The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin

What do you  mean there's 3 days 'til Christmas!? (ps. she sooo doesn't know I have this picture... no one tell)

When Albowin was a baby we called him Buddy. I miss that being his nickname. But now he's a big kid... I just can't believe I have kids this old!

Happy Birthday to my very special first born child. She hits the double digits today. I can't believe it's been that long.

My mom, my sister Emarfar, and myself with a bad haircut. Today is Good Friday. The day that we use to commemorate the crucifixion of Christ. Interestingly, my children do not have school today. Which, of course, means they woke up earlier than they do on a school day. So, my mother and I were talking about Easter the other night and we decided something. It is strange that we celebrate the birth of Christ on the same day every year and then celebrate his death on a rotating schedule. Do you know how we decide what day Easter is on? It's very Pagan .... all about the moon and spring and such. Easter falls on the first Sunday AFTER the first full moon AFTER the vernal equinox. The reason I know this is because a few years back Easter fell really close to St. Patrick's Day (Mar. 23, 2008). I couldn't remember this ever happening before so I looked it up. Anyway, everyone is home today and grounded from all screens (for waking up and screaming at each other at ...

April Fools Day is quite possibly my least favorite ridiculous holiday. I come from a long line of soft-skinned people, you see, and we rarely find pranks to be humorous. This is an obvious problem with kids--especially my kids. Vicbowin, who is coming into her own deviousness, had it in her mind to play all sorts of pranks on us. Well, she was really playing them on Ralexwin. She changed his cell phone's alarm to the middle of the night. She hid his wallet. She giggled in corners and concocted any number of nearly-malicious-all-in-good-fun sort of activities. I watched gratefully from the sidelines and by the end of the day had completely forgotten that it was even April 1st. Then I decided I needed to do a grocery run. Having had sick kids to manage for several days, I admit that I wasn't looking my best on that sunny April afternoon. I had sweats on (albeit brand name) and a tee-shirt (albeit stylish). My hair was pulled into a pony tail that had been slowly slippi...

So I think I just failed one of those life tests that you don't know you've taken until they're over. Yep. Just had one. It involved the ladies at church coming up with this idea to write love notes to one another and then on Valentine's Day take the notes, with a bag of candy, to each woman's home. I will sheepishly admit that I thought the idea was cheesy. I will also admit that I don't do serious cheese. I'll do silly cheese, but not the serious kind. So I didn't write any notes.... well, I didn't intend to write any notes but I did end up writing two, one of which was for my friend who handed me a pile of papers and told me I was being rude. I wrote her a super cheese note--out of silliness. Then what happens? Come on... I know you can guess.------Right. I got a bunch of love notes, all of which told me how friendly and nice and personable I was. And all I could think, while reading through my little pile, was of the big, fat, cir...

Dear (insert old boyfriend here), I look back on our relationship and the only thing I can say is... what was I thinking ? Sincerely, Better Off Without You * * * Dear Creepy Guys #1-52, I don't know who taught you how to pick up on a girl, but you really need some pointers, like if you're going to start the introduction with a body comment, go for the smile. Sincerely, Human Being of the XX Variety * * * Dear Creepy Guys #53-78, You should be in prison. Sincerely, Name Withheld * * * Dear Repair Man, I am capable of thought even the kind that involves nuts and bolts. In fact I'm probably quicker than you are. So let's just cut to the chase shall we. Sincerely, Rosie the Riveter * * * Dear Modern Man, I'm a perfectly comfortable being your equal as long as the children and I get off the ship first. Sincerely, Woman

 So, it's February and since everyone is going to be blogging about all things love I thought I'd go ahead and write a bunch of anti-love letters. Dear Old Navy, I don't love you. I know that I keep coming back to you, but the truth is I think you're cheap and I'd rather be with Gap, but Gap asks too much of me so I keep falling back on you. I imagine that you don't mind too much. You never seem to mind when I show up at your door, but I just thought we ought to make our relationship clear. I'm really a Gap girl, you're just my fall-back. I hope that doesn't hurt you too much. Sincerely, Cannwin ---- Dear Gap, I know we've had this on again, off again relationship for years now, but I have to tell you something--I went and saw American Eagle over Christmas and I'm considering leaving you for AE. Will it crush you? Is it possible that if things don't work out with AE you'll let me come back? I hope so. Yours, Can...

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. There's no stress over what presents to buy or how much money you're going to spend. There isn't any massive amount of decorations to put up and a tree to keep an eye on for the next month. There's no being pummeled by Santa Clause and the kids letters that will never be fulfilled. It's just simple goodness. A day when every body you care about, and sometimes mere acquaintances, get together to enjoy good food and great company. I enjoy spending the entire morning cooking and prepping the house. Then spending the afternoon eating and luxuriating. The kids all seem to know there's something special in the air and are on their best behavior. They play by themselves and wait for their favorite Thanksgiving food to be set on the table. I love nibbling on potatoes as I cut, cook and hand mash them (which is the only way to do it). I love sneaking pie-crust dough from the bowl and running away before my ha...

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. One of my favorite quotes that MLK Jr. said is: The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr is one of my all time favorite heroes. Did you know that he was  hand picked by the bl...

2010 is here.   Wow. Remember ten years ago when they thought the world was going to end because the computers weren't smart enough. I spent my New Years that year working the desk at a hotel. That was also the year Ralexwin and I got married. Ten years later this is what I can expect for the next 365 days. Ralexwin will turn 33. Iyawin will turn 3. Ralexwin will finish his 2nd year of Law School and 1/2 of his third. Remewin will turn 1. She'll start walking and say her first words. I will turn 30. Ralexwin and I will celebrate our tenth anniversary. Vicbowin will turn 9 and start 3rd grade. Albowin will turn 8 and be baptized. He will also start 2nd grade.  Hmm... Looks like life will move on like normal. I guess that's what happens when you have a young family. Life stays simply complicated. It's definitely worth another year.

1) Tried to type my blog on an iPhone (gave up and waited for an internet connection). 2) Went to see Avatar in 3-D on Christmas Day. 3) Slept in nearly every morning. 4) Shopped at the outlet stores in St. George, UT (nice). 5) Driven 1,500 miles with 1,000 more to go. 6) Had my hair cut by my sister-in-law... short, short. 7) Put together a puzzle and played upteen number of word games. Scrabble rocks! 8) Watched my kids play Snatch-Grabs* at the Christmas Eve Party. 9) Argued about family LLC and considered burning all the land and cashing in on any insurance. 10) Ate my weight in chocolate, candy, cakes, cookies, chips and pancakes.... didn't get any fudge though ::sniffle::. ------- *Snatch-Grabs- A game in which the parents all chip in large amounts of change that are then thrown onto the ground for the children to collect--snatch and grab--thereby teaching them at an early age the importance of money. This years haul: Vicbowin $25, Albowin $31, Iyawin...

What did you dress up as? Did you dress up? I never dress up but I did dress up the kids. Well, okay I dressed up the older two who seem to care. I had no intention of dressing up Iyawin... so Vicbowin did it for me! She comes to me all dressed up and ready to go with her baby brother trailing behind her. "Who put that on him?" I asked. "Me. He's a Black Ninja." So that's what he went as. Here's a few photo's of the costumes I made this year (plus Vicbowin's first costume design). This is the dress I made for one of the college girls around here. A friend of mine came to me and said, "You know how to sew, can you make a costume?" I tried very hard to make her understand that I was an AMATEUR sewer. A-m-a-t-e-u-r. As in my straight lines aren't always straight. But all they really needed was for me to take two dresses and make them one. So I said as long as they didn't care what the underside looked like I would do it...

I'm not really a Halloween person. If it weren't for my kids I probably wouldn't do anything. I carve a pumpkin because they want to carve a pumpkin. I don't dress them up unless they want to be dressed up. Friends will ask me, what is Remewin going to be for Halloween, and I say, "a baby." They ask, "what are you going to be?" "A mom." I won't apologize for it because I really don't care. I don't like buying costumes, it seems rather overboard. So I make them. Making costumes is probably the part I look forward to. The part I actually enjoy. Two years ago Vicbowin wanted to be a ' Sparkle Fairy .' Albowin wanted to be a knight (his costume is courtesy of some pretty cool uncles and a grandma) For Halloween last year Vicbowin wanted to be an Egyptian Princess. Albowin wanted to be a knight (again thanks to the uncles... note his shield). This year Vicbowin wants t...