Happy Canada Day!!

Waiting for the Canada Day parade to begin

Watching the parade

Brothers

Have a great Canada Day!

The Races

Boys and Girls

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That’s what little boys are made of!

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice
That’s what little girls are made of!

C6 in dress-up clothes with doll / L3 with cap gun

Happy Anniversary Grammie and Grampie!

Tragic Loss

I have found several things disturbing and upsetting lately, one of which was the suicide of someone I knew and went to school with - a husband and father of two. There were hundreds of people at his wake. It makes we wonder where everybody was before. I doubt his unbearable stress began all of a sudden. I know what it is like to feel like nobody likes me or nobody cares. I don’t know what was going on, although I heard he had been on an anti-depressant which makes me wish charges could be laid against the MD. The family has to keep going, blaming themselves, suffering the pain, asking “what if”, trying to let the Lord carry it for them. Very, very sad.

Kite Flying

A Kite
author unknown

I often sit and wish that I
Could be a kite up in the sky,
And ride upon the wind and go
Whichever way I chanced to blow.

Kite Days
Mark Sawyer

A kite, a sky, and a good firm breeze,
And acres of ground away from trees,
And one hundred yards of clean, strong string -
O boy, o boy! I call that spring!

Three Brothers

At the Seaside
Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.

I Thought There Had to be a Hole in the Tank

It was less than two years ago that I blogged about having just pumped gas for the first time in my life. I have done it several times since, including today. I stood there, next to the van, letting the gas pour in. I never did hear the click to say it was full, because I hauled it away when it hit 80 dollars!! (The US/Canadian dollar is almost the same.)

Sunday

In the middle of the sermon yesterday, L3 rubbed his eye and got his top eyelashes stuck underneath his eyelid. Hello for a commotion with me trying to get his lashes free. We sit near the front, so dear knows what everyone was thinking I was doing to him. He also had a choke fest on his cup of water. I keep forgetting to teach C6 that you don’t turn around to look at the people behind you. And how many times should a child be allowed to ask, “Is it almost over?”

The sermon text scripture included the tag-line to my site, “That the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:21 The responsive reading included one of my favorite verses, “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.” Psalm 145:19

Grammie made a nice chicken dinner for all of us after church.

Then we went up the river to pick fiddleheads. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of the season, so there weren’t very many around. We did get enough for about four meals or more.

Fiddlehead picking in NB
Kind of dreary, huh.
You just wait, it will soon be the most beautiful place on earth.

Here are my and C6’s rubber boots.
Is that mud on our jeans?

Friday Night

Bike ride at the park
Here in NB, it takes a while for spring to become pretty.
The leaves are just starting to come on the trees.

This is what our counter looks like when we make popcorn.
We watched a movie together on Friday night.

Backyard Air Show

We just had a jolly good time watching our own private air show! Occasionally a small plane will circle our house, and we will all wave. This time, a plane kept circling and circling, sometimes flying quite low, and waving the wings! We think it was my cousin (my grandmother’s nephew). The children waved, and ran back and forth, often through the house to get from the front step to the back deck to watch it. It is no exaggeration to say the plane circled us 20-25 times. Fun!

Near Hit

Last night, on the way to the dinner theatre (photos in private post), we stopped at a red light at the old court house. A car came toward us crossing the intersection, and if Derek hadn’t pulled ahead as soon as the light turned green, the car would have crashed right into the side of our van. As it was, he smashed into the side of the car behind us. Four of us saw the whole thing.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day Secrets

“Mommy, it’s so hard keeping a secret don’t you think? Wanting to tell somebody… I guess there is one more thing you can open. You’ll like it.”

C6 quickly went and brought me a little rolled up banner that she made with Mother’s Day lovings on it.

Too Formal for Morning

I was eating breakfast this morning, and the cat walked by wearing a pink beaded necklace.

Spring Fishing

We live along a beautiful salmon-fishing river. My grandfather and his brothers have guided sports fishermen for years. They tend to come from America or Germany to fish in our river. Yesterday, the water was higher and swifter than usual, and it happened that a boat with two men on board capsized. One of the fishermen was an 85-year-old man with a pacemaker. They floated down the river, clinging to their upside-down boat. My 86-year-old great-uncle happened to be guiding and rescued the two men. With great difficulty, Uncle Danny kept the old man above the water, and encouraged the other man who almost gave up. Fortunately other people helped when they floated further down the river.

It’s Global Warming!!

April Fool’s!

If it wasn’t so pretty, the extra snow today would be downright depressing.

I wonder why the children didn’t believe me when I said there were deer in the field! (That is my annual April Fool’s joke.) Often the field is bare or only partially covered in snow on the first of April.

Do you think it will melt by July?

“I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

When I mention to my grandmother and mother about us moving away, they remind me of this quote,

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” Scarlett O’Hara 

“We shall not be left in want for any good thing.” Psalm 34:10

Little Lost Lamb

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11 (KJV)

http://www1.americangreetings.com/ecards/display.pd?lpage=bmodule&path=100923&prodnum=3131632

Good Friday

Me to C6: “Today is Good Friday. It is in memory of when Jesus died on the cross.”

C6 gave me a very confused look: “It is good Friday?”

Update

Even though we usually don’t let the SCHOOL SYSTEM tell us when to take March Break, we took off last week anyway. The decision was mainly because there were $2 matinees at the theatre all week, and we wanted to see a couple of them. The boys also needed a break.

We have been doing a lot of snowmobiling and sliding this winter. The snowfall amount has been crazy.

This past Friday, we hosted a homeschooling video game party.  We wanted to do something that would interest the teens. Thirty-some people showed up. We had plenty of snacks. We had a Wii going upstairs and a Wii and a PS3 downstairs. The air hockey table was also played steady. Everyone seemed to have a fun time.

While I was typing this, L3 came around the corner with a K’Nex gun he just made, and he shot me and the cat (with sound effects).

Note the Facebook updates on the sidebar if you’re curious about what goes on around here.