Dance

Here is a link to two of Princess' most recent dances .




The first is her Spring one, when she was a marshmallow. Obviously, it is ballet.

Then click on the arrow that points to the right and you will see the hip hop one from a week ago today. She was an ice skating girl and has shorter hair. She starts out far left on the stage, far right to us.

Enjoy!

A Winter Update

Please forgive the limited posts lately. We have had a lot going on and things are starting to calm down now. It may be a long post, it may not. Depending on how many interruptions I have! I am sure this truly WILL be muddled and all over the place:)

Vince, I have been meaning to e-mail you and the Wife, but have not really had time. I know you will eventually read this and hope you understand me not getting back to you privately. I want you to know that I appreciate all your help and input so much!

For the rest of you who do not know, Clown has been being assessed for Asperger's and just recently finished. He DOES NOT have it, which is awesome.


However, he DOES have Panic Disorder as well as Generalized Anxiety Disorder and is SO MUCH better now. It was a rough past few months.

He has always been incredibly shy and not liked leaving the house. He has improved in some areas over the years and in others he has gotten much worse. He talked early, read pretty early and had some other symptoms of Asperger's. Since he hated being around people and would hide under furniture at any social function he was forced to go to, hated loud noises, was very particular about the feel of certain clothes and will only wear one type and brand of sock, etc, etc, I just assumed he had some mild autistic tendencies. We were dealing with it all fairly well and it wasn't too much of an issue until he started sobbing all the time, saying he was light headed, going crazy, couldn't breathe, was going to die, etc etc. It was getting very scary and I found someone to help.

She is incredible and after just 5 sessions with her, he is a new little man. She has taught him deep breathing, self calming techniques, visual imagery, etc etc. We confirmed what he and I always knew ; he is a perfectionist and that does not help with his issues. It makes them worse, but he is learning to work on that.

One thing that made me sad for him is that when she tested him in various things (which he LOVED and really looked forward to, he loves any challenge as long as he does it "perfectly"...if not...look out!) he tested at high school level in most things and above high school in others. He is so advanced in his thinking but being only nine years old...poses a problem. That is a lot of what causes his attacks...he is thinking deep profound thoughts and he can't handle them and gets scared, so an attack comes on quickly. At least now we know what it is and are able to help him.


Cryptic is also now being tested for Asperger's. I will be incredibly surprised if he doesn't have it. I didn't know if Clown had it, but I knew something was wrong. When I was filling out all the forms for Clown, I was shocked at how many of the questions applied to Cryptic more so than Clown. When I showed Cryptic, he was surprised at how much it all sounds like him. Now any time he exhibits any of his typical quirks that we have always thought of as "just Cryptic", he grins and says, "It's my Asperger's!". We know he has not been diagnosed, but he is pretty certain that he has it also. I got him curious and now he has read up on it and is amazed at how it is like reading about himself. So we shall see.

My friend C is down from Canada again. I went to the airport in Abbotsford, BC to pick her up on the 3rd. She will stay until January 3rd. It is such fun having her here! If you don't recall about my lovely friend "C", please go read this and you may recall a bit. Some of you did not read my blog back then though.

Anyway, she is here and picking her up in Abbotsford was a total breeze. We are not flying her in to Vancouver again! So she and I had all these plans about shopping and all this. However, that had been put on hold.

It snowed here. Which makes it hard to go out and shop. Not because of the snow, but since it hovers around zero so much, it melts and then freezes again and back and forth. And what do we get?? ICE! Lots of ice! Stud doesn't think I should drive out there. Not so much because of me, but the other drivers. C is having a blast talking with her hubby and parents on the phone, telling them all about how funny it is that 3 inches of snow, shuts everything down. It IS pretty funny, they call it a "storm" and a "blizzard". Ridiculous! It is so pretty. I will post some photos of the kids out playing in it. Stud is taking C and I out shopping later today. We did make it to church last week and also went on "The Santa Train" last Sunday. What fun! Interesting challenge getting C and her wheelchair on board, but the people were so sweet and helpful! We have not gone since Princess was one year old...I need to look for pics of that...





What else is happening...Princess still loves her Drama classes. Their little play will be at the end of January. She is memorizing her lines flawlessly, it is going to be so cute! I can't wait! Her holiday dance recital was last weekend and she had a blast! It is her first year doing hip hop and she just loves it. Even Jock and Cryptic commented on how great she did. Nice to see them proud of their little sister. Clown misses it because he spent four days at his friend Smiley's house. Princess was thrilled last Sunday because Jock carried her to and from the van on our way to and from church since there was snow and she had on her dress and little dainty church shoes. Wish I had a picture but Jock would not let me take one! Looked so sweet, him scooping her up and carrying her around. She threw her arms around his neck and just beamed and giggled!

I will see if Stud can put the video of her dance out here for me again. Cryptic's latin tutor has gone home to Australia for a few months, so he has to have a break from that. He LOVES Latin and is a natural at it. It takes all he has in him not to translate the other kids' stuff for them when they go around the table and translate things. His tutor has had to shush him on occasion and told him to let the other's have a chance:) He just wants to help them, they are not taking to it as quickly as he did. He will keep practising until the tutor returns home.

Jock's hockey is going well. He still loves it. Stud has mentioned possibly sending him to hockey school in Penticton, BC when he is a few years older. A friend of our's did that and he improved dramatically and had a much better chance than he would have if he had stayed here in our Association. The difference is that we would move up there WITH Jock, not just send him to billet with strangers. So I am excited about the idea of living in my home country again, even if it is not the right province:) Cryptic would be done with school by then and either living in Ireland (his dream) or going to University in Canada anyway. Yet another perk to home schooling; we can just do that and not uproot Clown and Princess from a school or something.



Clown took a break from Gymnastics while we were getting his issues sorted, but he is excited to start back in the New Year! When Princess is finished drama at the end of January, she will start gymnastics with her brother and they will both start swimming lessons again. It has been about four years since they have taken and I think it is time for a refresher. I wish that Jock and Cryptic had joined the swim team like the people wanted them to, but they weren't interested.

I need to get off of here and get C and I some lunch. Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season. Jude, I wish you could have a tree:( Sorry to jump around so much, that is what happens when I leave so much time between posts, eh??

Happy Holidays everyone! Stay warm:)

Annual Santa Photo

Cryptic

He will be 16 tomorrow.

This cannot be true.

Sixteen years ago tonight, I was terrified, laying in agony in a hospital bed and had just been induced with Pitocin. Little turd was 11 days overdue already so we had no choice, we had to get him out of there.

So there you have it. What a crazy crazy world.

Thank goodness!

Horse back lessons are over for another few months! YAY! One less thing to drive to and take up time:) Great attitude, eh??

Princess LOVES her horseback lessons. She had done private last fall/winter. She didn't get a chance to do camp this summer, but we got her into group lessons with other home schooled kids this fall. Now that eight week session is over and we are going to get her into another session in the spring time. So the break from now until March or April will be a welcome one. For ME anyway:)

I just broke the news to her that she will be taking lessons at a different place now. I found a place that I think will be a bit closer to us (not sure of it's precise location, but I think it is pretty close), and it sounds like a nicer, newer facility. For an 8 week session of one hour private lessons it will cost less than HALF of what we paid at the current place for an 8 week session of hour long group lessons! I found out about it RIGHT after I signed everything and we paid for where she just finished at.

Her Fall Rally was yesterday morning. All of us went and she got to show us some of what she has learned. She was very pleased to have her brothers and Dad there to watch her.









As you can see, Jock is quite proud of his little sister. It just blows my mind how genetics and birth order have such a part in the whole dynamic of a family.

As you all may recall, I also have three older brothers. The second one and I were the most alike (same as Jock and Princess) and butted heads the most (same as Jock and Princess) yet of the three, HE would be the most likely to seek me out and spend time with me. He would be the one to tell me he was proud of me, he loved me, what have you. Same as Jock! Cryptic and Clown are nicer overall to Princess.


However, for the most part, if someone is going to go say good night to her as she waits for her father and I to come tuck her in...or ask her how her drama class went...or paint her nails for her...or tell her he thinks she did a great job at her dance recital...or ask her if she wants to play a board game...that is Jock. It just never ceases to amaze me how similar the whole dynamic of our family is to the one I grew up in. It is almost funny! My brother Sean was HORRIBLE to me and I see Jock treating Princess the same way. Scoffing at anything she says, groaning if she has the nerve to just be a happy little girl and sing along to a song, rolling his eyes if she is sharing an idea or some passion with me, etc. So at least he tries to make up for it in ways. One big difference between my childhood and my kids, of course, is that we don't take in foster children like my parents always did. Other than that, it is pretty neat how similar things are. Sean and I turned out to be close, so I know there is hope for Jock and Princess:)

So here is Jock, in his own way, showing Princess he is pleased to be there and support her horsemanship skills!

In other news, Stud left last night for Geneva, Switzerland. This was a sudden trip for his job and we are all very excited for him! I kept telling him to please bring me back some awesome yummy chocolate! I hope he gets the kids and I all some nice little trinkets.:)

Our niece, G, lives in nearby Caux sur Montreux. Stud is hopefully going to either go to her school and visit her, or get her a train ticket to get her to Geneva and then spend some time with him there. Here are some reminders of that sweet girl...here and here . So I hope it works out for them to get together. I have not seen her in over a year and I am not liking it:(

This has taken longer than I wanted, so I must go do something with the kids. Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

Changes...

So Princess decided to try and grow her hair long again.


She also decided she now wants bangs.


She is taking a break from ballet *GASP* and she turned eight...now guess what she is doing!??!?!

She had the nerve to lose another tooth! Next thing I know she will be wearing a bra, screaming at me constantly and leaving used sanitary napkins laying around for the dog to chew up. Sorry to be so gross, but I know it is going to happen. Of the four kids, she is by far the messiest and I just KNOW she will do that. She leaves enough other gross stuff laying around.

In her Friday morning Science class they just dissected an owl pellet. She was so pleased with the whole thing!! She kept the vole skeleton that she extracted from the pellet laying on her nightstand. It was in a sandwich bag. Brommy found it and chewed through it, so there were wee bones all over her carpet and I had the good fortune to step on them and get a lovely teeny weeny vole femur stuck in my foot! I didn't sign up for this when I decided to have kids!


Anyway, she wanted a close-up of the gap ; loves to see the blood! LOL






She was very excited to set it under her pillow last night in hopes that the tooth fairy would come. She and I just chose those new flannel sheets for winter at Target. HOW CUTE ARE THOSE!?!? $20! And I got Stud and I a set that is cream coloured with red snowflakes:) teehee Also, $20!??! For King Size??





Ok, just back from the gym. Stud is taking Clown to his orthodontist appointment and then Princess and I are off to her drama lessons.


Hallowe'en news to come soon...if I get time!

Three down, one to go...

Well, Clown and I just had "The Talk".


He has heard various terms and knows some things about puberty. Aunt Flo for girls, hormones causing changes, etc. The past few months he has been asking a lot about detail and I tend to go into too much detail. I kept on putting it off in hopes that he would catch me in a mood when I would not give TMI. We have a pretty open policy here in the home about coming to us with anything at all, this topic not being an exception. Have always used correct terms for body parts, etc.

Finally today he came into the bedroom just as I was about to go downstairs to do math and history with he and Princess. He said, basically, "OK, that's it. I want to know how the sperm gets to the egg." I had asked him the other night if he had any ideas. He claimed he didn't but I think he had pretty much figured it out and just didn't want to come out and say it!

So we talked as he hid under the covers on his Dad's side of the bed and I sat there on my side. For much of it, he was turned away from me. He would ask questions before I could even finish one explanation. Every so often he would turn toward me, his mouth agape in horror and whatever I had just divulged would bring up five more questions. Was an interesting conversation. He wasn't as horrified as Cryptic had been. I remember he could not even bring himself to LOOK at his dad for days after! LOL

Anyway, at the end of the whole thing Clown quipped, "Oooooh!! So do you think they call them "Sperm Whales" because they like to "do it" more than any other whales??"

That's my boy!!!

Pumpkin Cake Roll

Ok Jude, this is for you.

The pictures are not the greatest. The icing sugar had soaked in on the top because it had been made the day before and sitting in the fridge. I didn't sprinkle any more on, cause I was too lazy. Also, obviously we had cut into it and eaten some before I thought to take a photo:)

I got this recipe from Princess' cooking class LAST fall. She made this when she was seven years old! I was impressed. She always brought back samples from class and when I bit into this...I tell you. I loved it! Maybe you won't love it as much as me now that I have built it up. It IS a nice comfort food for the sweet tooth and such a seasonal thing. I am sure anyone who tries this will love it!!

I went out and bought a jelly roll pan JUST to make this and it was so worth it. I will make these much more often. I had never braved a jelly roll or anything of this nature just because I thought it must be complicated and time consuming. When Princess made it I figured if a 7 year old can make it with just limited supervision, I am sure I can! LOL I was shocked at how simple this was. She was going to help me, but she got involved in watching a movie with her brothers, so I was on my own.

Maybe you can whip up a few to have on hand for your sisters?? I know not all of them live right there near you now, but you know what I am saying. Nice to have on hand at a time like this, right??









Ok, here goes...

Cake:                              Icing :

3/4 cup of flour                   6 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. ground cinnamon             1/4 cup butter softened
1 tsp. baking powder               1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp. ground ginger               1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 eggs
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

1. Allow eggs to stand at room temp for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease 15X10X1 inch jelly roll pan. Line the bottom with wax paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside
3.Combine dry ingredients except for icing sugar. That is to sprinkle on finished cake roll & towel when cake part is done baking.
4.In a large bowl, beat eggs and oil with electric mixer on high until thick. About 5 minutes. (2 or 3 worked fine for me) Gradually beat in the sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Mix with flour mixture.
5. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes or until the top springs back when touched.
6.Remove from oven & immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a towel sprinkled with icing sugar. Remove waxed paper. Roll towel and cake into a spiral, starting from the short side of cake. Cool on a wire rack.
7.Make icing by creaming together cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add icing sugar, beating after each addition until smooth.
8.Unroll cake, remove towel. Spread cake with icing to withing 1 inch of edges. Roll up cake; trim ends. Cover and chill until serving time. Dust with a light sifting of icing sugar before serving. Makes 12 servings.


So let me know when you get a chance to make it and what you think. It is truly delectable!

Fun

So I got this from Jude. Thought it would be fun.

1. Where is your cell phone? Charging

2. Where is your significant other? Playing guitar at the first church service.

3. Your hair color? Auburn with LOTS of gray that is currently being masked.

4. Your mother? At my brother's in Calgary.

5. Your father? With my mother, other brother at my bro and SIL's in Calgary.

6. Your favorite thing? Looking at pictures of my kids or being with my kids.

7. Your dream last night? Something weird about my parents' young foster boy.

8. Your dream/goal? To live on at least 2 acres of land and have goats, etc again.

9. The room you're in? My bedroom.

10. Your hobby? Love to do a lot of things, never get time:( Painting, hiking, sewing. Never do any of them:(

11. Your fear? My husband or any of my children dying.

12. Where do you want to be in six years? On some land, milking goats and listening to my children run around laughing and playing in the fresh air on said land.

13. Where were you last night? My daughter's 8th birthday party at a local swimming pool.

14. What you’re not? I am not happy with all the zits I seem unable to rid myself of!

15. One of your wish list items? For my husband to move us onto land like we always said we would do. We said we would raise our children on some land with trees and we have ALWAYS lived in the city. My dream is for him to remember what I THOUGHT was our dream together and actually do something to work towards it coming true.

16. Where you grew up? On 80 acres West of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the BEST country on earth!

17. The last thing you did? Asked one of my daughter's slumber party guests if she was hungry yet and wanted me to make her any breakfast. (she said no, not yet)

18. What are you wearing? A pink tank top and men's boxers with Canadian flags all over them. A big fluffy white robe on top of all that.

19. Your TV? VERY nice! Flat screen LCD with HD. It is honestly very pretty for a TV. Has ruby red kind of subtly worked in to the edge.

20. Your pet? Two cats and a one dog. I want more dogs and some goats, chickies, kitties, horses...you get the idea:( *sniff*

21. Your computer? Yup. It is sitting right here. No clue what kind or anything.

22. Your mood? hungry and my back hurts.

23. Missing someone? My paternal grandmother, three of my uncles, my aunt, my cousin and my baby brother. All of the above died within the past five years except for one of the uncles. I wish people would STOP doing that!

24. Your car? 1995 Honda Accord. If you really want to know details, you can go here. I remember him saying something about the exact kind.

25. Something you’re not wearing? A bra or anything on my feet. I cannot STAND anything on my feet.

26. Favorite store? I have a few, but Target seems to be where I get most of the things that we need. Even some things we don't need! LOL

27. Your summer? Yuck. I don't really enjoy summer.

28. Love someone? Absolutely, many.

29. Your favorite color? Deep blue and/or deep purple.

30.When is the last time you laughed? yesterday at the antics of my second-born at his sister's party.

31. Last time you cried? Wow...it has been a while. Oh no, I guess it was last week while talking on the phone about my baby brother with my Mum. She didn't even cry (which is real progress) it was only me crying for a bit.

Alrighty, better go feed myself and get these kids fed! Anyone who wants to do this, feel free. Please let me know, though, so I can come and read it:)

Character

I just HAD to share some photos of Jock from his sister's 8th birthday party this afternoon.

First, he is licking the icing off the Hannah Montana lip gloss guitar that was on the cake. I get a kick out of the this because of the looks on the little girls' faces. You can see Princess reassuring them that all is well, this is just Jock being Jock! I have never put a photo on my blog without the kids' parents' permission...I need to check with them I guess, I just CANNOT resist. I just find this SO FUNNY! Especially K, the girl with black hair in the brown clothes. She is in one of Princess' dance classes and is a hoot herself! I am assuming she doesn't have any older brothers, by the look on her face:)

Then Jock decided he would make himself an outfit from the ribbons and wrappings and such...




See why I love this kid?? Never a dull moment! No need to hire entertainment, just bring Jock along! I should put some video out here of he and his friend sucking all the helium from the balloons and having a grand old time!









Then here is this guy. My calm, cool, and collected Cryptic. Here he is, long fingernails and all (they are not currently painted black, as you have most likely ascertained on your own) sweetly capturing memories of his sister and her guests frolicking in the swimming pool that we rented out for the hour. *contented sigh* Isn't he handsome??





So Princess had a wonderful time. Aside from me having Stud cut two different kinds of cheese into teeny leaf shapes to go with the crackers and meat and after all that ~ forgetting them at home!...and forgetting the ice cream scooper and cake slicer here at home...and Clown thinking he forgot his trunks and towel at home and dissolving in tears, only to quickly recover and wipe frantically at his eyes when Stud told him he packed them and all was well...I think it went pretty well! OH! I also totally forgot my DELICIOUS pumpkin loaf with cream cheese. I will take a photo of that and post it soon. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. It is truly DIVINE.

So the post is title the way it is because of Jock. When I discovered those photos on the camera on the drive home, Stud and I said that at least some of them would end up on our blogs. Teehee He begged us not to and said he was hyper. That is fine, they are still going on the blogs:) Be curious to see which ones Stud uses:)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Advice

As the title implies, I am seeking some advice.

I have noticed the past three years or so that people gravitate toward Princess. I mean, they always have been taken with her. She is very sweet, cute, funny and just draws people in by her demeanor. Since infancy, people commented on her eyes and curls (when she had them! LOL) and cuteness. Right now I am talking about her personality and how it seems to draw people.

It is just the past three years or so that it has become more and more clear that she is looked upon as...what I guess people call "popular". Kids of all ages want to be her friend. She has friends who are ten and eleven and friends as young as four or five.

I am not sure if I posted about various instances from a few years ago when she attended public school. It is always interesting to watch other kids around her. Ones in her dance class, horse back lessons, and for sure when she attended public school for her Kindergarten year. Kids just gaze at her so adoringly and always watch to see what she will do and then they follow along. I think I talked about one example and how she instructed all the kids who took the bus home to sit on a certain side of the bus so that as it drove past, they could wave to her as she and I walked home after school. They happily did that ALL YEAR long. I thought they would tire of it or forget about it after a few weeks. No sir! The entire year, they watched and waved and just seemed so excited to be waving to her every day. If sometimes we were late or early and didn't see the bus, kids asked her about it later. "Princess! I didn't see you and your Mommy waving yesterday after school?? What happened??"

So now she takes this Friday morning science class. Other kids want to partner up with her do to any assignments together. They don't "fight" over her, but I can tell she is torn and doesn't know what to do and which ones to work with. They do seem to be getting a bit agitated at the thought of her not "choosing" them. She looked at me helplessly and shrugged her shoulders today when two girls were wanting her to work with them on identifying birds.

She has been better about getting into lines first at dance class. She used to ALWAYS be first to line up for get the hands stamped after dance lessons or music lessons. I spoke with her about it and explained that other kids need to be first as well and how she can take turns. She told me the kids TELL her to get in front and I knew she was right. I had seen it. They would motion for her to go first, even if she had stepped back to allow them in. I would watch and these girls would just kind of look at her in awe as she walked past, like she was Princess Diana or something. They all really seem taken with her. I mean, it is NOT her fault or anything.

Here is my dilemma. I don't want her getting arrogant. I think she is starting to really notice this treatment a lot more and notice other girls maybe not being treated the same way. I am not sure WHY she is viewed in this manner.

So what do I do?? Do I just keep the lines of communication open and be there for her if she starts asking why people treat her this way?? I know she has noticed in the area of her looks. People always comment on her being so "cute" and "beautiful" and all this. She has heard it all her life. It is tapering off a bit as she gets older, THANK GOODNESS, but I know it will start up again when she is late teens or something and totally stunning again. I almost want her to get some acne or get crooked teeth or something and not be so pretty! I know that sounds horrible, which leads me to my next question.

How do I help it not bother her brothers?? They are starting to resent her, mainly Clown. He is closest in age to her, so it impacts him the most. He has come to me crying a few times, asking why people don't comment on his looks all the time as they do her. I never know what to say?? I think he is very handsome. And sometimes people say so. The thing is 98% of the time we go ANYWHERE, people turn and look at Princess or come right up and say something. They don't say anything about him:( It is hurting him and he is resenting his sister. But it is not her fault!

So what can I do?? IS there anything I can do?? It bothers Jock a little bit, but with the looks thing, he seems a but consoled by the fact that they look a lot alike! LOL We always say she is a female version of him. So even though he acts like she is an annoying little sister and therefore seen as hideous to him, it does seem to console him a bit. He even says to me a few times a year, "You know, Princess really IS a very attractive little girl. It bugs me when people always say it, especially when she is there to hear. But I DO understand why. She REALLY is pretty!"

How do I help her with being torn between all kinds of people wanting her attention? And how do I help the boys not resent her and get their feelings hurt??

Thanks!

Can it be true??

My baby turned eight years old this past Friday. My oldest baby will be 16 years old next month...I was 39 on the 1st of this month.

WHAT IS HAPPENING!! I DON'T LIKE THIS!!!

So here are a few shots from the birthday itself. Her party is this coming Saturday the 18th at a local pool. She is beside herself with excitement of course!

As my few regular readers may recall, we hide gifts for the kids on their birthdays. They play hot and cold, go on a treasure hunt by reading clues, etc. Adds to the fun! So she found this horse thing that she had been wanting, hidden under her pillow there in the fort. She and Clown sleep in there on the weekends. They love to sleep under the piano! Goofy kiddos!






Jock did not want to be in this photo of her opening what her three brothers got her. He had not showered, which means he had not done his hair. So if his hair is not "just so"...you understand, I am sure. You know how 13 year old boys can be:)



I LOVE THIS ONE! She and Clown started doing the jewelry making kit. Clown loved to do it, but there were not many things that could pass as "masculine" and of course Jock started making fun of him for playing with a "girl toy". Princess is looking at him like, "Please Clown! Just make some of this stuff with me!!" And he is looking at me like, "MUM! Get that camera out of here!" LOVE IT!




Alrighty, even though I need to get to bed to get Princess to drama class in the morning, I am going to settle in and watch some "Corner gas" with Stud. We love this show. The only trouble is every time we watch it, I crave my good old Canadian junk food that I see in the background:)

Toodles!

Braces

Can you believe this!?!?

He just needs them on the top for 8-10 months to correct his crossbite.

He was very brave!

Last week

So the new schedule last week went nicely. I was a tad sore and tired (stupid Aunt Flo!) on Thursday so we took the day off and just lazed about.

I have been very impressed with the kids sticking to the schedule and doing their chores and school work. Jock fights it and mutters, but does a good job of keeping up with his on-line school. Cryptic spent a lot of time with the younger two and they were just tickled. When he has limited time that he is permitted to spend doing his writing and (we had been allowing him HOURS every day and that has been drastically altered) surfing the net, he actually enters in on their games and they love his input and ideas for the games they make up and play together. The three of them spent a good amount of time out on the trampoline this week.

Clown was nervous about his gymnastics class this past Monday at noon. His coach is Russian and quite hard to understand because of the accent and also because he speaks very quietly. Clown went out onto the mats and started the warm up with everyone else. Soon he was smiling and talking quietly with the other boys. He didn't want me to take any pictures but I told him I wouldn't do it often, I just wanted some from his first class.

When they got to the rings, he was the only one who was able to just jump up from below and grab them. THEN, he was also the only one who held his body the way the coach was showing them. I felt bad for some of the other boys, they gave up and were nears tears. Clown just seemed to be a natural.




His coach told him to pull a big thing over to use to stand on so that he can jump up and reach the rings. Of course he is waving me away and saying, "NO PICTURES!" LOL





Explaining that he needs to jump up there and grab on...but first...













You will want to use some chalk on your hands so you don't slip...














WOW! You got up there the first try! Now try and grab with the other hand...















Excellent!



He just loved it and says he wants to try a few more times. At one point they were by the bars trying to do a "Pull Up" I think they said it is called. You hold on with just your hands and then try and just pull your entire body under and up and over the bar by lifting with your legs and core. The kids were struggling and struggling and the mothers were all saying how hard it is. One mother, whose kids have taken classes there for a LONG TIME said "It usually takes about a year before they can do it. It is REALLY difficult". Right after she said that, we all saw Clown flip himself over! We sat there shocked for a split second and then all the mothers and I started hooting and hollering and clapping and yelling "YAY CLOWN!!!"


Of course he went today again (was convinced he was going to vomit on the way there *sigh* but got himself calmed down once he got on the mats) and Jock and Princess came to watch him. I would rather it just be time with him and me on the drive to and from. However, he asked them to come and watch him and they were excited to see him in class. There is a class for girls going on at the same time that Princess wants to be in. I told her she is in too many things right now, this is just for Clown. She wants to drop something so she can do gymnastics! I told her once some of her eight week sessions are done, she can start this. Jock actually may join Clown in class next month. We can pay month by month and the woman who set it up from our Home Schooling Assoc. got us a screaming deal!

So Princess and Jock were impressed with Clown's abilities also. They enjoyed watching him and he was so proud to have them there:) Was cute, one time as Clown was walking past with the rest of the boys, Jock waved and just said, "Hey Clown!" and Clown beamed and looked a bit shy and waved back but was too shy to say anything back to him:)

Princess is loving her ballet and hip hop. Our Sugar cube pyramid didn't turn out that great last Monday, but that is OK, now we are onto Sumeria and working on other things with clay. Trying to make a "Sumerian Seal". We shall see how that goes!

I open up a local clubhouse for our Friday morning Science Class now. Cryptic and Jock have taken it for years and now Clown and Princess get to try. Their class is first and I have keys and meet the teacher there.


Of course Clown was a nervous wreck before class on Friday. Once he got settled and Brian started talking and teasing Princess, Clown settled right in. He raised his hand and spoke up many times and didn't even flip out or get upset when one time Brian called on him and Clown ventured, "Mandibles??" and Brian said no, that's wasn't quite right. Normally Clown would have shut down then and there and never volunteered an answer again. Not this time! We are making progress! He took it in stride and within a few minutes was answering Brian's questions again and doing his sweet shy look whenever he got something right. Which was most of the time! They are learning about insects and Clown always reads up on them. So he knew a lot of the material but of course learned plenty of new information as well. He came running inside after class and flew straight to Stud's office downstairs and told him all about the class. Again, he says he will continue all year, no need to quit after the first eight week session:)

Clown will start piano lessons soon and Cryptic is resuming his violin lessons from years ago. Princess is starting violin as well. Jock isn't playing an instrument at present.

Jock is having a good time on his new hockey team. He is Bantam this year and has five girls on his team!!! The most he has had before in one season is two, so this is different. They played their first game this past Sunday. We had issues with try-outs for the AAA team, but I won't get into that here. Maybe I mentioned it?? I don't recall.

Cryptic is taking a writing class on Fridays at 2PM, so we hope that goes well. He is not sure about sharing any of the stuff he is currently working on, since he hopes to publish it one day. I said we could just get people to sign a non-disclosure agreement! LOL He said he will just get more ideas and use those, but he really enjoys the class. Just something to help him move along and really get going with his ideas. He has amazing ideas and shares them with me on our daily walks. I can't keep up with all of them! He is really a gifted writer.

He bought a new book the other night and sucked it right down. I am going to go cuddle in bed and finish it. I started it yesterday and it is freaky how similar it is to some of the ideas Cryptic has had for his stories!

Enough rambling for now. Hope everyone had a lovely week!

Fall Schedule

So today is the first day of our new fall schedule. I only have 12 minutes of computer time left, so we shall see how fast I can spit out all my news!

Cryptic showers now, as the other kids clean up from breakfast. Cryptic and I got up and went for an hour long walk and then came back and made breakfast. He poured juice, cut up strawberries and warmed up muffins while I toasted toast and scrambled eggs. The younger two should be starting their independent school work while Jock does his few chores for Mondays.

Clown has gymnastics this morning, so that should be interesting. He is very nervous and a friend and I have gone through all kinds of drama and stress and nonsense to get our boys in this class with our Home Schooling group. Both our sons need a very small group of kids.

Jock got his lap-top for his on-line school. I am not sure where it is based (can't recall at this moment) but they don't seem to have their act together. I actually have a pretty bad feeling about how this year will go.


This is a different place than the one we used last year for Cryptic. They sent him his lap-top and got him all set up. Then they called and were frantic this past Friday. They had given us the wrong form for the out of district thingy. So they called our home phone, Stud's cell and my cell and told us they needed us to fax them a different form from our school district. Fine. So I went and got that taken care of. The next day we got a big envelope of stuff from them in the mail. It was the SAME FORMS they sent WEEKS ago that we have already filled out and returned!?!?!? They were saying something about hurry and fill these in so we can get your student registered and connected and ready to do school!??! YIKES!?!?

So here is Jock with his lap-top...




Pretending to be mad:)









Much better.










OH NO!!! I am two minutes late! I am now off to Ancient Egypt with Princess and Clown. We have to try and make our pyramid again. We tried to make blocks from sand and glue so it would be more authentic...let's just say that did not work. So we are going to use sugar cubes. We agreed that will be more realistic anyway, since the pyramids all used to be white, but over the centuries, all that was worn off from the desert winds, etc.

This will take some getting used to!

On Monday I went to my appointment at the sleep disorder clinic. NICE to know I have a "disorder".

It took about 5 minutes. I got home and showed everyone my lovely new mask. Ya wanna know the FIRST THING out of Stud's mouth??

"I am sleeping with Darth Vader". He said he was going to get a photo of me wearing it and post it on his blog. I asked how he could do that when I will wake up if he tries to take a photo, since I sleep so lightly. We both thought at the same time, well if this thing does it's job, I will sleep SOUNDLY. All I can say is that he had BETTER NOT!

So it worked a lot better than the first one except it makes my nose itchy and I need to keep on reaching under the mask to scratch it. When I do that, it is very loud as the suction around my face is broken. So I lasted until about 2 AM Tuesday morning and around the same time this morning. My goal is to last until 4 AM by Saturday.


They all say it takes some people a week or two to get really used to it all. My friend who started using one four years ago said it took her a week to notice a difference in sleeping better, so I am assuming part of that was training herself to actually keep the dang thing on all night! The people at the clinic told me to just do it as long as I can and work my way to eventually keeping it on all night.

Below you will find some photos of the mask itself and then where I keep it. Note the machine on my lovely night stand...it is small and compact but I would still rather it not take up that room. You can keep them on the floor, but you need a longer hose so I will see what I decide to do. I would think it would get pretty dusty and dirty sitting on the carpet by someone's bed...

And yes, I have stuffed animals on my bed...Poor Stud! He handles it quite well though:) I see now that my poor bunny is missing a slipper! OH NO! I need to go look for that.








Hopefully soon I will have something more exciting to post about!

CPAP Machine

Ok, here is an update.

I went last week to get "fitted" for my CPAP thingy.

It was quite interesting. Took about an hour. The lady asked me straight off if I "mouth breathe". I told her I had no idea. I don't pay attention to what I am doing when I am asleep. Pretty much impossible, in my mind. She said that I would know if I did, because I would wake up with a very dry mouth and be very thirsty. I said then I guess I don't because that doesn't usually happen. It has happened here and there over the years, but it is not the norm. Ok, she said then you need just a nasal mask, not a full facial mask. Fine.

So she went and got four various types of those. We spent a lot of time trying them on and fiddling with the machine. It was very odd to get used to all this air blowing up my nose! I had to keep my mouth closed all the time, if I opened it...I don't know how to describe it! I guess the best way would be to say it was like there was a cyclone or something IN MY FACE. Like, inside my head really. Felt like my cheeks were flapping in the wind caused by it and I couldn't get a breath. She said always keep the mouth closed and it is no problem. She was right! Sitting there awake and keeping my mouth closed, really helped.

You know how you sometimes have one of those thoughts way in the back of your mind but it can't seem to make it to the "surface" and be voiced out loud?? It doesn't get to the part where the vocal part of the brain says "VOCALIZE THIS". It was just a little tickle or something that just didn't come all the way really even to the conscious thought area.

Well, that happened. It wasn't really until I got home and was playing around with the machine, filling it with distilled water, showing it to the kids, that the thought of mine FINALLY surfaced. What if my mouth falls open when I am asleep?? What will happen then?? I told myself that I would wake up and shut my mouth, because I would not like the feeling of what it does wearing this mask with the mouth open.

Not so, apparently.

I woke suddenly at 2 AM. I don't even know how to describe what I felt in my entire mouth, throat, & on my tongue. If you took sand and rubbed it all over those places and then dried it with a blow dryer and left it that way for about ten years...that would be close!

I was in agony and my mouth was SO DRIED OUT that I could hardly move my jaw to close my mouth and gather up a pittance of saliva to attempt to moisten things. It felt like everything in there was made of paper and was going to rip and tear, but that paper was also on fire and burning! It was SO PAINFUL to finally gather up spit and close my mouth and try and swallow. I went and got a drink and then brushed my teeth and drank some more! I shut the machine off, needless to say.

I left that morning to watch my friends' little 16-month-old. I have been doing that once a week or so all summer. That is another story, though. I went to spend the morning with my wee friend and while he was napping, I called the sleep disorder place.

I told them that I think I need a full facial mask, not just the one that goes in the nose. I can't find a picture of my mask on-line, but it is something like this but not really! Mine is just a softer smaller looking thing with two separate things for each nostril. Clear like that, but something goes into each nostril.



I am hoping to get something like this


So I have an appointment tomorrow at one PM to get that taken care of! OH! People are so silly. When I was talking to the guy on the phone and explaining what happened and how I think we need to switch to a full face mask, he put me on hold to talk to someone. He came back and said, "Yeah, it sounds like you are going to have to switch to a full face mask". NO! YA THINK!?!? WOW! I wish *I* had thought of that!

Is that a guy thing?? My husband does that to the kids and I ALL THE TIME. We say something and then he repeats the exact same thing we have said, but in a way like HE thought of it. Anyone else experience this?? It has honestly never happened to me with females before. It is only guys who ever do that, in my experience.


Alright, off to feed the homeless at the Gospel Mission. I need to find a place that lets the kids do it too. The place we went to a few years ago is too far away...

If you take the time to read that, please remember that L=Cryptic, B=Jock, R=Clown and
Bee=Princess. This was before I thought of their "nicknames" and I just used their first initials. Obviously, Jock and Princess have the same ones, so my friends and I started using "Bee" for Princess when she was born. When we e-mail each other about our kids, we just use initials instead of typing out their entire name all the time. Mothers need anything to save time, you know:)

Anyway, the place I am going today will only allow Cryptic and I. Well, I mean Stud could come too but you have to be 16. Cryptic won't be 16 until November, but they are making an exception:) teehee. But yes, I want to find somewhere closer that we can all go to regularly. Another thing that bothers me about the place I am going today is that it is only once every two months!?!? Sorry, but I want to help more often than that, ya know??

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

It's that time of year again...

Princess and I went shopping for her new dance items. She needs new shoes every year obviously. Since she grows and all that weird stuff kids do.

This year she is not only doing ballet, but is now old enough to start hip hop! OH MY! Could there be anything better?? She is SO EXCITED!

Behold my baby in her new (expensive! *cough*) garb...





Her stinkin' hip hop shoes alone were FIFTY BUCKS!?!? Ballet was never this expensive!

Of course we had to get this amazing shirt...she is SO tickled and in love with the fact that it is off the shoulder and has those straps...










She just had to go and check it out in the mirror...









She also chose a new tutu. When she was in Saskatchewan I found this pink Leotard at Toys R Us for $7.








She is now at a size/age where the ballet slippers come like that we need to adjust them. I will sew the straps where they need to be. I want her teacher to have a look first and see where they are supposed to go, I know nothing about this stuff!

So we are set with that. She starts next week and cannot wait! I ordered her a beautiful dance bag from here that has her name on it. Isn't that stuff pretty?? She got it in the mail on Monday and was SO SURPRISED! She LOVES that it has her name embroidered on it:) It is even better quality than you can tell from the photos on the site. I am so impressed and will buy more things from there. The service was amazing as well!


We got the kids a trampoline while they were in the Great White North! What a great surprise to come home to. Guess what paid for it?? THIS!

That's right. The insurance company wanted to shut me up so they paid me a little bit for my "injury". It was the exact amount of the trampoline I have been wanting to get the kids for about four years. So now they have it. We had to pay extra for the enclosure of course. Safety first! Photos will follow.

I need to go fill my face with my favourite chip dip that Stud brought me from Canada when he went to pick the kids up from my brother. He forgot my chips, so I need to use American ones. It's ok though. Don't worry about me. The man tried his best and no one is perfect, you know?? The American ones are better than nothing, at least I have my dip...aaahhhh... the best EVER.

Guess what else I get?? One of my FAVOURITE Chocolate bars:)


I'll worry about losing weight (an on-going battle for the past SIX YEARS! that you all are sick of me whining about, I am sure) next week:) When the Canadian goodies are gone:)


Oh yeah, life is good...

Sleep much??

Well I found out some interesting information this morning.

I don't recall if I blogged about it or not. I went and had a sleep study done about a month ago. That experience in itself should have a post devoted to it. I don't have time, though! LOL

I have been wondering why I am so tired, need to nap most days, don't feel rested when I rise and have worse "brain fog" than ever! Everything was made clear to me today when I went to meet with the Dr. and have my results explained to me.

Apparently, at least the night I had the study done, I woke about 95 times in five hours! I stopped breathing most of those times and my blood oxygen level went as low as 82%. They said that I actually turned blue once and was not breathing for almost 18 seconds, when I guess I started again. It took me 54 minutes to get to sleep in the first place (I usually have issues with falling asleep and there it was much worse!) and I guess I woke up an average of 16.5 times an hour! NO BLOODY WONDER I don't feel rested.

I was there for 11 hours and actually "slept" for almost five. The rest of the time I was fully awake. I only remember waking up three times, and many nights here at home I wake up as many as ten times. Of course these are times that I am aware of. Clearly I am waking many more times than that! The interesting thing was after the study when she woke me up and was asking questions, I said that I felt like I slept for five hours, but that I did not get five hours of restful sleep. I had no idea how accurate I would be! I thought it would end up being 7 or 8 hours.

So I obviously need a CPAP. This will be hard to get used to, but I am SO EXCITED at the idea of actually sleeping soundly and getting restful sleep. I can't imagine! WOW! Another plus will be remembering things better:) I am hoping to lose some weight also. The main reason I even checked into this in the first place was because of an article I read about people who used to be slender and then gained weight with no explanation. That is me! My thyroid is still unbalanced and I know that, plus my age and metabolism slowing certainly add to it. I am wondering if getting a great sleep will increase my energy and therefore my activity level. I find it odd that I had more energy and was still slim just five or six years ago when I had small kids and toddler and was up in the night nursing babies. You would think that THEN I would be tired and have more brain fog.

So there it is. Pretty weird to think that I stop breathing at all, let alone for that long! I will try and update on my machine when I get it and be better about updating in general.

My kids all came back on Sunday night and I am just thrilled:) More on that soon!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Real men wear kilts

So Stud borrowed a friends kilt the other night when they went to a party.

Is it just me, or is this AWESOME!?!?!? This one is too short since the person who owns it is about six inches shorter than Stud. You get the idea, though.


He is looking into getting a few of his own. LOVE IT!

That is all.

Creepy...

I just saw this on a friend's blog and it creeps me out how accurate something this silly can be!!

You can go here to do it if you want:)




What Your Feet Say About You:
You are not very expressive. You tend to keep your emotions to yourself.

You are a somewhat passionate person. A few things get you very fired up, but you're usually pretty laid back.

You are an assertive person at times. You'll pull out all the stops to get what you want, if it's worth it.

You take a while to fall in love, but once you do, you stay pretty attached to your partner.

You are not afraid of anything. You are brave and courageous, even when most people would be terrified.

You are intellectual and philosophical. You are more concerned with thoughts than action.

You are an amazingly hard worker. You aren't spoiled and you don't mind getting your hands dirty.

You are easily influenced by other people. You're quite impressionable, so you should only be around people who are a good influence.


The only statement that is not really true is the fifth one. All the others are extremely close to fact. Although I have been told that # 1 is true, that is changing as I age. I am becoming much more clear about my feelings and emotions and if you were to ask Stud I am certain he would say that I am more open than I used to be.

Cool, eh??

Phone call from Clown

Well, I have been a negligent mother:(

Yesterday afternoon the phone rang and it was my parents' # on the caller ID. I picked it up and there were some snuffling sounds. A tiny voice ventured..."Who...*sniffle*...who is this??"

I said, "It's your mother!". For a moment I thought it was Princess. I realised it was my wee little Clown. He still has his darling little boy voice so sometimes even at home here, it is hard to tell who is who if they are not within sight. In fact we have some issues with that sometimes. I hear one of them in a hallway or something and they ask for a snack or what have you. I am trying to train them to either come to where I can see them or say who they are! LOL Clown forgets (I think he is mad that I can't tell him from his SISTER, so he will just show me by not lowering himself to tell me who he is!) most of the time, but Princess is getting it. She usually says, "It's me, Princess!" We think it is fun because her name actually rhymes with "ME" so it is like a little song when she sings it out all cute!

So Clown began truly sobbing outright and I eventually gathered that he was saying he was SO HOMESICK. Poor little man! I had not been calling because I assumed they would be busy and visiting people and doing many things. I did not want to bother them and told them I would wait until THEY called. I had talked it over a bit with Princess before they left and like a goof, I don't even know if Clown and I discussed it. Princess doesn't get very home sick and welcomes a break. Clown is so very different and it was pretty miraculous that he went at all. It is the first time in his life that he has been gone from Stud and I for more than a few days, and that is always local, when he spends a weekend at a friend's house or something. I should have known better:(

I talked with him for about 45 minutes. He filled me in on what all they are doing there. Apparently he has been eaten up by mosquitoes. We don't have any here (I know! COOL HUH??) and he is not used to them. I forgot that every time we go to the prairies, they have a blast with him. Something about him they just LOVE! The thing is, he swells up a lot from them:( I looked for a photo to show, but I don't have any digital ones. If they get him near his eyes, they swell shut. So he was telling me how my nephew has some plant at his house and you just take a leaf and rub it on you and the little buggers don't bother you as much! I told him to remember to do that a lot of else get Granny to put bug spray on him.

Most of the family had gone to the EX, but obviously he opted not to go. WAY too many people! He would have...I dunno what he would have done. He just can't handle things like that. I hate it for him, he would love the rides, food, sights, etc. If only he could go when there is hardly anyone there.

He is SO CUTE! He was saying how he wishes he was seven or eight again. Those are the best ages to be, he informed me. He doesn't want to grow up and get older. He said, "Like...I wish I could be seven or eight again...but still like...you know...increase my vocabulary and learn all the fun stuff with you when you are teaching us stuff, but just not grow...you know?? Like if it could be much more gradual that would be the best!"

He asked if we were working on moving the bedrooms around. The plan, while they are gone, is to move Stud's office into the "schoolroom" (which is an extra kitchen in the basement) and then move Jock into the office (the 5th bedroom has always been used for Stud's computer and guitars). Then Clown will move out of the biggest bedroom that he and Cryptic share, into Jock's old room. We can't just move Clown into the office and leave Jock where he is because of how the window is in there. The house is built into a hill and that window on that end of the house is one where you need to crawl into a recess in the ground and then pop off a plexi-glass cover that is set on the ground above it. Since Jock is 13 and Clown is only 9, we would prefer Jock deal with that in case of a fire or something and allow Clown to have a room with a "normal" window. This way, everyone will FINALLY have their own rooms.

Also, we are re-doing the boys' bathroom down there AND hopefully getting all the new school books and everything organised in some fashion so as to make daily school work flow a lot more smoothly. So he was asking all about that, he is excited to come home to his own room and choose the paint colours and get it arranged how he wants it:)

At one point Jock spoke with him while I prepared a snack for him. He is so funny, he is loving his holiday. He sits in the office on his computer and then calls me with his cell phone asking for snacks! He is loving the attention, normally I am much more focused on the younger two. So when I went to give him his cheese and crackers, he said "I love you, buddy" to Clown. HOW SWEET IS THAT!?? They seldom say things like that, but I could tell from Clown's voice that he was thrilled to pieces that his big brother actually misses him! So he feels a lot better and said that if he can talk to us every day, he will be fine. Stud was out getting a hair cut and called Clown when he got back. They had a nice talk as well, so I think things will be OK now:)

So, I am off to call my little Clown and hopefully speak to Princess a bit?? She hasn't had time for her old Mum yet, but hopefully today she will see fit to grace me with some news. I did speak to Cryptic yesterday for about 5 minutes and he filled me in on some new happenings on the web site that he is the co-administrator of. He has been grounded from the computer, but we lifted that for while he is on holiday. Makes things easier on everyone up there. So he was tickled to be able to catch up on some things on there.

I will update you all on my wee Clown. MAN I LOVE THIS KID!! He is SO PRECIOUS!

Here, you need to see a photo of my little man:) You may not THINK that you do, but yes...you DO. teehee. HOW SWEET IS THIS KID!?




Here he is doing his "kitchen chores". That week it was to clean off the counter tops and wipe them down...










Here he is making a smoothie...see the mouth?? That is typical Clown. That could mean a few things: Either he is self conscious...he is worried he may do something wrong, or he is concentrating. I think it was a combo in this instance!










Here?? He is just being handsome! Now I miss him more:( *sniff* I better go get busy cleaning some more. I just called to talk to the kids and my Mum said they are all out doing various things. Clown is out for lunch with my brother and his wife.

Summer time...

...is almost over.

THANK GOD. Me no likey.

So anyway, I guess I should post something. I have not even felt like publishing any of my comments that you lovely folks have left. Just don't seem to have the energy. Weird. Maybe I can make some time to do that soon.

So yes, my boys went to the movie and had a great time. I certainly hope they make a habit of this!

Cryptic, Clown and Princess are at my parents in Saskatchewan. It seems odd. Feels VERY weird. SO QUIET around here!! Jock is LOVING being the only child for a short time. I am trying to get a lot of cleaning and organising done around here.

On Friday I drove to Abbotsford and met my brother who drove them to his place about three hours away in BC. Then the next morning he got them up at 5 and they drove to our other brother's in Calgary. On Sunday, they made it to our parents in Saskatoon. I guess they got there in time for Princess to attend a family reunion on my Dad's side. I am anxious to hear about that!

We were not sure if Clown would be able to go. We are starting to wonder if he may have some autism tendencies. I have been doing some research and he has some of the symptoms of some types, but also is not anywhere close to many of the more common symptoms. So I am not sure. I need to remember to ask his Doc when he gets back. She has already had him see a doc who is teaching him relaxation techniques. He went once and then needs to be seen when he gets back from Granny and Grandad's. So I can ask about it then.

He just gets himself SO UPSET about things and cannot handle any type of change or any crowds. It gets hard to plan around his needs in that way. I have to remember to prepare him for certain things, yet sometimes if I prepare too long ahead of time, he panics and it is worse. I can't decide which is worse; telling him we are going somewhere or just springing it on him to avoid him stressing himself about all the whys and what ifs that he seems to worry about. It seems to depend on his mood AND the situation.

So, we got him packed up JUST IN CASE. I suspected once he saw his uncle again that he would want to go. My kids all ADORE this man and he is a real card. They have a blast with him and tell all their friends all about him.

As mother often knows best, when he was sitting in Tim Horton's with his Uncle Sean, he decided he couldn't pass up this awesome opportunity. He was excited to see his cousins and everyone as well, but wasn't sure how his tummy would deal with the driving. Since he got sick in February and has had all these sinus issues, his tummy is incredibly sensitive. I have since spoke to him and he said his tummy was fine. He said he did not even need the gravol that Uncle Sean bought for him.

So we plan to get a lot done around here while the kids are on holiday. Jock would have gone but he has try outs starting soon for the AAA Bantam team and there was not room in Uncle Sean's car.


Oh, before I forget! Check out Jock's blog. He and I were rear ended a few weeks ago:( He tells the story better than I could. Except that the "tap" felt just as hard to me as the original BANG! I thought the guy was doing it on purpose. Was SO WEIRD! To be hit twice, I was thinking, "WHAT!!?? WHAT DO YOU WANT!??! WHAT DID I DO TO YOU!?!?" LOL


I will close with photos of Princess making the "fairy hats" and "fairy punch" a few days before she left for Canada.





















Pretty fancy stuff, eh??

Summer time

The weather has been very sunny for over a month with very little rain. The past few days it got overcast and was cooler, which was very good news to Cryptic and myself. We are not fans of brightness and heat!

As I sit and type this, my two eldest babies are on their own in a movie Theatre! For the FIRST TIME. EVER. I am so so SO excited for them:)


Stud and I have been going to take them to see "The Dark Knight" and have been trying to figure out who to pawn the younger off on so that we can take the older two. The older two are our awesome babysitters and if Stud and I want to go out, we just pay Cryptic and Jock to watch the younger two. A week or so ago they each made $15 watching them for a few hours while Stud and I went out with friends. Mainly the six of us go out as a family, but some movies the little ones just can't see.

So as I was doing some school with the younger two this afternoon, Jock came to me and said "Why don't Cryptic and I just go see the movie ourselves??" DUH! I can't believe I did not think of it:) So I dropped them off and Stud will get them when they call. They had to pay for it themselves. As I was dropping them off, Cryptic checked with Jock to make sure he had enough cash for his ticket. I thought that was thoughtful. The difference between the two is cute. The whole excitement for Jock was that it would just be them. Cryptic wanted me to go with them! He and I are very close and share a lot. We read the same books, watch the same movies, listen to similar music. So he likes to share it all with me and doesn't mind his ole Mum along. Jock is really trying to get some distance, which I can totally respect. Stud told me not to stay and that he will take me to see it later. Clown and Princess were fussing and not wanting me to stay at the Theatre either. They wanted me home. I feel very loved:) Everyone wanted me with them except Jock and I can totally understand where he is coming from, so I still feel loved:)

I hope they make a habit of this. They really need to get out more! I know Cryptic is looking forward to turning 16 in November so he can finally get a job:)

Princess, Clown and I did some fun history today and we played math Bingo and did history and a lot of grammar yesterday. I am getting some really great books from Amazon and we are going to really do some fun activities this next school year! I will post photos here and there. We are going to do cave drawings tomorrow and within a few weeks we are going to make a pyramid out of home-made blocks we will make from sand/glue.

Princess has a cute Faerie Recipe book. I need to get off of here and help her make Faerie Hats and Faerie Punch. That is the main reason she didn't want me to stay out with her brothers:) Hope the photos turn out!

Peace out!