Christmas Pics

Auntie and Kylie, decorating gingerbread cookies the Sunday before Christmas.


Jacob making chocolate pops for our Christmas Eve party. He was so excited about our Christmas Eve PJ Party that he just stayed in his pj's all day long lol.


Jacob with his new guitar and his Green Day shirt.


Sam in her new Dora chair. We felt sorry for her, having to sit in the
ghetto chair that Kylie made so we bought her a cushy armchair for reading books in.


I'd like to show you a picture of Kylie, ever so excited about her Christmas gifts, but she doesn't seem to get excited about anything lately...so this is what you get. But according to her, she is very, very excited in this picture.

Stupid, stupid dr >:{

Argh! Remember last Monday, I took Kylie to the medicentre to get her checked out because she was so sick? Stupid dr took a throat swab, but told us that he believed that it was just a flu...well, guess who called this morning! The medicentre, asking for Kylie to come back because she needs to see a dr again. Well, after 4 hours of waiting (unreal) we finally got a prescription for antibiotics, as Kylie has strep throat! An entire week she was walking around with this, and I just read that it's freakin' contagious!

Could that dr have not just wrote us a prescription and told us not to fill it unless the test comes back positive? Could he not have saved us a 4 hour wait? How lucky am I to have my mom so close that I could just drop off the younger 2 kids to play while I sit in the stupid waiting room with Kylie all freakin' morning. Argh, how frustrating!!!

Scott is working late tonight, because now he is backed up with files because he had the nerve to take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. I have to go to work tonight, I hope he makes it back at a decent hour :( .

It's all over but the crying...

So Christmas is done for another year. The kids got spoiled, of course, and we had three great meals: Christmas Eve of hors d'oeuvres here, Christmas Day at my in-laws and Boxing Day at my moms. I helped out this year by making two types of perogies (well, I didn't make them...Cheemo did lol), a big garden salad, some cooked garlic carrots, and a bunch of squares and cookies. My mom made the ham, which was super yummy.

I get points for being the best wife on the block this year: I bought Scott a motorcycle for Christmas. My mom's neighbour was selling Scott's dream bike, a V-Star (I have to admit, I have no idea what that is). Scott was hemming and hawing about maybe getting it this spring...or using our savings to build a fence. I really wanted him to have this bike, he never does anything for himself. So I went behind his back and bought the bike. I didn't know if he would be angry or happy lol. So Christmas morning, he opened a mouse pad with a picture of the kids in it...and I told him that I couldn't decide which picture to put in, so he should decide...he looked behind the picture of the kids and found a picture of the bike. I think he just about fell over lol. His next gift was the keys and the bill of sale. I can't wait for this snow to go away so that he can go for a ride...he really, truly deserves it.

The Christmas tree is coming down tomorrow. I know some people leave it up until the New Year, some even leave it up until Ukrainian Christmas, but I can't wait to get my living room back. There is just no room to move in here. We've already decided that next year we are doing a theme tree, but we've agreed that we have to make 90% of the decorations with stuff we have around the house. The favourite theme right now is Pirates...I can't wait to see what a Pirate Christmas tree would look like lol.

Next week I will help the kids go through their rooms and pull out all the toys that they don't play with anymore. I have an itch to wash walls...I think I will do spring cleaning early this year.

Merry Christmas!

Since I probably won't be on tomorrow, here's an early greeting to my blogging friends:

From our family to yours, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tuesday.

"And now for the continuing stoooory..."

Does anyone remember that? I think it was Pigs In Space on the Muppets...but I can't remember how it went exactly, and it is bugging me to no end. It keeps me up at night to be perfectly honest with you lol.

Let me tell you a little story. Once there was this little girl, who was such a miserable hag that I couldn't take her anywhere. It all started when she turned 15 months old. Her poor, inexperienced mother was at her wit's end. Why was her perfect baby screaming and throwing herself on the floor when she didn't get her way? Why was her beautiful girl having such a hard time? What on earth was going on? Should we see the dr?

Fast forward 10 years, and that mother has more experience...and she also has a 15 month old girl again...flailing on the floor when she's not allowed to play with the cordless telephone...screaming at the top of her lungs in Superstore because she's not allowed to throw the bananas at passing shoppers...

Today has been a hard day. My baby is having horrible temper tantrums, while her older brother and sister try to parent her ("No, baby, don't touch the Christmas tree! No, baby, don't touch the TV!"). It has been loud here, and very, very hectic. I had to send the big kids in the basement to play, and let Sam cry it out on the floor, because she wasn't allowed to scribble in her book with a pen.

*Sigh*. I can laugh at the situation now, as I write the day's events in her baby book. My poor baby, all she wanted was the phone...everyone else in the house gets to hold it sometimes, why can't she?

It's late, and everyone is sleeping here. I'm going to bed now, and tomorrow morning we will wrap all of Scott's presents while he's at work. He should be home by 130, and then the party can begin :) .

Good night, everyone.

Monday

We've been so busy here lately, I have to say: I really don't like this part of Christmas. All the busy, jam-packed days...I can't wait for Christmas Eve so the party can begin :).

Some quick thoughts:

1. I have pulled the plug on the bottles. I have had it with them leaking in my purse, had it with washing all those stupid parts...I pulled out my favourite Gerber sippies and threw the bottles in a Safeway bag. Sammy wasn't too happy the first day, but oh well (what a mean mama). That was Sunday, and at suppertime tonight, she drank milk from a Rubbermaid litterless juice cup :) . The first time that she figured out what to do with a straw (believe me, I've tried countless times). She was so proud of herself, she smiled and let the milk just run down her chin and onto the floor lol.

2. Sam walked today! She pulled herself up on this tall '50s ashtray we have in the dining room...and then she walked 3 steps on her own. Then she looked at me, smiling, as if to say, "Hey, did you see that Mom?" lol. Then she fell down on her bum :) .

3. Kylie is pretty sick, her nose is raw-red and bleeding from the irritation. The humidifier isn't working, neither is the kid's Tylenol cold medication. I'm not one to run to the dr when my kids just have a cold, but this seemed a bit extreme...the dr gave her the once-over and sent us home. He did say that she is old enough (10??) to take adult Advil Cold, but do I really want to give that to her? She's a bit tall for her age, I guess...I dunno.

4. Scott has to get up at 330am Tuesday morning, to drive 4 hours to Edgerton, Alberta to check out a fire claim. His manager should be doing it personally, but since he's on holidays this week, he assigned Scott to it. Although I think it stinks that he has to leave for work so early, and I worry for him driving on a snowy/icy highway, I'm thankful that it wasn't our house that burned to the ground. Very thankful.

5. I spent nearly two hours trying to figure out how to use computer iron-on tshirt transfers, because Jacob asked for a Green Day shirt for Xmas. It looks perfect, better than store-bought (couldn't justify $28 for a tshirt). Jacob informed me today that he doesn't like Green Day anymore, he likes Linkin park. Hmrph!

6. Today, Kylie asked me to make her a kimono for Christmas. Yes, I'll get right on that, dear daughter. Yeah, right, in 2 days???

Later, dudes.

The Christmas Guilt is setting in...

So with all the rushing around lately, planning/executing the school bake sale, finishing the Christmas crafts for the teachers...I completely forgot that the kids would be having class parties today, and each kid requested home-made ginger snaps to take.

Do I feel like the absolute worst mom ever??? You bet! I made sure that all other tasks were taken care of, except for my very own kids: which sucks, considering that they are the reason that I am at home in the first place. Bad Mama. I made up for it by buying mini chocolate cupcakes from Safeway this morning...does that even make sense??? Working all week to make sure that a bake sale goes off without a hitch and then I run off to Safeway to buy cupcakes lol. Oh, and also those stupid Lunchable things that come complete with Nerds and a juice box, because I was at the school most of yesterday and forgot to help the kids make lunches last night. I suck.

At least the bake sale was a resounding success...we made almost $300, and had tons of baking donated from lots of parents. There were even donations of donuts and Little Debbie snack cakes, donated by parents who didn't have time to bake but wanted to help out in some way. That was absolutely awesome to see.

I'm looking forward to picking up the kids after school today...because they are home with me for 2 weeks now :) . Tomorrow we are baking gingerbread cookies, and then on Sunday we will decorate them. I think I will go to work on Sunday night this week, so that Monday night I can take my mom for groceries for Christmas dinner. She is making the ham/turkey while I am bringing perogies, salad and juice. Kylie wants to make a cupcake cake, one of those kind that looks like a reindeer head or something...I think that will be fun. And I still needs to do baking for our Christmas Eve pajama party.

Well, I should go...nanaimo bars aren't going to bake themselves!

Videos!

Pics

There is nothing better on a cold day than sitting by the fire, in the ghetto arm chair that your big sister crafted out of a Costco box and a pillow.


Well, enjoying a book by the fire is very enjoyable, too. Even if the book is upside down.


Scott, all dressed up to shovel. Two pairs of pants + long johns, 2 coats and 1 toque.


Marshmallow pops for the bake sale at school. I planned on making more white chocolate ones, but frankly I got bored of the whole thing and figured I had done my share. Time to enjoy a coffee and Bailey's in front of the fire with my family.


Sammy Sunshine's favourite new pass-time...unloading Scott's bottom drawer and then crawling away, leaving the mess for Mom to clean up.


Our Christmas picture! Four bucks at Capilano mall, can't beat that. Then I just had to go on Monday to pick them up at WalMart...I don't get how other malls can charge upwards of $14 for this same service??? Unreal.

Ouch.

If this is what it feels like to work all day then I'm not interested lol. My feet hurt!!!

This is the first time I've sat down all day, other than dinner. Today, I ran all over town returning things, mailing things, doing PAC stuff, finishing Christmas crafts with the kids, finally getting my contribution to the school bake sale done, organizing said bake sale donations with various family members, wrapping my bake sale stuff, banking...plus some. I am pooped.

This is the part I don't like about Christmas...the running around like a chicken with its head cut off part. Not fun.

Brrrrr!!!

I went to Superstore this morning...it was -37C with the windchill. It was so freakin' cold, but that kept away a lot of the shoppers...making for a pleasant trip for me :D .

Saturday morning we braved the cold to head to the mall for Santa pictures, which I will pick up tomorrow. Again, it was so cold that the mall was dead. Perfect, just the way we like it.

The rest of the weekend has been spent indoors: baking, playing board games and sitting by the fireplace heater. The kids have been getting along great, and you would think that they would be at each other's throats and going stir crazy, but they are like two 'chuthers this weekend (I know what you're thinking, you're saying, "what in the heck is two 'chuthers???" That's a phrase my niece used to use when she was little. Instead of saying "they look like each other", she would say "they look like two 'chuthers". Now it is a part of our family's everyday language lol). I hope they play together that nicely over the Christmas break (yeah, right).

I think I'm done Christmas shopping, other than a gift for Scott's assistant at work. Myself and another mom at school have finished the shopping for the school treat bags for Christmas, and we will get together at the school on Wednesday to put those together.

It's all over but the crying, now!!!

Kylie's Kreations

Kylie has always liked working with beads, but has just lately really gotten into more adult beads...pretty glass ones, nice charms, etc. Luckily, Dollarama has a really nice selection of beads right now. That's a good thing, because I can see this hobby getting pretty expensive lol.

Kylie was inspired to make some beaded bookmarks after seeing them at a local store for more than $10. She is making them for Christmas gifts for her teachers and assorted aunties and Grammas.








This one is her favourite and she has decided to keep it...red beads on a black string, and the charm has some Asian characters on the bottom. I hope it's not a bad word lol...I wish I knew what it said.

Holy coldness, batman!

Eek, did I just see that?

High of -21C on Monday...yesterday was a high of +4C or something like that. There was mush everywhere lol.

I guess we had it too good for too long...I shouldn't complain.

But I'm gonna anyway! Holy crap that's cold!!!

I need to get my shopping done *now*...still on the lookout for a manga book that Kylie wants, I wish I would have thought to order it from Chapters last month! Doh!!!

Christmas Pics

The tree with our special angel on top :) . Scott put the tree together and put up the lights, I put on the garland, and then we sit back with our coffees while the big kids decorate it. I love me a crazy tree.


The stockings, hung by the chimney with care. Auntie Sheri made all of them, with pretty buttons and such tiny, careful stitches.


Santa heading over the bridge to deliver his presents. But wait! Does he know what lies on the other side of the bridge???


Eek, it's Halloween town! Poised to attack Santa and his sleigh full of gifts. I ask every year: who would win in a fight between Christmas Town and Halloween Town? I have my money on Halloween Town, I think they would fight dirty.





I talked to the kids about what charity we should donate to this Christmas, and we tossed around the idea of donating toys to the Stollery Children's Hospital and a couple of other places...but the kids thought that food was more important and that we should donate to the food bank, like we usually do. So we went through the pantry and pulled out a few things, talked about what the food bank needed and then purchased a few staples like pasta, tea and canned meats. Then I take a picture of each kid with their donation and put it in a card for their teacher, with this letter:

Dear Mrs. H.,

Thank you for a great school year so far! We wish you and your family a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

In the spirit of the season, our family has put together a parcel for the food bank, which we will donate in your honour.

Merry Christmas!

From,
The T Family

Traditionally, we only buy gifts for children and our parents at Christmas time, but we wanted to show our appreciation for the kid's teachers in some way...this is how we do it. More and more, I'm against buying 'stuff' just for the sake of buying 'stuff', and I think donating to a charity in a teacher's honour at Christmas teaches the children a little something, too. For the pictures, I just piled up half the food on the table...so there is twice as much food going to the food bank as shown.

...and a picture of my baby with chocolate all over her face, just because it's really cute :D .

Quick post...

I only have a minute before we run out the door, so I just wanted to pop in to prove that I haven't abandoned blogdom altogether...just busy with school stuff/Christmas stuff. So here's a super quick update:

Bake sale, crafts for teacher gifts, food bank shopping with kids, Christmas decorating, Christmas baking, co-hosting Christmas dinner, shopping (ugh), helping Auntie sew something pretty, Gramma is now on Facebook, Christmas cards, cleaning, Santa pictures, various other crafts, Parent Council stuff.

There, now you know lol.

Later, dudes!

Back from the land of the sick

Well, today feels like the first day where I didn't feel like complete poop when I rolled out of bed in the morning. Scott and I have been having sleeping issues...can get to sleep no problem, just can't stay asleep. I don't know if it has something to do with the flu that our family just experienced...or what. Last night was the first time that I slept right through the night in nearly 2 weeks. I wonder...could it possibly be that our mommy/daddy brains were turned 'on' all night long, expecting one of the three kids to wake up sick during the night??? I'll bet that's what it was.

Sammy still isn't herself, filling her diaper at the drop of a hat. I haven't used cloth diapers at all this week...it's just easier to toss it than to wash it (I know, Mother Nature is shaking her finger at me right about now). Sam hasn't had cow's milk in over a week, except for on Saturday, when I thought she could handle a bottle right after breakfast. She promptly taught Scott a lesson by barfing all over him.

Saturday night was Scott's Christmas party, so the kids went to Gramma's house. The party was at a golf course, with awesome spinach perogies and then blackjack and roulette with funny money for the entertainment (no dance). It was really fun...I've never gambled before, and I didn't really enjoy that part, but at least I can say that I learned something new. I recognized a few faces...Len and Bruce, but they're at every insurance gig it seems. There were a lot of people that I haven't met before, and a lot of faces that I recognized but that I can't remember their names. I'm horrible with names.

Did I finish the blouse that I was working on, you may ask? A resounding 'no' is what you get. I was too sick and too tired this week, and then got so pissed off at the slithery fabric that I filed the whole thing right in the garbage. I can't even rescue it now, because the next day Scott took out the trash. I swear, that is the last time I try to sew anything by way of clothing for myself. I don't enjoy it, and I sure don't save any money any time I try. I should know better by now.

Since I feel so much better today, I've already folded a week's worth of diapers, liners and wipes (washed last week), washed 2 more loads and folded them, cleaned the bathroom, filled and ran the dishwasher, and changed 3 horrible diapers...all before noon. Now Sam is in bed, and I'm going to have some lunch before I tackle cleaning the floors. Kylie washed and vacuumed the floors in the basement yesterday...and did such a horrible job that I think she will re-do it again after school. Part of me thinks I should just do it and get it over with, but that's not going to teach her anything is it??? I'm such a mean mom :) .