Our kind of day...

Today was definitely our kind of day, relaxing followed by a hockey and skating...at ROGERS ARENA!  Kev's buddy Clarence received passes to the Canucks Family Skate Day.  It was a great time, and Rusty was beyond excited to be skating where the Canucks play!  He totally understood because he has been to two games there, so he knew what was going on.  He loved sitting on the bench, looking into the dressing room, and just skating around.  He even got to sit on the Zamboni at the end!

The skating wasn't until this evening, so Rusty and Daddy took advantage of the sunshine to play hockey with our neighbors.  The most wonderful family has moved in across the street.  Their kids are incredibly sweet and the boys love to play hockey.  The best part is that they are so kind with Rusty, and every time he sees them out there he wants to go and play with them.  They have a pretty good game going on before long.  Kev enjoys playing with them as well, and even scored a goal or two!  Poor Rocky, as soon as Daddy and Rusty went outside he just wanted to be out there with them.  I got him dressed up in his hockey gear and we joined them.  Rocky was in heaven watching and toddling around.  We are so thankful to have these wonderful neighbors living there.  We have prayed and hoped for a good family in that home since we moved in.

It was most definitely our kind of day!

I just want to play!

Heading onto the ice!

He was just SO happy to be there!

Checking out the dressing room.

The boys on the ice!

Our adorable little Canuck

One tired Canuck!

I want to be a Zamboni driver!

Mr. Adorable

He seriously is Mr. Adorable.  Our little Rocky has captured the hearts of many, and continues to do so.  They are smitten at daycare...the teachers tell us every day how much they love him.  One teacher asked me the other day, "How do you get your boys to be so loving?  They hug us all day long, it is so great!  I want my children someday to be like that!"  I felt so proud to hear that.  I love my boys, and love on them all day long.  I am blessed to know that they are spreading that love to others and making other peoples' days better!

We recently took Rocky for his first haircut.  He hated it as much as his big brother hated his.  Crying and screaming throughout...no amount of cute chairs, TV shows, or singing will distract them from those terrible clippers!  

His new best friend, a silly monkey toy Kev brought home from Vegas.  He loves that the hands hook around his neck and he runs around the house with his new friend "hanging on" for dear life!

That's my Mr. Adorable!  Such a sweetie!

random and obsessive fear

We all have them.  These random and obsessive fears that keep us up at night, that make us check, check and check again.  They may be neurotic, maybe silly, yet regardless of how trivial they may be, I have several...

• The first is a fear that I will walk out of the washroom with my skirt/dress tucked in.  You know the fear ladies.  You are in a hurry, you have to get back to class, etc.  I am, however, more afraid of walking into a class full of my students with my skirt tucked into my tights than I am of being a fraction of a second late.  I always, ALWAYS check and then check again to make sure that my skirt is fully UNtucked and properly falling around my legs.  I would be mortified if this happened.
• Another fear is that my dryer will burn down my house.  I hear of this happening all of the time.  The lint builds up and then suddenly everything is on fire.  Our dryer is in our basement, so it could easily start a fire and we wouldn't know it until it was too late.  I am obsessive about my dryer.  I used to think that my husband emptied the lint trap every time he dried a load, the same as I do, but I found out otherwise this summer when my cousin found it full of lint so now I am even more obsessive about it.  I also refuse to leave the dryer running when I leave the house and even have a REALLY hard time leaving it running as we go to bed.  Usually I will only leave it if I have checked it right before bed and there are only 10 or 15 minutes left in the cycle.
• I also fear getting sick from spoiled milk, yogurt, bread, etc.  I realize that the expiration dates are basically suggestions and many people eat day or two old bread or whatever all of the time and they are fine, but I just don't.  If it is spoiled, don't give it to me or my family.  I always check and get the bread, milk, or whatever that has the expiration date furthest from the current date.  I will paw around and shift things to the back of the shelf to find it.  We are pretty good about using food up before it expires, but if there is a hint of spoiling, out it goes!  I have NO idea where this fear came from, but I am freakish about it
• Along the lines of food I am also irrationally afraid of obtaining an illness from raw chicken meat.  Every time I handle raw chicken I wash my hands about a million times, once it thaws I put the plate it was on DIRECTLY into the dishwasher-I won't even let it sit in the sink.  If some meat happens to contact the counter or the inside of the sink I clean the heck out of it.  I am crazy about ensuring that the meat is cooked completely as well, and sometimes I accidentally overcook it just to be sure.

What are some of your neurotic fears and obsessions? 

the happiest place on earth

We have traveled a lot with our little guys, but mostly it has been trips to South Dakota to see my family.  The only trip we have really done with them that hasn't been related to that was our trip last summer to the Oregon coast.  We met up with my cousins and their kids and had an amazing time camping and just enjoying the sights.  Rocky was only about seven months old at the time, and Rusty not yet three, but taking that trip proved to us that our little guys could handle a little family vacation with some adventure sprinkled in.

About a week ago Rusty was exploring the App store on Papa's iPad and found the free Disneyland app.  He saw Mickey Mouse and that was all he needed to know...after inquiring if it was free, which I affirmed, he asked to download it.  We did and I have to admit, it's pretty amazing!  It is like exploring the theme park on the iPad and has fun little games that go with the various rides and attractions.  He is now ALL about Disneyland.

Kevin and I had never really contemplated Disneyland before.  I guess that isn't entirely true...we knew we would take the boys there eventually, but it seemed farther in the future.  Now it is at hand!  Kev's parents are heading down to the Palm Desert for the month of March, and after some contemplation on our part, we have decided to join them for one of our coinciding weeks of Spring Break!  We are so excited!  We can't wait to just relax with them, soak up some sun, go swimming and...take Rusty to Disneyland!  Nana and Papa agreed to watch Rocky for one day, so that we can go with Rusty on his own and really make the most of it.  We aren't going for more than one day because Rusty IS only three, but we think just one day, with two adults able to take him through without stopping for a little one's nap, will allow us to experience the fun just enough!  It looks like my cousin Jayme may be able to join us as well, which only adds to the excitement!

We are keeping the trip to Disneyland-and the trip to California in general-a secret from Rusty.  We are so excited to surprise him with this.  The other day we were driving in the car and Kev said, "Rusty, if you could get on an airplane and go ANYWHERE you wanted in the whole world, where would you go?"  Well, he thought about it for a minute, and then responded, "Grandpa's house in South Dakota!"  So sweet!  We then asked again, "If you could go ANYWHERE besides South Dakota, where would you go?"  He thought again, for quite some time, and then said, "DISNEYLAND!"  Oh yeah, we've got him primed and ready to go!

Starting the countdown now...just over four weeks until we head to California and the "happiest place on Earth!"

late night conversations

One fun and interesting thing that I discovered about Kevin after we got married is that the man talks in his sleep.  I'm not just talking about mumbles and grumbles here and there, I am talking full on conversations.  In our youth and early married days, I found this to be quite fun.  I would carry on the conversation, seeing how far I could take it before he woke up or simply rolled over again.  We even had to eventually come up with a code word that he would say to prove to me that he was truly awake, because sometimes I really couldn't tell!  These days sleep is much too important to me to continue the middle of the night chats that don't really make sense, but from time to time I still enjoy a little nugget here or there.  Take last night, for example.

Around 11:40 p.m., we had already been asleep for a few hours and Rocky woke up crying from a very wet diaper.  I went to change and comfort him and came back to bed.  Kevin was snoring lightly, which makes it impossible for me to get back to sleep.  I shook him gently.

Me:  Honey, you are snoring.
Kevin:  (Sitting straight up in bed) OH!  Sorry!  Is that a bad thing?
Me:  (Laughing because I now know he is asleep) Uh, yeah, I guess it's bad.  I mean, I can't really sleep!
Kevin:  Oh, ok...sorry!  I will work on that.  (Head on pillow, back to "sleep.")
Me:  Giggle, giggle, giggle.  I can't wait to tell him about this in the morning.

As I suspected, he had no recollection of the conversation.  He did, however, stop snoring!  I love him!

So I may be growing old...or simply just older???

I found my first gray hair the other day.  Yes, that's what I said.  I, Miss I am only thirty two and I am still so young, found my first gray hair.  I was just in the bathroom combing out my hair and I saw it sticking up.  It was one of those darned baby hairs.  You ladies with kids know what I am talking about.  All of those silly tiny hairs that seem to grow all over your head again after you have a baby?  Yeah, one of those.  But this one was coarse...and of a surprisingly light colour.  I yelled out to Kev, saying "HONEY!  I just found a GRAY HAIR!" in my most tragic of voices.  I forced him to come and look at it.  He swore that it was blonde, but I'm still not so sure.  I even laid it on a piece of black fabric trying to figure it out...I'm pretty sure it was gray.  Oh well...gray it is.  At least I have a good hairdresser...I think I may need to take a trip to see her, and soon.

Speaking of old, I was talking with my grade 9 students last week and teaching them about writing an autobiography.  We were working on life maps to create an outline and I said something about them being born on such and such a date in the year...and then I paused.  "What year were you guys born?"  I asked innocently.  "Oh, 1997 Mrs. Sowerby."  Oy.  Yep, 1997, the year I was starting my final year of high school.  I have finally reached that point where I could actually, OFFICIALLY be the parent of one of my students.  Wow.  I remember thinking about that day and how it would never come, how I would always be one of the young ones on staff.  Well, I seem to move further from that all of the time!  I can't believe it.  I am old enough to be my students' mother.  I remember when I was just a few years older than my oldest student.  With this passage of time, however, has come a much more confident and prepared teacher, so I am glad for that.  Still, I'm old enough to be my students' mother.  Yikes.

My students are also now officially young people of a technology age that is vastly different than that I grew up in.  I am now able to tell stories about the "olden times" when we didn't have the Internet.  Yep, that's right, we didn't have the Internet.  Whenever I mention something like this they look at me like they can't quite grasp what that would even be like.  No Internet?  No Facebook or YouTube?  You mean the teachers actually had to find clips from movies, cue them up to the right spot, push play on the VCR and then push stop.  What IS a VCR Mrs. Sowerby?  How did you ever do research?  If your teacher assigned you a paper, where did you look for your information?  What?  You mean you used the library for something besides sitting at the computers IN the library?  Huh?  You didn't even HAVE computers in your library???  Oh, the vast differences.  I have to admit though, as a teacher, I sing my hallelujahs regarding the changes in technology.  I love having it at my fingertips and being able to easily access a video clip or a sound bite that goes along with what I'm saying.  I love that I don't have to use paper for EVERYTHING because I have a projector that connects to my computer.  We can make our lessons come more alive.  We can easily support our points with various information that we search out.

I guess I am growing old, but it is interesting to look back on my life thus far and see even the amazing changes that have taken place throughout it.  As for that gray hair?  I think I'll be calling Jasmine my hair dresser soon!

sweeter than I deserve

He's so much sweeter than I deserve.  This little guy, he makes my world go around!  Why?  Let me fill you in.

Kev is off on a much deserved guys' weekend.  I'm so glad he could head off for this, because he works so hard for us and is so involved.  I, however, entered the weekend exhausted.  I truly wondered if I could handle the boys for the weekend while Kev was away.  Normally it's no big deal, but I was coming off of my first week back to work and was so tired.

Rusty?  That kid made it all better.  On Friday night as I was tucking him in to bed he was saying his nightly prayers.  I never tell him what to say, and I love this time.  Sometimes he prays for his toys, sometimes friends or family members.  It is always interesting to see what he will say.  Friday night?  Friday night melted my heart.  After thanking God for his "beautiful Mommy and Daddy..." he finished off by saying, "And Jesus, please help me to be a good boy tomorrow!"  Oh man, my heart just melted...and he was!  He was AMAZING on Saturday.  Sweet, helpful, loving, great at listening and obeying and SO funny!  We had a wonderful day of skating lessons, a trip to the library, a walk and bike ride to Starbucks, dinner with Nana and Papa and great snuggles.

This morning, however, started off rough.  Rocky had been up several times in the night-the poor boy is getting FOUR teeth at one time!-and I was soooo tired.  I was in Rocky's room for the fourth time around 6:30 trying to get him back to sleep and suddenly Rusty came padding into the room.  He walked up to me and said, "Mommy, I want you!  I want you to snuggle me."  I was alone and Rocky was ALMOST back to sleep.  I said,  "Rusty, please go to your room and wait for me, I'll be right there."  At that point, I guess he just heard me rejecting him and burst into tears, which of course woke Rocky back up and he burst into tears.  TOTAL lack of sleep and complete exhaustion led me to say, "GO!  Go stand in the hallway and wait for me!"  I just felt like I was losing it.  He then started crying even louder, not understanding why his usually calm Mommy was acting so different. 

I put Rocky into his bed-SCREAMING I might add-and took Rusty to his room.  I sat down with him in the chair and explained to him that I had asked him to do one thing, to go and wait, and he had not listened to me.  He had woken Rocky up and that was not okay.  I said that I was so sorry for yelling at him, but that I needed him to listen and obey.  I needed him to be my helper boy.  After hugging him and making sure he was okay, I let him turn on his light to play quietly and went back into Rocky's room.  Rocky was still crying and I picked him up and snuggled him in the chair.  He was just settling in when I heard Rusty's door open again.  Oh no...that was my thought.  But then, he surprised me.  I heard him walking somewhere and finally, saw him just standing outside of Rocky's door, waiting. 

I came out and there he was, his pjs unzipped.  He looked at me with this look of pride on his face and said, "Mommy!  I had to go pee, and so I did!  And I didn't flush so I wouldn't wake up Rocky!  AND MOMMY!  I waited outside of the room so I wouldn't wake him up!"  I just leaned down to hug him so tight.  I helped him zip his PJs and wash his hands, and then he looked at me with a huge smile and said, "OH!  And Mommy?  Mommy?  I am going to have a GOOD ATTITUDE today!" 

I couldn't help it.  I just started crying.  He then was looking at me strangely, possibly wondering what had happened to his mother.  I grabbed him tightly and told him how much I loved him and what a sweet and wonderful boy he was.  I then asked him if I could please snuggle with him for awhile.  He agreed and we had the best snuggles together before we started our day.

So, you see, this boy is much sweeter than I deserve.  He is such a blessing.  He and his brother filled my heart with so much love, so many smiles, and so much laughter this weekend.  There are so many moments where I simply cannot believe that God saw fit to allow me to be their mother.  I think I am the most blessed woman in the world.  I sure do love them!