I don’t know what I did to earn the good karma, but two great things have happened in two days.

First of all, we did our taxes Thursday night and instead of paying thousands as we have since the kids were born we actually get enough back to pay off 2 of my 3 student loans! I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t make any money until September in 2009.

Then on Friday I got an email from the director of Primo’s preschool and they were able to make room for him to come full time starting in April! He’s so pumped, and now as long as the licensing department from child services approves the short-term ratio discrepancy for Bella she will get to stay at her current dayhome and we’ll only need my mom for the two weeks of maternity leave that our provider is taking.

My mom has offered to switch vehicles with us after Easter until summer break so the BG can transport Primo to school in the mornings and then I’ll pick up both kids after school. (His sports car doesn’t take child seats so we need a new vehicle in the summer. Another thing we can’t afford but will do anyway.)

Yee haw!

Because yeah. That’s our situation.

Every dayhome we’ve called is full before we get there for an interview.

The preschool is full until fall.

We have 6-8 weeks of no care for our children while I finish out the year. It’s looking more and more like the Big Guy will have to take all of his holidays for the year to be home for that time. That’s great – awesome even, for the kids, but screws us out of any family holiday, time together at Christmas, time for the kids to be with him when I go back in the fall 2 weeks before their full-time preschool starts, blah blah blah. Not ideal.

The extra crappy part? The April preschool intake filled up before I got our forms in because I got the flu. I even had them 99% completed and just didn’t take the time to email them in. Totally my fault.

So, that word that rhymes with truck? THAT.

Scene: We’re at the mailbox on the way home from work. I check the mail and hop back into the van with the kids with some mail and a parcel.

Mommy: Look Bud! My new Kindle case is finally here!

Primo: That’s too big. It won’t fit. The whole package is too big for your Kindle.

Mommy: I dunno. They were supposed to send me a new one that fit this time so it should be smaller.

Primo: It’s not. It’s too big.

An hour or so passes. We get home, have snack, and I start unpacking our bags from the day. I spot the parcel in my bag so I open it.

Mommy: You were right! This is exactly the same wrong one that they sent me last time.

Primo: Well, Mom. I AM always correct.

Well, duh.

Saturday morning we went to a town nearby for the annual Santa Claus Parade – our second time going – and the kids had an absolute blast. Primo shouted at “Merry Christmas” at everything that went by ~ “Merry Christmas horse!” “Merry Christmas dog!” “Merry Christmas truck!” We thought the highlight was going to be Santa at the end, but he looked at me and said “but where”s the real Santa? At the North pole, right?” Yeesh. He’s too clever for his own good sometimes. We had the kids all bundled in snowsuits & boots because of the chilly wind and they were toasty except their hands & cheeks. I wore Sorels and Hot Chilis (long johns for winter running) and my winter running shirt under my parka so I was fine, but the Big Guy was chilly in his hiking boots & jeans. We always take Timmy Ho’s out with us so we were all well fed & happy. I don’t let my kids eat candy – particularly candy that’s been on the road – but that didn’t bother them at all. They agree about the whole “food on the road” thing.

After the parade we took Bella home for a nap and Primo & I went to Costco to get some groceries and then to the big Christmas craft show where I bought Bella hair pretties to match her Christmas outfit and Primo spent his money on treats for the dogs. Too sweet. He’s incredibly kind & thoughtful for a three year old sometimes. He loudly interrupted a busy woman at her booth to say “Can you please make a coffee for my Mom?” because he thought we’d waited long enough. And wait until you see his letter to Santa – what he asked for was too cute, and he saved himself for last without me even telling him to ask for things for anyone else. Love that kid, man. I’ll post both of the kids’ letters later this week.

Random Interjection: Bella only peed in her diaper twice all weekend (except during sleeping hours). Whee!

My friend was in town for a quick supper so I dropped Primo off & ran out to meet her & her fiance at BP’s, & then rushed home again for bedtime. After student-led conferences two evenings this week (after school one day and at bedtime another day) and a dinner out with my staff on Friday I’d missed enough quality hours with my babies so it was time to get home and stay home. Saturday night was cuddle time. Sunday morning brought a little Christmas photo session in the living room so I can change out the photos in our entryway frame (results below) and then…I can’t remember what we did for the rest of the day. How is that possible?

Bella, as the fairy princess (”faiwy pwintheth – I PINK!”) and Primo as “Sergeant OurLastName.”

Trick or treating was a HUGE hit. They just loved running to all the neighbours houses and shouting trick or treat as they shoved their buckets in their faces. Neither of them ate any candy though – they came home and devoured cheese, crackers and a veggie tray before bed. They had each had a chocolate earlier in the day and I think they’d had enough. The Halloween Fairy made a very poor choice in bringing Primo an Incredible Hulk toy. He spent the day saying “HULK SMASH” and smashing random things – including his sister. The Hulk now lives on top of our fridge. The pony for his sister was far less violent. Who knew?

Poor orphan children only had four pumpkins each this year:

They each scooped out and designed a jack-o-lantern, made a Mr/Mrs Potato Head with us and painted two mini pumpkins independently (by far their fave).

And some bonus cute that you may not have seen:

Slightly belated, being that they’re 3 1/2 and 1 3/4 now, but better late than never. It’s not like I didn’t have the shirts in time – I just forgot.

Starting them early…they ran in the under 6 age category for the 2 km race. Primo ran much of it and walked probably 0.5 km. Bella ran about 0.5 km, walked about 0.5 km and was carried the other km by the Big Guy. (Who also, coincidentally, carried the pumpkins they got for completing the race all the way to the van. And then his arms fell off. The end.)

Work is going great. I have a great job, a great group of kids and an awesome grade one team to work with. The kids are loving their childcare provider and come home with crafts, stories and big smiles when I drag them out of her house.

And I got my first paycheck last week and paid off my Visa! So, it’s all good.

I wish I had a job without homework and evening obligations, but I’ll take what I can get. So far I’ve only attended one of the evening obligations (Meet the Teacher night) and left early so I could put my kids to bed so it wasn’t bad. Just missed a little play time, which I hate but can deal with. Last night was a staff social activity which I gladly skipped to be with my kids (we didn’t know when the BG would be home from work so I couldn’t commit) and it turned out great because I fell asleep with Primo while putting him to bed and had a 2 hour nap!

Today is a PD day (on blogging of all things…useless much? I only have three blogs.) and then…

IT’S THE WEEKEND!

We’re doing the big grocery shop of the week, buying shin pads for Primo’s first soccer season that begins next week, swimming lessons, family photos at the local Corn Maze with friends, playing at home and hitting a playground or two…just run of the mill weekend stuff!

Any big plans on your end?

Untitled from Me on Vimeo.

Dear Primo,

You’re three years and three months old. When I try to think of words to describe you, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop. Active, intelligent, quick thinking, sweet, kind, loving, cuddly, athletic, tired, three (so very, very three), best brother ever, healthy, messy, danger seeking, impulsive, talented…You are so many things rolled into the most loved little boy ever to have lived.

Your reading is really taking off. You often pretend you can’t read, but that’s just because you’re tired & don’t feel like working. You regularly sound out words that blow me away, and remember sight words after being told just once or twice what they are. You’ve just started to really write in the past month. You love to trace your name and write it hand-over-hand with Mommy. You’ve also started drawing faces (usually sideways, with the most insane hair I’ve ever seen) which is really cute.

Academically, you’re ready for full day preschool or maybe even kindergarten but instead you’ll be going in the fall to a wonderful dayhome where you’ll be able to continue playing with your sister and will have homeschool preschool time each afternoon while the other children nap. Your babysitter is the most qualified person we could hope to find, and she seems almost too good to be true. I hope you love it there as much as I think you will. I really don’t want to go back to work because I love nothing more than being home with our family, but groceries and bills are expensive and we just can’t make it on one salary right now. You’ll understand all of that one day many many years from now. Luckily I have a great job for working moms and you’ll be dropped off late, picked up early and I’ll never work a weekend or holiday or summer. My homework can be done after you’re in bed so other than being at a glorified preschool-like playdate from 8-3:45 four days a week and Friday mornings, nothing will really change and I have a feeling you’ll thrive. There’s a schedule of arts & crafts, outdoor play, games, literacy activities and more and since you love to learn & love to play it’s right up your alley. There are only a few other kids so you’ll get lots of one on one attention. Daddy and Grandma Betty will be able to keep you home some days too so most weeks you’ll probably go about 3 1/2 days. At this point you’re really excited about it so I hope it stays that way. It’s sure to be harder on me than on you and your sister.

We’re just in the process of adapting the types of discipline we use with you. Time outs are just becoming a power struggle so we’re taking a Positive Parenting course and using more democratic & logical methods. We’re a “huggy” family, but we’re hugging more when you’re being a stinker now and it’s working great. The biggest challenge for me is when you run away in public (which is why I still strap you in and make you ride in carts). When you’re well rested, you’re incredibly well behaved and think things through well but if you’re even a little short on sleep or if it’s approaching 3 pm, you’re impulsive and physically unable to behave properly.

You’ve started to have some dreams that are scaring you awake in the night. Butterflies in your room landing on you was an entertaining one. And I’m pretty sure you got stuck in a jar of peanut butter one night too.

Your Great Grandma Carlson passed away in on June 15 (she was 98 1/2) and we spend a weekend in Regina & Milestone for her funeral and a coincidental small family reunion. You loved the hotel and especially loved spending the day at Great Grandma’s farm with the family. You were upstairs and said “I’d better get back down and see my people!” You loved climbing up on one particular big tree stump, and running around the big open spaces. And eating, of course – that’s always a big thing at the farm.

We took you on your first camping trip at the end of June, to a campground just half an hour from home in case we needed to get home for bed. You did amazingly well and loved every second of it. You threw rocks in the river with Daddy, cooked and ate your first marshmallows and camping pies in the fire with Mommy, went swimming, painted rocks and played badminton with Bella and just got really, REALLY dirty. It was so much fun. Our friends, the Oseens, lent us their trailer with complete valet service to and from the campground, and Steve officially became one of your favourite people. You often see something that reminds you of camping and say “It’s just like Steve’s trailer!”

We took our annual trip to Waterton on Canada Day. Grandma Betty was camping out there with Claudette & Gerry. You and Bella both loved it. We dressed you both in Canada outfits and tattooed your cheeks and arms with flags and maple leaves. You waved your flags and shouted YEAH CANADA! and sang Happy Birthday to Canada a few times. It was pretty awesome. Again, one of your favourite things to do was throw rocks in the lake.

We’ve spent a lot of time this summer just playing, both at home, at friends’ houses and at local playgrounds. You and Bella love to play together and you have so many friends that we don’t have time to see them all. We do at least two playdates a week, and usually more. There’s something to do every day and it’s exceedingly rare that we spend a whole day at home. In fact, I can’t remember the last time. We all need to get out, even if it’s just for a bike ride or a trip to the grocery store. You still love to shop with Mommy, and I love to shop with you. It’s a great place for you to learn about smart food choices (which you’re well aware of, and often ask if something is organic before we buy it) and is also a great place just to have little talks about whatever comes up.

You continue to amaze me with your kindness and empathy toward your sister. Sure, you’re a normal big brother and drive her crazy sometimes, but the two of you are the very best of friends and you never leave her out. We can’t give either of you anything without you demanding the same for your sibling, and if you’re having one on one time with Daddy or I you’re always asking where the other one is.

You’ll be starting your first session of swimming lessons next week, taking two trips to Grandma’s, going to the zoo and enjoying many more great adventures over the next few months and I couldn’t be happier to be watching you grow, learn, experience, and love with such abandon. You are absolutely, stunningly, amazingly you.

I love you from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the stars, and all the way around the world!
Mommy
xoxo

My grandmother in law is here (in the city I’m in, visiting my mother in law while I’m at my mom’s – not actually HERE right now – in case you’re into details). She’s here from Vancouver and this week has been the first time she’s met Bella. She was here for Christmas 2007 when I was supposed to have her, but she was so damn stubborn even then that G.G. had to leave before they yanked her kicking and screaming from my uterus in mid-January 2008. She acknowledged her presence the first day we went for a visit and when she came to our house last week, but this week she has completely refused to have anything to do with her. She meets her last living great grandparent and I can’t even get a damn picture. Primo on the other hand? Made her day with hugs & kisses and other such stuff. And I got some pictures of him with her. So, there’s that.

I’ve had a productive few days, completely cleaning out all of the toxic chemicals from my mom’s utility room (to the tune of 15 garbage bags, not full because that crap is HEAVY) that my Dad had a penchant for collecting. After I got rid of all that, I organized and labeled to my hearts content and she now has a whole shelf labeled “light bulbs.” Poison wasn’t the only thing my Dad liked to collect.

Tonight we tackled a small portion of the outside area and added a crapload to the pile of poison to go for proper disposal later this week, and created a whole new pile for the landfill. Sorry, Earth. We’ve salvaged lots for a future garage sale too, and are recycling tires and giving away as much stuff as possible.

Though much of my week has been and will be spent among chemicals and dirty crap, I can only do that stuff when my kids are in bed so we’ve still been enjoying our days. On the weekend the kids went for their first horseback ride (pictures to follow when I get them uploaded). It was super awesome. My mom, the Big Guy and the kids and I went out to my sister in law’s parents farm to feed the horses and have a little ride. They also saw a kitten who had just opened it’s eyes, a bunny and a bunch of dogs. And played with sticks and stepped in horse shit. Ahh, country life. They loved every minute of it.

The next morning, my sister in law & I went back out and saddled up some of their neighbours horses and went for a good long ride. It’s been a long time since I rode, let alone galloped free down the side of a highway, and it was absolutely incredible. I wish I had pictures. Instead I have saddle sores and a mosquito bite on my ass. There’s that glamour shining through again.

I mean, like, really out. So “out” that I couldn’t even have a latte this morning. (Until I could get to Starbucks, that is. I’m not that stupid. I wouldn’t have any friends sans caffeine.)

So after our chiropractic appointments we were going to Costco to get some bulk stuff we were out of, and decided to stop at Safeway first to get milk. My kids have never had a drop of milk that wasn’t of the breast or organic variety, and we can’t get either at Costco so we always have to make several stops for groceries. Milk wasn’t on the list, but since that was our primary purpose for stopping at Safeway it should be a no-brainer, right?

I left with three bags full of groceries and no milk. And didn’t notice until the kids were buckled in their carseats.

So? I bought milk at Costco.

The same price for 4 litres as I usually pay for two. But now we’re home and I can’t bring myself to put it in my kids’ cups.

Dumb? Yep.

Canadian non-organic milk doesn’t even have the hormones that American milk does, so it’s not nearly as bad to buy non-organic dairy products here but it still makes me feel horribly guilty to put those chemicals in my babies’ little bodies.

Some families don’t even drink milk after weaning. Many green families, actually. Which is very interesting to me. I haven’t really done my research on it (shocking! I know!) but some things I’ve read are rather shocking.

1. Westerners are the only people who drink milk from another mammal after weaning.
2. We’re also the only society with osteoporosis.

Hmmmm.

I wrestle with giving my children milk at all, but justify it because it’s organic. They get fat and calcium from many other sources (a head of organic broccoli lasts two days around here, and they’re both nuts for nuts) so it’s not like they’d really be missing anything. Vitamin D maybe, but they spend a ton of time outside so probably not. They also have goats milk occasionally, and soy or hemp milk, but they hate almond milk.

So, all that is just to say that I have a ridiculous amount of milk guilt and, though I know it’s totally dumb, I can’t help it and am not sure what I’m going to do about it.

I mean, it’s not like I fed them a hotdog.

Yeah, it was over two weeks ago. So what?

That doesn’t make it any less cute.

The outfits? Thanks for asking! Heh. Please Mum has a Canada Day line of clothing that they bring out every spring so I always buy an outfit in the following year’s size when they’re on half price or less.

The storyboard? MCP Magic Print It Boards, which were expensive but worth every penny in the time they’ve cut from my workflow.

Workflow? I’ve been very busy with photo shoots & trying to wrap things up with my sessions so that I can go back to work in mid-August without anything to focus on but my family and a little bit of work. I’ve been busy creating actions in Photoshop and have almost perfected a batch action that I can run on a whole folder of photos which leaves all of the layers open and saves it as a .psd file so I can mess with the layer masks & layer opacities and make it all just perfect. I can get an entire family session done in a couple of weeks, and it used to take me 4-5 weeks. Booyah!

New reviews up this week:

If you’ve got to wash dishes when the maid is on vacation, you should really get these. (with a giveaway!)

Upstairs it’s the foam Elmo & princess chairs they push each other out of, but this is the furniture my kids are fighting over in the basement.

Check out my sort-of-review of a new(ish) natural insect repellant and sunscreen combination.

Be sure to let me know how this review linking thing is working out for you. Inquiring minds want to know!

And how are we all feeling about the switch to purple?

Over and out.

Back story: Primo’s friend is heard crying from the living room, and then they both come running to the kitchen, where I’m preparing a snack as Bella sleeps in her room.

Me: What happened?
Primo: Bella bit Toby.
Me: Bella bit him?
Primo: Yes.
Me: While she was sleeping?
Primo: Yes?
Me: She bit him while she was sleeping with her door closed and you guys were in the living room?
Primo: Yah.
Me: Did you actually bite Toby?
Primo: No, I didn’t.
Me: Did you do it by accident?
Primo: Yes.
Me: Tell him that you’re sorry, and give him a hug.
They give each other a big hug, and Toby thanks him.
Me: Now please go have a little time out until you’re feeling better and can be a nice friend.
Primo: Okay.

A few minutes later, he comes out and tells me he’s feeling better, gives me a hug, and heads off to play. Within the next hour, Toby has bitten him and we start all over again. Oy vey.

It’s not just him that blames her, though. He can be in a different house and if she gets an owie, she’ll respond to “What happened?” with “WahWah!” (which is her name for him – she’s totally throwing him under the bus!)

“Is Great Grandma in the floor now?” (he asks as he’s carefully studying the kitchen linoleum.)

“It’s okay if I put this money in my mouth, because if I choke and die I’ll go see Grandpa Jack.”

Oy. Heaven help me.