Santa Parade!

The Christmas season is here!  Once again we headed off to the annual Santa Parade....
However.....
This year was far colder then normal.. -25....
Good thing we brought blankets...
and extra clothes.
Not only was it colder, but the parade seemed much longer then normal as well...
My 18 year old...in typical teenage fashion
didn't have a coat. or gloves. or a hat.
My two year old...
in typical two year old fashion...
was refusing to wear her gloves...

Goosed by a Reindeer!

On Sat. we brought the kids to the Cathedral district

to go see Santa and his reindeer and visit a craft sale or two.....

We parked at Safeway, and I was taking Gracie out of her seat,

when I heard.. "Excuse me"...

I turned around and 

SCREAMED!

because...

This (reindeer) was standing directly behind me 

with Santa...

and his horns were...

Well...too close for comfort...

Funny thing is...

It must really be Santa, 

because we never saw him

in the parking lot, or when we got out of the car...LOL!

I should add... 

that the reindeer apparently was as scared as me..

because he decided to pee.

almost on top of my son...

and imagine my chagrin, 

when said toddlers decided it was good times to 

jump on the frozen reindeer pee...

Even worse.. the next day

Gracie found her own stuffed reindeer 

and informed daddy in a gleeful voice...

that it poop  ed.

(insert evil little girl giggles here....) 

sigh.

Bad blogger.....

WOW! I am seriously falling behind in the blogging department...

The busier I get with the photography thing.. the farther I am falling behind in everything else..

including my blog...LOL!

So... lets see.. Other then work, and home stuff.. what have I been up too...

Well...Gracie had her second birthday party....

It was late this year because we had some stuff going on in October 

and couldn't have it..

We took the kids to It's a Blast..

Pretty exspensive to rent a room for half an hour..let me tell you.

I don't know what was wrong with my brain...

but I was REALLY disorganised...

forgot the birthday candles..

forgot forks. 

forgot THE CAKE!

(lucky me, at least i had ordered it...so hubby went and picked it up)

Gracie had fun anyways, and was so impressed by the Spongebob cake

that she dropped all her presents and clapped her hands 

when daddy brought it in... 

They had fun... that's what counts right?

Not that her mom is missing her brain...LOL!

Last Sat. we had my hubby's work dinner...

It was in Balgonie, which is about 20 minutes outside of Regina...

or ... it would have been about 20 minutes out if it hadn't been so foggy...

I had to drive 70 kmp, and couldn't see anything in front of my face...

It was actually pretty scary.

However, it was dinner theater..

a play called "Lonestar Love Potion",

and the food was FREAKING amazing!

So Props to the cooks!  

It was the best Christmas party we have been too since we have 

lived in Regina.

Again... the drive back wasn't too much fun though... :/

The Villagers of Stiltsville

The Villagers of Stiltsville

Perhaps you don’t know,

then, maybe you do,

about Stiltsville, the village,

(so strange but so true)

where people like we,

some tiny, some tall,

with jobs and kids

and clocks on the wall

keep an eye on the time.

For each evening at six,

they meet in the square

for the purpose of sticks,

tall stilts upon which

Stiltsvillians can strut

and be lifted above

those down in a rut:

the less and the least,

the Tribe of Too Smalls,

the not cools and have-nots

who want to be tall

but can’t, becuase

in the giving of sticks

their name was not called.

They didn’t get picked.

Yet still they come

when the villagers gather;

they press to the front

to see if they matter

to the clique of the cool,

the court of the high clout,

that decides who is special

and declares with a shout,

“You’re classy!” “You’re pretty!”

“You’re clever!” or “Funny!”

And bequeath a prize,

not of medals or money,

not a freshly baked pie

or a house someone built,

but the oddest of gifts—-

a gift of some stilts.

Moving up in their mission,

going higher they aim.

“Elevate your position”

is the name of the game.

The higher-ups of Stiltsville

(you know if you’ve been there)

make the biggest to-do

of the sweetness of thin air.

They relish the chance

on their higher apparatus

to strut on their stilts,

the ultimate status.

For isn’t life best

when viewed from the top?

Unless you stumble

and suddenly are not

so sure of your footing.

You tilt and then sway.

“Look out bel-o-o-o-w!”

and you fall straightaway

into the Too Smalls,

hoi polloi of the earth.

You land on your pride—-

oh boy, how it hurts

when the chic police,

in the jilt of all jilts

don’t offer to help

but instead take your stilts.

“who made you king?”

you start to complain

but then notice the hour

and forget your refrain

It’s almost six!

No time for chatter.

It’s back to the crowd

to see if you matter.

Pumpkin Hollow...

Gracie REALLY likes popcorn apparently.... 

Last weekend we went to Pumpkin Hollow, which is quickly becoming another Autumn tradition for us... Unlike Corn Maiden Market, you do have to pay to go in, but it is really fun for the kids... This year, they had a corn maze in the shape of the Rider's Logo.. the kids loved it so much we had to go through twice... They had wagon rides, a train ride, a play area with a corn box, some animals, pony rides, a corn shoot, and a concession... The kids had a great time, and so did we...

They also had a place inside the store where you could take pictures 

Gracie inside the chalk house...

Jeremy pretending to drive his "pirate ship"

The corn box...Gracie kept trying to swim in it...

Corn Maiden Market

Autumn is my very VERY favorite time of year... I love the colors, the temp, the places I can take my kids..

Since we had Jeremy one of our fall traditions is to take the kids to a place called Corn Maiden Market in Lumsden...They have had a Pumpkin Festival every year where they have a huge Pumpkin Patch, face painting, a haunted house, sometimes a hay bale maze and make pumkin soup, hot dogs, and hot chocolate.... We love that place so every year we bundle up the kids and take them out there....take tons of pics of kids on Pumpkins and buy lots of vegies... However.. this year we were kind of disappointed. They CALLED it the pumpkin festival.... but when we went out there... there was NOTHING going on... no hot dogs.. pumkin soup... haunted house... nothing. We took some pics of the kids and went home...  :(  I am hoping the lack of activities was due to the fact it was bad weather this year for pumpkins... because otherwise we are going to be losing a tradition...  I felt kind of bad, because we have told everyone we know about how much fun we have out there...and then this year they didn't do anything...

BLACKMAIL!

BLACKMAIL.... Oh Yeah!

This is a picture EVERYONE wants of their MIL... 

She has never touched a cigarette 

never mind a cigar in her life..

so I couldn't ignore the opportunity

when I caught her with this candy cigar

and my daughter's hat...

Ice Cream in October

It has been so warm this October

that it didn't seem at all unusual 

to go for ice cream....

So off to Dessart..

My fav ice cream store...

The kids didn't care what month it was...

Gracie

Cousin Josh

Mike

Cousins Paige and Jeremy

http://dessartsweets.com/

I am not a zombie...

I am not a zombie....
But I did take pictures of them...
and they weren't eating brains...
they were giving cans of food to the local food bank.

It was a very well attended event...
who could have known that being "undead" was so popular!

The walk started at the Legislative building,
and continued on to Victoria Park.

It was a "howling" good time for those who came to walk.
I say "howling" because that is what the "zombies" were doing
to the traffic...who was honking in support of them...

I also discovered that I am too fat to run ten blocks. :)

Day of the Living Dead.

You've had them....

We all have...

The DAY.

No sleep the night before...

I was too afraid to sleep..I had to be up at 5.30 am for an MRI that I have been waiting for

for about 6 months..so I really didn't want to miss it...

And for WHATEVER INSANE REASON...

Kendal decided to stay up building a costume...

and I decided I wanted to edit some personal pics...

TILL 1 AM!  

Smart move. 

Therefore proving my son right when he asked me if I was getting the MRI...

and I quote... "to find out if I had a brain."

"No Jeremy...Mommy does NOT have a brain.".  

At least not the working version.

You would think that being so tired.. I would be able to sleep...Right?

Well...think again.

Not so much. I was awake till 3am...

when finally I did fall asleep....

I did wake up at 5.30...

got out the door by 5.55 am...

Yaaa me.... 

IF I hadn't driven through a red light on the corner of Victoria and Albert...

Where...YES. THEY.DO. HAVE. CAMERAS.

I was so busy trying to think about which part of the road I was supposed to drive down

on two hours sleep ( They are doing massive road work and EVERYTHING is blocked)

that I totally missed the light...

I can only hope and pray that the camera was sleeping at that horrible hour.

I made it to the road I was supposed to turn on....

only to discover that it too was BLOCKED!

GREEEAAAT! I headed to the next street...and turned ...

only to find myself...going the wrong way down a one way street....

Good JOB! Once again..proving my sons comment...

I quickly turned down a back alley, and put myself back on the right street...

AND actually made it to the hospital ON TIME!

That should have been the end of my bad right?

BUT no.

The night before I had talked to the MRI department, 

and they told me to park in the Emergancy parking lot, 

and check in at their department, as the main one wasn't open yet.

SOOOO I did. 

Only to be greeted by an extremely unpleasant receptionist...

who informed me in no uncertain terms..

and made me know just how stupid I was...

that the main admitting desk opened at 6am/....

and I should have known that...

(Why?  Oh... I forgot all the time I spend HANGING in the hospital lobby!

It being such a great place and all..)

and that if I didn't move my car it would be towed.

Good thing I was only tired and not sick...

I didn't smack her... (kidding by the way...)

Sooo...now I am late...so out to my car...

Move it to the paid parking lot...

back in and now in line behind six people....sigh.

I finally did make it to the MRI department...

and the receptionist was nice...

but I got the distinct feeling that the technician 

would rather have been doing ANYTHING else then 

answering my dumb questions...

(dumb questions like do i have to drink anything discusting..

What temp does this bring your body up to... 

and how long will this slightly neurotic and very clausterphobic person 

have to stay in this cigar shaped coffin.)

She did snap at me because I didn't hear her tell me what I was supposed to do after I changed...

The test took half an hour...

I spent the first 10 minutes telling myself that I had to breath...

after that I kind of relaxed into a semi coma ... induced by exhaustion...

After it was over, I headed back to the lobby to get the cash that i needed

to pay for my parking...

and then to the info desk to ask if they had change I could feed the machine..

Where I was "TOLD" that Don't I know there is a parking attendent out there?

Um. No. If I did... I wouldn't be over here asking for change..

and....

Is this NOT information????

Wow...apparently I wasn't the only one having a bad day...

I did make it home safely after that...

and I think I will stay here where it is relatively safe...

until I meet the living dead tonight.

Yes. I did say that.