Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

Hey mom, what is this stuff?  Is it a little tree?  Can I pull these little things out?

I’ll just put it in my mouth, just like everything else.

Hey, I LIKE mushrooms!

As long as I can eat teeny tiny pieces at a time.

I like the cucumbers better mom.  I just need one for each hand.

Noah and I had a proud-parent moment at dinner.  Both our children were eating vegetables and loving them!  I guess it’s because they’ve never seen them before and figured that new things might be fun.

Other Odes:
My dad
My mom
My brother, Nick

Meet Brandon.

I was already mad at him before he was a week old  He was born 4 days before my fifth birthday, and consequently, my mom missed my birthday. It’s funny, I wasn’t mad at my mom, just my 4-day-old brother.

I soon got over it and loved having him around.

Is it me, or is Nick wearing a dress?

I remember this day. It was at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. There was a big dirt pit in their back yard that we were not allowed to play in. I’m pretty sure that right after this picture was taken, we were in there like it was cake.

That’s right, we met Mr. Dressup.  (Yes I know the picture is crooked, and no, I’m not going to do anything about it.)

When I remember Brandon as a kid, the thing that comes to my head the most was how he chased the cat around, would dress it up in doll clothes, and then would pull it around in his dump truck. I can’t believe Animal Rights wasn’t called.

Brandon had a love of killer whales and I think that I now have Free Willy (and Free Willy 2 and Free Willy 3) memorized. Word for word.

I remember babysitting Nick and Brandon when I was twelve or thirteen, and that kid would give me a run for my money. He drove me insane, but to look at it objectively, he was the most hilarious little three-year-old there was.

There’s never been a dull moment since Brandon entered the Braam family, and I’m grateful for that.

Now, Brandon is about to make the long trek to Texas for firefighter training. My dad has been a volunteer fireman for longer than I’ve been alive, and Brandon is following in his footsteps, but taking it one step further. I’m very proud of him.

I love you, little brother, and I hope you excel in your training this fall. Remember you’re coming through Regina on your way home, right?

Kaylie: Dad, why are the sprinklers on?
Noah: Because that’s just what they do in the morning.
Kaylie: But why?
Noah: Because it’s not raining.
Kaylie: But why are they on now?
Noah: Because it’s summer and the grass needs to be watered.
Kaylie: The grass needs to be watered? I didn’t know that.
Noah: Yes, it does.
Kaylie: Oh. I thought the sprinklers were for people.

Apparently Kaylie is unaware that sprinklers are for sprinkling, not just for running through! Noah told me this story when I picked him up on my lunch break. I thought it was hilarious. I guess you had to be there.

Tonight the girls and I dropped the van off with Noah at his hotel and then took the bus home. As we were walking toward our building, Kaylie saw a bunch of children playing in the square. She begged to go play with them, but I said no because it didn’t go well last time. Last time they did not want to play with her and I did not want her to get hurt again.

She stormed down the stairs and then said to me as she was opening the door to our hallway, “YOU JUST DON’T WANT ME TO HAVE ANY FRIENDS!” I started to think. What’s the worst that can happen? What if they really do play with her? She’s been extremely lonely since moving here, so finally I gave in and let her go out. She was right. They did play with her. She’s still out there right now.

I think I’m kind of an over-protective paranoid mom. I’ve often been told (by my husband) that I need to relax a bit. I know he’s right, I just have to get over the fact that I cannot protect my children forever and I need to let go a little bit. It’s just hard. Kaylie is so outgoing and friendly, that she makes friends in an instant. She is totally opposite of me in that respect. I’d rather just avoid everyone I come in contact with and stay home in my little bubble.

You know what? It’s FRIDAY! I get to sleep until 10 AM tomorrow morning!! Right Noah? Please? Pretty please? I might will do the dishes for the first time in a month …

Stop laughing.  I’m a nerd, I know.

Sorry about the absence, I’ve been re-evaluating how much time I spend online.  No, I am not going to stop blogging!  Never!!

The 5 am wake up call has been killing my energy, and I’m going to be going to bed a LOT earlier next week, which should help with the blogging as well.  So put down the torches and pitchforks, I’ll make it up to you, I promise!!

While we speak (or while I type, okay, before and after I type this post), I am writing probably the most introspective blog post I have ever written. The only problem is, I will probably never post it. I don’t think I want to reveal THAT MUCH about me to the entire blogosphere.

I’m trying to figure out where to draw the line on what I tell and what I keep private. I love sharing the funny little things that go on in our house, like Liliana talking on the phone to Auntie Tali tonight, or Kaylie begging to help with chores, but I’m hesitant to share the things that make me tick. The behind the scenes workings of Mrs. Wilson.

When I began blogging, I made some rules for myself. No negative talk about my family or friends. No negative talk about anybody, actually. No talk of anything related to the bedroom. No swearing. No making fun of others’ lifestyle/belief/race/gender. I probably have more, but I cannot remember them. To sum it up, I’m careful. At least I try to be.

I watermark my pictures and make them no bigger than 500 px to prevent theft. I back up my Wordpress files so that I never have to go through the horror of losing all my posts. I try to answer each and every comment by email so that my readers know that I appreciate them. I visit every blog of every blogger who leaves a comment. I may not become an active reader, because if I did I may LIVE on the internet, but I’m curious, so I visit.

I try to make my blog user friendly. I have no idea if it is, but at least I try. I love working with HTML and making little changes once in a while (new header! coming soon! maybe!) and I like keeping some things the same. I love to post pictures, because I’m a visual person. I have to SEE it to be able to picture it. Sometimes I have NO imagination.

I try to post daily, but sometimes 5am catches up to me and I can’t put three words together and if I do, those words will bore the pants off you so I decide that no posting is better than posting something horridly boring. Like this post. I also don’t like to have too many picture-less posts in a row. I like posts with pictures, so I like to provide posts with pictures. Except this one.

What about you? What blogging rules do you have? Maybe I can learn from you. What is your favorite thing to post about? What do you refuse to post about?

Educate me.

Yesterday afternoon, we decided to take a family walk in Wascana Park. We hadn’t been there yet, and Noah’s sister was visiting us, so we figured it was about time.

It was a perfect, beautiful day.

My gorgeous little 7-year-old. She totally loves to have her photo taken, and never minds when I ask her to show me her grill.

“How about I turn like this, Mommy?” She’s got an eye for photography already. It makes me proud.

I pretty much dislike all pictures that include me, but this one has my hot husband in it, so it had to be posted.

I’m not exactly sure why we dragged the umbrella stroller with us, since Liliana is an independent sort and did not want anything to do with it. She walked the whole way, besides when Noah picked her up kicking and screaming so that she could catch up with the rest of the group.

The parliament building added a lovely touch to the already beautiful background.

Kaylie had a great time chasing the geese/ducks. Don’t worry though, she was gentle.

Auntie Tali!

Another grill shot.

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There was a waterfall fountainish thing around the lake and the kids had a blast trying to run under it without getting wet.

Liliana was enthralled by it …

… until it got her a bit and she took off.

“I’m not getting wet here, Mom!”

Any restraint to the child on the left results in screaming. She wanted to climb up the tower, and Kaylie was more than compliant when we asked her to follow her sister.

This is our attempt at a family picture. I know, we all look AWESOME.

Me and my little baby. She’s not screeching!

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Liliana wanted to jump in the water with the ducks, but let her Daddy hang on to her while she watched them swim around.

Kaylie teased them by throwing sticks into the water. Yes, we stopped her. And promised her that next time we’d bring bread.

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We finished off our long weekend with Auntie Tali with a Wilson Family Holiday Breakfast this morning. Apparently Noah and Tali grew up with having Wilson Family Holiday Breakfasts on every holiday morning, and Noah wanted to carry on the tradition for our children.

What did the rest of you (Canadians) do for your August long weekend?

Since we moved to Regina, our meals have kind of sucked. We had a psychotically crazy July and now Noah and I both started working full time. We’re going to make an effort, though, to have non-instant a-little-more-healthy dinners. This is a start

Menu Plan:

Sunday (vegetarian meal with Tali): Spaghetti with tofu tomato sauce, garlic bread,a raw veggies
Monday: Chili (with an option of a sloppy joe)
Tuesday: Chicken burgers and pasta salad
Wednesday: Shepherd’s Pie
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Burritos

Hours: 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year
Pay: $0, but hugs are included
Daily Duties: Make sure family is fed, clothed, and well cared for; that house is cleaned; meals are made; laundry is washed, dried, folded, and put away;  and that sarcastic comments are rebounded.  Oh, and document everything on a blog.

It serves him right for saying that my blog sucks lately. I’m so SORRY for WORKING AT 5AM and not being able to put THREE COHERENT WORDS TOGETHER AT NIGHT.

Sheesh.

Did you hear about that psycho on the Greyhound? Literally, a psycho. He brutally slaughtered a 22-year-old on a bus in Manitoba. I’ll let you read the story for yourself.
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