Teacher Holidays

I can’t believe I have to go back to work tomorrow. I know I shouldn’t complain about 2 weeks off but it really makes it hard to get back in the swing of things. I really like not shaving…and playing video games with the girls…and brushing off the car sometime after noon.

I will really miss my mornings when Lexi comes into our room, tiptoes to my side of the bed and says in her best whisper voice “It’s time to wake up Daddy”. Then we hang out on the couch watching some cartoons and eating our breakfast. Shan says I am really ruining her morning routine but I just think of it as holidays for Lexi too.

The good news about going back to work is that I will need sandwiches tomorrow and get to play with my Eggies. Shan got them for me for Christmas because you can’t put a price on love. Did you know “You can open 6 Eggies eggs in less than 30 seconds”.

Spring Break is coming fast! In the meantime Vegas will keep a watchful eye on my girls.

I also posted our 2011 Christmas video on the girls site, sisters.peever.org

Christmas 2011

So fun. Lexi is the perfect age to really appreciate the whole Christmas thing this year. We went out Christmas Eve to Nolan’s. We were the first ones there and we stayed just long enough so that Lexi didn’t break anything! At one point her and Sawyer were just basically doing laps from the livingroom to the kitchen. When we got home she kept saying “I gotta get to sleep, Santa is coming, Santa is coming!”. She made sure to get out some cookies for Santa too but for some reason she decided to hide them under the tree. I think she might have some Easter envy.

Ratte’s were in town but busy with family. We got together for breakfast on Friday and they were able to spend the night after Christmas before heading back off to Thunder Bay. I keep thinking one of these years Santa will come through for me and deliver them back to Winnipeg. Something about having Paul here makes me feel grounded. Not sure how else to explain it other than a calmness I feel when he is around.

Christmas day Shan’s Mom and Grandma came over for breakfast and then my parent’s, Sister, and Grandma came for dinner. It was so nice for the girls to spend that time with everyone. Lexi is still asking where Marcy is. She kept luring her downstairs for more play time.

In the evening the Bosaks popped in and Lexi was in her glory with Payton and Bronwyn. They all had their Christmas pajama’s on and even Ashlyn gave up the thumbs up.

Last night we had another dinner with all the buds. At one point in the night Mike leaned over to me and said “man, I really like our group…”. We have this really tight core group of people in our lives that seem to just get closer as the years go by. Sometimes we add someone to that group and sometimes we lose one to another town but it really feels like home when everyone is here. Good to have Ponch and Mel back this year and Toph a little closer after the holidays.

Gerrie’s Birthday

Shan has been working hard on a surprise party for Mom over the last month and this weekend it all came together. It all started with the arrival of Tim and Leslie-Ann on Friday night. What we have learned from surprise parties of the past is if you want the “Tear Factor” you bring in Tim. Saturday morning Shan booked a sleigh ride and chili feast at the Birds Hill Ranch.

To get Mom there Shan told her that they had a day planned together as a Christmas thing. We guess that she figured they were going to the spa because her response was “should I shave my legs for this?”. We all waited at the outside at the Ranch for them to arrive and of course Shan took it to the next level with a blindfold for the car ride there.

It was a glorious reception and of course Timmy (Tear Factor) Dickenson didn’t disappoint. Once her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw Tim and the rest of her friends and family it was on. We also didn’t know that while we were out on the sled Timmy was going to get down on one knee and propose to Leslie-Ann. Of course everyone jumped off the sled to watch her accept. We were all super excited and happy for them, all except the guy driving the sled who yelled back at us to hurry up because the horses were getting antsy. In my head I yelled “HOLD YOUR HORSES” and laughed secretly to myself.

We finished the night with a nice turkey dinner at our place. I think the whole day was huge success. Thanks to everyone for coming and helping out so much.

KP Santa

It’s Ashlyn’s first Christmas to we wanted to make sure we went to see Santa with the girls. That means a trip to the mall at a time that is not healthy for someone as impatient as me. To top it off we stopped at Costco first so my mood was less than festive.

We went to Kildonan Place because it’s right beside Costco and it’s free. We already have a few pictures of the girls with Santa from our breakfast the other morning but we needed the Mall Santa to make it all official for the girls. It was lined up to the gills when we got there so Shan and Ashlyn stood in line while Lexi and I did some looking around and ended up getting in a fight with the girl at the “Seen On TV Store” about the cost of their “Eggies“. They want $19.00 +tax for 6 and the ones on TV are $9.99 for 12 and 2 egg slicers! She said the postage was $12 but when I looked on the site on my phone while I was there I proved her wrong…$7.99 for postage. Clearly I could not buy her 6 for $19.99 and sleep at night.

When we got back to the line Shan motioned me over and told me that this woman who was behind was complaining about the wait and had somehow advanced to the nearly the front of the line with her 2 10 year old kids. WTF. She made some excuse about someone holding her place in line and pushed her way up there. Shan even said something to her and when the lady barked back at Shan (who was holding a 6 month old BTW) another lady in line got into it too. It was quite entertaining really.

In the meantime Lexi and I were standing near Santa’s exit and she was watching all the kids sit on his lap. I guess when I had my head turned and in between customers Santa called Lexi in to get a candycane. I didn’t know he called her in so I kinda barked at her “NOPE, it’s not our turn yet and she came back out quickly” – Santa was kinda looking at me holding his candy cane out and I had to explain to him that I didn’t realize he had summoned her in and that we were actually coming up on our turn. It must have been strange for Lexi to see me pull power on Santa like that!

On the plus side Santa was really cool this year. Not the yellow bearded old grump of years past. Ashlyn really seems to like Santa. Both times she has been on his lap this year she cranks her head over to have a look at him and gets a big smile on her face. She must be thinking “if only I could get a hold of that beard!”.

Moving Right Along

The house is becoming a home. All the boxes are unpacked and the rooms are starting to come together. We did the basement first so that Lexi would have some place to hang out while we have been more preoccupied than normal. Shan has done a lot of work over the past week putting things in their place. We are really happy there. Lexi loves her structure out in the back yard and hits the swings almost daily.

The Christmas lights are up so that we are not “those people”. Lexi likes to look at them through her bedroom window at night before bed so it gives me this enormous sense of accomplishment. I am not good at those type of jobs so it didn’t surprise me that it took almost 3 hours and when I went to plug them in I was holding the female end. IDIOT. There was no way I was starting over so I just cut the end off and put on the male plug. I can hear Bosak already “is that safe?”.

We decided against cable so I am a little behind on the amount of Jets games I wanted to watch this year on TV. It didn’t really bother me that we missed the Grey Cup this year except we should have at least made some little sandwiches to compensate a bit. I was reading the Facebook posts after the game and I was laughing at how many people had given up on the Bombers after the game. One person wrote something like “…and we are building a new stadium for this team?” – Um ya they made it to the big game. Like only teams that win the cup every year should get new stadiums! I say good job Bombers.

The last time the Bombers won I was in grade 8 and a lot of us skipped school at lunch to take in the parade downtown. For whatever reason we went back to class after and I remember Mr. Bean (no really), getting mad and sending us out in to the hall when we got back. Then he came out in the hall and asked us how it was and told us to go back into class looking like we just got in trouble.

It’s almost December and I am looking forward to shaving off this stache. I did my part for Movember raising $140 for Cancer research and now in 2 more days it has to go.

The Move

We are in. I just want to thank everyone for their help this weekend. Shan and I were talking about it last night and we could not have done it without you. You guys rocked. I was amazed, we were amazed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Friday night Al came over right after work and we packed up the essentials and brought them over to the new house. I wasn’t going to let a little snow storm interrupt this move. We ended up doing a little shoveling when we got there but it wasn’t too bad. My parents also met us there to check out the new place so it was nice for them to be able to come and check things out.

Saturday I was up and out the door by 7am to pick up the Uhaul. Why is it that every Uhaul I have ever driven runs like crap and smells like an ashtray? I opted for the extra insurance based on the condition of the roads but I don’t think it covers Mike’s driveway markers that I mowed over trying to back into his place. I figured Mike would be outside because the night before he sent me a text that read “see you at 8am, I will have the coffee on” – Nope, apparently the sound of me wrecking his driveway woke him up instead.

Loading up wasn’t too bad but there was a lot more stuff than I thought. Nolan, Brey, and I came back for the playhouse and a bunch of odds and ends to finish it up. I want to thank my parents for the food too, it came just at the right time.

Yesterday Lexi and I went back to Lorette to pick up the last odds and ends. Until then I was so focused on all the things that needed to be done I wasn’t as focused on what we left behind. When we pulled up to the house Lexi asked “Whose house is this Daddy?” and said “Grandma’s silly”.

It was strange to see Grandma’s house without all our stuff all over the place! It sounds funny but there was no sign of the girls except some art that Lexi had done that was still on the wall. When I came back in from the van there was music playing and Lexi was dancing alone in the big empty kitchen. Not sure if it was the sun beaming in on her or the song that was playing but Gerrie and I both just stopped and watched her. We were both holding back some tears and it was the first time it occurred to me that this was home. Maybe not as much for me, but undeniably it was for my girls…all 3 of them.

Crunch Week

It’s hard to believe that by this time next week I will be making updates from our new house. We have been working hard to make sure we are all packed and ready. I seem to have a lot of support from the guys on moving day so I think it will be pretty painless. So excited. Shan and I signed our lives away yesterday so this is suddenly becoming very real.

I also want to thank everyone for the stache support. I am up to $100 raised for this beauty.

Yesterday was a PD day so Shan took in a speaker and I got to stay home with the girls. It was great to be home with them. Just like old times for Lexi and I except now instead of pretending to play dolls with her I actually had a baby to take care of. Ashlyn is so smiley now so it was extra fun. Everytime I would would get a big burp out of her she would turn and look over at me for approval and then smile away. It was hilarious.

Movember

Remember this post? I am getting in on the fight this year and growing some kind of moustache for cancer. I am sure I will look like a real creep in about a weeks time and there will be lots of phone calls to the school about my credentials. Here is my first picture…I call it “The Clean Palette”.

You can visit the Movember site to donate or if you don’t like giving up that info online you can download and fill out this form!

Ladies, still not sure how to get involved?

Number 11

I have been really busy lately and unable to post. What have I been up to you ask? Oh I don’t know…BUYING A HOUSE! We are excited to announce that we just purchased our new home in Windsor Park. We are moving November 19 (if you want to help) and we are planning on living there FOREVER. Ya, ya, ya, it’s an amazing house that has been completely updated but the best thing about it is the address. #11. I think we paid extra for that and it was well worth it.

Next chapter: House Broke.

Happy Thanksgiving

Saturday was Nolan’s hockey in the afternoon and then our final table for Spite Club in the evening. Joel whipped up some wicked burgers and we feasted before a 5.5 hour marathon of spite. Ponch finished first, Al second, and I came in 3rd. I was pretty happy about that just to be in the money after a terrible season. Another great night with friends regardless.

Sunday was all about the Jets. We were planning on heading over to Tyler’s for the game but by the time Lexi found a dress she wanted to wear it was already 3:30pm and I didn’t want to chance missing the puck drop so we stayed home for the first period hype. Even Shan had goose bumps at the opening ceremony so I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be in the arena for that. I also thought it was cool that Don Cherry came on with a picture of the Queen (like the one that used to hang in the old barn).

We made it to Tyler and Amanda’s for the second period and as usual they were awesome hosts. Despite the Jets loss it was great to take that in with some close friends and my family. Lexi and Ashlyn won’t remember the loss but I will be able to tell them someday that their first Jet game was one to remember.

Today my parents, sister, and grandma are coming over for a Turkey dinner. What a great way to start the week!