Crazy busy

Our son and daughter-in-law have gone away on a business trip, so we're babysitting the boys.  The boys are 4 and 7, and are full of energy.  I just wish I have a tiny bit of their energy...LOL  They're really good, but when you're not as active as them it's tiring for sure.

They are such a lovable pair and have lots to say on everything.  When I put them to bed on a night, we go over all the good things that has happened that day, and the 4 year old, just loves that.  It's making me smile just writing this.  I asked him what he dreamt about and he said he was talking to Santa.......he had a huge smile on his face.........such innocence.  

First morning we took them to school we got there just in the nick of time.  The second time we were overly early, so now we just need to get it right.  I have found being organized is a key to getting out of the house in good time, otherwise it's like herding cats!!

They live a five to ten minute walk from school, so we walk back and forth.  One thing I don't like is the amount of people who bring huge dogs to school with them to pick up the kids.  I love larger dogs, more so than the small ones who nip.  However the other day a woman with a dog who was 100 to 120lbs was right by the gate at the Kindergarten and was announcing loudly her dog just loved children and would do them no harm.   Yeah right 😕  Said dog didn't like other dogs though, and up strolled another woman with a mid-sized dog and went right for the large dog.  

Last summer we were picking up our older grandson who was in Grade 1 at the time and up strolled a woman with a "pit-bull like" dog and a snake wrapped round her neck?????  I gave her a wide birth, not for the dog, but the bloody snake...LOL

Anyhow, so this is why I am not visiting your blogs, as in between babysitting, and being at their house, I am prepping for a Christmas party our daughter and I are having at our house this weekend.  Next week it should settle down and I will have more time to visit everyone's blogs.

Have a good week!

Best Nana EVER!!!!

I am seeing four of the grands this weekend, so got them a little treat.  The Pokemon are for the girls and he Justice League is for Liam.  I didn't pay the full $6.99 for Liam's.

I remember these first time round, now they are back in "fashion."

So a funny story about Pokemon and the girls.  Nora is in Grade 3.  The Grade 3's are banned from trading the cards at school as it's too distracting.  Paige is in senior Kindergarten, and the Kindergarten kids are in a fenced off area.  They are not allowed to go out of their area at recess.

Paige has been bringing home various Pokemon cards, so her mom has been asking her where she has been getting them from.  She said other kids have been giving her them through the chain link fence.

Sort of reminds you of a prison where folk from the outside slip the inmates contraband through the fence!!  Are Pokemon cards, the drug equivalent for kids?

Now I have had a heck of a job tracking down these Pokemon cards, and given that I know diddly squat about them, I finally got them from Fun Zone Comic and Cards.  Super nice people and but very overwhelming for someone though who isn't into comic books and cards.  He was saying Pokemon cards sell out as fast as they come in.  

I have a feeling I need to educate myself on these, as all the school age grands love them!!

To dye or not to dye?

When Paige started school back in September of 2020 she was 4 1/2.  She came home one day and said to her mother, "where are the eyes in the back of my head?"  After a discussion it turned out her teacher had said she "had eyes in the back of her head."

Her mother told her that only grow up's had eyes in the back of their heads!!  Honestly these kindergarten teachers also need the patience of a saint, and have arms like an octopus.  It must be like herding cats trying to control 20 odd 4 & 5 year olds!!  Rather them than me.

Now why I bring this up, is I went to get my hair cut the other day.  After they have finished they hold up a mirror at the back of your head to make sure with how it looks at the back.  I got quite a shock when I saw how much grey hair I had at the back.  As I don't have eyes in the back of my head, I never see what's going on there, hence the Paige story.

Now back to the title of this post.  I normally dye my hair on a regular basis, as I am not fully grey yet.  For some reason I didn't do it after I got it cut in September.  As my hair is short, the dye will be fully out of my hair by the time it is cut twice more.  Maybe even the next time if I get a good chunk cut off.

So I am thinking of biting the bullet and not dying my hair and seeing what my "real" head of hair looks like?  I am just concerned that as it is not fully grey yet, I will look old, washed out and tired!!

For the more mature ladies out there, what age did you stop dying your hair?  Or do you just keep on colouring it?

Gosh it's been nearly 3 months.......

Where has the time gone too?  The older I get the faster time flies by I find.

When I last posted our son and daughter-in-law had just moved in with us while their house was being renovated.  On May 27th our daughter-in-law gave birth to their first child a little boy called Liam John.  Here he is on his 1 month "anniversary."  The red hair comes from my dad's side of the family and I think he resembles his mum.

We were so lucky to have them at our home for another three weeks after he was born.  It's a once in a lifetime thing to have your newborn grandson live with you.  They moved out after three weeks, as their home was "livable," at that point.

A month on the contractor is still at their house and still busy working.  It's a family joke now, that we think he'll still be there when Liam starts school! 

Our other big news is that we put the house on the market this week (Tuesday).  So far we have had one real estate agent look round for their client.  We have high hopes we will have some people looking over the house this weekend.  As we live in an "Active Adult Community," and we pay condo fees, our home will not appeal to everyone.  The real estate market has been slow so far this year, so we are not sure if we will find a buyer or not.  We don't HAVE to move, but we would LIKE to move.  If we have to stay here another year it's no problem.

There are many reasons we want to move; too many to go into here.  We have no idea where we are going, as we want to see if we get sell.  Dh, is thinking about retiring, but is still not 100% sure, so that also makes it difficult to figure out how much to spend and where we should live.  However, we have plans drawn up for either scenario; plus financially we have been planning for both options for a couple of years now.  It's always good to get your "ducks in a row," as they say when it comes to life decisions that involve money!

Summer is upon us here, so I have been hibernating, as the hot flashes along with the heat are not my friends.  Been busy knitting and sewing.  Just sent off a birthday box to a little girl in Nunavut; will tell you more about that in another post.

The two "N's" both finished junior kindergarten at the end of June and both got excellent report cards.  They move up to senior kindergarten in September and Sammy will also start junior kindergarten in September.  It just seems like yesterday that Sammy was born???

Jeina and Paige both turned 2 in May and June respectively.  Both had birthday parties with numerous other little ones attending.  Both had bouncy castles in their back yards and lots of screaming and shouting!  Came home with a present from Paige's birthday party; both dh and I ended up with nasty summer colds.  Not sure which one of the little darlings was sick😕 I swear toddlers are walking germ factories!

Looking forward to hearing what you have been up too?

Big Day for the two "N's"

as they both start full time Kindergarten/School today.  

Nitara has been ready for many months, and as her birthday is in January she will be one of the older kids in her year.  Over here the intake period is the year you were born, whereas in Britain, you had to be born between the prior September through to August.  So Nora is still only there so she will be one of the younger ones.

Nitara will go to school on a yellow school bus, so is all excited about that.  Nora will walk to school, or her dad will drop her off.  Both are excited about going to school, but what will happen on the actual day who knows.  I do know that Nitara will probably be fine, but Nora will have tears.

Nora will transition into the routine a lot better, as she is used to daycare.  Whereas Nitara hasn't been to daycare, so may find it a little harder to figure out the social aspect of it all.  Regardless, both will be fine after the first few days.  Here are a few photos of the two "N's" from Saturday.

When they both start talking it's difficult to get a word in edge ways!!  I do love these two and they love one another.

Year in Review for the "Home's of the Week,"

Toronto Life has put together their 10 best Home's, Condos and Cottages for sale in 2012.  Lets just say I don't agree with them, and I can bet you won't either.  However if you are a fan of this feature it will be fun to go back and look at some of the lovely places and cringe at some of the eye sores again!!

So here we go; "The 10 Best Home's of 2012."  Number 3 was my favourite, and absolutely hated number 9 and 7.

"The 10 Best Condos of 2012."  Loved number 4, but honestly the rest I can live without, they're all over priced for what they are.

"The 5 Best Cottages of 2012." For some reason they only come up with five cottages instead of ten?   The five that they picked all leave a lot to be desired.  Also the word "cottage" used for some of these places is so wrong, they're bloody mansions!  Still if you have a favourite let me know I'll take a second look at them.

Have managed to cash in for 4 $5 Amazon e-cards through Swagbucks so far this month.  Working towards that fifth one you who are on the computer a lot, you could be earning Swagbucks at the same time?  If you do sign up please would you use my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby

It's my older of my two brother's birthday's today.  Happy 40 something Birthday our Nick!!!  Often wondered if its a good thing having a birthday around Christmas time?  Before Christmas people are busy with Christmas itself and you're getting presents for Christmas anyway, so I bet a lot of people combine presents which must suck?  Then just after Christmas people have no money, though the sales are on, so I guess you may get a great gift because it was on sale?

Does anyone have a birthday either in December of January?  Also in Canada, the school year intake date is January 1st.  So January birthday's are the oldest in the year and December birthday's are the youngest.  I know two cousins, one birthday was November of one year and the other was Janaury of the next.  The one in November started school in September of 2012, but the other one had to wait until Spetember of 2013, despite only being two months apart in age.

I told poor "R" that she should try to have another baby by December of 2014, as although there would be nearly apart in age, they would only be a year apart in school.  As she pointed out it would be helpful to have this baby first.....LOL

Yes, she's still pregnant and although the baby isn't big 5 + lbs both are healthy.  She finishes work today to go on maternity leave, so I will probably see her next week sometime.  Her due date is the 18th, so two more weeks to go.