WHAT DOES THE COW SAY?

One of the things about me that my daughter in law Emily finds highly amusing is my awesome talent at making realistic animal sounds.  With nine grandchildren this talent is used a lot and is particularly handy when it comes to singing 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm".  I have no problem showing this talent off and I can be very dramatic when it comes to the animal sounds (you should hear my elephant).

Last week I took one of my little grandsons to the Early Years Centre (a government sponsored drop in centre for children up to age six) and met up with Brittany and her two kids. Just before lunch it was circle time and we gathered to sing some action songs.  The facilitator changed it up this week and added 'Old MacDonald' to the repertoire.  I was disappointed when the first animal chosen by one of the kids was a horse (I haven't got that one down yet).  As we sang the second round the facilitator paused as we came to the part "and on his farm he had a ......" a little girl next to me shouted out cow and the facilitator continued "E-I-E-I-O , with a... and that is when I bellowed out a loud, deep moooooooo while everyone else said "oink".

DIVERGENT

I'm almost embarrassed to make an appearance here after not writing for months.  There has been plenty to write about but recently a part of me thought it a little vain to be writing about my personal life and putting out there for all to see.  Does that make any sense? I guess I have been listening to some complaints from friends about bloggers they follow who write long and involved posts about every detail of their lives. It made me wonder if they thought that about me and they were giving me a gentle hint.
Anyway, tonight was the first time in a long time that I thought to myself "I have to blog about this."

Earlier this week while watching TV an ad came on for the movie Divergent.  Having read the book (the first of a trilogy) I mentioned to Emily and Nathan that I would like to see it.  Ian even expressed that it looked interesting. Knowing Ian's distaste for sci-fi, fantasy, or dystopian movies I told him that it wasn't his kind of movie and then went on to explain the premise of the film and he quickly agreed that he wouldn't like it.  Fast forward to tonight.

Driving past the theatre.

Ian: "We should go see a movie tonight."

Me: "That would be nice."

Ian: " Oh look Divergent is playing. We saw an ad for it remember?  It looked good."

At this point I thought he was joking and was going to say something sarcastic but then it dawned on me that he had completely forgotten the conversation we had after the ad. Now I was in a bit of a conundrum. This is more or less what went on inside my head.
" Should I remind him that he won't like it and we can go see something else or should I keep my mouth shut and go and see the movie I really want to see?  He might end up liking it... he said himself it looked good...  he really doesn't like that kind of movie....  but this one he might like... yeah, he's not going to like it... but it's Divergent and it's at the nice theatre with the comfy seats."

We saw Divergent tonight. Depending on who you talk to, it may or not be good.

CHRISTMAS LETTERS

For the first time in a number of years I managed to get our annual letter out before Christmas.  I usually end up writing a Groundhog Day letter and even then it's sometimes late so you can understand why I've been patting myself on the back.   I was feeling pretty pleased with myself being all organized and everything until I was at my daughter in law's place the day she received a card and letter from her friend, opened it, read the first paragraph, threw it on the table and announced"her letters are always too long, I don't have time to read them". (She's a busy mom.)
"Uh, oh" I thought, ""my letters tend to be on the long side."
I voiced as much to her and being the nice person she is, she quickly justified the length of my letters saying that I had a lot of people to write about.
This got me to wondering about how many people actually read the letters that often accompany a Christmas card from friends they don't see very much.  Personally I read every letter that comes in the mail.  I may not read them the same day they arrive if I am really busy but I do take the time at some point over the holidays to read them.  I like hearing what is going on in the lives of my friends and I don't care that they often paint a picture of a more perfect family than they actually are (apparently some people do... take offense that is) because at the time of writing the author is seeing the very best part of their family and that's a good thing.  It doesn't bother me in the least either that it is a generic letter being sent out to many.  I know that at least as the sender was addressing the envelope, they thought about me because I know I think of them as I stuff the envelope and write their name across it.
So don't worry if you have cast my letter aside because it was too long, there's no test at the end and I won't ask you about it, you're off the hook, rest easy, I usually get someone else to write mine anyway.

GENIUS

Have I ever told you that my incredibly good-looking, talented, oldest son is also a genius? I had an inkling that he was smarter than average when his teacher suggested he skip a grade but this past year he actually proved his genius status.
His office was dressing up in costumes to celebrate Halloween and so Adam put a sign on the back of his chair as he was leaving work the night before that read "Mr. Invisible".  He didn't show up the next day. Not only did he get an entire day off work, he also won movie tickets for best costume.  I've never been prouder.

CHRISTMAS PAJAMAS

Christmas pajamas are a bit of a tradition in our family but because most of our kids are off to their in-laws this Christmas, I decided to dispense with it this year. I was surprised by the disappointment this was met with (and not from my family).  So to ease the distress this has caused I have found some other families who were willing to share theirs.  Just be warned, some things can never be unseen.

Celebrating the redefinition of marriage and family, Bob poses with his wife and child.  I could be really inappropriate here but I will refrain.  

Jane discovered that the onset of menopause causes hair to grow in strange places. Again, I could say something really inappropriate and incredibly funny but I will contain myself.

This is just disturbing.

This is just wrong.

Ian got me this exact same outfit for Christmas.

Is it wrong that the most disturbing thingI find about this picture is the fact that the woman is wearing ankle socks with heels? 

"Dad, we couldn't find matching pajamas for you so you can just go naked."

All of a sudden, I am worried about the prospect of twins joining our family soon.  

Who thought that outfit was a good idea?  Not the husband obviously, he's the only one not smiling.

I think these kids wouldn't mind finding coal in their stockings.  It is black after all.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SUNDAY SMILE

I know I've been MIA for a while with no good reason really but I'm back now (for today anyway).  I thought I would share something that made me laugh out loud.  Click the link below and enjoy.  8 & 9 are my favourites.
Here's a teaser:

30 Naughtiest Dogs

A ONE AND A TWO

Finally the cat's out of the bag and I can share our big news.  It's been killing me (seriously) to keep the secret but now that it's all over Facebook I can tell whomever I want.  Woohooo!

Come February or March we will have nine little grandchildren to kiss, cuddle, and spoil.  Nathan and Emily are going to be the proud parents of two little girls (at least that's what the doctor thinks but the babies were moving around too much to get a clear picture).   I am so excited for them and for me.  The girls are really starting to outweigh the boys so I'm thinking that Brittany and Olivia need to have boys this year. Hint, hint.

AND THE TOTAL IS...

$1,329.20

Some of you were waaaaaaaay off but surprisingly one of you was quite close.  My sister Ailsa guessed  $1273.21 which seems a little fishy to me when everyone else is off by hundreds of dollars and she misses the total by $56.  I'm calling for an inquiry.

HOW MUCH????

A couple of years ago we started putting loose change into a big water cooler jug with the intent to save up some fun money for our family Disney trip.  Next week Ian is taking it to the bank to be counted.  So here's the question: how much do you think the final total will be?  Take into consideration that there are some loonies and toonies in there.  For you non-Canadians, a loonie is a dollar coin (named for the picture of the loons on the tail side), and a toonie is a two dollar coin.  We have referred to them as that for so long that it doesn't seem even the least bit strange or funny any more.  The closest guess wins a prize.

A TALE FROM THE PAST

This little anecdote happened a number of years back when all five of my kids were under the age of ten.
 I had just said goodbye to Ian who was going out for the evening and I went to check on the kids who had been put to bed about a half an hour previously.  All of them were sleeping soundly so I decided I was going to run a well deserved,warm bath and soak for an hour.  As I lay there luxuriating in the bubbles the sudden thought hit me that I had forgotten to lock the front door.  That knowledge sabotaged any hope of truly enjoying my bath and my very active imagination set off a series of scenarios playing in my head all of which invariably lead to my untimely death at the hands of a serial killer.  As I lay there contemplating getting out of the bath to go and lock the door I noticed a shadow pass under the bathroom door.  It felt as if my heart stopped and for a moment I froze.

"Ian is that you?"  I called out.  "You're home late." I added, even though I was not expecting him home for at least another hour but I wasn't going to let my intruder know that.  I wanted him to think that someone would be home at any moment.
Not only was this met with silence but the shadow that had passed by now came back and stood still in front of the bathroom.
"Adam, is that you?"
Silence.
"Matthew, is that you?
Silence.
"Daniel?"
Silence.
"Brittany?"
"Nathan, is that you out there?  Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
Silence.
"Would you answer me please!"
Silence.
  My imagination kicked into high gear at this point.
I could see that the door handle was slowly being turned back and forth and I was convinced I was about to meet my doom.  I looked around the bathroom and realized there was absolutely nothing in there that  I could defend myself with and then I remembered watching something about the best thing you can do in a situation like that is to surprise your attacker because it will throw him off his game plan. This thought gave me courage, I wasn't going to be an easy target so I stepped out of the bath dripping wet, covered in bubbles, completely naked, and made my way to the door.  I undid the lock ever so quietly, yanked open the door, at the same time yelling in my very loudest voice "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!!"
There stood three year old Nathan looking up at me with his big blue eyes, sheer terror on his face.
"Muuummy?"

THANKFUL

THANKFUL FOR

• Indian summer - warm days, cool crisp nights, colourful trees, nature's last hurrah before the snow flies and winter comes.
• my kids - I sometimes look at them and think "I made them?" They are each so unique and yet so the same in ways.  Kind, generous, smart, and in the words of Derek Zoolander "ridiculously good-looking". They didn't even pay me to say that.
• my grandkids - seven already and number eight on the way.  Sweet, cheeky, happy and loving, and always ready to give me a hug and a kiss.  I could not feel more blessed.
• my daughters-in-law - our family was pretty awesome before but now with these three girls it is ridiculously awesome.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate them. Two are the mothers to a majority of my grandchildren and they value their roles as nurturers to those special little ones.  
• friends - I have a lot...more than I deserve really... all over the world.  Each friendship is valued, they enrich my life in a way that is impossible to describe.  I am friends with some of the smartest, funniest, and kindest people in the world.  I am sure you fall into one of those categories considering you're reading my blog.
• turkey dinners - turkey is fine but what I really care for is all the trimmings... mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, did I mention mashed potatoes?  mmmmm... my favorite! Bring on the left overs!
• my husband - I lucked out in that department.  He is the reason that our marriage runs so smoothly.  I accuse him of having OCD but in reality I envy the ease in which he organizes and remembers everything (except where utensils belong in the kitchen).  The grandkids adore him.  What more could you want?
• my health - One of life's greatest blessings is good health.  I couldn't be more thankful for that blessing in my life. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  If you haven't already, take a moment to reflect on the things you are thankful for.

SUNDAY SMILE-LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

One of the things I was looking forward to when we moved into our new house was meeting our neighbors.  At our old house we couldn't even see our neighbors but at our new house we are close enough that I can wave to my one neighbor through the window if we are both doing dishes at the same time and if I am out on the deck reading I can wave to the neighbor on the other side if she is sitting in her porch reading.
So let me tell you about our neighbors.  The lady on the one side of us is in her eighties.  Her husband is in a nursing home so she has her daughter living with her.  Up until about last week when the weather got colder I could count on her swimming by at least two times a day.  She is an inspiration to me.  I only hope that I am as active as she is when I am that age.
The neighbors on the other side of us are an Italian couple also in their eighties.  Fortunately they are all hard of hearing so they really don't mind when all seven of the grandkids are here whooping and hollering in the water. Anyway... the Italian couple often call me over to chat when I am in the yard,  this can be entertaining as neither of them hear well and both have thick accents.  One day John (83) calls me over.  "I have some cucumbers from my garden I wanna give you." he said to me in his thick Italian accent.
I told him I'd be over in just a minute, I just needed to grab a grocery bag to put them in.  I quickly ducked into the house because I was only dressed in my rather revealing bathing suit and I joked with Emily that I needed to put a cover up on or John might want to give me more than a cucumber. I headed next door and John told me what cucumbers I should pick.  The conversation went something like this.

"Your husband, how come I never see him?"

"He works for a living.  He'll be home tonight."

"He no stay around much?"

"Yes, he's just busy right now because we've been away a lot and he has some catching up to do."

"Ah! When he at home, he spend all his time with you?"

"Mostly but he likes to golf too."

"Okay so here all the cucumber I gonna give you."

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it."

"That's okay.  You give me a little kiss now eh?"

I wouldn't normally kiss the guy but we'd been to his house a couple of times and both he and his wife as I was leaving kissed me... on the lips...I thought it must be an Italian thing. So I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and that's when he slipped in a little tongue action.  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  I pushed him away and gave him a little slap on the chest and I think I said "that's not okay".  I would have slapped him a little harder had he not been 83 and had I not been in total shock.
Later that afternoon we all went for a swim and I dove off the dock.  I happened to glance into their yard and there John was working on the retaining wall on his beach.  The next thing I know, off comes his shirt and he shovels away topless.  I would have put it down to coincidence except a couple of hours later he does the exact same thing.  I go in for another swim and the next thing I know, he is shirtless again.  Needless to say, my family has been having great fun at my expense.

BUSTED

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending General Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Personally attending conference was on my bucket list of things to do and when Ian happened to have a work conference in California the week prior it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  We made the executive decision not to let anyone in Utah know we were coming because one,we were only there for the weekend,two, we were not renting a car, and three, Ian's brother David and his daughter were driving down from Idaho to visit with us.  It was a tough decision to make because we have so many good friends living nearby and even more acquaintances and we knew we just couldn't fit in a visit with everyone and didn't want to offend anyone.  The LDS Conference center at full capacity allows for just over 21,000 people to attend and trust me when I say that it was filled up.  Just before the meeting started I noticed a familiar head about 15 rows in front of me.
"Is that (name withheld to protect privacy)?" I asked Ian.
"It looks like him." was his reply.
"He's with a girl." I exclaimed and before Ian could concur, I shot up out of my seat to get all the juicy details er... I meant... to say hello to my friend.  Yeah, that's it, to say hello to my friend. He was just as shocked to see me as I was to see him.  BUSTED Much to my chagrin one of the two girls he was with happened to be the daughter of some wonderful friends of ours, the very friends we'd neglected to let know we were coming. Now it was my turn to get BUSTED.  As they say in Utah, dang!  I hope I didn't give away too much info about my mystery encounter.

Some old friends of ours from way back did find out from a mutual friend that we were going to be in Salt Lake City last weekend and after we bade goodbye to my brother in law and niece, we enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours catching up with them.  It was so good of them to tear themselves away from a sick son  to spend some time with us.

To all our wonderful friends in Utah, I promise we will come back another time to do dome visiting.

SUMMER TIME AND THE LIVING IS BUSY

A little run down of our summer:

• a move (and all that it entails).
• visitors from New Zealand, 4 of them for 7 weeks.
• road trips to Ottawa, Rochester NY,New York City, Washington DC, Orlando, Memphis, and Niagara Falls.
• shopping at every last one of the stops above and some in between as well (apparently the prices in North America are considerably cheaper than in NZ but we had to check just to be sure).
• dinner for 21 most weekends (guess who got to cook?).
• glorious days at the beach (conveniently located in the back yard of our new house).
• campfires (did you know that Kiwis/New Zealanders have never heard of s'mores? What a travesty.).
• a trip to Algonquin Park.
• an announcement (Nathan and Emily are expecting their first child in March of next year YEAH!!!!!).

You can maybe understand why I haven't taken the time to post on my blog although there has been plenty to write about.  Stay tuned for some fun stories about our adventures, there's a few.

 

SUNDAY SMILE (a day early)

For those of you who have not seen this yet, it is definitely a must watch.  This is an actual news report that went  on air the other day.

I am left wondering how many people saw these names before it went to air.  Even I knew there was Sum Ting Wong as soon as I saw it.
Thanks to my son Daniel who shared this with me.  It made made a great day even better!

TWO WEEKS IN

We have been at our new house for two weeks now on and off (we've been doing work at our old house as well).  So far...

• two bedrooms have been painted.
• three trees have been cut down.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the next time I leave town a fourth will fall.  Dear boys, if you touch that maple I am going to be very angry!
• we've been visited by Daniel, Olivia, and Waverlea twice.
• we've had two visitors from North Bay.
• I've hit the garage door post with one of the vehicles.
• Ian's got grease on our white carpet, fortunately I noticed this right away and got it out.  Ian wishes I was as good at noticing the side of the garage door.  
• we have a quarter of the two car garage cleared.
• we've come to the conclusion that we own way too much stuff.
• Olivia introduced herself to our Italian neighbors twice,once when she ran the kayak into their beach and then again when she ran the kayak into their fishing boat.  This all happened within the space of about a minute.  
• I met our Italian neighbors sans bra and in my pajamas.  It was four in the afternoon. (I was painting, don't judge.) We're making quite the impression.
• we've swum in the river every day.  It's not getting old.
• we wage battle with the Canada geese that like to come poop on our lawn every single day.  It is getting old. We're not winning...yet! I think this one is going to get it's own post someday soon. 

TRUE STORY

This morning my adorable little grandson Ammon, was trying to walk to me with his father's help and just as he reached me he slipped and hit his head on the arm of my chair. I picked him up to console him but he was pretty upset and nothing seemed to comfort him, I even offered him a bit of the granola  I was eating but he was having none of it.  I handed him over to his mother and noticed that I must have dropped a bit of oatmeal onto the back of my hand so I picked it up and popped it into my mouth and chewed on it.  The taste and texture wasn't quite what I was expecting so I spat it out into my hand to discover much to my horror that I was chewing on Ammon's crusty booger.  Now even hours later, I still feel sick at the thought.  They don't taste quite like I remember them.

GOTTA LOVE KIDS

You can never let your guard down when you have kids.  If they aren't getting into some sort of mischief because you've left them unattended for two minutes (this is enough time to dump an entire two liter bottle of vegetable oil onto the kitchen floor), they will be sure to embarrass you with some unsolicited observation in a crowded grocery store... "oooh that lady is sooooo old" this said in a loud voice regarding a lady who couldn't have been over 50.

  I came across the following video and just had to share.  It made me laugh out loud and I am sure you will get a chuckle out of it too.

SUNDAY SMILE

It's only two and half short weeks until the big move but who's counting?  There are a lot of mixed emotions being experienced around here and today seemed to be especially tough for me.  I am excited to be moving closer to my kids and grandkids but I have an extended church family here whom I am going to miss.  *sniff*

A friend posted this video on Facebook and it made me smile (and I needed that today) so I thought I would share it with you.  Enjoy!

THE SCOOP

So I made an announcement today on Facebook and have been flooded with questions ever since which is understandable because it was a pretty big announcement.  So here's the scoop!
The rumours are true, we are moving back to the Muskoka area.  It all happened so fast that my head is still spinning.
When Matthew took his family and moved there a couple of years ago I was disappointed.  I saw his kids almost every day and although they were moving only an hour and a half drive down the road, I knew the time I spent with them would decrease significantly and that saddened me.  While I still get to see them fairly frequently it is mostly just stopping in for a few minutes as we travel through to other places. When Brittany announced earlier this year that she and Ben would be moving there as well with their two kids, I was anxious to make a move south to be closer to all my little grandchildren.
A couple of weeks ago Ian and I discussed  the ramifications of such a move and we determined that we would have a little look at what was available and think about it.  Two weeks later (yesterday) we signed papers to purchase a home and we move in June 26th.  Crazy!!!!!  So much to do in so little time and in between a trip to Hawaii.  I think I will be awol on here for a while as I begin packing and getting this house ready to go on the market.

Things I will miss:

• my friends here.
• our indoor swimming pool.
• an abundance of grocery stores (makes for cheap food).
• the community I live in (seriously the nicest people ever).
• the wildlife I see on daily basis.
• my backyard tobogganing hill (no more toboggan parties on family weekend : (

Looking forward to:

• more family get togethers ( I see a weekly family dinner tradition in the making)
• reconnecting with old friends.
• kayaking on the river.
• meeting my new neighbors.
• spending more time with our grandkids.
• being able to help out my daughter and daughters in law more.