Our Little Builder :)

L LOVES to build things.. just about anything. Here is a tunnel he created in the living room the other day! Resourceful too he 'nabbed' most of the stuff from different places and used them for various things.

The entrance. L used the couch on one side as a wall and the stuff you see above as the other wall. J's new tackle box and Baby J's bumbo chair and the kitchen stuff, which they have out at the moment, and a couple of toy boxes. The green lid tote is our craft box and the white bucket under it is the crayon bucket. Pillows make the roof. They had a blast playing in it. 

Baby J Is SO Close...

to crawling. Here he is after he pulled himself up on his toy box. He was hanging with both arms in the box before I took the picture. He got out without help as well. The other day in his tub, also known as the big sink, he grabbed the edge and UP he came!! I panicked and sat him down, but he was fine. J thought it was very funny.

This is how we often see him these days. Backed into a corner. He can actually get on his hands and knees and crawl backwards but just can't figure out forwards!! He will be 8 months old tomorrow. Wow how time does fly!! Oh and that's a 18 month sleeper on him in both pictures.. BIG boy. He now outweighs R. 

UPDATE!!! Just minutes after I posted this Baby J CRAWLED FORWARDS!!! We all saw him and when we called him he came towards us!!! YAY!!! 

Springs Coming.. But She Ain't Here Yet!

Ever since we've had kids we've always told them the season of their births.  E is fall, J is winter, R and L are spring and Baby J is summer. Well R's birthday is coming up soon and for some reason the kids think that spring weather is going to MAGICALLY appear on the day after R's party.  Umm NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We've, or so I've been told, gotten about 50 cm of snow in the past 30 days. It's been snowing for the last, Oh at least 3 days. Spring isn't going to pop her face in anytime too soon! We've not even got spring like temps. If anything it feels like January out there. Windy and NASTY and COLD. Last night it hit -25 again! Our 3 days of 'the last cold spell for the winter' has lasted almost 10 days. And shows no signs of stopping.

L was so excited today he came running into the bedroom to tell me that the day after R's birthday they were going to get the horns they got for their bikes for Christmas and put them on their bikes and I just stared at him bug eyed as my brain tried to find a way to tell my 5 almost 6 year old that season called spring.. Isn't springing this year... She's really oozing. Nothing 'springy' about her. I have to admit I knew not what I was going to say until it came out of my mouth. (Thank goodness it wasn't what I was thinking.. I'm not sure 'what are you NUTS.. SPRING IS NEVER COMING!!' would have helped the situation.) But I found myself telling him that Spring only STARTS by R's Birthday and that, if we're lucky!, we'll be able to put the horns on the bikes by the time HIS birthday comes around. It's about a month after R's and hopefully by then some of this snow will be melting instead of being added too and we'll at least be able to see dirt!  Thank you Lord for small things like just the right words to say. This actually CHEERED him and he bounced off merrily. I'm still a bit flabbergasted.

We watched a Franklin Movie yesterday entitled 'Franklin and the Green Knight.' It is a cute little movie about the coming of spring and the coming of changes. We love it. We mostly love the songs. One of them goes...
               "Spring WHERE ARE YOU!! Come on Spring! Lets have some fun!!'

And just for the record.. we're all doing fine. Taking a lot of breaks for 'just plain fun', keeping warm and mostly staying home. Taking our vitamins and rejoicing in and thanking God for our family. I am, frankly enjoying the slower season and taking some much needed time for things that I've been putting off for almost too long. Some sewing, lots of James Harriot :), some reading: some heavy, some light, baking and fun school projects. My house is starting to feel 'taken care' of again what will a good chunk of it gone through and sorted and re organized. It's amazing how stuff breeds when your not looking!! I'm also taking time to go through the kids clothes and make needs/wants/too small/ too big, lists and piles. Never boring around here! 

A Moose Sighting.

Yesterday evening as I walked by the front door I happened to glance out the front window. At first, what I saw, reminded me of our calf 'Steerseye.' But something wasn't quite right and I went and took a longer look. I'm glad I did. It was a cow moose. They really look nothing like cows even in the early evening light, but the way she was standing at the end of the driveway made her into just a dark shape in a darkening world. I was quite grateful it was not Steerseye as I would have had to walk through very deep snow to get in front of him to push him back into the yard as he spooks easily and I really didn't want him on the road.

I love moose. We used to have a cow moose and her, that years, calf come and visit us while I was growing up. She always went right for the garden spot and Mom says she went right to the broccoli and cauliflower plants and ate them as quickly as possible.  If I remember right the calf didn't get much.. it was chased off. Perhaps this garden treat was similar to chocolate for women :)

 Mrs. Moose in our driveway.. chewing on the willow. She doesn't look very big here but that willow is twice as tall as I am :) In the bottom picture she's scratching her back. That LUMP of snow right in front of her is our Toyota Corolla Station wagon.. or at least the snow covering said car. These are the best two pictures of the bunch! BTW anyone who is looking for said car is welcome to her. She's white.. she has problems that aren't too bad and she's cluttering up the place. Oh and we totally outgrew her :) 

As this was only the 2nd moose to be seen on our place I was super excited! I hollered for the kids and they came running. I placed them all around the window and we OHHHH'd and AHHHHhhhed over her.  She was alone which surprised me as the one that lives in our lease had a calf this fall. So there are either two, which is doubtful, or she's lost her calf sometime between then and now. The cow Papa had seen earlier this year in the hay had not had a calf with her either. I suspect this moose came through our yard and wandered out the driveway as Maggie was hiding by the milking area and bawling. The kids were SUPER excited too and we stood there and watched her for about 2 minutes when J and I had the same idea. I was already heading to find the camera when he said. "MOM GET THE CAMERA!! TAKE A PICTURE!!!' It was all very exciting :) I did get the camera and I did take several pictures but NO good ones as the light was terrible and it being -22 outside I really didn't want to stay out long. Oh and the fact that I was so far way.. NOT that I was going to go closer.. Well... I MIGHT have if it hadn't been so cold. She browsed on the little willow at the end of the driveway then wandered on to the road and stood there by the end of the driveway and scratched her back! No kidding!! Just like Maggie does.. one leg at a funny angle and her teeth on her back. After she was on the road she slowly wandered her way past our middle hole in the trees on the way down the road. (That's when I would have gone closer.. even if she'd been mad I could have easily made it inside before she fought her way through all that snow in between us or gone around back on the driveway!) Chip either didn't notice her at all or just didn't care as he made no mention of her passing at all. After she'd gone on down the road we smiled at each other and went back to our doings. I wonder if some day the kids will remember the excitement of the moose in the coming dark on our very own driveway!

Oh and for those of you in warmer climates.. Yes these pictures really were taken on February 28th. 2011. This is truly what our yard looks like at the moment. :)

The Papa Monster.

This is a Chip story but it doesn't start with him. Everyone who reads my blog knows that Chip LOVES Papa. If there are 15 people on this place you will find Chip with Papa. I imagine if there was 100 people on this place, Chip would still be with Papa. This story is about Chip but starts with our car.

We bought our car 3 years ago, for $300. I remember it was 3 years ago because R was a baby. Still in an infant seat and we drove Papa out of town to pick up this car. I was unimpressed. With the drive out there and ANOTHER cheap car. We've had a few cheap cars and they never do as well as hoped. Until this one. In fact we still have one in the front waiting for the day it will be towed away! They all seem to leave in better shape then we get them but none of them are 'long term cars' they tend to have some issue that we either can't find and fix or is not worth fixing. This one though has had no real problems. We did name it the 1st month or so we had it but whatever it's name was it was quickly replaced with 'Papa's Black Car' and forgotten. It's served us well, driving Papa to work and back and to the city when he was in school and gets pretty good gas mileage. It works like a $3,000 car in a $300 car body. The most we've done to it is put tires on it and keep it full of oil. It has/had a small oil leak that Papa has fixed several times only to find out it's not the right place and it still leaks. It's smell is a real put off when it's hot as it the oil drips slowly on the engine and burns when the car is hot. It's such a tiny bit that it's not a problem.

Last week this $300 cars alternater finally gave up. Not really a big deal. It happened at work so Papa took it out right away and took it to a local place to see if they could rebuild it. It was a Wednesday so the kids and I had stopped in on our way to AWANA and that's when I found out about it. I was a bit worried I'd have to go get Papa at work at 10pm when they close, but he assured me he could just take the service truck home. NICE!! I thought no more about it. I will next time!

That night after the kids were all in bed I decided to watch a bit of James Harriot and I'd just gotten into it when Chip started BARKING. Normally he barks only if somethings happening and then stops. This time he BARKED AND BARKED AND BARKED. Ok so SOMETHING was going on out there. My 1st thought was someone was coming to pick up something out of the outside fridge/freezer. Happens all the time. Not normally so late at night and Chip knows them all pretty good and he doesn't  bark at them if he knows them. Hmmm. Moose?? So I pause my movie and head out to see what is the big deal. I got to the door just in time to see the service truck about half way down the driveway. It had totally skipped my mind that Papa would be driving it home. Chip was enraged! I've not heard him BARK like that in ages. He was even growling, still hiding between the porch and the house mind you but he was in full guard dog mode. So I helped :)

"Chip, it's going to get you!! Watch OUT Chip, it's an alien and it's going to eat you up!" I was laughing so hard I'm surprised he believed me. But he did! The BARKING got LOUDER and hoarser with more growls and his hair stood up on end. Papa parked the truck in his normal spot but Chip was SURE this evil truck was going to GET HIM!!! Papa was laughing and I could hardly talk I was laughing so hard. I started telling Chip, "Papa's gonna GET YOU!!' Poor Chip never even heard the Papa part. Papa was out of the truck and I'm sure Chip though his nose was lying to him. This was not his beloved Papa.. this was some strange thing that was going to eat him.  Papa went around the back of the Travelall then JUMPED out  were Chip could see him and said "RAAAAAAAA." Chip was INSTANTLY under the porch. Tail between his legs and quiet!! Papa and I laughed so hard tears ran!! Poor Chip!

Papa called him after a minute and he came out slowly with his tail between his legs. Normally Chip BOUNDS to Papa in leaps and beware anyone or anything that gets in his way! This time Papa had to call him several times before he would come out and a few more before he made his way all the way to Papa. I had to encourage him from the house. Then when Chip got to Papa he slobbered all over him and Papa rubbed him all over like he likes and all was forgiven!

The car's alternater was beyond rebuilding and so another was ordered and put in that same day. Papa drove the car home that night. I'm sure Chip was relived. He greeted Papa in his normal fashion, trying to climb into the open door while trying to lick him anywhere he can reach before Papa can get out. I do wonder what will happen the next time Papa has to bring the service truck home :)

After Papa read this he reminded me that Chip didn't just dive under the house with his tail between his legs.. he YIPPED really high pitched first!! LOL!!

My Kids Have A New Favorite Song.

And I'll admit that the singing of it over and over and over and over, did I mention OVER!!!, can drive me crazy!  On the other hand I'm really proud of them for learning it. J learned it first for AWANA and L and E soon followed. R is the only one who really isn't singing! It's about a minute long but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

R's Song.

A while ago I posted R singing a little song and asked you to guess what the song was. No one knows apparently. It's the ACE reading programs  K song. 'A kangaroo from Kalamazoo kicked up his heels and played a Kazoo!! ' At almost 3 she knows about 1/3 of the songs J learned this year from this program. L knows all but one or 2 and E knows about 4/5's of them.

Awesome Movie of the Kids.

They did this all by themselves. I only helped them find the 5th instrument. The drum. J is the band leader and they totally love to play together. They switch instruments often and they either all sing together or have a 'singer.' What do you think?? Gonna be a bluegrass band someday :) They start off playing really slowly. Then J yells SPEEDING and they all go as fast as they can. They've been doing this with singing too. SLOW MEDIUM FAST!  They enjoy playing with the tempo's  and seeing how very slow or how very fast they can sing.

FINISHED Grade 1 Math!!!

J is officially done Grade 1 Math!! We've been taking a bit of a break from pace work and finishing up some other fun stuff we wanted to do. Then yesterday I remembered that he had been nearly done his 12th math pace so we pulled it out and he finished it. Then this morning he finished his test! 100%!! Way to go Jed!!!
We already ordered and received the Grade 2 Math paces. So we'll start them next week!
We also recently got a neat little Math book called Mind Benders. We got the 1st book which is verbal  word problems. J has been speeding through 10 of these a day and asks me if we can do them!! He loves them! They are fun and we both enjoy doing them. I'm going to order the next Mind Bender book soon as there is only 100 in this one and they are not really hard for him.

Valentines Day, A Special Gift.

Papa brought me yellow roses on Valentines day. He surprised me with them after he was suppose to be at work. He banged through the door, handed me the flowers and a heart shaped box of chocolates, kissed me several times and proceeded to tell me what else he'd brought home. A little chopper for baby food and a new mixer as mine has mostly given up. Then he kissed me again, yelled that he'd be home late and headed off to work! What a sweetheart he is. He normally gives me red roses but this morning I told him if he was going to give me flowers please could I have daffodils. I'm really wishing for spring these last few days and I thought the bright yellow colored flowers would help with the February winter YUCK.

 As Papa headed out the door I noticed E was standing beside me with something I'd asked her to bring to me. Her 4 year old eyes were large with excitement and twinkled. Did you know little girls were born to be romanced? I didn't,  not until today. OHHHH The OOOHHHS and AHHS the 'they are GORGEOUS mommy. Just GORGEOUS' R says to me. I want to keep them forever and ever because they are SO GORGEOUS!!' They had to smell them, touch them, watch me as I cut the stems and placed them in water then OHHH and AHHH over them again when I put them on the table. Several times R said. OH Thank YOU Papa!! And E would say 'Papa's at work, we'll have to tell him Thank you for the beautiful flowers when he gets home!' Oh Oh OH!!! At one point after I'd cut them and was putting them on the table I saw the two of them grin at each other and spontaneously HUG!!! E lifting R off the floor!! What little girls they are. I had no idea, and I'm sure Papa didn't either, how much our two little girls would enjoy those bright yellow roses!!

The boys were outside doing firewood as all this was going on. But when they did come in for a quick moment they had to see the flowers and smell them. J stuck his nose in a flower till his nose was just about gone and inhaled deeply then sighed. They really do smell nice! L's eyes lite up and his cheerful little grin lit up the room.

They went Ga Ga over the chocolates too. I cut all the chocolates in half so that everyone could try a few not just one or two. What a great idea that was. We will be doing that again. Half a chocolate is quite enough for a good taste. We don't have favorites because we get chocolates so rarely so this way we can try a few and see what we like!

It's been several days now and we are still enjoying our spot of spring on the table. Amazing how handful of bright yellow flowers can make the snow seem not so deep and the sunshine a little brighter and grins pop out on faces a little more often. What a wonderful gift! Thank you Papa!