You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have

I was wondering for the past few weeks why Hannah has been a little off with me, just an attitude thing or something, but I just learned Hannah was told about the birds and the bees by Dana.... ughhh...

Goodbye to J.D. Salinger

Henry's New Joke

Henry: knock-knock
Me: who's there?
Henry: I crack myself up
Me: I crack myself up, who?
Henry: hysterical, contagious laughing that had me laughing so hard I thought it was a really good joke!

What Murphy Eats...

So I thought I would keep track of what Murphy eats...non edible to you and me, just for the heck of it.

Lately she has eaten;

Green Plastic Army Men - count unknown

Full Size Soccer Ball - 1/4 of it

Large McDonalds drink container + Lid, but left the straw

Coins - denomination unknown until Spring

Emery board...dumb dog..

Plastic eye of Henry's stuffed animal


Oh Murphy...you crazy animal.

Winterfest

The kids had a Winter Carnival at school on Friday and I was there to help with serving hot chocolate and taking photos for the yearbook. Of course there were a few photos of my own kids! They couldn't have asked for better weather and teachers and students were all in great spirits enjoying the day. Last year this time there was a lot more snow, but it was a lot colder too. They were still able to play "Snoccer" and snow shoe races with shoeboxes...they just had to play it on an icier field!

Where has the time gone?

I don't know, hockey?
Seems we've had 5 games/practices between the 2 boys this weekend. Henry's in a tournament and hus team has won 2 of 2 games so far which means next weekend will be hockey-packed for sure. Jack's team has their last regular-season game today then head into playoffs...maybe a weekend off for him next weekend. What?!
Hannah still figure skates 2 nights a week and helps out little kids in their skating class one night a week so she informed me that between the 3 of them we are at arenas 10 times a week! I guess I never did the math. I think I would have rather just kept following the calendar and not bother adding it up!
The cat rescue shelter is still keeping Hannah busy too. I'm glad she got perfume for Christmas! Spending 2 hours with 150 cats can make you pretty pungent!
And Beavers, Cubs and Guides have started back up again. I guess the Girl Guides are celebrating 100 years this year so Hannah's excited to participate in a treasure hunt in a real castle with Girl Guides from all over Ontario next weekend.
The weather's been freezing...a little too cold for sledding although we've attempted it a couple of times anyway.
Jason's looking forward to heading to Vancouver for the Olympics for the month of Feb. I'm not as looking forward to it...this schedule may kill me. But I know he'll have a great time and we'll watch the events on tv and picture him there!
Me? I'm just plugging along. Photo jobs here & there, jiggling in between. Some pretty nice walks just me & Murph in the woods in the snow. She turns one tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Murphy!

Happy New Year!

I know, photos would be nice, but I've not taken too many lately if you can believe it.
Jason's Dad passed away just before Christmas 11 years to the day after his Mom died. Jason was to Windsor & back several times visiting and staying with his Dad in the hospital and then the kids and I went with him for a last visit the day before he died. We all made the trip again for the funeral and I think the kids really understood and felt sad. It was a beautiful tribute to his Dad seeing the hundreds of people who came to pay their respects from farmers who had known him years ago to family and even the staff and friends from Tim Hortons where he had found a group of people he bonded with every day while they shared coffee and conversation. The kids and their cousins (10 of them!) were all very well behaved and got to have a little bit of fun later when we returned to Windsor again on Boxing Day for a Christmas celebration. Christmas at home was a little sad and a little quiet but thank goodness for the kids. They made sure Christmas came to our house! We had a really nice Christmas dinner a few days later with Mom & Dad, Eri & Mike and family at their new house complete with a game of cards for the grown ups!
We attended a couple of Christmas gathering with friends and spend New Year's Eve on a street crawl. We went with 5 neighbour families to each of our homes where we were provided drinks (including flavoured martinis at one house!) and snacks and the kids played before it was time to move on to the next house. It was a beautiful, mild evening with just a light snow falling and I was reminded of the importance of friends. We are lucky to have such wonderful friends for neighbours and resolve to spend more time with our friends old and new this year.