An afternoon up the mountain with Dad

A spectacular view! Icicle picking!

An interesting addition to the fridge

In the morning, following the night before when the fridge had been cleaned out, this is what I found stuck to the fridge. It appears that Hanna had some grave concerns for all of us!

Science

Both of my boys have a love of science. For Mitch it was mostly nature science, but with Owen it's everything and anything hands on. We had science club on Friday and I woke up, with a sore neck and shoulder, to a blustery, stormy and miserable day. One that made me think that if it were not for science club I'd go back to my bed and my kids and I could snuggle up and watch BBC's David Copperfield, after all, that would tie in nicely with the subject of child labour and the Industrial Revolution that we've been reading about and discussing. I had seriously planned on quitting science club and yesterday was going to be my last day. I really didn't think there was enough value versus output. But, alas, science club arrived at my house and each family took turns demonstrating different aspects of water: phases of matter - solid, liquid, gas - ice cube in the frying pan; egg floats in salt water, sinks in unsalted water, Archimedes' Principle of Buoyancy ("Eureka!") - clever, clever man (we read and enjoyed Archimedes and the Door of Science a couple of years ago); density of water at different temperatures; how salt mixes with water. While all of these hands-on type of presentations were occurring, I could see, plain as plain, that Owen is passionate about science and thrilled with science club. I cannot quit.

Today, my little scientist decided to copy something he had once seen in a book. He drew and coloured a race track and race car, then taped a paper clip on the back of the car and pulled it around the race track with a magnet taped to some pencils. It took him around two hours from start to finish as he was hunting all around to find what he needed then: he taped four pieces of paper together to make a large paper on which to draw and colour the track; he put a lot of detail into drawing and colouring the race car; he found a variety of magnets and tried all of them until he figured out which one worked the best; he wanted to have something long to attach the magnet to, so he taped some pencils together. He was very pleased with the finished product.

Lunch with Nana

My kids have had lunch dates with their nana many times over the past few years. Mackenzie decided that it had been a while since she had lunch with Nana and she would like phone her (on the cordless phone) to make a lunch date. I'm always a little concerned when my kids want to make plans with other people, my concern lies with the other person and their potential awkwardness with my child's request. Now, I know that concern needs to be removed and the situation needs to be addressed by the two people involved. I do however, think it's important to teach my children common courtesy and tact. I think it's important that they learn to have some forethought about others and have an awareness of what others might be experiencing. I suggested to Mackenzie that Nana's been pretty busy this week and perhaps she may not be able to go out until next week. I asked Mackenzie who would be paying for her lunch and she claimed she still had some spending money and could pay for her own lunch. With these details determined, she made the call. They will be having lunch on Friday and Nana will treat as she too had been thinking about going out for a lunch date. Nana asked Mackenzie if she wanted Hanna to come along or would she prefer to go alone. Mackenzie chose alone. As a twin, it's not very often that the opportunity to go "alone" arises.

I reminded Mackenzie that we have science club on Friday, but she much prefers going out for lunch with Nana. I suspect there will be a lot of learning going on while she's out for lunch. Who am I to determine whether she would learn more at science club or learn more going out with Nana. Nana always has great stories to tell, an interesting perspective on subjects and desire to spend time together. Mackenzie has also taken an interest in cooking and will enjoy reading the menu and picking something interesting. She'll also enjoy figuring out how the food was assembled as they will be eating Mexican food.

A cordless phone

So the story goes......I never wanted a cordless phone because telephones complicated my life. After choosing a simpler way of living, I had to determine that which complicated my life and that which enhanced my life. Having four little kids meant having to remove all that would distract me, overwhelm me or overstimulate me while in the midst of daily living. I wasn't always mindful of what exactly those elements were, but I did know that the phone was one element that severely complicated my life.

When there are four little kids vying for your attention it's challenging when the phone rings and you choose to talk on the phone instead of dealing with the needs of your kids. Here's the visual of my little kids at the time, the eldest, who was, at time and still can be, a "more" child (more loud, more sensitive, more relentless, more intense, more active, etc.) with very high needs, twin toddlers(at times, going in different directions) and a bucket baby(content in the car seat on the floor) or sometimes a backpack baby(didn't want to be left alone). All that going on, then the phone rings......argggh. So I would let the answering machine take the calls, almost always, then I'd return calls when I could. I upset a lot of people by living this way. If I could have a do-over in this area, would I change my decision and answer the phone? - no.

Now my kids are (almost) ten and up. I still let the machine take calls or I turn off the phone. Our answering machine recently broke, it was a good one which saw us through at least fifteen years. For a couple of weeks we weren't able to take messages, does that bother me? - no. My mom bought us a cordless phone last week and it's been well received as we've had a land line for many years. My three younger kids have figured out everything the phone does because they've read the manual many times. They have all the phone numbers in the "phone book" of the phone, Mackenzie(?) recorded the outgoing message, they plugged both(it came with two phones) of them in and knew it would take seven hours to charge, they found out how to find the phones if the phones get lost, they told me that a headset could be attached to the phone, and so much more. I'm glad they learned all this, because I hate reading instructions, I'd much rather watch and then do. I will learn from my kids.

I am going to simplify my life with a cordless phone by getting a headset so I can cook, do laundry, wash dishes all while talking on the phone without having to strain my neck. I do like to give conversations my full attention and I do become easily overwhelmed and overstimulated with too much going on at the same time. I prefer to do a task with my full attention, it's more meaningful to me, no matter what it is. So, I will still turn off my phone when I need to and I will get a headset to enhance my life's experience while using a cordless phone.

Monday's Mindful Moments

Once upon a time, while surrounded by four wee little children, a woman, whom very nearly lost her mind, most gratefully found solace in a cup of tea.

I can't remember when I started drinking tea, but I'm almost certain it was when I began having kids. Maybe it was when I used to take my eldest, whom would have been two at the time, to a little play group called the Tot Stop. It was there that I made many connections with other women (moms) and started feeling that the island was my home.

Tea is very ritualistic. Get the teapot nice and hot with tap water or a bit of boiling water; boil some water; empty teapot of hot water; add tea bag(or loose tea) to teapot; pour in boiling water; let it steep for about four minutes; add cream to favourite cup(used to add sugar, but gave that up!); pour hot steaming tea into favourite cup then find a place in the house to have my "tea break".

I remember reading Angela's Ashes (one of my favourite books) and Frank McCourt writes about his mother drinking tea. When she went to America she was shocked that the tea was in a bag, as she had only known tea in loose form and there was no way that tea in a bag was going to provide a "good" cup of tea. Tea seemed to bring her comfort and got her through a lot of tough times.

There are many tea shoppes around. They all seem to have some kind of theme, some are Zen-like, some are trendy and chic and some are Oriental. Although, they all have similarities of
ritual and slowing down, I much prefer the British style tea. I like the tea cups and saucers which have a simple floral theme in bright colours. I like the little tea leaf scoop that reads "a perfect cup". I like the little sieve placed over the tea cup to catch the loose tea. I like the tea and scones with whipped cream. I like the three tiered dessert stands. I like the little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. I like the tea service all on a tea tray. Tea brings soothing calmness.


There are a few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
~Henry James~

The many faces of Hanna