It Was A Rock Band Of A Night

We celebrated New Years Eve with a small group of friends and our families.  Yeah, I know.  10:00pm and already writing about a New Years Eve Celebration.  We haven’t even reached the New Year!  Currently I have an half hour time delay between partying and delivering others home from their parties. 

I am Red Nosing in tonight. To be more clear; I’m a volunteer with Operation Red Nose.  A free service that delivers slightly or highly intoxicated people and there vehicles home after an evening of celebrating. This is the last night of the season. Likely to be the busiest I’m sure.  I’m wondering if I might be called out to some friends. Guess we’ll soon see.

As I was driving Cayden to my sisters for a sleep-over, I asked him how he liked meeting his new little friend Quinton and playing at his house.  He says, “His house was the funnest house on earth!”  “Did you have fun with the adults?”

What a fun kid.  He had such a good time and wasn’t ready to go home even at that late hour.  It was only through some bribing from Quinton’s mom that he could come another time and play, that we got him out the door. 

We did in fact “have fun with the adults".  The hit of the night was definitely Rock Band.  We did have some really good performances I will admit.  Jeremy and I did not partake. Oh, I shouldn’t say that.  We did.  We were the #1 fans.  Someone has to take that role right?

  

To all my friends and families, Happy New Year.  May your year be filled with good health, happiness and prosperity.

Technorati Tags: New Years,Cayden

Is It Christmas Again?

 

 

To my surprise this morning, I woke up to the quiet falling of snow outside my window.  I quickly woke Cayden up and sent him to the front window to look outside.  “At what?” he asked.  “Just look”  I replied.

He went to front door and opened it wide.  Cayden squealed in delight at the falling snow and yelled, “Is it Christmas again?”  I had to break it too him that Christmas has passed, and will not be back for almost a year.

I was also happy at the idea of getting out in snow. You see, I got to try out my Christmas and birthday present; new snow boots.  I felt a little like a kid again as I laced them up and did a quick little run down the driveway.  Just checking to make sure they didn’t leak.

To think that I was very close to not having snow boots.  Originally I had told my husband not to buy me a birthday present.  I had decided I wanted to pick out a new pair of snow boots. Last year I trudged through weeks of snow in dress shoes and running shoes and I didn't want a repeat this year.  I told Jeremy that I preferred to do the shopping myself as it was a “personal choice.”  He wasn’t super happy about this, but let it go. 

A month had gone by and he asked me where my new boots were.  I told him I had changed my mind and really didn’t want to spend any money on new boots.  I figured I could make it through another winter without new boots.

Low and behold, Christmas came, and to my surprise, a new pair of winter boots were wrapped up under the tree.  I had to admit to Jeremy that he had made a very good choice.  They were definitely something I would have picked for myself.  Of course he could only puff up his chest with pride at making a good choice.  I am truly blessed by husbands desire to please.

Technorati Tags: Snow,Christmas,Presents

I’m Praying For Your Pictures Mommy!

I really cannot believe that it has been over two months since I’ve written.  On most days I thought to myself, “I really have to write about….”  But, due to a fairly steady flow of technical computer difficulties, I could only think to myself, “I really have to write about….”

At one point, in the flow of technical difficulties, I had quite a scare.  One that revolves around believing that every photo one has, has disappeared into cyberspace.  Seriously. 

I was already struggling with cleaning up my desktop computer and was trying to get everything back in order.  My in-house techie decided that he should re-format my computer.  So, being as computer naive as I am, I told him to go ahead and do what was needed to finally get back in computer action.

A few minutes later, he comes out my office and asks, “where did you back-up your photos” ?    WHAT? BACK-UP MY PHOTOS?  No, I didn’t do any such thing! 

Cayden, who was already in bed but not asleep, must have sensed my on-coming stress attack at the thought of losing all my photos.  Everything from the past five years. ALL MY PHOTOS.  I guess he must have seen me bang my head on his bedroom door frame and heard my moan as I banged my head a second time. Because, from his bed  he shouts out, “TRUST IN GOD!”.  Then follows up with, “I’M PRAYING FOR YOUR PICTURES MOMMY!”

Although I was still spiraling downward at the thought that all my photos were gone, I really had no choice but to grin.  Thankfully it was only a few minutes later that Ivan came to tell me, with relief on his face, that my photos had been found.

I quickly informed Cayden that his “praying my pictures” had worked.  I have since gotten wise and have purchased an external hard-drive to ensure my pictures are safe.  I never want to experience that feeling again.

 

Let The Creativity Begin!

One of my excuses for not scrapbooking at home was that I didn’t have a very good space to feel creative in.  I finally decided to convert an unused bedroom into a light and airy office space.

I set out to do the best job I could on a minimal budget. So I re-purposed items from other areas of the house.  I made my own memory boards that make an unique wall decor item.  I also re-purposed someone else's old rocking-chair.  It was a very inexpensive garage sale item that I repainted and gave it new life.

I love the word re-purposed.  It is currently a word that is often used on many home decor shows.  It seems that many people are making a conscious effort to “Go Green” and are re-using other peoples cast-offs in a new way.  There are many new shows on HGTV that are purely dedicated to re-decorating in a Green way, and one of the biggest ways to do this is by changing something you already own, or using an item that someone else no longer need.

I will have to admit, I love my new completed office.  I will also have to admit, I haven’t done any scrapbooking in it yet.  For the past months I could use the excuse that it was too nice outdoors.  That excuse will no longer be acceptable as we enter these wet, cold and dark months ahead.

What word could be better in a space made for creativity

This was originally a plain cork-board that I painted white.  It is also magnetic if you can believe it.

The perfect storage unit find at Ikea, along with a new very large desk for scrapbooking on.

I try not to clutter my open shelving unit.  My comfortable “new” rocking chair sits in the corner where I sometimes read to Cayden.

Can I Say, Yawn?

 

Ok, so I don’t usually like the word ‘bored’.  But that is exactly what I felt last night as I sat through session # 1 of the Safe Babies program that I am enlisted in.  I can’t believe that I have 7 more of them to sit through!  I was even tempted to surf the net on my Blackberry phone, under the table, to help the time pass by.  Now that’s desperate!

I signed up for the Safe Babies Program partly because it is necessary for the adoption process and partly for brownie points.  Every little extra training we take helps us with the possibility of getting a little addition to our family a tad bit sooner.  It’s like getting extracurricular points while in High School.

Prior to the start of the course, I had anticipated that I would actually learn some valuable tools and information.  Unfortunately this was far from the truth.  So far, I have learned such things as, tummy time, SIDS, H1N1 and formula.  So, where’s the new information? 

I will go back for more tomorrow.  Hopefully with a good attitude.  And hopefully for some new and important information.  Here’s to the next 7 sessions!

Can I Do Homework?

This year Cayden has been going to Kindergarten and he is absolutely loving it.  He thinks that its not fair that Ivan gets to go to school five days a week and Cayden only gets to go two or three days a week.  Cayden announced that he should go to school, “Six Times!”

The other day I thought that maybe he should maybe do some practicing of the letters he has learned in school.  So far he has learned the letters ‘S’ for ‘snake’ and ‘B’ for ‘ball’.  So,  I got out a piece of paper and drew some lines. At the beginning of each line I wrote the letter he was to practice printing.  He was to copy the letter 10 times and then work on the next letter.

He loved doing this ‘homework’. He was focused and let out a little cheer for himself when he did a letter really well.  He enjoyed it so much that the next night he informed me that he needed to do homework again.  He said, “I need to do homework everyday!”.  Of course I was quick to agree.  So, off he went to get his pencil and another sheet of paper.  This time we thought he should work on learning the letters of his name.  (It’s interesting that he doesn’t know how to write his name very well, but he has no problems writing Ivan’s name).

It’ll be interesting how long his interest in doing “homework” will last.  We’ll keep it simple and fun in the hopes that he’ll enjoy it for as long as possible.  You never know, he could turn out to be a super-studious-student!  I do have to admit that he shows signs that this will be highly unlikely and I'm perfectly OK with that.  I myself was never super-studious, and I turned out alright. In my opinion at least.

  Super focused on his homework

I’m Thankful For…

Last year around this time, children of all ages were videoed announcing what they were thankful for.  The completed video was then presented on the Big Screen at church.  We all ‘awwwwed’ as one by one we heard children say they were thankful for: mommy’s, daddy’s, God, food, shelter, Sunday School and many other important things that we all have been blessed with.

Then came a blast of thanks from a little 3 year old who when asked what he was thankful for.  His quick  response  was, “Dinosouars!”. 

Everyone laughed. I felt some shame as I thought to myself, “Haven’t I taught him what is important to be thankful for, and what is not?” Of course, our son Cayden, would be the little clown.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in Canada.  As I was settling Cayden into bed, I’d thought I’d see what he was thankful for this year.  Hoping of course that I’d hear something like, “mommy or daddy or God.  Instead, his quick response was, “Hot wheels!”

I guess  we are really going to have to work on this for next year.  I’m really hoping that I’ll get a better response than that he is grateful his newest favourite toy at the time!

Cayden and JJ

Memories of summer gone by.  2 buds hang out under the heat coming from the air conditioner after swimming in a cold pool.  I do not take any day for granted.  Each and every day that we are blessed with is something I am thankful for the Thanksgiving.

Back In Scrappin’

I have been feeling the itch to get my scrapbooking supplies out of the closet for a while.  It has been over nine months since the last time I tried to make an attempt.  And only an attempt it was.  I think I may have started a layout, but never completed it.

My sister and I made a trip out to Clipper Street in Langley to scrapbook in a great environment that encourages creativity. Not to mention it encourages browsing all the great things that would be a great addition to anyone’s supply cache.  They have two classrooms with tables and chairs for scrappers to work at.  Most Friday evenings they have around 30 to 35 ladies chatting while they work on their prized scrapbooks.

I went with intentions to complete a double-page layout for a few great pictures I got of Cayden this summer.  The pictures were some of my favourites.  I captured him investigating a Snail in our backyard one beautiful summer day. Picking pictures for a layout is often half the battle. 

Unfortunately, when all is said and done, I only got a start on my layout. By the end of the evening I didn’t even like it!  I’m not sure what it was exactly that I didn’t like.  I never move on to a new layout unless I absolutely love the current one I am working on.  The next time I sit down to scrapbook I’m going to have to pull apart what I started and try again.  Oh well.  No one said scrapbooking was a race.

 

 

Thanks Dad!

I arrived at work to find a box in the middle of my desk.  It was a Tim Horton's Box.  I took one look at it, saw the note that was left on it, and without having to look inside, new exactly what I would find.

I knew with-out a doubt that I would find a raison-bran muffin.  This might  seem like a strange gift, but I could only smile as I thought back to when I took my dad’s last raison-bran a few months ago and how much ‘trauma’ it caused.  It really isn’t my favourite type of muffin but it was the thought that counted most.

You can read about the original story here to gain insight to this morning gift from my dad. 

"The World is Mud-luscious and Puddle-Wonderful." ~E.E. Cummings

It was the perfect night to play in the mud. On second thought, it was a little chilly.  But the cold didn’t seem to scare the many boys and girls from running through the mud bog that was created for their church youth annual event.

As I watched the bog being created, across the road from the office, I felt a little jealous that I wasn’t invited to partake in the mud games that were to take place tonight.  I even suggested out-loud that maybe the employees at Denbow and there families might be able to take advantage of the work done to create this bog this coming spring when it warmed up a little. 

I thought that a family event would be fantastic.  I will have to admit that I think I may have changed my mind.  Why? you ask.  Because I think that should we host this event, we might find ourselves short about 50% or more staff members for the following week due to the strains and sprains that potentially could occur.  Our customers would not be too happy.  Neither will the chickens that wouldn’t be provided there nice comfortable bed.  I will admit that it would be a whole lot of fun though.

As I watched these young teens slipping and sliding, wrestling, pushing and pulling their way up and down the mountains of mud, through the bogs and moats and down the monster slip and slide, I thought to myself, “If only I were young again.”

This mud bog was created for approximately 100 youths from four different churches.  Some from Surrey and some from Chilliwack.  They had the music blaring, the fire roaring and the hot chocolate steaming all evening.  The youth leaders joined in on the fun and games with youthful joy.  Some of us just stood at the sidelines wishing we could join.  And others of us just stood at the sidelines and watched in disgust.

One lady stood beside me and asked if I could see myself enjoying the muddy mess.  I said, “Oh yeah!  I would have been in there like a dirty shirt!”  She says, “Not me. No way could I see myself having fun being covered head to toe with mud.”  I did feel a little sorry for her and thought that she must have been some prima donna growing up.  Something I certainly never had been.

Anyone interested in playing in the mud is welcome to come on out.  We plan to keep it around for a while.  You never know when I might just leave my seat at my desk, walk across the road and just dive in to the mud bog.  I’m thinking it might be great stress relief. 

The middle mountain with the mote of water around it.

My sister Jessica, not afraid to get down and dirty

 

Ivan, finally got himself down into the mud. Took calling him a sissy a few times over.

Trying to get warmed up around the fire. 

Ivan, full fledged mud wrestler at this point.

Getting prepared around one of the four mud bogs for a round of capture the flag.

As much mud as I would let Cayden get on him.

The base of the giant mud slip and slide hill.

Our Adoption Story Update

The whole adoption process has been a true test of patience. With the large number of children awaiting good homes, you would think that the process would be quick and easy. The real facts are that it is neither quick nor easy.

It has been just shy of a year since we started the whole process. The process starts with an introductory meeting. Following this is another introductory information group session. Following this is a wait to get into a Adoption Education course that takes 3 full consecutive weekends to complete. We finished this portion this past February. Following the completion of AEP, a home study needs to completed. This could take up to 3 months to complete. A Home Study is quite a long process with many meetings and a whole pile of paperwork to be completed. Once a Home Study is completed, a "Match made in Heaven" could happen very quickly, or take a few years.

Unfortunately, the Ministry in Chilliwack is extremely short on Adoption Social Workers. Thus, the incredibly long wait. The government saw that Chilliwack is struggling with workers so they allowed the Ministry to have two Home Studies completed privately. Thankfully, we have a few good things on our side and we managed to take a giant leap in front of the pack of other potential adopters and get chosen as one of these two families. I just got the call to state that our Home Study will start this week. This is such amazing news considering that we just heard this past weekend how many people are still waiting on Home Studies to start.

Here's to the next stage of our Adoption Adventure!

I made a trip to the Classic's Scrapbook Store and to my surprise found some stickers and paper specially for adoption. Looking forward to using these pages in my scrapbook!

Did I See Red!

If you were to see me know, you might tell me that I'm looking a tad bit angry. And you would be right. I'm typically even tempered. But when someone makes a random comment like I just heard, everything changes.

I was just at the local grocery store with Cayden. Just our usual shelf-restocking trip. We meandered our ways around the aisles and got ourselves into line after all the items on our list were checked off. (Actually, I missed a few. Shucks) Cayden was a good little companion the whole time. We were waiting in line behind an older gentleman (CrankPot!). And, Cayden with his usual 'Ants In Pants' was jumping up and down.

The older gentleman (CrankPot!) looks at him and asks, "Are you Autistic? Wow! At that very instant I was seeing red. The nerve. Remember, I am usually even tempered. At this instant my temper went off the scale.

At the time this was unravelling, I was actually on my cell-phone. The caller on the other line sensed something had to have occured and politely said, "Sounds like you have something else to attend to, I better let you go." I couldn't agree more.

I held my tongue, but wish that I hadn't. I wish that I would have had a conversation with this man about how hurtful that kind of question was. What if I was the mother of an autistic child? How would I have felt?

Well, I'm currently settling down. My calmness is starting to take over once again. Sometimes it's good to just get 'it out'.

A Step Back In Time

Library Day

I was reminded the other day of one of my favourite memories when I started school. My first trip to the school library.  Where I got to choose a favourite  story to take home to read.

The other day, Cayden has his very own “Library Day.”  It was the first one of many he will experience.  I wonder if he will remember it years from now like I do.

I know he was very excited to bring home two new books to read with me.  He held them up high and shouted, “Hot Wheels! Beat That!!!”  I’m still not sure where that line comes from.  It is one I hear every time he sees a Hot Wheel race car or picture. He shouts  “Hot Wheels! Beat That!”  at the top of his lungs. 

We’ve already read through each of them a few times over.  Hopefully when it’s time to get new books out of the library next week he doesn’t choose to re-new them.  There are only so many times I like to read through the same story and 7 nights in a row will have been more than enough!

Random Afternoon Ramblings

So far, so good.  Cayden is loving school. So much in fact that he says he needs to go SIX days a week.  (He only gets to go 2 days one week, 3 the next). Wonder how long this enjoyment of school will last?  His one request is that he gets to wear his “comfy” pants to school.  Unfortunately for him, Wednesdays are mandatory “dress-pants” day. I have to say that I am a little jealous of his uniform. I wish that two days a week I get to wear sweats and a tee-shirt to work like he does.

The day was  amazing.  Who could believe that it’s actually fall. The sun and 30 degrees of temperature we enjoyed was fantastic.  It was so beautiful that it didn’t take a whole lot of arm bending for Cayden to convince me to take him out to the BMX track to enjoy the evening.

As usual Cayden gave me a whole lot to chuckle about.  Non-stop silly banter.  One of the funniest comments today was, “I’m so thirsty, I could eat a elephant!”  He quickly started laughing. I’m thinking he must have realized how silly that sounded.

We got to the track, he strapped on his helmet and off he rode. Every hill he went over, a giggle was sure to follow.  I enjoyed watching from the sidelines.  I cheered and caught up on reading some blogs on my Blackberry Storm.

One of the best things about school is that it actually wears Cayden out.  By the time we got home tonight, bath time complete, and story read, he was so ready to sleep that it took only one minute for him to fall asleep. Much better than the usual hour or two.

These pictures are actually from the BMX track in my neighbourhood.  Thanks to Carmen, we finally did find it at the far East end of Riverside Drive.  We spent many afternoons here this summer.

Just bring a shovel along with you and could make your own jumps, big or small.  I think kids have just as much fun making new jumps as they do taking them.

My Little Cowboy

It was off to a birthday party we were going.  Cayden must have overheard me on the phone with the mom of the birthday boy, talking about dress-up.  Not thinking I had anything for Cayden, I mentioned to her that once we got to the party we would borrow an outfit from one of her boys for Cayden to wear.

The next thing I know, Cayden appears all dressed up.  He managed to scrounge enough cowboy stuff in the back corners of his room and put together his very own ‘get-up’.  I did add the little cowboy vest with a “Marshal” badge on it, to his outfit.  It was one sewn especially for him last March for a wedding.  He was one of the “Marshalls” for the bride and groom.  To my surprise he could still squeeze into it.

The only thing missing were the cowboy boots.  He has long out-grown those.  So, I told him to go get his running shoes on instead so that we could be on our way to the party.

Ivan came into the house and says with a snicker, “Cayden’s wearing his gumboots.”  Sure enough, there he is with a cowboy outfit and gumboots.  I had to laugh and just say “whatever”.  I had to put aside the desire to tell him that he looked silly with his gumboots on and just let him be.  He was happy, so I was happy.  Who said little boys need to make a fashion statement anyways?