Friday Nights

It's Friday night. It's been a week of running...continuously, and, once again, have nothing tangible to show for my efforts. I make dinner. Well, make might be an overstatement, really. I heat up leftovers for dinner (which my family is actually quite excited about because it was so good the first time!), and while we eat, I sit. Quietly. Listening to the conversation going on around me. Time, ticking... Moments that I know one day I will yearn for, but on this day, I am just. So. Tired.

My wonderfully gracious husband sees my need, and tells me to go upstairs. Have some "alone time". And so, I leave him and The Girls to escape to my bed. To read a book. To sit like a zombie. To do nothing. To just be. Alone. In my dark room. By myself. At 7 o'clock on a Friday night. And it is heaven.

The Girls come in quietly, as if entering a hallowed space, to say goodnight. For one last kiss. And hug. And back scratch. And they leave, closing the door quietly and gently, as if they know the fragility of my sanity in this moment. As If they sense my need for quiet. For peace. And I am, once again, thankful for their mercy. For their ability to respect my desire for some sanctuary.

It's now Friday night, at 11 o'clock. And my eyes are blurry, yet I don't want to sleep yet, for I am enjoying this short respite of life, taken in my bed. Because I know that when I wake up in the morning, it'll be loud and busy and wonderful, and my quiet will be gone. And I'll be thankful that it happened, and thankful that it's over.

It's A New Day...and Week

So, this week I'm gonna be cracking down on school.

We are gonna get. it. done.

And hopefully, I won't be too cranky...

I got to sleep at 4:30 am this morning

Hopefully, I won't be too cranky

I just found this picture of when we were in Montana

It makes me want to go back.  And shop.  And take a rattlesnake infested hike.  Okay, well, maybe not infested...that would make me cranky!

There was no snow.  And we were wearing shorts.  I like warm weather. 

I don't like -45C.  It was that cold here last week. 

Cold weather like that makes me cranky.  And it makes me stir crazy, because I don't want to leave the house.

But I did leave the house when it was -45C.  Really.  It kinda made me cranky. 

But at least I didn't have to go downtown, which I thought I was going to have to.  That would've been bad news.  Really, really cold...and cranky!

I took my neighbor on a quad ride yesterday.  It was a beautiful day for a quick ride.  They just moved in, and she was a little nervous, but did great.

I like quadding.  I would love to get myself one of these bad boys...

Then we could take some more quadding trips to the mountains.  Or not even the mountains.  Anywhere, really.  Because that was a dang good time!

It's a new day.  And week.  And I'm trying to be a happy little camper.  Which is kinda hard, because I only got 3 1/2 hrs. of sleep. 

I like to sleep.  A lot.  Truly.  Lack of sleep makes me....wait for it, wait for it....cranky!  But I'm not.  Yet. 

Maybe I'll go have a nap.  I like naps too.  But then they make me stay up too late, starting the "vicious cycle", which makes me not sleep at night.... which makes me tired the next day, which makes me want to take a nap.... you get the drift.

Fun, Experience School

Well, last week, I was gung ho to get going on school with the Girls.  This week?  Not so much "book school" has been going on, but lots of "fun, experience school" has happened (at least, that's how I justify it in my mind.  Hey, we homeschool for a reason....flexibility is one of them!!).

Art's sister, our beloved "Auntie Frieda" in on holidays, and so, she's taken each of the Girls for a special "auntie date" for a couple of days.  First, starting on Friday, was Abby, who was then returned to us on Sunday.  Sunday, she took Molly and Ellie Mae for a double date until Wednesday, and now, she has Hannah until Saturday.  I love the special relationship she has with our Girls, and they ADORE her! 

While the little girls were gone, I tried to do some fun things with the older two girls.  What are their ideas of something special, you may ask?  Wait for it....going to the barn!  We took them Monday night for a ride, and then Tuesday morning we got up early and went and helped all day with chores there....they mucked out stalls, helped feed, swept...you know, all the "fun" stuff.  And, lucky me, I got to help too!  They were so thrilled to be there helping....it was good fun!  After that, they both had a lesson, and then we went home.  Abby fell asleep on the way home (at 6:30), so it was early to bed for both of them (and me!!) because we were so tired!!

Art and I also took them out to lunch one day, to our most favorite breakfast/lunch place, a local butcher that has a restaurant as well.  Art often goes there for breakfast, but we rarely get to go, so it was fun to treat them to that. 

As we talked about our few days without the little Girls, and I've reflected on my time when different daughters have been gone, it's always amazing to me the difference in the dynamics and flow of our time as a family.  And every once in a while, I allow my mind to go "there"....of how it would be if one of my Girls was gone.  That train of thought can only last for about 2 minutes, otherwise, you'd have to pick me up because I'd be in a puddle on the floor.... And then, the next 20 minutes are spend feeling oh, so thankful and blessed for these little ladies that the Lord has given us.  I do love them!

So, this has been a week of fun...and missing each other, which is always a good thing!  I am looking forward to having all of my wee baby chickens back under my roof though....only 2 more sleeps!

Oh, What a Sight....!

The other day, it was beautiful outside. Beautiful! So, I thought I'd make a trek up our holy hill to watch the sunset. And let me tell you, I was a sight to see...

I was wearing my big Sorel boots... 

Over my pink pajama pants....

With my new Carhartt jacket (I needed to test it out...see how warm it was!), with ALL the tags still attached!

Oh yes, I was a sight to behold!  But really, who cares, right?!  We live in the country!  Well, our new neighbors just got their quad, and he wanted to come and show Art.  So, in the midst of my watching the sunset, looking beautiful, here comes the neighbor, right down our driveway, waving hello!  I had to go down and say hello, chat for a few minutes, joking about my appearance... But I'm sure he must've wondered what kind of neighbors they had!

Anyhow, in the end, it was all worth it... Because I got to watch this!

And once again, I was so thankful that we live in the country!

What a Week!

After our first day back at school, our week definitely got better.  I love routine, and my Girls seem to thrive on it as well, so it's always nice to get back into the swing of things!  However, we had a few extras thrown in our week that made it a little bit crazy...

I had to spend all of Thursday downtown, at various government offices, filling out forms and getting information and waiting for people and filling out more forms.  And it sucked.  I'm not gonna lie...

Can I just say, though, that with all the bureaucracy that I encountered, every single person was extremely helpful and helped to make the hellish day not quite so hellish.  Although it was a total waste of a day, a day that I can never get back, a day that I hope that I never have to repeat, it was as good as it could of been....

But other than that, lessons and school and Awana has restarted, and I'm kinda glad.  Kinda.  Art and I have resumed our date nights (thank you very much, Awana!), which I love, we're spending more time at the barn, which I love, and we are plodding our way through school, which I love.  So, it's all good!

Back to Reality....

Today was our first day back to school.  I had loft ambitions of getting up early, getting breakfast on, being oh, so patient with my little ladies, having fun doing school. 

Here's my reality....I couldn't pull my sorry butt outta bed!

I had set my alarm for 8 (a decent wake up time), but I couldn't move.  Couldn't open my eyes.  Well, I could open them....but they wouldn't stay that way! 

So, by the time I rolled outta bed, it was already 8:45.  Oops!  And, off I go, downstairs, to find that my older 2 ladies were still sleeping!  Apparently, I wasn't the only one dragging my backside!

Well, since the older ladies had to be woken up, they weren't in the most *ahem* wonderful of moods.  So fun!  So, after everyone was done breakfast, cleaned up and ready to start school, it was almost 10.  Oops!  After some crankiness and impatience on my part, we got our act together and off we went.  Journal writing, making snowflakes from paper (my attempt at fun....with a couple of cranky girls!).  Throw in there work needing to get done + 6 loads of laundry + a little girl who had a hangnail (it's the end of the world as we know it!), and I am done.  DONE.  I think I need a nap.  Oh wait - the phone keeps ringing...books need reconciling....laundry needs folding....

Yup, it was definitely back to reality today.  Here's hoping tomorrow will be a little bit smoother.  And I will be a little more patient!

New Years

This New Year's Eve was seriously uneventful for us!  We were supposed to have friends over, but Art had been sick all week, and ended up with a migraine, so we had to cancel at the last minute...so sad!  It was a quiet night....the Girls and I had eggs for dinner.  There wasn't a lot of hoopla!  However, we were preparing...for New Year's Day!

When I was a girl, my parents often had New Year's Parties.  We had a bunch of families over, would go tubing on the mountain...lots and lots and lots of fun!

This year, we decided to do our own version of a sledding party.

We invited a few families over (who, incidentally, all have many children.  I think there were 22 kids in all, the oldest one being 13!)  Since we don't have much snow, and it's been super warm (for Alberta, that is!), I was a little unsure as to how it would go, but out we went, down our 'driveway of death' - it really is a skating rink!!, up our little hill, and man, was it fun!  The kids have been sledding a fair amount, so it's nice and slick and icy, with no new snow, means fast, fast sledding!  Us Mom's were wondering how many children would get run over, and although some did, I don't believe there were any broken bones, blood shed, or tears (ok, maybe not MANY tears....)

It was great, great fun!

After sledding, we headed inside for some chili and hot apple cider, and visited for a few hours.  It was great to catch up with friends that we haven't seen in a while, and enjoy the beautiful day together!  I am thinking that this might be a new New Year's tradition.... We'll have to see what next year brings!

 We also had the puzzle that we started working on at Christmas time, still unfinished, set out, so I was thankful that some felt compelled to work on it.  To me, it's 2000 pieces of misery.  Pure misery!  Have I mentioned?!  I stink at puzzles.  Something about having to have patience.  Hmmm....!

    

Hannah's 11

Hannah's birthday falls between Christmas and New Years, so it's always tricky trying to fit it into the holiday festivities.

This year, she wanted to go to the barn on her birthday (of course!), so her and headed out there after breakfast to clip a horses coat.  While we were there, the vet was there, so we also got to see a couple of colts get gelded....yup!  Exciting times!

Once we got home, Auntie Frieda arrived and Hannah opened presents, and then we had dinner and cake.  It was a quiet day, but quite lovely, celebrating this lovely ladies birthday.  My firstborn is turning into a young lady who is very kind, quiet, gentle, determined and loves to play jokes.  I like her.  A lot.  I think I'll keep her...if only she stops growing up so fast!

 For her party, Hannah wanted to have a few friends over for a sleepover, so as a special gift for them, Hannah and I made these sweet pillowcases, embroidered her friends names on them, along with a few flowers that were crocheted by (who else?! The wonderful...) Auntie Frieda.  I think they turned out fabulously!  In fact, I kinda want to make one for myself! 

Christmas

This year, my parents were here for the week leading up to Christmas.  Art's sister, Elfrieda, came over on Christmas Eve, and we all celebrated Christmas together.  It was wonderfully fabulous! 

Christmas Eve, after working all. day. long.... we hustled off to a Christmas Eve service, and then back home to enjoy appetizers for dinner, our family tradition.  

I got to wear my cute new favorite dress, from Anthropologie (of course!).  One that I watched, and watched, and watched, until finally, it came on sale!  And then, 3 days after I bought it, it was an additional 30% off, so I got a price adjustment.  Really, I couldn't afford not to buy it!  And I was rewarded for patiently waiting for the sale.  Ahem.  Or at least that's how I justify it to myself...

We opened one present after that (always pajamas!), and the ladies went off to bed. After visiting for a bit, we tucked ourselves into bed and waited for Santa to come... 

In the morning, after the Girls woke us up at 8, we read the Christmas story, and started on stockings....they took a little while! (I love stockings!)

Art and I were quite surprised this year, with our Girls. While Art and I were out for our shopping date, Auntie Frieda was here with the Girls, busily helping them make us presents. They made these very cool row markers for our garden, made out of spoons. The extra special thing was that everyone wrote on a couple, so we have each of their sweet little writing on a spoon. I loved it!  

 Auntie Frieda made the Girls matching ponchos and hats for the Girls and their American Girls....they were a hit!

 After a day of playing and presents and visiting, a yummy turkey dinner was in order!

Thank goodness for leftovers...I would hate to do all that work for only 1 meal!

After dinner, we headed out to some friends who had made a skating rink on their pond, which was a lot of fun!  Christmas only comes once a year, and when it does....I love it!  Hope your Christmas was merry!