random thoughts

1. Our kids need to go to boot camp – they are turning into little brats.
2. I am excited about this weekend. Omi is taking the kids from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning to let CJ and I sleep and get some house stuff done.
3. I love this ring that CJ (and the kids) gave me for Mother’s Day!
4. I need to get my cards done for the card exchange.
5. I wonder if drinking green tea will make me healthier and thinner.
6. What should I make for dinner tonight?
7. I really don’t like green tea (blech).
8. I wonder when the LOST Season 3 DVD will come out.
9. When will I get to Michaels?
10. I wish it was Friday.

water, ducks and tadpoles

summertime!

YAY – it’s the weekend again. We don’t have too many plans, but we won’t be sloths all weekend either. Tonight we have no plans. Maybe CJ and I can take the kids out for dinner somewhere where we can sit outside. The weather has been really hot lately – it was about 22 C (75F) when I left the house this morning at 7:15 am. This afternoon I may take the kids to a local waterplay area that I just found out about. Tomorrow Seb has a swim lesson in the morning (more like playtime in the pool for him) and in the afternoon Kenzie and I are meeting my mom and Andrea for high tea at a swanky hotel in Toronto. Kenzie is so excited! On Sunday CJ and Tony (my mum’s neighbour) are going to replace one side of my mum’s fence. The kids and I will either go to Ontario Place or just hang out at my mum’s all day and watch the men sweat. In the afternoon/evening, mum is making a barbeque for us all.

Those are the weekend plans – they never turn out the way we plan them so we’ll see what khappens.

So I was just looking through the paper and there was a flyer for Toys R Us. They are having some MAJOR sales starting tomorrow. I’m talking $600 playsets on sale for $100. I think I will have to work in a stop to the store sometime this weekend.

end of a long weekend

Yesterday, CJ took the kids out for breakfast AGAIN! Two days in a row. How lucky am I? Later in the morning, we went for a run/bike ride – well CJ ran and I rode my bike with the kids in the trailer. We went around the lake. It was really nice and surprisingly the kids didn’t yell, scream or fight when they were in the chariot. I think it’s all in the timing. Since it was almost lunchtime I think they were getting tired.

After lunch we all had naps – luxury! Then in the afternoon we played outside again – mostly in the backyard. I got a little nostalgic - our neighbours were having a “long weekend BBQ” and had a bunch of friends over – the same type of thing we’d have done if we were in Seattle. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be and the 4 of us just hung out, the kids played, CJ and I ate chips and salsa and had a couple drinks and we enjoyed the sunny day.

Shortly before 9:00 we were getting ready to go to the park to light our fireworks when the phone rang. It was Sue. I asked if they wanted to join us and sure enough they did. Five minutes later we were set up in the park ready to watch the fireworks. It was actually very fun. CJ did a great job with the pyrotechnics. Seb LOVED them. He would yell and clap and laugh. It was fun watching him. Kenzie on the other hand found them to be a bit loud. In general though a good time was had by all.

fun pics

some pics from today















btw - I'm kinda depressed today. It's the long weekend - fireworks tonight. None of our friends are here to enjoy the long weekend with us. Hey "friends in Seattle" - I miss you tons right now.

mid weekend update

On Friday afternoon I picked the kids up from daycare and we drove to my mum’s house. CJ was playing music with some friends from work so we decided to let him sleep in on Saturday. WE had a nice evening at Omi’s. The kids played nicely. Mum’s neighbours Tony and Glenda came over for some wine. Kenzie and Sebastian had a hoot playing with Tony – T&G don’t have kids so they love to play with K&S when we come over.

Saturday morning was a bit draining. Both Sebastian and Kenzie are going through a “trying phase” right now. They both seem to know exactly what to do to tweek each other… oh yeah and to tweek CJ and I. Well yesterday was one of those mornings. Thankfully at about 11:00 mum said to me – “why don’t you take some time for yourself”. So I jumped at the chance and went to the curves by her house (I love this club courtesy arrangement). After working out some of my stress I felt much better. Headed back to Omi’s to put the kids down for naps and then I went for a nap too. When I woke up CJ was there and was mowing the lawn for mum – I love him. He is such a sweet heart and I know my mum was very grateful too (her back has been acting up). Soon after Andrea and Chris arrived and the party started 

We had a beautiful day. The kids spent hours playing with a giant cardboard box that my mum kept for them (from her new garden furniture). They played house, used it as a slide and just had a hoot. They also enjoyed playing ball, playing in the pool and just “entertaining” the adults. CJ and I enjoyed a game of croquet. I need a proper croquet set. We all had a really good time. The food was delicious (mum prepared it and CJ bbq’d it), Andrea enjoyed her gifts and everyone got along. No family drama hahahaha.









There’s a reason I married this man.




The birthday girl


We came home, put a couple tired kids to bed and went to sleep ourselves.

This morning my wonderful husband got up with the kids and took them out for breakfast so I could sleep in. After breakfast he took them both to gymnastics while I got the house into some sort of acceptable state. We don’t have any major plans for the rest of the weekend except to perhaps do some gardening, clean the fish tank, bbq a bit and maybe hit the playground. Ahhhhh I love long weekends!

like night and day

yesterday was hell. Both kids were absolute nightmares in the afternoon & evening. tantrums and meltdowns over everything. I actually put them both to bed before 7:00 and I was completely drained by the time they fell asleep.

Today I was prepared. I had pipe cleaners and honey nut cheerios (to make bracelets) to keep them occupied while I heated up dinner (that Omi prepared). They both ate all dinner and asked for seconds which I gladly gave them since it was mainly spinach (Omi - how do you do that?!). Then, thanks to a suggestion from Erin, I pulled out my final and best weapon - a new Little Einstein movie and junk food (maltesers). They have been entranced, quiet and happy for the last 40 minutes. What a difference from yesterday.

another fun morning %&$*$%*^%#*^%

So another interesting morning in the Ingram household…. it began at 4:30 am when Sebastian decided he had enough sleep. I woke up and heard him chatting to himself…I lay in bed motionless, hoping that if I didn’t move or make a sound (not that he can hear or see me from his room anyhow) that he would go back to sleep. No such luck. A few minutes later the chatting turns to whimpering… which then developed into crying and finally escalates into full-on hollering & screeching. CJ beat me to him and was in the process of trying to calm him down when I got to his room. Yesterday evening we had put glow in the dark stars on his ceiling. This was the perfect opportunity to see if they would be any good. So we turned the light on for 30 seconds to “recharge the stars” and then turned off the lights… WOW! Seb was in awe staring at the stars glowing on his ceiling. I lay on the bed and talked to him softly. We sang twinkle twinkle little star a few times and then I told him that I was going back to bed….. but WAIT!. First he wanted some milk. “okay Sebastian, I’ll get you some milk and then you’ll go to sleep” “okay mummy”….. get milk, give it to Sebby… he’s happy. I say goodnight and start to leave. WAIT!!! Need to sing twinkle twinkle one for time. We sing… “goodnight seb” “goodnight mummy”. I close the door… he starts to whimper… then cry… then scream….. I go to bed and put two pillows over my head. I am NOT getting up at 4:50 am!!! I lie there listening to him be pissed off for the next 20 minutes. Then I hear a door open and about 17 second later feel Kenzie climbing into our bed. “GOOD MORNING MUMMY AND DADDY!!!!!” Ugh… it’s not even 5:15. CJ ended up getting sebby and the family spent the next 30 minutes in bed with treehouse playing loudly on the TV.

Anyhow… the one good thing about waking up at 4:30 in the morning (and I am reaching here) is the fact that we were not rushed this morning. In fact the kids waned to go outside and play at 7:00. I swear our neighbours are going to hate us!

Oh yeah, and it’s 8:48 am now and I am very very sleepy. Going to get more coffee.

"that kid" belongs to us

We have “that kid”. Found out yesterday that Sebby has bitten another child at daycare - TWICE. It’s one of those situations that is really tough to deal with as a parent. You do your best to love, encourage and discipline your kids. You want them to be good upstanding citizens. When they misbehave like this and act like little terrors it makes me think we are doing something wrong. Anyhow, I guess all we can do is keep at it – discipline him at home if we ever see him misbehave and talk to him about how it’s not nice etc. I hope he stops this soon cause if I was the parent of the kid who got bitten I’d be pissed.

WOOT!

I just won the first project since starting this new job. I am totally excited! Looks like we may start work as early as next week! YAY me.

weekend: part 1

Okay so the weekend is over and I am more exhausted than I was when it started. It was a good one though. First of all, mum took the kids again on Friday night. I think the best part of my weekend was sleeping in on Saturday morning. How amazing is that. Ahhhhhh. I feel good just thinking back to that. I spent Saturday morning lazing around, drinking coffee and watching Napoleon Dynamite with CJ.

Then when I was properly caffeinated I headed out get beautified (brows and pedicure). The guy that gave me a brow wax so kindly asked if I wanted a lip wax. I’m all “uh, no thanks”. I’ve never really been too stressed about lip hair – I mean I’m sure I have some but it’s not thick and dark like a mustache… his response was “why not, are you scared?” No, you idiot… but I’m going to be self-conscious about lip hair now for the rest of my life. Ass!

Then I went shopping – birthday pary presents, mother’s day presents and a few other random things. I got home and CJ and I just hung out and relaxed until 3:00. Then we headed over to my sisters place. Ha, poor Andrea. She and Chris invited both moms, Chris’s Dad, his nephew (who his parents were looking after), and the 4 of us. They also had Isaac on Saturday. So here’s the high-maintenance, type A couple who (85% of the time) are childless and they have their house full of kids and “family”. Ha ha ha. It was a bit crazy but very fun. We all had a blast.

Penny playing soccer with the kids – she is awesome.


Our hosts.


playing with the hungry hippo game


food


playing golf


kids


CJ and I had a babysitter planned for that evening and we did go out but we were so tired that we were back home by 10:00.

I’ll write about Mother’s day in a separate post later.

time for more life changes...

... I just cant tell you anything about them right now :) It's TOP SECRET.

by the way - HI SAM! Thanks for your call. I will call you back this afternoon. Miss you! xoxoxoxox

Cute Story: this morning Kenzie stood up on our bed and introduced herself... "Ladeeez and Gentlemen.. introducing Mackenzie Ingram....." Then she started to sing Oh Canada "Oh Canada our home [mumble mumble mumble mumble] we stand on guard for GLEE............". then she said "Oh whatever!!!" and collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles.

if i were very very rich, I would....

- quit my job and become a stay at home mom.
- CJ would quit his job too so we could hang out a lot
- go on bike rides & walks with CJ
- get my nails done, brows waxed etc. on a regular basis
- have a personal trainer to get me working out
- take cooking lessons (with CJ if he was interested)
- get the basement finished
- visit our friends
- have some professional landscaping done in front and out back of our house
- volunteer at kenzie’s school so I’d be more involved – maybe even join the parent’s advisory board/committee etc
- have time to learn how to use Photoshop
- buy an SLR camera and then take a course to teach me how to use it properly
- do lots of gardening – learn about plants and hwo to keep them alive
- scrapbook

pics for today's blog post:

It was warm today

28 degrees Celsius! That's warm enough to play outside in the sprinkler!

Is it Friday yet?

I am ready to retire. Last week was kind tough because of Seb being sick – this time with a throat infection. CJ and I both took a day off work to stay home with him and my mum did the same. Every night last week Sebastian woke up almost every hour crying so no one had a decent night’s sleep all week. Also, my dad was visiting last week. He was supposed to fly back on Friday but the weather wan’t good (he was flying his own plane) so he ended up staying until today.

Okay… so… on Saturday Seb was feeling better and CJ and I were ready for some fun. We had our friends the Woocks over and Bev and Sofie came over too. A good time was had by all. We introduced these ignorant Canadian’s (/south African’s/ New Zealanders) to Cinco De Mayo. We had margaritas, yummy food and lots of laughs. The kids were in their element with all their “big friends’ there.













Anyhow, so it was a late night Saturday but then Seb decided to wake up at 5:30 AM! He came to bed with CJ and I but he just wanted to play. And that kid is just so darn cute I couldn’t help but wake up and play with him. At 8:00 Kenzie and I left for Andrea’s house where we picked up Andrea, Chris and Omi and headed to Riverdale Park in Cabbagetown , Toronto for the Hike for Hospice . It was a beautiful crisp day. Kenzie was thrilled to get her face painted and she enjoyed the walk and picking flowers along the way.

After the walk we all went to the Danforth (Greektown) and had lunch. This is where My big fat Greek Wedding was filmed. It’s a really cute part of Toronto. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then all headed home. I was so tired, I almost fell asleep on the way home. Luckily the stars aligned and I was able to get in a nap when we got home. Last night Dad took us all out for dinner. We went to Eastside Marios. The kids loved the decorations, the atmosphere and especially the 3 mini ice cream cones they got for dessert. After dinner we headed out to the playground/park for some playing and kite flying. It is so nice – every time we go we meet some of our neighbours there. Yesterday I met the neighbours from across the street. I talked quite a bit to Nargis while our kiddos played together.

This morning Kenzie came to our room at 5:30 complaining about a sore tummy. Poor Boo. I thought she was just moaning because she didn’t want to go to school….. well until she threw up all over us. Then I took her more seriously. Seems like our little Boo has come down with the flu. She is definitely not faking it and is actually feeling pretty crappy. So the morning was rather stressful with us praying that mum would come stay with Kenzie so that CJ and I could still get to work on time, Sebby to daycare and dad to the airport. Ugh. Anyhow, we did it. Just talked to mum… the Boo is sleeping on the couch after being given a gravol and some love, Seb is happy at daycare, CJ is off to work and I am here.

I’m exhausted and ready for another weekend.

btw, Jennifer (GMS) - good luck at your first day back to work. i am thinking about you today!

fun at the park