"Highway to the Dangerzone!"

He's a wild racecar driver - what do you expect?
Buck is actually standing here for a few seconds.
The hat is also part of the costume. Of course, Buck would wear it for about 3 seconds.
Ready, set...stare at dad.
What is this thing, mom?
I was doing great until that last turn...hey, no pictures!
Let me get my car for the big shot!
looking cool - waiting for the groupies.

Nothing like a incorrect Tom Cruise movie reference to get everyone in a lather...

Well, there has been a lot to report these last few days. Most important - the HIGH hit 24 degrees Farenheit today. Yes, that's around -4 Celcius in this beautiful Northern land. Happy freekin' Halloween to us. The best warning that this isn't as cold as it gets: we've had more trick-or-treaters tonight than we ever had in Southern Cal and teenagers are still only wearing sweatshirts & jeans around. I literally almost stopped my warm car and offered a 16 year old my jacket. Insane in the membrane! (I should have used that song). It has been a busy night here in Calgary. It is fun to watch the way that parents improvise heat into costumes. There have been many small pirates in snowpants & a few princesses in "royal cape" coats. Very funny.

Our own NASCAR driver did not make it out of the house this year. We were in the mall today where moms of toddlers do all of their trick-or-treating. There was even a mini parade of strollers with tiny characters collecting candy in their pumpkins. Bad mommy: I did not dress Buck in his costume for any of this fun. We just watched sadly from the sidelines. I comforted myself by reasoning that I don't want Buck to assume that the mall is just one big giant freebie zone. Knowing him and his super-strength memory, he would be asking salespeople for candy in Easter.

I'm attaching an obscene amount of photos of Buck in his get-up, though. Neither RKZ nor I are really NASCAR fans, but this costume just seemed so cute (and warm).

Grady countdown still continues! 2 days! Yeah!

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful!"

Mountain Man Jake heading out to clean his driveway.
Mountain Mom enjoying the warmth inside while Mountain Man works :)
Mountain Man in a better mood. In Canada, we call these hats "toques"- (pronounced "took-s") I don't know why, but I know Mountain Man is lookin' good. The blue brings out his eyes.
The view from our garage (as far as I got in the snow).
Another view from our garage. Poor RKZ's Infinity has seen warmer days.
The view to the right of our garage. I'll try and get some of Buck in the snow. Today, he was sleepy.

OK, so our day started out with us living in both the frozen-tundra & idiot-land. It had dumped a few centimeters/inches (take your pick) outside when we woke up. We were very proud of ourselves as we had given ourselves enough time to feed the baby, take showers and get to Mass with even minutes to spare. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to a completely empty parking lot! It would be our first Mass in yet another new parish, so we started questioning - do you think they all know that if it's totally snowing, they cancel the first Mass? Do you think something happened?-- RKZ climbed out of the car and went to check out the deal-i-o. About 2 minutes later, he comes back to the car smiling. "It's daylight savings! I've never done this before!" We had a short laugh (it was cold) & headed off to the savior of all stranded families - the coffee shop.

After a questionable muffin, 2 small cups of coffee & a milk, the three of us tried again. This time, the parking lot was 1/2 full when we arrived. It was so fun to see families of children traipsing into the church pulling off hats and gloves and boots. Ohh, to be the mother of 5 in the snow. I have to say that I felt a tiny bit grateful that Buck is so portable.

Throughout the day, it didn't really stop snowing. I don't know how much we have out there, but RKZ had to shovel the driveway twice & he'll have to do it again tomorrow. The snow did motivate us to finish cleaning out the garage. After an evening run to Goodwill tomorrow, we should both be able to park our cars in the garage. Let's just hope that we can get our van up the fairly steep hill outside of our house. There's nothing like the "activating traction control" warning to get your heart racing as the wheels take a spin. I'll keep you posted.

Also, tonight begins the countdown for the arrival of the Duke & Duchess (aka - Grandpa & Grandma Grady). We are incredibly excited to have them here! And not just to help shovel snow (ha. ha).

"Somebody's knockin on the door. Somebody's ringing the bell"

Sorry for the delay in writing. It's been a pretty busy here with Ma Joad visiting & Buck keeping her busy. She arrived Tuesday & I've been running out to another women's conference during the day. It's been fun for me; but I think a little tiring for mom.
Ma Joad & Buck play "music time" in the morning. Obviously Buck is enjoying all of the attention.
My little poser. He hasn't seeemed to miss me during any of the time I've been away. Of course, fun Ma Joad has a lot more fun ideas for the two of them.
More music time in the living room. Ma Joad is sad about being published in her jammies. Of course, she's wearing more clothes than your average So Cal teenager.
Messy Mommy & Buck. More later!

"Beverly Hills - that's where I want ta be"

That song is just the one that's playing on our CD player right now (the "ta" is intentional). I'm actually incredibly happy to be home. Mondays are our busiest days & the hits just keep on coming! Got up to work out at 5am this morning - the only way to get a shower & my hair done without being "pantsed." Buck has a new game where he likes to hang on my legs & if I'm wearing sweats or pj bottoms, he likes to pull them down. He immediately starts to laugh if he sees skin. I fear for his future as a playground bully. He'll probably use the excuse: "I used to do it to my mom." I can just hear his teacher saying, "Loooovely family."

Anyway, I worked out and then was invited to a mom's group with a friend. Little did I know that the "mom's group" is really 1 1/2 hours of excersizing! At least Buck was in the provided daycare (nice!). My butt could use some daycare right about now. It did wear out both of us. Buck is currently napping & then we head out to Gymboree at 4:00. A good activity day.

Today I'm feeling very domestic as I have the crock-pot roast already going. You may worship me if you wish (OK, not worship -- but think I'm really, really cool). Very excited to see Ma Joad tomorrow -- 2pm our time -- can't wait!

"California here I come..."

We're back from our short California trip & better than ever -- maybe :) Buck insisted on helping to push the luggage cart. He was only happy banging into people's legs. These pictures make him look so old!!
Another perspective on the pushing. Here, he is a little manic.
Buck & I went to Disneyland with our friend, E. RKZ had to work...if that is what you call two days of golf, two days of surfing and three nights of going out with friends. Oh, and he says to mention that his team tied for first place at golf with a team score of -6. This is apparently a very big deal. In this picture, Buck looks particularly enthusiastic about pumpkins. Too bad you can't see E crouching behind the pumpkin. Quite funny.
Buck's aunt, (amusing nick-name forthcoming). She is beautiful, isn't she? The "computer-Kellys" aka the "literary Kellys" came over for dinner the first night of our trip.
Buck and E. Buck loved E. Buck would even cry when his mommy tried to take him away from E. E should take how much children love her into consideration (shameless hint).
Uncle "computer-K" with Buck and Buck's cousin "the A-mazing Ninja." Computer-K dangerously put Buck on top of the pool table. Scary, Uncle K, Scary.

We had a great time in California, and the flight was only 2 1/2 hours!! But, we are also very excited to return home and finish up moving into our house before we have guests!! Ma Joad is coming next week to be "nanny for a week" and the Duke and Duchess arrive the next weekend! We will also be hosting CSG as he recovers from his recent surgery (which was frighteningly touch-and-go last week). And then the holidays really begin when the Joads come up for American Thanksgiving. It is so strange to not have any Thanksgiving decorations in the stores here. We have jumped from Halloween to Christmas already. I guess that's not abnormal, but I miss the Turkey-coated hype. At least there won't be any rushes at the stores before our Thanksgiving dinner :) !!

Also - please contact us with when you would like to visit in the summer. We'd love to have you & it's filling up fast!! Come one - come all we say!

"Pooh's corner"

So, yesterday, Buck sees his big very soft bear (a gift from the Duke & Duchess - Gma & Gpa Grady) and he decides that he will not let it go. Seriously. All day. The picture below proves that he even insisted on eating with the bear. It is incovenient that the bear is nearly the same size as Buck. Eventually, I was able to leave the bear in Buck's crib. He lies on it everytime he sleeps.
This lunch only worked out because I was able to sit the bear in a glass bowl we have. Buck insisted that I let bear drink out of his milk sippy cup after every sip Buck took.

Totally bad mommy - Buck went down for a nap at noon (when he normally eats lunch). He woke up at 1:30pm & I decided that this would be a good time empty some of the basement boxes. I couldn't understand why Buck was screaming for attention the entire time we were in the basement. I tried to ignore him (as he has been throwing fits to get his way these days); but he was really upset. Finally, as we were running out the door, I realized that I hadn't fed Buck lunch and so he hadn't eaten since 7am! Please don't call Children's services/Child's aid to come get my baby. He hasn't missed a meal since.

On a final serious note - CSG is not doing well after her surgery. He is currently in the ICU. Please say a prayer that he comes out ok.

Shawn has work in Long Beach, Ca this week & Buck and I are going. We're leaving the computer at home (please don't come steal our stuff) - so there won't be any new blog posts until next Thursday. Miss us!

"Goodmornin' beautiful, how was your night?"

We're early in the morning here - 7:41am central time. Just a few moments while Buck in entertained to get those promised pictures off to you.
Our living room pretty close to finished. My favorite is the orange balloon from yesterday's trip to the grocery store. Also, the collection of decorative toys is a big hit :)
Buck pushing our diningroom chairs around the house.
Caught me! Buck is exploring our house like crazy. You can see that he's close to taking his own first steps. Scary. I can wait.

A good-looking Grady family Sunday morning. Buck pointing makes me laugh.
Ta-Da!
Bad mommy - I lost Buck for a little bit. Turns out he was "hiding" under the kitchen table & playing.
Our dining room. That's the new table in the middle with the shell on it. Was delivered by Dumb & Dumber yesterday. Pretty funny.

We're busy as heck with overscheduling this week. Excited to be ever closer to moving in. Spending a lot of time trying to pry Buck away from tv remotes (another sign of bad parenting, I'm sure). Actually starting to get excited for the holidays (sure sign we're settling).

"A Family Tradition"

Pajama day on Friday! Buck is showing a little fatigue in this picture (& his love for my cel phone case)
One view from CSG's hospital window - nice, eh? :)
One view from our kitchen window. This is the gopher that lives in our back yard. Who needs a dog? Of course, Buck calls this "dog." RKZ just wants to shoot it with a pellet gun.
CSG post-surgery. He is doing a little better now. The hospital staff are really nice.
The other view from CSG's window. He has the lock on good views, I think. This is the Glenmore resevoir. It's about 4 minutes from our house.

I might use this post title again for various posts, since it's a favorite song of RKZ's. It was playing when I woke up this morning (with RKZ & Buck climbing on me) :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! It is Canadian Thanksgiving today, so RKZ has the day off from his work in order to work on the boxes in our house. The good news is that we are pretty much settled on the main floor at this point - final pictures coming soon. We are working on the garage and the upstairs now -- and hopefully making a dent large enough for our cars. There is a nice, thin layer of frost icing our cars in the driveway, so we're motivated.

One giant bonus is the addition of the new washer & dryer yesterday. RKZ picked up the appliances and we both carried them down the stairs to the basement. They are the front-loading stackable kind, so RKZ also stacked them and connected them. I have a seriously great husband. Or maybe just one who is sick of wearing dirty clothes :)

We are plowing through the move in & enjoying feeling a bit more settled. I will write more tomorrow so that you can see our progress.

No bad mommy today because good daddy has been on duty for a few days (yeah!)

"Truckin' down to New Orleans..."

OK, so we didn't go to New Orleans - we're about -30 degrees North of there :) I have heard the clamoring for pictures & have answered accordingly. Here is our move - minus the emotional trauma. In the above picture, Buck takes back the kitchen eating area with the large toys he'd left behind in Toronto. Doesn't he look happy? So is mom.

One 1/2 of our two-car garage. The other 1/2 looks a lot like this one. Don't worry. Some of this stuff actually goes inside the house. We just don't know where yet.
The living room stayed surprisingly empty. It is now filled with toys & kitchen boxes. Who really needs cups & plates? Paper is working alright for us right now.
One of our movers, Pierre (from Quebec). I'm sure he's thrilled to be on the blog. The truck behind him is the second truck called to our home. There is a shortage of movers here, so Gord, who has become our personal mover, called his friends (Robie & Pierre) to come & help. They brought their own semi truck.
Here is a picture of the back of Gord's truck, the front of Robie's, our van & the neighbor's "for sale" sign. Anyone want to move to Calgary (hint.hint, Christa).
Our kitchen. It pretty much still looks like this right now.

Gord's truck & RKZ. For a few hours, RKZ helped move furniture into the house. He's good like that.
Buck playing his new favorite game - "pull out all of the dirty laundry all over myself." Yuck.
Oh, yeah, new neighbors were also moving in three doors down (3 semi-trucks - one street). Their movers actually yelled over that we could come help them after. I am thinking that I'll bake some cookies & go make some new friends.
Canadian Safari Guide (aka - my parent's close friend) came over pre-move & helped with Buck during the craziness. Ironically, CSG had hernia surgery today (no lie). It was planned months ago, so it cannot be blamed on Buck's size.

Bad mommy -- It has just warmed up here from freezing cold temps. I thought, that since our house is filled with boxes, Buck & I should take a walk to the fun kid's park just down the street. I bundle him up in his new sub-zero parka & we walk to the playground. At the playground, there are kids wearing shorts, t-shirts & flip-flops but there is a wind, so I refuse to take off Buck's parka. I think he was seriously sweating - especially when he started to crawl on the equiptment. Really - at least I wasn't like another mom who was letting her baby eat gravel :)