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Showing posts from 2010

the manitoba marathon

I've always wanted run a half marathon. This last spring I was pregnant, so that was a beautiful excuse for not doing it. I'm a bit of a chicken. The year before that I thought about doing it, started running in the winter, and then slacked off near the end of winter. I told myself that I wouldn't be able to get ready for it in the amount of time I had left. The year before that - pregnant. This year I've decided to do it. For real. To stop myself from flip flopping on whether or not it's something I can actually manage to do without dying somewhere along the trail, and eventually deciding against it, I've signed up. That's right. I am now officially registered for the half marathon on father's day. Seriously, I know I can do it. I may have to have a few walk breaks, but I know that I can do it. In the fall I went on a few runs that were just over 6 miles in length, within months of having Elliot. I go to the gym and can run 6 miles in an hour, even wit

Merry Christmas aftermath

In only a few more days the holiday season will wrap itself up for yet another year. I like Christmas. I don't necessarily like all the preparations and the worry all through the month of December, but Christmas morning is great. I also kind of like when it's all done. I don't really consider myself "through it" until I've managed to put away all the decorations and gifts. I'm still working on that. I'm also using facebook these days as a handy procrastination tool. It doesn't help when everyone else is at home cleaning and not facebooking and giving me new things to read. This year was Elliot's first Christmas. Too bad the camera crapped out on us and I have next to no pictures of the event. I may have to dust off the video camera and get some pictures of her beside the tree before the whole thing is just a pile of needles and dust on my carpet. She'll never know that I took the pictures days after Christmas. A Christmas tree can drink

santa on my street, in the morning, on a school day - could it be?

Okay, I'll tell. I put down what I was doing in the kitchen and headed for the living room. It was early in the morning, and still dark outside. It's amazing how much the lit-up Recycling Truck and Wagon resembles a Portage la Prairie Santa Claus parade float. At least when you're five. Kind of makes you wonder about the quality of some of the entries in that parade . . .

two truths and a lie - the answer

It occurred to me today that I never gave you the answer to my Two Truths and a Lie blog post. These were the three options, one of which was untrue: 1. I can hold my breath underwater for almost three minutes. I have yet to join a swim team or sport where I can put this to use. 2. I was born with a hole in my heart. My mom was devastated when she found out she'd have to fly with me to Toronto to have heart surgery. 3. I made my on-stage theatrical debut in the high school musical rendition of Mission Impossible. From there I disappeared into obscurity, but will always have the memories. The answer? #1 is the lie. I cannot hold my breath that long. Although, I've never tried. For all I know, I can go for days but I haven't discovered it yet. #2 is true. I was born with a hole in my heart. My parents were told that when I was old enough we'd all have to fly off to Toronto where the surgery would be. They didn't do it in Winnipeg. When my parents went back for a

santa on my street, in the morning, on a school day - could it be?

The other day, the kids were up at the happy bright hour of 7am. Actually, they were probably up earlier, but the GoodNight Lite keeps them in their beds (somewhat). I was in the kitchen making toast and grumbling through my morning. The kids were in the living room watching t.v. Then Jordan yelled "Tennyson, look out the window! It's Santa!" I could hear the thumping of little feet as he ran to join her. Jordan's yelling "Mommy! Come and look, it's Santa! Santa from the parade!" I figured one of the neighbors had set up an impressive front yard display, and told them I'd come in a minute to see. I could hear them both yelling hi Santa and banging on the windows. Then Jordan yelled "No Tennyson, keep looking, he's leaving!" Leaving? Okay, now I was really curious. Why would someone be out Santa-ing about on my street at 7 in the morning more than a week before Christmas? I dropped what I was doing and headed to the living room window. B

December 24th

Christmas is only ONE sleep away. Can you believe the amount of time we put into Christmas only to have it fly by like The Flash? Or The Streak? Me neither. I also cannot believe that although Christmas is only one sleep away, we will be having our second family gathering today. By the time Christmas morning arrives, it's already 2/3 over. Crazy stuff. I think I'm actually ready. I've wrapped my gifts . . . oh wait, I still have to go shopping for ingredients to make the dessert I'm going to bring today. I also have to pick up pictures from the photo lab at Walmart, also for today. Okay, so I'm not entirely ready. I'm sure I can do all of that stuff by 1 o'clock, right?

kids

As if I haven't blogged in eight days. I think I must have, and then some hacker got on here and deleted them to make me feel bad. I'm sure that's what it is. My kids are getting bigger. Mitchie got his first hair cut, and looks like a miniature big boy. I'm thinking that I'll have to potty train that little imp soon. I have been kind of putting it off, partly because I do a lot of running around in the mornings, and soaking wet pants and car seats are no fun. But mostly, it's because I hate potty training. I'll admit it. Potty training sucks. To be honest, I haven't had any desire to start. I know, it probably just sounds lazy, but it's so easy having him in his diaper where everything is nice and contained and I can just pretend he's a toddler that doesn't need to learn anything big just yet. There are no logs down pant legs, no pants soaked to the ankles, no pudding in the gitchies. Ugh. I'll start as soon as diaper gym and school take

brrr

Steven's outside making the kids a skating rink. I know, it's 10:13 pm, and it's cold out there. I can't imagine shoveling a giant hole in the snow covered yard and spraying water around with the hose when it's minus 26 degrees Celsius (3.2'F) is a whole lot of fun. That's why I'm not offering to help him. I'm a little lazy about getting myself excited to hang out in the snowy backyard, especially to work. My excuses today were: I don't have proper snowy backyard boots to wear. The zipper is busted out of one. It wouldn't have likely stopped me from going tobogganing or something a little more fun. I wanted to vacuum. Not that I ended up doing that. I had to feed the baby. For hours, had Steven checked the clock. Making supper. Going to Zumba (yay!) And simply: Nope. It's too cold. Let me get you some hot chocolate. I don't much like being cold. I don't go on about it all the time. We're all in the same room/town/city/country.

the boy that never was

The only downside about knowing that I was going to have a girl the last time that I was pregnant was not preparing for a boy too. I know it sounds silly, but generally we have names picked out for either a boy or a girl. We have little clothes ready for a boy or a girl. This last time? It was all about Elliot. We didn't even bother picking out a boy's name just in case. I kind of feel like the little Boy That Could Have Been got ripped off a little. Poor little would-be guy. Steven and I always had a harder time picking out boy names than girl. Somehow we agreed on Tennyson. Odd, because it's kind of a different name. It amazes me that we both liked it. We argue a little over who thought it up first. I kind of let him think he did. Near the end of my 3rd pregnancy, I finally got fed up and told Steven that I really liked Mitchell, and since he didn't hate it we were going to use it unless he came up with something we liked better. It's not that he didn't like

christmas party, oliver's birthday, parades, oh my

I feel like I should blog. I'm sure my life is very interesting to others, even when it's not to me. Wait, I mean, it's very much so. I kind of forget about blogging, truth be told. I'm one of those people who slows right down with blogging as soon as things get busy. So, when I have lots of things to talk about, I talk about nothing. Go figure. Christmas events are in full swing already. This last Friday was the Santa Clause parade here in town. The kids loved it. They liken the Santa Clause parade to Halloween, except that the candy-givers come to you. They stand there on the side of the road with their bags open and wait for people to drop candy in. I'm not sure that they're even all that interested in the floats themselves, except for the Santa float. They love Santa. On Sunday we went to the Christmas party put on by my mom's work. She likes to sign us up to go. Someday when I have grand kids I'm sure I'll want to show them off too. We were one
A photographer from this area took some pictures of our family a little while back. CLICK HERE for a sneak peak of the session. I think they're fantastic!
Today I found out that my neighbor across the street has assumed all this time that I run a home daycare. I find this hilarious. It made my day. I'm laughing right now. :)

if i backpack somewhere, can i be back before lunch?

Remember when you were younger and you thought that when you "grew up" and moved out, you'd be able to do whatever you liked, and your life would be like the show Friends ? Every day would be a laugh, there would be interesting things happening all the time, and your friends would have nothing nothing more important to do with their time than hang out at your house where everyone could keep each other entertained with clever witticisms and stories of all the interesting situations they had been finding themselves in? And you'd spend this time wearing really cute comfy clothes and drinking neat hot drinks out of cute mugs? Remember when you were going to graduate from high school and backpack somewhere? The other night I dreamed that Mitchell spilled his milk into his high chair tray. I had to take the top part of the tray off to clean the milk up from under it. Some milk dripped down the side of the island. I was really annoyed. The highlight of today was that Mitch

i'm having a hard time deciding whether mitchie is sick

Early yesterday he informed me that his ear hurt. I was impressed. Jordan's first ear infection was made known to me only after an entire day of her being miserable and mean. My girl, who is normally affectionate and snuggly , kicked and hit me throughout the day for no reason. It was unlike her. She was three and a half. I much like "Mommy, ear hurt" way better. Yesterday afternoon Mitchie had his nap. He woke up crying, cried for a good half hour and then spent the rest of the day either on my lap or following me around with his blankie and curling up on top of it on the floor of whichever room I was in. It was all very sad. When Steven got home at 5:30 I took Mitchie to the doctor. He moaned and whined and fell asleep in my lap in the waiting room. In the doctor's office he burped and swallowed and heaved a little, but didn't actually throw up. The doc said he had an ear infection in one ear. I figured. I filled his prescription at Shoppers and went home. We

my kids are WAY cooler than dr. phil

Lately, I feel like I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the kids. Sure I take them to diaper gym, I feed them, bathe them, read them bedtime stories, take them places to visit. But to be honest, I'm so pooped lately! I find that I'm hitting the couch many afternoons after lunch, just to have a quick rest and before I know it I've killed a couple of hours. The kids play on their own or watch tv in the basement, or fight, or make mischief. I've been thinking that if I ditched the tv during the day we'd all benefit. Theirs has been turned off for a couple of days now. I turn theirs off by turning off the cable box, so there's no way for them to get it back on. I hate when they watch loads of tv . A friend of mine went shopping the other day, and she showed me this big textbook thing she bought at Chapters. I think it's a supplement to the work kids do in kindergarten. She's been going through it with her son. He turns five at the end o

i went to a social tonight

rye and coke is so yummy apparently my super cool dance move was less and less funny as the night wore on. steven's just jealous. mini donuts, i mean . . . cupcakes mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I was reading some old blog posts today, looking for some information that I had written forever ago, when I came across the post where Tennyson ate the poop . I thought I'd link back to it, because such a post should not disappear into obscurity.

good nite light, day 1

The Good Nite Lite showed up in the mail yesterday. I've never been so happy to get a parcel. We plugged it in last night and explained to the boys that they had to wait until the blue moon turned into an orange sun before they could get out of bed. I set the wake time for 6:30. It suggested setting it for the time the kids wake up and then slowly extend the time over a period of so many days until they're getting up when we want them up. Our kids now get up anywhere from 5:30 to 7:00. I set it for 6:30, since that's usually when I get up during the week. Mitchie came out of his room at 6:15. I was in bed, feeding Elliot, so Steven tucked him back in and told him that he had to wait for the sun. In his defense, they hadn't actually seen what it looked like in the morning. Fifteen minutes later, both boys came out of their room, all excited about their orange sun. Tennyson has been asking for the light since I told him about it a couple of weeks ago. He told me this mo

floor sandwiches

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I was just talking to my aunt on facebook about my son's dinnertime antics, and I thought I should share them here. You know, because the little things that amuse and annoy me in my own home will be oh so interesting for the rest of the world to read. It's not like you have to be here to fully appreciate the story. Much. Tennyson is a little clumsy. I wish I had his 12 month picture on this computer so I could show you his bumps and bruises. When Jordan was just days from her 12 month picture she fell out of a lawn chair and skinned the tip of her nose. We postponed the picture in favor of getting her back to her pretty, mostly unscarred self. Tennyson? We just took the picture (I found it!) . He always sort of looked like Bruce Willis in the last 30 minutes of Die Hard. There was no point in waiting out the bruises. Where was I? Right, the kid is a bit clumsy. This whole blog has a hint of " stream of consciousness " to it. Go figure. His klutziness isn't ju

there are worse things than ebola

For the first time in years my kids' immunizations are up to date. I'm seriously considering nominating myself for mother of the year. Elliot had her 4 month needle this morning. She only cried until I picked her up. She loves her mommy and gets over her owies quickly. I know what you're thinking; she's only 4 months old, what does she know about owies ? I don't know if you've met my family. Love hurts sometimes, especially when you're four months old and can't either run away or shove people off you. My four month old is more than 17 pounds. I sure know how to feed them. Mitchie had his 18 month needle this morning. I'm a little forgetful sometimes. I know he's 27 months old, but in my defense, he had his 6 month needle somewhere around his first birthday, and the nurse told me he had to wait a year between the 6 month and the 18 month needles. I cannot be expected to remember something like that for a whole year. Not going to happen. I'

two truths and a lie

1. I can hold my breath underwater for almost three minutes. I have yet to join a swim team or sport where I can put this to use. 2. I was born with a hole in my heart. My mom was devastated when she found out she'd have to fly with me to Toronto to have heart surgery. 3. I made my on-stage theatrical debut in the high school musical rendition of Mission Impossible. From there I disappeared into obscurity, but will always have the memories. What do you think? Spot the lie?
Oh no! I forgot about documenting Mitchie's day. Silly me. I may have to do it tomorrow, especially since Mitchie's about to have his nap. Not much to document as he lays on his face and half-drowns in his own puddle of drool. Silly boy. He's so cute.
I think Mitchie hasn't been getting a lot of air time lately. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a day in the life of Mitchie. It will be very interesting.
Today I squished Tennyson into a little ball and then curled myself on top and around him. I told him I was a duck. That little egg laughed so hard. I told him that little eggs were supposed to be quiet and not try to tickle their way out from under their ducks. More laughter. He has the best laugh. I love hearing them laugh - laugh for real, not goofy, made-up laughs, not even their big funny I'm being tickled laugh. Sometimes I hear Jordan laugh from the depths of my house, it's rooms, it's basement. I hear her laugh from the bottom of her belly, big little girl chuckles, when you know she's smiling so big her cheeks hurt. Usually I wait a few minutes before going to check on them, because I love the sound of that unabashed laughter. I know that laugh is usually the result of them being exceedingly naughty, so I do have to check, and then they usually end up in time out, but my day is still a little brighter for having heard that laugh. Tennyson has been having funn

nanowrim - oh.

I've decided to throw in the towel for NaNoWriMo . I am so far behind already, and I don't think I want to donate the hours each day to trying to finish it on time. I'd have to write 2869 words a day to make it by the end of the month. Sometimes I think that I forget how much other stuff I have to do. And then there's that baby. Oh yeah, and those other kids. Did you know that many days I'm in that kitchen for over an hour due to lunch? That's right. Lunch. The cheater meal, where I can serve them pb &j sandwiches and bananas. Yet, some how it takes all day. I can't just leave them in there either, because the minute I leave the room they're out of their chairs and running around and it takes even longer. Then there's laundry. As much as I loved having the novel to blame on the four baskets of clean, wrinkly laundry that I didn't put away for days, it's silly. I need to do laundry! Loads and loads of laundry. And loads. Whatever. Maybe ne
Check out this link: Will I be Pretty? Amen sister.
I love that everybody voted FOR the Good Nite Lite. I hope to get it soon, although the boys did let me sleep until 7 today! You know you're a grownup when 7am is considered sleeping in. And did you notice my ticker?? It's like Christmas here this morning!! (even without all the snow)

the verwey flu series, 2010/2011

I was supposed to have a baby shower at my house for a friend today. I was looking forward to it. I was all prepared to make Banana Coffee Cake . It was going to be delicious. There was also supposed to be a sweet new fresh baby. At about 11am, I find Jordan curled up on the love-seat with her arms wrapped around her middle. She feels warm. I ask her what's wrong. Her tummy hurts. She figures she should have the bucket. We had the stomach flu four times last year in this house. I shouldn't even say last year, it was more like last winter. The first time was around Halloween, the second time was just before Christmas. The fourth time was the beginning of March. There was a third in there somewhere too. We never have it mildly. The first time we had it, it was ten days from the first time someone threw up until the last time the last kid threw up. It was horrible. After the first few days I could have cried each time a kid threw up all over the living room carpet - again. I think

jordan's story, as dictated word for word by jordan

Once upon a time there was a princess in a castle and she wanted to go and see what she could find that was pretty. She wanted to see if she could find a real mermaid to turn her into a princess, because she wanted a new princess friend to play ball. Because she always wanted to play with a friend because she never got to play with anyone, only her king and her queen. And she loved what she saw and she wanted to find a mermaid and she found a mermaid and a rainbow. And then she liked the colours and she liked the mermaid and she turned her into a princess and then they could play together and a handsome prince came and they wanted to marry the handsome prince and they went to a ball and they married so much because they loved each other. Because they love everyone, and they love handsome princes. And then they loved all the princes that they could find and they all wanted to marry him, but there were not enough girls, so then they found some more princesses and then they found a rain
And with a mere 766 words, I am going to bed.

my next writing project

You'd think after a month of relentless pressure to blog daily, that I'd take the next few days off. Instead, this is my second post today. This month is National Novel Writing Month. I've decided to give it a go again this year. Last year I started, but didn't finish. I may have started late even. This year I've decided to give it a go again. Today on the way to Winnipeg and back I thought about what the heck I was going to write about. I've got it. It's going to be a Gothic-style novel. I've got some of my plot figured out, a few characters decided on, my narrator, etc. I was actually driving home when I started working it out, and much to Steven's dismay I pulled over and made him drive so I could write some stuff down before I forgot it. Do I want to share it? I don't know. It's probably going to be pretty dumb. I think I'll have more luck actually writing with it without worrying what people are thinking. I may share it in chunks aft

go back to bed!

Mitchell was up and wandering around his room before 6:00am this morning. By 6, both boys had sprung forth from their room and headed down the hall to the kitchen. They don't come and crawl into our bed these days. Steven and I, being the World's Best Parents stayed in bed. A minute later we could hear drawers open and close and cutlery being dropped on the floor. Steven finally huffs down the hall and yells at them to go back to bed. They decide they don't want to. He tells them to go downstairs and play then (great follow-through eh?). He comes back to bed. They go downstairs. Two minutes later there's yelling and crying. Then they're screaming and fighting on the stairs. They come into our room. Steven chases them back into their room and tells them to go back to bed. He shuts the door. Now they're crying, screaming and mad. They're kicking the door. Steven goes back in another time, gives them each a smack on the bum and tosses them into their beds. Th

note to the "husband"

Imagine you're curled up on the couch, with your wife. Your lovely wife who has just given you your fourth perfect baby. Who always has a nice hot dinner waiting for you at the end of your work day, who does your laundry, folds your socks, cleans your home, cares for your children. Suppose she has just brought you a tasty snack and tucked your warm sleeping baby into her crib for the night. Suppose you're watching a movie where men and women are rating members of the opposite sex from 1 - 10. Suppose your wife asks you what you would rate her. It's not a trick question. You don't have to lie. Unless you don't think she's a ten.
This is the second last day of Blogtober . I'm a little relieved. I'm kind of a forgetful person and there have been more than a few days where it's almost slipped my mind and I hacked something out quickly before going to bed. That, and November is National Novel Writing Month ( nanowrimo ), so my "work" has just begun. Tomorrow is Halloween. I love Halloween. Next year I'm going to come up with some cooler ideas for the kids for dressing up, and I'm going to dress me and Steven too. Today we took the kids to a kids Halloween party here in town. It was fun - there was a little haunted house, a candy buffet (there were veggies too, bet you can guess which family DIDN'T take any of those), a magic show, and some various mascots. I was going to take a bunch of pictures, but I forgot. Oops. Told you, forgetful. Tomorrow I will. Promise. Maybe.
I just went back and double checked, and I have not missed a single day in Blogtober! I'm not saying that all my posts were entirely entertaining and intelligent bogger material, but they're there!
Honestly, the kids are driving me nut this afternoon. Last night after they went to bed, Steven and I stuck a few buckets of their toys into the storage room, thinking that we'd make it more manageable. This morning they dumped all the toys. ALL OF THEM. They also broke some stuff. I sent them down there just before lunch to clean up. They're still at it, and it's 4:07. I'm so annoyed. Now they're down there fighting about who isn't cleaning. I know that the only way they're going to do it is if I stand over them and nag. It's so frustrating. If they'd stop just dumping everything out (which I tell them daily) it wouldn't be such a chore. You know what I need? I need a day off. I'm trying to get my friend Lorelie to sign on for a day of Christmas shopping. We go every year. I actually only see her 3 or 4 times a year, so it's a highly anticipated shopping day, including lunch and hours spent at a bunch of different stores, lists in hand.
Hello! I've managed to bully my friend Naomi into starting a blog. Okay, not sure if "bullied" is the right word, but she asked me about it and I highly encouraged it!
Today I told the kids to go down and clean up their toys before lunch. Instead, they played down there for hours and then opened up a fairly large stuffed animal and scattered the stuffing all over the entire basement, among all the toys that had been dumped out of each and every toy bucket. I should have taken a picture, but I was too mad.

diaper gym drama

Today is one of those days where I really wish it was bedtime already. Not mine so much - theirs. They're driving me nuts. Tennyson had the mother of all meltdowns this morning. Twice. Once at the library (that one wasn't even so bad) and then another at diaper gym. I asked him to stop rearranging the chairs in the entrance, and I started to fix them myself. He started to flip out. I put him in time-out. He sat in the chair and cried and punched the wall. I took him into the bathroom, smacked his bum once and then put him back in the chair and told him to stop smacking the wall. He went on to give me evil looks while crying and screaming at the same time, kicking the wall, shoving his chair away from the wall while kicking it, and pretty much trying his darnedest to disrupt everyone and get his own way by embarrassing me and showing me how mad and upset he was. This carried on for a while. I tried again to get him to stop kicking the wall, but to no avail. Then I said "fo
One word ONLY: You are: cold You like: food, i mean, broccoli What do you like the most about earth: life Name one friend you would eat for 1,000,000$: just one? Would you kill a dog for 1 million dollars: maybe Yes or no: Live with your parents? No Own YOUR car: yes (van) Have more than 100$ in your wallet? no Seen someone get killed or die in front of you: no. Been raped? No have siblings? Yes Put an x to everything that is true: Have you ever... [] Fantasized about your teacher? [] Wanted to kill someone? [] Stuck your gum under a table [] Told a friend that you were doing something else with your family, even though you had already promised them to do something with them? [x] Said i love you, and actually felt it [] Called someone a slut [x] Been called a slut [ ] faked to be handicap just to be in those handicap parkings ? [x] Blonde [x] Brunette [x] red head [ ] Other- Answer these questions: What should you be doing right now? tidying up my incredibly messy house. Washing po
Went to yoga tonight. Felt all mellow when I got home and just woke up from an hour nap on the couch. Does it count as a nap when it's 9 o'clock at night? Or is Steven right, and it's a pre-sleep, sleep?

nine weeks

Can you believe that Christmas is only nine weeks away? That's crazy. I guess it doesn't seem like it should be that close. There is no snow, and the grass is still green (of course now that I've said it...). Yet, I'm getting excited about it, green grass or not. I feel like figuring out my Christmas calendar, starting my Christmas shopping and planning some stuff with friends and family. And then there's this other part of me that dreads Christmas. Seems like we always end up getting in trouble with someone, or we're not where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there. Christmas shopping is a little stressful. The days are kind of full. The kids are tired. I'm tired. I think the part I look forward to the most is Christmas morning with my kids. We'll open a few gifts and I'll make something a little more special for breakfast (or we'll just eat chocolate turtles) and we'll wonder at how quiet it is on the streets. I'm

nanowrimo

It's that time again! November is only nine days away, and you know what November is! National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I tried last year and did not reach my 50,000 word goal. Nor did I ever end up finishing my novel. It was going to be really dumb anyway. The beauty of it though, is that dumb is okay. The whole idea is simply to write a story. You don't need to edit it, it doesn't need to be a literary masterpiece. Just write with reckless abandon and watch the word counter grow. I'm going to try again this year. You in?

story time

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S M R T

You know how I know I'm cool? Because it's Friday night and the only thing keeping me from just going to bed is facebook. That's right. Too cool to care, but not cool enough to not know I'm cool. Convoluted? Yep. Because I'm so smart, but not smart enough to spell convoluted without spell-check. Not smart enough to spell "spell check" without spellchecker either, it would seem. Is there any way to add "facebook" to the computer's dictionary so that it isn't underlined in the red squiggly line of "you're stupid" every time I try and type it out somewhere? Oh wait, never mind, I figured it out all by myself. I'm of above-average intellismartness.

a good day

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I was so grumpy this morning. I was going to get up, go for a run, make the kids clean the basement and then head off to playgroup. I slept in. The kids, after being sent downstairs to clean up their mess, dumped out all the rest of their toys that were actually in the toy boxes already. I turned into Fiona , without the pleasant disposition. I was sure it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day . Then I went to diaper gym. Before that I had to stand over the kids and make them finish cleaning, because I told them that if they didn't clean up their toys we weren't going to go - and I really wanted to go. At diaper gym the kids were actually pretty good. Jordan had been counting down sleeps for two weeks until there was no school on a diaper gym day. Sure they snuck onto the stage a couple of times, and I put them in time out once for swinging around the horse-head-on-a-stick and hitting stuff with it, but over all, it was good. I love to see them laughing
I almost forgot today! I went to a boot camp class tonight. I think someone may have to come over tomorrow and complete my daily tasks for me. My arms were burning from every angle by the time we were done. They're fine now, but I know that it'll all come back to haunt me tomorrow. On the plus side, just think of the calories burned! I went to a yoga class on Monday night that was fantastic ! I've only been to one other one before, but the one one Monday night was with a new teacher. It was her first time teaching yoga in this center so she started with a more beginner class. Unlike the first class I went to, there was no giggling, tipping over, etc. and she dimmed the lights, had music on, and kept the different poses going. There were no breaks, it was just a constant transition between poses. It could be an absolutely wonderful stress relief. I think I'm hooked - I hope she keeps doing it here. She'll progressively make the classes more challenging as the weeks

tennyson's latest meltdown

Tennyson is having the meltdown of all meltdowns right now. The last half hour or so with him has been exceptionally trying. The other day when I dropped him off at nursery school I could hear him call "Mommy" as I reached the outside door. Then I heard him start crying. I left anyway. I phoned in a little later, Mrs. C said that he had been fine a minute later, and that leaving was the thing to do. I knew that really, I just wanted to make sure that that's what the teachers there wanted. Tennyson has told me a few times in the last couple of days that he didn't get a snack at nursery school the other day, and that all the other kids did. I kept assuring him that yes, he must have gotten a snack. His nursery school is awesome, and their awesomeness is not derived from choosing one kid to not give a snack to. He kept insisting, and then finally he told me "Mommy, I did not get one, I did not! Ask my teachers!" So I did. I figured it was probably something sil

mushrooms

Tennyson (looking into the pan): "What's that in there? Mushrooms? I do not like mushrooms. I do not. But I do like them cooked Mommy, I do. If they are not cooked I do not like them, but if they are cooked I do. That's the rules. That's the rules of my eatin mushrooms."

the babies in the van go roll roll roll

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It's day 19 today. I actually have a couple of good post ideas, but I think maybe I'll take more than 46 seconds to write them out. Wait, I forgot one. Okay, I have one good post idea. The other one is in my head somewhere, right at the edge of the fog. I'll let you know if it ever comes back. My littlest imp rolled over in her crib today. Twice! The other day I went in there and she was turned from her stomach to her back, and I was all excited until Jordan told me she had flipped Elliot over so she could look at her mobile. Today she rolled over before Jordan even woke up, and then she did it again at the end of her nap. Not sure if she got the memo or not, but she's my last baby. She's supposed to not do all this stuff just yet. And no, I still don't want another one. Imagine the vehicle I'd have to drive? Pretty bitchin' swagger wagon eh? But no. Not that I couldn't pull it off. With any luck it would have a ladder on the back so that I could cli

stuff the kids dictated

Jordan Tennyson Mitchell Elliot Daddy Mommy Jordan is silly. Tennyson is stinky. Daddy has fuzzy feet. Tennyson has a freckly nose. Jordan has nibbly fingers. Elliot pukes. Mitchell has bouncy curls. Mommy is stinky (not). Jordan is stinky. Tennyson is poopy. Mommy is wicked awesome. Jordan is stinky with poop on her head. Heehawed Tennyson is stinky with poop all over his head. This afternoon the kids asked to "type" stuff. They pretty much type out their names. It's their favorite. Then they dictated some (apparently) really hilarious stuff for me to type out. They laughed like little hyenas. I added some stuff too. It was also hilarious. It's cute. I may have come up with "Mommy is wicked awesome" all by myself.

Zumba!

I'm down in the cold, cold basement. Steven is holding my laptop hostage upstairs and using it to download weirdo stuff. I think we need to set some serious limits. I think I need to enable some sort of parental controls with passwords. I went to Zumba today at the PCU centre. It's my third or fourth time going to that class, and it is awesome! If you haven't tried it yet, you should. It's addictive. I wish they had it every day. It's so much fun you'll hardly notice that you're sweating profusely after the first ten minutes. Zumba is Latin-inspired dance aerobics. It's different from aerobics in that the instructor generally doesn't stop to break down moves. She just dances, and we follow along as best we can. But it's fun . We fumble like crazy, but we all look equally ridiculous - and nobody is watching, because the minute you look away from the instructor you've lost what little grasp you've gained over the moves. I miss my laptop

country drive

This morning I weeded one of my flower beds. Well, half of the flower bed to be exact. The flower bed was more grass than flower by now. I'm not the best gardener to begin with, and this summer with having Elliot at the beginning of July I just let it go. I haven't been in there since June and it showed. So it took forever. Steven wants me to come and hang out with him. He says to do two posts tomorrow. He obviously doesn't know how this works. After I gave up on today's portion of weeding I had lunch and then ended up on the couch. Steven was lazing around the house and moaning about his sore back, even when the kids were NOT attacking him. He's such a drama queen. Apparently the soreness has moved into his ass, so he figures he's getting better. If he was a doctor, he wouldn't be mine. Yes Steven, it is funny. And clever. Betcha can't tell he's reading this over my shoulder. We're sneaky like that. We went for a Sunday drive (yes, I know it'