As promised...

cat/dog fight photos.  LOL  This is what I was talking about! 

Kathy's right, only a blogger would grab the camera.  I love these action shots, there were more too.  As you can tell, the cat must enjoy this, because he has ample opportunities to get up and run.

I know now that he will run when he feels threatened.  Today my friend was over with her husky and Buddie was out on the porch as they were leaving.  He arched his back and looked terrified and when he got the chance he hightailed it around the neighbour's house until the coast was clear. 

Kira: 15 months

Kira had her 15 month appointment the other day and I neglected to update on it. She got a booster.

Weight: 24 lbs (she stood up on the big kid scale)
Height: 34 inches

Words (as we know them): Hi, Hello, Bye bye, Thank You, Woof, Dog, Puck, Bad, Sit, No, Yes, Shoe, Boot, Pop, Momma, Dadda, Grandma, Grandpa, Patrick, Damon, Campbell, baby, bath. She does a lot of babbling in between which may be words but we aren't sure. lol

Here she is in one of the outfits Daddy picked up in China. She's trying to get a piece of tape off her fingers. lol

Bad guys are stupid.

on the way home from grandma and grandpa's house -

Damon: Bad guys are STUPID, like Hitler, he killed all those people, that was stupid, and then he killed himself because he didn't want to get caught. Now that's stupid!

Patrick: Well the soldiers were going to find him...

Damon: Yeah, he was underground hiding, he shot himself...

Matt: How do you know that?

Damon: I read a book about it.

Matt: WOW, that's impressive, how does he know that?

That's his answer for everything he purports to "know". I read it in a book. Well since the extent of his reading ability these days is still pretty much "Dick and Jane" I highly doubt that. When my kids ask me questions about world affairs, I tend to use it as an excuse to do some homeschooling. I do recall having a conversation about a year ago with the kids about the holocaust and WWII. The things they learn in the van. LOL

Animal House

It has been a little while since I last updated. I have been running around like crazy this week. We are getting our roof done, which has thrown the house itself into turmoil. They had to strip 100 years worth of shingles and put new plywood and shingles on. That's a lot of mess and a lot of hammering.

Puck is not happy with the situation. They have used his "bathroom" area as a place to store roofing nails. So he won't use it and he refuses to pee or poop on the grass. So I walk him and walk him and he doesn't go. He convinces me that he doesn't need to go pee. I take him in the front door and he runs to the backdoor and pees in front of it! ARGH. Or worse, he runs to the backdoor and poops. I take him out to finish, and he doesn't. We get back inside again and he goes again! Not his fault, but still frustrating.

To make matters worse, Matt's buddy is staying with us this week, which means that the boys get all wound up (especially the biggest boy). It is like trying to raise 4 kids in a frat house.

Last night the 2 men took some beers out to the roofers. They all sat in the backyard and drank them. The kids and the dog all wanted to go out with them, so I asked Matt if that was okay and he said yes he would watch them. It all seemed fine, except I could hear them downstairs coming in. "Where's Kira? Has anybody seen Kira?" "oh she's still outside." Great, the 1 year old is out alone. Then the men and Damon went out to Patrick's hockey tryouts.

As soon as they left, Puck threw up some rather interesting items. The undigested dog food wasn't surprising, but I was surprised to see 2 wads of gum. I figured that the gum had made him throw up and that was all there was to that. nuh uh. He throws up again, this time there are leaves in it. Bulb leaves actually. I go outside to see what kind of leaves, are missing and my best guess is Daffodils. ok, well those are poisonous. Not good. He keeps throwing up 10 more big piles. I didn't realize that his little belly could hold such quantities of poisonous leaves and kibble. If it wasn't so gross, and I hadn't already worn myself out cleaning up his pee and poo, I might be more impressed. Then the diarrhea starts...in the backhall.

The boys called to share the news that Patrick has made the cut (I'll post more about that later), and I share my news about Puck. I ask what exactly he ate outside and they tell me a chunk of rubber. Ummm no, wrong answer. I ask which poisonous plant the puppy ate. They don't know. I explained to my darling husband that I don't let the puppy outside alone for that sort of reason. He is a baby and lacks the sensibility not to kill himself out there. Just for fun, I ask about the gum.

Matt "Patrick where did the dog get gum?"
Patrick "Kira must have given him hers."
Me "ohh of course, but what was the BABY doing with gum?"
ummmmm

Anyway, the dog emptied himself out and showed no ill-effects today. He is still having bathroom issues. My husband is still acting like a 17 year old. But my roof is breath-taking.

The games catholic boys play

They are upstairs playing nicely together and I can hear them playing “Pope”. The pope just died and they are having an election. But they intermix the terms "pope" and "prime minister priest". Patrick is leading them in this. ROFL

They had a big assembly at school today to mark the passing of the Pope (aka “Father Jim’s Boss”) and they have all been talking about the whole thing for the past 2 weeks.

We got to school late this morning after the kids fought with me for 1/2 hour this morning about chocolate fundraising (another story). As I was walking Campbell to class, we walked by the kids who were getting ready to do readings for the assembly. The older kids (12 & 13 year olds) were standing near the back and I could hear them talking and one of them that I didn't recognize saw Campbell and in the most sincere way said, "That kid is the coolest." That made my heart smile.

Hey, maybe he should use his popularity to run for prime minister priest.

The amazing growing dog

He has had enough of me taking his picture for now.

Puck's favourite toys

Buddie is helping me with the laundry. Only problem is that I need to put everything away immediately so that he doesn't add that "oh-so-fresh" scent to it.

Now THAT is the face of an angel.

That is Buddie's "Puss-in-Boots" look. He lures the dog over and then starts wrestling with him. Lately it always ends with Puck dragging Buddie across the room by his ear. I'm still trying to get an action shot of that happening.

Six

That's the number of days in a row that Kira has thrown up all over her pyjamas and mine.

Get Well soon Kira!

Kira is still sick.  Her symptoms include high fever, runny nose, sore throat, awful cough, vomitting, diarrhea.  Hmmm, did I forget any?  The doctor checked her out and declared that it is just a virus.  She is so cute though, she tries to play and have fun, but she gets tired out.  Now Campbell and I are getting it.  We have sore throats, runny noses, coughs and low fevers.  I had a pounding sinus headache until I took some Reactine Allergy and Sinus.

Bark bark

Nope that wasn't Puck, that was Kira. Yes, croup has raised it's ugly head in my house again. It has been a little while, so it took me some time to locate the humidifier, but I always have puffers at the ready.

She is much better today, she is running around, but still coughs, has a runny nose and a fever.

Easter 2005

Well the Easter bunny did come.  Is this the last year that Patrick will believe?  I'm actually surprised that he does, but I wonder if he is just trying so hard to believe.  He asks me questions like, "do you really fill our stockings?"  I give him vague answers, like "what do you think?"  Or "why would you ask that?" He tells me that he thinks it is Santa and he is asking because some kid in his class said so.  This year I indicated that I buy the gifts, but he still felt that only the Easter bunny could hide the eggs.   He is getting to be so big and so mature, it is only a matter of time before he stops believing.  *sniff sniff*

But for now he is just so sweet.

Super Saturday

Super Saturday is the LAST day of House League Hockey when they play in the finals.  They have music, lots of crowds and they announce the games just like in the NHL. It is too cute.  This is the first time one of our kids has made it to Super Saturday.

Campbell at the face-off. They lost 3-2, but they had fun.

Then Patrick's team played their last game. They tied the game 1-1, but the other team only needed one point to win the series. They ended up finishing 4th. And after the game, he was given a letter from the coach of another team inviting him to their tryouts. *gasp* my 9 year old was being scouted. Another player from his team is moving to that team next year and I guess when watching him play, the coach noticed Patrick too. Anyway, here he is after the game with his medals.

Then it was back at the arena for Damon's team's party. Kira skated for a little bit, but then she played with her boyfriend Logan. Then she decided that since she spent so much time at the arena, she might as well keep it clean.

Campbell skated for a while, but then he was tired.

Damon, Patrick and Matt took part in the father/son game and had great fun.

Then I spotted the coach who gave Patrick the letter earlier. He was there, as his team was playing after our ice time was over. He stood and watched Patrick play. We ate pizza in the meeting room and then watched Patrick's potential team play. When we finally got home it was 9:30.

We are all hockeyed out now. We get a week off and then the whole tryout process starts for Patrick. Depending on which team he makes it onto, that could take up to a month of daily tryouts. They start out at the top level AAA and they pick their teams, if you don't make it, you try out for the next level down and so on. Last year he made it onto the AA team, so we only had 2 weeks of tryouts to endure.

Good Friday at Grandma's

I have a dream...

I usually don't have dreams. Ever since I've had kids, I have had about 5 dreams that I can remember.

So here it is, open for analysis. I was getting the kids into the van to go somewhere when I spotted a black bear at the top of our driveway. Instead of the fence that is normally there, it was open and our yard actually opened up to Lake Ontario. Hmm a lakefront property? The bear was walking toward the lake and I felt safe inside the van with the kids, but I was DYING to get my camera which was inside the house so that I could take a picture for my bitch friends. We watched as the bear got into the water and started swimming along the shore. We got out of our van and ran into the house. We grabbed the camera and ran to the kitchen, which now had beautiful windows as every waterfront property should ;-). We noticed a man coming around from our driveway and saw that it was Patrick's select hockey coach from last year. He is a small quiet moustached balding man. He was stripping down to his bathing suit and jumping into the dark choppy water with the bear. I was yelling to him to warn him of the bear when I realized that there were actually 2 bears and a lot of people were in the water trying to rescue them or something. Then I woke up.

Hmmm, I consulted Dream Central's dictionary. It says "If a bear is pursuing you in your dream this is a sign that you will experience some financial losses in business. A bear also represents a rival you may have for your loved one, if the bear is seen to be climbing, then the outcome will be in your favor." It also says "Dreaming of a specific body of water such as a lake must be analyzed according to its setting and the entire contents of the dream and much like dreaming of water in general, the clearness of the lake also has to do with the omen or situation it refers to. ... If the lake is storm tossed then your life will take a turn for an emotional upheaval and possible losses." Okay all of that is weird, but weirder still is WHO I saw in the dream. Why him? He is an adjudicator for the worker's compensation board. Oh no, Matt is going to get hurt at work and it will lead us to financial ruin? Or Patrick's hockey career will lead us to a lakefront home?

Oh I found a less foreboding analysis at Dream Mood. "To dream that you are being pursued or attacked by a bear, denotes aggression, overwhelming obstacles and competition. You may find yourself in a threatening situation. Alternatively, bears symbolize the cycle of life and death and renewal. It may signal of period of introspection and thinking. The dream may also be a pun on "bare". Perhaps you need to bare your soul and let everything out into the open." "To see a camera in your dream, signifies your desires to cling on and/or live in the past. Alternatively, it may represent you need to focus on a particular situation. Perhaps you need to get a clearer picture or idea." "To see a lake in your dream, signifies your emotional state of mind...If the lake is disturbed, then you may be going through some emotional turmoil." "To see or drive up to a driveway in your dream, symbolizes an end to your journey. It also represents security and rest. Alternatively, it denotes your path toward achieving inner peace finding your spirituality." "To see windows in your dream, signifies bright hopes, vast possibilities and insight...To dream that you are looking out the window, signifies your outlook on life, your consciousness, point of view, awareness, and intuition. You may be reflecting on a decision and seeking guidance." So I am trying to find some inner peace and help making an important decision? Perhaps. But still why the hockey coach?

ROFL, Keep dreaming right?

Elf shorts

This is hilarious. The elf shorts have their own travel blog here. The password is "elfshorts". My favourite caption is the most recent, "Hmmmmm... Heels or Flats? What Would Jesus Do?" I love Kim's blog too.

Thieves like us

As I sit here nursing the baby, and Campbell comes up to me.

Campbell: (fondling his new hockey trophy) Mommm, I feel bad. (pout)

Me: Why do you feel bad?

Campbell: Because I stole somebody else's trophy.

Me: No you didn't, that one has your name written on it.

Campbell: Yeah, that's because I stole it and wrote my name on it so everybody would think it is mine.

Me: It is engraved Campbell, you can't engrave it.

He grins and runs off only to return with the Fisher Price kid alarm attached to his pants and going off!

Clever t-shirts

Something for every girl glarkware :: girlie shirts

And for the little darlings glarkware :: baby glark -- for sale by owner

Spring

I feel silly about it, but spring never ceases to amaze me. Year after year, I am thrilled by the prospect of winter being over. I want to shed my second skin of coats and boots. It is as if my body has given up on keeping warm now. I put on extra sweaters and warm coats, but I can't get warm any more. I have a chill in my bones.

I want to be warm. I want to feel the grass between my toes, and the sun on my skin.

As I hung up one of Kira's summer dresses and did up the little buttons on the back of the dress, I could feel spring. Summer is coming, it is just around the corner!

Damon had a great weekend.

1) At the ripe old age of 7, he finally lost his first tooth when eating a granola bar. It was about time since he already has his second row of teeth. He put it under his pillow and miracle of all miracles, the tooth fairy left him 5 dollars.

2) Today he scored his second goal in as many games! It is hilarious, he had about 7 shots on net today, he makes it look so easy all of a sudden.

3) His team had a bowling party. Woohoo.

Oh yeah, and he scored another goal. LOL

"Mommy, are you happy that I scored my second goal?"

Puck's girl

Being the two babies in the family, Puck and Kira have a special bond. They share their food.  She uses treats to train him to "zit".  She wrestles with him when he tries to sleep and vice versa.  But once in a while they do this...

I love they way he drapes his paw over her.

"What do YOU want lady? Can't a dog and his girl get a little sleep around here?"

Extreme kids

Damon trying the hard wall...

He made it all the way to the bell at the top!  And the guy who was running it told him that one was too hard and was for older kids.  I informed him that Damon was an experienced climber.  Campbell waiting for his turn...

on the beginner wall.

He did a great job on his first try.  We were very proud.

goofy kids

Easter, here we come

I think we've found a winner.  Much to my delight, Kira's yellow polka dot Gymboree dress still fits.  And even better, she can wear it with her yellow patent mary jane shoes.  Now we just need a plain white sweater and we are in business.

Now I'm trying a bunch of summer clothes on her and lots of them fit! I guess she is slimming out.

weekend photoblog.

Patrick had an away game.  It was a 2 hour drive, so the team rented a luxury bus for the players and parents.  We had a conflict, so Matt took him and I took the other 3 kids to the Hamilton Bulldogs game (AHL hockey), where Campbell's team was playing during the intermission.  Here he is getting some last minute coaching.

He looks tiny in that big arena.  He's #6.

And he found a friend in the team mascot.

After he got off the ice he said, "That sucked.  We only got to play for a minute, that totally sucked."  ROFL Yes, I let my kids say "sucked" because let's be honest, some things do SUCK. Kira was a PITA during the game.  My mother came to help with her and Damon, who was not easy either.  Here she is in the van on the way home at almost 11pm.  Look at that wicked grin.

Saturday was a really weird day as we were all really tired.  The kids didn't get to bed until almost midnight, but they were ALL up at 7 am.  UGH.  They were pretty good though and played nicely for most of the morning.  We actually got to hang out at our house.  It was really different, weird and nice. 

Then in the afternoon it was off to hockey practices.

Today Damon had a game.  His team won, and he scored his first goal ever.  Then he got his first assist.  And then he got his first penalty.  LOL  What a game!  He was beaming.  Of course, we heard the replay of that goal until he fell asleep tonight at 11:30.  He's an awesome little player when he focuses, so let's hope this inspires him to focus more often.  He's very aggressive, and plays really well on defence, but this week he was playing center.

Then we were off to a birthday party for a friend.  And guess where it was?   LOL of course at a hockey rink.  They had a game of shinny, adults against kids, in one half of the arena and a fun skate in the other half.  Kira was even up on skates.  Only 14 months old, and she did awesome. 

I wish I had brought a video camera, because she was hilarious kicking her feet all over thinking she would be able to skate like she sees her brothers doing.

WT....CAMPBELL!!! GET BACK IN HERE...

THIS is what happens when straight boys do hair! Just kidding Reno. I got some of it out, but eventually had to cut off about an inch and a half. It still goes into a top of the head ponytail, but so much for trying to grow it all. I will trim up the rest later. Campbell is SOO getting a buzzcut tonight! NO BOYS!

No boys

Bad hair day

Puck keeps stealing her scrunchies and she is left like this

Dress up

Kira loves putting on dresses.  She keeps pulling them down from her closet and asking me to put them on her.  She had a fit when I brought out her Gymboree nightgown.

the blogger code

the blogger code

hmmm, my code: B5 d- t++ k s u-- f i o x-- e+ l c+

Freud would love this one

After a week of saying I couldn't wait for winter to end, I destroyed my warmest down parka.  I washed it because it was a little dirty and grungy looking, but I "accidentally" threw it into the hot dryer and now the thinsulate layer has melted.  Come spring, come quick. 

Funny ad

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/media/rose5.mpg

My shadow

Wherever I go, whatever I do, I can usually look down and see this...

He makes me smile.  Wouldn't you?

Positive thinking (top 10 good things list)

1. It was amusing this morning as I was packing Patrick's lunch. Damon and Campbell hatched up a plan. They are going to use Damon's birthday money to buy a TV for their room. Oh, no, they are going to wait until after Campbell's birthday and use both of their money to buy a BIG SCREEN TV. Hey, Patrick, can the air hockey table go in your room? We are making room for a big screen TV. tee hee I told them that was a great idea as long as they cleaned their room first and then they would need to promise that they would sleep in their beds every night. This will NOT happen.

2. It is sunny today.

3. I managed to keep Puck from eating the bottle of Advil that I spilled on the floor.

4. Oxi-clean. The mould stains finally came out of Patrick's hockey jerseys after the third day of soaking in Oxi-clean.

5. I bought myself flowers for the table. Pretty pale yellow tulips with a ruffled edge.



6. I managed to get Patrick to school on time. Of course this came with a price, I let Damon stay home.

7. As we walked into the grocery store, Damon says "Hey, I haven't been grocery shopping in YEARS." DUH, there's a reason for that. LOL

8. Coke. Yep, I'm back on it. That sweet brown nectar. ahhhhhh. I know, I'll quit, but I might need to wait until my kids are 18. I felt so sick and tired without it. I also gained weight because I was always hungry. I never snack when I can have a can of coke instead.

9. Chocolate.

10. Online friends who "get it". :-D

Things I hate about my Flatmate

Things I hate about my Flatmate I found this site amusing, but familiar. Except my "flatmates" do this and worse to me 5-fold.

Just in case the bathtub full of glass wasn't enough

My children are so thoughtful. They like to keep my life interesting.

Matt got up early this morning to catch a flight to Ottawa. When he was getting ready, a picture fell off of the bathroom wall and smashed in the bathtub. He was in a rush, I was still in bed, so he told me about it and closed the bathroom door so that Kira didn't get to it before I did. So I knew that after I drove the boys to school and did my groceries I would need to do something about it. I get some bags and a box to put it in and walk into the bathroom. It smells like urine. I look down and there is pee everywhere. Pee on the floor, pee on the toilet, pee on the seat, pee on the wall, pee all over the step on garbage.

So I wiped and cleaned every surface in the bathroom, just to be sure. Not an easy task with a 13 month old and a puppy following me and getting into the toilet paper.


ahhh clean 

and safe for tonight's baths! 

The last people in there were Damon and Campbell, and I already know what they are going to say.

At least I haven't had time to notice how sick I feel until now. (throat hurts, dizzy head, watery eyes, nasty cough)

We are bracing for a storm here, so I am guessing that Matt isn't going to be able to fly home tonight.

Doesn't that make you feel a bit better about your Monday?

An extra toothy grin

Oh yeah, this morning Damon was telling me that he has his first loose tooth. I looked in there and *GASP* there are 2 rows of teeth there! His adult teeth are coming through behind his baby teeth. I feel like a negligent mom for not noticing earlier, but he didn't mention anything, and he brushes his teeth well on his own.

Kathy, that's an excellent suggestion, after I drop the boys off at the Hamilton Bulldog's game, I'm coming home, putting Kira to sleep and sucking back a bottle of red wine. Forget all the catching up on housework that I planned to do. :-D

If you have been reading my recent posts, you can probably tell that I've been feeling a tad overwhelmed. Or maybe I am depressed. Or maybe it is just that I am ready for the end of what has seemed like a long winter and I am thinking of hibernating until it is over. I'm not sure.

Things have been crazy here lately with Matt gone all the time, getting a new puppy, and just the regular chaos of life with 4 BUSY children. I'm usually more of a glass-is-half-full type, but for the past 2 weeks, my glass has been bone dry.

Spring is just around the corner and I am hoping that as usual I will bounce right back.

exposed for the histrionic I am...

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Can I quit?

My back aches from lugging around hockey gear, backpacks full of homework, babies, dogs, groceries. My throat hurts from screaming. My jaw hurts from clenching it. My brain hurts from trying to outwit an 7 year old evil genious.

I had to stay away from the group of moms at hockey who were busy perusing travel magazines, because I might have inadvertently killed one of them. They were all able to sip coffee and read magazines while their extra child (they have 2 boys each) sat and nicely played with yu-gi-oh cards or something. Instead I plucked my boys off of the rafters about 9 times, said 'no' to various requests about 1500 times, lost a child or two about 7 times and chased Kira around for about 6 miles.

I'm losing it here.

Calgon take me away

I decided to leave Puck in his big crate when we went out shopping this morning. Big mistake. I came home to SHIT everywhere! No joke, EVERYWHERE. I walked in the front door and the smell hit me. UGH.

I still can't get that smell out of my head.

Kira has been miserable today. I'm wondering if she is coming down with something. Just when we were all healthy again. OF COURSE she is coming down with something.

The boys are all so tired tonight. They are constantly attacking each other. I let them have a snowball fight in the backyard in hopes that they would blow off some steam. Big mistake. Campbell ended up coming in screaming because Damon had found some cat poo on the snow (STRAY cat poo - ewwwwww), and used the shovel to whip it at his head.

Can somebody please tell Kira to STOP tearing things off of the bookshelves? She is always throwing the videos on the floor, but today she is ripping off photo albums, our art books and history books. ARGHHHHH. I tell her 'no', but apparently I'm funny when I say that. Puck is cowering under my chair, but Kira thinks it is hilarious.

Matt is in NYC this week. He was getting dropped off at the hotel and the bellhop came to help with the bags and shut the door and the cab immediately took off. Matt had set his envelope full of documents, including his plane ticket and his passport on the seat. The driver didn't see Matt trying to chase him down. The cab company says they don't know what they can do, but they will take his information down and call if they find it. On top of that the company forgot to send some of the stuff he needs to do this installation, so this won't be a fun week for him either.

I'm just waiting for the day to end.