OK, I admit it. I didn’t “believe.” I have always thought the Olympics were a huge waste of money — and for the most part, I still believe that. I didn’t watch the opening ceremonies and I really didn’t care when what’s-his-face won the first gold medal for Canada. But even I got caught up in the excitement as Canada won gold after gold, and I found myself recording the curling finals and the men’s hockey gold medal game so I wouldn’t have to miss a single moment. So while I’m not quite a believer, I’m also not as much of a doubter anymore.

Today is about thinking positive. I’m going to focus on the good things around me, cause there’s been way too much negativity lately and I refuse to wallow in that anymore. So what if Brayden doesn’t nap anymore and consistently wakes up at 5:30 a.m.? At least he goes down early at night. So what if the kids’ bickering often drives me insane? At least they’re off to Grandpa’s house this morning. So what if Justin has totally regressed in his potty training and Brayden isn’t making any progress with his speech? At least we’re not in Haiti.

See how I’m being upbeat?

Other good news: this has been one heck of a mild winter. There’s no snow and temperatures are consistently above zero. The sun has even come out a few times in the past week, which is usually my biggest concern at this time of year. In just 11 days we’re off to West Edmonton Mall with the kids, so that should be fun, and it’s a little over three months until we leave for our Mediterranean cruise. All good.

Another successful family visit has come and gone. It was nice just to be able to relax and enjoy people without the pressure of Christmas celebrations. We weren’t totally housebound, either, which helps: we went swimming, tubing and bowling, we went out for dinner, we played in the snow on the one day there was any…and everyone seemed to have a good time. I really enjoyed the fact that the kids (or at least Justin) were old enough that we could do some stuff that was actually fun for everybody (i.e. waterslides and tubing). That’ll happen more and more as the boys get older and I’m really looking forward to it.

It’s back to routine this week, which makes me happy, and the sun is shining, which makes me even happier. Justin was almost quivering with excitement at going back to preschool, so that was good to see. Brayden didn’t nap at all yesterday and I think he’s starting to give it up (the horror!) but he’s down for a snooze right now, so I’ll take the break while I can get it.

Happy New Year everybody!

I have never had a Christmas quite this stress-free before. To begin with, everyone was healthy, which is a big plus. With no family staying with us, we could actually just relax and focus on the kids (and THEY could just relax and play with their new toys). In past years we’ve been preoccupied with entertaining a crowd, opening a bunch of gifts and of course preparing vast amounts of food. This year we went to the grandparents’ place for the big Christmas dinner, so the extent of my cooking involved making grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Ho ho ho!

Not that I’m dissing the relatives. As Christmas got closer I was sort of wishing the crowd was here the way they always have been before, but they’ll be here in a couple days and I’m sure we’ll have a good visit. It might even be more fun than in the past cause all the pressure of Christmas is over. Justin is really looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Dave coming, but a big part of that is because we’ve promised to take him back to the waterslides while they’re here. It’s gonna be a good time.

December has been about trying new things with the kids. We’ve been to two Christmas parties with them that went pretty well. Justin has been good about playing with whatever kids are around and even Brayden hasn’t been the destructive beast he often can be. I laughed when a woman I don’t know very well commented that Brayden is a tank — she didn’t even know that that’s his nickname. Brayden is fascinated by babies and is amazingly gentle with kids who are smaller than him, but it’s a whole different story with the older ones.

In that spirit of trying new things, we took them to a Disney movie yesterday, which was their first time in a theatre. Justin talked a bit throughout the movie and kept wanting to stand up, which we expected, but he wasn’t overly disruptive and seemed to enjoy the show. Brayden sat on his booster seat, totally absorbed in the movie, munching a bowl of Cheerios like it was popcorn — so cute. Afterwards we went to a McDonald’s with a play area and let them run and jump and climb. So that was dinner and a movie, toddler style. A good time.

This morning we took them over to the kick-ass water complex to splash and play. There are three big waterslides at this place that we’d never done before, so I asked Justin if he wanted to try them, and he was all for it (he was just barely tall enough to slide, so poor Brayden didn’t qualify). I thought Justin might freak out because he had to go down this big slide all by himself, but he never hesitated. It’s weird how some insignificant thing will set him off, but then he’ll surprise us by stepping up like that. Anyway, he had fun, and I was super proud.

I’m also proud of myself for finally allowing the boys to play around with paint and glue and stuff at home. I’ve never encouraged that before because a) it’s messy and b) I have to sit there with them while they do it. But now we have construction paper and scissors and glue and fingerpaints and it’s a good way to kill an hour in the afternoons.

And we have plenty of hours to fill for the next while, since Christmas holidays have begun and most of our usual activities are on hold for a couple weeks. The snow we got last week is all but gone, which is fine with me, but the kids would love to get a pile of white stuff to play in. We made snow angels and played around with the sled one day, but we won’t be doing that again for a while apparently. We do have family coming to visit, but not for another 10 days, so we’ll have to see what we can come up with to do.

Merry Christmas everybody!

We’ve been meaning to do this for years, but it never really worked out until now: we took the boys up to Silver Star to see what they thought of Tube Town, where you ride an inner tube down a mountain. I really wish we’d been able to get pictures of the kids sitting in the tubes (Brayden in particular was wicked cute), but we obviously didn’t have any spare hands. The first ride went well, but when Brayden and I got to the top for a second try, he decided he wanted to go play in the snow. This was a problem given that we still had to get DOWN the mountain, so I ended up hanging on to his coat to keep him from diving out of the tube on our way down the hill. Justin, however, fell in love with the tubing experience (what’s not to love when all you have to do is sit in a tube while someone else pulls you around?) and he and his dad went down at least half a dozen times.

While we waited, Brayden and I explored a bit. One man who walked by noted that Brayden “sure has a lot of energy” — I get so sick of people pointing this out. Like I haven’t noticed. Anyway, I finally bought him some food and that kept him content until Chris and Justin finished up and we all went to the restaurant. I knew enough to bring along coloring books and crayons, so that kept the boys busy while Chris and I had a meal. (I also knew that Justin wouldn’t eat anything but fries when we went out, so I was wise enough to bring some snacks from home so he wouldn’t get too cranky from lack of food.) Justin actually fell asleep in the car on the way home and both boys were in bed asleep before 8 p.m. A great day overall!

I’ve finished my Christmas shopping (yes, I’m an earlybird), our outside lights are up although not turned on, and Justin is unbelievably excited about Santa coming, so we’re really getting into the “ho ho ho” thing around here. Too bad the big day is still more than five weeks away. Justin does not have the slightest interest in Halloween but cannot wait for Christmas, and I’m on board with that — it’s my favorite holiday too. This year will be a little different because for the first time ever, my family won’t be with us for Christmas morning. They’re still coming to visit — never fear — but it’ll be for New Year’s this time. At first I was kind of bummed about letting go of an old tradition, but now I’m actually looking forward to having a nice quiet celebration. As an added bonus, we’ll be going to Chris’s parents’ place for dinner, so I get out of turkey duty for the first time in years. Awesome.

Other than that, the daily grind goes on as usual. Brayden is trying so hard to say more words, but aside from “mommy” and “daddy”, none of them are recognizable to anyone but us. “Tank” continues to be an excellent nickname for him, as he is forever running around and pushing his way through things. I caught him doing chin-ups on a water pipe at the library a couple weeks ago — this kid is seriously strong. If only we could teach him to be gentle…

Justin has always been a chatterbox, but lately he’s gotten to the stage of asking a million questions, and it drives me insane much of the time. It doesn’t matter what answer you give him, he’ll have another question ready to go. There’s no way his preschool teacher gets paid enough. She must have the patience of a saint. A few weeks ago I was having lunch with the boys when Justin looked at me and said, “You look terrible, Mom.” He paused, then added, “Are you sick of us?” At least he makes me laugh.

I thought this would be the year we’d finally get Justin interested in Halloween (our kids have never gone trick-or-treating), mainly because he was due to have a little party at preschool. But he was sick all week and couldn’t go to preschool, and despite our best efforts he wouldn’t even touch his costume. I sent both boys out on a walk with Dad to at least get a look at the decorations in the neighborhood (Brayden did wear a costume for that and was very, very cute, but our camera was out of batteries) but Justin whined and complained the entire time. He’s still getting over a touch of the flu and hasn’t been himself, but we’ve never had any luck on the Halloween front any other year, either, so apparently it’s just not his thing. Don’t most kids love getting dressed up and collecting candy? Oh, well.