The Stars of My Blog

I've been informed that a certain blog stalker doesn't like that I refer to him in only one letter. He seems to think I clearly have forgotten how to spell his name. And so I've decided, that in order to maintain consistency, the people mentioned in my blog will now be referred to as follows:
MY KIDS
Keira: Miss K
Anika: Miss A
Traver: Big T
MY BFF's
Tara: TRae
Debbie Jo: Djo
THE CHILDREN'S FATHER:
Previously known as P: Daddy P (that should be enough letters for him)
THE GRANDPARENTS:
My Dad & Step Mom: Papa Blu & Nanny Blu
My Mom & Step Dad: Ma Pow & Pa Pow
Daddy P's Parents: Pa Jack & Ma Jack
All other special guests will be referred to with their initals or whatever crazy nickname I think up.
Hope that clears things up. Happy Reading.

Weatherman - YOU'RE FIRED

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The air was a bit chilly early in the morning, but it warmed up and was quite pleasant. I wore capri's with sandles and a tshirt. At about 4:15pm, I took Traver out in the stroller and walked over to the daycare to pick the girls up.
At 6pm it started snowing.
That wasn't a joke.
By the time the kids went to bed, it was snowing pretty hard. The weatherman warned me this would happen, so I wasn't surprised, but I was under the impression that it would be a light snow that didn't stick to the ground, because the pavement was so hot.I woke up this morning to about 4-5 inches of snow!! I couldn't find Keira's winter boots this morning but luckily had another pair in a box in the basement that were too big for her, but I told her she had to wear them anyway. My van was buried. It was the heavy wet snow with lots of ice underneath, so I had to run back in the house and get my gloves out of the basement so I could scrape the windows.
How ridiculous is this??

Did Somebody Say FREE?????

I am a member of Freecycle. I love Freecycle because I get FREE STUFF and I also get to get rid of stuff. People come to my house and pick it up - which means no packing my van full of crap to take to the Goodwill. YAY. My junk is your treasure! Let me clarify: SOME of my junk of my chosing is your treasure :)

Today I had someone (who sounded like a man, but was actually a grumpy ol' woman, come by and pick up all my old ugly clothes that I don't like to wear anymore, a very nice lady with a cute little boy that Keira decided was her "brother" picked up some crib bedding, and another nice lady who I've previously done "business" with picked up some of Anika's old play clothes.

My friend TT, has a stroller to get rid of. TT lives out of town, so I suggested that he bring the stroller to me. People don't like to drive 30km to get FREE STUFF. Some guy named R said he would love the stroller and could come and get it. I emailed my address and told him when I would be home. The stroller was never picked up, so I emailed him back and said I would leave it outside my front door because I didn't have room for it in the house, so please come and get it now. R never came to get the stroller. So I relisted.

Let me back up here a little before I continue...last week or so I posted on Freecycle looking for some sturdy wooden chairs for my kitchen table. The chairs I have right now are like the old wooden gymnasium chairs - the base isn't flat and the back is open - which makes putting a booster seat on it a bit of a hazard. A very nice lady named B messaged me and said she had some chairs from Montana's that would be perfect for me. She said they were green so would need to be painted or something - that's OK with me - um hello! slipcovers!!! would be so cute. So I drive out to Raymond to pick them up (because I drive 30km's for FREE stuff). Luckily I only had Traver with me because when I picked up the chairs realized that these were the bar stool height ones. I measured them and they sat 30 inches high and a normal chair is about 19-20". I was a little bit miffed but decided to take them anyway. The 4 chairs took up my entire van.

Because the chairs are so big (and presently unusable), I left them outside my front door. They are heavy and ugly and the kids in the complex are more interested in stealing the kids battery operated Barbie car gifted to the girls from a friend. My parents were in town for a few days and now a few days later I have yet to find someone to help me cut them down to regular size - so outside they sit.

I have a new friend TE. She is a wonderful, thoughtful lady. She went up to a FREE clothing drive in Calgary this weekend and surprised me today with a bag full of goodies - a huge bag of clothes for the kids, a doll stroller (so Keira and Anika would now EACH have one, so don't need to fight over the one we have anymore), and an old classic boy Cabbage Patch (very manly) doll for Traver. As we are standing at the doorway giggling about our new FREE stuff, I realize MY CHAIRS ARE MISSING!!!! and the stroller is still there!

I doubt it was the same little punk that rang my doorbell tonight after the kids went to bed. I open the door and a little 5 year old-ish boy peaks out from around the cement pillar and says "Um..my sister Nikki Nikki Nine Door'ed you." The chairs were bigger than he is. And what would he do with 4 wooden bar stool chairs anyway?

A House Full of Sickies and It's Mommy's Fault

It's been an exhausting couple of days. Yesterday was tiring. The kids were cranky and all I could think about was curling up under a warm blanket and going to sleep. SO - we had soup for dinner. Not even homemade. It was dry broccoli soup mix that I mix with milk and I put fresh cheese in it, because everything needs cheese - especially dryed out broccoli :)

At midnight or so...just as I was drifting off to sleep, Anika started throwing up. I don't think she actually woke up as I changed her, changed her sheets and tucked her into my bed because I was too lazy to remake hers. In the wee hours of the morning Traver was complaining because his diaper had exploded up to his armpits.

We all got up - way earlier than we should have - and I turned on the TV for the kids and sat there on the couch staring at the wall feeling like I've been kicked in the stomach or run over by a car. I'm achy, sluggish and grumpy.

The rest of the day went like that. The girls seem to be feeling OK, but Traver was an unhappy little boy most of the day. Luckily, T, a new friend of mine brought over some pasta for us last night that I reheated for dinner tonight. I went to grab the grated cheese out of the fridge and started putting it on the pasta when I realized...the package did NOT say Cheddar Jalapeno like it normally does with the white cheese with the little green flecks. It only said Cheddar Mozzarella. Mozzarella does NOT have little green flecks...and then the light bulb moment - WHY everyone was feeling so horrible today.

I've lost my appetite.

My 3 positive things:
1) I went for a walk around the lake, even though I was feeling horrible, and the fresh (cold) air did me some good.

2) I had a good talk with my sis-in-law today who is really good at listening and not being judgemental.

3) 7 11 has Lemonade Slurpees!!

I Love You So Much I'm Going to Pull Your Hair Out

I went up to Calgary for the weekend. My parents were in town and I drove them back to Calgary for a scrumptious turkey dinner at Britt's house.

We braved the Calgary Zoo on Saturday with EIGHT kids ages 4 and under - Dad & Julia, Britt & Evan and their 2 kids, Me and my 3 kids and bff Tara and her 3 kids! And it was a holiday weekend.

Keira and bff Michaela were so adorable. When they met up at the zoo, they ran to each other and embraced in the biggest hug. They were inseperable and held hands all day.

After the zoo we went back to Tara's house and took the kids to the park. Then P came to get the kids to take them up to Grandma & Grandpa Jackson's house.

Tara and I went out to Walmart. OOOOoooo what fun. Weez+Tara+Walmart-Kids=FUNFUNFUN! We didn't stay too long or spend too much, but it was still nice to be out with no kids. Of course, I love my kids AND her kids but...you mother's understand :)

Then I spend a few hours getting my butt kicked playing Soul Calibur with Sean & Tara. I'm a little out of practice with my video gaming skills so I just talked tough and enjoyed getting beat.

Tara and I (and her kids) went to church today. I am surprised that through all the giggling, and talking, and probably annoying the people beside us, I still managed to feel the Spirit and left church feeling on top of the world.

I bumped into A at church. We used to be in Airdrie 3rd Ward together, then she moved, then I moved and it seems like whenever I'm visiting in Airdrie, she's visiting too. She and her husband M have a great relationship. The kind of relationship I hope to find one day. Talking with her inspired me to be better - to not wait for the husband/dad to start things like family scripture study etc. I can do this now. I can do it by myself. I already pray with my kids every day. It's so cute to hear Anika and Keira praying. They say the prayer every night now and I often have to tell them to wait until I get there. I come up the stairs and they are both kneeling at my bed halfway through their prayers. A was sharing an experience in Relief Society that her family sings a hymn every night around bed time. I'm going to try that with my kids. I was thinking that it might be an easier way to let them know it's bedtime rather than SAYING it's bedtime only to hear 'but i dont waaana go to bed mommyyyy.'

After church, P dropped the kids back off and we headed back home. Anika and Keira sit in the back - too far away for me to break up fights or take toys away. They fought ALL the way home. I don't know what was going on because I can only see so much in my rear view mirror, but Keira would lean over, Anika would grab her hair and yank it out, Keira would scream, Anika would scream back, Keira would hit her, Anika would hit back etc etc. On two separate occasions, I had to pull the car over to do their buckles back up. They were so into fighting, hairpulling and screaming that they were practically jumping on each other! I was doing pretty good at ignoring them - silently reminding myself that the kids had a hard weekend because things were out of the norm. By the time we hit Fort MacLeod I had to take a deep breath and almost started crying. My head was pounding and my patience was wavering, but I stayed strong and just let them work it out.

The fighting didn't stop when we got home. We I stopped the van, I told the kids they need to leave their angries in the van and NO fighting in the house. Keira was temper-tantrumed out but Anika still had her fists up ready to go. Luckily, I managed to get her kicking and screaming up the stairs, into her jammies and into my bed for story time. We read only 24 pages of Jungle Book before the kids started to hit each other because they ALL wanted to sit on my lap. I got them into bed with no problems!! YAY.

So now I'm sitting here with mixed feelings about my weekend. I had a great time through all the stress and hair pulling. I had a great time with Tara. I had a great time at church - only slightly weirded out by the people that were weirded out talking to me now that I'm single. The sideways looks and short hello's made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I am happy. I want people to know that. People don't need to be awkward because they are worried about my feelings, or what happened. I'm happy and I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me.

My 3 positive things:

1) I have an amazing best friend who makes me feel like me.

2) My kids bring me so much joy I can't even describe. Even though things are tough, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

3) Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints brings me so much happiness and hope.