Evan just had a nice talk with the baby.  He stepped right up to my belly and said, "Hi Baby.  I'm Evan.  There's Eli.  You're in Mom's tummy and soon she'll be your Mom too.  And over there is Dad."  (And he poked my belly in the direction of Dad.)

Here's the list of names the boys have gone through so far:

Evan:  Bob, Skyler, Kai (he thought it would be funny to give the baby the same name as a cousin)

Eli:  Coner, Josh

They've been less imaginative when it comes to girl's names.  They heard the name I liked when they were both born and they haven't ventured from that.  In fact, when we first talked about names, they pretty much came up with the one girl name and a boy name each and stuck with it.  They just weren't into thinking of all the possibilities. :)  I haven't gotten too into that yet either. 

Now, Eli and I will go surf some baby name websites while Kendall and Evan continue their game of Monopoly.

One.

Yep, that's the exact number of babies jumping around inside of me.  We are both disappointed and relieved.

It was fun to see that little guy in there again.  The ultrasound tech said he was very active, flipping all over the place.  Nothing like an active boy to liven up this boring, quiet household!

So, yes, that's the second piece of "information" we got, though I hesitate to even call it "information" because the tech was much more unsure of this than she was that there was only one in there.

For awhile, the baby was being modest.  "It has its little foot up in its crotch," she said.  Then the tech said that it was not quite developed enough to see.  But before the end of the ultrasound, she pointed out a pointy little protrusion and said, "Looks awfully 'penisy'."  So we'll see...  Hopefully we'll get a good view at our next ultrasound in a month or so.

In the meantime, I think I'll name him Delmar.

A Bit More to the Story, But Still "2 Be Determined"

So, if you checked in yesterday, you read the attached letter. I received a couple excited grandmother calls, comments and a some URGENT private emails.  And believe me, I was in shock when I myself read the letter.  Of course, the nurse practitioner had already told me what it sounded like and even I could hear two different-sounding heartbeats.  But when I requested a quick ultrasound to know for sure, she wrote up this letter and handed it to me.  There was something hilarious and outrageous about seeing this huge possibility in print.  I immediately drove over to Balmertown to find Kendall in his office just because it was so much fun to simply hand him the following letter:

There is more to the story and I will blame my husband that only part of it was posted yesterday. 

I agree with the people who contacted me that it is all rather astonishing.  Except, that Kendall and I snuck a peek and it really looked like there's only 1 in there.  The ultrasound is scheduled for this coming Monday.  But Kendall has been wanting to sneak me into the hospital to try the new ultrasound machine.  The suspense behind this letter proved the perfect chance. 

Tuesday evening we were on the way home from some friends' house.  We stopped by the hospital for Kendall to pick something up.  Then he came back out to the van and said the coast was clear and snuck me and the boys into the Emergency Room through the empty ambulance garage.  I don't know who was more embarrassed by all of this- me or our easily embarrassed son, Eli.  (Actually, Kendall assured me that it was all totally fine to do and the hospital was just really quiet with an empty ER.  He wasn't sneaking, that was just me and Eli.)

A bored nurse joined us with the ultrasound machine.  Neither she nor Kendall knew too much about it and the first view we tried didn't show much.  But we did see a tiny little heart pulsing so happily!  The second view was much better.  There was our baby!  She was waving her little hands at us.  He seemed to have hiccups.  Even Eli and Evan could clearly see what was going on.  Unfortunately, none of us could figure out for sure how to look for a second baby.  "It's only one," we decided.  Then the other nurse said, "No, wait!  That's not the abdomen!  I think we're looking at the top of the second head!"  (Eli and Evan didn't know we were looking for twins and I think that exclamation freaked them out!  2 heads!)  Well, we kept trying and finally got a good profile of the entire baby. 

Around that time a stranger stuck his head around the corner.  The visiting doctor from the big city!  We were caught!  He must have been confused to find a nurse and an entire family gathered around the ultrasound machine with the patient herself holding the wand on her belly!  Introductions were made.  (He surely wondered what kind of small-town hospital he was at!)  We asked him if he knew anything about ultrasounds.  "A little."  He looked at the screen and seemed confident that there was only one baby, but declined to take a guess on the sex. 

We were disappointed.  (I was also quite relieved.)  But I guess we'll find out for sure in a few days!  I think I would like to have twins.  I've never wanted twins before, but at age 35 and with Kendall and me hoping for at least 2 more kiddos, I say, "Bring it on!  Let's get this done!"  So if you want, you can pray that Baby #2 was hiding behind his sister.

But, oh my, would we actually survive the first year or two?  Would this middle-aged body even survive pregnancy and delivery of two?  It feels so much older than it did 6 years ago when Evan was born. 

Well, good thing we can't choose for ourselves.  I would never know which way to go.

Stay tuned for more news Monday night...

Oh, by the way, I apologize to those of you who nearly had heart attacks yesterday.  Like I said, I am blaming this on Kendall who peer-pressured me into posting only the letter.  I had this post already written and ready to publish.  Kendall read it and convinced me to leave out the rest of the story.  It's his fault.

2 Be Determined

More to come...
Enjoy the suspense with us.

An Announcement

I know, I know.   After such a long silence, you would think I'd have something more newsworthy to blog about than this:

But this has been Red Lake's big excitement for the past few weeks.  We have a Tim Horton's!

The excitement is probably hard to comprehend if you're 1.)not from Canada and 2.)not from a tiny, remote, Northern town like Red Lake.

First of all, all Canadians know that Tim Horton's (more affectionately called 'Timmy's') is a national symbol of...  Well, I'm not sure what it's a symbol of, but it's something very important.  (Can any Canadians help me out here?)  It's part of the Canadian identity.  I'm not joking.  I know there are a few in the States, but it's very, very Canadian and we're proud of our Tim Horton's. 

Secondly, having a Tim Horton's in Red Lake is extremely strange.  It's very weird for me and I'm only a Red Laker of 3 1/2 years.  I've heard the lifers talk about how strange it is for them.  Most people in Red Lake "go out of town."  It is very common to take a day trip to Kenora (3 hours away) or even to Winnipeg (5 hours away), though that is often an overnight trip.  People go much more often than we do and it's for shopping, doctor's appointments, concerts, etc.  I don't know how to explain it except that it's just part of the Red Lake culture.  At first I was surprised to run into Red Lakers at the Dryden Walmart (2 hours away), but I soon realized that it is nothing surprising at all and I am just as at-risk for embarassment shopping for underwear in the Dryden Walmart as I was at a Walmart in Goshen.  (I know, I'm 35- I should be past that.)  Anyway, my point is that Tim Horton's was always an "out of town" thing.  People always try to make a stop there for donuts and coffee.  It's just what you do.  And now we have one of our very own!  And when we go in there, we feel like we're out of town!  Except that you have to have conversations with everyone you know in there...

So here we are the first Saturday morning our very own Tim Horton's was open:

Do I dare to tell how many times I've been there since it opened 2 weeks ago?  Okay. 4.  It's just too exciting to stay away. 

Stud

A big thank you to this studly man who put snowtires on the van tonight.  THANK YOU!

Then instead of organizing his shop after supper like he was so excited to do, he spent a very long time fixing the dishwasher. 

He's leaving for an overnight trip to Poplar Hill tomorrow and I'm happy that I won't be slip-sliding on the road so much and that I don't have to wash all the dishes by hand.  (I guess I could have left all of them for him when he gets home...)

Anyway, I'll miss him while he's gone!  (Thankfully, this is a very old photo or I might be relieved to have him leave.)

A Strange Little Accident

Who is this kid and what happened to his face?

Well, let me tell you a disturbing story.  Last night he was all ready for bed.  I was trying to give one of my very effective (not) lectures, when this guy made a very wise (not) decision to dive headfirst into bed, then instantly grabbed his eye, screaming.  As if in slow motion, I saw it all happening.  Behind his pile of blankets, out of his sight, but clearly seen by me, was a wooden toy with a small dowel rod sticking straight up into the air.  He chose this great pile of blankets and landed a direct hit on the wooden stick.  

I immediately abandoned my lecture (congratulate me on my good judgement later) and hugged the boy.  He was crying and still holding his eye.  I was slightly afraid to look.  I admit that I had very tired thoughts of spending hours in the ER on this very tired night.  (I guess that's one way to get to visit Dad at work.)  Thankfully, when he finally let go of his eye, I could see that it was not as direct of a hit as I had feared.

Who dives headfirst into bed?!  I don't do that.  I calmly get into bed like a sane person.  And it's one thing to jump into bed-  But to try to land on your face?!  I do not understand and I do not know anyone else who dives into bed facefirst.

Oh  wait.  Yes I do.  I won't name names.  But one time as a teenager, I hid in her bed to scare her.  I had no idea she liked to dive into bed headfirst.  But I found out.  We smacked heads so hard.  Her shock and pain were evident in her well thought-out, "That's why you shouldn't do that!" before she ran over to Mom and Dad's room.  And just because I was the laughing big sister didn't mean it didn't hurt me too!

So perhaps Evan takes after his Aunt Kirsten.  Not that she was the diver or anything... .

But at least she learned her lesson.  Tonight I was sitting on Evan's bed waiting for him to come from the bathroom.  Giggling uncontrollably with a well-planned plan, he came tearing into the bedroom and dove headfirst into his bed.  He thought it was way funnier than it was.

Grouse

Evan got his hunting day with Dad. Since the moose tag is already filled, they were after chickens. They got 5 grouse and Evan was proud that he even got to pull the trigger a time or two.

  Here they are with the meat.

You Alone

A quick peek into the current morning happenings:

Evan is unloading the dishwasher singing, "You alone are...my table of contents!"

It would appear that he's combining a worship song with a new piece of literary information.

Back to cleaning...  (I just had to take a quick break to write this down before I forget it.)

Moose Meat!

Yay! Kendall got a moose! Now we have a freezer full of meat once again! He went out hunting with some buddies last weekend and called me Sunday morning to report that he had just shot a calf. I was glad. (Partly because he used up his tag so early in the season!)

Yes, that is a piece of moose meat hanging from Kendall's mouth as he butchers.  I assure you it is cooked.  It is the heart- a Hochstedler tradition to cook and eat the heart as soon as possible.
Please ignore background clutter, but please do notice the house.  The outside is now finished except for the chinking between the planks on the entry. 

Evan wanted this picture to look like he had shot the moose himself:

And here the boys help wrap and label sausage:

Honestly, I don't even know how many pounds of meat we got from this moose.  I know that we cut more than 26 roasts off of it.  There are also a few steaks and some ribs to smoke.  Then Kendall took the rest off the bone and took it to a friends house to grind.  I have no idea how many pounds of ground meat and sausage we have.  Lots.  We're sharing some.  It's so nice to have and the roast we already ate proved to be WAY better than the tough old cow or bull from last year.

So, I'm happy for a freezer full of meat and perhaps even happier for an already-filled tag!

Party!

Here is Eli and Evan's birthday party with school friends.
They had it at the bike park after school.  Lots of fun.  Lots of boys.

2 of Evan's best buddies from school:

Kendall to the rescue with the tire pump:

And look at the gift-opening madness:

Like I said, Lots of Boys.

Birthday Boys

October 7 was Eli's birthday and October 11 was Evan's. So we've had lots of fun celebrating.

Nana and Papa were here, so we had a party with the boys' nearest (physically) relatives- 3rd cousin Dominik, 2nd cousins twice removed Candice and Karen, 1st cousin thrice removed Sue, and Great-Great Uncle Henry. (Or something like that.)

Evan helped me arrange the centerpiece. (That would be a pond with a guy fishing and a campsite.) Notice the three happy heads with story from Nana in the background.

Here is Cousin Dominik:

And a favorite babysitter, Candice:

And, ta-daa! The cake!

I Eat My Words

This is so embarrassing, so don't ask why I'm posting it:

Tonight we biked to the beach. (No, it's not hot out, but today was warm and by the looks of the forecast, I don't think we'll be seeing temperatures like this for another 7 months or so. Wow. Writing that almost made me panic.) Anyway, back to the beach...

So we were enjoying the sand and the view, while Eli did a wee bit of exploring in the trees. Then he walked out of the trees carrying a crumpled piece of fabric. What?! It was his very own shirt! That we haven't seen for weeks! That he found in the bush at the beach!

Good grief! And I always get annoyed and slightly amazed when I see other random pieces of clothing forgotten at the beach. I say, "How can you forget your shoes?!" Well, apparently one day awhile back, Eli discarded his shirt and we left without it. I eat my words.

Oh. You thought that was the end of the story? Well, after Eli picked the slugs off of his discarded shirt, I took it and started walking away. But then my eyes spied a bit of blue. What?! It looks like...could it be?... I pick it up and turn it right side out... It's Evan's t-shirt that has been missing for weeks!

I will never again make fun of the people who abandon various articles of clothing at the beach. For now I am one of them. (Technically, my sons are two of them, but as their mother I must take responsibility.)

Tonight

Scenes from an hour ago...
Thanks to Mom for our beautifully-painted basement bathroom.
Here Kendall does something important (I just don't know what):


Evan gives himself a swirly:

Eli tries out the new toilet:

Eli and Evan arguing about something. (Apparently, Eli was refusing to pick something up.)

Evan: I'm gonna tell Mom and she's gonna say, "Pick it up."
Eli: No she won't. She'll say it's not big deal. Trust me. I've lived with her longer than you have.
Evan: Yeah. 2 years and 4 days.

(Hmm... Reminds me of something Nathalie used to tell her younger siblings...)

Fishing

Perhaps our last warm day on the boat...
Nothing like some brotherly teamwork:

Under the Stars

We slept out on the deck Saturday night. I finally talked Kendall into it. Can you believe I had to talk Mr. Bushman into that? Well, it's true. I even got him to help me drag our mattress out there. He just wanted to use the leaky air mattress so that we could easily go back inside in the middle of the night if needed. No turning back, I say!

It was so warm on Saturday. (It was up around 80, by Monday, the high was 54. Awesome.) I was all excited about sleeping out under the stars and huge moon. Of course, as we were getting ready, we heard howling. No joke. Coyotes or something. It was creepy. Kendall said we'd be fine sleeping out there. (I made him sleep by the stairway not guarded by the dog.) It was also creepy when the dog barked and growled a couple times during the night.

Eli decided he didn't approve of the whole idea a few minutes after being in his sleeping bag and went inside to sleep. Evan complained, but decided to stay outside and slept late in the morning.

The night was sort of miserable, sort of awesome. I didn't sleep well, but thoroughly enjoyed being outside while I laid there awake. It was worth it.

Still at it...

Kendall finished up the apartment plumbing. (Yay Kendall!)
Here he solders. (Notice the spray bottle to avoid the accidental burning down of our house.)


Proof that we're making progress.

Some days I just need to look at a list like this to remind myself of how far we've come. And this list will soon be covered up as the the stud it is written on should have drywall over it within a day or two!

Claustrophobia

I don't like this.

On the Boat

Monday night we enjoyed a beautiful evening.

We anchored the boat and the boys paddled the tube over to a little island.

Who's this dark and handsome stranger?

First Day of School

They are, apparently, just too cool.

Lucy Barks At Something In the Bush

Yesterday afternoon I heard Lucy barking outside. She was untied, so I thought she was barking at a walker and ran outside to call her back. But she was fiercely barking at something in the bush.

Hmmm...

Kendall came out and for some reason I said, "I think she's barking at a wolf." I'm not sure why I said that. (Maybe it was the way she was growling or the hair bristling on her back or just my overactive imagination at work.)

Kendall bravely went to investigate. Silly me. It wasn't a wolf. It was a bear. Oh dear. The bear quickly excused itself.

I wasn't particularly afraid- more just disappointed that I didn't get to see it.

Later Kendall had a chat with our neighbors across the bay. They've been having trouble with that same nuisance bear. In fact, they have a hole in the screen on their front door where the bear stuck it's paw through. Lovely.

And so much for Kendall's convincing little theory that we are safe from the wild animals because "we live on an island." When I respectfully pointed that out to him, he just said, "Turns out bears can swim."

P.S. Eli says my title is pathetic. ("Very pathetic, in fact," he adds.) He thinks I should title this post 'The Wild Thing' or 'The Mysterious and Unexpected Visitor.'

Aww. Look at these serene little cuties sleeping so peacefully.
But all is not as it appears. What are those 2 signs posted on the bed? Upon closer inspection, it is clear that danger is lurking...

Thankfully, they made it through the night unscathed.

And here we have a typical morning scene:

In spite of all the land mines and "boms" that need to get worked out of their systems, they manage to be loving brothers and best friends.

Awww...

S'mores

We cut a path through the bush out to a rock point on the bay. Last night we walked out there for our bedtime snack.