The Mitchell Messenger

Saturday, October 31, 2009

All the Little Things

There are so many funny, silly, happy, sad, exciting, crazy things that happen every day that I never get to mention here. So October's post is dedicated to capturing at least a few of those.

October brought us a bit of snow, a bit of sun, and a fair amount of wind. After a snowstorm early in the month, the still mostly green leaves turned brown and started falling off the trees. It's sort of sad how we seem to just skip over fall here, because it's always been my favorite season.

We enjoyed Canadian Thanksgiving on October 3 with some wonderful friends, the Tondevolds. Our four kids nearly match their four kids in age, and Coralie and I have become good friends over the last two years. Since we can't completely embrace Canadian Thanksgiving as our own, spending it with friends makes it more acceptable.

After that, life fell into a happy rhythm of school, lessons, practicing, and clapping at the fruit flies that seem to nearly die off every week or so before mysteriously reviving and re-haunting our kitchen.

BEST OF OCTOBER:
Addy got an award at school--she works so hard and her teacher loves her. She also brings home 3 or 4 fantastic drawings every day, most of them covered with "I love you mommy love mom I love you from Addy" or some variation. I so do not deserve her as a daughter!

I dragged myself to the school and taught a lesson on Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition to Theo's class. It was really fun, but also a fair amount of work. I need to follow up with a day in Addy's classroom. Really, I do.

Wednesday has been the favorite day around our house. On Wednesday nights we head up to the pool for swimming lessons--I somehow managed to schedule all the kids at the same time. I think I mentioned that before, but some things bear repeating. 4 KIDS AT THE SAME TIME!! Since Sera is still in the baby class, that means even I am in the pool. After swimming, we spend about 20 minutes showering and washing hair (one less bath every week!), then head to the "hot room" (sauna). Eventually we all get ourselves dressed, and if everyone has had a good lesson, we make a stop at Dairy Queen for a banana split or a blizzard. After terrible behavior by everyone the first time, we started playing "Kings and Queens of Dairy Queen." After each visit I hand out titles to everyone, from serf to butler or lady-in-waiting to prince or princess (I know, so politically incorrect). Ever week we have more royals and less paupers. Progress! The best part is Emerson, who now always opens the door and says "ladies first!" The worst part is Sera, who pushes people out of the way and says "no! Ladies first! I a prinshush!" So yeah, another lesson or two might not be a bad thing.

My birthday! As I requested, all the kids hooked me up with a picture (well, seven or eight in Addy's case), and we had a great time at East-Side Mario's in celebration. Aaron also got me a super-fancy black forest bakery cake (NOT the norm for us) that was so delicious.

Halloween and trick or treating: Aaron had to be out of town until late Saturday night. He came with us to the trunk or treat earlier in the week, but for Halloween night it was just me and four kids . . . until Theo's friend's mom invited Theo and Addy to go with them! Ah, relief. So she took the big kids and they covered lots of ground, while I took just Emerson and Sera, who knocked everyone's socks off with their Winnie-the-Pooh and Honeybee thing. I got a great dose of laughter following them around as they trooped up and down stairs, endlessly amazed at all the treats they scored. Everybody handed out loads of candy, so we only had to go half-way up one street to fill up their bags!

HUMOROUS HAPPENINGS:
Sera stopped calling her blanket a "diddit," and now calls it her "crank-it."

Emerson and Sera think they're hilarious when they sing "This is the rule at Joy-garbage, this is the rule at Joy-garbage, this is the rule at Joy-garbage, to help us all to be happy!"

During family council we give each other compliments. A favorite from Sera: "Daddy is really good at sleeping." Which if you know our family, you know is way way true.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

More Summer?

September was the hottest month this year in Regina. You're not going to catch me complaining about that, because I don't know if I'm going to actually get to the stage where I crave hot chocolate and sweaters and such this year--last winter was too brutal. But I will confess a teensy bit of annoyance that the big kids were already back in school and couldn't fully enjoy all the sunshine this month (except at recess, I guess).

We did our best to drop everything and go to the park as often as was reasonable, but there's a lot going on in September! I learned my lesson last year and signed the kids up for all kinds of stuff this fall. Yes, we're probably a little overloaded for the next couple of months, but driving all over the place between November and March is not at all fun, besides being dangerous, so we're squeezing in as much as we can now. Which means I am officially a mini-van mama. There are craft classes, cubs, ballet classes and swimming lessons (I managed to get ALL FOUR KIDS signed up at THE SAME TIME, and yes I think I deserve some kind of award for this). Toss in a little family home evening and some movie nights, and I'm awed by how fast the time disappears.

Of course, one of the best things that happens in September is the celebration of Addy's birthday. I can hardly believe it has been six years since I first held her, a tiny little angel, in my arms. I remember her birth the most vividly, I think, of all my kids. She was born with the most beautiful golden halo of hair, and I remember just thinking over and over what a peaceful spirit she had. I'm sure that her ability to sleep through the night from early on undoubtedly contributed to my retaining a few extra memories! That peaceful spirit has stayed with her over the last six years. She's the first to jump in and help when anyone is sad or needs help, and she's amazing with babies.

On her birthday we celebrated with a trip to A&W for hamburgers, and frosty mugs of root beer. Her party (the following weekend) was so much fun too! She decided on a Fairy Tale Adventure, so her friends all dressed up as fairy tale characters and joined us for the Victorian Tea that's put on once a month at the Saskatchewan Government House. The kids made crowns and played in the "Once Upon a Time . . ." room before a fancy tea party, complete with cucumber sandwiches, mint tea with sugar cubes and cream from a tiny pitcher, and perfect little cupcakes in little jam jars. The treat bags were my favorite so far, with Jack's magic (jelly) beans, Rumpelstiltskin's (chocolate) gold coins, Rapunzel's hair band, and Cinderella's (candy) necklace. We had so much fun that we decided to go back again with some friends for a girls' afternoon soon.

So yes, aside from the innundation of fruit flies in our kitchen (the dark side of cutting up and freezing a bazillion crab-apples from our tree), and the craziness of Aaron starting a new semester (a new FANTASTIC semester--his audition slots completely filled up and now his choirs are well-stocked with good voices), September was completely delightful. We still need to get our family pictures done before it freezes over, and one of these days I'll be able to get our storage room organized again, but there really is a little more time in each day, so I'm optimistic!