3 Days!

I'm so excited! 3 days until Indiana and family and old friends!

Poor Kendall will be working his butt off up here. He starts at the hospital on Wednesday! Right after work we'll leave for International Falls, 5 hours south of here. We'll sleep at a hotel there Wednesday night and he take us to the airport Thursday morning. Then 5 hours back and the next day his first 12-hour shift at the hospital. So between starting the long hours of a new job and studying for his test (5 hours away in Winnipeg the following Wednesday), he'll be busy. I'm sorry to miss the excitement of hearing about a new job face to face, but I think this will work best overall. If he's super busy, it will probably be good if he can come home and rest, rather than join the chaos that is so often our evenings. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions about work to badger him with long distance.

Fast Asleep

This is where little Evan is right now. I was working in the kitchen and I warned him that it was almost naptime. "Then I hide!" he said. "Then I'll find you!" I said. I heard him talking to himself about hiding in some blankets. As I finished up what I was doing and I could hear that he had burrowed in somewhere and was talking to himself some more. Then it got quiet.

Evan never just falls asleep while he is playing. Well he never DID... until Eli started school. Now there's not as much going on to keep him awake. So one day last week he made a cozy nest for himself on the living room floor and fell asleep. I thought he had probably fallen asleep today too, so as soon as I was done in the kitchen I went to check on him. I carefully moved the blankets on his bed, looking for his head. After a bit of being careful so that I wouldn't wake him, I realized that his bed was empty. Oops. So I checked the guest room. Nothing. I checked our bedroom. Nothing. I checked the living room. Nothing. I went back to the boys' bedroom and checked the top bunk. Nothing. I was getting slightly concerned. But then I looked under the bed and, in the darkness, I could make out Evan's favorite blue blanket from Nana and a lizard's foot. (You will notice that he is wearing a furry lizard costume.) So there sleeps my little boy as snug and cozy as can be.

We're having fun on the days that it's just the two of us. I signed us up for swimtime at the local rec center. Today was our first day. Every Monday morning Evan and I will go to the rec center. Evan will play with other kids and a babysitter while I do water aerobics for an hour. Then the babysitter brings the kids to us and we do AquaTots for 30 minutes. That's when the moms and kids are in the pool together. Today we just played to get used to the water, but eventually the kids will get some mini swimming lessons. Should be good for both of us.

A Fall Evening

Last night we went on a walk through the bush. It was a beautiful evening and the fall colors were so nice. Kendall took his gun in case we saw grouse. (Actually, after reading about our meal the other night, Ben informed me that it should be spelled "gross.") So, Kendall took his gun in case we saw gross. But with all the noise we make walking through the bush, there is little danger of us seeing any animals- gross and bears included. We had fun and I collected anything I could find to make a nice fall arrangement. Then we came home and ran to the grocery store before it closed (at 8pm!). I picked up minnows (in the freezer section right next to the fish sticks) for Kendall and 2 containers of ice cream. We brought the ice cream home and used it to gain entrance to Kendra's party, party crashers that we are. It was a good evening.



This is all the males in my family trying to call moose. Unfortunately, the calls were ineffective as they were closely followed by lots of little boy noise.

The Proud Fisherman (and Daddy)

Stormy Weather

Sunday was supposed to be a beautiful and somewhat warm day. Maybe the last one! So we skipped church and decided to spend the day on the lake. You know, camping without hauling all the junk and sleeping on hard beds and freezing half to death. Just the fun parts like being outside and cooking over the fire and relaxing.

We took a chilly boat ride to a fishing hole. After catching a sufficient number of fish for our lunch, we went to a beach we had been to once before. (Goldseeker's, for those of you who know.) As we got lunch ready we could see the clouds moving in. Kendall wondered out loud if we should eat on the go. But by that time I had seen lightning between us and Red Lake. So we decided to wait it out. We watched a storm roll across the lake. Lightning and thunder, but it didn't get too close to us. In fact, at one point the sun was shining on us and the dark clouds were rolling between us and town.

It rained so we went into the bush a bit. There I found lots of cranberries and filled up a Pringle's can. We just waited out the rain. Finally the storm cleared enough that we snatched up the chance and flew home.

So, not the dramatic story it could have been, but it was fun and we're safe.

Grouse

Sunday morning Kendall went grouse hunting with Derek. (Come to think of it, he went Saturday afternoon with Derek too. Not that we're keeping track.) Anyway, he came home with 5 grouse. So we soaked them in salt water for a couple days and Tuesday evening I roasted them. They were pretty good, but their scrawniness did gross me out a bit. The boys (all 3 of them) declared that the gizzards and hearts were tasty. I, however, wasn't convinced. Then they had fun playing.

Not a Drunk

This afternoon I walked down to a shop and on my way home I passed a woman sitting on the curb.

"Nice day," she said.

"Beautiful," I agreed.

Staggering up ahead of us was a drunk man. He turned around to see where the conversation was coming from. Then turned to keep walking, waved his arm and slurred, "Praise the Lord!"

I caught up to him and started to pass him. He slurred something else to me.

"You're looking for drunks?" I repeated back to him.

"Yeah."

"Good luck," I said as I kept walking.

"You a drunk?" he asked.

"Nope!"

He congratulated me, "Good for you!" and sent me on my way.

Happy Birthday Leah

Eli just called Leah to wish her a happy birthday. This is what I heard:

Hi Leah. Remember me? Eli? Is it your birthday today? Congratulations. Did you have cake? Aww...I wish I could be there. Just a minute- let me ask my mom. Mom, do we have a gift for Leah?

Anyway, the whole thing was cute- from both sides. It made me sad that Eli had to miss his friend's birthday. (Trust me, he has no idea that he is also missing church campout this weekend. That just might do him in.) But it also seemed to make him very happy to talk to Leah. And it was nice that he could tell her that he'll see her in two weeks.

Another Hairy Entry

Just a bit ago Eli was examining his fingers. "I have a lot of hair on this finger!"

"Boy," I said, "you are getting old!"

"Yeah, and I guess I'm a student now!"

The Happy Couple

First Date!

Well, not actually our first date. It just seems like it since it's our first one in at least 12 weeks. And who knows when our last one was in Indiana- it was pure craziness for the last weeks.

Anyway, I'm excited. Even if our boys are only 2 minutes away by car and the restaurant is halfway between us and them. Our restaurant choices in town are 2 pizza/french fries/chicken joints that are mostly carry-out, a pub and a bar (not sure if they serve food), a chinese restaurant that doesn't quite seem open, Subway, and this one. This one, "the Howie," actually seems pretty nice inside- I've been in there one time. And I can think of one other restaurant that's open during the day and recently started being open 3 evenings a week. And when it's warm there are 1 or 2 chip wagons around town, depending on...I'm not sure what it depends on.

So you can see that we don't go out to eat much. Besides, in spite of the small selection, they're rather pricey. In fact, I seem to be losing weight and can't seem to figure out why. The only major differences in eating or exercise habits I could come up with are rarely eating out and not pigging out on my mom's cooking. (There's something about eating my mom's cooking that makes me think I can eat just like I did when I was a kid and couldn't gain weight even though I desperately wanted to.)

But anyway, enough about restaurants and eating. A date! And I think I just heard my handsome prince ride up on the blue weasel. Bye bye!

As a follow-up to last night's entry about Eli's legs...

This morning Evan woke up too early (for me anyway) so I put him in our bed. He laid there for 45 minutes dozing off and on and playing off and on. At one point he started chanting: "Getting bigger- hairy legs! Getting bigger- hairy legs!"

It would appear that Eli's newly discovered leg hair made an impression on his little brother.

Getting Older

Tonight Eli made an important observation: "I'm getting older."

"Oh," I said, "How do you know?"

"I have hair on my legs and I didn't last night. See?"

I looked and sure enough, he had fuzzy shins. "Who has hairy legs?" I asked, expecting him to say that it was his favorite role model, Daddy. But no, he named his best bud, Isaac. :)

Sometimes I Feel Outnumbered

Last night at supper, Evan dipped his finger in the container of sour cream, then, in a loud stage whisper, said, "Eli! Look!" Eli, knowing that this was a no-no, smiled slyly at Evan and gave him a thumbs-up. See! I knew they were out to get us! They're ganging up on us!

The day went okay, but by suppertime I was frazzled. I mean, super-frazzled. Kendall had suggested that we all ride our bikes downtown to get our mail at the post office. I told him, "I'll do the dishes all by myself if you just take the boys and go." So he did and I flew around the kitchen to get done in record time. Then I scrubbed the bathtub as fast as I could so that I could have a relaxing bath. (I'm very bad at getting around to cleaning the tub, so I'm always motivated to scrub the scummy thing before I take a bath.)

Kendall stayed outside with the boys a long time so that I could enjoy some much-needed peace and quiet. Wasn't that so nice? It was very much appreciated.

Justice Served

Tonight Eli threw a slipper at Evan's face, which was the culmination of a series of misbehavin' events. It was almost snacktime, so Kendall told him, "No bedtime snack." Of course Eli could hardly stand the thought of that. "No! Give me a time-out!" Kendall told him he could take a time-out if he wanted, but that he still wouldn't get a snack. Eli stated that he wouldn't learn this way- only if he got a time-out instead. After a bit, he seemed to accept his lot in life. Then he got creative. He told Kendall that he came up with a way to teach himself. And then held a rolled-up slipper by his own face and let it fly, smacking himself in the face.

Eli's First Day of School (His Perspective)

Eli is safely home. :) He is going to answer a few questions.

How was your day?
Good.

Anything else?
Got a new best friend. Two!

What are their names?
I can only remember one of their names. One is named Evan. And I can't remember the other one's name. What are you writing?

Did you like your teacher?
(Shakes his head no.)

Eli, tell the truth.
I actually really didn't. I actually really did.

What is she like?
She likes all of us.

Tell me about her.
She's really nice and I don't know what else she likes. I'm gonna go. Bye bye!


Okay, so that didn't work so well. But when I picked him up, he seemed very happy to see me and happy about his day too. He ran over to me and gave me a big hug. Pretty much the first thing he said was, "Do we have any plans for this evening?" "Eli," I asked him, "Don't you remember about our big celebration?" (He got to choose what to eat and he chose Subway. We'll take it out to the bush and go grouse hunting.) "Yeah, but I mean something else too. Like going to a friend's house to play." Apparently he hasn't had enough socialization yet today.

Eli did say that he had a super-good day. He said they got to play outside 2 times and went to the gym. There they played Simon Says. He said he had 4 teachers. When he got home he pulled out a project he is working on (a bandit mask- basically a roughly-cut triangle of construction paper) and said Evan could help him. Then he proceeded to ask for books from the book order he brought home. I forgot all about those things! He told me, "There's something you need to get me, even if you don't like it..." That's how he prefaces anything having to do with Spiderman. Sorry, I still win on that one. Although I'm wondering if I should give up the battle against Spiderman so that it loses its appeal.

Anyway...the boys are happily playing "beaverhouse" right now. That's where they pile up anything they can find and crawl in under the pile to be beavers. Right now the pile contains 3 bed pillows, various couch cushions, one game, one video case, 2 shoes, one fish net, one small container, one moose (stuffed) and a box of papers. Oh, and 2 slightly wrinkly apples. And they're trying to put our huge stroller on top of the whole pile.

First Day of School (From Mom's Perspective)

I sent my little (big?) boy off to school this morning. And I am so proud of him. He was sitting at breakfast and apparently hadn't picked up on Kendall's comment about school. All of the sudden Eli said, "I just remembered I'm going to school today!" The smile on his face was so big and bright and proud. So we got him all ready for school and he and I set off to walk to school.

As we walked, I felt a need to explain everything I possibly could about school...again. Just want him to be prepared, you know? He was fine, though when we got within sight of the school and saw all the kids playing outside, he did get a bit quieter. At least I think he did. I know I did. There are very big kids there! This ain't no preschool! As we walked across the schoolyard, I was thinking, Am I supposed to leave him at the playground? Who am I gonna play with? What if no one talks to me? I'm nervous! (Oh, wait. I was talking about Eli, not me. Right?)

Thankfully, we went in the kindergarten door and there were all the kindergarteners. They were drawing or looking at books or putting puzzles together until school started.

I could tell Eli was nervous, but he walked right over to his cubby. (When we met his teacher last week, she showed him where it was.) He sat down and changed into his new inside shoes and hung up his backpack and sweatshirt. Then he stuck close to me as we walked into his classroom. He decided to go look at books. At one point he checked back for me and I told him I wouldn't leave without telling him. The bell rang and it was time to gather on the rug. I told Eli goodbye then stood at the back of the room to watch a bit. He didn't turn around to check for me, but started a conversation with the little boy sitting beside him. So I left.

I did feel a bit better about all the scary big kids when two smiled at me as I walked off the school grounds. :) It appears that some might actually be kind to little kindergarteners and nervous mommies!

I'm very glad that I could drop him off at school and didn't have to watch him disappear onto a big yellow school bus. We were both disappointed when we found out that they don't have bus service to our house, but for the first day it was just fine for both of us.

I will say that back at home I felt like superwoman. With only one kid, I can do anything! (Some would say that with only two kids they can do anything!) I can have a pleasant grocery shopping experience. I can maybe go into a store that doesn't have carts. (We'll have to see about that one.) I can maybe even be more patient and less frazzled. I'm looking forward to less intensity and a lower noise level 2 days a week. My boys play and fight loud. Sort of like the family I grew up in. But I'm glad Eli's only going 2 days a week. It feels like a really good thing for him, but not too much.

And here I sit, freshly-baked bread on the counter, a cup of coffee at my side, relatively clean floors (swept, but needing to be mopped), clean laundry (still sitting in the dryer), plants needing to be watered, jeans in need of patches and ironing on the table, books on the floor, bathroom needing to be cleaned, a messy desk, rugs still hanging over the railing outside, papers that need sorting, and a little boy that needs to be woke up soon so he can sleep tonight. Alright, alright...I'll get to it. I was going to say I feel like I am living a life of leisure, but I just effectively reminded myself that I should probably get up and get back to work.

Exploring

Saturday we were all ready to go spend the afternoon out on the lake. We had the boat on the trailer and everything packed to make walleye and bannock over the fire. As Kendall drove off to buy minnows, I heard the thunder. So we came up with Plan B and went out exploring. We just substituted hot dogs for fish and Eli prayed that it would only sprinkle where we were. It started pouring at one point when we had just stepped out of the car to walk around. So we drove a bit farther and ended up spending several hours at the new site. And it only sprinkled there.





Still no bears. Only these prints.

4-wheeling

Yesterday afternoon we went out on 4-wheelers with Marvin, a man who Kendall has been working for and likes a lot. It was, of course, beautiful. We went out on some trails that you couldn't drive a car or truck down and that would have taken hours to walk down. So that made me more sympathetic to Kendall's desire for a working 4-wheeler. (He bought one, but it has been a lemon and currently is in many, many pieces.)

Kendall, Eli and I piled on to the super-duper big and mighty 4-wheeler (pretty much the equivalent of a Goldwing) and Evan caught a ride with Marvin. I couldn't hear much over the roar of the machines, but I found out later that both boys were singing and talking away as we bumped along the path. Another moment of happiness for Mommy.

Later, they got to ride in a trailer behind that super-duper 4-wheeler. They were bouncing around like little helmeted bobbleheads. This elderly 32-year old had tried it earlier, but found it to be way too bone-jarringly violent. The boys were back there smiling and laughing. However, when we got back to the truck, Eli informed us that he didn't like the ride. When I commented on his smile, he let me know that he smiles when he's mad. I guess that's a good thing for me to know!

Overheard

This afternoon I heard a conversation between Kendall and Eli. Eli was measuring something with Kendall's tape measure. Kendall was trying to help him know how to read the number. He explained how numbers with 3 digits work. So he helped Eli start out correctly, "One hundred..." "Forty-six!" finished Eli. I knew that Eli still has a long way to go in reading numbers when I heard Kendall's response: "There's not a four or a six." The correct answer was 192. :) Good thing Junior Kindergarten starts tomorrow for our little student!

Homesick?

Yes, I guess I am. For much of the summer I haven't felt too homesick. We've kept pretty busy as a family. And being home full-time with the boys has gone better than I expected. I've pushed myself socially, so maybe being at home feels like a bit of a refuge. I don't have any great friends, but I usually feel hopeful about friendships.

But the past week has been harder. I just want to have good conversations and laugh with comfortable friends.

But that probably won't be happening this weekend, so how do we keep moving forward and encouraging each other when we're both struggling with some lonliness?

We're trying to be creative. Tomorrow's supposed to be nice, so we're hoping to do some "day camping," as I call it. (Camping without hauling the tent and bedding and everything else to sleep out there.) We're hoping to go on a date (our first one since being here!) sometime next week. We have supper plans with another family next week. Hopefully we can have company Sunday evening. (Or maybe get invited away!) We might stay up late tonight or tomorrow night to play a game with Kendra next door. We'll find things to do and hopefully be able to keep the bogeyman of lonliness away. :)

And in the meantime, hopefully our friendship with each other and God will deepen.

Overheard

I was listening to CBC in the car one day and Barack Obama's name was mentioned. (Yes, the US election is news here.)

Eli, who I didn't know was even paying attention, exclaimed, "Barack Obama! He's my best lawyer guy!"

Suppertime

I noticed that I've been bragging a lot in my recent posts. So, in that spirit, I want to talk about the supper I made. I made ceviche, which we learned to like in Ecuador. Out of good old fashioned walleye! I also made ensalada rusa, which doesn't look so appetizing, but is yummy. I must say that I was rather impressed how walleye could turn into something as gourmet as ceviche.

Here we are ready to enjoy a wholesome family suppertime together.


Yummy, if I must say so myself!

The boys thought they were so hilarious when they set Kendall's place with a tiny fork and spoon.


Now Eli thought he was so hilarious when he tried to get a cookie from the container and ended up with 4 stuck together.

Oops! This might be a more realistic picture of family suppertime together. Evan is explaining why he doesn't have to wear a bib (he'll lean over his plate) and who knows what kind of sinister plan Eli is coming up with to make supper more "interesting." Maybe he was thinking about how he would later drop his cantaloupe on the floor. Too bad you can't enjoy the sound effects of our "wholesome family suppertime." It actually went better than sometimes tonight and I (wholesomely) initiated a conversation about our best and worst parts of the day. The boys both enjoyed working on the 4-wheeler with Dad. Their worst parts were "washing dishes" (Eli) and "picking up my stuff" (Evan). Eli explained to me that washing dishes will always be his worst part. What?! If they've already labeled chores as bad, they've got a lot of worst parts coming up!

Eli likes Racheal Ray and often asks me to pretend I'm Racheal Ray when they're watching me cook. Tonight I did my show on how to make ceviche. The only thing is that, since I was making ceviche from walleye, I felt like I was on a cross between Racheal Ray and the Red Green Show.

Since I'm rambling about Racheal Ray, I have to tell about our Racheal Ray show when we were camping. We video-taped Kendall making lunch over the campfire and called it the Kendall Ray Show. Mr. Kendall Ray asked a special guest, Eli Hochstedler, to come up front and explain how to build a fire. Eli took his role very seriously and did a good job explaining how to do it. (He even specified that kids should use their dads.) After he was done, the audience went wild with applause. Kendall later told me that Eli confided in him that he was nervous. :) Sweet!

Outdoor and Indoor Activities

Tuesday afternoon the boys had the opportunity to ride miniature horses with someone from church. They did this once before. So Eli was very confident. Perhaps, overconfident. But they did great. Eli did say, though, that he almost got bucked off once.



And this just might be the kids' other favorite activity. In my drive to be a wholesome mother, I can't quite bring myself to say what they're doing and how much they ask to do it. But I'm sure you can guess.

"To Infinity and Beyond!!!"

In this bear and skunk-ridden country, it's good to know that I have superheroes right here in my own home!

As the boys play I often hear the cry, "To infinity and beyond!" Of course, when it comes out of the younger one's mouth I hear, "Finny be yon!"

As long as I'm bragging...

I'm not a die hard fisherwoman by any means. But Monday night I was definitely the champion in our family. (Not that Eli was all that willing to acknowledge that fact.) Anyway, I was proud to out-fish the boys. I caught the 2 biggest.

We had a good night and brought home 8 walleye and 1 northern pike. This was the first that Kendall allowed us to bring home a northern pike. They are notoriously stinky fish and he hates to touch them. In fact, if he ever catches one he tries to get it off his line without ever touching it and he especially doesn't want to bring it into the boat. They're bigger and fight more, but less good to eat. I guess it's hard to filet them and get rid of all the bones. But friends of ours grind them up, bones and all, and make fish patties out of them. So as an apprentice bushwoman, I naturally have been wanting to try that.

After a long, hard battle with the unwilling fish, I triumphantly won the fight and we got the northern into the boat. (It took a bit of sweet-talking on my part. To Kendall, not to the fish.) I, somehow, was able to convince my husband that we really needed to try a northern pike. You have to understand how much my husband does not like Northern Pike. He really doesn't.

Of course, I didn't want to sully my delicate hands. The fish was huge and throwing a fit in the bottom of the boat. It really was oozing with slime and it did stink even more than regular fish. (You can understand that sully and delicate hands part.) So Kendall, my strong bushman, wrestled that fish. After an especially violent thrashing of the fish Kendall looked up at me with an annoyed expression on his face. However, that was not all that was on his face. He also had a splat of stinky slime across his forehead. Of course I was dying laughing while trying to keep my feet away from the thrashing fish. My Kendall conquered the beast and we will someday eat it. And I was sure to let him know how thankful I was for his knightly ways. It was truly an act of love.

Bountiful Blueberries!

We went blueberry picking again last week. Kendall wanted to take a picture of me with my blueberries. I will admit that this photo is rather deceiving...Even though I was picking furiously and I thought surely I must be keeping up with Kendall...he filled one bucket and then finished filling mine.

Still no bears in the blueberry patch...

By the way, a gallon of blueberries is selling for $35 here. Might be a decent little side job! Until frost, that is. Then they're done. And the way things are feeling around here, frost could come soon. It was hot (well, Northwest Ontario's brand of hot) literally through the end of August. Overnight before September 1 or 2 it got cold. And now it's not hot anymore. Now we're chilly. We don't currently have a working furnace in this house. September 15 is the big day when the repairmen are coming. Until then we will be using electric heaters, a down-filled duvet, and a heated mattress pad. And I'm not joking.

Well, 2 1/2 weeks of pure fun for the boys has come to a close and now it's just boring old us again. The Lyndakers left this morning. The kids got along really well. (Iris and I did too.) So Monday morning could be a bit of a shock to our systems. I do think it will be good for us to get back into a routine again. But I'm not sure what we're going to do when it sinks in that our new closest friends in all of Red Lake don't actually live in Red Lake...

Some Photos From Our Weekend

Nature Calls

So Saturday morning it was quite chilly in the tent. We were all awake and I was snuggled up to Kendall. (With two sleeping bags between us, mind you.) Eli wanted to go outside with Kendall. When I protested Kendall leaving, he laid it out, plain and simple: "Nature calls. Where there is wood, I must burn it." Yes, he loves building fires.

How To Be More Like a Boy

The other day in the tent I asked Evan for a hug. He gave me a hug. Eli wasn't so willing.

"I'll give you a hug if you're more like a boy."

"How do I be more like a boy?"

"Be cooler. And go fishing more."

Well. Once again, Kendall is the cool one in this family.