Cryptic and Princess got awesome stuff!

He got these cool puzzles from his Aunt and Uncle in South Carolina.





Thanks Poppa and Grandmama!





YAHOO!! Just what I wanted!! Santa REALLY brought me Baby Alive!

Gift time

Santa is amazing! He even left treats for the mice in their stockings!





Our little builder got something COOL from his grandparents in South Carolina!

Santa came!

Santa's Snack

Time to set out Santa's Snack!













Story time too!

Pizza for Santa

Clown discovered in the bonus features of our "The Santa Clause" movie with Tim Allen that Wolfgang Puck suggests making pizza for Santa. He informed us that Santa is tired of milk and cookies. Clown asked that I watch with him and sure enough. There was Wolfy making Pizza for Santa! Was very cute.

It was extremely important to Clown that we shake things up a bit this year and make Santa some pizza. I told him I did not have time for the home made crust, etc and we would buy pre made ones. He was fine with that and was pleased to make this to set out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Clown and Cryptic

Clown got Cryptic's name in the gift exchange that they do. Cryptic is obviously very pleased with the Bionicle Set that Clown got for him. As I have mentioned, Clown does not like to leave the house. He went shopping for his older brother some weeks ago, but could find nothing that was within the price range.


He has over $40 saved up and insisted on spending more than the limit on Cryptic. I refused to let him, explaining how that is not fair to the sibs who can't afford to do that. He was at such a loss, that he ended up just paying me some money from his wallet for something Stud and I had hidden away in the closet to be for Cryptic. He was sad because he did not get to actually purchase it himself and chose it, but he seemed a bit relieved also at the ease of his "shopping trip".

Note that he actually DOES have clothes on. He wore that to our Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church, if you can imagine. It was all I could do to get him out of his PJs, so I did not insist that he wear something more festive. You have to learn to pick your battles, as all of you parents out there know!!

Christmas Photos

Alright, I am undecided about what to do. I have many photos I want to share, but don't want a long, drawn out post. I think I will post one or two in a separate post. The problem with that is that people will see them backwards...hmmm...what a pickle.

As I sit down here in our Rec Room, I am amazed at how loud a young boy and his puppy can be while they play on the main floor of the house, above me. Sheeshkies!

Ok, I guess maybe I can start with the most recent and work my way to the earliest...wow, I can't believe how I am stressing about this...ah who cares, right?? I will just start with Christmas Eve and work from there. Ok, here we go...




We have a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve and Jock chose this new hockey helmet from Stud's parents.






Princess got a wee table and chairs for tea parties with her friends. Jock was pleased to partake and have his little sister serve him.

Christmas Message

This is from our family, to you.

Go here to see something we put together yesterday.


Sorry that it is so dark and the audio is off a little. Still, turned out cute I think.

Clown and Princess already knew a few verses in the NIV version, but Cryptic prefers King James, the same as Stud and I. Jock doesn't care either way and just recites what we tell him. Man, you should see the bloopers from this thing! Cryptic got all hyper (which DOESN'T happen) and it took him twenty minutes at one point to spit out ONE verse! LOL

Clown chose not to change out of his PJ's. He didn't even want to leave the house to go shopping for the gift he needed to buy for Cryptic, even though he was SO excited to buy it. He is a definitely my son! Princess was also in her jammies and decided later to change into a dress.

So there you are. We wish all of you and your's a wonderful, happy, peaceful holiday with lots of food, love and laughter. Notice I said food first:) That was on purpose. Teehee

Tag - You're all it!

Ok, Lara tagged me.


It is called "Six Weird Things about Me" but since I am a total freak, I have MORE than six things:) LOL So I am going to do a few more. Whoever wants to join in this, feel free. I will tag Tim, Library Mama, L, Vince, Jude, Dooney, Sillygirl and Claire. If I did not tag you, don't worry. Feel free to do it and please let me know so that I can enjoy reading it. Do as many as you want.


Seven Weird Things about Me ~

1) I sometimes sleep on my tummy with my legs bent at the knee and the lower legs sticking up toward the ceiling. I don't do this on purpose and am never aware of it. Stud has discovered me that way a few times over the years and it freaks him out! Clown is the only one of our kids who also does it. That we know of.

2) I can't stand ANYTHING on my feet, or at least for my feet to be completely covered. I wear thongs (Flip Flops to some of you) outdoors as often as I can, bare feet inside. Bare feet outside weather permitting. Once in a blue moon I will put on a pair of fuzzy socks if the floors are really cold. This usually lasts about three minutes before my feet are suddenly hot and the socks must come off INSTANTLY. I have been known to have my hands full of something and screech at someone who is near to quickly rip the socks off for me if I cannot get to them. I usually just step on them with opposite feet and pull them off that way.

3) I have my own odd language that I mutter and/or squeal at random times. I can't actually control it very well most of the time and it really embarrasses Jock. It usually happens when I see a baby or an animal. It is a baby talk that has evolved into...I don't have a word for it. Some find it endearing, others find it bizarre. My kids love to decipher it and are learning it quite well. Jock can actually imitate it quite well. He hates when it happens out in public, but seems to love it here at home!

4) I am insanely ticklish. As in if you tickle me, prepare to be injured. I cannot control my flailing limbs.

5) I am very anti-social. If I could survive without leaving the house/neighbourhood for weeks, I would. I would be happy as a clam, sitting in the house, playing games with my kids, surfing the net, baking, painting, reading, going for an occasional walk, etc etc for weeks on end. BUT NO!! Life dictates that I must leave to get food, library books, take kids/animals to the Dr., and on and on it goes. *sigh*

6) Along those same lines, I despise shopping. If Stud would go and get all the things that we need to run the household, I would be in heaven. I can't stand having to go into stores and search for the things I need. The odd thing about it, is I am actually very friendly and strike up conversations with total strangers. See?? I am weird! LOL

7) I talk to myself constantly. I am becoming my mother and my mother-in-law. Or maybe I always was?? I have never understood why both of those women are ALWAYS TALKING out loud, just muttering about what they have to do and where they need to go and every detail of every move they are making. I am not sure why I do it, but I try not to. Just today, I was saying something to no one in particular and Jock was nearby. I forget his exact words, but he basically asked why I feel the need to mutter about what I am doing. Which gave me the idea for this list.

Well, seven then. I guess I can't think of any others. I will leave you all with a link to Princess's ballet recital on the 9th. She is on the end there, it should be obvious. Don't pay any attention to or even LOOK AT those other kids. The ones that we didn't get their parents' permission to post this. Pretend you don't see those cute kids, just focus on the cute small one on the end, ok?? Thanks!! :)

Go here to see something really cute! Princess was totally lost, she had missed too many lessons. I will post the ones from last spring soon. She was much more focused then. I love when they mess up. SO CUTE! Makes it much more fun:)

Peace out for now!

At Long Last

I am pleased with it. Keep in mind, this is a photo OF a photo. The original is very clear and crisp.

Cryptic is not happy with this one. He said, "Mum, it looks like I'm ON something."

I said, "As long as you aren't, we are good."

I am going to look through the Santa photos from previous years and see if I can post any.

I hope to also post about Cryptic, FINALLY. There won't be as many photos as I had hoped, but you will get the idea of how much he has changed. Used to be blondish, if you can imagine. Amazing how quickly they grow and change. Well, in Cryptic's case, he doesn't grow much. But he DOES change a lot!

Cookies

Ok, Stud told me how to do this, let's see if it works!

Torticollis

Look here if you want, to see what Clown and I suffer from. I can't imagine an injury that he would have sustained, but Mum and I have a theory as to why mine originally started happening. I will dedicate a post to that fascinating story soon.

Here are a few more precious photos of our two youngest. Now I am off to Curves and will post a mouth watering recipe later on!





Peace out!

Weekend

We have had horrible winds and many people are without power. We had no internet connection from Thursday until last night.


Brain will now be called Cryptic. I will change it over on the side soon.

So I spent Friday in the kitchen all day. I had a cookie exchange to go to that night and had to make 8 dozen cookies. I will post the recipe soon, they are our ultimate favourite cookie, EVER. My kids can be picky, even when it comes to sweets. This is one cookie that they all beg for.

My feet hurt SO BAD by the time I had to leave for the exchange. My legs too. I have had bizarre right ankle issues of late, as well as a cyst on the back of my left knee. Normally it doesn't bother me, but if I walk too much or stand all day, it is painfully obvious and tends to swell up. This was the case on Friday.

While I was making the cookies, one of Cryptic's best friends EVER called and wanted to come over for the weekend. So his parents brought him, along with his 5 month old foster sister. They started fostering this year. She has asked me about it over the years and said my parents are an inspiration to her. We had a short visit and the plan was to take Brain and J (afore mentioned friend) to "Eragon" that night, since it just came out. I was going to pop in to the exchange, leave my cookies, collect my cookies and take the boys to the movie.

They ended up changing their minds and staying here to watch the latest Pirates movie that we just bought. So I stayed at the exchange and actually socialized with some women. That was nice and it was REALLY nice to sit and rest my feet.

Brom kept me up a bit in the night, but he is getting better every night. On Saturday...I can't remember. Ah yes, I took Cryptic and J to the movie and we shopped a bit. When I came home, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Stud had done some things outside. The wind storm had knocked some of the tiles off of our roof all around and he went up there to fix those. He also plugged in and hooked up some new holiday decorations that we got this year. Candy canes that light the pathway to the front door, etc. Looking very nice, now all we need is some snow! I wish we had gotten those set up a few weeks ago when we got that gorgeous snow!



We ordered pizza and Stud went shopping. Many calls home to check in with me later, he has gotten almost all of it done. Just needs another thing for Cryptic and some things for me, and we are finished. We have some left to wrap but we are close to done, so that is nice. A week from today, the kids are going to be very pleased with what they are getting. We got them one small thing each and then Santa gets them three. Of course Stud went over on Jock, so each of the others will get a bit more now. We try to spend the same amount and then keeping them getting the same number of gifts is hard. Jock and Cryptic are harder, since they are older. We could spend $40 on each of the other two and get them four of five things they would be very happy with. That same amount would get the older two ONE thing, perhaps two. Makes things tricky and one needs to tap into their creative side, I find. So I left it up to Stud this year! LOL


Sunday morning, we were awakened at about 4 or 5 A.M. to poor wee Clown standing at the side of our bed, gasping in pain and holding his head in an awkward position. Something was wrong with his neck. If we held him against us and shuffled along, it was manageable, but if we let go of his head and neck, he screamed and was in agony. I got up so suddenly and in such a panic that as I was holding him and trying to figure out what to do, I was suddenly extremely nauseous. I was very shaky and thought I may vomit on my poor boy's head.

I had Stud come over and get him held against him and I ran to the bathroom. I was dripping in sweat and freezing cold and was sure that I was going to erupt all kinds of fluids from both ends. Most odd. I actually did a few dry heaves, which brought back horrid memories of pregnancy, and then it passed and I was fine. Lasted all of two minutes.

So we somehow got Clown settled on the couch in a position that was least painful, with his neck on a heating pad and we all got some more sleep. Stud and Jock got up and went to Jock's hockey game, that I wanted to go to but thought I should stay home with Clown. Good thing I did, things got worse and the child was screaming. I took him to the walk-in clinic. It was very difficult to get him in his seat in the van and he screamed the entire way. I tried to prop things up against his neck and shoulder, but by the time we got there, he was actually laying in a freaky pose and screaming at the top of his lungs. It would be funny, if he was not in such pain and if I did not feel so helpless. I carried him in, with his head propped against my chest. He calmed down a bit, but when I had to put him down to sign him in, etc, the screaming started again. There was no pressure against his neck.

A sweet young man sat with him, patted his leg and kept on calling him "Big Guy", telling him that his mother would be right back. He was so sweet, telling Clown the same things I had been saying, but coming from this "cool" guy, it seemed to really mean something. Asked Clown's name, told him his, etc etc. I was so grateful and told him so when I was able to come over and hold Clown again. Clown had been concerned before we left that he would make a spectacle of himself once in the office, and he was trying to tone things down. He was ashamed that he was still in his PJs but I explained that happens sometimes, no worries, no one would mind.

Long story short, he has a hereditary thing...can't remember the name. He has always suffered from what we thought were horrible growing pains, but it turns out it is this muscle issue. Starts with a "T" and I have suffered from it over the years. Always in my neck, as it has now manifested itself in Clown. Lasts a few days with me typically. Really is terribly painful and I could relate and knew how he felt. I was 18 when it first started, however. Not seven. So that is no good. It happens to me every few years, sometimes a few times a year.



Once we got that sorted out and got him medicated and settled, Stud, Jock, Princess and I went to Jock's hockey Christmas party. Stud had totally forgotten about it and called me on the way home from the game! *sigh* Not only did he forget that, but he didn't tell me about the gift exchange. So we took cookies from my cookie exchange Friday night, and had a great time at the party. Played Dodge Ball, threw frisbees, etc. The food was yummy and I showed off pictures of the new puppy. I did not want to leave Cryptic and J watching Clown for long, but they did great. They did their gift exchange and Jock sat back and watched, smiling and having a good time seeing what everyone else got. I was not impressed, but it didn't phase him at all, so that is great. I asked Stud about it. He said he knew about it, but chose not to participate. *sigh* again. Why not ask Jock?? He has his own spending money, may have been something fun for him to do. Oh, he is cleaning here in the Rec Room and I just asked him if it bothered him. He says yes it did. "Dad never told me". Ah well, worse things can happen. I feel like he was robbed of a fun experience for no reason. What do you think of THAT, Stud?? LOL

Poor Stud is sick:( Princess is a little bit also, but the rest of us are fine so far!

After the party, Stud went to sleep and I took J home. He had a small group gathering to go to with his parents and sisters and then had to babysit his ten year old sister and the foster baby while his parents went to a Christmas Production at another church. I visited with them a bit and then rushed home to wake Stud and drive him to his hockey game. Silly man. He is sick, but insists on playing hockey! Took Jock with me and Cryptic stayed with the puppy and younger two kids. They lost and Stud took a puck to the jaw AND a stick to the jaw! A friend of our's (Jock's team's head coach) was on the other team and they totally slaughtered Stud's team. What a night!

I will add some pictures and then need to help the kids clean. This house is a total pig sty and we don't want wee Brom choking on anything laying around.






Look at this face! I know you all want one!

I hope to catch up on all your blogs very soon! Happy Holidays!

Surprise!

Well, I am running on not much sleep. The new addition to our family kept me up most of the night.

Yes, you read correctly. The reason I could not post (aside from it being a chaotic time of year anyway) was that I left on Friday for my home country.

I drove to Vancouver, left the car in extended parking and flew to Calgary. Two of my brothers picked me up and I spent the weekend there playing with my nephew. He will be six months old on the 20th and the little (HUGE) guy weighs over 22 lbs! And can I just say he is CUTE!?!? They gave me a 5X7 photo of him dressed as Tarzan, holding a stuffed monkey. I wish SO BAD that I could post it on here, but alas. They are firm on no posting pics of him. Goofs. Teehee You may recall that I went up there this past June when he was born and helped them out with him. Man, has he changed!

Our oldest brother and a good friend of his from high school (who had come with him to Calgary) drove me to my parents'. Was nice to chat and catch up with them. Mum and Dad were at a potluck with one of their grief groups when I got there, so I called my other brother, Sean (the only one I would not see since he is staying in South Dakota for the holidays) and spent a few hours on the phone with him. My oldest brother had to drop me and drive to Northern Saskatchewan. He is a social worker up there and had to be at work Monday morning of course.

Was lovely to see my parents again! I have not seen them for a year, when we went up last Christmas. They are doing much better than they were this time last year. They let me listen to my brother's radio interview about his book on the CBC. Sean was sent a copy and I want other people to get to listen, but we are not allowed to make copies. Sean just lets my parents have it. Was very cool to hear him, he did a great job!

Monday morning, we packed up their three week old foster baby and they took me to my friend C's house. You may recall from posts last January that C came for a visit. She had NO IDEA that I was coming and thought that she was just going out for coffee with my parents. Needless to say, she was pretty shocked when I showed up and my parents dropped us at the Mall. We borrowed a wheelchair at the mall and I spent the day with her, shopping and wheeling her about. She was concerned it would be hard on me as it was almost a year ago when I saw her and bring back flashbacks of pushing my baby brother in his wheelchair. I did much better this time and we had a great day!! The best of all was seeing her.

That night Mum and I went to another of their grief groups while Dad stayed home with the baby. I had gone last year also and it was nice to see some of the people again. Most of them have lost spouses, but we are all there to help each other. I don't know, and my parents agree, how they would have survived the death of my brother without these wonderful groups!

Tuesday was my parents' 42nd Wedding anniversary. We spent the day shopping together and had a great day. We went out to eat that night at one of our favourite restaurants and had a great talk. We all cried a little bit as we spoke of my baby brother and laughed remembering times with him. It was very healing for me. I was not strong enough to go this past summer for the one year anniversary of his death, but was felt stronger now and had a real need to be with my parents.


Yesterday morning, we went out to near the town I grew up three miles North of. The very town that my brother's latest book is set in. One my Mum's best friends breeds dogs and my parents helped pay for a puppy for our kids for Christmas. Here is our latest addition:










This was the surprise I was talking about, Jude! Isn't he PRECIOUS!?!?

His name is Brom. We think. Not definite, that is another story. He did SO WELL. He was taken from his mother and in a box in the kitchen of the house. We visited and had some tea, then I put him in the bag I bought for him and took him to my parents' house. My little brother's dog played with him and he tried to nurse from her. She set him straight! Was so cute.

From there, he was taken to the Saskatoon airport. I had to get an Iced Capp from Tim Horton's and when I sat to drink it, I noticed the wee lad had upchucked a bit in the bag. Likely from nerves (what a day already for the poor thing!) and being carried around. That would make me sick too!!!

On the plane, I worried that he was dead. He was SO QUIET and good. A woman who works in the pet industry and was on a business trip gave him a free bag of puppy treats. Everyone gushed all over him and he just sat in his bag, blinking around at the people. We stopped in Edmonton (hi JUDE!!) and stayed on the plane. I let him onto my lap for a bit and a steward brought him some water. Then it was off to Vancouver. Once I got the shuttle to the car and got him settled, I brought him onto my lap. I actually started crying, I was so moved by how brave he was. I had not heard a peep from him yet! I was crying a bit and feeling foolish, kissing him all over his little face and telling him how brave he was, being taken from his Mum and flying/driving all over the place. He cuddled with me for a bit, I gave him more water and some of his food. I put him back in the bag on the floor on the passenger side and as I was backing out, he started in! Just a few whimpers. HOW CUTE! I felt bad for him, but man does it sound cute!

He slept most of the drive home and was sound asleep crossing the border in Washington State. Sillygirl, if you are reading this, I always think of you every time I am in that area. Vancouver, and driving South to the border.

So there we go. The kids were totally shocked. Stud videotaped them seeing him for the first time and it was CUTE! Clown's jaw dropped and he kept on repeating, "NO WAY!! NO WAY!!!"

He did pretty well, got me up about six times during the night. He went potty each time and drank some water some of the times. Finally at about 6:30, I laid with him on the couch, but by then he wanted to play. I played with him a bit and then took him down to Jock's room two minutes before his alarm went off. I set him by Jock's face and when he sniffed Jock's nose, he jumped and looked shocked! LOL I felt bad, but right when he saw the puppy, his face lit up and he grabbed him and they cuddled for a few minutes:)

Brain says he is quitting public school so that he can stay home with the puppy. I said no, he isn't. He begged and begged and I nipped that right in the bud. Princess carried him up to the school in her jacket, I didn't have the camera with me, but took of picture of he and Clown right when we got back from dropping Princess.








As if there was not enough excitement around here with the holidays!

Stud was awesome when I was gone. Getting the kids to school, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, getting Princess to the salon to get her hair done and then on to her ballet recital, sending me and my family photos AND video of it, getting Jock to hockey a few times as well as his band concert, getting them to church, and somehow getting his full time job done as well! I am VERY impressed and VERY appreciative. He is getting some awesome Christmas gifts, that is FOR SURE! LOL

Ok, I need to go find more school work for Clown to do, he has finished what i set out for him. I also have to get ready to bake seven dozen cookies for a cookie exchange I have tomorrow night. I will publish comments from my other post soon. Still have not caught up on e-mail.

I loved seeing some of my family, but it sure is good to be back here with Stud and the kids!!!

Craziness!!

Sheesh! I still have not posted about Brain's birthday, the Christmas Tree photos, or told any news.

I haven't replied on my favourite blogs. Actually, I have not read most of my favourite blogs.

Been trying to bake, wrap, shop, decorate, plan, etc etc.

I will not be able to post ANYTHING for about a week. Far too busy.


Something lovely to share ~ Stud has let me sleep in two mornings in a row and I have been awakened gently to a freshly made latte with our new toy. He is getting very good at using it and I am enjoying my treats. I am also LOVING him working from home and being so sweet about helping with the kids, taking Princess up to school, etc etc. In the past, he would have complained bitterly. But he is being so sweet and helpful, it is a dream come true!!!



So I shall leave you all with a few photos from the decorating of the tree. The Santa picture turned out GORGEOUS, but the picture we took of it is sideways and I dunno how to fix that and post it. Maybe Stud can do that for me soon.


Trust that all is well and I look forward to catching up with everyone soon!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This morning I was helping in Princess's class at school.

I was working with the kids counting pennies as well as writing letters to Santa. When I asked a class-mate of her's to call Princess over because it was her turn, of course the child went to where Princess was and tapped her shoulder. He said, "Your Mom says to go over there."

Princess sighed and acted all put out, put her pencil down and came over with a shy grin. She had to hug me of course, and then she sat and we got to work. As she did her assignment, I was admiring her and noticed something in her hair. Upon further inspection, it was clear that she had oatmeal from her breakfast in her hair! LOL

I started picking it out gently and whispered to her what I was doing. She looked horrified, and whispered back, "It sure is a good thing none of my friends saw that in there. That would have taken away my popularity!"

I didn't even know that she knew the word, let alone how to use it properly!

School is finally back in session!

Well, after a trip to the dentist this morning, the older two boys are sitting in their third period class as I type this. They were most irritated and unenthusiastic when I dropped them off after their teeth cleanings.

They had over a week's vacation! There was no school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and this morning there was a two hour delay. I am not exactly certain why. However, the kids were extremely happy and I was loving having them all home again, just like the good old days, so I don't really care why! It said something on the school and/or weather site (can't recall which one) about another "winter storm". We got a chuckle out of that! A few inches of snow is a storm!?!? Hmmmmm...

Tomorrow is a half day and then the weekend again. So basically a total of one full day in one week, is how much time the boys will have spent at school this week. They are so pleased and have had a lovely time playing video games, sleeping in and playing in the snow.


Speaking of snow. All the sledding was most helpful in extracting one of Clown's loose front teeth!







It also knocked another loose one so hard that it was just barely hanging on. At his dental appointment for his fillings this morning, it popped out. So he has it under his pillow waiting for the tooth fairy. I told him the $ he is earning is just in time for buying his siblings their Christmas gifts. He didn't seem too keen on that idea! LOL





Poor Princess. We noticed some months ago that her two lower front permanent teeth (I never know the names of these things) were coming in behind the baby ones who were not even loose. So when I took her for her regular appointment and cleaning a few weeks back, they said they would pull those as well as one on either side of those. By then, the front ones were a wee bit loose. But since the permanent ones were coming in behind, it was messing things up. So the poor thing had to have those four teeth extracted this morning. She was really brave, but they came to get me and told me that she ended up crying a bit anyway and they thought I should sit with her. When she saw me, she really started crying and laid her head in my lap. I thought she was really brave! She bled for quite a while and is now laying and watching a Christmas Movie with Clown.






So that is an update for now. I hope to get Brain's birthday post done soon, still trying to get my hands on some baby pictures of him. He has told me he doesn't want me to call him Brain on here and he is thinking of another name. Hope it doesn't confuse anyone when I start to use it!!!

What snow is good for ~ besides looking beautiful!

Sledding...

















Catching on your tongue with your friends...





















Going in bare foot and seeing how long you can stand it...




























And perhaps, best of all, writing your name in it with your own urine (if you are a guy!)...

Look what we got today!

This is what we did today:)















Looks like the kids will have at least a FIVE day break from school, not just four.

Taunting

We are busy today. Getting out the Christmas decorations!

The energy is high around here today. Flitting all about, Christmas music playing, Loud exclamations of, "OOOOH!! I remember THIS!?!? JOCK! Do you remember this!?!?!" On and on it goes.

We were stringing lights around Princess's headboard in her bedroom and she and Clown were so excited they could hardly stand it. They were sharing with each other how excited they are and jabbering away about how this is their favourite time of year. They are at such a perfect age for this stuff!

So I was listing off many of my favourite things about this season when Clown covered his ears and exclaimed in a pitiful voice, "AARRRGG! It's like you're TAUNTING me or something!??! I can't stand it! I CANNOT WAIT! STOP TAUNTING ME ABOUT CHRISTMAS!?!?"

I didn't mean to:(

All This Town Remembers

So today Brain is 14. I will post about that soon, but wanted to post a bit about my brother's book.

The title of this post is the title of the book. Please forgive me if you are tired of me going on about it. I went on about it before I read it, it will certainly take me some time to calm down after finishing the book this afternoon! I am so hyped up!!

Stud and I took turns and he eventually had more time and surpassed me and finished it last night. It was hard for either of us to put down. It was SO GOOD! It was really neat to read about things I had forgotten, living in the prairie. If none of you have ever lived in the Prairies of the North, then maybe you cannot relate. Even if you have not, you will certainly still enjoy this book. If you can get past all the times the main character uses the "F" word!

So shortly after I finished it, my one brother called Brain to wish him Happy Birthday. We were discussing our brother's book when the author himself called. Also to wish his nephew Happy Birthday. I spent so much time talking with both of my brothers, that Brain's birthday supper was ruined:( He had requested Chicken Fettuccine (Is that the correct spelling???). It is something that you need to really pay attention to, when you make that Alfredo sauce, etc. Also, we were out of garlic bread. I am slacking on his birthday big time! I felt SO BAD. More on that in his Birthday post, though.

Anyway, my brothers and I had a lovely time on the phone. I spent almost two hours on the phone in the course of both conversations! I feel bad, I yapped so much with R, that he missed tucking his wee son into bed. Young Mr. J (you may recall him from my July 4th Post from this summer) is closing in on 20 lbs at five months of age. In fact, he may have surpassed that by now!

My brothers and I have lively conversations and talk for long periods of time. Sean (might as well say his name, all of you will find it out when you google the book like I know you want to:) Teehee) teases me sometimes and when he calls he will take a deep breath and count "One, two, three ~ GO!" and then sit back and listen while I launch into an hour long gabbing fest. Sometimes he even gets a word or two in!


So we had a nice talk about his book. I asked many questions.

Me- "So at this one part when such and such happened, were you thinking of so-and-so??"

Sean - "Yes, kind of."

Me- "So when this happened, was it about this or that??"

Sean - "Kind of, mainly about that."



He did a great job of describing things. I felt as if I were home again, standing in our yard. I remember our Dad burning the garbage in the burning barrel. He always loved doing that. Now that they had to move into the city, he can't do that anymore. Of course, I also remember my brothers peeing against it in the winter, to watch the steam rise off. I remember being SO JEALOUS that they could do that and I couldn't. teehee I remember that vehicles had to be plugged in during the winter and the biting wind (I should post my worst frostbite story soon!) and vehicles ending up in ditches full of snow during winter.

I am going to post a few quotes. I love this one ~

"The world was too lit to stay any colour for long. You had to stop looking - you believed in the space beside the road, but you could not look at it directly- it moved between white and blue, between blue and black and it moved back. You see all the movies, with something so good the bright light shines out of it, but the viewer cannot see. The characters stand and murmur or are silent in awe, and this is what they've fought for. It isn't gold or some big fucking secret, Adam thought. It's the prairie in winter, and it surrounds you."


I really loved this part, for some reason ~

"Adam loved to watch her read like that, at night, beside him, and imagine how events and people slid in her story. He loved to imagine how they held her, too, when they did. What was it about one character that might hold her?? What are the things about this same character that disappear as she falls into sleep??? How are the people transformed in her brief dreams??"


Here ~

"The morning sun was somewhere hidden above, but it filled the yard with a kind of rehearsing glow, amplified by the snow and frost that covered everything. The winter yard seemed aching to shine, and would, soon enough, when the sun just stretched a simple grade higher."


Last one ~

"Adam looked down at the boy and his typical grin. The steam coming from his body made his face glisten and his eyes were open to the world. And where was this world?

It was from his bedroom to the tiny school and from there to the rink and back. It was from this tiny rink his father built to the barn where he would work most of his life after school."




Want more?? You must buy the book! I hope my bro doesn't mind me doing this. I can't help it. I asked him when we can expect more. He said he is working on more, I won't say when here in my blog. Just leave it that there are two more works in progress and I am so proud and excited I could burst! Can you tell??


A piece of Trivia for you. The town we grew up near is named after Helena Bonham Carter's great-grandfather.

I thought that was neat!

Ok, Brain says we are watching "Ice Age II: The Meltdown" now. Better get that popcorn popping even though it is very late right now!!!

Survivor

Anyone watch it??

The guy named Oscar (Ozzy) looks like a combination of Orlando Bloom and my nephew, Scott. Yes, I used his true name. He gave me permission. He will be 20 on Christmas Eve! I can't believe it!

Anyway, here is one of my favourite shots of him. I love him in this shirt. This was when he was 16 and my brother (his father) and I flew down to Costa Rica for his high school graduation.




Now, if anyone watches the show and knows who Ozzy is, tell me if you see a resemblance or not, please.

That is all.

Advice

So I have been trying to grow my hair longer again. When Brain was a baby, it was very pretty if I do say so myself.

I can't get it that way again. Three years ago, it looked like this:




I almost forgot what my natural hair colour looked like! It is pretty close to this one shown here.



Now, it was getting layered all the time and looking funky. So almost a year after this photo was taken, I got it dyed darker and chopped off.



They continued to layer it, which causes a sphere shape. Thus:




Well, you can't really tell from that one. But trust me, it is a sphere. It is just now finally getting to be close to one length all over again, as it was in the good old days.

Do I go lighter on the colour again and grow it more, or stay darker (which causes the grey to be MUCH more noticeable between salon appointments!! NOT a good thing) and shorter??

Do I go lighter and stay shorter??

Do I go longer but keep it dark??

Help me please! I know Stud wants it longer, but I am not sure on his colour preference. I should go and ask him, eh??

Also, I am ready for my newest tat. I have waited over a year now since my last one and I am tired of waiting. Stud is due for one, but won't decide. I have narrowed it down to one of my calves or my lower back. I want to lose more weight before I get one anywhere fatty, so it won't sag or something once the weight is gone. I am hoping that my legs and lower back are fine...I think my lower back is. Doesn't FEEL very soft...hmmmm...anyway. Nighty night!

Interesting photos

During my search for photos for the Brain's Birthday post, I came across some photos of professional photos we got done almost four years ago. Please excuse the bad quality. The original photos are much better of course!

I wanted to share ones of me with each kid. What really struck me is how the pose each kid strikes, pretty much sums up their personality.

Behold:



Me with Brain ~




















Jock and myself ~

















Shy Clown ~





















My Little Princess who had just turned two~





I love to look back on photos! Enjoy!

All manner of news

Where to begin??

So much going on. Do I start with my freakish health issues?? Brain's troubles in school?? Jock's awesome-ness on the ice?? Clown's sweetness?? Princess's mice stinking up the house?? Holiday plans?? Wow...I really don't know where to start.

Let me start with my sweet Brain. Poor guy. He really enjoys public school and when Jock asks to quit and stay home, Brain insists he is not ready to quit. Which is great, we are encouraging them to stick it out until the end of the year. Jock is just bored and gets discouraged that teachers cannot spell and various other things of that nature.

Brain is discouraged for many reasons. Every group he gets paired up with for labs in Science either take over and mess the thing up so that it brings his grade down, or are so clue-less that Brain needs to explain everything and ends up doing all the work. On top of it all, the teacher tends to freak out and yell at kids.

I guess a few weeks ago a beaker burst and shattered when they were studying something about pressure and using hard boiled eggs, etc. The teacher swore at the kids and went on quite a rampage. Then last week, Brain said everyone was sitting quietly doing their work and suddenly there was a loud THUMP! Everyone jumped and looked to see what was going on. The teacher had slammed a book down and was right in a boy's face, screaming about him writing on the wrong side of the paper?? He screamed at the boy and yelled to get out and the boy gathered his things and ran from the room!?!?!?

I told Brain we need to speak to someone at the school and maybe have him change Science teachers. He said no, things were fine. If there was another incident, he would tell us and then we can look into that.

Well, he has been very slow to get up in the mornings. Science is his first class and I was sure he was nervous and that was why he was in no rush. I asked him a few times and he maintained all was fine, do not worry. I asked if he was tired of school. He said in many ways he is. It is pretty boring and he isn't learning too much new information that we have not covered here at home long ago. Yet he still enjoys the interaction and wants to continue. I said then you need to be responsible and get up on time. He has been late for first period about five or six times in the past three or four weeks.


I was writing note after note and then they would still interrogate him once he got there. Once the counselor even pulled him from a class to question him for half an hour (twenty-seven minutes by his calculations) on all kinds of things about his home life, etc. We were not impressed with that at all. They act all concerned that he is missing class time (the latest he has ever been has been five minutes) yet they cause him to miss almost an entire class to interrogate him about how many siblings he has and what his chores are at home!?!? HELLO!?!? None of your business. He came home and told me how uncomfortable that made him. We told him if they try it again, to tell them to call us and that we don't want him wasting his class time when we can answer any questions they have. I think it is awesome they have counselors there, if kids need them and seek them out and have any trouble. But Brain was really upset by it and said he felt violated. There was no need for it in that instance.


Now we got some things in the mail saying we will need to go to juvenile court if he is late one more time!?!? Man, they need to focus on other things. The kid has a B in that class, and the only reason his grade is that low, is because of labs that get messed up and he has no voice or say in what happens. His tests, etc are all 100%. We know he understands the material, ya know?? They claim that him being five minutes late a few times is cutting into "valuable learning time". Really? Well then why does he have 100% on everything that he does on his own?? And why do you pull him out of class to violate his privacy??

So Stud went to the school yesterday. They pulled Brain from one of his favourite classes and the counselor met with he and Stud for half an hour. They talked about what the Science teacher has done and saw the correlation between that and Brain being late for that particular class. They are going to speak with the teacher and Principal and we will go from there. I just hope they don't let the teacher know that it is Brain who is bringing this to their attention. You would think the guy would learn. Jock said that a friend of his, who is in high school this year, ran home last year because of this teacher screaming at him. His parents marched right up there and changed teachers. It is coming to our attention that others have complained about this teacher. The guy better get his act together and not yell at MY baby. He DOES NOT want to deal with ME.

He will be 14 on Friday and is none too pleased about it. All he is looking forward to is the gifts and pampering. The growing older? Yeah, he can do without that. Wants to stay a kid. Poor kid though, he has been an adult trapped in a kid's body his entire life!

So he finally got to over eighty pounds! We are SO EXCITED! I took him to his allergist last week and we have him on Prednisone for ten days. Just to see if his sinus stuff is an infection or what exactly. If it doesn't go away with this, it means it is infected. The doc wants to avoid scanning him all the time. It has been a few years, but he wants to avoid another CT scan if he can. Brain's sinuses were SO impacted a few years ago, they were considering surgery if we did not get it under control with antibiotics. We did (after about six months on four different meds!) and then with his surgery almost a year ago for GERD, he has been a lot better until recently. If it is not an infection, we will know it is allergy related and he will do a nasal steroid from now on. They are also talking about allergy shots. Various docs have suggested them over the years, but they scare me. His allergist never bothered me about them and said he did not feel that great about them and did not want to encourage that. Now, things have improved so drastically that he says he feels good about it if we need to.

So that is what is going on with our Brainster. I got more dye for his mop, better go get that taken care of and then he can shower. Jock had to stay late at school to finish some work he is behind on. I love this program they have for that. The VP called me and asked if it was ok. The boys tend to get distracted once they get home and we are still getting used to this whole thing, so we aren't that great about reminding them to do homework. More on that at a later date, though. I know our views on this may baffle some people, but...what can ya do??

I guess the other news can wait, this is long enough. I need to start and look through photos to do his birthday post on Friday:) I wish we had baby ones of him that were digital. Our scanner hasn't worked in a long time. I have GOT to get these old photos sent to this place that will make them available on-line for us.

I can see his face again!

Jock decided to get his hair chopped off. I had forgotten that he has two piercings in his left ear. Could not see his ears, face, neck, chin, etc etc for some time now. He promptly took the earring that he had in one hole, out. I asked why and he said he didn't know. Asked him if he is ashamed to have earrings and he again asserted that he was not sure. So I left it at that. Whatever.

There is a lot more news, but I just wanted to share some photos of my handsome boy. He was letting me know that I was using the camera incorrectly. Something about these shots really struck me. I think he is looking more "teenagery" than he ever has before. He is most excited to hear that, can't wait to grow up. Whereas when I let Brain know that perhaps the peach fuzz on his upper lip could be shaved off soon, he freaked out. He REALLY was not impressed to find a zit on his chin yesterday, either.

I will try to catch up on all of your blogs soon and comment etc. LOTS has been going on here! I am afraid to publish comments without the time to respond to them, or else I never will. Which I guess is not the end of the world, but still. I must go and get Brain some birthday gifts today, since he turns 14 on Friday! Man, THAT is hard to believe.

So I close with Jock, our fountain of wisdom, who takes it upon himself to correct everyone and just all around enlighten all of us.

Just an update

Well, we got the news that Stud's Paternal Grandmother passed away last night. We knew it was coming to this and it is a real blessing. Her husband died back in the '50's sometime and she raised 7 kids on her own!!! She was in great health until the past few years and kept on rallying around and making it back ok.

By this summer, she wasn't sure who anyone was and was pretty confused and in a nursing home. Stud didn't take the kids to see her this summer when they were down, because it would have been too hard for him and too hard on the kids, not understanding and seeing her that way. We just wanted them to remember her when she was more aware. I understand completely how Stud felt, it was the exact same with my own father's mother. I saw her once when she was senile and it was too hard and sad to be around her like that. Her kids all went to see her often and were so good with her. Same with Stud's Dad and his siblings.

I was just craving some of her amazing chocolate pound cake the other day. I can't stand cake, and aside from angel food cake and her Chocolate pound cake, I won't eat any. But that cake of her's....MMmmmmmm, that stuff was fabulous! She would make Stud her chocolate pies, he loved those! Our kids always adored her, even though they rarely got to spend any time with her. I am so glad they have the memories that they do. I am glad that we went down there for Christmas 2004 instead of going to Canada to be with my family. She was in failing health then and I was worried she would be gone at that time and I wanted the younger two to form some memories with her. Brain and Jock had memories from the three years they had lived there. The only downfall to going then was that it we missed my brother's last Christmas. Little did we know, you know?? The plan had been to be at my family's, but I just thought we needed to be with Stud's Grandma and then last year we would be with my family again. So that is what happened, only of course, my brother was not there:(

We told the kids this afternoon. They are sad, but all of them said like we did, at least she is now with her husband and various other of our loved ones. She is not feeling sick and weak anymore. They even commented on how we have been expecting this and it is easier. Whereas, when Davy died, it was so sudden and unexpected and that made things way worse. We agreed with their observations.




Today the public school kids stayed home from school and I took them to this really fun place our HSed friends go to a few times a month. It was also Book Report Lunch and I wanted them to be able to do that. So we went to this place full of inflatables and had a blast! Brain was reading to the younger two on the way and was very hesitant of putting the book down and joining the other kids. We finally convinced him and he had a great time until the woman running the place told him to take his glasses off. He is close to blind without them and was too scared to be climbing and doing all of this without them on, so he went to read again.

I was racing Jock and Clown and Brain through these obstacle courses they have. Man, that is a WORK OUT! I don't feel so bad that I didn't make it to work out at curves today! It was so fun, and Brain is FAST. Jock was kind of annoyed, Brain beat him EVERY TIME! LOL

At one point, I couldn't find Princess. I was asking other mothers and kids, all my boys, etc. No one had seen her. I was just about to really freak out when I went to check this one huge inflatable thing in the corner that I had not looked in yet. As I was walking over to it, this is what I saw:






How HEARTBREAKING is that!??!? She had been in there, stuck and unable to climb out from either side of the section she slid into. She said she had been calling me and calling me:( POOR THING! I felt horrible. I got in with her and hugged and kissed her all over. I explained that I had been looking and looking. I got her calmed down and then we agreed that I could shove her through the part she was struggling with. Once I did that, I couldn't get MYSELF over! Teehee. I asked her to run and get Brain to come and help me. While she was doing that, I got myself up and over on my own somehow. She later got it all figured out and learned the trick of what she needed to do. It is so slippery in there! We had SUCH FUN! None of the other mothers went in there, I can't understand.


Once Princess recovered, she looked like this:














Then we were off to Book Report Lunch at the Pizza Place. Jock and Brain both went up to the front and shared something. Jock had thrown together a little something to share about hockey and brought his skates and one of his sticks. Brain went up there and told three things and then the people were supposed to guess which one of the things was true. It was neat, there was a thread of truth to all of the things he told about. He went into detail, but the three things were basically:

My 13 year old Uncle died last summer.

I had GERD and needed surgery this past February.

I have a skin condition and I could have died from it if we stayed living in SC.

Most of the people guessed right, but the new people who don't know us well and don't know about his illnesses, would have no way of knowing if any of what he told was exaggerated and embellished. It was interesting for sure!


Lots more to share, but Princess wants me to play something with her and her Twinn doll. Hope everyone is doing well!