Finally Floyd Free!!!!

Matt was asked by a friend of his (Floyd) to be the executor of his will about a year ago. Matt being the nice guy he is said yes and didn't think much more about it. Well, in January of this year, Floyd went and died, and we haven't been able to get him out of our house / garage / mailbox since then. Matt had to clean out this guy's apartment and everything in it got moved to our garage. We had to go through all his papers and see what needed to be kept or what could be thrown away. Most of it was garbage, but occasionally we would come across something important tucked in between some totally random papers. Anyway, our garage is still totally filled with his stuff (junk!) and our bedroom had a bunch of stuff in it too as we were going through boxes there too. Well, enough is enough and I told Matt I wanted our bedroom back to just us. It's pretty bad when you have someones cremated remains sitting on your dresser for 9 months - I was not at all sad to see that go! Matt had his remains buried in his church's memory garden on Sunday and since Matt had the day off on Monday, we rearranged our bedroom and got rid of everything that shouldn't be in our room. I am so so so happy to be in my Floyd Free Bedroom!!!
p.s. If someone asks you to be the executor of a will, unless it is a close relative that you have a good relationship with, RUN!!!

"O" is for......

I really do love my kids!! They keep me laughing (and sometimes crying) everyday. Today at the breakfast table the girls were saying what each letter of the alphabet is "for". For example: "A" is for Anna, "G" is for Grace, "K" is for Karen (we are babysitting her for the weekend), etc, etc. All of a sudden Anna comes up with "O" is for Oh forget it! I tried so hard not to laugh, but I had to leave the room when her next one was: and "O" is for Oh Geez! What a nut that kid is....... gotta love it!!

What was your favorite part of the day?

We have started something new at our dinner table over the last few months. To try and keep the natives happy and quiet, I have started asking the kids "What was your favorite part of the day?" It gets them thinking about something happy and positive to share with the rest of the family and then Matt gets to hear some of the things they have already told me about their day. It has become a favorite thing to do, and the kids remind me if we miss it - - they really do love sharing their thoughts and feelings about their day! Anyway - I have to share Brendan's favorite part of today. Once a month the kids get a hot lunch (we have to pay for it of course) and today it was from KFC (sometimes Pizza Hut or Hot Dogs, etc.). Brendan said his favorite part of the day was having lunch from KFC. Matt asked him what KFC was - and it was quite funny to see him stop and think about it, and think about it..........and think some more. He finally said, "It means King's Famous Chicken." LOL!!! That just became my new favorite part of MY day!! Wait, wait..... it gets even better. To top things off - Brendan could see how funny I thought it was and his very next statement was: "You are going to tell everybody about this aren't you?" Oh, how well does my son know me!! Of course I have to tell everybody - that is just what mom's do!!!

I have to share another funny thing that happened yesterday too. Rebecca came upstairs crying her eyes out and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that Anna had hurt her nose. She appeared to be fine, and after a cuddle she was fine and off playing again (not next to Anna this time though!). Before I could get the chance to go and find Anna and talk to her about this, Anna comes up the stairs and asks, "Did Rebecca tell on me?" I told her that Rebecca said she had hurt her nose, but Anna just looks at me and says, "No I didn't, I just punched her in the eye!" OK, it's really hard to not laugh at your kids sometimes, but especially when you don't want them to see you laughing because it really shouldn't be funny, but holy smokes, what else can you do sometimes!! I managed to keep control and sent Anna to the time out chair - in our house - if you hit, you sit! So Anna heads over there and says, "How come I have to be here, this isn't fair!" Maybe next time she won't punch her sister in the eye........... maybe........... : )

Alright, already!!

I know, I know.... I am a really bad blogger. Story of my life these days. I don't even know where to start to try and catch up!! These last few months have been really crazy and I don't know where I put my emergency brake, so we have been barrelling down the racetrack of life at breakneck speeds. We are well into the school year for my kids - their first report cards are coming out in two days. How the heck did that happen? It's hard to believe that it is past the middle of November and Christmas is right around the corner.

One really fun thing I did this month was take a little vacation with my husband!! Matt took a week off work and we were able to go to my mom and dad's for Roger's homecoming on the 9th and then spend a couple of days just hanging out with them. My mom and dad agreed to keep our kids overnight and I finagled a pass to a bed and breakfast from my sister Melissa and so I stole my husband away for a night. We were able to go out for dinner and then we went Christmas shopping for our kids. I am so excited that we got all our shopping done together, and in one trip! The best part is that we were able to keep it all down at mom and dad's house. Nobody is going to find Santa's presents this year!! The bed and breakfast we stayed at was awesome. The scenery was beautiful, the hosts were great, the food was amazing and the room was well used : ) : ) : ) !!! It really was nice to have some time to ourselves without any telephones, TVs or crying kids!!

My sister Mary Lou was able to get some awesome pictures of my kids while we were down in Mountain View too. I am very excited to get some ordered and up on my wall. Thanks again!!!

Well, hopefully this will satisfy my audience's craving for posts from me..... and hopefully it won't be so long in between again!!

Crazy Day

Yesterday was just such a crazy day, it deserves being preserved. I have to start on Monday because that is when I found out that Matt was working late on Tuesday. That actually solved a problem for me as I was not sure how I was going to be in two places at the same time. Anna leaves on the bus for pre-school at 9:10am. Meanwhile, Grace had a dentist appt at 9:00am which we had to leave by 8:35 to get there on time. So, with Matt being home, I was able to have him send Anna off to school, and keep Rebecca at home while Grace and Sarah and I went to the dentist. Brendan had a late start as he didn't get all his homework done the night before and was trying to finish his math without dripping syrup from his pancakes on the papers. He finally got out the door at 8:20 and I had 15 minutes to get myself, Sarah and Grace into the van and on our way.... oh, and Sarah was still in a dirty diaper and her pajamas! We find the dentist's office (we had never been there before) and made it on time for the appt. Since we had never been there, there was a mountain of paperwork to fill out, and you always have a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when the first question they ask is if you have dental insurance! 20 minutes later, we hear that Grace needs a filling on a tooth that didn't form properly and 2 extractions. Her baby teeth were really small, and her adult teeth are really big, so they are taking out the two baby teeth on either side of her adult teeth to make room for them to fit properly. Who knows what we will have to do when the next set of adult teeth come in. Of course we have to book another appt to have this work done - today's visit was only $55 - and thank goodness for dental insurance because we only paid $12. BUT.... I asked for an estimate for the extractions and fillings..........$400.00!!! Yikes!!! Hopefully the insurance company will want to cover most of that. Anyway, moving on. I get Grace back to school by 10am, go home, get Sarah down for a nap, do some cleaning, get lunch for Rebecca, Anna gets home from school at 12:45, get her some lunch, get Sarah some lunch..... I think I even got to eat something in there somewhere since I didn't get a chance to eat any breakfast. I load everybody back in the van and go and get Brendan from school at 1:40 so we can get to his doctor's appt by 2:15. We made it on time, the doctor was on time (Yeah!!) and only a few screaming fits from Rebecca while we are there. We get home just in time to pick up Grace from school at 3:30pm and go home to get the homework started. I made supper, fed the kids, cleaned up (they even helped...with a little prodding) and then to the church by 6:45 so I can meet with a young man I have never met who is turning 12 and graduating from primary. I sign his goal book and his certificate and hand that over to the bishop, leave Brendan there for scouts, arrange for him to get a ride home since Matt is working late and I don't want to pack up the girls again at 8:30pm. Take the girls home, get them ready for bed, and collapse.......... Don't worry, I am still alive. I get to do it all over again, and again, and again.......

Oh, what a beautiful morning!!

I had such wonderful morning today!! I went running this morning at 6:30 - - the weather was just a bit chilly, but the sky was clear, and the few little clouds that were tinged with a gorgeous color of pink were breathtaking!! I went for a 5km run and only had three 2-minute walks in between. I ran up over the overpass on 66th street and gave myself a little break and walked across the bridge, ran to Ellerslie road, walked back up 66th for a few minutes, back up the overpass, walked across the bridge and then ran home. 5km in 32 minutes!! I surprised even myself. It was such a beautiful morning, that I hardly noticed the running and just enjoyed being outside. My kids were all in a great mood this morning, and we had breakfast and scriptures without any major commotion. We got Sarah a new booster seat with a tray on it that just sits on a chair, so she was sitting up at breakfast with the other kids eating a pancake too!! I was surprised to see her picking up the pieces and putting them in her mouth - that is the first time she has been able to do that. Crazy how fast kids grow up!! Brendan and Grace got off to school and the little girls played together quite well while I cleaned up the kitchen, made all the beds, and started the laundry. I am quite grateful that I have had the motivation to change a few habits. I think it started when my sister Rachel came over one day while I was folding about 8 loads of laundry. She had heard a little quote and shared it with me: "A load a day keeps Mount Washmore away!" I think I really took that to heart and have really been trying to keep up with the laundry and housework a little every day instead of having mammoth cleaning and laundry days. So far, so good.....they say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so I am well on my way. It is easy to do something when the benefits show themselves so quickly. Here's to many more wonderful mornings!!

Where the heck is Gordondale?

I now know where Gordondale is, something I did not know last week. Matt's Grandpa moved in with his son (Matt's Uncle) Kim who lives in Gordondale. We asked Grandpa how to get to Kim's house and he said just turn at the mailboxes and we are on the top of the hill on the right hand side. Well, since the only thing is Gordondale is a Church and some mailboxes - it wasn't too hard to find!! Gordondale is about 30-45 minutes north of Grande Prairie, so about 6 hours north of Edmonton. It was a long drive, but we had a really good time.

We were just going to put up our tent in the yard, but Kim had his trailer right there in the yard and told us we could sleep in there. I don't know if I can ever go back to a tent!! Just having a bathroom available in the middle of the night is priceless!! We were lucky enough to visit right when they were butchering their chickens. Grandpa had lovingly raised these chicks, and then had to say goodbye when he chopped their heads off - Grace thought that was a little gross!!!

Brendan and Matt came home covered in chicken blood, but they had a great time - and we got a couple of chickens for our freezer for helping out. It still amazes me to watch Grandpa work - he is 90 and is still going strong!! We are excited to go back next year when Grandpa is planning a family reunion -- at least now we will know where Gordondale is!!