***

There was the most incredible sunrise this morning. I will never, ever tire of Saskatchewan sunrises. This morning it looked like the sky was on fire — pink fire. At one point on my morning commute, the tallest city buildings were framed perfectly in the middle of the brightest part of the sunrise, as we viewed it from across a large field. I could sit there all morning and watch, although I’d be freezing cold and I’d probably get some weird looks as I sit there in my lawn chair in the middle of winter.

***

Noah had a super-awesome day yesterday for three very important (to him)(and therefore to the rest of us) reasons: (1) he’s part of fantasy hockey league (that he runs) and he is winning this week by quite a bit, (2) his Penguins won, and (3) his Patriots won and are on their way to the Super Bowl. He didn’t think that all three things could happen in one awesome day, but they did.

That last item is good news and bad news. It’s good news because the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, but it’s bad news because it’s a repeat of the 2008 Super Bowl in which the Patriots played the Giants and lost. And Noah had to watch them lose in front of a dozen of his man friends. He didn’t cry. On the outside. He’s going to his parents’ place to watch the Big Game, and I’m glad that he’ll have his mom around to celebrate with or to console him. (I’m not known for my sports sympathy.)(Although I will be watching the game.)(With ladies and babies.)

Also, I got some footage of Noah watching yesterday’s game and it is comedy GOLD. (Yes, Eric, I am sending it to you.)

***

I read this post from Ali this morning and I laughed out loud. She wrote about being a blogger with non-blogger friends and it is rad.

***

Miss Liliana has a really hard life. I was talking to my mom the other day and asked Liliana if she’d like to talk to Grannie. “Yea, then I can tell her about my bad life.” Bad things always happen to Liliana, like that time that Kaylie had Silly Putty (Silly Pudding, according to Liliana) and Liliana didn’t, or that time when she had to get dressed AND have breakfast and that was just too many things to do, or that time that Kaylie had the Lego ladder first and that JUST WASN’T FAIR, or when her beautiful artwork has to be removed from her wall, or when Kaylie asked for a foot-long Subway sandwich and Liliana flipped out because she didn’t want a foot sandwich, she wanted a peanut butter sandwich.

And sometimes she just likes to double-check things. “No one ever takes my brains away, right Mama?”

***

I added a 2012 Book List page up top there because one of my 2012 resolutions is to read 52 books, one for each week of the year. At this moment, I’m on Book Four and it’s the fourth week of January, so that’s good, right? I’d love some recommendations, though. I don’t think I read a single book last year and that is just not right. I’m reading the Harry Potter series right now, but what should I read next? What is your favorite book? What book do you think is a must-read?

Now I just need to pay off my library fines and I’m good to go.

Me: “Well that’s too bad. Where is she moving?”

Liliana: “I don’t know. Somewhere. Maybe China.”

Me: “Oh really?”

Liliana: “Do we live in Canada?”

Me: “Yes.”

Kaylie: “Canada is the second-biggest country in the world. Russia is the biggest. And the smallest is … Haiti? Philippines? Hawaii?”

Me: “Hawaii is not a country.”

My kids need some geography lessons. Anyway, here’s what else went on this week:

At Canadian Family: A Smart Solution for Little Teethers: The Teethifier

Daily Photos:
(click for description)

On Instagram:
(click for description)

(There are actually nine people there, but five of them were drawn with a very light-colored marker. You can see them if you tilt your screen.)

“Who drew on the wall, Liliana?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did you draw on the wall?”

“Because I wanted to be creative! I wanted to make you guys happy!”

Oh, goodness. There were lots of words said. We encouraged her, told her that we loved her artwork, but also told her that drawing on the walls was inappropriate and that her drawing would have to be removed. She was UP. SET. “BUT I WANT MY ROOM TO BE CREATIVE!!!”

Liliana had just brought home some artwork from school, so we got some sticky tack and put that up on her wall, and Noah told her that he was going to bring home a roll of paper from work and that she could color it and we could put it up on her wall. I know that she knows that drawing on the walls is wrong, but I also know that she loves art and crafts and her walls are very empty.

This is one of those rare circumstances where we didn’t dish out a consequence, besides removing the markers from her room and removing her picture from the wall. Thankfully, she drew the picture with washable markers. I’d been letting her color during her afternoon quiet time, as she’d been showing she could handle it — keeping the makers on the paper only — but we’ll keep the markers at the table from now on.

How cool would it be, though, to have walls that she could color on? I may have to look into that.

“Okay, two more runs and then it’s time to go home.”

“Three more times!”

“Two more times.”

“Three more times!”

“One more time.”

“Two more times!”

“Okay.”

Yes, we have hills here. They’re little, but they’re HILLS.

Liliana was quite scared at first, so I let Kaylie do a couple runs by herself and then had her sit with Preston while I took Liliana down. She got used to it quickly and then couldn’t get enough. She had to be hanging on to Kaylie’s sled, though, and refused to go down by herself.

Liliana thought it was quite hilarious to, when they got to the bottom of the hill, take off running and make Kaylie carry both sleds back up to the top of the hill.

Kaylie didn’t seem to mind.

Noah was feeling quite crappy today, so I thought I’d give him a break and bring Preston along with us. He was grouchy, but once we got outside, he didn’t make a peep.

I thought he might like a sled ride too, so I took him out of his baby sled and put him on my lap on one of the girls’ sleds. I think he liked it. He didn’t cry, even when both of us did a face plant at the bottom (whoops).

We didn’t stay too long, because I didn’t want Preston to get too cold, but before we left I made sure to get Liliana to go down by herself at least once. She has so many fears, and I see it as my job to get her to conquer them. One of these days, I’ll even get her to stay in the bathroom while her bath water runs. (She is TERRIFIED of running water. Oh, that girl.)

I’d forgotten how much fun sledding is. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back there quite a few times this winter. Especially if the amazing weather we’ve been having keeps up.

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
“Cue the mouse!”
“I’m here, I’m here, the mouse is here!
“What’s the bowl for?”
“So you can see that I am not stirring. Note the hand never touches the spoon.”
-A Muppet Family Christmas

1. The parents of Liliana’s Sunday School class were told of a little performance the kids were doing after the service Sunday. Noah and I went upstairs right after the service and waited while the younger class did their thing. Liliana’s class then filed on to the stage. Liliana decided that her BFF Nathanael was in her way and hip-checked him. He would have fallen off the (foot-high) stage had a SS teacher not been right beside him.

You’ve seen that scene in Home Alone 2, right? The one where Buzz lights up Kevin’s ears during his school concert solo and then Kevin knocks over the entire choir? I couldn’t find the scene by itself, but you can see it in the first part of this clip:

Liliana totally pulled a Kevin McCallister. I’ve compared her to various fictional characters in the past — Dennis the Menace, Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes, the Tasmanian Devil — but this is the closest we’ve come to an exact replica. Except that Liliana is a girl. Anyway, here is her Sunday performance:

She’s the one who can’t keep still. She’s also the one who tells the other kids at the end, “Stand up again!” So helpful, my girl.

2. Preston wants to do nothing but stand. Except when he’s demanding that you help him walk. Or jump.

Or play with Christmas ornaments while attempting to pull the tree down on himself again.

Which is why we re-introduced Baby Jail.

3. We decorated gingerbread houses last week and for the first year I can remember, I let the girls eat them almost right away. Usually we let them get all dry and crusty and dusty and we pick the candy off and throw the gingerbread out. Not this year.

I picked the village of gingerbread houses so that maybe it would keep the girls from bickering over how one gingerbread house was decorated. Kaylie’s friend Abby helped out as well.

4. Noah and I spent quite some time this evening talking with this kid.

She’s dealing with some of the crap that I did at her age and it kills me that I can’t just *poof* solve all of her problems. I know, though, that teaching her to deal with her problems will benefit her much more than if I solve them for her. It just sucks seeing your kid in pain.

I’m glad, though, to have a partner in this parenting thing. I didn’t find single-parenting that difficult — I mean, it was still single-parenting, but Kaylie was an easy baby and a super-fun toddler. This whole parenting-a-pre-teen thing? Hardest thing I’ve done in my life. The in-laws were right when they said that the easy part is over. I’m thankful I have someone very unlike me to share parenting challenges with.

She’s such a great kid, though. She’s smart (her last report card was perfect)(literally)(I’m bragging now, aren’t I?), she’s witty, she knows the right time to roll her eyes at Noah or Russ, she cares about others’ feelings, she makes wise judgment calls. But, she’s also 10, and sometimes I want to send her to her Grannie for a month like I did when she was three.

(When she was three, she and I were living in Caronport, SK and my mom missed her terribly. So, when Nick and Teresa got married, Kaylie and I went to the wedding, and she flew home with my mom while I flew home by myself. I picked her up when I went home for Christmas. It was the worst month of my life. Noah tells me now that I was not a very nice person while Kaylie was gone. Well, DUH, I missed my baby! She was well taken care of, though, obviously, and she even came back completely potty trained!)

5. I got a rare shot of Liliana and Nathanael earlier today and I wanted to share it with you. It’s not blurry! They’re both looking! They’re smiling!

(Nathanael is the son of a good friend of mine.) Don’t they look adorable and innocent? Looks can be deceiving. (Although they are cute.) I’m pretty sure that no kid ever EVER has had as much energy as these two do. They are so hilarious and fun. And frustrating. I’m glad they have each other. They fight like siblings, tattle on each other, and get really sad when they have to part ways.

6. DID YOU SEE WHAT MY HUSBAND DID?

It’s one of those things where guys are like THAT IS AWESOME! and the womenfolk are like THAT IS CREEPY! Kaylie and Liliana love it and I … well … mustaches aren’t my favorite. Noah loves it, though, and I think he should shape his facial hair any way he likes. As long as he’s okay with me not liking it, which he totally is.

7. I’m doing a bunch of Christmas baking on Wednesday with a friend of mine. Since Noah is constantly asking me (nicely) to do Christmas baking (I have done some, not a lot), he is quite looking forward to Wednesday. And so am I. Noah’s more of a fan of the things his mom made when he was growing up, but since his mom lives a mere six kilometres away and Noah feels an entitlement to whatever is in his mom’s freezer (much to his dad’s dismay), I’m making WHATEVER I WANT. Ha! (I may tease Noah about being a mama’s boy, but in reality I’m hoping my son is a mama’s boy, too.)(So far, he is.)

8. Did you know that Christmas is only six sleeps away? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Me: “Maybe it’s too cloudy.”

L: “But WHY? Why is it cloudy? I don’t want it to be cloudy, mama. MAMA! ANSWER ME!”

Me: “I’m sorry, maybe tomorrow you can see the moon.”

L: “And the stars.”

K: “Speaking of stars, Jaden wants to be an astronomist when she grows up.”

Me: “An astronomer?”

K: “Yea, and I want to be a dolphin trainer.”

Me: “A marine biologist?”

K: “Do they train dolphins?”

Me: “I think so.”

L: “And I want a build-a-bear.”

Me: “Oh yea?”

L: “Yea, I want a build-a-bear. Can I have a build-a-bear? Can I get one today?”

Me: “Nope.”

L: “BUT WHY? I want a build-a-bear today! Mama, please? Please can I get a build-a-bear today? Mama? MAMA!”

…

“Mama, I want Kaylie to be quiet.”

“How come?”

“Because you said to be quiet and I want her to obey.”

“Why are you talking, then?”

“Because I need to talk about clouds and stars and Christmas lights.”

“And Kaylie’s not allowed to talk?”

“No. She’s not. Mama, she’s not. MAMA!”

…

“Hey look, there’s Daniel! He’s in my class.”

“Daniel? Is that Daniel?”

“Yes.”

“He’s in your class?”

“Yes.”

“… is that Daniel?”

“No, he went in already.”

“Is that Daniel?”

“No, he already went in the school.”

“Is that Daniel?”

“No, Liliana, Daniel already went in the school.”

“BUT IS THAT DANIEL?”

“Mom, I’m going in to the school now before I go insane.”

After dinner last night, Kaylie began to complain of a cramping pain in her side, her left side under her ribs. It was too high to be abdominal, so I wasn’t too worried about it, and, as I’ve previously stated, I’m always a bit skeptical. Seeing as Monday was a “sick” day and not so much a sick day, I was trying to see if there was actually a wolf or not. The girls were sent to play after dinner and all of a sudden Kaylie started giggling uncontrollably. Liliana came out of the bedroom and said, in her naturally excited voice, “KAYLIE’S GOT A GREAT BIG CRAP!”

Kaylie, between fits of giggles, tried to tell her it was craMp, not crap, but Liliana wasn’t listening. “I hope I don’t get a big crap like that.” she said.

The “crap” seemed to be legit and by 8:30pm, Noah took Kaylie to a clinic. A couple x-rays later, nothing was found and they were on their way back home with some Tylenol. She was up at about 4am for another dose and by morning seemed to be about the same. Liliana, always the imitator, declared, “I HAVE A BIG CRAP, TOO!”

Kaylie decided it would be best to go to school (which I strongly recommended) and after we’d dropped her off, Liliana decided that she was going to have another bad day at school (she had a bad day yesterday) because of her crap and she was going to have to tell her teacher about her big crap.

By the time we’d arrived at Liliana’s school, I’d finally convinced her that it was cramp, not crap, lest her teachers wonder what the heck was going on in our house. I did chat with one of her teachers, though, because Liliana was still determined to have a bad day because of her cramp. When I picked her up, Mrs. R said to me, “She only had one crap today. She just had to make sure we knew about it.” Obviously my chat about adding the “m” went well.

This girl. She frustrates us more than we ever knew we could be frustrated, but she makes us smile and laugh every single day. She was arguing with Noah the other day, and when he firmly told her what she should be doing, she said to him, “Settle down, Dad!”

The title of this post is what she said to me as we were driving to Kaylie’s school this morning. “Mama, the world is a marathon.” It sounded a little John Lennon-ish to me, yet it doesn’t really make an ounce of sense. That’s my girl.

Thankfully, we have plenty of Little Einsteins on the DVR and she is very resilient. She moans and groans every once in a while and is full of energy a minute later, before falling onto the couch moaning and groaning again.

Here’s hoping her Wednesday is a little better. We are planning to celebrate American Thanksgiving on Thursday with some friends of ours, but both their houses have a stomach bug as well. Who knows how everyone will be feeling by Thursday, but either way, there is a huge turkey thawing in my fridge that will need to be cooked.

In other news, we have snow. And it is here to stay. The girls are loving it so far.

(Yes, that is Liliana using a neck warmer as a toque.)

And this little turdball is starting to get bedhead and hat hair and it is the most adorable thing.

Check back tomorrow (Wednesday), as there is something very exciting happening here on this blog.

The last couple Mondays have been … rough. Hospitals and recovery and blech. I was actually looking forward to a regular Monday. Ha! Haha! Haaaaaaa.

Preston’s had a rough week and has been up at 4am ready to party almost every night. Last night it took an hour to get him back to sleep. I try not to wake Noah most nights, as Preston just needs to be nursed back to sleep and the crib is in our room on my side of the bed. But, this week I’ve elbowed him a couple times with, “Please help?!”

Liliana’s been up in the middle of the night lately too, and I have no idea what her deal is. She is our best sleeper, and has been since Day One. Last night she was afraid of Noah leaving. Leaving for where? She gets upset when he goes to work without giving her a proper hug and kiss, but would she have nightmares about that? Who knows.

We woke up a bit late this morning, what with being up so much in the night, but it looked like I was going to get Noah to work on time (we have one vehicle, I do a lot of driving). BUT then I smelled something rank and it turned out there was a massive explosion in Preston’s diaper. Or, out of Preston’s diaper, as it was. (You’re welcome.)

Anyway, Noah was only a couple minutes late, and when it was time to bring the girls to school, we left on time for once. (GOLD STAR.) BUT then Liliana fell down the steps. Hard. And chipped a tooth and sent one tooth backward and there was a lot of blood. Poor kid. I dragged everyone back inside and Kaylie helped get kleenex and an ice pack for Liliana. I felt so bad for her. We got her all cleaned up, and this time I held on tight to her coat (she had the ice pack in her hands) as we headed for the steps. She tripped again and would have done another nose dive had I not had her coat. Oh, kid. It’s the Braam genes. I’m sorry.

She called Daddy on the way to Kaylie’s school to tell him about it. I asked her if she still wanted to go to school, and she did, because she had to tell her teacher “the bad news”. After we dropped Kaylie off, though, she decided that she could tell her teacher later and that she’d just like to come home. I have two girls who absolutely love school, so when one of them wants to stay home, I know something isn’t right.

When we got home she called all her grandparents (except Grannie, who was out of town, so if you read this, mom, you should call Liliana) to tell them about her “bad news”. I sat her on the couch with Handy Manny, her ice pack, and one of Miss Sue’s cinnamon buns while I put in a load of laundry from the aforementioned explosion.

Monday, you are on notice.

I apologize for the whiny post, but lest you think that we live in the land of unicorns and rainbows, I guess this evens things out. (Although Liliana would love to live in the land of unicorns. They are her favorite animal.)

As I was about to post this, a special someone dropped off treats for Liliana, to help her feel better. Liliana said, “That was so nice of her, wasn’t it?!”