Swim fun, wherein Dad = a real sport

The lovely, kind, wonderful neighbours gave us use of their pool for 3 different weeks this summer.  Considering the heat and the fact we don't have a/c, it was the best present ever.

The boys have become quite happy little swimmers because of it, and are now registered for lessons starting soon. 

Chris, aka SwimDad, was around for our last swim.  The boys were kind of excited to have him there and perhaps were a bit vigourous in their love.  He didn't actually drown but there were some moments where the enthusiasm was slightly scary.

 What I love about these jumping shots is that Sam watches his bro so intensely.  They've graduated to jumping in with just a life-jacket now.  So exciting!

Even though we tried to tire them out with the jumping, there was still a lot of energy left for Dad-abuse.  (This next series of photos may cause you to snort and/or chortle out loud.)

 Attempted nose removal

 The wee devil lurking

 So uncomfortable!

 Double attack!

 He goes for the eye!

The menace is flipped over!  (Much to his delight).

Way to go, Dad.  You get a medal for water bravery.

The day the Cup came to town

We sure had an interesting day around here yesterday.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime kinda afternoon, to say the least.

 Gee, I wish we'd finished re-doing the front porch before I took these shots!

 Two of my favourite guys made a mad-drive from Ottawa to document our adventure.

 Our main street looked even better than usual!

Nothing beats a reaction like this.  Really, really fun times!

Just 'cuz they're cute

Just a wee love post, because my family looks so darn cute in these shots.

Okay, well, Chris looks a bit like a grizzly bear.  He goes through this 'long-hair' phase every year, and every year he finally get it cut and say "why did I leave it for so long?".  I think we might be nearing the shearing.  Or maybe this is the time he sticks it out and lets it grow long enough to have Willie Nelson braids.

Either way, aren't those kids cute?! 

Worst blogger ever - The reasons why

Yeah.  So... hi?  How are ya?

Here's the deal:  On Christmas Eve, Chris went to the walk-in clinic because he'd been so damn sick for 2 weeks.  The doctor diagnosed pneumonia (in under 2 minutes!) and prescribed some serious antibiotic overdose.  (He should have known something was off when the pharmacist refused to fill the prescription without first calling to confirm that he actually meant to write that amount).  No prob... he takes the pills (while I cringed).  He feels better for a few days.  Then he feels crappy again on New Year's Day.  At the risk of oversharing with you, by January 2nd, he's bleeding a lot.  From his bum.

"Hmmm" I think "that doesn't seem normal.  Even for Chris!"  Off to the hospital we go.  A wonderful, lovely, talented doctor there correctly diagnoses him with c. diff  and rages a bit about the original doctor's antibiotic dosage.  Okay, so lots of morphine and more antibiotics.  Needless to say, Chris was a bit of a wreck by then.  Get him home, and spend the next while trying to get him better before our very quick trip to Victoria.

Chris was invited to be one of the keynote speakers at the event, and I got to tag along and see my awesome West relatives.  It was super short, less than 2 days, but I was sure we could pack lots of fun into our time there.

Well, getting there was a bit tough, in the middle of a blizzard, but we ended up only a couple hours late.  Okay.  No prob.

Squeeze in some family fun and touring around the town.  Awesome.

And then this happened.



Oooh, an enclosed space with the norovirus!  Fun!  Somehow, against the odds, I managed to avoid getting it.  Chris though?  He got it.  Of course.

We made it home and he's recovering from his back-to-back-to-back health woes.

Oh, and Sam barfed on Friday.   On me.

2012 - Year of the Plague



Note - I watched 'Contagion' on the plane of the way out to Victoria.  Why!?  A germ-fearing person (ie: me) should not do things like this.

Take a guess...

...How much Charley likes this display in the park downtown?  His delirious grin should give you a clue.

As a bonus, here are a few pictures of my husband 'tebowing' at the nativity scene.  And teaching my child to do the same.

Does it seems strange to anyone else that our town hall has a nativity scene set up?  A reeeally big nativity scene?  Maybe it's just me...

Yep, we're kickin' it old school here in Po-Ho, peeps. 

p.s.  My eldest child called the shepherd in the scene 'Little Bo Peep'.  Ummm, blaspheme much, Charley?  Of course, look at his father.  Not the best holy-inducing role model.

Earnest, with spice

Kids are so cute when they're taking a task very seriously.  Gingerbread is very, very important stuff.

This week has been a bit of a mess.  Both kids have been sick, and now I'm sick too.  Chris is away for work all week and has had a rough, stressful time on this mission.  And his truck just got broken into.  It's really rainy, my furnace is troublesome and every bill/contractor/tax dude is coming calling at the exact same time.  Well, freakin' Merry Christmas.

Here's the thing though... We'll be healthy by next week and Chris will get home and write something great and all will be well.  We've got plans to see the whole gang over the break and it will be A-MA-ZING to have 2 weeks off from making school lunches, right? 

Hope everyone reading is hanging in there, in what always proves to be a stressful time of year.  Here's to peace and joy and quality family time upcoming.

Holiday hoopla

It's that time of year when things run a bit amok and get away on you.  (And thus, I apologize for the delay between posts).

All is well here at the homestead.  The boys have been generally healthy and happy.  You know, the epidemic school-age perma-snot-nose is in effect, but that usually lasts until about June.  Chris is busy with an overload of work (real work, not house work, alas) and Kismet has some kind of itchy, scratchy allergy thing going that causes her back leg to thump-thump-thump on the floor 22 out of 24 hours.  (She's now on steroids and I expect her to be uber-buff in no time).

You know, the usual.

Funny Charley update:  When I picked him up from school one day last week, he announced that he had a new best friend.  I was so excited that my Aspergian child had finally "discovered" his peers.  A real friend?!  Of his choosing?!  With bated breath, I bent down and said "REALLY!? Who is it?".  He replied "It's a rock!!".  The teacher sighed and produced the rock which has now joined us for countless meals and bedtimes.  Whatever... it might be a human friend one of these days, right?

(While I was typing this he has been singing a very serious, professor-ish rendition of the LMFAO song "I'm sexy and I know it".  Imagine that, folks.  It's pretty great).

Okay, so what have you missed?

We went to see the CP Holiday Train go by last week.  We waited upwards of an hour for it to pass and the kids just got more and more insane as they waited.  I think it was an appropriate way to start off the mayhem-filled-season.

Woo hoo!  Here it comes!  We told the kids that it was Santa's sleigh, filled with toys and headed to the North Pole.  With Santa driving.  And elves in the passenger car.  Their heads almost exploded.

 The beauty of non-flash night time shots.  Groooovy traiiiiin.

 Success.  The mad posse is appeased.

 We celebrated Chris' birthday, and Charley lurked in the background, clutching a knife.  Good times.

 And we did round #1 of gingerbread house decorating.  I made the houses myself and discovered the pure, satanic evil of melted sugar glue.  Like lava, but hotter.  On the plus side, Haley appears to be delighted with her icing bag.

Note to self:  The decoration 'buffet' is not the best idea.  Perhaps single servings in the future?  Controlled portions?  The sugar consumption was truly epic.  It made my teeth hurt.

And, for a finale shot, here's Charley's best friend, Rock.  My kid is SO much cooler than yours.  
Nerd power forever!!  hahahaaaa

Okay.  I think you're all caught up now.  One can only imagine what the week ahead will bring:  Christmas tree farm visit, the legendary Millbrook parade and more! 

Stay tuned.

I want to marry my floors

I thought that the drywall was a quick and dramatic thing... well move over walls!  Here come the floors.  We have a great company bringing the home's original floors back to life.  They've never really been finished as they've been under many, many layers of carpet/tile/etc for many, many years and before that they were just painted.  They are beautiful old red pine, the likes of which you don't see anymore.

I seriously almost swooned (I know! How Victorian!) when I saw the guys doing the first pass.  I mean, there is no faster and more dramatic way to change a room.  We've had the kitchen guy, the electricians and the mason all there as well this week.  It's all systems go.  (Really... we've got a month.  Anyone else wanna get their hands dirty?)

Here are some shots of the floor after it's first of four sandings.  I can't believe it's going to get even more beautiful.

 The hallway with the edges done.  Nice to see the contrast!

 They're using what you would call a 'coarse grit' paper.  (Read: gravel grade)  There's a lot of old paint on them there floors!

 Here, Chris gives the one finger salute to the boards he personally pieced in.  With white pine.  Ooopsy!  Not quite a match.  Oh well... it's a character floor, right?

 The library was the first room they worked on.  The boss did a quick application of the finish to show us what it will look like.  Dreeeeeamy.  Lots of nail holes and cracks and history, you know?

The main stairs have had the carpet and glue removed.  What a huge difference.  And, yes, there's still a wall of that tree wallpaper, but not for long.  The plaster underneath needs attention, so I'm afraid the retro-greatness is no more.

Tomorrow marks the start of "Panic-Go-Time".  On month to go.  We can do it!! (??)

I've got nothin'

Sorry folks!  This week has been a bit of a blog-drought, but there is good reason.  Mr Husband has flown away to exotic (ie: California and Florida) lands for work and I'm home for 8 days without him.

Now, I know, 8 days is nothing compared to some of the absences I've weathered, but I'm a little out of practice.  This past 'home stretch' is the longest Chris has gone without travel since I've known him. (That's 17 years, if you're counting).

It means no work is being done on the house (boo!), but he's been interviewing someone SO great and SO amazing that I'm actually jealous.  (The only time this has ever happened before was when he went to George Clooney's house).  I'm not at liberty to say who it is, but you can see the results on the May cover of Esquire.

All this to say, the camera hasn't come out and the stories are a bit mundane.  "Made it to school on time again.  Made a reasonably healthy lunch.  Sam demanded 'cool black mitts' so I made him some".  Not earth-shattering stuff.

So, what can I put below as a visual?  Hmmm...

Oh!  I know!

So, this one time, in December, Chris' boots got stuck on his feet after a hard day's work at the house.  Something to do with the liners pulling out at the same time as his hobbit feet, or something like that.  Anyway, he couldn't get either boot off even after I pulled as hard as I could and my dad tried too. (He was here having also worked that day on the house.  His boots came off fine).

So, Chris told me to get him some scissors, and I did.  I also got my camera.  He saw it and said "I'll kill you if you take pictures of this.  It's NOT FUNNY!"   I said that it would be funny someday.  Maybe today is that day?

 The angst!

 The mutilation!

Yep.  He cut those suckers off and pitched them in the backyard.  They may still be there!

Poor him.  It's not really funny.


JOKING!  It's TO-tally funny.  Hilarious even.  Of course, he hasn't had winter boots since then.  But the backyard creatures are grateful for the shelter, however smelly.