A Day in the Life of AJ and Dexter

My Little Valentines

2012-02-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Dexter was a super nice brother today. AJ did not have a red t-shirt to wear to school today for Valentine's Day (no uniforms today, and instead you can bring $2 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and wear red/white/pink).

So, Dexter let AJ wear Dexter's brand new, hasn't been worn yet, Darth Vader t-shirt. What a nice brother.

Quick, Look Again, Before I Drop This One Too

2012-02-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

So, the boys' combo birthday party is tomorrow.
About 10 common friends received the invite above.
About 20 classmates from Dexter's preschool received one with Dexter and Lego Star Wars characters.
About 10 boys from AJ's old class, and 10 boys from AJ's new class received one with AJ and Lego Star Wars Yoda.

The boys are pretty stoked and so am I. I love a good theme to go nutso on.

AJ's Storm Trooper Cake

Thought this one was going to be the easy one. I was wrong.

Good picture to go by.

Legs.

Lego legs with marshmallow fondant followed by the dude's head.

The whole storm trooper.

Some mess.

Finished.

My sweet sweet sister, Kimberley came and made Death Star cake pops with me yesterday. That was fun. Lots of laughs.

Thanks, Kim.

Quick, Before I Drop It ! Look at R2D2 !

2012-02-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

Today's topic at church was 'vainglory'.

Don't do good things for the applause, or the applause is all you're going to get.
Do good things in secret only for God's eyes, and He will reward you later.

Yah... uh... maybe next time I'll do that.

In the meantime, applause please.....

Step One: Cooling Racks Ready

Step Two: Put the long rectangular cake, the round cake, the square cake, and the small rectangular cake on the cooling racks...

Hey, where'd that picture go? Oh well, I'm sure you can imagine it.

Step Three: Look at a picture of R2D2 and build him the best you can.

Step Four: Dirty ice him. Dirty ice him good.

Hee hee. Yes, you see another cake. Those are the cakes I'm freezing for the cake pops I'm making later in the week.

Step Five: Start mixing colours, get dye all over your hands. DO NOT let your child eat the small amount of red icing. Let him mix it only.

Step Six: Keep going.

Step Seven: Break your back continuing to make little rosettes.

Not too shabby.

Finished. Get a good look because I'm pretty sure it's going to get dropped on the way to the party. Oh yah. For sure.

Still wondering why I'm going to church? Sorry, if I've still not filled you in. I really can't remember if I wrote about that or not.

Let's put it this way in it's simplest form.
1. AJ wanted to know about God.
2. He should get his information from a place that knows about God.
3. I like singing and there's a great band.
4. Who doesn't like to listen to a good intentioned reminder on what it means to be a good person?

Where Did January Go?

2012-02-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Believe me, I had plans to update more often. For Christmas, I got a new camera, a little one, that I can keep in my purse. There are pictures on there and on my phone. The problem is that my computer has been redone and now I can't load those pictures myself. I have to wait for Richard to do them. I was forgetting to ask him for a while, and now he's been sick for a while.

Richard's sick?
No, not that kind of sick. I hope not.

He had a fever and chills and a bad cough (same as the boys). But the boys caught it after him, and finished it before him. Richard's still having a rough go of it. I've been a little panicked and he has these coughing fits that make me worried, but apparently, Richard is not the only person who is finding this particular cold draining and tiring. He's pretty exhausted. Poor guy. It's everything for him to just get to work. He's stayed home a few days here and there to try to rest up, but nothing was helping for quite a few days. Now, his cough has died down a bit, but he's just drained. Making it up a flight of stairs is proving tiring. His haemoglobin is not so low that it's scary, but his blood work is definitely showing that he's fighting something. I'll feel better when he's talked to the oncologist just to be sure. I'm sure he's not going to write about this and worry anyone on his blog, so I decided to do it instead.
You're welcome. Now you can all share my stress. Ahhhhh, I feel better already like a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Thank you.

I'm sure he's fine. If I had a brand spankin' new immune system, I'm sure this crazy cold going around would kick my A$$ too!

So, back to the picture situation. To top it all off, Richard unloaded all the pictures off the big camera, so I can't even show you anything new on there. I will be able to get to them soon, but I'm not going to bug Richard too much right now. He just finished working on the invitations for the boys' combo birthday party coming up, so I should leave him be.

What can I offer you in the way of pictures?
Not much.

AJ had a little bit of homework, so I brought out Dexter's 'journal' so he could do some homework with AJ. Here they are before bed, working on their 'homework'. Awww.

My boys, working so nicely together. As always.

You can chose to believe that if you like.
I think those two pages say "I like my brother" and "I like myself".

Dexter's journaling. I'll talk about his writing/reading shortly.

AJ's homework (part of his weekly assignment he gets from school). His "I like" book. He got to read it to his class the next day.

I like my scooter. I like my skateboard.

I like my computer.

Awww. Sweet.

Baby Book Entry Time...
Proceed if you are a grandmother, maybe a grandfather, auntie, or someone with nothing else better to do.

Reading/Writing

AJ keeps pluggin along doing great. He's not passionate about reading, gobbling up novels or anything, but he does enjoy it and enjoy be able to do it. We're reading some Geronimo Stilton books together right now, as I try to get him excited about bigger books. He likes the silly writing in there.

Dexter is interesting. The two boys learn so differently and just have very different attitudes about how they want to do things. Although AJ did enjoy learning sight words, what he really loved was learning to sound things out. He initiated that stage, you know, like trying to sound out what signs said and such. Not Dex. He wants words. Whole words. And...
He does NOT like to be taught. He only wants it the way he wants it. He knows some sight words now, maybe 20, maybe more, and as we read stories together, he learns more just from the repetition or from watching one of his favourite dvds, Meet The Sight Words 1, 2, 3. If you don't have those, buy them. Like now.

When he masters a new word, he eagerly wants me to go write it on his word wall, and then he wants to read all his words to me.

Of course, being the fool that I am, I think, "Oh, yay, he really loves this, I'm going to put out a set of new words in the hallway, like I did with AJ back in the day, and I'll read them to him, and......"

"No Mom. Those are not my words. I don't want that. These are my words over here. Do not show me those words. Erase them please."

Okay... fine.

He loves to write. Does NOT like to be taught. Watch out teachers!! Between AJ (Jim Carey wannabe) and Dexter (I will do it myself), I don't know what to say.

The Things They Say

Man, I think I need to go back to keeping a baby calendar where I write funny things they say each day. I'd like to go back and read them all.

Here was my treat from AJ the other day (who is becoming me with the sass):

me - "AJ! You ate all of your lunch! Great job! You must've been not-so-chatty today."

AJ - "Well, I had a lot of time to eat all of my lunch. Would you like to know why?"

me - "Why? What do you mean?"

AJ - "Well... I had to eat one of my mini sandwiches for recess. Would you like to know why?"

me - "Oooooh... did I forget to pack your recess snack? Sorry."

AJ - "Uh, yah. So, I had a lot of time to eat my lunch at eating time. uuuuuuuhhhh."

Here was the funny from Dexter the other day:
Background information - Jack is AJ's age and AJ usually gets the playdates with Jack.

Dexter comes running to me with another one of his 16 masterpieces of the day, and starts to tell me all about it.

I took a picture of the picture, but, again, it's on Richard's computer now.

He says, this is Auntie Erica's house and shows me Auntie Erica and the downstairs of her house. He shows me the staircase going upstairs. There are these really well drawn doors with knobs and they're open to show what's inside the room. He starts to tell me.

"This one is a closet. This room is Rya. Rya is playing in her room. And this is Jack's room. This is me and this is Jack. We are having a playdate."

I say, "Oh, where's AJ?"

He says, "Oh, he's at our house with you."

I say, "Maybe you should draw AJ too?"

He says, "uuuuuuuhhhhh... okay."

He comes back in a couple minutes with a separate piece of paper taped to the other piece very strategically with masking tape.

I say, "Oh, tell me about this picture. It looks great!"

He says, "This is our house. This is you and this is AJ. I'm over at Auntie Erica's for a playdate. AJ is home with you."

Too cute.

AJ's New School
Not too much to say. He loves it. I love it. All is good. I went to my first PAC meeting. It went well.
He's made lots of friends. He's excited to see a bunch of them at the birthday party. He's had some playdates with some new friends too.

More About AJ
Thursdays are busy right now since it just happened that AJ's karate falls on the same day as his new gymnastics training class. Karate 5:15-6:15 and Interclub from 6:30-8:30pm, and yes, that's past his bedtime. He's wiped out, plus he still needs a bath when he gets home because he's covered in chalk when he gets home. Which, by the way, really sucks when your son has eczema really badly in the winter.
There's something I don't think I've entered in the 'baby book' yet... gymnastics. AJ's showing some 'promise', I guess, and they thought I should put him in competitive. I wasn't quite ready for the commitment involved there, time... fundraising... volunteering... and oh yes... the money.... holy cow... the money. So, it was a bit of a compromise. He's been moved out of recreational gymnastics and is now in Boy's Interclub which is basically getting ready for competitive. 2 hours, and it's pretty intense. He loves it. He LOVES it. He must burn so many calories, I'm surprised there's any AJ left at the end. No wonder he still hasn't reached 40 lbs.

Dexter's Speech
He's plugging along. He's mastered his 'f', and he's doing well with his 'c'. Saying 'she' instead of 'her' is mastered now. He's working on his 'g' right now in 'carrier phrases', so like not just repeating 'g' words for me in games and such, but sentences like "I see a guitar." being careful to use the 'g' sound and not the 'k' sound.
The SLP has also decided to make a little attempt to work on his 'r' sound. They don't usually work on 'r' at this age, because it's not a sound that's necessarily expected at age 4. But, since the r sound at the ends of words in particular, are so weird, like a 'yee' sound, she thought she'd see how he does. She'll start with 'sh', because it's a transition into 'r'. It's proving challenging for him, and he's quite ticket off about us trying to show him where his tongue goes. We backed off a bit. I showed him tonight while we brushed teeth. That's about all I can do right now.

Dexter asked me to marry him today and gave me a picture that said,
" Dexter from Mom isolpm " and a bunch of other stuff. He read it to me as, " To Mom, from Dexter is always loving me. We have a happy ending. The end."

Made me melt. He sure draws some cute stuff. It's more about his story that goes with it. Makes you tear up a little. He drew a picture of his birthday party and man, the way he describes the decorations is just adorable.

A Friend of a Friend

2012-01-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

A friend of a friend has Leukemia, and she needs a bone marrow/stem cell transplant.

I redirect you back to my post when Richard was looking for a match.

HERE

It is so easy to get on the registry. You just need to swab your mouth.

Please help.

Winter Vacation and Christmas!

2012-01-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

That is some stellar 'wall art' by AJ as he started decorating for Christmas. Yes, I let my child put tape on my walls because "Hey, the walls are all beat up anyhow and I need to paint them." The only problem is when his friends head home, I have to remind them not to put tape on their parents' walls.

The Gingerbread House

Gingerbread house decorating time! Daddy picked one up for the boys and I to do.

(Daddy decorated and built the gingerbread tree with Dexter the night before. I thought I had a picture, but apparently, only video.)

The Elf on the Shelf
So, if you don't already know what Elf on the Shelf is, you'll need to head here...
Elf on the Shelf
and here...
101 Ideas for Elf on the Shelf

Grand-Dan who became oddly just as excited about Elf on the Shelf as I did (maybe more actually), treated the boys and I to our very own Elf on the Shelf.
If you didn't feel like reading about Elf on the Shelf, the gist is that he's one of Santa's many elves. He likes to watch to see if the kids are being naughty or nice and then head back to the North Pole while they're sleeping to report to Santa. When he comes back to your house from the North Pole in the wee hours of the morning, he likes to 'hide' and the kids have to find him and 'what he's been up to' when they wake up.

While I wasn't ready for Baggin Elf (named by AJ and Dexter jointly) to be 'super awesomely creative' in my first year, Baggin did hide in some fun places. This particular morning, AJ found Baggin up in the tree having grabbed the Luke Skywalker ornament.

Baggin was hiding in a Christmas canister one morning.

One morning, he was up on top of the tree in Father Christmas's sack, but I forgot to take a picture.

One morning, he was in Daddy's stocking.

One morning, he went right back to the same spot as the night before. Oops.

One morning, he was hanging from the bananas.

One morning, he was trying to sneak a peak in a present! And he did this the next night too... oops, again. Baggin was smart and decided to start setting an alarm, so he could 'get back from the North Pole to find a good spot'.

One morning, he got into the flour and made a snow angel on the floor.

One morning, he was playing the guitar.

Oh Baggin! You weirdo.

Reading? One of our favourite books, I'll add.

He sneaked AJ's monkey and Dexter's dino out of their beds and stole Daddy's towel spot in the bathroom.

AJ's Off to a New School

So, AJ was to be starting at the traditional school, uniform and all, right after Christmas break. We thought it would be a nice little good bye to his friends at his school if we made freezie-cozies. You know, to keep your hands from freezing when you have a frozen yoghurt tube or a freezie. We put thawed freezies into each one. You guessed it. Pink for girls and blue for boys.

Christmastime Playdates!

Well, the bad part about job-sharing with one of your bff's is that you never get to hang out with her because she works on your days off. Finally, Christmas meant 'the gang' could get back together.

Jen and Kandis' kids' teacher wanted an adult present for gingerbread house decorating day, so I took the younger siblings for a few hours. You should've seen the van. It was PACKED with 6 boosters and carseats (one rear facing, I'll add) all ready so I could pick up AJ from school and have room for all these kids! But, thankfully or sadly, I'm not sure which, Em and Jaxon's nanny came and Madisyn and Ashton's mom came right before I needed to leave to school pick up.

I had to clean Dexter's sheets anyways, so I let all the friends eat popcorn in Dexter's bed and watch a video. They thought that was pretty cool. Makenna, AJ, Jaxon, Dexter, Emerson, and Landon.

AJ and Dexter had a pajama day while friends were over. Do you see AJ being goofy with his jammie pants? I think I need to stop telling him to 'act normal'. I'm so worried that he's a weirdo during classtime, I may be cramping his inner Jim Carey. Seriously, Jim Carey's parents must've gone mental.

Ah, the calm of a movie lunch after some loud, fun playtime!

Duplo and Lego Time

Really cannot begin to explain just how much time is spent playing Lego and Lego Duplo in this house.

Lego house with a spinning tree and some spaceships shown above.

A fish made of Duplo. Looked pretty cool from the side. This isn't even the 'amazing' stuff.

The ships these boys make from their Lego just stuns me. They make way better ships with the Lego and the Duplo than I can.

Another favourite of AJ's is to make 'transformers'. He builds robots or ships that come apart into 6 different robots. Just blows my mind.

How They've Been Spending Their Time

AJ has built a fort and made a window and a door for it. In this picture, he is decorating an origami Christmas tree that he made.

Dexter is working on his masterpiece (thanks Erica for the idea) for me to hang on my bedroom wall.

Christmas!

Do I even need to say that they were excited!? It was another very special Christmas morning, waking up in our own house. The very special part? Richard was home with us and NOT in the hospital.

Stockings.

Pop Up Pirate. His favourite game.

Optimus Prime Transformers Rescue Bots fire station. He was pretty stoked. Next to it, you'll see Dexter's Batcave from Santa.

The gifts they chose for each other. Power Ranger swords with belt clips. Easily, a favourite gift of the day.

AJ opens his 'skatepark' for those little skateboards and miniature bmx bikes from Mommy and Daddy.

Delicious breakfast made by Richard, shared with Grand-Dan. I should add that the night before, we had delicious perogies made by Richard, shared with Grand-Dan. Grand-Dan is wearing his new Bazinga t-shirt.

We headed to Gram and Papa's house.

To Paul and the boys from Richard and I: Rock em and Sock em Robots.

AJ saying, "Why did they buy me clothes?" I forgot to have 'the talk' with him before we headed out. Oops.

Bakugan! (Jared, you are super cool in the background there).

The highlight of AJ's day. Lego Ninjago. Thanks Auntie Kim (and Jared, right?).

Dexter was super excited to open this remote controlled truck and construction site from Auntie Kim and Jared.

Daddy playing Pokemon with AJ. One of AJ's Santa gifts.

Mommy and her boys.

We are not good about remembering to use our camera on Christmas Day. Suffice to say the day was awesome, filled with family and love. Dinner was awesome. Lots of laughing.

I have lots of baby-book to update, but that will have to wait.

Catching Up From August - Good Grief!

2011-11-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Seriously? August?

Sure, I stuck up a few of the boys for the first day of school, but that took a lot of work. My laptop was out of commission, and when Richard set up my pieced-together-new-computer, he redid a whole whackload of stuff. That meant that I didn't have a picture resizing folder.

Normally, I copy all the pics I like, drop them into this folder, lickety split, and then like magic, the computer resizes them into a smaller picture that Blogger likes.

Without that, and without the ability to select small amounts of pictures (a talent I lack severely along with the ability to make decisions), it was just going to be too much work to upload pics. Then, I procrastinated because I knew how much there was to do.

With AJ at a birthday party this afternoon and Dexter busy painting a giant canvas I gave him, I had time to catch up on some uploading.

So today, Sunday, at 9pm, I've finished uploading. I need to go pack AJ's lunch for school tomorrow, and Richard and I are going to watch a movie: hopefully, we'll watch Friends with Benefits.
Tuesday, I will finish writing.

Daddy Time

Left the boys at home with Richard. Came home to see them using their fort building sticks to 'roast' marshmallows.

PNE

At the end of August/beginning of September, we headed to the PNE. We arrived just in time to catch the Superdogs show according to our plan.

Waiting in line for the very first ride!
They had so much fun on these cars. They were just beaming the whole time. They begged to go again, but I had to explain to them that there will still so many to try still!

Waiting in line for the next one with Daddy.

This was a great exhibit for the boys. It was all about farming.
They planted seeds.

They checked out some corn and grains.

They collected some wool from the sheep.

They picked apples. Here AJ is realizing they have magnets on the bottom so they don't fall off the trees.

Taking their bucket full of stuff from the farm (beef, milk, honey, apples, tomatoes, eggs, wool, etc) to sort.

Riding tractors.

Later in the evening, after the 8pm Peking Acrobat show, Dexter was out cold.
AJ, of course, ready for MORE! So, I told him to ask Daddy if he could go on more rides (Richard, I figured was pretty exhausted still being on the Prednisone and all).

Daddy said, "Sure."

The big slide.

Making Cookies with my Boys

Drawing Superheroes

AJ drew this from a picture in a book.

We acquired some superhero drawing books which AJ just loves. Here was his first attempt while I drew the same thing beside him.

Dexter was showing off his stellar colouring of this superhero.
"in the lines"

Lunches for LeeAnn
Posting some more of AJ's lunches for my friend LeeAnn, but you can look too.

Carrots and dip; bear, dinosaur, and cat sandwiches; and strawberries and grapes.

I put some cut up cheese slices on top, which AJ didn't like. He only likes 'real cheese' apparently. Jeepers!

AJ's teacher let them bring no more than two Hallowe'en treats to school in their lunch the week after Hallowe'en. He was very stoked.
Goldfish, whole grain crackers, carrots, grapes, Aero.

Dexter Doing What Dexter Loves to Do
Writing letters.

An Alphabet Activity for Dexter
Matching up the lower case with the upper case.
Darned Pinterest. I feel guilty when I pin and don't do. So, this was a 'do'.

What the Heck?
It took me a minute to figure out why I took a picture of this.
Then I remembered the scenario. Richard was seeing if AJ could sound out a nonsense word. He asked AJ to write his (Richard's) favourite nonsense word "flarnwibble".
This is what he wrote. He's a good little sounder-outer.

Thanksgiving

Small Thanksgiving: Mom, Ken, Kim and Jared, my dad, Richard, me, AJ, Dexter, and not my brother. He bailed. Not cool, bro.

Pinterest idea. It was supposed to be a decorative gourd, but none of them fit in my wine glasses. Nor did the apples.

My dad who obviously loves getting his photo taken.

My man.

Awwww.

The Annual Pumpkin Patch Photos!!!

Love this one. It's my favourite.

Awww.

Getting so tall!

2011

AJ's Favourite Pastime
Cutting paper and taping it places.

He made a solar system for his ceiling. This is he and Dexter having a sleepover in AJ's bed. Their favourite thing to do on the weekends. Dexter asks for a 'seepovey in AJ's bent' every night.

Hallowe'en Party!
Richard and I were Homer and Marge.

We went to an 80s party. We were supposed to be characters from the 80s.
Ryan is "80s girl", Erica is Princess Peach from SuperMario, and I'm Marge Simpson.

Hallowe'en Night
My two Wolverines. I swear that I didn't make them get the same costumes. This was their own doing. In fact, I tried to convince Dexter to be a knight, as there was an awesome costume at Costco.

The loot. That's right AJ, drink a juice box at 8:30pm before bed on a school night.

Hmmm, which should I choose. Smarties or smarties?

A Visit to Grannie and Papa's
Grannie came back from Nova Scotia, and here are the boys having fun with toys at Grannie's house.

Cap gun/rifles. Those stay at Grannie's.

Fit in a short visit with the boys' Great Grandpa Clark and Great Aunt Elaine.

Waiting for the ferry.

Playing a Little Bit of Just Dance 3

Decorating the Tree
Dexter was so adorable as we decorated. "Mom, everything is so beautiful! Look at all the different colours. Santa will love our tree sooooo much! Oh my! Oh my!"

or in Dexter talk: "Mom, eveysing is so bootiso! Yook at aw the disseyent coyeys. Santa will love owey tyee sooo much! Oh my! Oh my!"

Dexter's Frustrated Face
AJ made a board game that he wanted to play with Dexter.

Dexter's message was not getting through to AJ (which is unusual, as AJ understands Dexter best).
Here's the "Nooo AJ. That's not what I said!"

So, I'm off to go clean the house now. Dexter wanted to help. He said, "Come on mom. Where's the hose? I need the hose."

Uh oh.

Trick or Treating Tonight

2011-10-31T15:28:00.001-07:00

Well, last year Richard was in the hospital while I took the boys trick or treating.

He was excited to be able to be a part of it this year. The oncologist took him off of the Prednisone completely, and now, as expected, he's really sore. He's not sure how many houses he'll be able to join us for.

ARG. Poor guy.

It's been so long since a picture update. Between the laptop packing it in, and switching computers, and, I don't know, doing other stuff, I've fallen off the posting routine.

Richard's just made me a new resizing file folder for pictures, so maybe tomorrow, while Dexter's at preschool.....

Happy Hallowe'en All!!!!

More to the P.E. Story

2011-09-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

So, after some more questions about the P.E. that killed all of AJ's teacher's grandparents, and asking him if this had something to do with Terry Fox, he said,

"Oh, yah. It wasn't P.E. that killed all those people. It was an assembly. But we went to an assembly today and it didn't kill all of us."

(hmmm, that must be one boring assembly to kill all those people)

Richard says, "Was it maybe Cancer that killed her grandparents, just like it killed Terry Fox?"

AJ, "Oh, yah. Cancer."

A discussion then ensued about Cancer/Leukemia, etc.

I can't imagine how freaked out he must've been heading to that assembly thinking, "Oh man, if it killed all those other people who went to assemblies, then I'm going to die for sure!"

Oh man. AJ being in Kindergarten is shaping up to be pretty darned fun!

ARG.. no laptop

2011-09-27T16:20:00.001-07:00

AJ told me that all of his teacher's grandparents died from doing P.E. I think this had something to do with the Terry Fox assembly. Now...my kid's reasonably bright, so I'm wondering what the heck happened for him to get this lost in translation.

Sorry Dexter. 2 people in the past two weeks have told me that their dog's name is Dexter. Oops. To which Dexter says, "What the what?"

I finally have a working computer again, but now I have none of my desktop. Richard's still working on sync-ing that or something like that. I don't know what the real word is. So... no pictures for now.

Other things I'll have to update for the baby book in the next week:
(This is my reminder)
Dexter colouring in the lines, and colouring very well.
Dexter writing very well, and then in mirror image.
AJ loving all day kindergarten.
The PNE.
Fort Langley.

Twin Wolverines, Dexter's First Day, and a Little Something for LeeAnn

2011-09-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ready For Hallowe'en !

The boys have been trying to decide which superheroes they want to be for Hallowe'en. AJ had pretty much narrowed it down to Green Lantern or Wolverine. Dexter liked Wolverine, Iron Man, Spiderman (which was a reversible costume that also became Venom). Long gone are the days that I can help them choose adorable stuffed fluffy costumes from Old Navy. Bring on the superheroes and robots and such. We checked out Party Bazaar (the new one Langley) and were a bit bummed about the quality of the costumes considering the prices. I know they're going to wear these all year long like last year's costumes, so I want to be sure they'll last. Then Richard wanted to show us the ones at Costco. The superhero costumes were WAY too big. Dexter did find an awesome knight costume, but once we got to the next costume store here in Abbotsford, this is what they came out with....

Maybe they miss being dressed in the same outfits?

Dexter's First Day of Preschool, Kind Of

Dexter started preschool when he turned 3, back after January. But it's started up again. Here he is on the open house day.

He's pretty stoked. Emerson, Jaxon, and Madisyn are in his class. And remember when I told you about the girl that AJ loves... Olivia? Well her little sister in Dexter's class and is just as adorable as Olivia. Who knows?!

This Part's for LeeAnn, But You Can Look Too If You'd Like

So, my friend LeeAnn over in Scotland who can be found here or here, asked me about AJ's lunches for the school year and if I could post some.

I'm sure I've posted to you before how much I love to make little bento lunches for preschool and days out. Jackie over at WeeLife is where my original inspiration came from.

Nothing fancy for tomorrow's lunch... no cheese in special shapes or anything, but...

A dinosaur shaped sandwich (turkey, cheese, mayo, mustard), celery and cheese -(with a skewer not pictured), carrots and dip (instead of fruit, as per AJ's request), and a little note from Mom (also not pictured). This will be AJ's first lunch he eats at school. I'm interested to see if he comes home with lots left since he's informed me that he is sitting next to one of his best friends, Josh.....lol, or if he comes home saying, "I need more food." After asking him about his day at school, he assured me that everyone in the whole class behaved well and that no one lied. (Apparently, according to AJ, that's the only thing that makes his teacher angry.)
Full day kindergarten tomorrow. My big boy will be gone from 8:50am - 2:38pm !!!!! Can you believe it? I can't. He's so excited. He's in disbelief that he gets to go to the playground twice in a day. He's so excited when I pick him up. So far, he loves his class. I think most of his excitement comes from having his friend, Josh, in the class.

AJ's Wise Words

2011-09-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

As AJ got dressed this morning into the clothes that I laid out for church and was just buttoning the last of his buttons on his nice plaid dress shirt, I said,

"Who's my handsome-McNugget?"

He said, "Don't you mean your boring McNugget? This shirt is boring."

He just loves his superhero shirts. Poor guy.

First Day of Kindergarten, Kind Of...

2011-09-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, so it's only one hour and the parents stay there for a meeting, but it's AJ's official 'first day of kindergarten'. Here he is:

He's excited, but he's sad that "Dexter gets to be home with you mom, all day, and I don't. And, I won't get to play with my toys. I'm going to miss my Transformers," said with a tear in his eye.

Here's a sneak peek of the P.N.E.
Dexter and AJ had a funfilled day of rides and shows, but during the 8pm Peking Acrobat show, Dexter was out like a light.

AJ however, was ready for more, including the roller coaster, the mini hellavator, and the big slide.

More Summer Fun

2011-08-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

AJ and Dexter have had fun attempting to float on assorted toys in the pool. AJ has actually successfully 'surfed' on the boogie board around the perimeter of the pool.

The alligator teeter-totter.

The boat. Oh... they love the boat. They are pirates dontchaknow.

Yes, I know, my pool was not on level ground at this time.

As you can see, Dexter is phasing out his nap. Unfortunately, at around 5pm, if he's comfy, he's zonking out.

Some Duplo fun. Usually they're building amazing enormous ships. This day, it was robots if I recollect.

Camping.
We headed to Deka Lake to finally visit my mom and Ken's property. All 9 of us slept in the trailer if you can believe it, plus the dog.

The very beautiful outhouse.

Roxy.

Dexter wondering what the heck Uncle Paul and Jared are doing. Hmmmmm.

My baby brother, Paul. Doesn't he just look like a big Dexter? If you look closely, you'll see how much the mosquitoes love him as much as they love me.

Richard, dealing with a bad night's sleep. We'll sleep in the tent next time, or heck, maybe even our own trailer!

My mommy. Great picture. She won't like that this was taken just after she woke up, but hey, sorry Mom. I think you're beautiful here. (and always)

Delicious camping dinner for the boys!

Bikes. This is how the boys spent most of the time at camping. Yes, he's wearing his pajamas.

Richard and Ken getting ready to head out fishing.

AJ cuddling with Roxy.

Dexy riding again.
Exploring. They didn't do as much of this as I would've thought.

Soccer. A lot of soccer.

Chasing Uncle Paul.

Poor Auntie Kim. This really hurt.
Richard, more rested.

AJ took this picture of Uncle Paul.

Dexter made me some 'mail' the other day all by himself.
It says,
"Dexter AJ
Mom"

And Dexter wanted to set up my pillows on my bed. Gee, thanks Dexter.

Summer's Been So Fun, I'm Just Having a Hard Time Keeping Up.

2011-08-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

Lost and Found

These are some pictures that I found stashed away from my phone. I think they're all from June.

One of many trips to the skatepark, as usual. Here's Dexy.

A.J.

Dexter doing what he calls a 'trick'.

Playing the rain in the backyard.

A special night, just A.J. and I.

A fun day in the van on a Thursday when I had Jen's kids. They're singing to Jingle Bells by the Barenaked Ladies. Yes, in June.

This was the same morning. I must've brought Jaxon and Emerson to my gym, so I could work out after dropping off A.J., Makenna, and Dex at preschool. When I came into the playcare to get them, Jaxon had thought it would be funny to get into the baby exersaucer. Too cute.

Later that day in the backyard.

You guessed it. The skatepark, again. -A.J.
Dexter.

Richard and I having a date-night.
They packed the rest of my Belini in a To-Go cup... hee hee. I drank it on the way to the movies. I think this was the night we saw Bridesmaids. So, actually, this might be May, and it just might be Richard's birthday.

There is a story behind this drink sharing, but I don't think I can remember what it is. I think this was a rainy day. I took the boys to the McD's playplace so I could enjoy and mint tea and some book reading while they enjoyed a watered down iced tea to share.

Yes.

I have to say that they are really great with their skatepark-etiquette. Dexter's come a long way. It's a youth park, not a kids' park, so I really like to make sure they are not a nuisance to the big kids. Dexter keeps his head up and watches for the big kids 'taking their turn first'.

Fun times at Grant Park, just me and my boys. A picnic.

My brother's graduation party. Uncle Al is taking the kids for rides on the computer chair.
Don't you wish your husband was this hot.

It is a horrid picture of both myself and my baby-bro, Paul, but you get the idea.

Ahhhh. This is 'brotherhood'. The boys spend a great deal of the day laughing their heads off, wrestling. You'll notice that Dexter is on top.

Rockin out.

That Father's Day trip to Shannon Falls. I guess I took some pics on my phone too.

My guy. Sometimes, it's nice to just look at him and be happy he's here enjoying life with us.

These are just the 'lost' pics. I have a whole whackload of new ones on my phone and on my camera. Maybe I'll get to those tomorrow. Right now, it's 9:21pm, and I'm going to go cuddle with my guy.

Oh, and My Little Project !

2011-08-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

YAY! I finally got around to it, thanks to our not-so-summery weather!

Here is the $10 Craigslist find 'before'.

And here is the chair 'after'.

Some black, high gloss, spray paint.
Some free foam acquired off of craigslist.
My dream fabric - not free :(

And voila!

I love it, but Richard thinks it looks like Mrs. Roper.

How is Richard Doing?

2011-08-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping he'll post on his blog soon. Keep watching Before The War , as I'm hoping with my nagging, he'll update you.

Richard had an appointment with the oncologist just on Tuesday. His Prednisone level got lowered again. The Cyclosporin and Posanol will not get lowered until the Prednisone is completed gone, I think.

So Behind It's Not Even Funny

2011-08-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Dexter colouring away, as usual. Or should I say writing. He actually doesn't really colour a whole lot. He likes to draw people and write words all the time. All the time.

He uses it to try and get out of trouble too.

I'll occasionally catch him out of his bed at night, having snuck over to his colouring nook. When I confront him, he just gives me the sweet sneaky smile and says, "But I was writing M-o-m!"

Like that'll get you out of trouble Buddy.

He also likes to think he can read when it's convenient. For instance, when he likes to drag his shoes to stop his bike instead of using the pedal brakes, he likes to point out the lettering on the bike that apparently says, "Peez use yoy feet foy toppee, not pedabyakes." (please use your feet for stopping, not pedal brakes).

Dexter's Playdates

Rya came for a playdate while AJ was at Jack's, I think. They had a picnic lunch while watching Cinderella. They coloured and drew, lots. They played in the playhouse downstairs. This may have also been the day they were watering my flowers for me.

The Rice Bin

The boys have had LOTS of nice quiet fun playing with rice. We've only recently begun to enjoy a normal summer. Before now, there was a lot of rain and wind and yuck, forcing us to have indoor fun.

Forts

AJ's not only enjoying building the forts, but he 'gets' why you need to use the fort-balls with the lettering facing upwards so that you can build on angles too which means that I do not hear frustrated grunts down the hall.

Dexter is explaining to me how I'm supposed to get down the hall once they're finished.

Pics for Grannie

(backup info for the rest of you - Grannie McNeil, Richard's Mom's Mom, made two quilts for Richard when he was a boy. There's a turquoise one that AJ now has, and this red one, which now belongs to Dexter)

Sorry, Grannie, tilt your head for now.
I will remember, one of these mornings, to take a picture of AJ with his quilt.

Mmmmmm, summer.

I've been wrapped up in enjoying summer. What can I say?

A Little Extra Touch of Normalcy

2011-07-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not heard the good news, Richard has re-entered the workforce and is having his first true day of today!

Not much else to report. What can I tell you? I'm pretty darned happy today. My kitchen makeover is going so well that today I started to cry while preparing the boys' lunch because I was just so darned happy to be in my kitchen and loving it.

The boys have been pretty great. We're dealing with the transition of Dexter to no nap, which means earlier bedtime (yay), but he's waking at 6:30/7am (yuck).

Today has been particularly wonderful despite my waking to being sick. I think I had a panic attack which I have not had in years and I cannot tell you what would've caused it.

But that's not the point of my writing. The boys were wonderful. I explained that I was not feeling well and just wanted to try to sleep on the couch and they played so wonderfully, built their own forts, had movie theatre time in AJ's room, played Transformers, played Rescue Heroes, and played Duplo.

I have a hint of a headache left, but am no longer nauseated. Swimming lessons this afternoon, followed by a well deserved trip to the skatepark or playground will be in order.

I Totally Need to Update with Some Pictures

2011-07-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

But until then, I'll leave you with a recent favourite entry of mine from one of my favourite blogs. (Probably only interesting if you're a mom).

Enjoying the Small Things

Protecting your child vs. teaching him/her how to deal with disappointment. I don't like to sugar coat things too much, so I really enjoyed this entry.

It was particularly interesting after watching "Waiting for Superman" and not being surprised at the statistic having to do with US schools having such low achievement, yet scoring highest in 'confidence'...lol.

"...although America is falling behind in math, our kids are first in confidence. American students get terrible math scores compared to their international peers, but they think they’re great in math—in fact, they have more confidence in their math skills than students from any other country."
- quote taken from - http://www.education.com/magazine/article/waiting-superman-means-parents/

A Certain Little Somebody Lost His First Tooth!

2011-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

It happened yesterday! AJ was VERY excited!

Father's Day and Some Other Things

2011-06-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Friday or Saturday Night Movie-Popcorn-Nights

So, our "movie nights" have recently consisted of watching the series of Harry Potter movies. I've never read the books (not a fantasy girl), nor have I ever seen the movies, so it's been pretty fun curling up on the couch on a Friday or Saturday night with the boys and Daddy and watching the movies. We watched the first one about a month ago.

The next weekend, Dad was here, after watching the boys when we were at Paul's graduation commencement. He stayed overnight and watched the second one with us.

There are some scary parts, so 'curling up' is a must. There haven't been any nightmares, and the boys want to keep watching them, so all seems good so far.
Gram, Papa, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Paul were here the night before Father's Day to watch the third one, but do you think I remembered to bring out the camera? I swear to you, we see Mom and Ken a lot, but you'd never know it from the blog pictures!

The Boys Making Father's Day Cards

The boys each got to make three father's day cards:
1 for Grand-Dan
1 for Papa G.
1 for Papa Z.

They also made one together for Great Grandpa Clark. They had already made special ones for Daddy at preschool.

I made three tickets for each of AJ's cards so that he could put them in the cards. I told him to write things on the back that he thought his grandpas might like to do with him.

Here are the ones for Ken that he wrote.
The first one says, " Go and git KaNdy ". (Go and get candy)
The second one says, "Go To th to ster". (Go to the toy store)
The third one says, "Go To micdonls". (Go to McDonalds)

They were pretty cute.

Here's a picture of Dexter working on his cards.

Here's AJ showing his card for Papa.

Awww. Papa Z and Great Grandpa Clark will need to wait until the postal strike is over. lol.

AJ Drawing Dinosaurs

One of the library books that we took out, was a How to Draw Dinosaurs book. AJ's been busy trying to replicate.

Dexter was trying to draw some too.

Richard

Here he is. He's looking well. Still dealing with the numbness in his hands and feet. The Prednisone level just got dropped again to 7.5 so we'll watch for the GVHD rash and hope that he's fine continuing to cutting it back.

He had his last appointment out here in Abbotsford with his oncologist! If all keeps going as well as it is, he might not have to have any more appointments at VGH!

He talked about how things are going on his blog. Click HERE.

Dexter Has His Very Own Playdate

Dexter got to have Emerson over for a playdate. They coloured their little butts off.
Sorry I'm so lazy and forgetful that I don't turn the picture around.
Don't worry. He's not writing on his bed. He's just lifted up the card he's writing on.

Daddy Finished Building AJ's Computer

I have mixed feelings on this one. Ask me in a month. So far, it's all good.

AJ has definitely shown some interest in what Richard does by trade, programming and software designing. Richard is keen to welcome AJ into his world.

We've been talking about getting AJ a computer in his room and I made space for it a couple months ago. Richard finished piecing together some computer bits that we had here and there to make AJ his own. Here it is.

AJ and Makenna are just getting ready to leave for preschool with Dexter. It was AJ's Show and Tell day, so we printed off these two pics of the new computer and he showed his awesome Christmas gift from Cousin Mike (of which I spoke in the last post).

AJ is just enamoured with these two pictures that I printed off. I'm a bad mommy, and I haven't printed off pictures of the kids for photo albums. There are pictures in frames in the house, but not like this. He's beside himself with the idea that pictures can be printed off whenever we like. Oh, how times have changed.

Anyhow. AJ's had to familiarize himself with a regular mouse (as has Dexter). They are used to this kind of mouse attached to my laptop:

I just LOVE this kind of mouse. You never run into the frustrating problem (especially for children) of running out of space to drag your mouse, then having to pick it up, and put it somewhere else. All you do is use your thumb to move the cursor and then click as normal.

It's been fantastic, and it has enabled Dexter to be able to navigate sites like Boowa and Kwala all by himself for his earned computer time (from doing his chores).

Richard felt it was important for AJ to learn to use a regular-style mouse, especially since that's what they'll have at school, so that's what AJ has. Both boys seem to have caught on pretty fast, so it's been fine.

A little added bonus (or not) is that AJ can watch movies in his room if he'd like.

I wasn't too excited about that, but so far, it hasn't been an issue. He treats it as a special treat and still prefers to play with toys and draw in his room over watching a movie, so it's no big deal.

Here are Makenna and AJ watching Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries together, I think. They're 'campin out'.

Some Friday Night

The boys were VERY excited to get to have a movie sleepover in AJ's room one Friday night.
You may or may not notice that Dexter has a black eye. It was quite a week for the right side of Dexter's face that week. First, he slipped on some paper under his loft bed and smashed his cheek on his train table (or so I gather from the story he told me), then he fell at preschool that afternoon which gave him a big red mark on the front of the same cheek, and then, at gymnastics the next day, he collided with another child and got the black eye. Poor little guy.

I brought up the crib mattress from downstairs, got them all cozied up with big blankets and pillows and this is what they chose to watch....

Meet the Colours

lol

Father's Day at Shannon Falls with Grand-Dan

Richard and I drove out to my dad's place with the boys, picked up my dad, and headed for a walk at Shannon Falls.

The boys got to wear their hiking boots, their nature belts, and use their walking sticks (which Richard, my dad, and I ended up using more).

Turn your head to the left.

Now upright again.

Richard had to trek up some stairs. It was impressive. He was pretty worn out.

Some Pictures from Richard's Phone

The first hike with the walking sticks that Richard made for the boys.

*Makenna's Fishing Birthday Party*

*The Bradner May-Days Parade*

AJ was afraid of the possibility of mascots, so he hung back by me.

Dexter is not afraid of mascots.
Dancing around the MayPole

*Captain Kids*

Daddy took the boys to Captain Kids. AJ's at the top of the Lavaslide!

*Grocery Shopping in the Homemade Canucks Shirts*

*Sassy*

Sometimes Sassy sits like this. We think it's cute.

*Richard Owns a Jean Jacket*

I'm still not sure if he was kidding or not, but he tried to leave the house wearing an old jean jacket (that he refuses to let me give away).

Here's the proof:

Just as I finally sit down to post this, I now have a whole bunch more pictures! Yesterday was AJ's preschool graduation (and Dexter's, but really, Dexter is in preschool for two more years, so he didn't really graduate). I'll try to post those soon.

Woopsies - I forgot!

2011-06-18T17:30:00.001-07:00

I uploaded some pictures from the camera a little while ago, and then forgot to put them on the blog! Since then, there are more pictures (which I have not uploaded yet) and more pictures from my phone too.

I'm hoping for a special Father's Day adventure tomorrow, so I'll save posting the others with those.

Happy 40th Birthday Party for Richard a couple weeks ago!

Thanks to my mom for making two of her delicious carrot cakes that Richard loves so much! (Who doesn't? Seriously. Everyone loves this carrot cake.)

Thanks to friends and family who came over throughout the day to wish Richard a happy day! I wish I thought to take a picture of everyone who came by!

Below, Richard is breaking out the 80s and 90s arcade games. This was quite the entertainment.

The best part of the day for AJ and Dexter by far was Cousin Mike (my cousin) bringing belated Christmas gifts for them! I asked the very important question incorrectly:

What I meant to say was, "Should I get the boys to open these now or would it be better to wait until later?"

What I ended up asking was, "Would the boys like to open these right now?"

The answer, "Oh yeah! They'd like to open them now!" said Mike's girlfriend, Erin.

They didn't realize that I really meant the first question when I asked the second.

So, I let the boys open their gifts!

Oh my!

Here is Cousin Mike helping Dexter and Jaxon put together the build-it-yourself crane and dumptruck and all sorts of stuff! Lots and lots of little pieces. Thanks Mike and Erin.

Wait, that sounded sarcastic. It's not meant to be. Really. Dexter and AJ have been playing with this daily. They love getting to use the drill and the screwdriver to take things apart and rebuild.

And, for AJ, Cousin Mike got another gift with 100s of little pieces. You can mix and match to build different cars, trucks, and a big rig. It's pretty cool. AJ is really great with it. He builds all sorts of fancy vehicles! He LOVES it!
Thank you Mike and Erin! You sure know how to pick the favourite toys!

Speaking of gifts!
I put out a little jar for people to drop in a twoonie or whatever so that Richard could treat himself to a Dremel! Thanks to everyone who brought great cards and/or dropped some dollars into the Dremel fund. You can bet that Richard bought himself a Dremel.

Dexter and His Ladies

Rya came over for a playdate. Near the end of it, the two of them decided to snuggle up for a movie.

Emerson and Dexter. I have to watch these two just like I have to watch Olivia and AJ. I think these two are in love!

AJ Angry

There is a picture much like this one at my mom's house of me in my bedroom at our first house. I am mad. I have a toy with me. I'm in a chair in my room.

This picture reminded me of that. Of course, for the life of me, I cannot remember just what he was mad about. Nonetheless, he sure looks cute.

Playing the Wii

They are quite a team.

I needed to get a picture of this because I didn't think anyone would believe me.

He's wearing a light strapped onto his head. I think he's looking for a computer piece from the keyboard that he's sure he vacuumed up.

Happy Birthday To Richard !

2011-05-25T22:00:00.001-07:00

happy birthday baby

Richard is 40 Today!

*picture actually taken last year around this time.

So, I have to admit, I did not send out an official invite, sorry. But if you're reading this, and you'd like to drop by on Saturday (May 28th) to wish Richard a Happy 40th Birthday, by all means, come over. All are welcome. Come for 10 minutes or stay for the whole day. We're having a casual open house, so to speak. If you have my email and you need details, email me. If you have my phone number and you need details, phone me. Literally, you can pop by anytime on Saturday.

************************************

Sorry for the hiatus. Blogger was having some difficulties and I've been unable to post. I'll need to do a post tonight and hopefully one tomorrow with my pictures from my phone.

Here's what I've snagged off of the camera a few days ago.

AJ showing me a ship he built with Dexter's Duplo.

Dexter showing me a gun he's built with his Duplo.

Some day last week or the week before or the week before just vegging out.

Auntie Kim stayed for vegging out too and some dinner! Thanks for coming Kimmy.

More vegging. Probably watching Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries which they just LOVE!!! I cannot even begin to explain how much they love that show.

Dexter does not like perogies.

Thursday

On Thursday, I had Jen's kids and decided it would also be a great day for playdates. So, I invited AJ's friend Josh and his sister Ashriya from preschool to play with AJ and Makenna and 'the little kids' too.

7 kids were a few too many for 'movie lunch', so I had to split them up between the two tables.

Little kids at the kitchen table.

Big kids at the coffee table.

Two left at the table. The two who wanted 'more please'.

While the kids cozied up for a snack and little bit of Busytown Mysteries, Richard was hard at work baking cookies.

They, of course, played LOTS, but you know how it is. My camera's in the living room, so this is when I think to take a picture or two or three or four.

It was a dreamy playdate and just a perfect day! Seriously. I'm not kidding.

Back to Richard's baking. He had made some Rice Krispy Squares earlier too.

Pay attention to the effort and practicality here. This is soooo Richard.

No way is Richard spending money on oat flour when he can make it himself.

1. spreading out the oats on a cookie sheet to toast them

2. stick them in the blender to turn them into flour

3. make oatmeal cookies

This was one of those rare occasions when we have 'extra kids' for dinner. Seven people at the table for dinner (Butter Chicken, of course, because ALL the kids love it) was perfect!! And fun!

One of Those "I Need to Make This Right Now" Kind of Projects

I can't say that I got this idea from anywhere except for the idea of a word wall in a classroom.

Anyhow, I printed out all of the Dolch Sight Words for preschool-grade three, all of which AJ is proficient in reading and are VERY handy for creating your own sentences.

AJ's pretty interested in punctuation right now, and it seemed like a good game to make.

I painted a ferrous cookie sheet. An used a paint marker to write the alphabet. I didn't plan well and should have spaced them out more. Oh well. Get r done.

Bought some sticky-backed magnet tape. Very efficiently placed all the cut out strips of words on them. Added some extra words. Added some punctuation marks, some blanks, and some fun nouns like animals and people's names, and assorted other extras that I thought would help make good sentences.

I organized them all into their letter groupings except for the 'fun nouns' which are over at the side.

Note - I actually took these pics before I had finished putting all the words on here.

Awww. Sweet kid.

Darn right. I may have suggested this sentence.

If you're thinking of making one and you can get a hold of the flat sheets of sticky-back magnet, it'll make your life a lot easier than using the rolls that I was stuck using.

If you're thinking of making one and your child does not already know all these words, I'd recommend using different colours like you would see on a primary classroom word wall and cutting them into the appropriate shapes like this.

Oh ya. And AJ's been asking for a Canucks shirt. Can't justify spending money on hockey shirts, but I didn't mind whipping some up for the boys out of some felt and some old shirts. AJ was pretty stoked to get to wear it to school.

Mother's Day and All That Stuff

2011-05-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day weekend was spent at Grannie and Papa's (Norma and Bud's) on The Island.
Here, AJ is helping Grannie make the turkey dinner. He's stirring the cheese sauce.

AJ and I taking a picture of ourselves in the hallway.

Here's Papa sitting in the t.v. room.

He's listening to the conversation between Richard and Richard's Grandpa-Clark.
Grandpa-Clark is showing Richard his new iBook or whatever it is. I'm so not technologically savvy.

The men are relaxing and chit chatting more.

Grannie is searching for pictures in a big giant pad of search and find thingies. You know, like Where's Waldo.
The boys LOVE those kinds of books. Kind of like I Spy books.

AJ showcasing his gnarly head wound from scootering on rough terrain not meant for scootering. It wasn't high speed or anything and yes, he was wearing a helmet. But man, scooters and gravel do not mix well.

Excuse the slight blurriness of these next photos. I not only was taking them from inside the kitchen, looking out, but there is a plastic film over the windows to help keep the heat in. So, it's through plastic too.
Finding the odd dandelion and blowing the seeds all over the place. Nice.
Wearing their hiking boots that Daddy got them.

It was so nice to be able to be inside while the boys could just run free out in the yard and around the house.

This is the driveway where there was a bit of gravel that made scootering not such a great idea.

Grannietook the boys to Walmart where she treated the boys to a special toy each and these cool Bakugan watches that were on for $2.50. Snatch them up peeps! The boys have been playing with these LOTS. They are also calculators. AJ's loving that.

The next day, I think. Helping Papa outside.

Darn it. I should've turned the picture first. Isn't the front door adorable!?

Phone pictures now.

The ferry ride over to The Island. The boys played in the play area for a while, but what they really wanted was to go to the arcade area. Obviously, they don't have mother's plan these ferries. There is a big window that divides the little kid play area from this area. So, of course, the boys wanted to go in here. No money necessary. They mostly just want to sit on the motorcycles and in the car seats pretending to shift gears.
Maybe a mom did plan that. If you are sitting in the play area with your young child, you can still keep an eye on your older children in the arcade.

The boys all comfy in their carseats. We're almost at Grannies!

AJ unbuckled and rebuckled with monkey too. Awww.

On Saturday, while Bud and Richard took the boys for a hike and Richard took the boys to Home Hardware to build me a flower box for Mother's Day, Norma and her friend Linda took me to the luncheon at the Yacht club. I had to sneak a quick pic of everyone dressed in the white pants and blazers. There were about 30 or 40 people dressed just like this!

We went for a walk after the trip to Walmart.

This picture makes me feel extra short.

The ferry ride home! It was surprisingly warm outside.

The boys watching their dvd in the van.

And eating their dinner that I packed before we left Grannie's. The timing was perfect this day.
We visited Grandpa Clark and family (thanks for the bubble blowers and popsicle molds Aunt Elaine!) before heading to the ferry. Dexter napped on the way to the ferry, as planned. We got off the ferry in time for dinner, as planned. We got home well in time to unload, hang out, then get the kids to bed by a respectable time, as planned. It went really well.

And then, it was back to normal life again.
Cherry blossoms falling to the ground. It was like snow on this slightly windy day.
Mommy and Dexy wearing matching shoes this day.

The culprit. My camera phone and lack of photography skills do not give this beautiful tree any justice.

Dexter is tickled pink over his new two-wheeled scooter.
He's even trying 'tricks'.

AJ making another skateboard park with cardboard, scissors, and masking tape.

My Husband...

2011-05-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

He updated his blog to tell y'all how he's doing....
Before the War

We just got back from a nice walk after dinner. Ahhhh, normalcy. Love it.

Not Too Much To Report

2011-05-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Bird Feeders

Made some bird feeders with the boys using 4/1000 pinecones in my backyard, some peanut butter, and some bird seed.

No More Lisping for AJ

The Speech Language Pathologist/Therapist had given me little 'good S' activities to do with AJ here and there to practice his good S (quite a long time ago), but I was definitely not to 'make a big deal out of it' by correcting him during the day or anything like that. (He is capable of making the proper S sound and does when he reads, but doesn't when he talks).

AJ had his last visit to the SLP just about 3 weeks ago, maybe (as the lisp is his only issue and they don't really officially do anything about that until the child is school age). However, the SLP gave me a great idea to try with AJ if I thought he would receptive to it:

Give him something to work toward and keep a tally of how many times he uses his good S while talking during the day. He can listen for it himself too. (She recommended keeping tally with a golf stroke counter, but we ended up using stars instead). AJ was super excited. We had recently been to the dollar store where he and Dex had excitedly spent their $5 each of Easter money from Aunt Elaine (thanks Elaine and Bill) and AJ had a little wishlist in the back of his mind already of things he wanted that he saw when we were there.

When he got home, he made a list of those 6 things he wanted. We drew a bunch of circles underneath, like maybe 120 or so. I explained that whenever I heard him use his good S during the day while he was talking or if he heard himself use it, he could have a star. When all the circles got filled, we'd fulfill his wishlist at the dollarstore.

Lo and behold, 3 weeks in, and he doesn't lisp anymore! It's kind of unbelievable!

There he is using his snorkel and mask from his wishlist.

Yah, More Trips on the Path

Nothing new here. More bike rides in some of the beautiful weather we've had amidst our torrential downpours. Auntie Brenda and Uncle Al came out for a visit one of the days and Auntie Brenda came out for one of the bike rides.

There's my Dexy.

Took advantage of the sun and did about 4 or 5 hours of gardening yesterday and OMGsh, am I sore today!

A Big Day of Visits!

On Saturday, we drove to Langley so that Richard could finish fixing/updating Auntie Brenda and Uncle Al's computer and that ended being about a 2.5 hour visit. The boys held up well right on into Dexter's naptime. I didn't think to take any pictures... darn it.

A couple errands after that, and then we thought, since we were already out that far, we should head to Richmond to visit my dad. Dad was up for it, so, out to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory with Grand-Dan we went!

The boys were armed with crayons, paper, and Leapsters.

AJ ordered Mizithra like Daddy, and Dexter got chicken strips like Mommy. Grand-Dan... Lasagna.

AJ surprised me with, "Mom, is this my name in handwriting?"
And sure enough, he had handwritten his name!
Gosh darned cute lookin' too.
(note - about a month ago, he asked me to show him how to handwrite his name, and I did, so he has seen his name handwritten before)

Dexter drawing and colouring a ______? I can't remember what he told me it was. Oops.

After we finished eating and we were having teas and coffees, AJ 'rested'.
Silly Daddy.
Silly Daddy and Dexy.
Me and my Daddy.
Daddy and Dexy.

More Skatepark

I dragged Auntie Kim along on this trip. She's out in Abby this week house-sitting.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

The boys and I went on a search a week or so ago to find cool sticks to make bow and arrows.
Daddy (a former Boy Scout extraordinaire) got rid of my stupid bow-sticks and cut some of his own out of bendy wood from our backyard when he was alone with the boys last Tuesday on my workday.
Those bow and arrows put mine to shame. His really work! I LOVE using them. (Secretly, I wish to be a professional archer).

AJ's got his down pat, but Dexter's still getting some lessons.

It shoots REALLY far! Seriously! I'm not kidding. They are BIG fun. I had a great video of it and of Easter Morning, but the videos from our camera won't load onto Blogger.

A little notch but out at the bottom of the 'arrow' so that it sits nicely on the string when pulled back.

Notch cut out on the bendy green wood for the jute to go through.

AJ got to go for a super-fun sleepover at his friend, Josh's, house on Thursday night. I was talked into coming in for a visit AND drinking alcohol (a rarity for moi). Rye and coke was nice, twice. Thanks, Kiren!

On Friday Morning,
we headed to Thomas Swift with the Tarnowski family...

Daddy has been super-Dad. On Friday night, after visiting with Jen and Dave at the playground, Daddy and Dexy made chocolate Rice Krispy Squares to take to Jen and Dave's for dessert.

(hee hee, I put that apron on him. Hope he doesn't mind that I put that pic up.)

My boys.

Saturday Night's Unconventional Easter Dinner

I sat 'the guys' in the living room to eat, where they watched The Green Lantern.

Us girls and AJ and Dex sat in the kitchen with the pretty Easter tablecloth (actually a sheet).
That's right, you see naan and Butter Chicken.
It was Theresa's first time having Butter Chicken at our place.
The plan was a potluck for Easter, but slowly Mom realized that everyone was going to be kind of scattered around for Easter time with their own kids and grand-kids, so she scrapped the idea. Instead it was to be a small dinner with 'just us' (except Paul, who evidently had better parties to go to).

So, Mom brought the spiral ham and the Schwarties Hashbrowns from Best of Bridge.
Richard made the Butter Chicken and some steamed veggies and cheese sauce. What a crazy mix.

And Mom, who only just discovered 'Peeps' this year, if you can believe it, made some Peeps Cupcakes for dessert.

Oh, and Mom and Ken brought chocolate Spiderman for the boys. Thanks Gram.

After AJ fell asleep on the couch (yay!), Dexter (who had napped until a very late 4pm that day) stayed up for a bit of Rockband with the grown-ups. Here he is on the drums.

Kim on guitar. Debbie-Cat singing. Theresa on bass.
Oh yah... I forgot to finish the story of how Theresa got there.
A very timely Theresa just happened to call the day before to talk 'teacher stuff' with me, so I said, "Come on over tomorrow night if you end up with no plans". When she left (very late at night) she still headed off for more late-night partying! Man, I'm getting old. I can't imagine just leaving the house at like 11pm to party more.

We did share the instruments around. However, we cannot seem to get Ken to play Rockband with us. He just watches.
The last song of the night was a wicked rendition of "Sin Wagon" by the Dixie Chicks. Hardest song on drums because it's all done on the off beat. It was crazy, head bangin' fun.

And lo and behold we found out my sister has a rockin' awesome singing voice. She's almost twenty, and we're only just finding that out now.

Easter Morning

The boys woke to find the Easter Bunny had deposited some eggs in some crafty places in their bedrooms, as per usual.

Followed by a trail out their bedroom doors, down the hallway to the living room.

Here's AJ all dressed up and waiting to head to church after Easter Egg hunting.
(I know, I know, I still haven't filled you in on how we started going to church on Sundays. I'll eventually get around to that.)

After church, the boys got to spend their Easter money from Grannie. AJ bought this Transformer that Dexter is showing off. Dexter bought the Ben 10 plane and figurine on the table there.
Dexter's new posin' face.

Later that night, the boys enjoyed some of the ears of the chocolate bunnies that the Easter Bunny left for them.

More Bow and Arrowing

AJ has discovered that if he shoots it like a cross bow, it lessens the chance of scratching his finger.

Those are long shorts, not short pants. I feel the need to point that out. Man-capris, if you will.

This is some weird sculpture that Dexter made. I still don't understand what he was making.

A Rainy Day

I wanted to go for a walk. It was rainy. So, we went puddle-jumping and muddy-walking.

It was just a really perfectly wonderful Easter weekend!

Richard

He's off to VGH for his appointment today at the LBMT and to visit with his oncologist, Dr. Neville. Hopefully, Richard will fill you in on the details of that we he gets home this evening.

One for the Grandparents!

2011-04-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. He had the confidence to ride the whole figure eight behind the house with no training wheels!

YAY Dexter!

There's Big Brother, AJ, the great motivator!

Here's the video. Does everyone else hate hearing their voice on video as much as I do?

It's Going to Be A Two Wheelin' Summer

2011-04-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Snow?

So, as I mentioned last post, we've had some sunny days lately. You know, warm enough to get away with shorts....
On Wednesday night, I had two outfits ready for the boys for preschool. Outfit #1 - long shorts and a t-shirt in case it wasn't raining. Outfit #2 - jeans and a t-shirt in case it was raining.

AJ walked into our bedroom around 6:45am saying, "Mom, it's snowing!" We of course said something like, "No, that's crazy. It's not snowing. It's not 7:00 yet. You're not allowed out of bed yet. Get back in bed."

We woke up 15 minutes later and Richard, peaking out the window says, "Uh... Babe... guess what?"
Big potato chip flakes. Nothing plowed. Just unprepared craziness. It was beautiful, but annoying trying to get 3 kids to preschool when you're out of practice with mitts, scarves, and boots. It was gone by the afternoon. Perfect.

The Love of AJ's Life

Sorry, turn your head for these two.

AJ was going to be heading to Olivia's birthday party on Friday night, so we started getting her gift ready the day before. We got her a fun looking Strawberry Shortcake set that made me very happy and relieved that I don't have a little girl (Man oh man, between the cute clothes and the cool toys for girls, I'd be out of control!)

AJ's just making a nice card type thing with her name on it.

AJ loves Olivia, in case you didn't already know. This is the girl he says he will marry. We even had to give him a 'talk' before the birthday party since they were a little overly cuddly during the last playdate. I thought it was somewhat cute until Richard said, "But what if that was our daughter? Wouldn't we want to stop that?" So..

Friday's talk went something like this.
Me - "Okay, now, AJ. I need to talk to you before you go to Olivia's party. Hugging Olivia is okay, but I think I'm going to say no kissing and no laying down together."
AJ - "Oh. Why?"
Me - "Because laying down and kissing is for mommies and daddies, not little kids."
AJ - "But what if there's a couch? Then can I lie down? Like to watch a movie."
Me - "There won't be a couch."
AJ - "Everybody has a couch, Mom."
Me - "No, it's not at Olivia's house, remember? It's at Safari Kidszone."
AJ - "Oh ya. Okay."

In one ear and out the other.

According to one of the moms that I ran into after the party, AJ was quite the object of affection at the birthday. All the girls just loved him.

According to Richard, at the end of the party, Olivia and AJ shared not one, but TWO big hugs. She's pretty adorable.

Dexter loves cutting paper. He wanted to participate, so I gave him his own sheet to use with scissors and glue. The two boys were practically silent like this for the next 30 minutes.

Looks Like it's Going to be a Two-Wheelin' Summer

After using Jaxon's balance bike the last few weeks for Dexter (thanks for that, Jen). I decided to do what I did with AJ and just take off Dexter's training wheels and tell him to go for it. Now, I know Dexter only just turned three, but he's so ready, and he's just like my little brother, Paul, in so many ways, and this is just one of those ways.
I told him to just ride it like the balance bike for a while.
That was working, AND he was lifting up his feet and coasting, just like on the balance bike, but he wasn't too keen to try the pedaling like AJ did on his first two-wheeling day last spring.

No big deal, I just didn't want him to be afraid of the bike. Here's the next day, a little rainy. He starts coasting more and asking me to hold the bike a bit while he pedals.

Then he starts taking off on his own to try it more.

The blur is not a fall, as it would seem, but rather, me, chasing him so I can be there if he does. This is when he did his first pedals without training wheels.

Yesterday, we went up to Eagle Mountain, and it was there that Dexter truly was riding without the training wheels. He's not completely independent, but almost. I start off holding him under the arms a bit and then he's riding all by himself. Maybe I can get some video tonight.

YAY Dexter! So proud of you, little buddy!

Thank you, Mom, for taking the boys overnight!

Thank you, Kim, whose Christmas gift card for Boston Pizza we used last night for date-night dinner (with Dexter).

Some Special Days for the Boys and Summer's Coming!

2011-04-10T19:36:00.001-07:00

I'm in my 'good' emotional time of the month right now. You know, not the one where I make mountains out of mole hills and constantly lose my cool, but instead the I-Love-You-So-Much-I-Could-Cry-Week. It's a good thing that this time exists each month. It's a good time to collect my thoughts, think about priorities, and to think about all the things for which I'm thankful. For instance, my wonderful husband, Richard.

I cannot believe that just a little over two years ago, we were hit with the turn-your-life-upside-down news of Richard's Leukemia.

There has been some really nice weather. Good enough to wear shorts even. Not me, of course, just the boys. The thought of summer makes me think of Leukemia, good friends, good family, and love. I don't know if summer will always make me think of Leukemia, but for now, it still does.

I don't say things like this out loud too often unless I'm 'confiding' so to speak, but I have to say there have been times these past two years, especially when Richard's been really sick, that I have wondered how many special family outings Richard would still be able to enjoy.

Summer approaches again now, and I'm thinking positively. I'm thinking this is the summer of good-stuff. I don't know what it is yet, but I know it's coming.

Here's some of that good-stuff. Richard's been starting to feel a bit better (despite numbness and tingles in his extremeties). Going up stairs is still taking a lot out of him, but look at him on these outings with us.

Okay, well, actually, I don't think he's in ANY of the pictures! But still, that is a testament to how well he's been feeling. He out enjoying special family days AND he's taking many of the pictures.

I'm hoping summer is filled with these special days.

The portion written about the conservatory is dictated by AJ. He spoke, and I wrote.

The Conservatory

"What are we doing there?
Me and Dexter, actually, I could say Alton and Dexter..... Alton and Dexter ... no, don't type that again, Mom. I was just starting over.
We're in that big jungle place and me and Dexter are looking at the birds."

"We're looking at the fish. Coi fish."

"Me and Dex are looking at the trees in the big jungle. Rain forest. In the big Rain forest."

"Ooooh, me and Dex are looking at flowers. A green and white plant, hmmmm, and a yellow flower, and one two three four.... you don't need to write that!.... ummm, four yellow plants. Ummm? Why did you write that?"

"Me and Dex are looking at the Macaw parrot."
"Me and Grand-Dan are looking at more plants. There are lots of plants around here."
"It was a good day. That's Dex. He's doing a karate man stop."

"That's me. You don't need to write that! (laughs). This is me and Grand-Dan. We are looking at plants. There were lots and lots and lots and lots of plants around here and birds."

"I don't know what these are called. Do you remember? Grand-Dan told you! (reads what I typed). You silly!!!
Me and Dad are looking at droopy plants."
"Oh, I don't know what I want to say about these. I don't know what they're called. You don't need to write that! Ahhh, you silly! (laughs). You funny-head. (laughs more). There are more and more and more and more and more and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of flowers."

"Me and Dex are writing our names and I am writing Abbotsford. That's all!"

"Hmmmmm. I'm trying to fly."

"Hmmm. You don't need to write that! You don't need to write that either! (laughs hysterically). Hmmm, me and Dex are trying to fly together, holding hands."

"But when we jumped, we let go of each other."

"Dexter fell down at ....hmmmm.... hmmmm... let's see.....ummm... Dex, what's the place called.... Dexter fell down at the conservatory. Dexter was crying and sad. And, ummm, hmmmmm....I need to go to the bathroom."

"I, AJ, am riding on Grand-Dan's shoulders, and he is holding my hands. It was fun!"

"Grand-Dan was chasing us on the grass over by the water park sprayer thing. He pretended that he wasn't going to chase us anymore, and then he did! It was funny. And scary! Like, AAAAHH!
Dexter, me, Grand-Dan, and Mommy were going to the van. Daddy took the picture."

Okay, back to Mommy as the narrator.

On The Discovery Trail

So, do you know 'why' this happened to Dexter's face? Not 'how', but 'why'? I'll tell you why. About five days prior to this, I was discussing the need for a family portrait. A great picture of Richard, myself, and the boys. Whenever I'm planning or booking portraits, Dexter goes and gets all banged up. It's a guarantee.

Ouch. Here's the 'how'. Dexter thinks that he should be able to do all the things that AJ can do. For instance, he thinks that he should be able to ride his scooter down a hill at top speed just like his brother. I explained, as I do every time, that AJ's scooter has a brake, and Dexter's doesn't. I explained that AJ is five years old, and that Dexter is only three. I said, just go slowly. And off he went. Picture an arabesque-style stance. Balancing on one leg while the other is off behind him. Going way faster than his toddler scooter is meant to go. I should maybe just get him a two-wheeled scooter already. He can ride one. It's just such a scary thought. Anyhow, the handle bar started to wiggle and over he toppled. He didn't actually land on his face. Rather, he landed on his side, but the continued momentum pushed him onto his face to finish the skid.
When he started going too fast, I guess I could have ran after him, but the fact is that often I'm wrong. Often, Dexter is totally capable of something. He does know how to stop his scooter without a brake. So, who am I to say that it's possible he can pull off this feat.

I was wrong.

And, he was up and off again. It was a beautiful day. So sunny!

It sure wasn't Dexter's day. Shortly before taking this picture, Dexter had tripped on the gravel and skinned his hand... bloody and all.
And right before these pics of the boys playing with sticks in the mud, Dexter was over in the previous field, running through the wet grass and lost his shoe in a big sticky mud puddle. In fact, I couldn't find his shoe for about a full 1.5 minutes, while he stood there screaming in a Karate-Kid pose with his sock-foot up in the air.

Out of the corner of my eye, about ten feet away, I saw the red DC symbol on the tongue of his shoes peaking out of the top of a giant muddy puddle. I had to pull hard to get it out of the mud, rinse it off in another cleaner puddle, and then convince him to put it back on.

A Summer of Trips to Eagle Mountain Approaches

I sat up here a little while with the boys with the sun beating down, and for the first time in a long time, not freezing from the horrid wind up here. Shortly after, I texted Jen to tell her I was sitting in the sun and looking forward to an awesome summer that I titled 'the best summer yet'.

Erica came up a few minutes later. The four kids played, and I subsequently came home with a sunburn!!! It was shocking and exciting!

Summer's coming!

The Aquarium

Richard's parents, Norma and Bud, came to Abbotsford from Friday to Saturday to go to the Rock and Gem Show and to visit us. Friday night, they came for a visit and to have Butter Chicken. The boys (and us, of course) were so excited to see them. AJ was quite pleased that Bud was okay with him crawling all over him. They gave out some big hugs. AJ was pretty sad when it was time for them to head to the hotel.

The next day, we had all planned to go the the Vancouver Aquarium.

There's Grannie with the boys!
You can just see a bit of Papa-Bud behind Grannie there. And, the side of myself.

OH dear. Dexter's starting to make weird faces for pictures like AJ used to do.

Jellyfish!

Water Snakes (not the scientific term).

The very rare and exotic AltonJamesClarkus.
Joined by the equally rare and sometimes mischievous, DexterAlexanderClarkus.

Beluga Whales if I'm not mistaken. We had just come down here after watching the Beluga Whale Show.
Richard and I were feeling guilty that we put the kaibosh on Papa's attempt to get the boys some ice cream. Papa just wanted to do something special for the boys and we were just thinking of the horribly sticky hands they'd be putting all over the glass! What we didn't realize was that Grannie and Papa were going to be leaving soon after to go catch their ferry. Had we clued in, we would've said 'sure' to ice cream. Sorry about that, Papa!

The sloth up at the ceiling.

A diver in one of the big tanks. He was giving the kids high fives through the glass.

Diego Rescue Packs

The boys just can't get enough of "Diego" lately. Diego is Dora's cousin, for those who may be unfamiliar. Here's Diego...

Between exploring and saving animals like Diego and trying to solve mysteries, AJ has really had a hankering for a Diego Rescue Pack. I told him I could probably whip something up for him and Dexter.

I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "YOU can make a Rescue Pack?"

To which, I had to clarify that it will NOT have the magical ability to turn into things like a zipcord, a snowboard, a kayak, or a parasail. It will just be a backpack, just like the ones he uses downstairs, but it will be orange and have a face, just like Diego's.

He was still pretty excited. He helped me look through all of my material for my orange fabric that I was pretty sure I still had, but no. Couldn't find that. Next we raided Daddy's side of the closet. I was sure I could find something that I didn't like Richard wearing.

Daddy was none-too-pleased that we wanted to cut up the shirt that he affectionately called his "Hallowe'en Shirt". I was all too happy to be able to get rid of a dress shirt with zippered pockets.

So, I cut it to make two bag type shapes. Pinned it.

Used the strips of buttons and button holes, as is, to pin and sew on too.

Used the sleeves to make what would be the straps.

Sewed an oval shape to the bottom.
Painted faces on, and voila.

Not to scale, and not proportional, Rescue Packs.

The boys enjoyed them, a lot.

That's the other side that has the strap that goes across them.
I have to fix those straps. I should've sewed them to the middle of the top, instead of coming out the side of the top. Unfortunately, just as I was finishing up, my needle broke. All I have left are denim needles and those needles DO NOT like it when you use regular thread.

Soon the machine was jamming up and my curse words were flying.

The boys were in bed, of course, and didn't hear any of that.

BIG THANK YOUS

Thanks Norma and Bud for a nice visit and the trip to the aquarium. We hope to get out your way near the end of the month!

Thanks Dad for meeting up with us after the aquarium and treating us to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory! I haven't been there in a long time!

Guess Who Updated His Blog for You?

2011-04-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

That's right, the one and only Richard, giving the dealio on how much Leukemia sucks, right from the horse's mouth, .....

Check Out What He Had To Say!

No News is Good News, Right?

2011-04-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

First I'll Talk About Richard
Not much to say. I guess that's part of why I haven't blogged lately too. He's feeling pretty good. He's definitely had more energy. His legs have been a little sore from the Prednisone and me dragging him along on some walks with the boys, but other than that, and other than still being on a crap-load of drugs, he's looking good. Oh, that reminds me, he's on blood pressure meds again. Bummer. Hopefully, he'll blog soon and tell you how he's really feeling.
He's lasting for full grocery trips. He's been making almost all the dinners. It's a little taste of normalcy. I'll enjoy while it's here, as will he. Hopefully, it only gets better and more frequent.

Why Am I So Behind?
Wow, I have no idea how I got so far behind. I guess because things have been reasonably normal feeling. Plus, it was the boys' Spring Break and then mine overlapping that, so there's been a lot of just 'being' without any stress of needing to be places by certain times.

So what did we do over spring break?
Here's a snipit in no particular order:

Science World
sleepover
magic show
playdates
zoo
walks
zoo
bike riding
birthday party
zoo
balance bikes
skate park
doctor's appointment
skate park
scooters
skate park
dentist
gymnastics
speech appointment
5k
the gym - but not as much as usual
RCMP Youth Academy graduation

phew!

I'll briefly discuss the events of which I have no pictures.

Science World
AJ was very lucky to be invited to Science World with his friend Josh (and his family) to spend the day and night hanging out at Science World and having pizza! They headed back to Josh's house and AJ stayed for a sleepover! Big exciting stuff.
I took that opportunity to have a special date at the zoo with Dexter. Just me and Dexter. So nice.

Magic Show
Our friend, Ryan, and her cuties, Charlie and Colm, invited Erica and I (and our kids) to a magic show out in North Delta at the library. The kids thought it was really funny. It was nice and long (about 45 mintues). They spoke of MANY favourite parts afterwards. AJ gave me another run-down of the show and how much he enjoyed it once we got home.

Walks
The boys and I took full advantage of the paved path behind our house. Walks and runs and dried up worms and mud and sticks and fun and bikes and scooters and runbikes.

Playdates
These were aplenty. AJ played with Josh, Josiah, Jack and Rya, Makenna and Emerson and Jaxon (once they were back from holidays), and his future-wife - Olivia. When commenting on another girl over Spring Break, AJ said, "Wow, she's pretty. But Mom, I love Olivia more. I'm still going to marry her. She is the most beautiful." Dexter got to have Rya over for his very own playdate too.
Today, Dexter asked me if Emerson could come over to play. He said, "Can Emerson come over for a playdate? She's so cute!"

Birthday Party
Emerson and Jaxon turned 3! The kids had a fun birthday party at Safari Kidzone. Awesomeness. It was a kick-back-and-enjoy-some-chit-chat-and-coffee for the parents. Well, maybe not for Jen, but for the rest of us. hee hee.

Speech Appointment
LOVED the new lady we got to see this time. I really liked the last girl too, but this girl was, I don't know, I can't put my finger on it, but she meant business! It was great.
She reiterated the need for Dexter to see the ENT (I need a doctor referral that my doctor would not give to me last time). Dexter needs to see a feeding team, and I think do one of those Barium swallow things due to his texture issues and all too frequent choking episodes. She was hoping that the Child Development Centre could do that, but nope. I was going to need a doctor's referral for BC Children's or Sunny Hill. Oh, and Dexter needs 'intensive speech therapy'. The wait list is still sitting at about a year. She encouraged getting a private speech therapist if possible. I'll have to take a look at our insurance coverage on that. In the meantime, she gave me some more things to work on with Dexter.
That being said, as they like to see happening, Dexter IS getting better all the time. Sentences and paragraphs are there. He's witty and funny and knows exactly what he's saying and uses a surprising amount of advanced tenses and such, as she was saying. She (being around this type of speech often) was very impressed with Dexter's vocabulary and reiterated what I already knew. Understanding and vocabulary are not an issue. Dexter's 'above average' on his ability to follow many-stepped commands and his breadth of vocabulary. The problem is all in his pronunciation. He's nasal-y and ends most works with 'n', and blends a lot of words together. When you can understand him (which is me most of the time), he says clever little things, but man, if you don't understand Dexter's way of talking, then it just sounds like a lot of jibberish and babble.

There are lots of sounds though that Dexter does not use, but CAN use. This is a big focus of hers during the meeting. For instance. He can say:
duck
up
hot
pit
bed
If you asked him to repeat those words and really emphasize the last consonant sound.
But, in his regular speech, he would say:
dun or duh - not duck
um or uma - not up
hon or honna - not hot
ping - not pit
ben or bun - not bed

So, really it's more of a 'bad habit' you could say. The speech therapy will help that.

However, improvement is already being seen even since the appointment a week and a half to two weeks ago. We've been doing the practice stuff 5-10 minutes a day and I'm doing what I usually do to repeat things back to him the correct way.

Now when Dexter is ticked off if we don't understand him the first time, he doesn't get quite as frustrated or angry. Instead of just saying it over and over or saying it slowly, he's definitely shown us that he knows that he doesn't pronounce the last sound of the words. He knows they're supposed to be there. So, he says it all again, slowly, but wherever possible, he adds the correct endings.

For instance, today, in Costco -
D - "Mom, I wun a new cahyee."
M - "You want a new car?"
D - "NO! Mom. I wunt a new cahr."
M - "I'm sorry Dex. You want a new car? You only brought Bumblebee with you. You only have one car."
D- "AAAHH. Mom! No. I wunt a new cahh-t."
M - "OH! You want a new cart!?"
D - "Yessss. I wunna new cahhh-t."
M - "Oh. Well, sorry. We're using the same cart. They're going to give us back the one we were using."
D - "Oh man! I wunnin a sekon cahhh-t."
M - "You wanted a second cart."
D - "Yah."

Which leads into some funny stuff/examples.

He's all about being 'second' right now. He and AJ are always in this constant race to see who can get to the front door first. ARG. Needless to say, since AJ can easily undo his own five point harness and Dexter cannot master the bottom push-button on his, AJ is always at the front door first, leaving Dexter a blubbering mess, shouting, "I wanted to be first! I wanted to be first, AJ!"
Which in Dexter-ese sounds like,
"I wanin to be sist! I wanin to be sist, Dee-Jee!"
To which AJ and I encouraged Dexter to be excited about being 'second'. He's now really taken to the idea of 'second'.

Like how he wanted the second cart.

He had also told me about how he wanted to watch a 'sekon' movie in the car.
Today, he wanted a 'sekon' chocolate egg.
The list goes on. It's cute.

After Costco, we took Dexter through the Wendy's drive-thru to get him a kid's Frosty ($.79). We thought he deserved a little pick-me-up since AJ keeps getting to go on all these playdates without him or even worse, brings his friends here in time for Dexter to have a nap!

As we passed my Starbucks to go backtrack to get to Wendy's, he saw us pass my Starbucks and said, "I wanin to go theyee!" (I wanted to go there!)
I said, "Where?"
He said, "To Stahyeebun." (To starbucks)
I said, "Why do you want to go to Starbucks?"
He said, "Because I wun a kohsee." (Because I want a coffee)
I said, "You don't need a coffee. Mommy drinks coffee, not you. But guess what? Daddy's going to get you a Frosty from Wendy's!"

He didn't seem to mind.

Doctor's Appointment
ARG. I seriously don't even want to talk about this. The speech pathologist made it sound like I just needed to 'get a referral' from my doctor for the ENT (which he wouldn't do last time saying there was nothing the matter with Dexy's speech) and for the Feeding Team.
Long story short, I give him the same info to which he's feverishly typing as though I've never mentioned this stuff before, and he's like, "Slow down, I need to write all this." I said, "Well, there isn't really any new information. It's the same issues I mentioned at the last visit. I just really need the referral for the ENT, and I didn't get that last time. It's very important." He was all upset saying that he's not supposed to just 'give referrals' and where's the form from the SLP, and I'm like, "I'm just doing what she told me to do." I told him that I called them after my last visit with him to have all the info from their files sent to him (which apparently, they didn't do). Anyhow, blah blah blah. It looked like he wasn't going to give me the referral, so I had to pull out my awesome super-power of being able to cry on demand as creatively needed by me in any circumstance. It worked. I got the referral for the ENT, but he wasn't going to do the referral for the Feeding Team until he saw the stuff from the Speech lady. So, anyhow. I had to call them again... etc. etc. I need to call his office tomorrow to see if it all made it there. Otherwise, she sent stuff to me as well. I'm sure that I just have to make another appointment. Good grief.

Dentist
Just a regular dental appointment. Nothing exciting. No pictures.

Gymnastics
Swimming lessons ended. AJ's putting his head under the water while doing a front glide now, finally, and he can actually swim now. Not all the way across the pool or anything, but rather, he keeps himself afloat and swims for a couple meters with his head in the water. He's quite baffled really. He said, "Mom! It's so awesome! When I take my feet off the bottom, I don't sink!"
Still has a few skills to master before he passes that level though. Dexter too.
It was great that Makenna and AJ got to split private lessons and have semi-privates. It only costs $3.10/lesson extra to add another child. So, Jen and I just split the total cost between us, meaning that it costs barely more than regular lessons. AJ and Makenna's teacher was 'the great teacher'. She's the one who doesn't take crap and whining from the kids, but she's not so harsh that they don't like her. She's perfect. She took AJ so far in only 6 lessons.
My plan for the next set of lessons (whenever that is) is to have Dexter and AJ share private lessons. You get so much more for practically the same amount of money. Not to mention, it guarantees only two kids in the class. (Thanks again, Grand-Dan for paying the boys' swimming lessons).
Ice Skating lessons just ended at the same time before Spring Break began. Not only were those lessons super, as I've already said, but AJ passed his level. Hmmm. I think I already said that before, so I won't continue that any longer in this post.
So, I asked AJ what he wanted to do next. More ice skating lessons or something else. I gave him lots of ideas and he really wanted to go back into gymnastics. That's what the boys are doing now. I got to take them to their first class on Wednesday, but Auntie Kim will be taking them to all the rest of the lessons. Dexter's in the 3 year old independent class, AJ's in the Kindergym 4/5 year olds, and I'm drinking my coffee at the side of the gym watching (or I guess A. Kim will be!). They both had a blast. Dexter's class is 45 minutes long, AJ's is 60 minutes long, and they both start at the same time. Couldn't have worked out better.

5k
Remember the contest I was in last year? Last year they did a walk to support the comfort fund at our hospital. This time it was a 5k jog/run. I am WAY out of practice. I think my last real jog was back in October. I was probably averaging 6k or so and doing okay. I've still been visiting the gym regularly, so I figured I'd be okay to jog the whole thing just taking some walking breaks every 8 minutes or so.
YIKES. Ouch. It took about 42 minutes which is way longer than it should've for me, considering where I was in October. I was REALLY sore. All over.
Then, I got the whole 'achey body feeling sick' thing.
Seem to have just gotten run down, but not actually contracted a cold. We'll see how that pans out. Dexter had a slight fever today and has the sniffles. He's actually quite miserable today. I'm anticipating having to get out of my bed many times tonight, and have already told myself to just bring Dexter into my bed if that happens.

The Gym
Been going, but not my usual 4 days a week. There's been lots going on over spring break and then feeling sickish. Haven't stopped going or anything drastic like that!

Before I get into posting a whole whackload of pics and stuff (mostly from my phone... sorry), I wanted to link to a particular post from one of my VERY FAVOURITE blogs ever. It's called Enjoying the Small Things. In this particular post, she says why she loves to blog and put pictures up of her kids. It sums up my feelings PERFECTLY. If you have a moment, read the post. If you have even more time and some tissues, then you should read her birth story. It's just beautiful.

Okay, so, here's some stuff we've been doing....

Skatepark Rained-Out, So How About Making One of Your Own?
I gave him an old cardboard, scribbled back of a giant colouring book, a whole roll of masking tape, scissors, toilet paper tubes, and some ripped box flaps. I made one ramp for him and then off he went. He LOVED doing this. I have no idea why I didn't think of it sooner. He was just completely focused on building this and played with it for about 1.5 hours. He uses his little finger-skateboard and his little BMX on it. He still has it. It's been a good two weeks or so.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Making
It's just a chocolate chip cookie. How does the chocolate get all around the perimeter of his mouth? I don't get it. This is his third. He snuck it.

Sleeping

So cute the way he gathers all three of his dinos to sleep.

The Zoo, Of Course!
With scooters this day.

This baboon just loves playing with big logs and sticks. He's hilarious to watch.
Look at the sun! We were so happy that it came to visit us during Spring Break. There was even a day in there that I almost put the boys in shorts!

Why oh why can I not just pick one picture of them on the swings to put on here?

There needs to be an intervention.

The Skatepark
This day, Landon and his mom, Jennifer joined us. Above, AJ is riding Landon's giant bike!

Birdhouse Painting!
Which is a good reminder that I still need to go hang this up outside.
Good job, AJ!
Dexter added some design to it the next day when it was his turn.

The Zoo Again

The Path

Here are those fuzzy branches. For everyone that was interested in knowing the answer....
It's evidently (according to Erica), Sumac. Which, she adds, you definitely DO NOT want to have growing in your yard.
It just grows up out of the ground much like bamboo. Not on a tree.

Over Spring Break, while Jen and her family were away, we borrowed her son, Jaxon's, balance bike. AJ's old balance bike that I made is still a bit too tall for Dexter. Jaxon's can go nice and short. Perfect. AJ took Dexter out for a lesson.

In no time, Dexter was getting the hang of it and zooming to keep up with AJ on his.
Before you knew it, AJ was teaching Dexter how to lift up his legs to go through puddles.

The Next Day on the Path Again
YAY, Dex! There you go, Buddy! You're doing it! You're balancing on two wheels!

The Skatepark Again, But This Time With the Skateboards and Lots of Padding

RCMP Youth Academy Training Camp Graduation

This doesn't give you too much of an idea of what is going on, but that's because I forgot my real camera and only had my phone.
Paul went to a 9 day training camp. He was one of the 50 chosen out of 150 applicants to go to the RCMP Youth Academy Camp. Currently, Paul is hoping to become a police officer. He was leader of one of the 6 'troops' and was one of the 6 valedictorians.
My brother is in the back row, fourth from the left.
Here are some hand-cuffing demonstrations shown by the students.
This is him way over there giving the speech that he and his troop wrote.
Congrats, Paul!
Awwww, my little Pollywog, all grown up and serious! How can this be?
To Paul's great surprise, waiting in the parking lot after the ceremony was his very first new car (new to him, not 2011, of course...lol).

Thank Yous

I haven't done thank yous in a long time, but believe me, that doesn't mean that people aren't offering their help, support, concern, or love. Seriously. You all know who you are.

Thanks to Josh's mom, Kiran for taking AJ to Science World, AND for a sleepover, AND for MANY playdates, AND for your constant offer to take AJ (and Dex). AJ has a blast over there, and always comes back beaming, (or crying because he's sad I took him away from Josh).

Thanks to my dad who's letting us use his wicked awesome van. I'm thoroughly enjoying the doors that slide open on both sides. Seriously, that's the best part to me so far, as a mom. The gas savings will be awesome too, of course, and it's just great for so many things. Erica won't always have to do the driving when we go long distances with all four of our kids together! This way, we can use the car for commuting to VGH and to my work. AWESOMENESS.

Continued thanks to all of our parents for all of their help and love and support.

Continued thanks to all of my friends for being there in all of your different ways.

I Should Be Cleaning My House, But..

2011-03-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead I made a sign about not cleaning my house.

Before - An old cupboard door.

After - The sign I've been wanting to make for some months now.
If you'd like to be inspired to make some cool new stuff out of old stuff, definitely visit these two sites:

Better After

Inspired By Charm

I should be cleaning my house, but...

shhhhh, Dexter and Daddy are sleeping. Don't wake them with the vacuum!

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead I'm playing Lego Star Wars with Alton.

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead I used the Crazy Forts from Grand-Dan to build this monstrosity that's sat in my living room taking up space so why would I vacuum when it's taking up half of my living room so why bother I mean REALLY!
They write in here. They watch projector movies in here. They play in here. They use their Leapsters in here. The list goes on and on.

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead we took the boys to their last ice skating lesson. YES! I said WE! Daddy was slightly well enough to come again, and he took some great pictures on the real camera instead of my phone!
Some relay games on the last day!

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead I'm drawing on a wrapping-paper-covered coffee table with Alton.
Here's his picture of Robin from Batman and Robin. I think the green thing beside him is the Riddler.

And this is SuperCat..err,.... ummm... I mean Batman!!! Yah. Batman. It did look more like Batman once he added the cape, but I forgot to take a pic of that. Ignore the creeping eyes in the background from Dexter.

I should be cleaning my house, but...

instead I'm updating the blog right now.

There, I updated my blog.....

2011-03-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sonja's post was pretty detailed, but I went ahead and updated my blog as well, and added some slightly newer info. Link is over on the right.

Well, Since Richard Doesn't Seem to Be Telling You How He's Doing

2011-03-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm.

He's around, I swear. I guess he's just not in a blogging mood.

The problem is that now I'm WAY behind on telling you how he's doing. There have been a few appointments. Some for special things like yesterday's brain scan of some sort.

Well, he's still been feeling horribly, but now, add in that he's been feeling nauseated. Still the same ole same ole where he says he feels excellent in the morning until he starts taking his medications in the morning around 8:30am or so.

When he went in for his visit with the oncologist, he suggested (due to the nausea and probably the fact that Richard has the light hand rash from the GVHD) that Richard go back on a low dose of the Prednisone.

Richard does not want to be on Prednisone, of course. It makes his legs ache and weak, and being on Prednisone means that he'd have to start taking Insulin again. It's just bad all around. Plus, I'm thinking that once he's off a drug, Richard would like to think that's progress, and that going back on it means a step-back.

I think Richard regretted mentioning the nausea (although not actually vomiting) to the oncologist due to the mention of Prednisone. Richard was thinking the nausea was more due to what's been 'going around' rather than related to the stem-cell transplant, so he was going to wait a couple more days until he followed the oncologist's orders. He wanted to see if the nausea went away.

Anyhow, in the mean time, at another appointment, I think, Richard's creatinin levels were up too high again, so they let him take some bags of fluids home to self-administer via his Hickman Line, rather than him needing to drive into VGH for the next 3 or so days in a row.

Then, he had another appointment yesterday with the other oncologist (I think that's what she is) "Dr. Gentle" if you remember from past stories. Anyhow, Richard was discussing the Prednisone issue with her and wondering what it would be for. I mean he knows what Prednisone is and what it's for, but he meant....

*Am I supposed to take it just to relieve myself of the symptoms of GVHD and their uncomfortableness, or are they preventing something from getting worse? I'd rather have nausea and feel the way I'm feeling than deal with the effects of Prednisone any day.

If I remember our conversation correctly, she mentioned something about his liver and worrying about that.

Oh yeah, I know what came before this. So.. the day before, Richard started taking this 'contrast' stuff for the brain scan. I don't know what it is, like radioactive dye or something probably to make stuff show up on the scan...

*****not actual quotes, just my interpretation of their conversation****

Anyhow, Dr. Gentle called the day before and said, "Hmmm, you know, I'm looking over what's been going on with you, and I'm worried your liver can't handle the contrast stuff, so don't take it. We'll do the scan without it."

Richard: "You mean the stuff I just drank 5 minutes ago?"

Dr. Gentle: "Yes. That. Don't take anymore of that."

lol..
oh geesh

I was just saying to Erica last night, how impressed I am (not being sarcastic) at how well they keep track of Richard and his medications. Doctors (usually Dr. Gentle) will call mid-week, out of the blue, to say, "I've been looking over your chart. I'd like you to adjust your dosage of _______".

I don't know. That impresses me. Especially since he sees so many nurses and doctors/oncologists each time.

Questions that came up while I was talking to Erica last night that I thought would be good to mention here because if Erica's wondering, then you must be wondering too.

*****again, these are not even close to exact quotes, just 'the jyst' ****

Question 1

So, what the heck is with the 100 days (100 days of hell - 100 days since the transplant)? Isn't he supposed to be getting better now?

Answer

The 100 days is just kind of the 'scariest time' let's say. When the GVHD 'flares up' so to speak, it's considered 'acute' during this phase of the recovery, and perhaps more serious.

After the 100 days, when GVHD 'flares up', it's considered 'chronic'. I guess in the way that he can get it forever, and recurring. He could be on medication to keep the GVHD from killing him for the rest of his life I'd imagine.

Question 2

Should he be feeling better and getting better by now? He sounds like he's still just as sick as before, maybe worse?

Answer

Well, with the exception of his transfusion he had the other week (which was odd, but not worrisome), Richard's numbers are getting better! So in a way, he is on his way to getting better.

In fact, last week, they wanted to take out his Hickman Line! They almost did! Luckily, due to the fact that that he's still needing fluids for his creatinin levels, they decided not to. Phew. I don't know about Richard, but I'm not ready for that Hickman Line to be taken out quite yet.

Question

The other questions were 'deep' ones about feelings.

Answer

To much to have to type. But in a nutshell, Richard cannot remember what it feels like to feel normal and good. I cannot wait until 'life gets back to normal', but then again, it might not ever go back to normal so I don't think about that too often.

Richard was feeling well enough last night, to make bacon wrapped steak bites. Yum. Haven't had those in ages. However, standing that long to cook them, I think took a lot out of him, and he was going to be alone with the boys last night while I went to a baby-shower, meaning, he was going to be doing bedtime by himself.

Sounds easy, if you're healthy. But it can be exhausting when you're sick. Even with well-behaved boys that don't argue about bedtime.