14
September
2007
September
2007
When Balloons Attack1
The balloons attacked again last night, but Noah successfully fended them off. I think we need to remember to put them away before we go to bed, so we all don’t have heart attacks. 
12
September
2007
September
2007
When Things Go Bump in the Night1
or…when balloons make funny shadows.
At 4:30 this morning Mike and I woke up to Noah barking and growling like crazy. We weren’t quite sure what to do. So Mike crept downstairs with me following close behind. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he turns to me and says, “you’ve got to see this.” “This” was Noah barking and growling at one of the boy’s balloons. There must have been some change in the air that caused the balloon to move slightly and Noah just freaked. After chuckling over Noah’s seeming distress and moving the balloon out of sight, we had a chance to think about how we responded to Noah’s barking. Should we have taken a baseball bat with us? What if there had been someone in the house? We decided that Mike, upon seeing them first would have peed his pants and turned around to run upstairs but because I was following so close behind he would have crashed into me and we probably would have gone tumbling down the stairs. Maybe that alone would have scared them away! Or at least caught them off guard. I guess maybe we have to come up with a plan. Although hopefully the only people breaking into our house from now on will be balloons.
8
September
2007
September
2007
Making their Parents Proud3
Lately the boys have been doing some fun things that have made both Mike and I proud, mostly because they are things that we are interested in!
A few weeks ago when Mike was putting Drew to bed, Bran and I were doing puzzles. Bran gathered up all the puzzles and then started tapping on them. He told me it was his computer. He was working like daddy. So we’ve been sending off pretend emails to grandma, nana and papa. Eventually we’ll get to the real thing, but I’m not quite ready to confuse them over when they’re allowed to touch the computer and when they’re not.
Mike started teaching the boys to play Carcasonne not too long ago. The version of the game is very basic. The boys have to take turns taking tiles out of the bag, they have to lay a tile next to another tile, they may not pick up any of the tiles already on the table! This was been working fairly well, although it’s not a simple as you would think! But it’s music to his ears when his little boys run up to him asking “play a game daddy?”
For my part the boys have taken a real interest in music. They love to listen to music and whenever I have Itunes running on the computer they want to come to the table and just watch the screen and listen to the music (even though the only thing on the screen is a photo album cover). Getting to watch the visualizer is a real treat. They especially like listening to Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, and Hoe Down. During Fanfare, whenever the trumpets start playing they yell “trumpets, yay!” Bran is always asking where the flutes are so we wait for the next song to hear the flutes. They also like listening for the elbow (aka the oboe, they even point to their elbows!) Sometimes when I’m trying to get them into the kitchen (either from watching a video or just being distracted with play) all I have to do is put on Fanfare for the Common man, and they literally come running! Dan got the boys the CDs, “Classics for Children with Arthur Fiedler” and Peter and the Wolf. They’re awesome and the boys are starting to listen to those as well.
The other day Drew learned how to play a note on his plastic flutaphone. He can put his right finger over the first hole and take it on and off. He gets so excited that he starts jumping up and down and running for a high five. I wish I could get a video of it!
The boys are also starting to really enjoy swimming. Drew is especially taking to it (although Bran did awesome at lessons today). And often doesn’t mind going under when he jumps off the wall. The boys throw their boats out into the water then jump off into our arms and swim to the boat. Drew really gets his legs going and I think he could almost swim without me holding him if he didn’t panic a little bit when his head goes under. We’ve had fun going to the pool in Becky’s building. This Saturday we start another round of swim lessons. I’ve noticed one problem that Bran might have with moving to the next level which is where they really start to put their faces under and that’s that he can never keep his mouth closed! The boy is a mouth breather and I can’t get him to hold his breath, or even keep his lips together to go under. The instructor suggested that we practice humming. I think he’ll get there pretty soon.
Becky if you read this…when we were telling the boys about going to swim lessons Bran kept saying, “going swimming with Becky!” So now they are learning that our Saturday lessons are with other kids in a class so to distinguish in their minds, Bran keeps saying “going swimming with other kids”. Now hear around the house, “going swimming with Becky” and “going swimming with other kids” usually made in the form of a question so we will tell them which one they are doing!
8
September
2007
September
2007
Organized and Not So Organized Activities2
Yesterday I took the boys to this really cool morning of play at the North East Edmonton Gymnastics Club. I met another wife from the department who has been taking her girls to this drop-in morning so I decided to meet up with her and check it out. Basically it a giant room of gymnastics equipment and the kids run around and play on whatever they want. I like that’s it’s not organized because I don’t think the boys could handle, “now we’re going to practice our tumbling…” when there’s a room full of other fun things to play on. Especially when I have them both together by myself! So the boys got to swing on rings and high bars, balance on balance beams, jump on trampolines and run, hop and roll down this long trampoline like run with obstacles for them to run/hop over or around (it probably has an official name). Everything was their height and when it wasn’t (maybe a bigger kid was on it) someone would change the height for us. We haven’t yet got to try the rope swing, the horse, or much of the tumbling mat. But we’ll try that next week. I’ve been getting really anxious about how bad this winter is going to be with them in the house, but now we can look forward to Gymnastics Fridays!
So that was our unorganized activity for the week. Our organized activity is that the boys are taking swimming lessons again. Saturday mornings at Londonderry Leisure Centre. It’s a huge pool with swim lessons going on all morning so the boys can watch the bigger kids having lessons too, which they seem mesmerized by. This place is really cool because they have a teaching pool for the little ones that’s only 2 feet high. The place we were last year didn’t have that. The boys can actually touch the bottom which they think is the greatest, and we don’t have to hold them the whole time which gives them some independence. Today was just getting used to everything so we practiced bubbles and front and back floating. Bran loves to back float and he’s getting very good at it! Drew is getting good at bubbles and will sometimes push off with his feet and semi-swim/float just a short distance, maybe 6 inches until he starts to go under and then comes up sputtering, but not upset. It’s a 10 week class and I think they’re really going to enjoy it.
13
July
2007
July
2007
Atsui desu ne?!2
Hot, isn’t it!? This customary summer Japanese greeting seems most appropriate the past couple of days.
Considering we spend half of the year in winter with summers averaging 23 C, not many of us have air conditioning. So several days hovering around 30 C/90 F hasn’t been much fun. I was hoping I could be consoled by the fact that it’s so humid back East, but after checking the weather we’re all around 35%. As Connie would say, boo…!
Well, the pool is filled and ready for the kiddies and the basement has been relatively cleaned up thanks to Jeffery and Holly, so at least we have a few options for cooling off.
Atsui desu ne?!
So desu ne.
11
July
2007
July
2007
Withdrawal1
Mike’s brother Jeffery and his wife Holly have just left after spending the week with us. It was a great visit and we always enjoy getting to see them. Only now I think we’re all going through withdrawal. The boys are missing the constant attention and I’m missing the extra bodies to give them that attention. The boys are missing the acrobatics that ensued when uncle Jeffery played with them and looking up diggers and cars on auntie Holly’s computer. I’m missing extra hands to clean up after meals, make meals, hands to keep the boys occupied while I did some laundry, actually put up photos (I think I’ve finally caught up!) and even take a nap! Plus with all the extra people around we actually got to go do some fun things too! We took a walk to the Portuguese bakery (unfortunately they were out of custard tarts, sigh…), we took Noah to the puppy park and he got to swim in the river (the boys did a little swimming too! and Noah even got the mats cut out of his fur and several brushings), we went on a bike ride, and took the kids to the play zone at WEM where they ran up stairs and slid down slides. Anna and Joel watched the boys so the four adults could get a break and we went to an U-20 FIFA match (Canada vs. Austria and Chile vs. Congo) which was awesome, Becky came by on short notice and watched the boys while we went and played 18 holes of disc golf. The weather was horrible for golfing, but it was still a lot of fun. I haven’t gotten to play since Christmas and only a couple of times since the boys were born. We also stayed up way past our bedtimes and talked or played games.
So now, it’s time to get back to our normal lives but we’re all going through family withdrawal. At least we get to look forward to my mom’s visit in a few weeks!
3
July
2007
July
2007
Why You Should Always Have A Clean House…10
…You might have 3 policemen and a CSI taking photos and fingerprints inside of it!
“I’m sorry, do you have to show the judge those photos of my bedroom?”
You are probably wondering what on earth I’m talking about and honestly I’m still feeling a little off kilter as I write and wanting to type faster than my brain is working. So here’s the story to the best of my ability.
Thursday night Bran had a rough night of sleep with molars cutting and a cold. So around 6am when I heard someone in my bedroom I told Bran to go back to bed. Then my brain turned on and I remembered that there’s a gate over their door and there was no way he could be in my room. Mike says the next thing he remembers is me shouting, “Who are you and why are you in my house!”. Upon realizing that is was not, in fact, Brandon, I put on my glasses and found a man, not 5 feet from me, pilfering through an empty suitcase in my bedroom! The first thought that went through my mind was, “what if he won’t leave?” Mike jumped over the bed and between the 2 of us we chased him down the stairs to the front door. (If you’re not familiar with Edmonton, 6am in June is bright daylight. So this was not a middle of the night break in, this was ‘Hi, I’m breaking into your house in the middle of the day with you in it.’) As we got to the door we both noticed that he had our laptops and power cables. We both shouted for him to drop them. He said he had a knife and would use it if we came any closer (we never saw one and his other hand was on the door), but it didn’t seem to be the wisest thing to push it. So when he ran out the door, Mike ran for the phone to call 911. I ran to the sidewalk to see which way he went and we were able to tell the police the direction he fled and what he was wearing/looked like.
While we were waiting for the police to come (which was all of about 5 minutes), we searched the house to see if we could figure out where he came in. All the doors and windows on the first floor were locked and I knew for certain I had locked the front door when we went to bed. The police did a search of the house and discovered that he had come in through a window in the basement which is underneath our deck! It also has bars on it, which he managed to bend until it broke (even stranger, we can’t actually find the bars he broke through, they are no where to be found!). He also left muddy footprints all over my carpets which is I am really annoyed about! The police brought a dog which was able to pick up the guy’s scent and found him a few blocks away, our laptops had been dumped in the mud. We got them back and they work just as well as they did before. Apparently ours wasn’t his only break in that morning so it seems they have a good case, plus they’re waiting to get back the info on the fingerprints they lifted from the window he came in through. Hopefully that will give them an open and shut case. They’re telling us it may be 6 months to 2 years before it goes to trial and we’ll have to testify.
It wasn’t until later in the day that the whole episode really started to filter through. Before that I was too busy being embarrassed about the state of my house (who expects to have police officers walking through your house and taking pictures?) and showing the boys the police cars, and keeping them out of the CSI guy’s dusting powder! They thought he was the coolest thing. They kept trying to open his kit and when they weren’t allowed to do that, they tried to carry it around the house for him.
I was so impressed by the quality of the Edmonton Police Department. They arrived quickly, they got the dogs out and apprehended the suspect within 20 minutes. They were so nice to us and patient with the boys, and the CSI guy came within an hour and half (they told us it could be any time that day) and actually seemed to know what he was doing and found some prints (unlike CSI’s in other cities that I’ve heard about… wink, wink… Holly and Jeffery). I still have my moments of freaking out and it’s hard to remember everything that happened since I was woken out of sleep, which really kind of bothers me. But, we are super thankful that everyone is okay, and it helps that in the end we got everything back.
Now, for those of you who know me well, do you think I’ll be able to keep my house clean just in case? Probably not! And let’s pray it never happens again.
Mike: The whole story is much longer than this… and quite a bit funnier. It manages to involve a naked man (not in our house), a leather couch, women’s jeans, a red football jersey, someone else’s porch, and a photo lineup. Make sure you ask Shayna for the full details.
28
June
2007
June
2007
Kellylee Evans0
Last night Mike and I went to see Kellylee Evans at the Yardbird during Jazzfest. I have to say this was an AMAZING performance! Kellylee is an incredible singer, her voice is beautiful and she exudes joy and life both during her performances and in person. I highly recommend listening to her. She even had us dancing at one point!
Kellylee was nominated for a 2007 Juno for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Someone else you might also be interested in is one of the members of her quintet. Guitar/trumpet/piano player Kevin Ramessar. Another awesome musician, originally from Alberta I might add. He opened for her and played intermission. I have never enjoyed watching someone play the guitar as much as I enjoyed him. It was mostly acoustical stuff and I was entranced by his music and his style. His performance of Kairos, was the best of the evening.
The night ended with the best cover of Imagine that I have ever heard. This was an AWESOME birthday present. Thanks honey! And thanks Lims for braving bedtime with the boys and giving us a late night out!
Here’s some websites to check out Kellylee and Kevin Ramessar.
5
June
2007
June
2007
Oddest Thing4
The oddest thing happened today. I was asking the boys if they wanted pizza for lunch and lo and behold…a piece of pizza crust fell from the sky! Noah was excited, Connie and I were a little bewildered until we saw the gull flying overhead trying to figure out how to get it back. Then we were pretty grossed out! I haven’t been able to stop chuckling about it all day though.
3
May
2007
May
2007
Becoming a Composting Mama3
I finally bought a composter last week. As a result I had to clean up the yard so I could gather up all the leaves and dead grass to mix with our food scraps. We got snow so early last fall that no one had time to rake leaves, leaving a big mess for everyone this spring, but lots of good composting material. We’ve been playing outside alot and the boys have been getting to watch the composting process. Brandon has been really enjoying learning how to compost. He helps me put fruit and veggie scraps in a container and then we dump them into the composter. His favorite part is adding the grass and leaves. He says “grass, grass” while standing on his tip toes to reach the top of the composter. I thought about vermicomposting and even found the most awesome article in our local paper on “becoming a vermicomposting mama”, the name alone made me want to do it. But I don’t really have the space for a container of soil and worms in my kitchen and even though I don’t mind worms per se, the thought of hundreds of them in my house is a little more than I can handle at the moment. For the time being I will be satisfied being a “composting mama”.
Both boys are also learning about recycling. They love to throw things away and we have to decide whether it’s garbage or recycleable. Honestly they don’t really care which one it is, they just want to throw it away.
My friend Connie had this little quiz linked to her blog. How green are you?
Your Life is 52% Green |
 Your life is pretty green – and you know a lot about how to live an eco friendly life.So congratulate yourself for being good to the earth. And maybe think about implementing some of the ideas from this quiz! |
