Katy from California has won the handstamped necklace from silvermependants.com.

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Thanks to all who entered!  Congrats Katy!

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A big thank you to Amanda, of silvermependants.com, for donating such a great piece of jewelry.

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Have a great weekend everyone!

The Olympics have been wonderful to watch for the last two weeks.  My whole family has gotten excited about them and we constantly talk about how many medals Canada has, or what event is up next.

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Two things that I will not miss when the Olympics end, are: staying up too late every night, and the Viagra commercials that constantly air on the sports channel that broadcasts the Olympics. This sports channel has been irresponsible in airing these commercials during the day and early evening when young children may be watching.  Of course, children will be watching, it’s the Olympics for goodness sake!  It’s almost as bad as when they taught my son the term ‘sexting’ during Tiger Woods’ so called ‘addiction’ headlines.

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Jeremy will watch this channel for as long as he is permitted, and so has seen these commercials many times over. Sure, the commercials are funny and witty.  They also clearly state what Viagra is for.  Jeremy is too embarrassed to ask me about it, and his little brothers don’t understand it completely, thank goodness.

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My friend’s 8 year old son has asked her if maybe he needs Viagra, because maybe it would help to stop him from watching too much sports on television too? (Just like the man in the commercial.)

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How can we protect our children when something as wholesome and healthy as watching the Olympics is compromised by adult issues, in the form of advertising?

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I know that men only think about two things… But why can’t a tv sports network be solely about sports?  Is it too much to ask to leave the other issues for the bedroom or the doctor’s office?

Paulina asked me to sleep with her last weekend and I felt I should, so, even though I really, really love my bed, and I really, really didn’t want to, I did.

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The first night, I slept fine.

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The second night, I awoke to a tickling feeling on my arm.  I recall struggling to stay asleep, but the pesky feeling kept at me until I woke.  I instantly slapped at my arm, and jumped out of bed, luckily not stepping on Paulina’s head, as she was sleeping on the floor beside the bed.

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I went into the bathroom, expecting a massive, squashed spider to be stuck on my arm, but found no sign of it.  So, I turned on the bedroom light and saw the dead spider lying on the sheets (it was little).  I swore that that was the last time I was going to sleep in Paulina’s room… Her room, her idea, her spider=her fault.

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When I got back into bed and tried to get back to sleep, all I could think about was something that I read once in a book-that people typically swallow 7 spiders a year while sleeping.  Could this be true?  I mean, I respect spiders, but I don’t want to eat any- unless I’m a contestant on Survivor and in the running for a million dollar jackpot.

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Being awakened by a spider that has decided your arm is a prime piece of real estate is really not a compliment.  What would be a compliment though, would be a nursery rhyme composed about me.  Hey, why not?  That wuss, Little Miss Muffet got one, and all the spider did was SIT beside her!

Jack and his lawn mower, er, snow blower-2008

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Finally.  Finally, a snowfall big enough to play in. And of course, shovel.

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It was 5 o’clock last night as I was just finishing making dinner, when the kids asked to go outside.  For some strange reason, I agreed.  Even though it meant leaving our dinner on the stove and digging out 5 pairs of snow pants, scarves, etc.

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I am thrilled to have such strong, hardworking boys, who at ages 10,8 and 5 completely shovelled our rather long, wide driveway.  I helped a little, when I wasn’t lying on my back staring up into the grey sky and enjoying the cold flakes as they hit my face. I think I could stay like that for hours if it didn’t mean I would turn into a human Popsicle.

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While I was clearing the sidewalks, I noticed that the boys had each built themselves a little protected area and were busily preparing a stash of snowballs out of the amazingly heavy, packing snow.

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When the snowball fight began it was rather sporadic, with lots of misses. But as it progressed and the sky darkened, snowballs began to make contact.  Of course, I had to get in on the action after making some beautiful snow angels with Sabrina.

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We are lucky to live on a very quiet street and spent the next hour chasing each other around, back and forth across the street, pelting each other with snowballs.  Paulina came home from her job as a mother’s helper and joined in the fun.

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I have to admit that my kids have better aim than me-and they can duck better and faster, too.  I was covered in snow.  I decided to try zig zagging while running from them-you know, like all the self defence emails tell you to do when you are being chased  by a lunatic with a gun.  So, I zig zagged back and forth across the street, down the street and back… And they got me every time!  They thought I was funny because I was yelling ‘zig zag, zig zag, zig zag’ as I went.  So.  I don’t know who wrote those self defence emails, but zig zagging doesn’t appear to help in a snowball fight, I think because it really slows you down.  Or maybe I was slower than usual because I was wearing clunky winter boots, two pairs of pants, three shirts, a fleece jacket AND a winter coat and hat and scarf.  I was definitely a larger than normal target that’s for sure.

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Finally we stopped playing.  We were exhausted.  I was happy that I wasn’t the only one to have heavy legs and a pounding heart.  I was sweating too, seems I was overdressed, but it sure beat being cold.

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There was something magical about being outside last night with the snow falling steadily and the sound of the kids shrieks and laughter carrying on the air.  These are the moments I want to hold close to my heart and never forget.

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All of my children thanked me when we got inside.  But Jeremy said it best while he was hugging me:

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‘Mom, tonight we made some great memories.’

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We sure did.

Dont forget to enter the contest to win a personalized, handstamped necklace from silvermependants.com!! The contest deadline is this Friday.

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Just become a fan on facebook or if you are already a fan, simply update your status telling your friends about the contest here and let me know.  That’s it!

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Silvermependants.com has beautiful, unique jewelry.  There is something for everyone there, and great for gift giving!  http://www.silvermependants.com.  Check it out!