Air Canada had some ludicrously low prices today so we booked flights to Toronto and are going to by-pass Minneapolis. Poor Jax was looking forward to seeing where we used to live and what hospital he was born in, etc. Now he can do it on his own dime "when he's a man".*

* I used to tell my kids they could do what they wanted "when you are a man" so Dex used to always say "When I'm a man, my kids will use potty language at the table" or "When I'm a man, my kids will chew with their mouths open", etc. This is a running joke in the family now.

The bike rack is still on the car (we are shopping for a new bike for Jax now) and today the cable lock managed to come undone and drag along the road, completely wearing it away and ruining it. Fortunately, Stephen called the place where we had it installed and they had a replacement cable (with the lock thingie attached) to give to us. Stephen will replace it tomorrow. I think that bike rack is cursed!

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day 4

We went to the skate park again before the heavens opened and we had a torrential downpours on and off all day today.

The rest of the day the boys watched a movie, played "Indiana Jones" and we went to the library. They are in "quiet time" right now because I need some time to myself.

How many more days until summer vacation is over?

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day 3

I took the boys to the new skateboard park. We went at 10am to avoid the teenagers (we figured they would still be sleeping at that time!). A couple of other families we knew met us there and the boys (hey, I just realized they were *all* boys - rarely does that happen) skateboards and scootered around for a couple of hours. Well, except for Cars who ran around with his "lightsabre" (a green piece of plastic).

Afterwards, Jax went to a playdate and I took Dex and Cars grocery shopping! Wheee!

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day 2

Today, we had a hitch and bike rack installed on our van so I can more easily take the kids' bikes to the park or where ever. Until now, I had have to cram Dex's and Cars' bikes in the back of the van then position Jax's across the middle row seat. This has left grease stains on the seat and the handlebars are often poking Cars in the head. This rack will be make things so much easier. Although, I will have to remember that there is an extra 18" sticking out behind my van when the rack is on (and more than 24" when it is on and the bikes are on it). Already today I back into a curb (ouch!) and scraped the bottom of the rack when I went up a very steep driveway. *@#&$! Nice way to ruin the new rack. Anyway, it will get its first try-out tomorrow when I take the kids along with their bikes, skateboards and scooters to the skateboard park. Wish me luck!

After the bike rack installation (and lunch at Burger King while we waited), Jax and Dex made a pirate board game. It is borrowed heavily from The Game of Life: Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean™: Dead Man's Chest, (which Jax played at a friend's house) but it still some of their own touches and it kept them busy for two hours:

Here's a picture of the game (which we played after dinner - Cars won!):


And here is a photo of them modeling their tie dye shirts (I had just taken them out of the dryer and they wanted to wear them so I let them put them on for 3 minutes only - mean mom that I am, only letting them dirty one set of clothes a day). They are excited to wear them tomorrow when we meet up with friends (who will also be wearing theirs):



And finally, here is a (blurry) photo of a hummingbird visiting the feeder. You will probably have to click to view it larger because the hummingbird is reddish and blends in with the red maple tree:



So, it has been a good summer so far. :)

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day 1

We made tie dye shirts today. They are still sitting in plastic bags waiting to be rinsed off (I'll do it tomorrow morning). The rubber gloves I were using leaked or had a hole in them so now two of my finger tips are turquoise. I hope it wears off soon.

It was hot today and being out in the sun has exhausted me. I think I will take a quick nap before I start dinner. Geez, what an old biddy!

The kids' last day of school today. We celebrated with a picnic (well, McD's) in the park after school. It was a weird day - very cool breeze but warm when the sun was shining. Tomorrow will be a nice day which will be great to kick off our Summer O'Fun 2007.

Jax and Dex had great report cards this term. I am so proud of them both. This was a really great school year for them and I think their teachers were perfect for each of their personalities. Still keeping my fingers crossed for next year for great teachers. Jax's teacher today told me that she will be sure to talk to his next year's teacher (I guess she knows who it is already) to discuss his peanut allergy. I really appreciate it. I know that all the problems we had at the beginning of this school year had nothing to do with her and all to do with the school administration, counselor and nursing services.

Anyway, as I said, tomorrow is our first day of Summer O'Fun. We are making tie dye shirts. They have such fun making (and wearing) them.

We went to dinner at a friend's house last night. They bought a plot of land behind their house and it is so cool. They call it "the meadow" and it is overgrown with grass and wild flowers. There are cherry, plum and apple trees on the lot (a little shy of an acre). They installed a sliding door in their fence to access the meadow and another small door for their girls to run in and out. It is wonderful!

Also, the land creates a short-cut for them to a park that leads directly to the lake. It is about a 10 minute walk to the water. It is a very small park that I had never been to before. The beach is small - about 50 feet perhaps, but the neatest thing about it is that there is a beaver lodge along the shoreline just past the beach. There were several trees that had been recently felled by the beavers. It was so cool to see the ones that they were currently 'working' on. I have never seen that before! In fact, I had no idea that there were beavers on 'our' lake. I will definitely go back to that park again!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Jax and Dex. They just have 1/2 day (3 hours). I have the gift for Jax's teacher so I will have to go in. We had money left over from the class party fund so we purchased gift cards for the teacher. Also, I had the kids fill in a "VIP" sheet for the teacher. She has the kids make one for each kid in the class and they are very cute so I thought it would be fun for the kids to make one for her. It worked out well that she was away last week so the substitute teacher had the kids complete them in class. I then took them, put them in page protecters and into a duo-tang (ok, I hope you guys know what that is and my Canadian isn't showing).

For Dex's teacher, of course ALL of the party fund$ were $pent so we all pitched in $2 to buy the teacher a huge lavender plant. At least I hope it is huge for $40. I also made her some note cards out of an Art Start project (the kids embroidered swirls on muslin - I was going to quilt them but after several panic attacks decided just to spray mount them on cardstock and mount those on blank cards). They still took me over 6 hours to make but they look nice and the teacher will have some cards to write thank-you's to her students for the lavender plant. ;) I should have taken a photo before I wrapped them up.

Now that all of the wrapping paper and scrapbooking/card making supplies are away I think I shall indulge in a wee bit of chocolate. I feel off the roof today and chocolate is the only thing that helps with cramps. Well, only thing besides Advil, Tylenol and Anaprox. :)

Garage (no) Sale

Well, I guess technically there was a garage sale because I put a bunch of $hit out to sell but we did not sell a lot. The "neighbourhood" garage sale apparently wasn't. The neighbourhood assoc'n did not advertise. The dumpster never materialized and I know I am not the only one a little irked about this. Late last night I put an ad on Craigslist and put out a couple of signs this morning.

All that work and I only made $91 - which is not a lot considering I sold an xBox ($20), a wagon and trailer ($20), a trike ($8) and several DVD's for a buck each ($8). The rest were all 25 cents to $2.00 things. I had to drop the price on my key items (wagon and xBox) because I had no customers for the first 45 minutes! When does that ever happen?! Anyway, I will never rely on someone else when it comes to advertising GS's.

I also have two van-loads of items to go to Goodwill. I will have to do it tomorrow. And once that is done, I will enjoy my less-crowded garage, closests and rafters in the garage.

:\

Jax apologized to the teacher this morning. The teacher told Jax he wants Jax to have fun in the class but he must not be too silly. I told the teacher that if Jax's behaviour is a huge problem, I need to know.

Later in the day, my friend, who has a dd in Jax's class, told me that the teacher "screamed his head off" at Jax yesterday because he did the worm. And yes, my son was misbehaving (apparently when he did the worm the whole portable shook) but I am pretty sure he did not need to be screamed at. Let's hope that tomorrow's class goes well (and a new music teacher is around next year?!). And Pley, yes I think it is a bit much for a teacher to tell a student that he's pushed him over the edge. I need to ask around a bit - perhaps this teacher has issues with controlling his classes (or maybe my son is just that rotten?! Ok, I know that is not it - he just likes being "class clown"). :\

I made a Santa Fe Quinoa Salad for dinner tonight and when I served it Dex asked me why we were eating budgie food. I didn't even know that he knew what a budgie was! I found out later that Stephen told him last time I served quinoa that's what it looked like. Dex apparently thought that was funny so he said it to me today.

And just to add something about Cars...he was looking carefully at my hands one day last week and said "Why are your hands just like Granny's?". I asked him what did he mean and he said "You've got those blue bumpy things just like her!" (veins). Wah - I have old lady hands! Oh, and one day he was sitting on my lap, facing me and talking to me. Suddenly he stopped and told me that I had something in my nose. "Oh? Do I need to blow my nose?" I asked. He said, "No, it's just hair".

Jax asked me today what "pushed me over the edge" meant. I explained to him what it meant (literally and figuratively). A short time later he came up to me with big eyes and told me that his music teacher said that to him today after Jax did The Worm in class. He was very contrite and wanted to know what I thought the teacher was then going to do.

Now, I was not too sure what exactly he was more upset about at first. That the teacher had been driven crazy or that the teacher was going to call our home to talk to me. I told him he had to apologize (he said he had already written a note and it was in his desk at school and he would give it to the music teacher on Friday). However, I don't think this should said so we are going to go in to school a little early tomorrow so he can get the note then we will track the teacher down so Jax can apologize in person.

This is the second time this year that Jax has told me he was in trouble in music for trying to be funny. *sigh*

I told him that it was very important for him to behave in school. Not only was he keeping the teacher from doing his job but he was also keeping the other children from learning. Now for the mean mom part...I told him that if he were ever having an anaphylactic reaction the music teacher might not initially recognize it and think that perhaps Jax is just acting up again. Jax's eyes almost popped out of his head. I said of course the teacher will help you, *if* he recognize that you really needs help and is not just misbehaving but if you constantly misbehave, the teacher might figure that is what is happening yet again.

I think I have scared him straight. We'll see. And we'll see what the teacher has to say tomorrow. I am irritated with the teacher because if Jax is chronically being a PITA why on earth has he not called me? I guess the other time Jax acted up the teacher said he was going to get a "communications slip" which is given out for things like fighting or destroying property and openly defying teachers. It means a trip the to Principal's office and a meeting with parents. But we heard nothing! Why is he making idle threats? Punish him if he is misbehaving! Sheesh!

Tomorrow is Cars' last swim class until September. I am sure I have mentioned that he no longer cries when he swims and he just lives for the "candy" that I buy for him after the class (he usually choses a small bag of cheetos or crackers with cheese - both of which he should not be eating due to his allergy). Anyway, today he asked me how many more swimming lessons he had and when I told him just one more until he is four years old, he jumped up and down and shouted "Yeah!". It was so funny but a little sad because I want him to really love swimming.

Tomorrow is Jax's class end-of-year party even though 1) it is not yet the end of the year and 2) his teacher is out of town until Friday. She did not want to have it on Friday because it is "clean out the classroom day". I must remind her that Jax is not allowed to clean anything besides his own mess (in case he accidentally touches pb). Anyway, the party tomorrow will consist of a kick-ball game of kids v. parents and substitute teacher (I don't imagine she has *any* idea of this), a limbo contest (no prize yet - still thinking) and then ice cream and juice. Laurie is in charge of kick-bsll and I will run the limbo contest. I have lots of leis and tropical tattoos for the kids too. I hope they have fun.

All of the 3rd grade parents are concerned with who their children will get for 4th grade. Currently, there are just 3 4th grade classes but they will have to add a teacher for next year. And one of the 4th grade teachers now seems like such a mean, unfriendly and rude person. One of my friends sent an email to the principal this week stating she did not want her son in that teacher's class because she was rude and mean to her students. The principal replied that she could not honour such requests and my friend fired back that she would pull him out and homeschool him if he ended up there. With our luck, Jax will get her. :\

Ok, off to watch the news. Has anyone been following the story of the Vaughn Family? The kids attended our school before they moved to Illinois. The school is offering counseling for the children are feeling a sense of loss. It is shocking and very sad (and of course we want to know what happened!).

I am now obsessed with the hummingbird feeder. I sit and watch and watch and watch and get so excited when a hummingbird approaches it. I am sure that I have scared off more than just a few of them by jumping up when they approach. lol

We still have not booked our trip to Toronto. Stephen and I both are dragging our heels. I think we should just forget it and go next summer (early summer).

Father's Day

Today had to be the most boring Father's Day ever. We did nothing special but that is what Stephen wanted. The excitement of the day was a trip to Home Depot to get a few things. We had our front door painted and we needed a new kick plate (they do not carry 30" kick plates at Home Depot BTW), some long wood screws to hold our newly painted front door (apparently we were missing like 6 screws and the ones that were in were only an inch and a half long), a garden hose reel, dust pan for the garage, nails for the fence and a new register for the heating duct opening in the kitchen. BOR-ING!

But, we did have rib eye steaks for dinner with mashed potatoes and mushrooms sauteed in butter. Yes, we are missing vegetables from the menu (I think of potatoes as breads and no one ate the mushrooms but Stephen and I so there you go). I figure it will not kill the kids to not have a vegetable today. They ate lots of fruit (and leftover birthday cake) and took their vitamins so that's good enough, right?

Lots of activity at the hummingbird feeder the last couple of days. Actually, I think there is one aggressive hummingbird that keeps chasing the others away when they stop by to check it out. I am going to try to get some pictures of the activity.

And it was 8 years ago today (well, Father's day but the actual date is June 20th) that my dad passed away. I still miss him a lot and I wish he was around. I know he would get suck a kick out of my kids. He only met Jax (Jax was 14 months old when my dad died). Two days before he died, my dad was cracking up at Jax running in and out of the hospital room privacy curtain. I remember thinking that there was no way my dad was going to die any time soon because he was so perky that day! The next day, however, things were a little more somber. One of my cousins stopped by for a visit and when he left my dad shook his hand and said "I'll see you, Matt". I realized then that he was really saying "Good-bye, Matt". What a shock. I mean, I ~knew~ he was gravely ill and I ~knew~ he was going to die, but seeing that he knew it and knew it was going to be soon was still stunning. My dad died about 12 hours later.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I miss you.

Today was all about Dex. It was his last baseball game for the season (Go Cubs!). And today was his birthday party.

He had a pool and pizza party at the club where I work out. The kids swam for about an hour then we moved to the party room (daycare center really!) and they ate pizza, cake and played with the toys in there (the Lego was a big hit).

Since the party was at a pool, Dex picked luau invitations so I made a beach-theme cake. Fun and easy to do! Palm tree from Imaginext pirates, umbrella pick, Swedish fish and Swedish "sea life" gummies, tinted green, tan, blue icing and graham cracker crumbs for sand.



Dex had such a blast swimming at the party. The club provided a party coordinator who takes the kids into the pool and plays with them, supervises them in the change room and then serves the pizza and cake for the kids. It was low stress and very relaxing (except when one kid sank to the bottom of the pool when he jumped in and the lifeguard jumped in after him - he had to wear a swim belt after that).

A house is for sale up the street and I was so excited when I learned of it! It is exactly my house but it has a "daylight basement" because they are on a hill. I always said my house would be perfect if it had a basement and here was my house for sale for a "reasonable" price (reasonable being subjective since the prices of houses are outrageous here). The basement is not finished but is plumbed for a bathroom and definitely could be finished and would not have to be done immediately. I looked at it yesterday afternoon then Stephen and I went to see it today. He nixed it though because he says when he buys a new house it will be an "upgrade" not our exact same house with an unfinished basement. Totally burst my bubble. :(

Book club last night was fun. I finished a little more than half the book and we barely discussed it so that was fine.

I am baking the cake for Dex's b-day party today. I hope the decorating turns out. I'll let you know.

I received a cheque in the mail from the company who did our roof. I mentioned to a friend of mine that she should call them for a quote and when she did, they sent me a $10 Starbucks card. Then she booked with them and the cheque they sent to me was for $100! Whoo-hoo!

Ok, cake needs to come out of the oven!

Book club is tomorrow night and I have not read the book. Eeek! I just have not been in the mood to read it. It is non-fiction book and I just cannot get into it. I will give it another try a little later this evening but no doubt will fall asleep as I have the last few times I have tried to read it.

Anyway, I will make up for not having read the book by bringing a fabulous dish or dessert tomorrow. :)

It was time

The painful process has come to an end.

Nineteen months since my last all-over colour.

Thirteen months since I had some low lights put in to blend the colour/no colour.

Ten weeks since my last haircut.

I was so sick of pulling my hair up or back because it was long, unruly, frizzy and, of course, a multitude of colours. It was just about long enough to cut all of the colour out of it so chop-chop flick-flick with the razor to thin it out and voila - my natural hair colour (or lack thereof).

Before and after shots taken today.



Now, how long do you suppose it will be before I colour my hair again. ;)

The Saab is back on the road for now. Friggin car!

I bought a skirt today that was a size M! Ok, so it was not an actual number size and M does cover more than one size but it was still an M and not an L. Go me!

School will be over in less than two weeks. I have to start planning Summer O'Fun 2007.

Dex's birthday party is this coming weekend. I have to bake and decorate the cake on Friday because he has a baseball game on Saturday morning (party is at 4pm). He is soooo excited to be having a swimming party.

Jax's class is having their Funny Money Bazaar on Friday. In the past, he has made comic books (I would end up spending about $15 for photocopying them!). However, last time he accidentally sold his original copy and is very upset about it so he has decided that he will sell "pet rocks". He has about a dozen rocks so far that he has drawn on. I think he is drawing eyes or something. Anyway, I am sure no one will buy them. He thinks they will. We'll see...

Cars' last day of preschool for the year is this week. His Summer O'Fun will start a little earlier than Jax and Dex's. We'll start with him going into the daycare center at the club on Friday so I can work out. ;)

Uh-oh!

I could be in serious trouble:

34%Mingle² - Free Online Dating

But, I at least I can spell:

I Scored a 100%!

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(I got these quizzes after linking to Mingle2 from Miss Arrogant's blog. I did the Grade 8 science quiz but only got 73% and did not want to post that I only got a C!)

The Saab had another potentially lethal blow. It is in the shop for the weekend and we'll see if it can be revived yet again. The friggin lemon has 9 lives it seems. This is not a good weekend for us to be a one-car family. I have an all-day planning session for MOPS that ends right about the time Stephen will be dropping Dex off at a b-day party 7 miles away. And on Sunday, I have a MOPS steering committee meeting that ends right about the time when Dex has to be dropped off at his baseball game.

Looks like Stephen will be playing chauffeur all weekend while I sit around and wait for him. At least it will give me time to finish my book club selection.

And time to pull out the Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue.

A house a quarter of a mile up the street caught fire this afternoon. About 4:30 a fire truck when screaming up the street and there were two helicopters circling. Ash said three more trucks went by her house then too. Fortunately, no one was hurt (the teenage boys got out of the house) but their cat perished in the fire. I heard from neighbours that it was a "chemistry experiment" gone wrong. Not exactly sure what that means but it is scary to think of what may have happened with the boys in the house while the parents were at work.

Tomorrow, I am teaching Art Start in Dex's class. I do not have anyone to help out and the remaining lesson for the 1st grade curriculum is too involved (mixing dry tempera paint with liquid starch) for just me to handle/prep so I am teaching them from the 2nd grade lesson plans. There were no supplies in the Art Start supply cabinet for this project so I had to buy some beads at Michael's. It ticks me off that the supplies are not around for these lessons. If I had gone with the tempera/liquid starch plan, I would have had to buy those supplies too and no doubt will hear from the chair that there are no funds left to reimburse me. I won't be reimbursed for the beads for tomorrow's lesson but they were cheap enough and again, this is a 1st grade class. And besides, beading is FUN for me and I will be happy to keep whatever is left over.

And speaking of Art, well crafts, well my mom's club crafts...today was the last meeting and the last craft of the year. Now I can spend my time and energy PLANNING for next year's crafts. I seriously plan to do things differently this year and will try to get as many supplies/prep done during the summer so I will be far less stressed in the Fall/Winter/Spring. :)

And blather blather blather. What a boring blahg entry.

Dex had an appointment with an eye doctor today. Boy, was she ever great with him! Anyway, she checked everything, his eye muscles, his vision, his depth perception, etc and he checked out ok so nothing to do with his vision is causing his headaches. She said she was glad to hear that we were going to a neurologist because she was concerned when he told her he had a headache everyday.

She did start asking questions about glaucoma and did it run in the family. She explained that the optic disk is like a donut with a hole (or cup) in the middle. Typically, in "Northern Europeans" (as she referred to us) the cup is usually 30% of the whole disk. For people of colour, it can be bigger - perhaps 40% - and smaller for Asians (about 25%).. Well Dex's is 55%! She said that does not mean that he has glaucoma but we definitely need to monitor him and make sure he comes in regularly every 2 years for a check up. She said that if he never came back again but at age 40 had a check up the doctor would diagnose him with glaucoma based on the size of the cup. But, she said that it could just be normal for him.

Now we wait until for the appointment with the neurologist in July. Dex's head shaking has not yet disappeared. Only six more weeks!

Cars has been a little terror the last few days. Defiant and moody. Last night he had a temper tantrum at 2AM when I would not let him sleep in our bed (he is allowed to sleep on the floor beside my bed but not in my bed). He sat in the timeout chair three times today (he has not been in it in weeks and weeks and weeks!). Very frustrating! I think part of it is that the kids are staying up later since it is so light out. The new blinds we have up does a good job of blocking out the light in the evening but not the caw-cawing of the black crows at the crack of dawn. I hope things get back to normal soon.

I ordered a few things from Oriental Trading for Dex's birthday party. The stuff is "estimated" to arrive two days before the party. Now I sit on pins and needles hoping that the stuff won't be late.

I did a whole lot of not much today. I replanted more flowers (found more pots in the garage) and some herbs, I set up the slip'n'slide for the kids, swept the deck, tidied the garage and that's about it. What a lazy Sunday. I had a short nap before dinner too!

I made several stepping stones last weekend with the leftover cement that Stephen mixed for the fence post. I used lots of tumbled glass that I had and they all look so pretty. They are about 8" in diameter (the moulds were plastic plant trays) and today, I have lined them beside the walkway up to the front door, under the boxwood shrubs.

Oh, it just started raining and I hear thunder. It is pretty rare for us to have a thunderstorm! I think I will turn out the lights to see lightening (if there is any).

edited to add some photos that I taken before I blogged but did not post them:

The one on the left we made last year:

The one in the middle was made in 2004 and had handprints of Jax, Dex and Cars

I love this one!


I also have a few more that were made last year as examples for Dex's kindergarten class. We used ceramic tiles with the tumbled glass around (like the one in the first photo).
I would like to get some new bark to put in the gardens to make the stones look "built in" rather than just placed in the dirt. One day...

Jax's last day of baseball! It was again a devastating loss but they were all good sports. The coach had every player who had yet to pitch to go in the game and pitch to two players. Jax had his pitching debut and he walked the first runner (but he did throw two strikes) and then he again threw three balls and two strikes before the player his the ball (but he was thrown out at first!). Jax was so proud of himself and I am happy that his coach let them all play. And kudos to the coaches of the other team for being patient and kind about it.

The end-of-season party was held at a nearby country club where the kids swam for a couple of hours at the outdoor pool. The head coach did a great job of making little autograph books for each kid where the kids could go and sign by their own photos.

Dex has two more games and a party which has yet to be scheduled. I am so looking forward to the return of my Saturdays and Cosmo Fridays. ;)

After the party, the kids crashed and Stephen started working again on the fence. I cut the rhodies, birch tree (achoo!) and the japanese maple out the front. I need to work on the photinia bushes which grow like weeds. I would love to pull them all out (we have 6 - 2 in front and 4 in back). When I cut them I totally fill up the yard waste bins and it takes three weeks to clear it all out and leaves no room for grass clippings.

End in Sight

Jax's last baseball game is tomorrow. Looking forward to it! Then we just have two more weeks for Dex and we will be free of baseball! Yeah!

We have not booked a trip to Toronto for the summer. The cost of flights has sky-rocketed and while Stephen shrugs it off, I don't think I can bring myself to spend that much money just to go to Toronto! We'll keep watching for prices to drop but I think perhaps we have missed the boat on low fares.

Dex knocked his noggin three times today. I am a little worried about him! First, at recess, he was hit in the eye by a ball and then he fell backwards against the wall with his head. He showed up afterschool with a bright green bracelet to alert me of his injured head and a report about it. Then at baseball he was hit in the head with a baseball. And after baseball, I let him play on the playground for a few minutes and he fell off the monkey bars and landed on his head! Sheesh! The weird thing is that he hit the back of his head when he fell but told me that he landed on the top of his head and that is what hurt (where he says he always has a headache). Wonder if I can wait another 7 weeks until his appointment with the neurologist. :\