sharing stories of life with 2 parents, 6 children, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 3 goats, countless chickens, turkeys, an apple orchard and a market garden
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thursday, July 08, 2010
The Graduate
As the rest of North Eastern North America was feeling vibrations from an earthquake, we watched Kira "graduate" from kindergarten.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Behind the wheel
The lad loves the camera (shhhh, don't tell him that the car he was handed down is PINK!)
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Monday, July 05, 2010
Our FIFA World Cake
Recently, Campbell finally had the soccer party he wanted. His birthday was in April, but because he wanted an outdoor party we postponed it until June in hopes of having a better chance of good weather. April was splendid, June was cold and wet, who knew? Even though it rained, they played on!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
New Connection!
Wireless High Speed has finally found its way to us. We did have to install a big tripod and extension just to get it.
It feels strange to be able to blog again, post photos again, chat again, etc. I'm not sure what to do first.
It feels strange to be able to blog again, post photos again, chat again, etc. I'm not sure what to do first.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tough Nut
In the midst of our flood damage and impending Christmas. Matt drove Damon to one of his hockey practices. I had given them a grocery list of things to pick up on the way home. Matt forgot the list on the front seat of his jeep, so he sent Damon out to get it. As he was closing the jeep door, he must have been leaning on the doorframe with his hand and got his thumb caught in the door. OUCH!
He went into the store to give Matt the list. By the time they got home, his thumb was purple. But he still had movement, so we thought that it must just be a bad bruise. We put a bandadge on, he took some Advil and went to bed. The next morning Damon woke up and his thumb had swelled so much that he could not move it anymore. He was in pain and so I gave him some Advil. The other 2 boys got on the bus and then we waited for the carpenters to arrive to install the subfloors in the lower level. Once they arrived, we left them here while we went to the emergency department.
When we arrived with the 3 little ones in tow, the triage nurse was quite rude. She asked me who the patient was, and she said that she didn't want me bringing the little ones into the triage room and that Damon would be fine by himself. Without giving me any time to respond that while he may look 16, he is only 11, she closed the door on me. An 11 year old may be able to tell her what happened to his thumb, but he is not able to tell her about drug allergies, medical history, etc.! As I waited, my discontent grew. When she sent Damon back out to wait with me, she seemed apologetic. Maybe it was her trying to make up for her mistake, but we were called in very soon after. Damon did indeed have a broken thumb. It was an open and complete fracture, so he was given antibiotics and his thumb was wrapped in a splint. The doctor said that he would need to keep that on for a few days, and that he probably wouldn't be able to play hockey for about 2 weeks. She said that after a few days it would be self limiting.
Damon had a game that night in a city 1 1/2 hours away. So I emailed his coaches to tell them the bad news. He went to the game to support his team. The next day he went to school. On the third day, he woke up, ran up the stairs with his thumb unwrapped, saying, "I can play hockey now." We thought he was being optimistic, and expected that once he had a hockey stick in his hand it would feel differently. Now if it was a broken leg or arm, my response would have been different, but being a thumb, I wasn't too worried about re-injury. I emailed the coaches, telling them that he would like to play if that is okay, but to be prepared for him to stop playing if it caused pain. They said that would be great if he wanted to try.
He did. He played the entire game, and he played well!
Damon is so tough, it is sometimes confusing for me when I try to help him when he is sick or injured, because I always have to wonder if things are worse then he lets on. For example when he was having difficulty waking up in the mornings, and he was complaining about fatigue at night. I threatened him that if he was going to give me such a hard time about waking up for school, I was going to take him to the doctor's office. He gave me a hard time, so I took him one afternoon. The doctor sent him for bloodwork which revealed that he has low iron levels. The doctor feels that it just because the tremendous growth he has had in the past year has used up his reserves and he advised me to make extra efforts to give him foods that are high in iron. He isn't a fan of spinach or liver, but Damon was very happy that his very favourite food, cereal, is fortified with iron. He is delighted that he can now eat as much as he wants. He has been feeling a little bit better since we've made those extra efforts.
I don't understand why his tough resiliency leaves me with a sense of pride and awe.
He went into the store to give Matt the list. By the time they got home, his thumb was purple. But he still had movement, so we thought that it must just be a bad bruise. We put a bandadge on, he took some Advil and went to bed. The next morning Damon woke up and his thumb had swelled so much that he could not move it anymore. He was in pain and so I gave him some Advil. The other 2 boys got on the bus and then we waited for the carpenters to arrive to install the subfloors in the lower level. Once they arrived, we left them here while we went to the emergency department.
When we arrived with the 3 little ones in tow, the triage nurse was quite rude. She asked me who the patient was, and she said that she didn't want me bringing the little ones into the triage room and that Damon would be fine by himself. Without giving me any time to respond that while he may look 16, he is only 11, she closed the door on me. An 11 year old may be able to tell her what happened to his thumb, but he is not able to tell her about drug allergies, medical history, etc.! As I waited, my discontent grew. When she sent Damon back out to wait with me, she seemed apologetic. Maybe it was her trying to make up for her mistake, but we were called in very soon after. Damon did indeed have a broken thumb. It was an open and complete fracture, so he was given antibiotics and his thumb was wrapped in a splint. The doctor said that he would need to keep that on for a few days, and that he probably wouldn't be able to play hockey for about 2 weeks. She said that after a few days it would be self limiting.
Damon had a game that night in a city 1 1/2 hours away. So I emailed his coaches to tell them the bad news. He went to the game to support his team. The next day he went to school. On the third day, he woke up, ran up the stairs with his thumb unwrapped, saying, "I can play hockey now." We thought he was being optimistic, and expected that once he had a hockey stick in his hand it would feel differently. Now if it was a broken leg or arm, my response would have been different, but being a thumb, I wasn't too worried about re-injury. I emailed the coaches, telling them that he would like to play if that is okay, but to be prepared for him to stop playing if it caused pain. They said that would be great if he wanted to try.
He did. He played the entire game, and he played well!
Damon is so tough, it is sometimes confusing for me when I try to help him when he is sick or injured, because I always have to wonder if things are worse then he lets on. For example when he was having difficulty waking up in the mornings, and he was complaining about fatigue at night. I threatened him that if he was going to give me such a hard time about waking up for school, I was going to take him to the doctor's office. He gave me a hard time, so I took him one afternoon. The doctor sent him for bloodwork which revealed that he has low iron levels. The doctor feels that it just because the tremendous growth he has had in the past year has used up his reserves and he advised me to make extra efforts to give him foods that are high in iron. He isn't a fan of spinach or liver, but Damon was very happy that his very favourite food, cereal, is fortified with iron. He is delighted that he can now eat as much as he wants. He has been feeling a little bit better since we've made those extra efforts.
I don't understand why his tough resiliency leaves me with a sense of pride and awe.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Our own nightmare before Christmas
Twas 20 days before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of hockey games danced in their heads.
I in my PJs and Matt with no cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.
When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter....
Okay, so it was 3 am, and I ran into the kitchen to discover water spraying out from under the kitchen sink, running all over the floor and rushing out into the hallway. I screamed for Matt to wake up and turn off the water, as I ran downstairs to grab a stack of old towels to soak up the water. When I got down there, I discovered that the water had already made it's way downstairs through the ceiling. Directly beneath the leaking pipe was our PC. I immediately grabbed the CPU and brought it up to our bedroom. It was already wet, but I was hoping that at least we could save our family photos from it. In my sleepy stupor, I still thought that if I just kept the water from sitting on the hardwood floors, then I could save them. We had just installed the hardwood a few months earlier. I hadn't thought about the implications of the 2 inches of water in our furnace room. That meant that the water was running right underneath the hardwood floors and pooling in the middle of the family room. I spent roughly 2 hours emptying out buckets and bowls and drying with every towel we had in the house. Matt checked our water softener and based on how many gallons of water had gone through, he estimated that the water had been spraying out of the burst pipe for about 20 minutes. Finally I came to realize that Matt may be right when he told me that this was beyond us and we would need to call the insurance company. I went to bed for a couple of hours.
I called the insurance company, and within a short time, the disaster relief guys arrived to start cleaning up our flood damage. Within a few hours, all of our floors were ripped out, the ceiling downstairs was taking out and huge industrial fans, and dehumidifiers were set up all over our house. We discovered that there was damage to our computer, our stove, one piece of artwork, and 2 pieces of furniture.
We had already planned to do our upstairs in hardwood, but it wasn't in the budget right now, so instead of letting the insurance company replace our carpet, we took a cash payout and said we would install the floor ourselves, and we will use the savings to pay for the upgrade to hardwood. So now on top of Christmas shopping for 6 kids, we had to shop for flooring, and install it.
I had already decorated the house, except for the Christmas tree. But with the floors in need of replacing, we had to hold off on a Christmas tree until they were finished. We are usually pretty good at making light of situations, but things were getting tense around here!
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of hockey games danced in their heads.
I in my PJs and Matt with no cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.
When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter....
Okay, so it was 3 am, and I ran into the kitchen to discover water spraying out from under the kitchen sink, running all over the floor and rushing out into the hallway. I screamed for Matt to wake up and turn off the water, as I ran downstairs to grab a stack of old towels to soak up the water. When I got down there, I discovered that the water had already made it's way downstairs through the ceiling. Directly beneath the leaking pipe was our PC. I immediately grabbed the CPU and brought it up to our bedroom. It was already wet, but I was hoping that at least we could save our family photos from it. In my sleepy stupor, I still thought that if I just kept the water from sitting on the hardwood floors, then I could save them. We had just installed the hardwood a few months earlier. I hadn't thought about the implications of the 2 inches of water in our furnace room. That meant that the water was running right underneath the hardwood floors and pooling in the middle of the family room. I spent roughly 2 hours emptying out buckets and bowls and drying with every towel we had in the house. Matt checked our water softener and based on how many gallons of water had gone through, he estimated that the water had been spraying out of the burst pipe for about 20 minutes. Finally I came to realize that Matt may be right when he told me that this was beyond us and we would need to call the insurance company. I went to bed for a couple of hours.
I called the insurance company, and within a short time, the disaster relief guys arrived to start cleaning up our flood damage. Within a few hours, all of our floors were ripped out, the ceiling downstairs was taking out and huge industrial fans, and dehumidifiers were set up all over our house. We discovered that there was damage to our computer, our stove, one piece of artwork, and 2 pieces of furniture.
We had already planned to do our upstairs in hardwood, but it wasn't in the budget right now, so instead of letting the insurance company replace our carpet, we took a cash payout and said we would install the floor ourselves, and we will use the savings to pay for the upgrade to hardwood. So now on top of Christmas shopping for 6 kids, we had to shop for flooring, and install it.
I had already decorated the house, except for the Christmas tree. But with the floors in need of replacing, we had to hold off on a Christmas tree until they were finished. We are usually pretty good at making light of situations, but things were getting tense around here!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Belated
I've been neglectful of my blog and my friends. Mostly I blame my dial-up connection which disconnects every 5 minutes or so. But life has also taken over.
Without further ado, my pregnancy went overdue, despite all of my attempts with Evening Primrose Oil, Raspberry Leaf Tea,Chiropractic treatments and sitting on the exercise ball for HOURS.
After a biophysical profile on the morning of January 24th, I had sort of resigned myself to the fact that I would need to be induced in the hospital on Monday, January 26th. The tech had estimated baby's weight to be 8 lbs 15 oz and he scored well, so they sent me home. On Saturday afternoon, I took Campbell to his hockey practice and when I was going up and down the stairs to get to the dressing room, I found that I felt a lot of pressure in my pelvis every time the baby moved, but this wasn't new. I let the other parents know that I was feeling uncomfortable and that Damon would be coming in to help Campbell get his skates off and carry his bag to the van.
Hanna was sick and sleeping in our bed, and her tossing and crying woke me
up at about 3 am. I got up to go pee and felt a mild contraction. I lay back
down in the bed and noticed that about 10 minutes later, I had another. They
were getting more intense, so I eventually sat on my labour ball to see if
they were going to amount to anything. They were sporadic at first, 10 min.
then 7, then 13, then 15. Finally at 4 am, I had 3 in a row that were 5 min.
apart. I called the midwife at 4:20 and she said she would come soon. I was
very apologetic and said that I really hoped that I wasn't waking her up for
a false alarm. I could still talk through them. During the time I was
waiting for her, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and getting much
more intense. I could already feel a lot of pressure.
She arrived at about 4:45. She checked me and said that I was 4-5 cm. She
called the second midwife to come because she didn't think it would be long.
I got into the shower and I felt okay in there, but after a while I felt
like I needed to get out and find a different position. As the second
midwife arrived, I lay on my bed and asked the midwife if she could just
break my water to relieve the pressure. She said that she would like to wait
15 more minutes in hopes that I would be on the other side of 5 cm (I didn't
do the GBS test, so they didn't want my water broken for a long time). The
next contraction I had, my water broke. She checked me and I was fully
dilated. The pressure didn't really let up, but at least with each
contraction I felt like I could squeeze a bit and feel the baby moving down
and this made things more bearable. I stayed on my side, but then I got the
urge to push and was in a panic because I couldn't find a comfortable
position. Finally I got on my knees and held my headboard and after a couple
of pushes the baby's head was out. He began crying before I even pushed his
shoulders out.
After 1 hour and 40 minutes of labour, Griffin Matthew Samuel was born at home on Sunday, January 25th. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz.
Matt woke the kids up and they all came in to meet him while the second midwife was packing up. The kids are all smitten with him. Especially Patrick and Damon, they would hold him all day if they could.
It took us all day to decide on his name, but finally I didn't want to think
about it any more, so I just wrote down Griffin. lol I hope I don't have
regrets.
Having a home birth was great. I can't say that it was necessarily a wonderful labour because it was a bit too quick, but because of that it just made so much more sense to stay home. I can't imagine how I would have managed to get ready to go to the hospital (leaving sick children behind), gotten there and stood around waiting to be taken care of when I was feeling such intense pain. I even wonder if I might not have made it there in time anyway. And for me, nothing beats climbing into your own bed with your kids all around you after you've given birth. People have been bringing me food (that I conveniently stocked the fridge full of) and boxes of chocolates! That sure beats hospital food.
So far he is a very easy baby, a good sleeper, a great nurser and he lies
awake for long periods watching us all look at him. We feel very blessed.
Without further ado, my pregnancy went overdue, despite all of my attempts with Evening Primrose Oil, Raspberry Leaf Tea,Chiropractic treatments and sitting on the exercise ball for HOURS.
After a biophysical profile on the morning of January 24th, I had sort of resigned myself to the fact that I would need to be induced in the hospital on Monday, January 26th. The tech had estimated baby's weight to be 8 lbs 15 oz and he scored well, so they sent me home. On Saturday afternoon, I took Campbell to his hockey practice and when I was going up and down the stairs to get to the dressing room, I found that I felt a lot of pressure in my pelvis every time the baby moved, but this wasn't new. I let the other parents know that I was feeling uncomfortable and that Damon would be coming in to help Campbell get his skates off and carry his bag to the van.
Hanna was sick and sleeping in our bed, and her tossing and crying woke me
up at about 3 am. I got up to go pee and felt a mild contraction. I lay back
down in the bed and noticed that about 10 minutes later, I had another. They
were getting more intense, so I eventually sat on my labour ball to see if
they were going to amount to anything. They were sporadic at first, 10 min.
then 7, then 13, then 15. Finally at 4 am, I had 3 in a row that were 5 min.
apart. I called the midwife at 4:20 and she said she would come soon. I was
very apologetic and said that I really hoped that I wasn't waking her up for
a false alarm. I could still talk through them. During the time I was
waiting for her, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and getting much
more intense. I could already feel a lot of pressure.
She arrived at about 4:45. She checked me and said that I was 4-5 cm. She
called the second midwife to come because she didn't think it would be long.
I got into the shower and I felt okay in there, but after a while I felt
like I needed to get out and find a different position. As the second
midwife arrived, I lay on my bed and asked the midwife if she could just
break my water to relieve the pressure. She said that she would like to wait
15 more minutes in hopes that I would be on the other side of 5 cm (I didn't
do the GBS test, so they didn't want my water broken for a long time). The
next contraction I had, my water broke. She checked me and I was fully
dilated. The pressure didn't really let up, but at least with each
contraction I felt like I could squeeze a bit and feel the baby moving down
and this made things more bearable. I stayed on my side, but then I got the
urge to push and was in a panic because I couldn't find a comfortable
position. Finally I got on my knees and held my headboard and after a couple
of pushes the baby's head was out. He began crying before I even pushed his
shoulders out.
After 1 hour and 40 minutes of labour, Griffin Matthew Samuel was born at home on Sunday, January 25th. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz.
Matt woke the kids up and they all came in to meet him while the second midwife was packing up. The kids are all smitten with him. Especially Patrick and Damon, they would hold him all day if they could.
It took us all day to decide on his name, but finally I didn't want to think
about it any more, so I just wrote down Griffin. lol I hope I don't have
regrets.
Having a home birth was great. I can't say that it was necessarily a wonderful labour because it was a bit too quick, but because of that it just made so much more sense to stay home. I can't imagine how I would have managed to get ready to go to the hospital (leaving sick children behind), gotten there and stood around waiting to be taken care of when I was feeling such intense pain. I even wonder if I might not have made it there in time anyway. And for me, nothing beats climbing into your own bed with your kids all around you after you've given birth. People have been bringing me food (that I conveniently stocked the fridge full of) and boxes of chocolates! That sure beats hospital food.
So far he is a very easy baby, a good sleeper, a great nurser and he lies
awake for long periods watching us all look at him. We feel very blessed.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Our little dancing queen
Kira is in her second year of ballet, and her first year of tap class. At her recent open house, I noticed how careful she was about her technique. Some of the girls in the class knew the dances by heart and would announce the next step before they had even gotten to that point. Kira very quietly follows the class, paying special attention to using her "yes yes" toes, following through with the WHOLE movement and in tap she is very careful about whether it was toe-heel, or heel-toe.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Very scary!
We had about a dozen decent sized pumpkins that we had kept for fall and halloween decoration, but we were all sick and tired, so in the end, only the 3 youngest carved a pumpkin each and the older 2 boys fell asleep instead. We even had a giant pumpkin that I had planned to carve "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" into. So we didn't bother, and I guess it doesn't matter anyway, nobody can see our house from the road and last year we didn't get ANY trick-or-treaters.
The 4 younger kids went out trick or treating in town this year. Patrick, being too old to be seen with his family, and too shy to go out with the group of boys and girls from school, stayed home and gave out candy. We had a whopping ONE clown at our door.
Hanna was the cutest butterfly ever. I need to get her to wear her costume again with the hood on, she got a lot of attention and was absolutely adorable. Kira was an "EVIL" witch complete with black nails, lipstick and a big ugly black wart on her face. I wish that Matt had taken a better photo of her make up job. Campbell wore the good old twice-handed-down zombie costume and got a lot of feedback on how good his costume was. Damon was Zorro, the masked avenger. All we got was a quick photo as they came out of the house to get into the van.
I wore my halloween shirt (it has a witch design on the front), black stretchy maternity pants and my black fur coat. Matt said that my orange belly sticking out the front of the black outfit looked freakishly huge. So we had to document it.
SCARY!!!!
Next year I want to have a Halloween party for Damon and Patrick's friends. Seriously, we have a graveyard. Manhunt in the halloween decorated graveyard! How cool would that be!
The 4 younger kids went out trick or treating in town this year. Patrick, being too old to be seen with his family, and too shy to go out with the group of boys and girls from school, stayed home and gave out candy. We had a whopping ONE clown at our door.
Hanna was the cutest butterfly ever. I need to get her to wear her costume again with the hood on, she got a lot of attention and was absolutely adorable. Kira was an "EVIL" witch complete with black nails, lipstick and a big ugly black wart on her face. I wish that Matt had taken a better photo of her make up job. Campbell wore the good old twice-handed-down zombie costume and got a lot of feedback on how good his costume was. Damon was Zorro, the masked avenger. All we got was a quick photo as they came out of the house to get into the van.
I wore my halloween shirt (it has a witch design on the front), black stretchy maternity pants and my black fur coat. Matt said that my orange belly sticking out the front of the black outfit looked freakishly huge. So we had to document it.
SCARY!!!!
Next year I want to have a Halloween party for Damon and Patrick's friends. Seriously, we have a graveyard. Manhunt in the halloween decorated graveyard! How cool would that be!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thursday, on the way to take Damon to the family doctor.
Kira: Mommy, I think that I want to be a family doctor when I grow up.
Me: That's great Kira, I'm sure you would be a great family doctor, and we sure do need more of them.
Kira: Then nobody in my family would need to worry, I could take care of everybody.
The following Tuesday, after picking up a post-hockey game snack for Patrick at McDonald's drive-thru.
Kira: Mommy, maybe I DON'T want to be a family doctor. Do you know what I want to be instead?
Me: No, what do you want to be then?
Kira: I think I'll work at McDonald's in the drive thru! It's fun.
Me: Hmm Kira, that would be fun!
Kira: Mommy, I think that I want to be a family doctor when I grow up.
Me: That's great Kira, I'm sure you would be a great family doctor, and we sure do need more of them.
Kira: Then nobody in my family would need to worry, I could take care of everybody.
The following Tuesday, after picking up a post-hockey game snack for Patrick at McDonald's drive-thru.
Kira: Mommy, maybe I DON'T want to be a family doctor. Do you know what I want to be instead?
Me: No, what do you want to be then?
Kira: I think I'll work at McDonald's in the drive thru! It's fun.
Me: Hmm Kira, that would be fun!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Pregnancy update.
I got my amnio results back last week and I'm thrilled that our baby boy has a perfect set of chromosomes.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Eggs-ellent news!
After months of waiting, we have eggs! 2 eggs in our first day! Both of them were laid by pretty little Buff Catalana hens like the one in front in this photo. Now I'm eager to start seeing some blue and brown eggs too.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Ultrasound...It's a....
Look at those cute little feet.
Here's a profile, I think this baby might look a bit like Campbell and Hanna.
Here's a face.
After trying unsuccessfully for 6 hours to upload a video in which the kids unwrap baby items that reveal the baby's gender to them, I'll let the girls...
...show you how delighted they were...
...to discover...
...that little baby....
boys are fun to play with too!
At first Kira shed a few tears of disappointment, but once she saw the baby items on the doll, she couldn't resist the cuteness. Hanna is just delighted with all babies. She has spent many hours dressing and undressing this doll in the new boy things and snuggling with it.
And while I don't think they really care one way or another, the boys are very happy with the news. And now the tough part is agreeing on a boy name!
Here's a profile, I think this baby might look a bit like Campbell and Hanna.
Here's a face.
After trying unsuccessfully for 6 hours to upload a video in which the kids unwrap baby items that reveal the baby's gender to them, I'll let the girls...
...show you how delighted they were...
...to discover...
...that little baby....
boys are fun to play with too!
At first Kira shed a few tears of disappointment, but once she saw the baby items on the doll, she couldn't resist the cuteness. Hanna is just delighted with all babies. She has spent many hours dressing and undressing this doll in the new boy things and snuggling with it.
And while I don't think they really care one way or another, the boys are very happy with the news. And now the tough part is agreeing on a boy name!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Cottage trip 2008 pt. 1
A nice afternoon spent at Driftwood Beach
Then back to the cottage for a game of beach bocce
Blueberry picking at the "fumekill"(yes, Hanna picks hand-to-mouth), we picked 18 quarts during our trip! If it weren't for all of the complaining I heard from my helpers, I would have picked 18 more quarts. I love freezing blueberries!
Relaxing afterwards at Government Beach (aka Pebble Beach)
Then back to the cottage for a game of beach bocce
Blueberry picking at the "fumekill"(yes, Hanna picks hand-to-mouth), we picked 18 quarts during our trip! If it weren't for all of the complaining I heard from my helpers, I would have picked 18 more quarts. I love freezing blueberries!
Relaxing afterwards at Government Beach (aka Pebble Beach)
Saturday, August 23, 2008
For Kent
As promised, here's the recipe. Please pass it along to your mom, I think I messsed up some of the amounts when I tried to give it to her from memory. I double or quadruple the recipe, so I had things mixed up in my head.
Grilled German Potato Salad
Grilled German Potato Salad
- 5 unpared medium potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 8 slices bacon, crisply fried and crumbled
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 3 green onions (with tops), finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
In case you haven't already heard...
Baby #6 is due in mid-January. We are 12 weeks pregnant, and realized that we still hadn't told anybody. Time flies when you have a house full of kids, dogs and chickens!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Puppyhood
She's here. Last Thursday, I picked up the new puppy. Her registered name is Nuthatch's Abracadabra, but for now her call name is "Bella". Because of her Australian family tree, I was pushing for Bindi (plus I knew that name would go over well with her big cousin Boston), and to go along with her registered name, I thought Bunny would be cute. But I got no support from anybody on either name. No matter what her name, she is terribly cute!
Maybe I have forgotten how much work puppies can be. I don't have a great memory, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Puck just wasn't as much work as the average puppy. I don't remember dragging him out from behind the TV, or having him try to chew me so much. I'm pretty sure that Bella thinks that her new call name is "BellaNO". She seems to be very smart and very determined, she's already full of character.
I will admit that I am a little bit disappointed in Puck's reaction to the new puppy. Don't get me wrong, he is a perfect gentleman with her. But I had this romantic vision that he would take her under his wing, playing with her when she is playful and then falling asleep with her on his big bed. Or at least maybe he would be busy enough with her that he could end his obsession with the birds at the feeder. Instead he politely greets her, then runs off to stare at the birds through the window. (In the meantime, she bats at his head, and nips at his feet) At night, I tried putting her crate at the foot of my bed, next to his bed. But instead of each of them being comforted by each other's presence, Bella can cry for upwards of 2 hours, causing Puck to REFUSE to sleep in his bed, he'll pace the house until I order him to lie down and sleep, then he'll sleep on the cold hard floor before he'll go near that yelping cage. Finally we moved her out to the hallway so that we could all sleep a bit better. Subsequent nights were much better, but my visions of a pile of German Shorthaired Pointers at the foot of my bed doesn't is still a long way off. Here they are in the chicken yard before the chickens were there. Puck is chasing robins and barn swallows oblivious to Bella who is right behind him.
I know that I'm in serious need of some updates about the state of our garden, our chickens and our children. I promise to tend to that soon.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Nice and Broody on Mother's day
I had a lovely Mother's Day this year. My mother slept over last night and when we got up and Matt and the kids made us a breakfast of farm fresh eggs from a friend's flock, bacon, toast and homemade hashbrowns. Then we all got ready for church.
Today was Campbell's First Communion! It was a very special day at the church. Campbell took the sacrament very seriously, but was so nervous he lost his voice during the service. Afterwards we went to a really good italian restaurant to celebrate.
Then we came home and Matt, Kira, Bob and I went to pick up our new chicks! We brought home 12 Buff Catalana pullets, 5 Buff Chantecler pullets, 4 Barnevelder pullets, 5 Ameraucana mixed gender, 6 Buff-Laced Polish mixed gender and 1 Buff Brahma cockerel.
Patrick is very excited about having the Polish, as he says that they will grow to look just like him. Damon has been sitting with the chicks for hours making sure they are doing okay. Campbell is very wisely waiting for the chickens to grow up before he decides which one is his favourite. He was also thrilled that now we could really call ourselves "Hobbit Farmers", when asked what that meant, he said, "Oh yeah, Hobby Farmers." Kira and Hanna love to watch them and occasionally pet a chick that Damon or I hold for them. The Buff Brahma cockerel was very quickly named "Rodney" by the boys, but Kira told my mom that he was called "Rotten-y" because he was a rotten boy. Here he poses for the camera in front of his "peeps". 
I had the lovely chore of wiping sweet little Rodney's hind end with a dampened paper towel so that he doesn't "paste up". I never would have guessed that I would spend my Mother's Day willingly wiping a chicken's bum. But with all of the human bums I have wiped over the years, I was just the mom for the job. So far Rodney is very easy to handle, docile and gentle. With all of this special attention his toilet habits seem to be getting him, we hope that he will develop into a very friendly and docile rooster, not a "rotten-y" one.
Patrick is very excited about the Polish chickens. He wants to name them after himself (a hen named "Patrick Junior") . They are already amazingly calm and friendly with us. Here is one in Patrick's hands.
Damon has chosen one of the Buff Catalanas as his favourite. He calls her "Sissy" and holds her a lot. She seems to enjoy it.
The kids had a hard time falling asleep tonight. They couldn't stop talking about the chicks. Damon wanted to know if he could bring "his" chick to school, and if not school, could he show it at the fall fair. Then I kept getting questions about how many days until the fall fair. Campbell commented that it must be hard for the chicks to walk on their "backwards knees", but that they probably get used to it.
Today was Campbell's First Communion! It was a very special day at the church. Campbell took the sacrament very seriously, but was so nervous he lost his voice during the service. Afterwards we went to a really good italian restaurant to celebrate.
Then we came home and Matt, Kira, Bob and I went to pick up our new chicks! We brought home 12 Buff Catalana pullets, 5 Buff Chantecler pullets, 4 Barnevelder pullets, 5 Ameraucana mixed gender, 6 Buff-Laced Polish mixed gender and 1 Buff Brahma cockerel.
Patrick is very excited about having the Polish, as he says that they will grow to look just like him. Damon has been sitting with the chicks for hours making sure they are doing okay. Campbell is very wisely waiting for the chickens to grow up before he decides which one is his favourite. He was also thrilled that now we could really call ourselves "Hobbit Farmers", when asked what that meant, he said, "Oh yeah, Hobby Farmers." Kira and Hanna love to watch them and occasionally pet a chick that Damon or I hold for them. The Buff Brahma cockerel was very quickly named "Rodney" by the boys, but Kira told my mom that he was called "Rotten-y" because he was a rotten boy. Here he poses for the camera in front of his "peeps". 
I had the lovely chore of wiping sweet little Rodney's hind end with a dampened paper towel so that he doesn't "paste up". I never would have guessed that I would spend my Mother's Day willingly wiping a chicken's bum. But with all of the human bums I have wiped over the years, I was just the mom for the job. So far Rodney is very easy to handle, docile and gentle. With all of this special attention his toilet habits seem to be getting him, we hope that he will develop into a very friendly and docile rooster, not a "rotten-y" one.
Patrick is very excited about the Polish chickens. He wants to name them after himself (a hen named "Patrick Junior") . They are already amazingly calm and friendly with us. Here is one in Patrick's hands.
Damon has chosen one of the Buff Catalanas as his favourite. He calls her "Sissy" and holds her a lot. She seems to enjoy it.
The kids had a hard time falling asleep tonight. They couldn't stop talking about the chicks. Damon wanted to know if he could bring "his" chick to school, and if not school, could he show it at the fall fair. Then I kept getting questions about how many days until the fall fair. Campbell commented that it must be hard for the chicks to walk on their "backwards knees", but that they probably get used to it.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Blessed with new life!
I'm absolutely giddy with excitement. I couldn't hold back anymore, so I finally did it. I ordered chicks from my neighbour. WOOHOO! They should be ready by June 1st. I ordered 4 different breeds, 7 females of each. I ordered Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks because they are part of the pastoral scene I have in my head. I also ordered Ameraucanas because they lay green/blue eggs and Chantecler because they are Canadian and so am I. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to narrow it down to 4 breeds! I wasn't sure that I didn't want Buff Orpingtons, or maybe some Silver-laced Wyandottes. Or a handsome Brahma. I was doubting myself as I emailed my order and even told the hatchery that I'm a newbie, so feel free to change my order if they want! I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever they send me, and if not, I'll order different ones next spring.
"Hey, it smells like a grow-op in here!" Every southern facing window in our house has a shelving unit in it filled up with seedlings. We have hundreds of tomato plants 4 varieties), peppers (7 varieties), eggplant, squash (3 varieties), cucumber, watermelon, pumpkins, and several flowers. I've planted a perennial garden with perennial onions, garlic, rhubarb and some gladiolas. I will be adding some herbs to it once it gets warmer out. We have lots of seeds, potatoes, and strawberry plants to plant, but we are waiting for our garden to be dry enough to be ploughed. For now, as one of the kids once said, all of the seagulls in our field must mean that we are seagull farmers. In other news, our family is growing in another way,...
...drumroll please...
...we are...
getting a PUPPY!!!!!! Hee hee. She will be coming home in mid-June! We had hoped to adopt an adult German Shorthaired Pointer, but because we have young children, there are not as many available that are suitable for a family like ours. So instead the kids have been collecting money to donate to the local shelter and we are doing a foster program where we get a puppy from the breeder that Puck came from. Let's take a moment to remember how adorable Puck was when we first brought him home.
The breeder will borrow her for a few weeks every year to show her to her championship and breed her once or twice. During this time, we are welcome to come to her shows and even handle her if we are interested. Once that is finished ownership will be signed over to us. I would love to show my dogs, but with 5 kids, that's not going to happen for a few years, so in the meantime, this can be my introduction. On her website, the breeder writes "It's an interesting way to become involved in dog shows and gives the family a chance to own a show dog and experience puppies without all the work involved. And it means that the dog gets all the benefits of being an only dog rather than one of many here."
Monday, April 28, 2008
Campbell turned 8. My sweet baby boy is not a baby boy anymore. He's a big, smart, hockey-playing boy! He's got a great sense of humour, but he also like order in his life.
He chose Boston Pizza for his birthday dinner after Kira's ballet and Patrick's track practice.
When asked what he wanted for his birthday, this quirky little man said, "Money, and food. Maybe a gift certificate for a grocery store so I can buy food." Despite what his slender build and constant requests for food might indicate, we do feed him, honestly! So food he got. He got money, candy, dried fruit, and boxes of cake mix and icing. He was thrilled! For his kid party next weekend, he's going to ask for food again, but this time he wants cans of Campbell's soup to donate to the food bank.
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