911

This morning we were visited by two big, burly police officers.

It started when I was in the bathroom after my shower and I heard the phone ring.

No, it started several days ago when I wrote up a list of emergency numbers to fulfill a requirement for our foster parenting home study. At the very top of the list is ‘911.’ I went over the list with Eli and we talked about what to do in case of an emergency. 911 was a very important part of that conversation, along with the three neighbors he could go to for help.

Jump forward to this morning. Normally, if all is quiet when I finish my shower, I go check on the boys right away before getting ready. This morning I could hear them playing right outside the bathroom door so I knew they weren’t getting into anything. It sounded like they were really into pretending something or other. Then the phone rang. The boys were playing in the living room by this time and quite oblivious to the phone.

“This is the OPP. We just received a 911 hang up call.”

I was confused. The boys were playing happily in the living room. But they said it came from this phone number.

“Just a minute,” I told the woman on the other line. “Eli and Evan, were you playing with the phone?”

They nodded.

“What number did you call?”

Eli’s answer: “911.”

I explained to the 911 dispatcher and she said that she would need to send a couple officers over to check on us. Policy.

I hung up the phone and quickly got dressed. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of answering the door in my bathrobe.

So Eli and Evan stood watch at the window until the police car pulled up. Thankfully, they were very friendly. I want my kids to like police officers. They talked to us a bit and then left. Eli said he was embarrassed, but I think it was kind of exciting too.

I’ve explained to the boys that if I’m really sick or hurt, 911 is the number to call. I reiterated the purpose of 911 for the boys. “It’s for when someone really is having trouble.”

Superhero Eli responded, “We thought you were in trouble!”

Right. As I thought back to the play I was hearing from the bathroom, it is quite possible that they were pretending I was in trouble. I wasn’t able to hear what they were saying, but I had a feeling that I was involved in whatever they were imagining. I just thought it was something more typical, like getting ready to attack the enemy in the bathroom or spying on her or setting a trap for her. But apparently they were looking out for my well-being. Thank you, dear little superheroes.

Kitchen

It's done! And I'm enjoying the cheeriness. As time has gone on, I've started liking the yellow more and more. I still want to make covers for the chairs. I'm planning on buying fabric when were down south next month.

(Only after I took the picture did I notice the various toys peeking out from under the red table. Oops. I wanted to make it look like the kitchen was always this neat. And is the boys' bedroom door open? Is that a sneak peek of the horrendous mess in there?)



We tore the formica off of the two tables that were in here. The tables were old, heavy, and quite large. It took a lot of work to tear off the formica and sand off the glue. Kendall apologetically commented that someone was really happy with their work when the put the formica on. But it served its purpose for many, many decades and now it's time for a new look.



This kitchen is so huge and cafeteria-like. So when we took the freezer out of this corner, I needed something else to fill it up. I imported a chair and an end table from the living room. I found the old lamp upstairs. So far I've really only used it to hold the boys when they get hurt.



We cut this table in half length-wise. I tried to paint it a lighter shade of red. Oh. Light red = pink. Well, after terrorizing the paint mixing people at the hardware for about an hour and after many coats, this will have to do.

I didn't know where to keep the hand-me-down KitchenAid from Mom H. Then I thought, "Perfect! It fits! It's yellow and even though it wasn't made to look retro, it's old enough that it does it naturally!"

The daisy wall hanging says, "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven." It was a Valentine's gift from Kendall. The photos include the picture of our family walking through the bush and various Canadian scenery shots from different seasons.

The pitcher and bowl are made by our resident potter.

And the towel bar is a disassembled upside-down chair from a garage sale.



The table cloth was a going away gift from my Maple City Health Care friends. I love it.


This is an arrangement of pussy willows. I put them in water to keep them flexible in case I wanted to make them into a wreath. But then I liked how it looked.

There are two problems with this arrangement. First of all, the pitcher is Tupperware. Secondly, Kendall says it overwhelms him.

A Non-Announcement

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with the boys. Eli looked over at my belly and said, "I can tell you're getting fatter." (He has wistfully told me this several times lately, but I don't think it's true.) He reached over and affectionately patted my belly. "I can't wait to have a baby." He really wants a baby and knows that they grow in their mommies' bellies, but doesn't seem to have all the facts.

The boys have babies on their minds. Two family friends have recently added babies to their families and the boys have seen pictures of a baby who will soon be adopted by other friends.

Our good friends in Indiana just had a baby boy. Eli wondered if their baby might be brown or black. I explained to him that when both parents are white, the baby is usually white as well. But now that I think about it, I can understand his question. The baby soon to be adopted by white parents is brown and he knows that we may foster a brown baby. I'm glad this isn't so perfectly clear in his mind.

The other day Evan was helping me wash dishes. Out of the blue, he turned to me and said, "We should visit "Jon Doe" and "Jane Doe's" baby." (I'm not saying their names in order to protect their identities.)

I told Evan, "They don't have a baby."

"Yes they do. You said!"

"No they don't, Evan."

"Well, it gots to be in one of their tummies then." (Hmm... Makes me want to find out if Evan knows something I don't. A certain couple will be getting an email with an important question.)

Babysitting Stormer Lake

The smoke from our fire hovering above the (mostly) frozen lake.



Yummy tinfoils. It looks cold in this picture, but it was actually quite nice. The first day we were there it was up around 60F and sunny. This was the second day. Still fairly warm, but no sun. After that the temperature dropped. And no more sun. We even got a new dusting of snow. Sigh.



Eli wandering out onto the lake. Never fear- it's safe where he is.



Another one of Evan's outdoor naps. Just kidding.


As you could see in the pictures, the lake was quite slushy and wet. We started across on snowmobiles, but slogging through all that water and slush gave me the heeby-jeebies for some reason. Besides, it was hard to stay completely upright and I just wasn't up for dumping myself and one of the boys into the icy puddles. So after a bit of snooping, Kendall hit the jackpot. He found this thing and it greatly increased his joy. We used it a lot while we were there. We hauled firewood with it and drove around the camp picking up the trash that is being uncovered as the snow melts.

Goodnight

You Just Do What You Gotta Do

In this case, it's baseball in the snow. It was close to 50 degrees when I took this picture this morning. Unfortunately, the boys still had to wear snowpants, mitts, and boots to keep them from getting drenched.

Easter Eggs

Kendall took great pride in his multicolored egg, as evidenced by this photo snapped by he himself.

I thought we were having fun...

Easter morning we skipped various activities. Saturday night we didn't get back from fishing until after 9:00. Evan was still sick and unfortunately the fishing outing wasn't quality family time. (Grouchy Mom and Dad.) We had lunch plans, Kendall had to sleep in the afternoon, we had church in the evening, and Kendall worked at night. So we knew that if we wanted family time we had to give something up. We gave up the sunrise service, community pancake breakfast, and Sunday School. We had another invitation for the morning too. Like a friend of mine said, "In Red Lake it's feast or famine." This was a feast weekend, but we had to opt out of part of it.

Anyway, Kendall and I put together Easter baskets for the boys and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of Easter eggs and rolls. It was time well-spent.

Ice Fishing

After cinnamon rolls, we went ice-fishing. We took 2 of Eli's friends along. Other than one stepping in a hole and sinking up to his thigh, it was uneventful. He was a very good sport about it. It was warm enough that he took off his snowpants and we rung them out, then let them dry a bit before putting them back on. And, though I can get really freaked out if I let my mind wander about the ice holes, they really are too small for a kid to fall through.
Catching a fish!

Eli and Logan.

Evan was still sick, but very diligent in watching his hole.

Work and Cinnamon Rolls

Kendall has been working lots of hours again. We’re all tired of it, but very grateful for the income. He’s been dividing his time between the hospital and the nursing home. We looked at the calendar and discovered why he’s so tired: By the time we leave for Stormer Lake Wednesday afternoon, he will have been at work 21 out of 22 calendar days. (That’s 17 shifts- most of them 12 hours.)

Thursday night was one of those rare nights that we actually were in bed at the same time. During the night Evan started crying so I went to help him. When I got back to bed Kendall asked me, “What did Evelyn want?”
“What?” I asked. I was confused because we don’t have a child named Evelyn.
“What did Evelyn want? Whose bell was ringing?” Hmm…

I’ll tell a couple more stories about Kendall since I can’t get him to be a guest author on the blog. He told me that one of the advantages of being a male nurse is the relationship he can have with the male nursing home residents. There’s not the tension of them flirting or being inappropriate. There is one gruff old man that has taken a liking to Kendall. One night as Kendall left his room, this man called out after him, “I love you.” I can just imagine the place Kendall has in these old people’s hearts. He can sit and talk hockey or fishing with the men and the women can mother him.

Although… Kendall did report his first proposition from a patient. A woman in her 90s was having heel pain. Kendall told her to take a seat and he would come look at it. However, one thing led to another and Kendall was completely sidetracked. By the time he got back to her, she was already in bed. The two of them decided that he would check her heel the next day. As he moved from her bedside, she said, “Give me a kiss.”
Kendall said, “Sorry, I only kiss my wife.”
The woman quickly apologized, “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were married!”

Anyway, I thought that Kendall deserved a reward for all of his hard work over the past couple weeks. So while he slept Saturday morning, the boys and I made cinnamon rolls. The boys helped me, which normally I’m not too good at- I get too grouchy when flour and sugar are flying everywhere. But it went fairly well and I took pictures to document it. (Thankfully, there is no sound with the pictures because I have to admit that I did get a little bit grouchy.)





Evan was sick this weekend. Beater-licking time was right after naptime. Evan wanted his beater, but took his time to work up the energy to do the licking part.

Good Try

Evan and Eli put forth a valiant effort at melting the snow with hot water. Unfortunately, all of their work didn't make much of a dent in the frozen mountains. It did make a very wet entryway though.

snow.

This afternoon was another warm one, although not as sunny. Eli’s greeting was one of disbelief when I picked him up at school: “Why are you wearing a sweatshirt?!”

However, as I sat down for supper with the boys something outside the window caught my eye. Nooo!!! Snow! And since I started talking angrily about how I was going to punch every single snowflake in the noggin (now we know where my boys get their violent tendencies), I suppose the ensuing conversation is my fault. Good thing Kendall was at work- he would have just been shaking his head at us.

We ranted and raved against the snow for awhile, telling it to go back up to the clouds. I proposed that we take a heater outside to melt all the snow. Eli pointed out the preposterousness of this idea- there is no electricity outside, after all.

Then Evan said, “We could melt ourselves! Then go to the clouds. Then go to Indiana faster!”

Eli had an even better idea: “Or we could go to Mexico and get some really hot sand to throw at the snow!”

The conversation continued to deteriorate as evidenced by the following:

Eli (to the snow): Don’t make me fart on you every day when I need to fart!

Evan (also to the snow): Don’t make me poop on you every day when I need to poop and pee on you! Ha ha ha! (low and menacing)

Eli: Pee would make yellow ice. That would be creative!

Eli would like me to add that he also wanted to throw hot water on the snow. (Not to burst any little bubbles, but I do believe that was my idea first.) Evan adds that we could have a fire every day to burn the snow every day.

Ah yes, the possibilities are endless.

P.S. I will apologize in advance for centering every entry on the weather. It’s sort of an obsession right now. Supposedly this too shall pass.

Small Patches of Hope

I would just like to announce that according to weather.com, the current temperature is 43! I don't normally check Goshen's weather (doesn't seem healthy for my psyche), but I did check just now and we are 3 degrees warmer! We've still got mounds of snow to get through, but the sun is on our side. Today we went for a long walk downtown. It was so warm. The boys had fun splashing in the puddles. And judging by all the snow we have, I think we will have puddles for a long, long time.

Eli is tired of winter. He often talks about it and says that he wishes it was summer. So we rejoice in the little things that show winter will someday end.

Today we were outside and Evan said, "Mom! Look!" I looked to see what was so exciting. He was pointing to the grass that was now visible. It surprised me that even he noticed the difference. How many months has it been since we saw the grass? It's lovely! To celebrate, Evan posed for a photo in his own little patch of hope.


Our roof still has a heavy layer of snow. The sun is chipping away at it every day, so we always have lots of drips and icicles to walk through on our way out the door. This afternoon on his way in the house Evan paused for a refreshing drink.