The showoff...

Check out the standing and pedaling technique!!!

The proof...

Geordie driving and starting his bike on his own!!!

More driving...

Today, Callum took Geordie to practice his 'driving'. Yesterday Geordie did a whole loop in the driveway! Today, he was starting on his own, using the breaks and going round and round and round and round and round...well you get my drift, the tennis court!!! He even drove the bike back to our place which is up a hill.

Off with the Training wheels!!!

A couple of months a go Geordie and I had a conversation that went something like this...

Geordie: Mummy, when can I drive the car?

Me: When you are 16.

Geordie: Ah! Man!...well, when can I get my training wheels taken off?

Me: When you are 4!


He's not yet four but he's driving without training wheels anyway!!! The other day Geordie was at our good friends The Gray's house having a great time while Callum and I slaved away getting the house in order. They were outside playing and Nora Jane (Geordie's friend) was learning how to ride her bike without the training wheels, so of course Geordie wanted too!!He had great success!!!!
I have a feeling that he will be driving a car before 16 as well!!!!!

above: Geordie driving (with Kevin & Nora Jane in the background), Geordie telling Nora Jane how to take the wheels off ;) , an extremely happy Geordie!!!

The Pogo

The other day we were running around crazily trying to do everything at once for the house. It was a 'snow day'. We didn't think anything of it, but down here, even Subway was closed!
Anyway, we had to get lunch on the go so I introduced Geordie to The Pogodog (they are called corndogs down here). My father loves them!! Now Geordie is a big fan as well!!!

Lobster, my friend

Due to the craziness with the move we've been eating out a lot. One night we were out at a place that had crawfish
Geordie asked for one on a plate, so we got one. He named it 'Lobster'! He's a genius I tell you!!!!
Lobster was great entertainment, we were actually able to stay at the restaurant for over an hour without one, "I want to go!".
Lobster came home with us since he quickly became close friends with Geordie. Lobster was allowed to stay overnight but had to go back to his place first thing in the morning.
The next morning, we all felt used. Lobster was gone before any of us got up. He must have called a cab or taken 'the walk of shame' home, wearing the same clothes as the night before.

above; Geordie with his friend Lobster & Lobster sleeping in his big room.

ABC's

I've been trying to get him to do this for awhile...notice the "I did it nicely Mummy"?!?! As you can imagine, this was not the first take!!!! Please take note of Zed!!!!! That's my Canadian Boy!!!!

Alone and in need of help!!!!

Callum and I have been married for seven years, five months and one day. We got married on a Friday (at home in Halifax, NS) and moved away the following Tuesday (to Toronto, ON). This past week is the first time that we have really, really felt alone.
Trying to get the house back in shape after 'the incident' is really taking a toll. In the beginning we were a head of schedule, and thank goodness for that!! This past week I lost two days (one for Geordie being sick, the other because Geordie's school was canceled due to a 'winter storm'). This coming Monday is also a holiday so there is another day that I will not be able to do anything. On the weekends we have tried taking Geordie with us to 'help' but painting a closet only works for about 15 minutes, the portable DVD player only works for another 15...so what to do next!?!?! On top of that Geordie is also feeling the stress that we are going through which is not helping!!
We can't help thinking how different it would be if we were home!! Where we could easily drop Geordie off at 'the grandparents' and go do what we have to do. Where we wouldn't think twice about imposing on anyone!!! Here it's different. I finally broke down and did email some friends and they are all set to help out. It was hard to ask for help, I think that's why I emailed rather then called. The friends we have down here are great and I know that they would help out in any way possible, but they also have their own lives.
Also, not to say that we have not had any help...we have, and we have totally appreciated it.
It's just different!!! Sorry, can't explain it...it's just different!!
Well, here's to us just getting through the next two weeks!!!

photo: Callum and I on our '6 month' wedding anniversary. We thought we should have received presents...nobody else did!!!

That's not a snowstorm!!!! THIS is a snowstorm!!!!

Right now as I write not only is it snowing in Georgia but it's actually staying on the ground!! I was just talking to Callum and he said that everyone is taking pictures (with their phones) out the window . Callum is making fun of them, of course, as well as telling them that the Interstate (20) is shut down, due to the snow... and they are believing him!!!!
Funny thing is we'll probably hear for a couple of weeks how crazy this snowfall was...they know nothing!!!!

Photo: My mother in a snowfall back home!!! Isn't it pretty!!???!!!

Surpise!!!

Back in November we surprised Grandpa for his birthday. Geordie loved it!!! He loved the idea of being a present. Of course, by the time we got to the door to say surprise he turned shy and didn't want to wear the bow he picked out!!!!

For those of you who only know Callum...yes, it is true! Dolly was NOT the first thing cloned!!!

photo: Geordie with Grannie and Grandpa!

Being liked!

Last night we went to Chick-fil-A for supper. For those of y'all in the North...it is a must!!! If you're ever down in these here parts, find one and go!!! Food is great, 9 times out of 10 they have a playground and the owner is a deeply religious man (can you believe that, down here?!?!?) who does not open on Sunday!!! Now for that alone, I would spend my money there!!! It annoys the hell out of me that people who are so dead set about following the bible and into their religious beliefs still find it fine to not have a day of rest!!!!
Anyway, back to my story... sometimes Geordie has a little bit of a weird fashion sense and we allow it. It comes to the whole 'biggies -vs- smallies'. You know, except for the fact that it might get on your nerves, is what your child doing hurting himself or anyone else? Is it going to make a huge impact on his life? If the answer is NO (a.k.a. a smallie) then we allow it. Save the negotiating for the 'biggies'!!!
Last night Geordie decided that he wanted to wear his ski goggles out. So we're getting out of the car and walking to the restaurant. Three or four teenagers are walking to their car, there was one guy and the rest were girls.
Well, they saw Geordie and did the whole, "look at him...he's wearing goggles...he's so cute" thing. Geordie turned and smiled at them and then turned back and said to us, "those ladies like me!"

above: the goggles and the diva!

Spelling Smarts?!?!?!

As most parents do we've been spelling certain words now for a couple of years. This took me a long time to be able to do, as my brain does not work that way (no comments needed!). I have heard many stories about how children eventually know what the parents are spelling. Well, this is Geordie's version...
About a month a go, we were all together and Callum or I spelled something. Geordie says, "no, I don't think so, I want to A-B-C-F-I-G!". This is now a regular thing.

While home a friend told me of a letter toy, I saw it at her house and bought it before we left. I know I could probably get it here but I wanted the 'Canadian edition' it said ZED, not ZEE. Geordie loves it and I wish that I had known about it a year or more a go. I highly recommend it!!

photo: Geordie's 'school' picture

Snow...

Geordie loves it, he says, "it's juicy!"

When do things change?

Geordie enjoys cleaning, he asks to do it regularly. He likes vacuuming, washing windows and sweeping. He also loved shoveling. My question is...when does it change? When do you suddenly hate doing these things...and why?!?!?!

picture: Geordie shoveling on Swaine St.

Christmas Presents...

Geordie cleaned up this Christmas. It was great he got a lot of really good presents that we easily brought back with us. Nana and Grandad got him a camera, which he loves!!! It was one of his first presents that he opened. When he opened a present that he really liked (for example his computer from Uncle Russell and Uncle Greggie) he would get me to hold it and then he would take a picture of it. It was quite funny.
If Geordie opened a present that he wasn't that in too, he would simply put it to the side and say, "no thank you".

picture: Geordie opening a present that was neither photo worthy or a 'no thank you'!!

To decorate or not to decorate...

This year for Christmas we were not going to bother putting up any decorations since Geordie and I were leaving on the 16th and Callum on the 21st. Our plan was just to go home and decorate Nana and Grandad's tree. Well, Geordie really got into the whole decorating thing and wanted to do it so we went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a small tree, a set of lights and some ornaments (all for under $10...Americans do know about sales!). So Geordie decorated 'his tree'. There were some branches with six ornaments on it. It was quite a nice tree...in one area!
We went home and he then decorated Nana and Grandad's tree, which was his as well, of course! When Geordie was finished there was one 'lane' of ornaments going from top to bottom. If you looked straight on it looked great! Move a bit to the side, either way, and there was NOTHING! Again, there were branches that had 6 or 7 ornaments on it.
It did rival the Christmas tree from the late 80's or early 90's that my brother Greg did. My other brother Russell and I are still convinced that Greg stood back and threw the ornaments on.
Over a week a go I tried to take down our little tree. I took off all the ornaments and then Geordie walked into the room. Well...he would have none of that. He put all the ornaments back on and I figured that I would just take it down that night after he was in bed. A little bit later I was on the computer and heard a little banging and then a lot of 'scuffle', then it stopped. Geordie came running in and told me to 'come see'. He took me into his bedroom and there was the Christmas tree, with lights on, I might add, in his room. Geordie had taken the tree down off of the dining room table and brought it up the stairs to his room. It's still there now!!!



above: Geordie in the snow

Some funny parenting...

Really, Callum is a great father!!! These were just some really funny photos.

Tonights dinner conversation went like this:

Geordie, "can I have my ring" asking about a gaudy Spider man ring.

Callum, "no, we're eating now"

Geordie, while pointing to Callum's hand, "but you have your ring on".

Callum had nothing to say!!!

above; yes, that is Callum with a pair of binoculars (bi-noc-i-nocs according to Geordie).

Great sayings by Callum

" If I thought that I could make food, I would almost allow you to go away by yourself"

So, it's been awhile...

it's not that life has been dull, far from it, it's been too busy. We are in the month from hell!! A little while a go I wrote about staying here for another year due to various factors; sale of house not going through, no jobs worthy, etc... It really mainly all came down to the house!

We were doing a non-conventional sale and things didn't work out. We were selling the house ourselves and people came to us with a lease to own offer. We said no. A third party (a real estate company) came in and said that they would buy it after 6 months. Meanwhile the people were to move into the house and the real estate company was to assume our loan (this means that they are the ones that are to pay the monthly mortgage, we still owned the house). Well, the people stopped paying and the company (who was then supposed to pay) did not.

So, long story short (like I can), we had to go through the courts and get the people out of the house and we are now 'in talks' with lawyers. The people left the house in a mess and now we have to deal with that. This weekend past was spent cleaning out the house, we filled a dumpster with things left behind. Now we have to get it cleaned and repainted (that's how bad it is!). Then there's the carpets... here's to hoping that Sears Carpet Cleaning can work their magic!! We're hoping to be in by the end of the month.

Above you will notice Callum in the dumpster...isn't that insane?!?!? You wouldn't believe the stuff they left behind!!! We threw out everything (including over 20 porn videos, some with hand written 'XXX Live' on them...not to worry they also had various religious paraphernalia to make up for the tapes). We did keep four large garbage bags full of clothes, which we will donate.
Notice the grocery cart in the back...that was actually in the laundry room!