My intent was (and still is) to keep the laptop shut more than I usually do in order to do some non-Internet related activities like playing with pretty paper and having extra tickle-fights with my children.
The sight that I awoke to this morning made me grab my camera and log in to share the craziness that is going on around here. First, I will give you the back story.
Last weekend was warm. In the mid-twenties (Celsius). I was in short sleeves and flip flops, and the kids were jacket-free. The rest of the week was back to cooler-than-average temperatures (Global warming? Hmmm…), but we have still been spending the majority of our days outside.
After supper last night, Honey unloaded the trailer-full of cow dung he had purchased for the garden (Dude is all about the poop lately) while I played with the kids. We played tag, duck-duck-goose, and then they played in the sandbox.
Spring, Interrupted
Date: Saturday March 29, 2008Posted in: Emily, Friends, Graham, Life In The Sticks, Nathan
On Wednesday afternoon, we had a freak snow storm.
One of the Web definitions for freak:
freak (n.)
A thing or occurrence that is markedly unusual or irregular: A freak of nature produced the midsummer snow.
It most certainly is not midsummer, but it is now officially spring. The snow storm was entirely my fault because I had gone and hauled out the deck furniture. My bad.
I had a little chat with Miss Spring. I told her to pick up her socks and DO HER JOB. Old Man Winter has been having his way with us long enough. She needed to suck it up and bring in the sunshine and warmth. It should not be so hard to give Winter the boot; he is a crotchety old man, after all.
I thought we had come to a peace of sorts. The sun came out and melted the snow. It was still nowhere close to being balmy, but we at least the ground was back to brown instead of white. I even managed to catch some shots of those two boys of mine on Thursday afternoon while Emily was napping.
Let me preface this post with a big WARNING. I got a little trigger-happy the past few days. With my camera (I am in Canada. Not Texas (Not knocking Texans at all; y’all are just known for loving guns.)) I have not shot a gun in about fifteen years, unless you count Honey’s paintball gun. I shot that gun last summer at a few cows that wandered into our yard. I am not even kidding. I cannot find the post, but TRUST ME. We have had stray cows in our yard. We live in the sticks, yo.
Anyway.
We spent two mornings in a row down at one of the many parks that are on Okanagan Lake.
The sun was shining, the kids were happy, and I had my camera in hand.
It is not a secret that I am a hater of the season called winter. Winter is COLD. The snow is pretty, but COLD. And slippery. And there are complete and utter idiots people who are not very good at driving in the snow and scare the crap out of you make you dislike sharing the road with them.
Every January, as the winter blahs set in, Matthew and I daydream about getting away to a tropical destination. We had started talking about making it a reality in February. At first we thought we would take the kids. But then we came to our senses. It would not longer be seen as a “vacation” but as our every day life in a different locale. With long flights and crappy sleep thrown in for good measure.
Thankfully, Matthew’s parents have agreed to take the kidlets so that we can get away together. In the five years since Graham was born, the longest stretch of time that we have been away together has been…one night. We are due for some alone time.
As it is, we take the opportunity for short stints away whenever we can. Even a few hours away can leave me feeling refreshed. What do we do when family comes to visit us? We leave them to watch the kids and we speed away.
We had a good dump of snow here on Friday. As Honey and I were getting all gussied up for our date night…
I don’t know if I have really posted about it, but my eighteen-year-old brother Lance lives with us. He is a really great guy to have around. We give him a room of his own, and he contributes towards the grocery bill. He also watches our (Three!) kids every week or so when we need a sanity break. It is a fantastic arrangement.
He headed back to his Mom’s (my stepmom’s) for the Christmas break and returned yesterday. My stepmom came as well, bringing my other three siblings, as well my sister’s boyfriend (Who is from New Zealand! And sings Flight Of The Conchords! And sounds like Jermaine!) That adds up to eleven people, including my five.
We had bought a big package of fireworks in December. Honey and I considered firing them on New Year’s Eve, but we were creating fireworks of our own (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Plus, we knew the family was coming and thought it would be more fun to make it a large group event. There is not much else to do out here in the sticks during the winter.
After supper we all bundled up and headed outside. I thought I would blind my little dudes with the built-in flash on my camera.
Um, Graham? Eating snow in the dark is a risky endeavour. How did you know that it was not yellow?
