Kids say.....

Emily :  "Grandma, we had something delicious for supper.  Chicken pox pie".  (Chicken pot pie).



When discussing word association for piano lessons. 

Me:  "When you hear the word Melodic, think of your cousin Melody."
Emily: "Why not Abby?"
Me:  "Because MELODy and MELODic sound the same"
Emily:  "I would rather think of Abby"
Me: "So when I say 'Melodic' you'll think of....."
Emily: "Abby"

alrighty then.  moving onto the word 'harmonic'

Me: "Do you know what the word harmony means?"
Emily: "No, but I know what extended grace means."

I guess word association with 5 year olds doesn't work the best.



Jacob on our play phone:

Jacob:  "Hello?  Who is this?"
**waits in silence as the imaginary person answers him
Jacob: "Oh! It's daddy! Hi dad! Where are you?"
**waits for the pretend answer
Jacob:  "Oh, you're in toronto.  What are you doing?"
**waits for the pretend response
Jacob: "huh?"
Apparently pretend conversations are hard to make out on a pretend telephone. 

Family photo shoot

Julianna bravely agreed to photograph Justin's side of the family. All 33 of us. She did an amazing job.

Here are some of my favourites.

Today........

• Woke up at the same time Justin was coming home from a 24 hour work day (7am)
• Took Emily to her second day of school.  
• Couldn't pry Emily off my legs and get her to stay on the playground, so I had to take her inside to Mrs. Vandenbrink - who is awesome and is going to let Emily help her set up in the morning until Emily gets more comfortable being at school.  LOVE the teachers at STCCS
• Had coffee with Justin
• Finished making 15 framed birth order props for our family photo shoot on Friday
• Built a dozen or two towers with Jacob and watched him knock them over
• Dusted, swept, unloaded the dishwasher
• Microwaved two hotdogs for my husband to eat before he left for work... BAD wife!!!
• Washed, Dried, and FOLDED 3 loads of laundry.  They are not yet put away.
• Went to Shoppers hoping to find something to help heal Jacob's face.  Picked up some Vit E and Teatree Oil cream.... lets see if it works.  
• Picked up a happy Emily from school
• Bought a very cute tie from Button Up Boutique for this Friday
• Sat on the porch and read a few chapters from Genesis while the kids played out back.  The porch is my favourite place to read. 
• Was a human tow-truck and hauled the purple truck from the corner of our property back to the garage (because it ALWAYS dies in the furthest point on our yard)
• Re did the September nursery list for the third time
• Rescued my kids from the toy shelf
• Asked my kids what they wanted for dinner and then made them the requested scrambled eggs (yes!)
• Is currently eating my own dinner of, you guessed it, chips and salsa.  And a diet coke.  Yum.  

Can you see a difference??

The first day of Junior Kindergarten... She was happy and excited to go to school. 

The first day of Senior Kindergarten.... Not so happy, not so excited. 

 READY!!!!

AIM!!!!

 FIRE..........

We had been looking for a power wheels car for quite a while. There was no way we were going to buy one new, so we had been checking kijiji regularly. Yesterday a new ad -from St.Thomas no less - popped up with a fantastic price, so we jumped on it.
When we picked it up we were shocked to find that it was still BRAND NEW in the box. Never used! Wahoo!! So Justin assembled it-with Jacob's help- and now we are just waiting for the battery to finish charging. Jacob is still thrilled with it even though it can't go anywhere!! I am excited to watch him drive it tomorrow :)

A Day Out with Thomas

Last Friday we spent the day with one of Jacob's FAVOURITE guys - Thomas!  Jacob is Thomas/Train obsessed and was so excited to go.  He is sad that Thomas is now back in Sodor and often asks if we can go there to visit him. 

The weather was really nice - it had rained earlier that morning and cooled everything off.  It was overcast so we weren't standing around baking in the sun. 

This is definitely a once in a life time opportunity ---- it is too expensive to go again!!!  But we knew how much Jacob would love it, and it was really nice to do something as a family. 

Sir Topham Hatt.... Jacob LOVED this :)

"Free" Face Painting

Jacob the conductor!

Just a little excited to be riding on thomas!

We refused to pay the ridiculous prices for a 'professional' picture, so unfortunately the kids aren't looking at me.  But it's still a fun shot.

Thomas!  Jacob asks to look at this picture everyday.  I might have to frame it for him!

Moving to Australia.

Yesterday I updated my status update indicating that I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  (From one of my favourite children's books).

It was the holiday and we were all looking forward to having Justin home all day.  The kids knew it was a "special" Monday and dad didn't have to go to 'Toronalds' that day (Jacob speak for Toronto :).  WRONG!  Around 9:00 he got a call which ended up in him packing his bags and driving away.  Bummer!   We didn't know when/if he would be back that day so we mentally prepared ourselves for him to be gone until Thursday. 

Megan rescued us by having us over to swim and hang out.  The kids had so much fun and it was nice to get out of the house!  Rick took Jacob in the pool and he (Jacob ;) hasn't stopped talking about it.  It is very sweet.   We came home, had lunch, and Jacob took an unusually short nap. 

Justin did end up returning home around 4pm and got straight to work on the house project that he had been hoping to accomplish that day.  Without getting into boring details, it was a project that needed to be completed before the drywall can get taped and mudded.  It really needed to get done yesterday. 
This project was also one of the most dirty and disgusting reno projects that I have witnessed.  Oh it was gross.  Around 7:30 Justin got paged to a fire call.  The project was in full swing and needed to get cleaned up before we could go to bed.  Which meant I had to do something I never thought I would do in my lifetime.  Remove shovel after shovel full of bat poop out of our walls.  Horrible. 

The kids were terribly grumpy yesterday - needy and whining, fighting constantly, continuously traipsing through the mess upstairs and crying when asked to stay away.

By the time the mess was cleaned up, the kids showered and into bed, and our room returned back to normal it was 10pm.  I really dislike evenings when there is no quiet time. 

But today is a new day and although Justin is back in Toronto we are in our "dad is gone" mode and have enjoyed our day.  We got groceries in the morning, did some baking, painted in the afternoon, and now the kids are each playing by themselves.  Soon it will be supper and baths, a bit more play time and then off to bed.  The grumpiness is still lingering (in the kids) so I'm thinking maybe a half hour earlier bed time is in order.  And then I will have some quiet time.  A cup of tea and good  book is calling my name. 

And lastly, because there were a lot of words in this post, here are some pictures from Canada Day.
We go to Fingal Fireworks.  They are always the day before the ones at Pinafore, so they were on Saturday this year.  It is so fun.  Everything is free - facepaint, balloons, flags, pins, cake, kids activities, glowsticks.... For a small township it is really impressive.  The fireworks are great and the kids are always amazed.  The best part, in my opinion, is parking super close and being able to leave within 5 minutes of getting to your car. 

A little loud for Jacob

much better :)

Piano Recital Pictures

Here are some pictures of Emily's piano recital.  Well, pre-recital.  I didn't really take many pictures at the church since I didn't want to "miss" it because I was viewing it from behind a camera.  And my low quality camera does not take good inside pictures, as you will be able to tell from the last shot.    *On a side note - We are buying a new camera soonish. We used our credit card points for gift cards and they are sitting in my purse.  As soon as I find the right camera we will purchase it.  Anyone have a camera they LOVE?  My want list includes :  a good zoom (we are taking it Disney World, so I would like to be able to zoom in on parades, rides, etc), short delay between taking pictures, and it needs to be small enough to carry around in a bag - not necessarily in a purse, but I don't want a huge SLR either.  Any suggestions?)

Anyway, back to the post about Emily :)

 She requested curly hair.  It was convenient the recital was at night - I braided her hair in three french rope braids and sprayed it with hair spray.  She wore it all day and when I took it out it looked like this.  Emily has really thick hair - once it was all curled it looks more like a mane :)

 A picture of Jacob just to spice it up.  He is a goof. 

 With our outside cat, Jon.  He is a good boy. (the kids named him)

And with "aunt" Janelle :)

4 - 1 = 3

So today is the first day that my blog has gone private.  There really weren't that many of you to add - about 30 or so.  Maybe more will come out of the woodwork, but if my reader list stays small that is fine and dandy with me.

Anyway, on to my first private blog post.

(This post turned out to big WAY longer then originally planned.  If you know why Justin is away, what he is doing and why he is there, feel free to skip to list below :) )

As many of you know, Justin is currently running the DuPont job up in Mississauga.  He is there Monday to Thursday overseeing all the trades posted there by Pro.  He actually is not there to do any electrical work - Justin barely does any electrical anymore - but to do all the controls.  I wish I could explain to you exactly what that means, but I barely understand it myself!  It is very complicated and you need to be very smart and an excellent problem solver to do what he is doing (at least to do it well).  So he is doing his own job, overseeing the electricians and plumbers, going to meetings, scheduling projects and many many other things.  It is hard for him to come home to his family and leave his work in Mississauga.  But he is doing an excellent job.   I hear other wives sometimes complain about the stress that their husbands are under and how it negatively affects their families.  I am thankful for Justin's strength and ability to tuck the stress of his job away and be himself while he is at home with us for the weekend. 

As you can imagine living without your husband for most of the week is a challenge and huge adjustment for all of us.  Justin misses the kids (and me!) while he is away and is sad that each weekend he comes home he can see a noticable change in Jacob.  He carries the stress of knowing that I am here taking on 100% of the parenting and household jobs.

The kids miss him like crazy.  Emily draws lots and lots of pictures for him each week and Jacob frequently tells me he has "lost his daddy".  We take videos through the week and text them to him and usually can FaceTime each night, although sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I probably miss him the most.  The days are long and the evenings are very quiet.  Suppers are eaten in about 5 minutes as there is no one there to share the events of the day with.  On a less emotional side I miss having a husband to take out the garbage, unclog the drain, and recently, catch mice.   

BUT - this is not how this post was supposed to end up!  I logged on to list all the POSITIVE aspects of your husband being away for the week.  Yes, there are SOME positive things to be thankful for.


1 - You can keep the temperature of your house the way YOU like it.

2 - Less laundry, less dishes, less formal meals to make.

3 - When he is home on the weekends we make our time very purposeful.

4 - The house stays WAY WAY cleaner.

5 - Freedom to run errands at any time.  If we want to head to Old Navy at 4:45pm, that's okay!

6 -  As feelings of loneliness increase, relationships with other family members and friends also increase.  I've spent more time with my family and friends in these last few weeks then ever before!

7 - You can talk to your sister on the phone for the entire evening without feeling guilty that you're ignoring your husband.

8 - You can plan surprise projects for him and you have a week to complete them!  This week my mom came out and helped me REALLY revive my gardens. They no longer look overgrown and have flowers and mulch.  Thanks, mom!  Justin has no idea and it will be a nice 'welcome home' surprise.  (He never reads my blog!)

9 - Our grocery bills are lower.  One less man eating food on a daily basis means less groceries to buy!

10-  You get invitied over for supper more frequently because people know Justin is gone! I've had some delicious meals at my mom and dad's recently :)

11-  Your friends husbands (and your dad) try to help fill the gap by helping out with "manly" jobs.

12 - When you are apart all week you miss each other fiercely and are reminded EVERY day how much you love the other person and how thankful you are to have them in your life. 


Justin has already been away for 8 weeks and will be gone another 6 (hopefully no more).  Our time apart does seem to get easier with each passing week.  The kids and I have more of a "when dad is gone" routine and we can get into the swing of it fairly easily.  Thursdays Jacob is a grump all day - that seems to be his breaking point.  We are all looking forward to August 3rd - it can't get here soon enough :)

My baby has grown up.

Wearing her long white dress, hair all in curls, little ballet flats and music books tucked under her arm she no longer looked like my little 5 year old girl.  But then she ran to me and wrapped her arms around my waist and confessed "Mom, I am so nervous about playing in front of all those people. I can't stop thinking about making a mistake."  

She was nervous, I was nervous.  I wanted this first experience to be a good one.  We told her it didn't matter if she made a mistake or two or twenty two.  We would be proud of her for following through and for trying her best.

She did awesome.  Her first piece went incredibly well and she made a few minor mistakes in her second piece (she was supposed to play one octave higher the second time through Twinkle Twinkle and her hands did not land in middle C position - it threw her a bit but she kept going!)

She was the only one to sing (I am proud mama!) and closed the evening with The Goodbye Song that she sings at the end of each lesson.

We are grateful for Janelle, who has taught her with patience and love.  I highly recommend her to anyone looking to enroll their kids in piano!Emily LOVES her and will listen to and cooperate with her 1000 times better than with me.

HFMD

 Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  It sucks.  Big time.  Apparently almost all kids get it because it is SO crazy contagious but most kids get a milder case.  Sometimes parents don't even realize their child has HFM and it clears up without any aggravation to the children (or their parents).  And it gives them immunity when they are older.  I am hoping that was the case with Emily and that she doesn't catch it from Jacob.  Jacob started showing symptoms on Thursday which means he most likely picked it up earlier in the week making him most contagious from about Tuesday - Friday.  Incubation is 7-10 days, so Emily could potentially have it as I type this but her symptoms won't show up for a few more days.  I am praying that is not the case.  She is a horrible sick person.  And this seems like a horrible disease to have.

Jacob has very painful blisters on his chin, hands, feet, bum, and inside his mouth.  They are the worst ones - he has them on his tongue, inside his cheeks, and down the back of his throat.  Over the weekend he ate a few handfuls of pasta and that was it.  Drinking water was painful and he barely drank enough to keep him hydrated.  But today I am very thankful to say that he ate breakfast AND lunch and has had lots to drink.

We took him to the ER on Sunday morning.  I researched HFM online and was fairly certain there was nothing they could do for him, but the lesions were causing him SO much pain that I felt like a horrible mother for sitting and doing nothing.  We tried Epsom salt baths, lidocaine spray, antibiotic with anti itch cream, and cool cloths.  Nothing helped.  The ER doc told me that the pain is actually an "inside out" type of pain so there is nothing topical that will give them relief.  We tried giving him benadryl but again, the DR. told me that an antihistamine really doesn't help with this type of virus.  We would just have to wait it out.

Jacob thought that the antibiotic cream made him feel better and insisted on having it rubbed onto his feet without ceasing from about 10pm to 3am Sunday morning.  I think he just liked the sensation of me rubbing his feet and the coolness of the cream.  As soon as I would stop he would start screaming and rubbing his heals on the carpet, mattress, etc.  Today he has only complained about his feet a few times and can be distracted from the pain fairly easily.  He also slept much better last night and I will attempt to put him down for a nap shortly. 

 Yesterday afternoon I made up a baking soda paste an that seemed to help his feet, but it could just be coincidence.  I am VERY thankful that once your kids has it they won't get it again.  I couldn't imagine doing this every summer/fall (when it's most common).

So we will be quarantining ourselves at home for a bit to prevent spreading this yucky sickness to anyone else!  Jacob will be no longer contagious on Wednesday so hopefully we will be able to get out and about on Thursday.

Peonies

The rain last night caused many of my peonies to become top heavy and their stems to snap. I had no choice but to bring them in and make a lovely bouquet for our dinner table. Terrible. ;).

The Farm

Diana invited us out to her farm to see her newest addition - triplet kids!  Ha!  Baby goats, that is :)
They were so soft and cute.  There were actually quite a few baby goats and several lambs, too.   We also got to visit their chickens, cows, and bunny.  We had such a nice visit.

My kids had been looking forward to this trip for several days.   As we drove to Iona Jacob would ask "is that Pauline's farm?" as we passed EVERY barn.  There are a lot of farms on the way from our place to the Alblas' place!! 

Both my kids loved all the animals and the big cement pad in between the barns.  Emily got to try out Daniella's "skelter" and Jacob enjoyed playing in the dirt piles and shoveling the gravel.... boys are so funny.

Thank you again, Diana, for having us out.  My kids already want to come for another visit :)

 The egg chickens.... I could have chickens if they were nicely contained in a coop like this. 

 Jacob and cows... He's loved them ever since he was a baby. 

 A very very clean white goat... So cute!

 Jacob chasing the animals around and around and around their stall

Happiness is...... (and actually the goat was quite happy too....:)

 Emily's turn

Two cute kids :)

Getting a helping hand from Daniella

Trying out the skelter

The bunny.  I told my kids we would get a rabbit if they agreed to keep it outside.  Emily said she only wanted a bunny if it could sleep in her bed with her.  Needless to say we are not getting a rabbit

Although Jacob certainly did love him/her :)


**And the blog is still going private... I just have to sit down and do it :)