spring as we see it...without fail

every year, without fail, spring looks like the pics below.  i know i post a nest picture every spring, i know i do...but really, does it ever get old??!!  :) there is always a robin's nest or two somewhere around the property where we have the joy of watching a mother tend to her nest, her pretty blue eggs and eventually her tiny, frail and needy babies...this year there were two very visible nests for us to observe.  it is always a moment of wonder as we watch those birds grow and eventually leave the nest for the big open world that awaits them.  unless, ahem, one is unfortunate enough to come in contact with the lawn mower blade as it sat undetected in the thick green grass.  poor bird.  poor mother if she was watching the "accident" unfold.  poor Jeffrey.  moving on....

 

WARNING: skip over the revolting picture below if your stomach is weak.  the basket of worms is a sign that the swimming pool is open and work has been done to get it up and running for another season of enjoyment.  less enjoyable, however, is the task of reaching in to pull out and clean the basket during the first pool vacuum of the season.  gross!!

 

"and the laundry is hung on the line with care, in hopes that the Smart Meter costs will seem more fair."  here's hoping! 

 

happy spring and summer to come!  the last month of school means we have a prom, grade eight graduation, exams, class trips, and lots of other things to anticipate this coming month!  should be a whirlwind...pictures to come!

Jays bonding

Adam and Jeffrey, taking in a Jays game. 

 

this is one of my favourite parts about evening Jays games on TV.  chilling on the couch together after a long busy day.  something so sweet about those times...

wrestling wrap-up

May 2015.  another wrestling season is wrapping up.  we attend the awards banquet this evening, in fact.  it has been fun, once again, on so many levels.  and this weekend was the perfect bookend to another great season.  a group of twenty local wrestlers and their families journeyed to Niagara Falls for the Canada East Championships....

 

 

the wrestling was intense and pretty top notch when you factor in all the best wrestlers had travelled from Ontario and provinces east of Ontario.  Hudson, Layla and Adam were in the age categories that were eligible to participate. 

 

 

beautiful venue....below, Adam facing his current nemesis...

 

they kids were fantastic~ not just in how they executed wrestling technique, but more importantly in how they dug deep, showed grit in ways that hadn't yet been seen, won with humility and lost with grace.  i love that.  the time away from the tournament was equally memorable.  seeing all the kids chatting and laughing together over meals while the parents did the same, enjoying the sights and sounds and overall craziness of Niagara Falls, taking in some of the attractions, swimming and carrying on~ it all adds up to great memories of time spent away from the usual while bonding together in the atmosphere of the unusual...a nice mini vacation.

 

 

 

not the best pic with shadows and all, but so worth capturing AJ's current "go to" smile for photos.  oh the sincerity.... :)

such beauty...how does the water keep rushing with such force?!?!  crazy awesome...

 

and can i just say, Jeff is a spectacular wrestling coach.  am i a bit biased?  of course... :) but what i love love love about him in that role is his incredibly positive approach to each and every match.  he truly gets what really matters on that mat.  he always focuses on the character development of each wrestler, and not on their win-loss ratios.  he does the same with the opponents.  the post-match handshake is always cute to watch.  Jeff will hang on the opponent's hand while speaking words of encouragement or praise~ and i'll often see the wrestler literally hanging on his every word.  he can so quickly pick out some little tidbit of "good" that he witnessed during the match and bring that up at a time that each wrestler is seeking the approval, or affirmation, or direction that is so needed after the adrenaline burst of an intense match.  love that.  it is a tough sport.  physically, mentally, emotionally.  the awesome thing is that so many of the coaches (almost all of the ones i see year after year), both locally and nationally, seem to get the importance of keeping the focus on development of the wrestler as a whole, not just their stat sheets.  quality men and women.  nice to see that.  you always hear about the ones that have lost perspective in sports and training up of children and athletes, but that has not been our experience so far.  ok, so i've gone off on a wee tangent.....

here are a few more pictures to capture our weekend. 

  

these are all cell phone pics~ not at all crisp or clear in this setting~ yet it's what we're working with at the moment, so it is what it is!

 



 

 

 

and that's another season.  sad to see it end in some ways~ but onward to baseball next! 



 

tiny boxers

two pairs of tiny, size four boxers.  hard to tell by the photo, as it lacks context.  as i was doing the children's closet/dresser season changeover and overall cleanup and re-fold (wow~ let's just say, they were messy!!) the size of these wee little plaid boxers struck me.  i actually held them up and paused.  a brief moment of reflection from the mass organization attempt that was happening.  these are little and sweet and too small for AJ now.  officially too small this 2015 spring season, and ready to be shipped out of his dresser, his room, his life!!!!!  whaaaaaaaa......... :(  my babies are growing up.  they are driving, getting jobs, travelling here and there and stepping farther away from this nest we've created here.  my littlest toddler is now a young boy, playing baseball on a real-deal team, having conversations about liquids and solids, and growing adult teeth way too soon for his little face to even seem ready for the change.   

 

thankful today for the chance to have enjoyed the moments of their smallness, learning more to embrace the changes that come with their "bigness", thankful for the seasons of being a mom...from the itty bitty delight of newborns to the taller-than-me fun of raising almost adults.  thankful for the moms who have gone before me and shown me survival strategies that shape my choices each day i'm on the job...oh yah, that's every day.  :) my dear mother and mother-in-law are constant sources of help, support, inspiration, and just visual reminders of "getting through" when i wonder how i'll ever do it all...

so, on the day i packed up these tiny boxers, i was a bit surprised to unpack my own bag of mixed emotions.  sad to see seasons end and grateful to be moving forward too.  thankful "it" happened, thankful my kids are growing into unique little people, feeling a bit resistant to change, wary of the unknown, and so it goes...

good-bye tiny plaid boxers...

my boys will love this

recently another adoptive mom posted this wonderful article and video about the growing popularity of skateboarding in Ethiopia.  i loved it, and i know all three of my boys will love it too.  it will be on repeat for the littlest ones, for sure.  any chance to see this amazing country and its beautiful people is fun for me as well!  i love that this sport is accessible and inspiring youth there in a positive way....so cool! 

while watching the link above, i came across this link which is sort of the back story, told by the young man mentioned in the article. it is kind of his message to the world.  it "gets me", like really deeply, when i consider AJ's life both then and now, his heritage, his country, his story...so layered.  i see his face in the faces of those children.  anyway, if it interests you~ check it out!

supper, soup and strangeness

bizarre occurrences do happen from time to time at our dinner table.  on this particular evening a few weeks back, we were having canned soup on a busy afternoon with after-school activities and evening wrestling practice leaving a very small window of time for supper.  so, i went to the trusty cans of Campbell's soup (which i had in my basement grocery store) with a tossed salad, figuring it would work in a time crunch when Jeff was busy with a dinner meeting and i was the only driver going to and from point A to B...

usually we do okay with this option, even though we all know canned soup isn't nearly the same as homemade soup.  it lacks the fresh, flavourful taste they've come to love in my cooking....hahaha :)  on this particular day the thick creamy texture of the flavour choice i thought looked great in the picture~ well, it was a bit much for poor little AJ.  all the kids (including myself) were struggling a bit.  i was pushing them along to eat up and "git 'er done" with promises that i would not choose this kind again.  as AJ neared the end of his tiny little bowl, he gagged and proceeded to throw the entire contents of his stomach right back into his soup bowl.  his aim was impressive.  he looked stunned, we all had a moment of shock at how fast this had happened, and his eyes got large and he seemed to have this moment of panic when he finally uttered the words, "am i going to have to eat that???"  i think it was Adam (mini Jeff) that confirmed in all seriousness that he would have to start again and eat it all over.  the rest of the table erupted in hysterical laughter.  i was laughing too as i reassured him that he was off the hook for the soup and that once was more than enough....well, directly across from AJ sits Layla, aka supper giggler.  her laughter was escalating, and it is worth noting that this is never recommended when you've just put a large bite of tossed salad in your mouth.  less than two minutes after AJ's "episode", Layla started to choke on her salad.  the laughter continued with the children, but i was quickly assessing that she was in fact showing all the signs of a compromised airway (i'm rusty, but not completely useless :)).  i went over to her, reassured her that i was there to help, told the laughing children to contain themselves as their sister was visibly in distress.  she was red-faced and coughing now, and lo-and-behold, she finally was able to free her obstruction by throwing up her stomach contents too!  lovely!  the salad now resembled more of a salsa, or chutney~ and only when it hit her plate was she able to feel relief and resume her giggling.  well, let me tell you, the remainder of supper was a complete write-off.  it was crazy funny though, and an evening that for some weird reason i want to remember and look back on.  so, this is why you are privy to such appetizing details too!  you're welcome! back to more appropriate and less nauseating topics next week. 

which one doesn't belong?

i mentioned a funny Florida experience i wanted to share this week.  it's super light and pointless in light of last week's post, but memorable and fun nonetheless...we were in Florida, nearing the end of our week.  and wouldn't you know it, out of nowhere there appeared one day a shiny, pretty, deep red, and very expensive looking McLaren.  and didn't it park right next door to our rental condo!! 

for those of you who might be like me, the name "McLaren" meant absolutely nothing.  nada.  zippo....i'm not up on sports cars.  not a bit.  to be honest, they feel super indulgent to me, and like a giant waste of money.  just being real.  i'm sure i'd enjoy a fast ride in one, but after that, just give me back my ten year old Honda minivan and i'm good.  (FULL DISCLOSURE~ i'm not always as content with everything else in my life, however, just before you go concluding that i'm some sort of saint.  not even close.)  anyway, Adam, on the other hand, is a big fan of cars and especially those expensive and unique and very fast types.  he knows features, prices, model types, specs, etc....not sure how he retains such knowledge, but he does.  so imagine his excitement, along with the other three boys (Jeff too!), when our condo neighbours pulled up in this spectacular red McLaren.

which we later learned was parked behind the Porsche that they had in the garage.  well, we quickly determined these wealthy neighbours had some rich friends because Adam nearly lost his mind when this Lamborghini pulled up to visit....

i admit, this even impressed me a bit.  it was matte black, and crazy cool to see in motion.  low to the ground.  stealth-like.  like something from a movie.  so as you can imagine, by now the boys were fully enraptured with what was unfolding before their eyes...as you can also imagine, watching them so close to all this "money" was a bit unnerving for me.  i was weary from saying "just look, don't go close....stay back...etc..."  i eventually went in to get ready to head out for dinner.  a few minutes later Jeff came in and told me to step out on the balcony and check out the boys....this is what i saw!

what?!?!?!  now all three were seated in the McLaren, and their excitement was super cute.  i was about to have a heart attack, but apparently the car owners were enjoying showing off their prized cars and seemed unfazed by the occupants and their unwashed hands and impulsive tendencies.  fun moment for Adam especially...

Jeff snapped the picture below on his cell phone.  it's like one of those puzzles in kid's magazines where you have to find the items that don't belong or look out of place in the picture.  

how funny is that??!  this picture makes me laugh...even still, we concluded we are the truly rich ones.  we drive a well used eight seater van filled with kids~ that's so rich!!!