Five Little Kids Went to the City One Day...

Today I took five little guys under the age of seven to Lethbridge!?!?!  It actually went very well!  I didn't lose anyone, or traumatize anyone, at least I don't think any of them are traumatized!  I was very patient and I didn't raise my voice, not even once!  They all listened and stayed right with me at all times.  It was a fantastic day, although I am thoroughly exhausted!

Emry really wanted Lily to have a sleep over, so Arren and I decided this weekend would be the perfect opportunity.  Buck and Arren's 8th Anniversary is on October 4th and they thought they would celebrate it early so Gilbert also came for a sleep over!  I had already planned on going to Lethbridge today before the sleep over was planned so I just decided to take all the kids!  I only had to go to Walmart to get some squeezable baby food for Armin, and since they were so good staying right with me and not whining for every little thing they saw I let each of them pick out a toy that was under $5!  They all were extremely well behaved picking out a toy too, Gilbert even picked his out in record time, less than half an hour!!

After Walmart we went to visit Great Grandma Bev, we weren't able to stay long because she was headed to the bank with her sister.  But it was great to see her and see how much her face lit up when she saw the kids!  After Grandma Bev's we headed to Coaldale to see Great Grandma Mary and Great Grandpa!  It was so nice to be able to visit with them too.  As soon as we got in the house Lily and Emry disappeared into the bedroom with all the toys, Gilbert headed to the kitchen table to build his Optimus Prime Lego he picked from Walmart, Calum gathered all the loud toys and brought them into the living room, and Armin desperately tried to pull all Grandma's knick knacks off her coffee table!  We were even able to visit Auntie Bonnie too!  We left Grandma and Grandpa's in time to get home for supper!

All the kids with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!

It was a lot of fun, and all the kids were great!  I am so thankful to be so close to my niece and nephew!  I am also so thankful that Emry, Calum and Armin are so close to their cousins!  I love how Emry and Gilbert are in the same class, and I love how the Champion School has split grades so every other year Emry and Gilbert will be in the same class.  I just figured it out that Calum and Lily will be in the same class every other year too!

Arren and I took these pictures of the kids this morning before we left for the city, they all co-operated so nicely!

Something scary that came to my mind last night while I was laying with Calum thinking about going to Lethbridge with five little kids, was that all these kids could physically be mine.  The time span between each one is long enough to be able to be pregnant again.  I could not imagine having all these kids as my own, but if they were I know I would love them all unconditionally, I am not saying however that I would be completely sane, but I would definitely love them none the less!

Fun at Aunnie Earins!!

This morning Calum wanted to call Auntie Arren, so I dialed and let him do the talking!  He said hi when she answered and then instantly asked if he could come to her house!  She of course said yes, so the boys and I piled in the van and headed over to "Aunnie Earins!"  The way Calum talks is super cute and we probably should be correcting him before the academic professionals put him in the group of speech impediments!

While we were at Arren's Calum and Lily played with Gilberts action figures, for some reason when Calum plays his guys are always brothers who are trying to save each other, he usually says things like "you my brudder, you my fravrit!"  And it goes back and forth like this for quite some time.  Lily was looking a little perplexed wondering how her guys were going to fit in!  Watching little kids play is so much fun to watch, seeing their innocence shine through and even some of the things they pick up from us!

When I got Calum out of his car seat, he instantly walked up to Arren's door and let himself in without knocking, he didn't take his shoes off and waltzed right on into the kitchen where Arren had the most delicious chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter.  He helped himself to one with no thought of asking, and continued on into the livingroom where Lily was watching a show, his home away from home!  I think throughout the time we were there Calum helped himself to more than his fair share of cookies, come to think of it, so did I!!

Calum always asks Arren "what happen your yegs?"  She always tells him that she hurt them in a car accident and then he proceeds to tell her what happened to his knee when he fell off the diving board!  I don't think he asked her this time, he was too mesmerized by the cookies!

It was a lot of fun and I love seeing my sister and spending time with her!  At one point Calum attached a rope to Arren's wheelchair and started to pull her backwards, the most amazing of seeing this was he pulled her with one hand!  He really is a toughie!  Arren always takes time to play with the kids, and they are always laughing and smiling when they are around her!  I truly admire my little sister and the many values she instills within her family!  I am also so proud of all she has accomplished through this horrible time of being "stuck" in her space boots!  Although I firmly believe she should be relaxing a little more than she is, I am proud of her strength and her desire to go on as though she weren't "stuck"!

When the boys and I got home Emry was soon due to come walking through the door!  When she got home I asked her how her spelling test went and she told me she got all the words right!  I asked her how many words there were and she said fourteen!!  I am always amazed at how well she does in school, she really seems to enjoy it, the challenge of excelling really appeals to her!  I hope this continues for the next 12 to 16 years of school!  She also had the Terry Fox Run this afternoon and she also really enjoyed this, she loves to run and I think she did the 5km's, instead of the 2km's!  She is a sweet girl and I am also so proud of her.  I went into the school yesterday afternoon to meet her teachers and they all said what a pleasure she is to have in the classroom.  Two of teachers said that the grade one girls really look up to her and when she is on task and doing what she is supposed the whole class seems to flow a lot smoother!  She is also very helpful and always willing to do what is asked of her!

Time sure flies once the kids go to school full time, I look forward to what the years ahead will bring while at the same time I am trying to enjoy the few precious moments I have while the kids are still small!

The Master of Disaster Turns Three!

Saturday was Calum's third birthday!  He was so happy that day!  As soon as he woke up we wished him a happy birthday and from that moment on he had a perma grin on his face!  And any time we or someone else asked whose birthday it was we would always hear his gruff little voice answer "Me's birfday!"  We didn't give him any presents or even have cake on his birthday!  Instead we had decided to celebrate his birthday on Sunday!  I did make his birthday cake on Saturday, I decided to try my hand at using fondant to ice the cake, it was a lot easier than I expected.  Calum is obsessed with Transformers, or as he calls them, "Transmormers!"  I made him a Bumblebee cake, which he calls, "Beekabug!"  I printed two pictures off the internet as examples, one happened to be a picture of Optimus Prime and the other was Bumblebee.  I printed the Optimus Prime one for the shape of the cake and the Bumblebee one for the colours and design!  When I started to ice his cake he said he didn't want Beekabug, he wanted Eggatron (who he thinks is Optimus Prime), I told him I was doing Bumblebee because he had less colours and was lots easier to do!  He showed the pictures to daddy and told him that momma was making him a transmormer cake, but not eggatron because he's too hard!  He was so proud of his cake, it made my heart beat ten times faster because he was so happy.  When I walked by the Nursery at church yesterday I over heard him telling his teacher that his momma made him a Beekabug transmormer cake, and at his party when it was time for cake he ran over to Auntie Arren and asked her "You wanna see my transmormer cake?"  He had his little hands clasped together and tucked under his chin with a great big smile on his face!

Opening his presents was truly priceless!  When he opened Auntie Arren, Uncle Buck, Gilbert and Lily's present the first thing he said was "This is my fravorit!"  My mom had found these Chuck the Dump Truck sets that let the trucks move by themselves and do stunts, so she gave him a set and so did Buck and Arren.  Emry picked out a tractor and round baler for Calum, since he loves tractors so much!  Liam gave him a quad with a guy on it, which Calum loves because he loves playing with his "guys"!  Grandma Puzey gave him a Bumblebee rescue bot that goes along with a Rescue Hero guy!  I was so excited to give him our gift, and his reaction reassured me that what we chose for him was perfect!

Calum loves the Mater Tales cartoons, his absolute favourite is The Monster Truck one.  When I was shopping for his present I found the actual Tormentor, Frightning McMean, and the I-Screamer toys.  I absolutely couldn't resist not getting these for him, so I did!  I wrapped the three cars separately and the first one he opened happened to be Lightning McQueen, the look on his face was pure delight!  When Emry handed him the next present before he even tore into it he asked, "Is this Mamer mom?"  And when he saw that it indeed was Mater, he was beside himself with excitement!

He did get spoiled, but he is worth it.  This morning I hardly saw him, he was playing with ALL his new toys.  He would play with Chuck for a little while, then he would get his transformers and have them talk to Chuck, he would then move on to his tractor and baler, and then his monster trucks.  He would use the winch on his little quad and haul the I-Screamer monster truck away!  I was upstairs slicing up peaches to put in the freezer while Armin was asleep, and every so often I would hear Calum say something downstairs.  I had locked Armin in his room so Calum wouldn't bother him, but I was still a little afraid that if Armin started to cry Calum might use a pool que to unlatch the lock at the top of our door.  I went quietly down the stairs to spy on Calum and what I saw was so sweet.  He was sitting in the middle of his toys watching Mickey Mouse.  When he saw me he said, "I just talkin' to Mickey Mouse Mom!"  I feel like he did a complete 180 this morning, he has been extra gentle to Armin, he has been sweet with me, telling me he loves me and giving me kisses, either he was completely bored with his other toys or turning three was his turning point!  Whatever the reason I will keep him, actually I would keep him even if he was still rough and tough, he truly is my special little man, and I couldn't imagine life without him.

Oh, Grandpa Glen stopped by on Calum's actual birthday, Saturday, and gave him a present.  The perfect gift ever.  Dad gave him a Stampeders Jersey!  It fits him perfectly and with the build he has he truly does look like a little football player!  In his card dad wrote, "Happy Birthday To a First Class Linebacker, I mean Grandson!"  The card has a dump truck on the front with the number three, and inside it says ...and always on the go!  What a perfect card for Calum, a lot of thought was put into this gift!

Future Linebacker!

It was a terrific day, and so much fun to spend it with family.  I was happy Rachel could be here with Liam and Jonas, and also that my sister could be here with her family!

Lily 

Jonas

And the Miracle Weight Loss Catches Up!

Last week I had said that I lost weight despite all the JUNK I ate!  Well, good things don't come to those who don't follow the rules!  I actually ended up gaining 2.8 pounds!  I was not happy but I knew I was totally to blame!  So this is a new week, and I pledge to take up Myrna's challenge!  She challenged her members to follow the Weight Watchers Points Plus program 100% for four days, that means writing EVERYTHING down, exercising and choosing more of the power foods.  Since I weigh in Saturday mornings, I have four days to be 100% faithful starting tomorrow!  I have so enjoyed this blog, it truly makes me more accountable, and Saturday when I update my weight loss I feel confident in saying there will definitely be less of me!

The Witching Hour and Relaxation!

Last night while I was on the couch feeding Armin, at around 3 or 3:30ish in the wee hours of the morning, I hear the latch on Calum's door close.  He does this every night, he always wakes up between 2:30 and 4:30 and crawls into bed with us.  Well, this morning was no exception, I heard his door close and then the pitter patter of his little feet running down the hallway only this time they stopped short!  Going by the couch he realized I was there with Armin, he asked what I was doing and I told him I was feeding Armin, he patted his head and then left.  I assumed he had continued on to our room to crawl into bed with Jared, I had all the lights off and couldn't see very well, it doesn't help either that I have a really hard time making out any shapes in the dark.  When I got up to put Armin back in his bed I was having trouble getting off the couch, it was like something heavy had been put on the blanket and I couldn't lift my legs out from under it.  When I finally did get free this is what I found...

I honestly believe that Calum sleep walks, and these pictures seem to confirm my belief.  He was so tired he didn't even make it onto the couch to sleep, he just laid his little head down on the seat of the couch and that was it.  This is why I think he is a sleep walker, he always comes out of his room around the same time each night, and when he climbs into bed with us it is always very robotic, he makes no noise and doesn't complain at all, he just crawls in between us and before his head hits the pillow it seems like he is fast asleep.  I have never minded getting up with our kids in the middle of the night, I wouldn't say though that I am ecstatic or even very chipper but it is not something that bothers me, and last night was no different, maybe a little sweeter, the icing on the cake perhaps, Calum truly made me giggle when I saw his little body bent over the couch in the wee hours of the morning, probably a rare occurrence for many of us that early in the morning!

The relaxation part of this post happened while we were at Arren's this afternoon!  Armin has been so out of sorts this past week, I think he might finally be getting teeth!  He will lay against my chest or on my shoulder and moan like he is in extreme pain.  Today at Arren's he didn't seem to want anything to do with me, he wasn't interested in nursing or sleeping.  And I am not implying that he was cranky or inconsolable, because even with his teeth hurting him he is still all smiles and giggles.  What he did seem to want more than anything was to sit on his favourite Auntie's lap while she glided back and forth in her wheelchair!  Twice he looked so completely relaxed!

When we got home from Arren's Calum wanted to watch Wall-e, we got home about 15 minutes before Emry got off the bus and he was sitting watching it when Emry came home.  She came downstairs where we were watching the show, I talked to her about her day at school and then I got up to put Armin in his bed for a little nap.  When I looked over at Calum concerned because he hadn't acknowledged that Emry was home, I soon knew the answer as to why he was being so cool!  He was fast asleep!  Little stinker, tonight will be a long night, but he did have a big day playing with Lily so I am sure he is exhausted!