Do You Know What a Willet Is?

I will be honest, I had no clue as to what a dictionary willet was. I actually just looked it up for the first time right now so that I could post the dictionary definition.

You see, to my sons, their 'private part' is their willet. How or why in the world do they call it a willet, you ask? Well, a few years ago, when they were in the tub, my one son just out of the blue called it a willet, and it has stuck ever since.

And with boys being boys, it is not uncommon to hear, 'oh my willet!' Everytime one of our boys says something about his willet, (especially in public), my husband always turns to me and says, 'I am so glad they don't know the real word!'

My husband and I laugh about it, and think of their shock someday when they find out the real name:) But as for right now, willet works just fine:)

And for thoes who want to know what the dictionary definition is......
a large American shore bird, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, having a long stout bill, long legs, and a grey plumage with black-and-white wings: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes

Update on bathing suits

A friend got me searching on the internet for modest bathing suits and I was pleasently surprised for what I found. Bathing suits that keep the 'girls' in and the patterns are actually cute:)

Here's the website if you are interested....
http://www.limericki.com/

Modest Shouldn't Also Mean Ugly

I have 2 young girls that will be entering into the teens in a few years. I personally feel convicted about my bathing suits and I really want to be a good example of modesty for my girls. My current bathing suits aren't too bad, but they are a bit low cut around the 'girls'. So, I did the dreaded hunt for a bathing suit! I really do not like looking for bathing suits, and trying to find a modest bathing suit is even tougher! Just because I want a modest, (something that can keep my 'girls' IN the bathing suit) doesn't mean I have no taste! For goodness sakes, I searched and searched! Why are the cute patterns only in bikini's or very revealing bathing suits? For some reason, who ever makes bathing suits, has a stereotype that modest equals ugly!
I did finally find something that I am happy with, appearance wise, but the killer was the price! Most of the bathing suits were on sale, except for the one that I wanted! And if you know me, I love my bargins! It was killing me to think that I would have to pay full price for something that I know will come on sale! (But that bathing suit was the last one!) So I hummed and stewed over it. I asked the store to hold it for me and went home to talk to my husband. He very sweetly told me to go back and get it.


(If I was adventurous I would consider starting a business....Modest and CUTE bathing suits!)

They Love Their Daddy:)

My husband is truly a handy man! I really mean it, he can do anything!! His little motto is, 'if someone else can do it, so can I'. Sometimes that means researching something on the internet to figure out how to do it. But without fail he figures it out and does an amazing job! He will totally take the dishwasher apart, fix it and put it back together, he will fix the washer or dryer, he does all the van repairs (brakes, oil changes, spark plugs, etc. He will do it all except fix the engine, although he has removed the engine completely because what he needed to fix was under the engine!)
Right now we are doing some renovating in our house. He has put up a wall, plastered it, moved outlets over a few feet, put flooring down. And the best part is that it looks like a professional did it! It certainly is not a hack job! It looks so good! I am so thankful for his handiness:) He has certainly saved us a lot of money over the years:)
I will admit that when we were first married and he would start to fix something, I would be a little nervous wondering how it would turn out. It didn't take me long to realize his abilities.

So, today my children decided to make my husband some thank you card for all his hard work he has been doing lately. My 3 year old put a sticker that said BEST on his card with lots of glitter. My 6 year old, who can now print and spell put Dad 34 (that's how old he is), and drew a picture of him. My 8 year old put Thank You Dad, God Loves you and so do I. And my 10 year old wrote a really nice note, and it touched both my husband and my hearts......To Dad, Thank You for all your hard work building the rooms I'm so excited to move in. You are the best dad. (and on the opposite page she wrote, )
What If
What if we didn't have someone like you. If we didn't we probably wouldn't be going to Marineland for awhile, because it would cost money to get the room built. Or have desks for our classroom. We would have to pay a lot of money to fix the brakes. And we wouldn't be here if you didn't marry mom. There is so many things you've done for us. Thank you for doing so much, with Love, L.

I love my children:)
And I really love my very handy and Hot Husband:)

She looked forward to this day...

Well, the day has come, my ten year old daughters feet are bigger than mine! (I knew it wouldn't take long, I have small feet.)
She has so eagerly waited and longed for this day. She loves to try on my shoes, (mainly my heels) and walk around the house in them. The other day she realized that one of my pairs of shoes didn't really fit her too well anymore, which then brought on the, "can I see if my feet are finally bigger than yours Mom?"

So, congratulations Sweetie:) Now all she is waiting for is to be taller than me, and she's not too far off!

Ice Cream Supper:)

Well, tonight is the night that our kids wait for and talk about all year long.... iCe CReaM SuPPeR:) On my husbands last day of school, (yes he's a teacher), we have ice cream for supper. It is the official start to our summer holidays! Yeppers, no veggies, no meat.....ICE CREAM! We do have some type of fruit like bananas, peaches or berries with our ice cream. We take the kids to Bulk Barn and let them pick out some treats that they would like to put on top, we bake some yummy brownies, and of course have chocolate syrup:)
We generally eat healthy all year long, so having one night of ice cream for supper isn't bad. Come to think of it, our ice cream supper is most likely healthier than a meal at McDonalds!
It's memories and traditions like this, that I want to cherish and enjoy, and have our kids continue it with their kids:) My one daughter had to do a project on our family and the one thing she had to write about was a family tradition....and of course she picked Ice Cream Supper for her tradition:)
Well, off to get some treats and wait for my husband to come home:)


Happy Summer and enjoy your children while they are home:)


(This is a picture of the yummy stuff we got last year)

2 Down, 3 To Go

My second child just turned the big 8, which means, she's a big girl now....no more booster seat in the van:)
It is certainly nice to have one less booster in a very crowded van.
Just 3 more to go:)

We had a birthday party, and of course we had balloons.
After the birthday party the boys started popping the balloons. The birthday girl wanted to hold onto a balloon and didn't want it popped.
My three year old came to me and said, "I tried asking her nicely, but she still won't let me pop her balloon. It makes nice fireworks!"

Needless to say, it did end up in the hands of the boy!

Home Alone

Well, my first baby is old enough to stay home alone, and she did for the first time the other night.
We were only gone for about 45 minutes, and the whole time I was wondering if she was nervous or scared and wondered what she was doing.
She called a friend and watched tv.
She was so thrilled and proud of herself:)
I was happy for her too.
Now I just have to wait another 10 months and then she can babysit her brothers and sister:) She is so excited and looking forward to babysitting them, and I am too;)

Little Life Lessons

On the weekend we celebrated 2 birthdays and Father's Day at our house. Because there were candles on the cake we got out a lighter.....and left it on the counter.
That night when the kids were in bed, (well, all but one), I heard this clicking noise. My 'mother ears' sprung and I couldn't figure out that noise, then all of a sudden my 3 year old started crying, you know that painful cry. I ran upstairs as he was running down. He had the lighter and burnt his little thumb with a flame from the lighter!! I held his very sore thumb under cold water for a very long time, trying to console him. After calming him down, my husband had a little talk with him on fire safety. We put him to bed with ice in a Ziploc and he kept his thumb in it.

My heart felt so bad for my sweet, little mischievous boy. But at the same time I was thankful that he got this little life lesson without getting severely hurt. It could have ended a whole lot worse!

The poor boy is so embarrassed by it that he has asked me not to tell anyone....not even his Grandma or Grandpa. (So please do not ask me about it in front of him.)

I don't think he will be playing with fire any time soon:)

Sisters:)

There are lots of benefits to having a sister and I love having a sister! ( I honestly feel bad for those who don't. For those who don't, I hope that they have a really good girl friend:) )
Growing up we wore each others clothes quite frequently. But obviously that stopped when we got married. No more just walking into each others closets and borrowing whatever we wanted:(
But just recently that has all changed:) Because my sister is very pregnant (due in 3 weeks), and I have a 2 month old, I don't quite fit nicely into my clothes, and she is wearing maternity clothes. Because of that, she has been very generous in letting me borrow some of her clothes:) And she has really nice clothes too:)
Now if only she didn't fit into her jewelry ;)

I love watching my girls as they have now started wearing each others clothes and jewelry:)
And I hope and pray that my daughters grow up to be each others best friends just like my sister and I:)

And it just so happens that today is also her birthday, so...

hAppy bIrthdAy bIg sIstA :)
I love you:)

Bumper Stumpers

There was a game show back in the late 80's called Bumper Stumpers, and I loved it. If you are unfamiliar with it, basically you try and figure out license plates. For example KCNO, 44BWTHU, RELEST8.

I am constantly trying to figure out peoples license plates. Why? Frankly, I really don't know. It is just one of those little weird things that I like. And honestly, if I get stumped and I can't figure it out it really annoys me. I want to ask them what their license plate means. My husband thinks it's funny, well, actually I think he thinks I am a little weird, but that's ok:)

You should try, it is a lot of fun:)


(The answers are casino, force be with you, real estate)

Guilt Trips....oh I mean School Trips

It is the time of year when the children get to go on there non educational, fun year end school trips:)

Due to nursing, I am unable to go on my 2 eldest school trips:( They are all day trips. I don't think other parents would appreciate it if I just whipped out my 2 month old sons lunch, (aka 'the boob'). OR if I am responsible for a group of kids how do I say, ' You stay right here for 10 minutes so I can go and pump.' So, due to nursing I had to break the news and tell them that I am unable to go along with them.

I was already feeling bad knowing that I couldn't go, and then when I did tell them, I got, 'but Mom, it would mean so much if you could come! I really want you to come!'
Now with more guilt, and trying to make the situation better, I went on to explain to them how lucky they were that I was able to go on almost all of their field trips and some parents aren't able to go on any.

They will go and have a great time I know. But I know that the day of their field trips I will be wishing I was with them, I enjoy seeing their smiling faces as they experience new things with their friends. I really just love watching my kids learn, grow, experience new things, laugh and love life. Watching them makes me smile:)

Oh, the guilt of a mother never ends!

I (REALLY) Heart Chocolate :)

I went to the grocery store the other day and right there before my eyes was a dream come true....Milk Chocolate Chipits in a 1kg bag!!! :) They have had the semi sweet chipits in the big bag but not the Milk Chocolate chipits! I was so excited that I couldn't stop smiling all the way home:) I like to buy the milk chocolate chipits (normally in the regular small bag), not to bake with them, but to eat them:) I love having them in the cupboard, so that throughout the day I can snack on a few here and a few there.
Another favorite chocolate of mine is the Mint Smoothies from Rheo Thompson in Stratford! And to my wonderful surprise the other day when my husband was driving through, he made a little stop at the store and bought me some:)
It's the little things in life that make my heart smile. Just give me some good milk chocolate and I am one happy lady:)
So much for losing the baby weight ;)

Accountability

Well, this morning I had a child pour some milk into a cup and then jump up onto the counter to get into the cupboard for a straw.... and as he was jumping back down he spilled his full cup of milk! My first thought, 'I can't get mad, I said on the blog that I would try to take a deep breath and clean it up with my child.' And so I did. I grabbed some paper towel, handed it to my son and together we cleaned up the spilled milk.

I was wondering what else I should confess that I struggle with on here, it certainly made me think and react in a better way this morning:)

Puke, Poop and Spilled Juice

You know you are a Mom when.....you find it funny (at the end of the day, when your children are sweetly sleeping), that you had to clean up spilled juice off the floor and counter (and of course the juice was just made and the pitcher full when it spilled!), and you had a shoulder covered in baby puke, and had baby poop on your shirt too!

My Sweet Bundle of Love can really spit up! After his mid morning feed, he really spit up a lot on me, and honestly it doesn't phase me one bit. I figured there was no point in changing my shirt because the chances of it happening again was high and I do the laundry, and frankly I do enough of it that I don't want to be changing my clothes every time I get baby puke on my clothes. (That would be an extra load a day for me!)
Later that day, he was in his baby swing and I needed to put him to bed, so I picked him up and snuggled him in close when I felt something squishy on my hand, and then I realized he had pooped out his diaper! And not just a little, but it was one of those big explosive poops that go everywhere! (Due to the hot weather, all he was wearing was his diaper and a shirt.) Then I realized that it was on my shirt. I actually didn't change my shirt for an hour after I had the poop on it. This all happened in the midst of trying to get supper ready, knowing that time was ticking because I had to get the babysitter and My Man and I were going out.
So, we got supper done, (and now I am really feeling the time pressure of having to get the
babysitter), when one of my sweet children was trying to get some juice out of the full pitcher when the lid 'just came off'! Of course, (due to my human nature), my first thought was to get upset, then I took a deep breath, and realized it wouldn't be the end of the world if we were late, and my child really didn't mean to spill the juice. So together we cleaned it up, then off to get the babysitter we went.

My Man and I were about 5 mins late, and the funny thing was, so were all of our other friends! We all drove down the street to our friends house at the same time! I was thinking as we all arrived at the same time, how bad I would have felt if I would have gotten upset at my child! (Sadly, that has happened, and I hate how awful I feel!)

I just want to encourage all you Moms out there, at the end of the day when you are tired and ready to collapse and a child spills juice or milk, take a deep breath, smile and together with your child clean it up. Trust me, not getting frustrated over spilled juice doesn't come naturally, it is something that I am working on too:)

To Tan or Not to Tan.....That is the question

The warm heat of the summer (although still only May), is upon us:) Which means I am either in shorts or a skirt, which also means my very white pasty legs (with varicose veins) are out and showing for everyone to see. I know sun tanning isn't good for me, but it makes me feel so much better having slightly darker skin. Last year my younger brother got married. I was a bridesmaid, so to prepare for my 'bridesmaid look' I went to a tanning booth (first time I've ever done that). By the time my brothers wedding came I looked nice and tanned and not still white. Looking back on those pictures I like how tanned I looked! Which brings me to my constant debate with myself. I would feel so stupid if due to my vanity I ended up with skin cancer! But then I think what are the odds that I would really end up with skin cancer? A little tan would be nice.

Oh, to tan or not to tan, that is the vanity question of the day?

Memories

This weekend has definitely taken me back to different times in my life. There is a lot of fun, great and happy times, and of course some sadder moments.

It all started Friday night when my husband decided to convert our VHS home movies to DVD. Our first VHS started off with me pregnant and then our first born. She was definitely the typical first child with lots of video of her! The other kids kept asking when we would see them on the video! Oh how the past 10 years have flown by! Watching her learn to roll over, crawl, take her first steps, learn to talk, took me right back in time.

Then, Saturday morning doing some cleaning, my Husband found some old cd's....Dance Mix '95 and the #1 Hits of the 80's!! Oh yeah! That's right folks! My mind raced back to my teens:) The good times driving in the car (aka The Boat!) with my Sista, with the music blaring and us singing at the top of our lungs! Oh the laughter and good times:)

Then we headed to visit my Dad. My Dad was needing some help with cleaning up some of my Mom's things. Going through her stuff I would remember the memories of that particular item. Whether it was the fruit bowls that I was packing up and remembering all the times we ate from those bowls or the coffee mugs that she would drink her hot water from. Oh the memories!

I look forward to continuing to making memories with my Husband, my children, my Family. As I sit her typing my Husband is packing up our trailer and getting it ready so that on a moments notice we are ready to go and make memories:)

Cherish the moments and take pictures of them:)

I'm Back :)

I know it has been almost 3 months since my last blog....boy that went by quick!
Where has the time gone? Oh yeah I know, I was big, pregnant and could barely figure out what to make for supper let alone think of anything somewhat intelligent, (or at least make it sound intelligent), to say ;) Then I had my very sweet baby and I am sure you mothers understand the first month is kind of a blur ;) But now he is 6 weeks old and I'm not so tired and life is kinda normal again in our house:)

So, while at the park with my boys this morning, I saw a mom and I thought, 'I need to blog about her!' And here I am:)

My boys (6yrs & 3yrs) are having a great time. They are running, climbing, jumping, swinging high on the swings and jumping off. And then there is this little girl, (most likely around 4 or 5), wants to climb and her mom says, "oh, that's is too dangerous. That's scary, you can't do that." Meanwhile my 3 year old is 8 feet off the ground looking down at this girl. Then the girl wanted to go on something else, and again she wasn't allowed. The only thing this little girl was allowed to do was go up and down the slide! (Honestly, why tease the girl and bring her to a park and not let her play?) And of course her mom was right behind her the whole time! At the top of the slide, the little girl had a little trip, (and I mean a little trip that most kids wouldn't blink an eye at) and the mom was hugging her, hitting the slide and telling the slide that it was very bad and going on and on! Come on lady! Give her a quick hug and a kiss and let her get back up and playing again!
I got thinking of my own parenting what I do and what I don't want to do. I DO want to encourage my kids to try and reach beyond what they think they can do. And when they fall or fail at something, I want them to shake it off and get right back up and try again. I DON'T want to be constantly over them and holding them back from their greatest potential.
We need to let our children learn, grow and explore. And it all starts with climbing, jumping, playing with mud and digging for worms:)

Almost There:)

There are two very exciting things coming soon for me....yes one exciting thing is the arrival of my baby (only 6 weeks to go!) and the other exciting thing happening soon....Spring!! :)
We get to this time of year and start to feel enough is enough...we need sunshine for more than 2 days in a row! Enough of the colds and flus! But my dear friend, have you noticed that it is staying lighter longer? :) It is not dark at 5pm anymore! The days are getting longer:)
Hang in there my dear friends, Spring is almost here:)

The Joys of a 3 year old :)

My sweet, and I mean sweet three year old happily came out of the bathroom announcing, "Mommy I just put bubbles in the toilet!"
I just got new hand soap, (you know the really nice kind from Bath & Body Works), and he pumped quite a fair bit into the toilet, and then proceeded to poor water on top to make "nice bubbles for the toilet."

Later ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

K : "Mommy, is Grandma gone?"
Me: "yes"
K : "did she get in her car and leave?"
Me: "yes" (Now I am starting to wonder why is he so concerned?)
K : "oh good! Now can I take off my pants, and only wear underwear?"
Me: "Sure"

He loves to only wear his underwear! He is totally embarrassed if someone comes over unexpected and he is only in his underwear. He will go and hide or try to make it up to his room for pants without anyone seeing him. He always knows how to put a smile on my face:)

One Of Those Days....

I know a lot of people look at me and think I am such a happy, smiles all the time kind of person, and for the most part I am. But let me tell you I am just as real and as female as the next female. Call it tiredness, call it pregnancy, call it hormones or call it a bad combination of all three and you have yourself a very teary Wanetta! And yesterday was one of those days! It was one of those days I woke up tired and knew I was on the verge of tears, but continued to get ready and was hoping that the day would get better. But unfortunately not. Someone may say something to you and on a good day, you shake it off, no big deal, but on a day when at any moment you are about to cry it becomes your breaking point. Being at church when my tears start to flow, a good friend offered to take me home, I got home and put on my most comfy yoga pregger pants, grabbed a bottled water and some chocolate and tucked myself into bed to enjoy the chocolate and then some much needed sleep!
Thankfully today is a new and better day:)

Do YOUR Best

My daughter is now onto her second school project for this year. When my kids get school projects, there is a part of me that is always frustrated knowing that they are competing against other parents! And I can not stand it! I am very much against parents doing their kids school projects! What are the parents teaching their children? What are the children learning? And please do not tell me, "Well, they left it to the last minute!" So what? How is that the parents responsibility that their child procrastinated? I have 2 things to say, a) let THEM rush the project, hand it in and get a bad mark, maybe it will teach them next time not to procrastinate, and b) teach your children to do a little each night and not to leave something to the last minute. These are very important life skills. I remember when I was in school and my friends whose parents did their projects, yes they were happy to get a good mark, but on the other hand, they were kind of disappointed because they did not do the project. Whatever mark I would get, I knew I did my best and I earned it, not my parents.

Children feel a sense of pride and excitement when they have done their project!

Ever Wonder?

Ever wonder how and why our blood clots so we do not bleed to death?
Ever wonder how a polar bear knows to hide his nose with his paw so he can become camouflaged?
Ever wonder the miracle of a baby that grows in the womb and it came from a sperm and an egg?
Ever wonder how those beautiful colours make up such a beautiful sunset?
Where did the colours come from?

How does it all work? WHO created it? The complexity of the human body is beyond our human brains to comprehend.

It is more than just chance that we, the created are on this created earth.
We take our bodies, our earth, the animals all for granted, but just try to think of the complexity of it all.

Just something to ponder.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Know Your '2 Best Friends'

Recently on facebook, women have been putting the colour of their bras on their status as an 'Awareness to Breast Cancer.' In my little opinion it didn't really bring too much awareness to breast cancer, it just told all the males that we are 'friends' with on facebook what kind of bra we wear. I am all about girls getting together and chatting about bras, cute little panties, pregnancy, delivering a baby, nursing, and everything else, but my concern comes in when males are involved. I really don't think my uncles, brothers and certainly MY DAD want to see what colour of bra I wear.
Since Breast Cancer is near and dear to my heart, after losing my Mom to it, I would like to take this opportunity to bring awareness and a friendly reminder to KNOW YOUR BOOBS!!! At least once a month, examine your breast and know them really well, inside and out. Know every lump, bump, indent and whatever else. And if anything changes SEE YOUR DOCTOR! Early detection could save your LIFE! Don't think it is a cancer that only hits older women, because more and more younger women in their 20's & 30's are getting breast cancer. Don't think you are excluded from getting it, chances are very high that YOU WILL, or YOUR MOM, SISTER, COUSIN, BEST FRIEND, or someone YOU KNOW!
I don't write this to be doom and gloom, I write this to bring awareness!
Please KNOW YOUR 2 BEST FRIENDS :)

Another Reader in the House:)

It is always such an exciting time when a young one learns to read! My 5 year old is the latest little reader in our house, and is he ever proud of himself, (and of course so is Mom and Dad!).

Congrats Buddy!

A (kinda) Sick Day off School

Yesterday my oldest woke up with a sore tummy...no fever, no vomitting, no runs to the toilet, just a sore tummy. The thought crossed my mind that she just needed a little breakfast and food in her tummy and she would be fine. Another thought also crossed my mind, what harm would it be if she missed a day of school and stayed at home just to take it easy? She only missed 5 days of school the whole year last year, and has not missed one day so far this year. She had some breakfast, read in bed and kinda rested, and she was fine by 9:30am! We took it easy for the day.
I enjoyed having her home. I look at her and think, where has the time gone? Life goes by way too fast! So with that I have no guilt in keeping my daughter home knowing she really would have been fine going to school. Because before I know it, she will be planning her wedding and I do not want to look back on her life thinking I was too busy or did not spend enough time with her.
We need to take advantage of these kinda sick days, PD Days, March Break, summer holidays, and any other time your children are with you. How will our children look back on their childhood?
Enjoy your children while you have them.


Please understand, I do have days where I need a break and my kids are driving me batty, but I am talking in general. Our kids know whether or not we look forward to having them home and if we enjoy their presence!