Christmas Bells are Ringing

I can't help but feel jittery at this time of year. When I was little-until I was married- my brothers and sister would all make fun of me because I was the first to "be excited for Christmas". It was like the worst thing to be labeled then, let me tell you. So I was thinking what makes me excited for Christmas and here is my list of my favorite things!

1. Christmas Trees- totally unoriginal, maybe, but so wonderful. I can't help feel happy when I smell that evergreeny goodness. Growing up, we put up real trees each year and some years we had multiples - because the early one would die so we would have to replenish.

2. Knit slippers- this is mainly a memory of my gram. I still see her wearing those ugly orange and brown knit slippers, zipping around the kitchen while she baked. One day, I will learn to knit and make the same ones.

3. Christmas baking- FUDGE! CHOCOLATES! CARAMEL! Need I say more?
4. Stockings- my favorite part of Christmas morning growing up. Santa would leave unopened presents out beside the sock so we could sneak a peek before anyone else was awake! Today, this is still my favorite part- now I can think of things my kids would peek at and be so happy! I also love all the different colors of them and picking out where we leave them to be filled. The orange in the toe was always left until the candy was gone so sometime into January! Santa also left hard tack candy in ours and, as a kid, there are so many other awesome treats out there aside from that. Now, as an adult, I definitely appreciate it a lot more. YUM!

5.Big Bulb christmas lights- We had beautiful red ones, my gram had multi colored from the 50's with tart shells behind. So fun, I love them, but now I can't seem to find them for our tree!




6. Rudolf the Red-Nosed reindeer Claymation special on ABC- I have always loved the little elf who wants to be a dentist instead of a toy maker! The island of misfit toys has creeped me out since I can remember, but I still can't get enough of it. When that comes on, I know Christmas is close!


7. SNOW- I loooooooooooooooove a white christmas. However, growing up in Southern Alberta I didn't always see one! When we have white christmases I think about Bing Crosby...and twinkies?

8. Toboggans! I got one almost every christmas-at least when it was a white christmas. Not the lame plastic ones but the nice wooden toboggans! My dad took me out to the ridge on our occasional white christmas to play on the big hills, or just to gram's coulee. It was always so fun. Dad also like to hook the toboggan to the hitch on the truck and pull me behind. That was cool because I was frozen before we even got to the hill.....

9. Stuffing and raspberry jell-o salad- I generally don't go crazy over big dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every year, though, my mom's stuffing makes me anxious for eating! The salad is awesome because it's a "salad" and not a dessert, so you get double the treats for half the embarassing portions!

10. My family- So what if I'm sentimental? We had such great christmases, can you blame me for looking forward to seeing all in my famiy? I also look forward to building traditions with our own little family. I can't wait for them to get EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!

Making old things new...ish

We're students. We're incredibly cheap. Thus, we have to make old things that may look crappy into newish looking things that look better. Here is our latest project. We bought this table and chairs set from an estate sale because it had 8 chairs. In case you're wondering, yes, we live in a basement suite and no, we don't have room for a gigantic table and 8 chairs. I digress. The previous owner- shall I say elderly woman, shut in type, with or without cats I can't be sure- took such good care of the chairs, they were in perfect condition. When I say perfect condition I mean the synthetic scratchy orange church pew material was wearing well. (Like a pig's nose, our friend says. He's our age too, not the same age as the last owner though you'd never know by his addage) Anyway, they were yucky so we needed a change. Dustin and I set off to the fabric store with completely different visions in our heads-unknowingly of course- He wanted something 'not femmy' and I wanted something very feminine because the set itself is very dark and masculine. After an hour of getting nowhere in Fanny's ( the fabric store) Dust proposed a solution. I got to pick my 8 favorite fabrics, even the femmy ones. So instead of being overwhelmed with one fabric, he let me do 8. I don't know how he came up with that, but it was a truce I could embrace. and, with that, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you our chairs

"May I have your attention please"

I have been struggling lately trying to think of new things with our family so I can post. There isn't much, but I'll fill you in on the little there is.
Sammy's healing really well from surgery. He's such a little happy guy. He smiles and screams whenever he sees Max and refuses to take his eyes off him for even one second. Sam is also old enough now to start eating. I gave him a little rice cereal for the first time the other day and he LOVED it! He grabbed for the spoon and smacked his lips and cried when it was all gone. It is so fun to watch him grow! I had forgotten just how fast babies grow in that first year.

Max is growing up too. He still amazes us with the things he pulls out of his artistic little hat! The other day he grabbed a heat trivet out of the cupboard, threw it on the ground and stepped on it with his hands behind his back saying "Ladies and Gentlemen... May I have your attention please?" It was so sweet, I couldn't handle it! He's also getting more of a handle on potty training, which seems to be a very long process....

Dustin is still plugging away with school. He's doing great. This is the last year he has to be with the med class so we're counting months! I have to say I think it is all quite interesting, but it isn't me who has to worry about grades on midterms and finals! He says his favorite time of the day at school is the end of the day when he gets to come home to see the boys.

I'm doing well- I just started playing on a social netball team. Well, it's just a basketball league that I play on with some friends of mine. It is pretty cool because I haven't played in six years! I did ok in our first game. I didn't hurt my back or my knee and I even made a basket! I'm also playing volleyball and going to aquafit every week. I love getting to be active again!

I also think we're going to be moving by the end of this month to our old house on Ottewell. We're looking forward to it because the yard is fenced and its a much bigger place. It is soooo exciting!

So there you have it, our little lives in a nutshell. We hope to hear from you all soon!

Ode to the Wal-Mart Folk

A quick trip to wal- mart, off I went...
only a few things to get, yet so much spent!

The express lane offers speed,
but the lady behind me smells like she peed
along with the cigarette smoke
She's crowding my space, and looks like carney folk
Homey in front must have missed the 8 items only sign-
Somehow I always pick the wrong line.

Most of my time out at the store is spent at the check out-
I have to take a deep breath or I'm just about
to shove those extra 500 things down homeslice's throat.

Angry, you ask?
No, its not entirely a wash:
For now I can bask in the clerk's femullet- oh my gosh!

minutia

I've decided I'm not a good writer. In fact, when I re-read my posts before I publish them, I shudder. It's like nails on a chalkboard, but honestly, I really do the best I can. Sniff. So, it is for this reason that I cannot post very often. I also attribute my sporadic posts to being completely overwhelmed with the minutia of my life that I become brain dead thinking of what to write! If only I could be so clever as some of the other bloggers out there. Alas, it's just me, trying to keep everyone apprised of what we are up to, so suffer through it along with me.

AT ANY RATE- here's some cute things that happened this week:

One night, after putting Max to bed, Dustin heard a loud crash followed by sobbing. He went in to Max's room to find the little guy on the floor with the dresser on top of him. While trying to help him up, Max went through a very long story- accompanied with finger movements- to illustrate just what had happened. It came out like this through the sobs: "needed my water on top of the dresser...pulled out my drawers...climbed up drawers...dresser fell on me" He wasn't hurt so it was really easy to laugh at! I can just picture him climbing the drawers and the look on hius face when he realized the dresser was falling backwards. Oh man, I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

Max got some dr. Seuss books this week, so Dustin offered to read bed time stories while I tried to settle Sammy. Once I was done with Sam, I brought him in to lay with Max for their bed time story. He promptly fell asleep beside Max, and Max just let him snuggle against his cheek. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I love that the boys love each other!

Sorry, that is all I have time for. Sammy is crying his face off, because he is still trying to get better from that surgery. Poor little guy. Besides, Max needs his daily ration of cop-corn.

Wake me up when September ends....

September. It means Summer's over. It means back to school. It means mourning over wasted summer opportunities. For me, it means we have just over a month until the snow comes so we better hurry up and cram in as much outside time as we can. (It also means I get to start packing Dustin's lunch with awesome little love notes.) So, here is what we've done and what is coming up.

We made an outing to Fort Edmonton Park- totally worth it because we get in free with our poor people pass- Max dug the train and that is about all the pictures we got because the camera ran out of batteries. Good thinking, Linds! Anyway, it was a great day and best of all, it tired Max out so much there was no complaining at bedtime. However, he wouldn't stop talking about the train for like 3 days. He was so excited because we rode the train around the park until it closed and the trains were going home to bed. Sam managed to stay awake the WHOLE day and was delirious by the end, he couldn't stop laughing at everything. It's pretty fun to see them grow and learn.

Dustin went back to school today. He said it is so glamorous to be back. Jokes, he really said it sucked eggs to go back, but one year closer to the end of school!!! Sam must have known we had to get up early today because he didn't sleep one bit. He must have also known he's going in for his surgery tomorrow- he must be so nervous! I know I am. I keep trying to tell myself it is all worth it, but I hate that he has to have anesthetic. He's just so small!

We're going to look at a house we would like to buy. http://www.edmontonbungalow.com/. Check it out and take the virtual tour, let me know what you think. I like it, however, try not to let the blue countertops get to you. Think: Investment Opportunity!

I'm also thinking about Halloween costumes for the kids. I'm torn between the Mario Brothers, Spongebob and Patrick, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and any other cheesy duo you can think of. If you have any clever ideas that don't involve a sewing machine, let me know.

We went to the Zoo to ride the train?

We're bored. Day in and day out- we're always trying to find things to do. So yesterday we made a plan: go to the Zoo here in Edmonton for the day. We weren't expecting much for animals, but I remembered seeing a featurette on the news about the new little train there. Right through the admission gate, Max started crying because of the huge Humpty Dumpty. Poor kid, I don't blame him. He had a HUGE bright red mouth, and freaky arms with gigantic hands and a busted off leg. It really was a little scary. So we hurried on to find the train and there is was right in the middle of the Zoo! Max could hardly wait to get on. It does a little loopy around the Zoo and the driver toots the horn and rings the bell. He loved it so much.

The rest of the time, he was telling us to "WATCH OUT FOR THE TRAIN!" No matter what awesome animal- and they did have some notable ones there- he was always checking over his shoulder waiting for the train.

We ate our lunch by a stinky east indian cow paddock and made our way out. We found an awesome little area for kids. There was a mini merry go round and a little train eating area- too bad we didn't know that an hour earlier! Our crackers and cheese might have tasted better sans poop.

All in all we had a super awesome day and Max enjoyed himself. Sam did too, because he could really care less where we are as long as he has his food source. He also thoroughly enjoys Max so that makes it a lot easier!

Here's to today and making another plan!