Snow, Snow and More Snow...

We are loving the snow!!! Geordie's enjoying sledding and Callum's getting some great use out of the death sled he made years a go. It sounds scarier then what it really is. It's simply a toboggan on skis. Not to be confused with the toboggan of the south, which is what they call a tuque. One friend from 'down there' referred to it as "skis with a seat on it".

pictures; I'm coming! I'm going! I'm gone! All done!

What is this freedom of speech you speak of?!?!?!

I was driving down Young St., in Halifax listening to the radio, the song Dear Mr. President by Pink came on. About a month and a half a go Callum was up in Toronto and heard the song and was telling me about it. I always meant to download it and listen but kept forgetting. Today I finally heard it!!!
I was listening to a station very much like the ones (four to be exact!) I listen to in Georgia. I have never heard this song even mentioned on the stations, and they all play a lot of Pink!!!
Now here's my question...is anyone surprised?!?!?
When the Dixie Chicks came out with Not Ready to Make Nice two out of the four radio stations played it (although for the first couple of months before the song came on there was a public service announcement made by the president of the station, about how they decided to play 'this group' because even without air play they still had the #1 song in the country and a bit more blah, blah, blah...).
I wonder if it is played in other States or if it's just south of the Mason-Dixon line!!

The Snow Experience!

We arrived home yesterday. Our flight was actually fifteen minutes early!! (So HA!! to those pessimists!!!) Others were not so lucky.
We did arrive to snow and Geordie could not have been happier. I'll admit, I didn't exactly mind it either!!!
Last night my father quickly went out and got boots for Geordie and we borrowed a snowsuit from his cousin. He was all set for Canadian outside play.
This morning he found the boots right away. He was very excited and put them on. He then walked around like Frankenstein.
Later that day, after much practice with the boots, when it was time to go out he put on the snow pants, boots, jacket, hat and mittens and went on his way. He was beyond excited all he wanted to do was dig! We could not find his shovel so my mother gave him a big spoon and an old ice cream bucket. He was satisfied.
Outside he slowly made his way down the steps and onto the sidewalk. He tried to get up on to the snow but the wind was holding him back a little. I told him to quickly get on the snow then turn his back to the wind (showing him as well as telling him). Geordie nodded his head and then did his own thing... he turned around and walked backwards. He was a little disappointed though because the snow had a covering of ice and he couldn't dig as much as he wanted too. So out comes super mummy with a shovel and smashes it up for him. I went back in to watch from the door (you didn't seriously think that I stayed out in that cold weather did you?!?!?!). Within minutes Geordie was surrrounded by two 'ladies' ( I would say age 2 & 4). They seemed to just stand around while he dug!
He was digging standing up and I called out to him that he can sit down on the snow because he's wearing snow pants. He just stared at me like I had five heads and was a crazy lady!! This is not exactly new!!!
When it was time to come in he brought his 'shovel and pail' in with some snow! He wanted to play with it inside. He forgot about it for a bit and then when he went back to it, it was water. He was okay with that...he wasn't okay when I poured it down the sink!!!!

above; Christmas 2006

Pot?!?! Kettle?!??! Black?!?!?

This morning I overheard a husband say to a child,
"Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall".

That's all I have to say...



So as not to incriminate anyone, real names were not used.

Traction Control

Yesterday when Geordie came home from school we noticed that he had a rubber band on each shoe...

Us, "Geordie, why do you have rubber bands on your shoes?"

Geordie, "I put them on at school to help me go up the slide"

We asked his teacher's about them, they had nothing to do with it. We now call him MacGyver!!

above; the MacGyver traction control

Beliefs?!?!?!?!?!?

Last night I asked Callum if he had read my blog lately.
He replied, with a straight face, "I don't believe in blog!"
He was serious, he really thought that, that actually made sense!!!

What in the hell is there to believe in?!?!?!

I do know that he believes in superheroes...


above; Captain Hay Bail, PEI 08/03

Geordie-isms

Like most children Geordie still has his own words. Of course you think that only your child has them and that his special words are the funniest thing ever!!!! Unfortunately the Wright side of the family (not to be confused with the actual 'right' side) seem to do that at any age.

Callum's parents live in Wilmington, N.C. Very nice place. It's where Dawson's Creek was taped and now One Tree Hill, along with various movies. It can be a little on the 'posh side' and has a gated community called Landfall there. Well, Callum and his father are both known for calling things by other names. I don't know if it's to remember things or if they just have too much going on in their head to remember the correct name/term (for example, Callum always calls it The Space Pin). So Landfall became Landfill as soon as they moved there. Only problem was that I had just recently seen something about a bunch of people who made a ski hill out of garbage with a community around it so I really thought that it was called Landfill!!!
One night at a party in Wilmington I was talking to some people who lived in this gated community and I called it Landfill!!!

Here are a few of Geordie's little 'sayings'...

cereal is 'cereat'
backpack is 'packback'
'at morning' means anything in the past
'butter' could be either butter or peanut butter
flip-flops are 'flop-flops' (and it actually started out as 'glup-glups')
pants are 'long shorts'
boys underwear are called 'boxers' while girls underwear is 'knicker-boxers'
the tongue of a sneaker is the 'chin'
a belt is a 'seatbelt' (it seems that anything that goes around your waist is a seatbelt)
meringue (like the pie) is 'a-rang-a-tang' (like the monkey)
bathing suit was 'baby soup' at first but has now turned into 'baby suit'
driver's suit is 'driving soup' (yes, only my child would know that one!)
fog is 'frog'
breasts are 'lady bumps' (he really, really did come up with this all by himself!)
gargling is 'like a wookie'




above;Geordie making himself handsome 11/07

Cheap -vs- Thrifty

Yesterday I was talking to a bunch of people a-boot the whole thrifty thing and it had me remember one of Callum's finest moment!!! Truthfully I don't remember if this is one of the stories that he hates me to tell or not, but it's just way too funny!!!! I've been having spontaneous giggles every so often for the past 24 hours whenever I think of it again so I felt the need to tell!!!

When we first lived in Toronto we used to do our grocery shopping together. This one day while in the produce section I asked Callum to pick out a few ears of corn. When we were home and I was putting the groceries away I got to the corn...they had already been 'peeled', yup, no husks left. Callum didn't want to pay for the husks since it was like 'dead weight'. It was heavy so it made the corn more expensive and we don't eat that part, wasted money. It took me a couple of days to tell him that you pay per ear, not by the pound!

above: Callum

Holiday Cards...to do or not to do?!?!

The holiday card...do you send them? If so, to who? To people that you see everyday or just to those that really the only time you come into contact with them is by holding the Christmas card that they sent you?!!? When you think about it, does it make sense to send to either?!?
Actually, maybe that's more about the Christmas letter
Yes, the good 'ol Christmas letter...I enjoy receiving these. I also secretly enjoy writing them. What's better than talking (okay, writing) about yourself and your family with no interruptions? You can say all you want about how you don't brag, but there's no getting around it. Everyone does...really, think about it, how can you not brag, "Geordie is doing well in school, he is very social." Even though that is a fact, it's bragging. Goodness even me saying that Geordie is a bad ass (which he is and we love him dearly for it) is bragging that he's mischievous. Do you send those people who you see weekly an update on your family when they've been living through it all with you? Why do you send to those who you don't talk to anymore except for this one last connection? Also, with email, social networks, blogs how are you only in contact with them through Holiday mail?!?!?!
Really, my problem with the whole card/letter situation is finishing them. We all know that I have a problem with finishing things. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I didn't have a c-section.
This year, due to problems that have come up we have decided to not bother sending anything out. Unfortunately the same happened last year. Well, different situation, but same no cards! I'm hoping most people are reading this and not thinking that we just forgot them or worse took them off our 'wist'. To end...here's to a great 2008 to all and don't take us off your 'wist', we're hoping to get the card/letter back and running next year!!!!


above: Geordie putting on the ornament he made at The Square in Carrollton

Christmas Parade

This is our fifth holiday season here and we finally went to the Christmas parade. Well, Geordie and I did. Callum was stuck working. First of all I can't believe that it's our fifth!!!!???!!!!
Anyway, we went with some friends and it was... interesting. I actually don't remember ever watching a parade. Being in them? Yes!! But watching them?!?!? Well, I now know why I've never watched one. BORING!!!!!
There are two high schools in Carrollton, one's marching band started it and the other finished it. In between there were church's, church's and more church's. With a couple of extras thrown in. Please notice picture...it's those guys that reenact the civil war stuff. I only thought that they were in movies!!!
We had a great time. Geordie was with his friends and I was with mine and it was great to be there and [actually] know some other people as well. It was a little weird to be watching a Christmas parade in the dark wearing a sweater. There's just something to be said for cold weather and chance of snow during the holidays!!!
Something that I find weird down here is that the people in the parade throw candy. I've never come across this before...does it sound normal?!?!?! Geordie of course likes it and I won't complain when a tootsie roll is thrown my way. But it's still a little weird to me.
All in all a good time was had by all and we still have some candy left for a four hour drive to Savannah tomorrow.


above: (1st pic) Geordie, Nora Jane & Jayley (2nd pic) Nora Jane, Jayley & Geordie
(3rd pic) reenactment studs!!

Here for a ?good? time, not a long time...

After all the whining, complaining and lockdowns we have decided to stay on for another year!!! But, come early spring 2009 we are back to the home land, and that's 'fer shore'!!!
To begin we have not received a good enough offer of (or for) a job. Are we being picky?!?!? YES!!! Then the sale of our house did not go through so we are in the middle of that now. We were planning on still heading back to Canada and dealing with the house thing from there but then Callum's work came up with an amazingly good offer if we stay for the next year. So last week, the day after the lockdown we signed a contract to stay on for 2008.
So, we will be heading back to our house and putting it back up for sale. Thing is, it's not as disappointing as I thought it would be. Maybe because we have an actual time frame, where as before we've just been waiting [impatiently] to move and never really knew when.
Anyway, that's it for now...believe me there is more to this story, I'll fill y'all in later!!!!