Burr.....

It is freezing out! Edmonton apparently set a world record on Sunday out at the international airport...it was a balmy -54 degrees Celsius! Yikes. But I bundled the kids up and we made it to church yesterday, but as I drove pass a mall marquis sign that said the time and temperature....it said 9:04am -33 degrees.

I told Spencer my new rule; if it is below 30 degrees with or without windchill I'm not going out (or taking my kids anywhere).

But just this morning it was minus 31, so Megan reminded me of my new rule and said that she wasn't going to go to school...but I said too bad and I hauled them both to school. In my defense it did warm up to around minus 24 today. That and memories of what it is like to have both kids at home all day flooded my mind. They were glad to go; besides this is their last week of school before Christmas holidays. It's pretty much a party anyways.

The last of my birthday presents...

We'll my birthday was way back in October. Spencer and the kids threw me a nice party. I hinted to Spencer for sometime that because my other watch (timex ironman) had finally died that I would enjoy a new one....a "fancy" one. You know the type...one that you can wear with nice clothes...so Spencer bought me one...but alas, I just wasn't happy with it. It was "fancy" just like I wanted, but it just wasn't me....

I need a watch with a bit of substance, something that makes a statement....so I saw this one at the store "watch it" and fell in love with it...I love knowing the time again!

She is beautiful, ain't she? (this time I'm not talking about me!) She is a "fossil" with a leather strap(this isn't sounding so good?...). The watch face is removable thanks to the snaps, so either can be replaced when needed with ease.

I'm lovin' it!

A Pain in the Arm....

Instead of having a pain in the neck....(sometimes I do get those, but a nice massage or acupuncture takes care of that)...we all have a pain in the arm.

We went and got the H1N1 flu shots today. I would have taken a picture of my kids....but I was having to use all my energy and force to hold them down as the shot was administered. Megan promised me that she would go first and that she would remember what it was like last year....a lot of crying and then when she actually got the shot...she said..."oh, that didn't even hurt". Go figure!

I went first...I was preparing myself...taking a big breath in....but by the time I did that and was trying to keep an eye on the kids...it was over with...I didn't even notice that the nurse had jabbed me. Awesome!

Megan was next...but Evan was fussing so much about wanting to sit on my lap, that I grabbed him and had to do the immunization hold on him then another nurse who wasn't busy came over to try to help...he was screaming bloody murder, but the nurse went as quick as she could and then he cried a few more tears, but turned his attention to his new Bumble Bee transformer that I had purchased just for the occasion. Wink, Wink, nudge, nudge....a parents best defense....the BRIBE!

His Bumble Bee isn't even this cool....it is a level one transformer, very simple.

Well listening to Evan didn't help Megan in the bravery department....tears were there and the begging of no....she even said to the nurse, "can this be the shot that doesn't hurt"?...I might have been able to run with that line of thinking...but the nurse answered too quickly, so Megan knew that it was going to hurt...forget everything that she had learned last year...I held her too, and she ended up doing just fine....less tears and persuading this time round. She was bribed with a new...Rainbow Magic book. In the end she said that this time it hurt worse than last time...she described what it felt like...like you using the alcohol hand cleaner, on your hand that has a cut...she was going for the stinging effect, it think.

We sat and waited our 15 minutes with no problems. Megan was happy to read, the baby had finally fallen asleep in his stroller and Evan was frustrated and still crying...but not because of the shot....rather the challenge of transforming his new transformer toy, he just couldn't get it figured out quite right! Sigh!

Oh, there were no line-ups where we went we just walked right in...fill in our forms and continued on....total time 35 minutes! Nice.

We will be monitoring ourselves for the next few days...and getting over our sore arms....but we are going to be enjoying the rest of the flu season, as long as we don't get hit by another type of illness or flu...

The start of a happy day....

Wouldn't we all be a little bit happier if we woke up to this every morning?....

Let Christmas Begin....

Sorry for no pictures on my last post....I'll take some when my house is clean....so it could take awhile.

I'm so looking forward to this Christmas...since my last one was awash...because I was just getting into my 3rd pregnancy and was sick...so we did very little.

We are going to make up for it this year...I'm packing the calendar with as many activities that I can.

Our first activity was going to see the city light up the 60 foot tree downtown.

This is always the perfect time....the weather was awesome, we bundled the kids up and headed downtown. We made crazy hats, went on a wagon ride (Evan would only go with me....so Spencer stayed with Aaron. Evan had to sit on my lap and as soon as we started...he realized that he loved it and started to fuss and cry about wanting to sit by himself...so with only a block left to go I gave up my seat and was crouching down in front of the seat so Evan could sit!Argh!

Then we wandered around the farmers market tents that they had set up and enjoyed hot chocolate and mini doughnuts. We listened to some caroling and then saw the fire works and tree lighting. It ended at 5:30pm. Perfect! Thanks to it getting dark early now, we could enjoy the fireworks without having to stay up until midnight.

This is Megan speechless, from the exciting fireworks display and tree lighting.

Basement

Well....after literally doing renovation since we bought our place....we are coming to a close! Our home has been almost totally redone from top to bottom and outside. Painting, new carpet and lino, redone upstairs bath, baseboards and window trim, close organizers, new front and back doors and a finished basement....oh, yeah we gutted the kitchen and restocked it with new cabinets and appliances...our place looks like a million bucks....(too bad it isn't worth a million bucks!); we also sodded our backyard, added a garden spot and put in a few paving blocks....



We have put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears and pulled a lot of late night and neglated kids along the way, not to mention the cost. But it has been worth it for us. We have learned alot...thanks for the help (my dad has shown Spencer the ropes of basement finishing, cabinet installation, not to mention all the trouble shooting that he has done for us via the phone). My brother helped us paint when we first took possession of our home and it has since been repainted by my brother-in-law. Another Brother-in-law helped with the electrical in the basement.



After all of the reno's are home is livable for us and enjoyable. One of the most important things that I have learned is that I don't ever want to do this much again...for any house in the future that I will live in!



The only things left are the last of the touchs up that never seem to get done. Oh well....

Halloween and other stuff

Sick, Sick, Sick....first of all we've been sick....3 out of 5 family members. Evan being hit the hardest....we are praying for a full recovery by the end of this week. Spencer and the baby so far unaffected....knock on wood!

We are trying to get the flu shot....but due to illness and crazy long lines haven't even ventured out! Hopefully with the changes that are coming at the clinics (namely those in high risk groups being given the priority) we should get it this week. (We're crossing our fingers) But for now we are limiting our contact with others and each other and washing our hands and taking vitamins like crazy.

On to happier news...we carved our pumpkins on Monday for FHE. I bought only three knowing that I would get a chance to carve atleast one for Evan. After much internet surfing we picked our designs. I drew on the pattern and then we set out to cleaning and cutting our pumpkins. I ended up carving Evans and Megan's pumpkins. Next year I'm going to buy pumpkin carving knives so the kids are do their own, maybe even those Mr. Potato Head like pieces that you just stick into the pumpkin....they look great for kids to be able to decorate their own pumpkin...also painting is a good option.

I just love the smell of a lit pumpkin.....so good! We kept our pumpkins inside all week....not such a good choice as they were all starting to go soft and moldy...I guess that just adds to the scary effect.

The picture is a little blurry...but that is Spencer, Evan and Megan's (Miss Mario) pumpkins.

So yesterday the weather was great for trick-or-treating....no snow. We layed up the kids and sent them out with Spencer. Evan only did the houses that were closest to us, then he was done. Megan and Spencer then went back out for about 2 more hours....I stayed back with the 2 boys to hand out candy (the jumbo freezies and tootie roll mix was a hit!)

The Mario Brothers and their Papa!

The mother load. We'll be saying good bye to most of this candy. I'll give Megan and Evan a nice sized bowl and then saving some for our "movie" nights at home!