Life sure does change...

I realized when I was searching my blog for a recipe I've made in the past, that I've really left everyone hanging!  So, instead of writing it all out - I'll just make everyone go to this article...
https://hamiltonhealth.ca/a-sprained-ankle-becomes-an-acquired-brain-injury/

My nephew is now 8 months old and in my opinion, cute as a button!

So, things are much better than the last time I posted...life in my house is still busy, my own boys are now 13 and 10...with the 13 year old graduating public school and heading to secondary school in the fall.

And football is in full swing again...

I'll be back again sooner rather than later!

A ADHD Mom....

My oldest struggles with Attention Deficit, he has been "labelled" but it has helped so much to understand how he thinks and how to help him structure his day so he can be successful.  This info graphic below has a lot of information laid out in a really easy to read way.  Any other Mom's out there that are dealing with the Inattentive portion of this "label"?


http://darcsunshine.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/a-teachers-words-of-wisdom-regarding-adhd/

Being a Mom

We have lots happening in our home but right now the thing that is taking over our home is the addition of a washroom "en suite" to our bedroom as well as new everything in the bedroom....and because of this, lots of stuff is getting muddled through. 

I read the following online the other day: The Mom Confession

And I keep replaying this over in my head " Motherhood isn’t based on external markers of perfection"...as my kids have taken baloney sandwiches all week and no homework was completed with my help.

Next week will be the same, and the week after that as well, so just bear with me, please....they don't look too worse for wear....

"the worst mom ever!"

I did not write this post - I read it online and thought to  myself - I could have written this as it is exactly what I've been trying to teach my boys.  So show a fellow blogger some love if you wish, this was written by Parenting With Faith

And here is the direct link to the post http://www.parentingwithfaith.blogspot.ca/2013/11/youre-worst-mom-ever-and-other.html

Son, remember yesterday when you called me, "the worst mom ever!"? I wanted to thank you for that. Look, I know you were upset that I was making you do yard work... alongside me. I know that I was taking you away from video games. I know you were grumpy for not getting your own way, but baby, that's life. My job is to teach you about life and if that makes me the worst mom ever, I'll take it.

Credit: amothersheart. As much as I want you to like me, it's more important for you to respect me. It's more important for you to know boundaries. You need to know the world does not revolve around you. I don't let you win at board games (usually), because there will be times when you'll lose for real and you need to handle disappointment like a champ. I know, I'm mean and you don't want to play with me anymore. Well no one will want to play with you if you're a sore loser. Get over it, my love.
You think I'm picking on you when I ask you to do work around the house. Yes, I know some of it's hard. But you won't live with me forever and you need to have skills that will allow you to not just survive, but thrive. Believe me, girls love a man who cleans his own bathroom. We are a family unit and we all have to work together. The sooner you learn cooperation, the better your life will be.
I know you can't see it now, but there will be a time when you'll thank me for taking TV away because homework came first. You'll thank me because I made you eat carrots and not candy for lunch. You'll thank me because I was always in your business. You'll thank me, not because I was super cool, or permissive or laid back, but because I cared. Because I cared enough to discipline you, and to teach you right from wrong.
Honestly, the names I hear you mutter under your breath sometimes hurt (and sometimes make me giggle: Stinky? Really? Come on, honey). You'll call me much worse as you get older, but you've called me "Mom" since the beginning and that name comes with a whole lot of responsibility.
My child, I love you. I love you too much to let you go off in the world unprepared. I love you enough to let you learn lessons even when they hurt. And I love you so much that I'm grounding you for lying to me...twice in one hour.

Again, this was not written by me - but it could have been.

The world didn't come to an end....

So the power cable pooched on the modem, nothing earth shattering but we forget how dependent we have become on the World Wide Web (AKA WWW).  At our home both the DH and I have smartphones, the oldest has a tablet and we have a laptop.  I cannot count on both my hands the number of times we went to "just check on something" or "I'll just look that up", only to receive either really slow results (we have very limited service with our data at home, the #1 reason we got wireless to begin with) or an error message and to check our internet connection.

But we survived and the cable is coming by courier in "24 to 48 hours" which means if it is not there today, it will be there tomorrow.  Luckily, work still has a great connection :)

Today marks a special day in our house, 11 years ago we went from 2  to  3!  So I wanted to wish Cameron a wonderful 11th birthday - born 11 years ago on opening day deer hunting, which is happening today as well!

Here is one of my favourite pictures of him, with his cheeky little grin...

And I've posted about his birthday in the past, so if you want to see "baby" pictures...follow these two links to his 4th b-day and his  9th b-day.

Love you to the moon and back, but I won't tell anyone (or kiss you in-front of your friends)!

Love Mom.

We can do this...bear with me.

No promises that each and every post will have great content... I do live a very busy life. 

Last night we got derailed during the plans for Cameron's birthday as we were planning to go to Fort Fright but it was canceled due to high winds.  So, a movie was the rescue of the night, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 in the 3d with my oldest and his friend.  It was alright for a kids show and we were surprised that the boys didn't decide on something a little more mature.  Tonight was dinner with my in-laws and our British friends, tomorrow is dinner with my parents.

Night all, tomorrow is a new day.

And it poured, and poured, and poured

So a quick update.  Caleb's surgery went fine, all healed and raring to go again.  My Dad is doing fine, slowly but surely making a full recovery.  What threw us all for a loop was that on the Friday (Dad was Wednesday, Caleb was Thursday) my Uncle Michael ended up on the table as well for a triple by-pass!  So three surgeries in three days...  but he is recovering well.

Other than that we spent a great (but rather cold temperature-wise) weekend at the cottage - my kids went with my brother and his girlfriend for this week and DH and I will go to their home on the weekend to collect them back.  Only took them 7.5 hours on Monday to get home, so cross your fingers we make it faster with it being a Saturday afternoon instead of a Monday of a long weekend.

May...my the time is flying!

It never ceases to amaze me how fast time can go by, while we think the days are dragging along.  The start of 2013 (as I've said before) has not started out the best, and as much as we move on and forward, something keeps pulling me back.  This month I may find closure as we lay my grandmother to rest in her final resting place, in a beautiful country cemetery, beside her infant daughter that was a twin to my aunt which she lost when she was only days old.  We will do this, surrounded only by family before completing a celebration of her life in the local legion with our communities around us.

But, the weather has warmed up nicely here, and I'm enjoying the warmer weather which also brings FOOTBALL to our house - three times a week.  Curt is coaching the senior team this year, Cameron is playing for him.  And little mighty mouse Caleb is playing for the junior team.  Here are a couple of shots one of the other moms took at practice last week...

This one is Caleb tackling his friend Brady...

And to put mighty mouse in perspective, Caleb is number 49 on the left of the photo...

And both teams won their first games this past weekend so we are hoping for a great season.  I'm sure pictures of the senior team will be coming - the junior coach was snapping away as the seniors played after the juniors.

And the playground fundraising continues....two major things this month - it is the last month to order from Regal (Camden East Playground Fundraiser) and have a large percentage of the purchase amount come to us as a donation, this will end on the 31st.  And we have partnered with the Children's Ministries from the local church and will be hosting a Talent(less) Show, Silent Auction and BBQ on May 31st in the village of Camden East.  If you are looking for something to do that Friday night, come out and see what we have been up to!  And if you would like to come and lend your talent to the show, or have something you would like to donate to the silent auction, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.  Email us if you would like more details at:  curt underscore reb at hotmail dot com

I so needed to read this...

 There are days when I'm home with my boys, that I wish I was at work - and days at work that I wish I was at home, with my boys.  Talk about conflicting emotions!  But, I have a friend who sent me a link and I totally understand where this Dad is coming from.  To read what I'm talking about visit this blog entry by a Dad - To the Parents of small children...

I have tried a number of times to "freeze time" in my  mind.  The last time my youngest was super sick and all he wanted to do was curl up with Mom and snuggle for hours, I at that time was more worried about what I was feeding everyone for supper or that the laundry was done in the dryer and had to be folded and put away RIGHT NOW.  I did sit, we ate grilled cheese for supper and I had to turn the dryer on again for a few minutes the next day to get the wrinkles out of everything.  Now that both my boys are older I try to find little pockets of time to do things with them...I know they won't remember the big things but I hope the little things hang in there.

And I'm not the only one today...I just spied this on my reader feed...Love Notes From the Littles so it must just be the time of year or the weather or something....

April Fool's...

Every year I'm "the fool"...literally.  I always think, this year will be different, this year my family will do something to make me feel special on my birthday....well, I need to learn to not expect anything. I also understand that at times, money is a factor and I completely understand that, my DH did make me dinner but I thought my boys might be at an age where they talked Daddy into helping make cupcakes or something.  But enough of a pity party, I'm a year older and I'm determined to enjoy this year as much as I can, taking time for myself as I see fit and needed.  The first step was booking holidays for a week in May, with nothing planned but time for me!  No work, the kids are in school and my husband is working a few days in the middle of that week as well.

Top of the world...

HELLO WORLD!  Those were the words my boys were shouting from the top of the crazy chair our friend Jim made in Georgian Bay.  On a track and rollers, they slide this monster out closer to the Bay during the summer months and pull it back into the protection of the woods for the fall and winter.

This thing is  HUGE, well, you can see how big it is  - four adults and two kids can sit comfortably across the front, with room to spare.
From left to right:  my husband, Cameron, myself, Caleb, my Mom and my Dad.

 We had a beautiful long weekend in September with our friends Sheila and Smitty in their beautiful home and cottage, which shares the same property.

Want to see something scary?

Today is Cameron's 10th Birthday....10th - double digits...and he is growing into a beautiful young man. 

Love you to the moon and back.

Here is a post of mostly pictures to show you how much he really has "grown"...he started out at 8lbs 3oz, and now tips the scales at 125!

Here he is now...

Happy Birthday Big Man...Love Mom

The playground story

Last night was the Pampered Chef party to support the local playground.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support this venture.

Here is the background story on "the playground".

On Good Friday, my family decided to join the local church (St. Luke's) for  their annual Easter Village Walk.  Which is basically a walk around the community, stopping at historical sites along the way to tell the story of Easter.  While on this little walk, we came upon the Camden East Playground, in which every child among us raced off to "play on".  Only one problem, almost every piece of equipment was broken or missing.  Our oldest got to the one swing and the second he started to move, my husband (Curt) pulled him off as you could see the bar bending and breaking above his head.

Both Curt and the local minister (John, who is a 30something, father of three himself) decided that something needed to be done.  Curt went to our location township and asked them if anything was being done to make this a safe place for our kids to play again and the answer was, maybe.  So he then asked if nothing was going to be done, could he at least take it upon himself to remove the equipment that was unsafe so no one would get hurt.  They agreed that the equipment could come out. 

Once the ball started rolling, it moved like a freight train!  The community started getting wind of "the guy" clearing the playground and they all starting coming out to help.  While Curt was working on this, the township decided that yes, they really should invest in some new equipment and received a grant from Hydro One to help with the costs (playground equipment is crazy expensive).  So Curt and his band of volunteers took out ALL the equipment, cut down about 9 larger trees and countless amounts of scrub brush and cleared the area for new equipment to be installed.

September 13th was an amazing day with the new equipment installed and then the kids....we didn't know there were so many kids in the community!

 Opening Ceremonies on September 22nd - Camden East - Old Mill Street Playground

My Husband - Curt

 

And things have been busy there ever since, now the rain and the cold have "slowed things down", but I'm sure as soon as the nice weather hits again in the spring, I'll be vacuuming sand out of my car again.

Happy Belated Halloween!

My two boys both decided that they "needed" to be zombies...which is alright in my books!  Easy peasy costumes...clothes from their closets and a little creative hand on the makeup and we were ready to roll.

We spent a great evening with friends from our local village, wandering around while the kids had a blast running from house to house.  Both ended up with a bag full of "junk", which I plan on raiding on a regular basis until it is all gone.

Just a quick note as well for anyone in my general area, we are hosting a Pampered Chef party tonight from 6:30 - 8:30pm in the local hall Camden East Playground Fundraiser  and if you are not in the area and would still like to support our efforts to add more to the local playground for the kids, you can shop online at Pampered Chef Online enter the shop online function and then type Camden in the organization to find us.

Thanks everyone who has already submitted an order - up next will be Regal thanks to Bonnie for her help with that one.

The current project - and the current time grabber

I signed myself up for a mystery stitching SAL (something I've never done before) after seeing the middle panel which appealed to me as did the fact that it wasn't a requirement that I finish one part before receiving the next and the whole pattern would be shared by the end of the year so if we weren't done, the whole pattern was still ours.  On the above link it shows a whole series of stitchers work - I'm no where close to that!

Here is where I'm at right now...

I'm loving this one and look forward to having it done to hang in my home.

Now for the time grabber...

I have both a coach and player in my home which equals practice twice a week and Saturday games.  Cameron loves it and I think Dad is excited to share his passion for the game as well.  They just texted me, they won today 18 - 0! 

A few of weeks ago my brother was around for the long weekend in May and his girlfriend snapped the following pictures (as well at the two above) which I love...

A little ways to grow....

I always knew they were related...but I think this is great proof.

I hope everyone is well...enjoy the nice weather as much as you can - I'm headed out to weed the vegetable garden now...

Stitchers are so thoughtful!

A fellow sticher Christine has a son attending university at Queen's, in Kingston Ontario where I work.  We have met a couple of times and she contacted me before Easter to see if I would create a little something for her son as he wasn't coming home for the long weekend and drop it off.  I had a blast buying for "three" boys this year and then I added in some good things like apples and granola bars.  Secret Bunny was a success.
This week, a package landed on my desk at work, and I have to be honest, I didn't even look at where it came from, just added it to the "to do pile" that seems to grow overnight.  As I was cleaning my desk off for the weekend last night around 6pm, I came across the envelope again and threw it in my computer bag to bring home.  I just opened it and look what was inside!

Lots of lovely things!  Thank you Christine - you didn't need to send anything but I appreciate it all the same.

It is Saturday afternoon here - we have done the football game for this week already - I got sunburnt out watching.  The third load of laundry for the day is calling for me to hang it on the clothes line so I must run.  Here are the two projects that I've put some time into - not as much as usual and not as much as I would like but life goes one.

I have two parts of  5 (I think, could be more) that have been issued in the SAL I decided to take part in.  I love the design and look forward to having it all done to hang on my wall.  The designer has much more done, you can see that here.

And here is where I am at with "SUMMER"  in the SAL with my group of travelling sisters :-)

Busy times here - a new roof on the cottage, hubby back working shifts, lots to do at work, the oldest in football and of course spring always brings lawns and gardens again is leaving me less and less time to stitch.  Oh well, nice weather means more travelling with my "sisters", which I look forward to each and every year.

Holidays

Today was supposed to be my last day of work until the 3rd of January...yesterday ended up being my last!  DH and I were busy today.  All wrapping done.  Trip to town for a few last groceries.  To the school to deliver teacher gifts and pick up skates from the field trip yesterday.  Clean most of the house and put two "Santa Presents" together. 
Lasagna in the oven for supper and we are a pair of tired parents!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, I know we will.

Happy Halloween!

The boys are home with a bag of candy each...and now they are off to bed.

August TUSAL and a small non-stitchy update

I'm on the ball this month! I totally remembered to post this...all on my own, something that hasn't happened the last few months. Here is my ORT jar as of this morning... This is my craziest time of year. I work for the Grand Theatre and we are in the midst of getting everyone their subscription seats for the upcoming season. Crazy I tell ya, CRAZY! Yesterday was the only day I've taken off in July/August and DH and I did that to take the kids to the beach. It was a beautiful day, but alas, my sunscreen wasn't all it was cracked up to be and I'm sporting a lovely burn on my chest, with bonus "new" swimsuit lines. See...isn't it pretty? Oh well, it was a small price to pay to see my kids laughing, swimming and digging in the sand. Here is the only picture I took all day, Cameron is running towards me from the water, and Caleb is the one crouched down, to the right of him....digging in the sand. The bonus was that one of my best friends was able to join us (from the other direction) for the majority of the day with her kids. Not sure what is happening today, we have grass to mow at home but if the weather is nice, the cottage is aways calling....

July TUSAL and....life

I was "gently" reminded by text today from a friend (Dani) that my blog was VERY out of date. So, I thought tonight was a good time to do a little update as well as get the TUSAL for this month in, even if it is close to two weeks late - better late than never!

Lots of brown in there from "the baby" and I started a new wedding piece in which I changed the colours, I'm stitching a Dimensions Happily Ever After for a wedding in September and the wedding colours are turquoise and chocolate brown, so I've converted the colours to DMC 801, 898,938 for the brown and 3844, 3845, 3846 for the turquoise - thus all the turquoise on the top of the pile.

Since school got out at the end of June - life has been busy. Working full time and trying to fit as much in a week as we can leads to very busy lives.

We decided to start the kids summer vacation off with a "BANG" - literally. We took the boys to Fort Henry to their opening Sunset Ceremony. We really enjoyed it as did the boys. I snapped a picture if them at the end of the evening with our friend Mark, who happens to be "head guard" of the Fort Henry Guard!

Cameron thought he might like to work there are a "teenager", which wouldn't be a bad job for the summer!

Then we have been spending as much time as we can at my grandparents cottage on Gananoque Lake with everyone catching Large Mouth Bass, including the boys.

All three of them with one of the "big ones"...

Caleb with his very first fish ever, which he reeled in all by himself!

Cameron's first fish of the year (2.2 lbs!)

And just for fun....my two cone heads :-)

I hope everyone is having a great summer thus far and I will try to keep everyone in the loop a little more often.