Just a funny blurb

I've been meaning to write down a few of the cute things my kids say, because like jokes, I have a habit of forgetting even my favorite ones!

I took Liam and Shea grocery shopping yesterday. I was sort of thinking out loud...hmm what should we get for supper. I saw the Mexican section and thought...hey, Tacos would be fun...we never get tacos.
Liam (my picky eater) right away says..."Tacos!? I hate TACOS."
"Liam, you haven't even had tacos. They are like these massive chips that you can put stuff in." I show him the box and he makes a grimace.
"See!? You can put whatever you like inside this giant chip."
"Oh", he says. "GREAT!"
"I'll put macaroni in mine."

Life in balance.

Okay, so it's probably obvious that I haven't poured much thought into this here blog. I occasionally dump a few pictures on here in hopes that it will keep you entertained and still attracted enough to come back. Gaining popularity on my blog has never been the main intent, but I do intend that someone other than myself will come away with "something" every once in awhile. Be it small, at least it's something.
My power of influence seems pretty limited to my kids in this phase of my life. I don't find enough time, energy or passion to really reach out to many other people once I have given myself to my kids. I see it as a stage, but think it's important to at least try to make an impact elsewhere so I don't forget how!! And frankly, my kids probably need to learn to share me a little more. There are two and half hours a week when I am not with at least one of my kids. Two and a half. And that all happens on Monday while I swim and play hockey. I could get a job which would basically just pay for the daycare expenses, but I haven't been willing to go that route yet. Shea is still a baby, and one day soon he won't be. I imagine that as they age they will have less and less to do with me, especially with them all being male...so maybe I'm trying to hog the opportunity I have right now. But wow, there are some days when I doubt that I am really their best option of a caregiver! I get tired of them and they get tired of me and I start to think those thoughts that they would be better with someone else. I get the same "guilty mom" syndrome when I contemplate taking any time for myself. Like I don't deserve to get away or do things for me because my job is to be a MOM 24/7. Some people seem to have figured it out better though, they seem to balance work, kids, hobbies, play, skills and projects and have everything is balance. How do they do it??

Lunch in my pj's

Grade two, baby

I did another "school photo" of him to match the other two I did with a black background...now I just have to get my act together and make prints of them.
(For my moms who didn't like the blue fireworks cheesy background!)

Getting out

So the sickie is still sick but thankfully no one else is. We are all getting a little tired of it though...him tired of being useless, and me ready to leave town to get 2 minutes to myself!
Yesterday, instead of doing our usual swimming with the cousins, we went skating at an outdoor rink. Liam even tried for about 4 minutes and did quite well. Amy pulled Shea around on the sled. The oldest kids (Amy, Claire, Riley and Evan) have improved greatly in their skating ability and were getting a few "lessons" from Luke and Sarah. It brought back many memories for Luke and I who spent hours and hours on our backyard rink in Smithers. The Christmas lights lit up around 5pm, and the kids skated til they dropped.
Pam took some pictures for us...

Preschool photo fun

I volunteered my services and took group photos of Liam's preschool class this week. Liam goes 3x a week, and so ended up being in both pictures as he's part of both classes!

Enjoy their little faces!

In sickness...

There comes a time in every woman's life, when their "other half" gets sick. And not just feeling yucky, but feeling all out downright SICK. Right after the party on Tuesday, Greg came down with some sort of weird flu and hasn't left our bedroom since. His stomach has stopped wrenching for the last while, but he hasn't eaten since Tuesday either. He is mostly dizzy now and isn't even feeling well enough to watch TV yet. I don't know how much longer this will last! but it is getting pretty tiring. I've been sleeping with Liam in his single bed and trying to run the show around here while he gets better...hoping against hope that I don't get the bug either. Because as all women know, you don't get to lay in bed for 2 days when you're a mom...oh no, the show still has to go on. Reminds me of being pregnant in that first trimester when you feel like absolute crap, yet you have to still make dinner and run the kids to school. I guess that's what moms are for. I remember my mom looking after me when I was feeling raunchy, yet hardly remember her being sick (though she probably was and still had to slave on us).
Anyway, say a little prayer that Greg gets better quick...the kids miss him but I don't let them in to see him as I don't want us all infected!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Nineteen of us hit the bowling alley tonight and had a great time. (More photos on Facebook).

Another year, another bowling party!

This was taken last year, and we're hitting up the bowling alley again tomorrow for my mom's birthday! I love parties!!

My new glasses

Just wanted to show you my new glasses. They are very plain, I guess. Chocolate brown (almost black) on the outside, teal blue on the inside. The prescription is sadly stronger, or I would switch between my old pair too for some variety!

Congratulations!!

Just had to send out a quick YEEHAW! and congratulations to our little sister Heather and her hubby to be!!!

Heather and Christian! Engaged January 8th...married soon!

(I took this picture from their album...they got engaged while on their holiday in Africa!)

Love you guys, and wishing you much happiness!

Toddler daze

Preschool daze

Updates

Well life has been mixed with bouts of busy and boring, all within a weekend.
On Thursday I went to my friends house and did a photo shoot for her and my sister in law, who are sisters...both pregnant, both due in March. They are beautiful girls with perfect bellies. I'll show you this one, but the rest you'd have to ask them for!

On Friday we did our regular Engel family night, swimming and potluck at our place. The boys and sure look forward to it as we don't get to see our family much other than those nights.
On Saturday we enjoyed going to Greg's cousins wedding. She and her new hubby are so in love and both so beautiful. They did a completely choreographed "first dance" which was so fun and adorable. Greg pulled his trombone out of the basement and played "I love you, for sentimental reasons" during the reception. It was awesome! Such musical talent in those Davidson cousins.
My parents braved watching the boys for most of the day while we took part in the wedding festivities. It was lucky my dad was around, as Riley turned the light switch to the basement and it started smoking!! Dad pulled it apart and found that the switch was completely split in the back, and who knows what could have happened if it wasn't discovered when it was.
And our trip to Kelowna went well, other than the flying ice cream. Shea has orthotic shoes on order and will need to wear them as much as possible. They probably won't be comfortable, but he should only have to wear them a few months. Here's hoping. I don't want to have him in tight lace-up shoes during the hot summer.
Today we did nothing. We needed a day to catch up before the weekend was over. Hoping yours was restful!

Another great way to embarrass your parents #486, by Liam

Hi everyone...this is a good one.

Go out to a nice family restaurant with your parents. In our case it was White Spot.
Eat everything in your pirate pack with relatively decent behavior so that you're eligible to get dessert.
Order the strawberry ice cream.
Make sure you use a plastic spoon.
Force the plastic spoon down quite hard under the rock hard ice cream.
Then pull up on the spoon with such force that a large chunk of ice cream flies up and launches over to the neighboring table.
Watch with glee as your mother notices the father at the next table gasp and look around to find where the ice cream came from that is now sliding down his hand.
Watch your father turn beet red and ask the neighbor table if they got hit with something as he saw something launch.
Just sit and giggle and enjoy their embarrassment.

(True story)

"WHAT?! Lost your mittens?!"

My life really does run parallel with nursery rhymes some days...for instance...
"There once was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children, she didn't know what to do?!"
Ha, well almost.
But yes, seriously...we're having issues with going to school with 2 mittens and coming home with one or none. I have been known to mutter the words, "WHAT!?? Lost your mittens?!" (And then I giggle on the inside as I feel like a mother cat, and then I go back to being mad.)
Riley lost a pair a few weeks ago and I figured he must have left them at the hockey game that Greg played in over Christmas. So two weeks after the game, and when I had given up looking for them, I returned to the local arena and asked the lady in the office where the lost and found box was. She gave me this long detailed explanation..."You go down this corridor, past the 17 dressing rooms, around a corner, past the zamboni rooms, around another corner to the right and at the end of that hallway, by the 2nd arena, is this large plywood box. Good luck." So I walked for 3 miles and found this box that was big enough to sleep 5 small children inside of it, and was knee deep in clothing articles. Smelly socks, hockey gear and the like. I'm swimming in the grossness, and down at the bottom I spied the missing mitts! BOTH of them!! I probably let out a little squeal but no one could hear me anyway due to the noise of the working zamboni. I must mention that the mitts were a little harder to find as they were camoflague. I rose victorious out of the box and returned to my car with my very successful find.


(You may think this is absolutely ridiculous, but after losing 5 or so mitts and retracing steps and looking under everything, to find a missing mitten is a huge deal in my mommy world.)
Those small victories, right?!

Getting it straight

I'm sure I mentioned in days past, that Shea has had issues with his curved-in little feet. It took him a long time to walk, and since he still has problems with tripping over his own feet.
I mentioned it to my doctor again, and he figured that now that Shea has had time to put weight on them and it still hasn't seemed to help, he referred me to a physio. I saw the physio who now has sent me to the ortho unit at the Kelowna hospital. So Greg and I are going in the morning to see the specialists there. I am hoping it isn't anything serious and they can just fit him for some special insoles or shoes and that will be it. If not, the next step will be going to see the specialists at Vancouver Children's Hospital. I'll let you know how it goes.

Back to the grind

I can't believe tomorrow morning is Monday, and that the Christmas holiday has officially ended. It went really really fast. Our boys could use some more routine, but I must say that they did really well at getting to bed on time, staying healthy, enjoying their new toys, playing in the snow and hanging out with many different friends.
Riley is anticipating going to school again to see his friends, but Liam is sad that the days of staying in pj's til noon and watching cartoons throughout the day will be over.
I'm not sure what this next year will hold for us. The past one just seemed to be full of trials and challenges of parenting and not a whole lot of fun and excitement, that's for sure. But each little day holds some sort of good memory or little piece of joy that helps make life worth plugging through!
Cheers to 2009!