17 Years!

Jonathan & I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this last weekend. It's hard to believe we've been married that long already ~ it's been a wonderful 17yrs. though!

Saturday night we went to Saba's in Saskatoon. At first we had planned on going to another place closer to home ~ we have some coupons for this place and thought we might as well use them (and try out a new restaurant ~ new to us anyway)... but long story short, the coupons stayed home. So we decided to go to Saba's ~ African cuisine. It was good! And a nice evening out.

Then yesterday after church, my sister invited us to go out for Chinese buffet (like their whole family and our hole family)! What a huge blessing/treat! We loved it. Of course, they have SO much food selection (including western) that everyone found more than enough food that they enjoyed. At suppertime we still were not hungry.

blogging break

Wouldn't it be nice to have the house to myself for a week? Do i really think i'd get done all that i keep thinking i might get done if i no other responsibilities?? But the reality is that it's really not an option... at least not the best option. Primarily, Brenden's program needs to be consistent ~ we were reminded of that at his follow-up appointment yesterday. Just Brenden & I made the trip out to Quill Lake yesterday ~ a 2 1/2 hour drive each way. It was good... a nice drive, good to have the assessment (because i don't see as much progress "day to day" as they will see in the actual evaluation after 4-5months), nice to hear the encouragement, but i knew there would be areas where we haven't been doing well enough. Goodness... for the money and time that we are putting into it, we better maximize the potential! Not to mention, i don't want to be doing this forever!!!

So the truth is, best case scenario, we stick to it diligently (as per schedule ~ i've got it all nicely written up on paper) and we get through basically everything on the list before lunch time (leaving only a few short activities for after lunch). Oh, and the part of the program that Jonathan does with him.

So Reagan is 10 since Tuesday! He's having a friend over to celebrate tomorrow... guess i have a cake to decorate yet, but it should be pretty easy (he wants a snowman cake like the one he did for the Gospel Echoes cake auction last year).

Still babysitting, and maybe it is still almost full-time?? I just take it as it comes and i think it's working out fine with homeschooling too. Might be a little distracting on kindergarten days ~ to bring J to school in the morning, pick her up for lunch, bring her back after lunch, and pick her up again after school. Not a big deal since the school is so close by... but if we keep this up for winter it could be a little more time consuming, etc. Maybe by then J can come/go with her "big sister" or maybe they'll take lunches then? or maybe their mom will be done work by then. (take it as it comes ~ lol).

I'm feeling a bit under the weather (and like a nap would be pretty wonderful today), but i've had my little blogging break and should tackle a project of some sort ~ hmm, computer room, bedroom, downstairs, kitchen, or any other part of the house??

but, Oh right... it's "snack time" (one of them was asking for a snack while we were still eating lunch... and i've heard a few requests since then too... it's about that time).

It looks like we might be doing part-time babysitting now... maybe?? Lol... we take it as it comes, but for now it looks like on days when J has kindergarten, their mom will stay home. So for however long she decided to do that, we'll have them 2-3 days/week. Of course, being a seasonal job, she might be done soon too. ?? Last week, we only had them one day. This week might not be much different since kindergarten is usually Mon & Wed. and i had to ask for Thursday off because we're busy that day (Brenden has his appointment with the Hope Centre).

I'm feeling just a bit under the weather today (& tired), and one of the kids got up with a bad attitude this morning... not a great way to start the day or the week! I think we're re-grouping, but i also think a nap might be a good idea after lunch.

Oh, strange thing... Janique had Coco outside this morning, and all of a sudden she's calling the boys ~ "Coco has a dead bird stuck in her ear (fur)." How does a toy poodle get a dead bird caught in her ears? Lol... i guess she was rolling around in the grass, and must have caught on the feet of the bird? Darwin got it out ok and I think Coco is getting a bath now (fun fun! ~ i'm just glad they can manage that without my help).

K, time to make something for lunch...

Back into some sort of "schoolish" routine... i think

Well, I don't think we're jumping in with a splash this year ~ but we've gotten our feet wet now anyway. Would've started Monday, but with two boys having eye doctor appointments at 11:00 i decided it wasn't worth trying to work school around that. So we "started" yesterday, and both yesterday & today we had three extra kids for a few hours each day (like, three extra besides the two we usually have ~ plus their sister before & after school and for lunch). Surprisingly, we actually did pretty well anyway ~ lol. We're still waiting for some of our materials ~ science for everyone, handwriting for two of them, and then i need to get some photocopying done too ~ so we didn't do everything on our "list" yet. Janique was happy to take care of the baby, and even when the baby fussed/cried, she assured me that she was fine and didn't need me to take over. :-)

Monday is Janique & Reagan's first violin lessons ~ they are excited about that. I am too! The little girl we babysit also starts kindergarten on Monday... it'll be an adjustment for "little brother."

On the adoption front, we're planning to check with our social worker about changing our request. The way it is written up right now is pretty restrictive, so we want to open that up, and probably ask to go up to "under 6." We really can see ourselves accepting a 5yr. old (somehow that seems to suit us more than a tiny baby, although we're open to that option too), and have thought of 6yrs. as well, but our social worker was suggesting under 48mos, so we felt 60mos. was a comfortable compromise and sufficient at that time. Either way, there haven't been many siblings coming into care at the transition home lately, so timelines have been getting longer and longer for those requesting siblings. We're now being told to expect 12+ mos. for a referral. YIKES! Guess it's better to prepare for a long wait and be surprised if it's earlier...

Communication ???

I'm still babysitting (haven't heard an "end date" yet ~ but i have a feeling it won't be end of August ~ lol)... and school has started now, so i (typically) have all three kids in the morning (8am) til the oldest (Ch) goes to school, and then the other two all day. (J will be starting kdgn in a few weeks). And their mom asked if Ch could come for lunch ~ sure, most of the time that should work out fine. So first day (Wed) that all works out fine.

Yesterday i was busy getting things done at home, and all of a sudden remember "Ch is supposed to come for lunch, what time is it now?" Lunch time! I hurry to get something together so that she doesn't have to wait too long... expecting her at 12:15. 12:20, then 12:25, and by 12:30 i'm really wondering because the day before, she was done and leaving by that time. So I call her mom to find out if there were other arrangements... "oh, yes, sorry i forgot to tell you that she took a lunch to school." Ok... thanks, at least i don't have to wonder where she stayed.

So I expect to see her after school ~ 3:15 or so. 3:20, 3:30... "umm, where is Ch?" Feeling a bit dumb, i call her mom again... but this time i leave a message because she didn't answer. 5min. later i get a return call... "oh sorry i forgot to tell you that Ch won't be coming today..." Ok, so at least i don't need to go look for her!

Then last night while i'm making jelly, the phone rings, and Jonathan takes the call... it was the kids dad. Jonathan tells me he'll be dropping the kids off at 10am this morning. And i asked a few times to clarify they were only coming at 10. Not totally unusual because "dad" is self-employed and sometimes he brings the kids a bit later, but usually it's been by 9:30. Ok... sweet... i get to sleep in :-)

Not! ... 7:50am i wake to a knock on the door ~ strange! Really strange! Who would be knocking on my door at that time of day? I scramble up in my lovely (not) pj's, and answer the door... the girls are there with their mom. Apparently "dad" is only bringing the little boy at 10!

Hmm, ok... take it as it comes!

K, i'm hungry for breakfast

Summer has gone by quickly

We had another "outing" last weekend. We almost didn't make a holiday of it ~ considered just going out Monday morning for Brenden's 2:30 appointment (we took him to see a Naturopath in Sherwood Park), and coming home after that ~ but we decided it would be too much driving for one day, and since we had the opportunity (who knows when we'll have the chance again) we should take advantage of it. I'm glad we did as it turned out to be a really good holiday.

After enough hassles trying to find a motel that would take a family of 6 for a reasonable price, we actually ended up at a place that gave us a really good price to stay for 2 nights. It wasn't the "nicest" place, but it was clean enough and all worked out just fine.

We got to Edmonton (the mall) about 3:30 or so... walked around, watched the sea lion show from the second floor (and off to the side a ways, so not a great view, but whatever), walked around some more ~ looked at the huge water park, visited galaxy land to watch the rides (didn't go on any though), stuff like that. We didn't really do any "shopping" at the mall (how sad is that ~ lol).

Then by about 7pm we checked in at the motel, and went to a nearby Superstore to pick up supper ~ that was an adventure! The store was crazy busy with LONG line-ups at the tils, and thinking we were only getting a few things, we didn't take a cart or basket. So here we were, almost all of us carrying "something" and almost done, when Reagan suddenly sat himself down on the floor. He was very pale, and weak, etc. ~ he's done this before (and it was like 7:30, so TOO long since he'd eaten). So we're scrambling to figure out what to do... (like get him sugar quickly)... finally got Jonathan to take him out, i grabbed a basket from a nearby til to put all our stuff into, had the other kids "stay together right here" and i hurried out to help Jonathan with Reagan. I stayed with him while Jonathan looked for a vending machine with pop and we got some sugar into him to perk him up again. Jonathan stayed with Reagan and the rest of us finished up our shopping. (Yes, i now have an appointment for him to see the doctor! Of course we have a few weeks wait to get in...).

Sunday we spent most of the day at the science centre. We got there basically in time to catch the 11:00 Imax movie ~ Human Body ~ which was really good. We took in most of the science demonstrations and really enjoyed those. Making pop, making ice cream, playing with fire... lots of fun stuff. And we kept and eye on Reagan and made sure he had enough to eat ~ lol.

Monday morning we had a few hours before Brenden's appointment so we spent that time at the mall... and we actually did a little bit of shopping! All of about 20 mins?? lol... we hung out by the sea lions waiting for a better view of the show (we asked that morning and they were planning on a 12:00 show, but after waiting 1/2 hour asked again and it had been cancelled. (Well, i browsed while Jonathan & the kids "waited"). So no show... we walked over to a pet store and admired the adorable puppies & kittens, and looked at the other creatures too. Lunch (which was kind of a disappointment ~ not that great), and then we were off for the appointment.

Interesting appointment... and we're hoping to see some of Brenden's issues improve.

And the long drive home. A nice family outing!

Can i just say i'm feeling...

well, i'm not sure what the word is... but i think i feel like i'm not getting anywhere with all the stuff that i'd like to be getting done. I think that probably, the underlying thing is the sense of responsibility for Brenden's program (to be doing it diligently every day), so holidays don't help here (obviously we aren't going to get much program done on holidays).

We spent nearly a week in Manitoba and the break was lovely! I'd love to post about it all, but don't afford myself the time.

I can't believe how busy i feel and yet i look around and everything is a mess! (Yes, i'm back to babysitting, but i can't really blame it on that... well, maybe a little, but not all of it!).

Ok, computer is getting ready to do an auto update so it'll be shutting down right away...

later... (hopefully!)