best. wreck. ever!!!!!!!

it's my birthday in 5 days. my mom is here right now, but she won't be on tuesday (the 22nd... my birthday... hint hint), so she and the kids made me a b-day cake today.

and i have to say....

best. cake. ever!!!

 after i blew out the candles, blithe said, "wow! it smells like smoke in here!!!" um... i'm not that old... i'm turning 33. not 133!!!

 the proud wreckorators. note that the bottom of the cake is square, and the top is round. and note the crazy angles of some of the candles. 

there it is, in all it's wrecky glory. including, "mome" instead of "mommy." {sniff} it's just... just... so beautiful! {wipes tears}

could i be more proud?? could i be any happier???

nope.

'cause the kidley-winks made me my very own wreck for my birthday. i have the best. kids. ever. 

oh! it just occured to me that some readers might not know why i'd be so excited about a hideous, misspelled cake. check out this website, Cake Wrecks, and you'll understand. :)

birthdays!!!!

yup, i'm in a birthday frame of mind lately.

both the boys have birthdays in early december. and so... we're having a party.

yes. party. singular. as in, only one.

they both wanted to have their party at the bowling alley. bram's best friend has his b-day party there last month, and bram loved it. so, of course, we just have to do that, too.

but... it's kind of expensive. so......

i presented them the option of "plan B"... and thank God, they loved it and are very excited about. here's the new plan:

we're still bowling, but we're doing it at home. we're going to clear out the playroom (as much as possible) and set up two "bowling alleys" using those plastic bowling sets. you know... like this:

so that's part of what we'll be doing. we'll also play some more "classic" games:

and maybe a couple others... musical chairs (sorry, no cutesy picture, since it's just chairs and music), that sort of thing.

and the piece de resistance??

before everyone arrives, the boys are going to help me make cupcakes. i picked up a couple "cupcake mix in a tubes" yesterday.

so that's what we're going to use to make the cupcakes beforehand. they'll bake while the kids are arriving, and then, once they've cooled,

THEY'RE ALL GOING TO DECORATE THEIR OWN CUPCAKES!!!!

i've got chocolate and white cupcakes, chocolate and white icing, and some sprinkles etc. i'll be picking up some more decorating supplies this week, so they'll have quite the selection. i'm really excited about this part of the party. :)

and so are the boys. which is the best part, if you ask me.

i also managed to pick up a couple cases of pop (7Up and A&W root beer), because they were on sale. and i might pick up a couple cheap pizzas on party day, or i'll make some popcorn with fun flavouring, and some chips or something fun like that.

bram is especially excited about the goody bags. he's been nagging me to go to the dollar store to get stuff. "and make sure you get something for the grown-ups, because grown-ups need treats every now and then, too, right, mommy?"

and perhaps you're wondering about decorations. admit it, you were. {wink} well, my friend, i'm waaaay ahead of you. this week, we will be heading to the dollar store for some contruction paper. the boys (and blithe) will be making paper chains to hang up around the house. we'll also get some balloons and hang those around the house, as well. sure, it's nothing fancy, but it's fun, and the boys can help, so they'll love that.

so, there you have it. a double b-day partay for the boys.

can you believe, my little men are going to be 6 and 4???? i'm having a little trouble believing it, but i'm sooooo excited!!!

Canada Day (ok, i know, it's late, but i just found these pics)

improv smores... on the BBQ! (and note the warm clothing... in july... yeah...)
the kids had sooooo much fun making (and eating) the smores.

oh, dear. why does he look this happy while he's burning something? LOL

can you say, "SUPERBOWL PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chili-Cheese Dip

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 13 min
Makes: 32

What You Need
1 pkg. (250 g) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 can (425 g) chili
1 cup KRAFT Tex Mex Shredded Cheese
1-1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/3 cup sliced green onions

Make It
SPREAD cream cheese onto bottom and up side of 9-inch microwaveable pie plate or quiche dish; top with chili and shredded cheese.
MICROWAVE on HIGH 3 min. or until dip is heated through and cheese is melted.
TOP with tomatoes and onions Serve with tortilla chips or Christie Crackers.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Use Your Oven
Heat oven to 350°F. Assemble dip in ovenproof baking dish. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until dip is heated through and shredded cheese is melted. Serve as directed.

Special Extra
Mix 1 seeded and chopped fresh jalapeno pepper with chili before spreading over cream cheese.
Variation
Prepare as directed, using Philadelphia Light Brick Cream Cheese Spread and/or 1 can (16 oz.) refried beans for the chili.


or, check out the link. there's a picture there.
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/chili-cheese-dip-112413.aspx?e=email

ah, the joys of purging...

well, it's that time of year again, when you can't walk down the street on a saturday afternoon without taking other people's junk and unwantables... that's right, folks, it GARAGE SALE TIME!!!

ok, annie, i know, it's been garage sale time for a while now, like since the spring. but i don't really do garage sales. i have too much of my own junk, so why would i want someone else's? but... i have a LOT of stuff to get rid of, so i'm having a garage sale of my own. my mom also has quite a bit she needs to purge, so we're doing it together.

it'll be fun, i think. i'm getting rid of my stuff, mom's getting rid of her stuff, the kids are going to sell lemonade or iced tea or something (and they get to keep whatever money they make, so c'mon out and buy some lemonade from them!), and mom and i tossed around the idea of putting asher in the playpen and selling tickets. you know, "two bits a gander!" (which, for those of us from the generation who never got to go to a freak show, means, "if you wanna look, it's gonna cost you 25 cents). i don't think we're going to do that, though. he's too cute! we could get far more than a quarter! lol ok, totally joking about the asher sideshow. please don't come with your toonie all set to gawk at my boy. but i digress... (wow! i say that a lot on this blog, don't i? i wonder why? maybe i talk to much, you think? lol)

anyhoo... so, yeah, garage sale at mom's house on saturday morning. she's getting rid of a lot of stuff. me, specifically...

• kids' clothes. everything up to girl 4 or 5. boys, up to size 24 months or 2. something like that. stuff that won't fit the boys (and they fit opposite seasons. so asher could wear bram's winter stuff right now, but that won't work, because, um, yeah, it's summer. who'd've thought that these boys, with their b-days 3 days apart would be so vastly different in size? or, rather, the same. there's only 4 lbs difference. seriously.)
• cloth diapers. Kooshies. i have the baby size and the toddler size. i also have extra cloth liners, and flushable paper liners which makes clean-up much easier. i also have a cute hanging thing to hold the baby sized diapers in.
• scrapbooking. lotsa paper and magazines.
• Stampin' Up! stamp sets. for cheap. i think the biggest set is only $10.

i have other stuff, too, i think. but that's all i can think of off the top of my head. well, i've gotta go now. we worked on my stuff all week, now i'm here in hamilton to help mom get her stuff organized.

so, if you're out and about in hamilton on saturday, stop by our garage sale. we're right by Queensdale school, which is on, coincidentally, Queensdale ave. we're one block north of the street; the backyard is right by the playground. see you then! :)

is there anything more fun than tea with little girls?

yes! ice cream cone cake and iced tea in teacups... with little girls!

it was blithe's birthday party today. (and sorry to all my scrappy friends... i forgot my camera in the van, so i don't have any pictures. but i'll take one tomorrow of her balloon, so at least there's something.) anyway...

we had so much fun! blithe had 3 friends come over, and we had a little garden party in the backyard. they painted flower pots, blew bubbles, played in blithe's room, had cake and ice cream and iced tea, and then opened presents. it was so nice to see blithe so happy with her friends. she really did have a wonderful time this afternoon.

oh, i wish you could have seen them all dressed up in their pretty dresses, they looked lovely. oh, and the giggles! and one of the girls gave blithe some make-up, so at the end of the party, they went up to blithe's room and played with that. and of course, just like we all did when we were little (come on, ladies, admit it, lol), they went straight for the bright blue eye shadow, orange blush, and bright red lip gloss. absolutely lovely! :)

it really was a fun afternoon, and it was heartwarming to see blithe so happy and playful. :)

happy birthday, sweetie; i love you very much! :) xoxo

more toronto pics

i said i had more to share, so here you go...

blithe and bram got the chance to dig for dinosaur bones at the ROM. they loved it. they each went back to the sandboxes a couple times. they had loads of fun.

asher insists that everything blithe and bram can do, he can do, too. so, he raced over to the bone-digging, grabbed himself a pair of goggles, and called to nana to come lift him up. he had loads of fun, too.
would you be at all surprised to learn that this was blithe's favourite display at the museum? and that it wasn't mine?
the Delta Chelsea has an amazing thing for kids - they can check themselves in!!! they get to climb up to the counter, and then they get an activity pack. all three kids got one, and they loved it. our room (which i got for cheap, by the way - $129 for a premium room! woohoo!) was a mess almost from the moment we got in. lots of crayons and colouring books, and toys and plastic bags and ribbon ties and squealing, delighted children. so much fun!
ok, here's the story. wednesday morning, we had to go over to SickKids for asher's immunology appointment. and of course, because of the parent rate at the hospital versus the cost of parking anywhere else, the van was parked at the hospital. so we had to walk from the hotel. problem is, it started to pour just as we were checking out. nice, eh? so, we walked. in the rain. we weren't impressed. but, at least we were wet. because, of course, we didn't have umbrellas. i am not exaggerating (for once) when i say that within 30 seconds outside, we were all soaked. so, we scrambled under a canopy and dug the towels out of our bags and draped them over our heads. i threw a blanket over the stroller in an attempt to keep my child out of the rain before consulting a doctor about his compromised immune system. and i say "attempt" because asher refused to have the blanket over his stroller. he and i walked all the way to the hospital with him peaking out from behind the blanket, unbeknownst to me. at least, until we got to the hospital and he was wet and cold. oh, yeah, i was thrilled. anyway, with the towel over my head, i couldn't see mom and the other kids, because they were behind me, so i just barrelled along on my way to shoppers. you see, at shoppers, they have umbrellas. well, i got to the store, and looked behind me for the rest of my party, and there they were, standing on the corner, looking wet and pathetic in their towels. and to all my scrappy friends, you'll be proud to know that i have trained my mother well: you see how she's standing off from the kids a bit there? yeah, she's taking their picture. are you proud? i sure am. teehee!

so there you have it. a few more pics from our toronto trip. i have a couple more i want to post still, but i'm tired and sick, so i'm going to bed. maybe i'll post tomorrow. i'll try, anyway. talk to you later! :)

UPDATE: ok, so i'm showing the older kids the pictures here tonight, and blithe says, "we should have took a taxi." bram adds, "but there's no taxis in this world." i says, "bram, you know what that green and orange car is? the one right behind you in the picture? it's a taxi." yeah. conversations with my kids are funny. lol

long overdue... our mini-vacation in toronto!

waaaay back at the end of july, my mom and i took the kids for a little mini-vacation to toronto. we went to the ROM on the first day. here's some pics:

these are the coolest chairs. they have them in the lobby at the ROM. they're metal and angular, and surprisingly, very comfortable. anyway, the kids loved them. never mind the look on bram's face. he thought the chair was really cool, too.
ok, mom, you're going to have to help me out with the names of some of these dinosaurs. this was a flying one (pteranadon? i don't know. paleantologist, i ain't). and hokey doodle, the wingspan is huge! i think it said it was 12 feet or something terrifying like that! honestly, this picture doesn't do it justice. but it's right there, as soon as you come onto the dino exhibit, there it is screaming at you like that. "hi, i'm looking for the dinosaurs... and a clean pair of shorts." lol
this is a turtle. a giant turtle. a dino turtle. don't know the specific name. don't really care, to be honest with you (i'm really not that into all the names. i call this one dino turtle because it's a turtle from dino times. original, i know). and to say it was big, would be an understatement. if you look up from the funky metal chairs, it's right over your head. and then when you're on dino floor, it's right there, "swimming" out over nothing. it's gotta be 40 feet up in the air, just hanging there. and it's bigger than me. a lot bigger. yikes! but uber-cool!
this is blithe's favourite, the long-neck. and really, do i have to tell you what it is? you know, when you read in books "the such-and-such-a-saur was a million feet long" it's hard to picture, i find. but then you see it, and suddenly it's even bigger than you thought! wow! bram couldn't care less about this dinosaur. seriously, not even interested in the quiet ones. nope. he's all about...
the ultimate boy dinosaur. ever noticed that? for some reason, girls tend to like the brontosaurs and the like, but show the boys the fast, carnivorous giants with blood dripping from their fangs and claws, and those boys are clutching things only little boys clucth in public (or maybe that's just how bram reacts when he's excited. whatever. there was a lot of "bram, let go of that" at the museum. and he wasn't grabbing the exhibits. {roll eyes}) so, yeah, bram enjoyed this dino, and blithe still says, "mommy, i'm scared of the big dinosaur, the one with sharp teeth. it's the one that eats meat. i don't like that one." never mind that there were lots of dinos, and indeed animals today, who eat meat (including, ironically, blithe). never mind that this is not the biggest dino we saw. i think it was how they had it displayed (and maybe how it's always portrayed, as the "bad guy" dinosaur). if you notice, at t-rex's feet, there's a dino skull. i think it's a triceratops. no body, just the head. pretty.

so, that was part of our trip to the ROM. there are other pics from the trip, but i'm going to have to post those later. right now, i'm off to check on the kiddies, who, miracle of miracles, all seem to have gone to sleep nicely tonight! delightful!

finally... a garden update...

ok, yes, i know it's been a while since i posted an update on my garden. well, there's not really all that much to say. but before i continue, i'll admit, i've been a little neglectful toward it over the last week or so especially. lots going on at home, and since i'm the only adult here, i easily get pulled away from my beloved garden.

what else can i say? well, the non-picture update: my cucumbers are dead. they did well there for a while, but apparently they don't like the lots of rain then lots of wind combo or something like that (i don't know, ask a farmer). so, yeah, no cukes for me. the peas are coming up nicely, albeit surrounded by clover. i've simply got to do some clover-pulling. i've also got a couple carrot plants coming up, which is exciting. um, what else? hot peppers are doing ok, as are the potatoes. but they're not so exciting, so i left them off. but, i've learned what does really well in my soil here:

squash!!!! pictured above, in no particular order (mostly because i can't tell them apart anymore, since they've all mixed together), zucchini - 2 plants, acorn, butternut and pumpkin. ok, i'll do my best here and tell you which is which in the pic: way at the back and in the bottom left corner is the zucchini. in the middle somewhere is the acorn squash. the giant leaves, that's the pumpkin plant. and down in the bottom right, with little leaves and looking very "don't mind me"-ish, is the butternut. you might remember that i moved this one a while back, and since then, she hasn't done much. but when i checked on her tonight, i was thrilled to see that she's now spreading! go butternut go!!!
again, more pics of the pumpkin plant. seriously, those leaves are enormous! but this picture is really of the raspberry plant. doing quite nicely, don't you think? it'll still be a couple seasons before i get any berries from her, but that's ok. this garden is teaching me patience.
here's my giant tomato plant. it started to tip over the other day, so i had to stake it. it's huge! and earlier this evening, it had 17 tomatoes. but, i accidently knocked one off, so now we're down to 16. but it's all doing rather nicely! :)
ok, on to the herbs. oregano, lavender and rosemary are doing doing pretty well. in fact, i have already used the rosemary a couple times. yummy! :) as for the others, well, earwigs got at the dill and cilantro, so they're pooched. and the basil, well, i think that was my fault. i think basil might actually like water or something silly like that. i don't think it likes drying right out repeatedly. oops. :( and i really like basil. maybe i'll see if i can find another plant, or maybe some seeds, and grow it again. and water it. and take care of it. you know, learn from my mistakes and all that.

anyway, there you have it. my garden, such as it is. well, i'm heading into another not-so-simple week, but lots of fun planned. a trip to toronto for a couple days. first we're to the ROM to check out the dinosaurs, then swimming at a hotel, then clinic on wednesday. while we're in TO, i'm hoping to see a friend who's there with her baby after his open heart surgery the other week. well, i'll talk to you later! :)

THOMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yesterday i got the most amazingly heart-warming surprise. someone, i don't know who, bought tickets for us to go see Thomas the Tank Engine here in town. we weren't going to go due to the cost ($20/person! yikes!) but then some wonderful person made a way.

in case you don't know this (and the only you wouldn't is if you've never actually met us), bram is OBSESSED with thomas. honestly, day and night, all he talks about is thomas and all his tank engine friends. so you can imagine how thrilled he was to actually get to see his favourite fussy little engine! here are some pics from the day:

bram watching thomas pulling up.
me & bram, cuddling on the train.
the kids had so much fun on the train ride.

and here they are, posing with thomas. and, before you think bram's ticked off or something, he's not. that's how he smiles lately. isn't is lovely? ugh. ah, well, this is the real bram, folks. and he's all mine! lol

so again, i'd like to say thank-you to whoever it was who paid for us to go. it was extremely generous of you, and we had a great time! thank-you thank-you thank-you! :)