Cookie QC

Littlest and I decided to bake some cookies this morning.  I let her choose the kind and she picked the famous 'jam-in-the-hole' variety.  She rolled them into balls and poked her thumb in to make the hole and filled them up with jam.  She did this entire pan herself:

We made some with grape jam and some with strawberry jam.  Before we started I had told her we could sample one before lunch.  When the first couple of pans cooled, I told her she could have one.  She ate that, approved and then looked at the rest of the cooling cookies, taking note of the two different jam varieties.  'We should try these too,' she said.  I thought to myself, 'now that's some good QC thinking.'  Having spent nine years in a QC lab, this made me extremely proud.  She may have just been trying to get an extra cookie, but I'm choosing to believe it was about upholding the quality and integrity of our product.  We wouldn't want her sisters or mom to try something substandard.

So we each tried the strawberry ones and they were good too.  As she was leaving the kitchen, she noticed there were still more in the oven.  'We should try these too Dad,' she said.  My heart swelled with pride.  It is important to check each product run.

And just in case you are wondering, they were good too.  Later.

Wedgiosis

Today's story is about biking, but first we need a little background information.  Here is what you need to know so things make sense later on:

Kids' TV characters come and go.  We've been through the Backyardigans, Little Einsteins, Dora, Handy Manny.  The list goes on.  One of Littlest's favourites right now is Doc McStuffins.  If your kids are older already, let me fill you in.  She is a little girl who is a vet for stuffed animals.  The animals can speak to her and she diagnoses all their ailments and her hippo nurse writes everything down in the 'big book of boo-boos.'  Some of her diagnoses include things like dried-out-atosis and can't-pop-itis and loose-tooth-eosis.

Now to the story:  the girls were out biking and Littlest is learning to ride her two wheeler.  She would have it down no problem if she could stop talking and stop stopping every few feet to tell me something.  Today one of her issues was that she kept getting a wedgie.  Only she didn't call it a wedgie.  She said she had wedgiosis.  She'd pedal a bit and then I would see her feet come off the pedals and I would ask why.  'I just had to stop Dad 'cause I've got the wedgiosis.'  Then she would rectify the problem and carry on.  A little while later it was the same thing.  The wedgiosis!

I think that judging by today, this problem can come in the acute and chronic varieties.  When it hits, it needs to be taken care of now.  But it does keep coming back over and over and over again.  The occasional acute case wouldn't be that big of an issue.  But the chronic...yowza.  So before you head out on the bicycle this summer, make sure you've got good pants or shorts and underwear that aren't prone to riding where they shouldn't.  Or the wedgiosis will strike you too.  And ain't nobody got time for that.  Later.

Life lesson #2

When first learning to bike, it's best to keep your eyes on the path and not the neighbour boys. 

ps:  this goes for more experienced riders too. The scenery will only get nicer as the weather warms up. 

Later. 

Easter weekend

We returned home last night after spending Easter weekend at Julie's parents' place.  Our original plan was to leave here Thursday night and be there Friday morning for the Good Friday breakfast and service.  That plan was shelved due to a stomach bug.  Littlest was hit Tuesday evening and Middlest Wednesday night.  The puking all happened during the night of course, but she was in no shape to go to school on Thursday.  She spent most of the day in her bed, dozing and reading.  At one point, she finished a book and asked me to get her another one.  The title she was after was 'Unicorn School.'  She then proceeded to tell me it was in the unicorn section of her bookshelf.  Wait, what?  You have a whole unicorn section?!  But sure enough, just past the crime solving mouse section and before the fairy section, there was a unicorn section.  Who knew?  And where did she get all these books?

So after a puke-free Thursday and no one else catching it, we ventured out Friday morning.  We had a great weekend.  Poppa treated us all to a ride in his semi (who knew that a sleeper seats six?) and the adults all took turns seeing if we could double-clutch.  It was tricky and there was some lurching, but no stalling.  Julie's brother and his wife each took a turn, then I did and here is Julie.  Like a boss.

The other big excitement on the weekend was that Poppa bought the girls their own quad for when they come visit.  A little 90 cc Arctic Cat with a governor on the throttle (thank goodness!).  It was a surprise and he and Julie's brother came up with quite the story to reveal it.  They said they had captured an Arctic Cat and were keeping it in a cage in the quonset.  They also had a coyote call which happened to have a cougar setting, which sounds like some sort of very angry cat.  So with great trepidation we all crept up to the door.  Uncle hit the remote and the cat screamed from inside the metal door.  Poppa had a baseball bat there to be safe and he banged the door to tell the beast to be quiet.  It screamed again and he slid the door open.  A blue tarp was draped over the cage, concealing the great beast.  It screamed again.  The girls weren't too keen on the big reveal.  I took Littlest by the hand and we crept up and each grabbed a corner.  We pulled with bated breath.  And the Arctic Cat was revealed!  Then there was excitement and lots of, 'I knew it wasn't real and I wasn't scared' by the older two.  Yeah, right.  That's why you were 20 feet outside the door.

Here's one picture of Littlest looking really cute, and then some shots of the girls taming the great beast.

Julie and her dad pulled up some chairs to watch the show and visit.

On Sunday morning, a certain bunny made an appearance and then we went to church in Golden Prairie where we were treated to the real meaning of Easter.

He is risen!  Later.

The month of March

Okay, before April begins, I am going to attempt to get caught up on March.  Let me begin by saying that the thrill of doing dishes is gone.  Yes, the two girls who said it was so much fun and asked if they could do them every day now act like typical kids and complain when the time comes.  One night last week, I was washing and the two of them were drying.  About half way through, Middlest decided she had to go to the bathroom.  Ahh, the old poop break to get out of dishes routine.  Generation to generation, some things never change.

After living here for nine months, we finally got the girls' hair cuts on the weekend.  They love that sort of thing and we didn't seem to be getting back to Saskatoon to see their regular and favorite stylist.  But we had them all in at the same time and Julie and I even managed a little walk around the mall alone while they were all in the chair.  A haircut and babysitting all in one. 

Littlest likes me to do her hair most days, and one day she requested Princess Leia buns.  Well, that made me proud.  I did my best, but I'm not sure you would say Leia.  The first day could have been Fiona (from Shrek).
Day 1:

Day 2:

I even figured out how to French braid on YouTube:

Sometimes she like to do my hair.  I'm not sure why, but I grudgingly let her.

Last Sunday Julie was in church early to play piano, so it was me and the girls getting ready.  Littlest watched me shave and then thought she would like to have a turn.  We had plenty of time, and I'm not going to get the chance to teach a son to shave, so I thought why not?  I kept the cover on the blade, but she used my razor and shaving cream.  She was probably the best smelling kid in Sunday School.

Biggest tried her hand at curling after school for a bit.  Her school put on an intro class once a week for a month.  She had fun and we went to watch the final match.  It was a nail biter, but I believe her team won. 

She was also in the school play.  It was a western themed night and she was a narrator for 'Deep in the Heart of Texas.'  Here she is getting ready:

Middlest had a penguin day at school, so Littlest and I went to hang out for the afternoon.  Educational and fun.

March also had the most epic pi day of this century being the year was 2015.  3/14/15 at 9:26 and 53 seconds, the first 10 digits of pi all matched up.  3.141592653.  Won't happen again until the year 2115.  So at 9:26 in the morning, I ate pie.

I'm sure more stuff happened, but for now, this is all that I remember.  Later.

Middlest's 7th birthday!

Here it is March 23, and I'm just writing about Middlest's birthday, which was on the seventh.  Poor middle child.  Always overlooked.

Her day started by asking for cinnamon toast for breakfast.  Who was I to refuse?

  

After lunch, it was time for the party.  She had wanted a gymnastics one, so we rented a local place here.  As it turned out, only two of her friends came.  The kids were off school the week before, so that may have had something to do with it.  But no one even replied that they weren't coming.  That part was disappointing, but she still had a blast with the two boys that showed up and her sisters.

Julie had made her a mermaid cake, which she loved.

The party was two hours, but only one hour of gymnastics.  Needless to say cake and presents didn't take an hour. So we brought along the Uno game.  It was intense.  

They all slept well that night though.  And Middlest said it was her best birthday ever, which is what really matters.

It is hard to believe she is seven though.  She is a lot of fun and has a quirky personality and an infectious giggle.  She has her own sense of style and doesn't care what others think.  The more animal prints the better.  She is incredibly smart and can't get her hands on enough books.  We are incredibly proud of her and love her to bits.  Later.

A month in the life of a dog

It appears I have a bit of catching up to do - over a month again.  Where to begin?

Let's start with the dog.  Yes, Rosie has had an eventful month.  And expensive.  The first major incident happened when Littlest was playing tug-of-war with her and dragging her around the kitchen.  They got tangled up with one of the bar stools at the island and I turned around to hear the crash, the crying and the yelping.  Littlest had a pretty good mark right across her ear which we didn't notice until the next day because her crying didn't last long.  She was more concerned with the puppy who was in a lot of pain.  When the yelping finally stopped, Rosie wasn't putting any weight on one of her front paws.  Eventually she put a little weight on it, but she was still limping pretty good.  We called the vet and decided to let her sleep on it.  The next day came and it wasn't any better, so we were off to the doctor.  It was decided that it wasn't broken, but was swollen and sore, so we went home with three days worth of anti-inflammatories and instructions for lots of rest.  After about six days, her limp was gone and she was running around being a puppy again.

Then most of the snow melted and revealed a lot of treasures that she had been depositing.  There was a lot of poop to clean up.  And there still is, but now we have a lot of snow again.  In the meantime though, the melt brought with it the revelation of grass.  Oh the sweet, sweet grass.  Grass that tastes so good.  Grass that tastes good enough to eat twice.  Grass that tastes good enough to pick out of poop.  It's not a pleasant sight to watch.  Sometimes I wonder about the thought process.  Eat...puke...walk away...come back...see the puke...eat again...puke...poop...eat...eww.  One night turned out to be worse than the others.  She found some grass that had gone to seed and had large husks on it.  She started choking and puking.  It is amazing the amount of food that can come out.  Anyway, after quite a while of this, she was not getting any better and could not seem to clear whatever was stuck in her throat.  So we called the vet (after hours).  After an exam, it was determined that the best course of action would be to sedate her and clean out whatever was bugging her.  It turns out she had all kinds of grass seeds and husks and fibers lodged around her tonsils.  You'd think she would learn after that, but no.  It was back to the grass the very next day.  I think I got all the stuff with seeds picked though.

The other story I am going to tell didn't cost any money.  It may not be for the faint of heart though.  It deals with poop again.  It is amazing how the whole puppy/baby similarity keeps coming up.  How many times did she poop?  Was it soft?  Runny?  Lots?  Just a little?  Why do we care so much?  Rosie seems to start the day with solid poops and they get softer throughout the day and some of the evening ones are down right runny.  I'll ask the vet about this again when she gets her next shots this week, but in the meantime I thought I would see what Dr. Google had to say.  It is amazing the amount of people out there talking about puppy poop.  And that have the same issue as Rosie.  But I'm getting off track, back to the story.  One cool evening just after dark I set out to walk Rosie.  I had mitts on, there was still some snow and ice in yards, but the sidewalks were clear.  We were about half way through our usual circuit when she stopped right in the middle of the dry sidewalk and proceeded to let out this big, nasty pile of scours.  (Did I mention that it was Julie who really wanted to get a puppy?)  I looked at this pile of liquid and at my little, plastic bag.  There was no way this was going to go well.  I took off my mitts, flipped the bag inside out and attempted to scrape up as much as possible.  It didn't go well.  I got some on my finger in the process, then Rosie pulled on the leash and I dropped my mitts in it.  I tried to kick some snow on it to clean it off the best I could, but the snow was basically ice and not very effective.  So I set off for the rest of the walk, holding my mitts gingerly, holding this steaming pile of liquid poo even more gingerly and trying not to think about what was on my finger.  Good times.

But hey, she must be worth it right?

Can she be any cuter?

Playing with Julie

They are both in there of their own free will (and it's not locked)

Floor snuggles

I guess this post is long enough.  I'll catch up with the kids in another one...or two.  Later