out with the old....

and in with the new!



i want to share a quote i just read:

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve.
Middle age is when you're forced to."
~ Bill Vaughn


i know for sure both of our kids would stay up to welcome the new year in. our hope {and dream!} is that they would both sleep until noon as a result!

we sure don't feel forced to stay up. so i'll guess that we are now officially in between youth and middle age....

keeping positive!

my GRAND PLANS for December fell quite short. we finally decorated our cookies {the ones we baked on Christmas Eve day} a few days ago.

Aidan has used icing before. and he knows how sprinkles work! now he is getting confident enough to use his skills for design. he had some very nicely decorated treats. although towards the end of his session i caught him licking the icing knife! thankfully no cookies were compromised...

Kiara is new to all of this. it is tough for me to do the preparing and baking and keep an eye on TWO children. she gets the short end of the stick frequently. Aidan still needs a close eye. but Kiara still needs to be taught. which takes a lot of energy and time! i love the confidence...but she still needs to learn some skills. like....when you add the coloured sugar coating...you don't dump the container upside down and put ALL of the sugar on ONE cookie! maybe she likes over-sugared cookies? probably. that is her pink snowflake sugar cookie in the top left hand corner...



so nice to have Kristian at home and on holidays. i have had lots of extra time to do some odd jobs around the house. and i've had more time to work on my scrapbooking. that has been a treat! i've been doing some thinking on how i could rearrange some things upstairs to include a few of my scrapbook supplies and the kids creative work. they are both now at the age where it could become a rewarding experience for everyone. we may need to think about a storage space in the office and then have the basic stuff nearby. paints and glimmer mist does not need to come out every time...



Kristian knew what he was getting us into when he bought me the cricut. i love his support! all the snowflakes scattered were cut by the cricut. and so were those 2 pink swirls. the snowflakes are actually flowers....but i still think they can masquerade as snowflakes....or maybe that is frozen Canadian brain...we see more snowflakes than flowers in any year. i layered the snowflakes for added dimension. and i used some glimmer mists to add colour. all of those pieces were cut from white paper. yes, i am pleased with myself! i get a kick out of bragging to Kristian about what i have done. and he seems to also enjoy listening and feigning delight and surprise! truth be told he is probably relieved that i am using and enjoying his gift....

those photos were taken of them last year. pretty much one year ago to be exact! hopefully we'll have some more pleasant weather that will make skating more enjoyable. we went out yesterday to sled right across the street. boy were we cold. Kiara discovered this winter that we often have warm air blowing through the floor vents....her vent of choice is in the kitchen! you know she is freezing when she will sit their and let the air warm her up.


in my next post i'll do some reflecting on 2008 and my dreams for 2009.

for now....


Happy New Year!!

winter why's

the weather is warming up! we're at -11 Celsius this morning. but grey skies. and you can barely see the light snow falling. itty bitty snowflakes.

definitely a good day for sledding.

for a certain young boy.

this girl....

{as if December hasn't treated her poorly enough} has her daddy's cold. she was in bed by 5:30 pm yesterday. with a fever. and not a restful night for her either. {or for us!} complaints of sore nose. sore ears.


but she is still healthy enough to have a bit of her spark! the kids love to cuddle with me in the morning. apparently Kiara thinks that this is her privilege and has had a tough time sharing me with her big bro these past few days. some days her two-year-old-ness has an edge to it....totally takes Aidan off guard - like the rest of us! i keep telling them to cuddle with daddy...no takers! {he's more of an afternoon cuddly-type}.


i'm not feeling terrific either. so far Aidan seems to be the only one healthy right now.


hopefully the fever will end and she can feel up to getting some fresh air too. in my "expert" opinion...ahem!....i figure being cooped up inside probably made the germ spreading a little easier. i have to admit that it has been nice to be cozy and warm inside our house - and looking out at the cold air! but i think we're all ready to get back to our regular schedule again.

this was Kiara's outfit yesterday. i did pick out her dress and tights. can you believe that she does not own a pair of winter white tights? surprisingly when you see the amount of clothes she does have! i love how she found the fleece sweater and added her slippers. i think the only item missing is a touque!

our little scandihoovian!

{those red slippers are her fave these days. she is not a winter lover. i'm sure she'll grow up and move to some tropical place....like Hawaii or New Zealand!}

lights, camera and action!

literally.


one of my personal favourites of the Christmas season is to visit our provincial legislature grounds. we're so lucky to live in the capital city of our province! and to live so close to this special place. one of my good friends became engaged here one Christmas...at the foot of the big centre tree. and they're still happily married. a farm and four kids later!

the ice sculptures are amazing.

there are signs that say "no entry" and security guards roaming. yet there are still a lot of people that walk in here and pose for photos! the guards must get tired from repeating themselves...or they have stopped caring.

i had fun using our new camera to capture the lights. this is a cool one. in my amatuerish eyes, anyway!

Aidan and Kiara had a good amount of sugar in their veins... it was a good place for them to be. pretty much no boundaries and lots of space to run!

you can see Aidan and daddy in the distance. Kiara is the blur chasing them!

in the summer this is also a fun {and busy} place to be. there are lots of pools and "islands" and waterfalls.

our little bundled "mini's".

this is a family shot. although Aidan is hiding. i guess he reached his picture limit?

and a parting shot.

i'm really pleased with the quality of my photos. i love 'auto' mode! one of my goals for 2009 is to learn the manual modes, understand them and use them more often. i'm also guessing that it will be frustrating at times {can already hear my screaming!}, but i can guess that it will be worth it.

i heard that today is "national drive around and look at lights day". not sure what calendar that is from. but it sounds like fun! go do it!!! although, it might be healthier for the nation if you WALK and admire lights....

our next items on our to-do lists are sledding and skating. just hoping that the weather will lighten up....it's -15 Celsius today. and Kiara is battling a cold. that girl has had a rough winter so far....i hope that she is healthier next month....

Merry Christmas

one of our traditions is to attend a Christmas Eve service. sing Christmas carols. then visit the provincial legislature grounds to enjoy the lights, scenery and music.

this year we broke tradition.

all month i had been wanting to do this with the kids. it's baking that we can all do together and everyone gets a job! however this month has not turned out what i had expected at all.... so on the afternoon of Christmas Eve day we baked gingerbread and sugar cookies!!

and they were yummy!

Aidan was happy to have some cookies to put on a plate for Santa.

we did make it to the Christmas Eve service. it gets to be more of an adventure every year! two kids at their most tired part of their day...and add excitement...and two tired parents....yup! i brought water {mental note to bring spill proof cups next time} and graham bunnies and a granola bar. one of the bottles did not get the cap put back on and spilled along the wooden pew...mixed with a few "crumbs"....and multiply that by 2. wet pants and cold arctic air. we decided to post-pone our Christmas light viewing.

in my brilliance...note the trend....i suggested we try Candy Cane Lane. on Christmas Eve. how wise were we?! thankfully other homes also decorate and hang lights. and the kids never knew the difference!

another tradition....the kids get to open a present Christmas Eve. always pajamas. for the past two years, Aidan has been THRILLED! and he eagerly puts them on. probably the fastest getting ready for bed all year. i also love his "oh...brand new Christmas pajamas.....thank you, mom!!!!" this year i wrapped glow sticks too. we're wondering how many more years we can pull off this stunt!

this year Aidan put out a plate for Santa. not sure where he learned this. and also not sure how he decided what Santa likes! Santa got two special cookies (freshly baked!) and shreddies. did you know Santa likes shreddies? neither did we! he also really wanted to give Santa chocolate milk...but forgot....and since it was late i did not remind him of this detail.

it is also worth mentioning that Santa liked the sugar cookies best. fortunately the shreddies found their way into a cup of leftovers and i found the uneaten gingerbread cookie before Aidan spotted it. phew!

the next best trick of ours was Christmas morning. the kids slept in. again. but of course we wanted more sleep. any parent who doesn't?! i mentioned that maybe they would like to watch "treehouse" before breakfast. and they heartily agreed and ran downstairs to watch for at least 45 minutes. yay!!

then they remembered Santa and presesnts and stockings.

Aidan was surprised that Santa ate everything. later in the day he mentioned that Santa must eat a lot. if every house left him a plate of food. brilliant thinking he has.

these are our spoiled children.

Aidan wanted two things from Santa.

jump rope. {check!}

rocket. {check!}

actually they were cute to watch. Aidan was excited about everything! his response was adorable. we're glad he was so happy and easy to please this year.

Kiara was tired from opening presents. she was more interested in what the rest of us were doing. i think Aidan helped her in this area. he was also excited about her gifts too!

terrible composition in this photo. but it was the only one i took that had all 4 of us in it!

a special treat for breakfast....

i adore their messy faces! Kiara dove right in. the cream cheese icing on the top was the first to be eaten! it was dripping off her face!! Aidan was a bit neater....he licked his lips between bites....

and then we played and played all day long. the kids stayed in pajamas all day too. it saved getting ready for bed that night as well.

we all agreed we were very spoiled.

Aidan asked me last week what i wanted from Santa. my first thought was something that was not on my list. but i thought it was way out of my league for actually recieving. a cricut. apparently Santa is real. that is exactly what i got!

i also got the "Creative Family" book. fun!

Kristian was pleased with his noise blocking headphones. more pleased than i was not having to buy them from BestBuy. {i get good service there 1 out of 10 times...and i got especially bad service they day i tried to pick them up....instead London Drugs was my hero!} his desk is in an open room...with lots of other people and lots of noise in the background...like forlifts and trucks! he is one of those people that needs it QUIET to work. hopefully these will help him out. i'm amazed how he can work well with music....

this year i tried a new recipe. turkey roulade. and baked stuffed potatoes. oh yum! we also had some appetizers for the kids to choose from. i wasn't so sure they would like the new tastes from the meal. they did give it a try. we also had a fun cranberry drink...with fresh blueberries floating inside. and i brought out the good china! {there is a bermuda triangle somewhere in this house....maybe the "borrowers" moved in? i do have good silverware too. but haven't been able to locate it for awhile...}

i also got a tripod. it's fun to use the timer feature and not worry about the camera balancing precariously somewhere.... the kids enjoyed our candle-light meal and drinking out of fancy glasses.

we ended our evening watching "Wall-E". {Aidan LOVES his robots}

and after the kids were in bed we watched "MammaMia". i totally have to do a mamma mia party. not everyone likes the movie.....i think it is the ones who have to hear "good" singing...and have seen the musical live. we decided that the movie would not have been as good without the famous actors...ABBA was an amazing group and most people grew up listening to their songs and love to sing along. and most of us singing with the music are not good singers either! but it's still fun to sing. this was the first time Kris saw the movie. he was surprised at some of the scenes....and teased me about my wanting to watch it so many times!

this morning we got to sleep in again. love the holidays!

and the kids are still wearing the pajamas they put on two days ago!

they dove into their candy today. and also played with playdough for a good hour this morning.

here is a great holiday playdough recipe tip: make gingerbread playdough!

to your regular playdough....add brown food colouring and generous spoonfuls of cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. it smells great!

well....off to enjoy more family time!

wishing you all the holiday best. from our family.

festivities

busy.

fun.

these are good times.



Aidan is a big fan of Santa. we don't go out of our way to mention the big guy inn the stylish red suit..... but on his own, he wrote a list for Santa. okay. confession. while shopping for Christmas gifts the kids do the "i want" thing. i always say, "put it on the list for Santa". and so he has. and he narrowed it down to 2 things! a jump rope and a rocket. we totally get the rocket. but we're not sure where he has decided that he wants a jump rope too. Santa visited his playschool party. {which was a blast! thank you teachers Helena and Lisa!!} it was the second time we saw Santa this year. would you believe that he was the first to sit on his lap again?!

Santa brought each of the kids a round sled. we're hoping for warmer weather to use it. Aidan told me later, "I've always wanted one too!!!" you do have to wonder what the kids talk about with each other...




Kiara loved the food. and the candy canes. and the kids. and of course ran and gave Santa a hug!

i got my hair done. i was ready for a major chop. and came home like this. now if i can only take the time to repeat this hairdo...

what a tease! her smile and those big eyes. yes, they melt me.

this was his present from Uncle John's family. he loves it. he also told me, "i've always wanted a race track!!" yup. so far this one is having the best Christmas! no wonder he wants to see what is inside the other boxes.

love this photo.

she is working on the gingerbread house. and great light for a change!!!

note for next year. limit the gingerbread building to one afternoon. and keep it simple. although....when you look at per penny cost of entertainment....it is quite cheap. and good luck for them getting those candies off. oh, how i love thick royal icing....

and....we're thrilled that it looks like we'll have daddy home for a good chunk of holiday time. we did not have him home much last year, so this will be a treat! it might be enough for him to get him through the next few months before his earned holiday.

is it really Christmas Eve tomorrow?

is it possible?!

brrrrr.....

just a bit of a whirlwind week.

we buried my grandma on a very cold and crisp winter morning a few days ago.

i remember her saying that she and her twin sister were born during a blizzard. i found it very fitting that she would leave this earth on a less than pleasant winter day too.



aside from what we felt...it was a beautiful day. the country drive to the cemetary was one of those rare scenic drives. the hoar frost and snow on the branches of trees was a beautiful sight.

she is now beside my grandpa. someone she loved very deeply and has missed his prescence every day since he left.

seeing this reminded me of a picture grandma loved. it hung wherever she lived. i remember her talking about the last supper many times.

the service was something that grandma would have loved. it was very emotional and full of faith. my grandmother had a lot of spunk! she was also sincere in many of her roles. she lived a full life. we would have welcomed to have had her for longer. we'll miss her prescence. but all of us are thrilled that she lived so well and for so long. we are also celebrating that she is no longer blind. without pain. full of memory. and thankful that we will see her one day.


for now....

Christmas is coming. very quickly.

one of my children is understanding the traditions. especially when they pertain to receiving gifts! thankfully we still have a gingerbread house to complete, cookies to bake, cookies to decorate, crafts to finish.... the weather is literally "frightful" with the temperatures hovering around -30 degrees Celsius. so we're stuck indoors. we do have some errands to run and groceries to buy this week. those are difficult at times with the kids...but even less enjoyable when i'm cold, the kids are cold, the car is cold and i have to buckle and un-buckle three seatbelts.

can we hope for some warmer weather by Christmas Eve?

history

on my fathers' side of the family tree there is some interesting history.

my grandfather's family came to Canada before it was a united nation. one of the early settlers, William Henry Steeves became involved in politics. he attended the Charlottetown Conference. he is even in the famous photo taken at that conference. i would say that is about as "Canadian" as you can get!

the Steeves family is huge. the word "cousin" doesn't mean a whole lot! the origin of the family in Canada is based in New Brunswick. there is even a "family paper" and an organization requiring membership. even a family emblem of a boat, with the number 7 as the mast, and an "s" on one side, an "f" on the other. Steeves Family of Seven Sons. yes we are technically organized by which son we descended from.

history can get interesting.

now on my grandmothers' side, they settled in America. the ship they sailed on was the Mayflower. very American. one of her uncles was an actor. in fact he had a part in the Disney movie about the twin girls who are separted and then discover they are sisters.....so they change places and get to know their other parent. Charles was the butler. i don't watch a lot of old movies....that's the only one i knew he was in for sure! grandma remembers watching him act from behind the stage. that would have been cool.

again another very large family.


and it gets even more interesting....

my grandmother was a twin. whom i am named after.

my grandmother {Jesse Laurine Ruggles} married {John Gifford Steeves}...my grandfather, whom everyone knew him as Jack.

my grandmother had another sister, Amy. Amy married my grandfathers' brother, Fred.

now we have some double cousins!

one of my Dad's double cousins is an author. which was very exciting for a young child to learn. it's kind of weird now when friends find out that she, who is a fairly well known author, is a relative. given the large family, you can't be close with everyone. so unfortunately she is not someone that i knew very well. when i was much younger, she lived far away and we did not see her that often.


and now one of her daughters' also writes.

she wrote a very easy to read history of the family too. it begins with the family history...and then goes into specifics with her mom. there is a family tree album and books that do get updated. but they are not as easy to read through. one day i would like to.


i like this part. it mentions a brief history of my grandparents. the final paragraph would describe the type of person my grandmother was. warm. strong. caring. adaptable.


Jack, in the middle of the family line, became a successful farmer and businessman. For some years he sold International Harvester equipment and at the same time managed a farm east of town. Later he sold both and moved farther north to raise purebred Hereford cattle. He married Amy’s sister, Laurine Ruggles, so their children and Janette’s siblings referred to themselves as “double cousins,” becoming close friends and swapping offspring back and forth between the two homes for various reasons over the years. For Janette, it was like having two sets of parents and two batches of brothers and sisters.
Ralph was the next-to-last of Fred’s brothers. He also remained a bachelor, though it did not seem to be for lack of interest. Apparently there simply had not been the right girl at the right time. Janette was sure this uncle would have made a wonderful husband and daddy. He was always patient and loving, spoiling her over the years and looking out for her whenever he could.
Walter was the baby of the family and still a young boy when Kathryn felt she could no longer endure the harsh life she was living. She took Ralph and Walter and moved into a small house in the town of Champion, twenty-five miles away, seemingly confident that Bob would follow. But this did not happen. Family and neighbors who knew them were grieved to see two fine but stubborn people hurt themselves and the family they loved by allowing years of growing resentments to drive them apart. It seemed apparent, though, that neither was willing to take the first step toward compromise.

Later, when Jack married, Ralph and Walter returned to the family home to live with him and his new bride, Laurine. This meant that, young as she was, she began married life with not just the care of a home and new husband, but also of Jack’s father, two teen-aged brothers-in-law, and a hired hand.


they were married the same year as the famous stock market crash. nothing like having an easy start. {her wedding dress was later cut up and made into clothing for children...not sure if it was for her kids or somebody else.} she ended up raising 6 sons and 2 daughters. my dad was the fifth child and fifth son. her sixth child was my aunt marilyn. no wonder she was relaxed about life. i suppose five young boys on a ranch/farm would do that to a person!

she said that she was born in a snowstorm. well...she died on one of the coldest winter days. i think that about sums it up! she was one tough and solid woman. and knowing her, she is probably organizing some type of party in heaven these days. and there will be singing. i would bet on it. she is probably dancing too. i guess i may get my "spunk" from her? not a bad trait!





***note: book excerpt taken from the Barnes and Noble site, under features of the book here.

mountains and valleys

{warning: a more serious post! if you don't want to read, you can enjoy the photos instead!}







did you ever play with one of these?







they are filled with air. and there was a bag of sand at the bottom. you could try to push or punch it over, but it would always pop back up.

rather an ironic toy, now that i think of it!

our year has felt much like we have been the punching bag. we have kept getting pushed and pushed. at times it has been really hard to pop back up again. and other times we've been pushed back down before we've had a chance to pop back up again. phew! not something i'd recommend to anyone.

some of the pains we've felt have been in empathy of others too. that has been hard.

some of the pains was inflicted on us by people we were close to and had thought were supporters. that was difficult.

but despite the challenges, we have had a lot to be grateful for.

we are all together.

Kris and i were talking about it the other day and truly amazed at how much stress we have been able to handle. of course "handle" being an inadequate word! truthfully it is much more like struggling to catch your breath and at that same time realizing that you're not alone.


we are thankful for many blessings and great opportunities this year.

i've been working on photos we've taken this past year. it is amazing the number of memories these photos can bring. they're kind of like evidence. in a way.

with digital photos you can end up with too many. i've learned that it is good to have a mix of photos. not all have to be happy. they don't have to be to taken just at special occasions. my favourites are the ones that are from a typical day. the kind that aren't posed. and some of them show the true feelings of the person at the time. they tell a story. yes we have photos of thinking faces, tear faces, funny faces, serious faces, happy faces, sad faces.... definitely evidence of sad days and happy days. life.







here is one of the pages i've put together. we visited this park every couple of weeks. we spent many hours here each time. i usually left with one or two cranky children! i learned that the key to a successful visit was to not have expectations. those were the best days. i think there is a lesson there.

a garage that took longer to build because a daddy knew that his greatest supporters needed his prescence. the memories tied to the building are worth much more than the building itself. Aidan was part of the planning process. he wore his work gloves the day it came down. he was outside nearly every day that action was happening. the day they poured the concrete foundation....he was in his sandbox making his own with sand. he had his own hammer and ladder. all the days that he missed his daddy last winter were balanced with the amount of memories those two created this summer. even though the garage was always behind schedule. sacrifice.



this little album has been a great reminder of these three important people in my life. so thankful for their unconditional love. acceptance. encouragement. gratitude.




i realize more as i get older how important it is to have those closest to you believe the best in you. even when you are not showing any signs of "goodness".


i want to be one of those people for family. they know how far from perfect i am. yes it is true!! and trust me, i know their lack of perfection too. yet it doesn't matter. so we try to find the balance from overlooking imperfections and praising positives. some days it is really tough. for all of us!


the biggest lesson we have learned this year is that love does mean sacrifice at times. our little family is our priority. we've learned that we need to say no to some things. that has not been easy. as the kids get older we see how important Kris and I are to them. isn't it ironic how if we keep a priority on maintaining a happy and healthy marriage, our kids will feel more secure and happy? it seems like we're walking backwards....like we should be putting more priority on them than ourselves! oh the irony of life.


as difficult at 2008 has been. as many changes as i would have liked to have made. i cannot complain about the results so far. i'd prefer to have less difficulty. oh yeah. and at times i need big reminders to look at the big picture. not that it makes it easier....it just reminds me that the problems are bigger than me.


i am so fortunate to have had several people in my life support me. even in sad times.



another bump in the road has come up for us. the timing is terrible. especially so with Christmas. ever since my grandpa died, thirty years ago, my grandma has been anxious to join him. today she got her wish granted.

for almost twenty years she had been suffering from a loss of vision. she was a very talented lady, especially in the creative department. i think it was grandpa who arranged to move one of the old wooden granaries close to their mobile home and converted it into an art studio for her. at one point it also became a guest house! i remember finding old drawings of hers stored in boxes in one of the garages on the farm. i was told they were probably from a long distance art course she took. their were still life drawings...and some nudity too. that was a shock to a grand-kid of a religious grandmother! up until her vision became severely poor, her art and crafts was part of her daily life. i have many happy memories watching her blend colours and transform a canvas into a sunset. or watching balls of yarn become blankets. i recall how peaceful those times were. however...i wonder how peaceful it was for her to have a talkative child nearby?!

for most of this past decade she has suffered from dementia. she was living in the past. happier times i think. for the most part. i learned more about her life during this stage. funny how certain incidents or decisions are believed to be best kept quiet! dementia removed many of her inhibitions.

before the kids were born i was able to visit her more often. each time i never knew if it would be my last. when i was expecting Aidan i once stopped by during a singing time at their home. Grandma always loved singing, even when her voice lost it's tune with age. she had a streak of silliness that never left. she had no idea who i was. nor did she care to miss her chance to sing. i stood behind her and watched the group of seniors sing songs. i thought it so interesting that they could remember these words to songs they rarely sang....but forgot faces and names and events that were most important to them. and there was grandma waving her white cane in tune to the beat of the music. terrorizing the two people she sat beside as they watched the cane come closer and closer to them. the more they tried to stop her, the more animated and silly she became. while grandma sang loudly - and offkey - her two neighbors were not singing, but trying to avoid getting bruised. it was a totally humorous moment. but at the same time i was embarrassed that my grandma could possibly injure someone and laugh about it.

these were the last good photos i was able to take of her.

on one visit i went on my own with two kids. Aidan took her walker for a walk around the home. Kiara had her blanket "stolen" by another patient. i don't think the camera even got turned on once.

grandma once told me that many people used to tell grandpa how lucky he was to be married to "Reenie". apparently she was very light on her feet and a popular dance partner. i never got to see her dance. i may have inherited her creative side...but i definitely missed out on the coordinated part! (those of you unlucky enough to have watched or danced with me will defnitely agree!)

it had been more difficult to visit with her in the last two years. the kids were a challenge. but the medication she had been on made her sleepy, so she was rarely awake when i've shown up.

my last visit, while she was awake, she was wearing a bright red nail polish. i realized that i had never seen her wearing bright colours on her gorgeous nails. she informed me that a group of them had gone out the night before and had a good time dancing. oh the lies told by seniors with dementia!

she was always quick to point out that she "was just visiting this home herself and did not live far away". when asked where she lived, she always said, "oh, here and there." i could never get anything more specific from her.

she lived for 98 years. her 99 birthday would have been next year. on ground hog day. definitely a life well lived.

for now we'll mourn her prescence. it is a sad day for us.

soon we'll celebrate that she is where she always wanted to be. dancing. singing - on key! being silly. home. reunited with the love of her life. happy.

looking for light

a tradition in our house - new with the kids! is to countdown the days to Christmas with an advent calendar. you can view it here.

this year i added "things to do" as well as yummy candies.

yesterday was to "walk and look at Christmas lights".

my first thought was, "is Kiara up to this?" and then, "brrrr...it's cold out there....is that good for Kiara?" {she is STILL not feeling well. we've declared that it is not fair for a sweet girl like her to be sick for so long. let the naughty kids deal instead!}

right away, Aidan got really excited. he started asking if we could run and look at lights. what?

every other year, since he was born, i've taken him in the jogging stroller for the "clear the trails" race. this is run at Hawrelak Park now, the night before Bright Nights Festival opens. {i have been doing this run for as long as i've been running. it used to be at Telus Field, and we ran a loop through the river valley. in the dark. with glow sticks. and the police training squad. it used to be my favourite run.} it is 2 loops around the park. Aidan and i enjoyed it the first year. there were no glow sticks...can you believe that was a disappointment? last year it was very anti-climatic. very boring. it also did not help that Kiara cried nearly the entire first loop. and that Aidan wanted to run with me, but kept pulling on the stroller. it was at the end of the loop that i realized my stroller tires were flat as well. {the only way you can tell is if you squeeze them...impossible to see by sight} i was worn out! mentally and physically. the way i figured it i had run the equivalent of two laps!

all that to say....

when i asked the kids to get ready to go, Aidan was still excited. Kiara was not feeling well, so Aidan tried to encourage her by telling her the good stuff that was going to happen.

he described that we were going to run and look at lights. then when we were done there would be snacks.

too funny. those were his memories of the race. lights and food. what a boy!



{see more photos of the lights here}

he was disappointed when i told him that we were just going to drive. no snacks. the race was weeks ago.

but apparently we will be doing it next year. i'm guessing that a jogging stroller will not be needed next year? either way it should be interesting.

pinch me

this has to be a dream....


after last Tuesday, our days went rather well.

i decided that it was just one of those days when Aidan showed that he was 4 years old AND Kiara showed that she was 2 years old. and they did this on the same day. yes, i believe fully that it was a conspiracy.

i was very proud of them on Wednesday. but then i also had a break from them and had a chance to be with other adults too.

Thursday was not as great. a trip to Ikea for breakfast. not sure why i bought each of them their own plate....a few meltdowns over where to sit for breakfast and then later over the ice cream (or better to say lack thereof) after lunch. that was fun.

Friday was another good day. at least to start. happy children. then one at playschool for the afternoon. then cousins over for supper and the evening. four happy and enjoyable children. bliss.

until 9:30pm. Kiara was the only one who had been sleeping. 3 happy and not too sleepy children were still awake (which you can expect....who can sleep when "fun" is trying to "sleep" in the next room?) at 9:30 i would bet that all 3 of them wished that they had already fallen asleep.

somehow Kiara managed to catch the nastiest stomach flu bug she could find. poor thing. we were having a hard time too. there was nothing we could do but hold her and wait. very tough to do.

after 6 hours, she was finally able to sleep. and so were we.

Saturday we had planned to return to Ikea and pick up our Christmas tree. one of our traditions. usually it includes breakfast and a "run" through the store. not this time. we got our tree and got out of there!

the next plan was to decorate it on Sunday.

we got really good at changing plans this weekend.

Aidan started to complain about his tummy hurting around noon. by 2:00pm the suspense had broken. he was just as sick as his sister.

i don't do well with this kind of bug. {understatement}

thankfully Kristian handles it better. we make a good team. i'm also glad that the kids want their daddy when they are sick.

it was an exhausting weekend. thankfully there were some good family times too. there was nothing else to do besides hang out and watch tv together. aside from jumping up every 15 minutes, it was relaxing to just be together.


Aidan has been looking forward to decorating the tree for weeks.

we were thrilled that he felt healthy the day we picked it up. he had plans to "find the perfect tree". it was very cute. i think we did well.

he was more upset about not decorating the tree yesterday than he was being sick. so much like me...yet so different too!!

i'm a little worried that Kristian may be the next one. i'm really praying that he (and i!) miss out on this bug. if only you could earn your way out of getting sick.


we got our first Christmas card in the mail today! i always love getting mail like that this time of the year.

and look what else was in our mailbox today:

i think i'd rather have another bottle of fine glitter dumped on my floor.

i was summoned six or seven years ago. for a high profile murder case. tried to get out of it. failed. was very thankful to NOT get chosen. and even more thankful to have the jury selected on the first day. by 3pm. all but 12 people breathed sighs of relief.

i have to say that the experience of jury selection was interesting. the first time. they did roll call. took forever! then there came time for people to beg and plead to get out of it. took a long time. i had planned to do the same. until i saw that each person had to state their reason in front of everyone. no privacy. while the rest of us looked on and wanted to get it over with. it was a lot of sitting. i think that process took the entire morning. after lunch they started the selection process. which was the interesting part.

one person ended up having her name on the roll THREE times. the judge said that when it came time to draw names for the selection they would make sure her name only appeared once. (too bad that doesn't happen for the lottery!) nobody was surprised when her name was the first one chosen for jury selection. yes she became a juror.

so how do i get out of this? picture it: "i'm a mother in desperate need of a day away from my children. but sitting for a day or more in a packed courtroom is not going to de-stress me. could you please see fit to send me to a spa for the day instead?"

sigh.

at least the children are feeling better. the tree is decorated {somewhat! more on that later} and i'm having an hour of peace and quiet. savour this moment.

for real?

by 8:30 this morning

i wiped yogurt that had been smeared on the table and floor

christmas rice krispies {should really be re-labeled a 'mother's nightmare breakfast'}

and

spilled milk.


by then i was thinking an excursion AWAY from home that involved walking and a venti coffee was an ideal solution to keep all of us happier.


but that involved getting dressed.


which meant i NEEDED to unload the dryer. which also meant that it would be a wise choice to load the dryer. in this case, it also made sense to load the washer.

on a normal day.

but not today.

i should never have left two curious and trouble-seeking children alone in my kitchen.

especially since one of them had already 'made breakfast' for everyone. {bread & jam} however when i thanked one of the over-achievers, but declined his breakfast he felt it wise to wrap my breakfast for another day. he apparently has never seen me use my 'clingwrap' or 'wax paper'. my kitchen scissors were an accomplice in this instance.

sigh.


in the middle of my 'must make progess on this laundry' Aidan came running and proclaimed:

"mommy, kiara is making a mess!!!"

my first thought is how messier could things get?

"there's blue snowflakes and stuff all over the place!!!"

what could that be?

knowing that the damage was done, i finished my task.

nothing could have prepared me for the 9 o'clock clean up.

can you see her fingerprints?

she was ROLLING AROUND in it!!

can you see the bottle of glitter? it came in a Martha Stewart Snowflake Glitter kit. thank goodness i bought it at 50% off. i had only glittered part of one snowflake. the bottle was full. and that is very fine glitter. it does not look like much in the photo...but trust me...it was a lot. i'm very thankful that i did not buy the big bottle. very thankful.

i think i made a mistake of vacuuming it up. it didn't work too well. and i think my bagless vacuum is now dusted in it.

a wet cloth made an improvement.

then a dry swiffer cloth.

meanwhile Kiara is showering off the glitter. i regret that i did not take a photo of her feet. she looked like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz. i felt like the tin man. i sent Aidan to his room. i could picture his body covered in the glitter as he "helped" me. it was a picture that drove me to the edge!

so Kiara is crying in the shower.

Aidan is crying in his room.

and i'm at my wit's end cleaning impossibly fine glitter in my kitchen.

a good start to the day.

in the end, we are all showered. there are little bits of glitter everywhere. now that i've had a couple of cups of coffee, a shower and some time to catch my breath...i'm just thinking that i can consider our house decorated!

but i'm still planning that walk to get a venti....now that i've had the chance to vent!


deep breaths....


and reminding myself that "tomorrow is a new day...with no mistakes in it...yet!"