Food and Community

Every month I help coordinate a potluck dinner at our community league, followed by some activity that is usually physical.  I'm not sure why this monthly event is attended by so few people, but those who come always have a good time.  We may just have to move it into rotating homes for the three regular families.  It's much cosier in our houses.

However, we soldier on.

Last night we had four families there and it was tough to get some of us to leave the hall at 8:00 to get the kids to bed.

The food is always fabulous, but I go for the people.  The kids all play with each other, and it's one of my only interactions with little kids.  The one girl so proudly can now pronounce my name that she comes to talk with me all the time.  It's really cute. 

And the activities vary a lot.  Last night wasn't so "active" and I wasn't even that thrilled with the idea.  Making cards?  I really don't like scrapbooking and stamping. 

Or maybe I think I don't like it, because I was far from done by 8:00 and we planned a Saturday to get together and continue where we left off. 

Here's my work. 

I wasn't allowed to look at what the girls did but I should see a couple of cards on my birthday this year! 

If you want to read an article about our event, last month an interviewer from a student newsite came to eat with us and report on the evening.  I thought some of my comments were taken a bit out of context, but it's not terrible.  Read it here:  West Edmonton Local 

Next month we are making Psanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs).  After that I hope we can get outside for a bike ride or playing badminton on the tennis court.  The idea is to do something active, but we're a crafty group of attendees.

Selfish time

It's been an odd week, child-wise.  Sometimes I feel like I don't get any time to myself.  It's not true really.  I get lots of time after the kids are in bed, and sometimes they all go to school, but it just seems like they are stealing my time when it doesn't work that way.  It's selfish of me, but I love my lonely times.

Monday and Tuesday turned out to be PD days for Beth.  Originally I thought, "It'll be nice to spend two days alone with Beth."  Then I remembered that I exercise on Monday mornings out of the house and that seems to take all morning.  And in the afternoon I had agreed to teach a young friend how to sew by whipping up a small project together.  With that young friend came her mother and sister, and then my other two girls were suddenly home from school.  No alone time with Beth. 

And then I vaguely remembered that I may have checked a box on a field trip form saying that I could maybe volunteer to accompany them.  "Did I say I'd spend Tuesday at the museum with your class?" I asked, hoping that she'd say no.  "Yeah! And the teacher told everyone that you'd be there!!"  Shoot.  6 hours spend in the museum with 8-year-olds learning about rocks and minerals.  I don't even like rocks and minerals.  No alone time with Beth.

Wednesday.  Alone at last, I thought!  Nope.  Beth went to school and called from the school before classes even started, asking for a ride home because she was sick.  So, some alone time with Beth maybe, but she spent it in bed and I tried to be quiet in the house for her sake.  Wednesday always involves one extra child after school, Brownies, Guides and Pathfinders' meetings, one dog to be walked and my own choir practice.  We quite happily managed getting Alice to Brownies and walked the dog.  Quickly made supper and prepared to go to Guides, a Pathfinder's ceremony, and if the ceremony was quick, I could still make it to choir practice.  That was not to be.  Not this week. 

On the way to Pathfinders (which Beth thought she was well enough to attend), her finger unexpected turned yellow.

Yellow!! Like it was dipped to her second knuckle in dusty yellow powdered paint.  Change in plans!  Maybe an evening at the hospital was in order instead.   We were quite freaked out actually.  I wish I'd thought to take a picture, but it looked like this (only on one finger though).



We are happily ignorant of many medical things, but sometimes it would be nice to know when freaking out is justified. 

Anyway, it went away and tingled a bit after Beth breathed warm air on her finger, so we stayed home, but I also skipped choir in case it happened again so that Yvon wouldn't have to drag the whole family to emerg.  It didn't happen again and we had time to Google and self-diagnose.  It sounds like a clear case of Renauld's Syndrome.  Nothing much to worry about, but we've got to schedule a physical for her and make sure a doctor knows.  

Thursday:  Beth was still not feeling great and stayed home.  By noon, all kids were home (they have a half-day on Thursdays) and I had two extra kids.  I do love having the kids home with me, and I love that our home is a place that friends like to hang out in, but is it selfish to wish they would all go outside for a few hours and leave me alone?  I just wanted to be alone!!  Instead, I took them skating while I exercised at the community hall with two friends.  Then a meeting at night that I didn't feel like attending.

Friday:  PD day for Laura and Alice.  Beth did have school but STILL wasn't feeling well enough for a full-day field trip that would have been awesome.  Amazingly, she was fine to go skiing at night.  It's my own fault, but I offered to take the girls skiing, and bring one extra friend as well.  By this time in the week I didn't want to do that anymore.  I just wanted some time to myself. 

Here's hoping for a quieter week this week.  Maybe with some alone time built into it somewhere.  For one thing, I'm forcing Beth to go to school.  There was a lot of social activity over the weekend during which she felt just fine, so school should be just fine too.  Maybe we'll get to spend quality time together at a doctor's appointment and have her finger issues checked out.  Sounds like fun, no?

And the other party

Eleven.  I'm already seeing signs that this may be an odd age.  An age where some teenage activities are desired and some childish ones as well.  Example:  A purple cow birthday cake, an elegant lunch at The Creperie followed by a spa birthday party.  Who is this middle child of mine? 

 

This was a great party and she's still young enough to not mind if I tag along and hang out with her friends. 

The mood was set with candles and smelly incense. 

We started out with foot baths with a selection of oils and salts for them to choose from.  While their feet soaked, they ate orange cupcakes in martini glasses with vanilla pudding and whipping cream.  It all looked very grown up until they licked out their glasses! 

Then they all submitted to foot massages, even the ticklish girls.   Alice is a great masseuse and gave a few back massages as well.  There were different creams for that too. 

I liked the facials the best.  I mixed up some avocado, yoghurt and honey and it felt great on our faces.  The cucumbers were good too and they were in no rush to clean off the goop.  One girl kept saying "I feel like a million bucks!" so I'm thinking that was a good thing. 

After cleaning it off, they were spritzed with Witch Hazel toner and smeared with a moisturizer.  They did each other's toenails with all sorts of colors and I had my toes very prettily done as well. 

Fruit kabobs and then the evening ended with a late showing of "Sense and Sensibilities".  It was a really fun night and nice to feel a bit pampered.  They crashed around midnight and I was allowed to sleep in the next morning while Yvon made them all waffles. 

My birthday is next, but I think I'll keep it much simpler!  I'd like to not have to cook all day and maybe go to a play.  I'll probably have to plan that myself but that's easier.

Birthday week

It was a fun week, but I'm still kind of glad it's over.   Birthday week.  Two birthdays in one week and unless we schedule their parties close to each other, it can feel like the whole month of January is focused on those two special days.

I'll just tell you about Alice's birthday today. 

The tradition is for us to take the birthday girl out for lunch to their restaurant of choice.  Sometimes it's just me, but if Yvon has time he meets us as well which is nice.  I find that the girls on their own with the adults are different people.  Capable of conversation and good company.

Alice's choice:  Hap's Hungry House, an all-day breakfast place near home (and therefore near school).  It was a cold, cold day and the van refused to start.  One of the teachers from the school gave us a ride, otherwise frostbite may have played a part in our birthday celebration. Whew! 

Alice initially wanted a music theme for her birthday and Laura wanted to contribute by decorating the cake. 

I see birthdays getting easier in my future if the kids start doing the time-consuming work.  I love the cake.

Her party changed themes somewhat when I mentioned maybe showing a movie.  The music theme was dropped (because I couldn't think of anything to do with it) and we brought on the movie idea.  It turned out great, actually.  Thanks go to my sister for some of the ideas. 

Using Alice's new camera, three big girls directed and filmed a movie that ended with the discovery of a treasure.  The treasure was a popcorn box for each child, and inside was a bag with coins for the movie concession (Halloween sized chocolate bars, fruit kabobs, and popcorn), the movie ticket and a couple of items that were useful for the "interaction" part of the movie. 

We borrowed a projector and created a theatre in the basement for an interactive viewing of "The Princess Bride".  I can't find my pictures of  theatre, but it was quite cute with little Christmas lights around the screen and chairs for the kids.  While they watched the movie, Beth and I edited their own treasure movie so that it could be viewed on the big screen before they went home. 

As moviestars themselves, they were all given prints of themselves and they gathered autographs on the back from each other.  I'm not big on treat bags (I've never done them really), but it's still nice for them to go home with something.

A fun party with some hectic moments and some downtime for playing too.  And everyone gone at 4:30 so I could do something about cleanup and supper.  One down, one to go!

11 Years Ago

11 years ago today I dropped little Beth off at the neighbour's house.  I'd just had my 8th month pre-natal checkup and had no reason to think that these were anything more than Braxton Hicks, but it was best to check into the hospital and see.  My doctor had only hours before told me that all was well and we had a few weeks to wait.  Laura was due on Feb. 9, possession day of our new house, and I was hoping for a slightly late baby so that we would no longer be living in one room of our friend's house.

It was not to be.  Laura had her own plan.  Three hours after driving myself to the hospital, Laura was in my arms.  Sweet, squirmy, restless, Laura.  The earliest of my babies and the largest of my babies.  I'm glad now that she didn't wait until we were alone in our house.  Those first weeks were wonderful.  With 8 other people in the house, I was allowed to rest more than the usual new mom and I was able to share new baby cuddles, naps and smells with our friends and their children. 

And now she's 11.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  It just "is" and it surprises me.  All mothers say that.  How did we get here so fast?

I was going to make her an elegant cake with layers and shavings of chocolate, but she had another idea. 

That's a purple cow.  As in "I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one. But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one".   They all grow up at their own speed, and in some ways she's' still the childish little girl we've always loved. 

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Happy New Year!

By the title of my blog and the frequency of my posts lately, you'd be tempted to think that Ev has no life, no times and no thoughts.  It's not true.  I have so much life, so little time, and tons of thoughts that I don't make time to record them for you. 

Actually I do have time, but I'm not using it by blogging.  We're happily playing with a borrowed Wii today and because of our basic lack of pop culture technology, I'm letting the girls play all day if they want to.  I don't feel like nagging (much) during these last days of school holiday.

December was very busy, but because of many of our concerts, recitals, plays, and craft sales were fairly early in the month, we all had the week before Christmas to think about Christmas.  Winterfest was a great time with a large attendance (unlike last year) and it was nice to sit and craft, play games and visit with friends without feeling like I was supposed to be somewhere else, doing something else, to get ready for Christmas.  All day I was thinking about my parents' celebrating their 50th Anniversary, but happily it was without guilt that I wasn't there.  It's the only thing I really had to make any tough decisions about while prioritizing my pre-Christmas activities.

Some of the lead-up to Christmas included:

Singing with my girls at our church choir concert

Watching my girls in their Sunday School musical (the little cutey in the front isn't one of mine)
Attending the city's sing-along carolling in the Winspear Centre
Listening to Handel's Messiah, as performed by one of the city's church choirs




Going to the elementary school and junior high band concerts
Listening to Alice's first ever piano recital

Sold crafts (art?) at two sales
Spent the day at Winterfest with the community league

The rest of life was filled with getting ready for all of those events, baking loads of cookies, sewing and making gifts, continuing to exercise with a friend a few times each week, cook, feed and clean my family.  I don't think I really felt stressed this Christmas at all and I also don't think I entered a mall once.  Maybe that's why I wasn't stressed?

We managed a trip to Kimberly to see my brothers and parents, and also to the farm twice to see Yvon's family.  The last trip was terrible.  Not the visit, but the trip itself.  6 miles of sheer ice rink roads leading to their farm, and speeds never above 30 km/hr.  Had we known, we wouldn't have gone out there.  THAT was stressful. 

And before the kids go back to school, we're working on increasing our prettiness.  This is our progress so far:

Pretty enough.  I've always thought so.

But way prettier now.  Tomorrow it's my turn.  I haven't had a cut since August, so it should be easy to up my prettiness factor.  Tune in for an update.

Music at the office

We sang an old familiar tune today.


While having a picnic.



With (and for) this old guy at the office.

We forgot the candles, but baby carrots work okay in a pinch. I wouldn't suggest you light them!

And the cheesecake was fabulous! Made and decorated primarily by Laura, who was inspired by one of those cake shows on the Food Network.

This morning she also helped bake this cake. And decorated it alone.

This is for tonight's book club meeting. It's currently sitting in the fridge at the library, ready and waiting for the guests, and for it's thick caramely topping.

And it's a surprise for Yvon. After the cheesecake at lunch I'm sure he thinks the festivities are over. Shhhh!

Happy birthday!

First week of summer

Summer has just begun and it's been a busy week.

I'm not sniffling so much, but the kids are all going through something. I'm trying to remember to treat my allergies because I think I spend most of each summer feeling stuffed up. In spite of sickness though, we've been having fun so far.


With only one day off of school, we immediately set off for the land of the dinosaurs. We did go to the museum, but it wasn't the highlight. The whole point was to get together with family as we do every three years. It was great to see everyone and it's never really long enough. I didn't even get one game of Scrabble in, but I did play a game of Upwards.

On a day threatening rain (I know - rain in Drumheller?!), a group of 27 of us toured an old coal mine, donning hats and headlights and climbing up to the mine.

And on a day not threatening rain, we went to the Tyrell Museum and hiked through the hills and hoodoos.


The only mountain goat among our small family unit, Beth climbed from the base to the prairie grasses at the hop of the hill with her cousin. It's hard to show how high Beth is in this picture. It's high. See the white dots in the picture below? Those are other people being goats as well.


Looking down makes me nervous so I didn't follow her very high up. I enjoyed the caves and lumps and bumps at the base of the hill with Laura and Alice.

The last time we were in this area, I needed five arms to swat the mosquitoes and wasn't able to step foot out of the tent, and the time before we spent our one day crossing the 11 bridges of Wayne, a trip that was supposed to end at a ghost town but really just ended at...nothing. I was determined to walk in the hills this time and I did.

Family and camping. A great way to start our summer.