Horseback Riding week 4

Today was week 4 of horseback riding for Ethan in the Developmental Riding Program at Pride Stables. He again got to ride on Angel.

This week was kinda neat for Ethan, the instructor spent some extra time with him and his volunteer. She asked Ethan to ride with his arms out to the sides, above his head, reaching down to his toes and twisting in the saddle. He loved the challenge and it was great to see the smile on his face.

Ethan and Angel also did more galloping tonight. Ethan really loves going fast on the horse, but boy does he look like one of the bobble head dolls.

Return of the Water!

So, last night with our "torrential" down fall....our basement flooded again!! This time I thought I had outsmarted the water though...turns out I was wrong.

I heard the water coming in the chimney so I shouted to Ryan to get the towels ready just in case. We didn't open the fireplace doors hoping that it would keep the water in if we didn't break the seal. Didn't work!! The water came pouring out. I couldn't keep up...it was flowing faster then a river. AND because there is no carpet to stop it, it was running everywhere....

I jumped in the KIA and flew to my grandparents' house to get the shop vac (which will be living here permanently now until the chimney is fixed) and flew back home, only to discover a panicking Ryan and water running all the way into the laundry room. Luckily it's all linoleum so it was fairly easy to clean.

I was able to find a chimney guy to come out TODAY and look at it and tell me what's wrong. He said that they have a repair guy that has some time available this afternoon too, so hopefully we'll get it fixed today too. I won't be sorry when I'm sure that no more water will be coming in.

Our Little Garden is Growing!!

Back in late May and early June, I decided that I wanted to make a little garden in the back yard to grown some veggies. I got the kids in on it too and after hours of digging up little decorative stones we finally got our garden planted on June 7. We have (from left to right) a strawberry plant, 4 lettuce plants and two english cucumber plants.

I thought I would take an update picture to show everyone how the garden is doing. You'll notice that one lettuce plant is missing and one is a runt. The missing one, I ate..teehee, it was yummy. The runt, I'm probably going to take out so the others can grow.

I also took some separate pictures of my veggies!!

This is my lettuce being attacked by the cucumber plant.

This is the biggest cucumber we have. That is Cody's hand beside it so you have an idea of the size it is.

I totally can't wait for them to be fully grown so that we can sit and enjoy the fruits (or vegetable I guess) of our labors!

Next year I want to have a bigger garden so that we can plant different kinds of vegetables. I think it's great to work together on something like this and then to be able to eat the products. The kids also get to learn a lot of new things!! Actually, I learn new things too.

Spinrite Tent Sale!!

Just wanted everyone to know that
Spinrite Yarn Factory Outlet
is having it's annual tent sale
August 11 to 23, 2008

Be there or be, well, yarnless!!

Gadgets, Suprises and Excitement!!

On Thursday, our water cooler broke...there was water everywhere..big deal, water is water, however we were sick of buying a new water cooler every 6 months or so. We decided to buy a camping pump "just for now". We got it at Canadian Tire, got it home and realized that we needed batteries for it. So Ryan ran out to Zehrs to get some "D" batteries and we put it together and tried it. This is the neatest thing I've seen in a long time. I really like it and we probably won't buy a new water cooler for a while...maybe never. The water comes out a little fast, but as long as it's me or Ryan doing it, it's fine.


I've been making this blanket for a while, probably close to a year. Since it's not just an over sized "granny square" I'm having some trouble following the pattern and it's taking longer then I thought it would.... Let's just say that in this picture, I've got 25 rows done and still need to do 89. I honestly can't say that I even have an idea of when it will be done...though I am hoping that it will get to it's destination by Christmas time.

I'm making it for someone who doesn't know that they are getting it. I'm not going to say who it is...that person will know when they get it. For everyone who thinks it might be them, I'll do an update on the progress every now and then.

As for the excitement part of my entry....I can't tell just yet, but it is very exciting.
Some of you, if you think hard enough, can figure it out.
Some of you, I've actually told.
And if you know, or think you do, don't tell anyone else!!

Ethan's New Blankie!!

Finally!!! After months and months of working on this blanket, it's finally done. Ethan has been so very very patient, but never forgetting to remind me on a daily basis to finish his blanket.

When I was pregnant with Ethan, I crocheted him a yellow blanket. It never left his side. Eventually, holes started forming, but I was still able to fix them. Then Ethan started chewing on it more....these holes I couldn't fix, so I promised him a replacement blanket. We went to Listowel to pick out new yarn....Ethan was in his glory...so many colours to pick from.

Well, without further adieu.....here is Ethan with his new, kindergarten boy sized blanket.

Horseback Riding...week 3

This week was number three of Ethan Developmental Riding Program at Pride Stables.

Angel returned as his horse since she had not worked during the day. Though Ethan was a little disappointed to have the smallest horse on the farm, his disappointment was quickly forgotten once the pony started moving.

Ethan's getting much better at commanding his horse and we're actually able to hear him. He's really starting to understand the bit and pieces of horse riding too. When my grandfather (Ethan's GREAT-grandfather) asked him if the horse had a steering wheel....Ethan quickly replied "Yes!" and went on to explain that they are called reins and that you pull on the side to make the horse turn and pull on both at the same time to make him stop.




We had a quick second during the lesson to take a nice picture of Ethan, Angel and his leader Darryl.

Through the eyes of a Child!

So after our little mini disaster with the flood in the basement, I was so upset...everything was "ruined", "it's not fair", "why us", "AGAIN!?!?!?"

This is the conversation I had with Ethan yesterday. (It was right after seeing a house that had gotten REALLY damaged in the storm by a huge tree falling on it.)

"Mommy, it's kinda cool that our floor got wet."

Why is that?

"Now we get new floor (re: carpet and linoleum) and you don't have to pay for it...you always sayed you want new ones"

You're right honey, we will get a new one.

"And, we get new towels...I can get a "cars" one"

You can have any you like dear.

"And mommy....we didn't get wet"

No Ethan you're right we didn't get wet

"We only get wet when we go swimming"

That right, and when you have a bath.

"And mommy....none of us are broken like that house."

Ethan you're right, we should be grateful that we didn't get hurt.


So yeah, we'll have to dish out money that we don't have, but the stuff needed to be done sooner then later anyway. I'll get new carpet and linoleum...which I have wanted since we moved in here 4 years ago.
And most importantly, "none of us are broken"

The wisdom of a child.

When it rains it pours!!!

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with the kids at Angel's diner. On the way home, dark clouds started rolling in. There was one heck of a good storm coming and it was heading right for us. We got home while it was still just drizzling, but by 7pm it was dark as midnight outside. Then the rain started...it was pouring...I've never seen anything like this in my life. People who couldn't care less about a storm were shaking in their boots. The kids were terrified and I was certain our house was going to blow away. There were golf ball sized hail stones and tornadoes just in the next city.

We escaped easy, unlike some other unfortunate people.

Sitting in the basement watching TV, I heard water...Ryan muted the show and I could right away tell that the water was in the chimney. THERE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WATER IN THERE! Next words out of my mouth "GET THE CAMERA!!!" I knew right away this was going to be a case for insurance.

Fast forward 15 minutes...water is pouring out of the fireplace...black, sutty, rusty, water. All our bath towels are ruined from trying to stop the water from getting on to the WHITE carpet, to little avail.

I walk across the rec room and feel water on my feet....I look down, the carpet is soaked and it a good 5 feet from the fireplace...another leak! I go to turn on another light...more water...again far from the fireplace. We start looking around the baseboards and find more water...a large puddle that I can honestly say was deep, right beside my new sewing desk.

Fast forward two hours... my grandparents are here helping to clean up all the water. The carpet is torn us because there is simply no other way to stop the water from spreading then to put towels everywhere. Another hour later the rain is stopped and the leaks are pretty much stopped too. We have cement floor in our basement and soaked furniture. But like I said...we got off lucky.

Later we realized that the window in our room leaked too...hardly anything but still needs to be fixed as did the roof above our room.

Insurance has been out, but we have been informed that while there will be "some" coveraged, most of it will be on us to replace/repair...including the chimney and fireplace, foundation, window and roof. They will give us new carpet and probably towels, possibly the one desk will be replaced. This will be argued...I understand that foundations are not covered by any insurance companies in Ontario...but what about windows and roofs. If you know me at all, you know this won't just be let go.

I'll keep everyone updated with insurances' decisions.

In all the hubub, I stopped taking pictures...but I have a few of the basement and fireplace and puddles....




This is in front of our fireplace when we first noticed the water coming out. The cardboard keeps the cold air from coming into the basement in the winter.

You can see the water is already pouring over the edges of the fireplace stones. All those towels are destroyed now. The stains on the white carpet...that's nothing compared to what it looked like when we pulled it up.

This is the huge deep puddle beside my sewing desk. You can't really tell from the picture since the box is still in it, but the puddle is about 3feet wide and a foot and a half across....disgusting dirty water.







This is just after we started taking up the carpet. That's my 77 year old grandmother helping us. You can kinda tell, where she is standing is all one big puddle...the only reason the under padding that you can see is not wet is because we tore it up before the water soaked it through completely!

Warm Weather Fun!

Oma got an amazing deal on a Slip N Slide...$20 instead of $50!!!

Last night we went to visit Oma and Opa Bill, had some Opa Bill homemade french fries and then had a great time on the slip and slide with cousin Dylan. Even Ryan got in on it!

Ethan, Dylan, Cody and Mia
Eating Opa Bill's awesome french fries

Everybody having fun!!

Visiting Time Is Over

We got a very pleasant surprise last Friday night... Mom and Mick showed up on our doorstep. Though we had just returned from vacationing at their house, it was nice to see them again. Charly was already here, having come home with us the week before. (Mom and Mick came to pick her up instead of her flying home alone) They were only here for a week, but as the song says, "We're here for a good time, not a long time!"

With much visiting to do, the poor folks were dead tired by the time the day to leave rolled around.


The night before they left, (last night), we had a special treat of some nice lobsters and a game of poker. Charly managed to win everybody's money away from them. Lucky for us, or unlucky for her, we weren't playing for real money. But still....Good Job Charly!!





The next morning, it was time to pack up the old Cavalier. Mick did a great job of jamming all their stuff in there. I never thought it would fit!! (By the way, how to 3 people have that much stuff??)

Lucky for Charly, she gets to share the back seat with the cooler full of food and a pile of pillows!!

Just before they all left to go home, I was able to get some pictures. I don't have any of them in a long time so I'm glad to have gotten them.

Charly, Mick, and Mom

Charly and Mom (nice to see they're having a good time)

And of course.....

Charly, Mom and Me
(not many pictures around of the three of us)







Have a safe trip guys!!
And see you soon!!

I'm Sewing!!

I got my new Janome sewing machine a couple weeks ago. I was so excited that I just wanted to make something....but what to make??? While on holidays in Newfoundland, I saw a summer dress in a store that I just had to have. Well, I never made it back to the store and come home dressless. I decided that the dress can't be that hard to make...so off I went to the internet to look for a tutorial on shirring.

I found it and it looked easy enough so I gave it a try and made a dress for Mia. I think it looks pretty darn good for my first attempt at shirring. Believe it or not, the material is actually two quilting squares. They were just the right size for her and as always, covered in ladybugs!!

So when I noticed that Fabricland was having a massive 50% off everything in the store sale, I decided that I would go a head and make a dress for me too.

Mine was harder to make then Mia's but I think it was because there was so much more fabric and it seemed to be just everywhere. After lots of hand winding bobbins with elastic thread and the stupid things unraveling again.... I managed to get 20 rows of shirring on to my fabric.

The dress isn't actually very flattering on me, but I made it on my own and it's comfy and I think it looks pretty darn good.

The fabric that I used is kinda special to me in a way too, since Charly helped me pick it out.

Horseback Riding week 2

This week was number two for the Developmental Riding Program. Ethan got a new horse this week named Tootsie. His leader, and the horse from last week, decided that Ethan needs a bigger, stronger horse, so he was upgraded.

Tootsie is a horse that likes to go quickly... Ethan really enjoyed that.

After a quick go around the arena, the children and their horses made their way out to a new field. Here they were able to go through a tree "bridge", up a hill and down a hill, all the while learning new skills. One of the new ones is being able to semi-stand in the saddle as they are galloping up the hill.

Ethan was actually talking out loud to Tootsie, telling her to "walk on" and "woa". The children also learned a new command this week, "door" to drive the horses out the gates.

The children had a chance to have races again this week. They raced to have the first one finished win and also to have the last one finished win. This teaches the children to control their horses and the speed the they are moving at.

Of course, like any child, Ethan really enjoyed going fast on the horse and wanted to keep doing it.

His leader, as well as the other parents who've been involved with CODRP before, all say that Ethan is doing a wonderful job and is made for riding. Most importantly though, Ethan is having a great time and eagerly awaits the next lesson.

To show Tootsie how much he appreciates all her hard work, Ethan was allowed to give her a special treat of an apple. The children are asked to put the apple (or other treat) on the ground for the horses to pick up just to be sure there are no bitten fingers.

Sydney's Looking Up

We were in Hamilton again today at McMaster Children's Hospital GI Clinic with Sydney.

We have great news...Sydney is up to 21lbs 7oz and 75cm long!!! We're so happy that she's finally growing at a steady rate.

She has to continue on her medications, and they will probably have to be increased every couple months...but that's a small price to pay to see her eating and happy. She doesn't have to return to the GI Clinic for another 6 months (much better then the every 9 weeks we've been doing).

Sydney will be going for formal allergy testing on July 29, also in Hamilton.

Ethan Starts Riding

Ethan started his Developmental Riding Program last week at Pride Stables. He gets to go for 6 weeks of the summer for an hour at a time.

When we first signed him up, we thought he was going to be afraid. We were right. He was nervous, but the instructor and his leader Darryl, were very good in calming Ethan's (and my) nerves. He got settled on Angel (the horse) and off they went.

First they went for a couple laps around the arena for the kids to get used to the horses. The children are taught and encouraged to say "walk on" to make the horse go and "woa" to make the horse stop.

Next they headed out into an open gravel field and did a couple laps there too. They did some little races where the horses basically just walked quickly. That was fun for all the children. Next, the horses were made to gallop. Ethan really enjoyed that. His face lit up and he laughed.

The hour passed quite quickly if I do say so myself.

Though still a little nervous and shy about talking to Angel, Ethan really enjoyed himself. The first thing he said to me when he got off his horse was, "When do I come again?"