Retreat

Hmmmm. I love a good retreat.

These days, I'd pick a cabin in the woods....

This would come complete with a hot cup of coffee, a lake or river nearby and a hammock nestled close by in the trees. Oh and a stack of really really good books. Oh and NO bugs! My loving family would be more than welcome to come along, but there would be PAQ moments for EVERYONE!!

...or...

a ride in a VW convertible...

Red? Model not included --- ha ha ha!

Or yellow perhaps? Cruising along the California coastline. Again, family is most welcome to come along, as long as we get to listen to my music.... with NO complaints :)!!

...or.... perhaps most realistically...

a trip to a favorite used bookstore which Jon & I discovered a few years ago when we were out and about, footloose and kid-free (they were staying at Grandma & Grandpa's), celebrating our 10-year anniversary :P...

... or try something new (I've only been wanting to go here for a few years now! It's an MCC based used book store in the north end of Winnipeg, with OF COURSE, a coffee house attached ;)....).

We all need a retreat... and our wee one is no exception!

Lately she has discovered our puppy's kennel!!! She LOVES tents and crawling through things, but this last week, if all is quiet, and she is no where to be seen, I go and check here....

Just this afternoon she discovered she was a wee bit lonely in there all by herself, so she managed to get her dolly in as well :).

Every one needs a little spot to call their own - even if it's just for a little while!

Retreat? Where would you go? What would you do?

Through the eyes of a child...

Yesterday morning me and my gals were getting ready to do a grocery and dollarstore run.

The excitement was almost palpable!

I had suggested the night before (after checking the temperamental weather to see if there was, in fact, sun forecasted for the next day) that instead of racing home after our shopping expedition was complete, we should pack a picnic and head to a park to burn off some steam first. (Not that I would have steam to burn off, more or less longing for a nap under a shady tree, but after being cooped up in a cart all morning, and getting along reasonably well, my girls would love to run free for a little while!)

Little M was still groggy from the night's sleep - and among her first words to me was this little revelation:

"Mommy, I've really seen some vans DO this. They really really do!! They drive into a McDonald's parking lot, and drive up to a little window. That little window OPENS UP and they pass McDonald's food INTO that van!! I think our van should try that. Yep. I really really do. I've really really seen that mommy." All the while she's super-animated, nodding and motioning with her hands about vans driving and stopping at a window and grabbing a bag for the road :).

I burst out laughing. Oh the magic of drive thru. I guess we've not really done that before - but somehow she's picked up on this possibility. I explained that yes, that there was, in fact, something called drive thru, and that though I already had our picnic packed for the day, we could try it sometime. Get McDonald's and THEN head to a park.

We went on to have a delightful morning and afternoon. And we (finally, around 1:30, which is pretty late with little ones and a baby who wasn't able to have her bottle because her mother forgot it at home!) managed to find a fun park to play at. But I can assure you, the PAQ at the end of the day was divine!!

Phonetic Funnies

Over the past 1/2 year, Little M has started to play with words. Before, it was letters. Letters letters everywhere. Lately there has been an explosion of reading, writing and sentence forming. I love watching her explore with her words. It is often quite humorous. Most of the time she prefers to pick out the sounds she hears and spells accordingly. Sometimes she'll come to me if she's stuck. Sometimes we go over the words, correcting spelling and hunting out the sneaky letters (ones that don't necessarily make a sound). Lately, though, I just love her efforts as they are and find them so endearing. Perfecting the spelling will come with time. Now is a time to collect all these little clippings and practice pages.

One Sunday afternoon, during rest time, unbeknownst to me, she decided to make her first "book." It looked like this:

 M made this by herself. 

It has pictures in it.

I made it in rest time.

Poop poop.  ???

 Dear K

You are a messy eater

She's not being rude - it's kinda true ;)

I love you.

 Dear L

I love you.

You are a messy eater too.

 Dear Diggy.

I love you.

You are a vacuum cleaner.

!!!!

Recently, Little M was concerned about the dwindling selection of gel pens. Because she goes through them so fast, I decided that she could start "buying her own." When she realizes that she would like a new set of gel pens, we put together a chore list that will earn her 3 loonies. Then we head off to Dollarama, where she can buy a great pack of gel pens for $2+tax. It's great! She LOVES it. This is the second chore list that we're working on. The first involves me nearly having an emotional break down (stay tuned, I'll share that story later!!).

This is what she came up with all on her own...

1. Clean up. She is very serious about her clean ups. I kid you not. When she wants to (meaning it has been "her" idea) she will tidy up our entire living space. Happily. When I want her to, it's a bit more persuasion, and sometimes we have to do things we really don't want to do, but it is a responsibility that she's actually very good at. Hence, it made it onto the list :).

2. Make good choices. Always important ;).

3. Do not step in the garden that has sheep poop in it.   !!! Apparently Jon mentioned this while he was working sheep poop into our veggie garden. Good to note!!

4. Do not spill birthday cake on the floor. Sometimes excited little girls become quite exuberant and things go flying!

5. Don't make bad choices. Apparently a small theme running here ;)....

---

The last time we did this, I had to take Sweet K to a pediatrician appointment. These are not usually a lot of fun for me. Thankfully they are not as anxiety-packed as they used to be - but really, who likes having to take their kid to the doctor, right :)? I packed up all three girls on a very cold and windy winter day, drove an hour to the doctors office, found it downtown (I'd never been to that particular office before), found parking (always an issue) and made it to our appointment EARLY. Did you catch that - we were EARLY!!! Since we were there to discuss SLEEP ISSUES, I was already pretty pooped just from weeks (and weeks and weeks) of issue-ville. We shuffled into an empty waiting room. I was a bit perplexed by this, wondering if we'd have to wait an hour just to see the doctor. The gal sitting behind the desk blinked blinked at me. She wondered why I was there, considering the doctors were all on h.o.l.i.d.a.y.s. NO WAY. Honestly, I started to cry. Right there. In the office. Little M looked at me, and I looked at her. Well, hon, that was a colossal waste of time and energy. The gal behind the desk and I tried to resolve the issue, which happened to be some typo made by some clerk who will never know how much frustration she'd caused. Now I'd have to wait even longer to receive help (or at the very least some guidance and options). But, at the heart of what was hurting me was that this had taken a very precious at-home day for Little M. I treasure those days and try to keep them as relaxed as possible. PLUS I'd had her loonies in my purse, and I had to use them for parking. So, not only was our doctors appointment cancelled, but I had to go find change for these precious gel pens that Little M had worked so hard for. Feeling heavy, we gathered our gear and headed back to the elevator, down through a long hallway (not easy with a car seat, diaper bag, wandering 3 year old who hasn't slept properly EVER and 5 year old) and into a little pharmacy. 

I gently asked the fellow working at the till if he could break a $10 for me - a $5, and a $2 and 3 loonies. I got the scolding of a life time. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES does he give change for parking, because if he had to do it for ONE he'd have to do it FOR EVERYONE. HOWEVER, just THIS ONE TIME he'd forgo this stipulation and DO AS I ASKED. You'd think I'd held up the store at gun point or come in cussin' like a sailor, demanding my way!!! I stood there and just blinked. Blink blink. I had no words except, thank you, I guess. I hesitantly handed him my $10, which he snatched from my hand and in a dramatic fashion he dumped the requested change into my hand. The tone was clear: DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

Okay. Okay. I'll just back away sllloooowly.

I had set Wee One's car seat on the floor, and as I bent down to pick her up and gather my gear once again, 1/2 the contents of my water bottle (which was tucked into a precariously dangling diaper bag) spilled down my pants and onto the floor. I was perplexed as to why the bottom of my pants were suddenly soaking wet. Until aha. This particular water bottle has a sneaky lid. RIIIGHT. I stood up and spoke out loud to no one in particular "THIS DAY IS JUST GETTING WORSE AND WORSE." And then we shuffled out.

We got the stroller, which I loaded all three kids onto and walked along the down town streets to the nearest Dollarama. We passed all sorts of interesting characters, and I found myself praying for them - those who wandered, looking lost; the fellow who picked the used cig butt out of the snow bank just to finish it off. They looked at us, and I'm sure we were quite the sight - Little M's toque tassels wafting in the wind, Sweet K's sweet face peeking out from her layers of hat and hood. And every so often a squeak from the car seat :). We received many hellos and smiles and laughs. Suddenly the world felt a bit brighter :).

Little M proudly marched into the Dollarama, ready to pick out her gel pens. True to fashion, she had to look at all the options before selecting the just-right package. She paid for her purchase, the gal behind the till chuckling as Little M explained her mission.

We returned to the van. We returned home.  It was a quiet ride and I was thankful.

I found Little M's chore chart hilarious! I am so proud of her for taking responsibility for it, and though I'm not exactly sure how we can check off "don't spill the birthday cake" when she did, TWICE!!, I am hoping our next adventure will be less .... adventurous :).

At this time, six years ago....

Six years ago at this time I was vacillating between "freaking out excited" and "freaking out-freaking out." After a six year journey, I was finishing a college degree and beginning a masters. It was graduation weekend and we were celebrating the accomplishment.

  

But, between Jon and I, we were celebrating/trying to wrap our minds around/jumping for joy/panicking for another reason....

We'd just discovered that we were parents!!!

  

I will never forget the Saturday afternoon when we made this discovery. Exactly one week prior we'd just adopted a sweet little pooch. I've never been much of an animal person, but after talking about it at great length and doing a bit of research it seemed like a grand idea. However, the poor pup didn't stand a chance against the surge of hormones, sensitivity to smells and fatigue that my body was going through (all unbeknownst to me - I just thought I was "emotional" :P). Very quickly it became evident that I was not at all about to bond with this sweet dog. And he was sooooo cute!!

Approximately four days after his arrival, I glanced at the calendar, started to do the counting of days, and got mighty suspicious..... it took until Saturday before I caved and snuck into the local pharmacy, scouted around to make sure that there was no one who recognized me in there, grabbed a pregnancy test (and paid for it :P) and ducked out again. It sat on the counter a little while before I had the courage to use it.

The results didn't take long.
Two little lines.
Two parents in the making; one baby.
Oh. Wow.

 

After breathing a bit, I went outside to get Jon, who was repairing an electrical outlet at the time. I recall how I said, "Jo-on? You better come inside for a moment." He carefully set his tools down. We skittered into the house. He looked at the test. Carefully read through the instructions.
"Two lines."
"Yup."
"According to this that means positive."
"Yup again."
Oh. Wow.

 

We'd been hoping... but weren't sure it would ever happen... and then suddenly, when we least expected it... here it was.... this great gift. As far as we could tell, I was already 6 weeks along. When you're counting life in terms of weeks, that's a long time!!! We waited FOUR MORE WEEKS before telling family, and another TWO WEEKS to share it with co-workers and friends. It was a blessing to keep this just between us for the first while. And it gave us some time to prepare ourselves as well :).

 

The second time I had news to share with Jon, I left the test on the bathroom counter as a surprise for him. Hard secret to keep :).
"Uh, two lines."
"Yup."
"What does that mean again?"
"Positive."
Oh. Wow. Again :).

 

The third time I actually took a picture of the positive test result (Jon was NOT aware that I was planning to take one that day) and emailed it to him at work :)!! Not two minutes later, the phone rang....
"There are two lines on that test."
"Yup."
"Does that mean positive :)?"
"Yup."

It feels like we've traveled a million miles since that first moment. And what an amazing journey it has been. We've learned, grown, survived birth :); created stories and memories; and marveled at these little people God has shared with us for this time.

 

It is a gift. We are grateful.

Oh, and about the dog - soon the hormones settled down and we became excellent pals. In fact, he was very good company during those first few weeks at home. He's the only dog (animal, really) I've ever loved (which is a mighty lucky thing for him, or else he'd gone packin' early on!!) and a fixture in our family. He joins us in most of our family adventures, he's adored by the girls (not sure the feeling is mutual, but he is very very good about it!!) and he sleeps on our bed (something I SWORE I'd never do!!). Couldn't imagine life without him!

How we celebrate Easter....

As we mix and mingle with family over the holiday, we all get plenty (read: FAR TOO MUCH!!!) chocolate. Every year I wrestle with how we can incorporate fun holiday traditions with biblical influence; embracing gifts without going overboard ourselves.

Last year I purchased a set of plastic eggs. My desire had been to fill them with small tokens that were symbols of the stories surrounding Easter. Think advent calendar, 12 days instead of 24, Easter-version.
That did not happen.
Nor did it happen this year.
This is on the "maybe, someday" list :).

This year, shortly after the loved ones were all settled under the covers, I took out my bible, a few chocolates and a little creativity (recall that attention span and energy are in short supply around here these days.... it's gotta get done in 10 minutes or less ... or else :P).

First, I decided to stuff 5 eggs with scripture verses, following the "Romans Road": 

1. Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
2. Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
3. Romans 5:8 - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us."
4. Romans 10 - "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
5. John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only Son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life."

 All the other eggs got three chocolates each. There are 2 of every color (I added an additional egg for John 3:16 in case you do the math and realize it doesn't work out :P) - one for each daughter that eats easter eggs!!! I also bought of few of those little chocolate eggs in the foil wrapper to hide individually.

Bowl of eggs all ready for hiding .... 

A chocolate bunny for daddy :).....

Simple. Fun. Hopefully meaningful. And a way of passing along the story of the cross....

  

Authentic Hearts

There are some days I wonder if Little M was born with a pencil and paper in hand :).

I'm glad she wasn't, because that would be a little ... awkward.

One of her favorite things to do is draw and write and practice her letters and make cards and pictures for other people. It is a gift that she can easily put together all by herself and it gives her a great deal of pleasure to stuff an envelope (either recycled or handmade :P) FULL of notes of affection and appreciation.

Last summer we had new neighbors move in beside us and Little M, who was 4.5 at the time, wasted no time in getting to know this 9-year-old gal. They played together off and on over the warmer months, but as winter and different schedules settled in, we didn't see much of our new friend. As things have warmed up again, and we all venture out a little more often and linger outdoors a little longer, we have reconnected. 

One day Little M proudly showed me her picture for our friend. Across the page in big, bold letters were the words "I Love You." I hesitated. How would this girl react? What would our neighbor girl think? She's already indicated that she's too mature for some of the games that Little M normally plays, and that she's not here to "play" but to "hang out." Would she scoff at my daughter for her innocent display of affection? Would Little M feel embarrassed?

I decided to let it all play out and see what would happen. Our neighbor gal happened to be over for supper and before she left, Little M gave her the envelope. She left without opening it, and I thought that was the end of it.

A little while later, there was a knock at the door. Instantly irritation flashed through my mind --- why do people knock on others doors when its BEDTIME!??! You can see I have a lot of maturing to do!! However, there was our neighbor girl, with an envelope of her own in hand. She shyly gave it to us and quickly scampered off.

Little M squealed with delight. It was considerately addressed to all three of our little ladies - and inside was a picture of them all playing together outside (a hope of warmer days to come :P?). And, attached was a note. "I love you too."

Again and again I learn through my children. Authentic hearts take risks, but look at the blessings which can flow from that. Our neighbors have a background that is much different than ours, but at the core we all need the same thing --- a desire to know that we are loved and welcomed and have a place to belong.

I'm not sure how long this little friendship will last. There is an age difference that may or may not become a big deal down the line. I know that right now they get along just fine and enjoy playing together ... ahem, "hanging out" ;P ... and it works.

And it is a reminder to me to not be so hesitant to open up and let people in. You just never know what gift is waiting to be discovered.

Why, Hello There!

Hello Mr. Tooth.

We're pleased to finally make your acquaintance.

I have suspected your arrival for some time now. I was not sure if it was you - or the nasty cold we've been fighting for several weeks - that was the cause of some minor upheaval around here.

Regardless. You have arrived. The cold is gone. Life is back to "normal."

I've tried multiple times to get a picture of you. You are Wee One's OFFICIAL FIRST TOOTH.

This is a photo-moment if there ever was one.

A tiny little pearly white.

Have I mentioned I'm a wee bit thankful now to be using the bottle ;)?

She's a bit of a wiggly little one though, and so it's pretty tough!

Ahem, Mr. Tooth, between you and me, I have mixed feelings about your arrival. Don't get me wrong - you are simply adorable and if my heart didn't melt before at the sight of that gummy little grin, well it's even sweeter now.

However.

You are yet another sign that my sweet little babe is getting older. Maturing. Moving through these milestones with lightening speed.

And that's good and all....

But I'm in no hurry for her to grow up. I love this snuggly little bundle, and just like her two sisters, I try to get all the squeezes and LOVE YOU's and cheek pinches that I can. I certainly don't mind if she dozes off in my arms, or requires a little cuddle after a nap wake-up, or cries ferociously if any one else tries to say hi :).

Because, all too quickly, we'll be counting the teeth that are awaiting the arrival of the infamous tooth fairy and watching as little ones become not-so-little ones and well, it goes fast is all I'm sayin'.

So. If you have a little partner all ready and waiting to show up, can you tell him to hang on just a little :)? I'm in no rush at all.... and I'd like to get a little more sleep before we have to deal with that again!

Love, Wee One's Mama