That Time Of Year Again

The arena is open again. Parent & Child skate is Monday, Wednesday & Friday. We've been going from 10:30 - 11:30 am and it's proven to be a perfect way to break up our school day!
Dylan (6) starts hockey next week and has been terribly excited to be on skates again.


Kobe (2) loves that he is starting to skate without me holding him! Mr. Independent! *wink*


Zane's (10 months) not too sure what it's all about, but just loves being with us!


And don't tell...but I'm getting a little used to pushing Zane in the stroller. When I let go, my balance isn't as good as it usually is. *shhh...*


A Surprise For Dylan

This spring, Dylan started feeding the birds. I guess they didn't quite eat all the seeds. We had a smattering of these pop up...


...much to Dylan's delight. Much to my delight, too - I have been getting fresh-picked sunflowers from my little guy for weeks. Dylan can feed the birds any time he wants to!


Night Wanderer

At first I thought it was sleepwalking.

Now I just think it's night wandering.

Either way, it's a little unsettling to have your 2-year-old wandering around the house in the middle of the night.

Often, I will have this strange feeling that someone is watching me while I'm sleeping. I'm talking...2am. I open my eyes. There, 2 inches from my face, is a little 2-year-old face. Staring. Arrrgghhh...go back to bed!

The other night, the baby woke me up. When I got up to tend to him, I noticed Kobe's light on. I went into his room. There he was...out of his crib, light on, curled up in a little ball, sleeping on the floor.

The next night...I got up and he was downstairs, sleeping on the couch.

It's scary that we don't hear him. He's as quiet as a mouse. We put childproof doorknob handles on the exterior doors. I don't want to wake up one morning and find him gone.


First Day Of Sunday School

Kobe (2) started preschool Sunday School.

I was all cool with it. I had explained it all to Kobe and he was excited. It was decided that Dwayne would go with Kobe. The baby and I would go with Dylan. (It's always nice to have a few extra hands to help the teacher.) What I wasn't expecting was Kobe's reaction when he came out. He was ecstatic! He was so proud to show me his little sheep that he had made and his memory verse 'The Lord is my shepherd.' It tugged at my heart a little. He is getting ever-closer to the 'big-boy' stage. *sniff*

Dylan (6) moved up into a 'big-boy' class this year. When they got to class, they were asked to fill out a paper of 'favourites' and something they were thankful to God for. Dylan said that he was thankful that God gave us bones so we weren't squishy.

Later, they were taking turns saying something great that God had done for them.

Dylan: "God gave us plants. That's great."

SS teacher: "Why is that great?"

Dylan: "We can breathe because they make oxygen."

SS teacher: (A small look of surprise.) I think maybe she was expecting, "So that we can eat them!" or something like that.

He'll keep her hoppin'! *wink*


I Really Can Cook...Really

I love food! I love to eat, I love to cook, I just love food!

When we camp, we eat well!!! The yummy stuff...shishkabobs, steak, grilled chicken breasts, ribs. Mmmm, makes me hungry just thinking about it.

This year for vacation, we camped - with friends. We know each other fairly well, but we haven't done many meals together. She's not too fond of cooking, but he loves to. We brought all the regular camping meals with plans to feast between fun.

On days that the other family had gone to do something else for the day, this is how our meals turned out...



I don't have a picture of what our meals turned out like when the other family was there, but I can give you an example:

The moms went tubing. The full loop took about an hour. When we got back, we were wet & cold, so I went to change. I left Dwayne on the beach with the children. While I was at the trailer, I thought I'd quickly put on supper. By the time I got the children dried off and dressed, supper would be ready. Oh, how clever...

I made rice in the trailer and I did fish and broccoli in tinfoil on low on the bbq.

The children wanted to show me this and that and by the time I got back, I thought I could smell something burning. I went whipping into the trailer, thinking it was the rice. Yep, the trailer was full of smoke. I brought the smoking pot outside and went to put it on the plastic table. Yikes, that would have been a bad idea. I put it on the outdoor mat instead.

I took the fish & broccoli off the bbq and opened up the tinfoil packets. It was all black. Which packet was fish and which was broccoli? Hard to tell.

Back to the rice. I took the pot off the mat and there was a huge hole burned in the mat. Okay, that would explain the awful smell that I thought was just an extension of burning food. The pot had melted rubber all over the bottom of it.

I salvaged what I could of supper. By this point I was rip-roarin' mad a little upset. We were going to eat it, darn it, and we were going to like it!

The children didn't eat much (surprise, surprise). I choked down all that I could. I went to tend to the baby so didn't notice how Dwayne fared. Marilyn told me about it later...

She was inside her trailer, nursing her baby. She could see Dwayne sitting on his chair. He'd pick around on his plate with his fork, lift some up, examine it, shrug, try to eat it, wrinkle his nose. Start again. Pick around, lift a little more up, examine it, try to eat it, wrinkle his nose. Marilyn laughed out loud at one point, loud enough to wake her nursing baby.

Nobody complained about it. Not. A. Word.

The worst part? They probably think I cook like that all the time. "Poor Dwayne. He's had it this way for 10 years." It's not like that, really. I am a good cook.

Shortly after supper, Dwayne made popcorn. It was devoured.



Fun & Fancy Free

When I'm by myself and get into my truck, something inside of me changes. I put my sunglasses on, crank the music and singitloudbaby! It doesn't need to be a long trip - maybe only 5kms. I just have a sense of freedom...a sense of youth... a carefree sense of no responsibilities.

I know I hit 30 this year - I know! - but sometimes I still feel so young. Despite the bags that have taken up permanent residence under my eyes, the grey hairs popping up here & there, the waistline that reflects 3 children in a 'shortish' period of time, I still feel like I'm 20. I'm married (for 10 years), I have 4 years of university, I was an accountant, we have investments, but still, I feel like I'm playing grownup.

I remember when Dylan (6) was just a few days old. I was sitting on my parents' couch holding him, thinking, "I wonder when your parents will be here to pick you up." I mean, no one in their right mind would leave a little baby with me forever...would they?

Is it because I am still so terribly in love with my hubby? Is it because I've known him forever and we were so very young when we started dating? Is that why I still feel like a teenager? I don't know.

Anyways...next time you're in Small Town Canada, watch for me. If my husband and children aren't with me, I'll be the old gal dancing and singing while driving my big ol' grownup vehicle. Oh, and give me a wave so I know you don't think I'm completely crazy! *grin*


School's In!

Yesterday was our first day of school. Our schedule went a little something like this...

8am Breakfast
8:30 Chores
9am School

11am Playtime

12noon Lunch

12:30 Read-Aloud 'Chatterer The Red Squirrel'

1pm Science - A Journey Into The Human Body. We did an experiment about ball & socket joints.

2pm Math - A good ol' game of Yahtzee!

The day went well. Dylan decided first thing this morning that we werenotdoingschool. Period. I got on that one tout de suite. After that he carried on with a 'happy heart', as he later told Dwayne.

The only mishap during the day? Kobe decided to use Zane as his canvas during colour time...



The Mud Bogs

Off we went to watch the mud bogs. A friend was participating in them and we thought the boys would like it. I had no idea what to expect. I mean n-o-n-e. I packed splashpants & rubber boots for the children. Dwayne packed his rain jacket and rubber boots. I packed my rubber boots. I turned out that there were seats to watch from & none of us even got muddy. Ya never know!

Surprisingly, I had fun! I knew Dwayne & the children would enjoy it, but as for me, I was skeptical.

It started out with these babies...




They were fast. They were loud. The children covered their ears and I covered Zane's. Us adults didn't cover ours and spent the rest of the day saying, "What?", "Huh?", "Pardon me?".

I loved every second of the demolition derby...

We each chose a car to bet on. That beautiful, red, station-wagon beast was Bobbie's choice. It won, hands-down. It didn't look much worse at the end than it did when it started.
Here is her mischevious little smile as she was watching her car open a little can o' whoop-*ss...


...and everybody thinks she's so innocent! *wink*

Our husbands were discussing entering the wives into next year's demolition derby. I'm totally in! Bobbie thought she'd be too scared, but I know she'd go way up on the Cool Mom List!


At one point, I looked down the stands and saw a whole row of children doing their own monster-truck thing. There's just something about little guys, some dirt and trucks!



Our friend, Dennis, just couldn't wait for the snow. I guess little guys loving to get dirty just turn into big guys loving to get dirty.