The Valentine Rundown: Our Valentine Party

After school was a typical Wednesday confusion. LOL With Scott away we had to call in Scott's mother as a back up. lol
I picked up Holly from school and brought her home where a cake was baking for supper. Got Holly ready for hockey while Nanny came over to babysit and Katelyn got home on the bus. Went off to skating, while Nanny took Annika and Katelyn out to pick up Taylor from school. Then they went back to our house to wait. Holly and I skated, then we went and picked up Pizza! With Scott and Grampy away, we had our OWN party at home!

First we ate the Pizza and Garlic Fingers. The kids werent all that hungry, having just had sooo much CANDY lol but lots of pizza was eaten.
Then we had a cake Annika and I baked before school ended.

The girls decorated it with some cinnamon hearts, but didnt each much, again, the candy. LOL That's ok I loved it.
Then gifts OH yes gifts. I dont always do gifts but made it special this year with Daddy away :)
Nanny gave the girls the Cinderella 3 movie. It's been watch over and over and over LOL. They each got some socks and some little Valentine's day treats.
I got them each a Webkinz that Annika helped me pick out. Taylor got the Golden retriever, almost as good as a real one.
Holly got the BullFrog, completing her Frog Family. She has a Lilkinz frog, a Frog, and a treefrog.
And Annika got the cute little Hippo! ilove the soft colour!

After dinner and treats it was almost bed time. Valentine's day is done!

Oh I did get a treat from Daddy, before he left he gave me the black Vest I wore on Valentine's day, and some scrapping Things.

The Valentine Rundown: Annika's Valentines

Because I take Annika right in, I hoped for a few photos of her little class! LOL SO CUTE, preschool all ready for Valentine's!
All their little cute treat bags hanging up, waiting to be filled with little good things :)
Annika's little bag is so awesome she did most herself!
Putting the Valentine's in was challenging! Her writing was interesting and thank goodness I sat and did her valentine's with her, since I knew most of the names she was attempting to write.

Some cute cute kid-made decorations adorned the classroom!
After the party Annika was so happy to run out and show me her Valentines :):):)

The Valentine Rundown: Valentine Morning

The night before Valentine's when no one is asleep, three little munchkins are filling in their little valentine's off school lists and giggling each time they close one up. LOL Ok I cheated a little this year. In past years, with Taylor being the only one to make any amount of Valentine's we have always made them. They stamp and colour and fill them in. BUT this year, Taylor, and Holly are in school. And Holly had to do like 30 of them! And Annika in preschool, also brought home a list. SO we were not liking the idea of MAKING about 75 Valentine's! Yup. I bought them. Next year, I am starting earlier. MAYBE.


Annika hasnt done Valentine's before! She had so much fun! I dont know how she is going to figure out who these names are! LOL! She loved naming her Cookie Monster Valentine's that she picked out at the store.

Because they didnt stamp their Valentine Cards, I let them stamp some bags to take their Valentines to school in. They had a lot of fun with that.

Holly's Valentine's were Scooby Doo Valentines. She loves Scooby and even has a back pack with Scooby on it.

The Valentines are all ready to go!
And SO proud is ANnika of her bag of Valentine's too!

Taylor...well she's FAR too old for me to take photos. I believe this is the beginning of the Photo Revolt!

So into bed they went! Scott wasnt home (in Toronto) so they got to talk on the phone before bed.

In the morning they got up Very excited! LOL They all dressed up in their red clothes laid out the night before. They each had some Hair Accessories to use, chosen by Annika at the store they day before.







All ready and out the door to their respective Schools!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

From my little Valentine's to yours!

Sicky's

Back at this again. I wrote this post already. Darned explorer booted me. Wonder if it will work this time?


Ok where was I? At the start "sigh"

Last week I made a mistake. I thought to myself "It's been awhile since anyone has been sick!" Figures. I jinxed!

Taylor's teacher called from school the same week. She wasnt feeling well! LOL I didnt get the message so she stayed at school and she was fine when I went to get them.
But Holly developed a fever one Sunday night. She was off school for 2 days. She had a cold and fever and went back to school in time for her sleepover with that other momma. lol Thank goodness she was well enough!

and I remember thinking Whew, that wasnt that bad!

DuurrgghhhH! What was I thinking?

All was quiet for like a week. Then I got the call.

Holly is sick at school. her eyes look weird and she's really quiet and not smiling. Please come get her.

And I did. And she was sick. She came home and slept for over 2 hours! She had a fever of 103.5. And she said everything ached.

She stayed home from School Thursday and Friday. She's pleasant to have home :) Cuddly and non-demanding. It was all good.

So Friday morning, I thought Annika woke up hot. She didnt say much but she walked out to the kitchen and PUKED on the floor. OK She is sick too. lol So I had her and Holly sick, and Aleah came over as well. now things were a lot more demanding LOL. Medicine, drinks, snacks, tv. Sigh.

Saturday morning, and I dont mean after the sun was up, Taylor yanks on my arm. momma I dont feel good. My belly feels weird and my head hurts.
Sent her back to bed with a bucket. LOL
She came back in 3 more times and if Annika had not been in the bed already I would have let her in lol. She just came in to give me updates. No I have not been sick. Yes I still dont feel well. go back to bed.

She was sick all day Saturday. Annika was sick all day Saturday. Holly was running around telling us she felt Wonderful! LOL She went to Hockey and she went to Jenny's skating. Then she came home sick. Belly hurt, tired. She did too much, really. But they were supposed to go to a birthday party and when I said they werent, skating at Jenny's was a good alternative. Poor Holly.

So we dragged them around looking at some houses for a little while, and then home and they all rested.


Sunday they were fine. Monday, back to school!

Dress Up Time

One day this week Annika and Taylor got back into the Dress up clothes. They love to dress up!
I see Annika is developing a dramatic flair! She has such an example placed before her :):):)

It's nice to see Taylor take an interest and include Annika in things. She's so mothery :):):)
Ahoy Maties!
Apparently lady bugs do not smile. When I asked Annika what face she HAS seen Ladybugs make, she gave me this kind of Grimace :):):)
Too cute!

A phase? I doubt it.

Holly is moving out. *sigh* She's mad at us. So she is moving out.

Holly is the quiet kid. She doesnt talk or go on nearly as much as the other 2. She's quiet and thoughtful and when she gets mad, look out.

I don't even remember why she was mad. She was mad at Scott, likely for something that I would not agree with anyway, but I backed him up, so she was mad at me by association. She says horrid things, including taboo words like Stupid and Hate, and she stomped upstairs. And packed her suitcase. And dragged it down stairs and said she was moving out. It kinda fizzled after no one said much. But it reminds me of another time. When Holly was 2 years old. And she said she didnt want to live with me anymore. I think I refused to stop for a popsicle on the way home from Nanny's house. And I told her FIne she could go live with strangers. Gawd. lol we were driving and I pulled over (quiet street near ours) and I pointed at a house and said you would have to live with strangers. This little kid got out, and took off her shorts (it was hot summer, she was mad at me) and she started walking. She called my bluff.

Bad mommy moment. She actually started walking.

Do we have attachment issues? Doesnt she love me? Would she love strangers as much? I was pretty shocked. Of course I got out, picked her up, took her home, and did the talk about strangers SCARY and stuff like that, and how I was her mommy and she was living with me for like forever.

And that was about the worst it got.

but every once in awhile she comes up with this "moving out" thing. Usually she is moving to Nanny's house, which I can handle. I can remember when i was a kid and I would get mad, pack up ALL of my dress up clothes, and demand to be driven to my Grandmother's house. It was like 2.5 hours away so I could not get there myself. She would tell me to stop being stupid and put those clothes away ya da ya da.

But this going with strangers thing never leaves my mind. Doesnt she love me?hmm well sure she does. lol but when she is mad, she tends to detach a little. It makes me really really really sad.

I wonder if she's going to be the problem teen? not looking good!!!!

Webkinz

I don't think I have seen many people with kids who Don't know what a Webkinz is. But I have no doubt there IS someone out there who does not know what Webkinz are. They are ONLY the latest craze to hit. Remember Beanie Babies? Remember Cabbage Patch Kids? ok they arent as bad as Cabbage Patch kids. These you CaN actually find most of the time.

It's a toy. Yup a toy. And although we have had these "toys" since last spring, they have become a HUGE craze, especially since they were on the top ten best toys list from the Canadian Toy-testing Council just before Christmas.

Webkinz are stuffed animals. They dont walk or talk or do anything technical. They are adorable, stuff beanbag animals. UNTIL you take their secret code, go to the Webkinz Website, and put their secret code into the correct adoption blank. Yes you adopt them online. Then your Webkinz comes to life! LOL when you now log onto the site, your webkinz is there waiting for you, in his or her room, for you to do jobs, play games, feed it, care for it, and buy it things. LOL It's really quite something else! There are many many educational games, and it teaches responsibility, budgeting, and care. They come with a room, so the first thing one needs to do is make sure the Webkinz has a bed. This is of foremost importance because when you leave webkinzland, your Webkinz must be in bed. This is the way to keep it healthy. Dont leave it bouncing on a trampoline while you forget for 2 days. It wont feel very good when you come back. And they do get sick, if not cared for correctly. Will they die? I dont know. We wont be taking that chance.

SO my girls LOVE Webkinz. And their friends love Webkinz. IT's almost becoming one of those status things. I have THIS many and you only have THAT many. I'm sure the school will be banning them soon, like they tend to ban everything to "even up" the status, IYKWIM. Like that could happen. But I mean seriously how many of these things can you play with at once?

16. that's how many. My girls, between the three of them, have 16. Oh and we cannot forget, some are L'ilKinz. These are smaller versions of the Big Kinz, but they do the exact same things. LOL. There are 16 webkinz living with us. The kids adore them. They take one or more everywhere we go. They treat them like babies. They carry them in special carrying bags. They LOVE them. They all have names and rooms and hobbies hahahahah amazing!

So going on the internet to play with these babies is quite a privilege. Aha! LEverage! I can get almost anything done by these kids if I promise some Webkinz time. Win Win, if you ask me :)

I created a tribute to these little toys. It's such a huge thing in the girl's lives right now. Some kids like nintendo, some love polly pockets. My girls want Webkinz right now. I might find them under beds in a few months, their online pets forgotten. But right now, this is what they do :)

This paper bag album was created with black paper bags and Stampin' Up! Loves Me patterned papers, Flirty fibers, and various punches and brads, lots and lots of stamps and inks to match.

As of this date we have 16 Kinz Kids, 7 L'il Kinz and 9 Big Kinz.

There are such cute pockets to tuck tags and stuff into. Check out my Chatterbox Doodlegenie doodles? LOL


They each have a new Webkinz pal now, thanks to the other Mommy and the Sleepover. LOL

Notice all those ribbon Clusters, Wolfie??? I believe there are three, and I am almost Positive that fullfills the latest Elsie Challenge ;)

Sleepover 101

The Day the ‘Other Mommy’ took over
"Guest Writer Allison Stuart aka The Other Mommy aka The Good Mommy"

Day started out as it always does, get one child ready then drive to town to pick 2 of the other ones up and take them all to school. There was a little more excitement than usual on the drive to school. All 3 of my girls or as I called them, kidlets (even if 2 were just for the next 24 hours) were very excited about their approaching sleepover…..on a school night no less !

They don’t realize that I was looking forward to it as well, but for different reasons… I got to leave work early for a change ! I arrived at the school to pick up my kidlets a little early as I have never actually gone to the school to pick anyone up & didn’t know what to do or where to go. As I was standing in the front foyer, I see this little blue-eyed dark haired little girl yelling ‘MOMMY !!’ Took me a minute to realize that it was actually HOLLY yelling that to me. Seconds later kidlet 2 saw me & yelled the same thing. Once the girls got all their stuff, they joined me in waiting for Taylor, who eventually did join us.

Now, what to do. OH YEA … I promised them all we would go shopping for Lil Kinz. Kinda hoping they would forget that but who was I kidding !! On the drive to the mall, they all were saying how excited they were about the rest of the day & that they actually cheered when the after school bell went. OK .. no pressure now to make sure they have an enjoyable time !!

First stop … Lynn’s for the all important Lil Kinz selection. After much debate, Taylor picked the Gorilla (Buddy), Holly got a frog (Skeeter) & Katelyn picked the Terrier (BubbleGum). They even selected a little Cat for Annike (I THINK she finally settled on Smith for a name). What to do now. I honestly thought that would take longer than the 10 minutes it did take. Hmm …. Zellers has things kids like, so off we go ! I definitely had ‘sucker’ written across my forehead this day. I left them THINK they talked me into more goodies and we left there with Gummy worms & little pillows that they could colour. Didn’t you know that ALL stuffed animals need pillows?!? Still not done with our mall shopping. It wouldn’t be right to be there and NOT visit Dollarama. Disposable toys are always good for a sort distraction. Funky bright weird looking balls are what they all decided on. OH and bubblegum of course!

Our mall is done. Things are going well! Now off to Sobeys. What kind of sleepover doesn’t have snacks !! They all got to choose a Lunchable for their lunch the next day & other school snacks as well as our own sleepover munchies. Not too bad. Think it took them longer to decide on what flavour of Jello they wanted then which Lil Kinz they got !

4:30. hmmmm … Really with everything we have done so far it should be later than this !! A little early for supper, but going to do it anyway. Off to McDonalds we go. After most of the food is gone, off the go into the playroom. Katelyn & Holly entertained themselves & Taylor found a young lad in there to play video games with. Good thing her daddy wasn’t here !!!! LOL They were having fun, but for those who know me… It is really all about ME .. & I ran out of things to read & do there, so home we go.

I really need hooks or something at my back door, there were coats & boots EVERYWHERE ! The rush was on to start their sleepover. Katelyn & Holly went right upstairs & got their jammies on. They all settled around the coffee table to start, turned on the TV, got out the gummy worms and started to colour in their pillows. Taylor had Spongebob, Holly had Dora & Katelyn had Diego. I wish I had been in the living room & not at my desk as they really got into their art by the looks of their hands & faces (& my walls, gotta love the Mr Clean eraser!) A phone call from their overprotective parents who I think were scared that I would tie them up outside & stuff straw up their noses did interrupt them. See they can talk .. I haven’t done anything to them …… YET!





Reading the notices that came home from school, the 2 younger kidlets needed photos of themselves for a project. Photo of Katelyn wouldn’t be too hard, but Holly needed one too, so what to do. Mini PHOTO SHOOT. They all perched & primped themselves for their photos. What photo would be complete without their new webkinz friends. Remember, it’s all about the webkinz !!

Off to the computers we go…remember …it is all about the Webkinz !! Taylor got hers registered then started buying. Holly came in with me & we got hers registered as well. But guess what … it is getting VERY close to bedtime & whle Holly was buying a bed for hers, Katelyn was brushing her teeth etc. then they switched & while Holly was getting ready, Katelyn was playing.

All done, everyone has beds for their webkinz, and they are all ready for bed. OK this is going TOO smooth. It is only 8:15 .. oops I mean I didn’t let them stay up late, not on a school night not me no siree !!. It was REALLY only 7:45, yea that’s it !! Up we go.

Holly & Katelyn wanted to sleep together in Katelyn’s room. Taylor was going to sleep in the guest room. I think she was a little apprehensive about the whole things & asked for a couple of Katelyns Build-A-Bears (Taylor & Holly had each packed one of theirs to bring for the sleepover) to keep her company. But what is this ??? They have clothes on. Oh No, we can’t have that ! So off come ALL the Build-A-Bear clothes & we end up with 6 naked animals. OK .. who am I to try to figure this out. Just go with it .. if it makes them happy…go with it.

Guest room wasn’t going to cut it (which I knew it wouldn’t!!) and we pulled out the extra mattress in Katelyn’s room & did up a little bed on the floor for Taylor. Hmm … still not doing too bad for time. Finally got all the girls nestled into their beds, gave hugs & kisses to all my kidlets told them that they had to get to sleep or they weren’t going to their school dance the next night & retreated back downstairs for what I thought was going to be a long night.

Hmm … things are TOO quiet. It’s been 45 minutes & I really should check on things. Up I go. Tiptoeing on the stairs. I know … wishful thinking that they would be asleep but I really didn’t want to take any chances. I peek in the room & there are 3 sets of eyes looking at me. One kidlet was a little scared & her older sister was playing mother hen. We rearranged the sleeping positions to see if that would help. I think it would have if Katelyn hadn’t gotten a nosebleed & the other 2 didn’t know what to think. Everyone is getting VEWY VEWY sleepy & testy at this point. I think a good night from Mom/Dad would help. So off I go to call. Gotta love PEI cell service, as it only took about 20 minutes to get a good enough connection for me to take the phone to the girls. They got their good nights in to their Dad, more hugs & kisses & then off I go again. Ready to accept my fate of a sleepless night.

I was actually in for a surprise when shortly after 10, I sneak up to see if things are OK & see that all of them are asleep. Sleeping positions rearranged with Taylor sleeping across the foot of the bed, but they are all sleeping. Wish I had had the courage to actually take a picture of them sleeping, but really didn’t want to risk waking any of them up. Was very cute though ! They are all asleep, I think I should too as who knows how much I will be up tonight !

Wasn’t too bad. Slept in 60 minute intervals waiting for someone to jump into bed with me. At one point I roll over & look at the clock. I KNOW that doesn’t say 6:00 AM and I am listening to the kidlets playing!! OH MY!! SIX IN THE MORNING. This has GOT to be a bad dream !! Nope. Not to be. That is actually them awake & playing.

Of all the things I was worried about, the 2nd one was here. Getting 3 girls ready for school & out the door to get them there on time. Went much better than I thought it would. Popped some popcorn for them to munch on while they all getting ready.

Lunch bags all ready to go, backpacks all packed, everyone all dressed. What … it is only 8:05. PLENTY of time. Out to the truck we go. Next stop, Tim Hortons. Bagels & juice all around. They all decided on Cinnamon Raisin, but that wasn’t to be. Of course Timmies only had TWO. Taylor volunteered on a different kind. Then Holly decided to change, but unfortunately they only had one blueberry. What do you expect, it is the Brookfield Timmies after all. Breakfast all acquired, with Timbits to boot. Off to school we go with the kidlets eating en route. Holly decides she doesn’t like hers. Good thing then that today is Thursday and there is breakfast program at the school this morning.

We pull up to the school at 8:30. Taylor looks around the schoolyard & makes the comment about how there is hardly anyone there. Not surprising as we normally are pulling up to the school in time for the girls to hear the bell. Plenty of time for them to actually get to the breakfast Program if they wanted or to just relax before school.

PHEW …. They are off … I am heading now to the office for some rest & relaxation after the past 17 and a half hours with my 2 kidlets. Things will be back to normal after school today when I go to pick Katelyn up after work.

I have a better plan of action in my head for the next sleepover we have. Bring it on !!!!

After the sleepover ……………………….
Because they all decided to not go to sleep when they were told, they were not permitted to attend their school dance.