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!