Christmas day update

It wasn't a Playstation 3. But I DID get a sweet pair of new snowshoes, nice wine glasses, and tickets to the Christina Aguilera concert in March. I get to go with Tannis and Toshya. I think it will be huge fun. Partly for the campiness of the whole concert idea, and partly to watch one VERY sexy chick. It should be cool to watch toshya lose her mind.

Had my grandparents over for breakfast along with Sheri, Sandi, and Kris. I made that breakfast pizza thing again. I love that. Hollandaise sauce is sooo yummy.

Tannis seemed pleased with her gifts although I still question why I buy her kitchen-y stuff for Christmas. Oh well, she really liked the mixer and the vaccuum.

Brooke was a little disappointed that she didn't get a giant Barbie from Santa. Mitch, on the other hand was pleased as hell with the Love 'n Licks puppy he got. Oh well. I guess disappointment is part of the game.

All tolled, a very good Christmas. We are looking forward to the Regina visit. I can't wait to spend some time away with the family.

Christmas Eve

Here it is. The big moment. The kids are snuggled in their beds waiting for the morning. We had a nice dinner at Bruce and Theresa's with my side of the family. Gayleen's group was represented by Sheri as the rest of them are in Africa visiting Danny. It was a really nice visit. The kids played their asses off. I didn't see them hardly all night. We tried a gift exchange this year that saw each person show up having brought a present and pulling a number to pick gifts under the tree. It worked well as swiping gifts from another person was kept to a minimum by the rule that the holder of the gift was allowed to refuse to have the gift 'swiped'.

It was really nice to visit with Sandi and also with the rest of the family. It was a little odd not having Gayleen there, but not nearly as awkward as it will be tomorrow at Tannis' parents without Sandra and Nash there. This is their first Christmas in Calgary. Should be interesting.

Tannis has been hinting all month that she went a little overboard on my gift. I have a feeling that it isn't a Playstation 3. It seems it isn't yet available, so I will be getting part of it and a picture of the rest. I got her a jewellry box and Mitch got her a cake pan and Brooke got her a vacuum. I also bought the mixer she has been wanting. I know it's not much of a gift, but whatever. It will probably be a huge hit. I was so stoked last year with the "girls day out" that I bought her and Tosh, but that never really happened.

I think her and I actually ended up using the Moxie's gift certificate.

The kids left some art for Santa to take with him when he leaves. After some discussion, Tannis and I decided that Santa would leave them a note thanking them for the gift and reminding them to be good.

I hope it's a hit.

I must sleep now. We are in for a big day tomorrow. I hope the kids have fun. God, I love them.



Merry Christmas.

600 Caches!

I found my 600th Geocache today. I was planning on finding a different geocache for my 600th. It was a Christmas themed cache that once you found it, you had to do a good deed. These good deeds were all contained in the cache and you were to select one when you got there. Count on 1Queenand 4Jokers to come up with cool cache ideas.

As I was driving to work, my Blackberry buzzed with the new cache e-mail. And it was right on the way to work. And ertyu has a job so I had a really good chance at a First-to-Find. Decision made. It showed that the cache was in Assiniboine Forest. So I parked the car in the lot on Corydon and as I was walking away, who pulls in, but TurdleEggs. Cool!

It was a great sunny day, -2C, and I was out caching with a good friend and finding my 600th cache. Ok, so it wasn't a day out with my family, but it was a good time nevertheless.

Christmas is coming

Last night was fun. It was Brooke's Grade 1 Christmas ... er Holiday Pageant. No sense offending anyone. We had a section on Kwanzaa. I counted 2 black kids on the stage. Now, I have no problem with equality, but come on. I submit that these kids have never even celebrated it in the past.
Kwanzaa is 39 years old. That's right, 39 years. The significant holiday of african americans is one year older than I am. I am not disagreeing with the principles of Kwanzaa. They are 7 noble principles that everyone could benefit from following. Kwanzaa is a North American tradition that was invented by Ron Karenga. He was the leader of the United Slaves Organization. He was also convicted of the wrongful imprisonment and abuse of 2 women. Also African American. I encourage you to read up on this, it may shed some light.
I wished I could have seen Brooke a bit better, she was up on the stage tucked behind a few other kids. I enjoyed watching her perform. I always do. The concert was fairly short. Which was a good thing. Mitch crashed practically before it even started. Grandma enjoyed holding him while he slept. She said it was a treat.
Grandpa Mogg was there too. Grandma Mogg was at bingo.

First mobile blog entry

If I can make this work it would make life a but easier, and allow me to edit my blog on the blackberry.

No notebook, no cry

My computer seems to have bitten the dust. I was typing on it the other night, and bam...it shut off. Called HP and he walked me through a bunch of fixes that I had already tried. I listened very carefully to his instructions and responded to his questions very courteously. Funny part is, I was not trying these procedures or following his directions. I was having a coffee and driving the car. I think he caught on after a while, but didn't seem to care.

He arranged to send me an empty box and I agreed to put my computer in it and send it back to him. 6-8 business days and I will be getting my fixed computer back.

Today we all went shopping for groceries at Safeway. Tannis took Mitchell and I took Brooke. Tannis managed to full an entire cart with everything we will need for the next 10 years in the same time it took me to fill my basket with the items we would require for our dinner that night. I definitely enjoy the journey more than she does. Brooke was marginally helpful. She picked out a marinated vegetable salad that, although it looks tasty, probably tastes like shit. She also picked out some Bugles, and cinnamon and brown sugar Eggos. Those two choices are classic Brooke. I think she chose the veggies first so that I would agree to the other two later.

We had grilled paninis and caesar salad. Then we cleaned the house. Except for Mitchell...he cried. And then he fell down the stairs. And then cried some more. I chose this time to yell at him. I gave him the whole "Stop being a suck" and "I'll give you something to cry about" speech. I could just bend and let him suck out and go to bed. But I want him to learn early that if there is a job that needs to get done, you get it done. Then you do what you want.

Brooke, surprisingly, was a cleaning machine. So much so that Tannis saw it fit to reward her with a Skittle or two. Mitch saw this and wasn't impressed. So he cleaned up a few things and then asked for a skittle of his own. The answer he got was not what he expected. We explaned to him that you don't do chores for the reward. You do chores for ... well, because you HAVE to. I explained that Brooke got a candy because she worked hard right from the beginning and didn't make a fuss or have to be reminded to keep cleaning. This was quite unpopular with Mitch. But I was firm. I gave him a hug, told him I loved him, and reminded him that when we clean up in the future he needs to help out more without causing a fuss. Or I will kill him.

Grey Cup 2006

Today was a busy day. Mom is sick, Brooke is sick (but getting better). She has this persistent cough for the last 4 weeks. It is getting a bit looser now, and tonight she is hardly coughing at all. I hope she is done with this cold. I hope I don't get it.

Tannis has been sleeping much of the day. She seems to have borrowed some of Brooke's germs. I took the kids shopping at 11 this morning, but being Sunday, I forgot the stores didn't open till noon. So we went out for breakfast at the Southdale restaraunt. Yucky Eggs Benedict, and the kids had french toast (Brooke), and bacon and eggs (Mitch). I felt sorry for the waitress. It was ridiculously busy and there was not enough staff. Add to that that she was 6 months pregnant, and well, you have a pretty grim picture. I left her a 5 dollar tip. I hope she doesn't use it to buy crack.

We were shopping for toilet paper and garbage bags, items that had eluded our grasp on the past couple of outings. Why is it that if you forget to buy something, it is the most crucial thing possible. Anyhow, we managed to get the vital items. I was also intent on making some cool tapas for our Grey Cup Party this evening. I knew of the dinner that was being prepared for us...casserole. So I wanted to have a backup plan of edible food. The day before we had bought some cool crackers shaped like cups at Millers Meats. I decided to fill those with shrimp dip and top them with a thin slice of medium-rare steak - YUM! Second was the chicken skewers with a thai peanut sauce. And lastly, potato skins. But not just any potato skins, these were made with little new potatoes. LOTS of fussy work scooping them out, but with a bit of cheese and bacon, they were well worth the effort.

We had a nice time watching the game. One really nifty part was when the Snowbirds flew over after the National Anthem. Right after they flew over the stadium, they flew right over the house. It was neat!

The kids played under grandmas very watchful eye while Tannis slept on the couch and I watched the Lions win over the Alouettes. Pretty dull game overall, but it was nice to sit and watch a whole game. I only get to do that once or twice a year.

The tapas were a big hit, and the casserole (lazy lasagna - from a recipe) wasn't. Who puts corn in lazy lasagna...I mean really.

We loaded everybody up as soon as we could because grandma was kicking us out. It was a nice night out.

Here it is...the diary I will keep. It seems likely that I would use this method as opposed to paper. I had another blog going, but there is a constant problem with the account, so I will just use this one. Being run by Google, I have a little bit of confidence that I won't have the same problems.
At this point, 'blogs' are only popular with teenagers, news services, geeks, and those annoying people who send you those 'family update' Christmas letters every year. Now they have the ability to annoy you full time!
I started this to record some daily observations that, unless recorded, will get bumped out of my head and forgotten forever. It is mainly for my kids to read when they grow up. Perhaps they will find it amusing, insightful, or God forbid, educational.
Brooke is 6 years old, Mitchell is 4. They are the best kids ever. When I imagined what my adult life would be like, this is exactly it. I knew I would have 2 kids, I knew they would be close in age, and I was absolutely positive they would be perfect.
I couldn't be more proud. Brooke is working very hard to learn how to read. She will do fine. She is working through level 6 right now. She will read a line, slow as you please, and then go back and read it through so she can understand the story.
Mitchell is desparately trying to fit in with the whole reading and writing thing. "How do you spell that, dad?" And he spells it...or should I say copies it, as he is not sure what baffling shape he should make to make the letters. He is sooo smart, and funny too. His thoughtful disposition is sure to serve him well as he matures. He looks a bit like me.