Brothers Being Friends

The best way to melt this mother's heart? To see two brothers being two friends. Love to watch these quiet moments where all is in sync. There is no fighting, bickering, bothering, bugging or teasing. Only quiet camaraderie can be found in this photo. Ahhh...

Things I Know for Sure...Ugghhh

Living in Canada...in January...in the cold...yes there is sledding and skating and fort building but there is also lots of indoor time and sometimes this sort of time can make a Mom crazy.  Every year this time it seems to hit me making this installment of things I know for sure even more important to me.  I seek to reassure myself that I am not going crazy and a list of things I know for sure reassures me that I do at least know some things for sure.  Circular logic?  You bet but I will go easy on myself and let it slide...

Things that will for sure make me go Ugghh

1) Sitting on a wet toilet seat

2) Listening to two brothers fighting 

3) Making three meals at dinner time 

4) Cleaning up the fallout from stomach flu

5) Trying to craft an original and interesting school lunch five months into the school year

6) Organizing the Playmobil by theme for the 10th time since Christmas

The Stuffies

My Jack can be a hard case.  He has a reputation for being the boy who is self sufficient, a non cuddler of sorts.  It isn't very often that he will seek out my arms and so when he does I am THERE.  I will stop what I am doing to get some cuddling.

His disposition makes his love of 'stuffies' even sweeter than it already is.  Turns out this boys loves him some cuddles at the end of the day from his babies.  His newest member is a panda bear stuffie with a little baby panda.  He found it at Shoppers Drugmart when we were shopping for candy.  He saw it and offered to put his candy selection back if he could have the stuffie.  I could not say no to this request and so panda is the newest member of our family.  Above is the sight that greeted me a couple mornings ago.  I would say he is doing a pretty good job of taking care of his new baby wouldn't you?

Super Awesome Racetrack...And It Actually Worked!

Santa brought us a really awesome book called Boredom Blasters and well it is really good.  Trust me we have more than a few duds because this Mom is a sucker for activity and craft ideas but this book has delivered on it's promises.

This was a cool one.  Draw a race track on sheets of paper and cover it with another sheet of wax paper.  Then plop, plop a couple drops of different colors of food coloring on the paper.  The drops are the race cars and the engine power comes from the straws.  Blow your drop through the twists and turns on the race track with your straw and see who gets to the finish first!

It went on for a whole hour!  Not bad Boredom Blaster peeps, not bad.

Wisdom From the Lady Who Doesn't Know Much...How Inspiring

My dream in starting this blog is that one day my two boys will read it and find themselves very sure of a few things.  Number one that their Mom and Dad loved them very much, number two that even though we may not have always know what the perfect parent thing was to do that we tried really hard to give them the best life we could.

My third and most important wish is that they will have some insight into who I am as a person.  I want them to be able to look back at their childhood and see it through my eyes and in this way know me better.  I think it is so important for kids to know who their parents are and sometimes through the circumstances life throws us this doesn't always happen.  I lost my mother in my early twenties and I know I would have loved to have something like this, in her words to help me know who she was.

So I thought it would be neat to list out some of the things I want my boys to know as they grow up and enter into adulthood.  Maybe one day we will all sit and have a chuckle at what their Mom wanted to make sure to pas along to them or maybe if I don't get a chance to say all of these things to them they will one day find them here and know I wanted them to have this advice and knowledge.

1) Right now Mom and Dad can make everything better.  If you have a bad day or fall and hurt yourself we can kiss it better or take your mind off of whatever is bothering you.  Someday soon we will lose this power and there will be days when things happen that will appear to be the end of the world to you.  My hugs might help but you will feel pain that I can't easily remedy.  Maybe it will be a mistake that you made or a girl might break your heart or perhaps there might be something you really want that you cannot obtain.  These will be the moments that my heart will ache for you.  I will cheer you on when you want me to, sit quietly beside you when you let me and the times where you want to deal with your feelings on your own I will sit with myself feeling your heartbreak as if it were my own.  No matter how old you are or what you are going through I will be there both in body and spirit.

2) Life will throw many unexpected curves at you.  While it is certainly important to have a plan for life it is equally important to understand that you must roll with the deviations from your plan.  Nothing is insurmountable if you put your mind to it.  So, be prepared for the curves.  Always make sure that you have an emergency savings fund and a back up plan.  This will help immensely during the moments that don't quite go as planned.

3) Life is super short so if you find yourself in a situation which isn't making you happy, a job that you dread going to, a relationship that brings more pain than happiness, or dreams unfulfilled find the courage to make change.  Fear of change and comfort in our current situation (even if it is bad) can sometimes stop us form making changes in our lives that would bring greater fulfillment.  Don't be afraid to dream and even better don't be afraid to take that first step toward your dream.  Often that first step is the most difficult but once it is made you will find the rest come with more ease.

4) Laugh at yourself, laugh with others, laugh often.  Life can suck so make your own fun and make fun of yourself.  This is especially true in the relationship you have with your significant other.  Every relationship will be plagued with hard times, it is part of life but if you can laugh off the silly small stuff you will have more energy for the important issues.

5) Have I mentioned that your mother loves you?  Oh yeah, maybe a few thousand times?  Well I do and I always will.  Turn to me when you can.  I will always be here and even when I am not I will be in your heart.  The very best place to be.

Just a few more words from your sometimes crazy Mom.

Show me Your Wisdom Oh Great One

Our new washer and dryer were delivered today.  Lucky us, they broke again and this time we decided it was time to send them away and get new ones.  Ben was at school but Jack was lucky enough to be home for the big reveal.

I love how kids get so excited about new things coming into the home even though they may not be as exciting for the adults.  I remember one Christmas Santa brought new bathmats, curtains, and towels for our bathrooms and I am pretty sure my brother and I were just as excited about the bathrooms as we were about our toys.  It was nice to see Jack so excited about the new appliances especially because we were not so excited to buy them!

Jack worked tirelessly alongside Don to get them set up and they came with an unexpected bonus.  A long strip of white fabric.  Yes, this ended up being the star of the show.

Jack and I picked Ben up at the bus and Jack excitedly told Ben of the delivery so we all rushed in the house to see the new beauties which have come to be called the silver bullets.  Ben did wish that they were gold in color so I made a promise that the next ones would be gold, a little white lie.  I am a little excited to give them their first work out but perhaps not as excited as Ben was to see the white strip of fabric.  Not too sure what the fabric had to do with the washer and dryer but somehow it ended up here during the delivery.

Ben immediately saw that the white strip was a karate belt and suited Jack up for his first lesson.  Ben has been in karate for a year and a half now and he has come so far.  We think he may even be trading up to his yellow belt soon-fingers crossed!

So the lesson began with my wise old 7 year old running his little brother through the stretching and the karate moves.  My heart swelled to see how much wisdom Ben had to give and how eager his little brother was to receive it.  Don and I both wish for them to be the best of friends when they get older and I think a good foundation for that wish has been laid at this point.  This afternoon's lesson proved it to me, sweet boys.

That'll be a Penalty for Poor Language Sir...

Best story!  Jackie and I were in the basement preparing it for construction (really want to start finishing this year!) and listening to CBC radio.  Periodically there is some sort of time verification that occurs on the station.  Goes something like this:

"The sound of three long tones followed by the beep signifies the correct time is 3:00pm Eastern Standard Time" then there are three long beeps and a short one.

Jack listens and then he looks at me and says:

"whoa there sure are a lot of bad words on that radio station."

I love you Jackie!

Brutal Honesty From the Lips of a Seven Year Old.

Daddy comes home for lunch which is roast beef dinner with the usual suspects for sides.  As Benny is passing through the kitchen Don looks up and says:

"Mmm this dinner is good, did you get some Benny?"

Benny replies in a completely innocent fashion with his voice most jovial:

"Yeah, I just ignored the flavor."

Letter to Ben and Jack

Dear Ben and Jack,

Please ignore your mother right now. She is going through some sort of post traumatic holiday stress and likely a light case of seasonal affective disorder right now and it is making her appear crazy. So if you see any of the following behavior simply retreat to your room and come out later:

1) Your mother with that crazy look in her eyes tidying up your stuff, yeah you know you should have picked it up but once she gets her hands on it the game is over. Take your lecture and in order to avoid this next time pick up your stuff!

2) Your mother's face tighten into a concrete mask after you make a joke about how she is a big moron. Really this is not the time to be making any sort of joke, even the joke that she laughed at seconds earlier is to risky to repeat at this time. Just say you love her and that she is great and move on.

3) Wait wait wait until your mother is done one task before asking her to do another. This alone will save you from both the hairy eyeball and the crazy lecture that comes with it.

Never fear this too shall pass and your regular mother will return. We hope...yeah she will...stuff like this goes away right???

From your crazy, cranky, but always loving even in the midst of a long list of reasons why dirty clothes do not live on bedroom floors,
Your Mother