Simon's Birthday, Pumpkin Patch, Halloween, Mosaic Vice

I never mentioned Simon's birthday!  Just look at how adorable he is:

 

We just had family over for some cake.  He was happy.
  

He still isn't saying many words, but a few new ones are "woof woof' for dog, and 'doo doo' for choo choo train (for when he wants to watch Thomas the Tank Engine).  We got him a 'big boy bed' (a.k.a. a twin mattress on the floor, like his brothers) since I was hoping it would be more comfortable for him so he wouldn't wake during the night anymore.  The plan didn't really work since he still wakes up with an angry yell or scream a few times a night, not necessarily for any reason.  He's probably dreaming that I wouldn't let him punch me or something.  Sigh.

In October we went to various parks on various days.  My brother Todd and his family came out for Thanksgiving, so we rode bikes around the seawall with them and I took this pic of Max:

 And this one of Callum at Second Beach:

These pics are just from a sunny Saturday morning with Jeff:
 

 We took our family trip to the Pumpkin Patch, this year with our friends the Sherwin family.  While waiting for them, I got some cute ones of my boys:

Picking out the perfect Pumpkin can be very stressful, according to Max.

Ruby is in my Primary Class (9 year-old girls) while Leo is Callum's age and Henry is closest to Max.

I'm very happy with a new jacket I got - I realized that my old heavy Marmot ski jacket is from 1997. The look on Max's face is what you'll see if you take him out in the rain, into trails when he knows there is someone walking their dog in there - he still has a rather irrational fear of animals, poor kid.  Simon is turning out to be not too fond of them either.

Of course there was Halloween, and I am so proud of myself that I actually made a costume!  Callum wanted to be the character from a computer game he likes, Minecraft Steve, and it was rather simple to make, but I was still happy when Max said he just wanted to be a Vampire (and a Vampire who wouldn't wear sharp teeth or make-up!).  Max only ended up visiting about 5 houses anyway since he was too freaked out by all the people who had dogs at the door or walking them with their kids trick-or-treating.  Poor kid.

November 2nd was the 10k Night race that I signed up for and actually trained for.  It ended up being quite rainy but not too cold, so it was a fun time.  My friend Rhonda happened to have signed up for it too so we ran most of it together but I was disappointed with my time (59mins) since it felt like I was running so fast!  Oh well, not bad for my first race since before Callum was born!  

Jeff's parents came for a brief visit Nov. 6-13th, so we just hung out at home a lot with them.  Well, actually, this picture was taken probably right around the same time that someone was smashing my van window and stealing my purse on November 9th.  So the boys spent time at home with their Grandparents while I drove around a lot to replace bank cards, credit cards, drivers licence, Nexus card, etc... Not too fun.

  
November 30th was Jeff's company Christmas party.  I had heard a lot about it since his Langley office was in charge or organizing it.  They opted for a Miami Vice themed party hosted at the oh-so classy "Pink Palace" hotel in South Surrey.  I think it was a success.  I'm just disappointed that none of these pics show the zebra-print pants I was wearing (with our friends Ben and Keiko:

And one last note:  I have given up being ashamed of my messy house since I have given up trying to keep up with the disasters made by 3 little boys.  This picture of the exploded blender, however, I took as a memento of my surrender:

At least it was just the soapy water and not the smoothie that Simon decided to mix up for me.  Yup.  

Cram in some blog-time...

SIGH.  Aaahhhhhh.  I feels nice to sit down at the computer to blog.  It feels kind of like I am being bad, actually, knowing that I have a so much other work that needs to be done, but instead I succumb to my guilt at having not blogged for nearly 3 months!  So, let's get right to the meat...

Back to July...

Jeff got about 9 days off work at the end of July (after using some of his holiday days to go with the Scouts on a camp in... um, somewhere past Hope).  Although we didn't really go anywhere, we used them up pretty fast.  He came with us to a few parks, went to Lynn Valley and Lonsdale Quay, did Science World and Jericho Beach another day, but mostly we put him to work building the backyard playhouse for the boys!  It's October now, and it's not done yet... Have I mentioned that I am already looking forward to days back in a condo or at least a townhouse, where projects and maintenance and yard work don't steal all my husband's free time?!?

Here's some pics of our summer activities:

 

One of the main reasons we didn't go anywhere for Jeff's holidays is because we bought tickets for our family to go to Hawaii in January (Wohoo!), and we figured we'd spent enough money for a while... Hence the decision for Kelli to get back into the business of making money!  Yes, long story short: I work part-time(16-20hrs.week) from home as a designer/architect consultant.  Originally it began with a casual conversation with a Mom of one of Max's Preschool friends which led to a meeting with a builder/contractor in need of a designer which led to meeting with some new clients which led to spending the next 2 months designing a new home and coach house for their property in White Rock.  I definitely felt blessed to have such a perfect work opportunity basically fall in my lap. Just last week, however, that project died (after someone offered my clients a lot of money for their property that they couldn't say No to).  Now, I am working with a friend, who asked me to collaborate with him on some of his projects in the Vancouver area.  I enjoy the work and it makes me feel slightly more productive than the other 99% of my life... Ok, maybe just 95% of my life...

Ah yes, the life of a hectic suburban Mom... You know, I remember when I was pregnant with Callum and I was honest-to-goodness confused about what a stay-at-home Mom did all day.  I had visions of the baby crawling around on the grass in the backyard while I productively weeded the garden, or my school kids doing their homework while I prepared well-planned healthy meals, or maybe we'd have fun after-school activities that would allow me to sit and watch them from the sidelines and feel proud...  But I really didn't understand what would fill the day of a Mom who didn't work... HA HA HA HA HA HA...  Let's translate those visions to reality, shall we?  On an average day, my productivity is divided into 3-5 minute segments of time.  For example:  I might put a few dishes in the dishwasher, then get interrupted to get a glass of milk, then start to make a sandwich but stop to settle an argument, get a few more dishes in the sink before I remember I need to go down to switch the laundry but on my way down the stairs I get interrupted to find a missing library book that urgently needs to be found, then I get going on switching the laundry until the phone rings and I need to quickly look on-line for a new door-pull for my Dad to fix our condo closet, but before I can actually choose the door-pull, I am asked why there are no clean pants in the drawer and I have to find some in the yet un-emptied dryer, then Simon comes over to scream at me because he turned off the TV so I need to fiddle with it for a bit, then I realize what time it is and return to making the sandwich I had already started while ordering the kids to "please please please finish getting dressed before I have to yell" at them, then I actually finish the sandwich, refill the water bottle and find a yogurt before I start getting punched and screamed at by Simon because I didn't give him the water bottle and yogurt that is actually for Callum's lunch, so then I have to pick him up and put him in his bed to listen to him scream at me through the door while I order again "please please please get dressed before I have to yell" (though it kinda sounds like I might already be yelling), so I can then go back downstairs to actually empty the dryer so I can put the wet stuff in and turn it on, then actually choose the door-pull and e-mail the info to Jeff, then... You know, I'm tired of writing this.  For get it.  It was a hectic morning...

Otherwise, let's see...

- Callum wants to be a Minecraft (computer game) guy for Halloween, so we're actually making it this year. Max wants to be a Vampire (yes!  We have that costume already = no effort required!)
- Max is taking swim lessons Tues/Thurs mornings and is doing super great - he is probably as good as Callum now, just not as confident.  I want him to be pretty good before we go to Hawaii.
 - Callum and Max are both in skating lessons Mon/Wed evenings, and they really enjoy it.  I really don't enjoy putting their skates on and am not looking forward to the possibility of either of them doing hockey (Max has started expressing an interest).
- I have daycare for Max and Simon on Mondays at a place called Robyn's Nest which is right next door to Mountainview Preschool for Max, so they can do the transfer for me and on most Wednesdays they also go to my friend Erin Singer's for the day.  I can get most of my payed-work done during those days, but I have to confess that I look forward to them a little bit just to have a bit of peace and quiet (that goes by all too fast).
- Simon is a screamer and a hitter and generally drives me crazy, but at least several times a day I think he is cute and sweet and still want to eat him up.
- I have started running more frequently, in an attempt to prepare for a 10k race in Stanley Park on November 2nd.  It feels pretty good to actually be training for something.
- Jeff is getting worried about being able to ride up Mt.Haleakala in Hawaii with Sven, so he has boosted his work-outs as well... Now if only I could match our improved exercise routine with some additionally healthy planned meals...

Well, time is up!  No more sitting down for me...

Just to finish off, here's a couple out of the hundreds of unexplicable photos I find on my iPhone: