Crazy hair day

It was crazy hair day on Friday at Monkey's school. This is hands down, our favorite of the special themed days.

He requested a green side, an orange side and a blue stripe down the middle. He was so pleased with the results!

Monkey's concert

Video to come when we get the chance. Sadly it is hard to distinguish between the photos taken by Dave and those taken by Big C. The plastic is off the camera now Bussey...so I don't know what to tell you. We did have it set to "kids and animals" maybe that was the problem.

First kept Big C distracted by letting him take pictures. He grabbed this one of Peter. Then some of the ceiling and the folks around us.

The boys sat patiently during the concerts by the older kids. Some concert band stuff and some clarinet and brass solos.

Then it was time for the primary choir to sing, and sing they did. Monkey did a wonderful job of projecting his voice and remembering the words. At the end he told me that he felt very good about his performance.

Great job buddy!!

How to keep kids distracted during a wedding when it is 30 degrees inside a gym?

You give them the camera, and let them have at 'er

The weather outside is delightful, our blogging has been frightful!

My appologies to all. We have had a wonderful couple of weeks but have not taken the time to come here and share that : ) Our camera was in use first by the Bussey Family and then immediately by Nuyanne. We got it back, took more shots and the batteries died : (

We spent this weekend on the GO! A birthday party with 40 children on Saturday morning that boys boys attended and then our Saturday afternoon movie matinee. This past weekend Pinocchio was on the bill. We got through most of it but the power went out. The kids took that pretty well and played with the Lego table instead.

Sunday was a blur of church, wedding and late night fireworks. Monday Dave helped a friend with his deck while the wife and I took the four kids to the local water park. I took the camera out to grab pictures and the batteries promptly died.

We're all back at school and work today to rest up from our ultra busy weekend.

Monkey's Portfolio

Monkey is nearing the end of grade one. We got invited in to be toured through his portfolio. This is a collection of all of the work that he has done from the beginning of the year until now.
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He Showed me, in French, how he can read words he couldn't read at the beginning of the year, he took me on a tour with his paper little monkey, of a story about home and school.

We're really proud of how far our man has come.

Of note, Monkey was aware that another boy's mom was going to be about 45 minutes late. Monkey knew that this little boy would be sitting, alone, waiting, for 45 minutes. He asked me that morning on our way in if we could please sit with Micheal so that he would not be by himself. I was so proud of his big heart. We sat with Micheal and made sure that he was not alone.

It's here! It's here!

Check it out!
Monkey has his first wiggly tooth.
Mommy discovered it tonight while getting him ready to brush his teeth.
He's so growing up!

So when do you stop being a mom?

I was chatting with a friend of mine about Mother’s Day. Her mother lives in Ottawa, so does she. My friend is in her 20’s and has children. She will call her mother on Mother’s day. She will not do more than that. She feels that her mother has had her chance at Mother’s day and now it is her turn to shine. I guess for her, her mother’s job is finished.

Being a mother means living with your heart walking around outside of your body. It means tensing up when the phone rings and it is the school/day care/person who has your child. Being a mom means that you understand what it is like to love someone so much you think that you could explode with it. It also means that you understand being so angry/frustrated/disappointed that you could explode with it-yet desperately loving them at the same time. Motherhood is full of conflicting emotions.

So when will I be finished being a mom? Has my mom stopped being my mom? I guess it depends on how rigid or fluid your definition of the role is. I still call my mom every time I screw up a recipe and ask her what I can do to save it. I still give my children’s ripped clothing to my mom to sew (I never came out of the house with a sewing machine, I’ll still using that as an excuse!), my mom is well known by Monkey’s day care and has car seats in her car. My children each sleep at Grandma and Grandpa’s house a couple of times per month.

My mom doesn’t take care of me when I’m sick, she hasn’t in years, but she has taken my sick kids for me when the situation arose. She doesn’t pay my bills any more, but she helped to teach me how to pay them for myself. My mom no longer drives me to and from the mall or part time jobs, but next Friday she’ll drive me to get my second annual mammogram and ultrasound so that I don’t have to go alone.

My children run past me and right into my mother’s arms. I don’t have a room at her house anymore, but they do. My mother stocked her house completely with dairy free foods when Big C and I couldn’t eat dairy. She taught herself to make soy, dairy free, cheesecake. My mother got invited to the volunteer breakfast at Monkey’s school since she has helped out as much as I have this year.

So, is she done being my mom? Is her job complete? She’s had more than thirty years at this so should I just not bother to recognise the day? After all, I’m on my own and a mother now by my own rights. In my opinion, to do so would be to forget that she has spent thirty years earning the role. Thirty years of sleeping lightly by the phone. Thirty years of teaching, listening, shaking her head with a wry smile and sighing. So many cultures celebrate their elders. In this culture we tend to disregard ours. My mom is still my mom, I still need her. There are still some parts of my life that are empty without her there. She has made me the person and mother that I am today. She and I will both be mothers until the day we no longer walk this earth.

Happy Mother’s Day mom.

Planting our new tree!

The city delivered our new free tree yesterday. If you're interested in getting one please check out here to get one for yourself (please note that they won't deliver to our out of town friends :)
Since the weather was great and the forecast was gloomy the boys and I got on getting it in to the ground right away. Here we are hard at work:
Big C measures himself up against the tree (I can't wait to see the comparison in a couple of years):
Monkey comes home with mommy to join in the fun:
Big C and Monkey each get their hands dirty and get in on the fun:
Big C decides that what this job really needs is a tractor to get things done right:
We're looking forward to some shade and hanging some hammocks in a few years!

I know ALL of the weather mommy

As quoted from Big C:

I know all of the weather, first it is sunny, then cloudy, then rainy, then sunny again.