 minutes?

I think I might know the answer.....they are three. It still makes me feel insane.

Why are cages and padlocks illegal?

Quiet day today

It was just me, Anna and Beth at home for most of today. Katie was at school, and the kids I babysit were home sick. Beth was supposed to be in school too, but she has an awful cough and although she feels okay, her cough is so bad when it gets started that you think her lungs are going to explode. I thought it would be best for her to stay home and inside where it's warm for a couple of days. Hopefully her cough is better by Thursday when she has school again.

It's been snowing almost non stop since Sunday evening. Chris shovelled this morning, and within a couple hours it needed shovelling again. Dance class was cancelled because our teacher comes in from the city and I guess she didn't want to drive on the highways like this, although the highways are usually much better than the city and town streets. Chris is in the city now trying to get some Christmas shopping done but it's taking him so long to get from place to place that he's never going to get done at this rate. I am hoping I can get in to the city this weekend to do my shopping, or some of it anyways. We're hoping to decorate the house on Sunday so that just leaves Saturday for shopping. Of course everyone will be at the malls, so it will be insane. I do not plan to take the kids though or I would never last an hour.

Mom's Night In!

I know, most moms need a mom's night out, but tonight I get to spend the evening at home...ALONE! Chris is going to take all the girls to the city today after school for supper and a movie. They are going to a fancy restaurant some of you may have heard of....Burger King, it's so fancy you have to not only wear shoes, but socks. Well the socks are actually only required for the play area, lol. That's where the girls always want to go for supper and we rarely take them, because I like a restaurant where you don't have to stand in line for you food. Truth be told, it's Burger King they ask for or the Zeller's restaurant, sad eh? They like Zellers because it's, in their words, old fashioned like when mommy and daddy were little. It's decorated like a 50's diner....God they must think I am old. Katie likes it because she thinks it looks like the Peach Pit...way too much 90210 watching going on in our house, which is all my fault, lol.

So while the kids are away, I could be doing all sorts of things. A bubble bath, or a nap, or watching tv completely uninterrupted are all things that come to mind. I won't get a chance to do anything fun like that though, since tomorrow is the Trade Fair/Market in town and I have a table to sell my Epicure. I'm not allowed by the company to sell any stock, so I can only take catalogue orders, but I will have all the products I own along with me so people can smell and taste the spices. I'll also have dip samples made up for people to try. Hopefully I'll get lots of orders and a few parties booked. It would be nice to have a little extra Christmas money. So tonight I have to get everything ready, make the samples, and load up the van as soon as Chris and the girls are home so I am ready to head out tomorrow at 9am. Wish me luck on my first Fair/Market!

I think it's coming

Darn winter.

We've been so lucky lately, the weather has been beautiful. The last week has been above zero every day. On Chris's days off we were able to get some Christmas lights hung up, and our inflatable snowman set up as well, and we didn't freeze our butts off doing it. The kids have been able to play outside for more than 5 minutes at a time which they have enjoyed so much. They started a snow fort a few days ago, which unfortunately has been shrinking every day with the above zero weather, but they keep working at it, stealing snow from the neighbors' yards.

This morning it was a completely different story though. I was awake around 6am (not awake enough to get up and work on that morning people thing though) listening to the wind howl. I just knew it was going to be cold. By 8am when the kids were up the wind had died down a bit, but it was definitely colder than we've been used to. My thermometer says it's -12 C, which normally at this time of year would feel warm, but considering it's 15 degrees colder today than yesterday it sure doesn't feel warm. I wonder where I could live that there is lots of snow all winter long, but warm temperatures to go along with the snow? Not necessarily above zero, because the snow would never last, but anywhere between 0 C and -5 C would be perfect. I don't think Saskatchewan is that place, but maybe with some Global Warming it could be arranged? Time to get working on that mini power plant in my backyard and to get myself a Hummer I guess.

Are they cats or dogs?

We have two cats. I think they weigh about the same as 4 cats. They do the normal cat things, chase toys, chase each other, lay around the majority of the day, catch mice, attack and bite your feet under the covers etc. They do have one dog trait however. They both love to drink out of the toilet. Even when they have fresh water in their bowl, they choose the toilet. I was able to catch a picture of Rufio in action one evening. He climbs right onto the toilet seat and dips his head in.

Domino does it differently. He somehow manages to keep both his hind feet on the floor and stretch his body up and around and into the bowl. He was waiting patiently outside the bathroom door while Rufio was having his turn. I couldn't get a picture of him having a drink since he seemed to get stage fright once he saw the camera and just layed on the bathmat waiting for me and the camera to leave. I did snap him waiting his turn though.

The birds and the bees toddler style

Anna crawls into bed with Chris and I almost every night, so she's always there to cuddle in the morning. The last couple of mornings she's been giving us her insight regarding babies. She is sure I am having another one. This morning Katie and Beth were there to join in the conversation that went something like this:

Anna (laying across my tummy shaking it back and forth): Tum out baby Sally! Tum out baby Sally! It time for brefast.

Katie: Mommy is not having another baby.

Anna: Uh huh. Dust one more baby in mommy's tummy. I tan see it moving.

Katie: It's not a baby Anna.

Beth: Yeah, mommy's tummy is just really fat. (kids always point out the painful truth don't they?)

Anna: NO! It a baby, dust one more baby.

Beth: Mommy isn't having another baby. The doctor sewed her up so no more can get out. (A five year old's explanation of a tubal ligation I guess)

Katie: How will the baby get out Anna?(uh oh...moving into dangerous territory now, leave it to the 9 year old to steer the conversation in this direction).

Anna: Dat baby will poke a hole in mommy's bellybutton and det out.

At this point Katie and Beth collapse into complete giggles. I'm not sure how they think babies get out, but they know enough that Anna's explanation isn't true. Of course I was laughing too, so maybe they just wanted to look smart, and laughed along.

Now Anna takes her finger and sticks it in my bellybutton and GASPS!

Anna: I tan feel Sally's Finger!!!

Night out

Last night Chris and I went to the local Dinner Theatre. They have done a production in town every year for the last 15 years. Apparently it's quite a fundraiser for the community hall, and even the library makes a few hundred dollars doing a coat check. The food is almost all donated by townspeople, with the exception of the roast beef. The conveners for the food open the phone book and start phoning around and asking people to bring certain items. I have done a dessert every year since we moved here, and honestly this year I didn't want to do anything. Chris was bar tending the first night the play opened so I figured that was good enough. Of course when I received the phone call I couldn't say no, lol. So tomorrow afternoon I have to make a whack of mashed potatoes. Actually they said a dutch oven full, but since I really have no idea if I even have a dutch oven, a whack will have to do. My neighbor, who went with us last night to the play, had to bring a pound of butter. How did she get off so easy? Last year she took pickles. Oh well.

The production was really quite funny. I think there were 8 actors (all local of course) and 4 of them had never before been in a play. The play was written by someone from Saskatchewan so it was very easy to identify with the play. It was about a farming family with 2 sons and a daughter. One son is a radio dj who is happy not being on the farm anymore, the daughter married a local farmer, and the other son plans to work on the farm, but he was away working in Calgary over the winter and brought his city girlfriend home to stay. I laughed a lot.

While we were out the kids had their favorite babysitter. They did each others hair with container of barrettes and took pictures. I was going to upload them this morning to show off, but they forgot to use the flash so none of them turned out. Sorry. They stayed up late, at popcorn and watched movies. They just love having a babysitter.

Guilt Free Potty Training

Do you think it's a myth? I used to, until I discovered the secret to feeling no mommy guilt when potty training. Train someone else's kid! Seriously, it's guilt free. There is no worrying that it's never going to happen and that they will be in diapers forever, there's no worry that they should be trained at their age already, etc. And you don't feel bad or guilty about anything.

I babysit a 2 yr old every other day during the week. She just turned two so she's at the age where she could start showing interest in using the toilet, or she could just care less. Unlike my own kids were at 2 she's interested already.With all three of ours, they really didn't show any interest until they were over two and a half at the earliest. Of course by the time they are two and a half you have already heard from dozens of people about when their kids trained and how it was so much sooner than two and a half. That's when the guilt first hits.

Honest to goodness, just as I was typing that paragraph above, Anna who is completely daytime trained, just looked at me from the middle of the living room and said "I'm peeing on the floor". Sure enough there was a puddle at her feet. Thank goodness for laminate floors, lol. Anyways...

As I was saying... You start to wonder when you have one of those late trainers (or three of those late trainers) if you are doing something wrong (guilt), if there is something wrong with your kid and you have not picked up the cues (guilt) or if you just don't know what the heck you are doing (guilt). Overall my kids weren't incredibly difficult to train, and although they seemed like they were such late trainers, current trends show that age 34 mos is average for girls (almost 38 mos for boys). Beth and Katie were trained before 3, Anna was a little older than 3. That statistic of 34 mos however comes from the Huggies people, so by making parents of 'late trainers' feel better about the age of their non trained child, they are serving their own company's interests, but whatever.

So this potty training half time someone else's kid is a breeze. If she goes, she goes. If she doesn't she doesn't. I don't have to listen to all the well intentioned potty training stories, I don't have to clean up accidents (she's still in diapers full time here), I don't have laundry to do, etc. When she pees in her diaper, I have no guilt whatsoever. Maybe it's because most days she is here I have 4 other kids to worry about as well, so we are not actually focused on the potty training thing. She sometimes tells me she wants to go on the toilet, and we give it a try. Today she's having lots of success, a few days ago, not so much. I don't feel stressed that it should be happening consistently yet, I don't feel guilt that I don't always have the time to sit in the bathroom with her or pick up on all her cues. At the end of the day, as much as I adore her, it's not my 'problem', lol. No guilt, no stress. Hooray for other people's kids!

Christmas Shopping Already?

Can you believe Christmas is almost here? So many people I have talked to have not only started their Christmas shopping, but are done! I always think we need to start early to get everything picked out and payed for, and I have every intention of doing that, but early for me isn't as early for everyone else. I figure the last week of November would leave lots of time to get all the shopping done, but now I am starting to second guess myself because of all these people who are done before December arrives.

Remembrance Day

This morning Chris was participating in the Remembrance Day program in a neighbouring town. This was the first year since we have lived here that I went along with the kids. When we first moved here Beth was a baby, and then when she was getting old enough to sit through a program requiring some silence, Anna was a baby. So we've never been. I honestly can't remember the last time I was at a Remembrance Day program, before I kids probably.

It was a nice, short program, with about a hundred people in attendance and there was a lunch afterwards. Anna knew there was going to be food, so at every single small pause, and in between songs, she asked me, sometimes quite loudly "Now is it suppertime?". Poor kid must have been starving, or bored, most likely the latter. I think Katie was the only one of the three who had any idea of why Remembrance Day is important.

There was a program in town today as well, but we missed that one. There is a dance this afternoon though with a supper to follow. We'll head down to the dance when there is about an hour left and stay for the supper.Two meals in a row that I didn't have to prepare....that's nice. Chris worked until 4am last night and then was up at 9am for the program, so he's spending the afternoon napping as he is back at work tonight at 7pm.

An 'udderly' fun day.

Well the kids are finally in bed, but unfortunately are not asleep yet. We made it out of town around noon which was a little later than planned, but it was nice to have a relaxing, non-rushed morning. Once we got to the city we made a stop at my aunt's and then were off to Howie's Barber Shop, which is actually owned and run by a guy named Ron, not Howie. Chris needed a haircut pretty badly but Ron, who normally cuts his hair, was gone, so he had to get one of the ladies to do it. As luck would have it, he got the slow one. It's a good haircut, but it took forever. The other lady did 3 guys hair in the time it took Chris's to do one. It looks great though.

By the time we got out of there and over to where the movie theatre is we only had about half an hour to eat before the movie started so we ate at the mall food court. We made it to the movie just in time to find the last group of 5 seats together and for the lights to dim. We watched Barnyard, which the girls loved and even Chris and I thought was pretty good. It was slightly disturbing that the male cattle in this movie had udders, but I guess I should be thankful that they were not anatomically correct right? That would be way too much bull for my taste.

Time for a break

So after some confusion over schedules, it's been determined that I am not babysitting tomorrow. Some of you may know that I went a little bit crazy in the fall and took on some extra babysitting responsibilities. Last year I babysat a little girl every other weekday, which was perfect since I still had 2 or 3 days in the week to run errands, head to the city for appointments, whatever. I am still babysitting her, but I am also babysitting full time for another family this year. That family has three kids. One is a couple years younger than Katie and in school every day, one is Beth's age, and in school every other day and one is Anna's age, so home every day except for 2 hrs of preschool one day a week. Needless to say it can be pretty hectic at our house. Especially this week since I had my every other day kid every day and today there was no school here in town so I even had the school kids home today. That meant 7 kids total running around my house. Surprisingly enough between play dough, computers, coloring, movies and toys the day goes by pretty quickly and the kids are never bored. Chris was a saint today and took all the kids except the sleeping one to the school park where there is a big snow hill to go tobogganing. The older kids had a great time, but Chris came home within half an hour with 2 crying preschoolers who didn't want to sled anymore.

So back to my day off tomorrow...I am really looking forward to spending the day with my girls, just my girls and no extra kids, lol. Chris is on nights so we are all going to sleep in a bit in the morning and then just before lunch we're going to head into the city. I have some stuff to drop off at my aunt's, Chris needs a haircut and we are taking the kids to a matinee. I think we'll do popcorn and everything. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, and I know the kids are looking forward to having me all to themselves. What's even better, is I never babysit on the weekends, and I get Monday off too! A nice long weekend with just my girlies! I can't wait!

Winter Wonderland

Well it's official. Winter is definitely here. It's been cold like winter lately, but has not looked like winter. Today it's snowing, and it's snowing a lot! Big fluffy flakes. The kids wore their snowsuits and boots to school today and will actually need them.

When I woke up a couple of hours ago, there was a light layer of frost on the ground and cars. Then about half an hour ago the snow started. It may all melt, but I have a funny feeling it's actually here to stay. I love the look of winter, just hate the cold.

It's hard to see, but it's actually snowing quite a lot in these pictures.

Coffee is the secret

Or so I have been told by a good friend. If I want to be one of those morning people, coffee is the answer!

Step #1 to being Morning People: Set the delay on the coffee pot before I go to bed (at a decent hour, probably should be before 11pm) and the smell should help perk me up in the morning.

Step #2: Actually go to bed at a decent hour.

Step #3: Don't got to bed and read until 1am, just go to bed.

Morning People

It's 7:30am. I've been up since 7:00am. I've had time to shower, dress, put on moisturizer, comb my hair and sit down at my laptop and check email and all the forums I belong to. And I was able to do all of that in complete peace and quiet. The tv's off, no one is asking me to help them with this or that, none of the kids are asking for more Halloween candy, it's just plain quiet. And it's so nice.

I could be one of those morning people except for one small detail. I'm tired. I could easily have spent 2 more hours in bed. I wonder how one goes about turning into one of those morning people? I suppose it would mean going to bed much earlier than 1am like last night. I really should try the morning thing for a couple of weeks and see if the early bedtime sacrifice is worth it. And then if I truly became a morning person, I could maybe even become of of those morning people who EXERCISE in the morning. It could happen...Maybe.

Thank-You Bell

Just a quick note to thank Bell ExpressVu for their thoughtfulness. They have remembered us lowly prairie folk who do not observe the time change twice a year. Our satellite receivers do everything necessary so that we do not miss or forget any of our favorite TV shows. For instance the time on the guide does not change at all and they even move all our timers ahead an hour so that the correct shows come on, or record. However, they have forgotten one small, insignificant detail. Some of those satellite stations, if you can believe it, originate here, in this insignificant province. Those timers have also been moved ahead an hour, so much for remembering that our province is time change challenged.

So thanks Bell, I missed Lost this week, and although I am sure Criminal Minds is a fantastic program, it's not Lost. At least I have my trusty friend the Internet, to save the day when TV fails, and it doesn't care what time my clock says, it loves me back anyways.

I'd like to buy a vowel Pat

I received an email today with a link for Halloween Hangman. It's a few days late, but still fun to pass a bit of time.

Give it a whirl if you have a few minutes to kill.

1,2,3 and A,B,C!

Today I was the parent helper in Anna's preschool class. I've learned something about preschool teachers, they need to either have the patience of a saint or be hard of hearing. Wow, can 10 three and four year olds be busy and loud! It was a good loud though, as they were all having a lot of fun. A good loud? Is that like a dry heat? Something you say to make a not so nice situation seem a teeny bit better? Really though, in all seriousness, I had fun with all the kids.

I was served 'tea' and cake in the kitchen area, helped put some potato head people back together, read a few stories, dance around with a bean bag on my head and played dinosaur families until a small dinosaur war broke out! Anna had a blast with me there, although I suspect she's not nearly as clingy with the other parent helpers as she was with me. But now my duty is done and it's not my turn to help out again until December sometime. I am hoping that after Christmas I can spend a couple hours in each of Katie and Beth's classroom as well. Beth will love it, Katie will probably wish she could stay home sick that day. She's getting to the age where she is more embarrassed by her parents than proud. I'd better get used to it though, since I don't think that will change until she's past the teenage years.

Happy Halloween

As usual, it was cold on Halloween. Every year I tell myself that I am not going to get my hopes up that Halloween is nice and the kids won't have to wear snowsuits. Then every year a week or so before the 31st it's nice and I think, maybe this year. So I shouldn't have been surprised that today was cold. The kids had to wear their snowsuits, mitts, winter boots, and toques to keep warm, but their costumes fit over top...just barely.

As soon as Katie and Beth were home from school we got everyone dressed up and ready to go. We were out for just over an hour before we came home for a break and then when Chris got home from work he and the girls headed out for another hour. They ended up with enough treats to last them a few months for sure!

Chris also spent some time before Halloween decorating the house for his favorite holiday. Unfortunately he had to work a lot in the week before so he did not get the house as decked out as usual. It still looks great! I think his goal is to one day have more Halloween decorations than Christmas ones.

Jack O'Lantern

It's pumpkin carving time. And although we don't let the kids wield the knives yet, they have fun picking a design and watching dad do the carving. This year we're getting a Cyclops Jack O'Lantern, which Chris says the girls picked, but I secretly wonder if he just didn't have time to carve two eyes...

First day of school.

At the end of October? Of course not, but I just started this blog so now is when I am posting the pictures. Katie and Beth started in late August and Anna started preschool in October. They are all enjoying school a lot. Beth wishes she could go every day (in Kindergarten they only go every second day) and Anna wishes she could go more often too, since she only goes one morning a week. Katie could probably handle going one day less a week, lol.

The Goblins are out!

Tomorrow's Halloween, yet the goblins have made their appearance at my house already. The goblins being my kids of course. Maybe it's the anticipation of the sugar rush that has them acting as hyper as if they'd already eaten all of their Halloween goodies, I'm not sure. It's barely afternoon and I already have a headache, so I am looking forward to this evening when my dh is home from work and he and the kids can play our newly repaired PS2, while I hide out in my bedroom with a good book.

Speaking of good books I am currently reading The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory. Like all of the other Tudor fiction books she has written I am loving it. I think I may add some of her other fiction to my to read list at the library. If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll love Philippa Gregory's novels. And if you're not sure, give it a whirl. I had never read any historical fiction before picking up my first Philippa Gregory novel "The Constant Princess".