Thanks, Chelle, for making it easier for me to get something in this poor, lonely space tonight!

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:

1. December 18 – Christmas vacation time with my family!
2. Getting to my Mom’s place and finally relaxing.
3. Having my friend shave our dogs before Christmas. They’re super shaggy & my clippers are broken.
4. Moving our mortgage in a few years and no longer paying double what everyone else pays.
5. My mother in law getting here tomorrow so I can have a break and go out with the Big Guy.
6. Finishing Primo’s family tree project tomorrow and getting it mounted. Inspired by his new subscription to Chirp magazine.
7. Sleeping in Saturday. (Did you hear that, Big Guy?)
8. Retirement.

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:

1. Played with playdough with my kids at 6:30 am.
2. Made my family their daily green smoothie.
3. Watched more than one old PVR’d Rachel Ray & Dr. Oz show after the kids were in bed.
4. Laundry. What’s new?
5. Made a dairy-free broccoli salad so the Big Guy could enjoy it.
6. Read a chapter of my current book – The Shack.
7. Was grateful for such amazing childcare. When I announced that it was time to leave in the morning they ran to the door and said “Yay! We love (her)!”
8. Ate chips after supper when I shouldn’t have been eating at all.

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:

1. Keep my mouth shut.
2. Sleep in at least once a week.
3. Be chipper & energetic on 3 hours of sleep a night.
4. Have money left at the end of the month to save.
5. Find a reasonably priced house cleaner.
6. Win a lottery so I could stay home with my kids until they’re in school and not need a house cleaner.
7. Shop at a better & less expensive organic grocer.
8. Retire

8 SHOWS I WATCH:

1. Dexter
2. Survivor
3. Desperate Housewives
4. The Office
5. Parks & Rec
6. The Amazing Race
7. Dr. Oz
8. Rachel Ray

8 FAVORITE FOODS:

1. Anything my mom makes.
2. Fresh, sweet strawberries.
3. Pineapple.
4. Cheese and anything with cheese on it. My husband’s new dairy allergy just may kill me. Recipes please!
5. Chocolate milk.
6. Mocha latte.
7. Any fresh fruit that’s perfectly ripe.
8. Celery with cheez whiz. No, I’d never let my children eat cheese whiz.

8 PLACES I’VE TRAVELLED:

1. Las Vegas
2. Cuba
3. Prince Edward Island
4. Bathurst & Fredericton, New Brunswick
5. Niagara Falls
6. Vancouver & all of it’s bits & pieces & Whistler
7. Fairmont, Radium & Kimberly, BC
8. Everywhere, Saskatchewan

8 PLACES I’D LIKE TO TRAVEL:

1. The UK to see old friends
2. Prince Edward Island again, and hit all 4 maritime provinces
3. Disneyland
4. Montreal, PQ
5. Quebec City
6. Hawaii
7. Italy (and I’d have to hit France too. And Germany. Might as well make it a gooder.)
8. The Oregon Coast

So, my kids? They are happy. So happy, in fact, that they radiate gooey sticky sugary waves of sparkling sunsine. Or something like that.

And I? Have ten more comment sections to go and I’ll be done my report cards. A week early, thank you very much.

I’ve worked full time, done crafts, read a gajillion stories, watched Super Why ad nauseum, cuddled, tickled, kissed, sang, been the soccer mom, been the swimming mom, decorated the house for Halloween, packed all of that away, decorate the house for Christmas, hung out with my husband, prepared for the conference I’m presenting at this week (Out of town! Bringing my husband! Leaving my kids with my mom! Free date! First time ever!), cooked meals & kept two deep freezers full, baked cookies, baked muffins, stayed (almost) caught up on the laundry (but not the putting away thereof), and a little of this and a little of that. And we’re all happy. And it’s all good.

How long until this comes crashing down on me?

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes before their party on Friday.

Bella, as the fairy princess (”faiwy pwintheth – I PINK!”) and Primo as “Sergeant OurLastName.”

Trick or treating was a HUGE hit. They just loved running to all the neighbours houses and shouting trick or treat as they shoved their buckets in their faces. Neither of them ate any candy though – they came home and devoured cheese, crackers and a veggie tray before bed. They had each had a chocolate earlier in the day and I think they’d had enough. The Halloween Fairy made a very poor choice in bringing Primo an Incredible Hulk toy. He spent the day saying “HULK SMASH” and smashing random things – including his sister. The Hulk now lives on top of our fridge. The pony for his sister was far less violent. Who knew?

Poor orphan children only had four pumpkins each this year:

They each scooped out and designed a jack-o-lantern, made a Mr/Mrs Potato Head with us and painted two mini pumpkins independently (by far their fave).

And some bonus cute that you may not have seen:

Slightly belated, being that they’re 3 1/2 and 1 3/4 now, but better late than never. It’s not like I didn’t have the shirts in time – I just forgot.

I have a blog. Or two. Or three.

Just some of the many things that I can’t keep up with as a working mom, but I don’t want to give it up completely so I’m just getting in here when I can. I’m aiming for once a week right now.

I have some of the cutest pictures ever to share with you – just have to get them shrunk to blog size, which I used to think took no time at all until I was a full-time working mommy. Gah.

Today’s my Halloween party in my classroom and the kids also have one at their dayhome. Bella’s a fairy princess (”PINK!”) and Primo’s a police officer (”I’m going to police all the bad guys into heaven or jail, Mommy.”) We’re all looking forward to our respective days and I’m even more looking forward to picking them up at noon and just hanging out.

Last Saturday we skipped Primo’s swimming lessons to head out to the local petting zoo/pumpkin farm for the annual family photo shoot but it was pouring sheets of rain so instead we came home and did a makeshift shoot of the kids in my m=un-studio and then watched The Incredibles, made milkshakes & popcorn and built a fort with the Fortamajig.

Sunday we made the first two pumpkins that currently reside in our house. Bella made a Mrs. Potato Head witch and Primo made a Mr. Potato Head pirate. Cute, easy and not messy. A perfect first attempt!

Yesterday afternoon the kids each painted two mini-pumpkins while I made supper. Primo chose the primary colours plus white and made purple, light blue, light red and painted two beautiful little creations. I did the same activity earlier in the week with my class of six year olds, and all but two made their paint look like poop. Heh. Bella wanted PINK! and only PINK! so she created two beautiful and bright pink pumpkins and then proceeded to paint her hands and arms right up to her elbows, and then her cheeks. Then she said “Pinkalicious!” Ha! She’s hilarious.

Last night we also opened the tops of the two jack-o-lanterns-to-be and scooped all the guts out to roast the seeds. This afternoon we’ll carve the faces. They both want happy faces but the rest is yet to be decided. I roasted the seeds (and the seeds from my classroom jack-o-lantern for my students) last night after the kids went to bed, in butter, salt & sugar. Mmmm. I even saved them some. They’ll taste them today and we’ll see how it goes. Primo used to love them and a couple o months ago decided that the granola with the “green things” was Daddy’s and I had to make him different stuff so you never know.

I have photos of all of this stuff. A good blogger would post them here. Me? Not so much.

Hi ho, Hi ho, it’s off to work I go!