Ride 'em cowboy!

Um.... do you think these might re-appear once or twice more in his lifetime? :)

Yes, that is his sister's hat.

Yes, he is naked.

Yes, those are halloween tattoos.

He was running up and down the halls yelling 'hee-HAW, hee-HAW!!!'

I don't know why.

But he was having a grand old time, and I was not about to stop it.

Making faces

Bathtime was fun last night!

The hundred

Ok, ok, since everyone else is doing it....

I'll try and get a little more personal than I usually do on this blog.

1. I like lists.
2. I make lists every day, just to keep my brain somewhat in order.
3. I hardly ever finish everything on my list.
4. But I try to.
5. If I don't, I just start a new list.
6. I think that I appear to be a little bit scattered and disorganized.
7. But deep down inside, I love everything in order, clean and organized.
8. You would NEVER know this by visiting my house.
9. But now you do.
10. I am often late. (see #19)
11. This bothers me (that I'm late, not that Angella knows about it -- she's suffered enough).
12. But something's gotta give.
13. And it's usually my promptness.
14. But I blame my husband and kids. ;)
15. I love my husband.
16. When we met, he was only 19, and when he told me that, I just about had a heart attack (I was 21).
17. I thought he'd be good for my younger sister.
18. But I soon found out that he was good for me.
19. Lucky me!
20. Does anyone know someone for my sister?
21. She's 27, smart, funny, beautiful, atheletic -- the whole package.
22. I have 2 sisters and one brother.
23. I love being from a big (ish) family.
24. But you should see my cousins.
25. There are around 30 or so, plus spouses, and I think 14 (?) kids.
26. And that's just one side.
27. The other is smaller.
28. I said that I would get more personal.
29. So I'll try.
30. I am named after my Grandma (middle name = Sheila).
31. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out.
32. I hope that one day I will have much more in common with her than our names.
33. Sarah is also named after my Grandma.
34. They both have the middle name Dalziel.
35. It is pronounced 'Day-elle'.
36. Travis thought it was spelled that way until I was filling out the paperwork.
37. That was a shock to his system.
38. Who ever knew there was a silent 'z' ?
39. Ben's middle names are Evan and Travis.
40. The Travis part is obvious, and Evans is a family name on Trav's mom's side, hence the Evan.
41. Back to the personal part.
42. It's hard.
43. My favourite colour is blue.
44. Perriwinkle, cornflower, sky blue, love it.
45. I have to be careful not to buy all my clothes in that colour.
46. Maybe that's why I was called 'Smurf' in elementary school.
47. Or, maybe it's because I was super small.
48. In fact, Christy saw my grade 12 grad picture the other day, and thought I looked 14!
49. But I'm not offended, because just wait till I'm 60!
50. I'll look 50!
51. Sometimes people even think I'm younger than Travis.
52. But you already know I'm older.
53. My super small stage ended at Briercrest.
54. I loved fries and ice cream too much to deny myself, especially when faced with them twice a day.
55. When there were 5 girls at the ice cream bar in the cafeteria, someone would yell 'bingo'.
56. In fact, even at 9 months pregnant with both my kids, I was just getting to the max weight that I was at 19.
57. That's scary.
58. You should see the pictures.
59. But you probably won't.
60. I love to have a nice garden.
61. I wish I had more time to work in it.
62. I am shy.
63. Like stupidly shy.
64. Sometimes, I will not be saying anything, but thinking to myself, Karen, just SAY SOMETHING. You're being stupid.
65. But I'm working on that too.
66. I like to cook.
67. I like to make cards.
68. I like to sew.
69. Nothing complicated, mostly just putting squares together usually to make a blanket of some kind.
70. I have lots of useless information stored up in my brain.
71. I kicked Travis' butt at IQ 2000.
72. It's a board game from the 80's that's meant for 8-10 year olds.
73. No kidding I'm proud of that one! ;)
74. I am terrible at making phone calls.
75. Making and returning calls.
76. If I have ever not returned a call, or not called you when I said I would, it's because I'm LAME.
77. I love to read.
78. I love to play the piano.
79. It's one thing that I can really 'escape' when I do it.
80. Not enough time for that though.
81. I am a working mom.
82. I work part time at the hospital as an x-ray/ct tech.
83. I usually like my job.
84. I see alot of wild and crazy things there of which I can not speak with much detail because of patient confidentiality.
85. I like working part time.
86. It forces me to stay on top of things.
87. I don't feel guilty about working.
88. I do feel guilty though, about how quickly I lose my patience with my kids daily.
89. "No-Patience Annonymous" is where I need to go.
90. Anyone coming with me?
91. But I do my best.
92. Which is all that is asked of me, right?
93. I'd like to lose like 5-10 pounds.
94. But I like potatoes, rice, bread, cheese and dessert TOO much.
95. So I'm trying to be happy in my skin.
96. I compare myself to others way to often.
97. Back to the trying to be happy in my own skin.
98. But, I like where I'm at,
99. and where I'm going!
100. Glad you made it to the end! Thanks!

Cue the Hallelujah chorus.

Right now, as I type, TRAVIS IS DONE HIS MASTERS. Done. done done done.

Action Research paper is finished and bound, and handed in.

No more posts.

No more papers.

Last class is finished, and they're all out for supper in Kelowna.

No more pencils,
No more books,
No more teachers dirty looks.

No more masters.

sigh.

Words just can not accurately describe exactly how excited/relieved/happy/extatic/thrilled I am that it. is. finished.

Let the rennovations begin!!

:)

A babe no more

The before:

Isn't that blazer killer cute? An early Christmas gift from GG and Papa. Imagine it with a sweater vest and a pipe.....

Well, his locks are gone. Not quite a buzz, but definetely shorter than it was.

I just realized that I don't have a good one of the after, but that will come tomorrow.

A Sticky, Squishy, Stinky Situation

You can read Shirley's version of the events here.

We were at the Community Centre pool on Sunday night for the family swim. We arrived with only 45 minutes left before it finished which turned out to be pretty good timing. The wading pool was fun, the waterslide was great (though I almost fell backwards, spun around and drowned Ben by the time we hit the bottom), and the hot tub was pretty good (as good as public hot tubs go).

At 5 to 7, I took Sarah into the ladies room to shower and dress. We went to meet Trav in the family room, and I was greeted with, "You would NOT believe what just happened!"

"I was in the hot tub with Kevin when he saw what he thought was a rock. (Why there would be a rock in an indoor pool, I'll never know...) So, he picked it up, and it squished. It was poo! (Trav is laughing now). Then the jets of the hot tub turned off for the night, and there were floaties everywhere. So Kevin splashed me. Then I saw poo in the wading pool. Then there was a piece by our towels.

Kevin, is it Grace?"

Now the situation is not funny anymore. Kevin is embarassed, and Travis tries to wave the staff over to tell them who the culprit is as any younger brother would do. Anyways, everybody has to have their own poo story. It's only fair. I have shared mine here and here.

So, beware when you swim in a public pool.

And use the McDonald's washroom.

And, play in their playground.

And, wait a minute, it just occured to me.... no one's going to want to hang out with us Bonds anymore, it's too toxic! :)

Driving me to drink.

Coffee.

T and I have been coffee teetotalers for years. He thinks the stuff is disgusting (mind you, every time he decides to give it a try, he's at some greasy truck stop where of course, the coffee is gross, but anyways...), and I have dabbled, well, loved lattes and other coffee treat drinks for years. But never that plain old black stuff. The only reason, actually, that I even have a coffee maker is because Trav's mom bought one for us as a house warming gift 3 houses ago so that she could have her morning cuppa when she comes to visit.

Until now.

I always knew that it was just a matter of time before I took people up on an offer of coffee.

I think it's the perfect storm of having two (young) kids who don't know what sleeping in is, working part time shift work, being on call, and running a household. It's crazy, but sometimes, I just need the stuff. Sad, but true.

Being at work till 12:30 last night with a trauma, then getting up for my 6:15 AM!!!! Pilates class probably doesn't help much either.

Get better soon, Papa!

We Love You!!!!!

Music wars

In the afternoon when Ben naps, we (Sarah and I) often turn the TV off and listen to music. The other day, I had put on Jack Johnson, In Between Dreams, a not so new cd, but one that I've just discovered (thanks, Cheryl, and I will get it back to you soon). Which, by the way, has a song on it that Donny and Tamara had on their slide show -- Better When We're Together -- or something like that -- it's very cute and one of my new favs.

But anyways, all of a sudden, Abba Gold started up. I should tell you, I am so sick of Abba gold. So sick of it. Sarah loves it. Maybe I should bold, italic, change the colour and capitalize it. Sarah LOVES it. Does that get the point across enough? She dances to it all the time. She knows that it's number 3 on the cd player, and if it's not, if I try and be 'tricky' and put something else in there, she knows. And gets upset. She has started to sing along, and one of her favourites is Mamma Mia. She calls me Mamma mia sometimes, and the other day, heard it in a store's background music and pointed it out to Travis. Oh, and when we listen to it, we listen LOUD.

So, we listened to a few songs, and I changed it back to my music. "I don't like your music, Mommy." "Well, I don't really like your music either, honey, and it's mommy's turn for her music."

And a few minutes later, I hear the sliding keyboard sound of the beginning of 'Dancing Queen'.

Sigh.

Today, though, I made a connection, and a little light came on.

"Sarah, do you want to listen to Curious George music?" (We have the soundtrack which is both for kids and by Jack Johnson. A winning combination.)

This afternoon has been much less grating on the nerves.

A Belated Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of the barnyard that was our house on Tuesday night.

We went out to my Mom and Dad's for their annual bonfire and weenie roast, and candy apple and pumpkin and apple pie and candy eat-fest.

It is a good time.

The bon fire tradition has been going on for a good long time -- like since I was in jr. high school -- dare I tell you how long ago that was? (at least 16 years ago, maybe more --eek!) I think my parents started it as an alternative to trick or treating because those kids who think they can trick or treat as a 'skiier' or put a scary mask on and go, are LAME and TOO OLD to trick or treat. There, I said it.

Anyways, they would have a big fire in the back yard, all the kids from the youth group would come over, and my mom would make up a huge pot of chilli, we'd roast hot dogs, and pig out on home made candy apples and the above mentioned pies and have a great old time. I have great memories of past Halloweens.

Now my kids are enjoying that same tradition. How very cool.

Anyways, back to the pictures...

Braden is the cow. He had a hard time sitting up and seeing at the same time. And Ben was not too thrilled to keep the tiger hat on. So he didn't.

And this was the end of the day (about 9). Sarah was the first to crash, and asked to put her jammies on and 'please can I sleep in Uncle Donny's old bed?' It felt so good to have my little girl fall asleep on me again. It's been a long time.

Falling in love all over again

With Caramilk, Smarties, Reece's Peanut butter cups, sour cherry blasters, Kit Kat, Wunderbar......

Blogger won't let me put pictures on right now -- I'll try again tonight.