It was a rough day for me emotionally. I realized today that we are starting the allergy-thing all over again with Cars. Funny, I thought since I had BTDT it would be so much easier and I would handle everything with a lot more grace. Apparently not. Also, I just may be bowing out of my moms' club over this issue. We'll see how things pan out.

So, at the end of the day, a much needed and welcomed Cosmo Friday with my two very good friends, Lau and Ash.

And, taking a cue from my friend, Tracy, (aka Pley, I would like to thank all of my blahg readers and blahg friends. I had a few new people comment on my blahg lately and I am delighted to know that people read and care. Thank you!

P.S. No, I am not tipsy from Cosmo Friday and this is not the on-line equivalent of a drunken midnight call. Besides, it is only 8:20pm. ;)

Cars spent most of the time at swimming lessons today goofing off and laughing. Remember when he used to cry and I had to bribe him?! What a difference! I think a big part of it right now is that his friend is in his class so they are showing off for each other. That's ok if it gets them both swimming, right?

I am working on my laptop using a new battery that was delivered today. My battery died and if you can believe it, with less than 2 weeks before the 1 year warranty expired so I received a replacement for free! When does this EVER happen? Usually they die two weeks AFTER the warranty expires. What luck! Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket?

The kids walked to school today. Cars and I walked with them about 2/3 of the way (I did not want to walk down the big hill when I knew I would be dragging Cars back up it!). There were about 9 kids in all and another one will be joining them tomorrow (I's dh called me today to ask if their son could walk with my kids - not sure why it was not arranged earlier since he walked with the others last year. Perhaps he did not want to assume anything?).

Dex told me that his teacher asked if anyone in the class had a peanut allergy and two kids put up their hand (well, three if you count Dex who put up his hand and said that his brother did so he supports him by not eating peanuts - which I thought was so sweet and I laughed when he told me but he thought I was making fun of him and he started to cry!). Anyway, I thought it was weird that the teacher asked out right like that when in Jax's class, do to "student confidentiality", the note that went home said he/she so that no one would know if it were a boy or girl (although most know it is Jax).

Today was also an open house at Cars' school so we dropped off his Epi Pen and Benadryl to his teacher. And I got roped into being co-room parent. Ugh. Why do I do this? I hope it really is as easy as the teacher promised. I hope to teach Art again in Dex's class (and perhaps Jax's) but we'll see. Can't committ to too much!

First Day of School

The plan for the kids to walk to school fell flat today as we awoke to rain. Not just rain but a torrential downpour. It is raining like it rains in November. Unbelievable!

So, I drove the kids in then took their big school supplies to their classes then stood outside in the rain with them waiting for class to begin. I forgot to take photos of them before we left but a friend of mine snapped one of each of them at school and she will email them to me.

The back-to-school coffee/tea for parents was poorly attended because of the rain (it is held outside, under the awning at the front of the school) and of course none of the baked goods were safe for Cars so I just grabbed a cuppa tea and chatted for a moment then headed home. Cars and I are completely soaked.

Cars has swimming lessons this afternoon which will be just miserable for me if the rain does not ease up. Nothing like swimming lessons in the pouring rain! Hopefully there won't be any thunder though. I heard we are going to get more thunder today. We had a fantastic thunderstorm last night. Lightning and thunderstorms are actually a rare event here so last night's storm, which lasted about 20 minutes, was exciting. Of course I was the only one in the family awake to enjoy it.

Ok, off for my second cuppa tea and to get some laundry done.

Ugh - I hate this weather. It is humid today which of course means that I have a migraine. Completely sucks. It is 72 degrees outside but feels like about 92 because of the humidity. Blech.

Tomorrow is our 14th anniversary so Stephen made a wonderful meal for me tonight - ribeye steaks, baked potatoes and grilled veggies. Unfortunately, since I have a migraine I did not enjoy it as much as I should have.

Tomorrow is also the first day of school. Jax and Dex will walk in their new shoes and I will drive to the school with the huge pile of school supplies. I should have had my act together a little more last week and I could have dropped off the 5 reams of paper, 3 boxes of kleenex and 1 box of baby wipes. I cannot expect them to lug them to school tomorrow, along with the rest of their supplies (hell, *I* can barely carry all that). Oh, I just remembered that I need to put a roll of wet wipes (not baby wipes) in Jax's supplies to keep in his desk to clean his desk when he feels he needs to do so.

Ok, time to tuck the kids into bed. Then it will be my turn to get into bed to sleep off this migraine.

Shoe shopping for three boys is PAINFUL! Excruciatingly painful. Well, perhaps I should say it is painful shoe shopping for a 9 year old boy when I have his two brothers in tow. Shopping for the other two was a dream!

All three boys needed new shoes. I wanted to buy them each two pair. One pair of runners and one pair of shoes for everything else (skate shoes I thought would fit the bill). We headed to Nordstroms today to get them sized (Jax is a 5, Dex is a 2 and Cars is 11). Jax saw nothing "cool" at Nordstroms (just as well since they had virtually NO shoes on sale). I did get a pair for Dex and Cars there but we were in and out quickly because they actually have people working there who WANT to help you. That in itself is almost worth the cost of the shoes. Jax saw nothing that he liked so off we went into four shoes stores in the mall, plus Macy's (they don't carry kids shoes, btw) and JCPenney. In JCPenney, Jax found one pair of shoes that he said were "ok" but they did not have his size, of course. Apparently, size 5 is a very popular size.

We left the mall and headed to Shoe Pavilion (huge store with not as big of a selection of kids shoes as one might expect them to have). No luck. Next, Sears... Sears had a great shoe sale going on and some shoes that Jax actually liked. But virtually no sales people (not unlike JCPenney) and no size 5 running shoes to be found anywhere in the store (save for the girl's section). The one sales clerk who I actually managed to track down admonished me for waiting until the weekend before school to buy back-to-school shoes. If my poor crest-fallen size 5 son had not been standing beside me at that instant, I might have put my size 9's on that sales clerks' sizable behind.

We ended up at Fred Meyer where Stephen had wanted to shop in the first place. They had a sale plus in-store coupons for $10 off skate and athletic shoes. Jax finally found a pair of runners that he really liked but of course there were no 5's to be found anywhere (nor sales help!). I started searching the shelves again and realized that there were another row of shoes behind the boxes that were facing out so we started digging. After 5 minutes, Dex found the elusive size 5's for Jax. They fit and he really liked them. Success!! Well, near success. The runners were purchased but now we needed skate shoes!

(just to clarify here, I told Jax that we would not consider any other shoes until the runners were purchased)

We started checking that hidden back row again and Stephen found two pairs of size 5's but not the exact skate shoe that Jax wanted. After a few heavy sighs, Jax agreed that one of those two pairs were "cool" too. We bought the second-favourite size 5's after Stephen promised to stop at yet another Fred Meyer on the way home to double check to see if they had the ones Jax really, really, really wanted. If so, we'd return the second-favourite pair for the fav ones. Meanwhile, Dex easily found a pair of skate shoes in size 2.

We arrived at the next Fred Meyer. This one is different than the others. The clothes and shoes are on a second floor (the other stores are all one floor). BTW, Fred Meyer is like a Super Target so a grocery store and discount department store all-in-one. Anyway, since Fred Meyer was having this huge Labour Day weekend sales EVENT, they had brought down shoes and clothes from the second floor to the first. So, not only did we have to check in three different locations on the second floor for the elusive size 5 shoes for Jax, but there were three areas of the main floor where they had shoes too. I said FORGET IT! but Stephen *insisted* that we check every shoe area for NSS Green/black/white skate shoes in size 5. No luck. And in the end, Jax was just as happy to have the other shoes so we could have saved ourselves a good 30 minutes of rummaging through boxes, under tables and behind shelves.

So, my children are all now well shod to go back-to-school. And I hope not to have to do that again for at least six months. By then, no doubt, size 6 will be the popular size and we shall have to go through it all again.

The last weekend of the summer. Last night was Cosmo Friday then we had a bbq at Ash's. Today, we took the kids to Family Fun Center then we stopped at the skateboard park on the way home. Stephen really wants the summer to end on a very high note for the kids. Not sure what's up for tomorrow and Monday.

Summer o'Fun Day 2007 Day 48

Dex and Jax met their teachers today. Dex got one of the two 2nd grade teachers that I wanted for him. Yeah! Jax's teacher seems very nice. I have heard a lot of good things about her and only one person who knew of her did not like her (funny enough, it was the same person who told me that she did not like the teacher whom Dex had last year, who turned out to be the perfect 1st grade teacher for him! So I need to take the comment about Jax's teacher with a grain of salt). Anyway, in Jax's class, I was happy to see a little sign that said "Peanut Allergy Present - please be considerate". It was better than nothing.

All of my friends with 4th graders managed to avoid the one mean teacher, except for L's dd. However, L's dd is a very good student and a great kid so I am sure she will do fine in that class.

Now that the boys are older, I have arranged with two other moms for our kids to walk to school together. Jan's kids live in the cul-de-sac behind us so they will meet my kids at the corner and they will walk around to the water tower to meet A's kids (and possibly's I.'s son. Then they will all finish walking to school together. I will walk with them the first few days (or at least part of the way) to ensure that they keep up the right pace to get to school on time. It will make it so much easier on all of us to have them walk. I have ordered a new rain coat for Jax (Dex will get Jax's old one). I need to get them some all-weather mocs and they will be all set for the rainy season!

Is Summer over yet?

Well, I did not meet with Jax's teacher and the nurse yesterday. We are meeting on Friday (the day after the Meet'n'Greet which irritates me to no end but I am going to stay open-minded about it and trust that all will work out and that on the first day of school no one will bring peanut butter or peanuts. Of course the classroom will not be peanut-free but hopefully at the Meet'n'Greet, the other kids and parents will realize that Jax is in the classroom and not send in those items. ~hoping~

I know who Jax's teacher's name but I don't know her. She taught 2nd grade last year and apparently had a kid with food allergies in her class last year (don't know if it were a peanut allergy or not). At least I know she is trained to use Epi Pens.

Dex was upset that he did not find out early who his teacher is. Poor middle child. ;)

The book I am reading for book club is very interesting (The Book of Joby). It is very long though - 638 pages! The woman who picked it knows the author and he might come to our meeting in September. That would be cool...well, as long as everyone loves it and doesn't trash the book! Anyway, I am enjoying the book. Read the publisher description here.

Summer o'Fun Day 45

Well, the last week of summer. Nanny came this morning while I ran out and bought some back-to-school clothes for the boys. Well, mostly for Jax. Dex is between sizes so I need to take him out with me to buy him some pants. Cars has enough clothes already with some hand-me-downs and some long-sleeved t's I bought on clearance at Old Navy back in the spring. All of the boys need shoes but we'll probably do that on Friday or Saturday.

Tomorrow I am hoping to meet with the school nurse and Jax's new teacher to hand over the Epi Pen and discuss the health plan/504 plan. The nurse told me that she will not be at our school this year but will be there tomorrow to hand over stuff to the new school nurse. Jax is praying that he does not get one particular teacher who seems like a real bitch (my words, not his). If he gets her we will just have to deal with it but I hope that I worded his placement form in such a way that he will get one of the other teachers. They also have to add another 4th grade teacher and I have heard it maybe that a teacher from another grade moved up. We'll see...

Ash is taking her kids to the river tomorrow to swim and float with tubes. I have qualms about my kids swimming in the river - probably because I worry about the current and I am not a strong swimmer. Anyway, we'll bow out tomorrow but it will be HOT on Wednesday so we'll head to the beach that day. Cars received a "Pirates of the Caribbean" sprinkler for his birthday so the kids can splash in that. Whoo-hoo.

We were in Target a few weeks ago looking to buy a high-back booster seat for Carson because I did not want to lug his huge car seat with us when we went to Toronto. Anyway, Stephen and I were discussing the Graco Turbo Booster (we have one that used to be a high back but we threw out the high back a couple of years ago and now we use it as a regular ol' booster). A woman walked up to me and interrupted us to tell us that we should unequivocally consider another brand because Graco booster seats suck. You see, she dropped hers and it broke and Graco refused to replace it for her. She apparently believes that dropping a car seat is not the same as a collision so it should not have broken. It took everything I could muster NOT to roll my eyes at her.

Anyway, I was just thinking of this little interchange today as I buckled Carson into his Graco Turbo Booster (high back) and I had a little chuckle.

As I was writing this, I started to wonder how many cars seats/booster seats I have purchased over the years. Let's see...hmmm....I think 8. I bought an infant car seat that both Jax and Dex used. A convertible car seat that they both used. A convertible car seat/booster seat for Jax which totally sucked because the strap adjustments were BEHIND the seat. That one did not last long. Then we bought a high back booster that converts to low back (and up to 100 pounds). We are still using that one - it is the spare booster in Stephen's car.

When Cars was born, I borrowed an infant carrier car seat because I did not want to spend another $100+ on a seat that he would use for five months, max (my kids always outgrew their infant car seats early because they were so long/tall). I borrowed it from a friend who is about the most safety-conscious person I know so I had no worries about it having been in an accident (she later used it for her baby who was born a year after Cars).

I then purchased a convertible car seat for him and now he is in a high back booster (that will convert to backless). Somewhere along the line we also purchased two more backless boosters. So that makes a grand total of 8 car seats/booster seats purchased. I think we are good to go until Cars will be tall enough (4'9") to be able to be buckled in without a booster. Right now, they are all still in boosters. Jax has another inch or so to go until he is 4'9". Our state's law is 8 years OR 4'9" AND 80 pounds.

Yeah! A hot summer day! The kids and I ran a couple of errands then headed to the beach at the lake for the afternoon. It was crowded! Everyone was taking advantage of one of the last summer days.

Afterwards, we headed to Laurie's for Cosmo Friday. :)

This weekend the kids have birthday parties to attend and I think we'll go to the club too.

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day ??

I took the kids to the locks today. It is a summer tradition to go there, eat a picnic lunch on the grass and then watch the boats going through the locks. Today, it was especially exciting because they moved a car ferry through the locks. It had to be pulled by a tug boat into the locks while another tug boat "pushed" from behind. The ferry was so big it seemed to barely fit! I know that I was much more excited about it than the boys were.

After a quick trip to check out the salmon, we then drove to Archie McPhee's so the boys could buy some fun stuff. A back scratcher, oversized feet, Star Wars bandaids, pirate figures, plastic bowling set, and a devil duck - all things we need in the house. ;)

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day xx

Cars' b-day party at Build-A-Bear Workshop today was great. Cars had such a fun time.

The kids got to pick out their bears and they played games while they took turns stuffing them. Then the kids all made a wish on a heart for Cars and all of the hearts went into his bear. The kids picked the clothes and the BaB people helped the kids dress their bears.

When the kids were all done, they took a photo with all of the kids and their bears. Cars also received an extra little bear that each child can sign for him - a birthday keepsake. I was really impressed with it and Cars loved it! Ok, so I don't feel so bad about not having a grand b-day party at our house like I have always done for the older boys when they were Cars' age.

Oh, and Jax was fever-free when he woke up this morning. His fever/illness lasted exactly the same length of time that Cars' did - 2.5 days.

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day ?

Jax is still sick. I hope his fever breaks by tomorrow morning because Cars' b-day party is in the early afternoon and Stephen has a physical at the same time so he cannot change it at this late date or we'll be charged for a missed appointment.

Good news though is that the sun is supposed to come back. We've been home for 3 days and it has been pouring rain most of that time.

I am still trying to get used to being back on West Coast time.

Today was the golf tournament and Dex and Jax were signed up to play. However, Jax still has a fever and is achy and sore so only Dex participated. He did not do well at all but he had a really good time anyway.

Tomorrow I have to finish putting away all the vacation stuff we dragged home and get ready for Cars' b-day party on Wednesday. We are going to Build-a-Bear workshop then back here for cake. I promise to give him a good party next year. I swear!

edited to add Photos

Overall, we tried to make our trip to Toronto a VACATION. For any of you who go "home" for a "visit", you will know there is a distinct difference between a trip and a vacation. We really made sure that we made it fun for the boys. It was also nice to go to Toronto as a tourist and do things that we might not do if we lived there.

Thursday - Travel (long detail below if you aren't bored yet*)
Friday - trip to the Dollar Store to buy toys for the boys. Dinner at The Keg with my mom and Stephen's parents. This is the same restaurant that Stephen and I went on our first day - nearly 21 years ago.
Saturday - My aunt's 70th birthday party at my mom's house. All three of her children came and it is the first time in over 5 years that her sons have seen each other because they have been fighting. I was happy for her, even if they boys did not talk to each other (when I say boys I mean men in their mid-40's).
Sunday - dinner at Stephen's parent's house with his uncle and aunt and one brother and his family. The other brother's family were away at a soccer tournament for their dd.
Monday - Visited the street named after my dad. Visited Ramona and Greg and saw their new house (it's wonderful!), stopped at the cemetery to see my dad's grave (Cars told my MIL "We went to visit Papa, who is dead and in the ground, to say hi. He did not say hi back to us because he is dead and in the ground".)
Tuesday - Niagara Falls. A nearly *4* hour road trip (it should not have taken more than 2). Apparently a billion people decided to go to Niagara Falls that day or cross the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, NY that day which backed up all traffic trying to get to the Falls. The kids had a great time on the "Journey Behind the Falls" and on the "Maid of the Mist" (click here for details on both).
Wednesday - I was sick part of this day. Mostly because I had eaten non-stop since arriving in Toronto. So Stephen took the boys downtown Toronto to see the CN Tower. Long lines meant they did not get to go up the skypod but they really enjoyed the glass floor on the observation deck. Wednesday evening I went to dinner with Ramona, Alicia and Sharon. I will write more about this another day, I think.
Thursday - Denine's break-down day. I am still not quite sure what happened but I know the trigger was the garbage situation in Toronto. It is so stressful trying to figure out just what garbage can do where. Anyway, I think mostly it had to do with my mom getting older and also feeling as though we were disappointing people again even though we spent a lot of money and time on our visit. Saying NO has always been hard for me and always comes with guilt about disappointing others or feeling selfish for not doing what they want. Sorry that you filled your fridge with food and we did not eat it all. Sorry that you wanted to cook us a turkey or prime rib dinner and we did not have time to be at two different houses for two different feasts the same night. Sorry that we did not get to see your new house/new car/new dog/new whatever whomever you are. Sorry I cannot have dinner/coffee/tea/lunch with you during our very limited time home. And it was not just about the people we were visiting either. Stephen and I were at odds about going to take the kids the next day for a "big" end to the vacation.
Friday - The Ex. I always had great memories of the big end to summer was a visit to the CNE/Ex. It was the first day so we were expecting it to be just packed but it seemed like there was no one there! No waiting for any of the rides on the midway so the kids went on the same rides 4, 5 and 6 times in a row if they loved it. We definitely got our money's worth for the all-you-can-ride passes. Of course the carnies short-changed us *4* times at the games and seemed genuinely "surprised" at their mistakes. Yeah, right).
Saturday - travel day home.

Whew! That was long. I was going to post a little bit everyday for the next few days but then I felt that I just needed to get it off my chest so I can move on. BTW, Cars' fever broke the morning we left so he was fine to travel. Now, tonight, it seems that Jax has what Cars had. His fever has not gone over 101.5 and I don't think it will go up as high as Cars' did. We'll see.

Anyway, if you haven't yet fallen asleep wading through this, you can keep reading about...

*Details from our day of travel to Toronto:
Flight to Toronto via Vancouver. We had a 2 hour layover (which really turned into 1 hour and 40 minutes after you take into account that the plane needed to taxi to the terminal and we needed to deplane). That ~should~ have been plenty of time to get through Canadian Immigration and Customs, pick up our luggage, put our luggage through to our next flight, get from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, buy some water for our next flight. It wasn't. It took just over an hour to go through Immigration/Customs (apparently a lot of international flights landed at the same time). We hired a red cap who helped us bi-pass two other lines (exit customs and the line to put luggage through to next flight). We somehow ended up at the wrong gate for our connecting flight and it was 20 minutes before it was to leave. I asked a very kind Air Canada gate agent (isn't that an oxymoron?!) and found out that we needed to be on the other side of the terminal. She said "YOU WILL NEED TO RUN!". I ran over to Stephen and the boys and said "WE NEED TO RUN!". The Air Canada agent then ran over to us and said "YOU HAVE NO TIME! I WILL HAVE TO DRIVE YOU!" and she made us hop into one of those carts.

Now, have you seen Austin Powers? You know where he is stuck in that cart trying to turn around? Back and forth and back and forth? Well, that was this woman trying to get the cart into position so she could drive forward. Then she had to maneuver through a doorway and was shouting at people to get out of the way. She then got us into a restricted area that leads to every gate (I have only ever seen this restricted areas at the Toronto and Vancouver airports) and sped along and got us to our gate in less than 5 minutes. ~whew~ I wish I had my wits about me to have asked for her name so I could write to Air Canada to let them know that she rocked!

And this was really the icing on the disaster that was the trip TO Toronto. From long lines and stress at security (unpacking very carefully packed backpacks for 5 people), printing off the wrong number of baggage tags, nearly having to throw out 2 bottles of duty-free booze (the red cap was able to stuff them in our bags for us). As I mentioned before, Stephen says we will only ever fly DIRECTLY to Toronto again. Seems like a good idea to me too.

We are home.

More later.

But I will add that Stephen says it does not matter the cost, we are never, ever, ever, ever, ever taking a connecting flight to Toronto again. Too painful to rehash at the moment even though it happened at the beginning of our trip. Let's just say that you know when you see the airport personnel on those golf-card things, speeding through the airport with a family of tourists onboard? Well, we were that family. :\

Summer o'Fun

We are on vacation. There has been some sunshine and warmth so it really does feel like summer. The kids are enjoying themselves so that is wonderful.

I am wearing my complaint-free world bracelet so that is all I can say at this point. ;)

Summer O'Fun 2007 Day 32

Cars still has a fever but it is not as high as yesterday. He sits on the couch under a blanket bossing us all around. It is quite comical but won't be in a couple of days when he is better and we stop doing his bidding.

Jax and Dex are dragging. I think the shitty summer weather is wearing us all down. Yesterday on tv, the news teaser was "October weather in August!". It is horrid. At golf on Monday, I was speaking to someone who moved here in September and she was wondering if summers were always like this. It completely sucks!

It reminds me of one summer in Toronto where it rained both Saturday and Sunday on 14 of the 16 weekends in the summer. And on those other two weekends, it rained one of the two days. At least there was sun and warmth during the week though. We don't even have that really.

So, here I am complaining while wearing my Complaint Free World bracelet that arrived in the mail (4 months after I ordered it! Oops! Complaining again! Time to change the bracelet to my other wrist.