news!

Okay, so I haven’t posted in a week. A lot has happened. First, and most importantly, after 5 interviews and a rather grueling process CJ was offered, and accepted, a job! I am so proud of him. The interview process was pretty tough, with a couple interviewers really drilling him. But he obviously did great because out of the many, many people that were in contention (a couple of the interviewers as well as his soon-to-be co-workers mentioned how many people were being interviewed), the one that got the job was my wonderful, funny, smart husband (and best friend).

To CJ: Honey – first, I am so proud of you. Secondly, thank you so much for everything you have done for the kids and for us over the past year and a half. You are an incredible father and those kids have been so lucky to spend this time with you. The care and love that you gave them was incredible, and I think it shows in how well they have turned out! They are two happy, confident and fun little people and a lot of that has to do with you. So thank you, and I love you with all my heart. And Good Luck on your new adventure. Xoxoxox

Okay, so if you are still reading …. And update on the weekend.

First of all, on Friday my mum took the kids overnight so that CJ and I could enjoy our evening and sleep in on Saturday. We had a blast curling. We actually tied even though we were playing against a really good team. Afterwards we hung out with Judith and Tony (our partners) and had a few drinks and celebrated CJ’s new job. By the way Tony looks just like Red Green – seriously. Then we came home and watched LOST episodes until 3:00 am (we finished season 1). We are both addicted to that show. I slept in until after noon on Saturday – how awesome is that! Being close to Omi does have it’s perks.

Yesterday, Andrea, Chris, Isaac and Chris’s parents came over for a little Halloween party. Kenzie and Isacc had a great time (Seb slept almost the whole time). They decorated cookies, bobbed for apples, carved pumpkins and went to the park. Andrea and chris brought over a feast from a little bakery by their house. They brought all kinds of bagels and breads, hummus, salmon spread, egg salad, tuna salad, cucumber/dill salad and sweets for dessert (my mouth is watering thinking about it)

Here are some pictures.

Superman and the unicorn


Bobbing for apples.




Decorating cookies


Carving pumpkins


The product.


The big people.


We ended the day with some apple crisp and snuggling on the couch watching TV. It was a great weekend!

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy!

Daaaaaaaddy, listen to me, I'm talking to you.

I can just hear her giggle

Rude Nuns!

Kenzie’s school’s website said that they have after an after school care program and that said after-school program was offered by a catholic school nearby. It sounded strange to me but I sent the catholic school an email just to check. They sent me back such a curt rude email. It made me mad. Those damn elitist religious people!!! Get it? I said “damn”….

The Little Mermaid - A parent's perspective

Personally I think this Ariel is a bit of a selfish brat. I mean seriously… She let Sebastian and her dad down in a major way by not showing up at the concert. Not to mention how her sisters must have felt. Not only do they have to be the supporting cast for her grand entrance but then she doesn’t even bother showing up? I think she should have been grounded for at least 2 weeks. Also… what is she doing swimming off into the middle of the ocean with her little buddy, Flounder. What kind of a friend leaves her buddy outside of the sunken ship where he could get eaten by a shark? Not only is she selfish but I don’t think she’s very smart.

All I can say is that if I were her mother I’d tell her to get her head out of the clouds and start focusing on her school work. I’d also make sure she was a bit nicer to her friends and family and a little bit less self-absorbed.

little notes

When I first started working at my new job I decided to go in early so I could leave early and spend more time with the family in the afternoon/evening. Well, I was leaving most mornings before the kids were up. Kenzie and CJ would often call me at the office later in the morning to say hi. Kenzie started asking me why I didn’t say good bye to her before I left. So I started a habit of writing her a note. Now, many mornings before I leave the house, I will write Kenzie a little note. Something that tells her I love her and has a little picture. Today when I was making her note I decided to make one for Sebby too. CJ just called and told me that when he showed Seb his note and read it too him Seb got the biggest smile on his face and was so happy.

I am sitting here all teary eyed. First I am thrilled that he was so happy, but secondly I am so sad and sorry that I didn’t do this sooner. I think sometimes I don’t give him enough credit. Because he doesn’t talk too much I guess I something think he doesn’t understand as much either. But I know that is wrong. He’s a smart little guy and understands almost everything. I miss him right now.

My princess

Tonight I was saying good night to Kenzie. I told her I had to go to work tomorrow.

K: why?

me: because I have to make some money.

K: I will give you my money. I was saving it to buy Sebastian a black cat but I will give it to you so you don't have to go to work.

I love her more than I could ever describe with words.

my friend ewa

My oldest friend (we've known each other for almost 20 years) came over to visit today with her two kiddos. I haven't seen them since they were K and S's age. Now they are 10 and 8.

It was great to see her. I feel sad that we drifted apart over the last few years. I mean up until about 3 years ago we still talked to each other every week, even though we didn't live in the same city. Then for whatever reasons that stopped. But we have reconnected now and I am so happy about that. I can't wait till we can talk again. In fact even now I am looking forward to calling her one evening this week to catch up and see how she's doing.

She has been through a lot over the last 10 years. I admire her greatly - for her dedication to her family, and her strength. I wish her so many good things for her future.

Here she is... this is Ewa! I love you "Lady" ;-)



Alex. Isn't she beautiful.


and Adam. He was so sweet. Especially to Sebby who was feeling under teh weather. Adam made him smile & giggle and for that I am thankful.

goofiness

Random thoughts

1. Sebby is sick with croup. I hate that. He feels miserable, his cough scares me, he is up most of the night, (i.e. CJ and I don’t get any sleep), and my mother insists on offering advice.

2. If I was in high school, my new company would be the “band kids” and my old company would be the “popular group/jocks”. I prefer the “band kids”. They are more interesting, down to earth and more civil to each other. The “popular kids” were fun to hang with, but I never really fit in.

3. I’m tired today.

4. It’s really rainy today. And we are currently having a thunder storm. I love that. But I do wish that I could be home with the kids and CJ. It would be the perfect day to just hang out and play.

5. On the weekend Kenzie spent a lot of time playing with the new teacher Barbie Opa gave her. It came with a little “student” Barbie. Well on Monday Kenzie lost one of the little Barbie’s shoes. She was devastated. I mean seriously… she was very very sad about it. So yesterday I went to Toys R Us after work to see if I could find a baby Barbie’s little red plastic shoe. Well, you can’t buy just a pair of shoes for a baby Barbie. So I ended up buying a set of 5 little kid Barbies in the hopes that they could “share” their shoes. Then I passed the Barbie horse drawn carriage. I HAD to have it… um, I mean KENZIE had to have it. And of course I couldn’t just buy presents for K and not for S. So Sebby got a Thomas that he can sit on. It’s strange… I wonder sometimes if my kids are spoiled.

A day at the Farm (Winery)

Yesterday we all went to the Applewood Farm Winery. (That is, after CJ took Seb to the doctor – he has croup again. This poor little guy seems really susceptible to the croup. Luckily the doc said his lungs were clear and that he didn’t need any steroids – just an open window and fresh air). Anyhow… the farm….. It’s about 10 minutes from our house and so much fun. They have tractor rides, hay stacks to climb on, apples to pick, a pumpkin patch, a couple different play sets and a barn where they do wine tasting and sales. I was thrilled to find a local place to buy my sweet fruit wines. I tasted a whole bunch that I really enjoyed. We picked up a couple bottles of a strawberry rhubarb wine. DELISH!

It was a gorgeous day.

Isn’t this just picture perfect?




On the tractor ride.


Kenzie pushing Seb in the wheelbarrow.


I think this pic is darling. Omi and Seb on the haystack.


Me and the boo.


This is the type of play set that we would play on when we were kids. You don’t see them around too much anymore. Too many kids probably knocked their teeth out.

Thanksgiving

So the weekend was a good one – despite my grumpy moods. I was really up and down this weekend and spent way too much time in a grumpy funk. But between though pissy moods we had a lot of good times… in fact even when I was in a grumpy mood everyone else still had fun which is good.

On Saturday afternoon my dad arrived. The kids were thrilled to see him. We didn’t do too much exciting. I think dad and CJ took the kids to the park after dinner while I tidied up. In the evening we watched an awesome hockey game - Montreal Canadians (my team) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (Dad’s and CJ’s team). We were terrible parents and bribed Kenzie to route for our respective teams. I won out cause I gave her chocolate.

On Sunday I woke up very early. Kenzie and Sebastian “helped” me prepare some things – like getting the turkey ready (Kenzie asked “Mummy, are you going to put a diaper on the turkey?”… ha), stuffing, potatoes etc. CJ went for a run in the morning and I went for a nice bike ride around the lake. During this time, Dad made his famous apple pie – mmm mmm mmm. When I got back I met up with my dad and CJ and the kids at the park. We decided to all for a bike ride – meaning that I took the kids in the carrier, CJ ran beside us and my dad rode CJ’s mountain bike. It was a beautiful day and I’m so glad we were able to get some fresh air. We ended up at another park. All teh fresh air made for some good naps after we got home.

The guests started arriving at 3:00 – my sister Andrea and her husband Chris were actually on time. This totally threw me. They are always late, so since I wanted them to arrive at 4:00 I told Andrea to come at 3:00. At 2:54 the doorbell rang. I wasn’t prepared at all. My mum had come earlier to help set up and Isabella and Nina came at 4:00. We spent a couple hours just hanging out. Everyone congregated in the kitchen (as usual) while the dinner preparations were underway. It was perfect. This is exactly why CJ and I wanted an open concept house with an island in the kitchen. We did discover though that we need a few more counter stools.





CJ also put his Xbox to use when he used it to play a slideshow of pictures on the TV. It was a nice “side distraction – mellow entertainment thing”.

Then the kids got spoiled. Kenzie got a dozen pink roses from Andrea (Andrea and Kenzie are darling together… my heart melts every time I see them). Sebby got some chocolate rocks – which I promptly store away for my consumption at a later time. They also got gifts from Opa, Nina, and Isabella. Aren’t holidays wonderful?

Here’s a pic of Kenzie with one of her roses and her personalized box of cookies from Isabella.


Soon it was time to eat. We had a great dinner with delicious food and lots of laughs. Several time throughout the course of dinner it was mentioned how nice it was to have the whole family together again for a holiday. It really was nice. No, not just nice – it was wonderful. I have a LOT to be thankful for this year.

btw, ignore the various effects on these pics. i was testing out different settings on my camera. :)







This picture makes me smile.

who needs a whistle

Opa gave Sebby a remote whistle-controlled Thomas. It was a huge hit until we lost the whistle. Then we were sad. UNTIL... Kenzie discovered that a whistle was not needed.

things are good

It's been a busy couple days. CJ and I have been getting ready for this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. My dad will be arriving in a couple hours. My mum might come by tonight too and my sister and her husband are coming over tomorrow. Oh yah my mum's friend Isabella (she's like a second (or third or fourth) grandmother, to the kids) and her daughter are coming too. So we've been busy buying groceries, cleaning the house from top to bottom, and doing all the decorating that we've been meaning to do for ages (blinds, mirror etc).

The kids are napping now and CJ and I are sitting down relaxing and watching football. It feels so good to sit down.

This morning I took the kids to a new park. There was a little path to the lake (which is 2 blocks from our house) and the kids enjoyed that. It also provided a good photo opportunity.

CJ bought Sebby these shoes. He did good.


The view from a little bridge. Isn't it gorgeous? A typical fall day.






I love this picture.

hand turkeys

We made hand turkeys tonight.









We hung them up and the kids were so proud.

what are children made of?

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice,
and all that's nice;
That's what little girls are made of.


What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails,
And puppy-dogs' tails;
That's what little boys are made of.

Feeling down

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel so down today. I’ve been so good lately with my diet but I’m just not losing weight. It’s been almost a month and I’ve been so careful about what I eat, I’m hungry most of the time and I have stayed away from all the junk food that I love… and I’m down a measly 3.5 lbs. Not much if you think that I need to lose almost 50! Wow. I am really, really upset about this. I feel like shit.

It sucks to work in a cube, where you can't even close your door and have some privacy when you need it.

Seb's dancing moves

and just a cute pic.