School Time and Moving

So we had our first week back at school last week.  We took a 3 week Christmas vacation, mostly because we spent 2 weeks up north, so I wanted the week at home to let the girls get adjusted back to being home and also so I could do some more decluttering.

And it definitely helped, I have around 10 boxes and a garbage bag waiting to be trucked away to the second hand store in town.  And that isn't even including the toys I have planned on getting rid of.  It's spring cleaning in January.

Actually, it's more like pre-moving cleaning out.  Because we are moving.  Again.  We haven't even been in this house 6 months.  But I'm not complaining.  I complain in jest, and I mock ourselves for moving again so fast, but it is definitely a good thing for us.  One of the biggest factors, the rent will be cheaper.  $300 cheaper.  That is a significant amount of money for us.  The house is older, same as the one we are currently in, but it is in better condition.  We are also good friends with the owners there.  And it's on 7 acres.  That is sweet!!  A down side would be that the house is smaller, but it is a better layout, and the bathroom is bigger. Tit for tat.

Anyways, I was planning on talking about our school week.  The first day back went really well.  Abby was very willing to sit down and do all our work.  She was almost excited to use our schedule and get going.  But then Tuesday came, and that one wasn't as good.  Hahaha.  Second day blues?  Wednesday went well, and Friday was alright.  Neither easy or hard.  Just ordinary.  The book we were reading last week for Come Sit By Me was The White Stone in the Castle Wall by Sheldon Oberman.  And one of the activities was making a castle.  That was loads of fun.

Sometimes it's hard for me not to be perfectionist about projects like this.  Like, no, don't paint it that!!  Paint it like this!  But I just learn to relax and let them do it however they want to, since it's not for me.

Of Robots and Toddlers

So I personally believe that my kids are super cute and say the cutest things every uttered on this Earth. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.  Hahaha.

Anyways, my girls are quite diverse in their interests from the typical girly interests.  They definitely enjoy tea parties and being princesses and dancing ballet, but they also like to pretend to be pirates, and do Kung Fu and they absolutely LOVE Transformers.

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, my all-time favourite.  Abby's too.  Leigh prefers Bumblebee

No, I don't let them watch the new, "real-life" Transformer movies.  But we do watch the original Transformers movie, as well as the TV series from the same time.  Much better in my opinion than these new ones which were a huge disappointment to me. (I could write a whole post on that.  Why did they focus so much on humans?  Why wasn't Hot Rod in the movies?  Why why why wasn't the theme song used?!)

We have a few mini Transformer toys, Mirage and Jazz I believe, and one large Sky Fire.  Leigh goes crazy for them, especially for Sky Fire.  And it's super cute to watch her play with them.  Here is a really short but funny conversation she had between two toys the other day. 

Note: I do not let my children be violent to others in real life.  Just to clarify, hahaha!

Penguin Toy: See my family?

Mirage: No!  I shoot your family!

Ok, so it had to be heard to be as cute as it was.  But I laughed.  

A Glimpse In the Mind of a Three-Year-Old

What is it with 3-year-olds?  I actually try to avoid saying this because it seems that you could say it for every age.  (What is it with 30-year-olds?)  But seriously, it can be so frustrating.  And funny.  Funstrating.  That just sounds weird.

Being a parent seems to require more patience than I have in me.  I guess that's why I have God, right?  Leigh is only freshly turned three, but it takes a bit of almost manipulating to get her to do what you want.  Here is a typical conversation.

Mama: Here's your stickers, Leigh.  Go play with them at the table.

Leigh: No table!  I want big table.

Mama: Ok, go to the big table.

Leigh: No big table!  Little table!

Mama: Ok, sit at the little table.

Leigh: Yes! (said almost rebelliously, as if she thinks that she is getting one up on me.)

It seems like every decision of hers has to first start with a negative answer, and then she switches to the yes.  Must be some form of control, making it her idea instead of mine.  But I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm not going to analyze too much.

Cute and Sometimes Embarrassing Things Kids Say

Setting: Boston Pizza Bathroom, wheelchair accessible stall so Abby, Leigh and I can all fit in together.

Scene: Abby went pee, and Leigh went second (YAY).  Then it was my turn.  After I was done Leigh loudly says "Good Job Mama!!"

At Least I Got a Hot Chocolate Out of It

Yesterday's car-tastrophe (hehehe, I hate/love this kind of play on words), I know you all are waiting in impatient anxiety to hear my tale of woe.  Or you have completely forgotten my promise of telling you this tale and are busy doing more important things like clipping your toe nails.  Which reminds me, Leigh really needs a nail clip, toes and fingers.  She's quite dangerous.

So, yesterday I headed out of town to drop my daughter off at a friend's house.  It was my parent duty day at Abby's preschool.  Just after dropping Leigh off, I noticed that my heat vents were throwing out cold air.  I thought it was odd and annoying but shut it off and didn't think too much further.  But then I noticed that little light on my dash that said "Check Gages."  I thought Crap!

And then I looked at my gages and said Crap! again.  Because the temperature in my engine was close to the red line, AGAIN.  See, last summer we had problems with our water pump that caused all our coolant to leak out and the engine to overheat.  And it always seemed to overheat when I was driving.  Fixed that in the fall, and life was fine and dandy (well, in the vehicle department anyways).

And then just a couple weeks ago, I came out of the grocery store and saw a big puddle of neon coloured liquid under the truck again.  Flashbacks of last summer haunted me and I was praying that my hubs wouldn't blow a gasket when I got home and told him the news.  It turns out the plug was loose, and once he tightened it, it was fine.  Or so we thought.  Until yesterday happened.

So I noticed the over-heating situation, and pulled over.  I was only about 5 minutes from my friend's place.  Still out of town, so not like I could walk there or home or anything.  I called my hubby who said he was on his way, once he stopped to pick up a new plug, since that's what we figured the leak was from.  The downside of this is that he was also working out of town, but on the OTHER side, so he didn't come for about 40-45 minutes.

Abby and I just hung out, in a turned off truck.  At least it wasn't anything like -20, maybe only -10ish.  I had her sit with me because my legs were cold.  Haha, and to keep her warm too.  Thankfully we had cell service so we watched some You Tube videos to pass the time.  But despite the service, I couldn't get a hold of the nursery school because their number isn't listed.

Anyways, that's the gist of it.  I didn't make it home until 10:30 (I left the house that morning at 8).

But so I don't leave you all depressed about our vehicle situation (Ok, maybe it's just me) here is a conversation with Abby.

Me: It's supper time now.

Abby: Soup?

Me: No, we're having chicken and rice.

Abby: I don't want chicken.

Me: Yes you do, you love chicken.

Abby: No!  No Chicken!

*I take the chicken out of the oven and put it on top of the stove.*

Abby: What's that?

Me: Chicken.

Abby: I have some? (said very hopefully)

Me: Yes, you may have some chicken.