Reality check

There are times when I think that a child's sole purpose is to keep ones self esteem in check.  There are times when I think, 'hey, I'm pretty awesome.'  And then Bam! Back to reality.

Case #1

We never used to eat much rice, but have been a bit more in the last year.  The girls all really like it.  One day I figured I would use the leftovers and make chicken fried rice.  When they first looked at it, they all turned up their noses.  When they did finally taste it, they all fell in love.  Now when we have chicken and rice, they look forward to the next day when I make chicken fried rice with the leftovers.  Score one for Dad!  So this has been going on for months now - everyone loves the chicken fried rice.  Then one day we did something crazy.  Brought home some Chinese take-out.  After eating the take-out, Biggest said to me, 'Dad, don't take this personally, but the Chinese professionals do it better.'  Bam!  Reality check.

Case #2

Biggest came home from school talking about politics.  We  were alone in the car and got to chatting.  The conversation led to voting and then to women voting and then to women's rights and some historical gender roles.  I then said how we are not a typical family because I stay home and Julie works.  Then Biggest said to me, 'Yeah Dad, you're like the woman of the house.'  Bam!  Reality check.  Not that there's anything wrong with being the woman of the house...provided you're a woman.  I'll just check my testicles at the door when I come in and put my apron on.

Case #3

You would like to think that as you age, your children will look after you.  In a perfect world anyway.  Biggest thinks that when she grows up she wants to be the prime minister.  Aim high, I always say.  I told her that when she is prime minister she will have to look after me because I'll be old.  That's when she said, 'I'm pretty sure you'll have a huge seniors home.'  Bam!  Reality check.  I guess we won't be moving in with her when we get old.

So there you have it, stay humble.  Later.

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.