Camping with Friends

A couple weeks ago, we went camping, for one night, 30 minutes from our home. Our last camping trip with only two children, blogged about here, here, & here, was exhausting. However; the kids are older now and we thought: worst-case scenario, it goes horrible and we pack up and go home!

We got to Kakabeka on Saturday afternoon, set up camp, & headed for the beach.

After supper there was campfire with s'mores...

...and entertainment...Jon was accompanying Abby (who was singing) on his make-shift trombone.

The kids had soooo much fun... playing, eating outside, playing, cuddling and singing by the campfire, playing, searching for the "giant chipmunk"...

The night started off great with all the little Gomers and Newmans going to bed nicely. Around midnight; however, we realized that Jude had peed (yes, I forgot to pack a pull-up, but in my defense, he'd been dry overnight for a good 2 months...), in our warmest sleeping bag. We woke him up and washed and changed a shivering-and-sad-not-quite-awake Jude back into his clothes. Jon made a trip back to Thunder Bay to put the wet stuff in the washer and get more blankets (it was a chilly night...)

The morning was filled with friends picking raspberries on the way back from potty runs, warming their hands on hard boiled eggs and coffee mugs and eating cereal out of little boxes...

...then back to the beach...

...fun times...

Debbie's Awesome Re-Usable Snack Bags

A few months ago, I realized that my friend Deb makes these cool re-usable snack bags. We ordered some, then ordered some more for ourselves and some to give as gifts. We use ours ALL the time (as do the friends we gave them to). Each of our kids have one of each size (sandwich & 2 snack sizes). Abby uses hers for her school snacks & lunch as well. This is the description from her website:

"All baggies have a cotton fabric outter layer and are lined with PUL. The closure is hook & loop closure (like Velcro). Washable. These are great for snacks, sandwiches, damp facecloths for travel, or whatever else you may want in them."

She blogs about her daughter Kazia using them here.

Just for the record, Deb didn't ask me to plug her baggies... lots of people have asked where I found ours (or if I made them... ) so I thought I would post her info here (and tell you how great they are!)

Debbie also makes & sells bibs and feminine pads. Check out her site or her blog. She blogs about parenting her three adorable daughters, natural organic living, handmade projects & gardening, books she's read, her views on life & her relationship with her Saviour. As Jude would say, "She's a great grirl"!

More Back to School

Abby was so very excited to go to school today...

Jude and Jordan, although excited to see the school bus...

...were sad to see Abby leave...

Abby's first day of SK

Abby started French Immersion Senior Kindergarten today in Mme Livingstone's class. She's with a few of her special friends from JK, Jordan M, Kaitlyn and Bronwyn. She was VERY excited this morning to go on the bus. Here are a few pictures from waiting for the bus to arrive...

When I asked Abby yesterday how she was feeling about starting SK, being in French Immersion, etc., she contemplated my question and replied, "contented". This morning, I think she went through a host of different emotions. She went from spinning in circles, "chasing" her backpack (kind of like how a kitty chases its tail)....

...to watching her shadow on the sidewalk. She was excited, but admitted that she was a little nervous. She is such a sweetheart. As nice as it was to be able to focus more on the boys today, I really missed having her home today.

I Heart Faces- Nostalgia

The theme at I Heart Faces this week is "Nostalgia". This is a picture of my daughter Abby taken at my parents' homestead in New Brunswick on our recent trip "home". To me, it represents "nostalgia" for several reasons. It reminds me of the freedom of childhood, of my own childhood memories of growing up in the country, and of just living a less-hurried, simpler lifestyle...

Visit "I Heart Faces" to check out other nostalgic entries... it'll be sure to bring back memories!

Not My Child Monday

It's been awhile since I participated in McMama's "Not Me Monday", but I thought it would be fun to do this week!

It was not my 3-year old who, while I was selecting pictures to print off at WalMart with my back turned, decided to stand up in large part of the shopping cart and pull out his penis. One of the two ladies behind me in line certainly did not tap me on the shoulder to gently let me know that my son was playing with his "thing" and that she had ignored it the first time, but thought she should say something when it happened again!

Jude, who has stayed dry through the night since the end of May, did not have an accident in our warmest sleeping bag while we were camping this past weekend. He was not in only unders because his Mummy always remembers to pack pull-ups when she knows that her over-tired, over-stimulated 3-year old may not wake to go pee. My husband did not, at midnight, travel back to our house (thankfully only a 30 minute drive) to get more blankets and put the soaked jams and sleeping bag in the washer.

Jude also always puts his unders and shorts back on after going to the bathroom. He never enters a room without either of these items of clothing while holding himself. When he does put his shorts back on, he always remembers to first put on his unders. My kids never walk around, sometimes in public, without unders under their clothing.

That's all that I can think of, although I'm certain there are tons more I could share! Happy Parenting!

Auntie Win's "Surprise"

For the first half of our trip to NB we stayed with Auntie Win & Uncle Len in Woodstock. Auntie Win was prepared for our visit and had lots of fun activities and treats planned for her niece & nephews. One of her treats was "Mud Pie", chocolate pudding and oreo cookie crumbs. She borrowed Mum's beaters to prepare the pudding (hers were at their actual home in the Mirimichi... their Woodstock house is Len's childhood home) and used glassware for the individual servings (we use plastic... my kids got at least some of my clumsy genes so to have "breakable" glasses was in itself a treat for them!). The kids were excited to be each presented with the special dessert and were told that there was a "surprise" in it. When Jude reached the buried gummy worm (the surprise), the look on his face was a combination of betrayal and horror. This may be a good spot to mention that we had spent the afternoon trout fishing with real worms... can you see where this story is going? Yup, Jude thought that his loving Auntie Win had put REAL worms in his pudding for a "surprise". They actually do look real, covered in chocolate.

Jude covered his face with his hands and cried, as only a dramatic 3-year old can. Even when Auntie Win went to retrieve the container of gummy worms to show him that they were not real, he would not touch the chocolate-covered ones in his pudding. Even when Mummy licked off the chocolate pudding, he was skeptical.

Jude, obviously traumatized by the dessert, told other family members not present at the time of Auntie Win's "surprise" that Auntie Win had put real worms in his pudding. He made sure to mention that he was really sad when Auntie Win put worms in his pudding and that it was NOT a good surprise. He would end his story with, "But I'm okay now". Later in the week I showed Jude the above picture and asked him if he knew what it was. Before saying a word, his face got grim and trembled. He slowly backed away from the computer screen saying, "I don't like worms"... I think it may be awhile before he trusts chocolate pudding and he may think twice if Auntie Win offers him another surprise!

Mindfulness though my camera lens

Part of my internship rotation at the Community Mental Health Program at our regional hospital was to facilitate a "Mindfulness" group. Mindfulness is paying attention at the present moment. Living life with awareness. When I told friends that I was to facilitate this particular group...they laughed. The past couple of years in particular has been anything but mindful. Actually, it's been pretty mindless...there are periods of time, largely around Jordan's infancy that are blurr. I was in a fog. I was in survival mode. Even after the fog lifted, between my school work, internship, the kids' activities, keeping up on meals, bills, housework & trying to be the best mum and wife I could be, I was generally living in the future just trying to keep it altogether or in the past feeling guilty for what I couldn't pull off.

I've been given a final time extension to complete my doctorate. It's a gift. It's time that will allow me to slow down enough to breathe. To be more mindful.

When we were home in NB, we were able to spend lots of time with my parents in the country. The kids had fun running, playing in the garden, exploring in the woods, fishing...Jordan still needed lots of attention so he didn't run to the road, but he loved just being able to run. I'm thankful that Jon was with us. He could follow Jordan so I could spend time with my parents, helping clean up from meals, hanging out laundry, chatting... it also gave me the opportunity to walk around the homestead drinking in the fresh country air and taking pictures.


Photography has always been a love for me, but now with a good camera, I can (or at least attempt) to capture the photograph in my mind (does that make sense?) Photography has become an exercise of being mindful. I've noticed myself becoming more aware of my present surroundings, as if through the lens of my camera.

Grace not shown

I've just returned from getting groceries. We got back from NB very late Saturday night (actually very early Sunday morning) and spent yesterday unpacking, napping, playing, walking, cleaning & eating pizza (and bugs n' cheese) from Boston Pizza (Jon didn't have leftovers for lunch today because I neglected to take the pizza off the roof of the van after securing children into their seats....ahem....) This morning I planned to do the grocery run to fill our bare fridge, but after talking to our Newman friends, we decided that the beach sounded much more fun!

I think this is where the kids joined to make "chocolate chip cookie soup".

So, back to the grocery run.... it was quite pleasant shopping between 9:30 and 10:30 pm. The store was relatively quiet, yet the shelves were stocked for the most part. Then, I started to check-out. The cashier assigned to my chosen line did not appear to be having a good night. Although she spoke kindly, the tossing of my groceries and produce down the conveyor belt where I was packing them revealed a different story. She then spilled all my strawberries out of the plastic clamshell, threw them back in and then squished down the lid while muttering a half-hearted "sorry". I wish that I could say that I was gracious. I certainly wasn't mean, but the look I gave her was likely not very kind or understanding or gracious. A gracious response could have altered the rest of her night... Jesus would have been gracious and shown her kindness. I didn't. I really wish that I would have...

"Bathroom" breaks

Our roadtrip to NB and back was our first with Jude in underwear. He's been out of diapers since the end of May when he turned 3 and has does really well. There were many pee and bm breaks on the way there and back, although he also did well holding it until we reached a reststop or gas station. On the trip back to Thunder Bay, there were a couple "false alarms" in a row. We knew that he had to actually have a bm, so told him that we would just stay put until he was done. Success!

This is our "On the Go Potty". It's basically a potty frame. You can buy bags to go in it, but we just put a grocery or kitchen bag inside and line it with absorbent paper towel. Then we just tie it up and discard at the next garbage. The waste doesn't actually get on the frame, which is why we were okay with Jude wearing it in the van...

Playing around with focus...

When it FINALLY stopped raining this afternoon, the little Gomers and I ventured outside to muck around in the wet yard. The kids were thrilled to be outside and quickly amused themselves. I took the opportunity to play with our new camera. I ventured past the automatic settings to the semi-automatic "A" (Aperture) mode so I could control how much of the shot was in focus. I'm not going to attempt to explain Aperture, but Wiki has a good explaination here if you're interested. Have I mentioned that I'm REALLLY loving my early grad present?