Smoothies

Eric makes a fresh smoothie in the blender almost every day for him and the kids. Full of green leafy and whatever else we have. Usually with berries to hide the vegetable flavors. Today he did a whole pineapple, bananas, cherries, blueberries and strawberries. Jia came and looked before it was pulverized and said "oh, there's no spinach...I'm NOT drinking that!" Things you think you'll never hear! Then I said if there's no spinach I'll take her share. Too funny. It was yummy. Jia and I shared.

Always Preparing

This week has been all about getting ready for the weekend and Friday.

Friday is our 26th anniversary. Four months ago we booked Rathtrevor for the weekend. The universe once again has other plans. Kids fun fair. Lili is working. And we're still going camping.

Today Eric spent the bulk of his day baking cakes for the cake walk. Then he helped Jia and Luk decorate after school. Kai preferred to pick sprinkles out and watch Dad decorate. I'm just soooo thankful that crafty Dad took over. I was thrilled to see the cakes all done and wrapped when I got home today. All I did was tape on their slips for judging.

Eric is at the school now helping set up.

We're so tight for time this week that I did an online grocery order for Eric to pick up after dropping the kids at school tomorrow. It took me so long to complete the order that I'm not sure it saves time. I was able to order a few days early. So at least saves time on Friday.

Mom is coming to fun fair to help with the boys. Fei and I are volunteering to work the event. Jia will be on her own with a handful of tickets. Eric and the boys are leaving early to set up camp. Girls and I will be late after we pick up Lili and get the dogs.

We will all wake up at Rathtrevor and go to bed there. One whole day. Our family in one spot and no need to drive anywhere. A rare event these days. Sunday the big girls and I have to come home early. Lili has friends coming to work on a project. Then both girls work.

Jump rope.

Jia is trying to teach Luk to jump rope. She is so patient and encouraging with him. It's painful to watch. I'm holding my breath and waiting for disaster. She runs skipping around the circle of the driveway in flip flops. All graceful with long legs leaping. Luk is following her with the rope up over his shoulders. Not skipping but he thinks he is. Then they stop and he flips the rope over and steps over it and Jia tells him how great and confident he looks skipping. I'm not even comfortable with him walking on the pavement never mind running or playing with a tripping hazard. Kai has rejected the idea of playing outside tonight. It's becoming quite the effort to get him involved. We can force him outside but it seems counterproductive to force someone to have fun.

Big, bigger, biggest.

Kai's observation about our shadows yesterday.

Taylor Swift

Eric and the girls all report that her show was beyond amazing. A seriously good time was had by all.

Seattle

Eric took the girls to Seattle to see Taylor Swift. Big event. They managed to do a lot in a few days. Easier without me and the boys there. They did the space needle, market, arcade, parks, Chinatown, old town, the port, went to the gallery district, they used the sky train, a taxi and the underground. They ate at Seattle's oldest restaurant. They had Chinese in Chinatown that was amazing. According to Jia even the veges tasted good ;) Their hotwire hotel was within walking distance of everything and the breakfast was good. So they were pleased with the trip. They all had a good time. Nice to hear all the happy stories last night.

I tried to do some special things with the boys while they were all away but overall the boys rejected my attempts and wanted their normal routine. Jia wanted to know if the boys missed her. Honestly, I'm not sure they realized much was different. As long as the food kept getting set out they were happy campers.

Crazy Hair Day

Kai said NO. Not surprising. He rejects most fun or silly stuff. Even rejected having a picnic dinner in the back yard with Luk and I last night.

Luk was all in. Not a lot to be done with a crew cut. Unfortunately I didn't factor in how long the color would take to dry. So we're at physio with wet blue paint.

Jia is missing it. She's with Eric and sisters. They've gone to Seattle to see Taylor Swift. They're coming home tonight.

Adventure Days

This morning I asked the boys if they wanted to come with me to drive Lili to work in the convertible. Luk hesitated and Kai said NO. I reminded them it might be an adventure. Luk quickly changed his mind and ran to get dressed. I tried telling Kai he should come. He was adamant that he wanted to stay home. So I offered his spot in the backseat to Jia. Who has finally embraced the wind and was thrilled to come. The drive was lovely on a beautiful day and we ended up at the farm market for a hot dog and ice cream.

Jia's Field Trip

Drumming performance, totem tour and a picnic in Cow Bay. Fun day.





Always time for Max.

Kai's Bloodwork

Ok.  The things that excite me.  Yeesh.  His bloodwork results were in today.  His iron is finally normal.  We get to stop giving him iron.  Now that he's off iron he can come off Miralax.  His system can hopefully go back to normal and we can put an end to accidents.  Miralax isn't an exact science.  Iron constipates.  He'll be so excited to hear he doesn't have to have the medicine anymore.  Fingers crossed this lasts.  If not we'll at least enjoy this break.

Mother's Day

Realizing I didn't post anything about Mother's day.

I was away. Didn't get home until after 7. Luk was still awake so he came for cuddles.

When we drove in the driveway we saw my gift right away. It was a new tent. Yes, I did send a link to Eric about the tent. But I didn't know if he got it or not. So set up was a great surprise. He also bought me a camping rocking chair. Made stew and baked a cake. Critters and kids were all looked after and the kitchen was clean. Major brownie points for Mr Mr this year.

Tenting

I asked the boys if they wanted to sleep in the tent with me last night.
Luk: Yay! Right on! I can't wait. This will be so much fun. Thanks Mom. I love you.
Kai: No, uh uh, no way, I don won to, NO tank-oo.

Hahaha.

So Luk and I headed out together. He normally goes to bed at 6:30. I told him there was no way I could go that early. So we went out at 8ish. Jia came and hyped it up until I sent her in. She came back later nice and calm and crawled into her bed. She made it a few minutes before declaring she was scared and crawled into my double with me.

Kids were both cold. Put another blanket on Luk and Jia just snuggled with me. It was sooo nice to have the fresh air though. I unfortunately had to make three bathroom trips in. I almost always go every two hours. No colon, short gut syndrome. I had to call Eric each time and he came and stayed with them until I was back. We worried they'd wake up in the dark and panic. We keep things pretty lit up for Kai in the house. Anyways. It was disruptive for a school night. Eric put the tent away today. Cats and Lacie were unhappy about me not being in the house. It would have been too cold for Lacie and cats can't be on air mattresses. So that was fun but won't be happening on a regular basis.