little and juicy

This kid cracks me up. She's small and sassy and just so juicy all I want to do is eat her up. Sometimes I stare at her and wonder how many kisses her little fat face has felt over her four years.

Today is a bitter sweet day for her and me. It was her last day of play school. And because it was her last day it was mine as well. She is number four. She is the last one. Every time she does something for the first or last time it is my last first or my last last time as well. Although I am excited about the future and what that means, I am sad, a little bit, that there are no more little ones around here.

Here are a few play school shots taken over the year (actually most of them were today - I never said I was a good photo mommy!)





Amelia has tons of 'personality'. She's busy and imaginative and talks to her friends all day long. She sings to them and with them and tells them they have done a very good job when they have or she tells them to stop interrupting her while she sings alone. The good thing about all these friends is that they don't actually exist so in her world everything is about her and everyone does what she wants. Sometimes the transition to the real world isn't so smooth; hence, the sassy.

One day she came down from quiet time with this on her face...



...I asked her to smile for the camera and she did. Then I asked her what was on her face. She thought about it for a minute and then gave me this face.....



Cute kid.

At Christmas we were wandering the mall and saw Santa at Naturalizer's (the shoe store). She couldn't believe it. We went in and he sat down and asked her to sit with him. She asked him what he was doing there. "Do you need new boots?" she said. "Ho ho ho", he said.



The other day she threw her jammies over the wall and they landed in the 'tree' at the bottom of the stairs. When she came down to get them she couldn't reach them. She fell, devastated, to the floor and cried like they were lost forever. Poor thing. It didn't help when we all laughed.



I love how when we go to Cross Iron Mills she has to eat her lunch at her own little table with her friends. She tells them what to do through the whole thing. Poor imaginary friends.



I love how when she eats her favorite bedtime snack, a frozen yogurt tube, she does it with an oven mitt on. Funny kid.



She has crazy hair and cute teeth and loves to be in her "safe spots" whenever she can and wherever she can.











Today she brought home a flower she planted and we stuck it on the ledge by the window and she said "there, now we can watch it grow." How appropriate I thought. "Yes, let's watch it grow."



I love you Amelia. What a gift you have been. Thank you for being my number 4.

seriously?

It's April 29th and this is what we woke up to......



I sent the kids to the bus and then found out the schools were closed. I yelled for them from the deck and the wind carried my voice to them and they came running home. Now they are doing this.....



Should be an interesting day. And the good news? I get to drive to Calgary twice today.(sarcasm)

spring break psycho

Three weeks ago I just about had a nervous breakdown. My boys were driving me C.R.A.Z.Y!!!! They are 10 and 7 and all they do is fight. Every minute they are together they fight. I am convinced it is not normal but my mom tells me it is so I am disillusioned. I can't stand being with them so much that if they are occupied with something else then I don't have to listen to them. Sadly the things they want to be occupied with are TV, D.S's and the computer.

Spring Break hit and I planned something fun for the kids every single day so we could get out and have fun together but the fighting!!! Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!!!! Finally I snapped and the two boys lost the last two fun things we had planned - How To Train Your Dragon and Chinese Food for dinner. They ate peanut butter and watched the rest of us enjoy our Chinese.

I was determined to figure out what on earth could be up with these two nasty fellas so I decided to go back to the basics. You know, like the olden days, when there was nothing to entertain you but your own imagination. I took away TV, D.S's and the computer. There boys.... go ride your bikes, read a book, play with your friends.

But... I didn't want them to feel punished. I wanted them to see that if they are busy and having fun then life is good. I didn't want them to think that the only fun out there is in the TV so I explained to them that it was an experiment. I needed to show them that these things actually make them unhappy, regardless of what they may think. I offered a reward.

Two weeks of none of this garbage + an attempt to get along with each other and with me + one mommy who isn't freaking out all the time = a mommy son date (of their choice).

So today was the date, they did it. Actually they killed it!! There was zero upset and contention and unhappiness in our home for two weeks. Honestly, it was a miracle. They chose a movie and dinner.... the two things they missed during Spring Break. We ate at the Chinese Buffet in Cochrane and then saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid.... just what THEY wanted.


Jack never stops talking.....


Holden loves his Chinese.....


My little men.....


Nothing says Chinese like a palm tree!


We had an awesome day. I'm proud of my little men and when I told them that from now on they get a very small amount of the things that make them miserable on Saturdays ONLY they said that it was rubbish, but they said it with a smirk of gratitude on their faces.

Cravin'

Today, if I was skinny, I would have driven all the way to Crave to eat these.....







and it would have been delicious.

The train and it's evil twin

Once a month I get hit by a train and about 10 days later I get hit by its evil twin. I have always had PMS and as a youth I was a mean sucker for a few days. I'm sure my siblings and parents would not argue this point but since I have had my fourth baby 4 years ago it has become exponentially worse. I have no explanation for this and my doctors offer no valuable advice, other than intrusive medical procedures. Since I am a lover of the idea of holistic healing I tend to avoid modern medicine as long as possible.

I started to see an acupuncturist for a different reason a few years ago and she promised to help me on both counts. She cured the original reason I came to see her for but when she moved away a year after I started seeing her she was baffled by my 'condition'. She referred me to another girl who practices the same type of acupuncture she did. This new lady, Heather, is a miracle worker but I am disheartened that, even though she helps my PMS to a spectacular degree, I still struggle with a few things regarding my cycle.

About three years ago, in an attempt to live a longer, healthier life, I went to see this super weird quacky massage therapist who also practices all kinds of kooky therapies. I went to see her for Lymph Massage but after a few sessions she turned it into psychotherapy and I wasn't about to pay $70 an hour to find out that my belly button prefers grapefruit oil to any other essential oil and that when Kevin called me fat in grade 7 it had long lasting negative effects on my psyche. (Thanks - but my four year old could have told me that.) Anyway, I stopped seeing her when she refused to do as I asked.

So here I sit, down and out, because my not so favorite monthly house guest showed up and stole my energy and zest for life and has left my 'qi' wanting. This 5 day gift that actually keeps on giving for 14 days because apparently I am so special I deserve it for longer than is necessary. Next week I will give Heather another $70 to tame the beast. In the mean time I will vent to the man while I seriously consider doing every intrusive medical procedure available to me. I will do this until the next train is due to hit exactly 10 days before its evil twin.

Retreat!

Every year this guy.....


and I go on a foster parent retreat. It has always been in Canmore and I love Canmore. Our agency pays for one night at the Hotel Of The Rockies and we eat until we want to puke and then sit through a day of training. I'm not going to lie, usually most of the training is really bad. There is always a morning session that everyone has to do and, on the whole, it is pretty good. This year it was excellent. The afternoon session is split up into three or four classes that we have to choose from. There is always a nature walk, it fills up first because everything else is D.U.M.B. This year we managed to get into the walk....THANK GOODNESS!!!!!

So we walked in the mountains with these dudes......


and these dudes.....


We stopped every few minutes to listen to this fabulous lady tell stories.......

And we also saw some pretty beautiful scenery....






I love the mountains, they make me feel good. And if this is what is considered 'training' in the eyes of the government then sign me up any day.

It's official.

Well the man has finally weighed in and together we decided what the name of our blog will be. Poo poo on the children and their lack of imagination. The Dabels Divulge says it all and I like it so that's that.

What's in a name?

We are having a hard time around here trying to think up a good name for this blog. Originally I liked 'dangerously dabels' but decided it was too cheesy. Some of the kids agreed. Then I changed it to 'dabels divulge' which they really hated but I think it was because they aren't very smart and didn't know what divulge meant. Today I changed it back but I'm still unsettled about it. I should ask the man what he thinks. I think I will. Now where might he be........

Little Brown House

I thought I'd tell you a story about a little brown house, this little brown house. My husband and I own this house. We bought it in March and then we beat the crap out of it. The inside looks like a war zone and we are going to make it beautiful. I have a bunch of pictures that I could post but I won't right now because when the house actually is beautiful I will take a whole bunch more and then I will post the before and after and the WOW factor will knock you off your feet. Hopefully this house will be beautiful by June and then we can sell it and move on to the next phase of our lives.

Now I must back track and tell you how this little brown house came to be. My husband has big dreams, he's a dreamer. He loves to talk about all the amazing things he wants to do. He has one flaw..... NO action. All talk , no action, that's Darcy. For years I heard him make plans, change plans, draw up plans and dream about these plans but nothing ever came to fruition. One day I said enough is enough. Stop talking and start doing. Unfortunately, the down side to this 'doing' involved selling our house, pulling out the equity and making some hard, solid decisions. It also involved renting to keep our money free and to avoid some ugly taxes. So the search began to find a rental that fit the bill. It had some pretty specific criteria: it had to have four bedrooms or more, it had to be in Tuscany (where we were living) to avoid upsetting the children too much and finally, it COULD NOT be disgusting! How hard could these things be to find? Well, pretty darn impossible, as it turned out.

We found a beautiful brand new house that had four bedrooms and a bonus room, a developed walk out basement, it was reasonably priced and we loved it. But.... it was in Cochrane, which is not Tuscany. We were running out of time so we took it. I was sick about moving the kids and devastated that I had to leave my ward, my friends and my sister but with 4 kids to think about and my sanity, what's a girl to do?

We moved last September and began the search for the perfect project to sink our money into. We found a fixer upper but it sold. We looked into building a house and picked a lot but soon realized there is was no money in that. We bought a house inner city and found that it was chock full of asbestos, we gave it back. Finally in March we found the little brown house, or I should say our realtor found it. We loved it and bought it. Now we renovate. The first time is always the hardest they say and they are right. We really had no plan as to how long it would take but we have a budget, big dreams and a rent and a mortgage to keep us motivated. As soon as Darcy finishes his last house (he's a framer) he will devote 100% percent of his time (or so he tells me. I choose to live in denial about the actual truth to this) to getting it ready for drywall. Next week it begins.

At first this was a 'contract out all the trades' kind of deal but when the painting quotes came in at half my budget it turned into a huge DIY project. I get to paint it now, awesome!! (until you get to know me I will indicate when I am being sarcastic). When I say paint I mean inside, outside, trim, doors, baseboard and all cabinetry. My wonderful mother offered to come and be me while I take a full time job as a painter. Can't wait for the drywall to get done and start painting (sarcasm!)

So..... my little brown house will soon be light olive green and I will be the one who made it so and even though this journey has been hard, scary and very much unknown, it's my husbands dream and therefore it is mine as well. Welcome to my blog little brown house.

The Beginning......

Years ago, when I first heard the word 'blog' I thought it was stupid and I had ZERO interest in doing one or reading anyone else's. It's this thing I do, where I instantly dislike any new idea. I rebel against it until I can see how useful it is. I can't help it, I get it from my dad. Lately I have been seriously enjoying about 4 blogs regularly and then I started to feel guilty about so many things. I'm not a believer of guilt so this is new for me! First, I feel guilty as I read people's blogs and see how much they enjoy their children and how peaceful their homes seem to be. Surely I can't be the only frustrated, fed up (sometimes) mom out there. Secondly, I don't journal and this saddens me greatly. My sister keeps a diligent journal, so much of her children's early years have been documented. (She also keeps a diligently clean house, another thing I don't do but that's a whole other posting!) I feel guilty about my weight but I'll save that for another day and all the other things I have guilt about are really none of your business so butt out!

Anyway, how could it hurt to record a little of what goes on around here 'Dabels' style.....even if it is a bit dangerous?