I just ate a whole row of them...

Last night, my husband said to me, "you need to blog." This coming from the man you used to tease me incessantly about my blog obsession. I replied, "why?" Why would he want me to blog when I have been spending quality time with him instead?? (um, not totally true...keep reading). His answer was, "so I know what you are thinking." I suggested he ask, or just talk to me but apparently that doesn't do the trick. Ok, if you thought I wasn't going to blog that, Mr Hubby, you don't even know who I am anymore. :) How funny. Yet, I know it's so true. Some people (family, friends) will say that they have read my posts and sometimes I get embarrassed. Which is crazy because I practically force my blog on everyone I know. Only 10% of them actually read it (shout out to my fans...all 7 of you). I get embarrassed because I really am spilling all my beans here. I have always had a journal (until I got married) and this has been that outlet for me. The big difference is that my old journals had locks on them, or were at least hidden in my underwear drawer. Which, by the way, why do we hide things in our underwear drawer? Just because it's personal and private to us only makes it obvious that that is where you are going to hide things no one else should see. That's the first place I look when I go to a friend's house...I mean...you know, when I am borrowing underwear...ok, that's just getting weird. ;)

So, I guess the idea is that I will spill out my thoughts and feelings to the world, but it's not necessarily about things that Kyle and I will talk about on a daily basis. I like blogging for that reason--you get to know people in a different way. People tend to be more honest and open, at least about some things. I'm begging those that I have forced to read my blog to start their own for this reason. I want to know what everyone is thinking deep in their hearts. I don't share it all, there are many hopes and probably even more fears that I don't share here. However, when something is on my mind and usually if it's a topic I need to explore through writing about it, you hear it first. Right here, right now.

That said, I started writing a couple posts ahead of time and "saving" them for later. I thought instead of those occasional crazy posting days and then days of dryness, I would save a few and hand them out in a timely manner. It's good, because I can look back at my crazy writing and there's always room for improvement. What I don't like about it is that when I write, it's just spilling out of me. It's not really edited or I don't really think about it much (ha) I just write. If I save it then I feel like those thoughts are stale and not as organic. I just want to leave them unpublished because their (ooh, see that? That grammatical error? I should have written "they're" but instead I committed a serious pet peeve of mine. Bear with me, as you will see below why I am currently grammatically stupid) just old thoughts. I don't think I will continue to save and wait to publish.

If my husband is missing my writing, and he knows what my life has been like the past couple weeks, I'm sure that you are all wondering what's going on. I have not abandoned you. Especially after begging you to read. There are a couple reasons for my absence. Just like Dawn and Metalia have had this same line of dialogue...have you guessed it yet? Here's what I've been up to:

• I actually picked up a book. I've been wanting to read Eat, Pray, Love for quite a while and started it on the way back from TX. I'm enjoying reading, but something's gotta give and it isn't going to be nap time
• sleeping
• napping
• sleeping in the car
• napping during Sesame Street (mother of the year award--thank you)
• NOT sleeping at 4am or 5am every morning
  
• eating waffles EVERY DAY and drinking my weight in water
• yep, we're expecting baby #3

Today, and for the next few months, my husband and I are the same age. It is this short time period that no "old" jokes emerge at my expense. Last night we were at my in-laws' house because my brother-in-law, Dave, has a birthday around the same time as Kyle. This year's festivities were almost canceled due to outrageous snow and wind conditions, but we were determined to spend dear, sweet, family time together. Or... get a crack at the new Wii my BIL got! All of us, including Cameron, had a blast jumping and throwing and knocking each other senseless. We are hooked and it ain't pretty.

Kyle and I have always been video game people. I love to beat him senseless at fighting games (so what if I press all the buttons at once to win--I still win!), Jeopardy, Mario Party...but that was all before kids. We considered getting a Wii, but we thought the kids were too young and by the time they were old enough to play, the game would be totally outdated. Until last night. Cameron rocked bowling! And then he got tired of it fast enough to give the controllers back to us!

We were warned and it happened. We both woke up with sore muscles and backs. And we didn't even play this game. I was dreaming (literally) all night about the Wii. I even dreamed of playing tennis and woke myself up from twitching with my powerful swings. Luckily, no husbands were injured during my restless sleep. I got up and gingerly suggested we borrow from our savings and buy the Will ASAP! I mean, it is on sale so we should take advantage, right?!! But, what's this? There are no Wii's to be found? At all? Anywhere? SERIOUSLY? Drats.

I decided to meet some friends out this morning to do some walking. I haven't been out much lately because I would, quite frankly, rather be cozy at home with the kids. Since yesterday was kind of a snow day, I felt like I could get out today. And since I live in the middle of nowhere, I figured I better take advantage of the gas usage and get as much done as I could. I quickly threw a lunch together for the kids so I wouldn't have to buy junk that they wouldn't eat anyway. Kaela fell asleep on the way to the mall, which was early enough to not mess with her afternoon nap. We walked, we got Kaela's haircut, played on the indoor play equipment, and went to Bj's. All the while, I have to say the kids were really well behaved. Like, surprisingly well behaved. There was a boy in front of us in line at BJ's (for those of you who don't have BJ's it's like Costco or some other super club store) who was having a breakdown because he wanted bologna. I secretly smiled--not that I haven't been there, because I totally have--but I really think that due to Kaela's catnap and the semi nutritious lunch (chick nuggets, raisins, yogurt) the blood sugar stayed level and the kids were happy. Granted they both crashed on the way home and Cameron peed his pants, but at least he was pleasant about it.

First, I have to say "welcome!" to my friend Jenn who has started her own blog--yea! I'm begging all of my friends to start one--even if you only write once a week. It's a great way to keep up with each other and for me to continue to procrastinate everything else I should be doing.

NOW, for a little brag session...you know me, you know that I don't go on and on about how wonderful, brilliant, gorgeous, and talented my children are. Even though that is all true, I don't get much in the way of hard evidence to share with all of you. More often than not, the little fumbles we go through are much funnier than the successes. And more plentiful. However, I have to say I am shocked, stunned, and seriously filled with motherly pride from today's event.

This morning we were getting ready to head out the door, and Cameron looked at my shirt and said, "Guh, Ah, Puh" and then continued with "athletics" but I'll spare you the phonics version. I recently discovered that he not only recognizes all the letters of the alphabet, but he also knows the sounds each makes! Great, but today he actually sounded out Gap. HE'S THREE!! Being a teacher and a book lover, obviously I am overjoyed.

Now the funny: I never taught him a thing. Sure, we sing "ABC's" and read books before bed, but I'm a big believer in age appropriate learning and well, I think three is too early for most kids to read. Leave it to my kid to do the opposite. (Granted, he's not actually reading yet, but he's well on his way.) So, how did he learn all of this you ask? The dreaded TV. Yep, you got it folks--TV actually can be educational.

It's no secret--I love TV. At one point, I felt like I was watching too much and wasting my life away and decided to only watch shows that teach me something. Then I had to justify Grey's Anatomy, Notes from the Underbelly, and ER as teaching me social skills and relationship building...well, whatever. DVR rocks my world and now I have something that I want to watch when I am folding laundry rather than whatever crap is on daytime.

Enough about me, this is about my brilliant son. So, I shared this in my "check this out" section a couple weeks ago, but in case you missed it: Kids: To TV or Not TV? And here's what I think helped Cameron. Now that we live about 1/2 hour from civilization, I ask for a little peace in the car and occasionally turn on the DVD player. One movie that we keep in the van is Leapfrog's Letter Factory. It was a gift from my in laws and even though it's Canadian and pronounces "z" as zed, I like it. After realizing Cameron was actually learning from this video, we purchased Word Factory and Math Circus (you know, so he's not only reading, but also computing formulas) Cameron has always loved Baby Einstein and Little Einsteins, Dora and Diego, or anything on PBS. No, I don't plop my children in front of the TV for hours on end. If we happen to catch any of those shows at the right times then I might turn it on. It's not on a daily basis or any regular schedule--and I don't leave the TV running all day long. That's a personal preference; I have never been one to like "background" noise. If there is a show that I want them to see, I will DVR it and turn it on when I need a half hour to cook dinner or whatever. Especially recently, our favorites are Word World and Super Why on PBS. There are other shows that encourage reading skills, but these are the ones my kids like at the moment.

Hey, I'm not saying that any of this will make your kid read or that I feel every kid should watch TV. Kaela really isn't all that into TV, no problem. I'm just saying that my kid has given me a reason to shout from the roof tops, so I'm gonna. :)

If you are receiving these posts in an email, you may be missing some video or pictures (or it will tell you to download). Just click on the "chubbacoo" at the top of your email and it will take you right to the original page where you can see everything.

(Last weekend)




I promise that I didn't knock over my kids on the way down...but Kaela and I did hit Kyle!

And check out this pic I captured:

Last week was a tough one weather-wise. Wednesday there were high gusts of wind and all of the schools in the area were closed. Friday we had about 5-6 inches of freezing rain and ice (no area schools were closed, but Kyle's school finally called a snow day!) It was the most beautiful, treacherous weather I have ever seen. Because of all the ice, it just stuck to the branches and the snow piled on top. It made us very happy to live in an area where we can see all this beauty...and, admittedly, not near a Target.

This is his account:

Well the Canucks finally gave up a snow day. What did you do? I continued to plan out lessons following strict curriculum guidelines. See descriptions with correlating pictures.



















Lesson one: P.E. : Shovel heavy wet snow (it was so wet, it was blue with water)



























Lesson two: Science: Note weather patterns of dark cumulus nimbus freezeth myassuth off clouds.













Lesson three: Science again: Rubbing one's head with a plastic laundry basket creates Static Electricity












Lesson four: Language Arts & Visual Arts: Writing while your brother performs scenes from Shawshank Redemption












Lesson Five: P.E. & Helath: Having a snack and giving free kisses (note the lower lip extensions while waiting to say MMMah)
















Lesson Six : Kisses.





Here's to one more snow day.....

Today my heart filled with pride and joy as my son, the difficult potty-trainee, not only stayed dry while we were out today, but told me that he had to go potty without being prompted! (FYI I went to the Outlet Mall, into Osh Kosh, Carter's, Old Navy and Gap and did not buy one single thing.) On top of that, he then stayed dry for his nap time. I know, I know...if I weren't a mother and going through it myself, I would think this is a ridiculous thing for someone to write about, let alone feel such pride. However, this is a skill that we have been working at for a very long time. Much longer than I care to recount. I had a plan for Cameron. I would not spend 6 months to a year potty training him, I would wait until I was "sure" he was ready and stay home for 2 weeks and get it done. Um, well, not even close. I wasn't ever sure if he was ready. He showed some signs, and showed some interest, but then he suddenly totally regressed. He wanted nothing to do with the potty and not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to. I'll spare you the rivoting details, but it's been a long road. Now he has a definite routine with the potty, starting with the phrase, "Mom, I want to stand." As if I would protest. Go for it, kid! Just hit your mark, make the bubbles and we are all good. I don't know why he says it every time, but he does. We discovered yesterday that he LOVES marshmellows. We were using M&M's like everyone else as a reward, but I ran out. The only thing I could offer was a marshmallow...and a loyal, enthusiastic pee-er and pooper was born. He'll do anything for that darn marshmellow--even eat his dinner. I am going to bow down to the marshmallow god and celebrate with a couple of s'mores. (benefit of having a wood burning stove!) Tomorrow is his first day at his "new school" so we'll see how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed and pop a 'mallow!

Kyle had a play date with Shiny's husband today. They devised a scheme (ok, not really a scheme) to borrow a truck, go to a guy's apple orchard who was selling the wood super cheap, and start loading up. Both of our households have run out of wood for the winter, and although this batch isn't seasoned we are all hoping to get some use out of it this year and definitely next. They are looking at 13 cords of wood--at least. (don't I sound all rugged?) That's a whole lot of wood. Normal fireplace users burn about 2 cords of wood a year. We've already burned through 5 this year. Yep, that's a lot of wood.

While the boys earned their keep, Shiny and I had a breakfast play date that lasted all day. Listen, I knew I liked her before, but when she called me up and said, "come on over in your pj's" I wanted to tattoo her name on my butt. I explained how I used to crawl into bed with my college roomies after a long hard night of drinking. We would try to piece together the happenings of the prior evening, but pretty much it was all about laying around in bed all day having some girl time. I so miss that. Being a somewhat responsible adult, this is probably as close as I'm going to get to that while still tending to my children. Needless to say, we had a blast. What did we do? Nothing. What did we talk about? Not really anything, but everything. It was awesome.

Luckily, she puts up with my kids and I absolutely adore hers. I could possibly eat them up for dessert. And I think that I can say that the feeling might be mutual, as somebody saved some kisses for me as I walked in the door.

Shiny is a scrapper and she showed me her super cute handy dandy rolley suitcase supply thingy. (still getting a handle on the lingo). And her pages. Just seeing the cute stuff someone else has done inspires me to get working--again. So, tonight I fulfilled my obligation to scrap some of the current events. Unfortunately, my mouse wasn't cooperating so one page that I almost completed has a few finishing touches that need to be made, but I posted the other two on my family album slideshow on the right.

Oh! I think an email from Amanda just came through. A "Get it Done" night...I might actually get on a roll here!

Last thought: on the right hand side I added a feed from Twitter. I decided to use this as my toddler quote section. When I worked in daycare, the majority of time I worked with 2-3 yr olds. They were always saying the funniest things and I used to write it down for their parents. I vowed to always take note of the funny things my kids say, and this blog was to serve that purpose. Sometimes, there's just not enough there to write a whole post, so I figured this way I could get in a couple good lines but not feel committed to write a whole story about it. Anyway, I think that stuff can get kinda boring for other people who don't necessarily know how outstandingly cute, yet mischievous my kids are.

Every family is a little weird, right? Well, you probably think you're normal--especially when you are a young, innocent kid. Then one day, your friends look at you like you just jumped ship from Mars because you assume they have noodles and apples for every holiday meal as you do.

Don't even google it people, it ain't there. Maybe I'll have to share that recipe sometime. Stay tuned.

OK, so my family apparently isn't so normal and here's how Christmas goes down: Christmas morning get up and open stockings (while parents sip coffee) at your leisure. If Christmas is at your house, then yippee--stay and play with the loot. Don't dare to open a gift before other family members arrive. If you have to travel to another house, DO NOT GET DRESSED, do not pass go, just get your presents and your heiney in the car and get to the house before you start receiving the calls. (cell phone: um, where are you? home phone: you're still there??? Hurry up or we're starting without you!) Once all family members are in tact, then pass out the presents to the lucky receivers, as the givers eye them and you up and say for the last (and millionth) time this Christmas season, "I know what you're getting!" Snatch the first of at least 20 cookies to get you through the first couple hours, and look over your pile. The youngest starts to open their gift--and now this is the important part--as everyone else watches. NO, we certainly do not open all gifts at once nilly willy. There is order, there is attention, and darnit, there will be oohing and ahhing! So, when it is finally your turn, you choose the tastiest of all gifts, ignoring all the shouts of "open mine next!" and rip it open. (Let the oohing and ahhing begin) Crumple up that paper and throw it as hard as you can at your brother (I mean, the youngest who must be the garbage bag holder) and then model your new Wonder Woman UnderRoos (cursing your mother for not buying you whichever one came with the bra--cat woman maybe?) until it is your turn again. This process can take anywhere from 4-6 hours depending on the event attendance. We will usually take a break and have some breakfast so the Irish coffee drinkers and the elders don't pass out before it's over. It's all great fun and I have a hard time enjoying any other gift opening when there is paper and chaos flying about. FYI--I should have left those Underoos in the package. The boys' version of R2D2, which I believe I also had, is going for $200 on ebay. One more comment, I hate the word panty. With a passion.

I'm free! (That's three for all of you that don't speak toddler! Hmm...is three years still toddler? Yikes, I think he's a preschooler now. Uh oh, bring on the baby thoughts...)


Pat Pat Rocket and Construction Helper Toolset were both hits (for both kids!)

You can't have too many hair accessories...




Did I mention that they both enjoy the tools?



Unfortunately, Kaela had a fever last night and off and on today. Yeah, today was a rough one for me. I had to do this:


And look at this all day:



And it was the perfect day for it because outside really looks like a winter wonderland. It snowed all day--nonstop. Luckily, our friends Nick and Renee walked their snowblower over and did our driveway. I love friends. Actually, Renee came in and we chatted while the boys did the driveway.

...my man, that is. I know, you all think you have the best husband in the world, but I'm sorry to tell you that title belongs to mine. Seriously, did you see the pic in my last post? The pic where I said I was "keeping it real"? I won't tell you how many days unshowered I was, but let's say it was more than one. Probably more than several. So, he says to me: you look sexy. I'm all--wha? then he shows me the pic he's looking at--stinky pic--and he says he thinks it's a good picture. Only a face a husband could love, I tell ya. What a guy.

And then there's this:



Sorry, Ladies (and probably a few gents) he's taken--and not by me. Let's just say, she has blonde pigtails, loves to sing and dance, and goes by the name of Chubba. Ok, so that could be me...but it's not.

These photos are from a series of hundreds that we took tonight. We got the kids all spiffied up and decided that tonight is the night we get our Christmas photo! Unfortunately, we didn't consult the real bosses on this decision, and we got some cute pics, but none are card worthy. Don't worry, the job is done, just not how I expected. When you receive them in the mail, you will laugh thinking back to this post and all of the time spent looking all nice and pretty/handsome. And I will also say, the idea was all Kyle's. Man, he's having a good day. Here are a few more cuties from tonight:

(notice the painted walls--yea!)

Cameron has taken to drinking "warm" tea and "warm" chocolate, especially when we are having a cup. He loves his boy-sized mug:


"Mama, whachu doing?"


He's also taken to saying, "Look at that" in the most old lady tone. It's too darn cute.


And those curls...


And the finale!


This last one, well, this is dedicated to Kyle. We have all been afflicted with a serious head cold--I cannot breathe out of my nose at all. My lips are dry, my nose is red, my head is foggy. So, one of the hundreds of shots taken was accidentally snapped as I was laying on the floor for "an artistic perspective." Eat your heart out, Giselle.



PS I had to work this morning, so I did shower!

On most days, Cameron wakes up and says, "Mommy!" Sometimes he says, "Daddy!" and when he's feeling colorful he says, "hello! hello? hello!" Today he woke up saying, "MommyDaddy! MommyDaddy!" So, I rolled out of bed and went to get him. We were doing the usual and just trying to get to the potty, when he said, "Mama, you're my friend," out of nowhere. I really was just stunned--I have no idea where this came from, but it absolutely made my day.

I am not a religious person, but I am spiritual. I don't often describe events in my life as blessings. Maybe I've felt lucky or fortunate, and there are a few moments that I can describe as blessings. Today was a blessed day.

We have had many things go wrong with our new house since we moved in. We need new windows, sooner rather than later, a mysterious musty odor in a kitchen cabinet, mold, rats, dead skunk in front of our house, more musty mysterious smells (the list goes on...) And then today happened.

I was driving on a highway to take the kids to daycare and my husband was following behind me. He travels the same route for about half of the trip and then heads over the border to work. I was driving along, not doing anything in particular--just driving, when a deer flashed in front of our van. It happened just like that. You know when you watch those scary movies like, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and a person just appears in front of the car? That's what it was like, except it was a deer (thankfully not a person!) So, I hit the deer going 60mph and all I remember was smashing and then pulling over to the side of the road. My husband, being behind us, saw the deer pop up from our van and fly across the passing lane into the grass. The kids, who were watching a Baby Einstein movie, didn't seem to notice anything. The highway guys down the road heard the crash and came over to see if we were ok.

I'm quite shaken, as is my husband, and I can feel the whiplash setting in. I'll happily take that rather than what could have happened. I feel very blessed that my family is all at home tonight, safe and sound. Even with the memory of the flash of that deer, the thought of "not with the kids in the car", and the worry of my husband worrying about us, I feel like today was a gift. Today, we were given a chance to make everything that has gone wrong with this new house, better. We were given our health and our lives. I could not possibly ask for anything better than that. Today, was a good day.