A Good Surprise

Chad's been invited to join the enrichment class at school. Wow! I can't believe I ever was concerned about his intelligence back when he was three years old and still not speaking!!!

I sure hope Chad enjoys the extra attention and challenges this class will bring him.

Qualified

Nathan took the St John's Ambulance babysitters course today. He did a great job and passed the exam with 96%! Now that Nathan is qualified to hold down the fort, you'll find Keith and I in Mexico :)

A Stressful Week

Parenthood comes with it's surprises. Some are pleasant and others not. We have had a few very unpleasant surprises with Nathan these past two weeks. It came to our attention via emails from Nathan's school that he has not been doing his assigned schoolwork. What's worse is that Nathan has been telling us a series of lies about the situation. It's been a hard week with trying to get all these assignments complete and figuring out the best way to discipline Nathan in regards to the laziness about his work and lying to his teachers and parents. I'm sure Keith and I have added a few grey hairs to our heads in the past little while! Monday starts afresh with term three and we do hope to wipe the slate clean and have a much better time of it with Nathan. I think (and hope) he realizes how serious it is to tell lies and that school work isn't an option and that he needs to ask for help if he is overwhelmed. Time will tell.

Below is one of the projects that needed to be completed last week so he wouldn't fail Social Studies. Keith, Nathan and myself worked on that sucker for two full nights (and therefore my bathroom renos had come to a complete halt....no toilet in our main right now!) and it was done in the nick of time. On a positive note, Chad brought home an incredible report card yesterday! He's exceeding expectations in most of his subjects and his teacher had nothing but positive comments to say. Nathan's report card comes April 1st and I'm hoping it's not as bad as I fear!

Familia

The usual suspects were rounded up to partake in cake eating and merriment making. And here's some proof....

Nathan really liked his 2010 Olympic Collectors set. He also received other cool gifts including some accessories for his new bike and a gift card to Coles and a basketball. Lucky boy!

Cheesecake was his request.

Us

Nathan and his grandmas

Party On....and on....

Nathan invited four of his buddies to his 12th birthday which included bowling, cake and a sleepover! Everyone appeared to have an excellent time and the boys were quite well behaved. Interesting to note though that the two more 'active' boys were not first borns. The first born kids were a bit better at 'toeing the line'!!! Just an observation...

Hanging out between games at the bowling alley

Happy 12th Nate! Thanks for requesting an ice cream cake, therefore making it easy on old mom!

The gang...including Liam who LOVED being with all those kids!

Settling in for snacks and a movie.

Chad was relegated to the corner. He was getting a bit out of control as he is prone to do and with the 'three strikes you're out' threat he was getting dangerously close to being
evicted from the family room.

The boys were thrilled with the waffles, strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. Moms and Dad showed up shortly after and now it's all a distant memory. It went well and Nathan is happy so it's all good.

Keith and I have already cleaned everything up....clink clink clink up the vacuum hose goes all the popcorn :)

Time now to prepare for the family party tomorrow!

It's ALL Growing!

The view from the top of my 'mountain'.

Before I had a yard of my own I never paid much attention to plants, flowers and the like. Sure flowers were pretty but that's about the extent my my thoughts towards them. Now I am going into my 4th season of having my own garden to tend to, I am ever amazed at how plants just somehow know it's spring and come up without any help from me. Over the past four years I have made many unwise plant purchases...most have died because I have not done my research about where they should live, what they might to 'eat' or what type of climate they are suited for. The previous home owner had mostly hardy perennials and I have come to appreciate them very much because they just keep coming back every spring...so dependable! My mom is very 'green thumb-ish' and she's been helping me loads in the garden. She makes many wise suggestions, recommends pruning, transplants things, and helps me buy 'smart' when I go to the nursery.

These past two sunny days we've both been tidying up the garden and it's looking really spiffy now. We've killed the moss, limed the lawn, edged the beds, planted sweet peas, put in a few new plants, pulled out a few dead plants, pruned shrubs & trees, weeded, and used plenty of Round-Up! Gardening isn't as easy as it looks...at least in my opinion. It takes lots of work and good research to have a good looking garden!

The rhubarb is coming along well. I adore rhubarb desserts and can't wait to pick some and make me some lovely crumble with it!

The lamb's ears is growing well. This stuff does really well at my place. Must like my soil or something?!

Oh look....I missed pruning this freakish limb out of my cherry tree!

Some pretty flower that comes up ever year...thank you previous owner.

This trellis fell down mid-winter in a wind storm. It was so entangled with clematis and rose vines that to repair it I had to chop it all out so Keith could nail the trellis back on the fence. So now that back corner is nicely cleaned up and the plants will have a nice fresh start this year.

I planted three bunches of these bulbs last fall. So glad I did as they are a cheery addition to an early spring garden.

And lastly my chives are growing like crazy. They got a haircut today and we ate the trimmings in our pasta for supper! Yum.

Very Sweet

This was the first year that Chad told me he wanted to buy a gift for Nathan's birthday. I know some parents buy gifts 'for siblings, from siblings' but that's not my style. Now that my kids are starting to have their own money they are more than able to buy each other gifts. I thought it was a really sweet gesture and I took Chad to Wal Mart last week to pick out a present. He only had a $20 so I chipped in the extra $8 and it was done. Chad could BARELY contain the secret and practically told Nathan every day about his gift! Even after all that Nate was beyond pleased with his present this morning and Chad was chuffed about the whole situation. Cute brothers that they are!!!

One Dozen

Here we are teetering on the edge of entering the teen years! Un-freaking-believable.

I sort of feel sorry for first born children. They are purely an experimentation in parenting. They go through all the 'stuff' first. The next siblings get a more relaxed and experienced parenting style for sure. It's no wonder that I can always spot a first born among my friends!

Nathan is 12 today and it's been wonderful so far. Nathan is a great kid and we know he'll be a great tween too! These are interesting years with their own challenges but good fun as we watch Nathan become his own person.

Happy Birthday...we love you!

2009

Early Present

It's really only about 4 hours early but we got Nate his birthday gift tonight. Nathan has never had a new bike. He's always ridden hand-me downs which has been handy but we thought it would be really nice for him to have a brand new bike for his 12th birthday. Keith took him to Sport Chek tonight and they chose it together. He was so excited and thanked us over and over.

He's now looking forward to accessorizing the bike with a thing-a-ma-jig that tracks your speed and kilometers. I'm sure there is a 'real' name for it but I don't know it!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I'm not Irish but Keith has it in his background. Plus I've been there. I think that almost makes me Irish!

Here's one of my favorite pictures from out trip. Hard to believe it was almost one year ago....

Fibber

I thought we dealt with this issue when the boys were wee. It seems not.

My Nathan is being caught up in a web of deceit and it's getting a bit ridiculous.
Have any of my other blog readers had their children try to get away with lots of little white lies?

Any advice for the frustrated parents over here?!

Pizza Muffins

I do get bored of making sandwiches. I didn't have time for pizza buns tonight but found this recipe in the back of my recipe box and thought I'd give it a try! Thanks to my cousin Christa who made these for me about 10 years ago...and now I'm finally making them myself :)

Pizza Muffins

375 degrees

20-25 min

8 muffins

1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes

1 1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup parmesean cheese

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup olive oil

1 egg

8 thin slices pepperoni (I used farmer sausage)

1/2 cup finely diced green pepper

1/4 cup shredded mozza

Mix dry ingredients and add wet. Stir minimally. Spoon into greased muffin tins and top with slices of pepperoni, pepper and cheese.

Bake and enjoy!

Apple Thief

Liam grabbed my apple from me at lunch today and there was no getting it back. Looks like we have another apple-lover in the family!

Our Little Getaway

Keith's sister moved to the Island just over a year ago and we had been meaning to visit for some time. We finally were able to nail down a date that suited us both and headed over for a short and sweet three day visit.

Our journey began with a most chilly ferry ride. It was not tolerable on the deck for more than a few minutes and we couldn't believe our eyes to see it snowing on the ride over! We certainly hadn't packed our winter gear.

Suzanne's boyfriend Tyler is in the military so they live in this super cute PMQ. I've learned the lingo....Permanent Military Quarters. It's perfect for two people....and six was a squeeze. Tyler is in training in Comox during the week so it could have been even more squishy if he had been home. It was cozy enough with us, Suzanne, the two dogs and cat!

Their house backs onto the neighborhood playground which was perfect for the boys.

Our first stop after settling in was to go see Fort Rodd Hill. Keith stayed back with Liam for naptime. The sun looks deceptively warm...it was COLD! This national historic site was really very intersting and had loads of great stuff for the boys. We were the only people in the park that afternoon!

The boys had great fun with all the military guns and whatnot. It's a young boy's paradise.

I really enjoyed the historical aspect of the fort. Lots of 'old' buildings (old for Canada anyhow!) and interesting history and displays.

Fisgard Lighthouse was beautiful in the setting sunlight.

The next morning, Suzanne had to go to work (she's a pilates instructor) so we set off to downtown Victoria. There wasn't a soul in sight....a deserted town. My guess would be the extrememly cold and biting wind that was making me want to weep. Seriously...COLD! I couldn't even open my eyes for this photo as that would mean losing body heat from my eyeballs :)

We took refuge in the Parliament Buildings. It's very beautiful in there and it brought back memories of my grade school fieldtrip.

Afterwards we walked all through Beacon Hill Park. It's a beautiful place with trails, paths, ponds and all the geese and ducks you would ever want to see. The flowers were bright and the trees blooming. It LOOKED like spring but felt like the dead of winter. I was too cold to even take my camera out to take pictures.

Then we headed down to the Harbour which was pretty devoid of human life.

Our parking meter ran out around lunch time so we headed back to Colwood and had some lunch. By the time we got back to the house, Suzanne was home. It was my turn to stay home with napping Liam while the rest of them took a nice walk to the Royal Roads University grounds which is very close to their house.

After the gang got back from their trek, it was time to pack up and head over to my cousin's house for dinner. It just so happens that I have two cousins and an aunt and uncle on the Island as well. It was so great to see them!!!


My cousin Christa just moved into this brand new home. It's beautiful! She made us a wonderful Greek meal that was so tasty.

It was also a celebration of my aunt's birthday. This was a divine lemon merguine cake. I can assure you it was as tasty as it looks.

My cousins and I. Stephanie on the left and Christa on the right.




On our third and final day the sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a nasty bite to the temperature. It was a beautiful day! After a great breakfast of French Toast made with cinnamon swirl bread (yummy!) we packed up and headed to the beach. I just LOVE walking on the beach and breathing that crisp, clean air is so invigorating.

The boys loved chasing waves, searching for treasures, throwing rocks, and walking in the driftwood. It's really a perfect playground.

After our walk, Suzanne had to head to work. We went back to the house and packed up for our trip home. We sure appreciated our free accomodations...thanks Suz!!!

We had a bit of time to spare before our ferry so we found a great park in Sidney that was right on the ocean. The playground was extensive and had something for every age. The wind had picked up though and the temperate again was painfully cold. We only lasted about 30 minutes and then went back to the car to thaw out. We decided that sitting in a line up in a warm car for the ferry was preferably to being outside anymore!

The voyage home was uneventful. We found a very quiet back hallway in the ship where Liam just ran up and down to his heart's content. We were back on the mainland before we knew it and headed home. It was a nice trip with plenty of wonderful memories to look back on.