Things that make me smile.

     After 6+ years of cooking for Brian he said to me a couple of nights ago," this is my new favorite salad".  I have cooked alot of things, some from resipes and some experiments and I love it when Brian loves what I make.  I think the reason I love it so much is cause he works away 2 weeks at a time and then is home for 2 weeks.  When he is at work he eats camp food and they feed him really good, to the point that he critiques resteraunt food when we go out so anything that I make that is a favorite makes me smile.

     Atley, Alex and I went to the park the other day and we were all on the springy teeter totter.  When Atley was ready to get off he stood up and jumped off as his side of the teeter totter went up.  It wasn't to high and he thought it was fun so he did it 2 or 3 more times, giggling everytime.  Then he went to play on the rest of the play ground and went down the slide a few times.  Then as I was still sitting on the teeter totter I saw this kid flying completely vertical off the side of the slide abould half way up.  He didn't go far when gravity kicked in and he went straight down flat onto the sand.  I think he was stunned and just lay there for a minute before he started to cry and came running over to me.  I couldn't help but laugh, I tried to contain myself, while he was listening anyway, but I started to laugh when I told Brian the story and am even laughing now as I type this.   Soo funny. 

     Atley was involved in another laaughing matter on that same day.  We got home from the park and Anthany was out in the cul-de-sac fishing.  He got a kid sized rod from my mom and it had a rubber fish on the end of it so he could practice casting.  Atley watched him cast a few times and real it in and then must of thought it would be funny to catch the fish.  So here is Atley chasing a little orange rubber fish around that is bouncing back and forth across the road.  Part of the time he was even on is hands and feet trying to get ahold of it.  He looked like a monkey, and the funniest thing was that the rubber fish was attached to an almost invisable peice of fishing line.  Kinda reminded me of when you pull a piece string for a cat but they never quite catch it.  Made me laugh.

     I don't know about anyone else but I love the heat.  It has been 27 degees C in our house quite a few times this summer and that was hot.  When it finally cools down and the thermostat says 23 celius I actually get a sweater and put socks on.  Lol mmakes me laugh how our bodies adjust.

     MMM make chicken currie soup this evening, can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrw.

Eskimo

     Today at boot camp for warm up we had to run around the track at the arema and when we got to the letters that spelled eskimo we had to run down and back up the stairs and then keep on going.  It was very tiring and my quads BURNED but can anyone relate when I say the burnage feels good.  It makes me feel like I am doing something good for my body.  I also like the wet hair and beads of sweat dripping off my nose.  I though this whole getting up at 5am things and getting ready and going to the gym might kill me but it diddn't.  I love it!  I get up before everyone else have breakfast and read a book for a bit.  I get to see the sun rise in the peace and quiet and I get to smell and breath the fresh crisp undisturbed air.  Then I sweat and sweat and sweat and by the time I get home from the gym usually everyone is still sleeping.  Although one day I did find Atley cuddled up in his cardboard house that sits behind the couch with a blanket and a pillow.

     After everyone was up this morning Brian told Atley to look inside the box on the floor.  He said it was for him.  So Atley found the box and opened it to find some hand me down train tracks and stuff.  It was so cute cause he said, That's wonderful, I love it. Thank you.  Where does he come up with this stuff?

     Ya know, Anthany never really repeated anything and still doesn't much.  He has his own mind and does his own thing and always like to push the limmits or not stop till he got it right.  I may not have to worry about him giving in to peer pressure or going along with the croud when he is a teen ager cause he isn't a follower.  He is a leader and very persistant.  BUT.  Atley on the other hand repeats EVERYTHING.  He comes home from school singing all the songs even if the words arent quite right. Or he will copy what Brian or I or someone on the tv is saying.  This is why I wonder where he heard this "that's wonderful, I love it. Thanks you." from.  It all gets stored in his brain and it all comes out sooner or later.  Atley is the child that I will have to worry about doing things just cause everyone else is.  Or being talked into doing things he knows he shouldn't do.  But he is also the child that will do well in school cause he retains and repeats alot of information.   Mmmm what will Alex be like?  Will he be the tipical youngest child and turn out to be a class clown?  I can't wait to see these boys grow up so I can see who they have become and be proud.  God hepl me to parent them well!

     Well for a bit of a funnier story...  What do you get when you cross Brian standing on a bed closing the blinds and a fan that is spinning on the ceiling?  A bloody gash on the head.  After he closed the blinds he stood up and turned to get off the bed and walked right into then.  When he told me about it I couldn't help but laugh.  Sorry baby, I know it hurt, but I still can't help laughing when I think about it now.  Anyone else it probably wouldn't have been so funny but this is Brian and you might have to know him to understand what I mean.

     Another funny, funny thing this evening was when I was reading Atley his bed time story.  I had already read Anthany his and put him to bed, he was looking out his window watching for lightning and listening to the thunder.   There were some pretty load cracks of thunder, made the house shake.  Anyway I was reading to Atley and Brian went into Anthanys room( Anthany didn't see him, to busy looking out his window) and made a really load noise like thunder.  Anthany screemedlike a little girl!  It was so funny I started laughing in the middle of the book.  I tried to compose myself and finish the book but everytime I let my mind wander to that screem all I could do was laugh.

men and their garages

     I just love to see Brian when he has a new idea for the garage, he is like a kid who discovered a new candy at the candy store.  Today it was all about shelves.  Shelves here and shelves there and ohhh check this out! I can build a shelf over there aswell.  I wonder what new idea will be tomorrows project?

Atley said to me today," mom I am going to be a man.  I am getting hair on me (while he was looking at his arms0 so I am going to be a man.  He is only 3, I hope he doesn't grow up to quickly.

We were sitting at the kitchen table and I am not sure how the conversation got started but I ended up saying I am special cause God made me special.  Then anthany said I am special too.  I told him yes you are and we are all special cause God made us all special.  Then Atley said you made me special mom.   I said yes I did.  Then Brian pipes up and sais I made you special too.  Atley looked at him and so did Anthany and Anthany asked what does he mean mom and I said never mind we arent going to talk about that now.  Glad that was the end of that conversation cause I don't think I am ready to answer those kinds of questions to the boys yet.

     Speaking of supper, we had an amazing supper!  I didn't know what to do with the left over chicken so I mixed it with veggies and mushroom soup and noodles and lots of garlic in a casserole dish  and spead a thin layer of bisquit dough and a bit of cheese over top.   Mmmm turned out so good.  When Anthany sat down he took one look and one sniff and said yuck.  I said pardon me?  You don't even know what it is and you haven't even tasted it so don't say anything.  Latter on after he had tasted it and had almost finished his bowl he said this is really good mom can I have some more?  I couldn't believe it, the boy who said yuck wanted more.  I love it when and experimental supper turns out so well.

Am I crazy?? Maybe don't answer that.

     Am I crazy or just motivated?  I started boot camp on Monday and today was my second day of every Monday Wednesday Friday for the next 4 weeks.  It is 6;15-7:15 am and it is hard and I sweat a lot but it feels good.  Gone are the days of working out and not being sore the next day.  I want that back and I would like a few muscles back as well.

     5 am is really early and I think I may be a bit crazy to be up at that time but getting breakfast and reading a book before I go to the gym is nice.  Then I am awake and I feel good.  It is extra nice when everyone is still sleeping when I get home!  I can relax and start my blog instead of staying up to late and doing it then.

     It is another dreary day and looks like it will rain again but that is okay, my kids have rubber boots and splash pants and we are going to get outside and play.  We went for a walk on Monday just after it had rained and Anthany took a ice cream bucket and Alex took a cup and they found every earth worm that was swimming or crawling along the side of the road and brought them back to our house.  I asked them to spead them out on the grass in the yard before we came in the house so they wouldn’t die and they could did tunnels in the dirt.

       I am tired of having to pick up after the boys all the time especially Anthany, he is 6 he can clean up his own room.  So when I ask him to clean his room and he says he is finished whatever toys are still on the floor get put into the take away bucket.  On Saturday he can choose to buy the toys back with some of his allowance or he can do without them.  Every toy costs .25 cents.  It will also cost him .10cents for every piece of clothing I have to pick up of his floor.  Same goes for clothes and toys laying around the house.  I have had to find the “thing” that gets him and makes him want to put his stuff away and he is really interested in money right now and buying things so for him spending his allowance on stuff like dirty clothes and toys left laying around is the “thing” that get him.

     We went to Edmonton yesterday and looked around for furniture for out new house and also at some trailers.  It was a long day especially for the kids, sitting in the van so much wasn’t fun for any of us but especially no fun for my 3 active little boys.  There was a lot of whining and crying and bugging and where are we going nows coming from the kids but the was one thing that was more annoying than all that.  It was the YETI (from star wars) voice that Brian downloaded onto the GPS.  Every time the GPS was giving us directions it was a yeti voice in yeti language and I didn’t have a clue what it was saying.  It was just a bunch of grunts and noises that Brian was trying to decipher.  Must be a guy thing, he thought it was awesome.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this is the same guy who brings the GPS just so he can take a different route than it tells him to and he can argue with it.

      Wow how lucky and I, 8:20am and the house is still quiet.  Guess I should consider getting Anthany up for VBS that starts at 9:00.

     Have a good day everyone.

today was the day!

     I wondered how long it would take for the boys to start playing with the chandelier hanging from the 18foot ceiling in our front enterance.  We moved in on June 18th and today is July 10th, so 3 weeksish?  I kinda thought it would have been sooner.   I heard Atley say, "yay we caught a fish, now we can have it for super."  That is when I went to see what thy were doing.  Anthany had taken the string off of one cat toy and tied it to the string of the other cat toy and they were "fishing" off of the railing at the top of the stairs.  They used the little stuffed fish toy that was on the end of the string for bait and were specifically fishing for a chandelier.  When I go there Anthany had already given the fishing rod to Atley and gone to his room, trying to avoid getting into trouble.  The upstairs rail and the chandelier are two things I knew I would have to be strict about when we moved in here, I don't want any kids falling onto a tile floor (or any floor for that matter) from the second storey.  They got a stern talking to and the fishing rods got thrown into the garbage.

     Today is also the day I started to get brave enough to let Alex run around the house with underwear instead of a diaper.  He is doing really well and hasn't pooped in his pants sinse the camping incident.  We even went to church today and he told me everytime he needed the potty.  I bought some diaper the other day and hopefully that will be the last time I have to do that.  Yay for no more diapers!!  Well untill September when I will be babysitting a couple little ones that will probably still be in diapers(what was I thinking?)

     Today has been a good day!  I also called the gym and signed myself up for a boot camp.  It is from 6:15-7:15am.  Am I crazy?  Maybe, but something has to be done about the spare tire that is blowing itself up around my belly.  The class is Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, guess I better be getting to bed ealier than I have been or I wont make it past the first day.

     I once again got a glimpse of the soft heart inside my sometimes outwardly gruff husband.  We were watching Marley and me last night while we were in bed and he turned the lights out.  He said it as because it was late and almost time to go to sleep but I think it was cause he didn't want me to see the tears in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks at the sad parts.  I know they were there even if I couldn't see them.

Swimming pool can make everything all better.

    Our family was invited to a birthday party at the pool this evening.  We all had so much fun!!  I loved watching Atley as he threw 4 rings into shoulder deep water one at a time and then "diving" into get them.  His way of diving looked more like a belly flop or sometimes  head and his feet went into the water at the same time.  He did this for an hour, untill we had to get out of the pool and everytime he came up with a ring or two he had that twinkle in his eye, he was so proad of himself.
     Alex had alot of fun aswell he is getting less scared of the water  everytime we go to the pool  and I love it that he will jump into the water now and doesn't cling to me the entire time we are in the pool.  I think my favorite to see tonight was Anthany and Brian having so much fun together.  They have been knocking head alot at home and it was nice to see them spending time together having fun.  I think we are going to have to make this family pool thing a weekly event.

     Earlier today Atley was sitting on the toilet going poo and he called me to come and wipe his bum.  I grabbed the toilet paper and wiped his bum and he said,"that's mazing mom"  I asked him what's amazing?  He said," how you grabbed the toilet paper so fast, that's mazing hey mom, how did you do that?"  What do you say to that?  I just told him I had lots of practice.

     A little bit from "The book of Awesome" that I am reading.----Slides used to be dangerous. It wasn't just slides either.  Everything in the playground was more dangerous. And it was different and unique, seemingly put together by the neiborhood handymen who in a burst of creative energy one saturday morning emptied their garages of old tires, two-by-fours and chains and just nailed them all together.  There were wooden tight rope beams suspended high in the air...there were fire poles two stories high...and the merry-go-round,if you were lucky you would get a pile of kids on there and somebody's mom or dad would kindly whip you into a world of unimaginable dizziness.  A couple of the kids would fly off from the g-forces, but most would hang on, teeth gritted, eyes squinted and cheeks flapping wildly against the wind.  Some experts say that playgrounds have become so sterile and boring that kids just walk away from them, perfering instead to hang out in the weeds by the rail road tracks or throw bottles in the alley behind the pizza place. (The book ofawesome by Neil Pasricha)      I miss those old playgrounds, The good old day of the really tall swingsets that we did flips off of and the barf barrel that we spun the littler kids in till they barfed.  We learned what gravety was and learned how to stay out of the way when people were flying off the merry-go-rounds. 
     I think I am pretty relaxed with my kids at theplayground.  They climb high, spin fast, jump far, and love every minute of it.  When we are at the park with others, especially people we don't know I see them wincing when my 5year old kid wants me to spin him superfast on the merry-go-round then he flies off and tries to grab on again while it is still spinning and goes flying again. Or when my 2 1/2year old is sliding down the second story firepole while I sit back and cheer him on.  Or when I lift the 1 1/2 onto the hanging bar and let him fall/jump off on his own into the sand.    I think it is good for them.  They learn that if they jump from to high they get hurt and if they don't hold on they fall down  and if they stay on the mmerry-go-round to long they get really dizzy.  Why does every thing have to be so safe now?  I will expand on tis another time.

it's all in a days work.

     I made a decision last night to try to make things nicer than it has been around here.  Less fighting and yelling and whinning amongst the kids and more sharing and playing nicely.  I figured that in order for me to have the patience to deal with it in a positive way I should spend some time on myself aswell.  So after I got out of bed and fed the boys and myself breakfast Anthany and I went down stairs and he turned his music on load and played mini sticks while I did a workout video.  I never really feel like working out but I always feel better when I do.  So then shower and got dressed and got the boys dressed and went into the garage to find the kites cause it had been windy all morning.  Now I need some help with this next part, any input would be helpful.  Anthany is not good at sharing AT ALL but especially with Atley.  Anthany has 3 kites but refused to let Atley use any of them.  How do I deal with this non sharing issue??  It is all the time and with everything and everyone.  He wants to play with everyone elses stuff but wont let anyone play with his.  Anyway I found my kite and got it ready for Atley to play with and off we went to the park.  Some how as soon as we got there the wind died down and we couldn't fly our kites anyway.  The outing was nice though, well minus all the mosquitos anyway.  I wanted to try to keep the boys busy, thought that would give them less time to fight.
     We hooked up with some friends who came home and played for the afternoon which brough up more issues with Anthany not sharing.  man that bugs me. And it's not just not sharing, it's also "how come he gets this or that and I don't? how come he gets more thn me? it's not fair!"  How do I deal with this???  We played games(they argued about who had to clean it up) and colored (they fought about what coloring book they got to use) and made cookies(fought over who got to stir the most and who got the most chocolate chips) and listened to the thunder (fought about who heard it first) and looked for lightning(fought aabout who saw it and who didn't).  Quite and afternoon.
     Took Atley to his last swimming lesson and couldn't even do that without fighting and crying.  Anthany was with us and the boys fought over who was going to open the van door.  After supper I played board games with Anthany while Brian played with the other boys and then there was aguing about who got to read what book before bed and why can't we play more and read another book.
     So ya I tried hard to make it a nice day but seems to me like I am fighting a losing battle!!  I need reinforcements or another stratagy of something cause I am really tired of it all.  Ya know looking back on it after the kids are in bed and I have been on the tred mill again this evening it doesn't seem so bad but man when I am in it all day I just want to lock them in a room and let them kill each other or lockk them in seperate rooms and not let them see each other.
     Is it all in a days work?  I know they are my kids and I am here to teach them and look after them and love them but some days I just want to hang them from their toe nails from the ceiling!

good times at the lake!

     Just spent 3 days at the lake with my family and with my parents.  We went to pick up Anthany after his week with Grandma and Grandpa.  It didn't start off so great, the lights on the trailer wouldn't work and when we go there both campsites we had reserved still had other people in them.  Check out was noon and when we showed up around 3:30 the campers from the day before were still sitting around drinking and enjoying themselves.  We weren't very impressed, we just ended up parking in an open site and setting up there.  I think the sites we picked were bigger and nicer then the ones we were supposed to get anyway. 
     The lake itself was amazing!  shallow for quite a ways out and a dock that the kids could jump off, reeds to explore and find and catch frogs in and amazing fine sand.  Brian and I and the boys had alot of fun.  Even Grandma and grandpa enjoyed it.  I took alot of pictures and really enjoyed watching the boys play.  Brian took them walking into the reeds a few times exploring and finding all kinds of things.  The prize was the frog that Anthany caught!  He was so proud and told me all about how he caught it by the leg then grabbed it and put it into a bucket.  Alex was walking along the beach and tell people they had a frog, unfortunatly no one knew what he was saying he just sounded excited.
     I think the next coolest thing may have been the massive marshmallows that grandma brought to roast and make smores with.  They were about the size of three normal marshmallows put together and got smushed out the edges really far when you put it between two graham waffers.
     One thing for me that doubled as funny as well as gross was Alex.  He is almost potty trained and I haven't had to change very many poopy diapers in the last 3 months and I guess I still don't BUT... we were at the camp site(good thing we weren't at the lake) and alex had his swimming shorts on with no liner in them.  He is playing with the other boys and having fun then just as I hear him saying "poo" I also see something sticking out funny in the back of his shorts and its moving.  Pretty soon I see this poo comming out the bottom of his shorts and landing on the ground.  Couldn't help but laugh but I couldn't let him see me laughing.
     Camping was alot of fun and the lake was great but the facilities werent that great, actually they sucked.  Brian went to take a shower one of the days and one wasn't working and the other stole his quarters and they were dirty and cold and well I just decided not to shower.  Lol so here I am sitting and typing this blog smelling like I need a shower cause I havent had one since Sunday morning.  I am going to  enjoy my hot shower tonight.  Brian just came over looking at me funny and squished a little bug on my forhead, says I better have a shower sometime soon cause not even them mosquitos wil come near me, they are all going after him.  Guess it's his one fault cause he had a nice bath after the boys did tonight while I was doing laundry and dishes and putting things away and putting the kids to bed and putting  away supper and all the other things that moms have to do.  I will get around to that shower eventually, it isn't really that bad is it??
      I think maybe I will end here for tonight and go have that shower.  All this talk about bugs and mosquitoes is making me itchy.
     One more thing.  I have been reading this book about a woman and her husband passed away and she and her friends who are all widows are starting wish lists.  Things they want to do or have.  they think that 20 wishes is the perfect number,  not to few but not to many.  I know I am not a widow and never would wish to be but I have been thinking about a wish list.  What things would I wish to do or have before I die?  What is important enough to me to go on my list of 20 wishes?  I will think about it and I will start a list and see where it takes me.  What would you wish for?  What would be important enough to you to put oln you list of 20 wishes?

No Stroller!

     Yesterday was Canada Day and Brian and I took the boys to the museum grounds where all the activities were and it hit me.  This was the first event type thing I have been to like ever, well since kids, without a stoller.  That is like 6 years!  I was so nice not to have to push a stroller through the grass and manouver it around people, we just walked around and didn't have to worry about steps or going through narrow doors or anything.  It was nice.
     The other day our friend Alex was visiting with us at the bottom of our drive way and my boys were riding their bikes around on the street.  Atley stops over by us and looks at Alex' belly and asks him,"do you have a baby in your belly?"  Atleast Alex wasn't offended, he just answered yes.  But after he said yes Atley came over to me all excited and said," mommy he has a baby in his belly."  I had a bit to explain later cause all I heard the rest of the evening and the next day from Atley was that when he grew up he wanted to be a mommy.
     Atley has been saying quite a few cute things lately.  When I asked him what daddy was doing he went and checked and then told me he was putering(on the computer).  Or today on the way to superstore he asked me if I was going over the speed lemon.  One I though was pretty cute was after the last time he had a bath, which besides tonight I wasn't sure when that was.  Anyway, he said, "mommy I am all shinny and clean can I get out now?"
 
     Anthany has been at Grandma and Grandpas since last saturday and when he called the other day he said he was going to go bowling and play mini golf.  he sounded excited and he thought it would be alot of fun.  he called back after his evening out was over to tell me all about it.  he was so excited and told me how he beat grandpa in bowling and almost beat grandma and how mini golf was so much fun but the best thing ever was that they went for ice ream after and he got ice cream in a cone.  It sounded like I had deprived the child his whole life and had never given him ice cream in a cone before.

     It is amazing how different it is, for me anyway, to spend time with just one child at a time.  I am so used to having all three of them all the time. or at least two of them when Anthany is at school.  but just one is rare.  Brian and I went to edmonton the other day and Atley was at a friends and Anthany was with grandma and grandpa so we just had Alex.  I got to see a whole different side of him.  A side that isn't always trying to keep up with his brothers or trying to keep his brothers away from him and his stuff.  It was ice and I think I will be making more of a concious effort to spend one on one time with each of my boys.  Including my husband, I don't remember the last time we had a date.