First day of Spring my butt...

So much for Spring arriving today, it's been cold and blowing with snow flakes flying around for good measure! I drove home from my night class in a blustery snow squall, the snowplows were out in force salting the roads and the wind is howling outside the windows as I type this! It seems to be the winter that isn't going anywhere fast! We started March Break off with a bang (or in roared the lion, as they say!) as a wicked winter storm blew in almost two weeks ago now burying many parts of Ontario and the Maritimes. As much as people in this part of the province thought we got "hammered", it was nothing compared to some of the pictures I saw from Ottawa and parts of the East coast. Mother Nature is, it would seem, rather cranky this year! You can blame it on me if you like, I really wanted to enjoy a proper winter for the first time in seven years and boy did I get one!!

The kids were back to school this week after their break but with Easter arriving so early this year, they were only back for four days and now they are off for another four! The good news is that it will be another 220 years before Easter is this early again. This weekend is all about the chocolate for us as we don't celebrate in the Christian manner, this "celebration" is definitely the hardest one for this aethiest to swallow...the arrival of the "zombie Jesus". 'Nuff said. ;o)

Love this!

So lots of chocolate it is and a good excuse to eat too much roasted meat and drink some wine! We will head to the cottage to watch our neighbours make maple syrup if all goes according to plan. I had a call from Carolyn and she told me they have tapped trees and collected some syrup already and plan to start boiling on Saturday! This will be great fun for the kids to watch...weather permitting! Tim, unfortunately, has to work on Monday so he'll stay here and at least that saves me having to take two cats along with four kids and one large dog in the car...we don't travel lightly around here! ;o) Thankfully a local fellow brought in his tractor and plowed out Dad's driveway which was, according to Carolyn, "waist deep" in snow after the last storm! I hope the road isn't too treacherous with all this thawing and freezing going on this week and now some rather blustery, snowy & chilly weather. Our big dump of snow has been slowly "shrinking" as we had some milder weather and a bit of rain this week. Gotta love Canada in March...haha!

Plowing - country style!

Mom & Dad send me regular informative and taunting emails from Thailand, apparently they are finding decision making very tough this time around...do they have the Thai or oil massage, spicy shrimp salad or glass noodle seafood salad for dinner, walk the beach in the morning or wait until the last afternoon...my heart bleeds for them. Grrrrrrrr. Sounds like they are having a blissful trip so far. Good on them. I guess. Meh.

March seems to be flying by and I would think that Spring really can't be that far away but one never knows...as much as the kids have enjoyed this winter I think they are ready for the snow to melt, the flowers to bloom and they have begun to talk about going back to the cottage for swimming, boating, etc. this summer. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Hope you had a nicer first day of Spring than we did in our little part of the world! Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks in the life of the clan.

Cheers for now, watching to see if that lamb appears at the end of the month,

Laura :o)

Our backyard after the big dump of snow! The fence between our property and the next door neighbour is buried and our BBQ has quite a hat! You can compare the pictures from the "January melt" pictures in an earlier post!
Poor Oscar was up to his chest in snow!
It's so rare that I get pictures of Connor, especially in action (haha) that I had to post a few of these! He went out to enjoy the snow and did so with a big smile on his face. :o)

Take THAT camera-Mom!
Gaaaahhh, walking in this stuff is tiring...
Must...crawl...to...safety...
This is kinda fun actually...
The snow was up to Mae's hips!
Helping Con with his fort
Cam gets in on the action..
Mae had a daytime riding lesson during the break so I, finally, managed to get a few pics of her riding at Dreamcrest on "Mr. Kilts"

Mae loves this boy...
Getting warmed up...
And jumping! Wheeeeeee!
Delsin was invited to his first birthday party, a friend from his class. He was the only boy invited to Ryanna's party so he felt pretty special. :o) The parents hired an exotic animal trainer/specialist and he brought a collection of creepy-crawlies for a "hands-on" experience for the kids. It was all very cool...except for the tarantula...blech! Delsin was very brave and touched or held the following: a very large millipede, a tarantula (EEK!), a boa constrictor, a huge toad, and an American alligator! He did, however, draw the line at the Madagascar hissing (huge) cockroaches...wonder why that could be? ;o)

This picture cracks me up...it was his reaction when the guy brought the cockroaches around and his party host was wearing 4 of them on her back, shoulders and chest! She later wore the tarantula on her head...fearless child!!
Getting up close and personal with a slithery friend, brave boy! This one is especially for you, Jan..hehehe.

Karma is a bitch...

I think I am not the lone Canadian hoping that Conrad Black will soon be someone's bitch! After his disgracefully lenient sentence being issued we can all sit back and smile knowing that he didn't fully get away with it. He is now prisoner number: 18330-424. How sweet it is. That's what you get for renouncing your Canadian citizenship you putz!! Funny that the media was having trouble finding anyone who felt sorry for him on the streets of Toronto yesterday...heehee.  Now we have to sit with bated breath as his legal machine starts the appeal process, fingers crossed that he will be staying put!

On a sad note, I was so sorry to hear that Jeff Healey died on Sunday at the very young age of 41, he was a Canadian treasure and will be missed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. 

On the homefront things are ticking along. The kids are gearing up for March Break and by the look of some of the teachers at school they are just as excited..hehe.  Report cards are being issued this week **dum, Dum, DUM** and so far we have Delsin's which says that he is right where he should be or "EL" (expected level) in all areas! Well done little man!

We had Connor's "annual review" today to discuss his needs/strengths/weaknesses for the coming year. He is off to high school in September (ACK) so this was an important meeting to make sure his needs will be met for next year. Fortunately the high school has agreed with our desire to place him in the academic (university) stream for next year with "withdrawal support" (extra EA support) where he needs it. He is taking two modified courses for kids with special needs one being a "learning strategies" course that will help him with study skills, organization and developing his social skills and the other is a modified arts program which this school designed for students like Connor who struggle taking regular arts program (art, drama or music)...you must have one arts credit to graduate in Ontario. I am really pleased that we didn't meet with any resistance which was a worry in the back of my head. I know high school will be hard for him but I would rather go in challenging him to see if we can pull out all that potential and then scale it back a bit if he is finding it a bit too much rather than give him the easy route and not have him live up to his potential. He has the option to do his high school in 5 years rather than 4 and we will leave that available if we feel he would benefit from scaling back one course per year. All in all it was a good review and Mommy is feeling positive! Connor's main concern is people "being mean to me" and we are all working hard to send him in with a positive attitude and make sure he understands that entering high school is hard for all kids, not just him! He did perk up though when he heard that his current SERT has applied for "technology support"...translation: a laptop! That elicited a smile from my big man! :o)

Cam is continuing with his karate...mean old Mom is making him go several times per week...and he is enjoying it! I asked him this morning as he was heading out the door if his body was sore from class last night and initially he said "no". Then he tried to lift his arms over his head and suddenly looked at me and said, "um, actually I AM sore"...haha! That is a good thing though, he needs the physical exertion to disperse some of his boundless energy!

Little Miss has sore feet today after her second pointe class last night followed by a full ballet and a jazz class, poor thing. :o) She is tired after working very hard on the weekend to get a book report completed that she knew she wouldn't have much time to finish this week with her after school activities. Good girl! 

Tim had another long night working from midnight until 6:00AM on a launch project for his customer, he looks a bit beat up today but couldn't stay in bed as he has his regular work to complete. No rest for the wicked, as they say.

Mom & Dad are enjoying Thailand and I hate them ever so slightly for that. :o) They are eating lots of yummy food, enjoying lots of massages and other treatments, and spending some time with a few friends from their town here in cold, miserable Canada! After previously talking about how much they love Thailand at their local legion a couple of the older single/widowed guys decided to take the plunge and visit last year...they loved it and are back staying for a much longer visit this time! They have even managed to bag Thai girlfriends, the old dogs! :o)  They all deserve to be enjoying themselves so I'll swallow back my envy. :o)

So that's all the news that's new around here. Onwards and upwards as they say. I'm watching the skies carefully as freezing rain changing to snow is supposed to be headed our way, just in time for Mae & I to be heading for the stables. Oh joy. I still refused to become jaded, I have thoroughly enjoyed my first Canadian winter in 7 years!! 

Ta-ta from us,

Laura :o) 

 

Extra day, extra post!

I figured I should pop in an extra post since I only get to do this every four years! :o) Can you believe the next time I get to do this Connor will be almost 18?? **shudder** It's been another busy week chez nous and I'm glad to see Friday! Mother Nature decided to take advantage of the leap day to slam us with bone chilling cold, down to -29C with the windchill, and whip up some wicked snow and wind this afternoon. BRRRRRR! This is just about when anyone who has really been enjoying winter gets that jaded look in their eyes...hehe. Except for me, I'm still loving it! This is like the winters of my childhood! Mom & Dad are enjoying it even more...from Hua Hin, Thailand! I had an email from Mom yesterday letting me know they are settling in well, lucky bums!

Tim had a scan on his bum leg yesterday but it was more "we'll send a report to your doctor" nonsense. Naturally his leg was looking pretty decent for the appointment. **sigh** We both keep wondering when it will next swell up and pus will explode from the scab. He is still scheduled to see the infectious disease specialist in April, I wonder if it will be fully healed by then??

Cam started karate classes this week....HIIIIIII-YA! He really enjoyed it and was showing us his "moves" when he got home. He can do as many classes as he likes so I'm going to aim for 2-3 so that he can learn the routines. He looks very grown up in his uniform **sob**. I hope this will be something he will embrace and help him with his self esteem and concentration. I will try to get a picture of him next week, my kids are wise to me now so I have to use stealth...hehe.

Mae is exhausted after a very busy week, as usual. After her exciting start to the week with her pointe class she had a tough riding lesson on Tuesday followed by the normal dance lessons and school. She also had a field trip on Wednesday to an outdoor education centre where they did over an hour of snowshoeing. Poor girl has very sore legs!! Tomorrow will no doubt be a nice long, late sleep for the little princess. ;o)

Connor and I took a trip to Newboro on Wednesday for a dental checkup. He got his uber-expensive appliance adjusted and a good old cleaning done on his brace brackets. YUCK! You couldn't pay me enough to be a dentist! That part of Ontario got hit with a good old storm on Tuesday, it skipped over us, and we had a rather "white knuckle" trip once we turned off the 401 at Kingston! During our trip up the 401 there were numerous cars, trucks, vans, & even semi's overturned or way off the road buried in snow! I guess it got pretty hairy on Tuesday night and we were seeing the evidence the next day!

Delsin had a good week and was his usual funny self! He enjoyed his gymnastics class yesterday and we hit the arena in the afternoon for a skating session. He is really doing well and getting pretty speedy pushing his learning-frame around the ice! Some of the other regular skaters made a point of saying how well he is doing is such a short time on skates. YAY Delsin! He also had his first birthday party invitation, how exciting! It turns out it is for a little girl in his class and he is the only boy she invited, it seems he's the only boy she can stand to be around. Daddy is so proud. :o) I've been told that there will be a few males cousins for Del to hang with at the party so hopefully he will survive!

I'm my normal busy self and just feeling very tired this week! I can hardly believe we just had week seven of my french class at the college which means we are half way through, the time is just flying! So far I've had 100%, 99% and 96% on my first three assessments...YAY Me! Of course I'm the anal retentive type who is kicking herself for the marks I lost especially on the last test, a few were just silly errors from being nervous and not checking things over properly. UGH! I guess I shouldn't let it bother me as this course is for my own knowledge and enjoyment but still....

Hope you enjoyed your leap day today! I'll get some more pics up soon. Have a great weekend! I"m off to visit my Grandma in Hamilton, I haven't seen her since Boxing Day so I'm looking forward to spending a bit of one-on-one with her. She will be 88 this year, not too shabby!

Cheers to all,

Laura :o)

Oscar is just soooooo high strung!

Delsin loves Bug!

Mae "en pointe"

Well, after my whining about the kids growing up too fast and milestone after milestone flying by, Mae goes and reaches another one! After an 8 week delay from our first trip to Toronto to try on pointe shoes (everything was too big and they had to order in "diddy" sizes for her), she finally got to do her first ballet class "en pointe" last night!! How exciting! I think it was actually more exciting for Momma but that's okay. ;o) To add to her childhood trauma I even asked her teacher, Miss Lynn, if I could sit in and take pictures **groan**. My kids will thank me one day even if they feel like cringing now...hehe. 

I won't bore you with ALL the pictures here, I made up photo album on my .Mac account and included the link above (just click on the title of this post "Mae en pointe" to be redirected to the album). Here are just few highlights from our original shopping trip (can you believe I FORGOT my camera when we went back this past weekend to finally buy the "diddy" shoes they had ordered in for her???) and a few from her first class. Enjoy!

Trying on for the first time

And UP she goes...

Her first time up on her toes in class!

Getting help from Miss Lynn

Working hard

The whole class...find the diddy one! LOL
Quite pleased with herself, as she should be!

"I have magic feel better kisses!"

I have the flu and when my darling Delsin came down for breakfast this morning and I told him that Mommy wasn't feeling well he offered a solution: a magic kiss! He came to me and kissed me on the back of my hand and then planted one on my lips and announced that he has "magic feel better kisses". I feel better already! Wednesday, on the way home from school, we had an interesting conversation, it seems that they have been looking at animals and how they develop from babies into adults. He explained that, "first I was a baby, then a big boy and then I will be a Daddy". Is that not the cutest thing?? I didn't have it in my heart to tell him that first he would have to get through the rotten teenage years and all the angst it entails. I'll just let him dream for a while. :o)

I wish I could just freeze him in time, I love this age and the way he views the world around him. He cracks us up every day with the things he says and he often has my parents in stitches when he comes out with some real corkers! The time just goes way too fast. They are all growing up too quickly. It's funny how when they are babies you can't wait for them to get to the next milestone and the next milestone, then you can't wait for them to start school and interesting activities or sports. Then one day you wake up and they are almost taller than you! EEEK!

Okay, off to wallow in my flu misery now but no rest for the wicked as they say!

My four Valentines **swoon**

At least it looks like winter again, some of this has melted away but it's snowing as I type this! :o)

Building an igloo in the back garden!

Laura :o)