Two Years Old!

Armin turns two tomorrow but we celebrated his birthday last night so all his grandparents could be there! We had a great time and I know he did too! Armin absolutely loves Cookie Monster, and last year for Christmas Myrna gave him a little Elmo and a little Cookie Monster stuffy, at first he only seemed to cuddle Elmo but now he doesn't go anywhere without Cookie Monster! Personally I think it's because Jared always says "look it's Mommy!" whenever Cookie Monster comes on Sesame Street! So maybe he thinks he's cuddling momma!! Anyway, because he likes Cookie Monster so much I made Cookie Monster cupcakes for him! They turned out really cute and he seemed to really like them!

He was spoiled rotten, even though his birthday is less than a month before Christmas! He was so cute opening his gifts...he would pull out the tissue paper, hold it up and say "Yaaayy!" he was so excited about all of his present, not just the toy inside! From Lily he got his most prized possession...a big Cookie Monster Stuffy! It hasn't left his side since he opened it! He got a toy school bus from Grandpa Glen which he points at and calls Emmy!!

He really is such a sweet boy, quiet in nature, and happy to just do whatever! He loves to sit and cuddle but he also likes to play with his toys! I think he and Calum are going to be best pals but also a ton of trouble!! I am so thankful he is apart of our family, he really is a joy to be around!

Girl's Weekend

Friday night all the Puzey girls went to see Breaking Dawn Part Two!! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!! Can you tell I liked it!! It was by far the best one in my opinion! I am actually sad to see that the series is officially over! Though I must admit that I didn't cry when it finished like I did with the last Harry Potter! After the show we went for our traditional dessert of cheesecake at Streetside Eatery, we even got to sit in our regular table! I had a great time with the girls, they are always so much fun and it seems the night is always full of lots of giggles! We got home late but it was so fun we didn't want it to end...maybe it was actually because we knew what was to come in the morning!!

The next day we all met at our house to do our annual chocolate dipping! Another fun day with all the Puzey girls! Though it was a super long day it was a blast!! We dipped 19 batches of chocolate from 10:30am to 9:30pm! Each of us made 3 batches of the regular flavors of fondant in the days leading up to Saturday, they all turned out so good, thanks to a fantastic teacher...mom! I tried a new flavor and it turned out to be a big hit! I had some chocolate malt powder and I added 6 tablespoons of it to the sugar as I melted it! I think I will add just a smidge more powder next time! Rachel brought out a batch of orange and as much as I don't like chocolate oranges I did try one once the chocolate was set and I didn't mind it! For lunch I made my own version of baked potato soup and was it ever yummy! Everyone else contributed with the meal by either bringing buns, fruit or dessert! We were still going strong at supper so Jared made all of us toad in the hole's! Sooo yummy too! Lalainia and Rachel both left their boys at home but Leah and Blake came out and kept Emry, Calum and Armin busy! We missed Cora, she was involved in a basketball tournament in Magrath!

It was a great day, however happy I am that it is done I had a blast and look forward to it every year! I also really enjoyed having it at our house! I love our house and it really seems to be perfect for large crowds!

Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Last night Jared and I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert! And as afraid as I was to go it was soooo good! I was afraid because for one I am not a fan of large crowds I always get quite anxious, and second they are a punk rock band so I knew the crowd would be pretty intense! However despite the amount of people at the sold out Saddledome, the crowd was relatively calm!

The opening act was pretty good too, a brass band from New Orleans! The band consisted of two trumpeters, a saxophone, two trombones, a tuba, drums and then a guy playing an upright drum! The sound they made was unbelievable and the one trumpeter, especially, was amazing!

When The Red Hot Chili Peppers came out the crowd went wild! And after their opening song everyone stayed standing! The girl beside me was so cute, she danced and grooved the entire time and after one song she screamed "my life is now complete!!" the band played hit after hit and were absolutely wild on stage, jumping and dancing all over! I was also worried because in their earlier years they used to come out on stage wearing only a tube sock on their nether regions!! The bass guitarist, who was super amazing and did things on a bass guitar I have never seen done before, came out with the least amount of clothing on...shirtless! Later in the show he did put a shirt on, though I don't know why because it was so unbelievably hot in there! On our way up to the concert Jared and I were wondering how old they were...to appease our curiosity I pulled out my handy dandy iPhone and googled them!! The lead singer and the bass guitarist, also best friends, were both 50, the drummer 51 and their newest lead guitarist 33! We thought they had only been around since the early nineties, but the group started in 1984! It was really neat reading about their history...a rough one at that with drug problems and band members leaving, but they have managed to survive and press forward!

Next to The Dead Weather and The White Stripes this was right up there as one of my favorite concert experiences! I am thankful for music and even more grateful to experience it live! I am thankful for Jared's love of music and for introducing me to the concert scene! I really enjoy this time we can spend together! Truly an amazing concert!!

Student Led Parent, Teacher Conference

Last night Emry and I headed into the school for parent teacher interviews! They have implemented something a little different...this year we met with the teacher before report cards are given out! I was a little concerned about this method but after doing it I feel that it was a great idea! Emry was a little quiet, but she did show me what she has been working on...and although I wasn't surprised at how neat her printing is I was still impressed with the care she takes in her work! Her teacher said she was a joy to have in his class, he said he loves seeing her happy and smiling face each day, and even though she is quiet she always answers his questions when she's asked! I couldn't believe she was so quiet at school but it made me happy that she isn't a nosey Nellie or a bully to others! I am proud of her and I hope we are teaching her all the qualities she needs to possess to be a good friend and a good student! It is a little unnerving to send them off for 8 hours a day not really knowing if what you have taught is being practiced! I feel better after last night knowing Emry is being the best she possibly can be and is working hard each day to do even better! There are no concerns with her ability to learn and understand, she is in the middle of her grade level exactly where she should be...not below so she's lost and not above so she's bored!!!

A Leisure Day

Since John Deere is closed today in lieu of Remembrance Day yesterday, Jared is home!!! So he and Emry decided to crack open an old Lego set of Jared's and put it together! It has taken them most of the afternoon so far and they are still hard at it! Jared and I were talking and we don't actually remember the last time he took a day to do something like this...even the past Christmas days were not this stress free for him! Oh, how I love to see Jared looking a little less stressed and a little light in his eyes! I am so looking forward to Christmas this year, I think Jared will get a few nice days off to rest and renew!!

When I'm 64...

This past weekend has been quite fun!  It sort of started on Thursday evening when Jared and I took a steer to Picture Butte to be slaughtered...well not so much fun actually, but spending quiet one on one time with Jared was fun!  The roads were terrible driving the poor little steer to Picture Butte, but seeing the fat, fluffy snowflakes slowly falling was totally worth the white knuckle driving!  When we got to the meat plant I was feeling really bad for the little guy...but like Jared said it was better than have him continue to suffer.  He couldn't hardly stand on his front feet they were so sore...so in a few weeks we will at least reap the reward by eating his super yummy meat!!  On our way we passed a nice looking leather chair sitting on the side of the road, and we said if it was still there on our way home we would pick it up!  Well, it was still there so we stopped and got out to examine it!  It was super dark and as far as we could see it was in pretty good condition, a little scuffed on the back, so we loaded it up into the trailer in blizzard like conditions!  When we got home and unloaded it into the shop we noticed it was much more damaged than we first thought, the frame in the back was totally cracked and it was ripped in a few other places too, but it looks so comfy!  At least we felt good that we were at least able to help the highway crew from having to pick it up during a snow storm!  Who knows, if we feel ambitious enough maybe we will repair it!!

Friday Jared had to work, despite the huge drifts of snow on the roads he was still able to drive to Vulcan, the kids and I stayed home and watched movies and played games.  Saturday was a lot of fun, even though all we really did was clean the house and get ready for Sunday.  Everyone pitched in to help clean the house, Emry dusted, Jared swept and vacuumed all the floors and did odd job fix it jobs around the house.  I did a massive amount of laundry, cleaned the bathrooms and made cupcakes!  It was fun to be together in our house working together...I honestly think that is the first time since we have moved in!  Jared also took Emry and Calum outside with him to check the cows and plough the yard!

Sunday we went into Champion for the Remembrance Day Service, which was really nice.  I love the effort our community puts in to remember those who have fought for our freedom and who still are fighting.  That afternoon all the Puzey clan got together at our house to celebrate Myrna's 64th Birthday.  We had everyone at our house since Myrna's is still in renovation mode and it was so nice to be able to have everyone in our home!  I made a super yummy ham (a for sure keeper!!), Char brought twice baked potatoes, also super yummy, Rachel brought a green bean casserole, again super yummy, and Lalainia brought the buns and punch, so yummy!  I knew when I set everything out that there seemed like something was missing, like maybe a salad of some kind, but I also knew that there was more than enough food that we really wouldn't be missing it!  That was until I opened the fridge to put all the leftovers away and noticed Rachel's huge bowl of pistachio salad, which we had totally forgotten about!  No worries though, we ate it while we played a game later in the evening!!

The cupcakes were plate licking good!

I made cupcakes for dessert, and they too were super yummy!  A chocolate cake with a caramel filling and a caramel icing!  I also tried to make some milky way cupcakes and they were good too, I especially liked the nougat, it really did taste like the marshmallow filling inside a mars bar.  The kids played relatively well and our house sustained minimal damages, only one little drywall dent from the Mater car being pushed into it, and a wall in Emry's room scraped raw from a chair swivelling back and forth against it...simple fixes!  It was nice to hear the laughter and the occasional screams rising up from the basement, it truly made our house feel more and more like a home!  Only once was there "tattling", and it was when Bowen came up and told his mom that Calum really wasn't being very nice and he thought he should tell his parents because he didn't want Calum to go on having a happy life after everyone had gone home!  That boy totally cracks me up with his sayings!

This is the same highchair Cora sat in when she was a baby!!

Uncle Jason was Calum's pal!

Today Jared is home in lieu of Remembrance Day so we were able to have a little sleep in!  Then Jared made us pancakes while I made scrambled eggs, whipped cream and sugared blueberries.  It was so nice to have breakfast as a family!  Jared then took Emry and Calum out to check cows and put vitamin and mineral out for them!  They also fed a bale to the bulls and the poor momma cow who recently lost her calf to the slaughter house!  The rest of the day will be spent building lego, playing games and just hanging out!  I love my family more than words can describe!

I really enjoyed having everyone in our home to celebrate Myrna's birthday, and I hope when I am 64 I too can possess her same amazing qualities.  I truly admire the strength Myrna has and her example of faith.  She is a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend!  I love the fact that we live in the same yard and have the opportunity to see her almost daily!

Family Home Evening

This past Monday when we had our family home evening Calum was in charge of conducting! It was his first time so Jared coached him! In Calum's ear Jared whispered for him to welcome everyone to family home evening...Calum said that but then quickly corrected what Daddy said by saying "I mean famney home screaming!" he then giggled and looked to Jared for more prompting! We had an opening song which Calum also led us in by waving his arms wildly! It was a fun evening and much to Calum's predictions it was full of screaming!!

Never Ending Renovations!!

About 2 months ago Myrna had decided to renovate her entire upstairs!!  It has been in the plan for quite sometime and since she is no longer confined to one corner of her house she decided there is no better time than now!  I think it all got started the day Dave ripped the wall out between the dining room and the hallway.  Then he knocked down the wall in the living room making it four feet longer!  The demolishing continued into the sitting room where Dave ripped out the wall of closets.  The house was starting to look like a construction site.  Then the kitchen cabinets came out and the carpet and linoleum!  The linoleum was a bit of a pain to get up, especially since there were two layers of it!  Jared found quite an efficient way to get the lino to come up...he took a heat gun and slightly heated it up to melt the glue and then he would take a scraper and scrape the plastic lino off!  It took quite some time to do the demolition, but now that it is done the same local guy who has worked on our house is now tackling Myrna's.  He is going to scrape off the old popcorn ceiling and will apply a knock down type, he will assemble and install all the kitchen cabinets, and he will also install all the tile and hardwood.  Myrna will do the painting and has already finished the kitchen, a pretty pale yellow!  When it is all finished it is sure going to look a lot different, much more updated!  Jared is going to redo the railing along the stairs, making it more open by installing spindles like he did at our house!  It has been fun to see the different stages and as the putting together continues it is exciting to see the finished result!

Standing in the kitchen looking toward the front door.

Standing at the front door looking into the dining room.

The extra four feet of the living room.

The closets removed from the sitting room.

The kitchen without any cabinets! 

The extra four feet of the living room drywalled.

Looking at the kitchen from the dining room, painted a pretty pale yellow!

The sitting room all drywalled.

Looking down the hall from the living room!

Happy Halloween

On Monday night while we were carving our pumpkins we looked up a little Halloween History and what we found was really quite interesting!

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").  The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.
The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

Masks and costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.
Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.

Part of the history of Halloween  is Halloween costumes. The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas."

In folklore, an old Irish folk tale tells of Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the Devil. One story says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the Devil couldn't get down. Another myth says that Jack put a key in the Devil's pocket while he was suspended upside-down.

Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. 

In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from Hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.

Sensei Wu

The Cutest Bat Ever!!

The kids had so much fun trick or treating last night, Calum especially got right into it!  Every house we went to he would say really quite loud, "Trick or Treat!" and once the door was answered he would ask what their name was, he would tell them his, "I'm Caum, I'm dressed as Sensei Wu for Halloween.  Emry is a owl...I mean a bat, hee, hee! Armin is a pumkin and my mom is nothing!"  It was quite entertaining and I think the people found it that way too!  At some houses the people were not as chatty and as we left Calum would say they didn't talk good!  From the steps of each house Calum would yell to Jared, who was driving the van and keeping it nice and toasty warm for us, "Dad, I got more candy!"  It was so much fun taking them around!  Armin did so well too!  Never one complaint...I had the kids all bundled up quite well, and with Armin's pumpkin costume there was no chance of him getting cold.  The puffiness made it a little difficult for him to walk, as well as the skating rink roads, so I carried him and man did he start to get heavy!  After doing a few streets in town we drove down Alston Road to some friends and then to Papa John's and Grandma Roxanne's and finishing at Grandma Debbie's!  The kids got a ton of candy...too much in fact!  We put Calum and Armin's in a big bowl that is sitting on the kitchen counter and is a free for all when ever we pass it.  Emry put all her candy in her own big bowl and stashed it in her room, probably a good idea!!  It may last a little longer that way!

It was a great night and I think their costumes turned out really good!  Armin was a pumpkin, the same costume Myrna and I made for Emry when she was a year old!  It has gone through all our kids which made all the work totally worth it!  Emry wanted to be a bat, and since Lily also wanted to be a bat, Arren helped me make her costume, and turned out to be really quite simple!  And Calum wanted to be Sensei Wu from Lego Ninjago!  Out of all the Ninja's he wanted to be the old man who trained the ninjas!  It was actually a simple costume to put together once we put our minds to it and he made a great Sensei Wu!!  I am thankful Halloween is done, mostly because the Christmas hype can officially begin!  Until next year.....

Our pumpkins out on our step!!  Super Spooky!

Some versions include a "wise and good man", or even God helping Jack to prevail over the Devil.
There are different versions of Jack's bargain with the Devil. Some variations say the deal was only temporary but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack entry to hell after Jack dies.
Jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell, without any mention of the Devil.

Despite the colorful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp. In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect.