All posts in Four Little Eggs In My Nest

YES You Can Be Too Young To Get Married!

Big Boy asked me if he could wear his tux to school. We call it a tux but it is really a silk Asian outfit. I said it was too cold for that and he was pretty disappointed so I figured he had a game of ‘kungfu‘ planned at lunch and let him wear the top with some warmer pants.

I later found out he and a little girl from his class (who also came dressed in her wedding outfit) got married at lunch break! Big Girl (my oldest) was there and was able to confirm it was a lovely wedding. I couldn’t believe my guy went through with it! Usually grade one boys are grossed out by girls and all their silly romantic games! Well I couldn’t believe it and couldn’t believe they didn’t think to invite their parents!

I asked him later (when we where alone) if he liked this girl and he smiled real big and whispered to me ‘Uh-hu Mommy, I like her.” Well I guess that answers it all… you gotta like someone to cooperate with a wedding!

TTFN

Sisterly Effection

Poor Baby Boy, his sisters just found him irresistible tonight! They kept dressing him up when ever they could run him down.
Little Woman– “Mama he has long hair!”
If he could talk he would say “Oh bother…” just like long suffering Winny-the-Pooh.
Run Baby Boy! Run!

TTFN

Me The Family Hair Dresser???

(Big Boy taking a break from holding perfectly still to enjoy an orange.)

My oldest boy has been put through a lot where my hair-dresser lessons are concerned… the first attempt was pretty bad. I was just super thankful that his hair grows out so fast after that try!

My man figured if I learned to cut even just the boys hair we could save a lot in the long run…This was my second try, he was getting down right shaggy again. I always threaten to flip him upside down and use him as a mop when it gets that thick!

A few things made this a much better try. He sat still this time, interested in a show I put on (a brilliant move) and Little Woman was my assistant! She was thrilled to sweep and in between her beaning me or Big Boy with the broom it was a great help. Big Girl watched Baby Boy and kept him from sitting in the cut hair, I wish I knew why he feels the need to do that?!

Big Boy’s hair turned out SO much better then last time… perhaps that is because last time was so bad or perhaps it is just because I am getting so much better at it! Either way, I am on my way to being the boys primary hair dresser!

TTFN

And We Made Bread Together!

(Stirring was Little Woman’s first task and she worked really hard at it!)

Making bread has become a big job in our house! It used to be that I could make eight loaves and they would last two weeks but now I pretty much need to make a batch a week! I have been finding it a bit daunting but today decided to get started before the sun was up and before I could talk myself out of the job once again. Little Woman and I kissed her older siblings good by and immediately rolled up our sleeves and got busy!

This was her first time helping me make the bread and I don’t think she realised it took all day because of rising and pounding down again. Little Woman enjoyed helping with this job as much as with dishes. My shadow was full of gusto and always at my heels. She was a life saver when it came time for me to work the dough, she was a pro at adding just a little flour here and there when it was getting stuck to the counter.

(She couldn’t help but pat the dough once we put it in her Great Grandma Smiths bread bowl to rise.)

I had to run out twice today but we managed to make it back just in time to pound down our bread once again. There is something about returning to the bread and pounding it down just in time all through out the day that makes you feel like you have it together!
There is a serious rise in your optimism as you shape the bread and buns and place them in pans to rise! Anticipation hits a climax when you put them into the oven and it is pretty near impossible to let them cool under the damp towels once removed from the oven.
Just before supper we had all the loaves and buns complete and ready to be packaged and frozen, after a few taste tests of course! I am proud of my Little Woman and her interest in all things domestic! I hope she finds the art in it as I have and doesn’t grow to see it as cultural expectation and nothing but labour, as was my view of it in my youth.

The big pay off for all of our work was when the older two returned home. They had barely entered the house, the door was in fact forgotten and open in spite of the winter weather. Exclamations of ‘OH that smells good!’ came out of beaming faces! Little Woman and I where happy to share, we having already reveled in the first fruits!

TTFN

Bed Time Blessings!

I love bed time, when it is a relatively calm event, and not just because I am getting kid-less time for a while or because Garnet and I can be alone together, in addition to those reasons I often find it a cozy time jam packed with love and blessings!

Baby Boy picked up the Vaseline jar while Daddy was changing his diaper, put it to his ear and yelled ‘hewo!’

Little Woman was having her turn to pray and she told Daddy she wanted to pray for me… “I pway Mama gives me a glass of water for bed ana kissy… um…um I pway Mama gives me wots of kissys! AMEN!” Obviously I smothered her with kisses tonight!Later Daddy was rocking Baby Boy and singing a song (as he does each night for his boy). I love listening in to this special nightly event. Tonight Daddy started singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and Baby Boy joined in with his little sing-y song sounds that mostly come through his nose (so sweet). Big brother started to sing quietly too… quietly because he thinks I might hear him and think he isn’t a tough guy… so adorable! The girls are in the next room and they take up on the second verse and the whole time I sit and listen to this nightly event that is very ordinary and extraordinary all at once.TTFN

Weekends Full To Bursting, A BLESSING!

I think I can officially say our family is into a new stage in life. All of the kids are old enough for us to find it easier to get out and enjoy away from home time. Baby Boy isn’t really a baby anymore but I am holding on to that pet name, at least in blog land, perhaps at his next birthday I will bestow upon him something else enduring but a bit more mature. With this new stage of life comes the blessings of full weekends! This past weekend was rich with family time, one on one time with the kids and even a date night for my man and I!

The picture at the top is from a date night my eldest and I shared. I took Big Girl out for her birthday. We celebrated at a favorite local bistro of mine. There was a lovely meal and then she got to pick her birthday cake. After looking for ages she picked the biggest piece of cake she could get… I think it was called ‘Four Layer Fantasy Chocolate Cake’. It came with every kind of chocolate on it. She gobbled like a machine for a while but all of a sudden she looked at me with a sunken expression, absolutely stuffed half way through her dessert. I recommended she box the rest up so we could enjoy shopping at the book store. ‘You mean I can finish the cake later? When we watch my movie together?’ She was thrilled at the idea of a doggy bag, smiled returned we where off. She got to pick her gift this year and she bought a collection of Robert Munch books and a Roald Dahl poetry book. We then went home to watch a distinctly girl-y film of her choosing all on our own!

Every little egg in my nest got direct attention somehow. Just got back from tea time with Little Woman at Grams house, Big Boy got to go out for lunch with just his Dad on Sunday and Baby Boy got many a late night snuggle as he is teething again. Parents can’t help feeling like they are on a role when it all comes together so well like this! And without serious drama too!!
Early that day, before my girl time with my eldest, we managed to get all of us onto the neighborhood rink for some fabulous exercise! It was so mild out we all stayed active and happy all Saturday morning. Dad pulled Baby Boy around the rink on a sled. Baby Boy really enjoyed this big adventure. Big Girl pushed Little Woman on a stroller, a great plan so Little Woman wouldn’t get tired and Big Girl could practice skating with some balance help. Big Boy and I skated around and around the family, only being passed by our speed skater Daddy, and the sled full of my baby, now and again. We all returned home rosy cheeked and full of energy! Ready for the rest of the weekend!

It was so sweet to cram our weekend full of… one another!

TTFN

On The Ice With My Gentleman

It was lovely to spend a day on the ice! My boy was invited to a buddy’s birthday and he was more then willing to have me along! We enjoyed the party and running into many friends but for me it was all about Big Boy. I was so thrilled to have a whole day to spend with just him! He has always been the sweetest gentleman when we are alone!

The hardest part of my day was refraining from too much fussing when he would fall and from squeezing him every time I felt an urge to do so (it was a constant urge). He was just so sweet and well behaved, so determined to master skating in spite of all his spills, so handsome and so adorable! Phew, I am letting my mama mush gush now cuz I was trying not to drown him with it that day. He pulls at my heart so much! I love stealing hugs from him when he play fights with me. He thinks I am just doing a lock hold but really I am getting my hug quota! Lacing up our skates and hitting the ice together will be something I will crave to do with my guy for years and years to come! There is such an art to raising boys! Perhaps more difficult for the mother to master but SO WORTH IT!
Where did we skate?…A beautiful outdoor rink that graces our city’s river side. There is a view of the river and its bridges on one side, the Bez hotel towering like a castle on one end and city scape all around the west side. It was romantic and breathtaking! This was my first skate, but not my last, on this rink!

(There’s Big Boy! Only his third time on the ice and he was able to skate two hours with me!)

There is nothing like it! Skating outdoors is so revitalizing! I couldn’t believe it was January! Our -30 and -40 where gone! It was barely below zero and the perfect weather for a long skate. Here’s hoping we have many more sunny skating days!


TTFN

Chemical Soup For Christmas

We have been accused of being food-y nuts, specifically healthy food-y nuts, ignorant organic lovers, snobby sugar hippies and so on and so forth (snicker snicker snort)… but this Mama broke out of her shell for tis the season… for TREATS! I actually bought the kids some CANDY CANE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CRACKLE ICE CREAM! They where so tickled (can’t remember the last time we have had ice cream in the house) and I figured it was an easy way to surprise my little foursome.

It is so cute to watch them digging in to their little bowl of Christmas ice cream… one fist holding on to their bowls like we might change our minds and take them back; their other fist clasped in a strangle hold on the spoon just shoveling in the treat… eyes sparkle with the realization that this has LOTSA SUGAR and grins covered in chocolate and candy cane streaks spread wider and wider as the sugar hits the blood stream…

It is even funnier to watch Daddy as they eat… he spends the whole time giving me a disapproving look and mutter things like ‘instant insanity in a bowl…toxic waste for dessert… smells like chemical soup in a cup…tastes like a candy store’s dumpster exploding in your mouth’… (chuckle), he cracks me up! Note, he doesn’t have the heart to take the treat away or throw out the carton in the freezer, so he isn’t the big scrooge he pretends to be:)

TTFN

Jingle Baby

Many a little jingle bell tree ornament has bit the dust this holiday season.Chubby little hands reach up and snatch a jingle bell ornament.
Chubby little legs run from Mama and Dada as fast as they can go.
Chubby feet pound at the floor as Big Girl, Big Boy and Little Woman take up the chase…
but this little Chub Chub is always caught to late…
Chubby little fingers rip apart the decoration so a chubby Baby Boy can carry just the bell around.
Chubby little cheeks spread in a jolly grin as Baby Boy shake shakes the bells to his hearts content.
He dances and sways as he jingles his little bells and he stashes them away under the couch, where he can collect them when ever he desires to take up his holiday song and dance once again.

P.S. They where our lest expensive tree ornaments and placed near the bottom of the tree for exactly this reason and I think we will be buying dollar store jingle bells each year to carry on this song and dance (wink).

TTFN

A Jolly Jealousy

The sun was very warm this winter day.
The snow was coming down slowly in stuffed size snowflakes.
There was no wind and the air was crisp.
We all went outside while Dad pushed the slight snow fall from the drive way. His job more of an excuse to get out and get some fresh air then an actual necessity.
Big Girl and Big Boy spent an hour pulling one another around on the sled, up and down our front lawn’s almost imaginary hill.
Little Woman had found a toddler’s chair and moved it about on the lawn, trying to find the best spot. Once the best spot was found she sat for only a moment and then followed her Daddy around, like a shadow, throwing snow at him while he pushes the drive way.

Once in side with Baby Boy I warmed up in no time. I watched the rest of my little family trudge off to the park to see if the tobogganing hill might have just have enough snow to sled on. As they marched down the back alley, in an adorable straight line, Little Woman sitting upon one of the sleds, pulled by her beloved Daddy, I felt a pinch of jealousy… if Baby Boy wasn’t so sleepy, and so pron to lung issues, I would have been out there in a split second… instead I watched from the window and waved with a very cheerful Baby Boy… he was completely unaware of my jealousy… ‘Bye Bye’ he chirped and smiled over and over…

I sought to take in the romantic scene before me. My oldest three and my wonderful husband walking down a breathtakingly quiet and still back alley, trees covered in thick horror frost, white fences covered in the same stuffed sized snowflakes that cover the ground and the hats and shoulders of my parting loved ones… it was a warm and chilly moment all in one. It was a beautiful and disappointing moment (only for me) all in one.

I realized how wonderful it is that I could be so in love with this family of mine that I would be like an ill child stuck inside on a snow day, terribly jealous and filled with longing to be out and about on this snowy day with my persons!

I sat down on the floor and Baby Boy walked over to me with a swagger in his step and a grin on his face. He took the ball from my hand, that I had picked up pretty much unaware due to a head full of thoughts. ‘DAT’ he blurted out in a big jolly voice, threw the ball across the room and pointed with an eager ‘fetch mama’ kinda look on his face… I grinned in return… as much as I was wishing to be at the toboggan hill I was also thankful I just took part in a teeny tiny moment with my baby!TTFN