Some People Are Born With It, While Others . . .

Clearly are not.

Born with common sense, that is.

And the "other" would definitely be Jackson based on the last two days.

Yesterday, as I lay my aching body in bed for 20 minutes before the dinner rush began, I heard clicking at the doors.

After a few minutes, I reluctantly went to go check out what was going on . . . arriving just in time to see Jackson taking his boots off and Avery outside, half way down the driveway walking into a busy construction site . . . with Jayden's old shoes and no coat.

I scooped her up and brought her inside, scolded Jackson and sent him to his room, and locked the door. Again, I reminded everyone that it is dangerous outside and no one but mom or dad are to open our door.

I completely forgot to check and see if our "fourth child" was around. About an hour later I heard familiar barking on our doorstep.

"Guillermo!" How could I have forgotten that if the door was ever open, he was first to be out like a flash. And in a construction site, next to a busy highway . . . it is pretty amazing that he actually came home. And in one piece. (Especially since we still have yet to get a new tag with updated info for him.)

Fast forward to today.

Upon returning from school, Jackson rushes upstairs to use the bathroom while the rest of us get a snack. Jayden sees his room, with some painting supplies that were out because I was still touching up his room, and calls down,

"Mom, I can't go in my room right now, can I?"

"No. Let the paint dry first." I call up.

Jackson comes down and we have a lovely discussion about what happened at school. I notice paint on his fingers and as I am assuming he made some masterpiece at school he holds his hand up and asks,

"Ask me why I have paint on me! Guess what I did upstairs??"

Dark. Blue. Paint. Scribbled. All. Over. The Stubborn. Light Gray. Wall.

Seriously!! Was he really not born with a brain at all??

I pity him for his handicap. But as I scold him, there is a glimmer in his eyes and the corners of his mouth are slightly upturned.

I wonder: Was he really born without any common sense, or does he just prefer not to use it??

We are certainly in for a lot of trouble if the latter is true.

Cured!

The novelty of painting while carrying 30 extra pounds has been dwindling.

But the compulsive need to paint and get it all done has taken over.

Until now.

Jayden's room is done. (Well, one coat . . . which is all I had paint for so it will have to do.)

And it was a nightmare.

First of all, I should have learned my lesson with the nursery that accent walls are the bain of my existance. What was I thinking doing one with such a dark colour??

And mostly, through out all this painting I have become intimately acquainted with our walls. I was shocked to find that they were not all smooth . . . but, I figured that in a resale they could be so much worse. And really, how can I expect a human being to make absolutely perfect walls through out my house anyway. Is that not a tad unrealistic?

However, Jayden's room was a mess. I can't believe we didn't see all the problems earlier!

I'm guessing that it was poor lighting that made us miss the walls that resembled the entire range of the rockies. Or the fact that there was no sanding or smoothing of plaster . . . but cliffs left behind. We didn't even see the rough wood shavings that were not cleaned up before the painters went to work on the walls and trim.

I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it was such a mess because of the lack of light . . . and not because they had BLIND MEN drywalling our house.

It was SO much work to paint this room that combined with my aching body, I am at peace now with leaving the rest of the house to be painted at another time. Like much after the baby.

For now, I will spend my energy decorating, prepping baby accessories, and fighting with our builder to redo the drywall in a few of our rooms.

Might Have Been More Mellow Yellow

For Avery's room there was a big paint dilema.

What colour do you paint such a large, well lit room?

One designer suggested pink . . . a great colour to match with her bedding, but honestly, I would feel like I was standing in a bottle of pepto bismal.

Lilac seemed nice, but there wasn't a shred of it in any of her bedding so that one got nixed.

That left green, yellow or blue. Since I had already painted two bedrooms blue, that was out of the question. Yellow was nice, but maybe a bit too bright with all the light through her wall of windows.

If you've been keeping count, you'll know that green was the only option. So, I went with what looked like a soft, light green.

Or at least I thought I did.

Upon brushing it on the wall it became evident that it was closer to a fluorescent green when the sunlight hit.

(This picture was taken at night when it is a little more "subtle.")

Fortunately, it does soften a bit when the lighting goes down . . . but in the day time, this will certainly be the room to go to when you need to wake up.

Somebody Stop Me!

This obsessive, compulsive behavior has to end!

It has me running to the local home hardware store at 8:30 am in pj's, Brad's crocs and unbrushed hair . . . just to pick up painter's tape!

And even though Jayden's room isn't done yet, and painting is really exhausting (and hurtint!) me, there's an itch burning to paint the hallway upstairs. (The builder's paint is not standing up to little hands, fingers, and toy bumping.)

Seriously, there must be a support group out there somewhere.

Trash Talk

Okay.

This is enough.

Seriously. ENOUGH!!

We have lived here for 7 weeks and have yet to experience GARBAGE PICK UP!!

Seriously????????

I think an animated call to the township is in order.

Thank goodness it is not summer!!

Addicted

Truly, I am.

Addicted . . . to painting.

(Is there a support group for someone like me??)

It could be because we have spent the last six years renting houses that had nothing on the walls but builder's paint. Or the fact that both of those places used the same colour . . . which ironically was the one we had put in our place.

It could also be because our house is starting to look like a house; something that maybe we might actually want to make a home.

Or, the fact that for a results-oriented person, painting provides a much better end result than cleaning a house with three kids roaming around.

(At least painted rooms can be finished. And clean. And they even stay painted too. Well, usually.)

But most likely, it is nesting.

It all started with the nursery. This is the first child that we can actually PAINT the walls of the nursery. And I didn't want to miss out. So off to Benjamin Moore I went to find paint.

Fortunately, they have a 0 VOC paint that even I could paint with. (This has proved VERY dangerous: for my time and our money.)

Within two days of purchasing the paint, the nursery was done. Or at least painted.

But, the lady had set me up with double the amount of paint that I really needed. Luckily, the colour was similiar enough to what I had planned for Jackson's room, so a few days later . . . his was done.

Naturally, I couldn't just stop there. I had two more kids.

And, since I am planning to set up Avery's room as the "birthing suite" (should I need to do a home birth), it qualifies as the nursery and therefore needs to be painted before the baby arrives.

(If that wasn't reason enough, then the fact that Avery took the wet stir stick from Jackson's room and began painting her own walls . . . obviously, she thought it was time for a change from "off white.")

That left Jayden's room. Clearly we couldn't leave him out, and so now 2.5 weeks after the first paint purchase, I'm half way done with Jayden's room.

I figure that I might as well get as much painting out of the way while I can somewhat move. (Although, that is really an overstatement these days as I "feel the burn" just hiking up our stairs. And don't even think of getting me to move a muscle after a day of painting. My body just refuses.)

Fortunately, we ran out of painter's tape today so Jayden's room will have to go on hold for a bit and the house hold chores can maybe get looked after . . . as well as the neglected kids.

At least, until Thursday . . .

Cutting Through the Green Tape

Today was a great day.

A very busy day, but great in that a lot was accomplished.

For the past seven weeks we have been living in part shambles, decorating our house with millions of green tape (or "fix me") pieces.

Perhaps a million is a stretch, but certainly there were upwards of 50-80 of them scattered through out.

Worse, we had a handy man come and do patch work on dry wall that left our house looking like it had been bombed out in a war . . . for the last two weeks.

It is really hard to enjoy your "new" house and feel like you want to make it home when the walls resemble swiss cheese and your shower is STILL missing a door . . . not to mention the grout and paint touch ups that were needed.

But today was "Blitz Day," and Blitz it was! We had the handy man, plumber, cooling/heating guy, tile guy, kitchen guy, painters, cleaners, shower and linen closet guy. All in one day.

Even though most of the work is done, there are still a few things that need tending to:

1) We still don't have a shower door (a tile broke by accident upon installation and so now it has to wait for the tile to dry before it can be installed, again).

2) We have some tile/grout work that needs to be done.

3) A lot of exterior work is still waiting . . . but can't be done until spring.

4) Carpenters still need to come and put in screws in the doors and rehang a few of them.

But, overall, it is really nice to just have the green tape gone. (Or the bulk of them.) And, surprisingly, our house is looking more like something we'd like to call home.

Unsupervised

While Mom was on the phone, cleaning up the bedrooms . . . someone else discovered Mom's misplaced purse and a new pastime.

Fortunately, our newly carpeted stair runner (though it saw some lipstick) didn't get as much time with our budding, new make-up artist.

Fire on Ice

After impatiently waiting a whole week, Jackson finally got his chance to be part of the Tuesday Skating club.

He was so excited.

And, his natural ability was pretty impressive. Even though he was in the lowest group, he was one of the best there. Well, at least at the "practice-falling-down-and-getting-up-on-your-own" part.

Once they started in the "moving" forwards part, he kind of slipped a bit behind. However, since there was a pretty girl in pink around him at all those times, I really wonder if he had some other motives.

She was very good at "helping" him up and holding onto him as he skated, you know, so he wouldn't fall down.

I really wouldn't put it past him, given his record with girls these days. Especially with his expression in this photo.

Yup, I think he is "playing dumb" at skating. What do you think?

Needless to say, he had a great time and can't wait to go back again.

Now, if only we can find a way to hold Avery back from the rink.

Cold Ambition

I remember being down at BYU with some friends who wanted to go "skating" at the new arena. I went into my closet and dug out my skates.

"Wow! You have skates??" They were astonished.

"Doesn't everyone??" I found it hard to believe that there was such a place in the world where an individual didn't own a pair of skates.

Skating up here is much like swimming. It is something that you HAVE to learn. Everyone does, or at least just about everyone.

After the annual Templeman Skating Party (or "kid-flinging" party since most often the dad's fling the kids off their hockey sticks), we thought we needed to put Jayden into some skating lessons.

He was pretty good at the skating party, for never having lessons or much experience. However, this is Canada. And we live in "Hockey Town" where school ends before the Christmas holidays with a big skating party. Our minds flashed back to memories of our own childhood where we would have weekly school field trips to skating arenas and we were really glad that we weren't one of the three kids clinging to the boards.

Unfortunately, he went down pretty hard at the end of the skating party. And not one of us silly parents had the thought that perhaps our kids should be wearing a helmet of some sort . . . especially since none of the kids knew how to skate, and the adults were severely out numbered interms of being able to work one-on-one with any of the kids.

We went out and found him a helmet that he could approve of and hopefully entice him to give skating three days of "trying". (Really, I wanted him to finish the season, so that he could at least skate. That's all. I don't care if he becomes a professional figure skater or hockey star, I just don't want him to be clinging to the boards at school functions.)

Reluctantly, he went to his first lesson. It was comforting for him to see half of his class in the dressing room. He was excited to spend time skating with them, so much that he tried to keep up with their groups in the "power skating for hockey" and "figure skating" groups. (Apparently, they had all been skating for three years now.)

It was a little rough to watch as a parent as our little boy tried so hard to hobble around the figure skaters. Finally, we found a teacher to notify them that Jayden had been side tracked into a much too difficult group.

Back he went to the beginner group. His ambition was too high though. Even though he couldn't quite join the power skaters, they did see him improve so much that before half the lesson was through, they had moved him up a group.

Now he LOVES it and can't wait for his class on Tuesday nights.

And, while we were all cheering him on, a few other people decided they wanted to skate. Like Jackson and Avery.

While Avery is a little too young right now, Jackson was promptly signed up for the following week.

Got (Chocolate) Milk?

In Avery-ville there are two types of milk:

Chocolate Milk

and

White Chocolate Milk

Older

Yesterday's dinner conversation:

Jayden: Dad, who's older? You or Uncle Drew?

Dad: Uncle Drew. Why? Who looks older?

Jayden: You.

Dad: Here's a question: Who's older, you or Jackson?

Jayden: Me.

Dad: Will you always be older than him?

Jayden: (Long pause.) No. He might be older than me one day.

(Mom and Dad try to figure out why he would say that? Do we regress in age once we reach 50 or something?)

Dad: How?

Jayden: Because when we get into our 80's or 90's one of us might die and the other will get older.

Well, at least he is expecting to make it to his 80's.

Christmas Greetings

So, this is maybe a teensy bit late.

But, Merry Christmas!

For most of you (at least I think it's most of you), you got our Christmas card very early this year.

Like maybe even in November.

Well, my thoughts were this: in case we lose all the Christmas cards during the move, at least we'll be covered. And, since most of my friends are from down south, it would come around Thanksgiving . . . and, well, that's basically Christmas season down there!

If for some reason you didn't receive a card, yours was one of the very many I had left in my pile that went missing until just the other day. If you'd still like it, email me your mailing address. If not, enjoy our digital version.

Behind the scenes. Taking family pictures when you are one of the subjects is pretty tough. Especially with kids and a husband. ;) There were several out takes, for sure. And, if you've seen my cards in past years, you'll recognize that this was more of a "just get it done and send it out" year. Pictures were taken pretty late in the year, and more importantly in pregnancy, so I just could not do another session before the move without looking like a total whale. ;)

Suddenly Needing Telemarketers

At our last place we would constantly get telemarketers calling about duct cleaning services, water softening, etc, etc.

"What the heck is that and why on earth would anyone pay to do that??" I always wondered.

Now I find myself strangely needing all these telemarketers.

Come back!! We need prices and deals . . . please come back!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was pretty much "low-key" at the Templemans.

With the ralph-fest in the days preceeding, and the stress of the move and leaving Christmas shopping to the very last weekend, we were pretty exhausted come Christmas morning.

Of course, the kids were not.

Everyone was excited to see what Santa had brought and kept sneaking downstairs to peek at gifts that he had left.

(This year, Santa had been pretty clever and made sure that his elves didn't wrap the toys in cardboard boxes with impossible to disassemble wire ties and screws--no comment from the elves at how hard this was--and he even made sure that everything came fully assembled and ready to go.)

Stocking stuffers were a little scarce though. (I think Santa was planning some last minute gifts but was worried he'd catch the stomach flu that was circulating . . . or maybe he was sick too??) No one seemed to mind much though since the gifts were pretty great.

I am trying to figure out a favourite gift that everyone got, whether from Santa or anyone else, and it is a challenge. They really loved everything that they got . . . even liked their "curriculum based" workbooks from Santa.

But, if I had to choose one thing for each person, it would be as follows:

Brad: Ugg slippers from me.

(Thank goodness! He's not much of a slipper person so I went out on a limb on this one. And, it was pretty tricky to get since I had to wire money without him knowing to Houston and receive a package that he had to pick up from the mail box. But, I see him wearing them often, so it is a safe bet that he is enjoying them a lot. More than the dress pants that Jayden got him and he readily returned.)

Me: I'd be remiss if I didn't say it was the pair of Ugg boots that we went through so much trouble to get.

They are really warm and tall. Every time I trudge through the deep snow to pick up the kids at the bus stop I'm glad to have them. However, the height and tie up laces are posing a bit of a problem for a very pregnant lady.

Jayden: Probably his GT Snow Racer. Any chance he gets to use it, he's on it. He spent hours at Grandma's flying down the hill and off the jump that Dad helped him make. Apparently though, he loves his airplane (to match his new airplane bedding in his room). I thought that was pretty interesting . . . maybe it's because I asked him in February so he's had plenty of time to get over his GT snow racer and lego sets.

Jackson: Bumblebee Shooter and Transformers book. He is really turning into a bookworm these days . . . collecting books from off the family bookcase and storing them in his bedroom, aka "the library."

Avery: I'd say it was a tie between her new "twins" and her Dora "soupcase."

She refuses to sleep with out pink baby, and carries her suitcase full of all her toys where ever she goes.

Guillermo: Poor guy kind of got shafted this year. We got him a chinsy little sweater from Target ($2.50) and Santa brought an opened bag of dog treats. We'll have to do better next year. Especially since he brought us a great family gift.

Family: The ice cream maker that Guillermo bought with a gift card from Brad's boss.

We had an ice cream maker given to us early in our marriage, but never had the freezer space to actually use it. So, when we were packing for this move, I was really excited to find a nice spot for it, since we'd have a larger freezer. However, the freezer bowl had sprung a leak and was well beyond ruined. The kids and I have had fun making ice cream with it and Dad has enjoyed sampling our creations.

The rest of Christmas was spent cleaning up from breakfast and presents and getting ready for dinner with Dido. And, as Brad and I were still recovering from shrunken, sore stomachs, it was a bit of a pity that we couldn't enjoy more of the feast.