can it finally be?

warm weather has finally descended upon us

we were scrambling to find our shorts, tshirts and flip flops
rain is expected sunday
so i expect we will be outdoors as much as possible on the weekend

what plants need

we did a great experiment over the last 10 days
papaya need to find out the effect that sun, water and air have on plants
we bought three plants
plant 1 went in the window (sun) and got no water
plant 2 went in the closet (no sun) and got watered regularly
plant 3 went in the window (sun) and got watered regularly
they all started out the same size and turned out very different in the end
even between plant 2 and 3, there was a big difference in size and colour
it was a really good hands of way for her to learn the effects of sun, air and water
i do feel bad about killing a perfectly good plant though!

just life

Want some supper?

I made these yummy porkchops (which I rarely ever cook) the other day. I actually make pork chops so little that I went on to www.allrecipes.com to look for some ideas. Paired together with fried rice and green beans it was a yummy meal! I also made peanut brownies for dessert! Yum!

Have you made anything yummy lately?

someone turned nine

2009 - a wonderful nine!
you have so much you think and say
you love paper, pencil and a quiet corner
a good book is your best friend at bed
but a party or time with friends will always win out during the day
you love to laugh
you keep life light
we love you bugsy!
2008 - beautiful and eight

2007 - seven, the love of animals has only gotten bigger!

2006 - quite the little lady

2005 - oh my! she's almost five (this one is late '04 but i love it so much)

2004 - four and in love with almost anything that has four legs

2003 - a very fiesty three-year old

2002 - a sweet 2 yr old

2001 - those captivating blue eyes that wanted to explore so much!

2000 - my darling first born, april 16, 2000

our spring has come

we are a hopeful bunch here!

the snow has finally been gone for a little while

we are starting to see some new life in the garden

on the weekend i got out and gave my front garden a quick clean and raked the lawn

it felt so good to have sun on my face and not be wearing many layers of clothes

if you look close you can see some of my sprouts

yesterday it decided to start raining in the morning and didn't stop ALL day
it was unbelievable really! i was so glad it was rain and not snow!
then it rained some more
puddles started to form
fresh spring smell in the air...yay

and since it is raining and we are inside feeling so positively springy
papaya and i decided to plant some seeds, her is hoping they turn out well!
hope you are having a happy day!

she's got personality

my four year old never ceases to amaze me
she says the funniest things and has a great outlook on life
last night before bed she said
"mom i feel bad for the buggies that get squished
and the ones that get flushed down the toilet"
(i.e. ants and spiders)
how does she remember that from last summer?

is, had been, will be

as i was mopping my kitchen floor i had a great sense of a job well done

and thought my house is getting clean...yay

then i turned around and saw mess where it had been cleaned,

many little hands seem to undo things like that

then i went farther afield into my house and saw mounds of things to do,

and thought somethings will be done later,

maybe much later...how come i don't catch up?

for now, i need to get outside

my youngest proclaimed we have no snow on our yard anywhere

seems like it is time to play outside again!

doggy dilemna

On Easter Sunday a friend and I went for a walk. The afternoon was beautiful and we both wanted to catch some of the fresh air. While we were walking we approached a fence and didn't see the danger that lay behind it until too late. My friend called out "dog" and I turned to see a dog coming at mine. It made a quick attack and then backed off a little. We yelled at it to go home and I checked my dog over. I thought my dog was okay, but I was wrong.

I hadn't been putting two and two together the last few days either. It was the little things that I wasn't putting together. Like he wasn't coming to greet us at the gate. He didn't eat supper last night and looked really glum. When I brushed him yesterday his underbelly looked wet and matted. I thought it was odd at first, but then thought it was probably because the ground is still so wet. When I brushed him, he whined and grabbed at the brush. He never does that. Yet still I didn't clue in! Today we came home and my oldest daughter went to play with him and he wouldn't chase the ball. She asked what might be the problem and I didn't have an answer. She came running in about 10 minutes later though and said he was bleeding. She can be a little dramatic, but this time she was right.

He has a gaping hole on his left belly by his back leg. Right in the area the other dog bit. I guess I missed it because of its location and all the fur that a golden retriever has. I feel sick about it! It was all green and gross and will need several stitches.

My question is what to do? I called the town bylaw enforcement officer. I was walking our dog on a leash on town property. The attacking dog was off its property by at least 50 m. The owner came out, called him and went right back in before anything could be said.

Now the bylaw officer said I have two options:

1. File that the dog is an "aggresive" dog. This means it has to wear a muzzle at all times, be leashed whenever off its property and a whole other list I can't remember
2. Petition that the owner's of the dog pay the vet's bill and they get a slap on the hand?

What would you do? I hate being confrontational and dealing with messy things. My questions:

• has this dog bitten before?
• will it bite again?
• what if one of my children had been with me and had gotten in the way, would the dog still have attacked? Would it bite a child, my child? What would I do then?

I feel sick about it and confused!

my 3 little boxers

Here is my three little boxers:
Miss "Please Don't Hit"
Miss "I'm the Champ"

Miss "I'm Going to Get Ya"

easter sunday

For me this year, the words of the song

"How deep the father's love for us" really touched me

You can hear this song by clicking on the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voawjjqg8zw

the unexplainable, perhaps!

Yesterday, my husband and I were involved in a spring ritual that not many southern folk might understand.
See, we live in what might be considered the great white north!
No, we don't live in Alaska or the Northwest Terrorities, but we are pretty darn close!
Sometimes when we live here, we get a pretty strong hankering for spring.
We start craving green grass, warmer weather and flip flops!
So, in an attempt to help mother nature along, we intervene in ways, that some might think odd!
I guess this ritual could be called "un-shoveling"
All winter we shovel the snow off our driveway and walkways
and then in spring, or what is spring for most people, we shovel it off our lawn.
Yesterday, we took drastic measures and used our ice pick to break it up and our scoop shovel (ie. a man sized shovel, or a shovel on steroids!) and took great scoops and spread it on the street.
We do live on a cul-de-sac, so we are not really impeding traffic.
My friend stopped by during this ritual to encourage us along, and maybe give a jab or two!
Our oldest daughter thought it was great because Dad created a luge run in the front yard!
I would have taken pictures but my arms were just too tired from all the shovelling!
Great Canadian Traditions!

school day stuff

so here is what our days look like at home
okay, we still do lots of book work too
but these are the parts the girls love
hands on, domestic, experiments
bugsy helped get the muffins in the oven
whole wheat banana...the best!
they get made alot and get eaten just as fast!
papaya's has been learning about flying things
we have been looking at natural and man-made flying things
we also did an experiment the other day with a homemade parachute
the girls thought it was pretty awesome when mom dropped it out a second story window a few times and it worked, really well!
here she made a paper kite just by folding and string

sunday afternoon

After lunch i wandered upstairs to my sewing room. I found these old t-shirts from last summer and fabric that had been buried under some other projects. All of a sudden i was motivated to sew and whipped both dresses off in under an hour. My youngest daughter had her nose over my shoulder most of the time. She was helping anyway she could, she was so excited to see the outcome.

I figure if spring isn't coming to us, then we just need to make some inside the house.

mini-quilts

my girls are constantly raiding my scrap basket

and without any sewing

they make pet shop homes

barbie carpets

doll clothes

really anything their imagination creates

i love watching their creations unfold

the other day they decided to make mini-quilts

i thought they were really quite good

yesterday the scrap basket was transfered to a shoe box and i found them playing with it outside ... my first reaction was to say "no", but i just couldn't when i saw how much fun they were having ... instead i just asked they bring it back in when they were done (which they did) ... after all isn't sharing fabric with friends what it is all about?

special moments

this is pretty much the start of oma and opa's holiday with us

(back in the middle of march)

we were on the ferry to salt spring island

watching the ferry pull out of the harbour into the ocean

two of the kids hoped up in front of them

despite all the busyness around

the four managed a quite moment or two together

good memories

on a final note, did anyone else seem to notice that march quietly slid by?

it seemed it was gone before it started

maybe that is why april is confused and we find snow still in our yard!?

comparison

yesterday

sunshine

hyancinths

wind

stanley park

15 km walk

cafe lait

death by taxi

aiport

good book

home

hugs, kisses, snuggles

----

today

catch some winks

school

paper dolls

laundry and more

cleaning

chili

boot lost in snow, never found

doorbells, phone calls

9 kids in one house

knitting advice given

early bedtimes

cuddles, hugs, kisses, prayers