Christmas

While most people currently are focusing on back to school and upcoming busy schedule, my mind is starting to focus on Christmas.

I love Christmas.

I always have.  Growing up we had great traditions which involved going to church, a visit from Santa, a midnight lunch, and presents, all on Christmas Eve.  It was the same every year and I knew exactly what to expect and I loved it!

As I have gotten older and traditions change, not to mention adding 2 kids to the mix, Christmas is still something I look forward to by I know that Christmas also brings lots of stress.  So my way of enjoying Christmas is to get all my present buying out of the way by Nov 30 at which point we put the tree up and put all the presents under it.  By doing this, I get to spend the month of December sitting by the xmas tree drinking wine or baileys and hot chocolate instead of rushing around to the busy and overpriced mall.

So starting about this time of year, I sit down and make a list of all the people I buy for and jot down any ideas of what they may like.  Up until Cooper was born, November would be my big shopping month for Christmas, but with Cooper's birthday being in November, now I am trying to start even earlier so that I have time to take a break to prepare for Cooper's birthday party.

At this point I have already bought 5 gifts.  I bought some great Mcqueen swimsuits for the boys at Walmart for $7 each and a matching swim shirt (non-McQueen for $5).  One of the benefits of shopping early is that you can sale shop.  I wasn't setting out to buy the swimsuits, but when I came upon them, I couldn't pass them up!  And with that, the Xmas shopping seal was broken.

Just a few days ago I stumbled upon a great deal online and bought 3 of the same item for Cooper and my 2 nieces.  I bet you are curious now aren't you?  I'd love to post the details but brother and sister in law read the blog......

So buy having these gifts early, I get to shop (which I love), and spend money that I had to spend anyway which I am thinking somehow saves me money in the long run!

I must admit that by shopping for others, I always end up with something for myself as well.  So in the end, I am not that sure how far ahead I am....

You're Gonna Miss This

Do you even have those days when you feel like your life is spinning out of control and you feel overwhelmed?  I do.   I have those moments almost daily actually.  I look at the to do list, the condition of my house and yard and wonder if it is possible to get it all done.  I have many bad moments with the kids where I wish I could just be by myself and enjoy some peace and quiet.  In the moment, I think I want to go back to university, or life before responsibility and be care free. But is that what I really want?  Not at all.

I remember growing up and I wanted to be was a mom from the time I was old enough to play with dolls.  I wanted to get married and have kids so bad it hurt.  All my friends were in relaitionships and I was so worried that it was never going to happen for me.   James was my first real boyfriend and I met him when I was 22.  So I essentialy spent from ages 16 to 22 wondering if I would ever meet someone and get to be a wife and mom.  The wait was worth it.

As much as I love having 2 little munchkins to love and take care of, it is a lot harder than I expected it to be.  They always say that nothing can prepare you for parenthood and I don't think anything really can.  For the most part, we take it one day at a time, often questioning each decision we make and whether it is the best thing for our child.  Being a mom is so rewarding but yet so challenging.  I always thought I was a patient and kind person, but having 2 boys pulling at you all day and demanding this that and other things with no please or thank you and your patience is tested.  Many times a day actually.  After a bad moment I often thing about the lyrics to this song by Trace Adkins and they touch my heart every time.

But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Trace Adkins

I think the lyrics of this song are so true and a good reminder that these are the best days of our lives really and that I need to remember that each and every day and cherish these moments.

Right now I find it hard that Cooper wants to be held all the time.  Someday he won't want me to hold him at all.

Right now bedtime takes ages because Grady wants me to read him 'just one more story'.  Someday he won't want me in his room.

Right now I never get any time alone.  Someday, both kids will move out and I'll be alone all the time.

As challenging as these days can be, they are good ones.  And like the song says, I am going to miss these moments more than I think I can imagine right now.

Let this be a reminder to us all to give our kids an extra big hug tonight or read them that extra book as our tiny little people will not be tiny forever.

Registration

Tonight, I registered the kids for swimming.  One would think it was an easy activity causing little stress.  Wrong.  It is one of the most stressful things I do for the kids all year. One would think we were registering for the Olympics and not preschool swimming (well put Stacey!).

Last year, I'm sure my Mom remembers me sitting at her kitchen table with the lap top swearing and almost in tears as I tried to register my 3 year old for swimming.  In the end it took me just about an hour to register him as my computer would freeze up and I would have to decide whether to wait or try again where it may take me 30 minutes to get through again.

Tonight was no different.  At 9pm, non members of the pool where we like to take lessons, registration opened to non-members.  The pool is also a gym and members get to register 2 weeks before the public.  Before I could even register, the class I wanted was already wait listed.  Boo.

I have this registration thing down to a tee.  I make out a list of classes and then order them by my preference of time and date.  I write down the code beside as this makes registration easier.  This year was complicated by Cooper and his classes.  I only wanted cooper in swimming if it could be at the same time as cooper, otherwise I will just swim with him separately. I just go down the list hoping and praying I get into one.  So I had a process that I thought would work.  It would have if I could have gotten through.....

About 45 minutes before registration opened I logged in to make sure my account was working and set a timer for 30 minutes so I could log in right before it opened. I actually set the timer.  I was watching big brother and didn't want to forget.

The timer went off and I tried to log in only to find out that there were already to many users on the site BEFORE it even started.  I wasn't panicing until this moment.  Grady only wanted to take swimming lessons. He talks about it all time and asks when it will be starting again.  What was I going to do if I didn't get him in?

After about 15 minutes of refreshing the computer I got into the registration system.  I managed to get my third choice for Grady and Cooper will not get lessons this go around.  My time is 5pm.  Great - now I get to lave work early every Wednesday for 7 weeks.  It is so frustrating.

Thankfully for the second session I got my first choice and Cooper will get to swim.  But seriously, why does it have to be so hard?  Why can't they just upgrade their system to accommodate that number of users.  If all their classes are full - I'm sure they can afford it.

I hate that I have to waste my precious time (when the kids are sleeping) stressing about something so silly.

As frustrated as I am, I am happy that I don't have to do this until December when I am sure the same thing will happen all over again.

I sure hope Grady appreciates what his Mommy does for him!

Updated:  After further thought, I realized that Grady's first set of lessons was on Wednesday, the same day that nan takes him to Gymnastic.  Since school, Gym and Swimming was too much for one day, I pulled him from swimming.  It really makes me sad that I have to remove him from something that he loves, but on the bright side, we plan to make it a family date every (or every other) Saturday afternoon activity followed by a pizza party. Gotta put a positive spin on it.

I realized that this was the first time that I had attempted to register for evening/weekend classes and apparently those fill up fast.  As much as I hated doing swimming on my day off, maybe that is what I will have to do to make sure we get in.

I was up until 11:30 last night trying to look for another pool with an evening opening and I couldn't find a single one.  All other pools had registration in June.  I went to bed frustrated, and to be honest, I woke up frustrated to.  Why does this whole registration process have to be so hard?  If the demand is that high, we obviously don't have enough pools.

With that being said, Grady will be thrilled to start lessons in November and this mama has learned a few lessons.

1.  Log in to you account 15 minutes before registration begins.
2.  Have more than 3 options picked out - they fill up quickly.
3.  Make sure you know the child's schedule - not just your own.

Better luck next time I guess :(

My 'lil brother got hitched!

 

This past weekend in sunny Chitek Lake, SK, my little brother James (yes his name is James and I try not to use it to much on the blog as it can get confusing) married his now wife Chantelle!

I couldn't be happier for them!

First of all, I love Chantelle to bits.   She watches all the same trashy shows as me and keeps my brother in line for the most part.  Second of all, there was a time I wasn't sure my brother was ever going to settle down and get married.  Maybe what they say about finding the right person is true.  When you find it, you hold on to it.  My brother was excited to get married and it showed on his face all weekend.

It was a great weekend!  I had fun, the kids had fun, and we got to spend lots of time with my 3 precious nieces.  Especially since there were 10 of us staying in a 3 bedroom trailer. Yes, I said trailer.  More on that later

So I figured with so much info to cover I would just randomly post some of my favorite memories of the weekend that my only brother got married.

First and most importantly, the bride was stunning.

 

You were pretty studly to James.

For me the best part of the wedding is when the bride comes down the aisle and all the anticipation of her meeting her groom at the front.  I especially love watching the look on the groom's face as he watches his bride approach.  I remember the summer we got married we were the last of 5 weddings that summer.  I would tear up at each wedding in anticipation of what that moment would be like for me.  It did not disappoint.

However, at this wedding I did not get to see my favorite part of the wedding as my kids were being little terrors. You see, the were supposed to be in the wedding. All the nieces and nephews and their own children had a role in the wedding. The boys certainly looked the part.....

 

... but they didn't act the part.

When Cooper was asked to get in the wagon he screamed 'No'.  I think they asked again and he freaked out.  James and my Mom were in the back with the kids and I stayed at the front hoping they would walk to me in the front.  Fail.  Cooper ripped his tie off and started screaming so hard that he had to be removed from the wedding area.  But, with my Mom holding Grady's hand, he managed to make it down the aisle looking terrified.

 

Grady made it to the front and I was so proud of him but as i turned to get screaming Cooper who needed to be taken care of since the bride was about to walk down the aisle and he was still crying.  I bolted to the house holding a screaming child.  As I bolted, Grady started crying. Now both kids are in tears and making a commotion, as the bride is about to walk down the aisle.   James grabbed Grady and dashed to the house behind me.  We made it in to the house and I managed to miss my favorite part of the wedding.  James insisted I go watch the rest of the wedding, which I did.  It was such a nice ceremony performed by one of the groomsman's Mom.  Short and sweet to, which is a bonus when it is so hot you have sweat leaking down your body and your kids are screaming inside!

With all the commotion, we didn't even get a family picture all day. 

More randoms items you ask?

Chitek Lake was beautiful.  It was such a big lake and hardly anyone on it.  I remember going to emma lake as a kid and there were always lots of boats, windsurfers, and paddle boaters sharing the water.  At Chitek I never saw more than 3 boats on the entire lake at one time. 

I love how there is one general store and it has a little bit of everything.  Our 'vacation trailor' was right next door to the general store and we went there once a day at least.  For anything from movies, to chips, to a corkscrew, fireworks - they had it all!  Including pop rocks, that candy that pops in your mouth as you eat.  I loved it as a kid but I'm not sure my kids were so fond of it.  The ring pops were a hit with boys though!

While at the lake, we celebrated my hubby's birthday.  And sticking with our new tradition, we brought along the birthday hat.

 

Back to our vacation trailer.... The place we were supposed to stay for the weekend wasn't available on Thursday night so instead of staying in a 2 different places for the weekend we took a look at the trailer and figured it would do. It was long and narrow... obviously.... with 3 bedrooms at the back and the living area in the front. It sounds great until you factor in that we had no air conditioning and 10 people staying in it. We had 3 people in each room and a blow up couch in the living area. I cannot even explain to you how hot it was. It was often cooler to sit at the picnic table outside then to sit indoors, It didn't help that my mom had the slow cooker or the oven running during the day!

The weekend weather was beautiful.  Hot and sunny the whole time we were gone.  I am thinking my family has weather extremes for wedding days. I got extreme rain, and my brother got extreme heat.  I'm thinking he was lucky, especially since his wedding was outdoors!

Because it was so hot we spent a lot of time at the playground about 6 houses down.  The playground was right on the beach.  Every time we ventured to the playground Grady insisted on going in the water.  Then Cooper insisted on copying his brother.

Grady went in the water even if we didn't bring his swimsuit.  We just tucked his swimsuit in this underwear and let him run wild.  The beach had 3 floating docks and one shallow enough that Grady could get to it on his own.  Not to mention there were lots of minnows that were swimming around his feet.  This kid loves the water more and more every day!

Cooper learned to say 'cheeeeeeese' for pictures.  And yes, this is how it looks.

With 10 people and one bathroom, we were bound to have some issues.  One time when Grady had to pee when someone was showering he peed on the tire of Grandpa's truck, just like boomer does.  He was so excited about it,  I sure hope grandpa washed his truck when he got home!

Some of the more x-rated randoms...

After the rehearsal supper we headed to where James (brother) and the groomsmen were staying.  My brother was in fine form and had had a few (too many) drinks.  When he drinks he becomes a star performer.  I don't see that side of him anymore and it brought back so many memories of being a teenager with him.  My favorite was when he got up at the camp fire and danced to Baby Got Back.  He loved that song growing up and i loved that they played it the day before his wedding.  Although his moves have gotten a little more risque.

With that being said many of the moves involved taking your 'tarp' off.  I have never heard this saying before that night and apparently it means shirt.  James removed his shirt several times that night and had it flinging around in the air.  They tried to convince my Dad to take his shirt off but he wouldn't.  If you know my Dad, you also know that shirts are optional most of the time. 

Speaking of which, My dad was 'tarpless' at the rehearsal because James was in his golf attire consisting of cutoff shorts and a wife beater chosen by his groomsmen.  He obviously couldn't wear that to the rehearsal so he borrowed my Dad's shirt and Devon's (Kolby's boyfriend) pants.  When we pulled up to the rehearsal and Grady say my Dad he asked 'why is Grandpa Horn naked?'  Good for a laugh!

Moving along to the reception....  now those chitek lake folk know how to throw a party!   I have never been to a wedding reception where the dance floor was full the entire time.  They all dance.  Some dance well... others not so much.  I declared that Kolby, Blaire and I were non-dancers and not to bug us.  Well, a few drinks later and we were all up on the dance floor having a great time.

I learned that Devon loves to dance and if you are willing, he will dance every single song.  Once I loosened up with Kolby's wine glass that was constantly being filled, we danced lots and it was so much fun!  Since I don't have any pictures of the reception as my memory card filled up, I'll leave you with this one of me and my 2 sister's before the wine started to flow....

 



I can't remember the last time I was out until 2:30am.  Seriously, it may be before I had was pregnant with Grady 5 years ago.  So worth it.

We weren't the only one's having a blast at the reception.  At one point, we turned around and James and my Dad were both dancing 'tarpless' on the dance floor!

Not to mention that Joel (Blaire's boyfriend) also took his 'tarp' off while working the bar!  Apparently it was a 'tarpless' party in honor of my brother.

The party apparently went until 4am and I even heard that there was slip and slide for the bridal party after they shut it down.  I still haven't figured out if that is true but it is I need to find out why I wasn't invited!

All in all, it was a great weekend and I was so proud of my brother.  He chose a great person to spend his life with and I am so happy to have chantelle as part of the family.

I was sad to see the wedding weekend come to an end but I was a little less sadder knowing that  I still have 2 sister to get hitched and I expect their weddings to be just as much fun!

Congratulations James and Chantelle!!

Random

It has been one of those weeks. One where we are busy and when the kids go to bed I sit on the couch with my glass of wine and watch trashy TV. Not a bad week per se, but a week where blogging in low on the totem pole! In the mean time I wanted to tell you about our pet rabbit.

Stretched out and loving life

Here he is stretched out in our backyard where we find him almost every day after work. Bunny has gotten quite used to us and isn't afraid to hide out in his 'house' under our crab apple tree while we are playing in the back yard.  The only time he moves is if someone throw something at the tree and he high tails it out of the yard very fast!

Grady asked for me to take this picture.  

The kids are getting used to having him around and enjoy watching him out the window and follow him around the yard until bunny gets annoyed and leaves the yard.  But the next day, he is always back.

Some people don't like jack rabbits but I happen to love them.  I think the biggest strike against them is they like to eat flowers.  Since we only have weeds in our yard he can eat whatever he wants and no one cares :)

I decided it was time to name our bunny.  James suggested Peter the Rabbit, Grady suggested Grady the Rabbit.  We asked the girl next door and she suggested Hopper and Joey.  I liked Hopper and thought it was a keeper.  Grady exclaimed his name was Birthday Cake.  

For the time being... Birthday Cake it is!

Before and After

In anticipation of 'wedding weekend' the boys needed haircuts. They needed haircuts weeks ago but I insisted we hold out so that the boys would have freshly cut hair for their ring bearing duties at uncle James and aunty Chantelle's wedding.

Grady was first.  James likes to spike it with water before he starts to make the cutting process easier I guess.  I took one look at Grady below and thought maybe we shouldn't cut it.  We could style it with gel and he would look super cute.  I was outvoted.  And the clippers came out.

I'm sexy and I know it!

Here is the after shot while Grady eats his chocolate reward.  

The truth be told, he always gets a chocolate after but this time he actually deserved it!  He was a superstar throught he entire cut and even pointed out that he wasn't crying.  Maybe he'll be able to go back to Beaners for haircuts soon. I'm not sure James loves cutting it.

Cooper's cut was next up.  Cooper's hair very badly needed a cut.  Grady's hair started to go flat, but Cooper's hair stood straight up showing it extra length.

Cooper's cut didn't go so well.  He did not like it.  He hated it.  He cried through the whole thing.  Since our neighbors were drying to eat their supper outside we brought the kids in and continued Cooper's cut in the tub.  The final product was not to shabby.

The boys are all set for the big event.  Now we just wait for the weekend!

Nap time

Sometimes when Cooper has his long afternoon naps, he misses out on some fun times in the backyard.  Yesterday we attached the slip and slide to the bottom of the slide and it was a hit.  I'll let the pictures say the rest.

I We  just can't get enough of this summer weather!

Birthday Gift

 

This year I got a crock pot for my birthday.  I was so excited as I have never had or used one.  I had no interest in one until recently.  I found this recipe on pinterest that I absolutely love.  You are supposed to make it with a slow cooker but since I didn't have one I would make it on my day off and cook it on low.  I figure now, with being back at work and having 2 kids that tug on my shirt from the moment I walk in the door and try to cook dinner, was the perfect time to get one.

Upon receiving the crock pot I started googling recipes.  I had a few criteria.  First, it must require no pre-cooking.  Second, it had to be a very easy recipe where I know all the ingredients.  And finally I wanted only beef or chicken recipes.  I found out after research that I needed to cook the ground beef before putting it into the slow cooker, but at least that was easy.  My whole thing was that that slow cooker was supposed to make my life easier - not complicate it.  So I really stuck with the criteria and found some great new recipes to try.

James may disagree.  Years ago I had new recipe Fridays.  Every week I would try a new recipe and every one we hated.  We didn't add one new recipe to our list of meal we make regularly so we ditched it after a few months.  

This time is going to be different.  I can tell.

The first recipe I decided to try was a roast.  I have never cooked a roast.  Ever.  My mom uses her slow cooker to do roast and puts it on a bun and uses the au jus for dipping.  We like beef dips.  We now have a slow cooker.  Beef dips it is!

Call me crazy, but my first time I couldn't just leave it unattended for 10 hours.  So on Monday of the long weekend I pulled out the crock pot and my roast and turned it on at 7am just like a working day.  I also found the recipe on pinterest.  (I hope the link works for you) What did I do before pinterest??

It is the easiest recipe ever.

1 pkg of brown gravy
1 pkg of ranch dressing
1 pkg of Italian dressing
1 beef roast

Mix the packages with 1 cup of water and pour over roast.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Took me less than 5 minutes to prepare and met all my criteria.  At the end of the day the house smelt great and we were ready to eat!

James tried it first and loved it.  I am not known as a great cook so it felt fantastic that I had hit the jack pot on the first new slow cooker recipe!

I put the buns with cheese in the oven to warm them up and then put the beef on and served with broccoli and cauliflower.

Can't wait to try the next recipe next week!

Weekend.

This weekend was a low key one around here.

The weather was great, the kids were healthy, but we I had things to do.  Yes, we did do some fun things.....  We went to Calaway on Friday afternoon after Cooper's nap, which I haven't decided yet if it was fun or not.  Grady had a major meltdown as we were leaving and even told us the next day he didn't want to go to Calaway again.  

We went to the 'big park' where Cooper insisted on doing everything himself.  Both kids love the park and I love the amount of energy they burn.  For a sunny Saturday morning I think there were only 6 kids there.  It was nice to not have to chase the kids or panic because you thought you lost them.  

We had a play date in our back yard in the pool, of course.   We are getting lots of use out of the pool considering we can only used it on the weekend.  I'm thrilled that the kids are loving the water and it gets to me more and more each day!

Speaking of water, we took the kids to the spray park one morning.  It was pretty quiet when we first arrived but slammed with kids and parents when we were leaving at 11:30am.  We brought lots of pails and trucks to fill up and push around and I would say the kids had a great time.  Grady even ran through a tunnel spraying water which is a huge improvement over last year.  Success overall!

Although we spent time doing fun things, I had a purpose this weekend.

My brother is marrying my future sister-in-law in under 2 weeks.  2 weeks.  I am in charge of the slide show at the wedding reception.  Usually I would have had this done months ago.  Add in 2 kids, a messy house, and a tired momma, and it is a little harder to make time to sit at the computer to 'work'.  Well, this weekend, I made it my priority to start and finish the slide show.   And that I did.

I've done a lot of wedding, birthday, and grad slide shows in my day and the best part is always looking at the person of honor as a baby and little person.  So fun!  If you know my brother, you know he has quite the personality!  So many of the pictures just reflect the  kind of guy he is.  The picture below is perfect.

Nice big bunny shorts!

I had never seen a picture of Chantelle earlier than when I met her and I must say that her hairstyle below made me laugh. 

Is that a perm?

So with that little preview of the pictures I ran across while organizing the pictures, I will just say that it was an honor to put this slide show together for them and I can't wait for them to see the real deal!

Expecting the Unexpected

Note:  I started this post the day sara left and here we are 6 days later posting it.  It has been one of those weeks....

My friend Sara and her son Aiden came to stay with us for a few days last week and the boys and I were so excited.  We had the weekend planned to a tee.  We were leaving Cooper with Nana on Thursday while we took the big boys to Calaway Park and then Friday afternoon we were going to take all the kids to the zoo.  Our weekend didn't quite go as planned....

They arrived on Wednesday night and the kids played great together.  They were jumping, running and screaming.  The visit was off to a great start.  We all went to bed in anticipation of our fun day at Calaway the next day.

At 12:30am I woke up to Grady crying.  When I walked in his room his entire bed was covered in vomit.  Great.  Between James and I we got the sheets changed, Grady in fresh PJs and through a load of laundry in only to go through the exact same process an hour later.  It was a long night.

I heard Cooper give out a few cries at one of the clean up sessions but left him in his crib and he fell asleep.  Found out in the morning that he had also had a little throw up through the night.  Nothing compared to Grady but obviously little Coop's belly was upset to.

I broke the news to Sara that both my kids had the flu and we both fully expected Aiden to wake up with it the next day after the way they were all playing together the night before.

The boys bounced back very quickly and were out in the yard sliding and swinging before 8am.  After much consideration and going back and forth we decided to adjust our plans slightly and headed to the zoo with Cooper still going to Nana's.

Grady was full of piss and vinegar for the most part.  He and Aiden spent lots of time at the playground going up and down the slide.  Grady always made Aiden go first and would ask him lots of questions before he decided if he wanted to go. 'Was it fast?'  'Was it dark?'

This doesn't look like no sick kid!

 Since Grady is not so into the zoo and Aiden is an animal fanatic we let them take turns choosing what we saw next.  Grady picked things like the playground and ice cream while Aiden chose more traditional zoo things like penguins and giraffes.

Just like last year, the boys ended the day with a bath together. I'm not going to lie, there was not exactly room for all 3 of them and all those toys!



Aren't those cheeks so pinchable??

In anticipation of Aiden's flu arrival, Sara and I got out extra sheets, towels, and pails in the event she needed them overnight.  Then we poured some beer and cracked open a bottle of wine and watched a double header of Big Brother.

I think Thursday night was my favorite time of her entire trip. We drank an entire bottle of wine, watched 2 episodes of Big Brother, and talked about anything and everything. We talked about high school, university, relationships, parenting and the list could go on and on. I felt like I was sitting on our pink couch and Sara was in the blue chair next to me playing tetris while we watched Golden Girls at 11:30pm. I felt like we were those 20 year old girls who used to do that every single night. SomeI often miss those nights.

If I have said it once, I've said it a thousand times.... I have great 'old friends'.  I have lived in a different city from these girls for more than 10 years.  Sara and I still maintain our weekly conversations that always approach an hour or more, there is just that much to say.  My whole group of friends from high school and then university are so important to me and my growth as a parent and a mother.  I am so grateful for each and every one of them.  Speaking of which we have our yearly girls shopping trip coming up in a few months and I am already counting down the days until we get 2 full days of each other.

OK, Back to the weekend.

When the door opened the next morning and Aiden strided in, I couldn't believe it.  He didn't get sick!   Just in case, we stayed home for the day.  The boys put on the bathing suits and hit our backyard to run through the sprinkler.  They did better then expected but of course Grady made Aiden do everything first.  We even cranked up the sprinkler and Sara and I ran through. I acutally screamed the water was so cold.  I felt like a great big kid and it felt great!   The kids didn't know we were supposed to be at Calaway Park.  Oh wait, Grady did ask about it once but the subject was easily changed.

 

Gina and the twins joined us for an afternoon visit (of which I have no photos) before we headed to the Market Mall play area because it was raining. Although my kids weren't sick anymore, they were unbearable to be around. We actually left the house because Cooper was beyond clingy and crabby. We loaded up all 3 kids in the car and headed out. Cooper sat in the very back of the van in Aiden's car seat by himself since Aiden was 'scared'. With the TV about 12 inces from Coop's face we didn't hear a peep out of him the entire trip!

The mall we chose has a great play area for the kids and it was a hit. We actually left the play area because sara and I were bored and wanted to hit up H&M.

 We headed off to H&M only to remember why it is not a good idea to shop with 3 kids 4 and under. Bad, Bad idea. All the kids got something and Sara grabbed a few things for herself while we waited in line and didn't even try them on. One would think that A&W would have made them happy but only Cooper ate anything. We went to the mall because Cooper was grumpy and we came back and both the other kids were grumpy. Go figure.

We got home just in time to get the kids to bed and wait for Gina to arrive to have our second girls night in a row! We watched Bachelor Pad and had a great visit over yet another bottle of wine. I was thinking life was pretty grand..... Another great visit had and Sara would be off to Saskatoon the next morning.

Then, in the morning, Sara came upstairs with a pile of sheets and towel. Aiden got sick during the night. As did Sara and I. Scrap the leaving plans, we laid on the couch all day. Thankfully James was home to watch some of the healthy kids and fetch me toast. I felt awful. Absolutely awful. We always thought Aiden would get sick, but never did I think that Sara and I would be affected. We made the best of it, had lots of naps, and stayed in our PJs most of the day.

Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug and Sara and Aiden hit the road a day later than planned. It was not a weekend soon to be forgotten.

Shortly after Sara left I wrote her a quick and simple email.

There may have been vomit, poop talk, and annoying kids (mostly mine!) but there was also gossiping, beer, wine, and laughs. Despite our unexpected 'conditions' I had a great time with you and Aiden.

To which she responded,

There was also wedding dresses, running through the sprinkler for our unimpressed children, and early bedtimes (which maybe normal for you but completely awesome for me). It was a great time. It is either a testament to our friendship or your lovely hospitality skills but it wasn't so bad being sick at your house. Can't wait till next year!

I think it is a friendship.  Cheers to that!

Thank you Sara and Aiden for coming to stay and we hope you'll come again next year... I promise we'll go to Calaway Park first!

And for the record, on top of the 5 people in the picture noted above, James got the flu Sunday, Sara's niece Tuesday, and Grandma on Wednesday.  Even Nana's tummy was off.  it was the flu that seriously never ended.  And with Grandma now on the mend we are ready to bid farewell to the awful flu and get back to summer living!

Happy long weekend!

Wordless Wednesday