New(s)

I have been taking pictures galore so here is an update, in the form of many pictures.

About a month ago, our new dressers finally arrived. This marks the first time I have ever owned new dressers (as I kid I had an antique, which I love, and is now Kamden's). I don't count the "new" Jysk (aka crap) dressers we bought about 5 years ago. a) Because they are now broken and useless and b) do I really need another reason?

Instead of those dinky night stands with like, what two teeny drawers, we opted for full chests. Our bed is like 15 feet tall so I think it works. And I need the storage, trust me. (Jay off handedly suggested I buy fewer clothes. Pshaw)

My side of the bed is slightly girly. The flower box was made by Kamden for Mother's Day last year and the rest I have accumulated over the last couple years.

This bad boy has 10 drawers. Yes, 10. And the bottom four are HUGE. And sadly, I filled them all. And I go back and forth on updating the photos here. The majority are from our trip to the Bahamas way back in 2008. But the boys are so stinking cute so I just haven't brought myself to update them.

Jay's side. More manly. Well at least the wood figures carved by his Grandad anyway.

This past week, I zipped to Vancouver (and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it) for a work course. I stayed out at UBC with a friend, who fed me amazing food every night. Must tries if you are in the Vancouver area - The Flying Beaver (Mahi Mahi with coconut curry sauce - yum is an understatement), Chronic Taco (oh my word. you must try the Mahi Mahi (see a theme?) taco), it will change your life, and The Banana Leaf (the appie sampler was amazing. I even ate the calamari and if you know me, you know that is WAY out of my comfort zone).

Wow, that was a tangent. I wrote all that just to tell you about the leaf Jack is holding. Cathy and I were out for a run when I found this huge maple leaf. I hid it under a sign so we could come back and find it later. She found this quite hilarious since the campus was covered in leaves. But they were not all this big is my story and I am sticking to it.

I mean, it is huge, right? Also of note is the fact that it made it home in my suitcase in one piece.

And of course the pumpkins. My favourite part of Halloween, hands down. Used to be the chocolate but now two or three and I have a headache. Getting healthy and fit is awesome but I do miss the ability to consume copious amounts of chocolate.

And that is a wrap for now (ie bedtime for Kami).

Kami, out.

No Players in This House

It's no secret that we are Canadian, here at the Khlopchyk house. And it's also no secret that Canada equals hockey. My parents hail from a small town in Saskatchewan known as Canada's hockey factory having produced at least six NHL hockey players (Wendel Clark, Kerry Clark and Barry Melrose to name a few).

Playing hockey is the norm for boys and many girls here in Saskatchewan. In fact, I would venture to guess that the majority of boys play and that number of girls playing is increasing exponentially by the year.

With a house full of boys, you might think that we live at the rink. But we don't. In fact, until last weekend, we hadn't set foot in a rink since sometime during the winter of 2007/08.

You may or may not know that I spent a good deal of my teen years on figure skates. I loved it. I vowed that while my kids did not have to follow in my footsteps (blade tracings?), they would, as proud Canadians, know how to skate.

We started off well with Jack, enrolling him in skating lessons during his Kindergarten year. Then we slacked off so much so that Kamden, who is halfway through Kindergarten, has not really been on skates, unless you count the three times when he was three. I tend not to.

This winter, while it has had it's cold spells (do the words -952 ring a bell from last winter's rants?), has been unseasonably warm since January hit. We don't get the kind of winter where we can enjoy the activities you tend to associate with winter, sledding, skiing and skating, you know on account of liking out limbs enough not to want to freeze them off regularly. While the weather was warm (hello blizzard of epic proportions today!) we got inspired and got the kids suited up with some second hand skates and hit our local outdoor rink.

('twas night and my nighttime camera skills, well, I don't need to tell you, the quality of this photo pretty much says it all, but the subjects are sure handsome, in my bias opinion)

Today, we had plans to meet some family at an indoor rink but given that it snowed buckets in a blizzard like we haven't yet seen this winter, we stayed home. Shoveling the driveway is a fun activity too (not for me, I stayed in).

The kids really enjoyed renewing their skating skills and we won't talk about how I almost bit the rhubarb when I tried to show them a simple spin. Suffice it to say I am not 16 anymore. We plan on hitting the indoor rink more often this winter and if the Quasi Arctic stays away a bit longer we might even hit the outdoor one again too.

While I doubt either one of my boys will play hockey (Jay never did either), I still vow that they will be able to hold their own when they strap on the old blades. It's just the Canadian way, eh.

(Has anyone missed my infamous winter rants? Without the ridiculous weather, I have nothing to complain, I mean, write about)

Living Sky

Our license plates say "Land of the Living Sky". I think it's appropriate.