Hayden's Costume and Pie

Today Hayden and I went in the newly refilled pool with our shirts on. Unfortunately his was the last one in the drawer, so we had to borrow one of Sage's shirts afterward. He looks like he's wearing a Sean costume, as I knew him before he moved out to Vancouver. IE wearing a baby t, spiked hair, no pants...



And HERE is my domestic creation to beat all others! I made FROM SCRATCH a Peach and Raspberry Pie! The crust was fun. I've never made a pie crust before, but I inherited a pastry .. uh.. masher I guess, when my dad purged stuff from his kitchen. When I took it I thought it was a potato masher, oddly shaped. It's got a horizontal handle and attached to it is a horseshoe shaped band of metal. The band is divided into 4 or 5 blades at the bottom of the U. I saw Anna Olsen using one just like it on Sugar the other week and I said "hey! That's like my potato masher!" and then it occurred to me that I might be able to make pie crusts by hand too. I'd only ever seen them being made by food processor on tv before. And I don't have a food processor. The raspberries are from up the lawn, and the peaches were on sale at Food Basics yesterday, $2.88 for a whole basket. I had to do something with them today because they were very ripe. Jake can use the basket for blueberry picking (or raspberries now I guess, since it might be too late for blueberries.) Anyway take a look at my pie. I can't wait to dig into it after supper tonight!

Check out the flakey crust...

Here's a closer look.. you can actually see the flakiness...

Incidentally if anyone wants to come over for pie.. you're quite welcome!

Been a while, eh?

A friend of mine posted on her blog that the summer was causing a big slowdown in posting frequency, and I have to agree.

Pretty soon I'll be returning to work at Canadian Blood Services. Tuesday September fourth to be exact. Mindilicious's birthday! I'll think of you all day long while they recertify me in WHMIS (for the toner LOL), Company Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP - basically means instead of scribbling over something when you make a mistake, you have to draw a line, initial and date. But they like taking a few hours a year to explain so in buggerish great detail.) and other lovely programs and policies. I'll see all the changes that have occured while I was gone, and I'll say phrases like this, I'm going to wager... at least 20 times: "Yep! I'm back." or "No actually I don't miss the kids too much yet." and the obligatory "Yes of course I missed YOUR smiling face THE MOST while I was gone." I'm keeping my Pennington's job when I go back, because I can work a shift or two a week in exchange for the 50% discount, oh and the paycheque.

So I'm taking a French course. Wanna know why? It's complicated, and I'm not sure how confidential, but I wasn't told it was, so anyway.. well,whatever. I'm probably making too much of this as an issue --

- insert footage of Monty Python's Holy Grail when the army stands on the crest of a hill and they all shout in unison "GET ON WITH IT!!" -

ANYWAY I am taking advantage of the career bridging program that CBS offered me since the new automated voice messaging (AVM) they're going to implement either at the end of November or January is going to mean I'm possibly laid off. So they gave me this information package which outlines how much CBS will pay either to move or to take courses. I decided to take French as a second language at College Boreal. I had a very fun assessment call from the teacher who said I could start at beginner level two. She almost said I could go into three, but my verb congigation wasn't so hot. SO If I take a few french courses, I'll be able to apply to more jobs. If I'm laid off. Sigh. I don't even know when I'll know if I'm laid off. Management said they would know the size of the new team in mid-September. A lot of CSRs are getting bumped off dayshift. Not laid off tho, they were promised AVM wouldn't cost them their jobs. (Too bad we ALL didn't get that promise.) ANYWAY I'm getting slightly bitter, so I'll just change the subject.

We're refilling the pool for the .. uh.. fourth time this summer. Good thing water is free! It isn't even costing our landlords any money because we're on a bypassed hose connected to the house (along with all the other houses and businesses in this immediate area) due to the construction happening on the highway right beside our house. We've had the bypass for almost two months now. Because the hoses lie on top of the ground, the water from the 'cold' tap is often warm and sometimes hot! I had to empty the pool again because it got really cloudy, and everything I kept adding to it just made it cloudier and cloudier. It ended up looking like milk. I bought a pool clarifier which said specifically not to use it with the type of pump I had, but I couldn't forsee why it would've said that, and thought that turning the pump off for the duration of its use would be sufficient. Nope. The REASON you can't use it with the type of pump we have is: The chemical causes the cloudy chemicals to clump together and they no longer are able to float suspended in the water. They sink to the bottom. Yay! So that happened. But then you have to vacuum out the layer of white gunk. Unfortunately the "clumps" are still small enough to pass right through the filter we have in the vacuum and the pump. Sigh. So there was nothing I could do except stir it all up again and empty it out. Luckily the water we're filling it up with isn't cold :o)

Kitty is getting a tummy on her. She is due to have her kittens on September 10th. That's the 63rd day after she had her romantic liaison with that little black tom who came a-callin. Did you know girl cats are called Queens? I think that's so much nicer than dog lingo - we all know what female dogs are called. I hope I'm home when she goes into labour. Maybe I should get a kitty midwife to baby sit her.

Ta ta for now!

Cousinly Influence

My tuff cousin saw this and was reminded of me, sort of. I thought it was funny and wanted to share with y'all.

Summertime

Last weekend we went out to our friends' house for swimming, bbq, and drinks. We slept over and had a great time. Hayden rekindled his enjoyment of the pool because this inflatable dragon was just TOO enticing to stay out. I'm glad, cuz he's been scared of our pool ever since we first put it up cuz he slipped and went under the water the second time he went in. He was even scared of the bathtub for a while after that! But since the dragon was so fun, he's been in our pool too. I got him an inflatable fish ring, which he puts over his head and wears around his waist. If he slips (which he has) while wearing it, his armpits catch him on the fishy and his head doesn't go under water. Before he would wear the fish tho, he did slip and I caught him right away after he went under the water, and he wasn't too upset. I told him how brave he was and praised him and he didn't hardly cry or panic. I'm teaching him to lean back in the fish and kick his feet, and also to lean forward and kick his feet behind him. Maybe one day we'll go over to Penny's pool and play there too!

Hayden and Sabrina after I left the pool to take a picture of this event.

All the Nerpin's pool toys. How could ANYONE resist?

On Wednesday Rachael, John, Hayden, and I went out to Sandy's camp. We met up with Penny, Fionna, Elizabeth, Sandy, Wendi, Meghan, and Hannah. Oh and Carter and Sam the dogs. We had a great dinner and visit. Hayden of course was enthralled with everyone, and I've come to the conclusion he's a big flirt. At one point tho, he was in a trance-like state after a staring contest of sorts with Meghan.

The Trance

Hannah enjoying a wine spritzer.
See how happy wine spritzers make her? LOL
Penny ponders on the porch. Great view.
Elizabeth and Hayden bonding.

Weirdos

Szabbies Visit

Waiting for their arrival in a clean living room.

Jake prepared a beautiful platter for lunch.
Including fruit!
The Spread
Non-cranky babies onna couch. Doesn't Dhara look like Hayden? And I find Elora really looks like Anya in this shot too. (D beside H, E on the very right)
Ok ALL the non-cranky babies onna couch.
All kids' eyes are on funny Auntie Jennifer/Mommy.

"Give me a big smile, Anya!"
All the kids. Sage came back to see what was going on.
Anya and Hayden play in the empty toy bin. All the toys were dumped on the floor in his room. Sage tries to get in on the action.
Balancing on the edges.
Going from room to room with the box on their heads.

Dinner time, and another fruit platter.
Jake outdid his lunchtime platter with personalized initial fruit skewers.
Anya and Hayden enjoy theirs on his couch.
Until Anya dropped hers and refused to put the pieces on the table. She's hiding.

Carol and I went through all my mom's stuff last night and this afternoon. Everything except the written memorabilia and photo albums. It wasn't as hard as I had thought it might've been, emotionally speaking. It was actually really nice to be able to take the important things home with me. And Carol and I didn't have any conflicts, except for the Pogo comic books which ended up going home with her (a decision which seemed to happen when my mind was otherwise occupied) and my mom's bongos which Carol had wanted, but when Jake saw them in their van, he asked her if he could have them since he's been wanting bongos for a long time. (Which is true.) She was fine with that. There were lots of things that we both wanted, but felt that as long as they stayed within the family, that was close enough to having them. I guess access to them at each other's houses was a very close second to owning them.

Late this afternoon, BJ and Jake went off to do some shopping and stuff, and Carol and I had the kids. We decided to go to the park which is about a 20 minute walk away from here so the kids could slide and swing and play. It was lots of fun! Sage had a great time in the swing, laughing his head off for 15 minutes straight, and then falling asleep pretty much all of a sudden. While still swinging! He was so cute slumped over, but I hadn't brought the camera because we were so laiden down with keeping after everyone, we didn't think we'd have time or hands for photo ops. Carol had a harness for each of the twins and so she and I each wore a twin. I pushed Sage in the stroller and Anya and Hayden walked, holding Carol's hands crossing roads and when there was no sidewalk. We were out for about an hour when we noticed that the few puffy white clouds had become plentiful dark storm clouds. I called home to see if the men were back to give us a ride. They were and we drove home to have supper.

It's been one week since you looked at me...

said my blog to me today.

How could that week have gone by so fast? Weird.


I don't really have much to say. The other day the sky was really beautiful so I took some pictures.. here they are:

After I took those garden pictures, it really took off. The morning glories started up their strings, the pink petunia bloomed only two pink flowers, and all the rest of them were dark purple! Very strange. I noticed my garlic in the fridge had sprouted a light green stem, so I planted it in the garden too. Now it's dark green with spots of lighter green, almost like an aloe vera (is that normal?) and has about 4 thick chivey looking leaves coming out the top. My tomato has MANY flowers and is kind of leaning over. I NEED a tomato support cage asap. I'd started a couple extra pea plants inside and they were nice and tall, so I planted them the other day. A few weeks ago I'd soaked and added a few more pea seeds right to the ground, and I thought none of them had survived, but when I was planting the newest seedlings, I noticed two HAD survived although were quite small. We'll see how they grow!

Jake went blueberry picking the other day, and came back with a LOT of berries. They were so big and plump! We still have lots left, so I think I'll be making a blueberry cake this afternoon. My sister and her family are coming for the weekend, so it'll be nice for after supper tomorrow. The boys really like eating blueberries, and they're a nice convenient fruit to have cuz we can just put a handful on the highchair and Sage practices his pincher grasp picking them up one by one.

Garden Update

It's been a while since I took (and posted) pictures of my garden. So here's the update!

Here's the spinach and a snail statue my dad gave me a few years ago. The plant on the very left is actually a second shoot which came up after the initial stem fell over. It looks like there's three, but the middle one is the first one which has uprighted it's growth again. I did plant three to begin with, but the third died on a particularly hot day. I initially started five, but a couple of the seedlings didn't survive.
My LOVELY tomato flowers. So many buds and flowers.. so many tomatos in my future....
I need a proper sized tomato cage now. I still have the little cage around this one. I hope I can get it off! But look how big and lucious it is.
My VERY zealous petunias. The one on the right has had many many flowers, and the one on the left has just been growing to HUGE proportions but no flowers until just recently. You can see the pink one, and there are a few more buds to bloom soon.
The Phlox (smaller dark green plant with lighter green stripes on the leaves on the very left) looks like it might grow a bud soon. The Morning Glories in behind the petunias are several inches high, but not tall enough to reach the strings yet.
Pea Plants. With peas on 'em! I've eaten 6 or 7 already. One is usually ready every other day. Yesterday there were two ready at once and I gave them both to my dad. They are SO sweet and delicious! I have started 4 more plants inside, in the hopes that I'll eventually get to eat more than one every other day :oP
The other half of the pea section. They're very clingy and are climbing each other as well as the strings.
I planted jump ups here, and also forget me nots. I'm pretty sure these are one of those two types. The weeds growing in this area look a lot different, and see how these are kind of in a line? That makes me think they're intentional. We'll just have to wait and see! It's been quite a while since I planted those two types, and nothing's happened for weeks and weeks. Until NOW!
My garden from the side. I'm so proud!

Canada Day Events

On Canada day when I got home from work at 6pm, Jake surprised me with a hot picnic supper and all the extras all ready to go. After we decided where to go, we loaded up the car and packed in the kids and took off. We checked out a few places on our way to the place my dad had recommended, but none were quite suitable. Moonlight Beach was too crowded, Silver Lake didn't have a picnic table or a good spot for a picnic blanket, but Fielding Memorial Park was perfect. After dinner we took a walk and found a playground that Hayden and Sage thoroughly enjoyed. We drove around again and found a good high place off Van Horne to watch the fireworks from Science North which were to start at 10:15. We had bug spray and mosquito pics and long sleeves and jackets and were quite happy. At one point before the fireworks started Hayden wanted to sit in the car, and we all thought that it would be a good idea, so all four of us piled in the front seat and waited till showtime.

Our Family's Beverages

Piled in the Car

On the way home, the gorgeous moon hung low in the sky like a molten sphere of celestial gold.

The Videos

ASL don't fail me now...

Hey. You know when you go to college for a few years and rack up a huge student loan and then end up not doing anything even remotely related to it, and you realize the years and money you invested were nothing more than a very fancy and complicated and expensive way of meeting people? I met excellent friends at Cambrian, and I don't mean to say I don't value having met them.. I just wish it could've been under cheaper circumstances. But I'm digressing.

Tonight, just now in fact, we got a knock on our door. Jake held Lacey back (but not too far back, just in case because he didn't recognize the guy knocking) and I approached the screen door. To my surprise there was a Deaf guy standing there whom I'd known from college. He had dated my friend Angela for a while, until she left him cuz he hit her or something. Or else he beat some other girlfriend up and was on trial for it.. or something. Or raped someone. Or Angela. Anyway he was a creep. And now he's on my doorstep. ASL rules flooded my brain. My vocabulary lists roared back to the front of my memory. I impressed him with my eloquent fingerspelling AND reciprocation of HIS fingerspelling - which incidentally I received all the while keeping eye contact with him as per our instruction oh so many years ago. Even tho Joe [teacher] was no where to be seen and if I'd stared right at his hand it would NOT have mattered. The exchange went like this:

guy: "I need in the gate" also speaking the words.
me: "No, closed. sorry."
guy: "I have a delivery for Thomas. You know asl?"
me: "A little bit. Owner (had to fingerspell owner, I forgot that one) doesn't live here. We rent."
guy: "They told me to deliver on Tuesday but I'm here and thought if I could open the gate I could just finish now. What time do they open tomorrow?"
me: "sorry. Open around 7am."
guy: "ok thanks. bye."
me: "bye."

And now I will repeat the whole conversation with elaborations and "what I should've said"s for the next two days.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

My friends up in Yellowknife, Vanessa and Shane, have a daughter who's one year old today! I want to wish her all the best and a great day. Please visit www.livinginyellowknife.blogspot.com for photos of the birthday girl from birth and through her first year.

All my love to you Rileys,
Jennifer

Happy Half Birthday Hayden!

Today is June 24th, and Hayden's half-birthday. Due to the holiday hubub around his true birthday, Jake and I decided to celebrate his half-ones too. We'll give him his presents at his true birthday, but if we have a day solely focussed on him every year on June 24th, he might not get that "not so special as Christmas" feeling I've heard people with Christmas-time birthdays can get. So this year to celebrate, Jake and I are going out to dinner and a movie without the kids. LOL Actually that was just a coincidence. Jake secretly arranged with Fionna (cousin extraordinaire) to come babysit while we go out and view Evan Almighty. But before you protest too much, Hayden LOVES Fionna, and there's a chance that her sister Alicia might be coming as well, and Hayden loves her just as much. They're just so good with kids! This is actually a great treat for him. Also, my friend Cindy from college is coming by this afternoon, and I heard she's got gifts for the kids cuz we haven't seen each other in 3 years. SO THERE YA GO HAYDEN. The only thing missing is cake, and I've got some really ripe bananas in the kitchen and I'm thinking about trying my hand at a banana cream pie. Everything's covered! I hope your days will be as full of love and happiness as mine.

oh and I dreamt last night that my mom hadn't really died. She was just doing some really serious relaxation techniques trying to recover. She could walk and everything. I even asked myself if I was dreaming, and pinched my arm. I asked her why I saw her in a box and why did they sign the death certificate, and WHY did she let it go on so long? We had had her funeral! She was explaining that the doctor who'd pronounced her dead was really old and had gotten it wrong. I was so happy that when I woke up and remembered that it wasn't real, of course I cried and cried. So that and a stiff and sore neck has put a damper on the morning, but I am determined not to let it affect my wonderful afternoon's plans!

Solstace anyone?

Today is the longest day of the year. It's 10:20pm as I write this, and there is still light in the sky. I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn't turn out. You'll just have to trust me. I wonder what those Yellowknifers are doing to celebrate the solstace?

As promised, here are the pictures of our visit to the Nerpin's last week, including Jake in a Haystack.

Jake said "Don't throw me the camera, cuz I could drop it between the bales and it would be like trying to find a camera in a haystack." and also when Chris threw a bale of hay at him, Jake said "Careful! I have a family to think of! I could lose a shoe..." Both of which I thought were enormously funny.

And now, video footage of part of our day today:



This evening, Thursday, Hayden saw the opening to that pirate reality show and started reciting this poem he heard on Four Square on TUESDAY. I had no idea he'd learned it, he hadn't mentioned it or recited it before UNTIL he saw the pirate ship! I was amazed. After an hour of trying to remember, I recalled all the words to the poem and helped fill out the parts he was leaving out. Way to be smart Hayden!

Some Videos of the Kids

Here's Sage and the dark film of him crawling.



Here's Hayden playing with Chris and Sabrina's dog Ellie at their house. We had a bbq over there last week. Pictures of Jake on a haystack to follow.

Crawling

Oh and Sage started crawling on Monday, after we got back to my dad's house from the funeral. It was great to have a little bright spot on that day. He'd been passed around from person to person at the reception, and once we got settled in at my dad's we put him on the floor. He just took off! Five little wobbly crawling steps all in a row. And I was staring right at him at the time too. We tried to video it but it was very late afternoon and the sun was bright, but not shining on the floor any more. The vids are dark and you can hardly see anything. I'll post some others I took later, I haven't felt like it yet.

Father's Day and Bits and Pieces

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Also some other things. My pea plants have flowers and the flowers are turning into peas! I didn't know that's how that happened, but it makes sense now that I think about it. They're about a foot high, and I didn't expect peas until they were loads taller. My petunia plant has had 3 blooms and has 3 or 4 more buds. They're purple with white, but sometimes they're white with purple. I wonder how they decide? I've got two other flower plants but they haven't yet bloomed. Three morning glories have sprouted. I planted those at the very end of May. I also strew Forget-me-nots in front of the peas, and now there's something growing there, but I can't tell if they're weeds or the seeds. They were from my cousin Rob's wedding 2 summers ago, so I wasn't sure if the seeds would still grow. My tomato is very leafy and growing great! I needs to get a bigger cage for it, cuz the leaves are touching the walls of the existing one.

Our pool is a wonderful thing. It's been so hot the past couple weeks we've been extremely thankful that our friends gave it to us.

Kitty is proving to be good at catching small moving things. Just today she brought home a little birdy. Jake saw her drop it off on the front porch, and it was still peeping and moving so we tried to catch it and move it up the lawn to recover, but it ran under the car to hide. I was sad she hurt a little bird, but I'm glad she's good at catching.

Recovery

Slowly getting used to the idea that my mom's gone. Wait. nope. not yet.

sorry I can't blog about the service.

Here are some photos of us in the backyard at my dad's afterwards.

Adjustment

Small change of itinerary at the funeral home: There's visitation with the family from noon to 1pm, then the service is from 1 till 2pm or so, following that will be the reception with sandwiches till approximately 3pm. The plan to continue things at my dad's place is unchanged.

Thanks.

Memorial for my Mother

There's a memorial service for my mom at Jackson and Barnard on Monday June 11th at noon, and then visitation with the family from 1-3 at the funeral home. Afterwards and into the evening tea and coffee will be served at my dad's house for those unable to make it to J & B but who still want to visit and pay respects. The address is 1250 Lillian Blvd. Turn left off Barrydowne at the lights after the Lasalle/Barrydowne intersection. Go all the way to the end of the street, follow the road around the corner and his is the second house after the empty lot on the right.

Hope to see you there.

My Mother

My mother passed away early this morning from kidney, lung, and heart problems. She went peacefully in her sleep. She'd been in the hospital since March 21st. She was 65.

I don't know what else to say. I'm very sad and I'm going to miss her fiercely.

Carol's Birthday!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy BIRTHDAY dear Caaaarolll,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Congrats on turning 34! Good Job.

heh heh now you're 2 years older than me again.

Adventures in Single Parenting

Today Jake is helping Chris and Sabrina move. They picked him up, so I have the car. Woo hoo! The freedom! (and like the ants in space on that Simpson's episode, I'm scared.) We needed milk and burgers for the bbq tonight and some fruit, so I decided to Take Both Kids To The Store, By Myself, For The First Time. I decided to go to the Independant grocery store on Lasalle, because I know they have carts with two seats for kids. Their prices are a little higher than our regular Food Basics, but I was willing to pay for the two seats.

I was concerned that upon our trundly exit from the house Lacey (dog) might take the oportunity to bolt out the door. But I forgot that when Jake's not around, she listens to me very well. She started towards the door when she heard me get my keys. I was holding 23+ lb Sage (more now for sure because his last weigh in was 2 months ago) and my purse and Hayden's hand, and I just looked at Lacey and said NO. WAIT OVER THERE. And she did! I opened the door, we went out, I closed it behind me, and only then did I hear her approach the door and look out at us. Well, I didn't hear her looking, I turned around and saw her. Geeze you're so picky.

I opened the back doors of the car to let out some of the muggy hot air.. not much help because it's a muggy hot day to begin with. Hayden climbed into his carseat while I strapped Sage in, then went back to Hayden to do up his buckle. I got in, turned on the air conditioning, and away we went to the store! I had a bit of a time concern because it was 11:30 and Sage would be needing lunch soon. But he seemed to be happy enough, and I'd given him part of a banana as a snack. Plus with my short list, I figured we wouldn't take very long. When we got to the parking lot of the new and improved store (they just finished a million-dollar makeover) I saw that they had SPORTSCAR SHOPPING CARTS! I was so excited that there was one available to use, and it didn't cost anything either! I checked it out before I put the boys in, cuz I thought for sure there would've been a slot for the $5 bill. They charge you for the sportscar stroller at the mall. But this one was free! I strapped the boys in and away we went! The side-by-side seats face forwards and both kids have their own steering wheel. It was blue moulded plastic and there was a handy place for my purse behind their heads. The cart part of the car was full-sized and in front of their knees. It was lots longer than a regular shopping cart, and kinda hard to steer in tight places, but the aisles were large and the only time I had a problem was when a little old lady cut me and another little old lady off. I tried to lift the car to move it over some, but it was so heavy I couldn't lift it. Oh well! I just wish I'd had my camera, cuz the boys were so cute in that thing.

Both kids were really good while I got milk, asparagus, batteries, and a couple other things. I used the self-serve checkout which I love (boop! boop!) and we went back to the car. Hayden started to get nervous that his ride might be coming to an end when I put the groceries in the car, and after I we got back to the cart depot in the parking lot and I undid his seatbelt, he was in a full baby panic attack. He's such a little monkey! From the ground he held my arm and the handlebar of the cart and stuck one long leg up in the air to try and climb back in. I think if I'd let him, he would've made it too! I got Sage out and took Hayden firmly by the hand and we went back to the car. He cried until we were about 1/3 of the way home. He's gotten a cough from somewhere yesterday so his little voice was raspy and sad sounding. He was also very tired cuz we were all up early.

All in all, I had an ok time, even tho the end was tearful for Hayden. I hadn't expected HIM to be the upset one. I gave them both lunch and now they're having their afternoon naps. I think I could do that again sometime! Maybe.