Fashion Sense of a 5-Year Old Boy

Big T is quite the fashionista...or is it fashionisto for boys?  The point is I can no longer go shopping for clothes without him.  If I do, it is almost a guarantee that he won't like whatever I bought.  I've been burned too many times and I've finally learned my lesson.  He's so particular about his clothes...can't believe it starts as early as 5-years-old!

I'm all for my kids having a say in what they wear because I have no choice afterall, they have to wear it and feel good in it.

These days, however, it's not so much what Big T wants to wear but HOW he wants to wear it.  Take his jacket...apparently for a 5-year-old boy, it's cool to wear your jacket/coat like this:

"Mom, I like it this way"

Now, we're in Canada.  It's almost December.  It's cold.  Not as cold as some parts of Canada, but it's cold.  I think it was 2 degrees Celcius today.  For my friends in the US, that's 34 degrees Farenheit.  COLD!  It no doubt looks weird that I'm wearing a warm coat (zipped up!), a scarf, possibly gloves and maybe even a hat, and my child looks like this!  Hubby has attempted to tell Big T that this look isn't "cool", (no, it's freezing!) but Big T begs to differ.  There's no changing his mind.  Apparently he's not cold.  And even when I have him zipped up on the way to school, the minute he comes in view of the place, he's unzipping it and pulling it off his shoulders.

What can I say?  My boy is nuts.

It's a good thing I love nuts.

House Guest

We had a 'lil snuggly house guest for the past 3 days.

Meet Milo...

He is Holland Lop bunny and he is the furry 'lil resident of Big T's Kindergarten class.

We have been thinking of getting the boys a pet.  We eventually want a dog but aren't quite ready so we've been thinking about guinea pigs.  I think after having Milo around, our hearts are now pretty much set on a bunny.

The only thing is that Milo is an exceptional bunny, I'm thinking.  He is completely house-trained/litter box trained.  He is used to being handled since he was an itty-bitty baby bunny and so he is crazy good with the kids.  He doesn't bite and honestly, his poop is not too offensive.  Maybe it is when he eats it, but that's another story.  And despite the fact that he fell in love with my right arm (wink wink)  I could handle having him around.  And honestly, my right arm is irresistible.  Poor bunny didn't stand a chance.  Oh, and Hubby's left elbow is pretty attractive too, 'eh Milo?

In fact, it was such a great experience that my only concern is that we won't find one as good as him...or be able to train a baby as well as he's been trained.  We're definitely not rushing into anything and will take our time in finding the right bunny for us.

Awww, I'm going to miss this 'lil softie once I take him back to school tomorrow.  And I have this no doubt annoying facet of my personality (yes, I will admit this) in that I'm of the opinion no one else can take as good care of him as we did.  He surely won't have as much fun with anyone else.

Of course this isn't true, but I'm going with it anyways.

Thankful ...

Up here in Canada, we've already celebrated Thanksgiving back in October, but in honour of our neighbours down south celebrating today, I've decided to give thanks once again.  And really, I don't need an excuse.  I have so much to be thankful for every day!

For example:

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Public Service Announcement

I should clarify the title of this post.

This is a public service announcement for Moms...so like a Mommy Service Announcement.

Oh, that's still not quite right.

This is a public service announcement for "Stay-At-Home" Moms.

Hmmmm, still not good.

This is a public service announcement for Stay-At-Home Moms with "NO willpower"...like, absolutely none.

Yah, that's good.

It's basically for moms like myself who, no matter how hard they try not to, succumb to the lures of "THE SNACK".

Something terrible happened today.  In the grocery store aisle, I came across the most frightening of sights. It was an item so terrifying, yet so irresistible.  I fooled myself into thinking that I was buying it for my oldest son, who could stand to put on a few pounds.  "I'm buying this for him", I rationalized.

Well, as soon as I got this item home, I sensed I'd made a big mistake.  I proceeded to open up the bag and have my son try it.  No surprise...he liked them.  And then he uttered the most dreaded words:  "Do you want to try one, Mommy?"  Arrrrrgh!  Doesn't he know I have no resemblance of willpower at the moment?  Not since putting my back out while helping Little K put on his shoes (hey, it happens) and having to put a stop to the 30-Day Shred, which I was doing so well on.

(Sigh)  But I shouldn't blame my son.  I'm always telling him to share, afterall.  It was actually pretty thoughtful of him to offer me that heavenly horrible 'lil snack.

Luckily for me, I he finished off the bag this afternoon.  It's the only way I can put the memory of this day behind me and move on with my life.

So before I let you in on what I'm talking about, please take my warning seriously!  If you even slightly are having issues with willpower and snacking, do not - I repeat - DO NOT go searching for this item in your local grocery store.

Learn from me and my mistakes.

I'm probably going to need some sort of shock therapy to get over the memory of how this "snack" tasted...the way it was salty, yet sweet...how it was crunchy, yet also melted in my mouth....

Ok, enough!  Here is what I'm going on about:

Now for the worst bit!  Look at the back of the bag...(not for the faint hearted)

Need I say more?

Didn't think so.

(This has been a public service announcement for SAHMs with absolutely NO willpower whatsoever.)

Stylin' in 1985

The year was 1985...

Back To The Future, Out Of Africa & Rocky IV were all popular movies... 

We Are The World was recorded...

The Cosby Show and Family Ties were two of the top shows on TV...

... AND ...

I wore these dresses!  

The first, a long turquoise dress was handmade for me by my then sis-in-law and I wore it to our graduation diploma ceremonies.

The second, my actual grad dress, worn for a night of partying.

Up here in Canada we don't call it Prom.  We call it Grad.  White grad dresses were all the rage at the time so of course I didn't want one.  I actually went in the complete opposite direction opting for a dark blue strapless number, but the alterations were screwed up so at the last minute I ended up with this 'lil Stevie Nicks number.  

It ended up that there was another girl in the same dress...I thought it was funny - her not so much.  Must have been because I looked so much better in it.  (snicker, snicker)

I thought I was stylin'.  I mean, look at those shoulder pads in both dresses.  HOT!  And check out my white, lace, fingerless gloves.  Those would make Madonna sit up and take notice, dontcha think?

I still have it...the white dress, I mean.  It currently resides in my Halloween costume box, just waiting for its opportunity to shine once again!

SCORE!

Wasn't it Sally Field who said at the Academy Awards one year during her acceptance speech something to the effect of: "You Like Me, You Really Like Me."

Today I'd like to adopt those infamous words of Ms. Field because there's at least one person out in the blogosphere who likes me and it's Caffe over at Caffeinated OC Mommy!  Thanks, Caffe for awarding me this:

Of course with such a prestigious award comes some rules.  And although I've been known at times to break the rules, I'm going to be a good girl and follow these.  

So here are 7 things you don't know about me:

1)  I love to gamble!  Whenever I go into a casino and hear the "ding, ding, ding" of the slot machines, I get all giddy inside!  

2)  In high school I had a picture of Adam Ant on my bedroom wall and if you entered my room without knocking, you might have just caught me up on my dresser giving that poster a smooch or two.

3)  I have three tattoos...not telling you where they are though!

4)  I used to do theatre sports and was the only girl in an all guy theatre sports troupe.

5)  When I owned cats, I actually took them to the SPCA Photos With Santa...(whaaat? The pics are cute!)

6)  Way back in the early '90s a girlfriend and I took a vacation to Jamaica to a resort called "Hedonism"...  (we had no idea...seriously!)

7)  I've had various jobs so far in my adult life:  bank teller, court reporter, display stylist, barista, cruise consultant, office manager, and most important of all:  MOM!

I know, fascinating stuff!  And now I'm going to award 15 Mommy Bloggers whose blogs I love!

1) Diaries of a Grumpy Grateful Mom
2) The Preppy Girl In Pink
3) Things I Can't Say
4) a belle, a bean & a chicago dog
5) Mommy 2c
6) Buried With Children
7) Sellabit Mum
8) Dear Mommy Brain
9) Kludgy Mom
10) The Crunchy (Grouchy) Mommy
11) The Twisted Mummy Chronicles
12) Coffee Lovin Mom
13) Adventures In Extreme Parenting
14) Beautiful Spit Up
15) Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock At A Time

Phew!  That's a lot of links.

And remember to check out Caffe over at Caffeinated OC Mommy.  She's always brewing a fresh cup of controversy.

Biggest News EVER!

I feel it only appropriate to start out this post with a picture of fireworks 'cuz fireworks kind of signify a celebration of some sort.  And, man, I feel like celebrating!

I know, the suspense is killing you.  What on earth could it be?

Have we bought a new home?

(No, better!)

Have we paid off all our debt?

(Nope, even better!)

Did we win the lottery?

(Nah, but I kind of feel like we have)

I'm not (gasp) having a 3rd child, am I?

(Hahahahahahaha!)

No....the news is...

OUR KIDS ARE OFFICIALLY POTTY TRAINED!!

This may not be a big deal to some people, but in this household, which has had so many ups and downs and buckets of soaking underwear around for far too long (I'm talking a good three years) this is BIG NEWS!  

And lucky us, we've never needed to night train either!  So you know what that means?  NO PULL-UPS!

Wow, what can I buy with all the money we're going to be saving? 

They "Maid" Me Do It

Well, do I...punk?

       (haha...couldn't resist the Clint Eastwood reference.)

Ugh.  I've heard myself utter these very words.  I actually find myself wanting to say "I'm not your slave", but I refrain every day time I want to say this because then it would mean explaining to my boys what a slave is, etc, and going into the whole history, and whereas I think it's important they know about it, I'm not positive they need to be aware of it at 3 and 5 years old.  I don't think they would comprehend.  Or would they?  Do they?

I think they're confusing me with a different type of mother.  One like this perhaps?

When really, this is more my style:

These days though slave/maid/servant is pretty much how I feel as I hear my boys yell at me from their bedroom things like:  "MOM, I WANT MILK" or "MOM, COME HERE" or "MOM, CAN YOU PICK UP MY TOY THAT'S TWO FEET AWAY FROM ME?"   I'm really trying to put a stop to it, especially as I am the mom of two future "men" and have written before of my Big Plan to mold them into great husbands, thus making me the best woman/mother/mother-in-law in the world!!  Muuuaaa-aaaa-aaaah!  (That's my evil, maniacal laugh in case you were wondering)

I'm kind of sucking with sticking to my plan though, mostly because I'm inconsistent sometimes it's just easier to do things myself than listen to the whining that ensues when I ask for something to get done.

So I'm working on it...I'm giving them the words..."Mommy, may I please have..."  It's working with Big T.  Little K on the other hand replies with "No, I don't want to say that".  This is going to take some time, but I'm determined.

I know one thing for sure...if I'm going to be a maid around here, this is the type Hubby would want me to be:

In your dreams, Babe!

The Family Vacay

Remember the Griswold' s and their crazy vacations?

Aaahh, the family vacation.

I remember family vacations as a kid.  Perhaps I just remember them from the pictures that my mom had, but regardless, I think back on them fondly.  (I wonder if she does?)  I recall my two brothers and I crammed into the back seat of our family car singing songs like "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun"...okay, so I'm not exactly an 80s or 90s baby.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, crammed into the back seat of our family car.  And I'm not talking about the mini-vans of today with fancy sliding doors that comfortably seat six.   I can't quite remember the make of our family car back then, but it was just some type of sedan as I recall.  Sometimes I sat up front in between my Mum and Dad, laying across them with my head on my Mum's lap, my feet in my Dad's, trying ever so hard not to vomit.  (Yes, I suffered from car sickness as a kid.)  Most times I think I was unsuccessful.  I do recall the odd bickering between my parents; my mom yelling at my dad to pull over and my dad saying he had to find a good place to do so.  By the time he found a place, it was too late and I had spewed all over.  (I know, nice visual.  You're welcome)

As an adult myself and having just returned from a mini family vacay, I'm wondering: is it worth it?    I ask this having just been away for only ONE night!  With Hubby not getting any holidays 'til next summer, we thought we'd just take a 'lil trip over to Vancouver Island.  The boys could experience the ferry, the hotel was free due to air miles and we'd just have a 'lil change of scenery.

We had a good time...we really did.  Of course with 'lil dudes in tow there's going to be quite a bit of some whining.  I'm not sure why but it seems Big T has some anxiety upon leaving home and all his toys.   There was a lot of back and forth of wanting to go home, loving the hotel, hating the hotel, wanting to stay an extra night, wanting to go home, wanting to go to the Miniature World Museum, hating the Miniature World Museum.  You get the idea.  Hubby and I had an agreement that we'd just keep it positive and ignore most of his whining.

All in all it was a good time as told in these pics:

Looking forward to our next trip!

My Love/Hate Relationship with Reeces

I love you

(I hate you)

I like having you around

(Don't ever come within 10 feet of me again)


Your packaging is so bright and cheerful

(The sight of you makes me want to run the other way)

You taste so good

(Too much of you and my tummy aches)

You're creamy goodness

(You're the devil)


You make me smile

(You bloat me like no other)


I want you

(I'm getting a restraining order)


Stay forever

(I'm definitely getting a restraining order)


I love you


(I love you)

The Best Part of FALL!

I'M ALWAYS UP FOR A GOOD LEAF FIGHT!