Boys

This morning I volunteered in Eli's classroom. This was the first time for that. Everything is clear to me now.

There are 19 kids in his class. 6 of them are girls. That means the overwhelming majority are boys.

As I walked from table to table helping with a craft, I heard what seemed to be Eli's quirks repeated over and over and over. Turns out, they're not Eli's quirks- they're 6-year old boy quirks. Lots of non-word noises. Lots of imagination. Lots of crashing and exploding.

I will attempt to demonstrate using bits of real conversations I overheard this morning:

Boy 1: And, like, Santa came in and (crashing noise)!

Boy 2: And there was a bear and he was like no way!

Boy 1: Yeah, like ahhh!!! a bear!

Boy 3: I saw a bear at a dumpster!

Boy 2: I saw a bear with his head stuck in a milk jug!

Boy 3: I saw a bear on a tire!

Boy 2: I saw a bear with his head stuck in a tire!

Boy 2: Like, we go up to the cops and say what are cops?

Boy 4: Ahhh! Yeah!

Boy 2: And they arrest us and say you're bad guys!

Never mind, this is a worthless exercise. I can't even come close to recreating any conversations because I can't do the million sound effects that were thrown in and all the chuckling and giggling.

I'll just say that it all became clear to me. Eli sounds exactly like his many male classmates. Apparently, he's right on track for a 6-year old boy.

Conversation With Evan

Following is a conversation that took place in the car:


Me: Tomorrow is your school Christmas party!

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: Tomorrow is your Christmas party at school.

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: I mean that tomorrow at school you're having a party.

Evan: What kind of party?

Me: A Christmas party.

Evan: Oh...Is tomorrow the next day?

Brrr....

It's 7 am and time to wake up the boys and get them breakfast, but I just wanted to announce that winter is definitely here. I just checked the weather and it's -29 Celsius, which translates to -20.2 Fahrenheit. That's cold.

Kendall is currently outside with his buddy loading the 4-wheeler onto the truck for a day of hunting. They couldn't decide which truck to take- Kendall's? (with a malfunctioning 4-wheel drive) or Jeff's? (with a malfunctioning heater). Hmmm... They chose the chilly ride. They may regret that.

The Big Parade

Tonight was the Santa Claus Parade here in Red Lake. It’s a huge deal here. An amazing event! There are well-over 4 floats and a couple police cars and fire trucks a fire truck and… Well anyway, it’s still a big deal for us. Everyone shows up.

Tonight was a beautiful night for it. It was snowing huge, fluffy snowflakes. Unfortunately, we got to the parade route 2 minutes after it started and missed about a large portion of the event. Being in a small town, we, of course, knew the people we happened to be standing next to. The boys got candy, we huddled together to stay warm, and we waved to people on the floats for 10 exciting minutes!

Our friend standing next to us was overwhelmed with the excitement. She turned to me and gushed, "This parade- It's goes on for minutes and minutes!"

He he. She makes me laugh.

But, even as I affectionately mock the Big Parade, I love that the whole town turns out for this community event. And afterward, everyone is invited to the Canadian Legion for snacks. There are some special things about being part of a small, isolated community. It makes not having a McDonald's or a Wal-mart a little easier to handle. :)

Evan's Secret Weapon

Evan recently let us in on his secret weapon. He informed us that he uses it at school if someone is mean to him. Now I share it with you:



Evan was serious when he first told us about it, but after watching it on the camera and laughing with me, he said, "That was funny. I mean funny."

Craft Show

So, the craft show... I actually did have a lot of fun, but it wasn't as profitable as I was hoping. (I don't think it would do me much good to figure out how much I made per hour.) I didn't do a good job of keeping records, but I think that, after taking out my expenses, I made somewhere around $150.

I just had no idea what would sell. I wasn't confident about the aprons, but those were my biggest seller. I was confident about the evergreen arrangements, but people just were not interested. So 2 days of work didn't amount to much. Money wasn't a problem there, since most of the materials were free from the bush.

I really think things could have been different with the Christmas arrangements if there was snow on the ground. Everyone is amazed, but there is no real snow to speak of. Last year around this time, I remember a huge mountain of snow by a nearby parking lot from all the plowing. But the weather has been extremely strange this year and we have no snow. So I think people just aren't in the Christmas mood yet. I ended up selling 8 of the 16 arrangements I made, but I really think some of those purchases were based on pity. :) The other 8 I had fun giving away, so it's not all a waste.

I did have a lot of fun being at the show. It was fun to see so many people and get to know some people I recognized from around town, but didn't really know. And now I have an idea of what people buy for future reference. Chalk it up to good experience!

I'm only posting because I accidentally came across this old photo and it gives me the shivers. And maybe because, while I'm proud of him for being a real-life superhero, I also want to get back at him for some unknown event. (Hint: If you blow up the photo so it fills the screen, it's really scary.)



And, no, I don't want to talk about the craft show right now.

Maybe I will tomorrow, after a good night's sleep to take the edge off my grouchiness. (Hmm....maybe I'm just feeling irritable and homesick and since Kendall's not here for me to take it out on him in person, I do it through my blog. Sorry, buddy. I knew you could handle it.)

I better go to bed now before I start posting other freaky pictures to make myself feel better.

Goodnight.

Craft Show

This is what has been consuming my time, energy and thoughts lately. The craft show is tonight and tomorrow. I've been so nervous, not knowing what to expect. Will people show up? Is there even a market for the things I made? How much do I charge? What do I do with pajama pants that don't sell? What do I do with 16 evergreen arrangements if they don't sell? Do I even have 16 friends to give them to? Do I really have friends? Does anyone like me? What am I doing here?! I'm such a foreigner! (Whew! Got a little carried away there... Actually, friendships are one of my very favorite parts of living here and it would be no problem to find 16 places to give arrangements.)

Anyway, I went today to set up and now I'm getting excited. There are quite a few sellers and I realized that I know more of them than I thought I would. And I get to be right beside Sue and her yummy homemade donuts.

Here's how my kitchen looked yesterday. I ventured out into the bush alone to cut these evergreen boughs and I made it back alive. I will not be showing photos of the rest of my house at this time since I have...um...let it go for the past little while.


I was happy with how they turned out. Thanks to Laura for the demonstration she did a couple years ago.


Here are the pajama pants and cloth napkins. (As a side note, I'm going green: I'm going to make cloth napkins for us to use. I hate using so many paper napkins. Is it actually "greener?" I guess you have to wash them. We could just resort to Eli and Evan's method of wiping our mouths on our shirts- they're going to be washed anyway.)


Here's a close-up of the napkin rings I made out of some sort of cable and floral wire. Now I'm really wanting to take a jewelry-making class.

There are also aprons, but I still need to set up that display before the show opens tonight.

Photo Session

Here are the results of a photo session with two cute, but uncooperative, boys:








Oh good grief.

Insights

Oh, the insightful little tidbits into the way our kids' minds work...

From Eli: When I was younger I thought that if you were raised as a girl, you'd change into a boy. And if you were a boy, you'd change into a girl. So I wanted to be a girl.

Me: So you'd be a man?

Eli: Yeah.



And from Evan... I was watching him in his class during circle time. His teacher was showing the class a crudely-drawn pair of gloves as they worked on words that start with the letter G. She asked what the drawing was. Evan eagerly raised his hand.

Evan: A hand?
Mrs. Morse: No. It's something that you wear on your hands.
Evan: Fingers?
Mrs. Morse: No. It's something you put on your hands to keep them warm.
Evan: Skin?

Smile.

Someone just pointed our son's fame out to me. (Click on the underlined part.)

So, we submitted photos to a community contest earlier this year in hopes of winning a new camera. We didn't win anything, but they still got our photo.

By the way, if perusing this website really gives anyone an itch to visit Red Lake, we know of a good place to stay and good (most of the time) people to hang out with!

Spring is Here!

It's been a long, cold winter, but spring is finally here! (I must have slept through most of it because it seemed like it was only a week long.)

We've had quite a bit of snow on the ground for the past week, which was completely normal. In fact, they say it often falls the first week of November and stays until April. So, though I wasn't quite ready, I knew I good very easily be saying goodbye to the grass for a long, long while.

But blessing! Wonder! Beauty! Rapture! THANK YOU! It got warm! We have had 3 warm and sunny days, the snow in our neck of the woods melted, and we had a second chance to rake those leaves I never got to. It has been beautiful and I am not taking it for granted.

And another wonderful thing is that Kendall had this weekend off! So this afternoon we went on a long walk in the bush. The pictures that follow don't look very warm or sunny, but trust me, it was a beautiful day. The snow didn't melt in the bush and the sun had started fading, but it was warm. And relaxing.





This color never ceases to amaze me. I cannot believe that there can be a color this bright that is not battery-powered. Well, it's definitely NOT a natural color, so I guess it serves its purpose. And yes that is a (unloaded) gun Kendall is holding. Kendall took his gun(s) on our walk, though we almost never see any wildlife while walking as a family thanks to our natural animal alert system. (ie yelling, running kids) But I guess you always need to be prepared- you never know when a deaf and blind moose will step out onto the path ahead of us just waiting to give us a freezer full of meat.



If you look closely you will see that yes, I am wearing camouflage pants. Bushwoman.




Eli and Evan were overly impressed with the sand pit.
Eli: "This place rocks!"
Evan: "Everything here rocks!"
Eli: "This rocks, dude!" (hands held high in some weird teenagerish sign of victory)
Sigh.




I love the many varieties of moss!

Washing Feet

Last night, as usual, Eli chose his picture Bible for his bedtime story. We read about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet as a servant would. He told them, “If I, your Lord and Master, have served you, you should do the same for one another.”

Well, I happened to know that we were going to have a foot-washing service in church this morning. Kendall would not be there, so I would have the boys with me. I explained that we still wash each other’s feet sometimes to remember how Jesus serves and helps us and to remember that we want to serve and help each other. I told them that if they would like, we could wash each other’s feet at church in the morning.

So this morning at the end of our church service there was an open time for people to wash someone else’s feet. Eli and Evan agreed that we would all wash each other’s feet. So we sat down at a warm basin of water. First we washed Eli’s feet, tickling him only a little. Then the boys washed my feet and dried them for me. Then Eli and I washed Evan’s feet with Eli’s true motive appearing to be tickling.

This foot-washing wasn’t the practiced, refined washing, the gentle patting dry, or the formal hug to seal everything that I’ve experienced in these services before. It was a bit messier. Water dripped on the floor and people, a child’s face unreservedly showed the pleasure of the warm water, the towels were all disheveled, and people were tickled and had water spritzed at their faces.

You know, I really get tired of being on my own with the boys. Kendall’s work schedule has proven to be more grueling than we expected. I get so tired of taking the boys to church by myself and of serving meals by myself and of entertaining them by myself and of refereeing and disciplining them by myself. I wash their feet all the time. I wash their whole bodies. I comb their hair. I wipe their bottoms. I tie their shoes. I clean their crumbs off the floor. I clean their pee off the toilet. I read them stories. I tuck them in bed. I tuck them in bed again. And again. I serve them all the time. Isn’t that just what parents do?

But I complain so much. In my heart and out loud. I’m not ignoring the fact that parenting is hard work or that Kendall’s work schedule takes its toll on all of us. I think it’s okay to feel tired sometimes. It’s okay to need a break. It’s okay to vent frustration to someone.

I want to see my service to my sons differently than I so often tend to. It’s true- I have to serve them. I have no real choice. But I also want to grow in serving them out of love. I want to be aware of the ways that Jesus serves me and then, in gratitude, to turn around and serve Eli and Evan. I am so thankful for these two little blessings.

And by the way, soon after we returned to our seats this morning, the time was up on how long these two little blessings could sit still. While the atmosphere was quite relaxed, it was still relatively quiet. I let the boys play around me, not paying too much attention to what they were up to. I was soon reminded of their presence, however, when I heard lots of giggling and a loud greeting from under our chairs: “Hello, Mr. Butt!”

The Great Hunt

Here are some photos from the great hunt. Kendall and Leonard were gone for most of a week. We joined them at their cabin for about 24 hours. It took a couple hours to get to the cabin. We drove for over an hour, then walked a trail, then boated across a long lake. We were really out there.


Here's the camp they used. It was closed for the season, but left unlocked. And yes, they did have permission (of sorts).



Inside the cabin lit up by propane and heated by woodstove.



We're warming ourselves by the fire.



Kendall took a mascot along on the adventure. For awhile, it looked like this would be the only moose they would see, but....

If you are brave, look at the next post.

The Moose

Warning: If you are a person that doesn't like to look at gross and/or dead things, do not proceed.



Meet "the calf."






Kendall getting his marinated jerky ready to smoke.

My creative and innovative husband made this smoker and is learning how to use it.


Packaging the smoked meat.


The neck. Oh yummy.

We processed the meat on our own. (And I can say 'we' because I helped for several hours after Leonard and Twila left.) Kendall and Leonard cut it up and put it all through the grinder once. The next day Kendall and I added spices for sausage and bologna. We re-ground it and put it into intestinal packages. (Yes, some real and, thankfully, some not-real intestines.)

We ended up with a lot of meat. According to my calculations, we have 7 packages of breakfast sausage, 6 packages hamburger, I-don't-know-how-many packages ground sausage, 10 large rolls of summer sausage, 11 packages of ring bologna, 6 pounds of jerky, and I-don't-know-how-many roasts. And that's not even all the moose! Leonard and Twila also have a lot of it.

I'm thankful for all the meat.

And did I mention that Kendall still has a bull tag he can fill? That means that one of the good things about getting a moose (hunting being done) does not apply in our situation.

Happy Halloween!

This is what we did this morning.



Yummy. The season's bounty. (Here's to hoping it's not actually here to stay.)




Uh-oh. I'm about to be snowballed!




Duck!

Dryden

Today I got to go to Dryden ALL BY MYSELF. As I've said before, trips out of town can turn into a horribly rushed, stressful situation. But today, I got to go alone and not worry about anyone waiting on me and not having to waste time waiting on someone else at Canadian Tire. (I think I may have just offended all Canadians and Canada itself with that wasting time comment. Canadian Tire seems to be a national treasure.)

The interesting thing about this little town 2 1/2 hours away from here is how completely unremarkable it is to see other Red Lakers there. The first time I went I was so surprised to see other people from Red Lake in the same Walmart hours from home! What a shock! Imagine meeting you here! Oh. I'm obviously the new kid in town who doesn't know how this all works. In fact, apart from employees, I am almost as likely to run into someone I recognize in Dryden's Walmart as I am in Goshen's Walmart. Therefore, I feel just as self-conscious in the underwear section in Dryden as I do in Goshen.

I'm hoping to follow in my mother-in-law's footsteps and have a table at a local craft show. (Although I don't plan on making $1000 by selling homemade nightgowns like she did.) I set my sights a bit lower and more realistic for me. She gave me some good ideas and I'm going to try my hand at aprons and pajama pants. I'm also hoping to try some evergreen arrangements and other little odds and ends. And if they don't sell, I guess everyone I know will be getting an apron or a pair of pajama pants from me this Christmas.

So my excuse for going out of town was to buy supplies. I took a good book on CD and the 2 1/2 hour trip flew by. I sat in McDonald's (!) and read a magazine while I ate my Quarterpounder and FRENCH FRIES. I browsed Walmart uninterrupted for a very long time. I picked up Tim Horton's donuts for my 3 men plus a double cheeseburger for the big guy. (Yes, he wanted it even though he didn't actually eat it until many hours later.) And for my supper on the way home, I got a Blizzard to go. (Wow. As I read all the highlights, I realize they are very related to fast food.)

Anyway, I have yet to tell you the most exciting part of my trip. I was buzzing down the highway this morning and up ahead I saw the sillouete of a large moose crossing the road. Then another large moose with antlers crossed right behind it. I ended up stopping on the road and watching them for a little while. They were so close to me. The bull was 20-40 yards away from me. (I have no concept of distance, so I am leaving a wide margin of error, assisted by Kendall telling me how far he thinks it is from here to the neighbor's house.) The bull was quite interested in me sitting in my little car. He turned to face me directly and stood there watching me. I thought he was going to charge. If I was Kendall I would have tried to call him and get him riled up. But I'm not Kendall and I was embarrassed to try to call because he would have surely known that I was an imposter and may have charged me just because I was making annoying noises. Besides, for those of you who have heard Kendall's moose call, you will know that it's just not lady-like. Anyway, it was so neat to see. Moose are very interesting animals to look at. And large.

And I'm mostly thankful that that was my only moose sighting of the day. I certainly didn't want to meet up with any as I was coming home on wet roads at dusk.

So that was my day. Tomorrow I will be working on my first pair of pajama pants. Maybe I'll post a photo if they turn out exceptionally good or exceptionally hilarious.

Mrs. Moose Hunter

I didn't know about one little part of the job description when I signed up to be Mrs. Moose Hunter. No one told me about this little part. In fact, I think Mr. Moose Hunter is a bit surprised himself.

You see, moose season opened last weekend. Thanksgiving happened to fall on the same weekend, but Opening Weekend has far more importance than thanksgiving day. The attendance at our Sunday service was strangely low. Kendall, however, was not out moose hunting. He and I hosted a Thanksgiving meal on Sunday, then he worked Monday through Wednesday.

While he was at work, I learned an important lesson. Up here, in moose country, if the real hunter is not available, the missus is expected to step in and talk hunting.

So, Wednesday morning, a hunter friend of Kendall's called. He had just spent 5 days out in the bush and was ready to talk about his hunting experiences. Oh, Kendall's not there? Well then, the wife's ears work. So we talked hunting. I have learned to hold up my end of the conversation fairly well and my interest in the subject isn't even all acting. I really am interested in how big a moose is and how much it weighs. Well, to a certain point. But I did my wifely duty and talked hunting until this buddy ran out of stories.

That evening Kendall was still working. I was at the same get-together as another hunter friend. He singled me out (as the wife of a Moose Hunter) and he and I had a good hunting conversation. I dutifully listened to his stories and even added my two cents.

The next day...another hunter friend and another hunting conversation.

Kendall has given me pointers. My first hunting conversation as Mrs. Moose Hunter didn't impress Mr. Moose Hunter so much. It was a few weeks before opening weekend and I gave too much information, too many specifics, about where Kendall would be hunting. So I rehearsed this line: "Oh, out Suffle Lake somewhere." Kendall has given me the stamp of approval on my later conversations as I've related them to him. Vague, but intriguing, hinting at my Mr. Moose Hunter's skill and bravery.

I'm happy to say that I'm learning the skill of conversing in "hunterese" and discovering the mysterious facets of being Mrs. Moose Hunter.

Ouch!

My toe hurts.

You see, just a bit ago I walked into the very messy living room where Mr. Evan was playing. He was holding a dart gun (which had already been confiscated from Mr. Eli this morning and which Evan had climbed up on a chair to sneak off of the top of the refrigerator a bit ago).

I announced with all the volume and showmanship of a circus ringmaster, "And now! Mr. Evan is going to demonstrate his great skill iiiiiinnnn.... cleaning up the living room!"

Skillful Mr. Evan looked most perturbed. Then he wound up and hurled his little plastic gun at me. Bullseye! It hit me right on the foot and hurt like a booger!

I said, "Ow!" then turned around and quickly limped out of the room because I didn't want him to see me laughing.

I went in my room and closed the door laughing hysterically (though it really did hurt- a lot). I could hear Evan outside saying indignantly, "I didn't want you to say that!"

Finally I got my emotions under control and went to have a little talk with Mr. Evan. Needless to say, the gun was re-confiscated and Evan didn't get as much help cleaning up the living room as he would have liked.

Guns are dangerous weapons!

And speaking of dangerous weapons, I just got to watch Evan "sneak" out of the house holding a hockey stick to scare away the cat we spotted in the yard. The lucky cat escaped with his life before Evan got within 15 feet of him. But Evan did turn around just before he came back inside and yelled out a menacing warning: "Get away kitty!"

Lively Conversation

I have to include a very brief video of the dessert conversation at the birthday party. It doesn't even begin to capture the snakes, snails and puppy dog tails. Except this loud and "hilarious" conversation consisted more of poop, pee and ear wax. (I'm not kidding.)

You'll have to use your imagination. The boys were all talking at once, cracking themselves and each other up, and in the hubbub, I was able to make out the words "pee," "poop" and "ear wax."

Oh help us all.

Birthday Party

8 boys = Happy chaos, a few tears and gross conversation


Kendall and I made a hockey version of Pin the Tail On the Donkey. It's Get the Puck in the Goal.



Pepperoni pizza, of course.



This is the pinata. If you look closely, you can see the candy flying as the pinata breaks apart.







The boys had fun tearing down the streamers after the party with their new swords. (The mom of gift giver consulted me ahead of time. I okayed the swords because they are foam and it's a losing battle I'm fighting. See? I even have to use violent language to talk about my dislike for weapons.)

The Cake

Here is the finished cake. When I wrote my earlier post regarding the cake, I was feeling annoyed at it. However, the cake and I had some space and a couple hours later I was ready to be on speaking terms again. The in-house cake decorator turned out to be me this time. Kendall did the maple leaf and the numbers. I took care of the rest.

The boys were very happy with their cake which made me happy. I'm not looking forward to the day when they're embarrassed of their very homemade-looking birthday cakes. For now, though, we'll enjoy their appreciation.

Song

Eli likes to sing his thoughts when he's feeling especially cool. Tonight he was riding bike and the song that burst forth from his inner being was, "I have a wedgie and you're a loser!"

"Shweet!"

The title is a direct quote from Mr. Evan when he saw that it was snowing outside. This exclamation caused a rip-roarin' fight between us when I accused Evan of asking Jesus for snow. He said he did ask for snow and then proceeded to taunt me by asking for more and more snow right in front of me!

Don't tell anyone (I have to keep up my Southern image), but the snow is a tiny, tiny bit exciting for me too. I'm just sorry that we skipped fall. The trees are still fairly green. It just got cold so quickly.

Here's Evan in the snow. (Trust me, there is snow falling even if you can't see it.) I was trying to take a picture of him tasting the snow with mouth open and face up-turned. Instead, I got this reaction when a snowflake landed in his eye.

Half-finished and Done

This is what's setting on my table right now. Can you tell what it is? It's a hockey stick cake waiting to be frosted. The puck is beside it. This would be the boys' birthday cake for their party tomorrow night. Oh yeah, and I remembered that decorating cakes makes me tense. Well, I knew that, but this morning I really remembered it. I don't have much desire to continue with the cake.

Where are you Mom, LaRonda, and Cathy when I really need you? Because I noticed you're not here. So anyway, this is what will be waiting for my lovely husband when he wakes up this afternoon. If I'm feeling nice, I'll put the crumb layer on before he wakes up. Yep, Kendall's the cake decorator in this house.

I'll show you the final product after my hubby works his artistic magic.

Vegetables

Well, our belated summer has come to an abrupt end. Yes, the "summer" (what I consider traditional summer months) was freezing and rainy. But somewhere mid-August everything changed. It was warm, yea even hot, all the way through September! That is a rarity up here in the boreal forest of the Canadian Shield. It was awesome!

Then we skipped the cool fall and went straight to cold. In the matter of a few days. It was weird.

So we'll just say the summer wasn't ideal for gardening. However, I did plant a garden back in June, right on schedule. And we were eating some produce from it. But with this sudden switch, I decided that it was time to bring in all the vegetables. Our produce has its challenges, but we love it so much.
Some very tiny ears of corn, approximately 15 all together; several tiny eggplant; plenty of cucumbers and zucchini; lots of red beets; a few kohlrabi; 2 jalapeno peppers; 2 1/2 bell peppers. We also planted A LOT of potatoes. My first time. We had so much fun digging them up and finding the red treasures in the dirt.



Sadly, this is our bumper tomato crop. As you can see, there is one orange tomato. We've eaten one ripe tomato and there is one rotting on the ground. That's it for the large tomatoes. We've gotten close to 10 ripe cherry tomatoes. Green tomato recipes anyone?



Here's a cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi and two aliens.



Eli enjoying the dwarf corn.



Like they always say, "When life hands you unripe tomatoes, make a centerpiece."
(Should I be wrapping these in newspaper or something to help them ripen?)