Sun's Out! Guns Out! 2013





Black Friday Shopping Crew, Cali style.
(left to right: Lana, Corinna, Me, Hez, Stacey)



Corrina: Don't take a picture now! It's going to look like we are eating guacamole and cheesecake for dinner.  Oh right, that IS what we are eating for dinner. BEST. DAY.EVER!

 The Sun's Out, Guns Out pose.

Arms made super strong from hours and hours of shopping.

Like, marathon-long shopping.

Gratuitous bathing suit shot

Disney Girls

Here`s to 5 grown women playing by the pool; to the cannon ball contest, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the mudslides we were drinking at 9:30am; to wrestling with the floaty in the pool and to laughing so hard my face hurt.

Thanks for the fun trip.

Cheers!

How to make the world and your mother smile

Georgia started yesterday by saying that she wanted to wear a moustache.  I said that I could help with that. So we did this.

But it wasn't quite right yet...

Better!

Georgia:  I look, how do you say, French!
Olivia:  No.You look, how do you say, weird.

And off we went to Brandon for lunch, shopping, gymnastics, bowling and dinner.  Georgia told me at bedtime "that wearing a moustache was the right thing to do today, Mom." And, indeed, it was.

You make my heart smile Georgia. Thank you for that.

Finn, The Brave

I have been reminded, by more than one person, that I haven't composed a birthday blog for Finn.  It wasn't intentional. In my mind it was December just yesterday. My calendar stubbornly insists that it is now April.  In my defence the view out the window agrees with my mind. Time seems to be passing at warp speed.  I digress...

Instead of a birthday blog I want to tell you about Finn. He is a strong and funny and kind little boy. He is a caring brother. He is a good friend.  He has a wickedly sarcastic sense of humour that both Scott and I love.  He is sensitive and thoughtful. He says nightly poems and reads with his Mom and plays creative and imaginative Lego with his Dad. But you, dear reader, knew this already.

Today I want to tell you about Finn's bravery.

Finn was very brave today. He fell - on his face- at school during recess. On some kind of metal bar. The call I got at work was from a teacher telling me that there had been a fall and that Finn had fallen, cut  his lip and maybe hurt his teeth.  Would I come to the school to have a look?

I got to the school 2 minutes later to find him in the lobby of the school, surrounded by teachers, bleeding from the mouth and crying. Not a reassuring sight for any parent. I get the story of what happened from a few sources and get down to see the damage first hand.

What I saw made me feel like I had suddenly swallowed a hive of angry bees and rendered me momentarily speechless, to the absolute shock of many teachers who knew me already.  I saw a cut lip, inside and out. I saw a bottom tooth missing and another hanging by a thread. When I lifted his top lip I saw his top 4 front teeth all pointing in different directions and very bloody gums. I was nearly sick but choked it down thinking that if Finn could deal with this so could I.  My mind was racing with conflicting thoughts of dentist or doctor. doctor or dentist?

The doctor won. The emergency room said he was not in need of stitching but he did need to see a dentist quickly.  We hadn't even got back to the van and he was pointing at the Ice Cream Island, across the street from the hospital, and reminding me that the doctor had said to eat soft food. And that ice cream was pretty soft, wasn't it mom? I agreed that it was but that we needed to focus right now get him to a dentist right away.

His next series of questions related to how old you have to be to be fitted with dentures (my answer: a lot older than 6) and whether  he was the first kid in our family to have his teeth knocked out. I agreed that he was.

I count us all as being exceptionally lucky that our local dentist saw Finn right away. thankyouthankyouthankyou! He reassured us both that no teeth needed to be pulled, right now, and then put all of his top teeth back into the correct position. He said they may come out very soon, as they are all now very loose, but seeing that these were all baby teeth that he was likely to lose them soon anyways. Soon, I agreed, not necessarily all simultaneously.

Did I mention that by the time we left the school he had stopped crying and was talking about driving into Winnipeg with his father to go to Comic-Con?  He told the doctor he was fine at the hospital when asked how he was. And only whimpered slightly when the dentist pulled and pushed his teeth back into position.  I felt sick to my stomach and excused myself with, what I hoped was, a reassuring smile to Finn so that I wouldn't vomit on the man who was helping my son.

Finn's biggest reaction was when he asked to see what had happened himself; so I took some pictures and showed him.  This is the view after the hospital but before the dentist. Be warned- these are not pretty.

 I guess Finn will be getting to know his tooth fairy pretty well over the next short while. And let's hope she is carrying a lot of cash with her.

We were extra proud of  Finn for making it through all of this with a calm demeanour and a sharp sense of humour.  Good job Baby we love you!

The Rule of Three Fifths

I have a theory, in respect of my immediate family's health, I call it the "Rule of 3/5".  This theory goes something like "if there is a common cold/virus/plague to be had one of us will inevitably get it and share it with a minimum of 3 out of 5 members of the family."   I base this theory on experience. This has been the story of our winters for the past couple of years and, quite frankly, I am sick of it! (Pun intended.)

I think we are a normal active family.  The kids are in public school and participate in a couple of extra curricular activities each.   Scott and I both work outside of the home. We are all active and social without being obsessive about either. We know about the Canadian Food Guide and eat pretty healthfully.  We take vitamins. We have access to good and free healthcare and visit the doctor and dentist when required and for regular check-ups.  We have good hygiene. We sneeze into our elbows and all wash our hands, with soap, often. (I may be a little militant about those points.) And still we have been perpetually plagued with colds and viruses all winter. It is so frustrating.

I've always joked about home school or sending the kids to school in Hazmat suits. All it takes is for me to have a week where someone has been feeling sick, for Scott or I to have missed some work and to watch one tv show or movie about a superbug that kills the majority of the world population or turns us  all into flesh eating zombies.  I start doing the mental math and see US, or at least 3/5 of us, as the family of flesh eating zombies. I don't know about you but that gives me a frowny face.   I would like to think that I am the type of mother who would prevent, if she could, Georgia being known as Patient Zero of the start of the zombie apocalypse.

Albert Camus` book The Plague, admittedly not an actual medical reference source, suggests (I paraphrase, of course) that the return of cold weather will kill a plague*. Well, we live in Manitoba and it has been winter and FFS it has been plenty cold.  Yes, we've had a rough winter but I border on hyperbole when I describe our health as a plague.

I cannot help but think about our environment and what is unique to the 5 of us... our house.  I will be on a campaign this spring to clean out our ducts, the HRV unit, deep clean the carpets and furniture, vacuum the cats, install a purifier, or whatever else needs to be done to try keep us healthy. I am even contemplating an air test. Am I cray-cray?  (Sorry, that is Finn's new favourite word.)

I had complained to a friend about our family's lack of immunity this winter and she gave me a recipe for a vitamin packed smoothie that she feeds to her family.

Leigh's Green Smoothie

1 cup coconut milk (Coconut Dream- original)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 handful of fresh spinach

fresh pineapple

frozen mango

banana  (or 1/4 avocado*) 

Put this all in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

The only substitution I have made on Leigh's original recipe is to leave out the banana (yucky!) and to sometimes use an avocado instead.  This add a creaminess to the smoothie and is super tasty. I've been drinking these for breakfast and can attest that it is delicious.  Does it work?  Well, since I have been drinking them I have been in the 2/5 group  so I suppose that does say something.

I know the season is changing albeit slowly.  Soon we will all be outside more and getting more vitamin D from the sun. I hope that helps. I hope that we can go more than 2 continuous weeks without someone being sick.  And it would be quite refreshing to take a road trip or visit a restaurant without having someone vomiting. I'm just saying...

Happy Easter. We hope the Easter Pig finds YOU in good health.


Footnotes:
* Yes, I do understand that I should not be looking for actual medical advice from fictional literature. And, if i am being honest, I should also acknowledge that this was the one book from high school english class that I never finished in full. I may have skimmed a few, or a hundred, pages there. So, if this book book really does have the solution to solving health pandemics could someone please send me a text or an email. And, if you could, maybe let the WHO  or the U.N. know too.  Don't be selfish, dude.

Random bits of AWESOME in 2012

So, Jen, I ask you ,what was so AWESOME about 2012? 
Well, I am so glad you asked me that. Our family had a pretty great year. It went fast but here are some of the very random highlights...

We ended the year healthy believe it or not. All of us. We even managed to go on vacation without one (or all) of us catching the plague, a rash and getting a major UTI or ear infection before we left. This has to be a record of some sort.  2012 was a rough year on our health. We've had casts, concussions, reconstructive surgery, pneumonia, emergency dentistry work, every infectious disease that came through our public school,  double pneumonia and a probably a few things I have managed to successfully block from my memory.  Some would say we are just a normal active family but last January I was advocating for home schooling for the kids and mandatory Hazmat suits for anyone visiting the house.

We took some pretty amazing trips this year. We visited our home away from home in Palm  Springs, CA twice this year as a family.  We went tubing at Assissippi Ski hill in the winter and visited Grand Beach and Clear Lake in the summer. Scott and Finn went to Scout Camp and Georgia and Olivia each went to Girl Guide camp on their own. Scott and I travelled to Vancouver (CBA Conference), San Diego (Comic Con) and Las Vegas (to see Madonna in concert).

There were some pretty important milestone birthdays in our family. Scott and I each turned 40. Olivia is now 10. Our nephew Quentin turned 18! My Dad, Bob,  turned 60 and Scott's mom, Norma, turned 65. And my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary. Yeah all of us!

As above: Quentin turned 18 but more importantly he graduated high school! Congratulations Quentin! We are so proud of you!

Who is that smart looking young man
in the great looking Chucks!

We had some great times with good friends.


Playing in the snow with the Duecks.

M.A.D.O.N.N.A.

The Fantastic Four
at Comic-Con 2012.
Note: no costumes!

Segway tour through  the San Diego Habour!

 

The most unlikely thing we saw this year occurred this past Christmas when our family, my parents, Scott's parents and Tammy all visited California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA. (First time visit for Mom, Dad, Norma and Dave! First visit to one of the Disney parks EVER for my Mom.) Everyone except Scott and Olivia rode the California Screamer Roller Coaster! REALLY!! Georgia and Finn were both tall enough and were eager to ride. Both Grandfathers were game too. The unlikely and really quite wonderful part was that BOTH grandmothers went on the coaster.  It was a first and we were assured, by both, that it was also going to be the LAST time that would ever occur. So we had better have enjoyed the moment.

 

Finn was quoted after the ride as saying "I wasn't scared. I didn't even scream once." Norma quipped "Well, good for you. I sure as hell did!".

 

The Grandmas, in solidarity,
 singing their version of Taylor Swift's
"We are never ever, EVER, getting back together"
to the California Screamer Roller Coast.

We had lot so fun and travel but we also had a lot of business as usual. Both Scott and I had a good year at work. (Insert appropriate lawyer/engineer jokes here.) All kids are working hard at school. In their spare time they were busy with piano, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, gymnastics, dance and soccer.  Olivia performed in her first play. She was a munchkin in a local production of "The Wizard of Oz". 

Better watch out for this tough munchkin!
Brava!

 

Halloween was pretty good but those of you with a keen eye will notice that our daddy monster was not present in our traditional holiday shots. He was busy getting over double pneumonia and was unavailable at photo time. We gave him a pass from Trick or Treating but mostly because his doctor wouldn't let him out the hospital!

 

 

 

If we did anything else, well, I can't recall. Cheers to a great year!

 

This is a few days late but Happy New Year! We hope that your 2013 is filled with all things good: food, friends and fortune!

 

Drop me a comment to say Hi! Thank for reading!

 

 

Love: Jen

 



Happy Halloween!

Don't mind us... just the ghosts next door.

We hope you had a fabulously terrifying Halloween!

From our Fright House to yours.
xoxoxo

J

Checked Another Thing off the Someday List

Scott and I had a really good weekend! We went to Las Vegas with our good friends Will and Wayne to see Madonna! 

This was a pretty exciting event for two of us and, well... tolerated by the other two. I'll leave it to you to guess who is who in that scenario.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I've mentioned my Someday List before... well, I just checked off another 2 items:

• Attend a concert for a big star.* Check!
• And have really good seats.** Check!

The Material Girl, in person.

Technically speaking I have checked the first one off several times as Scott and I have seen several big name concerts like Metallica, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Van Halen etc. I enjoyed all of those concerts but this one was kind of special in that we had to travel to get to the concert.

We found it kind of funny while people watching before the show to see the wide variety of age groups attending the concert. Some of that might have had to do with the price point for tickets or that we were in Vegas, after all. But I think it says more about the age of her fan base.

Will had been amused last week when telling one of his students that he was seeing Madonna in concert soon. The eight year old responded with "Madonna? Never heard of her. Have fun anyways."

My hair may be mostly grey now but I do not consider myself old. Not by any stretch. I turn 40 this year and as far as I am concerned I am just getting started. The best is yet to come.

Thanks Madonna for putting on a fun and entertaining show! And for still being around and relevant enough to have huge world tours when I -finally- had the means to see you in concert. You rock!

Vegas was awesome! I had a great time, guys. Thanks for the happy and fun memories!

Footnote:
* I would just like to say that I was pretty young when I wrote some of this list and going to a concert was kind of a big deal for me then. It wasn't something I was typically allowed to do.
** Being able to GO to a concert was one thing but being able to get seats where I could actually clearly see the spidery veins on the back of the star's hands- and not just be in the same zipcode as the star/group- was another. AWESOMER!

Happy 10th Birthday Olivia!

Our big girl turned 10 this weekend!

To celebrate I would like to tell you 10 wonderful things about Olivia:

Happy birthday to me!

1. She is cautious but she is very brave.  She rode the Bullet (waterslide) at Grand Beach this summer, did gymnastic camp with her sister, ran for class rep in her new school...but she still doesn't want to go on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney. And that's okay.

2. She is a proud ginger. Yeah for genetics!

3. She is a kind sister and generous friend. She has many of the same friends that she has had since pre-school.











4. She is a talented musician and artist. She also dances and sings.














5. She is fun AND funny.

Hey! How you doing?



Here's our princess!
I have always called this "frozen booger" face.

I'd rather kiss a Wookie!

6. She is a smart and good student. A hard worker!

First day of Kindergarten.

7. She gets frustrated because everyone says that Georgia looks like me and Finn looks like Scott and that she looks like no one. I say she's the lucky one that looks just like herself. She has traits from both sides of the family. She certainly has her parent's sense of humour...she is a smartypants just like them.




8. Olivia is a water baby. She is a very strong swimmer and loves to spend time in the water.

9. Olivia had to wait until her 10th birthday to get her ears pierced. 

I was only nervous for a minute or two!

10.Olivia makes both Scott and I very proud to have her as our daughter. Seconds after she was born the doctor turned to me and said "It's a girl!" and I responded with a very certain, and possibly condescending, "I know." We were so glad to hold her in our arms.

Our angel

I always liked this shot better.
Seemed more... representative.

We love you very much. We know you are a big girl now but we still say: Happy Birthday Baby!