Cool Family Ens

Little Girl Snoozing Soundly

 

Little girl, snoozing soundly. 

I have lots of summer material to share and it will come out, albeit very slowly since I also don't want to forget about the todays.  I tend to forget the details from even just last week and trying to remember the details is part of what I like to do around here, when I remember to I guess!

And though we had a full morning: doctor's visit (Anna's got an infected fingernail), playing with trains at Chapters, a Halloween party, Gym 'n Craft at the Y for Molly and home again by 1pm to get ready for a potluck here tonight (!) I'm going to leave you with just the photo of a sleeping girl.

Oh.  One more thing.  I've always planned on moving the blog to be a bit more private once Jonas started school and I'll be moving to do so in the next couple of months.  It will be password protected, though I'm not sure if that will be simply post to post or the blog complete.  I don't expect to be too stingy with the password; it's mostly just to protect the kids as they hit the wider world.  I'm only going to send the password to family (because I know they check all the time ;) and so if you want it, or more specifically - want to be on the list for it once this all happens, please feel free to let me know!

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

Of Summer Garden Times

 

Since fall is most certainly here, I think it's a great time to post some summer pictures! 

Anna was a big fan of picking flowers.  We had a whole mess of these out front and since they got to feeling like a bit weedy to me, I didn't fuss too much about it.  (However, we have been far more assertive about keeping those lovely snapdragons alone.  Not too many flowers still stick around post-frost and I appreciate the colour!)

We had our vegetable garden again this year, though with a wet summer and pitiful augmenting of the soil, the turnout was mediocre, at least in my opinion.

Highlights:

• Two months of eating our own carrots.  This is actually a big deal as we are big on carrot-eating.
• Lots of peas.
• Raspberries in the fall.
• Cantelopes that appeared early summer from the not-so-cooked compost I turned into a different bed.
• Tomatoes.
• The kale seedling that re-planted itself after being weedwacked by an over-zealous trimmer ("That wasn't a weed?").  It's a small plant, but still.

Lowlights:

• Tomatoes.
• Basil.
• Lettuce - just can't get into the habit of eating more and more frequently.  Otherwise it's all bolting and/or getting bitter.

I want to make boxes for next year, but we'll see.  It requires more expense and motivation than I think we're up for. 

<<----- Jonas holding up one of the cukes from our garden.  It was the longest one, I believe, but there were several close in size.

Our garden is bare now, excepting a few kale bushes in the corner.  I pulled the last of the beets this afternoon for borscht.  Oh, except for the rogue strawberry plant we've let insert itself wherever it felt like going.  Another surprise plant. 

Now we just let it lie.

 

p.s. Summer shot of Molly, too. 

Pasta Shell Finger

 

There's something about seeing her different faces all together that I just love.  It seems to do a better job describing her than I do.

Some points of clarification: it's a pasta shell she's got on her finger.  Yum!  And yep - that's one huge bruise on her forehead.  She tripped in her room one evening just far enough away so that her head smacked the wall perfectly.  It was an impressive injury!

Off He Goes

Kindergarten.

Yup.  School age now.  He's in an evenly split k/1 class at the school closest to our house.  Chris remembers his own elementary school being soooo much farther away, though a quick check with the tools on google maps tells us that he and Jonas travel the same distance.  :)  Since the weather is fine still, Jonas usually bikes while I walk (or sometimes even rollerblade) with the girls in the stroller.

Jonas got a new back pack for his birthday (as did Molly, I'll have to dig out that photo, too) and it works very well for his back and forth needs. 

Over a month in and things are going very well for him.  He's there all day (all public schools have all-day kg this year) and holds up well, despite my uncertainty.  However, since he's "on" all day, he has his own mini-breakdowns almost as soon as we get to the bike rack ("But I didn't want to have to pedal that hard!") though I have to admit that even those have been fewer and farther between lately, for which I am thankful.  I've considered pulling him at lunch to get him some extra rest, (of which his teacher is very supportive) though I haven't had to.  Yet.

We've had the chance to meet with his teacher and get great feedback on a regular basis from her and are pleased that all is well.  He likes going and has only asked to stay home once or twice mostly because he simply wanted to continue with whatever he was playing with at the time. 

He's keen to report on things that happened though we have to wait for him to offer information.  Asking him directly gets a rather bland response.  I believe this is not atypical, yes?  :)  And of course what he does often share has more to do with the people and places rather than his educational pursuits.  Like the misbehaving classmate who "has to learn to respect her classmates" or his friend B. who has already invited Jonas to his birthday party, in January.  Earlier this month the class went to a concert at a theatre in town.  When I asked him about it, he was quick to report that he got to sit next to the window on the bus BOTH WAYS! and on the theatre's proximity to a favourite park.  When I asked about the performance he drew a blank though he was able to tell me that they wore yellow shirts.  :)

To be fair, he has been reporting more and more about what he's actually learning and that has been fun, too, as we get to see more of what his own inclinations based on how excited he is about what he says.  Right now we're seeing a marked interest in math and numbers and counting.  I'm also predicting a lot of dinosaur information in our future.  

Here's the shots of Molly and Jonas sporting their new birthday packs this summer: Oh, and Molly's got her new dress-up skirt, too.  That's already got a lot of mileage around here.  :)

 

Cool Family Who?

Life's interesting, isn't it?  A few months back I did a post about not being a perfect parent.  I then, through pure fluke, failed to prepare a single post here.  Though, I suppose that says more about me and how I feel about the blog than my kids but at least I can say you were warned.  ;)

And how to catch up on 4 months?  It's impossible.  I was thinking I might do a random shot from the summer here and there, but I think just getting along with the not-so-distant past might be a bit easier.  So I'll start with my most recent picture of all three kids from about 2 weeks ago:

It's a cool morning and we're off to drop Jonas off at school (!!!!!) and I made a point of dashing back inside mainly because I wanted to capture Molly.  This says much of her these days.  Remember how she would be in tears as we coaxed her to wear a dress last summer?  This summer she practically lived in them and continues to do so even as the weather turns cooler.  In fact, I had insisted that she put on pants or leg warmers if she was going to wear a dress which she put on, but I only realized as we were leaving that she had neglected to keep them on.  She goes through many wardrobe changes in the day and is a beautiful mix-match of colours and prints and accessories when we leave the house these days.  Chris and I are making efforts to take more photos of her and her constant changing for posterity's sake. 

I know you can't really see Anna well here, so here' another one of her:
She walks and runs.  She talks.  She loves putting things around her next -  necklaces, string, belts, and this scarf is her current favourite.  She's turning 18 months before too long so I'll have a year-and-a-half update to give you then.  Here's another, just for good measure.

See you in four months.  ;)

 

In Which My Kids Do Not Do Cute Things and I Am Not a Super-Parent

Usually things are hunky-dory from this perspective.  This is, after all, a highly edited version of our lives.  The kids look so cute!  And do cute things!  And aren't they adorable!  This had the nice little side effect of implying that - We're super-parents!

I've begun an attempt at posting at least once a week here (lucky you) and am trying to get it started mid-week so I'm not feeling pressured by the week's end.  So here I am at the computer, attempting.  Anna is sleeping.  We've had a full day thus far: visit to the gym, loaded up on new books at the library and registered for the Summer Reading Program.  We've played outside, setting up the tent, whilst I tidied the patio space and they used the hose to wash down... well, pretty much anything I said was ok.  Good times. 

And yet, here it is: Sometimes my kids do not do cute things!  I'm not a super-parent!  And today especially, I'm feeling it.   And writing about it, it would seem.

Molly is flipping my hair and I've already told her three times not to touch the keyboard (saving now...).  There have been two waters spilled and one mouth washed out (not with soap) since I don't want to wait and see where Crayola marker blue saliva ends up.  Newly planted pots have been up ended and the CD liner notes that Jonas loves to follow while we listen to Snacktime was ripped apart by his sister.  Snack has been requested six times in the last hour and I've issued an edict that if anyone asks again THERE WILL BE NO SNACK!  Something I'm sure to regret if they actually force me to follow through, but it speaks to my short fuse.  And last night I found myself SO MAD when Anna woke up crying around midnight, I think I'm finally ready to cut her off at night.  Guess that isn't so nuts: she's almost 14 months.  I'm amazed at myself that it's lasted this long!  But the fact that I felt absolutely no shred of compassion for the night nursing child isn't something I wish to cultivate.   

***

Molly has moved on to entertain herself now.  I will get them popsicles and crackers in a few minutes and get Mr. Mighty Machines to babysit for a bit while I attempt to bring some order to the kitchen and living room. 

I might even gain some perspective soon.  You know, recall that the days are long but the years are short (thanks Gretchen Rubin, for that one).  Know that my kids are a wonder in my life and that spills and clutter aren't the end all and that tape and glue cover a multitude of sins.  Believe that our lives matter today and tomorrow and tomorrow because God says so.  Hope.     

Afternoon Picnic

 

With the weather warming last month we starting taking some more of our living outdoors.  In this case, it was afternoon snack time in the shade. 



The kids spent at least a part of their day outside.  They LOVE being able to take their bikes out front and play around the cul-de-sac; it's even better if the neighbour kids are about, too.

Playing in the front yard means I need to keep a closer eye on things, so I'm quite happy to have them (read: make them) stick to the back yard a lot as well; this works fantastically when I'm trying to do something like cook dinner and having them entertained in the backyard is preferable to underfoot in the kitchen. 

They like the sandbox and the blow-up pool.  Anna is keen on getting into the dirt in the lettuce and herb containers and also loves sitting in the chariot.  We've learned that Molly is scared of "spiders" which are usually ants.  Jonas shows her how to dispatch them.  Jonas has also taken to spending a lot of time with balls and maybe the bat and I'm almost daily asked to play catch or soccer or something of the sort.  Soccer would have been great for him this year but we missed the boat for the local league, though we just learned that we can do a shorter session through the City so that may be in his future. 

The weather this Spring has been much milder than we are accustomed to; I've been much slower getting into the habit of using sunscreen and hats with the kids since their hasn't been the same heat and sun demanding it like it has in the past.  Tomorrow we're going to a community picnic event (Mother Goose Celebration) at a local park but with showers called for, I'm wondering how much fun we'll have... or maybe it's just me.  Good thing Starbucks is a sponser.  ;)

 

Bookworms

One afternoon last month I realized things were rather quiet.  A quick check on the kids had the two older ones engrossed in books while Anna was playing by them.

Anna really likes "I Kissed the Baby."  She's always lit up when we read it to her, and a couple of months ago I noticed that at the last page, "Quack, quack, quack," she would move her mouth up and down, mimicking the sound.  Within a few weeks she had some tentative sounds - her attempts at 'quacks.'  :)

 

A Little Off the Top

Two weeks ago the boys had their haircuts.  This time around, Jonas requested that his hair be trimmed as short as Chris's.  We had no objections so...

BEFORE:

and

AFTER -I
AFTER - II
The two guys sporting their new(ish) looks.  As Jonas says now when he sees them," Bald!"

 

Flowers in Her Hair

 

With the seasons changing, our wardrobes have been as well.  I've been going through drawers and closets, determining what needs to stay and what needs to go.  This has meant that the kids need to spend some time trying on clothes to determine their usefulness to us right now.   A few weeks ago the girls received these flower hair clips in the mail from their great-grandparents and Molly wore them for a bit.  Kind of a big deal since she will only usually allow for hair ties; no barretts allowed.  So I took the opportunity to snap a photo.

It turns out that Molly is starting to warm to dresses.  Last year she'd wear them occassionally but usually not cheerfully to start.  We had been given some adorable ones and I wanted to see how they'd look.  This year, she's more likely to request them and with the weather getting warmer (sort of) I can let her without worrying about how warm she won't be.  

It's Friday here and Chris is home for the day.  We spent the morning all together at the local StrongStart program and now are enjoying a quiet afternoon.  Anna is resting long and well which I'm thankful for.  She had a fever  earlier this week and sleep was hit and miss for her.  I had originally thought that the fever was a not uncommon reaction to her immunizations from 2 weeks ago, though the reaction fell just out side of the normal range and was quite high instead of "mild."    Today, she broke out in spots all over her torso and is doing fine.  My guess: Roseola.  The older two have had it before, Jonas a few times, so we're quite familiar with it.  It's a funny one: you don't know what it is until you have the spots and by then, you're no longer contagious!

Rest well.