Wednesday, December 31, 2008
















Mom and I went to see Marley & Me last night. Beware if you choose to watch this movie. I had to bite my lip for about 10 minutes trying to avoid an embarrassing display of emotion in the form of howling sadly along with the others. For ten minutes that theatre became dead quiet, with the exception of heartbroken sobbing, sniffling and coughing...it was THE longest sad scene I have ever survived.










Anyway, Jenny made reference to something that I can relate to very very well. She was telling her husband of how life is with children and said "I didn't know it would be this hard, no one tells you.". And obviously, I wanted to shout out YES. There are no words to describe how your life will change when you become a parent. There is no way to accurately describe how much you will sacrifice of yourself to become the new person your children require you to be in order to meet their needs. No one tells you about how frustration can tear at your throat until you want to scream, how the loneliness can echo loudly in your heart as you wish desperately for an adult to talk to. How the phone can evoke a hatred you didn't know existed when it wakes your baby from the nap you spent hours preparing for. How impossibly tired you can be. How no matter how you feel you must plug through the motions and try to remember why your life is everything you dreamed it would be. And it is. No one can describe how much you can love you children either. Right now I am not talking so much about that, as I am saying that I didn't know how hard this was going to be. Would I change it? Do I regret it? No. But it is very hard sometimes to keep the good stuff in the front of the brain load and the tough stuff in the back. I suppose it will be a life long process. All while the time spins out of control and my babies turn into moody teenagers. Right now I long for age 6. The fairytale years. Bring it on.










Anyways...most of you probably saw these photos on facebook already, but I want to share again. Thank you to Shelley and Bert for filling up the trunk, Shelley and Candi for donating it, and Uncle Merrit for painting it. Its beautiful and we will treasure it for years to come. Thank you :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Thankyou...donut...thankyou

I was in the line up at Tim's drive through and all I could hear was the girls in the back seat, like broken records, repeating "Thank you, donut, thank you" in their tinker bell voices, so serious. Apparently they have it figured that a trip through the drive through at Tim's usually results in a donut. I actually had forgot to order them a donut and had to ask the lady at the window if it was too late, lol. It wasn't.

Once I ingested the givememytimscoffeeordie fix, we headed to the mall for some last minute Christmas shopping. Olivia ("Via psycho") began with a huge fit in LeSenza, and I noticed several glares pointed in my direction. Olivia came out screaming in this painful high pitched piercing way, and she has never outgrown the voice that is absolutely impossible to ignore. But if you think I am about to abort mission after all the work it is to get me and these three kids packed and bundled and off to town only to turn around and come home, you are sadly mistaken. So she screamed hysterically while I shopped and made my first purchase.

There must be something about a mom who is ready to abandon her children and run far far away, dropping the "F bomb" frequently along her way that makes people want to stop and talk to her. Not that this isn't a common phenomenon when pushing a triplet stroller full of offspring that greatly resembles triplets, but it sends of pheromones, attracting each and every curious woman in the mall, I swear it. I then stand there with a forced smile answering all the same old questions "No, they are not triplets", "Yes the girls are twins" "Yes my hands are full" "Yup, super happy I got a boy" "yes, we are all done" and the list drones on and on. And forgive me if I sound resentful, because I am not, generally, resentful about this at all. Its just that today I wanted to SELL my kids, give them away, abandon them, or even possibly pay someone to take them. I did NOT want to gush over their angelic blue eyes and so on and so forth. So I stared off on a spot in the distance and began the speed walk getoutofmyway and Ididntnoticeyoulooking walk only to have people GRAB the stroller or cut me off, forcing me into another of these awful conversations. My cheeks hurt from all that fake smiling. I could never be a politician.

Ben drained all the fuel out of our hot water tank in favour of go figure...winter fuel. So we are hoping our hot water issues are a thing of the past.

Until next time..

Thursday, December 18, 2008


















































There are moments in parenthood where you just know you werentcutoutforthis. And today, I experienced one of these profound moments.


While I dug through an entire drawer of socks with no matches looking for three teeny sized pairs, Olivia decided she had a craving for crackers and margerine. Conrad, who became tense and irritable at the mere sight of toast crumbs in his margerine, will never know which of my many margerine containers was the victim...


I turned around and both girls were feeding the dog their yogurts...right off their spoons.
Svea unrolled the entire roll of papertowel.
Hayden put his foot down about naps once and for all, and screamed frantically for 45 minutes before I gave in. Before you call me a bad mom for making him wait, I was in my time machine, back in the 1800s, boiling water to add to cold so I could wash my hair and do the dishes. Its been over 10 days since I had heat blowing from heat ducts in my home. I have both fire places raging at all times, and have taken to washing at my moms house. And the kids stink. And I am totally sick of talking about it. Just know, that I have no hot water or heat and its been hitting -30 or colder with great regularity at nightime here.
Tonight, I get to go skiing with my sister in law, Lee-Anne. Ben just phoned and told me to behave. I always behave, so I really am not sure what he is worried about.........





Tuesday, December 9, 2008

From ours to yours, Happy Holidays




I attempted my own Sears Studio and was met with bad lighting, a lack of cooperation and plenty of frustration. If I couldnt get two to look at the picture, why would I think I could get all three?

LOL. Merry Christmas everyone!

"Via Psycho"

I posted this on the "due date club" I have been posting on since my pregnancy with the girls and wanted to share my evening with you without having to retype the entire thing. So for any of you ladies on JM, sorry for the repetitive nature of this story.

I use bad language. When I get mad, it takes all my energy not to blurt out the F word, oblivious to who may hear, or not. And really, if I am mad enough to start letting it fly, usually I, in the moment, dont care. I am not bragging, just letting you in on one of my baddest habits. I do, however, exercise my ability, daily, to use other words to describe things that drive me nuts. Unfortunately, these words are not always appropriate either. Case in point.....when Olivia has one of her crazed and hysterical meltdowns that involve high pitched at the top of her lungs break the sound barrier screaming, throwing of her body, punching the air with her little fists balled up so tight her knuckles have turned a dangerous shade of white, I commonly refer to her as "Psycho". And apparently, Svea has been taking note of this.

I dont know what provokes these attacks in Olivia. I rarely see the triggering event, so I am left to assume it was some very small thing that must have been the icing on the cake that sent her flying unceremoniously off the edge, but she had one of these very attacks this evening. I am by myself, completely for at least 15 days until Ben gets home. My moms evening help has been a thing of the past for months, as she has joined bi-weekly aquabics classes and usually has some sort of plans for the other nights with Christmas shopping and whatnot. Needless to say, my nerves are standing at attention, quivering on the brink of joining Britney Spears in an embarassingly public meltdown, but I have been bravely hanging on by one very shrayed thread. So as Olivia shreaked violently, shook the bars of her crib (yah, she was not IN her crib, by the way) angrily, threw herself down and shook her head like she was at an ACDC concert, Svea looked up at me wide eyed, humour twinkling in them, and because Olivia had attacked Hayden and he was now screaming in the background as well, proclaimed loudly, "Via psycho".

All in a days work. I laughed, snorted, gave Olivia her wish and "let" her go to bed early, picked up Svea, and walked out of Olivias room with a smile on my face, because at least I know one person in this house hold understands. Svea then asked to be let down, told me she was going to "choose a book" (where did she learn the word "choose" from anyways?), asked for her water, grabbed her "baby" and politely informed me that "Vaya" wanted to go "night night" too. Just wanted to share my evening laugh.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Christmas is on its way

And I am going nuts shopping. I have managed to get most of it done, but still need to get stocking stuffers and buy for my sister in law and step Dad, Conrad (whom I have started, and have a good plan for the rest). Ben will be spoiled this year, as usual. But the kids, wow. I am managing to behave fairly well, but I know at least one grandparent who has gone nuts with Christmas gifts already. I am so excited about Christmas this year with the girls being old enough to be excited about gifts!

I actually made a gingerbread house with the girls a few days ago, but have already started to eat it, lol. I figure if its all gone in the next week or two, we can always make another. Olivia really loved helping make it. She sat on my lap, smooshing as much candy between her lips as she could get, but she genuinely enjoyed sticking it on the house as well. Svea enjoyed it for a few moments, but she isnt so much into candy, so it wasnt nearly as interesting to her.

Next is home decoration. I need to dig through the disaster of boxes in our freshly painted, but carpetless (due to the flood) basement. I am hope hope hoping it will be finished by Christmas, the playstation always gets its most use during that Christmas season, and I know (honestly aquired, I swear) that we got an electric fireplace for the basement as a gift. We use wood heat all winter, so the furnace doesnt kick on, leaving the basement chilly. This should help tremedously :)

Anyways, go check out this blog, she always has lots of cool crafts and baking ideas and regular give aways :) http://patrizziagundich.blogspot.com/2008/12/friday-giveaway.html

Will post pics of the home decorations once completed. Hopefully the girls will enjoy it!

Monday, December 1, 2008
















I popped a balloon on Svea's head yesterday. We were at a birthday party for their 4 year old friend Amber and I had been showing her how if you rub a balloon on your noggin, the balloon would stick to the wall afterward. But she only got the balloon sticking to the wall part, so I was excitedly showing her the head rubbing part again, and well..umm...pushed a bit too hard. The loud pop on her head had her ducking frantically with her eyes squeezed tightly shut, and when she opened her eyes she sighed, "Oh no, oh no" and shook her head sadly at the broken bits of balloon pieces all over the floor. If I wasn't rolling around laughing so hard, I may have actually cried for her. She looked so genuinely sad. Thankfully, she got over it when she realized there were plenty more balloons.

Olivia took it upon herself to stomp on someones foot at the birthday party. She just walked right up to Crystal and stomped on her foot and walked away after. I have no idea what possessed her to do this, but she usually goes ahead and does whatever pops randomly into her head and I really cannot and do not take responsibility for it. Its all her. She may look like an angel, but...well....she is no angel.

The girls are saying so much now. Ben's mom Jeanette was having some difficulty figuring the remote out while Ben and I were away at the ACDC concert in Minneapolis and apparently Olivia learned a select new word to use in association with the remote....let me give you a hint. It started with an F and ended with a k. And it was said with a definite frustration and some punctuation on the end. We have been hiding the remote since.

I always thought TV and kids were a bad combination. And I still do. Only I have adjusted my belief around this to a certain extent. TREEHOUSE is a learning channel. My girls know colors, how to count to ten, know their "please" and "thank you"s and even say "I'm sorry". Obviously I encourage them to use these skills at home to, but I have to admit, I have noticed a huge increase in their language since they actually started to pay attention to what is going on on the boob tube, and I am suitably impressed.
A quick update on those who did not hear how the ACDC concert weekend went. It was great. I don't remember too much about it, but Ben claims all kinds of falseness, and I do know that a slippery bar table attacked me as I attempted to climb over it and I have all kinds of resulting bruising. In all kinds of places. ALL kinds. I was actually straddling over the table to make it to the bathroom (I was finding it too hard to have everyone in my row stand up so I could squeeze by them, so I was climbing over the bar table immediately behind us and on the same floor as the washroom) when I discovered some silly drunk had spilled their beer on the table, leaving it very very slippery. Enough said. I am still tender and treating myself with delicate care (read- Kaija is not riding horses lately).

Ben is driving me nuts and I genuinely hope he returns to work soon. Each morning and evening he goes out "hunting" in our back yard, only to return and claim he saw all kinds of wildlife, but couldn't decide if he should actually shoot or not. OK, Shit or get off the pot buddy. He has been hunting like this for weeks. He is dying to shoot something, but neither of us really like deer. Shoot a bird dammit. I don't even LIKE wild game (with the exception of bird...and bunnies, because I am sick like that).

Included is some recent photos of the rugrats. I need to go to bed.
Christmas is coming everyone! I am excited!!! Cant wait to see you Candi and Shelley!!! (and Denis and Bert and all the animal children, lol)

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Whats for dinner?

I was real fancy tonight and cooked up some frozen chicken nuggets and french fries. The girls like to dip their french fries in ketchup, so I squeezed out a large glop on each plate and began to dig into my own. Suddenly, Svea began this hoarse hollering, and I looked up to see her eyes glassy with tears and her entire hand scratching desperately at her tongue. She frantically pulled all food out with both hands and flung it back onto her plate with a very definite "HOT". I felt terrible...but honestly couldn't figure out how the food could possibly have been hot. Mine was perfect, and hers spent a few minutes cooling in the freezer before I served it. Either way, we carried on. I briefly wondered about the tang in my ketchup, but really didn't clue in completely until Svea began to scream and dig around in the back of her throat again. I handed her a facecloth, and she vigorously rubbed her tongue with it. I then handed her a paper towel for her hands, but that also served as a tongue rag, and she soaked up any remaining spit in her mouth with that paper towel. So I looked over and noticed the ketchup bottle said....*ahem* "Hot & Spicy". Yah......ummm....who bought that? Once I managed to stop choking on my food through my hysterical giggles, I wiped away the rest of Svea's "hot" ketchup and gave her some of the nice normal kind.

I have been terrible at posting lately. I wont even make any excuses.

Tomorrow I get to go to work and supply for one of the few woman I know without question, that I quite dislike. I didn't know who I was accepting shifts for until after I agreed. At least I don't have to work with her. LOL. My cup is half full today.

The other half is full of grumpy man. He walked in the door after spending the day puttering about outdoors to announce in a bossy voice, "Whats for dinner?". Way to irritate my feminist side. That's OK, I work Wed, Thurs, Fri this week. Hope he enjoys his role as Mr. Mom.

Olivia is a naughty little turkey. She is one of those ones that does something she knows is "bad" and then covers her bum and scoots. Or if you tell her not to do something (like throw the pot into the sink full of glasses and plates), she does it faster, ie) RUNS and THROWS the pot and effectively smashes all the dishes in the sink. She attempts to drown her brother, shove her brother, kick her brother in the head, and almost continually yells "NO BABY NO" at him. She goes from one thing to the next, smearing charcoal pieces from the wood stove, ripping open boxed Christmas presents, mounting her brother,climbing under the railing to get upstairs, closing every bedroom door (they must stay open if we hope for them to be heated, since we use our wood stove continually), to getting her hand stuck in the water cooler bottles. You must always pay attention and need not bother to attempt to sit down, because between the catastrophes she creates wiping all the books off the shelves and the constant requests (followed by ear piercing shrieking) for juice, cookies, bananas, "zip zips" (dry fruit loops), and yogurt, you have no time to anyways. The ONLY way I can reliably get 5 minutes, is to turn the TV on, in which case she immediately zones out all further communication with mankind and stands staring, open mouthed at the TV.

Dang, gotta run, all three are screaming. Maybe I will make it back to update further....hopefully this month......ohoh.....

Sunday, November 2, 2008

EyeCandy Workshop assignment. 6 locations. Same subject. Oh well, I got 5. Good enough.














So, if you only ever had to photograph the most beautiful and willing models on the most beautiful days, with the perfect amount of light, and a beautiful backdrop, life would be good. This assignment was to help you learn to work in different settings. I chose my most willing model (but will admit to trapping him on a very tall chair to assist in his willingness).
I need to trap Olivia next. My beautiful princess with a distinct hereditary family trait stemming from both sides that has resulted in an unfortunate disregard for all things camera and photo related.

Our brother is the devil...and we have proof.









































I am always saying Olivia cant stand her little brother. I don't know if you realize how bad it truly is. Just crawling near her gives him the satisfying response of listening to her screech (and I do mean screech) "BABY BABY!!". She will get wound up like she is ready to explode with distaste. If he even LOOKS at her sippy cup, she goes absolutely nuts. So, when I gave them their bag of mega blocks to build with, she was adamant, that her bratty little brother was not to be in on the action. He was so very tempted by all those colorful blocks, and made it in for his kill on several occasions, each crashed tower met with hysterical screaming, slapping, and sobbing. Obviously, I was of no help at all. I was too busy shaking and giggling and snorting while trying to adjust my settings on my camera so I could make it a permanent memory. She decided to take matters into her own hands. First, she tried to lift baby to move him away from her area. He was much too heavy (being less than 3 lbs lighter than his twin sisters even at 19 months their Jr). So she resorted to dragging him. And as you can tell, he took this very very seriously.
I think he is going to have a lot of fun with his sisters as they grow up, don't you?




Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Grabbing models when I can














This is Jessica, her daughter Bella, and her fiance Ryan. They were over for a visit (Bella and Hayden are dating) and I forced my camera on them while they were here. I couldnt help myself, have you SEEN them? I may have to force myself and my camera on them more often, it appears the camera likes them.
I was trying to get a family picture of them, but Hayden kept crawling into the shoot, hense the laughing and direction the family is looking in. I did eventually get a better shot, bit this remains my favourite.
And how gorgeous is this baby? She could not possibly get any prettier. Hayden is smitten.
Any other models out there wanting a free shoot, please let me know, I am ALWAYS in for a reason to shoot some more pics :)
Tracey.
:P

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Ohhh....pretty tutu. Apparently now I gotta buy one each










Need I say more? How cute are these girls? Ok, I am the mom...but they ARE some kind of cute, aren't they?