The beautiful moments that I never want to forget...
Yesterday Eli and Evan were hanging out with their little sister. I heard the following come out of Eli's mouth in spontaneous song form:
"Lydia! Why are you so cute? Why are you just the cutest baby in the whole world?"
Isn't that awesome? Definitely one of my favorite parts of parenting! I could tell it was very subconscious and unplanned. In fact, later when I told Eli what he had sung, he had no memory of it.
As a side note, immediately following that beautiful song, I heard Evan ask, "Cuter than me?"
Eli's answer: "Oh yeah."
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
For the Grandparents
She's getting around really well now. But just not too interested in walking. Cheering her on hasn't worked so well, so here we try some negative reinforcement. I don't think it was very effective:
Monday, April 15, 2013
The Dangers of Ice Fishing
He has been so family-friendly with his ice fishing this winter. The fishing shack is set up at a mediocre fishing hole just so we can be close to home. Other than a couple trips during cousin visits, Kendall has done all family fishing trips.
Finally on Saturday Kendall had organized a group of guys to go out in the bush for some real fishing. Kendall took his boys and another friend took his kids. Several other guys were along. They drove 45 minutes out into the bush. Then they took snowmobiles a kilometer or two to the lake. Ahhh... Kendall had been looking forward to this time. He had moose steaks marinating to cook over the fire. He had packed everything they would need for an afternoon and evening on the lake.
Five minutes after getting to the lake, he grabbed the ice auger and hurt himself. Bad.
Someone started the auger and Kendall grabbed the shaft to go drill his very first hole. The shaft was rotating and somehow Kendall's mitt got caught on a bolt. It yanked his arm around and threw him on the ground over the auger. Kendall suddenly came to and heard guys running around yelling and trying to get the auger turned off while it still pulled at his arm.
When they got it turned off, Kendall knew he was hurt and laid there trying to figure out what had just happened. He took off his mitt and freaked himself out. He said his hand looked like it belonged to a dead person. After sitting for awhile, he knew he needed to get to the ER. So his buddy drove him back to the truck and then on in to the hospital. Evan decided to go along with Kendall. Eli stayed back with his friends.
That's when I got a call. Kendall said, "I'm coming back in to town. I messed up my arm." He asked me to meet him at the hospital. I could tell he was shook up. I knew that depending on his injuries, he could very easily end up being flown out to a bigger hospital. Anything needing surgery or a bone set gets flown out.
Lydia and I met Kendall and Evan in the ER. There they sat in their snow pants, Kendall's hand on ice. I knew he was in pain and so very disappointed. I felt so bad for him. While he was off getting an x-ray, I got a text from his buddy asking if Kendall was gonna live. I texted back that if he died of anything, it would be disappointment.
Thankfully, there was no definite break. Nothing showed up on the x-ray. However, there are so many bones in the wrist, that they couldn't be sure. There was one particular bone that they were concerned about. If left untreated, it causes a lot more problems later. So the decision was made to go ahead and cast it, just in case. After 10 days, they'll cut off the cast and do another x-ray. And hopefully that will be that.
Ice fishing season closed yesterday, so I guess there will be no abundance of walleye for us this winter.
Kendall was a local hero at work and church this weekend. He was rather bashful since he felt dumb. :) He asked me to write "Don't Ask" in bold letters across his cast. But I don't think it would work anyway. Everyone wants to hear about how he valiantly reeled in that whale before it bared it's sharp teeth and snapped his wrist.
April Fools
I learned a couple lessons about my kids and April Fool's Day last year: 1.)Don't talk about it ahead of time, encouraging them to build anticipation.
2.)Don't let them down. It's true that there were tears of disappointment last year when Mom's pranks did not live up to some very high expectations.
We started April 1st this year with baked oatmeal served up for breakfast. It was frozen solid. That's when Eli and Evan realized what day it was. After breakfast, they were given a list of chores. That is not uncommon for a day at home. When Eli saw that his list included wiping down the ceiling, he clued in. Here was Evan's list: practice music, empty cupboards and wash all dished inside, clean all shoes in entryway with toothbrush, fold all your shirts then hang them up again. Evan was not impressed with this list. To our delight, he declared that He was only doing music and cleaning the shoes with a toothbrush! He just thought the other two were completely unreasonable. They were.
The boys were also not impressed when their Wii would not turn on. I released them to the basement for some Wii time. Then I heard them yelling, "Mom! This is not a good April Fool's joke! Come fix it!" All it was was the power source. :)
After lunch I welcomed them to the kitchen as giants. They had a yummy "little" meal.
Later I offered them "Brownies". When they opened the pan, they found "Brown E's." It was disappointing, I'm sure, but not as disappointing as if they would have gone ahead and tasted the graham crackers that I had so thoughtfully prepared for them with frosting. The frosting was actually toothpaste, and they didn't bite. Literally.
For supper we had a backwards meal. (Thanks to the Stauffers for this idea.) We came dressed appropriately, had breakfast, and ate under the table.
After supper we went ice fishing and there was a headless body lying in our shack. (You'll have to ask him if you want his secret.)
We came back for a bedtime snack of upside down ice cream cones.
Lydia was not easily fooled. A huge plastic cockroach doesn't faze her in the least.
I finished off the night by salting all the males' toothbrushes. Kendall salted mine as a little payback, but not nearly enough. I guess he hasn't realized that if you're gonna be mean, you have to be really mean.
We started April 1st this year with baked oatmeal served up for breakfast. It was frozen solid. That's when Eli and Evan realized what day it was. After breakfast, they were given a list of chores. That is not uncommon for a day at home. When Eli saw that his list included wiping down the ceiling, he clued in. Here was Evan's list: practice music, empty cupboards and wash all dished inside, clean all shoes in entryway with toothbrush, fold all your shirts then hang them up again. Evan was not impressed with this list. To our delight, he declared that He was only doing music and cleaning the shoes with a toothbrush! He just thought the other two were completely unreasonable. They were.
The boys were also not impressed when their Wii would not turn on. I released them to the basement for some Wii time. Then I heard them yelling, "Mom! This is not a good April Fool's joke! Come fix it!" All it was was the power source. :)
After lunch I welcomed them to the kitchen as giants. They had a yummy "little" meal.
Later I offered them "Brownies". When they opened the pan, they found "Brown E's." It was disappointing, I'm sure, but not as disappointing as if they would have gone ahead and tasted the graham crackers that I had so thoughtfully prepared for them with frosting. The frosting was actually toothpaste, and they didn't bite. Literally.
For supper we had a backwards meal. (Thanks to the Stauffers for this idea.) We came dressed appropriately, had breakfast, and ate under the table.
After supper we went ice fishing and there was a headless body lying in our shack. (You'll have to ask him if you want his secret.)
We came back for a bedtime snack of upside down ice cream cones.
Lydia was not easily fooled. A huge plastic cockroach doesn't faze her in the least.
Easter
Easter Baskets
Two sweet Easter babies: Lydia and her 3rd cousin, Tirzah, just 7 weeks older.
Two sweet Easter babies: Lydia and her 3rd cousin, Tirzah, just 7 weeks older.
I'm not one to complain, but...
The title of this post may or may not be true, but just indulge me for a moment...
I just caught a glimpse of my last post. It was titled First Day of Spring and there I was all dressed up in my snow gear, shoveling a lot of snow. I was smiling.
It is now officially the middle of April and I am no longer smiling. This is just pathetic. We still have multiple feet of snow. And on the lake, multiple feet of ice under the snow. Oh yes, and it has been snowing all day. And the forecast isn't looking so warm.
People are gettin' mad here in Northwest Ontario. This late spring isn't normal, even for us extremely tough folk. Unfortunately, the rants and rages get us nowhere. They do nothing to change the weather. I get angry when I wear my snow boots and long down parka, so I've chosen to be cold instead. I now understand Eli, who left the house in the blowing snow with only a sweatshirt this morning. He is so done with coats, hats, mitts. I have given up fighting over it. It's not worth it and I get it now.
Well, you know I shouldn't end on such a sour note, so I'll relate one silly weather-related angst story: Sunday morning 4 of the 5 of us were sitting around the living room. I hopelessly looked out at thedisgusting beautiful snow. I announced that I could no longer handle it and I prepared to hyperventilate. Kendall warned the boys, "Watch out! She's gonna blow!" So I blew and I screamed very loud. The boys made some observations about my scream being very loud. So I let them know that the first scream was nothing. I screamed again, this time louder and shriller. Evan was not about to be outdone by his mama and screamed like a banshee. It was awful. We all laughed. Then we heard a third person's scream. And there, from the lower level, looking at us from behind the bars of the railing, stood little Lydia. Poor forgotten baby. She wanted in on the fun too and made herself heard. So, like usual, we promoted her to star of the show.
Here's our new railing by the way. Safety first. Poor girl was down below, looking at all of us having fun up top. But she was happy, not sad like the following photo:
I just caught a glimpse of my last post. It was titled First Day of Spring and there I was all dressed up in my snow gear, shoveling a lot of snow. I was smiling.
It is now officially the middle of April and I am no longer smiling. This is just pathetic. We still have multiple feet of snow. And on the lake, multiple feet of ice under the snow. Oh yes, and it has been snowing all day. And the forecast isn't looking so warm.
People are gettin' mad here in Northwest Ontario. This late spring isn't normal, even for us extremely tough folk. Unfortunately, the rants and rages get us nowhere. They do nothing to change the weather. I get angry when I wear my snow boots and long down parka, so I've chosen to be cold instead. I now understand Eli, who left the house in the blowing snow with only a sweatshirt this morning. He is so done with coats, hats, mitts. I have given up fighting over it. It's not worth it and I get it now.
Well, you know I shouldn't end on such a sour note, so I'll relate one silly weather-related angst story: Sunday morning 4 of the 5 of us were sitting around the living room. I hopelessly looked out at the
Friday, March 22, 2013
First Day of Spring
This is how I celebrated the first day of spring:
Yes, that is a snowblower beside the garage. If you can't tell what it is, that's because it's buried up to the handle. It doesn't work. Obviously.
In order to celebrate the first day of spring, I also went dancing. With a group of women. None of whom I shared a first language with. It was awkward. For various reasons.
Eli and Evan have brothers in their classes who are Mexican. I met their parents when they found our cat and posted a picture of her on facebook. Marcela, their mom, and I have been wanting to get together for a long time now. Thus far, our main interaction has mostly been meeting and kissing in the grocery store. (Eli and Evan find this interesting. Other onlookers may as well.) I may have also said something weird to her about the boys being naked with the baby one day in the grocery store. I was trying to say they were "naturals" with her. Marcela acted confused, then quickly went on in the conversation. I think 'natural' can also mean naked. I have to ask her sometime. That's embarrassing.
Anyway, Marcela called me a couple months ago and told me about this group of friends that they do things with. Most are Spanish-speakers, some are Filipino. She said the women get together Thursday nights and dance. With an internal sigh of relief, I said, "Sorry, we have youth group Thursday nights."
You see, I have this thing about dancing. I like to dance. In my house. Dancing is one thing that I would love to feel comfortable doing, but DO NOT feel comfortable doing. In fact, Kendall's and my collective most embarassing moment revolves around dancing. And a different Mexican friend dragging us onto the dance floor. (But, since I just relived an embarrassing moment about naked big brothers, I won't go into the dancing embarrassment.)
But back to Wednesday, the first day of spring- So Marcela calls me in the afternoon and says, "Our get-together night changed to Wednesday! Can you come?" (One thing I've learned from Rod and Nathalie about making friends is that sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and say Yes. Thanks, guys. I guess.) So I said yes. Nothing like combining 2 draining activities: Making friends in a different language and DANCING in front of people.
But I went. And it was mostly fun.
I dressed kind of nice. Most of the others showed up in sweats. Marcela failed to tell me that it was exercise dancing. To a DVD. Much better. (Surely it wasn't that I just didn't understand that part...) There were 6 or 7 other women there. All but one were native Spanish-speakers.
Communicating in Spanish takes a certain amount of concentration and humility. (Especially since it has been nearly 5 years since I have used it on a regular basis.) I'm sure I missed some things because I just didn't have enough concentration for both dancing and listening/talking. And yes, it is humbling to miss things and say things wrong and wonder if your joke made any sense. But, I've done that lots before. It didn't hurt me then, so I suppose it won't hurt me too much now.
The women were very welcoming and warm. They were happy to add 'American' to their intercultural mix. I'm excited to go back again. I just might be nerdy and practice some of the dance moves first in the privacy of my home.
P.S. I'm making cookies today and taking them to Marcela and her family. Why? Because I got horribly and humiliatingly stuck in the snow when backing out of their driveway. That brought Marcela, her husband and her teenage son out to help late at night. It also brought more embarrassment. Marcela was very gracious and acted like it was all a great adventure. I felt more like her teenager acted: less enthusiastic.
Yes, that is a snowblower beside the garage. If you can't tell what it is, that's because it's buried up to the handle. It doesn't work. Obviously.
In order to celebrate the first day of spring, I also went dancing. With a group of women. None of whom I shared a first language with. It was awkward. For various reasons.
Eli and Evan have brothers in their classes who are Mexican. I met their parents when they found our cat and posted a picture of her on facebook. Marcela, their mom, and I have been wanting to get together for a long time now. Thus far, our main interaction has mostly been meeting and kissing in the grocery store. (Eli and Evan find this interesting. Other onlookers may as well.) I may have also said something weird to her about the boys being naked with the baby one day in the grocery store. I was trying to say they were "naturals" with her. Marcela acted confused, then quickly went on in the conversation. I think 'natural' can also mean naked. I have to ask her sometime. That's embarrassing.
Anyway, Marcela called me a couple months ago and told me about this group of friends that they do things with. Most are Spanish-speakers, some are Filipino. She said the women get together Thursday nights and dance. With an internal sigh of relief, I said, "Sorry, we have youth group Thursday nights."
You see, I have this thing about dancing. I like to dance. In my house. Dancing is one thing that I would love to feel comfortable doing, but DO NOT feel comfortable doing. In fact, Kendall's and my collective most embarassing moment revolves around dancing. And a different Mexican friend dragging us onto the dance floor. (But, since I just relived an embarrassing moment about naked big brothers, I won't go into the dancing embarrassment.)
But back to Wednesday, the first day of spring- So Marcela calls me in the afternoon and says, "Our get-together night changed to Wednesday! Can you come?" (One thing I've learned from Rod and Nathalie about making friends is that sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and say Yes. Thanks, guys. I guess.) So I said yes. Nothing like combining 2 draining activities: Making friends in a different language and DANCING in front of people.
But I went. And it was mostly fun.
I dressed kind of nice. Most of the others showed up in sweats. Marcela failed to tell me that it was exercise dancing. To a DVD. Much better. (Surely it wasn't that I just didn't understand that part...) There were 6 or 7 other women there. All but one were native Spanish-speakers.
Communicating in Spanish takes a certain amount of concentration and humility. (Especially since it has been nearly 5 years since I have used it on a regular basis.) I'm sure I missed some things because I just didn't have enough concentration for both dancing and listening/talking. And yes, it is humbling to miss things and say things wrong and wonder if your joke made any sense. But, I've done that lots before. It didn't hurt me then, so I suppose it won't hurt me too much now.
The women were very welcoming and warm. They were happy to add 'American' to their intercultural mix. I'm excited to go back again. I just might be nerdy and practice some of the dance moves first in the privacy of my home.
P.S. I'm making cookies today and taking them to Marcela and her family. Why? Because I got horribly and humiliatingly stuck in the snow when backing out of their driveway. That brought Marcela, her husband and her teenage son out to help late at night. It also brought more embarrassment. Marcela was very gracious and acted like it was all a great adventure. I felt more like her teenager acted: less enthusiastic.
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