smile

Sir Shea...giving the eyebrow!

This little turkey is giving us a run for our money. He is also so very cute that sometimes it is hard to get mad at him. I will say something like, "NO Shea, you can't touch that!" and he is all..."Don't talk to me like that mom!" (Complete with eyebrows!)
He is getting harder to put to bed, being the ultimate goof who runs around and sneaks into the bathroom to play with the soap, keeping his brothers awake and turning on the lights. Tonight I went in to kiss him goodnight and thought he was being all good and quiet, but turns out he had a felt pen and was writing on the wall beside his bed! Grr.

It's February, isn't it.

I don't hate February...there is just not anything overly special about this time of the year, is there. Lucky for us, we DO have the Vancouver 2010 Olympics!! We've been watching things here and there...those CRAZY ski cross people!! The wild crashes in the bobsleds!! The quick sneaky moves of the speed skaters! The suspense of the hockey game!! Wild...all of it. I like that the kids are getting more than the usual demonstration of national pride. We do live in a BEAUTIFUL country.
So I made the mistake of taking a tour of a new house next door to my in-laws. It was so big and clean and everything was of course, NEW. Sigh. I'm surrounded by old around our house, with an endless list of things that need fixing, and I have a hard enough time keeping it tidy, nevermind fixed!! The kitchen in this new place was one of the biggest I have been in. The island was large enough to fit 6 stools on the one side. The pantry was a corner walk in, the size of a small corner store. Anyway, it was pretty awesome. And isn't it funny that although it was awesome, it still wouldn't suit our family. I had to keep telling myself the downers of the place (only 2 finished bedrooms, dining right in the living area, office right off the living room, ridged laminate...for example) to prevent myself from moving ourselves into the house that night (in my dream). I absolutely love the moving in part of moving, and would have such a blast filling those pot drawers! Oh well. Maybe I need to paint my bedroom. Might help me feel better?
My friend is doing something new over at her house...what'll it be???!!

Is it a girl thing??

My hubby always likes to bug me about how much I enjoy shows that contain a big REVEAL or a reunion. I am not an overly dramatic person, but that part of the show where the curtain is pulled aside and the freshly renovated kitchen is seen, or that long-lost family member is reunited...AKK!! I LOVE it! It sucks me in every time. Greg is always saying in his sarcastic tone... "OOooooo...the big reveal!!" I can't help it!?
I know I'm not alone...
I stayed up late tonight to watch Oprah who has people reunited with their birth parents...so emotional.
Here is the big quote on the show..."You can't find peace until you find the pieces of your life." (Troy from The Locator)

Butterflies

There are times as a mother, where the actions of your children will stop you in your tracks and cause you to shake your fists up to the heavens sighing "COULD THIS CHILD REALLY BELONG TO ME?!" and then there are those feelings that only your children can stir in you that truly bring butterflies to your heart and you wonder "HOW WAS I EVER SO LUCKY?"
I have really been so happy with the school my boys are fortunate to attend. They have great teachers. Especially Riley has a wonderful soft spoken teacher with a young male student teacher assisting who is so engaged with the kids and treats them all like the unique and special individuals that they are. Liam is getting close to age 6 (WHAT?!) and has lightbulbs going off in his head all the time as he connects letters into words and smiles brightly with the realization that he has figured it out on his own. He has been so testy lately, so intense with both his love or hate of anything and everything. He is definitely my most romantic, anxiously awaiting his 5 kisses before bed. I reminded him that soon it will be 6! to which his eyes sparkled and he said, "Just wait til I'm 28 and you will have to give me 28 kisses!!" I told him he could get his wife to do it then! His eyes sparkled some more.
Today we had our second round of swimming lessons for the week. It is going well, and the boys are having fun. Riley finishes first and swims around in the kiddie pool while Liam finishes up his lesson. Two moms from school were also waiting around in the kiddie pool with their 2 little girls each. One of the little girls (age 3) grew a quick attachment to Riley and would squiggle (not really swimming yet!) over to him and throw her arms around his neck, for a hug? for a ride?? not sure. Riley would smile over at me and sorta shrug in this cute helpless look. She repeated this about 10x in half an hour. You could tell he was slightly annoyed but proud all at the same time, being careful not to dive underwater and drown the poor little thing! Such a good big brother kinda guy he is.
Shea has been a little bit of a goofball, still not settling down in a big boy bed, so we've kept him trapped in the playpen. He likes it when I lay down on my bed and read my book while he's right at the foot of the bed in his playpen and never fights his nap but drifts off to sleep. I sometimes need to wake him up after the two hours to ensure that he will go to sleep again at night easily. When he first sees me, he says, "MOM! I Missed YOU!" and then "I LOVE YOU, mom". And I always say, "I love you too, Shea". And then he says, "I love you too, mom." So adorable. Can't get enough...
sigh

My mini Valentine!!

My mini Valentine!!
Originally uploaded by Sarah Dzines

Thankfully we had celebrated Valentine's all week, as today we were stuck at home with a sick boy (Riley). Shea was down for the count yesterday as he had a terrible head cold and would cry out, "I NEED A NOSE WIPE!" every few minutes, but was feeling quite chipper all day today.
We let him stay in his pj's and scruffy hair all day.
Just one of those days.

time to think...

Ok, so the story is that we ditched the kids with my mom and ran off for three nights of peace. The prep work to go away and still ensure that the kids got off to school with the right library books, cookies and valentines, lunches, to swimming lessons (twice) etc. involved a practical novel for my mom to go through! I tried to have the house mostly clean and laundry done and the bed ready for my mom. So the week before, in combination with the fact that Greg was away, was very busy. It made the trip of peace and quiet even more BEAUTIFUL!
We left on Monday afternoon and drove straight out to the resort. Thankfully it wasn't a very long trip, so we were there by 3pm. I won't bore you with all the details, but we read, swam, slept, ate like kings, watched videos, skied one day, drove to Nakusp to check it out, and enjoyed the silence together. No phone. No computers.
It wasn't so restful for my mom, so I'm sure she was relieved to see us!
We were glad we took the time to get away and have a chance to spend some time together while not playing referee at the same time. Our life at home is quite exhausting. But we got a little break and hope it will keep us trucking! Thanks mom (and to my in-law's who covered on the two evenings my mom worked).

Back from cottage living

(Many more pictures on Facebook)

...back to reality!

Things I've been working on...

I always have wanted to make booties...too bad I'm a little late to make them for my babies!!

Liam is having a Valentines Day party at school while I'm gone. Had to make some cookies for that...

A little dancing??

Time to get outta here!

I know!! I've talked about it since before our 10th anniversary, and now it is finally happening. Greg and I will be taking off for a whole three nights at a hot springs and a day of skiing. We won't be too far away, yet I'm sure it'll feel like we are. No kids. No cooking. Lots of US time.
It's taking many hours to coordinate all the things that will have to take place while we're away. I'm thankful that my mom will stay here and in-laws will help when they can.

Greg has been away in Calgary since Wednesday and comes home tomorrow. We've had to figure out a new system as I don't have wheels and don't have G here to watch Shea (while he naps) so I can run get the boys from school. It has gone pretty smoothly considering, but it also makes me anticipate the coming holiday even more!!

Pool time

Today we hit the pool. It was our first day of lessons that will carry on through the month of February, twice a week. Of course this is also the day that Greg had to leave for work in Calgary and Shea refused to take a nap. Double bonus! Thankfully mom let me borrow her wheels and off we flew to the pooldeck.
Riley rushed off for his lesson and was straight into the water. Shea caught sight of the baby pool and was down to his skinnies before I could say "hold up!". Liam thankfully has a passion for coloring and went straight to work with his felts we had brought. In half an hour, the trade off happened and it was Liam's turn to hit the pool. I scrambled to keep Shea occupied and out of the water. Thankfully auntie Marie was there and as always, was equipped with enough snacks for us to steal extra to keep Shea happy for 2 extra min. After checking out every gumball machine for stray candy, Shea had stripped down again with the intention to hop in when I wasn't looking!! Poor kid, I should have just brought his suit and mine and paid for us too! Anyway, by the time Riley and Liam were both done, we hit the family change rooms and he was so desperate to hit the water that when the bigger two were in the shower, he near jumped in. So I finally just gave in and took his clothes off and let him have a quick shower! He loved it and screamed when it was time to leave. Didn't help that it was dinner time and he was SO tired.
The good side of this story is that it was actually quite comical. It took up the whole afternoon, and left all of us very chilled out for the rest of the evening. They ate dinner without a fuss. I got to put Shea to bed an hour before the other two and it ended up being the quietest bedtime in a long time!
Phew.