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.