Super busy crazy fun times

Shall I pull out my list of awesome things we've been doing? I think shortly after we got back from Minot we realized Finn had ringworm. Not a big deal, just a traumatic trip to the doctor's office.

That was followed by two Saturdays of birthday parties that Lily was invited to attend – and they were for boys in Lily's class. The first was Kylo's bowling birthday party, and right afterwards we hit the road to Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend. Jet skiing, boating, tubing, throwing sand out of the sandbox, hot tub action, a day at the beach. It was that jam-packed.

Did a short day trip down to Weyburn to finally meet Khrystine's daugther, Ana, and her soon-to-be stepson, Eric. Tried to picnic but it was so hot we almost died. The following weekend was a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party, but this time Lily was the only girl so it wasn't as fun. On Aug. 1, Chris took the day and took Lily to the Queen City Ex. A perfect activity for the pair. They spent over eight hours there, a feat I was lucky to avoid.

For the August long weekend, we headed up to Shell Lake for the Hood/Flora family reunion. Stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's and got to see Ryan and Leslie before we headed out the next morning. We camped. Not my first choice, but there were actually no other options. It wasn't so bad – until the first night. A thunderstorm kept me awake most of the night, the constant pelting of raindrops sounded like small explosions over and over and over... The second night we were so cold that we had to all sleep with our heads covered. Got to see everyone, hold frogs, hit the beach and park. Finn rode his bike constantly, impressing everyone with his moves. We were all glad to get home, if only to be inside again.

Spent the following week readying for Lily's birthday party, which we had on Aug. 12. It was super old-school. Musical chairs, scavenger hunt, random playing in the yard, a weiner roast, then cake. Ta da, over. Lily was very satisfied, though, exclaiming that this was the awesomest party ever.

Then this past weekend, Grandma and Grandpa so kindly came down for the weekend so they could watch the kids for us while we attended a co-worker's wedding. Of course, on Saturday the kids got sick. Chris and I followed a couple days later. On Tuesday, I hurt my back so bad I had to lay down all day. Then at supper Lily said, "My head is itchy." An hour of flashlight searching over her scalp until we found the little bugger that would ruin the rest of our evening. Chris and Finn immediately left to get lice shampoo. We did all of our heads so Lily wouldn't be alone; she was so upset. Took hours to strip the beds, rid our rooms of dirty clothes and towels, throw toys in the freezer, pillows in the dryer, re-dress the beds. Poor kids weren't asleep until 10:15 p.m. Chris stayed home since we're moving on Friday at work and I had to go in and pack. It all kinda went to hell and I ended up having to come home early anyway. Back at daycare today, but they're shutting down tomorrow since they found four more cases of lice, including Jack and Carly. Gonna do a thorough clean, though nothing makes me feel NOT itchy right now.

No time for including photos, but see our Flickr pics to get the full effect of this awesome narrative.

Hot fun in the summer time!

School's been out for just over two weeks. Since then, it's almost been a blur.

First there was the big Canada Day long weekend. The Winnipeg relatives came into Regina on Friday night and we all headed up to Saskatoon the next day for Auntie Norma's 50th birthday party. It was hot and fun with lots of kids running around.

Lily, unfortunately, had an awful ear infection that we could only keep at bay with Advil for so long. She crashed just after 7 p.m. so we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for the night. Uncle Jared was there, too, and Finn kept us all entertained as we sipped wine.

The next morning, Lily felt up to going in the hot tub before we headed back to the farm to get Nana. We drove back to Regina as Lily, Finn, Nana and Skye all slept for almost the entire trip – exactly how it should be. We dropped Nana off and rushed home to put together a bbq of our own for Uncle Terry, Auntie Brenda, Kim, Aidan, Isabella, Trevor, Amber, Hunter, Heather, Colin, Zander, Keira, Nigel, Jessica, Ferguson, Nana and us! Trev, Amber and Hunter only stayed long enough to meet Ferguson before they hit the road.

After a few hours of eating and playing, we called it quits because it was apparent that everyone was exhausted. Nigel, Jessica and Ferguson stayed over so we got to visit with them in the morning before we jetted off to Rowan's Ravine to spend the day with our neighbours, Bob, Lori, Carly and Jack. They had their trailer out there for the weekend so we went for swimming in the lake, some mini golf, supper and bike riding before Lily's earache got the better of her again. We didn't make it home until 10:30 p.m.

After a few days back at work and daycare (where they went to the Leg and library for some field trip fun), we headed off to Minot on Saturday for watersliding, shopping for Lily's clothes, and touring the devastating flood damage that wreaked havoc there just over a year ago. That part was absolutely mind-blowing. Neighbourhood after neighbourhood you could see how the water had reached the tops of the houses. On some streets, every house was abandoned and nature had come back in to reclaim these yards. It was almost post-apocalyptic. While some were rebuilding, many were not. What kind of neighbourhood will that be? And will it flood again. I suppose we're lucky to be in one of only two cities in North America not built on a river.

Anyway, Lily's got birthday parties over the next couple Saturdays. We're hopefully heading down to Weyburn to visit Khrystine's baby this weekend and next weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's. Then the crazy rollercoaster of August begins!

Funny Finn at (almost) 26 months

The last couple months since you turned two have been lots of fun. You are just starting to talk in well-formed sentences that you thought up yourself. Which is surprising. And entertaining. Like:

"I go outside now. Bye!"
"I ride my bike."
"Yilyee (Lily), come sit down."
"There's Mezia's van."
"Mom, come back."
"I stay home."
"You coming?"
"Oh, it's suppertime."
"Motorcycle!"
"No bugging me."

Because you do get bugged a lot. And when taken to the edge, you like to bite and hit. Not that we blame you, but then we learned that you got into a fight with Lulu at the daycare. She ended up bleeding and you had two lumps on your head. She's three, but she's sweet on you. We got to see it in action at Jack's fifth birthday party. Despite having her own bag of popcorn, she just wanted to eat yours. And she was always by your side. I think she's the highlight of your weekdays.

Lulu is the little girl behind Finn.

On the weekends and some evenings, playing outside or with Lily and Carly is where it's at. You jump on the trampoline and play games with them. You swing beside them. You ride your bike, push the cart and throw your balls – and try to get into the garage where all the tools are. Our patio was a smart investment as it gets used constantly and as long as the gate's shut and the kitchen window is open, you are happy to be out there by yourself. You spend fairly long stretches of time in the sandbox or up in the "tree fort" scribbling over Lily's birthday party invitee list written in chalk. Some mornings before work, we send you out just to keep you busy while we finish getting ready. One day, you were eating a popsicle in the tree fort when you put in down on the chalk board ledge, then just came over and gave me a tight hug around the next before going to get your popsicle again.

You can count to 12 and say your ABCs (or something akin to it). You like to sing and read books about the babies on the bus, diggers and garbage trucks. You still sleep fairly well...until 5 a.m. when you request my presence. You spend at least the next hour in my arms until Lily comes in. Usually you spring right up to see her, even though she immediately starts poking and irritating you. She and you eat cinnamon toast or smoothies for breakfast. Usually you help Dad make the smoothies because they taste better then. You love ketchup on everything, maybe because we eat a lot of home fries as a supper side dish. Dipping is high on your list of suppertime demands. But you say "yucky" a lot, even when you don't mean it. Don't know if you picked that up from Lily or from daycare.

You go grocery shopping with Dad. I can't come because it all goes to heck then. I send you on a mission for broccoli, which you dutifully accept. You actually will go anywhere with Dad which is so, so nice.

While you haven't done it for a while, you'll put yourself in a time out. You sit on the stairs while I put the timer on. You can't move until it beeps. (We're just impressed that you listen because Lily never did. We still can't put her in her room without her literally trying to claw her way out!) But if you're well rested, you rarely have bad days. On the weekends, you slip into a two to three hour nap around 11:30. Weekends are so nice, especially since you don't require a whole lot of structure or entertaining. And we try to never have much to do, just play it by ear because the more you can play whatever you want, the better.

You still love to help. You scrape plates and stack the supper dishes. You put the condiments away. You help with the food processor and the mixer. You get toilet paper for Lily when she screams that there is none. You close the door when we leave the house in the morning. You start Nana's car. You pull weeds. You say you want to help water, but I think you just want the hose.

You want to play t-ball because every Monday through Thursday, kids and their parents walk behind our fence to the ball diamond. There are two games. One at 6 and one at 6:30 p.m. Sometimes you want to play with them so bad, you lay on the floor and cry. On Sundays, the older kids play football right behind the fence and you want to join them, too. Oftentimes, we'll just go to the park to be near all the action. That seems to help. You love climbing and going down slides with Mommy.

And I'm sure there's a lot I'm forgetting... You change constantly, always for the better.

Deep breath

Chris works with a guy that sits maybe four feet from him. We drive by their house on the way to and from the sitter every day. After work yesterday, Chris was telling me about a fundraiser account that was set up to help him and his family out. He's been away from work for the last month because his 7-year-old son went from normal to needing a liver transplant within weeks. He, his wife and son are in Edmonton now...desperately waiting while their younger son is still here in Regina. Anyway, I just can't stop thinking about them, especially after reading this article about them last night. And I can't help but be overtaken with this crushing empathy. And then I squeeze my kids a little tighter.

UPDATE: The boy and his mom, who donated a portion of her liver to him, went into surgery a couple days after I posted this. Right now, they're doing fairly well...considering.

The perks of being right there

Odd little ducks, kids are. Over the last month, the kids in Lily's class seem to have just discovered that we back the schoolyard. Now every recess and lunch hour that I'm home, a whole row of them will stand on the fence and yell until I see them. Every time they ask for something to eat but because we only stock ingredients, no pre-made snacks, I really have nothing to give them. Today they asked for seaweed – which I do have – plus a little bowl of fruit that they eat took a piece of. Then off they ran...

Left to right: Rachel, Lily, Kyra, Rowan and Saul

When I pick Lily up at lunch, I'm always involved in at least three conversations with as many or more children. Today a boy came up and said, "I like you." To which I replied, "I like you, too." He said, "Do you remember my name?" I asked for a hint. "It starts with H," so I easily guessed it was Holden. Very charming indeed. I'd also brought Grace's poncho to school that she'd left in the sand behind the fence on Thursday before the long weekend so she was happy to see that.

It's good to know the kids that Lily spends her days with. They watched me pull weeds and ready the garden beds last week. They boys want to talk the most. They want to come and jump on the trampoline. They wanted to meet Chris and they all politely introduced themselves.

We had Rachel over on Monday and wow, what a different dynamic that was from what we're used to. They are very similar, very shy and quiet so they did quiet things. It was wonderful...except for the part when I thought they'd been kidnapped from the schoolyard park, but that's best left unsaid. Rachel and Lily are absolutely best friends at school. They hold hands and hug a lot. It is very sweet.

Lily has been doing lots of things with her classmates – from grade one and kindergarten. Emily invited her to come to karate class with her. She was also invited to Joleen's hot tub surprise birthday party. And Jenifer's birthday party at Dino Bouncers. Her social network is expanding and she's only just completing her second year of school. Just imagine what's next...

Hitting the big time!

Last night you learned to ride a two wheeler! Finn got a new bike, you rode Carly's old bike and Carly rode her bike. You guys went up and down the sidewalk while Dad cut the grass. When he was done, we all went to the park. Before we even hit the grass, you were off! You probably rode five metres. It was a huge success and I was SO proud. And you glowed with pride. I can't wait to see you do it again!