Halloween

Today is Halloween and my kids have an inservice...imagine that...they had one last week too. The pumpkins are carved, the costumes are ready, the candy is in bags...bring it on.

This picture is of my lovely children jumping off the table in the rec room...hmmm...

Graham went to the school dance last night. He had a "date" with a girl named Emma. Mike said Graham had a really fun time, he did dance with his "date" twice. Before the dance Graham wanted to go to the store to buy mints to freshen his breath, I kept asking him why but he didn't know. I think he heard kids talking about it so he went from there.

I took Elysia to her dance class and then went to mom's for a quick visit. Josee and Connor were also at mom's. When I got out of the truck, Connor was hiding in the bushes in the dark and jumped up and yelled "what are you doing" in a low voice. Well, those of you who know me there was a scream involved and a dance. Little monster!!

Leaves--AGH!!

So last week the leaves were great fun...this week, not so much. I raked up 19 bags yesterday in the front yard...mind you they were small pumpkin bags but it didn't seem to make much of a dent. Haven't even touched the back yard. I think the leaf blower will blow those down the back hill.

We carved 12 pumpkins yesterday. Better get some tealights so they don't sit there looking dull.

Here's some more pictures from the Martin's Halloween Yard Viewing.

The Crazy Martins

Here are some pictures from our trip to Patti and Tim s house Sat night. I will post more later, they went all out for this and the kids got a kick out of it. PS the first picture is Scarey Dawna (if you remember they put her in the bathroom at night and sent me in there to scare me...now you see why I screamed).

Birthday Girl

My little girl turned 13 today...I am the mother of a teenager...how did that happen?? Here's some pictures of my little one, pictures she has taken with her camera. Love you Elysia!!

Brrrr

It was -1 out this morning...brrr...the kids were happy they didn't have to go to the bus today.
Elysia had her first indoor soccer game last night, the won 1-0. She played centre mid part of the game and had a really good shot on net, which was her goal for the night. She played defence most of the second half. Auntie Josee was playing right after her so she watched some of their game.
Speaking of Elysia, she will be a teenager tomorrow (officially at about 2 pm), hard to imagine, seems like only yesterday they sent her home with us and we didn't have a clue as to what we were doing...sometimes, I wonder if we do even now.

For Reta

Here you go Reta...I was just talking to my good friend Reta and she was complaining that I had not blogged today and had missed a few days here and there so I had best get busy.
Just a note to Josee, I did not have to pay the kids to sit close for their picture I posted yesterday but I did have to take the picture quickly. I did tell them though that I would make them sit together until I got a good picture so I think that's why I only had to take a couple. Graham of course as you know, kept making faces so Elysia was getting ticked off at him. So I'm not sure where the smile came from.
Still haven't heard anything about the job, don't want to guess one way or the other about it.
Sarah is spending the weekend with us. Connor has a couple of hockey games away. So Sarah will come with us to the "yard viewing" at Patti's house. It should be fun.
The kids have no school tomorrow, it's a provincial inservice. Elysia is just happy that I won't be waking her up early in the morning, she's been doing pretty good with it but I know by Thurs/Fri, she's feeling it when it's time to get up.

Leaves Leaves Leaves

What more do you need for fun but a pile of leaves. I was going to try and clean up the yard a bit yesterday but I didn't have the heart to do it. The kids played in the pile until supper time. They would jump in it, they would hide things in it. They would try to catch the leaves falling from the tree as it was quite windy and believe it or not they could still argue over that. Graham's friend, Connor was enjoying the leaves as well. They would start from way up in the driveway across the road and run down to jump into the pile because I guess they could go further. Then they layed the hockey net down and covered that up and made a "fort" inside it. Free fun!!

Wonderful Day

Yesterday was the most spectacular day here. It was 22 degrees, the sun was shining, the leaves were beautiful...amazing. I have a couple of chickadees that were feeding on some birdseed I had put on my back deck. I could stand really close to the seed and they would still come and pick what they liked out of it.

The kids had a ball in the leaves. They raked up a pile and were jumping into it. It amazes me though how two siblings can argue over something as insignificant as a pile of leaves. Graham and his friend Connor wanted to take the wagon with leaves over to Connors house...as much as I would love to get rid of them I don't think Janet and David would be thrilled with my delivery of leaves. As it was they shoved their shirts full of them and carried those over. They pile them on the trampoline and jump in them.

Next week there is a family dance at the school. Graham has apparently asked a girl named Emma to be his date. Connor was a little shyer and got Graham to ask his date for him. When I asked Graham what this meant, he said it didn't mean they had to dance together...just hang out. At what age does that change??

Elysia had band yesterday so Graham and Connor and I went to the school early to kick around the soccer ball. When Elysia came out we all played soccer for a while. I think Elysia can kick the ball harder in her barefeet than with her shoes on. I told her to save some of that for her game Thurs night.

Weekend

It was a busy weekend at the McKinnon household.

Friday night we had Connor's (Graham's friend) family over for supper. It was a nice evening with good food and good company.

On Sat, Graham had his first soccer with Wayne Evans and was sweating his little guts out when he was done. It amazes me that winter soccer is not as popular here and it was in Halifax and this is with an excellent coach. After that, Graham, his friend and I went to watch Acadia men's soccer. Acadia just put down a new turf field and it's really nice. At the half, the kids were able to go out and kick the ball around. They were pretty cute, because being male of the species, they had to show off their best moves. There's a picture above of them on the field, they are the two red shirts. Then Sat night, Graham went glow bowling, it didn't take him long to fall asleep after all that.

On Sun, Elysia had her first soccer practice of the season. She was nervous because she wasn't seeing any of her friends there, but then a couple of girls from her summer team showed up and she really enjoyed it. The coach she has is awesome, she is the A team coach for the summer. She put Elysia up to Centre Mid and told her if she continued to play there the way she did yesterday that she could try out for the A team in the summer. I will say, it was one of Elysia's best practices I have seen in a long time. Lots of good moves and excellent passes. Her coach wants her to take some extra practices with Wayne Evans every second Sat. After that her friend Malory came over for a visit and Graham and I went to the Acadia soccer game. He hooked up with a soccer team that was there watching. He didn't know any of them but he went out at half time to play.

Mom and Liz made it back from their vacation. They took advantage of the exchange and went to the states this year. I am sure the back end of the car was dragging on the ground with all their purchases if I know those two. Today it's back to work though.

I am suppose to hear from the company I had an interview with. I went in to see them on Friday and they made me an offer for a job but the money wasn't where I wanted so I told them what I would work for and they are suppose to let me know today or tomorrow. I won't be heartbroken if they don't want to match what I want since I am enjoying this time at home. But then I don't want to be stuck scrambling at the end of my EI benefits either...hmmm...what to do?

Thurs

Well...Graham had a good start the other day at the cross country meet. Mike was able to make this one so he joked with Graham that when he ran by to pull on his ear like Carol Burnet used to do...so here comes Graham down the field scanning for his father yanking on his ear and didn't stop until he saw us. The course was quite tough with a pretty steep hill. Graham came in 44th, he was fairly consistent each race but he says he will not be doing cross country again.
Elysia has her first Coldbrook School dance tonight, yes, there will be boys there too..AGH!! Ask Mike how he dealing with that!

Cross Country for the Last Time

Today is the last cross country meet for Graham. His goals are:

• Be at the start when the race starts
• Head in the right direction
• Don't trip over anyone's head

If he can do this he should do well...

Elysia and Sarah have their dance class tonight, they seem to be really enjoying it. It's Parent week so I have teased the girls that I would attend and do my "Pussycat Doll Dance"...the fear in their eyes is hysterical. The joys of being a mother of an almost teenage daughter...that's right in less than 2 weeks.

Mom is on her vacation. She was in the states for a couple of days and is now in Quebec visiting her brothers, she may be cracking their skulls. She talks tough about them but I know that she melts when she sees them...she's a softie for her brothers.

Tomorrow Graham's class is heading to the corn maze at Noggins Farm. I am going with the class...an awful lot of paperwork to fill out just to help out a class, it's sad what this world has come to. Graham thinks it's pretty cool that I am going to be there, Elysia wouldn't be so thrilled if it was her class. I do have to leave early though since we are having our chimney inspected and cleaned tomorrow, this has been booked for over a month so I don't want to try and reschedule.

Weekend

Had a great time in Halifax yesterday with the ladies...technically Cole Harbour, which I got a small tour of since I could not remember (even though I thought I did) where Cole Harbour Place was. I wonder if Reta had a good sleep last night since she was there at around 7 that morning and would not be leaving until probably close to 11 that night...that's a long day in that cold room. I think they got the heating for the room mixed up with the cooling for the rink...brr.
Patti is getting ready for her big Halloween extravaganza, looking forward to all their decorations. We'll just carve our pumpkins and be done with it.
Connor played his first hockey game with his new team yesterday and they tied 2-2...good start. Elysia and Sarah should be starting indoor soccer this week, haven't heard anything though. Graham starts his indoor soccer next Saturday. Lots going on.

My honey

Here's a picture of Mike with the bigwigs from his company. I think one is the CEO and the other is the head of Atlantic...

Cross Country Again

Poor Graham, he has the worst luck with starts at cross country meets. If anyone has ever attended one of these events, the start is quite something to see. In his group there are over 100 boys on a line that have to thin out to go out a gate at the opposite end of the field. In the melay (sp?) Graham trip over "someone's head" and ended up on the ground and was one of the last leaving the field into the woods again. He managed to scrap his way back up to 42nd which is pretty much where he was the last time. So his goal on Tuesday's meet is to make it out of the gate at the front of the pack. He's not discouraged though and when he came out of the woods he put the "guns" on as he said.
Elysia, Graham and I went to Josee's house for supper last night. Mom is heading on her annual vacation today. This is the first time in years that she is going to the US, with the exchange rate...why not? She will also be visiting her brothers briefly in Quebec at some point. Everytime she goes away like this she has to give us the drill...where's the will...who has the key, in case...AGH!!
Heading to Halifax tomorrow to scrapbook with the "ladies". The kids are coming with me and spending the day with friends. Elysia is heading to Melissa's and Graham is going to Jarrett's house, so they are both quite excited about that...not too thrilled that we have to leave at 7 am though.

Job Interview

Yes...my first real job interview in almost 13 years. Someone actually read my resume and liked something about it...I was starting to get insulted since I had sent out a few and heard absolutely nothing about it. Anyway, we'll know something maybe next week.
They have an office in Manchester England...home of Manchester United...I'm thinking a visit / soccer game is certainly in order.

Roast Beef

I made the best roast beef ever yesterday. I had mentioned to Mike about throwing it in the slow cooker with a can of gravy and he had the look of horror on his face. I found a recipe on line that involved dried mushrooms, onions, red wine, balsamic vinegar, etc It was absolutely delicious tasting, the gravy was soooo yummy. Today I ripped out Mike's closet and added an extra rod to it to hold his uniforms...maybe I do need a job before I tear down a wall in this house.
Graham was tired this morning and didn't want to go to school. I informed him that I was tired and I got up anyway...you know what he said..."well, you can sleep all day if you want" Humph...I haven't had a nap yet and I have no intention of starting...
Heading to Halifax this weekend for a day of scrapbooking with the "ladies". Elysia is going to spend the day with her friend Melissa and I am trying to get Graham to Jarrett's house for the day so he can come up too.
Jill...tell your sister I got the idea for the closet space on the Two Peas in a Bucket website...if her husband is not handy, tell him I can come and wield a hammer.

Scrapbook Space

I forgot to post a picture of my new scrapbook space I made...this picture is for you Patti. This is in our basement spare room closet. With the supplies I already had and reusing the shelves and using left over paint, I spent less than 100 to get it all complete. Couple of things left to put away but I am quite happy. Josee helped me put up the counter top and the bump on my head from that experience is going away...haha, Josee just kidding...

Pictures

The card reader made it's way back home...so here's some pictures from the weekend...

There's a picture of Sarah, Elysia, Connor and Graham at mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. One of me and my kiddies and just some random pictures for the orchard. We had a wonderful time at Dempsey's Corner and I truly recommend it as a great family outing.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! We had a big turkey lunch at mom's yesterday at lunchtime. It was easier to have it then rather than at supper time. Mike had to work later on and Jeff had chores to contend with and Graham had soccer at 6, which again I only remembered about at about 20 minutes to.
After lunch we all went to Dempsey's corner to pick apples and pumpkins. It's such a great spot and the weather could not have been better, I will post some pictures once my husband brings back the card reader...hint, hint...
My sister Tracey was running a marathon yesterday in Victoria, BC. It was suppose to be cold and rainey...imagine that in BC. Hope she did well, her goal was under 4 hours.

Gross!!

I pulled down the hanging baskets yesterday since the frost (yes, that's right Tracey, frost) has killed them. I wanted to also get the nest the birds had built to show the kids. In the nest was two eggs that had not hatched. One of the eggs was empty, you could see the hole in it and the other one felt a little soft. So being the bright one that I am, I decided to squeeze it to see how soft. It still had egg in it and it exploded all over my face and hair...agh!! Do you know how horrible a four month old egg smells when it is in your hair and on your face...I ran up into the shower.
I have finished my scrapbook closet and quite honestly I am thrilled with it...don't worry, Patti, I will post a picture as soon as Mike brings home the card reader for me. I reused the shelves that were in the closet before and a small desk. I added another shelf and a counter top. I reused alot of stuff I had so the whole area, including the counter top and under counter light cost me less than 100 dollars. I think that's pretty good.
I woke up super early this morning, just after six, had bad dreams about my kids and couldn't stop crying so I am up in the basement waiting for my soccer game to start in half an hour (and to think I was worried I may sleep in for it). Did put a fire on this morning as it was a little chilly.

Cross Country

Graham had his first cross country meet yesterday. To say it was disorganized is understating it...not the actual meet but the people at our school. First off, they had too many kids for the bus. They had a list of all the kids who had paid for the bus so how could they not know this. I ended up taking two other boys with us, they wanted me to pick two of Graham's friends but I had to remind them the kids had to be over a certain height since I didn't have extra booster seats with us. We took two grade 6 boys. Then we get there and the grade 3 girls head out on their run and they say the boys will be in five minutes...the coaches for our school are too busy talking to the boys about what to do that all the other kids were lined up to start. I ran over to them and said they were about to start and got the "oh" and they told the boys to run to the start. The race started without our boys...they were a good 20 feet behind. There was over 100 kids in their group and Graham still managed to come in 41st...I thought he did great and I reminded him to think what his number would have been if they had started with the group so now he's psyched for the next meet. Graham's friend Connor came in 15th or 16th so he would have been in the top ten for sure.
I have my scrapbooking closet almost complete. It's painted and the shelves are up, I just have to find a pc of counter top or something similar for it...not so easy, here they are ordered in and they have no remnants laying around like they do in Halifax. I am going to call around to a few places. I would show you some pictures but I "lent" Mike my card reader the other day and I don't have it back yet.
Mike was in Halifax yesterday for the Chef's Assn dinner gala. I didn't go this year because of the track meet and Elysia's band parent meeting last night. Reta and I went last year and enjoyed a beautiful meal. Mike had some problems when he got to the city. He was getting something out of the trunk and set his keys down ( I think you know where I am going with this), the wind blew the trunk shut with his keys in it. He had some sorbet and ice cream in the trunk. He had to get a tow truck to open the truck and the stuff was starting to melt. Those of you who know my husband can imagine how he would have been freaking...hope he took extra blood pressure pills.
Elysia was thrilled that I was at the track meet yesterday and got to come home to an empty house. She had some friends over to play soccer in the front yard. Apparently her brother can drive her crazy when he's around--imagine that...

Wed

So I finally started on my scrapbook closet...I knocked out the shelves and painted the space...but I guess I don't know my own strength. As I was knocking out the shelves I loosened a cable connection in the electrical panel in the next room and the internet and cable downstairs were caput. I managed to find the loose cable and reconnect it and all is well now.
I was going to get the shelving for the space yesterday but Graham was not feeling well and stayed home from school. I think he was more tired than anything else because he was sent up to his room to lay down and slept until 11 am. No more late night baseball for him. Thankfully the Blue Jays did not make the playoffs so it's a little less of an argument.
Elysia had her dance class last night. They are going to be dancing in some sort of competition in Feb...which of course costs more money (yes, that's right Mike...more money).

Run for the Cure

Yesterday, I attending the CIBC Run for the Cure in Halifax. Over 1 million dollars was raised in Halifax alone. We had an absolute ball at it. No incidents other than Reta blowing out a "tire" when Angie stepped on her heel and pulled her shoe off. It was fun seeing everyone and the day was beautiful although DawnMarie and I found it quite chilly when we got out of the car in Halifax. I was wearing quite a few layers under my shirt and had mittens on at one point. Patii's mom was inspiration for alot of us, so I had to make sure and get a picture with her...We were the Russel Metals Rack Stars but there was some great team names there...Titty Titty Bang Bang was one...Lori, Reta and I walked together but at times, there was Angie and her friend (the tire blow out incident), Glenna, Greg, Tim, Dawid and Nick. Dawid and Nick decided to run the last 500 metres or so, I think they were trying to impress the girls at the finish but we knew the truth.

After we got home, it was the neighborhood Olympics for the kids. There are games at 5 houses for the kids, they even do a little torch run and then there is a pot luck supper. It was fun and the kids had a ball...more so Graham than Elysia, she had more fun once the older kids started coming out.

Here's some more pictures from the run. One showing the crowd and another of Reta and I...