Jimmy Kimmel and Oprah

This interview is Hil. Ar. Ious.
Watch it. Now. Go...

Extra Long Weekend

We had a fantastic long weekend. The kids were off on Thursday and Friday last week, due to teacher's convention, then Monday was Family Day.

We did a bunch of things. We met up with some Wick's on Thursday and we went to the pool. [Mason loves to be in the pool, when he's not required to swim lengths, practice his kicks and do proper dives into the water] He was thrilled to be there. No pictures however, because water and cameras just do not go hand in hand...

Friday we went up to Nakiska, this time for a full day of skiing. The day was incredible. I can't believe we were this lucky again. I hope the kids don't get lulled into thinking that's what skiing is like, because it's not... Miss Madelyn is our speed demon, Barry and I have to take turns skiing with her, and it's all I can do to keep up... Once she gets off the lift, she's heading down the hill. End of story. She doesn't see the need to stop once and awhile... Mason is our cautious one. And by cautious, I mean slow... By the end of the day however, he was somewhat less cautious and he even tucked it in a few places...

[we actually needed to buy sunscreen!]

We got 9 runs in. I thought that was pretty darn good with little kids and a lunch break. [and the pee breaks, etc, etc.]

Then, we got home from skiing and this happened...

She insisted all day, that her tooth was ready to come out. We told her it wasn't. She was right. I just hate that she's loosing the two top front teeth... My baby is losing her baby teeth...

On Saturday night, Ama & Baba took the kids for a sleep-over. It was a nice treat to have the house quiet. Kids = ruckus... My sweetie and I got out for a bite to eat, before his night out with the fellas. I stayed home and scrapbooked until the wee hours.


Sunday night we had family movie night and watched Megamind. It's cute. Of course Madelyn hides on the stairs for most of our movie nights, insisting she doesn't want to sit with us, only to recite lines and quotes from the movie all day long the next day. Even the draw of popcorn with dill pickle topping didn't lure her like it usually does. She did come eventually, and is always so glad she finally does. We're talking about having a Wizard of Oz movie night... I don't know if she'll make it through the flying monkey's or not... [Let's just say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree... There's a reason I'm so cautious as to what these kids watch]

Family Day we went skating. In past years we've gone to Bowness Park to skate on Family Day, but I doubt the ice is very good there this year. It's been so mild, so we went to an indoor rink.

We took a few pictures, which everyone is embracing and being a really good sport about. [When I took the shadow picture of us on the ski hill, I could audibly hear Mason sighing... Trust me buddy, one day you'll be glad I'm so crazy with my camera!]

With her hockey helmet on, the missing tooth looked a little less out of place.

And then, to top the day off, we finished with ice cream snacks at DQ. I had suggested going to McDonald's for a milkshake, because you know when you just feel like a milkshake? But everyone else wanted DQ. I was the odd man out, so I just went along with it. But I made a major mistake. I ordered a mini blizzard, but not my usual Cookie Dough Blizzard. No, I thought the Reece's PB Cup Blizzard looked good... It was a mistake. In the future, so as not to be disappointed, just go with what you know and like...

Now the kids are back to school, the house is quiet, and I'm trying to get things tidied up around here. We don't get a big break again until spring break at the end of March... Oh how I love my 8:30 morning get ups...

Finally...

I finally finished up my December Daily album... Boy oh boy it took a while to wrap it up. I have to blame it taking so long on project life. Can you believe today starts week 8? And I'm completely up to date. In fact, I just got notification from Costco that my week 7 pictures are 'ready for pick up'.

Now this lovely little book, can be browsed through by the kids, and then I'll put it away until next Christmas, where I'll be so glad I followed through with this and did it.

Now if I can just figure out how to make this labour intensive project even easier??? I'll have to give that some serious consideration...

I included a few pictures, if you want to check it out in it's entirety, you'll have to come over and check it out!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today the kids had pizza lunch at school. I'll admit, I find pizza lunch a little bit stressful, when I'm volunteering... Let's face it, there is always a mix up. Always a kid who ordered a pepperoni, only to find you have nothing but vegetarian left... Or, 'I ordered a chocolate milk, not white milk' and all the chocolate milks are gone... Eeks.

It didn't help that I was handing out pizza to the grade four's, some of them stand in front of me and look me in the eye... Like how'd that happen? When did those kids from kindergarten get so tall and lanky? But they were also so willing to please, which warmed my heart. Mason came up and hugged me in front of a class room of his peers. At first there were 'Is that Mason's Mum?' then later, 'Are you Mason's Mum?' as they approached me to pick up pizza. I had kids who wanted to be helpers [thank heaven's they've had more experience with this than I have] and another Mum who finally came to my rescue, when we were short 7 pepperoni pizzas... In the end, it all worked out. Everyone got what they ordered, and the kids I didn't know before, now know which person in their class I belong to. I do love to be at the school, and I like to know who my kids hang out with.

I didn't go crazy this year with treats, my kids have way too many sweets. I made these sweet little matchbox treats I'd found, where else, on Pinterest... They got that and a card, that's it!

Miss Madelyn came home from school on cloud 9. She wanted to 'give people stuff'. She collected a few things, and had us all sit in the living room. There, she handed treats out [she collected stuff around the house]

She opened all her Valentine's from school and the package Ama and Baba had sent home on Sunday night. She told me, 'those people really love me' [talking about Ama & Baba] I guess because I decorated a matchbox and put 8 smarties in in, I wasn't included in that blanket statement... It's okay, I have broad shoulders.

Mason's class, being grade four and all, didn't 'exchange' valentines this year. They made hearts during class time, and everyone in all the grade 4 classes signed it. [We did however make Valentines, he handed them out at recess]

Madelyn had been to Safeway with Barry, she bought Mason a bag of Werther's Original hard candies. She then put a Heineken in a bag for Barry. She's nothing if not thoughtful...

We then went for supper to Boston Pizza, for our traditional heart shaped pizza.

I had a bit of a hissy-fit, and so instead of having just one pizza, we ordered a pepperoni for the kids:

And Barry and I enjoyed a Great White North, with ham and cheddar cheese... Mmmmm.

We came home and enjoyed strawberries dipped in chocolate for dessert, and Barry and I enjoyed a glass of wine with our dessert. It was terrific.


This was the cards I created for the kids, both of them were pleased with the outcome, as was I!

Another successful Valentine's under our belt.

12 Instagrams on the 12th, February 2012

I absolutely love having my camera on my new iphone. I love it a little bit too much. The whole instagram thing is totally addictive... All the different filters and washes you can use... I have to force myself to pick up my Nikon these days...

Here is this months 12 on the 12th:

Madelyn's Party Complete with Special Guest

On Thursday, I got an invitation to a party.

By Thursday night, the party had morphed into a very special event indeed. A special guest had been invited. She kept this buttoned up tight...

A little secret about our Miss Madelyn, although she can be challenging at times, she can also be sweet. Very sweet. She had talked to Ama [who it turned out was the special guest... ;-)] And had arranged for her to bring apple juice and a special treat. After all, what is a party without food?

She went on and on about her upcoming party and her 'special guest', who would most certainly be in attendance. She had to change the party to Sunday to accommodate our social calendar this weekend. Now, I would be lying if I said that I was surprised the special guest was Ama. There was a lot of whispering and phone calls between the two of them in the past couple of days, but I did act surprised and delighted when I found out who the special guest was.

Now Ama, was not totally certain what was expected of her... I might have indicated to her that this is not a big deal. Meh. We'll get around this somehow, don't worry about it... You needn't come bucketing over first thing Sunday morning, I told her...

In my mind, I was pretty sure that once Sunday morning rolled around I'd be able to talk her out of a party with the promise of breakfast out somewhere.

What I didn't anticipate however, was being awakened this morning at 8:30, and being told that I had to get up immediately because our special guest would be here any second... What I didn't anticipate is a little girl who'd gotten up, made her bed, cleaned her room [because naturally, that's where the party was being held] gotten herself dressed [in her Christmas dress] and decorated her room for the party, she also had a little table set up, ready for food... Those are the things I didn't anticipate...

So, I kid you not, an emergency phone call went out. I had to hide myself in the bathroom, with the water running, so Madelyn wouldn't hear me say to my Mum... "Get over here, pronto!"

And my sweet Mother, our sweet Ama, phoned Madelyn back, told her she had to have a quick shower, and would be there shortly. To buy us a little bit of time to at least get a coffee into us...

Here are a few pictures of our little party, which took place this morning at about 9:45 am.

Initially the boys hadn't been invited, but she felt bad and invited them to attend too.

Thank you Ama, for being available to come bucketing over at a moments notice. She was extremely pleased with herself for being a hostess... She held a great party. This is what memories are made up of.

A Day at the Mountains

For Christmas, my parents and us got the kids ski lessons at COP. We thought it was a good idea, because they've shown an interest in skiing for a while now, both of them. The great thing about skiing, it's a fantastic family sport. Although certainly not an inexpensive sport. [I'm sure it wasn't back then either, when I was growing up] Thank you M&D for introducing us to, and taking us skiing. I have a lot of great memories of my brother and I skiing with our Mum and Dad. Every Supertramp song that comes on can take me right back there, as well as a heavy snow fall warning... Check this out:

My parents had a friend, that let us borrow his cabin, right on the ski hill. A great deal of teacher's conventions in February, had us camped out here for 4 days. It was awesome...

I knew I wanted to share that awesomeness with my kids. When they showed an interest in skiing, we were very supportive.

I've skied a LOT. I learned when I was around the age Madelyn is right now. I learned to ski at COP, back when it used to be called Paskapoo... [Yes, I just dated myself there, big time] We skied a lot as a family and as a teenager [before I had my drivers license] I would go over to Market Mall and get on the greyhound shuttle bus to one of the ski hills with friends. [Do you remember that Mum?] To be honest, I can't imagine letting my kids do that... But then again, they're only 9 and 6. Then, somewhere around grade 10, a lot of us started getting our drivers licenses... I remember vividly, a drive up to Lake Louise with Jimmy Z and Roy N; there's a spot on the highway, right past one of the Banff exits, Jimmy's car did a 360° on the highway. [Mum, don't know if I ever told you that or not, but thankfully it worked out...] We weren't farting around, it was just winter driving conditions... [Again, would I ever let my kids Madelyn, get into a car with teenage boys???] At this point in time, I say NO.

I spent a lot of time in the mountains with ski's and cold weather gear. When Barry and I got together, he didn't share my passion for the ski hill, but he was easily talked into trying it out. He hadn't done much down hill skiing, but spent a lot of time as a kid cross-country skiing. It turns out, he liked downhill. So him and I skied quite a bit. We did some ski trips [they were awesome] we skied with family and friends. [One of my most favourite ski stories was when we skied with Chris up at Sunshine and he shoved a nervous nelly off the t-bar...] Hil. Ar. Ious. And then I was pregnant with Mason... A day of skiing is definitely a full-day commitment. I think I might have got out once after he was born, with a trip through the social club at work...Then along came Miss Madelyn. I have not put ski's on since she joined our family. She'll be 7 this spring, so that means it's been at least 8 years since we skied.

Yesterday the kids had a PD at school and we thought it would be perfect, to take them to the mountains skiing. We decided on Nakiska because it's close to home, literally an hour from our front door to the parking lot, we don't need a park pass to get there, the skiing isn't as expensive, it's a great hill for beginners. We went up for a 1/2 day.

The last time I was at Nakiska, this picture was taken:

That's right, the 1988 Olympics... So it's been awhile. I hadn't skied the hill in years, so I had little memory of the actual ski hill, or the runs.

We drove towards the mountains yesterday morning, there was hardly any snow on the country side, hardly any snow in the ditches. We've hardly had any snow... It's weird. The thermometer read 4°. By the time we got to the hill, it was -1° [I know, right? Dreamy...] It was absolutely gorgeous there. The sun was shining. It was warm. It wasn't busy, line ups weren't long at all. It was some of the best conditions I've skied in, ever. It was like the best spring skiing day you could only hope for. We ate our lunch outside on the picnic tables.

It was the perfect kind of day, to show your kids what skiing is all about. Let's face it, they'll spend plenty of time riding up chair lifts in sub-zero temperatures. They'll ski in white out conditions. They'll get frost bite once or twice. But not yesterday, yesterday was perfect.

We had a great time. They had a great time. It made me realize how much I love skiing, and how much I've missed it. It's a great reason to look forward to winter, and I'm glad to have that appreciation back again. [Though this winter is clearly an exception] We even ran into one of Mason's friends and his Dad, so the boys were able to ski a couple of runs together. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

-getting ready to go up the chair for the first
-we did it! we went up the lift!

-the snow was great, conditions were perfect.

-stopping for a bite of lunch.

-Mason running into a friend, then he went up the chairlift with him and his Dad.

-Barry, Madelyn and I took the chair behind. [our very out-dated ski's worked just fine...]

We're totally looking forward to our next ski trip.