The Pukersons - Episode I: The Phantom Menace aka Zachary was almost "that kid"

Zachary and Alexandria had their first swimming lessons on Monday night. Registration for some other programs was at the same time, so I had to be somewhere else for the first bit. We asked "Buddy" Joe if he could help out, and he agreed. So Monday night, Jean-Paul packed up the kids, picked up Joe a couple blocks away and went to the pool. Zachary was first, so Alex and Joe watched and waited until Daddy and Zachary were done. Zach had a blast in the pool. Then it was Alex's turn. While Alex was in the pool (BY HERSELF for the first time - yes, another shred of proof she's growing up....), Daddy, Joe and Zach were watching from the "gallery" - which is just on the other side of a door into the pool. That was when Zachary's body decided it would be a good time to projectile vomit - all over himself, Daddy, the backpack and the floor. Luckily, not on Joe! Yay! It was a huge mess. Mommy shows up just after all this has transpired. Daddy and Zach got somewhat cleaned up and all the boys headed home while Alex and Mommy finished up.

On the bright side, Zoodle did not puke IN the pool. He would have been "that kid" who "fouled" the pool. They would have had to shut it down - on the first night of swimming lessons, when everyone had packed up their kids in the cold and brought them to the pool all excited to start their lessons for the new year. "Hey, there's that kid. He's the one that threw up in the pool." We would have been "that family". "Hey, that's the family that got the pool shut down last week 'cuz the little one threw up."

After returning home, Zoo threw up again while sitting on his Cars chair (which we have since discovered has a broken zipper and the cover is impossible to remove). He gets changed again and is really tired by this point, so goes to bed. A half hour later... "cough, cough, blah" again. Then again 15 minutes later, then 15 minutes later, then 15 minutes later, then... you get the point. Around 11:30 the increments started getting longer again and by about 1:30am or so Zoodle fell asleep for the night - until 7:20. Actually pretty good for him. Then came to our bed and slept a bit more. He was very tired the whole day. Luckily Mommy could take Alex to the bus and Daddy and Zoo lounged and slept the day away. He didn't eat much, but didn't get sick again either, so we thought he was getting better....

Feeling a little mushy today - This made me smile and get all misty

A group of professionals asked a group of 4 to 8-year-olds, 'What does 'love' mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca - age 8

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissie - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mummy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mummy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.' Emily - age 8

** I LOVE this one ** 'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.' Nikka - age 6

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8

'My mummy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mummy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine - age 5

'Love is when Mummy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4
'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (What an image!) Karen - age 7

'Love is when Mummy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.' Mark - age 6

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.' Jessica - age 8

The Magnetic Chalkboard

Here are some pictures of Alexandria and me starting the first coat of magnetic primer. She was sooo excited to be painting the wall :)

This is really neat! I think Alex will like it :)

Alex's Santa video

Check this out. Pretty cool!

Gosh she's cute!

Alexandria was in her first school concert on Tuesday. She's the one in the centre - pink shirt with the stripy arms. Oh, and did I mention she's so cute!?!

Here's hoping Karma wasn't looking....

Today was the day. Today was the last day for Max in our house. It was also, unfortunately his last day in this world....

I took him to the Humane Society thinking that if I actually, physically took him there, there might be a better chance of their taking him. Nope. They said since he's an 8-year-old cat, the chance of his being adopted is slim to none. Especially when they have kittens and younger cats there. If he was 2 or 3 maybe, but not really at 8. They said the best they could do was take him until Tuesday, when the vet would come in to euthanise him. I couldn't stand the thought of poor Max being cooped up in a cage for a few days jsut to wait to be put down. They said they were 6 to 8 cats in each cage. That would be like torture for the poor kitty.

I took Max to our vet instead. Since we had had Max in there already about the behavioural peeing issue, they knew why we were there. I explained we have tried getting him placed somewhere. The tears started flowing as I was saying we just couldn't keep him anymore and this seemed like the only option. I said my goodbyes to Max. (He wouldn't look me in the eyes... He knew....) I signed for the "procedure". The vet asked if I wanted to be there. Ya. Right. No thanks. That was hard enough.

Jean-Paul knew I was taking Max to the Humane Society, but I made the final decision on my own. I went back home at lunch to tell him in person and he took it a lot better than I thought he would. I had no idea how he was going to react.

So, that's it for Max. He will be missed. We'll have reminders of him in the house until next month, when we get our new carpet.....

The hills are alive with the sound of ... Santa?!

Jean-Paul and I went to the Sound of Music tonight. (I forgot how much I like Do Re Mi....) :)

During intermission I looked down, and there was Santa! I guess he needed to get out and unwind a bit before the hussle and bussle of the holidays were upon us. Our friend Stephen is the house manager at the theatre. We were talking to him after and he said, "I got the weirdest request at intermission, and I've had lots of weird requests. I got a call from the stage manager and she said, 'The kids saw Santa sitting in the audience and were wondering if you could go ask him to come back stage after the show'." So he got to usher Santa back to see the cast :) The kids just loved it! The actors are as young as five, so you can just imagine how excited they must have been to see SANTA come to see them on stage! I'm impressed they stayed in character on stage. At the end, at curtain call, they were waving at Santa from the stage. So cute!!