TV for Grownups

In May we got a phone call from Shaw Cable offering us three months of free digital TV followed by a half price promotion for six months. Knowing that I was going to be spending some significant time sitting and nursing a baby we signed up. It had been three years since we had any cable. So really the only world the boys had ever known was one with only 4 fuzzy TV channels, and one of them was french. The TV was not on a lot, and hardly ever in the evening before the kids were in bed, needless to say, TV consumption has definitely increased around here. One of the types of shows that I enjoy watching are the home renovation and home buying/selling shows they have on HGTV and Discovery. Darrel and I both particularly like Holmes on Homes, (we learn a lot and are shocked and horrified at the disasters that Mike solves, then get that rush of redemption once they've repaired everything.) However, I'm starting to think though that Jack is getting too much of these kinds of shows, in the last few weeks these are some of the things he has said and the shows they are based on:

Jack: "Why didn't you guys pick the house with the pool?" -From the program House Hunters, where buyers look at three houses and then pick one. The host often uses one feature to describe each location, such as "the house with the pool." Clearly he thinks Darrel and I are poor decision makers. Oh Jack if only you knew the crack shacks that we saw before this house, then you wouldn't think your folks are daft.


Jack (after just finishing up in the privy): "Actually, I like this toilet, it flushes good. It works for me." It works for me is a line straight from Mike Holmes. This is said with all seriousness and with some good nodding of the head.

Jack: "When we move we should get a house with a hot tub." Now to be honest I'm not sure if this is from watching house buying programs or if he's just been listening as Darrel and I dream out loud about owning a hot tub. Either way, it's a good sentiment.

Mistaken Lyrics

Ahhh, how I love listening to the sweet singing of little people. So often I catch myself smiling to myself as I hear the boys sing snippets of songs. Today I caught Jack singing,

"Moo moo skip to my moo
Moo moo skip to my moo
Moo moo skip to my moo
moo moo moo moo moo moo"

Good Memories of Everyday Moments

I love looking at scrapbooking magazines and seeing how people document their lives. I particularly love pages that show everyday life. Not the big holidays or the birthdays, just ordianary everyday living. I think these are the types of things that in 50 years I will be so glad that I took pictures of and captured. Not that I'm really that good at it, I do tend to try and keep up with scrapbooking the events of our lives more than the day to day.

 

Baby Love

I am just in love with this darling baby girl. Today was her first trip out sporting pig tails, sooooo cute!

 

Cheer Up Little Cowgirl

I've been feeling off the last couple of days, down, and blue and as though there's no hope for anything. Normally I would describe myself as fairly positive so it can be alarming when I have days like this. I can get like this when I'm PMSing, but I usually don't realize that this is what's going on until later and then it's like oh yeah, that's why I was such a crazy woman. So at least this time I have figured out what is probably behind the Eyeore attitude.

The boys started their new swimming/craft class today so I had a whole 2.5 hours to do grocery shopping with only one little person in tow (hooray!). Hoping to lift my spirits, I went to Sobeys to buy some of the Stilton cheese with mango and ginger that I've become addicted to. And darn them, they didn't have any! I almost started crying, seriously. And then I got mad! How dare they run out of my cheese. They had a stilton with dried cherries, which I quickly discarded with scorn. How could those stupid cherries measure up to my mango and ginger? And as all these emotions are coursing through me, the logical part of my brain is saying I really need to get a grip, but the PMSy part of my brain is screaming, DAMN THEM, all they had to do was order the cheese!!!!

The sane me is back tonight, for now. We'll see what tomorrow holds. Although I'm going out for lunch with my co-workers tomorrow at a fabulous east indian restaurant. Perhaps the hormone gods will be appeased by butter chicken and naan bread. For the sake of all those around me let's hope so.

Trampoline Fun

 

Love This Bunch

It was the best of times it was the worst of times...
Thankfully in motherhood the days that are the best of times far outweigh the worst of times. Love these three munchkins and their sweet little personalities.

 

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving here. Given that we had snow on the ground we abandoned the plan of re-shingling the garage roof and decided to just kick back at home. The boys attended their primary activity at church and had a wonderful time. I'm grateful for the primary leaders in our ward, they are so fabulous! Jack cried when it was time to go home and he couldn't jump anymore in that bouncer. If I was rich (and we had a gymnasium type room in our house) I'd buy one of those things to get the kids (well me really) through the long cold winter months. Thirty minutes in that thing really tired out those little people. Afterwards they sat and did their crafts so well! Monday we did Thanksgiving lunch rather than dinner, Darrel was feeling a little under the weather so we just puttered, played K-nex, ate and ate some more. It was nice.

 

Turning a Photo Into a Line Drawing

I found this neat little tutorial on using photoshop to turn your photos into line drawings. Pretty fun to play with. Check it out here at the scrapartist website.

 

 

 

Nostalgia

Lately I've been trying to capture moments that I will miss when my children are grown and have left our home. Some of these things drive me batty right now but when I'm in my old age I'm sure I will think back fondly on them. Here's a few from the last little bit:
-My bed never stays made during the day because that is the #1 favourite hide and and seek spot in the house. Eric in fact often starts games by declaring, "you start counting Jack, I'm going to hide in Mom's bed."
-There are hand prints and smudges all over the bathroom mirror. Eric likes to lick the mirror if he goes in the bathroom after someone has had a shower and there's fog on the mirror. I have asked him repeatedly to stop this but to no avail. Kind of makes me scared to clean the mirror as it's like giving him windex to lick.
-Jack pronounces ukulele as you-keh-clay-lee, and no matter how many times we say ukulele he still says it his own way.
-The kids are growing through a really silly phase. Somehow the phrase, "flies like a bird and poops in your head!" has entered our everyday vernacular.
-Eric also loves to tell me, with a mischievous little grin and twinkle in his eye, "Mom I'm picking my nose!" If I make any sort of yucky face he responds with, "it's yummy." Gack!
-Jacks biggest ambition of today was to save enough money to buy a marshmallow blaster. I told him it cost a lot of money, and he'd have to save up for it. When the crying started I said maybe he could make one with Daddy, and he said no, Daddy didn't know how. (Which is quite surprising usually I am told that Darrel can do/fix anything!)
-Yesterday after doing our scripture reading they both were asking me all day if people were wicked. "Mom, is that man wicked?" "Mom, Jack isn't listening, he's wicked." "Mom, if you're wicked do you go to the naughty corner?"

Family Photos

Did some quick layouts today with all of the family photos I took this summer. I really wish I had taken some good ones of the Morrisons when they were here. May have to fudge it a bit and make a similar layout with what I have.

I had so much fun taking these pictures, it was good to get more practice, particularly with shooting groups of people. I feel like slowly but surely I'm getting better. I'm up to about 8000 pictures on my new camera, that's in about 14 months, so good grief, I better be getting better eh?!

 

 

 

What a Trooper

Our niece was such a trooper during my visit home, I drug her all over town taking pictures against different old buildings. To a fourteen year old this was practically torture. :)
But several pictures turned out really well, Alex is a natural beauty. She also has the best eyes, love them! But as I stated in my layout, she isn't just a pretty face, she's a genuinely cool person. Athletic, kind and thoughtful, a good baker, really an all around great girl.

 

Happy October

Okay, I'm silly, I know, but I love this 'My First Halloween' shirt.

 

Cousins

 

We had so much fun on our trip to Shaunavon a couple of weeks ago. This was the first time we had been to Shaunavon in two years and I really noticed how different it was in the sense that the boys are older now. They are starting to form their own relationships with extended family members and are more independent. They had so much fun playing with their cousin Rylan, who is only 10 months older than Jack. These three were very busy together: building hot wheels tracks, chasing bad guys, whacking eachother with balloons, making mud gardens, trimming Nan's trees and yard, going for walks, playing at the park, and the list goes on. Since returning home Rylan's name comes up often and J&E often wonder what he is up to. We'll definitely have to make sure that the next visit occurs before another two years go by.

Julie`s Baby Blessing

Julie`s baby blessing was this past Sunday. We forgot the camera and post church is usually a gong show so there are no photos of the actual day. I dressed her up this morning and took these. She was angelic, and I`m so happy that my Mom sent this dress for Julie to wear. It was beautiful and special.