My lovely parents' visit, November 1-11

My apologies for the break in updates.  With all the photos of the past year, I suddenly maxed out on photo storage space, so could no longer upload.  Deleted some pictures, made some smaller, then upgraded to Google+ and all is well . . . I think.  Now to catch up on my parent's visit before the arrival of my parent-in-laws this afternoon!   Better get writing, as I have lots of clean-up before then . . . 

Well, the kids and I had much anticipated my parents arrival, with thoughts of what we would do together.  Our imaginings hadn't factored in the possibility of the four of us being sick and the weather getting much cooler, but my parents were very gracious about the circumstances.  

So most of our days were spent inside.  I had vowed not to set my Dad to handyman tasks, but its so hard to have such gifts at hand and not!  He kindly adjusted my bike, hung hooks in ceilings, curtain rods back in place, fixed a broken door and lamp and many other odds and ends  <insert big smile here>.  And the best thing he did was to pick up a utility sink off Kijiji and rig it up for me in the basement!  It doesn't seem right to LOVE a cheap, plastic white basin - but i really love having it.  Thanks, Dad!

Iz 'helping' Grandpa get things ready 

We spent lots of time doing puzzles together, mostly my parents and I in the evenings, though the kids enjoyed participating, too.  One morning I had Ai approach me in the kitchen in consternation.  "Mom, I've been chewing and chewing this Shreddie and I JUST CAN'T DO IT!"  He spit it out of his mouth and then we had a good laugh.  He'd obviously been concentrating too much on the puzzle while trying to snack on dry Shreddies at the same time.  Maybe my Mom was right all those years, comparing cereal to cardboard . . . 

Puzzles are a good cold weather, sick activity.  Beats TV, in my humble opinion . . . though we did enjoy the Planet Earth DVD from the library.  The scary parts - where lions attack the elephants and a starving polar bear tries to get a walrus - were far less scary thanks to him.   They found it most fascinating and were convinced the starved bear just went to sleep.  I left for the kitchen to cry . . . 

Mealtimes were as crazy as usual, but we at least got to have more desserts.  My Dad commented on Ai's chocolate chip mint ice cream one night:  "That's really green ice cream.  Does it taste like grass?"  Ai thought for a moment before he responded, "No.  It tastes like toothpaste."  :)  

My parents kindly gave us their apple peeler, which they no longer use.  It brought back memories of how excited we were as kids when they first got one . . . 

We also had some plain old hang-out play time.  Grandma was very much a part of all of these things - I just didn't have my camera out very often while in sick-mode.  Mom kindly worked with Ai on some of his phonics, as he's into letter sounds right now.  We enjoyed the moment where he sat down and printed his name for the first time (that I'd seen, anyway - he's been slow to get into crayons and colouring).   A short time later, Dad, Iz and I were hanging out in Ai's room when he entered with paper in hand and some tape to put a creation on the door.   Thanks to big sister he knows the phrase, "N O spells no."  He's also heard little sister spell out her nickname.  So of his own initiative, he'd made his first sign:  "No Iz."  We had a good laugh, though Iz wasn't too pleased when he explained that she wasn't allowed in his room.  :(  He then went off and returned with a new sign, "Yes" promptly telling Iz that if he pointed at that, she could come in.  Suddenly, my late-bloomer Ai is awake to the joys of literacy (though he has yet to bloom in some other areas . . . ).   I'm finding scribbled letters on papers all over the house.  Iz must be similarly inspired, as I've found scribble scribbles four times in the past week on doors and walls.  Hmm.  I thought we were past that . . .

Dad reminded me of how super nice he is when he let A style his hair (and to let me take pictures!):

We did manage to get out for a couple of outings.   High on the list was to take them to the Manitoba Museum, where we have a membership and love to go.  The kids favourite part of it is the mini-movie theatre which plays Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton silent films - the main thing they wanted to show their grandparents.  My photos never do the museum justice, as its so dark that my photos are usually too blurry or overexposed - but it really is 'class' (as my British friends would say).  Wonderful exhibits and so much to learn - especially as a newbie Manitoban.  

This time around, I learned that for our next guests, we'll try to drop them off so they can have an hour or two without the kids around to actually read some of the exhibits and then we'll join them later.  As was, I had to figure out how keep the kids busy so we didn't drive my parents nuts.  Overall, they did fairly well  - but with extra energy to burn, they danced it up on the stage . . . 

We had a quick trip out to the Forks one morning and at least got to show them the new-this-summer Variety Heritage Adventure Playground.  Not nearly as nice as it is in hot weather, we still had time to play around before our hands froze and we darted to the nearby market.

Mom also joined A at her school for its special Remembrance Day Assembly and then we scooped A out of school early and went to the zoo.  It was a quick visit and too cold to take more than this photo!

We were also able to celebrate Mom's birthday while she was here - not to mention my 10th Anniversary, though sans Steve!  (Though a good friend had a girls' night at her place with four of our common friends so that I wouldn't notice his absence, which was super nice of her!).  My Mom will be embarrassed by the orange wool sweater in the photos, as it was from the thrift store to keep her warm, but I'm sure you won't notice.  It was just so great to have her here with us!

So though we were sick, it really was wonderful to have my parents company.  It was such a gift to not be solo parenting while S was away on work travels.  He would have returned to a very grumpy wife if I'd been cooped up for 12 days alone with sick kids!   

My parents left my house at 5:45 am Sunday morning - just after our night of a heavy snow fall.  

It was sad to see them off and I was tired, so I went back up to bed at 6 am.  The kids woke up at 7 and one of them must have closed my bedroom door.  Next thing I knew, it was 9:45 and Iz was standing next to my bed saying hello.  I noticed it was quiet and asked where A and Ai were.  "Outside."  Oh! "In the front yard or in the back yard?"  Fortunately, there were in the back, but boy, I felt neglectful.  I paid for my negligence as my tidy house had been hit by a kid-tornado that extended from kitchen to living room (full of playmobile/lego) and up into each of their bedrooms!  Thanks to A, the kids had been well fed and they were warmly dressed to be outside, where they had been shovelling for about an hour.  I love having a daughter as my oldest child!  

We had three days to get it back in order before Dad's return from LA.  And at least the joy of snow took away from the sadness of Grandma and Grandpa's departure.  But now . . . I must depart for A's 9 am swim lessons!