My Last Sleep In Day Was January 3...2005

Friday: I wake the children up at 6:30am so they can have breakfast, get dressed, and be ready to catch the bus at 7:30am. Like every school day, they refuse to get up and cry "It's dark outside! It's still night time!"

Saturday: Bethie wakes up at 6:15am. She immediately wakes Katie up, and the two of them start rearranging the furniture in their room until I come in and yell at them to BE QUIET!!! At which point, Sarah wakes up, too.

Sunday: All three children are up by 6:10am. I demand to have more sleep, so they tip toe downstairs and feed each other icing and sprinkles until I come down and yell at them. Then they act shocked that I am angry they ate junk for breakfast. They, apparently, had no idea that this was unacceptable.

Monday: By 6:45am, I am losing my mind because they still won't get out of bed. I explain to the little darlings that if they can get up early on the weekend, then they can get up on time on the weekdays. The twins respond by rolling over towards the wall.

The only solution that I can think of is to put them to bed by 6:30pm. It'll be dark outside. Dark = sleeping...right????

The First Snow

It snowed last night for the first time this season. I was informed of this at 5:20am...when the children demanded that I take them outside to play. They were informed that Mummy doesn't do snow angels at 5:20 AM.

By 7:15am, I happily took the children outside because I love them (and a little bit because the whining was killing me).

All I can think of when I see this photo is that I need to cut back that ornamental grass...thank goodness it's going to be a high of 10C this weekend!

My littlest one



Twinnies!



I asked Sarah to take over the shovelling

Finally, I provided each child with a more appropriate shovel...and then they proceeded to shovel the snow that was on the grass onto the driveway...after I had already shovelled the driveway. Sigh.

7:30am. Time to harass the neighbourhood mothers into sending their children outside!

I love this bench (and the child, too)

Snow angel



Snow angels...in duplicate

And then I got cold came inside. I lured the children in with hot chocolate.

Walking

Dan and I took the children for a walk around Mud Lake on Thanksgiving weekend.
The twinnies saw this sign:

They then informed me that dogs were not allowed to bicycle on the path...and then they skipped away. Because banning dogs from bicycling through the woods made sense to them. I would like us all to rally together and fight this ban. Because if there were bicycling dogs, I think they should be entitled to bicycle wherever they like!

I swear, the twinnies just naturally pose this. It cracks me up!

Sarah had no desire to stop for photos. Poor little girl, she's going to have a rough life if she doesn't accept that I demand frequent photos of my children. And they must be smiling.

Awwwwww.

Why do both Dan and Sarah react to me taking their picture as though I am the paparazzi? You'd think that they would be used to it by now!

Oh my God, I love autumn!!!

Why walk when you can dance?

Bethie couldn't help herself, she had to join in!

Katie is a budding photographer. I tried to warn her that Sarah is not the most willing subject, but she wouldn't listen to me.

The walk went well...LOUD...but well.

The Pumpkin Patch

To add complications to my life, I insisted that Dan and I take the children to the pumpkin patch...a couple of hours before we were expecting people for Thanksgiving dinner. Keep in mind that the turkey was not in the oven, I was supposed to be at home waiting to have my dishwasher installed, and I hadn't bought all the groceries I would need for the party. The children were eager. Dan was less than thrilled. But I need his brawn.

So off we went.

The twinnies pose for a photo.

Would it kill them to give me one nice group shot????

I told Bethie that each child had to carry their own pumpkin...

...Katie found one that was easier to manage.

(As it turns out, Dan and I each carried the massive pumpkins chosen by the twinnies, and Katie carried the little pumpkin that Sarah chose).

The twinnies didn't want to sit with me on the way back to the car. I was annoyed, but they felt rather "grown up".

When we returned to the car with the pumpkins, the children announced that they were dying of thirst and may possibly even die from starvation. I told them that we were 5 minutes from home and I would nourish them promptly. That's when I was informed that I was an inadequate mother, and that all they really needed was some pumpkin pie, sold conveniently at the gift shop. Ummm, no.

When we got home, the children placed their pumpkins on the porch and admired them...for 30 seconds. Then they announced that they needed more pumpkins, but not to worry, the ones from the grocery store would do.

Sigh.

Giving Thanks

It's very important to me that my children have fond memories of the holidays. Like I do. So, I try very hard to make these days happy. Am I successful? It's kinda hit or miss...

We had Thanksgiving at our house. Despite having to work during the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I was sure that I would be able to pull this off.

Then my dishwasher broke. I frantically called Sears, bought a new one over the telephone, and asked Dan to pick it up from the store. I gave him strict instructions not to touch either the new dishwasher or the old one. Instead, he could watch TV, play with the children, or find something else to do. I begged  him, "Please, for my sake, do not touch the dishwashers".

I came home from work on Friday, and guess what?! He touched both of the dishwashers. Neither of them worked. I could have killed him.

I asked to see the turkey that he had purchased for the dinner in 36 hours. It was frozen.

I asked if he had cleaned the house knowing that we were having people over. Yes, he replied enthusiastically, he had cleaned the children's rooms. Super. What about the kitchen? The living room? The bathroom? Uhhh...no.

Needless to say, I was a bit stressed about Thanksgiving.

But Jamie Oliver came through, and we had the best turkey ever. It was soooo good that I think that Jamie Oliver may have ruined all other turkeys for me. Sigh.

Nice turkey. Crap roasting pot (unless you're roasting a 5lb chicken, then it's lovely).

Bob got the honours...

As dinner was served, the twinnies ran into the garden and told me that I was the worst mother ever, and that they were going to have to run away from home. My sin? Knowing that they didn't like turkey, I prepared some ham for them, cut it up nicely, and served them all their favourites on a plate.

Turns out that the twinnies wanted to serve themselves, like the adults. No problem, I took them inside, they carefully filled their plates with all of their favourite Thanksgiving yummies, and then headed outside with their plates heavy with food.

Then Katie dropped her plate...and her little heart broke. She was quickly cheered by the idea that the dogs were happy because they got to have Thanksgiving dinner, too!

I couldn't believe that we had summer-like weather in October. This was the first time in my life that it had been warm enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner outside!

Gluttony.

Elizabeth - she was thankful that I am her Mummy, and we live in Canada, and that we had the "best Thanksgiving ever".

Katherine - she was thankful for her family, and that everyone was safe and healthy.

Sarah - she was thankful that we had gone to the pumpkin patch that morning.

A happy ending.

My cup runneth over.

First Graders

At long last, the first day of school!

Dan and I had the children up, fed, dressed, and outside by 7:10am. The bus doesn't come until 7:35am. I guess we (and by "we" I mean Dan and I) were a bit excited. But it allowed us lots of time to take pictures!

Bethie, Sarah, and Katie

Bethie

Katie

Bethie, Katie, and Sarah

...and they're gone.



Dan - no longer able to contain his JOY!



Sarah was thrilled, too!

The joy of being the Only Child (for 40 hours a week)

The twins are an hour into their first day of school. I miss them already!

There Are Fairies In Our Garden...

The children are obsessed with fairies. This may be my fault. I told the children that the fairy statues in Granny's garden come to life when everyone is sleeping. I told them that the fairies dance around her garden, and you can see their twinkling lights.

Katie didn't believe me.

I said, "Didn't you see the twinkling lights outside the night you slept at Granny's?". Bethie swears that she did. She's a believer with a pure heart. Katie informed me that they were not allowed out at night and therefore didn't see any fairies.

Sigh.

I moved a couple of fairies and shouted, "LOOK! THE FAIRIES MOVED!". Bethie and Sarah were thrilled. Katie suggested that I had moved the fairies, even though I swore that I hadn't touched the fairies.

When we left Mum's, each girl shouted "Goodnight, Sweet Fairies".

The next morning, I was told by the children that we had to go to Granny's to see if the fairies had moved.

Oh, dear.

I called Mum up and told her to move the fairies. She informed me that she had, in fact, put the fairies back where they belonged. I told her that she had to move them where they didn't belong. So, Mum had to run out into her garden to move her ornamental fairies to the wrong spots. To please the children. And me. Which she did!

And now Katie believes in fairies, too.

Beans

Back in May, Mum, Sarah and I were in Canadian Tire. And this caught Sarah's eye:

Sarah carried it around the store, and told us over and over that it was her "purse". When it was time to leave, Mum broke down and bought it for Sarah (after Sarah broke down when I told her that I was not buying it for her).

When we got home, we discovered that it came with seeds...which Sarah wanted to plant.

But there were quite a few seeds (beans and pumpkins), so we decided that the twinnies should plant some, too.

After the planting was completed, I told the children that the seeds had to be watered.

Which they did. For about an hour. Until I thought that every single seed would definitely drown.

And then they never watered them again.

I watered all the little pots. Every night. I even (briefly) contemplated planting the pumpkins in my gardens to give them a fighting chance. But I decided not to because they take up too much space, and Bethie had already suckered me in to planting a watermelon that I am sure won't thrive. Most of the beans made it into the garden though.

There were some beans still remaining in the little pots. I stopped watering them. They were a nuisance, and a hassle, and an eye sore. Finally, I decided to throw them out. And that's when I saw that they had produced beans.

Once informed, the children rushed out to pick the beans.

And then they got to eat them for dinner.

At first, I was happy. My little urbanites got to experience planting, caring for, growing, harvesting, and eating the fruits of their labour.

And then it occurred to me: I did the vast majority of the work.

This is sort of like the story of The Little Red Hen...but with a socialist twist.