Making a Splash!

Our first family swim! Everybody went in and after the initial shock of coolness, the water felt great! It was only a little over 20° but we got used to it quickly. We are loving it so far and it is so much roomier than our other one. Murray's already been in this one more than we ever swam in the old one so that's a good sign!

We've had several days to get in, then a streak of rainy weather but the sun's shining this week! On hot days the girls get off the bus and the first thing they ask is if they can go swimming. It will be a nice way to cool off before bed on those hot muggy nights.

Looking forward to lots of water time this summer!

Dinner Conversation

Just a short and sweet post so I can remember this gem:

Sweetie: Immature boys only care about wrestling and inappropriate stuff!

I laughed so hard! cuz, well, it's true! bathroom humour rules in grade 3 and probably will for a few more grades!!!

Nominee!

Honey's teacher told her awhile ago that the principal had asked for the names of the hard workers in each classroom and that she had put Honey's name in. That day she came home from school flushed with excitement and trying to be inconspicuous, waved me over so she could tell me privately. The principal was going to take some students out for lunch and would be selecting the names. Honey didn't want to say anything out loud because not everyone gets to go and she'd been asked to keep it quiet. She was very honoured to have her name put forth!

Sweetie overheard the conversation and very quietly slipped away from the table and went in her room and shut the door. I had a feeling she was upset and went to find her, crying in her room, bewildered as to why her own teacher hadn't picked her. It was a tricky situation. Honey had had a horrible start to the year, had been at the point of wanting to quit the French program and had worked hard and really turned things around. Sweetie and Lovey are also great students who do their work, are helpful in the classroom, get along well with the other kids etc etc etc. I explained that she was doing great at school and we were very proud of all of their efforts, work and marks. She was disappointed and didn't want to ruin Honey's excitement so tried to hide it but was so hurt not to get this opportunity. She handled it as best she could and I reminded her of the rough start Honey had at the beginning of the year.

Lovey was unfazed by the whole thing but seemed happy enough for Honey. The differences in personality are so evident sometimes!!!

In the end, Honey did get selected to go out for lunch with the principal! She was so pleased to get the invite and the actual day came this week. They went to a buffet and she got to pick out her salad and pizza and dessert. Such a fun tradition and it really meant a lot to her. Maybe the others will get an opportunity another year.

My principal did something similar in our school, but only in grade 6 and it was open to anyone. As long as you kept a 90% average for the year, you got to go to Ponderosa with him at the end of the year AND you got a silver dollar. We talked about it, worked for it and waited for it ALL year. It was a BIG DEAL and everyone wanted to go. I did get to go (the things I'll do for a dollar eh Dad?) and it was such a special honour and so much fun. Eating at a restaurant without your parents! For Free!!! Hopefully Honey will always have this special memory too!

Back to the Cottage!

A fun weekend at the cottage! Murray's parents opened the cottage earlier this month (or perhaps last month???) but we didn't get there til this past weekend. We waited for Sweetie's gymnastics class to be over on Saturday and then loaded up and hit the road. As an incentive to get them on board faster, we told them that if we were still home at noon, we'd eat there. If we were already on the road, they'd get McDonald's. Wow can those girls hustle when they want to! We were on the highway in under an hour which is basically a small miracle in this house!

We were the last to arrive but lucked out and still got a bed. Lucky for us, Crazy Uncle Andrew refuses to share a room with his sister and opted for the porch (closed in porch, he's not quite crazy enough to sleep outside...yet.). We got to room with Karen and Murray's got no qualms about nothing so we were set!

Checkers had a great weekend... Uncle Louis, not so much! pester, nip, follow, rinse and repeat. I don't know if the big guy slept a wink the whole time we were there. Checkers did get several time outs, which he used in order to try the same "loving" techniques on Martigan.

The girls were very excited to see Mr Bojangles. Sweetie was so looking forward to it that her stomach felt sickish she said. They're all very good with him and include him in their games and let him boss them around and play whatever he wants to play.

On Saturday evening, Uncle Andrew ran them through his own little Boot Camp and had them doing laps around the yard, crab walks, jumps, wheel barrow racing and screaming contests. All this activity got them ramped up really well and they had a hard time settling down to sleep. Obviously boot camp wasn't long enough! That night they were chattering away and I went up and told them that Mr. Bojangles was going to have to move out of the room if they didn't settle down. No one wanted that! so things quieted down quickly but it was still a late night.

Homework on the go

Recently Honey had a homework assignment that involved visiting downtown and taking a picture of a local business. They were making a map of the city and the kids had to bring in different pictures of the landmarks & businesses downtown.

Also, a friend had recently sent me another project! Some kids on the west coast had started a journal and it had been forwarded on from friend to friend. Jennifer asked if we'd participate and sent the book to us. The kids loved reading all the entries from across the country and seeing descriptions of the weather and other kids' past times. While we were downtown getting Honey's homework done, we got a picture to include in the journal too! It was a fun project and I hope the kids enjoy reading all the entries when they get their book back. It's on its way to them now.

Another Surprise!

I love surprises! Especially when I'm the one doing the surprising :))) Last year our pool was on its last season. The leaks just kept coming and I couldn't keep them all patched. It had been well used and loved for at least 4 seasons and had stretched and was losing water and height! Murray received a little inheritance this year and we thought this would be a good opportunity to upgrade our pool, unbeknownst to the kiddos!



As the weather turned from snow to sunnier days, the girls got to thinking about that pool. They wondered what they'd do without one! They asked if we could get another pool so I mentioned that pools were expensive and we'd have to wait and see. Sweetie asked if we'd consider just even getting a wading pool so they'd have something. I assured her we'd get them something to slash in and that we could definitely manage a wading pool. I did warn them that a new pool would definitely NOT be the size they had last time. They nodded and seemed to understand. They did keep asking occasionally, usually on a hot day, when we would have a new one.
I went to a home show several weeks ago and checked out pool companies and got some info. Then I put down a deposit and picked one out. They came to check the yard while the kids were out and then yesterday, they came back to do the installation. It was a bit tricky keeping the secret all day with guys working in the backyard and boxes of pool materials all over. But I am a master of secret keeping!!! muahahahha!!!

They only had a half day of school so were home well before the guys were finished. I'd warned them all that the girls had no idea and that they weren't to mention anything and if anyone asked, they were just doing some landscaping. The girls came off the bus, instantly curious. "what are they doing Mum???" I said "well, they're fixing up the lawn where the pool was. It got all messy and muddy there." (TRUE!) "now come in and get washed up, it's lunchtime." (TRUE!) "But Mum, aren't we getting a wading pool!?!??" (ooh good question!) "Well, a new pool won't take up the same space the other one did so we still have to do something about all that mud." (TRUE!)

Luckily, they're easily distracted and we had lunch, finished homework and they played and watched tv the rest of the afternoon. Then I was in the backyard taking Checkers to pee when Honey had a question and came to the door to talk to me JUST as they were putting the pool walls up!!! She was turned in the wrong direction so I answered her question, silently willing her NOT to turn around. It was all fine until she started to shut the door and something caught her eye. I could see the guys all freeze in position, wondering what I was going to do now. Honey, miss inquisitive, of course wanted to know what they were doing. I could only reply "ummm, not sure, I guess they're blocking it off or something so they can work in there." and then I asked her something unrelated as I scooted her back inside to finish whatever she was working on.

The guys looked at me and said "pretty good. but what are you going to do when the water truck shows up???" I replied "well don't you have to water new lawns????" They laughed and shook their heads and went back to work. At supper time the water truck came with the first load but the girls were watching tv and didn't see or hear a thing. Murray wondered if they'd even notice a difference or know that this was a "big" pool. I was dumbfounded. Had we just blown the bank on something they wouldn't realize was any better than the previous one? Surely they'd be wowed??? Finally, I couldn't stand the suspense anymore and told Murray to call them for supper and then to say "hey let's go see how they're doing with the backyard." while I set up the video and regular camera out on the deck. Just as they were about to come out, the water guy comes over to ask me questions and distracted me!!! I missed their initial reactions but they were definitely surprised and very excited!!!

We're looking forward to some sunny weather now!

 

We were floored!

One of the highlights around here lately, and loooooooooong overdue, was getting new flooring for the kitchen! Once it was done, we couldn't believe we hadn't done it sooner. It was a bit hectic getting everything moved out of the kitchen and jammed into the living room but so worth the effort! The store hadn't told me to anything other than empty the closets and furniture so the installer wasn't very impressed when he arrived and found the baseboards still in place! I'd thought about removing them but didn't want to ruin them if he had better tools/skills than I did! He made short work of that and was less grumbly once he realized I hadn't been told to have the boards off and the rest of the day went smoothly.

Good bye cracking, dingy dull floors! Hello gorgeous new stuff!