Wednesday, December 25, 2013

December battles

This month has been hard.  It's a busy time for us usually, but this year I came down with pneumonia and was knocked out of commission for going-on-three-weeks.  That meant I couldn't do my usual Christmas roll-out. 
No baking.
No crafting.
No Christmas cards.
No shopping.
No donations or volunteering.

We still had a Christmas.  Kent stepped up and did the shopping and cooking.  Some very generous friends brought by trays of baking.  My mom helped with the kids and driving around and cooking.  The day before Christmas Eve I bundled up and went shopping with Kent for gifts for the kiddos.  And all the extras and usuals we just skipped (and the world didn't end).

So in the end it was a lovely, simple, holiday.  I hope our friends and neighbours forgive us for ignoring the usual exchanges, and I hope to be healthy and able to do it all next year!

Elf on the Shelf 2013

Trapped the kiddos in their rooms with crepe paper

Add caption

Fished in the sink for goldfish crackers

Marshmallow hot tub party

Marshmallow snowman

Shaving in the mirror


Cutting paper chains
Hammock in Daddy's underwear

Made and hung his own stocking
Caught in the claw of Kai's play set

Swinging from the ceiling

Brought some candy cane seeds

They worked!

Wrote on the eggs

Brought his own snow in a can

Painting a tiny canvas

Toilet papered the Christmas tree

Baked some tiny cookies
Rooted for our team!
Not pictured:
Was sick in bed,
Sipped syrup,
Brought marshmallow treats,
Was camping and roasted a marshmallow on a stick,
Wrapped some tiny presents and left them under a tiny tree.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Halloween continued

Halloween sure is fun! 

We were invited to a costume party on the weekend, where we ate creepy food and listened to some spooky tunes.  Madison elected to go to a friend's party that night (wow, she is growing up), and we all made ourselves up in costume. 

Madison was a greek goddess Athena this year.  We found a toga and all the accessories at Value Village.  Kai wanted to be Link, a character from the video game Legend of Zelda.  We had most of the pieces of his costume, but found boots at Value Village and I made the hat.  Caylie found a turtle costume and we just couldn't pass that up!  I went in Day of the Dead costume this time, and looked up how to paint a sugar skull and skeleton arms.  Kent went in several different costumes this time.  To the party he wore his oilers gear with a siv around his neck (I know)

Next, I co-hared a Halloween hash on Wednesday night.  We had lots of tricks planned, and lots of treats.  The highlight of the hash was at the end, when surprise zombies attacked while we had the beer check.  Good times!  Afterwards we gathered at Shunty's for a bbq/fire-pit social.

Halloween day we all dressed in costume (Kent went as Captain Hook this time) for school.  The kids had a costume parade and showed off their stuff.  Pumpkin carving and Halloween Dance at the middle schools (wow, what an experience that was!). 

Then came time for trick-or-treating.  Madison again wanted to go with friends, so we just had our littles.  We met up with some other littles and toured the neighbourhood.  They visited maybe 2 dozen houses this year (it was a beautiful warm night), and got a super haul of candy.  We sampled the candy and donated the rest to the Halloween Fairy, who brought books, toys, and special erasers in exchange.  What fun!

Halloween

 
Day of the Dead get-up


 
Zombie attack!
Athena, Link, and Turtle

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Dog attack

Dogs scare me.  I have become gradually more and more comfortable with canines since we adopted a dog ourselves.  Revy (though he was a pain in the ass as a puppy) has turned out to be well behaved, loving, and gentle.  At two and a half years old, he has become the perfect family pet.  Most of the dogs I meet day-to-day have been friendly and joyful.

Yesterday while walking Revy on the river channel, we were attacked by a pitt bull.  We have just recently started letting Revy run off leash at this location, and he was running to and fro, in and out of the water, and greeting all the dogs he came across.  When he greeted a pitt bull, Kent called him back (as usual), and he turned to come to us.  The pitt bull tore out of its owner's grasp on the leash and bolted after Revy, latching on to his throat and locking down. 

Kent immediately rushed to the dogs and pried the pitt bull's jaws apart with his bare hands.  He freed Revy, but it immediately re-locked onto Revy's chest!  Again, Kent reached into its mouth and forced its jaws apart.  This time Revy escaped.  Kent had the presence of mind to stay and get some personal information from the owner.  (After a few words exchanged) they civilly discussed the breed, the origin and history, and the needs and dangers of the animal.  As it happens the owner had recently taken charge of the 9 year old dog as a rehabilitation attempt by Hug-a-bull.  He had little experience or training with dogs and was ineffectual in attempting to intervene in the incident.

The upshot:  Kent's hand has deep cuts from the teeth as he wrenched them open.  He went to hospital where it was treated and dressed, and he needs a course of antibiotics.  There is nerve damage in one finger, and he may never regain feeling in the extremity.  Revy has puncture wounds in the neck and chest.  Our vet was closed over the weekend and I had to take him to the emergency vet in Summerland.  He needed drainage and pain management immediately and will be treated by our own vet as soon as they open on Monday.

The fallout:   We have been in contact with Hug-a-bull about their rescue animal.  We have made a police report about the incident.  We are waiting to see what, if any, lasting physical damage has occurred.  We have requested that the dog be euthanized due to its unpredictable, dangerous behaviour.  This is not something we are in the habit of advocating, but this episode has brought new light to the matter. 

I have always been an animal lover.  Though shy of dogs, I have not been in agreement of blaming or banning particular breeds, nor have I relished the thought of euthanizing animals.  However, having witnessed this dog's immediate, intense, and committed viciousness, I may have had a change of heart.  I do not see how we can in good conscience allow a dangerous animal to walk among us in the community.  What if it had attacked a child?  What if Kent had not been present or had not known how to diffuse the lock-bite of a pitt bull?  I agree that the unpredictable nature and killer instinct of this breed is unfortunate and not a result of the dogs being "evil", but a result of human intervention over countless generations breeding, abusing, and training the animals to be aggressive killers.  That fault lies with the type of person who enjoys the "sport" of fighting dogs or the thrill of keeping dangerous attack animals.  That said, though it's unfortunate for the rest of the breed, I fear by their very nature that we cannot completely trust them as pets and members of our community.  Yes, there are good, kind, gentle pitt bulls.  Yes, there are aggressive and dangerous dogs of other breeds too.  But because this breed has been systematically and historically bred for the kill, I do not believe I will ever be comfortable spending time with them. 

Now what about the human problem?  It has been humans who strategically honed this breed as above, and humans who have abused and used the dogs.  If we ban pitt bulls, wouldn't those same humans just choose another breed and do the same over time?  

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Kai's Hobbit Party

Tablecloth map of Middle Earth
Shooting Smaug
 This weekend we hosted Kai's birthday party.  His birthday was last month, but we are just now getting around to doing his shin-dig because school start-up etc takes a lot out of you!   Kai had chosen a hobbit theme ages ago because he really wanted to show the movie during the party.  We have read and re-read the Tolkien book, and watched and loved the movie, so this was Kai's chance to share and enjoy the story with his friends. 

 Because the movie is LONG, and because his buddy did it this year, Kai really wanted his party to be a sleepover.  I agreed that we would, but only on the condition that we would not invite too many kids.  Kai chose three boys, and they all came bearing gifts.  Usually we do donations instead of gifts, so this was a first for him. 

Got 'im!
First the boys shot arrows at Smaug with Kai's archery set.  Kai and one of his friends have had lots of practice at this, but the other two boys had never shot a bow before and thought this was super cool.  They all managed to wound the dragon somewhere! 

Next we had Second Breakfast at the big table (I had covered the table in paper and drew a map of Middle Earth with runes on it).  The boys (and sisters) wolfed pancakes, sausages, fruit, gummy "Gollum" fish, and gummy "rings".

After the meal the hobbits went outside to blow bubbles with their pipes.  This was hilarious, and while they were enjoying that, I called them to the computer one at a time to use www.thebarrowdowns.com to find their Middle Earth name.  It's a name generator that will spit out your elf, hobbit, dwarf, and orc name, which I wrote on nametags for the boys so we'd all remember who we are.  
What's In the Pocketses?
 Next we played a guessing game with the pockets.  Each guest had to feel the items in the pockets without looking or putting their hand inside the fabric.  They wrote down what they thought each thing was, and then we revealed what was inside. 


Then it was time for cake!  I tried for  a hobbit hole, and Kai was pleased with the results.
                                                      Fireworks over Bag End


Now that it's dark, we gave the kiddos a sparkler to wave around outside.  We'd never done this before, and it was a hit!  Already the time was getting away from us and we'd had so much fun but we still had the movie to watch.  So we set them up in the viewing area with popcorn but most of the boys were so stoked to play with Kai's toys that they didn't pay much attention to the movie.  Never mind, they played nicely and killed some time while the movie was on in the background. 



Hobbit-style goodie packages
Time for bed!  We settled them into the trailer for a long night of giggling and noise-making... only to be up and ready to play bright and early the next morning!  I made them a big First Breakfast, and they played with all the toys and games they didn't get around to the night before.  Parents came and peeled them away from the Wii, and each boy went home with  a paperback copy for The Hobbit, a bubble pipe set, and a ring-pop. 

A success! 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Artist Party

Caylie turned 7 last month, but we just got around to having her birthday party yesterday.  This year's theme is artist party!  We had several artistic activities to keep the little ones engaged.  First they used sharpies and rubbing alcohol to make tie dye t-shirts. 
Creating a new fashion trend
 Next they got messy with some fingerpainting.
Getting their hands dirty!
We also tried sidewalk chalk paint, but the pics of that didn't turn out great, and I probably wouldn't do that one again.  But making a mess is always fun on principle. 
t-shirts and fingerpaintings hung to dry
Then it was time for a pizza and junk food feast!  Yes, there were some veggies offered as well, but some of the little guys declined.  
After the main course, they got messy again by decorating cupcakes with an array of coloured icings and candy toppings.  Fun!
Caylie's creation
 When parents arrived we packed their artwork into these goodiebags along with a paint palette, paint-by-number sheet and a blank colour wheel to fill in.  The kiddos had a good time and Caylie raised almost $25 for the SPCA!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Young chef

My eldest daughter (who is well over 11 now) is beginning to cook by herself.  We decided she would be responsible for making the family dinner one night a week.  Her first meal plan was:  homemade pizza, veggie sticks, and dip with yellow jello for dessert.  It was delicious!  She was so proud to have made a whole meal by herself, and she was impressed at how tasty it turned out.  Next week:  Butter chicken and rice. 

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Camping fun

This summer we went on a family camping trip through Washington and Oregon.  We visited Soap Lake, Cle Ellum, Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, Canon Beach, Tillamook, and then home to Vancouver to visit the fam.  Here are some highlights from our trip.En Route to Mt Baker State Park we stopped at a "viewpoint".  It surely was a great view!

Checked out Tillamook Cheese Factory and got to watch how cheese is made.  And Ice Cream!
Crab catching (and eating) at Kelly's.  This was so much fun and such an experience!
Soap Lake healing mud.  Next time I'm going to bring a bucket to carry it home!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Madison's 11th Birthday

Cake.

Bhindi
Madison celebrated her 11th birthday a week after the actual day.  She chose bellydance party this year. 
We sent out invitations that I made using a silhouette of a bellydancer that I found online.  I didn't want any actual bellies on the card. Once again Madison chose to collect donations to a charity for her birthday; this year the SPCA benefited from her friends' generosity. 

The girls arrived at Get Bent Arts and Recreation Centre and were given bhindis to adorn their fresh little faces.  I was told these would not fall off when the girls got sweaty, but we did have to replace a few. 

Next our party hostess, Nicole, led the guests in over an hour of activities.  First they were allowed to adorn themselves in finery and jinglery from the costume box.  They learned some basic moves and practiced a routine until it was performance-ready, intermingled with fun and silly games and exercises.  They had a blast!  There was much wiggling, "popping", and sashaying around the studio.  When they were ready, they proudly performed the final production for the camera.

Everyone had worked up an appetite, so they adjourned to the cake area.  Madison had requested a chocolate cake, and I had also prepared fruit with dip, coloured popcorn, and turkish delight (which was devoured in record time).  Hunger slaked and thirst quenched, the guests chatted and giggled over the remains of the food until the parents began arriving to collect their little dancers.  Moms eagerly joined the last of the festivities, while more than one Dad decided to wait outside. 

As we bid farewell to the guests, we passed out goodie bags.  Each one included a simply made coin scarf, a pack of "dessert" gum, and chocolate coins tied with a gold twist.  Get Bent also had pamphlets to hand out to the girls in case any of them are inspired with an idea for one of their own birthdays in the future. 

Madison had a lovely time, and her friends were all smiles.  A success!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Our newest family member!


Meet our newest little addition:  his name is Bilbo Baggins and he is a 6 week old orange tabby tom.  He is very friendly, playful, loving, and sweet.  I can't pry the children off of him for even a minute to brush their teeth!  Truthfully, I want to hold him and snuggle him all day too.

How to maximize a backyard: