Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The End of a Road in Life...

Today I did the one thing that I have been looking forward to for months now...packed the very last school lunch of the year!!  Hip Hip Hooray! 

Today is the last day of school in Vermilion, the very last ever for my oldest child, as she is going to walk across the stage to recieve her Grade Twelve Diploma in two short days from now!  I am not sure if I should be crying every time I think of it or not, but I can't help it - it has been a long and sometimes difficult road for her and I am so very proud of the fact that she has finished school!  I will never forget the day I dropped her off for her first day of Kindergarten in 1998 at Centennial School in Wetaskiwin.  She was in Mrs. Fontane's class and I can still see her in her little dress, clinging to me, in my McDonald's uniform!  She cried and cried and cried, begging me not to leave her there that day.  I left eventually, my heart breaking into tiny pieces, but I knew she would be okay.  That day was so long ago, yet it seems like just a short time, and now I am the one crying!  I am not sure what the future holds for Natalie - not sure if she will go to College, University or the School of Hard Knocks - but whatever she does I know she will do it with passion and love.  She will always have two parents, and a whole lot of grandparents who love her and will support her in her life. 

***pause as I wipe the tears from my eyes***

Natalie, if you read this (which I know you will, because you love to "creep" my blog), just know that we are so proud of you!!


Two weeks ago we celebrated another graduation - Grace graduated from Kindergarten!  It's funny that I remember Natalie's first day of Kindergarten so clearly, because to be quite honest, I don't really remember Grace's first day at all!!  Must be the fact that she is the third kid!  At this rate I will be lucky if I even remember to send Will to Kindergarten!!  Grace had an angel of a teacher, Mrs. Hienrich, and she has grown and learned so much during her time in Kindergarten.  She loves school and can't wait to be in grade one - though I think full-time school might throw her for a bit of a loop!!

Mark is going to be grade 2 in September!  He doesn't have the passion for learning like Grace does, but he is a very good student and knows even at this early age that he will have to go to school for a very, very long time as he wants to be an "Arctuctet" (Architect) when he grows up (which sure beats what he wanted to be just a year ago - a "Stay Homer"!!).  Mark is a very natural learner and a leader in life and I know he will do very well as he moves through the grades.

Will is meant to be my baby forever and like I said before, he will be lucky if I even remember to send him to Kindergarten!  Of course I know the day will come when I have to put him on that big yellow bus alongside his brother and sister and I know that I will bawl my eyes out the moment the bus pulls away...oh, I am such as suck!!  Will is registered for playschool in September - two mornings a week - and most days he likes the idea of going, but sometimes he just says he wants to stay home with me.  He will spend two years in playschool, so if he doesn't really like it this first year I won't have any problems pulling him out and just letting him be home with me full-time again. 

In two short months we will be shopping for school supplies, backpacks and running shoes.  In two short months I will make the first school lunch of the new year.  In two short months I will kiss my baby good-bye as I leave the playschool room.  In two short months we will start all over again.

Maybe I should just home-school my kids...

***pause as I wipe away the tears - this time tears of laughter at the thought of me ever home-schooling my kids!!!***

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


SJ

Monday, June 20, 2011

The day a Diva was born

Six years ago today, June 20, 2005 a beautiful little girl named Grace Nicole Johnston was born!  In honour of her 6th birhday, I will make a list of six words that sum up this little girl...

1. Princess
2. Pink
3. Sweet
4. Stubborn
5. Shy
6. Bossy

Grace is the third in four children, stuck between her two brothers and 12 years behind her only sister.  She was born just an hour shy of Father's Day and was without question her mother's easiest and most delightful delivery.  She was also the smallest of the Johnston children, a lightweight compared to her brothers and a few ounces less than her sister, weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. She was born with a head full of black hair (and  I am not talking about a little hair like so many mothers think is a lot - I am talking about A LOT of hair!!).  She was the talk of the hospital that day and one of the nurses even "borrowed" her to show her off to a group of school kids who were there for a hospital tour....that is how much hair she had! 

Grace was a great baby in so many ways, such as sleeping 12 hours through the night by 2 months old, and not so great in some ways, such as needing me to hold her at all times during the day; I bought every snuggly that Wal-Mart sold just so I could find one that she liked and so that I could maybe get some stuff done through the day - with her attached to me!  She is a natural mother - always playing with dolls, and real babies if she could get her hands on one; when her baby brother, Will, was born she claimed him as her own and would make sure everyone new he was her baby!  She has not changed one bit in 6 years!  She will give Will baths, dress him, tuck him in, get him ready to go places, etc.  I know that alongside the dreams of being a hairdresser and a teacher, she will also become one of our worlds greatest mothers. 

Grace can come across as being very snobby...which may be the case sometimes, but most of the time it is simply the fact that she is painfully shy!  Once she warms up to someone (usually because that person has taken the time to get to know her and spent some real quality time with her), she will be your best friend!  She is an amazing little girl with a big heart, a big smile and big eyes that shine so bright!

There are always two sides to a story, and I believe there is usually two sides to a person too...Grace is no different.  Here is her other side...

Grace can be one of the most stubborn people I know - far more stubborn than even me!!  If Grace doesn't want to do something, she will not do it.  If Grace does not want to say something, she will not say it.  If Grace does not want to eat something, she will not eat it.  If Grace does not want to wear something, she will not wear it!  She is S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N!! 

Just recently I had the chance to witness her stubborn side at her dance recital when she refused to go on stage!  I spent an hour in Payless Shoes not long ago as she tried on every single pair of shoes on in her size, just to tell me that none of them would work for her!  The one that takes the cake though has to be this story: One morning as she was walking out to the bus stop (about 400 feet from our house), she asked me what was for hot lunch at school.  When I told her what it was, she dropped her backpack and refused to go to school!  I had to drag her, kicking and screaming, to the bus (no joke) while she screamed that she was not going.  I had to pick her up off the ground as she dropped to it severel times while all the kids on the bus gawked at us.  I had to pick her up and carry her up the steps of the bus and put her in a seat, all the while she was screaming that she was not going to school - all because of the hot lunch menu!!

Grace not only has a stubborn streak, but she can be awfully bossy too!  She loves to be in charge of the situation, and is very good at telling people just what to do!  Grace is a leader, not a follower...no question about that!

I know that I have poked some fun at Grace and her not so lovely traits, but let me tell you about the sweet, soft side of Grace...

Grace is a very sweet little girl who loves the colour pink and her "Bernie Blanket" more than anything in this world!  She loves to help around the house (more than any other child of mine), always willing to unload the dishwasher, fold or put away laundry and make beds.  Her teacher says that she is one of the quietest kids in the class, only talking if she really needs something.  Grace will be in grade 1 in September and she often asks me this: "can we just talk about grade one for a while?"; she is so very excited to be in grade one, excited to learn to read and have her own desk! 

Grace just celebrated her birthday this past weekend with some of her friends from school with a "Barbie/Mermaid/Hannah Montana" party and she couldn't wait until her "real life birthday" was finally here! 

I can't wait to see what her 6th year brings her...I am sure we will see her grow, laugh, love and even through a tantrum or two! 

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

SJ

P.S. Be sure to scroll down to see some picutres of my beautiful little girl!




Grace, Natalie & Me the day she came home from the hospital
 





Grace & Aunty Amy at the Vermilion Fair 2005
She was about a month old!







Grace & Aunty Meghan...one of my favourite pictures!



Oh that hair was wild!



Pretty in Pink - 2 years old


Grace on Aunty Sandra & Uncle Tiberio's boat - B.C. summer 2010

Miss Grace - 6 years old!


Sunday, June 12, 2011

Riding off into the sunset...not quite!

I discovered the most challenging thing about parenting today...much more difficult than trying to take a bottle away from your baby; more difficult than potty training; more difficult than trying to get a teenager to clean their room...the thing that is worse than that, in my mind the worst day in the world of parenting: teaching a seven year old how to ride a two-wheeler!

I had high hopes this learning experience, in fact I thought it might be kind of fun to see him ride off on two wheels, me standing back with a tear in my eye...blah, blah, blah!  It is a good thing that we were in a public place and I had my good friend Deanna with me, or I might have actually beat him with the tree branch that I had threatened him with!  I know it's not his fault that he doesn't know how to ride on two wheels, but the fact that he was bawling his eyes out yelling "why do you want to kill me" over and over didn't help the situation any - and just so you know, I never threatened death...just the tree branch.  I did tell him that his friends in grade two next year might make fun of him though and that his three year old brother will be riding a two-wheeler sooner than him (and I know those things don't help, but in the heat of the moment I couldn't help myself).  I don't know if there has ever been anything that has been as frustrating to try to teach my children...aw, yes, skating would make it to the top of that list too...and I honestly don't remember how Natalie ever picked up the skill, because it seems to me I would have been the one to have taught her, but she can ride a bike like a pro now! 

I am sure he will ride a two-wheeler someday - mostly because I don't think they make training wheels for 20 inch bikes.  In the meantime, Grace wants to learn to ride a two-wheeler when she turns 6, which is in 8 short days!  Lord help me!

SJ

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Why...

...would I ever think taking my kids shopping was a good idea?? 

Today was one of those days that I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I made some of the decisions that I made throughout the day.  The day started very early, after a very late night.  Yesterday was one of my brothers highschool graduations and it lasted over 6 hours...yes, that is right - 6 hours and 15 minutes!!!  We made our way to my Dad's house for visiting at about 10:30 p.m. and stayed there until about Midnight.  I was up at 6:30 a.m. today because Natalie had to get to Lloyd for 4-H Expo, where she had to be on her horse at 8:00 a.m.  Thank goodness that she can drive herself, and the horse spent the night in the stable in Lloyd, because all I had to do was make sure she got up and out of here in time. 

My kids had spent the night at my in-laws last night, because we were at grad, so thankfully they were not here to start grating on my nerves until a little later in the morning!  I climbed back into bed at about 7:00 and dozed until about 9:00 when I got a call from Greg's mom, sounding very worried about something.  She had good reason to worry, as Greg's Dad has had an infection in his leg that won't go away and today it took a very bad turn and they had to get to Edmonton right away...so we had to get the kids right away so they could leave.  Greg ended up going with them to Edmonton, where they will spend at least one night, and will see what tomorrow brings.  After picking my kids up is where this story gets interesting!

After I had brought the kids home, I got Mark and Grace both to try on some summer shoes that I had bought at Payless just yesterday (without them being with me), and as luck would have it, they didn't fit...either of them.  I decided that I should just take the three of them with me to Lloyd and get them shoes that fit them properly, so we set off on what I thought would be a nice day in the city!  Ha!

We were going to go watch Natalie ride, but by the time we got there she had only one event left and she wasn't sure what time it would run at, so we decided to forgo the show and just go shopping for shoes.  We went to McDonald's first - the one with the big playground in it - and my kids had a blast!  I sat all by my lonesome as my kids ate their lunch on the train and played in the playgrounnd.  We only had one mishap when Grace tripped a little girl (by accident) and I could here her mother yapping about it!  Once they had their fill of french fries and fun, we skedaddled out of there and made our way to Payless.  My kids have never been in a real actual shoe store before, just places like Wal-Mart & Zellers, so they thought it was pretty cool to see all the shoes there!  I had no idea Mark was such a shoe man!  We quickly found Mark a pair of summer runners that he does not need socks for and we moved onto finding Grace a pair.  This was were the nighmare began!  She tried on every single pair of shoes in her size and she just couldn't seem to find the right pair.  "This one's too itchy", "This one's too tight", "I can't run in this one", "This one pinches my toes", blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!!!  I was sweating and irritated when Mark and Will came around the corner wearing flip-flops and begging me to buy them!!  Will had found a pair for about 6 dollars, but Mark had to pick the really expensive ones - $27.99 - and they were womens!!  He LOVES them though because they are "soft" and he had to pick to the white ones with black soles so you can't see the butterflies on the sole quite as easy as you can with light coloured soles!!!  They had their BOGO sale on, so I decided that since the boys were both so in love with their new flip-flops, I would let them buy them!  Grace still had no shoes in hand and my patience were running thin.  She tried on Hannah Montana, Barbie, Camo, Glitter, Wedge, Runners, Slip-on's, Strappy, Dressy and even fur-lined loafers...but nothing was going to work!  I told her it was time to go because her mother was about to blow up, so it was best for everyone if we just paid for what we had and got the heck out of there!  I grabbed a pair of flip-flops for Natalie just to make the BOGO work best and went to the till.  I was standing at the register getting my wallet out when I heard a small voice behind me say "Mommy, my penis is big"!!!  I tried to remain calm, cool and collected but there were a lot of people in that store and when I turned around, my three year old has his penis sticking out of his pants, and yes, it was big!!  He then went on to say "Mommy, I need you to look at it"...that really doesn't sound good when you are standing in a shoe store with your son showing off his erection...so I just said "No baby, you just leave it alone and it will go away, and please pull your pants back up"!  I passed the cashier my AMEX card gathered up my children and hightailed it out of the store!

Once we were back in the vehicle, I told them we would go to Wal-Mart and if they were really good, I would buy them each a new movie, and of course Mark had to try to sweeten the deal a little by asking if he could also get a new DS game and a t-shirt he saw there once.  I said no-way-jose, but as I was about to find out, I was in a very generous mood today...or maybe it was just a way of saving my sanity!  We entered Wal-Mart with everyone if good spirits and headed over to the birthday party section (because Grace's birthday is this month) and we ended up buying a crap-load of birthday supplies for what is now going to be a "Hannah Montana-Barbie-Princess-Mermaid" themed birthday party!  All of the Hannah Montana stuff was on clearance, so I made out really well on that.  My mood is always brightened a little by a good sale, and that most likely explains why my children got all that they got today!  We wondered over the the movie section where Will picked out a Thomas movie (of course) and Grace picked out a Barbie movie (of course) and Mark spyed the Wii games (the cheap ones) and so he got a new game instead of a movie.  We then went to the toy section where we had to buy Grace's best friend a birthday gift and thank goodness she found her a doll in the first 20 seconds of being in the toy department...cause if she decided to look for a gift like she looks for shoes I probably would have left her in Wal-Mart all by herself!!  We had a look at the shoes in Wal-Mart and surprise, surprise, they didn't have a single pair in Grace's size!!  We actually found one pair that she would have taken, but they didn't have her size and I just don't think her feet will grow one full shoe size over the next two months!  Mark made his way over the t-shirts and found the one he has been thinking about for months now - a Star Wars Lego shirt - and since I seemed to either be in a good mood or losing my mind, I told him to add it to the pile in the cart.  After the kids each picked out a Baby Bottle Pop and I grabbed my self an Oh Henry, we finally left Wally World and set off for home...home sweet home! 

The minute we walked in the door I sent Mark downstairs to play his new Wii game, I sent Grace off to watch her new movie, I sent Will off to watch his movie and I finally sat my butt down and took a deep breath! 

Moral of the story...don't be stupid!!!

SJ