Another day, another bike ride down the huge hill to the neighborhood skate park.
Don’t bother telling my little thrill-seeker he just learned to ride his bike on two wheels last week.
Breathe deeply.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Because every morning should start with a conversation like this
April 28, 2011 By
Jamie: It’s right on the box, honey.
Me: What is?
Jamie: “Pumpkin seeds, not just for Halloween.”
Heaven help us all.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
The Easter That Wasn’t
April 27, 2011 By
As for the belated Easter update, welp, I acquired a cold on Saturday, Jamie had a killer rheumatism attack and Haddie got the stomach flu.
It’s a wonder I’m even alive, much less updating this blog.
Oh, and for anyone keeping track of how many times I’ve been sick this year, don’t bother. I’ve stopped counting.
Our normal Easter celebrations were downsized. We had a simple egg hunt in the morning, smoked brisket for dinner and gorged on Haddie’s bunny cake for dessert (this was her first attempt at making and decorating it by herself). There was no church or cute Easter outfits, just moping around by the parents.
And chocolate. A whole lotta chocolate.
Fortunately we had already done a lot of revelries the week prior that included Easter cookie decorating.
Disclaimer: Don’t ask me how the kids convinced me dolphins should be included in the mix. But think of how much more interesting it would be if a marine mammal somehow delivered Easter spoils instead of a bunny.
We also decorated eggs with Aunt Lisa.
And The Great Pumpkin, of course, made an appearance.
We’ve already shown this is a year-round obsession.
Tune in tomorrow for additional evidence.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
The Hunt for the Golden Egg & A Mother’s Shame
April 25, 2011 By
My family has been attending our city’s Easter Egg Hunt since my children were toddlers. The Hunt has always been eventful. There was the year when Hadley thought the eggs were balls and launched them in the air.
Oh, and I can’t forget when the organizers setup the course around the playground and Haddie preferred to play on the slide.
Or the time they passed over the eggs and ran in circles.
And then there was last year’s communist society Easter Egg Hunt where each child was only allowed to retrieve five eggs.
But this was our year. There were no quotas, the eggs were scattered on an open field and at ages 6 and 4 respectively, Hadley and Bode are in their prime. My competitive husband Jamie coached them to the point they were getting so riled up that I chastised him to chill out.
We ran into our friend Andrew from church whose toddler was in possession of the elusive Golden Egg that contains a special prize. Every year, there is just one of them placed in The Hunt for each age group and I was curious as to how they scored it.
“We were on the far side of the field when we saw the Golden Egg,” Andrew divulged, “It was sitting next to a 10-year-old boy who looked like he was going to swipe it but we snagged it first.”
Good thing, too. Andrew is an attorney and that kid could have faced repercussions.
When Bode was up to bat with his fellow 4 and 5 year olds, our little thoroughbred was the first off the starting block and snagged an impressive haul of eggs.
Next, it was Haddie’s turn (and this is where it gets ugly).
She was with some older kids–up to age 8– but I knew she would do well. She’s competitive like her dad and most importantly, she’s fast. She lined up and waited for the good word.
Then a lady came up to me and I blame her for my demise. “Do you see it out there?” she hissed. “The Golden Egg is directly in front of you at the other end. If your little girl runs straight, she will grab it.”
The rest is a blur. I spotted the Golden Egg glimmering in the sun and I showed Jack…err Hadley how to navigate the beanstalk to get it. Somewhere in the mix, the signal was given and kids raced to the field. Frantic at missing the start, I gave her a gentle push in the direction of our family’s future.
Only it wasn’t so gentle. Much to my horror, it was a full-blown shove and Hadley landed face-first on the grass.
“That’s OK, that’s OK!” I picked her up and sent her off but by then it was too late. The Golden Egg was clutched from its rightful owners (us) and Haddie only had a half-full basket of eggs to show for her efforts.
And a killer glare aimed right at me.
Next year, I’ll leave The Easter Egg Hunt coaching up to Jamie.
(Originally published at MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Our Story of Easter, Cancer and Rebirth
April 22, 2011 By
I can’t say I’ve ever posted a YouTube music video but the words to this song by Christian musician Laura Story hit me right where it counts.
“What if your blessings come in raindrops, what if your healing comes in tears…what if trials of 
this life are your mercies in disguise….”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGniRk_GcLs?hd=1]
It reminded me to have perspective and of something I originally wrote for Mile High Mamas two years ago that I’ll repost as I count my blessings, particularly this special time of year.
==========
My husband Jamie has been cancer-free for 12 years.
He had recently graduated from college and had started his own consulting firm when a lump starting forming on his neck. It disappeared after a week but night-sweats and flu-like symptoms emerged. And then the lump returned.
He tried a few home remedies to no avail and finally sought medical attention. After Jamie described his symptoms, the doctor said, “I think it could be either mono or cancer. And I don’t think it is cancer.”
He was wrong.
Jamie was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, cancer of the lymph nodes. When detected early, the survival rate is 80%. Like all cancers, later-stage prognosis is deadly. He was single, without insurance and living in Utah, far away from his family.
His doctor told him to apply for Medicaid. He was initially denied. Miraculously, he was eventually able to get on programs for which she should not have qualified and his medical expenses were covered.
But then came his personal expenses. No longer able to work, Jamie faced a very bleak, daunting future. Amidst all this turmoil, he received a call from Tom Sawyer, an influential local businessman. Tom had risen above a horrific childhood to play football for LSU, become an engineer, work on the Eagle Lander for NASA, and by accident got into politics and landed in the White House as a trusted aide for Presidents Nixon and Reagan.
He is also a cancer survivor.
Jamie had met him only once before as they both assisted their Japanese friend Yodi with becoming an American citizen.
Tom invited Jamie to his office and upon arrival said, “Jamie, let me be straight with you. I hear you need some help. Tell me about your situation.” Jamie reluctantly divulged his circumstances, to which Tom queried, “How much do you need to get through the next month?”
Initially, Jamie refused but then realized this was an answer to prayers and he gave him a number. Tom told him to come by his office the next day and he would give him a check. The next day, Jamie showed up and Tom handed him a check for twice the amount they had discussed. Jamie pointed this out to him and he brusquely said, “Yeah, I know.”
The pattern persisted. Each month, Tom called Jamie to his office. Each conversation ended the same: “Come into my office tomorrow and I will have a check waiting for you.” This lasted the duration of his chemotherapy and radiation treatments and Jamie’s cancer has never returned.
Last week, I had moments of serious refection as people very close to me suffered deeply. With immense gratitude, I looked at my life, my marriage, my children, my home. I looked at the path we have taken. It has rarely been smooth or perfect. Times may be tough but we are fortunate to not be riddled with debt and recognize the miracles we have experienced to bring us where we are today.
This time of year, millions of people celebrate Easter as a time of resurrection and new beginnings.
Today, I am grateful for two men who gave us ours.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
A Day in the LIfe
April 21, 2011 By
Yesterday was a hoppin’ day. I snuck out to hike Red Rocks with two of my Colorado Mountain Mamas besties Tina and Christen. It was long overdue.
Like three years overdue.
I tore home, showered, grabbed Bode and his friend Sean and we hightailed it to The Village at Edgewater. I’m posting a review of it in a couple of weeks but the concept for this play area/healthy restaurant/learning center is brilliant.
Bode and Sean played to their heart’s content in the 1,500-square- foot play area and gorged on amazingly delicious kid pizzas, baked French fries and strawberry smoothies while I had the Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich with Swiss cheese, roasted red pepper aioli, sprouts, and tomato on rosemary foccacia bread.
It was a win-win-win-win situation.
We stopped off at Crown Hill Park on the way home to explore the trail and throw rocks in the pond.
My friend Kristen picked up Sean around 3:30 p.m. and not even 30 minutes later, she emailed me this photo with the caption: “Look at what you did to my son.”
My response?
“Dude, tell him to suck it up. That’s what it’s like every day Chez Johnson. 
”
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Our Career Crossroads
April 19, 2011 By
Things are kinda stressed ’round these parts.
Thankfully, it’s nothing health-related but we’re at a crossroads with Jame’s web development business, Pixo Web Design and Strategy. We’re busting at the seams. He has built up a great client base and we can’t keep up with everything.
That should be a good thing, right?
The thing is, we’re working around-the-clock and are at a crossroads. We need to expand and hire help but it’s a scary proposition when we’ve been using the safety net of just commissioning freelancers. And hiring employees means less money for us when we’re already stretched thin so that means raising prices and….
Can someone please explain to me how people run their own business without having a nervous breakdown? We are lucky we’ve turned a profit almost from the very moment Jamie started Pixo and his skills have proven he is a force to be reckoned with. But three years later, we are in dire need of sitting down with someone to draft up a solid business plan.
You know: the kind where you sell off the business a few years down the line for millions of dollars and retire in your early-40s. Anyone got a plan like that?
One of the keys for us is to get more clients on a monthly retainer so we’re not scrambling every month to cover those who don’t pay on time, sites that get delayed, etc. And Jamie found two great ones for us but the problem is I need to run the campaigns. ‘Lil ol’ me who is already running around with my head cut off working all hours of the morning and night, juggling kids, household, church and more.
I had a complete meltdown the other night. Jamie handled it well. He lovingly listened to me and offered to take it all away, which helped me see that he needs this. We need this. We both need to step up the next several months to make this work, to make it grow.
What kills me the most is I wish I could freeze time with Haddie and Bode. They’re at such delightful ages–no longer dependent babies and are beginning to truly blossom into the people they were born to be.
Sometimes I just miss the days when they were little and I scrambled to fill my 15-hour days. Would I take Haddie hiking? Would Bode and I go to storytime? Every day, I desperately needed to get out of the house to do something with them, even if it was just for walk around the neighborhood.
These days, if I get even that I am lucky.
Breathe deeply. My therapy will be posting about this summer’s Great Canadian Road Trip next time.
A momentary reprieve is just around the corner….
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Easy Ways to Help Your Family Become More Eco-friendly (and drive you husband nuts)
April 18, 2011 By
I am not what one would call an environmentalist but this past year, I have a new passion for recycling. When I was a missionary in Switzerland in 1993, I was amazed that every home had multiple recycling bins. Though I joked about needing a PhD in Recycling to live there, I admired how they had adapted it as their way of life.
I had lived with the guilt of not recycling for years but last summer I decided I would make more of an effort. I called my HOA to find out the recycling retrieval rates and found out I’d already been paying for it as a part of our fee.
Whoops.
A year later, I am proud to say my recycling bin has more items than my garbage can and it has required very little extra effort. My reluctant husband, on the other hand, can’t be bothered. He remained indifferent when 6-year-old Hadley and I recently staged an intervention after she read Where Does The Garbage Go?
Though I can’t teach that old dog new tricks, I have been educating my kids. When Haddie and I were departing from a restaurant last week, I pointed out the tall garbage can full of pop cans whose home would inevitably be a landfill.
“I know, Mommy,” Haddie exclaimed. “After school next week, let’s go to lots of different restaurants with garbage cans and see CLICK TO READ ON AT MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Bode: Lord of the Bikes
April 14, 2011 By
The next couple of weeks are horrid with meetings, deadlines and volunteer work but I’d be remiss if I didn’t squeeze in this little gem.
Four-year-old Bode has been ready to ride his bike without training wheels for over a year now.
The problem has been convincing him he’s ready.
From the very moment he rode his first tricycle, I knew biking would be his *thing.* He had a seamless transition to training wheels and loved to perform kamikaze tricks like riding with his feet on the handlebars and swerving around a break-neck speeds.
Basically stuff that gives mothers heart attacks.
We tried to transition him to a two-wheeler late last summer for the sole fact that some of his stunts were not doable on training wheels and he’d often tip over.
But he wanted nothing to do with it.
We didn’t push him on the matter but on Friday night, we had 30 minutes before we needed to be somewhere so I suggested to Jamie he take Bode out for another try.
Five minutes later, Jamie nonchalantly called, “You’d better come out here. He’s doing it.”
He’s doing what exactly? Now let me preface this by saying I was in charge of teaching Hadley to ride her bike, which is exactly why I delegated the responsibility this time around to Jamie. (For those who need the not-so pleasant refresher: It’s Like Learning How to Not Kill Your Child as She Learns to Ride Her Bike.)
Sure enough, I went outside and Bode was riding his bike. Not even 2 minutes after he figured it out, I heard him proclaim, “I want to hop the curb.”
Excuse me?
(Please disregard my high-pitched, squeaky voice in this 15-second video. When experiencing extreme duress or excitement, thus is my fate.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMUxYSO0iVg?hd=1]
And this, my friends, is the difference between mothers and fathers. Had I not been distracted by filming him, I would have rushed out there and prevented him from the potential catastrophe and fall-out of face-planting mere moments after learning.
Jamie, on the other hand? “I figured why not? Best let him figure it out himself.”
And he has. I’ve been shocked how, in just a few days, he’s hopping the curb, as well as learning to start, stop and turn. These things took Hadley months to master (and she still has yet to meet a curb she likes).
On Tuesday, we went for our first ride around the neighborhood and Bode did great in all areas except for one.We live near the top of a large hill so navigating up and down is tricky, especially since some of the downhills also involve sharp turns. I was thrilled to see my little dare devil turn cautious as I helped him around the steep bends. Such discretion gives me hope he’ll survive long enough to celebrate his fifth birthday.
And the hope that he’ll be competing in the 2022 Olympic Games.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
The End of an Era
April 12, 2011 By
Part of my household purge has been getting rid of furniture and toys the children no longer use. I sold Haddie’s Fisher Price princess trunk and bookshelf on Craiglist and hope to save up some money to buy her a more grown-up desk and hutch for her birthday.
Grandparents, take note.
One item I was sad to part with was our Thomas the Trainset. We have a long history with Thomas. When Hadley was 2 years old, she drew blood at Toys R Us over her refusal to leave Thomas behind. It got so bad that she had to be personally escorted out of the store by the manager. Jamie wrote about it on the blog he created to counter my “lies”: Crazy Canuck: The Truth Set Free.
That’s another phase I’m glad has come and gone.
Though I can’t say his pumpkin blog, Denver Pumpkins, is much better.
(On a related note, be sure to “like” him on his newly-created Facebook page The Pumpkin Man for updates on the pumpkin’s growth and the air date of a certain network show we’ll be on.)
But back to Thomas. We ended up buying the current train track off of Craiglist and surprised her with it for Christmas. One of my fondest memories was watching her chubby little legs race over to it for the first time. Both she and Bode spent hours playing with dear Thomas until he went into early retirement last year.
I posted the train track on Craiglist and we sold it on Monday. After the sale, with the fondness of a mother far-removed from the trauma, I told Hadley about when she made her blood pact with Thomas at Toys R Us. I don’t know what I expected: Horror or embarrassment about her reaction, perhaps? But certainly not this:
“Well, didn’t you buy it for me?”
How far she has come.
© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 