My sons

A story about each.

Unrelated to the other.

First story is about Quin, and is going to make me sound like a bad Mother.

Let me just tell you that this is not what usually happens here.

But it did today.

Kids woke me up,

wanting breakfast as per usual.

I, groaning,

said ok, and that I would be right down.

Next thing I knew, my cell phone was ringing.

It was my Mom, and she chatted away to me,

and I realized the time.

21/2 hours after the kids had woken me up.

I had fallen back asleep,

which I can NEVER do.

I stumble downstairs,

in panic mode at all I have to get done,

how much time I had lost already,

frantic to get started.

Guess what I found?

The fire was roaring away.

Hmmmmm.

Look out the window,

Pax is out and munching hay.

Uhhhhhhhh.....

Whole downstairs is cleaned.

Wwwwhhhhhat?

Call the children to me.

Yes, Quin, with a bit of help from the others, did all my chores while letting me sleep....

I said,

"Well, you must be starving.  I'll make breakfast."

No.  Quin had fed everyone breakfast, and cleaned it up.

Here I was near tears.

Hugs and thanks and exclamations all around.

Then I find he had boiled the kettle for my coffee,

and opened my e-mail account,

to save me from the clicking.

Can I get a Wha-What!

It made me feel incredibly guilty,

and incredibly thankful,

and incredibly proud of my oldest son.

He loves his Momma.

And with all the extra time I had?

I made them brownies.

Second story, second son.

He asked to play goal in the next practice,

and that was tonight.

Since my kids are not in hockey for me,

but for them,

I don't really care what position they play.

I want them to learn the game,

try their best,

and have fun.

Team-work, discipline, respecting authority, and not giving up, are other things I think that's good about hockey..... but that's off topic.

I was worried about Nate playing goal.

Because I KNOW things.

Like how competitive he is.

And that he has no depth perception.

I've talked about it here before,

Nate can't see through both eyes at once.

Only one at a time.

So absolutely no depth perception for this child.

And he was excited to try it,

and I didn't want him to get out there and fail.

and he tries SO hard at everything he does.

And I didn't want him to feel like he failed at something...

I didn't want him upset.

He's very hard on himself,

(Kinda like his Mom)

So I was worried.

Only thing?

Nate doesn't know.

He doesn't know he has no depth perception.

He's been this way since he was born.

As far as he knows,

his sight is like everyone else's.

And you know what?

He did fine.

I don't think being goalie is his vocation,

but he did well.

I think part of that is because he's aggressive and competitive,

but everything worked out.

He enjoyed it.

He had fun.

And that,

after all,

is the point.

Yes?

Still freezing here.

So glad for this:

And this follows me wherever I go.

Can you guess what this is?

Picture quality is bad....

Make a guess,

and if you're right,

YOU WIN!!

What do you win?

Uh, bragging rights.

So GUESS!!!

He's a Dork

This is how I haul water out to the shack.

It's a long way, but I didn't take a picture to show you.

I fill the bucket in the basement,

haul it upstairs and outside.

I have to wade through snowdrifts,

wrangle the bucket through the fence,

and then my animals get water.

In these (-18) freezing days,

I have to do this quite often.

Bucket isn't quite full 'cause then it's less ice I have to break in a couple hours.

And this is what I usually find in the morning.

A solid block of poopsicles.

Why he does this I don't know.

His stall is quite large, and this is in the corner.

Still, he finds a way.

And this is what he does behind my back.....

These are the pictures I usually get of him.

I have hundreds of these.

I back up,

he follows.

I walk away, turn around, and there he is.

This is a camera lens fogged up by a curious horses giant nostrils.

These giant nostrils.

This is my drive-way.

It's interesting getting in and out.

Notice the rub marks in the middle from the undercarriage of the vehicle?

And one of my many beautiful trees.

And by then I was a human-cicle,

so I went in.

Whew

Left home shortly after 8 this morning,

hockey, dance, hockey,

home by 3 to unload and stack 40 bales of hay,

start a fire, make supper,

do dishes and now I'm done.

Not everything is done, done,

but I'm not doing anything else done.

I'm really glad I finally grew a kid big enough to help with hay.

Quin and I got 'er done.

It's not the 200+ bales I used to do,

but I was young then,

and I'm not now.

And Nathan and Emma filled the woodbox while we were doing hay,

and I'm glad I grew them big enough to help out too.

Now it's only Ava.

She just asked if she could play Dora games on the computer.

Yes, she does that.

It's amazing to me that a 3 yr-old can sit at a computer and run it herself.

Anyway,

I said no,

and she started in on the 

"Please Mom?  Please please please?"

I again said no.

She said,

"Else I won't be your Mommy anymore."

I said,

"If I don't let you play you won't be my Mommy anymore?"

She solemnly nodded her head.

I answered,

"Hate to tell you, but you're mine.  I will be your Mommy till the day you die. 

 And there's nothing you can do about it."

I would have added a "Mwahahaha!"

but she wouldn't have got it.

Then she said,

"Well, Ny will never wate up adain."

To clarify I said,

"You will go to sleep and never wake up?  You'll sleep forever?"

"Yes."

"Ok.  Goodnight."

And there ended the conversation.

She knew she lost to my superior intellect, failing to fall for her bluff.

The funny thing is, she just drops it.

And away she goes.

Earlier today Daddy was trying to get her ears.

She covered them up and ran away.

Later she came back,

and Daddy say's

"Where's your ears?!"

Without missing a beat she looks him in the eye and says,

"I lost dem."

Her wit kills me.

Still in a deep freeze here.

-28 C tonight.

It's a wee bit chilly.

Can't wait to see these again......

C-c-c-c-cold.

So it is.

I know it's a Canadian thing to complain about the weather.

But I'm not complaining, just commenting.

It's frigid.

And windy.

And it's hard to heat a leaky old farmhouse with just a woodstove.

'Cause the walls leak.

Freezing air.

I am currently blogging in my insulated coveralls.

'Cause the computer is in my kitchen,

and my kitchen is in the end of the house the wind hits.

And it's hitting hard.

Now, I don't really have to be in my coveralls.

My thermostat in the room with the woodstove says 23.

So, it's not terrible.

But I came in from chores,

and decided to just leave them on.

'Cause they so toasty.

So very thankful for the new window in the kitchen.

Without it I think my bananas on the counter would be frozen.

Thanks Steve.

So.  Wanna see what it looked like outside my house today?

Just like this.

So, hockey was cancelled.

But.

Not early enough.

I got myself ready,

the kids ready,

coats on, van running,

heading out to get in seats,

and I decide to check the e-mail one last time.

And there it was.

Cancelled.

So, I was all dressed up with no where to go.

So I took a picture of myself.

There have been mixed reviews already.

Here it is:

Please ignore the grey hairs.

Whaddya think?

After doing that nonsense I made supper.

And it was really nice to be able to take the time to cook,

actually cook, not just try to get something made quick,

and to get to eat it at supper time.

Steak (rare), mashed potatoes, oven roasted broccoli, honey/ginger yams, fried onions.

Yum.

A real meal.

I'm stuffed.

So that's it for today.

Gonna go enjoy a glass of red wine and curl up by the wood stove with my book.

Stay warm, my friends.

I Stayed Home....

all DAY!

First time I didn't have to leave the house in....

well I don't remember and it's too hard to figure out,

but a LONG time.

And you know what else?

I didn't get dressed.

Stayed in mah jammies all day.

So did my kids.

Now, I worked all day.

Got a lot done.

Like, got the basement clean, finally.

Been putting that off for a while.

But now we can actually walk down there!

Did school with the kids, 

all in our jammies.

It was awesome.

Our Lunch.

I totally cropped the bottom of this photo to hide my island mess.

Doesn't it look good?

It was.

And all my kids like salad,

but they're made on separate plates because everyone likes different things on their salad.

Although these were mostly the same.

Our Supper.

Home-made Pork and Beans.

My kids were insanely excited about this.

"The FARTING beans!!  We're having the farting beans!!",

was chorused throughout the house.

Nathan was the most excited.

His brother tried to tease him by saying that Nate was having salad while the rest of us got beans...

but I assured him he would get them too.

So all was well.

You may want to bring a gas mask if you stop by my house...

And this is what I have to trip over in my kitchen...

well, really, everywhere I am.

At least he's learned to tuck his legs up.

See ya!

Tuesday

Is today.

Today is a special Tuesday, though,

because my oldest nephew is 12!!

That's crazy.

You know what that means?

It means his Mom is really old...

Happy Birthday Justin!!

Tuesdays are busy for me.

Well, every day is busy.

Tuesday's are just busy till later.

There's hockey AND dance on Tuesday's.

Remember last year and Wednesday's?

Well, this year Tuesday is Wednesday.

Hockey usually starts at 4:45, or that's when I have to leave, I guess.

There till 6, when I leave for dance at 7.

There till 8:15, then home.

To start fire, feed kids, put said kids to bed, do chores,etc.

And I have been trying to get groceries while in this bigger town with a Zehrs,

instead of making an extra trip to my favourite town that has a Zehrs.

So I usually have groceries to put away too.

Long day.

But.

It makes my children happy,

to be able to do what they love.

And so I continue.

Was told by my Mother that she hated my post yesterday.

No pictures.

I told her I hated it too.

So today I took a second and picked up my camera.

I don't know why the red ribbon on his head.

He's been wearing it for over a week.

I think it's a Ninja thing.

He got his 3 yr-old sister to wear it and come to me and say,

"I'm Wambo!"

She is the only one of my kids that it's easy to take pictures of.

Point a camera in her direction,

and she instantly poses.

She is the worst one.

Out of 30 pictures, this is the only usable one.

She won't EVER stay still.

He's also hard.

He likes to make faces.

Knick- knacks.

My house is being invaded.

By books.

I have a real problem.

This is a fuzzy crappy picture,

but it is the top of the dog cage.

It is now covered in books as well.

And that's it!

Goodnight.

Brrrrrrrrr...... and Busy

And the title pretty much sums up the past few days.

The weather has been incredibly cold.

The snow squeaks when you walk on it, 

your face freezes by the time you walk ten feet.,

the chickens are huddled in the barn,

without much pecking and scratching,

dogs go out for exactly 30 seconds, and then are barking at the door to get back inside,

Pax is eating two bales a day,

and twice as much performance horse feed,

(without doing any actual work)

and wearing his blanket constantly,

and I am insanely thankful for my insulated coveralls.

(Thanks Sarah!!)

It's cold here in Canada.

Hockey play-offs have started for one son, and their first opponent is Durham,

which is over an hour away.

So for the game yesterday I left at 1:30,

got there in time,

game was delayed starting by the game before,

got home at 6:30.

Then had to go pick up Emma,

who had a dance workshop that day.

She has a competition coming up in March

in Windsor

judged by the So You Think You Can Dance judges,

American and Canadian,

with workshops available by the choreographers of the same.

Emma is performing 3 routines.

Solo, Trio, and group.

So, lots of practice needed.

My wonderful sister kept her overnight and got her there,

but she needed to come home.

So got home from that at 8:00pm.

Had to get the fire going, get kids fed and in bed,

go out and do chores,

 and crashed.....

could barely get my butt out of bed this morning.

Today was catch-up day.

Laundry, cleaning, etc.

I've said it before,

I don't know how a house get's so dirty when you aren't even home!!

I didn't even get a shower in before it was time to go to hockey,

again.

Thank God for hats.

I was at the arena from 4:00pm till 7:15pm.

The good thing?

They've redone the arena,

and added in tables and chairs.

So today I brought schoolwork,

which didn't get done during the day,

And we got school done at hockey.

LOVE those tables.

The worst thing about hockey,

for me,

is standing there waiting.

Not doing anything.

Because I have so much to do!!!

But now,

with those tables,

I can teach while at hockey.

Multi tasking.....

I love it.

Sorry for a post without pictures...

I hate that.

But,

as I've said,

it's freakin' cold outside,

and my camera is crappy inside,

and really,

how many pictures of frozen tundra can you look at?

One thing I've noticed about myself lately is that I HATE to ask for help.

A favour.

I'd much rather take care of everything myself. 

I don't like being weak.

I do like being strong, and able to do anything, and everything.

And I usually refuse help.

It's a matter of pride, I know.

And pride is a bad thing.

Because humans ARE weak.

It's just that,

I don't like to fail.

And it seems to me that if I need help,

I'm failing.

I CAN DO IT!!

And I usually can.

But sometimes,

a little help is nice.

So thanks to all who've helped in little ways......

I really do appreciate it.