7 days...

7! Always 7! (that's an obscure reference to an awesome Kids in the Hall Thanksgiving sketch...I just watched it on You Tube and it's not as funny as I remember, actually).

Seven days until the first day of school.  Seven days until I have three kids in school all day long. Seven days until I begin a new phase in my life: working mom! To tell you the truth, I have no idea what my fall schedule will be. Right now it's 3 days...I will either go to 4 days or 5 days, and I don't know if that will be morning or evening shifts. I do have the first week off to figure out the kids' schedules, though. Cool.

I am off work today and tomorrow, so we will tie up a few loose ends: home haircuts, a bit of mending and some house cleaning. Maybe some baking, too. 

Kylie pics :) . She's really not a fan of getting her picture taken but she's slowly coming around. Occasionally I will find my phone full of photo-bomb style pictures that her and Sam have done (see it, on the bottom right of the above pic?) . My girl has been reading like crazy the last few weeks and is getting back into her writing as well. She will be going into grade 9!! I can hardly believe my baby is 14 and now slightly taller than me :) .

This is our fairy garden in the front yard. Note the Polly Pocket table and chairs on the stone patio. That large plant there? I thought it was a hollyhock, as they are sprouting up in the oddest places around my house, but it turned out to be a pumpkin plant. It was very cool to Sam that the fairies had planted a pumpkin plant in their front yard. The seed came from Jake's puking jack-o-lantern that was in the front yard last Halloween...unfortunately the twonie-sized hail storm we had last week demolished the pumpkin plant. It was nearly 3 feet long by then and had beautiful flowers :( . Oh well.

Sammy Sunshine. I can't tell you how many pictures I have on my phone of my girl as we kill time at Wal Mart, waiting for Gramma to finish shopping.

Sam is pummeling Jacob. I'm sure he did something to deserve it haha. My boy has grown over 1 1/2" since the end of June and gone through 3 pairs of shoes. He just came to me to tell me that he needs new shirts because his are all too short. When we order pizza, we have to order one just for him haha. He's going to be 10 feet tall by the time he finishes junior high (but he will have to get through grade 6 first).

Anyway, off to do some stuff. Later.

Um...Tuesday. Again.

(Insert Edith Prickley type "pfft-HA" here)

I suck at titles. I excel at saving funny pictures from Pinterest, though...

Just got back from taking 2 kids to the pedicatrican for a shared appointment. For that, I deserve a medal. 

Nah...they're such good kids, I'm pretty lucky. I have no idea what I did to deserve good kids like these.

Yesterday, I decided to paint the trim in the basement bathroom that we had built LAST YEAR. The other day I was standing there...wondering, why are all these baseboards scuffed up? Why can't I clean the gross fingerprints off of this stupid door? I'll tell you why. BECAUSE NONE OF IT WAS EVER PAINTED. It was primed, albeit before it reached Home Depot. And then the contractor installed it all and the painter came...and somehow the walls got painted but not the trim or the door. And I just noticed it now. I hate painting. I liked it when we first moved in, because it was fun to paint our new home, but now it sucks. But the job is done, every paintbrush in the house is soaking in the sink and the 2 youngest have paint in their hair. Pfft-HA!!

It's going to be very warm today. I'm going to take my mom grocery shopping this afternoon while Jake and his cousin hang out at the skate park nearby. Kylie had a friend sleep over last night and I'm sure they won't get up until late afternoon...I know they were up all night watching movies. Too warm to sleep at night anyway, even in the basement.

Later, taters!!

Tuesday

Sammy Sunshine is offering you a cupcake. Never mind that she licked that knife a hundred times before she dipped it back in the icing bowl. Never mind that ice cream cones taste like dirt after they're baked. 

Today is a day off and I am meeting my sister and her kids at my mom's for tea and goodies. Then I really need to go through Sam's room. I can't believe how many toys that kid has!! Nobody needs that much stuff. She will help me pull a few things to donate to Goodwill, and then I will pull a few more things while she is sleeping. Bad mommy.

We had a tornado warning last night, and today is the 25th anniversary of Black Friday here in Edmonton, where a tornado ripped through the outskirts of town and killed 27 people. The weather has been really funky lately, reminiscent of that time. Everyone here remembers where they were on that day. I was at home alone, age 15, and I called my best friend because I was pretty scared...she hung up on me because she was waiting for her boyfriend to call haha. 

I am working tomorrow for a few hours because someone needed the day off, then I think I may take the kids to a dollar movie. I should weed the garden, too.

Later :)

I'm back, bit--- um...baby! I'm back, baby!!

I have a bad word stuck in my head and I use it far too often. My husband told me so it must be true (tee hee). Must find new word.

So how are ya?? I'm ok. Haven't sewed a darn thing in months...or made a craft, for that matter. With Sam, it's her way or the highway lately, so craft time involves sticking a bunch of pink heart stickers on popsicle sticks or something like that. She has no interest in doing what Mummy wants right now. That's ok, one day she will find her way back to me at craft time :) . I will let her take the lead. If you need to dwell in the past, see this post.  That should tide you over for a while. I *did* buy a pattern for Sam's Halloween costume today and some fabric...it was just too good of a deal to pass up. 

Sammy Sunshine just finished swimming lessons for the summer and the big kids aren't doing a whole lot of anything. But that is just fine with me...summer should be about doing whatever you feel like without sticking to a schedule. I love that about summer :) .

What else?? Work is good...I gave up my Saturdays because it's just getting to be too hard. There is so much going on around here on Saturdays and my poor husband was left holding the bag (a bag full of yardwork, housework and 3 kids). My office hired a really great young lady who is just fresh out of school and she has taken over my Saturday shift. Such a nice girl, I hope she stays with us. 

Anyway, I'll throw in a few pictures here:

My babies!! This was my Mother's Day gift: a picture of all three kids. I told them, I don't care what you wear/what your hair looks like/where you are. I just want one stinking picture. And I got it :) 

 Sammy Sunshine wanted a 'Canada' shirt for Canada Day. I found a plain shirt in her closet and then we found a fun idea on Pinterest: tape off two rectangles, paint them in, then make a hand print maple leaf for the middle of the flag. It turned out super cute.

Canada Day fireworks seen from Telus Park. Next year we will sit on the other side, and maybe we will get the big idea to find a great place for fireworks somewhat earlier in the day...and not @10 at night, when we Googled "where to watch Canada Day fireworks in Edmonton" . Whatever, we still got to see the fireworks from a pretty reasonable distance.

Sammy Sunshine and her edible paper gingerbread house. It was a little kit from her Christmas stocking, we just got around now to putting it together. It tasted like paper. Yuk.

 

This is our fairy garden in our front yard. We made it out of rocks and junk we found in the house and yard...I bought plastic flowered grass at Dollarama because I couldn't wait for real plants to grow, and the doors/windows were gifted from a wonderful friend :) . I wanted something immediate for Sam to play in and enjoy. She has rearranged the rocks and sidewalk a few times, and sticks the odd dandelion flower in there for decoration.

This is actually what it looks like now (8 weeks later)...the tiny plants grew from seeds that the boulevard elms threw down...Sam and I pull the trees that block the fairy's sidewalk so they can get into their house. That large plant is (I think) a hollyhock. There are some hollyhocks that have appeared on the side of my house, in a little area that we have sort of forgotten about. I guess Mother Nature didn't forget...she threw some daisies in there as well. Anyway, we staked up the hollyhock tree (that Sam thinks the fairies planted) with a chopstick so it doesn't hang over the fairy's sidewalk. Next year we will plant real flowers and moss...and I would like some sort of climbing flower for the trellis on the back. 

Anyway, talk to you later. It's time for bed here!

Friday

Well, hello there. It's a beautiful snowy day here...thought we were done with that winter crap, but I guess not. It snowed pretty hard yesterday.

I worked yesterday, and we had a pretty good day. The office is renovating, so our office space has been cut down by more than half but there is still usually full staff. But 2 girls called in sick yesterday so it was ok. Those 2 aren't very useful so if they're not there then I can get more done. I wish they would just quit, actually.

I'm thinking of painting the bathroom. It needed painting anyway, but then Kylie decided to dye her hair a deep chocolate brown and splashed dye all over the walls. So guess who's going to help me paint??  Ha ha, that'll teach her.

This is Pee Pee Baby. Pee Pee Baby has clothes and diapers, but she is always naked because it's fun to pour water in her eyes and then watch it dribble all over the floor. Fun for Sam, that is, not for me.

This is a chair in our waiting room where a contractor sat the other day as he was telling me about...I don't know, renovating stuff. I wasn't really listening because I was trying to do a million other things at once. I just thought it was funny that he left a butt print on a chair in the waiting room so I took a picture. 

Sam's heart-shaped sandwiches that she took for her school snack today. 

Well, that's about it for my week. My sister is coming for coffee pretty soon, Sam is at preschool and I will go to work this afternoon. Now I'm off to finish my coffee and do some laundry.

Later :)

Valentine's Day

This is just a silly random picture from the other day...Sam yelling, 'take my picture!' from the back seat.

Jacob asked for bacon to take to his class party. Yes, bacon. Full-fat, pork bacon. I cut the strips into two, folded each into 3, and poked it with a toothpick to hold it in place. Then I baked them in the oven (had to Google that because I have never cooked pork bacon before). I was amazed at how much they shrunk, but I guess I shouldn't be considering how much fat was left on that cookie sheet! I can't imagine people eating that on a regular basis. I'll stick to my turkey bacon, thank you.

Our annual candle-lit Valentine's Day dinner. We try to get through one meal a year without rude noises at the table...I said we *try* . I don't think we've ever made it through the entire meal without someone making a fart noise in there somewhere. I made chicken cordon bleu, mashed potatoes and salad. We had cherry jello and whip cream for dessert, and drank cream soda. Jake said it was hard to pick what his favourite part of this year's dinner was, but he particularly liked the part where you get to eat your dessert in the living room. I liked that part, too. 

The tulips that my boyfriend sent me for Valentine's Day. Shhh...don't tell Scott (wink). 

Well, off for a run on the treadmill. I definitely need it after that dinner.

Worst headache *ever*...

The weather must be changing. I think I will take the headache if it means some warmer weather is on its way. Winter stinks.

Jacob left for school this morning with his pocket full of wadded-up fake moustaches from Christmas. The glue has worn off so he put a glue stick in his other pocket. So he is gluing the moustaches to his face with a glue stick at school...that is the weirdest kid haha.

Kylie doesn't talk lately. She reads, drinks tea and types furiously on her laptop. That is, when she comes out of her room. That's ok. I'm sure next week she will a happy girl again. These things tend to come and go with her (mostly go, she's a pretty happy kid).

I'm going to pick up Sam from school, then we are going to do some shopping at Wal Mart. I think I will buy myself some yarn, because I found the cutest free pattern for amigurumi mermaids HERE . I just realized that I need to register Sam for kindergarten NEXT MONTH. Oh my goodness, where has the time gone?!?

Later.