Grandma's Birthday Present

Buying for parents is hard mainly bc they have everything. Saturday was Mark's mom Wendy's birthday. I was racking my brain trying to decide what to get her, then they booked their trip to Cuba. Perfect ~ money in a card specifying it to be used on her trip to get a fabulous massage.

Karter and I headed to Shoppers to pick up a card - and I thought I would get her a couple travel size items for their trip to go along with the theme. To keep Karter entertained I explained to him that we needed to pick out some stuff for Grandma for her birthday and how it should be used on their trip to Cuba. "Yeah" he screamed and was totally into it. Karter goes and picks out one thing and puts it in the basket. I wasn't really sure what it was and picked it up to have a closer look. Man - they package condoms nicely these days. FYI - I made Karter pick out something else.

Change

For quite some time now we have been trying to make a decision - we knew our family situation has not been working - but did not know what to do about it. Mark works away from home - 2 weeks away and 1 week off. I work 5 days a week and every third month is quarter end where I put in an additional 40-80 hours on top of my regular time. This is quite difficult when Mark is away due to Karter. Thank goodness for Marks parents who at a drop of a hat will pick up Karter from Daycare so I can tend to quarter ends. Besides our busy work schedules - it breaks our hearts everytime Mark leaves. I think there has been only a couple times where his goodbyes do not end in tears. I absolutely dread the first day Mark leaves and I pick up Karter from daycare. It breaks my heart bc I know when we open the door the first thing Karter will say is Daddy - and start looking around the house for him. On the way home I coach him that Daddy is gone to work and he will not be home when we get there. But - it never works, he still does his look around.

So what do you do - Mark really likes his job and gets paid quite well. We threw out us moving to Lloyd but we decided it is not the quality of life we could have if we stayed in Saskatoon. So - we have finally come up with a game plan and Mark will be going to school starting April/May this year for a Home Inspector certificate. It is scary for Mark - leaving a well paid job to making nothing for the next year. I of course worry about finances but we have saved and my wage covers all the bills with some extra - and there is other sources of income to fall back on like our stock and stock options. And it really will not hurt me to clip a coupon every now and then. But in the end - nothing can put a price tag on education and seeing the smile on our little boy waking up to both of his parents every morning.

My Special Valentine

My special Valentine this year as Mark was away working. Hopefully next year we can celebrate it together as a family.

Truck

Karter loves trucks. He loves going for rides in Daddy's truck, Papa's truck and just playing with trucks. The only problem is that he has a bit of an issue pronouncing truck, and innocently calls them "F*cks". I must admit we get our kicks out of this and it has become a running family joke. However, it was not so funny when we were in McDonalds a couple of weekends ago and Karter seen a truck and started yelling "F*ck - F*ck - F*ck".

Pets

Karter loves his pets - he has one cat or "cattie" as he calls her and 4 fish (depending on the day as Mark bought fish that like to each each other!!). I think having pets is so beneficial for kids - it teaches them love and responsibility. For example - Karter thinks the cattie is always thirsty - and will follow the cattie all around the house with her water dish - she will sit down and Karter puts the bowl in front of her - she gets up - and so on and so on till there is no more water in the dish bc Karter has spilt it everywhere. Here is a picture of the cattie in her new hang out - the railing. Maybe she chooses to hang out here bc this is one of the few places she will not get the water dish put in front of her.

We bought a bigger fish tank last weekend (bc the fish keep eating other fish they outgrew the old tank) and Karter is so proud of it. Whenever someone comes over he leads them to the fish tank and says "big". He also loves to feed the fish.