Well...we're here in Seattle!

What an amazing place to visit! The rolling terrain is absolutely amazing and so neat to see! Way for different that what we're used to at home! Way off in the distance you can see the majestic mountain ranges....way to beautiful! Thank you God for such an amazing creation!

Well...we're on day #3 now....the airplane ride here was good for the most part. The two older boys were on their very best behaviour (and thank God, because I was sure either Grandma or I were going to have to kill them the couple days leading up to the trip! LOL) Luke did well on the trip as well...fell asleep as we took off and slept about a 1/2 hour and then later in the flight (total 5 hours) he slept another 1 1/2hrs. I was so glad! The only two "not great" things were really minor really....he decided to be Sir "poops" a-lot and that is always an adventure to change a baby in a tiny airplane stall....brings a whole NEW meaning to joining the MILE HIGH Club!!! LOL Then I had to apologize to a few of our fellow passengers because my darling sweet baby decided to become a baby terradactyl during the flight! They were happy noises....they just broke the sound barrier of all human beings! I'm sure many of us will be scheduling hearing tests this coming week to see if these "lovely" squeals did any serious damage! LOL

We arrived right on time on Friday and Todd was there waiting for his family! I seriously question who was more excited to see who??? We quickly gathered our 7 pieces of luggage (ok...sounds worse than it was...two were car seats and two were the boys "special" small kiddie suitcases...wasn't that bad really!) and we went off to rent the van.....the only unknown part to that was that we needed to load ourselves AND all our luggage/stroller/car seats/kids and travel a distance on a shuttle offsite and get our van. Great news was that we got a brand new Chrysler with the stowngo seating and that leaves us with lots of room for all this crap! LOL (I can hear Catherine saying now .... "purge....purge..." Yes...YOU ARE RIGHT!!! lol)

Todd took us for a lovely tour of the area...and over to his office and then eventually over to the apartment. Wow...what a beautiful place to stay...I'll post pictures soon. It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, fully furnished and lovely apartment...only about 2 blocks from downtown Bellevue! It is within walking distance of everywhere! It's great!

So Todd surprised me on arrival day with a lovely little birthday dinner...we had flank steak, I just loved it! It was great! He even baked me a chocolate birthday cake! I really appreciated that! He had the boys sign a b'day card for me and they bought me some of my favourite bath products (I'm very excited about these) and they also surprised me with an iPod Shuffle...what was really funny was when we had gone to the mall...they had an Apple Store and I went in and said "You know, some day, I'd love to get one of these little ones!" Low and behold...it was already waiting for me at home! Anyway...we had a lovely supper and then the night ended very early at 8pm with the boys and I totally conking out! LOL We were done!!!

The next day Jakey woke us all up (except Todd of course...a train through the bedroom can't do that! LOL) at 4:30am!!! Yikeso....we'll were pretty much ready for lunch by the time Todd got up and he only got up at 9am! LOL Anyway....I was surprised with a wonderful trip to the Eastside Oasis Spa for a therapeutic/massage pedicure! It was lovely....very different...but lovely! It was a little Vietnamese lady..very nice...but man..those pedis just are not the same there as at home! I got "beat up!" LOL The good kind really...it was nice! Now I have bright blue toenails and happy feet again!

So then they all picked me up after that and we headed downtown Seattle! We were in search of an interactive museum called "The Experience Music Project" (EMP) It was very cool...the boys were able to play guitars, drums and keyboards...they even were able to "mix" their own songs...they had a Disney special exibit going on and that was very cool too exploring sound effects behind the cartoons and listening to how they wrote certain popular pieces to some of the current popular Disney movies! The boys truly had a great time!

Then we walked around a bit scoping things out...there is a lovely carnival called "Fun Forest" right downtown...the boys are very excited about that...they have bumper cars, a huge ferris wheel, and many other very cute little rides. We'll probably go down and do that some day that Daddy is working. It looked very cool!

So then today...it's day 3, we went down to the Pike Market Place...WOW...THAT'S ONE AMAZING PLACE!!! It's like nothing I've ever seen before! The market is just HUGE! There is a little diner in there that Tom Hanks filmed a scene from Sleepless in Seattle in and we took pics of that...we found amazing shops and artists and really had a lovely time. The boy's favourite part was the "Flying Fish" part...they were way too cool! The workers all Hoop and Hollar and make a big production out of someone buying a fish and then they throw the darn thing way across the marketplace....it was way cool! Mommy's LEAST favourite part was the big "Gum Wall"!!! It was just absolutely DISGUSTING! Apparently it's an 'attraction' of sorts...down an alley beside the market (part of the market) there is a wall where all sorts of people have stuck their chewed up gum on the wall...they have even in some circumstances made letters and shapes with it! Probably the most disgusting thing I've even witnessed! Yucko! However, my sick little boys thought it was way cool! LOL

Well that brings us to tonight where Todd and I are just sitting to have dinner and I'm sure I'll keep you posted on our crazy explorations each day! Hope you all had a great weekend as well!
Love ya all!

2 MORE SLEEPS!!!

Well....we only have 2 more sleeps left until we fly away to Seattle to see Daddy! The boys are just so excited...before I even got up this morning, Jakey had already changed our countdown on the white board to two! Very cute!

I'm just about to put the last load of laundry in the wash and then I have a total of three to fold. Clothes are hitting the suitcase tonight!

Jakey has Beavers tonight and he's excited about that, because he gets a badge for participating in the Beaver Buggy Races.

Luke has refused to nap all day today and has finally fallen asleep! I'm hoping he sleeps for a while so I can get some work done!

Anyway...short post today, sorry! Just wanted to let you all know that we are almost gone! Yeah!!! (I do believe Todd just might be more excited than we are! LOL)

It was Chess Day today! It's Silver for Josh!!!

Well....Joshua competed for his school today in the Canadian Chess Challenge and he really had a good time. He along with 4 other class mates won a place at the county/city wide tournament today. They played 8 games each and you get 1 point for a win, 1/2 pt for a draw/stale and 0 pt for a loss....well Josh got 5 1/2 points total. He won 5 games and got a draw on one, lost the other 2. (one of which was a very useful loss because he learned something so valuable! I learned to grab your camera quicker....he lost in under 2 minutes! Very fast little game!) I have to give him credit...he paid attention to what he was doing, he was very polite to all his competitors and he was totally fine with the losses. So because his table had a 4 way tie...he tied 4 ways for the silver metal...one boy named Calvin (Chinese, no surprise there!) won gold at our table (there were 4 tables of Grade 3s). Anyway...he won a place in the "Playoffs" on Saturday in March to choose three players from each Grade level to send to the Canadian Chess Challenge in Toronto. So he's very excited about that! You had to get at least 6 1/2 points or win Gold or Silver to earn a place in the next tournament and Josh qualified. I thought the boy was going to go through the roof with excitement!

Above are a couple pics of the tournament and here is his special medal, he's so excited!

Alright....I'd better head to bed...as the boys are saying 4 more sleeps till we fly away to Seattle!!! I'll post more about that tomorrow! Love you all!

Big news for us today!!

IT WAS A SNOW DAY!!!

So I know I've not been very good at keeping this blog up...I'm trying, but didn't really realize how zonked I'd be all the time! We're making it through though and here's our updates for you!

On Tuesday, the classes in the boys' school did their "in class" speech contests...Grades one through three do poems and 4 - 8 do speeches/demonstrations, etc. So as you all know, Joshua is generally very timid and doesn't speak very loudly at all...but this time around...he won a spot to represent his class in the all school Effective Speaking Contest on Friday. He's just over the moon excited about it. The really cute thing he said to me yesterday though was "Mommy, I feel so bad for Indica...she wins every single year and this year she didn't! I wish I could give her my spot!" How thoughtful, eh? This really was a good thing to happen to him to boost his confidence level! We are so proud of him! His poem is just way too cute as well...It's called "Adventures of a Frisbee" by Shel Silverstein! Very adorable. He's got great inflection and enthusiam in his voice when he recites it! Good job Josh!

Anyway...then the even more exciting news today is that Todd is surprising the boys and I by going to the airport extra early and seeing if he could bump his midnight flight up to this afternoon. He'll be arriving in Detroit at 4pm! I'm so excited! We'll have a very long visit with him this weekend! Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday! The boys are just going to be so excited! I was thrilled when he told me!

Yesterday was a potentially challenging day with him being gone as I realized it was the first Valentine's Day Todd and I wouldn't have spent together in 15 years. That kinda sucked...however, he did send me some lovely flowers and a nice card...so that was nice. We awoke to a surprise phone call (ok...not a surprise to me, but to the boys it was!) and it was Mrs. Morin, Josh's teacher telling us that the boys were officially having a SNOW DAY!!! It was so cute, because when I was finished talking to her, (the boys were sleeping in bed with me) I hear out of the darkness "Did I just hear what I think I just heard?" Josh says! "IT'S A SNOW DAY!!!" He was up and yelling and celebrating in an INSTANT!!! He was so excited because it was their very first snow day ever!!! (I know, strange, huh?) Although I'm sure Josh had one in JK...other parents think we haven't...so I must be wrong. It was so darn cute...Josh was trying so hard to get Jakey excited too....but Jake just kept saying "Uhh.....whatever....go back to sleep!" LOL It was very funny! The boys' got to play outside in the snow for the first time this winter (we've just not gotten good play snow until now!)! Here are the pictures of them in their forts! We had to make signs for the flags they stuck in the ground!

So the boys and I spent the whole day together, which I think probably was the best thing for all of us...I hadn't realized how much I spend just telling them what to do next or yelling at them to stop fighting....I haven't spent much time at all just enjoying them and playing games and so on in a while...so that was fun yesterday.

Unfortunately last week, I was stupid and tried to play "Daddy" and decided to wrestle with my boys like he does...well....bad idea...because Josh decided to land on my back, throwing it out for a week! It's much better now...but still sore in places. I've been seeing the Chiropractor and taking lots of really good 'drugs'! LOL I sadly had to take some time off work too...today is my first day back with the kids since last Thursday. Too bad it wasn't just a 'week off' and enjoyable. It seems like it happened just yesterday. All is well there though...it's mending nicely. I was so appreciative of all the people that came to help during the week! Catherine came extra time to help out with the lifting of the baby and the laundry and helping with the boys too...she's such an amazing lady and we all love her so much! Cathe, Karleen and Angela, all friends from MOPS all brought me meals! It was so darn sweet of them! The meals were great! Thanks ladies! Maggie came over to sleep over and help me on Friday night...she was an amazing help with Luke and also with keeping the boys busy for me so I could rest.

So I suppose I should be off to get this house cleaned up for Todd! (yes Mom...that was said just for you! LOL) hehe!!! Oh and I should put on some makeup and get nicely dressed for him too, right? LOL Oh right...and an undershirt on the baby! Got it! Going to take care of all that! LOL

I'll try to keep the blog better updated and I'm going to send find some new pics too! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Back to normal now....

Well we had a very nice visit with Daddy this weekend...short, but really nice. It started out with his plane getting delayed by about an hour, but that was ok, because the roads were really bad...there were accidents everywhere due to an unexpected and unforcasted snow storm. It wasn't too bad by the time we got up to the Big Tire on I94 though...because the traffic had slowed down to about 50km/hr...and that's a whole lot more reassuring to drive at that speed in white out conditions. We've had a little bit of snow around here, but really not much. Thank goodness! This is the first year I have prayed for no snow at all...I really don't want to shovel that driveway by myself this year. Todd and I generally take turns doing a little here and there!

We all had a good time though this weekend. We played a whole bunch of games, like Twister, Snakes and Ladders, Chess, Puzzles...etc. But the thing the boys liked most was that our date night was cancelled! (bummer for Todd and I, but the boys were thrilled) We feel bad that Grandma was sick with the flu, but rather than going out, we went and rented the boys a movie and they watched Ice Age 2 and ordered in a pizza. They loved that! So date night was replaced with Family Movie Night! Not bad really! It was lovely.

Then on Sunday morning, Todd and Jake stayed home to spend some alone time while the other boys and I went to church. It was a nice service as part of the message was dedicated to my friend Anne, who is suffering from Acute Leukemia. We prayed for her and her family (Sheila, her daughter, is one of my close friends). There is a day to donate blood in her honour and I helped pass out information sheets about that. I really hope they get lots that day.

On Sunday afternoon, Josh and Daddy had a little alone time (with Jake hovering of course! LOL) and then we packed up and went on our way to the states to take Daddy back to the airport. We decided to make a couple stops before hand and then went out for dinner at Chili's in Canton before we dropped him off. We went in and said our goodbyes and off we went. Our first visit was over before we realized it got started! Kind of a bummer, but a blessing it happened at all...!

This week should be quite busy...the boys have their activities (Cubs and Beavers) and school. I have a full week of Day Care and it's a MOPS week. Josh has his school chess tournament on Tuesday morning. I hope that goes well for him...he really wants to go to the Canadian Chess Challenge again. So I hope that works out.

Ok...well sadly it's homework time around here, which means it's chaotic time too..dinner, homework and fighting children! Oh what fun!

Hope you have a great night!

Only ONE MORE SLEEP!!!

The boys are so excited that when they woke up this morning they could say that they see their Daddy tomorrow. We are going to pick him up at the airport tomorrow evening...the boys are very much looking forward to it.

Luke seems to have another cold...he's ok, but snuffly. He has good news this morning though...he's gotten another tooth. His first top tooth. He's quite cranky about it, but hey...it's there now! He's got two others that should be there anytime now!

Joshua went to Cub's camp this past weekend and had a wonderful time. It was actually a camp of all the entire area of cub's troups...it was called Operation Snowman! Which was kinda funny, cuz there wasn't a flake of snow here until Tuesday! LOL It should've been called Operation Mudslide!!! It was so insanely muddy that they wouldn't let the parents out of their cars to drop them off...they had parents in waders coming out to get your kid and their gear! His boots came home with about 2 " of mud caked on them....I washed them a bit in the sink, then the washing machine...TWICE...before they came clean. Then his coat as well...which had just been cleaned up last week from mud at school....and needs to be cleaned again today I noticed as we got to school!

Joshua is preparing for the chess tournament next week. He says that he's not done very well this year...he's very sad, since he took first place last year! It told him to go and play well tonight and we'd see where he gotten by then. He's enjoying it though...so that's great! I just know he'll be dissappointed if he doesn't get to go to the Chess Challenge at the end of the year. I'm hoping he goes, but not confident of it!

Well, I finally got Luke's papers filed yesterday for his citizenship! That only took me 6 months! Better than the 9 it took me for Jake! LOL Becky was awesome with her file of forms and whatnot I needed to have! Thanks Becky for your hard work! And for bugging me to get it taken care of! LOL

I can't think of anything else that's going on right now...but I'll try and remember to update the blog often. I doubt I'll be on the computer at all this weekend...we're going to try and spend as much time with Todd as possible!

Hope you have a great day and I'll post again soon!

Happy New Year! One year gone..another just begun!

Well...lots to tell you about really....Todd received a phone call over the holidays informing him that he'll be going to the Top Gun program out in Seattle, WA for three months...he was to leave in two weeks! Yeah...nice notice...but he's happy...it's a great opportunity for him really.

So he's gone and we're home keeping the house in well...I was going to say one piece...but you know how it is... LOL!!! He left January the 8th, same day the boys went back to school.

Things have been going OK, for the most part. We've had a few rough days...but overall I have to say it's not been too bad! He gets to come home every other weekend, so that's not too bad really...only ever 12 days till the next visit. I'm presuming the further we get into this program..the longer that time frame will seem!

So it's Wednesday, the 17th right now and we have (as my boys count) 2 more sleeps until Daddy gets home for his first visit! We're struggling with how to balance the time while he's here...there are things he wants to do, things the boys want him to do and things I want him to do! (trying to keep that list down..but you know some things just have to get done by him!) I've been taking care of the maintenance stuff..but some of the computer crap he just has to do.

Our central vac is on the fritz...and I'm so proud of myself...I think I'm handling it well myself...! Our fridge was having a problem last week and Todd called a guy on that one..he was great...so when the washing machine broke this morning i called him as well...he came within the hour and fixed it for cash..isn't that great? I was thrilled!

Sadly, Lucas is getting another cold...I'm totally bummed about that! I truly wish I could protect him of those nasty bugs for at least a little while. I was doing some research on RSV (which is what he had over the holidays that brought us into the ER) and they say that there are about 5 HIGH RISK...risk factors....he scored 4 out of 5!!! Not impressed! This cold is starting EXACTLY the same as the last one did...let's just pray it doesn't develop into RSV again! It was horrible and I truly do not want us going there again! I don't know what I'd do with Todd being gone...it was all I had in me to care for him while he was sick...Todd handled EVERYTHING else! He was awesome! Luke just wanted me to hold him all the time...or nurse...or whatever...it was exhausting! Ok...well...let's hope it doesn't happen this time!

It should be exciting these next couple of weeks...it's the McAuley birthday marathon...6 birthdays in 6 weeks, kinda crazy...but fun! The boys will love going to their birthday parties I'm sure! I always like seeing what neat idea Heather comes up with next!

Alright, well I'd better get back to my laundry...it's yelling at me!

Take care and I'll check in again soon. Maybe I'll post another tonight...fill you in on more of what's been going on...like Josh's Cub's camp! It was fun..he said!

Love ya:
Kimmy & the boys!
xxoo