Sleepover!

Sweetie had been asking about a sleepover a lot in the last month. When could she go on one? When could she have one? What did she have to do to get one???? What if she was really good? When? When? When??? We remained non committal and didn't promise anything. She decided she'd just do her best to be all round "good" and see where it landed her. She started being more helpful around the house and doing things without being asked. She stopped arguing with her sisters as much (nobody's perfect right?). She compromised when the three of them were in disagreement and looked for ways to settle disputes even if it meant giving up a window seat to keep the peace. She went out of her way to be more agreeable and patient. On the crazy hockey tournament weekend where she got dragged from place to place for most of her weekend, she never once moaned, groaned or complained! We decided THAT in itself deserved a reward and told her she could have a friend over. She was overjoyed and thrilled to invite Boo over to stay with her.

They played iPod games, worked on loom bracelets, watched a movie, stayed up late and then played some more the next day. Her sisters got to enjoy as much of it as she did which wasn't really fair since there had been tonnes of bickering and fighting between them and NO efforts on their part to curb it. Boo just wanted to play with everyone of course and was having fun doing what everybody was doing. Sweetie felt like her sleepover had been hijacked a bit and was disappointed that she didn't have Boo to play with alone. I decided she should have some one on one time with her guest and sent the two out to play and then do their chores while Sweetie and Boo played some Wii and did some other stuff on their own until lunch and Sweetie felt better.

"Next time I have a sleepover, can we do it while they have hockey?!???!?!??!"

Family Skate

Uncle Andrew had a great idea for the holidays this year! While we were in town, he rented a rink for an hour and the whole family went skating! The ice time was a little early (7am) and we had to get up even earlier to get ready and drive there & have time to lace up etc. We were all a little groggy and slow to leave our warm beds but once we got there it was SO MUCH FUN! There was so much space and everyone could do what they wanted. Some played a bit of hockey, took shots on net, some of us just did laps around and some just came to watch. Andrew invited his wife's family too and his brother in law's niece and nephew. It was a great group and even though it was an early start, everyone was happy to be there and enjoyed the time together.

I got lots of laps in and skated around talking to the kids and watched them zoom around. I also learned that taking pictures of people as you glide by tends to result in a lot of blur! Oops!

We were off the ice by 8 and all headed to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. We'd all worked up quite an appetite and enjoyed our meal!

Thank you Uncle Andrew, this was one of our favourite holiday moments this year!

Poppin' Good Time!

After all our Christmas travels were over, we had an evening at home to try out our new popcorn maker! It was exciting to fire it up and have movie style popcorn! We put on a movie and munched away to our heart's content!

I'm not sure what they do at the theatre but I haven't found the secret ingredients to get the same flavour of oil or kernels or something. So far it just tastes the same as popping it on the stove but it's way more fun this way! I'll have to find a friend who works there that can fill me in on the technique! Otherwise I've invested in an expensive space hogging, hard to clean pot! Oh well, it looks cool and is fun to use so it's earning its keep for now!

On the road again- Christmas III

Whoever said "Christmas comes but once a year" obviously never had any family out of town! Christmas is a series of events for us so we get to keep celebrating over and over and enjoy each portion without it being overwhelming on any one day. It's a pretty sweet deal! On Boxing Day we loaded up the van, lost the cat, found the cat, forgot the casserole for supper, went back for the casserole and finally hit the highway to go see Murray's family.

More family time, more gift opening, more playing, more laughing! Good times and guess what we had to eat that night? Oh YEAH! TURKEY DINNER!!!!!!!!!! Have I mentioned how much I love mashed potatoes lately? Alright, moving on then!

The girls were all excited to see Bo and they ran all over the house playing with him and making a racket. We enjoyed the visit and one evening the 6 adult children all went out to a comedy club as our gift to each other. I didn't think the acts were as good as the ones we saw the previous year but an outing with free babysitting and the company of other adults is always enjoyable!

While we were in town I got in a visit with a couple of my bank friends, Alisa & Maryann and we got all caught up on life events and Maryann updated my purse inventory once I told her the old ones were starting to fall apart. Good thing I have her to look after me, or I'd be running around with shedding bags til who knows when! haha!

On the drive down the check engine light came on in the van again which was frustrating since we just had all that work done. I wasn't sure if we should be driving it, if we should get it checked out before heading back or if it should wait until we got home and take it back to the place that had done all the engine work in case it was related like last time. I phoned them and they were fairly non committal, "it should be ok but I really can't say" "it might not be related". Finally I pinned her down with "Ok, well, if you were me, and you were traveling in winter with 3 little kids, a cat and a dog in a vehicle that had recently left you stranded on the side of the highway, would you get it checked out before attempting a 4 hour drive home?" She decided that in that case maybe it wouldn't be wise to leave it til we got home. So we were able to get a local Honda place to check the code for us. Of course it was something unrelated and not serious so we threw another $86 into the Honda fund! We also made it home without incident so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

Christmas II

After the morning of events at our house, we had our Belgian waffle lunch (mmmm, strawberries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream toppings!) and then got ready for our next Christmas at my parents' place!

After eating, I made the kids all go in separate rooms with the blinds drawn and lay down to rest. That early start could have meant disaster later! They were sure they didn't need one but somehow decided to humour me. They all fell asleep and I let them stay in bed til I finished cleaning the kitchen so they had a good half hour or so.

We arrived wearing our Christmas headgear which my brother always loves to see! "are they wearing those stupid hats AGAIN?!?!??!" haha! Making Uncle Dale proud at least 10 years in a row now I think! What's not to like about a super cool hat like this?!??!? Once we'd gotten through being spoiled with gifts there, we were treated to a yummy turkey dinner! I loooooooooooooove turkey dinner!!!!!!!!! and mashed potatoes annnnnnnd gravy annnnnnnnd ok you get the idea. But it was soooooooooo gooooooood!!! and dessert..... ahhhhh! delicious!

We were pretty tired out by the end of the day but we definitely had a great Christmas (except maybe that business about the banana which we'll just block out for now...)

Banana Christmas

The kids were determined to get an early start on Christmas this year. As they went to bed, they repeatedly asked "how EARLY can we get up!?!?!" Knowing that they have never woken before 7am on Christmas in their lives and that most years we've had to wake THEM up, Murray felt safe telling them they couldn't wake us up before 5. I wasn't quite as confident on them sleeping in but was quite sure we wouldn't be seeing them at 5!

I shouldn't have doubted them! I woke up to use the facilities between 2 & 3am and found Lovey & Sweetie playing on their iPods in the living room. I told them to get back to bed! They were surprised that it wasn't as close to morning as they'd thought. They figured it would be light out pretty soon. I fell back asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow until......

brrrrrrrrttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!! brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttt! Ahhhhh the 5am whistle start for Christmas. A lovely new tradition that I will ensure never repeats itself by hiding this whistle next December!!!!!!!

As is our custom, everyone ran down to grab their stocking and check it out. Santa had also left each of them a box of junky cereal that they love but only get twice a year (Christmas & birthday). They raced back upstairs with their stash of Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp and Cocoa Puffs (actually they're called Nestlé Quik or something now but I'm too old to change haha!) and belted down  a bowl each and moved on to the fruit round, where things came to a screeching/grinding halt. Sweetie & Honey chose grapes, they can be washed quickly and they don't hate them so they're quickly consumed.

Lovey chose an alternate and unfortunate path. The banana. She is ridiculously fussy about the state of ripeness of her bananas in the first place. They can't be eaten on the day they're bought. She won't even look at one if it came home from the store that day. They can't have ANY green on them whatsoever. They must be very yellow but not squishy at all. They must have brown spots on them, buuuuuuuut not toooooooooo many and again, the banana must retain some firmness to be an acceptable candidate into the Lovey Breakfast Program. (all of which is enough to push me over the edge on a regular day!)

She managed to find one that met all her criteria. The problem is that at 9½ years of age, the girl still doesn't know how to sit in a chair at the table. While sitting side saddle and goofing around, she managed to drop her banana on the floor. No big deal, it being Christmas and all, I actually swept and mopped in the not too distant past. Five second rule and we're good to..... not so fast.

*insert wailing indignation here*
Lovey: "I can't eat this banana."
Me: are you kidding me? get that into you!
Lovey: No!!!!!!!!!! I won't. I can't. I'm not eating it!
Murray: you're not going to open any presents until you eat that
Lovey: I caaaaaaaaaaaaaan't! Nooooooooooooo!
Me: (after peeking at the offending item, seeing NOTHING wrong with it) just rinse it off then if you're worried about it.
Lovey: eww! then it'll be all gross and slimey!
Me: well if there's anything on it, just scrape it off and move on.
Lovey: (real tears flowing) I cannnnnnnnnnnnnnn't eat THAT!!!!!!!
Me: your call. We're going to go downstairs once I've cleared the dishes.
Lovey: (screaming and crying now) NOOOOOOOOOO! I'm not eating it. Give me something else!!!!
Me: (the not so patient one who has dealt with way too many of her tirades and demands and manipulations lately and who was woken up at 5am with a whistle blast!) No, we're not wasting that banana because you're being unreasonable. (I take the banana and rinse it, figuring she's probably got at least another 20 minutes of fight left in her which should be sufficient time for the banana to air dry if I pat it with a paper towel first, might as well get this show on the road)
Lovey: (five alarm freak out mode) NOOOOOOOOO! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?!?!? IT'S RUINED. I'm NOT eating that banana! Ewwwww! Yuck! IT'S GROSS. I won't eat it, I cannnnnnnnnnnnnn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents exit stage left and head downstairs...



We told Honey & Sweetie to start opening their gifts over the wailing protests coming from upstairs. After a couple of presents I go up and tell her she can bring her banana downstairs and join us while we open gifts only if she is quiet. She then comes downstairs. Somehow while she's sitting on the couch, she manages to drop the banana a couple more times and again starts with the "I can't...". We ignore her and Sweetie and Honey are through most of their gifts now and are waiting on her to open the gifts for all 3 of them. Finally, she decides she wants in on this Christmas deal after all and the banana is gone in less than a minute. The battle of wills is over and Christmas is on. Once she began, it was like nothing had ever happened. Her gears change fast!




Yes, bananas are just about the cheapest fruit. Yes, it was Christmas Day. Yes, there was other fruit in the house. Yes, we did hold her presents hostage. Admittedly, it was rather awful having such a wild scene on Christmas morning. However, it wasn't really the fruit that was the problem, it's the attitude that has been an issue too many times lately and we weren't willing to overlook any more of it. The stubbornness is out of control! And besides, we'll have the Banana Christmas to remember long after th e popcorn maker is broken and they've outgrown those rainbow looms!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Christmas Eve was a little hectic, lots of last minute things to prep and outfits to get ready and all that jazz. Lovey practiced her violin song, got her 5 with no trouble and we were set to eat dinner with Grammie & Grandad and go to church. Easy peasy right?

Somehow, we got behind and in a rush to get the van out of the garage and watch for Honey in the driveway at the same time, Murray got the driver's side mirror a little too close to the garage doorway and the whole thing ripped off the door! Plan B, clear off the other vehicles, we're going to need to go in 2 separate cars and there's no time to spare! Always an adventure at our house, no matter the occasion!

Getting everyone rounded up into the cars is a feat that would make a lion tamer cringe! But we did it and got there with a few minutes to spare but no extra practice time for Lovey. No matter, she did a beautiful job on Holly Jolly Christmas and everyone loved it. The service was wonderful and I love looking around and seeing all the seats filled and the sanctuary all dark except for the glow from the candles in everyone's hand. Silent Night is by far one of the most beautiful things to behold and it makes me all teary eyed every year!

After we got home and Grammie & Grandad were on their way, it was pj and story time! As usual Murray read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. As usual, they all started giggling when they heard "threw up" in the story (and he threw up the sash). It cracks them up every year and they gag and make their barf faces as they picture someone throwing up a sash, which then leads into the question 'what IS a sash anyway" and we digress until Murray gets the train back on the tracks. For the big finale, he read the story of Jesus' birth in the bible and then it was time to tuck them in! Whew!

Once they were safely asleep, I filled the stockings and prepared the batter for the waffles so I wouldn't have to do it Christmas morning and finally it was time get on our kerchief and cap and settle down for a long winter's nap! (ha! see next installment to see how that went!)

trying on my glasses for fun. It probably won't be long til they have their own unless they win the random genetics lottery and get Uncle Andrew or Grandad's perfect vision!