I Blinked

...and another week has gone by. This was a pretty busy one. Monday night I started getting ready for my trip to Thunder Bay with Cindy. I prepackaged four days' worth of clothing for the boys in zip-loc bags and caught up on a bit of laundry.

Tuesday after work Cindy and I left for Thunder Bay. We met up with Mom and Dad at their hotel. The next morning we all went over to the hospital for Dad's surgery. It was a couple hours of waiting until they took him in, a few hours of surgery, a couple hours of recovery and we finally got to see him again. We were at the hospital about twelve hours that day.

Dad was pretty perky despite the big surgery and was making us laugh because he was even more silly than his usual jokey self. Thursday morning we went back and Dad was doing well. We spent much of the day there again before leaving to come home.

Friday was an odd day at work because of my two days off in the middle of the week. It felt like Monday. We had a quiet evening at home. Saturday Chris worked until noon and had brought home a small go-kart for the kids to play with. He played outside with the boys for hours and went all over with Cooper in the go-kart. We ordered pizza for supper (online!) and watched TV.

Today I had a horrible headache that actually started yesterday. I took some Tylenol but all I wanted to do was lie down. I spent half the day in bed. Good thing my friend Diane called me to remind me we were going out. I spent a big part of the afternoon working on a DVD slideshow for my upcoming work conference. I had it all finished and burned to DVD already but I was reminded I was missing some pictures. Now I have it all set to music with cool transitions between the pictures and I'm really happy with it. I hope nobody decides I need to make changes. It's just not that simple!

Cindy and I have been in touch with Mom each day since we left and Dad has graduated off liquids. She said he had cream of broccoli soup today. I bet it felt like a gourmet meal after all the ice chips he ate for a few days! Well, it's another busy week ahead; I need to go check on the laundry demons in the basement.

Summer in September!

Wow. There went another week that got away from me! We've had such an amazing month of weather we've spent a lot of time outside.

Let's see. Looks like I last blogged on Tuesday night last week after that awesome waterfit class. Looks like I won't be able to go this week but I do plan to go again.

Wednesday morning I was so tired. I did a quick run to Starbucks. When I went in all the tills were down so they were giving out free coffee! I gave Kelly a 'Happy Chai-Day' and grabbed myself my current favourite caramel macchiato. I've been tempted to give up the commercially-brewed coffee beverages but it's been a slow process!

On Thursday, I made Greek pizza for supper. A coworker had brought in her leftovers the day before and it looked delicious so she gave me her recipe. I found some pre-baked pizza crusts at the grocery store. I brushed the crusts with olive oil and sprinkled them with Greek seasoning. I cubed and browned some chicken breasts in olive oil, sautéed mushrooms with onions, sautéed spinach with minced garlic (and might I say how FAST spinach disappears!) I kept putting handfuls of spinach in the pan and watching it reduce to nearly nothing. I arranged everything on two pizza crusts and topped them with crumbled feta and mozzarella cheese. I browned them a little in the oven and we dug in. Cooper ate a whole piece (minus the spinach and onions that he deemed as 'slime'). Carter wasn't quite as enthusiastic about eating it as Cooper was but he did eat about half a piece.

On Friday morning, I was having a morning where I was out of both sleep and extra time. When I walked in the building at work, Kelly was on her way in too and had a macchiato for me. Score! She was very high on my popularity list that day for sure! :) On Friday night I was invited to a kind of a 'girls' night'. Basically just a visit with a few girls at one of their houses. We all brought hors-d'oeuvres and munched on them along with having a few drinks. I walked home around one o'clock in the morning. A good time was had by all!

Saturday Chris worked until noon. I went to pick up my dishes and stuff from Carmelle's house and brought her and Serena much-needed Starbucks! I came home and Chris left to go four-wheeling with his work buddies. I didn't anticipate his coming home until pretty late. I planned to take the kids to Mom and Dad's house for a visit, but Cooper fell asleep. After his nap it was still so beautiful outside we went anyway. I ran a couple errands and packed up the kids' bikes and went to Mom and Dad's. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes on the long, hilly driveway. I brought extra clothing so they could play in the lake too. They splashed around for quite awhile before we took them in for a warm bath. I noticed Cooper had a little bloodsucker on his foot so I told him he had a 'sticky worm' on him and I took it off, not wanting him to be afraid. He wasn't. Then Carter piped up and asked if it was a bloodsucker. I said yes, it was! No fear. Good.

We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home and I got yet another new printer. I really wear these things out! I also picked up a couple cheap movies while we were there, including ''Hoodwinked'' and ''The Devil Wears Prada''. Two movies we've never seen before, and each was only four bucks...cheaper than it would have been to rent them! We came home and started watching ''Hoodwinked''. I hadn't expected it to be good, but the kids and I all liked it. Chris surprised me and came home before ten. He was pretty tired from working and riding all day and went to bed immediately.

Sunday was a busy day. I successfully took both boys to church, which surprised both me and the priest! I hadn't gone for many weeks but have gone two weeks in a row now and want to keep it up again. After church we went out for breakfast. The boys were good in church and out at breakfast. It was a gorgeous day again and after breakfast we picked up Chris to go get his truck at his friend's house.

I took the boys home and Chris went visiting before he came home. He came home just in time for me to leave to go to the AIDS Walk for Life. I picked up Kelly and we went. It was a fantastic day for a walk and about seventeen hundred dollars was raised for the small local committee to raise awareness in our area. I raised a hundred fifty-five dollars, mostly online. It's much easier to ask for money hiding behind a computer screen than asking in person! After the walk there was a little luncheon and some draw prizes.

I dropped off Kelly and she offered to come to the park with the boys and me if they were game. They were. We drove over to Kelly's and walked to the park. (Cooper rode his bike.) We had both boys riding their bikes with no training wheels, but I think Cooper had a few wipeouts so Chris put his back on. Carter has adjusted very well; we should have taken his off ages ago. Though I did copy my Dad's idea from when I was little...we took off one at a time so it was nearly a seamless transition. After supper we watched The Devil Wears Prada while the kids watched Hoodwinked again. I stayed up pretty late working on a print project. Around one o'clock this morning I realized I likely had nothing to wear to work today. I threw in a load of laundry and finished up a couple details on the birthday invitations I made then went to bed.

I got up this morning and absolutely had to wash my hair. I haven't had to do a thing with it since Wednesday. I washed and ironed my hair while drying clothes in the dryer. Chris packed the boys' lunch and snacks and went to work. I got them fed and dressed. What seems like it's going to be a new breakfast trend around here is coloured sugar. I couldn't find my container of sugar so I used the coloured stuff I have for making cookies. Carter had it in his oatmeal with cinnamon, and Cooper had it on his cinnamon toast. Weird, but it got them to eat their breakfast!

Today was a busy Monday as usual. I brought lunch to Chris and we had lunch together before I went back to work. After work I picked up the boys and came home. I left them playing outside with Chris while I ran to the grocery store to get something for supper. I found some cheap steaks and picked up potatoes and corn and sliced mushrooms. I came home and prepared everything while Chris barbecued the steaks. We had a great supper and can always count on the boys eating well whenever we have steak.

After supper we hung out and the boys had a quiet evening and went to sleep fairly early. We watched a few series premieres including House, Castle, and Heroes. I made a birthday card for Kelly to give her brother and it's just past midnight so I'm going to go to bed 'early' tonight.

A Few First Days

Yesterday was Cooper's 'real' first day of school. Carter's first day of school fell on the 1st of the month. That was Cooper's first day at the new day care. Cooper's next 'first' day was the third, when we went to meet the teacher. Cooper's next first was the ninth, where there was a handful of his classmates attending. And yesterday brought us to the first day of the rest of his junior kindergarten life. So far things have been going well. I've seen a bit of a change in Cooper (well, in Carter too.) Cooper seems to be mellowing a little and whatever nasty phase he was going through is seemingly subsiding. Carter, unfortunately on the other hand, has gotten into a little trouble at school with swearing. What? This kid has never done that. He's the compliant one! Today he actually used the F# and had to go to the principal's office. I had no coverage at the office so Chris went over to investigate. (He's grounded for a week, by the way.)

Cooper, who had been taking a foray into swearing and general meanness these past few months, has settled into his new routine well. Though today he did call me a nasty name when I was trying to herd him in for supper. ::sigh::

So aside from all the swearing issues (Oh and by the way again, I have been known to spout off a few myself, but I always acknowledge them and apologize. The kids? Not so much.) things have been settling well into our routines.

Let's see. The rest of our little camping trip went well. One evening last week we had a very intoxicated man wander into our yard. I was inside with the kids and Chris was out by the firepit with the neighbours. The guy came flailing down the lane and spouting something about being a vampire and an alien or something. Our neighbour spoke to the guy at which point he stopped walking and started to vomit blood. They called 911 and the ambulance and a few police cars showed up. All this was happening while I was in the house with the kids and I knew about none of it. After it was all over Chris (finally) came in to ask if I saw the whole thing. What? No!!! Come and get me when weird stuff happens in our neighbourhood!

At the end of the Labour Day weekend the weather was still fantastic and we actually took the boys to the beach! (Pictures included in slideshow) Last Tuesday Mom and Dad had us over for supper. We hadn't really had a good visit since our little family reunion last month. We had fantastic spaghetti and Mom used her Grandma magic to get the boys to eat all of theirs. On Tuesday we had fresh, pan-fried walleye with homemade French fries. On Thursday I went to a farmer's market to pick up some yellow squash for supper. We had grilled chicken that night with it. Yum!

Last Friday I went downtown with Kelly and Sharon. Kelly needed to find a new bathing suit since her...ahem...'girls' made their way out of her former swimsuit at her aquafit class. We didn't find anything at the first store so we went on to another (one I LOATHE...because even the sales prices are atrocious.) I was busying myself looking at the sale rack of bathing suits when I actually found one I liked. I went to try it on and actually liked it on! I mean, even enough to show Kelly and Sharon. I was pretty excited and looked at it for the price tag. I noticed there was no sale tag so I asked the clerk if this item was a sale item or not. Apparently only some of the items on the rack were on sale, seemingly every single other one but the one I wanted. I put it back on the rack and never ventured far from it. I was bummed, not wanting to pay full price. It's been two or three years since I bought a new swimsuit; the last one I bought for sixteen dollars at the end of summer. So I bit the bullet and took it up to the cashier, making a couple hinty comments about it not being on sale. I really hoped she would say, oh let me just give you twenty percent off. Nope. Bummer! So I am the proud owner of a swim suit I don't hate, at a price that I do.

On Sunday, I got up and made a split-second decision to go to church. My hair was salvageable and Cooper was game to go. We made it in perfect time and sat with Mom and Auntie Lurdes. After breakfast we met up with Dad and Mom and a few of their friends. The remainder of the weekend is becoming hazy at best since I've been such a ''wayward blogger'' as Angie put it.

The weather has remained fantastic this week again, so Chris capitalized on it and went sea-dooing with some coworkers last night. I let the boys ride their bikes down to the riverfront so we could watch. That was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion. The boys didn't listen well about the rules of STOPPING or LISTENING. Luckily we made it there alive. They kept going way ahead of me (I was walking). We watched Chris and the guys for awhile. Carter didn't seem to want to ride his bike anymore so Chris took it in his friend's truck. Cooper was really eager to ride his bike to the park while Carter and I walked. The boys played at the park for awhile then we made our way home, stopping to take pictures on all the rocks along the way. The boys were being pretty photogenerous and these pictures are also included in the slideshow.

Today was an insanely busy day at work (and at school as this blog post comes full circle to Carter's visit to the principal.) Kelly asked me to join her and her friends at waterfit (or aquafit) or whatever it's called. I was intrigued and said I would go along. I do, after all, have a nice new swimsuit to wear now! I had lunch with Chris. After work I picked up the boys and we all got home at the same time as Chris. I took Cooper to get a few school snacks and some hot dogs for a quick supper since I was going out.

I walked to the fitness centre to meet up with Kelly and the girls. I absolutely LOVED the class and will definitely go again. Kelly and I walked home together. Two sleeping boys were strewn about the living room so I dug out the laptop to do some catching up. Whew! I feel like everything is so disjointed when I blog after so long, but it feels good to get things flowing again. I used to be able to spew paragraphs about what seemed like the most mundane days, but I can't seem to muster anything lately. Hopefully I can stay on the upswing and keep it up to document the goings-on of the boys at least.

Tooooooooooo Tired...

I have much to post including the remainder of our backyard campout, a day to the beach, (in September!) Cooper's first day of school (again), strange visitors in the backyard, first fair play code at school, supper at Mom & Dad's...details to follow! Oh yeah, and a few pictures too :)

The Great Backyard

Days Three and Four (Thursday and Friday) were great. I seem to be settling into the new routine nicely! The boys are faring pretty well too!

We've spent the last two nights camping out in the backyard. Chris set up the camper last weekend but we never used it. So on Friday night we borrowed a fire pit at the last minute from Chris's friend. We enjoyed hotdogs on the fire and s'mores. I kinda cheated on the s'mores...I bought the cookies with the chocolate already on them and we just put the roasted marshmallows in between. It might not be as chocolatey as using a chocolate bar, but it's far less messy and easier for the kids to assemble and keep together!

We sat around our little campfire and the boys got tired and went in the camper to sleep. Chris's friend Nick and his girlfriend came over and we sat outside visiting until almost one o'clock, which amazed me since it only felt like maybe ten!

Yesterday Chris worked until noon. I had a headache (possibly from a couple drinks the night before but not definitely) so I was laying low and was out of Tylenol. Mom and Dad stopped by on their way home from Thunder Bay and Mom gave me some. I went to lie down for awhile, though Cooper was being a little monkey and not letting me rest. I locked myself in my room and after Cooper bashed on the door for awhile, he gave up and went to have a nap with Chris. I finally got to rest and slept off my headache. When I woke up I opened the bedroom door. Cooper crawled up on the bed in the semi-dark room and ever-so-randomly said, ''I love your eyes.'' I asked him what he loved about them and he told me, ''When you blink them they look beautiful.'' I just about died from the sweetness. Sometimes he comes up with the best stuff!

I got up and ready and went to Wal-Mart to pick up some more camping snacks. This time we had barbecued hamburgers. I also picked up pretzels and some Smartfood popcorn, along with some special candy treats. We had only a bit of firewood on Friday night so we were out of firewood. Seconds after I posted a request on Facebook for firewood, Cindy showed up with a box of it. Hilarious. She hadn't seen my post but we had talked on the phone. A few minutes later we got a call from a Facebook friend saying Chris could pick up some more. Chris and Carter went to get it. We now have enough for at least one more campout!

The boys stayed up a bit later than the first night. We all snuggled up on lawn chairs and did a bit of stargazing. Carter went in the camper on his own and went to sleep but Cooper wanted me to lie down with him. Chris came in the camper and when he went to lie down with Carter, Cooper wanted to cuddle with Daddy too. He climbed up on our bed and weaseled his way between the sleeping Carter and Daddy. I was on the table bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Chris called out to me when both boys were sleeping and we moved them to the other bed and had a peaceful night.

This morning Chris left early to go fishing. The boys were up pretty early too and we came in the house for breakfast and a movie. We've been watching Underdog pretty much non-stop since I rented it the other night. I also rented Duplicity but we haven't had the chance to watch it yet. Hopefully Chris will come home with a good feed of fish and we can continue our camp-out weekend with a fish fry.

Day Three - It's Bliss!

Day Two of Continuing Awesomeness

This morning I pressed the snooze button about seventeen times too many. Chris got me up at almost seven-thirty. I dragged my sleepiness out of bed and started to get ready. The boys got up and had breakfast and Chris helped get them ready and dressed. I had a terrible hair crisis this morning. Usually I put my hair in a ponytail in the morning and my hair is the last thing I do. When I took out the ponytail for the requisite freshening up with the hair dryer, all hair broke loose. I'm not sure what was happening, but I ended up resorting to wearing my hair in a ponytail for the day. Ew. It was not a good hair day.

I got the boys to school with enough time to spy on Carter for a bit. I went straight to work and instead of having any commercially brewed coffee, I opted to make a mug of green tea. It's been ages since I did that. I want to switch to that as a habit again! When we got in the Jeep this morning the kids commented it was stinky in there. I didn't think much of it until I went to get them out of the Jeep at school and discovered much to my horror and dismay that there was a sippy cup with a slow leak upside-down on the back seat in between the kids' booster seats. EW. During my lunch hour I came home for a bite to eat and donned my rubber gloves to tackle the stink. I scrubbed the seat with Windex and Mr. Clean. Then it smelled like puke and cleaning products in there. EW still. I ran a couple errands downtown before returning to work, including a brief soujourn at Starbucks. Oops. I didn't mean to have that caramel macchiato. Really.

The afternoon went by quickly and the next thing I knew I was picking up the boys. The Jeep smelled fine by this time but I still sprayed some foaming hand sanitizer on the seat hoping to freshen it up some more in there. Once it dries it should be fine. Diane had called me earlier to let me know they had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale at Safeway so I stopped to see Chris at work and he took Carter home. Cooper wanted to go with Daddy too but I talked him into coming with me by tempting him with riding in the 'truck' grocery cart. I picked up a few value packs of chicken along with some potatoes and fruit and we were on our way home.

I got Chris to barbecue a few chicken breasts I had marinated in salad dressing. I baked the potatoes and steamed some corn on the cob. We also had an awesome bag salad that came with dressing and nuts and dried cranberries. Delish. It was an awesome supper. Cooper started acting like a little turkey at the supper table and I started to clue in that he must be getting tired. Once he had a bath and got in his jammies he mellowed out. Carter had a bath next and I was thrilled and amazed when Cooper was asleep just after eight. Carter stayed up awhile longer. He really wanted me to print him a golden ticket like in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. I made one in PhotoShop ages ago for him but the printed copies I gave him were long since destroyed. I printed him a new one and he fell asleep holding it.

Tomorrow is Cooper's first day of school. I've been telling him that even though he goes to the school for the whole day, that was his day care and now he'll be going to school. I can't wait to see him check out his classroom for the first time. I'll be taking more pictures of his first day. We seem to have a few 'first days' but it's all in the way they stagger the entry to school for the little ones. I'll be sure to put in a report of how that goes!

Day One of All Future Awesomeness

Yesterday my friend Diane and I went to Winnipeg to visit a friend in the hospital. The weather has been beautiful so far this week (gee...nice that summer is just starting in time for FALL. < /sarcasm>) and we had a great drive there. We visited at the hospital for about three hours and had a great visit. After our visit we left to go get manicures and pedicures then did a Costco run. We left the city by about seven-thirty and arrived home before eleven. Everyone was asleep. I didn't stay up much later, though I should have to prepare a little better for today.

This morning I got up after seven and started getting ready. I packed Carter's lunch and laid out the boys' new clothes. Cooper thought they were going to the sitter, but I reminded him about his new day care and of school starting soon. Today was the first day of full-time school for Carter, and Cooper's first day at his new day care. First we dropped off Cooper in his day care room and then I took Carter to his classroom. The teacher greeted Carter, knowing his name and introducing herself. He said, ''I knew that. My mom telled me.'' Then she told him that she went to school with me. Then I got a little misty. Wow. A whole generation later and a classmate of mine is teaching my son.

The morning absolutely FLEW by since it was insanely busy at work. Partly because I had a little catching up to do from yesterday, but it was still a bit crazy anyway. I did a bit of a drive-by at lunch to check in on the boys and all was well. The transition has been far easier than I anticipated. The conveniences of this arrangement keep unfolding. Today when I went to pick up the kids, I learned that because of the time I get off work, both boys will be in the same place when I arrive. Bonus!

We came home and Cooper wanted to play outside. When Chris got home I went to do a quick run to Wal-Mart to pick up more shoes for the kids. I didn't really have any decent, easy shoes for Carter for his indoor shoes at school, so I picked up a pair for him, along with a decent supply of juice boxes and a few other supplies. I went to the grocery store after, and found a bunch of marked down clothing. I picked up a few more shirts and a pair of jeans for Cooper, along with some more shoes for him. He needs a pair of indoor shoes for school and a pair for the day care. We're all hooked up in the shoe department now. I also found a new backpack for Carter and a food thermos in case I send him with soup or something.

I stopped at one more grocery store for a couple more things including a roasted chicken. After all that shopping there was no way I'd have time to pull off cooking supper before bedtime! After supper Chris and I treated the kids to some furniture relocation in their room. We moved the bottom bunk back under the top bunk and set up one of our camping tents in the other part of the room. I hatched an evil plot to tire out the kids...I ''let'' them pump up the air mattress themselves. They inflated a whole queen-size air mattress. I gave them both a bath and read a story with Carter. We took turns reading lines in the story. Cooper was semi-interested and darted in and out. After the story I told the boys it was bedtime. Carter zipped out to the living room a couple times but ended up falling asleep on the couch. Cooper fell asleep in the tent. I was thrilled they were both sleeping before nine. It can only get earlier, and I look forward to it!

Well, that's about it for this glorious day...what's that you say? Did I take a picture of the boys on their first day? Well, of course I did!