Tuesday, September 06, 2005


First dance as a married couple Posted by Picasa

Grandma Susan trying to polka with Ben (it's the only digital pic I have of Ben in the tux...bad mommy!) Posted by Picasa

Gord, Chris, Barry and Jason entertaining the crowd! Posted by Picasa

Countertop photo #1 (please ignore the mess!) Posted by Picasa

Countertop photo #2 Posted by Picasa

So much to blog about!

Where do I begin? I'll just skip to the best parts...

Chris (my brother) and Sheri got married on the 27th! It was the second best wedding we've ever been to ;) but of course, (almost) everyone thinks their wedding was the best! Ben was the ring bearer and he did a bang-up job! We were a little concerned at the rehearsal 'cause he would either run down the aisle (it sloped towards the front of the church) yelling "aaaaaaiiiiiiighhhhhh" or he would drop the ring bags halfway there or he would take off down one of the pews. But Saturday afternoon, with no nap under his belt, he strolled down the aisle, relaxed, as darling as ever, right to the front! The best man reached out to take the ring bags from Ben - but Ben thought he wanted a "five"! Then Chris bent down to get a "five" from Ben, who gladly gave his uncle a "five", went to Daddy and smelled his boutonniere! Classic!

He was pretty good throughout the ceremony and for the pictures beforehand, but he crashed for about 45 minutes on the way to the post-ceremony photo shoot. At the reception, he was a real trooper, lasting until 11 or so! We were so proud of him - well, Gord would have been proud if he wasn't so busy drinking and dancing!

Ben wore his tuxedo for almost the entire day - but it was too big on him. The suspenders had to be twisted six or so times at the back before they looked okay on him, but man can that kid wear a tux! Grandma Joan tied his balloon to his suspenders, so it was really easy keeping track of him in the crowd! And he insisted on carrying a daisy around all night, which was so sweet. I'm going to post some pictures...

Ben also danced up a storm - he's got rhythm, but it doesn't come from either of us! Especially not from Gord, from what we were subjected to at the party. Those of you who know him know what I'm talkin' 'bout...

It was a great weekend all in all. Chris looked charming, and Sheri was a real knockout! Sheri's brother and I were the emcees and that was fun - really off the cuff, but it all turned out fine! And I also gave the speech to the groom and I didn't even cry once! That was all shot to hell though when my mom surprised Chris with a mother-son dance, to a song called "Ordinary Miracles" by Amy Sky. I don't think there was a dry eye on any mother there! I still get weepy thinking about it!

We stayed in Brandon for an extra day (until Monday), just to relax and come down from the weekend. On Sunday, we went over to my cousin's house to have a birthday party for my uncle - he turned 60 in August. My cousin's dog, a chocolate lab named Katie, had puppies about 5 weeks earlier - 9 of the cutest little animals I've ever seen! We almost came home with 3 - one for each of us. They were so sweet, grunting if you stopped scratching them, falling asleep in your arms. OMG!

Kitchen update: things are s-l-o-w-l-y happening. We have countertop (awesome, gorgeous!) and all but one cabinet installed. Next are the doors - we've got to finish those up. Our microwave is in too, and I sure like it!

Ben is doing so many new things. He loves to give kisses, but now he likes to kiss your cheek, and only after he asks your permission ("Unh?", touching your cheek). He also likes to give zrbbbts (a.k.a. strawberries) on your stomach, back, etc. Sunday morning, he and I were playing in his room and he saw Sammy, his Cabbage Patch Kid. So I pulled Sammy out of the toybox and started quizzing Ben on body parts - where are Sammy's ears? Where is Sammy's hair? What about his feet? etc. etc. I asked where Sammy's belly was, so Ben pulls up Sammy's shirt, points to his belly button, and then proceeds to give Sammy a zrbbbt on his tummy! I could barely control my laughter! He cracks me up all the time...so funny.

That's all I can think to write about...till next time!

Carrie

Friday, August 19, 2005

Bupper...hot!

Today as Ben and Daddy were hanging out, a Denny's ad came on the TV. There were eggs and such on the plate, and Ben looks at the TV and says, "Bupper. Hot." He gets very excited at mealtimes nowadays, saying "Bupper, bupper, bupper" and running to his high chair. He can even climb into his high chair, Baby Shmear-esque style! It's scary and funny at the same time!

Ben has the Baby Wordsworth video (thank you Julie Aigner-Clark!) and in it, there are people who do the signs for words around the house. Ben will now do bowl, chair, table, tree, computer, ball, flower, and a couple others that aren't really different (puzzle, blocks). It is really amazing to watch him learn and mimic.

Only one week to go until Ben gets to wear a little tuxedo and walk his uncle and soon-to-be-aunt's rings down the aisle! He is going to steal the show!

That's all I can think of to write about...later gators...Carrie

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

A budding "Bob the Builder"

We've definitely got a mini "Bob the Builder" on our hands! Ben loves tools (I know, he's a guy, but he's only 18 months)...and I mean loves! Every time a power tool was fired up on the weekend, he would look at you and say, "Ooooooooooh!" Every time. And his new best friend is a hammer, or "hammy" as he calls it. He walks around the house, picking up anything that can be used as a hammer and bonking it on things saying, over and over, "hammy...hammy...hammy".

This, of course, just cements the fact that he is my son. As a child, I could not say my "-ers" very well...I would say "buttywhy" for butterfly, and call myself "Carrie Potty". Who knew that something like this was hereditary?

(Eric, I didn't think that there would be any confusion as to who wrote this post, so I haven't signed my name. I think you'll figure it out!)

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

This kitchen is becoming a blog of a job.

Well, weekend 1 down. Yikes. I can't even begin to gather the energy needed to write a full blog, so let me give you a statistical run-down of the weekend:

Number of hours working: 41 (minus breaks for food)
Number of inches the cabinets overshot the doorway in the kitchen due to 'technical measurement difficulties': 6.5
Number of work hours required to move said doorway left 6.5 inches: 3 (and counting)
Number of tiles installed: about 120
Bags of thinset: 4
Number of cat prints in the thinset before all cats locked in laundry room: 8
Number of beers drunk: 6
Number of attempted beers drunk with serious 'cap still on' failure: 1
Number of trips to Home Depot: 11 (yes, I'm serious)
Number of water leaks: 2 (1 major, 1 minor)
Number of times somebody touched a hot copper pipe and said 'ow': about 150
Number of times Gord almost soldered his eyeball by standing directly under the joint he was soldering: 5
Number of calls to Ikea: 2
Number of damaged cabinets: 1
Number of incorrect colour cabinets: 1
Number of people at Ikea who seem to care about this: 0

To sum up, we did not get finished this weekend - but not for lack of trying. (Again, a HUGE thank-you to Bill for his Herculean efforts over the weekend.) Tune in next weekend for the thrilling conclusion (we hope). Same blog time, same blog channel.

(And check out the pics below)

This is how a kitchen starts. (This is the better part of 68 Ikea boxes.) Posted by Picasa

Tiles, tiles, tiles. Posted by Picasa

Before. Posted by Picasa

What exactly is Bill trying to measure??? Posted by Picasa

During. Posted by Picasa

We should have remembered to remove the tape on that mesh! Posted by Picasa

Drying time. (You can see Frank's pawprints in the thinset.) Posted by Picasa

The supervisor approves. (I also look 8 ft tall. What's with that?) Posted by Picasa

The other supervisor approves. Posted by Picasa

This doesn't LOOK like the plan... Posted by Picasa

Still more boxes... Posted by Picasa

Friday, July 15, 2005

A blog about nothing in particular

I'm not really blogging for a reason...it's just been a while! Things are chuggin' along here, not much to report!

Last Sunday, Ben and I went to a wedding shower for Auntie-to-be Sheri. She got some beautiful gifts - everyone was very generous! I was in charge of "the fun", so I made everyone participate in some cheesy games! I thought it was great, and I don't care what anyone else thinks! It has re-awoken the part of me that wants to be a party-planner...is a change in career inevitable? Nah - I'm a boring accountant - we're static and unchanging and rule-oriented!

Tonight, Ben and I are leaving for good ol' Killarney. The Tweeds are having a HUGE bash - there's a wedding ceremony for their daughter, who got married in New Zealand earlier this year and now are getting hitched here, Merv's 50th birthday, Merv & Bev's 25th anniversary and Merv's dad's 80th birthday. And we may as well throw in Charles' birthday too, for shits & giggles! And as it happens, the Beach Festival is on this weekend too. Craziness, I tell ya! My whole family is going, except Gord, who is staying home with the dog again - lucky guy. We're going to Salmon Arm on Tuesday, so we didn't want to ask Gord's mom to come for the weekend and then start again two days later. Only we should be subjected to Charlie that much. ;)

Gord and Ben are having a blast spending all this time together. Apparently, Ben gives Daddy about a hundred kisses a day. Mommy gets one at bedtime, IF she's lucky! And I am very envious of their days' activities - the zoo (to see the lion babies!), the wading pool, the mall, etc. I like those places...

I can't wait for Tuesday to get here...

Signing off!

Friday, July 01, 2005

Pictures!

I've posted some pictures below. The first two are from last weekend - we went to Mom & Dad's. Chris and Sheri were there because Chris' best friend from high school was having his wedding social Saturday night. The first pic is from after the social - but I think we look cute! The second pic is from Sunday morning - Ben and Grandpa are counting Grandpa's poker chips (he won them at said social!).

The rest of the pics are from our walk downtown today. Enjoy!

Sheri, Chris and I after last weekend's social - and no, we haven't been drinking! Posted by Picasa

"You gotta know when to hold 'em...know when to fold 'em..." Posted by Picasa

I think this one was called "Prairie Lights". Posted by Picasa

They're both so cute! Posted by Picasa

The biggest and the best display! Posted by Picasa

Pretty eyes! Posted by Picasa

Happy Canada Day!

I guess I only post on holidays!

Today, we went down to see the Bears on Broadway - it's a thing that CancerCare Manitoba has put on. They had local artists paint polar bear sculptures with whatever the artist wanted. There is such a variety - a couple of Aurora Borealis-inspired bears, a Biker Bear, a Blue Bomber Bear (Bombers suck!), a Canada Bear, a Beach Bear, a Hydro Bear...the list goes on. Ben sure liked the people down there - he loves to say "hi" to people who pass him! It is so cute, but that's not a surprise - everything he does is cute!

There hasn't been much happening here, which is why we haven't been posting very often. Gord is now done school for the summer and Ben is done at the babysitter's. So now my boys will be home all day every day without me! This is the first summer I've had to work since 2001 - I don't know how I'll do it! My office building is air-conditioned though and I don't have a cubicle with a window - that way I won't be reminded that it IS summer while I'm slaving away at my computer. And yes, I will be slaving because summer just happens to be one of the busiest times of the year at MTS! What is with that? Why did I take this job again? At my old job, it slows down a bit during the summer and they give you Fridays off. At my new job, there is Quarter 2 reporting to do, profitability analysis, 2006 budgets, regular month-end hoopla, etc. etc. etc. Argh.

But I don't have to work overtime during tax season, or any season for that matter! And I get to come home to my family every night and not feel guilty about leaving the office. And I'm making more money. And I get a gym membership for $15/month. And a discount on our internet and TV. And I get to work at Portage & Main, in the same place all the time (not out at a different client every week). I won't complain anymore!

Ben...what is he doing lately?
Good things: he's giving kisses again (he stopped for a while!), loves to eat his veggies and fruit, still dancing (like Uncle Chris!), trying to repeat everything we say, waves bye-bye, can help to brush his teeth and hair, likes to soap himself up in the bath, can say the following words (in his own way!): Momma, Dadda, kitty, up, vroom vroom, bath, book, knock knock, shoes, penis, and can sign the following words: milk, eat, more.
Bad things: climbs up on the kitchen chairs and then onto the kitchen table, climbs up on our bed/his bed/nightstand/toybox/ride-on-car/glider and/or ottoman, finds the box of Ritz crackers and dumps them everywhere, playing in the dog's water dish, hitting (although this has subsided since Daddy stopped playing "Grand Theft Auto" in front of him, at Mommy's strong insistence!).

We are really looking forward to our upcoming holiday - we're going to fly out to Salmon Arm to see Gord's dad and stepmom! They have only seen Ben when he was little - are they in for a surprise! We're going to stay for a week, if they don't kick us to the curb before we leave! I'm very excited to see the town and surrounding area - I've heard it is beautiful! And of course, we can't wait to see Ken and Wendy too!

That's all for now! Take care everyone, and send anti-mosquito vibes our way!

Carrie

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Happy Father's Blog!

Happy Father's Day to all those fathers out there!

What a nice weekend we've had, weather-wise. Not that it wasn't a nice weekend all around, but considering the state of our weather in my last post, it's a HUGE improvement! I think it got to 30 degrees here, even higher. It sure felt like it!

What happened today? Ben and I wrote in our cards (Ben colored in his - he's so creative!) and wrapped our gift for Gord. Then after Daddy finally woke up, we made him open the present so that we could go outside and play - Daddy's sleeping in really puts a cramp in our day! Benjamin played with his sand and water table while I hosed down the kiddie pool and filled it up. Ben was very excited at the prospect of jumping in the big doggie dish (which is, I'm sure, how he saw it!), but I made him come in and cool off a bit and eat a spot of lunch. Then it happened to be naptime, which was good 'cause the water in the pool was very cold. While he napped, Grandma and Grandpa Potter showed up and were eagerly waiting to see him - after all, it's been two weeks! Once he woke up, I changed him into his swim trunks and lathered him in sunscreen and out we went. He LOVES his pool. Daddy even jumped in there with him to cool off, clothes and all! Ben happily splashed in the water for a long time and we took some cute pictures and video.

He ate a good supper, had some ice cream for dessert, and he went to sleep without putting up a fight (not that he usually does, but he'd had a busy day!). Now I'm doing some work that I brought home this weekend (why did I leave public practice again?!?) and Gord is relaxing in the living room.

I've got a busy week ahead of me (hence the need to bring work home with me!) while Gord is bored spitless at school. His last exam is on Tuesday, and after that his marks are due, but he only has this last class to worry about. And then it's on to playing lots and lots of Warcraft until June 30th, when school is officially done.

After that, he and Ben can sit in the pool all day every day!

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Wow...it's been a blog.

Well, it's been raining here. Every day, for two weeks. Easily. I'm not exaggerating. It sucks, especially when your son wants to play outside all day. Grrrrrrr.

We bought Ben a sand and water table - it is very cool! It has an umbrella to give the kiddos some shade (or protection from the rain, if necessary). Ben really likes it, even though he's only played with it once (see weather conditions above). I finally bought some OFF for Kids too - to keep those giant Winnipeg mosquitos at bay! He ended up with 4 bites on his forehead during the 30 minutes he was playing at the table!

Benjamin also likes Mommy's flowers! And by "likes" I mean that he "likes" to pull the blossoms off. So they just look like green plants in pots. I'm trying to teach him to smell the flowers, but he licks them instead. What can you expect from a 16-month-old?

I have been struck several times over the last couple of days as to how big Ben has gotten. He was sitting beside me on the couch the other day, eating a slice of watermelon. When did he start to look 15? Man oh man, I'm in trouble! And he was trying to put his own shoes on yesterday after swimming. Sigh. (I'm doing a lot of sighing lately!)

Speaking of swimming, Ben just finished his second round of Aquatots yesterday - and he passed with flying colors! He loves to jump off (well, step off) the side of the pool into my arms. He did this about 25 times yesterday alone! I also completely dunked him under the water and he didn't freak out at all.

What else is he doing now?
Refusing all meat
Insisting on feeding himself everything
He's down to one bottle a day, at bedtime
He knocks on closed doors
Loves to say "hi"
Gets Charlie all riled up by kicking her in the ribs and sitting on her head (????)
Charges at you from across the room
Ben is obsessed by his penis (as are all men!)
He LOVES to dance!

That's it for us! Take care everyone!

Carrie

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Looking for a fun blog activity? And have a good laugh?

Here's a fun link that I got from another blogger (thanks Erin!):

Go to google images and search for the following things and link to either the first picture or your favorite. It is hilarious what comes up!

Town where I grew up...

Town where I live now...
I've lived here for 10 years and I can honestly say I have never seen these things!

My first name...

Grandma’s first name

My favorite food...

My favorite drink My favorite non-alcholic drink is this...how boring!

Favorite song Any song from this album...do you see a John Travolta theme? (if not, see "my first name")

My favorite smell Nothing beats this!

Not much else new. I'm planning to call IKEA to get the ball rolling on our new kitchen so that it'll be here in time for Gord to assemble and install once July rolls around and he's on holidays! Two months should be enough time, right?

later skaters...

Sunday, June 05, 2005


Happy Birthday Mommy! Posted by Hello

Happy Blogday!

Well, today is my 28th birthday! I ended up throwing together a bit of a party for myself - I invited Mom & Dad, Mom Martins, Chris & Sheri, Marla & Mike and Michelle & Eric and the boyz over for a barbecue. Of course, it rained, so we ate barbecued food sitting in the house. And we had a great variety of desserts to pig out on! Yum yum - all of my favorites - homemade ice cream sandwiches, angel food cake with whipped cream and fruit, chunks of fruit with mint whipped cream dip...mmmmmmmmmmm it was tasty (if I do say so myself)!

I scored some good prezzies too - I'm such a lucky girl! The best gifts (notwithstanding my son and my hubby of course!) would be "Footloose" and "Dirty Dancing". These are classics in my opinion. Gord thinks I'm nuts. But he's never even seen "Footloose", so what the heck does he know?

I posted a picture below of Ben a couple of weeks ago, sunnier and mosquito-free, playing in the backyard. And the picture above this post is from tonight, just before bedtime when Ben was snuggly. God I love this kid...

Take care everyone!
Carrie

Smell this! Posted by Hello

Friday, June 03, 2005


Logan James Monachan Posted by Hello

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

It's a......

boy! Logan James was born at 2:00 this afternoon - 8lbs 6oz with a full head of curly blond hair (comes from both Liz and James, apparently)! Nurses from all over the hospital are coming to check out the hair!

Congratulations new little family! Can't wait to see some pictures!

Baby M comes today! Can't blogging wait!

Liz is going to be induced today! Baby M is almost here! I think I'm as excited as I was with Ben - whoda thunk it?

So just a quick blog to send some positive vibes out east! Here's to a quick and easy labour and delivery Liz and James!