Winter Fun

It is not often that I would group the two words winter and fun together but on this particular night in November it was winter and we had fun. The weather was just right for playing outside in the snow so after supper we all hopped into ( well okay more like wrestled, twisted, squirmed and stuffed into) our winter gear and out we went - the whole fam damily. ( I can't believe I just used the term fam damily- I have go to get more sleep). Anyway out we went and what a great time we had. We made snow tracks of almost every animal we could think of. Ethan of course was an elephant, Sarah hopped like a bunny, and I jumped like a frog. Megan was happy to get to swing in her little swing that she hasn't been in for a few months. It was a tough fit with the snowsuit and we almost got her stuck as the buckle froze and neither Trevor nor I could get it undone. We finally freed the poor girl and all in all it was a great night. They say it is going to be the coldest and longest winter since before I was even born. I suppose we better take advantage of these nights when we can.

Grey Cup Fever

Although I am a month or two behind in posting I can't catch up without posting a few pics of our Grey Cup Party. With Trevor out at a buddies, the kids and I were home to cheer on the green and white. In the game the week before, our enthusiasm and Rider Pride had drawn Sarah in to the frenzy. For at least half the game she sat with us and cheered along side (While I would like to say it was all for the Riders I would venture a guess that the bowl of chips she sat down next to had some drawing power for her). Regardless she yelled and whooped along with us and was caught up in the same excitement about the Grey Cup as we were.


Since Kim and her boys were on their own as well we decided to convene at our house for a night of pizza making, cheering, nail-biting, laughter and fun. And fun we had. The kids didn't watch much of the game as I recall but they played happily anyway. Here are a few pics for us to remember the night by.

Yeah - another occasion for face paints - our kids favorite activity

Kim and Megan

Bet you didn't know Spiderman was a fan of the Riders

Jones family tradition- stand by the TV and try and blend in with the moment so it is just like you are there (not quite but we can dream) !

I'm too little to be on this bandwagon - its' past my bedtime

Future Contestant on Don't Forget the Lyrics? Not likely!

I noticed at the beginning of the TV season that musical reality shows were popular this year. Don't forget the Lyrics is one where the contestant has to sing the next line. Well as the Christmas season approaches here our house has started to sound like the show. As many people know music is not my strong suit. I barely know the words to many songs and I certainly can't tell you who is singing them. It appears that this defect in my genes may have been passed on to my son. While the boy has rhythm he too seems unable to remember the words. This became evident when I was trying to teach him to sing Frosty the Snowman. Every time he started to sing he would say " What was that guys name again?" After telling him Frosty the Snowman he would fervently start into the song. When it came to the chorus however he could never get it right. His version ? -- Humpity Dump Dump, Humpity Dump dump look at ... what's that guy's name again...? As much as I wanted to help him learn the right words it was too cute hearing him run around singing Humpity Dump dump. Poor kid- hope he doesn't ever have to sing that song on national television!

"are you makin' fun of my singin' mom? did you tell people I used to cover my ears as a baby whenever you sang?"

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

"They" (whoever "they" are ) say that around 5 or 6 kids go through a stage of lying. Apparently they are just figuring out that they can say things that aren't true and sometimes get away with it. Whether it is a way to fit in by embellishing a story or a test to see if they can get away with making something up, many kids this age try this out. It seems that Sarah is not an exception! Of late there have been some stories told that are anything but true. Here are a few that should provide a few good laughs.


Today after school Sarah had a Saskatchewan Rider tattoo on her face. When I asked if the kids at school liked it she said yes. Then she said that Madame Turmel had one on her cheek, one on her forehead and one on her stomach . Hmm - it seemed odd that the kindergarten teacher would be showing the kids her stomach. When I made mention to Sarah that I would have to ask Madame to show me at the teacher interview on Friday, Sarah quickly (much to quickly actually) said " oh it will have washed off by then!" Liar Liar Pants on Fire!!



At a Christmas bake exchange one night our neighbour Catherine advised that Sarah had told her some interesting stories about our family while she was over at their house the previous night. Scared to even ask what they were but wanting to know, I sat down to hear the stories from Catherine.


As she told it Sarah advised her that her Grandma and Papa were coming that night. She told Catherine that she liked them but that she didn't like Gramps and Grandma. Catherine thought this odd as she knew that Sarah loved to go to my parents so she inquired why? Sarah proceeded to tell her that Gramps and Grandma spanked her. Not only did they spank her but they spun her around, spanked her , spun her around again and spanked her again (over and over). When Catherine said wow Sarah proceeded to tell her that Trevor spanks her too. She then jumped off her chair and began spanking herself to show her exactly how it is done. While I do admit she has had one spanking in her lifetime (that I truly regret) she is not spanked on a regular basis as she claims. Liar Liar Pants on Fire!!


While in the car with our friends Marnel, Tim, Drew and Presley, Sarah got talking about going to Agribition with Trevor, Grandma and Papa. She told them that there was a cow and the gate popped open and she had to quickly run over and lock it all up as the cow was going to get out! As well she told them she got to ride in a big car and at one point it almost started moving and she almost had to drive it. Liar Liar Pants on Fire!!

Attention Social Services -- Who is watching these kids?

Really the only thing that comes to mind when you see these pictures is to wonder why on three different occasions our kids had time to color all over themselves without us stopping them before it got to this point ..... hope none of my co-workers read this - they may decide to apprehend!!

These pictures were taken by Trevor while I was at work. He had run upstairs to find Megan because she was tooooo quiet. By the time he got back downstairs Sarah had decided to paint Ethan as an elephant. While he tried to clean Ethan up Megan helped herself to a paint brush and painted her face while Sarah turned herself into a butterfly!

Who's Bob?

For a few months now Megan has been able to say mommy and daddy very clearly. She can also say puppy, yah, duck and she has a sound that is for Sarah. During this past week however she had been walking around calling out Bob. Up and down the hall she called Bob. We were unsure as to who this Bob was until today. I happened to pick her up and walk by a mirror. As soon as she saw herself she pointed and exclaimed "Bob". I guess we will have to add that to her long list of nicknames.

Megan a.k.a. BOB

The Gingerbread House

Well our first mistake with the gingerbread house was to buy it in the middle of October when we first saw it at Costco because the kids immediately wanted to put it together. Our second mistake was to promise them they could do it after Halloween. In retrospect a better response would have been "after Thanksgiving in the US". As you can guess they were barely up 2 hours on Nov.1 and were asking when we would be putting it together. We managed to hold them off a couple days. I was away for a few days with work and the sitter called in sick so Trevor had a surprise day off. For something to do they put together the gingerbread house and it looks awesome.

Not to long ago I mentioned to Gramma Val that the kids had done a great job not eating any of the candy. She told me that Sarah had secretly told her that she and Ethan had been sneaking candies for days and that mom didn't know! Apparantly there were so many on there I didn't realize some were missing.