because i don't worry about enough stuff

I can remember sitting down with Mike to write out Abby's birth announcement for the local paper. She was a handful of days old and we couldn't wait to announce to the world about our brand new baby girl. I remember cutting it out of the paper and setting it carefully aside with all the other traditional keepsakes. I read that announcement over and over, after waiting five years for the stork to arrive, I still had a hard time believing she was actually here. That little announcement made me very happy.

Fast forward four years and along came Maya. She spent the first three weeks of her life scaring the hell out of everyone by refusing to continually breathe on her own with any kind of regularity. Even after we brought her home I was still sort of holding my breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Having a hard time truly believing we were getting off as lucky as we did. I could write volumes about the "survivor guilt" I carry.

We never got a birth announcement into the paper for Maya. Those first few weeks we couldn't even begin to think about it. Then it seemed like we'd be tempting fate. The days turned into weeks, turned into months and all of the sudden she's six and it just never happened.

As you can imagine the Mommy guilt is killing me. The second born child always gets less, isn't that what they say? I often think I should put a happy birthday announcement in the paper and cover it that way. Or do you think I'm the only one that's ever going to obsess about this? Would it bother you?

sunday randoms

Well this weekend was a mix of quiet and busy. The kids and I ended up going grocery shopping with Mike this week, which means we ended up spending way more than we had planned. To be fair though the trip included tax software and a baby shower present.

The taxes are finished. I managed to squeeze them in between shopping and taking the kids out for dinner. If I did them correctly, then we shall be very happy indeed when the cheque comes in.

I always worry I haven't done the taxes right, yet them come back as I expect them too each and every year.

The sweet potato fries at Montana's are freakin' delish... just sayin'.

Baby shower today for HPH, I planned ahead and had an egg white omelet before I left the house to keep from stuffing myself full of delicious shower food. Even still it was hard to stop at one plate. Yum.

Missed my weekly walk with our friends and all the kiddos.

I turned the captacha off on my blog and instantly I was drowning in spam comments. How do they know so fast? Luckily my spam filter seems to be catching them all, but honestly does this technique actually work? I can't see how it would.

Remember doing speeches in school? Nothing filled me with more dread then that little project. So awesome I get to relive it again with The Abster. Poor thing is nervous times ten!

Anybody want to come and fold all this laundry? Anyone? I have cookies.

There are far too many episodes of Storage Wars playing on my TV these days.

That is all.

nothing

It's March Break and I'm working, but my super sweet Mama is here for a couple of days of movie watching and hanging with her grandbabies. I really got nothing more than that.

sunday randoms

Gosh I hate spring ahead day!

I'm not quite sure how, but somehow we got all four of us washed, dressed and to church in less than 20 minutes. Seriously! I mean from the time I pointed out to Mike that we were actually getting out of bed at 9:38am and not 8:38am until the moment our butts were in the pew... less than 20 minutes.

I'm not quite sure what happened to this weekend.

I tried to watch a movie with the kids Friday night, but they both fell asleep on me. Even Mike and I were in bed by 10:30. This past week took a lot out of all of us by the looks of things. I think as of today, it's safe to say we are all finally feeling better.

Kids are thrilled to be on March Break. Even more excited that Granny is coming to hang with them while they are off.

Somebody please tell me why I am sitting here far past a reasonable bedtime watching the Don Cherry story for the second time this evening? Sometimes I just don't even understand myself.

friday high five - ethnic food

Just before Ash Wednesday my Mom showed up here with paczki. What the heck are paczki, I can hear you asking... well in a word, donuts. Yeast donuts filled with jelly and rolled in sugar. Traditionally they were served on Fat Tuesday. Why? Well it was a way to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house because you couldn't eat those things during the Lenten fast.

Growing up there was a bakery in the East End you could get paczki during the appropriate time of the year, but I haven't had one in years and years. I was really surprised that Fortinos (a large chain grocery store) was not only selling them, but also had them on the front page of their flyer. This led to a conversation with a friend who had seen the paczki in the store, but didn't know what they were besides obviously being donuts, about how popular ethnic foods are these days. Like I said, when I was a kid if you wanted paczki you had to know where to get it. My grandparents frequented a little store down near their favourite Polish church where they could get the proper kielbasa and now you can get it at the grocery store. Progress, huh?

With so much available now at the local grocery store, it's opened up a whole new world wide menu to those adventurous enough to try it out, and some of my favourites are....

1. Tikka Masala - This is one of Mike's favourite things to eat. Hat tip to Uncle Dave for this one.

2. Rice noodles in peanut sauce - Oh my word, so yummy!

3. Tamale Pie - I've tried to make it myself, but it paled in comparison to the version at my favourite restaurant.

4. Perogies - of course! Also cabbage rolls and paska. I never could get into borscht, but maybe I should try it again now that I'm older.

5.  Chinese bbq pork - We don't  do Chinese.. ever, but when we do this is my favourite.

What are your favourites?

they crack me up

We were getting into the van after a delicious dinner at Grandma Linda and Papa's.

Abby: Maya's got to check herself before she wrecks herself!

The van was silent for a moment and then......

Maya: I do!?

and that's why he's the best papa ever

So today was the day of the big checker tournament. Half of Abby's class was going, but not The Abster.

Mike: How come you aren't in the checkers club?
Abby: I don't really like checkers.
Mike: But you play with Papa.
Abby: Yeah, I like playing checkers with Papa........ because he lets me win.