I just finished reading Barb's Blog and loved her list. So I'm stealing her idea.

Looking back and looking ahead:

Major events/happenings:
1. took the boys to Florida for the March break to spend time with Mom and Dad.
2. Brother Stephen and his family moved to Calgary :(
3. Sister Joanne and her husband Bruce moved to Calgary :(
4. Took the boys to Myrtle Beach for a fantastic week in the sun.
5. Got to go to CKU-A in Stamford, CT with some of my scrapping buddies.

Regrets:
1. That two of my siblings moved to Calgary.
2. Not spending more time with my brother Rick, who has Down's Syndrome.
3. Each time I lose my temper with the boys.
4. Not keeping up with friends that live far from us.
5. Not being able to say No.
6. Not advocating for my son enough.

New things I've done:
1. Started a blog
2. started taking photography classes at Sheridan College
3. Joined a parent support group for people with kids with Non-verbal learning disorder.

Passionate about:
1. My Faith
2. educating others about Non-verbal Learning Disorder
3. Scrapbooking
4. My husband and boys
5. music

Too much/many:
1. junk food
2. Time spent online
3. wasted time
4. money spent on Scrapbooking
5. time spent running kids here there and everywhere.

Wishes for 2006:
1. More excersize
2. Better eating habbits
3. A trip to Calgary in the summer.
4. More time spent with John
5. That Matt is able to make some strides socially and make some friends; for him to be more accepted by his peers; for less anxiety for him.
6. To make home a soft place for everyone to fall.

It's over!

That's what John said when he got up this morning. Christmas is over. I don't feel it's over yet. Today we are heading to my parents in London. Every year on Boxing Day we celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. In the past there have been so many people that we bring in two extra tables and spill out into the kitchen from the Dining Room. If everyone is there, there is at least 30 of us. I always look forward to it. Relaxing with my family. This year will be very different. There will be 12 of us. David (my oldest brother) and his family are in Fairfax VA and won't be up, Joanne and her husband have moved out to Calgary and her adult children are either working or out in Calgary with her. Cathy and Don are going to spend the day with Don's family, Stephen and Gayle and his family are out in Calgary now. That leaves Mike and Mel and their two boys (yeay! I don't have to share the new baby with anyone except my mom!), me and my family, Mom and Dad, and my brother Rick. It's going to be a very quiet day compared to what it normally is.

We are really going to miss you guys. I really wish you were all here.

Christmas started for me on the 23rd. Mom and Dad arrived that day in the afternoon. We went into Toronto with Cathy and Don, Mom and Dad, and all of us to see the Canadian Brass. It was a great concert.

John's parents arrived on the 24th. My mom and dad left to spend Christmas with Cathy. Christmas Eve was spent just watching my boys enjoy their Grandparents. I love watching them together. They really love them. Cameron sat down to play Checkers with Grandpa (using a Chess board). I had to run for the camera. These are the special times!

I love enjoying the tree after the kids are in bed on Christmas Eve. It's the calm before the storm. Very peaceful. I had to snap some pictures of the tree before Santa arrived. I forgot to take some pictures of what it looked like after the boys got up on Christmas morning.


The boys loved everything they got. As soon as the presents were opened and cleared up, they were gone. We hardly heard anything from them for the rest of the day. Everyone was happy and content. A perfect Christmas Day!

They are done!

I put off starting the calendars that I do for the grandparents every year. I finally got around to starting them on Saturday night. In 5 days I completed 24 12 x 12 layouts! Whew! For the most part I'm happy with the way they turned out ... especially since I was whipping them out!










Now that that's done, I can wrap the presents (should do that while the kids are at school today, and clean the house. I'm almost ready for Christmas.

Last night we went to the school Christmas concert. OK, Holiday concert. Gotta be politcally correct!!!! It was so well done. The teachers really deserve a big pat on the back for working so hard to put it together. Spencer played in the Jazz Band and the Concert Band. What really bugs me is that every concert, parents get up and leave as soon as their child is finished. By the end of the concert the more than half the chairs are empty, when before it is standing room only. This is so rude. All the kids work so hard for their performance only to have people leaving. What are they teaching their kids, too! The principal asked everyone to stay for the whole concert and show all the students respect, but it didn't happen.

OK, off to wrap and clean.

Well, it has happened. ...and I'm very sad about it! Yesterday afternoon I had was out with Matt at an appointment and I phoned home to check up on Spencer and Cameron. When Cameron picked up and found out it was me, he promptly informed me that something very bad had happened. He had been out in the garage and he found Robo Raptor hidden in there. He angrily told me that now he knew the truth, that Santa wasn't real. Not knowing at that moment how to handle it, I just said that we would have to talk about it when I got home.

On the way home I had told Matt about my conversation with Cameron and he told me that he would convince Cameron that Santa was still real. He was now on a mission.

After arriving home I started shovelling out the driveway. Several minutes later Cameron came storming out to the garage and said "Mom! How do you explain this?" "What?" was my response. I went into the garage to talk to him and he was pointing at his discovery. "This" he said. In a moment of panic I just said that I had no idea where it had come from. I said that maybe it was too big for the sleigh so Santa hid it there for Christmas Eve. I went back to shovelling and he went back into the house.

Keep in mind, Matt is still on his mission.

After I finished outside I went in, to face the situation. I have no problem telling him the truth, but I don't want to tell him if he doesn't really want to stop believing. By the time I called him down, Matt showed up and told me that everything was fine, that he had solved the problem. Cameron was still a believer. After talking for a few minutes and seeing that he still desparately wants to believe, I reiterated what I had said in the garage. We agreed that maybe we should email Santa to find out what he wanted us to do with the gift.

Whew! All was well!


...until this morning when he began asking questions again!

The Wish Lists

The boys have finally given me their wish lists for Christmas. Cameron still believes in Santa and of course everything that he's asked for is expensive. Since this is likely the last year for the magic in our house, we have caved. We normally don't spend a ton of money, but this year looks like it will be the exception.

Cameron has asked Santa for a Robo Raptor (and not the mini size, either!) Could the kid have picked a more expensive item? It is a robotic Raptor. It's very cool.


Spencer has asked for his usual video games. The whole list was video games. I gave it back to him and told him that he would only get one game for Christmas. Everything on his list was not very expensive, so we got him an inexpensive digital camera that has a few fun things on it.

Matthew didn't really know what he wanted. His list consisted of some dvds, a video game, and lego. (yes, the boys still loves lego). We found this really cool hand-held dvd player at Costco. It's about the size of a cd walkman ... maybe slightly bigger. I thought it was the perfect thing for a 15 year old.


Since all three boys had lego on their list, they are getting the Pyrate set from Mega Bloks. It is totally cool. I wish I was a kid again!


There are going to be three happy boys in my house on Christmas morning.

I feel like I've just been hit by a Mac Truck!

Why does parenting have to be so hard sometimes?? Why does parenting some children have to be harder than others?

A few months ago I posted this quote.

Quit telling God how big your mountain is and start telling your mountain how big your God is.

I think God is trying to remind me of that right now. We are going through a very difficult situation with our oldest right now. I feel like things go along very smooth for a while and then WHAM! it hits. Although my head tells me that I'm a good mother and I do the best that I can for my son, I'm feeling like the worst mother in the world right now. Parenting is hard and I want off. I feel so drained.

The worst thing is that as we try and cope with what's just been dumped into our laps there are two other boys who deserve the same amount of attention from us, but at this time we can't give it to them. I have to try and pull myself together so that I can be a good mother to all three and try not to let the problems of one overshadow the lives of the other two.

Life is hard sometimes!

It's that time of year!

Time for running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. That's exactly how I feel right now ... just like that chicken! We had a busy weekend filled with running kids and us here, there and everywhere. We had a million places that we had to be and all at the same time. It started Saturday morning with a hockey game. Three of us had to be at Yonge and Eglinton to play our instruments on the Salavation Army's Christmas kettles. Then we had to rush out of there to get back to Oakville to Spencer's hockey game. We had to leave that early to go back into Toronto for John's Christmas party.

Sunday morning was an early morning hockey practise, and then Church followed by junior band practise. Then we had to rush back to Oakville as Spencer had a hockey practise. Then back to Toronto as the band was on duty at a function at a United Church there.

Tonight will be no better. I have to pick the boys up from school at 3. We have to rush home and change into our uniforms and grab instruments. Spencer needs to be in Burlington for 4 p.m. for the Halton Junior Jazz Band practise. We can only stay at that for 45 minutes and then we all have to rush into Toronto as the Band is on duty at Sunnybrook hospital for 6:30. (I don't think we'll be there on time knowing Toronto traffic!)

I'm tired. I don't know why I'm busting my hump to make everything. Thursday night we have another night of running here and there, but I think I need to just say we can't make it.

I'm tired!! (and the season has just begun!)

Christmas time is here!

My favorite time of the year. I love Christmas. I've been busy the last few days trying to get my house decorated. I haven't been very movitaved so it's taking me a lot longer. I need to just get off the computer and get it done!

I got the digital camera out the other day to try and take some pictures for a Christmas avatar. (I really don't like digital pictures and the way they turn out. I think we need to get a better digi camera. For now I'll stick to my Canon SLR!) The boys were very patient with me while I tried to get a decent picture. (and I still didn't get a great one!)