Work around the house.

Matthew does his work quickly so he can fight Daniel over who can play with my broom--though neither of them are supposed to have it.


Melanie takes a long time to do her work, and often misses half of everything. Like her shirt says, she likes to play...at least she can multitask--giving her sheep a ride and vacuuming at the same time.


Whoever is done first gets to practice piano first. And that's almost always Nathan! (He stays on task.)


Someone doesn't take chore time seriously.

It sure is nice when the kids do their morning routines...it's starting to actually be a help to me. (Especially bending down and picking up toys for me. :) )


(Melanie offered to wash dishes. She only broke one glass. Out of 4.)

Life downstairs

There are a million things to play with downstairs, which is especially nice for the rainy days we've been having lately.

We spent a whole hour this morning cleaning it up--mostly sorting the toys and putting them back in their places. Ever think you have too many toys?





The kids are actually getting better at working...and their list of chores seems to get longer every week. (Soon they'll catch on and stop working so that they don't get such long lists. ;) )

Snow!

All(most all) the kids love it when it snows, and are very excited to go out and shovel the driveway for me. They're not as excited about the sidewalk, since it's so uneven, and save it for last, or for me.




(Daniel is less than excited to be "helping".)

Killarney July 21

We didn't move camp this day, but paddled across the lake and hiked 1.5 km up a hiking trail to "The Crack" to see the view.

It was a touch more than warm exerting ourselves on a hot summer day, but as the walk was not too long, and the nagging mother insisted we pack a days worth of water up to the "peak", none of us suffered worse then heavy perspiration and fatigue.

It was a lovely view from the top.

Looking east to Killarney lake, and O.S.A. lake beyond it, we could get a bit of an impression of our next day's journey in the distance. The day after we would be trekking to the farthest of that blue, and then one small lake beyond it yet. From here it looks rather daunting!

The kids were far more thrilled with the wild blueberries that we found than the glorious view. At least it kept them from running and jumping in dangerous places. The blueberry patch worked remarkably well as a grazing ground from our hungry "cattle". It also made them forget about their blisters. ;)

Rainy Day

Maybe I'll believe those people who say the weather changes moods.

This morning was lousy. A fuzzy blur, a grumbly unsuccessful venture.

My entire morning accomplishments were:
one bad mood
one vacuumed house (300+ ants included)
ten toys stepped on
four cranky kids (due to neglect and their mother's aforementioned bad mood)
one car seat/booster seat switcheroo
one unleavened loaf of bread tossed out into the compost.

The unleavened bread was just a bit much for me this morning. It smelled so good (drool). But then seeing the small lump of dough in the bread pan after such a poor morning, and to top it all off, so long after passover, all this failed to excite any enthusiasm in me. Quite the opposite. AND I had spent two minutes this morning hovering over the bread maker checking and double checking to make sure that all the necessary ingredients were there. I suspected something was missing. It was my brains. (The lack of yeast may have had a little to do with it too.)

Stages of dependency

Growing up has a lot to do with becoming independent.
(For most of us, anyways.)

Six months already, and Daniel is on his own, watching the world, interpreting it for himself, and exploring it at his leisure.

But then when hard times come, he does a complete turn around, and nothing less than 100% Mommy time will do.

And what about Matthew?

He still enjoys moments of helping Mommy in the kitchen (ie. getting underfoot) and still needs long cuddle times. Most of all he needs Mommy (or Daddy, who's even better) to give a listening ear to his stories, which take so long to be translated in his little head from thoughts to words.

But he needs his freedom to stretch out his wings, so he can flap madly behind his older siblings in a desperate attempt to keep up.

Nathan has found so many things he can do himself that he is just a step or two short of manhood. (That is; full independence from his mother.) He's far too busy to tag along hanging on apron strings.

As for telling Mommy stories and asking many questions, even Daddy does that, so that gets done a lot.
Sickness or tiredness, however, will still bring out a need for some Mommy time. (But Daddy probably does the same too, he just doesn't tell anyone.)

And Melanie has the least need for a mother. She's far too busy mothering three brothers (and countless other imaginary dependents) to have time for needing a mother.

Except when she's hungry, tired, bored, lonely, sad, angry, etc.

Isn't it great to feel useful?

Stories

Mommy I know somebody.

Somebody's kid went in their lunch bag. Then they went to work. And when they were at work they opened their lunch bag and said "Oh kid, there you are!"

I wonder who that was?

Back to work again

Seems like life has been a holiday for months now...it's been trip planning, trip happening, trip cleaning, trip planning, trip happening and trip cleaning...
What's does routine mean again??

The kids have been thrilled to be home. There's toys here!! They've got downstairs toys, outside toys, bedroom toys, plus books and puzzles...no shortage of things to do! Plus there's lots of construction going on--the bottom half of our driveway got paved this morning, sidewalk was put in yesterday...

Life is a party!!




Life hasn't been a complete party for me though. Unfortunately the kids lost their manners on the trip, and since I haven't found them back...we've been having to start over again. If they'd been farther along I might have looked harder for the old ones. :p

Lots of "No, no, no" talk from the kids too. Nathan and Melanie have decided to copy Matthew's attitude...but it doesn't sound as cute coming from them 'cause they're too old for that. All three get in trouble for it though, cute or not.

As for me:
I was pretty thrilled to clean the car seats today...

I started the day with a big plan to clean the van inside and out. (Where is all the energy coming from??? I'm almost scared at my own ambition!) I ended up vacuuming it, and emptying it out. Then...after looking at the car seats I remembered a few moments where Gravol would have been a great preventative medication...
and that lead to the great car seat cleaning episode.

Four car seats and bases got cleaned from head to toe. Other than my infant one (the fourth one) none of them had had such a treat before.
They are finally back together again.
Sparkling clean.

But the van is still is a disaster.
(Minus the vacuuming)

Something is not right!

In the middle of the night
Miss Clavel turned on the light
and said, "Something is not right!"

As usual, life with kids has ups and downs.

Life has ups and downs without kids too...but there's no way for me to know that for certain. Things in my domain cycle from
Fantastic!
to
"Something is not right!"
usually for me life requires the "turning on of the light" for me to notice just how bad things are. Today the light is on.
I saw it flicker yesterday:
Melanie was sitting sedately in her booster seat sometime in the afternoon.

Maybe she'd been coloring? I don't know.
But suddenly she bangs her hand up and down on the table and YELLS
"You be quiet and listen to me NOW!"


(Now who's horrible lack of manners, respect and love could she possibly be imitating SO precisely, we wonder?)


That was just a glimmer. Today she was much worse.

Potty training, which I thought was complete (she has the odd accident every week or so, but otherwise perfect), was a COMPLETE disaster today. COMPLETE. Probably nothing went where it should have today.
By the time I tucked her in bed for the night, I felt my voice was strained.
From YELLING. Yes, yelling.
And my body drained.
From ANGER.
That is terrible.

It has come to that.
For a while now.
Once again.

So what's the next step?
I guess it will be to once again go back on my knees
and admit I just can't do it.
I need help.
Tonnes of it.

Time to, once again, realize that these are God's children, not mine.

Time to respect them (again).

Time to love them (again).

Time to stop loving myself quite quite so much (AGAIN!!).

I need to spend some time, once again, trying to figure out what each of them needs. Spend GOOD time with them, not just guilt laden pretend good time.
If I start this way, hopefully, they'll start listening better...
because I'll be listening better!

Then maybe I won't feel like yelling anymore.

Part of the reason things have deteriorated this much just now, I suspect, is because of the forthcoming trip. It's hard to focus on here when I'm thinking of there.

If the older two really get so bad, what does it matter? I can fix it when I get back, right?
Or Daddy can fix it while I'm gone!
(evil cackles)

Yup, I have been full of horrible attitudes lately. But now I'm truly sorry for it.

First I must be mended,
then I'll have a hope with the kids.

Mature Masculine-less Mentor Mandatory

Yesterday evening I went to a lovely meeting that was for combined Bible studies. We had a speaker who spoke on "The how and why of Bible Study groups."

Now, my husband and I managed to hook up a babysitter last minute, so we got to go out together (WAHOO!!) and had an excellent time. The main text we read was Titus 2.
My focus of this is vs 3-5, since they are the most relevant to ME.

3-5 "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

Anyways, the gist of it was that at Bible Studies (and throughout brother and sister in the Lord relationships) the older/wiser women should be teaching the younger/less-wise women. He said that the older/wiser should consider what is lacking in the younger/less-wise, and then try to fill that void. He said the older/wiser should be searching for places they can help out and give advice. The job of the younger, however is to be open to advice. Also, to make their needs known, and HEEDING the advice and help given.

I put myself in the young and less-wise category. As far as I know, I am the youngest attendee of our Bible study. And perhaps, I may also be the least wise. ;) I guess it's time I start asking around the "older ladies" for some life lessons on patience in dealing with children, hair pulling prevention strategies, and anger management. (That should be good for a start. ;) )

And here is my request for you to do: find someone younger/less-wise than you that you could chum around with, and help them out for me.
Thanks. :)