Declan

Darling Declan slept like a champ through the entire session. Great job Christine and Judson, he is such a sweetheart!

Kool Kool Krymsun

A while back I posted an entry about my new gelding I was incredibly excited to show. Unfortunately, it turned out he had a permanent, congenital problem that rendered him unable to stay sound enough to go show. I wont go on about my experience, but I will say that I will never buy a horse from Mark Harrell OR Lindsey Harrison again. Both of these people were aware of a problem with him (that apparently had been a problem since his yearling year when he was sold at the world show sale), but promoted that he was sane and sound and ready to go show. Not sure how long it will take for me to make it to the show ring again, but this experience has been profound enough to make me question my desire to continue showing horses in the AQHA all together. Mark Harrell did offer to do a trade, but when I got my new horse home, I have been disappointed to find that he will be unable to show until further notice as well. Mark Harrell then went on to resell the gelding named Kool Kool Krymsun with no mention of his known lameness problem. Very disappointing indeed.

A little piece of Christmas joy

The key to happy kids

Kool Kool Krymsun

Perfect for ME.

There is a new addition to our family. He is of the four legged sort. Chestnut, with two cute little socks behind. "Kash" is by One Hot Krymsun, who spells anything that sounds like "c" with a K. Such as it is, we changed his name from the former "Kool", because of the sheer number of "Cools" who have graced Tbay and area. His momma is by the great Zippo Pine Bar, which is fantastic, because when we set out to find our perfect horse, we really hoped to find something as closely related to him as we could. In our experience, we have loved the brains, and hoped to find one with a good one.

Anyways, Kash is a 4 year old gelding bred quite well and I really want to brag because of how much I am enjoying him. He is not perfect, far from it, God knows we cant afford anything even remotely close to perfection to go show Quarter Horse shows with. Perfect is completely relative anyways. Kool is perfect for me. I cant make any promises about going out and kicking anyones butt, however, I can aspire to go out and have fun trying. The thing I love most about horses is how there is no end to the learning, no end to attempting to access the full extent of your horses talent. I could ride for 100 years and never come close to knowing all there is to know. Kash will be long buried before I could ever have the opportunity to know how to ride him well enough to make him the absolute very best he can be. Thats what makes horses so exciting, chasing that dream. There you have it. I have my perfect horse and by God, I am gonna have fun chasing dreams with him.

Motherhood...hard enough to kill a man...made for a woman

Motherhood: Its not like you get to try it on for size, you know, and if you decide its not really for you, return it. Like if you get a puppy and decide you made a mistake, and you can rehome it, or bring it back to the pound. In fact, its not even socially acceptable to say..or type, unless you go ahead and put a lol beside it to infer you are cracking a joke. Its not for a man either, he would simply flop over and play dead if you were to put the same expectation the world has for you, onto him. Please dont get the idea if I could return my kids, like a litter of puppies, that I would choose to. I most certainly would not. But to be honest, I would definitely put in a loop hole in there somewhere, to allow myself to continue to be the SAME individual I once was, with hopes and dreams, free of guilt and with a blessing from my significant other. I guess what I think would help all us mothers is a getoutofjailfree card we could use at our convenience when necessary. Thank goodness my mother survived motherhood, because she is as close as I am gonna get to that fantasy gift card for the next few years and may well be the only thing that keeps me balancing on this side of the fence....

Oh look...its 10:30. I cant wait till I grow up and I can go to bed anytime I want, until then, hopefully I will manage to find the time to update my blog again before next year :)

Because they are just so dang cute

Mothers always think their children are the cutest in the world. I am no exception. Habitually, I have this thing about always having a camera with me. They are rather tired of looking at the big black box that seems to constantly be dangling in front of their faces, and so, they quite refuse to look at it. Which I find particularily frustrating. And so, note that most of these pictures come with little eye contact, not from lack of work on my part either. But I am tired of people deciding that I am crazy based on the odd sounds and frantic motions I am making from behind the camera. I still do it, I just am kind of self conscious about it. Anyways, here are a recent few (ie today) of the rugrats. Notice Hayden is wearing pink? Yah. Real men wear pink.

Enjoy :)

Dear Rugrats,

Dear fat lips, "cappy" bums, and "dootbags" (Svea's expression for those she is annoyed with), I am taking the weekend off. Starting tomorrow. Your dad and I are headed to Banff, just the two of us, where we can ski, eat fancy dinners, and drink alcohol laden beverages with little to no guilt, and much less interruption.

Please be easy on your grandparents, who bravely assumed responsibility while your parents ran, giggling, barely looking over our shoulders, off to the the Rockies.

Now, to get specific:

Svea, please do not tell your grandmas (and Nanny's) about how your slinky "is all ___cked up". I threw it away, slapped your father, and tried to have an adult conversation about appropriate language around toddlers (yah, ME...). By the time I was done, he heard about how calling Barney a "Homo" may not actually be a swear, but remains inappropriate none-the-less. Sighhh. Please do not refer to Hayden as a "dootbag" (aka Dirtbag, compliments of mom, who thought this sounded so much better than other alternatives that your father has been teaching you).

Olivia, I know you feel emotions stronger than the average toddler, but if you could refrain from desperately begging your poor grandparents to put you to bed for the sole purpose of sucking on your silly "doo doo", that would be much appreciated. And by the way, you are not Jacob Two Two, so please refrain from repeating things with such rapid repetition that your grandparents become sure they are hearing an echo. Lastly, please, do not try to drown, smother, squash, or kill your brother on any level while we are gone.

Lastly, Hayden. Please, do not create any need for emergency hospital visits due to split lips, black eyes, broken bones, or anything of the sort due to your extreme climbing or fighting with siblings. Please realize you will one day be an adult male and give up the 24/7 need to suck on a pacifier. Love those Grandparents as they love you.

See you on Monday.

We could be slightly hung over and very sore, but we should be much better, well rested parents on our return.

Love you lots,

Mommy and Daddy
xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxo

Look Who's Walking....(well, Liv has been for awhile...)

Life has become such a busy place that I have neglected to keep my blog up to date..on any level.

Firstly, Ben is in Alberta working for a month. It has only been a week and a few days, but it already feels like a life time. Funny how a person can go from detesting the way he can leave a trail of crumbs indicating not only exactly what he ate, but what order he ate it in, to wishing the toaster had been left out along with the peanut butter and jam...and the obviousness that he has something against buttering toast on a plate, rather than the counter top. I even miss the trail of clothes. Mind you, since the dryer decided to quit a few days ago, I suppose its one of those blessings in disguise (that he isn't here, not that the dryer is broken). What is up with that anyways? How do my appliances always recognise Ben's absence as being the most perfectly appropriate time to keel over and collapse, tongue hanging out the side like an exhausted dog on a hot summer day? Arg. I suppose I really ought to be on the phone right now arranging a repair man.

This is the week I return to work full time. I am nervous about it...nervous that I am going to wish I hadn't decided to jump back in full time...nervous about how the change is going to affect the kids, nervous about little things, like waking up early in the morning and going to bed early enough to get the right amount of sleep. But mostly, I am looking forward to it. I miss my adult friends and the adult conversations and the feeling of being a professional. I miss having a reason to climb out of bed and take a shower and put on pretty clothes. I miss that early morning Tim Horton's coffee. So I am looking forward to this change in my life. I am looking forward to looking forward to getting home from work to see my children come running, screaming "MOMMY!" as I walk in the door. I look forward to looking forward to seeing them in general, because realistically, with Ben out of town and the responsibility of three toddlers (did I just say that, just because he is walking, doesn't mean he is already a toddler, does it?) I feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted. So I really honestly and truly do believe that working during the day will help me to be a better, happier parent during the night. Maybe its all just wishful thinking, but a girl has to hang onto something, doesn't she?

Well, Hayden is now laying on his belly on the floor, the smell of a freshly soiled diaper tickling my nostrils and his best pathetic whiny voice on indicating his desire to be freshly diapered. Not that I blame him...

Auntie "Pee-Anne" and me

Just wanted to share a few pics of the rug rats from the other day. Auntie got coined as "Pee-

Anne" after attempting to teach my kids to call me "Mommy Caca Bum"...might I add, unsuccessfully. They call her this with great inflexion and joy. Cheers Lee-Anne, lol.

Bake Off

Mom and I had a crazy day today. She made the most gigantic, delectable, mouth watering pot of chili while I dove into the baking supplies. We managed to turn out enough Chili to feed an army, banana bread, banana muffins, and a double batch of peanut butter cookies. Yum. I am exhausted. Thanks for a nice day, mom :)