Author: Pam

 It’s hard to imagine that K has been with us for for only three years, I can’t remember life without her.  She is such a delight, bouncing with energy and joy.  She loves her ballet classes which she finally can claim as “all mine”, instead of waiting for L to be done his stuff.

 To her the whole world is something to be discovered.  She is getting braver in her discoveries too; cats are now delightful especially Twinkle and Sunshine.

With L in school she has become my little shadow which is lots of fun, but terrifying as well.

She loves to have tea parties, play with play dough and her latest past time is playing with spoons.  The spoons are characters, talk to each other and make phone calls. Her favourite song is Down by the Bay and “choir music”.  She is already keeping time and practicing her conducting skills. She still loves “Bee”, I don’t think we are parting with that blanket any time soon.

Happy Birthday K, I’m so glad that we get to be part of your life.

The nights are getting cooler, there have been fewer days that are warmer than 25 degrees and I’ve broken out the long pants, but I’m not ready for autumn.  I have had a lot of fun this summer, but there are a few more things that I would like to do, for example how about a day trip to Grand Beach?  Before I get ahead of myself I am going to reminisce about another fun camping trip that we had August long weekend.

It started out cold and rainy.  I am beginning to fear that those dark clouds are following us around, both camping trips this summer we have set up and had supper in the rain.  Thanks to mom’s shade/rain tent we have stayed relatively dry.

 And so we had to find ways to keep ourselves busy.  We didn’t have alot of books along but thankfully there were enough readers that the same person didn’t have to read the books too many times.  When there was no one free to read, L and L could act out Mo Willems “Watch Me Throw the Ball” and keep themselves occupied.

Eventually the sun came out and everyone went for a short hike.  We had some trusty navigators and scouts that kept a lookout for trail markers.

Saturday the fisherman all reported back how warm the lake had been so Sunday when the sun shone we headed to the beach.  Unfortunately when the sun shines the water feels colder so we didn’t spend very much time in the water.  But despite the rain we made some memories, L got the hang of riding his bike with C and I had many helpers in picking a pail of chokecherries.

So it’s about that time of day when I have to decide what I am going to make for supper.  I am neither hungry for anything or inspired to try something new.  I came across this ecard…

The kids had a book home from the library entitled playtime.  It talked about how different animals were playing: pouncing, swooping, rolling, digging etc.  At the back of the book was a note to parents how play leads to useful skills for adults.  It encouraged simple toys.  Today when K was playing I was reminded of simple toys and the value of the imagination.  For a long time I thought that K “needed” a high chair so that she could make the best use of her dolls and her play food.  Now she might still like a high chair but who knew that a blanket on the floor means a picnic for lots of dolls.

Granted the picnic keeps getting interrupted with trips to the doctor’s office because L’s new lego bionicles keep setting the dolls on fire or sticking them with weapons.  Not sure that Bionicles can be classified as a simple toy but they definitely have play value.

Went to a friend’s wedding this past weekend, and we posed for our customary photo shoot. It was good to hang out with these girls again.  We only see each other about once a year, but the company and conversation is always special.  It was an added bonus that husbands were around to join the conversation. As usually happens not all 6 of us could make it, A you were missed.  We look a little different then we did 10 years ago, but I don’t think we look so bad.  Thanks to the Sweet girls for a good weekend.

Look at my tomato plant it’s blooming, I can almost taste the vine ripened tomatoes.  Unfortunately I had noticed earlier in the week that something was eating around the stem.  Yesterday I noticed that the plant was hanging a little limp.  Guess I won’t be tasting tomatoes from those blooms.  Just when I think I have found a place in my yard where the sun doesn’t cook the plants I get bugs!

It’s hard to see in a photograph but the stem below the line of soil is brown and half the size of the stem above ground.  The stem looks like it’s been chewed as far down as I have dug.

The pictures don’t compare to spring in Massachusetts.  If fact my garden isn’t even glamorous for Manitoba, but it is my own little piece of green space.

However I have a rhubarb plant here in Manitoba.  In Massachusetts I had to pay $5.99/lb for those rhubarb stalks and I sometimes did.  Five days with rhubarb four different ways, that’s good.  Thanks to the Friesen clan for indulging me on one of those days.

We have been enjoying our backyard before the mosquitoes enjoy us.  Some days it has been a bit cool eating outside, but the deck is a nice extension of our house.

I worked a day shift on Friday, which hadn’t happened since February.  Even then my day shifts had only been one Sunday out of 6 if that all winter long.  So Lowell had the kids for a whole weekday; he had the great idea of getting the bunk bed ready for L to sleep on top.  Which meant taking half the bed apart so that he could attach the ladder and railing.  Once L got over his initial fear of being so high he was thrilled with his new bed, K was feeling the short end of the stick so Saturday we went mattress shopping.  L got a new mattress which was also an upgrade in quality and K gets to sleep in a big girl bed.

Saturday night was a late night so when I carried her to her bed half asleep she did ask to sleep in her crib, but she so quickly fell asleep again that there were no more complaints.  I don’t think that she has figured out that she can get out of bed when she has been sleeping.  She crawls in and out all the time during the day, but she hasn’t yet gotten out of bed by herself in the morning.

Now we need to dismantle the crib and then maybe do a little rearranging.  This picture makes it look like the kids can’t sit up on the top bunk, they can, they are just being silly.  Although L has bumped his head a few times trying to get dressed in his bed.