Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!

To honour Mom's special day, I'm posting the trailer of her book Last Chance For Paris.  We made this video a while ago.  By "we" I mostly mean my brother, Craig, who is an awesome video editor, but I did lend my voice to Zanna's Mom, while my sister, Robin, plays Zanna.  I'm posting it late so I can take credit when it goes viral.
Yesterday we enjoyed a dinner buffet at Red Maple Buffet to celebrate.  They gave Mom a free meal even though it was the day before her birthday.  Sneaky sneaky.  Anyway, I love you Mom.  You are the bestest.

Goodbye pool! Hello beautiful yard?

Well our pool has been sold (they must have read my awesome sales pitch) and, as expected, left behind a gaping mud hole and an oddly-shaped deck.  My He-man husband wasted no time in dismantling the deck, while I tore up vines and got rid of buckets of gravel (and also lamely stood around taking frequent brakes and making half-hearted attempts at keeping the children away from the nails and such).  This picture was taken on Sunday, and since then my Master of the Universe has done even more backbreaking labour. We were hoping to get some kind of lawn in there before the frost, but we might have to wait until spring.  Either way, my husband is seriously awesome. 

Mini me

That's right, my daughter now has a Star Trek uniform to match mine.  Made in Poland by my husband's Babcia.  Amazing!  Obviously my extended family is very supportive of my love of Star Trek (though they don't always understand it).  Now I so need to find another Star Trek event for her to wear this to.  This comes just after a friend of mine found a Star Trek shirt for William at a thrift store.  If I convince him to be Mr Spock, instead of a dragon or Batman, then we could have an entire Star Trek family for Halloween!



A Little Piece of History

My cousin in Germany sent me a bunch of old documents.  I've posted two of them above, selected because they have pictures on them. The guy rocking the Hitler mustache in both pics is my great grandfather, Anton John.  I just love old documents, don't you?  Check it out, the bottom picture is attached with little rivets!

My high school German doesn't extend beyond colours, numbers, and feelings, so I can't make heads or tails of most of my cousin's files (he said one was in Czech, not German, but I can't tell which).  Still, it's nice to have a piece of history.

Wanna Buy Our Pool?

Our pool is great.  We've had some fun times in our pool.  Every summer we're all like "This is great!  A pool in our own back yard!  How fun and relaxing and awesome."  Then like a month later our laziness kicks in and turns the pool green.  I know, I know, way to sell it.  Really, having a pool isn't that much work and if you are a normal, clean, non-lazy person (not us) you could easily prevent the greenness.  This pool is perfect for someone who:

• Loves to swim,
• Is tired of driving all the way to a public pool only to find out that "fun swim" is done for the day,
• Has enough ambition to do their laundry and dishes on a semi-regular basis,
• Has a house with a yard,
• Wants to host an awesome pool party,
• Likes to make whirl pools.

If this sounds like you, then buy our pool from us!!!

Here's the kijiji link: http://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-home-garden-15-Above-ground-pool-W0QQAdIdZ229560122

We're asking $400 if you come and take it away.  $600, if you want us to take it apart for you.  I think this is fair, but we're willing to negotiate...well not me, I suck at negotiating.  I'm sure my husband will be more than willing to negotiate.  Just think how much fun it would be to have your very own pool!!

Awesome Family Photo!

Welcome Amelia

On Tuesday night, a very good friend of mine gave birth to a new baby girl.  (Yes today is Friday.  Yes, I am behind on my blog entries).  I'm writing this to say welcome to planet Earth, Amelia.

And congratulations to Becca, Drew and Aedan on this newest addition to your family.

BTW: Today I saw a blue heron while bike riding on a hydro path near my house.  Suddenly this giant bird came out of nowhere.  Wait until you get to explore, Amelia, this place is fantastic!

Chris and Lisa's Wedding

This weekend we drove a ridiculously long time to go to a wedding in Merrickville, just outside of Ottawa.  The groom is my husband's childhood friend and the couple are like family to us, so Adam was the best man and William was the ring bearer.  First order of business was to attend a house party with the rest of the wedding party.

The party took place on Friday, which just happened to be Adam and my 5 year anniversary, so of course we pretended the party was for us.

Then on Saturday was the wedding.  When all the men and boys in the wedding party wore kilts, much to the amusement of the ladies.

Instead of a pillow for the ring-bearer, they had a big flower with the rings on it.  Adam tried to convince William to carry it, but he refused. 

So in the end, Adam became the world's tallest ring-bearer.

Being a funky and non-traditional woman, Lisa opted against wearing white to the wedding.  But Chris and his guys wore white shirts so it's all good.

They kissed!  It's official.

Even though it was cold and windy, we followed the schedule which told us to have ice cream afterwards.

Then, since we really were cold.  I bought the kids a hot chocolate at the nearby pub.

Which is around the time William started flirting with the flower girl.

Then on to the reception.  Adam made a lovely speech in which he mentioned how it was our anniversary and how much he loved me and our kids.  Then he wished Chris and Lisa that they be as happy as he has been (you know, so it ties in). 

The centrepieces at the reception were all boardgames and William amused himself at length at the battleship table. 

I mentioned they were non-traditional right?  :)

Anyway, the next day we all went out for breakfast together then said our goodbyes.  We still had one more day in Ottawa though, so we headed to the Museum of Civilization just across the Quebec boarder.  It's a nifty museum with a lot of exhibits that are pretending to be outdoors, recreations of old towns and such.  It also has a killer children's museum with a crane!  This was Jadzia's favourite exhibit:

Jadzia's first haircut

Call that the "before" shot.  We biked over to Cuts for Kids and I bought the kids each a drumstick while we waited for the place to open.  William is the ringbearer in the wedding this weekend (more on that later) and he was in bad need of a trim.  I hadn't planned on getting Jadzia's hair cut at all.

After watching William sit in the tractor, watching a movie and playing with toys as the hairdresser snipped away, I didn't have the heart not to give Jadzia a turn.

The hairdresser sat her in the same tractor as William, even though I'm sure she would have preferred sitting on the horse or parrot.  No worries, my easy-going daughter was just happy to be included as a big kid.

She was ridiculously good the entire time.  Not only was she quiet and still, but she turned and bowed her head when the hairdresser asked her to.  Of course her official first hair cut occured behind my back, when sneaky relatives trimmed her bangs.  You can tell she's a seasoned pro.

  The hairdresser took a very nice "after" shot and gave us a certificate with a clipping of hair.  I plan to scan that in as soon as I figure out how to hook up my scanner.  Anyway, she looks exactly the same.  Money well spent.

Vote for us

Remember this video:

Well it's time to vote for us!  You have to put in your information and stuff, but that's only because you have a chance to win a prize too!  If we win, we get $10 000 in travel vouchers; and if you win, you get some Johnson and Johnson stuff (always useful).  I wouldn't bother looking at any of the other videos BTW; none of them has me in it.

Click on this link to vote: https://www.stuckonme.ca/gallery/F954/vote