3 months too long

Hello out there?
I'm sure I've lost all my readers...3 months is a long time.
3 months has felt like 3 years around here!!

What on earth happens to twin boys when they turn 20 months??
They flip the WHINE, BITE, HIT, SCREAM, RUN AWAY buttons all at once.

Shopping trips are about 10 minutes long. Once Kyle decides he wants to be carried (which is always) Luke insists he must walk.

That leaves me with no free hands...which has lead to
Mission abandon the shopping cart and get the heck out of the store as soon as possible.

Don't say you have never done that. We all have. If not, your turn is coming.

The day these two ditch their 3 hour afternoon nap is they day I lose my mind.

Do not let these smiley faces fool you...
Hug hug away dear twins, mommy knows you both broke out into a pushing match the second the camera went click.

I thought the terrible twos was simply a label...but no...I fully realize it exists, and I am in the throws of it. 

We have implemented the naughty corner. Enough said.

Now, amidst all the chaos are moments of bliss. 3 boys all playing hockey at once... The sounds of laughter from 3 little voices after a good chasing match....

Until one vomits...and the other decides the nice thing to do would be to stick his finger down his throat and sympathy vomit.

Right before the babysitter arrives, as we are all dressed up for a Christmas concert.

Need I say more about why I have not been blogging?

I need a bailey's drip line in my Tassimo coffee maker.

Santa...hook me up!

Oh yes I'm going there

My baby is in grade 2!

yes I will go there for a moment..18 months old..

This morning..

Choke.

He was beyond excited to see his buddies and his "young" teacher. Coming from last years 70 year old grade 1 teacher, anyone under 50 would be young to him....here's hoping she's ready for chatty Cole!

More exciting then grade 2 was the loss of another tooth last night. Not sure what happened but the tooth fairy "forgot" to visit....an extra loonie will likely appear tonight..and maybe some hockey cards...or I may forget YET again.

7am I awoke to Cole next to my face saying...

"mom...I got nothing!"

Oops.
Blame it on the twins. I always do.

Oh, and did I mention Cole went to school missing a few school supplies.
yeah that's right, I forgot to buy notebooks, all 8 of them.

I was standing in line at Zellers last week....with ALL the kids and the line was not moving...
I vaguely remember saying I would have to come back.....

The twins were fussing..

See, blame it on the twins.


Hope your kids are enjoying their first taste of true educational exhaustion...and routine, and structure, and someone other than mom nattering at them.

Thank you teachers!!!

Karma or Krazy?

Do you believe in Karma?

I found myself explaining this word to Cole last week. You see, he was being less than an ideal "big brother" during a game of mini hockey.

Sure enough...hours later, one of the twins(can you guess which one?)

.. took a bite out of Cole's arm when Cole decided to muscle in at the Thomas the Train table.

In between the tears was the question....

"Why would he do that to me mom!!?"


Sure, I could have defaulted to:

1. He is 20 months old. Enough said
2. He has no words to explain himself so he chooses to "show" his frustration via some teeth marks
3. He may have a bit of a reactive temper...I'm working on this...patience please.

But I chose to say..

It's Karma Cole.

Can of worms opened.

Self reflection needed.....is MY Karma good?

I do believe in Karma.
I do believe that how you treat others will affect how you are treated.
I do believe that the energy you exert into the Universe somehow comes back to you...in the same way or worse.

That being said, we are human. Emotions and reactions are real and necessary. The universe cannot evolve without some Bad Karma out there. 

I'm at a standstill here.
I want to learn more, to feel more, to do better.

Not just for Karma's sake...
For humans sake.

What's your Karma like these days?

Mini Vacation for Moi

Mid week last week I decided I needed a day off. A FULL day off.
No spa day, no rest day...but

A power shopping day in the USA.

We only live 2 hours from some great US shopping...(ie: supertarget & TJ Maxx)

I called a friend, she played hooky from work, I called my mother -in-law, she happily came over for the morning to play and hubby took the afternoon off.  Voila, mission accomplished.

9am we headed out with new music on the IPOD, Timmy's coffee and passports in hand.

Never underestimate the power of girl time right?

Besides the gazillion tank tops I got for working out, I  managed to buy a cute dress, a pair of boots and a pair of cool clogs.

These clogs are cool...and for $15, a steal too...just saying.

As for Supertarget, I know once we get our own target here up north, I will no longer need to get all giddy when I walk through the food aisles, but to shop Target, without kids, and spend over an hour in the grocery section?

Giddy up! Duty free groceries!

My scores included:

Fat free cheese, fat free cream cheese (protein cheesecake here I come!), sugar free syrup for my protein pancakes, chocolate hazelnut tea, caribou coffee, sport beans and GU for running, Apple pie and Mohito mint sugar free gum...oh and Coconut M&M's....

For Cole...

Goober!!! OMG I was not allowed goober as a child (I now see why, hello sugar?) but I am treating Cole to some fun these last few weeks of summer!!!
Check out the granola bars....I also bought it in chocolate chip cookie dough flavor!

For the twins...

Picolini pasta's are small enough for little fingers and come in spinach and carrot/squash!! Banana toddler cookies..
The Easy-Cheez? Yuck, I know, but I have to find creative ways of getting fat into Kyle all day..and he will open wide for this stuff.

There you have it...

A little retail therapy goes a long way for this gal.

Me no sleepy

I've never been a great sleeper,

Ask my mom..there is a reason why my sister was born 4 years after me..

In highschool, sleeping in was 8am, as I progressed to University, I would be awake by 7 and by the time I articled for a CA firm, I would dash out of the house by 6:30.

These days I'm up at 5:30 for the gym.

This ungodly hour would be fine if I was able to fall asleep by 10pm and actually SLEEP.

Am I preggo and having to pee three times a night? NO
Do I have kids who wake up in the night? um...NO
Am I 90 yrs old and every bone hurts that being awake is simply easier then being asleep? yeah ...no!

So what the ????

I've narrowed it down to a few things..

1. I START work most nights around 8pm.
2. I work on my computer...a recipe for getting all wired up from the pretty pixels.
3. Once I finish work, around midnight, I need to "relax", unwind...
4. I choose to "unwind" with an episode of madmen on my laptop, in bed. Pretty pixels again.

Bad bad bad...
I can't seem to shake this bedtime routine.

Last night, after many sleepless night, I broke down and popped one of these...

Sleepeze D Extra Strength Capsules is a temporary sleep aid intentent to target occasional sleeplessness.

May I highlight the word "occasional"

Well, I slept like a baby last night. Woke up fresh, alert and ready for the day. Tim dislikes this sleepaid immensely (we may have watched the show "intervention" together last night..)

But I'm desperate folks. I want sleep. Good quality zzzz's...

And please don't suggest I work less or earlier in the day. It's not an option right now.


Tonight's experiment is me sleeping in the basement bedroom...alone. Not my idea, but we need to rule out the possibility of Tim being the problemo here...he insists he is not a trasher, sleep disturber.

We'll see.
I have not thought of what happens if he IS the problemo.

Twin single beds in one room?

OMG, I am 90!

Help!

High school reunion

Last month was 20 years since I graduated high school!

Seriously, a moment of sadness...not because I would like to be 17 again, but because if the last 20 flew by...the next 20 will surely pass at the speed of light.

And I will be 57...

Ouch.

Cole will be 26

Double Ouch...

The twins will be 21

Ok..enough of that.

I'm sure I have vented about my high school experience before..and I'm not sure if it's just the universe trying to make me relive the crummy 3 years I invested in a school half way across town, just so I could speak french all day and never use it again...

Ok enough of that too.

As much as I try and forget my high school years, in the last 3 weeks I have had 4 "friend" requests on facebook from former high school "aquaintances"

Not "friends" as facebook like to call them..
But people who never spoke to me, or better yet...a girl who slammed my hand in my locker and told me to:

"tie her shoe bitch"


Yeah, I'll be adding you in a heartbeat my "friend"

So I'm curious, as we age, do we forget the fruits of our past? Do we assume we can all just be "friends" now that we have kids, are more mature, or are we simply suffering from long term memory loss?

I have a motto...and it's testing me weekly these days.

IF YOU DID NOT TALK TO ME IN HIGHSCHOOL, JUST DON'T BOTHER...

Having said that,  I friend requested a girl from high school who I adored. She was smart, athletic and was one of the few who treated me with kindness...I "requested" her a week ago.

No reply.

Enough said. Maybe MY memory is not as sharp as it used to be..

I can laugh about it now...

Remember I mentioned Kyle's "everest expedition" last post?

I'm ready to tell my story.
I could possibly need some therapy...or a support group..

MOM'S WHO'S KIDS CLIMB THINGS

Disclaimer. Cole was not a climber. We did not even baby proof the cupboards. He never did, and still doesn't get "into" things. The kid never even wore a bib!!!

Kyle...oh my.

I was changing Luke and Kyle took off down the hall. He would usually play with the train set in the front room. After 30 seconds I did not hear the sweet sound of trains clicking together, I decided to check on him. My illustration will show you where I found my 17 pound twirp.

Yes that's right...while the stairs are baby gated, (false sense of security my friends...) Kyle managed to scale the outside of the staircase (see pawprints)...10 stairs, using the spindles...and a wee little ledge on each stair.

Clever?..yes..
Smart? ...some may say so
I simply shake my head....

See that pampers box at the bottom....it's my attempt at baby proofing them spindles....I'm thinking TOYS R US does not carry a "spindle proof" package for climbers.

I was able to NOT react, calmly grab Kyle's legs, as they dangled (heart attack yes...) and take him down..

Good thing he's cute

And safe.

Too busy to blog?

Me, the energizer bunny, is too busy to blog.

I started a new position with my job and it's been a juggling act to fit everything into this thing called a 24 hour day....

Can someone please make my days longer so I can sleep?

Here's the recap:


Cole finished grade 1. Besides one little note sent home about an argument/meltdown over a spot in line at gym class...he had a great year.   NHL and soccer non-stop...if only he would put that effort into printing..

The twins are 19 months and are BUSY.

Did I say busy?
I mean CRAZY BUSY.
Just like Cole was...times two. I thought I was tired with Cole at this stage. HA! Luke has found his voice...I mean whine.

Kyle has chosen to hop, skip or run all day and best of all he CLIMBS everything in sight.  His ability to scale staircases is impressive, I will save that story for another day. I'm still traumatized by what I'm calling "the Everest Expedition"...for now I head to the lake where he can climb sand hills. Less bruises, same fun.

  

I met my niece and nephew for the first time last week (so cute), and Tim's bros upcoming wedding is this month...Maybe August will present some relaxation for this momma. 

Until then, if you are still reading this blog, I thank you. 

If Luke could talk...

If Luke could talk...I imagine this is what he would have said today..

Hey, a water table, score!!

Kyle, look at this kid, in his preppy collar shirt, all smiley and clean...pouring the water sooooo nicely.....

Hurry it up there daddy....although I'm not sure why you are putting legs on this table...I have no intention to STAND and play with it...not like those kids on the box...

See Kyle, I told you it's an outdoor bath tub!

Go ahead, have a snack, we can hang out in here for a while..

Thanks for following me little bro...hug it out..

Stick with me, I'll "teach" you lots...

What...what'd I do mom?

randomness

Saturday was the community garage sale. Mini donuts, balloons, cars everywhere...and out our front window I see this:

Hutterite girls on skateboards.

They were good too!!!

Mothers day, I can home from the gym to this:

 awe....

I also got this:

 

With this case, Tim knows me so well...a plain black case would not do!

I downloaded the Rob Lowe biography..and my mom came by to visit today and left with my Kindle...

Rob Lowe's dirty secret past will have to wait.

Kyle is a climber...plain and simple, and it freaks me right out. ANYTHING he finds is turned into a step. Cole never climbed...I am in a constant state of panic. 

Luke has found his voice. Unfortunately it sounds like this..

waaaaaaaaaaaa, maaaaaaaaaaaa, waaaaaaaaaa, daaaaaaaaaaat!

He needs some cheese with that whine. Don't let the smile fool you. 

A climber and a whiner...who could ask for anything more!!

Happy Tuesday!

I've been waiting...

I've been waiting 9 years, 7 months, and 20 days for this day to come. 


When I was in my late teens, my mom pulled out an old scrapbook she had once made. Newspaper clippings from the assassination of JFK. As she leafed through each page, we sat and talked about the event. Where she was when it happened, how her world had forever changed that day....


Seeing the old clippings gave me a glimpse into a life I never knew.


I wanted to do the same.....a bittersweet kind of feeling that a "life changing" event would have to occur in order for me to do this..


That day came on Sept 11, 2001. I sat watching a plane slam into the side of a building.  I ate my cereal. I was writing day 2 of my CA exams that day...


Great timing I thought.  Some crazy dude flew his little plane too low and hit a building. 


I came out of the exam 5 hours later and Tim called...I remember his exact words....


The world we knew is very different now.


Each day I would clip articles from the newspaper and carefully arrange them into a scrapbook...

For 84,456 hours...the last page in my scrapbook had been left blank. 

5,067,360 minutes has passed. Each year Tim and I flip the pages, the news paper articles now fading.  Remembering like it was yesterday....until today. 

304,041,600 seconds has passed until I could finally glue down the last piece of the puzzle.  A sense of relief, a sense of closure for me. 

And so, this scrapbook is finished, and one day I will sit with my kids and read to them the stories of loss, despair, courage and sacrifice..

Forever Changed. 
Forever Remembered.

 

Think Geek

I would not consider myself a geek..

Maybe a little.....I do become giddy when financial statements balance...

Geek or no geek, anything that makes life easier..and cleaner with 3 kids is worth embracing!

So, my sister introduced me to a great website called THINK GEEK.

She bought Cole fantastic GEEKY gifts from this site at x-mas...Jupiter Juice, LED Faucet Lights to name a few...

So I browse the site every now and then..and to my liking I saw this:

It's called a Loopa Toddler Bowl.

IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO SPILL THE FOOD!!

OMG, you mean the twins can carry around their snack and it will not end up on my carpet?

(ps: yes I have tried the snack traps and the twins bite off the lids...)

Any way you carry it, the snack will NOT fall out?

Come on!!

Geek or no Geek, I bought 2 of these babies in a heartbeat!

Sure, the bowl looks about the size of Kyle's entire torso, who cares...

My carpets will be clean..for more than 1 minute..

I bow to you Think Geek for "thinking" of me...

Will keep you all posted...care to predict....spillage or no spillage?

boys..

2 acre yard...

2 acres to run free

And Luke decides to plunk himself here..

Behind the tool shop...away from the party...in the dirt..and play with these...

And eat hay

And shine every possible rock with his tongue

And hug hard pieces of wood..

Was the bb-que fun?

I'm not sure, I was sitting behind the toolshop all afternoon...

Yes I'm stereotyping my boy.

The girl at the party SAT on the deck, with the guests and COLORED.

Enough said.

Boys.

Cheap labor

The weather has been less then desirable around here lately.

Snow, rain, cold, wind.

Pick one any one, they all seem to just rotate..

Where is the sun, it's April already!
When stuck inside with toddling boys, what to do, what to do

Clean!

I trekked to Sobeys and bought not one but TWO swiffer dry mops.

No fighting allowed, cleaning is serious business.

Cheap labour, I pay in smooches, clean bums and great food!

All in a cold spring day's work. 

Brooms away, it's nap time!

What do/did you do on cold days, stuck inside with small toddlers?

The long lost art of Pen Pals

Did you have a pen pal growing up?

Do you still put pen to paper and actually "write" a letter to anyone these days?

Seems as though the old fashioned writing (in proper grammar, indents, periods...etc..) has been replaced by fast fingers typing on keyboards, LOL, LMAO, I Miss U, How RU?

I'm guilty of it.

I've lost contact with all of my childhood penpals. I'm not sure why....life I suppose gets in the way. Technology allows us to find people, facebook allows us to "creep" into their lives...so who needs to actually write a letter to that friend in Europe? One can simply post on their "wall" and be done. 

Last summer a good friend of Cole's moved to Ontario. There were tears....and as the tears dried, and the I miss him's started to fade, letters started to arrive in the mailbox... and Cole wanted to write back.

One year later and the letters continue to go back and forth, almost monthly.

A true penpal for Cole.

Hockey cards, silly bands, tattoos and stickers included with each letter...simple 6 year old questions asked:

Are you playing soccer this year?
How are your brothers?
I miss you..

Little hands working hard each and every time...

His teacher can thank me at the end of the year for intense printing practice ....

Penpals. A lost art.

I'm writing a letter tomorrow. To whom... I don't know.

Maybe noone

Maybe this blog is my pen pal

Maybe your comments are my stickers and silly bands.

Maybe your continued support is my return letter.

Duckin around..I hope

I grew up with an inground pool, it was fantastic...for the few months of the year our weather cooperated..

But as the snow melted each year, we would wait to see...

Wait to see if our little "friends" would arrive

The friends being ducks.

It was the highlight of spring, seeing those ducks every morning on our pool deck, then watching as she made her nest in the cedar bush, taking her daily swim at 7am...and finally seeing 12 baby ducks in our pool...all before OUR pool season even began.

And then one year, they came no more...

Fast forward to last summer, we now have an inground pool and lo and behold one April morning the ducks were here! This time I watched Cole stare out the window in awe.

And then we woke up to splattered egg shells on the pool deck, eaten clean. I asked an "expert" and she figured a skunk would have eaten the yolks.

I've never liked skunks.

But yesterday, amidst all the snow, I made my morning coffee and saw this.

Are they deciding whether it worth the "risk"

I sure hope so...
Stay tuned

Ok..twins = ALOT of work

Not to sound crabby but...

Twins is a tough gig.

Kudos to anyone with twins...but especially my gals out there with twins on the first crack
I will never make the comment:

"You need to go for one more..."

Twins is enough. I get it. Those words I speak of having more kids after twins is cruel. 

Last week I wanted 4 kids..today..3 is plenty.

Make the appointment Tim.  Get er done!


Why you ask?


One happy, one sad
One whines, one climbs
One spits, one trips and bites lip
One eats sand, one eats rocks
BOTH think I'm a jungle gym
One clings to the right leg, one clings to the left leg
One grabs, one jabs
One screams, one screams louder
BOTH want UP at the same time

Ask me next week and chances are I'll be back on the Baby #4 wagon.

But until then...

Give me the strength to get through this 17 month twins monster stage...it's sunny, it's warm...for Pete's sake there is nothing to scream, whine, kick, punch, grab, cry, spit, and best of all VOMIT about.

The end.

Happy Tuesday :)

Spring Break FLEW BY- A review in pics

Spring Break around here.

No BIG events happening..no major commitments, so I shipped out with my boys to the cottage.

The beauty of a winterized cabin an hour outside of the city. 

Cole brought HIS favorite snack, and my cooler full of protein and veggies!

Luke flipped through his family album..

Kyle chose to check out women in bikinis...

We walked..and walked...until we could walk no more...which for 16 month olds was about an hour.

We explored the quiet streets, appreciated the sunny days, and we stopped to admire things like a deserted ice fishing shack in the middle of the lake. A sign that spring IS coming..

When we returned home, Cole played on ice at the Manitoba Moose Game...He was worried about being body checked...we may have to revisit this whole hockey thing again...I think he forgets body checking IS part of hockey. My little Timbit skated his butt off.  ME. SO. PROUD.

As we enter the final day of spring break, I'm reminded of how much FUN it is to have three busy boys...they run me RAGGED some days..but as I cooked dinner tonight, I turned around and saw this...

Heart melts...

Now let the snow melt...spring break is over.....