Family fun-filled Weekend!

Everyone except me of course, I'm taking the picture. Bo, Ben, Jenn, Danny, Ryan, Dave and Shane.

What a fabulous weekend! Dave's brother Bo and his wife Jenn and their two boys, Ben and Danny came and stayed with us in our new house for a few days this past weekend. Ryan is the oldest, 5, Ben is 3, Danny will be 2 in April and of course Shane is 5 1/2 months. There was a time when all four boys were all in one place playing and Jenn says to me, "You know, this is possible to have all of these kids be your own." I laughed, "no thanks." I couldn't imagine having four boys, all under the age of 5. Yikes....gives me shivers just thinking about it.

Friday March 17, 2006 - The Macfarlanes arrived in the late afternoon around 4:30. Dave got home at about 5:30. That gave them time to unload all there stuff into Kaitlyn's room. Dave and Bo had made plans to go to the Chilliwack Chiefs game at Prospera Centre. That was at 7pm.

Of course, now that a week has gone by the details of our weekend are a little fuzzy! I get so caught up in everyday stuff that I forgot to do this until now. Sorry to leave ya all hanging! The long and the short of it is that we did get the BBQ going by Sunday. I did get the rotisserie hooked up but I ended up cooking the roast pork in the oven. It was good none the less. Sunday night, I BBQ'd steaks, some real nice ribeyes from Weymouths. Scrumptious. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I was telling Bo and Jenn about cross hatching their steaks. (A little restaurant lingo - haha) I'm sure that I will never live it down. LOL. The family decided to stay an extra night as they had errands they wanted to run in Abbotsford, like Costco for instance. They had all of last week off as well. Ryan had to go to preschool on the Monday, so we got up and ready as normal and made breakfast for Bo. Jenn had already fed herself and the boys. They filed out of here about 8:30am to hit Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart before the long drive home. I had a fantastic time with them here. Kept my mind off of rheumatoid. It was there, just not front and center. It's amazing what the mind can do eh?!

Some good distraction...

Well, our household is going to be a busy one this weekend. Bo and Jenn, and their kids, Ben and Danny are coming down for a few days. Actually, they arrived yesterday in their brand new Dodge truck. Apparently it's red. They stayed with Dave and Bo's mom Lia last night and will be spending Friday and Saturday night with us. I extended them the invitation since we now have the room to put them up. I pray that all the kids get along and "share". I was hoping to bbq this weekend. I pulled out a pork roast that I want to put on the rotisserie. I went outside to give the old bbq a good dusting off. Well, spiders galore. AHH! I HATE SPIDERS! They freak me out. YUK! I managed to get the grates and the underplates off the bbq. I swear if candid camera were watching, everyone would have been howling. I brought them in and washed them thoroughly in the sink. They look great! Now the guts of the bbq have to be cleaned. I really don't want to do it. I am going to pull out the instruction manual so we can blow out all the critters. I'm hoping I can con Dave into doing at least that part of it. We'll see. I will post pics of our weekend when it's done. Wish me luck!

New Stimulus

Well, Friday was a pretty busy day. At least the morning. Got up early and had a shower with Shane in his bouncy chair....playing peek-a-boo. I'm glad I have glass doors on the shower so that I can see him without having to open them up and letting all that nice hot air out. Got Ryan off to preschool. Last day before spring break. Like they need a break from going to preschool two hours a day, three days a week. Ha! Shane and I hit Save-On-Foods to pick up my new prescription for this damn rheumatoid arthritis. Geez, it's been really tough the last few days. The Naproxen and Tylenol 1's aren't doing a thing. That's why I decided to go and fill the other prescription that's been sitting in my purse for a couple weeks. Of all things, it's also used as an anti-malarial drug. I guess I don't have to worry about getting malaria. I can barely lift Shane up as the pain in my hands, wrists and elbows is brutal. I'm really hoping that my visit with Dr. Lees on the 23rd will give me some tools to deal with this. Anyhow, also picked up Kaitlyn's Canuck t-shirt that we redeemed points for. Dave wants to put it away until her birthday in May unless she remembers that we ordered it and asks for it. Kaitlyn doesn't have a real good memory. From there, Shane and I headed over to Sears to pick up some new toys for him that I ordered. I was going to pick it up on Thursday, but it snowed. I decided that I didn't want to drive in it or leave the house at that point. I got Shane a 5 in 1 play thing. I'm not sure what you call it. He lays under it and can kick, then lights flash and music plays. It teaches, shapes and colors and then eventually converts into an art desk with a bench. It's really cool and it was on sale for $39.99. I also got him an exersaucer. I'm having such a hard time carrying him around all the time with this pain in my hands that I decided that I would get him an exersaucer to give me hands free play with him for a few minutes. It's great! He only spends about 10-15 minutes in it at a time. I think it's because he has to build up his muscles in his core. Check out this picture, he is so intent on the ball. The bright colors are great too! The other great thing is that you can fold this one flat and take it with you.

We then hit Tim Horton's on the way back to Yarrow to pick Ryan up from preschool. We headed back home to meet Mr. Rooter. We have the odd problem with the downstairs toilet. It's not flushed maybe four times since we moved in. Dave's brother Bo and his wife Jenn and the kids are probably going to come and stay a couple nights during spring break. We wanted to get the toilet fixed to save any embarrasement. Mr. Rooter came, inspected and said that there was nothing wrong. Apparently, Kohler, the type of toilet we have is know for "erratic flushes". That they are mainly bought for design not function. The guy said that our green "Kohler" was probably worth $1500. What good is spending that kind of money on a toilet that doesn't flush?They were here for about an hour. I was ready to pay, and they said it was no charge. Have you ever heard of that? Man, was I shocked. Thankful, but shocked. I spent the rest of the afternoon putting Shanes toys together. Dave was off to pick up Kaitlyn and I had told Dave I would meet him at ARC with his hockey equipment so he could play. I took the kids to Smitty's for supper. We got home around 8:30pm and I put the boys to bed.

I didn't leave the house today, Saturday March 11, 2006. I didn't do a whole lot. Puttered around mostly. Shane on my hip at every turn. He hates being put down. I keep telling myself to enjoy it while I can. He'll be on the move soon enough. Kaitlyn wanted to rent the new Harry Potter movie and I told her that when they went that I wanted to see Wedding Crashers. They went to two video stores and Harry Potter was totally out. So, they rented Wedding Crashers for me. After I put Shane to bed and cleaned up the kitchen, and swept the floors, I sat down to watch it. I watched it by myself. I had some real good laughs. I wish I could laugh more like that more often. I enjoyed that movie. I really like Owen Wilson. What a character. Anyhow, some parting pictures that I took today. Goodnight.

This is obvious, this is Shane and I. Of course, when I'm at home, no makeup, hair in a pony.

Ryan found his shades in the depths of one of his toy boxes. Doesn't he look cool?! Of course it was a bright sunny day today.

Traditions.....

It's really sad to me that you have to wait until someone you love passes away to either learn about them and their lives and different family traditions. I feel that I sort of missed out a little bit on the tradition thing, or at least learning some traditions in our family because mom had passed away at such a young age. Actually, when I think about it, the age I am right now, is when she passed away. It makes me really sad to think of all the things my mom missed out on dying so early. I know that she watches over me and my family but it's not the same. I could not even begin to imagine if I only had a few more months to live, all the things that I would miss out on. At this moment, because of all the stuff that is happening right now, I almost feel anxious to get on with life. I feel like I'm at a stalemate. Things around me are hurrying right along, but it doesn't feel like I'm slowing down enough to observe and enjoy them. I'm sure that I do more so than other people as I am not working right now. Sometimes, I just feel so overwhelmed with life. Even though I don't want it to go by too fast, I almost can't wait to see what's around the next corner. I do wish I was still in my twenties. As long as I know what I know now! That would have to be my one stipulation.

Anyhow, back to the tradition thing. I was talking with my Uncle Gary the other night. He enlightened me on some Japanese traditions. When a family member dies, family and friends come to the memorial service of course, but they would also either send flowers or a card, and when they come to the service, they bear a white envelope with money inside for the immediate family to help pay for funeral expenses. This is a long standing tradition my uncle says as in the old days, it was hard for families to pay for such expenses. Not that funerals are any cheaper now, we just tend to prepare in advance for them now. This giving of money is called "Koden". I had never heard of such a tradition. Usually, as people give money, there is an attendant who opens the envelopes and records the persons personal information and the amount they gave. This information is then transfered into a "log book" for future reference.

My uncle was telling me about when my Uncle Dennis died. He was only 25 years old when he was killed by that drunk driver. After his funeral, my Grandpa had pulled my Uncle Gary aside and gave him Uncle Denny's log book. He told him that it was now his responsibility to check off everyone the family had reciprocated to. Let me better explain, as I had to ask my uncle to do so. Everyone who came to the service, gave flowers, a card or money was written down in the log book. When someone in the log book, or any member of their family passed away, our family would reciprocate in the same way they did for our family in our time of need. Then they would be checked off in the log book. My Uncle Gary has the unfortunate task of having My Uncle Denny's, my Grandpa's, and now my Grandma's log book. He said that he has been asked many times why he is so morbid about reading the obituaries. But, the responsibility of log books is very important to Japanese tradition. Of course, my mom doesn't have a log book as dad was the one who looked after her service and either didn't know about the log book (which I would think that my family would have made sure he knew about it) or he just didn't bother. I think it is a wonderful tradition. "Koden" is something I had to learn through death, not life.

My Uncle Gary asked my Great Aunt Masaye (my Grandma's sister), what the Japanese tradition for memorial anniversary was. Apparently, in Japanese tradition, you have a memorial one year after the death, then three years, then seven years, then thirteen years etc. I figured out the pattern as my Uncle did not know why at these intervals, It's two years from the first memorial, then four years from the second memeorial, then six years etc. Interesting eh? My Great Aunt Masaye said that memorials are usually forgotten about as time goes on. I could see that however, had I known about that tradition, I probably would have done it for my mom. Again, something I had to learn through death, not life.

I am sure that if I thought long and hard enough, I could probably remember some traditions from growing up. I had seventeen years with mom. Those, I will have to think about and write about later. I'm too emotional at this time. I miss my Grandma so terribly, I hurt so deeply, I can't explain it. Today would have been her 85th birthday! I asked my Uncle to take some flowers to her grave for me for her birthday, and he said he would. He told me that they were going to have a little birthday party for her. There were some tears shed today, but I know that as time goes on, they will become more infrequent. I can now think of mom without crying, unless I'm having a super emotional day, then all bets are off.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I LOVE YOU!

Finally...a semi-normal day....

Life has been so crazy the last few weeks that it was finally nice to have a semi-normal day. Not that I don't have my breakdown moments during the day, but it's getting better. The uncontrollable sobbing moments are replaced with brief teary moments. I find that I am very sensitive and emotional towards everything, especially t.v. It's affecting me different. I can't wait for my visit with Dr. Lees. Thank you Sue for taking the time out to watch my kids while I do that. I sooooo appreciate it!

Today was a Costco day. I've been putting it off for at least five days now. I put Shane in the baby bjorn and Ryan in the buggy. Dave pushed and I pointed to what we needed. It was great, even though Costco is busier on Sundays. After Costco, we hit Tim Horton's and went over to Lia's. Of course, the first thing Ryan asks Oma for is ice cream. Thank goodness she didn't have any. Dave took Ryan to the park. I had a bowl of her ham and pea soup. Yummy. I took a look at her VCR/DVD as she said she was having problems with it. It works fine and showed her. She says that Jenn and Bo and the kids may come down for spring break. I told her that they could stay with us since we have the room now. She changed the subject. I know she likes putting them up, even if she has to child proof and her house gets all messy. I told her that our house is a disaster from Ryan so it wouldn't be any different having them here. I'm going to email them to extend the offer as I know she won't bring it up to them. I at least want to have them over for supper while they are here. I actually don't mind cooking for a bigger crowd. Dave has hockey tonight, so hopefully I can get the kids to bed at a decent time before Desperate Housewive's and Grey's Anatomy. With my luck, it won't be on because of the Oscars. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Anyhow, that's it for now.

I always have a story........don't I?

Well, the latest in the my life. My sister Joanne has just let me know that dad has been cremated. He was cremated before I was even notified of his death. Apparently this "handyman" at the mobile home park where dad lived is claiming to be the executer of my dad's estate and apparently he gets everything. He sent a cheque for $2500 to foreign affairs to have dad's body cremated. He has not produced a copy of the will, no documentation provided to foreign affairs..nothing. What the hell? Not that I'm after anything from dad, but the point being is that he had children and those children should be at the very least considered. This guy is not going to get away with trying to rip off this family. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong family to mess with. We won't go down without a fight. hahahaha.

Wednesday March 1, 2006 - Ryan went to preschool as usual and later in the afternoon from 2pm-4:30 we went to Emily's 6th birthday party at the Yarrow Elementary School Gym. It was great fun! Ryan had a blast getting pulled on a little flat deck cart by a hula hoop. Emily looked so cute in her purple outfit and pig tails. I hope she got everything she was hoping for.

Nothing special doing today, hanging around home for a change. I did decide to cook a turkey for supper. It's starting to smell real good. I can't wait!