I So Wish I Could Be Kidding When I Post This

Ashton Kutcher? Are you around the corner laughing at us?

Today I went to Winnipeg with Kelly and Ben for his dental surgery appointment. We left bright and early on a beautiful, sunny day.

Our first stop was Costco and we flashed our shiny new membership cards at the entrance lady and made our way to filling up our carts. Kelly spent somewhere near three hundred bucks and I nearly hit a hundred. We went back to her vehicle and we were gaging our time left before Ben's appointment. We were going to go somewhere to eat when we spotted a Super Store just down the street from Costco. We went in and shopped for about a half an hour and left to go to Ben's appointment. We all meandered out to the middle of the parking lot where we thought we had parked, but we were all confused as to where we had left the vehicle. We wandered back and forth a couple times, with comments from passersby like "You look like you lost your car." chuckle chuckle.

After a few passes, we finally realized it was true. It was GONE. Seriously. We went back in the store and Kelly asked to speak to security, hoping for some help. We were sent to Customer Service, where a lady returned after making a quick call only to tell us that "they don't get involved with that". I freaked thinking she was talking about the police. No, store security. They don't get involved with major crimes that happen in their parking lot. Crap. We need Gil Grissom to help us. So while Kelly is on the phone with the police (and both our cell phones were nearly in need of charging while both our chargers were gone with the vehicle and those little rat bastards that took it). While she was on the phone with the police, I was contacting her car dealership to find out if by some chance her vehicle had some sort of trial version of OnStar activated. They gave me the OnStar number and I called and talked to a WONDERFUL woman, who was unfortunately unable to help us since Kelly hadn't activated the OnStar. She had thought about it but hadn't ever used it so she wasn't hooked up yet. We were told the police could have found her vehicle in MINUTES if she had it. ::sigh:: As it stands, her stolen vehicle report is "in the system". Meaning it's not like they go looking for it or anything but now they have a record of the theft in case it shows up. Oy.

The customer service dude called us a cab so we could at least make it to Ben's dental appointment. He totally thought he was going to get out of having dental surgery under these crappy circumstances, but we somehow managed to complete the main mission of the trip under duress. While we were at the dentist office, the sweet sweet receptionist had contacted her husband and offered to drive us all the way home. How nice is that? Too bad not everyone in Winnipeg is that nice, or Kelly would still have her truck. ::sigh::

Since my brand new shiny laptop was in the vehicle (yeah, go ahead and tell me how unsmart I am) and I had just recently imported almost everything over from my other computer, I walked a few blocks to the library to change a few passwords. My new password contains an obscenity and some numbers (in light of the circumstances.) Every computer project I've ever done is on there and every picture and video of my boys since their births is on there, along with many miscellaneous documents. I felt so sick. Mostly for Kelly's vehicle, obviously, but for my new toy with my whole life on it too.

I walked back to the dentist office and arrived at the exact moment that Ben's appointment was over. While I was gone Kelly heard from her insurance agent who had arranged for a rental car that would be picking us up. So by this time we were all exhausted (and Ben was sore and frozen from surgery still) and we were very hungry. We dropped off the rental car guy and the first place we went with the rental car was the Super Store parking lot. Y'know, just in case we were ALL losing it this afternoon and that her truck might have been there. Right.

We were all pissed that on top of the loss of her beautiful vehicle and all our electronic things inside it, (like her Sirius radio and Ben's iPod too...yeah, we were ripe for the picking, right? I guess they see an out of town vehicle and it becomes their prey) all the goodies inside were just gravy for them. Anyway, we were also ticked that all our Costco stuff was gone. Kelly, not to be outdone by the thieves, refused to go home without at least the shoes she had purchased earlier. We made our way around Costco again and Kelly replaced nearly all of the items she had ALREADY purchased. Ouch. I was too mad and cheap to replace all I had bought, PLUS I could only remember ten out of the twelve items I had purchased, after much racking of my brain. Sad. So there are at least two things I can't be sad about losing because I just can't remember what they are. So the second time around I picked up the book I had bought for the kids AGAIN, some toilet paper (that I hadn't purchased earlier), the fruit snacks I had already bought for Carter to take to school, and this time I picked up some yummy pillows that I had been eying up earlier.

We left Costco again and left to head out of the Car Theft Capital of the World. ::sigh:: We headed for Burger King since we were all famished. I've never eaten at a Burger King before so I had my first-ever Whopper. I also brought one home for Chris. We sadly left the city, reflecting on all the events of the day and lost things all the way home. We really tried to look on the bright side every chance we got, but the best bright side is that we're all home safe. The next couple weeks will tell what will happen with Kelly's vehicle insurance and whether the vehicle will turn up or not, and need repairs or replacement. I came home and Chris and Cooper were cuddling snoozing on the couch and Carter was up on his bunk sound asleep. I talked to Mom and Dad for awhile and came here for a vent-session and now I'm going to try to sleep. ::sigh::

Death By Mashed Potato...Almost

Today was a speedy one at work. Mondays usually fly by. The boys had to be awakened this morning. Too much excitement from the new bunkbeds, I guess, and they went to bed wayyyyyy too late. I keep saying I'm going to institute a bedtime but it hasn't happened yet. However, with the new beds now I'm going to aim for eight o'clock as quiet time in their room then work on getting them to sleep at some point thereafter. Kelly and I did a quick lunch out and took Carter to school.

After work I picked up the kids and we came home. Chris played outside with them for a bit but it's nasty cold again outside. It was raining heavy-duty yesterday and this morning it was that icky rainy sleety snowy crap again. Yuck. It looks beautiful outside now that the sun is shining, which is very misleading.

I made meatloaf for supper; it's been quite awhile since I did that. Or cooked at all for that matter. I made theeeee creamiest mashed potatoes and corn to go along with supper. While I was using the mixer to mash the potatoes (with butter and milk) I could hear something sizzling or buzzing near the faucet of the sink. Seems Grandma's mixer that I inherited along with the house (or perhaps my other Grandma's mixer; I got both of theirs)...had a bare wire showing on the cord and it was touching the edge of the sink. I'm pretty glad I didn't reach for the faucet. After I was done making the mashed potatoes I threw the mixer out. I guess my creamy mashed potatoes were to die for. Or not, I suppose. Regardless, they were great. I made a 5-peppercorn gravy to go with them too. I'm still not sure why meatloaf gets eaten by the pound by this family but I won't complain! And I'm still dying to try out the new crock pot I got for Mother's Day; it's still in the box. Guess I don't want to get it dirty. Whatever. Anyway, the boys ate well and I am stuffed.

Now they're all in the kids' room playing PlayStation. Well, Chris is playing the video game and Carter is a quasi-spectator when he's not climbing up and down the bunk bed ladder. Cooper was playing some sort of soccer/golf with the crevice tool of the vacuum cleaner. Just another wacky evening in the Groves household!

Oh, and here are those pictures of the boys and the new bed: (I Frankensteined two pictures together for the first one and didn't feel like fixing the lighter block around Cooper...I don't have all my stuff programmed in PhotoShop on the laptop yet.)

Big Boy Beds

Highlight of the weekend? New bunkbeds. Well, new to us anyway. We just got an awesome set of bunkbeds to use from Cindy today. The kids were both ecstatic and now I'm freaked because even Cooper is climbing the ladder to get up top, which I'm trying to discourage by emphasizing how cool the bottom bunk is with the shelves underneath and that it's like a fort.

Now let's see. We last saw our lazy blogger (well, sick I guess...yeah, that's it.) on Wednesday night after the trip to the E.R. Now a few days into the antibiotics and with the awful-tasting-but-highly-effective cough syrup, things are getting a little better.

We watched a few movies this weekend. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Over Her Dead Body, and Untraceable. I enjoyed all three in varying degrees. National Treasure was an excellent sequel to the first movie and I look forward to another. I think it's my favourite character for Nicolas Cage. Over Her Dead Body was cute and funny. Eva Longoria plays a similar minxish character to her one on Desperate Housewives, which was enjoyable and funny. Untraceable was interesting with cool (and scary) technology and suspense, but with a drop dead ending. Everything that was supposed to happen did, but that was it. So it was a good weekend for movies.

Yesterday was probably the nicest day of the year so far, weather-wise. It was WONDERFUL to take the boys to soccer, which was in the neighbourhood this time, not at the soccer fields across town. So I walked them there in the wagon, which conveniently provided a seat for Cooper and me while we watched. After soccer we did a Tim Horton's run including a drive-by for Chris at work and for Kelly.

I did some shopping at Wal-Mart and the grocery store this weekend and Friday night we had a great barbecue, with steaks and fried potatoes with onion and fried mushrooms. The boys ate the meat and that was about it for them. We did a run to Dairy Queen, which was much more well-received than supper was.

Today was my cousin's son's First Communion. I took Carter to church (OMGMASSWASANHOURANDAHALFLONG) and we picked up Chris and Cooper to go to their house afterward for the party. It was decent outside and we all sat outside and had barbecued hotdogs and smokies and an awesome variety of salads and desserts. The kids goofed around in the yard for awhile then we got ready to go.

We came home and Cooper finally wound down for a nap. Dad and Chris met up at Cindy's house to pick up the bunkbeds. Getting them in our little house was a real workout, but the beds were nearly placed before Cooper even heard a thing and woke up from his nap in the same room. We realized the beds couldn't go in the room in the spot we'd hoped, so that meant moving the TV stand and the dresser to the opposite end of the room. Fortunately it worked out even better this way, thanks to Dad and Chris, and once Carter woke up from his nap, the excitement ensued. I had picked up vinyl mattress covers and some twin-sized bedding at Wal-Mart so I was all set.

Now the boys are sound asleep in their new beds (FINALLY) so now I just have to hope for things not to go bump in the night...'cause that will mean there's a kid on the floor! I'll load the pictures of the bunks (note that the room is small enough such that I cannot get the whole bed in the frame of the camera) and I'll get them posted tomorrow.

Say Yes to Drugs

No, not bad drugs...but if the doctor says take 'em then take 'em. Seems I'm a little infecty in the sinus department again. After Bingo tonight I took a spin up to the hospital and after I parked I was dismayed to find I had forgotten my health card at home. I spun home quickly to pick it up and went back again. There was a deer grazing in the hospital yard both times I drove past.

It was surprisingly like a ghost town in there. I was the only patient in the whole E.R. so I was in and out of the place inside an hour, including both trips to get there. Apparently it was just packed in there just a little earlier. I've been coughing like a maniac lately and it's starting to irritate me. The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics (again...ugh) and some cough medicine, that surprisingly isn't half bad (unless I'm just so wonked out in the sinuses that I couldn't taste it as much.)

Anyhoo, we went to Bingo tonight and I just coughed and coughed most of the time we were there. I was chain-lozenging myself with Fisherman's Friend cough drops. They are really starting to gross me out again because I've had so many.

Today at work there was another power outage. I ran home to get our Kool-a-tron to help the nurses transport the vaccines to the hospital where they have backup power. I pulled in the driveway and it took me not one, not two, but THREE tries using the remote for the garage door opener to realize that DUH the power is out and I'm home to get the Kool-a-tron BECAUSE the power is out. I laughed at myself and used the side door of the garage and grabbed the cooler.

I went back to the office and as everyone was still busy turning off light switches, calling managers, cancelling incoming clients and shutting down computers and power bars. I went to my desk to get someone a key and shortly after that the power came back on. Bummer! It was a relief though that the nurses didn't have to transport all the vaccines like they did the last time this happened. It was about a half an hour this time and the office hadn't even closed yet. Oh well.

Carter went on a school field trip to the sheep farm today. When I picked him up he was very tired (and therefore cranky) so I never got to really ask him about it before I went to Bingo because he fell asleep the minute we drove out of the babysitter's driveway.

So I've taken my cough medicine from the doctor for starters and I'll go fill my antibiotic prescription in the morning and start getting rid of this ickiness.

An Official Unwelcome to the North Wind

Let's see where I left off...

I think we had pizza for supper on Saturday. Sunday we went to Cindy's to celebrate Noah's TENTH birthday. Wow. My nephews are really growing up fast. We got home about mid-way through the final episode of Desperate Housewives. So instead of trying to pick up in the middle of the plot, we watched a movie and I stayed up extra-late to watch DH later. We watched The Golden Compass. Now I'm not sure if it was due the the few interruptions from the boys, but I didn't get a lot out of this movie. I did, however, appreciate the segue it provided until DH came on again. Then I find out today that it was due back yesterday or Sunday and I had it in the Jeep since we watched it. Sorry Dad! Hope the Movie Nazi wasn't too hard on you.

Monday was Victoria Day so it was a bonus long weekend. It was the most decent day weather-wise, so we took the boys to the Fort for lunch. Carter played a round of mini-golf and Cooper occupied himself playing on the playground and in the sandbox. We had a great lunch there with Mom and Dad and Cindy and the kids.

We came home and I made supper a little later since we'd had a big lunch. I whipped up an oriental chicken stirfry. The boys took long late naps and went to bed late, which made for some sleepyheads this morning. Cooper had me up just after four-thirty. I finally got back to sleep somewhere in the neighbourhood of five-ish. Then I get up with my alarm and the little turkey sleeps until seven-thirty! So not fair.

Work went by quickly today, and it was a soccer night. At lunch I had an eyebrow appointment then picked up hotdog buns before taking Carter to school. I picked up the boys after work and we came home to get ready for soccer. Chris came home and barbecued the hotdogs. Cooper ate about a half of one and Carter ate a bit of the dog and part of the bun. Chris showered and we took off for soccer. It was another cold and windy time at the soccer field. Carter is still enthusiastic during the practice then his enthusiasm wanes at game time. He's not very aggressive so he never really dives in for the ball and he tires easily since this is the most exercise he's really ever had! He wanted to play on the playground but it was so cold we just came home. Here is a little video tidbit of Carter at soccer:
I'm seriously finished with this weather. My lilac bushes are finally starting to bud but I'm betting the flowers are scared to death of peeking out for fear of freezing to death.

Both boys are finally in bed, though probably not yet sleeping. Here are a couple scrapbook pages I finished up over the weekend. You can click on them to enlarge them and click the titles below each to see the credits.

Sisters

Goof

It's Hailing, It's Snowing...the Old Man is...

what?

Yeah it was a real mixed bag in the weather department today. Chris went to work and I got up to get ready to take Carter to Soccer. Definitely no shorts yet!

The wind was atrocious. First I went to Tim Horton's and did a drive-by for Kelly and for Chris. We went to soccer and Carter was very enthusiastic at first. During the practice and drills, he seems to be attentive and having a good time. Then when they have a game he seems to lose interest and doesn't go after the ball. Hopefully that will come in time. Later he was talking about being goalie; maybe that would be a good spot for him. We'll see.

Cooper just wanted to sit with me this time. I went to get a big blanket from the Jeep to keep us warm with. After soccer, we didn't hang around to play on the playground. Not for lack of wanting by Carter of course, but I was totally done with that wind. We stopped by to visit Kelly for awhile, and when we went to leave it was so blustery and raining that when we drove by the other soccer field where Cindy's kids were supposed to be playing, we saw them all rushing to get in their vehicle.

We drove around for a little bit because I didn't want to hustle the kids in the house in the driving rain, snow, sleet etc. that was going on. We came home and Cooper had fallen asleep. He didn't stay that way when I brought him in. Chris came home awhile after and the boys had sandwiches for lunch. Seems my boys like bologna. So there's another surefire way to get them to eat something!

Last night we watched the movie, Mad Money with Diane Keaton, Ted Danson, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes. Chris fell asleep partway through but I watched the whole thing and liked it. After it was done I walked it back to the video store in hopes I returned it in time for Dad to get his 1-night rental credit back. I would have stopped in to visit Kelly but I figured she was asleep or got called in to work since there were no lights on.

I stayed up working on a couple scrapbook layouts but they're on the other computer so I'll post those later. Now oddly, the rain stopped and it looks like it's trying hard to be a normal spring day. Yeah, right.

There's a Computer On My Lap!

Well, after all these years of geekdom, I finally ordered a laptop. I ordered it last Friday and it already arrived this morning!

I have plenty of installing to do to get it caught up to my desktop computer. So far I have MSN Messenger, Microsoft Office and Photoshop installed. Plus I need to figure out how to get the wireless connection to work...

This'n'That

It's mid-week. I'm tired. The weather has been sucking...still. We even had a bit of snowish-rain, or rainish-snow yesterday. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. Today brought pouring rain. Y'know...the showers we were supposed to get in April so that we'd have May flowers by now! (which we do NOT.)

Luckily the Big Bike ride was Monday. It was a little chilly and cloudy but at least there was nothing to shovel or use umbrellas for.

I've done a little scrapping lately but haven't finished anything except these two so far. The first one is from Christy's Our Summer Home kit available at Butternug Squash Designs and Natural Designs in Scrapbooking. The second page is from the new Miss Mint kit Rainbow Joy available at Peppermint Creative.

That's about all I have for you this evening. Oh, except that Kelly and I went to Bingo tonight and MOM CAME TOO!!! No major winnings to report but it was sure fun to get Mom out again! :) :) :)

Big Bike for Heart & Stroke!

Today was the Big Bike for Heart & Stroke. Our office put in a team. I raised $550.00. This was the most I've ever raised for charity and I'd like to thank all my sponsors!

It was a less than favourable day for weather, but at least it didn't rain. We had just over half a bikeful (the bike can accommodate 29 riders) so we had to pedal our butts off to get that sucker moving around town! Plus we were the first team and the bike was facing the wrong way so we went a few blocks off the bike route to get it back in the right direction. My legs were very gelatinous for the rest of the day. I came home and passed out for a little while while Chris played outside with the boys. I didn't sleep much, if at all, but I lightly dozed amid the squeals and crashes I could hear the boys making outside.

Yesterday our whole fam-damily went out for supper for Mother's Day to a great rib restaurant. The kids were pretty antsy but we survived. I have plenty of great pictures to post but that bike ride tuckered me out. I'll post them tomorrow (after soccer...OY!)

Happy Birthday, Angie!

...but nobody's counting! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Official...I'm a Soccer Mom!

Today was Carter's first day of soccer, and hopefully not his last. Chris went to work at his usual early hour and I got up and got ready and got the boys ready so Carter could go to Soccer. I was going to find a place for Cooper to hang out but Kelly worked nights and I didn't allow for enough time to get him to Mom & Dad's house. So he came along, which turned out great.

Carter finally got to wear his new cleats and shin pads and he was assigned his soccer shirt. He picked #11 out of the pile of shirts. His team is called the Drillers. Cool! They started out with practicing a few skills then they had a game with another team. After awhile he got tired and didn't want to run anymore. By the time they run all the way down the field for the ball, it's already going in another direction. He got tired quickly; I'm pretty sure it's the most exercise he's ever had in one dose in all his five years! Cooper was quickly getting the hang of kicking a soccer ball on the sidelines; I'm pretty sure I'll be putting him in younger than I did with Carter. I should have started Carter at least a year sooner.

After it was over he really wanted to go play on the playground equipment. He expressed his preference for it over soccer even before he played. When I finally got both boys off the playground and into the Jeep (under great duress), Carter got a big pouty lip on. I thought I might have bumped him when I put him up in his chair but he was fine. He just said he was sad. I asked why and he said, "I don't like soccer." Big crocodile tears. I felt like an untied balloon that was blown up and let go. Totally deflated. I'm hoping he was just tired and that he'll be willing to try it again. That and with his new bike I'm sure hoping he'll get more used to a bit of exercise. We'll see.

With all that fresh air and running around I was pretty sure both boys would have an early nap. But after soccer we went to Tim Horton's (again, didn't have enough time to go before soccer) and brought a coffee to Chris at work. Each of the boys had a blueberry muffin and I got my French vanilla cappuccino. I stopped at the gas station to fill the Jeep and seventy-one dollars later, we took a drive to visit Mom and Dad. We had a little visit and met up with Chris at M&M Meat Shop for their charity barbecue. We had hamburgers then came home. Chris did some more bodywork on his truck and the boys played outside while I did a bit of housekeeping.

I scrubbed the bathroom and discovered I have a new favourite bathroom cleaner. Clorox something-or-other. Really good stuff. Works like in the commercials where they show the soap scum on the clear shower door and it just cleans its way down. Just a quick wipe and it was all gone. Yay! I emptied and filled and ran the dishwasher and started some laundry, which reminds me I need to put it in the dryer. I never did make it back downstairs again.

After awhile Chris came in and I went to pick up a cake to celebrate Carter's birthday again. We invited Mom and Dad and Cindy's family and the aunts and uncles to come over. I picked up two Oreo cakes from IGA. I came home and eventually both boys ended up napping so I put my head down for a little while. Chris came back in again and while the boys were still napping I ran out to Wal-Mart for a few more things. This time they had both kinds of milk I needed (they were completely out of both yesterday) and some pop and chips and stuff.

I came home and we had pizza pops for supper (yay, how nutritious...NOT). But both kids ate almost a whole one I think. Cindy and her crew came first and then Mom and Dad and Auntie Lurdes and Uncle Cliff. We had a great visit and Carter now has birthday money so he can get a new bike helmet. He was eyeing up a few cool looking ones at Wal-Mart when we picked out his bike the other day.

That's about it. I have a few scrapbooking pages to post but I'm tiiiiiired. Here are a few pictures from our first day at soccer!

New soccer gear!

Practice Drills

Cooper trying is hand...uhh...foot at soccer!

Happy Birthday Carter!

Wow. These kids are getting big! Just five short years ago at 5:38 p.m. we got to meet Carter. We blinked our eyes and now it's his fifth birthday already! We just celebrated at home with the four of us; we'll have family over for cake on the weekend, and Carter will have a real party with his friends in a few weeks when it warms up a bit more.

Today at lunch I picked up Carter and took him to Wal-Mart to pick out a bike. He was pretty excited. We took it to show Chris at work then I took Carter to school. I sure don't think he wanted to go to school after picking up the bike!

I brought cupcakes to the sitter's house for all the kids there, and some to Carter's class for him and his friends. After work I picked up the boys and we came home to play outside on the bikes. Chris got home and I ran out to grab an ice cream cake then came home and came in to cook supper. I told Carter we could have whatever he wanted for supper and he opted for (and I quote) Chicken Robot. I used my imagination for this one, and arranged the chicken fingers I made on the baking pan in the shape of a robot. I also cooked up a package of barbecue bourbon shrimp from M&M. Those were yummy too.

After supper we went outside. We wanted to take Carter down the street to an empty parking lot to practice riding his new bike. It turned out the parking lot wasn't exactly empty, but there was plenty of room for both Carter and Cooper to ride around anyway, compared to our little driveway. It is (by the way) still freaking cold out. That north wind can take a hike, and soon please!

Both boys had fun but it was too cold to stay for very long. The boys rode home and I had one heck of a time convincing them to come back in the house. I said, "Who wants ice cream cake?" The replies?...I still can't believe it... "Not me!!!" Both boys said it. They were having way too much fun to stop for cake. We eventually talked them into it and we all came in and I cut up the cake. Carter ate mostly icing and Cooper did a pretty good job devouring his piece.

And now for the pictures (and videos):

Carter proudly posing on his new bike

Cooper driving Daddy's truck

Carter stopping to pose for another bike-show-off picture! :)

Cooper laughing at me for chasing after him.

A couple more bike moments...of course I took plenty of
them so I'd have at least a couple good ones to scrapbook!

Cake time. It's not his 'real' party yet so I don't have a
'5' candle. Carter put these on the cake himself. :)

And now the videos. They're all great and fun (and not too long so it doesn't take long to watch all of them) but the one of Cooper singing Happy Birthday makes me giggle every time!

OMGMYBABYISGRADUATING!!!

Subtitle: New Dining Room Furniture!

Before I even begin to discuss my lack of blogitude, just look at THIS:
My baby is graduating! Granted, he is graduating from JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN. But jeepers, they sure make him look all growed-up in that grad stuff! I thought they did graduation from senior kindergarten but now they're doing it for the junior ones. Totally silly, but totally cute. Love it!

So let's see. I did get some laundry done on the weekend, but nowhere near what I'd hoped to accomplish. Chris did some work on his truck this weekend. I didn't do a thing with my hair after swimming Friday night until Sunday. We went out and did some shopping on Sunday, and picked up this lovely new dining room 'furniture':


This cute little number was on sale at Canadian Tire. We spotted it in the flyer and made a bee line for it. I really don't want it outside; it's still icky on the ground and it would get all gross and rained on and muddy in like five seconds. So for now, it's an inside toy, and my dining table is just slightly relocated again. I've been looking for one of these since Christmas. Cool!

We also picked me up a nice crock pot for Mother's Day, which came with a bonus mini-crockpot. I can't wait to use either or both. I might even chuck some stuff in it tomorrow if I get up in time in the morning. Oh yeah, and we picked up some cool soccer cleats and matching shin pads for Carter too.

Yesterday, Mom had a check-up with her hematologist in Winnipeg. It was a fantastic appointment. They're going to use my Mom's case for a textbook since it is such a unique condition and everything. Yep, that's my Mom. She has to be different! And her spleen will be famous! Anyhoo, her doctor was so pleased with her blood counts that she hugged Mom. And the biopsy of the spleen was clear of any other diseases aside from the Sarcoidosis. Faaaaantastic! Now with a bit more healing from the surgery, Mom will be good as new!

Today Mom had her second lunchdate with her girlfriends and with Dad as her chauffeur again, he and I had lunch together again at the same place so he could be there to pick her up when she was done, but without sitting with all those ladies. Not that he would mind, I'm sure, but he wasn't invited...which was to my benefit 'cause I got to have lunch out with Dad again! Thanks again Dad!

So I can't believe it's already Wednesday tomorrow. It's a bit of a crazy week. Tomorrow is my nephew Dominic's birthday and I have a blood-donor appointment in the evening. (#31!) Thursday CARTER IS TURNING FIVE. Whew. Still can't get over THAT one. So this weekend we'll have everyone over for cake, plus Carter starts soccer on Saturday. Then on Mother's Day the whole fam-damily is getting together to go out for supper. We practically have the whole restaurant to ourselves. There will be at least 25 of us. Par-tay!

I actually did some scrapbooking this weekend but I haven't uploaded anything to my galleries yet. I'm still trying to finish one more first, along with a couple other projects I have on the go. Surprisingly the boys went to bed at a quasi-decent hour, and I got to talk to Angie tonight on Hello. It's been a forever, and as usual she has me in stitches. It's great to catch up with 'old' friends. (Sorry, Angie...just a preface to your birthday next week...heehee)

Pissy Willies!!!

Well I'm finally starting to trust that spring is on its way again. Yesterday I saw some pussy willows, a sure sign of spring. (Editor's note: Today's post title reflects a slip of the tongue that one of my aunts made AGES ago and we still call them pissy willies to this day).

Yesterday was an odd one for me. It REALLY didn't feel like Friday since I'd traveled to Winnipeg on Thursday. Felt like Monday all day. So, I forgot it was pajama day at Carter's school. When I dropped him off one of the other Moms asked if I remembered and I expressed my annoyance at myself that i hadn't remembered. I brought Carter in and ran home to find pajamas. Thankfully, his best, newest Spiderman pajamas were clean and ready to go. I ran back to the school and helped him change before bolting back to the office. Before that little fiasco, Kelly and I had gone downtown to the chip van for some homemade fries and to the cell phone place so she could get a new phone. I had run out of time and left her at the cell phone place when I had to go for Carter. Anyway, Kelly got a reeeeeally nice new phone. I must get one too. It's a Motorola Razor. She brought it over to show me at the office and I programmed all her numbers in for her. I don't think my contract is up until November so I have at least one thing to look forward to in the winter.

I also forgot to go to the bank before I picked up the kids so I could pay the sitter. When Chris came home I ran and did that and ordered pizza for supper. I came in to wait for the pizza to be ready and Serena called. She couldn't get me in for my eyebrows over the weekend (and they were particularly horrible) but she could take me immediately. So I ran over there, got my eyebrows done, ran to pick up the pizza, came home, we ate supper. Chris had a shower and I had a quick shave so we could go swimming again.

Swimming was fun again. We put the boys in their new lifejackets. Carter is getting more comfortable in the water and didn't stick to the railing at the edge of the pool this time. He even tried a couple tricks spinning around and floating on his back. Mind you, with these new lifejackets, neither kid can flip over once he's on his back. Which is great; means the lifejackets are doing their job. After a while I took Cooper's lifejacket off and put on some water wings. He preferred the freedom. Actually I'm certain he'd have preferred having nothing on but he doesn't realize they're what's keeping him afloat!

After swimming, we went to Dairy Queen. I skipped the usual sundae. I'm going to try to cut back on that stuff. And I've been having green tea instead of French vanilla cappuccino these past few days. We'll see how long this lasts!

When we came home, I made another attempt to watch Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with the boys. Cooper zonked first. Then Carter. Then Chris. Then me. Wow that swimming tired me out! I think I'm about three quarters through the movie now. I have until Tuesday to watch the whole thing before it goes back to the video store.

Well, today looks like a beautiful, sun-shiny day so I'm not going to waste it. Cooper is still sleeping so I'm going to get breakfast ready and get my cleaning shoes on. I plan to go through every article of children's clothing in this house today. Wish me luck.

Oh and here's the latest on our snowman. He completely self-destructed yesterday and Chris put away his personal effects. See? Spring is trying again!

Another Quick Jaunt to the 'Peg

Today I played the navigator for Kelly on a quick trip to Winnipeg. Her son Ben had a dental appointment and Kelly isn't familiar with Winnipeg enough to get around and find the place so that's where I came in. We got there early enough to whip over to Costco. The dude conned us both into buying a membership. Kelly was going to get one no matter what, and I planned on paying her for part of it if I borrowed her membership to purchase anything. The guy was a typical salesman and wordsmithed me into thinking we were getting twenty bucks off because we would sponsor each other. Well, we paid the regular price THEN he gave us two ten-dollar shopping cards. So they get it back anyway. So, I am now the proud (yeah, whatever) owner of a Costco membership.

So once the membership process was over we did a very quick and limited tour of the place. I picked up some awesome Body Glove life jackets for the boys (They are awesome and way nicer than the ones that are the same price or higher at Wal-Mart.) I picked up a package of fifty-two razors, a three-pack of kids' spray-on sunscreen, a paper airplane kit, some candy for lootbags for Carter's birthday, some socks and flip-flops for Chris. Good thing we didn't have enough time to shop the whole store!

We made it to Ben's appointment with seconds to spare. Turns out he'll have to go back for surgery at the end of the month. Kelly needs my services again. Says she couldn't have done that without me. Each time I go I get a little more confident about knowing where I'm going. After his appointment, we were all STARVING. TO. DEATH. We were eyeing up Red Lobster as we drove past it on the way to Costco, so that was the game plan. We immediately advised the waitress of our urgency to eat, and she promptly brought us all iced tea, Caesar salads, and those warm, salty, sorta cheesy biscuits. Mmmmm. I ordered some sort of shrimp combo. Kelly ordered another combo with steak and Ben had some ultimate feast. The food came very quickly, much to our absolute delight. We gorged on all the awesome food and rolled out the door. A few more stops then it was time to head back.

The drive home was great; thanks to daylight savings and more hours of daylight! We saw about 28975235689 deer on the way and thankfully they were kind enough to stay off the road. Kelly dropped me off where Chris works so I could bring his truck home. I had dropped the Jeep off there when we left this morning. When I got home the kids were asleep in the living room and I showed Chris all the stuff I picked up. Now I'm sleeeeeepy. But hey, it's Friday tomorrow! What a great way to break up the week!