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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A Rude Awakening
Just when the kids had finally stopped tracking mud in, the grass was starting to be less brown and all but a couple of blobs of snow here and there... and.... I had put the snow gear away I wake up (on a school morning, mind you) to 15 feet of snow outside! OK well maybe not 15 ft...5cm though! And not just snow, it was doom and gloom. The highways had really poor visibility and lots of cars in the ditch. Jesse said that between Winfield and Wetaskiwin (aprox 45 min drive on nice roads) there were 7 cars in the ditch and phrases like "it looks like God puked cars all over highway 11A" were heard on the radio. So quite reluctantly I dig out the snow stuff and the poor rubber boots, spring coats and splash pants are put on hold till further notice. For better or worse it was still kinda warm outside so it was not even nice snow, it was like one big slurpee out there. Just when I think things ouldn't get any worse I get to work and they have 3 times as much snow (I'm actually suprised I made it through the un-graded roads in my little mini van). I am pleased to report that it is all up hill from here. Despite the sudden acumulation of a tonne of mud, tempratures are only expected to rise over the next few days!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter Sunday
So yesterday was Easter Sunday and on Saturday it was Adam's birthday. Emily and I decided to do a combined Easter/Birthday celebration. We invited Levi, Jody and the kids. I made a ham and a strawberry spinach salad, Jody did some buns and a coleslaw and Emily made a punch and her and Ray did an Easter Egg hunt for the kiddos. Thankfully the weather was perfect and most of the mud gone so the kids were actually outside the whole time, except for when they were eating! There are 7 in kids in total so things tend to get a little rowdy when they are all inside.After we had enough room in our bellies for dessert we did the cake. I made a cake for Adam that was supposed to be a spiderman chocolate cake, but it ended up just being a chocolate cake! Nonetheless he and everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Following the spiderman theme we gave him a spiderman backpack, sock and undies.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
April 2009
Here I am, almost 1 whole year later finally updating our blog! For those of you that read my first and ...ahem...only entry will see that I not only have updated, but also changed the name and the layout.It has been a busy year. It seems the older the kids (and Jesse and I) get, the crazier life becomes.
It has been a long Winter and Spring has finally sprung! Last week was the first week back at school after Spring break and know the kids are off again for Easter. Call me crazy, but I am sure that when I went to school, I didn't have near as many days off!We started the break with a bang with 2nd semester report cards. Anna had a wonderful report consisting of straight A's!! The day she got her report she jumped in the car and scrambled for the much anticipated piece of paper and since I was driving (and was also impatient enough to not want to wait till we got home to read it) she offered to read it to me. She read out loud "I got one A, one B, one C and one N!" with which I replied "WHAT???" Wondering how on earth a child could go from an average of 2 A's and 2 B's per semester to a C and the very dreaded N. Thankfully we both figured out that she was simply reading the little card that explains each grade and that her actual report was quite a bit more pleasing. Of course I was as proud as punch of my Missy-Moo who when it is a snow day, still wants me to take her to school even though there won't be any other kids there so that she "doesn't get behind on her work".Jacob also had a very good report. His is a little different. Even though he is in a regular grade 3 class, he has his own program that concentrates on developing life skills, speech therapy and of late learning to use his new communication device. He has had an exceptional year and continues to keep learning and his speech has come a long way in the last 12 months. He has met a lot of his goals that were set at the begining of the year and has become much more independant. He delivers the milk everyday to all of the classrooms. This has been his job for the last 3 or so years and now he is now able to do it without any assistance.
Orrin began child care 3 days a week last fall. I started a part time job and so he goes to "his friends house". It is a day home in town that about 4 other kids also attend. He was deathly shy when he started, and it has done him a world of good! He is so much more social now, even to kids and adults that he has never met. He is talking very well these days. He speaks in full sentences and is easy to understand. He does tend to get his 'he's' and 'she's' and 'him's' and 'her's' a bit mixed up though. He told me the other day that "Ray is a her and Emily is a him" reffering of course to his Aunt and Uncle. He also refuses to call Anna anything other than "Nana". I secretly hope he never grows out of that.
Something that he has grown out of now is his nickname. Since he was just a couple of days old I have called him 'Peanut'. It was so commonly used that one day when Anna's Grandma asked her what Orrin's middle name was she told her it was "Peanut Orrin Blackmore". Well my 'Peanut' told me last week that "I'm not Peanut anymore Mom, I'm a big boy!". Needless to say old habits die hard and I'm thinking the poor kid is going to be Peanut till the day I die.
Last week I got Orrin some gum boots. As much as I am beyond excited that the snow has almost completely melted, as a result we get A LOT of mud. Last week we had a swamp in the corner of our yard, so gum boots are pretty much a necessity. I wasn't quite sure which size to get him so I had him try on this really cute green pair with little frogs all over them. He was rather happy with the boots till he spied a little red pair with lady-bugs on them. He said "Mom (he speaks Canadian) I want these ones" I say "Well Orrin you can't, those are the girls ones" with which he replies "But Mom (again the accent) red is my favourite colour!". Of course I can't argue with that so I say "Are you sure you don't want these cute frog ones?" "Yes I want the red ones". I figure he's just 3 going on 4 so what can it hurt to have a little girly pair of gum boots...right?. So I get the lady bug boots and he is SO happy that as soon he gets home he has to wear them all over the house. He keeps saying to me "Mom, I just love my boots so much!!" The next day he went to day care with his new fancy boots. When I picked him up that afternoon, Bonnie (his Day care provider AKA "My big friend"-Orrin) Says to me that when they went for a walk and to gym that day he told anyone that would care to listen, all about his boots. She did have to convince him however that he could walk in the puddles and mud now, that is what his boots are for. She told me the other kids were just a stompin' their way through the water and mud and there's my little Peanut avoiding them at all costs so that he doesn't get his much adored boots dirty! When we got home he said to me "Mom, I need to get the green frog boots" I thought well thats typical, the novelty has worn off already! (mind you I wouldn't get him the green boots now anyway, he can just suck it up as far as I'm concerned!). But before I had a chance to say anything he gave me his reasons..."My lady bug boots are all dirty and I don't like them dirty". Ahhh...this people is what water is for!
Jesse has been busy working with his brother Ray doing drywalling. And of an evening he will quite often keep slugging away on our house renovations. At the moment he is working on a fireplace re-vamp!He is also as thrilled as I am that winter is finally over and we are hoping to get our land cleared up so we can start on our little house we are going to build.
As I said before I am working part-time and I really enjoy it. After Christmas I got to go to Las Vegas with my two other co-workers and boss. It was an action packed weekend where we went to see 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'The Chippendales'. Both shows were awesome and I would see both again in a heartbeat!
Anna and I are doing dance again this year. She is doing Tap, Ballet and Jazz. Her first competition is in two weeks and then another 2 after that. I am just doing musical theatre and am only going to competition once. Orrin and Anna are also starting soccer for the first time as soon as it dries up enough. I have rocks in my head and signed them both up against my better judgement. April and May are insane times in our little dance world and of course soccer would be on the same night, but we'll see how it goes!
It has been a long Winter and Spring has finally sprung! Last week was the first week back at school after Spring break and know the kids are off again for Easter. Call me crazy, but I am sure that when I went to school, I didn't have near as many days off!We started the break with a bang with 2nd semester report cards. Anna had a wonderful report consisting of straight A's!! The day she got her report she jumped in the car and scrambled for the much anticipated piece of paper and since I was driving (and was also impatient enough to not want to wait till we got home to read it) she offered to read it to me. She read out loud "I got one A, one B, one C and one N!" with which I replied "WHAT???" Wondering how on earth a child could go from an average of 2 A's and 2 B's per semester to a C and the very dreaded N. Thankfully we both figured out that she was simply reading the little card that explains each grade and that her actual report was quite a bit more pleasing. Of course I was as proud as punch of my Missy-Moo who when it is a snow day, still wants me to take her to school even though there won't be any other kids there so that she "doesn't get behind on her work".Jacob also had a very good report. His is a little different. Even though he is in a regular grade 3 class, he has his own program that concentrates on developing life skills, speech therapy and of late learning to use his new communication device. He has had an exceptional year and continues to keep learning and his speech has come a long way in the last 12 months. He has met a lot of his goals that were set at the begining of the year and has become much more independant. He delivers the milk everyday to all of the classrooms. This has been his job for the last 3 or so years and now he is now able to do it without any assistance.
Orrin began child care 3 days a week last fall. I started a part time job and so he goes to "his friends house". It is a day home in town that about 4 other kids also attend. He was deathly shy when he started, and it has done him a world of good! He is so much more social now, even to kids and adults that he has never met. He is talking very well these days. He speaks in full sentences and is easy to understand. He does tend to get his 'he's' and 'she's' and 'him's' and 'her's' a bit mixed up though. He told me the other day that "Ray is a her and Emily is a him" reffering of course to his Aunt and Uncle. He also refuses to call Anna anything other than "Nana". I secretly hope he never grows out of that.
Something that he has grown out of now is his nickname. Since he was just a couple of days old I have called him 'Peanut'. It was so commonly used that one day when Anna's Grandma asked her what Orrin's middle name was she told her it was "Peanut Orrin Blackmore". Well my 'Peanut' told me last week that "I'm not Peanut anymore Mom, I'm a big boy!". Needless to say old habits die hard and I'm thinking the poor kid is going to be Peanut till the day I die.
Last week I got Orrin some gum boots. As much as I am beyond excited that the snow has almost completely melted, as a result we get A LOT of mud. Last week we had a swamp in the corner of our yard, so gum boots are pretty much a necessity. I wasn't quite sure which size to get him so I had him try on this really cute green pair with little frogs all over them. He was rather happy with the boots till he spied a little red pair with lady-bugs on them. He said "Mom (he speaks Canadian) I want these ones" I say "Well Orrin you can't, those are the girls ones" with which he replies "But Mom (again the accent) red is my favourite colour!". Of course I can't argue with that so I say "Are you sure you don't want these cute frog ones?" "Yes I want the red ones". I figure he's just 3 going on 4 so what can it hurt to have a little girly pair of gum boots...right?. So I get the lady bug boots and he is SO happy that as soon he gets home he has to wear them all over the house. He keeps saying to me "Mom, I just love my boots so much!!" The next day he went to day care with his new fancy boots. When I picked him up that afternoon, Bonnie (his Day care provider AKA "My big friend"-Orrin) Says to me that when they went for a walk and to gym that day he told anyone that would care to listen, all about his boots. She did have to convince him however that he could walk in the puddles and mud now, that is what his boots are for. She told me the other kids were just a stompin' their way through the water and mud and there's my little Peanut avoiding them at all costs so that he doesn't get his much adored boots dirty! When we got home he said to me "Mom, I need to get the green frog boots" I thought well thats typical, the novelty has worn off already! (mind you I wouldn't get him the green boots now anyway, he can just suck it up as far as I'm concerned!). But before I had a chance to say anything he gave me his reasons..."My lady bug boots are all dirty and I don't like them dirty". Ahhh...this people is what water is for!
Jesse has been busy working with his brother Ray doing drywalling. And of an evening he will quite often keep slugging away on our house renovations. At the moment he is working on a fireplace re-vamp!He is also as thrilled as I am that winter is finally over and we are hoping to get our land cleared up so we can start on our little house we are going to build.
As I said before I am working part-time and I really enjoy it. After Christmas I got to go to Las Vegas with my two other co-workers and boss. It was an action packed weekend where we went to see 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'The Chippendales'. Both shows were awesome and I would see both again in a heartbeat!
Anna and I are doing dance again this year. She is doing Tap, Ballet and Jazz. Her first competition is in two weeks and then another 2 after that. I am just doing musical theatre and am only going to competition once. Orrin and Anna are also starting soccer for the first time as soon as it dries up enough. I have rocks in my head and signed them both up against my better judgement. April and May are insane times in our little dance world and of course soccer would be on the same night, but we'll see how it goes!
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