Today is your what?

I have a birthday once a year. November 5. Every other year PHD remembers it. The next year he makes up for forgetting the previous year. Then he forgets that he has forgotten it, ever, and

11 Ways To Torture Your Brother

1. Threaten to post the password to his ipod on Facebook or YouTube.
2. Go with him to the bank to reset his pin. When he seems to be trying to hide his new pin say things like "there's a camera right there watching you put that number in" or "Nooo, I didn't see what you entered...except the last four digits."
3. Touch his stuff. Any of it. While he is looking right at you.
4. Tell him you touched his stuff. Even when you didn't.
5. Tell him you will only leave him alone while he is talking to that girl at the park if he will give you $20.
6. Wait until Mom is really mad at him for something that is probably your fault, then give her a big hug. Smile at your brother at the same time.
7. Go in his room. When he says get out, step out. Then step back in. Repeat until he tries to punch you. Tell Mom, "He just punched me! For NO reason!" When she isn't looking, step back into his room.
8. Change the channel whenever he is watching anything. Consistency is key to eliciting an unreasonable reaction that might get him in trouble with the parents. 
9. Crack your knuckles, shoulders, toes, whatever will activate that startle reflex.
10. Speaking of startle reflex, hide around corners and jump out at least once a day.
11. Don't forget to breathe. As loud as you can without hyperventilating. If you can figure out a way to breathe on him without him being able to reach you, even better.

Learning to scamper up a pole away from him is probably not a bad idea

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!

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!

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!