End of Summer Top 5

Well, summer is officially almost over. There are yellow leaves on the trees already, we are busy thinking about back to school shopping, bussing schedules, and what to be for Halloween. My top 5 summer 2009 highlights are:

Seattle Sister Extravaganza: How fun to get together will all of the girls! We must do this at LEAST once every 2 years. Thank you for inspiring me to learn to run. My first goal is to do a 5K in summer of 2010. I have only gone out running a few times so far, as summer scheduling has been all over the place. But once we are into a good fall routine it will be much easier to keep up with it.

Colfax Cousin Camp: Letting the cousins play and get to know each other is priceless. It was so fun to hang out at Betina's beautiful home for a week. I hope that all of our kids - the unborn future ones included, will become good friends.

Disney Family Reunion: Of course Disneyland is the perfect place for a huge family reunion. They just know how to take care of families! Thank you Dad for the awesome holiday, everyone had so much fun. I finally got a chance to do the Indiana Jones ride, and scared myself silly on the Malibu Screamer.

Potty Training, Mina Style: Step one - put on panties. Step two - Throw away diapers. Mission complete. She rocks!

Tooth Fairy Visits: Abby lost 2 teeth this summer, one at Disneyland! She is growing up so much. I love this great girl!


PS: I discovered today that I have a lot of jam in my fridge.

• ED Smith triple berry
• Bonne Maman mixed fruit
• Smuckers Strawberry
• Smuckers seedless Raspberry
• Plum Jam
• Apricot Jam

That seems like a lot, but I keep trying new recipes, and they all need some specific jam.

On the topic of recipes... I am collecting the Christmas recipes this year. So please send me no less than 3 yummy recipes that you have been loving in 2009. Please have this to me by November 15th. Thank you, I will send out a e mail as well. And reminder e mails too.

About Mina

Two things about Mina this week...

I wish I could say that she is always well behaved, and would never think of running away from her family in public. However, that is not my daughter. She loves to run away, and sometimes just gets distracted and goes her own way. So, I have made a harness for her, to use while in Disneyland. Yes, I admit that I am going to tie my child to a leash. Please do not judge me, I am not a bad parent! Besides, she really likes it, and pretends to be a puppy.

Also, she has foiled my potty training "plans". I was going to think about doing it once Abby was back in school, but yesterday, she made the choice to start. She has been very successful so far! I am worried about DLand though, and the airplane ride. I am going to have to bring so many more clothes now. Sheesh! But I will not complain about it, because she is not showing the same difficulties that Abby did.

Colfax Cousin Camp!

This one is from the Appaloosa Horse Museum. It was a big highlight of Abby's holiday. They have a contest where you can buy a ticket and the prize is a real live Appaloosa horse! I am so happy that Abby did not see the poster about that, or she would have choose a ticket for the draw as her souvenir instead of the stuffed horse we brought home.
Mom loves having her picture taken, especially in front of tourist landmarks, like the World's Biggest Truck. Abby, not so much.
Here we are at the WSU Creamery eating ice cream. We were too late for the cheese making demonstration, but did get to buy a can of really yummy cheese to take home for Keith. I love ice cream. I think next time we should go more often to the creamery, so that I can try more of the yummy flavours!
Here are 2 kissing cousins. Sortly after this, Mina gave Ivy a hug, and Ivy fell backwards and rolled down the little slope behind her. Very cute.
2 Cow-girl cousins. The horse is Danny, and the girls had a really fun time with him. They even got to use the reins and direct him where to go. Pretty cool!

My only regret about this trip is that I did not bring a camera on the boat with us, when Betina's friend took us tubing. But it was really hot out, and therefore I was feeling like poop. So I did not even think about bringing it. I wish I had pictures of Eden and Abby together on the tube, and especially of mom after she was dunked upside-down under the water. Mina even took a turn on the tube, and she cried when her turn was over. She is such an adventurous little two-two!

Thank you Betina for showing us such a good time. We all really enjoyed ourselves and had a great trip. The girls are already asking when we can come again!

Some photographical updates

The main even this week: Abby lost her first tooth! She is overjoyed. I am a happy/sad. Another "growing up" sort of event that makes me feel all conflicted. Maybe that is why I am doing nothing about potty training Mina. I just don't want them to grow up so fast!
Getting pretty. Auntie Eve gave Abby a make up set and Abby loves it. She even shares it with Mina! wow. Thanks Auntie Eve. Sharing does not happen often around here these days!
Here is Abby's reaction when we (finally) told her about going to Disneyland this summer.
This was the day of Abby's 6th birthday party.
Mina often takes off all of her clothes for no reason at all, and then I find her places, carrying on with her naked life. When she does this in combination with a tantrum at the medicentre, that is when it is time to go home.
Here are my girls. Abby can be such a nice big sister. They are so cute together in one big bed. It is hard to spot them sometimes, there are at least 8 pillows and no less than 50 stuffies at a time....

Inspiration

Here at long last is a picture of the runners! Seattle was so much fun. We did not get even a drop of rain and the weather was great. We stayed downtown and there was lots to do. I think it would make a good family holiday spot! The energy and excitement of the marathon was very inspiring, and I have decided to learn to run so that one day I can cross the finish line with my sisters. Although not for a marathon! Those crazies all looked mostly dead, had ice packs cling-wrapped to every joint below their waists and were falling over. The 1/2 marathoners on the other hand looked happy, but tired out. It was quite a contrast. Anyway, I bought some over-priced shoes, and some walmart special shorts and an exercise shirt. I never ever in a million years thought that running would ever be something I would do, but I am going to give it a try. One day, I might get to run with my sisters. And I will also gain the skills to run away from a bear, if I ever need to.

Abby Soundbite

Today gramma is visiting.

Abby: Brings her Trilobite cast that she made in Drumheller for Gramma to see.
"Look Gramma!"

Gramma: "Oh, what a nice footprint".

A: "It's not a footprint."

G: "Is is a bug?"

A: Rolls eyes. "It is a TRILOBITE. It is a sea creature from the early cretaceous. (Stomps off sighing to herself), I'll go get the book and look it up for you..."

Later...

A: "Mum, isn't Gramma a teacher?"

Me: " Um, yes, but she teaches special ed." (Was that wrong of me to say??)

The Mother Weekend

Last weekend I sent to ye ole home town of Slave Lake, and visited my mom, along with 3 sisters. We had a lot of fun hanging out with mom, and she loved it. I think she gets really lonely up there. Eve made bread with mom, and did lots of scrubbing - but I think the crazy girl actually enjoys the scrubbing! I went for a nature walk with mom while all of the athletic types ran away from us, and we all went to the movie. My mom was surrounded by a whole row of us at the movie theater, instead of being by herself. I think it was the highlight of the weekend for her. We also gorged on orange slurpees. mmmm, and the campfire smores of course. I had a chance to visit with an old friend and it was so nice to see her! Although being around her kids made me miss mine. Definately bringing the family up there next time. We even cruised mainstreet in her '68 Camaro. Being inside that car makes even a 30 something mom with the mom ponytail and a sinus infection feel cool. I think that might have been the highlight of my weekend. The weather was beautiful, and of course being in SL in the summertime always makes me want to move back. I miss the nature, the open spaces and well, the non citiness of it. ( All the things I hated as a teenager...) The black preacher at the old IGA, the small town gossip at the health store coffee shop, picking up mail at the PO, the REX, Tags, the deer and coyote sightings, the horses and cows, the quads and boats, the lake, seeing more of the stars. You can just, breathe, there. I think when I am done educating myself, we are going to have to seriously consider a move back to nature.

The Best

The best $13 I have spent this week:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090323.wStyle0323/BNStory/lifeStyle/home

Did that show a picture? Or just a link? I am so not good at this...

Anyhow, this cheese grater like device has transformed my hideous heels from revolting to almost normal. I know that I am not the only sister with hideous heels, so if you want to try something new, other than moving to the perfect climate of California, try this! It is kind of gross really, to think about grating off the dead dry cracked skin, and emptying the old skin make me want to barf. But the results are amazing. Do try it.

Up Up and Away

My girls are growing up. Mina has made the big leap out of her crib. She began climbing out of it, with Abby's instruction, of course. Although it was quite a fun game for her, it meant the taking away of the crib, the last piece of bona fide baby furniture we have around. Sniff. So now Mina and Abby share not only a bedroom, but also a bed. They snuggle up together in Auntie Nunu's old double sized bed, and it is the cutest most heart warming thing to see my 2 little girls cuddled up amongst no fewer than 37 stuffies. I was a little worried about how this new arrangement would work out, but after a few late nights of the 2 of them playing and being very silly until 2 hours past bedtime, they are settling in well.

Abby choose to get a hair cut. She wanted shorter hair, just below her ears, with bangs. All that hard work to grow them out for 18 months, and she wanted bangs. So even though I really really did not want her to have bangs, I remembered what it was like when I was little and was absolutley not permitted to bring a pair of scissors near my hair, and forced to emulate Laura Ingalls. So now Abby has bangs and short hair and is still very beautiful. And I feel good because I made a good mother choice and let Abby choose her own hair style. I hope it makes up for my not so stellar moments this week...

Random Tuesday thoughts.

• I have a grey hair. At first it just had a weird texture, but even with Paul Mitchell moisturizing shampoo, it did not soften up. It just turned grey. I hope it is a "one of" event. I am not a fan of hair dye, but will try it if this gets out of control.
  
• I like the commemorative Olympic glassware from the gas station. Weird, I know, but for some reason I get really excited about the winter Olympics, and next year they are in Canada! Very exciting. Time for the deeply buried hockey fan in me to come out and cheer for my country. I think it weirds Keith out a bit when I become a sports fan every 6 years. And I admit that I like watching figure skaters fall down.
  
• When I was in grade 12, I ate a lot of m&m's. Usually in Mrs. Walstrom's Social 30 class. But after opening each package, I would chart how many of each colour were in each bag. By the end of the year, I could pretty accurately predict what would be in each bag. I made pie charts about it too. (DORK!!) I wish I still had the data.
  

Been Awhile...

Once again, it has been a while. All is well here, in the N household. Here are some tidbits about what our family is up too.

Abby: Loves to watch infomercials. She is very convinced that we need the Turbojam, Snuggie, Rapid Wave oven, and Oxyclean. She will bring up these, and other, products in conversation. "If we had Oxyclean, maybe that stain would have come out mom." "Did you know that the Snuggies comes with 2 free booklights, and you can get it in 3 different colours? It is a good deal if we order it now, and not wait! Then it would be more expensive".

Mina: Loves Abby's things. The moment Ab's bus rolls away for school, Mina heads over the their room, I hear her dragging the step stool over to the dresser, and she plays quietly. Then she comes out with armfuls of Abbys "specials". Snowglobes, paper umbrellas, seashells, horses. She treats them with a quiet reverence and it is so cute, that I, as a younger sibling myself, cannot help but allow her to do it. And she always puts things back before Abby gets home.

Keith: His wacky boss is coming back from India, where he has been at a spiritual healing retreat for the past month. Who knows what the return may mean, hopefully the experience has calmed his inner demons. Or whatever new agey term you are supposed to call them. Perhaps he will start eating cooked food again. Or he might just get some stronger crystals to hang in the windows of the office.

Me: Keith bought me a Crohn's cookbook. It is so validating. It says things like: Do not use whole wheat flour when you are unwell. When trying to gain weight, use butter instead. Try adding chocolate syrup for added calories. Recipes are tagged as" higher fat choice", "low fibre", "high protein" and so on. It is really quite interesting to see all of the foods that I cannot eat right there on a list - it made me feel like I am not imagining all of this, and there is good reason that I don't like those foods.

I have also realized that I really do not like my job. It is not the location, which is a bit far, or the employer, who is a passive agressive meanie a lot of the time, or the hours that keep me up way too late. It has more to do with the fact that is is not interesting, challenging or fun in any way. It is boring. I have been doing it for way too long. I cannot wait to be back in school, learning and doing new and interesting things.

And so it is February

Ahh, February. The coldest month of the year, so it seems. We are all so tired of winter. What am I doing in this climate anyway? Why aren't I living somewhere warmer, closer to a sister or 2? I judge how cold it is by how hard it is to open and close the door, and whether the deadbolt will actually turn. I spend 20 minutes getting me and the girls dressed so that we can go and wait for the bus for 3 minutes. I am afraid to roll down my car window at the drive thru in case the plastic handle snaps. We eat cheese and crackers for dinner because it is just to cold to make the trip for groceries. It has been -20 degrees for the last 3 weeks, which admittedly is better than the -30 it was before that, but I am tired of being cold, and even though my long johns are a gift from God, I am tired of wearing them! Even my eyelids are now plagued with dry flaky skin. Gross. The only bright spot is that it will be my birthday, and I will have an excuse to make a cake! On which I will remember to place candles for Mom and Bunn Bunn, the far away members of the February club.

In other news, the kids are doing well. Abby is in the "learn to read" program in kindergarten, and is finding it too easy. She rolls her eyes when it is time to do home reading, and reads the books upside down to try and challenge herself. Lucking student confrence night is tonight, so hopefully we can convince the teacher to send home better books for her.

Mina talks so well now, in full and well put together sentences. She likes to tell stories about things that she has seen or done. Like the dog who was sniffing another dogs poop at the bus stop, or when she was playing with Uncle Dan and bumped her head on the fan. She also likes to identify people, and strangers by whether they are boys or girls, and if they have have a penis or a "gina". So cute... I think.

Well, I am braving the trip to the grocery store, where I will procure supplies. I am trying PW's-friend's parmesan chicken this week. It looks so good!

My "calling"

My job, or "calling" at church is as a primary teacher. I love it. I teach 4 yr olds, and they are very sweet and wonderful. It is so neat to get to know other people's children. But, some things about it bug me. I have one little guy, let's call him "Jimmy". He's a bit different than the others. He does not like to clap his hands when the others do, he likes to sit under his chair sometimes. He is the kind of kid that might get medicated, if a public school teacher has her way. The kind of kid who I was warned about: "Good luck with Jimmy this year, he can be a handful". "So, how are you going to deal with Jimmy this year?" Well I'll tell you. If Jimmy does not want to clap his hands, colour the picture or sit on TOP of his chair, that is fine with me! Let Jimmy do what he wants to! He is fine under his chair, not clapping along. He is happy and comfortable there. Jimmy is sweet and adorable, and he enjoys coming to my class and I am happy to have him here. He is much easier to have in class than "Jack", who is a spoiled know it all, talks out of turn, and always wants to be first. And Jack, claps to ALL the songs.

And as a side note, the most disgusting thing I have seen in a long time is the microphone in the primary room. It's mesh covering is filled with bits of food and drippy saliva. If I ever have to speak into that microphone, I just might throw up.

Welcome

Welcome to little Georgia Ann. She is my newest niece and I can't wait to meet her, of course. However, the whole having a baby thing (not only me, but other people too), just gets me so worked up. How am I ever going to be an effective midwife or LD nurse when I melt into tears and gratitude everytime I read a birth story, see pictures of a new mom, dad and baby, let alone getting to be there as part of that incredible journey? My face will forever be red and puffy, you know how it gets when I cry. Like it is right now, because I just read Georgia's story, and even though I heard about it firsthand already, I sit here crying. Abby just asked me "Mom, are you thinking about new babies again?" Sometimes she catches me sitting on the couch watching those birth TV shows with a box of kleenex in hand. I only do it on very early mornings, when Keith is at work (heaven forbid he see me that way - he might think I want another), and Abby and Mina are still asleep, and I am awake usually because of the cat. So anyway. I am going to have to find some coping mechanisms.

Not a Creature was stirring...

Well, Christmas is upon is. And my family (siblings and parents) are all away, at Betina's house. Well, except for Eve and Sean. So at least I am not alone in my lonely-ness. I thought I would be okay with having a quiet Christmas, and probably I still will, but when I read Betina's' blog, and think about how much fun it is to be all together, I wish I was there. I don't even want to call there, because that would make me miss it even more. But it was not going to happen - Keith and I both have to work today, so that would have left us 1 day to get there. Not possible, at least for us. So, we will have a quiet holiday here, as planned. And it will be nice and fun and happy. But, very quiet. Next year, I will be where the action is!


And just to comment, I think it is GROSS when people leave their shoes on indoors. How disgusting. That is one thing I just did not get about Americans.

School Days

Abby is happily settled in school, kindergarten that is. She had her first report card last week, and all is well. But I think a day at school is hard work for a 5 year old. All of that playing and learning... The pictures showed up in the wrong order. But you can tell which is the before pic, of her at the bus stop, waiting excitedly for the morning bus to arrive. (which it did not, I had to drive her...) She is well put together, wearing her Auntie Nunu shirt and sweater, hair nicely pulled pack, pants on properly. the after shot, of her home on the bus (which did show up) amuses me. What a busy day she must have had. Kindergarten can sure take it out of a girl!

I ask her about her days, and she tells me things like "Matthew wore three coats today" and "I lost my gloves because they dropped when I was getting on the bus and I did not want to be late so I did not pick them up". We are on her 4th pair now. She knows how to sing "oh Canada" now, and can read. She brought me for show and tell when the letter of the week was M, and Keith when it was D. Very flattering! Although today at breakfast, she said that she should have brought a mirror instead of me. hmmph.

monday musings

It has been pointed out to me that I do not blog very often. Well, that is true. Sometimes my life just seems so normal and routine, that it does not seem blog worthy. So well, here are some of the things I have been doing and thinking about.

• I did not realize when I choose to become a mother that for the first (well I don't know how many it will be, still counting) at least 5 years, my children will want to be no further than 2 inches AT THE MOST away from my body at all times. Sometimes it is kind of cute and endearing, but usually it is just annoying and causes a lot of crying when children get stepped on and fall over.
• Mina talks a lot. She is so unbearably cute. I think 2 years old might just be my favourite age. I love when she says phrases that we use. Like "just don't worry about it" (when she drops a toy) and "maybe later" (when she is in her bad crying about having to have a nap).
• I am going to finish my nursing degree, starting when Mina is in Kindergarten or grade one. Then in the future I may go to the states somewhere for 2 years and do a masters Certified Nurse Midwife degree. When the kids are older, I think that might be a neat thing to do. Planning on something that does not even exist yet is to stressful for me to handle.
  
• Keith's office has been moved into his boss's house. His boss is a raw foodist who hangs crystals in the windows and believes in the energy they give. This should be interesting for him.
  
• My babysitters kids have headlice. It gives me memories of when I had lice as a kid and my sisters were so mad at me and hated me, sort if like when I brought the chicken pox home and they were so mad and hated me. Well, I'm sorry I was so infectious! I did not realize how much my feelings were hurt by those experiences. I bet that is why I tried to hide all of my sicknesses after that, like having the flu at school and denying it even though the teacher caught me throwing up in the water fountain, cause I did not want my sisters to hate me again. So, I am trying to be understanding and cool about the whole headlice thing. I have added tea tree oil to the shampoo the kids use, and check daily. They are fine, but it all still makes my head itch!
  

Alberta Joins the Brave New World!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/10/16/alberta-midwives-costs.html?ref=rss

Holy Moly! I can hardly believe it! Alberta is finally going to cover midwifery care! It makes me want to get pregnant all over again! (oh oh, wait a minute. Keith reads ths blogs once in a while, I better be careful what I say, hee hee). This is such great news, and can only mean that an education in midwifery is getting a wee bit closer! What great news to wake up to. It is going to be a good day!

I admit it.

Alright, lets face it, I am a terrible blogger. I have not posted since august, shame on me. I had the best of intentions to do a fun "first day of school" post for Abby, and in the excitement of it all, did not get around to it. I also wanted to post pics of my finished renovated bathroom, and again, never did. Now I have a kitchen in the process of renovation, and maybe I'll just post them all when it is done. Keith spent the whole weekend taking out the old countertop and sink, and installing a DISHWASHER! (and new sink and countertop.) The dishwasher kind of scares me. It says on it "whisper quiet" but it is so loud that I keep thinking someone is spraying down my kitchen with a high pressure hose! Also I need to buy some more dishes, especially glasses. Usually I just wash them after each meal, but yesterday I ran out of dishes, so for his bedtime snack, Keith had to drink his milk out of the bottom of one of Mina's sippy cups, and I put my reheated chinese food in an icecream bowl. I am getting very excited to host Thanksgiving dinner here! Mom, Dad, Patience and Dan are coming. The other sibs are all invited too, but I know Anders and Celeste cannot make it, and Nunu is not sure yet. I hope I have the cabinet doors installed by then.

Abby is loving school. Her teacher is able to teach her in ways that Abby won't allow me to. With me, it was always "NO! I am not reading! I just remember what those letters mean", but for her teacher, she will sound out words, and write them down, and even admit that she is actually reading. Abby used to draw pictures for me when she was mad at me, with her sad face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Now when she is mad, like last night, her notes have evolved to spelling words, such as "NO LOVE MOM" and "I HAT DAD". I love the way she expresses herself on little notepads and post it notes.

Mina is at the talking age. She talks all day long. She has no control over the volume of her voice and is often yelling when she is really excited. When I get her out of bed in the AM, she says "Hi mum, I awake!" She loves to eat. When we run out of something, she is very sad, and will spend the rest of the week reciting the grocery list. "Shreddies, all gone. Chocolate milk, all gone. Yoghurt, all gone." Needless to say, she LOVES to go grocery shopping, and gets so excited when I put the all gone item in the cart for her to hold. Especially if it is chocolate milk, which I think is her favourite thing the world.

Not much is new with me. I am excited about renovating the kitchen, and I have some canning equipment which I am very excited to try out. I am going to start with applesauce and see how that goes. I am still struggling with my future education choice. LD Nurse of Midwife? I know that LD nurse would be more practical for me, however I am not sure I could follow a hospitals regulations, and deal with doctors who have a medical agenda and different opinions about pregnancy and childbirth than I do. But maybe in the right hospital or birth centre, I could actually make a difference... ahhhhh.....

Anyhow. I need to blog more. Shame on me.

At a Loss!

I am at a loss about what to do. Mina, appears to be ATHLETIC! This is very strange to me, and I wonder how the combination of Keith and myself could ever have produced an athletic child. Keith is the first to admit that he is very much not athletic. He is also non-competitive. Although I think that he may have enjoyed badmington in Jr. High, I don't think he was good at it. I also, am the opposite of athletic. I think my very low blood pressure, and crappy hemoglobin, has something to do with it, because when I physically exert myself, I get very dizzy, and red, and stay that way for hours. At high school track meets, when we are forced to choose 3 events to participate it, I would pointedly choose things that I would only have to do once, because I sucked so much and would rather just go and, well, no need to get into what I would go and do. So I choose the high jump (funny to watch a 4 foot 10 girl attempt!) the 100 m dash (my body does not "dash") and the shot put, which usually landed somewhere around my feet. Hardly even out of the circle. So. We produced Mina, who likes to run around the house shouting "fast", could hold her own in a throwing rocks in water contest with her cousin, and can throw a ball like nobody's business. Way straighter and harder, and with far more accuracy than Abby ever will. (Abby is much more like Keitha and I, when it comes to natural athletic abilities.) I picture a dim future for us, having to get second jobs to have to pay for sporting equipment, and driving all over the province for tournaments. Weird. I never thought I'd be a soccer mom, but I guess kids surprise you.