beginner artwork

January 7, 2014

Laura: "I like Memmem and Pop."
Me: "I do too."
Laura: "When you were little you used to play with toys at Memmem's house. Now I'm little and I get to play with the toys."

Laura: "I'm going to draw Memmem a picture. I'm going to draw Memmem, but not her fat stomach."
LOL, oh no. I laughed so much as she hurried off to get some paper.
This is what she just drew. If it's any consolation, Mom, she drew a picture of me on Saturday and I looked exactly the same way. LOL

bedtime

January 8, 2014
Laura while climbing into her bed a few minutes ago, announced to me as I put away her clean clothes, "I am now going to bed with no incidences." Haha, glad to hear it, little girl. Although she usually goes to bed with no "incidences", so who knows what I was spared tonight. LOL

chocolate

January 9, 2014
That moment of panic when your Christmas candy, your Red bag of Lindt chocolate treats is not to be found. The ones you bought for your own stocking. And then with franticness of mind, you dig behind the stacks of paper plates in the pantry and at once feel the smooth familiar texture of the package, nestled safely in its quiet spot and all is well again.

IKEA

February 21, 2014
Laura(sitting on the couch): Mommy, will you read me this IKEA book?
Me(looking up to see what she had): You mean the IKEA catalog? You don't really read it.
Laura: Yes, it has words, see Mommy?
Me: Yes, those words tell you about the things you can buy. But I'm not going to read it to you.

Laura: Can I read some books in bed?
Me: Yes, for a little while.
Laura: I'm going to read this IKEA book.
LOL
She has been obsessed with the IKEA catalog for the last two weeks and wanted to talk to my Mom today when she called to tell her all the things we have in our house that we have bought from IKEA. I think it's the first "word" she can spell and read.

apologies

February 26, 2014
Yesterday, after a series of spectacularly naughty moments, Laura spontaneously offered up an apology from her seat in the car. I accepted her apology after clarifying what it was for and then she discussed her views on God for a bit which are always interesting and mostly orthodox. After a moment of silence in the car, she added, "Mama, when you say you're sorry, it makes your heart happy."

bedtime prayers

March 2, 2014
Tonight I put Laura to bed and prayed with her as usual. Afterwards she asked, "What did you mean by asking God to watch over me? You mean like from fires and falling down the stairs?" Slightly alarmed over the latest calamity, I say yes, and then she asks "What else can happen?" 
I take this as my cue to leave while she is mumbling about falling off her tricycle and other such calamities that are not usually done throughout the night anyway, not to mention that she no longer rides a tricycle. She is something else. Her new nickname for herself is IKEA Girl. LOL

inquistive

March 6, 2014
inquisitive: asking politely after your neighbor's well-being as you encounter them outside
nosy: hastily putting in your contacts so you can see what is being delivered to your neighbor's house at 8am
...
...
(It was a new white glass-top electric stove/range.) You know you wanted to know too. LOL

animal adjectives

March 10, 2014
During winter, we often have a roast galline supper, but tonight I am cooking myself a baked porcine dinner. 
http://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2014/02/animal-adjectives/

citizenship test

March 11, 2014
Big sigh of relief, it's over. 
Passed my citizenship test this morning. 20/20. Not bad. 
I think I was the only American there. 
Americanadiangirl for real now. 

signs of spring

March 20, 2014
First signs of spring in eastern Ontario?
The onions and garlic in my pantry are sprouting. Too bad the garden needs to be shoveled off or I could plant them.

circumventor

March 20, 2014
Back in the days of the school handbook, there was always that last rule that cornered you no matter what the other rules said. It was the illustrious, "No circumventing school procedure" rule. It meant that even if the rule book didn't say, "no jumping out of the windows of the school bathroom", it was definitely a rule that they would make if they thought students would be doing it. Ahem, yes.
I have a little circumventor in my home who needs to be made aware of this handy rule. Who knew you would have to include rules like, "No using a shiny butter knife to create designs on our cds." "Do not use without supervision, even one pump (or many more) of hair detangler on any part of your hair, especially your bangs as part of your 'morning grooming'." "When completing Montessori pouring activities, do not attempt to stick the tiny glass cup into the small glass pitcher." (It will get so stuck, only your father will be able to get it out without any glass breakage.) And this is just in the last 48 hours.

Call the Midwife

March 22, 2014
I was folding laundry while watching something on Netflix and I took a break to help Laura get her pajamas on in her room.
Her: What are you watching?
Me: Call the Midwife
Her: What's a midwife?
Me: It's a nurse who delivers babies. 
Her: Does she bring them in a box?
LOL, oh my.
She asked some more questions and I told her where babies come out and that they are pushed out by a mommy' s body.
Her: I need to go tell Seth something.
Me, laughing: I'm not sure Seth knows much about it.
Her, going to Seth's door: Goodnight, Seth
Me: (relieved) Let's go brush your teeth.
She and Kate were delivered by the same midwife and there was no delivery box. 

Toad's list

March 25, 2014
That moment when you catch yourself almost feeling bad about accomplishing something in your home, because it wasn't on your list. Good grief, who am I? 
Toad?

bunkbeds

March 26, 2014
There is a small window of time in which climbing up and down on a bunk bed is fun and easy. Embrace that time, it happens to coincide with youth. 
There is, however, no window of time in which changing the sheets on a bunk bed is fun and easy. Endure that time, it happens to coincide with advancing age.

Kate's sense of humor

March 29, 2014
While my anecdotes are usually about Laura, here's one about Kate. 

When Shane installed new bedroom and bathroom doors a couple of years ago, Kate soon learned how to master the easy locks which thankfully open with a coin or any thin, hard tool or object. So at least every couple of days, I go upstairs to get or do something and find at least one, if not all the bedroom and bathroom doors shut tight and locked. Every now and again, Kate is inside one of the doors, laughing herself into hysterics. It was happening so frequently that I took to carrying a nickel around in my back pocket to get the doors open quickly.

On Wednesday, I found Laura's door locked, with Kate being the culprit, so I administered a little, umm, training and headed to get a shower. Ten minutes later, I emerge from the bathroom, ensconced in a bath towel, see our bedroom closed and yes, firmly locked. Kate is no where to be seen or heard. Seth, at that moment, flying up the stairs intent on getting something from his room, comes to my aid by producing a coin from his wallet and lets me into my own room. I was hopping mad, just a little.

Fast forward to this morning, unshowered and dressed still in my morning clothes, I have to escort Laura to our neighbor's door so she can play with Seth and the neighbor girl. I leave Kate waiting and watching by the storm door. A very quick trip to the neighbor's and then back to our own front doorstep and our front door is closed up. I check the door knob and sure enough it is locked tight. I sigh and ring the doorbell, knowing Shane is upstairs. As soon as the doorbell rings, maniacal laughter is heard from the other side of the door and there is a fumbling with the lock as she lets me in. Oh goodness. Now I have to add a key to the nickel in my pocket, doh!

spring on the river

March 31, 2014
Apparently the snowmobiler who just zoomed down the river in our backyard didn't see my note about spring having sprung today. Aye-yie-yie, I always expect to have to dial 911 when I see them go by. Perhaps he'll come back by canoe.

"I'm a haircutter."

April 2, 2014

So this is what happened this morning:
I was in the bathroom getting ready, when Laura came in wearing a orange Home Depot apron and a orange hard hat looking to throw something in the garbage and saying, "I'm a hair cutter." As I stared at her, I quickly checked the garbage and confirmed that it was long piece of hair that she had thrown away. As I began to question her, her look grew scared as I told her take off her gear and I headed downstairs to find Kate. I found Kate sitting in the kitchen surrounded by hair with a small pair of red scissors in her hand. But knowing her scissor skills, I was pretty sure that she had not been the one able to do all the cutting. I followed the trail of hair into the living room where there was piles of it everywhere. Wispy strands and long ones strewn all over the hardwood. I was in full shock. I went back to Kate and started checking her out. Remarkably, although there was a lot of short hair, there was no exposed scalp. On the verge of tears(yes, well even I cry over bad haircuts), I called Shane and told him what had happened. Laura had been sent to her room and Kate was told to sit on a chair while I went around on hands and knees sweeping up all the hair. The amount was overwhelming. Laura called to me and I found she had accidently ripped a page and as I took the book from her and carried it downstairs, I saw a clump of hair in the book. Thinking I better check Laura more thoroughly, I headed back up to her room and found more hair on her bed and more coming out as I touched the back of her hair. It's hard to tell how much she cut of her own hair because just yesterday I had to cut a knot out of her hair in that same spot(she still twirls her hair into knots). The photos posted before do not do justice to the amount of hair cut. It's unreal. Kate is fine, she isn't bothered by it all. Although when I talked to her about her hair, she pointed up and said "Ora." So I know she knows that Laura is in trouble for cutting her hair.

a different kind of morning routine

April 14, 2014
Just the usual Monday morning around here: Laura awake by 6am downstairs in the darkness with the quartz heater talking and singing to herself while munching on some washed romaine lettuce she foraged from the fridge.

funny commercial

Good Friday thought

April 18, 2014

The message of Good Friday.

When God cut covenant with Abraham, God alone made the maledictory walk through the cloven carcasses, thus communicating that He would take the curse upon Himself, for any violation of either Himself or Abraham and His seed against the cut covenant between God and Man.

On the Cross, God in Christ, bore the punishment for Man's sin. He alone took upon the punishment for Sin for Abraham and His seed. He alone is the one in whom salvation can be secured.

There is no other name under Heaven by which ye must be saved. ~Pastor Bret McAtee

busy days

April 23, 2014
Mush, as in my brain status. It's that time of year when I am planning for next school year(and beyond) and still trying to complete this year's lessons. And knowing the garden season is just about here, I am trying to finish my organizing and purging of stuff in our house. Add in there some dinners/banquets, therapy, dental/doctor and eye appointments, homeschool conference stuff, weekly swimming lessons and homeschool soccer and it is no wonder I stare blankly at walls wondering if I am in the right place at the right time. I used to say I wasn't busy, just a homebody with our kids. Now I crawl up to bed, ignore the stacks of books on the nightstand and floor and settle in for another episode of Call the MIdwife or Downton Abbey. And this is from someone who doesn't watch much tv, usually content with my books. I don't even know who I've become. 

tea quota

April 25, 2014
I *just* realized that I've only had one cup of tea so far today and my usual quota is three. And that one cup was way back at 6:30 this morning. I don't do hashtags, but if I did, it would be something like: toomuchgoingonformylittlebraintohandle.

thoughts from the homeschool conference

April 27, 2014
It is a sad commentary on the state of the church when the Word of God is replaced with research studies and statistics as the authority for the discipling of our covenant children. Any Christian speaker or writer who wants to advocate for homeschooling without going to the Word of God is suspect.

tea problem

April 28, 2014
Here is a Monday morning math quandary: If Heather only has 38 Lipton tea bags left and 19 days until she crosses the border and gets more teabags, will she have enough teabags to have her usual 2 cups of Lipton a day? It appears the answer is yes, as long as she does not permit her husband to drink any of it. There's the quandary. 

seasons

April 28, 2014
First bbqed homemade burgers of the season: check.
Seasoning salt/pepper, bbq sauce, breadcrumbs, beef.
Mix, handform, refrigerate. 
Does not fall apart on the grill.
Perfection.

Start indoor garden seeds: check. (a bit late)
Go look in garden for signs of wintered parsley and mint. 
Yes, they are there. 
Hooray.

Take first 'nature walk' along river with kids: check.
Just lovely.
Now it can rain for the rest of the week.
Enough happiness to last until we have sunshine again.

dinner post

April 29, 2014

Dinner: Ceasar salad topped with bbqed chicken breast. Guess I should save some for the kids.

muffins vs. cookies

May 1, 2014
Why are banana chocolate chip muffins, but not chocolate chip cookies acceptable breakfast menu choices? A muffin is just a cookie on flour steroids. Only half a cup of flour separates the two.

tea stash

May 1, 2014
One of my few treasured possessions that is not a book or a person. 
This is from 2010 and the tea selection is mostly the same. I saw a poster this past weekend on Pinterest that said "I drink coffee for your protection." Ditto that sentiment for my tea, except for the cups of coffee I drink right before my Sunday School kids come running in the classroom. But whoa Nelly, you would drink it too if you were there.

morning post

May 12, 2014

Good Morning from the capital of Canada. Three more days until I'm an official citizen. Four days until I come visit my birth country and family. And only 1.5 hours until four boys under 6 descend on our house for the morning. I love all of them, but I'm treating them as little marauders and moving my seedlings and garden plants out of their range. 

backup for the backup

May 13, 2014
Happiness is a well stocked pantry with backup for the backup! 
This has been a running joke in our family for years, ever since my brother Tim came home from visiting the neighbors one day impressed with Karen Newhard's pantry selection and exclaimed to my mom, "She even had backup for the backup!"

words

May 13, 2014
Seth (reading a book this morning): What's a whatnot?
Me: It's like a knick-knack.
Him: What's a knick-knack?
Me: It's like a trinket.
Him:(incredulous) What's a trinket?
Me: (running out of words) Oh, it's just little decorations and stuff.
Who knew I needed a dictionary before breakfast!

those moments

May 14, 2014
I said yes to my sitter taking the girls to get their hair trimmed (oh dear) and I'm using my sewing machine(arghh #!%#!). I must be clinically insane.

traveling

May 19, 2014
At the last fuel stop before crossing back into Ontario, Laura after being in the car for six hours announces "It's a great day to be a person!".

leaf offerings

May 21, 2014
Laura holding out a freshly picked leaf: "Look what I got for you. Is it poison ivy?"
Me: No, it's a maple leaf.
:)

salad surprise

May 21, 2014
Well, I just got to the bottom of my Greek salad purchased from our local grocery store after enduring my dentist appt. and found a very quiet ladybug sitting there covered in dressing. Mmmm, protein. Next time, I'll just forget about eating healthy and go for the other fast food.

hockey fun

May 22, 2014

Laura asked me to sing the Canadian national anthem to her up in her bedroom while she stood still listening. "Are you pretending to be a hockey player?", I ask. "No, I am a *real* hockey player!", she answered wearing her bicycle helmet with her pajamas. Haha, just another part of her personality we love. (Can you tell hockey playoffs are on tv almost every night at our house?)

hockey playoffs

May 24, 2014
So this is what happens when she watches hockey during the playoffs. At 7:30am, she is rearing to go and get out there to play some hockey. Love the mittens with the summer shorts. Always have to have the right gear for these sports!

Indigo dye

May 25, 2014
Indigo dye. Wreaking havoc on laundry since at least 4000 BC.

Daniel's leadership

May 25, 2014

Three years of teaching through the OT in Sunday School and we finally made it to Daniel in the lions' den today. It's easy to trivialize this as just a story from Sunday school, but if we elected men like Daniel, how different our governments would be today. And if we were more like Daniel ourselves, how different our churches and families would be today.

"Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to with the law of his God." ~Daniel 6

Kate loves paper

May 29, 2014
As any self-respecting book lover can attest, the sound of ripping paper sends shocks and waves of horror and alarm through every fiber of one's being. So you can imagine that as a self-described book lover, I can barely handle it when Kate happens upon her favorite past time-- the rrrrrrrripping of scrap papers into smaller and smaller strips and pieces. It hardly helps when it is accompanied by her signature maniacal laughter.

Poison ivy and waterproof sundresses

May 31, 2014
One of the neighbor girls turned six today and announced to Shane and Laura, "My dress is waterproof!" It was a sundress, but it convinced Laura who told me all about while having a bath tonight. When kids are not driving you insane, they can be so funny.

May 30, 2014Laura, showing one of the neighbor girls a log in a part of the garden where I do not plant vegetables: "And this is where my Mom planted poison ivy."
Me: "Not poison ivy, English ivy."
LOL, still laughing about this one.

Which eye is it?

June 1, 2014

Laura(outside eating a muffin): "Mama, please come, I need help."
Me(looking outside and seeing nothing too amiss): "Coming."
I step out to our backyard and bend down to see what is the matter
Laura(with eyes partially closed): "I have dirt in my eyes."
Me(examining her eyes): "Which eye is it?"
Her(pointing to her closed eyes): "These two eyes."
Haha, good to know. 
It reminded me of a Fawlty Towers episode where Basil(John Cleese) rudely tells a hospital nurse caring for his wife that she will find his wife's sore foot at the end of her leg