don't worry, i'm still a slacker mom.

I think I do things pretty much the same living with my parents. I try not to get in their way too much. I clean up after the lot of us most of the time, just like if we had our own place. (own place...sigh) And so my routine may involve a little nap here and there.

Last week I was reading the kids some books on the couch. The next thing I knew I woke up to THIS!


Falling asleep in the afternoon while reading is no surprise for me even when I thought I wasn't tired when I sat down. When I woke I thought I must have been sleeping for an hour with the mess. The kids had got into the games cupboard as you can see. I jumped up (for fear of the time and my mom or Derek would be home any second) and looked at the time and realized I could not have been asleep for more 5 minutes or so. 5 MINUTES! Not bad kids, not bad. I let them keep playing with all the stuff for over an hour. They weren't wrecking anything, so I decided why not. And I made supper. Derek did see the mess (and helped me with the looooong process of cleaning up) but my mom didn't, phew. I guess she'll see it now.

We are really liking living here. I'm so glad my parents are happy to have us here for a while until we figure out what is next for us. The kids really like being around the grandparents, and being here whenever anyone else in the fam is here for a visit. My parents are gone to their condo in Arizona right now for 2 weeks, so we are really partying it up here...really.


On Monday we decided to go in the hot tub for fhe. We don't take the kids in very often, and I don't know why. They LOVE it! It's like a mini swimming pool. I decided to snap a few pics

This picture cracks me up, clearly she was getting some coaching from Derek for this pose.

Let's all get a good laugh at Derek's face in this picture

Maniac

On a final note, that has nothing to do with me being a slacker mom or a fun hot tub mom, tomorrow is Remembrance Day. Neither of my grandpa's served in the war for various reasons and I'm not quite sure I remember exactly why. Mom Dad, remind me? Both of Dereks' grandpa's served in the war. Derek's sister Mindy wrote about this on her blog. She wrote some good things and has good pictures.

The one thing I have heard grandpa Hicken say is how when he was over in the the war in the army, he and a friend saw all the planes and thought it would be so cool to be doing that. So they asked if they could change to the air force and they did. He flew on over 20 missions (or more maybe?) and they were all successful.
When I was 14 or 15 my family went to France. While we were there we went to a couple places that were affected by the war. I remember rows and rows of crosses, and I remember a little tiny village that was still there in ruins. If I remember right the small place got attacked and pretty much everyone was killed. There was a tiny cemetery filled. Almost incomprehensible.
Derek loves learning about the history of all these things. (he would love to teach social studies) Me, I haven't been as into it. But I do have a deep respect for all those that served in the the war and are serving right now. We are so blessed to be in a country where we are free. It doesn't matter all the politics of the war when it comes down to the people who are serving and putting their life at risk. When you hear stories about what happened in the war, you can't help but be affected by them. My mom usually always took us to the cenotaph in Raymond for the ceremony on Remembrance Day growing up. I sometimes thought it was annoying to do on our day off school, but I understand now.

do people still care?

I'm not too late with the Halloween post, right? I've kinda been working a little bit more in the evenings this week because so many of the nurses are off sick and they are so so so short and it is ridiculously busy there. Every once and a while I'm nice and work extra, but not often! Speaking of...I refuse to bring up my day of waiting in line last week for the H1N1 shot, terrible experience all around. But I will report that the clinic for 5 and under in Raymond today was a success. I walked in, and there were 3 of the 7 or 8 nurses just waiting for me to choose which one would be graced to give my screaming kids a nice needle.



Anyway, Halloween was really an event this year as usual. My kids had the countdown on. I don't know the source, but I heard Halloween was 2nd only to Christmas in it's celebration. Ummm, no. I'm not a complete Halloween Grinch, (ya might as well have fun with the kids by now right) but all the sugar and treats, no good. I have zero self control this time of year, not that I have any during the rest of the year either.

We did manage to have the token pumpkin carving fhe of course. Except I totally forgot to take a picture of the finished products, they were good too. I drew on a face of the pumkin, other than that Derek did it all the rest with the kids, I'm still a little grinch. And for that, I cut off his head in the picture, oops! I think they carved 3 or 4?



Ryan and Sarabeth had a party the weekend before with kids and the whole deal. (See picture of the whole fam jazzed up above.) So fun of course. You really can't go wrong with a dance party in the basement with the lights out and glow sticks, it's the best part every year! The kids had so much and so did everyone else. Then Britt had a couples dress up party at her house the day before Halloween. Everyone dressed up and it was fun to hang out. So by the true and real Halloween I was dressed up out. Alli was bummed that we didn't dress up with her to go trick or treating, then she got over it when she remembered you get candy when you go, so who cares who is dressed up!


I could not get the kids to look at the camera. The street was already a buzz with children receiving candy for nothing! There was no looking at me.

After the kids were settled into a nice sugar high, I took off to Lethbridge to meet up with my good ol friend Melissa. She was up for a few days from Las Vegas visiting her fam. We went with Shelly out to eat, and let me tell you, nobody is out at restaurants on Halloween, but the staff really dress it up! We had fun talking and laughing our faces off.



Another successful Halloween done and done!


Also, here's a look at dresser uppers from the party.

The winner of the night. Peter Pan and Wendy (a preggo wendy, hehe)

Zombies

The tie for 2nd. I'm bummed you can't see in the picture, but this just happens to be a preggo nun! (I totally messed up taking a picture of Rebecca the photographer, dang it!)

The other 2nd place. Princess Laya and the guy with her...!
The ol angel and devil
Julie and Jeff, the farmer hillbillies

Ok, Tara's husband ditched on the dress up, so she posed with Jill

The other angel and devil who showed up late and TOTALLY showed us up! (seriously I was a little scared of Matt)
We needed a little H1N1 to spread
Ok, I lied. I missed one couple. The killer bee's were there with their clever non copout costume..right Marisa?!

take a deep breath...and run

I skimmed over my half marathon a while back like it was no big deal.  Well, it WAS a big deal.

I wrote this a week or 2 after the race while I was waiting for pictures and then I forgot about this post.  I'm really glad that I wrote down some things then, because there are somethings I might have forgotten. 

SO, here's the story of the half marathon

There was a bunch of us from Derek's family that all went down to run the Hobble Creek half Marathon in memory of Peggy.  We ran it in Utah at the end of August.  It was a race she wanted to do.

I left my kids behind thanks to Alyssa and my parents.

I felt so good the whole race.  My last few miles were sheer adrenalin, I have never felt anything like it.  I'm sure I really didn't, but it felt like I was sprinting the last mile, I couldn't hold myself back.  I think I passed 30 people on the last mile, I'm not exaggerating, it was amazing.  I came up where the family finishers and family fans were, and I was overcome.  I had tiny tears in my eyes, but I was so happy.  I DID have to take a deep breath.  I have never felt that way before, especially at the end of 13 miles.  I can't really describe it, but it was a feeling of so many emotions I'll never forget.  I wish I was better with words to be able describe it, but I don't think it's possible to describe the way I felt.  

(and as great as I was feeling on the last stretch, i might just be calling for help here)

I ran it just over a minute faster than my first half marathon in May, 1 hour 53 minutes.  I was happy with the time, but I would have been happier if I beat Austin and if my time was under an hour 50, but oh well.  Dang 17 year old boys who don't have to train.

(love these gals)

I don't think I'll EVER feel like that ever again during a race.  But, that's ok, because I'll always remember the way I felt that day as I came in 459th place, (hehe, well, there was 1200 people in the race) feeling like I just might vomit, (and completely satisfied with that feeling), being cheered on by hundreds of strangers, thinking how great this family is and thinking of my mother in law and how awesome she was.  I miss her.

Our shirts said, as you can see on the front, 'take a deep breath.'  That was a phrase Peggy often said when someone would be stressing out about this or that.  I can hear her now (for some reason I'm hearing her say it to Brooke....hmmmm)

On the back it says...'and run.'  We were running for her that day!

Also, can I brag about my husby for a second?  his first half marathon, he was in the top 100 finishers!  I think he ran it in 1 hour and 34 minutes.  umm, yeah, he's hot, i know.  (but I kinda want to hate him for it because I probably trained double him.)

alli dear

My little Alli is a 4 year old today! Do I really have a four year old?



I have never minded getting older, and I'm not usually an 'oh, my baby is growing up tear, tear' kinda person. I like all the stages and growing and enjoy the fun that comes with it. But for some reason I can't wrap my head around the whole four year old thing. It's weird to buy size 4 clothes. I don't think I ever really pictured my life past toddlers for my kids or 30 for me. I still have a couple years to go before I see what life is past 30, but it's weird, I never really thought too much about life after the baby/toddler years. And now that James has been potty training this week and gave up his soother a couple weeks ago, and has been in a bed for a while and even that haircut, I realized I have dreamed about what it might be like to not have a baby. So far, it's pretty dang good and the same except I didn't take a diaper to church today.

I know I'm gonna think of a million things more tomorrow, but a little list of what this gal is up to these days.

-These days Alli is very into ballet. I don't remember if I have aid on here that she is in a class once a week and looks forward to it all week, and dances her moves around the house. We had a ballet friends party on Friday. (my first 'friends' party for my child. See she's growing up!?)


-She loves to color, play doctor, dolls, and princess (she is always looking for who will be her prince. James likes to be the monster or the beast while wearing a princess dress, but not the prince.)




-Alli loves all things sugar, but usually always eats her vegetables, so it makes me feel a little better. Also loves chicken nuggets and chocolate milk
-always stays awake in her bed after we tuck her in to look at books.
-writes her own name
-knows which is left and right
-loves this dang snow, but knows I don't
-her hair is grown enough that I can leave it down curly and the chunks almost go unnoticed to the untrained eye (and I'm slightly ecstatic about the whole thing but still won't be straight down for a loooong time) note the non pigtail pictures this week!
-loves to sit and have stories read to her
-asked me the other day when we are getting our own house (no plans in that department yet)
-loves to sing sing sing really random stuff
-always wants to help me in the kitchen
-makes up words on a daily basis. like today she said scrumbly and stubla. i can't think of anymore right now, but it's weird.
-loves going to her primary class at church
-always asks if we are getting a babysitter
-sneaks into bed with us occasionally for a good cuddle
-can still throw a pretty mean tantrum
-wants to be robot for Halloween, but probably won't be. (come on, how am I gonna do that?)
- and, she is so stinkin cute I can't even STAND it!



I'm so happy and proud of my four year old. She is great big sister to James (mostly...) and a great little girl to have around. She is full of life and a personality all her own. I love her so much and just crave to be around her and James having fun doing our own thing

Happy Birthday Alli!


And my big boy James had a great time at the ballerina party. He danced like spiderman, made the ballerina puppet, and just sat and watched all the girls get their picture taken having a great time. He pretty much cracks me up on a daily basis.


Why do we always think it is the cutest thing when a kid put on a pair of glasses/sunglasses? That, and bathtub pictures, random. But look, he IS so cute, and I am clearly entertained!

did you know?

Well, I didn't know.  I have this 'stack' of very important 'things' that happened on this very day I couldn't help but share a few.

But first, Happy Birthday last week to Derek.  I plastered the walls of the Raymond Junior High School with photocopied pictures of Derek in junior high, just to let everyone know he is 31!  He loves me.  He loves me when I put random pics of him on the blog like last month, and he loves it even more when I put them all over the school.  He loves me and I love him!

But, Back to business here.  On THIS day...
In 1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford. The purchase price of the car was $850. 

1933 - Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning. 

1962 - Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. 

1970 - Jimi Hendrix was buried in Seattle, WA.

1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL. 

1987 - Eight people were killed in Los Angeles when an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale hit the area.

1991 - The white crystal-beaded glove worn by Michael Jackson was stolen from the Motown Museum in Detroit. M.C. Hammer offered a $50,000 reward for its return 

1994 - The NHL team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.

1995 - Nearly $1 million was raised at the Farm Aid concert in Louisville, KY. The musicians that performed were Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Hootie and the Blowfish, and The Dave Matthews Band. 

2009 - Threw a baby shower for my friend Steph and teeny tiny baby Austyn here tonight, Success!

And, to top it all off on this very day, Julie Andrews was born in 1935, along with Jimmy Carter in 1924 and Vladimir Horowitz in 1903...

oh and ME in 1981!

Interesting STUFF!

when did this happen?

All of a sudden my kids are GROWN UP!

I finally got some good pics to document Alli riding her bike.  And really how cute is she with her florescent helmet/bike and flowing dress?

And this stud got his first REAL haircut, not just a trim off the ol mullett.  That was pretty much 2 and half years of growth for that kid.  I can't believe he looks so grown up.  (and so much like my brother Peter it scares me sometimes)  We went up to the hair shop and thank goodness Angela returned from Australia to cut hair here again.  My kids are obsessed with her for some reason.  Everybody loves Angela!

I have been the blog slacker.  I'm just not feelin it.  Maybe because boot camp is kicking my butt and i am sooo tired all the time, but i'm not stiff anymore so that is good and i do quite enjoy all the push ups...  I drove home from Calgary yesterday and had to pull over to sleep at 9:15 to sleep because I was so tired, for 25 minutes!  Now that the nice weather appears to be over I'll blog about all the fun stuff we did when it was hot, maybe.

update on my random life

I was looking through a couple pictures and I never did post about a bunch of stuff we did in August.  Oh well, here we are at the zoo.

-alli is loving ballet

-james is VERY jealous of this

-i'm back to biting my nails for the most part, dang it

-nobody is sick anymore, but my mom did get it...bad...

-we got a new thing for more closet space, phew

-i'm so stiff right now, and i'll be up early to do it again tomorrow

-blisters and toes are healing for now

-now we started this thing called parent preschool, we'll see how it goes for a while before I form an opinion

-i started piano lessons

-i'm not sick of fresh peaches yet

-derek's sis and my friend steph both had baby girls last week, the sweetest little things EVER!

-alli has been riding a 2 wheeler for like a month now.  i can't believe this is the only picture of have of it back before we moved.  i'm horrible!

-derek was happy to see some ugly pics of me last post, oops guess he still checks

-LOVING this extended summer, still cruisin town on the bike

I hardly took any pictures of our little trip to Lake Blaine with Tom and Ashley back at the beginning of August.  I hardly even pulled out the camera, and it was nice.  Sometimes you get so caught up trying to capture every moment and every memory you don't enjoy it as much.  All these pics were taken within 5 mins of eachother right before the neighbor kid dunked me.  I still can't believe he did that!

Ashley's little sis Abbey, our awesome built in babysitter!

And this was Alli on the way home.  I think she got carsick on Logan's pass and puked all over.  

Ummmm, I guess that's all for now.