Life Lessons & High Praise

The kids & I were at Zellers yesterday, picking up some things we needed.  I also use shopping trips as a way to kill time, and a method of teaching the kids self-control.

After we had gotten the things we needed, we headed off to the toy section to peruse what was there.  Here’s where the self-control lessons come in.  Asher is of the age that I can let him walk beside the cart, and as we walk the aisles, he checks out many of the toys.  But once I get to the end of the aisle, he has to catch up to where I am, & go tot he next aisle with me.  He may ask for toys, but he must not pitch a fit when I say “no.”  Sometimes it seems he asks for every single toy on an aisle, but he’s learning that sometimes I do say yes, but if he keeps asking & yunking for toys, I will often put something back on the shelf that I had previously said yes to.

Chancery is still confined to the cart, so she’s not grabbing toys off the shelves (unless I get the cart too close), and she hasn’t gotten to the stage that she asks to buy things yet.  She normally just people watches so she can say “Hi, Man!  Hi, Lady!” to everyone.

So we walked the toy aisles yesterday & as we looked, Chancery suddenly said, “Miss Danielle there!”  I looked around, but couldn’t see her anywhere, so I asked, “Where is Miss Danielle?”  Chancery pointed at the shelf near her & said, “Miss Danielle, right there!” 

…and she pointed to the display of Barbies.  Apparently she sees a strong resemblance between Miss Danielle & Barbie.  So, Congrats, Miss Danielle, you’re looking goooood!

A Classic

I watched this again last night, and about the three minute mark I was in hysterics!  Add some levity to your Wednesday!

 

“Try to really explore the studio space this time.”

Summer’s Coming!

 

 

A few weeks ago, PChad officiated a wedding for some people in our church. 

Conveniently, there was a playground just off the parking lot.

 

 

 

During the rehearsal, I took the kids out to play, so they wouldn’t be in the way.

   

Not to say that they didn’t interrupt.  We were there just over an hour, and had to go inside once to change Chancery’s pants, and twice for Asher to use the facilities.  On one of those trips, Asher ran up to PChad, who was in the middle of the mock ceremony, to announce quite loudly, “Daddy, I have to poo!”  That’s just ONE of the reasons we decided not to take the kids to the actual ceremony!

 

As we played at the playground it got increasingly colder, and it didn’t take long for us to have to don our winter coats to protect us from the chilly winds.

I also took it upon myself to teach Asher one of the many joys of the teeter-totter, “walking the plank”.

 

My apologies to the mothers out there who don’t allow their kids to walk on the teeter-totters.  I figured I might as well teach Asher how to do it properly before he sees someone else doing it & attempts it himself, & ends up falling on his head.

Besides, it kept him occupied for at LEAST 10 minutes!

Daisy Chain –review

When I look for a book in the Christian Fiction genre, I have a few favourite authors I usually stick to.  I’ve never read a book by Mary DeMuth, nor have I heard of her before.

Well, I’m ready to tell you that if you haven’t read Daisy Chain, you are missing out.  The story is so different from any other Christian Fiction that I’ve read before, and so well written, that I was hooked right from the beginning.  At first I thought that because it was so different, I would be able to pick it apart, but the more I read, I discovered that the main character’s situation is very bizarrely true to reality.

I don’t want to give anything away, because by doing so, I worry that I might taint the book for other readers, but this book is definitely in my top 10 Christian Fiction books, AND it’s the first book in a trilogy.

Nothing excites me more than reading a great book & discovering it’s part of a series, so I can continue following the characters.  I just can’t say enough good things about this book.  It’s definitely going to be one of my top recommendations, and now I need to find the next books in the trilogy!

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “I’ll give you one guess as to what Asher’s wearing today.”

 

Chancery: “People will think you only have one set of clothes.”

 

Asher: “People should be able to see beyond my outfit, that I am a nice, funny kid.”

 

Asher: “See how sweet I am?”

 

Chancery: “Do you really think people are going to buy that?”

 

Asher: “Sure, why wouldn’t they think that I’m just as sweet as you?”

 

Chancery: “Because everyone knows that girls are sweet, and boys are trouble.”

 

Chancery: “You people agree with me, am I right?”

Asher: “Is that true?  You think Chancery is sweeter than me?”

Responsible Spending

In these financial times, we could all take a tip from Seth Green.  Really, how often do you see famous Hollywood actors being this responsible with their money?

 

Happy Friday!!!

Sunday Outing

We were invited to spend Sunday afternoon with some friends, to celebrate Miss Geesje’s birthday.  If there’s cake involved, you don’t have to ask me twice, and the kids are quite likely to agree.

We had a great time out at their farm.  Asher got to drive the tractor, or steer it at least.  It was a good thing Mr. Harrie was in control of the pedals, or they might have a few less buildings than they did before our visit!


After lunch we went on a walk around some of the fields.  Asher really enjoyed being given free reign to run around since we didn’t have to worry about traffic.

    Mr. Harrie demonstrated to Asher the proper way to use a walking stick, though I think he could have benefitted from a taller one…

 
There are certain benefits of farm living that I wish my kids could experience.  Thankfully, God has given us great friends who let us have fun carefree days like this.

Social Experiment

Kotex has come out with some new products & as a way to promote them, they have made some very interesting commercials.  Here are two examples of social experiments they did:

 

 

 

And here’s their response to the typical women’s hygiene ads:

 

They definitely are memorable, do they make you want to buy their product?

Twenties Girl –review

It was mentioned to Sophie Kinsella at one time, that she should write a ghost story.  She thought about it for awhile & decided to do so.  Had I known before I got this book that it would be centred around a ghost, I probably would have never gotten it, even though I’m a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella.  Well, I am very glad that my friend April sent me this book, because Twenties Girl, true to Sophie Kinsella’s form, delivered intrigue, suspense, romance & humour.

The story revolves around Lara, a young woman who seems to be stuck in a bit of a slump.  She can’t get over her boyfriend who suddenly broke up with her without warning months ago.  The new business she recently started with a friend has been left for her to run whilst her friend takes a very extended holiday.  And Lara feels she has to keep all this secret from her parents because she’s just not sure they would know how to deal with it.

When Lara’s little known Great-Aunt Sadie dies at the age of 105, Lara dutifully goes to the memorial service, and is embarrassed that none of the family really know what to say since none of them made any effort to know her when she was living.

At the service, Sadie appears before Lara & won’t leave her alone until she promises to help her find a necklace which has gone missing.  It might sound a bit hokey, and as far a ghost stories go, I’m not a fan, but this book is just another example of why Sophie Kinsella is such a popular writer.

20 Questions

The other day we were driving by some farms & Asher pointed one out & said, “That’s where Willem lives!”

 

We asked, “Do you mean MISTER Willem?”

 

“No, just Willem!” he replied.  (Having multiple people of various ages with the same name has caused us some confusion before.  We now refer to three of our friends as “Miss Julie,” “Different Miss Julie,” and “Different, Different Miss Julie.”)

 

So I told him, “Well, Mister Willem lives on a farm, but not that farm; and your friend Willem doesn’t have a farm, he just lives on a yard.”

 

Asher thought for a moment & then asked, “Where does he sleep?”

 

“Well, he sleeps at his house,” I said.

 

I knew where this was going, but I had to wait for Asher to say it anyway.  I wasn’t disappointed.  “But Willem just lives on a yard, and if he doesn’t have a house, he doesn’t have a bed to sleep in.”

 

So, we explained, “Willem has a house on the yard that he lives in, but he doesn’t live on a farm like MISTER Willem does.”

 

You could just see the gears spinning in his head before he asked, “Who’s Mr. Willem?”

 

“Mr. Willem is Miss Angela’s husband,” we said.

 

“Oh, well, where does he live?” Asher asked.

 

About this time we got to our destination & were given a bit of a reprieve from all the questions when he suddenly exclaimed, “Look, there’s a PARK!!!”

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Asher: “I have Chancery’s book, I have the cow, the world is MINE!”

 

Asher: “What?  You want me to give Chancery her book?”

 

 

Chancery: “Thank you for giving the book back.”

 

 

Asher: “Sure, but I’m keeping the cow.”

 

Chancery: “That’s a pretty nice cow you have there…”

 

Asher": “Forget it, I already gave you the book.”

 

Chancery: “Please, oh please, can’t I have the cow?”

 

Asher: “Nope, I don’t know what has happened to it!”

Chancery: “It’s the strangest thing!”

Alot

A friend sent me this link last week, & I thought it was too good not to share.  I myself, have taken issue with reading something that’s not grammatically correct.   Though I can’t say that I take it as far as this guy does.

Happy Friday!

Consequences

Asher decided to tip a full basket of toys out the other morning & I told him that he needed to get it all cleaned up.  He pretended to work at it for awhile, playing with most of the toys rather than putting them away.

 

After a few minutes he asked me for help & when I told him that it was his responsibility because he had decided to dump them out, he turned to Chancery instead & appealed to her, “Please, Chancery, can you help me clean up these toys?  It’s a big job and it’s very boring.  Can you please help me?”

 

Surprisingly she said “No!”

Gasp!

At snack time Asher suddenly exclaimed loudly, “Look, Mum!  She’s drooling!”

 

I said, “That’s ok, Chancery’s just trying to eat her snack.”

 

“No!” said Asher, “it’s going to be gross & yucky if she drools all over the place!”

 

If that’s the thing we get most worked up about, I think we’re doing ok.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Chancery likes to sing, and her favourite song at the moment is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.  However, sometimes she gets a bit stuck like a little broken record goes on & on with, “How I wonder what you are.  How I wonder what you are…  How I wonder what you are.”

 

Unfortunately, most of the time when I get out the camera to catch her in the act, she stops & says, “Cheesies!”  After many unsuccessful attempts, I proudly present, Chancery singing “Twinkle, Twinkle”!