A Bunch of Losers

First of all, a big Happy 40th Birthday Mike!

Yesterday I was tired (Happy Birthday Jason for yesterday...hope you saw my MSN line)...I went to bed too late on Tuesday night working on projects. Work was very busy and hectic but fine. Diane took me out for Chinese buffet for lunch. That was good. I didn't have any breakfast or FVC so I was good and hungry.

I picked up the boys from work and we had a picnic from A&W when Chris came home. We came in and I watched Idol for TWO HOURS and they didn't even kick anybody off. Sheesh. Now they're going to use this week's results and mix them with next week's and kick two people off. That should make up for making me sit through two hours of that show for nothing. Oy. Though I must say the visual effect of Celine Dion singing on stage with Elvis was quite stunning and Annie Lennox is still amazing.

I went to bed at a decent time. The boys were both sleeping before nine. That was a good sign.

This morning I got up when Chris did. Just after six! I had a shower and did my hair. Made breakfast and ran a bath for the boys. Got them up and chucked them in the tub while I put on my face. I dressed and fed them and we were ready to rock with moments to spare! I dropped them off and did a Timmy's run.

Work was a little less hectic today. This weekend is our staff appreciation dinner. I'll be sure to have a good time and hopefully take some scrapworthy pictures! Hopefully none with me dancing on the tables with a lampshade on my head. haha

Kelly, Mom and I went to Bingo tonight. We need to win again. Soon. Our hopes were dashed. We're losers. ::Sniff::

Now I'm just catching up with Kendra on MSN and my eyes are fried! But I'm so glad to catch up again...especially since she finally got high-speed! I'm gonna go finish up our chat and head for bed soon. Friday tomorrow - I'm gonna get Chris to try waking me up early again...

Time for Timmy's

Last night I flopped over on the couch as soon as I hit the publish button on my blog post. So shortly after 9:30, I was out. Carter was still playing on the computer for awhile then said he wanted to go to sleep too. I cuddled him up on the couch for awhile then chucked him in the tent and went back for Cooper, who had fallen asleep on Chris on the other couch.

I went to bed and slept like a log all night. This morning the boys were still asleep while I got ready. Carter got up on his own but I had to wake up Cooper. I really have to work on this sleep schedule stuff. Carter is taking late afternoon naps and isn't ready to go to sleep until wayyyy past any little kid's bedtime!

Surprisingly though, we got out of the house on time and I dropped the boys off and still had time to go get a bagel and a French vanilla cappuccino. Ahhhhhhhhh. Way to start the day! Work was busy but good. Kelly had the day off (sort of - she got called in to work tonight) so we went out for lunch. My latest addiction/binge/craving is a chicken Caesar wrap. Mmmmm. Served with carrot and celery sticks with and ranch dressing. A nice perfect light lunch.

After work I picked up the boys and came home. Chris came home and I took Cooper and did a quick Wal-Mart run to get some Pizza Pops for supper. I also picked up a new brush like the one that I'm now quite certain Cooper threw in the garbage over a month ago. I came home and Chris and Carter were still playing outside. I set Cooper down and he wanted to stay outside too so I let him. They were all outside for quite awhile.

I eventually went outside to get Cooper so he could eat. Carter followed shortly after. Chris cut down two of our apple trees that my Dad started to take down last year. I wanted to keep at least one of the trees for one more summer; they were my Grandfather's trees and I'm still a little sentimentally attached to them even though they haven't been yielding the best apple harvests since they haven't been maintained as well as they were when my Vavo was around.

I watched "Idol" and "House" while I worked on a couple projects and I made this page with Christy's new "Kente Pride" kit available this week at Butternug Squash Designs. I used the picture I took of Carter on the weekend...my current favourite picture so I had to scrap it! You can click on the image to enlarge it, and click HERE for credits.

You Get What You Pray For

Good news, Glorious, God-sent Good news...

Mom got a call from the cancer clinic and her bone marrow is PERFECTLY FREAKING NORMAL. Wonderful news but waiting this long has taken its toll, especially on Mom, but on the rest of us too. What a relief. The cancer doctor still wanted to do a CT-guided lymph node needle biopsy, but Mom asked if since she's been feeling so much better and her spleen is obviously shrinking and her blood levels are next to normal now, could she get a CT again and compare the scans? Doc said "good idea" and hopefully it will be arranged and soon. Mom will still see the cancer doctor in July again to compare the scan results. Whew.

Last night Carter woke up and started coughing. I gave him some cough meds and he crawled in bed and eventually went back to sleep. I went to bed around 12:30. Just as I got all snug in my bed I could hear Carter gagging then barfing. Crikey! I brought him into the bathroom but none of the barf went into the toilet. It wasn't really much, since he hadn't eaten much for supper. He was hard to console and felt feverish so I gave him some Advil and he crawled in our bed.

He got up a couple more times - I lost track of the time but the last time was around four. When I got up this morning I found a few streaks of pukey stuff on my duvet cover. Oy. Carter seemed to be feeling fine and was in good spirits this morning. I got ready and fed and dressed the boys and dropped them off. Work went well. I had lunch with Chris at the shop.

After work I picked up the boys and came home. I made spaghetti for supper and fed the boys. Chris came home and was helping his friend outside with his car for awhile. I got ready to go to my blood donor appointment with Kelly. I took Carter in the stroller and we went over to Kelly's to pick her up. When we got there it was super busy, and despite the fact that we booked an appointment, we waited. Quite awhile. Carter was very well behaved, and was entertained by donuts and juice while he waited for my turn. He was quite sympathetic when they poked my finger, and afterward when they put the bandage on my arm.

Kelly finished first and took Carter over to the donut table, a veritable feast in my son's mind, especially since he turned his nose up at my spaghetti before we left. We had our snack and I got my donor card stamped; I'm proud to say today was my 28th blood donation. Kelly walked us home and Coper fell asleep shortly after. Carter is still up playing computer games.

Before I sign off I just want to acknowledge how blessed I feel. To have my boys, my parents, (my Mom starting to feel better) my sister who is also one of my closest friends, many of my prayers answered (still waiting on that lottery jackpot... ;) my sweet, wonderful friends whose praise lifts me up, my fun friends I get to hang out with, a great job that is fulfilling with coworkers that are like another extended family and so much more. I'm a lucky girl.

A Fun-Filled Family Weekend

This morning Carter must have been up way before I was...I got up and found him sleeping on the couch. Chris was asleep on the other one. As part of my attempt to modify the boys' sleep schedule, I went to get Cooper up at about 7:30. During the week, that's the latest time the boys should get up so that I have time to feed and dress them.

I made the boys pancakes and they all chowed it down. I didn't feel like having any, but about an hour later I made Kraft Dinner. For breakfast. Weird. Chris went to Tim Horton's and I got my FVC. He took Carter for a ride out to Cindy's house. Cooper took an early nap and while he slept I did this page of him...you can click it to enlarge it and click HERE for credits.

I decided to capitalize further on his sleep time by attempting a nap myself. It worked, however briefly. Long enough to drool so I must have slept hard. I got up, still before Cooper did, and got ready. We had planned to take Carter bowling today and leave Cooper with Kelly for awhile, but when I tried to call the bowling alley I didn't get an answer. In the meantime, Cindy called to invite us for supper. Since Chris and Carter were already there, Chris left Carter there and came to pick up Coopy and me.

Everyone was playing outside because it was a GORGEOUS day today. Plenty of riding on the four-wheelers, looking for frogs in the lake, running wildly through the fields. I took this awesome picture of Carter on the four-wheeler. I accidentally left the black and white setting on from yesterday, but I was still pleased with it anyway. I was sooooooooo impressed that he was going for rides on the four-wheeler since he used to be so afraid of anything that made noise. I guess my boy is growing up!

Can you just FEEL the attitude oozing out of this picture!?

It was very fun and refreshing. I even took Cooper for a little ride and he seemed to love it. We had an early (and deeeeeeeeelicious) supper. Cindy made two big chickens with an awesome vegetable medley (stir-fried zucchini, asparagus, shredded carrots, broccoli), mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. It was awesome. Everyone went back outside and visited in the beautiful sunshine. Carter hadn't napped since he was so busy playing with his cousins all day. Cooper wanted to do what all the big kids were doing. Pretty soon.

Carter fell asleep on the way home just a couple moments after we left. I fully expected him to zonk quickly since he hadn't napped and he was so busy all day. Cooper fell asleep too. We got home with enough time for me to bath and watch Desperate Housewives. Poor crazy old Mrs. McCluskey!

Christy had called me when I was in the tub so I called her back. We chatted for awhile and it was great to catch up. And on their family vacation this summer, if all goes well, she might COME HERE TO VISIT!!! That would be sooooooo awesome. I can't wait.

So as I was sitting here, catching up on all my forum and CT stuff, (Christy has a new kit coming out this week!), Chris woke up from snoozing on the couch and I could hear something outside. I still don't know what I heard, but it made me look out the window, and at that very moment, there was a deer walking down the street in front of my house! Poor thing looked pretty lost. I saw her go down the street then shortly after she came back up the street. Then I saw another one not far behind...I could tell it wasn't the same one since it was much smaller. It's not uncommon for animals to wander into town, but usually just where people's properties border on the town limits or by a park. I live smack in the middle of town. We heard a couple honks as cars tried to get past them on the busier street not far from our house. I keep peeking out in case they're still roaming around out there.

So now it's almost 12:30 and I'm gonna drag my butt to bed so I'm not a zombie at work tomorrow. But not before I post a couple more pictures from the day.

Carter riding with Dominic

Carter riding with me

Coopy just being sweet little Coopy.
(I neglected to get someone to take a picture of him riding with me on the four-wheeler.)

Wild Animals Roaming the Street

I'll explain in my next post...I just didn't want to forget to mention it!

Sweet Family Saturday

Upon a close investigation, it seems little Mr. Cooper is getting a new tooth. I hope I can attribute his recent grumpiness to that alone. I did manage to cuddle him to sleep last night in my room and Carter crawled in our bed too. We three fell asleep, though Cooper is mighty fidgety and fussy when he goes to sleep. Within a couple hours I took him to his own bed and I went back to bed.

When Chris woke up from sleeping on the couch, he didn't want to disturb Carter and have him get up again, so he went to sleep in Carter's room in the tent. This morning when Chris's alarm sounded I went to the tent to wake him for work.

The boys and I had a good morning, and an early nap. I'm hoping to make wake times and nap times earlier so that bedtimes will follow suit. Ever since the time change they've been going to bed so late. Carter didn't nap but Cooper did. When Chris came home we all hung out for awhile and after Cooper napped I started to get my butt in gear so we could go do something. I was hoping to take Carter bowling and maybe for a haircut but we got ready a bit late for all that and we'll hopefully go bowling tomorrow afternoon.

So we did actually go for a cruise downtown but none of the hair shops were open. Carter fell asleep in our travels and I took Cooper into Wal-Mart for a few things. We came home and Carter woke up. Chris stayed outside with Carter and I took Cooper in the house so I could do some much-needed fly-ladying around the kitchen. It's been AGES since I made my kitchen sink shine. Since it was still nice out I took Cooper outside to play with Chris and Carter and I had the house to myself with no little people underfoot. I put on my running shoes and started with the kitchen sink. But I had to empty it first. No, first it was emptying the dishwasher.

I ended up chucking out a whole bunch of baby bottles and sippy cups that have been chewed to bits by Carter. The kitchen was starting to look pretty decent when it started to rain and the boys came back in. We watched Ice Age a few more times before Cooper fell asleep. Chris went out to get us a snack at Dairy Queen. Oddly enough we didn't get ice cream though I've been thinking about my favourite Reese Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards lately with the weather getting so nice. We had some onion rings and Carter and Chris had burgers.

Carter was up very late as usual but eventually zonked on the couch beside the computer. You should see this kid on the computer. I mean, he's been on it by himself for almost two years already - pretty soon he and Cooper will be battling for turns on it, I'm sure.

I haven't done ANY scrapbooking or anything at all on the computer lately. No chatting, no scrapbooking, no creating anything. All I do is check my email a couple times a day lately. Which means I'm doing more stuff with my boys so that is a very good thing. I'm off to bed now - can't keep my eyes open any longer to watch TV so I'm outta here.

Thank God It's Friday

Happy Birthday Papa & Uncle Gerry!

This morning wasn't a really swell start to the day. The boys have been napping later and going to bed later lately and subsequently sleeping in later. It's sorta nice to be able to have the bathroom to myself and get completely ready before I have to get them ready but it's getting to be too late.

We made it out the door with what I thought was plenty of time to run to Tim Horton's on the way to work. I stopped at the bank machine to grab some cash for coffee and to pay the babysitter for the week and proceeded to Timmy's. There were only about six or seven vehicles in front of me in the drive-thru and we were moving along relatively well. I placed my order and moved ahead. At this point there were two vehicles ahead of me. Vehicle number one must have had to wait at least ten minutes for their order alone. Oy. So that pretty much meant I was already running late.

Carter had been admiring the seagulls that hang out around Timmy's...looking for any possible scrap of food, so his window was open. And weatherwise the day was already beautiful. As we were in the last two blocks toward the sitter's house, I heard a tink-tink-tink-tink going down the street. Well I knew precisely that something specific had fallen off my Jeep but I kept going. I dropped off the boys and slowly made my way back down the street trying to look for the centre-cap from the brand new rims (and tires) that Chris put on the Jeep the other day. Bear in mind that it's spring and everything on the ground is dirty and leafy, unless it's garbage. So what I was looking for was basically the size of the bottom of a pop can and there seemed to be plenty of those.

Realizing my attempts to find it while I was already a few minutes late were futile, I proceeded to work. I had my hands full with my purse and my FVC and a coffee for Tina when I was struggling to find my keys WHICH WERE NOT IN MY POSSESSION!!! I knocked on the side door until someone let me in. By then I was pretty flustered and frustrated. Once I described the saga I'd just encountered, Donna sent me out to look for the stupid centre cap. I parked on the street and glanced back and forth on both sides of the street and on the edges of people's yards hoping to find it. I had no idea how far this thing could have traveled - I mean, it is ROUND so it had a very good chance of traveling far.

I went back to work and borrowed a couple keys and once I finished my bagel and cappuccino things started to smooth out. I had a wonderful visit with Seija during our lunch date (OMG my fourth time out to lunch this week!) I'm so glad we're hanging out more and keeping in touch. I had to go to the bank for work after lunch, and I ran home to try to find my keys. I had a brainwave that they might be in the diaper bag so I zipped over to the sitter's house to get them. I tried to sneak in so the boys wouldn't think it was time for me to pick them up and I grabbed my keys and ran. I felt like once I had my keys all was returned to normal again. Whew!

My energy level was really up today - must be all that sleep I've been getting these past few nights. I had a great afternoon and it was such a beautiful day I wanted to do something out with the boys. When Chris came home he showered and we all got ready and took the boys to McDonald's for supper. It was fun to take them out somewhere...to a place where you don't have to wait long for the food...a place you don't stay at long enough for the kids to go stir-crazy and start screaming or running all over the place.

We went cruising a bit after supper. Stopped to get Carter a previously-promised treat. Stopped to get milk and ended up with a watermelon and a few various groceries. Stopped at the video store last...I got Chris to drop Carter and me off there so we could rent a movie and walk home together. I rented "Ice Age - The Meltdown" and "Charlotte's Web". Chris had cruised around a little bit with Cooper while we were walking home, and Cooper fell asleep. I put Cooper in bed and put the groceries away and we started to watch movies. Ice Age was very cute and quite funny. Now that we're starting to watch Charlotte's Web, Cooper is up and very cranky. He has this whiny cry that makes me want to run away from home. I tried everything from food to milk to calm him - thought he was hurting the way he was crying so I even tried Tylenol. I'm going to go try to cuddle him to sleep.

Sorry Honey, It's Thursday

Today's title carries a humorous acronym that my sister alerted me to, so being that this seems like a long week I thought it appropriate. I love it. It's my new Thursday motto. Tomorrow will be TGIF.

Tuesday was a regular day. The weather is getting better. At lunch we had a union teleconference then I did some running around for the rest of the lunch hour and brought a birthday card to Auntie Lurdes. In the evening we watched "Idol" and "House". I think Tuesday was the day I took Carter's TV out of his room and he's still asking for it. Interesting how he's behaving a little nicer since he really wants it back.

Wednesday I had lunch with Mom and Auntie Lurdes at Pizza Hut. (Thanks Mommy!) I've been staying up way too late lately and have been overtired during the day so tonight I'm going to bed early. We went to Bingo...Mom, Auntie Lurdes, Auntie Maggie and Kelly and I went. We had a blast as usual of course but didn't come home with any extra money. Boo hoo.

I came home and worked on the computer FOREVER. I stayed up wayyyy too late. So today I was a walking vegetable. I made it through the day, thanks to Mom and Dad for taking me out for a lovely lunch. That rocked.

When we came home, Carter wanted a Pogo for supper. Bless his little heart for making supper an ever-so-easy task. Cooper had one too. Chris and Carter played outside when Chris came home. For a couple hours! I think Chris even took Carter for a ride in the wagon around the block. Cooper was fussy - until I gave him a bath. A bath for that kid cures all. He splashed and played for quite awhile then I really wanted to have a shower. I had a looooooong hot shower and washed my hair. I was too tired to look at the computer so I just watched a bit of TV. Chris and I moved Cooper's playpen into his and Carter's room for a trial run. We'll see if he sleeps through the night...

I managed to stay up late enough to watch ER from 9-10 then I leaned over and fell asleep on the couch. The phone rang at about 10:30 and when I jumped up I realized Carter was still up playing on his computer. Now I'm gonna see if I can get Carter to go camp out in the tent...

Happy Birthday Auntie Lurdes!

Just a quick post to wish Auntie Lurdes a Happy Birthday! Here is a picture I took of her and Uncle Cliff the other day at Mom & Dad's house.

Have a fantastic day Auntie!

Amazing What a Full Night's Sleep Can Do

Happy Birthday Auntie Maggie!

So Wednesday night I stayed up even way later than I blogged. Thursday morning I was a bit of a vegetable. At lunchtime I came home and instead of doing some computer work I took a little nap. Whenever I have a snooze at lunch I set the timer on the microwave to beep about ten minutes before I have to go back to work. I slept through it. Fortunately I woke up...and was about ten minutes late. Yikes. But I survived the afternoon... I had a dentist appointment at 2:30. I have a filling they're gonna be fixing but for now they just did a cleaning. My teeth are squeaky clean and will stay that way if I manage to fit flossing back into the equation of my morning routine.

On the way home after picking up the boys I stopped at McDonald's to grab supper. It's been ages since I had a Big Mac. The boys each got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in their happy meals. Those were a big hit. Carter kept calling them penguins for some reason. When I corrected him and told him it was a Ninja Turtle, he started calling it an Injun Turtle. I managed to get a hot shower and colour my roots...and watch some TV. But I started to get tired/lazy and didn't iron my hair after I dried it. I crawled in the tent with Carter and CRASHED. I slept hard until I found myself in a puddle. Unfortunately I fell asleep before I remembered to put a pull-up on Carter. So I had to change MY pants, his pants, and all the bedding. I put him back to bed - he didn't fully wake up so that was easy, and I went to my own bed.

Friday morning (Happy Birthday Tracy!) I was awakened at seven by Carter. Thank goodness he woke me when he did because I forgot to turn on my clock radio! Luckily Cooper was still asleep so I had time to iron my hair and get myself ready before I had to feed and dress him and Carter and I still (barely) made it to work on time. Mom invited Cindy and me to lunch on Friday so we met up with them and had a lovely lunch. (Thanks again, Mom & Dad!) I got an email from the company that does our benefits - my dental claim was submitted online at the dentist office and was already returned paid and in my account. Wow. As much as I love to get a cheque in the mail once in awhile, I'm glad I signed up for direct deposit!

I picked up the boys and came home and made tacos for supper. I used some of that ground beef that I'd browned and frozen. That was pretty slick. Would have been even better if I'd remembered to take it out of the freezer first thing in the morning but it was handy anyway. I had a lot of projects on the go on the computer but I had an early night again.

Saturday was a lazy day. Mom invited us for supper so that was awesome. I was gonna make hot dogs for supper but Chris barbecued them for lunch instead. We went to Mom & Dad's for supper and had an awesome roast beef with roasted potatoes and veggies, salad and buns. I pigged out as usual. Auntie Lurdes and Uncle Cliff were there too. Both my boys were in dire need of a haircut so Auntie grabbed the nearest scissors and I put Cooper up on the bathroom counter in his Bumbo seat and she trimmed off all the long wispy pieces of his hair. What a difference that little bit of hair made - he looks like a big boy now! Carter still needs a haircut but I'm going to try to take him to the hairdresser. Wish me luck on that! Here is a picture of Cooper getting his hair cut:





We came home and I didn't even stay up to watch Mad TV or SNL. Another early night. Not getting any of my projects accomplished. On Sunday morning I stayed in bed as long as possible. Therefore no church. I'd had a bit of a headache that was still with me. It was a beeeeeyooooooooteeeeeeeeeful day and we spent most of it inside. Silly me. Chris went out for coffee and I got myself dressed and ready and gave the boys a marathon bath. Then I got them dressed and TOOK THEM FOR A WALK IN THE STROLLER! Yes, I did. Not a long walk, thank God, because my arms and legs felt weak already...I'm tellin' ya - that stroller is MUCH heavier than it was last fall! It's gonna take some time before I'm in shape enough to push those two for a walk with Kelly!

We came home and Chris was home. I ran to Wal-Mart and actually purchased only what was on my list. Woohoo! I even left one item off the list. Chris took over the supper detail and made Kraft Dinner and barbecued some deer sausage. Nice! I tackled a couple projects I'd been procrastinating about and watched Desperate Housewives. Awesome. I need no other TV entertainment for the whole week but I need to watch that show. I stayed up until about 1:30 finishing a project for work and I finally went to bed.

This morning went well...(It's Auntie Maggie's birthday today)...both boys slept in until I was completely ready. I got everything loaded in the Jeep before Cooper even woke up. Got them both a drink of milk and threw their breakfast in the diaper bag and dressed them and had to run...Cooper was awake for only about 5-10 minutes before I dropped them off.

I went to work and all was well. Today was the 111th running of the Boston Marathon, and one of my coworkers was in it. Very cool. Way to go Dawn! There were four people from our town running and I tracked their progress on the Boston Marathon web site. The weather for the race was some of the worst ever, but that didn't stop her!

Kelly actually had a day off today so we went out for lunch. Turns out later her day off became a work day - she got called in but was happy that we at least got to go for lunch. We're hoping for a Bingo run on Wednesday but the silly girl made a hair appointment that day.

Today I made a big meatloaf, some kernel corn, and the cheesiest mashed potatoes ever. Mashed potatoes aren't my favourite way to eat potatoes, but these were the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. Plus I made a wild mushroom gravy to go with the meatloaf and it all went together very well. It was a bigger meatloaf than what I usually make so Chris gets a lunch out of it to take to work tomorrow.

WOW I hate it when I don't blog - good thing I made notes these past few days so I could do a full recap. Now that I'm getting caught up on a few projects I'm going to go play some more in Photoshop. I went to another of Kim Hill's chat's at SBE tonight and learned some new tricks. That's why I double posted the picture of Cooper's first hair cut - the first photo was very yellow so I used some new tricks to tone down the yellow and red tones in the picture. Very cool.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

I seemed to be staying up later and later as this week went on. Then Thursday night I crashed. Hard. Friday night...same thing. And I just got up after tucking Carter in and falling asleep before he did. Now I'm trying to focus and I can't keep my eyes open!

I promise to elaborate on the past couple days - I've made some quick notes to remind me of the events of these days so I can get it all down. I gotta go to sleep again. Now.

I'm Getting So Brave

Ahhhhhhhh. Back to work. Away from the madness that is my household. I adore my boys but it's getting harder to wrangle them. It's an easier job to work full-time away from home than try keeping up with those two!

That was a super-extra-long weekend and it was a good one. Yesterday I took pork tenderloin out of the freezer. There were two in the package so it was going to mean a lot of leftovers. I had picked up a few pounds of asparagus on the weekend too, so I called my Mom to check up on her, and invited her and Dad over for supper. That meant I had to hustle my buns and my boys home and try to make things half-assed presentable and get supper on the go.

So once I got home I decided what to do with the pork. I cut one of the tenderloins into medallions for seasoning and pan-frying. The other was my experiment...a guinea "pig" so to speak. I rubbed it with the Victorian Epicure beef and steak rub, coating it all over with those yummy spices. I cooked a package of Stovetop Stuffing and sliced the loin lengthwise and stuffed it. I wrapped it in tinfoil and chucked it on the barbecue. After Chris came home and showered I got him to flip it every ten minutes while I was doing everything else including chasing kids. I made long grain & wild rice with mushrooms too, and the requisite Hollandaise sauce for the asparagus. I could ALMOST eat liver if you coated it with Hollandaise. Well, maybe not but I'd probably lick all the sauce off before I chucked the liver in the nearest dumpster.

Anyway, Mom and Dad arrived just in time for everything to be ready. So the menu consisted of two kinds of pork tenderloin, long grain and wild rice with mushrooms, asparagus and hollandaise sauce, and stuffing. There was still a ton of leftovers but everyone enjoyed the meal. I was very proud of myself for winging it and attempting something new. I'm usually too chicken to experiment and just stick to the things I know we like best. But lately I've been whipping up some tasty concoctions. Yum.

Mom and Dad left after a brief visit to go see the movie "Wild Hogs". Mom told me today that even she thought it was funny. I watched "Idol" and for the first time Chris and I both watched "House". Well, actually I watched it; Chris fell asleep about a quarter of the way through. I stayed up way past bedtime working on a hundred baby announcements for a girlfriend of mine and chatting with Angie in the process. Just when I think I'm staying up really late, I think of Angie 'cause she's an hour ahead of me in her time zone.

Today was good...before I knew it, it was noon. A very quick, busy morning. I came home at lunch and started working on the puter but decided to have a quick little catnap. I might have actually slept for about fifteen minutes. I made a quick peanut butter sandwich and headed back to work. The afternoon cruised by too, and next thing I knew I was picking up the boys and coming home to get ready for Bingo. Kelly picked me up then we picked up Auntie Josie and Auntie Lurdes and my Dad brought Mom to meet us at the highway on the way to Bingo. Kelly won the very first game - it was a hundred dollar pot but there was another winner and we always split our winnings. So it was nice to get a bit of a 'rebate'. Mom won a hundred dollar pot too but hers was split with two other winners so at least she did a little better than breaking even. As usual, it's an absolute hoot with my Mom and my aunts and Kelly.

I came home and everyone was sleeping. Cooper got up briefly awhile ago but I gave him a cuddly hug and he went right back to sleep. I chatted with Angie 'til she almost dropped. She created a beautiful keepsake tonight - an amazing scrapbook page of her son - you should go visit her blog to see it. It's nearly one in the morning so I've got to finish up here and get some shut-eye.

Up to the Altar

The day started with the jingle of jelly beans inside plastic eggs. I heard Carter find the first egg just outside his tent. Then another, with little gasps of glee in between. And another.

We got up to watch him go. It was so cute. The eggs were everywhere and he was so dang excited! He didn't even notice (or need to) that there was a big basket of stuff on top of the TV stand. Glow sticks, squishy spiky balls, a ton of jelly beans...

Of course Cooper got up in all the excitement too. The boys had quite the breakfast of jelly beans before I actually managed to get them all dressed and handsome for church. We picked up Kelly on the way and we made it with minutes to spare. We sat with Mom and Dad and both boys were very good. When it was time for the Lord's prayer, the priest called all the kids up to the altar. Surprisingly, Carter went for it. But he didn't stand still - he kind of hopped around up there - I wish I had my camera.

The rest of the mass went without incident and we all headed for breakfast. Both boys ate a little breakfast and were behaved at the restaurant too. Must have been my lucky day! I can definitely attribute a lot of it to having both Kelly and my Mom at both places to help wrangle (and distract) the kids.

We came home and had a pretty lazy afternoon. I had to toast the noodles and almonds for the oriental salad I was bringing to Cindy's house for supper, then I had high hopes for a nap. Chris left early to go fishing at Cindy's and dropped off some salad stuff for Kelly too since I had a ton of it and made a double recipe of the dressing. Carter had no interest in napping, especially with all the candy in the house. Cooper woke up shortly after so I started getting everything ready to go for Easter dinner.

Easter dinner was fabulous. So many choices of salads and main dishes. It was awesome. Uncle Cliff & Auntie Lurdes, Uncle Bob, Auntie Josie and Uncle Bob's Mom, Cindy and all her family, Mom and Dad and all of us were there. We had a great visit and everyone was pretty much just sitting still and groaning after dessert. Since Chris and I went there in separate vehicles, Chris took Carter home in his and I took Cooper home. Cooper fell asleep on the way home and I'd hoped he'd stay down, but nope. He was up and going strong for a loooooong time. I discovered that the phone had been off the hook for four hours and twenty minutes while we were gone...Cooper was playing with it before we left and apparently left it on talk. Oops. That happens quite a bit but not usually for so long! Fortunately Cooper was playing with the remote control and turned the channel to "Desperate Housewives" because it was a new episode. Too bad I missed half of it, but if it weren't for him I'd have missed all of it!

This morning Chris had to work but I didn't. Carter's main goal for the day was to score some more candy. I actually managed to curb the candy consumption. Both kids ate pretty well today, except there are still bits and crumbs of hard boiled eggs all over the place. I gotta vacuum AGAIN. Supper consisted of leftovers and grilled cheese sandwiches. I got a couple scrapbook pages done between yesterday and today using Christy's new "Spring Lad" kit at Butternug Squash Designs and joined in another of Kim Hill's chats at Scrapbook Elements. Those are always fun and I actually completed the challenge this time!

Now it's getting late and I didn't accomplish nearly what I needed to this weekend, including dying my hair. Hopefully tomorrow will go smoothly at work and at home in the evening so I can tackle a few more projects!

We Braved the Throngs to See the Bunnies

We got our butts in gear this morning to head over to Canadian Tire. Each year they have a display of animals for Easter. I can't remember if we went last year - Cooper would have still been pretty tiny. I think we have taken Carter once or twice before.

It was too bloody cold and windy to go to the sheep farm to see the baby lambs and other critters out there so we opted for Canadian Tire. It was packed. I took these few pictures but it was nearly impossible to get any pictures of my children near or holding a critter.

Lambies

Carter on the right in the red/blue jacket looking at the bunnies.

Bunnies

Thee Bunny...those are Carter's hands on the right
holding the chocolate from the Bunny

Carter holding a chick.
We did let Cooper touch it but we were afraid he'd squish it to death.
He sort of just poked at it with his little fingers but we could tell he wanted to grab it!

After we escaped the madness, we went to Tim Horton's. All the stores were so crazy busy that it was actually a good time to go there. Not overly crowded and not too much for lineups. Here is a picture of Cooper at Timmy's since I couldn't take any of him at Canadian Tire.

Seconds after we pulled out of the Tim Horton's parking lot, Cooper was asleep. Carter followed suit shortly after that so we cruised around for awhile. We came home and ever-so-fortunately the boys stayed sleeping when we brought them in the house...yay naptime for me!

After nap time I needed to go to the grocery store to get stuff to make a salad to bring to Cindy's tomorrow. The traffic was crazy all over town - most stores were closed yesterday and will be tomorrow so people go all ape-shit rushing to the stores, myself included! I grabbed a few things and it surprisingly didn't take forever to check out of there.

I came home and Dad was here to visit. I put away the groceries. Chris was re-watching Casino Royale since he zonked out watching it last night. I got to catch up on the parts I missed too. After the movie I cooked up some chicken nuggets and homemade French fries. I actually talked Chris into peeling and cutting the potatoes while I started cooking the chicken. The boys seem to love finger-food. I nuked some kernel corn and that was mostly what Cooper ate.

After supper we watched "The Holiday". Both boys fell asleep before the movie ended. The movie was good. Even Chris liked it. The Easter Bunny showed up shortly after the boys went to bed. There is a trail of plastic eggs filled with jelly beans from Carter's room to the living room and a basket of fun goodies for both boys on top of the TV stand. Now I'm half blogging and half watching MAD TV and I'm already ready to crash. I'm hoping to get both boys to church in the morning.

Anticipating the Rabbit

Okay so it's been long enough since I blogged that I forget much of the week's activities.

Work was fine. Boys have been great. Nobody has any new ailments this week. I had lunch out with Diane on Wednesday. Chinese buffet. Mmmm. It's been awhile. Thursday there were five of us that went out for lunch.

No Bingo this week. Boohoo. Kelly and I have set our next tentative date for Wednesday. Last night I printed 100 baby announcements for a coworker. I just need her address list so I can make the matching envelopes. I love fun stuff like that. Especially since she's so excited about it and liked the first round of samples enough that she picked one right away.

Today was relaxing but fun. Both Chris and I had the day off for Good Friday. Cooper took an early nap so I capitalized on that and napped too. Chris went out for coffee and washed the Jeep. When Chris came home I sneaked away for another nap. Yes, like I said...it was a relaxing day. I never really slept this time...just hid away for awhile in my nice comfy blankie. I got a phone call that got me up anyway.

Dad came over to visit this afternoon. While he was here Carter fell asleep. Cooper got all cuddly after Dad left and took a second, longer nap. So guess what I did!?

Everyone got up and we were starting to get hungry. I ordered pizza and Chris took Carter to the video store to try to find some movies. I placed an order for "Charlotte's Web" or some cute kids movie but there wasn't a good selection for kids that we don't already have, so Chris got all grown-up movies. "Rocky Balboa", "Casino Royale" and "The Holiday". I saw bits and pieces of Rocky and Bond. What I saw of each wasn't bad. Typical Sly and Bond material. I'm looking forward to watching "The Holiday" though. And after all those naps today I might try to pull it off after the Bond movie is over. We'll see.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to Canadian Tire. Each Easter they have a display of baby animals...puppies, lambs, chicks (I think), bunnies, etc. If all goes well I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow. Yesterday I picked up some Easter decorations...a couple bunnies with dangly arms and legs. and some Happy Easter "police tape" that Chris just rolled his eyes at. I laughed. I hung up the bunnies and opted to not use the banner stuff. I'm sure that made Chris's day.

So Carter has been asking about the Bunny already. I told him after church on Sunday he could look for Easter eggs. We might even decorate some tomorrow too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Easter!

Feline Royalty

Today was a fine day at work to start back after my week off. Everyone was happy to see me, which rocked and since they found coverage for most of the time I was off, including Diane, whom I replaced in the first place, much of my work was kept up to date, including much of my month-end duties. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

I did the supply order - my favourite month-end item. I loves me some office supplies! I caught up on a few other odds and ends and before I knew it, it was already lunch time. I came home and just veged (vedged?) out for awhile then went back to work. The rest of the afternoon was just fine too. Not a bad day at all.

I picked up the boys and we came home. I made chicken fingers and curly fries for supper, plus some fresh walleye fillets that Chris caught on the weekend. I could only find cans of creamed corn in the cupboard. God I need to do some grocery shopping. But Cooper loved it so we were all good.

This evening was almost entirely spent chatting. I chatted with Angie, and joined a chat with Kim Hill at Scrapbook Elements. What a fun bunch, including Lori, which made me feel really at home there. I laughed almost constantly, except for a few interruptions like not one, but TWO poopy diapers courtesy of Cooper, having to tuck Carter in bed 293874593 times. (The chat didn't start until nine o'clock, but my kids were up LATE!) Eventually I was able to chat with no interruptions and it was very fun. There was no way I could follow the chat AND get any scrapping done, so I missed out on the challenge part of the chat but it would have been very distracting trying to get all that accomplished!

My eyes are ready to go to sleep. They were quite awhile ago, but my dear friend Angie is finally trying to use PhotoShop Elements for the first time! I'm so excited! She's like a kid in a candy store. It's a beautiful thing...geek in training. I love it.

Carter's movie obsession of late is "The Lion King". Since I bought the DVD/VCR combo machine, he is able to play VHS movies again. He's certainly not used to having to wait for it to rewind. For some reason I find that hilarious every time. Anyway, he keeps calling it "The Tiger King"... "Mom, I want to watch 'The Tiger King'".

Carter has been a real little sweetheart lately. He still is a bit rough with Cooper, but since Cooper has become so mobile for the past few months, he often gets in Carter's face and Carter just wants to push him away. Granted, Carter does seem to have a tiny mean streak when it comes to his brother, but again, he's really seem to be softening. When I holler at Cooper for getting into something, Carter now tells ME not to yell at HIS brother. Just hilarious. I just want them to be buddies and I'm working on it!

The Roof is Gone

First of all, a BIG Happy Fourth Birthday to Taya!

Well, fairly needless to say it was kind of a poopy week for me. I was cooped up all week. Chris helped me most days to still take the boys to the sitter so I could rest.

Thursday I went to Winnipeg with my sister to go for Mom's appointment to get her bone marrow results. Unfortunately they weren't all back yet so we don't have any definitive answers. But we asked a ton of questions and I now understand to the best of my knowledge what is going on. The doctor will phone with the remaining results then we'll proceed with the next phase of whatever.

Friday night Kelly and I went to Bingo. Booooooooo. No winners. I came home and Cooper started to fuss. He got up and I went to him and he was roasting. His temp was 39.6º. Poor baby. Second fever this weekend. He's had diarrhea for over a week. I figured he just had a tummy bug but add a fever and I don't mess around...I gave him some Tylenol and took him up to the hospital. Turns out he has a throat infection. Not strep, but poor kid! The doc didn't prescribe anything since he figured it would just worsen the diarrhea. I took him home and he cried and cried. Forrrrrrrrrevvvvvvvvver. We got home at 12:30 from the hospital and I finally got him to bed just before 3:30. Carter was in bed with Chris with the door shut due to Cooper's crying, so I went and crawled in the tent by myself. I had a good nap UNTIL FIVE when Cooper woke up crying again. I cuddled him for a minute but he was inconsolable again. He squirmed to the floor, curled up again and fell asleep. I didn't dare move him and I went back to sleep. Chris went to work at the usual time and the boys were kind enough to sleep in until 8:30.

Saturday Cooper had a much better day. I kept a close watch on his temperature. We went to Dora's house for supper. Chris went to play poker with the guys so he didn't go with us. We had a great dinner and visit with Mom and Dad and Cindy and her family.

Today was fun...it was Taya's birthday and we went to the bowling alley for the party. I left Cooper home with Chris and I took Carter. He had a blast bowling - we're going to have to take him more often - he loves it and this time he actually grasped the concept of taking turns! He was a very well-behaved boy today. There was bowling, lunch, more bowling, cake, present opening, loot bags to go...a good time was had by all.

Tracy made these AMAZING cakes. The woman is something else - a sucker for punishment I say! If I can't make something on the computer, it just doesn't get made. But Tracy is my hero for stuff like this. Excellent job and delicious too!

Here are a couple pictures of Carter from the party...some definite scrapbooking material here!

For my south-of-the-border friends, this is what 5-pin bowling looks like. Go ahead and insert your joke here about how the balls are smaller here. But we get to throw three of them per frame and the score of a perfect game is 450!

Tonight we had Kraft Dinner for supper. I did four huge loads of laundry and still have to go put one more in the dryer. I think all the kids' clothes are clean so I should have no trouble finding something for them to wear tomorrow. But socks remain a mystery - I'll be lucky if I can find a matching pair for either of them.

Well, the shingles seem to have disappeared. I have a couple little marks on my back and my side that I'm hoping won't turn into scars but the marks are minimal enough so far. So now I'm off to dry the last batch of clothes (there is still a mountain of laundry to do - how can that be?!?!) then I'm going to bed. Cooper has been fussing a little but I'm hoping he'll stay down for the night.