Sunday and Monday

Yesterday, Drew had a play date for lunch at McDonald's with his bestie from JK.  I took Hunter up to my parents house.  At first I was going to bring him, but after I thought about it, realized it would be better for everyone if he played at the Glen.  He can't yet climb the climber by himself at McDonald's (Drew always helps him) and I knew Drew wouldn't want to be always helping Hunter when his buddy was there.  It turned out great.  My parents played with him and had him napping when I got back.

During the play date, the boys played, had lunch and I chatted with his parents.  It was a fun, relaxing afternoon.  After a few hours at the restaurant (yes, I know...2 hours?!?!?) his buddy's parents asked Drew to go back to their house for more fun.  I asked Drew, not expecting him to want to go by himself, and he was SOOO excited.  I dropped him off and then headed back to my parents for a few hours.  Hunter was sleeping, so I just hung out with the 'rents.  Haven't had them to myself in a LONG time!

Once Drew came back (I picked him up at 4) we just hung out and played with water and the trampoline.  It was a great night.  Drew was exhausted at the end of the night......

James didn't get home from work until 3:30am.  Needless to say, he wasn't up when Drew left for school...so sad on the days that he can't see Drew at all (Drew's asleep now, and James isn't home yet).

After I dropped the bean off at school, H and I went to Walmart to pick up some groceries, etc.  Always the "etc" when I shop there!

Once the shopping was done, we played outside for the rest of the morning.  Hunter is obsessed with water play these days, so guess what we did??

After his nap (he fell asleep while I was reading to him) we headed up to the Glen to meet Drew.  My dad ended up meeting him at the end of the lane with the gator, as my mom had to go on to her next run right away (usually she has a few minutes, so she brings Drew right up to the house).  The rest of the evening was much the same as last night.  Water table, kiddie pool and trampoline.  I imagine that will be the main events of our summer!

Hunter fell asleep on the way home (he hasn't done that in a long time!).  Drew took forever to fall asleep.  His room is quite hot, and I can't get the air conditioner to work.  Hopefully James can fix it when he gets home (if he isn't super late again).

Cottage!

We picked Drew up early from school on Wednesday and headed to the cottage for the night.  We were originally thinking that James would just go for the day.  Take the couch up, pull the nasty carpet, etc because it was supposed to be crappy/rainy weather on Thursday.  Drew caught wind of this idea and would have nothing of it...if daddy was going to the cottage, so was he.  We decided to all go, and take our chances with cabin fever if the weather was crappy.

We had a campfire Wednesday night.

James and I enjoyed some beers at the campfire, the boys enjoyed some smores (ok, we enjoyed some smores too).

I tried to get a cute photo of them both blowing dandelions....I am not a photographer.

Drew and I played monopoly junior for the first time.  He LOVED it.  We played several times.

We roped daddy into playing while H was napping.

Drew's 1st fish of the season.

I'm really glad we all decided to go.  Wednesday night was a really nice night.  We had a nice dinner, James pulled the carpet/floor up, and then we had an awesome campfire.  Thursday morning, it did rain all morning...but the boys were happy to play inside, and we played a ton of monopoly junior....great game!  Hunter and I had a really long nap, so James took Drew out in the canoe (for 2 1/2 hours!).  They saw tons of turtles, fish and lots of plants.  Apparently Drew was enthralled the whole time.  Once I woke up (Hunter slept for a while after that), the 3 of us played a few more rounds of Monopoly junior and then we all got some outside time once H woke up.  Playing on their dome and fishing was on the agenda (as well as throwing rocks in the river....we're going to have to order some more rocks, I don't think we'll have any left once my boys are done with them!).  We had dinner there (yummy bbq) and then a peaceful drive home (both boys slept).  A quick watch of "Bethany ever after" for us (ok, for me) and then bedtime.  I ended up sleeping on the couch, as I have a nasty cold and couldn't breath if I was lying flat (Drew joined me at 2am..fun times).

Drew had his jump rope for heart event this afternoon at school, so I went and helped out with that.  It was adorable.  Drew was most impressed with the freezie they got as a treat afterwards.  A quick visit with the parents and then it was home.  I had to rush off to meet some girlfriends for a pedicure and a visit to Kelsy's for some appys and girl chat.

All in all, a wonderful couple of days!

Soccer and a party

Yesterday did not start out very well.  I was pissed at James for going to work (I realize I have no right to be pissed at him, but I was, so there you go) and pissed at myself for still feeling so crappy.

The boys apparently felt my negative energy and decided to go for broke and try and make me crazy.  There was a whole lot of running around dumping things, me yelling, them laughing...you get the picture.

Finally it was time to hit the road, so I loaded the two monkeys into the van and off we went to the Glen.  Drew had a soccer practice, so I was dropping Hunter off with my parents and then taking Drew to his practice.  Drew's practice was fun, but it didn't last long.  The minute we stepped onto the field, it started raining.  We were there for probably 30 minutes total.  During this time, Drew kicked the ball up and down the field a few times...he seemed to like playing.

After soccer, Drew and I hit Timmys and then went back to the Glen.  We were to spend a few hours here, playing with the grandparents and spending some time with Uncle Jamie, who left for Calgary today.  I have no idea when we're going to see him again (maybe that's why I was in such a bad mood?).

After a quick park trip with Nana and Uncle Jamie, the boys and I headed to Kelly's house for Kyla's first birthday party.  The boys (and I) had a fabulous time.  Drew mostly played with Kyla's older brother, Cody and Hunter and I wondered around playing and exploring.  Kelly and Colin did a great job organizing the party, with a few games, lots of snacks, a yummy dinner (lasagna and pizza!) and lots of time for the kids to just play and enjoy each other.

Here are some pics from the day....

My parents picked this kit up for us to take to the cottage....so very thoughtful!

We couldn't have a smores kit in the house and NOT sample it!  Yummy!

The kids and their butterfly nets.  Kelly had put some "butterflies" around her front yard and the kids had to run and find them.....so fun!

Hunter did not like having butterflies in his net...each time I put one in, he would reach in and take it out.

Drew was very excited to find the butterflies.

Ring around the rosie...

The boys enjoying their dinner with some of their friends.  How cute is this??

The beautiful birthday girl!  Happy birthday, sweet Kyla!

Hunter enjoying an after-dinner cookie.

I was yelling at Drew and Cody to come back from the deck, but they either couldn't hear me, or were pretending to not hear me.  Thankfully, Kelly's brother went over to help out.  I didn't hear the conversation, but there was some pointing to cars and the boys were nodding their heads in agreement.  They came back to the house right away.

**sigh**

The past couple of days have been nuts.

I should back-track...right before we left for Regina (I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not) I took Drew to the doctor, as he had what looked like a cold-sore on his mouth.  We weren't really concerned about it, until James' mom came over and thought it could be something else, and that we should get it checked out.

The doctor told me she was 99% sure that it was a cold sore, but she swabbed it just to be sure.  I was told she would give us a call by saturday at the latest to tell us if he needed to go on medication or not.  Saturday came and went, and we did not hear anything.  I didn't think anymore of it.

Tuesday came, and I had my wisdom teeth removal, and then Wednesday came.  James and I had planned on having a nice, relaxing day.  Drew would be at school, James could take Hunter out and I could recover.

Wrong.

The doctor called us in a panic, telling us that she had to see Drew right away.  The tests had came back and he had a strep infection on his mouth.  He couldn't be at school (couldn't go back until Monday).  Crap.

James and Hunter went and picked him up from school, took him straight to the doctors where he was given antibiotics that he has to take for the next week.  Did I mention he wasn't allowed at school until monday??

Sigh...

The rain didn't make things very easy either.  Poor James was kept on his toes trying to keep the boys occupied while I tried to stay off my feet (the pain-killers they gave me really knocked me out!).

Snickers kept me company while I recovered.

Giant welt on the left side of my face...it's crazy bruised now.  The silly part is, it's the right side of my face that hurts the most.

The boys keeping me company.

James helped the boys make this rocket-ship.

The boys ended up at my parents for some of the time, played here some of the time, they headed to a park yesterday......James was supposed to go back to work on Thursday, but with me being such a mess, he took Thursday and Friday as family days.  He had to go back today, so my parents came and picked the boys and I up, took us to their house and then drove us back this evening.

I'm feeling a lot better now.  Yesterday was probably the worst day.  I'm not 100% and am still on pain-killers, hoping to stop taking most of them tomorrow.

Not so Wise anymore...

My mouth as been really hurting lately.  At my last dentist visit, they told me I had to get my wisdom teeth out and referred me to an oral surgery place.  I went for a consultation with them and scheduled the surgery for June 10, although didn't think I was going to go through with it because we didn't think our insurance would cover more than 50% of the cost.  While we were in Regina, James went online and found that our insurance was going to cover 90%!!!  Happy day!  I called the clinic to see if I could bump up the surgery as my mouth was making me really uncomfortable and I didn't think popping extra strength advil every few hours was the best idea for the next month.  I was told they had an appointment the next day.  Yikes!  Wasn't quite ready for that, that's so soon!  I booked it anyways.

Monday afternoon I went to pick Drew up from my parents after school and then we headed to the Georgetown early years centre for some play with our friends.  My brother joined us for a bit and then James joined us after his dentist appointment.  It was really fun.  Drew had a great time playing with Cody and Hunter had so much fun with all the toys there.

We headed back to Nana and Papa's for dinner and then home for some early bed.

Tuesday morning, James' parent's were here before 7:30 so James and I could head to Mississauga for my wisdom teeth surgery.  I was very nervous for this.  I was being put completely out and always hate the uncertainty of this.

When I first got there, they weighed me and had me rinse my mouth out with mouthwash.  I was then sat down and given some oxygen and then some laughing gas.  The nurse put the IV in my arm and it only took her one try!  I was thrilled with this, because it generally takes nurses a few tries to get the needle in (which makes for a very painful experience for me).  Once the IV was in, they gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine.  I was warned it would be uncomfortable going in for about 30 seconds.  Longest 30 seconds ever!!  After this they put me out.  I remember waking up during the surgery, hearing a "crunch", feeling crazy pain, screaming and then someone saying, "give her more..." then I was out again.  I'll be having nightmares about this for a while.

I awoke in the recovery room, where they gave me ice to put on my face.  They then brought James in to see me, sent him out to get the car and then wheeled me out to my waiting husband in the parking lot.

James brought me home and put me in bed.  The boys were not home as of yet.  Grandma and Grandpa had taken them to their gymnastics class.  Hunter enjoyed it, but Drew would not go in.  "I don't want to go in unless mommy is here".  Sigh.  Once the grandparents brought the boys back from gymnastics they had to rush off as they were babysitting the girls in Toronto.

I passed out for the day.  James bringing me my tylenol 3's, antibiotics and advils every few hours.  James took the boys for pizza and skedaddles for the afternoon, he brought them back so Hunter could have a nap and then they went up to Nana and Papa's for the evening.

I had moved out to the couch by the time they got home, so I got to see the boys before bed.  Drew fell asleep after James read him 4 books and Hunter fell asleep fairly easily too.  Once the boys were in bed, James and I watched some DVR'd Modern family and Friday night lights.

I'm glad I got the surgery done ASAP.  I'm hoping it's a quick recovery!

Sunday May 15, 2011

And the fun continues.

The 4 of us crammed into the van and headed to the superstore in Georgetown.  Drew's friend from school, Nathan, had invited him to his birthday party.  This was a party at the cooking school located in the grocery store.  Drew had done a Loblaws cooking school class once before, with his nursery school, so I was pretty excited to take him.   While we were there, James took Hunter to McDonald's for a late breakfast and some play in the play-land.  It was pouring rain out.

The party was great.  Drew got a spot beside his buddy Christopher and the fun times just rolled from there.  The kids made pancake muffins (I am on a hunt for this recipe, as Drew loved them!) and then each got to decorate their own little cake (not so little, really....I think you could get 8 slices out of it).  It was a space theme, so the kids had space ships and martians to decorate with and were instructed to dig out craters from their cake.  They even got to mix their own colour of icing!  Drew sampled a lot of icing, so between the pancakes (laced with chocolate chips), the marshmallows they gave them as snack (wtf?!?!?)-to be fair, they did give them so melon and strawberries too and all the icing most of the boys were literally spinning in the middle of the room.

So proud of his creation!

Adding jelly beans and gummy bears

Pineview buddies...Christopher, Nathan and Drew (they all had to wear their PJ's to the party).

We bumped into Nana and Papa after the party, which I don't think was that much of a coincidence.  I had told them the previous day what time Drew's party was.  They just can't get enough of their grand-babies!  We had to take Hunter home for his nap, and James had to get to Mississauga for basketball, but we made plans with them to head back to their place for dinner after H's nap.

Dinner was alright.  My mom and I were both in pretty bad moods, both thinking the other was pissed at them.  This happens on occasion, and by the next day, we were ok.  Drew and Hunter got some time in with Uncle Jamie, as he was around for supper and then we took the boys home for an early bed time.  Drew fell asleep right away, Hunter on the other hand took forever to fall asleep.

Once they were both in bed, James and I opened some wine and watched the survivor finale.  I had DVR'd it, only at the end we realized that we had to watch the reunion show to find out who had won and I had failed to DVR that.  Thankfully, we have satellite,  so we taped the reunion show that was on at 1am.

Phew!!!

34 hours....

....that's how long we were in Regina for.  A whopping 34 hours.  We arrived at 8:30pm on Thursday and left at 6:30am on Saturday.  The reason for our quick little visit?  My brother's graduation from Police college.  It was a crazy whirlwind (had I known it was going to be so jam-packed, we would have planned things a little differently) but a wonderful whirlwind.  I am so glad that we went, and so glad that we brought the boys.

We met my parents at the airport at 5pm on Thursday and had some dinner at the little burger/pizza joint after we checked in (before we hit security).

Dinner date with Nana

Dinner date with Papa

After a quick trip through security (well, as quick as it could be) we made our way to the gate, where we saw our plane being loaded with bags....very exciting for the boys!  We bought smoothies and waited to board our plane.  We all ended up at the back of the plane with an extra seat between Nana and Papa and extra seats behind them.  It worked out well, as we were able to stretch out a bit.  There were TVs behind every chair, and treehouse was an available channel.....LOVE westjet!  The boys were kept happy between watching treehouse and playing with our iphones.  Drew slept for most of the flight, while Hunter stayed awake the entire time (amazing, since when we landed it was 10pm our time).

Once we arrived in Regina, we put Drew in Hunter's tiny stroller and went to claim our bags and get our cars.

He was exhausted

Hunter fell asleep as soon as we started driving in our van.  We found our hotel (the holiday inn) and quickly settled in.  It was a smooth transfer for both boys and both boys slept until 5am (Drew until 6) the next morning.  While the boys slept and I unpacked a bit, James ran out to pick up some milk/fruit and then headed to Jamie's rez to pick up some boxes that he wanted shipped to our aunt's house in Calgary (the next 4 weeks of training will be in Calgary for him.

Friday morning, we took Nana and Papa to McDonald's for breakfast and some playtime in the play-land and then we headed back to get ready for the first part of the graduation, the drill/fitness demonstration.  My brother was quite nervous about this part, as I guess he wasn't/isn't the best at keeping in step during the "drill" (marching).  I felt like he did a great job, and it was really neat to watch.  Hunter slept through a lot of the demonstration.

Drew had really wanted to stay at the hotel and go swimming.

I was a bit concerned as my brother seemed too far away, but all the corners were like that, so I suppose it was supposed to be like that.

My boys and their handsomeness

After this part of the grad, we left to go to UPS and ship those boxes for my brother.  We then headed back to our hotel for the boys to have a quick swim (Drew had been bugging me all morning, "when are we going to go swimming, mommy")  It was literally like a 20 minute swim.

We then had to rush back up to our room and get them ready to go to the actual ceremony, which started at 1:30.  We pull into the arts centre, where the ceremony was taking place and see all of the police getting out of their cars.  Drew says to me in a very concerned voice, "mommy, the police are here AGAIN" (he had some concern earlier in the day at the drill demo).  It was very cute, and funny that he hasn't really put it together that uncle Jamie is now one of them too!

The ceremony was great.  The boys weren't all that thrilled with it, so James took them out to the hall (where the rest of the kids were).  I really liked it though.  The speakers were really entertaining, and it went surprisingly quick (there were 40 graduates).

The "getting the certificate" part of the ceremony was a bit of a gong show.  They had roped off a section so that people could come up and take pictures when it was their family member/friend's turn.  They went in alphabetical order, to make it easier for people to know when their turn would be.  As soon as this was mentioned, EVERYONE with a camera ran up to the front.  This made it difficult for people to get a good photo (I had to throw a few elbows and still didn't get a good shot) and impossible for the people at the back to see what was happening (I had to show my mom the picture on the camera so she could get an idea).

The ceremony ended at around 3:30 and the boys had not had any lunch yet, so we headed to McDonald's where Hunter (and my dad) had quick naps.  Jamie texted us while we were there, asking us to bring an empty suitcase so that he could fill it up and send it home with my parents....my parents left to head back to the hotel to get it, then we all went over to the U of Regina to give the suitcase to Jamie, pick up a suitcase from him and take him to the dinner part of the day.

Everything started a bit late at this point.  Dinner was supposed to be at 6, but didn't start until after 7 and then speeches were after this.  My brother was giving a speech, so I really wanted to stick around to hear it.  The boys were spent though (it was approaching 11 our time) so James took them back to the hotel and I stayed on with my parents and went back with them.  Jamie did a great job with his speech, and even got an award......a funny award, made up by his peers, and probably not one that he would like the world to know about!  LOL

I am sooo tired.

Happy graduate!

Jamie giving his speech.

It was a great day.  We were all so proud of my brother for making it through, I'm sure it wasn't easy.  We were up early on saturday (4:30) to catch our 6:30am flight back home.  The flight went smoothly, with Hunter having a nap part-way through.  The plane was half-empty again, leaving us with 9 seats for the 6 of us at the back of the plane.....awesome!

Jamie flew home at 10 and is now home for a week before he flies to Calgary for the next part of his training.  After 4 weeks there, he will be starting his job in Golden, BC.

Congratulations, Jamie!  We are very proud of you!