Canadian Tire's $10 off $40 Coupon

A pretty handy deal. Purchase at least $40 (pre tax) from Canadian tire, show a printed copy of this coupon, and bingo bango you save $10. An instant 25% discount on the entire store. Good from September 28 to October 7.

Pick up the coupon here.

Now no one run out and buy up the 20x20 or 20x26 clear tarps please!

Updated Nov 12,2007:

Nov 2 - 18 You can find the Canadian Tire 2007 Christmas holiday savings coupon here. Note theres a chance to use your CT mastercard for another $10.

Playing Shop

Somebody has set up his own little store we take turns buying things. I'm not sure that's a really good commentary on the state of our family but that is for another day.

BigE invites you out to play store. You then pick up some coins from him. He's smart enough to hold onto all of the cash.



After picking up some items, maybe real maybe not, you head over to the checkout


Instead of a cash register we're using a metal bowl. That's where the all the cash is kept.

PS the pics were a little blurry from somebody getting a little goo or moisture on the lens. It was found too late for these pictures. But I think it's fixed now.

Would you like some cereal to go with that milk?

BigE Photo Shoot II

Back in BigE Photo Shoot I posted some of the main man's photos. I have to get him to part with his little camera so I can get some more of his psychedelic photos.

In the mean time here are some of his pictures taken on our camera.

Ready For a Day of School

Here's BigE ready to head out for another day of school. The best thing about daycare right now is it makes school seem like so much fun.



Finally getting BigE to turn and smile.



Notice this pair of sport style sunglasses. Over a year ago we were trying to get BigE to wear those because he was always complaining about the sun. Nope. Nada. No luck. Now we can't get them off.

If you've been paying attention to the pictures you'll have noticed that we are working through three pairs of sunglasses lately. If you don't believe me take a look at the recent posts again.

Ready for any weather

I don't know about you but when it's raining all that sun can bother my eyes. Only somebody from NL or maybe England could find it bright on a rainy day!

Carp Fair

Last weekend (Yes LAST WEEKEND am I only getting around to posting it) we went to the Carp Fair. A nice fair that has keep much of the horse shows that the junk food and rides surround. Now it was a little pricier then the Gloucester fair that we went to earlier in the summer. Those ride tickets added up.

Like all good fairs we got to check out the fire truck


We were there with BigE's buddy from Daycare N



Here we are horsing around waiting for the next heavy horse show. Two, three, or four horses pulling those big old style wagons.



Since the incident with the roller coaster it's only easy trains for the little man.



Momma goes for a ride on the swings



Dada takes him on the boot ride. I think we had a defective pneumatic piston. We didn't seem to go as high



Somebody had fun in the bumper boats!



Finally, near the end of our day we did the slides. I want to compare the trip with Dada and the trip with Momma. Dada even took BigE first! So that walk of shame was after the successful slide. What does Momma do on the slide??

Friday Night Goodnight

After a hard week of school the tbf family is wiped.

Quote of the Day 28

On the way to school with BigE I mention that I have to go to work and school today so I won't be home to see him in time for bed.

BigE "Dada can you get some gas so you go to work really fast and then ... ummm ... get home really fast"

BigE's Sunglasses

Go figure, BigE likes his Crayola sunglasses.

My Place at the Table

You can put out the nice place mats but you can't make BigE use them.

The Pumpkin Patch

I have to admit that this was not an intentional Pumpkin Patch
You'll notice how it's surrounding the compost bin (aka the old garbage can). These were leftovers from last year's pumpkins. We had something like 6 pumpkins by the time all was said an done.

So every week I would throw one pumpkin into the compost and cut it up with the shovel. The bin was pretty full of stuff so I didn't want to dump a load of pumpkins on top. So slowly I chipped (literally I guess) away at the pile of pumpkins.

But winter came before I finished. I possibly forgot about adding a pumpkin for a week or two along the way. Maybe. Just maybe.


Anyways after the spring melt the pumpkins were largely mush and finally ended up in the compost. But I guess some seeds had made it into the ground. Over the course of about 2 weeks during the summer these things took off. Aided by about 3 cubic feet of compost piled next to the composter.

Despite all of those plants here is our only pumpkin, next to the soccer ball for reference.

Signs gone to far

From the BBC comes More silly signs: Your pictures. This is priceless.

Be sure to read the little line on the bottom of the sign. Click on the link above to make it bigger.

Thomas

One post forgotten and left as a draft for a month.

No I don't mean that train. BigE means Hummus. Go figure.

"Mommy I like thomas!"

Curious George Jammies

Here are a couple of pics of the new Curious George Jammies. The funny thing is that while he loves these jammies he's complete off the show. Go figure.

Here the boy has manged to sneak the chocolate chip container out one morning. He thought Dada didn't notice. Most things Dada wouldn't. But not somebody eating his chocolate chips



Here he is blowing up his balloon. I'm sorry but this kid looks too old to be mine!

Quote of the Day 27

BigE "Did you miss me when I was at school?"

Dada "Yes very much"

Dada "Did you miss me when I was gone to work?"

BigE "No"

First Full Day of School

BigE's first full day, full class, full 2.5 hour day of school* happened today. According to polling data support for school was a little soft through the early morning. However the breaking news that Lunar Jim could be taped for later seemed to strengthen support.

*There's so many asterisks on a day of school now it's starting to look like the home run record page from baseball.

Great Steaks from Cheap Meat

I came across How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks [Via]. Go read it for the explanation but here is the secret:

Massively salt your steaks 15 min - 1 hour before grilling.
Notice that I didn’t say, "sprinkle liberally" or even "season generously." I’m talking about taking a small handful of kosher salt and literally coating your meat until you can’t see red.

It should resemble a salt lick.

Funny how this should surprise me in the least. This has been the secret to Newfoundland cooking for centuries.

Posting has been light

well d'uh. But Dada has been sick and busy with school during those drug induced moments of energy.

Stay tuned for more exciting school posts as tomorrow is the first full, regular, not half classed, day of school.

It's starting to sound like a coffee order at Starbucks.

What will make my poop soft?

Poor BigE has a sore red bum. So those tough poops come out extra difficult. Somewhere along the way I let it drop that certain foods will help make your poop soft. I think I was trying to get him to eat his veggies. Eventually I was asked "What about cereal?"


You've heard of the Health Check. I think around here we're going to create the Poop Check logo. Your simple one stop graphic to let you know if this food is colon friendly.

What a world ....

One more school pic

First Day of School

well really it's part 2 to First Day of School ... sort of.

Yesterday we went in for the full 2.5 hour Junior Kindergarten period. From 8:00 to 8:30 I was being pestered to go to school. Somebody was very excited to go to school.

At 8:35 we headed out the door:


We then started walking to the school


We arrived at 8:45 just as the playground is opening up for the kids. BigE hung out with Dada for a minute as a gaggle of kids came pouring off a school bus. He then headed off to play in the playground. Not knowing many of the kids he just joined into the general maylay.

Now after 5 minutes he spotted Dada talking to another parent and was starting to look sad. So we meet at the playground gate and had a quick hug. BigE seemed to be doing good. I then snapped into daycare drop off routine to make things easier.

We played a quick game of where's the door? where's the car parked?

As I was leaving I was peaking over the row of minivans parked in the drop off zone and BigE was having fun playing on the play structure.

Coming up next Monday ... First Day of School on a full week of school!

Anti-Virus Picks

Consumer Reports Best security software [Subscription Required] comes a ranking of Anti-Virus software.

Cheapest CR Quick pick was ZoneAlarm anti-virus.

Top rated free software was Alwil Avast Home Edition. Very close was AVG Free

Of course Jason Long would tell you to get a Mac.

My feminine side

Could Who's Pamela Bussey finally be coming to an end? I just got this email

Following a request we received online, by phone or at a Wells Fargo branch, we have changed or added your email address for Wells Fargo Online(R):

- Primary Email address

Here's hoping. Too bad I'm back on about a hundred different spam lists.

We've got the hang of it .... in September

BigE "We need sun lotion so we don't get pink in the sun"

The new playroom

BigE has a new playroom in the basement thanks to a frantic clean up by Momma. BigE had been asking to have it cleaned up a little.



In a little surprise he passed on Dora and Diego posters to pick a Cars poster. He won't' even watch the movie. Odd. He even went for matching Cars wall stickers. Which helped cover up some of the *blemishes* on the walls

Meeting the Backyardigans

After lunch Momma took BigE to the Baby Boom show. The main attraction? The backyardigans. There BigE got to see Pablo, Tyrone and Uniqua. As per usual the larger then life costumes spooked BigE. He was really excited to see them. But they seemed so much bigger in real life.

Fortunately Momma decided to hit the second last show of the day. Because regardless of what the online schedule said they were done after that show. Now Dada showed up a little late because he had to swing by work. On the front steps I meet Momma and BigE. Turns out the backyardigans were a little scary.

We all headed back in to see if we could get a picture. That's when we found out about that little scheduling snaffu. So it was this shot or nothing. Didn't turn out too bad. Not for a little bit afraid really tired boy.

No Nappy!

We're out and about on a nice Saturday. BigE is angling to go to Cosmic Adventures. I'm thinking sure but you look pretty tired. Are you sure your not too tired?

BigE "I'm tired. I'll have to go to bed early tonight"

Me "Do you want to have a nap today?"

BigE "No nappy!! I'll just go to bed early."

It keeps us safe

As Dora the Explorer would say. So BigE decided if we were driving on the couch car that the teddy should be properly strapped in.



Tonight when I took a picture of the bear somebody ran and hide. I don't want my picture taken.



Ha not so lucky buddy.

My Owie feels better

The other day BigE was horsing around and bumped his funny bone. He was hurting. After a little snuggling

Dada "How about a freezie to make that owie feel better"

BigE "Sure"

5 minutes later BigE is done his freezie

BigE "Dada my owie feels better"

Dada "Good"

Then I realize that freezie was the last one in the freezer. I reach over to the jumbo pack and pull out a handful. BigE sees this and says

"Dada my owie is hurting!"

Dadad "Nice try buddy. No way!"

BigE "Ahhhh"

First Day of School ... Sort of

BigE had his first day of school yesterday. We walked down to the public school at 11:00 to have a meeting with his new teacher. For the first week the kids in Junior Kindergarten (or JK) go to individual meetings with the teacher. Then next week the classes start. Even then the first couple of days it's half classes.

Things went pretty well. BigE was a little shy but other wise engaged. He was really into cutting up some construction paper. He found his calling when he found a table with something called "Lacy Toy". A bunch of plastic blocks, many shaped like 'H's, that you stack and build with. The table top had a footing for the blocks as well. That table was clearly a hit.

By the end we went around the outside of the classroom to find BigE's hook. He's in the walker section. Which, simply, means that he's close enough that he's not bused to school.

So now we have a Waker and a Walker.

Playinig Harbour Rescue

Taking a cue from our favorite Backyardigans episode the kids were having a blast playing Harbour Rescue. They each put on their bike helmets and used a drinking straw as a microphone.

We heard lots of

"Rescue one this is rescue three do you copy"

"Rescue two this is rescue three do you see those peoples"



Here you can see cousin with her mike eating a snack

The Visiting Edwards

BigE had his two cousins visit for the weekend. He had a lot of fun. They even managed to play very well together.

There was some serious lincoln log building


And as mentioned we took in the balloon festival.


We tried our hand at flying kites. That didn't go so well.

The boys had their pirate costumes on for most of the weekend.

There was also a lot of playing Harbour Rescue (from the Backyardigans)

Here we are today. The morning after BigE both misses them and is very tired.

Home made 'noculars

Even better then the dollar store variety.

Combine two old paper towel rolls and 1 foot of duct tape and you have 'noculars (Binoculars to the rest of the world)

We took our new binoculars and went off on a Sa-Far-Reeee

Hot Air Balloon Festival

This evening we took in the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. We went to a park on the Ontario side of the river across from where the balloons are released. We got to see them as the climbed into the sky. They ended up passing quite low because our side of the river is a bit higher.

A shot of many balloons floating away


Here are a few of the interesting balloons






Everyone lying around watching the balloons.


It was a fun adventure. BigE had fun. After about 50 balloons they had lost a little of their interest. That was until he was concerned that they were going to land on him!