Fall, I mean Winter, I mean Fall Pictures

Saturday in the park with short sleeves:

Tuesday, in the front yard in snow suits...

Sad to be a snow board on Monday, boys are riding bikes!

 

That was all within a few days!  Love the prairies, never know what's coming! I am pretty sure winter is now here to stay now.  Boy 2 was quite thrilled to tell me our neighbors had all their Christmas decorations up and in his words, "Dad said, what the beeeep, is it Christmas already??" So the Sunday after Remembrance Day we thought we would put up the Christmas tree to surprise my PHD.  Not necessarily a surprise PHD liked but Boy 2 was hoping he would say the same curse with me as a witness and get him into trouble.  Diabolical. 

 

This beautiful brother moment lasted for 32 seconds and ended with a head butt.  Still, I caught it on camera so I have proof that they occasionally like each other!  

After we put up the tree, I tackled the new IKEA dresser we had purchased in Edmonton.  When Boy 2 noticed the left-over screws, he said, "Clearly you messed that up."  Clearly more than one thing has gone wrong here and the dresser is the least of my worries!

Anyway, the boys were so into the Christmas spirit they started their Christmas lists.  Boy 1's list was about four pages long, covering every base, from Lego to an iPod touch which I said was too expensive to which he said, "It's okay Santa will make it". Boy 2 got right to the point:

1.  Harry Potter movie

2.  remote control helicopter

3.  lego star wars set

4.  $1000 dollars

Just in case you can't find the first three things, you can just give him $1000 and he's all set.  Brilliant, I thought!

Why don't you eat a bucket of icing and see what happens?

Dear "Experts":

I know your latest research disputes the claim that a child's behaviour is affected by sugar.  However, you were not at my house on Sunday when I found this hidden in Boy 2's laundry basket:

He came out of Time-Out #1 of the day with something white around his mouth.  We had had eggs for breakfast so I assumed that was the mess on his face.  He cleaned his face and carried on.  Most of the morning sounded like, "Zing, Zip, Whee, Boing, Pop!"  Somewhere in the midst of the cartoon-like activities, this happened to Boy 1:

After Time-Out #2, Boy 2 came out of his room with white stuff smeared all around his mouth.  I got closer, "Is that icing?!"  Once I tossed his cell, I mean room, I found that instead of the half a tub of icing I used to have in the fridge,  I now have an empty tub of icing and a WIRED 7 year old.  This lasted for hours.  At one point he got so far away from me, I actually had to search the neighborhood for him.  This ended at 4 pm with the blessed sugar crash.  As you can see, he didn't even get his snow pants off.

So, "Experts", I invite you to care for the child after he has a load of sugar.  If you make it through the day, you will no longer claim "Sugar doesn't cause hyperactive behaviour".  I promise.

Goodbye H1 or Rename the Husband Contest Part 2

For those of you that have been married for more than 7 years, you may know that it is unusual that your spouse does something completely unexpected.  After that many years, you usually know him or her well enough that there are few surprises.  This is not a bad thing; regardless, you may understand my excitement right now.  After 15 years of marriage, I caused my spouse to start making a new facial expression.  He started making a face I have never seen before. It all started with this post:  Rename the Husband Contest. First he read the post then made the face.  At first I thought it was a mad face, but he said no.  I thought maybe it was a puzzled face.  He said "What face?" Then he made the face again.  Every time I excitedly told him about a new suggestion, he made the face.

Anyway, I had lots of creative submissions and lots of laughs over the contest.   

And the winner is:  PHD...or maybe SMac.  

I spent a week going back and forth, trying each one out, asking H1 what he liked better.  He said he didn't care, really.  (What? Maybe I will stick with H1!) He made the new face equally at each suggestion so I finally decided both names are winners!  I will mostly call him PHD which stands for Plumber, Husband, Dad.  If he does something that displeases me I will call him SMac, sort of his initials but sounds like "smack".  Congratulations Michelle you obviously have a gift for naming Blog Husbands - you win twice!  You win the dubious honour of Naming the Blog Husband. Unless you want my broken iPod.  Let me know!  

Thanks for playing everyone!  My next contest will be "Name PHD's Facial Expression".  I just have to get a picture of it for you.  Stay tuned!

Yakima, Edmonton

We went to Edmonton last weekend. The ride to Edmonton sounded like this:

"....punch, punch, punch, Stop it or we are turning the car around...I forgot my phone, turn the car around...punch, punch, punch...I said Stop it!...Don't touch me, I don't want your germs!  (really? You were okay licking the floor of the emergency room bathroom , but Boy 2 germs, no good?)... I have to go to the bathroom...Doesn't the word "Yakima" sound like puking?...yak, yak, yakima...I'm hungry...punch, punch, punch...Stop it, I mean it..."

Just to clarify, it was Boy 1 and Boy 2 punching each other.  Once we got to Edmonton, it started getting fun.

We went rock climbing,

knocked out a few gophers,

went on some rides,

cleaned my change purse out on wishes in the pond,

petted some stingrays,

made friends with a penguin,

hung out with the sea lions,

took home a penguin,

and a stingray,

and that was day one!

Day 2, H1 took the boys to the water park while I shopped.  That worked well for me.  Probably a bit more tiring for H1!

Here's how Boy 2 felt about leaving the water park: (bad pictures but you get the idea)

Day three was IKEA and home! When we stopped for gas on the way home, the boys each got a pack of 6 gumballs.  Boy 1's pack only had five. He was so outraged  by the false advertising, "The pack says 6 but it only has five!!" that he actually returned it to the store.  He is a firm believer in justice.  So, I know Yakima is a city but I believe the word "Yakima" sounds more like a high five, or way to go -  as in Yakima, Boy 1!! Way to go!!

Rename the Husband Contest

Today, November 11, is our 15 year wedding anniversary.  (Yes, I was a child bride.)  I figured the date would be hard to forget, because for one, it was 11/11/95 and two, it's Remembrance Day.(It is still possible to forget, though, and if you  think you can hear  "Oh *$#@!" as you read this, H1 is also reading this and realizing he has forgotten. ) Little bonus - always a stat holiday on our anniversary.  Look how young we were:

Recently, H1 figured out how to access my blog.  He thought it was all very funny , particularly Finger Knitting, and SOS Batman , however, he didn't care for the name H1. In fact, he has threatened to start looking for W2, a couple of times. I think he's kidding. Just to be safe, and in honour of our 15 years of wedded bliss, I will do something to make him happy.  I will hold a "Name My Blog Husband Contest".  (If you thought I was going to say something else, you need to get your mind out of the gutter.  Or not.  I am just recognizing  you as dirty!) If you are the one person reading this blog that doesn't actually know him, here's what you need to know about him (and thanks for reading my blog, One Person that doesn't know us):

He is very charming, funny and interesting.  He is from Nova Scotia. He does things like build Lego tables with/for the boys.

He is a plumber, and runs his own business. I tell him what to do all the time and he ignores most of it until he thinks I am not paying attention. 

He is also a bit accident prone. He once got his head stuck in a house, his upper arm impaled to (impaled on or impaled to? Not sure.) his work van and falls down on a consistent basis, especially if there is a puddle of water in which to land.

Lately, he is obsessed with marbles.

That's all you need to know to get started! Whomever comes up with the best name wins!  No, you don't win anything good like an iPod, unless you want one that doesn't work (see Where's All My Stuff? ).  I will pick my favorite name and use that from now on, or start calling him by his real name, whichever I like better.   Fun!

Halloweenie

I have a love hate relationship with Halloween.  I am afraid to discuss it with Halloween in case I get egged or TPed, but I don't care for it much.  Boy 2's buddy calls it Helloweenie.  Very efficient, I thought, fitting two inappropriate words into one long one. Also apt, because people seem to think that when they are dressed in costumes they can act like weenies. However, the kids like Halloween so much it is hard to hang onto the hate.  Boy 1 called this the best three days of his life - Friday was a Halloween dance at school.  Saturday was a Huskies basketball game and Sunday, of course, is trick or treating.

Friday night we (well, the boys and I, H1 was being a spoilsport) dressed up.  Boy 1 was Hades, Boy 2 was Mickey Mouse. I put on a Spiderman mask and called myself "Spidermom".  H1 told me the mask was sexy which prompted me to say, "Why, because my face is covered??  What is that?  Are you going to call me fat next?" Only sort of kidding...We grabbed burgers and sat down in the hallway to eat while the boys took off.  Next thing I see is Hades running by full tilt, and sliding down the hall to come to rest at the principal's feet.  He got a bit of what for after which the principal looks up to see Hades' parents sitting on the sidelines, eating burgers and watching the misbehaviour, like they are spectators at a ball game.  Any more questions about the root cause of the behavior problems at the MacFuddle house?  No?  Good, let's move on!

On Saturday, we went to the Huskie basketball game.  Having a great time, kids are running around, I am visiting with my friends, until Boy 2 shows up like this:

He says he got his foot stuck in the railing and the shoe came off when he pulled his foot out.  It (the shoe, not his foot) fell beside the court.  We had to run up and down stairs and ask a variety of staff for a while.  We found the shoe with a 20 year old Mean Girl who told him he because he kicked his shoe on the court he wasn't allowed to be anywhere but with his mom for the rest of the night. He started crying. I asked Mean Girl if she saw him kick it because he said it was an accident.  She did that "Whatever" sniff, shoulder shrug thing and turned her back on me.  I hate Mean Girl.  I might call her Hellomeenie. That'll teach her.

We took a bad picture of the big Huskie dog on our way out.  Always fun.

On Sunday we carved pumpkins and waited for something exciting to happen.

 Boy 2 favors the punched out eyes while Boy 1 likes a more traditional Jack o lantern.

This was what we did in 2005, our best work to date.  I even got to use H1's electric drill to make polka dots on a curvy pumpkin:

The boys passed the rest of the afternoon by saying, "How much longer until the cousins get here?" every ten seconds or so. We have a little tradition on Halloween, my sisters bring their kids over, we order pizza for supper, take 1004 pictures then hit the streets for treats.  Boy 1 unexpectedly  had some friends come over and take him trick or treating  which threw off the schedule so much that I didn't even get a picture of him in his Hades costume!  He said he will get dressed up again and we will take a picture some day when we have nothing else to do.  Maybe over the Christmas holidays.  Boy 2 and my 2 nephews hit the streets like this (my sister Chris took these two pics and I borrowed them from facebook so they are a bit blurry):

Good looking boys, aren't they?

My adorable little niece was dressed like an Ewok but the scarf thing was slowing her down so she took it off.

With all that cuteness it is so hard to hang on to my Halloween hate...