For Jane :D

I hate that all salad dressing bottles don't come with that little disc at the top that has a teeny hole so you don't get giant globs of dressing all over the place. Thankfully, I have an extensive squirt lid collection. Who knew the mustard lid would fit so perfectly on the dressing bottle???

Lookit me go!

Tuesday :)

Today we went to the Edmonton Chinese Garden in downtown Edmonton. What a beautiful day...I think it made it up to 27C, and it was sunny and breezy...just perfect. There was a teeny marble table with four stools, so we sat and had our picnic lunch and then we played a rousing game of hide and seek (the high point of my day LOL). Another high point of my day was singing at the top of my lungs, "HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES AND TOES..." because there were some ladies doing burpees in the park (far enough away where I'm sure they heard me but I'm not sure they could see me LOL). Every once in a while during our lunch, I would yell out, "FOUR MORE...THREE MORE!". I'm such an ass.


The pagoda where Kylie has declared she will get married some day. Lookit the cute little marble table where we had lunch.


...a picture of Kylie taking a picture of Jacob taking her picture LOL. And that's me eating in the background! Really, what else would I be doing???










A view of the river valley...you can see the Edmonton Queen Riverboat down there.




My family...Scott is standing behind Samantha, holding her up LOL.

Oops :o)

I won't be very good at updating over the next 2 weeks as Scott is on holidays :) . Yay! We were planning on going to Calgary for a couple of days to go to the zoo...but with gas so expensive, we figured that we would stay in town and take that money and spend it here, on things that we want to do around here...like the zoo, go-karts, mini-golf, picnics, WEM waterpark (ew...I need some time to wrap my mind around that), etc.

This weekend, we spent some time cleaning and organizing the basement. We went swimming on Saturday and had a picnic at Rundle Park...I couldn't believe how many people were there! Big family events, lots of kids...it was really nice.

We could hear the Indy races from our house...sounded like a swarm of bees all day long LOL. Gene Simmons was here to open the races...I've heard that he has a sister-in-law who lives here. We could also here Ed Fest at the Capital Ex from my house, even though it's more than 2km from here...no wonder the residents in that area are choked at the sound levels. It's freakin' loud at 11 at night.

Today we had planned on going on a picnic downtown, but I think we may go swimming instead...looks like a rainy day. There is so much to do over the next 2 weeks!!!

I've made a decision.

I've decided. If I wasn't married to my super-wonderful-fantastic husband (and my husband knows this), I would only date older men.

Because I just think they'd be really, really grateful. For everything...ya know *giggle* ?

Some pics.

Kylie, at the butterfly exhibit at Capital Ex.


Kylie and Jacob in Watson, Saskatchewan . They have Santa Clause Day, and there is sort of a Christmas theme going on there.


Even the trash cans are Christmas-y.


Sammy, confined to the tub, while I clean up the case of explosive diarrhea that she had LOL. Yes, that's what I said. If you look closely, you can see it on her right shoulder. We tried her on a little bit of homo milk and that just bunged her up...so we tried a jar of baby prunes to rectify that problem. Well, I can honestly say the prunes worked! Never, in my motherhood career, have I experienced this...it was all the way up her back, right up to her hair, it was all over me, all over the high chair...there are more pictures but I don't have the nerve to post them. And then I'm sure Nicole would take my precious award away LOL.

Point of interest...one day Kylie wanted a note to skip gym class because "her tummy hurt". Yeah, right. So I wrote a note to her teacher, asking that he excuse Kylie from gym class because she had a case of explosive diarrhea (I saw it on South Park once). I handed her the note: she ripped it up immediately, as she was all horrified and embarassed, but she was still laughing...and she never asked for an excuse note again :D

An award!

Nicole over at Nicostuff.com gave me an award:



I have to pick some recipients as well...but I don't have time today. I'll have to think on that one.

Thanks Nicole!

A-ha!!!!!!

When we were at the playground on Saturday, someone commented about how the kids were digging such a deep hole in the sand that they would end up in China if they kept digging.

NO THEY WOULDN'T!!!!

Go to Tall Eye and click on where you are in the map...if you were in Edmonton and dug a hole, you would end up in the freakin' ocean, right above Antartica. I do wonder from time to time, though, where kids in China think they are digging to when they dig a big hole in their playgrounds.

Saturday.

I got my serger back! And it's so pretty, all polished up and finally working properly!!! Yay!!! Now I have no excuse as not to sew...ok, I don't really feel like it lately but I'm going to do it anyway.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the park with my brother and his 3 kids. My kids were so dirty and muddy by the time we got home LOL...but they had so much fun. Then we went to the pool and had a great time swimming. It's sort of lonely in the shallow end, just me and Sammy, now that Jacob is swimming laps so that he can go into the deep end with Scott and Kylie, but that's ok. I just stick Sammy in the inflatable baby boat and push her in front of me while I swim laps, too.

After swimming, we went to Gramma's for leftover pizza and then I went for a nice long walk. It was beautiful weather, 24C and sunny skies :D .

Today, we're going to try and go for a ride on the Edmonton Queen, a long overdue Mother's Day gift for my mom, and then I'll head off to work this evening. I hope the weather holds out.

I have so many pictures on the camera that I need to upload, but I just can't seem to remember to bring in the camera from the van LOL. Bad Kylies Mom, Bad :D .

Thursday.

Well, it's the end for poor KiLaLa. His final resting place will be under the cherry tree in the back yard...so when beautiful blossoms come out in the spring, we will remember what a great friend he was. Kylie is very sad but ok with it...poor kiddo :( .

Last night, Scott took the kids to Capital Ex (a summer festival in town....it used to be called Klondike Days and would entail strongman competitions, log cutting competitions, everyone dressed up in costume...but someone figured it was time to update it). They went on a bunch of rides, played a bunch of games...went to the butterfly exhibit...and saw Canadian rock band Hedley, which turned out to be a great show apparently. It was both kids' first concert and they loved it! Although, Scott had Jacob on his shoulders constantly, so he wasn't able to get any pics. I stayed home with Sammy...I just knew if I was there, Jacob would make any excuse to stay with me instead of having fun on the rides. He's sort of a chicken that way.

While the family was gone, Sammy and I went to Wal Mart. For some reason, Sammy has about a dozen pairs of hand-me-down pants and no t-shirts. What on earth did I do with them all??? So I bought two white, one pink and one blue t-shirt for $3 each. That's cheaper than Goodwill prices lately, which is sorta sad. But now she has tons of outfits to wear. Yay.

Today is swimming again, then we are off to Gramma's to make homemade pizza for supper.

Later, dudes.

Tuesday.

Well, we didn't do much today besides swimming lessons this morning...KiLaLa the hamster is sick and I'm sure doesn't have much time left (in September he'll be 2). We gave him some meds and made him comfy with some treaty kleenex and shredded paper towels, and I told Kylie that he could sleep in his cage in the dining room tonight. Kylie's happier now, but she was a mess this morning :( . Sometimes it really stinks to be a mama :( .

Tomorrow is the first night of Capital Ex and Scott is taking the big kids so that they can see Hedley. Jacob is stoked...he can hardly wait.

Monday.

So this weekend I took my serger in to get fixed. The sales lady was nice enough to show me a really cool machine that they have on sale ($1600...yeah, like that's gonnna happen). It threads itself. Can you believe that? It has these little holes you stuff the thread in and then a vacume just sucks the threads into place. Unreal. After we dropped the serger off, we went to Marshall's to look at fabric. I carried Sammy in the sling, so as we're walking down one aisle she reaches out and grabs a bolt of fabric...and wouldn't you know it, it was black with jolly rogers all over it!!! LOL!!! And she screamed when I took it away from her...oh well, I guess it was fate. I bought half a metre to make her something out of, it was too expensive to buy a whole metre. Hmmm...maybe a sundress for Auntie's pirate party...

And yay, my family is back! They rolled in at 8pm last night...I was so ready for them to be home. I gave Kylie a hug and right away my eyes got itchy and my chest got wheezy...I had to send all 3 of them to change their clothes because of whatever chemicals they used in that stinkin' hotel. I can't imagine the shape I'd be in if I had actually slept there.

Swimming lessons started today for both big kids, Kylie in level 5 and Jacob in level 2. It's raining like crazy today, so I might get some sewing done. The kids are asking to play video games...I really don't like them playing games in the summer, but since Jake has no one to play with and Kylie wants to play with him...I guess I'll say yes.

I could do this all day :) .

Go here , click on the dolly and drag her. Or just let her fall.

:D

Friday.

Jacob and Uncle Terry (Scott's brother) on the trampoline. I think Terry won ;) . I had to steal this picture from Kylie's Face Book page...I have no idea how to get at her uploaded photos on the computer LOL.

The house is so quiet...Scott has taken the big kids, along with his Dad, to Saskatchewan for a family reunion. It's a 7 hour trip and they're staying in a hotel, and I don't exactly relish the thought of travelling that far with a baby so Sammy and I stayed home. As I'm getting older, hotels creep me out...other people have slept in those beds (ew), and the chemicals they use to clean the sheets make me very wheezy. And I totally wear shoes on hotel room floors, just like Kate!!! I keep them on the floor beside my bed so I can wear them as soon as I hop out of bed. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

So Kylie turned 10, and she asked for a digital camera for her birthday. We got a great deal on a HP camera at Canadian Tire and she is loving it! It was on sale, and then we had $16 in Canadian Tire money saved up so it couldn't have been any cheaper. Within the first hour, she figured out how to add borders, how to shoot videos, and how to edit the pictures right there on the camera. I love that camera, it is exactly perfect for her. She has taken it everywhere with her since her birthday, and happily took it with her to Saskabush.

On the night of her birthday, we went to Red Robins...Kylie's favourite restaurant. She had salmon and fries, and I had a burger (gawd those are good burgers). It's been at least 2 months since I've had a burger so I indulged. It was soooo worth it LOL!!! I discreetly mentioned to the waitress that it was Kylie's birthday, so of course they come by with a sundae and make Kylie stand on her chair so they can sing her Happy Birthday...Kylie was embarrassed...no, she was mortified and then wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the evening. I apologised profusely...I would never want to hurt her, and I was so sorry that I said anything to the waitress. I took a couple of pics with her camera and of course she promptly deleted them. Oh well...I guess I know for next year LOL. She's talking to me now, and isn't mad anymore. My gosh, she's 10...and acts like she's 15!

Today was my niece Seanna's last day at Rocker Girl Camp. She went to day camp all week and today was the final concert. Her band played their original song (Seanna played acoustic guitar and rocked, of course). Seanna can now play guitar, bass and piano. And she's only 13 :D . Sammy sat so quietly through the whole thing...she even boogied a bit on my lap :D . Afterwards, we went to my mom's for soup (of course) and then we went for a long, long walk. Now I am all alone in my very quiet, creaky house. I hate it when Scott's gone, but normally I would take one of the big kids to bed with me...tonight I'll be all alone (eek).

Saturday, I'm taking my serger in to get the timing fixed. It's been off since I tried to serge some too-thick diaper liners and it's finally irritated me enough to do something about it. I hope it's not too expensive to fix.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Happy Birthday Kylie!

I can't believe my oldest is 10 today!

Where on earth does the time go? My beautiful girl is 10 but acts like she's 13...but she has the biggest heart and is the most caring girl (most days LOL) that I could ever ask for.

Happy Birthday, beautiful!!!

Yuk.

It has been a crappy 2 days. Jake cried inconsolably last night because the little girls across the alley are mean, and Scott told Jacob that he doesn't want those girls in our yard or in our house *ever again*. My poor Jacob...he's already learning that Kylie gets invited more places than he does and gets to do more fun things with the people that he wants to do fun things with too :( . So today, Kylie got asked to go somewhere without him (again) and he's stuck at home playing video games by himself. I try my absolute hardest to play with him, but honestly video games don't make any sense to me and I just end up holding his character back. Poor guy. I had a horrible sleep last night, couldn't get to sleep and then when I finally did I dreamed of him :( . I think Scott has talked Jacob into going with him and Kylie to a family reunion this weekend in Saskatchewan. I honestly don't know what I'll do with him for 3 days if he stays home with me...he just wants a friend to play with (or Kylie)...he doesn't want me. God, why does being a mom have to be so hard sometimes???

My in-laws are coming tonight for cake with Kylie (tomorrow's her birthday). So today I will clean and bake, and try to occupy Jake at the same time. It's raining, so no playground today. Tomorrow is Kylie's birthday, and we are having cake at my mom's for the other side of the family (two big families with lots of kids on one side...no room for everyone at once, so that's why we split it up). It sucks to have a summer time birthday: a lot of friends and family are on vacation and just can't make it. Some live nearby and just can't be bothered to come...not even for one stupid hour. We've had family birthdays where 2 people showed...it was too hot (we have air conditioning), someone was too tired (you couldn't tough it out for one stinkin' hour?)...etc.

Makes you want to forget that everyone else exists and *never again* do something nice for someone else, because sometimes that's just what human beings do.

I'm having an angry, bitter day. Can you tell???

Laziness Meets Frugality: Home-made Multi-Sized Paper Towels

Too lazy to sew reusable paper towels means I'm still buying paper towels. And ripping off teeny bits as I need them, because the multi-sized ones are too expensive. So I came up with a plan.

My lazy ways:


...plus my cheapskate ways:


...equals multi-size paper towels with minimal mess:


You have to hold one roll while you tear off a sheet from the other roll...but I could solve that problem by just throwing the top roll in the pantry for now...but I'm even too lazy to do that :D .

Lou and Andy

This made me laugh so hard this weekend...you probably won't share my sense of humour here but my gosh...I think it's hilarious :D .

Sunday.

Well, my Sammy is feeling better (thanks for the well-wishes :D ) .

Saturday, Jacob invited a friend over and he was here all day. This is big for Jacob, because there are no boys living around here so a lot of days, my very social boy has no one to play with :( . So yesterday was a fantastic day for him...R also came swimming with us, and swam laps with a PDF on so that he could go in the deep end. At first, Jake felt a little let down because he was left with me and Sammy in the shallow end. But then Scott talked him into putting on a PDF and trying to swim laps as well...so he did! I was so proud, I could have exploded right there in the pool. He swam his laps and got to go in the deep end where all the fun was. He had so much fun doing cannon balls and going down the big slide! I was very proud and still am :D :D :D !!! Sammy and I were left in the shallow end all by ourselves, which was just fine...I stuck her in a little inflatable baby boat, and pushed her in front of me as I swam laps myself :D . My gosh, my legs were so sore when we got home...that's the thing about swimming, you don't feel like you're getting a workout until later on that night.

After swimming, we came home and made pizza for supper. Holy cow, nothing beats homemade pizza...we had everything we could pack on it: onions, peppers, olives, shrimp and ham. It was gone in no time.

Today is Sunday, and it's been raining for a good part of the day. We went to Canadian Tire to return a memory card that I bought (I hate that store...I don't know why I bought the stupid card there in the first place) and then we went off to WalMart to pick up another card. I met a mom from Linking Parents there...I actually recognized a dress that one of her little girls was wearing, she had posted a picture of it online. It was so pretty...pink and white with little cupcakes on it. We talked for a few minutes about sewing, she was really really nice. Now if I could just remember her user name!!

I'll be off to work this afternoon while Scott visits his parents with the kids. I hope to squeeze in a workout before bed...I don't like to exercise in the evening, I just don't apply myself like I do during the day. That's 'cause I'm lazy :d .

Later, dudes.

Blah.

Sammy's been feverish off and on since Thursday night, when she barfed all over the sidewalk in +32C weather :( . Motrin and a cool bath seemed to help, but she's been crying off and on all night long lately so Mama's not getting a good sleep. Funny...somehow Scott can sleep through it all though LOL.

Alright, she's awake from her nap now and crying her saddest cry ever :( . Gotta go.

Pictures.

My baby. Lookit that tongue :D . That's it for the apple fabric, my favourite piece. Really, I can't hord it forever I suppose.


Crazy Jake eating the felt pizza that we made when it was so hot outside...we just sat by the air conditioner and crafted all afternoon.


Jake the Snake. We fooled around with our face paints and came up with this. It's funny, because if you watch his mouth when he talks, it looks like the snake is talking LOL.


The snake talks...

Happy Canada Day!!!

Today we went to the Baumaris Spray Park in Castledowns to celebrate the day :D . Jacob invited his friend E, and then her mom and brother decided to come along. We threw down a blanket and ate a picnic lunch, while Sammy sat in the shade of the umbrella and played. There was free cotton candy, tattoos, cake, etc...so much fun. We went last year as well...I think this will be a nice family tradition.

My father-in-law phoned bright and early this morning to wish us a Happy Anniversary...which reminded me that it was my anniversary LOL. I guess that happens when you have kids and a busy life...you forget these things??? I've never forgotten it before. But Scott forgot too, so I don't feel so bad. We don't do anything special to celebrate...just a hug and kiss and then we'll think back to what it was like to be two young kids in crazy love LOL. I luv my guy to pieces...he's definitely one of my favourites LOL.

It was beautiful today, a high of +26C with a little breeze. Nothing like the +32C that it was yesterday (blech). Thank God for my portable air conditioner...I hate the heat.

Happy Anniverary to ME!!!

...oh, and Happy Canada Day, too!