hanging in there

a sad day in the neighbourhood

2007-11-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

Two weeks have elapsed again since my last post. Pretty pathetic. Life seems to be getting in the way (and internet connectivity problems not helping either, arghhh).

I'd have so many fun and happy things to talk about. But an event here yesterday has overshadowed all of that. There was a fire at a neighbor's house. A huge fire. No one got hurt, thank God. It fills me with sadness. Its a house we went to over the years, where we had many happy moments filled with laughter. We never really got to know the new owners who have been here for the past 3 years or so. Needless to say, this event has led to a lot of talks in the neighborhood and in our household, many inquisitive questions from our kids.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And praying that this never happens to any of you.

the bulleted post

2007-11-15T09:02:00.000-05:00

smiling busy SAHM trying to keep up with it all and wondering where the last 2 weeks went
smiling for my quick trip to Montreal to meet up with some special girlfriends and replenish my soul
smiling for my new found love of chocolate martinis ;)
smiling with my new MGW t-shirt and new scarf
smiling at the fun nature walk I had with SCM this week
smiling for the Senators hockey game we attended last week where we saw the son of very good friends stand with the hockey players on the ice during the national anthem
smiling for baby boy who is progressing so rapidly in his hockey skills, he's a joy to watch
smiling for baby girl who participated in her first Ontario Development Program for gymnasts and did great and had loads of fun
smiling at the fact that the twins and I have joined a ski club
smiling (widely) for the twins who turned 6 and had a fun and noisy b day party with all their friends and a quiet intimate celebration at home
smiling at the fact that I've now organized 18 birthday parties and am working on the 19th
smiling for big sis who spent Career Day working at the Montessori school she went to so many years ago and absolutely loved it and the kids have all been asking for her to come back
smiling for big sis who started working on the school's radio station
frowning at the amount of projects big sis has
smiling that I'm able to help with all these projects and that she accepts my help willingly
frowning that it's parent-teacher meetings for big sis again, hate those
frowning at the thought that I have a cardiologist appointment coming up and will be on a monitor for 24 hours
smiling for the great news that my friend just received: the lump in her breast is benign
frowning for the wait we are enduring to find out about the lump in MIL's breast
frowning for the results we just found out: baby girl is allergic to peanuts as well, as allergic as her brother
frowning at the amount of money I'm spending on epi-pens
smiling ate the positive results for my shoulder, nothing serious, will just need tons of physio, sigh
frowning at having to deal with ALL these health issues
smiling at the thought of the big ass 40th bday party we are going to this coming week-end

frowning at the fact that hubby and the twins are in Florida for the week
smiling knowing that they are having a good time and that the weather is good
smiling at having spent so much one on one time with big sis and doing girlie things together
smiling at the amount of organizing I've done around the house while they were gone
smiling looking at close to 40 picture albums I filled over the past 3 days
smiling knowing my babies are coming back home in 2 sleeps

Good thing there's a whole lot more to smile about than frown about/

its a crazy world out there

2007-11-01T11:43:00.000-04:00

You'll hear a news story on the radio and vaguely pay attention to it. Its normal. You live content in knowing that your world is not permeated closely by that situation.

Till it hits home.

There has been several incidents since September of prank 911 calls to local high schools with hoax threats of bombs and arms. It has created a multitude of lockdown situations. Yesterday, it happened at big sis' school. She stayed hidden behind a couch (she was in drama class) for THREE hours. Just imagine the range of emotions going through everyone's heads. Students and teachers alike. They had had drills and discussions about codes to be used in certain situations. Yesterday, they soon realized that it wasn't a drill. It was the real thing. The cops came. Went through the whole school. Checked classrooms one by one and students one by one. Ultimately, it turned out to be a hoax. Yet again, another distorted mind with nothing else better to do with their lives than seek a cheap thrill at the expense of others. Ruin a multitude of people's days. Instill unnecessary fright. Will they get caught? And if they do, what will happen to them? Protected under the young offender's act we'll never really hear much more of it. Does it make others feel like doing it too since there's no retribution after the fact?

As for big sis, she was freaked at first, naturally. She kept thinking of her siblings whom she hoped would never have to go through this (they just had received a notice that they will go through a lockdown procedures discussion next week). She was thinking of her friends in other classrooms. She was thinking of me at home and her dad at work who would worry about her. She was thinking of all the little wee ones in the daycare attached to her high school. But poor thing, she really really had to go pee and couldn't go to the washroom. So apart from her mental anguish, she was physically suffering. Plus they had all worked so hard to organize this Halloween party/dance that never ended up happening because of some lost distorted soul. A real bummer for them all.

As a mother, you always worry about your kids. Now just sending them to school, your worries are elevated to a whole new level. We hugged a lot last night and discussed this all over with her. Of course, as a mom I just want to keep them home where I know they are safe. BUT we must not let them live in fear of going places and doing things either. That is too paralyzing.

Let's pray that all our kids come home safely today and everyday.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T09:17:00.000-04:00

Looks like it'll be yet another warm day for our trick or treaters. A global warming perk? Big sis spent hours fine tuning her "corpse bride" outfit and make-up as they are having a dance today at school (such an important event in a pre-teens life) and going trick-or-treating with her friends. Baby girl and baby boy where disappointed that they couldn't wear their Halloween outfits at school this year. Such is their policy. But they are looking forward to tonight. The pumpkin is carved and awaiting to be lit. The bags are ready for our special guests. The spiderman and pink bunny rabbit outfits are ready to go.

Be safe!

classmates

2007-10-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your comments guys, you certainly know how to make a girl feel good !

And LOL at the important stuff, like what I wore: long black skirt with slit down the side, sequined black high heel pumps, shimmery blue/purple blouse with rhinestone buttons and matching earrings, small satiny evening clutch, hair done the previous day at the hairdresser, meticulously applied make-up and, ahem, my little secret weapon "a tuck everything in the right place" undergarment ;)All in all an understated elegant look and an inner confidence and happiness radiating through. Oh, and a handsome well-attired and well-groomed hubby on my arm! A winning combination.

This is where we went: amazing food and the best cosmos I've ever had! Had to consume the alcohol early on as we were driving back home right after.

Out of 38 students in our class, 13 where females. The largest percentage ever in the school's history at that time. Many male professors where unhappy about this situation. So we had to prove ourselves even more, work harder than our male counterparts and got scrutinized even more. We didn't have a single female role model in our teachers. We were trailblazers. And we all did really well.

After the reunion, I realized that 7 out of 13 female classmates were still single and another two had gone through nasty divorces. That leaves only 4 of us in long term relationships. These girls went after their careers, but at what cost. Its becoming more and more difficult for them to enter meaningful relationships. It takes a mature, confident man to go out with a successful woman and not feel threatened by that. Much easier for our unmarried male counterparts. Three of them just got married in this past year and started families.

Just made me realize how lucky I am to be in a happy place in my life, because ultimately my friends, that's what its all about.

my other life

2007-10-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

I'm a SAHM. And I've grown to love it. BUT if you told me 25 years ago that that's what I'd be doing, I'd have looked at you as if you had two heads.

From my early teenage years, I was focused on a career in the health field specifically. I was going to help people, make them better, discover something important. I had a vision and was intellectually motivated. I studied hard, worked hard and did eventually reach my goal. All is good, right? Not. Something was missing. Something that I'd never honestly given much thought about. But this feeling in the pit of my stomach kept nagging me and grew and grew. I wanted kids. All of a sudden I wanted to be a mom. Which I eventually became but it was a hard road. And to my biggest surprise, being a mom became more important than working hard at my career. All of a sudden my life's aspirations changed. Who would have known.

This past week-end I went to a conference relating to my previous career. Ran into a lot of colleagues, former employees. And the nagging question was always: "Don't you miss your career? When are you going back to work?" As if I'm not working now :~)

Then I attended a very special supper: my 20 year class reunion! Even though I didn't feel like going at first, I'm glad I did. In the matter of a few hours, we reminisced about so many little events. Funny how some people remember certain things so vividly, things that I totally forgot about.

24 years ago, 40 total strangers got thrown together. For 4 years we endured the most stressful situations, we saw each other at our worst and at our best. Good times and bad times. We laughed, we cried, we learned about each other and about ourselves. Needless to say, we got really close, didn't have a choice. Some lifelong friendships were created. Even though we don't all see each other often, our bond is still there. There was a lot of hugging going on. And trying to catch up with what happened with our lives: marriages, divorces, children, illnesses, people spread out all over the country. I was glad to see so many of them and how there lives turned out. But how does one summarize 20 years in a few minutes over drinks? It makes one invariably rethink our stand in our lives. Of course, the question often came up: "so where are you practicing now?" So many where surprised that I, one of the most driven in the class, was actually "retired" and a full time mom. Those with children understood and respected and admired my decision. Others were left quite perplexed. Even though everyone told me that I hadn't changed at all, the person they knew back then feels like someone different than the person I am now.

from one extreme to the next

2007-10-17T12:27:00.000-04:00

My last post was all about a fun-loving week-end of quality family time, tranquility, relaxation and appreciation of nature in all of its fall beauty. (By the way, no one seemed to notice that my first picture was taken from the air. Hubby and I went for a half hour flight on a Cessna from Rockliffe airport up towards Camp Fortune and back. Beautiful.) This post describes our past week-end which was fun-loving as well BUT adult-only in a bustling noisy metropolis, tiring with the amount of activities we packed in and the little sleep we got. (Blogger FINALLY let me post some pics!)

We went from one extreme to the other from one week-end to the next. Funny thing is, I REALLY loved both!!! Let's see what's in store for this upcoming week-end ;)

week-ends

2007-10-11T09:54:00.001-04:00

This past Thanksgiving week-end was simply spectacular. We had some excellent family time, re-connecting with each other while engaging in some out of the ordinary activities. No schedules, no activities. Lots of free time to sit back and relax and enjoy the magnificence of a Canadian fall. All in all great for the soul. I'll let the pictures elaborate. And stay tuned for details of this upcoming week-end. Another special one ;)

still hurts

2007-10-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my yearly physical and big sis' too. We went together; but she goes in on her own now, sigh, big girl that she is. But the doc then tells me everything that went on ;)

Long story short, I needed an Xray and figured we'd go right away to the lab as it was just down the street and a quiet time of the day we were told. I walked in to that particular lab and right away a major chill went right through me. Last time I was there was precisely 15 years ago. When I checked in, they had my address of 15 years ago which really confirmed it.

That day, in that lab, was not a happy day at all. I had just suffered a miscarriage at 4 months with my first pregnancy. A trip to the hospital confirmed it but they wanted an ultrasound to see if "everything" was expulsed and rule out the need for a D&C. (not sure if they even follow that protocol these days). So off to this lab we went. I hadn't cried at all up until the point where the technician put her probe up you know where. The sobs started coming out uncontrollably. She had the worst bedside manners and was giving me heck for moving so much while she was trying to "see". A black day in my life for sure.

As I was sitting there in the reception room, all those emotions came right back up. I actually had tears in my eyes. Why is it that after all those years it still hurts? I was sitting there looking at my beautiful soon to be 13 year old daughter and thinking how she could have had an older brother or sister. I was also definitely counting my blessings on having healthy and beautiful children.

Oh the heartaches of motherhood.

Terry Fox day

2007-09-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the Terry Fox National School Run Day. All 3 of my kids are involved and I will be joining them later on today for a walk. Such a worthy cause raising funds for cancer research. Years ago, in a previous life it seems, I was part of such a research team, studying the fundamentals of cancer onset at the DNA level. It was such an intellectually stimulating and challenging period of my life, working side by side with some great minds and fun-loving people.

Thankfully up until now, cancer hasn't permeated our extended family. I pray it will remain that way.

As for Terry Fox, what a hero, in the true sense of the term. The Marathon of Hope, 1980. I so vividly remember following his day to day progress while preparing to enter my first year of university starting an undergraduate program in microbiology and immunology eventually leading me towards the aforementioned cancer research. Terry's spirit may have very well, in some small way, led me there.

But what is truly amazing, is how his dream is still living and strongly at that.

hard decisions

2007-09-25T10:18:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, hubby and I went to a meeting. Not a really fun one. But a necessary one.

We are redoing our wills.

Our original ones were done up when we first got married, when life in a sense was much simpler. No assets of any kind. We were young and picking guardians and executors was easy: our parents.

But now, 21 years later, our lives are at a whole different level. Many more assets and 3 kids makes drawing up a will so much more complicated. Discussing what would happen if one of us would die is gruesome but required. Taking care of the monetary aspect is one thing but how do you decide whats best for your kids if you are not around. Who would take care of them with as much love as we have? Who would have their utmost best interest at heart? Who would be well enough and committed enough to take care of that? Hard decisions to make. We have some serious thinking to do.

ode to september

2007-09-20T11:13:00.001-04:00

September is such an expensive month. Back to school supplies, new clothes and shoes, registration for extracurricular activities and all the paraphernalia/equipment that comes with that, it certainly adds up. Worse than December it seems.

I'm sitting here at my desk gazing at this stack of papers. A stack that really irks me.

A stack of what you're thinking?

Fund raisers.

Why is it that everywhere you register they bombard you with fund raisers? Between the kids' 2 schools, gymnastics, badminton, hockey and 2 dance schools, I'm faced with a multitude of vending options: the ubiquitous chocolate bars, cookies and muffins, magazine subscriptions, cards and wrapping paper, gas coupons, labels, calendars, Christmas cards and decorations, tea and coffee, golf tournaments, walkathons for CHEO and Cancer research. Will I be harassing my neighbor and friends and family with all of this? Most probably not. I'm not comfortable with sending the kids door to door. I may approach a few people perhaps. Ultimately, I usually end up giving a contribution myself.

Want to buy something from me?

in memoriam

2007-09-12T10:32:00.000-04:00

Life is settling down to some routines now that we are in our third week of back to school. Which is a good thing. I get to go back to the gym or do my daily walks more regularly and I even can throw in some "down" time to read a book and even the newspaper!

Two stories have caught my eye. Two people have passed away this past week. Two well known personalities, different genders, different life stories, different areas of expertise YET both have contributed in their own way to better the world we are in. What a great legacy to leave behind. Something we should all strive for.

First Luciano Pavarotti: that voice which enchanted millions of people worldwide. This particular song gives me goose bumps each time I hear it. His collaboration with countless of other singers broadened the spectrum of his genre of music. A true and unique virtuoso.

Then Anita Roddick: mother, environmentalist, entrepreneur, visionary, humanitarian, founder of the The Body Shop and actively involved in countless charities worldwide. Truly inspirational.

sports

2007-09-04T16:00:00.001-04:00

Just how many of those can we fit in one long week-end? And how much equipment does one need to participate in all of them? Answers: many and lots and lots

It started off with skating. yes, indoor ice skating. You see, baby boy is starting hockey this season and is actually having try-outs next week-end. SO, we wanted to make sure he was still able to skate, which he is of course, but more so skate with all his new equipment. I swear, he looks like a linebacker on skates :)

We packed the hockey bag: 5 pairs of skates, all of his hockey paraphernalia and other gloves, helmets and long pants and such. Very weird to go skating when its warm and sunny outside and we 're all wearing shorts. So off we went for an hour skate. By the time we were done, we were sweating and hot and even more hot when we got outside so the minute we got home we all literally plunged in the pool. So then we swam for over an hour. The day was still beautiful, so we decided to go golfing, just a little 9 holes. Off to pack 5 sets of golf clubs and dress everyone accordingly. The twins had a blast in the golf carts and kept score for mom and dad and big sis.

Next day, started off with some roller blading. So on came the elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards and all. A good hour of that. Of course, everyone was warm afterwards so in the pool again. Followed by some kite flying, basketball hoop contest and then some biking (helmets and guards back on). They actually learned how to start on their own now too.

Following day, met up with a few families and had a fun impromptu game of soccer, kids versus parents. What a hoot! Then some more swimming followed by a drive to the local tennis courts for an hour of ball whacking.

Phew, all that exercise helped to compensate for the all the food and alcohol intake;)

suburban incident

2007-09-03T07:16:00.000-04:00

Now, I don't live in the burbs having traded that years ago for life in the countryside. But most of my friends do. One particular couple and their children moved into their brand new dream home in a brand new suburb a few months ago.

A few nights ago, they were all sleeping peacefully when at 2 am the front door rang. Alarmed and groggy, the man of the house went downstairs to find a neighbor (who just returned home from work) holding onto a teenage boy! Apparently this boy was caught breaking into the family van parked outside. The boy, all of 14, was squirming and complaining that they were holding him too tight and they were hurting him so they loosened their grip. Mistake. The kid took off on foot. A few minutes later, the cops came and they all went searching for him and found him along with a buddy in crime roaming the streets. The cops actually KNEW him having been caught a few times before.

This story has had me enraged for the past few days. First I feel for my friends who've had to go through this. But my biggest questions are: where were these kids parents? what are 14 year olds doing roaming the streets at 2 in the morning? shouldn't these parents be held accountable for their kids' actions? how come these kids get away with this type of behavior? they've been caught before, but nothing gets done about it and they get to go back home and glow in the knowledge that they got away with it and most probably getting a rush out of it intensifying their desire to do something else again. There's something wrong with this Young Offender's Act. If they're old enough to think out such crimes, they are old enough to suffer some consequences: a fine to be paid by the parents? community work? a day or two in jail? something!!!

this morning

2007-08-28T12:07:00.000-04:00

everyone left me

by bus

by motorcycle

and all I have left with me

are knots in my stomach

hope you are having a great first day back at school...

last few days of summer

2007-08-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

The days are getting shorter. The days are getting cooler. We are all enjoying our last days of summer lounging around in the morning. Next week the routine of making lunches and sending kids off to school will start again.

Soccer season has ended for the little ones, they both did so well and were so pleased to receive their trophies after their tournament day. Big sis' turn this coming Sunday.

Its the twins last gymnastics lesson today. They have been in the pre-competitive level all summer. Baby girl will keep going in the fall but I had to pull out baby boy as he will be starting hockey instead. Kind of breaks my heart to pull him out as he is doing really well, but there are only so many extra-curricular activities we can juggle :(

We had a High School Musical kind of week-end. The second one had its world premiere last Friday night. A whole bunch of kids got together to view it a friend's house complete with lots of snacks. Of course, we had to watch the first one before that. And now, we are all humming the songs from the movie!

We went out and bought big sis a new computer. Got really tired of finding her on mine all the time. Its an early b day and x mas gift :)

Spent all of Saturday at Greekfest, (some amazing pics on that site)watching big sis dance in her group as well as other troupes who came from Montreal. All 3 kids had fun volunteering at the kids' tent. Met so many people we know there. Ate way too many loukoumades. Looking forward to next year already!

The twins are so happy with their new feat: they can start swinging on their own and jump off when the swing is up high in the air. They've been out there in our park doing it for hours.

Big sis went to school yesterday for a half-day orientation: got her schedule, her locker and found out who was and wasn't in her class. Luckily, most of all her best friends are in her class, one of the most important things!

Yesterday, we went along with 20 other kids and their moms down to Morrisburg:
Prehistoric World in the morning, picnic lunch in a park by the St Lawrence and an afternoon at Upper Canada Village. I hadn't been there since I was in 5th grade. Oh what fun for all! But boy was I pooped last night!

All right, enough procrastination, time to hit some bills now, yuk. Will post pics later!

one of those mornings

2007-08-16T11:48:00.000-04:00

Kids went shopping with dad last night and baby girl left behind a special trinket of hers. She's still devastated and crying about it this morning. And of course no one in that store has found it. Sigh.

Didn't have a ring tone on the phone all morning, took me over an hour to figure out that one of the phones just died. Sigh.

MIL came here two weeks ago and left a watermelon in the cool room in the basement. Except she forgot to tell me. So this morning, I went down there to get something and found the remnants of one exploded watermelon with juice e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. Spent the last 2 hours cleaning that up. Gross. Can't get the smell off my brain. Ain't going to be eating watermelon for a while. Sigh.

And of course it's raining too. Sigh.

Things can only get better now, right?

greekfest

2007-08-15T09:07:00.001-04:00

When I fell in love with hubby, oh so many years ago, his ethnicity wasn't much of an issue with either of us. But with the appearance of kids, we became more keen in sharing our respective heritages with them. Hence why they attend French school and Greek school too on Saturday mornings. Starting last year, I enrolled all 3 of them in Greek dancing as well. Big sis has done amazingly well and has performed several times at several events. Now that our community's annual greekfest is underway, my kids are performing a total of 6 times all together. Big sis is also volunteering for the first time at the kids tent doing face painting mostly. Needless to say, we are spending a lot of time there! And after the dancing is done, we get to eat some scrumptious authentic Greek food. And I have to admit, my favorite is having a "frappé" (cold whipped coffee) and some "loukoumades" (fried balls of dough sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey.

OPA!!!

soccer family

2007-08-13T11:09:00.000-04:00

Soccer season is approaching the end. At 3 nights a week, we've spent our fair share of time in local parks. Its been a great season, all 3 kids improving tremendously in their skills. A few more games and year-end tournaments are all that's left.

As one proud mom who kept track of three sets of schedules and fields, performing taxi services, coordinating snack duties, e-mailing parents to keep them abreast of team details, who sat by the sidelines watching and cheering week after week, making sure everyone had clean uniforms and kept hydrated, I will now bestow some well deserved awards:

Most Valuable Player: big sis! who is always there to encourage her teammates and keep up the team spirit and fill in whatever position she's needed in

Most Improved Player: baby girl! who did a complete 100% reversal from her attitude last year when she never spoke to any of her teammates or coaches, who never once touched the ball during play and who is now "right in there" taking the ball down the field, chatting up a storm with everyone and having pure fun

Best Athlete of the Year: baby boy! he lives for this sport, he can visualize plays that his teammates just don't, he plays intensely and passionately, he practices all the time, he encourages his teammates from the sidelines, he has tremendous abilities in form and function and power and the cutest thing ever is his fist pumping after scoring, a true natural

Best Coach of the Year: hubby! who will come home after a hard day at work, put back his supper in 10 minutes flat and head out. He has coached big sis for the past 5 years, parents always telling me on the sidelines how much they appreciate his devotion and expertise and who this year pitched in with both baby boy and baby girl's teams when needed.

Best Moment of the Year: last Friday night is twin's night as usual with hubby at one park with one of them and me at another park with the other. Their respective teams are loosing 1-0. But the scores then get equalized when baby boy and baby girl both score for their teams at the same time at different fields!! (we know this as we called each other on our cells). That was beyond cool :)

the good, the bad and the ugly...the pics

2007-08-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks guys for all your comments!!!

Yes, the good will prevail forever as that is what I caught on film, uhhh on digital card I guess is more the proper term now?. The bad and especially the ugly will get relegated to the depths of our memory banks.

Here are a few moments for your enjoyment:

the good, the bad and the ugly...part 3

2007-07-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

And now for the ugly:

Before we left, we had extensive discussions with the kids about what to eat and not eat, what to drink and not drink, washing teeth with bottled water, about washing hands frequently and all. Mostly because of baby boy's peanut allergies and also because of the dreaded "tourista".

As I said, hubby was a little tense and strung out for the first little while. So we had him book himself a scuba diving excursion on the 3rd day and a golf game on the fourth. Gets up to go diving and tells me his stomach is feeling funny. Off he goes. When he returns a few hours later, I can tell he's not well. I figured it was the boat that made him seasick. He spends the rest of the day in bed. Next morning, he can't go golfing. He's been vomiting all night. He's got diarrhea and severe stomach cramps. We send him off to the hotel's doctor. They want to send him to the nearest hospital, but he settles for over $US200 of medications. He ends up spending the rest of his holidays in the room, lying down. He couldn't keep anything down. He had moments were he felt a bit better and would come out with us for a little walk or lie in the shade on the beach but that's it.

I felt so bad for him. The main reason I booked this holiday was for him. It was a lot more than we intended to spend on a summer holiday but I really felt he needed to really get away instead of just staying home. I had to argue with him to get him to agree to finally go. Plus the weather here had been so-so and wanted him to get some sunshine. And now this :(

Damn.

So I basically spent the whole time with the kids on the beach and him in the room.

On the last day, we were slated to get picked up by the bus to bring us to the airport at 8:30 a.m. I packed everything on my own, dragged all the luggage to the lobby. Upon checking out, they tell us the plane is delayed by 5 hours!!! At that point, I think he's going to loose it. All he wants is to go back home. He decides to follow the doctor's advice and gets a taxi to drive him to the local hospital. Meanwhile, I go back to the room with the kids and we spend another day, albeit guiltily, on the beach. I keep abreast of how he's doing with the hotel's doctor who calls the hospital regularly for updates. Mid-afternoon, we get in a taxi (kids and luggage and all) and meet him at the hospital. He's been getting IV meds for the past 4 hours and is feeling much better. Good enough to travel anyways. Thank God that we have private insurance and thank God that I know enough Spanish to understand everything that's going on. They check him out and drive us to the airport in ambulance no less. Of course, the kids, who've been absolutely tremendous through this whole ordeal, think its pretty cool. Specifically when the driver puts the siren on to get us through traffic!

We get to the airport, only to find out the plane is delayed for another 2 hours...7 hours total. I find him a quiet spot and get him to lie down while I keep the kids busy. We finally fly back and make it into Montreal at midnight (instead of 5 pm) and make it home at 3 a.m. Upon waking up in the morning, he drives himself to the hospital where he spends the day getting tests. We are still awaiting results.

He lost 10 pounds, we spent all this money for him to get sick and spend his week off in a hotel room AND the weather was apparently great here while we were gone. Dammit. I doubt he'll ever want to go back there and will hold me responsible for this unfortunate turn of events. But for myself, and especially the kids, it was a great get-away. The kids did really have a blast and getting exposed to another culture was so enriching for them. They picked up quite a few Spanish words and bought the CD of the music they played there and listen to it constantly.

Every trip is an adventure.

This one a bit more so though.

Oh yeah, and aunt Flo had to make its nasty appearance right in the middle of the week. Oie vey!

the good, the bad and the ugly...part 2

2007-07-31T10:38:00.000-04:00

today: the bad...

So our annual summer vacation brought us first to Montreal for a few days where we usually stay at the in-laws. Its a smaller home with not all that much for the kids to do. Thank god for a local park to let them burn some steam off. Except when it pours rain... all day. Then there's not much to do and they can get all fidgety and rambunctious. So we had to come up with outings to get them out of the house.

We had promised them we'd go to La Ronde. We woke up that first day to major clouds and a forecast of heavy rains for the afternoon. Darn. We decided to go anyways. We arrived right at 10:30 when the doors opened. Because of the ugly weather, not many people showed up so there were absolutely no lineups. We got to go on so many rides! First it was drizzling but by the end it was cold and POURING. By the time we went back home we were all soaking wet and freezing. The next day, the torrential rains continued. So we all went to to this exhibit. Again, because of the rain, loads of people decided to go to this indoor activity. So we had close to a 3 hour wait to get in. We had lunch, checked out the other attractions at the Science Center. The exhibit, as controversial as it is, proved to be totally fascinating.

Our flight was leaving from Montreal at 7 am. We had to get up at 3 am to make it to the airport at 4 am. Made for a long day of traveling and some pretty tired people. When we arrived, the heat and humidity hit you like a ton of bricks which didn't help with the grumpiness. As soon as you arrive, the quest for your almighty American dollars starts. They take a picture of you (which they will sell for 8$US upon your return), if you go to the bathroom, there's a lady there expecting a tip. Some porter grabbed our bags before we had a chance to say no and had to tip him too. When we finally made it to the hotel, of course our room wasn't ready. Happens often and I was prepared, hence why I packed my bathing suit and the kids' in my carry-on. Big sis and hubby didn't. Well, we got changed, grabbed a lunch and went to the beach right away. They sat in the lobby moping.

I knew hubby was tired and needed to relax. But often when you're that tired, it takes a while to unwind. So for the first 3 days, he was tense and abrupt and complaining about this and that and made me secretly hope he wasn't around as he was ruining everyone's mood. I just ignored him, had fun with the kids and kept ordering "cervezas" for myself ;)

Big sis wanted to go on a banana boat ride: she didn't want to go alone and hubby was in a pissy mood, so I volunteered. It was nuts. She had a blast, I was petrified. During the last turn, her and I were ejected into the ocean which hit me hard on the left side of head. I ended up with a black eye. Looked like someone punched me so I got quite a few stares over the week. Its now at that yellow stage.

Big sis has been to a few horseback riding camps over the years. So I promised her we'd go to this excursion where you get to ride horses on the beach. We get the information, we pay up. We meet the person we've been talking to at the lobby and they get us on a bus which already has a few other people on it. Its an open back kind of bus and the driver is enclosed in a cab up front. They told us it was a 15 minute ride, which by Dominican time I was expecting to be 30 minutes. Next thing we know, the other people with us get dropped off at some other hotel and then its just big sis and I. This guy is going fast. We have no clue where he is going. We can't talk to him. He's on his cell phone in the enclosed cab, big sis and I can barely hear each other talk cause of the noise of the wind. We are driving through little villages filled with colorful little homes were the chickens roam free. We are traveling through pastures with goats and sheep and cows and huge mountains in the background. As beautiful as it is, I'm starting to get a bit worried. Especially when an hour later he turns onto this really bumpy dirt road in what seems like a godforsaken place. My adrenaline is surging, I'm getting ready to fight or flight. But after a few minutes, we see the ranch and all the horses. BIG sigh of relief. The people there are really friendly. They get us acclimatized to our horses (poor things big sis says, not as well fed as our horses back home) and we start riding with 3 other people. We go through a bit of a tropical forest and end up on the beach where the horses, ecstatic for sure to get here, start going really fast. I'm hanging on (last time I did this was well over 25 years ago) but am also taking in the sound of the horse's breathing, the feel and the smell of the salt water splashing on me, the turquoise ocean and the sun setting. Its absolutely beautiful. Afterwards, they take us through a local village. A great learning experience for big sis. She got to see how local families live in little homes, with outdoor showers and all. A real eye opener for her. The cutest little kids waving at us. She just wanted to go over and hug them all.

And the humidity, the humidity. Everything feels wet here. All the time. Books, money, bedsheets, everything always feels damp. And everything in the room has that faint musty/moldy smell to it. By the time we had to repack, some of our suitcases had a light coating of mold on them, ewwww. No wonder I've been washing for the pst 2 days just to get rid of taht smell which is on everything we brought.

the good, the bad and the ugly...part 1

2007-07-30T14:09:00.001-04:00

home sweet home

we are back home

going away is great but nothing beats coming back to the comforts of home, especially my bed which is the only place I seem to be able to sleep properly and soundly

as I look back at the past 2 weeks, that Ennio Morricone song from that Clint Eastwood movie comes to mind (a song which I performed ages ago in front of a whole auditorium with other fellow music school students)

thank God there was more good than bad and more bad than ugly

today: the good...

no cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no schedules for mom for the whole time away...now that was worth it!

First we spent a few days in Montreal One of those days was spent at La Ronde, an amusement park I hadn't gone to in 25 years! So many memories there of my childhood and rowdy teenage years ;). Was great to see my own kids enjoying themselves . There were rides for everyone and lots of laughter too!

We finally headed to the airport for our flight to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The kids were buzzing with excitement and me too. Nothing like going somewhere new to get me all tingled up!

The flight went great, kids got cool toys and we saw Blades of Glory, what a hoot! Upon our arrival, we were greeted by locals dressed in national outfits and a band playing local music. Talk about putting you in the mood. Right away we were surrounded with the flowing language of Spanish around us. A short ride in a mini bus saw us to our sumptuous hotel. We hadn't done an all-inclusive package holiday for a very long time and I was looking forward to it. Its great with kids cause whenever they're hungry or thirsty, there's something available for them.

The beach turned out to be absolutely beautiful: white sand going on forever, turquoise water, little waves, swaying palm trees, comfortable lounge chairs with cushions and towels, absolutely idyllic. There was a Kids Club where the kids went for an hour one day but they much preferred to stay with us. And there was so much to keep them busy: building sand castles, going in the super humongous pool complete with jacuzzi s, getting a drink at the swim up bar, Spanish lessons, pool aerobics, introduction to scuba diving, archery (where good old mom proved to be unbelievable), rock climbing wall, several games of indoor bowling, beach and pool volleyball, beach soccer, snorkelling, beach bocce ball competition (where yours truly won first prize...a bottle of rum!), pool tables, nightly shows, foosball, got the girls hair braided and big sis got a henna dolphin tattoo. We basically took advantage of everything available.

We added a few extras: bartering with the locals at shops right on the beach, hubby went scuba diving (one of his most favorite activities); big sis and I went on a banana boat ride (completely nuts) as well as an excursion to a nearby ranch where we got to go horseback riding on a beach at sunset...absolutely phenomenal!

I was in heaven. Lounging by the pool or the beach while the kids would entertain themselves and go get themselves drinks at the bar or food at the cafeteria. I actually got to read two whole books, usually unheard of on holidays. And it was so wonderful to hear a multitude of languages around us. The hotel was filled to capacity which surprised me. The vacationers were mostly Puerto Ricans, other Dominicans, Spanish speaking Floridians, Europeans from Spain and France and Italy and Germany and a very few Canadians and Americans. I really got to practice my Spanish which was awesome. Our French proved useful too as a lot of the workers there come from nearby Haiti. And baby boy was quite taken by the Europeans habit of going topless on the beach;)

a multitude of firsts

2007-07-18T08:24:00.000-04:00

When kids are little, there are so many firsts to record: first time smiling, first time laughing, first time eating peaches, first time crawling, etc, etc. Those early firsts come in fast and furious. And then they tend to slow down but every once in a while, there's a few more.

That has been the case around here.

The minute hubby started his holidays, he declared: "that's it, the twins are going to learn to ride their bikes with two wheels only!" So off came the training wheels and on came the full face mask and elbow pads and knee pads and wrist protectors. And after quite a few sessions and a major case of sore backs, they finally got it!! It seemed so symbolic to me, letting go of that seat, seeing them pedal on their own. And the pride! Ah, the pride on their faces, priceless. We still have to work on getting them to take off on their own but they now know how to stop properly. The full face mask replaced by a bike helmet, but I think I'll keep the other paraphernalia on for a little while longer. If anything, for mom's peace of mind ;)

As for big sis, she just came back from her first week away at a canoe-camping camp. A big step for her, and a big step for her dad! I was willing to let her go a few years back but hubby refused. This year he finally agreed.

And what an awesome experience for her. A week with no TV, no computer, no watches, no indoor plumbing, no nagging mom;) They canoed for 3 hours a day, moving from island to island and setting up camp and hiking and rock climbing. She did bring her camera and couldn't wait to show us all the amazing photos she took. She had to eat whatever was given to her, even if she didn't like it cause that's all they had. They sang songs, they enjoyed the nature surrounding them, they developed friendships. Every day since she comes up with anecdotes of thing that happened at camp. It was a major boost for her self-esteem and she came back a much better person. More patient with her siblings, more helpful around the house, hope it keeps up!

The camp monitors gave her a glowing report, her bottom line being: "mature, reflective, thoughtful of others and with a lively spirit" Of course, she can't wait to go back next year and even set her goals on becoming a camp counselor when she's old enough!

Here's a few of her shots in no particular order:

the canada day week-end

2007-07-02T16:56:00.000-04:00

Canada day week-end 22 years ago: hubby popped a ring and THE question at a camping trip near Lake Placid, in a tent while it was pouring rain outside ;)

Canada day week-end 21 years ago: our very own big fat Greek wedding followed by 2 weeks in Barbados. Last year we celebrated our 20th with a las Vegas trip. Did we do anything special to celebrate this year? Not really, we just felt like staying home with the kids. No cards, no presents and that's OK. I guess after so many years we are confident in our love towards each other.

Canada Day week-end 12 years ago: we baptized our first born and had a huge pool party/catered BBQ here at home to celebrate. It was a glorious day and all present vowed to return to our home every year thereafter for Canada Day. And amazingly, over the years, it has always happened plus or minus a few people.

Canada day week-end this year: a house full of people, relatives mostly, busy with picking strawberries (yes again), made more jam and a Canada day cake, decorated the house with balloons and flags and some body parts with little Canadian flag tattoos, lots of swimming, trampolining, street hockey, soccer games (the kids' and FIFA U20 on TV), board games, flying kites, eating, talking, drinking, doing dishes, eating again, watching the Snowbirds fly over the house(they do that every year, real cool)and finally some fireworks at Petrie island. The cool weather didn't put a damper on our mood and the occasional shower made for some gorgeous rainbows :))

strawberry fields

2007-06-25T05:38:00.001-04:00

We are lucky enough to have just down the road from us this great place called Proulx Farms. We headed there yesterday for their strawberry festival. Inexpensive pure fun. Tents were set up where local merchants had some of their fares set up for us to taste. Face painters left kids with cute strawberries drawn on their cheeks. A little petting zoo raised lots of oohs and ahhs over a variety of farm animals. Mazes made with bails of hay and giant slides needing potato sacks had the kids giggling uncontrollably.

But of course we came here to head towards the strawberry fields. armed with our baskets, we climbed aboard a tractor pulled wagon which led us into the fields. And the fun began. Running around trying to find the biggest strawberry. Eating freshly picked fruit, ymmm. The temperature was perfect and the strawberries plump and juicy.

Got some ice cream on the way home and feasted on a great dessert at supper time;) Looks like I'll be making some jam today!

graduation present

2007-06-23T10:49:00.000-04:00

So the twins' first week of holidays included trips to the doctor (with two vaccines each, ouch), trips to the dentist and trips to the eye doctor. As a special treat and as a reward for all this good behavior, I also got them tickets to a show: Hi5 at the NAC (their first time there).

I left early enough, our so I thought. But didn't count on getting stuck in traffic due to a demonstration by Ethiopians and then finding the parking lot I usually go to full because of the local Jazz festival, so parking option 2 was full too and ended up at a local mall to park. When we stepped outside to cross the road, the heavens opened up and buckets full of water came down. So we waited. By then the kids were a little freaked from all this excitement and were crying, a little worried about missing the show. But after a while, the heavens obliged, the sun came back out. We got there a few minutes late but were rewarded with great seats: center stage, second row back.

And it was awesome!

The energy, the colors, the singing, seeing my little ones dance and chant along. All the turmoil to get there was soon forgotten.

And bless their hearts, on the way out they saw all the trinkets that are sold at these kind of places and they looked at me and said: "we don't need any of these mom, coming here was great enough!" Talk about mother's pride. So instead they came home and made some of these all by themselves :)

graduations

2007-06-21T09:15:00.002-04:00

Last week at soccer, I'm sitting on the sidelines with some moms who were discussing all the plans for their kids high school graduation: limos, dresses, corsages, hotels, meals, etc.

And I burst forward full of pride exclaiming "I'm going to a graduation too!"

"oh yeah! Which High school?"

"Actually, it's their preschool"

"oh" they said and turned their heads away...

...whatever...

...nothing could dampen my pride seeing baby boy and baby girl get up on stage with their little black grad hats and receiving their diplomas, way cute and emotional for me...another stage achieved.

It seems like yesterday when they arrived, barely toilet-trained, at that preschool (the same one big sis had gone through 7 years prior) and what a wonderful adventure they've had there. Under the most amazing nurturing watch of some great teachers, they have blossomed and grown physically but also emotionally and especially academically. They made new friends, they learned and saw new things, they came back home week after week with beautiful crafts made with love.

I will miss our daily drives there and back and all the stories and songs we've shared along the way. I will miss many of the parents I've met there, we became quite the little family. Some I will see again, I'm sure, but most of the other ones, even with all the best of intentions, will only be chance encounters. I will miss the teachers who over the years have become more like friends. But mostly I'll miss this magical stage in my little one's lives.

Next year, they will get on the big yellow school bus and go on to a new school (not the one big sis went to)and onto new adventures. They are ready and excited about this new prospect.

I'm so very proud of you my loves :)

new shoes

2007-06-20T07:52:00.001-04:00

Aren't they just the cutest?

I finally did it, a few weeks ago, bought some Crocs for baby girl and baby boy and for me ;) They picked their colors and added some whimsical detailing corresponding perfectly to their little personalties.

When we first saw these in Florida a few years ago, my initial thought of course was, who on earth would buy these things. Now they are everywhere and I have to admit: I love them! So comfy! Little feet don't sweat, the sand doesn't stay trapped in them, easy to clean, OK to walk in puddles and mine are just the best for gardening!

On other news, we went for our annual visit at the pediatrician yesterday. Baby boy was born weighing half a pound less than his sister. That half pound difference has stayed there up until yesterday: they now both weigh exactly 45 pounds. But now baby girl is one whole inch taller than baby boy. Regardless, they are both hovering at the 75% for both height and weight. Way to go kiddos!!!

art attack part 2

2007-06-18T07:29:00.000-04:00

As part of the year end frenzy,I found myself organizing some special artsy surprise gifts for some very special teachers at my kids' preschool.

First off, we got all the graduating kids to meet outside of school and create this most amazing piece as a thank-you to the school director whose vigilant and loving direction helped our kids grow and blossom over the past 3 years. The kids had a blast doing this and were very good at keeping it a secret up until the final reveal! It is already prominently displayed on one of the school's walls.

One of our teachers was leaving for good this year, going on to open a similar school in another part of the country. As a special parting gift, I collected money from all the parents and commissioned this beautiful piece from a very special lady whose art I absolutely love. What a perfect scene for a preschool teacher. She was so thrilled with it and will cherish it for years to come.

This kind of gift giving is so good for the soul.

art attack part 1

2007-06-14T07:51:00.000-04:00

We are in the middle of year end frenzy. Tons of activities, outings and celebrations, organizing schedules and things to bring that has my head twirling. So yesterday morning I had a time out. I took 3 hours for myself. A clandestine meeting with an old love.

I went here

It was wonderful. By myself. Going along from painting to painting with an audioguide and enough time to read every little thing. Surrounded by artsy people, quietly and reverently observing another period in time. It was a little time travel from the everyday humdrum of a SAHM. I love how these work of art portray people having fun, in tune with nature surrounding them. I especially love how Renoir depicts flowers and rivers and landscapes with an abundance of colors and play of light. I love how it depicts a period of time in France, part of my heritage. I love how they remind me of where I live now: the architecture of our home, our river views, the nature around us. I love how the impressionists had the audacity to rebel against their current school of thought concerning art and brought it to an other level, a joyous colorful at times whimsical one as opposed to the more austere, formal versions. Basically, a lot of what they represent resonates so true with attributes of my personality: happiness, nature-lover, simplicity, love of color, poetic love of my homeland.

My love affair with the impressionists has been going on for a long time. Since my preteens for sure when I once took a book out of a library and fell in love with them all. Over the years, I have seen so many of them in Paris, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Montreal. Reproductions adorn some walls at home and I always had a few in my office way back when. This collection had few old favorites I had seen elsewhere so it was like meeting some old friends. A re acquaintance with an old love.

career paths

2007-06-07T10:37:00.000-04:00

The funk is dissipating. Thanks for your kind comments, especially kate5kiwis "i think it's a good thing to listen to our body and have a day-or-two retreat at the beginning of our monthly cycle. good for you having a wee nap, i usually do on day one or two." Wise words to keep in mind for next month!!!

Last night, big sis came home with an interesting homework. They had to go on this online site and answer a multitude of questions which would then direct them to a list of careers that would suit them. Each career had a job description, salary range, "interviews" with people in that field. Her top five were criminologist, music teacher, elementary/high school teacher, web designer and actress. Nothing really stood out much. Guess her interests are quite diverse right now and she really has no clue what to go into. What a great tool though to get these 12-13 year olds to start thinking about what they want to do with the rest of their lives. What a daunting task too. Some people just "know" early on where they are headed and can clearly see the path ahead of them. How admirable. Hubby was like that, knew what he wanted to be from a real early age, 6-7 years old. Yet so many others don't know or change their mind. Who knows where life will bring you. Happiness in what you do is key though at the end of it all.

So for fun, I did the test too. And guess what? My previous job came in as number 2!! Right after illustrator and before taxidermist, architectural technician, pharmacist and interior designer. But no where in that list of careers do they have "mom" ;)

in a funk

2007-06-05T13:42:00.000-04:00

that's my mood today. Got no energy. Feeling apathetic. The rain ain't helping either. The kids have been nasty with each other and "mediator" has been my middle name lately. Add to that a dose of insomnia and bad cramps due to my monthly visit from Aunt Flo. I actually had a nap this morning, bad mommy, instead of tending to house chores. Shh, don't tell anyone, my mommy's guilt is heavy enough as it is. Late night last night too: waited for hubby to return from the hockey game, yes, that one, were the Sens lost, big sigh. And to make matters worse, my dad just called from the hospital. My mom was having her cataract surgery today and here I was thinking it was next week. Bad daughter that I am.

All right, this exhausted me, time for a coffee break...

a mommy's life

2007-06-01T08:57:00.000-04:00

I keep trying to come up with some profound meaningful worth-your-while-to read kind of post, but my head is not there. Seems that my life lately is filled with simple mundane activities: juggling soccer schedules, birthday parties, year-end celebrations and outings, paying bills, organizing/coordinating summer activities, going to the gym, meeting girlfriends for coffee, etc. Plain old mommy stuff.

Seems everyday at breakfast, I find myself sitting down with my coffee and making a list of things to do for the day. An organized mind focused on tasks at hand make me a happy camper :)

Today's list: buy plants for vegetable gardens and flowers and plant all in afternoon, buy a few year end presents for school teachers, make fruit platter for tomorrow's Greek school celebration, attend two soccer games tonight, unpack big sis bag (came back from a two day school trip to Kingston), figuring out menu for supper.

Yep, not all that exciting. But that's my life. And quite happy with it actually.

a good day

2007-05-30T21:27:00.001-04:00

That's what it was. Accomplished lots of little things AND got lots of good news.

Accomplishing lots of little things (too many of them so trivial to even list) means crossing off items on my ever-expanding and never-ending to-do list. How rewarding. So just for today, I'll dwell on what I did and not what I still need to do. Will worry about those things tomorrow ;)

Lots of good news means a good jolt of happy juice for the soul. That little baby boy is doing much better and they are talking about him returning home this coming week-end. Yeah!

After months of agonizing about which school to send the twins to next year, I finally reached THE decision. Was kinda forced into it, but sometimes that's a good thing. The deadline to order uniforms for one of the school choices was today. SO I dragged the twins there tonight after school. Their first time in their new school ever. The first person we ran into there was their current teacher, which immediately put them at ease. She was there to get uniforms for her two boys who go there as well. baby boy and baby girl were ever so patient and cooperative trying all sorts of garments to figure out sizes and helping me fianlize the order. And "Oh. My. God." how cute they were in those little uniforms!! Gave them a quick tour of the school and we all left happy, me mostly, finally having reached a state of peace of mind over this issue. And that is definitely good news.

Last, but definitely not least, the news that TWO of my bloggy friends (you know who you are) are pregnant. One big yaba-daba-doo ( a la Yogi bear).

Yep, all was well with my little world today.

And I just had to stop watching the Sens play, I had no more nails left to bite...

need prayers

2007-05-28T13:56:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine gave birth to her fourth child, a baby boy last Thursday, 4 days ago. He was 2 weeks early but still weighed 6lbs 6 in. He went home after two days. He has now been back to the hospital for the past two days fighting for his life. He has meningitis. Please pray that the antibiotics he's on work and that God doesn't decide to take this little soul away from his family. Extra prayers for the parents, the pain they must be going through is inconceivable.

I did it!

2007-05-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

I participated in my very first organized race at age 45! And I loved it. Actually, I could be hooked ;)

It was only a 5K walk/run but being at the start line with 6000 others, getting the encouragement of onlookers all along the route and the thrill of crossing that finish line was phenomenal and invigorating. I went with two other ladies, a decade or more younger than I. We started off running and then had to stop as one of them got a cramp in her chin, I stopped as well and made sure she stretched and walked gently till she felt better enough to go on. I encouraged them along and said we were doing this together and we were going to finish this together. So it wasn't my personal best time but that didn't matter. We had a blast. Especially the sprinting for the last 200 meters.

After the race, we went to a friends house to shower and change and headed to a surprise 40th b day party. Two coolers later, I was feeling no pain and was quite happy ;)

nighttime ritual

2007-05-25T08:08:00.000-04:00

As parents, one of our biggest challenges with little ones, is getting a good nighttime routine going that works effortlessly for everyone. When big sis was little, we had a hard time getting her to settle. Was a combination of traumatizing months of intense colic and new parents who didn't really know what to do. I remember lying on the floor next to her bed waiting for her to fall asleep...and me waking up a few hours later, stiff and still dressed. We eventually figured out, pure trial and error, that she would easily fall asleep on her own only IF music was playing in her room. To this day, she is still like that. I'll go check on her in the evening and she's sound asleep with Evanescence or Maroon 5 or whatever she's into lately blaring in her room.

With the twins, things were easier. A combination of more experience under our belt and the fact that they were together in the same room. I don't exactly know when this particular ritual started or how but it works, so we've just kept doing it. And will for as long as I can because it is just too precious.

Every night, I have to tuck them in, make sure that they have some water on their nightstand and say/do the following in this particular order, no deviations allowed:

"goodnight"
kiss
"bonne nuit"
kiss
"kalinikta"
kiss
"buenas noches"
kiss
"hasta manana"
kiss
"i love you"
kiss
"big hug"
big hug

I walk towards the door, turn off the lights and say as I close the door "see you tomorrow"

and that's that :)

a yay day

2007-05-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Love that term dani!!
I for one, definitely had one.

Went with the twins to their last field trip of the year to the Experimental farm. The kids had been studying farm animals for weeks and even witnessed chicks hatching in their own classroom. So they were psyched. And so was I :)

From boarding the big yellow school bus and singing all the way there, following our guide around from here to there and marveling at the beauty of baby animals, having moments of intense mother's pride when MY little ones would ask smart well-thought out questions or blowing us away with their answers AND having warm little hands holding mine all the time. It was wonderful. All of it. Moments to cherish.

In the evening, went to big sis first soccer game of the season (a mixed team of 12-13 year olds). Hubby is coaching so the twins and I sit on the sidelines. Couldn't get over how much the girls have grown over the past year! Big sis looked like a giant out there compared to the younger girls. Was a great game, great plays, great weather. A blissful suburban evening at the park followed by ice cream treats :)

Looking forward to many more days like this. They're the ones that make the gloomy ones vanish into thin air.

the long week-end

2007-05-22T12:48:00.000-04:00

THE long week-end in May. Kind of a yearly Canadian rite of passage. The official onset of the summer season which for winter logged folks like us Canadians is a big deal.

Ours was OK. Basically nothing went as planned so we had to go with the flow. And for a control freak like me, its unsettling and puts me in a weird place. Don't like it.

The kids had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday, but the mom moved it up to the Friday as most of the kids had a PD day anyways. So this saw me scrambling last minute to find gifts.

The pool guy was supposed to come on Saturday to open it up. The kids had been counting down the days on the calendar for weeks. He called in sick. Postponed by another week. Didn't help that some friends called and gloated that THEY went swimming over the week-end, kids were perturbed. Great. So we set out to buy their trampoline instead and installed it a few weeks before anticipated. They certainly had fun with it though.

Friends were supposed to come over for a BBQ and watch the Sens game. They canceled last minute. Bummer. Kids disappointed. We still had the BBQ, stuffed ourselves silly and the Sens won which was awesome.

On the hormonal front, things are better. I'm giving her some space and we now talking more maturely and politely with each other. Feels so much better. Went out with her to a show this week-end, very nice mother-daughter time. Three 17 year-olds from her high school are magicians/illusionists and put on four sold-out shows over the weekend at a local high school. It. Was. Incredible. They are truly professionals in this field and put on a performance worthy of seasoned artists.

Having everyone here over 4 days made me realize how little "me" time I'll get over the upcoming summer. My exercise routine will go bonkers for sure. So Saturday, after hubby came back from his golf game (yep, he golfs 3 times every week-end), I finally headed out for my walk. I mapped out a 5K course around here and set out with chronometer in hand. I signed up with some friends for a 5K walk happening next week-end and I've been working on decreasing my time. Listening to my MP3, I was reaching my halfway point and quite happy with my time so far, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw this little mutt of a dog run from this house, cross the lawn, cross the street and before I knew what was happening, he bit me on the back of my right ankle and wouldn't let go. The owners who ran after him, grabbed him and asked if I was OK. I was in shock and mad "your dog should be on a leash, he bites!" Good thing I put on some socks that go up higher so he actually bite through them. I finished my walk, Told hubby what happened when I got home. He was furious. Called the city and within half an hour, City By LAw and someone from the health unit were here. Filled a report, they took pictures of the bite mark, told me to go get a tetanus shot. They paid the owners of the dog a visit and put the dog in house quarantine and assured me that he had up to date vaccinations. What an ordeal. Now they want to know if I want to press charges...they can get ticketed for over $600 for biting and over $100 for running off its property. Hmmm, still pondering this one. Still can't believe how fast they responded. They do take this stuff seriously.

Then Sunday afternoon, hubby tells me that with all the excitement of Sens and bites and all, he forgot to tell me he invited this couple over for supper. What? An old friend of ours who remarried and coming over with his new wife. A little weird as we also keep in touch with the first wife. Thank god for wine, it compensated for the lousy meal as I didn't have much left around the house to come up with anything extravagant. Still, was nice to see him happy in his new life.

So with all that, my gardening is way behind. Weeds are taking over as we speak. Better go pluck some...

the hormonal front

2007-05-10T13:28:00.000-04:00

I don't know how it started. I don't really know if there was a triggering factor. Guess it was more of an escalation. But next thing I knew, big sis and and I were not talking to each other. Lasted for a good 3 days. Very long 3 days that saw me melt in tears at night, profoundly hurt, a hurt like I've never felt before, feeling at wit's ends about what action to take, feeling like a parental failure. Her attitude and bad mood just rubbed off on me and put me in a bad mood too.

I am not ready for these teenage woes.

Whatever happened to my sweet little girl, always cheerful and loving. She's still there, I'm sure, but is overshadowed by this grumpy, lazy creature, who grunts at everything we tell her, or rolls her eyes, or tells me to "leave her alone" or "I don't fell like talking anymore" or "whatever", who doesn't feel like doing anything or going anywhere. You can see the depression and anger setting in but you can't do anything about it cause she won't let me into her world. So I've let her be, as hard as that was. Gave her some space. And hopefully she'll snap back. Seemed better this morning.

Thank God for friends. Quite a few heard me vent out loud these last few days. Including my mom who was quick to point out how I went through similar mood issues, which of course I don't remember. Do moms become dumping grounds for teenage angst? Are they great kids everywhere else but become vicious at home?

At first she really made me mad. Made me think of her as a spoiled kid with no appreciation for all that we do for her. I was actually starting to hate her. And that's a strong feeling, a scary feeling for a mom. I really didn't feel like getting up in the morning to make her breakfast and lunch. Felt like teaching her a lesson and letting her fend on her own. But mom's guilt took over and I didn't end up there. However, today, when the cleaning ladies came, I told them to not bother with her room. I've asked her to tidy up cause they were coming, She didn't. So I wasn't going to. I made a pact with myself to no longer go in there and let her live in her own mess.

And hubby in all this? Well, she's all nice with him unlike me, which makes me feel even worse. At first, I didn't bother him with it cause he is having enough trouble with female co-workers these days. But when I finally approached him, he figured it was no big deal. I was blowing things out of proportion. I think men just don't get all emotionally tangled up like we do.

Thank God also for my 5 year old twins who are still filled with unconditional love and endless supplies of hugs for their mom.

cornucopia of thoughts

2007-05-06T11:15:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning, we're still all in our jammies the kids are watching cartoons, hubby is off golfing (yep, another season of being a golf widow has started), a few minutes to myself and maybe I can jot down this myriad of thoughts I've been wanting to blog about. So here goes, in no particular order.

The Senators won last night, yoo hoo! The excitement in this city is just rising. Same in our household as evidenced by hubby's new purchase...

Bought the kids a fancy ass basketball net. Took a few hours to put together (arghh) but oh so worth it. Loads of fun for us all. Next, we are getting a trampoline from Costco have a spot set aside for it. It'll be their end of school year present and should ensure hours of enjoyment over the summer months. Doesn't seem like we're going anywhere this summer, so convinced hubby to use this as an alternative. And we are working on getting the twins to ride their bikes on two wheels only. Will keep ya posted!

Soccer season is just around the corner. Hubby is the head coach of big sis team and has already been busy with several meetings and coaching clinics. Baby boy just can't wait to get started, he wears either his soccer uniform or Sens jersey DAILY and is hooked to the sports net channel. Too funny. So apart form soccer and all the activities around the house, am also working on other activities for the kids for the upcoming summer. Am keeping the twins in their gymnastics and they are actually "graduating" from recreational to pre-competitive level. Big sis wants to pursue some horseback riding as in the past and am encouraging her to register for her Bronze Star in swimming. AND, hubby has finally agreed to let her go to a sleepover camp. She's been to this same one with school last fall and will be going with a friend of hers whom we really like. I think it'll be an awesome experience for her, 6 days and 5 nights in the outdoors, canoing, pitching a tent, rock climbing and such and NO screens of any type and NO mom to pick up after her.

Have been involved with several of big sis school projects lately. We are deep in the story of Tecumseh and the War of 1812 and the life cycle of butterflies. She has to hand in a written report and do a class presentation. And boy have times changed. Whereas I had a manual Smith Corona with the "a" not really working and having to use white-out for typing errors and leafing endlessly through the dictionary, we are now in the world of computer and word processors and spell checks and googling for texts and images and automatically translating some texts. And her presentation? All in PowerPoint. Had to buy her the software along with a 2GB USB Flash Drive last week as all the other kids seem to have it. And this is only 7th grade. I shudder to think what's up at the university level now.

Went to an open house at one of the twin's potential schools for next fall last week. As I walked around and saw all the projects displayed, it dawned on me how I'm still in a honeymoon type of phase with them. The visualization of endless hours pouring over homework and school projects with 3 kids hit me hard. As well as the anxious feeling of still not knowing a 100% where to send them next year. I'll just keep agonizing :(

My mom, who is 83, has been under the weather lately. Nothing specific, just an amalgamation of many little symptoms. She's loosing her general will to live it seems. I don't deal well with that. I try to get the kids to cheer her up with little drawings and phone calls. Being an only child, the weight of my parental responsibility is getting heavier. As compassionate as I am in my nature, I don't deal well with old age for some reason. I worry endlessly of loosing one parent and seeing the other one alone as they are together ALL the time and have a very small circle of friends and NO relatives. Ah well, one day at a time. Springtime will cheer her up some I'm sure.

As for me, I'm still going to the gym at least twice a week and walking or biking when I can. I'm definitely stronger and can feel that my endurance has increased as well as my energy levels and am sleeping much better. However, I have to admit being discouraged with how slowly my body is changing its shape. I just can't seem to get rid of my midriff bulge and its driving me nuts. The trainer is not motivating me much lately either. I really have to concentrate on my diet as its obviously the major culprit. I'm going to have to be more radical in my choices, not an easy feat and my will power wavers like the wind.

i'm back!

2007-05-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

WOW! Nearly 2 months since I've been here. Where has the time gone? Since some of you asked and even anonymous people were concerned with my relative disappearance, I finally put some time aside today to get here.

I've been a victim of life in general, nothing bad really, just trying to keep up with it all.

My last post saw us on the verge of our trip to Florida. Seems like eons ago already. It was a most wonderful family getaway filled with loads of warm memories. Started off with four days at Disney (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM and Cape Canaveral. Highlights? The rides, the parades, the fireworks, the magic, watching kids in awe, new experiences, learning new things, everyone getting along, great weather, meeting up with friends (6 adults and 10 kids), glad that the twins were old enough to appreciate and remember and have the stamina to keep going. Downfalls? the crowds, the lines, the expenses, being a prisoner of Disney, kids getting lost (scary for all), camera battery dying on me. After 4 days we all definitely had enough and looked forward to the rest of our trip away from the crowds quietly and leisurely filling our days with swimming, biking, tennis, beach, favorite restaurants and a chance to see our hockey home team play and win. Baby boy at one point summed it really well for us: "I wish you and dad both stopped getting older so that I could catch up to you and we can keep doing lots of fun things together"

But then it was back home and the vortex of everyday life sucked me right back. Took a week to put things away from the trip and then all of a sudden Easter was upon us with all the preparations that entailed including relatives staying over. Then tax time crept up and having to deal with a new accountant who had me searching for all sorts of info in the depths of my banker boxes. We also put our mountain condo up for sale so more frantic search for documentation. Throw in there weekly sessions at the physical therapist for a shoulder injury, meeting my trainer weekly and trying to keep up with my exercise routines. Add to that a half dozen birthdays to attend, field trips, school projects, parent-teacher interviews, trips to the library, getting new couches for the family room, getting started on soccer season, doctor's appointments, putting away winter stuff, taking out summer stuff, cleaning the yard, watching playoff hockey games and lets not forget the usual cornucopia of household chores. And there you have it. Life of a busy mom just trying to keep it all together. I'm indeed just hanging in there.

sun and nuts

2007-03-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

Little surprise on our back deck this morning : peanuts, some chewed up, some whole. Half a dozen or so.

No big deal really, unless you have a son with peanut allergies!!!!! Those da*n chipmunks!! We must have a neighbor who feeds them, great. The war is on, they will have to vacate our premises!! The chipmunks that is.

I'm off to bed, exhausted after a day of packing. We are flying to Florida tomorrow and now they are calling for freezing rain , lovely!!

So tune back in 2 weeks time :)

head and toes

2007-03-08T07:24:00.000-05:00

head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes...
(sorry, had that silly song in my head)

Yesterday I took care of some of my body parts: head and toes actually.

In view of my upcoming trip to warmer climes, I indulged myself by booking a pedicure in order to convert my toes from the dried up winter look to a softer well-manicured summer look including a smashing blood red color for the toesies.

Now, I'm a stickler for details when I go to spa-like places. I mean, its all in the atmosphere right. that's what you're paying for. So this place is beautiful. Beautiful chairs with a sunk-in foot bath complete with massaging jets. The place smells good, essential. The lighting is nice and soothing. The girl pleasant enough (although i ended up with Rebbecca instead of Nelly, wonder whatever happened to Nelly, but anyways whatever). So my feet are happily soaking away and I'd love to get a back massage from that fancy chair while I'm at it. Press all the buttons doesn't work. Tell the girl who replies: "oh I'll get someone to look at that". So I wait. And I wait. I'm one of the quiet non-complaining ones at places like this. A while later, I mention it again: "no problem, someone is on their way". Yeah right, no one ever came. So then she leaves me there with paraffin on my feet and no massaging chair, oh well, I'll just sit back and have a snooze. I'm the only one in the place. I close my eyes and try not to think of the million things I have to do. Relax, I coerce myself. But I'm sitting next to the employees lunchroom-restroom I take it. And I can hear them coming in and out, in and out, laughing and giggling, even as bold as slamming the door. I just wanted to yell: DOn't you know its a spa here!" Ok, sit back, relax, let's concentrate on that new agey music they always play in these places. So I'm listening to it, but I also hear a rock and rolly upbeat sounds emanating from just beyond another wall, where the hair salon is. Cripes.

Anyways, all in all it was still OK and my toes do look yummy.

So while there, I figured I'd get my roots looked after. Yes, those darn white hair where showing through and there's no way I was leaving looking like that. Part of me thought of doing it at home myself but I figured, what the heck, since I'm there already lets go for the total indulgence. So my usual hairdresser (well I've only really seen her 3 times) wasn't there so I got someone else. Nice enough girl it seemed. She looked up the notes of hairdresser #1 to determined the color to use (as I went much browner the last time there). She puts the goop on. I sit there sipping a tea and getting updated on celebrities lives. Rinse it off, she goes extra slow, gives me an non-ending scalp massage. Nice. But then my radar goes up. Something is wrong. I can feel it. She's stalling for time. I can be quite intuitive that way.

Back to the chair, yep, I can see why. I no longer have roots, I have RED roots. VIOLET-RED hair. I'm trying not to cry. She's mumbling away hairdresser jargon, whatever, just fix it. So she put on some toner, left that on, and pretty much rectified it. I was in there a whole lot longer than anticipated. And I had planned to do so many other things. Rats.

But man, I'm so unlucky with hairdressers. Like the time as a teenager in the 70's when perms where all the rage. Went and had one done and my hair got fried, really fried, had to cut it off. Or this other time my hair turned green. When I moved to Ottawa, found this nice girl Tracey, followed her from salon to salon (6 in all), man these hairdressers love to move around...lots of "office politics" I guess. She eventually gave me a phone call saying she was no longer working. Bummer. Then hooked up with this effeminate Lebanese guy. Stayed with him for a few years. But he stopped listening to me. I'd go in wanting something and always left with puffy hair with lots of hairspray. Would end up going home and washing my hair. For a while, I did the home thing. The fight with the grey hair became more vicious. I did my own color for years and even went as far as cutting it myself. While pregnant, I even resorted to natural hair products. All worked well but hair was dull. I was longing to have hair like the movie stars in magazines. Then found this nice Portuguese guy who had been at his salon for 20 years or so. Phew, a stable one. Haircuts were great, got bold, went for highlights. Then went for root touch-ups. Another nightmare appointment, was there for 4 hours, urghh.

What is it with me, do I have bad hair karma? Is it our well water that does weird things? Is it my hormones/body composition? I'm generally pretty easy going with my hair, like whatever, it grows back is my philosophy. But when I pay for a service (and service industry was my livelihood when working) I expect the best treatment all around. I just want to find someone who knows what they're doing and blindly going there and getting things done. Is that too much to ask?

that mouse thing

2007-03-06T14:25:00.000-05:00

See that little ticker in the corner? 4 days till Florida, 4 days till we hit Disney, first time ever with the kids. Last time hubby and I were there was 20 years ago, on a sweltering August Day, waiting in line trying not to collapse from heat exhaustion.

I should be ecstatic, right? Actually its stressing me out. I'm not a big fan of theme parks, or big thrill rides or cutesy Disney characters. Neither is hubby. I'm not a big fan of huge crowds. I'm dreading long line-ups. I'm dreading whiny tired hungry kids. I'm dreading having to negotiate where to go and when, in order to satisfy everyone's needs and desires while in the park. The hotel room looks pathetic for what we are paying. But its the only one we could get for a family of five on the resort itself without dishing out tons of our savings. Family of five are considered abnormal in Disney world , a family of four is normal. I just bought our entrance tickets for the 5 of us for 3 days...its a total rip-off. 9 year olds and over are considered adults. No wonder people save forever to come here. We've already spent more on 4 days here than we usually do for a whole 2 weeks away. And we haven't even arrived yet! We usually stay places where we are in control of what we eat, as in having our own little kitchen. But not here. We will be trapped in the land of the outrageously overpriced and nutritiously questionable sustenance for 4 days. And then big sis asks: "what happens if it rains while we are there?" Well, we still have to go, its already payed for. Amazing how we have to pay for everything ahead of time. What a gimmick. There's something about the whole commercialism of this whole thing that's bothering me. Who knows, maybe I'll think otherwise afterwards. But for now, I'm quite skeptical. I'm waiting for that infamous Disney magic to do its thing.

Ah well, this IS for the kids. Hope they enjoy it. I will just have to take lots of deep breaths and hope we don't loose each other. I figure our true vacation, hubby and I, will start once we are out of the reach of that little mouse with the funny ears.

joe update

2007-03-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

Session #5 with joe. Each one so far has had a "theme" along with questions to get thought processes going. Today's theme: life style health habits...didn't fare too bad there too...write down goals (done), keep a daily journal (guess this blog counts), eat frequent smaller meals (working on that), strength train 3x/wk (more often than not), plan meals ahead (as much as I can), create a workout schedule (most of the time), sleep 8 hours a day (most nights).

Last week wasn't that great, 3 days with NO exercise and it actually bothered me and going out and having pizza and beer one night didn't help either.

My workout session wasn't that great today either. Somehow, I wasn't as strong as I usually am. P*ssed me off a tad. One week of not doing as much was a step back. He said it happens to everyone, we'll have weaker days than others. What will 2 weeks of being away to Florida do? Of course I will try to walk and bike and swim and maybe go to a gym as much as I can and consciously eat healthy, but it is a holiday after all .

And the slow progress of this all. I'm seeing this long road ahead of me and feeling a little discouraged today. A whole month of working at it, exercising, eating healthy, reading health books, putting it all on the forefront of my consciousness and that da*n scale barely moved. Da*mit. I lost weight faster with WW. Combine that to the fact that I was aiming this whole fitness routine to our Florida departure and here I am a few days away and not that much further ahead as when I started it seems.

All right, snap out of it. At least I'm doing something. Its GOT to be better than not doing anything at all. There's got to be internal changes I'm not seeing.

And now, gotta get into the packing mode. I LOVE traveling but I HATE packing. How to pick which shoes to bring, which clothes, is it too much, is it not enough. AND I have to worry about myself and 3 other human beings...hubby only worries about himself ;) All right, off to try my bathing suits and shorts, urghhhh.

tgif

2007-03-02T15:07:00.000-05:00

Fierce snowstorm outside, tons of boring income tax paperwork to do today, really bad menstrual cramps, just want to curl up in a ball with my favorite pj's and a good book...but I have to think about getting supper ready soon, gotta go pick up the twins at preschool, bring big sis to badminton later and buy two birthday presents from the twins for yet another b day party they are going to tomorrow. So I thought I'd take a break and do something fun thanks dani and loukia)...most probably my mood today made me into Bert! Thank God my hair doesn't look like that, but then again, not that much better today...a really bad hair day :(

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you lovable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

an old new game

2007-03-01T13:36:00.000-05:00

Usually when hubby goes away, even for a week-end, he'll feel compelled to bring something back for the kids. After having exhausted all possibilities of trinkets from airports, I've had to tell him to stop this practice. The first few times, i even got stuff from the dollar store which he "gave" them. But on his last trip, he brought something back, kinda for me:

A book on Chinese Jump Rope, by Klutz.

He said it caught his eye as he was walking past a store in the airport and he knew how much I loved playing this as a child. I was so excited to get this! Leafing through teh pages, all those moves done a gazillion million times so many years ago, came flooding back. I played this game ALL THE TIME. I was neighborhood champ. And having a mom working in a clothing manufacture, I always had quite a few sets of elastics. I played till it got dark out,every day. If we didn't have enough players, we would improvise and use a chair or a reticent grown-up or a lamppost. Talk about being in shape, pure aerobics ;)

I am so glad someone thought of immortalizing this game in a book. And with spring now in the air, I can't wait to introduce this to my girls!

body and soul

2007-02-28T14:19:00.000-05:00

Last night, after dropping off the twins at yet another Cosmic Adventures' birthday party, I headed with big sis to The Scotia bank Place for an evening of music. Her godmother got us two tickets. So we joined her and a few other people we know in a booth. We went to see Josh Groban. Now, I have to admit, I had never heard of him before. So what an awesome pleasant surprise it was. He's wonderful to look at and his voice is purely magical. Great songs in Spanish, Italian, English and even one in French. Great that I actually understand all those languages;) It was an evening great for the soul.

And now for the body. I just came back from the gym. Session #4 with Joe. Nutrition discussion today. I also asked him to remeasure me cause I wanted/needed some tangible results to keep me going. Sure I feel stronger, I'm lifting more and more wights and feel generally better.

So here is where I'm at, after 3.5 weeks of my new commitment to improved fitness: lost 3 pounds, lost 2% body fat and lost 5 inches overall. Small baby steps, but surely steps in the right direction.

Body and soul. Both in a good place today. And that's a good thing.

a perfect week-end, part 2

2007-02-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

We just got back from skiing. I'm pooped. I asked big sis if she can look after her siblings for a bit while I take a nap. Look closely, that's me on the couch!! So she makes up this game. She always makes up games. She has tons of creative juices. And lately we've been fortunate to be in a really good place in the tween-nearly-teen roller coaster of emotions/moods. She grabbed my camera and after taking a picture of herself in the mirror, she proceeded to take close to 25 pictures of all sorts of little things around the condo. Then with a timer in hand, she would show her siblings a picture on the viewer and they had to walk around the condo to find what she took a picture of and report back to her and she would write down how long it took them to find it. Brilliant!!! They had a blast and I had a well deserved siesta. What a great big sis she is. I will always remember the day hubby and I told her that we were expecting. She responded with all the seriousness that a nearly seven year old can muster "well, its about time!" And when we told her it was twins, she exclaimed with utter joy "All right! We are finally going to be a real family!!"

Another funny thing happened last week-end. The twins, after some deliberation, came up to us and asked if they could sleep together. Usually the sisters sleep together in one bed, hubby and I and baby boy in the other (with me more often than not ending on the couch in the middle of the night due to constant kicking from baby boy, his legs never stop even when sleeping). So of course, we let them. SO CUTE. Them getting ready for bed, and cuddling together and talking till Hypnos came to get them. What a special bond they have.

All right, off to finish unpacking! Funny how a 2 day family getaway means 2 days of preparation and 2 days of unpacking for mom ;~/

a perfect week-end

2007-02-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

We couldn't have picked a better week-end to go away. The weather was absolutely perfect. The snow conditions too. The lineups at the lifts nearly non-existent. All 3 kids were in a great mood. And we skied. And skied. Till my legs couldn't anymore. The first week-end ever that we skied both days, with all 3 kids, up and down the mountain. They had a blast. I will never forget the look of joy on their faces. The laughter emanating from us all. What a great sport to do as a family. And my heart was bursting with "proud-mommy" juice. The little ones did awesome. What great stamina and how quickly they learn. We even took them down an intermediate run!

What a workout walking around with ski boots, backback
and carrying two sets of skis and poles!!

Love taking that gondola up!

Snack time!

meet joe

2007-02-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

The new man in my life. Not a chance encounter yet we were put together at random. I will be meeting him at least twice a week over the next few weeks. So far so good. We seem to get along and he seems to know what he's doing. He's already motivated me a whole extra level and made me consider new things.

Joe is my personal trainer. Yep. I finally have one. One of my life goals reached. Never too late to fulfill a dream! I've never been super athletic but generally strong. But at this point in my life, I want to get serious about getting as fit as I can. I met with trainers here and there over the years. But this is different. Hubby got me a 12 session package with him. Two down already.

So for the past two weeks, I've been going to my new gym and enjoying it. More than I thought. I was doing my own thing and already feeling stronger.

Session One with Joe:
Review of my goals, measurement of resting blood pressure and heart rate. Discussion of my training heart rate. And now that I have a heart rate monitor watch, I've come to realize that I don't always bring my heart rate high enough while exercising. Something to work on. This chit-chat followed by some weight training and a grueling session on the stair master (which I would have gotten off of if he wasn't right next to me!).

Session Two with Joe: After the usual cardio and weight training component, he had me step on a machine to analyze my body composition. Now THIS was a wake-up call. My %body fat is high (no surprise there) but when he quantified that by saying I was carrying 76, yes seventy-six, pouinds of fat, I was in total shock. Those values put me in the "obese" category. Yikes!!! Not enough muscle mass, too much fat mass. Got my work cut out here.

So one day at a time, that's all I can do.

The key to success is patience and persistence.

back to square one

2007-02-15T11:14:00.000-05:00

So after months of pondering, I registered the twins for first grade next fall at big sis' old school. We visited, met with the teacher, filled all the forms. That was two weeks ago. I was in bliss. Happy and at peace with finally reaching a decision. All is well, right? NO. All is not well. I'm back to square one and the anxiety is driving me berserk.

You see, there's this other school. It finally opened four years ago. I say finally as for the last 10 years I was marginally involved with trying to get it set up in our neck of the woods. It operates under the catholic school board but follows Montessori principles which I really, really like. When it opened, I didn't end up transferring big sis to it as she was in fourth grade and her friends at that point where most important to her. When the twins were born, I said, Yeah, they'll be able to go! I even pre-registered them FOUR years ago! It's a small school, everyone knows each other, small classes and the kids wear uniforms (which I also like). But over the past few years there's been problems with the direction. The principal has been off on stress leave for the past 3 years and there's been one interim principal after another which creates a certain lack of leadership/direction/management. Some parents have been frustrated and pulled their kids out. There's also an issue that there is no busing provided for this school so kids need to be driven back and forth. Some parents have had issues with that and pulled them out. I had a major issue with that as I didn't want to commit being a chauffeur for the next 6 years.

So what changed my way of thinking?

Two things, no, three.

Last week-end there was an article in the newspaper which gave ratings of schools according to those ministry tests given to 3rd and 6th graders. This school came out FIRST...out of the whole province, out of over 3000 schools tested!!! It got an overall mark of 10/10, given to a handful of schools province-wide. Now that got me thinking, really thinking.

AND THEN, I learn that the school board has finally approved the school for busing! No need to drive them back and forth.

And there's also the fact that I'm really pleased with the high school that big sis is attending. This is the high school all the kids at this school would go to. And a very small part of me likes the fact that it is catholic, like to have that extra dimension thrown into their daily lives.

Called the school this morning. Turns out the secretary is a mom I know and she was all excited to hear baby girl and baby boy would be attending! So she'll be sending me all the official forms to fill out.

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm registering them at two schools that way I have more time to ponder and agonize, lovely ;)

st valentines

2007-02-14T13:11:00.000-05:00

We went the home-made route this year for the twins. An easy and inexpensive project for them. Got some paper doilies and stickers from the dollar store and they just went ahead and decorated and signed their names on the back. Easy shmeasy but still cute.

Big sis, first year where she didn't bother with making cards. But at the last minute this morning, she grabbed a few heart shaped lollipops we had to distribute to friends at school.

Tonight, our traditional chocolate fondue! Off to farm Boy to get lots of fruit!! Yum!!!

a week in retrospective

2007-02-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Kids are finally in bed. I survived yet another 4 days with hubby out of town. He should be arriving something around midnight later on tonight. He didn't really feel like going and said he won't be going again for a while. He was missing his family before he was even gone. And the kids were all missing him too, moreso than previous trips.

This was week #1 on my new road: seriously and powerfully committed in reaching a healthier level for myself. The new gym I joined finally opened its doors and I'm really loving it. I'm finally doing what I've been wanting to do since the twins started school. I think the group atmosphere is working for me now. Tired of doing things alone at home I guess. I'm patting myself on the back for actually making it there a total of 5 times this past week! Two sessions of Bodypump (a cardio-weight training group workout with great loud music), two sessions of weight training (one being an initial session with a trainer which was awesome, looking forward to the next ones and seeing my strength improve, been) and one hour of yoga which I really, really loved. Add to that 2 hours on the canal last Sunday and one hour toboganning and one hour skating in our backyard today and I've pretty much did some form of exercise daily. And it was actually fun! I am not doing this solely for weight loss (although I do hope all this effort will result in that eventually) but mostly in keeping my body strong, firm and flexible.

Of course, exercise is just one factor in the big equation. Diet is key too. And not diet in the context of a quick fix starve myself diet, but more of a mind-set where I make a conscious effort daily in eating healthy and in moderate amounts. And of course, the whole family benefits too. Not that we were ever that far from healthy eating so its really just some fine-tuning. This past week was pretty great in this area too. Strayed a bit off course when I went to Pizza Hut with the kids and another husband-out-of town mom and her 3 kids for supper one night and I had a beer but managed to have only one piece of pizza and loads of salad. And today I had a few Timbits when we went to a local arena to watch a friend's 8 year old play hockey ;)

On other news, my dad went to the hospital for a little dermatological procedure, again. He had this lesion on his ear and after tons of prompting and persuasion had it checked and it turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma. He had it excised two years ago and it came back. So off he went to get it removed again. He had the same thing on his leg a few years back. And this a man who has worked indoors all his life. Makes you think twice about the merit of sunscreen, which he hasn't used regularly, and more personally makes me wonder if I'll be predisposed to those types of lesions myself. For a 10 minute procedure done under local in a regular exam room, he was at the hospital for a total of 6 hours. He had been there waiting for 4 hours already when this other patient arrived: obviously a prisoner, with shackles and accompanied by 3 guards...he didn't have to wait, they brought him in right away...in and out in half an hour flat...and he didn't have to pay for parking either...my dad was ticked, especially since we had just finished talking about this story which I won't even comment on cause I don't have anything nice to say about it.

And big sis has simply been the best these past few days. No talking back, being responsible for herself and EVEN picking up her room with very little prompting. The twins went to a birthday party at the local YMCA last Saturday and she asked to go along with them. The birthday mom didn't mind the extra pair of hands with 10 5-6 year olds. And I got TWO full hours to myself (went shopping and got myself something for a change and went to the gym too). She did great there. She definitely has a natural knack to taking care of younger kids. She showed that ability again today when we babysat my godchild, the cutest 2 year old. She had all sorts of games and activities lined up for him and the twins. I was mostly relegated to the background preparing meals, cleaning up and managed to do all my laundry too!

Add to all that, mom's taxi service tos chool and back, dance lessons, badminton, greek school, gymnastics and a long overdue date with a friend for tea one evening (divorced, remarried, long story) and a parent teacher night another evening...so no wonder blogging took the back burner.

But I'm all set for another week :)

here we go again

2007-02-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

Last week, I kept the kids from school one morning to bring them to an open house at the school they will be attending starting next September. First grade. Already. Big lump in mom's throat here.

Seven years ago I went through this common ordeal that parents face: selecting a school for their wee ones. Visited a few. Talked to hords of other parents. And for a mutitude of reasons, made a final selection. It turned out fine. Big sis went to that school for 6 years and she did well.

So seven years later, for the sake of being thorough and most probably anal, started looking at the options available for the twins. Visited a few schools. Talked to hords of parents.

So last week, the twins and I returned to big sis' former elementary school. It was like returning home. The principal, the secretaries, the teachers all came to say hello and "how's big sis doing in high school?" and "are those really the twins? starting already?" Most of them have lived through my pregnancy and saw them on several occasions over the years. The kindergarten teacher assured me that the group of kids my little ones would integrate with next year are great. The first grade teachers were there too and they got to meet them. We discussed how I would like them to be in the same class, for next year at least, just because they don't really know other kids for now. Maybe we'll separate them in the following years. Just another layer of decision-making specific to twin parents.

Bottom line: my mind is at ease now, well more at ease. I think it will be fine. I hope. They feel very comfortable with that school. They can't wait to finally get on a school bus (having watched big sis get on one all these years).

When I left, the secretary, a really sweet lady, tells me: "another 6 years for you!"

Yikes! Here we go again!

must be saturday night

2007-02-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

There he is. Baby boy. Front row seat. On the edge of his seat. In the rocking chair that used to be mine as a child. Full concentration. Only gets up between periods. His beloved home team lost. Not a happy camper.

taking care of me

2007-02-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

That's what the last 2 days have been about. And the guilt, the guilt, that darn mother's guilt. Why is it its so much easier to take care of others than of oneself.

Thursday:
Left the house while my cleaning ladies, my beloved cleaning ladies did their magic. I had one when the twins were little but then she retired when they were around 2 yrs old. And then I figured, no problem, I can do it now, all of it, I'm supermom. Not. A few months back, a friend told me that her cleaning crew had an opening. Didn't take long to jump on that offer.

So while the toilet bowls and floors were getting scrubbed, I went to get my pearly whites looked after. Even got a little bleaching kit to brighten up the smile :) Followed by a little solo shopping (ended up getting valentine's day stuff for the kids) and lunch with a great book. Then off to the hairdresser for 2 hours of pampering. New color and highlights. Then off to my new gym. Joined a while back but it officially opened now. Got the grand tour. And a first workout. And made an appointment with a trainer for my inital evaluation next week. Got the ball rolling, finally!

Friday:
A continuing education course. With hubby. Have to keep my hours up in order to maintain my provincial license. It turned out to be totally unexpectedly awesome. An invigorating, stimulating and motivating day taking about health and fitness. I acquired so many pearls of wisdom. A lot I knew already: eat healthy, drink water, exercise regularly,etc. But the speakers didn't address so much what we need to do to lead a healthier lifestyle, the intellectual side of us already knows all that stuff. It was more a search of our deep inner selves to find out what would motivate us to do those things. Find out our powerful reasons. Make a dream list of our future and visualize it. Very powerful stuff.

They spoke of the things people need to achieve these results: a log of what we eat and the exercises we do, drinking lots of water, eliminating junk food from our houses, having people around us who will support us, having people whose achievements are inspirational to us, getting a personal trainer or even better taking a personal training course, cutting down caffeine consumption, not eating 2 hours before bedtime, sleeping enough every night, taking time daily for ourselves (meditation, quiet reading), getting regular massages, yoga, and even journalling ! As in blogging! Apparently spending the time to write down our thoughts is part of the road to a better, happier and healthier lifestyle.

Cool!

So here's my top two powerful reasons to bring my health and wellness to the next level:

#1---be a role model to my children
#2--becoming an active older adult enjoying life and children

Let's just keep the momentum going!

I survived!

2007-01-31T13:09:00.000-05:00

And actually had a blast! Being gone for 3 days, away from the usual routine, no meals to cook, spending 4-5 hours a day out of doors and being with 17 most incredible little souls was tiring, yes, but invigorating. It was non-stop. One activity after the next. Add to that the fresh air and we had kids who ate like wolves and slept like logs. And it was cold hovering around -20C. But we were all well dressed and the woods tend to be sheltered and less cold. We played broom ball, lots of tobogganing , cross-country skied to a little lodge and had hot chocolate, snowshoeing to a huge beaver dam, walked up a mountain (45 minute hike up), walkedthrough the forest at night with candle torches, singalongs and marshmallows around a camp fire after supper, loads of indoor games (parachute, dress-up, hot potato, duck duck goose, etc), putting snow boots and snow pants and hats and neck warmers and mitts on and off and on and off, wiping runny noses, story time before bedtime, pajama party with clowns and jugglers and getting loads of hugs and seeing happy faces on a great bunch of 4-5 year old. Their parents missed them lots more than they did. What an experience for them. True confidence and independence builder. An experience of a lifetime and I'm so glad I volunteered to go.

Enjoy the pics, in no particular order.
(the lady in the red coat would be me:)

winter fun

2007-01-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a backyard scene from last week-end. They were on the ice in the morning, in the afternoon and again after supper. Baby girl loves to play "tag" chasing her dad around. Baby boy loves to line up his pucks and take rapid succesive slapshots against a board we installed for him or to be the "goalie" so we can try to score on him.

True winter outdoor lovers.

Which is a good thing because tomorrow, they are going to a winter camp with their preschool. Three days filled with outdoor winter activities (tobogganing, snowshoeing, tubing, ringette, cross-country skiing, etc.) and 2 nights in a huge dormitory for 26 people. Their school has been doing this camp for close to 10 years and its for the oldest kids 4.5 yrs and up. Its the highlight of their year. Even big sis who went some 8 years ago still talks about how much fun she had.

There will be 20 kids, 2 teachers, two camp counsellors and two volunteer parents, one being yours truly :~) But now I have a cold. Darn. I have to get better in a hurry cause no matter what, I'm going. I've been hacking and coughing for the past two weeks (and taking ColdFx,zinc, VitC, echinecea) and my sinuses started to hurt yesterday so off to the doctor for some antibiotics. Today, the pain is in my ears. A little Advil cleared it up though.

So wish me luck, I'll tell you all about it when I return, happy but exhausted ;)

dancing queen

2007-01-22T17:04:00.000-05:00

For years, big sis wanted to partake in our church's school for traditional Greek
dancing. Unfortunately, it always took place on Monday nights when both hubby and I worked. Then the little ones came along, no question about dragging them there. Up until this year. She finally got to start this past September and both baby boy and baby girl get to go too now that they are 5 years old.

And sure enough, big sis loves it.

Last Saturday was her first performance. In front of over 250 people. The other girls in the group have been dancing for years but her teacher assured me she's a fast learner. So of course, I went to see her. To take pics and video for this momentous first.

And she did great! I was so impressed with her! You could tell she truly enjoyed herself. They performed 5 different dances. As a thank-you for the dancers, they got to eat all together at a table set aside for just them and they then got to join the party on hand. I've never seen her dance like this. Must bebecause she was with her friends and they all felt great for a job well done. She didn't want to go home. I eventually dragged her out of there at midnigth though.

Way to go sweetie!

interesting...many points are true here

2007-01-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

You are The Hermit

Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.

The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.

The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.

The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

craft zone

2007-01-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

The kids got quite a few craft kits at Christmastime and we are slowly getting to them. I have to admit having lots of fun doing these with them ;)

First project: decorating/painting 3 ceramic bowls and cooking them in the oven to set the paint. Turned out pretty nice!

Second project: building this small scene and covering with this solution and then watching crystals form. Super cool one!

Finally: making 3 fancy shmancy bandannas.

LOVE these presents, fun for all!

rompecabeza

2007-01-18T19:32:00.000-05:00

Spanish word which literally means "break head". Hence the french term "casse-tete". Otherwise known as a jigsaw puzzle.

A few days ago my parents came over to see the kids and brought along a box. In it a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle depicting a summer scene from the town my dad grew up in in the French Alps. It was given to them by a friend who got it at a flea market.

So we installed ourselves around the kitchen table. Three generations working together. First it was a separation of the pieces according to color. Then all the "outside pieces" were assembled. That was enough for the first day.

The little ones certainly got an appreciation of what a thousand meant in real terms! And what a long term project is all about. Hubby and I worked at it over 5 days sometimes till the wee hours of the night, talking about this town and how we can't wait to return, chatting about daily stuff and reminiscing. When the twins were a little over a month old, we worked on a 1500 piece Christmas winter scene puzzle. We would sit with them around the table, feed them and look for pieces. We then glued the completed puzzle onto a cardboard backing and every Christmas, pull it out and remember that time in our lives.

So we finished the puzzle and realized two pieces were missing! Am working on making little pieces so we can glue this one too.

And their you have it, another snippet of our family life during cold winter days.

counting backwards

2007-01-17T12:32:00.000-05:00

The twins sure know how to do it. They got an extra long practice this morning.

You see, our new van has this nifty feature we didn't have in our other vehicle: the outdoor temperature is displayed front overhead center.They stare at the digital readout and comment about it daily. We'll often have a little contest of sorts to "guess" what temperature it will be once we reach school. Its a mini math lesson, discussing the whole concept of zero and negative numbers. There's also a compass near the temperature readout so they are getting to know the whole concept of N-S and W-E.

So today we went from +13C in the garage to -24C at school!!!

So keep warm everyone, gotta go wipe some condensation off some windows;)

missing in action

2007-01-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

I'm back!

Seems I've just had time to read my favorite blogs with scattered comments lately. Tried to post on my own but have been kicked out a few times. Hope it works this time.

Well, yes, the holidays are over. Back to school and work. Back to making lunches and driving the kids from here to there. Back to a routine, YES!!! I was so glad to get my house back. Spent the first few days putting all Christmas things away: decorations, cards, tree and all the loot acquired. Seems there is more and more stuff every year. And the difficulty in picking which kids' craft to keep!

Also went to my hubby's Christmas party. They always have it after the holidays, just easier to find a date suitable for everyone. It was all right. I think I was just all partied out and didn't really feel like going. Plus, I don't really know too many of his employees. Still was a nice evening out: a sit down meal, a few drinks,some dancing, some poker and black jack, some uninterrupted adult chitchat!

Went to church last Sunday. There was a luncheon right after that we hadn't planned on going to but some dear friends coerced us into it. Its an annual event, a fundraiser for a local charity. Everyone got a ticket going in as there are lots of door prizes. Just as I was saying how we never ever win anything, the number gets called out for the main prize: and baby girl won! I was thrilled. Yes because we won but mostly because she, the shy one, went all by herself up to the parish priest to claim her prize. She let him pick her up and present her to the whole congregation assembled, close to 300 people. She was beaming. She won an exquisite gold cross on a chain. Tradition has it that whoever wins this prize has luck on their side for the rest of the year. So there you go!

Also was my godchild's second birthday. Two already. He is the sweetest boy with a most gentle soul. Spent the day with him, along with his family and ours. Great people and love them all so very dearly.

Last Friday night, we had the chance to go see the Ottawa 67s. The girls didn't want to go. So baby boy and hubby went. He was SO proud! Meanwhile, big sis went to badminton, which left just baby girl and I. She said she wanted to go shopping with me! So off we went to the mall. Slowly browsing from store to store. Stopped for an ice cream. It was awesome spending some one on one time with her. A rare event. And she was SO happy too, that she just kept hugging me. But she wouldn't leave the mall without getting a little something for her brother! And he came back from the hockey game with some pink cotton candy for her! Those two. What a special bond they have.

And we finally got some snow yesterday! Yoo hoo! Been working on rebuilding our melted skating rink, should be perfect by tonight.

All right, back to the basement. The treadmill and an episode of LOST are awaiting:)

tired ole' mom

2007-01-06T21:38:00.000-05:00

It creeps up on you slowly. The aging thing. For quite a while you feel the same. And then, bang, one day you feel old, older. There's the usual signs: the white hair, the sagging bits, the jiggly bits, the most annoying failing eyesight , the slowed down metabolism making you gain weight just looking at food. And now a few new ones that are really pissing me off: hard time getting up from the floor when playing with kids, aching joints which I've NEVER had, sore back from tying 3 pairs of skates and just plain lack of energy. Seems like I've reached this new physical era in my life. some of it is out of my control and some I really need to get control over.

All right, I know, its also the fact that this whole Holiday fun leaves one with a digestive system out of whack due to too many indulgences and a body so out of shape from lack of exercise and too many days spent with kids who really need to go back to school and crazy hours going to bed and getting up. And clothes that feel too tight, arghh.

Bottom line, I want my routine back. I want my house back, to myself. I need to get rid of ALL the stuff lying around. I need to get back on my treadmill. Hey I even got the whole first season of Lost, which I've never seen, and plan to watch one episode each time I go run/walk.

One more day

twelve days after Christmas

2007-01-06T01:32:00.000-05:00

Today is January 6th. Epiphany day. The twelfth day after Christmas. La Fete des Rois. El Dia de los Reyes. Ukrainian Christmas. Different meanings for different people.

My Spanish mom grew up with presents being delivered to the kids on this day by the 3 kings (no Santa Claus back then). My french dad grew up with the tradition of La Galette des Rois: a delicious flat cake with a hidden bean/trinket and whoever gets them in tehir piece is declared King of the day. My Greek husband grew up with a special church celebration of the "Blessing of the Waters".

So all in all, ever since the kids arrived, I've tried to impart a new tradition for this day resulting from an amalgamation of all these different upbringings.

For us, its the day the 3 kings came to bring their presents to baby Jesus. Hence, the kids will receive a little present tomorrow (usually one I put aside from all the ones they were about to receive at Christmas). We've already eaten that special cake tonight as my parents were here and baby boy will be king of the day tomorrow. And we will make a point of going to Church this week-end too. And we NEVER remove any Christmas decorations until after Epiphany.

AND ON A WHOLE OTHER NOTE...

... started off by updating the ticker factory and I ended up updating the whole look. What do you think?

Now that new ticker is my weight reduction/exercise/eat better incentive. TWO months before we hit the beach! Yikes!!

out on a date

2007-01-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

We pulled it off. Hubby and I actually went out on a movie date. In the
middle of the day too. He really wanted to see CasinoRoyale ,
so after a morning of crafts with the kids, off we went. We've always
seen James Bond movies and Star Trek ones too forthat matter on the big screen.

It didn't disappoint us. Lots of action and lots of great locales (Bahamas, Venice, Lake Como and others). The new James Bond is definitely a new kind of James
Bond. Tougher yet more vulnerable. All in all a great escape for us.

And this weather? What's up with that? Definitely weird. Great to walk
around and all but no fun for the kids. Our outdoor skating rink is
officially finished as are all our cross country ski trails which we
carved around theproperty last week-end. Time to take out the bikes!

museum day

2007-01-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

For their birthday the twins got a family pass for the Nature Museum. Its a lovely old building resplendent in architectural details. Major renovations started in 2004 and will be ongoing until 2010.

So today, in an effort towards "an activity a day" for this last holiday week, we decided to go. Along with loads and loads of other families with the same intentions. We hadn't been back since the renovations started and I was taken aback at the sheer magnitude of the work undertaken. Most of our favorite exhibits were gone. We had to walk through construction zones. We scaled 6 flight of stairs. People with strollers had very long waits for one service elevator. It was, for me, disappointing. Yes, the new exhibits have some neat things to them, but I found it all too modern. Lost was the feel of the old majestic building. There was definite people flow issues as evidenced with many areas of congestion. I admit, I don't do well in crowded situations. Even worse with little kids in tow.

But the kids had fun. Along with the usual end of tour museum shop stop. I have to admit, they are well trained here, and always judiciously pick one item each. Yes, overpriced, but if it has some educational value I'm OK with it plus I view it as a donation to the museum.

But I think we won't go back for a little while. We'll wait for the renovations to advance some more.

last night's fun

2007-01-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

But this warm weather, as nice as it is, is not a good thing for a kid who wants to skate :( Thank God there's a hockey game for him to watch tonight!

we've created a monster

2007-01-03T14:56:00.000-05:00

A hockey monster that is. Baby boy is addicted to the sport and he doesn't even play it yet.

He checks the Senators' calendar up on the fridge daily and informs us what time the game is on. He'll sit there and watch the whole game intently.

He plays with his hockey cards daily, classifying them in all sorts of combinations and permutations.

His favorite hat and jacket have an NHL logo of some sort on it.

His bedsheets have hockey logos on them.

He asks us every day if he can go "play" hockey, either in the garage or on the driveway. Or a game of air hockey. Last night he got to go on our backyard rink . Could. Not. Get. Him. To. Come. Back. In.

New Year's morning, we all watched the movie The Rocket, a great recap of Maurice Richard's life. He was riveted. And last night he was pretending to be Maurice taking slap shot after slap shot on a board hubby set up for him rink side.

Santa brought him this book. To add to his collection of favorite books.

What have we done? We've created a monster! But he's so cute when he comes back in after "playing" hockey all sweaty and with rosy cheeks. Or the way he cheers when the Sens or the Habs score. Such intensity. I hope he has this kind of intensity with whatever he ends up wanting to do with his life, cause if he does, he'll do well.

I wanted to add some pics but Blogger won't let me, arghhh.

Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T19:06:00.000-05:00

To all the people dear to my heart, close and far away.

My hopes for the New Year?
World peace, of course.
Loads of good times with family and friends.
Enjoying every moment that comes my way.
Happiness and health for those I love.

And of course,
the eternal "this is the year I'll be in great shape;)"
Not a resolution. Nah.
Just a commitment to myself.

Cheers!

le Noel des manuels

2006-12-31T01:50:00.000-05:00

Although the celebrating is not yet over, we've had overall a most wonderful Christmas. Everything went smoothly, effortlessly and quite stress-free. Simplicity was key. Everyone was in good health and in good humor. No more schedules. We eat whenever we're hungry or the food is ready. We sleep in. We go to bed way too late.

Lots of time spent with family and friends. Chatting and laughing. Thrown in there was hubby's birthday. Lots of presents to open. We stretched this out over a few days. Funny thing though is that a lot of what we all received came along with instruction manuals, over a dozen actually, hence why we named this Christmas the "Noel Des manuels"!!! Lots of reading to do.

In between all the conviviality we managed to go skating indoors quite a few times. We decided not to put the twins in skating lessons mostly because we couldn't find a good time for them, Instead we promised ourselves to just take them out as often as we can. Practice, practice. Plus the fact that our outdoor skating rink, double the size from last year, is well underway. And then the snow came! Hooray! Snowmen appeared, hats and all. Today, we even ventured out for some cross-country skiing. It was gorgeous.

We are definitely in holiday mode.

santa came!!!

2006-12-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

The Jolly Ole Man has been especially generous to us all. Guess we must have all been very good all year long ;)

We are now off to Montreal for a few days of merriment.

Cheers!

our first holiday day

2006-12-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

No one had to go to school or go to work today. We all slept in. Made pancakes for breakie. Did some groceries. Kids had their hair cut. Met some friends at the skating rink. Went over to their house afterwards for a fun supper and gift exchange. All 6 kids had a blast. And everyone enjoyed the cookies we made :)

the year in review

2006-12-22T08:53:00.000-05:00

Concept is straight from Dani's and admittedly I was curious to see what mine would bring up. A random grouping of vignettes. So here goes, first sentence of the first blog of every month In 2006, from January to December:

For years, especially pre-kid years, New Year's Eve meant inviting everyone and anyone over to our house for a get-together and having people ending up sleeping here and there.
Hard to believe but I registered all 3 kids for soccer today!
Last night was TV night for hubby and I.
the extra laundry generated from playing in the mud and puddles
Well the second skating show went great too.
Picked up the twins soccer uniforms.
Otherwise known as barn swallow or the lovely french term "hirondelle des granges".
It's been hot all right, tending to stay inside to be cool or going outside to splash in the pool with friends over or at other people's places and their pool.
Yep it happened last night.
To reciprocate nancy's last two posts, yes, life has been busy around here, so much so that I've become a silent blogger.
What fun it was!
Crazy weather today.

Interesting how these 12 sentences sum up my year: life as a mom in the outskirts of suburbia with my family and friends and all their activities. Not an exciting/glamorous life. but my life, a simple one celebrating simple events.

And I'd like to think that #11 pretty much summed it up "what fun it was!"

we've come a long way

2006-12-21T17:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday:

Last gymnastics class for the session and as usual the parents are allowed in to see what our kidlets are able to do. Time to confess. I usually drop them off, check them for mere seconds to appease my mommy's conscience that they are fine and I bolt out of there to run errands. I really haven't seen much what they've been up to lately :( So it was an incredible surprise to actually see how much they've progressed. How tall they look compared to younger ones. How much stronger they've gotten physically. And how much better they are at listening and following instructions. Way to go guys. They'll be starting their third year next January. A really great activity for them and good for both girls and boys!

Today:

School Christmas party at a local community hall. They've been getting ready for this for weeks and the whole event has been shrouded in a veil of secrecy. NO clue what they were up to. This is their third and final year in this most incredible school. The first year, they didn't even make it on stage. Too shy. Last year, involved in the singing only. This year, leading roles in a play about a Christams circus! It was the cutest thing ever and all parents were blown away at the amount of lines they memorized and how well they acted. Baby boy was the "tamer" of wild reindeers, converting them into docile ones worthy to work with Santa. Baby girl was a "fire juggler" and danced and twirled batons to an enchanting Christmas melody. Am so glad I made a point of changing hubby's schedule months ago so that he could attend this. The pride on his face was priceless. And how big they looked next to all the wee ones! The show was followed by a pinata, a potluck lunch and a visit from santa. We came home all tingly with the Christams spirit and spent the rest of the day making crafts, wrapping gifts and baking. Just pure magic.

all partied out

2006-12-20T13:39:00.000-05:00

Last night was our last adult only festive gettogether. Outfit #1 got worn for the third time. Its always the "getting-ready-to-go-out" part that proves to be the most stressful. Going over instructions with the sitter, making supper and feeding the kids, stopping sibling animosity which always seems to excalate the closer the time comes for me to go and finally finding some time to myself to get dolled up (hubby was still at work and I had to go pick him up). As I'm struggling through these tense moments I can't help but wonder is it really worth it? Should I have just stayed home?

But of course, once I'm actually there with some alcoholic beverage in my hand, I can slowly feel all the tension dissipate and I'm reconnecting with my old self. Especially last night as we were in a room full of my professional colleagues, some of them acquaintances of close to 25 years. Hubby and I worked the room, making a point of talking to all we knew and meeting some new people as well. Networking I guess.

We left hand-in-hand glad to have managed to go out on a "date" and amazed at the number of people we know and met there, a very extensive social circle. Quite heartwarming actually.

nearly there

2006-12-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

What a whirlwind of activity around here. My mind can only work in list mode. SO here goes, in absolutely no order:

wrote and mailed all 60 Christmas cards
ended up pulling out the fake tree from the basement, just couldn't find the time anywhere to go cut one down as we've been doing over the past years and the weather has been poor for a trek in the woods i.e too muddy
the house and the tree are filled with kid's Christmas crafts (thanks for the idea above Nancy)
the entrance table is starting to fill up with cards received from friends and family from all over
baked an incredible amount of cookies (thanks nancy again for the inspiration)
even made some bark, thanks Beachmama! except that I used both dark and white chocolate and made a marbled effect
have relied on the slow cooker more than I ever have
dragged everyone for their annual flu shots
visited a friend and her 7 month old twin girls who screamed for the whole 3 hours I was there and I left exhausted and wondering how I ever did it with my own
winterized the motorcycle and lawnmower
bought new skates for the kids and went skating at the "marina" (as the little ones call it) a few times. We've opted NOT to put them in skating lessons, just no good time to do it, and we all agreed to bring them once/twice a week to our local arena for the $2 family skate up until we get our backyard rink going
have been meeting with lawyers and accountants for our business incorporation, loads and loads of paperwork to get done before Dec 31st, yikes and new computer software to get accustomed to
drove big sis back and forth over the week-end to a badminton tournament where she acquired THREE trophees, not bad for her first year
hubby has been working an insane amount of hours and has been pretty much absent around here
went to our local twin's association Christmas party at midway: it was SO cool to see so many twins and mine certainly felt very special to be part of such a select group
attended greek school Christmas pageant (over 300 kids). The twins looked awesome in their little outfits (see pic above) and sang so well, definite proud mommy moment
attended greek dancing recital, so cute
went to an adults only partee, woo hoo, big sis babysat again along with a friend of hers and we came home to find the twins asleep under the Christmas tree. They had wanted to sleep there so big sis brought up a mattress and some sleeping bags. Too bad I was so tired/drunk to think straigth at 2 am and snap a photo ;)
finishing the last of the gift wrapping today, hopefully
going to another adult only party tonight, getting my outfit #3 of the season ready
preparing platters for kids' school parties

No wonder I'm feeling exhausted. Add to this frenzy an unbalanced diet and lack of regular exercise. Oh well, we are nearly there and then we can just sit back and relax!

bloganniversary

2006-12-15T11:22:00.000-05:00

A year ago today I started this blog. 158 posts later, here I am. 158 days out of 365 in a year. Well, lets not count week-ends so its really 158 out of 261 days. That means that somehow, I had something to say 60% of the time, (yes, I'm a number cruncher kind of gal).

Why did I even start this? And why at this busy time of year? I have to blame it all on Dani. She introduced me to the blogging world and one day sent me an e-mail which stated "come on, go for it, all the COOL kids do it". And that was it, stayed up really late one night and got myself introduced to a whole new medium. Self-educucation for a techno-unsavvy girl.

So what did I get out of all this? Spent a lot of time at my computer, time I guess could have been spent on other things, like housework and exercise. But looking back at my original post, one of my main goals was to be a "family historian" which is really what this blog turned out to be. Simple anecdotes from my everyday life. It forces me to stand back, look at what is going on with me and around me, think about it and write it out. Its a celebration of my life. A simple life really. My new life. It provides an outlet for this working mom turned SAHM.

My other goal in my original post was to make this a gift to me. And it has. This is mine. All mine. At first I went at it on my own but was soon "found out" by some very special blog- friendly pals. Being a mom and being constantly torn in one hundred directions by everyone's demands, my blog is a time for me. I'll be thinking of things to say in my head while doing everyday mundane chores: doing dishes, chopping vegetables, folding laundry, and mostly driving around. I view it as brain exercise. Gotta keep those synapses fired up!

So happy anniversary to me. And a very big heartfelt thanks to all of you who take the time to read about my life and post comments. LOVE those comments and would love to comment on every comment and send it back to the sender if it could be done more easily. Would be more of a conversation. Precious girl talk.

Hoping the next year keeps bringing me inspirations!

a family heirloom

2006-12-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

An acquaintance of ours is a painter. You can check out some of her work here. For quite some time I've been toying with an idea for her to paint our home with us and the kids in it. After meeting with her some time back and having her come here to discuss details, it finally arrived. A Christmas present for us all. I hope it is a piece that will remain in our family for generations to come.

season ritual

2006-12-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

yes I'm done, for another year

every year I say this year I'm going to cut back, but never seem to be able to. Between the relatives overseas and friends scattered throughout North America, I always end up with 60 cards at least.

many years ago, an elderly lady sent me that poem of Christmas cards and I loved it so much as it rings so true to me that I made copies of it on a nice Christmas stationary and sent it out with all my cards one year. Well , yesterday I received a card from a dear friend and she sent me back my poem and signed "Right back at you"

That's teh Christmas spirit!

what a pair!

2006-12-13T10:40:00.000-05:00

Since the beginning of the school year, I've been finding these little plastic cars/buses/planes/boats thingys in the twins pockets. I've asked them both, on separate occasions and one-on-one where those came from. They both told me they found them digging in the sand at school and it was OK to keep them. Since they both told me the same story, I went for it, right?

Wrong!!!!!

Yesterday, I just so happened to be talking to their teacher about this and that and finally brought up this subject telling her what a neat idea it was to have little plastic toys hidden in the sand for them to "find". She looks at me with a puzzled look. What? she says.

Turns out these little toys are used in the classroom for a speical activity. Boy have I been had. They've been in cahoots all along and tricked me. The teacher had a good laugh when I told her and warned me about what else they'll trick me about in years to come.

Ohh la la!

getting dolled up

2006-12-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

When I stopped working, so did the annual office Xmas party. And my hubby's office has had their holiday get-together in January for many years. Just easier to get everyone to agree on a date then.

So needless to say, we haven't had too many "I've got to get dressed up" kind of Xmas gatherings in the past few years. More casual friend/family get-togethers.

And then, all of a sudden, we've been invited to FOUR events. Two of which will be attended by the same people :~( Which sent me in a panic: what to wear? The perpetual dilemna facing women, men don't sweat it out, just decide at the last minute and put an old favorite on. But us , NO! So there I was, in my closet trying to make some magic happen: hmmm, too tight, hmmm, too summery, hmmmm, too old, hmmmm, so and so saw me in this before, hmmmm, wrong color, hmmm, don't have shoes to go with that, etc. So the first "cocktail party" was last Saturday and there I was last Friday night, with just under two hours while big sis was at badminton, to make it all happen. And somehow I did. So here's my outfit #1: the blouse I already had and wore once, new skirt, new shoes, new nylons, new jewellery et voila!

field trip

2006-12-08T15:27:00.000-05:00

Do you remember that excitement and anticipation when you knew there was an upcoming school class trip? Well, that feeling was buzzing around here for quite a while. And the BIG day was today. And yes, it was cold. But dressed as we Canadians know how to dress and with the sun shining, fun was had by all. Plus dad and mom and big sis went along too!

They got to ride on a big yellow school bus, which for kids who get driven to school is a pretty big deal.

Lots of activities in store for them, the least of which was a much anticipated visit sith Santa Claus. They all patiently waited their turn to sit next to him and tell them their wishes. Was way cut. Especially this one little girl who wants a butterfly :)

They rode on a horse drawn carriage and sang carols.

Walked over to a 1930's school where the schoolmistress talked about life in schools back tehn and we all got to do a craft. A Christmas decoration of course.

Decorated some cookies. And ate them too!

Drank hot chocolate around a burning fire and did a few outdoor games.

<

The look of joy on these kids was truly absolutely priceless and put us all, kids and adults, in teh Christmas spirit.

busy busy time of year

2006-12-05T17:27:00.000-05:00

Along with all the fun and magic of the season, Christmas certainly adds on to a mom's already busy workload. Apart from the usual conundrum of laundry, meal planning, housework and the like, we have to walk around with a mental list of who will get what for the big day, shopping to fulfill said list and keep track of what's left to get, wrap said presents, pull out decorations from deep in the darkness of the basement, sort through them and and put them up, make Christmas card list and get to it, arrange family gatherings and meals. And then we have kids who come up with: "Mom, our class is doing a gift exchange, can you go get me something?" and "Mom! can you bring something for our potluck lunch at school?" We have to rehearse parts for school plays and skits. We have to make outfits for Christmas pageants. Phew!!!

So look what I spent my day doing. The twins are going to sing "Mon beau sapin" and, well, have to get dressed as a Christmas tree. So I found some round tablecloths, made a whole in the middle to pass their heads through and armed with a glue gun and some dollar store finds, decorated the tree. I think I'll sew on a bit of garland now to finish it off.

hockey night in canada

2006-12-03T17:14:00.000-05:00

Hot dogs and pop and beer. Popcorn and cotton candy. Great seats. Winning home team (5-2).

Add all that together and it made for an amazing family outing. The kids were so excited with the atmosphere. On and off the ice. They sang the national anthem at the top of their lungs. Baby boy didn't move, so focused on the game. Baby girl was thrilled that the team's mascot Spartacat (whom they call Smarticat) came that close to us. Big sis sat next to her dad discussing the plays.

I so vividly remember with much fondness going to hockey games at the Forum with my dad as a child. Hope my kids will cherish nights like last night for years to come. A true canadian outing.

shy girl

2006-12-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

Baby girl has been getting more and more shy. Or maybe always was but we are noticing it more. Especially with two siblings who really aren't.

This summer, she never talked to her soccer coach and barely to her teammates. At times we will go places and if there are people she doesn't really know she will tell me ahead of time that she won't talk to anyone. I don't make a big issue out of it. At school, she has one best friend, a little girl who was even more shy but has grown out of it. If her friend isn't there, she won't talk/play with anyone else really. She's not painfully shy, just shy in a quiet way.

So today she was invited to her best friend's house. She was really happy to go, but didn't want to go alone. She wanted her brother and sister to go with her. I couldn't believe that. Thank God the parents of her friend are such great people cause they ended up inheriting my 3 kids for a whole afternoon.

Ah well, let's attribute that to another phase.

Off to get ready we are all going out tonight: to the hockey game. GO SENS GO!!!

crazy start to a new month

2006-12-01T20:57:00.000-05:00

Crazy weather today. School buses were cancelled city wide so big sis stayed home. Twins still went, was Pizza Day today and they would have hated to miss that. They were so excited to see snow this morning. First of December AND first snow, what a perfect combination to put us in a Christmas mood. Listened to Christmas music all day and started putting out some decorations.

Unfortunately, the snow turned into rain and freezing rain. Funny thing too since big sis just finished a school project on freezing rain so we blamed her for this :) We also had a few power failures throughout the day. And looking outside really brought me back to 1998. The BIG ice storm. We were out of power for 4 days back then and ended up staying at a friend's house. Not as bad as so many others.

Went to pick up the twins. Drove ever so slowly, hard to tell if it was just wet or frozen and with a new vehicle that has never seen these types of road conditions. Got back home and noticed some of our bigger junipers (12 to 15 feet tall)starting to droop from the weight of the ice. A mere hour later, when hubby got home, they were pretty much totally bent down to the ground. SO we got geared up, the twins stayed inside and watched us through the window, and we went out in the torrential freezing downpour to rescue some trees: knocking ice off, get ropes to pull them back up. We had to change gloves every half hour. Finally, two hours later, we were done. Hope they'll be Ok.

all better

2006-11-30T23:56:00.000-05:00

Everyone was better today and everyone's appetite is back. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it'll stay like that for a while.

Hubby was back at work today. We also realized that exactly a year ago today he missed another day of work. Not a good time of year for him it would seem. But it was much worse that this stomach flu. Much scarier. He ended up in the hospital with atrial fibrillation. His heart stopped beating properly. No real reason. Since then he's been monitored, put on some meds, had a few minor relapses, we all try to keep his stress level down and things seem to be stabilized. Thank God. To see him, a man who always takes care of himself by eating well and exercising, all hooked up to machines in an emergency room was quite a scare. It put a lot of things into perspective. It makes one focus on the big picture and not just the details. But one thing is for sure, I want to spend the sunset of our lives together :)

damn bugs

2006-11-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

It started off with baby girl last Thursday. She had a 24 hour stomach flu.

Then it was big sis' turn. She ended up having it on Sunday when we were having our family over to celebrate her birthday and my mom's (yes they share the same birthday, 71 years apart). She spent the day lying with a bucket next to her. She managed to open a few gifts though ;) And it dragged on to Monday, her actual birthday, and she's still not feeling 100%

Then, last night it was hubby's turn. He actually called in sick today, something he's done a handful of times over the past 20 years. He pretty much spent the day in bed.

I keep waiting for baby boy to show symptoms. Crooss my fingers, maybe he'll be spared.

And me? Hanging in there. Haven't been eating much for the past few days, mostly weak tea and plain toast as I feel like I'm on the edge of getting it but willing my body not to succomb. Moms can't get sick, right?

But look who came to visit in the backyard this morning. There was a beautiful cardinal too but he was much faster than my camera.

.

christmas is in the air

2006-11-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

We have an unwritten rule that we don't put any Christmas decorations up until after big sis' birthday. We kinda broke the rule this year, just by a day though. The weather was good and the twins had been bugging us since their return from Florida.

So out came the lights, detangling cords after cords, checking out which set worked and which doesn't and putting them up on trees that keep getting bigger and bigger and require another trip to the store to purchase more. But when nightfall came and on came the lights, there was magic in the air.

twelve years ago today

2006-11-27T14:28:00.000-05:00

We became parents. It feels like yesterday, It feels like a lifetime ago.

After 6 years of marriage and just as many years of trying, my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 15 weeks. We were devastated. Those were dark days in our marriage. We consulted specialists in the reproductive field, we had a multitude of tests done. The bottom line of all these knowleadgeable individulas: there is nothing we can do for you. We started thinking of a child-free life, a coping mechanism for sure.

Then a friend, also trying to conceive, asked me to go with her to this chinese herbalist/acupuncturist who specializes in infertility cases. We had a few common friends who had gone already and ended up with babies. She really believed this would work. Me, not really. With my trained scientific mind, I shrugged it all off as insanity but agreed to go with her to make her happy. He gave us a tea to drink and some pills for hubby. Lo and behold, we both got pregnant a few weeks apart.

I was ever so careful with this pregnancy, not rushing to tell everyone as we did the first time. Taking care of myself. Enjoying this purest miracle, with a little voice in the back of my mind thinking this could be the last time I'd ever live through this. Was a great pregnancy with just normal symptoms of heartburn and last trimester bloating. 40 weeks came and went. November 18th, the due date came and went. We were scheduled for an induction on the morning of the 28th of November.

The morning of the 27th, I woke up with mild cramping. They became more regular. We had breakfast in the dining room with the sun filtering through the windows. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday. At 10 am, I felt a pressure and rushed to the shower just in time for my waters breaking and gushing out. Hubby busied himself getting my bags ready and putting a plastic bag over my seat in the vehicle and we drove off smiling proudly at the thought of soon meeting our first born.

Our neighbour, my medical doctor, was outside putting some Christmas decorations. We stopped by to say hi and when she asked how we were, we said "we're great! we're on our way to meet our baby" She laughed and wished us well and was going to join us in a few hours as she was going to be our baby's doctor too.

Get to the hospital, settle in a room, start walking around, pausing for some panting. But then the pain intensified to the point of tears. I was having back labour and no position made me comfortable. Hubby started panicking and started getting things moving for me to get an epidural. Which I finally did. What a relief. Things progressed slowly and steadily and we started pushing. And we pushed. And pushed. And nothing happened. Finally my OB came in and declared that I was going to need a ceasarian. The baby was coming in face first (there's a medical term for this which I forget)and was stuck in the canal.

It became an emergency issue, I was rushed to the OR. Lights and machines were being flicked on as we came in. Hubby was gone to put some scrubs on. My epidural was wearing off. I was petrified with fear. I was alone on that hard cold operating table. People were rushing around me getting things ready, hooking up machines and waiting for the anaesthesiologist to come back from home.

Eventually he arrived, drugged me up and not very long after, our baby girl emerged at 8:30 pm and weighing in at 7 pounds. She had a huge crop of black hair halfway down her back (no wonder I had so much heartburn they said) and she was perfect. Hubby was crying with joy. I was trembling from a mixture of emotions and drugs. Outside, the first snowflakes of the season were falling and by the time hubby left the hospital to go back home, a full blown snowstorm was underway.

And our love affair with this child began.

So many firsts together. SO much joy. And now, I look at her, a young woman and wonder where my little girl has gone. We love her so much and just want the best for her. We want to shield her from the cruelties of this world and want to prepare her for it too. She's a great kid and we congratulate ourselves and count our blessings.

Happy Birthday my firstborn, my beautiful daughter and the best big sis ever.

change of direction

2006-11-23T13:27:00.000-05:00

Well, the day started off as any other day, get up early, get dressed, make beds, prepare lunches, make sure big sis has her project ready, sign last minute forms for her, gather up garbage and bring to curb, get hubby out the door on time, last minute tidying up before cleaning ladies show up, get kids dressed and fed for school, drive them to school.

But we get there and baby girl informs me she is not feeling well, her tummy hurts and doesn't want to go in. Leave baby boy there, get her back home, open the front door and she throws up all over the carpet in the entrance. Oh NO! Here we go. So she's been home with me which really threw a curve on my day's schedule. She's lethargic, poor sweetie, and has been sick a few more times. Now, who else will be getting this? We have a jam-packed week-end coming up: all 3 kids off on PD days tomorrow, appointments at eye doctor, haircuts, parent-teacher interviews, baptism on Saturday, birthday party for big sis and my mom and big sis' godfather on Sunday. Yikes.

this or that

2006-11-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

Quite a while back, my hubby received a gift certificate as a present from one of the companies he deals with. It entitles us to 2 Ticketmaster tickets. All of a sudden, we realized that there was an imminent expiry to it. We decided to give it to big sis and have her pick.

So the choices boiled down to (1) the Goo Goo Dolls or (2)the Nutcracker Ballet. Different genres wouldn't you say?

Guess what my nearly 12 year old daughter picked?

Number 2. Which kind of surprised me. Part of me wanted to go see the Goo Goo Dolls, would have been fun but on the other hand, I love the Nutcracker. Big sis still remembers playing the starring role as a 4 year old in a school Christmas pageant where she was the Plum Sugar Fairy, an enchanting part of the ballet. So this was her main reason for chosing one over the other.

My best friend growing up was really into ballet. As much as I would have loved to join in with her, I was deemed too tall :( But I attended all her recitals, often helping backstage in the early years, and then watched her in the Nutcracker quite a few times. Must have seen that ballet close to a dozen times at different venues. I remember getting a vinyl record (gasp) of The Best of Tchaikovsky as a kid and loving it. One of my wishes back then was to one day go with my own daughter to see this magical ballet.

So it seems my wish is coming true. And it will certainly put us in the Christmas mood.

cause to celebrate

2006-11-20T07:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had 5 of big sis' friends over for a delebration. She turns 12 on the 27th but this was the only day good for everyone. It was a great group of really nice young ladies: two she's known since kindergarten, two were from her previous school and one she just met.

They watched a movie while munching on popcorn and veggies and dip, played a few board games, ordered in pizza, bday cake and fruit, opened some presents, listened to music, played some piano. All in all an easy for me and fun for them celebration.

But the best part of the day was when hubby and the twins returned from their trip late in the evening. I couldn't stop hugging them all. They had an absolutely wonderful time and I'm sure the stories will be trickling in in the days to come. And the little ones didn't even mention my new hair!

Our househlod is back to its usual routine :)

new me

2006-11-18T18:15:00.000-05:00

Well, after a week of purging, cleaning up, re-organizing around the house, moving furniture and wall hangings and picture frames around, I was on a roll. I was in a "change" kinda of mood.

So, on a whim, when I sat in the hairdresser's chair yesterday morning I declared: let's go shorter and darker! So, off went 4-5 inches and I'm no longer a blonde with highlights but a brunette!! When I see myself, I feel like I have a wig on. So far I've had a few astonished looks. The true test will be tomorrow evening when my babies come back home :)