A Million Questions

Goodness yesterday was a HARD day to get through.  From the moment N. woke up he asked me question after question.  Might I add, some of them were pretty s-t-u-p-i-d questions (we're not allowed to use that word and N. will call us on it every time so I've resorted to spelling it!!)

We just finished putting down our kithen floor and on Tuesday night, dad and I grouted it.  Silly me, I told N. that I had to wash it.  Well ALL morning, "Mom, when are we washing the floor?"  "Mom can we wash the floor now?"  "Mom, are we going to wash the floor when F. is napping?"

N. questioned everything I did.  That was it, I decided we needed to get out and N. needed to be playing with a friend so that I wouldn't lose my mind.  Thankfully my good friend, Karen, was home and open to have some last minute visitors.  THANK YOU KAREN!  It's no nice having another stay-at-home mom living so close that we can drop in on eachother when the need arises!  Ahhhh, it was so nice to be with another adult and to have a  nice conversation with while the kiddies played together.  I discovered that we had both broken our noses as children...her story a little less embrassing than mine!  I even got to vent a little which is nice to release my frustrations every now and again.  Thanx Karen for humoring me!

To give you an idea of the type of S-T-U-P-I-D questions N. asked...On our way to Karen's house, N. asked which park we were going to.  I reminded him I had already told him several times, we were going to the one near the church.  He's been there many times.

N.:  "Mommy what kind of park is it?"

Me:  "What do you mean, what kind of park is it?"

N.:  "MOOOOMMMMM, what kind of park is it?"

Oh now I'm the one getting yelled at, because I don't understand his question?!?!?

I know this question doesn't seem so s-t-u-p-i-d, but when you've been questioned ALL morning about EVERY little thing, this type of question just seems soooo unreasonable.  And when you've been with your kids 24hrs/7 days with no sight of a hubby (he's been working so hard lately) these types of questions just push all my buttons because, really, there is ONLY 1 KIND OF PARK!!!!

By the end of supper, hubby still not home, I had reached my breaking point. 

"Mommy, can I have water?"

"Mommy, can I have cheese?"

"Mommy, can I give some cheese to F.?"

"Mommy, do I have to eat all my supper?"

"Mommy, do I have to have fruit?"

"Mommy, what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Mommy, why is daddy at a meeting?

"Mommy, what are we doing tomorrow?"

So we turned on that, oh so loved, box in the corner...the television...ahhhhhh silence!

One more question before bed, of course...

"Mommy what are we doing tomorrow?"

*sigh*

Worship Songs

When we came home with N. (from the Philippines) way back in 2008 (has it been 3 years already?) my dad's cousin came to visit her mom and brought her grandson along for the visit.  Yes Linda, I'm talking about you!  While we visited, a cd was playing in the background...VeggieTales Worship Songs...

I think I ordered the cd as soon as I got home.  I just loved it.  I guess N. was a little young to appreciate the songs.  He was more into ABC's, Old MacDonald, 5 Little Monkeys etc...  This past week as I prepared for our 2 hour journey to Ottawa, I decided I'd wipe the dust off the cd and listen to it in the car.  It was awesome.  There was something so encouraging and touching listening to N. belt out, "God of Wonders".  I didn't even know he knew the words.  He must really take in the lyrics to songs I listen to and during worship at church on Sunday mornings.  N. even asked me to replay, "You Are Holy".  As a mom this was a great moment for me. N. may not fully comprehend what he is singing about and what it truly means to worship, but the fact that he is singing about the love of Christ and that he is memorizing the lyrics is a GREAT start and the Lord only knows what this will develop into years from now...a worship leader, perhaps?!?!

All you moms/dads out there, if you haven't already bought this cd or one like it, may I recommend you buy your child a copy...you can even buy it off iTunes...and the bonus? Moms and dads will even enjoy it.

A Heart for Children

As I was doing some cleaning, well kind of, I came across this poem that had been at the back of a book I was reading.  If anyone knows anything about me, it's that I absolutely adore my children.  I hope I'm not one of those moms who do nothing but talk about my children and put them up on a pedestal (if I do, I apologize to everyone who has to listen to me) but I am very proud of my boys and love them so much.  People roll their eyes at me because I love spending time with them and hubby and I rarely leave them with anyone because we don't want to miss one moment with them.  When they're all grown up and living their own lives, I don't want to look back and think I should have spent more time with my boys or material things were more important to me than raising my boys.  I often hear my mom say (especially now that she has grandkids), "I wish I had...I wish we had done..." and she doesn't remember much about our younger days.  She always tells me, "Don't spend more time cleaning the inside of your oven than spending time with your kids...nobody cares how clean your oven is!"  Obviously they didn't have self-cleaning ovens back then LOL.  I lock the door, turn a knob and 3 hrs later my oven is clean.  No worries about me spending more time with my head in the oven than reading to my boys!

So I thought I'd share the poem.

A Heart For Children

One hundred years from now

It will not matter

What kind of car I drove,

What kind of house I lived in,

How much I had in my bank

Nor what my clothes looked like.

One hundred years from now

It will not matter

What kind of school I attended,

What kind of typewriter I used,

How large or small my church,

But the world may be

...a little better because...

I was important in the

life of a child.

Margaret Fishback Powers

(ok so I think this poem was written 100 years ago...typewriter?!?!?)



Christmas Shopping...

I had a moment of panic the other day...It's mid-August and I HAVEN'T STARTED MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!  Yikes!  I'm sure some may find this panic ridiculous and unwarranted but for the past few years I have learned that by having all my shopping done early I really get to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas.  There is no panic come December when the calendar becomes jammed packed with Christmas activities...I just get to sit back and enjoy every moment because the worry of finding the "perfect gifts" is far from being on my mind.  The panic of financial strain is also far from the brain.  Buying over a longer period of time is easier on the bank account rather than buying all in the same month, since of course the usual bills still need to be paid as well.  (Unfortunately credit card companies, utility companies and landlords (even if it is your dad) do not give you Christmas freebies!)

Well, guess what I did tonight?  CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!  I only buy for children (mine and those of my friends/family) and parents.  So I saw a huge toy warehouse off the highway in Laval the other day and it's been lingering in my mind since discovering it.  Since I had the desire to shop tonight I thought I'd check it out.  I did find some nice stuff and purchased my first few gifts.  Of course when I came home to show hubby, he rolled his eyes and made some snarky comment about it only being August...you can tell he doesn't do ANY of the shopping!  Oh sorry, he shops for N's stocking stuffers - a one shop stop at the 1$ store!

So you can have your giggles at me but come Christmas time when you're frantically finishing up all your shopping, I'll be sitting by my Christmas tree, enjoying the warm, fuzzy Christmas feeling, sipping on some yummy hot chocolate! :-)

Talents...

I can remember visiting with my grandmother and she attempting to teach me how to sew, and how to knit.  As a child I was not interested in learning these trades.  She did however succeed in teaching me cursive writing so that by the time I was taught it in grade 3 I had already mastered it and improving my handwriting has always been a favorite passtime of mine.  Now that I'm, ummmm, thrity something, I so regret not learning these important trades.  I'm dependent on buying things that I could probably "whip up" had I been a better pupil or asking my mom to create things for me.  I decided that I wanted new curtains for our living room and I didn't want plain, generic curtains and I didn't want to spend a fortune.  Instead of me being able to do my own thing, I relied on mom to make them. Let me just say I LOVE THEM!  She did a great job and they have changed the look of the room completely.

But this saddens me.  What talent/trade/skill am I able to pass on to my children?  How to work a computer?  How to "google it"?  I'm pretty sure they'll eventually teach themselves and be way better than me at it!  That's about it, I'm all skilled out.  I'm not creative and I have no other talent.  I can't even pass on cooking skills to my kids.  Sure I put food on the table night after night, but certainly nothing fancy. 

Why didn't I have the desire to learn when I was young?  Why didn't I learn to sew or to knit or even continue learning piano?

Are you able to pass on talents/skills/trades to your children?  Do you have any regrets of not learning a certain talent/skill/trade?

For The Sake of Science

Well I've decided to try this blogging thing again.  I don't know how many followers I will have, but I just think this is such an awesome way to motivate me to record my daily (or every other day) activities with my children.

Most blogs that I read do not name their children by their actual names - they have cutesy nicknames for them.  Unfortunately I'm not that creative so I'll be referring to my children as N and F.  Oh and my husband will be referred to as hubby (pretty creative, right?).  My goal is to write about the activities I try out with my boys during the day - mostly N. since he's older and F. doesn't do much other than pull things out of my cupboards, unroll the toilet paper, eat, poop and sleep!  You'll also probably read quite a bit about adoption since this is my passion and on my mind 24/7.  I know most people would think our family is complete after 2 successful adoptions, but I can honestly say I (and hubby) have more love to give and can't wait to start yet another adoption process (whether internationally or local).  We have really been talking about local adoption but I'm always open to international if the opportunity arises.  While I'm on this topic I might as well mention my findings last week.  It was at first exciting news and my heart skipped a beat, but by the end of the day I felt quite sad.  For Quebec there is a list of countries that are open to adoption.  I always thought these were the ONLY countries available.  But as I did more and more research (my favorite passtime) I discovered an adoption agency that worked with the Dominican Republic.  I was immediately interested.  I could just picture a beautiful little girl from the Dominican and I knew hubby would go for it since the flight is a lot less than 30 hours!  I emailed them right away and the Dominican Republic was in fact open for adoptions.  WOOT WOOT!  I emailed more questions, such as criteria and if having 2 other adopted children would be a problem.  The only criteria was that we had to be married for at least 5 years (check) and we both had to be over 30 (check).  The wait period was ~2 years which is great since Fredrick is so young right now, 2 years was a perfect timeframe.  And then the not-so-perfect part...we would have to stay there for TWO months!  TWO months in the Dominican is not about to happen.  Maybe if this was our first adoption it would have been duable but certainly not when we have 2 kiddos and the cost...oh my the cost!  Ok realistically it would be duable if this is where the Lord really wanted us to go...I guess we'll have to wait and see if He leads us in that direction.  Jon REALLY wants to start the process again but I figure we better wait until F's adoption is actually finalized (NOVEMBER 2 is the court date) and then I'll start contacting people again. Ahhhh let the paper work begin!

Next topic...Since I'm home all day with N. I like to look up different activities he might enjoy.  I found this one on a blog a friend referred me to.  I have gotten several ideas from it...www.icanteachmychild.com.  I HATED science in school and it wasn't until I started to work in a microbiology lab that I discovered my interest in bacteria, petri dishes, agars etc... so I figure I should try and instill some sort of love for science and experimenting in my kiddos while they're young.  While reading the icanteachmychild blog, a found a recipe for a mixture of flour and baby oil.  I figured this would be pretty cool to try out.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough oil on hand so we did a very small mixture.  And N. loves playing with food coloring and mixing colors...so we added some food coloring.

 

N loved mixing the colors and discovering what color he'd get when mixing the different colors.  We then thought of adding water to see what would happen to the flour/oil mixture.

N was getting water, mixture and food coloring ALL over...even on my floor.  Most moms would probably freak out but I didn't care because we're getting a new floor put down next weekend.  So who cares?!?!?  In the end our project was one big blob of mess - all for the sake of science!