Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 44

We went to Seattle today to explore the tidal pools in Puget Sound. We found lots of fun things:


Then Dex found a bottle with a note in it:


The note said:

Dear Dad -
You were supposed to be here with us today, celebrating your 70th birthday. You seemed so full of hope here, ready to make a change. I wish you were here to feel the sun, to watch the mist over the Olympics, to revel in nature and your family. We miss you. We love you always. We will guard your legacy with love and ferocity. You are loved. You are missed. You are a wonderful Dad. And you live on in our stories, out hearts and our memories.
Love always,
Lynn
YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Makes me wonder what happened to Dad.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 43

Cars had a fever last night and by this morning it was fluctuating between 101.5F and 105F!! Yikes! Even Motrin would not bring it down below 101.5F. I did end up taking him to the doctor because he was complaining of back pain too. However, it was "just a virus" and I need to take him back on Friday if the fever is not gone. I am hoping it is gone by morning so I don't have to spend another day hanging around the house (and miss out on Cars' swim le$$on).

What a way to end the summer.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 42

So, Jax has a temporary splint on his arm that lasts "about 2-3 days" yet no orthopedic doctor can (or will) see him for 5-7 days because of swelling. WTF?!

I did get him an appointment for Friday afternoon at a pediatric othopedic doc who takes our insurance. Seriously, who knew that our insurance would be a problem? I have heard grumblings amongst other Big Software Company people that this doctor and that doctor no longer takes it but apparently there is a HUGE number of doctors who do not because the insurance company (and no doubt Big Software Company is self-insured) does not reimburse the doctors enough.

Anyway, Jax is still in some pain but not as much as yesterday but I figure that is because the splint is not allowing him to twist his wrist. He was in good spirits today and stopped listing all of the things he cannot do.

He stayed at Ash's today while I took Dex and Cars to swimming lessons. Then we came home and I tidied like a mad woman because my inlaws arrived tonight for a one week visit.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 41

The day started off fun.

It wasn't warm enough to go to a beach so we decided to go to a park in Redmond that the boys really love. I pulled out the PITA bike rack and put the kids' bikes on it and we met Ash and her kids at the park. While there, Jax decided to go over a skateboard ramp that some kid had brought along to the park and he went up and over and landed on his front wheel and somersaulted a few times. Of course I did not see this but I did see Ash's son racing his bike over to spot behind a little grassy knoll. Then Dex jumped on his bike and raced over to me to tell me that Jax was hurt.

He was holding his wrist but he could move it so I was not worried. We left the park and went to the club for Cars' swimming lessons (he is two weeks of daily lessons). Jax said his arm hurt too much to swim so he just sat on the side and watched Dex while I took Cars to the lesson pool. It was cool because there are just two kids in his class so semi-private lessons for half the cost!

I saw Jax's swim instructor (his lesson is tomorrow) so I told her that he hurt his arm and there was a small chance that he would not be at lessons tomorrow but I would call her. She told me she hurt her arm when she was a kid and her mother did not believe it hurt as much as she did but finally took her to the doctor 4 days later and her arm was BROKEN! And that it had probably would have been less severe if she had had immediate medical attention. Hmmm.... I decided then that I would take Jax to the doctor.

I called the doctor's office but they had no appointments left for the day and the nurse I spoke to told me to take him to urgent care. I thought briefly about just waiting until tomorrow but Jax could not turn his wrist without wincing in pain so off we went.

Sure enough, his bone (ulna or tibula - the thicker one) is fractured. So they put a temporary splint on it and I have to call an orthopedic doctor (orthopedist?) tomorrow to get a regular cast on his arm.

He took it all in stride. He was in a lot of pain and only cried once at the hospital from the pain. And on the way home he started thinking of all of the things he cannot do - swimming, going to the beach (he is invited to a beach b-day party at the end of the month), riding his bike, skateboarding, tumbling down the big hill at the Locks, and he was pretty upset. When we got home I told him he could cry if he wanted to because I could tell he was fighting back the tears. He is worried about hockey "try-outs" (just evaluation because he is playing in the rec league) at the end of September.

And he is even a little worried about homework once school starts (it hurts for him to turn his wrist to write). Poor boy.



If you look closely, you can see the grass stains on his right shoulder from his fall.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 38, 39 & 40

I have been horrible about updating my blahg lately!

On Wednesday, the kids played at Ann's again and I practiced guitar and cleaned the house a bit. I had a terrible migraine so I took the kids out for a quick dinner and asked that they play quietly when we got home so I could go to bed. Just after 8pm there was a huge eruption of screaming and crying. Dex and Cars were fighting. I got so mad and yelled at them both (not my finest parenting hour) and sent them to bed. The both then could not go to sleep because I apparently hated them ("No, I love you and like you but I don't like your behaviour"). Now I had a migraine and I was riled up and could not sleep at all. Aargh!

Thursday, I took the kids to the aquarium. We met some friends there but they were about an hour or so later than we had originally planned to meet so we did not have much time together because the parking is limited to 2 hours. It was still a good time for the kids though. It is a really nice aquarium and I love the little tide pool-like display they have so the kids can touch the marine life.



There was face-painting and Jax asked for a soul patch and Dex had a moustache, soul patch and an otter. Cars just loved his shark!

Friday
Spy's youngest son is coming over to play with Cars today. Cars is very excited to have a friend over to play. Lately, the older two have gone off on bike rides together leaving Cars home alone and he is feeling rather neglected. Of course, he makes up for it by fighting like mad with them when they are home. *sigh*

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 36

A little more rain today but that's ok. I won't complain about it (but I do wish it were a little warmer).

Today was an errand-filled day and terribly exciting for the boys. I dropped off school forms at the allergist and then mailed prescriptions for epi pens to our mail-order pharmacy. I hope we receive the epi pens by the 27th (Meet'n'Greet and the day that I usually hand over the epi pens and Benadryl to the school/teacher).

The boys then had swimming lessons. Just two more left of the summer. Hockey does not start until the end of Sept or beginning of Oct so perhaps I will see if their instructor will be able to schedule some lessons on the weekends in September.

Dex is having a sleepover with Spy's oldest son tonight. We had tried for months to schedule it and usually as soon as it gets scheduled, Dex gets sick. He is healthy this time (and we had some back-up dates this weekend in case he was not). :)

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 36

Jax and Dex spent the morning riding around on their bikes with their friend. I took Cars to Target so he could spend some of his birthday money on a Transformers toy. I also picked up 4 cans of hand wipes for Jax for school. I have to supply them for him this year as the 6th graders will be in portables with no running water.

Starting tomorrow one of the main streets off the Plateau closes for one full week. And the other main route towards Redmond is under construction (repaving!). Going south, the main way off the Plateau is also under construction because they are building a roundabout. The third way off the Plateau to the north is also under construction as is the second main route off the Plateau to the south. We are basically held captive! It is outrageous that all of these construction projects were allowed to go ahead at the same time. Granted, two are being done by the City of Issaquah (the ones to the south) but still, the could have coordinated so it was not happening at the same time. And the morons running out city scheduled the repaving project to run the same time as the road closure on the other route. I wish I could vote because then I would vote against every single member person who is currently in office. Yes, I am irrationally annoyed by this. Aaargh!

I went to hockey to watch the boys for the first time in weeks (ok, months). I had decided that hockey was going to be Stephen's thing since 1) I cannot tie their skates tight enough and 2) I have been the one to always take them to practices for every other sport forever so I figured it was his time.

Anyway, I was so pleased to see how well they are skating considering they all really only started in January. Jax has improved the most. He seems to be the most interested in hockey. We've signed him up for PeeWee hockey (recreation team) for the fall/winter session. We need to get out and get him some gear because the rental equipment is only for beginners and the session ends next weekend. The try-outs for him will be in early September so we need to get him fitted and accustomed to his new gear before then.

Cars will do beginner hockey again next year. He enjoys it but he doesn't seem to have the drive to chase the puck. We'll see what happens after this year.

And Dex. Poor Dex. His skating has not improved as much as Jax's has. He seems to like being at hockey and enjoys the time there but I think he would be just as happy staying home or doing something else. He says he cannot decide if he wants to play again in the Fall or not (he'll just do the beginner program again - he is not ready for a team). We'll wait a couple of weeks before we make him decide. Too many tears right now forcing him to make a decision.

Probably unrelated to his weepiness but his tics are back after being absent for a few weeks (head shaking and throat clearing). :(

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 35

Just three weeks of summer left! Wow!

Today, the kids painted some wooden alligators that I bought at Michael's back in the spring. Then we pulled out the foam crafts and they assembled some tanks. That hardly filled our day. Jax is now working on building yet another Lego set (the third free one that the kids won).

In a bit, we'll go out because I need to get new passport photos for my Canadian passport. I wonder how much they are this time. Probably about $30. I miss the days when Canada accepted US passport photos because I could get those done at Walgreens for $7.99.

Summer o'Fun 2009 Day 33 & 34

Day 33

Today was Cars' 6th Birthday! I cannot believe that my baby is 6 already! Really the time has flown. I think of all of the things that have happened in these 6 years. Most of them are chronicled here on this Blahg because it was started as a type of therapy for me to write while I was suffering from PPD.

Cars had a terrific day doing what he wanted. He watched tv and played video games. He played outside and then chose where we went to dinner (Red Robin). He so badly wanted the staff at the restaurant to sing to him and then he pretended to ignore them when they did. He is a card!

Here are some photos from his party this past Sunday as well as one from his actual b-day.



Sad looking cake. See the icing is falling off the side because it was so damn hot that it was virtually a liquid!


Cars and his friend M


Cars with the Lazy Daisy Cake that he wanted on his actual birthday

Day 34
My friend Ann invited my boys over to play with her boys from 11 until 4 today! Whoo-hoo! I browsed around REI and then looked at virtually everything in Co$tco. Then I came home and read for an hour. Great Summer O'Fun day for me. :)

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 32

The temperature was finally reasonable today! It was cool in the morning then the sun came out and I took the kids to a great park in Redmond. They love, love, love this park. Afterwards, we went to swimming lessons.

Jax is working hard on the next Legomation movie. I am super impressed with his determination to get it right.

And today is the LAST day of Cars being 5 years old. He cried a bit tonight while telling me that he is going to miss being 5 even though he is very excited about being 6 and all of the great things that it will bring (he has a loose tooth, he'll be in Grade 1, etc).

And I cannot believe where the time has gone. Really...

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 31

Cars' birthday party was yesterday at one of those bouncy places. There is a large room of bounce houses and blow-up slides and the kids run all around and get all sweaty. Fortunately, it was air-conditioned so it was a nice time away from the hot, hot house.

The cake was a wreck because it was so hot that the icing melted and slid all off the cake. I am too embarrassed to even post a photo of it. Thankfully, Cars still loved it because I plopped a few Transformers action figures on top and that is all he saw when he looked at it. He loves Transformers!

Today, I took the kids shopping because both Jax and Cars needed new swimsuits. I bought them white swimsuits from Old Navy before we went to Hawaii and from playing in the sand there and at the beaches here, the white suits are now a beigy colour. They will not come clean no matter how often I wash them! It looks so gross that I could not face taking them to the club again to swim in the pool with this very dirty suits! I found the last two of three bathing suits left in Fred Meyer! Now I won't be ashamed at the club tomorrow during Jax and Dex's swimming lessons.

As I walked up the stairs to the kitchen from the family room tonight, I nearly stepped on a gargantuan spider! I shrieked and asked Stephen to kill it. He said "Oh boy!" and admitted that it was a bit big and that it creeped him out. A-ha!! He finally admitted that the spiders in the house are HUGE. He said it was only huge because of the legs. Duh! All spiders are small when you just count the bodies.

Anyway, the spider has been properly smooshed and flushed.

My Reunion

My trip to Toronto was a lot of fun. It was nice to go home alone although I did miss my family. The main purpose of my trip was for a little high school reunion. This was not an official one of course, just one that a bunch of girls (women) who hung around together in school organized

The reunion ("Chicks Rule, Boy's Drool") was so much fun! I think there were 18 people invited in all but just 9 showed. It was really great to see everyone. One of the women, V, I did not hang out with in school but she was close to one of the others (Denise) and she works at the same hospital as Ramona. Apparently she had gone through a bitter divorce and told us all about it. Also, she announced just before she left about 6pm that the only reason she had come was to see Sharon who was a no-show. Gee, thanks.

About 6:30ish Megan showed up (she was arriving from work). Megan, Ramona and I were one of 8 girls who skipped from Grade 3 to Grade 5 so we were in the same class those two years in a row (and Megan was also in my Grade 6 class). Anyway, our Grade 5 year was really special. We had a great teacher - Mr. L. He was young and fun and handsome and on Fridays he would bring in his guitar for music and we'd sing songs. My favourites were "Jamaican Farewell" and "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" if only because "...she'd be drinking Pepsi-Cola when she comes..." and Chris Kyle, if he had been well-behaved during the week, would get to let out the loudest burp he could. Our class loved it so we would all work together to ensure that Chris was on his best behaviour during the week.

I loved Grade 5 (can you tell?). We learned all about Australia (and what marsupials are - I did a project on the platypus). We went on nature walks in the ravine behind our school and laughed when two boys brought what they thought were "owl pellets" to the teacher but they were really just rabbit droppings. We studied owls and dissected owl pellets (I can still remember the musty smell of them). And the whole class seemed to love the teacher. He received five bottles of
Hai Karate aftershave for Christmas. I wanted to buy him a bottle too but my mom made me give him a book entitled "The History of Scarborough". (BORING!).

Mr. L was originally from South Africa. He was of mixed race and he told us that he came to Canada because of the Apartheid in his homeland. This was the mid-70's and there were many teaching moments for him on racism and I remember many of them.

This past year, Jax was in Grade 5 and I would tell him over and over again that it was my favourite year in school and I hoped it would be his too. He had a good teacher but I know that this year was not the magical year for him that Grade 5 was for me. I really had hoped that my kids would have a year like that.

Anyway, so that is the connection that Ramona, Megan and I have. One other person who was going to try to make it, Joan, was also in our class and one of the 8 girls who had skipped. She unfortunately did not make it because her dad passed away a couple of days beforehand.

So, back to the party.

Megan showed up and I noticed that Ramona was a little antsy. A few moments later a car stopped in front of Ramona's house and a couple got out. Ramona kind of nudged me away from the window and said "Oh, those are just my neighbours". I noticed the man getting a guitar out of the trunk and they started walking up the driveway. Ramona said "They are just stopping in to say 'hello'". I thought nothing of the guitar because Ramona's dh is very musical and in fact was away that day working as a guitar tech at a Sass Jordan concert. Ramona's "neighbours" walked in and everyone looked at me expectantly. This man and woman looked a little older than the rest of us. "Do you recognize him?" Ramona asked. It was Mr. L! I could not believe it!! First of all, that he came to our party (Ramona and Megan thought they might as well as because the worst he could do is say no and Megan was able to track him down) and the fact that he looks 15-20 years younger than he really is! It was a wonderful surprise!

Mr. L wanted us to call him by his first name (hard to do after 34 years!). His wife is lovely and it was nice to meet her because we always heard so much about her during our year (she had given birth to their second daughter that year too). They stayed about an hour and we chatted and Mr. L broke out the guitar and we sang some songs. I know it sounds really, really corny but let me tell you, I was so touched by Ramona and Megan arranging for Mr. L come to the party. And, what a great man for taking the time out of his day to come. He told us that our year was his favourite year teaching which is really nice considering it was just the second year that he taught. He later became a principal and superintendent and a race-relations liason in the district so perhaps he did not really "teach" that many years. He retired last year and is now working as a consultant.

The whole party was so much fun but that was the highlight of it for me. There were old yearbooks there and we poured through them and talked about who was married to whom, who we had crushes on, we listed the names of people we knew who had died, who we still kept in touch with, etc. The party broke up about 1am when Denise had to go to bed because she had to get up at 5am for work in the morning (she stayed at Ramona's). I drove Megan home because she lives with her dh and son in the house she grew up in.

I did not take any photos so I have had to rely on others' photos.






Grade 5 picture. Megan is on the very left in the first row, I am three to the right from her (my dress was pink and white but looks just white). Ramona third from the right in the second row.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 29

I arrived home from my trip last night to 107F degree heat. Ok, it was91F when I got home but it had been 107F earlier in the day.

It is still super hot so we went to the beach today. The beach is a private one on the opposite side of the lake but it was so much fun for the boys so well worth the admission fee. Jax and Dex jumped off the floating dock and slid down the slides into the water for nearly 3 hours straight! Cars just swam and waded along the beach.

It is 91F in my house. The weather is supposed to drop into the 80's by Saturday. That sounds funny because normally the 80's is pretty friggin hot. The kids have slept in our room all week as we have the one room air conditioner!

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 24

I spent a good part of this morning crying because of course my plan to go to Toronto is falling apart. Well, that is not entirely true. My plan to easily go to Toronto is falling apart. Stephen had said "No problem" about him having time off but of course something has come up and he has to be in an all-day meeting on Monday. So, after a lot of frustration last night and this morning I was able to get it worked out. Ash will take the kids in the morning. My friend Jane will pick them up at 10:45 to take them to golf (her kids go too). Then she will deliver them back to Ash's house about 4:15 and my babysitter will pick them up on the way home from her summer job and she will take them home and watch them until 9pm when Stephen is due home. Sounds so simple now but it was very frustrating when I had no prospects earlier. I am so grateful that I have some fabulous friends who are willing and able to help me out.

Oh and tomorrow after Stephen takes me to the airport? He is taking the kids to work with him. And people say comment on the summer activities that I plan like the dentist and school supply shopping... ;)

I certainly hope he does not plan to take them in on Tuesday and Wednesday too.

Oh and somewhere in there I have thrown together a birthday party for Cars for a week and bit away and hopefully at least one child will be able to make it to the bouncy place where we are holding it.

I finally started packing and realized that virtually everything I own is black and white with one or two blue things thrown in there. Looks like I have packed for a funeral.

Ok, now I have to finish packing and decide if I am taking my laptop with me. I won't be able to use the data/network with my iPhone while I am gone because the cost is astronomical in Canada to use the data network. I will just have my phone on for calls only. If I take my laptop I will be able to check email (and farm at Farm Town!) without my mom looking over my shoulder while I use her computer.

Ok, I am taking it. Now...time to finish packing. Few updates between now and my return next week.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 23

We went to the beach today. A different beach than we usually go to (but still on Lk Sammamish). The weather was just perfect! Sunny, warm but not too hot and a very nice breeze blowing. The beach had a little pier that the older boys spent their time jumping off into the water. I loved watching them having a blast doing it. I really hope we are making good memories this summer (even with dentist appts and boring stuff!). ;)

I am going to Toronto on Friday. Alone. Aaahhh... It came about in a weird way but some high school friends are having a reunion of sorts and I wanted to go to T.O. for that but not as a family due to the cost. So in the end, I am going alone. It will be nice though because I will spend a day with Ramona (and other high school girlfriends), a day with my mom (including a visit to my brother's house and to see him, his wife and their girls and then some time to see friends whom I would not normally see if I had the whole family with me. I am really looking forward to it.

And I will admit that went out this afternoon and I bought an outfit for the reunion even though it will just be an afternoon party at Ramona's house. The reason I did so was due to the last two times I was in Toronto ('07 and '05) and I went out to dinner with Ramona and Alicia, I would show up in a t-shirt and capris and they would be dressed to the nines! Seriously! It was so embarrassing. And even after Ramona swore that she would wear capris last time, when I came to her house in my capris she ran into her bedroom and changed into a skirt! Aargh! I felt like such a frumpy stay-at-home housewife.

Anyway, I'll post photos of the reunion and hopefully you'll see that I won't be under dressed this time.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 22

Today we went to the Mall so I could pick up the make-up I had pre-ordered from M.A.C. at the Nordstrom's sale. Then we went to the kids' shoe department and I bought Cars two pairs of shoes. He had been wearing his sandals a lot lately then when he put his shoes on, he realized that they were too small. Almost 2 sizes!!

Then we went to the Lego Store and the kids entered a contest to guess how bricks in a Lego Pirate Statue. One of my kids guessed 500 000. I don't think he will be winning.



Then we went for swimming lessons. The pool was deserted until 3:30 (swim team starts then). I guess people were at the beach or elsewhere enjoying the 90 degree weather.

After dinner, Jax and I went for haircuts. I love his! He looks so much older!

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 21

The boys had golf today. I dropped them off right at 11 (drop off is 11-12 and the program starts at 12) then hustled over to the emissions testing centre for the van. Passed! Then I went to Target to get the bulk of the school supplies purcha$ed. Ouch!

Jax is going to get all of his hair cut off. He says it is bugging him. I had jokingly said I would pay him $30 to cut his hair short like Cars' not knowing that he had been considering it himself so now he is going to get it done and I am going to have to pay up. I will miss that mop but it is time. His hair is so coarse and wavy. I am taking him to the fancy salon (it is only $5 more for a kids' cut than SuperCuts or SuperClips or CostCutters or whatever it is called).

Dex still likes his hair the way it is and Cars likes his short so he can spike (but he never wants it spiked - he just likes the idea that he can do it).

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 19 & 20

On Thursday, Jax and Dex had swimming lessons that we had moved from Tuesday due to camping. Cars and I swam in the rec pool while the other two swam in the much colder pool. Later that evening, I had my guitar lessons. We are ready to move onto another son. So far I have learned "Hey Jude", "Maggie Mae", "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Let it Be". I think that only Maggie Mae is recognizable when I play the whole thing. But, I'll keep practicing but it is time to move onto another song. I am thinking of "Fire and Rain". I bought The Best Fake Book Ever so there are plenty of songs to chose from.

Jax and I also finished making the light box for their Lego videos.
I think it will work well for them because it takes the glare away and the camera will focus where it needs to be.

Today, it was very, very hot and we did not do much other than a trip to Costco, gassed up, got a car wash and then hit Safeway and the liquor store. We had our first Cosmo Friday in about 5 months and the kids decided that they wanted to have a Lemonade Stand at the end of the street so they set it up and sold lemonade (25 cents) and cookies (Chips Ahoy! 2 for 50 cents). They made $13 (net, not gross - I insisted that they pay me for the cost of the lemonade and cookies). Last year they had one and made $38 (I did not take out funds for my cost that time). So now that kids have $51 to split 8 ways.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 16, 17, 18

We went camping at Lake Wenatchee State Park on Sunday and returned home today. It is the same place we camped last year. We arrived Sunday afternoon and I was bitten 8 times by mosquitoes while I checked in. Ouch!

The first night there was an incredible storm. The rain was coming down in buckets (and we found out that our tent leaks!!) and lightning and thunder. The ground even shook at one point. Dex was terrified but Cars slept through the whole thing. Jax awoke, sat up, then went right back to sleep. The next day was a little chilly and after burning through $30 worth of wood, we decided to head to Leavenworth which was about 30 minutes away. It is a cute little town that the built in a "Bavarian" style. Very cute! It was so much warmer there too.

The next two days of camping were warmer and far less windy. My kids had a great time hanging out at "Fort Wenatchee" (a little wooded area near the beach) and looking for frogs, horseback riding and burning sticks in the fire.

Stephen and I decided to take up both cars in order to cram everything in. I took Jax and Dex and folded down the 3rd row seats and he took Cars and put our new second cooler in his trunk along with the camp stove and all of the pillows. The drive there was not too bad but coming home was a little frightening for me. Driving down through the mountain pass with a steep drop off on the right made my hands very clammy. Let's add fear of heights to my fear of driving across bridges. Yikes!

Anyway, we missed Spy and her family but hopefully next year we will be on the ball and will book our campsites earlier so we can go over the weekend rather than through the week.

We are off in the morning to go camping. No car hissy fits this time because we are taking two cars.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 15

The boys all went to Spy's house for a playdate this afternoon and I did some camping prep work (including a stop at Oil Can Henry to have the oil and washer fluid in my car topped up). This morning, I had the tires rotated and balanced on my car and we all walked to Target while we waited.

Best summer ever! ;)

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 14

The kids went to Ash's house for a couple of hours this morning while I ran a few errands. Then they tidied up while I panicked about camping. Now they are all resting quietly. We are heading to a park shortly to meet a friend and then we have to drive to the brewry so Stephen can return the keg of beer (he did not want to put it in his car in case it leaked so now we have TWO cars driving up there since he did not leave the receipt for the deposit). *sigh*

Toyota apparently has changed their minds about not selling us a car and have located what we want a mere 1900 miles away. I guess we'll need to pay shipping or something. Stephen asked for a price on the car and they gave us the sticker price. I don't want to play this game. I told Stephen we should just tell them our *only* price and let it go if they won't meet with us. That back and forth stuff sucks.

Ok, off to fold laundry and try to get the kids' clothes packed.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 13

We were up at the crack of dawn to get to an 8am orthodontist appointment. Of course the office is less than a mile from here and originally I thought it might be fun if we walked but then I was having hair issues so, in the end, we only arrived 3 minutes early (not good for new patients).

All three kids were x-rayed and photographed and assessed. The orthodontist, Dr. N is as cute as everyone says, btw, although Ash thinks that he is too grey now. I guess she likes younger guys. ;) Anyway, he was super nice and explained everything. Jax has some crowding and a couple of baby teeth fused to his jawbone which Dr. N believes will fall out on their own - they will just pop out from the pressure of the teeth beneath them, not get wiggly first. His jaw also cracks when he moves it (Jax later told me that he thought that was normal). He has a bit of an overbite and some crowding but Dr. N suggests we wait a couple of years before we start any treatment to see how his molars come it.

Dex has no jaw issues. :) He has a huge overbite and a lot of crowding. It was recommended that he gets a palate expander and then braces. Dr. N said Dex's issues were "moderate" but he thought it might be a good idea to wait on treatment until he gets more permanent teeth.

Last up was Cars. *sigh* I thought I saw dollar $ign$ in the orthodontist's eyes. He said that Cars will definitely need early treatment but nothing would start until he had lost his 8 front teeth. He will need a palate expander to fix his cross-bite and then maybe braces. We'll see about that though.

So, it looks as though all three kids will start treatment about the same time. Maybe I need to find a job to pay for all of this?! Yikes!!

In the early afternoon, we went to the pool at the club and Ash and her kids were there. Afterwards, her kids came over for a couple of hours.

Tonight, Jax and I started on a light box/tent for their Lego movies. They get some glare on the pieces and sometimes the camera cannot focus due to that glare so we'll see if the light box will help. I forgot to buy bristol board today else we would probably have completed it. He is itching to get going on their next movie.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 12

I worked out again today and put Cars in the daycare centre at the club. We headed back to the club in the afternoon for Jax and Dex's swim lesson and I had Cars evaluated to see what level he would be placed at in the group swim lessons.

We then met Stephen for dinner and I went shopping for supplies for our camping trip.

Stephen is irritated that our camping trip is nearly here and we do not have a new car. I am packing super light this trip to try to keep the van from scraping the ground as we cross the mountains. ;)

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 11

It has cooled off considerably so it was a little chilly at the golf course today for the kids. They survived though. I spent the day running errands (including going to AT&T and getting them to explain my bill to me line by line - our plan is touted as $89.99 for two lines then $9.99 for each additional line but billed as $80 and $9.99 for my phone and $9.99 for the extra line{emergency for Jax}. Weird that they would not just have $89.99 for mine and Stephen's then $9.99 for the other).

After I picked the kids up from golf we went to the garden and harvested these:



Yes, that is broccoli! And it was yummy! The kids mostly picked the raspberries - 1.5 quarts! I made raspberry tarts which were very tasty although Cars would not try one because they looked yucky. I still have tons'o'raspberries left so tomorrow I may try a cobbler. Or maybe freeze them to make freezer jam at a later date.

I have been a bad blogger lately! I have to admit what the problem is...Farm Town on Facebook. I spend way too much of my free time there. Gotta stop!

Last week, I took Dex and Cars to the dentist to have their cavities filled. Well, they just resealed Dex's teeth but Cars had a cavity between two teeth. What a nightmare trying to get it done. I was ready to say forget it and take him out of there and find a pediatric dentist who would put him out. I was tearing up because he was crying and so uncomfortable. Just awful! Hopefully things will be better when we go to the orthodontist next week.

We spent the end of the week getting ready for our annual 4th of July bbq. We had a great time. It was very hot so we had the slip'n'slide out for the kids but the water pressure from our hoses is not great so it was a bit of a bust. Especially when Dex tried to slide across it when it was not quite wet enough and his body stuck to the mat and his face banged onto the ground. He ended up with a bloody nose. He told me today that once he stopped bleeding and his nose stopped hurting, he thought it was pretty funny and wished that someone had taped it for "AFV".

After the party, we all walked up to the Commons (city centre) for the fireworks show. It was a great show and the moon was full which made a great back-drop for the fireworks.

Before the party, I called my MIL to ask her to interpret the potato salad recipe that Stephen had scrawled down once upon a time. When she answered the phone I asked her how she was and she said "*sigh* ok I guess". Oh. "What's new?" I asked and she started complaining about the weather (rightfully so - terrible weather in Toronto). We chatted for a bit, I got the info for the salad, etc then Stephen came home so I passed the phone to him. She told him that they had booked their flight to come visit us and that she and FIL were going to France in September.

I was pissed. Why could she not tell ME that stuff? I don't get it. She is always like that. When her brother was ill and they thought he might have stomach cancer she called and we chatted about the weather and different things for about 20 minutes before Stephen got on the phone and she told him about her brother. Same when her sister died. Etc. I am really angry about this. And I guess I am hurt else I would not feel angry. I have known this woman for 23 years yet she still treats me like an outsider or at the very least, definitely not family.

I know that if I mention something to Stephen he will say "Oh, that's just the way she is". Fuck that. Well, just the way I am, I am not going to call her again to let her know what is up with us. She can find out from Stephen.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 8

We met Spy and her kids at the park today for lunch and then I brought all of the boys back here for a couple of hours. They played SuperSoaker, "swam" in the hot tub and then had a hose fight. Great summer time kid fun!

I finished reading "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink and I loved it! I want to see the movie now. It is our book club selection for this month (we'll discuss it next week).

My neighbour noticed that some of her small trees along her fence had been chewed and she found a hole under the fence that made her think it was a mountain beaver so she bought a trap and this morning to called me to come over to look at what she had caught. Sure enough - a mountain beaver. I had never seen one before so it was neat to see him (her?). My neighbour planned to walk back in the woods behind the church that backs onto her property and release it. The kids were intrigued too.

We also have a weird deer on the loose on our street. It keeps trying to get into our neighbour's backyard. And last night it was eating the small shoots that are coming off the tree roots in my yard before I chased it off.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 6 & 7

The boys started the golf program yesterday. I signed them up for five weeks (Mondays only). This year they are doing more than just the basic instruction so it sounds like it will be good for them. We are going to miss one week (camping) but they can do a make-up session the following Friday evening (just hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range). I was happy to hear that they enjoyed it yesterday. Jax usually complains that he doesn't have fun but both he and Dex are in the same group this year so now he had someone to talk to.

Today, I let Jax and Dex stay home for a couple of hours (don't call CPS!) and I checked Cars into the daycare center at the gym and I took the circuit training class. It was tough (hadn't been in 3 weeks) and it totally lifted my mood. I think I will do this every week.

Later, I took the kids to the skateboard park and was so surprised at the number of kids about 10-12 years old NOT wearing helmets! Do their mothers know?! Yikes!

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 6

Jax, Dex and Cars started the summer golf program today. I just signed them up fit five weeks but after that we can pay weekly thru the summer. They all seemed to enjoy it for a change which is nice. Last test, Jax compleined all of the time because he knew no one in HUD age group. This year the 9-11 year old are combined so Jax is happy that he and Dex are together.

I am having a few issues with our 4th of July party and invitees and those not invited. *sigh*. You cannot please everyone.

So, we decided we were ready to buy a new car because last year's models are on clearance with great financing but they do not have any available except for white ones. No thanks. And we thought about this year's (2010) model but *all* they have available are top-of-the-line models. WTF! I don't want the dvd enterainment system (standard) or the special radar that automatically slows your car down when it is on cruise control or the air-conditioned seats. And, we want the middle row bench seat which is not available on this model.

Why is it so hard to buy a new car? Is it time to go back to the drawing board and chose a different car?

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 5

Jax went to a hockey clinic for the day (he has to learn to body check). Dex, Cars and I went to a few stores and I bought Dex his sandals for the summer (thankfully he is not in mens sizes!).

This week really flew by. I hope the whole summer doesn't!

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 4

The kids and I went to the beach to check out the tide pools during low tide. Sadly, the park we normally go to is under construction (the pedestrian bridge over the train tracks that lead to the bridge) so we went to a different beach and there were not as many nooks and crannies for the sea life so we did not see any cool things like star fish or sea cucumbers. I am kind of bummed. We did still see moon snails and their egg casings, tons'o'crabs (alive and dead), eels and geoducks (pronounced gooey-ducks). The kids had a blast. I have decided to try another low tide at the other park (it just won't be super low tide like this week) on a weekend this summer (the bridge is open after 3pm and on weekends).

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died today. Farrah's death was not unexpected and I did feel sorry because she was so ill. A couple of months ago, I watched the documentary that she made about her illness and it was very touching and also somewhat desperate. I felt sorry for her. Especially when her son, who is in jail on drug-related offences, came to visit her in leg irons. How sad to die knowing your son is in jail.

Michael Jackson's death is a shock because it was sudden. I feel only a little sad because I know he had a sad childhood and made him into the man he was. I believe he was a sick man who took advantage of children. Ok, yes, ALLEGEDLY took advantage. I feel badly for his children because he died owing people millions and who knows what kind of crazy he passed onto them. They have only ever been seen outside with masks or blankets over their faces.

Ed McMahon also died this week so no doubt the "things happen in threes" people are satisfied.

And yes, I am in a bad mood. I need to exercise. And I am irritated that the car we want to buy is not available in the colour choice we want or the seat configuration. Why say it is available in this configuration or that colour when really you cannot buy it that way?! Yes, really I want a bench seat in the middle row. Yes, I realize that most people do not. And no, I don't want a white car. Time to look for another type of vehicle, I think.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 3

Jax had a birthday party to go to today so we headed to the Lego store to buy a gift card (and pick up two more gifts for parties that Cars is going to this weekend). The kid whose birthday it is also loves Lego. I am glad that at age 11 they aren't too old for a toy. :)

Cars also had a playdate late in the afternoon which left Dex home alone with me. I asked him if he would like to invite someone over tomorrow to make up for the b-day party and playdate that his brothers were on but he said no, he just wanted to spend time with his brothers tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I felt sad or happy about that. Sometimes I think I have made them a little too reliant on each other.

I have a wicked migraine and I want to go to bed so badly but Stephen is still at work and I am waiting for Jackson to come home from the party. The mom called a short time ago and said they were just packing up (it was a beach party) and they'd drop Jax off as soon as they could. Stephen said he would try to be home at 9 since I had a migraine. Dex and Cars are already in bed so I just need one either Stephen or Jax to get home so I can go to bed too.

Summer O'Fun 2009 Day 1 & 2

We started off Summer vacation with a trip to the dentist. Dex and Cars both have cavitites (no fluouride in our water). They used some handy-dandy laser thing on Dex's teeth and determined that the cavities were not that big so they are just treating them by putting new sealants on them. Cars' is between his teeth so drill-vill for him. :\

I also have a referral for all three to go see the orthodontist. Jax has a bit of an overbite, Cars has a bigger overbite and crowding. Cars has the biggest problem - cross-bite. We are going in two weeks so we'll see just how expen$ive this will be.

Today, we had some friends over and we tie-dyed shirts. It is always a surprise how they will turn out. Right now they are still soaking and I will rinse them either late tonight or tomorrow morning then wash them.

Later, the kids and I played Snorta.

Now I am scrambling to figure out what to do about dinner. I need to plan my days better!

Tomorrow is the first weekday of summer vacation. I hope the kids sleep in. First Summer'o'Fun activity - dentist appointments at noon! How lucky for them! Especially Dex because he has some cavities that need filling. Not sure if we can get them done tomorrow but I definitely will schedule the appointment.

One fun thing for Summer'o'Fun tomorrow will be to continue to work building the new Lego that the boys got from the geekdad.com contest that we won. Two of the three Legos arrived on Friday (we are expecting the third to arrive tomorrow). What's cool is that they will not available in stores until August.

My dad passed away 10 years ago today. I miss him. I wish he had gotten to know my kids - that saddens me the most.

School's out for summer! And what a day...rain - finally! And it is quite cool. But the rain honestly is refreshing.

My kids' reports were good so I took the boys out to lunch at Red Robin. I really liked all of their teachers this year and the teachers were all a good fit for them. I hope we as much luck next year.

This evening, Stephen and I went to test drive a Sequoia. Geez, I love that car/truck/suv. It is so nice (but oh so big!).

Brrr...I think I have to close the windows in the house for the first time in a month. The rain has really cooled things down.

The end-of-year stuff continues. Cars' class party was a lot of fun. The mom organizing it got McD's to donate chicken nuggets for lunch which rocked. Each kid got 4 nuggets. The kids also made fruit kabobs and they ate the cookies I made.

Today was the last day of any alone time I will have for a couple of months so I went shopping (bought the teachers gift cards and a scarf on clearance at Macy's). Then I went for a pedicure. I had planned to work out but blew it off. Later, while reading People Magazine during the pedicure, I felt so guilty about blowing off the workout while reading about how fat Kirstie Alley is again and that she blames butter and lack of exercise. Yikes!

I have gained 5 pounds and already I see myself getting as big as she is in no time! I need to figure out how I can get to the gym during the summer. Cars can still go in the childcare centre but Dex and Jax are too old. Jax can be left at home alone or work out with me (he is a member at the gym - they have to join the year following turning 9 yrs of age) but Dex is not.

Our babysitter is home for the summer from college (in fact, she is watching the boys tomorrow night) and we are trying to work out when she can watch the kids for me in the afternoons. She has a summer job but some days she might get off at 2pm. If that's the case, I will have her watch them once a week and I'll try to make it to the 4:30pm circuit training class. It will suck that I will have to drive home during rush hour but if that's what I have to do, I'll do it.

I am still trying to plan Summer'o'Fun 2009 activities as well. Stay tuned!

End-of-year ramble...

The kids are enjoying their last week of school. Dex had his class party yesterday. Today was field day for the whole school. Tomorrow is Cars' class party and Jax's class is having a surprise b-day party for the teacher. The kids in that class have planned all of their own parties this year. It is hard when they get to this age and do not need (want) help from parents. I am sure it only get worse as they go along.

Thursday is the last full day of school and they kids get out on Friday (half-day only).

I made some fish cookies for Cars' class party. It is a luau theme and I could not find a coconut/palm tree cookie cutter anywhere so I went with tropical fish. I am not super happy with them and haven't yet decided if the blue fish will make it into the school or not.

I am also in charge of the craft (I just ordered this craft from orientaltrading.com ), the leis and bringing in a stick for the limbo. Finally the bamboo growing in my yard has been useful!

On Thursday, I am not sure what is going on in the classrooms but I know Jax has been instructed not to bring a backpack (his desk gets packed up tomorrow) and a completely disposable lunch only. No word about Dex or Cars' bringing home all of their stuff from school.

I have not yet bought end-of-year teacher gifts. I also want to buy small gifts for the school office staff (secretaries and office manager) and for the bus driver. I will probably just end up with Starbucks' gift cards for everyone since that is what is easiest.

Anyway, here are the cookies. They do taste great (Best-rolled sugar cookie recipe).


Clown Fish


Blue Tang


Extra cookies for the boys to eat later. They look like the Pepperidge Farms fish crackers!

Baseball is all over for the season. Dex had two games this morning. One of the first coaches of the first teeam we played went off on the ump (who happened to be the dad of one of our players) for calling a ball a foul. It was ridiculous! Parents from our side were shouting "Children present!" The thing is too, this is not for a championship nor do we even keep score! At least we aren't supposed to. Apparently their team was because the coach kept saying "we are ahead" to his team.
The second game was much better (sportsmanship-wise).

Our weekends are down to just hockey now. Oh, and church (although I must admit that we haven't been much lately - crisis of faith on my part).

Let's Go to the Mall, today!*

Today was at the mall (I had to get a gift card for Dex's teacher's b-day from the class) and I went into Macy's and they were having (surprise!) a sale. Ok, really, when are they NOT having a sale. Anyway, I found two pair of sandals that I liked and they were "buy two get 20% off" then I noticed a sign that stated if you use your Macy's card you get 20% off. The salesman told me that the offers could not be combined but when it looked like I might change my mind, he gave me both offers. :) Score!

Afterwards, I was in Nordstroms and walked by the M.A.C. counter. I was looking around and a semi-transgender salesperson approached me. Next thing I knew, I was seated in a chair getting make-up lessons! It was an amusing 30 minutes. No sales on make-up but I was happy to buy eyeshadow and eyeliner after such fun.

Then I stopped and had a huge Greek salad for dinner. Yum!

*reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdD0j6wmMNc

One more week of school! This week there was a bbq at the school and today, the kindergarten classes had a little music program. It was so cute to see all 80 kids up there singing their little hearts out. Cars was rather reserved with his hand-actions but he did sing all of the songs. When he was in preschool, he would just stand up there and stare.

Tonight is Dex's sleepover birthday party. It is midnight and they are still going strong. Well, except for Cars who fell asleep about 10:30. One kid went home at 10:00 with a bellyache. I felt badly for him although I am hoping it was just from too much food and that he is not sick! And Stephen is hoping he did not go home because he put that kid in a time-out for a minute for pulling another kid down the stairs! Oops! I think it was a genuine bellyache.

According to pmsbuddy.com, I about to start PMSing. Thanks.

When the kids got off the bus today I was in a glorious mood. The sun was shining and I had a fantastic day. Jax told me that his teacher showed his Legomation movie to the whole class and he was just beaming. Dex was excited to talk about his upcoming birthday party and Cars was just being his happy 5 yr old self. However, by the time we got home, Cars had slugged Jax and Jax was picking Cars up and shaking him. Dex blah-blah-blah-blah'd me all the way home without taking a breath(can you believe that once-upon-a-time this kid had an expressive speech delay?! I can't!).

So, in the door we went and Jax and Cars went to their bedrooms. A little while later, after the time out, Jax had to do some research on the computer. Stephen had upped the parental controls in April so searching can take a long time as it checks the sites before returning the results. Jax was sulking that it was taking a long time and demanded that I "fix" it. I said he needed to be patient and that it was something that I could not fix. He then said something like I just don't want to fix it and I told him that I could not fix and and perhaps he needed to walk away for a bit and come back. He turned to me in the snottiest tone "Did something happen today? Is that why you are in a bad mood?"

O.M.G.

I lost it. I walked over to him and said "Yes, something happened today. The sun was shining and I was having a great day! My kids were happy when they got off the bus then the next thing I know, my 11 yr old and my 5 yr old were physically fighting. So yes, that is what happened! Know anything about it?!" Then I sent him to his room for being snarky. He at least had the decency to act chagrined. And he later apologized.

But, I think the thing that really happened is that pmsbuddy.com sent me a reminder notice that I clearly paid no heed too. I should have self-medicated with chocolate and spared my children all of those time outs. *sigh*

My allergies are kicking my ass today. Well, I assume it is allergies and not a cold. I hope it rains again soon to get some of the pollen out of the air.

My brother who lives in the Toronto-area was sent home from work today. Thirty people on his floor called in sick today. One said she tested positive for swine flu (H1N1) so they sent home everyone who had any kind of sickness (my brother has a cough and cold) and they are not allowed back to work until they can prove that they do not have swine flu. Both of his daughters were home sick today (his MIL had to pick them up at the babysitter after my SIL dropped them off this morning) so the three of them went to the doctor this afternoon and were swabbed and they should get the results in a few days.

My mother is going to FREAK when she hears about this. She is convinced that the next cold she gets is going to kill her. She keeps canceling plans to go to my brothers' because someone there always seems to have the sniffles. If my mom and I had a better rapport at the moment (not quite repaired since our fight when she was here in March), I would just call her "George" which was her father's name. She used to always say that he was such a hypochondriac (and she used to call me George whenever I complained of headaches until I was officially diagnosed with migraines at age 15). :\

Race for the Cure today was awesome! It was wonderful to see so many people out there supporting this cause and to see so many breast cancer survivors! Wow!

Stephen, the boys and I spent the afternoon driving around checking out cars (more specifically, SUVs). The dealerships all seemed motivated. We'll see once we narrow it down and start to negotiate. I will say that I am in love with the Toyota Sequoia which is a behemoth and if I would buy it this instant at full sticker price if it meant I could drive it home tomorrow. Love it! It does, however, cost the same as our first home (ok, it was a condo but still!).

I am pooped so I am off to try to read the book for book club ("The Witches of Eastwick" by John Updike).

Tomorrow I am going to "Race for the Cure" in Seattle. I am going with a group of woman whom I do not know nor have ever met save fir one - Shannon - the whom we are walking to support. Shannon was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in February. She just finished her third of four chemo treatments. I know Shannon through my mom's club and church.

We are just doing the 5K walk, not run. Wish us luck!

Cars' last t-ball game was today. Of course after something like 16 days of sunshine it had to rain. It wasn't hard but hard enough that we had to move our planned after game bbq to a park with a covered picnic area. Cars really enjoyed his season. I know he will play again next year.

Stephen filled our soft-sided cooler with ice and pop and brought it to the game. It leaked water all over the trunk of his car and he had a hissy fit. It is only water! Nevermind that a can of Fresca exploded in the van! Now that is way worse than water in the truck.

Dex has his final regular game tonight and next weekend is the Jamboree where his team is scheduled to play 4 games. He will just attend 3 of them as the 9AM game on Saturday conflicts with his sleepover birthday party. Oops!

Ok, off to change into pants before I head to Dex's game. It has gotten pretty chilly today!

It was another hot day. I was a chaperone on the kindergarten field trip to the zoo. It was hot and very crowded. The kids were all wearing two shirts - the ones they wore to school and the ones they made for the trip. I don't know why the teachers did not have them all change. Maybe it was a logistical problem? I also had a child who kept wandering off and it was stressing me out. By the time we left the zoo I was so done with him.

Tonight it has cooled off quite a bit and the wind has picked up. The blinds are all banging against the windows and Jax got scared and has now shut his window even though it is probably 85 degrees in his bedroom. He started thinking about "Tales from the Crypt" that was shown at a sleepover he was at last week and now he cannot sleep. I am not impressed that they showed that movie. I was told they would be watching the original of "The Blob" which is not scary at all. Now I have to deal with this. *sigh*

We are on day 13 or 14 of no rain and unseasonably warm temperatures. I am not complaining after the friggin cold winter with all that snow but I will say that I would not mind if we had a little rain so I don't need to water the lawn and garden. :)

After my brothers' visit, I was thinking how grey we all looked so I decided to do something about it and I had lowlights put in my hair again. She put way more in than last time but I guess it was still a subtle change because no one has noticed except for me. I'll see what the regrowth is like this time before I decide what to do next.

I took Jax and Cars to buy sandal/shoes today and was aghast that Jax is in mens' sizes (sometimes 7s are youth and sometimes mens). The sandal/shoes I wanted to get him were double the price of the kids' shoes - that unfortunately only go to size 6. And one of Jax's feet is a size 6 (but the other is a 7) which makes it that much more frustrating. Anyway, he is not getting those shoes. I will have to find something else for him. Oh, and for Dex. He had a playdate after school else he would have come with us. He's only a size 3. ~whew~

Cars is having a problem with a girl in his class. She pinches him frequently when he does not do what she wants. He has been telling me about it for weeks and I haven't done anything other than coach him how to tell her to stop and then to tell the teacher if she does not stop.

He told me the other day that she pinched him and I asked if he told the teacher but he said no because he did not want to "tattle" on her. Apparently there is a lot of tattling going on in class and the teacher has said that she did not want to hear any more tattling.

I explained to him that if someone was hurting him then telling the teacher or other adult is not tattling. He was skeptical so I finally emailed the teacher on Friday after school to tell her what was going on and that he was hestitant to let her know because of the "tattling" thing.

Now, I must interject here that this little girl has had some behavioural problems and I know that the vice-principal has been working with her on improving her behaviour.

Anyway, today the teacher spoke to Cars to tell him that he needs to tell her so she can help him. She also told this girl to stop and informated the VP. Then, during lunch recess, she pinched him again. I am very proud of him because he told the teacher right away.

I am tired of this girl pinching him. Things have increased a bit too since they were moved to the same table a couple of weeks ago. I feel badly that I did not contact the teacher sooner but do I feel strongly that my kids need to try to handle things like this themselves first before I get involved. I did not know about the whole tattling thing though until Friday when I finally was able to get it out of Cars that he was concerned about being a tattler.

Hopefully the pinching will stop now. And hopefully this girl will not be in his class next year to lessen her opportunity to pinch him.

Today was Dex's 9th birthday. My children are getting so old!

He had a great day. Stephen took all of the boys to hockey this morning then we went mini-putting in the afternoon. We bought him a Nintendo DSi and he is going to sell his DS to GameStop for store credit to buy more games.

He was so happy about his birthday. Tomorrow for a treat at school he is taking in cheese sticks (like Jax did). Dex also thinks that this is a very clever idea because he (too) is always saying that he loves cheese.

What a funny kid. I love him!

Wow, have had such fabulous weather for over a week now! We deserve it after the crappy winter and spring (and even last summer!) that we've had.

Today, Dex and Cars had baseball games. There is just one more weekend left of baseball...I think. I wonder if Dex will have tournaments after next weekend. I hope not. We've scheduled his birthday party (sleepover - ugh) for two weeks from now so hopefully he will not have a game to interfere with it.

After baseball ends, we'll have a quiet couple of weeks before school ends then summer activities begin. I need to get them registered for golf and I am waiting to hear back from the swim instructor about lessons for the summer. Other than that, I have not registered them in any camps. I've already changed my guitar lesson to an evening timeslot for the summer and I am on the look out for a babysitter for a couple of hours on Wednesdays so I can still go to my circuit training class at least once each week.

I hope this great weather keeps up and that we have a fantastic summer!

Isn't it funny when your first child is in kindergarten and has to make an animal habitat you go all out and help them make something that clearly was not done by the child other than them saying "Ok" when you ask "Should we put this here?" Then your next child you are a little more hands off. By the time the third child comes along, you aren't really doing much at all.

Here is an example... Cars' Tiger Habitat


I hot glued the rocks in the box. And I made an example tiger body and he copied it. That is NOT the way I would have done the head but whatever - and what is with that SMILE on the tiger? If that had been Jax's project we (I) would have practiced drawing it over and over again until we (I) got it just right. Oh, who am I kidding? I would have run out and bought a plastic tiger to put in the habitat! And plastic trees and maybe used blue cellophane for the water. And the rocks would all match because we'd (I'd) have made them out of papier-mâché and have painted them all a nice sienna colour. Maybe I'd have let Jax put one dab of paint on the fake rocks. Maybe.

Anyway, I cannot decide if I am a better mother now or a worse one for not being as hands-on with this project as I would have been (and have been) with the other two kids.

So, this is the tiger habitat that Cars made for school.

Jax had two inches of his hair cut tonight. Cars turned to me just as the stylist was finishing up and said "Jax has a boys' haircut now". I said what did you think he had before and Cars said matter of factly "Girl hair".

I'm glad Jax did not hear him at that! But it was true.

I think I have writer's block. All I can write about is my day-to-day happenings but I have a million little stories and thoughts in my head to share but they just won't come out. So, looks like you get another "Dear Diary, Today I ..." story.

Dex has a friend named J at school. He has been here a few times and he was at Dex's sleepover b-day party last year. Cars is smitten with this kid. He is a nice kid and he pays attention to Cars when he is over and that's why, I think. Anyway, J was one of two J's in Dex's class last year so Cars calls him by his full name which is pretty cute. Anyway, J's mom is a substitute teacher at the school and she subs often in the kindergarten class. The first time she subbed, I did not realize that it was she who was the teacher and Cars kept talking about Mrs. H this and Mrs. H that (I did not put it together that she was JH's mom). When I found out, I told Cars that she was JH's mom and his eyes widened and he was so excited that he had to tell Dex (who already knew).

So, today I was in the class and Mrs. H was helping out the teacher (Cars' teacher was doing individual testing with the kids). Cars was so sweet the way he looked at Mrs. H. Jax thinks Cars is weird for liking a teacher and Jax thinks she looks like a dark-haired Delores Umbridge. She kind of does but she also reminds me of Snow White. Anyway, Cars is very happy that Mrs. H will be in his class again tomorrow. I love it when kids think the sun rises and sets on their teachers. Now Cars also likes that jerk music teacher but I don't think that is cute.

Today, Jean-Paul, Marilyn and Lola left about noon today and then the rest of us headed to the locks in Ballard. I had never been on a weekend before and I was amazed at the amount of boat traffic. I think everyone found it interesting as only Jax, Dex, Cars and I had been to see locks operated before. There were virtually no fish in the salmon ladder of course. My kids and I will go back in July for sure to see the return of the sockeye salmon.

We later went to dinner at Maggiano's. I think I have enough leftover food in my fridge to last a week! They feed you soooo much.

Marc, Marlene, Melissa and Danielle head home tomorrow afternoon. I have really enjoyed their visit and when Jean-Paul et al were here.

I'll miss everyone when the last of them have gone.

I am enjoying our company's visit. Marc, Marlene, Marilyn, Jean-Paul, Stephen, Melissa and I went to a couple wineries today for tastings and a tour. It was a lot of fun. I had never been before and I found the tour very interesting.

Yesterday, we went downtown Seattle to Pike Place Market and walked along the water. We bought tons'o'seafood and had salmon for dinner last night and squid/scallops/mussels tonight (well, I did not eat any mussels - yuck!).

Dex was with Spy's family today and yesterday at Great Wolf Lodge celebrating Cam's 0th birthday, so I haven't been able to take any photos of all of the cousins. We'll do it tomorrow morning before JP and Marilyn head back to Vancouver. Lola is a riot! I love two year olds!



From left: Stephen, Me, Jean-Paul, Marilyn, Marlene and Marc. As you can see, the grey-haired gene runs in the family. I would like to call it premature grey hair but since really at this age it is just grey hair, right?

Tomorrow is the last day of MOPS for me. Forever. Oh, I hope I don't cry. This is a milestone because it means that I no longer have a child considered a "preschooler" (kindergarten is still considered preschool for MOPS).

The MOPS weeks would roll around (we met every other Thursday), and I would think "OMG I AM TOO BUSY TO GO TO THIS FLUFF!" but then I would go and there would be a speaker who would seem to speak directly to me or the craft would be a lot of fun or I would have a really great conversation with one of the other moms at my table and I would think "Wow, I love this!".

I know I almost drove myself back to crazy when I was doing the crafts for MOPS because it really was a lot of work and I did most of it myself instead of asking for help, which was completely stupid. But, I did enjoy planning it and I think the crafts that I did were great (giving myself a fat head here). Anyway, I will miss the crafts a lot.

This year we had "Secret Prayers Sisters". We drew names and would pray for the person whom we chose. I think the person whom I chose knows it is me. Tomorrow is the Secret Sister reveal so I will ask her if she knew it was me. She made a comment once about my hand-writing (we write little cards back and forth) so that made me think that my crappy penmanship gave it away. We'll see...

And I wish that they had a life after MOPS group. I know MOPS is going to start one for Mothers of School-aged children but it is not up and running yet and definitely not in conjunction with our MOPS group. If I were the type, I would try to start one. I would be happy to be involved in getting it going but not in spearheading it. That is not my forté .

On Tuesday mornings, I go into Cars' class to do Reading Naturally with the few kids who are reading at 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade levels. I am to do it in the pod area of the kindergarten classes but the last few weeks, the tables are full with specialists teaching the kids, other parents doing reading Reading Naturally too or crafts. I had been doing it at the little "Listening Desk" but the other full-day K teacher tends to send a few of her kids out there to put their heads down fairly often so, as of today, I am no longer allowed to use that desk. So, now this volunteer time has been moved to Monday afternoons and hopefully I will be able to find a free area.

I am still doing the reading rotation groups on Tuesdays later in the morning. Basically I just watch the kids do Headsprout on the computers. They are fairly self-sufficient though and the biggest help I give them is to untangle their headphones.

I am looking forward to next year and I hope to be able to spend more time in the classrooms or just at the school volunteering. They are always short volunteers in the health room (tending to scraped knees and bumped heads during recess) and for lunch servers although I think I might pass on this. I want to spend more time in the classrooms than I have in the past.

I think I might take a break from Art Start too...or maybe not. I really do enjoy the art work that the kids produce. Maybe I will just the the Art Gallery night work?

And why am I fretting about this today? There is still another 4 weeks left of THIS school year!!

Cars is obsessed with how old people are. Everyday he has a report about who in his class is already 6 and who is still just 5. He was delighted to find out last week how old his teacher is (25). "Mom! Miss K is younga than you because you are FOADY-FOAH!".

This morning I reminded the boys that it was my mom's birthday and Cars exclaimed "That means that Gwanny is seventy-foah!". He could not wait to call her to tell her how old she became today.

Later in the day, after he reminded Granny of her age, he told me with a sad voice that he and his friend K, will always be the youngest in his class because "*sigh* My birthday is August the fifth and K's is August the last" (We and K's parents and are probably the only parents with boys born in the summer not to hold back our kids!).

He sounded so sad that I almost felt bad for not holding him back. Almost.

Stephen keeps complaining that I don't take my "good" camera (digital SLR) with me when we go out (or on vacation). Mostly it is because I hate the camera bag that came free with the camera and I keep thinking "I have a perfectly good camera bag so I don't need to buy another". So, then I grab my small Canon Sureshot to take with me because it fits in my purse and is easy to carry.

So, we went away on vacation to Hawaii and Stephen was really irritated that I did not take the SLR. It worked out because my Sureshot got covered with sand and sun screen. But, it would have been nice to take the SLR. I have been looking at camera bags online but there are dozens and dozens out there and I have realized that it is not really something that I can buy online. I definitely will need to try it on, like a purse. And, I am figuring if I buy one, I will use it in lieu of a purse on the days I take it out so it has to be comfy, allow easy access to the camera, hold my wallet, keys, cellphone and allow epi pens to be clipped onto it.

Now, do I get a backpack or sling bag? A standard camera bag with bigger sections? And then once I decide on a bag, what colour do I chose?

Decisions, decisions.

Summer Plans

I watched "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" tonight. Cedric Diggory is sooo cute! Much cuter than Edward Cullen - must be the accent. ;) I cannot wait for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price" to come out. Just two more months! I'll take Jax and Dex to go see it when it comes out. Stephen will take Cars to another movie.

Before then, though, I am going to watch all of the other five movies again, back-to-back. Nice start to my summer.

Speaking of summer, Stephen is taking Jax and Dex to their first concert in July. They are going to see Green Day. Perhaps "inapprope" as Jax likes to say (short for inappropriate) because of what they will hear, see and no doubt, smell. But, I think they will love it. They love Green Day. I play it in the car but I totally have to work the mute button as we go.

We are going camping this summer too. The weekends were all booked so we are going during the week. We are going back to the place we went last summer so we should have nice weather.

I haven't signed the kids up for any summer activities. We'll probably do golf again and I need to sign them up for swimming lessons. Cars will play soccer in the fall and I think there is a end-of-summer soccer camp so I'll look into that.

Other than those things, I think we'll just hang out during the summer and go to a few places like we've done in the past. I want to go to some places I have never been as well as such as the Point Definace Zoo,
Leavenworth, Deception Pass and Seattle Art Museum. Plus all the regular stuff (beach, tide pools, parks, etc).

And today it was warm (almost HOT) so it was a nice promise of the summer to come.

I have book club tonight but it does not start until 9pm because the hostess had a school activity to go to. It is funny but 9pm seems so much later than 8pm. Normally, we stand around and eat and chat from 8-9 then discuss the book at 9 (then other things of course come up). So starting at 9 seems that we'll not start talking about the book until 10. Of course we could start earlier but it is unlikely.

This morning, Dex dropped one of our Corelle plates and it shattered into a million little pieces. They are break "resistant" so I kind of expected them to be unbreakable. This is the first one that has broken and I cannot believe how far the pieces flung. I swept the floor then mopped it and swept it again and I still keep finding little shards of white glass plate here and there. I hope no one gets any in their feet.

I am teaching Art Start tomorrow in Dex's class and we are studying the picture "She-ba" by Romare Bearden. Then the kids will make a multi-media collage. I made two today for examples and I had a lot of fun (I just used construction paper, newspaper, magazines, felt and markers). I hope the kids in the class enjoy it too.

I miss being so crafty. I really haven't taken the time to paint, draw, make jewellery or knit this past year. Gotta change that. Soon.

Fretting about the next school year already...

Here is a link to our Hawaii pictures if anyone is interested: Aloha. Just a warning that there are about a billion photos.

Today, I asked Cars' teacher about class placement for next year (1st grade!) and I asked her to put him in a class that is a job share class. Now, I swore I would never, ever, ever do that to my children again after Jax's 2nd grade disaster but the 1st grade job-share teachers are both really good teachers and really nice people so I don't anticipate the same problem. I also specifically asked her NOT to put him in the class that Dex had because the teacher would not be good for him. She was perfect for Dex and exactly what he needed at the time but really not what Cars needs. He is more "advanced" than Dex was at this point in the school year so I think he needs teachers who will push him more.

So, I have these forms to fill in by Friday for class placement. Cars' teacher told me to absolutely NOT put any teachers' names on the form or the principal will literally rip it right up without looking at the rest of the form (questions like how does your child learn best and my child's strengths). Then she wrote on a sticky note the names of the teachers I wanted and pulled out a stack of cards she keeps in her desk with all of the kids' names and put it on Cars'). We'll have to wait until the end of August to find out.

Now, I need to work on Dex's teacher. I don't want him to have the same teacher that Jax had last year. No joy whatsoever in that class. Another teacher I have heard just sits and knits all day long (but this is who one of the teachers that I know at the school wants her dd to get so maybe that class is not so bad?). The third class is a job share (4days/1day) and the fourth teacher is mean. Just plain mean. Now, I know that Spy wants her son to get Mean Teacher next year because she is a tough teacher. But Spy is tough and can put her in her place (and has put her in her place when Mean Teacher was mean to Spy's dd). I would not be able to do that if any problems arose with Dex so she is best avoided altogether.

With Jax though, I am running blind because I know absolutely NOTHING about the 6th grade teachers. One thing I could do for Jax today though was send a note to the 504 plan coordinator at the school to find out if the 6th graders will indeed be in the portables next year and request an accommodation because there is no running water - how will Jax wash his hands before he eats without having to run all the way back to the school to use the restroom.

I picked up my guitar today for the first time in 11 days and I realized that I have UTTERLY and COMPLETELY forgotten how to play "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. Lots of practicing needed before my lesson on Thursday.

I went to Zumba class today because the cross training class was just packed and I hate when it is because they then split the class and half do cardio while the other half do floor exercises and then we spend way more time on cardio than usual. Anyway, the Zumba class is still hard because I cannot do the salsa step. As hard as I try, I just cannot do it and I feel like a fool tripping over two big left feet.

Jax and Dex have a lot of school work to catch up on from last week. Their teachers gave them work to do while we were there but Stephen did not want to force them to do it while we were away. So now, I am the one forcing them to do it after school, along with their regular homework. I have banned them from the computer until the work is done (well, except when they need it for homework). Oh, what a rough week this going to be.

Well, we are back and I would like to say back to the grind but not yet. I think we are still on Hawaii time so I hope we can get up for work/school tomorrow.

I really enjoyed our vacation. The condo that we rented was so close to the water and just perfect for us. I loved snorkling and watching my children have a fantastic time playing in the water and the sand, although I think it will take a few weeks to get all of the sand out of Jax's hair!!

I can see why people go back to Hawaii again and again and again. I would definitely love to go back again.

While we were away, we found out that we are runners up in a GeekDad Blog contest! We'll post more details when we get them. My kids are tickled pink!

All-in-all it was a fantastic week. Aloha!

It is our last night in Maui. We've has such a great vacation. My favourite things to do were snorkling at Kapalua and body boarding. I am already planning my next trip!

OMG we are in paradise. Our condo is so close to the ocean . We went to Kapalua beach today. Gorgeous and the snorkeling was a lot of fun. Stupidly, we did not reapply sunscreen enough and everyone has a bit of a burn here or there (mostly on our feet and shins).

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

We are packed (except for my iPhone cable which I will pack in the morning). Stephen is being a hardass and saying only 2 suitcases allowed so we packed über-light on clothes. Now he is complaining that the suitcases are too heavy. I weighed them and they are both under 50 pounds(the max weight allowed per bag). One was very close to 50 so I took the water shoes and flip-flops out and crammed them into my carry-on bag. Now I am a little pissy because he thinks I have over-packed. Pul-ease! There is a washer/dryer in the condo we rented so we can (and will have to) wash our clothes to make it through the week so we have no way overpacked.

I do have four bottles of sunscreen in one of the bags so that probably accounts for almost 4 pounds (ok, maybe I am a little sunscreen-heavy). And my toiletries but I have mostly travel-sized items. The weight in the boys bags is just 4 days worth of clothes and the watershoes. That is 4 days worth of clothes for *3* people in one suitcase! Geez!

Then, he said "I guess we won't be able to buy anything to bring back". Yep, a new suitcase!

Aloha!