RV There Yet ?

Still here.

2009-01-14T18:20:00.001-08:00

I've been out of town (and I don't like to post that I'm going out of town until after the fact) - more on that in the next couple of posts - hopefully in the next 2 days.

But first I must dash to find out what in sam-heaven the appliance repair guys are vacuuming in the crawl space...

Tomas' Christmas Card

2009-01-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

I bid all 3 of my readers a Happy New Year!

New Years Eve was awesome - we had a fondue fondue fondue... meat, cheese, chocolate. It was Five-Star delicious.

We used to have fondues when I was a child and then we got away from it .... which is what every single person said to me at the gym yesterday. They all went "OH ya, fondues. I loved fondues. We used to fondue when I was a kid but I haven't in years."

Well, let me tell ya - I am a trendsetter (this was our 2nd year for a fondue). Read this article and you'll learn that the Fondue is making a Comeback. Oh ya, baby!

But I digress, the reason I wanted to write this blog today was to tell you about the Christmas Card I found when I was cleaning the house today.

Tomas made this card at school and inside he says:

Merry Christmas

Christmas is haveing (sic) fun fun in the snow. Christmas is putting reindeer food out for Rudolph. Christmas is when the NHL playoffs are close.

Tomas

Cat In The Hat

2008-12-30T23:14:00.001-08:00

Today marked the first day that my little baby girl read the entire Cat in the Hat book - all 60-odd pages - BY HERSELF.

And this reminded me that I think there are 2 kinds of people in this world.

Those that love Dr. Seuss books and those that don't.

Are you a Dr. Seuss Devotee? Or a Dr. Seuss who?

My husband informed me that he taught himself to read by reading Dr. Seuss books and Toria loves all Dr. Seuss books, too. On the other hand, as a child I did (and still do) consider them non-sensical and a waste of my reading time. As for Tomas, if it doesn't have the word Hockey inscribed at least once on every page then he isn't so interested. Both Tomas and I love to read (in fact, I just checked and the little stinker had turned his light back on and was reading at 10:23pm - a full 2 hours after his regular bedtime and 1 hour after his holiday "lights-out") ... i digress.... but come'on writers of this world give us something that makes sense. Work with me here, Dr. Seuss!

So to celebrate Toria's great feat - I show you a picture of Toria and her close friend Maya with their 'boyfriend'.

Post Christmas is...

2008-12-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

Post Christmas is....

Thai Spicy Noodle Soup.

Yum yum. Blessed is my husband who takes the leftover 12 pounds of a 12.9 lb turkey and makes
(1) Turkey leftovers for hot turkey sandwiches
(2) Turkey salad for cold turkey sandwiches (na na na na nah to my little sister who loves Todd's turkey salad but didn't get any this year..... he also made a 1/2 batch of chipotle turkey salad!)
(3) Turkey soup broth

Now, 1 & 2 are nice but anyone can do those. It's the #3 that I love love love. It is the base of my (err, Todd's) Thai Spicy Noodle soup. I have just finished my third helping and ...

life. is. good.

C.

P.S. Todd says his recipe is an ancient Ukrainian-Thai secret and you'd have to marry him to get it but SORRY - he's already taken!

Winter Schminter

2008-12-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

This is what winter is SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE where we live. To play in the snow the kids have to make ice sculptures out of coloured water frozen in old Starbucks coffee cups and tupperware containers. This is Tomas and his "little buddy" (kindergartener) showing off their castle from last week.

This was Toria yesterday. This is NOT how it is supposed to be.

That's all I have to say on the matter.

Except that it is only -1C (31F) and not -40C like it is in other parts of the country that say they have no snow but it is so cold they can't be exposed for 30 seconds or body parts start freezing (but I don't know anyone like that, do I mom?).

I guess I'll take the snow over the cold.

At least it is perfect snow for snowball fights!

All dressed up, places to go.

2008-12-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

Todd & I have had opportunity to get out on the town a few times this year and one of the highlights was our meeting Sebastien Sasseville who earlier this year became the first Canadian living with Type 1 Diabetes to summit Mount Everest.

Here we are with Alan Brown (JDRF Victoria Chapter Chair), Sebastien, Me, Todd at the JDRF Promise Ball. Where we had a fabulous time but I'll leave that for a different blog....

What does this post have to do with today? Absolutely nothing.

But I spent the morning shovelling our ^%&%#@ 2-sided driveway (I know that no one really feels sorry for me but it was heavy snow and deep and we sold most of our shovels when we moved here because it's NOT SUPPOSED TO SNOW HERE). Then, feeling peaceful from shovelling the driveway in the quiet calm of a picture-perfect snow-covered winter day (and there was no one around because no one drives in the snow) that I rewarded myself with an afternoon at the lined-up-at-every-store-because-half-the-workers-can't-make-it-to-work-so-stores-are-at-half-staff-but-didn't-affect-the-shoppers frenzied Mall... trying to track down that last unexpected gift... from my inlaws to my children.

So I wanted something to make me smile - and this memory always makes me smile.
Oh yes, and the fact that my kids are very happily playing Monopoly with each other right now!

I'm back....

2008-12-21T13:54:00.001-08:00

Yes, I'm back and I bring you....

Parent Night at Hockey

Tomas is in a red Team Canada jersey
Toria is the thing in pink.
.... and yes, I am The Mom out there.

Tis that time of year...

2008-05-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

It has been just over a year - April 27, 2007 since our family physician called our home at 8pm and said “Your son, Tomas, has Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. He needs to go to the hospital now.”

Tomas has made a lot of progress in this past year; he's changed to a newly-developed insulin, he's learned how to check his own blood sugar levels and his math has improved as he counts the carbohydrates (sugar) of the food he eats. But at least once a month he still asks us "when is he going to be cured". And at this point we still have to tell him, there isn't a cure.

We are very proud of Tomas. He never complains or whines even when faced with:

6 – 8 finger pokes each day - including in the middle of each night,
life-saving insulin needles 3 – 4 times a day,
measuring, weighing, and counting every piece of food that he eats,
having to explain to his friends that he can’t eat the same snack as them,
2 – 3 doctor or diabetes clinic appointments every month,
the fear of life-threatening complications including death and,
constant vigilance to the ups and downs of diabetes.

We are kindly asking for your pledge donations as we prepare for the Victoria JDRF Walk to Cure diabetes on June 8, 2008. Please follow this secure link to support our team (Team Turbo Tomas) by credit card donation (earn air miles/points – a win win! situation) prior to our walk date.

https://www.jdrf.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=walk.pledge&participant_id=2F532ACE-C8F4-0165-F6A9846643F627E0&lang=E

A tax receipt will be immediately sent to your email address (check your junk mail if it doesn't show up). Or you can contact either Todd or Carmen to pledge by cash or cheque.

Tomas continues to play hockey, tramp around the park with his younger sister pretending to be pirates in search of treasure, race Hot Wheels™ cars with his dad, and beat his mom at Wii. But let’s give him back his freedom, take away the life-threatening complications and find a cure.

The money that people like you have donated in the past has helped to make great advancement in diabetes research. There are new insulins (like the one Tomas has switched to that is better and more effective). Researchers are even working toward regenerating beta cells in the pancreas to reverse diabetes - the cures are close!

What a difference a year makes – last year we were scared and overwhelmed – this year I am happy to be the Family Teams Chair for the Victoria 2008 JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes; We know that every step that we take and every dollar raised is helping to find a cure in Tomas’ lifetime. It doesn’t matter if the contribution is $1 or $1,000 it all goes to help our children in the quest to find a cure.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful donation,
Carmen, Todd, Tomas, and Toria

[JDRF funds are managed with extreme efficiency. In fact, JDRF has received accolades and an "A" rating for the eight year in a row from internation rating organizations as well as Forbes Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. 85% of each dollar expended goes to support research and education related to research.]

Slugger

2008-05-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is Toria at T-Ball - look at that swing!...

You must blow this up to see that look of determination on her face.... it is priceless.

Success - she made it to first base!

...
Now I don't have a photo of her on second base but I will share a "Toria" story with you...
In Toria's T-ball League - when the last batter hits - the players who are on each base just keep running until they get home (there are no outs) - in effect, the last batter always hits a grand slam. Anyway, Toria was a runner and on 2nd base when the last batter came to bat. Apparently, she was having a lovely chat with the Second baseman (a boy)... And she forgot to run... The runner who'd been on first rounded second followed by the last batter running the bases... the coaches were yelling 'run Toria. Run Toria.'... but Toria just chatted with the second base boy... And when she was done talking then, and only then, did she run to third and finally cross home plate.

Fun run.

2008-05-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Thrifty Foods family fun run was held in conjunction the TEN THOUSAND person 10Km run... The 400 kids ran 1.5km (with parents chasing them) . [They were on their own course but crossed the finish line in association with the 10km runners.]

In sequence - here are the photos of the run...

BEFORE... All smiles!

They ran too fast to take pictures during the race but here they are after they crossed the finish line...

After a few glasses of water, an apple, and a yogourt - check out the smiles NOW.

Alas, at the end of the day - we must wash the butterfly face painting off and it makes us very very sad.

Can't wait for next year's race...

Nothing

2008-04-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have nothing,nada, zip, zulu to blog but I know that so many of you excitingly check each day to see if I've posted anything witty and wise (OK, my mom does) but nonetheless I felt I would be slipping if I didn't respond to my audience.... (AKA Mom)

Alas, no new pictures have been taken, no wise children stories, we're muddling through our spring, though there are less than 9 weeks left of school.

I guess I could blog about hockey.... Go Dallas Go. I'll be cheering for you Wednesday! WAHOO. (I don't have anything against San Jose but oiy oiy oiy was I ever glad when Pronger was given his golf clubs! Nice.)

Field Trips & 1-year

2008-04-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday I accompanied Toria's class to Swan Lake for a field trip.

On Tuesday, I accompanied Tomas' Class to Butchart Gardens (and what a bunch of posers- Everytime they saw a nice grouping of flowers, or a fancy rock, or a view, or a totem pole, or a fountain, or whatever - they'd all run in front of it and go "Cheese". Do you think they're a digital camera generation???)

On Wednesday I did taxes
then on Thursday the Beavers built Birdhouses!

On Friday I attended a planning meeting for an event I'm involved with but only TWO people out of an expected TEN bothered to show up. Not even the 2 'leaders' were there. Well, phooey on them.

And finally on Saturday - it was the 1-year anniversary of Tomas' diagnoses with Type 1 diabetes. This time a year ago - I wasn't sure how to get through a day let alone a week or a year but with Tomas by my side - we've done great.... He's an awesome kid andI'm very proud of him and how he handles everything.

Nice try Tomas

2008-04-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

Scenario: Earth Week and the school has told the kids they're not supposed to watch TV or play video games for the ENTIRE WEEK! (Clearly whoever suggested this did not have kids and a mud puddle for a yard but I digress...)

Tomas: "Can I please watch the hockey game tonight."

Mom: "You know the rules. No TV."
(Never mind that it was a 7pm start time so I was figuring I could watch the third period myself from 9 - 10 because the kids would be fast asleep but gimme a break - No TV for earth week wasn't my bright idea!)

Tomas: "Please. I'll do an extra 30 minutes of printing practice".

Mom: "WHAT?" (30 minutes of printing !!! - This is FANTASTIC!)
Mom: "OK, you can watch ONE period"

Tomas (without blinking an eye): "OK, I'll watch the third period".

Seeking Treasures...

2008-04-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Indiana Tomas and Indy Toria seek treasure in the forest...

Indiana Tomas (complete with ball cap and shades) searches his surrondings looking for trip wires and hidden treasures

Treasure:

1 metal garbage can lid

3 rings from rotted barrel

1 section of downspout

1 broken fire grate

1 loafer (shoe)

1 plastic l'il tikes screw (not ours!)

-----------------------------------

Toria does training for her role as Indy Toria by rock climbing... they couldn't find a harness small enough to fit her...

Go Toria!

Tomas Tomas Super Tomas

2008-04-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Like father. Like Son. Tomas got a new bike - a MULTI-SPEED Kona and decided he HAD to ride it home from the bike shop.... in the POURING sideways pelting rain. This picture does not do him justice. He was one wet, muddy mess! But what fun.

Tomas is in the best Beavers ever. They just finished learning about hot air balloons and the science behind them then they built their own hot air balloons (Tomas played with his outside for nearly 2 hours!). Next weekend the Beavers are going to the airport to tour a plane and meet a pilot. The following week their sailing to Sidney Spit for a picnic and the list goes on. And most importantly, he loves it.

How does one get the mud out of the jeans? He has been sliding down the mud hill. LOOK at his pants... and that is only the front - you can't imagine the back!
Though he told me it was my fault because we don't have snow where we live he has to play in the mud.

And because he is a boy - this is Tomas at Toria's T-Ball game! Ha ha ha.

Toria at her finest

2008-04-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

Do you see those 2 white 'lumps' that were under Toria's pillow?

Yes, Toria decided she needed money. And her allowance wasn't enough. SO....
she found 2 tiny rocks, wrapped them in soft kleenex (she cut the kleenex to size!). She then placed the 'teeth' under her pillow because (and this is a direct quote) "The tooth fairy is old and doesn't eat carrots so she doesn't have very good eyesight so she'll take my fake teeth and leave me money!"...... Err not but you must admire the creativity.

Toria and I had a fantastic time at the (Grand)Mother/Daughter Sparks (pre-Brownies or like Daisy Girl in the US) sleepover. Here is Toria posing... do you think she was EXCITED!!

Now, this was a fairy-themed sleepover and each girl was to bring a fairy costume. Toria has many fine 'traditional' pastelly fairy costumes but Nope, Not my daughter. She has to be unique - she wore her 'ladybug' fairy costume. [Yes, she declared there are ladybug fairies so there is.] Her outfit was carefully completed with matching black wings, a tiara, and the shirt that said "LOVE".

I wonder where she gets her unique ideas and determination????

Just after the Sparks camp finished we were off to Toria's very first T-Ball game!!
Here she is getting some advice from the third base coach...

I'm not sure what weighed more - her or the back-catcher equipment!...Check out the pink glove.

Awesome job Toria!

It's Official

2008-04-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

The Edmonton Oilers are out of the playoffs. Now, since I've been an Oiler fan since I was knee high to a grasshopper I say with some authority that they've been &^%'d since they traded Ryan Smyth (and where is he now? ... talk about a lose-lose situation. (OK, he's in the playoffs but he's at a -3 on the year for crying out loud! He's just another overpaid skater in a hockey helmet). Then there was the entire Oilers/Wayne Gretzky trade mess... Yes ,I know that was like 2 decades ago - give me a break - I'm in Oiler non-playoff-mourning. [And yep! I still have my Jari Kurri #17 (he was THE BEST!) hockey player.] Anyway, now Edmonton has The Kid Line: Cogliano, Gagner and Nilsson so we shall KEEP THE FAITH! 'Til Next Year.

Alas with the beloved Oilers out of the playoffs who am I going to throw my heart and cheering soul behind?

Fine. By default I would usually cheer for the Canucks. We live nearby, blah blah blah. Alas, they royally screwed up their last few games and now the only Western Canadian team left is Calgary.

(I briefly thought about cheering for the Winnipeg Jets, err, Phoenix Coyotes but oh lord, don't get me started on that debacle).

That brings me back to the Calgary Flames. Nope. Can't do it. Even lived in Calgary for awhile. Can't cheer for them. I'm an Oilers fan. I bleed blue (well, green for the Grey Cup Winning Saskatchewan Roughriders but that's football in the summer so let's not confuse the matter). Oilers hate Flames. We extinguish them! So, err, that ends the cheering for the Flames. Ain't going to happen.

Who, in sam heaven, am I going to cheer for during this seemingly endless playoff season that hockey is thoughtful enough to offer?

The Montreal Canadiens? Ha ha ha. Non.
The Ottawa Senators? Really, what kind of a name is Senators? Have you seen a government Senator? OK, I might break down and cheer for them but they are Easterners! Easterners I SAY. Quite frankly, if my neighbours found out I was cheering for the Easterners I'm not sure if they would allow me to remain living here. [Never mind that the latest statistics show 96.3% of the population here is actually from the East ... and never going back - because the West is the Best.]

I digress....
I guess I could cheer for the Dallas Stars since through my MIL's, friends' son we have a connection to the coach and he got us autographs. Way Cool.

Though I've always had a soft spot for Steve Yzerman - which lead to a marginal like of the Detroit Red Wings. Yeah, maybe I'll cheer for them. Chris Chelios still plays for them and he's even older than me! A lot older! But.... they're the team most expected to win the playoffs and you know me - I don't want to be seen as a bandwagon jumper. (OK, sister, you can stop laughing on the floor now.)

The Anaheim Ducks dropped the Mighty part but that's OK because they couldn't use it when they have Chris Pronger as a team member which is the one and only reason necessary to NOT cheer for them.

I suppose I could review the remaining 16 teams but... maybe just maybe... I'll cheer for the Nashville Predators. I've been to Nashville. I liked it. They're a scrappy little team... who will get knocked out in the first round. There goes that idea.

If you are still reading this post - then you must be my parents (parents are great that way) - Hi Mom and Dad! - Anyway, I may offer polite applause for Colorado (well for Ryan Smyth) , Dallas and Detroit but the throat screaming cheers have yet to find a team.

I guess I will consult further with my fellow hockey fan, Tomas "Roloson", when he wakes in the morning. ... because we only have 5 more sleeps until the 2008 NHL Hockey playoffs start!

------
Which by the way is the same day that my library is going to open it's doors! Yes, thanks to us rowdy protestors we forced everyone back to the bargaining table and an agreement has been reached.
------
UPDATE: At 7:45am my brother-in-law phoned me (and he hadn't even read my blog!). He's a super Oiler fan too and we've consulted with Tomas and agreed to throw our support behind Ryan Smyth.

Spring Break in pictures.

2008-03-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Photos worth sharing

2008-03-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Toria gives her teacher, 'the look', prior to beginning her Science Experiment. Toria demonstrated how an electric current worked by using a battery and electrical cables to run a fan and a light bulb.

Professor Toria responds to questions.

Did you know that Tomas got a hockey trophy?

What a smile! The next NHL All-star.

First Protest

2008-03-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Toria says "Open the Library Please"
Tomas says "Get the Library Open Please"
---------------------------------------
ALL the libraries in my city are CLOSED!!

The politicians LOCKED OUT the Librarians over 5 weeks ago. Nor will the politicians even negotiate. Today there was a rally to force both parties to binding arbitration (the librarians have been willing to do anything to get to a resolution).

Binding arbitration uses an unbiased party to determine a fair solution but the politicians said "No, we don't want to do anything that may force us to do something we don't want". AHHHH. Technically, I am one of the bosses of these politicians and they are really THICK.

Fortunately today's Rally was peaceful and we were not arrested.

Diabetes question.

2008-03-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is a question for those familiar with diabetes:

We have a absolutely fantastic sitter (no, you can't have her name!) but came across an opportunity to use an almost 16-year-old boy to look after the kids last night. This boy has had diabetes for almost 5 years and uses the syringe/pens. I left a note outlining what the kids should have for their snack (at 7:45), what time for bed (8:30), etc. I verbally confirmed that Tomas should be tested before his snack and whenever he or the sitter think he needs to be tested. I left my cell phone number and said we were just going for supper to a nearby restaurant so he should feel free to call anytime. [I didn't mention insulin because in the past when we've been out for supper we just give it to him when we get home (9:00 at the latest). That way the sitter doesn't have to give the needle or calculate the amount.]

When we came home (8:30 - ya ya - we're party animals). I told Todd that I would drive the sitter home and he could give Tomas his bedtime insulin. The sitter said "Oh, I gave him 3 units at snack time. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to give it to him so we found his log book and I just figured it out and gave him the 3." (Which is totally what I would've given him).

The sitter uses NpH (cloudy) but Tomas has switched to Levemir (clear) for his night insulin but this didn't seem to phase the sitter. He said "Tomas said he uses the green pen for bed. So that is what I used". Again, this is true.

OK, am I an overreacting parent because the sitter gave Tomas insulin or should I be thrilled? My husband thinks that this is totally fine and because the boy lives it - it's like second nature to him - he probably didn't even think twice about giving the insulin. I think - if he wasn't sure what to do - he could have called.

In any event, the kids love playing with him (he can throw a grape up and catch it in his mouth on the way down; they played hockey and in fact, were watching hockey on the TV when we came home). I figure I'll just have to be more specific next time although I must say that what he did was totally correct and that it is kind of a nice to have a sitter that just knows.

My son, the Rocket Scientist

2008-03-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tomas has received his report card and I am proud to say that he is doing awesome!

Tomas' teacher says that he enjoys his friendships and is continuing to work hard in class. He shows self-confidence in Math as he is always raising his hand enthusiastically, to answer questions. (In fact, she verbally told me that he doesn't understand why the other kids can't figure out the answer - to him it is so simple.)

Tomas fully meets expectations of his grade level in Reading (He's up a whopping 16 levels since the beginning of the school year!). He fully meets expectations in the areas covered this term in Math. He selects and applies the appropriate processes to solve simple problems (using 'regrouping' when adding and subtracting double digit numbers.
....
He often omits punctuation and capital letters, or uses capital letters inconsistently. (I laughed when I read this - the fact that Tomas is putting pencil to paper and printing is a huge step for him! I figure if he chooses not to become a rocket scientist but rather a writer ... his editor can figure the details out for him.)

And I learned from the other parents that they study the spelling words each and every night (the kids do a pre-test at school on Monday then bring the words home to study for the actual test on the Friday). Tomas will not practice the words by printing them but he usually spells them out loud on Thursday night. I tried to get him to do (i.e. bribe) the 5 'challenge' words each week (outside the requirements) but he figures he might actually have to study for those so alas, I've had no luck so far. Oh ya, did I mention that the only grades he has gotten on the pre-tests ALL YEAR is either a 9/10 or 10/10.

Tomas' teacher ended her comments with Way to go, Tomas!

Indeed Tomas - Way to go!

Brave Ones

2008-03-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Toria was at her friend S's house when S wound up to throw a ball for the family dog to chase. Unfortunately she threw the ball directly into Toria's cheek. Hard.

S started to cry because she felt bad but Toria was a brave girl and told her friend that it was OK.

S's mom said to Toria "Toria, you are a brave girl. That must've hurt."

Toria responded "Yes, I am brave but my brother is even braver. He gets 3 or 4 needles a day and then he gets lots and lots of finger pokes. He has diabetes and he is really brave."

The mom said "Wow, it sounds like you're both very brave."

Toria added "And sometimes my brother has to get needles in his cheeks. (points to her smiling cheeks) And not these kinda cheeks!!"

----------------------------

I love those brave kids!

My daughter, the brain surgeon

2008-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Toria received her report card today. Here is what her teacher said:

Toria is making very good progress in the K program. During our one-on-one meeting she identifed the names of all her classmates, teachers, and suppport staff. She printed her own sentence, which is not actually true, but she really wanted to write it.

"Mi MOM ES LAT FOWR SOWL EVRE DA"

10 bucks to the first person who can figure that out.

Just kidding. I'll tell you... at the end of my blog. Here's what else her teacher said

Toria accurately computes the sums of doubles (4 + 4, 5 + 5, 6 + 6, etc), and has an excellent understanding of the Power of Ten. She is able to 'add on' and to subtract to find a given total. This is excellent.

During "Center" (free play) time she enjoys playing in the classroom store. She has taken the role of a shopper, shelf stocker and grocery bagger. Her favourite role is being the cashier!

It is a great pleasure sharing my day with Toria. I am very proud of you.

WAY TO GO TORIA. We are also very proud of you.
Even if:

My Mom is late for school every day.

Boys Weekend Away, Girls Party On.

2008-03-09T23:40:00.001-07:00

We booted those boys OFF THE ISLAND and over to Vancouver for this past Saturday night. Tomas was the only white-tail Beaver (almost a Cub) that went with the big-kid Cubs to the Planetarium, Bird-Watching and spent the night at Science World (for anyone who went to Expo 86 - it is in the big silver round ball).

This was a well-planned out event as all events are that are planned by men. Yes, it was lights out at midnight but with 400 boys aged 7 - 10 year-old it wasn't actually quiet enough to sleep until 1:00am. Then of course, Science World must get the troops up and out quickly in the morning so they can open to the general public. Yes,wakey wakey was at 6:00 am. Oh ya, and there was a time change. They slept for FOUR HOURS. How do you spell C H E E R Y?

In all seriousness, Tomas had an absolute blast and can't wait to be a full-fledged cub. Tomas is in the bright orange jacket!

With GM Place (go Vancouver Canucks GO) and BC Place (boo to the BC Lions, Go Roughriders Go Roughriders) in the background. (Tomas is on the grounds of Science World)

Science World is in the background - look at that face!

Feeding the ducks at the Bird Sanctuary on Sunday morning. One of the things about getting up at 6:00am is that you can feed the birds by 8:00. Tomas had so much fun that he had Todd buy him an extra bag of bird feed!

I'd love to show you pictures of what us girls did but (a) we didn't have the camera and (b) we had too much fun polishing our nails, doing our hair, and watching princess movies!

Spring is in the air...

2008-03-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

I present the final results of the

32nd Annual Victoria Flower Count:

2,437,696,512

Now, before you go "Oh wow" I'll let you into a little secret. Here's the scoring chart:
Small tree full of blossoms : 250,000 blossoms
Medium tree full of blossoms: 500,000
Large tree full of blossoms: 750,000
Small Heather bush: 500
Medium Heather bush: 1,000
Large Heather bush: 2,000
... oh ya, and some trees may be counted once, twice, or 300 times.

However, this years total pales in comparison to last year: 3,364,658,680
Or the record-shattering year of 2002: 8,521,514,876

But I don't post this news because I want to gloat. (Me. Gloat. Never.) Although Jack Knox, a local columnist for the newspaper, wrote a great bit on the Flower count that I recommend every Easterner read: Smell 'em and weep, Toronto

No, the reason that I post this is because TOMAS' CLASS counted:

526,005,399 blooms

and won a trip on a luxury coach bus-ride to Butchart Gardens for a guided tour.

Tomas' teacher told me that he did an excellent job of adding the numbers of blooms for the class... Who knew all the carb. counting for diabetes would come in handy?

Congratulations Tomas!

Next to the Shout! and beside the Tide...

2008-03-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone has seen this already but apparently I've been living under a mound of post-vacation laundry and I had no idea! So, just in case you missed it too - I thought I'd post the link to Sarah Silverman's video to her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel and then his retaliation video.

I kid you not - I fell off of the kitchen stool laughing when I watched these. EDITED TO ADD: Todd, on the other hand, didn't have the same response tonight when he watched the clips. Alas, you may laugh or you may cry, but first you've gotta try!

WARNING: Do Not Watch while young children are around.

And the response:

(yes, that is Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams,Cameron Diaz, Don Cheadle, Huey Lewis, Rebecca Romijn, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, "Lost" star Dominic Monaghan, Joel and Benji Madden, Josh Groban, Christina Applegate, Meat Loaf, Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell, Lance Bass, Joan Jett, "Superbad" thespian Christopher Mintz-Plasse and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' Dicky Barret)

Oops, heard the beep of the dryer - must go fold laundry. Enjoy!

Jack at the Academy Awards

2008-02-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

I was watching the Academy Awards tonight but had to dash to the kitchen to make (gasp) supper. I said to the kids (who stayed to watch the Awards) "If you see Jack Nicholson let me know. I really want to see him. You'll know who he is because he always wears sunglasses".

This must have been a cool thought because...

30 seconds later (as I'm standing facing the wall with my hands in the kitchen sink) there is a deep throat clearing behind me. I turn around and see - JACK!

DUDE.

Kids kids kids...

2008-02-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

[Background: The capital of the Province of Manitoba is a city called Winnipeg (pronounced Wi-na-peg)].

Driving home from swimming lessons - totally out of the blue...

Tomas "Do you know that in the city of Winnipeg you can Win a Pig?"
Me "No, I didn't know that and by the way, it is pronounced WinniPEG".

Tomas "No, it's PIG and if we go there we can Win a Pig, Mom! Really. True story!"
Me "Tomas, I lived in Winnipeg for 2 years and I never won a pig. And seriously it is pronounced WinniPEG."

At this point we are all laughing so hard at the absurdity of our conversation we're having a hard time continuing the conversation.

Tomas "Mom, I guess you never won a Pig there because you pronounced Winnapig wrong."
Me "Tomas, for love or money, you are cracking me up - but I kid you not - it is pronounced WinniPEG. Oh and furthermore - your father was born there."

Tomas "Oh cool, I wonder if he ever won a Pig."

*****
And so to Todd (father of my children), my in-laws and many friends who live in Winnipeg - why is it called Winnipeg and have you ever won a Peg? Err, dare I ask, a Pig?

POST UPDATE: The name Winnipeg is a transcription of a western Cree word meaning "muddy waters".

-------------------------------
And because Toria doesn't want to be left out of the silliness - she wants me to tell everyone that she has learned to swallow air and burp loud obnoxious burps on cue. Oh joy. I'm so proud!

Our favourite rides.

2008-02-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

Toria loved driving 65 MPH on the Test Track! [Lord, give me strength when she starts driving].

Tomas and Todd rode Mission: Space 4 times!

Tomas & Toria take Grandma and I on the Tower of Terror! T & T (& me!) rode it twice. Grandma - only once.

Not a ride but a show Extreme Stunt Show was wicked and wild! An A++

Everyone loved the Kiliminjaro Safari where the animals are RIGHT THERE! Your safari vehicle may even have to stop to let the animals cross the track in front of you.

Tomas & I were the only 2 brave ones to ride Everest!

Big Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear, Dinosaur, Space Mountain, and The TeaCups, of course, were also fun!

Thanks for all the comments, I'm good for now :-)

More vacation photos

2008-02-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

Hi, It's been 24 hours and not a single comment on last night's blog post!!! ... of course, I haven't blogged in nearly a MONTH so I guess I'd understand if people don't check my l'il old blog very often.

I originally started this blog to keep our friends and family updated on our Island life but I occasionally throw in some of the life with diabetes chit chat because I find that communicating with others who understand the ups and downs/craziness of diabetes helps keep me (marginally) sane.

Tonight I share with you 5 more vacation photos ....

Here is a building we discovered during our shopping excursion to the *hallelujah* outlet mall!

A mother-daughter bonding moment over Margaritas at the Mexican Pavillion in EPCOT.

Tomas, hanging 10 at Cocoa Beach Pier.

Two Princesses!

Tomas and Lightning McQueen!

There you have it.

FOOTNOTE: If anyone who reads this blog for my diabetes comments has managed to make it past my awesome family photos and wants to know about carbohydrate info'n at Disney. HA HA HA HA HA. Good Luck. The folks at http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/diabetes.htm are die-hard Disney fans with diabetes and true to what they say, Disney is clueless on the nutritional information of their food. Light years ahead on people management and happy happy happiness but caveman on providing helpful food information.

We've been away

2008-02-19T20:22:00.001-08:00

I don't blog that I'm going away because it's an open blog and I'd rather folks didn't know I was away but now WE'RE BACK!!

Can you guess where we were??

And we got to see this!! (From the Jetty Park beach at Cape Canaveral (directly across the inlet from the launch pad) - we BBQ'd hot dogs on the beach, played in the sand, and watched Space Shuttle Atlantis BLAST OFF!!!

We watched all the qualifying for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Hello Jr.!

We spent hours and hours hanging out at the pool at the house we rented.

We spent time at the Siesta Key Beach (ranked #3 of beaches in the United States!)

These are the highlights. I could go on for days (and probably will).

Diabetes mentoring

2008-01-28T23:02:00.001-08:00

The local JDRF put on a workshop this weekend on mentoring other families that have recently received a diagnosis of a child with diabetes. I went.

When we first received the diagnosis - I was desperate for someone to talk too. I craved information. I tried calling the JDRF and they said they'd look into finding someone local but I never heard back (I now know this is because they had no program in place!) I spent hours reading on the Internet. I called our friends back in Edmonton who had a son with diabetes. I called other friends who had experienced the unexpected (so to speak) with a child. I needed someone to listen. To say "it'll be OK". I had NO idea. I was scared shitless. I am thankful to everyone that listened to me. I am thankful to everyone that said "it'll be OK". I am thankful to the Internet for letting me find people who talk about it and how it affects them and their children.

I hope that I can give back to a newly diagnosed family what I received and continue to receive.

-------------------------
At this meeting was a lady (22 years old) who is preparing to run with a diabetes group the 26.2 mile (42 km) marathon in Rio de Janiero, Brazil later this spring. (How cool would that be!). Her mother had planned to attend the meeting but ended up not being able to make it so she sent her daughter who has diabetes. She had many fascinating things to say:

- She used to hate being with other kids with diabetes because it made her realize she was different than her day-to-day friends.
- Then she loved having other friends with diabetes because she was the same as them.
- She didn't like learning about people who accomplished so much and had diabetes - Inspirational people - because it had never occurred to her that she couldn't do whatever she wanted to do because she had diabetes. By meeting these people she began to think that maybe she could NOT do whatever she wanted.
- Now she is preparing to run the marathon to prove that she really can do whatever she wants - and if it wasn't for diabetes she said she can guarantee that she would never be running a marathon.
- Oh ya, and like 1 in 20 with Type 1 D. she has Celiac Disease (no gluten).

------------
I learned from her that our children our normal and diabetes can make them do inspirational things but we need to focus on helping our children do what they want, regardless.

However, as a parent who is still scared about having a child with diabetes and still craves information to know that everything will be OK, I am thankful that I continue to meet inspirational people.

-------------
P.S. I am very tired and typing this so I hope it makes sense! G'night!

Toria, Toria, Toria

2008-01-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

The scenario: Toria is in her bed - it is bedtime - and I hear:

Mom
Mom
Mom
MOM
MOM
MOOOOOMMMMMMM

Mom:Yes?

(Expected question:) Can you get me some water?
(Backup expected question:) You forgot to give me 6 kisses?

(Actual question:) Did you know that they are called eyeballs because they are an eye and in the shape of a ball so that's why it is ball after 'eye' and because there are 2 of them they put an 's' on the very end of the word. So did you know that is why they are called eye-ball-s?

The boy loves hockey

2008-01-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: Tomas wants everyone to know that he is only wearing his spiderman pj's because both pairs of his NHL pj's are in the laundry.

A straight-on shot!

A deke!

A save!

The champion!

When you give a girl the camera

2008-01-23T22:00:00.001-08:00

Sports Sunday

2008-01-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

What an awesome day we had on Sunday. First up was a game by the local hockey team - Victoria Salmon Kings (ya ya, I hear ya 'that is the dumbest name I have ever heard for a hockey team'.... BUT get this - they live on the west coast and play in the ECHL... Eastern Canadian Hockey League). Oh well, never mind. The point is - they won!

YES. She put THE TATTOO ON HER FOREHEAD! She's only 5 - what am I going to do when she's 15????? Note to self: Start looking into convents.

The Beavers and Sparks (5-year-old Girl Guides/Girl Scouts who wear pink!) were the special invited guests so, of course, that was us! Tomas sat with the Beavers (unfortunately, Todd was sitting in row 12, aisle seat, of a plane and had to miss the game) and Toria & I sat with the Sparks. I dashed back and forth to make sure everyone was OK - and I gave Tomas a walkie-talkie to call me if he needed anything. He totally did not. "He did awesome" says the mother as she wipes away the tears from her cheeks... her little boy is growing up.

Fortunately, there is still a little tattoo-wearing girl who needs me.

But the most coolest part was after the game when we got to skate on the ice with the Salmon Kings.

Toria had the Salmon Kings diaper-wearing mascot... a MARMOT! (true story - I guess the same drug-induced haze that led the 'suits' to name a western team playing in the ECHL the Salmon Kings also thought it was OK to put a diaper on a mascot . (OK - totally digressed there) ... Toria had the diaper-wearing mascot, err, Marty, the Mascot sign her helmet! Tomas opted to have the players sign his mini-hockey stick.

AND as is if hockey and skating wasn't exciting enough we then dashed to the pool where there was a JDRF function. We had skated too long and missed the swim but we got there in time for the supper and event thingmagigy. [Clearly the JDRF employee who organized it has no diabetes relative because for a 6:30 Sunday-night dinner she ordered big, gooey, thick crust pizza for the kids... oh ya!!you diabetes parents out there totally get that. 1-hour swim then pizza. At 6:30pm! Yep! (To non-diabetes readers - Pizza's does totally crazy things. It generally makes blood sugar go really really low and then BOOM it is sky high. And in this case, that would happen in the middle of the night when we should be sleeping. That is why - Tomas has pizza at lunch times. Except Sunday night when I got up twice in the middle of the night to check his sugar levels].

However, it was yummy and I was announced as the Family Chair for the Walk to Cure Diabetes. I have no idea what that involves but I guess I'll find out. Yack yack, yack, I'll get to ...
the guest speaker ....

Chris Jarvis who is an Olympic rower (competing this summer in Beijing) who has type 1. He was an awesome inspiration for the kids (and a reminder to us parents that these kids survive diabetes and they can do anything).

The most interesting thing he said was when he was telling us a story about his semi-final race at the Athens Olympics. Apparently, Canada was in 1st place with only meters to go and they were accused by the South Africans of hitting their boat. Eventually, Canada was disqualified and the South Africans won bronze in the final. What he said was that that diabetes actually HELPED him to make sense of this tragic situation... he thought about all the precautions and care he takes to manage his diabetes and the reason he lost his chance at Olympic gold had nothing at all to do with diabetes - it was a total fluke. And that is sorta what life is about. Living life with diabetes not letting diabetes decide your life.[And he's planning on getting gold this summer in Beijing].

And finally in my long-winded blog today... My snowdrops are blooming!

North South East West

2008-01-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Tomas to his dad: "Next Christmas I'm going to ask Santa for a trip to Paris so I can see the Great Wall of China."

Huh? (OK, so maybe geography needs a little bit of work but I'll take either destination! PLEASE SANTA! And then Toria had to get her 2 cents in...)

Toria to Tomas: "Tomas, ya know how Santa brings presents, maybe the Easter Bunny does too and you can just ask him for the trip!"

The skating pics...

2008-01-10T20:55:00.001-08:00

Posted By Todd.

Ice ice baby

2008-01-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

OK. So exciting! We went skating on an OUTDOOR ice rink. Now, I'm sure that my family on the prairie is saying "Yeah, so? Clearly that ocean air has fried your brain Carmen because everyone skates on outdoor rinks in the winter." In fact, my dear dad used to make one every winter in our backyard and I used to skate from the back step down a little ice path to the hockey rink he'd make. And if for whatever reason he didn't make one then you'd skate on the rink at school or you'd go to the creek and skate on it. There was always frozen ice SOMEWHERE.

Alas, not so where we are. There are usually no outdoor rinks in Victoria because we (a) very rarely freeze and (b) are even less likely to get snow.

However, the Butchart Gardens works 24-7 for for 1 month to provide an outdoor skating rink. It is a teeny tiny rink and, during the day, they have to constantly squeegee it to remove the melting ice (or rain when we tried skating on).... Although the rain added an interesting Zamboni-like effect.

Anyway, what fun we had. I have pictures but until Todd moves them I can't post them because they are on the other computer.

In related news... The kids are begging for snow. Each and every day they talk about it snowing and how much fun it would be. I asked one of Tomas' friends (who flew out east) what his favourite part of Christmas was and he said "seeing the snow". AHHH. I am sorry but I have not been away from the cold freezing prairie winters to even consider going on vacation somewhere where it snows. Next stop. Florida.... does it ever snow there?

Odds 'n Ends

2008-01-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR
- from our family to yours!

(Many Thanks to Uncle G. & Aunt N for the gift certificate to the Keg. Todd & I were planning to use it alone but we ended up visiting Granville Island in Vancouver and they have the great Keg right in the middle- so we used it as a family and had a fantastic time!)

In other news,

On the Christmas blog I forgot to show this classic Christmas picture: Tomas writing the letter to Santa (& Toria supervising)! This is the first year Tomas been able to read/print well enough to write it on his own. They left cookies and milk for Santa and oatmeal, sprinkles, and coconut for the reindeer!... and to write the letter he had to use a red pen, of course! Too cute.

Now - it is time for a science lesson. You've always heard that we lose 80% of our heat through our heads and through the seams on clothes but did you really know???

Well, we went to the Telus World of Science in Vancouver and they have this infra-red camera that shows heat! Way cool! In the first picture Todd is in the middle and he's wearing a big puffy vest. If you look closely you can see the seams on his vest (forming rectangles). The seams show up as hot red lines indicating that is exactly where the heat loss is! On the 2nd photo - he opened up his vest and he's one hot dude!

And finally, Tomas is watching the history channel, Toria is cutting up more Christmas wrapping ribbon decoration and taping them to her bed spread so she can have a bed spread with fringe. Yep, it is a normal relaxing-only-4-more-days-until-school-starts-day in our house.

Christmas excitement!

2007-12-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Wow-Wii. Tomas must've been REALLY GOOD this year.

Toria loves it all!

How much fun we did have this year! The kids are great.

The Big Dig

2007-12-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

My 5-year-old daughter is telling all her friends that we are living in a castle surrounded by a moat (literally)!

My front entrance (with the plywood drawbridge)... miss the step and you're falling 7 feet down!:

The back yard:

The courtyard:

The worker:

How to achieve success on Boxing Day

2007-12-26T23:20:00.001-08:00

[Note to American readers: Boxing Day in Canada is kind of like Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) in the U.S. - it is HUGE! Most of the electronic stores open at 5 or 6am and regular stores also open early - the savings are HUGE.]

All times are in the A.M. as in MORNING.
6:00, alarm goes off
6:20, out the door
6:30, arrive at Wal-mart. Shit! it's supposed to be open 24 hours but not opening until 7am. I tried to confirm the times last night but website said 24 hours and no message on phone. Will need to make note of this for next year.
6:32, drive to Future Shop - yep, it's busy, I'm not standing in line. Back to Wal-mart.
6:45, standing in line at Wal-mart - #34 in the queue. I am standing in line with 80 people when the doors open. 40 are teenage boys and their fathers (presumably looking for cheap video games). The other 40 appear to be small business owners as I later see them with two or THREE carts full of toilet paper, Dish washing liquid and Rice Krispie squares (I didn't ask).

7:00, Through the door. Find a guy in a blue vest looking overwhelmed at the mass of people entering the Electronics department - show him the cut-out ad of the Flash Drive that Todd wants. I taped the ad onto my 8 1/2 X 11 'master shopping page', ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:02, Yippee - got the 8GB flash drive for $50
7:05, I can't find the next item on my list. Find a guy in a blue vest wandering through toys - show him the cut-out ad for remote control off-road monster trucks taped to my 'master shopping page'. Ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:06 He has no idea. Wal-mart can't find the remote control off-road monster trucks (only $14!). Wal-mart now has 4 people looking for the trucks... I have to keep showing them the ad (T.G. for my master shopping page with the actual ads!)
7:10, Wal-mart staff have found the trucks! - they were forgotten in the loading dock.
7:15, have the R/C trucks, now I only need a few groceries and toiletries... maybe I need toilet paper, too????
7:30, HOW CAN WAL-MART ONLY HAVE 2 LANES OPEN ON BOXING DAY????
7:50, back at the car, zooming to The Bay (a big department store, kinda like Macy's)

7:58, #8 in the queue at The Bay.
8:00, they have crappy stuff here. Why am I here? Make note for next year.
8:20, wandering the mall.

8:40, #1 in line at the Calendar Club - buy the 3 calendars the kids and I selected then hid on Dec. 24th.

8:45, driving to London Drugs (this contains a huge electronics store despite the drug store name).
8:55, #90ish in line
9:01, through the door. Oh great. See an official looking employee, show him the cut-out ad I taped onto the 'Master Shopping Page' . He has no idea where it is but yeah! he's the store manager. He has now got people searching. They can't find the voice recorder I am looking for. [So soo sorry (or not) to all the people who were in line before me and are still looking for someone to help them - I snagged the Store Manager - na na na na - he's got all the electronics people helping ME!]
9:08 Staff found them. They were unmarked and in a bin under the camera counter. Store Manager is not happy - he does not like when the customers (& him) can not find stuff that we, the customers, are too buy. I am so happy - I've always wanted one of these but they used to be big and huge and majorly expensive. This one is $30 bucks and teeny tiny.
9:15, bought the teeny tiny voice recorder (a Sony!) and a box of Milk Chocolate Pot of Gold chocolates (Hey, I haven't had breakfast yet). London Drugs has every cashier open (take note Wal-mart!)

9:20, #6 in line at Hallmark Cards
9:30, through the doors, choose 2 puzzles of the 50% off rack and 1 roll of wrapping paper that is generic enough I can use for birthday gifts (60% off) . Chit Chat with another mom from the school.

9:47, HOME! [And the kids woke up at 9:22 so I've barely missed any of their day. PLUS I've been shopping for 2 1/2 hours.... and the deals I got!]

And if you think I am crazy...
My sister woke up at 4:30 to leave the house at 5am to drive 2 hours, across the Cdn/U.S. border, in the WINTER, to see what sales she can find in Minot, North Dakota. You go girl!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to All

I don't have any photos to show you as we've been too busy playing the Wii today! What great fun it is. I've learned that I should never get into a fight with my son because he is a MUCH better boxer than I am. As for my daughter - she may become the next Annika Sorenstan - she is a golfing machine. I'm exhausted - the Wii really is a workout.

Todd made an awesome dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy - the whole nine yards and now I am totally stuffed... although I might have room for a little bit of Bailey's.

I hope your day was great!

Things that make me go 'hmm'.

2007-12-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

I think the owner of this behemoth thought that "Gee, if I park over the 'Small Car' only sign no one will figure out I'm twice the size of the Smart Car parked next to me" (that you can't even see in the picture because it's so small).

I was squished into the left before snapping this photo on my way out of the parking lot.

In other news - my 7-year-old son has informed me that I will need to sell my car and by a hybrid car because I'm ruining the environment, melting the Arctic ice, and thus, killing the Polar Bears.

Fa la la - Christmas Concerts!

2007-12-23T23:49:00.001-08:00

What a great holiday performance! My children are true stars. Here are some photos:

Toria & her phenomenal teacher, Mrs. H. Then Toria singing her song!

Tomas is SINGING the song! [You may ask - why is he not wearing a shirt with collar? As most people, including Tomas, know I have a rule: If you're going somewhere important you must wear a shirt with a collar. (Tomas has 2 shirts with a collar - one for the summer and one for the winter). Ha, I was thwarted by a teacher. They were singing a multi-cultural song and she told them to wear a bright coloured shirt so they could be like a multi-coloured flag of many countries)]

The children paused long enough in their frantic excitement of counting down the days until Santa to pose for this picture!

Muddy Mess.

2007-12-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

We've survived a birthday party (20 kids), the actual birthday, a truck parade, and some wild weather (-2 C to +15 C) in 12 hours .... OK, that might not seem like much but it is crazy for us Islanders.

And finally, the entire perimeter of our house is being dug down to the foundation. This has involved jackhammering out the sidewalk, a slice of the driveway and the back walkway.

It is a mess. I hope to post pics on the weekend.

Bleeding Green FOR WINNERS

2007-11-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

EDITED: Final Score:
The Great Saskatchewan Roughriders :23 (Rider Pride Coast to Coast!)
The sad Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 19 (I do feel bad for Milt, though)

Today is the day that the Great Saskatchewan Roughriders take to the field against the lowly Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 95th Grey Cup.

Technically Winnipeg is in the West but due to crazy Easterners they put Winnipeg in the East Conference for purposes of the CFL (Canadian Football League). Ha ha ha. Don't they know that there is no greater rivalry than Winnipeg and Saskatchewan?? Not just for football but for anything. Have you been to either province? (Well, Winnipeg is a city in the province of Manitoba but we won't hold that against them). Both provinces are flat expanses of dust peppered with very kind, generous, fantastic people who love their own province and despise the prairie land next to them. I speak with some experience having been born and raised in Saskatchewan but spending 2 precious years of my life in my late 20's in Winnipeg. [Besides nice people who cheer for a bad football team - Winnipeg also has the very best restaurants I have been to anywhere in the world... Rae & Jerry's anyone?]

Winnipeg vs. Saskatchewan. This is going to be the best damn Grey Cup game ever.

AND as if having 2 teams from the 'west' playing each other wasn't weird enough. Saskatchewan is actually the FAVOURED TEAM TO WIN. This is clearly a sign of global warming and the world going crazy.

And to Sunny Side Up who is cheering for Winnipeg (boo). I'll leave you and all those Rider fans with this thought:

P.S. Yes, the Rider mascot is a Gopher. But not just any gopher. He is Gainer the Gopher. So there.

Not 1..

2007-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Not 2, not 3, not 4 but (including this post) that is FIVE posts today! I hope that catches everyone up. I've neglected my kids (what do you mean that watching TV for 4 hours a day is bad for them? ... just kidding - they're at school) BUT the dishes in the sink are overflowing not to mention the laundry piles that are lined up down the hall.

Actually, I'm just kidding about that too - for the first time in 3 months I'M ALL CAUGHT UP! Oh sure, I could go and re-organize the pantry or clean-out the craft cabinet but I think Not!

Note to my handsome husband: Skip next paragraph.
I might even go and start hanging around Facebook. I joined last week in an effort to see photos of myself that are going to be published in a magazine. Now, don't get too excited - I represent the middle-age mom demographic for the fitness trainer I go to. If I ever figure out how to get them from Facebook to here - I'll let you know. My fitness trainer never did (hence why I had to join to see them). I've avoided Facebook for so long because I know it is so addictive and do I really want everyone snooping about me like I snoop about them?

To any diabetes bloggers who read this ...
Tomas finally met the pediatric endocrinologist last week and we switched to a new night time insulin (Levemir) which is awesome. He was on npH at night which was producing crazy blood sugar levels and I was checking him almost every night. YIPPEE. For the past two mornings he has woken up at 6.5 and 6.7 (or 115ish).

He also finally met a person who wears a pump (a pager sized device that you wear outside your body (with tubing and a catheter into your tummy or elsewhere) that allows for much greater regulation of insulin then the 3 needles a day he now gets of insulin). He is now thinking about getting the pump. He doesn't want to wear it when he sleeps but he's thinking about it so that's a good start. We do OK with the needles but my understanding is the pump is much easier to monitor and provides much more consistent sugar levels... although his last A1C reading was 6.5%.

And last but not least - Go Riders Go.

The Parade - Ho ho ho.

2007-11-20T12:08:00.001-08:00

Tomas was a Superstar Beaver again this year and helped carry the Beaver canoe through the downtown streets for the Santa Claus Lights Parade this year. (As always, they allowed Toria to be an honorary Beaver and she walked behind the canoe making sure they didn't lose any canoeists!)

After the parade we had our pictures taken with Santa and Toria said Moo-ry Christmoos to Daisy the Cow.

Oh yes, and I've been instructed to state the following "Toria is only an honorary Beaver but she is a real Spark". [Sparks is the youngest group of Girl Guides/Scouts- they dress all in pink and wear t-shirts that say "I promise to share and be a friend".]

Ain't she cute!

Seattle: we arrived, we shopped/conquered, we touristed

2007-11-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed the Canadian Dollar was trading at $1.04 US. Ha ha - that is greatly insane. (Sorry to my American friends but you had good deals in Canada for 30 years - it's my turn now). Now, since I usually shop in the US when the trading value is about .65cents - it'd be crazy for me not go to shopping... it's like free money.

Under the guise of a family holiday to Seattle (you think Todd and the kids want to go to Seattle if they think they have to shop?!) we packed up the car last weekend and off we went. Check this out for a eloquent poem to South of the Border shopping from Sunny Side Up.

Here's my kids at Nordstroms waiting for me to try on 2-thousand pairs of pants (I wonder if Tyra Banks hates shopping for pants as much as I do?). Tomas is happy because he just bought the monster truck that is sitting on the back of the giant hot pink lounger. Toria is happy because she just bought the new shirt and pants she is wearing PLUS she got jewelry! (Did I bribe them to be so happy? Damn right.) [And by the way - why put a Hot Pink Lounge Chair in ladies wear??? You don't want women sitting down - you want them shopping. You need a La-Z-Boy recliner in dirt brown for husbands and children.]

I'm happy to report that Yes, in addition to spending not so much oodles of money as I used to on stuff we also spent a day or so sightseeing. The Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, the rides at Seattle Center, the Monorail, Pike Place Market and even Chuck E. Cheese were checked off on our 'sightseeing must do's".

Climbing Mt. Doug

2007-11-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

Toria pulled her dad up the hill (ha ha - just kidding Todd - you led us up the steepest route and we all had a great time!).

Yep, we started way way way down there, near the farmer's field. Yippee for us!

Tomas was awesome! He ran up then he ran down and back up again... building inukshuk's (trail markers) all along the way.

October Update

2007-11-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

How does my cute little boy go...

from this (2006) to this (2007)???

Fortunately, my little girl is still a princess, err butterfly, through and through

In other news, I must share my creativity and ingenuity. One of Tomas' hockey socks had a hole in it and I put it in my sewing kit.... and forgot about it. Along comes Friday night hockey and Oh-OH Tomas is missing 1 hockey sock. Now, for those of you who don't know about hockey - let me tell you... it is mighty cold (not to mention strange looking) when you have nothing covering your leg but a knee pad.

Never fear Supermom is here. There was a big of clothes for Goodwill in my trunk including a stretchy maternity turtleneck. I cut off the arm of the shirt and voila! one black hockey sock!

You know October was a slow month when the hi-lite was reusing old clothes... and Halloween, of course!

A little tip.

2007-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

I carry my itty-bitty camera in my purse. Everywhere. It fell out of my purse. On the street. In the middle of nowhere. And I didn't know I'd lost it. I arrived at home. There was a message saying someone had found my camera.

Yes. I labelled my camera with our home phone number (inc. area code ... imagine losing your camera on vacation). I've also labelled my keys with Todd's office number.

Thank you to the Good Samaritan, Denise, who found my camera. She said that if she had not seen a phone number she may have posted signs on her street saying that she found a camera but since I didn't know I had lost it - it could've been anywhere and I might never have traced my way back to her street.

That's my helpful hint for the day.

What not to say

2007-10-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

Scene: It's 1 minute until skating lessons start and I due to @#!@# construction*&^ still have 3 skates to tie plus 2 helmets to find and attach to my 2 children's heads. I'm frantic. I can see the instructors heading onto the ice. EGADS. I can see the other kids and their parents walking towards the ice. shit. I can't tie skates any faster. Phew. Done. Now just for the helmets and we're only 1 minute late.....

Tomas: "Mom, I feel low".
Mom: "Tomas, that's unlikely. You're usually a little high at this time because the insulin has worn off and I haven't given you the next dose plus I gave you an extra snack because of skating. However, thanks for letting me know and I'll test you just in case".

Meanwhile.... I'm telling Toria that she needs to get onto the ice but she won't go until I go with her.

Mom: (reading the glucometer): "3.2 (around 60). Oh Shoot. Your right Tomas, you're really low. Here - eat these glucose tablets." I shovel the glucose tabs into him before ensuring he's OK so I can dash across the lobby to the ice with Toria.

As I run past the entrance where Tomas' coach (and a number of other parents) are standing the coach asks "Is Tomas coming?". As I'm running past and dragging Toria along (I'm completely frazzled at this point) I quickly respond "Yes, but I won't let him come skating until he has more sugar."..... and then I'm gone....

Hmm. As I drop Toria off and begin the dash back across the lobby to Tomas it occurs to me that that probably didn't sound good.

I go back to the coach (& eavesdropping parents) and explain that Tomas has Type 1 diabetes and he's having a low blood sugar episode and he needs to increase his sugar levels back into the normal range before he can come onto the ice.

The coach is an older gentleman and someone you would NEVER think would be teaching kids to skate so when he says "Thank you for explaining that to me - I am a judge and was wondering about your parenting abilities. (uh-oh) However, now that you've explained it to me - I am a Type 2 and I understand about highs and lows. Tell Tomas that we'll be waiting for him when he's ready."

Phew.

Fortunately when I tested Tomas he was up to 6.0 (108) and he went out for the last 15 minutes of skating lessons.

Ramblings.

2007-09-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here is what happens when your mother, grandmother, and great grandmother all have expensive feet (i.e. very skinny (AAAAA))... You need the elastic straps on ballet slippers sewn with a 'tuck' or fold in them to make them smaller to keep the ballet slipper from falling off (you may need to enlarge to see what I'm talking about). For crying out loud- BALLET slippers - aren't those made for people with skinny feet?

And this is the ballerina in action.

The kids have been begging for yogo's snacks (also known as candy) for months now and so far I've put it off. BUT everyone is being happy and cheerful on this rainy weekend so as a treat I rewarded them with yogos. Tomas finished his in 10 seconds OR LESS (opened the bag, opened his mouth and poured them in)..... Toria arranged hers into a flower before eating.

And for your update on hockey - that's Tomas on the front right hand side playing defence. And did I mention that he got an assist!!!! Yes sir, from his defensive position he lined up, fired a slapshot, the instructor tipped it and into the net it went!

Diabetes and more

2007-09-20T00:23:00.001-07:00

I've never blogged about Diabetes (except just after our son, Tomas, was diagnosed) - I try and pretend Tomas is a normal kid that just gets extra medicine (the same way someone with thyroid problems would take a pill). Alas, the time has come that I feel comfortable passing along how it has affected our life.

I do read other diabetes blogs faithfully and they've been fantastic support. I read Mom wants a Diabetes Cure and Sunny Side Up and a few others - I only find the time to read the ones where the parents have a child with diabetes but there are lots of great all-around diabetes blogs around.

When Tomas was first diagnosed this spring - I freaked out. T.G. we had friends in a city where we had previously lived who had a child diagnosed at age 2 with diabetes and they were a huge help in calming me down.

After we'd had 'diabetes in the house' for a few weeks I said "I can handle this. It's only an extra 30 minutes cumulative a day. " But you know what? It's more. It never ends. Ever. And it's not 30 minutes - some days it can be every waking minute wondering why your child has high sugar readings or low sugar readings and how can you make sure they eat their snack when they're at the play date or how do you handle that the other parents don't want them over for a play date because they're afraid something will happen to Tomas (I've prepared a simple hand-out but diabetes is scary and it is a big responsibility). He gets his sugar checked at school at 11:00am and I'm ALWAYS near a phone so I can get it if they call. Yesterday I was at the dentist with my mouth wide open at 11am but I'd told the dentist he'd need to answer the phone if the school phoned.

I try and shelter Tomas from the diabetes work because it will be something he has to deal with EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. And it's not like it makes sense everyday. Sometimes Diabetes just goes berserk and you have really high readings all day or really low readings. Or really high THEN really low. It requires constant vigilance. My purse has increased back to diaper bag purse size because of his testing kit, snacks, etc. that I carry everywhere I go. Even if Tomas is not with me - I may get a call and have to go straight to help him.

For those of you wondering - Tomas' diabetes day goes something like this:
7:15am - finger poke
7:30 - needle with NovoRapid insulin mixed with NPH insulin
11:00 - finger poke at school (done by an Education Assistant)
3:00pm - finger poke
5:30 - finger poke
5:30 - needle with NovoRapid insulin
7:30 - finger poke
7:30 - needle with NPH insulin
Middle of the Night - Tomas is checked at least twice a week in the middle of the night - more if his numbers have been off.

PLUS he'll usually have at least one additional finger poke because of odd highs or lows when I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

He eats his meals at 7:30am, 11:30am and 5:30pm
He eats his snacks at 10:00am, 3:00pm and 7:30pm

Tomas' dietitian (who has type 1 diabetes) is excellent. She has helped us ensure that he can still have 'yummy' food (in moderation) but each morsel of food that Tomas eats is measured and the carbohydrates are counted. We record the carbs and insulin amounts in our diabetes record book. And half the time it doesn't make sense. I thought that once you'd been doing this for awhile you'd get it set and just hit 'repeat' for each day. HA HA HA. Every day requires new guesses, measurements and prayers that you've adjusted the food(carbs)/insulin/exercise (uses sugar) to a safe rate that won't damage your child's organs.

[I did just get his A1C levels back and for his first 3 months of diabetes he was 7.6 - we've been told that is very good. For those of you who don't know about A1C levels - that's a discussion for a different email.]

In case anyone is wondering - we've looked at the Insulin Pump but there is no one at the school that is (or can be) trained to help with any insulin adjustments required during school hours (we're lucky to get someone to check his sugar levels). We've also looked at Lantus but there is no one (as above) to give him needles at lunch time. When he is a little older we'll definitely go for the pump.

Mainly I am desperate for child care. We used to have the greatest babysitter in the world. She was a mom, a teacher and was awesome. BUT the big D scared her and she isn't comfortable looking after Tomas anymore.

I'm willing to pay oodles to get someone to look after my kids so my husband and I could at least go for supper or just out for 3 or 4 hours. Never mind getting away for a night or two. I've tried the JDRF, I've tried the local diabetes clinic - the economy is so red hot that no one wants to babysit a kid with diabetes no matter what we'd pay. And quite frankly, at this point I've offered DOUBLE minimum wage. Although I do have a lead on calling the Nursing Department at the local University.

Tomas is the only kid he knows with diabetes. There are no other kids in his school with diabetes. He had another kid in his class this year wearing the medical alert wristband so he thought MAYBE but then he came home and said "Nah, he's just got allergies". He never complains about getting needles, he never complains about finger pokes, he never complains about missing lots of schools when we see all the varying doctors and specialists (well, he does kinda cheer about that).

Tomas does handle his diabetes like it's part of his life which is great although I noticed he got all defensive the other day when another mother asked how he was doing with his diabetes. He turned red and said "it's fine!" then marched away. He doesn't want to be different but so far he has handled it like a pro. We attended the Walk to Cure Diabetes (which was hard for Tomas to understand because he thought he'd be cured after he walked) but didn't meet any other kids and since it was summer the local diabetes clinic closed down. We're hoping to meet kids at the next diabetes clink "check-in" in November.

Tomas is an awesome kid and I am thankful for everyone around who has supported us and the quest for a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

Part 2 - The Game.

2007-09-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tomas' birthday party was held on the Saturday because on Sunday he had tickets to see the Vancouver Canucks annual intra-squad game! In case you missed it - the Canucks held their training camp in Victoria this year and the tickets for the intra-squad game crashed the server in 30 seconds and all orders/seats were completed within FOUR minutes. T.G. I was one of the few to secure 4 tickets to the game!

Tomas wants me to make it clear that the only reason he is cheering for Vancouver is because they are here, he is here and the Oilers are a province away. And he is just cheering for hockey in general not specifically the Canucks. Yes, this boy loves hockey.

I was also able to have the Canucks celebrate Tomas' birthday - click on these pics to check out what the Readerboard says...

It says "(Ha)ppy 7th Birth(day) Tomas (last name)" How cool is that? Tomas was totally embarassed - the people around us started cheering and yelling and he turned red! But still Luongo, Naslund, the entire Canucks team saw his name up there!

Speaking of Luongo - Toria wanted to see the players come off the ice at the end of the 1st period so we got down there with about 2 minutes left and look who we found... Roberto Luongo - right after he got the puck to the throat. UGH.

And if you were a four-year-old fashionista - how would you attend a hockey game? Like this, of course:

(As an aside - my son is getting into his pj's and he is listening to the radio and just yelled "OH YA!!! Let's Rock this PARTY!" Huh? How quickly they grow up... he's SEVEN!"

Part 1 - THE Birthday Party

2007-09-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

First I had made ID Badges laminated and clips attached for all the kids. The ID Badges had their name, their picture (I scanned in last year's class picture then cut and pasted their head shot) and the occupation of "Treasure Hunter & Mad Scientist". I didn't think this was a big hit until I talked to 4 parents today who said the kids wore their ID badges all night. One even wore it to church on Sunday.

While the kids waited for everyone to arrive they designed their own "sports cards". I had old playing cards, headshots of each child and sports stickers, etc. that they could put on the card. Some loved this but everyone seemed to like it.

Next it was a treasure hunt. Todd had hidden all the loot bag/science experiment stuff outside. It was quite fun watching them run around - this was well-received... except we couldn't find 2 of the treasures until the end of the party... too well hidden!

Some of the simple experiments (that then became Loot Bag items):

1. Pencils with 2 'donut' magnets which the kids put on the pencil as 'opposites' and tried to get the magnets to stick.

2. Defraction glasses - look at lights and all lights go into a 'spectrum of light' - very well received.

3. Whirlybirds - those were cool... except the kids kept flying them onto our roof!

4. "Growing Heart" - 'put in water and within 72 hours grows to the size of your heart'

5. Geode Rock - a little rock that we broke open with a hammer and it had crystals in it.

6. A bar of ivory soap - and written instructions http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000053. We did this experiment at our house and then I sent a bar of soap and instructions with each kid. This is what the ivory soap looks like after it has settled. When it's microwaving it is HUGE...

What kind of science party would we have been without the coke and mentos experiment? We used 5 bottles (1. no lid with 14 mentos, 2. lid on but with 1 hole and 4 mentos. 3. lid on but with 1 hole in lid, 1 on neck and 4 mentos. 4. I can't remember. 5. lid on but with 1 hold in lid, 3 on neck and 14 mentos.) Check out the picture! We actually hit the house with one of the bottles - 20 feet away from the experiment! This was the most exciting experiment of the party.

The Tornado in a Bottle was also interesting.

We tried colour changing milk (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000066) but it wasn't as much fun as our mini-volcanoes -> individual sized film cannisters (thank you Walmart) stuffed with baking soda, a drop of dishwashing soap and vinegar. (You could also add food colouring but I decided that'd be too messy).

We finished the party with self-decorated cupcakes -> I had all the toppings in individual ziplocs so the kids could either use all the candy to decorate or take the candy home in their lootbags.

Tomas said it was the greatest party (Phew) - and we ran out of time to make the Slime and the Lava Lamp Blob!!

Lost my marbles

2007-09-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

I - who like to consider myself not a little organized but SUPER organized - waited for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW too late to book Tomas' birthday party anywhere. Last year - T.G. the bowling alley squeezed us in ... this year... bowling alley has been demolished to make way for a Wal-mart. (Don't get me started!)

The only person who was available was the magician... $300. Nope, that ain't going to happen. SO, I decided that we could have a science party. Here. In my house. Ha ha ha ha (insert maniacal laughter here). What the hell was I thinking?

OK OK, I know what I was thinking - even if I spent $100 on science supplies I'd still be $200 ahead of the game. I figured there'd be lots of ideas on the Internet. Steve Spangler is my hero but how am I going to keep 10 7-year-old boys interested in this day and age when they all surf the Internet (today Tomas was swapping ".COM" urls with our neighbour), spend their summers at science camps run by professionals and are generally 7 going on 17! [I thought I'd try the coke and mentos after school yesterday but Tomas had a play date over and the kid said "I made mine go higher at camp last summer!" Gee thanks. ]

The party is Saturday. It is Wednesday night. Any cool suggestions are appreciated. Or white dress shirts - also appreciated. (I went to Value Village to buy "lab coats" but both men's and children's are priced at $3.99 - forget that!)

Alas, all my research has not been for nothing. When I was googling tonight, Tomas was helping me and he learned how to armpit fart. Oh Joy.

Hockey Night in Victoria

2007-09-09T20:49:00.001-07:00

As you may know - Tomas is a HUGE hockey fan. His heart is with the Edmonton Oilers but living near Vancouver he also cheers for the Canucks. It is not uncommon to see Tomas wearing his Canucks shirt with his Oilers ball cap. Or a Canucks jersey and Oiler socks.

SOOO, this year Tomas joined the Friday Night Fun League. (They practice for 30 minutes and scrimmage for 30minutes every Friday night). His team is called the Mighty Ducks.

Before he got on the ice (the first time wearing all his equipment!)

On the ice. GO TOMAS GO. He did great.

Post-game. How happy he is. His mom is so happy looking at his smiling picture that she's crying.

Way to go Tomas! Follow your dreams.

Toria Toria Toria

2007-09-09T20:45:00.001-07:00

This is how Toria gets ready for school the night before:

Be sure and note the ring and makeup all laid out!

FIRST day of school

2007-09-04T15:33:00.001-07:00

Where's Bill Cosby?

2007-09-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

kids say the darndest things

Story #1: Todd's mom is visiting and she wanted to take Toria to the jewelry store for a necklace. They carefully picked out the necklace and stood in line waiting to pay. Toria tightly clutched the money in her fist and waited for the cashier to help her. and waited. and waited. and waited. Finally, Todd's mom said to the cashier (who cleaned the counter, talked on the phone, and did everything she could to ignore the cute 4-year-old) "you don't deserve our business". And so they left.

You can just imagine how sad the little girl in pink looked. very very sad with the tears flooding the eyes. Alas, with the promise of going someplace better the next day for jewelry she cheered right up.

At supper tonight we were talking about the things each of the kids hope to learn on their first day of school (tomorrow). Tomas responded with the classic boy answer "dunna" (don't know) while Toria chirped "I'm going to ask my teacher if she knows any good jewelry stores".

I don't think Toria's teacher will know what hit her when Toria starts kindergarten.

----------------
Story #2:

We spent 2 hours yesterday buying Tomas his hockey gear. As he put on the shoulder pads we gave him a light pat on the shoulder. When he put on the knee pads we each gave him a little tap on the knees. (Oh yes. It's true.... Do you see where this is going?)

When he put on the athletic support (these are shorts with a built in protector not the 'old-fashioned' kind) he beckoned "Toria, do you want to punch me in the penis?"...
and before Todd or I could form a "NOOO" ... the little Toria voice responded with an "oh SURE" and her arm shot out with a THWAP!

I am happy to say that either Toria needs more time on the punching bag or the athletic supports do work because Tomas said that after testing all of his gear it "works great". T.G.

Tomas is on the job!

2007-09-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Like many 6-year-old boys, Tomas sometimes exhibits signs of Absent-Minded-Professorism. It is not uncommon for him to leave his jacket, shoes and/or lunch bag at school. In fact, there have been occasions where the entire school bag was left at school.

Well, imagine my surprise when I was reviewing his leftover school supplies from last year to determine what he needed for this year.

(there were other supplies - all intact - but these are the ones that tend to get lost)
2 erasers - CHECK
8 thick markers - CHECK
10 thin markers - CHECK
24 pencil crayons - CHECK
24 wax crayons - CHECK (well, he was missing a black but I took one from our 'home supplies')

Not only did he have a full set of school supplies but he also had an extra 3 thick markers and 3 pencil crayons. I was congratulating him on how totally awesome this was to have all his stuff from last year and extras too!

He responded "I asked everyone if the extras were theirs but they said 'nope' so I figured I'd better take them or they would get lost".

What a great kid!!

An Ikea Commercial...

2007-09-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny Thursday around 2pm when I posted an ad on usedvictoria.com for a 100lb + cabinet from our old shed that we no longer needed:

In good shape. There is some exterior paint peeling but the wood underneath is in great shape. The shelves are very solid. Cabinet is 78" tall, 38" across and 22" deep. Need it gone QUICKLY so son can play hockey on driveway.

I HAD no idea what people do on a Thursday around 2pm but apparently THEY ARE CHECKING THEIR COMPUTER for FREE STUFF because within 5 minutes I had 48 views and 3 emails from people asking when they could come pick it up. I kid you not.

I phoned the first guy in the queue to give him our address and he assured me he had a vehicle he could use to haul it away. Can you guess what it is? A pickup truck? A van? A Volkswagon jetta? ... and the roof didn't even flinch under the weight.

He said he needed the cabinet to make his wife happy because she was sick of his stuff lying all over the garage. ... I wonder if it was her car...

And Great-Grandma goes Dancing...

2007-08-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I flew to Regina this past weekend to attend my cousin's wedding. It was just me. No kids. Yep. It was quiet. I had 4 days to myself. I read 3 books COVER TO COVER. I read one each way on the plane (6 hours of QUIET... each way!) and one when I slept until 10:00 am one morning! Can you even imagine?? Of course, my kids can now read so I must say that I missed them terribly and I couldn't wait to see them when they picked me up at the airport (which is the truth).

As for the wedding - it was good. One of the highlights was my 87-year-old Grandma who outdanced SIX of her relatives.

I kid you not. Have you ever seen 30-something-cousins begging for a drink of water and a chair while their Grandmother decides which one to take to the dance floor next?

It was 1:15 IN THE MORNING and we were almost out the door when the DJ decided to play "locomotion". Yep, you guessed it - the next thing you know Grandma & I are back in the door and we're doing the locomotion. Oiy. I was tired the next morning. As for Grandma. She was up at 8 am, dressed and finished breakfast by 9:00am.

[As an aside: Any of you that have been to Saskatchewan may laugh at this song by the Arrogant Worms: The Last Saskatchewan Pirate. I found a link to the lyrics and a version here.

Here are some pictures of Grandma outshuffling the rest of us.

Her sons:

Her grandsons:

Her grand-daughters:

Side Trip....

2007-08-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a short hop over to Vancouver to visit my mom's Aunt Beatrice. What a grand time we had! She is awesome - she tells us great stories and is very lively and vibrant. And YUM! the buns she made were first rate. If I ever learn how to turn on our oven I'm going to ask her for the recipes.

I first met Beatrice 29 years and 364 days ago. All I remember from that first visit is the colourful flowers around her yard and they're still there!!! She has a wonderful collection of the family history that she shared with us ... There was even one of my grandma and grandpa when they were younger that neither me or my mom had ever seen.

In other news....

Never mind that we hired people to build our shed. (T.G.) They arrived at 7:55am and left our property at 2:05pm. Yes. The shed was 'complete' in a mere 7 hours and 10 minutes. An 8 X 12 foot shed with an 8 X 8 foot overhang. Done. Complete. Finished. ... or not so quick

Now, the shed was built but it didn't have any shingles on it (only tar paper)... so add 2 people at 14 hours each plus a third worker for 4 hours. (Cedar shingles are a bugger to install). A-HA! You may be thinking we were done but the shed is naked - it has no paint! Now, you must add another 15 hours AND COUNTING of 3 people....

(Err, did I mention that my mom and dad are visiting us during their 'vacation' and have spent WAY more time on this than anyone expected. But what the heck, they're retired. If the definition of a vacation is 'doing something good that is a break from the ordinary' then helping their children qualifies and thus must = vacation. Right?)

So Much So Little

2007-08-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

There has been SO MUCH going on that I've had SO LITTLE time to Blog!

Here's a couple of quick photos to keep you coming back for more while I keep enjoying summer too much to find the time to blog.

Our good friends Linda & her son, Josh, came for a visit. I have loads of photos to show how Linda worked her decorating magic and transformed our house from nice to fabulous. The kids always have an awesome time playing with Josh. It was so much fun to have them visit... we just want them to move here!
.

In TOTALLY OTHER NEWS....
The Old Crappy Shed that was too small, leaked, turned our chairs moldy was just err, The Old Crappy Shed.

The NO Shed.

The New Shed.... with me roofing the entire roof with cedar shingles.
omigod. my arm was so sore the next day (after 12 hours of hammering) I could barely lift it to brush my teeth! And now that the arm has recovered I've been tasked with painting the @#^$@# shed. More to come on that....

Vacation - Week 2

2007-08-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

T.G. for vacations. I'm feeling relaxed, refreshed, reinvigorated , rejuvinated, restored, and ready to rumble with the evils of day-to-day hohum routine mundane repetitive days. (And apparently, I've also used my vacation time to to add adjectives to my sentences.)

What have we done you ask? Besides vacationing in paradise, that is?

We've been go-carting at the nearby Saratoga Speedway.... Here is the Red Baron: (aka Toria) [p.s. they don't admit it but the Speed Demon Duo of Carmen & Tomas LAPPED the Red Baron and her wingman]

And as if that wasn't exciting enough.....

We returned to the Speedway in the evening to watch the Big Rig time trials. (I swear to you - these trucks went around the small race track on one side of tires - they even had a big dump truck with a dumper trailer behind it! (Finished the track in 30.45 seconds).

My personal fav' was the 'Crash to Pass' cars (not the big rigs but the crash 'em up bang 'em up Dukes of Hazzard cars). During the 'Crash to Pass' you must crash into the car in front of you before you can pass them. Ka Chow!
However, Tomas has indicated that the Double Decker racers were his favourite. This is a one-of-a-kind event that I suspect you could only witness in rural B.C. -> They stack a car onto another car and then they race around the track. The winner is the one whose double-decked car doesn't fall off.

Toria has enjoyed the beach in Hawaii, err, i mean, Saratoga Beach. However, when I snapped this picture she was NOT actually supposed to BE IN THE WATER. We had already been in the water and were getting ready to leave. On the other hand, how could a mom not love a smile like that!

We even ventured forth to the Filberg Festival in Comox where I met the mother of 2 boys I used to babysit 20 years ago (small world!) ....
This isn't her. This is the Filberg Troll.

I literally have a hundred shots of the sunset, surf, sand, seashells and super bonfire we made on the beach one night but this is my favourite.

Well, I'd better get going. Off to the pool for our last swim!

Vacation - Week 1

2007-07-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

Good heavens it HAS been a long time since I posted. Time flies when you're having fun -> we had a GREAT visit with our friends L & J. We were sightseeing/house decorating machines.

Now we're on vacation and have limited connectivity but I know all 3 of you who read this want to know what is going on!!
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Here's a boring blog but one we (the family) decided to share with you:

Camping: How do I love thee let me count the ways. [For those of you who don’t know – 3 years ago (with 2 and 4 year old) we embarked on a 6-month tour of the southern United States. We lived in our trailer and loved it but for varying reasons haven’t had an opportunity to stay in it much since then. ]

We’ve just completed the first week of our two-week camping trip this summer and I’ve asked the family why we love camping in our trailer. Here are their answers:
1. It is your OWN bed every night.
2. It is your own fridge & freezer you keep stocked with your own food.
3. We mainly eat barbecued food outside in the fresh air and we ENJOY it because we’re not having to dash off to another event or meeting or play date or….
4. It is MUCH easier to clean than a house.
5. If we don’t like where we are staying – we just hook up and move.
6. We can bring our hockey net with us.
7. The kids are old enough to ride their bikes around the campground whereas I would NEVER let them ride on the street at our house.
8. Discovering new bike routes at each campground.
9. I sleep with my head 6” away from a window with fresh air.
10. We tend to stay at campgrounds with pools so the kids swim daily … with their dad while there mom gets ‘mom time’ to…
11. …sit at my computer and look out over the Strait of Georgia. And if we’re staying somewhere and I don’t like the view see # 5.
12. We get to go to all sorts of cool places -> like Tiger Lily Farms (http://www.tigerlilyfarm.ca/) where the kids spent over an hour chasing baby chicks around a room and then picking them up and trying to get ME to touch them.
13. I just like it.

Here are some pictures from our first week of holidays.
1. Tomas trying to get me to touch the baby chick he picked up.

2. Tomas taking some practice shots.

3. Tomas showing us his golfing prowess where he scored not one, not two, but THREE hole-in-ones. The other 3 of us combined had zip hole-in-ones.

4. Toria going for a ride.

5. Toria getting ready to get her dad with the water pistol.

Bye for now.

To laugh or to yell: that is the question

2007-07-12T19:04:00.001-07:00

The kids are outside playing with the water hose when I tell them it is time to clean up and come in. I ask Toria to clean up the bubbles and Tomas to wind up the hose onto the hose reel thingy.

Tomas is standing at the hose reel holding onto the hose while Toria is still holding the nozzle end from spraying a bug in the swimming pool. (Do you see where this is going?)
Tomas starts pulling on the hose.
Toria starts pulling on the hose.
They look at me standing by the window watching them. Tomas yells "We're having a tug of war".
Tomas starts winning.
Toria grabs the nozzle and sprays the motherlode of water onto Tomas.

How can one admire her quick thinking and yet not yell because what she clearly did was wrong?

Heat Wave!

2007-07-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I usually try and spend at least part of the summer in good 'ol heat wave Saskatchewan. Well, NOT THIS YEAR. It was 34.9 in Victoria today!!! 34.9!

Life doesn't get much better! (Well, it might since it was cold and rainy in Saskatchewan today. NOTE TO MY PARENTS: All winter long I tried not to brag about the Vic. weather because I figured that in the summer you would be able to rule the weather vane (so to speak). ha ha ha ha ha - i was so wrong. It's still gorgeous here (+33 tomorrow). Regina: 17 and rainy. When are you coming to visit???
---------------------------
Here's how the neighbourhood kids spent the afternoon:

A little water sprinkler to get a girl warmed up, err, cooled down....

Bring it on....!!

Splish Splash! [I have to let the world know that Tomas hates this hat. He thinks it is for babies (which he may have been when I bought it). However, I didn't want him to wear his cool, hip, fashionable baseball caps because I figured they'd get water logged and wrecked in the sprinklers. SO, Tomas being the fantastic kid that he is -> humoured me and wore this hat but he doesn't want anyone to think that he actually LIKES IT... because he doesn't].

Parksville with friends

2007-07-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Our good friends (R &M) from Edmonton were vacationing in Parksville and kindly invited us to visit. (Yippee. Any excuse for a vacation! Even better when it is with a great family.)
What a fantastic time we all had. Their children (J.& G.) are the same ages (and genders!) as our children and everyone plays so nicely. I highly recommend the French Creek House Resort (http://www.creekhouseresort.com/) if you're looking for a clean rustic place to stay. The individual cabins have furnishings that are dated but functional. There is an indoor pool, huge playing field, lots of toys and sports equipment, and, of course, the beach right there.

The Heartbreakers: Toria and her friend, G.,

Look out boys - here they come....

The girls had a fantastic time visiting and playing together. They made sure they were dressed head to toe in pink each day (except for the ocean incident... see picture below)

Toria already misses G. and is trying to negotiate the next visit.... (I'll clean up my room ONLY if we can go and visit G.)

The boys. "Look ma! No hands!"

Did anyone say 'Hot Wheels'?

Tomas and J. have a great time whenever they get together. They love playing cars together and just hanging out. I only hope that in NINE short years from now they KEEP THEIR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!

Tomas was very sad when J. left to go home - he thinks J. should move here so they can play cars all the time.

[And a WOW to our big strong husbands].

The Beach

"Anybody got a spare dollar? Sand dollar that is?"

Parksville has a world famous beach. During low-tide you can walk for miles. The kids weren't really dressed for it but we grabbed a few sand toys and played in the sand.

Tomas & J., spent an hour collecting sand dollars. They even found a jellyfish and brought it - in a sand bucket- to show their moms!

Nice Outfit:

The cute little girls got so wet and sandy at the beach that they had to change. Unfortunately neither mother had spare girl clothes. I mean, really, when do girls ever get dirty?

Fortunately, we were able to change them into their newly purchased matching shirts (bought at the (fantastic) Errington Farmers Market).

As for shorts.... err, we each had a spare set of their brother's shorts!

And this is why God made warm summer nights:
We reclined under the sun with more Edmonton escapees.

E. & D. (who escaped Ed. winters many years ago) are friends of R. & M. They were able to join us Saturday night for dinner and drinks. This is the way vacations were meant to be. Thanks for a great weekend!

P.S: You can learn more about Parksville by reading my article(s):

http://www.islandrvguide.com/RVTripOnVancouverIslandP1.html

http://www.islandrvguide.com/Kalyniuk-WeltaFamilyP2.html

Part 3 is available in paper format but not online yet.

I also recommend Tiger Lily Farms (http://www.tigerlilyfarm.ca/index.html) - it was great. You can feed the goats, MILK a goat, play with the baby chicks, ride a pony and even feed a cow!

I also need to add the Errington Farmers Market on Saturdays was fantastic; great food, beautiful jewelry, neat crafts and live music!

Oldie but Goodie News

2007-07-10T20:28:00.001-07:00

SHARK TEETH:
Check out Tomas' shark teeth. He has 2 rows of teeth on the front bottom tooth. His permanent tooth grew in BEHIND his front tooth. How cool is that.

(UPDATE: The baby tooth has now fallen out).

TREE LOGGER:
We moved our eyesore wood pile from the backyard (thanks previous owners!) to beside the house. We discovered that most of the wood needed to be split so we rented a wood splitter. Todd split and my trusty wheelbarrow & I hauled.

HOCKEY DAY:
On Canada Day the kids were asked to draw a sidewalk picture of what being a Canadian meant to them. Tomas drew a picture of a hockey rink and Team Canada hockey jerseys. That's my guy!

Toria wanted to know what 'Canadian' meant. When we explained that there are many different countries and we live in Canada and are called Canadians. Our friend Marianne is from Norway and is Norwegian. She replied:"I am glad to be Canadian because it is easier to say then 'Norcawecanajon".

ARTIST AT WORK:

Toria was asked to help finish a mural about Canada. She spent almost an hour and was given 2 extra helpings of paint! We finally had to drag her away with the enticement of going to watch the magician.

AND AS IF CANADA DAY WASN'T EXCITING ENOUGH:

Look who learned how to ride a bike after we got home!
AND once that was mastered she can now get started all by herself.

That's my girl!

Almost time

2007-06-26T13:55:00.001-07:00

Today is Tuesday June 26, 2007 and there is exactly ONE AND ONE-THIRD days left of school. I don't know whether I'm thrilled that I don't have to get up at 6:30 am every morning and rush everyone out the door at 8:20:40 which gets us to school with exactly 32 seconds before the first bell. Although yesterday there was a front end loader blocking the walking trail and that took an additional 16 seconds to walk around plus 22 seconds of conversation with it's owner as to why it was in the middle of the path (checking underground connections). [Last week there was a woodpecker decimating a rotted log on the creek and we stopped for a full 82 seconds to watch wood chips flying everywhere as Woody pecked. We ended up running the last 500 metres to school].

ON the other hand I'm not sure how I will keep the children occupied for the additional 6 hours each and every day. That's 30 hours each week or TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY hours over the course of the summer that my sweet little darlings need to be occupied or they'll be yelling "MOOOOOOOM. I'm bored" Which takes about 2 seconds to say so in 270 hours of summer vacation they could utter that phrase 486,000 times.

Father's Day: To My Dad

2007-06-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

In honour of this day being for you and err, Canada Post, err, losing your card and gift I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your endless support and love. You are a great dad. You've always been there for my early morning ringette games, my times of need and someone to listen to me when I prattle on and on.

SO,

In honour of you, I had King Crab Legs for supper and

the world famous Key Lime Pie for dessert.

Happy Father's Day

Love, Carmen.

Tomas' picnic

2007-06-15T17:25:00.001-07:00

Tomas' class had a party today at the Teacher's Aide's house (a gorgeous lake-front property). The weather was not so good but the kids had a blast! The parents froze on the shore wondering how the kids could possibly be swimming. Tomas was one of the wise ones and he decided he wasn't going to get wet - although he did go in the paddle boats. Toria had loads of fun in the water but she was shaking so bad the parents thought she was going to turn into one big goosebump.

You may need to 'click on this' to expand the size but that's Tomas in the center rear paddle boat being paddled about by his 'girlfriend' K.C. She paddled him all around the little cove. In the center middle with the bright orange swimsuit and blonde hair is Toria (right at home with the big kids).

I'm not sure how but Toria talked Tomas' 'girlfriend' K.C. into paddling her around the cove too!

Tomas and his friend K.R. take a turn around the cove. (Toria is in the background).

Thanks Donna for a great afternoon!

Graduation!!

2007-06-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

The graduating class:

Toria & her 2 best friends

What happens when you mix Toria & paint?

2007-06-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

At least she had the foresight to remove her shirt (she didn't want to get paint on it). Paint on her hands was Gggggrrrrreeatt!

Thank You!

2007-06-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your support in the Walk to Cure Diabetes!
Team Turbo Tomas raised $1500 - that's awesome.

Due to your overwhelming generosity Tomas joined the "Sneaker Club Wall of Honour" and was asked to come onto the stage and 'bang the gong'.

Kids say the darndest things

2007-06-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

-----------------------------
The Scene: Getting ready for the bath. Tomas is playing soccer on the bedroom floor with his dirty (rolled up) sock.

Mom: Tomas. Puuullllleeeeeease get in the shower and put that dirty sock in the laundry!
Tomas: (holding up his hand to shield his face) Please, please, no camera flash or flash photography allowed.
Mom: Huh?
Tomas: (starts giggling so hard that he never did put his sock in the laundry)

---------------------------
The Scene: Friday morning at the breakfast table:

Mom: If everyone has a good day we can go and pick dad up at the airport tonight. His plane is scheduled to land after supper.
Toria: We have to be good all day?
Mom: Yes. (although we'd be going even if they weren't good but I didn't mention that)
Tomas: What if you're not good, mom?
Toria: Oh Oh! Tomas, you and me could drive to get dad.
Tomas: Toria, we don't know how to drive.
Toria: Weeeeeellllllll, you could turn the steering wheel and I can read the speed limit signs.

----------------------------

Hockey Night at Our House

2007-06-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

For 1 hour and 45 minutes my fantastic children were getting the living room ready for the hockey game. Here is the result:

The Players (I got to call out TOMAS as he walked onto the ice from his dressing room!)

The goalie water bottle and face wipe rag.

The tickets for the Stanley Cup Playoff game held in our living room.

The puck decorated with our very own handcrafted & designed Toria logo.

The Stanley Cup (well actually it is the Daytona Cup from Dale Jr. but we've got good imaginations!)

The souvenirs

The food:
First period: Hot Dogs & Ginger Ale (the *8* sunkist fruit packages and oreo cookies are for sale at the hockey rink... just in case someone else wants to buy some food).
Second period was popcorn... third period looks like it will be fingernail biting.

The fans!

OK, end of the second intermission. Bye for now.

Retailer math

2007-06-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

Tomas is exceptionally good at math but he's having a hard time figuring out how the following equals $9.02 (with tax):

Hockey stick $5.99
Hockey puck $1.99

He figures it should be $6.

AND that is what the retailers want us to think.... $6 is a far cry from $9.

B.B.B.& B.

2007-06-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Beach.Butchart gardens.Boat.Bed

My sister, Cathy, and her son, Weston, are visiting and we have had the most amazing weather - what great sight seeing we've been doing...

First we visited the beach (with some of Toria's school mates). Toria is the one in the front lower right & Weston is pushing the bulldozer.

Weston wasn't sure what to think of all the flowers.

This is the Attessa - apparently it is the 69th largest yacht in the world - cost around $50 million give or take a few million. I personally like the helicopter!

How do you get 3 rascals to fall asleep? Putting them into the same bed is NOT the best way.

Girls Night!

2007-06-03T20:54:00.001-07:00

Tomas & Todd had a Beavers Camp to attend... oh, those silly boys didn't know what they were missing!

Auntie Cathy is visiting and Toria got to paint her nails.... bright sparkly red toenails and white glittery fingernails
All the girls ended up with such BEA-U-TI-FUL nails!
.

Pledge online

2007-05-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

AN UPDATE:

Talk about simple - you can now support Tomas' Walk to Cure Diabetes on June 10, 2007 by pledging online. Use your credit card and earn air miles/aeroplan points. It's a win-win!

Follow the link to the JDRF Canada's pledge a walker:
Pledge A Walker

You can search by either of the following:
Participant:
Team Name: Team Turbo Tomas (remember there is no H in Tomas).

(We're walking at Beaver Lake in Victoria).

Once you find us - you can just follow the secured link to contribute whatever you like. Remember no donation is too small as every cent counts.

Thanks for your support! Tomas & family

Walk To Cure Diabetes

2007-05-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Donation time....

If you're interested in supporting Tomas in the Walk To Cure Diabetes (on June 10, 2007 at Beaver Lake) please either email or call with your donation. Tax receipts will be issued in late Summer 2007 for any donations of $20 or over. You may pay by cheque, cash or credit card (support a good cause and earn aeroplan/air miles!).

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and its complications. And we need your help. The insulin that Tomas receives is NOT a cure.

In addition to tightly managing his diet Tomas' treatment includes finger pokes between 5 and 9 times a day and insulin injections 3 or more times a day.

Over 200,000 Canadians are afflicted with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes – many of them children. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure and lower limb amputation and a leading cause of adult blindness, nerve damage and heart disease. Insulin is not a cure.

You may be interested to know that Canada has the third highest occurrence rate of Type 1 diabetes in children 14 years or younger in the world and the Type 1 diabetes occurrence rate is rising by 3 - 5% per year; the greatest rise occurring in 5 - 9 year olds. No one knows why but what we do know is the constant demands of Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is NOT brought on due to lifestyle choices it is a chronic autoimmune disease.

There have been great advances and each year research provides more promising hope for everything from reducing the number of daily finger pokes to creating an artificial pancreas to restoring the insulin-producing beta cells that are destroyed by Type 1 diabetes and most importantly developing a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Thank you very much in advance for your generosity. With your support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will realize its mission; to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. We hope that children with diabetes will soon be able to enjoy happy, active, normal lives. Together we can make great strides in finding a cure for diabetes.

For more information check out the JDRF website: http://jdrf.ca/

Thanks, Tomas-hockey-player-K. (and family)

Skating flower bugs

2007-05-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Tomas used the money from the toys he sold in the garage sale to buy .....

Roller Hockey Gear! (would you ever have guessed that?)

Toria has been busy. Here she is playing with her friend, E. Don't be fooled that E. is the one picking up the bugs - this is the first bug that she has let him pick up. They caught over 30 bugs during the afternoon before setting them free. OH MY. IT WAS GROSS. They were all in an empty yogurt container. I will never think of yogurt the same.... oops- I bet you never will again, either.

[In Toria's Jr. K. class she plays equally well with the boys and girls. All the girls play by with each other and all the boys play with each other but Toria just floats back and forth. Right now her best friends are 2 boys E. & A. because they make her laugh.]

At Butchart Gardens - I'm so proud of them! What awesome kids I have.

Huh?

2007-05-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Fall & Winter catalogue arrived May 24.

(Aren't you glad I shared this with you?)

Tomas' Update

2007-05-20T09:56:00.001-07:00

I LOST MY FIRST TOOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YIPPPEEE YAHOOOO

You can see the permanent tooth coming in. I am so excited!!!!!

I went to McDonald's with my grandma, my mom and my sister. Before my mom allowed us to eat we had to go and wash our hands and when we got into the bathroom I looked in the mirror and .... MY TOOTH WAS GONE!
Just Gone!
I guess I must've swallowed it. I made a note for the tooth fairy and put the note under my pillow and when I woke up in the morning she had left me two toonies! (My mom said that the tooth fairy usually only brings 1 toonie but since it was my first lost tooth I got 2!)

When my Grandma was visiting she came on the field trip with my class. We had lots of fun and I even found a rabbit's nest. My friend C. is standing next to me. He is also my neighbour - we would play hockey all day if we could. I love hockey. Sometimes when we get tired of playing outside we go inside and play hockey in his basement with our mini-sticks.

I've also been biking alot. On Mother's Day we rode our bikes to Mattick's farm and had an ice cream. I had a Rainbow Twist ice cream. My mom wanted to shop in a mom's clothing store and I told her she could and we'd be quiet but only because it was Mother's Day! When we rode our bikes home I was so fast that my mom and dad could not keep up!

Bye for now!

Update from Toria

2007-05-20T08:55:00.001-07:00

Seeing as how my mom can't seem to find the time and/or doesn't think she has anything to say on the blog - Tomas & I are taking turns showing you what is happening in our lives:

I'm learning how to ride a bike WITHOUT training wheels. I haven't quite got it figured out yet but I'm trying!

I went on my brother's class field trip to Beaver Lake. We had to pretend we were bunnies and run from one den to the other den. I am a good bunny (that's me in the pink) and the wolf couldn't catch me!

We had a garage sale where we cleared out 4 heaping tables worth of stuff. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSED (kicking and screaming) to sell ANY of my toys until I got to take a picture of what I was selling. Now I will never ever ever EVER forget what my toys looked like... I love all my toys.

My hockey-obsessed brother has finally converted me to play hockey with him. I am the goalie in this picture but only if I can wear my Pink Princess shirt!

That's it for me

Normal Saturday

2007-05-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

We're getting closer to getting back to 'normal' ... whatever that is.

I attended the "Making Tomorrow" conference for parents/teachers of young children at UVic today. Silken Laumann was the keynote speaker (turns out she lives in the next neighbourhood over). Anyway, I didn't call home to check on Tomas ONCE.

Of course, I may have looked at my phone and even started to dial 50 or 60 times but I didn't. I knew Todd & Grandma could handle it and they did.

Todd went for a bike ride this morning (47km) and Grandma was in charge. She did great. Tomas' blood sugar was a little low at lunch but not low low (less than 4.0) and she handled it perfectly.

Tomas' blood sugar was quite high last night (I know because I checked it at 2:30am). The nurses all say that you really don't need to check at night but I am freaked out and would rather check it then have Tomas go into hypoglycemic coma (which is rare but we're still figuring things out so I figure it's OK to check). Although I am totally exhausted.... which is why the nurses say you shouldn't need to check his sugar levels at night - if you're too tired then you can't take care of yourself or your child and you make mistakes.

Getting back on track - I arrived home from the conference at 4:30 and Todd was at the park with Tomas & Toria. Tomas & Todd were trying to teach Toria to ride a 2-wheeler. She's getting closer. Tomas is a cycling speedster and was offering great words of encouragement. As for my mom, she was at the grocery store getting food for supper. (Note to Dad: Seriously- Mom was grocery shopping and she got all the correct ingredients for Beef Strogonaff! Great, eh?)

Good night. C.

Home.

2007-05-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for their emails and calls. I'll try and catch up in the next few days. Right now my focus is on getting the house caught up and settling everyone into a routine.

We're home from the hospital and Tomas is at school for a 1/2 day today. I'll pick him up at lunch time.

We came home yesterday and before you could say "Hockey" him and his friend, C., were outside.

As for Toria - she's been showing her Grandma how to do 100 piece puzzles.

An update

2007-04-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Todd & I had more training today and we learned how to do the insulin injections (previously we'd learned how to test his blood sugar). Turns out it is really quite simple. They have these pens that you just dial out the amount and then voila! (Sometimes you have to mix 2 types of insulin and that is a little trickier but takes no longer then having to peel an apple).

Todd & I even practiced giving needles (with saline) on each other. Tomas thought it was funny that we were poking each other - turns out it really doesn't hurt.

We also met the dietitian today. She was awesome - and provided a huge relief for me. Turns out that the so-called Diabetes Diet no longer exists. We just need to count carbohydrates and he has a range of total carbs that each meal/snack should meet. We went over what he eats on a typical day and she pretty much said he could maintain the status quo.

We asked about McDonalds and could he eat there? The dietitian said "What do you eat at McDonalds, Tomas?" He replied "A plain cheeseburger and an apple with dip". The dietitian said "Oh, well, that's just a sandwich and a fruit. That's well within your range of carbs."

She went onto talk about how if he has a birthday party or some other occasion when he eats more or when he eats at a different time then we just adjust the insulin. AND she has been a diabetic since she was 14 so she speaks from first hand experience.

-----
A funny story: Grandma and Tomas were playing 'twirly' hockey (you know the little table where you turn the posts - kinda like a mini-foosball table). Anyway, Grandma was getting whooped and said to Tomas "What wimpy team do I have?" Tomas deadpanned "The Flames".
---------

Some news

2007-04-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Tomas seemed a little out of sorts and needed to use the bathroom more than usual but we didn't think much of it. On Thursday he was peeing a lot and I phoned our family doctor and said we needed to come that day. (At this point I had some suspicions.) I picked Tomas up from school, the doctor sent us for labs and phoned us at 8:00 Thursday night advising us that the pediatric doctor was expecting us at the hospital.

Tomas has been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. As you can see from the pictures below he is doing fine. He was diagnosed very early and with proper treatment he will continue to be in good health. We expect to be at the hospital until Wednesday (?) although we we're given an afternoon pass Saturday and Sunday (today) which has been great! Tomas has been busy playing hockey with his friends and right now he's beating his Grandma at air hockey.

The main reason we're staying at the hospital is so that the doctors can determine the appropriate insulin dosage and so Todd and I can have training (but that doesn't take place until Monday/Tuesday).

A special thanks to S.R. and family. Thanks for listening.
And another special thanks to K.M and her son, E.M., whom I will try not to bore with my many diabetes questions.
I must also thank our neighbour, D.C. & family who had Toria over for her first ever sleepover on Thursday night and my mom who has flown out to help us.

Tomas in the hospital play room.

Tomas: a bunch of gifts, the hockey game on TV, all smiles.

Camera is back!

2007-04-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

My globe-trotting husband took my camera on his globe-trotting trip and the two have finally arrvied back home. So, I have a picture to show you of Tomas & Toria's last skating lesson - - ta da!

They did awesome. Tomas played hockey on his last lesson and Toria was the only one in her class to catch the teacher when they played tag!

A lesson learned.

2007-04-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Today (Friday) is what is called a Pro.D. day. Teachers refer to it as Professional Development. Most parents refer to it as "What! My kids have no school again!" I refer to it "TGIF and we can Sleep IN!"

I digress from my story.

Tomas and his friend, Carter, love to play hockey. Carter has played for a few years and Tomas is just learning. So, this past Tuesday they set up a plan. On Tuesdays and Fridays at 3:00pm (when they get home from school) Carter will give Tomas hockey lessons.

[And on Wednesday Tomas came home from school and said he didn't have time for his snack he had to practice his hockey!]

Alas, today is Friday but there is no school. It didn't matter. Tomas was outside in the backyard at 3:00 getting ready and Carter was knocking on our door by 3:01. The lessons lasted 1 hour until the playoffs started on the TV at 4:00.

[Tomas tried to tell me he wasn't 'just watching TV' he was learning how to be a better hockey player.]

Trumped by a 4-year-old.

2007-04-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Every week Toria's Jr. kindergarten class has a "letter of the week" and each student is asked to bring something that starts with that letter. They then used plastic letters to make the word. The kids take turns picking each others items throughout the week.

Last week it was M. Some of the items included dolls of Mom or man, money, marraca. In a plastic ziploc Toria took mud (her own special mix)!

This week it is N. You'd think necklace, numbers, notebook, nightlight, nickel, nose, etc. As I was going through the options with Toria I asked her what she wanted to take.

"Nothing".

"Toria", I responded "you can't take nothing - you need to take something that starts with the letter N."

"Nothing does start with the letter N and THAT is what I'm taking".