Not-so- Kid appreciation

Boston pizza was advertising a "kid appreciation" day today.  "Games, clowns, magicians, fun for the whole family" it said.  Wow, I thought.  What a perfect thing for us to do on a rainy saturday evening.  I told Drew about the clown and the games, and he was sold.  "Let's go now, Mommy!"  We braved the crazy rain storm, packed in the van, and headed off.  I should mention here that James was at work (still is as I write this) so I was parenting solo on this night.
We show up at the restaurant, and I ask if it's kids appreciation day...they say, yup, it sure is.  Great, I think to myself...this is going to be so fun.
They show us to our seats, "where are the games, mommy?" asks Drew.  I ask the server, she says there are no games.  I ask about the clown, she tells me there are no clowns.  I want to punch this girl in the nose.  So, what is happening for kids appreciation day then?  She tells me, "oh, there's a magician".....ok, I guess that will salvage the night.  We wait FOREVER for this damn magician to come...Drew is looking all over for the magic man.  Finally, this teenager shows up at our table and mumbles, "you wanted a magician?"  So, I pretend to be all excited and say to Drew, "it's the magician, hunny!!"  He's looking all around.....finally he asks, "where?"  "Right here"  I point to the awkward teenager who barely speaks english.
So, he does a couple tricks with a ball, and then at the end, gives Drew a crayon, does some fast moves with his hands and the balls disappear.  He tells Drew, "the balls are in your crayon" and leaves.
So, for the entire meal, Drew is flicking his crayon, saying all the magic words he can think of to get the balls out of the crayon.  Thanks magic man, ya jerk.  I finally had to tell Drew that the balls only came out when the magician was around, and that he had to go home to bed, so the balls weren't going to come out.  We'd have to leave the crayon here, and maybe next time we can get them out. 
Drew tells me on the way home that he didn't think "that guy" was a real magician cause he didn't have a cape, and magicians ALWAYS have capes. 

F-You - AQ!

So, I'm taking an AQ course (additional qualification for all you non-teachers out there) in Kindergarten education.  My reasoning for taking said course was a) Drew is entering kindergarten in the fall, thought it would be of extra interest for me and 2) with the implementation of the full-day learning program in Ontario, there will be more jobs in kindergarten in the next 5 years.....wow, I'm so smart, eh?? 

What I didn't take into consideration when deciding to shell out the 700$ for this course was that my children do not sleep, therefore, I have no time to work on this $%$&$ course.  I have resorted to having my husband come along to chapters with the kids in the mornings (he works in the PM) and I take off to starbucks (attached to chapters) for a few hours of high speed internet work (the course in web-based). 

This course has induced a lot of stress into my life, of which I do not deal well with.  My husband is pissed that I'm taking it, because he no longer has time for the work that he needs to do on the farm.  I also don't think it will help me get a job.  I have applied for more than 50 teaching jobs in the past few months and have had, count them, NO INTERVIEWS!!! 

So, let's sum this up.....I spent a fortune on a course that has created a "hell" for me this month, made me miserable around my children and husband and will probably just result in me supply teaching again this year.  Awesome.  Money well spent.

Poop

So, I should begin this post with the fact that we live on a farm.  As such, my boy pees outside in the summer.  He loves peeing outside for some reason, so we let him go for it in the bushes, as long as it isn't anywhere close to where we hang out and where Hunter will crawl near.  So, on this particular day (yesterday) Drew was actually inside when he said he had to pee.  "Ok", said I, "let's head upstairs"...."no, I want to go outside" was his response.  Not in the mood for a confrontation, I agreed.  Off he goes, happily running through the yard, naked as the day he was born.  Suddenly he comes running in saying, "mommy, I need a toilet...QUICK".  It's important to note that we don't allow number 2 outside.  "But the cows do it mom"......anyways, off he goes, running upstairs when I hear..."mom, we've got a little problem...come quick". 
Turns out he couldn't make it upstairs and pooped on the stairs.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time......I'm not sure why I thought it was so funny, but man, in that moment, the funniest thing ever.  Just kinda summed up the day I was having, I guess.
Just another day in the life!

Happy Canada Day!

Yesterday, we celebrated Canada's birthday.  Canada day is always a "wierd" holiday because it falls on the actual day, not the friday or monday before or after.  Some companies give the actual day off, and some give the  friday or monday before or after.  James just happened to have the day off, my dad had to work and gets today (friday) off.

We spent the day in Glen Williams.  My mom, brother and his friend were around and joined us for the festivities.  We walked down to main street and enjoyed the annual parade (James bought us a few treats from the Glen Oven bakery...yum!), then headed to the park to see what was going on there.  The park was jammed and I could see steam coming out of my husband's ears.  We let Drew play there for a little bit and then headed back up to my parents place.

Drew spent the afternoon/evening riding on his ride-on toys, and playing with everything at nanas.  Hunter enjoyed playing with some smoothed rocks in his water-table (without the water...it was pretty cold yesterday!).  James helped my dad grease the baler once dad got home from work.  Mom, Drew and I took a short break from the fun and drove to Tim Horten's to pick up some timbits and some coffees for my parents.  We had swiss chalet for dinner and then took the very tired boys home.  They both fell asleep on the drive home.  A successful day!

Today, we met my sister in law, my niece and some friends at Canada's wonderland.  It was the first time I'd been there since university.  We had a great time.  Stayed in the kids area, Drew rode on most of the rides there, and left around 4.  We bought season's passes this year, so hopefully we'll be there quite a bit this summer.

We left Wonderland and headed straight for Ikea.  Had some meatballs and a tuna sandwhich and played in the play area in the food court.  Finished dinner and sent Drew down to the play area, which is adorable, by the way.  James, Hunter and I walked around and dreamed about everything we want for the cottage.  Priced out making a kitchen island and discovered how very expensive it could be (over 1000$!!).  Bought a couple of curtain rods, and then picked Drew up from the play area.  He wanted to head back up to the food court and play there again....so off we went.  We were at Ikea until 7ish....packed the boys in the van and off we went home.  Traffic was ridiculous, but both boys fell asleep almost immediately.  Hunter woke up screaming about 10 minutes from home, but thank goodness Drew stayed sleeping.  Transferred them both to their beds and are now enjoying a nice quiet evening! 

First Steps!

For the past few weeks, Hunter has been able to walk (with a little bit of a wobble) while holding on to one of our hands.  Tonight, he took his first steps on his own.  He was so excited!  We were at Nana and Papa's, and he took his first steps to get to Nana.  She was THRILLED!!!  It was so very cute.  After we made such a fuss over him, he wanted to do it again and again.  Then Drew showed us how he could walk, "and mommy, I can walk without falling....SEE!!!" 

I'm a proud mamma!!

Cottage update:  James has been up there since last night after he finished work.  He's been trying to finish off the laminate in the guest room and our bedroom (with trim, etc) and trying to finish extending the deck.  I'll keep you posted with how far he got.  He's planning on coming home tonight as we're headed to Wonderland with his sister tomorrow morning.

Being sick sucks!

Last night I spent the night in the bathroom throwing up and then going to Hunter's room to calm him down.  James tried to help with Hunter, but he just does not want anyone but his mommy in the middle of the night.  It was a terrible night, I had cold sweats and could not sleep because I was so achy.
I did not feel much better this morning, so James took the day off work (thank goodness).  He took the boys to Drew's final blastball day, and I stayed home to rest.  I feel incredibly guilty about missing his blastball day (he got a trophy.......apparently it was really cute), but there are no bathrooms near the park, and I was nervous about getting sick in the middle of things.
After Drew's blastball, James took the boys to Chuck E Cheese and right now they are at my parents house.  Thank goodness for them!
Here's hoping I feel better tomorrow.