Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day. I am a proud Canadian. I love my country and what we stand for. Canadians are seen as less patriotic than our American counterparts, but I beleive that we are every bit as proud of our country, we are just quieter in our demonstration of our pride.

What I really love about my country is the diversity of the people. There are so many different cultures all co-existing happily together and appreciating each other's differences. We are a nation that can't be defined by one colour or one culture and we celebrate that. It is a country where people can come to and be accepted for who they are and not be expected to give anything up. It's a country filled with opportunities for everyone.

Last year on Canada Day we went to Canada's Wonderland to see the fireworks. It was a fantastic night. The fireworks were spectacular, but what really left an impact on me was that after the fireworks were over they played the Canadian National Anthem. No one moved to leave the park. Everyone stood quietly to their feet and sang "Oh Canada". There we were, thousands of people, all from different races and cultures, united together in this wonderful country, proudly singing our national anthem. Afterwards there was an exuberant round of applause and cheering that seemed to last an eternity. Then the crowd started to leave the park, but there was an incredible hush. I know that everyone was feeling the same as I was - deep pride and patriotism for our wonderful country.

Happy Canada day everyone!

Happy Canada Day to all.

The calm before the storm

This is the last day of school. Tomorrow, my normally peaceful mornings will be filled with sounds of boys grunting, groaning, and other bodily noises. There will be laughing, arguing, kitchen messes all day long, and the ever constant droan of the dreaded video game. How long will it be until the first one utters "I'm bored!" It will happen once. It always does. Then they will quickly remember that those words are followed by chores. If you're bored, there's lots of work to be done around here!

Until then, I will enjoy the quietness of this morning. I'm enjoying my daily internet routine. (tomorrow, if I get it, it will be rushed because there will be someone hanging over my shoulder asking me if I'm done yet!) My leisurely wander around the internet every morning consists of the following:

Cherished Scrapbooks where I chat on the boards and check the layouts
Non Verbal Learning Disorder Board My oldest son has Non Verbal Learning Disorder so I check the boards here
Scrap Jazz to check out the layouts
Scrap Village to check out the layouts
Creative Scrapbooks to check out the boards and layouts
Then I wander around checking out BLOGS

This time tomorrow, however, the computer will be hijacked by three little terrorists who will take it on a completely different journey that will no doubt involve sites that cater to the humour of boys and will just leave me rolling my eyes. My poor computer!

Ahhhhh! Tuesday!

I love Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I get to go and play with my friends. We call ourselves The Lunch Bunch. Every week we all get together at our local scrapbook store, Cherished Scrapbooks. In fact, it's where we all met each other. There we work on our albums, shop, laugh, eat, chat, and just enjoy each other. What started as a small group of three of us, has grown to a group of over 15. Some have had to give up their Tuesdays to work, but still remain part of this wonderful group who share so much together.

This is a few of the ladies of the Lunch Bunch. 11 of us were able to go to Provo, Utah last year to attend CKU.

I love Tuesdays so much that I schedule all my appoinments around it.
This is my playground every Tuesday.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity!

It was so hot and sticky here on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was hot, but the humidity was down so at least we could breathe.

I took two of the boys to our trailer for the weekend. Our middle son had three different things to go to on Saturday so John stayed home with him. We have a 32 ft. trailer about an hour and a half north of here. It's great to be able to get away from the city and the heat. Some how it's always cooler up there. We hadn't been there since we opened it on the May long weekend, so the grass was very long. When we arrived on Friday night it was dreadfully hot, but I couldn't stand looking at the grass so I had to cut it right away. Then because it was so long, it had to be raked up (especially since I didn't want it to be trailed inside all weekend.) By the time we had all that done and the beds made up, I flaked onto the the bed. There was a bit of a breeze coming in and I didn't have the energy to do anything except lay there. My youngest son was so cute because he thought I was lonely and that I should go out and visit with the neighbours. He then proceeded to take care of me the rest of the night.

Saturday I had high hopes of getting some flowers planted, but after running around all morning I couldn't find what I wanted. We headed back to the trailer for lunch. It was so hot by this time. I went inside, shut all the windows, and turned on the air conditioner ... only to have the power blow a short time later. Youngest ds and I decided it was time to cool off in the pool so we went. We just got in when the life guard had to clear the pool because a child had vomitted and so the pool had to be closed for the rest of the day!!! No air conditioning, no pool, no happy campers!!!!! DS was begging me to take him to the beach, but since I wasn't sure if the beach was open we just headed into town for ice cream. When we got back, we had power again. Yay!!!!

Mountains

I have been having fun wandering around some BLOGS of other people and I came across this quote.

"Quit telling God how big your mountain is and start telling your mountain how big your God is."

I came upon this on a day when I particularily needed to read it. It feels like lately we've had our plate full of challenges that we've had to deal with, and over the past few days everything has come to a head. I've done a great job at moaning, groaning, and feeling sorry for myself ... and I've done just that ... tell God just
how big my mountain is, and I've told him often.

After reading this quote, I began to look at it all differently. Rather than moaning, and waiting for God to move the mountain, I've started to look at it and say My God is much bigger than any mountain that is put in my path. It also goes along with what my buddy Dr. Phil says. You can't always change the circumstances but you can change the way that you look at those circumstances and the way you respond to them. Now, my mountain doesn't appear to be as big because I know how big my God is!

It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.

What a gorgeous day we're having here in Ontario. The sun is out, it's about 25 degrees Celcius with no humidity. I have one boy home as he is in exams right now, but the other two are at school. I only had one thing on my calendar today. Spencer, my middle child, is in the Halton Junior Jazz Band and he's on school tours today. They started at his school so I went there this morning to hear them play. I have spent the rest of the day so far outside, watering the plants, and cleaning the pool. We don't have an inground pool, it is just one of those that you fill each year and take down each fall.



The boys love it. I don't go in often, but today it's so nice that I actually got in to clean it. Now, if only every summer day could be like this.

Where does the time go?

Yesterday my baby, my oldest baby, turned 15. It's so hard to beleive that he's that old arleady! We went out for dinner last night to the restaurant of his choice and while we were waiting for our food John and I were remembering the day he was born. He was born on June 21st, 1990 at 11:20 a.m. after an 8 hour labour. He was so cute. I can still vividly remember the smell and touch and his first cry. Dad was so proud of his first son. He couldn't wait to have people come in to the hospital to see him. Our lives, at that very moment, changed drastically. We became a family. We became parents who were totally responsible for a life. Totally responsible for molding and shaping him. At times we have done it well, and at others not so well. Parenting, as we would find out in the years to come, is the most difficult job in the world.

The years have passed quickly and he is now 15! It hasn't always been easy for him as he has some challenges, but he is a wonderful spirit who is very loving and kind. He's bright, sensitive, and determined. He makes us so proud.

Happy birthday Matthew! We love you.

Happy Father's Day

Today is the day to celebrate fathers. In a world that is filled with unfit fathers, I feel very blessed that I'm surrounded by men who are wonderful examples of fatherhood. My brothers, brothers-in-law, and uncles are all great men who have parented their children in very loving ways and are very involved in their children's lives. Not only have they parented their own children, but they have taken the time to be involved in their neices' and nefews' lives. ...you know the saying "it takes a village to raise a child." The men in my life practise this and my own boys have had the benefit of this.

My own father was, and still is, a very involved father. He always takes an interest in the lives of his family, with no exception. I count myself very fortunate to have had a father who loved me, nutured me, and cried with me when I was hurt. He prayed for me, and guided me with a loving hand. He still does all that today, and does it for all his grandchildren as well.

My husband is also a father who is involved in the lives of our boys. He loves them and nutures them, and helps to guide them in this very confusing world. Our family is never complete until he walks through the door at the end of the day. They always have, and still do, yell "Dad!" when he comes home each night. What more could any man ask for than to hear and excited "Dad!" at the end of a tiring day?

To all the fathers in my life, thank you for the impact you've had on my life and the lives of my children. You will never know just what effect you've had on the lives of all the children around you.

My middle son came home last night after spending the last few days in Quebec City with his class. He's in grade 7 and not 13 yet. He's small for his age and a quiet guy. What I can't figure out is how, over the course of four days, they can grow up that much. Of course, he didn't grow physically, but he's somehow walking a little different. He seems to have a little more confidence. ...and where did he get that attitude??? I had to quickly remind him that he can't treat his younger brother in a mean way. Maybe some of it is because he was exhausted (but he wouldn't admit to that), but I think that spending a few days away from Mom where he had to be totally responsible for himself had an impact. Although I don't want to smother them and hang on to them, a part of me still isn't ready to have my boys grow up.

He was so cute when he got off the bus. Dh, myself, and youngest ds, were there to greet him. He had bought something for me and couldn't wait to give it to me. Before he even reached me he had it out of his bag and in his hand with a big smile on his face. He was so cute. It was a lovely brass rose bracelet, so of course I've had it on ever since. This morning he keeps asking me if I like his gift. What he will realize when he's a father himself is that it wouldn't have mattered what he gave me, I love it and will always cherish it. - These are the memories I need to be putting in my scrapbook.

*****

Thanks to the help of the woman who inspired me to start my own BLOG, I was able to learn how to upload pictures. This is my family.

So I decided to join in this really weird thing called BLOG. I only heard the term a couple of weeks ago and thought "why would people want to share their thoughts and feelings with people they don't know." Then, I started reading some other BLOGs and thought "this is kinda fun, in a weird sort of way." So here I am. Entering into this strange world that I know nothing about. I guess I'm looking at it more like a journal for my own purposes. I'm a scrapbooker and the journaling part of it doesn't come easy, so I'm hoping this will help me with that aspect of it.

I've never been very good at sharing my thoughts and feelings ... just ask my DH! I was a very shy kid who wouldn't say boo to anyone or anything.

I'm the mother of three boys. Most women pity me! I love it. I love having boys. I love boy things and doing boy things. I'm not a girly girl by any stretch of the imagination! God gave me boys for a reason. If the truth be known, I love being the Queen to 4 men and not having to worry about anyone coming along and trying to dethrone me! There's one thing about boys and that is that they love their moms! Dad is fun, but no one can say anything against mom!