Ahhhh.....

Is the sigh that Hilary's feet made with this newest addition to our kitchen:

It's a gel-filled anti-fatigue floor mat.  Hilary's Mum has one and swears by them.  When you stand on your feet doing a lot of cooking, they are a little slice of heaven for comfort.  Expensive as all get out, but worth every penny.

Please ignore the cupboard doors that don't shut.  New cabinets is number 2324167 on the list of things to be done in the house.

Holy Shit

When Liam first came home we joked that his first word was going to be Crap!  But over time, we became aware of having a magpie in the house and we cleaned up our language. Up until about 2 months ago Liam was convinced that "bad" words consisted of Moron, Stupid, Idiot and Shut Up.  We had no intention of telling him otherwise.

But of course Liam is 8 now, and all grown up.  And so he has been trying his hand at swearing.  He goes to summer camps with kids as old as 10, and boy howdy these older kids must all have potty mouths based on what Liam has come home with. We've heard them all.... Shit, Damn, Asshole, Fuck and even Fucker the other day.

Oh my ears!

Of course he has no idea what any of them mean, so being the naturally curious kid he is, he asks.  How exactly do you answer the question "Mama, what is a Fucker?"  Somehow "Well dear, it refers to someone who fucks" didn't seem quite appropriate.

The only one he seems to know how and when to use properly is Shit. The rest he will try to insert into a sentence, but doesn't quite have it down yet.  And being that he is still only just 8 he will check with us every time.  "Mama, I'm thinking of a bad word, do you want to hear it?"  Ummm... no buddy, I don't!

Hopefully this is a phase that will end soon, preferably before school starts again in 5 weeks!

Adoptee in the sun

You never know when the topic of adoption is going to sneak up on you.  I've come to expect it on TV shows, in books or splashed across the front of magazines.  Given my involvement online with forums and groups I do think about adoption pretty much everyday, I just don't always think about my own adoption.

So I was really caught by surprise the other day when I sat out on the deck for my lunch and my thoughts turned to my adoption all because of a glance down at my leg.   I have a skin type that tans rather instantaneously.  After only 10 minutes in the sun, I came in with this tan line:

*

And what do tan lines have to do with adoption you ask?

I don't know where my skin colouring comes from.  I grew up around some pretty pasty people who burn, peel and repeat all summer.  I've never had what I would call a sun burn.  Genetic Mirroring is a term that gets tossed around in the adoption community.  It refers to children being able to see themselves in the people they grow up with.  When babies are born some of the first comments people will make are "oh look he has Uncle Ralph's nose" or "he's a spitting image of his father at that age".  I never had any of that growing up.  I was taller and more tanned then everyone around me.  Luckily for me, my parents never kept my adoption a secret from me.  If they had I would have probably figured thought that my mom had been stepping out with the milk man.

So even after  **cough** 40  years, the fact that I am/was adopted still sneaks up on me.

*this picture and story is actually from the end of May but has been sadly lost in my drafts. My tan lines are far more noticeable now!

Thanks Coco!

My dear friend Coco who writes at Mommyhood and Life just gave me this great Blog award.  While I've never met Coco in person (something that MUST be remedied soon!) she has become a great friend as we work our way together through this thing called life.

So here are all the steps I have to follow to qualify for the Cherry on top Award!

---

1) Thank the person who gave you the award.
There is so much to say about the awesome Coco. Let’s start with the humble Thank you!  Coco is such an amazing person, that no matter what life throws at her (and it has thrown more than the lion's share at her) she puts on her big girl panties and keeps going.  And she is always there to support and encourage the rest of us.  Thanks Coco, you make the world a great place!

2) Insert award into post
Not only am I putting it here in the post, I like it so much it’s going to live over on my sidebar.

3. Name 3 things you like about yourself.
Hmmm… always an interesting question.

1. I like my skin. I’ve always had great skin, I tan instantly and I keep my tan most of the year.
2. I like my sense of humour… people don’t always get it and that just makes it more funny
3. I like my lack of memory when it comes to books or movies. I may have seen a movie 20 times, but it’s almost like watching it for the first time again. I don’t remember who did it, who’s who or generally what is even going on. This does however drive Hilary batty.

4. Post a photo that you love.
So many to choose from! Here are 2 that I don’t think have made it on the blog yet.

The very first picture of Liam

The best black mail picture!

Who am I kidding... I can't just do 2!

5. Tag 5 people to pass the award on to.
Here are 5 great people who have great blogs too!

1. Lori at Weebles Wobblog
2. Thanksgivingmom at I really should be working
3. socialwrkr24/7 at Eyes Opened Wider
4. Banana Bottoms
5. Meghan at A Mom Two Boys

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy 74th Birthday Dad!

Poor Bunny

Liam spent the day out with a friend and they spent the entire afternoon swimming.  While I had gooped Liam up with lots of sunscreen before he left, it's pretty obvious none got reapplied during the day.  He also managed to lose his hat, so any protection he may have gotten from that was lost too.

It is only on his face as he was wearing a long sleeve swim shirt.  He's got a headache but otherwise is in good spirits.  It is however his 2nd sun burn of the season.  It's so hard when he's not with us all day long and we aren't the ones in charge of making sure he gets more sun screen, or goes inside during the sunniest part of the day or even eats something (he left home at 10:30 and came back at 5:30 and all he ate was an apple that I sent him with and  an ice cream cone later in the afternoon.  To their credit they did offer him lunch that he refused, but really.... I don't think it's okay to let a kid refuse to eat ALL day, especially when they are playing hard in the sun, but maybe that's just me)

So my poor pink bunny has been fed, had a nice tepid bath, taken some Tylenol and gone to bed with a cold wash cloth on his face.

It's going to be a long summer.

Happy Birthday Liam!

Well, we survived the party.  It was touch and go for awhile.  Hilary ran into icing issues due to the weather.  If she piped for more then 30 seconds the icing would start to melt.  And the the piping bag ripped.  And then the colours didn't turn out the way she wanted.  But in the end?  It was AWESOME (as Liam declared when he saw the final product.)

The party was great!  The boys loved the disguises:

But most importantly the birthday boy had a great time!

Happy 8th Birthday Liam!!  

Wordless Wednesday

"I'm not sucking on anything!"

The bed-clothes are out to get me

So a few months ago I had this weird rash-y thing on my neck which we eventually figured out was partially caused by sheet-burn from me rolling over during the night and strangling myself with the sheet.  I learned to wake up just enough to untangle myself and I thought my days of bed-clothing injuries were over.

Alas, it was not to be so.

You see I have this favorite pillow case.  I've had it for 20 plus years so it's nice and soft.  I have no idea where it came from.  It has a flower pattern and was never part of a sheet set that I owned.  It's also a factory 2nd as it has a line of stitching that runs down the middle on the outside.  I just make sure that that side goes on the bottom, otherwise it would run right through my face and would no doubt leave some interesting marks.

Yet it was that very stitching that tried to do me in.

I sleep on my stomach with my arms up over my head and under my pillow. I also am a very active sleeper.  So when I went to roll over for the 40th or 50th time last night I didn't expect searing pain and to wake up holding back a scream less I awaken the whole house hold.  It felt like my finger had been ripped off and I fully expected to find a pool of blood under my pillow with my severed finger.  Except that my hand was attached to my pillow and I couldn't get to it.  I was dazed, confused and in pain.  What the heck was going on?

I finally stayed still long enough to realize that if I stopped moving it didn't hurt and figured out the cause of the whole mess.  My ring was caught in the outside stitching.  And it had twisted around in such a way that the crown part of my  ring was digging into my finger.   I wear a Claddagh ring that Hilary gave me years ago, but it's a bit loose, so the crown doesn't stay right up against my finger.  And it frequently gets caught on things.  I just never imagined that it would get caught on my pillow case.

I was finally able to get the ring off and untangle it.  There was no actual damage to my finger, but it was sore the next day.   So the question now is - Do I get a new pillow case or take my ring off at night?  It's a good thing I sleep au natural, cause I can't imagine what kind of damage pajamas could do!

For all the marketing that Disney does...

we couldn't find the ONE Toy Story 3 toy that Liam really wanted.  So what do you do when it's one week to his birthday and you can't find it anywhere - not in stores, not even online?

You make it of course!

Well, actually Hilary made it since I don't sew.  3 peas in a pod.  I realize they had a 20 second part in the entire movie, but they are the characters that Liam fell in love with during all the pre-release teasers and 20 seconds of screen time was fine with him.  They were still his favorite after seeing the movie.  Each store that we went into that might even remotely carry Toy Story 3 toys would send him scouring every hidden corner in search of them.

But now he has them and loves it!

Planning a birthday party

We have one week to go until the big day.  Liam will be turning 8 next Sunday!!  And for the first time in 3 years he has asked to have a birthday party.  I now understand why so many parents rent a bowling alley, order in pizza and let other people take charge of the party.  This is turning into a high stress situation for me!  I've already had 2 sleepless nights of tossing and turning while I think through the games, the guest list and every possible disastrous outcome.

I am shamelessly stealing Liam's party ideas from my good friend Mrs Smith who just had Operation 7 Candles for her kiddo.  We are changing things up a bit to make it a Club Penguin theme instead of Kim Possible.  We have way fewer kids and fewer missions then they did, but I think we'll still have fun!

Mission 1 – Get Ready

      -          Find the hidden suitcases

-          Get in disguise

Mission 2 – Rescue the Puffles

      -          Find your Puffle

-          Obstacle race to get Puffle safely into the box

o        Over Ladder

o        Through hula hoop

o        Through tube

o        Puffle in the basket

Mission 3 - Lift the flag

     -          Work together to fill the bucket with water on the teeter-totter so that it lifts up and raises the flag

o        Fill big tub with water

o        Use sponges to move water into small bucket attached to teeter-totter, when heavy enough it teeters and the other side lifts up raising the flag attached

Mission 4 – Snowball fight

        -          White water balloons

Mission 5 – Eat cake

Mission 6 – Find the loot bags

         -          Find clues to lead you to the loot bags hanging in the tree

I'm hoping that I haven't bitten off more then I can chew!  Watch for updates next week to see how it turns out.

Oh Canada!

I first came across this on Facebook during the Olympics back in February. I loved it so much that I knew I would want it for today!



Happy Canada Day!