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.

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!

Bye bye Bank!

 Mumma had 22 years in with CIBC and recently decided to call it quits and retire! In recognition of her long time there, her branch declared her last day "Diane Day" and invited the community in to wish her well and say goodbye. They covertly contacted me and asked if she'd like an iPad mini as a retirement gift. My immediate thought was "well who WOULDN'T want an iAnything?!?!?" but then I wasn't sure. I checked with Dad and he thought she'd rather just stick with the new laptop he's getting her for Christmas (no worries, she's onto his plans already, I'm not ruining Christmas here, relax :))

So I tried fishing while chatting with her on facebook one night. I asked if they'd be getting her a gold watch but she just laughed and said she didn't think so. Then I suggested she tell them she needed an iPod so she could Facetime with the kids. I thought that might trigger a "oh I'd love to do that!" or maybe a " ha ha I WISH!" but nope. She didn't have much comment on iStuff. They wanted it to be a surprise so I couldn't just come right out and ask but her manager eventually gave up and just checked with her. She thought it was a great idea!

With Black Friday sales I was able to get her a deal with the gift card they bought her. I believe she has opened the box but hasn't gotten far with the set up yet. The kids will have to train her over vacation probably!

 

Can't you just see Mum & Dad all cozied up with their new shared love of quilting??? I'm not exactly sure what she's going to do with her extra free time, but I somehow it involves my dad and blocks of fabric!

On her very last day, they had cake and punch for the well wishers so we left school early (once in a lifetime occasion warrants an exception) and zipped up the highway to surprise her and bring flowers. She hadn't expected us at all so she was shocked when we walked in! Once she was done with meeting and greeting, we went out for supper to celebrate!

Party at Old Nanny's!

Since we inconveniently had their birthday fall on Bridge night, Old Nanny couldn't make it to the party. I think my mother was more disappointed than the kids as she loves seeing Old Nanny's party attire!

Old Nanny threw her own party at her place the next day instead and served up lunch and dessert that I thought was great but some people had a hard time getting down. Surprisingly, it was Lovey who ate the most of the mini beef buns and asked for one to take for her lunch at school the next day! Regardless of what's served, it's done with style and they love sitting at her lunch counter!

A snocone maker is awesome to have in this hot weather! Mmmmm! Sweet, flavourful ice to beat the summer heat! Thank you for all the spoiling Old Nanny! (oh and the free babysitting so I could run to pick up fish for our supper was a nice bonus too! not sure who's more spoiled, me or those girls!!!)

Happy 9th Birthday Girlies!

After all the anticipation, THE day finally arrived! Lovey had asked me a couple weeks prior: "Mom? do you think this year we could take cupcakes to school on our birthday like the other kids???"

A simple question but man, I wasn't looking for any more jobs that week!!! But on the other hand, it's not their fault they're triplets, if it was one kid, I'd totally send cupcakes on their birthday. I'm always trying to avoid any "injustices" of being a multiple sooooooo one late night of baking & icing won't kill me. Plus, as long as I do it once, they can't say they "never" got to do it right?

So after the pizza supper, prom visit, ear piercing, DQ treats and bedtime shenanigans, I fired up the oven and cranked out 4 dozen cupcakes, let them cool, got them frosted and packed up and went to bed. Since it had been a late evening after the mall trip, I let them sleep in and drove them to school so I could deliver the cupcakes unscathed (48 cupcakes on a bus=disaster). 

The kids got home from school and Grammie & Grandad were here to kick off the celebrations! Shirley was also able to make it to the birthday dinner so we had a quiet meal! Or as quiet as it gets in this place anyway! We had lots of favourites for supper, herb & tomato grilled chicken, Caesar salad, TGIFriday's Potato Skins, potato salad and everyone ate their fill. It was hard work getting that cake in afterwards but we did it!

Present time came up next and they were thrilled with all the gifts! Since we'd just put in the pool, we didn't add much to the pile and kept it simple. Between the grandparents and friends from the birthday party, there were still plenty of gifts around here! They're well loved!!! However, once a year for their birthday, I get them junky cereal and wrap it up. Needless to say it doesn't last long!

Bring on the Bling!

Right after we'd finished our pizza supper with Nanny & Grampy, we headed to the mall for "dessert". Or so we told the girls. When we got inside, we went directly to Claire's and announced that anyone who was ready to pierce their ears could have it done that night. Lovey was all for it! Honey was fairly keen and Sweetie was in a dither of indecision.

They browsed the selections, of course finding the $64 pairs the most appealing. Considering these are starter earrings that are discarded as soon as they're allowed to change them, we opted for a different category!

Since Lovey was the most keen, she went first and was so excited that she didn't really worry too much about it hurting.  Her face as the earring went through was priceless. I really couldn't remember what it  had felt like but didn't remember it hurting either so told them it was just a quick pinch. Lovey was surprised when it hurt more than she'd expected! Her eyes bugged out but it was over so fast she didn't have time to get upset. Once she got some cleaner put on, it was soothed anyway and she went straight on to the second ear and was done in no time. Sweetie observed quietly and determined that although it had obviously hurt, it didn't see to be tooooo bad...

Honey braved it next and the first one went quickly but she felt it hurt quite a bit and gasped and started to cry. Sweetie didn't like the looks of that ONE bit and quickly stated she was NOT having that done! Honey's ear got cleaned and then she was fine and willing to proceed with the second side.

Then Sweetie's big dilemma.... she hemmed and hawed. She asked the employee if THEY thought she should do it, but based 400 piercings and tattoos SHE had, I quickly interjected that she was not an impartial subject!

The temptation was HUGE but not as big as the fear. She was hoping we'd just sit her down and make her do it so it wouldn't be up to her to decide (aka she'd have someone to rail at if it went horribly awry). We just kept telling her it was her decision. In the end she couldn't bring herself to go through with it and we went for ice cream instead. As we ate our DQ blizzards, she thought she might be ready but we weren't willing to go back in and bother the poor clerk again! We told her that when she was really sure, we would take her one more time and that would be the final opportunity with us. Neither of us wants to make weekly visits to the shop for her to fret and fuss over whether to do it or not! Of course, that night while tucking them in, she grumbled that she wished she'd gotten in done, or that we'd forced her to!

It's been over a couple weeks now and she's still not asking to go back but really wishes hers were done so it's probably not far off for Sweetie!

Choices, choices, choices!

The anticipation!!!

Love this shot, as they debate the "to pierce, or not to pierce??? situation.

Ready, aim, fire!

Done deal!

The final results!

Party On!

As with most years, you just can't have too many parties! Murray's parents came to visit on birthday eve and brought a few little things with them that were rapidly ripped open and oohed and aahed over appropriately. They loved their new outfits and twirled around in appreciation of the new duds! They hadn't expected you to make it when they heard about Nancy's friend passing away so they were so happy to see you when they got off the bus. Thanks for making the trip in a busy week!

Birthday Boy!

Another year down and lots more to go! Murray's birthday was on the weekend and his parents came to spend it with him. The girls had a great time preparing for their arrival and turned the house into a hotel! There were signs all over "Welcome to the hotel"  "Hotel Information", a check in desk, room numbers, do not disturb signs, room keys, the whole works. It was very serious business getting it all done. You should have seen housekeeping turning the guest suite from a hockey storage locker into deluxe accommodations. I should tell them we're having guests every weekend!


Friday night was pretty low key and we just stayed home but Saturday there was gymnastics and a violin rehearsal and Rick & I went to check out home building projects at a local event. Saturday evening we got treated to dinner out and Murray got his favourite salmon dinner! We came home afterwards for birthday cake and it was yummy! Once dessert was out of the way it was time to get the popcorn for family movie night. We watched Doggie B. or rather we suffered through Doggie B. Guess who's turn it was to pick? Yep. Lovey. I can't remember the last time we saw a non dog movie on her night. It's getting to be pretty slim pickings! It was the longest drawn out boring story I've seen in a long time. It was so lame at times that I thought for sure even the girls would be complaining but nope, they thought it was great! Well except for the part when the little dog did the triple aerial somersault, that might not have been totally authentic but everything else was great!

The next morning we got everyone cleaned up for church while the hotel guests were left to fend for themselves. (this might have negatively affected housekeeping's tip haha!) We managed to arrive with a couple minutes to spare and found the whole congregation assembled in the hall instead of the sanctuary which threw us off! I thought we'd somehow missed an announcement and were late for service or something. It turned out the boiler wasn't working properly and the sanctuary was too cold. Whew!

After worship, Lovey, Sweetie and I ran around picking up the last of Murray's gifts and got back just in time to grab some lunch before Lovey had to head off to her recital. Honey, Sweetie and I stayed home to prep for the birthday dinner while the others went to the concert.

We tried out our new beer butt chicken roaster. (official name unknown, just go with it) The bbq needed some parts replaced so Murray got those taken care of and we fired it up and roasted that bird to perfection. Ok so I stayed inside toasty warm while Murray worked the grill but I did the seasoning and assembly!

Murray's parents had to get back home for their next birthday celebration so the kids gave them a big sendoff, chasing their truck down the street and hollering and waving. Nothing says love like that does it??? Just as they lost sight of the truck, Grammie & Grandad came along and they hitched a ride back to the house. Perfect timing!

Lots of celebrating & lots of fun with family!

Our latest hair creation, the princess crown of hair!

Happy Easter

Easter was off to a fairly early start! (unless you ask my parents, who were forced out of bed at 3, 4 or 5 am on holidays involving chocolate and or presents- Mum, Dad? Kelly of present day would sincerely like to apologize for Kelly of the past's inability to let you get a full night's sleep on those occasions) Ok so back to my story!

The girls woke up at 6am, wondering if it was time to start yet. Normally that would be half decent. Unfortunately I stayed up late didn't finish Easter Bunny duty til after 1am. At that time, I secured the puppy in his kennel so that he didn't go all hari kari on the loot and OD. Responsible pet owner right??? yes! BUT for some reason, he had trouble sleeping in there and kept breaking into these panting marathons which were VERY loud!!! I took him to the kitchen to get a drink fighting all his lurching instincts to go after those foil eggs! I got him back in his kennel and slipped back into that sweet slumbering state only to be woken up less than an hour later by the same thing. I decided to close our doors and let him out, more freedom but still no chocolate access annnnnnnnnd then dozed back off. No dice. He's still having trouble and every time I went to the bathroom he followed me and flopped down on the cold tile and slept. I couldn't leave him there, the girls might get up in the night & I wouldn't hear them and they wouldn't be alert enough to worry about the candy. I had the brainstorm to lock the bathroom door to the hallway so the kids couldn't release the hound that way and went back to my room through the cheater door. I had to explain the plan to Murray in his deep sleep, cough med hazy state but he sortof got the gist of it. Success! by 3 or so, the problem was solved but I wasn't feel any Easter cheer 3 hours later so I convinced them to hold off til 6:30 because those two fifteen minute segments (time check from Sweetie at 6:15 made a world of difference!

They raced out to the living room to assess the situation and devise their plan of attack! No they didn't! they were oohing and ahhhing and running amok until I reminded them to get their baskets from the kitchen to collect the goods. The hunt didn't take long, there aren't really many good spots and with 3 sets of eyes & hands working together, what one misses, the other 2 are bound to notice. They were pretty happy with it though and then went in to make sure there was a fair split of the merchandise.

The highlight was watching them look at their stuff. When Lovey realized there was a 3rd book in the series she was reading that she hadn't even heard of yet, that was mum gold right there and totally getting up for. Murray couldn't figure out why I got up with them instead of sleeping like him but I couldn't miss those expressions of surprise & delight and all the excitement. The rest of the day I paid for those moments but it was completely worth it! I told him he wasn't invested enough! After the time & effort to run around preparing for Easter morning, I'm not getting ripped off by missing out on that!