Quick Christmas thought

I've been really busy this week - trying to get in 5 hours at my computer before everyone really gets moving and wants to do something fun every day. Unfortunately, everyone stays up so late playing wii and watching movies, that I almost can do 5 hours before they get up!

Anyways, for those who stayed in Edmonton, here's a new poem:

Twas the night after Christmas,
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring
EXCEPT for a mouse.

The Polar Express

On Saturday, we had a ward temple trip. We met at the church at 7 am, with the plan being that we take the bus, the youth do baptisms at 10, and the adults go to a session at 10:30, and I stay behind at a church, and watch the kids.

However, when we got to the church, a bus company supervisor was there, without a bus! He said that he didn't want to send out his buses, because it was too cold. Or, at least, he wanted to meet with people first. After 1/2 hour or so, a bus came. We loaded into the bus, but it was SUPER cold. Luckily, my father in law mentioned the night before that sometimes it's a bit chilly on buses in the winter, so I had a blanket along for each of us. We drove down to Ogden, where the bus company had another bus waiting for us, one with heat. After 15 minutes in a bus where you could see your breath, we were excited to change buses!

However, by about the Okotoks turnoff, our new bus was no longer that warm. By Nanton, it was freezing! There was ice on the inside of the windows, you could see your breath again. (It was -25 outside, with a wind chill putting it well into the -30s). Anyways, needless to say, not the most comfortable ride on a bus we've ever had. But, since a couple of families had blankets, and most of us had mittens, hats, and boots, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And, it made us appreciate more what the pioneers went through. Here we are complaining about a bit of cold, think of what others had to do!

We finally got to Cardston after 11. Dropped the youth off, unloaded at the church, and the adults went back. That left Jordan and I in charge of 9 kids. I had brought some basketballs and beach balls, cars, little animals, and coloring stuff. They pretty much just entertained themselves.

In a few hours, everyone came back, and we had "lunch". (It was about 3 by this time.) We had 6-foot subway sandwiches and soups. A week ago when they were planning the trip, Mike kept saying that we needed soup. Everyone thought, "well, if the Bishop REALLY wants it, then let's try to find a way to have soup." However, after freezing on the trip, and not really warming up at the temple/church, we were all excited to have soup!

But, the best news of all - a different bus company, with buses with heaters, for the ride home! What a different trip that was! Mike put on the Polar Express (which one of the men joked about - we don't want to watch that, we've already lived it!), and we all fell asleep, nice and warm.

I have become my mother...

Or at least inherited her driving skills!

So, it has been REALLY cold here. Cold enough that our garage door won't open on it's own, and you need to push it to get it to go up.

On Saturday night, I was coming home from Jordan's gymnastics competition. I was really tired, and got to the house, and of course the door wouldn't open. So, I pulled up to the garage door, got out, pushed the button, and started to push the door up. All of a sudden, I can hear Jordan yelling. I turn around, to see the van inching towards me! Guess it wasn't in park! And, I'm on the wrong side of the van, so I can't just jump in and shift into park.

So, instead I turn around and push the door faster, because the van's only inches away, and not stopping. I got it up (mostly), and then with my usual great reaction in times of stress, I decide that I need to stop the van. So, I get in front, trying to stop it from crashing in to the front of the garage, and I think at the same time trying to get to the driver's side to get inside, and yelling to Jordan to try and put it in park (I didn't want to tell him to put on the brake, in case he got the gas instead.) With all the commotion, Mike heard us, and came out, just as the van came to a stop, with me between it and the wall, and without hitting anything else, except an old card table that's been out there forever, and isn't a big loss!

Jordan told me later that I reminded him of "Mr Incredible", stopping the van.

Anyways, I guess running into garage doors must be inherited. And, it's always nice to do something totally embarrassing in front of the family!

On top of that, my mixmaster and my cell phone died this weekend too, it's freezing cold, there's tons of snow, I'm not done my Christmas shopping, and Jordan had the stomach flu yesterday.

On the positive side, we've done some fun things this weekend. We had our ward Christmas dinner and family dance on Friday, we had the Bishopric and Relief Society president and families for dinner yesterday, and had a big food hamper/Christmas carolling/ eating treats Family Home Evening with about 40 people tonight.

Dinner Philosophy

Next week, my team at work is going out for lunch. I thought I'd check the website, and saw that they have a philosophy statement:

So, I decided that my kitchen needs a philosophy too:

Nice timing!

Last week, I decided that I really needed to clean the carpets. It took me almost all week...

Monday: just thought about clean carpets
Tuesday: cleaned up toys, moved stuff off carpet
Wednesday: ready to clean! Thought I'd clean while Troy slept, but he fell asleep in the middle of the living room, and I didn't want to wake him
Thursday: went in to work
Friday: finally did first pass - with Troy following me around. It's difficult to vacuum even, because he's fascinated by the big noisy machines
Saturday: pass # 2


Sunday: Troy gets stomach flu
Monday: Now Katie has it too

What are the chances that my carpets will stay clean as this goes through the family???

Plumbing

There is nothing that makes me feel like an incompetent home owner more than plumbing problems. (Think of the plumber stereotype - shouldn't I be able to solve problems I would call a plumber for?)

Anyways, yesterday, between taking care of sick Troy, putting up the tree, and shoveling out of a month's worth of snow, I noticed that the dishwasher was backflowing into the sink. We've been having problems off and on for a while, with a smell in the basement when the dishwasher runs, but I guess it's getting worse.

So, today I've tried Liquid Plumber, Drano, and snaking the sink myself. No change. But, one side note, Troy grabbed the end of the snake and was ready to lick it, before I caught him. YUCK!

I've given up, and called a friend who's a plumber, so hopefully we can get it fixed.

Busy Weekend

This weekend, I've had a bunch of moments where I thought "I need to put that on my blog", but it's been so busy, I didn't get a chance. Now I'll probably forget some of them...

Friday, Luke & Katie had basketball. I usually don't like going to watch basketball, but this year has been pretty fun. I think that's a combination of having friends playing on the same team, so I have parents to talk to, Luke is pretty good this year, so I can cheer for someone scoring baskets, Katie is new to basketball, and seems so small out there so is funny to watch, and Troy loves being in the gym, bouncing basketballs on the sidelines. Katie was really funny this week. She was really distracted by the other kids practicing. Her coaches would give an explanation of a drill they were going to do, and you could tell by watching her that she wasn't listening at all. Then, when it was her turn, they'd have to call her a couple of times, because she'd be looking around the gym.

The worst part about basketball this year - there's a kid named Jeremiah on the team, so I go home singing "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" each week.

After basketball, I stopped by the University to pick up Jordan, and then we headed out to Janine's for her Christmas party. I made sure not to eat dinner, so I could eat all her good treats! I chatted with some people, and tried to keep Troy out of trouble. He really liked the fact that he could reach food on the table (although I don't think he could see it, he could just reach up and get whatever was on the edge.)

Saturday was a crazy day. Brent was competing in his first track meet and last wrestling meet of the season. Luckily, they were both in the Jack Simpson gym at the university. Luke also had gymnastics right next door, so got to hang out with us the rest of the day. I was worried that Brent might have to run and wrestle at the same time, but it all worked out ok. Luckily, both meets were really well organized. Track meets are amazing. They tell you what time you will be running your races, and run really close to the schedule. The only conflict was at the medal handouts for wrestling. Brent was running his last race, so Luke went to get his medal (silver). He got to stand on the podium!

On Saturday night, I finally went to buy a Christmas tree, to buy the fake one that died on us last year. It was time for that one to go, it had been knocked over one too many times, and was really crooked as a result. No one was too upset when it finally fell apart when we took it apart last year. I found a tree that I really liked at Rona. I almost bought it the other day, but couldn't find anyone to help me load it in a cart, and was carrying Troy at the time, so couldn't do it myself. But, while I was waiting at Customer Service forever, I noticed a pamphlet about customer appreciation on Saturday, where they were giving out $10 gift cards, for every $100 spent. So, lucky I had bad customer service, so I could save $$$ on my tree.

Sunday morning started out good, at about 10:30 everyone was almost ready for church, just needed the last minute things like shoes and ties. Then, I realized that it was really snowing out, which means that Brent was supposed to be at the church - NOW - to shovel snow. So, I tried hurrying everyone up, then got out to the van and found out that the roads were slippery (of course), and traffic was slow, so we didn't get there until 5 or 10 minutes before church. On the way, I told the kids - in my ideal world, the young men's leader would think "Look, it's snowing, and Sis. Bester's at home getting 5 kids ready for church, I bet she can't suddenly get everyone ready 1/2 hour early, I'll give her a call and pick up Brent to come do the sidewalks." Didn't happen, but I can always hope!

Things went well until the end of my primary class. I had a bunch of visitors, so had about 6 or 7 kids in my class. They were all great kids, listening, answering questions. I had just set them up to play a game, when Troy made a funny noise, and started puking! Not just little baby spit up, but big time stomach flu hurling! I didn't want to have to clean carpets for the next hour, so I sacrificed his blanket, to catch what he didn't get all over his clothes. I got the kids to open the windows, and move to back of the room, then noticed that we only had five minutes left, so sent them back early to the primary room. Then, I used wipes to clean Troy, and the floor, and stripped him down to his diaper! Then, I went to the primary room, where most of the junior primary was in the hallway, and caused a big scene while the kids all yelled "He's naked!", and wrapped him in Luke's jacket. Thanks Luke!

Of course, this would be the only week that I didn't bring a backup outfit to church. Also, we made the kids clean out the van, so no extra blankets or clothes in there. Luckily, they didn't do the best job ever, so they missed Katie's T-shirt. So, Troy had something to wear for the rest of Church. (Nothing but your T-shirt on... sorry if you know this song, now it can be in your head, better than Jeremiah). Anyways, by this time, with the weather, I decided there wasn't enough time to go home with Troy, so I went to the last part of our Visiting Teaching Conference. The cool part was Mike was there to give a message from the Bishop, so I got to sit with him.

After church, we set up the new tree, and then decorated it. It looks great.

Christmas Lights

There's usually one nice weekend at the start of December, when everyone puts up their Christmas lights - except us. Usually, we have something going on, so miss out, and end up out there in the freezing cold trying to put up lights.

BUT, this year, I managed to put the lights up on the nice weekend! Most of the kids didn't have school today, so Jordan and I put the lights up this afternoon. It was so nice out, that I actually had shorts on! And, the best news is that it's supposed to snow tonight, so it was perfect timing.

The only drawback is that when I do the lights, they don't look as good as when other people (Mike, Dad, my neighbors...) do them.

Uncle Yoda?

I was taking pictures this weekend, and accidentally got this funny one...

Growing up too fast

We were driving, and Katie said "I need to have a makeover - so I can be a hottie." She is growing up way too fast! Luckily, the next moment we drove past some Christmas lights, which distracted her from that line of thought. She mumbled something about her "lame clothes" before moving on to "Oh! Christmas lights!" Still a bit of the little girl left (although she will be 6 tomorrow!)

Walking stories

One more thing - for some funny stories about or during my walks with my sister, check out her blog. Also, she has an update on where we have gone, and how far it has been. I have a link to her blog on my main page. (Also, her blog is pretty funny!)

New Couch Potato

Ok, not one of my most stellar parenting moments. Troy usually naps in the morning, but didn't fall asleep until about 10:30, and then was woken by the doorbell just after 11. So, he was grumpy, and trying to get in to my computer, which was driving me crazy.

So, I turned on Sesame Street. Now, he's happy, sitting watching TV, holding the remote!

This reminds me of a story about Brent. I remember when he was a toddler, maybe about 3? I was tired of watching the same old kid movies, and thought maybe I'd introduce him to a new show - Star Wars. Little did I know how many times in the last decade I would have to watch those movies, hear kids playing that they are Jedis, etc. Had I known, I might have watched the "kid shows" a few more times...

New Shape

Yesterday, after school, Katie told me she learned a new shape at school, the "sha-la-la-la-la-lagram".

Much better name than the conventional "parallelogram".

40s

For my birthday, Mike decided he wanted to get me 40 of different things, over a bunch of days. (As a side effect, that I'm sure he didn't plan, I am realizing that 40 is a big number!)

So, the first day, he brought me 40 rockets (as in the candies, not space shuttles). Those are one of my very favorite candies!

Next, 40 quarters, since I'm always complaining that he rolls our spare change and brings it to the bank, then I can't find change for parking at gymnastics and work.

Next was 40 Wagonwheels (once again, the food kind, not to put on wagons). This was a huge hit with the kids!

Finally, 40 kisses (Hershey's ... minus a few that he needed to stay away on the trip home from Lethbridge)

It's been pretty fun so far, but I'm noticing a food theme. The final present may be 40 extra pounds that I put on!

Good day

Yesterday, the kids surprised me with a birthday present! Brent asked me if he could buy lunch yesterday instead of on Wednesdays, like he usually does. I didn't think anything of it, just thought it was good that he checks in with me. Well, it turns out that he went over to the mall during his lunch hour, with some of his money and some of Jordan's, and bought me a some African violets and a card. Then, he had to put them in his locker in the afternoon, and bring them to wrestling practice, and home on the bus, sneak in to the house and hide them. Then, without me noticing, he took the kids one by one to sign the card, and then they gave it to me. I was totally surprised, and amazed at the effort that they put in to getting me a present.

If you read this - thanks again kids!

On another topic, Jordan was home sick, so Janine and I didn't go walking. Unfortunately, this is what I spent my time doing instead:

Going to need to do extra walking this week!

I'm OLD!

Well, today's a sad day, I'm turning 40! (Or, thirty-ten, as I think I'd prefer to say)

Here's a few scary numbers:

40 years old is actually 14610 days!

If I slept 8 hours a day (and of course, that's never a problem, no interruptions in the night here!), I have slept 13 years by now!

And, if I had 3 meals a day, that's 43,830 meals. I've probably cooked at least 20000 meals! So, why am I not better at cooking by now?

Also, I've been around for 2080 Sundays - about 1000 of them spent in the nursery at church.

Finally, if you add my kids ages together (well, the age that they'll be by the end of November), it adds up to 39. So, my age is greater than 5 kids added together!

New Calling

Just thought I should put on here that Mike got a new calling - Bishop of our ward! However, this won't be news to anyone who reads this, since I think Janine is the only one. Hmmm... maybe I should let other people know I have a blog, but then I'd have to do something exciting every day, and then write about it, and be funny...

Anyways, it was a pretty stressful weekend. We met with the Stake Presidency on Thursday night, Mike was supposed to let them know on Friday who he would like to call as counsellors, and then he was sustained and ordained as Bishop on Sunday.

It has taken me until today to stop giggling everytime that I hear "Bishop Bester". It must seem even funnier to Mike!

Not Walking ...

So, Janine's away this week, and my original plan was that I would still walk while she was gone. The plan was to head out from my house through Edgemont, and then go as far as I could. It's a great walk, at least the part I've done before, uphill at first, then downhill on the way home, and through a valley. I thought the trees would be really nice this time of year. However, it hasn't really worked out, proving that I need someone else to motivate me to get out! On Friday, I painted the deck instead of walking. On Monday, I drove Mike's brother John and Rena to the airport, and then went shopping for Halloween costumes, since I was half way to Value Village already. (And, Monday's not a regular walking day, so it was ok...)

On Tuesday, I had to get groceries, since it was 10% off day, and I finally remembered to time my shopping right. Then, Mike was home, so I was going to see if I could get him to walk in the afternoon. But, right at lunch time a huge storm came from no where, with wind warnings. So, that was obviously enough reason to stay home!

By yesterday, I was totally out of the habit of walking, didn't even need excuses! I walked the kids to school and walked back, and then it was TOO COLD to consider going further. What am I going to do when it actually gets cold here? It already seems to cold, and it's only October.

But, on the bright side, I'm having a lot of fun with my new pedometer. I walked a couple of kms grocery shopping, and on one day when I had to bring A LOT of laundry up from the basement, and put it all away, I walked about 1 1/2 kms doing that!

Painting the deck

Yay!!! I have finished staining the deck! This has been about a month long project, it seems. First, one of the boards on the deck broke, so I had to figure out how to cut off the broken end, get another board, cut it to the right size (with the feeble tools we have), and get it in there. That part only took a couple of days (an hour here or there), but the new board's a bit crooked!

Next, old stain removal. First, I power washed it, then I used a chemical stain remover, because I thought I needed to get more off. Of course, after you wash it or use chemicals, then you need to dry it out again. Plus, there were some rainy days, and some busy days. So, I think it was a couple of weeks between cleaning it to actually getting a chance to stain the deck.

Then, the challenge of staining with a baby around. I had to wait until he was sleeping, so really only got an hour or two a day. Plus, for some unknown reason, we have blue stain on the deck surface and part of the railings, and the other part of the railings is white, which means a long process of painting in one color, then taping, and painting the other color.

I tried doing a bit of work with Troy around, even brought his toys and the play tent outside, but everything only worked for about 10 minutes, then he would climb over and hold on to the deck and stand up. But, on Friday, everyone was away for the day, Janine was away, so no walking, and Troy slept for a couple of hours. I was able to get a second coat on pretty much everything!

So, if you come visit me in the next while, tell me how nice my deck looks, even if you are lying to me!

Crawling

It's funny how you look forward to new milestones with your kids, and then a while later, you wonder why you were excited for that to happen. For example, in our life right now, Troy knowing how to crawl is one of those mixed blessings. He was really frustrated before he figured it out, because he couldn't get to stuff that he wanted to get to. Now, he's happier, but I'm more frustrated!

And, I'm amazed at how much he can reach, when he's what, 2 feet tall? Does he have gorilla arms, that let him extend his reach by a few feet?

Troy's favorites:
- climbing on to the fireplace mantle, and pretty much right in to the fireplace (which Mike had the foresight to vacuum out), chew on the wood pieces
- climb right over the boxes blocking the stairs, and go up. Big belly laughs if you run up the stairs to get him
- hold on to any surface taller than he is (tables, desks, etc), then put his hands up, and grab anything that isn't far enough back - and his reach seems to get better daily
- climb into the lazy susan in the kitchen, where the chocolate chips are

Obsessions

Last week, Janine and I went for a walk together (with Will and Troy). As we were walking, we somehow started to talk about a book that we had both read (without knowing that we'd both read it). Janine knows the title and the author, I just remember that it was about a guy who decided to walk the Appalacian Trail (no idea how to spell that.) Anyways, he would hike parts, then go home, and then come back to another part of the trail, and hike that. We decided to do a similar "trek" here in Calgary. We decided to walk the "Bow River Pathway", a bit at a time.

However, I realized this week that we are really more alike than I sometimes think we are. We have sent more emails back and forth, and called each other, this week, than in the last couple of months. And the topic of them all - where to walk next, how far can we make it, how many days will it take us to make it from where we are now to the end in the south (and what path to take), then which path north, and how long will that take .... But, it's lots of fun! So far, we've only walked 2 days so far, from the zoo to past Beaver Dam Flats. Tomorrow we are meeting at Carburn Park, going north to where we stopped last time, then heading south till we run out of time.

But, the bad news is, Janine's going away for a while after that - so the hike will be delayed until she's back!

Babies and Soccer

Usually, I am a bigger supporter of breast feeding. (Can I say that, or will my blog now be stopped by family-friendly web filters...?) Nursing a baby is usually way more convenient than having to mix up bottles.

However, last night, as I was sitting on yet another RAINY soccer field, and Troy started crying, I was not such a big fan anymore. There is just no possible way to not feel a little bit chilly, no matter how many blankets that you have on top of you to keep off the wind and rain. Then, adding extra wind up your back as you try to move around to make the baby comfortable just makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

I think the worst part is that I feed Troy right before we leave the house on soccer nights. But he has figured out that under all those blankets is the best place to be, so he now cries as soon as I get settled in to my soccer chair. Oh well, I do have to admit that once he's asleep, having him cuddled up next to me, with all the blankets does keep me warm for the last part of the game. AND, only 2 1/2 more weeks!

Why stop a tradition?

How sad is this. Troy just started "real" food about a week ago. So, last night we were out, and stopped by Arby's. Troy was getting noisy, so I gave him french fries to chew on. Then, I realized that I think that for all of my kids, I think their first "finger food" was french fries! However, we broke with tradition a bit, since they weren't McDonalds fries.

That also made me think of another sad commentary on our lives. I think that for all of the kids, before we even get home from the hospital, we stop by the McDonalds drive thru. Is it any wonder I need to be on a diet?

Brent is going on a school trip to Quebec and Ontario tomorrow. While I was working on making a couple of MP3 discs for him, I looked up Janine's blog. When I tried to add a comment to hers, it turns out I have a blog that I started years ago! Funny enough, just this week I was thinking about how fun it is to start things, but not always to keep them going. If you were to look at my journal, you would notice that I write consistently for a short period of time, a couple of weeks or so, and then stop for a year. Apparently it doesn't matter whether it's online or on paper, the same thing happens.