"O Come Now Wisdom from on high"

Now making a rare appearance on the blog: ME! It's still cold, but much warmer at a balmy 20 - 40 F. My sons didn't wear snow boots OR mittens today for the first time in 2 weeks. I skipped posting on Thanksgiving but we did have about 15 people over for a deep fried turkey (some Texans made it in our front yard) and the usual sides. I was a bit crabby, I'll admit, and it's hard to watch other people's 3 year olds tear apart our house. I know we have about a year until we're there with our own angel, but I can wait :) Mainly we just missed our family. Oh, to wear sweats and drink too many beers on a holiday in November...

I'm posting pictures of my very dear friend's wedding in Tampa, Florida. RKZ and I were able to escape alone about a month ago. There are mainly random people in these pictures but it's proof that we've gone somewhere alone in the last 12 months. 

We're all about to start decorating for Christmas - we got our $20 IKEA tree just this morning. Pictures soon. 

 A high school friend of the bride and myself. Her husband is a spinal surgeon who hunts big game and then has them stuffed and keeps them in a "game barn" redecorated as a pool room. It's a long story and as strange as it seems. They were nice to us, though :)

Mr. and Mrs. Love

My beautiful friend and her husband. They honeymooned in Paris - so sweet. 

My friend. It was worth the quick trip all that distance just to see her so happy. 

Myself and 2 friends I had made at the girl's bridal weekend. So strange to hang out with women only (mostly single) for a weekend. Very fun change of pace for a vacation! (I'm clearly at Prom in RKZ's dinner jacket) 

My favorite new friend, JR, and her husband. They are from North Carolina and exactly what you'd expect from a cute Southern couple. This was about 10 shots in for our dear husbands. 

"It's a nice day for a white wedding"

The view from our front window

The view from our front door

The view from our right front window

The view from our toy room. Feel free to measure that snow on the patio table. 

The view from my kitchen window. 

Today, it is -10F/-23C on average. That's not just cold. I don't think you can imagine the cold unless you've been here (or live with Santa). It's been snowing for over a week. It's actually too cold to shovel or use a snow blower. It took me an hour to get Buck to school today (yes, we still go to school on days like this). It took RK an hour and a half to get downtown to work. The meanest and dumbest people in the world wait until days like this to drive. They sit and wait and then take their Honda CRV's without snow tires or chains and try to drive them up country roads while talking on a cel phone that costs more than their car.  And, after 5 young men in trucks have abandoned their warm reliable vehicles to push the Honda up the hill, CRV-guy proceeds to cut everyone off at the next intersection because "he's late." All of Calgary is late today...but CRV is very important and his time is valuable. We just have to understand. 

After my hour long commute to Buck's school, I realized we'd forgotten his gloves. For one shining moment, I was the worst mommy on the planet. Abusive even. That lady who drowned her kids at least did it in a warm tub. My valiant 5 year old looked at me and said, "I want to go home." I could only say, "Home is a lot farther away than your warm classroom right now. I'm so sorry." Don't even get me started on poor Thunder who just has to ride along for the hour and then get out for 10 minutes only to get right back in the car. Wherever you are, the weather is way better than it is here. Please relish this.

To redeem myself, I drove to the nearest Winners (like Marshals) and bought 2 new pairs of gloves. I drove them back to school and had to convince the school secretary that she had to explain to Buck that I bought the gloves because if he thought they were from the Lost and Found, he'd never wear them (OCD runs deep in our family). I left Thunder in the car for this installment. I bought him a toy camera which I don't plan to take out of the box because I'm going to wrap it and use it as a Christmas present in 4 weeks. That's one to write down.

My favorite part of this story is that both Buck's teacher and the secretary said, "I don't think they'll go outside today, it's too cold." So, I bought the gloves for nothing except in case of emergency.

Speaking of emergencies - the fire alarm went off in the rec centre where I was using an elliptical machine this morning (after the gloves). Thunder was in the daycare, so I went down to see if they were going to evacuate the babies. It's still -23C, mind you, so right then and there I had to decide (in my spandex and t-shirt) if I'd rather die by burning to death or freezing to death. I was saved the decision by an announcement that "The fire alarm was found to be erroneous." I had already decided on burning anyway. It was only poor Thunder I was sad about. At least they would have gotten him outside.

"I'm like - forget you - and forget him too..." (Glee style)

Today, we've had a perfect "snowed in day" where I remembered why I chose to stay home with my kids. We made a lego castle and lego zoo, took Buck for a badly needed hair cut, read stories and played with stuffed animals. Buck watched some TV (of course) and I ironed 20 shirts! That might sound dull and strange, but I feel so accomplished right now. We all feel loved and we're having mac n cheese for dinner. Even though it's 9F/-13C outside, everything's going to be alright. I'll post our very snowy pictures tomorrow (for my mom - Love you!). Here are some randoms for ya: 

Buck playing penguin at our zoo trip last Friday. 

We put together A LOT of Lego around here...

Just so it's out there, Thunder has a diaper on in this picture. RKZ shaved his head with #1 clippers. I tried really hard not to cry and could only think that Thunder now looks like a child who either (A) had lice or (B) had brain surgery. RKZ is calling him the "Littlest Emperor." Thank God that hair grows back - look forward to our wonderfully bad Christmas card pictures. :) 

"Here we are now - entertain us!"

Today was the first real snow storm this winter season. No lie that we have 9 inches of snow on our patio table. The boys and I slipped and slided our way around all day. 3 hours of swimming at the local "leisure centre" and about 9 hours home bound. I wanted to watch a movie all day. 

Here is a rare picture of our entire family. Yes, I look very tired and - yes - there is a very good reason for that. Mainly, that I'm not wearing any make up and I'm 40. Also, we were in the middle of the craziest Halloween season yet. I can't get over how cute RKZ is in this picture, though (he's the one with the spider landing on his head). Notice how Buck is clutching his candy bag. Incredible. 

"Papa - paparazzi"

I'm a bit disappointed in that I couldn't steal some pictures from the web that I really wanted that are all black and whites from my brother-in-law (Uncle)'s wedding. A cousin took some beautiful shots of Dan in his mini tux and they are really great images. I'll get them somehow (insert evil laugh here). This picture is interesting to me...it really demonstrates Dan's "off in his own world" personality. And, he's a little disheveled 5-year-old too. 

It's a good day so far after a great weekend. Just Costco, hanging Christmas lights before the big snow storm and playing Life in the basement. A Grady favorite. Some other funny stuff happened, but I'll wait for the pictures to discuss that. 

It's cold here. It's supposed to snow A LOT this week. I'll get some pictures of that for sure. Just to make you feel superior in whatever warm place you happen to live :) 

"I'm goin' home!"

RKZ and I are just back from a very close girl friend's wedding in Florida. Of course, true to the fact that I am a jinx of the weather, it was around 60 degrees (F) and was rainy or very windy the entire trip. It is becoming a bit of a joke now that warm weather avoids my presence at all costs. I guess we'll have to schedule a trip to Dubai or the Sahara desert or something just to see some sun :). 

Regardless, it was a wonderful 4 days of alone-time for RKZ and me. At one point, RK asked, "Why do you think we are getting along so well on this trip? We haven't argued once." I looked at him with a completely dumbfounded expression and said, "We have been able to talk without constant interruptions,  no one needs to nap or eat at a very specific time and we don't have to use 1/2 of our brain power keeping a 2 year old from killing himself accidentally. Are you kidding me? Why aren't we fighting?" 

Miraculously, we missed the boys by the 4th day and we were ready to come home. Candace and Kevin had a beautiful wedding full of intimacy and warmth (cheesy, but true). There is something special about adults getting married (she's 40 - he's 50): There was a wonderful amount of food. The bar was open. There was no garter or bouquet toss. The music was perfectly "danceable" with a good number of slow dances for couples. 

My favorite moment of the evening was watching my friend's new step-son and his wife dancing. His wife is 7 months pregnant and it suddenly hit me that my amazing (and seemingly young) friend will be a grandmother in 3 months. When did we become these women? 

More late Halloween pics below: 

Ready to trick-or-treat

At our party with new buddy Will. 

The boys enjoy our back yard at the party. 

"5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate"

Our lives are a bit overwhelming at the moment. My parents (The Joads) are here with Grandma J and we have survived another Halloween. Holy Cow, I'm happy to see the end of that holiday. On Saturday, we had a family party (small - last minute - but fun). Sunday, the boys T-o-T'd with some friends in their neighborhood. Thunder was much more impressed with the decorations than anything else. He's such a cutey. On Monday, Buck had an All Saints' Day parade and carnival and my parents and I ran the "candy Rosary" station. It was chaos and we all needed to take a nap at the end of the day. 

It was fun - but I'm happy to see the end of it. Here are some quick photos of the days. I forgot my camera on Monday. Buck was St. Francis of Assisi and wore his Jedi robe with animals pinned to it. Very cute, I have to say. Thank goodness for Star Wars or I'd never have a costume for him! 

Mario and his pet Giraffe. 

Thunder loved the pumpkins and can say "punki". I'm still eating his candy. 

At the party, we made the adults put on old costumes from our costume box. Sad, that we have one, I know. Thunder was a race car driver at the party - his "indoor" costume in cold Calgary. 

My good friend, Elizabeth (who wore the fat tourist costume. She's actually skinny!) and me in my random costume. People kept asking who I was and I said, "Tired."