Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The Music Monkeys

Rush and her friend performed at the annual Music Festival that is going on this week. They were called The Music Monkeys. I was not able to attend because they were running late and I had to pick up Jellybean from school and get them lunch when it was presumed that the girls would play. Anyway, I missed it and I really wanted to see her not only to support her but, because she has decided that this will be her last year in Band.

I just got a call from Rush telling me she was on her way back to school for the rest of the afternoon but, mainly, she wanted to tell me that The Music Monkeys got first place!!! First Place, I tell you and she wants to quit!!!

I just wanted to spread my joy with the rest of you in blogger land and to tell you that my heart is about to burst with pride. She is a talented girl. I hope she changes her mind about quitting because she has a lot of talent for it and a lot of time invested into it.

Oh, by the way, the girls recieved a score of A-.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Play Ball...

Jellybean and Bug absolutely love to play ball and this weekend they were so thankful that Daddy took some time on the weekend to play with them. They have really been missing him a lot since he has been working so much overtime.

Bug can't wait for spring so he can play ball outside. I am sure Jellybean is feeling the same way and just hasn't verbalized it yet.

















Monday, March 27, 2006

Why must my kids be so darn beautiful?

Okay, so it may sound vain to begin with and I do have to admit that I do have good looking kids but when they get dressed up...holy smokes. Look out world. (And mom grab kleenex...that's right I saw my youngest daughter looking like this and I bawled...bawled I tell you, like a baby. I am not ashamed.)

Our friend, Wayne, popped by today with a suitcase for us full of dresses for LilB and DearN's wedding. This has been a long awaited arrival. They were just in Kansas City and it was just a whole lot easier and quicker for them to bring the dresses with them on the way back.

Jellybean has tried hers on; J is at work so we need to wait and see what that looks like for a later time. We will need a bit of alterations on Jellybean's on the bodice but that seems to be it.

Enough of a delay though, I present to you my gorgeous, stunning, amazing daughter...

Full length front view.




















Close up.


















Just because I thought this one looked absolutely gorgeous!

A Look at my Character

Over brunch yesterday, BigB & I were talking about character, in particular, my character. Now, it wasn't a bad conversation; we were having fun and laughing about it the whole time...jokingly discussion truths, I suppose.

So, my character, according to BigB is an (and I use a made-up word) uncontentable, treehugging, hypocritical vigal ante. Now, let me disect these for you because there is so much to what was said than meets the eye. I am uncontentable because I long to live on a farm just raising my children and caring for the farm in general however, having said that if I were on a farm, I would be fretting because I wasn't working and therefore, not contributing to the family. I am treehugging because more often than not I have more compassion for animals (and the environment) than people; my reasoning behind that, people can "chose" their own destiny-animals and the environment are at the destiny of peoples choices. I am a hypocrit because while I feel this way about the environment I would love to spend the afternoon 4x4ing through the mud in a huge gas guzzling truck and then go home to relax in my log house. (Heh, if you replenish the resources you use...). I am a vigil ante (spelling) because I am overly protective of my family and friends.

There you have it, my character, in a nutshell, according to BigB. I may add to this post but I am on my way to work and need to finish it now. Goodbye and have a great day.

Sincerely
The uncontentable, treehugging, hypocritical, vigal ante....

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Spur of the moment

Bug needed a spur of the moment bath. You know the ones I am talking about; every parent does. Those baths that are simply much easier than trying to wipe the child off from whatever it is that they got into and whatever mess they made with it.

Today's spur of the moment bath was courtesy of Bug trying very, very hard to start going to the bathroom by himself. He felt the need to do some business. The urge was stronger than he was and began in his pull up. Not wanting to ask for help, my son pulled his pull up off, smeared his bum up onto the seat, had a little pee and smeared his bum off of the seat. (I need to interject here and tell you that only minutes ago I had finished cleaning the toilet!) Needless to say, he came running out of the bathroom covered in poop. As we (J & I) got him back to the bathroom, we noticed poop smeared up and down the toilet and on the floor.

This is what resulted in his spur of the moment bath. I love potty training(being a twit). I love motherhood. (and I am not being a twit about THAT. Yes, it was a smelly mess to clean up but, it was kind of cute and admirable the way Mr. Magoo went about it. Can't be mad about that...)

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Id seems I hab a code in mah node

Last night I felt fine, maybe a little sluggish but good. I was awake this morning at about 6 by work calling to see if I would work a 12 hour day and there was no way I was going to go when I answered the phone saying far too many "d's".

This is actually the first time this winter I have been sick. I have had days where I have not felt great or just felt under the weather (aside from my headaches/migraines) but I am incredibely impressed. Normally I am the one who gets sick at the mere mention of flu or cold or what have you. Horray for me; perhaps my immune system is actually kicking up a notch.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My son smells really good

Bug is an avid teeth brusher. He LOVES to brush his teeth so this morning I got him all set up to brush his teeth and went back to do some chores. He took a really long time but that is not unusual, like I said, he loves to brush his teeth. A nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach had me go in and check up on him. There stood my son on his little stool with my brand new jar of expensive hair conditioner; it was all over his hair, his face and his hands. Fighting the urge to be mad at him, I went and grabbed the camera (to satisfy my scrapbook page planning addiction), shot a couple of pictures (still on my camera so I can't put them on here yet) and began to wipe him off. A bath is in the very fore-seeable future for him as I can't get it out of his hair but boy, does he smell nice and his skin is really, really, really soft....





Just a little snowed in. I don't think they'll be going anywhere for awhile.














There are huge icicles hanging from all the buildings. This is just the shed from across the back alley but some of the stores have incredible icicles hanging half way down their buildings.












The tow truck drivers have been incredibly busy this year. They are quite happy about the snow however, one day even the tow trucks weren't allowed on the highways the snow was so bad. The RCMP were kicking everyone off. There have been loaded tractor trailers flipped over in ditches and jack knifed on city streets even.

A Glance at This Winter (LilB this is for you, so you believe it)

The last 3 weeks we have gotten so much snow that it is hard to believe it will ever end. I have seen more people stuck in front of my house in the last 3 weeks than in the last 5 years. I have been stuck more in the last 3 weeks than in all the years since I got my learner's license. I have not seen this much snow since I was a kid and I was reminded of my childhood by my brother the other day when he told me he saw his 2 sons walking around the farm yard sucking on an icicle. Anyway, let's have a glance at out winter in pictures...



This picture was taken February 12 in our backyard. You can see the entire fence and there isn't much snow in the rest of the yard either.










This one was taken on March 1.













This one was taken just this weekend. The snow, although being a heap load of fun if you resort back to childhood ways and games, has been a great source of exercise for our town. We have spent more time shovelling and pushing out our neighbors than not. This last Saturday we shovelled our walkways 3 times just to try to keep up so that we could walk on said walkway and we still weren't able to keep up. A lot are complaining, and yes it is enough all ready, but it really is a lot of fun.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Can You Believe It?

It is all ready March 12. I can't believe it! Where is this year going?! LilB and DearN will be married in less than 2 months! I am so excited! Not only do we get to have a little bit of a break and a holiday but we get to see our oldest son get married to a wonderful girl. We are so excited to officially call her our daughter and welcome her into our family. We all love her so much. We can't, however, call her our daughter yet because Jellybean is insisting that that is a rule and she can't be called Jellybean's sister until LilB marries her (even though she is the most excited to have DearN as her sister).

A little over a month after the big wedding, we get to watch J graduate from high school and move on to another phase of her life as well. (All these kids moving on to different life phases is enough for me to need a vacation...) It has been very emotional for me. I think of when I first met these kids; LilB was barely 11, J 9, Tuff 3 and BabyK was only a few months. What are they doing now? LilB is off getting married and beginning a new chapter of his life; J is graduating and off to a new chapter in her life. Rush is 12 now and I think of how quickly the years passed from when LilB was 12 and the tears start to surface because I think of how he is now off in a different country and beginning a family of his own.

Time has such a way of playing tricks on us parents. As children the days dragged on and on; summer vacation seemed an eternity away, Christmas even farther. Now, the days melt into years and our babies are adults when they should only be 5.

Now that I am a blubbering mess I need to stop, pull myself together and get some work done because time has a way of slipping away before we get all we need to done.

Preteen Angst

I now have a greater respect for what I put my parents through and I all ready thought that I had come to appreciate it. I am especially appreciating what my dad went through raising a couple of preteen/teen girls. He, being a man, would not understand what we were going through like my mom would have.

Rush has reached that part of her life; now, I am not talking about anything other than the hormonal imbalances that woman have gone through for as long as we can remember. She is moody at times, cranky, angry,cranky, sad, cranky...did I mention cranky? She is a bundle of emotions that brew in her body and we never really know which one is going to come out next.

It's a hard part of life: confusion, emotions, just trying to deal with it all.

Today, BigB was tickling her feet and one minute she was laughing and having a great time-the next, tears. BigB sent her downstairs to see what Jellybean and Bug were up to and she came back upstairs crying. Why? They were sitting on her bed and playing her keyboard. Hormones? I think so.

Anyway, we are in the midst of a tornado of emotions around this place so keep Rush in her prayers as she goes through this preteen angst.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Parent's Night

Today after work I got to watch Jellybean in ballet class; it was so great. I missed the first parent's night because of work so getting to make it to this one was exciting for both, Jellybean and I. I was rescheduled at work for this week to a time where I wouldn't be able to make it so I talked to my boss and we worked it all out; I went in an hour early and left an hour early, ran to get the kids, dropped Bug off and grabbed the video camera.

It was so incredible watching her do something that she loves so much that she, a lot of the time, forgot I was even there watching. Seeing the concentration on her face as she tried mastering the exercises her teacher was getting them to do did my heart a world of good.

I got her class on video plus I managed to take a few still shots at the same time. Of all the things I have accomplished in my life, multitasking has turned out to be one of the most useful so is becoming somewhat ambidextrous (not completely but somewhat). Anyway, I managed to capture a picture that I think turned out pretty cool with the motion and all. Take a look. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.