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.

A lesson on listening more closely to my children. Luke came downstairs, and I thought he told me he was "making the beds". I was quite surprised by that unusual streak of helpfulness. Later, when I went upstairs and saw all of the toys from the cupboard all over the floor, I realized he had been saying he was "making a mess".