Moments & Musings

Sailing Along

2012-01-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

On a Pepperoni Sea

Today Emma, Butler and I made Egg-Boats. That's what they wanted for lunch, and I figured, 'why not?' we'd spent all morning cleaning sawdust out of the van - it was time to do something fun. Here's the process in pictures.

Child labor - cheaper by the dozen.

Hard at work, peeling eggs.

Notice the eggshell on Emma's lip. She had to get started somewhere.

Being very careful. This was his first time being allowed to peel eggs.

Ready to start building!

Being creative.

Taking care of excess filling.

Ready to sail!

Joining the shipyard.

So good!

We did save a few (eight) for Dolly and PC to have when they got home from school. They each had one and decided to take the rest to school as part of their lunches tomorrow.

The End

4 Years Already

2011-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

"I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk..., I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head."
Ezekiel 16:10-12

Emma got to get her pictures taken on her actual birthday which was a huge hit for her because it meant she got to dress up and go to a store which was almost a present in itself. (She would like to wear gorgeous clothes everywhere we go, but sadly she has a more practical-ish mommy who won't let her.)

I was surprised at how red her dress turned out in the pictures. In real life it's more of a purple burgundy and less of a scarlet burgundy, but I'm not going to complain about something being too red. We went back to the same studio that did Ricka's pictures and to my delight, the same photographer was able to take Emma's pictures as well. She took one look at Emma, and came up with about six stunning pictures in less than three minutes. That always makes it hard to choose when you have to narrow it down to only one or two poses.

But narrow it down, we did, and I ended up ordering a sheet of wallets in two different poses from the package pose. This picture with the white background and the big one in the collage below.

Emma is always busy - usually organizing her siblings in complex plays or playing dress up/quick change act where she appears waltzing past me in a different outfit every 5 minutes. Some days (usually when the older kids are at school), I'll be at my computer and suddenly I'll notice she's on some great story/narrative with Butler as her faithful assistant - him either being the quietly listening audience or (on cue from her, of course) interactive participant. This is when I try to type out as much as I can hear/understand. Here's one I recorded last week:

Emma: Ok, Butler, can you get dat wittle chair?
Butler: Yah.
Emma: Ok, come with me. Hurry up! Clickaly! (quickly, they march to the living room with plasic chairs from the bird room)
Ok, go on that side, it's meeting time. Sit down. I gonna get hats... (she darts off to the bandanna basket)
Butler: I get hah too!
Emma: No. You don't need a hat.
Butler: K.
(they get seated at the coffee table)
Emma(whispering): Butler, pick a song.
(he starts whisper-singing 'Jesus Loves Me')
Emma: No! wait, we have to pray first. (He stops singing, she prays)
Emma: (in a strong preaching voice): A man told Noah to put da animals into da ark.
And da elephants went into da ark first.
Can you hear me?
(aside to Butler)No.
Butler: No!
Emma: And nobody did could unnerstand.
It was very sad. Nobody was laughing.
Butler (sympathetically): Yah.
Emma: Noah was right by da other people.
He was dare and Noah put da animals in da ark.
God made a rainbow and...
(voice change and volumed as to be coming from the back of the congregation)
30.... Chapter 1.
(another voice change - closer to the front)
289!
(normal voice again) Ok!
(and they sing something resembling a Gregorian chant).

And it's time to go get the kids from school... so I should post this before I get distracted again.

I have a new Niece!

2011-11-28T18:20:00.001-08:00

Thank you, everyone who prayed for Tina. She could have died. Instead she's back at home now with a brand new baby girl.

Her blood pressure was so high when she reached the university hospital, that they wouldn't do a cesarean unless she was crashing for fear she'd bleed out. So, they induced labour, kept her on meds to lower her BP and after 19 hours, she delivered healthy 4lb, 13oz 35week-er.

Welcome, Ember Brooke! And congratulations,Boots and Tina on your little princess!

Pray ____Updated

2011-11-25T07:52:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: (Friday 7:15pm)
I called Tina at 6 this evening to get an update. They reassessed her this morning after they transferred her to the university hospital and decided not to do a c-section. Her bloodwork came back positive for hypertensive pre-eclampsia so once they got her blood pressure low enough, she was induced for a natural delivery. She was in the early stages of labour when I called.

So, while we can keep praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby (the ultrasound put the baby at about 4lbs), we can be thankful that she won't be delivering at the hospital she was afraid of and that she'll probably deliver naturally instead of by cesarean.

Other than that... Boots is with Tina at the hospital, and they have a friend of theirs watching the boys at home. Maybe pray for the lady watching the boys too. She's also an army wife (whose husband is currently overseas) and she has four of her own children ranging from 6years to 9weeks old. If I think my own 5 kids can be a handful at times, I'm sure eight children (that are not all yours) under 8½ could get overwhelming all by yourself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pray for Tina today.

She just called me (7:30 her time) to say she was in hospital about to be transferred to a university hospital for a cesarean. Her baby isn't due until December 30th.

Last night she called me and said she was concerned about pre-eclampsia again. She has been terrified of delivering her baby at the local army hospital (for a list of reasons), so although its good news to her that they're taking her somewhere else, she is still afraid of the unknowns of cesarean.

She had to cut our phone call short because the ambulance crew had arrived, so I don't know how far away she's being taken or when they'll actually perform the surgery.

I'll post an update later, but for now, just pray. For safety for both her and the baby and for the comfort and assurance of her mind.

Summertime...

2011-11-23T07:58:00.002-08:00

Editor's note: It's ok to laugh after you read the first paragraph - I did when I discovered it in my draft posts folder the other day. This post was actually part of a messenger conversation I'd had with Sir one day in August while he was at work. After it was all typed out, I realized it was post-worthy, so I copied it here to add the pictures and edit names. But it took me until the end of October to get the pictures off the camera to my computer and by that time I'd forgotten all about the post.

August 30th,
I thought I'd share another one of our summer days here before they're all gone and it's back to the schedules and rush that September brings. I love the summertime it always makes me sad when it ends so quickly.

The other day after lunch, the kids went back outside to play. A few minutes later I brought out some dessert options for them to choose from as long as they ate outside. While three of the kids were deliberating over what they wanted, a squirrel ran across the back fence toward the garden. Only Emma saw it and she nearly went into hysterics trying to get the other kids to stop what they were doing and LOOK! After they'd all chosen their desserts I went back in the house and was busy at my computer when the screen door slammed.

SLAM! Thump thump thump thump thump - a kid ran past me, but I didn't look up. Then they ran back past me and the door slammed again. 30 seconds later the screen door slams and I glance up briefly to see PC sprint into the living room. Then I hear nuts rattling in the nut bowel on the side table beside the couch. He was helping himself to a handful of nuts. "What are you doing?!" I demanded. "Uh.. nothing. I mean, getting nuts." he stammered. "Why?" I ask. He stood there frozen in place for a second before answering, "Because, well, Dolly did." slowly he started to walk toward the screen door. "What are you doing with the nuts?" I asked him. He'd made it to the door by this point, "We're feeding them to the squirrels." he said and with that, he dashed out the door before I could say they were or weren't allowed to do what they were up to.

I followed PC outside but immediately got sidetracked at the sight of the bottom part of our extra birdcage, sitting on the deck where it could be stepped on and broken. "Put this back in the birdcage." I order the nearest kid. "But Mommy!" Dolly protested, "We're trying to catch a squirrel!" I looked out into the yard from the lower deck. There in the very middle of the yard was the birdcage with it's door wide open, and inside were the handfuls of nuts the kids had smuggled out there. "We want to have a pet squirrel!" Dolly quickly explained, and then in order to assure me that the food costs wouldn't be so bad, she added in a more coaxing tone, "We'll feed him nuts!"

Now all four kids are 'hiding' behind the railing on the lower deck while they wait for the unsuspecting squirrel to, 1. hop into the cage, 2. stay there long enough for the kids to thunder down the stairs and across the yard to the cage, where 3. they can close the cage door and catch their coveted rodent! Makes sense right? After all, simple plans are the best.

I just went out to check on the squirrel catching project and PC greeted me with, "Hi Mommy, we're gonna catch a squirrel!" "You are?" I responded, "Yeah, one for me and one for Dolly." "Hmm." I said. "Yeah!" Dolly exploded in my ear, "There's a black one in that tree (pointing toward the garden) and a pretty one over there (pointing toward the tree house)". "And.." PC continued, "I'm gonna give my cat to Emma!." "You are?" I asked "Yeah." he nodded. "After you catch yourself a squirrel? I clarified. "Yeah, and then I'm gonna give my cat to Emma."

The cage has been moved against the back fence and when I was last out there, PC asked, "Mommy, what is a good trick for getting squirrels?" I think he's beginning to realize that their method might not work.

Emma's opinion on my outfits.

2011-11-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

August 16, 2011

Yesterday:
"Mommy, I'm gonna tell you a pretty secret."
(dramatic pause as she tiptoes to whisper in my ear)
"I love your skirt and your shirt."
I thanked her, gave her a squeeze and as she scampered out of the room, she explained, "...they're vwerry beautiful and I just love them!"

August 1st, 2011

Last week:
Emma: Mommy, do you want me to get your new red shoes?
Me: No, Emma, I already have tennis shoes on, I don't need to wear my new ones.
Emma: I think you should wear your red ones, because if you wear them, you will look nice.
Me: These ones are just fine Emma.
Emma: Because, these shoes.. (she leaned in as if she was revealing something very special) they don't go with your outfit, but if you wear your red ones, they will go with your outfit, and you will look vwerry beautiful. For real.

September 23, 2011

Right on Track

2011-11-19T09:04:00.002-08:00

Aside from being born with a full head of blond hair, Ricka's claim to fame around here are her two front teeth.

As I discovered ~~today~~ on Tuesday, she just cut her two front bottom teeth and was only ~~a little~~ more sleepless than usual for a few days to show for it. At 5 months and four days old, she took the title of 'youngest tooth getter' in our household. Dolly previously held that record at 5 months, 2 weeks.

swing'n

"oooh! This looks interesting." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "It's pretty good, you should try it."

She spends a lot of time in the swing - well, she used to, now she leans as far forward as she can... which causes the swing to stop... which results in a complaining Ricka.

Sitting up.

Other than that, she's sitting without being held upright, although she does still tip over after a while - but it's a gradual tip-over now instead of the sudden crash style. She rolls over onto her back with all the confidence of a well seasoned veteran - she's still working on the other direction but is very close to success. And for Ricka, tummy time no longer holds the original horrors all babies insist of, because she can cover surprisingly large areas on her tummy by going in circles to reach her desired destinations. I watched her cheat and pull the bouncy chair to her ~~this~~ the other afternoon so she could get the little toy car that she was after. And I actually took pictures of that progression, so I'll stick them here as well:

"I want that car."

"Hmm, 'can't quite reach..."

"Ok, what if I try... this!"

"Got it!!"

When I grabbed all the pictures off of the camera this last time, I was surprised to see so many shots of Emma and Ricka posing together. Here are a few of the best of them - just for fun:

November 2, 2011

Serious girls.

November 11, 2011 - Five months old.

Grandma C. made these jumpers for Dolly and Emma.

November 13, 2011

Fitting...

2011-10-29T23:11:00.002-07:00

After the kids were finally in bed and the doors were all closed and most of the talking had quieted down, Sir and I retired to the couch. He with his laptop and me with Ricka to nurse. We'd just started to enjoy the peace and quiet when some voices murmured in the boys' room. Then some little feet slapped across the bedroom floor and then the door to the boys' room slowly opened.
"PC! close the door." one of us called out. The only answer was the sound of the little feet making a beeline back to the bottom bunk and the noise of the plastic mattress cover as Butler launched himself back into bed.
"Butler, you stay in bed! Do NOT open your door." Sir reminded. This is when I told Sir that PC probably told Butler to open the door since it opened just after the talking had occurred.
"Mommy....?" This time it was PC.
"PC, come here." Sir called. Almost instantly PC was in the living room - he must have already been on his way out to talk to us.
"Why did you tell Butler to open your bedroom door?" Sir bluffed.
Our guess was confirmed by the shocked 'how did you know?' look on PC's face.
Sir: Why did you tell Butler to open your door?
PC: I donno.
Me: Why did you want the door open?
PC: So I could talk to you.
Sir: Then why didn't you open the door yourself?
PC: Because.
Sir: 'Because' is not an answer.
PC: It was dark in my room.
Me: So, you told Butler to open the door, so you could walk out of your room to talk to us about what?
PC: Mommy, can I change my pajamas? These ones are too hot.
So, he changed out of his pajamas and went to bed and they were quiet after that.
It seemed fitting that Butler was taking orders from PC (prince charming) and opening doors for the higher ranking sibling.

Nonstop

2011-09-30T10:14:00.005-07:00

Ricka still nurses about every 3 hours. And every afternoon between 2 and 3 we're gone for school pickup. So, this is what happened the rest of the time last week which might explain why I'm looking forward to ~~sleeping~~ trying to sleep in tomorrow.

On Saturday I finished icing Emma's birthday cake and we had a birthday party for her that evening.
On Sunday we went to meeting. Then we went shopping for fishing bait on our way home.
On Monday there was no school, so Sir took the day off from work and we went fishing at a lake 45 minutes from home. We invited Grandpa and Grandma C to join us and agreed to meet them at the lake at 8am - except we got stuck in traffic the whole way there so we were late. And it rained ALL day long. We fished in the rain from 9-3 anyway and didn't catch anything. So, we ordered fish and chips and had Grandpa and Grandma C. and Dee over for supper.
On Tuesday I took the dog to the vet for an infected foot. Then I swapped stuff around in the storage unit so I'd have more jars at home to can with. The rest of the day was spent doing load after load of laundry because everything got wet and muddy on the fishing trip. Then Sir and I went out on a dinner date and left Ricka for the first time! It was really nice.
On Wednesday the kids and I went shopping for more canning stuff. I spent the afternoon chopping vegetables to add to our garden tomatoes for salsa. Then we went to meeting. Well, the kids went to meeting. I got there and spent most of the time in the nursery with Ricka. When I wasn't in the nursery I was picking Sir up from the skytrain so he'd get to meeting before it was over.
On Thursday we drove Sir to work and then Emma and I canned the salsa when we got home. I picked the kids up from school 15min early and took Dolly to the dr. for an infected eye. After we got home I finally got the laundry folded so the living room looks a bit less like a laundromat now. And (gasp!) I played a game of Age of Empires between interruptions like homework, chores, dinner, baby etc. (Hey, at least the little people in the game keep doing what I told them to do until its either done or I tell them to do something else - it's therapy :))
And today... well, I am going to take a shower if it's the ~~last~~ only thing I do! I also need to blanch and freeze the corn before it spoils, and the plan is for me to go across the border after school for gas and a package pickup. We ordered a shop vacuum so we can clean the wood stove before we start having regular fires.
But for now... I'll start with my shower.

If You're not Tired

2011-09-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

On our way home after a late night out:

Dolly: Do I have to brush my teeth when we get home? 'Cause I'm really tired and I don't feel like brushing my teeth.
Me: You're going to brush your teeth... it won't take that long.
Dolly: When we get home can I just get my pajamas on, go potty, brush my teeth and tell Daddy 'good night'?
Sir: Yes... Isn't that what you do every night, Dolly?
Dolly: But do I have to drink water!?
Me: No, you don't have to, but you can if you're thirsty.
Emma: Can we brush our teeth without aksking?
Me: Emma, you're just going to get ready for bed like normal. Just do it quickly. It's very late.
Dolly: Yeah, like almost the middle of the night right? I'm not gonna have any trouble going to sleep 'cause it's soo late and I'm really tired.
Emma - in a matter-of-fact tone: But if we're not tired and we can't go to sleep, we can just talk. Right?

Right. That explains a whole lot!

Ricka's 1 Month Portrait

2011-09-01T16:40:00.001-07:00

"And they blessed Rebecca, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions."
Genesis 24:60

This was Ricka the day after her 1 month birthday. Because I was behind on some of the other kids' pictures, I tried a different photography place, and the lady that did these pictures was probably the best photographer I've ever had. She was creative, patient, and fast! Well, fast when it came to capturing poses - it took longer to prepare them. She also gave me a great deal on the package that I was buying, which is why I ended up with so many poses this time.

This is actually the picture I chose for the package. The top photo was the 10x13 for my wall, and I could choose a different pose for that picture since it was an extra cost. But this picture was the best one of Ricka with her clothes on. She decided to pull a 'PC' and be unwakeable for her first professional pictures. Which means she wouldn't even open her eyes until she was down to nothing but a diaper.

Of course, babies are adorable in any state of modesty (or lack thereof) and this picture is one of my favorites. You wouldn't know that I was only able to hold this pose for all of 2 seconds because of how much Ricka was kicking and squirming, but the photographer managed to take at least 4 shots in that time to get the one she was looking for. This was also about when I decided I had a new favorite photographer. :)

Anyway, we did a few of the classic poses. You know, 'baby in the basket' 'wedding rings and baby toes' 'naked baby positioned just so to be barely modest' to name a few. They were all excellent shots and definitely begging to be added to the package, but I really did have a bottom to my pockets.

Then while I was hemming and hawing over which pictures to choose and how much extra I could afford to spend and admiring all the enhancements they put together to entice you to spend even more, the photographer asked me if I was to choose a collage photo which one would it be?. There were about a dozen enhancements and a handful of beautiful collages, but none of those are an option when you're just purchasing the basic promotional package and a few extra wallets. Anything else starts to really add up, so I told her, that as lovely as the collages were, I wasn't going to be ordering them because I had a budget I needed to stay within. "Yes, I know, but IF you were to choose one, which would it be?" she pressed. After a split second to scan over the collages enough to give her an answer, I pointed one out, but told her I still wasn't going to be able to add it to my purchase. "That's ok." she said, "I'll just throw it in for free!" And that's what she did!

Our little Freckles*

2011-08-30T15:04:00.001-07:00

"Mommy! There's a green spider in the bathtub! Do you want to come and see it? Come on, Mommy! It's a green spider and it's MOVING!"

Since this was such an urgent and exciting matter, and Ricka had eaten enough to fall asleep on the job, I put her in her bassinet and followed Emma to the kids bathroom. She did a little dance in excitement as I peered into the bathtub at her latest find. "Can you give it to me, Mommy?! Please, can I have it?" she begged. I scooped the badly maimed grasshopper up and carefully put in in Emma's outstretched palm and then went to find my camera.

Emma slowly followed me, never taking her eyes off her treasure. "Isn't he nice, Mommy? He's soo cute! Don't you think he's cute Mommy?" I assured her he was and took a few pictures of her. Then the rest of the kids came in and Emma proudly showed them her bug.

"Can I hold him?" Dolly asked as she was already trying to get the insect from Emma's shirt sleeve to her own. When Emma realized she was being relieved of her pet, a short scuffle ensued and order was restored once the bug was returned. Dolly tried a different approach, "Can we keep him, Mommy? We can put him in a little cage, and give him grass to eat..." Emma's eyes lit up and suddenly they were best friends on a mission.

("Oh! That is a real one.")

Then PC came by... "Oh! That is a real one. The other ones don't have wings. Let's feed him to the chickens - they would like to eat him!" "No!" both girls screamed in protest and then Dolly remembered that we don't have any chickens. "It's ok, Emma, We don't have any chickens, so he can't do that." After that they all traipsed outside to 'make a house'.

Home sweet home - complete with flowers.

They named him Charles.

*As in Gene Stratton-Porter's book character.

Memory Verse Musings

2011-08-28T18:03:00.002-07:00

"I am the LORD, I change not".
Malachi 3:6

This is the new memory verse, and we asked the kids on the way home from meeting what they thought it meant. Of course they all answered, "I donno." so we took smaller steps...
"What does it mean to change not?"
PC: That it's the same?
Dolly: It means that God is God and he's not gonna change.
"Ok, who can tell us what God is? Can you think of a verse that might tell you?"
Dolly: "God is love"!
PC: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall have everlasting life." So, He's gonna love us forever!
"So, what is 'forever'?"
Emma: Forever and forever and forever.
Dolly: Never gonna stop.
PC: Always!

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
Hebrews 13:8

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
Jeremiah 31:3

Have you ever just stopped to really think about what these verses mean?

Some things Make you Thankful

2011-08-24T15:43:00.008-07:00

I started making my teriyaki sauce marinade at about noon today. First I measured out the soy sauce, and then got sidetracked warming up leftover pizza for lunch. Once I got the kids up to the table and served, I got back to the sauce project. I started measuring out the sugar, got halfway through that when I ran out of sugar in the main container. As I headed to the pantry, thankful there was a refill sugar to grab, one of the kids had some urgent question that they insisted needed my attention. I answered the question as I walked back to the kitchen with the sugar. Please note that my pantry is a whole eleven feet from my kitchen stove (and yes, I measured that distance especially for this post).

When I got back to the stove, I couldn't remember how much sugar I'd already put into my pot. Eventually I figured out how much more sugar I needed to add (that involved dissolving and tasting) and I turned the burner on to start heating the sauce to a boil. But by then the kids were done eating and I was sidetracked with washing them up, stirring the sauce when I remembered and being thankful that I was supposed to heat it on a low burner setting each time I stirred it and found it was still unburnt.

Then the phone rang - it was Tina. While I was talking to her I discovered Butler had a dirty diaper so I changed him while I talked to her on the phone. By this time it was almost nap time, so I put him to bed and walked back to the kitchen just in time to find my teriyaki sauce had finally come to a boil and was about to boil over. It did start to boil over as I moved the pot off the heat and then it continued to boil over for a couple seconds as it cooled down. So, I had a huge mess to clean up on the stove top, but I was thankful it was a glass top and that I'd wiped it clean before I started the teriyaki project and that made it a little easier to clean. Besides, it gave me more time to talk to my sister (I've found that you can talk and clean at the same time very effectively).

It wasn't very long before it was time to feed Ricka again so I put the rest of the kids down for naps and sat down at my desk to reply to an e-mail while she nursed. When Ricka was happy again, I took the meat out of the refrigerator, measured out the teriyaki sauce, mixed it into the meat and then started putting the ice cream buckets of meat (there were four of them) back into the fridge to marinate. The second bucket I grabbed, slipped out of my hand and fell onto the floor perfectly upright. The impact had split the bucket down the side and around the bottom, so when I went to pick the bucket up it started to dump. Then I was thankful that I had half a dozen more ice cream buckets in the cupboard just inches away. That made salvaging the meat that didn't dump out easier.

I put the undumped meat into a new bucket, picked up and rinsed off the two cups or so of meat that did dump out, added them to the bucket and measured out more teriyaki sauce which made me thankful that I'd made an extra large batch of sauce today instead of making exactly what I thought we'd need for my marinade. Of course, I don't have a lot of extra teriyaki sauce now, but I didn't have to start over either.

And when I got to cleaning up the huge puddle of teriyaki sauce that leaked out of the cracked bucket, I was thankful that the bucket dumped AFTER I'd put the kids down for naps so I wouldn't have to worry about them walking in it.

It's only 3:30 and ALL five of my kids are asleep! And that is definitely something to be thankful for.

4 weeks and 200 pictures later....

2011-07-28T23:03:00.004-07:00

This is the only proof that my mom was ever here.

And it was taken about one hour before she went home.

I guess the other proof of her visit would be the fact that I still have some of my sanity.

Ricka was due June 19th. Toward the end of May, my mom called me and said she was thinking of coming up to help us around when the baby was born, but everything depended on schedules and doctor's appointments down in California and she'd get back to me around the 1st of June. I was ecstatic - it really sounded like she might actually make it up here, but knowing from past experience, nothing is set in stone.

Of course, I heard nothing on the 1st, and started talking myself into the idea that something could always come up and it was possible that my mom might not make it up here after all. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.

On June 2nd, my mom called back and it was planned. She was going to come up here and stay at least THREE weeks starting around the 13th! It was like an impossible dream and I was so excited....

(and that is as far as I got on this two weeks ago.)

Anyway, On June 3rd, Sir's mom, Grandma C. got hit by a car while riding home on her bike. She spent the next few weeks in the hospital getting surgeries and scans and all sorts of stuff to start fixing all the things that were broken. She's still recovering, but at home now and we're very thankful for that because the accident was pretty serious.

Previously, each time one of our children has joined the family, Grandma and Grandpa C. have taken the older children while we were in the hospital and then Grandma C. would come nearly every day during the first week or so to help me get adjusted to all the changes one more little one brings. So, when Grandma C. was going to be recovering for months after our baby was due, it was even more of a relief that my mom was planning on being here to be a help.

3 days old.

My mom came up as soon as we told her Ricka was born and she stayed four whole weeks. I don't think I'll ever be able to describe how much of a help she was. Dolly was still in school for 14 days after Ricka was born, and when I'd trip out of my room in a panic because I'd missed the alarm and was already 20 minutes behind schedule, I'd find that my mom had already gotten Dolly up, served her breakfast and was making her lunch. Then she'd shoo me back to bed while she'd get the rest of the kids going and Sir took Dolly to school.

She did the big things like mowed our huge backyard and the front yard in a single morning (this job usually takes me about two days due to my allergies) and stacking piles of wood that I'd given up on toward the end of my pregnancy. She did the little things like making sure the table got cleared and wiped off after each meal, the floors swept and the kids dressed. When I woke up from a terribly needed nap one afternoon in a complete panic because I'd forgotten to make any plans for dinner, I staggered into the kitchen to find she'd warmed up every last leftover in the fridge and dinner was just about ready - at dinner time.

11 days old.

Every morning she got the kids to make their beds and by the time she left, they could do it themselves on their own. In spite of Butler saying "NAOooo" to just about everything she asked him to do, I discovered after she'd gone home that he not only would say 'pease' when he wanted something but 'prih-ee pease' (pretty please) - and that just about made me melt because it's as close to a signature phrase belonging to my mom as you can get.

7 days old

As my mom was loading her suitcases into her van, Emma said to me, "Mommy, is Grandma going back to California?" "Yes," I told her watching Emma carefully. Emma had developed a very special relationship with my mom and I was a bit worried how she'd adjust when my mom left. "She has a booster seat in her van, and the back seat can go down, and you can put car seats on it. You know that, Mommy?" Emma said. "I know," I answered, "that's pretty neat isn't it?" "Yeah, can I go with her to her house and have a sleepover?" "No Emma, Grandma's house is a long ways away. If you went with her you'd be gone too long." with a little shrug of acceptance, Emma said, "That's ok. Can I go with her then?" It was hard to watch her little face fall when she finally understood she couldn't go home with Grandma.

In the four weeks my mom was here, Sir and I got to go out on a 'date' 3 (THREE!) times and we spent one Saturday morning running errands together - something we NEVER do anymore since someone usually stays home with the kids. It was really special and the best part was, we never asked her if she'd mind watching the kids so we could go out... she was the one sending us out. "Why don't you guys go out for dinner and I'll feed the kids?" or "If he's going to go do errands, why don't you run with him? I'll stay here and the kids can help me with..." If she'd had her way, we would have probably gone out a few more times too, but we figured we ought to be a bit responsible every now and then.

4 days old.

By the last week, I realized I was letting my mom take care of things for me that I was perfectly able to do. I just knew she'd do it for me if I didn't get to it before she did. But there were still times that she filled in for me when I couldn't get to it, and those times made me afraid of when she'd finally go home. But we've been adjusting, the kid in the bathroom sometimes has to wait for me to finish nursing the baby before I get to them, the baby has to put up with another kid trying to get the soother into her mouth because I can't stop what I'm doing to burp her again, the house goes in waves of being relatively tidy to disastrous mayhem, but we're slowly getting that under control now too.

Since all the things my mom did for us would take forever to list, I came up with everything I could think of that she might have gotten from her time here with us instead. It's really not that much.
While my mom was here..
- she got to go to a couple of Dolly's school events.
- she got to see Dolly graduate from kindergarten.
- she was there when Dolly lost her first tooth.
- she was here for PC's 5th birthday party.
- she was here for Butler's first stitches.
- she got to go to Ricka's baby shower.
- and she got to have Emma as a constant shadow helper.

I guess to sum it all up... I'll never be able to express how much my moms mean to me. Both of them. Maybe someday I'll be a little bit like them.

11 days old.

"Unto us a child is born"

2011-06-11T18:34:00.004-07:00

7:43am, Saturday, June 11th, 2011.
8 lbs, 13 oz. 21" long

Mother and daughter are resting comfortably,
and expect to go home tomorrow afternoon.

It's Cold!!

Asleep

What Is It?

Big Sister Dolly

Big Brother PC

Big Sister Emma

Big Brother Butler

Big Brother Butler (again)

The Parents (Photo by Dolly)

Some Things are Inherited

2011-05-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Me (the oldest) about 7 yrs old and Tina (next in line) who I'd tricked into crawling into the cage before gleefully locking her in.

No comment necessary.

"That should keep you in there, brother."

"Oh - Hi Mom,"

I couldn't resist. They were all in there and the door was just begging to be closed. Don't worry, I let them out eventually.

I Have a Caterpillar Farm in my Kitchen.

2011-05-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

We discovered them when we mowed the grass last week. One of my sons just had to keep them. So we did.

A close up - there's actually three residents, but you can only see two of them here.

The farmer boy himself.

I'm not sure how I can convince him that we probably should let them go. I'm pretty sure we're not putting in the right kinds of food into the vase they live in. At least one has been getting smaller and smaller and less active as time goes by.

For now, I'm just enjoying a happy young man who couldn't be prouder of his collection.

Quotes from today...

2011-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

So while I'm planting the rest of the tomato plants in the garden, I wonder where the kids are. I'd been hearing something rubbing on the cardboard house that sounded suspiciously like a steak knife. After a quick scan across the yard, I spotted PC in the Little Tykes car (which he was driving while it was tipped on its side "so he could have a side window" or something along those lines).

"PC, where are the other kids?" I called from the back fence.
"They're in the house." he answered without even looking up from what he was doing.
"Both of them?" I asked, wondering if he meant our real house, or the cardboard one on the deck. "Who's in the cardboard house?"
"Emma." PC replied
"What, PC? Emma joined the conversation.
"Emma's in the house with Butler." PC clarified.
"Yeah, Mama, I is in the house with Butler!" Emma called out to me.
"What are you doing? What is that sound?" I asked her.
"Butler and me is coloring the window with our crayons. And he's not crying. He's happy. And he want to throw someting at me, but he didnent. And he didnent pull my hair eider! And I lub you."
"Ok, I'm glad you're being good." I said and went on with my planting.

Then a few seconds later Emma called out to me, "I lub you and I gonna gib you a hug - in just a minute."

I love you too, Emma. :)

My Little Lady

2011-05-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
2 Peter 3:18

Dolly is growing up so fast. This was her birthday picture that we had taken almost two weeks after she turned 6 earlier this year. I brought the tulip and as the photographer and I reviewed a posed picture, we looked up to see her just daydreaming into her flower. Quick as a wink, the photographer snapped this picture and it turned out better than all the rest that we tried so hard to make 'look natural'.

She loves to write letters and notes, and every day I find a new one that she's carefully written. I think it's almost time to start introducing spelling rules though. So far everything is phonetic, but pretty soon some of those phonetic spellings might become a habit that will be hard to overcome later. She reads everything she sees now and is only a couple books away from being halfway to our goal of 100 read-aloud books. Since she started going away to school, I've had her read aloud to me so her reading skills stay challenged.

I think what comes most naturally for her do is to nurture. Sometimes it seems like she can't wait for someone else in the family to be sick so she can take care of them. But I can say from experience, that she does a wonderful job - it's such a luxury to have someone wait on you hand and foot. I'm not entirely surprised though, nursing runs in the family. She looks out for her siblings almost to a fault though. Some days all her intervening causes quite the uproar of chaos around here, but her intentions are good.

Dolly is very generous and selfless although she has lost a lot of patience for her siblings since she's been in school. At least some of her reactions to them are far less gracious than they used to be. This has been hard for me to watch, but hopefully it's just a phase she's passing through and everything will be normal again when she's home again in the summer.

She has a tender conscience and is always eager to please. These attributes make her a delight to have as part of the family and I'll always be thankful that I have been blessed to be her mother.

And Someday... I'll miss this.

2011-03-27T20:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday (Family Project Day):
11am.
Of course, I try to do what any non-pregnant person would do and after a couple hours, my body is screaming at me to remember that I'm actually six months pregnant and not made to do normal activities for the time being.
1pm.
I finally get lunch made, and everyone called. Sitting down for half an hour causes amnesia to set in, and after lunch we get back to work. Then it's time to start putting kids down for naps. They have to go down in phases or else they keep each other awake all afternoon.
3:30.
All the kids are in bed for naps (they're not all asleep yet). Sir convinces me that I should take a nap too. My body agrees. I know it's no used trying to sleep while some kids are still awake and spend more time keeping myself awake anticipating no nap because of it. Finally, I crash.
5:30.
I wake up. At least I was smart enough to think about dinner at lunch time, and know what I'm going to make. I can't believe the kids are just starting to wake up! It's been ages since I got that good of a nap in. The kids all wake up and I finally get started on dinner.
7pm.
At last! Dinner is served. The kids love it for a change and they take forever to be done in order to stuff at much into their little tummies as possible. But it's Saturday night - they need baths, I need to whiz through the house on a 'tidy mission'.
8:15.
I draw the bath, order them to pick up the worst of the stuff on the floors in their bedrooms, and then plop them all into the tub. They play/fight/splash/etc. while I sweep the kids' bedrooms and the living room. Then I scrub Butler up, dress him for bed, give him his toothbrush and send him to Sir. Clean the bathroom mirror. Scrub PC up and send him out to get ready for bed. Clean the toilet. Scrub Dolly up and send her to get ready for bed. Clean the bathroom counter. Scrub Emma up, send her to get ready for bed. Drain the tub. Oversee the bedtime process.
Late.
The kids are all in bed, and are asleep. The house is presentable. My Sunday school class work is prepared, I know what I'll make for lunch on Sunday. It's been ~~forever~~ quite a while since Sir and I had a 'date' so I leave the next day's lunch for the morning, and I make a spicy shrimp appetizer snack and we stay up another hour watching a video.
Very late.
We go to bed.

2:36am.
"Mama!" I struggle to consciousness and follow the summons. It's PC.
PC: Mama, Butler was calling you.
He was? I didn't hear anything. And I know the monitor is on. I check on Butler. He'd lost his soother. I tuck him in, and tuck PC in too. I go back to bed.
3am.
"Mama!" It's PC again.
Me: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared. I need my promise.
I go find an old car key, loop a ribbon through it and give it to him since I'm not about to go looking for his other key at this time of night. Then I tuck him in, re-tuck Butler and stagger back to bed.
3:38am.
"Mama!" Again - PC. I stay in bed hoping he'll settle down on his own. Instead, 50 seconds later, he's standing next to my bed tapping my shoulder.
PC: Mommy, I's scared.
Me: You're scared of what, PC?
PC: I don't know.
I'm about to lose all semblance of sanity. The spicy appetizer is not agreeing with my getting up and down so many times and I'm considering the whole bottle of Tums as an option.
Me: PC. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!
He starts to cry. Sir realizes I'm past the 'I need some help' stage, and takes over.
Sir: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared.
Sir: Of what?
PC: I don't know. And my mouth hurts... a lot.
At this point I realize he probably has a sore throat. I'd been battling one for the last couple days. I mention it to Sir as they head back to the boys room. Sir tucks the boys into bed again and comes back to bed. I'm so tired that I'm in tears. I don't believe we've seen the end of our nocturnal visitors.
4am.
Emma stands at my bedside, taps my shoulder and cheerfully asks, "Mommy, can I get up?!
Me: No. Go back to bed, it's still night time.
She bursts into tears and I follow her back to the girls room. As she crawls back into bed, PC pops his head out of the boys room.
Me: Why are you out of bed again?
PC: I heard somebody was up.
Me: Nobody's staying up. Go back to bed.
I tuck Emma in and head to the boys room to re-tuck PC. Butler is standing up in his crib as if he expects to get up for the day too. I tuck the boys into bed and go back to bed nearly sobbing because there's only a little over 3 hours left until the alarm goes off. Sir spends the next 20 minutes calming me down.
4:30ish.
I looked at the clock one last time. If the kids called after that, I never heard them. At least none of them came tapping on my shoulder that I know of.

Epilogue:
It's hard to believe that someday I could miss nights like this. Maybe I won't remember them. Right now, I'm just going to go to sleep. Only Butler took a good nap today, so hopefully the kids will be too tired themselves, to come visiting tonight!

THE END

The Loyal, the Contrary and the Whimsical

2011-03-25T18:38:00.003-07:00

Well, one thing is certain - my children are growing up properly Canadianized. At least when it comes to ~~the national~~ a very popular sport around here. (Apparently, it is La Cross and not Hockey that takes the title of Canada's 'national' sport).

You see, Sir watches some of the NHL games, that the local team plays, on his laptop, and occasionally our little people get to join him on the couch. Usually that's if the evening has progressed in a timely fashion, and there's some time to watch a game after dinner and before bed. The kids rarely get to stay up for a whole game, but they love every minute of what they do get to stay up for. I think it's a combination of special time with Daddy and a genuine love of the game.

Anyway, last night they watched part of the latest game that the Canucks played. By the time all the kids were settled in bed, we'd come to the conclusion that we had three types of hockey fans:
- There's Dolly, who fits squarely into the 'loyal fan' category. She cheers the home team on, and hopes fervently for them to win. Should they happen to lose, she is disappointed, but is sure they'll do better the next time.
- Next there's PC, who falls into the 'contrary fan' category. He cheers for the team playing against the home team. I think he loves the feel of living dangerously (as in sitting amongst loyal fans who vehemently decree that the home team should win). Should the opposing team win, PC parades around like a little peacock with the most contageous grin on his face more so because his sister is unhappy with the result than anything else.
- Finally there's Emma. She falls into the 'whimsical fan' category which means that she cheers for whichever team catches her fancy by the mere sound of their name. Kings vs. Canucks? That's easy - it sounds much better to be a 'king', so she'll be cheering against the local team. Canucks vs. Senators? Since she has no idea what a senator is, she chooses the Canucks.

Last night, Vancouver played the Detroit Red Wings. Dolly rooted for the home team while PC and Emma cheered on the opposition. When PC and Dolly came to say good night to me, Dolly excitedly announced, "Mommy, we got to watch two periods!" "Really?!" I said as I gave her a goodnight hug, "who was winning?" PC, who was standing at my elbow waiting his turn to say goodnight answered, "Nobody!" at the same time that Dolly declared the Canucks to be in the lead. Of course, that had to be clarified, and so we double checked the score just to be sure.

Brilliant in Blue (aka: 2011 - Family Picture)

2011-02-28T23:56:00.005-08:00

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus."
Hebrews 6:19-20

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever."
Deuteronomy 29:29

"Almost Big" - Emma

2011-01-31T00:48:00.002-08:00

Blogging slumps... so easy to fall into and so very hard to get out of! My last post was a month ago and it's not like I haven't had anything to blog about. Sir reminds me often of my ghost posts that haunt my draft folder. But that's what happens when you have to write a 'perfect post'. It doesn't get written and then it's too late to write it, and then you can't remember what you were going to say and it gets left for ever and ever and ever after.

But that's not what I was going to write about today, and if I don't get my act together I'm going to miss getting even one post up in January!

Back in September, on the 22nd, Emma turned 3. I took forever getting her pictures scheduled, and then she went and split her chin open one fine October Sunday (I think it was the 24th), and ended up getting stitches. After another couple weeks for her chin to heal, I finally got her pictures scheduled (for November 20th I believe it was..) and then it snowed all day long the day before her appointment so I cancelled it. By the time I'd rescheduled and we got her pictures taken, it was the very last weekend of November - two whole months later than the ideal plan. But we got them taken and she was not bruised, scratched, cut, or any combination of those possibilities at the time! At times, I am convinced that child is set on destroying herself!

Anyway, Emma wants to be as big as Dolly, and so she's "Almost Big". Whenever another child tells her she can't do something because she's too little, she gets all upset and after finding me, makes sure I still believe that she's 'almost big' despite what other kids say. Being 'almost big' is very important to her.

For her last picture I went with the portrait shot for the package choice. It's the first time I've done that, and I'm not too sure I like it all that much. It just seemed that all the full body shots that were taken that day, just weren't as good if you wanted to get a good look at her face. The day we got her pictures taken, Sir and I hauled a van load of wood that had been posted on Craigslist the night before, and the whole day seemed rushed because of it. I didn't put very much thought into Emma's outfit for getting her pictures taken, and instead of requesting we keep taking full body pictures, I settled for the first one we got that I thought might work. In the end, one of the 'other poses' turned out to capture more of her personality. Below is the package picture. I did get a single full body picture as well, but you have to know her more to see her character from a profile point of view.

"Then said Jesus, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
John 10:9

Of course, being unorganized and all, I didn't have a verse picked out that sort of summed her up or that I'd like for her to become more like, so I chose a verse she'd learned for Sunday school earlier in the year. This was the first verse she learned well. Well enough to recite all the way through without any help. She was (and still is) very proud of this accomplishment. Many times since, when she's asked to recite or practice the current memory verse, she'll try getting away with rattling this verse off instead.

Emma is still just as complicated as she ever has been. She loves that her hair is finally starting to grow. When she's self conscious, or trying to charm someone, she'll bounce her curls and tip her head without realizing what she's doing. Not too long ago, Sir told me about part of a conversation he had with her one morning after dropping Dolling off at school. It started out a bit like this:
Emma: Daddy,
Sir: Yes,
Emma: A long time ago, when I was a boy... (she paused, probably because that didn't sound quite right that way)
Sir: When was this?
Emma: A long time ago, when I didn't have long hair... um... (and I never did find out what she was trying to tell Sir, because I was too busy trying to memorize that part of her conversation to blog later.)

She's probably the most bossy of our children, and she has the most opinions (or at least the most outspoken ones). Emma loves to play with Butler, and is very good at keeping the games at a level he can enjoy. She loves to sing, dearly loves to color and she's probably the one I hear "I love you, Mommy" from the most. At least I seem to always be saying, "I love you too." back to her more than the rest. One of these days I'll manage to say it first. Most of her days at home are spent in complete dress up attire, and when she can't be in dress up, she's usually negotiating with me about when she can be. "Mommy, when we get home, can I put dress up on me?" Don't worry, she does wear regular clothes too, because dress up is not allowed at the table at mealtimes.

In her own way, Emma is also the most challenging of my children. She always has her own agenda, and is happy to fit what I've told her to do into it, but usually when she feels it most convenient for herself. We're working on that. She often tell me, "Mommy, I like your baby in your tummy." This has been ever since I took her with me to a prenatal visit and she got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Actually she was terrified at the time and told me later that she thought there was a lion in my tummy and she was scared it was going to eat the baby. And the smile she beams is priceless when you surprise her with a hug or give her an unexpected smile.

Well, it's getting late again, (ok, it's been late for a while) and I need to be getting to bed. Someday I'll actually wake up and want to get up - that still happens doesn't it? Besides, this post is getting more and more sporadic the more I get written.

Below is the full body version of Emma's 3 year old picture. She was trying so hard to be good for her pictures that day... you can see her curled toes where she was concentrating hard in order to stand 'just like the lady told her to'.

I love you, Emma!

Long Nights

2010-12-30T09:06:00.003-08:00

4:15 am on the first leg of our trip to California:

Sir had pulled over due to a nosebleed. While he was outside getting it under control and getting a bit of fresh air at the same time, Dolly stirred in the back seat.
"Is is morning time yet?" she asked.

"No, it's still the middle of the night. Go back to sleep." I hushed.

"But is it a little bit morning yet?" she pressed.

"No, Dolly. It's still very much the middle of the night. Go back to sleep and when you wake up we'll almost be at Grandpa and Grandma's house."

"I knowed nights were long, but I didn't know it was THIS long!" She said, and then settled down again to sleep.

Case Closed!

2010-12-16T23:32:00.001-08:00

At a glance, I may not look very organized. Everything is usually in piles(to be put away when I get to it). But I KNOW where things are. If you wanted to know where to find the spray paint we used on the picnic table that we built for the kids two years ago, I could tell you without hesitation that those cans of paint are in a box in the birdroom about two feet from the west window and approximately waist high up in the pile of boxes that still haven't been put away. Or did you need the fishing net? It's on the top of the tall bookshelf in the master bathroom. A hand saw? Trouble light? bike pump? Try the old milk crates along the dining room wall right about in line with where Dolly sits at the table.

But occasionally I LOSE things. It usually happens when I have way too many things going on at the exact same time and I mis-file their locations in my mind before I get to putting them in a logical place that I can find by deduction later. For example, recently Butler had 3 or 4 soothers kicking around the place. He loses them everywhere and sometimes it's hard to keep track of whether you last saw the pacifier at home or at somebody else's house. If you have a spare and you're rushing at the moment - at least in my case the location information gets jumbled and by the time I get around to actually thinking about where the missing soothers might be, I can't remember where I last had them. All I have filed is: 'don't worry, it's in a familiar place'. Like that helps very much.

Anyway, we have three folding booster seats. Two of them are at the dining room table for the younger two kids and the third is supposed to say in the car so I have a booster seat when I need one away from home. 3½ weeks ago, we had 14 guests over for dinner after meeting. With our kids added to the mix, there were 11 kids running all over the place, so I asked Sir to grab the booster seat out of the car and we used it that evening. Over the next week, I finally got the booster wiped out, folded up (without it's tray) and finally put next to the front door to go out to the car when I got a chance. One day as we were rushing to go somewhere, I asked PC to carry the booster seat out to the driveway and put it by the van and I'd put it in after buckling Butler into his car seat. I remember PC carrying the seat out to the driveway, but that was all I did remember. I had no idea if he put it next to the car, if I put it in the car or if it actually didn't make it back to the house by accident.

Then I went grocery shopping across the border and in the rush to get back in time to get Emma's pictures taken before picking Dolly up from school, we missed the exit for the fast food drive through that Sir had suggested we do for lunch that day. Instead of turning around, we just got back across the border and stopped at a Subway next to the picture studio. I thought we had enough time to eat in the little restaurant before rushing on to the picture project so I grabbed the booster seat and as I reached for it I thought, "Hm, I never got the tray back with this thing. I should do that when we get home." Now, I must stop here, and point out, this thought was a vital clue to finding the booster seat. If I happen to remember a past thought, I can usually recall where I was when I thought it or what I was looking at or something about my surroundings at that time. So, we ate at the Subway, and we took too long to do that and ended up almost running next door to the picture place to see if they could fit us in for Emma's pictures or not. I ended up making an appointment for the next day. Except, the next day we got close to 6 inches of snow and I ended up cancelling the picture appointment.

Next, Sir found a load of free firewood on a craigslist ad a few days later,and after calling about it Saturday morning we arranged for babysitting, emptied everything out of the van and collected the wood. When I put the van back together later that afternoon, I noticed the booster seat was missing. Then I couldn't find it at home and I couldn't remember if I'd even put it in the car.

For the next two weeks I searched and researched everywhere I thought I might have put it. Back in the house. Where I'd unloaded the van so we could haul wood. The meeting room. The driveway. Even the hedge in our front yard (in case PC stuck it in the hedge instead of next to the van that day I sent him out with it). But it was no use. I couldn't find it, and I COULDN'T remember where I'd last had it. Until this afternoon on my way home when I remembered my thought at the Subway three weeks ago. What if I left it at the restaurant? But I vaguely remembered folding the seat up when we were about to leave. I planned to call them and forgot before I got to the phone three times this evening. Finally three minutes before they closed I remembered again, Sir found the number, and I called. They had no booster seat. I thought I'd tracked it down - I was almost sure it had to be there. I think I asked the poor girl on the other end of the phone four or five times, if she was sure, there was no booster seat that had been left or had been turned in in the last three weeks. Then I remembered that I had parked directly in front of the Subway's neighboring restaurant. I called them one minute before they closed hoping that perhaps I'd left it on the ground while I buckled Butler into his car seat and then in the rush to get to the picture studio that afternoon, abandoned it for someone to turn in to the nearest diner.

"About three weeks ago," I began when the phone was answered, "I used a folding booster seat at your neighboring restaurant. But since I was parked directly in front of your restaurant, I'm hoping perhaps someone turned it in to you because Subway doesn't have it and I'm thinking I might have left it on the ground next to my car." "Do you know what color it was?" the guy asked. Of course in my excitement that they might actually have the seat, I completely forgot the exact coloring and could only tell him it was a light blue, and that I thought it had white, but then I corrected myself by saying the tray that I still had for it was white. "Do you know what brand it is?" he continued. "Uh..." I wasn't about to take a chance blurting out the wrong brand name and I wasn't sure enough to tell him what my first guess was. And I wasn't bright enough to turn around and take a look at the two identical (but different colored) boosters in the dining room right behind me. "Uh.. I'm not sure off the top of my head, but it's a folding booster seat and most of it is light blue..." "Might it be Safety 1st?" he asked. By this time I was pretty sure he was looking right at my booster seat and I was so excited I was basically jumping up and down as I told him yes, it was a safety 1st. Then he told me he was looking at a blue and green folded booster seat. Finally it was found. I hung up after giving our name and number and telling him I'd be out to get it tomorrow.

Sir had heard my whole phone conversation and was nearly bursting with laughter at my excitement over a $30 booster seat, but I couldn't help it. It was found! I wasn't crazy after all (or completely crazy that is). And now that I know where it is, I should have it back just in time for our trip to California next week! I'm still excited, but I'm not squealing and jumping up and down anymore. Instead I should be in bed. At least I've calmed down enough to sleep now! Good night.

Lost in Deep Cove

2010-12-08T12:44:00.001-08:00

I don't like driving routes I'm unfamiliar with on very rainy days after dark. I've done it before, and the results are never good.

Yesterday Sir was going to bus/walk/walk/bus after work to get a set of tire chains he'd found posted on craigslist not too far from his work. But then I had the bright idea of saving him an hour of travel time before he even started on his way home. I called him up at work and asked him if he'd rather the kids and me come pick him up and then we go pick the chains up from there. He said that'd be nice especially since the person selling the chains wouldn't be there until 6:30 which means Sir would have been getting home between 8 and 8:30 if he caught everything just right.

So, after picking Dolly up from school, taking a load to the storage unit, making a quick stop at the grocery store, dropping the groceries off at home and having Dolly change out of her uniform, we were on our way right at 5. Rush Hour.

Sir called me at 6 to see how we were doing, and at that time we were getting close to our exit making us less than half an hour away. Until I took the wrong part of the exit in the dark with rain pouring faster than my wipers could keep up with. I knew right away I'd taken the wrong part of the exit, but in my attempts to turn around and undo my blunder, we ended up going exactly in the opposite direction that we should have been. I thought I'd just stop at some intersection and call Sir and have him talk me out of my mess. Except there were no intersections for oh.. probably 15 minutes. We finally ended up at the end of the road in Deep Cove.

I called Sir, and he sounded more amused than anything else (which was good for me - I'd rather he laugh at my stupidity than be frustrated at the delay it caused) Anyway, he told me to go back the way I'd come and eventually I'd recognize my surroundings. By the time I finally picked him up it was 7.

Then we got lost finding the chain seller's house, but we still made it there by 7:30 which was when Sir had told the guy we'd be there. After that, I had Sir drive home - even though I've driven home that way plenty of times and probably wouldn't have gotten lost again, but given my record for the evening... I wasn't taking any chances.

The cute part about the whole adventure was how the kids dealt with our dilemma. It went a bit like this:

Me: Ok guys, everybody be quiet! I need to pay attention to where I'm going.
Emma: Why? Are we lost, Mommy?
Me: Yes, we're very lost. Be quiet.
Dolly: Mommy, maybe you should call Daddy. Then he can tell us which way to go.
Me: I will, Dolly, but first I need to be able to tell him what roads were at. Be quiet.
PC: Mommy, I prayed for you. I asked God to help us get unlost.
Me: Thank you PC, but I need you to be quiet so I can drive.
Emma: Mommy!!! I need to go potty!
Me: Emma, you're going to have to wait, there's no bathroom around here. Don't drink any more water.

Silence for a few miles.

Emma: Mommy, are we lost?
Me: Yes, Emma, we're still very much lost.
Dolly: Mommy, do you think Daddy is hungry? Maybe you should have PC call him and tell him it's ok if he gets food at McDonald's.
Me: Daddy knows he can eat if he's hungry, Dolly. He'll be ok.

Silence for a few more miles.

Emma: Mommy, are we still lost?
Me: Yes, Emma! We are still lost.
PC: I love you Mommy, God will help us get unlost. I asked Him.
Me: I love you too, PC. Thank you for asking for help for me.
Dolly: Yeah, God will get us unlost.
Me: K, guys be quiet. PC, let me have my phone now.
Emma: Mommy! I need to go potty!
Me: Emma, we'll stop as soon as I can find a place with a bathroom!

We pulled over and I called Sir and then I turned around finally heading in the right direction.

Emma: Mommy? are we lost?
Me: Yes, we're still lost, but I think I know which way we're supposed to go now.
Dolly: Isn't that nice of God? He's helping us get unlost!
PC: Yeah, because I asked Him to.
Dolly: Yep, it's all God's fault that we'll be unlost! Isn't that nice of Him?!
Me: Yes, He's always taking care of us even when we're lost. Now everybody try to be quiet until we get to Daddy's work.
Emma: I need to go potty!
Me: K, we're almost there! Just wait a little bit longer.

And we got unlost, picked up Sir, found a bathroom, and survived the rest of the evening.

The End

To tell or not to tell...

2010-11-16T12:37:00.003-08:00

For the past few weeks I've been trying to decide if I wanted to announce early on, this time, or wait as long as possible like we've always done before. Announcing early on won out because it seems with each pregnancy, I'm more tired than the time before, and it's very hard to act 'normal' when you're exhausted all the time.

So, instead of being between 4 and 5 months we're only at 9wks right now. It'll seem longer for you than me actually, because with everything going on around here constantly, the time just flies by. At least it seemed to go a LOT faster during my pregnancy with Butler than the other three.

I'm almost certain the due date for this baby is June 20th, but because this pregnancy was a bounce-back right after a miscarriage, my doctor wanted to do a dating ultrasound anyway. We'll do that on Saturday, and I can barely wait because I'll get to see/hear a heartbeat then! At my last prenatal appt, my doctor and I got to chatting away so much that we both forgot to get to listening for a heartbeat. I didn't even remember until the next day! A doctor you really get along with is wonderful when you're pregnant and usually emotional.

We told the other kids just last night - we figured they'd be hearing from other people soon enough, so we might as well give them a heads up. But it's going to be a long wait for them. They were very excited once it actually sunk in. At first they just stared at us blankly like they'd been stunned which was not exactly the reaction I had expected from them. Then they wanted to know how we knew. Dolly concluded that I must have figured it out because I was tired. "You were really tired, so that's how you knew right?" She's just had a quick bout with a stomach flu, so she continued sympathetically, "Yeah, maybe you're gonna throw up all the time like when I was in your tummy."

Poor PC, he dearly loves babies, and he has a very caring and nurturing side to him, but he also is terrified of change. Last night he went from shocked/dazed, to ecstatic, to overwhelmed by all the change that will come as a result of this latest bit of information. By the time he went to bed, he was sobbing because of the littlest things like still having a lingering cough, or wanting a drink of water or not wanting to go to the bathroom before bed or needing to blow his nose. I ended up sitting with him for a while pointing out all the fun things we'd need to do to get ready for a new baby - like finding out if he was big enough to move into a booster seat so the car seats could be passed down the line of kids. Once he was on a brighter note, he told me all about the stories Uncle W told him when he had a sleepover back in August. After that, he was ok enough to settle down for the night. This morning, he woke up singing and beside himself with excitement about a new baby. I love his passion for life!

Emma's excited because everybody else is, but I don't think she really realizes the reality of it yet. She says she wants a girl baby, but I'm guessing she's just copying Dolly on that. It will be interesting to watch her when she discovers she's going to have to re-train everyone. And Butler doesn't have a clue.

Now the trick is figuring out how we're going to fit another car seat into the van. We found a very narrow booster seat online, but you have to buy them in sets of 8 and we're not sure they're up to the Canadian car seat standards which would make a big difference when it came to selling the extras. We have to do a bit more research on that, but there's still time.

Well, I should post this while I have a chance. It's already lunch time and I have yet to make lunch which we have to eat fast enough so we can leave on time to get Dolly.

To tell or not to tell... (abridged)

2010-11-15T22:31:00.003-08:00

I was going to write a long, elaborate post with all kinds of detail tonight, but pregnancy tends to make me tired. I think I'll just go to bed now and try again later.

Once there was a 4 year old boy...

2010-10-29T23:30:00.003-07:00

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
Ecclesiastes 9:10

He's almost 4½ now. But back when he was newly 4, I took him in to get his pictures done. This year, we brought our own props - some of his cars. I'm glad we did because I think we really captured PC as himself because of them. Below are the additional poses - one was the usual free extra and the other the result of a good salesperson who, sensing my indecisiveness when it came to choosing the free extra, managed to talk me into buying a single sheet of a third pose.

I love this picture - he looks like such a little boy. Bare feet, hands in pockets and a summer tan. PC is really starting to look like he's growing up - I guess if I'm honest with myself, he is growing up. It's just a hard thing to get used to sometimes.

This is the picture they managed to talk me into buying for twice the cost of the rest of the package. I keep flipping back and forth from loving it because it's such a great picture of PC's smile and character, to kicking myself for being so manipulated when the overall pose isn't one I really like. I don't like the over-the-shoulder attempt - it doesn't look very natural or relaxed, but his smile is real in spite of the obvious positional posing.

PC is a 'reactor'. He doesn't talk your ear off normally, but is content to give three word (or less) answers. He is happy to let his sisters make most of the suggestions when they're playing and cheerfully helps them accomplish said suggestions. He doesn't like change at all, and it takes him quite a while to get used to something new. Then it takes him a while to admit that he's not so bothered by it after all. He's compassionate, thoughtful and when he allows himself to show emotion, very passionate about the things he likes and dislikes. If I had to describe him in one word - it would be, 'eager'. He does things whole-heartedly, and it's wonderful to see.

He loves his tools, toy cars and his bike (which is recently training wheel-free and now has a flat tire).

Well, I decided to post PC's pictures tonight because it wasn't going to take me very long and it was bedtime when I got started. Now I've rambled my way through even more time and it won't be long before this won't be making any sense at all. So, before anything confusing appears... I think I'll wrap it up. Good night!

When it's that popular... write it down!

2010-10-26T22:21:00.001-07:00

There are pumpkins everywhere recently. This year we ended up with 7 and three of them went bad before I could do anything with them. When I took a look in the freezer, I discovered that most of what we put away last fall was still there. So, the plan was to figure out a way to start using some of it before quadrupling the stash. Half-heartedly I decided to make soup out of it thinking to myself, "This is not what I would call appetizing."

With hungry kids whining underfoot and bouncing off of each other in my little kitchen, I proceeded to prepare supper. Finally it was ready and I fully expected to battle most of my children through the meal. But they took me by complete surprise and practically inhaled the stuff. Dolly had 5ths! Butler had two full ladles of soup, PC, full at 2nds, managed to stuff two more servings into himself before reluctantly calling it quits and even Emma, who hasn't been eating much lately, gobbled up 3 servings before slowing down.

So, when I find something they like, I've learned, it must be recorded someplace for future replicating. I think we'll be making this again, but probably not "Every day" as PC suggested.

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 6-8

6 cups chicken stock
4 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups cooked rice
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp parsley
½ tsp thyme
1-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup cream

Combine all ingredients except the cream, in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree soup, one cup at a time and return to pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for another 15-20 minutes. Stir in cream, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Garnish with fresh parsley

"Dear Me" and a School Picture

2010-10-26T00:27:00.005-07:00

Dolly in Kindergarten

I can't say that Dolly is learning very much at school and just because she goes away every day doesn't mean we've stopped learning here. Most days after school, she reads to me and it's obvious that the practice is making the task easier. So much so, that I've been finding little play notes about the house. This one is one of my favorites:

In case you missed anything, here's a typed version:

"Dear Hannah (A letter from Ellyette)
Would you want my tea set?
Please may you send the letter back and say 'yes' or 'no'.
Love,
Ellyette"

Ellyette is a girl in Dolly's class with a matching backpack. I think that has a lot to do with Dolly's admiration of her, but this note was entirely produced by Dolly.

Ellyette did NOT write this letter.

The Dust is Settling

2010-10-14T17:50:00.002-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted here. A lot has been going on around our house. Some of it good, some not so good, some exciting, some busy, some satisfying and some sad. But I'm ready to write again.

Now just where to start?! Three weeks ago, Emma turned 3 and I have yet to get her pictures even scheduled to be taken. We finally got couches after using lawn chairs in our living room for the past 10 months. One of the birds died leaving a lone survivor out of the original 5 I brought to Canada. We're all getting used to Dolly's school schedule - it's starting to look like the people are more in control now instead of the schedule. PC, Emma and I have discovered the value days at the indoor pool - at the rate PC is taking to the water he'll be swimming by himself by the end of the year. Autumn is here in all it's color and crispness. The last of the unpacking is coming along enough that it's starting to feel like home here and I now know where more thing are than not for a change. The cat had kittens. We went to the zoo and I didn't take a single picture - even though we bought extra camera batteries specifically for that trip (at the zoo store - aka outrageously priced). Sir fixed the driver's window on the van. We discovered that our crib that's been in constant use for the last 5½ years had been recalled - so Butler has been sleeping in the pack 'n play for the last two weeks. PC has graduated out of training wheels on his bike and Emma got a bike with training wheels for her birthday, so when Dolly's in school, the rest of us have cruised the local parks a number of times.

But, while we've definitely been busy, I'm finding myself feeling more in control of the chaos now than subject to it - which was more the case not so long ago. And getting one's footing is always a good feeling - even if it is in spite of exhaustion.

And now, I'll go start the stove fire to take the afternoon chill away while I get dinner going.

Today, I Didn't Cry.

2010-09-08T23:33:00.001-07:00

Dear Dolly,

'They' say, when your firstborn goes away to school, that you cry. Today was your first day at school all by yourself. We met your teacher yesterday and everything changed in our lives.

To be honest, I've been dreading this day all year long. Every day that's gone by, I've thought about it. I've thought about the times we've done 'schoolwork' together, the times you've read to me, the letters you've spent hours on for writing practice. I've thought about this being the last summer before you'd have to go away to school. No more slow mornings and late breakfasts. No more spur of the moment, last minute plans for the day, no more late nights because we could recover the next day. And the days kept marching by.

This morning Emma got up early enough to eat breakfast with you. The boys barely made it out of bed and into the car by the time we had to go. She even chose to have the same kind of cereal that you had. It made me smile a little.

When we got to school, you didn't see the point in us waiting for you to go inside. You would have been the first in line if I hadn't made you hold still for a picture. I didn't want to take pictures, but I knew we'd want to see what your first day of school looked like someday. Emma wanted to stand in line with you, and she hardly left your elbow before your teacher came out and started giving directions.

That's when PC and Emma gave you a hug and you lined up with your classmates for the first time. Next week you'll meet the second half of your class, but out of the students we saw today, you were the only blond. My girl of gold. I must give your teacher credit, she did well organizing her students - even the ones who needed more organizing than the rest. It wasn't too long before you all made it up the stairs and the four of us were left standing outside. We'd be back soon, because this week, your school days are mere hours - just over an hour each day to be exact. Next week will see longer classroom time. Next week.

When we picked you up, you had your first paper to take home. You'd glued a cutout of your hand to it and there was a poem printed on the back side of paper. Poetry is bad for me. It has music - it has feeling. They're not just ordinary words because they've been carefully chosen so that they run smoothly together. That little poem with your hand print on the back almost had me today. My eyes welled up as I read it to you when you showed me your work, but I blinked them back to normal.

When I was a little girl my dream was to grow up, get married and be a mom. As I got older, that dream never changed, but I discovered I loved to teach and I dreamt of being a teacher too. Then I grew up, got married, and became a mom and I dreamt of being your teacher. So, today when I watched you climb up the steps I had to realize the fact that some dreams don't mix no matter how much you want them to.

I love you Dolly, and I'll be smiling for you as you go on to learn at school. I have the times we had before today to remember learning with you. They make me smile.

So today, I didn't cry.

Love Always,
~Mama

Unwelcome Visitor

2010-09-02T12:55:00.005-07:00

We have a skunk that lives in our neighbor hood. Occasionally he stops in at our place and hangs out under the deck. But because we have a guard dog, whenever Mr. Skunk visits he has quite the spray-day smelling up the place. Once he's under the deck, the dog can't get him and he can then go to some hidden passageway (I haven't been under the deck to find the secret entrance yet) that leads beneath the house itself. The problem with Mr. Skunk hanging out underneath the house is, it give the inside occupants (aka us) a up close smell of his latest perfume. Somehow the floor vent system just channels outside (under the house) smells right inside and since there aren't any fresh breezes inside, it takes a few days for the house to smell normal again. Last night he was back, and the smell was horrendous. I think it might have to do with why three of my children are so fussy they've been having meltdowns since 10am. I don't think anybody slept well last night.

Anyway, I have too many things to be doing right now, so I should probably get back to work. School starts for Dolly in a week which means I have to finish altering her uniforms, the Sunday School Picnic is this Saturday and there's still prep work for that to do, and there's still a few thing left to put back or put away from our barbecue last weekend.

Hm, maybe lunch and naps will cheer things up around here. In any case, I'm needed elsewhere!

Baby Steps

2010-08-20T23:57:00.006-07:00

Today was like my birthday. Not only did Lily watch my kids all day long, but Chasm's Lady sent supper over and Aunt Casey spent all day helping me unpack stuff that's just been getting shoved from one room to another! We worked on the stuff I've been procrastinating on unpacking because I didn't have enough time to focus on finding spots for it and putting it away!! I found so many thing I've been looking for too. Dry erase markers, the yard waste calendar, yard waste bags, the 'play' sprinkler, my small bottle of vanilla extract and the grocery list pad that has a magnet for sticking it to the fridge just to name a few! We got picture frames hung, kitchen cupboards more organized, a box of stuff collected for goodwill and even the curio cabinet curios finally in the cabinet. And we sorted out the stuff that needs to go to the storage unit from the stuff that can be put away here so I can make a trip out to the storage unit tomorrow. It's progress, and it feels so good! The Bird Room looks like it lost a ton of weight, the living room is down to just a few boxes, my room is almost box free and there's only a handful of boxes left here in the middle room. Getting so much done was wonderful, but all the help was even dearer. I'm often reminded of what a loving God cares for me by the people He's put around me who are so selfless. It's nearly overwhelming at times.

Butler took his first steps today! I caught him playing in the toilet and I think he was trying to get out of trouble and wasn't thinking as he dashed towards me taking at least 6 little steps before crashing into my arms. By the time he went to bed even he knew what he was doing and would take a step, catch his balance again and then take another before trying to dash/lean and toddle into my arms. I totally forgot to address the 'playing in the toilet' issue in all the excitement of coaxing him to walk. I'm sure the matter will arise again. This wasn't his first visit to the toilet bowl as I've often found toys floating in the water once the culprit has moved on.

And PC is on his first Sleepover. Aunt Casey took him home with her - it's been planned for a few weeks now and PC has been looking forward to this weekend so intently, it's been a blast to watch. This morning he woke up and told me, "Mommy! I get to go to Aunt Casey's house today!" "I know!" I enthused then he continued, "But I need to wear long pants because Uncle W and I are gonna make fire and I need to be safe." He called me before going to bed tonight to tell me that after dinner they went and "saw a lot ah lot of airplanes!" landing. My little shadow is growing more and more independent all the time. Sometimes bittersweet for me, but really it's a good thing for him. I just need to get all the hugs I can while he still offers them!

Anyway, it's getting late, and I'm tired. Last night all four kids were up between 4 and 5am because I accidentally missed the charger when I put our cordless baby monitor down on my nightstand. Consequently, I didn't hear Butler wake up the second time because he was still hungry, and I didn't hear him wake PC and Emma up and I didn't hear Emma wake Dolly up until they were all wound up and I finally tuned in to the commotion from the other side of the house. When I rushed to the rescue, I found PC shining his flashlight for Butler "to make him be happy" and while I started settling the boys down I could hear Dolly telling Emma that she (Emma) was just pretending to be scared which only upset Emma all the more. So, I left the boys which didn't make Butler happy and took care of the girls before going back and addressing the boys. By the time they were all quiet, I was finally awake and it was starting to get light out so going back to sleep was a little tricky at first. At least they all went to bed without any fuss tonight!

And now, I'll follow suit!

After two months...

2010-08-13T11:36:00.003-07:00

I finally found my knife block! I found the casserole lid I was looking for too. And the back of my CD player remote.

Now just to find the WD4D, the dry erase markers, the calendar that tracks what day the garbage pick up is and the 3gal gas can.

One ceiling fan is up, the discovery that the electrical here is... is 'unsafe' too strong a word?, and a house routine is slowly taking form!

Now - off for groceries.

We're making progress.

The List

2010-08-07T17:39:00.005-07:00

Next to me the laundry waits to be folded.
The birds need to be fed.
Lunch dishes are still on the table and it's time to start making dinner.
My bed needs sheets put on before bedtime (define bedtime).
There are boxes in the living room, boxes in my bedroom, boxes in the boys' room, boxes in the sewing room and boxes in the middle room (the room outside the kitchen that really has no name) that still must be unpacked.
My Sunday school lesson awaits preparation.
As does my PR card paperwork.
I still have to put the camping stuff up in our loft.
There's ironing - there's always ironing.
If I empty the dishwasher, then it can be refilled and control might be regained in the kitchen.
I'd rather be working on the last two camping posts - they're only half done so far.
Butler wants to nurse - now.
If I don't start making dinner now... we'll be eating late - again.

I ~~hate~~ do not like prioritizing.

There's always a bright side to look on though.

Sir sold his extra laptop today (he's been trying to get rid of it for two weeks now).
He refilled the ink in the printer.
Designed maps to our house for our annual EOS bbq.
And he started looking into installing the ceiling fans.
I dropped off two boxes of stuff at second hand - it's been cluttering the living room (and driving me crazy) for weeks.
I returned the lawnmower that we borrowed from Sir's parents.
I took my dad's amplifier/radio and the outgrown baby gear to the storage unit.
Priced garden hoses at two stores.
Washed two loads of laundry.
Folded the huge bin of mis-matched socks.
Swept the whole house.
I guess that's all - it felt like more though.

The girls are not sleeping.
Butler insists on his sustenance.
I must go. Does unpacking always take this long?

All in a Day's Drive...

2010-08-05T11:45:00.006-07:00

Monday was BC Day and Sir didn't have to go to work, so we took the opportunity to visit Grandpa & Grandma in the Okanagan Valley. So, Sunday night I packed the cooler and loaded it into the van and after a short night's sleep (Butler and Emma woke up multiple times), we woke the kids up, dressed them and hit the road just after 7:30 the holiday morning.

Biscuit wrapped smokies - fresh out of the oven

The kids helped me make "pig-in-a-blanket"s especially for our trip. We did that on Saturday before heading to the fireworks. So, naturally that's what we had for breakfast on Monday - along with individually wrapped cheese sticks, Clementine oranges and boxes of juice - once we filled the car with gas and were finally out of town.

We made good time and got to Kelowna right about noon. The kids did pretty good on the drive over too. We had to make a bathroom stop and I tried to feed Butler while Sir took care of the other kids, but Butler was more interested in the scenery than anything else. Other than that PC asked if we were 'there yet' about 6 dozen times and we had to make a surprise stop for an unbuckled Emma - she can unbuckle herself and does so when she thinks we might not notice.

Grandma 'n Butler.

Looking for ducks with Grandpa.

Mama Duck & her baby.

Once we got to Grandpa and Grandma's house, the kids immediately set out with Grandpa to go find some ducks while Butler hung out with Grandma. The older kids were successful and I was summoned to 'come see' by an excited Emma. After the duck finding expedition, we had lunch which was a myriad of cold cut meats (Sir and PC couldn't have been happier), watermelon, potato and coleslaw salads an assortment of breads and a vegetable plate that included sliced tomatoes to Dolly's delight. It was good and even Butler got his fair share - he was thrilled.

On top of the world - er tree.

After lunch, Sir and I visited with Grandpa and Grandma while the kids entertained themselves mostly within sight in the backyard. They found the tree very interesting and when we noticed that they weren't in sight anymore, someone pointed out that the tree appeared to be moving. 'Turned out that it was too - after about 3 minutes of watching, we were surprised to see Dolly's head pop up at the TOP of the tree! We knew she was in the tree, but I did not expect to see her come out at the very top.

A new hobby.

Monkey see... monkey do.

Emma couldn't figure out how to get into the tree, but PC did and he soon joined Dolly in climbing in and out of the tree. They would have stayed there all day, but we finally decided that the poor tree could use a break from all the abuse and called the kids down for a while. After that, they stayed busy trying to see what else was scale-able while still being in sight.

Stealing Grandpa's chair.

Sharing a foot rest with Grandpa.

With all the tree climbing and attempts to climb other trees, the kids got quite hot and sweaty. Grandpa remedied this with ice cream cones. During the cool-down break I got to see a new level of prankishness in my oldest two munchkins. Dolly found quite the thrill in stealing Grandpa's chair - all three of the older kids had ganged up on Sir to steal his chair earlier, and once the chairs were all settled, PC impishly collapsed Dolly's folding chair just seconds after she hopped out of it to go talk to Emma. Dolly never noticed, but the rest of us got quite a laugh watching PC's expression at being such a rascal.

Eating ice cream with a view.

Little Emma - while the bigger kids were done with their ice cream and back at the tree climbing, she set up a table and stool overlooking the neighbor's flower bed so she could enjoy her cone and God's handiwork at the same time. After a few minutes, she set up a second table and stool should anyone wish to join her. It was special to watch her find a way to be content even when she couldn't keep up with the older kids.

Honey bee.

The kids started unraveling shortly after the ice cream was finished up. We let them climb the tree again before it was time to go, but by the time I had finished nursing Butler to sleep, PC was definitely showing his need for a nap. By the time all the diapers were changed, bathroom visited, kids buckled in and good byes said, it was already 4pm. We filled up with gas, settled the kids so they could go to sleep, and headed for home.

An old cemetery on Hwy 8.

It was just before 6 as we approached Merritt and read the sign saying the Coquihala Hwy was closed. We stopped at the Merritt visitor's center to find out why the route we wanted to take was closed and to find a map. There had been an accident 25km ahead and traffic had been stopped in both directions for nearly an hour. We had two choices: 1. Hang out in Merritt until the highway was re-opened. and 2. Take the scenic route to the old Hwy 1. Since we couldn't find anything else out about when the Coquihala would reopen, we chose to take the scenic route - AKA: The Long Way Home.

The kids woke up from their naps just as we set out on our alternate route. They'd slept for a little over an hour so they were recharged and happy until they started getting hungry around 7pm. By 7:30 the sounds changed from singing/playing/chattering to whining/fussing/screaming baby. We'd originally planed to stop for dinner in Hope and had we taken the Coquihala, we should have been having supper around 8pm. But now we found ourselves pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't even any good places to stop for the kids to run around somewhere safe. Everything was either right on the highway or right on the river the highway was following. Both not exactly where you want to have your small children running around at dusk.

Split rail fence.

Heading to Hwy 1.

We set our goal for Spenser's Bridge - a little town where Hwy 8 was to meet up with Hwy1, only to discover it was pretty much a ghost town. Just a few houses and a confused dog wondering why there was so much more traffic than usual. By this time the crescendo had reached, what we hoped, was it's high, and we kept on looking for anywhere to stop somewhere along Hwy 1.

Train tunnels along the Fraser River.

Following the Fraser.

If we thought the little river on Hwy 8 wasn't safe, the raging Fraser River along Hwy 1 totally changed our minds. Finally around 8pm, we came to a little town called Lytten. We stopped at the hotel/cafe/restaurant to rush PC to the bathroom and to rescue Butler from his car seat and the rest of us from his wailing. Once the bathroom break was over, the kids and I waited in the car while Sir ordered some take-out burgers from the cafe. Then we went to the school playground overlooking the police station to eat and rest on the grass as it got dark. The kids watched a handful of trains go by and then burned off some energy by running from one end of the soccer field to the other until they couldn't run anymore. At 9pm we washed them up, put them in pajamas and loaded them into the van tired, full and preciously quiet. They were all asleep within half an hour and we were still hours from home.

By 10:30 I was so tired I couldn't stay awake any longer, and poor Sir drove alone for hours. He woke me up to talk to him around Midnight and I think I slept-talked until we got home at 1. We unloaded the kids and everyone was asleep by 1:30. Of course, the kids tell me that they want to go back to Grandpa and Grandma's house because their tree is easier to climb than the three in our back yard, but I think we'll wait a while for now.

Our Snowbirds.

BC Pop Quiz

2010-08-03T17:20:00.002-07:00

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What do the words "Alexandra", "Yale", "Sailor" and "Saddle" have in common? The answer will shed some light on our trip to Kelowna and back yesterday, and help explain why we arrived home at 1am.
Sir says he thinks his parents and maybe Bashful might know what the words mean, but doesn't really expect anybody else to know without looking it up.

Dolly turned 5.

2010-08-01T23:59:00.003-07:00

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple."
Psalm 27:4

Six months ago - and a day- my little girl turned 5. Now in just a few short weeks, she'll be going away to school every day. Some things are bitter sweet.

I was just unpacking a box the other day which turned out to be more of my desk stuff. And there, amidst all the rest of the paperwork, were a whole collection of pictures that I hadn't even scanned to post yet. So, since yesterday we saw the fireworks and tomorrow we're going to visit our Nomads and I won't be around to work on the camping posts, I thought I'd pick a picture to scan and post. Dolly's happens to be the earliest picture in my collection of dust acquiring photos.

You can see I needed to trim her bangs - I actually got around to that the very next week. Just not in time for her picture. It's hard to remember what stages she was at half a year ago, but I can summarize her a bit now. She can read if she makes the effort. She'll insist that she can't read if there's any chance you might read the said matter to her. Dolly loves to mother Butler, and she is a huge help to me around the house. The rule is she's not supposed to carry him around, so she spends hours entertaining him wherever he happens to be. And that can be a pretty tough job sometimes.

She loves any kind of water and will get wet no matter how cold it might be. Beach, lake, pool, puddle - it doesn't matter to her. I'll breathe easier when I know she can swim though. I'm sure there's more, but I need to get our stuff together for the drive tomorrow. Preferably with some time left to sleep tonight too! Below is the extra pose we got with her package photo above.

Our little lady.

Creatures of Deer Lake

2010-07-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

'You see what I see?!

The first day we were at the campground, all three of our older kids joined Microchip for a boat ride on the lake. They came back with the most exciting tale of seeing a real live beaver in the water. Evidently Emma was quite terrorized by it. She kept telling me about a 'dog in the water that was black and it was wet' and that she was 'scary'. Throughout the week we saw quite the collection of wildlife at the lake from tadpoles to a flock of Canada geese.

Mr. Skunk.

This guy passed through our camp Monday night as soon as the lantern was turned down. It was like he was just waiting for 'lights out' so he could make his rounds. He later went through Microchip and Lily's stuff that same night. I think he stopped by just about every night although it wasn't until Thursday that Sir got a picture of him.

Serious discoveries.

PC and Emma were so excited to find this guy Tuesday morning. When I asked them to point him out for the camera, PC looked like I was asking him to do a very dangerous feat. Emma, on the other hand was quite matter-of-fact about it, and very seriously obliged. So I took at close up shot for the record.

"Look, Mommy! Look!!!" - they found a slug.

Madame Butterfly

Just before lunch on Tuesday, we all headed out to 'the point' for some swim fun. There were butterflies all over the place and I finally got a picture of one when it landed on Sari whom Dolly had left guarding her shoes.

Caterpillar

Wednesday morning PC found a caterpillar in our campsite. He wanted to take it home and for a short time the poor insect was continuously relocated about camp. Finally Sir and I told PC to let the bug go. He did, but about three minutes later I looked up to see PC and Emma fighting over something and discovered upon closer inspection that the caterpillar had ended up a casualty of war.

Stopping by for breakfast.

A raccoon stopped by our camp Thursday morning for some bread crust. This was probably the same guy Sir saw Monday night in our camp just minutes after Mr. Skunk passed through.

Pointing him out for the camera.

Once the kids discovered the raccoon he kept a larger distance between himself and us. He'd grab a piece of bread crust and then scamper up a nearby tree to eat it in safety. Then when it looked like the kids had given him a bit of space, he'd come back down for another piece.

A Steller's jay

This fellow showed up to clean up the leftover popcorn that the kids had tossed for the Raccoon. He never held still though, so every picture I got of him was pretty blurry.

A minnow, some tadpoles and a few water bugs.

Friday, a bunch of the kids spent a good deal of time collecting lake life. They also found a little stream where they collected quite a few junior toads. Microchip took them 'frog hunting' in the boat at least three times during the week. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures when the kids brought the 'frogs' back to show us - they were pretty cute.

Canada Geese.

There was quite the bunch of them that lived on the lake. They were very used to people and put up with a lot of kids trying to herd/catch/chase and feed them.

ShyGuy and the geese.

This kid has got to be one of the world's most photogenic. I love this picture.

Butler on the hunt.

"'Gonna get me a goose for dinner... it's gonna take all day." He really though the could get one too - they kept him busy for quite some time!

I found it interesting that we never saw a single squirrel or chipmunk while we were camping. PC wanted to know when the deer would come. We were camping at Deer Lake, so you'd expect to see deer right? He asked about them every single day. We never did see any though.

Dolly and a fish.

And we saw lots of fish - once they were caught of course. Sir and Microchip spent many hours helping the kids to fish.

Cooking at Deer Lake

2010-07-29T15:41:00.003-07:00

Butler discovering lid lifters and dutch ovens make noise.

On Monday, when the ranger checked in, the first night we were at our campsite, he told us that a fire ban was coming. I don't know about you, but to me camping without a fire is just NOT camping. I think I got this opinion because we don't have a camp stove and no fire means no real food and dry goods just don't make up for a fire-cooked meal. There was a fire ban, but it didn't happen until Friday and thankfully, Microchip and Lily had two camp stoves and let us borrow one of them Thursday night for the remainder of the trip. To my delight, I was able to cook over the fire for most of the time were were camping. Before we left Sir got me a set of stack-able mixing bowls that have lids!! and a second set of metal camping dishes bringing our place setting to 8 and giving me an extra kettle to help keep hot water available. Of course I brought my dutch oven, a couple frying pans and my big stew pot, so my kitchen was nicely equipped.

PC overseeing the bacon process.

Breakfast Tuesday, was hot chocolate, bacon, blueberries and cold cereal. We bought special 'sugar cereal' to take camping. The funny thing though, was when the kid sat down to breakfast, they wanted Corn Flakes, Cheerios and Rice Krispies - the stuff they're used to at home. Sometimes you can never win...

Microchip and Lily's campsite.

We pooled lunch ingredients and for the most part, ate all our lunches over at Microchip and Lily's campsite. We were just across the road from their camp, but they had a bit more room since we had two tents taking up our campsite.

Marinated beef strips, peppers n' onions and tin foil wrapped rice.

That night I cooked fajitas for dinner and attempted a blueberry crisp. It was the first time I'd actually baked in the dutch in over 7 years, so I ~~made a couple really dumb mistakes~~ was a bit rusty on my baking skills. The second crisp turned out much better than the first one which ended up a bit crispier than it should have been - I never took a picture of either of them.

Wednesday's breakfast - Sausages 'n eggs.

Bread baking, butter melting and spaghetti sauce heating. My blue kettle was officially black by day 2.

We had hot chocolate again, little smokies and scrambled eggs for breakfast on Wednesday. That night I baked bread to go with my spaghetti meal. I didn't get any pictures of the meal served - just the covered pots while it was cooking. I guess I must have been busy? I burnt my arm on the fire pit while digging for coals to bake with. It wasn't too bad and we had ice on hand to help cool the burn. I put a burn cream on and bandaged it up, but it wasn't until we joined Lily's camp with supper and she gave me a special burn bandage that my arm stopped hurting. I think I'll need to stock up on some of those bandages - they were amazing!

Leftover sausages, sausage gravy and buttermilk biscuits baking on the side.

Dolly and me at the breakfast table.

Thursday I baked biscuits and made sausage gravy to go with them for breakfast. Of course there was hot chocolate and fruit and cold cereal to choose from like every other morning and we finished up the leftover smokies from the day before. Thursday was also the day Bashful and everybody else joined the camping trip. The number of kids doubled and even with the extra adults were were outnumbered by kids 2 to 1. It was also the last day we could have campfires. I couldn't get enough coals before dinner to make up the brownies I had planned to bake for desert that night, so we suffered terribly with roasted marshmallows and s'mores and cookies and fruit and... well, we suffered as you can tell.

Chiquita and Fairy.

Thursday night I booted PC from the little tent so Dolly could have these little ladies join her for a camping sleepover. They stayed for hot chocolate Friday morning, but rejoined their own families before I got around to cooking our bacon and making egg-in-the-baskets on the camp stove we borrowed. It's one of Dolly's favorite breakfasts (she inherited that taste from her Grandpa in California) and they're a bit tricky to cook over an open fire so the camp stove was a perfect solution.

The final plate of fish.

Whenever the fishermen/women brought in any fish, Sir boned them and gave them to me to cook up as a side dish to whichever meal we were currently eating. I think by the end of the camping trip I'd finally figured out the seasoning/dusting mix for the fish. This was the batch we had Friday evening with Lily's pulled pork sandwiches and all the fixings. I think that was probably my favorite meal of the camping trip. I got sidetracked with keeping my kids and their food together and forgot to get seconds for myself - not that I needed seconds, but those sandwiches were good!

Camping at Deer Lake

2010-07-28T13:12:00.001-07:00

Last week we spent Monday through Saturday camping at Deer Lake. Once we got everything puzzled into the van and ready to go, it was almost nap time. We'd hoped to be on our way sometime during the mid-morning so that we would have a good part of the day at the campground (its a 2+ hour drive), but I wasn't organized enough and we ended up leaving later.

It was hot and the poor kids were packed in like sardines, but thankfully we have AC in the van and the drive was bearable. Because it was late, we had lunch before we left, but poor little Butler missed out on that because I just made a plate of sandwiches and let the kids come and go while I kept packing. He'd missed his morning nursing too and by the time I finally remembered, we had already gotten on our way at last. He fussed for a few minutes and then fell asleep before we had a chance to stop somewhere for me to feed him. We did stop about half an hour from the campsite when Butler woke up and I nursed him while Sir got some bait worms at a gas station.

Packed in

It was 5:30 by the time we reached our campsite and the kids were thrilled to discover Microchip and Lily were already there with their girls. Dolly and PC found every single reason to go join the other girls while Emma and Butler stayed at camp. Once we got unloaded and the tents pitched, we joined Microchip's family for a delicious salmon dinner that Lily had prepared complete with rice and a fresh green salad. After dinner I finished setting up the sleeping stuff and tried making a bit of sense out of the rest of our camping gear.

Helping Daddy pitch the big tent.

Snagle-toothed and proud of himself for sitting in PC's chair

We brought two tents and pitched them both. I figured the kids might like to have a sleep over with their friends in the small one at some point. PC surprised me by claiming the little tent right from the beginning and he slept alone it in for the first three nights. He's always been my most clingy child so I did not expect him to volunteer to sleep in a separate tent from me and I never dreamed he'd be happy to sleep away from me and all by himself!

Goin' Camping.....

2010-07-19T14:16:00.003-07:00

If you look closely, you can see the girls' little fingers waving from the back.

And now that it's 4.5 hours later than we'd planned on leaving, everything is finally loaded into the car and we're off for camping at the lake! I love summer time adventures... just not always the prep work for them!

So much to say....

2010-07-17T23:52:00.001-07:00

Sir spent all evening and quite a bit of Thursday night setting my computer up for me. And yesterday was my first full day with my computer back - for real! And it works - it really does! Sitting on the floor at the kids' computer is no more!

Today I spent packing for our camping trip next week and trying to make a little more sense of the house regarding unpacking from the move. The kids are beyond excited about camping this time. I think they might remember a bit from our last camping trip or maybe they're just older and can understand more. It will be Butler's first camping trip and he's already 8 months old!

Now that my photo editor is re-installed, I can post pictures again... and there are so many pictures to post and write about. I should have plenty of material to last the rest of the year! But for now, I'm going to bed.

Could it really be fixed?

2010-07-15T11:51:00.001-07:00

This morning the "Give-you" truck (PC's definition for a UPS truck) delivered my computer to our front door. If you're interested in the saga that's taken place regarding my all-in-one computer this year, keep reading. Other wise check back in a few days - I might have a chance to write about normal life sometime.

You might not remember, but sometime between March 26th and April 8th, my new computer (Sir got it for me on a Boxing Day sale) died. Apparently it had something wrong with the memory part of it, but as far as I was concerned it just wouldn't turn on completely which made it unusable. Sir looked at it for a couple of days, copied my files in case the hard drive needed to be wiped and then drove hours on his only days off to deliver it to a 'warranty repair' shop and home again. That shop had it for five days and decided that they actually didn't do warranty work for the company we'd purchased the computer from. However, they did 'take a look at it' reseated something and it looked like the machine was working again. Except five hours after I turned it on it died a second time.

I think it took us a week to get around to calling the computer company, but once we did they arranged for a technician to come to our house and repair it. The first tech showed up about 3 days after we'd contacted the company, but he had the wrong mother board. They had decided to replace the mother board, hard drive and memory 'just to be sure' they fixed the problem. The next week a different tech arranged to come with the right parts. He was hours late and then called me from our driveway to say he grabbed the wrong part and couldn't do the repair that day after all. Another week later, the first tech came back with the right parts and replaced the hard drive, motherboard and memory. In the process he broke the optical drive and lost the rubber foot for the monitor stand. Then we discovered that Sir's copy of my operating system was corrupted and we'd need a system recovery disk since the computer had a new hard drive.

So, we called the company back and told them about the optical drive, rubber foot and that we'd also need a system restore. 3 weeks later they were 'still waiting for the parts to be shipped to them'. Did I mention we were in the middle of moving during all of this? Anyway, they finally 'had the parts' (ten days later) and scheduled another service call for the following week. Except when the tech arrived, I discovered that they forgot to send the rubber foot and the system restore cd. The guy tried telling me that it wasn't the optical drive that was broken but he cover and he didn't bring the cover that day. I had to show him that the cover was just fine and that he did indeed bring the right part (the optical drive). He wanted to install the drive later when they had the rest of the stuff he was supposed to bring but I told him I'd rather he did what he could since the next guy they sent out wouldn't be any more intelligent in the matter and with the way things had been going, the optical drive would be forgotten. So, he fixed the optical drive and my computer was still out of commission.

June 22nd, the day after the optical drive was repaired, the computer company called to check that the repair had been done. I told them only the optical drive had been attended to and that we were still waiting for the rubber foot for the monitor stand and the operating system recovery cd. They said they'd mail the recovery cd directly to us and have the technicians come out again to fix the foot. Ten minutes later they called back and said that I had to ship the whole machine to the company because they didn't have any recovery cds that they could ship and that it had to be done at the factory. Two days later I receive a postage paid box to return my computer in, and the tracking number indicated my computer arrived in Ontario three days after that. The repair at the company was supposed to take three days. Two weeks later I called them to find out why I hadn't seen the computer back yet and they were 'waiting to receive a recovery cd, but they would make a note to "expedite" the repair'.

That was Sunday evening. Less than four days later my computer arrived at the door. Dare I hope it's actually repaired? For real this time? Now I'll go open the box and see what I can find.

Drifting

2010-07-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today has been a slow day. I'm either really lazy, still exhausted from the whirlwind of activities recently or we're just in the eye of the storm of busyness. But it has been nice to not have to do something that needs to be done before I can get to something else on the TODO list because we need to get to yet another thing that needs to be accomplished. Yes, there's still lots to be done - piles of laundry to go through, stacks of boxes still to unpack, the bathroom to scrub and water seal, but I can flit back and forth between them or just leave them undone today because I don't HAVE to be anywhere doing something by a certain time.

Watch, halfway through nap time I'll remember something that was supposed to be done today, but right now all is escaping my memory and I'm savoring doing nothing (ok, not nothing, but very little). The next thing on the agenda is a camping trip in two weeks. Which means I need to find, collect and assess our camping supplies before it's time to go.

It's supposed to get hot this week! So last night the kids and I filled the kiddie pool in anticipation of our annual heat wave week. This morning was cloudy and cool but the kids donned their swimsuits and shivered away in the cold water anyway. I felt sorry for them and dumped about six gallons of scalding water in the pool to raise the temperature a little. They've been out there ever since. Emma added a frisbee of dirt to the water and now Dolly and PC are almost done emptying the pool cupful by cupful - their idea,not mine. I assume they're going to want me to refill it once they get all the water out. I did rescue Butler since he was crawling around under foot and getting ~~dripped on~~ drenched in the process. Now he's crawling all over me while I try to write.

I should go while my kids are still being good. I guess feeding them lunch might be a smart idea. Now that the pool is empty they're going to remember that they're hungry and it's not going to sound very cheerful.

Online again!

2010-06-17T23:58:00.003-07:00

You wouldn't think two weeks could be so long - until your internet provider cancels your account since they don't provide service to your new neighborhood. We discovered (the day after our actual move) that we 'might have been notified by e-mail' that they cancelled our account when we tried arranging our internet to be set up at the new house ten days before the move. Except, why would someone tell you they might have sent an e-mail to you to the address they just cancelled AFTER they cancelled your account? We're still trying to figure that one out too.

But that's past, and we're finally set up with a provider that does service our area, Sir set up the network here and as of last night I have interent access again after almost 3 weeks without it! I'm still borrowing the kids' computer, since we're STILL waiting for the warranty people to finish fixing mine.

The house is starting to look more like a house and less like a giant cardboard box finally. Tonight I got the dining room looking like a dining room and I love it! I think my favorite room in the house is my laundry room - I have a real laundry room (well, it's also the furnace room) and I can do laundry any day of the week, and any time of the day!!! I love this little house and there's something I love about probably every single room too.

Saturday we got Butler's 6 month pictures taken. The last month has been so crazy and busy that it was almost impossible to get them done any sooner. Sir also set up most of the swing set in the back yard that day which was a relief to me because our kids were having a lot of fun climbing outside the railing of the deck. Now they climb all over the swing set and stay on the right side of the deck railing most of the time. We also got mattresses for the kids that day so they've been off the floor for almost a week now. It's really made a difference in their attitudes now that they're sleeping more comfortably.

My eyes are crossing, my legs are going to sleep, and I have the slightest feeling that I'm a little bit rambling here, so I think I'll end this and the day for now. :)

'good night!

Not that I have time to be writing....

2010-05-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

I should be packing furiously - we're down to the last 5 days before this place is history.

The kids and I picked Sir up from the sky train this evening and on the drive home Dolly started talking to Butler. "Butler, you can't go to sleep yet... no you can't." She cooed to him in a sing-songy voice. "You haven't been feeded yet." I don't remember if it was Sir or myself, that corrected her, "It's not feeded, Dolly. You FEED something, and when it's full, it has been FED." Then the other of us, repeated the lesson in almost the same words. "It's kind of like 'feet' and 'foot', Dolly." I explained, You have one FOOT, but two FEET - not FEETS." "And not FOOTS either, right Mommy?" She clarified. "Well, FOOT'S would be something that BELONGS to your foot - Like your foot's shoe" I answered. "WHY?!!" Sir whispered to me incredulously amused, "Let's stick to the subject on hand!"

The subject was interrupted by the sighting of a tow truck pulling a mini-van and the 'foot/feet fed/feed' conversation was forgotten. Until we pulled into the alleyway just before our driveway. "Butler," Dolly cooed to him, "You have to be FEDDED before you can go to sleep!"

Emma has been falling and scraping her knees a lot recently - well, she's always falling, but recently it has come with scraped up knees. After re-opening a scrape a day or two ago, she came to me and said, "Mommy, I need a bandee (band aid). See, wook! my weg is blooding!"

I gave the kids their laundry to put away last week. A few minutes later, I went to their room, and told them we had to get going (I don't remember where we were going now) and to put their socks and shoes on. PC was still putting his laundry away, but he was quick to respond, "OK! I will put my shoes on, Mommy. You can put (the rest of) my laundry away - it's only a little bit!"

"Be Bwerry Quiet, Mommy. Ok?" - Emma

2010-05-18T17:01:00.003-07:00

After lunch I was clearing the table when I heard, "Mommy! I need to go potty" "K, PC! go to the bathroom then!" two minutes later, "Mommy, I peed on my pants and my underwear and the floor." "Ok, just clean it up - use toilet paper." I instructed. "But I can't! it melted on my pants."

As I write this, sitting on the floor in front of my little old computer, Emma has been playing 'meeting' by herself behind me (the other kids are still all napping). She just finished raiding Dolly's bible case for hats. The whole time singing various lines from an assortment of hymns. "Oh, yes, oh yes, dare's sdumpding more, trust and obey! Yes Jesus wub me bor duh Bible dells me so - Jesus ded caa ur neh on deh right side... no sdumpding, sdumping more!" Then she became very quiet, said, "Shhhh! deh baby's sweeping!", selected just the right hat and carefully put it on my head. "Be bwerry quiet, mommy. Ok? I gunna be wite bwack." and she ran off to the playroom for a toy bottle for her baby and my own bible case for me. I had moved while she was gone, and the hat slipped off a bit. "Don't Mommy! oo need to hab ur at on pwroperwy!"

This morning in the car PC was singing, "Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes" Dolly interrupted him, "No, PC! That's not how it goes! You're supposed to say, 'Oh yes, oh yes, there's something more. Yes, there really is, yes, oh yes, there's something, something more'" I had to smile since I've never heard the 'yes, there really is' version before.

And Butler weighed in at 16lbs, 6oz at his 6 month shot appointment this morning.

Today felt like SUMMER!

2010-05-14T16:33:00.001-07:00

8pm - Thursday:
Today was gorgeous. Sunshine, light breezes, actually warm temperatures. It was the kind of day you want to spend outside gazing at the flawless blue sky with ice cubes melting on your forehead. I spent it driving hither and yon and walking miles of store floors shopping.

Tomorrow is supposed to be just as wonderful, so I think I'll 'need' to pack the shed in the yard in preparation for our move. If I trip into the kiddie pool 'accidentally' I guess we'll just have to have a water fight and refill the pool (we filled it this evening so the water won't be freezing tomorrow). Then we'll have to be responsible and stay outside so we don't drip in the house of course. We'll see.. I do have to pack the shed up sometime though.

Morning Glory made it to Texas an hour before Tina was discharged from the hospital yesterday. Tina called me about four times yesterday while she waited for her 48 hours to be up. She was so ready to go home and actually DO something again - I'm glad they had her stay since it made her take it easy for a change!

Continued the next day... (because I got sidetracked and never got around to editing it by a decent hour).

My mom called this morning to say Tina was thrilled to have the extra help from Glory. So it sounds like things are looking up in Texas. Thank you, to all who prayed! I know it made the difference.

We haven't made it out to the shed yet today... instead we took a load to storage, grabbed some last minute things at the grocery store, returned a book to the library and went to a book store for some books to give to the pre-class kids at the Sunday School Treat tomorrow. That was after we paid the house some serious attention in the cleaning department - all this running around lets your house get away with getting sloppy and not picking up after itself...

The kids did get to splash in the kiddie pool for a few minutes while Butler ate his very late lunch. Then when he was done, I collected the wet play clothes to hang on the line before putting all my kids down for naps. I'll let them go back out to the pool when they wake up from their naps so they can have their 'real' pool play time today. Meanwhile I have food to work on preparing for tomorrow.

What Sisters are For

2010-05-11T17:01:00.005-07:00

Sisters are for going to when you need help,
They're for talking to when you get overwhelmed.
You cry with them, laugh with them, and what is more..
You pray with them - that is what sisters are for.

They stand up for you, with you, and give you their ear
They tell you their secrets and and each hidden fear.
But a sister can need things herself, so you see
She'll need you to be there, and there you must be.

You'll talk with her, cry with her, laugh with her too
Give her the ear she needs when she's blue
But the most you can do for your sister, I say
Is kneel down, and with your heart for her - pray!

My sister Tina is in the hospital on antibiotics right now - they admitted her yesterday afternoon. She's 5 months pregnant with her fourth baby and has had some kidney problems recently. Right now she's battling a couple of infections, and while she's getting 48hrs of IV antibiotics, they're keeping her so they can monitor her baby too. The stress from the pain was causing them to be concerned about pre-term labour. She should be able to go home tomorrow, but I know life with little people normally can be exhausting.

My littlest sister should be able to make the 4 hour flight to Texas tomorrow and will stay with Tina, Boots and the boys to help out for a couple of weeks. As for the rest of us, we can pray for a quick recovery, a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby.

I just have to remember it's not the only thing left that I can do, but the most that can be done for her - to pray!

To Be a Mother...

2010-05-09T07:00:00.002-07:00

A couple months ago, Chasm's Lady had her baby and I was invited to attend a welcoming shower for little Sparkle*. Each lady was requested to bring some sort of 'advice' on being a mother as sort of a group gift. And I thought, "HA! Me? give advice?! I still need some (or rather, more than some) myself."

So for a few weeks I hemmed and hawed, and thought clouds of smoke out my ears until the night before the shower. Finally I wrote this and decided I should post it as a Mother's Day post later on. It's really just me talking to myself more than anything else, but I kindof like how it turned out.

The Mother You Were Meant to Be

When raising little people,
There's so often much to do.
Take time to stop and listen,
Laugh and smile too.

Be the first to say, “I love you,”
And when things go awry
Show patience and forgiveness
When tempers start to fly.

Give hugs and kisses often,
But remember to stay firm
On all the things you tell them,
Because they need to learn.

Enjoy these little people
The moments will go fast
And it won't be long before
They're just memories from the past

Win over their affection,
And teach them while you can
To hear the One who guides
Them with a loving hand.

Lead their hearts to Jesus
Because you love them so.
It's the privilege of a mother
And you'll have to let them go.

If He's the One who owns them
You'll be comforted to see,
You've done all, and were the mother
That you were meant to be.

* A.R.C --> Arc --> Spark --> Sparkle. She's bright-eyed and beautiful, so in other places she's called Ruth or Banana, but here you'll probably see her as Sparkle.

Thumbs Up! *

2010-05-07T23:25:00.005-07:00

I had great plans for today. You shouldn't do that you know, make great plans. They always get changed. Instead of getting a zillion things done, I spent 3½ hours at the emergency room, took a nap, and made dinner. At least I did get a nap :).

Some days the kids and I drive Sir to the sky train or the bus stop in the mornings. Today we took him to the bus stop and since it's less than a 15 min round trip, we usually eat breakfast when we get home. Only when we got home this morning, Emma closed the sliding door of our van on her hand.

Thankfully, it was just her thumb, and I was able to get the door open almost right away, but the door had completely shut and her little thumb was pretty sore. I couldn't tell if she'd broken anything, and the immediate swelling didn't help matters - especially since she wouldn't let anything touch her thumb if she could help it.

After we got in the house, I threw some wet paper towels in the freezer to chill for a minute, and tried to get Emma to keep something cold on her hand, but she kept taking everything off. I called our doctor's office and asked them if I could just bring her to them to look at (I didn't think there was much that could be done for a thumb injury, much less a toddler's thumb), but they told me whoever saw her would want x-rays, and they recommended I take her to the hospital.

I tossed some bread in the toaster and while the older kids ate their toast, I made babysitting arrangements, nursed Butler and grabbed some snacks and books for my bag in preparation for the ER. The whole while, Emma kept bursting out in crying fits and that in itself reassured me I wasn't overreacting. Emma is my toughest kid. She takes knocks right and left and keeps on going with the best of them. So for her to keep complaining meant that it really hurt a lot.

After I dropped Dolly, PC and Butler off, we headed to the smallest hospital around here. Its usually less crowded than the bigger ones, and you get seen faster. Except today they had a whole waiting room of patients arrive pretty much all at the same time so it took us an hour before we even saw the triage nurse. Then while we were waiting after triage, an inpatient slipped and fell in the main lobby and the ER department had to CALL an ambulance so they could get a stretcher to move the injured patient. I saw him go by later with his head all wrapped up in a huge bloody bandage - he was probably in his 60s or older.

When all of that settled down, we were finally sent down the hall to wait for x-rays. Emma did really well holding still for the pictures and from what I could see, her little thumb bones looked fine. Of course, you have to go back to the ER and wait for the Doctor to read them and tell you that you can go. Emma was pretty good the whole time, and I was really glad that I'd packed the snacks and books. She was the only kid there during our visit, and I think that might have had something to do with all the charmed employees. The triage nurse gave her a coloring book and crayons, the charge nurse gave her a teddy bear, a paramedic gave her a SECOND teddy bear, and the doctor who treated her, gave her a popsicle after he drained the blood that had accumulated under her thumbnail to relieve the pressure. Nobody wanted her to have bad memories of her visit - I just hope she doesn't have too many fond memories, since I can think of a lot of other places that are more convenient for me to have her visit!

Anyway, Emma turned out to be fine. She'll just have a really sore thumb for a few days. By the time we got out of the hospital, I was sure Butler was going to be starving - at least I hoped he was still starving. He wasn't, but he was happy to eat again when we got home. The rest of the day was pretty dull compared to the beginning, but naps, grocery shopping and dinner are never that exciting anyway.

So, my great plans of prep work and packing for our move never happened today, but tomorrow is another day, and I'll need to make the best of it, if we're going to be ready to move in 23 days. Just remind me not to panic. :)

*(perhaps 'Out' would be more appropiate..)

Ready or Not... I will blog.

2010-05-06T23:20:00.004-07:00

It's been a month. A very very long month in which I haven't blogged a single word. And I've missed it. My computer died. And has been dead. And I've been hunching over the kids' computer reading everybody elses' blogs while I've waited for my computer to resurrect. Only it hasn't.

So, I will sit on the floor while my legs go to sleep and I will post. You won't get any pictures because when we gave this little laptop to the kids, we removed pretty much everything to make it a little more kid friendly/faster/free up some hd space/etc. My editing program was one of those things, but you will survive. I will survive.

Tonight, Sir fixed my e-mail up so I can use it on my old computer and I'm slightly back in touch with communication! I'll probably spend a good chunk of tomorrow reading and replying to everything that's been piling up these past few weeks.

Anyway, my leg is going to be in agony when it starts to wake up, so I shall get on with the evening, but it's so worth it to ramble away here again! I'm tired - Good Night.

I'm back!... or rather, my computer is.*

2010-04-08T12:16:00.005-07:00

Since my last post, things here have escalated into the super-fast speed lane, and among the myriad of other things happening recently, my computer died. Even Sir couldn't revive it for me this time. He did take it apart and copy the hard drive in case the warranty people would have to wipe it clean though. That would have resulted in me losing the mazes of notes and projects that I was in the middle of. Then he drove hours to deliver it to the warranty repair place and we left it in their hands for five days before it was ready for pick up. 'You know that saying, 'You don't know how much you use something until it's broken'? Well! I thought I just wasted time on my computer (and I'm sure I do that too..) but I definitely missed my 'brain' section of it. Packing notes, recipes, letters, pictures... I had time to do stuff and WASN'T able do the filing or organizing part of it! I know, I suffer so... now I have a lot of catch up to do, but my computer is back and I can use it again!!!

Ok, my timer has gone off, and I have work to get back to. I definitely don't have enough time to write out the novel of events that is swirling around in my head currently, right now.

* edit 5 hrs later:
So I worked all morning, stopped to check my e-mail, got busy with the kids, decided I was too tired to do anything on my computer after lunch and took a nap. When I woke up, I sent a message to Sir, telling him I was up from my nap and he could call when he left work like he usually does, stopped to give Emma a snack, came back and found myself staring into the dead face of my computer again!

Note to self: Maybe do not get overly excited about getting computer back. Lesson might not be over. :)

'Looks like it's been a while...

2010-03-26T16:39:00.004-07:00

It seems like it's been weeks and weeks since I posted anything, but it's really only been ten days or so. I guess when life gets lost in high gear, time just seems to blur.

Springtime has exploded here, in all its glory - complete with lazy snowflakes, rainy downpours, misty grey days and fabulously sunny ones. We have flowers everywhere, the temperatures have bounced back and forth between balmy almost summer-like to shivering lows that make you wonder how long spring can hold out before deciding to stay a while, there's even been a few days where I thought the porch roof was likely to blow away. That doesn't say too much though, because our porch roof has been less than firmly attached for months now, but recently there have been a few days that have been more windy than is usual.

Anyway, here's a quick walk through my camera pictures of late with a little commentary sprinkled throughout.

The makings of a Map
~~~~~

On the 8th, Sir and I were the third couple to agree to join Chasm and HisLady for a few days at a beach house on the Oregon Coast. The trip isn't scheduled until June, but we told our kids about it that night, and they were thrilled. Since I didn't have enough buttons in the jar to do a countdown the way we normally do, the kids and I spent the next day making a map to the beach house with a section to color in for each day that's passed until the vacation takes place.

The finished product
~~~~~

Then there was a 'Ladies Tea' on the 13th that the Butler and I got got attend. It was very relaxing and I really had an enjoyable time. (Thank you Lily and Heather!)
~~~~~

Emma and Kay
Grandma C. made these little dresses for Dolly and her friends and now they've been passed down to the little girls. This particular morning (the 14th), Emma woke up wanting to 'match' someone. So, I called Chasm'sLady and found out the same dress had already been laid out for Kay the night before!
~~~~~

And we got to meeting to discover that Chiquita and Dolly were also matching! A few months ago, Lily had found two matching blue dresses that were the same size. She kept one for Chiquita and gave the other to Dolly. It's almost funny how many times Dolly and Chiquita end up wearing the same thing, but the girls love it.
~~~~~

Sisters and Cousins
And Friends
~~~~~

"We MATCH!!!! Can you believe it?!?!!"
~~~~~

Last Friday, the kids and I finally went to visit Sir at work. We missed our January visit for various reasons, and we couldn't go in February because of the Winter Olympics, so the kids were ecstatic to finally get to 'go visit Daddy at work' again. Of course, my camera batteries were dead and ALL eight of my replacement batteries were dead too, so we came home with less than a handful of pictures and only a couple that were really any good at all. It was such a gorgeous day too! I so wanted to take pictures of the helicopter on its river pad, Dolly's first trip with her own ticket (she's not free anymore {sniff}), our very full stroller of picnic supplies and a video of the kids dancing for the Saxophone player at the seabus terminal on the way home, but it was not to be.

On our way back to the seabus, Dolly found a few blossoms on the ground. She started collecting as many as she could and I stopped to see if I could take a picture of them on the tree since they were so beautiful. A passing man saw her collecting the little wilted flowers, leaped up and broke off a branch of blossoms which he gave to Dolly before continuing on his way.
~~~~~

Look how BLUE that sky is!
~~~~~

A regal 'queen'. Dolly was so proud of herself.
She had borrowed Emma's bedsheet and created her own 'gown' all by herself.
~~~~~

And lastly, a fallen horseman - playing dead.
~~~~~

The End
~~~~~

2010 - Family Picture

2010-03-15T16:06:00.002-07:00

"And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee, He will be with thee,
He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee."
Deuteronomy 31:8

And one where the guys are a little more photogenic.

My kids are all (ALL!!) right now, sleeping at the same time... so I think I'm going to see how long I can lie down before somebody wakes up. I might even fall asleep!

Now I need to go shopping...

2010-03-06T07:00:00.001-08:00

I've made this winner twice so far, and had to look up the recipe four times in the process. And there are a number of look-alike recipes out there too, so finding it each time has been quite the adventure - especially when I'm rushing. Hopefully now I'll be able to find it without having to read a dozen recipes until I find the 'right' one.

Black Bean & Couscous Salad
Serves 8

1 cup uncooked couscous
1¼ cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime/lemon juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
8 green onions, chopped (approximately 1 bunch)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (use the whole bunch)
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

Directions:
1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2 quart or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.
3. Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve with pretty much anything Mexican!

I love that it's so easy to put together. The most time consuming part is chopping the vegetables so even if you start from scratch you can pull this one off in less than 20 minutes.

The 28 Days of Joy

2010-03-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

He never missed a single day - in spite of our busy schedule!

My Budding Author/Illustrator

2010-03-01T18:50:00.001-08:00

The other day I fell down the outside stairs. Dolly had been inside drawing away in a notepad that Aunt Knittery had given her and when she saw me gimping about after Sir had helped me back inside the house, she brought me her masterpiece. "Mommy," she said, "I decided to give this picture to you because you got hurt on the stairs. It's a princess, and I made her hair like yours so it might help you feel better."

A few hours later when I was feeling a bit better, I called Dolly and asked her to tell me the story about her picture. "I don't know." she said "I just made a princess." "You did," I told her, "but every princess has a story.... 'let's write this princess' story together. Go get your notepad and I'll help you." My intention was to help her get some printing practice in as well as encouraging her creativity. In the end, I did most of the printing except for a word or two on each page and I discovered quite a bit about my little girl.

(Dolly's part of the story is what's written in blue
and she did all the illustrations unassisted)

THE PRINCESS, THE FAIRY AND THE KING
by Dolly and Mommy

CHAPTER ONE

(the princess)

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle. She never was allowed outside because the beast who lived in the swamp, wanted to eat her. But there was a kind and wise fairy who had a magic wand and she was going to rescue the princess by using her magic wand.

CHAPTER TWO

(the fairy)

But the wand was missing! Without her magic wand, the fairy could not help the beautiful princess. So, the fairy travelled for many days until she met a king. He was sitting on a rock under a big tree. "Hello," said the fairy. "Can you help me fix my magic wand?" "Yes, of course!" replied the king, "Where is it?" "I think it is on top of the mountain." said the fairy. "Last week a giant bird swooped down and took my wand and flew away. I need you to climb the mountain and get my magic wand. So the king did.

CHAPTER THREE

(the king)

After the king gave the fairy her wand, he decided to go with her and help her rescue the princess. Only when they got to the castle, the princess was gone! She had gone looking for the fairy in the woods. But she had left a note on the castle door when she left. "Dear Fairy," the note read "I am in the woods. Love, Beaute." So the fairy and the king dashed into the woods. When they got there, they heard a terrible roar! The beast was about to gobble up the princess!

CHAPTER FOUR

(the beast)

"Stop Beast!" shouted the king. The shout startled the ugly monster so that he dropped the princess and tried to grab the king instead. But he couldn't because the fairy used her magic wand and turned him into a duck. And with a quack, he waddled away. The king rushed to the princess and carried her to the castle where she got better and they fell in love. So they got married, and lived happily ever after.

(and the magic wand)
THE END.

Like Mother.... Like Daughter.

2010-02-27T23:45:00.001-08:00

(1983/1984)

(2006)

It's hereditary.

Still in the 70's

2010-02-18T23:56:00.001-08:00

Sometime between June of 1974 and December of 1978 the Messages of the Love of God came out with some changes. This style brings back so many memories for me as it was the 'original' Sunday school paper of my childhood. Again, you'll need to click on the images to read each page.

Page 1

Color! The most noticeable change is the banner background of clouds in a blue sky. Also, the memory verse moved to a fixed place on the front page. Previously it went wherever there was room for it.

Page 2 ........ and ........ Page 3

Page 4

May 1974

2010-02-17T23:08:00.006-08:00

I was going through some boxes of miscellaneous stuff today, and ran across some old Sunday school papers. It was interesting to see how the papers changed in style and general look over the years. Here's a peek at one from the 70's. You'll probably have to click on the images to be able to read them though.

Page 1

Page 2....... and Page 3

Page 4

Next month She'll be 2½

2010-02-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

Emma came into my room while I was getting dressed this morning.
"Wook! what I dound (found)!" she exclaimed with a big grin. She held up a little doll. "Nice!" I responded before proceeding with my dressing routine. Since I seemed to be busy, she sidled toward my night table where I keep a flashlight, chap stick and water bottle.

But I noticed. And when she started to help herself to my chap stick I immediately told her to put it back. Of course, she thought I was really too busy to deal with her, so she stared right back at me, took the chap stick lid off and began to apply it on her lips. I stopped what I was doing, walked the two steps to where she was, and took the chap stick away from her. "I said, 'Put it back', Emma." She dropped her chin in a scowl and didn't say anything as I put the chap stick back on my nightstand.

I went back to dressing and a few seconds later she said, "Mommy, pease you go away," while longingly looking at my night table. "No, Emma, I'm not going away, although you can go out of my room instead." "But I prithy sthick" she explained as she leaned back onto my bed and looked longingly again at the chap stick. "Then go lie down on your bed and get better." I suggested. Evidently that wasn't very appealing either, so she went out to see what else she could do.

Here are a few other pictures of this little character of mine:

Curls, anyone?

My outfit? Why, I think it's great!

Posing so pretty.

Sweetness

2010-02-10T14:00:00.001-08:00

The kids and I happened to pass a stack of sugar canes at the grocery store the other day and because I was feeling adventurous and because the canes were only $1.50 each, we bought one to experiment with. I must say it was a success. PC must have really enjoyed it because if he wasn't in the picture, he was either hovering nearby or circling the dishwasher looking for handouts.

The cane was about 4 feet long and 1½ inches in diameter. Ours was a dark brown, smooth and had natural sections each about 3 inches long down it's length. (That would be Emma's hand in the bottom-left corner of this picture.)

First we cut off a few of the sections and tried peeling them. It was difficult even with a very sharp knife so we gave up on peeling whole sections and did the peeling after the next step.

Step 2. was cutting the sections into ½inch discs, and that made peeling the woody outer layer much easier.

Then we peeled the discs. Here PC is finishing off one disc, but there are two more still on the cutting board to show you the peeling process.

A closer look.

You can eat the discs or you can cut them up smaller like I did here. I figured it would make the eating process easier for my little people if we made little people bite-sized pieces.

Happiness is...

TIP: This is probably a good outside snack because you chew the sugar cane pieces, extracting all the sweetness and then you spit out the woody pulp.

Spitting out "sugar sticks". They caught on pretty quickly.

Loading up on SUGAR...

Dolly

PC

Emma

They ate the sugar cane cubes as fast as I could prepare them, so I stopped cutting it after about 5 or 6 sections. Thankfully it was a sunny day and I could send them out to burn off some of their extra energy!

THE END

Now I just have to decide when we cut up the other half of our sugar cane.

Déjà vu

2010-02-09T14:13:00.007-08:00

'You'd think a flaming birthday cake was a once in a lifetime experience. But we're getting to be professionals when it comes to Sir's Black Forest birthday cakes. Forest Fires... maybe he should pick a different kind of cake next time.

I was laughing so hard pretty much all you can see is the flame in the picture above. The other shots were a little better, but I didn't take as many pictures this year as in the past. You can see that one if you (click here).

I guess when you have this many candles on your cake, anythings bound to happen. Even after being lightly toasted, this cake has to be the best of its kind. Grandma C. has definitely set a high bar for me to aim for! And maybe I'm just weird, but I'm still impressed with Grandpa C's work with the candles.

Hot! ;)

Who Am I?

2010-02-08T10:08:00.004-08:00

So, I'm taking my shower - my long overdue shower that usually lasts about 17 minutes since I have 30+" of hair to wash and it never hurts to shave once in a while.

But the tenant downstairs is doing laundry and my shower keeps losing temperature and water pressure. This is fine as long as I continually adjust the taps to compensate.

About 3 minutes in, I'm greeted by a blast of cold air and the bathroom door slamming open to allow a plastic donkey to be thrust past the shower curtain. This was so I could assure my son that he was probably right when it came to deciding whether the animal was a horse or a donkey (it's tail was missing and the ears weren't very helpful - they could have belonged to either animal).

Around the 6th minute of my shower, the door again slams open and PC's feet thump across the floor followed by another toy animal, "LOOK! Momma! I found a CHEETAH!!" he exclaims from the other side of the shower curtain. "Yes, now go out and close the door. I'm TRYING to take a shower!"

At minute 10, I'd just finished thinking, 'Hm, maybe I'll get to finish my shower in peace. Wouldn't it be nice to have my OWN bathroom?' when the door opened and Emma's voice announced, "Mama? I pri-thy sthick." she accompanied this statement with a cough and closed the door as she left. 4 seconds later she stuck her head in again to give me the solution, "I need meh-ih-cine." "Emma, you're fine, now go out of the bathroom." She did for three more seconds before sticking her head in again to chirp, "Pease I hab can-ee?!" "No, you can NOT have any candy - remember? you're sick. Now go OUT of the bathroom."

Minute 14 - another blast of cold air, slamming bathroom door and visit by a plastic animal. "Mama, we have a HYENA!" I think it was really a wild dog, but I just told PC to go out and play with it and let me take my shower by myself.

At this point I started running out of hot water.

If I could just lock the bathroom door... except we only have one bathroom and I can't have the toilet inaccessible - you never know when somebody just CAN'T wait a few more minutes.

"LOOK, Mama! a monkey!!

There's only one guy like mine.

2010-01-28T10:33:00.006-08:00

Tomorrow is his birthday, and this is what I found under my pillow last night.

Yesterday was 28 days 'till my 28th birthday. Yes, I'm spoiled.

There was chocolate inside.

Butler's 1st Portrait

2010-01-08T16:40:00.001-08:00

"After that, He was seen of James;"
1 Corinthians 15:7

As Butler is two months old today, I figured I should probably post his one month picture sooner than later. In this picture, he was 1 month and 4 days old, but that was just because it was easier for me to take him in on a Saturday when Sir could watch the other kids than for me to drag all four of them in on the actual 1 month anniversary.

Because of the holidays, I think the photography places work faster to process pictures. In any case, the pictures were ready for pick up in ten days as opposed to the usual 3 weeks. This was really nice, since it helped me make up a bit of time catching up on getting my kids' photographs sent out to family.

At one month old, Butler was smiling in response, and would even smile at you in order to get you to play with him. He was getting better at sleeping, but still hadn't figured out that ALL night is for sleeping. At his first check up, he had gained 2 pounds and grown almost an inch.

Now Butler is 'goo'ing and 'uhh'ing at anyone he can capture for a conversation. It's so much fun to watch him. Especially when he gets really excited and tries with every bit of him to make a more 'difficult' sound like 'gee' or 'buh'. He smiles even more easily than before, and has the funnest sense of humour. If he finds something funny, his right eyebrow will raise slightly and he'll crack a half-smile. Sometimes I think he's almost trying to hide his amusement, because he can really beam the smiles when he wants to. And he almost laughs - he gets all the actions right, but doesn't come up with any sound.

Next week is his two month check up, and I know he'll have made another huge leap in the growing department. He recently outgrew another handful or two of outfits and I have a sneaking suspicion that he's too big for his size 1 diapers now too (they go up to 14lbs).

Anyway, if I go on too much longer this won't get posted until another day and I've already been working on it since Monday!

Right over my head.

2010-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

Dolly: Mama, I know this is a verse, "Ask and it shall be given you."
Me - pausing from putting the other kids to bed: Very good!

(30 seconds later)

Dolly - referring to her afternoon nap: When I asked if I could get up, you said 'No.'
Me - distracted by the bedtime process: That's right - have you said good night to Daddy?

I didn't get it until Sir pointed it out to me later.
Apparently, some things aren't granted.

Emma at Two

2009-12-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments."
Psalm 119:73

To be exact, this is Emma at two years and 7 weeks. I almost got her pictures taken earlier - twice - but had to cancel both times because Emma seems to think she can do anything the older kids can do. She can.... but she usually has some mark to prove it when she's finished.

The little rhyme goes, 'Sugar and Spice and everything nice - that's what little girls are made of'. I would say, Emma has a very healthy dose of 'spice'. Life has never been, and will never be boring with her around. She's a born leader - she'll make sure things happen the way she thinks they should. Usually, she'll manage to make everyone else think it was their idea to start with too.

Emma is very independent - she can do it herself, she does not want to need help and if she does need help, asking for it is one of the last things that crosses her mind. Unlike her sister, Emma is not a people pleaser. She doesn't care if you don't like it. She does - the end. She has very strong opinions, and does not change her mind easily. This does not mean she does not change her mind, just that she won't change her mind until she's fully considered all the options, pros and cons, and has found the solution most favorable to herself.

Re-reading all of the above makes Emma look willful and manipulative - and she is, but she's also very charming, mischievous, and lovable. Her laugh is bubbly and contagious, her sense of humour is priceless, she has an expression for every thought that enters her head, she's smart as a whip and very protective of her own.

It has been quite the adventure watching this little girl grow for the past two years. She's definitely the exception to the rule when it comes to raising kids. I guess, the best way to stay on your toes is to be thrown a curve ball once in a while and I think Emma is ours. But you know, the harder it is to do something, the prouder you are of it. Some of the things we've learned with Emma have been the hardest lessons to master, but they're so worth the end result!

Smiles and Smugglers

2009-12-15T23:38:00.003-08:00

I tried getting a picture of Butler smiling the other day, but I kept getting the tail end of the smiles in my pictures. By the time I thought that maybe taking a video would work, he was getting bored, although I did get a whole smile that way. There's two smiles in the video below and Butler even added a few words of his own. He was trying to convince me to pick him up since it was time for his breakfast and he'd been waiting very patiently for his turn regarding my attention. I apologize for any dizziness caused by my video skills.

Good Morning Baby

Last night I was getting the kids ready for bed. It was Dolly's turn in the bathroom, and when I checked on her I found PC in there at the sink with his pajamas unsnapped. "PC! what are you doing in the bathroom- WHY are your pajamas unsnapped? Do you need to go potty?" I grilled him. He shook his head and I started snapping his pajamas back up. Two snaps started he said, "I can do it Mommy! Please can I snap it?" Dolly was out of the bathroom by then so I nodded and stood up watching him. "Don't watch me, Mommy - I can do it." he insisted, so I glanced down the hall to see who else needed attention. Then PC closed the bathroom door. I opened it and he insisted as he tried closing it again, "Don't watch me, Mommy. I want to do it myself." I let him mostly close the door and then I headed to the kids' bedroom to supervise the 'getting the toys out before bedtime' process.

A few minutes later PC stepped out of the bathroom smoothing his snaps and asked me, "Are they all done right, Mommy?" I nearly exploded in hysteric laughter, but managed to gulp back my guffaws, pull on a mostly expressionless face and answer, "Yes, they're all snapped right. Now, come with me." I reached for his hand and led him (bulging pajamas and all) to my room where Sir was waiting to say goodnight to each of the children. I said to Sir, "We have a S-M-U-G-G-L-E-R here, and he needs to say goodnight." Then I got to watch Sir control his urge to explode in laughter before he addressed PC.

Sir: PC, are you ready to say 'goodnight'?
PC: Yep.
Sir: What do you have in your pajamas?
PC smoothing his snaps with his free hand: I don't know.
Sir: PC, I can see you're hiding something in your pajamas.
PC checking his snaps again: How?
Sir: What do you have in your pajamas?
PC: I don't know.
Sir: That's not the truth. Give me the sippy cup and get into bed.

Sir and I were cracking up so badly through all of this, we couldn't properly address the situation, so we settled on keeping the cup and sending PC to bed without the 'drink all the water you can before bed' step of the bedtime process. While I was trying to stay out of sight because I couldn't keep a straight face during Sir's conversation with our son, I managed to snap a shot of the guilty party. It's not the greatest picture because I turned the flash off to avoid disturbing them and I couldn't stop shaking with laughter when I took it.

Thriving

2009-12-11T09:00:00.002-08:00

In spite of Butler's claims every 10th day or so, he is NOT starving. We saw the Dr. on Tuesday for the 1month check up and Butler had gained 2 pounds and grown 1¼ inches all in 3 weeks!

I was relieved knowing that it wasn't all 'just in my head' when it came to the size of my youngest. At different points over the last month, I'd thought Butler was either 'gearing up for a growth spurt' or I just wasn't drinking enough water. I figured it must be me and the water option in the end because it happened more than just at the 2 and 4 week marks. But I wasn't entirely satisfied with my conclusion - he was also, it seemed, outgrowing his clothes. I really didn't have a explanation for the half-filled diaper box of baby clothes that wouldn't fit my son. Especially since they were the same clothes the other kids wore at his age and not just more clothes in general.

Anyway, after the doctor's appointment I went home and checked the shot and growth records I had for all of my kids and this is what I found:

Dolly, born 8 lbs, 12oz was 12 lbs, 7oz at 2months.
PC, 7 lbs, 6oz at birth was 11 lbs, 14oz at 2months.
Emma, born 9 lbs, 10oz was 11 lbs, 4oz at 2months.
and Butler, born 9 lbs, 8oz was 11 lbs, 4oz at 1 month old.

I didn't have 1month weights for all of the other kids to do a more accurate comparison so it will be interesting to see how big Butler is at his 2month visit. Other than that... I got some real smiles from Butler Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. It was so much fun to see him respond - now just to catch a picture of it!

Is it really 'Better Late than Never'?

2009-12-09T16:48:00.003-08:00

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:1

Once again I'm late in getting the portraits posted. I was late getting this picture taken by oh... five weeks. The day I took PC in for his pictures, the studio's computer crashed - halfway through our session. So we went back two days later and they finished the shoot. Then when the pictures were ready three weeks later, I still hadn't had a minute to think of what verse I wanted to put with them.

Next it was Emma's birthday, and after that the priority was getting everything finished up before Butler arrived. And now it's 6 months after his birthday and I'm finally posting PC's 3yr old pictures! Talk about being behind schedule - and it's almost the same story with Emma's pictures (I just got those back yesterday though, so hopefully they'll be up here sooner than later).

These pictures were taken less than a week after Grandma C. let me help her give PC a haircut. Note to self: do not try cutting boy's hair within days of photograph appointment. I nearly scalped him, and even after Grandma C. fixed the worst of the damage, it still looked pretty choppy. But it was either a 'Sir Shaggy' shot, or 'Champ Choppy' one and I think the latter looks better.

I settled with the picture above for our package pose because you can see more of PC's face, but I think the picture below is a nicer picture myself. Both pictures have sparkly-eyed smiles though, and sometimes that's what counts the most.

And now it's time to feed Butler again. I started this post yesterday - at least the pictures are up now. I must go as my younger son demands my presence!

Milestones and Miscellaneous

2009-12-04T11:35:00.003-08:00

A couple days ago, we dropped Sir off at the skytrain station so he could make up a bit of lost time on his commute. As I was rushing to get one of the younger kids ready to go, Dolly proudly brought me this paper and told me, "Mommy! This says, 'I have a headache.'!" "You have a headache?" I checked with her. "No, we're playing 'hospital' and this is what's wrong with PC." she explained and she was off to play again.

I was very impressed because it was the first time that I'd seen Dolly try to build words. We 'do schoolwork' a few times each week, but I've spent most of the focus for Dolly on reading and have only asked her to try writing a very few letters and numbers so far.

Below is a video of PC and Emma trying out a birthday present he gave to her. You may need to watch it a few times.

"Niryam, I sorry."

And I think we might finally be making progress when it comes to nights with the Butler. He's gone from being up from 1-4am, to having his bedtime snack at 11:30 and sleeping from midnight to 5ish. Some nights he's up at 4, other nights he'll sleep till 6 and every once in a while he'll go from 1am to 8. The biggest change though was yesterday. He spent more time awake during the day for a change! He took naps of course, but he was pretty much on the same schedule as the rest of us (with the exception of having a meal every two hours) which was really nice.

On a random note here are some numbers you might find interesting. Butler's leg from his hip to ankle is 8" long. His feet are 3¾" long - I think I wasn't that far off when I said he had big feet on Day 1. He also does NOT like his feet to be cramped in any way, shape or form. If you offend his feet, he will let you know what he thinks - loud and clear.

26 days old.

Time is Short

2009-11-28T15:22:00.005-08:00

A young man came to a Christian, and old professor in a college. He asked the teacher: "How long before death should one prepare for eternity?" The professor's answer was: "A few minutes." The youth, glad of this reply, determined to have his fling, sow his wild oats, and "see life" in all its aspects. Then a few moments before death should close his selfish eyes, he would ask God to have mercy upon Him!

"But," asked the professor, "when are you going to die?" The youth replied: "I cannot tell." "Then," said the dear old man, "GET READY NOW, for you may have only a few moments to live."

I have traveled widely over this country and have yet to meet a man who wishes to go to the lake of fire, there to endure the "eternal judgement" of God. All have hoped to be saved some day, and to escape that awful doom.

Many persons would like to be saved, but they say they are waiting God's time. Surely God knows the best and proper time for a man to be saved. He says it is NOW. There is no promise in God's Word that a man shall be saved next week, or next month, or next year, or when he comes to his deathbed, or at the eleventh hour, as some people foolishly and unscripturally say.

God's pledge is that He will save a man when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ; not when he says he believes, but when he does believe. His word in Acts 16:31 is:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

"THE TIME IS SHORT." Eternity is near. The dark clouds of judgement are gathering and are about to burst in all their crushing, grinding power upon a Christ-less, guilty world. But ere this takes place the voice of God rings out:
"Behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
2 Corinthians 6:2

Isaiah 1:18 is unequalled in Scripture for tender graciousness:
Come NOW, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

God's word is "COME," and He tells you when to come: "NOW." He concludes this magnificent verse with the promise of cleansing you from all your sins.

Another strikingly earnest verse is Job 22:21
"Acquaint NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."
Again the word NOW confronts us. It tells us that THIS IS THE MOMENT to make the acquaintance of God through Christ Jesus - to be at peace with God through Christ. He has made peace for us with His precious blood; and only by its cleansing power can good be our portion in Christ Jesus.

The invitation of Jesus is:
"Come; for all things are NOW ready."
Luke 14:17.
There is nothing left for the poor, helpless sinner to do in the matter of the soul's salvation but to believe. Christ did on the cross all that the glory of God required to be done; and then He said: "It is finished." He is in that glory today as proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied. NOW he can make known to you by the Holy Ghost through the Scriptures His present salvation for all lost sinners.

The devil tempts you to put off the salvation of your soul until tomorrow. Tomorrow is too late! Tomorrow is death, the grave, the lake of fire, the eternal wail of a damned soul. God would not say "NOW" so frequently in His Word if He did not mean it, or if there were not awful danger in delaying, or if tomorrow would do. It may be now or never for you. God grant that it may be NOW.

"Salvation now, this moment;
Then why, oh, why delay?
You may not see tomorrow!
NOW is salvation's day."

(BTP #2383)

Getting Used to Normal

2009-11-17T23:40:00.004-08:00

So much for posting anything in a 'day or two'. At first I was procrastinating because I hadn't chosen a blog name for our youngest - who will be henceforth called the Butler (there's a story to it, but I'll get to that). Then it seemed we were catapulted into normal life.

Anyway, here's a rundown of the last 8 days.

Sunday the other kids spent with Grandpa and Grandma C. and went to meeting like any other Sunday. Except for when Sir went and got them for a quick visit to meet their little brother before returning them in time for naps. They came back later when Grandpa and Grandma C. came to visit that evening before the hospital visiting hours were over.

I didn't get any pictures of the initial reactions, I don't think I could have really, it was hard enough to watch three little peoples' faces at the same time without worrying about getting a 'good picture'. Dolly walked in all bubbly with excitement - she knew what she was going to find and couldn't wait. I think she remembered seeing Emma for the first time. PC came in, all eagerness and almost in a state of amazement at the wonder of actually seeing this 'baby' he'd been asking for for so long.

And Emma - well, I wondered what her reaction would be and it was priceless. She came in, curious - probably more because the other two kids were so excited than any other reason. Sir lifted her up beside my bed where I was holding the Butler, and the look of shock/reality/irreversibility of this new thing in her life that flooded her little face was incredible. It was like it finally sunk in that this 'baby' we'd been talking about for so long was another person that was going to be part of her life - forever. In a few seconds, she recovered her composure, and was all excited like everyone else seemed to be.

We had enough time for each of the kids to hold Butler (I did get pictures of that) and then Sir had to whisk them back to meeting so they'd be able to take their naps.

Dolly's turn

Proud PC

Little Miss Emma

By the time we got checked out of the hospital Monday, it was just after noon. Grandpa and Grandma C. were keeping the older three until after their naps, so it was just three of us for the afternoon. I was still on an adrenaline high and kept tidying up bits and pieces of the house. I think I finally unwound enough to take a nap, but it wasn't very long in the end. Grandma C. brought supper when they dropped the kids off - one of my favorite meals actually, so it made the first evening at home pretty simple.

Tuesday was the really slow/lazy day that first week. Sir was home from work and Grandma C. and Uncle A came over for the morning to help out. They brought supper with them so I got spoiled by no cooking again. I took a nap, and sorted through the baby clothes. Being able to put the baby girl clothes away and narrowing the boy stuff down to the sizes we'd be using for the next while really made a difference in the functionality of the living room. Wednesday I did laundry and bathed kids like usual and we took Butler to meeting for the first time that night. After that, the week whipped into a blur.

Holding Butler at home

Thursday Sir went back to work, and PC had a speech appointment in the morning which I'd totally forgotten about until Sir checked his calendar Wednesday night. Thankfully Grandma C. had planned to come over and was able to stay with the rest of the kids while PC and I went to his appointment. She brought supper again and had lunch all ready to eat when PC and I got home. That afternoon Sunflower dropped by with a casserole supper and some DVDs that her kids had outgrown. The casserole made a great lunch on Sunday and the DVDs have been quite a luxury when it comes to keeping the older kids happy while I'm busy with Butler. Friday, Sir worked from home since I had scheduled flu shots for him and the older kids for that morning. Then we had enough time to come home and have lunch before I dropped Dolly, PC and Emma off at Lily's house and headed back to the hospital with Butler for his well-baby check-up. He had gained an ounce from his going home weight, so the doctor was happy. When I picked up the kids after naps that afternoon, Lily sent supper home with me!

Saturday, I took Emma in for her 2yr pictures (a month and a half late). She was finally facially intact on a Saturday. I've had to cancel picture appointments twice since her birthday due to how she manages to crash into something and end up with a bruised or otherwise marked face. Of course we'd been home from her appointment all of 30 minutes when she ran into the doorway of her room with the whole side of her face, so I was glad we'd finally gotten the pictures done already. Aunt Knittery came by with supper that afternoon, and brought a paint set that the kids completely fell in love with - they've spent hours playing with it and we haven't even had it for a week yet!

The little-ests

Sunday we were still adjusting to getting four kids ready to go somewhere and into the car with enough time to get anywhere on time. That has been the biggest difference I've noticed between 3 and 4 kids so far, but we're slowing getting the feel of it.

By Monday (yesterday), I was a walking wreck due to lack of sleep. Butler does not like to eat and get it over with like the rest of my kids did. Or at least, so far he hasn't seen the necessity of it. He likes to take an hour or more to have a meal taking a few cat naps throughout. It makes for a really long night between 11 and 4 when he mixes that in with 'awake time', tummy aches from gas and sharp-edged bubbles that refuse to be burped out. One of these days we'll work out a functioning system, but until then, my sanity seems to depend on how well the older kids take their afternoon nap thus giving me a chance to sleep as well. HisLady brought supper over for me that evening, and when Sir got home from work, I got to leave the older three kids with him and join the ladies at Lily's house for a 'Ladies' Spa Night'. It was so much fun and SO relaxing to be anywhere without hearing "Mom-my,...". Definitely a treat!

So, that basically concludes our first week with the Butler - I've been spoiled rotten and haven't had to cook a supper for quite a while now. I'm sure it'll be quite the shock to actually have to do something one of these days, but it has been nice. In fact, our kids have taken to asking at each meal, "Mommy, did you make this food? or did you just warm it up?" Once they've discovered where it came from they'll finish with, "Thank you for making/warming up this food!". It's really cute to see them resolve to thank the cook the next time they see her, but I have a feeling they usually forget in favour of playing with their friends!

The story of the Butler:
When I met Sir ten years ago, it was when he was traveling places with Chasm. His friends called him Sir - evidently it'd been his nickname for years already. Anyway, Sir and Chasm each had an imaginary 'servant' - I think the guys claimed Winston and James to be butlers - possibly chauffeurs, although from the way they talked to and about these servants, they seemed more like the personal servant that a nobleman of old often had. Winston was Sir's servant and over the years he'd drifted into the dusty archives of memory where Sir and I all but forgot about him entirely. Then we picked out a boy's name for our baby, had our second son, and named him. Two days later... it dawned on us that we had our very own Butler. And that solved the blog name search for our newest little one. He will be referred to here as the Butler, or probably in most cases just 'Butler'.
The end.

He's Here!

2009-11-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

Of course, now I feel like writing up a storm, but that might take longer and result in an even later post. So, here's a quick update for any still wondering. I am working on another post with lots of pictures between feedings and naps though that might not appear for a day or two depending on how things start adjusting at home.

After almost 3 hours of labour, we welcomed our youngest - a 22¼ inch long, 9lb, 8oz little boy on Sunday November 8th at 6:18am. I woke up around 3:30 Sunday morning, and figured that we might actually be finally going into 'real' labour by 4ish. We got to the hospital at 5am, and just over an hour later we got to meet our youngest son!

And now we're at home where we'll be figuring out how things function with four kids. The adventures of life!

Another Week Passed

2009-10-24T23:25:00.003-07:00

Baby Dearest,

I thought you might be interested in an update on things out here in the real world. After all this time, and rushing about lately, I believe everything is finally ready for you to come!

When you arrive you will have a lovely name of your very own. Daddy and Mama spent many many hours looking for just the right one, but we found it and we can't wait to introduce you to everyone with it. The hospital bags and the overnight things for your siblings are all packed. Thanksgiving has come and gone, so you won't have to share your birthday with one of the funnest family holidays we have.

Mama has even gotten things on the to-do list done that have been waiting for months and months. The pantry is neat and tidy, I did a whole pile of mending the other day and your siblings helped me put the garden away for winter today, so the yard even looks nice. I should vacuum the house again, but raking the leaves on the patio this afternoon made me wish later that I'd skipped that job, and now I'm procrastinating a little when it comes to the vacuum.

Daddy keeps predicting that you'll come any day, and I'm beginning to wish he was right - you're getting awfully big you know, and I would love to lie down on my tummy again one of these days. Besides, you're probably close to 9½ lbs now and even Emma was barely bigger than that!

Well, tomorrow is meeting which means I should get some sleep soon. Wouldn't you like to meet everyone at meeting? They too, are all eagerly waiting to finally see you. So Little One, you are allowed to come now - the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for being such a compliant baby and waiting 'till the middle of the month like I instructed earlier. Your big brother asks for you every single morning - he already loves you so much. I can't wait to see his face when he finally gets to hold you!

Daddy, Dolly, PC and Emma send their love and like me, they can barely wait to meet you. Daddy even found a verse just for you, so I'll included it here as well!

"Come; for all things are now ready."
Luke 14:17

Lots of love,
~ Mama

Just in case you're wondering...

2009-10-14T17:40:00.002-07:00

Junior has not arrived.

Despite Sir's daily predictions of a delivery 'before the week is out', we have not had to make any quick trips to the hospital. I have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there, but they're random and usually it takes me a while to realize that's what just happened.

Sir tells me I'm just in denial... and maybe I am, but there's still more than enough that I need to get done right now that makes sooner labour rather impractical. And I like practicality. (Baby... I hope you heard that!)

Besides, the 'official' due date isn't until November 8th... and the 'revised' one which is probably more accurate anyway, isn't until October 27th. And October 27th is still almost two weeks away. (Again, Baby.... were you listening?!)

I am making a little progress in the getting ready department though. We have a girls name chosen... now just to finalize one for a boy. I have found, washed and mostly packed some baby clothes for the hospital. I have lists of things to pack for everyone else although I've only gotten to packing a few things from the list for me so far.

And that's about all for now. So I will be going - I need to be rounding up my gang so we can leave for meeting in a few minutes anyway.

Victory

2009-10-07T16:20:00.001-07:00

Sometimes its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding. Well, I guess to be more accurate - usually its the little battles that make parenting so trying or rewarding.

Today was a victory for me. Yes, a small one, but a victory nevertheless. Emma ate her lunch. Yesterday she didn't want her baked potato, sliced ham or green beans that we all had at lunch time. She stalled, and found creative ways to make things 'disappear', she fussed and protested and did not eat her lunch. Even when PC and Dolly were getting ice cream or cake for dessert, she would not swallow her pride and start swallowing her lunch.

So, she had it for supper last night while the rest of us had soup and hot bread. Emma fussed and wailed and pushed her plate away over and over, but would not eat more than the two or three bites I finally fed her. And after over an hour, I took her food away again and she went to bed.

This morning I forgot about the plate in the fridge and gave all the kids a cookie as we rushed out to the car to take Sir to the skytrain station, but I remembered as I was serving up their waffles for breakfast when we got back and exchanged Emma's waffle for her twice rejected former meal. Which she again refused to eat. Yes, she suffered her way through another couple bites, but would not just eat her food preferring rather to fuss and complain and generally resent this new cruel treatment from her mama. She waited for me to get busy doing something else and then abandoned her plate at the table still unfinished.

While the rest of us had cheese sandwiches this afternoon, Emma was faced with her yesterday's lunch again. She had to have been getting hungry, and it was agony for her to watch the rest of us eat one of her favorite foods. So, after much fussing and complaining and weeping and wailing, she tucked in her lip and ate her lunch. Just like that. Then she had a cheese sandwich like the rest of us.

I was so glad she finally ate. If I gave in, I knew the problem would only get worse. Emma is by far our most strong willed child (so far), and though she may be the most challenging to train, I have a feeling that being successful with her will be the most rewarding. As the children's hymn tells us, "Each victory will help you some other to win;" we must keep in mind the theme of that very hymn, "Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through!"

Calendar Space

2009-10-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Jumbo,
The doctor says you're a big strong healthy baby - 7lbs already! She also says that the middle to end of October is more probable for your arrival than the early November date we already have.

This is fine, but since I am the Mama, let me set down some rules: My calendar is booked until the 13th. You are allowed to come anytime after that though. Besides, if you come before that, you might not get a name... and Mama won't have time to get a hospital bag packed (this is important because all the baby clothes are stowed away out in the shed). Life will be much more comfortable for all of us if you give me time to get ready for you.

Dolly, PC and Emma are all looking forward to meeting you, as are Daddy and I, and we'd all like to see you before the month is over! Just be patient, grow slowly for a week or two, and don't kick me too much.

Love Always,
~ Mama

"Peter and James in a Fishboat!"

2009-09-17T23:35:00.002-07:00

Today marked the 1 month anniversary of Sir starting a new job. It was also the day the kids and I decided to drop in on him at work to say 'hi'. Ok, it wasn't exactly 'dropping in', he knew we were coming and had even given us loads of advice on how to get there the best way. You see, Sir's commute is between 75 and 90 minutes one way, and to get there he takes the bus to the skytrain, the skytrain to the seabus, and then walks the last block or so from the seabus to his office building. So, when the kids and I were going to come visit him, we drove to the skytrain and did transit from there.

Today was the first day I went anywhere on the public transit system by myself. All the other times (if you don't count the greyhound bus ride from California to Manitoba 10 years ago) I've always had Sir to do the worrying and organizing. I started out planning on giving ourselves an hour and a half to get there hoping to meet Sir for lunch around 12:30ish. Only, we didn't actually leave the house until 11 and then we had to stop for gas so we could get to the skytrain station which is about 15 minutes from home.

Once we got to the skytrain, found a parking spot, paid for parking, unloaded into the double stroller and figured out how to get from the parking lot into the station, I'm sure we'd wasted a lot more time. In fact, I think my clock said 11:41 or something like that. The first order of business, I thought was to find the elevator so we could get up to the platform. We walked right past it and tried going to the one that was being used only for the test train side of the station. After an employee kindly pointed us back to the right elevator, we scurried off and up to the platform only to discover I had no idea where I was supposed to 'validate' my transit ticket.

There was a train ready to go when we got up to the platform, and we walked its length twice looking for some place to validate our ticket before finally deciding that maybe we should have checked the first level. So, we took the elevator back down to the main floor and walked its length twice. We found the ticket machines where you can buy a ticket, but they didn't have any directions on validating one. So, then I figured it would be wise to ask for help, but there weren't any employees around just then and we ended up waiting in line at the snack shop to ask the cashier. She smiled and pointed at a long line of blue boxes behind me next to the elevator - I felt like an idiot, but smiled back an scurried off to one of the boxes that I'd absentmindedly chalked up as recycle bins. By this time at least 5 trains had left the station and I believe they run about 3 minutes apart. We validated our ticket, took the elevator up to the platform and then had to wait a good 5 minutes before a 'not in service' test train left and a in-use train pulled in.

Waiting for the SeaBus

Through all of this, all three of the kids were being exceptionally good and we found a nice spot on the skytrain that fit the stroller without too much fuss. The next leg of the journey was the 40 minute skytrain ride from one end of the line to the other with me explaining how many more stops we had left to go each time we pulled in and out of a station - but the kids loved it. When we got off the skytrain we headed toward the seabus dock except the elevator from the train platform to the seabus was broken. Sir had warned me about this, and I had decided to just fold up the stroller and take the escalator. I was in the process of unloading the kids and was about to fold the stroller when a man asked me if I could use some help. I was glad to accept. I gave him my stroller, grabbed my three kids and went down the escalator - just like that. We thanked the stranger, loaded up into the stroller again and headed on toward the seabus - into a crowd of people coming the opposite direction. They were the passengers of the seabus that was by that time now returning to the quay with a load of people going the way we were headed. So, we waited the remaining 10 minutes for the next seabus to arrive, and had no trouble getting on and finding a seat.

The other SeaBus going the opposite direction

Sir called me on the cell phone just after we'd gotten off the seabus on the North shore to see how we were doing. It was already 1:15 and he'd expected us between 12:30 and 1. Then was the short walk up the steep hill to Sir's office building, up the elevator to his floor and then finding the right office - we were finally there by almost 1:30. Sir let us in, we met some of his co-workers and then left to grab some lunch to eat in the park, just below his office building, overlooking the river. It was nice to see Sir in the middle of the day and the kids loved being able to eat lunch with Daddy. Finally he had to go back to work, I washed the kids up, we all said goodbye, and then I let them play for a few minutes while I packed up the stroller and figured we had a couple minutes to spare before we needed to head back to the seabus.

Except, just as I was planning on heading back to the seabus, a regular train thundered by (on the other side of a fence) next to the park and PC raced off to watch it. There had already been two other trains that had gone by and he'd watched them as well, but he couldn't hear me calling him back and by the time I went and got him, and got all the kids back to the stroller, we'd missed our seabus and had to wait for the next one. It was 3:15 when we got on the seabus, and started our backtracking. Up the escalator - no trouble there, to the skytrain where we got on a newer model train that seemed less stroller friendly so we got off at the next station and waited for the right train to come along two trains later. The kids were still being good despite being so late for naps already. Emma fell asleep in the stroller on the skytrain ride home, and Dolly reclined in the other stroller seat while PC bounced between his seat and my lap and the window the whole way back to our starting station. Between explaining how many more stops there were till we would get off, I read a book I'd brought along and probably got 5 or 6 pages read which was nice.

Sleepy Baby

By the time we got home it was quarter to 5 and I put the kids down for a late nap. Sir would be working late, and so supper would be late as well. Emma never went back to sleep, but I had to wake the other two up eventually. After Sir got home and the kids were ready for bed, they went in to say goodnight to him. I came in as he was saying good night to PC and heard him say, "Thank you for coming to see me at work today, did you have fun?" PC nodded and cuddled closer in response and Sir continued, "What was your favorite part of the day? What part was the most fun?" PC sat up beaming and said, "Peter and James in the Fishboat!"

Sir and I looked at each other slightly puzzled and then it dawned on us that PC thought he'd actually met Peter and James - from the bible story - at Daddy's work today. One of his co-workers was a fellow Hungarian named Peter and the leader of Sir's division was named James.

Mischief with Missy B.

2009-09-12T22:54:00.002-07:00

Saturday, 4:30am. Of all days, I should be sleeping in - today will be busy. The kids won't be waking up for another 2½ hours and I would have been wise to take advantage of that and sleep that long myself.

But I'm remembering. Remembering is something significant in my life right now. Pregnancy does things to your memory, and for the past half hour I've been recalling things that happened more than 20 years ago. Things I haven't even thought about for years.

(Puppets at the N. California location - 25 years ago.)

Maybe it's because Dolly woke up at 4 and when I tucked her in again I thought about what we were planning to do today. Sir got a new job almost a month ago. Today we were going to celebrate and for weeks the plan has been to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese. As I tucked Dolly in a few minutes ago, I almost reminded her that today was the day the kids had been looking forward to for so long. Then I realized that reminding her then would only ensure my day starting even earlier, so I bit my tongue, and went back to bed. And kept thinking.

I was remembering the 3 or 4 times during my childhood that my parents took us to Chuck E Cheese. Once we went when I was 6 or 7 probably. There was this little girl who was staying with us - overnight, for the day, a couple of days - I don't remember how long she was with us. I don't even remember her name. She was either the step-daughter of my mom's nephew or she was the granddaughter of an older woman named Cherry B. I think she was the latter, so for blogging purposes, I'll call this girl Missy B. Missy B. was older than I - a year or two maybe? She had short brown hair, and she knew all about stuff. I was very impressed by her and she probably liked me because I was so eager to do whatever she asked me to. Although I did get into a lot of trouble for it.

The first thing I remember about Missy B. was that she asked me to ask my mom to let her stay with us. I did, she was allowed, and later my parents told me it wasn't my place to be asking things for other people - especially if it wasn't my own request.

(Tina, me - about age 14, Li'l G., and our brother Ike posing with a friend on the long-retired little John Deere tractor)

So, when the next adventure occurred, I think it may have been my suggestion based on something I knew Missy B. would like. See, I could drive a tractor. It wasn't a very big tractor - just a little John Deere thing with a scoop shovel in the front and any other kid loved to ride in the scoop. I wasn't supposed to drive it without being told to by my parents and I knew this, because I still remember trembling with excitement and nervousness because I took Missy B. down to the mixer in the shovel scoop. There was some urgent reason we had to go so fast and our legs wouldn't have gotten us there in good enough time. My parents seemed appreciative of the news we breathlessly brought them, but they also reminded me I had driven the tractor without express directions. They didn't punish me, but I'd never experienced butterflies in my stomach before and I know it was because I knew I'd done something I shouldn't have.

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson, but perhaps the excitement of having another girl close to my age around played with my good senses. The next thing I remember doing with Missy B. was making Kool Aid. I'd never made it before although we did have KoolAid packets around the house. Missy B. said that the stuff we were drinking wasn't really KoolAid and so, she and I slipped off to the chicken house to make it the 'right way'. My parents would put about a quarter of the suggested sugar into a jug of KoolAid and my siblings and I never knew the difference. To us, it was flavoured juice, and it was something we didn't get very often. Anyway, Missy B. and I took a package of Strawberry KoolAid, and I have no idea how much sugar, and we made our own KoolAid out in the Dove Room of the chicken house. We used plastic Strawberry Shortcake glasses (because they had red pictures on them) and basically concocted a syrup. Very few sweet things made me sick growing up, but the Strawberry KoolAid that Missy B and I made, was definitely one of them. To this day, I do not have any real liking for Strawberry Shortcake characters, and I do not think I've tasted strawberry KoolAid for more than 20 years!

(One of the few pictures of the Chicken house with Tina playing Indian out front. The Dove room was on the left side)

Of course remembering the KoolAid incident with Missy B., reminded me of one of the only other times I got sick on something sweet, and that was pomegranate juice popsicles. Aunt Helen had come over to watch my siblings and me for a while and she kept us busy doing all sorts of fun stuff. We made play dough out of flour and salt and water, and when that was done, we juiced a box of pomegranates and made pomegranate popsicles. I didn't do so great the next day when my mom let us all try one of our popsicles. Although, I have tried pomegranate juice flavored things since then - just never popsicles! But I'm digressing.

After the KoolAid making, Missy B. and I discovered some makeup underneath the kitchen sink. I think I was showing her a science experiment we had down there. Probably an egg in vinegar, and stowed away in the cupboard was a little basket of makeup my aunt had gotten rid of. I do not know why we even had it, but there was nail polish, and lipstick and some other stuff as well. Missy B. declared it a treasure and within a few minutes, we'd dashed off to the dark bathroom on the patio to try some on. I knew we'd get in trouble if my mom caught us wearing hot pink lipstick, so I persuaded Missy B. that it would be better if we wiped it off before leaving the bathroom. After all, we were going to a pizza place that night and the last thing I wanted was a reason for my parents to cancel those plans. Missy B. was fine with that, but in turn, she persuaded me that once we got to the restaurant, we could go to the bathroom and put the lipstick back on. So, we carefully smuggled the lipstick to Chuck E. Cheese's and at the first opportunity we got, we dashed off to the bathroom to apply our stolen treasure. It didn't take my parents long to discover us, and I distinctly remember being marched back to the bathroom, getting my faced scrubbed clean and then watching in dismay as my mom threw the lipstick away. When we got home, she threw out the rest of the makeup too.

(Me about 7 yrs old and Tina who I'd tricked into crawling into the cage before gleefully locking her in. We were directly in front of the Dove room of the Chicken house.)

6am - So, now that it's been an hour to write what took me half an hour to remember, I should be able to go back to sleep without words buzzing around in my head. Maybe I'll even get another hour or two of sleep before my children wake up and remind me that today is the day that they've been waiting for to go to Chuck E. Cheese's!

Saturday, 6pm - now that I've dug up some old pictures for this post, I'm publishing it just before I wake my kids up from their naps so we can go do something they've been anticipating for 23 days.

10:50pm - The kids woke up before I got the rest of my editing done. They're in bed now, wiped out from all the excitement they had this evening. Maybe one of these days life will slow down a little and I'll get more posts written.

Blueberries and Hymn Sings

2009-08-31T23:49:00.006-07:00

After the first few days of our heat wave subsiding, the kids and I went blueberry picking with Grandma C... or Grandma C went blueberry picking with us - either way, we took all the fruit home. The sunshine came back the next day, making the one day we spent hours picking berries out in the open, the only overcast day in more than two weeks. I was thankful because my kids get very fussy when they get hot, and there wasn't any shade in the blueberry fields, really.

Starting out.

"This is how you do it," ~~~~~ "I can't eat them all?"

Lost in thought.

Finding the perfect berry... losing the perfect berry.

All by myself! (sorry Mom, the rest didn't make it into the bucket).

Posing with the end result... or trying to.

My blueberry pickers.

The next day we got our Nexus cards which meant we could cross the border again. The rules had changed and our documents were either invalid, or expired. Having Nexus meant we could start going to the weekly Hymn Sings that Doc and Bashful were hosting at a beach down their way. The first time we went, there was the most beautiful sunset, and tonight was the last planned sing for the summer. Again, we had another beautiful sunset - I didn't take any pictures today... sigh.

Emma telling me about the fire.

Aunt Knittery helping PC roast a marshmallow while Emma ~~argues~~ chats with her cousin about the actual process.

Dolly proudly cooking her very own marshmallow.

Dolly in the sunset.

And that was a lot of pictures for one post. Maybe I should stop here tonight. (After glancing at the clock)... yeah, I should stop here - bedtime was a while ago!

How Long Has It Been!

2009-08-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since I posted anything here, I'm having a hard time even remembering how to! If you must know, I couldn't let a whole month go without a single post... well, my pride couldn't. So, I decided to shape up and do some actual writing. Mental blogging doesn't show for very much when you're trying to remember anything later. A lot has happened since the beginning of July.

There was PC's 3rd birthday at the very end of June... I sort of mentioned that earlier. Here he is with some of his favorite people. We had his party at a park that had a train which we got to ride on. This was the 'all boys' train car.

Then a couple days before our 6th anniversary, Sir and I went up to Whistler for a break. It was so nice to do nearly nothing and act completely lazy. We slept in, ate meals at odd hours, rented a canoe, went for walks and just enjoyed our time together.

Dinner/snack: cheese, grapes, apple cider and shrimp. Who needs real food?

Breakfast. We brought enough food along to last us probably 3 or 4 more days than we actually stayed! It was good though.

After Whistler, we had our annual week-long heat wave. Temperatures only reached the low 100's, but for us, that seemed pretty hot - especially because of all the greenery adding to the humidity! The kids spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool, and we played the 'battle of keeping the house bearable' game that often feels like a lost cause. Note to self: someday when moving again, avoid living in upper levels of houses. It was definitely wonderful to have the normal 20 degrees cooler weather the following week. Here are a couple random life-shots.

Emma - Cuddling with the Cat.

Friends.
PC loves babies. I'm sure he'll be glad to have a new one of his own soon since these two are growing up so fast!

I was going to keep working my way through my summer photos for this post, but it's bedtime now and tomorrow comes awfully early these days. So, I'll stop here for now, and hopefully it won't be another 7 weeks between posts!

Gone

2009-07-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks have been crazy around here. And today I discovered a small (well, it seems bigger to me) price of that busyness.

Two weeks ago yesterday our van broke down. Then there was PC's party at the park. We would have had to cancel or relocate the party had it not been for some very generous people who helped us get places that week we were without wheels.

One week ago today Sir's computer died and he was thankful for enough online backups that he could continue working from his laptop while the replacement parts were ordered, shipped and finally received as of yesterday. Two days after the computer died, the van was repaired so life began to return to normal.

Now Sir is getting his computer going again and this morning we discovered that pretty much the only thing lost from the whole deal was about 600 pictures - the last pictures that I'd downloaded to the dropbox for him to file away in our archives.

I know it's a small thing, and maybe it's just because I'm pregnant and over-reactive, but losing the video of us telling the kids about the new baby... or the in-progress pictures for one of the hardest birthday cakes I've made yet... the finished product pictures of PC's birthday train cake... the dozens of pictures of Emma's fashion sense - the stuff like that, which just can't be duplicated. Gone. All gone except for the 7 pictures I last posted.

Those are memories and losing the reminders just makes me sad. I want to cry, but I know that in the long run, a month's worth of pictures lost will hardly be noticed five years from now. I need to be thankful that we didn't lose a lot more than 600 pictures, but right now that's a bit of a challenge for me.

Well, I've felt sorry for myself, and gone on about it long enough now. It's time to move on - I need to get busy on the things that are still waiting for my attention. Today Sir is taking me with him up the mountain for a couple days (alone!) for our anniversary and I have a few more things to pack and get done before it will be time to drop the kids off.

The Source of Money (apparently)

2009-07-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

This was our breakfast conversation today while we had sticky cinnamon rolls with leftover birthday cake icing on top. Maybe all the sugar had something to do with the thought processes.

Dolly (to me): Do you have your own computer?
Me: Yes,
Dolly: Did Daddy give it to you?
Me: No, I bought it a long time ago before I married Daddy.
PC (to me): Ooo got money oo buy or combuter?
Me: Um, hm. It was a lot of money at the time.
PC (in a whiny/half crying tone): I want to get money bor a combuter!
Me: Well, crying about it isn't going to get you any, so stop fussing.
Dolly (in a cheerfully, optimistic tone to PC): PC, if you see a girl and you like her, you can marry her.
(as if that is the solution for attaining desired funds)
PC: Hmm.. (then to me)Can I marry ooo?
Me: No, I already married Daddy.
PC: Awww! (then in a more complaining tone) I wanted to marry ooo!
Me: Well, you can't. Besides, you can't marry your mommy.
Dolly (to PC): You can marry Emma. Do you want to marry Emma?
PC: No. I want to marry ooo.
Me: You can't marry her either. You can't marry your sisters.

And then I went out to tell Sir before I forgot any of the wording or tones. When I came back I saw PC hit Dolly with his sippy cup of milk. "Hey!" I started to scold as I walked toward them. "PC just hit me back" Dolly began in explanation "after... I... um... hit... him." I had to dash back into my room before I exploded in laughter. At least she finished truthfully even after she realized she was condemning herself!

And Then There Were Four

2009-06-27T16:55:00.001-07:00

A picture says a thousand words, but I'll just add a few more. After all, I'm starting to feel half alive again finally. Some of you may have noticed my lengtly blogging slumps over the past four or five months. Beside cold after cold after cold that our family battled in the first few months of 09, there was our confernce (we had 10 guests stay with us for the weekend), more colds after conference, then spring hit with a vengence - being a lot warmer than usual and bringing the alergy plagues with it. On top of all that, there's been the general spring/summer busyness that seems to just whirl us into non-stopness for weeks on end. And through it all I was exhausted with no time to be tired. Definitely not a feeling I'd wish on anyone else!

Today we're celebrating PC's 3rd birthday, and the kids all got new t-shirts to wear for the day. I expect they'll cause quite the stir - but we thought we'd do something different this time. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do most of the rest of the talking since I have a few phone calls to make before the party.

Dolly's shirt

PC's Shirt

Excited Kids

Here's the reason why

Emma's shirt - the give-away.

A little better look

So, July 9th is officially the first day of our sixth month, and now that the news is out... I can dig out some more comfortable clothes! And wait until November 8th-ish. 'Cause we're gonna have another baby!

Checklist

2009-06-25T22:53:00.013-07:00

PC is turning 3 on Tuesday. We're having his birthday party on Saturday. So, for my own organization this will be a check list for what I have left to do. I might take pictures later, but right now, there are priorities. :)

~~Bake cakes~~
~~Make jell-o~~
~~Wash dishes~~
~~Unload and load dishwasher~~
~~Find tape~~
~~Wrap presents~~
~~Assemble cake~~
~~Make and color icing~~
~~Ice cake~~
~~Make taco filling~~
Chop vegetables
~~Grate cheese~~
~~Get matching shirts ready for kids~~
~~Take garbage out~~
~~Feed birds~~
~~Take a shower~~
Clean bathroom
~~Make guacamole~~
~~Make iced tea~~
~~Sort through last clothing container~~
Wash Dishes (again)
~~Figure out how to get everything to the park or if we won't be going to the park~~(right now our car is dead)

There may be more, and I'll add it if I think of it, but right now it's almost 11 and I need to make sure the cakes are baked tonight.

Copy Cat

2009-06-22T22:13:00.004-07:00

NaomiG did a Father's Day interview with her girls and just for fun I thought I'd see if my munchkins would hold still long enough to think about the questions if I asked them. Overall, they did pretty good and I did get a few cute responses. So, I'm copying Naomi and posting my kids' answers to her interview.... or at least most of the questions she asked.

What makes Daddy happy?

PC: The Word Je-uh. (the Lord Jesus)
Dolly: Being good. Taking him camping.

What makes Daddy laugh?

PC: A game!
Dolly: Like play with him.

How does Daddy make you laugh?

Dolly: By tickling me.
PC: Ohm, Daddy can be wike a giraffe.

How tall is Daddy?

Dolly: He's this tall (she indicates by tossing a dress into the air)
PC: He's dat tall (he indicates by tossing his stuffed pony into the air)

What is Daddy really good at?

Dolly: Games!
PC: My bir-day train.

What do you think Daddy did when he was a kid?

Dolly: Um, like not obeying his mom?
PC: Maybe he get in the garbage.

What is Daddy not very good at?

Dolly: Running.
PC: A game!

What does Daddy do for his job?

Dolly: He works. ..with the computer. Pays us money.
PC: He get money at work.

What is Daddy's favorite food?

Dolly: Lamb meat.
PC: Tea!

If Daddy was an animal, what kind of animal would he be?

Dolly: A giraffe because he's big like a giraffe.
PC: A Wion!

What do you and Daddy do together?

Dolly: I come with Daddy when he goes shopping.
PC: Play.

How are you and Daddy the same?

Dolly: We're not!
PC: I don't know.

How are you and Daddy different?

Dolly: Well, I'm a girl and he's a boy (then in a softer voice she added)I think that's what's wrong with me. (I know she forgot the word 'different' as she answered this question, but I had to include her whole explanation.
PC: I don't know

Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?

Dolly: Work?
PC: At work.

What does Daddy like most about Mommy?

Dolly: Your hair long?
PC: Being nice.

The End.

Happy Father's Day Sir, You're a great dad to our kids... even if they do think your favorite place to be is at work! ;)

The Plaster Man

2009-05-23T23:43:00.006-07:00

Anticipation

2009-05-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Our house is literally abuzz with excitement. See, months ago, we decided to take our little ones to the capital city of BC. We told them about this possible outing and told them it wouldn't be until almost summer - when the leaves on the walnut tree were big and thick. Well, sure enough, the leaves started to bud and our little people checked out the window every single day to see if it was yet time to go to "Big-toria". Then earlier this week we told our little people that if the weather was good - if it was sunshiny, we'd go this weekend. I've never seen then pray so earnestly about something before. And so far, it looks like it will be beautiful tomorrow!

Anyway, the place we wanted to take them in Victoria, closed about 5 years ago, just months after we'd been there. This means we can't visit the Crystal Gardens this time, but the kids are looking forward to the ferry ride, and riding the bus. They would love to ride on a double-decker bus like the one we told them we'd gone on when we last visited the city, but they'll be happy with any kind of bus since they've never been on one.

So, the plan is to get up, get dressed and head for the ferry grabbing some breakfast on the way to eat on the ship. Once we get to the island, we'll take the bus to the city and then we'll play it by ear. There's a Harbor Ferry that the kids might like, possibly a bug zoo if it doesn't look too boring, and maybe, perhaps, it might be possible that a horse-drawn carriage ride might be in our price range. I know the kids would love that, but all I could find online was either outrageous prices or tours that were longer than my kids' attention spans. We'll grab some lunch at a stand somewhere, splash in the Parliament building water fountain a little and just see what looks like the kids would find interesting.

Now to go pack up the backpack and diaperbag.

Too Good to be True? or Just Long Overdue?

2009-05-15T23:08:00.001-07:00

My Second Potty Training Saga
Week 1... so far.

On Monday PC begged me to let him wear underwear instead of a diaper. I figured I could handle some extra laundry and put him in training underwear. There were no accidents and when nap time rolled around I put him in a diaper much to PC's disappointment. Then I forgot about it until after supper when he insisted he 'needed to go potty'. Of course his diaper was a bit wet from an earlier time, but he went anyway and since we were on our way out the door for a Bible reading with Chasm and HisLady, I just put PC back in a diaper and put him in pajamas.

Then Tuesday morning, PC begged me to let him wear underwear again. The day before had gone well enough, so I thought, "why not? after all, he is almost 3. I can't put it off forever." So he wore underwear. When it came time for naps, PC earnestly begged me not to put him in a diaper, and I figured he probably could go a couple hours asleep without any accidents at the rate he'd been at. And he did, but I forgot to remind him to go to the bathroom while I was busy getting supper on, he had an accident later that evening. He was very upset about it and I let him wear underwear again until bedtime.

Wednesday I had to do laundry which means I'm usually distracted being upstairs or downstairs and the kids get away with a lot more mischief when I'm not close enough to hear them or see what they're getting into. But I gave in to my little man and let him wear underwear a third day. After all, I was doing laundry, so a little extra would hardly be noticed. Sure enough, he had an accident before nap time came and realizing I couldn't keep up on the potty training at the same time as the laundry, I put PC back in a diaper. He was terribly disappointed and begged me again and again to let him wear underwear, but I was a mean mom and denied his pleas. Until after supper. Then I let him wear underwear again. We were going to the prayer/reading meeting that night and I figured it wouldn't hurt to get him used to wearing underwear at meeting and I wouldn't be distracted trying to juggle laundry and life. PC was delighted and there were no accidents the rest of that day.

Thursday there were no accidents and he didn't have a diaper during his nap. The milestone was establishing the going potty routine order. He eagerly waits my next prompt, "Ok, now what do you do?" "B-ush the Potty!!!" he exclaims as he does so complete with slamming the lid closed. "Great, now what comes next?" "I wash my hands!!!" as he pulls out the step stool and positions the ducky hand soap for easy access. Then he started dreaming up what kind of 'big boy' underwear he wants when he's trained enough to get something other than the training hand-me-downs. "Car underwear? No! Train underwear!, no, maybe a tow truck?! No, maybe just car underwear!?" either way it's very clear that he would like some kind of wheeled object on his very own 'big boy' underwear. I think I'll take him shopping with me when the time comes.

Today (Friday) there were no accidents. He even started going all by himself - insisting I not come in to help him. Then proudly coming out to tell me how he wiped himself and b-ushed the potty, and washed his hands with ducky soap and how he even pulled his underwear and pants up all by himself. I just love his shy/proud little grin/smile when I exclaim over his latest achievement. And tonight... well, I'm taking a chance and I let him wear his underwear to bed. We'll see how that went when I get up in the morning.

I'm so excited about how easy he's been. I'd been putting off for so many reasons. Occasionally I'd let him wear underwear for a day, but he'd always have an accident, or just never think he should actually tell me when he needed to go since I was sending him to the bathroom on the hour to avoid accidents. I think this latest change may have come from a conversation we had about his cousin DR (I think I'd read that as 'doctor' - after all, he's Doc and Bashful's third munchkin). DR is two months younger than PC, and started being potty trained back in March. I stressed how much DR. was a 'big boy' because he didn't need diapers anymore and I think PC finally caught on and didn't want to be left in the dust.

Maybe this is all too good to be true and tomorrow will be the beginning of the accidents that last for weeks. Or perhaps PC was just finally ready and I was finally up to the challenge at the same time. I guess time will tell.

I love those laughing eyes.