Usually the last days of swimming happen on Labour Day weekend -- provided the weather is good. There may be a few unseasonably warm days in the month yet, and even well into October, but usually, they are few and far between, or the nights are so cool that by the time the day gets hot before we know it, it starts cooling down again. Not so, this September. I think overall, it was warmer than the entire month of August.
So what do you do when the pool has been down since Labour Day weekend and there's one warm day after another? You hit the beach of course!
We went Friday evening and again Saturday afternoon. Even I went swimming! Only the second time all year.
Leo says, give me the sand over the water any day!
He actually liked being buried. Until I was out of his line of sight that is. He is so attached to me!
It was a great way to spend a late September weekend!
Our rhubarb is growing like crazy and producing some giant leaves. The other night the three oldest girls gathered on the front lawn and got a little silly. Stress relief maybe?
I'm sure you've heard the saying, "little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems." I can not attest to the problem part. So far we have had good kids. In this home, it's "little kids, a little busy. Big kids, a lot busy!" Maybe that's why we haven't had many problems. They don't have time to get into trouble!
March came and went in a blur and quickly on its heels was April! All I remember about the end of April is the inside of my car! ;o) Rehearsals, lessons, Festival (Beans and Squirt both had voice solos), get-togethers, meetings, and an appointment or two too. Good thing I don't mind driving!
Follows are just a few quick pics:
We FINALLY had some snow. The three youngest girls and I took advantage of a Friday afternoon to build a snow family. They lasted less than two days. :o(
Coffeehouse at the high school. These two performed their first duet. It was amazing!! Shhh! Don't say I said it, but they were the first act and boy were they a tough act to follow!!
The sisters singing a duet.
Rehearsals began in January for two one act plays. "Sorry, Wrong Number", and "Thirteen Ways to Screw up Your College Interview." They were both excellent! What a talented group!!
All this running around and enjoying the gifts of my children leaves little time for baking, cooking, or cleaning, but I remind myself. It's only for a season. It's a fine life nonetheless!
We had a very busy weekend! Most weekends have the normal, errands and appointments, but this weekend there were many extras.
Friday, the Engineer and I took a quick round trip (second Friday in a row) to the Guelph, ON area to spend a bit of time with family at a funeral visitation. It's not exactly the best way to spend time with family, but it was still a good visit albeit extremely short. Although this death was quite unexpected and not pretty for my BIL and SIL to have to walk through, his was a life well lived, and we have the confidence of knowing there is another soul in heaven.
Saturday morning, I hit the ground running! Start laundry, do a bit of cleaning, squeak in a photo session for my son and his girl who were both home for the weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day for a photo shoot. It hit 14 degrees Celsius which is pretty crazy warm for this time of year.
Once I was done shooting, I hopped back in my little car, stopped at home, switched about some laundry, grabbed a child for her theory lesson, went back into the city, dropped her off, texted the Engineer to remind him to pick her up after he and Peach were done at the youth program re-visioning session at church, and headed off to help cater a wedding. Although, I usually serve, this time I only did prep work. This is where we finish setting the tables, get started on cooking the food, and a multitude of other little things. A funny thing that I have learned while catering all kinds of weddings is that I am becoming very cynical about wedding hoopla. Sometimes, I look out over an intricately decorated hall, and think, "seriously!? What is a wedding about? The stuff? The party?" I always thought it was supposed to be a celebration of marriage. You know, the joining of two individuals. I am far more interested in the couple and watching them. Really, who cares what the hall looked like, what extras they have, if they have a cake, wedding favors!? But that's just me.
From catering, I scooted home to quickly change, move around some more laundry, and find something to eat (I wasn't organized or home long enough to even think of advanced meal planning for the brood), so I could head out with the family to a concert in the United States. We went to the Tenth Avenue North, All Earth is Holy Ground Tour and it was fantastic!! The concert featured I Am They, Hawk Nelson, and of course, Tenth Avenue North. I wish I could put into my own words, their words, how I was feeling, and what I was thinking. To weakly sum it up, it was a very praise and prayer filled evening for me! A much needed powerful God night for me!
I Am They
Hawk Nelson
Tenth Avenue North
All the bands.
The above concert images are shamelessly stolen from my hubby for his blog. He hasn't posted about the concert yet, but he will. He will also have more images -- if you're interested.
When we got home, all the children were off to bed, while the Engineer and I stayed up and got ready for brunch tomorrow. I finally crashed at about 2 am.
Up again at 6 am, I enjoyed a peaceful quite time and an unhurried morning (which is always good!!) getting the brood ready for church. I made sure my Children's Worship teachers were good to go, and got to sit through an entire service for once. It was Lord's Supper this week, so that made it extra nice to be able to focus entirely on the service and not have to go out the check on my teachers.
There were eleven of us for brunch (two extra children) and we as usual squeezed around the dining room table. I am beginning to think we need to start looking for a larger dining room table because I am pretty sure our family is going to continue to grow before it actually begins to shrink in size -- and there will be those times when they are all home with others in tow. It's a good thing! I love having my children and their friends/significant others here!
Once brunch was finished, the children scattered to various parts of the house. I had to fold all that laundry I somehow managed to do on Saturday because I needed to get the Boy packed to head back up to school. I actually love folding laundry and yesterday I was being quite entertained while doing so by a duo at the piano.
These two have a grand time together -- and they laugh all. the. time. It makes me laugh to listen to them. Oh, and don't let the video fool you. He sings amazingly too. He's just being shy.
Sunday evening was quiet. The Engineer took Bub back to school. Other children were back with their families. Most of my Littles were in bed, so Beans and I flaked out in front of the television and watched one of my favorite DVD's. It was some very much needed down time after a very full, very memorable weekend!
The two oldest children rang in the new year with friends. The rest rang in the new year with us. For once though we did not stay home. We had a square dance at our church and then board games. There was lots of food to be eaten and I do believe a fun time was had by all. The house was quiet here until 10 am this morning. (I think that has to be a first!) I enjoyed coffee, a book and watched the snow gently falling. (The first real snow this winter and the first snow this year! :o) ) I didn't take the camera with me, so I have no photos, sadly.
I loafed around today. Did nothing but read a good book -- and well I did do my workout too. I better have, since I also ate bon bons :o). The girls' school work still got finished, and in the meantime I finished my book. I would call it a good day!
On Saturday, we had our family Christmas with the Engineer's side of the family. It was different, but good. We were the hosts this year for the first time ever. Since Mom is gone, we all felt that this year should be as different as possible. Different place, different date, different time, and even different food. There were sentimental moments, but there was also lots of fun, laughter, and joy -- thanks to the precious great grandchildren.
On Sunday, we had our church Christmas dinner. I got smart this year and signed up as soon as I could to bring buns. Pretty easy since Peach works at a marvelous bakery! I needed buns for Saturday too, so I just put in my order and voila! On Saturday morning, I sent Nathanael and Peach (she actually took the day off) to pick up delicious smelling, super fresh buns! We ate a bunch on Saturday, and then Sunday morning dropped several more dozen off in the kitchen, so the volunteers could get the tables ready for the evening.
I was in charge of getting the Children's Worship children ready for their part in the evening. What a hoot! They were all so cute!! Even my Wise Guys -- as I called them. They were the oldest boys; almost a little too cool for costumes, but not when you can be wise. :o)
The adorable Mary and Joseph.
Of course with children, you never know what will happen. One sweet little guy got a major case of stage fright and tore off the stage in tears and another little guy dropped his candy mid song. He popped it back in quick enough to avoid the five second rule.
They did a fantastic job and definitely stole the show!
Here it is six days into December, and I continue to live in denial that this is the season of joy. The season of light. The season of Christ's birth. This year it has been the season of complete exhaustion (so far). It doesn't show any signs of getting any better over the next week or two.
The homeschooling is going okay, but at the same time I am so frustrated with the way they learn -- or rather don't learn. I want to think that after them living here for over four years, in a strictly English speaking family, that they would speak more clearly by now. I had hoped that they would be thinking for themselves. Neither of these have happened -- at least not regularly.
One of the girls is seeing an educational psychologist and we hope to have the other one see him in the new year because we are beginning to suspect some level/type of ADHD.
Last year, I got to experience my time being fully my own. This year because I am homeschooling again that of course does not happen. Up until June, I had a beautiful routine of cleaning, baking, tidying, and ridding our home of excess junk stuff. Since the summer holidays began the house has fallen further and further into disarray, baking gets done only on a much needed loud complaint basis, and cleaning? Well that hasn't happened much at all either.
Fortunately because the craft room has now become the school room, the storage room has really been living up to its name, and the craft room stays relatively tidy. Just don't try to find anything in the one end of the storage room.
Yesterday, the Engineer had to take care of some family business and I was left to ferry children to and from Christmas related events. I'm coming down with a cold, and on Tuesday I get to have a colonoscopy. What was I thinking letting them book me for one of those babies in December!?
Ah well. This too shall pass. Nothing a couple of good night's sleeps and a good body cleansing won't cure. :oD!
On the bright side, it's not all doom and gloom. I still get to go to my weekly ladies Bible study thanks to the generous grandbaby sitting of my parents. Annnnd! I coached volleyball again this year. I would say that it's quite therapeutic for me. I coached the boys again this year. Having only one son, I get a real kick out of spending time with twelve of them at one time. They are quite the bunch. They surprised me by making it all the way to the finals this year and winning the pennant. We've come close a couple years with teams that we really thought would win the pennant, these boys surprised us! I couldn't be prouder. They all worked hard and were nothing short of amazing on game day.
Finally, even better!? The girls took home the pennant this year too!! Can you find my girlie?
Last Friday dawned sunny and cool. We dug out our winter coats, hats and mittens, and headed off to our nearby farmer's market for some fall day fun.
The Ida Reds were perfect for picking.
Such a ham, this one!
Smart girl! Made sure she could still eat her apple while carrying a pumpkin.
I told them ahead of time that they needed to be able to carry their pumpkins themselves. Can you tell this is the child for whom rules instructions were made to be disobeyed.
