2011 – Page 17 – a hippie with a minivan

Spring walk…

One of my favourite things about unschooling is the freedom…

After nearly 2 weeks of rainy and cloudy days the sun has come out and we are all feeling the great effects of fresh air and sunshine. These are not the days to be in the house or stuck in a building…

After lunch, we headed out to some trails not too far from our house. As soon as we got far enough to no longer see the car, I took Wilhelmina off my back and let her follow us… she was so determined to follow her brothers and discover all that there was to discover…

She walked and walked….

She ended up walking nearly 2 km before she finally just sat down and refused to move and as I was about to put her back on my back Xavier offered to carry her the rest of the way… I adjusted the ERGO for him and she had a big smile as she realized that she was going to tagging along with her big brother…

It’s these little moments that erase the harder parts of being a parent…

Two special days…

Happy Mother’s day to all of you moms out there!!

It is hard to believe that I became a mom nearly 9 years ago and I am now a mom to four amazing kids.

(My first pic as a mom July 16th 2002)

but nine years ago today, I was not yet a mom…

I was 8 months pregnant and Simon and I were celebrating another milestone… our 3rd anniversary…

(May 8th 2002)

Another “hard to believe” moment… 12 years ago today, I was getting married to the love of my life and my best friend…

what an amazing journey these last 12 years have been….

15 months

As of yesterday, Wilhelmina is now 15 months old.

That seems like such an arbitrary number but it amazing to see her change and grow.

She runs to the window and screams out “daddy!” when simon comes home…

She stands at the top of the stairs and calls ” guys!” when her brothers are downstairs…

She gives the biggest and most meaningful hugs…

She walks around with her stuffed cat and meows…

She says yes and no and runs to the bathroom when she needs to go on the potty…

She puts shoes on and drapes her coat around her shoulders to go outside…

I could go on and on…

This stage never ceases to amaze me.

Dry Ice Ice Cream…

We had so much fun at our friend’s house with dry ice…

I didn’t have my camera, but I did get some video of making the Ice Cream. Not the best video either with the light we had but is was too fun to not share.

In the bowl was an Ice Cream base made with eggs, soy milk, cream etc… The dry Ice was crushed and added to the mixture…

No one was spared…

Last week we went out and bought a new *to us* car. For the last 5 years I had been driving a 2000 dodge caravan and though it was still running I wasn’t sure for how long. As we pulled out of our driveway to head to Montreal to check out a car I saw on a dealership’s website, I got stuck in the street, not able to put the minivan back into Drive. Finally, I got it in to gear and we put a few dollars of gas in just in case we would not be driving it back….as I pulled out of the dealership after a test drive of the new car, my armrest fell off. A definate sign that we had to take the plunge.

On Tuesday we went to pick up our new stealthy black 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. What a difference! I kept on bracing myself for bumps that I didn’t need to brace for and realized just how bumpy our old car was and being able to hear the kids in the back without them screaming made me realize just how loud it was also. I am loving our new ride.

Instead of heading straight home, we went to hang out with friends for the evening. I had debated on bringing my camera and finally decided not to… what a mistake!

Our friends had picked up some dry ice the day before and the kids had a blast with it. Not only did we make water “boil”, bubbles with fog in them and balloons that inflate themselves, but we also made dry ice Ice Cream… it was so much fun! I did get video though so I will clean that up a bit and share in another post…

We decided to not leave too late and headed home and as Simon was taking Wilhelmina out of her car seat, he heard a gag.

By the time he passed Wilhelmina off to me, Khéna had baptized the car. He threw up everywhere…It was the start of week long bout of Gastro with each of us getting our turn, no one was spared. So that was our Easter weekend, sick and all of us taking turns in the bathroom. It was a beautiful weekend too and we have a week of rain ahead of us… *sigh*

I think the hardest time to be a parent is when the whole house is sick. Everyone needing attention, yet we have little energy to give it. It also made me realize that it will only be in times like that that I will get a day full of cuddles again. Though Willa is still so small it made me realize that she is really not a baby anymore…

(feverish Willa)