Milking Independence

As Cici has gotten older she wants to spread her wings and gain more independence from us. As parents our role is to help her make wise choices and teach her about more responsibility.

Tonight was a big step for her, as she has been asking us for a while, we granted her more independence today.

On her own, with the rest of her family waiting in the car, she went in our local grocery store, and bought some milk. I know, I know, we are crazy aren't we! How could we give our girl, only 7 so much freedom!!

She was so proud of herself, we watched as she went in, dissapeared to the milk aisle, watched her come back and vanish again out of our sight to the cashier, then reamerge again, milk and change in hand.

From a proud mama

Fort Steele

We spent the afternoon at Fort Steele today, it was cold but we braved it with some friends and had a great time.

We got a chance to ride on the sleigh with these two pulling us. It was so much fun but a little scary all the same as we piled 8 people onto the 4 person sleigh and headed into the woods. The bells were ringing on their harnesses as they kicked up loose snow into our faces, so much fun!
You know they had been working hard, the ice that had formed on their bodies was evident, especially on their muzzles!

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas day, the kids were up at 7:30am and ready to rock! It was funny to see each kid do Christmas very differently. Cici as usual was into the gifts first, giving each person something and she flew through them! Beaner just took her time and watched others open. J Man was excited to open gifts but was most excited by his first gift... a hockey net and sticks.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out, went for a walk in the sun and cold and then sat down to a yummy dinner, no turkey though, we wanted to do something a bit easier!

We then had movie night, we watched Beaner's new Tinker Bell movie, and headed to bed early.

Hope that all of you had a great day too and we missed having family here but it was fun to make some new family Christmas memories.

Oh, I am trying out new ways of getting photos on here, so just excuse the editing lines around some of the photos, I will try to work on that!

Christmas Eve

Here is a bit of our Christmas Eve for you to enjoy!

Christmas = teeth

What? Well, it wouldn't be Christmas in the Truman house without Cici loosing a tooth, or two as so happened ">last year. And, so, as tradition has it, it happened again. She announced this morning that all she wants for Christmas is to loose her tooth! The icing on the cake.... to loose it at school. See, at school they have thought ahead and they provide the toothless student with their very own tooth necklace holder. Yes, this was the motivation to keep that tooth in till it could fall out at school. Other motivations, just to be the cool kid, with a bloody mouth and a toothless smile. So happens that her friend Megan also was the cool kid at school today sporting her own tooth necklace. It all happened at lunch, the details are foggy, but as far as we can tell, it got loosened, perhaps by a bite of food... and then bled so much that Michael noticed and suggested just to pull on it. All it took was a suggestion from a friend and the tooth was out, and off to the office to be awarded the coveted necklace.

So, the tradition continues, thankfully we have two more children in the wings to continue it till Paul and I have to take over... not looking forward to that day.

Some indoor Christmas fun.... because it is cold outside!

It has been so cold out that we are getting some creative indoor fun happening. Right now the kids are playing restaurant, they have made a menu and are taking turns being the waitress, J Man is enjoying sitting and eating all the pretend food.

Here is more fun that we have been having.

We also have found some "car" fun, because we can keep it somewhat warm in the car. Last night we went for a Christmas Light Drive. We all got into our PJ's, brought our blankets, turned on the Christmas music and drove around town looking at some of the cool lights.

On a side note, Jude is still doing great. He has a swollen upper lip and if he isn't careful and bumps it he remembers that he had surgery just yesterday. His tongue is looking great. I think it will always have a bit of a pucker on the tip and it has a tiny bit of extra skin on the tip. He will always have a reminder of what it was like!

Jude's Surgery

It is done, and there is no longer any tongue tie, he can move his tongue where ever he wants!

Jude did great today. We had the girl's sleep over at someones house and we were up with Jude very early and at the hospital at 6:15am. They got his vitals and he got to wear a very cool yellow and white striped gown and then we hung out and waited to get going. We went to the OR with him, met with his doctor and then it was time for him to leave with a nurse. He cried a little, and we left quick so I didn't cry too! We went and got a tea and something to eat and then headed back to our room to wait for his arrival. The procedure was very quick, he was only away from us for 45 min total and came back crying being rolled back on his bed. He layed on me for a while and cried and woke up. Very soon though he started to interact, read books and took some juice, ok, he took a lot of juice. He bounced back very fast and soon was wanting to run around and play. We waited for about 2 hours for the doctor to finish up the rest of his surgeries and come discharge Jude. The nurses took out his IV, gave him 2 cool band aids and said we were free!

Jude's mouth looks great. They released the top and bottom ties with a small laser and he didn't even need stitches. His mouth will be a bit sore and we will keep him on Tylonel, he is sleeping now and when he wakes up we will give him some soft food. He got to have a popcicle in the hospital.

It already has made a difference. He is sticking his tongue out and running his tongue all over the inside of his mouth and laughing. It has been 19 months of not being able to do these things and he is having fun doing it! We look forward to hearing the new sounds he will be able to make too.

We are glad that it is done, and that he did great. I am going to head out now and meet the girl's at there skating party for school and see how their night was!

I haven't left the house in 4 days!!!! It is driving me nuts, between Gracie being sick for several of those and it being -20 out, I have not sniffed fresh air in 4 days!!

I work tomorrow, YAY, I get out, I get out!

home day

Gracie is home from school today, she was up a lot last night and is tired and laying on the couch now. Hopefully she will turn around today. Bethy is home today too, but she feels great. The school called and said there was a small electrical fire last night and it knocked out the heating system. So, no heat, no school! It is nice to have them home and not having to to drive them around all day. It is freezing today which is another reason to be enjoying some home time. We woke up to it near -25 and it will only warm up a bit more than that. It is sunny though! I am wishing we start to get some snow because it will warm up then! This is the latest we have gone with no real snow to talk of. Last year it all came at the begining of Dec, we are still waiting. I'll take the snow over the cold!

Humm, make some lunch for the kids, cuddle on the couch with some tea, read some books, play some backgammon, sounds like a great day off to me!

I Wish...

I wish you could marry Christmas, I wish you could marry Christmas, I wish you could marry Christmas, and a happy new year!

This is Beaner's version that she was singing this morning, I didn't have the heart to correct her.

I am home from church today, Cici has the "throw ups". I sent the other two kids with Paul and hopefully someone will help J Man out till he can go to the nursery.

Paul and I went to the church's Christmas dinner last night and had a great time. We had a new babysitter come and the kids loved her, J Man didn't even cry! She enjoyed them too. There was a gift exchange at the dinner, Paul brought bread that he had made and I brought some Banana bread muffins. Both our items where fought over but the fighting was not as great as with the Huckleberry Jam that Paul ended up with. He fought hard, and in fact there were two jars to fight over. He was so pleased to have gotten it but the jam almost didn't make it through our door at home. He stepped out of the car when we got home and the jam went flying out of his hands and on to the driveway! He screamed, I laughed, and in the end, it made it to our fridge unharmed.

I am off to make a waffle for my little sicky, and see if it can stay down!

opps...

I think... perhaps.... we went too far, put too many lights on, too many decorations, did I go too far this time? Perhaps, or, are we so used to having a Charlie Brown Bush tree that when we get the real thing, load it up with EVERY light we have, perhaps it is too much. The tree gave us an early morning wake up as it could no longer bear the weight of Christmas joy and layed down to rest. Or, perhaps we didn't tighten the trunk in as tight as we should have. Oh, well, only a few casualties and it is back up and spreading Christmas joy, don't worry tree, we will take better care of you, our Christmas joy got the better of us.

Finally, what I've been waiting for!!

Today was the day, you know, the day that I could let loose all my built up Christmas creativity, and here is a sample of what took place.

I do have to confess one thing, the tree is bought, we just didn't have it in us this year to hunt through the bush to find a Charlie Brown christmas tree again this year. The kids didn't mind though, we filled the empty tree hunting space with a Curious George Christmas movie! What does you house look like for Christmas this year?

snowflakes

Here are our snowflake crystals we made, they turned out really great!

1 more day, 1 more day, 1 more day till I can go hog wild!!

Christmas

I am getting ready for Christmas. Well, as much as Paul will allow me. You see we have a bit of a family rule that Christmas doesn't enter our house before Dec 1. So, as that day approaches, I get more antsy and need to squeeze in some illegal Christmas joy. I have wanted to get the boxes of Christmas stuff from the basement so I can simply "organize" it, but I got a big NO on that one. So, with only a few days left before I can go full boar, I decided to do some "crafts" with the kids. We made playdoh, innocent enough, but I snuck in some glitter and made it smell like a candy cane! Christmas Play doh! We are also making "ice crystals" with pipe cleaners shaped like a snowflake hanging in a jar of boiling water and Borax, hopefully overnight there will be crystals on the snowflake! Oh, and don't tell Paul but we listened to Christmas music while we crafted! The weather isn't helping things either, it is snowing, to0 perfect! Beaner's response to Paul today when he asked her if she wanted to help do Christmas baking on Tues.. "only if it snows Dada, then we can make Gingerbread Men". She even gets it! Well, I think I will head out for a snow walk with the kids, have some hot cocoa and eat some Mandarin oranges, all while I hum Jingle Bells. Fa la la la la......

On My Mind...

What is on my mind? Well, here it all is...

1. Tea. I am waiting for my Chai Tea to steep and have been in a tea indulgent state these past weeks. I can't get enough. I hope it is ready soon.

2. Flu shots. Jude got his done 2 weeks ago and I found out that we can all get done at our Shopper's Drug Mart for free, no line ups, just make an appt and go. So today is the day the rest of us get done. That should be fun. I will let you know how the girl's do!

3. More tea... my tea is ready, I'll be right back.

4. Flies. There is a big fly in the house trying to get outside, little does he know that our house is the safest haven for him. Outside there is over 10cm of snow, poor fly, he doesn't know any better.

5. Christmas lights. This one is two fold. Tomorrow we are going to go to the light up in the Platzl, it will be fun. Santa arrives in a fire truck and turns on all the lights. I am venturing out alone with the kids as Paul will be at a Cribbage Tournament (which he lost last year, and by lost I mean got knocked out the first round and got the last place trophy). Our track record on this event going smoothly with our children has not been good. Let's hope that tomorrow will be a success with no one getting lost or throwing HUGE tantrums. Also, I am hoping to get solar Christmas lights this year for the front of our house. We don't have a plug that works there anymore so I am hoping to decorate and light up the neighbourhood with the sun's power!

6. Lethbridge. What? Well, we are hoping to head there after church on Sunday, stay with a friend overnight and shop! Our friend is even willing to play with the girl's on Mon morning so we can go shop for them for Christmas! We really want to go if all the factors fall into place, like weather and .... well, that leads us to number 7.

7. Colds. No flu in our house but a cold is making it's rounds.

8. Even more tea, boy my Chai tea is tasty!

9. Passports. We need to get passports so Paul and I can take a little trip to the States alone! We haven't been away from the kids in years and not for more than one night, so we are pushing our luck and gonna try for two! I just saw that Paul printed off some applications so hopefully we can get them done in time for us to go!

10. Wow, I made it to ten... the problem is I've run out of ideas. Oh well, what is on your mind lately?

New Fun

This is the new fun that J Man has in his room. It is no wonder why we haven't seen the girl's all day, they have taken a liking to his room!! There was this slide on a street close to ours, and as we went for a walk yesterday the people who own it wanted to get rid of it, so as we walked by, they gave it to us. The kids have been having so much fun with it, only after we drained the water that had frozen on the inside, and struggled to get it upstairs, but we did it and they love it!

J Man now understands cameras and how to say "cheese"... too cute!

oh, and he also has begun pretending to be a dog, also too cute!

...and not so new... sitting in anything he can fit into!

snow, forts and skates....

Here is a bit of what we have been up to this weekend...

It snowed on Sat night, the great big fluffy snow that is seen in movies! It is hard to drive in, especially when it is dark... it looks like you are in the Millenium Falcon going into warp speed!

But it is sure fun to play in!

There was also Fort Time, which the girl's started but I could only capture J-Man enjoying it!

Then today, we headed out skating, so much fun!

We even ran into CiCi's best friend!

We forgot the helmets, our kids were the only ones living on the dangerous side, but all went well and no head injuries!

oh, and on a foot note, I am a better skater than Paul!!