Trick or Treat

Halloween is always fun for kids. I mean who doesn't love going to house after house and getting free candy just for putting on a costume!! This was the boys first real year to do actual trick-or-treating. Last year I took them to about five houses on our street; only the the neighbours we actually know. This year I let them do our cul-de-sac and the one behind us. They are being pretty good about listening to my rule about when they are aloud to have a treat. They get one after lunch and one after dinner. I'd say that the candy will last a long time, but they don't know that Jesse and myself are secretly treating ourselves to their bags every now and then!!

We started the day off at a Halloween party at my friend Jenny's. She always does such a great job making days like this fun for kids. I'm gonna miss her when she moves to Calgary :o(

The boys both dressed as Batman for that party, but for trick-or-treating changed to their 'real' costumes...Spiderman and Superman!!

A visit to the pumpkin patch

Yikes....I just came back to my blog after almost a three month hiatus, and realized I had two drafts already with pictures uploaded but no blog to go along with them. So since I took the time to uplaod these pics (even though it's three months overdue), I'm still gonna post them :)

This is from our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch. We go every fall to pick out our pumpkin, enjoy the games, and of course the hayride. Alex loves it, always has. Matthew did much better this year on the hayride than last year when he screamed in panic the whole time. He was still apprehensive, and clung to my arm, but realized he would be alright.
Overall, we had a great day, the weather was unusually warm for mid-October (as you can see from the shorts and t-shirts), and we got our pumpkins which we carved the night before halloween.

What's up Doc?

Seriously, what is up with this carrot? Jesse planted a bunch of vegetables in our garden this past spring. The only carrot that grew was this one....

It seemed to grow arms!! But since it was the only one that actually grew, I cut it up and we ate it anyway.

Busy, busy September...

I must apologize. I've been a bad blogger as of late. So very sorry.

My September schedule is VERY hectic. You see, I have a tendency to be a workaholic. If the computer is on for fun things like checking blogs or facebook, I can't help myself. I check emails. I may check over my Mary Kay supplies, enter Welcome Wagon visits.... I just.can't.help.it. I came to blog once or twice, but I didn't get further than an uncreative title to the post. It isn't like I haven't had things to blog about. Here are a few topics I could have chosen from:

• Alex's first day of JK - he absolutely loved it! I didn't have any fears that he would be scared or sad; it's just not like him. They must work them all day long because when I picked him up from school at 2:30, he said "Mom, I wish they had a bed at school so I could lie down and take a rest". That is not my son...he will avoid a nap like the plague. So I went for a little drive and he was asleep with 5 minutes. This weekend he got to bring home the class teddy bear. It comes in a suitcase with pyjamas, books and toys for the bear. Alex is supposed to care for the bear and draw a picture of what the bear did while spending the weekend at our house (his first official homework!). He loved it and has slept every night with it, but Matthew is jealous and wants one of his own. Overall, school is going great.


• Dinner Cruise with friends - on Wednesday we sent the boys over to grandma's house and went on a boat cruise along the river over to a restaurant. We were with a group of 20 others, all of which Jesse bikes with (and their wives of course). It was a nice night out and a good dinner, but being on a boat in mid-September is awfully cold and windy.


• Mary Kay - as I mentioned I have recently become a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant. I am loving it! It must be the best kept secret for women. It is such a sisterhood of women and such an amazing company with tons of rewards and potential for advancement and of course a good income. I have a few classes booked this month and every Monday night I attend a group meeting to learn more.


• Welcome Wagon - another one of my work-from-home jobs. Some days I enjoy it, but it seems that most days I don't. I put in as much time as I can manage, but some days I spend way too much time and I get nowhere. I have let my manager know that I need to quit some parts of my job, but she doesn't take it well....she really wants me to stay on until someone else can be hired and trained. Of course, I agreed :(


• Swimming Lessons for Alex - Well I left the house this morning at 5:40 am to go and register for swimming. I know....I'm completely insane. But trust me I was not the first one there. I ended up being number 4. One of Jesse's friends was 5th so I at least had someone to chat with for 2+ hours while we waited in the cold. I'm the type of person who needs to be first to things, so this was no exception for me. If I had been any later I would have been panicking about not getting the class I wanted. As only 4 kids are allowed per class, it is a time competitive sign up. There were at least over 100 adults in line by 8:30!!


• Fall Fair time - in our area we have a Fall Fair almost every weekend. Yesterday we took advantage of the hot weather and went to one. The boys had a blast on the rides. The best part for Jesse and myself was watching Matthew go on a ride all by himself. Alex wasn't interested in the little train ride. Matthew gave the man his tickets and climbed on board by himself and never made a single complaint. We are so used to Matthew copying every single thing Alex does and says. So when Alex didn't want to go on the ride I was sure Matthew would have objected as well, but didn't and I was so proud of him!

Well I guess that's it for now. Hopefully I have caught up on my lack of blogging. I will leave you with a few photos of our recent events:

First day of Junior KindergartenWalking up to the schoolShowing me his classroomMatthew's first day of pre-school -- he's the youngest in his class, but is adjusting to it better than some of the older kids.Matthew enjoying his train ride!Alex and Matthew enjoying a ride togetherAlex and Jesse on the Ferris Wheel -- This was Alex's favourite ride

60th Birthday Surprise

My mom turned 60 last weekend and we all surprised her with a great big party! Her husband Clive spent a lot of time and secret planning to pull off the surprise. He did very good because I remember living with my mom and it's hard getting anything past her....she can detect deception a mile away! The party was great. Many guests travelled from all over to be there including my godmother from Florida. That was a total shock to her. Her brother and sister-in-law came from Trinidad, and her brother-in-law from B.C. There was an excellent turnout...more than 80 people.

10 years ago we also had a surprise party for her. At that time I was still living with her and had decorated our apartment for when she woke up in the morning. Later that night she thought we were taking her out for dinner. We went down the elevator and as the doors opened up at the lobby there was about 30-40 people waiting to yell surprise.

It was a lot of fun and great to see everyone. I'm now wondering what we will do for her 70th. We gave her a surprise for her 50th and her 60th, so what will her 70th have in store??

The boys on sugar!

I gave the boys something that I rarely do....candy. I let them both have a Pez dispenser completely filled with sugary Pez. I'm not big into letting them have junk, but for some reason I felt compelled to buy it for them. Well within 20 minutes of eating it I got two hyper crazy boys, running and spinning with loud screaming voices.

Well, shortly after Matthew went into meltdown mode. He spent about 45 minutes screaming and crying over the most ridiculous things. He spent about 20 minutes in his crib to 'chill out'. That's why I don't like sugar. When snack time arrived later in the afternoon they received oranges and peaches....that's much more my style!

Yesterday we took the boys for a dentist visit. This was actually the first official visit for both of them, because the other two times we tried to bring Alex he would just melt down in fear. We couldn't believe how awesome they did (I wish I brought my camera). They both did everything that was expected of them and never once made an objection! Even Matthew went into the chair and opened his mouth without ever trying to leave. They were able to give them both a full cleaning, and commented that they both have great teeth (due to the lack of sugar I suppose!)

At this age a child should have 20 teeth....but not our kids. Alex has 19.5 and Matthew has 21!! Alex broke a tooth when he was 19 months old (only half is remaining in his mouth), and for some unknown reason Matthew grew an extra one....lucky kid gets one extra visit from the tooth fairy one day!

Before and After

My wonderful husband, Jesse, has been working very hard lately improving the look of our house. He has also been putting a lot of overtime hours at work, so his time at home has been limited. He still managed to lay new floor, put up new baseboards, paint all the doors and put on new door handles. He can't take credit for the painted walls since I mostly did all of it! We also got a new hall rug and I gave the hall table and mirror a new stain. I think he is the happiest with the moulding he did on the front door.

This is the before.....

and After.....

It looks like it's a darker area than before, but it really isn't. I took the before pictures in the afternoon when all the sun is shining on the front of the house; and the after pictures were taken in the morning, when the sun is behind us.

Now I need to get him to start tiling the kitchen....

Our backyard

I know this may not seem like a very interesting topic, but I just need to share my complaints about our backyard. There are nice aspects about it like the beautiful Oak tree which provides shade from the sun and a nice deck, but there is a down side to it as well.

If you've ever had an Oak tree in your backyard you may understand my frustration. Acorns!! They are everywhere. I can't forget to mentions all the stick and branches that continually fall from the tree as well, not to mention all the bird droppings!! I did a little research on Oak trees and found out that they don't produce acorns until they are 50 years old, and only every other year is a bad acorn year....this is the bad year.

I have to clean the deck every 2-3 days. It is almost impossible to walk on our grass with no shoes. Once the acorns are on the grass, it is very hard to pick up. So I sweep off the deck and collect all the acorns. I used to sweep them onto the grass, but have learnt that is not such a good idea.

Overall the backyard is nice, just keep one eye open for falling acorns!!

This is the deck before sweeping up the acorns...after 2 days. We have had a lot of rain storms this summer which makes them fall off faster.

This is the 'after' sweeping mess!

Alex displaying just some of the branches that fall off randomly from the tree. Every day there are more branches to be collected.

Looking at the backyard from this view makes it seem very relaxing and pretty. Even though the Oak tree makes a mess, we love it and won't get rid of it!

Looking for treasure

We spent Friday visiting with my high school friend Lisa. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her. She was camping and invited us along to spend the afternoon with her and her friends. We only see each other once or twice a year. It was a nice visit and the boys loved being in the wilderness. Alex proved to be quite a show off, but in a cute four-year old way. Jesse and the boys went on a walk looking for whatever interesting they could find. I was able to zoom in and take these pictures of them without them even knowing.




All they came back with was some long pieces of grass and dirty hands!! At least they didn't come across any Poison Ivy!

Visit with friends

Last Monday we spent the morning visiting with neighbours - both current ones and former ones! One family (Brad and Julie) that had lived two doors down form us moved to Africa last November. We thought it would be years before they ever came back for a visit, but fortunately they spent three weeks in town this July! Brad had to remain in Angola working. Julie and her four kids came home. We were able to visit three times with them during their stay. Last Monday our next door neighbour hosted a morning get together in her backyard. It was great although Jesse was the only one out of the four families there that had to work, so he was dissapointed to not say good-bye. Alex was thrilled to have another chance to play with Mattea. He hasn't forgotten her and they played together as if she had never left. Hopefully they will make it back again next summer!

Alex, Benton and Mattea having a snack

Matthew and Mattea enjoying Watermelon

Sonja, Julie and myself.

I need to relax

What a busy weekend even though we didn't actually do anything. Jesse is doing some home reno's this weekend so the house seems to be more a mess then I prefer, but I keep reminding myself that it will look great when he's finished. When that happens I will post the before and after pics.


So my job this weekend was to keep the boys occupied and out from under Jesse's feet. That's why I'm exhausted. I've been on bike rides, to the park, in the backyard splash pool, to Tim Horton's, given them loooong baths, built many tinker toy contraptions, and broken up too many fights. When these boys spend too much time together it is inevitable that they will fight. Well Alex went for a visit to Grandma's yesterday and ended up spending the night. Although having only Matthew at home for the afternoon proved to be a challenge because he wanted Alex and didn't understand why Alex went to Grandma's and he didn't. Oh well....one more thing to add to their sibling rivalry.


Since Alex wasn't at home last night and his bed was empty, we let Matthew sleep in it. I wish I took a picture of it. He was so happy to be in his brother's bed although I could see the apprehension on his face. He never budged and fell fast asleep very quick. He asked to nap there today as well...so I let him. I guess we will be considering making the move from crib to bed sooner than we are ready too. Actually Jesse would do it now but I'm the one waiting it out.


Even with the busy weekend we still managed in some family time this morning. Jesse's entire family (even his sister who lives away) got together for a pancake breakfast at Grandma's. Alex was extremely difficult. I'm wondering how late Grandma kept him up. He cried almost the whole morning, got a time out, and lost a toy.


I also had to go to 'work' on two different occasions this weekend. I have a small part time job that takes out of the house, but the good thing is I make my own hours. So in total I spent 3 hours this weekend "working"....as opposed to the full time mommy job!

Okay, some pictures of the crazy busy weekend...

Alex chillin' out in Matthew's room

One of our many tinker toy adventures

Swimming in our neighbours pool on Friday. It was a hot day...thanks Sonja for letting us use it while you were away!

One down and one more to go!

For the last year I have been treated for high blood pressure using two different medications. Well yesterday I had an appointment to see my doctor and she took me off one of the meds! I only need to continue taking the other for another week and then I can stop those ones as well! This is good news as I am far too young to be on these. I don't think I needed them in the first place, but I'm not the doctor. The biggest hurdle I have accomplished in order to control my blood pressure was losing 40 pounds...yep I did it!! I am finally down to my pre-pregnancy weight (from my first pregnancy), and have completely changed my eating habits. Our fridge is always filled with fresh fruits and vegetables and I'm constantly at the grocery store to buy more. All four of us - including the boys - eat lots of fruit and veggies. There are times at the dinner table when the boys are fighting over carrots, or whatever veggies I sliced up for them. And when they want a snack, the options are almost always fruit. Alex absolutely loves strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, grapes and oranges. He can't get enough.

I hope that my blood pressure remains normal now that I have changed my lifestyle and will be relying on no more meds. I guess time will tell.

Happy Canada Day and Happy Birthday Paige

This past week has been full of celebrations. Canada Day was a great day enjoyed by all of us. We went to the parade and then walked around the park checking everything out. It was extremely crowded which was hard on the boys so we went home so they could nap before we headed out to another party. Some neighbours of ours had a backyard barbecue. The food was delicious and we were able to meet some of the new neighbours that we haven't had a good chance to know yet. After dinner we headed down the street to another house for some live entertainment. The couple that lives across from us are very musical. The kids had a blast and even did some dancing. Overall the night was great and we are once again happy we ended up living on this street!

Waiting for the parade to start

Almost all the kids on our street (dressed in red of course!) playing their video games while the adults enjoyed the music. That's Alex sitting in the chair.

The band....and Alex playing video games.

Matthew and our neighbour. She is so good with little kids and Matthew loves the attention.

Alex dancing with the neighbours. Once he put down his video game he had a great time, and some great dance moves!!

Today is our little niece's first birthday. Paige is now one year old. Kelly and Paul just moved into their new house last week so it was their official first gathering in their new and beautiful home. Since it is July, we spent it in the backyard instead.

One year old Paige enjoying her pool

Mmmmm....cake!Me and Paige going for a walk

Tonight is the big kickoff concert in town for our annual summer festival. Bon Jovi is playing here tonight and I think we are the only people I know who don't have tickets. We weren't all that interested in it anyway although I hope it's a clear night so that we may be able to hear a little of the commotion. Last year I was able to hear Aerosmith.

It finally feels like summer to me. The weather has been great and the rain is disappearing. I'm sure the time will fly by, so I hope we can make it a fun summer!