Back to "Normal"

Our first fever-free day. Whew! Last night I actually got to sleep from roughly midnight to four. Cooper got up and was still warm so I medicated him and got him to eventually go back to sleep. I think it took about an hour. Then both my boys let me sleep until nine o'clock!

This morning was fun. It's so cool to try to get Cooper to say words. I swear sometimes he says exactly what I ask him to. Like "one" and he holds up his pointer finger. And "Grandpa/Grandma", and "Thank You" - I swear he can say it - it sounds just like it. But of course, he won't do it when I want him to show off. I managed to get him to do the thank you sound at the hospital the other night - that was cool. The nurse thought it sounded right too. Kind of like the cartoon frog that wouldn't sing...Michigan J. Frog was his name. (Yes, Angie, I definitely had to Google that!)

Anyhoo, today was good. Chris came home from work and my sister came to visit for awhile. Chris and I took the kids to Tracy and Terry's house. It was their 6th wedding anniversary today. The kids played outside and I took a zillion pictures but of course they wouldn't all look at the camera at the same time, so thanks to my trusty Photoshop, I fixed that! I took some hilarious video of them on the trampoline too, but I haven't shrunken the video for posting.

The sun was really in their eyes but they were looking in my general direction, anyway. We came home and Carter hadn't napped so he retired to his room fairly early. Cooper was a bit of a hard sell on bedtime but he went down just in time for me to join the Butternug Squash scrapbooking chat over at DST. That was a hoot as usual!

Now it's just after eleven, and I don't even think I can stay awake long enough to watch Saturday Night Live. I'll try.

Just Got Home

Well Cooper was still feverish throughout the day today and since we were up in the middle of the night, I thought, what better time to take him to the hospital? Since it's difficult to see a doctor at the clinic by day, and I was getting concerned with the fever lasting over 24 hours, we went for it.

One of my favourite nurses from when I had Carter was there and very sweet. The doctor was nice too. They checked all his vitals and he was for the most part agreeable. He likely has something viral (meaning we treat the symptoms and it will go away on its own). But as a precaution, they put a urine collector bag on him and I'll take a urine sample to the hospital whenever he produces one. I'm no expert, but I did this so many times with Carter for various ailments and I don't like to downplay a fever in case something else is wrong. They did think his temperature was a bit warm for just a teething fever, and he hasn't been doing the typical teething things such as pulling his ears or biting things. And he's been in very good spirits despite the fever.

Anyhoo, before I forgot anything I thought I'd write this down. Cooper actually stayed asleep when I brought him inside so I'm going to go try to sleep again too.

Twenty-seven Pints

I forgot to mention earlier that Kelly and I had appointments today to donate blood. She came over around 4:30 and we walked to the blood donor clinic. We brought the boys in the double stroller, and they were very good. Both our donations went quickly and we were at the donut table in no time flat.

Today was my 27th donation. That's roughly six and three quarter gallons of blood I've given! We came home after, and I got ready to go to Bingo. Kelly picked me up then we met up with Mom and went to Bingo. - None of us won. Oh well. There's always next week! My Mom's birthday is next week so she'll get a freebie when we go.

I came home and my three boys were snoozing in the living room. Cooper, the LIGHTEST SLEEPER IN THE WORLD, woke up only a moment after I arrived. I cuddled him until he fell asleep in my arms, then of course he woke up when I put him in his crib. I let him go back to sleep on his own, but now I hear him again. I wonder if he's hungry...I'll check on him then head to bed as soon as possible.

Edited one more time...Cooper's first fever! Eek. Gave him some Tylenol and I'm nursing him back to sleep (hopefully). We take fevers very seriously around here ever since Carter had a febrile seizure last year...gonna take baby to bed now.

Bedhogs and Poopslicks

So yesterday I posted a new freebie. I made the alpha a few days ago but finally posted it. We had another poop dancing incident...well two actually...

Cooper was happily playing in his step'n'play piano when I smelled something. I picked him up and changed him, and the poop was very nearly escaping the diaper. I did cleanup detail on him and redressed him. Not a big deal. Both boys got in the tub and had a splashing good time.

Later, in the midst of a yummy little nap, Dad stopped by. If Cooper hadn't woken up I could have gone back to sleep in a jiffy but no big deal. I asked Super Dad to help with our bathroom taps. The hot water tap was leaking. He turned the house's main water tap off, then took the bathtub tap apart and discovered it needed a washer. He left to pick up a couple parts.

When Dad came back, I put Cooper in the piano again. Shortly after, I looked over at Cooper and he was really animated, dancing and zipping back and forth. Then I looked at his feet. Crap! (Literally!) This time the poop escaped and was down his leg and he was merrily mushing it between his toes. Aaaaaaaaaaack! What to do first? I picked him up and held him at arms' length. I carried him to the kitchen sink since Dad was working in the bathroom.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The water was still turned off! I couldn't even wash him in the kitchen. I sat him in the kitchen sink anyway. He seemed pretty happy to sit and play in there, and Dad was almost finished with the plumbing job. Once Dad turned the water main back on, I was able to wash him up and get him dressed again. Thanks to my awesome Dad, the taps don't leak anymore. My Dad, the super duper handy dandy man who can fix or build anything.

When Chris came home I ordered pizza for supper and went to pick up a movie and some baby food. I was instructed by my dear husband not to rent a chick flick; get a horror movie. I picked up the pizza and came home and we watched "Silent Hill" while Carter watched "Curious George" in his room...I didn't exactly want him to see a horror movie! He's been enjoying watching Curious George on TV so I thought the movie would be a big hit. And it was. But "Silent Hill" sure wasn't. Maybe I just didn't 'get it' but it wasn't my kind of movie. Sloooooooooow starting and they didn't even show any scary parts. It was very very dark, many scenes were completely black for seconds at a time. I Googled it today to help me figure it out, and found out it was modeled after a video game series. Anyhoo, didn't like it.

Carter was still up (big surprise) after the movie was over. Chris was already falling asleep on the couch during the movie so he went to bed. I followed, and Chris had brought Carter to our bed to try to get him to go to sleep. Cooper, my little darling was already asleep for a couple hours, and didn't get up as soon as I went to bed. Carter goofed around for quite awhile, but I managed to get him to wear a pull-up so he wouldn't pee my bed. We all finally went to sleep. I was a little restless with Carter in there; he's a bedhog and sometimes he talks in his sleep. Cooper, on the other hand, slept through the night until about five this morning. Yay Cooper! I nursed him back to sleep for awhile then we got up at about eight. Whee!

We had breakfast and played and Carter was already asking for Curious George again by ten o'clock. Then we all had baths and lunch and now they're both napping. Tonight Kelly and my Mom and I have a Bingo date so if we have a winning good time, I'll blog again later! I also have to put the finishing touches on a layout with Christy's new kit called "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" coming out this week and I'll post it when I'm done.

Burnt Parchment Alpha Freebie

Click HERE to download the freebie.

Credits: I used Atomic Cupcake's burnt edges action to make this alpha.

Dinner OUT!

No, nothing fancy. We just felt like getting OUT of the house for a change. We were going to go to Pizza Hut, but Carter didn't nap today, so we needed faster food. We went to Dairy Queen instead. On the way there we stopped to fill up the Jeep. Gas finally went down to a seemingly more reasonable (but still outrageous) price. It cost fifty-one bucks to fill it, and we were on fumes. That's the lowest fill-up in ages.

So we got to Dairy Queen and there was my sister with the kids! We had a visit until they were done their ice cream. We had our burgers and onion rings and Cooper ate a few of Carter's fries. Mid-meal, Carter declared he had to pee. So Chris took him out to the washroom and he made it in time. It's so cool having him trained. Now I can't wait 'til he poops on the toilet. ::Sigh:: One thing at a time.

After supper, Carter went up to the counter all by himself with his treat coupon and ordered himself an ice cream cone (please). He seemed pretty proud of himself when he came back to the table. He even remembered to say thank you to the girl behind the till. It was so cute.

On the way home, we stopped at Tim Horton's so I could do a drive-by at Kelly's. I got one for her and Ben and Doug. When we got there I saw Scott's truck. Oops. Didn't bring anything for him. I set the tray on the doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran like my butt was on fire back to the Jeep. Since I had an accomplice (Chris was driving) and had left the Jeep door open, it made for a really quick getaway. When I got home and (yay both boys were sleeping) Kelly had already sent me an IM.

So now that both boys are asleep, I might just do some scrapbooking. Aside from my fun (and aren't I punny) blog header, I still have to do the mouseover part. I think I'll do that first.

I Rake for Scrapbooking

No, not I 'brake' for scrapbooking; I 'rake' for scrapbooking. The last time I remember ever raking on purpose was to make a pile of leaves to jump in when Cindy and I were kids. I'll find that picture another day.

But today, as a digital scrapbooking addict, went outside and raked up the few leaves that I could from our one shedding tree, just so I could take this picture to do a scrapbook page of my boys on a pretty fall day.



Unfortunately, though I took a kajillion pictures, there was not one where both boys were looking at the camera simultaneously. So with a little help from Photoshop, I cropped Cooper's head from the picture where he was looking and Carter wasn't, and put it in the picture where Carter was looking. I had to do a little trimming here and there but I think it turned out alright.

For supper (date shows Monday on this post, but to me it's still Sunday night) we had meatloaf, seasoned curly fries and asparagus. I feel like I haven't cooked in a forever! Chris went out for coffee so I was treated to a French Vanilla Cappucino from Tim Horton's. Mmmm. I have GOT to get some sleep so I'll just leave you with this new scrapbooking page of the boys.

So Not Fair

Now I'm finally filling in this post after I left the title hanging. It is so not fair that everyone gets a nap but me! Chris came home from work yesterday and I was soooooooo tired. I tried to get Carter to take a nap with me while Cooper was sleeping. Nope. He wasn't ready to nap yet. So I went to lie down anyway. Chris had gone up on the roof after work and tarred the edges of the stack to keep it from leaking in the winter. So when he came inside I tried to nap. Chris brought Carter in and we tried to have a family nap. ha! That might have been alright except guess who woke up!

Chris promptly fell asleep but Carter still wasn't ready to nap. So I was up partying with my two boys while Chris gallavanted all over dreamland. Eventually Carter went to crawl in with him and went to sleep. Cooper fell asleep in my arms at the computer some time later, but as soon as I tried to set him in his crib he woke again. Ugh.

We had munchies for supper then Chris took Carter for a ride to his shop to wash his truck. I got ready and took Cooper to Wal-Mart for eighty bucks' worth of necessities. Oh and some cookies and chocolate bars. hee. I stopped at the video store and grabbed the latest Lindsay Lohan movie, "Just My Luck". We got home and Chris and Carter were back so we watched the movie. It was quasi-cute. Not the ending I would have expected but it was an okay little chick flick.

I didn't even touch the computer all evening - and went to bed about eleven-thirty. I sort of woke up when Carter (who was still up when I went to bed) crawled in my bed. Chris must have still been up watching TV. I was having the BEST SLEEP EVER when Chris finally came to bed at 4:20, only to find that Carter had peed in MY BED! I carried Carter to his own bed and proceeded to do laundry. I washed my bedding, along with Carter's duvet that I planned on taking to the laundromat due to its size, but being so exhausted I just said screw it and stuffed it into the washer. Since I was STILL UP a half hour later, I put it in the dryer and rewashed my bedding along with some previously peed bedding from Carter's bed. Around six I think I might have gone back to bed, but as usual as soon as my head hit the pillow, Cooper was up. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! (So NOT fair!) I tried nursing him back to sleep, and eventually he did go back to sleep. We all got up at about eight but I was still toast. I fed and changed Cooper and asked Chris if I could go back to bed at nine o'clock.

At quarter to twelve, Chris came in to ask if I'd had a good nap. Wow did I ever. I feel much better. Now it's Sunday afternoon and I'm just enjoying lounging around in my houseclothes. Cooper's playing in his step & play piano and Chris and Carter just had a bath. Now if I could figure out what to make for supper I'd be all set.

Here is a scrapbook page I did yesterday when I wished I was sleeping! This picture of Cindy and me was taken a couple weeks ago, and I just bought this awesome kit called "Geometric Goodness" at Butternug Squash Designs.

Yada Yada Yada

Well yesterday I posted a freebie. And wheeeeeeeeeee! Over 300 downloads! How fun is that? I can't remember much else of what I did...why don't I blog every day??? I can't even ask Angie 'cause we didn't talk at all yesterday. I usually rely on her for my memory!

Oh yeah. So it was Thursday. Yada yada yada. Chris had a looooooong day. He left here shortly after six and did his usual Thursday run to Ignace for work. Then they stayed late and counted inventory. Yada yada yada. I took the boys for a ride to go see him and on the way home I grabbed a Flamethrower burger and onion rings...mmmmm. Then I went to the golden arches to get Carter a Happy Meal. We came home and had our munchies. Yada yada yada.

Eventually I got both boys to go to sleep and I played on the computer some more and made some fun blinkies - over there in the sidebar (-->). Chris didn't get home until eleven o'clock. Yikes. That was a long day for him.

Today I went for my tri-weekly eyebrow waxing. I took the boys and they behaved very well. After my appointment I picked up some printer ink and went to bring Chris some lunch at work. We came home and both boys were asleep. Very tempting to stay in the vehicle and just nap with them, but it was a yucky day so I carried Carter in and he went right back to sleep. I brought Cooper in the house right in his car seat and set him on the couch all bundled up. He slept for about a half to three quarters of an hour like that then got up. He was very happy and playful.

Dad stopped by to visit and it was time for Carter to get up. Dad keeps a pack of Tic-Tacs in his shirtpocket and always puts two in it for Carter so it's their ritual. All I had to do was tell Carter that Grandpa was here to see him and he soon got up from his nap and went after the candy. Cindy stopped by. She was in for a busy evening carting the kids to birthday parties that overlapped so she came here in between to visit. We ordered pizza for supper. I spent much of the evening on the phone. One hour with my friend who had a babysitter nightmare this week, calls to various babysitters for my plan to re-enter the workforce this winter, calls to a couple of my girlfriends. I never talk on the phone that much. I have a couple leads for babysitters and I left a message at the day care centre too, to find out if we're still on the waiting list.

So now I'm phone-free and able to type with both arms because both boys are sleeping. I should say all three boys are sleeping; Chris is still exhausted from his long day yesterday. And I JUST remembered as I'm typing this that I have an order of "Cinnaparts" from Pizza Hut sitting on top of the fridge where I put it out of Carter's reach earlier. It's calling to me, and I'm going to go answer it. Byeeeeeeee

Edited to add:

Took a nerd test from a link on Vicky's Blog...wow I am even nerdier than I thought! heehee

Halloween Chipboard Freebie

Here's the freebie. You can click on the freebie image to start the download, or the post title.

Enjoy!

Mellykat :)


P.S. Looking for a Halloween kit to go with these elements? Check out Christy Sturm's new Spooky McBoo Halloween kit at Butternug Squash Designs! Introductory pricing this week only! Here is a layout I did using the kit:



Credits: Atomic Cupcake's Chipboard Action

CHA-CHING!!!

Ahhhhhhh it's nice to get some back once in awhile. Mom and I went to Bingo tonight. Kelly had to work, so we went without her. (Sorry Kelly!) And I won a hundred bucks. Whew. Not a life-changing amount, but it pays for a few more trips to Bingo anyway!

Mom and I both needed one or two numbers many many times then in the second last game I won. I won on #39 on card #399. I came home and checked my lottery numbers, and on the ticket I had a #39. But I didn't win a darn thing. Oh well, I was still pleased with the Bingo winfall.

So today...hmmm. Nothing too exciting. Carter woke up dry again. It was a rough, tiring night. Dad stopped by to put in one more shelf in my kitchen which ROCKS. I have space to rearrange stuff now. Very exciting. Made grilled cheese sammitches for Chris and Carter before I left for Bingo.

Oh yeah, a funny thing happened on the way to Bingo! I stopped at the bank machine to take out cash. Stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart for a lottery ticket. They didn't have any of my Mom's favourite ice cream (Haagen-Dasz coffee flavour); I was thinking of bringing her some to surprise her. Since Safeway is quasi-kitty-corner from Shopper's Drug Mart, I stopped in there and picked up some ice cream. Then I started thinking, what about a spoon? I had forgotten my cell phone at home, so I couldn't call her to tell her to bring a spoon. Time was a little tight so I didn't want to run home to get one, and I could have bought a spoon at the grocery store but I probably would have had to buy a pack of spoons. (Gotta have a metal spoon!) I figured if she had to, she could use a plastic spoon from the Bingo concession, so I went ahead and bought the ice cream. I sort of imagined she'd have one in her purse for some reason, but gave up the thought.

So I met Mom at the corner of her road and picked her up. The very first thing I said to her was, "Do you have a spoon?" Her reply, "Yes I do". She said she thought the same exact scenario that I had when I got the ice cream, and she was in the car about to leave her house but she went back in for a spoon. Who the heck brings a spoon to Bingo? My Mom, in case her daughter just might happen to bring her ice cream. Blew my mind. Laughed all the way to Bingo. Then I won and laughed all the way home too! Good times.

Now I need to get my butt in gear and do a layout with Christy's new kit, "Spooky McBoo" coming out tomorrow at Butternug Squash Designs! I'll post the layout here when I'm done.

Next Time It's the Drill

Crikey I hate when I don't do this every day. Good thing I chat with Angie on a regular basis so I can go back and look at our conversations to see what the heck I did the day before!

So, YESTERDAY was an okay Monday. I had a good sleep Sunday night so I felt good in the morning. The boys and I had breakfast and had fun playing. When they napped I made these fun blinkies...I've made few attempts at making animated graphics but I'm getting the hang of it. I now use these in my signature at the scrapbooking web sites.

(Internet connection is SOOOOOOO slow I'll have to upload the blinkies tomorrow)

We had breakfast for supper when Chris came home. I felt like pancakes so we had pancakes and bacon for supper. After supper I had an awesome long hot shower and washed my hair. It was long overdue.

I went to bed reasonably early but had a long wakeup call from Cooper. He was up from around one-thirty until about three. Ugh. It really doesn't help that Chris and I don't see eye-to-eye on the whole ferberizing issue. If he happens to wake up and hear Cooper crying he just gets all gnarly and can't take it. So I let him cry a maximum of ten minutes and go get him. He knows I'm coming to get him so he waits me out. As soon as I walk in the room he stops crying, the little turkey.

We got up this morning and Carter was dry! Yay! Carter now loves watching "Curious George" so we have changed our tv rituals and watch a different variety of stuff. The usual stuff was getting so annoying to me and I think Carter had certain episodes memorized.

I ironed my hair and Mom came over. I did her hair too and got myself ready to go to my dentist appointment. I went in for a checkup and cleaning. They poked around and polished my teeth and perused my previous cavity that I have an appointment to fix in November. Then they did more poking around and decided there was another 'sticky spot' they needed to tend to in my November appointment. I swear with all that poking with sharp metal objects that they're making cavities for the next visit! But it's been a long time since I had to have a filling so I guess it's not so bad.

After my dentist appointment, I stopped by my office to pick up some mail and had a quick visit with some of the girls. I went home and Mom sent me out to do my grocery shopping since she was already over. I put Carter down for a nap then headed out. I did a sixty-six dollar Wal-Mart run and didn't come home with too much food. I was completely out of milk, bread and butter! Plus I needed a couple baby items and some other stuff.

I came home and Dad was over putting up some new kitchen shelves for me in my cupboards. Let me tell you...on top of having a relatively small house, I have very few kitchen cabinets. And in those cabinets, there are only two shelves in each. So Dad put in extra shelves. I rearranged all my stuff in the cupboards and now it looks like I need to do more grocery shopping! Both Mom & Dad left and I did a little more rearranging. I attempted to nap while both boys were sleeping. Carter was talking in his sleep a little, and moving around quite a bit. But I rested awhile anyway.

Kelly called just before Chris came home from her son's football game. When Chris came home Carter was still napping so I bundled up Cooper and headed over to watch the game with Kelly. It was pretty darned cold on those metal bleachers. Kelly got me to leave Cooper with her so I could go feed Chris and Carter. Chris said he wasnt' hungry yet so I loaded up some warm blankets (that my sweet mother had washed and folded) - they were still warm from the dryer. And I walked back over to the football game with the stroller and this time I remembered to bring my camera. I stayed 'til the game was over, and unfortunately our Eagles lost 16-13 but they did score a touchdown while I was there.

I came home and we had Pizza Pops for supper. What a gourmet meal. Bah haa haa. Chris went out for coffee and I had a chat with Christy and the CT gals. That's always a good time. After the chat I downloaded some new scrapbooking stuff and Angie came online so we had a chat. Speaking of Angie, you really should read her blog today. What a beautifully written ode to Autumn she has on there. I loved it. Her writing is great - so vividly descriptive.

Now it's almost quarter to one and my eyeballs are shrinking like little raisins into my sockets so I'm going to bed.

Turkey Dinner at Mom's Tonight!

This morning I got up after a full night's sleep. Huh? What? Cooper slept through the night? Wow. So I got ready to go to church. Carter opted to stay home with Daddy, but Cooper is still young enough for me to boss around (haha) so I took him with me.

After church we went to breakfast at the P.I. with my parents and Guy and Marie. Mom had invited us for a turkey dinner but I still ate a hyuuuge breakfast. We came home and I took a delicious nap with Cooper for a couple hours I think.

Then it was Carter's turn for a nap after his lunch. We got ready and went to Mom and Dad's for supper. Mom set a ginormous table as she usually does, for us, my sister's family, the Urquharts and Auntie Lurdes and Uncle Cliff. Cooper really liked the mashed potatoes and the carrots. I ate two plates of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, stuffing (which I don't normally eat), and salad; therefore I had no room for either the apple OR the blueberry pie.

We visited for awhile and I took these pictures before and after supper:



We came home and I went to sleep before eleven o'clock!

Cooper's On The Move

Wow TWO posts in one day!!!

Cooper started to really move this past week. This is the fastest I've seen him travel yet...cyuuuuuuuute!



(The original video size was 56mb. I shrunk it so it wouldn't take a year to play on here so the image quality is reduced...)

My Not a Pie; My a Big Boy

Yikes I'm being a bad little blogger. If I don't do this every day, I get lazier and lazier...

Yesterday was an ordinary day. Chris went to work as usual. Cooper had me up at 4:30 again but I think we went back to bed by 5:00 this time. Something like that.

Carter was playing with his trucks in the kitchen and while riding on one of them, must have tipped over or run over his toe or both. Big crocodile tears, anyway. So I ran to see what the matter was. I gave him a big hug and asked where he needed a kiss. So I had to kiss his chin and his foot. I told him, "It's okay sweety-pie." as I hugged him. His sobful reply was, "My not a pie; my a big boy." I tried not to laugh at him in his moment of hurt, but it was so cute I did a quiet little snicker.

Chris came home and WE COOKED SUPPER TOGETHER. OMG. Huh? I took some deer sausage out of the freezer that we got from Cindy's family. I boiled it for a bit then gave it to Chris to barbecue while I panfried some hash browns and nuked some peaches'n'cream corn. It was an awesome supper. Not just because it was good food, but because it was a team effort. I was thrilled. And stuffed.

After supper we quickly got ready and went to Cindy's to visit. My parents were there too. I tried some partridge soup and it was awesome. We had a great visit. I got Cindy to take a picture of the four of us so I can get my butt in gear and do some photo Christmas cards. So, while I don't want to share THAT picture just yet, here is a picture of Cindy & me instead.

We came home and Cooper was asleep so I put him to bed. Carter followed shortly after. I actually went to bed at about 11:00. And slept until about five o'clock! Wow. Chris worked until noon. Shortly after he came home Cooper went to sleep and I followed. That left Chris and Carter to hang out for awhile. When I woke up Chris and Carter were napping on the couch. I moved Carter to his bed.

While Carter napped, Cooper wriggled around the floor. He kind of does an army/judo crawl. Not quite up on his knees yet but he sure gets around. Oh and by the way, he drinks out of a bottle now! I mean he already has done it and I have already blogged it, but now I can rely on him to drink some milk. And cow's milk hasn't seemed to bother him as of yet, so yippee! Around the age Cooper is now, Carter kind of weaned himself from breastfeeding so we'll see what Cooper decides about it.

Now Carter is up and Chris is playing video games. I'm going to go get takeout for supper 'cause nothing in the freezer or fridge looks too appealing and hey, it's the weekend. Chris is going out to a friend's house tonight to watch some UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) so it will be just the boys and me around here. So I'm off to drive-thru for some burgers. Ciao for 'niao'.

No Longer the Only Cow in His Life

Last night I finally went to bed but still felt restless. Cooper was up at 4:31. I was about to ferberize him, when four minutes into the crying, Chris happened to wake up and hear him. Let me tell you that so many times Cooper has woken up crying and both Chris and Carter sleep through it.

But this particular time Chris woke up. And of course he couldn't deal with the crying so he went to pick him up. Now what he thought he could accomplish by that, I have no idea. I just knew that I now had to get up too and there was NO chance of Cooper's going back to sleep on his own. I tell you that kid is a master manipulator anyway! I tried to nurse him back to sleep. Nope. I tried to give him Orajel in case his tooth was bothering him. Nope. I eventually caved and gave him Tylenol. Nope.

We were up until well after Chris got up for work at six o'clock. Eventually we managed to fall asleep again until Carter got up at just past eight. One bright spot in all this was Carter's waking up dry. Yay! At least I didn't wake up to some urinated bedsheets and clothes. Though I still do have them from yesterday.

So needless to say I was a real zombie today. I didn't get dressed and put on my face. I didn't leave the house except to go outside to the mailbox. I did manage to get a very groovy nap this afternoon. Both boys slept. It was delicious. I also gave Cooper some real milk for the first time today. It seems to be interchangeable with my milk, but I don't think he's drinking enough from his sippy cup and he still won't take a bottle. We'll work on all that. As long as he doesn't have any kind of reaction from the milk.

I got up and started making supper. Chris came home around 5:30. We had spaghetti and Carter surprised me and ate more than usual. Cooper used his little pinchers and picked up quite a few little pieces of spaghetti and ate them. His 'real' supper was a jar of carrots tonight.

Chris and Carter played outside for awhile after supper. I worked on this scrapbooking page. I used Christy's "Linear Elegance" kit again. And I made the tied ribbon at the top, thanks to a cool tutorial at a scrapbooking web site!

After everyone went to sleep, I got all sneaky and created a new blog for Angie. She always says that her blog at Scrapbook.com isn't a "real blog" so I made her her very own "real blog". She even has her very first post up. I'm so proud! Now it's after midnight and I'm gonna be a vegetable when Cooper wakes up probably the second my head hits the pillow. So good night and I'll try to come up with something exciting for tomorrow's post!

Yep Cooper's Got a Toof

Since he'll never let me in there to have a good look at it, or to take a picture, I'm using graphic representation of Cooper's first tooth that made its first real appearance last night! Nine months and six days old and Cooper gets a tooth. Carter was nine months and 5 days old. Pretty close!

In the morning we went with Kelly for a walk to Wal-Mart and Tim Horton's. I shared a turkey sandwich and a bagel with Carter. Cooper had some of his cookies. I basked in the warmth of my french vanilla cappucino. We walked home. The whole trip was almost three hours. Both boys sort of dozed in our travels a little, so they weren't game for a nap like I was when we got home. Some time in the afternoon there was a brief period of nap activity.

Mom stopped by and we planned to go to Bingo with Kelly. I got supper ready for the boys and Chris came home. I got ready for Bingo and Kelly picked me up. We met up with Mom and went to Bingo. No dough this week. There were some bigass pots to win too. One was $13,400 and one was $11,400. Guess they'll be even bigger next week so we'll have to try again!

I came home and Cooper had just woken up. Arrgh. I was tired and just wanted to fall into bed. I nursed him to sleep eventually, then I was wide awake. Good thing my trusty Tennessee cohort Angie was online to keep me company. We stayed up wayyyyyyy too late chatting and she sent me the video of her family's TV interview with Caroline. If it gets posted, I'll put the link here. It's really awesome. Especially to see Caroline walking. I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

So here are my two new scrapbooking pages using Christy's new "Linear Elegance" kit at Butternug Squash Designs. I'm especially proud of the Carter one. I did some funky photo effects and though there isn't much to the layout, I felt it was finished and was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Walleye Wraps - Very Blogworthy Food

Yeah, so I slacked off again and didn't blog yesterday. Yesterday mostly involved cleaning up little people's poop. Carter three times and Cooper twice. What are these kids eating?

Mom visited after she and Dad had a luncheon for the retired teachers' group. Dad had some errands to run so he dropped Mom off. I did her hair for her and we visited.

Chris came home and we had pasta alfredo with grilled chicken. Pretty boring meal, really. I had no salad stuff and I didn't even make any veggies to go with it. There was enough for Chris to take for lunch today.

I had a couple print projects to work on. But this PRINTER IS STILL DRIVING ME CRAZY! I actually went to tech support on the HP web site and chatted online with a tekkie. He got me to download a different driver to avoid some of the troubles I was having. Unfortunately there were new issues. And the ink cartridges I got cheap at the Wilson's sale a few weeks ago ARE the right ones. Whew. BUT it looks like I still need another colour cartridge to go with them. So I'm halfway through a project and don't want to continue until it's perfect again. I don't think this printer will ever agree with me.

It was a late night and an early morning with a few wake-up calls in between. So I was a veggie this morning. We had breakfast and I was talking to Kelly on MSN and she was going for a walk to Wal-Mart. I was up for it, and got the three of us ready and met up with her. We walked to Wal-Mart and then to Tim Horton's. Carter and I shared a turkey sandwich and a bagel, and we each had a French Vanilla Cappucino.

We walked home and did not nap. The boys snoozed a little on our walk so naptime was delayed. I did actually nap for at least 45 minutes. Niiiiice.

Chris came home and I ran to the store to get the rest of the supper stuff. I picked up turkey bacon, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, an orange pepper, and a white onion. (And Smarties and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups)...oops!

I came home and started preparing the Walleye Wraps. It's been FOREVER since I last made them. The preparation is a lot of work but it is WELL worth it. I cut pieces of walleye and wrapped them in the turkey bacon and put them on the skewers, alternating with the mushrooms, peppers, onion and tomatoes. I prepared the sauce and Chris took them outside and put them on the barbecue. Because we no longer have a basting brush, it wasn't easy to put the sauce on, and Chris used up the whole bowl of sauce on the first ten skewers. So I made more sauce and Chris relinquished the grill. Here is a photo of the walleye wraps.



We had baby potatoes fresh from my parents' garden, and fresh rolls (that no, I did not bake). It was awesome. Just like I remembered them. Suppertime was almost eight o'clock. But it was worth the wait. I thought the skewers weren't going to be enough, but there are plenty left over. Chris is gonna make the guys at work drool with the lunch he's taking tomorrow!

Chris and Carter are wrestling right now. Cooper WAS in bed asleep briefly, but that didn't last. Now he's a wrestling spectator and he's wiggled himself under the coffee table again. It looks like he's a mechanic working on a car when I look over and just see the lower half of him out from under the table. It's twenty past ten and everyone is up. I guess I'll work on some more scrapbooking pages. I did two today with Christy's new kit. I get to post them tomorrow and I'm really excited about it. I might even do a couple more.

Ok...addendum to this blogpost...it's past 11:30 and Cooper's still up and miserable...Very unusual for him...he is so close to cutting a tooth I think I see a central incisor ready to poke through!!! Poor baby.

Weekends Just Aren't Long Enough

Crap. Where do I start when I don't blog for two days on a busy weekend?

Ok. So yesterday morning, (the frosty one) I was chatting with Kelly on MSN and she mentioned the charity garage sale downtown. It was a fundraiser for research for a little girl in town with Epidermolysis Bullosa. I told her I'd pick her up in twenty minutes and I hustled to put my face on and get the boys dressed. We made it in record time. Thank God I'm not as high maintenance as I used to be! I found some greeting cards. Carter had fun looking through all the stuff for toy cars, and actually found one. Cooper just enjoys being out to look at whatever scenery is around him.

We went off to look for other sales, and we drove by one of the pharmacies...they were having a garage sale too - a stock liquidation sort of thing. I got a bunch of cheap cosmetics. Since we were on a roll, we went looking for more sales. We attempted to go to Tim Horton's for a coffee, but the drive-thru lineup was wrapped around the building and we couldn't even get in the parking lot. That's when Carter's meltdown started because he got ticked off that we didn't go in. It would have taken FOREVER to get through there, so we turned around and headed for a couple more garage sales. After the initial freak-out, everything ticked Carter off, so it was a difficult time for awhile.

Our second attempt at Tim Horton's was more successful and only took about ten minutes total. Not bad. I dropped Kelly off at home and by then both boys were sleeping in the Jeep. I really didn't want to go home and wake them! Finally I drove home after cruising around for a bit, then I pulled in the driveway and shut off the Jeep and tried to sleep too! That didn't work. The cell phone started ringing and I had to get the boys in the house anyway.

Chris came home and we got ready to take Cooper for his 9-month portraits at Wal-Mart after brief naps by the boys. We were fortunate to not have to wait in line; the photographer was ready when we got there. So here are the portraits. We even managed to get a shot of the two boys together. It took many attempts to get them both to look in the same general direction while smiling. Most of the Cooper ones were easier to get. And here they are...



God I have beautiful children. I think even if I weren't their mother I'd still say they were gorgeous! heehee. So we did some shopping next and bought $144 diapers. (plus toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.) Yikes and then came home and hung out. Chris went fishing after supper, and Mom stopped by on her way to a concert. Carter had fallen asleep around five-ish and was still asleep when Chris got home about 9:30. So that either meant he was catching up on some sleep, or that he would be up all night. I predicted he would get up at eleven and want to party. Do I know my kids or what? Cooper went to sleep around 9:30. I went to bed about 11:30 and Carter was just getting his second wind. Chris stayed up with him until he went back to sleep. Chris said it was 2:30 when he put him back to bed. I have no idea how much anyone else slept except for Cooper. I tried to ferberize him just before 12:30 but it didn't work. A couple more wake-up calls then it was morning.

I got up and got Cooper and myself ready to go to church. Carter opted to stay home with Daddy. Church was nice. Kelly was there with her son Ben and once she saw Cooper she grabbed him and held him the whole time, which made it easier to actually listen to what was being said. After church, Kelly and Ben piled in the Jeep with us and we went for breakfast at the PI with my parents and Uncle Cliff.

After breakfast, I dropped off Kelly and Ben and we went home. My dad stopped by too, to help decide which part of the back yard fence would be best to remove to move Chris's Dad's camper that we bought from him into our yard. The whole fence is old and pretty much rotten, but it still serves its purpose of keeping Carter in the yard, so I was apprehensive about losing some of it for the camper.

There was only one feasible way for Uncle Cliff to back the camper in the yard for us, (it's 24') so it's in kind of a weird spot in the yard. Uncle Cliff did a great job backing it in. Unfortunately though, the fence pieces they took out couldn't go back in. And guess where Carter headed first? To the back lane because there was no fence to stop him. Hopefully we'll be able to replace the fence someday soon.

After the 'camper positioning party', I had a little nap with Cooper while Chris and Carter stayed outside. Mom called to invite us to have pork tenderloin for supper. So we headed out a bit early so I could pick up baby food at Wal-Mart. I picked up some juice drinks and milk, then headed for the baby department. I bought about a dozen little glass jars of baby veggies, and a bunch of little plastic fruit containers too. I was rushing since Chris was waiting in the Jeep with the boys. So when I turned the corner with the cart, a glass jar of mushy mushy baby carrots slid off the top of the cart and crashed to the floor, making an interesting sploosh of orange on the floor. The girl working in the department assured me it was okay and I continued on my way to the till. I could hear on the intercom "could we have a mop and pail brought to the baby department"...yep, that would be courtesy of yours truly.

We headed to Mom & Dad's and had a tremendous supper. Dad harvested the garden, and we had beet tops, green beans, baby new potatoes, pork tenderloin, glazed carrots, and for dessert, fresh fruit salad. I was stuffed. We visited awhile then all of us headed to Cindy's house for a visit. All the boys were still out hunting ducks, so we visited with Cindy and the girls.

We came home and Carter was sleeping. Chris tucked him in bed. Cooper woke up when we got home, so I fed him a little cereal and nursed him to sleep. Whew. That's the weekend in a big ol' nutshell. I can't believe it's Monday tomorrow already. These weeks are flying by.

I'm Dreaming of a White...Uh Hallowe'en?

Ok folks. That's FROST I see out there on the grass this morning. The air conditioner has been rendered nonessential. We've actually just opened the windows the past few days for some cool air. This morning I am so cold I cranked the furnace to take the edge off in here!

Another almost sleepless night...we'll see how the day pans out.

Thank God It's Friday

I've been so darned tired. Hence the lack of bloggage yesterday...

Yesterday afternoon Mom stopped by after her lunch date with the girls. Cooper went to sleep and I started dozing on the couch. Mom was reading stories to Carter trying to get him to nap too. He came in and napped with me and Mom occupied Cooper because God forbid the two of them nap at the same time.

Mom hung out for a couple hours and I dozed in and out with Carter's feet periodically digging into my ribs. I got up and relieved Mom of her most-appreciated respite care. She went home and I got ready to go to Bingo with her and Kelly.

Kelly picked me up and we headed out to Bingo. Chris was in charge of the boys...and all went well. We picked up Mom on the way and had a fun evening as usual. Kelly won one Bingo and we always split so I got a little money back. We all were so close so many times. We dropped off Mom at her car and headed home. Cooper was asleep on the couch when I got home so I left him there and did some computing. He stayed asleep the whole time and I stayed up way later than I should have, but I really didn't want to disturb him. Finally around two I scooped him up and put him in his crib. I had a caffeinated pop at Bingo and was still not overly sleepy, but I think I was just approaching loss of consciousness when Cooper woke up a half hour later. Ugh. I sleepwalked into the boys' room and brought Cooper to bed. I nursed him back to sleep but he was being all goofy and trying to reach for Chris and rolling around and playing. Eventually we went to sleep. Next wake-up call was quarter to five. I put him back in his own bed this time.

Final wake-up was seven-ish I think. I was still a little zombified. We got up and had breakfast. I switched Cooper to oat cereal since he's been having a little trouble in the poop department lately. Prunes and carrots got things going the other day really well for him. And I've been giving him more water.

We did puzzles and played hide-and-seek. Anything to keep me awake. I just remembered I actually did a load of laundry and it's still in the washer. Gotta go put it in the dryer before it gets all stinky. So much for my intention of hanging it all on the clothesline today.

Mom stopped by this afternoon after her lunch date with her sisters. We always have a nice visit and she is such an awesome help with the boys. She's magic with Carter when he's difficult and she can always get Cooper to eat more than I can get him to. Carter took a late nap and Cooper had a couple catnaps today.

Chris came home from work and 'cooked' after he had a shower. He brought us McDonald's takeout. It's amazing how Cooper can make french fries disappear! His supper was baby food chicken in a jar. Yikes. But he seems to like it. I gave him cereal before bed too.

Just a quiet evening at home. Chris played outside with Carter briefly. As soon as the sun starts to head for the horizon, it seems to freeze outside. This morning it was only a couple degrees above freezing. Tomorrow will be the same. Went all day without the air conditioner on and I put on some fuzzy socks because I was cold.

Now that Cooper is nine months old, I plan to take him for his nine-month portraits this weekend. Wish me luck with that. Well, it's earlier than my usual bedtime, but I'm gonna head'er.

Happy 3/4 Birthday, Cooper!

Holy Crap. My baby is nine months old today. He's getting so big. He travels around the living room. Not crawling, but creeping, rolling, and squiggling on his back. He will lie on his back and arch his whole back, move his feet and skid around on the back of his head. Not my favourite way for him to travel, but he sure gets around! He loves music of any kind, including my little silly songs I sing in my horrid voice. He loves to put ANYTHING in his mouth that he can get his hands on.

Yesterday Kendra was in town from Saskatchewan and we went out for lunch at A&W with her and her sister-in-law and her two kids. After lunch Kendra came for a visit for a while.

Chris came home from work and he cooked supper. Ha ha. Well, I mean he did cook supper, but supper was pizza pops and pogos. Oh well. At least I didn't cook. We hung out and had a lazy evening.

I stayed up fairly late making stuff in Photoshop. Then when I finally went to bed, I carried Carter to bed since he had wandered out to the living room and zonked on the couch beside me. He kind of woke a little when I put him to bed and made sufficient noise to wake Cooper. I tried to do the darn Ferber thing but he was too upset so I picked him up and nursed him back to sleep. No biggie.

This morning Serena called me about some computer stuff and lucky for me she did or I'd have missed my eyebrow wax appointment with her at noon. I finished a little computer project for her and got the boys ready. I took them by stroller to my office for a bit then we walked to Serena's shop for my appointment. Ahhhhhhh. I have two eyebrows once again.

On our way home, Carter said he wanted to go to Kelly's house, and since it was directly on our way home, I said SURE!!! Carter went and rang her doorbell repeatedly until she answered the door. We sat outside and visited for a while, and her new super-comfy anti-gravity lawn chair kept me stationary for quite awhile while Carter puttered around the yard chasing basketballs and Patches.

We ventured home then got in the Jeep and went to see Chris at work to see if he'd had lunch yet. It was 1:30ish by this time and Chris was gone out of town to do some farm tires. So I drove around for a bit with the boys and stopped at Dairy Queen to pick up some lunch. I dropped Chris's lunch off and drove home. By this time, both boys were asleep in the Jeep. I didn't want to wake them up so I ate my Flamethrower burger parked in the driveway before I took the boys in the house.

Mom stopped by for a while after her lunch date with her sisters and she brought Carter a cute little golf set and a puzzle. He was quite enchanted with the golf set and carried it around the house waiting for Chris to come home from work so he could take it outside to play with it. It worked well in the house too for quite awhile.

We had supper then Chris took Carter outside to play. I went out with Cooper to see what they were up to, and asked Chris if he wanted to go for a walk, thinking I already knew the answer to that question, but he surprised me and said yes. Whoa. Who are you, and what have you done with my husband? We walked to Safeway and picked up some milk. Not a marathon by any means, but I'm just glad he wanted to go for a walk. He even pushed the stroller. We couldn't just buy milk; we apparently needed a hyuuuuuge box of tortilla chips and a monstrous jar of salsa. Baby cereal and Smarties made their way into the grocery bags too.

We walked home and got the boys ready for bed. I'm about ready to hit the hay myself. And it's only eleven o'clock. I'm beat. I did take a few pictures today, but the camera is all the way at the other end of the house (like ten feet away. haha) so I'll check them out tomorrow and see if they are blogworthy.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my favourite commercial. The DQ Flamethrower commercial. It still makes me laugh.

Buckles FREEBIE!

Here is the link to download the buckles.
Click on the picture to connect to the download.
Please leave me a note back at the DST Forum thread or here if you download.

  Thanks and Enjoy!

Labour Day and the Bitch is Back

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Cousin Marnie! Now on to the blog...

Labour Day - a day to NOT work. Love it! Last night once I finally finished blogging and resurfacing the graphics on the blog I finally headed for bed. On the way there I met up with my long-lost Aunt Flo. Yep, the bitch is back. Haven't seen her since February 2005. Oh well. Enough on THAT subject.

Chris was going to go fishing today but the plans didn't go through. We got up this morning and as we tried to figure out what we were going to do with our day, Mom called to invite us for supper. Shortly after, she changed it to lunch so I had to get my rear in gear.

I was gonna just go have a shower but one look at my 'grey highlights' sent me for the box of hair dye. Yikes. Every 3-4 weeks I gotta do it. So I coloured my hair and chatted on the phone with my long-lost friend Deidre while my colour was setting. We have NOT SPOKEN in almost FOUR MONTHS. I missed her like crazy! But we lost touch sometime around Carter's birthday and then summer came along and she went home to New Brunswick for about a month. So now we're no longer incommunicado and I hope we get together and SOON. Jeepers, we live in the same town! So now I got Seija back and Deidre back. Awesome. A month for great reunions. Marsha, Seija, Deidre, Chris's cousin Robin & Denise. Fantastic. Oh yeah. And Aunt Flo. Not fantastic. haha

So I hustled and got my hair done and had a glorious toasty shower. We went to Mom & Dad's for lunch. Cindy and the family were all there too. We had barbecued hamburgers à la Dad (mmmmmmmm) and a whole bunch of salads. Oriental salad, broccoli salad, lettuce salad, and potato salad. And there was a yummy cake for dessert. We visited awhile then Cindy & the fam left. Chris and I stayed and Dad's friend Scott came over with his daughter Sarah. She and Carter played for a bit then Cooper and Carter both ended up napping. I went in Mom's room and ZONKED. I had one of those drooly deeply unconscious sleeps. When I woke up I didn't know where I was.

Mom took both boys down to the lake when they got up. I got up and put away the lunch stuff and tried to tidy up Carter's scatterings in the living room. He always dissects the couch to make a 'fort'. We were too stuffed from lunch to eat supper and we headed home. We stopped to pick up milk and stopped at Dairy Queen for a couple cones. Carter opted for a Slurpee when I was at 7-11 picking up the milk.

We came home and I started going through buckets of kids' clothes again. I emptied four laundry baskets of stuff and sorted it. Stuff that is too small for Cooper, Stuff that is too small for Carter that I'm keeping for Cooper, Stuff that fits Cooper and Carter that has to go in the closet, stuff to give away, and some of my stuff that was mixed in like tea towels and facecloths and a few outfits.

Cooper was a little fussy but I think he was just super tired. He's asleep beside me in his crib. Carter is still awake watching "A Bug's Life" for the umpteenth time. Chris is in the living room watching "V for Vendetta". It looks like one of those odd comicbook-inspired things I'm not sure if I could get into. So I might just go to bed early...(eleven o'clock is early!)

Kipping Tones

Wow it was a gorgeous day today. This morning I was super-uper tired and didn't go to church. The kids got up around seven (including Chris) and I went back to bed for awhile.

I got up and prepared an oriental salad for Mom & Dad's dinner party this evening. I toasted the almonds and oriental noodles and made the dressing. I had it all set for Dad to pick up.

Chris played outside with Carter for a bit while I put on my face and did my hair. We planned to go to Aaron Park to visit Auntie Lurdes & Uncle Cliff and Auntie Josie & Uncle Bob.

We grabbed a snack from McDonald's and headed out. Aaron Park is a provincial park that is only about eight miles from town. I'm surprised more people don't go there; it's really nice. It's on a crystal clear lake and it's so close to everything yet has all of nature's amenities. Anyhoo, we had a great visit. Auntie Lurdes took Carter and me down to the water through a hiking trail. We skipped stones and found and collected some smooth rocks that were polished by the water. I made a scrapbook page of our little excursion...sometimes Carter calls it "kipping tones" like Dominic used to. Cyuuuuuuuuute!



Credits: Christy Sturm's Smooth Sailing kit. I made the silver buckle myself, and silverized the stitches (by Angela Sharrow) and the tag (by Ronna Penner).

We came home and vegged out the rest of the evening. I've been chatting with Angie and doing scrapbooking stuff. It's taking me awhile to catch up on posting my layouts and pictures so I can add them to the blog. I'm about ready to cave. But here are the rest of my recent scrapbook pages. All of these are new kits just released for Christy's anniversary sale-a-bration this weekend at Butternug Squash Designs...the credits for all these ones are at my gallery at BSD.







And here are the pictures from our fun day. You can click on each one separately below, or HERE for a slideshow...g'nite, I'm outta here.

Keeping Up With The OTHER Groveses!

Sleepy morning. Squeezed in a little nap. Chris came home from work and took Carter out to play for a while. He came in and napped while Cooper napped. Carter decided to make a loud noise and wake them up.

I sent Chris for a pedicure today. His feet get wrecked wearing workboots all the time. His heels are usually ragged. If I get an itchy foot or leg in bed I just reach over and scratch on his heels. But not now. His feet are almost as soft as Cooper's! Of course he won't admit how much he enjoyed it but I know he did. And his feet must feel just awesome.

He came home and shortly after his cousin Robin and his wife Denise came to visit. We had planned a barbecue for this evening. They were in town from Thunder Bay to visit his Grandpa so we made a date. Denise and I went shopping for supper. We went to M&M Meat Shop and picked up steaks and appetizers. Then we went to Extra Foods and loaded up on all kinds of goodies and gadgets. I'm such a gadget freak. They had tons of dollar bins outside in their garden section. Tons of kids' clothes too, but nothing in my boys' sizes, of course. I did get one cool pair of shorts for Carter, and a cute toy for Cooper, since he hasn't had a 'new' toy yet. We came home and marinated the steaks and prepared strawberries and dip for dessert. Carter of course commandeered the new toy, but Cooper was otherwise occupied in the jolly jumper anyway.

So supper consisted of some yummy marinated New York strip loin steaks, baked potatoes, pan-fried mushrooms, and french-style green beans. It was a real group effort. Denise helped me prepare stuff, Chris barbecued the steaks and Robin was practicing Dad stuff with Cooper for when they adopt their baby girl next year. I think he's going to do a fine job. And Denise will be a great Mommy too. We had a great visit and all sat around stuffed after supper. We watched the movie "RV" with Robin Williams.

I joined the chat over at DST a little after nine o'clock. It was hard to divide my attention between my company and the chat. I felt bad on both sides because I didn't want to be a bad hostess but I wanted to live up to my creative team duties! The chat was fun and hilarious. I sure hope we do it again soon.

After the movie Robin & Denise left. They had to drive back to Ignace tonight to take care of his parents' dogs. We had another great visit with them and I hope we keep this up. Now we have to try to get to Thunder Bay to visit them! It's just past eleven now, but I'm super tired. I'm going to try to get up in the morning and take the boys to church.

The Four-Year Reunion

Wednesday morning I got up with the boys and did some last-minute cleaning. I got myself ready and Kelly and I both had an appointment at the hospital lab for a blood sample to join the unrelated bone marrow program through Canadian Blood Services. I took the boys over to Kelly's in the stroller and we walked up to the hospital. We both did our thing and were on our way walking back home when we started to talk about the Chip Box. Kelly said she just had to have some Chip Box fries before the summer was out. I said why don't we go NOW? (I was starving anyway)...so that was a great idea on our parts and we walked downtown to get our fix.
Since it was the first day of school, there were many high school students lining up there, but we had beaten the rush. Carter and I shared chicken strips and fries. Cooper of course had a couple fries too.

We walked home and I started scrubbing the bathroom. Marsha called to say they were just leaving (that was at about about 1:30). This bought me a little extra cleaning time so I continued on my quest for a clean house. Both Carter and Cooper fell asleep on the living room floor. I attempted a nap too and maybe got about twenty minutes' worth of winks before Cooper got me up. At some point I decide the cleaning was done. By then I had to prepare the hash brown casserole to take to the fish fry at Cedar Point.

I drove the boys to my Mom & Dad's house for them to watch while we went out for our evening at Cedar Point. I got home and started the oven for the hash browns. Marsha called again at 4:45 to say they were just leaving Kenora. We decided to meet at Cedar Point since it was on her way here anyway. So again she bought me some time and I was completely ready when Chris came home from work. He showered and dressed. The hash browns were ready so I bundled them up and we were on our way.

We arrived at Cedar Point at exactly six o'clock. Marsha and Ryan had just arrived too. It was a great reunion. Hugs all around. We got to see Pat & Sharon and Janelle and Ryan, Wayne & Janel and Jordan & Mitchell, and there were some return guests that we recognized and remembered from years gone by. It was great.

We had a FANTASTIC meal. The fish was lightly battered and deep-fried. There were THREE hashbrown casseroles, three dishes of baked beans, an awesome taco-rice dish, a spinach-garlic dip with bread, a great layered taco salad dip with tortilla chips, roasted potatoes, I can't remember everything else, but I'm sure I ate it all (except for the beans - yucky!) Guess I should have taken a picture of the buffet table. Desserts - a couple types of brownies, squares and Rice Krispie cake that I took a good run at.

After dinner they had some free draws and I won a Cedar Point hat that my husband quickly claimed as his own. In the usual Wednesday Fish Fry fashion, there were sightseeing plane rides available. The four of us (Marsha, Ryan, Chris and I) decided to go. We waited our turn and boarded the Beaver. It was a beautiful evening for a flight. We flew over gigantic Eagle Lake (this lake is 72 miles long) - we flew as far as the site of the forest fire that recently hit the area. They just lifted the fly-over ban so we got to fly about fifty feet above and see so much detail in everything. We flew over Nelson Granite, Vermilion Bay, the V-Bay dump where there were some black bears having a snack, and we "buzzed the tower" when we got back to Cedar Point.

After our flight we reconvened in the lodge then Pat and Sharon took us all for a tour of their beautiful log home. Chris and I had seen it before but it was new to Marsha and Ryan, and we were all suitably impressed. We had a fantastic visit with everyone.

Around 9:30 we left for Dryden. We gave the house keys to Marsha and Ryan and detoured through Oxdrift to go pick up the boys at Mom & Dad's. Mom had fed Cooper to the point where he had been sleeping like a log since eight o'clock. Carter was still up but a little sleepy. We loaded them up and headed home, where Marsha and Ryan had found our house and made their way in just shortly before we arrived.

Chris had a very early morning coming up so he didn't visit long. Ryan caved shortly after, but Marsha and I stayed up talking until about 2:30. We both went to sleep. Of course Cooper decided to pay me a visit shortly after that, but I did manage to get a couple more hours' sleep after that.

We all got up and I made cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. Mom stopped in to visit. We all showered and got ready, then Ryan (the dear brave soul) took Carter to the park via wagon so Marsha and I could go visit Pat's mom Joann. Joann used to own the lodge and in more recent years did all the cooking after Pat and Sharon took over. A few years ago, she suffered a stroke and I haven't seen her since she was in the hospital. And since this was Marsha's first visit back this way we decided to go visit her.

We were pleasantly surprised to see how great she looked. She isn't able to move around on her own or speak, but she is very expressive and can communicate with sounds and facial expressions and some hand gestures. Marsha and I figured there would be no lapse in conversation with the two of there anyway. It was great to see Joann smile and laugh, and she got to see Cooper since we brought him with us. Joann has great help through living with her two daughters, and the awesome home care nurse that spends time with her. Our visit really lifted my spirits and I will definitely pay her another visit soon.

We came home and I started to prepare supper. Dad had stopped in and was visiting with Ryan and Carter when we arrived. I cooked a 'traditional Cedar Point meal' with Joann's awesome chicken, rice, and corn on the cob that Marsha brought directly from her sister's farm in Manitoba. Cindy and the girls stopped by to say hi to Marsha and Ryan. We sat down to dinner (except Carter who was preoccupied). Seija stopped by to visit. We had a great visit with Seija. We live in the same town and never see each other. She knew Marsha was coming by reading my blog, and called to get together. Another reason I'm so glad I've stayed faithful to my blog. I sure hope we get together again soon, Seija!!

Seija visited until around nine o'clock. Chris went to tuck Carter in bed and ended up falling asleep with him (on his toddler bed). Another photo opportunity I overlooked. I took a few minutes to post my new scrapbooking layouts for Christy's anniversary gala. Ryan went to bed and Marsha and I were a little tired from the late visit the night before and both went to sleep around eleven or eleven-thirty. I had a delicious sleep until around three when Cooper called upon me. I nursed him back to sleep and I quickly passed out again.

Cooper had me up at seven for the day. Carter followed shortly after, then Marsha and Ryan at about eight. I made pancakes for breakfast, then Marsha and Ryan started packing up to leave. They gave us a pretty shower curtain that I'll hang tomorrow. Carter loved helping me open it and asked Marsha for 'more presents'. Hugs all around again, then they were on their way.

I had a sleepy day with the boys. I tidied up a little, then there was a brief window of opportunity for a nap and I took it. I think I squeezed in about a half hour of zzz before Cooper woke me up.

Chris came home from work and had planned to help his dad replace the brakes on his car. So his dad brought the car over and Chris did the work. After he was done, he came in and we ate leftovers for supper. Chris went out for coffee with Greg. I worked on a couple scrapbook pages. I'll post all my new stuff tomorrow. I can't believe it's one o'clock. I'm going to bed.