As if we weren't busy in our house...

Last Saturday Paul's parents called me up.  They decided to fly in to visit Paul for his birthday!  So they flew in Tuesday.  It's been very handy having them around so I can sneak in a periodic nap and they are babysitting for us, so I can go into work right after Henri wakes me up and get my hours in at work, then come home early afternoon.  It's been great not having to run the kids around to drop them off places.

Then, this Friday morning, we got a call.  The USA team that was curling in the Olympics, dropped out of the US Men's Nationals competition.  They get an automatic bid into the Nationals the year after the Olympics.  Since Paul's team was next in line, they get their spot.  This is great news because they worked hard to get to nationals.  However, would have been nice to have more than a week's notice!  So now besides having houseguests, we are running around trying to get Paul's team some uniforms, airline tickets and hotel accomodations.  I have no idea if I'll be able to get out there and watch any of it or not. 

Friday afternoon, Paul and I left the kids with Paul's parents and headed up to Vancouver to have dinner with friends from my scrapbooking message board (we stayed the night with one of them) then Saturday morning headed to see the Bronze Men's game.  Sweden v. Switzerland.  We went really early and got right through security.  After walking SEVERAL blocks in the POURING rain.  So we used our extra time to stand under the blow driers in the bathrooms and dry and thaw out before going into the very cold curling rink.

I like to pick a team to root for and decided on Sweden after watching them do some really cool helicopter stretches with their brooms (I tried to get a video, but missed it!)

The game was excellent.  Switzerland did win, but it came down to the final two rocks.  Very exciting.  Oh, and one thing you won't see on TV- 1/2 way through a lady completely fell down the stairs head over heals!  She came back to watch in the front row with a bandaged nose and her arm in a sling.

Sweden is in the blue/yellow, Switzerland is in the red/white:

The Swiss team wins...

This was one of the most awesome shots:

Then we came home and Paul's team for Nationals played against the Jr Men's Nationals team, which is flying out to Switzerland and is from our club.

Today we did the Ride the Ducks tour...

Then we rode the carosel after eating at Ivar's

Then the boys got ice cream.

Updating

So I haven't updated in awhile.  To say we have been busy is an understatement.

Let's see, Paul's team got to the challenge round, then lost by one game for going to Nationals. 

Other than that Erin's working Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with Carter to school both Mondays and Wednesdays and my mom taking them Tuesdays, Henri going to backup childcare at daycare through Paul's work.  It's about to get crazier because my parents are in Costa Rica right now, so Tuesdays are going elsewhere and my backup childcare is about to expire (we only get 100 hours, which is about 10 days) so I'm using the babysitting co-op I'm in as well as nearby friends I'm exchanging childcare with and will probably be paying someone from my MOPs table for a few days as well.  I'm really hoping we can end this job the end of March and not work in April!

Thursdays are busy with swimming, playdates and running errands and house chores. Fridays have playdates, MOPs, etc.  Carter usually also goes to school on Fridays, so normally it's Henri and I.

Paul's birthday is on Wednesday, so that's our current focus this week!

Friday Curling update

The guys did really well today.  They played a really good team (on par with them) and they were tied after 10 ends and lost by one in the extra end.

The second game they won 7-3.

Tomorrow morning they play a team that has not been doing so well at 8am, then a more challenging team at 4pm.  Sunday morning they are not playing, they are playing at 2pm on Sunday against a fairly easy team.

So far it's looking pretty good.  They have to be in the top 3 to go to Nationals and after the loss, they were 3rd.

Carter's Quips & Henri 14 month update

Carter's turning into quite the chatterbox and funny man.  Recently heard at our house:

Carter noticed the wafflemaker out, "Your mom has one of those, but it cooks stuff." Then I pass this gem on to my mom and she says she was making them one morning and Carter was going nuts trying to figure out how she made them without using a toaster.

Carter singing with his safety scissors, "I'm safety scissors, I love to be safe..." He likes to make up songs when he thinks no one is watching/listening.

Carter's wisdom of the day after catching me eating his Halloween candy: "just don't eat too much, it's not good for your teeth."

Carter told me while watching some roofers working, "I hope it's not a crappy day"

Me: If you get it on the floor, I'll just vacuum it up. Carter: Mom, Don't you get tired of cleaning up the house?

Carter brings up the Gatorade I bought from the stairs, "Here, Mom... I brought these up so you don't have to break your arms off"

Now on to Henri.  At 14 months, Henri...

Walks 75% of the time.  He's getting faster.  He points and asks his version of "what's that?"  He talks.  A lot.  I have no idea what he's saying.  He's consistent about bye-bye waving and saying Da-Da when he waves.  He is into everything and climbing!  I never know what piece of furnature he'll be on next.  He's good about being left with people.  As our Canadian family would say, "He's not strange with people."

He's also getting a sense of humor and figures out when something I or Carter or Paul do is funny and gives a big belly laugh.

He is sleeping through the night. 7:30-5am, then warm bottle in my bed will get him to sleep another 1-2 hours. Finally.  Now to get myself to do the same (I keep waking up to listen for him.)  I'm thinking of cutting back or eliminating my morning cup of coffee or switching to tea.

Updates on Paul's Curling to Nationals

As many of you know (ok, so the 3 people who actually read this blog, of whom none are my parents) Paul is curling in his second round to qualify for 2010 US Nationals, which could lead to 2010 Worlds in ITALY!!!

Keep track of what's happening.

For background (you'll even see Paul's name) on how it all works and the teams involved http://curling.teamusa.org/news/2010/01/05/first-round-of-qualifiers-for-2010-nationals-begins-thursday/30326

Follow the curling this weekend here: http://graftoncurling.com/  (Paul is on Team Johnson)

So far:
Thurs -2pm won 10-4
Thurs-7pm won 9-3
Friday's results are not up yet and I was out all day so I don't know the results, but I'll search a bit more.

Fun Weekend and First Day working of tax season

This weekend was so fun!  Sue, my friend from BC from my online scrapbook message board came to stay with us. We made cards at a card class (check out my teacher's blog at http://www.mukibug.com/) then Saturday we cropped all day (scrapbooked) in Renton, including a field trip to the Scrapbook Nook, with dinner at 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, then Sunday afternoon I took a scrapbook class with Nona Pearl of CTMH. 

While in Renton Saturday, I stopped by IKEA to see if they had two more of my dining room chairs, since we'll have 5 family members as of this summer.  NONE!  They discontinued them TWO weeks ago!  But Sue went to her IKEA today and found the last two for me AND they were on sale, so they were only the US price!  Wahoo!!!

Today was my first day of work for tax season.  I was supposed to get there at 9am to sign paperwork, etc.  We left at 7:45, dropped Carter off at school, then Henri and I carpooled to Bellevue to drop him off at daycare and I got at my desk at 8:45.  Tomorrow they head to my mom's... I'm hoping to leave here by 6:15, with kids in pajamas and a bag of clothes for them to change into!

Both kids did great.  In fact, Carter was excited to see his friends, Harry & Danny from last year's class at before/after care.

Henri's... er... non-allergy

The allergist tested for allergies to oats, eggs, crab, shrimp, almond, walnut, pecan, peanuts, soybeans and chocolate and came up with nothing.

Due to how long the hives last, her current suspicion is that it is not an allergy at all, rather some virus stuck in his system that activates the immune system every 4 weeks or so into hives.

Her recommendation was to take Zyrtec for a month, then stop it and see if the hives come back.  We're currently considering the recommendation and trying to figure out if we want to do that or just see what happens.