I am exhausted

as all new parents are and I imagine should be.

As tired as I am things are going well, the boys are great, summer is fun and we are all learning all sorts of great new things - kleenex shredded into the fan is not a good idea, watching Nim's Island on a crazy busy day is a good idea, trying to ride the puppy is not a good idea but turning bunkbeds into tents was a great one. It's a learning curve for all 4 of us but it's all good

I have pictures of boys, veggies and knitting and I will get to posting them eventually but not today. Just wanted to say hi as I know that some people have been checking for news here.

2 feet

I'm a jump in with 2 feet kinda girl and I always hope that the whatever I'm jumping into is going to work out in the end. It may not be the best way but it is my way.

We have been "with boys" for 2 days and we are all still here. Things are going well - I am not going to say it's easy but it's good. In this case jumping in with both feet was a good thing, I could not imagine separating the boys, they are far to close to even imagine what that would be like. Jumping in with 2 feet has also proved successful in another case, a time when I took a big step but good one and the other part of that big step is celebrating his birthday today.

So Happy Birthday to my favourite pirate P. - hope it's the best one yet.

The day of J.

The day of J has drawn to a close for another year - it was good day, P and I went to a friends cottage with the boys for the day. We arrived home exhausted but happy. Before I retired for the night I managed to block Jeanie which I finished at knitting on Wednesday night. Here she is in all her glory - I didn't use sock yarn, instead I used Hacho by Mirasol Yarn and decreased the center repeats to 6 ( I think)



And as promised some pictures of the last week with the boys - sadly the camera didn't make it out yesterday but there was much fun had, these are from earlier in the week.

walking along the river
looking for and finding frogs!
at the splash pad
having a great time!
I am off to see if I can rent Kung Fu Panda... do I need to tell that it wasn't my idea.

what's in a name

Earlier this week one of the social workers came over to talk about the boys and to have us sign some paper work. One of the things that she asked us about was names - what would be changing their last names to and did we want to change any of their other names ( they each have 3). I was sort of shocked because the boys are 6 and 8 - old enough to know all of their names and know that their birth mom named them. I hadn't ever even considered changing anything about their names unless the children wanted to. One of the boys has the same middle name as P and that is kinda neat but I really would ever think of changing anything else - I even feel a little odd about changing their last names but a family with all those different last names would be a challenge

As a result I have been thinking about what a name means and our attachment or lack of attachment to a name. I have 2 names that I love but I know lots of people who could take or leave the name that their parents gave them - some people do. But I can't imagine if my name were any different, I didn't change my last name when I got married either and I do wonder how the boys will feel when they are older about their names? How does a name effect your self of identity or belonging? These boys have had a rough couple of years but does their name still provide a sense of belonging to their birthmom?

Of course I don't have any answers but lots of questions! But to move on...

So it happened, we met the boys and it was great. They are fabulous small people, things where tense at first with the adults ( us, foster mom and social worker doing all the talking) but then P pulled out his cell phone to add a birthday in and that was it, they were won over by the technology and the rest of the visit went pretty well. We left on a good note with a request for us to bring a game next time and we will see them again tomorrow and then every other day this week. Transitioning is an interesting process - I would of assumed that it there was a bit of a standard procedure but there isn't so the foster mom and I worked out what we thought looked reasonable and now that they know we aren't monsters with 4 heads (no comments from the peanut gallery) I think that things will go well. I know how nervous and stressed I am about the whole thing I can't even begin to imagine how they feel - especially since they have moves so many times already.


So my world revolves around the boys at the moment but in between the moments there are other things, like gardening and knitting - yes knitting! But I don't have any pictures of my knitting, although I am almost finished Jeanie - like about an hour from being finished. Instead I offer you a HUGE potato from the garden, My hands are not very big but the potato was tough to hold, as you can see and I was impressed. Jove and I have picked a some already and I was forced to pick a few more last night because the puppy decided that she should have a nap in a nice shady spot, on the onions and under the potato plants - luckily for the puppy it was only one plant.

Done - now with pictures

Done it is all done! The homestudy was signed off on Friday, they think that we are sane enough to be parents ( tee hee, us sane!) and we met with the boys foster parents to set up a transition schedule, they will be moving in at the end of July - very exciting. In order to get the home study finished I have been running around getting things done and they are all done! Yippee for us.

Pillows have been made, every house needs yarn themed pillow cases.

The boys room is finished - it was a lot of work
Quilt covers are sewn
A TV room was created
The carpet has been removed and the stairs painted

The yarn storage facility is finally all organised - some of the grey drawers have been replaced with bins with lids though - no moths are welcome here.
The front flower bed has all these great plants that attract butterflies, this one lingered for quite awhile yesterday
This is Bella, looking like an old man, she does it well. She is so the 4th - there are almost no pictures of her
Oh and the garden is finally all in, most of it has been in for awhile but yesterday and today I got the last 2 beds planted. I love eating from our garden, we have lettuce and spinach at the moment with lots of other great things just around the corner.

Okay that's all I have for you today, no knitting around here at all for quite some time although I am hoping to get Jeanie finished sooner rather then later and there are some socks that are on the go and some that are finished and waiting for fall to arrive. I'll save that for another post though

I thought I might never know....

A number of years ago before my Gramms died she told me one day that she was in love, it was another love for her as my grandfather had died a number of years before and she had met another man. I very clearly remember her saying " I never thought that I would feel this way again", she never ever thought that she would really love another man again in her lifetime. I remember listening to her and wondering if I would ever feel that way - I mean here I was in university with boyfriends and such but no one who I thought was the one person I could be with for the rest of my life, I wondered if I would ever know what it was like to love someone like that - would I ever really know or was I destined to jump from one relationship to another wondering if this person was the one.

Little did I know at the time that person I would fall in love with was already there, already loving me. Two years ago today I married that man, the man who courted me from a distance, afraid that I might choose another over him. No other man was to be chosen, because he is the one for me. A happier woman I could not be today, why, because I married a man who loves me to the moon and back - what more could I ask for.

shhh don't tell

The silence around here is ending but I would not be surprised if it is replaced a new silence - but a good one.

How's that for cryptic.

In the fall P and I started the process of becoming foster parents - we thought that we would be good at it and in Ontario it is the same process as adopting, that is to say a long one that involves a complete home study and a list as long as my arm of things that had to be done to our house to make it "safe" ( like installing child proof locks on the cupboard where the cleaning supplies are kept - which I did the other day and then proudly announced to P that it was " done" only to find that the key to open it (a magnet) was inside the cupboard!)

So we did all those things and a few weeks ago the social worker came back and mentioned that the 2 boys she had in mind to live here had become crown wards and needed to be adopted, would we be interested in adopting instead. After much thought and a lot of talking we decided that we would be and so if things go according to plan we will parents in July. There are still lots of hoops to jump through and nothing is for sure yet but we are hopeful that this is going to work out. We won't know for sure till all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed but so far everything looks good.

I'll keep you posted but in the mean time I have rooms to paint, curtains to sew and gardens to weed. No shortage of work to do around here, luckily for me I have great friends who are helping out when I am panicking - thanks to help from JoVE and company the garden( which is also partially their garden) is now in in and weeded - one less thing to worry about for now, till the weeds decide to grow some more.

all in all it's good - really good. I am off to enjoy the last of beautiful day, summer is finally here.

off by 3

I am off by 3 days, I am now 3 days into my 5th year of this blog - amazing! I started blogging because I was travelling and I am blown away by all the fabulous folks that I have met and become friends with as a result. I won't bother with a link fest because you know who you are and I don't have the time.

Things continue to be busy - I am home, gardening, knitting and working to finally get this house finished. I have pictures from my trip but I'm at home and we all know how much dial-up likes pictures. I must go teach some little angels how to be better angels so this is all there is for today... here's to 4 years blogging, great friends and hopefully more years as well..

still here,

well not there but here and there instead.
There have been walks

trips to the beach

airplane rides

fresh seafood - yeah for markets

and my beloved ocean - there is something about the pacific that makes me happy

All is well, life is good and I am on my way to visit my parents next. I'll be home next week and now that life will be a little calmer ( less dogs and more gardening) I will update you on life, knitting and some of the other things that have happened on my trip - like lunch with other bloggers.

Have a heart update

Today is Larissa's 20th birthday, and the beginning of a new chapter in her life - this morning at 1am she went into surgery to receive her new heart. As of 7am her heart was pumping on it's own and she is now doing well in the icu. She still has a long road ahead of her - so say a pray, cross your fingers, do whatever it is that you do - she needs all the help that she can get now. While you are at it please remember the family who lost a son this week, for Larissa to live someone else had to die and as hard as that is I am so grateful that they decided to help another person live by donating his organs.

PS - there are pictures of Larissa and the blanket, but they are on her camera, not mine - it'll have to wait. I never did get around to thanking and linking to each fabulous person who contributed 1, 5 or 12 squares - know that I thank you and so does Larissa.

the last one

This is their last picture, after a trip to the vet yesterday the first one left last night and the rest will go through out the weekend... except for 2, Phoebe is staying until her family moves at the end of April and Bella is staying forever - I know, I know another dog, don't start. I love her, I bottle fed her, I can't let her go and besides once you have 3 what's one more.

Life is busy, lots to do inside and outside and things in our world are changing - not things I can really talk about now ( no I am not pregnant and everyone is fine) as time goes on and they all sort themselves out and then I will talk about them. Until then my presence will continue to be sporadic and some what vague - sorry.

But, on the good news front, I get to go west next month, first to sunny San Fransisco to play with my sister and then home to play with the rest of the family for a few days, this year P is coming for the Victoria part too! I'm looking forward to playing with my siblings munchkins, it's been a year and they tend to get so much bigger in a year.

sprung

Spring
has
sprung here!
and the puppies are busy being cute...

WHACK!

That would be the sound of me being knocked on my butt by strep - after a week of being ill I finally went to the Dr. she told me it was a virus, I asked her to humour me and check for other things - lo and behold it is strep, she called me yesterday and called in a prescription, hopefully I will be better once the antibiotics start to work.

I wanted to take some pictures of the bits of colour emerging in our front garden but is is freakin SNOWING today and although the purple, green and white may be a neat picture I just can not bring myself to do it - enough with the snow already.

The puppies are good, getting big - they have there own blog now, it will only exist till they are all sold but there is more puppy cuteness there. There has been little knitting or anything else for that matter, sleep and puppy care are about all that has been happening here.

where did March go

I am not sure where this month has gone but it's almost finished and it seems as though it has barely begun. So well I try to decide where the month has gone and cast on the second front on my garter stitch jacket ( that isn't garter stitch) let me amuse you with more puppy pictures. Speaking of which, if you live in the area and know someone who might want a puppy leave me a comment (we are selling them but really just to cover our costs) and I will forward all the relevant info along.

going, going

gone

show me some love

comfy?

In no particular order

We still can't get to the mailbox, and this is after a few days of melting!

More puppy pictures, I had vision of taking pictures of my knitting with the puppies and then decided against it, to messy!

Our eyes are open and we can see and hear now too.

We have had to move to 2 food bowls, some feel the need to sit in their food while others prefer to just eat.

How cute is that, even if it is a littel blurry. I need to play wiht my camera settings, most things are blurry and I am not sure what to do - perhaps I should read the book that comes with the camera.

broken

My direct line to Mother Nature seems to be broken, if yours is working can please let her know that I can handle the additional snow we will get tonight but the wind has got to stop. If it must blow for some reason could it please blow in the same direction that it was on Sunday because at this moment all the snow that drifted to the south side of the house is drifting north back across the yard and landing in the narrow path that I managed to dig causing a great deal of extra work for me. Yes, yes I understand that we can't go around making demands every day about the weather but seriously folks, I think I might just stay inside until the snow melts, floods my cellar and forces me out to make sure that the pump is working so that we don't float away.

PS The snow bank at the foot of the driveway of doom is bigger than I am, by a lot and shovelling out our mailbox was a waste of time because there is not way I have enough muscle to move a snow bank that high.

now with pictures.

As you can see we had a little snow this weekend. It took hours to make a path from the house to the cars, that is after we found a way out of the house. When I got up on Sunday morning I could not open the front door or the back door which we never ever use. The screen where frozen in the windows and so I couldn't climb out that way either. P. had to go out the cellar door and walk all the way around the house to shovel the snow from the the front door so we could out.


The tire swing is hiding, there was more snow here but it drifted a lot overnight and most of it ended up in the fields.
There is a truck and a stone wall under there somewhere... the snow pile on the other side is higher then the white shed ( for those of you who know where the white shed is).

Ignore the ugly paneling that still lives in this room and look at the snow against the window - there is a little roof about 2 feet below that window. While I was trapped in the house for 3 days I got some knitting done. I have finished the back of the garter stitch jacket which is really not garter stitch at all - at least not according the pattern I have. Then I picked up a friends sweater to do some mending, it is a fav. or hers and I thought it wouldn't be to hard. 5 hours later it is fixed, there were lots of holes and the cuffs had to be cut off and reknit because of the holes in them. It was a big job and all day I kept saying that it was a good thing that I love her because otherwise I would of said, too bad, so sad for you. Now I seem to be developing a cold, a cold on the week that a friend (the sweater friend) is coming to play and don't have to work at all.

And because they are so cute a puppy picture, their eyes are open and they are becoming very roly poly - it's fun to watch them change so fast. They have tripled in size in 2 weeks.

snowed in

It's 6:49 and we are still snowed in. We knew this would happen but we were not expecting it to be this long. Our snow plow guy has had a few very bad days and a truck that is not so interested in behaving. He promised he would be here today, he has 5 hours and 10 minutes. I have pictures but as usual blogger doesn't want to play with me today, I'll try again tomorrow

Snow Day V 8

I believe that yesterday was the 8th snow day that our local school board had, it really was a snow day and we were snowed in until after 9 pm. Luckily for me though Tara is not afraid of a long walk up the driveway of doom and she arrived on my doorstep last night in time for some dinner. It was lovely to see her, we ate, playted with puppies and even knit a little. If you need puppy fix go to her blog, she has lots of good pictures and since she posted them I am not going to post more of the same picture.

I am looking forward to a weekend trapped in my house with a good book and some wool. I think that when the next storm rolls in I won't be going anywhere for awhile. That's all I have for you today... well except for the fact that the puppies started opening their eyes this afternoon. They are getting cuter.

moving along

Jeanie is 1/2 finished, I have hit a bit of a snag but I am sure I will get the groove of it back shortly.


The garter stitch jacket is about to be cast on, I am hoping I can plow through it in order to wear it sooner rather than later.
Our Have a Heart Afghan is nearly complete but Larissa has MRSA and I am not sure that I will be allowed to give it to her... I need to talk to her mom first, it may have to wait until she tests negative and is no longer in isolation.

FYI - I thought puppy pictures were cuter than my 1/2 finished knitting. Some people were wondering what breed they are - Mama is Rottweiler/Doberman and Papa is Bull Mastiff Rottweiler but they all look like bull mastiffs