If I missed anything in the title, then sorry, but it has been a while again!
1. Work:
I have had a relatively consistent work load since getting that call October 19th-ish. I get at least two days of work a week, and have met a wonderful teacher who calls me in regularly. For professional, student safety, and privacy reasons I can't disclose any names or locations, but I really enjoy his grade 8s. They're a great bunch of kids who strive to achieve rather than slumping off their work! It's great!
2. Earrings:
Ms. Kanga has learned to take them out. This started in September, and wasn't really an issue. I'd just put them back in and we'd be fine. About a month ago, I believed she'd eaten one. I found her earringless and one chewed. I could not for the life of her find the other. I got some gloves, fed her plenty of prunes (which she eats like candy) and off we went. Several movements later I had still not found it and concluded she must not have eaten it, but mentioned it to the dr at her 18mos checkup anyway. We came home with an x-ray req and that night while changing Monkey's sheets I found the missing earring! YAY!
She still takes them out, but I now know she's not going to eat them, and more often than not she hands them to me. Sometimes I am missing a back, but for now she's wearing a cleaned up pair of my old studs that are quite difficult to take out. I'm looking into getting her some labret studs (flat back and screw on ball) so she can still have her pretties but I don't have to worry about her taking them out! ;)
Yule:
As many of you know, I am a practicing pagan of the Correllian Nativist Tradition. That being said, Yule is the time of year when we mark the changing of the seasons. The Old God Cerunous, passes into the dark, and the Mother Goddess gives birth to the Young God. For this reason, the colours of white (Maiden Goddess and birth) and red (Mother Goddess) are used to decorate the Yule tree and domicile.
I also purchased our first live Yule tree this year. Unfortunately it will not fit my master plan. I started out on a 10 year plan of purchasing one young potted Yule tree per year for 10 years (to start with). In the spring, the tree will be planted with the ashes of the previous year's Yule log to fertilize it. After 10 years, the tree should be of appropriate height to be harvested and light our home to repeat the cycle. Well, I didn't notice that the Alberta Spruce I bought was a dwarf. This means that it grows exceptionally slow (about 2"/year) and will never be more than 6". That might be tall enough if I can get under it right to the ground to harvest, but we will see! 2"x10yrs is 20" on top of the already 20" in height. That would not be a very tall tree! Anyway, I'll just have to get a proper sized tree in the spring to fertilize with the ashes from our Yule log, and buy a harvested full grown Yule tree for the first year!
As to our festivities, on Monday the 21st, we woke before the Sun to open gifts. The kids each got an activity tray, 3 neopets, and a movie/game. Monkey got Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, and Kanga got Dora Saves the Snow Princess. Then Monkey also got a Bilibo Pixel. It's a cube with interchangeable button like sides in six colours. This way, Monkey can make up as many games as he likes and it's all in a neatly (40% off) packaged sack. It also came with a few suggestions to get him started. As always there was also a book to go with it all! :) Kanga's other gifts were a stuffed lavender scented puppy, and a Crayola colour wonder Dora pad. The colour wonders are the markers that only colour on the colour wonder paper and nothing else. Great for little ones who want to use markers, but also enjoy colouring themselves! Matt gave me some jammie pants and an iTunes card, and I gave him a palm wallet and an iTunes care. Korbin gave me an "I love my mom" photo frame, and Matt a TimsCard (for TimBits!). We also had a family gift of Harry Potter Year 6 (gah! can't remember the name right now!).
After opening gifts (stockings included some mommy made chocolates so Monkey could eat them too), Monkey and I went out on the porch (as the Sun was rising) and said thank you to the Goddess for giving us back the God to warm the Earth again for Spring, and then it was off to Donna's! We hung out for the day (quietly as Rod was sleeping) and then had a pot luck dinner. I brought sweet potatoes...mmm!
4. Christmas:
Christmas Eve we headed over to Wayne and Olwyn/Papa and Nanny/Matt's parents to begin our Christmas traditions. Kanga was in a mood unfortunately, so she and I stayed back while the rest went to the Christmas Eve service. When they got back, we hung out, and chatted. Other years we put up the tree, but this year it was already done!
Christmas morning, we woke up Monkey, and the kids and Matt opened their stockings. After they let me sleep in a bit (Kanga does NOT sleep well in other places the 1st night) I got up and opened my stocking. Then it was breakfast cake time before digging into the tree. :) This year I made soap for every one. I made lavender, milk and honey, calendula tea tree, and aloe oatmeal. I found neat little boxes to put them in and wrapped them in tissue paper so they could keep drying. Soap is best aged at least 5 years, and optimal at 10 years. Home made soap is no different, but will last a lot longer as it doesn't have any chemical alterations other than the necessary soaponification of the olive oil. It seemed to go over well!
Monkey got some comfy jammies, reindeer book, and battle ship from Dad and Susan. A StarWars telescope and books galore from Nanny and Papa. Clothes galore, a toque from Roar of the Rings, and a dinosaur cart action player thingy from Mom and Ross. He was spoiled again and he loves it! He also got gifts from a few of my friends. :)
Kanga got some comfy jammies, a horse cart, and a soft bowling set from Dad and Susan. A dancing Dora and books galore from Nanny and Papa. Clothes galore, a toque from Roar of the Rings, and an baby surprise Cabbage Patch Kid (a baby girl!) from Mom and Ross. She too was spoiled and is loving her gifts, and she too got some things from my friends. :)
5. New Years:
HOME ONLY! :D We decided again this year to stay home and just chill out for New Years. Kanga stayed up until about 9, which is quite late for her, and the boys played Wii. I played Wii Frisbee golf with them but had to miss a few holes to take Kanga to bed. Matt did quite well for me! ;)
After that we put in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone to begin our Harry Potter Marathon. We only got through the first two that night, so I watched four more yesterday.
Yesterday, the boys were playing Wii, or maybe Ratchet and Clank...I don't remember, but I told Monkey he needed to take a bathroom break, and halfway up the stairs he started crying! He's a tough kid, so I thought this was really weird and called Matt up. We had no idea, but when we couldn't settle him down stairs Matt decided to take him to the ER. Originally he was going to take him to University, but he decided to take him to Victoria just in case because they have the children's ER and facilities just in case. They left around 3:30pm, and while they were away, I got calls from mom and Wayne. I'm not one to announce anything before I know what's going on, plus I didn't want to worry anyone, so I didn't mention it.
On their way out the door, I told Matt to keep me up to date so I wouldn't worry to much. I didn't get any updates though! At 7:30pm when they finally got home, Matt told me that he'd forgotten his phone. It turned out that he likely had a tortioned testicle. A good thing we took him in. If it stays tortioned and undecended too long he'd need surgery to remove it. Luckily, on the way to the ultrasound, something in the way Matt was carrying him 'fixed' it. Monkey actually said to Matt "Dad! It's fixed!"
Like a good mommy, as soon as Kanga was in bed I headed outside to shovel the foot of snow off of our parking spot. Then I watched it, both waiting for the boys to get home, and making sure that my spot didn't get parked in! I hate it when I shovel my spot and others steal it! It happens too often, but not last night.
~*~*~*~
Well, I think that's it for now! Thank you so much everyone for all your generosity and hospitality. I had a great holiday, and hope you enjoy your soap! :)
That may seem rather strange to many of you, but really, it doesn't matter how much or how little we have, we still need more, don't have any, and can't figure out how to get the accounts to balance! I am frustrated because I have been getting very few calls to teach, and this really puts a stress on the family. Matt's not working as he's finishing his practical in Windsor and working hospital shifts. That makes it hard to see us let alone figure out where to slide in a shift at work! Therefore, I'm the sole income and I haven't had one!
Today that is changing. I worked today! First time in nearly a month, but I decided I need to think differently. As odd as that sounds, it seems to have worked. I was going to bed planning out the next day as we all do, but I kept saying to myself, "if I don't get a call then..." where as last night it was, "after work I need to..." and "I need to do ___ before I go to work". I got a call at 6:45 this morning! And what a great school it was! Grade 8 has become a niche for me, and while a lot of people think I'm nuts, I rather enjoy the 7/8s! I hung out in the staff room and snagged a half day for tomorrow too! Hopefully I can stop hating money and go back to ignoring it! :)
As most of you will know, September 8th was the first day of school. Some boards went back earlier, and Monkey's cousin was one of these unfortunate students. We got off to a grand start for grade one though and Monkey has a terrific teacher. They've made cupcakes to illustrate their birthday calendar (which he couldn't eat so she brought him cake in a mug the next day)! They've mixed yellow, red, and blue playdough to discover colours! And most importantly in my mind, she is supportive of our efforts to have a great year!
A vacation is grand isn't it! We went camping Friday to Sunday, and then up to Glen Miller (in Quinte West, just outside of Trenton) Monday to Friday.
Camping:
We went up to Conestogo Lake and had a wet and wonderful time. We checked in on Friday and had great weather. Our across the way neighbours announced ever so kindly that it's supposed to rain all weekend, and we refused to believe it until we saw it. Unfortunately we did.
Saturday morning, we went to the playground by the lake again, and planned to go to the beach after lunch. We went back to out camp site, and as lunch was cooking, the sky began to darken, and the wind began to pick up.
At about 1:30 the rain began. No swimming, but rain dancing an option! :) We crawled in the tent, and Kanga had a nice nap. 4:00 she woke up and the kids watched a movie (2? I don't remember) on the portable DVD player. Then Monkey and I played checkers, then he played with Matt. Then he wanted to play with me again, and as it was supper time, we had a decision to make. I voted to go into Listowel to get McDonalds as we could use some time out of the tent to stretch out legs. Not real camping I know, but necessary for 4 people in a tent all afternoon.
In we went and found a new movie. When we got back the DVD player wouldn't go, so we listened to Harry Potter for a bit until the kids fell asleep. We roasted some marshmallows in the rain first, and that was fun. Matt kept the coals hot all day just incase the rain stopped for a campfire.
It stopped raining sometime in the night, and we woke up dry although I can't say the same for the air mattresses and tent floor! We got everything packed up, and then I used a towel from the swimming bag to mop up the floor as best as I could. We were on the road by 8 to my surprise! Apparently Matt figured that when Kanga woke up at 6:30 we should all just get up and going! Makes sense, but early start! :)
Kanga didn't sleep too well, and thus didn't sleep on her air mattress (playpen didn't fit), she slept better the second night and was a daddy suck both nights. I slept great! I went to bed when I was tired, and didn't have the option of a TV to drone me to sleep (other wise known as keep me awake with the flickering screen), so I fell asleep soundly and only had Kanga to distract me. Love it!
Stop 2 Glen Miller!
I ♥ Glen Miller and I'll say it till the cows come home, or rather I get there and am happily living in my cottage like home, with my big back yard and the river to lul me to sleep. Okay, I have set my heart on a certain property, that will not be mentioned after this because my husband thinks I'm crazy for telling people (read 2) and getting my emotions involved.
If you've read or heard of "The Secret" however, you will understand that I believe in positive thinking bring you what you need and want. I went up there with the thought in mind to live in a certain area, and this property happened to be there. I will think positively that it will be mine! :)
Anyway, the vacation! I always love going up to visit Matt's brother as they have such a wonderful place. A nice home, a big back yard, and the canal right across the street. Forest in the back yard, conservation area within walking distance, and 2 great puppies! Not to mention they're great company! ;)
Monday we arrived a little before supper around 3 I think. We hung out, caught up and got everything set up for the week. We hit the beds early, and I slept wonderfully although Kanga was again not sure of her surroundings. Daddy suck once again. It was weird to have Monkey downstairs in the basement. This is the first time that he has had his own room to sleep in while we visited. Usually we break out the air mattress (always in the trunk for sleeping convenience) but this time he got to sleep in his cousin Jessica's bed, while the rest of us hunkered down in Zack's room (thanks!).
Tuesday we hit the beach. It was Amanda's only day off and we had a wonderful time. There was a great shallow area on the bay that they showed us, and Kanga was doggy paddling. Yes she was swimming on her own a little bit. She would crawl until she couldn't any more and then go a bit further before she sunk and I had to grab her up again. She thought it was the best! Not so great at back floats though and the panicked look on her face was only there the first time she sunk. Then it was a great game! What a kid!
Monkey went swimming with Matt and Zack, and Jason for a bit. Then he came in to play with Kanga, Amanda and I. Monkey had a riot playing with the big kids and once I convinced him to swim with his t-shirt on because we forgot his swimming shirt, he was good to go!
Wednesday, Matt, Monkey, Kanga, and I went to the airforce museum to check out the new planes that they were working on. They have done a lot of work in there! Monkey loved looking at the planes, and Kanga hung out in her Mei-Tai baby back pack style!
Thursday we hiked over to the "big rock" and Monkey got a huge kick out of it! Kanga back packed it again and fell asleep shortly after we got to the park. I don't think she saw the big rock! :) Oh well, we had a great hike and then headed back to chill out some more.
Friday we headed back home again. I miss it already. The closer we got to home, the more I wanted to turn back. Oh well, the count down is on!
Well, Kanga started walking. She walked for dad ages ago, for Matt soon after that, but wouldn't walk for anyone else! Well June 22nd off she went at S*S! Back and forth even it was histarical!
Weeks have gone by, but almost to the day she's decided maybe this walking thing is okay. Slow, but okay. :)
