Feeling Sad

The kids and I have spent the last 6 weeks visiting/playing/get acquainted with my friends and family here in southern Alberta. It has been sooo incredibly awesome. I've loved almost every minutes we've been here. Truly.
This evening after I'd spent the morning and part of the afternoon over at Maria Wert's helping her organize and clean her place, then going to Pavan Park with the Court's for a wiener roast, I called Jerry so Ms. R could tell him about our full day. After she was done giving him the highlights, he and I talked and he asked if I was excited to be coming home. On one hand, I am. I miss my gym, I miss our weather ... But on the other hand ... I don't have friends in Texas like I have here. I don't have friends that are my age, have kids my kids can play with and get me.

I think this is just hitting me now because the last three days I've spent all of my time with two of my closest friends while I was a teenager - Maria Wert and Daniel Court. I realize I've missed that camaraderie. I've missed having them to laugh with, cry with (more Maria for that one), nag, tease, talk with, wrestle (haha, I'm not sure who I wrestled with more. Definitely won more matches against Maria though)... Obviously, moving back here isn't the answer. The wind alone would put me in the crazy place before the year was out. Sure, keeping in touch with my friends and family helps. However, I need to put a more concentrated effort into finding people my age with kids that I enjoy.

Spending time with my friends here shouldn't leave me in tears because I don't have that anywhere else I go. It should be comforting and fun to think about coming back to ... not a heart ache to leave.

Great Canadian ...

Alright, so they are all American (at least till I get them duel citizenship). We won't hold that against them though.

My Gran

It has occurred to me in the past few years how narrowly I looked at adults when I was a kid. How little I really knew about the family I was in.
For instance: My grandma Winnifred Alice Bentley Jones. When I was a kid, she just happened to be married to one of my most favorite men - my Grump - Joesph Wesley Jones. I'd go to their house for weeks at a time in the summer. The weeks were filled with various activities; fishing, stripping/painting the deck, card games, garage saling ... All the activities, I did with my Grump. Gran would stay at home, or go out with her friends - I am not sure which. We'd all converge again for supper. I'd clean up, my grump and I would start badgering eachother again as my gran ... did her thing. It wasn't that I didn't like her, I think I was intimidated by her. I never knew what to say, what to do. I always felt awkward around her.
Three years ago I came up to Canada for four months and stayed with my Dad and Gran. In that four months, I got to know this rambunctious, funny, blunt, sweet lady better than I had in all the summers I spent at her house.
She never let me win at games when I was young, so the first time I scored over 200 in Scrabble - I was eleted, and she was proud of me. I now TROUNCE her in Scrabble. Excellent.
She is always full of stories. I have never wondered how she feels about anything. You ask her - she'll tell you. Ha. Half the time, you don't even have to ask.
She really loves her kids, grandkids, great grandkids. I have taken to calling her from time to time, just to check in. Before we hang up, she always tells me she loves me, everytime. I know she means it just because of how she says it.
I'm proud to be the granddaughter of such a fiesty ol' lady, I adore her.

Yum Yum

Since coming to Canada (yes, that is what I said ... to those of you that are excessively slow - I am in Canada. Visiting in southern Alberta to be more exact) I have lost all track of days. You could tell me today was Wednesday and I wouldn't dicker the fact with you, I'd just accept it. With no where in particular to be, the necessity of knowing such trivial things becomes nil and void.

Fortunately, this morning my mom remembered today is Sunday. Which means Sunday brunch at Cheesecake cafe. I was impressed by the spread. Made to order omelets, cheeses, pastries, fruits, salads ... My mom says The Guesthouse's Sunday brunch is better. I believe I'll take her up on that claim; we'll try that out next Sunday. It's good to be a "jack" Mormon when staying with my mom ;)

Helping Hands

This afternoon the kids and I headed over to my dad's house to visit with them for a while. My dad and I played several games of cribbage while Ms. R played ponies and what not with Sandy. B-Man, as usual, found his own amusements.

The kids "helped" make supper, becoming parts in the assembly line of fried pork cutlets. They had more fun running their fingers through the flour before the actual dredging occured, but they both loved being involved in making supper.

Facebook

Another addiction to admit to - facebook.com. I know, I know - I am pathetic. I seem to have a highly addicitve personality. I get completely hooked on something and it's like I can't shake it till I have done it obsessively for HOURS. However, I am finding a TON of old friends, school mates, family - some that I haven't seen since elementary. It's strange when you have a complete picture of someone from a certain age span, then you see them again and WHAM! They are an ... adult! No! not an adult! Not the dreaded responsible stage. Yes, my dear friends - it's true. Most of the people that I knew personally as I was a kid are now adults also. With jobs, years of schooling, kids, spouses. How can I really be old enough to be friends with this many OLD PEOPLE? :)

My Baby ... Ms. R

She's growing up so fast. I'm not complaining. I love all the joy, confusion, angst, laughter, tears ... that have come with my baby becoming a little girl. I love her personality, her smile, her soft heart, her tiny arms wrapping around me as she exclaims, "I Love You Mama!".

Happy (early) 5th!

Ms. R was completely excited about the idea of having a birthday party with all her Canadian cousins during this visit to Canada - and since I rarely deny my children reasonable requests, I arranged for us to do so yesterday. I invited Tina and her girls, Michael & Jenie and their kids, Dawn & Gary and their kids, Rachael's daughter, Maria Wert and her kids, Ben & Becka and their troupe, my Dad and Sandy, my Aunt Norma and my Mom and Rod. Ben/Becka and their kids, Rod and Sandy were the only ones not able to make it. 18 kids, 10 adults, two dogs, two cats ... Dawn's place was a bit of a mad house for a bit. A lot of fun though. I'm glad I had a reason to get all those people together, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Splishin' and a Splashin'

Yesterday Jenie and I spent the day with our kids out in Raymond watching Trevor, Sheldon, Tristan and Austin (Rachael's boys) while Dawn took the younger kids up to Calgary to be transported up to Edmonton for the rest of the week. She took Terina with her for a little mom-daughter time.
Dawn came home with Chinese for all the "adults"(half the time I still feel like I should be sitting at the kids' table). I'd asked Maria Wert over earlier in the afternoon - so there was Rachael, Dawn, Maria, Jenie and I all sitting around, talking, laughing ... it was really nice. I haven't done that in a while. I miss having my girl family and oldest girlfriends around. We brought Terina back to mom's house for the remainder of the week so she could spend some quality time with the girl cousins.
This morning at FIVE Terina woke myself and all the girls up making a sound she swore sounded just like a rabbit. High pitched "E" sound, apparently. Who knew rabbits made any noises audible to human ears. Maybe she was thinking of a rabbit getting run over or something ...
With all the girls moods (including my own) edging on homicidal my mom decided it'd be best to get us all out of the house and into the pool. Over to Nicholas Sheran indoor pool we went. What a great idea! Jenie and I were both kind of doubtful about it all, one because I was tired, two because there was EIGHT kids to keep an eye on, three because I wasn't too enthusiastic about swimming INSIDE. But it all turned out fantastic. The kids all played well, loved the slide, the swinging ball, the kids pool, the hot tub ...

Spoiled, Much?

This afternoon mom and Rod purchased a pony for the grandkids to ride. In Rod's words, "I'm only going to be a grandpa once!"

Courtney's Home

Just a quick update for those who don't know - Courtney Michelle Wert came home with mom on Thursday. She came home on oxygen and 2 meds - but that is GREAT considering in the last month she has been on up to 15 meds at a time and completely intubated.

Maria is trying to readjust to being home, being a mom to three, daily routine, ect. She's finding it a bit stressful; I'm trying to help out as much as I possibly can so she doesn't go into complete melt down.

Easter Sunday

I used my mom's thingamajiger to make this appear as it is ... I love the cool effects you can add with Kodak picture maker.
We went to church with Dawn in Raymond. With her family, Jenie's family, Rachael's (Gary's sister) family and my family (15 kids total) it was a bit chaotic. I am not really sure what the talks were about, though I am sure they were all delivered beautifully ... or something.
After sacrament we headed over to dad's house in Magrath for Easter dinner. Grandma Sandy had Ms. R help her out with the juice making which made her feel VERY special.
It was a beautiful day outside, so the kids spent the afternoon running around, playing with a ball, tossing grass, making up games B-Man "helped" my dad out by cleaning off the beaters when he was finished mixing up the whip cream ... then B-Man in turn shared with baby L Later on, he found the sides of the VERY dirty cars lined up infront of my dads house ... and slid his body along them. The ending result was NOT pretty.This last picture I just have to share because I think she's just too darn cute. This is the smile I have got from Baby L from the first day we met ... she melts my heart.

This, That, a Little of the Other

It's been forever since I posted last, so I'll just give a brief over view ... Wednesday and Thursday were spent taking care of Maria & Kevin Wert's kids, Thursday we went over for supper at dad's house. The kids played Crazy 8's afterward and had a GREAT time.Friday morning we headed back over to Dad's house for lunchand some Easter activitiesand Rook for the adults, then Jenie and I helped out my mom at a Lethbridge Area Search and Rescue fundraiser at Winner's Bingo. It's been a long time since I spent 5 straight hours on my feet. Yeow! Saturday we did more Easter activities at Dawn's - Easter egg hunt...played at the park, played with Floam and Gak ate, ect. BUSY WEEK!

Auntie Dawn's

Yesterday we spent the day over at Dawn's, with all the kids running around like little hellions - as usual. The girls made cinnamon rolls with DawnWhile B-Man had a grand old time playing with the wooden train set

The kids ended off the day by burying themselves in the SNOW (frickin' frackin snow in APRIL), all becoming exceedingly wet and GRUMPY which delightfully ended the day.

Sleeping Beauties

Jenie, Michael and their kids came down Friday night in order to be here for Mr. T's baptism on Saturday. They all slept out in the 5th wheel; where half way through the night, the propane heat ran out - leaving them all little popsicles.

Saturday night after Trevor's baptism, NONE of the girls wanted to sleep out in the 5th wheel - probably fearing they'd freeze again; even though we did tell them the heating had been fixed. It actually worked out for the best, with all the kids falling asleep inside the adults are able to play games/talk till we are ready to pack it in for the night.

The kids are all getting along relatively well, considering there are 4 girls - no one is feeling TOO left out yet. LG has been disappointed in B-Man because he doesn't really play WITH other kids very well and he'd been really excited about having a boy to play with. Poor LG. I hope B-Man comes around to wanting to play with him soon.