I’m loving Skribit, though you’d never know it because I haven’t had a chance to address any of your suggestions. Until now.

The suggestion “Non-Chemical Cleaning Supplies” has 14 votes - apparently you guys think I have a clean house. You’d be wrong. But I do have an almost chemical-free house so I may be able to help you out.

Let’s go from short to long, shall we?

The Short:
You may recall my review of Clorox Green Works products. They’re great if you feel the need to purchase something. I know some people feel that the Clorox name means ‘clean’ simply because of their reputation for bleach. To me, it means toxic, and though these are definitely on the more natural end of things they’re still very irritating to the skin and not as perfect as they could be. I’ve heard both good and bad things about the PC line, too, though I’ve never tried them myself.

Any products by Nature Clean is going to be fabulous and great for the environment too. Same goes for Seventh Generation. Dr. Bronner’s castile soaps are fabulous as well. If I feel the need to buy something, it’s going to be from one of these lines 99.9% of the time. I use the Seventh Generation dish soap, Nature Clean disinfectant (just thyme oil pretty much…) and Nature Clean stain remover (but I’m not happy with it - vinegar and borax work better.) All three of these are available at Save On Foods (Overwaitea) and at some Safeway stores. I’m sure lots of other places carry them too, but that’s where I shop.

Moving on to…

The Long:

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about me.

I’m lazy.

Most people who know me would disagree because it seems I give the appearance of extreme organization and of an over-achiever. I’m both of those, but I am lazy. I will always take the easy way out if I think I can. And that means I almost always clean with nothing but vinegar and baking soda. Usually just straight Safeway brand vinegar.

Some of the things I use straight vinegar for are below. (If I dilute or add something else, it will be in parentheses)

-cleaning counters
-cleaning sinks - even after raw meat. Vinegar is a safe replacement for bleach. So is lemon juice. If you like the smell, a mixture is nice but I don’t do it often. I’m lazy, remember?
-washing floors (diluted - 2 cups in a sink of water, but I use straight for spot cleaning)
-cleaning toilets (sprinkle baking soda in first for a more scrubby clean)
-washing windows
-wiping the table
-cleaning carpet stains
-laundry booster
-laundry stain remover (sometimes with borax or Seventh Generation dish soap as well)
-unclogging drains (dump baking soda in first, flush with lots of vinegar, leave for 10-20 min and flush with hot water)
-polishing furniture (mix evenly with light olive oil and add 1t. lemon juice)
-Cleaning my oven. (Scrub with a baking soda paste, spray with vinegar, scrub again and wipe clean with vinegar followed by water)

Many people I know dilute vinegar at least by half with water for many of the above applications. I don’t because (a) I’m lazy, (b) I like to know I’m getting a disinfecting effect out of the deal and (c) vinegar is cheap.

For laundry, I use about an ounce (or whatever a squirt equals - I don’t measure) of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint castile soap, and 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse.

If there’s anything I haven’t addressed here that you’d like to know, just ask and I’ll be glad to share.

And keep those suggestions coming over in the right sidebar! If you ask, I’ll answer.

Sneaking in with a little update — Yesterday we got the results from my Dad’s latest CT scan and he’s cancer free again! We’re flying high at that news. The next scan is in July, and we’re really glad they’re staying on top of it.

He’s got amazing doctors and so many people praying for him and sending positive thoughts. And he’s got an awesomely positive attitude, which certainly can’t hurt! The rest of his body is falling apart, but for the moment there’s one less battle to fight.

Thanks to everyone who’s still purchasing from the Cancer Sucks store - I’m still donating all profits and get super excited every time I get an email about another sale made. The profit margins are small but last month I was able to sign over a $35 cheque, and every penny helps!

Actually, there were many. He sat and snuggled me more today than he has in a month. He reserves most of his snuggles for his beloved Daddy. I even got snuggle time with both kids at once several times today, and a couple of family snuggle times, too! (During one of which I was inspired, as you can see, to take a crappy family picture with the point-and-shoot turned back on us.) lIt was a great day for all of us!

We spent the morning with a friend and hit the chiropractor, Beaners for a haircut (forgot my camera…aargh…but that might be good because he sat in a pink car for his haircut!) and Costco (where I go broke weekly). We came home for lunch and a quick play in the yard before nap time. (Yes, he’s napping again! And sleeping at night! Knock on wood…).

(I really love parentheses. And apparently they must be italicized. Who knew?)

At nap, we do a mini-version of the nighttime singing routine I wrote about here where I just sing the ABC’s, one other song of his choice and do our regular “I love you SOOOOOOO (big squeeze) much” routine which, like everything else, he makes me repeat four hundred-ish times.
Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my best boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my favourite boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my kind boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my thoughtful boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my helpful boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my generous boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my intelligent boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my amazing boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my awesome boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my cool boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my great-big-brother boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my athletic boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my smart boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my handsome boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my wonderful boy.

Primo: More Iluhyousomuch.

Me: I love you SOOOOOOO much, my Primo.

Primo: Iluhyousomuch, my Mommy. (Big Squeeze)

God, I love being a mom.

For the first and only time ever in my lifetime, my birthday was on Easter Monday this year. I’m 32. That’s pretty old. Good thing I have kids to keep me young!

I plan to spend my birthday money and gift cards on a Cuisinart panini press/griddle thingy. Paninis are my new addiction, and I’ve been making them on a cookies sheet sandwiched with another cookie sheet in the oven. I also have enough for some spa services, which I’m pumped about, and the BG is getting me my choice of a couple of services as well. I’m thinking facial with microdermabrasion, a pedicure and a massage. Any suggestions? I’ll spend my leftover money on the kids, of course. We really need to get them a good climber this year for the yard because what we have is way too small. The ones that will last us more than two years are between $500 and $1000 so we’ve got some saving to do.

---

We spent 5 days at my parents’ house and visited with tons of family and friends. Primo and my niece were old enough to enjoy the festivities for the first time and everyone had a blast. We feel better than we have in ages because my mom slept with Primo every night so we got to stay in bed and sleep in every day!

Here’s a mini-summary of our weekend, in pictures…

On Good Friday, my nieces came over and we all coloured eggs. It was Primo and his same age cousin’s first time and was rather hilarious! Especially when Primo bit into a hardboiled egg through the shell!

I spent some time relaxing and playing on the computer. (I killed another laptop. Apparently mine are sorely over used.) Primo sat beside me and played on the most annoying laptop in the world, and showed us all that he knows all of his numbers from 0-10 and all of the shapes except rectangle!

Bella sported her very first Easter dress and the cutest ruffly butt you ever did see. Primo had a great outfit too, but refused to sit for a picture!

I couldn’t help but take more pictures. In this one, she had just woken up from a nap and was stretching when she spotted me taking her picture and flashed a grin.

On Sunday afternoon, my brother brought his girls over to my parents’ house and we went to the park for an Egg Roll. The kids rolled raw eggs down the hill and tried not to break them. They had a blast!

After our Easter treasure hunt, we headed out to the back yard and played for the afternoon. Primo loved Trac Ball, but couldn’t quite figure out which ball to use. The dogs’ soccer ball actually worked quite well!

One of the treasure hunt prizes was sidewalk chalk, and it was a huge hit with all the kids. The girls drew on the sidewalk. Primo drew on the house, the fence, his cousin’s back, the bikes…

We got home Monday evening and spent the rest of my birthday visiting with a friend who came from out of town to meet Bella and bring her the cutest outfit of all time, putting kids to bed (which still takes many hours) and watching tv snuggled up on the couch.

Tuesday morning, my friend and former teaching partner whom I adore came over and brought me a belated birthday latte in a new cup along with some gorgeous flowers in a cool jug and some wheat-free baking stuff. Thoughtful people are few and far between, and my special friend is one in a million!

Of course, pretty flowers and a pretty girl must pose together.

Hope you all had a great long weekend!

Mwah!

No pics today…too tired to upload any and not enough time to take many! I was planning on “whoring my loot” with a bunch of of other great internet folks and I had big photoshopping plans, but instead you get a list. Later. Down at the bottom of this post because I’m too lazy to schedule it for tomorrow and I don’t want to turn the computer on again this week. Once is enough over Christmas week, don’t you think?

We, as you know, have a baby due in 3 days so the whole family came here for Christmas and it was, dare I say, fabulous? We had my parents, my husband’s grandma, sister, mom and husband, dad and wife, my brother and his two girls (his wife had to work…she’s a nurse and that’s the way it goes) and our house was lively, crazy and tons of fun. The boy has never had so many Grandpa’s and Grandma’s in the same room and he milked every second of it. And speaking of “whoring loot?” Holy crap, did that kid score. He’s still got 5 or 6 gifts under the tree that aren’t opened because he just didn’t need any more. We’re spreading them out over the week. Thank God we have a nice family and nobody’s offended and/or cares if they see him open his gifts or not. He’s loving opening a gift or two every few hours this week!

On with the whoring…

My darling big guy got me
*a new 70-300 lens for my DSLR
*an Extreme III 4 GB memory card
*the newest Harry Potter movie in HD so I can watch it (for the first time, what a pathetic fan I am…) on our brand spankin’ new huge high def TV in our newly almost finished basement.

We got money from my parents, both sets of in laws and my grandma-in-law (best gift ever!) with which we bought the boy a new dresser, a double stroller for the kidlets, and three dates (gift certificates for two dinners and one movie so we don’t have to have money to go out over the next few months when a Grandma comes for a sleepover). We split the leftover money to buy things for ourselves so I got a fancy schmancy new tripod today super cheap. And, being the mom, I spent the rest on other people. The boy got a Flames jersey, five outfits for next winter and a snowsuit for next winter with hat, scarf & mittens. I also got a few things for the BG for next Christmas and a whole crapload of batteries for all of the boy’s new toys. The BG, being the man, will get stuff that’s for him.

I got a beautiful silver locket from my sister in law. How do you get pictures small enough for those things? Anyone?

I also got a book full of stain removal techniques which is totally appropriate for me because I’m a slob. I got Paderno salad servers, a Paderno frying pan, a pewter spoon rest, a sports watch…hmmmmm…tons of my favourite athletic socks and some dress socks, lots of food, a pottery bowl, a scarf, a toque, some gloves, a bracelet, bath stuff…hmmmmmmm…I’m spoiled. Lots of this stuff was in my stocking, which is our family’s favourite part of the gift opening extravaganza.

I wonder if whoring other people’s stuff is allowed?

I especially love watching other people open gifts so I’ll tell you the main gifts we bought for some other folks, since this is my blog and I can do whatever I want…

My mom: a digital photo frame onto which I pre-loaded the internal memory with all pics of her family, a grandchild calendar that I made and had bound. The digital photo frame was the “peed on item.” Incidentally, I think it may have been our cat. We’re still working on the detective work. It’s a good thing we’re not actually detectives or we’d totally get fired.

My dad: a Slanket, a digital photo keychain, a grandchild calendar that I made and had bound.

My parents together: a “Grandkids” picture frame filled with pics of their 3.95 grandchildren that made my mom cry. It was a success.

I bought the BG a new housecoat (the luxuriously soft daydreamer robe), some leather moccasin style slippers, a digital photo keychain, several tools and a bunch of stocking stuffers to help out Santa.

We got the BG’s parents/spouses, sister and grandma cool stuff too but since this is my blog and not his I’m not going to list it all. Plus, I’m tired. Same goes for my brother’s family. Plus, I’m lazy.

The boy? Holy crap. As I mentioned, he’s still not done. To give you an idea though, he got a Little Tykes easel, several outfits and clothing items, cars (remote control, noisy and plain), a small town zipbin, Creanimauc, puzzles, cool leather bookends, about a hundred books, 4 sets of blocks/puzzles/toys from Melissa & Doug, a child size cleaning set (because he loves to sweep & mop but just about takes my eye out when he uses my big stuff), a drum filled with all sorts of instruments - a tambourine, a maraca, a xylophone etc. I could go on. It’s insanity. It’s a good thing I gave lots to charity before Christmas or we wouldn’t have an inch of floor space left. And it’s a good thing I donated so many gifts to local needy families this year or I’d feel like a huge piece of crap. Even baby already got spoiled with clothes and toys and s/he’s not even here yet.

I’m due in three days and there’s no sign of anything. Unless you count the purple legs, hugely fat feet & hands and the lovely varicose vein that exploded under my knee and left a nice bruise. I’m so sexy.

I hope you all had as amazing a Christmas as we did. It had nothing to do with the gifts. It’s all about the family and we are so fortunate to have a wonderful one.

I’m about to roll off to bed because with all the food I’ve eaten and the swelling on top of it, that’s the only way I can move.

Your next stop? Click below. (Don’t need one? Free baby gift!)

It’s Canadian Turkey Day aka Thanksgiving today and we’re rolling around on the floor with stomach cramps from overdoing it on delicious goodies.

We had a meal with the BG’s dad last night and with my whole family at the BG’s mom’s place tonight. Last night was ham, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and DQ blizzard cake, and it was fantastic. Tonight was the traditional meal we have on every holiday and my absolute favourite. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, ham, mashed potatoes, cabbage rolls, salads, sweet potato casserole (a la my mom), carrot turnip casserole (a la my mom), buns, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, fresh fruit…and that’s after a huge lunch at my parents place of french toast with blueberry sauce & back bacon.

Now you know why my stomach hurts! Good thing I’ve got this baby to make the fat look nice and hard for another couple of months.

I’m 28 weeks pregnant all of a sudden and I have no idea how that happened. We’re really sucking at pictures this time, but I’m hoping to get a good one this week. I just got (finally!) my new SLR camera and have been having a blast with it. I’ve saved for 2 years to get it and I’m SO excited! I researched for 2 years as well and ended up going with a Pentax k100d (over the Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40x, which were the other two I seriously considered) for two main reasons. First of all, 10 megapixels is a complete waste if you’re not printing huge posters. Many people think megapixels equals quality but it’s only printing size. Six megapixels will easily print 8×10 images and that’s a conservative estimate. They’ll actually print much larger and you wouldn’t know the difference between it and a 10 megapixel image with the naked eye. The other reason was the image stabilization feature. On the Canon, that feature is in the lenses and the lenses are very expensive. On the Pentax, the image stabilization is built right into the processor and works amazingly well. I can actually shake my camera like jello while shooting and get clear images. It’s rather amazing. Oh, and the $200 saved was nice too. I found the Canon and Nikon products to be very proprietary (as in, you have to use their accessories and you pay heavily just for the name) whereas my Pentax has great Pentax accessories but also has things like an AA battery backup option that isn’t available for the other brands. I’m sure I would love both of the other cameras as well, but I’m extremely happy with mine and it’s cheaper. I have some images uploaded to share but since my laptop’s dead I have to install the BG has to install some software on this one so I can shrink them to blog size.

My dad is, once again, cancer free!

Since the first time, he was re-scanned in April and the cancer was back in his lymph nodes. He’s been having harsher chemo for several months and it worked! His next re-scan will be in October. I really hope there’s nothing there, but at least we know chemo works!

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Thanks to everyone who continues to purchase from the Cancer Sucks Store. To Ruth in Minnesota who purchased a whole schwack of items last week, thanks - and bless you. We save our commission credits and and each time it gets to $50 we donate it to one of the many cancer research & support organizations. We’ve donated $450 so far thanks to all of you (and the many strangers who come upon the site) and are always accepting paypal donations to muchmorethanamom@gmail.com. We can no longer commit to matching all donations after the big campaign last year (just in case you put us into bankruptcy with your generosity!) but we are committed to donating a large chunk each year along with all of our commissions and site advertising profits here and there.

Speaking of there, we are still in a whirlwind of daily giveaways so be sure you go every day and enter! (And we’ll be looking for guest reviewers for the time we’re moving and have no internet. You can write a review of ANYTHING you like that’s parent/kid related. Please (please! please!) email me or leave a comment if you can help. Thanks!

(Anniversary post below…)

Three years ago today, I married my best friend. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. He makes me laugh every day, makes me roll my eyes a lot, and makes me a better me.

He’s my partner in everything, he is the best daddy the boy and baby #2 could ever ask for and I know he’s perfect because he’s also the best daddy our pets could ever have. Beside us in this second picture is a friendship bell in a Japanese garden. Friendship is the reason we know we’ll be together forever. We’re not just married - we’re best friends, and that’s what makes us live every day respecting each other and trying to make life a little better for each other.

Thanks for being my best friend, Big Guy. I love you more than words can say. Happy Anniversary!

When I went back to work for the month of June, I ended up working at a different school for the month. A great school with great people.

One of the classroom assistants at that school is an amateur photographer and we asked her to come to our house last week and do a few pics of us in our yard because the boy won’t have memories of this house and the nice big yard. Our next house has a postage stamp of grass. We wanted the pets in them but the dogs were dirty and being turds (surprise!) so we didn’t push it. Maybe next time.

She emailed me today saying that our CD was ready but that she wouldn’t accept any payment because she wasn’t feeling well that day & wasn’t feeling creative and thought they all looked like snapshots and weren’t worth money.

Normally she gives you a CD of all the pictures in sepia, b/w and colour in both 4×6 & 5×7 with no copyright for you to do whatever you want with. As someone who has done some paid photography work and will be doing more, I can tell you that she’s WAY underestimating what she’s worth. Tomorrow I’m dropping off a thank you card with a large-ish cheque for her regardless.

You be the judge:

So, I promised y’all my reasons for not being able to blog this week.

Here they are, in all their glory.

Sunday:

1. After a great visit & playtime with my father in law (pics to follow another day), we the BG did yard work for several hours. Sometime between the BG finishing the front lawn at 5:30 and us finishing dinner at 6:00, my van was broken into in our driveway in broad daylight and a bunch of money was stolen.

Monday:

2. Oops. How did that happen?

Spent the rest of the day alternately calling everyone, being really excited and shitting my pants. I’m due at New Years. I couldn’t wait to tell you all but had to tell all the real life folks first so I just didn’t blog at all.

3. Cold turkey caffeine withdrawal. ‘Nuf said.

Tuesday:

4. Spent the whole day experiencing my new diagnosis, PBPD.

(Pregnancy Bi-Polar Disorder)

Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, we can’t afford another one yet.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, we were going to buy a new house this fall.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I have to go back to work right away to get 600 hours in before December.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just wore my first real bra in a year and a half.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just finally packed away all my maternity clothes and fat pants.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just put all the newborn stuff away in a bin in the back of the storage room.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I wanted to lose 30 more pounds before getting pregnant.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, why am I being such an ungrateful bitch when we have so many friends struggling with infertility.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I haven’t even finished the boy’s pregnancy album. I guess I’d better get on that. I’ll do both at once.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I have to find childcare for the boy for June. I really don’t want to leave him.
Yay! We’re having a baby!

And so on. Ad nauseum.

Wednesday:

5. My dad got the results of his re-scan and the cancer is back. Here we go again with the chemo. Much stronger this time.

If anyone can help drum up business at the Cancer Sucks Store, we’d sure appreciate it. And thanks to whomever bought a hat yesterday. I’d hug you if I could.

6. Met with my principal. Don’t know where I’ll be working - maybe my own classroom; maybe covering someone else’s mat leave for June; maybe who the hell knows.

Thursday:

7. Met with the boy’s babysitter for June. She’s fab. He loved her and loved all the kids. He didn’t want to leave. She doesn’t have room for him for September.

8. Ten minutes before the downloaded Jericho (Aside: Are you watching Jericho? You should be. Freaking awesome.) would have been over and we were headed to bed, our carbon monoxide detector starts beeping. We call 911 & are told to evacuate. We kennel up the cat and leash the dogs. Chloe goes out on the step and the BG takes the dogs for a walk. The detector has since stopped beeping so I stand, all bundled and ready, outside the boy’s room waiting for the fire fighters. They come and tell me to let him sleep (he has a breathing sensor in his bed so we knew he was okay). They get no CO reading, and call the gas company for a backup reading with their more sophisticated equipment. We walk the dogs some more, and trade off because it’s freaking freezing. Chloe gets to come inside but has to stay in her kennel - just in case. The gas company comes and, again, no reading. We just need to air out the detector outside (and will buy 2 new ones, just in case). The boy, thank God, sleeps through it all. We finally get to bed at midnight and fall into a deep exhausted (pregnant) slumber and at 12:30 the boy wakes up screaming with tooth pain. I’m with him until 6 am.

Friday:

9. Today was supposed to be our day to go visit Leah (who I love and was totally excited to see) but her daughter has an ear infection and the boy slept until 10:15 am so we had to postpone.

What next?

Today’s the big guy’s birthday.

I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world to be married to my best friend. He’s the kind of guy that everybody likes. He’s intelligent, strong, kind, gentle, loyal, an amazing husband and father, a smartass to the highest degree, full of integrity, so funny sometimes I’m afraid I’ll pee in my pants and he’s damn good looking on top of all that.

I spent much of the day yesterday making trying to make him a fancy schmancy cake. I had it all carved, and was ready to fill the centre with creamy chocolate pudding and then it all fell apart. So instead, we’re having death by chocolate for dessert. (Recipe: Chunks of torn fallen apart cake drizzled with Bailey’s & topped with chocolate pudding, real whipped cream & Skor bits - repeat layers twice in a large glass bowl and make a huge pig of yourself because it’s so freaking good).

His requested birthday dinner is homemade pizza so I’m in the process of making him a whole wheat beer dough. I hope it turns out better than the cake!

So, big guy, I hope you have the happiest birthday of all time. It’s your first one as a daddy and I couldn’t be prouder of you or love you any more. I’m so glad you were born!

Happy Birthday!

Well, another birthday has come and gone and yep, I’m old. Thirty one. How the hell did that happen?

Dinner out and the visit with my MIL and her huz on Friday night was awesome. We went to Earl’s and I had delicious roasted chicken breast with steamed asparagus and rosemary roasted potatoes. Mmmmm. I love not cooking.

My folks came Saturday and brought me an Oreo Blizzard cake (mmmmmmm) along with gifts from my BFF and my brother’s family. Our dinner date, the first in one full year, was fabulous. We went to the Keg and drank Caesar’s & ate appy’s in the lounge before getting our table and eating WAY too much steak. We left at about 7:45 and were home about 11:30 so it was a really nice outing but not so long that we paid for it the next day. We came home to the boy and my mom rocking in the living room. He had been up playing for an hour but went back to sleep easily around midnight after nursing and playing with his aquarium. Then? He slept until 9:30 am! What a great birthday gift for a mama! Speaking of gifts, the BG bought me the two Dexter books (do you guys watch Dexter? It’s freaking awesome.) and an amazing Wacom tablet that I’ve wanted for a long long time. He loves me. Everything I’ve done with it so far, except extractions, looks like it was done by a five year old.

Yesterday my FIL came for a visit in the afternoon and he and the boy had a great time crawling around the floor playing tag and other crazy stuff. Another friend came over with some gifts for the boy (very belated baby shower gifts) so he had a pretty great day. He got clothes, new balls, a water park for the back yard, a book, some bath toys and more. Spoiled much?

The tracking tells me that the boy’s wagon and trailer that we ordered for his upcoming birthday should be in today. I’m FAR too excited about that. We’re not wrapping it and saving it for his birthday because he’ll never know. We’re going to start using it right away. I’m going to be babysitting one of the boy’s friends a few afternoons a month while his mom & dad both work at the same time until I go back to school so the wagon and my new used Jeep double stroller (thank you, freecycling!) will come in very handy.

We have friends coming over today on their way through town (yay!) and I think they might appreciate it if I showered before they came so that’s all I’ve got time for. What did you do to celebrate my birthday?

I love you Grandma!

Love, the boy

PS - I hope you like your gift!

I already received.

My dad is cancer free!

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