Frozen Pipe Cracked Windshield Frozen Pipe Cracked Pipe SCHOOL

I'll catch you up on life in our family since last Wednesday.

On wednesday night we discovered our hot water pipes had frozen. This was inconvenient. The landlord said he would be able to send someone over the next day to fix it. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, however that particular Thursday we were taking a day trip to North Bay for Hayden to see the Ear Nose and Throat doctor and have supper with the Szabbies. He's had 6 ear infections in the past 12 months, and the GREAT doc in N. Bay will be doing tubes (actually super tiny little beads to allow air through the ear drums) and adenoidectomy some time in February. This story is very condensed. I was upset that the landlord wanted to send some guy over to our house while we weren't there, but what else could we do. Not much. So we left Thursday morning for the Bay and ate lunch, saw the doc, had an awesome visit with the Szabbies, and ate a yummy supper too. Good friends cared for Tilly while we were gone. We got home not-so-late Thursday night and had a fun time running the hot water. We left it dripping, as recommended by those in the know, to prevent it from freezing up again. I should mention that this week we've been having record-breaking low temperatures of (close your eyes Yellowknifers, it's nothing compaired to your temps) -30 and below. Quite cold. -40 is the same in Celcius and Farenheight, to give the American readers a point of reference. Friday morning was uneventful, showers were had by Hayden and me, hot water still good. On the way home from work, the tiny chip in the windshield which had come with the car (already a spider and beyond the fix that they can do) popped into a 2 foot crack. Damn. And since then has grown to 3 feet long. We need to get it fixed the next time we have a spare.. uh.. wad of cash. [wonders to self how much a windshield costs.] Saturday morning we woke up to frozen pipes again. We called the landlord to ask if the guy who'd fixed it Thursday could call us to tell us if we could do anything. The landlord said we could use a hairdryer. Jake got my hair dryer out and took it to the back and began thawing. About 15 minutes later he called to me, quite calmly, and said "I need help." I was in the living room with the kids. I turned while asking him what did he need help with, and as he said the words "A pipe burst" I took in the (now hillarious) image of him standing in the kitchen, dripping and soaking wet in all his clothes. I took the phone from him and called all three numbers of our landlord, trying to get a hold of him. No luck. Jake turned off the water to the house (after I told him where it was) and an hour later the landlord called back. He said we should turn off the water to the house. Yuh. He's a brilliant man, our landlord. He coudn't get anyone to come right away, but promised someone would be by at 5 or 6pm. It was noon, and we'd already had no water for an hour. At 8pm (scathing look in the landlord's direction) the guy showed up and said he didn't have the parts to fix it. It was a Saturday and Home Depot is just up the road, open till 9pm on Saturdays. But I bit my tongue. He came back the next morning at 9am and fixed it. We melted snow to flush the toilet once. Arg. When I told this story to someone at work she asked why we didn't go to the store and buy large bottles of water. Frankly, we never thought of it. It only occurred to us to melt snow at 7pm Saturday night.

And then. Monday came. And with it ... a decision. Jake and I decided that Hayden (and Sage when he's older) will go to French Emersion. And since we want to give Hayden as much background with the language as we can between now and next fall, the best place for him to learn is Junior Kindergarten, which he is now signed up to attend. His first day will be February 3rd. He'll go for the full day on Tues, Thurs, and every other Friday! He will take the bus and have a backpack and take his lunch and ..and ..and :) Mommy is very excited about this. I've already started introducing him to French, and he knows quite a few colours, can count up to 5 reliably (and somewhat unreliably to 10), and we're starting on a few simple phrases and clothing pieces. I'm nervous but excited, and I know he'll be just fine. I took him to the dentist today because someone told me they had to go before school but I learned it's not obligatory. He was a perfect little patient! They counted his teeth and even polished them with the "tooth tickler" then the dentist came in and scraped a little spot, complimented how nice his teeth are, and then Hayden got a new toothbrush and a toy from the treasure chest. He didn't squirm or protest or anything! I was so proud of him.

And now you're caught up. Oh. Tilly has her licence to dog, and we have a spay coupon for her, good till March. $115 off the price of a spay, so it'll cost about $200 to get her done. And NOW you're all caught up.

Super Heroes Spotted Near Sudbury

My friend Jenny and her son Keegan's heroic alter egos are discovered...

Take that, Bear!

Here we come to save the day!

How you doin', house? says the giant

Happy New Year, dammit.

Well it's a new year now. I haven't had a shower all year. Badum dum. I haven't been outside all year. Badum dum. I've been wearing the same clothes all year, and they're jammies. Badum dum. I've been making these jokes all day (all year. Badum dum). It's almost my favourite time of year, just because of the jokes. You can say on the night of "This is the last time I'm going to tell you I love you all year"; or "This is the last time I'll see my children all year". It's gloriously corny and I've been driving Jake crazy with them. So crazy in fact that he's twisted his beard into a "trifecta" as he calls it, and even put three elastics on the tufts. "Try a trifecta" he said. He hasn't trimmed his beard all year. Badum dum.

We put the kids to bed last night and watched movies and tv until midnight. I tried not to fall asleep but I did end up taking a few unauthorized naps on the way out of 2008. Then we went to bed. Uneventful. Jake said next year we would be doing something more exciting. Maybe poker? Maybe something more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Are monkeys really that much fun? And a whole barrel of them, would that be funny? I think it would be pretty sad. Especially the bottom monkeys. They'd be all poop covered and squished and probably pretty bitter and viscious.

Hope you all are safe and healthy and happy. Lots of love,

Jennifer, Jake, and Hayden typed out his and his brother's names:

HAYDEN
SAGE

Happy New Year! *gag cramp*

Well the flu that I have had since a week before Christmas is still with me. I saw the clinic doctor yesterday who said "it's either viral or bacterial" ordered some tests and sent the results to my family doctor, who is so busy, by the time I get an appointment in his office I probably will be done with this. And then he'll say "yep you were sick. You had XXX." Or he'll say "yep you were sick. You didn't have XXX though." It doesn't change the fact that I am not feeling well now.

I am finally posting our Christmas pictures tho. Hooray for small accomplishments.

We went to my dad's on the evening of the 23rd for some dinner and visiting with my dad's friend Adrien and also Granty Penny and Gruncle Ron. Notice the snowflakes on the wall above the "fireplace". My dad has maybe 200 unique hand-crafted paper snowflakes that he painstakingly made over about 20 years, 70's to 90's.

Adrien helping Anya and Hayden figure out how to make that happy meal toy fly.

I love my dad's tree. This is the morning of the 24th, our family Christmas day. (and Hayden's birthday too)

Rounding the kids up in their matching pj's for the photo.

Of course, some of them were more difficult to make sit on the couch. Sage needed to be held. Looks like he's developing quite the ab of steel! I only just noticed in this photo.

Opening some presents. Or explaining why you can't just rip all the paper off all the presents. This was Elora's present and they all wanted to help rip.

Playing dinky cars together like matching cousins should.
Our Christmas morning. Not many photos because I was feeling rotten.

We discovered that Tilly is a size 2T. Much to her chagrin. This was a few days before christmas.

Feel the squishing suffocating love. You can hear Tilly saying "oh god".

Have a Happy New Year everyone. Stay safe. Don't drink and drive.

Happy Birthday Vanessa!!

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To youuu!
Happy BIRTHDAY dear VANESSSSSSAAAAAA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO YOUUUUUUU!!!

(and manyy mooore...)

stomach flu christmas

sorry for no blogs or pictures.. I got stomach flu on the 24th and haven't felt like doing much. it's mostly better.. just lingering nausea.. or is that hunger? I can't tell. either way, yuk.

Merry Christmas

To all and to all a good night!

Hayden's Pictures

Jake and I gave Hayden and Anya Sesame Street cameras for their birthdays. Here's some of Hayden's artistic views.

Photos of the Birthday Party - my set

So. Pine Ridge Ranch. Ponies. Cake. Presents. Family. Friends. Pictures. Here you go.

Brothers in law confer about bbq strategies.

The two ponies. You can see the BIG pony is quite a bit taller than the TINY pony.

Pictures in the cold = lots of timing required with regard to breathing out.

And I thought snowflakes from the Snowman photo shoot had made spots on my lens, but upon further consideration, I believe the dust particles in the air (floor of sand) are reflecting the light.

Jenny and Frenchy and their son Keegan.

Outdoors.

Brave Anya was the first to ride the pony.

Hayden on his way to the Tiny Pony.

Everyone patting Tiny Pony's nose.

Go Hayden! Go Hayden!

Yay for me in the picture too!

Apparently there's dischord between Pine Ridge Ranch and where we went in October for pony rides, Wagon Wheel Ranch because they never use helmets. I think the two factions are like the Jets and the Sharks.

Hayden prematurely blew his candles out before we could sing.

But then he got the timing right :)

Three Pink Girls and a Purple Aunt

It was a cute little cabin. Outhouse only though, around the corner round back. Cold. Clean. Too scary for Hayden.

Sandy is signing "pig" by accident I think.

Chris and Wendi

One of the cool presents Hayden received.

Checking out the cousin's present.

A big thank-you hug for Poppa/Grampa for the movie Peter Pan.

Jenny and family had to leave before presents. This is them opening yours Keegan! note the extreme happy expressions. well, Hayden's expression is visible. Anya is excited but hidden.

Me, Penny, Carol

Awww more thank you hugs.

Sage is trying to see what's in this box. A truck.

Anya wrote this birthday note ALL BY HERSELF. I was thoroughly impressed.

Jake and loot.

Thanks to everyone for all their help and for coming out on such a snowy day! I know the kids had a great time because of you. Lots of love all around!!!!!