Cutest thing ever.

These are sooo tiny.  Coco has one diaper that holds ladies pads.  I keep reminding myself that I will have to pack it for camping.  Then thought I should just buy a new one for the moho.  Online, $22 for 3 washable ones and I decided that was too pricey.  Not sure what I was thinking because they're $30 each in the pet store.  Oops.  They had these disposable ones and when I told Eric how cute they were he told me to just get them.  We're in a whole new realm of insane but might as well enjoy the ride.  So in my crazy world, these little dipey dipes are incredibly cute.  They look like the doll diapers I had when I was a kid for my doll that peed and pooped.  Not sure Coco will enjoy these as much as I am.  Haha.   

Also, today, for the first time ever, Eric couldn't find our car after shopping.  I lose the car ALL the time.  Like, you can basically just assume you should direct me because I genuinely am looking hard for my car.  Having the only red Commander in town helps.  So I was seriously enjoying with great glee that he was confounded by the missing car.  Honestly, he was adamant that it was parked here. I asked sweetly while smirking "do you think it was stolen?".  Then started walking across the lot and it was four rows over. All chuffed when I found it.  I recognized it by the hitch.  Unusual to have a hitch on a mini van.  But...then realized it has a Mickey ball on it.  Eric put it on himself.  So of course you know I had to tease him about how Mickey should help him find his car next time.  Seriously too funny.  I got way too much joy from Eric losing the car for the first time.  

Mary, Charles, Jade and May should be here in an hour or so.  We're camping together tomorrow.  

We grocery shopped after work and Luk and I are just going to head up and pack some clothes for four of us.  Jia and Kai are useless at this job and Luk enjoys helping me get organized.  Time to get moving.

Update...Jia did pack her own clothing.  Miracle.  I could threaten she would do without...but she would happily wear the same thing for three days.  So, this was good.  Luk was a trooper and helped me for a couple hours.  Such a sweet kid.  

Another update 

Too big, she can't really walk but adorable.  Baby Coco reporting to nighty nights.

Perseverance

Luk is having a hard time with exhaustion with back to school.  This is normal for him but alarming to watch.  He is so tired that when I get home from work he is laying in bed already.  We have to call him down for dinner and snacks.  He is developing a speech stutter we've never seen before. He is dragging.  I've even started using the handicapped parking spot at school in the morning to get him closer to his classroom.  He isn't using his chair at school yet this year but it's looking like he should.

I try, really try, to let the school do what they do.  Today I didn't handle things as well as I like to think I do. Things are weird not being allowed in the school. No iep meeting, no talking.  Just got agendas.  Anyways.

Luk has voiced for the first time ever that he's super tired.  Then last night he asked if he had to do the Terry Fox run.  I said of course not.  Then wrote a note in his agenda saying he was tired and didn't want to run in it.  Thinking it was a simple problem, simple request, simple solution.  Kai and Jia also don't want to do it but they weren't excused. 

I'm at work and just got an email from his teacher. Explaining why he shouldn't skip it and this...

<< If he's too tired, I will have him sit out of view of the others as the others are not permitted to stop (because Terry didn't stop....through sun, rain, snow).  We are trying to build their perseverance.  >>

Ah...really...out of view?!  Gobsmacked. My email back was pretty curt.  Including 'Frankly Luk works harder than any human I've ever met.  No disrespect intended to Terry Fox but this isn't Luk's lesson in perseverance to learn.'

Then I thought it is beyond my comprehension that we have to circle the exhaustion issue again.  Staggering really.  But here we go.  I called the school and 'met' the new principal.  Crazy lady wanting everyone on the same page.  I told him Luk is paralyzed.  We don't know how he does all that he does.  That I was super proud of Luk for identifying a problem and asking for accommodation because he NEVER does and he does way more than he should.  He is the one that has to learn to take care of himself and make decisions for his health.  I feel that him asking was a positive step.  I don't think Terry Fox wanted kids like Luk to be taking over for him.  It isn't what I want, it's about what Luk needs. We shall see what happens tomorrow.  

I do appreciate teachers.  I don't love some of these communication issues.  I know the boys teacher didn't mean to upset me or challenge Luk. I don't feel qualified to navigate these murky waters.  Ultimately, I want the kids to do reading, writing and arithmetic.  Too much time and effort in this other stuff.  I would prefer a two day a week platform with all the extras pulled out. If only I was the Supreme Leader.  

Food Delivery

Shannon bought me the perfect gift!  I had Minnie on my car but some branches whipped her off in a very undesirable area of town and I was way too scared to stop and go look for her.  Plus kids in the car.  Our lovely local who picks holes all over his face was right there bleeding.  I have to ask the kids to close their eyes on the way home sometimes.  Our world is just so sad.  Anyways.  We were all missing our Minnie and since there is no Disneyland any time soon very little hope of getting a new one.  Shannon however cleverly thought to order me a set online ;)  Such joy putting her on before dropping the kids at school on Monday.  She got me a Mickey too! I hesitate to put him on the van, since the van is technically not mine anymore and Eric has removed my other things from it. The van now has no identifying items, guess how many white Caravans are out there?!  It's definitely hard to pick out in a crowd.  I just watched a movie the other day called The Sleepover that has a fabulous mini van scene.  It's even a Caravan.  The movie is silly.  Luk would LOVE it, just enough potty humor to appeal.  I have told Eric he needs to see the mini van chase though.  

Jia sent me this...I was out for the evening and they were waiting.  Awe.  Fei and I took some frozen meals and picked up the meals Gramma had for her and took them to Nanaimo.  We were supposed to pick her up and have some Taco Bell but she was stuck in a zoom lab with a partner that was taking way longer than expected so we just brought her dinner instead.  She ran downstairs had a quick hug, took the groceries and meals up and brought the cooler bags down.  4 minutes with my girl this week.  She called last night just before 9, the lab had just been turned in. Late soggy dinner for her. There were some folks who tried to make me feel better about her moving out by telling me I'd see more of her.  Nope.  That is definitely not the case.  She is doing well enough.  I think.  She is managing the living alone, the online school part and doing decent with her grades.  Yet to be seen if she can keep the grade point high enough.  She is definitely putting in the time and effort.  It's hard for sure.  Easy to see why the failure rate is so high.  

So happy to see Jia looking like a little kid again.  She is growing up way too fast. That hoodie is even softer than it looks.

Orange Shirt Day.  Every child matters.  Except my kids...they matter more.  Joking and totally serious all at once.  I shouldn't be glib.  Of course we care.  

Millie updates continue, she is eating, drinking, using the litter, exploring and playing through the night with toys.  Sounds like it's going great considering how wild she was.  Couldn't ask for more.  Her new Mama is being patient.  Millie has been out in plain view so not totally hiding.  I think it's sounding like this might work.  Can't wait to hear about actual contact.  

Good Wishes Millie

Perfect day for a drive and ferry ride.  Sad to be sending Millie off and she is howling in the car but we're genuinely happy for her.  She will be an only child with a doting Mama that is home all day.  

We have a few hours to spend at the Tsawwassen Mall.  First things first, Starbucks and then a pretzel.  Followed by lunch.  Haha.  

These were the grad shoe winners!  Score.

New Vans.  :)  She was asking for clothes that make her look older.  

Jia bought jeans!!! A few tops and just one cute item.  A teddy bear hoodie that is adorable but definitely doesn't make her look older.  Fei has a sniffle and I don't think she was in a major shopping mood but I think she had fun helping Jia after her shoes were found. For myself I needed a raincoat that fits.  Found one I'm happy with.  Ready for rainy season now.  

How did Fei and Kai get sniffles?!  Who sent their kid to school with a runny nose?!  Fei knows it was from her desk partner.  These are not the days to have a cold!  Fei is supposed to work tomorrow, she's emailed work to ask what she should do.  Not sure where Kai got his sniffle.  Now we wait for the rest of us to get it. 

The mall is ok.  Much the same as the island perhaps a bit more relaxed on the mask thing.  We were mostly able to just walk in stores and masks were requested but not necessarily mandatory everywhere.  There were line ups at the Nike store and Adidas store.  Overall busier than I was expecting.  

No actual pictures of me today but Fei turned me and Jia into animé.  Pretty cute really.  

Home.  An actual photo. Showing off the new waterproof raincoat.

Happy Birthday Luk!

He made his pick for his cake ;)  He picked the Froot Loops one for Kai and the Strawberry Sparkle for his Mama.  Swoon.  I had one bite ;)  Donuts just don't fit my calorie count anymore.

Presents were fun.  He took science kits to school for his classmates.  Another covid event.  This is getting old for sure.  He was a good sport of course.  

My baby is 9. No more little kids around here. Pre-teens. Booster seats a thing of the past. The other day I reached for his hand in a parking lot then said I guess you don't have to hold my hand you're big enough.  He responded with "I'll never be too old to not hold your hand Mom".  Double swoon.  Sweetest kid on earth.  

Millie has a Mama very excitedly waiting for her on the mainland!  We're so thrilled for Millie.  Her new name is Princess Millie.  Grin.  Fei and I are still planning the logistics of the move that is tentatively this Saturday.  

Another Eric project.  The old piano from downstairs has been disassembled and is ready for recycling.  

Braile

Someone was super excited to show me the braile on his agenda today.  I assume it's his name?  He doesn't know either but it's cool.

Pro D - Flex day.

Typically these days being rare are totally designed for impromptu adventure days full of fun.  I'm just not feeling it this time.  In bed with sucky wifi upstairs trying to watch The Handmaids Tale.  Which one shouldn't watch during a pandemic!  Especially when you have peeps in your life talking conspiracy theories.  

We headed out Saturday to do a Costco run.  In an effort to complete my basement emergency hoard.  We ran some errands and took food to Lili too.  We picked up Lili and dropped her and Fei at the mall while we took the boys to Costco.  Jia went to a friend's for the day but before she left there was some big concern about her shoe missing. Her new beloved Vans.  She ended up wearing flip flops. Once in Costco we found Jia's shoe...on Kai.  Sigh.  We whipped it off him and plunked him in the cart.  Knowing Jia will flip that a sweaty stinky boy foot was in her shoe ;)  Kai was ticked about going in the cart.  I was sort of thinking that at least the shopping part would be considerably easier with him contained.  Then he was ticked about food in the cart with him. Haha. We went to a dollar store looking for slides or slippers but they had nothing.  We were running out of time and had to pick up the girls so took him to Walmart to buy shoes.  I bought a larger size for one of the boys to grow into.  Sigh.  We could have just cut our loses and gone home but we were attempting to go out for Luk's Birthday dinner as requested at Milanos.  Figured it was easier than trying to go back to Nanaimo on Wed.  Bonus...Luk gets two Birthday dinners.  He's requested curry for at home.

Of course the topic of Luk's Birthday and cake choice came up.  Where Kai was excitedly jumping in his seat screaming ice cream cake.  Oy.  We shushed him and reminded him that it's Luk's Birthday and Luk's choice so then Kai cried.  Now Birthday talk is secret, done separate from Kai.  Still no decision on his dessert but I fear he'll pick ice cream cake just to make Kai happy.  Who honestly likes ALL sweets and would like ANY cake.  

It was an exhausting day.  Kai had some other manipulative things going on.  Pitting parent against parent.  Doing forbidden things under the watch of the other parent.  Some things very clever, spanning days of plotting and planning.  Sneaky.  I don't like sneaky. Which leaves you scratching your head and going hmmn.  How can he orcastrate these things and then not realize wrong shoe, wrong foot, too big, LACES and it just had to feel different?  I told Eric the next outing requires either me or Kai to have a babysitter.  I don't care which one of us.  

If any of the other four had the same behavior there would be repercussions.  It's tricky with Kai for sure.  This morning I pointed out that his pajama top was on backwards. He happily turned it around.  All the way...back to the tag in his neck.  The toy he went to great lengths to get has been taken away by Mama for now.  I'll try explaining things to him.  He'll cry and I'll be left assuming he heard nothing.  But we have to try.

Eric says I guess we have to try harder.  We're out of ideas.  Feeling our way through too many issues at once.  

Yesterday was super quiet.  Big house advantage, we all went our separate ways and enjoyed our peace.  

Max is coming over later.  We'll see if anyone feels much like doing anything later.  Maybe.  

Esmei's Gotcha

Facebook shared a memory with me this morning.  5 years ago.  Man kittens are sooo stinking cute.  She's still cute...maybe not quite 'this cute' but cute.  Coco has me hopping enough that no part of me is longing for another kitten today ;)

Sweetness

Jr raised Kady, who raised Lacie, who raised Isabel, who raised Sasha and now it's Sasha's turn to show Coco the ropes and teach her to be sweet.  Just tonight I was teasing that I just don't understand where it went wrong with the system.  Told Sasha she was near perfect it should be easy for Coco to learn the basics from her.  Then she was caught red pawed with contraband.  I sent Eric the picture saying "what? Sasha isn't perfect!? I hope there is no writing on the walls".  He responded with "give her some paper".  Haha.  Now Coco is diapered and in bed tearing around and over me, with the zoomies and digging in the blankets like a mad fool all will yapping, growling and barking.  Sasha is hiding under blankets and I'm keeping my face sheltered.  10 months old and still in major puppy mode.  Which I mostly love but seriously she is a lot of dog in a tiny package.

Y2K

I seriously don't know what I'm preparing for.  The shelves are empty again.  I want to have some supplies, I don't want to hoard or be unfair. I'd prefer the brands that work for us. The plan of attack is two to three months of personal supplies, four months of pet food and three to four weeks in food.  Changing pet diets is hard so I'd rather not have to.  Easy for the kids to eat differently if need be. We don't eat much canned food.  Not even sure what to buy really. Kids could all likely eat Spaghetti every day ;) I'm online making survivalist lists.  Seems reminiscent of preparing for the end of the world.  This time I'm not stocking up on batteries or trying to protect the land from marauders.  We're still limited to two items of things so this weekend I'm heading to multiple stores.  At least my mind is busy.  

We've never bought sooo many cans of food before!

I admit that for many many years I've been cavalier about emergency preparedness.  With the moho out there ready to roll we are always all set with a second home.  Realistically it likely only has a day or two of food in there though.  I also don't have much of a kitchen pantry so we don't keep much stocked for the most part.  

What are you all doing?  How prepared for a disaster are you?  What comes next in this pandemic.  Record number of covid being recorded in our province.  Do we use any of this hoard and replenish? Or just forget it's there and carry on?  

A wee bit of time.

I'm home from work, no home work, dinner done, kitchen under control, even a cake in the oven.  I thought I'd catch up with the blog, only to realize I haven't taken many pictures. It's been busy getting us all back into the routines.

While on the way home from grocery/school supply shopping we found Eric's apples.  So fun.  He built them for the Wizard of Oz play and he put them at the end of our driveway this spring for free.  

Lili sent this picture of her first day of university 💗  She's managing the living alone part just fine. The work load is a lot already.  Some of it she likes, some not so much. She has been in contact with one of her neighbors and a classmate from high school is on one of her classes.  She also joined a biology club and is figuring out some zoom tutoring.  It's not the huge social she was hoping for but she isn't totally isolated either.  She sounds happy enough.  

I'm still working on accepting our new reality.  I miss her, phone calls aren't quite enough. 

Fei is loaded in home work already.  She is NOT loving having 2 three hour classes per day.

Kai is being taught braile, so the school has finally accepted that he is visually impaired.  He's back to his speech therapist. She reports that he hasn't regressed over the last seven months.  She was surprised, we're not, he's definitely talking more.  He is interested in packing his lunch and planning his snacks for after school.

Luk and Jia aren't talking much.  They both seem tired.  Luk is keen to go to school every day.  Jia is hard to get up and hard to get going but she's excited when I drop her off.  

I'm on a mission to stock this house up with supplies for the second wave pandemic/winter storms/earthquake. Who knows. I do know the shelves are empty again and this time I'll be better prepared.  $692 today with Walmart for tp, personal/Luk/female supplies and pet food.  Saturday we're going to Costco to start stocking up food.  Maybe we'll get to see Lili :)  

Another project down, soffeting on the new deck.  

Today Eric prettied up Lili's old car.  Time to list it.  Her new car has all the kinks worked out.  

Every year for Autumn Moon Festival we walk the Crofton walk and wish we'd booked a site at the Osborn Bay Resort.  Today I booked it.  Finally.  It's good to have something to look forward to.  We're also planning to camp the Thanksgiving weekend. Fingers crossed the moho will be warm enough!  Mom...we'll be home for your Birthday of course.

Luk's Birthday next week.  He's still wanting Milanos for dinner.  We're all looking forward to that.  

Fei's final year.

Time is whipping by too fast.  It's already time to start thinking about University applications!  I'm not ready!!!  She might be...but I'm not.  

She slept over at friends last night.  I didn't get to see her this morning.  I did insist that there be a photo of the 1st day!  

Back to school.

Luk - grade 4

Kai - grade 4

Jia - grade 6

Ok, they looked happy enough.  They were up early and very cooperative about getting ready, helping with lunches and organizing their stuff but none of them 'wants' to be heading back to school.  There may have been tears from one of them on the drive. Said child was promised a Pokeman card if he could manage to not cry at school today.  Crying causes a runny nose. Not cool in the days of covid.  Fingers crossed for logic to prevail.  

Keeping things real...that adorable outfit on Jia was bought in July while we were at the lake for 10 days. Jia couldn't remember it.  She didn't know where it was.  She puts her own laundry away.  I went to help her look.  Ugh.  Shouldn't have.  She hasn't been sorting and putting away nicely.  Just cramming in piles.  I sorted, refolded, culled and put it all away nicely.  The outfit didn't show up.  We called in the big guns.  Eric came to help. We pulled all the stuff from under and behind and crevices.  The outfit finally showed up.  She loved it.  None of us loved the mess.  Soooo many little bits and notes and papers and books and pencils.  So many pencils.  Two hours later we had it mostly under control.  She claims she isn't going to touch a thing in there but she was already cramming things under and behind while we were still in there.  I threatened that there would be a weekly clean and check from now on.  Many many many missing things turned up...however...my flip flops are still at large.

Luk and Kai were quietly peeking in on the mess and staying out of the way lest the Mama rampaged their room.  Haha.  They just have toy mess, super easy mess and nothing hidden.  Luk knew exactly where their new shirts were ;)  

1st Day of University

She sent me her first day picture this morning before her first online class lecture.  

I drove to see her today after her class and an orientation.  I brought some food. We shopped for a couple lab supplies and went for dinner at Montanas.  In the spirit of still dieting I packaged up half of my meal for her to take home before we even started.  

She's made it a whole week. A little homesick but overall doing ok.  Her place is a bit warm during these hot days.  Her shower water shoots out the door, her back is hurting in the new bed, there are lots of new city noises to get used to.  She misses Jenny. But overall she is comfortable enough. She is settled and ready for school.  She's been getting to bed earlier in preparation for the busy schedule.  She's glad she went early.  She did meet a fellow in the building who is 2nd year biology major.  He friended her on Facebook.  She also tackled laudry today.  I'm proud.  

I'm busy enough to not be missing her every second of the day.  Still not in love with this stage but starting to accept that I might never prefer the kids growing up and leaving.  

Last Day of Summer

A trip to Cameron Lake.  Then a drive through Cathedral Grove.

The beaches were crowded so we found our own spot to explore. I was a bit leary of this rocky climb so volunteered to hang around at the cars with the Chihuahuas and Kai.  Kai was upset at an adventure day and was crying about getting out of the car.  So he stayed sobbing while everyone else played. He's been asking all day to go home. 

Next to Qualicum Beach for lunch.

Lunch included Dole Whip.  

Bliss.

Back at the campsite. Fei left for work. We had a wee rest.  Watched another episode of The Mandelorian with the boys. Then I took Jia and Luk to the river to play. Kai stayed with Eric. 

Jia found a mask.

Then we had fun using the mask ;)