confused

i taught another class on Saturday. it was a pretty busy day. i also kept myself up late on Friday night. and Thursday night. by 5pm Saturday i was exhausted! the good kind of exhausted.

i also hadn't eaten much that day, so it was a treat to eat my supper in front of the television. it is a rare treat. then i promptly closed my eyes and had cat naps for the next 2 hours. by the time my down-time was done i felt so much better. a little reminder to relax at times like that and not worry about the work that should have been getting done.

when i started my little rest time it was cold and rainy outside. 3 hour south of us was already on their second day of snow.

when i rose from my fabulous quiet time i learned that the air turned even colder and the rain turned to snow. as Aidan put it, "there is snow falling and getting mixed up with the rain."



May 29. snow. it was just a few weeks ago that we hit 30 degrees Celsius and we had the air conditioning turned on. we smelled like sunscreen. we were enjoying any and every meal we could eat of hamburgers, steak and grilled suppers.



this is what it looked like this morning.

yuck.

our "plan" was to do some major yard work this week. the "weather" plans to rain. rain. with a few days of sun.

que sera?

the things they say

many years ago i got a tip from a fellow teacher. he commented how interesting conversations between kids got when they didn't think you were listening. he was referring to a day when he drove a group of the students on a field trip and they chatted happily in the backseat. he also learned things about them that were really interesting. {this theory could also explain why kids are so loud in the car...they think the parents turn off their ears!}


what i am noticing at this stage of our family is the interesting things they learn or think they learn. goes back to the old adage, "don't believe everything you hear". better yet, a reminder to my teaching days when i used to frequently say, "if you believe everything your child says that happens at school, then i'll believe everything they say that happens at home". 


early in the school year i overheard Aidan tell Kiara not to make funny faces. his reason was that her face would stay that way. 
ha! sound like something your mother told you? 
at this point, i had not said that to my kids. after a few questions i learned that one of his classmates told him this news of great importance. it was also determined to be true because "his mother told him". 

last night i was privileged to listen to another conversation of great importance to the universe. a few boys chatting during a soccer break.

first kid: "my mom said i have potatoes growing in my ears"

second kid: "my mom says i have honey growing in mine"

{note the "my mom says" holds great value here}

then my son pipes up: "i have an eardrum"

{note that he does not begin his statement with "my mom". it should also be noted that he loves to read any book of research on space, the human body or star wars.}

at that point the conversation switched to another topic. we all "love" a little nerd shaking up the thought process that a mom's statement can be wrong. gasp!

the other night he accidentally kicked one of the mom's feet. i think his legs are growing too quickly that he doesn't realize where they are half the time. i asked him to apologize with a quick sorry even though he didn't intend to do it. he was not so willing. the parent was fine and understood, but he's old enough to accept the consequences to his actions. even if it was accidental and no one was hurt. i want him to be considerate of others and not be selfish or develop a mean reputation.

it took a few minutes, but he finally managed to get the words out.

later, he commented about the situation. he said that he didn't like some of the things her son tried to get him to do. he also felt a bit bullied by the boy. i'm right there watching most of this, so i understood what he was saying. he does what he can to handle himself with him, but will come escape to me if it is more than he can handle. as it turns out he didn't want to apologize to the mother of this boy who was so unkind to him and the others on their team.

i found his perspective interesting.





last night they played a team that was quite aggressive. there were a few tears from several of the players on our team. at one point there was a pile up and the ball was in the middle. Aidan was one that was on the bottom of the pile and near the ball. the kids are so young that all they can think about is to kick the ball! in the commotion, Aidan ended up getting kicked a few times in his leg. it took every ounce of strength in me to not cry with him. sometimes parenting just sucks!

when he started to feel better he told me that he wanted to take more gymnastics classes. as i listened i couldn't help but remember the day when Kiara fell and how i felt about it. i was beginning to contemplate keeping my kids in a padded room! he explained to me, if he could take twice as much gymnastics then he would be strong enough to go back to soccer and not let anyone hurt him.

where do they find the reasoning to think of this stuff?!


when his daddy was a boy, he attended a pretty rough school. i think he saw more nasty stuff in those first 10 years of his life than others do in their lifetime. {i am friends with one of his teachers, and she has quite a few crazy stories as well. runaway kids at recess. knives in the classroom. stories that make you cringe and thank God for your present situation!}
a few of the kids did not like being bullied by the gang members. {imagine that!} instead, they formed their own gang of the "good guys". Kris was the gang leader. {oh the irony!} we don't plan to set Aidan up for the same experiences as his daddy...but i think that "must help the less fortunate" mentality must be very much a part of his own personality.

something

we're nearing the first year anniversary of being in our new home.

we are celebrating by giving the yard an much needed makeover.

you see, when we were looking for homes we really wanted one that was landscaped. "landscaped" in a new build area means about the same thing as "finished basement" in an older neighbourhood. we wanted to do nothing more than enjoy someone else' hard work, with the biggest chore requiring the lawn mower.

we learned a new lesson.

many people who love to live in new homes have learned that "landscaped" yards sell better. these same people lack any care of what they plant, instead they buy from the sale rack and pay no attention to planting directions.

we now also know that there are others out there that use a hand shovel to dig the hole for a sapling. or at least can't dig a hole larger than the bucket it was sold in.

sigh.

i guess we can be thankful the topsoil and sod is in?




time to break out the old garden shovel.

we consulted with another neighbour who happens to be an experienced and trained landscaper. he got our vision started and now we are EXCITED!!!

Kristian will rent a rototiller next week and we will have some awesome garden beds. we went a little shopping crazy at the greenhouses this weekend. the weather was awful, so the yard work and sweat had to be delayed.



i brought 4 of these little spruce saplings from our old home last summer. 3 did not survive the winter. this one is doing very well. it was just a single stem last year. this was a total surprise. our guess is that it is a baby blue spruce. but that could be completely wrong.



we planted the apple tree. of course it had blooms when we bought it, but now they are done. it is doubtful we will get any apples this year, but all four of us are excited about having a brand new apple tree. quite funny, really.



this is a new one for us. Coppertina Ninebark. so far, it is my favourite.

we also have a Tannenbaum Pine tree. it is tiny and cute! we finally bought some cranberry bushes. Kristian has some blueberry bushes and i have a rose bush. a plot of daylillies and irises will be planted too. i bought another clematis vine too. did i mention the couple who bought our old house chopped down my HEALTHY and full clematis? it broke my heart. i would have gladly dug it up and moved it with me had i known.

anyways. it is awesome to see the old, dying trees gone and slowly being replaced with our choices. i think it is all good in the end. it feels like a fresh start. the kids are at a perfect age where they care and enjoy choosing with us. Kiara wants a purple tree with pink flowers. Aidan thinks it is awesome we will have a tree with real maple leaves on it.

we also had a few days this winter that saw the temperature reach -50 below. i've never felt it that cold. sadly it was brutal on some of the trees as well. even though we would probably get reimbursed for it, i'm glad we didn't plant anything in the fall.

there you have it. the season of yardwork has now begun.