A Tale of Two Tonsils.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Ok, really, apparently it was the shittiest of times, but it will end and everything will eventually feel normal and in the meantime there's full bottle of Jason's new BFF...Tylenol 3. (And for me a bottle of my little friend, Bailey...) I do have before and after pictures, but I'm taking a poll to see if I should put them up. I know that Colleen loves a good gross shot... I don't know though. These ones might just go straight to the blog book and skip the interweb (like all the bear mucked shots of Maddie).

So - it ended up being day surgery (I know you're horrified by his luck, Shel). We were there at 6:15 a.m. and out of the hospital by 3p.m. Crazy. The Dr. has the bedside manner of a brick wall, but he seems to do a good job so that's all that really matters. Luckily (and as usual?) the nurses were MUCH better and made us both feel very comfortable. Today is the end of day two and Jason looks a lot better, but I think he's still in a lot of pain and already bored silly.

It's a bit dissapointing to not be able to spend Christmas with my side of the family, but getting these damn tonsils out is very important to both of us and well worth staying home! We were suprised by the last minute cancellation spot, but glad to have a spot so soon.

ok, I'm only keeping this post up for a day or two. Just wanted to have it on here so that I can include it in the blog book that I'm making. Really, people do not need to read an indepth tale of Jason's oral surgery. Fascinating as it is...

later skaters,
j

Peace and Joy.
(...and perogies and cabbage rolls...)
Christmas with the Markosky Bunch

We spent Christmas Eve at Lisa and Jayson's with the cousins, Grandma and Grandpa Kenco, and Uncle Bruce. Maddie is sporting her sweet little leotards and top from Auntie Morgan. Playing with this tub turned out to be a sign of things to come...we discovered that the saying about giving a kid a cardboard box IS true.

Stephanie sent us this wonderful set last year for Christmas and I couldn't wait to use it this year. As you can see, the cookies were pre-tasted in an effort to maintain quality assurance. Madeleine insisted it is standard procedure.

Christmas Morning

Bruce spent the night with us and the rest of the gang came over later in the morning for breakfast and to open presents. BTW - I made the "wife saver" thing and I think it turned out well (or at least everyone was kind enough not to complain...) Also made the Land of Nod buns and really, how can you go wrong with gooey cinnamon and brown sugar??

Wow, what a difference three kids makes! We were clearly Christmas Morning with Kids Novices - it was absolute bedlam! Maddie was tearing through paper like a teeny tiny Tasmanian devil (I found two presents a few days later when I was cleaning up...) It was a lot of fun, but I forgot to take pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Later in the afternoon (after some "quiet time") we all headed over to Lisa and Jayson's where Marion had been cooking up a storm. YUMMERS!! The turnips were fabulous, Marion!

We had a really wonderful Christmas together, and as usual it all came and went way too fast. But I'm looking forward to doing it all again next year.

Feeding The Pig.

This is something that I used to do with my Grandma Hurst when I was too little to really remember, so maybe the same age as Maddie? Anyway, I think Grandma would give me some change to put in my pig and we would call this feeding the pig. Dad, did I do this with you too?

Well, Maddie is ALL ABOUT feeding the pig these days. She just about drained Uncle Bruce's retirement fund... But how could he say no to those brown eyes??

"C'mon Uncle Bruce, I saw a toonie in that pile..."

"All right, one more..."

Found a few more pictures from our weekend with Jackson and Mackenzie:



BEFORE

AFTER.

Looks like just a harmless little craft, doesn't it?

Thank you, Crayola.
No really, you shouldn't have.

Miraculously, it all washed off. Except for all the paint jammed up under her fingernails. Oh well. As Jason would say: you win some, you loose some. (Except his comment, bless his soul, was in reference to the dinner I made tonight.
Is there room on that couch, Joseph? - see the next post)

Our Nativity Scene...




Baby Jesus

Mary and Baby Jesus

Joseph.
On the couch?

Calling all Beagle and Blog Fans!

Check out my favorite Beagle Blog: "Beagles on the Web". As you likely know I have been following this blog since before we adopted Bosco - so about three years now. She has a guest daily digital on now with the theme being Christmas. If you go to this link you should get to the calendar. Start on Dec 12. Be sure to go to "archives" and look them all up (archives will take you back to the calendar). Although, be warned, there is a slightly creepy one where this woman (not my blogger, a stranger) collects bears in a room. It could only be creepier if they were dolls...


http://www.beagles-on-the-web.com/dailyDigital/archive/

p.s. ok, I included the sight in case my "link" thing didn't work. If you have to, try cutting and pasting. Trust me - it's worth the extra effort...

Sad news. My Auntie Evelyn passed away Sunday morning. She was an inspiring woman, full of energy and enthusiasm. She was a very special person and we will miss her.

The story of three cousins...

Mackenzie and Jackson came for the weekend while Lisa and Jayson went to Calgary. Jeepers did we have a good time! We did our best to keep busy, despite the ridiculous cold. The kids all had fun playing together and Maddie was thrilled to see them. On saturday Jackson told his parents on the phone that they were not to pick him up yet b/c he was supposed to stay for two sleeps and he'd only had one sleep so far. On Friday night Maddie INSISTED that she share her crib with Mackenzie. Wish I would have taken a photo of the two of them snuggled in there. Took a little longer, but they did fall asleep.

Here are some pictures of the Oompa Loompa invasion...

Maddie eating all the cookie dough... (no eggs, so don't worry)

The famous Octopus Hot Dogs!!

Winter Wonderland

The snow has arrived in Warman with no sign of leaving. I guess we aren't in Calgary anymore... The novelty of the driveway isn't quite as shiny as it was in the summer, but BOY do I love that garage!

Maddie's desire to do everything that we are doing continues. She is the most helpful little soul with the laundry: she will haul Jason's stinky socks (pee-eww) into the laundry room and stuff them into the machine. She will "fold" all the dish clothes. Her newest discovery (obsession?) is washing dishes. It looks cute in the pictures but in reality, well, I'm not really sure how helpful it is. She's usually soaking wet by the time it's done.

"make it warm, mommy?" is the constant refrain. I let a tiny trickle of cold water flow while I'm washing for Maddie to "rinse". But Maddie has a very specific water temperature preference. The same is true for the bath. I swear she won't get in unless it's p!ss warm. I don't see any hot tubbing in her immediate future...

The Nights the Lights Went Out in...
WARMAN!

Some wizards shot at the glass things on the power poles. At 6 pm a week ago saturday the lights went out for about 6 hours. The paper said that 20, 000 people didn't have power. Nice. It was kind of nice actually: very quiet, very peaceful, and pretty in the candle light. We were about to go for a walk to look at Christmas lights. We went for the walk anyway and it was strange to be out in our completely dark neighborhood. At about 10 pm we started to worry that the power wouldn't come on in the night and it might be too cold for Maddie by morning so we backed up and headed to Lisa and Jayson's. Maddie ended up sleeping with us in the bed and I didn't think it was a good idea to have her in the bed with two jealous beagles so they bunked in the play pen. Worked out well, except that Sammy was horrified! She spent the whole next day in our bed when we got home.

Balloons!

We could not convince Madeleine that these were in fact ornaments and not balloons. They are not glass and so therefore they are at the bottom of the tree since she seems to feel the need to take them off several times. She was quite thrilled with the tree and the angel (see next post). We also have a Santa advent calendar which has become a huge hit. "More candy treat?"