Pre-Christmas 'stuff'

Things have been pretty hectic around our house the past few weeks. I think we are now ready for Christmas. Only a few more sleeps and we will be heading to Creston. I thought I would update what has been going on for us.

I mentioned that I 're-did' my massage room here at the house, this is a picture of the red paint. I still need to get some art on the walls and a few more personal touches, but it is coming.



A couple of weeks ago, the Holiday Train came through Medicine Hat. We have never seen it before so I thought this year we could go and take a look. I got this great idea to head out to where the train would be coming into the Hat, so we could watch it go right past us. We actually went out to where Mark used to work, Earthworks. It was pitch black and no one else around. I had my camera ready to capture the train and then we heard on the radio that the train was already downtown! We had missed it. I did have fun taking pictures of the boys in the dark. The flash just about blinded them, so I had them close their eyes until just before the picture was taken. For some reason when I told them to open their eyes, their mouths had to open as well.



When we did finally get down to the train station, I was disappointed. They were talking about the train on the radio and the one dude asked if the train could be seen from space. The responce was, 'I would like to think so!' So I was expecting a lot of lights! But there wasn't. See for yourself, this is the engine car.



We of course had to take the boys to see Santa at his castle in the mall. I have pictures of past visits to Santa out and Carter saw himself crying and reaching for us. He was a bit concerned that he may cry again this year. We had to explain to him that we was little then and there is no need to be scared of Santa. The visit went well. They even got a reindeer ride on Santa's knee!



Carter had a little Christmas party at his school that consists of singing songs and then making some crafts as well as decorating cupcakes and cookies. I always enjoy watching these little kids singing their hearts out. Here's the little dude getting lined up by his teachers.


Ross Glen school alternates having a school Christmas concert and this year was a year that they had a family fun night at the school instead. On his last day of school, all the classes did put on a small little concert. Logan was too far away for me to get any good pictures of him, but I did get one of him as he was walking back to his classroom. During this time, a girl from another class was walking out as well, but left her mark while leaving. She threw-up all over the floor! When going through my pictures on the camera later in the day, this is what I saw......


Did you see it.......I captured the girl in action! YUCK!! I'm very glad she missed Logan and only got the floor.

Just last night we had our 'Christmas' with the Ertmoed's. We had four very excited boys running around. Good thing Christmas is only once a year and is only 5 days away! They did sit still for a couple pictures.



Carter has been having 'bad dreams' again the past couple of nights. A client of mine gave the boys a gaurdian angel on a cross a few years ago. I have been giving this to Carter to tell him that she will keep him safe. When we were going to bed last night this is how we found Carter.......


.....nothing but sweet dreams last night.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I decided to give my massage room here at the house a bit of a make over. The color that it was, was a cranberry. Change was in order so I went with red. 'Lipstick Pencil' is the name of the color. And take it from me, RED SUCKS! The room is pretty tiny and I finished today and I had to use FOUR gallons of paint. Mark made the joke that my room is now smaller due to the inch of paint on the walls! The finished product should look good.

2. We had a big fire here in the Hat this past week. It happened to be a pub called the 'Dog House' and the bar Ezzies. When I first heard about it I thought the pub was out in Redcliff, they then added on the news that it was the entire building and that Ezzies was lost as well. This building just happened to be the view from my massage room at the Ridge. The horizon looks a little bit different now.....I have a better view! The building was 50 years old and they think the fire started up high, in between the ceiling and the roof.

3. Also speaking of news........it just gives me the heebie jeebies to hear about the Jeremy Stienke case going on right now in Calgary. The Richardson family was murdered 3 years ago this coming April. Listening to the news and hearing some of the details is awful. Makes you wonder what the heck was going on in those kids heads. Even more of a reason to have my kids stay little.

4. Speaking of my kids.......check out their shirts. I just couldn't resist.

(Dear Santa, I can explain everything)

They look like perfect little angels don't they? Their poor lips.......they keep licking them and get those sores under their mouths.

5. Carter went through his first pair of glasses last week. Him and another kid were running full tilt and crashed leading with their heads. Mark took him in on the weekend to see if the lady at Sears could fix them or not. NOT! So they ordered another pair. I'm a bit nervous as to what the three boys picked out. Mark tried calling me to get me there asap, but I was getting groceries and still had my phone on silent from the night before. I should be getting the call soon.

6. I think I sent this email to everyone I know but this one story is just too funny......

This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor, who will, in the future, think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow and then you don't get any? We had a female news anchor that, the day after it was supposed to have snowed but it didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, "So Bob, where are those 8 inches you promised me last night?" Not only did he have to leave the set, but half the crew did too because of laughing so hard.

I laughed so hard at this, I had tears running down my face. That is some good stuff.

7. Logan stayed home from school last Friday. He woke up at 5:00am complaining that his tummy was sore and that he thought he needed to throw up. Turns out it was all a false alarm, but I didn't want to be that mom that sends her kid to school and then gets a phone call an hour later to go pick up my kid because he got sick all over the place. Later that afternoon, I looked on the calendar and saw that Logan was to get his first report card that day! Coincidentally, I remember that last year he was 'sick' the day he was to get his first report card as well. Little bugger. He did bring it home yesterday and he got a good report. I have an interview with his teacher tomorrow to get even more dirt on the dude.

8. Friday night I had my ladies night out. We all had tickets to see the play 'Footloose'. I was surprisingly impressed. The main character in the play looked like Kevin Bacon and the minister even looked like John Lithgo. (Laugh all you want...I have no idea how to spell his last name.) They only had one small glitch........10 minutes into the play the house lights came on and the lights to the stage didn't seem to work. Turns out they some how fried the main circuit breaker and none of the lights were working. Saturday night was the final performance and I heard they had to fly in a new one from the states. They somehow got some of the lights to work and the show continued on.

9. The Bacon Mushroom melt is back at Wendy's!!! I think I will be finding my lost 5 pounds!

10. My vote is for Lance Bass to win DWTS. I'll even put $5.00 down if anyone wants to bet?

10 on Tuesday!

I thought I would give this a whirl.......not promising that it will ever happen again!

1. Why are people putting up their Christmas stuff already? (Sorry erin!) IT isn't even December yet! I still have 36 days until Christmas.

2. I have been complaining about my weight gain for a few months now and never really did anything about it.....but continue eating. Last week I was at the day home picking up Carter. I was squatting down to help Carter with his shoes, and wouldn't you know it I blew the ass out of my pants!! If that isn't incentive, not sure what else it will take.

3. I hate the wind. Gusting up to 60 kms today.

4. This time of year is great to help out with your parenting skills. "If you don't smarten up, I'll be writing Santa a letter and let him know that you are being bad!" Works every time! I'm guessing I'll have at least 4 more years of it, love it!

5. A friend of mine is taking both her kids to Disneyland for their birthdays. Her and her husband have been keeping this secret from the kids for the past two months. This past weekend they had a little party with family and let the kids now. I was asked to make a Mickey Mouse cake for the occasion. Yesterday morning when I was dropping Logan off at school, Laura and her kids were also just getting to the school. I asked them how excited they were! I got big smiles and then the girl looked up at me a quietly said, 'Thanks for the cake!' To hear those few words just made my day.

6. Had a massage this morning. Really needing to have more of those.

7. We were having supper the other night and Logan & Carter were talking about their days at school. Logan talked about who he played with and some of the things they learnt. Carter soon follows up about a kid in his class, telling us that this boy is his new friend. He described him as the 'big fat kid with no mustache'. This boy is very big for his age. I golfed with his mom and she was saying that his growth stimulating hormone kicked into over drive at a very early age. This boy is only three years old and is 3x the size of Carter! I guess he looks like a grown up to Carter......and grown up boys should have a mustache. Things that come out of his mouth crack me up.

8. I also hate laundry.

9. Our new Walmart Supercentre has now opened. It is HUGE!! Mark keeps hearing that it is the largest store in Canada. It kinda gives me a weird vibe.....it seems dark in there. I also don't like the line ups. The people that are buying groceries really need to stay over on their side to pay for their groceries and leave the other check outs for regular shoppers.

10. Is it just me, or is time going by way too fast?!? Every time I make a cake, I get requests from the boys as to what they want for their birthdays. Carter told me that we wants Wall-e. Not sure why, he hasn't seen the movie and knows nothing about him. I then thought about it and Carter is going to be 5!!!! YIKES.

Showing off Jakzen

I noticed that I uploaded these photos from my camera and then never did anything with them! You can't laugh at the 'fogginess' of the first few pictures.......Nick realized that I had a greasy fingerprint on the lens of my camera. I just like to call it my 'smudging' technique, I totally meant to do that! Also Keri made some pictures, proud mama bear.

Keri of course dressed Jak up as a Jak' O Lantern! I stole this picture from her blog, couldn't help but show it off!

Halloween '08

Another Halloween came and gone.

Not sure why this picture never made it in the last post, I have been having technical difficulty with writing up blogs. Every year after the pumpkins get carved we have to put them in the bathroom and test them out.

Carter had his playschool party in the morning. This is the view I had from my rear view mirror!
Here is a bunch of the little guys.
Can you spot Carter?

After school we had to pretty much tie the boys down! They were so excited. Finally it was time to get dressed and hit the streets.

There was no walking from house to house, they ran!

We seemed to keep running into this group of trick or treaters that had a couple of dogs dressed up. Had to take a picture for the blog.

The boys got a pile of treats. Two large bowls full of chocolate and candy and then over 40 bags of chips. We will be eating candy until Christmas!

Pre - Halloween'ing

I never thought this week would end!! Ever have one of those weeks that if something could go wrong, it would?

Sadly, Mark's grandma, Grandma Scott, passed away. We all will be heading to Creston on Sunday to be with family.

Mark's boss is away on holidays this week so it is just Mark and Ken running the show. They have a driver that drives to Calgary nightly to pick up freight and switch trailers around in Brooks. On Monday night this guy some how smashed his foot! Kinda hard to drive a truck with a broken foot. Turns out they got some help from Edmonton so Mark and Ken didn't have to worry about that as well.

Both boys had their first visit to the dentist this week. I HATE the dentist and was very cautious not to let the kids see my uneasiness about being there. Turns out Logan loved it! I think he would go back tomorrow if he had the chance. Carter on the other hand.......not so much. He kept gaging with everything they did with him and then left with a wicked tummy ache from all the dry heaving! He may need some heavy persuading to get him back.

Logan went to a Halloween dance at the school last night. The entire school was invited to go, kindergartner's to grade 6's. Let me tell you......that gym is not near big enough for all those people! For me it was just foreshadowing into what is going to be happening in 10 years. A small heard of girls running with a pack of boys running after them! Logan got a phone number from a girl in his class the other day. I knelt down and asked her what her name was and she told me Chloe. She then quickly added that Logan can call her on Saturday!! :o) My six year old is a little player already!

Jodi & Ryan are having a Halloween party tonight for the kids. I was asked to help Jodi with a cake. We first looked at making some sort of spider cake.......I then remembered that I had a tomb stone cake (Over the Hill theme) so I made that instead.

The boys also made their Jack-'O-Lanterns this week. I had a client so Daddy and the boys went to work. I did get a couple pictures.

Strangely enough....they kinda look like themselves!!

Stay tuned for the Halloween shots.

Carter's Hand - Before & After

I never was very fond of the doctor who was going to be doing Carter's surgery, his bed-side manner was something to be desired. Now that it is over and the results are AMAZING, he still is a bit of an 'a-hole' but he does great work!

Take a look for yourself

BEFORE

AFTER
BEFORE

AFTER

Carter had school this afternoon after his appointment so I did wrap his hand for that. Just before supper we took it off. He isn't used to it and I think he would prefer to have it wrapped. Mark made this comment, 'It's great that he has his hand fixed but I think he may be gay now!' (Carter still holds his hand as if it were wrapped!) :o)

I thank you all for your encouragement and advise during the past six weeks. I'm very lucky to have such great family and friends!

Back to Normal

Carter had his six week follow-up appointment today with the hand surgeon. I'm happy to say this little trauma that came into our lives is over!! Dr. Cassar said that everything looks good....... and then he put Tooter through the last bit of pain. On Carter's fingers there were a couple of scabs and the big black one on the dorsal (top) part of his ring finger...........he took them off! The poor kid screamed and was `stuck`to me like glue. The nurse tried to distract him with a sticker.....no such luck. He cried all the way out to the lobby and half way to the van.

We no longer have to wrap up his hand and he is free to start using it again. I will post some pictures soon for you all to see.

Here is Carter showing off his sticker tonight........it says `brave patient`.

These next couple of pictures are for Grandma who is going through withdrawal of seeing them.

Like I said, things are back to normal.......Logan putting Carter in a head lock.

Need Cake?

True Terrill Tales

I am in need of a lesson on how to post more than 5 pictures on a blog! JEEPERS!

Anyways, Mark and I went to Canmore last weekend for his cousins wedding. It was a lot of fun! We dropped the kids off at Keri and Nick's house and then continued on to Canmore. We got in when it was pitch black and had to try and find the hotel. Mark has a little trouble getting directions from his Dad and it has been many years since I have been in Canmore....let alone in the dark!

When we woke up in the morning, this was the view we had out of our hotel.

Each room was a two storey condo type suite. Three couples stayed in one room and two in another. Canmore really has changed over the years.

We had a lot of fun....minus the ten kids! I'm pretty sure it has been since Scott and Kelly's wedding that we did that! We all hung out Saturday morning, had a soak in the hot tub and then started the few hour rally to get ready for the wedding.

Here are the couples, minutes before we left.

Mom & Dad Terrill

Scott & Kelly

Shaun & Terina

Greg & Dawn

Jaimi & Cory had there wedding and reception at the Stewart Creek golf course. The wedding was short, sweet and to the point! It was five minutes late (was to start at 2:00pm) and we were walking out at 2:20pm. Jaimi looked amazing in her dress! Very pretty girl.

This was the view from the deck where the wedding was held. We all had a little itch to grab some clubs and go for a round!
The happy couple!
Jaimi and her girls

The cake.

It had a few issues I guess. For some reason the icing didn't want to stay on the cake. I love the colors.....and the leaves.
Jaimi, being an only child, pretty much thought of the Terrill gang as siblings.
It's not often that we get dressed up and the back drop was amazing!


We all had a pretty good time and had a few laughs on Father Bill's expense, some interesting dessert options and Mark's smart ass comments on the shuttle ride to the reception!

Jaimi and Cory headed off to Hawaii for their THREE week honeymoon and we all headed back home, back to all the kids. Can't wait to do something like this again!