family reunion - our March

Bit by bit I have had this blog and my writing percolating in the background of my mind.  I have started five posts, only to not finish and publish them. Time has passed and slipped away from me.  I am determined to get back to writing slowly and surely.

Our March was a very special month as my sister Kathryn, her husband, Tim and their two daughters flew across the world (literally) to visit with us and all of the family.  They moved to Perth, Australia two and a half years ago.  They had an itinerary set and we were very very excited to see them again, and to meet their daughters (the eldest was a baby when they left and I had not met their youngest).  They came to stay in our city for 5 days and we had a friend offer us their house to live in while they were here.  It was generous and amazing to be able to stay all together.  Then I went to Nova Scotia for a week and a half with the girls to visit while they were visiting my parents and sisters.

 first real play in the snow for the Australian girls!

Charlotte was teaching how to move around on the snow without sinking in

 sliding down the hill

my girl adores the snow

 happy cousins

reading one of Lila's school books with auntie - perfect bedtime stories!

We did not check very many things off of our curriculum in March, but we were able to engage in lots of creative play, and lots of bonding time with our cousins, aunties, uncles and Grammie and Grampie.  It was a very special family time.  We hosted an Australian learning forum and got to see real Australian money and eat homemade pavlova! 

We even got an Australian dollar to keep!  We learned about animals and the sound of the kookaburra (Uncle Tim does an amazing kookaburra).  We read lots of stories and built friendships with our family that will last.  We even went to Kings Landing and learning about how they collected sap to make maple syrup long ago.  We went on a wagon ride and got to see and touch a butter churn which we had learned about in one of our favorite school books, "Living Long Ago".  

We ran in fields, explored apple orchards, saw eagles and pheasants, played at an indoor soccer field and attended an amazing story time in Wolfville library all about Dr. Seuss.

It was an incredible month with many beautiful memories made and difficult to be out of routine, away from home for so long.  We are so very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit and get to know our Australian relatives!  (They are almost Australian, in the process of becoming so!)  We are very grateful, and we continue to practice life learning in our homeschool, one that sometimes veers from the curriculum and offers so much opportunity and joy in the process.

T

finding words

I've avoided this writing space for a while... since the beginning of January, actually! Almost 8 months and it has completely overwhelmed me to think about beginning to write again.  I've been reading a lot but writing, not so much.  Then I read this post, about the brave ones, the blog updates come in my e-mail.  The thing that I long to do, yet do not do, is write.

There have been many reasons, one being that so much has happened, I do not really know where to begin. I went through a very dark period this winter and I'm not sure what to share, how to process it with words.  I birthed another baby girl, and she is in my arms most of the day (and used to be most of the night) so having two hands to type was impossible.  We have celebrated birthdays, family visiting from away and 9 years of marriage. We made a decision about schooling for Charlotte. I wasn't sure where to start!

If you can believe it, all three girls are sleeping right now! This is so completely unusual, I wasn't sure what to do!  Sleep would be so, so amazing, or I am reading a fabulous book right now for book club so curling up with a book sounds very pleasant!  Instead I washed a load of dishes while making tea and sat down, read some e-mails.  Then I came upon that post and I realized what I really needed to do with this silence, was write.  To fling my words out there, as exhausted and incoherent as they might be.

Our family of five, coming home from the hospital.  Our precious baby girl, Audrey, was born extremely fast, at home in our bathroom. (I will tell the story another time!) She is incredible, so alert and awake, and so very loved.

She has grown so much!  Two months old now.  The three of us enjoyed a couple of hours out celebrating 9 years of marriage!  (Wow, did I just write 9 years....?!)

These 9 years have been full of joy and love, with some sorrow and struggle. I am grateful we get to keep walking it out together.

My first baby?  She just turned 5, with a rock star birthday party, complete with stage, mics and amps and an incredible amount of fun.  Can I believe it?  Hardly.

These photos are just a quick snapshot, but hopefully enough to throw me back into writing again.  Because I think I have a lot to say and just needed a way to start.

summer fun - part 2

I figure I'd better finish up our summer fun memories!  Autumn in here, as I am reminded by our morning walks, collecting "signs of Autumn" as Charlotte puts it.  Although the weather has been deceivingly warm, we were all in shorts and t-shirts on Saturday, it felt like the high 20s out there!

The summer is always full of lots of books for us.  It's no different than the rest of the year, really.  We do love our library dearly and always come home with a bag full of books.  The challenge becomes getting through all of the books before the next trip to the library!

We love play times with friends, I even got to babysit this sweetheart this summer!

French braids with Auntie Anna... lovely!

Lila tried a whole corn on the cob, and loved it.

Daddy turned 30!  We had a lovely birthday party at the lake, swimming, supper and games.  Here we are playing pass the parcel.

"Pin the roof on the house", Charlotte's idea for a rendition of pin the tail...

Two big birthday cakes!

 A spontaneous puppet show!  (I loved their creative use of a car as a puppet theatre.)

Some lovely gifts!

A "fishing buddy": Tim's real life fishing buddy and his son made this for him.  Funny and bittersweet as they were in the process of moving to a different city at this time.

A game of dominoes before heading back into town for bed!

Lila became really confident in her swimming this summer!  The girls always wear life jackets, but Lila was attempting to swim and kick on her own.  

Happy Hollisters and "Goofy Minds the House" were two of our favourite cottage reads this summer.

I think I will have to save the girl's birthdays for a third post.  We did have many lovely photos this summer, capturing our wonderful times with family and friends!  

summer memories - part 1

We had such a lovely summer this year!  I wasn't nine months pregnant, in the midst of home renos (well, we are always in the midst, but I mean, bathroom torn apart, no toilet etc.) OR dealing with a newborn!  It felt like summer... the weather was hot, and we spent a ton of time at the lake and visiting with family.  We played at the park a lot, went to free live concerts, had swimming lessons and generally had a lot of fun together!  Here are some of our summer memories:

Remember Fred Penner?  His television show "Fred Penner's Place" aired from 1985-1997.  He is a Canadian, and very well loved!  I have such fond memories of Fred Penner, how he crawled through a log to get to his little place in the woods, and word bird.  Looking back at shows on Youtube, I realized just how respectful and lovely his show was.  It was calm and had gentle music.  He spoke to his audience (children) like they were important and had the ability to learn important things about the human race.  For example, how to respect all people and how to solve problems.  I just love the ending song to the show: "Take care of each other, that's what friends like to do. Let your sister and brother help you learn that it's true. We all need to feel wanted for the people who we are, so take good care of each other."  Fred Penner came to Fredericton for a concert and Officer's Square was packed!  There were many families, and many young people without spouses or children... just with their peers, singing along to all the songs they remembered from their childhood.  Thanks Fred Penner for putting on such an incredible show!

(Sorry for the sideways and very amateur video!)

We had lots of outdoor play, and although we don't have a wading pool, here we are on a hot summer afternoon playing with bowls, toys and water, learning about floating and sinking and measuring!

Tim and I had our very first overnight.... ever since we've had kids.  The only other time was when I was in labour with Lila in the hospital!!  (That doesn't count...)  Charlotte's been on sleepovers after Lila was born, but we have never left both girls.  I had no idea how it was going to go.  But my very brave sister-in-law and brother-in-law agreed to take them both!  Lila still nurses to sleep and wakes up to nurse in the night so I really expected a middle of the night phone call.  But.... they stayed!  Tim and I went tubing on the Nashwaak river.  You can't take kids under 5 tubing and so it was the perfect time to go.  Neither of us had been tubing before and it was fun!  The river was so low... we had to get out and walk at times!  We had coffees at Starbucks and went out for dinner. Fun summer memories!

We had the privilege this summer to receive a full veggie box and a dozen eggs from Strawberry Hill Farm a few times.  Our friends are a part of the program and this was our test run, to see if we wanted to pay for it while they were away for a longer time in August.  It was AMAZING!  The veggies and fruit were delicious, we enjoyed it so much. We had signed up for another program with a different farm, but it didn't run this summer.  So it was a treat to pick up farm fresh veggies. We had the opportunity to try new (to us) things too.. like ground cherries, kohlrabri and summer squash.  And oh... the corn, the BEST I've ever had.  The tomatoes?  Divine. They even have a bi-weekly winter box program which looks great too.

My parents and sister, Anna came for a wonderful vacation to their camp this summer in Harvey.  We had such a great time visiting with them and spent many days driving back and forth to the lake (and they came into the city to see us) to spend time together. 

Sarah and her boyfriend, Tanner came for a long weekend too!

(Charlotte's become resistant to having her photo taken!)

There are so many wonderful photos, I will stop there for now and continue later!  More to come from summer 2012...

Dunbar Falls: the cathartic woods

There is something about being in the woods.  Completely surrounded by trees, away from the sounds of rushing cars and buzzing electricity.  It takes me back to my childhood, Sunday afternoon hikes, Dad pointing out plants and teaching us about nature.  I wish I had paid closer attention.

Now it seems like a challenge to step away from life, cleaning, chores, responsibilities and step into the quiet of the woods.  I would like to intentionally walk on more dirt paths, duck branches and wade through puddles.  

We went to Dunbar Falls last Monday.  Tim's family had an idea and we all seized the idea of stepping away from life and into the woods for a bit.  A chance to breathe deeply.

The mama carried a 26 lb girl in the carrier I am so thankful we bought, my back wasn't sore in the least.

We made it, the falls were beautiful.  Honestly I was a little concerned about Ava swimming away and getting swept in the current with her new found love of swimming, so this section of the journey was a tiny bit stressful!  (Holding closely to the girls was of top priority.)

Catharsis - Greek for cleansing or purging.

Sometimes the city (albeit a small one) gets into my veins, pushing me to go faster, one more activity, one thing to the next.

Sometimes a little restoration is needed, a little breath.  When did I start to rush around so much?  Where can the rest begin?

In the woods.  Maybe in the woods.