Minus one

This weekend was interesting in that we were less one child. G's parents were heading to the coast for Ava's birthday party, so I asked them if they'd consider taking Liam along with them. He had never been away without us, so it was a first. He is still gone, but should be back very soon.
It was nice to have just our 8 and 2 year old at home for a few days. It was about 50% quieter, with about 90% less fighting! Liam is our loud, intense, emotional talker. He fills a room with his voice and his character.
Yesterday we decided to make a quick trip to Vernon to do some shopping and just to get out. Here are the two remaining munchkins having fun together...



Though we enjoyed not being outnumbered, we miss our Liam-boy!

Header

As you can see, I made myself a new header for myself this spring. I had passed a beautiful tree downtown yesterday and had to get back down there this morning with my camera to take pictures of it. Unfortunately after 10 photos, my camera battery was dead, so that was the end of my fun for the moment.
To make my header, I upload my photos into Lightroom, and tweak them a little. Then I upload them onto flickr. Then I use flickrtoys to make a 3x1 mosaic. Then you have to upload your photo into the blogger customize section, add your title and colors, and whammo...new header. Not too hard, but not too simple either. Hope you enjoy it though! You have to LOVE flowering trees...one day I want one.

Spring in the air....

It was around 24 degrees celcius today!! As quick as the hot weather ended last summer and the crisp fall weather arrived, so has the cold left in turn for the HOT. We have had record lows in snow/rainfall, so I am worried this will be a dry smoky summer. The fire crews are all ready getting prepared for a busy season.
We've had lots going on in the yard. We still have this massive ditch where our old deck had been. Greg had knocked out a section of concrete that is still just beat up gravel. We need to do a lot of work back there yet. We did get some plants moved, the garden retaining wall fixed up, the gutters cleaned out, about 10 wheelbarrow loads of dirt added to our pond garden, flower seeds planted, the pond cleaned up and fountain put back in. It is starting to look good, but we have a ways to go. I am looking forward to posting pictures once it's finally over. There are days where I miss my postage stamp sized low maintenance yard!!
We are also taking plenty of time to enjoy this great weather. Right after dinner, we threw our dishes in the sink and ran out to a park to fly kites. The boys just love being outside, and especially at parks. The evenings fly by as we try to play, clean up, do homework, and do the bedtime routine of stories, teeth and tucking in. It seems hard to fit everything we need to do into a day!

Hosed

For the past few days, at 4pm, I have had to strip the boys naked and hose them off before letting them set foot back in the house. I was busy emptying out the winters worth of slop/leaves and needles from my pond, while I let them make mud patties in our ditch of a backyard. They have had plenty of fun, but ugg, the mess!! And sadly, when you spend your days in the gorgeous outdoors at the parks, and in the yard as we have...the house becomes a dumping ground of dirty clothes and dishes. I get that quick reminder of how the next few months of our year will be like. Summers are always super busy in Salmon Arm. It is rather unfortunate that friends come to visit, the weather is great, the yard needs work, the beach and parks are calling, and the house is a constant state of chaos ALL at the same time. The winters are dark, long and boring. The house stays relatively clean but you go stir crazy!! And then you contrast that with the utter busy full days of summer. It's like everything happens all at once in one huge blast called SUMMER. But oh, I love it so.

Bring it on.

Jerks

So we have been bombarded by nasty stupid people who seem to think it is fun to steal from children. You may have heard (via facebook) that my jogger buggy was taken right out of my driveway. It has since been returned as I put up posters everywhere and a nice kid who found it in his area, brought it back to me. But now I just realized that our little tikes red car is also hijacked and our go cart. We don't have a garage, or a locking shed, so we need to start hauling things indoors. And now last night...my wallet was also swiped. I was an idiot and left it in the van. I usually leave it in there when I'm out running to the school or the park and don't want it around my neck. Well, I left it in there overnight under the seat, and apparently the robbers were back for a 3rd time this month and took off with it. I know it was stupid of me to leave it in there, and it was an honest mistake which I am now paying for. We called Visa and the *jerk* has already used my card to fill his gas tank and go buy a few other things around town. What makes me the most upset is the things in my wallet which I can't replace, ie. the pictures and the cards. I have to get my new debit, license etc. all yet. Right now I'm just downright bummed out. I thought this small town would be much safer than Calgary, but I've been proved wrong yet again! Lock up, peoples!

UPDATE: So I've been visiting the various offices and bank to change cards over and get a new license and so on. I've been on the phone with 7-11 and Chevron, where my card was used, to ensure they are saving their security tapes and could give me any info on what was spent. The idiot used my card to pay his Telus Mobility airtime, so you would THINK that they will have this guys name and address as I have the Visa number, the amount, date and time that he used my card to pay his bill. Well I spent an hour on the phone with Telus and they kept asking me for the phone number and/or account #. Of COURSE I don't have his phone number...your client is using MY Visa to pay his account. Anyway...my hands are tied...I feel like I've done all I can and now only the cops can get any further information. It's so hard to wait. I guess I'm hoping that they will either get the guy, and/or best case scenario attain even part of my wallet. The Visa, debit and drivers etc. are useless even if they were recovered, but it's all those other little things like library/medical cards that would be nice to get back.

Differences

Having more than one boy sure helps prove that even though you come from the same gene pool, you can be SO completely different. Riley and Liam have been pretty much opposites right from the beginning. They look different than eachother, they have very different personalities, tastes, love languages, interests, hobbies, etc. It couldn't have been more obvious that when I read their report cards yesterday. The areas where Liam excelled were the areas that Riley struggles in and vice versa.
I must say that it has been nice to have a "keener" on my hands with Liam. He LOVES to learn and do "school" at home. He will sit down and do worksheets, puzzles, math quizzes etc. all morning if you are there to watch! He has all of the sudden taken to math and can add any numbers to ten and is learning some multiples of 10 etc. He is a bit of a perfectionist and will erase his writing over and over til it is just right.
His brother does not like to do anything that requires him to sit and concentrate. He does not like to read or write and definitely learns best through playing. He is not self motivated and does not pride himself on being neat or being right. He is just there for the experience and the fun and when he is bored, he is done. I found this out pretty early on in his life as we struggled through piano lessons, crafts, homework and chores. He is so tricky to motivate and help stay on task, that I knew I would die if I ever had to homeschool him! His teacher acknowledged his need for a strict routine or else he tends to get off task and get silly! He would benefit from a tight schedule at home as well, as he just gets crazy and drives us all batty! He also requires a lot of time to burn his energy with sports. The trick is trying to run this three ring circus and keep them all busy at once!
I don't know where Shea is on this spectrum. He is loving his books and singing songs, and especially playing on the computer. He is trying out the Fisher Price website lately which has good alphabet and shapes games. I think he will be quite ready for kindergarten when the time comes.
Liam's kindergarten teacher had asked the kids to pick something that they wanted to teach the class. Liam is not a performer (unlike his big bro), so this was not something he was anticipating. It took us some time to decide what he was going to teach. Originally we had planned that he would teach the class how to draw an ostrich, cuz who knows how to draw an ostrich, right? and he has a great step by step book that would help him to do it. But in the end, while making lemonade the other day, we decided he could teach them how to make that! He loves to help in the kitchen. So we made up a large recipe card and I had drawn on these little pictures to go with each word (like lemon/sugar/water) to help him along. I packed up our jug, measuring cups and all the other supplies and off he went to school. I so wish I could have been a fly on the wall, because I'm sure his "cooking show" would have been the funniest thing to watch! Just imagine a 6yr old measuring out 6 1/2 cups of water at the tap (with the classmates counting for him 1, 2, 3...) and then squeezing a lemon etc. and then mixing it all up! I'm sure the teacher was laughing as he can be quite serious about it! I asked her about it later, and as expected, she said that he was just going right to work making it without telling them what he was doing. So she had to stop him quite a few times to get him to explain himself! She said he did a great job and knew all the answers to the measurements etc. and the class all got to have a sip from the plastic cups we brought. When he came out of school, he looked at me with his serious Liam brows and said..."We're going to need 18 more recipes because everybody likes it."

On foot

Greg is away for work again. Why you ask? Well, as some of you know or may not know...Greg kept his job in Calgary and has been doing it from home this whole time (online). He works for Edge Marketing, which is primarily an online business that sells insoles! Check it out. He is a web developer and works on writing the code to make their website look presentable and easy for users. The actual work he does is usually WAY over my head, so we'll just leave it at that. The company has an office in Vancouver and one in Calgary. We happen to be in the middle, so he takes turns going between the two for various meetings and conferences. He started working for this company in 2004, so has been there awhile. Between us, we have a nice collection of insoles, socks and sandals and appreciate the product, so that is a bonus. They are coming up with these new slides soon (as opposed to between the toe sandals). I hope I like them, as they would be nice to have on my hard cold tile floors.
So we are on our own again, and without the van. The closest airport is in Kelowna, so for him to fly (nevermind the cost) and then need to rent wheels when he gets there, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just mainly an inconvenience and makes us appreciate that we moved walking distance from school! Thankfully we also have family around who can offer us rides when I'm desperate.
Hoping he enjoys his "break" (not from work, but from small town and kids) and I am sure glad he works so hard for us (and always comes home in the end)!

Easter

I always love taking photos around the same time each year so I can examine their growth! Here is last year and then today...they sure have grown!

We are going to the Easter Sunday pancake breakfast and service at church, doing an egg hunt and then having fun with my family tomorrow. Should be a good day!
Happy Easter!