What we're up to...

As the days begin to stay light longer and we see temperatures rising above zero occasionally, we're encouraged that winter may eventually come to an end. Emilie has been talking for weeks about how she is looking forward to just "walking out the door" in her bare feet with a summer dress on. And I remind myself when I step on wet carpet in a perpetually soggy entrance with an array of winter outerwear drying everywhere, that after winter comes dead grass tramped all over the house - so indeed, getting your socks wet from melting snow provides something for which to be grateful.

 All in all, we are enjoying the many outdoor adventures of a wonderful winter: snow shoeing, skiing, sledding, skating, and shelter building. Joseph and John Paul built an amazing little shelter at Grandpa and Grandma Millette's acreage with just a few nails and pieces of wire besides the supplies they found in nature. They are all ready for an outdoor survival scenario and plan to send in their applications for the tv show Alone.

On one especially glorious winter day while dog sitting at the acreage, we took the kids across the field on skis and sleds for a little outdoor hot chocolate by the woods. 

Around our yard have been many and varied snow forts, little sledding hills, and coloured milk carton ice-block inukshuks. Making little outdoor kitchens and cooking as been a major winter pastime. 

On our colder days, we have been busy indoors with endless board games, wood-working, reading, and imaginative games. 

About the kids...

Emilie's favourite pastimes include dressing up in fancy dresses, giving tea parties, and making people elaborate pretend meals. She was overheard recently telling John Paul: "3 plus 4 take away 1 is the same as 3 plus 3, and that equals 6." On another occasion, overhearing Joseph tell Mommy that he thought "we" must be a noun in the sentence, Emilie was quick to shout, "It's a pronoun!" Indeed, she is smarter than we thought. Emilie has decided that "preschool" is a completely inadequate title for her current "four and three-quarters" age; she insists upon filling out a white board's worth of letters daily during school time to show Daddy, as well as filing through alphabet cards saying sounds and/or painting. Emilie has an eye for details and can frequently be found meticulously drawing very precise designs or organizing her clothes boxes. Speaking of details, Emilie is a master at memory games - especially the ones she has studied to the point of "rememorizing" so she can beat everyone at the game. 

Meanwhile, Jude continues to keep everyone on their toes. He climbs everything and anything; his protesting screams when he is removed from such heights are, I'm sure, easily heard by our neighbours. When he manages to get into the "off limits" bathroom, he can sometimes be found sitting on the potty, fully clothed, saying, "Go pee!" His vocabulary has expanded to include everyone's names, commands such as "Get out!" and "Breakfast!" and "Basement!" and endearing lines like "I wuv you!" and "NO!" Recently, he was found standing on a kitchen chair drying dishes and has since been dubbed Danny II as he shows signs of surpassing his "in-famous" father's 4-year-old feats (backstory: Dan frequently reminds us that at 4-years-old he was doing dishes, attending school, and playing hockey - Can anyone really live up to such young talent?).

 

When firing on all cylinders, John Paul boasts of finishing school by 9:30-10am every morning (he does, however, usually begin by 8am, give or take 15 mins). After Christmas, John Paul began taking piano lessons, proudly walking the 1/2 block to our piano teacher's home every Thursday afternoon with Joseph. He has quickly learned all his "Twinkles" as well as various other ditties and boasts performances at two recitals, including playing "Mary had a Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns" all on black keys. Speaking of firing on cylinders, we have discovered that John Paul's optimum firing occurs directly after feeding time (i.e. supper) when he can be found tearing around the house at top speed and high volumes and is speedily exiled to the basement for the rest of his firing - this may or may not include guns.

John Paul's happy dictation

Our resident inventor and scientist, Joseph is often found in the basement carving, building, or repurposing wood, cardboard, and whatever other items he can find around, pick up at Grandpa's, or salvage from the garbage. Joseph frequently sets up science experiments for everyone to enjoy and/or chats about what a cool invention some new idea would make. When not inventing, Joseph is curled up somewhere with a book and, inevitably, in another world or era. His favourite reads these days include a plethora of Canadian historical history novels. The downfall to Joseph's many and varied interests resides in his short-term dedication to an idea; he will often decide to do something, begin immediately without thinking it through, and later drop everything when he realizes the shortcomings of his thought process or planning. Joseph continues to be a great help around the house, often rescuing his littlest brother from the crazy shenanigans he gets himself into.

Life with Four: Family Update

Hello, hello, ye old blog!

Life is just flying by and this blog post I started at least a month ago is still sitting here unfinished.

Although we've been used to a "stay home" agenda much of the time since Jude was born, self-quarantine rules due to COVID-19 mean it's not our choice anymore and... sometimes it feels a bit old. You'd think that would give me more time, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

In many ways, four kids has been a bit of a tipping point. We are doubly outnumbered as parents. We added a crazy-busy little dude to our mix. We're homeschooling, teaching school, and running a home. Our house is a constant flurry of noise and various stages of chaos. We're tired just keeping up with it all.

But... that's life. Sometimes you get those little breaks and other times it's full-tilt growth.

FROM BIRTH TO SEVEN MONTHS - KIDS GROWING UP

AND NOW FOR A LITTLE FAMILY UPDATE:

JUDE

He's seven months old now, sports two bottom teeth (with a top one on the verge of break-through... so probably next week! ha!), crawls at an alarming speed, pulls himself up to standing and tipping points, eats meat like a carnivore, nurses like it's his only food source, drools steadily, gives his parents a challenge at bedtime, and smiles and laughs like the sweetest baby ever. We are all smitten with him! I don't know what we ever did without him, but I recall that life was easier.



EMILIE

She's almost four ... because her birthday is next and she's been talking about her cake for the last ten months! She's a sweet little lady who loves to colour, wear her baby, build cakes for everyone from pattern blocks, help mama bake and change Jude, and go for walks. She's got a temper like her ____ and frequently asserts herself in loud, screaming tones. Emilie struggled with Lent and her own sacrifices; she wants all the food all the time, so giving up cereal for bedtime snack was challenging. She fills our days with laughter and jokes only a three year old can tell.

JOHN PAUL

He turned six years old at the end of March. He's a quick little student and has reading and writing accomplished beyond his grade; his math skills are also exceptional. John Paul loves to draw and colour, make little gifts for family members, tap tap tap at his workbench in the basement, and play Legos for hours on end. He almost single-handedly rebuilt many of our Lego sets this winter, although frequently came asking, "Can you help me find this piece?" or, if stumped, simply moved on to another set. He's always been a bit of a difficult one from a parental point of view, but has a heart of gold, works very hard, and is always ready to cheer everyone up.




JOSEPH

At eight years old, Joseph is preparing to receive his First Holy Communion and Confirmation (it was supposed to be this week but has been postponed indefinitely), excelling at grade 3 despite "not liking school," and keeping himself busy every other second. He loves to build, create, and try new things; he's always inventing something or drawing out plans, but it's quite as attentive to cleaning up his attempts. He's on a hunting and spying kick at the moment, trying to lay still in bushes to get close to birds all the while planning out ways to hunt down his prey. Joseph is an attentive, if slightly domineering older brother (he gets it from his ____). He can be trusted to take care of Jude and keep the others in line (even if they don't like it). He loves to read and has read nearly 100 books this school year (at least, the ones we've kept track of and not counting Hardy Boys re-reads).


BECCA

I just turned thirty-four. Alarming! Besides the ordinary daily life busy-ness, I'm finishing up a course to become a Billings Ovulation Method instructor (NFP), planning our summer garden, and deep cleaning our house. I'm attempting to finish my 800 page Anna Karenina and have decided there's a very good reason huge classics have been abridged (unfortunately, this copy is not abridged).

DAN

Do I have to continue with the age references? Ha! Dan is working from home, teaching grade 5 and frustrated with our slow-moving school division. After five months of paternity leave after Jude was born, it seems like our life has simply returned to those days, except that his "office" has relocated to the basement and he's not learning French. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Good Friday by postponing our celebration to April 14th. We then pigged out on homemade ribs, beverages, and pie. The kids were delighted with us for "dressing up" in our wedding clothes, humorously reciting our vows, and having a wedding dance party.