Perspective

As usual, there were many parts to my day yesterday.

The uneventful morning started out with a power skating session with Penny and Boo (yes, I finally told them to stay still so I could capture them on camera!) Poor Penny did not have a voice, due to her horrible cold, but between the two of them, still managed to get all the children skating in the proper direction!

Michael goes so fast at powerskating, he dives and rolls across the finish lines. He ends up wearing half the ice!

The next part of my day, made me step back and put things in perspective. I read my friend Megan’s blog (see link) and laughed at her musings of her daughter, Audrey, and the 4 minute trip down the road in the new van playing unfair ‘I Spy’ and reciting ‘Knock, Knock’ jokes.

Well, I went upstairs and into the bathroom. I suddenly noticed dark blue spots on the Fawcett and sink. Is this sounding a tad familiar? No, it wasn’t Jenny and her blue nail polish again. I became CSI Mom and traced the trail to…the scene of the crime…Michael’s room!

You see, putting things in perspective, we have advanced from the four-year-old curiosity to the twelve year old ‘let’s experiment with…’ stage! In this case, Michael wanted to know what would happen when taking apart a ballpoint pen. It seems very clear to everyone in this household that ink is indeed ‘permanent’! I have to get my CSI kit and Q-tips out in order to dispose of the evidence. Question for all of you putting it in perspective (i.e. those that have older children that have already gone through this phase of life) right now:

How do I get this ink stain out of the carpet?????

Yes, folks, this is the time to comment on my blog…I want advice here.

The latter part of the day meant sitting in an arena watching ice practice, waiting for it to end so that I could meet up with my brother, Colin (he swung by the arena for a beer) and go to the airport to pick up my Dad.

Dad arrived a little early (woohoo), so we went to Harvey’s for a late bite before Colin drove Dad home. Michael gave up after an hour and went into the van to sleep. We talked and caught up on all the family and vacation news until after 10 p.m.!

That’s ok…PD day today…Jenny is still sleeping!

Coconuts

Our house smells like coconuts!

We have come up with a new quick way to make a home smell wonderful!

Faster than candles, cheaper than Glade plug ins, and better (but close to) than Fleecy vanilla sheets in the heat registers….

Jenny found this fabulous smelling Loreal kids shampoo that smells like coconuts (or Pina Coladas, in my opinion). I like having this scent all over the house with winter about to descend on our doorstep. Now that I think about it…it tearfully reminds me that we will not be going down south this year…SOB! Oh well, close the eyes…take a deep breath of coconuts, and IMAGINE.

You are asking yourself…how have we done this wonderful thing?

Well, alas…I cannot take credit. You see, it was Jenny that came up with this genius plan.

Of course, there is one main ingredient to this recipe, other than the shampoo. It is really, really furry and streaks through the house (leaving the scent behind). No…it is not me or Jenny…it is Bailey!

Jenny gave Bailey a bath with her new shampoo (only the best for our dog!) and afterwards, Bailey ran through the house spreading the scent everywhere!

Is this not brilliant?

Bailey with her Halloween bandana…she knows lots of tricks for her treats! (Plus she smells so nice!)

bring it on...

Bring it on…the snow that is!

Do I really want it to snow? Of course not…but when it does, this year the Roefs will be better prepared.

Henry and I have been snow blower comparison-shopping for a few weeks now. We finally made our choice and purchased our new piece of equipment yesterday.

I, for one, am very glad of this purchase. Every year, my body (and mental status) seems to be weaker with each driveway clearing. One particular snowfall last winter kept me shoveling for about two hours (Henry was working out of town and not coming home for the week). My back muscles let me know the next day that they were not pleased with me. There is nothing worse than the extra-heavy snow at the bottom of the driveway after the plow goes by. Michael and Jenny help the best that they can, but they can only lift so much. Once the shoveling is done, they find great joy in tunneling and shoving each other on the snow banks that end up…you guessed it, back on the driveway!

There is a good possibility that Henry will be working out of town again for a portion of the winter. This is one of the reasons we purchased the snow blower. I believe another of the reasons that Henry bought the snow blower was to save on bail money. I think Henry thinks that I was going to bodily harm our neighbor down the street when he did not come and help me dig out of my driveway last winter with his snow blower. I’ll be sure to wave at this neighbor if his breaks down this season!

Henry (of course) has already examined every inch of this machine and shown all of us how to use it. The children are very excited…I’m sure the novelty will wear off after the fifth blizzard!

Michael knows what’s in store for him this winter…


Jenny thinks she’s driving the Indy 500…


Henry showing us how it works….

Jenny's first hockey game

Well, the very big boy’s name is Kurtis…and he is on Jenny’s team! Woohoo!

Jenny was able to choose her jersey. Unknowingly, she chose her Dad’s and Uncle Gerry’s favorite number 2!

Jenny loved her first game at the arena. She played well, learned to watch and listen to the referee, figured out ‘off-side’, and emerged with a smile at the end of the game. She met another talented girl, Natalie, that is on her team. See photo.

Jenny did not escape the game without a huge hit. For this hit, she was at the receiving end of her opponent tripping over his stick and catapulting her into the boards to the ice. She got up, dusted herself off, and kept on going to the net! That’s our girl!

I do have this ‘big hit’ on video and Jenny enjoys having everyone watch it over and over.

Big brother that he is, Michael set his alarm so that he could get up and go watch his sister’s first game. He also talked to Jenny’s coach at the end of the game to offer up his services as a goalie coach. He mentioned to the coach that the child in net had his goalie pads on the wrong legs…this seemed to spur the coach on to say that he will immediately look into the legalities of having Michael on the ice at the next practise!

In our family, I have the reputation of being 'the serious' one (Jenny granted me this title when she was quite young...I think I still have the drawing somewhere), and Henry is 'the fun' one.

It seems that Henry momentarily lost this title yesterday.

Sunday's Quote of the day…Jenny saying to Henry after trying to coax him (unsuccessfully) to go on the trampoline as he is trying to BBQ our supper…

“You’re too old…you’re no fun anymore”.

She doesn’t remember Father’s Day many years ago when Henry tried to do a ‘double yoyo triple header spring’ on his sisters’ trampoline at the daring of his siblings. Henry ended up springing himself into University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Party Time

Chiefs Sponsor Day went swimmingly. We beat the London Jr. Knights 3 – 1. One of Michael’s sponsors (Ken and Judy Shearon, owners of SHURR Electronics in Ingersoll) came out to watch the game and attend the dance afterwards.

Poor Judy (who does not like Jello) succumbed to peer pressure and downed a grape jello shooter with the rest of the Chiefs’ women at the table. After that, she stuck to her mixed drinks and could not be persuaded to have any more shooters. After the two that I forced down, I can’t say that I blame her!

The taco bar lived up to its’ reputation and our team cleaned up on the door prizes. I won and was able to choose a mini-stick from the prize table. This matched the previous mini-stick prize I had just claimed for line dancing! Michael and Jenny were extremely happy with my winnings!

Our team parents and the sponsors in attendance enjoyed themselves immensely. Many of the pictures show our coaches’ wife, Terri dancing up a storm. Never to be outdone, the goalie moms held our own!

Here is Coach Darren and his girlfriend, Kim…Darren roved the silent auction tables until the last minute to secure his bid for the video camera. With my digital camera, I capture essential player and parent ‘team building moments’…he is going to back me up with video! I like the way he thinks!

I think this will be another fun year with the Chiefs hockey team…

Look Ma...a bruise!

Jenny survived her first hockey body-checking clinic this morning! Look out Tie Domi…Jenny Roefs coming through.

That is what I learned from watching this morning’s body-checking clinic.

Hug your opponent first...



Pin victim against the boards...


Keep your elbows down...


After knocking the other guy on his butt, remain standing if possible...

All in all, another successful hockey practise! I just hope the really, really big brute of a boy that knocked everybody on their backs is on Jenny's team!

Nothing phases our daughter, though. She is quite proud of the bruise forming on her arm!

Below is a drawing that Jenny has done for her art class at school. In particular, she wanted her godmommy in New Zealand to see this…

powerskating

Somedays I wonder what kind of mother I am, that I make Michael and Jenny get out of bed any earlier than they absolutely have to.

Those of you that know our family know that we like our sleep. So having to be at the arena for 7:45 on Thursday mornings (when we are normally listening to our alarms going off) is a challenge for us (OK...me and Jenny more than Michael).

These feelings of guilt wear off when I am at the arena and see Michael and Jenny tearing after each other and their friends (the Rizzo boys, shown here, are dynamoes on ice!). Obviously, I think to myself, that other parents raise their children out of bed to do the same thing...so I can't be that bad! I can't complain, as my friend Karin drives in from out of town and then has to tie up four sets of skates before ice time!

Now it helps that the instructors (Penny and Boo) always have a smile and an encouraging attitude that seems to make the children want to skate faster and faster. Of course, not minding the small children throwing 'snow' from the ice at their backs, helps keep the little ones active and on their toes!

I did take a picture of Penny today (I even had the camera set for 'moving targets')...but Penny must have been moving too fast for my camera to keep up! Not to worry, I will try to capture them both next week!

Big weekend coming up, with the Chiefs playing London on Saturday (all of Michael's sponsors will be there to watch), and Jenny's first hockey game in Ingersoll on Sunday.

Confession

I am scared of pre-teen girls and the havoc they WILL cause (there is no doubt in my mind) if Jenny’s birthday wake-over comes to fruition.

I have put it off thus far, claiming calendar-scheduling difficulties (which there are). However, Jenny and Henry are suspecting something and are becoming more persistent.

I will confess…I am sabotaging this event because I am scared. I know there will be a category 5 hurricane ripping through this house with 12 pre-teen girls doing their best to be the loudest, the jumpiest, and the funniest.

I will need three clear days in which to plan, buy food for, bake cake, do treat bags, move furniture (to provide room for 12 non-sleeping bodies), host party, and two days of quiet rest for me to recover from the chaos.
I need a plan to thwart those other well meaning (or is it retaliation?) Moms that send brightly colored make-up and nail polish for birthday gifts. You see, folks, we are now beyond the loud toy stage (wait a minute…maybe not! Just last night, Michael said he was saving up for drums!!!! I should have agreed to the X-box purchase).

My fear now is when Jenny spends more than ten minutes in the bathroom.

“Jenny, are you OK?”

“Yep”

When the voice I hear is just on the other side of the door, and not over by the toilet, I tell her to let me in right away.

She proudly shows me her newly painted blue toenails.

I honestly try to keep the smile on my face, as I notice blue on the floor, on the yellow bath mat, on the counter, and on the bath towel.

It is this that I think of when she wants other girls to come over for extended periods of time.

I wonder how I can sabotage tonight’s task of picking a date and doing the invitations?

Henry is very gung-ho about creating this special night for his little girl…he is soooo blind. On the bright side…maybe they can give him a makeover? (I am perking up)

Maybe I’ll leave him in charge? No…then I’ll have more of a mess to clean up afterwards~!

I feel a headache coming on…

The night before Thanksgiving

photos from the adult wakeover...yesterday's post.


Kate enjoying her rye!



Tammy enjoying Woodys, Margaritas, and Dooleys!

Gee, maybe we should go to bed?

Hockey Dads and staying up late

The difference between hockey mom’s and hockey dads seems to be focus. Hockey mom’s not only focus on the game, but drink coffee, take photos, have intelligent conversations with at least five other people (and remember the details) and read a book or work on some other required task. Hockey dad’s focus on THE GAME. They do not take pictures, participate in any conversation (unless it relates to analyzing the hockey game or compiling stats of said hockey game!), or talk with anyone unless there is a time-out called.

This weekend we participated in a tournament in Hamilton. We did quite well (5th out of 16….don’t quote me on this…ask Henry if you need to know details). Even after losing our third game against Chicago, we advanced to the next round due to mathematical statistics that take a University degree to figure out.

Alas, in my opinion, we were able to ‘enjoy’ our Sunday night and Thanksgiving Monday. Sunday night’s game ended late in the evening, so two families took us up on our invite to sleep over to break up their trip home. The boys and Jenny played mini-sticks, play station, watched movies, and jumped on the trampoline. Us women and Henry (the only male…Henry liked these numbers!) stayed up talking, laughing and drinking…and laughing until 4:30 in the morning! The children did not have a problem matching our bedtime! What a great time! The children had pushup contests…they dared Henry to match them…not only did he match them, he put extra weight on his back (that being an extra body…I did mention that we had been drinking?)

Bailey keeping well out of the way of the shenanigans!

Well,…we were sleep deprived on Thanksgiving Day! We hadn’t stayed up that late in years!

Shelley, Don, Jake, Alex and Monica came over for supper (the potatoes and vegies were awesome, Shell) and afterwards the adults enjoyed our after dinner walk with Bailey.

We were never so glad to slide into bed at 9:30!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! (I had more photos, but blogger seems to be having trouble with uploads).

game one

Well, game one is under our belts. A win for the Chiefs against the Jr. Canadiens from Toronto!

It was a very exciting game! We scored twice in the last 40 seconds of the game for the win.

Here is just a few of the hockey moms on our team. Back row left to right: Diane, front row: Penny, Gab, Marianne, Kate, and goalie mom Tammy.

Piling on goalie, Lucas, after the win.

Time to go to bed. Michael's turn in net early tomorrow morning.

a well-rounded day (for me)

The laundry never ends; there are always dishes to be done; and floors to vacuum. Once I figured out a way to tackle all these tasks, I put into motion my plan to do everything I enjoy! On my list: run, read, have a friend over for coffee, catch up on last week’s taped Survivor, play Roller Coaster Tycoon, and finish my homework.

It was such a nice day…I had to get out and enjoy it…so off I went for a 5 K run. I’m trying to speed up my pace (to be able to keep up with Megan and Tammy!), so I changed up my routine to a split (1:2) [one minute of increased pace: two minutes fast walking or ‘resting’]. Actually worked really well; even shaved off some of my time! I guess it’s good to change the old routine once in a while. Thank goodness for beautiful fall weather/scenery, MP3 players, good running shoes and a hat! I know I’ve had a good run when I return home smelling just as bad as Henry, Michael and Jenny do after hockey practice!

I figured I might as well vacuum since I was already sweating…I ended up flying around the house doing chores with my MP3 player until mid-afternoon!

I spent 45 minutes reading my newly purchased book, Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. (Yes, I had to buy it…the waiting length to borrow at the library was long enough for Diana to write and publish another book). This series, I started reading from the library and read them all one after the other within a few months. Of course, having this luxury, I wanted immediate gratification and waited with baited breath for Breath of Snow to arrive! I let out said breath, as it took four years until its release last week.

My friend, Shelley, came over for coffee around 3:00. She is a pharmacy technician and is under much duress of just having relocated to a new bigger brighter store. Great for consumers (especially as it is within walking distance for me), but it will take the staff awhile to find what they need in this new store design (with some new staff to add confusion to the mix).

I quickly watched Survivor and Apprentice taped from last week, not great…but, hey, Amazing Race is by far exceeding viewing expectations as usual!

Didn’t have time for Roller Coaster Tycoon. Maybe another day…

Homework is fairly light today, just a couple of hours this afternoon, and one this evening. My blog assignment (due October 16), I sent in yesterday and already received 100%. Yay! Henry says I’m such a browner…What can I say? Unlike my friend Megan, I do enjoy school. Sure, it is stressful at times…but, hey, that’s life! Go run in the country!

cold season

The difference between young and old(er) when the cold/flu season strikes is visible here. Jenny is still in bed and hopefully, will sleep the day away.

There is one major flaw to keeping Jenny home today (other than the buses were cancelled because of fog – a usual occurance in our neck of the woods). Looking at it from my point of view…Henry is at work…I don’t hear him complaining. Jenny, once she wakes up will be quite vocal about the fact that her throat hurts and her tummy aches. As a parent, you really want to make it all go away for them, but after a few hours of griping…well, enough said. On the positive side…Jenny sleeps forever!

Henry usually goes to work unless he is at the crawling stage of a flu bug. Believe me, I prefer it that way! I am still trying to figure out how Henry can have such a high pain tolerance and minimal complaining when it comes to weld burns, pipes and equipment dropping on him bruises, and other frequent mishaps at work, but is quite vocal (like his daughter) when it comes to the cold season. Michael and I, we are the strong silent type.

Remember when he phoned me to ask about looking in his truck for his hardhat? Well, Bill just happened to be there to catch Henry on the phone and thought this would be a great opportunity to show everyone "Henry at work givin' a 110%".

Thank you, Bill for sharing those moments!

And at the other end of things, there's me...

And on the seventh day...she rested

And on the seventh day…she rested. Well, kind of.

The powers that be work in mysterious ways. Yesterday, there were many signs that indicated that I should have a day of rest.

It all started in the morning…it was my turn to sleep in and Henry’s turn to take Jenny to hockey practice. Went swimmingly until I finished a book I had been reading and thought to check my schoolwork schedule. Ooops…Assignment 1 due at the end of the day. Almost complete, I wasn’t worried. However, I wanted to go watch Henry play hockey at 12:45 and we had to leave for Windsor at 3:00.

I finished my assignment and raced upstairs to hop in the van for the fifteen-minute drive to the arena.

Jennnnnnny….where are my keys??????

“Don’t know, Mom. Aren’t they hanging on the hook?”

Gee…let me see…if I am the only one in this household that REALLY looks for missing items…WOULD I BE ASKING IF THEY WERE THERE????

Flash back to last image of said keys. (I had them in the house after returning home from the ball game the night before). Therefore, I knew (OK…95% certainty) that Henry or the children had used my keys and not returned them.

After looking for the keys for over a half hour…I gave up. To heck with it! Enough of hockey (it is only the beginning of October, Gillian). Grumble…grumble.
Jenny is happily playing after a ten second look for the keys (she’s thinking…yay…one less hockey game today!)

Henry and Michael show up after 3 (when did I say we had to leave for Windsor?), but their bellies were full from the sandwiches and refreshments offered at a hockey players’ house.

Henry seems perplexed by the whole key missing situation. “I might have used them this morning…I don’t remember.”

Never mind, hop in the van…Henry insists on taking Bailey…let’s go…we’re going to be late! Darn…forgot to set the VCR for Extreme House Makeover and Desperate Housewives.

Stop on the way to get Jenny and I subs for later. Arrive in Windsor a little late. Keep an eagle eye on our only set of keys.

Henry has the brilliant idea of putting the sub under the front seat…I eye Bailey with knowing eyes (as it is my sub that is left, because, you guessed it, I was driving while they all slept) and just KNOW she will find a way to eat my dinner.

Sure enough, Bailey does not like green peppers. She does however, like turkey on whole wheat. She is such a health conscious dog. She did not throw the wrapper in the garbage though. It was left in plain view on the front seat.

Glare daggers at a smirking Henry and we are off for the long silent ride home, save for the occasional giggles from the back.

Bailey, sleeping off the sub
Once arriving home, the garbage and recycles were done by Michael and Jenny, while Henry and I looked for keys again.

Still no luck.

Henry calls this morning from work. Honey…got a ride with Joe, please check my truck for our hardhats. Guess what? No key to get into Henry’s truck! Soooooo sorry, sweetie. Checked at the arena for my keys.

Turning my computer on this morning, I thought of one of Henry’s suggestions and checked in Jenny’s hockey bag. VOILA!

So although I didn’t do much physical activity yesterday, it was full of mental ‘hopping’ and giggling!

I am so happy to have my keys back!

An afternoon at the ball park

Karin(in black/centre) and family

Yesterday, we spent a beautiful afternoon at the Skydome…oops, make that the Rogers Centre (even the roadside signs in Toronto aren’t sure what to call it) watching the Blue Jays play the Kansas City Royals.

Karin offered us free tickets (thank you, Karin), so we just HAD to go. Karin and Casey
Our group of 24 consisted mostly of Karin's family and company from Holland. They spent the day in Toronto doing the 'tourist' thing. The CN Tower and the ball field impressed the Hollanders.

You know you’re in Toronto when you look up and see the CN Tower in view. You also know it will take another hour to reach said CN Tower in the bumper to bumper traffic that is moving slower than snails. It did not help matters that the Gardiner was closed, so everyone had no choice but to take Lakeshore. We observed roller-bladers, bikers, walkers, and all Torontonians enjoying the afternoon sunshine along the long lakeshore pathway. For that matter, we could have parked and rollerbladed to the ball game faster than it took to drive the short distance!

Now here comes Henry’s pet peeve…now remember he did this commute to Toronto for ten years and is very familiar with the traffic patterns of this huge city. Henry wanted myself, Jenny and Michael to take a good look at the Gardiner Expressway and tell him exactly what the workers were ‘working on’, knowing full well that the road was completely bare of any persons or machinery. This is Henry’s pet peeve…closing down major road arteries and not working on them. I can’t say I blame him.

The game was as exciting as baseball can be, in my opinion (in other words, I mostly enjoyed the people-watching until the Blue Jays accomplished some runs) The Blue Jays tied it up mid-game, but sadly lost 6-5. The highlight of the game for the children was running the bases at the end of the game. Our seats were great and our section made it on the Jumbo Tron (is it still called this with the Rogers’ buyout – probably not) for our 2 seconds of fame!

After the game, we were to go out for dinner on our way home at a restaurant on Eglinton. Needless to say, we were ages in traffic and decided to skip the dinner and head on home (after all, Henry had to get up to take Jenny to an 8 a.m hockey practice the next morning!) Yep…I drew the straw to take the previous 6 a.m practice!

Looks like another gorgeous fall day…time to plant some bulbs for spring!