I've got two kids -- one's 14 and the other is 3.  Unfortunately (for me at least), I'm currently teaching them both how to drive.  Our oldest got his license last summer but is only really starting to get behind the wheel right now.  It's scary as heck -- for both of us as well as other drivers, pedestrians, trees, etc.  We just gave our 3 year old a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep for her birthday so we're having to teach her how to drive as well.  So far she's only ran over the dog once, so that's good news!  I'm wondering how high our insurance bills are going to go now that they're both "behind the wheel".

I should do a poll of the top 10 auto insurance companies to see who will give me the lowest quote! lol  We're going to need some serious coverage for the power wheels as well as for our car.  And maybe some more anti-anxiety medications for Mom too!

We watched a couple of movies last week. Kris and Mark watched Indiana Jones. Well, okay, Emma and I watched it as well. I don't think that we liked it in the same way that they did though. I mean it was alright, I guess. There was everything you'd expect from an Indiana Jones movie -- gross animals (ants and snakes, of course), an archaeological treasure (Crystal skull which is given away in the title itself), bad guys, good guys (Indy and company), and lots of action. I've seen all the Indiana Jones movies and this one is just another.

Emma and I had a girl's movie night and rented Tinkerbell. She's always been my favorite -- Tinkerbell that is. I've always wanted to know more about her. Fairies fill little girl's minds with charming images of painting flowers and leaves, dancing around mushrooms and a tiny world filled with tiny treasures. I didn't even bother asking the boys if they wanted to watch it.

It really makes you think about the differences between boys and girls, men and women. I've been raising both a boy and a girl and have noticed several differences between the two genders seemingly from birth. I tried to make things as gender neutral as I could for both of them -- dolls for my son and trucks for my daughter. But it has never seemed to work.

This summer when Kris spent time at Buck Lake with Uncle Don and Doreen, he came home with two cool new boy's toys for me and him from Uncle Don. That's right, we got rc helicopters
! They are totally fun although a bit hard to control and catch onto. A bunch of the guys at my office have them too. I guess boys always like having their toys. Kris and I are going to have to get them up in the air really soon!

Congrats to Kris!  He had his first paying article posted onthe internet.  We posted a short story of his on Triondand it was published on Authspot!
It is "The Darkness" and was a recent english project.  Who knows, we might get him to let us publish some more later!

It is funny how things can snowball from something simple. A few months ago, my son Kris turned 14. Around here, that means that you can legally get your learner's license. Also, once you do get your license, you are automatically basically on probation for a few years. So, we figured "What the heck?" and made him get his learner's. He got it on the first try, and now we are trying to find a way to learn that works for him. He is terrified of driving, which is good to a point, but it makes it hard to get him to try. Soon, we will need to add him to our car insurance (that should hurt!). Before you know it, he will be asking to borrow the car to go out with friends and we will be left pacing the front hallway, hoping that he comes home soon. Once you have your license, you are a little more of your own person and it seems like one more step towards him spreading his wings and taking off to become a self-sufficient adult. OK, maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but sometimes I wonder.

As parents, we all try to prepare our kids for that day when they stand up to the world all on their own, and yet we also dread both our children growing up and leaving, and also just how they will do in the world and will it be nice to them.

In the meantime, all I can do is try to support him, teach him to make good choices, and maybe take him out driving once in a while.

So, Uncle Joe (aka  my little brother)  got offered a ticket to Hawaii to go visit the family that he was traveling with earlier in the year and to see Cousin Alexandra.   I am sure that everyone is shocked that he took it (yeah right)!   Joe will be in Hawaii for about a month visiting and then helping Alexandra house sit some really nice sounding property!  Sounds tough!

So, last night Uncle Chris and Uncle Joe came over for dinner and we ended up playing Wii Rock Band (borrowed from one of Kris' friends) .  Kris was great on guitar, Joe was good at drums and Paula did super as the singer.  I died brutally on vocals, but at least survived on bass.  I guess with Joe gone, I will have to try the drums before we return it.  I am guessing that me on drums is going to be painful...


In the morning (just barely, it was about 4am!) Joe went to the airport to catch the 6am flight to Hawaii!  Nice!  Well, actually, that would be to easy...  After going through customs and waiting for a few hours, they canceled the flight due to "mechanical issues".  Then the funniest part is that they made him go through customes to enter Canada!  I am not sure what they thought that he might have done while trapped in the terminal at 6am, but the gears of beurocracy do not always make sense...


He got booked on a later flight and hopefully will be in Hawaii soon.  Good luck and good surfing Joe!  We'll miss you!  Hopefully, he will be back soon, but who knows with Joe...

I just got the following email from Paula:

Congradulations Kris!

To be honest, I made Kris drive Grandma's car (a standard!) a few weeks ago...  Then Uncle Chris and the other firefighters cut it into little pieces!  He was pretty hesitant, but a good sport about it.  Since it was a standard, there was a bit of stalling, but he has at least driven standard now. Currently, he is in no rush to start actually driving.

Kris will likely not be driving the car shown above any time soon.  It is a race car that Uncle Don and Aunt Darlene sponser.  Kris and I got to try sitting in it after one of the races in Calgary last year.

As part of a series bringing broadway shows to Calgary (and other Canadian cities), there is a production of Monty Python's Spamalot in town this week.  For Kris' birthday, we got him tickets and Friday night we got to see it.  Kris had already seen it in London, and he said that it was very similar, but he totally loved it anyways.  Even Paula, who was not sure that she would like it had a great time.  It has been quite a while since the last good play  that I saw, so I really enjoyed it.  The last time I saw a good production like this was probably The Producers and Assassins (with Doogie Howser, bet he hates being called that...) in New York on my last trip a couple of years ago.


The show itself is definitely unique and loosly based on Monty Python and the Holly Grail (with bits stolen from The Life Of Brian and other places.  Of course in order to make it work on stage, there are a number of ommisions.  There are also some great new numbers that were somehow never included in the movie such as the lady of the lake singing a song complaining that her part is not big enough and she has not had enough stage time and a the required love song that starts low and builds up then changes keys (no, seriously, that is what the song is about!).


Kris loved it so much that he got the CD, but my request to get a killer bunny hand puppet was refused as possibly traumitizing for Emma...


Anyways, we all had a great time and I totally recommend it!


Next, they have Cats, Annie and couple more comming in the next year.

Kris is doing his best to play as much computer games as possible this summer and is really working at relaxing. For his birthday, he got an XBox 360 and several games and he has been playing on the XBox, playing on the PC, watching movies (he got several Monty Python movies for his birthday) and reading books. Doreen is talking about taking Kris out to Buck Lake to hang with Uncle Don and do some fishing for a few days. That should be really nice for him. Emma is asserting herself more and more and constantly changing and picking up new things. She is becoming more and more a little girl and often dances around like a ballarina and sings (both her version of real songs and ones that she makes up). Her favorite phrase is "I do it!". There is a lady with two little Yorkies who lets Emma walk one around the park when we see her. Emma loves it! Paula and I are slowly getting better. Some days are better than others.

On Wednesday night, we had to go grocery shopping. We gave Emmy a bath and put her to bed. Kris offered to "watch" her so we could run out and grab some groceries. He's never done this before. It's not that he's not old enough. It's not that he's not mature enough. It's the diapers. He doesn't want to change them. Actually, he absolutely refuses to have anything to do with diapers. He completely freaks out if you start changing a poopy bum in front of him -- not that I can blame him, it's not my favourite activity either, especially pregnant! If I could find a way to avoid it, I would too! Anyways, when we got back home from the store after about half an hour, the whole house was quiet. I poked my head around the corner to peek into the living room. Kris was sitting there in the chair watching his baby sister on the video monitor! Too cute! I think he was a little more worried about it than he let on. I told him it was okay to watch tv or do something when she was sleeping. He claimed nothing was on. I think he was probably afraid he'd miss something. He's such a good kid! Sometimes we give him a hard time about being messy or lazy or having an attitude. But when you get right down to it, he's a great son and an absolutely fantastic big brother!