Ready, set, Action!

Ethan has always been a pretty active kid, so this year we decided to try him in lacrosse. For those of you who aren’t familiar, you can check out the background of the game

here. I probably should have read that myself before this past weekend where I found myself asking one of the parents a few questions about the game. Too bad I picked the wrong person to ask – he looked at me like I had three heads. I openly admitted I knew nothing about the game – but ask me about hockey, rugby or even cricket and I am all good.

Lacrosse is a hell of a workout – running non-stop for the most part. Ethan loves it. He does keep asking when soccer starts again though – I think it is a bit hard to make friends when your teammates are always wearing face masks and the only way you can figure out who the kids are is by looking at their shoes. I kinda miss the soccer too (OMG did I just type that???). The parents were more laid back, and it seemed like the kids had more fun.

Lacrosse is a pretty physical game - even for the little ones. I can't even imagine how it must be when they are older. One thing I am not fond of though are the dads who scream and yell at their FIVE-YEAR OLDS during games. It is a wee bit unsettling. Of course not all the parents are like that, but there are a couple who treat the game like it is the gold medal match of Olympic hockey and their kids are earning million dollar salaries.

I really like the coach. I am not sure what happened at the beginning of the year, but apparently no one stepped up to coach, so one of the dads said he’d do it. He has openly admitted he doesn't know alot about lacrosse, but he is very good with the kids, and a couple of the dads who do know the game help him out. There is one guy in particular though to fancies himself as "coach" and he knows his stuff about lacrosse, but he has rubbed me the wrong way on more than one occasion when dealing with the kids. There is just something about this guy in particular that really annoys me. During one game he was “helping” and he picked Ethan up by the scruff of his jersey and pushed him while yelling, “run!” I was gob smacked – and my first reaction was to yell at this clown to get his greasy meat hooks off my kid. Anyone who knows Ethan knows that he is one of the most coachable kids around – does what he’s told and really pays attention. And he hustles. No need to grab, shove and yell at him. I didn’t do anything – but if he had touched Ethan one more time I was going to let him have it.

At any rate, I was at one of Ethan’s games this weekend to take pictures – it was a beautiful day, the game was outdoors (three cheers for natural light!) and Ken was at home to taking care of the other two rug-rats so I could focus on getting some good shots. I was in the players box waiting for the kids to get organized and just generally trying to figure out the best place to take pictures without getting in anyone’s way. Mr. Annoying came over to me and asked what paper I was from. I told him I was with Ethan. “What do you mean, “You’re with Ethan?”” he asked me. Funny coming from him – I’ve been at countless practices, a few games and even had the occasion to speak to him a handful of times. I told him I was Ethan’s MOM and the penny dropped. And so did his face when he realized his son wasn’t going to be in the paper (and to be honest, his son is a great player). His attitude did a complete 180, and he went back to pretending I wasn’t there. Too funny.

Little miss Diva

THIS makes a rough day worth it.

I might be old but....

Now that I am teaching (sort of) I am doing alot of marking of assignments that my online students send to me via e-mail. What shocks me is some of the e-mail addresses (changed somewhat for privacy - but you get the idea):

What's up bitch at gmail dot com
supersexydog at hotmail.com
party princess 69 at yahoo.com

I have about 50 students and I'd say about 10 have questionable e-mails....entertaining for sure, but professional - I don't know about that.

A cheering section would be nice.

A few nights ago I went out for dessert with some girlfriends that I hadn't seen in ages. We all went to high school together 20 years ago and they are the type of friends that you can go ages without talking to them, but when you do meet up it is like you just talked to them a week ago.

So here we are, the four of us on a night out without our husbands and without our children - and what do we talk about? You guessed it. Men and kids. We mostly talked about kids, and just generally supported each other in the decisions we made regarding parenting. It seems that we constantly run into people who tell us how we should be doing this or that when things are going wrong and yet when we do something right there isn't a whole lot of recognition for the hard work it took to get there.

One of my girlfriends told us about a incident that happened with her son. He had taken to peeing outside - something that I can totally relate to as my boys think that using the bathroom is a major inconveniece when building the dirt super-highway in the backyard. So when her son decided to pee in his sandbox she told him that he needs to come inside to go to the bathroom. So he did, and while he did another pee, she told him that she was just going to go upstairs to get his bath toys so he could play with them in the toilet. "EWWWW....gross" was his reaction. Then she said to him "think about what you did outside" - and the lightbulb went off. So instead of yelling at him to get inside to do his thing, she calmly made her point - and he got it. That was a great parenting moment. Wouldn't it be nice that when we had a great moment with the kids we had our own little cheering section - much like the BC Hydro ads here where they cheer every time you save energy.

Love Thursday

I came across this photo the other day, it was one that I took years ago with an old film camera. The quality isn't all that great, but honestly I don't really care as it is the expression on Ethan's face that I love as he is getting a thorough cleaning from Max.

Happy Love Thursday!

Love Thursday

Spring has sprung - finally. Here on the wet coast it has been, well.....wet. And cold. And SO NOT May-like-weather.

Last week I took the kids to a local marina, and we came across a group of baby geese. So cute and fuzzy and cute.....yes they are a pain when they get older (and you should have seen all the goose poop we had to negotiate to get this shot!), but when they are babies they are irresistible.

Happy Love Thursday!

I'm off to bed....well, maybe not.

Ever since starting my "side gig" tutoring a couple of classes online for a local college my personal down time has been significantly curtailed. I am home with the kids all day, and then at night once they are in bed I do work. When I am done work, I need to decompress - I can't go straight to bed without just relaxing first, which usually means surfing the net or watching a bit of TV.

Lately I have been surfing the net a bit more, and reading many more blogs. The latest two that I have been sucked into (and I mean that in a good way - the bloggers are so talented) are
sweet|salty and matt, liz and madeline. Almost every time I visit these two particular sites I cry. I cry for the loss they have both experienced. I can't believe how two complete strangers can have such an affect on me, but they do - and every time I think stuff sucks or I am feeling shitty I really need to remember how lucky I am. The internet has a strange way of bringing people together, and sharing people's loss and pain. You want to reach out and give hugs and try to do something, anything to make things better, to make things right. Yet they never will be. So it is now and hour after I told Ken I was heading to bed. And I am sitting in front of my monitor looking at pictures of a beautiful wee baby girl and bawling my eyes out.

His mouth will get him in trouble one day....

The kids grandfather (papa) came by today to help me out a bit so I could run some errands, sans children. Today I re-discovered what it is like to grocery shop ON MY OWN. When I go grocery shopping, I usually take all the kids with me and I have a list, AND I know where everything is. We are in and out pretty quick. Today I discovered the hidden treasures in the isles that I usually avoid at all costs. I even got to stop and sample some free food. Yeah, my life is that exciting.

When I got home, Nicholas and Papa were in deep conversation. I have no idea what they were talking about, but near the end Nicholas called my dad a "hoser". Now if you are Canadian, you know what that means, but if you aren't, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia for your reading pleasure:

Hoser is both a slang term and a stereotype, originating from and used primarily in Canada.[1]
Like the very similar term hosehead, it originally referred to farmers of the Canadian prairies, who would siphon gas from farming vehicles with a hose during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The expression has since been converted to the verb 'to hose' as in to trick, deceive, or steal - for example: "That card-shark sure hosed me." Hosed has an additional meaning of becoming drunk - for example: "Let's go out and get hosed."
The term "hoser" refers to an era in hockey before the ice resurfacing machine came into use. The losing team had to hose off the ice. The term "hoser" can then be construed to mean loser.

I haven't heard that term in years. I have no idea where he came up with it. My dad thought it was hilarious. "My grandson just called me a hoser" like it was almost cool (it isn't).

Later on in the day, the boys were playing outside. We have a great backyard, totally fenced in, so the kids can run themselves silly out there and I don't have to worry about them. I peeked out and busted Nicholas peeing on one of my plants. "Nicholas!" I yelled at him "why are you peeing outside?" And my son, in all seriousness looked at me and said "because I can". Isn't that the truth.

Look at that red hair!

This one is for Kate

This is little miss Renee and her mop of red hair. We were outside on a beautiful sunny day - still cold though - damned weather. The sun hitting her hair was just perfect.

I swear, one day she'll be sitting in the back of the classroom on St. Patty's day and when the teacher asks "Who's Irish" her hand will shoot up into the air and she'll say "me, me, ME!!!". She'll be the only half asian kid who can play the Irish card - all due to the red hair.

Love Thursday

There are a million reasons I love this picture. The hair sticking up (anyone rememeber "our gang" with alfalfa, buckwheat and spanky?). The lone "puff ball" just waiting for Nicholas to blow the little seeds everywhere. The baggy saggy pants. The fact that he was in such a rotten mood when I snapped this, but you'd never know.

Happy Love Thursday! Visit Shutter Sisters for more amazing pictures by many talented photographers.

Mommy's little "helper".

One of the hardest things to do when you have more than one child is trying to find time to spend with each of the kids. Renee sucks up alot of my time and attention because she is the baby - although she is really good at keeping herself occupied, and her brothers (for the most part) are great entertainers. In fact, right now Ethan is explaining the finer points of farting to his little sister. And she is loving it. But I digress....

Nicholas and I usually get to spend a couple of hours together on the days he doesn't have preschool. Renee naps in the morning, and Ethan is in Kindergarten, so Nicholas loves his one on one time with me. And what he likes to do best is bake. I love baking too, but I have to be careful because said baked goods must get eaten at some point, and if they are lying around, I will usually munch away mindlessly.

Yesterday we baked banana bread. This recipie is one that I have modified and tested until it tastes just like the kind Starbucks sells (a side note - banana bread sold in Starbucks in Canada is VASTLY different from it's US counterpart - my kids will not touch the US banana bread - go figure).

Every time I get ready to bake and start getting out bowls and stuff Nicholas comes running, grabs a chair and positions himself right in the middle of all the action. He is quite a good helper - and so because he is so good at helping me, he wants to be rewarded with the fruits of our labour that don't make it into the baking pan. As you can see below, he is not one to waste any batter!

Me too!!!

Poor Renee - relegated to the inside while her brothers and dad play hockey on the deck. If she is anything like her mother she'll be out there with them in no time.

Hey Ma, this one's for you....

I know you were in a bit of shock when I told you yesterday that it was SNOWING here. Well guess what? It snowed again today. It is all melted, but still - it is almost April for goodness sake. Hope you are having fun on the beach in New Zealand. I am not jealous at all (does the sarcasm shine through?).

I am sure that many people think that it snows all the time in Canada - hell, I even met some people in California that I managed to convince we lived in igloos. Really, I am not lying. But snow in late March? In Vancouver? Pure and utter crazy stuff.

Thoughts on dog poop.

The one thing that I really miss about our old house is our neighbours. We had great people living on both sides of us, they were both older, retired couples who called us "the kids" and kept watch over the house when we were away. They adored the boys (they never really got a chance to know Renee) and often bought them small trinkets when they went on vacation. In fact, both Ethan and Nicholas thought that when you went trick or treating at halloween you were supposed to get candy AND presents from everyone because our neighbours would make gift bags for them.

As much as I love our new place, we don't have the same closeness with the neighbours here. I have met a few people, but for the most part everyone keeps to themselves. We have a set of neighbours on one side of us that we were warned about when we moved in, but I took it with a grain of salt - I just thought that I would form my own opinion when we met them.

They are a young family like us, mom, dad and two kids. They were very nice to us when we moved in. We exchanged pleasantries when we saw each other. But they were odd. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but we were told by more than one neighbour that they have done their fair share of pissing people off. And over the past few weeks, I can honestly say that I haven't been too impressed either.

This family has a large dog. We don't really see it (and I say "it" because I have no idea if it is male or female) that often, and rarely hear it bark. Barking doesn't bother me, and I love dogs. I have never seen them walk the dog, and I know that this neighbour FREAKS OUT if there is any dog doing it's business on his lawn. So here is the kicker - for the past few weeks, their dog has been crapping on our lawn. Often two or three times A DAY. For the longest time we couldn't figure out who was doing it, but we knew the dog was big - and very regular. When I have to change diapers all day the last thing I want to do is clean up crap from a dog that isn't mine.

We finally figured out it was their dog when I caught him crapping at midnight one night. I wasn't in a position to go over to the house at that time, but I thought I would deal with it in the morning. So I picked up the poop, but it in a bag and put it in their garbage can. For days both Ken and I tried to talk to them, but they weren't home or not answering the door. We took to flinging the poop on their lawn, but that didn't work either. Finally we wrote a note - basically saying that their dog was using our lawn as a toilet, and asking them to pick up his poop. There hasn't been any poop again - and there hasn't been any apology either. Weird. If I got a letter like that in my mailbox, I'd go over and talk to the neighbour, and perhaps even bring a peace offering. I have no idea where the dog is pooping now, they still let it out to roam at night and they still don't walk it. Ken did say he saw one of our other dogless neighbours picking up crap off her lawn yesterday though.

Love Thursday

I am not a girly girl. Never have been. And I thought that if I ever had a little girl I would never go crazy with the pink, the dresses and the hair stuff. For the most part I haven't, but I did find these funky hairbands at a local shop and I had to try them out. Too cute for words. I think I may be living a bit of girly girl through Renee. Happy Love Thursday!

Just another day.

I have never been a fan of Valentine's day. When I was young and geeky in high school I certainly never got a rose or chocolates or anything of the like. I didn't have a boyfriend in high school, so I always felt sorry for myself on February 14th and spent the day wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I had lots of boys who were friends, but that was because I was a gym rat and played alot of sports. They never saw me as a "girl" but rather a passable basketball player with a half decent jump shot.

I often thought "well, maybe this is the year that I get something from someone". And each year I was disappointed. When I was in university I dated a bit, but was always single on Valentine's day. It didn't bother me as much then - I had alot of single girlfriends so we all got together and gorged ourselves on chocolate and tried to convince ourselves that someone somewhere was missing out big time by not having us as girlfriends.

My first real valentine was Ken. I told him that I wasn't a big fan of Valentine's day, and that he didn't have to get me anything (ok, I did ask for a card, but that was it). A couple of days before Valentine's day he had a hair appointment (I am laughing as I type this - he now has NO HAIR) and the hairdresser asked him what he was getting me for Valentine's day. He told her that I said to only get a card, and she proceeded to tell him that I didn't mean that and that I would be pissed if he didn't get me anything. So he went out and got me a spa package. An expensive one. And what did I get him? A card. Nothing else. Just like we agreed. And I felt like crap.

Last night Ken told me that he was sorry, but he got me nothing this year. He has been so busy with work that he hasn't had a chance to go out and get a card. I was ok with that - I have been so busy at home that I didn't get him anything either. At least we are on the same page. In all honesty, I'd rather Ken come home on June 22nd or any other regular day with an armload of flowers and tell me he loves me. He doesn't need February 14th to do that.

But this year, I have really enjoyed Valentine's Day - because of the boys. Each of them worked hard on Valentine cards for their classmates, and they both came home with an armload of cards and treats from their friends - and most of them handmade. They spent about an hour on the floor going through all their cards, and talking about their friends. It was nice. It is what Valentines should be about - all the kids made and got cards. They had small parties at school. At five and three it is all so innocent and fun.

My gummy wonder.

Last night I did something I swore I would never do as a parent. I bundled up my screaming baby and put her in the car and went for a drive. At midnight. The intent was to try to get her to calm down, but if that didn't work, I was on my way to the hospital to see if they could figure out what the hell was wrong. I am sure it is her teeth - she has been teething for what seems like months, but nothing is coming through. I swear she will be walking before she even pops one tooth through.

The poor little bugger was screaming for about an hour before I decided to put her in the car. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with her. You'd think that with her being my third that I would have a bit of a clue, but after giving the tylenol with no change and her absolutely beside herself I was at a loss. So I buckled her in, started driving and within five minutes she was asleep. Mission accomplished - that is until I had to get her out of the carseat. That is why I never liked the idea of using the car - none of my kids transfer well from the car to the house, so I figured that I had better drive for awhile before the attempt to get her out of the car, up the stairs and to her room. Sure enough, as soon as I pulled in the driveway and turned off the engine she woke up. Screaming. O...M...G. Got her to bed, and she settled down - for about an hour and a bit. And then she was at it again. I KNOW as a parent this is temporary - but holy crap, I am getting too old for this. On a good day I look like hell. Today I think I scared most of Ethan's kindergarten class. Let's hope tonight is a better night - and if not, it will be a movie day for the kids tomorrow while I crash on the couch - that is if Renee will nap.....which she didn't do today. OY.

Love Thursday

There is many a time I have seen a baby and I think to myself - "You are SO CUTE I could just eat you up". Well, I guess my son thinks pretty highly of himself - he had a good go at his reflection.

Checking him out.

Today Nicholas got his "report card" for his swimming lessons. He failed. Oops, sorry, he didn't fail, he needs to "re-register in the same level". Now I would never tell him that he failed - he had fun, and he learned a few new things that his ex-competitive-swimmer-mom and ex-lifeguard-dad couldn't get through to him. For that I am thankful to the kid who was teaching him.

I call his teacher "the kid" because he is barely into his twenties. To him, I must look like a washed up suburban housewife who barely keeps it together, and on a good day, will manage to slap a coating of lip balm on before leaving the house. So when he handed Nicholas his report card for the class the first thing I did when I got home was to see if this "kid" was on Facebook. Sure enough he was. And even more astounding, his profile was open for all to see. So I had a look. Nothing on there shocked me - photos of drunken university parties (hell we all did that - thankfully digital cameras weren't around in those days for me), his background, what he took in University, yada yada yada. I am sure that he would have been shocked that an old fart like me is on facebook. It reminds me of the conversation that I overheard a few days ago of a few teens discussing facebook and what other options to use because one of the kids discovered that his mom was on facebook. He told his buddies - and there was silence, followed by "Dude - your MOM is on facebook?". Yes, we are slowly taking over the world.

Love Thursday

shutter sisters is a new blog I have found recently - and here is my contribution to "Love Thursday". One of my favourite shots of the boys after an afternoon of playing in the dirt.