This is my life.

Just because..

Big sister eating breakfast. Little brother begging for a bite.

 

Daddy, Sydney, Moo moo sandwich..

The firstborn

I don't talk alot about Isabella, Bella, smella bella, Izzy, my firstborn child a whole lot on here, and I rarely post pictures anymore. I fear some of you may start to wonder if she has fallen out of favor and become the black sheep of the family if I don't explain once and awhile why she rarely makes an appearance here. So here it is.

Firstly, she is 9 years old. Nine year olds have tempers, hold grudges, and can be very, verygrumpy. The internet calls this age.. Middle Childhood. I call it "happy one minute, mad the next". Or the "pre-pms era". Get my drift? Although she is a relatively good child, who listens and does what she is told, most of my funny (or not so funny) issues and stories with her lately are either too personal to post on the Internet, or too embarrassing (for her).  Also, I know how well this kid can read. And did I mention she holds a grudge? One day she will find this little old blog of mine on the Internet, and she will be able to see all the things I've written about her over the years. Although I may be forgiven for writing things about her when she was 3,4, and so on, I'm not sure if I would be so easily forgiven for telling you about the first time we had "the talk", and how she sat staring at me like I was a green alien with tentacles sticking out of my head. Funny, but maybe to personal. Kapish?

Second, the kid doesn't, never has, and not sure if she ever will like her picture being taken. All of the photos that I post of her are the only good ones I get. After a few years of insisting she remove her arm/hand/random object/scowl on her face, telling her how pretty/cute/beautiful she looks, and snapping a blurry picture of the back of her head/arm/swinging hair, well.. it gets old people. Frustrating, annoying, boring, and ... old. Occasionally, I will put my foot down, I will catch her in a weak moment, or she is occupied and doesn't see the camera in her face, but unfortunately these opportunities are few and far between. So thats that. You know, just in case you were wondering and all.

I can tell you that she is in soccer this year, and although I think she could do with alittle extra practice (all the other kids on her team seem to have been playing for awhile) she is doing well, catching on fast and enjoying it. I meant to bring my camera last night and try and take a few action shots of her practice, but was in such a hurry to get out of the house I forgot it. Next time.

Trouble in the fridge

A pictorial.

Hmm Mommy left the fridge door open... What can I get into here?

 

What's that?

 

Oh Hi Mommy, it's just you. I'm not in trouble.. right??

 

Don't these buns look tasty?

 

This is the point where I put down my camera and got Trouble out of the fridge before he broke/ate/demolished something he shouldn't. And yes, his new name is Trouble. With a capital T.

Hair yesterday.. Gone today..

I sheered him. He loved it, giggled the whole time. And yes, my husband let me do it. Although he laughs every time he looks at him now, and is calling him "haircut". I think he looks cute. More like a big boy now. And of course, it will grow back.

Last Weekend

Apparently the last days of summer.. looking at our weather forecast. Boo hiss.

Edit for my mother: The picture in the post below of Sydney is from last summer.. the Mother's Day Post.. Not the picture of Jackson, no. I wasn't very clear was I..

We are suffering once again with what I like to call "the endless sickness of 2009". Isabella started us off this time, with a cold/cough combo a few weeks ago. The the little people got it, and besides a few tense moments when I faced the real possibility of dragging all 3 children to ER in the middle of the night as my significantly missing other was out of town.. they recovered. Then I had some stomach thing, which turned into a horrible cough thing, which has now settled nicely into a head thing. And now once again it looks like we are gearing up for round 2, with Sydney suddenly morphing into a sneezing, coughing, glassy-eyed smaller version of me. I had assumed that I had caught their cold.. now I am thinking I caught something entirely different, perhaps something more along the lines of the flu variety, and that they, or at least Sydney has caught it from me. Argh. Isabella is home sick today, complaining of a stomach ache. Lord help me.

Last night, after listening to poor Sydney cough for hours on end, I loaded her up with the usual nighttime medicine, filled the humidifier, coated her feet with Vicks, sent her to bed and crossed my fingers. I didn't hear a peep from her all night. It's the Vicks on the feet. I know I have written/raved about this strange phenomenon before, but am too lazy to search archives and prove it. Just trust me when I say, it is a staple in our house. She is coughing horribly again today, but I know that she will get a good nights rest once again tonight and that is a blessing.

Shopping cart ankle injury report: Still not running. Bah. Jackson mobility report: Still not walking. Bah. Weather report: Left first soccer practice early Monday night due to freezing temperatures with howling wind and whimpering children with little red hands. Double Bah.

And oh, the picture below is from last summers trip to Vancouver. No significant meaning behind it.. No mothers day present. Just a different picture that I kinda liked, that's all.

Speaking of Mothers Day.. mine was wonderful thank you. I was feeling a wee better from the coughathon the previous day, was served coffee, toast and 3 children in bed. Got my Hanging basket from the Greenhouse in the afternoon (can we call it a tradition if it's only been done 2 years in a row? Well I am going to. Let it now be known as the Annual Mothers Day trek to the Greenhouse for my hanging basket The End).

Now see this? He'd do it too, if he wasn't stopped. Daredevil.

Happy Mothers Day

Worth a thousand words..

Blink

Once again, time has passed me by at an exponential rate. The weather is warm(er), and life has been busssseeee. Chris was away for 10 days, leaving me to single parent our 3 hooligan's. Auntie Leah did come and hang with us for the second week, which worked out real well as she arrived the same day I started to REALLY miss having another adult around for company/support.

Isabella had her annual brownie sleepover (for 2 nights this year!! She was gone the WHOLE weekend!) and had a blast, although she came back sick and without her voice. I had some of my ladies over one night for a birthday celebration, and we had a really great time. Some wine, some food, some laughs. And I wasn't too sick the next day.

I've had to take a break from running these last few weeks, as a STUPID injury needs time to heal. I was doing so well, running 5 plus miles 5 times a week. Starting to really see and feel a difference. Increasing my speed. Looking forward to running outdoors more, etc. And then I ran over my ankle with a shopping cart. That's right. A shopping cart. Felt like a split my Achilles tendon in 2, but really only took a nice chunk out of the back of my foot. So silly me decides to keep running last week, and only made it worse. Additional injuries with blisters, etc. from all the tape and bandaids I attempted to cover up with. Sigh. So am letting everything heal properly, which seems to be taking a looong time.

Kids. Kids are good. Isabella is looking forward to the end of the school year already. Next year she will be at the middle school. Yikes. We had a "girl" talk the other night, and she was still pretty uninterested. Although she wears a "bra" (no, not a bra Belly, it's a tank top. Oh well.) whenever she can get away with it. Silly girl, growing up to fast.

Sydney is.. Sydney. Singing, dancing, making up stories. Getting more stubborn. Talking back alittle more. Growing up fast too. We watched Annie yesterday, and baked cookies together. She must have told me she loved me 20 times. And then 10 seconds later she was screaming and crying in her room because I wouldn't let her make pudding as well. So irrational, so temperamental, dramatic. So.. 4.

Jackson. Really starting to work on his action/reaction skills. Hit dog in face = dog mauls hand in mouth. Splash sister in bath = mad sister yelling in face. Drop food on floor = mad mommy deep breathing.. happy doggy. He is really starting to understand instructions, words, things we do. He LOVES the outdoors, and all things swing related. He is starting to pick out toys as his favorite. He loves cookies and milk. Oh the milk we are going through right now is incredible. I used to laugh at you Julie, and all your milk stockpiled in the fridge. I laugh no more.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I have started to fool around more with my photos. As well, I now have my screen-saver on my laptop set to show random pictures from the last 2 years that I have taken. I get mesmerized sometimes looking at these pictures go by. Once and awhile I will see a picture long forgotten in a different way. I have been plucking these pictures out and touching them up. I may start mixing in random pictures from the last couple years with new ones. We'll see.