STILL PROCRASTINATING....

Yep, still have 5 days until report cards are due and I'm still not done.  I've been procrastinating.
This morning Marty made us a yummy waffle breakfast with oranges on the side. Instead of getting up to squeeze in some marking while he and the kiddos cooked, I slept in. :)

After breakfast, I could have inputed a few marks, but I was busy playing "baby" with Payton and Ryder. Payton kept asking us to hold her and carry her around in our arms like she was a "baby." I didn't want to put her down! She is my kid that never wants to be squeezed or snuggled and here she was wanting us to rock her and coo at her! :) I couldn't resist!  She even wanted Ryder to hold her, but since she's so big, he had to sit down to hold her like a baby. 

I did take the kids to church, but while I was busy getting myself dressed, they were up to their own mischief.

I busted them before they had emptied all the drawers but I let them finish because it was soo stinkin' cute! This is the first time they have ever actually, on purpose collaborated on a project all by themselves. I love this brother/sister thing! ADORABLE!  (Plush, honestly, it was keeping them busy and quiet!) LOL

Instead of getting a bunch of marking done after church, Payton and I baked muffins.

Then the kids and I managed to spend two hours in Walmart, a good chunk of that in the Toy section because even a visit to Walmart with two little ones in tow is more fun than working on report cards. Bleh!  

Actually, we had a lot of un in Walmart. We got our groceries quickly and then despite the fact that our frozen strawberries were quickly defrosting, we scoured the toy department. Ryder rarely gets to go shopping with us now that I'm back at work. I usually go after work, or Marty goes without us.  Sometimes we all go to Costco, but they don't always have toys.  Ryder is definitely like a kid in a candy store when he sees all those toys, but he knows (I've drilled it into him) that we are just looking, we are NOT buying anything. He totally understands and at this time of year, I've explained that we are just getting ideas of what to ask Santa for. He LOVES this idea and goes nuts hollering, "Mom, Mom, I wanna ask Santa for this..and this... and this." I love and admire his innocent enthusiasm!! Payton on the other hand has no clue what I am talking about. She pretty much says, "okay" to everything. She says it with such confidence all the time that even I accept her "okays" with an optimistic hope that she actually comprehends she will NOT be taking those two ponies she has been dragging around the store for the past thirty minutes home with her....but she does not!  I tried several times to get her to give up those ponies, "here, Payte, let's put those ponies to bed so they can go night night with all their buddies" "Nooooo." Ryder found a Rudolph stuffie with a light up nose that played Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer when you pushed his ear. He fell in love. He carried it aroundl but kept saying, "Mom, maybe Santa will bring this reindeer for me?" I wasn't going to buy it for him, but I didn't think he had to put it back until we were at the til. In my own irresponsible way, I was just going to set it down on a shelf closer to the check out counter, so he could dance to the music the deer was playing just a little longer, but when I asked him for it, he said, "no, Mom, we gotta take him back so he can sleep with his buddies." Soooo, we walked all the way back to the Seasonal section to put Rudolph back with his buddies. Ryder settled him among the other reindeer and said, "Goodnight, Rudolph. Maybe I'll see you at my house at Christmas time." My heart melted right there! 

Payton on the other hand, was NOT letting go of her ponies.

Once we arrived at the til, I had Payton put her ponies up so we could "pay for them" and then told the cashier, we wern't actually buying them. Yep, I tricked Payton. Judge me if you want.  She was happy to give up the ponies to the cashier until she realized we were actually leaving the store without the ponies.  She cried. All the way home. Ryder was the best big brother trying his hardest to explain things to her. "Don't worry, Payton. You gotta wait until Christmas and then Santa will bring you those ponies and he'll put presents in your socks (I'm sure he meant stockings lol) and then he'll hang them back up and in the morning we'll open them!" His explanation was filled with the conviction of a pre schooler believing with unwavering  the magic of Christmas! I never want to forget these moments!!!!  

Anyway here it is 9:53pm and I have done NOTHING on my report cards! It's gonna be a long week, isn't it? LOL

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and finish your report cards on week nights. Weekends are too precious to give up!

TIS THE SEASON

It's report card season, I am buried under paperwork trying to fit every child into a box..not my style, not my belief, not my thing..but my paycheck depends on me getting these done..sooo not much writing happening here, but here are some pics. WE do still manage to have fun around here.

The kids have been all over playing in the basement couch cushins lately. We throw them all on the floor and jump on them, climb on them, make forts out of them, wrestle on them and generally make a big, fun mess with them! Even Scout loves playing in them.

One night, after taking Payton up to bed early (she was super tired) I came back downstairs, to inform Marty and Ryder that it was bed time. It was awfully quiet in the basement (for our Family, quiet is rare.) I finally found them tucked under the cushions. I thought they must be hiding from me, so I pulled the pillows off of them and..... 

 ....this is what I found...two adorable sleeping cuties!!!!! Awwwww!!!

Last weekend, Mom came to visit. We took her for breakfast Sunday morning before we took her to the bus stop so she could ride home.  Since the snow was falling heavily we were all glad she had chosen to take the bus to visit us instead of drive herself.

 Ryder loves snow! He loves Winter and he loves sledding!!! I couldnt' keep him out of the snow even though I was freeeeeeezing!

 We are all out of Halloween candy, so for dessert we've gone back to our favorite: Ice cream!! Payton LOVES it!

 Marty suddenly has the "declutter" bug. He has been going through boxes that we havn't unpacked since we moved here. He found his hockey trophies from when he was a kid! Ryder was sooooo proud of his Daddy. He's sure Marty won them them all for "scoring the most goals ever!"

 The more hockey Ryder sees on TV, the more he wants to play it! Now the whole house has hockey fever and we can often be found in the basement playing hockey after supper. Even Scout plays..kinda! LOL

Here's Payton rocking one of her brother's hand me down shirts and a giant gash under her eye from a kid at the day home who has freakishly long finger nails.....

It's 10:25pm and I've got to get to bed! I need to replenish my energy.  I still have 6 more report card comments to write in "word" before I start the tedious job of entering everything into the actual report card.

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and if your kid gets a report card, please know that his/her teacher worked very hard to box your child up so they'd fit in the space provided....

HALLOWEEN 2014

Halloween 2014! 
In my mommy circles there is all kinds of talk about what to do with the candy from Trick or Treating. I had no idea there was anything else to do with it, besides eat it...so that's what I'm doing right now. I'm eating it.  
That's what the kids will do tomorrow (unless I eat it all tonight, while they sleep,) they will eat it. Not all at once, but they will eat it. The pop, they probably won't drink, but the chips, they will eat, the chocolate, they will eat and the suckers, well, they'll suck on them. They'll learn self discipline when we let them to pick 2 and only 2 pieces of candy after dinner every night.  They'll learn patience when we make them put the rest back into their buckets to save for the next night. They'll learn real life skills of how to deal with temptation. In real life the things that tempt you don't turn into a toy, or a car, or money when you put them in a magic bowl, stir them with a magic stick and leave them on the table over night. In real life, you have to learn to walk away when you've reached your limit and that is what my kids will get experience with, whether they learn it or not..we'll have to wait to see.

The kids wore two costumes this year. One to the Day Home. I got those costumes for 8 bucks each at Walmart. 8 Bucks??!! Can you believe they can make costumes for that?? These were the ones I didn't care if they got brownies or juice or markers all over them. These costumes were Halloween: Part 1.

Super-Man and Little Red Riding Hood.

We joined our neighbours for some Trick or Treating this evening. Our neighbours have two girls. They dressed as fairies. Ryder rocked his Spider-Man costume, mask and everything (I didn't know if he'd actually wear the mask) and Payton rocked her tutu (thanks to my friend Larissa for making it) and her Spider-Girl shirt (thanks to Marty for his art work.)  This was Payton's first Halloween and I was just happy she didn't have to wear a snow suit over it! LOL

Trick or Treating with friends is sooo much fun!

 Love that he wanted to wear the mask the whole night!

Not bad for her first "real" trick or treating costume, eh?!

She did spend some time in the Trick or Treating wagon.

And yes, she did try to chug her candy! LOL

Now both kiddos are in bed (2 hours later than usual) and I am sitting here, writing and eating chocolate..it's time for me to walk away.....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and let 'em eat a little candy now and then, it's part of being a kid!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

October 25th.  Dad's Birthday. I miss him. A lot.

CORNY WEEKEND!

Weekends always seem to take forever to arrive and always seem to pass by way too quickly!! The sun came out to play again this weekend, so we soaked it up!  Nic came to spend some time with us too so between her and the sunshine a good time was guarenteed!!!

We went to the Corn maze Saturday morning.  We went to the smaller one (apparently there are a number of corn mazes around here) but it was the perfect one for us!!  

There were big tractor tires to climb....

 Awesome slides...

 Auntie Dic

giant rolling bubbles...

 and selfies!!!

Just when I think we are enjoying our last popsicles of the season, the sun keeps shining and we get to buy another box, sooo....did we enjoy our last popsicles of the season, Saturday?

Sunday was our good friend, Arya's first birthday party!! She had a ball pit and bouncy castle there!!

 Payton is VERY into dressing up these days. She puts on everything she finds. She wears, blankets, hats, shoes, boots and even bras (she has one around her neck in this pic.)

Ryder has started playing hockey in the kitchen. He plays hockey just as loud as he plays "bull rider." LOUD!!!!! He commentates every move he makes, he could actually be a sport's announcer. Skate! Skate! Skat he'll shout right before he hollers at the top of his lungs, "GOAL!!"

I couldn't get sound on this video, but imagine he is shouting with all the enthusiasm of a three year old, "Goal!!!"

...and now it is after 10pm, another busy week is about to begin, so I better get my tired ass in bed!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and eat popsicles while the sun shines!!!

LAST HURRAH!

Despite the weather forcast (it called for rain and temperatures in the single digits [celcius],) we took to the highway with our camper, our neighbours, another family with a toddler and an infant and their trailers.  We headed to the mountains. One last hurrah of the camping season.  I packed tuques and mitts..and we used them all weekend long! The Fall air was crisp and we could feel Winter knocking but it didnt' stop us from having a great time with some good friends!

The kids didn't even notice the cold. Payton refused to wear her hat or her mitts. Ryder wore them then played so hard he'd sweat!  Only the adults complained. Apparently, we were not playing hard enough!! LOL

Payton wanted so badly to keep up with the "big boys" but she wasn't quite "big" enough.

 She was just a little too big to play with the little ones...

 Good thing she doesn't mind playing by herself. She managd to sneak some costume jewllery into the camping toy box and that kept her busy for quite a while!

 She had a great time chasing me around this big rock.

 She's getting pretty good at balancing and jumping too!

I love this smile!!!

 

This little girl can play well by herself, but truly, she just wants to do everything her big bro does!!

 Cutest lil camper!

 Ryder was sooo happy to have Hudson and his family with us on the trip!

Hudson is two and he adores Ryder!! 

They wrestled,

 They drove dump trucks and pushed strollers,

 They hung out just being cute,

 They worked hard,

They roasted marshmellows!!

 Hudson left early Sunday morning, so Ryder had to drive his dumper by 

himself. He actually asked me and Payton to leave as he was 

at his "job site." LOL

 He's growing up sooooo fast!!!!

 

My handsome hubby!

 Scout holding down the fort!

Sunday night, Payton decided she will NO LONGER sit in her high chair. She does not care that food will now drop all over the floor, neither does Scout. She will simply scream her ever loving head off if you carry her anywhere near her seat. AWESOME!

 We capped off our mountain weekend by baking cookies at home, in the warmth of our kitchen.  Ryder LOVES baking with me. Payton is still learning, but she has become more and more curious about it all. Ryder can crack eggs, work the mixer and eat dough like a champ. He also discovered Sunday, that after you add flour, if you turn the mixer on high, there will be a giant flour explosion! AWESOME! ha ha ha!

It was a chilly weekend, filled with frozen fingers (mostly mine,) adventure (all of ours) and messes (Ryder's and Payton's) so all in all I'd say it was a good one!! Here's to the week ahead!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and don't worry about the cold, kids don't!