Reminiscence

A cool thing arrived in the mail today. An Ego Book.

What is this thing you ask? It's a book of all of my Facebook Status updates from June 2009 to June 2012. Why does a person need such a thing and am I really THAT egocentric?? Yes and no....for me, Facebook has been the place where I share many of the funny things my kids have said and done and I, occasionally, like to reflect on them. However, it is incredibly difficult to sift back though six years of posts to find the ones I want.. When I found Ego Book, I knew my problem was solved. I thought I'd share some of my favourites here.

Posted Oct. 15, 2009: Chey 4yrs "Are you picking up what I'm putting on the floor?" in context when asking if I understood her

Posted Nov. 7, 2009: Chey 4yrs in response to me asking her if I could put a flower on the hat I was making her..... Chey "I hate Flowers!" Me "Why?" Chey "Because! They don't KILL people"... I think this obsession with dangerous creatures has moved from endearing to concerning......

Posted March 15, 2010: Chey 4yrs "Mommy, I feel seasick" Me "What is seasick?" Chey "seasick is when you're sick of seeing!"


And a couple of notes from the book I kept before Facebook

Spring 2005: Eli 3yrs... One morning when Dale was getting ready to leave for work (he worked out of town at that time, Eli asked "Daddy? Have you made enough money for Mommy yet?"

Aug. 2005: Eli 3 yrs.... During Eli's "why?" phase I used to say "why is not a real question, ask me a real question and I will answer it"...... Eli's response.... "why is "why" not a real question?"

Oct 2005: Eli 4yrs... One day Dale and Eli were playing together in the basement when I heard a sudden commotion and Dale appeared carrying Eli (who was in the midst of a temper tantrum). He carried him to his room for a time out and walked away. Once the door was closed Eli yelled "is that the best you can do?"..... I nearly peed my pants....

And to finish this glimpse into my children's minds... I will share a song I wrote during the same time frame as the above incident....a particularly, rough, parenting patch, which.... Fortunately for all of us, ended soon after this next incident which inspired a song... Based on a single true event and sung to the Twelve Days of Christmas.... I will share the eleventh verse only

On the eleventh stage of temper tantrum my child gave to me.....

A battle in the bedroom, a battle in the car seat, a high pitched scream, a half hour of crying, a ridiculous demand, a windmill punch, a kick in the shins, "you stupid poopy head," a bite in the ass, a bruised husband and a headache for all to see......


 You have to have a sense of humor to be a parent.... This much I know for certain.

Things Kids Say.....

Kids are funny. We all know it, but how many of us write that stuff down??? I do. Not all of it mind you, but I have been writing a few things down since Eli first started to talk and with the advent of Facebook, many of my status updates involve funny stories about my children. Why stop the embarrassment there, I say!  Parenting is rough, but these sparking, hilarious moments make it all worthwhile and sharing them is pure payback....With that in mind, I've decided that, once in a while, I will pick something from the past to share about the funny/touching (mostly funny) things my kids have said/done. The story may be from my book (I literally started a book before Facebook for these moments) or it may be from Facebook, but I hope that it will make you smile as much as the original occurrence has done for me.

My first story is one of the most humorous. It happened when Eli was just under three years old, shortly after he had been potty trained and we were moving from Williams Lake (a small town in central BC) to Edmonton, Alberta. It's a long drive between the two cities, 12 or 13 hrs, and I never expected Eli to last the entire way. To avoid any messy accidents in the car, I explained to him that he was going to wear a pull-up for the drive "just in case".  Our first stop was only an hour out of Williams Lake and both of us took the opportunity to use the washroom. Our next stop was 4 hours later for gas, but he didn't need to go at that point, so we kept driving. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny, early summer day and as we drove over the Yellowhead Hwy towards Jasper, the views were magnificent. Eventually, Mount Robson began to loom on the horizon (hour 6). It was such a gorgeous day that I decided to pull out at the Mount Robson sign for a picture and to let the dog have a run around and pee. It was at this point that Eli informed me "I go PEE!" I looked around quickly, but no bathrooms.... no outhouses...  nothing. Now, here is a little fact about having boys that I have never read in any kind of parenting book (even the funny ones)........ and hadn't even considered up to that point because the men in my house are sitters (the deal is "sit or clean toilets, your choice Dude"). Here it goes.... are you ready??? When your son first learns to pee standing up, you must teach him to hold his penis to aim. In order to facilitate this process you will have to do it for him.......This is probably not that big of a deal to the parents of standers, but as I mentioned, we are sitters and this was Eli's first attempt at upright urination.  I took a deep breath and prepared to help him aim, only, he wasn't having any of it. He kept swatting my hand away and was starting to cry because he wanted a toilet. I gave up on the standing and tried to have him sit over the barrier with his bottom held into space, but the rough concrete on his penis wasn't helping the situation at all. We tried various other torturous/creative ways of sitting, but nothing could get him relaxed enough to let go. Finally, after 10 minutes of crying and frustration (and not only from him) I explained that he would have to use his pull-ups like he used to ("I NOT A BABY") and we would just change him when he was done, but first I wanted a picture of him and the dog in front of the sign. Here is the second thing I learned that day...... when taking a picture of scenery, you rarely notice the small details of the picture in the quest for the unified whole......

I set up the dog and Eli to take the picture and stepped back to ensure the quintessential Mount Robson photo. Mountain and sign, child and dog, blue skies and puffy white clouds, all were perfection. I snapped a picture. I snapped a second picture as insurance. I lowered the camera and saw, to my horror, that my darling, 33 month old son had made a final attempt at urinating in the vertical. He had clearly been holding it for a very long time as his stream was magnificent . He stood there and voided his bladder on a national monument with busy summer traffic streaming past and he was PROUD....... I had enough time to leap the several feet over to him to try to avoid the impending mess (He was NOT aiming), but I was too late.... We spent the next several minutes cleaning up. A change of clothes (there was nothing to be done about the shoes, I'm afraid) and the sloshing of water over the concrete slab he had been standing on were required, all while in a futile attempt to avoid the paroxysms of laughter that were attempting to impede my task.  I spent the remainder of our trip (6 hrs) bursting into uncontrollable giggles at random moments.

It was only when I was telling Dale about the story that I thought to look at the pictures........

The final lesson learned from that day..... Once your son has learned to stand up to urinate, you must teach him not to pull down his pants whenever he feels the need.... Like standing in line to pay for a membership at the swimming pool....... for example.

Post Christmas Coma....

It's the day after. Christmas was wonderful. The kids were awesome. They were appreciative of everything and their joy and graciousness when opening their gifts made me proud and sad.... I'm not sure how many years of the "magic" we have left.  The house is now a total disaster area, but I am determined to take a day off (as much as I can, I do need to do laundry, change sheets, organize garbage.... oh, who am I kidding... we all know I'm going to take down the tree and clean everything up). In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures of the big day (and the 24th for good measure).


Christmas Eve was pretty relaxing. All the presents were wrapped. Most of the food for Christmas Dinner was ready to go and we spent the day doing some last minute baking and preparation for Christmas. I decided to try making a sweet bread for Breakfast. I haven't made bread in many years, but for some reason... the mood was upon me so I did.... I think I over-kneeded it a bit... it was denser than I was expecting, but it did taste great. Chey was hilarious. She started saying that she was tired and needed to go to bed at around 8am... and continued every half hour or so throughout the day. When the time came for our traditional Christmas Movie, she had a mini-tantrum because "I don't want to stay up late to watch a movie! I want to go to BED!"

Chey helping kneed bread (I made a Finnish sweet bread for breakfast... it was good!)	Decorating cookies for Santa
Spreading the Reindeer Food	The tree after Santa came!

And finally Christmas morning arrived.... and as usual, I was up the earliest and had to wait patently for everyone else..... I noticed Eli's light was on, so I called him upstairs and told him to go wake up his sister (what? a Mom can't wake up her kids for Christmas morning??). Once everyone was up and the adults had coffee in hand.... .. the grand reveal began.... 

Chey's first peek at the tree... I LOVE this pic!	Kisses for her shark.....
The Retro Game he asked Santa for.... I think he likes it!	Eli's Replica Ocarina from The Legend of Zelda
There was a lot of hugging going on.....	Chey and I received matching charms for our bracelets... She picked mine and Santa brought hers...
Necklace from my Sister...	Cute Feather Hair Barrettes from Aunty Tonya (She's wearing the earrings today, Aunty!)
Chey's presents to us...  made at school
The Bread.... mmmmmmmm

It FLIES!!! FINALLY! We had some troubles getting "Shark" in the air... Fortunately Dale found some helium in the garage. We had to over inflate the thing to practically bursting... perhaps Santa left it out there for us when he realized that he'd been duped and brought us a knock-off instead of the real "Air Swimmer Shark"????  Chey loves it, regardless.. She wanted to sleep with it last night, but I thought it was better where it was..... 

We went skating in the afternoon and had our friends over for Christmas Dinner (They've come for dinner every year since we moved here, excluding the year we went to the island and last year when they lived in Egypt). It was the perfect cap off to the perfect day.

And finally, here is the Christmas Knitting I did this year. I didn't think there was very much, but seems like I did more than I thought.... this doesn't include the stuff I knit for the house either..... 

Shawl for Cary	Mittens for my hairdresser	New Silly Frilly for Chey
Shrug for Chey	Socks for Eli	Slippers for NanaB

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Everywhere I go... in my house, anyway. I tend to decorate similarly every year, so I won't share photos of the entire house, but here are a few of my main living area (which is also my favourite room until the tree goes up this weekend).

I've added a few knitted creations this year. My knitted Carolers (of course! and no Barbora, I am NOT giving them to you for Christmas, you'll have to learn to knit them yourself.....I know you were hoping... *wink*). are sitting by the fireplace


and I've knit some stars (which will be turned into something else, but work nicely with my poinsetta floral display for now). I've also made a Merry Christmas Banner from some felted patches that I knit several years ago. My original intention was to use them to recover some chairs, but I couldn't imagine sitting on them.... they're very scratchy. They work nicely when cut into letters for the banner though....

And finally, I thought I'd share Chey's letter to Santa..... because it's very "her" (although I did have her exclude the part after "I tried to be good this year"... It was supposed to read "I tried to be good this year, but I was only good about half the time").

I'll post more pictures when the tree goes up.....

A trap of my own devising.

It's November 10, there are approximately 40 knitting days until Christmas..... Notice I said "knitting days" not "shopping days"...... and really, if I think about shipping times... it's more like 25 knitting days...... yikes! The trap of Christmas knitting has been set, concealed and sprung......

Last year I knit several of my loved ones items for Christmas and although I enjoy giving my knitting to other people, the actual PROCESS of knitting on a deadline sucks.... I'm a moderately fast knitter, I think, but for some reason, the moment I feel like a deadline is looming... I stress. Last year was no exception and it was about 2 seconds after the last item was finished, I decided that I would only knit for gifts on alternate years.... well, except maybe my Dad's, now annual, socks.... and if I'm knitting something for him, I should knit something for Caren, his wife..... and if I'm knitting something for Caren, I should probably knit something for my Mother-in-Law.... and if I'm knitting something for my MIL, I should probably knit something for.... (insert recipient here). You see the trap, right??? Apparently, I did not... even though I set it myself.

My Christmas knitting has now grown.... and I thought of a new one or two today....... sigh..... Oh... and now that I have all of these Christmas creations to complete, I have found not one, but TWO sweaters that are begging me to cast on...... I even have the yarn for one of them.... maybe I should do a quick gauge swatch??? No! I must resist! and NEXT YEAR, I am determined! No Christmas knitting!!! ..... well....... except, knitted gifts are special and let's face it none of the people that I knit for are easy to buy for....... Perhaps I should space it out a bit better instead....... there. Next year's trap is already in place.... remind me of that next year... Ok?

My list so far (I'm only posting pics of stuff for people that I know don't read my blog... I don't want to give it ALL away).

1) Syd: Handspun, handknit scarf (this was supposed to be a just-because gift, but I'm sending it for Xmas) - Finished

2) Dad: Finished

3) Caren: 25%

4) MIL: Idea is brewing, not sure if I can complete for Xmas or not.....

5) Chey: Dragon, Dinosaur or Snake scarf... perhaps of my own design.... 'cause I've got a great idea in my head..... Not started, but will be done last....

6 & 7) Nina & Natalya: Crochet Caps..... I've already made myself and Chey one (the pattern is AWESOME and ADORABLE... I hate hats on me and I still love this one!) ... I'm going to give Chey's to Natalya because it's a bit big for Chey and and the colours would be awesome for Natalya's jacket. PLUS mine is made from the same yarn so it's a bit too matchy, matchy for my taste......


Those are just my "for sure" presents.... and looking at them itemized, they don't seem too bad..... except the list started as ONE..... and now is SEVEN.... in just a few days.....

Here are the cute hats..... the pattern is called "Swirls Cap" (ravelry link). It only took me about 3-4 hours to make. I used a thick fusible webbing for the hat brim, so the hats should be washable...... The designer had stopped offering the pattern for a while, but I noticed that it's back up....



I do have a funny story about Chey's hat. While I was making it, I asked her if she would rather have a flower instead of buttons like mine. She replied that she "hates flowers!". I asked her why and she looked at me and said, in a very serious voice "because, flowers don't kill you" (I'm assuming she meant "you" in general and not me in particular.... at least I hope so).... I told her she was getting a flower anyway and when it was done, she said it was nice because "it looks like a mouth with teeth so it can bite you" (eh? a mouth??? I don't see it, but whatever works to get her to wear the darn thing)........ her obsession with all creatures dangerous has apparently reached new heights...... I think my days of dressing Chey as a girly-girl are numbered..... she's definitely heading down the tomboy road..... sigh......

The pianist.

Eli's first piano recital was on Sunday. He was so nervous! He was quiet. VERY quiet. If you know Eli at all, you know that "quiet" is rarely used to describe him. At one point he even said he felt sick and, to be quite honest, he was definitely looking a little green around the gills, but he did it and he was great! I was very proud of him....

Here is a picture before we left for the concert, looking quite handsome in his shirt and tie.



Here he is, just prior to going on, looking less than impressed.




And the video of his performance



Chey couldn't be left out. After he was all done and the applause died down, Chey said "Wow! That was GREAT!"..... and she wasn't quiet about it either.....the entire audience burst out laughing (there were over 100 people there) it was the only noise she made through the whole concert......

Our Christmas Adventure.....

My Dad and his wife invited us to their new house on Vancouver Island for Christmas this year and so I planned for a Vancouver Island "Green Christmas". I had grandiose plans of visiting every yarn shop in the Duncan, Sidney and Victoria area, beach combing with the kids, walks along country roads in pleasant and mild +5C or higher temperatures, with, perhaps at worst, some rain to contend with. I did NOT, in any way, plan for this



or this



or this



Notice the steel grey colour of the water??? It's not frozen.... it's floating snow... there was so much snow that it couldn't melt in the water and just sat there.... oh and did I mention this was only the FIRST big snowfall after I arrived??? There was another on Christmas Eve that was at least as much..... I think the Grand tally of snow for the week that I was there was around 60cms.... that's around 2ft, but there was some on the ground before. When I played in the snow with Chey on Christmas Eve and stepped into the untouched snow (which had melted and compacted in between snowfalls) it was almost mid-thigh, which on me, is slightly over 2ft. The best part of the snow was that it was great for building stuff (and I'm sure the kids would have enjoyed it more had I brought their snowpants, but snowpants were not in my plan damn it!... good thing Dale brought them when he flew out on Christmas Eve morning).....The kids did play in the snow in their pants one day and made snow angels and when the snowpants arrived Chey and I built a polar bear.....




In the newspaper on Christmas Eve, it stated that there was more snow in Victoria than at the North Pole and being as we were slightly North of Victoria, I believe we had even more.

In between bouts of snow, we did manage to take a day trip into Victoria, where we HAD to stop to see the BC Legislature buildings (Eli made a specific request, on the plane.... He wanted to see the government). We also made a trip to the Royal BC Museum, which was enjoyed by all...... The kids are standing in front of the Legislature buildings and in front of a partially frozen fountain in front of the Legislature.. the last picture is in the Museum.




We were very lucky on Christmas Eve that Dale managed to arrive on one of only TWO planes that were allowed to land in Victoria all day.... every other arrival/departure was cancelled for the full day...... And Christmas Eve was a yummy fondue, followed by the feeding of the reindeer and the sleepless (at least it was for me... I get very excited about Christmas) night before Santa came....

Christmas morning was a blast. The kids got spoiled and I got yarn and roving...... Dale got a few bits, but his main present was a new guitar that was left back at home.

The weather finally co-operated a bit on the 27th and we managed to go for a tour on my Dad's boat. It was a beautiful day and made even more complete by a viewing of a sea otter and a couple of seals......

Here is a picture of Chey with her two most favorite presents... a crocodile and dinosaur puppet.. she spent the next couple of days terrorizing the household with her "puffets"



and a great picture of Eli and my Dad on his boat



and do you recognize this sailboat??? It's the sailboat in the ocean picture above..... amazing eh??



I even made it to a yarn store.... It's called The Loom and let me tell you.... it is packed... JAM packed full of yarn, yarn stacked in boxes, with baskets of yarn on top and more baskets or bags or boxes of yarn stacked on those in all of the isles and on top of the yarn stuffed into shelving. This apparent lack of organization would normally send me running the other direction (I'm not a super neat freak, but I'm pretty neat most of the time), in this case though, I found it enormously entertaining and kind of like hunting treasure (she had lots and lots of treasures to be found) and asked if I could take pictures to show you.......




All in all, it was a fantastic eight days..... even if getting home wasn't *quite* as easy as getting there..... it involved cancelled flights (for Dale), sitting on the tarmac for three hours (again, poor Dale) and waiting for luggage for three hours after a direct flight which I still can't figure out how that happened (that was me and the kids) and then having one suitcase lost (again... can't quite get my head wrapped around a lost bag on a direct flight).... the one with frozen fish that my Dad had given us...... fortunately it was still frozen when the airline found and returned the bag the next day......