Mummy Thoughts » family

Boys First Job

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:55:12 +0000

So the boys just started their new job a couple of weeks ago. Delivering the local weekly flyer. They have to start somewhere.

They get 7cts per house and there are 49 houses on our route and so they make less than $3.50 a week, divided by 2. I think this is pretty good considering how old they are. More money to add to their money jars. This is their third week and we have a system going and it takes about 20-25 minutes. One child delivering on each side of the road.

The weather has been great so it has been pretty easy. The company delivers the flyers to the house for us to distribute. We load it all into my “granny” cart, I pull it along and they pick it up from my cart to deliver to the houses. In this way, I am still able to keep an eye on them. They really enjoy running around and it gets us all out together for a little outing. The route is mainly on our street and it is a pretty quiet street in terms of traffic so it is pretty safe, as long as Andrew doesn’t trip while running up and down people’s driveways. In time, they will be able to go out on their own. I really like going out with them though, like I said, it gets me out of the house for a little stroll. The boys have so much energy and it is fun to see them just bouncing along.

This is the beginning…..

Laundry Day

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:15:54 +0000

This was taken in March when Grandma was visiting. She was the patient one that put everything on the line. Thought it was a cool picture to share. Perhaps we can save some of our resources and let nature take care of drying instead of using the dryer all the time.

Look at all those socks!

Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:49:28 +0000

My baby boy, Matthew just turned 11. It is hard to believe that time flies when you are having fun. He is 4’9″ and up to my nose, I predict that he will be as tall or taller than me when he hits 12.

He had 2 cakes, one on his birthday,

and one at his birthday party with his friends(I made this one but he decorated it).

For his party, Matthew had 7 boys come over. I was thinking what am I going to do with 9 children for 3 hours. Now that they are older, I had to find something more challenging. So I decided on a scavenger hunt, indoors and out. I am glad the weather worked out well. Last year, it rained.

We paired the kids off and they got their clues. It is amazing what the kids behave and do when they are excited. We had some ground rules, when they came in to the house, they had to remove their shoes, many of them would forget and had points deducted. They had to stay in the perimeter of the yard and no tampering with clues. Here is a copy of what they had to do.

1. What is the house number across the street?
2. There are some coupons on the counter by the window, how much savings do you get with the Huggies diapers?
3. In the Wagon, there are a couple of eggs, how much money is in the orange egg?
4. How many pieces of Lego were used to make the tower?
5. On the back deck, if you walk down 3 steps, how many steps are you from the bottom?
6. What is the license plate of the Honda Odyessy on the street.
7. If our house faces North east, what fruit is south west?
8. There is a sculpture of dolphins by the window, if you look carefully from the top, how many dolphins do you see?
9. There is a bird in the kitchen, what kind of bird is it?
10. In the hallway, there are fishes on the wall, how many red fishes are there?
11. Find the washing machine, next to it is a bottle of laundry soap, what brand is it?
12.What vegetable do you cook in the barbecue?
13. Somewhere in the yard, there is a blue pail, take a duck.
14. The house faces North East, what fruit is on the most northern part of the house.
15. Where is the piece of cake with pink icing?
16. Look for the longest stick in the yard.
17. Bring 5 dried intact leaves.
18. Outside the front door, there is something black, take a penny inside it.
19. In the Oxford dictionary, what is the 3rd word before biscuit?
20. where is the pink pony?
21. What country is south of Botswana?
22. There is a pink basket on the deck, bring a black something from it.
23. Bring a dead bug.

We also played a game of Scattergories. Some of them were so creative with their words. They really had to think under pressure!!

All in all, I think the birthday party was a success. There wasn’t too much to clean either, except under the dinning table!!

Crazy Hair Day

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:01:26 +0000

Crazy hair day at school last Wednesday. The boys had to be different and Kyle used his artistic talents again….

Matthew asked to learn to cook

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:21:25 +0000

Wow, last night Matthew decided that he wanted to help me in the kitchen. When he was little he would help me with baking cookies and muffins, after all his first big word was “spatula”. It has been a while since he has helped me in the kitchen and he asked to do it last night. What blew me away was his comment “I need to learn to cook sometime”. Grab the opportunity, do it when they want to.

Matthew my sous-chef

So last night he helped me clean, cut up the veg and cooked them too. He knows how to fry eggs, now he can add another dish to his resume. He was also proud of himself as he also cut up the cilantro and grated the ginger for the steamed fish dish.

It was really nice, we worked well together, he wasn’t in the way and dinner preparation time was reduced. There wasn’t a big mess, he cleaned up as he was doing the preparation. I am so proud of my big guy, he is growing up so fast.

Great Canadian Chill Ottawa, 2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:53:03 +0000

We got an email from our friend Eric inviting us for a dip in the Ottawa River to raise money for Children’s cancer on January 1st. It was forecast to be +4C so Kyle said “Why Not”. What a way to start the Year!

I made a short video of Kyle’s “Big Event”.
Enjoy….

What Love means to a 4-8 year old

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:41:29 +0000

What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . …

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, ‘What does love mean?’
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined See what you think:

‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’
Rebecca- age 8

‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’
Billy – age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’
Karl – age 5

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’
Chrissy – age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’
Terri – age 4

‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’
Danny – age 7

‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss’
Emily – age 8

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.’
Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,’
Nikka – age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.’
Noelle – age 7

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’
Tommy – age 6

‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’
Cindy – age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’
Clare – age 6

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’
Elaine-age 5

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’
Chris – age 7

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’
Mary Ann – age 4

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’
Lauren – age 4

‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’ (what an image)
Karen – age 7

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.’
Mark – age 6

‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’
Jessica – age 8

And the final one
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
‘Nothing, I just helped him cry’

What we learned from Barbara Coloroso in Ottawa

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:14:15 +0000

Kyle and I had the privilege of listening to Barbara Coloroso speak here in Ottawa last night. She is full of information. I had watch a video of her a few years ago and the biggest thing that we learned then was that kid don’t get much of a chance to make decisions. Decision making helps them to learn to think for themselves. So if it is not morally degrading or life threatening, let them do it. That is what we have been using when it comes to out kids. This was very evident in their choice of clothes. “I did not dress them!”

As in Matthew case, it was really crazy in the beginning… now he seems to have develop some sort of sense of style, most days his t-shirt is on backwards but he doesn’t really care!! There are more important things to worry about. Natalie wears her fancy dresses to school. Why not. There are not enough parties or Christmases to wear all those fancy dresses to before she grows out of them. That is her decision.

One of the main things I remember about last night is this example. We tell them how to dress, what to eat, how to behave and we have kids that listen and behave well. Unfortunately when they grow up, they do not learn to think for themselves. So when they get older, they still let other people, like peers tell to them what to do, how they dress, what they eat etc. So if their friends are more aggressive and bully, the could follow suit. If kids think for themselves, they would make their own decisions and know right from wrong and do what they believe in.

Today has been a fun day in terms of the kids putting what I learned into practice. I know the kids can think for themselves, sometime I feel I have to guide them along in the mornings especially. Reminding them about brushing their teeth and packing their lunches. It can get quite stressful in the mornings… So this morning I put the timer on the oven so that the kids know when they had to finish their breakfast so that they had enough time to get. Since Matthew always finishes his breakfast really fast, he gets to play in his room before school. So I put the timer on in their bedroom for 7:50am, so they know when they have to start getting ready to go out the door. Unfortunately I forgot the tell the other 2 and so they all totally ignored the alarm. So I went in to remind them 5 minutes later, I though perhaps the alarm didn’t go off. That is all I had to do, they packed their lunch, got ready and guess what, we all got to school on time… I did not have to do the constant reminders so there was less tension in the house. Somehow along the way, I forgot that they are very capable individuals and can think for themselves. I was very thankful for the reminder.

Her talk also talked about consequences, last night we came home past their bedtime. Of course they were fooling around before getting into bed. I asked the kids what the consequences would be if they didn’t go to sleep right away. Andrew said that he would get grounded. (oops I think we have over used that a little, we should not be raising them out of fear, something to take note of). Natalie figured it out, they would be tired the next day. Very logical and after that little discussion, they got ready for bed and no arguments. Somehow, when we get a little busy, we just forget the common sense things, the kids are so logical and they just need real answers.

Last night’s talk was worth it’s weight in gold. Kid are worth it, I love the little reminders, as parents we are the biggest influence on the children. How we behave and what we say to them or let them do will help them think for themselves and bring out the best in them. Thanks Babara.

Fall Apples in Ottawa

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:29:23 +0000

Since we are in Ottawa this fall, we havn’t had a chance to enjoy the wonderful apples from my mum’s tree in Winnipeg. But we have had our share of yummy free apples here. When the kids returned back to school in September we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the tree right in front of the school was an apple tree. Imagine my excitement of being able to make those apple pies and apple crumble.

The school encourage us to pick the apples to enjoy instead of letting them go to waste. So that is what we did. Every day after school, we stopped to pick apples on the way home. The kids loved climbing the tree and picking and eating those apples straight from the tree.

There are still tons of apples on the tree. Unfortunately they are now too high to climb to pick. So yesterday we took the ladder and we picked more apples. Made juice yesterday and will make another apple crisp today! The super easy recipe is at the bottom of the blog.

The big surprise was when Kyle came home from one of his customers this week who is a farmer. Check out the size of that apple. Kyle is not sure whether to eat it or not. I remember seeing apples that size in Australia….

The apple is as big as her head

His favourite fruit!

Guess which one is from the farm and which one is from the school

Apple Oatmeal Crisp

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup butter melted
Mixed the above ingredient together and line the pan with half the mixture.

4 cups sliced apples
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Mix the apples together with the sugar and cinnamon and place on top of the oatmeal mixture.
Top off the apples with the remaining half of the oatmeal mixture.

Place it in the oven for 350F for 45minutes.
Enjoy!
The kids like it with ice-cream.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:52:43 +0000

I have much to be thankful for. Life is good.

I love long weekends. This weekend, the kids and I cleaned out their bedrooms, it was long overdue. We started on Saturday, took a break in the afternoon and finished on Sunday. So now the deal is that they have to clean up every night before they go to bed. I think we have said that many times before. I need to put down my foot down more and not let the kids take advantage with excuses. Tonight Natalie had a fit when we told her she had to put her toys away even though we helped her she didn’t have to do it herself. The tears… So their room is now tidy. The goal is to make sure they keep it that way! I am thankful for clean and tidy rooms.

I did some tidying up myself. The winter clothes are out and most of the summer stuff has been put away. It is so odd as it is still so warm outside. We went for a bike ride to Britannia Beach on Sunday afternoon and it was such a lovely ride. The park was just packed, everyone was out enjoying the wonderful warm October weather. I am thankful for the great weather we are having.

It was a social weekend for us too. Saturday we went to a un-traditional baby shower with the family in Rockland. We met up with friends from our Peak Potential courses and it was an awesome evening. The kids just entertained themselves, and played on the vast property. Saturday night we had our vegetarian thanksgiving dinner with a couple of friends. I made a sweet potato gratin, amazing what you can find online when you do a google search. I search for “vegetarian thanksgiving dinner”! Today we went to visit our friends Terry and Jane. It always amazes me when our kids meet up with our friends kids. This is the second time our kids have gotten together since moving back to Ottawa, and they are so comfortable together. When they met up the first time, they hadn’t seen each other for over 4 years, Matthew would have been 6. No problem hanging out together to play. That is so great. I am thankful for great kids.

This morning, I slept in, very rare for me. I can’t remember when the last time I did that. I was quite stuffed up last night and had a restless sleep so the extra couple of hours this morning was so very nice. I am thankful for a husband who looked after the kids and let me sleep in.

What a awesome weekend. I have so much to be thankful for. What are you thankful for?