Mommean

That's what Troy calls me. I'm hoping it's a speech problem, and not a reflection on my behaviour around the house! So far the rest of the kids aren't copying him....

Fudge & Literacy

Yesterday, Katie and I made some fudge, for Christmas presents. Then, she "cleaned out" the pot, and the marshmallow cream jar. It reminded me of the time that Janine came to visit when I first moved to Calgary, and we made fudge and drank Kool-Aid, and were so wired after!

Totally unrelated, I have been reading more, and it's all due to Troy. He has figured out that I'll let him watch movies (Dora & Diego lately) while I read at night. So any time I say it's time for bed, he finds the book I'm currently reading and brings it to me, saying "Read book! Read book!"

2010 Most Fascinating

I was driving with Brent this morning, and heard about Barbara Walter's 10 most fascinating people of 2010. So, here's the conversation we had:

Me: I can't believe I didn't make that list. At least I know I'm on your top 10 list...

Brent: Well, there are so many people in my family, you know, someone can't make the top 10...

Silence

Me: Well, at least I know I make your list of top 10 people you can't get along without.

Brent (realizing he's depending on me driving him at the moment through falling snow and -15C weather): Yep, you're #1 on that list!

Career for Troy

In desperation, I tried telling Troy today that Monster Truck drivers can't wear diapers. No luck, he still isn't interested in any changes!

So, I've decided that he'll need to be an astronaut, since they wear diapers in space.

Driving again

Before the snow came, Brent & I were doing a lot of driving together. Most of the time I put the radio on (because I know it will be on when he's driving on his own), or have the other kids in the van, so it's never quiet.

One time when it was just Brent & I, listening to something he really likes, I noticed him loosely holding on to the steering wheel, while beating out the rhythm with his fingers. Moral of the story: Never teach a drummer how to drive!

TV weekend

This weekend we got a new TV, my gift from my company for hitting 20 YEARS!!!

So to celebrate, we decided pretty much to run the TV all weekend it seems. The boys invited over all the 12-16 year old boys in our ward over and had a Star Wars marathon. They started around 3:30 on Friday, and watched movies, with a few breaks (like for pizza, and for setting up speakers for better sound), and watched the first 4 movies until sometime in the early morning. Maybe around 1:30 or 2:30, I don't know, I was fast asleep by then. Then, they got up, had breakfast, and started the last 2 movies around 9:30, and watched until 2.

Funny enough, because we hadn't really planned the party beforehand, it just sort of happened, I didn't go out grocery shopping to stock up on treats for all those boys. But, we ended up having plenty of food. I discovered that if I ever need to live off our food storage, we'll all probably get rickets or something because there's nothing healthy here, but we'll have enough party food to keep going for a year at least!

I am full of energy

So, last week I read parts of "The Secret", and one of the things I read was that the words you use or thoughts you think bring things to you. And, if you say the negative of something (like I won't be late), all your brain hears is the thing (so you will be late.)

I decided that I'd test it out. I decided that every time I felt tired, or wanted a nap, I'd say "I am full of energy." Needless to say, thanks to Seminary and night owl kids, I say this a lot now!

But, funny enough, it seems to be working. Usually I'm exhausted by 9:30, but keep going for a while anyways, but for the last couple of days, I'm not even tired at 11, but make myself go to bed, and have a great sleep. And, I'm still getting up at about 5:15! I don't know if it's really working, but I'm going to keep it up!

The only drawback - Troy must have read the book. He is even more full of energy than I am!

Weekend

Even though Katie's birthday is more than a month away, we had her birthday party on Saturday. In retrospect, I'm glad we did it, since we were able to send the kids outside for most of the party. Now that the ground is covered with snow, I remember that winter parties at home with an unfinished basement with a pit in it are not fun!

For her party, she wanted to "travel around the world". So, we had a few snacks from different places (egg rolls, taquitos, plantain chips), plus pizza. (Oh, and we had chocolate eclairs from France too, but forgot to serve them, but they didn't last long once the family found them...) Then, they played games from different parts of the world. We "traveled" to San Francisco to tie-dye, Britain to play "British bulldog", Mexico for a pinata, and China, to pop red balloons with prizes in them, and have a marshmallow-chopstick race, and a bunch more places. Katie tells me the highlight was going to Transylvania, where we did a Spook Alley, where you have to touch "body parts" under a cloth on the table. I think she had 9 kids here, plus the ones who live here, from 2:30 - 7, so it was fun but exhausting!

The only part that didn't go smoothly - ordering pizza for dinner. I ordered online at Pizza 73, at 4, thinking we could eat around 5. I waited until 5:20, and called to see what was up with the order. They told me they called to confirm, we didn't answer, so they CANCELLED it! I had already checked my call display, no calls! So, I told them I had a party of 8 year olds, and still needed the pizza. They said they'd send it out quickly! 1/2 hour later it was here, but the wrong order! By now, it was 6, and I didn't have any time left to wait for them to straighten it all out, so I paid and fed the kids, then called to complain. I think they sent out an old order we placed in the summer, luckily on a day when a bunch of people were over. So, we ended up ordering 6 pizzas, then getting 2 more sent out plus 40 wings. (But, these didn't come until after the party...) So, that's all we've been eating here since then.

Then, about 1/2 hour after everyone left, Troy woke up, came in to the kitchen, at a bit of pizza and had bright pink pop, then threw up all over the table! Thank goodness that didn't happen until after the party!

For more craziness, once we had Troy and the kitchen cleaned up, it was 7:50, and Brent was going to the church dance that night. Most of the costumes we have here are small, or pretty lame, so I took him to buy a costume. Managed to get to WalMart, find a costume, get back, get him ready, and pick up his friends by 8:30.

On Sunday, the 4 biggest kids sang in Sacrament meeting. They haven't ever done this before, so I was worried about how it might turn out. Plus, they were singing "Love is Spoken Here", which we sing together all the time, but just a few days ago we decided to practice with the piano, and realized that we always sing much lower than the actual song, so had to transpose it for the pianist. Anyways, I didn't need to worry so much, they were great! Each of them had a small solo, and they blended their voices great when they sang together.

Sunday night, we had Dessert Sunday at our house. We had 5 families over, and ate tons of sugar! I think I'll vary my pizza diet today, by adding in leftover Trifle.

Random Thoughts

Here are a couple of funny conversations Brent & I had the other day.

1. How awful would the job of "nose piercer" be? And, if they sneeze, are you allowed to take the rest of the day off?

2. We were passing by a hockey arena the other day, with one of the football buddies, and he was surprised to see snow. So, I told him that when they zamboni the ice, they dump the scraped off ice outside, so you will see snow even in the summer. Then, yesterday when we were passing by, the mountain of snow had a couple of piles of dirt beside it, so I was wondering if they used the zamboni in the change rooms.

Jobs I can't do

It's amazing how many things I try each week, and discover I am no good at them! Here's a list of things I've recently learned no one would hire me to do:

- Driving Instructor (see last post)
- French Pastry chef (tried Napoleans, didn't really work)
- Maid (no explanation needed)
- Nutritionist (just made carmel popcorn for lunch)
- Personal Trainer (the boys don't really like my pointers when I watch their sports)
- Orgami maker (Ok, that's not a real job I'm sure, but I did some orgami with sister in laws this weekend, and I was doing really good until the last steps, when I decided to do it my own way...)
- Financial Planner (had someone over last night to show us some stuff, my organized paperwork is from 2008, don't even remember if I have life insurance)

Get your heart racing!

Well, I've found a sure-fire way to be completely awake in the morning. I've been letting Brent drive to Seminary! Today I was much better, no gripping the door in fear, grabbing the steering wheel or screaming in terror! But still, it's amazing how much smaller the streets seem, and how much more traffic there seems to be when I'm seeing it all from the passenger seat. But, if Brent can survive driving me, he'll be able to take anything that comes!

Thanksgiving

We had a great weekend. Like usual, we went down to Lethbridge for Thanksgiving.

First, we stopped by Okotoks, for Luke's football game. It's the first time that the whole family has gone to one of his games. That was fun to watch, especially since it was a warm evening. Troy, Katie, and I did laps around the track before the game, and Mike, Brent & Jordan tossed around a football. Then, after the game, we headed to McDonalds, for the traditional "Monopoly meal", and drove down to Lethbridge.

On Saturday morning, Mike & I went to the temple, and the kids stayed in the hotel, eating breakfast and watching tv. Then, we went over to the Fabros. The kids played outside most of the day, we had steak for dinner, and then watched a movie on the "big screen" in the garage.

On Sunday, we went to church, then went for a walk to a playground, so they could clean our room. Then, we headed back over to the house, for turkey dinner, playing outside, and another movie.

That night, Katie slept over at Grandma & Grandpa's with her cousin Riley. So, Mike decided it was a boys night party, but I was allowed to stay. We got treats, and a movie (Sorcerer's Apprentice). We all climbed in to 2 beds, and watched the movie until 1 am! That was really fun. The only bad part - Troy fell asleep around 9, and for some reason woke up at 4, totally wired. He ran around the rooms and watched movies on my phone until he finally fell back to sleep at 6.

On Monday, we slept in, then went for lunch with family before heading home. We drove for a bit, then Mike decided he'd let Brent drive the "Granum road", that connects the highway out of Lethbridge to the highway in to Calgary. (Brent drove us a few times between the hotel and Grandma & Grandpa's house). So, Brent got to drive that road, then Mike decided to let him keep driving, all the way through Claresholm and to Nanton! Great job Brent!

What a week!

I feel like I have done all of my least favorite things this week!
- annual physical with doctor
- blood work at lab
- van broke down, had to take it to the mechanic
- had to take bus all day with Troy
- went to dentist for work to be done

Good thing there are some good things this week too.
- Troy loves going on buses, and we stopped by McDonalds
- all of the kids got haircuts, so look presentable (although this could go in the bad list, it costs a lot to get 5 haircuts)
- went to Edworthy Park with Janine, Will and Olivia
- going on a fieldtrip with Katie tomorrow (bad part is that it's at the Glenbow Museum, and I've done this particular field trip 3 times already, good part is she really wants me to come, and I love the rocks & minerals unit in grade 3 science)
- I'm only eating ice cream for the rest of the day, since I'm supposed to eat soft foods

Bob the Builder

I need to find Bob the Builder! I just watched a show where someone is moving to town with a bunch of cows, so they need to build the dairy before sundown so they can milk the cows. If we could get Bob to do the basement, it would only take about 10 minutes, and we wouldn't need to worry about planning, buying supplies, using tools (since they all do the work themselves), or scheduling.

Apparently, I'm boring

Or so Katie tells me. I've decided that in order to make sure that Katie knows some scripture stories, I will read from the Book of Mormon story book each morning, while Luke & Katie are eating breakfast. I thought it was going pretty well, until Katie drew this picture of us today:

On a side note, here's a picture for Janine, of Troy without out-of-control curly hair. Jordan hates the new look, as expected. I keep looking at him, and getting a surprise, because he looks a lot different.

Haircut

Apparently, haircuts are much more traumatic than flu shots. I just got back from taking Troy to get his hair cut, at Beaners. He got to sit in a car, and watch a movie, but still cried the whole time. There were some fast moving scissors, as the hairdresser tried to get us out of there quickly!



I'm guessing Troy's reaction is about the same as Coleman's will be, when he gets his hair cut one day!

Flu Shots

I finally had everyone healthy, and a bit of time, so I took part of the family for H1N1 shots yesterday. Mike was at work, and Brent was babysitting, but the rest all came with me.

Unlike everyone who went a month ago, I actually needed the line to be a bit longer! I had to fill out 5 forms, while holding a diaper bag, 5 health care cards, and keeping Troy from running away, since he wouldn't let anyone else near him, and walking in the line. It took me the whole time, and they didn't check our forms until we were at the door going in!

Everyone was really brave. Even Troy didn't cry, just sat there, looked a bit upset, and then went back to playing with Lightning McQueen.

Birthday Boy

Today is Troy's 2nd birthday! To celebrate, Luke, Katie and I took Troy to the zoo. (Mike had a class today, and Brent & Jordan were camping.) We had a lot of fun. Troy, who is still not really talking, learned a new word . . . Wow! So, we'd be standing looking at some kind of animal, and Troy would say Wow! Wow! Wow!

Tonight, we had a little celebration with everyone, which pretty much consisted of showing Troy his cake, blowing out the candles, and giving him his present - a foam "Lightning McQueen" chair.

Here's a picture of the cake and the birthday boy:

Family Craziness

Janine & David have both posted about their OCD tendencies. Janine counts things, and David finds the alphabet when he drives. I laughed at both posts, and thought, "Thank goodness I'm normal."

However, yesterday when I was unloading the dishwasher, I realized there's a bit of the OCD in me too. When I unload the silverware, I have to do it in "danger order". So, sharp knives first, then the butter knives, then the forks, then the big spoons, and finally the teaspoons. Luckily, I'm often spared this task now, as Troy likes to come, take them out, and then randomly throw them all on top of each other in the drawer.

Not a History Buff

I know that I must have studied WWII at some point in my schooling, and probably even got good grades. However, remarkably little of that info is still in my head apparently.

The other day, as I was driving somewhere with Luke, he started telling me all about what he had just learned about WWII. He said: There was a guy, and somehow he took over Germany, and then he wanted to take over the world. So, he invaded somewhere - either Portugal or Portland.

The saddest part was, all I could tell him was that it wasn't Portland! I didn't think Portugal sounded right, but I couldn't think of an alternative. (And yes, I do know now that he must have meant Poland.)