Happy 5th Birthday, Eva!

Today Eva turned 5. She's thrilled. This means that she is now only 1 year younger than Maddie instead of the usual 2. At supper today she sat up very straight and asked, "Do I look bigger?"

She's a sweet little girl with a big heart which is usually located right on her sleeve. She loves to hug and kiss her Baby Gen, and feels safest cuddled up to her Mama and Daddy. She's already reading 3 sound words and is always in the mood for telling jokes.

Happy Birthday, Evie-girl!

Cat Talk

Maddie is best friends with Tigger, our cat. I'm not sure how he feels about it, but Maddie always has Tigger's best interests at heart (except when they conflict with her best interests). She came to me tonight and asked me not to let Tigger outside after dark anymore.

Now, please understand that going outside is Tigger's only escape from the kids' clutches. If he doesn't go outside, he will be forced to endure endless hugs and kisses, used as a blankie, pinned to the couch and made to cuddle and carried around the house for hours on end. You can understand why I wouldn't want to keep him inside, the poor cat. So, I tried to hem and haw my way out of keeping Tigger from going out.

Mad: "But, Mom, I don't want Tigger to go outside because of the coyotes. They're meat eaters!"

Me: "Coyotes mostly just like rabbits. They won't bother Tigger."

Mad; "Well, what about black bears? There's a bear in our woods, you know!"

Me: "I know, but Tigger just stays near the house. He doesn't go to the woods. And, anyway, why don't you just explain to him to be careful when he goes outside?"

Mad: "Mom! How will he understand what I'm saying?!?! He's a CAT! He says "meow meow", I say "la la"!!


And that's when I lost the argument and Tigger stayed in.

And Life Goes On...

With hardly time to shower, I haven't been keeping this blog very well...A quick update is in order, I think.

Maddie and Eva are well into their fall activities. Homeschooling is going very well. They are both reading at a good level, and math seems to come quite easily to them. Their favourite school subject is read-aloud time. They have tried out Totally Girlz (a local church group) and LOVE it. They take swimming lessons, and are learning new skills there, too. They get together with their friends and homeschool group weekly at least.

Graedon is finally starting to potty train. He talks and talks and talks. He is all boy, and we love him...messes and all!

Geneviève is almost 2 months old! I can hardly believe it. At her last doc's appointment (at 7 weeks old) she weighed 11 lbs 11 oz. She has developed conjunctivitus in her eyes, and is now on antibiotic eye drops. Hopefully that will clear up in the next few days. It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but I think it bothers me more.

After a month of no camera (the last one was left in the rain), we now have a new digital! Expect more pics soon!

My Budgie

When I was very young, perhaps about 4 or 5 years old, my mother and I were out in the front yard. There was a big tree in our yard. On that day, we looked up into the tree. There in the branches was a little budgie bird. Strange! My mother called to the little bird and it flew down from the tree to perch on her finger. From that day on, that little budgie was our pet and lived in a cage in our house.

Sometime later my Aunt C. "baby-sat" our budgie while we were away. She let it out of it's cage so that it could fly around the house and get some exercise. It flew into her dishpan and died.

The End.

War, Peace, Mice

Last night, I sat on the couch with Gen in my arms, nursing her. I admired her smooth skin, her delicate ears, the little fingers that flexed open, shut, open, shut. She met my eye and we understood each other for that moment. The older kids were upstairs, playing quietly (War - they have discovered World War 2, and have built a bomb shelter in the house. Their game consists of staying in the shelter and writing secret messages and avoiding bombs. Graedon doesn't quite understand the game, but he likes to warn me about the bombs.)

I held my baby tighter and as I did that, a movement caught my eye. A teeny little mouse crawled out of the register and wiggled his nose at me. A mouse. In my house! It was all cute and gray and furry. It had little pink ears and a tiny tail. It was adorable!

Today, I set the trap.

Vacation!

Rich had some work to do in Saint Andrews last week, so we took advantage and went on vacation! Saint Andrews is a cute little town if you like boutique shopping. Kids do not. Thankfully there were other things to do. We visited with some new friends and picked apples from their orchard. The kids loved petting their horses (one of which is a teeny miniature).

Then, we went to the market. The kids picked up some knit toys.


We went to the public school after hours. They have an awesome play structure. What is in this picture is only about a fifth of what is actually there. It's full of nooks and crannies and medieval inspired fun.


Maddie, trying out the tire hole. That's not the official name for it.


We stayed in a little condo-cabin on the beach. That's it in the background.


Graedon, enjoying the low tide.


It's nice to get away once in a while.

Tasty Science

The girls are studying animals in science right now. Along with their textbook, they are reading a series of books on animals from different parts of the world. I thought it would be appropriate to start with the animals from our own area. One of the animals we studied was the porcupine (which is a rodent and a mammal!).

Okay, textbooks can be a little dry. So, I supplemented again with a craft - a yummy one at that!

Our math for the day (not really):
1 marshmallow + dozens of toothpicks + 3 cloves = a porcupine

Maddie with her porcupine.

Eva with hers.

Graedon and his.

I love how different they all look. You'd think that there wouldn't be much leeway for creativity but they each have their own individual look.

BTW, they didn't last long.