Diaper Duty

The older two boys have the responsibility to get their pajamas and pull-ups out each afternoon in preparation for the evening. Typically, they get the required items and place them on the couch.

Today, I was cleaning up the kitchen and noticed Obed making many trips to and from his room with diapers in hand... I found him sitting rather smugly on the couch. He had successfully "helped" get every single diaper and pull-up out of the diaper cabinet. I guess the boys are well prepared for the next 17 nights.

Ezra-isms

Ezra cracks me up. He is a kid who says funny things without knowing that he's being funny. His innocent humor is delightful! He often gets embarrassed when we laugh with his silliness - but he also loves the attention.

A few months back, we were going over his and Asher's Sunday School lessons on Monday morning. Asher was learning about Isaac and Rebekah and Vince asked Asher, "what did God give give Isaac?" Asher looked rather confused and answered, "a camel?" Ezra quickly chimed in, "Nope, but close!" In the spirit of trying to be an encourager, Ezra encouraged Asher for his valiant effort in answering. The answer that Vince was looking for, however, was "a wife" - not exactly close to camel.

We got a new toy for Christmas that plays various songs. Ezra loves to sing and often sings along with the toy. He has apparently inherited my gift of making up words to songs when you just don't know the lyrics... I mean really, the written lyrics are not nearly as enjoyable as the made-up ones! For instance, Ezra's been singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Ezra's interpretation: "row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, gently down the stream." He's also been singing Skip to My Loo.... it's supposed to go, "skip, skip, skip to my loo." The Ezra version... "skip, skip, skip through the moose." It's so much fun listening to him sing... although he must never hear me as I giggle at his words lest he become embarrassed and stop singing... that would be a travesty!

Green (Scrambled) Eggs and Ham (with Toast)

The other night we decided to have green eggs and ham for dinner. The night started with the family loading into the van to go buy some ham, since that is not a meat we typically keep in stock at the Black home. Once we arrived home, Vince read the book with the boys.Then the creation began. Neither boy really likes fried eggs, but they love scrambled eggs! So we made some green scrambled eggs.

I remember once my sister's dog found a piece of green bologna on the ground and ate it. It was green because it was old and moldy. We learned that ham doesn't have to be moldy in order to be green... when one puts drops of green food coloring on a piece of ham, the ham turns greens as well. When one puts drops of green food coloring on a piece of ham and eats it, one's teeth and tongue turn green as well - this aspect of green eggs and ham was not addressed in the book.

Identity Crisis

Today while the snot-monsters, Asher and Obed rested, Ezra helped me shovel the driveway, sidewalk and steps. Near the end of our shoveling, Ezra was playing the back yard while I finished up the back patio area. I started burying him in the snow.

Ezra thought it great fun... Warnie, however, not so fun. He was very concerned and immediately started trying to get Ezra out of the snow pile. I'm pretty sure he thought he was a Saint Bernard and had a keg of brandy around his neck, rather than a skinny, short-haired pointer, not made for long exposure to the snow.

Winter Time Adventures

It was a day full of winter time adventures here in Nearly, Canada. The adventure started this morning, as I had an errand to run. Our garage has an alley entrance - but the alley is never plowed (since we are one of the only families with an alley entrance on this particular street). This is not typically a problem, since the garbage truck makes big tire grooves in the snow and we can simply follow the groves. Last night, however, we got an additional 2 inches of snow (meaning it's up to the undercarriage of the van) and there were strong winds (which created drifts)... which meant that although the tire grooves in the snow appeared normal as I backed out of the garage, they in fact, were not. I started down the alley as usual... and then proceeded to get the van utterly and totally stuck in a snow drift. After trying for about 10 minutes to get the van out myself (getting my cute little boots totally filled with snow in the process), even traveling back to the garage to get a shovel to dry to dig out the van, I swallowed my pride and went and called upon Vince for his help. It took Vince about 30 minutes and 3 different shovels to dig me out, as well as running behind me and pushing the van almost all the way down the alley. Needless to say, since they are forecasting another 5 inches of snow tonight, I have parked in the front driveway until the alley is a bit more cleared.

The next adventure was when Vince was done with work today. He took the older two boys out in the back to clear the walkway to the garage (which at this point is no longer needed since the van is in the front). The older Black men also shoveled "highways," "tunnels," and "bridges" all over the back yard. The snow is too light to pack, so the bridges and tunnels are actually just walls the boys built up really high and hid behind.
Vince and the boys also shoveled off the fort and slide and spent quite a bit of time sliding down the slide into a pile of snow waiting at the bottom.

Obed has caught the bug Asher had over the weekend which meant he had a fever and snotty nose today. His illness, combined with his face-plant in the snow yesterday made him a great candidate to stay inside and watch the big boys in the back. He stood at the window for a good 20 minutes saying, "Eesh. Eesh." Not really sure what he meant - but he kept telling me, so either it must have been important, or my response of "uh huh," made him feel like I understood his babbling... either way, "Eesh, eesh."

Obed and I from the inside looking out at the snow adventurers in the back.

Heat Wave!

There's a heat wave today. Currently it's 26.2 degrees outside! We want to enjoy this weather as much as possible, since the forecasters say the highs near the end of the week are in the low single digits again.

Ezra has been itching to get outside to play in the snow again - and it's the perfect day for that! We decided to let Obed go play in the snow as well. Of course, he wears a size 5 shoe, and the smallest boots we have are size 6. He's 15 months old and we only have a 24 month snow suit... all this to say, he was a bit "over-sized" in his snow gear. He had a great time for the first 3 minutes in the snow... until his trying to walk in a too-big snow suit and too-big boots caused a face-first nose plant into the snow. Fun done.
Vince and Ezra stayed outside for quite some time. Vince got his snowshoes out - but the snow is so light and powdery, he even sunk down low with snowshoes.After Obed's face plant in the snow, I figured he was deserving of a treat... so he had his first ever mug of hot-chocolate. I think he only made about a 1/4 teaspoon of it into his mouth... the rest was dumped down the front of his shirt as he drank it from the back side of the cup.

Asher's a bit under the weather these days. In his words, "I hab a noddy node" (translation, "I have a snotty nose"). He still got his beloved hot chocolate even if his outdoor time was limited.

Diaper Half-Thong

There are times as a parent where the only goal is to get an overly tired child down for rest. Today was one such time. One of our boys (who shall remain anonymous to protect his thonganimity) was beside himself today before rest, weeping and in general hysterics. You see, he didn't nap yesterday, was up too late last night, and didn't have a particularly good night of sleep... resulting in one grumpy boy. So, when a child is like this, the care normally taken to affix a diaper properly may be pushed aside because a second or two more to properly affix a diaper is a second or two less that the weeping child's head will be on his pillow. However, when the diaper affixing process is rushed, what can and may result is seen below... the diaper half-thong. Fortunately, the diaper was dry after rest.