Friday Funnies with Grayson

This was a longggggggggg week.... but thankful that Friday is here and for once, I am not working at all this weekend and have nothing major on the agenda! Sleeping in shall be rewarded tomorrow methinks!

Thought I would share with you a few funny things that happened this week... It seems as though my kids are currently obsessed with a few things - Danika is obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake, Spencer is obsessed with music, and Grayson seems obsessed with asking me about things that I did or didn't do when I was little - things like "did you cry when you got needles when you were a kid?" or "did you watch this show when you were a kid?" ...and he was horrified to discover that I only had one channel as a child and really only watched Mr Dressup, Friendly Giant, Hockey Night in Canada, and Wonderful World of Disney (I did leave out Dallas as I wasn't sure how to explain that show just yet). But the best one came yesterday - a while back we were talking about how my mom had a rule that we all had to move out after high school graduation. Yep, we were given about a week and then she happily helped pack our stuff and sent on our merry way. It wasn't a mean thing, we knew it was coming for our entire last year at home... it was supposed to teach us independence. However, when Grayson found out about it, he was quite traumatized by it. He constantly asks if I will "kick him out" when he turns 18 and if so, where will he live and yadda yadda yadda. Normally I deal well with these questions...up until yesterday.... We were playing at a park waiting for 2 of the kids to get out of playschool. I was having a nice little chat with a Grandmother at the park when suddenly, across the field, Grayson yells

"Hey Mom? Did you play at this park when you were a kid?"
"No honey, remember I didn't live here??"
"Oh right.... well where did you live?"
"At Grandma and Grandpa's house... remember?"

And as soon as I said the words, I felt myself holding my breath because I KNEW he was gonna say it....

"Oh, that's right... you lived there until she kicked you out, right?"

As I scrambled to explain it to the friendly Grandmother I almost died of embarrassment...

The other thing Grayson is currently loving is cooking shows. I wish we had the Food Network but I can't bring myself to spend so much money on a few extra channels so we settle for the odd show on CBC. He will sit quietly with me and ask me all kinds of questions about what they are doing/cooking/burning etc. So the other night, when Hell's Kitchen came on, he was drawn right into it. Now please understand that I would not normally let my child ever watch this show but since the other kids were upstairs playing and it was just him and I, I thought it would be a good time to explain to him how Gordon Ramsey didn't treat people very nicely and also enjoy cooking at the same time.

After watching about 3 minutes of it, Grayson asked me if the tv was broken. A bit puzzled, I asked why -

"why does it keep beeping Momma?"...

oh that. Well... that would be because they are beeping all the bad words that the mean man keeps saying.

"Ohhhhhhhhh... like the S word???"

(the S word btw, is "stupid" and a banned word in our house"). Yes honey, like the S word.

I no sooner get that out of my mouth and suddenly, we hear Gordon screaming at one of the poor chefs "get out of my kitchen you JACKASS" Ack!!!!!!!!! No beeps!!!!!!!!!!!! I gasped and Grayson quickly asked what the word meant.

"It's very bad word G... a word we don't say. It's like calling someone the S word, only 10 times as bad!"

"Oh... okay Momma, I won't say it"

Now flash forward to the next morning while we are all running around in our morning routine and somehow or other, Spencer did something to annoy G. Just as dayhome mommy has come into drop off dayhome girl, Grayson shouts

"JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I turn and look... ??? What Grayson???

JACKPOT!!!!!!... JACKPOT, JACKPOT, JACKPOT!!!!!!!!
(did my son suddenly develop Tourettes Syndrome overnight?!)

Before I could say a thing he quickly reminded me

"Remember when the mean cook said that on tv last night????"

Oh right.... jackPOT. Yep, I remember. But you aren't supposed to say ... ummm... jackPOT honey..... it's a bad word (seriously stifling hysterical laughter at this point).

Okay Momma, I won't say it.

So tell me.......... should I have corrected him?!

Hopefully that gave you a little giggle - have yourself a fabulous weekend1

10 Things Tuesday - Things that cheer me up

So I am having a kinda poopy day.... well not really kind of, a full on poopy day. And so I did my best to cheer myself up and thought I would share 10 things that usually help me do that (and truthfully, I also asked some other friends to do the same so it might rub off on me too!)
So... here are my 10 things....

1. Glee -

yep, just call me a Gleek. It can still be sad sometimes... but it is a show that doesn't make me think too hard and often makes me sing along... So thanks to the wonderful writers who come up with crazy lines like "You wear more vests than the cast of Blossom" or "I don't brush my teeth. I rinse my mouth out with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr Pepper was a dentist" ...

2. Reminiscing -

is there anything better?? Tomorrow is my friend Alissa's 10th anniversary so tonight, we chatted on the phone about how crazy it all was - the phone call on Monday night in which she asked myself and the roommate at the time which days we were off... when it was discovered we were both off on a Friday, a Friday the wedding was to take place. The crazy stagette where we discovered why Alissa really shouldn't drink (but what a truly hilarious discovery it was), the forgetting of the wedding dress clear across town and my insane drive to retrieve said dress, the rushing of the ceremony so that we could watch the very first ever Big Brother finale.... ahhhhhhhhh good times they were. Thanks for the chat dear friend :)

3. Spiced Pumpkin Lattes -

thank you Starbucks for the comfort of fall in a drink. Non fat, half sweet, extra hot if you please!

4. Favourite Photos -

There is nothing better than a favourite photo. I often look back through old files at my old pictures and they always seem to put a smile on my face. It may not be the perfect photo, it might even be blurry, but they always seems to cheer me up. So thanks to the brilliant person who invented digital cameras and made it that much easier for me look back at a whole wack of photos! This is a favourite from last week :)

5. Books -

whether it be a new book for me (just started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night) or my most favourite...snuggling with my kids and reading their favourite (current fave is There's a Dragon Downstairs) reading just makes me forget my troubles and takes me to another world. I took a break from reading for a while and it feels good to be back so thank you to the many talented authors who can do that.

6. Cheese -

cheese is my comfort food. Hot, gooey, melted yummy cheese. I was smart and avoided the fridge downstairs tonight but I am not making any promises for tomorrow! Thank you to all the lovely cows who make cheese!

7. Bubble Baths -

take me away Calgon. Okay, so I have never used Calgon, but do have to say that my kids bubblegum/strawberry/fruit punch/whatever is sitting on the shelf works just lovely!! One day, I will have my own bubble bath but for now theirs does the trick just fine! Thank you kids for sharing so nicely! (PS did you notice the names of these?? How cool are they?)

8. Pajama Pants -

I don't ever wear them to bed or I would probably die from over heating but when I am having a poopy day, there is nothing better than putting them on and just being cozy. I am currently sitting in a lovely pair of penguin flannel jammy pants that Cheryl surprised me with on one of my trips to New Brunswick and they are C.O.M.F.Y.... and penguins always put a smile on my face! So thanks to Cheryl for my awesome jammies! (PS, while these are cool, the ones that Cheryl made totally outdo these!)

9. My Kids -

even though they can drive me crazy... and today one of them came home with the first ever notice from the Principal about misbehaving... my kids cheer me up. Their snuggles can melt away my blues and their kisses can make my heart swell with love. Thank you to God for 3 amazing blessings in my life. (and this pic is about 2 years old but one of my faves!)


10. Did you see yesterday's post? Because that song just does it for me. And so thanks to Meg for finding the file and sharing it with me - you rock!!!!!!!!! Just in case, here it is again for you!

I WILL REWARD YOU!!!!!!! (oh and a SOTW)

Okay people out there in blogland, I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

I stumbled across the most amazing song today and I NEED NEED NEED it on my Ipod!!! I have searched and searched and searched to no avail to find a download.... so I am offering up some sort of RAK for the first person to find me a download for this lovely song.... check out the video!!



Isn't it the greatest?! I am going to check with my son's music teacher tomorrow about teaching it to the kids - what a great message it is!!!

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send me a link if you can find one!!! I promise to send you goodies in return!

Oh and... in honour of my friend Michelle, this week's SOTW is all about polka dots! I must admit I have more polka dotted patterned paper than anything else...so Michelle's obsession is not just her own apparently!!!



Have a great week!

10 Things Tuesday - Weird Things I Know

This one is a bit of a challenge for me...let's see if I really can think of 10 things!!

1. Starfish have eyes at the end of each of their legs - how weird is that? I only learned this thanks to dayhomeboys end of the year book from Kindergarten when his TA wrote that is something she learned. This summer we were at a festival that had some naturalist society people with all these tubs full of marine life and I was teaching my son this little tidbit...made me feel pretty darn cool when I even taught the naturalists this little ditty too!

2. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321 - Honest!! My math teacher in grade 4 taught me that and I have never forgotten it.... that and what a google was but somehow that didn't seem as weird to me.

3. A duck's quack cannot echo - not that I am a duck but this summer when we were at the lake for a holiday, we spent one day teaching the kids all about echoes. When a friend's dad told us this, we all spent the next half an hour trying to quack like a duck. Our quacks echoed but apparently if we were real ducks, they wouldn't. I'm sure the neighbours thought we had all lost our minds but luckily it was the middle of the day... which gave me some comfort in hoping that they didn't think we were drunken fools, only crazy parents.

4. And speaking of crazy parents.... no one can lick their elbow. I told this to my daughter one day and spent the next hour in hysterics while she tried...and tried...and tried. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And right about now, if you didn't already know this, you are trying to do it yourself or making someone else try it!!

5. If you wipe out your bathtub with a Bounce sheet you won't get a ring in the tub! Thanks to Alissa for this cool tidbit, I tried it out and worked like a charm!

6. I have no idea where I heard it but it's one of those things that sticks in your brain.... way back when, in Ancient Egypt (?) they used to brush their teeth with... wait for it... urine!! Bleckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!! And here I thought Crest was gross!

7. Peter Pan and 101 Dalmations are the only two Disney movies where someone has both parents and they don't get killed. This was discovered way back in University days...after a serious (yet somewhat drunken) discussion about Disney and how bad words appear in clouds in The Lion King and how parents always die or are dead. The crazy Disney fanatic informed me of this and now every time I watch a classic with my kids, that is the first thing I look for in the movie!

(and yes, this is not either one of those movies but does happen to be my new favourite!)

8. The human head weighs 8 pounds - yep... according to the kid in Jerry McGuire! I have no idea if it's true but for some reason I always remember this line... and then Tom Cruise tells him some stat about football and then he replies with "did you know my neighbour has three rabbits?" Yep... I loved that movie. Still makes me laugh.

9. Race Car spelled backwards is Race Car! When I can't sleep at nights, I do these dumb word games in my head and this one was a recent one! My stupid other game is finding 7 letter words and seeing how many 3 letter words I can make out of it.... insomnia does great things to my brain!

10. Griffin means "very wide" in Filipino. When I was pregnant with my oldest, I loved this name and had my heart set on it. Then when I told a mom that I had just met (who happened to be Filipino), her eyes got huge and she told me in broken English what it meant. So, hormonal me, went home and cried and vowed to find a different name. And now looking back at it, what a dumb thing that was! I loved the name and no one in my family would have known the Filipino meaning of it! Oh well, I now have a Spencer instead and I just can't picture him as a Griffin (although I really do still love the name!)

Whew..........that was tough! I am one of those people who normally rocks at Trivial Pursuit because I have all this useless trivia in my head...but trying to find 10 of them to write about today was tough!! Can you do it???

SOTW Sept 20-26 and a few other things...

Hello!!!! Is this thing on??.....

I think I almost forgot how to log on to my poor old blog. Last week, I made a new best friend - his name is Buckley... if you haven't met him, be thankful....but when you need a friend, let me tell you that you won't find a better one... he looks just like this:

And let me also tell you that the pillow that my Momma sent home with me in the summer was also well loved last week - but the good news is, I am back and raring to go!!

I did a quick sketch this week after a bunch of girls were chatting over on the forum about using your well-intended saved up scraps....


You know that big box that we all fill with leftovers and then somehow never use?? It's kind of like leftovers in my fridge - I can't bear to throw it out but then getting around to using it just seems like it's never what I'm wanting... but my new rule is that I must use scraps to create cards so I will see how well it works for me. In the meantime, I am gonna do this sketch three times over this week (one for each of the kids) and see how different I can make each one look.
APOS has also started carrying a new brand of chipboard embellishments so Alissa decided to offer up a contest on both Facebook and the Forum - they aren't in the online store just yet but if you're lucky enough to be able to get some in your hands, be sure to enter!!
I am off to teach another Copic class tonight - this time it is a nice little class so it should go a lot quicker than normal! I have some more exciting Copic news to share.... as soon as I get all the details!!
Have a great week!!

10 THINGS TUESDAY - PreWinter Wish List

It has been miserably cold this week - we even saw our breath this morning!! And so, sadly I must admit that fall is on its way...but I am not yet ready to think of winter...other than the things that I want to get done before winter hits!

1. Camp - we only managed to get 2 camping nights in this summer...not super successful ones at that but still, I must be a sucker for punishment as I want to try it one more time before I am ready to put the gear away for the rest of the year. However, I do need the weather to co-operate a teeny tiny bit.... anyone know how to do an Indian Summer dance??
2. Clothing Clean Out - ugh.....I so do not enjoy this job but I am in serious need of a clean out of the kids clothes. This year, I will have Tuesday afternoons all to myself (!!!) so I am hoping to tackle that somehow.
3. Declutter the Toyboxes/Downstairs - The kids are finally getting old enough that most of the toys can move to the upstairs level... but the job seems a bit overwhelming at times and I just need a swift kick in the rear to get it started!
4. Paint Danika's room - in the softest shade of lime green.... the colour that I can't seem to find in any google searches! I have been wavering about doing it for the last 2 years but have decided this is the year!
   
5. Get Grayson's Training Wheels Off ... again...because we weren't too successful the last time and somehow he suckered me into putting them back on again. And I really want to get some more good bike rides in!
6. 
   Win the Lottery - you know I had to put it in there...but if God is thinking that he can't grant me that until after winter hits, I'm good with that too!!
7. Take down the blinds and put up curtains - grrrr I hate those stupid cheap blinds...a lot. I think Ikea is calling me!
8. Family Pictures - did I just say that?? Hmmm...weird...I actually mean it! I think it is time to get pictures of the kids AND me..... honest!
9. Find a Good Hiking Spot - there has to be one somewhere in the city? One that won't kill me or the kids but still be a challenge?? If you know of one, please tell me!
10. Figure out Life - simple as that. Simple.... right?
    

JUMP RIGHT IN

Ahhhh summer, how I miss you already. We got back from holidays about midnight on Monday, spent Tuesday running around like a chicken with my head cut off and then got my oldest off for his first day of school on Wednesday.

So much to share...

1. our holidays started out not so well when my Mom fell and broke her hip, but it ended up with a fabulous week at a lake with some special friends.
2. APOS! got a new Inspiration Team and I am excited to see all the new changes coming down the line with that! Be sure to check out the blogs of the fabulously talented DIANA, MEG, TAMMY, CHERYL, VALERIE and BETHANY (who is working on a blog so stay tuned for the link!!)
   
3. And some new changes happening in my life that I am really happy about but just not ready to share quite yet!

Look for some online crops happening soon over on the APOS! forum - but in the meantime, enjoy a few of the vacation pictures!