A Short Sweet Month to remember

We really have been having the best February.

We have been very busy 

but

I have been trying especially hard to slow down and do some extras with the kids

(and having a friend to encourage that is a huge bonus)

We wrapped up basketball and Ellie did great 

and 

I had a great time hanging out with moms that I don't normally get a chance to visit with.

We went to a trampoline park and the kiddos had the best time.

 Dusty took the girls to 4-H foods and they learnt about cake decorating 

AND

seriously we may have discovered ANOTHER hidden talent that Penny has!!

You can expect a bakery to open any day now....

 OH FOR THE LOVE OF HOCKEY

AND BOYS

ESPECIALLY THESE BOYS

Oh man! Dusty gets a gold star because he took ALL the kids to the hockey game SOLO 

and it was with school

SO

ALL of their friends were there.

It was CHAOS

and these two were Captain Chaos and Lieutenant Loud

It's been a great month and we are ending it by playing play-off hockey against a great team and it's been a blast ending our month this way!!

Ellie's Recorder Ensemble

Ellie LOVES music.

and

She LOVES her music teacher.

She was in both choir and recorder ensemble 

which meant extra time during recess and after school for practices.

They did so well at the year end festivals!

This is a piece from her recorder ensemble.

Old wrists

November has moved at lightning speed.

We have started getting into the swing of hockey-

She loves it.

We all love it.

The first of month- the girls all rode in a Halloween fun day.

It was so much fun to see everyone out!

We got our house decoded for Christmas.

I haven't found the time to actually make anything yummy though!!!

Ellie and the choir she sings in at school opened by singing "Oh Canada" at a WHL game.

The girls had a great time at the game and Andy was totally into it-

Even though we FROZE at ice level!

It's been a busy time for all of us and it doesn't look like there is a slow down any time soon!

I got on the board for our local AG society and I am excited about being able to help out with that and I also started playing hockey at nights with a friend. I am glad she talked me into it! 

It took a lot of persuasion but it was so much fun. I am not as sore as I thought I was going to be EXCEPT for my hands and wrists!

First days

So I am a little late posting back to school pictures

but

late is better than never

sorta.

The girls 

and by girls I mean Lucy

was really excited to start school.

She is like that.

She'll probably skip off to university

and then around the globe

and

look back and wave

but 

that's about it.

Ellie on the other hand

will live next door to us

Ellie did love back to school shopping

and true to her nature

she bought everything in the same colour theme

  

Lucy however

did not.

I wonder what she will look like everyday.

First day of school outfits...

A year of Kindergarten Come and Gone.

Growing up On the Bus

I rode on a bus to school.

It was a pretty full bus when I was little

it got smaller as I got older

I learnt a lot things on the bus

some not so good

and some valuable 

but

not so fun lessons.

We have had a few

"incidents"

since the girls have started riding the bus.

I am going to be vague

hopefully really

vague

I don't like public airing of "laundry"

so to speak

BUT

I am sure most of us have either

-been through this 

-did this to other people

-have had someone we know go through it

There hasn't just been one incident

but 

a few

and they aren't horridly bad

like I want to jump on the bus 

and terrorise the person responsible 

(although when I had my bus riding lessons 

I had visions of my dad beating people up 

and it did make it much more tolerable)

anyways

not that bad

BUT

it's hard

to know WHAT to say

except some people 

are mean

and stupid.

But honestly that is as far as my productive advice goes

My go to in situations is just to grin and bare it.

that's what I do

I smile, ignore, and move on.

BUT

I have an abundance of

self-confidence

enough that it can take a bit of a bruising

It's much more difficult 

when it is your kid.

How do you explain to a child

THAT

sometimes

the reasons people are mean and stupid 

(because I am mature ;) )

are because

they are jealous

or

maybe things aren't good at home

or

they had a bad day at school

or 

whatever

and 

they shouldn't take it out on you

but

sometimes that's the only outlet they have learnt.

I talked about how she felt

We talked about why it is important

to express yourself appropriately

how words can hurt

how we don't want to cause other people to feel that way

I asked her what she wanted to do

she shrugged

(I panicked)

I told her what I do

and why it works for me

We talked about how it's important to know

when to stick up for yourself

and then

she says

one of her friends just invited her to sit with her instead.

I am sure this won't be the last incident

I am positive that it is only going to get harder

I hope that the girls will have good friends 

that can stick up for one another

I hope that the things they endure

don't damage them

but

can make them stronger

I just wish it didn't start so early.

weddings, funerals, and apparently kindergarten classes....

Lucy is Star Student this week at school.

For star student she can bring in one thing every day this week.

She can also make a poster

and have her parents as helpers.

Pretty exciting.

SOOO I sit down with her to see what she is taking to school

and to help her with a poster

 and she declairs she doesn't want a poster!!!

nope

she wants a video of her life.

 Her WHOLE life.

What a kid!

This is her life thus far....

Cha Cha Cha Changes... in the weather.

Yesterday the snow was almost gone.

Just a few ice patches here and there.

This morning....

The girls didn't mind.

Sometimes they go through bouts of sheer madness

and 

actually

MISS

the snow!

Like I said...

Crazy.

None the less.

Out the door they went.

Who needs breakfast?

Not them.

They choked back their oatmeal, threw their hair back... and bob's their uncle

 (not really...)

 Lucy giving Midnight a good ol' scratch when that pesky bus made it's appearance.

Ellie is usually our sounding alarm.

She gets worried she's going to miss it.

I haven't told her that they actually wait for you...

I am sure she'll figure it out when she's 14!

But for now...

 She sounds the shrill alarm.

 and off they charge.

Ellie is in charge of who gets on the bus first.

It must be Lucy's day.

Ellie is good at keeping track of these sorts of things.

Me... not so much...

 Gone for the day.

And while the children are away....

the babe

gets to 

{play would rhyme but she gets to watch cartoons}

and better yet

SHE

gets to pick.

BUSTED.

Me that is.

Her spy senses heard the camera.

School

Big change for us in November... typically children start school in September and some unfortunate souls start in August (BLAH).... Not us though. Heck, that would be waaaaaaay to easy and it would make sense! I like to do things when I want to do them (A stick it to "the Man" kind of thing). Anyways that is another tangent for yet another day. This will be Ellie's second full week. She loves it. We love it (mostly).

Ellie and her weird face...



One of her many "looks".

She has a choice of jumper, skirt, or pants

and

blouse, turtle neck, polo

Skating- They use some of the "older" kids to teach the littler ones the how-to's



And that's it.

Well not really.

but for tonight.

AND now that she is in school I might actually have time to breath....

and blog

or craft

and cook....

oh the possibilities are endless.

sorta.

The much anticipated bestest trip we've had in 6 years photos!

So we started day one bright and early. We were up at 6 and on the road by 730am.

(which for us is freakishly early!)

Ellie had a field trip to Castlegar to release baby Sturgeon into the Columbia River.

Dusty was more excited than anyone...

I think I remember suggesting we could go shopping instead

(I was out voted)

Dusty has never been past Creston so this was a real adventure.

We of course were ridiculously early (even thought we totally got lost)

A wrong turn in Creston took us on an awesome little detour...

good thing we forgot about the time change!

We arrived and there were loads of kids and buses and FISH!

This is Ellie and Lucy but a big holding tank of baby Sturgeon.

They were all about 6-8 inches long.

All the kids took turn going down in groups of 10 or so.

They had someone down at the water that tags the fish so you can keep track of "your" fish.

They also had a person down there that has tons of fish facts about Sturgeon.

This is Lucy holding her sturgeon.

They don't feel like regular old slimy scaly fish.

They feel like skin.

odd.

and much less freaky.

Still wouldn't touch it though.

(I was holding the baby *wink*)

Ellie holding her fish.

She was a little more unsure of this endeavor...

She would of voted to go shopping at this point.

 

Ellie and Lucy with the other kids from the school.

This is how long a mature Sturgeon is.

CRAZY.

They catch them by putting whole chickens on their hooks!

We got done at about 2 and were just going to go back to a hotel in Castlegar and play in the water slides but Dusty still wanted to explore a little.

So much to Lucy's dismay,

we continued.

We ended up in Oosoyos.

Can I just say....

HEAVEN.

Like for real.

plus 16 and no snow!!

I told Dusty he could come get me in July.

It was seriously so so so so so nice.

and because it's on off season we paid 100 bucks and stayed RIGHT on the water. It was lovely. This was the view from the hotel.

We even got a water slide.

I am pretty sure Lucy would of fired us if we hadn't!

We went for a walk around the lake and found a stick for the dog.

Belle was happy.

The girls were happy.

I was happy.

Even Dusty was relaxed.

We walked until dark and went back to the hotel for a swim and some pizza.

After the girls got tucked in and {quickly} fell asleep,

Dusty and i reminisced of the day and lamented about going home!

Dusty looked at a map of BC and we were only 5 hours from the coast so

we (mostly he) decided to just keep going.

I wasn't going to argue.

Hurray!

blink breathe smile blink

I decided to homeschool Ellie.

There are LOADS of reasons for it.

so

Today we had "our" first real test at this homeschooling business.

I was a complete failure.

The scene.

I set Penny down on the couch.

I go and get the little table and stools.

I get it all set up and Penny begins to squawk.

I call Ellie and Lucy.

They are bouncing with anticipation.

I photocopy Ellie's assignment so that Lucy can do it too.

I bring it out.

Penny is wailing.

I set down the papers and go to grab pencils.

Penny is very very loud and red.

I pick her up.

I am bouncing her on my hip and giving Ellie and Lucy their pencils.

I sit down beside Ellie.

I start to explain the work sheet.

"Ellie, can you find question number one?"

Ellie points to it.

"Good. It says, "Print your name". Print your name in this box."

"I can't"

"Why"

"I don't know how."

"Ellie, you do it ALL the time. Of course you can do it. How do you spell your name?"

" E   L   L  I  E."

"Perfect. Now just write it down in the box."

Ellie starts writing.

While in the mean time Lucy has been scribbling and chattering non-stop and Penny is squirming and fussing on my lap.

Then Penny lets 'er go.

I stand up. Knowing there is poop EVERYWHERE.

I glance at the girls.

I KNOW I need to take the pencils before I leave.

"Ellie and Lucy, give me your pencils."

Lucy: "Why, Mom?"

"I don't want you to write all over everything."

Lucy: "Me won't Mom."

"Lucy, give me your pencil."

Lucy: "No."

I begin to count to three indicating a time out.

I feel poop seeping.

I am loosing patience.

I grab the pencil and put them up.

I take Penny and go and change her diaper.

She has poop from her neck to her ankles.

I hear the stool being dragged to get the pencils.

"Lucy, leave them alone."

Ellie: "MOM, Lucy isn't leaving them alone."

"LUCY LEAVE THEM ALONE"

Ellie: "Lucy isn't leaving them alone still".

Penny is screaming.

There is poop everywhere.

I duck out from the change table.

Run down the hall.

Grab the pencils and run back to the change table.

I finish changing Penny.

I drop the poopy laundry on to the floor.

I put Penny in her crib.

She is wailing again.

Lucy is now pulling on my pants and saying over and over and OVER again, "Mom, me have my pencil pleeeease."

I grab the laundry and start washing it out in the sink.

Ellie is still in her chair.

Waiting.

I finally get back to the table.

I realize I forgot Penny.

I go to get her.

I get back to the table and give Ellie and Lucy back their pencils.

Lucy colors all over Ellie's paper.

I take Lucy's pencil.

I send her to her room with her now asking, "Why?" a million times.

About 30 minutes after initially putting the assignment down, Ellie finally gets to finish question one.

Only 7 more questions to go.