Adjusting

I think I get a little depressed when Hubby leaves for a trip... at least for the first day or two. Wednesday was hard, I had a very hard time getting into anything, the kids got a lot of free play time! The evenings of course are the worst, the house is strangely just that much quieter with him gone, and of course our bed is just soooo big.

Today I was feeling a bit more 'me', actually got some things accomplished. We have very few plans for the weekend, although I do hope that we get to go skating... I finally purchased some skates today. I would need at least Grandma along, Grandpa would just make it that much easier, at least until the boys learn how to skate on their own. Hopefully they can make it over tomorrow.

Little Man had a bad night last night, poor little guy is still coughing a fair bit. I really hope he can sleep well tonight, I myself could really use a good night as well. At least I don't have to rush out the door in the morning, and can just wake up slowly.

I'm finally scheduled to learn more about my camera (Canon 50D) in two weeks, hopefully from there I may even get a chance to take more classes. I'm really looking forward to getting out more this summer, and really play around with the camera... who knows I may even have a bigger lens by then too. I do have a birthday coming up in April!!! LOL Not sure I want anything for the camera or not though, as I would love to get a Sony Reader Digital Book. In going through all my books this week, it has made me realize that I don't want to be dragging books with me around the world one day! But, I of course still want to read! I don't need it anytime soon, but before we head off again.

Hubby really wants the company sold this year, of course it's not in our hands though. He figures he would have at least 1-2 years worth of obligation to the buyer, but could then take a much needed break. I really hope it works out soon, I am getting anxious to leave this cold weather.

Hate the quiet..

Even though Hubby doesn't always hang out with me in the evenings, usually working in the office, I find the quiet of the house while he is away to be too much. The first night and day that he is gone is always the worst. I just hope that the boys don't give me too much trouble, I'm not at my best right now.

Looks like trouble is already starting!!! I've been upstairs 5 times in the last 20 minutes dealing with Monkey and Bug!!! @$@$@#%Q#$@^^&@ Why, oh Why do they have to do this now!!!

I'm going to just sit back with something to drink... I think we have some wine??? Watch a little TV, and hopefully fall asleep easily. That big bed upstairs is so much larger with him gone... sigh...

A good day

So far, I would say today was an okay day... although finding out that Hubby is leaving for England tomorrow, for just shy of 2 weeks wasn't all that nice. We had plans to attend the RV Show this weekend, sans kids. That of course is now not going to happen, as well as my kid free time!!! My plan for his absence is to just survive... nothing fancy LOL.

Little Man was really paying attention to all the blowing out of candles from earlier this month. For the last week or so, he has been trying to blow the lights out! This of course has made us giggle. But last night at dinner time had has laughing! Hubby decided to dim the lights when Little Man tried to blow them out, his face was priceless when the light actually went out! He of course was doing his best to blow all the lights out today, some of which we obliged him, and turned off.

I had a nice time with Monkey and Bug working on letters and words after lunch. I decided that I need to start working with them every day, at the same time, to get us all in the right place to home school. It went much better than I would have thought! Bug did an excellent job tracing out the letters of his name. Monkey did very well tracing, as well as pronouncing words, and reading some basic sentences. I'm really looking forward to doing this more.

I worked with Monkey, and Bug for about a half hour, then sent Bug for his nap. I then worked with Monkey for another half hour, then let him play on the computer while I cleaned the bathrooms. Still can't get over how long (over one hour) it takes to clean the two upstairs bathrooms, as well as the powder room on the main floor. You would think that after one and a half years I would be used to it, but I guess not... and this did not include the downstairs bathroom!

I do get a small break tomorrow as Hubby needs to be out in Cochrane for the morning, so he will be taking Bug to school. At least I don't have to rush out the door with all 3 kids for one morning... although I have eight to do while Hubby is away.

Wish me Luck, and Sanity for the coming weeks!

Being Ruthless!

Well, I finally started to go through my boxes of books yesterday... and so far I have 2 + boxes of books that I will be taking to consignment. I still have 2 boxes to sort through as well. I do have a number of books that are too ratty to make it to consignment, still not sure what to do with those. If feels strange to be doing this, I have been collecting my books for 14 years now. But, I don't see much point to having them around, especially in boxes, when I would just have to get rid of them when we move again. This at least frees some room up.

We are all still a bit sick, I'm half tempted to not take Monkey to school today. Little Man has quite the cough going on. Guess I will just see how Monkey is feeling when I drag him out of school.

Time to run, and make some breakfast for me and this kids.

Oh, Hubby got the pipes going again, and thinks he found where the issue is. Hopefully he can get it fixed up before the next freeze.

Stupid Pipes!!!

Well, with the cold weather back, the pipes leading to my washer are frozen again!! It makes no sense???!??!??! The utility sink just 3 feet away works fine... but not the washer. So, I have the heater downstairs where we have access to the pipes, and Hubby is presently behind the washer opening the wall up. He plans to get some Heat Tape to put around the pipes to prevent this from happening again. This house is only 10 years old, got to wonder what was done to cause this problem???

Other than that, a rather quiet day again. We went for a nice drive this afternoon, headed East out of the City through the back roads. All the boys had a nice nap in the van. We then popped by a nearby mall to let the boys play at the play place located inside. Tonight I plan to watch Eureka, and then maybe have a bath... figure I need to start actually using my tub LOL.

A day of nothing

So, we are a sick household! Me, Hubby, and the boys all have colds. It sucks! I did at least get to sleep till almost noon today, first time in a very long time that I have gotten a break while sick. Hubby slept most of the day yesterday... so I felt it was my turn.

Needless to say it is a rather quiet day here for us, the only excitement going to the store to get groceries... which wouldn't have happened except that we were out of Milk and NeoCitron. At least Little Man enjoyed the outing. I was able to use one of the car carts, so he steered us around while saying brrrrmmmm, brrrmmmm. He is such a little cutie. He is also saying Luna (our cat's name), Meow, Hockey, and all sorts of sounds that we aren't quite sure about yet. It amazes me how much he says, the older two didn't say nearly this much at this age.

Right now Hubby is putting film over the window's in the boys rooms. The main reason is because of a lot of ice buildup on their windows, not sure why that is happening though. We have much larger window's in our room, without the ice buildup.

This coming week I am going to establish a routine to see how we do with one. If homeschooling, and myself taking some courses is going to work... we need a very good routine set up. I really want to make this work, I think it would be great for all of us. I'm not sure if I will take the full Bachelor of Commerce program, or just the courses that I need for what I plan on doing. Guess I will just start off with course and take it from there.

Made it to the Zoo

Well, we actually made it to the Zoo today... left the house a little later than I would have liked, but at least we got out the door. The weather was perfect for a day out, didn't have to dress up all that much. The best part was how nice and quiet it was, much easier to see all the animals... at least those ones that were out and about.

What amazed me the most was how well behaved I felt the boys were. Both Monkey, and Bug listened well, stayed close to the stroller, and didn't run off. By the time we left, they were getting a little tough to manage, but not as bad as it could have been. For their good behaviour, I let them each pick out a stuffed animal from the gift store. Monkey picked out a Flamingo, and Bug picked out a nice little Tiger. We had fun chasing the boys with the flamingo after dinner tonight.

Otherwise it was an uneventful day. I did enjoy not having to rush out the door for school, makes me almost think I should pull the boys out of pre-school now... but I do want them to finish the year. Here's some pics from our time at the zoo.

Hmmmm

Came across this on Skyhaven's blog, very interesting!

A new blog

Well, the time has come in my life that I need to lose the weight I have slowly been gaining... and keeping. I am done with having children, so the excuses need to stop. I've started a blog to chronicle this journey. It will be hard for me to do this, but I am determined that it needs to happen! So, here it is....

http://towearabikini.blogspot.com/

What is going on!!!!

I had figured since the weather is still so nice out, that we should head to the Zoo. I asked the boys to clean up the toys, while I was getting the kitchen in order... I'm sure some of you can guess what happened next. Thirty minutes later (and there was not that many toys out) I got tired of telling them to clean, and informed them that we were not going to the Zoo if this is how well they are going to listen!!! Again, I'm sure you can imagine the reaction, the screaming, the joy! It really did not make for a pleasant beginning to our afternoon. I am going to try for tomorrow, I've talked with the boys multiple times about what I expect before we leave.... let's just hope they listen!

I am starting to get excited about Homeschooling! I will be attending a Convention in Red Deer mid April, there should be a lot of information to help me get started. The best part is that I will be going with a number of friends, who will all be starting Kindergarten this fall. The fact that I will be there without Hubby and the kids is also contributing to my enthusiasm LOL.

We had a really nice sunset today, I was able to get outside to take pictures every 10 minutes or so. I did kick the boys outside for a good chunk of time this afternoon, no point in totally wasting a beautiful day.

Not the best day around here, but a good weekend.

Well, this day has not exactly gone so well. The boys are snuffly, and I am now feeling a bit crappy. Because of the sniffles, I didn't make it to the gym this morning... but considering I don't feel so great myself now, I don't mind all that much. I did manage to get a few winks while on the couch this afternoon. Little Man seems the most affected by this, he was positively miserable this afternoon. He finally went for a second nap around 2 this afternoon, and thankfully was a happy little boy when he woke up around 4. Not sure I could have handled much more of his crankiness!

We had a very nice weekend here, the weather has been unseasonably warm! It got up to 14°C (57°F) yesterday!!! So, we took advantage, and went sledding in the afternoon. Hubby and I didn't even bother with coats it was so nice out. Monkey still wouldn't go down the hill, not sure why he doesn't want to do it. Bug of course was all over it! He loved going as fast as he could, and also getting the jumps at the bottom of the hill. Thankfully he will now bring his sled up by himself, so we can just wait at the top. Afterwards we went to my Parents for dinner, along with my Japanese sister, her husband, and their little girl. She is such a cutie, and the boys love playing with her.

Monkey Loves his Denver pudding... just like Me! LOL

Saturday we had some friends over for dinner. It was the first in a very long time that we have had friends over for dinner. They have 2 boys similar in ages to Monkey and Bug, so the noise level was fairly high, but they all had a good time. I am going to have to plan more evenings like that, we have a great house for entertaining, but don't entertain much!

Otherwise, not to much crazy going on around here. I am pulling Bug from School this week, the last few weeks of fits and fights have just been too much for me. Hopefully it all settles down soon.

An Award!

Well, it looks like I've done an okay job on this blog LOL. This is the award I just received!

Here are the rules...The rules for the Honest Scrap award -The honorees are to:
A) first list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1. I really, and truly do not want to be here in the cold anymore, and I do regret our decision to move back when we got pregnant with Little Man... and I try my best to not regret past decisions.
2. I wish I could think like my hubby, his brain leaves mine in the dust!
3. I want another baby, or 2, or 3... don't tell hubby!!!!
4. I'm not as confident as I seem, I have all the same insecurities as everyone else.
5. I have many things I want to do in life, I just procrastinate too much.
6. I can do many different things (sew, crochet, cook, etc), but don't feel that I can do them well.
7. I get lost in books. I also have a penchant for romance's, especially period ones. I love good Sci-Fi's, and Fantasy's.
8. I get upset that hubby gets to go and have lunch with friends whenever he wants, and I'm stuck at home with the boys. I would like that once in a while.
9. I'm a Star Trek Geek! I used to run home from elementary school (took about 5 min) to watch the old Star Trek's. This was the early 80's. And yes, I watched NG, DS9, Voyager... and all the movies.
10. I would not trade on minute of my life with hubby for anything in the world. He's brought so much into my life, and shown me so many things... he's given me an amazing life!

Whew! Now for the nominees!

Trace (Little Patch of Clover)
Jeni (Typhoons and Geckos and Snakes... Oh My!!!)
Jen (Plenty of Not Much)
Maggie (Life with 3 Monkeys)

I need to add three more, but might not get a chance today... so here is what I have!!!!

All these revelations have made me think...

So, I didn't get on last night at all... just decided to veg out, and relax. With the decision that hubby has made about flying, and our plans to homeschool the kids... it has made me think of myself, and where I am/want to be a little bit. I have been looking at the Bachelor of Commerce program at Athabasca University (an online school with very good ratings here) for a number of years, but have never actually taken it further than looking. They now have a BofC with a major in Financial Services, which is pretty much what would make sense for me take.

I have been thinking for a few years that I would most likely not be going back to work, unless it was something that I could do part-time, from home, and from anywhere in the world. This could be it! I also want to be able to handle all our financial concerns (especially when the company sells one day), and even help hubby in setting up any business down the road.

My one big concern is how I will go about doing it all??? Can I really homeschool, take classes at home, clean the house, play with the kids, and still have some downtime??? It is a very scary prospect. I of course could start off with a couple one course, and take it from there... but I don't want to not finish, if you know what I mean! Ugh, I just don't know how to do it, and still keep my sanity. I also don't want to wait too long to do it either!!!!

If anyone has any words of wisdom, or even been there, done that... please let me know. I am just so confused right now.

The Bug's Birthday Extravaganza

Well, it all went off without a hitch LOL. Although with it being spread out over so many days, it seemed to last forever! My Dinosaur cake was a hit, although I'm sure I could have done a much better job, it was just fine.

The party yesterday was fun as well, we had a total of 9 kids, and even managed to get Little Man over to Grandma's. Right now they are enjoying the balloons, and the new drum the Bug got from a friend... really could have done without that one LOL.

I will now overload you all with photos :). I will write a bunch tonight, as I have also been doing a lot of thinking these last few days, and need a chance to get it all out and see if it makes any sense.

Well, my little bug is now 3 years old! It's amazing how quickly time has gone, and where we have ended up! With hubby away yesterday, we didn't really do very much. While Monkey was at school, we did attend the play place... which of course made Bug extremely happy. We then made some cupcakes in the afternoon, wonderful orange chocolate ones. Tonight Grandma & Grandpa will come by for a nice birthday dinner, as well as more cupcakes.

The party on Saturday is shaping up to be nice, I have 7 kids coming so far... not too many, but could still handle a few more. I will spend tomorrow getting all the things together for it, namely balloons, decorations (dinosaur related), cake baked, and cleaning the house. Saturday morning will be getting the house decorated, hopefully hubby will take the boys our in the morning so I can work uninterrupted.

I will post pictures from yesterday, and tonight when the kidlets are in bed.

Organization

I have made a small dent in the household disaster today, I can slowly see an end to the disorganization. I even got the balls to actually go through some of the toys, and pack it up. I will take another night (or two) to decide what I am going to do with it... and I'm sure there is more I can get rid of. I'll post some pics of the removed toys when I am done, should make for a much easier cleanup for the kidlets.

Tomorrow is Bug's 3rd birthday, I really wish he would slow down! Although I also wish he would hurry up, and grow up a little... he is just so wild some days that I don't know I get through it all. I really hope he calms down a little bit soon. Hubby is in San Francisco until late in the evening tomorrow, so we will be having Bug's Birthday dinner on the Thursday. And of course there is the Birthday Party Saturday afternoon. So far I only have 5 kids coming, but haven't heard from everyone yet either. It should be an interesting afternoon.

Just getting my thoughts out.

So, I have a lot to think about tonight, and the next few months as well. The more I think about homeschooling the boys, the more I think it is the right decision for us. It will require more organization from me, and some extra sacrifices, but I can't think of anything that outweighs the positives.

My biggest stumbling block in this whole enterprise will be my organizational skills... which I will need to seriously work on. I need my house to be organized, and ready to go for a project like this. Which means I have a lot of tidying, cleaning, sorting that needs to be done.

I should probably do a list, which is then prioritized, and scheduled. I may just actually get things done this way!!!!

Now off to hopefully get some sleep... my dreams have been very strange, and unfortunately very realistic lately.

A night of revelations... so far at least!

Two big things decided about tonight... one I sort of knew could happen, the other one way out from left field! I guess I will start with the one on the radar, so to speak.

Homeschooling... yup, it is now on the table, and we have one week to decide!!! We aren't really happy with the school locations for our neighborhood, a bit of a ride for Monkey to take everyday. We also know that when we eventually move onto the yacht, we would of course be homeschooling then. It does make sense to try it out now for kindergarten, and see if it will work for us. I am a little freaked out as the majority of the work, preperation, and research will fall to me. Guess I have some reading to do this week!

Rotary Flight School. For those not familiar with the term, it means helicopter flight lessons. I went to go and show hubby my new camera bag, and found him looking at helicopters for sale!!!??! There is a private ground school starting later this month out at the local airport, he would be able to start flight lessons shortly thereafter.

I am a little jealous of this last revelation, as 9 years ago I completed my Fixed Wing Private Pilot's License. I really miss flying, and would love to start again, but the time just hasn't been right.

I wonder what else will happen tonight????

Post Christmas Let Down

It's always a little sad to take the Christmas stuff down and get it ready for storage... also sometimes makes me wonder why go to the trouble of putting it out for a month a year??? Now that the Christmas season is over, it will give me a chance to finally finish getting the house set up they way I want it to be. I would love to have it painted, but the expense is an issue... and just not sure I am up to the job myself.

I have curtains for two rooms (the master bedroom, and the front living room) to be completed, as well as finishing touches that need to be done. I am also going to be clearing out toys this week, they really don't need all that we have, and I hate the clutter it creates! Some of them I will sell, the rest will head off to goodwill.

It is also time that I started watching what I eat, it has been getting a little out of hand lately. With Little Man being 1, and no plans for anymore little ones, it is time to take back my body. I will start with small changes, and then progress through out the year to get where I want/need to be. I'm still working on setting up my weight loss blog, but should hopefully have it up and going by tomorrow. I should also have the house sorted out well enough in a few days to devote some time to exercise!!!!

Not too much going on the last few days, just hanging out and trying to stay warm! We did make it to a local play place yesterday, the boys all had a blast. It also gave me a chance to really play around with the camera. I love that I can take so many shots, and then just delete the ones that don't turn out. Here are a few from the yesterday that I really liked.

Welcome to the New Year!

Well, it is another New Year, and time for some change! Our dream is still to live aboard a boat, but we are not ready for that yet. I have changed the title to Dreams of Cyprus, as that is what I feel is the closest, and more easily attainable dream. I will have other changes over the coming days/weeks, but they will all be cosmetic... I'm having fun figuring out the code!

Hubby and I stayed up for Midnight to enjoy a nice glass of Bollinger, which I am also enjoying right now. I'm not sure what would be considered our goals for the coming year, not something we have ever done. But, I would say the basics apply...

• Enjoy as much time with our boys as we can.
• Help them to grow up as well mannered, happy children.
• Teach them the joys of living.
• Find a way to bring our long term dreams even closer!!!

As for my own goals, that would be to lose this weight that I have been carrying around for more years than I would like. I had started losing weight very nicely 2 years ago, but getting pregnant put a stop to that. Now that Little Man is just past one (and he even slept through the night last night), it is time to start working on myself. I am setting up a blog to chronicle this journey, which should be over by our Anniversary in November.

I wish you all a very happy New Year!