tiffany's spot

This is my roomie. She lives her here. Her name is Tarynn. The kids are convinced she's one of them and can't figure out why they don't just get to make her jump on the trampoline and build forts in the basement. They'll wear her down sooner or later. Mwahahaha!

Mitchell comes in from outside whining. Tennyson apparently pushed him down on the trampoline and he hit his leg. "On the trampoline?" I asked. "Yeah," he whined. "I think you'll be okay," I said. "Unless you want to go to the hospital for a needle." "No," he laughs. "Actually, I do need to get you a needle." He looks concerned - "Today?" "No, not today." I went into the kitchen for a phone and tried the clinic. All the best moms wait for the summer holidays before kindergarten to start phoning around to get their kids' shots and appointments up to date. Of course it's closed by now. In the meantime, Elliot and Mitchell are talking. She's bouncing up and down saying "I want a needle!" Mitchell responds by telling her that she doesn't get a needle, only him. "Only me and Mommy," he says. "Not you." "But I wanna needle!" she wails, break...

Sometimes when Jordan and Tennyson fight I amuse myself by announcing that before they are free from their time-outs they need to have a five second hug. I don't start counting to five until both of them have their arms around the other. Then I count. Slowly. Probably takes more like 15 seconds. I bet you can tell which kid feels more tortured.

Fahbeddy pickin.' Or spwabewwy pickin.' Depends who in this house you ask.

This is Austin, the town I grew up in. Small and quiet! And I bet YOUR town doesn't have a tractor on stilts. I know. I'm sad for you too. This is Memory Lane Cafe (the name has since changed, but seriously, no). The first "real" job I ever had was waiting tables here. My grandma owned it, and she made me work there. I believe that early in the spring she said "You'll have to work here this summer," and I said "Yeah, maybe," because I didn't want to say no to my grandma, but I was scared to death of having an actual job working in public. The June schedule had my name on it and my shifts clearly penned in. Standing at the end of Mom's driveway looking North. Nice and green and countryish. Main Street. Technically, it's 2nd Ave, but seriously, no. This is Main Street. Beware showing up here after 7 at night. It's totally wild. Austin Elementary School. K-8. After that we hopped the bus and went to ...

I know. Lots of beach days. We have to quickly soak up as much sun as we can before it snows!

Tennyson and I went for breakfast this morning. And yes, he ate that entire plate of food and washed it down with two cups of tea. Ever take a six year old boy for breakfast? It's a lesson in patience. "Tennyson, please put your sausage back on your plate." "Tennyson that's enough sugar." "Tennyson. Your sausage, plate." "Tennyson, one package of jam is supposed to do more than half a slice of toast." But seriously, he's an entertaining kid and it was fun to carve out a little one-on-one time. Do you want to know what wasn't fun? The magic show guy. Oh, I know what you're thinking: "Magic show guy? Table side, individual magic show performances? Stop being such a grump, that sounds awesome!" Oh yeah, totally awesome. I was sitting there, eating breakfast with my kid, when the cook came out of the kitchen with an armload of props and performs a bunch of magic tricks for the kid at the table next t...

Yay new swimsuits! And a plate. Because it's not a party without a plate.

Elliot loves the piano. We've always told the kids they could "play" it as long as they played nice. Any banging and they're done. Elliot sits there and gently and softly plays the piano, one or two keys at a time. I swear she's actually sitting there and contemplating the sound of the music. It's cute. Also, she's three years and three days old here!

Tonight I was sitting here at the table, and my little dog kept wandering off to the living room. He is still somewhat naughty so I like to keep him close. I kept calling him back and petting him for a minute only to have him wander off again. Finally I followed him in there to see what was so interesting. Of course I expected that he munched up one of the kids' stuffed animals or something. What I found was that my little sleepwalker had found a new place to sleep, and his little dog was determined to keep him company. We are loving this little furball. Even Steven. Even if he won't admit it.

Today was the first time I took the kids to the beach by myself. I've always been nervous with kids and water, even though as a kid I was around water all the time, and my parents really didn't seem all that concerned. I was bored to tears this morning and I suggested that the kids all hop into the van so I could swing through the Tim Horton's drive through for a . . . let's say carrot . . . while I figured out what I wanted to do with our afternoon. I really had nothing. Finally I told the kids that we'd hit up Sobey's, grab a few groceries, and then pick up a couple of pizzas from Little Caesars and have a picnic at the park. I parked the van in the Sobey's parking lot. "Can't we have our picnic at Delta?" asked one of the kids. I thought about it for a minute, turned the van back on and said sure. We grabbed our pizzas, swung home for swim suits and then headed for Delta Beach. The kids had a blast. Sure there is some ...