a lil' bit of me

It seems we may be nearing the end of this awful stomach flu that Brody has. Poor little dude, he has been through the ringer. 5 days later and he had his first solid food today. About 5 dry cheerios.

Up and coming. Our little getaway! I am looking forward to getting some time with my hubby. What a treat! The last night away we had was in August - and I was so anxious to get home to Brody, ended it short, and came home.

Saturday night, a fun time with some friends, who will help me transition from being 26 to being 27.
27? Me? That sounds so old. For me 26 and up may as well be 30. Time goes by so fast. I still feel 19. Or 21. Does that not ever go away? Obviously I know more now than I did then, but I still feel young.

Sunday is my Orange belt testing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ack!! I am so scared. I have missed too many classes these last few weeks due to Ferns work schedule/sick kids/being away. I am so nervous. Yuck.

oh man. so funny! (depending on who you ask though)

Brody has been really sick, it started the night we got home from Merritt. Vomiting continuously. Ben too. It has been 2 days full of puking, baths, laundry, repeat. Over and over. I am too tired to tell of all the things we have endured over here these past 2 days, but have to tell you all what JUST happened 20 minutes ago.

I had just bathed Brody, washed him up - gotten him into his clean jammies. I needed to pass him to Fern, so that I could change his sheet.

I turned him around, and just as Fern took him and held him, Brody power-puked ALL OVER FERNS HEAD!!! It was soooo gross. And poor Fern is so grossed out by vomit, he nearly didn't make it to the shower.

Poor guy - I can't even tell you how strong it was, like a fire hydrant!!

It was only 2 nights, but it's sure good to be home! We packed up the van, and I mean, it was FULLY loaded. Off we headed to Merritt. Spent 2 nights at a Ramada - the kids had a ball because it had an indoor waterslide.
Lots of time visiting with family, got to see Nicci and her beautiful family, and cute little Chewy too!!
We are exhausted, the kids are bathed- laundry is in -
and we are off to watch Lost.
We are addicted, we rented season one, and LOVE IT!!!

Thankfully, Nicci led us to a much awaited Starbies ;)

Fern and his brother, me and Fern's sister.

Ferns Grandparents, with the great grand babies.

driving to Kamloops, gameboys in hand(s)

No winners on these rims. Another mentionable item, there is no Starbucks in Merritt. Sad. They are growing. They have a BP, a Wal Mart, but no starbies. I whined about that one acouple times...

Was soo nice to see Jim and Nic! Thta was our first time seeing them in their home since they moved to Kamloops.

Had a nice lunch, and then off to THE FUN FACTOR. The kiddies had a blast.

The boys are trying to look so cool. They had a blast, it was there first time playing laser tag. The vest was about as heavy as Ben, but he is such a mans man - there was no way he was gonna watch his sister and Dad play. The attendant said its for 7 years and up, but I explained Ben is one tough little dude, and they let him in.

This is so weird, blogging must be ingrained in me. I am dreaming about it!!! So last night, this was my dream:

Lovella was hosting a "blogging girls night out". Nicci was there, Rose, Shannon, Heidi, so many. Lovella led this game, where we all sat in this huge circle, and she brought out this huge plastic bin full of different things. You would pick any one thing out of the bin that you wanted, and then the next person was able to either pick something from the bin, or steal what the previous person chose.

The things in the bin were so random. There was a shiny metallic red cell phone with a matching ipod (nice prizes hey?) And a super sweet pale pink cell phone. I was the first to pick, and this is what I chose.

I was so excited. Rose was after me, and I thought this meant I was safe from snatching fingers. Not so! She took that pink phone :(

I ended up with an arrow head Indian thing, and an old rusty bolt.

Then all of a sudden I realized that my orange belt testing started 5 minutes ago, and so I used Lovella's washroom, it was downstairs, and on the way down there, were a few things she has posted about in her blog. (I cant seem to remember what these were)

And off I flew down the street to the dojo - and failed my grading.

How weird is that?

This picture was taken on October 30, 2003. They were living in New York. Her friend flew me out to see her, and it was a complete suprise. It was sooo hard not letting the cat out of the bag - but it wasn't my secret to share.
We (her Mom and Shanee and Brigett) showed up for her suprise baby shower. It was sureal. We hid upstairs, and heard her come in, all the people downstairs yelled "suprise!". She was so shocked. Then her Mom and I snuck down and mingled into the crowd, and waited for us to notice her.

That is such a great memory.

This picture was at Toys R Us, looking at all the baby stuff. So fun.

I cant wait to meet this litle bean!

Holy spandex Batman!
Just a fun shot I came across while organizing my photos. We loved putting shows on for her parents. Her poor brothers, they didnt stand a chance with an older sister and her friend!

but truly, I was having a bad face day, and I am stepping out of my comfort zone to post these pics. They are sure helping me with the computer work though, for that I am thankful.

a - why did I book her eye specialist appointment for the day BEFORE the pro d day?

b - why did I not book in to happen during Spring Break?

c - what was I thinking making it a 9am appointment, for an hour or longer drive away (or more with traffic?)

d- why didn't I try to arrange a sitter for the boys, since hubby is working?

Sometimes, it's like I am new at this Mother thing.

Its too early.

and I don't like them.

I just took like 37 self portraits, and I'm not going to post even one of them.

Blah.

Not much to update. No glasses yet, I will be sure to snap a shot though for ya'll to see.

Olivia brought home a smashing report card yesterday. She is such a little smartie. Had her parent/teacher interview today. One thing I love about these is reading her journal. I always crack up, reading something that she is talking about in her own words. The last P/T interview, I laughed so hard I was crying. Tears just streaming down my face. (Rose this will be a repeat for you)
When we found another home for Harley, our dog, it was a lady who works at our bank. A nice family, we did a few visits, and it it was all nice.

Well I read in Liv's journal:
"we had a dog, but my parents gave it to the bank."
I totally laughed so hard, like we gave the dog away to the bank for financial reasons.

Or another entry, "my tooth was loose, so my Dad knocked it out of my mouth". (They were wrestling, and he elbowed her in the mouth, and her tooth came out)
I love the view of things through a child's eye's.

A Ben funny:

He is so funny this kid, we were walking home from Livs school, and as we walked past this one house, an unseen dog was barking. Ben yells,
"we hear you dog - wherever you are"

Or on Friday, I had an accountant stop by to discuss something about a client, and we were just getting our shoes on to meet Angela at Mickey D's.
He comes in to hand me a file, and Ben says, "you cant stay, we have plans."
I was a little embarrassed at this brass attitude, but at the same time, this kid is going to be a confidant one, and that makes me happy.

And Brody? He is a little ham already too. This kid has so much joy, its unbelievable. Sometimes at night, after he's been tucked into bed for a few hours, you think he is asleep, and he starts busting his gut laughing. I would love to know what he's thinking about.

When he walks into a room, he always shuts the door behind him, and as he does it, he has the proudest look on his face. Like, "Oh yeah, IM closing the door."

Well, there you have it. My hubby just called and is staying at work for 4 hours extra. Hard worker I have. A 16 hour shift, I cant even imagine.

The last few days, there has been, 3 times, a spider in my tub. I soak it with cleaner, then I spray it to it's watery death with the sprayer, and down the drain they went.

Is it the same one every time? I notice they "fake" their deaths. Curl up into a little ball, and wait...

but then they try in a mad fury to escape their impending doom.

Next question, where are they coming from? I have never seen a spider crawl up and out of a tub. Do they come from the drain? Hubby says maybe they drop from the roof and get stuck in there. So I just spent my whole time in the bath, scanning over head to make sure there was no spider. Hardly relaxing.

I need answers.

Well, I knew it was coming.

I went in for an eye exam, and figured they would give me a perscription for reading or driving or computer work. Check check check.

I need to wear them ALL OF THE TIME PEOPLE!

I cant even belive it.

So I was trying on glasses, and man was the help ever helpful. So honest: "umm that pair makes your nose look big", or "eeee, I don't think you can pull that pair off,".

I am kidding. But seriously, Carolyn, was the 'help', and although she works there, it was like going shopping with a friend. A good friend. We, or I (I shouldn't be presumptious) had fun.

She let me run out to the van numerous times, to get Fern's opinion, who was waiting with the kiddies.

So in a week, I will be donning a new look.

I sure hope I like it.

remember the post about a week ago, where I showed a picture of Ben all muddy? Well her is part 2.
I stripped him of his clothes, outside in the back. With the full intentions of hosing off the dirt, and cleaning them.
But did I?
No.
Fast forward to today, I walk past this pile of clothes, that is absolutely FILTHY, and wet from all the rain and snow we have had. So I pick up the 3 item pile of his clothes.

Now, those who know me well, will know that I am very much an arachnophobic (spell checker tells me this is not a word, I beg to differ). Spiders scare me. I start shaking when I have no choice but be the one to rid it from my home. Really though, I have this awful fear, that I can't rationalize. I KNOW I am bigger than them. It doesn't even matter.

On with the story:

I pick up said pile, and I kid you not, there had to be 127 creepy crawly/spiders/centipedes/earwig looking things, under my boys clothes. It was like on Lion King, when Pumba overturns the rock to show Simba all the 'grub'.

I was traumatized. Being the only adult at home, I was forced to face it head on, shake the life out of the clothes, and wash them.

I was shaky, my skin was crawling for the next hour.

On other news, I got a call today that Ben was bumped off the wait list, and is in the pre school I wanted for him! I am so happy. This school has a wait list all the way to the 2009/2010 school year. (I added Brody to the list for that year, how much does that make the time fly for him?)
So that was fun news.

We have a date coming up that I just found out about today. My sweet Mummy, is going to come stay here for the night on my birthday, and we are going to have a night away!! Woot woot! How exciting, I can't wait.

Ok, bye.

Being goofy, as usual for the camera. My Dad took this picture of us. I remember so well the shirt I was wearing. The color? I don't know what I was thinking. My hair? I can't believe I ever cut it so drasticaly short from having such length. Her sweater? Was one in a line of clothing we called "the standard". A super comfy Club Monaco Sweater. I had a grey one, we would day dream at school, and count down the hours to when we could get into "the standards". Comfy clothes, slippers etc. Brings around another memory.
In grade 9 for me, 10 for her, we went to the mall, and both bought these $20 housecoats. Hers was a fleecey navy one with teddy bears on it, and mine, well it was blue plaid.
Here's the kicker :
I still have mine. I still wear it. It is right now, on the back of my door. I have worn it through all three of my babies labours, and so the sentimental value is even more there. I cannot bring myself to getting rid of it. I am too nostalgic.
I am sure she turfed hers less than a year later, maybe not that quick.
Well, there is my stroll down memory lane.
Her gloves? I cant remember why she would be wearing them, except that she was always had cold hands, and it goes along with being cozy.

I still have this in a frame, we look so young! Rosie was 19, I was 18, and I was 8 months along with Miss Olivia.
I was so sad waving goodbye to my best friend, who after her honeymoon, would be moving to another province. I remember going home from the reception, laying down, and sobbing. I felt like apart of me was gone.
Its all we have known, and we are as close as ever, despite the rockies in between.

Olivia tested for her next belt today. She did great, of course ;)
I don't know what the deal is with the video's I posted, they aren't working. Hmmm, sometimes I could throw this computer out the window.

Not too much new, working lots (at home, so thats great.) I love how the day we moved our stuff into this office, I got a new bookkeeping client. Thanks Ange ;) How nice to work at home.



Peace to all who read this blog.

Angela came over last night bearing gifts. No, not chocolate, onion rings and apple pie! Had fun Ange, thanks for coming to check out the new crib.

Yesterday I took the kids to Night at the Museum. Click HERE for the trailer.
They loved it, and I loved it. I wondered if if would freak them out, but they loved it. We had free tickets to go, from the ccereal boxes, and as we were loading up I read the fine print. You gotta love the fine print.
"valid Sunday - Thursday".
Nice. They were too pumped about going for me to cancel so we went.
$23.85 for the 3 of us to get in.
$16.00 for our snacks, (and all I had was a pop)
OUCH!!!
But it was so nice to take them out, and just focus on them, and spoiling them!!
I recommend it.