How Did This Happen?

Anyone who knows us knows that we are a hockey house - specifically a Edmonton Oilers hockey house. Jason has a few jerseys and wears them often.

We have Oilers towels, aprons, p.j.'s, etc.

It started early when the boys were just babies.  We had oilers soothers, bibs, t-shirts, jerseys, hoodies.

So after all that said - the BIG question is ...   how did THIS happen? ..

To his father's horror - Bowen has become a Flames fan!!  A friend of his recently gave him her jersey that doesn't fit her anymore.  He lives in this jersey.  On Saturday when the Oilers and Flames were playing against each other and the Flames scored the first goal - Bowen's arms shot up in the air with a yahoo to follow.  It all makes for some interesting drama around this house!

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 3

So here we are at Wednesday again!  I'm off to a slow start but when I weighed this morning this week I lost...

.5 lbs

That makes my total 3 pounds to date.  I know I need to up my efforts and try and see some bigger weight losses.  I've been doing just the bare minimum so far and it is showing in the amount of weight coming off.  My overall eating has been fine - but it's all the other things.  I'm still doing terrible drinking my water.  I'm going to start trying Rachel's suggestion from last week and use a water bottle and make sure I drink 3 of them a day to get my daily requirement.

As for my goal to exercise 4 - 5 times.  That was a total fail.  So I'm going to make that my goal again this week.  Be sure to check back next week to see how I did.  I plan on doing much better.

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 2

I was nervous to step on the scale this morning.  It is that time of the month - and I feel dreadful and was sure it would show up on my weight.  I was pleased that I had lost ...

.5 lbs

That makes my total 2.5 lbs down.  It wasn't a big weightloss this week but considering the circumstances I thought it was great.  I did better with portion sizes, but I'm still not drinking enough water.  Anyone have any tips out there to encourage me to drink more?  I also need to increase my exercise.  Each week I'm going to concentrate on one goal to hopefully increase my success.  

So the goal this week is to exercise 4 - 5 times.  I'll report back next week on how I did.

In other news, Jason worked late on Monday and was heading home about 8:30 p.m.  As he was about 5 minutes from home one of the tires on his car blew out, it didn't just go flat, it blew out.  It was completely shredded.  So there he was at almost 9:00 p.m. on the side of the road putting the spare on the car.  So now the boys and I are driving the car back and forth to the bus stop until we can get a new tire.  I'm so grateful Jason wasn't on Deerfoot going 100 km when it happened.  Poor guy!  He had a lousy day!

Swimming Fun

This past week Bowen was able to go to swimming lessons with his Grade One class.  He had lots of fun and I went to his last lesson to take a few pictures.  Not quite sure why he was wearing a life jacket - he can swim (especially on his back) without one.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact there were 10 kids to one instructor.

The pictures aren't the best quality, but I was taking them from quite a distance and through glass.  I think it is great that their school has these extra curricular activities.  It's hard to believe that only a year ago Bowen didn't even like putting his head underwater.

It's Back!!

I think Jason had a great birthday weekend.  But probably the best part of the weekend for Jason was the return of hockey ...

He was one happy guy!!  Bonus - the Oiler's won!!

Condolences can be forwarded to me at either this blog or on facebook ;)

Birthday Celebrations

This weekend has been spent celebrating Jason's birthday!!  His actual birthday was Friday.  After school the boys and I ran out to buy a few gifts - we even beat Jason home and had them all wrapped before he got home.

The boys were excited to have their Dad open his presents right away.

The boys sure love their Dad!  I love this picture - I'm going to frame it for my music room.

We got a babysitter for the boys and I took Jason out to celebrate.  We went to "Skyfall".  We both really enjoyed it and then we went to The Keg for dinner.  So yummy!

Sunday we had our family birthday dinner for Jason.  I made one of Jason's favorites - Singapore Noodles.

As a side note - Ashton continues to do well with trying everything we are eating.  He had one noodle and one piece of chicken - not much - but he ate it!  As he is able to tolerate it we'll start increasing amounts.

And of course - a Dairy Queen Icecream Cake for dessert!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUN!!  YOU ARE THE BEST!!

Skating Debuts

We finally took the boys skating the other day.  They have never been and we don't have skates for them.  So I found a store not too far away that rents skates for the day.  So we headed over and rented skates for the boys.  I DON'T SKATE - haven't since I was about 13 years old.  Jason says he doesn't skate very well either, but we'd really like the boys to be able to do it.

Bowen did the "Bowen shuffle", but he stayed upright.  I was impressed - I know I'd be on my butt if I had skates on.  I apologize for the video, I wasn't thinking and turned the camera, so part way through you'll need to tilt your head.  Sorry!

Ashton did really well for his first time.  He was just fearless about it and really enjoyed it.  We definitely need to consider getting them their own skates so we can take them more often.

Hopefully in no time at all we'll have some skating pros on our hands!!

Investiture

Ashton attends cubs once a week.  This week he was invested into his cub troop.   Parents were invited to attend and take pictures - I heard "blog opportunity".  He took the ceremony very seriously and the promises he was making.

The ceremony wrapped up with cookies and juice - which Bowen was happy about.  It is fun to watch Ashton grow up and experience new things.  I'm proud of the young man he is becoming.

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 1

Say the title of this blog 5 times fast!!  So here we are back at Week1.  My first week went okay.  It was a busy week so I didn't do all the things I should.  I weighed this morning and this week I lost ...

2 lbs



A good start.  Now to just keep going in that direction.  I know one habit I need to get out of is eating at night.  After teaching I want a snack and to unwind watching some TV.  I need to be making better choices as to what I'm snacking on.

Speaking of eating we had a bit of a breakthrough with Ashton last night.  Those of you who know us well, know that Ashton is an extremely picky eater.  If we force him to eat anything he doesn't want to he'll gag and just not be able to do it.  I've been talking to Ashton about it alot lately.  I told him that from now on at dinnertime he has to at least try what the rest of us are having - even if it is just a bite or two.

So last night he had a few bites of noodles, corn and ham.  He didn't eat alot, but he did it and he didn't cry or throw it up.  It is baby steps but I'm feeling much better about it.  I think if we keep it up and are patient with him it will improve.

Things I still need to improve on is my water intake, exercising more and stop snacking at night.  Those are my three goals for this week.  See you back here next Wednesday, hopefully with less of me to weigh.

Sunday Birthday Parties

In this past week alone Bowen has been invited to two of his friends birthday parties.  Both of which are to be held on Sundays.  In our family we have decided that we don't attend birthday parties on Sundays.  We feel Sunday should be reserved for church and family time.  I realize that most little kids parties which are held in homes would probably not be that big of a deal for my kids to attend, but some are held at other facilities, some include swimming, etc.  So we just feel it is better to say "NO SUNDAY PARTIES". 

But I've been feeling so bad for my kids.  I want my boys to have friends and to have fun with them.  When Ashton was in preschool and kindergarten he went to quite a few parties - they were held on a Saturday.  But I'm finding the new trend is that "everyone" has their parties on Sunday.  I am proud of my boys for supporting our family's decision.  They never complain about it.  As I got off the phone last night with a mom inviting Bowen to her son's party and came and told Bowen "So your friend's mom just called and invited you to her son's birthday party - guess when it is?"  Bowen looked at me and in a sarcastic tone replied - "on a Sunday right?" 

It isn't always easy to follow through on what you know to be right.  I'm grateful that my sons have the opportunity to test that at such a young age.  I hope it will make it easier for them to be able to make the more difficult decisions when they are older.  Sometimes this being a mom is a tough gig!

What Do People Do With Their Spare Time?

Since I treat my blog as a journal I thought I should record something that happened recently.  Jason has been serving for the past two years as the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric of our ward.  He enjoys his calling very much and does a great job serving the members of our ward.  He's known for awhile that the time for this Bishopric would soon come to an end and he was feeling a bit anxious about the changes.

Two weeks ago a new Bishop was called and Jason has been called as his 1st Counselor.  He is so pleased to be in this new Bishopric.  I guess the boys and I have a few more years of Dad sitting on the stand during church.  I'm still serving as Primary President and playing for the ward choir.  We are a pretty busy couple at church, but we are enjoying our ward and it's nice to be needed!  I am very proud of Jason.  It is fun to watch his interaction with members of the ward.  He's an amazing guy (okay maybe I'm 100% prejudice, but I'm also 110% accurate).  I'm a lucky girl!

Birthday Bump

The week between New Year's and back to work and school we spent together as a family.  On Friday we were invited to Dane's 3rd birthday party.  We went sledding at the lake by Ty and Jill's house.  The boys had a great time.

The boys tried out Dane's new snowbike.  Unfortunately Ashton and Dane had a little accident when Dane was at the bottom of the hill and Ashton was riding the bike down and tried to steer away from Dane but the bike didn't turn and he ran into Dane's face.  Thank goodness Dane was wearing a helmet and sunglasses and it protected his eye, but he did end up with a scrape, bump and bruise above his eye.  Ashton felt horrible about it, but Dane was quick to forgive and continue to have fun at his party. 

After sledding we headed indoors for snacks and to open presents.



Dane was not happy about having to wait to eat his cupcake until we finished singing "Happy Birthday"!



Happy Birthday Dane!!  We love you!

New Years

After travelling a bit during Christmas it was great to be home.  We had some friends over for dinner one night, then we had Sheri over for our annual get together.  We had great eats and exchanged gifts!

For New Year`s Eve we headed back to spend some time with the Puzey side of the family.  We met everybody in Lethbridge and went to the movie ``Rise of the Guardians``.  It was a really cute movie, and was enjoyed by all.  Then we went to New Dynasty for Chinese Food.  We had a good time together.  We spent New Year`s day at the farm.  Mom made Enchiladas and taco salad - delicious!!  The kids had so much fun together.  Ashton tried out a Christmas gift he got from Santa.  It is a special tube to drop mentos into diet coke.

In the afternoon my brother Jared took all the kids on a sled ride behind his quad.  They had so much fun.  It reminded me of when I was little and my dad would pull us kids behind his snowmobile.  Such good memories.  I`m grateful my boys are having these kinds of memories at the farm.

It was a great day!  We missed Rachel and Jared and their boys however.  Jonas had terrible pink eye so they stayed home.  Happy New Year!!