Mommy & Me

Logan had reading week here this week, so this just means he had no school for the week. Carter still had his playschool so it was a great opportunity for Logan and I to have some 'Mommy & Me' time. Some days he is jealous that Carter has the day with me and he has to go to school. We had Tuesday morning and then all day Thursday. I never asked him what he wanted to do I just had things planned. After dropping Carter off, we heading out to Tim Horton's for breakfast before we went skating. He ordered a hot chocolate and a donut. Which he never ate the donut......I think he was excited to go skating! When we got to the rink, it was pretty well empty. We got our skates on and off we went! Logan has developed a little bit of a cocky tongue and proceeded to tell me that he was going to skate circles around me. I think he forgets that his mommy just happens (or used to) to be a bit of an athlete! ;o) (I was plum tuckered within 20 minutes!)

I got a few photos of our skating. Unfortunately they were taken with my cell phone and I just couldn't get good shots wearing skates.

After about a half hour, Logan was spending more time on the ice than skating on it, so that was my cue to call it a day. We headed home and then we had a few games of Mario Kart on the DS's and it was then time to go and get Carter.

So on Thursday, we had the entire day! We dropped Carter off again and then this time we went to Starbucks for a coffee. I had an appointment at my work to have my wrist and elbow worked on, which just happens to be with Logan's baseball coach. They got to catch up and make fun of me when I made faces at how much the treatment hurt. I usually take Carter to work with me, so it was kinda fun to show off Logan. (You grandparents wouldn't know what that is like to show off the boys!! ;o) ) Logan then had to go to the bank and take some money out to buy himself a DS game. Carter got the game Batman from Santa, but unfortunately you need two game cards for them to play together. So this is what he wanted to get. He was tempted by a few other games, but when it was time to decide, he went back to Batman. "I'll just get what I came here for", was his reasoning. It was pretty neat to watch him take out his own money and pay for something all on his own. As we were leaving the store he looks up at me and says, "This has been a pretty good day so far!" It was only 10:45am!

We then headed down to the food court to have an early lunch before we had to be at the movie. Logan picked to eat at Taco Time. Cheese quesadilla and crustos, yummy! While eating lunch, he realized that he got money back from the lady at the game store. I proceeded to give him a hard time and bugged him about why I had to pay for his lunch then if he still had money left. I'm sure that is fun for every parent to do........I actually remember having that done to me! We still had some time before getting to the movie and that $8.00 was burning a hole in Logan's pocket, so we headed into Zeller's to check out what was in there. He ended up picking out some playing cards......and then he still had a dollar and a bit left. I told him to put it in his pocket and when he got home to put it in his piggy bank. He was good with that idea.

The only 'kid' movie playing at the theatre was Hotel for Dogs. I had never heard of it, but we had a few people tell us that it was good. We got our tickets, the all important tub of popcorn and gigantic drink, and then we were set. We were the only ones in the theatre and Logan thought that would be pretty cool if it was just the two of us the whole time. Unfortunately for him, about eight more kids came in with a couple moms. The movie was cute. It took awhile for the story to get going, but Logan let out a few giggles that let me know he was enjoying it. After that we only had just over and hour before having to get Carter, so we headed home quick and then we were off to Walmart to get some milk and cheese. And our day together was over, just like that!

Logan came into Carter's school to get Carter and he saw a couple of his old teachers. The one teacher is a shorter lady and Logan came up to her shoulders! He really has grown up. I have mixed feelings about the boys growing up........some days I can't wait for them to move out and other days I wish I could hold and rock them like they were baby's again. I really enjoy having the one on one time with them separately, this is something that I will continue to do.

Boys & Reno's

On Friday the 13th (oooooooohhhhhhhh) both boys had activities at school to take part in. Carter had a little party that he got to decorate a cookie, cupcake and make a butterfly out of hearts and Popsicle sticks. I was a bit disappointed that they never sang for us this time. Sure glad I wasn't a full time working parent that had to take time off to attend.

Here is Carter decorating his treats!

The finished product. (Of course he just ate the icing and smarties afterwards!)
Logan's school had a winter carnival morning and had a whole bunch of activities for the kids to do. They had all the halls full of games, the gym with some obstacle course and outside they had snow painting, tug of war, toboggan pulling and then a hay ride. After Carter's 'party' we headed over to the school to see if we could find Logan. It didn't take us long.......and we were ditched just a quick! They paired all the kids up with their reading buddies and Logan's just happens to be in grade 6. Not cool at all to have your mommy show up and tell you to get your toque and mitts on when you are outside! I thought we would then just leave him be, look around a bit more and head home......until Carter wanted to take part in some of the activities. He played bowling, snowball throwing, did some of the obstacle in the gym and also got to play mini stick hockey with his brother once we found him again. We also waited for close to an hour to go on a hay ride, which by the way is too cold to do when there is a windchill! I was tired by the time the morning was over!

Here is Logan with his buddy, having a rest while drinking hot chocolate.

Mini stick hockey.

His teacher was the supervisor in the room and she said he played a really good goalie.

After the hay ride the one lady picked Carter up and let him pet the one horse. Those poor horses were sweating but then the sweat froze so they had icicles hanging from them. I think that made Carter a bit nervous.

Friday afternoon once Mark got home from work we started getting Logan's room ready to put in the new laminate. After doing Carter's room we were pro's, it only took us 1/2 hour to do the demo part and we had all the flooring layed by shortly after 7:00. The boys always wanted to help but soon got bored and then side tracked into doing something else. Saturday we asked them to go and put on 'grubby' clothes so they could help.......I caught them both digging through their hampers looking for dirty clothes! Once they figured out what I meant by 'grubby' this is what Logan came out with.......

(this picture doesn't do it justice........)

Logan's pants were about three inches too short with both knees having holes in them. Hint to all grandparents, new pants are needed!! ;o)

And Tooter.......he's just a little bugger.........showing me his muscles.

And here are the pictures of the bedrooms all complete.

Logan's.......

And then ours.

It was nice to go through the rooms like that. It was like packing up to move, throwing things away etc., without the actual moving! Not sure we will be doing that anytime soon with all the work we have just done.

What's Shaken'

It's hard to believe how fast time goes by. And the weird thing is, someone asks 'what's new' or 'what have you been up to' and the answer always seems to be 'nothing'. I find this time of year to be a bit challenging. Too cold for the boys to play outside, costs too much money to take the kids swimming or bowling every weekend and then the gloominess of the weather just makes a person cranky.

The kids have been doing well with school and always enjoy playing with their friends. Tomorrow marks the 100th day of school for this year. The kids have to take 100 of something to display, Logan took the easy way out and picked a puzzle that has 100 pieces! The little bugger doesn't even have to count.

I have a few pictures to share - the boys.

I made a cake for a girlfriend of mine who's sister had a baby and needed it for the shower. The boys are always fans of me making cakes because there always seems to be enough batter left over to make a few cupcakes. Here they are showing me their appreciation by shoving as much as they could in their mouths!
Mark and I seem to have a little bit of cabin fever and that is never good because we start looking around at the house and see what needs to be worked on. So instead of sitting around and staring at each other we start projects. I would really love to tackle the kitchen, but we are a little short with the funds to do a proper job. Another job I have been wanting to get done is re-carpet or put laminate into the bedrooms. I'm sure the carpet is original from when it was built and it is really gross! So while we were out just 'checking' prices of cupboards, flooring and tiling, we found a really good deal on laminate for the bedrooms. Once we got home the demo began! Between Mark, myself and Logan, we had the room stripped down to the sub floor and layed the underlay with in a couple hours.

Carter on the other hand........not sure if he was feeling all that great......showed up when most of the work was finished and picked up a hammer and showed me that we has helping.

I found that the demo work and then the prepping the room to actually lay the laminate took the longest time. Mark had the floor finished in about 1.5 hours. We also had to put up new moldings to match with the new ones that we got with the new windows last summer. I'm pretty sure I have a few less brain cells from staining all the trim! I now have an excuse when I say or do something stupid!! :o)

Here is the room before we loaded up Carter's stuff...............

(Carter gave his approval)

.......and then here is the room with all the stuff back in it.

I love the finished product but man do things get messy and out of control while doing a job. Carter's bed frame was in the living room upstairs, his dresser was in our room, book shelf and stuff from his closet in the family room downstairs and then other small stuff in Logan's room. Last night Carter had a sleep over in Logan's room......I was impressed, they fell asleep within a half hour of being in bed and then they even slept in until 7:30am! They are looking forward to doing it again next weekend, but this time in Carter's room while Logan's room is all over the house! Next weekend: Logan's room and our room.