no nap for ethan...

so... one day ethan never got around to his nap... and around 4:30 this is where i found him... sleeping on the floor in my kitchen.. i have never had a child fall asleep anywhere other than in their bed or the vehicle... so this was very humorous for me and not so humorous for him when i woke him up...

new family picture

so, if you go to this website:
http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php
you can put in your picture and it'll come back with a list of celebrities that you look like...
mine came back with a 86% match to jessica alba!!!! unbelievable... but my brother, marcus, told me that it's not really fair when it's just face shots and that it should be the entire body - whatever, marcus, your first match was some crazy old, hairy man... it was also interesting that about half of my results were oriental...
jason's was fred durst.... he also had aretha franklin
then, we put the boys in and both of their number one results were oprah winfrey!!! well, look how that face did on tv... brandon was very upset...
anyways, thought you all could go and try it out and let me know what your results were...

pirate birthday party

happy birthday to you... brandon turned five!!!!

he got a party at the gym and we had pizza, pop, chips and cupcakes in the home ec. room and tag, races, floor hockey, soccer, and more floor hockey in the gym...

this pirates of the caribbean theme came from him seeing the first movie when jason and i were watching one evening and he had snuck out of his room and watched the entire movie without us knowing... the second one he saw on a hockey bus and just really loves it...

this year i actually have to throw ethan a party though - in the past i have gotten away with pretending like brandon's party was ethan's... when he says, 'when's my party?' i would say, 'oh, you don't remember that fun party we had for you' and then i'd turn the tv on and he'd forget...

actually, after the party i did have for ethan on his second birthday - which had around 10 two year olds here - i kinda decided smaller is better...

... and speaking of smaller is better, one might notice my cakes getting alot more.... lazier??? yes, i find that putting toys on a cake is very easy... and they like it!!!

when in rome...

there had been a few (by that i mean one) request for pictures of this whole mid-life, 'hockey playing' craze i'm in right now... here i am... and yes, that's all me in those shoulder pads...

i played three games now and one against my son's initiation team (didn't put all the equipment on for that, but i have a strick rule of not skating without a helmet on?!?!)

i was thinking that in the community i live, the only opportunity for sports is... hockey, badminton, volleyball, skiiing, waterskiing, and baseball... unfortuneatly, after attempting all of these, i've realized why my parents encouraging me in the basketball area... i really cannot do anything else... like, not even remotely well...

i'm hoping the boys don't get anything from my personal gene pool - my family's is actually ok i think, just not mine personally...

'narnia' with the boys

couldn't find a nice picture... you get the idear...

chronicles of narnia... my favorite story

i just watched this with my boys tonight and it's so funny to see the difference between the two in a movie - i'm sure some of it is age related, but none-the-less, very different reaction to it...

brandon cried when asland was killed, bawled actually, and then said after the movie that his favorite part was when asland became alive again and his least favorite when he died..

ethan said his favorite part was when they killed the lion... should i be really, really concerned at this point?!?!?

my favorite part is the conversation at the end between thomas the fawn and lucy the lil' girl... when thomas says, (referring to asland) 'you don't want to press him, because he is however not a tame lion. (and lucy says) but he is a good one'... just liking that quote... kinda reminds me of my relationship with my heavenly father, that being God...

i tried to sit the boys down and have a conversation about the allegory this movie is to the Bible story of our salvation and after my 10 minute speal... brandon says, 'that was so cool how the white witch had polar bears pulling her chariot' and ethan said, 'and then the lion died... got killed'

my birthday present - two months early

my new thing in the kitchen... and yes, this is my own picture from when i made a french loaf, some cookies, daquiri's and had flowers just sitting there...

i'm loving this bosch... i've made orange julius, iced mocha's, buns, bread sticks... not dieting obviously...

and then sometimes i just stare at it and touch it... it's really lovely...

michigan wolverine's fab five

ok, i found the picture of them... you wouldn't believe if i told you how this impacted my life...

i even had a huge leather michigan jacket that i wore... just horrible...

and i got black shoes and wore black socks, cuz they did...

this is when i fell in love with march madness.. also, after i had brandon jason and i got to watch the entire first round in the hospital... good times...

my favorite hockey player

this lil' note is going out to my favorite hockey player... he tries very hard on the ice for a four year old boy and now has to wait until next year to resume his play on the ice...
the only redeeming factor now about the spring is that i get to coach him in ball again.. fun, fun..
brandon got his first penalty this last tournament at swift current... for body checking!!! he was so excited to get to sit in the penalty box, so that's not good... and it's all he could talk about after the game!?!?! i'll miss sitting at the rink, listening to strangers talk about the 'girl' with curly blonde hair... (that being my boy)..

March Madness Begins

well, thusday is when it all begins... i had pictures of the winning team to put on here, but it just so happens that i put a new antivirus program on my computer and now i can't have pictures... have to get to the bottom of that quickly...

the winner will be... drum roll... FLORIDA GATORS!!!

as usual, i am completely guessing and wishing it was still michigan's fab five playing...

March Madness Begins

well, thusday is when it all begins... i had pictures of the winning team to put on here, but it just so happens that i put a new antivirus program on my computer and now i can't have pictures... have to get to the bottom of that quickly...

the winner will be... drum roll... FLORIDA GATORS!!!

as usual, i am completely guessing and wishing it was still michigan's fab five playing...

26 HOURS WITHOUT POWER

so, jason and the boys and i just survived through
26 hours without power.... it was funny to watch
brandon keep turning on light switches... not so
funny when our thermostat read 5 degrees...
things i learnt from the "blackout":
1) i love electricity
2) back in the day, people must have drank alot
in the evening...
3) i was not crazy to have my checklist for survival
4) i should have checked some stuff off on that
list...
5) one should own a generator

note: thanks to the brown's for taking my poor,
helpless family in for the day... with your sweet heat from the generator going...

blonde's have more fun?!?!?!

so, new hair color, new woman, right??? i'm not too sure about this whole brunette thing... i feel even whiter now...

this came after going in to get more blonde highlights - i can be easily persuaded... this proves that i am not a leader... i am a follower..

and this also proves that i take too many pictures of myself

so, not sure how many months i'll stay with this color for... i do think the summer will be calling my blonde tendancies back again...

ethan told me i had red hair and that he wants dark green hair... i'm so excited for him to go to a hairdresser some day and come home with dark green hair

Double Decker

so, this is what 'double decker' means in the kelly household... i'm pretty sure i grew up with sayings that no one else had and have passed this horrible tradition on to my boys...

for instance, yorkshire puddings... otherwise known as popovers... each family has a way of saying things.. mine, not so cool...

i'm not sure exactly how to tell brandon that the kids at school might not know or want to know what 'double decker' is... unfortunately, he already introduced this to one boy at playschool - i guess they went 'double decker' down the slide...

half time performance - should have been

as jason and i were driving home (ok, only he was driving and i had a headache as the sun was in my eyes, none the less, we were talking) we discussed possible better performances for the super bowl half time show...

these guys came to mind and we think this would be excellent for next year - PEARL JAM... who doesn't love pearl jam - i know nickelback seems like the obvious choice, but i've heard of alot of people, including myself, who don't like nickelback, but i've never heard a person say, 'i can't stand pearl jam', never heard it...

so, i'm sure this will get into the right hands and that i'll see pearl jam next year at half time

superbowl disappointments

so, i can tell you who didn't win the superbowl last night... the great steelers... and only because of a brutal start to their season...

but i was very happy to see tony dungee and the colts win... i'm neither here nor there about manning, and it's just annoying that he doesn't even show emotion or seem happy when he get's the ol' monkey off his back and finally wins a superbowl ring!!!... show some emotion!!! but i was happy for them and was wishing it wasn't raining so hard, which i think ruined the game...

anyways, that's all i have to say about it... either than i thought it was one of the most boring superbowl's i've seen, with the exception of the kick return on the first play of the game (which i failed to see anyways as i was still getting food ready)

and what's with PRINCE doing the halftime show... you can't tell me that the average football fan has PRINCE in his music collection!!! brutal... and Canada needs to show some better adds than trucks driving up mountains and turning into snakes...

there, had to be said, now i'll rest from football for awhile... on to MARCH madness soon...

so, these two pictures were in a vain attempt to show a picture of myself and the kiddies toboganning... oh well, i guess now my job for the evening is to go and name all the pictures i have failed to name....

so, the idea behind the toboganning picture, if we could all just imagine that one there, is that my most peaceful moments in life... i was going to list them...

1) sea-dooing on the lake for the whole day - the feeling of being out on the water

2) being out in the snow with my boys - ski-dooing or toboganning

3) laying on a blanket on the grass - while the boys are playing in the sandbox

4) having a coffee while reading 'house and home' magazine

5) i saved the best for last - snuggling on the couch - not by myself of course!!! (that probably made my brother think that he's never going to read my blog again)

these are my moments of peace and i try desperately to have more and more of them - i really feel like life has become a competition to see who can do more and be busier... and i officially am rejecting this as a bad idea and attempting to put my moments of peace a priority

.... that is, right after i spend three hours naming pictures... cuz i really need to get that done!!

so, finally, finally, finally i have published a picture on my blog - this is cause for celebration!! i thought i'd put one on of me and the hubby.... taking a picture of ourselves - i wonder where all our friends were???

i do have to say that this picture thing now opens a whole new avenue for my writing on the blog - so much more can be told through a picture than words, correct???

so, here is my new table, which i recently wrote about jason shopping for wood for this.... the picture was supposed to show up after this, but i'm not very good at this i guess...

well, i do have one more to show, but it'll have to come in a seperate post... hope the pictures really add to this exciting diary of mine!!!

men and wood...

jason just took the boys on a venture to kindersly - sort of a 'right of passage' as they say - to shop for wood... they are going to the lumber yard, with a pad of paper, a pencil, and a tape measurer, and jason is going to show them the ageless art form of purchasing wood...

i believe it starts with smelling the wood, then touching it, holding it up to one's eye and looking at the levelness of the wood, and then lastly, doing some 'figuring' in one's head (and then purchasing triple of what they need)

but if more is bought than necessary, this is not a bad thing, as jason has a 'wood pile' in the quanset that he has been adding to for seven years now... i am not allowed to sort it, use any of it, or throw any of it away, as a man needs his wood pile to remain untouched...

i'm sure the boys will come back 'men' after this momentous event with their father... and probably annoy their future wives some day with wood piles of their own...

***note: jason is making me a table, so my mocking of him will stop here...

in my life lately...

well, first of all, jason and i had a great trip to pittsburgh - apart from the crazy flight in during a big wind storm, it was lots of fun... highlight was when we got to watch the steelers entire 2 hour warm up sitting front row in the stadium.

we also got to see the penguins play and ate some excellent perogies and had an awesome hotel, so it was all great.

i was happy to see some other couples in our hotel, doing the same thing as us, so i know i'm not crazy for liking football - it's amazing the difference between here and there as far as women watching sports on tv and enjoying it... everywhere i went there was women talking about the 'college games' that were happening over the weekend - i thought we lived and breathed hockey here, but not nearly what it's like for football there.

also, brandon has now scored THREE goals in four games of hockey - his first goal was in kindersly and it was embarrassing cuz i started crying when he got it - and not just a little cry, but a bawling, kinda ugly cry....

i'm completely enjoying my favorite time of year - that being the christmas holidays - and did get to see the new bond movie, which always puts me in the mood for... Christmas!!! yes, i remember watching bond movies with my dad and it's such a great memory and i love bond!!!

jason and i are still married - although all this time together certianly isn't helping anything!!! (don't think i'm so horrible, he would tell you the same thing) no, we're slowly getting used to seeing each other again - at least for longer than an hour a day...

and brandon and ethan just performed in their sunday school program at church, or should i say ethan cried and brandon got embarrassed... good times and memories for both (ethan also cried when we took him to sit on santa's lap - these are the memories we like him to have of christmas)

enough with the essay i guess - i still can't figure out the pictures... next time maybe

the big chill sets in....

well, here comes winter - i was just browsing the weather and it's looking nice and crazy cold for the next while here... this leads me to announce that it is only 6 more days until jason and i leave this ice cold climate for the tropical paradise of pittsburgh!!!!

ah, yes, pittsburgh - where we will come back from with a tan for sure - my brother did tell me that we are the only people he knew that would do their winter vacation in pittsburgh.

we also are going the vanier cup in saskatoon tomorrow - in minus 25 and possibility of flurries - just a little warm up for the steelers game i'm thinking...

so, being the freak that i am, i have now started my plans for pittsburgh, mapping possible routes, planning the days down to the minute - i'm sure jason will try to hide these plans before we leave.

i have the house all decorated for christmas, my christmas 'letter' almost ready, and holiday baking on its way - just want to be ready for my return home and be fully in the holiday spirit....

which leads me to say, that my husband really wants to be american... he just loves american thanksgiving - enough that he expected turkey and stuffing yesterday - and he thought we should be shopping today (as it is the biggest shopping day of the year, correct???)

brandon's first hockey game is sunday - and i'm sure that will cause me to blog more at that time... ethan has a sign made up to take to the game - it must be nice to have a number one fan (i know my mom was mine, just not quite the same thing as a sibling, or boyfriend, or even a creepy fan)

well, off to a hockey game tonight - in the bitter cold - we should all just stay at home and hibernate....