Snow Day

More bad weather, another day off school. They've had quite a few this winter already, 11 I think! Murray was not deterred by the messy conditions. He got to work clearing snow so he could get into the garage and get out his transportation... his skis! Apparently everyone else drove to the office that day, weird huh?

 

While he was working, we set out to clear as much of the snow as we could and managed about half the driveway. It was a nice surprise for Murray when he got home. It was a bit rough getting them started. There's one shovel that is the least favourite, everyone has a different idea of how best to clear the snow, everyone else's area looks easier than the one they've got and so on and so on. Finally I threatened to tack on 5 minutes of shoveling every time they bickered. That solved that! The first round before lunch wasn't very productive but after lunch they had the option of a good half hour of shoveling, or an  hour if they couldn't get themselves sorted out. They decided the half hour was preferable and set themselves up in little sections and worked out a rotation system and switched every 6 minutes so everyone got equal time with the "bad" shovel. After the half hour was up they were so impressed with how much they'd gotten done, they wanted to keep going until we'd gotten both vehicles cleared. 

When they're motivated, there's no stopping them!

Family Torture

After days trapped inside with paint fumes, I thought I deserved some fresh air and exercise! Silly me! I asked if we could go skiing and Murray agreed it was a good idea. Unfortunately we were in the minority. The entire time we were gone at least one person was asking "how much longer do we haaaaaaaaaave to ski?" or "can we turn back yet?". The constant whining somewhat diminished the enjoyment of the activity so we gave up after awhile. A for effort though right???

Ski Buddy/Bunny

I managed to talk Sweetie into skiing with me! Everyone else was at hockey so we hit the trails before her gymnastics class and the conditions were excellent! It was some of the best skiing I'd had all winter. You could glide and glide and it was fast going! We had to turn back to get her to her class but after watching her for awhile, I went back out for another 45 minutes and got another good run in!

Overscheduled Saturday!

Another busy weekend! Saturday started off early! Honey and Lovey had an out of town game so we were up and on the road with hardly any sleep in! They'd all gone for a sleepover at Aunt Cathy's the night before so I'm sure they got to bed at a decent hour to make sure they'd be rested up for their game! 

While they were there, Murray and I went night skiing but the trails were quite icy in places which made the hills a bit of a challenge. We had to take our skis off and walk in some sections, too risky!

Grammie & Grandad picked Sweetie up from Aunt Cathy's and spent the afternoon with her and got her to gymastics. 

The hockey game was pretty intense and exciting (this says a lot coming from the worst hockey mom ever!) They were up against the best team in the league, on their turf, with only 7 skaters (each shift should have 5, I think? Did I mention the WHME thing I've got going on???) and this team had only hadn't lost a game all season and had only had 2 goals against them! Things were not looking to be in our favour! Early in the game we got the first goal! Getting on the scoreboard at all with this team is quite an accomplishment and now our team had done it a second time! Then there was a second goal for us. All the parents in the stands went nuts (well Murray clapped exhuberantly so that's close!) Then the other team got a goal in the 2nd period and things got tense. Our girls were skating their guts out, and not getting much chance to catch their breath between shifts! We worried they wouldn't be able to maintain their energy to fend the other team off and they'd soon be all over the goalie. We needn't have feared, not only did they keep them off the goalie, they were down in the other end most of the game and the opponents rarely got a shot on our goal. They held the 2-1 lead the rest of the game. They came off the ice exhausted and red in the face but so happy and proud of this accomplishment!!!

My friend Stacy's father passed away rather suddenly last week and the visitation was the same day and in the same town as the hockey game. The game finished just before 1pm so they dropped me off at the funeral home and went for lunch while I got in line to pay my respects. It's been a little while since I"ve seen Stacy but we keep in touch. Back in the day, I was at her house all the time. I was there so much that I remember addressing her parents as "Mom" and "Dad". There was never a time that I came through the door, stayed for a meal, slept over, hung out for hours on end that I didn't feel welcome and part of the gang. Now that I'm a mother of 3 myself (as was Stacy's mom), I realize how big a deal it is to have extra kids coming over, staying for hours on end, eating your food and doing it several times a week. My parents moved after I finished highschool and I was never back in town and have never been back to Stacy's house, but I remember those days fondly. As a teenager, having 2 homes where I was welcome, loved and safe was priceless. Due to my disappearing act, her mom didn't know who I was until I told her my name and then it was all hugs and smiles as she gestured towards the casket asking "can you believe THIS?!?!?" Stacy's dad was always a big strong, lumberjack tough type of guy! So for him to be gone really is unbelievable. They found out he was sick over the Christmas holidays, that he needed an operation on Jan 16 and then things went wrong and he passed away on the 29th. He was only 65 but if the slideshow was any indication, he packed a lot of quality living and loving into that time. Seeing all the images really hit home how important our photos are! 

After the visitation, I started walking, passing old familiar streets and shortcuts I used to take home from school. So strange to be a grown up in those places now. I realized how much I used to walk back then. Anywhere we went was pretty much on foot around town! Where I live now, there's nowhere to walk to since we're out in the boonies. Murray & the girls finished their lunch and picked me up and I got something to eat and we got home in time to eat dinner at our house and then have movie night with Grammie and Grandad! The funeral was the next day so Grammie stayed over so we didn't have to take the girls with us. (Lifesaver!) Murray taught Sunday school and then we hit the road and the weather was good so we made excellent time and were able to get a seat in the main room. It was a packed house and I believe the overflow room was full also. Stacy spoke at the funeral and did an amazing job and had everyone laughing at her recollections. I cried extra hard to fill in for our other close friend Stacey who lives out of province and couldn't be there. 

I was really glad I could make the trip and be there. Murray was anxious about hockey practice so he made sure I didn't visit too long! I had let the coach know what was going on and that we might be late but Murray had us home with just enough time to get to the rink. Honey was running a fever and not feeling well at all so she staysed home but Lovey made it to practice.

At supper we were talking about planks and the girls mentioned they had to do them in gym class. Murray was intrigued, what was a "plank" anyway??? I tried to interest him in doing a 30 day plank challenge a few weeks ago and he wasn't interested. Then he finds out even the kids are doing them and he's all over it! Here he is challenging Sweetie to a plank off! She won but was very sore the next day!

Mr. Bojangles Visit!

We  had a visitor recently!!! Uncle Andrew brought Mr. Bojangles to hang out with us while he was off to a race. The girls were so excited to see him and hovered over him the whole time. He got skis for Christmas so we all went out after lunch to give it a try. He'd only been out once but was doing pretty well til we got to a ditch and had to go down into it to follow the trail. Once he saw a crack in the snow, he freaked out! He was sure the crack was going to swallow him whole. I managed to distract him a bit but he cried and laid down and insisted he wanted to go HOME!!!!  and he was not referring to our place! I didn't want to end it with him being so upset so I got him up and going and we caught up to the girls but then had to turn around and go back the same way. It didn't go over very well but we got past the gaping maw of earth & ice and raced Sweetie and passed her and that made him pretty happy. Sweetie on the other hand, was loudly insisting that she DIDN'T WANT to race. I sent Murray back to zip her lip so I could keep Mr B on track. I skied with him standing between my skis and braced him so he couldn't tip. On the way out he was scared of every little dip in the field. On the way back we flew down a long slope with him saying "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! FUN!!!!" That's how I  roll ;)))

They all played outdoors for quite awhile once they were in the yard. A little army of snowmen was created, a fort got started and then abandoned when the hot chocolate came out!

After supper it was movie night and we'd recorded The Princess Bride the night before but Mr. B kept saying "No, I hate that movie!" I tried to jazz it up, and told him there were pirates and sword fights..... "I hate sohdfights!" Well not ten minutes later, he runs into the kitchen with a Nerf sword, asking "Sweetie!!! want to have a sohdfight????" I said "hey! you hate sword fights remember???" He looks at me and then back at Sweetie. "Sweetie, you want to have a light sabre fight???"

I told them to go clean up the disaster they'd turned our living room into and all 3 girls trooped in and got to work. Mr. B trotted off downstairs so I went down and asked him to go give them a hand. He quickly explained "I didn't touch any of that stuff" with a complete deadpan expression. So much so that I had to scan back to them playing that afternoon to make sure I really had seen him playing up there! Oh yeah, he was! I sent him up but was laughing too hard to seem very authoritative about it! He helped them out anyway though.

Lovey had an altercation with Honey a week before. It was at bedtime and Lovey had been arranging her blankets "just so" when apparently Honey touched Lovey's bed, infuriating her and she lashed out and hit Honey. No blood just hurt feelings but Lovey had brought down both fists on Sweetie's head a few weeks before that for something else and had gotten her screen privileges revoked for a week that time. This time Murray upped it to 2 weeks so Lovey wasn't allowed to watch the movie. Instead she & Mr. B played upstairs while we were downstairs. She played with him and the stuffed animals. Then she took him to her room and they curled up in her bed while she read him stories. I think she'll be a good babysitter, as long as no one messes with her stuff!

Ski a Little, Cry a Little.

We headed out to the trail on our way to Grammie & Grandad's on the weekend but as usual, not everyone stayed happy!

All started off ok, Honey took the lead and was trucking along at her own pace and we all followed. Her speed wasn't quite fast enough for Lovey & Sweetie and during one of Honey's lulls, they made their move. Faster than you can say 'Angry Birds', those two ahead and passed her. Nothing infuriates her more than getting passed by! Unfortunately her fury takes the form of a tantrum and she threw herself to the ground and cried her heart out. and then refused to budge for 45 minutes. I'd had very little sleep the night before and had already had a blow up with Honey and her whining at breakfast. I decided not to tangle with her at that point and followed the other two, you know for safety! and let Murray get her up and moving (not realizing she wasn't going to move!) Eventually the three of us turned back and met back up with Honey & Murray, roughly 100m from where we left them.

Oh the happy memories of these fun filled loving family activities!!!

Sewing Circle

Sweetie got a sewing kit for Christmas so today she wanted to work on a project. She cut up some squares of material and wanted to sew the different patterns together to make a doll blanket for her sisters.  She and I were working on that as Lovey & Murray tried out her Tasty Science kit and Honey read her book. 

Things got a little hairy when I asked Sweetie to get her needle threader from her stocking so I could show her how to work it. That met with a cry of despair and a good long tantrum on the stairs while she resisted my unreasonable demands! Eventually she pulled it together and we were able to work on her blanket. Of course she wanted everything perfect from the get go and was very frustrated at any mistakes but caught on quickly and got going on her stitches after a few attempts.

Lovey then wandered in to see what we were up to and wanted to join in on the fun. I got her needle threaded and she promptly pulled it too hard and the thread came out. Then Sweetie finished a row and needed help knotting off the thread. Then Honey wanted to join in on the fun and put 47 scraps into a pattern and wanted to sew them together. Suddenly I had 3 tyrant seamstress wannabes all demanding instant service. I was not entirely comfortable being surrounded by angry, frustrated, overtired and stressed out workers with access to sharp pointy objects! Trying to keep up with the requests for help was daunting and frankly I was glad when it was time to get supper ready because by then, everyone was on the edge and trying to rein all that in was wearing me down!

Earlier in the day Honey worked on her Sour Candy project and made some suckers and marshmallows that were good and sour too! She was quite pleased with her production and was quite excited to have everyone sample her wares!

Thank goodness we got all these kits and activities for Christmas because it seems like they've forgotten how to entertain themselves. Every time I sit down to read or watch an online workshop, someone is hovering at my elbow with "what-do-I-doooooooooo???" syndrome!

They also haven't had any outdoor activity for almost 2 full days so tonight we hauled them out after supper for some skiing. It went much better than the initial "I don't WANT to go skiing" pronouncement. The snow wasn't ideal, not very deep and a bit too tacky. We just did a loop in the field across the street. We were going to cross the beaver pond but it looked a little sketchy and had too many rough patches so we turned around. It must have been a 45 minute trek and enough to knock their silly energy down a peg. They were wild at supper, laughing so hard they couldn't talk! At one point, and I can't remember what we were talking about, I said "sometimes you guys are hard to enjoy when you're being so ridiculous!" Lovey looked at me and immediately responded matter of factly "well, you made us so you'd better enjoy us!" and that just cracked Murray and I up. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em right?

 

Sunday Ski!

On the way to my parents' we checked out another trail with the kids this week. It started out a little dicey. We had just popped all the skis on when Lovey decided she didn't want to go anymore. I ignored that until the screaming started piercing holes through the trunks of the trees & threatened her with removal of Harry Potter bedtime story privileges and that saved the rest of the forest!and then there was Sweetie! She'd brought two of the same mittens and although I found a different mitten (ie it didn't match) that fit the hand she'd forgotten, it just wouldn't do. Instead she wore the ones she'd brought with one being on the wrong hand and then tried to grip her pole. Guess what? not so easy. Suddenly she didn't want to ski anymore. Meanwhile, Honey has secured the lead position and zoomed off into the distance, never to be seen again. (well, til they turned around and met us on the way back). Then she & Lovey got racing down the hills and were loving the fast pace.


Once Sweetie got going, she loved the "high speed" parts as she called the downward slopes. Since none of us know how to slow down, turn OR stop, I was a bit apprehensive! Luckily we never met anyone coming the other way & we made it back to the car intact and with functioning eardrums. :)))

Monday Monday :)

Another winter day, more chilly weather! The girls got home from school, happy to have their friend from next door here. I've been looking after her & her older sister after school for 2 days a week since their mom got a new job back in the fall & wasn't able to line up childcare right away. Starting tomorrow, they'll be going to a daycare so this was their last day with us. None of them are happy about it! LOL It will probably be easier for the parents only having to deal with one place and not having to scramble around each week to find people to cover different days. My girls really liked having them here on Mondays & Tuesdays though and will miss the playtime!

In my Monday running around, I picked up Murray's skis with new boots and bindings so hopefully he won't freeze to death on our outings anymore. The upgrade is a birthday gift from his parents but he's already seen it so we've totally blown the element of surprise! I suggest he & Sweetie go check out a new trail some snowshoers had made and the 2 of them took off on that little adventure.

While they were gone, Lovey did her violin practice. Having me listen to the practice is a bit like getting a blind man to check your spelling. I have no clue if it's right! She's working on a few pieces that are starting to sound vaguely familiar but I can't read music & have no clue which notes are which or what they're supposed to sound like. I'm just the chauffeur to get her to her lesson & relay any messages back to Murray about what she's supposed to be working on. As she played "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" the beginning sounded right but then it sort of seemed to go off the rails but I wasn't really sure and there wasn't anyone to ask. YouTube to the rescue! I was able to find another kid playing the same piece from the same book. I set her up with my earphones and told her to listen & try to play along. This seemed to help a lot! The song sounded much better, if the 8yr old on YouTube isn't leading her astray! I only felt slightly guilty in pawning off the leadership to the internet. I'll call it "making use of available resources" and leave it at that ok????? She thought it was FANTASTIC! "I LOVE practicing this way! It's SO MUCH fun!!!!!!!!!!" She practiced for at least half an hour altogether so I can't argue with that!

In the meantime, Honey was holed up in her room DS'ing herself into oblivion and didn't surface until after the skiers returned. She was a little miffed that they'd gone without her! Hey, you can't expect to keep up on what's going on if you're hiding out! Besides, everyone should get a little one on one with Daddy & she's had lots of outings lately with her new found love of hockey games!

Hitting the Trail!

Murray got a ski rack for Christmas & got it on the car so we could go out skiing on the weekend. I am still in awe at this outing. Everyone got their stuff on, got in the car and we got there, put on skiis and went skiing for an hour. No whining. no crying, fussing, freaking or fighting. I'm not sure we've ever taken them skiing without at least one breakdown. Let me tell you, it was a nice change!! The only thing I heard was when Honey mentioned that one of her baby toes was getting cold in a matter of fact tone.

She really got the hang of it this time and zoomed off ahead of her sisters and I. Murray's got oldschool ski boots that are thin leather so if he doesn't keep moving, he freezes. The weather that day was chillllllllllllllllay! We've got to upgrade his equipment if he's going to run with this crew because we're not highspeed enough for him! He was frozen by the time we got back to the car. When he told me he'd just worn his dress socks from church, I was pretty sure he had frostbite! Luckily they weren't really dress socks but thick fleece ones. (they weren't white sport socks, so he figured they were "dress socks"). He eventually thawed out but it was painful.

While he & Honey were off ahead, someone commented that Honey was doing really well and asked if she was a "Ski Bunny" from the local kids' learn to ski program. Well! She LOVED that! However, when Murray told the rest of us about it, Lovey & Sweetie were outraged at the injustice of the whole thing. "why didn't they call ME a ski bunny? I want to be one too!" Sweetie especially wanted to be one since she loves her Bunny so much. LOL