Random shots

Nicole has been involved in Lacrosse conditioning Monday thru Thursday since school started in January and now Saturday mornings also. She took this shot of her uniform on "her dad's camera" and I thought I thought it would be the perfect thing to share with the family.

Chay and Blade get to spend a lot of time with each other and it is so endearing to see how much they really do love each other. Blade needed help with his game and Chay was willing to help him, I think the look on Chay's face is one of concentration...

Why is it that at certains times in our lives, it's just natural to stuff things in our shirts? I can't remember now if Blade was trying to hide something from us or just put some clothes away. It's kind of disturbing that his random stuffing "filled out" the sweater quite nicely.

Dave found cars while cleaning and Blade was so excited to have "new" cars and after playing with them kept lining them up. Is nice to see some orderly characteristic starting to shine through.

...that's creavtive...

Chay studied about Egypt and he made an impressive mask at school. The teacher put some kind of plaster on his face and so it's an actually mold of his face. He put it on Nicole's door and surprisingly, it's still there more than a week later.


The scaffolding is still up, because I haven't attempted the higher level yet, and the kids are still having fun with it.

Everyone is getting into the act.

And everyone is getting braver and creative with what they do.

I came home one day from work and Chay and Blade had made a full fort with every blanket they could find. It seemed quite cozy inside. I know Koshi was making herself at home inside.

There's a FIRST time for everything

FIRST SHAVE FOR CHAY

Chay did his book report last week on Martin Luther King Jr., and Nicole and I thought that it would be perfect for Chay to have a mustache like "Martin". Nicole had the honor of giving Chay his first SHAVE! Chay however did not want to go to school and spend the entire day with a thin mustache about his upper lip and so he had Nicole lather him up again and shave the upper lip clean. Sorry I didn't get a before picture. Immediately after the shave, Chay looked so different to us.

The other weird thing is that Chay is wearing one of Dave's old suits....and except for the length and the shoulders, it pretty much fit. In the day, Dave was a mighty thin guy...what would it be like to have 3% body fat? (Just imagine how I must have felt standing beside him).


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR BLADE

Blade's first bento box lunch

Blade is now in preschool at Challenger School! His first day was Tuesday and it was a successful one, on the way home he kept telling me "I had fun at school". He will be spending his entire day with Ms. Kim and his friends on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The plan is that on the Tuesdays and Thursday that I work, Nicole will drop Blade off on her way to school and I will pick him up after work. I got Blade's lunch and clothes ready the night before and Nicole had the honor of getting him ready and taking Blade's
"first day of school" picture.


First Day of School

Blade's second day of school was even better than his first, nap time wasn't upsetting for him, and he learned about the letter "Y" and turtles.

The bento box wasn't more important than Blade's first day of school but again, I couldn't rearrange the pictures. But I must say, I do believe that I will get into bento boxes more now that I have to pack a lunch twice a week. I am still so thankful for school lunch and not having to worry about making lunches everyday. When I was growing up, I didn't even realize that schools had full cafeterias to make lunch for the students. It's kind of like the cardboard containers that Chinese take-out is in; I thought that just happened in the movies...and then I had take out in the United States....they really do have Chinese take-out in those cute containers...

...Now Nicole is saying that I can make her lunch everyday...

I'm Grateful...

Reading Angie's blog today was that "little something" that I needed to put things in perspective.

I got home this morning around 6AM, after being at work since 1AM, and although I was able to sleep for a short while, I was still feeling tired and not too tolerant of Blade NOT washing his hands after going to the bathroom AND telling me he had.

....then I read Angie's blog....

You know what, I'm grateful that Blade is finally "going to the bathroom", and not having any accidents (even when he had diarrhea) (...too much information?...).

I'm grateful that even though Dave worked ALL night, he stayed up and let me sleep while he made sure that Chay got off to school okay.

I'm grateful for a little boy that tells me he loves me multiple times an hour. His latest thing is telling me "I love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very.....much". It's surprising how many very(s) he can get in. And then he'll follow it up by trying to outdo himself with the number of very(s).

I'm grateful for a daughter who is responsible with what she needs to get done on a daily basis. And that although she is over whelmed at times, still takes the time to help her brother with his studying because she knows that I'll get home from work late and that time is not ideal for Chay and me to be studying.

I'm grateful for a bigger boy who is able to make his own choices and deal with the consequences.

I'm grateful also that I have kids that are able to run around, sing, yell and able to make a mess with toys, food, clothes, whatever.

My home may be small and unfinished, but I'm so grateful to have a roof over my head with heat, running water and a way to keep and prepare food.

I'm grateful that Dave and I have jobs and are physically able to perform our jobs and take care of our children.

I'm grateful that I'm typing this with little arms hugging me all over and a little boy climbing all over me telling me, "I love you very, very, very, very, very, very...much!"

Now to go on with my day...

Thanks for reading.

A couple of weeks in review

This initial picture is displaced but it does show what I have been doing the past few days. Yes, that is scaffolding in my house...and yes, I did go up on it. I did not however, set up and get to the next level which is at the two boards on the right. I don't know if I can do that. I've been doing the faux painting on some walls and ceilings. If you look zoom the image and look at the area above the "x" by the board, you can see the level I could get to before having to go higher. I don't like heights and although the platform is only 6 ft above the ground, when I'm standing on it, my pulse goes up, my toes tingle....

With all the weird angles on the ceiling I just have to figure out how I'm going to get to the tops of the walls by the door and do the ceiling. Another 4 feet up is more than I think I can handle. Dave knows that and has said "you may have to show me how to do". Now, if that isn't love...

Nicole was actually sitting at the table talking with Chay one day and then told him "I can't take you seriously when you're sitting there with Mickey Mouse ears". He's just the right height for that to occur...the rest of us can sit at the table and carry on a serious conversation (that is if we can hear everything that is being said...ie "tell me the story of cheeses").

AND I love a great sale! Old Navy was having a 50% off clearance items and despite going the afternoon of the second day of the sale, I still managed to get all the items below for $80! Chay got some much needed pants (he has officially graduated to the men's department for clothing...ouch). I even found a couple of pants for Dave (he's a very popular size). Nothing for Nicole and me though.

Nicole can have a very abstract mind at times and after eating a wonderful breakfast of Dave's "homefried potatoes" and scrambles eggs, Nicole found a new pet chicken on the table. After seeing the photo of the "chicken" I was surprised by how different it looks from the actual thing. It's too "embryotic" looking in the picture. Nicole left her chicken there but it didn't last the day...

The reason why I didn't make it to the initial day of the sale, waiting for the doors to open, is being a the husband of a friend from work was very kind and brought over and set up the scaffolding for me. There really are extremely KIND people out there...as Sharon and Darren know all too well. Al was climbing and walking around the scaffolding like he was walking on the ground. He had me get up on it while he was there and I was surprised that I did it and didn't lose all control.

...so, this is what it looks like in the front of our house...

...the good thing is, we have our own private jungle gym in the front of our house...

Blade has been having alot of fun swinging on it and climbing...he has no fear whatsoever. Dave has been giving him a "5" on his dismounts.

Nicole has been seen swinging and climbing on it also but I know that she would not be happy if I posted the picture I have of her swinging so, I'll just post this on.

Chay loves climbing up and sitting on the platform. It has been good for him because he "thought" he was afraid of heights but I don't see any evidence of that.

Last week, Dave took Chay to the Car show and Chay took a lot of pictures of some of the cars. I don't know which one was his favorite so I just picked on. Chay came home with a bag full of car books and even plastic and reusable bags for me to use (he likes free things, he truly is my son!).

"You didn't know I could do this before"

The "men" working on Chay's science project. Chay came up with the project on his own (really) and planted seeds and will use bottle water, tap water, dechlorinized water and microwaved water to see how it effects the growth.

We picked up Alana on Sunday to share some of her Birthday week end and Blade and I made some coconut cupcakes using the larger tapered cups I had. I also forgot I needed buttermilk and tried the substitute of mixing milk and vinegar. Let me tell you, the substitute does not produce the same results as the buttermilk, either that or it was just me...I did kind of over bake the cupcakes a little.

Chef Blade

I know that Blade really enjoyed the cupcakes! My opinion is that these cups give too much coconut cupcake for the amount of icing. The smaller cups have a more ideal proportion of icing to cupcake.

For Alana's birthday we had a Black Forest Cake from Sam's Club.

Each candle represented a lucky 7 years.

The Birthday girl

...and the best part, licking the icing off the candles...

Alana, Nicole and Chay drove up to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival and experienced all that comes with that...difficulty finding parking was one of the things. They even worked on a code word if anyone saw a celebrity. Alana did see someone...I don't know if they used the code word.

....then I got called into work...and had to leave.

...talk about clogged pipes...!

Life continues on with me, keeping busy with work and family. Unfortunately, I've been more tired than usual the past while and going to bed early (I'm embarrassed to document exactly what time), thus, I haven't been taking pictures. And no, I am NOT pregnant! Shame on you for even thinking that...

Today Dave must have gotten just as tired as I was with the water overflowing over the pipe when we washed our clothes because this evening he tried to unclog the pipes...and he was working hard at it. We were both SHOCKED by what he found!

The entire pipe was clogged with old lint, when Dave pulled pieces out it was like homemade paper ( I'm thinking, embellishments for homemade cards...I'm just kidding). The hole by the bronze color is the only path for the water to go through...and that was AFTER Dave shot the pressure hose down the pipe.

I'll spare you a lot of the details but I will let you know that Dave is at Home Depot as I write this.
I'm still amazed that the pipe could be that clogged, no wonder the water was overflowing....how it got down at all is amazing. I'm pretty sure some of the lint isn't even ours.

Nicole is very happy today because clothes were 70% off at "the store" and she took full advantage of that. AND she actually found "the" boots she has been looking for-excited doesn't even describe how she felt about that). Before Christmas she spend an entire day shopping with Dave at the mall to look for "the" boots and then online. She saved $50 (I told her she could have saved $85). She also points out that she did find a few things for Chay. And apparently, on Thursday they will be wearing their matching shirts. That will be a first...I must remember to get a picture of that. Nicole is now wearing Chay's hand-me-downs (I must get a picture of that also). Nicole needed "running" shoes (not runners) and Chay had some new ones he hasn't been wearing because he has now decided that he doesn't want to go running, and so they now belong to Nicole.

Hmmm, I'm just thinking, this may be the year for Nicole.

The change from 2008 to 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'll do a review of our past few days in reverse order because my computer skills are not on par with those of the rest of my family and I'm limited with what I can manipulate.

We have wanted to go sledding at Sugar House Park since it snowed last week but wanted to go as a family and today was the day we could do it. Unlike in Alberta, the weather has been warming up and melting the snow and so the snow in the park was limited and hard and crusty/icy this morning but, we weren't going to let that stop us. It actually made it a little more intense because it was difficult (if at all) to slow down and more often than not we headed for the area without the bundle of straw.

We rode in almost all combination of riders.

It felt too "fast" for Blade and as he sped down the hill, he was yelling "stop it, I want to stop" but as soon as it stopped, he was yelling "let's go again".

You can tell from the look on Chay's face that he was heading for the break in the straw....

Nicole had skill because she always managed to be safe and hit the straw/hay...don't worry, Chay was fine, he was lying there for effect.

Dave and I however, rode out into the edge of the road, sadly, one of the times we even hit the garbage can. Being the gentleman that he is, Dave managed to get the sled to turn so that he was able to push the garbage can...either that or he was lucky.

(another one of those "I'm turning Japanese-a" moments...or "Asian eyes are watching you" but, I couldn't see anything at that moment...)

My cute happy boy....

My manly "I'm getting worried now" boy....

These pictures sure are ALOT different from the ones on Angie's blog, and for that matter, from the ones on Sheila's blog. I'm that happy medium...

WARNING: THE NEXT IMAGE MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR MENTAL WELL BEING

I worked New Year's Eve and early in the evening I was tired and anticipated just taking a short nap while I stayed in the company of the family while they watched TV and did whatever they did. Little did I know that they were enjoying make fun of me and laughing at me. Chay was so happy that he got such an "attractive" picture of me....and apparently, I snore (softly I'm sure...).

I slept until shortly before midnight. Then I was a wake longer than the rest. We had bottles of "celebration pop" but Chay forgot to take them out of the freezer (I told him to put them there for 30 minutes for a quick chilling, and they were there for a lot longer) and one "POPPED"(exploded) when he put it on the stove. The others had popped their lids abit and were leaking. So, our tradition of guzzling Sparkling apple cider did not happen this year.

BUT we did call home and wished everyone at Grandma's and Grandpa's a Happy New Year and wished Grandpa a Happy Birthday! That tradition continued!

While I was at work New Year's Eve, Dave took Chay and Blade to the zoo. The new merry go round was completed and sweet Chay treated his brother to TWO rides!

This is a tradition - to be pictured measuring up to this orangatang (sp?). I know that along with my kids, Michael and Kristi have pictures like this also.

AND the BEST DAD AWARD this year goes to Dave!

He spent at least a half an hour letting Blade shave his head.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone and may we all just be better than we were last year!