From Beer to Babies...

He's and old man

2012-01-30T20:52:00.000-06:00

This weekend, I took the girls on a road trip. Just me. What was I thinking? I'm not sure. There were several moments when I wondered what I was doing (like when Ginny is freaking out because CeCe is hitting her and I am trying to navigate icy roads and freezing rain) and other times when all was good (like when they all fell asleep). It was kind of a last minute decision. Jorja was off school on Friday and Julie was busy on both Saturday and Sunday doing some training, so I thought I would take the kids to my parents' for the weekend.

So we ventured out Friday morning after Julie left for work. My initial plan was to make it to Wainwright before we had lunch, but the girls were soooooo hungry by the time we hit Battleford that I stopped there. I pulled into McD's and we went in. It turns out that you can't order lunch 9 minutes before 11:00. Now that may not seem like it's that long to wait to order lunch, when you are by yourself with three kids (one of them being CeCe), nine minutes is an eternity. They had muffins and I had an egg mcmuffin. We were back on the road and things were going well. Except that CeCe was not napping. The entire drive, no one napped. It was a long four and a half hours. Near the end, we passed the time like this:

We arrived in Tofield safe and sound and had a good weekend visiting. The girls all got to go for coffee with Nanny and a friend of hers while Dad and I held down the home front. Life was good. Saturday we were discussing the previous night and Jorja told me that she took Ginny pee once. Really? When was that, I asked. She told me it was before I came to bed. "Apparently she still had some pee in her bladder." Apparently.

Sunday we woke up to freezing rain, so we waited a little while and then set out. The roads weren't great at the start, but they cleared up by the time we were back in the good land (Saskatchewan). And this time all three fell asleep. What a glorious hour that was.

Today was back to the routine of things - work, school, daycare. This evening I took Jorja to her piano lesson. Her teacher does it out of her living room, and has a folding room divider that parents can sit behind if they want to stay. Enough for some privacy, but still able to hear everything. Jorja was playing a song called 'In the old days' or something like that. Her teacher asked her if she ever asked her grandparents or even parents what it was like when they were kids. Jorja said that my favourite movie when I was a kid was Star Wars. Her teacher said that it was probably still one of my favourites even now that I am a big kid. "Oh no!" Jorja piped up. "He's not a big kid. He's an old man. He's 39!" Thanks Jorja...thanks. Later.

Loooong neck

2012-01-23T21:02:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, Jorja had a birthday party to go to. It was a '50's style sock-hop in a local school gym. She had a good time, but that also meant that we had to take Ginny out for something special. We decided on a new frozen yogurt bar in town called Pure (there are 2 dots on top of the u) and the Giggle Factory. Pure is a pretty neat place. It's all self serve - you pick your flavour and load it up with whatever goodies you want - from fresh fruit to cereal to granola to chocolate to gummy worms to sauces to sprinkles. Then you bring it to the cashier and it's all done by weight. And it's pretty reasonable - at least compared to something like DQ. After the ice cream we walked next door to the Giggle Factory, which is a local toy store that always has lots of stuff out for the kids to try. Jorja and Ginny always like going there, but CeCe really got into it this time. When it was time to leave, she had a full blown throw-yourself-on-the-ground freak out. Gotta love that.

After that, we still had some time to kill, so we walked into the Sasktel store (did I mention this is a pretty great little strip mall?). We walked out with new iPhones. Let me say, they are pretty awesome. Julie has wanted one for a while now, and I was holding out. But now let's just say I'm glad I got one too. I opted for the super heavy duty case, just so that nothing happens to it at work. It took me a while to figure out just how to get the case open and the phone in. Yes, it is a suit of armor. I couldn't help but picture the scene from Star Wars where Anakin in becoming Darth Vader. He is badly burned and frail and quite weak looking. Then they put his mask on and he comes to life. *Insert Vader breath here* That's how I saw my phone in that instant - this frail little thing, and then ready for anything in it's new suit of armor. As long as I use it for good instead of evil I guess. Beware the Dark Side Luke.

One of the advantages of an iPhone is the ability to take videos and then upload them to youtube right away. Here is CeCe with a mouthful of crackers telling what a giraffe has. It's pretty cute (even with the mouthful of crackers).

We gave our old phone to the girls to play with. I can't believe how into it Jorja is. She's taking pictures, videos, writing stories on the 'meemo pad' (that's how she read that) and listening the different ring tones. Who would have thought all those cheap tinny ring tone melodies could bring so much enjoyment. If she could actually connect with someone else, I don't think we'd ever see her again. We could always find her though - just listen for the ring tone. Later.

Donkey!

2012-01-13T23:03:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday afternoon, we came up with the brainwave to take the kids skating. All three kids. In retrospect, I'm not quite sure what we were thinking or envisioning. CeCe's not even two yet, but she did have bob-skates. Ginny started with real skates, but switched to bob-skates shortly after we arrived. Jorja kept her real skates on, but was not letting go of the push-bar trainer thing. I wasn't expecting them to be
Hayley Wickenheiser and I don't think Julie wasn't expecting them to be Jamie Sale. We also weren't expecting three Bambis. I guess I don't remember learning how to skate, and now, the ice just doesn't seem that slippery. They were so excited to go and thought it was going to be so much fun. A couple of bruised butts and some tears later, I'm not sure what they thought. They did say they wanted to go again though, so that's good. The extra child to parent ratio didn't help things either. Even Ginny picked up on this. As we were driving home, she said, "We needed an extra Mom out there." I looked over at Julie and said, "She wants us to get a sister wife." Let's just say that we're not going to.

Julie's parents were up this week and we were going to go out for supper. It was decided that we would try Red Lobster. Jorja went there on a school field trip once, and decided that she liked shrimp, so we thought the kids would be alright. There's always chicken fingers. In the end, Ginny decided that she too would try shrimp. Jorja's sales pitch must have been effective. It went something like this: 'Shrimp look just like chicken Ginny. They're smaller, but they look like chicken, not the shrimp you see in the store. They're made from the pinchers on lobster claws. They crack open the pinchers and get the shrimp out and they look like chicken. Real shrimp swim around in the sea - I saw a video on it. They're really good Ginny, are you going to try some?' After that, I'm surprised we didn't all have shrimp.

It's funny how the girls' minds work differently. Jorja wanted to use something of Ginny's and Ginny asked her if she knew the magic word. "Please?" Jorja said. "No," Ginny replied. "Kitties?" "No." "Monkeys?" "No. It's butt!" And she laauughed. Goofy kid.

On Friday I took the stroller to pick Jorja up from school. We have a two seater where the smallest kid sits in front and the bigger kid can either sit at the back facing backwards or stand on a little platform facing forward. Jorja is always complaining that she never gets to go on the back of the stroller. I keep telling her that she's six and can probably walk. Grudgingly, she always does. On Friday, I decided to try letting all three ride. Ginny sat in the rear seat with her feet together, and there was still room for Jorja to stand on the platform. Off we went, and they couldn't have been more pleased. "Look, three girls in the stroller!" they said. "Yeah, and one donkey pushing them all," I said. Now to be honest, I didn't think they would embrace that concept with the fervor or vigor that they did. "Donkey! Go this way! Donkey! Faster! Donkey! Watch out for that ice!" If they had a bit of a Scottish accent, I would have thought I was in Shrek. Oh well, their not so mighty steed got them all home safe and sound. Later.

Twinkle Twinkle

2012-01-06T21:25:00.002-06:00

Okay, I think I have it figured out now. I had to upload it to youtube first and now it seems to work. Enjoy, but don't turn up the volume too loud.

Later.

Advice from Ginny

2012-01-06T10:11:00.005-06:00

It's Friday today, so it's my day at home with the girls. Jorja still had school, so we took her there. As we were walking in, the sidewalk was quite icy, so I told Ginny to hold my hand. Jorja then grabbed Ginny's other hand and said, "Yeah, I don't do ice either." You don't 'do' ice? Really?

After we dropped Jorja off at school I took the younger two to Safeway with me. We were waiting at the deli department and CeCe was sitting in the cart fighting with her seat belt, trying to get out and squawking pretty good. Ginny then decided that in she would give CeCe some advice. She stood on the bottom part of the cart and pulled herself up so she was eye level with CeCe. Then she said, "CeCe, you should be quiet. See what I am doing? I am being quiet and not doing anything. That is what you should do." When did she become the moral compass?

After school, I let them take out their musical instruments. So they were all marching around the living room, banging away on cymbals, the triangle shakers and a couple of other things that I don't know the name of. I tried uploading a video here, but I can't seem to get it to work. We'll see if I can get it figured out. In the meantime, I think I may have to start bringing earplugs home from work. Later.

TMI

2012-01-02T12:34:00.001-06:00

As CeCe gets nearer to the two year mark, it seems her attitude is following suit. She definitely has a stubborn streak and a bit of a temper too. We've started giving her time-outs when she acts up. We have a spot in our family room where she now has to go to 'sit'. She's starting to get pretty good at it actually. When you tell her that she needs to sit, she heads over there and plunks herself down. She puts her head down and tried her hardest to avoid any eye contact. It looks like she has the feeling shame part down. The only problem is that she is just so darn cute when she does it that it's hard to keep a straight face. When she is done, I ask if she's ready to get up and she says yeah and then we hug and it's all good. For a few minutes and then we do it all over again. It appears that the use of the word 'sit' is rubbing off on Ginny now. Tonight after tub, she was tearing around with CeCe and they were getting each other all revved up. I told Ginny that she needed to calm down and just sit for a minute. So she went over to CeCe's area and sat herself down. A couple of seconds later her partner in crime came and joined her. Not exactly what I had in mind, but the self-imposed time out seemed to work. The two of them are going to get into a lot of trouble together - I can see that coming already.

I had to work today, but Julie and the girls still had an extra day off, so they came and met me for a lunch date. We went to Timim Horton's. That's how Ginny says it - there's an extra im on tim. As we were almost done, a friend of mine, Bruce, walked in. Jorja had already gone to the bathroom to wash up and Julie was in there with Ginny when he walked over to our table. CeCe was in the process of eating the top half off of a chocolate covered long john, and her face showed it. Jorja pointed out that her face was covered in chocolate and then Bruce said, "That's how it's supposed to be, isn't it?" Jorja then felt the need to explain why she had no chocolate on her face. "I already went and washed. I peed too while I was in there. That's why it took so long." Bruce, who has never met Jorja before laughed and took it all in stride and I slid under the table. I guess maybe we need to talk about how much we need to share. Later.

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year

2012-01-01T21:58:00.000-06:00

It is now January first and I'm back to work tomorrow. I don't really feel ready for that, but what can you do? The brewery generally shuts down between Christmas and New Year's so we moved all the stats to the week between. That way we got all the time off and only needed to use one holiday day. But I guess it will be good to get back into the routine of things - work, school, daycare.

The holidays began with a stomach flu in the house - always fun. It seems that this year has been a lot worse than ever before for stomach bugs (in our house anyway). We've been pretty lucky up until now. I guess it's probably the little germ magnets bringing it home.

We went to our church's Christmas Eve candlelight service on the evening of the 24th. I think next year will be better is all I have to say about that. Well, it wasn't that bad. The older two were fine (and didn't have any incidents with hot wax this year) but CeCe cannot sit still and quiet for an hour. So I spent much of the time in the foyer with her walking around. She was happy enough as long as she didn't have to sit still. And as we were pacing the foyer and the hallways of the church, we encountered several kids in various stages of meltdowns and tantrums. In that fleeting moment, I realized that maybe we had pretty good kids. We were already a couple of days into holidays and there had been many instances of patience being tried, but right then, in that light, they looked pretty good.

We came home from church and opened our gifts that night. It has become our custom to give the girls a new pair of pajamas every Christmas, so that is the first present they open, then they put them on, and then we carry on with the festivities. They all had a blast and CeCe really got into it this year as well. It was a late night and they were all ready for bed.

After lunch on Christmas day, we set out for Julie's parents' place. We got there in time for the turkey supper with all the trimmings. The girls then got round two of opening presents and had another late night. You'd think that after a few late nights that maybe, just maybe, there would be a little sleeping in. By sleeping in, all I mean is sleeping past 7:00. Nope. Every morning was the same. They lay in bed in their room and then as soon as the clock hits seven, they're out. "Daddy! It's seven o'clock!"

Surprisingly, they had a bit more snow down south than we do here, so we got to partake in the second annual toboggan/sled day in the hills. Julie's Dad brought some wood (and the girls) out in the backhoe and made a fire. Julie's brother and his wife were there and Julie's Mom came out too. Julie's Dad also brought out a sled to pull behind the quad this year that kind of looks like Santa's sled. There were a lot of rides in that before we made it out to the hills. The afternoon was spent trudging up the hill and flying down it. It was a lot of fun, and everyone was still able to walk the next day. The girls had a lot of fun too, and did remarkably well climbing up that hill. Every once in a while they would try to hitch a ride on the toboggan, but that wasn't happening. It was hard enough just walking up there after a while. By the end of the afternoon, Ginny made it half way up and then plunked herself down and just sat there eating snow. I've tried in the past to not get them to eat snow, but they're kids and this was Christmas. What the heck. Every time we passed her on the way up, we asked her if she wanted to go again. "No, I'm just eating snow and having a snack," was her answer. Alrighty then. For my very last run, I took CeCe with me. She had been content to sit with Poppa in the backhoe and watch everyone up until then. I waited to the end to take her just in case she liked it. There's no way I was going to carry her up the hill every time. I'm not quite sure if she liked it or not. She was pretty quiet when we hit the bottom - not quite sure if she should laugh or cry, shit or puke. It was time to head home. I'm sure next year she'll be in there like a dirty shirt. There was talk of bringing out some wieners and marshmallows next year too - looks like it could be evolving into quite the fun annual tradition.

We came back to Saskatoon on the 28th and just hung out for a few days. The girls played with their new stuff and continued staying up late and not sleeping in. Maybe that's the one thing to look forward to in the teenage years.

My parents came over and spent New Year's with us and the kids got round three of Christmas. We actually stayed up until midnight this year too. We had a nice spread of appetizers for supper and snacks and watched the movie 'Bridesmaids' after the kids went to bed. Funny, funny movie. The movie ended at about ten to twelve, so we watched the taped delay version of the Niagara Falls New Year's celebration, kissed and went to bed.

So that's it for 2011. It's been a good year - looking back a lot of stuff has happened. Here's hoping 2012 is even better. (Except for the fact that I will turn 40.) Later.

December...part 3

2011-12-18T18:04:00.000-06:00

This was also the month for Christmas concerts and recitals. Ginny's both turned out to be on the same day. The preschool Sunday School program sang some songs in church in the morning, and then it was have a quick bite, turn around and head back out to her music lesson recital. She did awesome at both.

Jorja missed her piano recital as it was the same afternoon as the kids' Christmas party. Fun Factory or piano recital? It wasn't really a tough call.

She had her school Christmas concert this past week too, but it was too dark for any pictures to turn out. She sang her little heart out though.
Now all the parties and programs are taken care of, it's just a matter of getting all the presents wrapped and under the tree. Jorja's last day of school is tomorrow, I only have three more days of work (since I don't work Fridays, I get off a day before Julie). Then we are all off the week between Christmas and New Years, so that should be good. Later.

December...part 2

2011-12-18T18:02:00.000-06:00

There seem to be few days worthy of playing outside this year. We have hardly any snow. We had one big snowfall earlier, but a lot of melting temperatures since then have left things a combination of exposed grass and ice. We did have a slight skiff recently so we all went out.

I thought it was time to put them all to work.

A lot of the time they have been too sick to play outside too. It seems we just have a steady rotation of colds and flus going through the house. Jorja had bronchitis once and was on antibiotics. CeCe is just getting over a nasty cold. She always seems to get so hoarse when she's sick. By supper time, she babbles on in her half words/half gibberish speak in this poor little voice that sounds exactly like Donald Duck. If you didn't feel so sorry for her, it might be kind of funny.

Later.

December...part 1

2011-12-09T19:45:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe where this month has gone. We're less than a week to Christmas now. I will try to remember some of what has gone on over the past few weeks. Some photos may help me.

The first weekend of the month was the kids' Christmas party put on by my employer. They do it every year, and it is always so much fun. The girls really look forward to it. The past several have been at the Fun Factory here in town. Doesn't that just scream a good time?! It's a whole factory of fun after all. All three girls enjoyed themselves. There is a huge maze of tunnels, slides, ball pits and the such for the older girls. I did have to go in once to rescue Ginny. I had to do the same thing last year too. There is one particular slide that ends in a small ball pit. The only way out is just out of Ginny's reach. Jorja tried to boost her, but couldn't quite to it, so I got the frantic call. "Dad, come quick! Ginny's stuck!" At least this year she wasn't freaking out when I got there.

There is also a small area for toddlers to play in complete with their own ball pit. CeCe could obviously not read the sign that said 'Keep balls in ball pit' as her favourite activity seemed to be going and getting them and throwing them over the little fence that enclose the play area. Oh well, she had a little helper who apparently could read the sign and took it as his own mission to gather up the balls she had thrown out.

And after a couple hours of fun and sugar, Santa showed up. Not one of our kids cried this year! That was definitely a first. Jorja and Ginny both talked to him, CeCe not so much. She sat there though, and used her famous 'if I don't look at you, you don't really exist' defense. She's quite good at it really.

After all that fun, I took the older two to their cousin's birthday party yet where they were treated to a balloon artist. Needless to say everyone slept good that night.

Later.

CeCe gets mad

2011-11-29T11:45:00.001-06:00

Ginny likes to make me 'smoothies' during her bath time. She takes the cup I use for rinsing her hair and fills it with water, sometimes rubber ducks, sometimes face cloths and suds. Sometimes she takes my order, other times she just gives me whatever she feels like. As long as I pretend to drink it and ooh and aah about how this is the best smoothie I've ever tasted, she is happy. The other night as she was making one, she informed me that she was putting spices into it. This was something new. I've never had one with spices before. So I asked her what kind of spice she was using. She looked at me, gave a little grin and said, "Cho-co-late chi-ip!" Ahh, she knows me well. That would have to be one of my favourite 'spices.'

Our ninja doesn't seem to be going away either. Now she's got her own alter ego ninja persona - Ninja Lily! Yes, she strikes fear into those who hear it and get caught in her path. HIYAH!

Jorja brought home her report card this week. Yup, she takes after me. And Julie of course. But now she's sick again - this is the third day of school she missed this week. She's had a headache, slightly upset stomach and been coughing her lungs out. Julie took her in yesterday and it turns out she has an infection in her chest, so she's on antibiotics. Fun and games.

CeCe is developing into quite the little character. She too definitely has a mind of her own. We have a child gate on our family room to keep her from coming up the stairs and wreaking havoc everywhere. I was getting supper ready the other day and needed something from the basement, so I had to walk through the family room. Jorja, Ginny and CeCe were all playing down there, and all was well until I came into sight. CeCe felt that she should be accompanying me to the kitchen, and decided to let me know. She started walking over to the little Christmas tree (we have two - one small one with 'child-friendly' decorations downstairs and the big one with breakables upstairs). She grabbed a decoration off the tree (while I was telling her not to touch the tree) and proceeded to march over to the gate and throw the decoration over the gate in my general direction. Well, let me tell you, that was not going to fly. I managed to keep a straight face (her little march of defiance was kind of cute and funny looking) and told her that that was NOT what we did. She then spent her first time on the 'naughty step.' So it begins. Later.

Decorating

2011-11-26T21:00:00.000-06:00

This afternoon we put up the tree. Well, I put up the tree, strung the lights and garland this morning while Ginny and Julie were at piano lessons and then the girls decorated it this afternoon. I think next year may be a bit more relaxing. This year was a bit stressful to say the least. Jorja and Ginny were excited and pulling decorations out of the box. CeCe didn't really know what was going on - just that she wanted to be involved. So between keeping her under control and keeping the really breakable ornaments away from the other two, it was busy. I was ready for it to be over. A lot of the ornaments have strings tied in a loop to put them on the tree. The girls got them on, but not very far, so when they went to put the next one up, the previous one hit the floor. There was a lot of 'Bang!' 'What was that?!' 'It's okay, it's not broken.' In the end, there were two fatalities, but the girls had fun and were pretty proud of themselves.

It is also a yearly tradition in our house to bring out the Fisher Price Little People nativity scene. The girls were all over that this afternoon. When you push the angel on the roof, it plays 'Away in the Manger.' Jorja didn't know all the words, but she remembered we had a story book that had all the words for the song. So she went and found the book, played the tune on the stable and read the words and by the end of the afternoon, she had the whole song down. Pretty impressive.

After everyone is bed, I like to find all the pieces and line everything up. Julie thinks I enjoy it, and to be truthful, I do.

Later.

Movember

2011-11-24T21:05:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure where this month has gone, or why I haven't written more. The longer I go, the more scared I get to write something new, so I'm just going to jump back in. Time to shake off these winter blues (seeing as how it feels more like spring now) and write again.

Julie and I celebrated our tenth anniversary this month on the tenth. We had plans of a little getaway - a couple of nights in a hotel (with the kids, so there wouldn't be too much celebrating) water sliding and having some fun. Unfortunately, Ginny and CeCe both got the stomach flu the night before, so we ended up cancelling everything. We were pretty disappointed, but didn't really feel like sick kids in a hotel. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate puke? Yup, not a fan. At one point, we were in the process of cleaning up CeCe and her mess when she puked again. Only this time I was holding her. It's funny how my first reaction was to try to contain everything so it wouldn't make a mess everywhere. She was in just a diaper at this point, to she went straight to the shower with Julie. That left me and my shirt which had caught pretty much everything. I should have been a goalie. Long story short, I threw the shirt out. Yes, our anniversary ended up a little more low key than we anticipated.

On the upside, it was nice that weekend, so I got the Christmas lights up. I thought I had bought a lot after Christmas last year, but they just didn't go as far as I would have liked. I wanted to Griswold up the place, but it still looks tasteful. Oh well, maybe next year. If Julie gets her way, we will have at least one inflatable on the lawn pretty soon.

Ginny has decided that she is a ninja. So far I'm okay with this. She hasn't discovered throwing stars yet.

We got out the 'Just Dance' game for the wii the other night. All you do is hold the controller in one hand and mimic the dance moves of the person on the TV. If you wanted to cheat, you could just move your hand the right way and get a really good score, but there's no fun in that. We started out with Ginny and Jorja each having a controller, Julie was helping CeCe, and I was dancing with no controller. Eventually Ginny tired of holding it, so she went free-style and I took the controller. It was fairly obvious that I was winning all the dances, so I put the remote in the wrong hand. This strategy worked, and Jorja ended up with more points than me. Later on that evening, Jorja said to me, "Dad, I know you let me win that game." What, I said in shock. "You put the controller in the wrong hand," she said. Holy observant batman. I can't even let her win without her knowing it. I thought I was being kind of sneaky. I guess I'm not a ninja.

We had Jorja's parent-teacher interview this evening (or three-way conference as they like to call them now because the student comes too). There are not a lot of times when I have been more proud. We knew she was a great reader, but she is just an all around good kid too. She helps others, listens well (not sure why this doesn't happen as good at home), is nice to everyone and is a leader. When they have 'free' time, they are encouraged to do whatever they want - draw, colour, play games, read. Apparently Jorja's favourite thing to do during this time is curl up in the rocking chair and read the children's Bible that is in the classroom. I almost got a little misty eyed when I heard that. She's a pretty amazing kid.

This November has also become Movember for me. That's right, I'm sporting a stache. I'm just not sure that a month is enough time to do all the things that I would like. It's not really long enough for wax yet. Oh well. If you want to donate to the Movember campaign for prostate cancer, check it out:
http://mobro.co/DaveKroeker

Later.

My helpers

2011-11-04T21:55:00.001-06:00

Jorja was in school today, so I had my two little helpers here with me. Ginny wasn't doing a very good job of watching CeCe (in her defence, she is only three), so she was under my feet in the kitchen. I brought a toy up for her to play with, but that didn't last long. I started to empty the dishwasher, and CeCe was right in there, ready to help. She started with the plates, followed by the bowls. She actually did pretty good - nothing got broken. Then she moved over to start the cutlery. She grabbed the first spoon, gave it a big lick and then handed in to me. She grabbed the next one, stuck it in her mouth, and handed it to me. I could see I was going to have to intervene here. I told her that we didn't need to taste the silverware before we put it away, and it went fairly well after that. The only other spoon she put in her mouth was her own, so it wasn't too bad.
I decided to tackle the leaves while CeCe was napping, so Ginny came out to help me. Julie's parents are up, so Nanny was on CeCe lookout. I started out giving Ginny a rake, and soon realized she was going to kill at least one of us. I took the handle off it so it was a little more manageable and that seemed to work for a while. But she tires of that after a while, so finally I caved. "Ginny, do you want to come jump in the pile of leaves over here?" I asked. She was all over that. She jumped, she rolled, she 'slept', she threw leaves in the air. After all, what good is helping rake leaves if you can't have a little fun too.

So my helpers for the day may have caused me a little extra time and a little more work, but I wouldn't change any of it. It was a great day.

Later.

Hallowe'en 2011

2011-11-04T21:40:00.002-06:00

The weather was fairly reasonable this year, but it was still fairly cool after the sun went down. At least there was no snow. We managed to sqeeze Jorja and Ginny's princess dresses over their coats, so that was good. It would be a real waste to have to wear a parka over top - the dress would lose a lot of it's effect. Not like the touques and jackets really added to the look. Oh well, it's Saskatchewan, what can you do.

I have to admit that I did have a favourite costume this year, and that was CeCe. She was my little princess Leia, and she was adorable. Don't you agree?

Later.

Sharing

2011-10-29T21:29:00.000-06:00

There's one thing about Jorja - she's very good at sharing. She likes to keep everything equal and usually won't have something if her sisters can't have it too. If she gets treats at school or birthday parties, she will save them till she gets home so she can share. She used to only share with Ginny, but now everyone's piece of the pie (or sucker) is getting smaller. CeCe is not a fan of being left out. So after Jorja went to a birthday party a while back and came home with a giant sucker, she insisted on sharing it with both her sisters. It's a good thing they all had colds already, because I think there was a lot of spit being shared there too.

After Jorja lost her first top font tooth, you could tell the other one wasn't far behind. By the time it finally came out, it was just kind of hanging there all crooked. She could push it out over her bottom lip and do a pretty good Nanny McPhee impression. If you haven't seen the movie, you should google it and you will know what I am talking about. She had kind of a snaggle tooth herself to say the least. But they're both out now, so that's good. I guess I never really thought about what it would be like without those two teeth, but they play a BIG part in one's speech. The tooth was barely out and Jorja said something and Julie and looked at each other with shocked/amused looks on our faces. She had a bit of a lisp. It was kind of cute really. It's been a few days now and she still has to work at saying her 's' and 'th' sounds quite a bit.

CeCe is starting to exert more and more independence these days. She likes to eat by herself, but naturally there are still some things that pose a bit of trouble. I am usually the one that feeds her. The other day, we started supper before Julie was home from work. I was trying to feed CeCe and she wasn't having any part of it. Jorja offered to try, so she came over and everything went in no problem. A few days earlier it had been the same scenario, except Julie had taken over. Ginny had some reassuring words for me though, bless her little soul. She said, "I guess she just doesn't like you as much as Jorja and Mommy." Yes, heartwarming indeed. Later.

Petland

2011-10-28T18:42:00.006-06:00

Here's a few shots of the girls at Petland the other day. CeCe loved the fish.

Later.

Fart soup

2011-10-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

Jorja had a birthday party to go to yesterday after school. It started at 4:00, and since Julie works till 5:00, that left me and the little two to drop her off. Ginny always looks so deflated when Jorja gets to do these kinds of things by herself, so I asked her what we should do. We decided that we would go to Petland and then to McDonald's. CeCe was really into the pet store this time. She went right up to the giant parrot's cage, and was about to put her little fingers into the great beast's beak. Luckily I swooped her up just in time. Then we went to the budgies. It was a little safer there. I think the biggest hit was the fish though. There was one tank that had a goldfish almost the size of CeCe's head low enough that she could look right in. She was pretty fascinated. I'm not sure if that store was closing out or what though, because there were no cats or dogs. Ginny's favourites are the kitties. CeCe didn't seem to care - she pointed to mice, guinea pigs and hamsters and called them all puppies. We then picked up some McD's and headed home. What Ginny really wanted was ice cream, so she and CeCe shared a strawberry sundae. She thought that was pretty special. Then Julie came home and we went to get Jorja.

Since Julie hadn't eaten yet, we stopped at Tim's on the way home and she picked up a bowl of cream of broccoli soup. Now I know cooked broccoli has a distinctive smell, but I don't think I've ever heard it described like Jorja did. "What's that smell?" It's Mom's soup. "It stinks! It smells like fart. It smells like your fart. Yeah, it smells like grown-up fart!"

Before bed last night, Jorja lost one of her front teeth. I don't think the other one is far behind either. Julie and I were tired and ended up going to bed without the tooth fairy coming. Not good. Ginny woke up to pee around 1:00 and then I realized it. I knew she would be devastated if there was no tooth fairy, so there I was at 1:00 in the morning, playing the part of the tooth fairy. It wouldn't be that bad, but a friend of Julie's gave her an idea for the tooth fairy that we have been following. Jorja puts the tooth in a dish of water on her dresser and writes a note. The tooth fairy then leaves some sort of 'clue' in the water as to what sort of tooth fairy it was. The first one that came I don't remember now, but the second was was a Canada Day tooth fairy. It left little maple leave sequins in the water. (She lost the tooth on July 1). So not only did I have to find some change, I also had to think up what kind of fairy this was. I decided on a fall tooth fairy and went outside to find some small leaves. I had to go out to the car to find some change anyway. Then I had to write a note to answer her note. Needless to say I was up for about half an hour. It was all worth it this morning though when she read the note from the tooth fairy. The things we do for kids...

CeCe has now decided that if she can't see me, then I don't really exist. Whenever I ask her to do something (usually come for a diaper change or get ready for a tub) she will run to the other side of the room and hide her face against the wall. It's really quite cute. A couple of days ago she ran away and then walked back past me, looking away the whole time. Too funny. Maybe if I don't look at the leaves outside, they don't really exist either. Later.

My little teacher

2011-10-16T21:24:00.001-06:00

I decided this weekend to get back up on the horse and take Ginny to piano lessons. It was the last trip to piano lessons that I had the infamous fender-bender. As we were pulling out of the garage, I said to her that I would try not to have an accident this time. She replied, "Yeah, you don't want to bump another car like last time!" Thanks for the vote of confidence Ginny.

While we were at the lesson, there is one point where the kids get to play the sticks. The idea is that they only play when the music plays and then stop when the music stops. They are getting better, but before the song starts and the teacher has them all quiet, it usually gets a bit noisy. This week was no exception. Well, except for Ginny who was sitting there quietly. Then she chimed in,"Why do I hear tapping?!" I guess there's a bit of a teacher in there somewhere. Oh well, I got a few smirks from some of the other parents.

We were driving home and Ginny commented on the fact that she was wearing her monkey shirt. Now she was in the backseat with her coat zipped up, so I couldn't see the shirt at the time. I was trying to remember what it said, so I asked her if it said funny monkey dance or funky monkey dance. She said that she wasn't sure and then she said, "We'll have to ask Jorja when we get home." Yeah, because she is the only one who can read in the house. Later.

The right choice?

2011-10-12T19:43:00.000-06:00

It appears my back seat drivers are only concerned about me bumping into other cars when they are not in a hurry. Last Friday, the younger two girls and I picked Jorja up from school and then I was taking them for haircuts. (It's school pictures this week and now that they decided they want bangs, they need haircuts more than once a year.) Anyway, traffic was fairly heavy, but we had plenty of time to get downtown. We were stopped at a red light, and when it turned green, it took a while before we could go. Finally Jorja piped up, "Dad, the light is green." To which I replied, "I know that the light is green, but the car in front of us hasn't gone yet. Would you like me to bump into it?" That quietened down the peanut gallery for a little while.

The other night at supper, the topic of marriage came up. Ginny looked at Julie and said, "Did you make the right choice?" Julie was a bit taken aback (so was I for that matter). "What do you mean, did I make the right choice picking Daddy?" Ginny nodded. Julie replied, "I think I made the right choice, do you think I made the right choice?" Ginny looked at her for a moment and said, "I don't know." What do you mean you don't know??! Thanks for the vote of confidence Ginny. Later.

Thanks for the tip

2011-10-05T11:32:00.001-06:00

On the weekend, I was taking Ginny to her music class, so it was just the two of us in the car. We weren't very far from home yet when I rear-ended someone. It was just a little tap and we couldn't see anything wrong with their vehicle, but there was some damage to our front bumper. It doesn't take much to crack something on a new vehicle. Everything was still drivable, so we ventured on to the lesson. When I got back into the car, Ginny said to me, "Daddy, why did you bump that car?" I said it was an accident. She said, "You're not supposed to bump into other cars." Yeah, thanks for the tip.

When we were driving home after the lesson, Ginny piped up that she was going to tell Mommy and Jorja that I bumped a car. It's good to know she's got my back. Anyway, Julie was fine, but Jorja gave me this chastising look, shook her little finger at me and said, "You're NOT supposed to do that." Again, thanks for the tip.

Now you should see the two little backseat drivers I have. As soon as I get close to another car, they both chime in, "Don't bump into that car." Once again, thanks for the tip ladies. It'll be a while before I live this one down. Later.

Tough questions

2011-09-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I last wrote. I guess I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say. I generally like to keep things fairly light but things haven't been as light lately. Here are some questions and comments we’ve been dealing with lately:

Poppa has an owie on his heart.
Why can’t the doctors fix Poppa’s heart?
I’m going to pray for Poppa.
Why did Poppa get ‘the cancer’?
Does the cancer hurt?
Terry Fox died from cancer. That’s too bad, isn’t it?
I’m going to give some of my money from my piggy bank to ‘the Terry Fox’?
Terry Fox lived in BC.
It looks like Terry Fox beat the Roughriders.
I prayed for Poppa and the doctors who are going to fix him.
It’s a good thing we have two kidneys.
I wrote down my prayer for Poppa at Sunday School. My teacher helped me spell cancer.

Yes, needless to say, we've been dealing with some things lately that a three year old and a six year old shouldn't have to worry about. My Dad has a heart condition that because of some other complications, they can't do anything about. Julie's Dad has recently been diagnosed with kidney cancer. He's still really early in the diagnosis stage, so we're not sure what the total course of action is there yet. It's always tough to know how much to tell the kids, but Jorja picks up on everything. You can think you are talking cryptically without saying any names and she will ask a question that she could only ask if she knew exactly what you were talking about. So we decided to be open and honest with them. It's tough, but we think talking lots and answering their questions to the best of our ability and their knowledge is best. There have been plenty of tears. Bed time seems to be the toughest. There always seems to be some new questions after they've had time to lay there for a few minutes and think about things. All we can do is pray. Later.

You did good, here's a sticker

2011-09-15T19:38:00.000-06:00

Our daycare provider, Dee was sick today, so I had an extra day at home with the girls. Well, two of the girls, Jorja still had school. This morning after we dropped Jorja off, we went to Walmart to pick up a few things. When we were done and back in the car, I told Ginny that she was really well behaved and that I was proud of her. I said, "You did awesome Ginny - you listened good, helped when I asked and didn't touch things you weren't supposed to." She thought for a minute and then said, "You did awesome too Dad. You got everything we needed and put it in the cart. For that, you get a sticker!" (If you have small kids, you know that every Walmart greeter has a plethora of happy face stickers to give out every time you leave the store.) I thanked her and she put a yellow happy face sticker on my hand and we headed home. It's nice to hear that I did a good job shopping.

This afternoon, we were sitting for a minute and watching TV. There were some toy seals on the program and I was pointing them out to CeCe. Ginny piped up that they look like chickens, no seals. "Chickens?! They don't look like chickens," I said. She replied, "No Dad, they look like the animal kind, not the kind we eat." I simply didn't have the heart (or the energy for that matter) to tell her that there is only one kind of chicken. I just said, "Oh." Later.

Growing

2011-09-14T20:01:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure where September is going, but it seems to be flying by. And fall is coming. It was -5 this morning when I was driving to work. I'm not ready for that yet. It's a good thing we brought the tomatoes and peppers in the night before.

I'm amazed at the drama that goes on on the schoolyard already. I guess I just don't remember being that young. Jorja came home one day this week and said she had a problem. "B asked me to be in her club, and then A asked me to be in her club. A's club only goes during the last recess, but B told me that if I didn't come to her club all the time then I would be kicked out. I went to A's." Sheesh. Then the next day, "A was mad at everyone in her club today because we were all chasing E (a boy) and she didn't want us to. She was angry." Double sheesh. Today she came home and said that "E was falling in love with O. That's a silly thing to do in school." Triple sheesh. What a week, and it's only Wednesday. I asked her if she was falling in love with anyone and she said no. Big sigh of relief. We also told her that any club that you get kicked out of for something silly like that was not worth being part of. Crazy.

Ginny seems to be outgrowing all her clothes these days, so I stood her against the wall where we have all their measurements written. She is about one week over three and a half years old, and she is already taller than Jorja was on her fourth birthday. We pretty much skipped over most of the size 4 clothes and are heading right into the size 5. Now that it's getting cooler out, we're digging out the pants again, and every size four pair either looks like she's ready for a flood or she can't get them up. The shirts are the same way.

CeCe is getting into everything these days. She figured out how to turn the TV on and off, so that seems to give her endless pleasure. Not so much for everyone else. She can also turn on the DVD player, open it, and has been know to taste the DVDs from time to time. We're trying to get her to go down stairs, but getting her to sit down and do it isn't going very well. She thinks she should just walk down them like everyone else. Not good. She has taken one tumble so far (thankfully it was on the carpeted set of steps). I think I'll be bald soon. Later.

Lunch hour

2011-09-09T13:07:00.000-06:00

I have Fridays off, so they used to be my Daddy-girls days. Quite often we'd go meet Mommy for a lunch date. Things are going to be different this year with Jorja in Grade 1. It's still a little strange not having her there, but we had fun playing this morning. Since she stays at school for lunch the rest of the week, I thought it would be good if she came home on Fridays. She was thrilled. It's a bit of a challenge though - you have to cook something, keep it warm, pack the other two up, walk to get her, come home, eat, pack everyone else up again and walk back. It's fairly rushed, and will only get worse as we need to put more layers on for the walk. When we took her back, the noon hour recess was still on, so I thought I would just walk her up to where the kids were playing. We got to the very edge of the playground (a loonnggg way from where anyone was playing) and she said, "Okay, this is good." She hugged and kissed us all and then she was off, running across the grass by herself. She sure is growing up.

Ginny and I were playing this morning and she was the grown-up and I was the kid. She told me I was nine and that she was twenty. With that age difference, at least she didn't say I was her kid. After she told me her age, she took some of her hair, pulled it in front of her eyes and said, "But my hair isn't white yet. You have to be really old for that." I asked her exactly how old. She said, "Seven - oh - seven." Whew, that was close. I guess we'll all be dead before we have white hair. Later.