steve

I will admit it, I loved the crocodile hunter. I watched his smiling face on the discovery channel pretty often over the past few years. His sometimes crazy antics made me crave more of his "Jack Ass" meets Lorne Greene style. If you loved the "crikey" man as much as I did I hope you will feel compelled to leave your favorite moment that you saw on his show.

Some of my favorite moments were when he was trying to hold onto a snake and the comments he would make after a massive snake would try and nip him.

He brought nature to everyone and made millions of people more aware of the creepy, crawly, bump-in-the-night beasts that we fear. I've been trying to find a way to make a contribution to some of Steve's work. The best thing I can think of right now is to donate to the Australian Zoo that employed Steve and continue to support the Discovery Channel. There website is pretty hard to get into right now because half world is trying to look at it but you can visit www.crocodilehunter.com if you get a chance.

where did I go?

So you might have wondered if I jumped off the planet for a few weeks there and well I did. We went away. Off to the coast to run away from it all. I did some work on the island and feel like I learned a few things. Spent some time with family in Vancouver but really just lounged and tried to regain my spirit to spend another winter in the north. The winters are much milder than they were when I was a kid but... being on the coast made me really think about the possibility of moving down. I could take this opportunity to rant about drivers, limited family activities, family activities that don't cost me a days work, rude people, mean people, racist people... but I won't (tonight). I will leave you with some photos from our vacation and will write again soon. Happy belated birthday to my beautiful 27 year old aunti jenni and my daddy... I love you both very much!



Aquatic life at the aquarium... of all places... shocking :)



The men in my life enjoying the view



My little family enjoying a sunset



Another family pic

quiz for the beginning of september

Welcome to September folks! That's right we are one step closer to the end of the year. I actually saw a sign a few weeks ago reminding me that christmas was getting closer - to which I say - blow it out your you-know-what... lord - like we don't have enough to worry about... like gift giving is what life is all about! Better buy that sweater or else someone won't like me anymore - well if your friends and family are like that it is probably best to tell them where to go now before spending that $40 on something that person won't likely care about anyway... and now with my rant out of the way - here is your new quiz

another set of three

Michael and a bear, Exploration Place


Kyle posing for me at Heritage Garden, he is such a good sport


Kyle and my mom with the golden retriever puppies - my mom is getting two puppies next week


Kyle in the mouth of a t-rex, Exploration Place... very cool

more pics

Fuzzy purple flower from Heritage Garden in West Fraser Timber Park


Derrel, Jenni, Rolo, Kyle and Michael at the Heritage Park a couple weekends ago



Kyle and the bears at Exploration Place, PG

quiz

What is this?

more pics

Ok - I have a tonne more photos but blogger isn't letting me load tonight - ARG! I will try and load more photos tomorrow. Watch for a new photo quiz... I think I have a stumper!

If you can't wait to see the photos that I was going to load - click on the flickr photos that are always changing and you can see them there. At least flickr is working tonight. :)

pics

A beautiful bloom from the heritage garden in West Fraser Timber Park


Michael and Kyle on their first bike ride together (Michael's first ride ever)


just a creepy train photo... taken at exploration place

compliments

I know blogs are more about complaining than compliments but I have to pay one. We went on our monthly adventure to Prince George and I talked Andy into going to Exploration Place to try something new with Kyle. It is like a mini-Science world for the northerns. It was a hoot. They have a small dinosaur display, a kids play area and then an older kids discovery area. We spent two hours there and ended up buying a membership. Then we found out that by purchasing the membership we gained membership access to Science World, HR McMillian Science Centre and loads of other cool places across BC and Alberta! HOORAY! So for you northerns or visitors to the north, don't miss the great opportunity to give yourself and kids a place to go and have a little bit of fun. It is all attached to Ft George Park, which is home to a water park and lots of other fun outdoor kid stuff. So there.. I've tooted my horn for something good in Prince George. Not that there aren't other things to do in Prince George but this was a stand out thing for us.

Michael had a big week - his wounded soldier crawl is improving by the day - the last few days we see him crawling with both legs more often, he said his first word - dad... the first time we thought it was just a fluke but we had said it a couple of times since and does it while looking or trying to blab with Andy, his first tooth is just poking through and he is waving. Andy waved at him the other day and he waved back - of course, we thought it was a fluke but now he is waving at Andy and Kyle any chance he gets. He is communicating... I know this is a highly parental thing but it just makes me so happy to see him trying these things. It seems a little early for waving but Kyle was late on all the communication stuff so I just don't know.

I've decided to start tracking our enormous veggies and fruit - if you post your record you will be able to find it in the margin (left) on the main page.

perseid

Aug 12 - 13 is the peak of the perseid meteor shower. If you have some time and clear place to view the sky, take time tomorrow night to view the heavens. The moon is still kind of full so that might take away from the number of meteors you will see, but I read that they are forecasting 15-30 an hour, which is still pretty good in my books.

I've viewed it for a number of years and some years it is exceptional! You will see a few that you just catch the tail end of, but there are some that you see and hear, as it burns the sky. If you are an astronomy nut like me, this is the best time of year. This is definitely the best of meteor showers for the year and it happens every year at roughly the same time. (day)

Face the opposite direction of the moon, to lessen the light and gaze awhile. Count 'em up and share your experience. If you want to get a little technical - look for cassiopeia (the big 'w' in the sky) and the perseus constellation will be found south - the meteors are suppose to come from this direction - but to be honest, these meteors come from all over the sky. I say get a hot beverage, a blanket, a nice place to sit, someone to talk to between flashes and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

too easy is it...

what am I?

This might be too easy to. I will work on getting something more difficult - although I question where the fun is in stumping you... my treasured guests :)

So how did my weekend go? Well I managed to get everything except two things done. One of the things I am completing tonight before I go to bed. The other - well, it will simply have to wait. This was the task of cleaning the scrapbook room. I've nearly got it all put away. I've organized nearly all my paper by color or theme but I've got a bit of a stack going that needs some tending.

I need to scrapbook. I need at least an hour a day for the rest of the year to try and catch up - not to mention the books I need to work on for family (three).

growth update

I forgot that it was immunization week around here. Michael took them very well this time. It was weird when he got the shots because... well Kyle just sat there and took it - they gave him a shot and he just kind of looked around, or cried a little but didn't put together that if the nice lady was cleaning his leg it meant another was on the way... well Michael got the first shot and then he immediately figured out the course of action ahead. He tensed all his little muscles up and that meant that he bled... great. He was a trooper though - got through it better than I would have. I hate getting immunization shots.

So my little beefcake is seven months today and he weighed 20 lbs and 1 oz, and was 27 and 1/2 inches tall. He has been crawling forward since July 14 and now has it pretty much in check. He is dragging one leg behind him but we are hoping it is just him still trying to figure it all out. He may not though because no sooner had he figured out forward he started to lift himself up. We had to lower the crib because he was climbing up and could have easily fallen out. He now stands up beside any toy that will let him. It is madness. Kyle just lounged around... Michael is the child that never stops. I'm excited about him learning all these new things but I also miss that cuddly stage that Kyle gave me... something Michael skipped. Kyle is doing really well - he is into puzzles big time right now. He can do 24 and 48 piece ones without much thought, he is working on a 100 piece one but it is pretty hard. He tries to work at for a little while every other day - it is coming together though. He is learning new songs and starting to read along with books, which is nice but.. I'll be honest - annoying. He usually gives up after while because he can't hear the story. This whole situation reminds me of my poor parents and the movie nights they went through with us. My brother, sister and I use to memorize Disney movies and then take roles. Then we would be that character through the entire film, singing, talking... you name it, we did it... I've always wondered if we were the only crazies doing this kind of thing and well I haven't met anyone yet that said... april, I did that too. So if you did - share, and if you don't want to admit it... I completely understand.

Michael is rumbling... I better get going. Update complete. I'm signing off.

long weekend

Aunti Jenni came and stayed with us last night and we had a great little visit! It is always nice to have visitors staying with us. It usually gets us out of the house and doing something other than stealing air conditioning from Wally World...

So right now I'm holding down the fort on a friends business while she is away, while also trying to work on one contract plus my regular work. I'm tired and not getting enough accomplished... plus I see all this other stuff that I want to work on just sitting around me... waiting... hoping... so I can't be as earth friendly and budget friendly as Sarah (Wyatt in the Dell - go read about her challenge) I am willing to make a commitment to get my stuff in order. It is the long weekend and I'm going to clean up and pull it together. I can't live like this any longer. I won't bore you with a list but I will say that I will share my success with you at the end of the weekend.

Alright - fun and games... april... how is it that I can get points tonight? Well here you go - what is this?



I'm hoping to make a purchase in the next few weeks that will enable me to offer much better photos... we will see if the stars align.

riddle me this

two tonight - the first one is - guess what I am? the second is a puzzle - add all the photo parts together come up with a word or phrase....


what am I? (1 point)








An extra point will be given to whoever guesses who is in the last picture in this set. So for this set of photos, you will add the photos together to create a title. That's a pretty big clue...

So tonight there are three points up for grabs. Good luck!

get a star

Alright - so I'm being too easy, am I? The correct answer was blueberry but that was actually my mouth. It was the super sized one that no one has beaten the record on... yet. I've been trying to do some homework on whether or not my blueberry was any kind of feat of nature. Right now, it appears that people just simply aren't interested in large fruit... unless it is enormous or super petite. So I guess I will hereby proclaim that I found the largest one until someone proves me wrong. (This shouldn't be too hard - I read one site that said their plants grew quarter size berries... but hand no actual proof of said fruit.)

So here is how you will get your star tonight -



minus eel



plus a word that rhymes with this

Enjoy - if that makes any sense at all.

because the first one was too easy :)

and no - this isn't something dirty - you dirty little birds - after I cropped (hint) the photo I realized that it also looked like... well something that it isn't - good luck

what am I? (might be too easy)

Stars will be awarded for correct answer.
.

fun times

During BBDays Kyle took in his first amusement park rides. Before I hit the hay I wanted to share a couple.

Pure Joy

Michael - Look at me in my cute new hat!

Hooray for rides.... more tickets, please.

Today at the gym another mom was telling me she had braved the ferris wheel and then said 'I don't know how I got on that ride, it's one thing to go to Disneyland where you can lick the ground, it's another to get on a ride constructed by people on acid'. Thanks for reminding me about that. I was nervous enough watching him drip on for dear life on the dragon roller coaster...

hint taken

Alright, so I guess racism is a little too much for the readers. So in that vein I will lighten the mood and share with you my discovery. The largest blueberry that I've ever seen. Please see the photos below. What I would like to propose is that all readers/viewers buy blueberries this season, and while eating them, carefully inspect them for size. If you find a blueberry that is larger in diameter than mine, I will mail you a jar of jam. I will mail it to anyone, anywhere - even if you aren't a regular reader/user of the site. In order to receive a jar, you must provide photostatic proof of your discovery. The berry must be whole - you can not smmmmsh it and then take a diameter reading. While we are on the topic of abnormally large objects - anyone seen any other vegetables/fruit that were larger than normal?

More than 7/8 of an inch in diameter and 1/2 inch in depth.

racism

First of all, sorry for being a lazy blogger. I've been reading and writing at other blogs, but not really doing much to mine. Well I'm back - full of a rant.

It was Billy Barker Days this weekend in the goldpan city and, rain aside, things seemed to go well. It looked like there were lots of people in town and things were busy. We went to the parade; we go every year. We are sitting there and a display goes by of a skidster... hmm - that's the wrong word. Anyways, it is a car that is equipped with four additional wheels to help you learn how to drive in snowy conditions (skid control). It does a big spin near us and as this is going on a group of east indian woman come to the curb. The people behind us tell them to wait and I guess one of them made a face. The car spins by again and with that the woman start to walk across the street. Now this could have easily been a case of the woman not understanding english. The people behind us then proceed to get all fired up about. What are you going for? I guess that's what you get for trying to help people out. (So granted, I didn't see any of their faces in all of this, but I'm pretty sure that no one gave the bird, or anything like that.) And the one girl, more loudly says, maybe you should just go back to you own country then. I was shocked into silence. Ok, so start thinking about - should I have said anything?

Now after this little production at the parade - that really left me thinking. How can people continue to be so unkind and thoughtless towards others? Not just about race but about understanding others... I won't deny that I've had some pretty awkward introductions to people I've only talked to on the phone, as they assume that I would be chinese... of course I only married into a last name. So I'm in an interracial relationship - yes we've had looks and I think both our families are quite reasonable about race and race issues.

Ok - so I've been through the parade, I've had time to think and then this happens:
Setting: my kitchen
Opening scene: we had just come home from bb days activities, and we are chatting
Characters: husband, me, mom (mother in law)
We are chatting and mom asks, where was czechoslovakia? I bumbled, thinking maybe it was part of russia at some point. So I agree that maybe it was a part of the soviet union at one time (no it wasn't). And then I hear this, - I figured it was part of russia, there is a woman in the office, she is very sneaky... again I am shocked and surprised at her comments... So again I ask... what could/should have been said?

My grandparents were racists and one of my cousins. My grandma hates japan, as she fought in world war 2 and at 81 continues her dislike for them. My grandparents were more focused on insulting native people and my cousin for whatever reason decided at four years old that she couldn't watch the NBA because of black people - to which I told her, I like them and I was watching and she could go do whatever she wanted. I think my parents tried to show us the good in everyone. I hope to pass that along to my kids.

Alright I have work to do - Blueberry competition coming... watch for new post soon!

me sista

I just had one of those... gees that makes me think of mel moments... here you go kid - this ones for you

It is a fair bit pixelly... the little dude is saying woot woot

home again

My parents ended up staying with us for two nights and then the third day they got antsy and decided to risk driving back out to get more stuff. Large sections of the road have been burned - 10 - 20 km at least. The fire seemed to make a snake like path through the Nazko valley. They meet up with the forest crews at the school and were told that houses near the river should be ok because the crews had sprinkler systems that would sit on homes in the event that the fire got close enough. The fire has come within 30 miles of my parents house, which might sound far away but if the fire were to pick up speed it could hit them in a very short period of time.

There are a few fires near each other and the concern is that they will merge. So the valley is still on 2 hour notice but my parents have decided to stay out there. They got 2 hours of rain yesterday and I guess that that and the sprinkler system made them believe that it was ok to stay. So we will play it by ear from here on in. There isn't ash falling out there anymore (they had more than a day of ash falling just a few days ago) so I think until that happens again they will stay.

Michael had his 6 month check up - he is now 18 1/2 lbs and 27 inches tall. My doctors office has made the big leap to technology so each office is now equipped with a laptop and he just sits there and punches everything in. So I ask something and he goes... click click click - that means this... he punched in all Michael's stats and it showed the growth chart changing... he is in the 50 percentile for weight and 75 percent for height. Kyle was easily at the 100 percentile for weight and about the same for height. Other than the growth stuff he is ahead of schedule on the doing stuff list (those without children.. the doctor has a list of 20ish things your baby should be doing for 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months - they read off the thing, you say yes or no.. say no a lot they give you help... say yes a lot.. you wonder why you come in). He really has the hang of backwards crawling. He can get all over the place now. It won't be long before he has forward. Food stuff - well he appears to be allergic to wheat and potato - so I'm holding off on introducing them again for a while. My mom has suggested we see a naturopath - any thoughts from the blogger gallery on this?

I'm bagged - I've been up since 5. Have a great weekend. And as my grandma says, be good and if you can't be good, be safe.

more photos and fire

As I'm typing my little computer (finally fixed - only took two months) is loading up my digital photos from Jon's wedding and with any luck I will post some here in the next few minutes.

So my parents were evacuated from Nazko (1 1/2 hours west of Quesnel). I'm not sure of all the details but the fire that is approaching is 80 km wide and is moving pretty fast. They've closed off the main access hwy to the valley and everyone is on a secondary crap road to get out. They are worried that the secondary road will also have flames on it so they are asking everyone to pack up.

My parents actually haven't arrived at the house yet tonight - they were packing valuables at 9:30. So this has prompted me to think about this - what do you pack? You've got one hour, or less - what do you take with you? Why are we such a possessive culture when a mere fire could cause us to lose everything and have to start over? So please share what you would grab as you left your home, maybe for the last time.

I know that I would take my computer and photo disks. I would also take my photo albums and scrapbooks. After that I think it would be hit and miss for stuff. I guess you can replace most things with insurance. As I sit here though there is rafts of stuff that I would be pretty sad to lose. So everyone tonight let's all send some good thoughts (pray if you're into that) to everyone in the province and the west that is having to run from fire tonight.

pics...

Me and Andy

Brendan trying to play with a squirrel

Veitch performing acts against physics

Jon and Sheryl getting ready to cut the cake

photos

ok - for some stupid reason blogger is not letting me upload photos tonight - so please click on the flickr link (that box of moving photos on the left) and it will take you to all of the wedding photos ... ARG! Why did I stay up until 2am to load them all just to have it fart out on me - Blah!

wedding

As promised, here are some of the photos. If you click on the flickr link you will find a bunch more and there will be even more in a couple of days. These are the photos I scanned and cropped.

I also wanted to mention that Jon and Sheryl picked the best wedding song ever. I hadn't heard it before and as it played everyone around me was just captured by it. 'Who is singing this?' whispered through the crowd. I had remembered Andy saying something about the Dixie Chicks, so I said, I thought it was them. You could then clearly tell it was. This played as Sheryl walked down the aisle and as they walked back together as Mr & Mrs Jon Gardiner. It brought tears to my eyes.

I've placed the lyrics below, in case you are interested. As a result of 'Lullaby' being played at the wedding I went and bought the CD on the way home. Click here to have a short listen to the song.


They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

kyle-ism

Last night I took the boys for a walk. My brother lives under a kilometre away and I figured Michael could use the stroll. He, of course, fell asleep after a few feet. Kyle chatted my ear off the whole way there and back. I know to non-parents that hearing kids talk is a 'whatever' but for me it is so funny that he has all these independent thoughts and phrases.

Here are some of the outtakes from last night:

~ Kid approaches us and walks by

'Where is his mom?' - he proceeded to get a little agitated by it and kept asking me where this kids mommy was - I had to tell him I didn't know - not the answer he wanted

~ My brother has been sick for about 2 years (maybe longer) and the doctors can't figure out what the problem is - he has lost nearly 100 pounds and has stomach/intestinal problems alot.

'Mom, we gotta find uncle steve (he wasn't home when we arrived), we need to find him and take him to the doctor, doctor will take the bug out of his tummy'
He went on to tell me about my brother seeing the doctor just about the rest of the way home - he was kind of down that he didn't get to see his uncle.

The most common thing that comes up now is - where is his house? Like no one is allowed to be too far from their house or their moms... funny how things play out in his mind. With the warm weather we've had he's also decided that when the sun is out it must be hot. He wanted to go to the water park at 9am this morning. Instead we went for breakfast with Grandma.

Pics from the wedding later today.

Thanks to Aunti Jenni for doing the tag list :)

tagged...

Well Sarah, over at wyatt in the dell tagged me and I've completed it below.

I AM: Kyle and Michael's mom, and my husbands wife
I WANT: to win the lottery
I HAVE: ten fingers and ten toes
I WISH: (like Sarah) that I could stay home with the kids and hubby
I HATE: being unhappy
I LOVE: my kids and husband
I MISS: being in university and having great times with my friends
I FEAR: dying
I HEAR: Andy playing Zuma and the baby monitor
I WONDER: what each day will bring us
I REGRET: not finishing university with all my friends
I AM NOT: thin
I DANCE: when no one is watching
I SING: almost anything - i love singing
I CRY: about the stupidest things
I AM NOT ALWAYS: in the mood for sex
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: cookies, scrapbook pages
I WRITE: a journal for my boys
I CONFUSE: the letter b and d when I write sometimes
I NEED: to be a happier person and be less critical
I SHOULD: smell the roses
I START: crocheting and never seem to finish
I FINISH: this tag list :)

Photos of Jon's wedding soon! Dropping them off at Wally World today.

And Jen, Aunti Jenni, Mel - tag, you are it too - copy the list above and complete... thanks :)

another one bites the dust

Mr. Jon Gardiner wed his beautiful bride Sheryl yesterday at 2:30. The ceremony was short and the reception was fun. Moments filled with memories of university days and Brendan hitting on assorted guests and family members. I will post photos once I get back to Quesnel. I will try and post a podcast type thing so you can see Brendan in action. (taped 30 seconds worth for those who could not attend)

On the illness front I can not seem to kick this thing. I am still sick. I was up at 2:30 last night getting even more sick. My body was completely out of control - damn thing - where is the return policy on that. Kids are good - enjoying time with yeye and nini. (yah yah and ny ny - think of saying why why, now use n instead of w) Lancomes tanning stuff sucks - it not only took more than five minutes to dry is looks funny - I have weird lines where it did not really take to my skin. ARG! I ended up buying nylons for the wedding so no one had to look at my weirdo legs.

Well I will go visit and be a good daughter in law. Aurevoir mon petit turkeys.

sick still

day 10 - my cold is still kicking around but my hearing is not as impaired - hooray! I'm now going through the motions of having queasy, barf periods and then actually getting up in the middle of the night to barf... I hate being sick! I am a complete wimp when it comes to barfing. Of course, the barfing has now lead to stomach cramps. My mom suggested that I might have influenza... I think I just have a bad head cold and because my ear was so bad it has screwed up my equilibrum causing me bouts of nausea.. and again for my sister.. NO I'm not pregnant!

So what else is new? Well I'm a fake tanner now. I've bought a couple of different products and have started lubbing up with the stuff. The first product I tried (can't think of name right now) made my skin all shiny, in a good way, but came off on my light coloured clothes (likely my dark clothes too - just couldn't see it). Tonight I tried the Lancome version - I didn't realize until I opened it that it was spray on - so I spent 10 minutes spraying - getting everywhere and it says right on the bottle - will dry in 5 minutes and here I sit more than 20 minutes later - NOT DRY! In fact, I can guarantee that even in 20 minutes more I will still not be dry... not too impressed... the color seems to be coming in nicely though.

I'm in Kitimat. Jon (CFTR) is getting married tomorrow. CRAZY! Andy had to go and do wedding stuff today so I spent the day with the inlaws. Let the fun olympics begin. I shouldn't really complain - today wasn't that bad... of course, I'm sick and pretty tired so I was willing to put up with just about anything. Kyle is happy to be with yeye and nini (grandpa and grandma). They bought him a kite so we played in a big park tonight - he didn't really get the point of it but had a good time running around. Michael is kind of sick too - some kind of congestion that has moved into his chest. Anyways I should probably run - need to do a few more things before hitting the hay. I also need to go and stand in front of a fan now and get this damn stuff to dry... LORD!

Nighty night bloggers :)

sun run 2003

Well since I talked about it I figured I could load up a couple of my sun run pages.

Oh Elvis!

There really is a nudie in this photo... I will prove it!

This doesn't make it super clear but you can tell there is nudity. It was without a doubt a hiliarious moment...

darn ears

I sit here tonight with one ear not functioning properly. I have another sinus infection with a side of ear infection. This time I appear to be the only one with it so I'm wondering if it is an allergy. It is cotton season in Quesnel and we live in the epicentre. Anyone else have a cotton allergy? Could I be on the right track? It feels like someone has punched me in the face and that I've been left with a pushed in face.

We had to go to Canadian Tire tonight and pick up some gardening stuff. It turned into a real score because they had 80% off their bulbs. I know it is late for this but I figure I can still get them in the ground and hope for the best. For $1.20 for seven bulbs of lily of the valley I was willing to try. We left and picked up McD's for Kyle. He has definitely picked up that McD's has all the 'Cars' stuff and no sooner had Andy started ordering than Kyle had his window down reminding the McD's girl that he would like a car, please. We pull up to her window and she asks which car he wants - Kyle has not seen the movie - and he says the red one. She passes it to him and he gives it to me for opening. While we drive between her window and the food window he starts kissing the car to death. Then he says, put it in the bag for later. He wanted to save the love for when he got home. It was quite hiliarious. The love of a toy. I can't remember loving toys or putting on such a show of affection for a toy ever. I'm sure my mom would have stories to tell - aunti jenni might have some good ones too :)

On a scrapbooking note - I finally finished my Sun Run book. I had most of the pieces together but hadn't stored them away. I also had a few pages to complete (start to finish). I walked/ran the sun run in 2003 - so why I haven't finished it sooner I don't know. But it is now in its own little binder on the shelf - complete - and I couldn't be happier about it. This was my first work in scrapbooking - as it is known today. I used to scrapbook everything, envelopes, letters, recipe books, - you name it and I was adorning things with journaling and doo-dads. Now I'm a 12x12'er and have completed Kyle's first year, our wedding, our trip to Taiwan and I continue to work on Kyle's and Michael's as I take pictures.

all i could say was wow

So I ran into a dear friend of mine (and one time roommate) in PG this week and she mentioned she had a blog. I didn't even think to ask about the name... but curiosity got the better of me and I started to think about it tonight. What would Carmen call her blog? So I started to search things like PG... she had mentioned the Oilers so I looked for that... and then it dawned on me - what was the one thing Carmen loved - had a true passion for... Trevor Linden. There it was slapping me in the face - trevorlinden.blogspot.com.

Carmen, you have out done yourself with your blog. It is great! I'm also seeing a whole new crafty side of you. I remember us crafting a bit in uni but... in a fair.. holy!

I hope you don't mind me bragging about you on my blog and I invite all my blog buddies to take a look. If you like scrapbooking, stamping, hockey or trevor linden, this is the place to check out.

As a result of checking out her blog I found out that I'm a strawberry pocky - and if you haven't had pocky - or don't know what I'm talking about go to a save-on foods or an asian food store and you will find it. They are great little cookie sticks dipped in 100's of flavours. I personally love blueberry - but good luck finding it - I saw it once and have never seen it again. Of course I don't exactly live in a city that carries such luxuries. I found it at T&T in Richmond.

and then there were more...

I didn't realize there was a limit to the number of photos you could post on one entry. Here are some more photos.

Diapers $40, Happy Meal $4.39, Formula $19.97 (when I'm lucky) for a can, Optimus Prime $50 Ebay (don't ask.... arg!), being a mom of two beautiful boys... priceless ~ June 1

Kyle at Marmot Lake near Grandma and Grandad's house ~ June 4

Michael relaxin' in a hat ~ June 5

photos, at long last

Well my computer is still broken. I've written it off until my sister's boyfriend comes and takes a look at it. So until then I'm using the laptop and trying to muddle through all my files via cd... BLAH!

I did manage to get my photo files and as promised (for weeks) here are some treasures for you to ooohhh and aawwww at.

Michael in the jolly jumper, which (witch) he totally loves and Kyle monkeying around ~ April 21

Michael eating for the first time and as the stars would have it, wearing the same bib that Kyle wore for his first meal... May 3

Kyle and Grandma making cookies and snackin' ~ May 7 (and yes, for those who know my mom, she did hack all her hair off

Michael enjoying his breakfast ~ May 8

My cute little boys ~ May 12

"Mother.... I do not like yams." ~ May 15

home again

First my apologies to Jen for not making it to her house... Thursday did not work out as planned. I ended up flying to the island much earlier than anticipated and so when I had planned to be visiting you I was on a 10 seater flying to Nanaimo.

So much has happened since I last wrote so I have written the highlights below:
~ Most recent - today was immunization day - BIG BLAH! - Michael reacted fine but he has been miserable tonight. He is crying for anything and over eating. I resorted to some tylenol to ease his pain and it seemed to work. He had three shots today so I figure he can be as angry as he wants; I would likely deal with it worse. So he is 5 months this weekend and already outweighing Wyatt at six months... today Michael weighed 17 lbs and 9.5 oz, he is just short of 26 inches, which means I need to move him out of his carrier soon.

~ Kyle has completely recovered from his flu/cold/infection. He is complaining of kids at school - two kids, they hit me... no names, no i.d's - darn bullies. Anyways the school is supposed to watch more carefully and we have tried to explain to Kyle that he should talk with a teacher if there is a problem.

~ My trip - well I managed to get some shopping in at Woodgrove Mall in Nanaimo and after spending three days there I really started to wonder about moving from Quesnel. What a great place! Not Vancouver but close, offers the small town feel while still growing, not entirely dependent on the forest industry, the ocean...

~ Other work - I was supposed to hop on the Rocky Mountaineer to Whistler but the tickets didn't come through so I drove with my buddy Paula and brother in law. I was surprised that there is so much whining about the drive - everyone who complains about that should drive Terrace to Rupert. I love that drive but it is far more twisted and I would argue far far far more attractive. Trying to live for the moment and do things I would never get to do with kids we ventured up the mountain on a gondula... as Paula would say 'lord love a duck' it was thrilling and stomach dropping - I made it and I'm very glad I did it. On the way down we saw a bear eating grass... looked to be enjoying some sunshine and then we saw some bikers... and more bikers - they were using a path that was near the bear. "I wonder if those guys see the bear." And with that the bear up and charges at one of the bikers. Once I scan my photos I will share what I captured on film.

~ 5 days in the lower mainland and only sushi for lunch once and it was lame sushi... very sad... still craving it...

There are other things to share about the trip but I will cut it short there. I need to do some work tonight and it isn't getting done while I type on my blog. Must be more disciplined... my computer will be back tomorrow... HOORAY and I should be able to load photos then.

better

Our house is basically back to normal. My body is still crying for sleep. I could sleep at the drop of a hat. My husband says that I will be having a normal conversation one minute and then asleep the next. Some of this is also because I haven't recovered from all the lost sleep with Michael. He is not sleeping through the night. He makes an honest effort. He will sleep from 10pm (sometimes as early as 8:30) until 4-6am. The problem is that I don't tend to get into bed until 11 or sometimes 1am and then I'm bagged when the cries start for food.

Oh well right... suck it up... I know, and I will.

No luck with the photos yet. I do have all my files back but I didn't accomplish any file retrival yet. Plans for tomorrow.

I have meetings lined up all morning tomorrow so hopefully by the afternoon I will have retrieved files and posted something new.

Happy thoughts: Lilac season is upon us and I love it. My bedroom window is open and you can smell the bush from across the lane. FABULOUS!

ER - not sure if you guys watch this or not but I'm addicted. I didn't watch for the longest time but I'm back at it now. Tonight's season finale was pretty good. Last week I was crying through damn near the whole show.

Alright I need to write a paper for tomorrow morning and then I'm hitting the hay. Bon soir.

more sick kids

This morning we made our trip to the hospital for assistance because Kyle was up in the 39's again and he's been on tylenol and advil for three full days. We get there and of course his fever has come down a bit and then they let us sit there. We sit there long enough to see my mom come in for work and set up for the day. 1 hour and 20 minutes later we see a nice doctor and he says "you are doing all the right things - just keep doing that and come back on Monday if the fever is still there." So we have to wait another three days. He thought the antibiotic Kyle is on should crack this infection like nothing but it certainly hasn't. He has been pretty good today. Only a couple of issues with pain and temp all day. It is over night that it creeps up on us again.

I, myself, am definitely tired of feeling like this. My throat hurts, my ears hurt, it hurts to swallow, it hurts to do pretty much anything. Although for overall pain, today was actually better than yesterday. I didn't pick my computer up this morning because of the hospital and then just didn't bother leaving the house the rest of the day - well except to venture out to get a slurpee, which in the end wasn't good and didn't help my throat in the least. So why am I not on meds? I'm allergic to a lot of medications and unless I'm REALLY sick - like can't blog sick - I don't really bother with antibiotics. I've been taking advil to keep my temp in check and keep me somewhat with it but other than that I'm suffering through it like Kyle. What a week!

Hopefully next week will be much better.

Tip: Quesnel has a Child Care Resource and Referral office (this is the provincial link). It loans toys of all kinds and learning kits for a $10 membership (annual). If you have access to CCRR office and they do the same program get in on it. It is a great way to test out toys before spending the cash and finding out that as great as it was in the store, at home the box was better. The learning kits are great too. The kits come in all types - transportation, space, music, etc - there are at least 20 kits at the CCRR here. Definitely a well spent $10. Plus they have a friendly staff... what more could you ask for!

computers and sick kids

"It looks like you have a hard drive problem."

"Great. So what does that mean?"

"Well we should have a new hard drive for you in two weeks."

"Two weeks."

"Hope that's ok."

I'm supposed to be getting the files back today so that I load them somewhere else. My actually computer will not be repaired until after I get back from the island. I went to the office last night and grabbed the laptop because I knew that my email must be getting out of hand. Not that bad, only 324. I was expecting there to be near a thousand. So I'm not sure when I will get to load new photos. I have some on the digital now and I might try to load those up on other computer later today.

Kyle is still sick. He is on Advil, Tylenol and Biaxin. Once he is drugged up he is good but if we let the time run out on any of them he is back up in 39's for temperature, which brings on the joys of ranting, crying, raving and hallucination. He did pretty well last night until about 4am and then it just started to snowball. Michael got up and then Kyle and then it was back and forth until 7am. Then we were all up trying to get the day started. I'm sick but I think a lot of it is just being rundown from the sleep deprivation. The worst thing is that I can't seem to sleep when I want to. Last night I just couldn't get my eyes to shut and then when they finally did I woke up and decided that I was too sick to sleep in my bed and went and slept on the couch. So I did manage to get a couple of hours. I'm thankful for those.

I did manage to get some planting done last night. I bought some chrysanthumums (excuse the spelling), babies breath and a dark purple aster. I also planted some herbs. Hooray.

blog note

A note to my dedicated readers.

I've changed the blog so that only registered users can write comments. If you are not a registered user it is a simple process. Please register with blogger, as I greatly enjoy reading all the fun comments.

Thank you.

rainbow

Sarah (Wyatt in the Dell)should immediately know where this photo is in Quesnel. For those that don't, this is a beauty shot looking out over the Quesnel Golf Course. I took this last year. I would like to share more recent photos but some a*$hole sent me a virus. It was a tricky little sucker too! I didn't realize that the weirdos designing viruses could now write them in code inside an email. So I opened what looked to be a nice little email, something I was expecting and bang-o all of my email addresses (3000+) vanish into gigabyte air. Over the course of the next couple of days, running virus scans and the like my computer begins to slow and stop working in other areas... and in a last ditch effort to recover my files I uninstall Outlook - the source of my grief and then I get it... the blue screen of death, as the Microsoft users will know.

It has now been in the shop for four days getting tweeked when they can deal with it and I'm hoping to get it back tomorrow. The important thing is that all the files in my documents were recovered. This includes all of Michael's baby photos, which busy me, didn't copy. I'll be making plenty of back ups now! Such a simple step and something I did at work all the time - but a practice I dropped coming home.

So expect photos of Michael eating "solid" foods shortly. They are something else! He eats like a savage! It is one of the funniest things he has done in his short four months.

Kyle is pretty sick. He woke up last night hacking - went and slept in his room for a while and then he got sick. Well more like he foamed up... odd... so I gave him some cough suppressant and water - which is promptly barfed up. Then we cuddled on the couch, watched the start of Blues Clues and he fell asleep. He was in and out of sleep all day but his temperature started to get out of control in the afternoon - all the way up to 39 - gave him some tylenol and a bath and he started to dip back down. In 90 minutes he had joined the land of the living again. He was playing, having a snack and seemed to have had a complete turn around. Enter 10pm and it returns - temp, sobs, (sobs suck... I can barely take it - he is sooo sad and there is nothing I can do... AAAHHH!) He had another dose of tylenol and slept. He is sleeping now but I don't think it will last. I'm sure it will be a long night. I just hope he is feeling better tomorrow. I guess I should also mention that I've had better days - my throat is sore and it feels like all the saliva in my mouth has been vacuumed out... (like you wanted to know that...) my knee is swollen - likely from the weather changing (it snowed yesterday and tried again today) but I'm coping with all of it. I'm not going to let a little throat problem make everything else worse... which it could easily do.