Love love love ROUTINE!

This has been the best week so far! And Jack agrees! Love this picture of him! I think because the kids and I feel like humans again and life as we know it has returned to normal!

I also love that the weather is started to smarten up! Jack and I made it to 2 parks on Tuesday while his sister was at school - and we plan on doing the same today! I am sick of being confined to this house!!! Spring is coming!

Mardi is so excited about dance class tonight! She of course missed last week due to illness but she only has 3 weeks until her first festival and now that the girls got their costumes they are on cloud nine! They maybe a little "hoochie" but they are dancing to Madonna's "Vogue" (sang by the Chipmunks!)!

So many fun things coming up! Bring it on!

My 10 Things...

Here are the 10 hi-lights and lo-lights at the Kitchen household this past week......!

1. Mardi contracted Fifth's Disease also called"Slap Cheek", which besides the rash accompanies 103 degree + temps and a lot of listless days. So needless to say there was no school for her last week.

2. The disease was then shared with her brother who had a worse time with it all! His fiasco started with a seizure on Wednesday morning due to his fever of 103.5! So after 2 trips to the ER this week with him we are glad it is over! He did get the rash worse and ended up covered on both arms and legs too.

3. With all the sleepless nights and trips to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, all the lack of rest caught up with me! Now Mom was sick! Chest cold, headaches and back pain made Dad kick it in to high gear! Thankfully he never got it!

4. I missed a scrapbooking night with the ladies - still grumpy I had to miss that one!

5. The snowfall that was massive affects us twice as bad because we are looking after a neighbors house down the street while they sunbathe in Hawaii for a month, so needless to say that means 2 driveways and sidewalks and steps to shovel!

6. We got our taxes back and much to my husbands' worry we ended up with a size able refund!! yay us!!!

7. My mother-in-law finally got in to get her knee replacement surgery on Thursday! And even with a hiccup in recovery she still made it home yesterday!

8. Besides all the craziness with the kids being sick I still managed to put together 3 meals for my in-laws for them to enjoy this week while the cook is healing!

9. My sister celebrated her 35th birthday on Sunday - we weren't able to join her in fear of sharing our scurvy but nevertheless she is another year older!

10. All in all this past week went so slowly but it is over! Routine is back - JD is back to work this morning, Mardi is back to school, Jack and I are back to our daily stuff while everyone is away! I love ROUTINE!!!!

10 Random Tuesdays....

Here are 10 Random Things I could not live without as a stay at home mom....

1. Nap time! What a blessing those words are!

2. Thomas the Train and My Little Pony - these two things can keep my kids amused and not fighting for at least some part of the day! Thank God for toys!

3. TV - it is the ultimate babysitter when the kids are tired of playing or coloring, and it is great background noise in my house all day!

4. My dishwasher - it runs 2 loads a day and without it I would be in dishwater all day!

5. Vinegar - my favorite cleaning product of all time - cleans the fingerprints off walls and windows - you may not even realize kids habitate my house....sometimes!

6. An assortment of childrens medicine. Advil, tylenol, motrin, cough medicine, you name it I have it - I can cure what ails them!

7. Snacks! Oh snacks - always something to tie them over until the next meal!

8. My vacuum! I love vacuuming - instant gratification to see those vacuum marks in the carpet!

9. My camera - to catch life's wonderful moments every day. I may have more pictures than I can scrapbook but they one day will tell others the story of my life with my kids.

10. And most importantly : PATIENCE!!! Without a lot of this the profession would be obsolete! I love staying home with my kids and not missing out on them growing up in someone else's home everyday.

Dad's Birthday!

No my husband is not a fugitive however I seemed to have portrayed him as one when you look at his birthday cake!! The kids wanted a cake for him with his face on it - and Jacks' request was to make sure it has "wik-ars" ( whiskers )!

So yes he is follicle-ly challenged on the top of his head but still has the "5 o'clock shadow" problem! Any who he found this picture hilarious - as did I! The kids thought it was perfect and that is all that matters. You know we celebrate these birthdays only because of our kids! He had a great night of celebrating with them and that is all that matters!!!

Happy St. Paddys' Day!

Well it is Green Day today! And once again Mardi wore the same green leather jacket as last year~ she received it for a baby gift from one of my bosses! This is the only time the jacket seems to appear out of the closet!

So here are my 10 Random Tuesdays!

Here are 10 things I hope to get accomplished this week!

1. Start organizing clothes and toys for the Okotoks Mom 2 Mom sale coming in April.

2. Add a layout or two to my camping album I started on Saturday.

3. Submit a layout to Canadian Scrapbooker ~ mostly to satisfy Kim!

4. Wrap JD's birthday presents.

5. Plan a meal for all the Kitchen family to come and celebrate the 3 birthdays in the family this week.

6. Make a cake for my hubby - only because that is what the kids want - and they want it to look like him!! Bald with wiskers!

7. Clean the house, and wash some windows.

8. Call about a photo sitting for my kids.

9. Give blood tomorrow.

10. Clean the fish tanks - been trying to get to that for days now!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone - now go have a green beer!

Scrap day!

So yesterday was the Okotoks Scrapbook Convention and what a great time we had! I am definitely attending again next year! Those ladies sure know how to throw a crop!

I managed to only get 6 layouts done - which was so pathetic on my part, but in my defense I had a lot of visiting to do and mix that in with constant laughter and you end up underachieving!

Here are 2 of the layouts I accomplished and a picture of the prize I won for "Best Photography Layout"! The layout I won for was "Splash"! Funny thing is that I never took this picture - so I will have to give my Mom's friend a pat on the back for allowing me to win in that category! Hilarious!

10 Random...Tuesday?!

So I think I should change these updates to my 10 Random ~ Tuesdays! I can't seem to get organized enough on Sunday to post! Any who here are 10 things that I learned this weekend:

1. My kids LOVE going to my Mom and Dad's - more than anywhere else! They know they get to do chores, name the new calves, play in the barn and get spoiled beyond belief!

2. I was even more excited than I knew to go to the Brier on Saturday morning! Loved watching the Hot Shot competition - LOVED it!

3. Realized that Kim can talk to any stranger and somehow get them to laugh - every time!

4. I saw first hand how a TV camera really adds 10 pounds (or more). There were a lot of skinny curlers and TV personalities we saw!

5. I really appreciate my driving skills after the horrible drive home on Saturday night!

6. I realized how much I want to go to the Roar of the Rings in December ~ I am SO sure that I will probably book a hotel room this week!

7. I miss spending time with my hubby. We have SO much fun together and had a wonderful time together at the Brier. We need more date nights!

8. As much as I love cooking it was sure nice not to have to worry about feeding people 6 times a day!

9. My parents are amazing - they are so wonderful with my kids and my kids adore them so much that I never had a single worry about them all weekend. I knew my kids were in the best hands.

10. Finally, as much as I loved being kid-less for 3 days I missed them tremendously!