Summer Has Begun!

Today was yet another great day. I had time for a shower AND washed my hair - a great indicator of things to come for the day!

I walked the children to school for the last time then walked around to the front to see their kindergarten teacher and show her the baby. After extracting a promise from her to stay for another four years to teach Jordan I moved on to visit with the school secretary and then wandered the halls looking through Lost And Found boxes for Julie's lost Hannah Montana jacket which was not to be found. I was really grossed out at the smell of these boxes. One of them had soggy mittens and hats at the bottom. Yikes. Apparently all items unclaimed by the end of the day would be going to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Well.. good luck to them, I say. I don't know what they will do with soggy mittens and hats.

While I was roaming the halls I came across this poster and just loved it.



What a great poster.

Instead of taking my usual route for my walk with Jordan, I decided to shake things up because I'm crazy like that. We went through a park and I was amazed at the number of children that were there playing. Must have been about 6-10 caregivers and about 50 children. They were squealing and laughing and the air was so warm and smelled of sunscreen. Ahh... summer has begun.

I spent some time talking with some of the ladies there because apparently I have no problem talking to strangers. Man, I can talk to anybody. One of them used to be my mom's neighbour and the other was someone I knew from when Jules was in Sparks a year ago.

I took Jordan back to the doctor in the early afternoon for a follow up to her follow up xray. He said the xray was clear and it appears that she didn't have pneumonia at all, that the original xray was misread. Oh well, better to err on the side of caution. She was so pooped after her appointment. Here she is in her little mini-skirt.



Everything was ready for the children for their year end party.



I was so excited for them to arrive after school. Jordan woke up from her nap to wait too.



Oh look... here they come!







Mom gave them each a gift for passing.





Tonight I went out for dinner with my friend Cindy. We headed over to Kelsey's and stayed for 3 hours and 10 minutes! Lots of great conversation and laughs. She is such a funny lady and I love spending time with her. I don't know why we don't do it more often. We've since decided to get together once a month going forward.

I'm sorry... I didn't bring my camera to dinner so I can't post pictures of my friend, nor can I show you the delicious quesadillas and nachos that we scarfed down, or the incredible desserts that followed. Trust me... they were very, very tasty.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer vacation. I'd better come up with something fun to do! ;-)

~ Kate

Wacky Wednesday

I had a lovely day at home alone with Jordan today. Tomorrow is the last day of school for the children so I wanted this last day with her, just the two of us.

She was so happy when she woke up this morning and I don't blame her! She went to sleep just before 9pm then didn't wake until 4:30. I fed her and she slept until 6:30 and woke looking for her pacifier. That put her back to sleep until almost 8am!

She makes such adorable cooing noises and smiles all the time. We cuddled all day and had a lovely nap together in my favourite recliner.

I had hot dogs for lunch. Not noteworthy in itself, but I just had to write about these freaky buns I bought. The regular buns were all sold out (how does that happen??) so I was forced to buy these if I wanted to have my beloved hot dogs...



That's a weird looking bun, don't you think? Here, look closer...



My wiener wouldn't sit properly in this fancy shmancy bun. And here's another complaint about it... it doesn't come out of the bag as a single bun. Oh no... it comes out as a loaf and you have to peel off two parts and HOPE they stay together to form said fancy bun. It doesn't often happen that way. So what I am left with is long strips of bread that are too narrow to make a sandwich out of.

I hope the ducks at the park are hungry because guess what they're getting for lunch the next time we visit??

Sam and Julie came home full of excitement about their report cards. I was really proud of them! Each one came to snuggle next to me as I read their grades and comments out loud and praised them for their hard work. They were just beaming.

I always remember the last day of school. Not because of my report cards, or sadness (and sometimes relief!) at not seeing my classmates for the summer. But because every year, without fail, my mom would be waiting on our front porch with a cold pitcher of kool-aid and enough glasses for all of my friends. She would listen to us squealing and talking over one another about our final report cards and plans for the summer all the while pouring glass after glass of kool-aid. Every single year she did this.

So, tomorrow afternoon, she and I will sit on her front porch with a big, cold pitcher of kool-aid and await the children after school. I can't wait.

Our plan was to make Rice Krispy Squares this afternoon. The directions are on every single Rice Krispy box so it shouldn't be too hard. But it was because do you know where I found the recipe? INSIDE THE BOX. Weird.

Sam was all excited to make these so he cracked out his apron. There used to be two of them but one is MIA and now they fight over this one. Sometimes one will hide it from the other in case they "steal" it. I have often thought about asking my mother-in-law to sew a couple for them so this war can end and this lone apron can be set free.

Anyway, here he is...



In case you are wondering, yes... he is wearing his pjs in this picture. Right after we went over his report card he ran a bubble bath for himself and came down with his pjs on. It helps him to relax, or so he tells me.



I don't think Rice Krispy Squares are supposed to be hard to make but this batch was. Man, my arm was tired from all that stirring so I just stopped adding any more cereal. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Here is the finished product...



They look good, don't they? Well don't be fooled. They're harder than a rock.

Julie wanted to bake something as well so we made Skor Squares.



There's a point where you really have to get your hands in there to make sure everything gets mixed together well. Better she do it then me! ;-)



And voila! The finished product...



If you are ever going anywhere and want or need to take a little something to share, this is a fail safe recipe and SO easy to make. How easy, you ask? Well.. check this out..

1 Box of Ritz Crackers
1 Pkg of Skor chips
1 Can of Condensed Milk

Step One ~ crush the entire box of Ritz Crackers into tiny pieces
Step Two ~ mix in the entire package of Skor chips
Step Three ~ stir in the can of condensed milk

Mix well, then press into a square baking pan and bake them at 350 for 20 minutes.

YUM! Easy Peasy.

See ya tomorrow!

~ Kate

PS: I think I might have spelled Krispy wrong and I am too lazy to change it. :-)

Fun Times

Today I let the children cut school today because I'm cool like that. We had originally planned to go to the beach but it was pretty chilly this morning so we chose to just have a relaxing day instead. Sam made lunch for us today and then we headed out to the park so the children could burn some energy.

Being that school hasn't let out yet we had the park to ourselves which was nice. The landscapers had been there this morning so everything had been swept and raked and looked all new.

We had such a good time together and laughed as I made up "challenges" for them to do. I'd have them start at the bench, then run to the edge of the park, then around the equipment twice then back to the bench again. Or I'd have them walk around the park backwards and every time I yelled "stop!" they'd have to stop and tell me something they liked about themselves. They really enjoyed having more and more things added to the challenges to test their memories. We were pooped when we got home.

We sat on the front porch and talked for a bit. Julie found two potato bugs trapped in a spider's web. We were able to free one of them but it was too late for the other one. It sparked a great conversation about God's smallest creatures and how He loved them too.

Julie decided yesterday that she wanted to get her ears pierced. I couldn't imagine how that would play out because I think she is the only person on the planet with a lower pain tolerance than me. Nowadays they do a "tandem piercing" which is when two people do the piercing at the same time. What a novel idea. Back in the day you got it one at a time and it was brutal. I didn't get mine done until I was 14 and I cried like a baby before we even got started. I'm not talking a nice, nervous, single tear type cry. I'm talking heaving sobs and lots of snot.

I guess I had been asking Julie too many times if she was sure she wanted to go through with it because this is the look I got. I didn't ask again.



She was practically dancing through the parking lot on the way into the mall because she was so excited. Once we entered the store she started saying "I'm really nervous..." over and over. I felt myself choking up because I knew it was going to hurt and she is so small...

She selected lovely little pink studs and went to "the chair" to get ready.



The ladies doing the piercing were really good and very in tune with each other and Julie's anxiety. I barely had time to get my camera ready! It happened so fast she didn't even know what hit her.



She was in shock for a few seconds. Then the pain kicked in and she had this "what the HECK!?!?" look on her face.



The tears came soon after and she needed some cuddles. And to tell us off.



She didn't want to listen to the instructions on how to care for her ears but she did it anyway, crying the whole time.



She refused to talk about how it went and seemed to be really crusty about it. She didn't know it would hurt "that much". It didn't matter how many times we told her the pain would subside within a half hour....she wasn't having any of it. She was pretty cross.

She wanted to go to the food court to "celebrate" and chose to eat at A & W.



It hit me just how obsessed I am with this blog when I asked Ian to snap a pic of the A & W counter. I love that guy so much. He just "gets" me, endless quirks and all.

"This is the best hot dog I've ever eaten!" she said. I guess the ear-issue was working itself out.



Yep... it's all good and she was her happy self again.



And a pic of us together.



I am more than a little annoyed at Walmart. We live near the most disgusting and rude Walmart ever built. But that can be a post all in itself which I will save for a day when I have raging PMS and need something to vent about. The reason why I am annoyed with them TODAY is that they are selling the highchair that matches the pattern on my carseat and stroller for TWICE the price of what the US is selling it for. I priced it online but it I didn't realize it was on the US website and had been working on Ian about it all day. I am so disappointed. Its so pretty and even though we certainly don't "need" it... I really "want" it.

Isn't it lovely?





Ahh well. I can't justify the expense, not when we have a high chair from the children's days. Maybe if I win the lottery.

Here is my carseat and stroller.



Maybe if I tell Walmart about how I am practically selling this set for them they will knock down the price of my beloved high chair as a thank you. I'll get right on that.

Well, enough dreaming. The children are all tucked in their beds sleeping and Ian is out like a light on the couch. I'm going to head up myself because every night I've been up until after midnight to do Jordan's last feeding so that Ian can sleep and try to beat the cold he has. Poor guy.

That's all for today.

~ Kate

Sweet Sunday

What a great day today was. I am absolutely exhausted but it was a great day.

We started out day at church. The best way to start a day, don't you think? It was a full service so I didn't get my preferred seat on the left side of the church. I am so particular about that. I don't like the middle at all because I can't see anything and when I sit on the right it just doesn't feel proper. I am a creature of habit. Today's seat was in the middle near the back. Ugh. Oh well, my fault for arriving late. Again.

Jordan made her debut in the nursery. I was so hard leaving her there! The sanctuary was full today because there were two baptisms so lots of visitors. Every time there was any applause she'd become frightened and would cry. She also let out a burp that would make an old man proud and grunted shamelessly as she had her daily bowel movement. So.. off to the nursery she went.

It was weird. It was the first service in a year that I was "alone". She's been with me in some form or another all that time. It just felt weird when I realized that. Of course I'm always thinking so weird things cross my mind at regular intervals.

After church we headed to Julie's favourite place....the mall! Sam was torn between being excited and scared to get his ear pierced. We went to Mappins to get it done because I didn't want just anyone doing it. The woman was a little surprised that it was for Sam and not one of the girls.

He was pretty nervous but was positive that he wanted it done...



Ian videotaped it so Sam could see it later...



Preparing...



You can see Sam gripping Ian's hand with both of his during the piercing...



Ouch! He said it hurt more than he thought it would...



All done!



Julie was feeling a little left out of the whole process so she went off to sit on her own...



We had a bit of drama as we were leaving because she "really really" wanted a necklace she saw in the display case for $300. I told her that *I* didn't own a $300 necklace and neither will she.

A 7 year old girl can pout for a very long time.

She has now decided that she would like to get her ears pierced so that she can coordinate her earrings with her hair accessories and clothes. I guess we're going back sometime this week. I expect a lot of drama that day ;-)

Ian had a show at Centennial Park so while he was doin' his thang, the children and I hung out at the park.









After the park and a short rest at home we went to my mom's for dinner to welcome my aunt for the summer. YUM.

Here are the girls in their matching dresses...



Apparently Jordan was tired of having her picture taken...



Sigh... even when she wails she is still adorable.

That's it for me... I am off to bed.

~Kate

Change of Plans

You know how you plan for one set of events and something totally different happens instead? Sometimes I just love when that happens.

My most excellent husband Ian got up with Jordan and let me sleep in this morning until 9am. I thought those good ole days would end with Jordan's arrival but that is not so. Yay Ian!

OK... so as I was saying...

This morning we packed up and headed off for the opening of the beach. They always have tons of cool stuff for the children and contests on Opening Day and Sam has been waiting all year for the ice cream eating contest in particular.

In years past Opening Day has been PACKED. This year there were only five families there and we were one of them! It was pretty chilly and after awhile we felt tiny rain drops, but still hung in there.

I think Julie was writing the name of her Boyfriend du Jour in the sand but she wouldn't admit it when I asked her. ;-)



Here she is showing off her new bathing suit.



Every year she asks for a bikini and I give in. Every single year. I can't help it, I think that a little girl in a bikini is so cute. I know that there are a lot of moms out there that feel a bikini on a little girl is asking for trouble because there are pervs everywhere. I agree to a certain point, but my theory is that I'd rather she wear one when she's little than when she has something to put in one, if you catch my drift.

This year Ian said he'd like her to wear a one piece this summer. I dreaded having to break The News to her. Turns out I didn't have to. I took the children to Old Navy and they only had one piece suits. She simply fell in love with this one. It could have cost me $100 and I wouldn't have cared.. it saved me a headache in the long run.

Sam went into the water right away. He is such a little fish.



He likes to run around squirting Julie with his water gun but she wasn't having any of that today.



Julie hurt herself on something that was set up for the children and scratched her butt pretty badly, so that was just the end of things for her. She took over my chair and sat drinking her iced tea, patiently waiting for us to leave.

As it turned out it wasn't too long after her major injury that it started to rain. Lightly at first, so I thought I'd take a pic of Sam coming down the waterslide.



It was not meant to be because the first time he went down I wasn't ready so he had to go back up again, and just as it was his turn the rain started pouring down. Ian packed up everything and just as we reached the van the sun came out.

We headed to the mall to poke around for a bit. Ian and Sam went to Best Buy and the girls and I went to look at earrings for me. I don't want a hugely expensive pair, just something simple but pretty. Julie found ones that were circles with little crosses in them. She told me I could wear them and "worship God with my ears".

After that she spotted Siblings and headed in there like nobody's business saying that she'd like a new shirt. I asked her if she brought her wallet because I wasn't paying. She just smiled sweetly and carried on.

While she browsed the racks she selected two shirts to try on. I suppose that this would have been the time to remind her that she wasn't getting a new shirt today. But I didn't. Why, you ask? Because I kinda wanted to see what they looked like on her.

While she was in the changeroom I found a rack of sundresses that were only $6.99. I KNOW! What a deal, right? I slipped one underneath her door and fell in love with it when she came out with it on.

Hey... I said she wasn't getting a new shirt. I didn't say anything about a new dress. Or two...

Yes. Two. I have only these three things to say in my defense: 1) they were only $6.99!! 2) I am so happy that she's getting back into wearing dresses and 3) she gave me "The Eyes". If you have a little girl then you know what "The Eyes" are all about. I am powerless against them. It's like her superpower. Ian, however, is completely immune to them.

And of course I have a picture to post as well. I only have a shot of the white and yellow one because she was eating a Hershey's kiss and it fell out of her mouth and on to the white and pink one she was wearing.

How does that happen? How does a piece of chocolate just fall out of someone's mouth?? Well I can tell you right now that it has never happened to me. Once that thing is in my mouth the only place its going next is into my belly.

Where was I? Oh how easily the subject of chocolate can get me off track.

Oh yes... the dress.



When we took the dresses to the counter I told Julie that we would use Daddy's credit card for this purchase. I told her that the key was to not tell him we used his card, or that we bought new dresses at all for that matter because he would cut us off. Just put one on one day and if he says anything about it just say "oh this old thing...?"

I guess I should have repeated myself a couple of times before we saw Ian because the first thing she did was tell him we bought two dresses and used his credit card to pay for them. Good thing he was in stellar spirits about a great deal he found on a video game. Whew.

Big news here... Ian has finally agreed to allow Sam to get his ear pierced. Sam has been working on Ian for over a year now. I've always been ok with it, but Ian had some concerns and I respect that. It started out that he could have it pierced for his birthday next month. He respectfully asked his dad to consider allowing him to do it today since there are only four days of school left and he'd like to show his friends. He agreed! We didn't have enough time to get it done today because Ian had to head downtown to do a magic show so tomorrow is the day. He is beyond excited!

In other news, here is a picture of the house across the street that is up for sale. Boo. He beat us to it.



I am so excited for tomorrow. Not just because Sam's dream of a pierced ear is coming true but because my favourite aunt arrives at my mom's for the summer. I love her visits. We last saw her in March when she came to help with the children while I was in the hospital having Jordan.

Jordan turned 12 weeks old today. Here she is after her bath, all tuckered out.



See you tomorrow...

~Kate

Sometimes I Just Gotta Shake My Head

Had to get gas today and this is what I saw...



Considering it's reached as high as $1.39 this was pretty much on sale. I was practically apoplectic with excitement.

This is all that $25 got me today.



Not even half a tank.



As much as I'd like to complain about the rapidly rising gas prices, I just don't have the energy tonight.

Poor Jordan... we had to run some errands today and this is how she looked in her car seat. I don't know how to keep her upright.



As I was driving along doing my errands, I was amazed at the clouds. They were so fluffy I had to take a picture for my blog obsession.



Oooh... fluffy.

Earlier this evening Ian spoke to the realtor that was here last night and told him we'd like to sign him. He had some news for us too... The house across the street - which is the exact same model as ours - is for sale too. Boo.

I've had a couple of moments of worry since Ian relayed this information to me. What if ours won't sell? What if we have to take a loss because of this guy? UGH.

But... I know that God is in charge. I know this. He has a home picked out for us already, and that family is working just as hard to prepare their home to sell as we are. I know that it won't matter what happens, He has things under control. He will bring things about so that everything falls together as He has planned. What a relief it is to rest in that simple truth.

This is something that absolutely KILLS me.



This is my neighbour's lawn. As you can clearly see, it's a small lawn and it belongs to two homes. The home on the left chose to re-seed their side and water it. The grass is lovely.

I have to wonder though....why not do the WHOLE lawn??? Maybe they aren't friends.

Then there is the other side. That guy decided to just re-sod his side. It doesn't look quite as nice, but one day it will. Again... why not talk to the other guy and re-sod the whole thing??

And then here's the kicker.... the guy on the right side only cut HIS side of the grass!!

Like I said... sometimes I just gotta shake my head...

Thursday Night Already??

Wow this week went by fast.

Tuesday night I went to see The Happening. I love M. Night Shyamalan's work but I have to wonder what he was thinking when he wrote this movie. There were two things that saved this movie for me. 1) Marky Mark was in it (sorry Ian) and 2) the movie was free.

"Free" you say? Yep... When Ian and Sam went to see The Incredible Hulk last weekend the projector shut down for a couple of minutes so everyone got free passes and you got it...I took one.

Yes, so my friend M Night let me down. He thrilled me with The Sixth Sense and Signs... and The Village was BRILLIANT in my opinion. Then he made Lady in the Water and I was all "what the heck are you doing M Night" but I had faith in him that he wouldn't make another bad film. But he did. Oh M Night... I am disappointed.

Wednesday morning I went to get my hair done and I feel like a million bucks. She did my roots (of course I'm a real blonde) cut 3 inches off the length, added side bangs and lots of layers. I feel terrific and I look younger which is important because I am closing in on 40.

That night we had a painter named Erwin came by to quote us on the work we needed done. Ian showed him around and then some big mouth (which would be me in case you were wondering...) said "just so you know, we're looking to get this done ASAP".

While Erwin went around to take measurements Ian very respectfully asked me not to say things like that until AFTER I have the quote in my hand because I very likely upped the price. Oops. I almost dropped dead on the spot when Ian showed me the quote. Way to go Katie...

After Extremely Expensive Erwin left we went to see a house that is for sale close to an area I like. It is a Power of Sale/As Is type deal. Wow. There wasn't a room in that place that didn't need work done. The layout was terrific and it had huge potential but wow... lots and lots of work would need to be done before anyone could move into it.

Tonight we had another painter come in. This time I kept my mouth shut and just smiled politely. He looked everything over and pointed out some things to Ian and after assuring him he would do a good job for us he handed over his quote. SCORE! Looks like Pino the Painter is Perfect.

We also had another realtor come tonight. I spoke with this gentleman about 3-4 years ago and even though we weren't ready to sell our house he patiently answered all of my questions. He was floored when I called him yesterday. We got a really great feeling from him (even better than the one we met with last week) so we're planning on going with him. Ian feels really good about him.

In other more important news, Miss Jordan seems to be doing very well. She still has a few coughing fits every so often, but seems overall to be alright. She is such a happy baby and is full of smiles.

Julie read me a story before bed and I was so impressed with how well she read. She even did voices!

Sam was making me laugh earlier this evening. He put on his apron and was sweeping the kitchen floor and was begging me to teach him how to wash dishes. Umm.. ok!

No pictures today. Maybe tomorrow...