Still Holding Hands -- Thankfulness

Thankfulness continued....

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 5 years since I last wrote a thankfulness post.  I have been incredibly thankful, even though I haven't posted about it...

45.  The Little Free Library in our neighbourhood.  We have been trading books and enjoying the walks, bike rides and scooter trips to check out what's new!

46.  "A Thousand Years" and this Littlest Pet Shop video:

Desiree (11 years old) found it and played it for me.  Desiree was lost in the woods last summer and this video reminds me of that...

47.  Still Holding Hands...  Our family went to the store the other day and on the way back I was holding Desiree's hand and told Elijah to hold Dad's hand when we crossed the street.  As we walked up our street my husband went on ahead and Elijah held Desiree's hand.  It's sweet to see a 9 year old boy who will still hold his Dad's hand, but especially sweet to see my two kids still willing to hold hands...

48.  Sleeping Through the Night -- Elijah has been having scary nightmares lately, but has made some progress on sleeping through the night.  I've told him everyone wakes up in the middle of the night and he just needs to remind himself to "Roll over and pick a new dream".

49. Looking at Old Photos from past Thankfulness posts:

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Family Literacy Day

Family Literacy Day is right around the corner -- next Tuesday -- January 27, 2015!  Mark the date on your calendar and brainstorm fun things to do as a family!

Thanks to ABC -- Life Literacy Canada here is a list of FUN ways to celebrate learning as a family:

1. Write a joke book with your family.
2. Read a bedtime story to the grown-up putting you to bed.
3. Make up a new recipe together and post it online.
4. Tell knock-knock jokes together while doing the dishes.
5. Organize a book swap at your school.
6. Make up riddles and tell them to your friends.
7. Create a family book club.
8. Build a drum with your family.
9. Surf the Internet and learn about your favourite animal.
10. Make up a song about your day to sing to your family at dinnertime.
11. Write messages to your family on sticky notes and post them around the house.
12. Create a story about what you’ll be doing for Family Literacy Day.
13. Play a board game together.
14. Build an acrostic poem using your hero’s name.
15. Make an origami boat and see if it will float.

If you have some great ideas for making learning (and literacy) fun -- feel free to add them in the comments!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

The Great Canadian Blog Bash 2011

Welcome to my blog!  I'm pleased to be participating in 

The Great Canadian Blog Bash!  

  

Elijah waiting for the Olympic Torch Feb 2010

Stompin' Tom Connors (of "The Hockey Song" fame) wrote this song "Name the Capital".  The video is like a cross-country road trip of cities across Canada from west to east (although the three territories in the north aren't mentioned).  Desiree got an excellent mark in Grade 2 Socials Studies because she used this song to learn all the capital cities.

The song was written in 1972, but one photograph in the video shows the start of game two of the 1992 World Series where the U.S. military honor guards displayed the Canadian flag upside down during the signing of the national anthems.  We're Canadian so we forgive them.

In 1999 the Northwest Territories became two separate territories -- the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.  It was news to me that there had been talk of re-naming the Northwest Territories and that the name "Bob" was at the top of the polls.  We Canadians are nothing, if not funny...

2008

For those that are new to my blog...  I'm Chelsey 

-- an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom 

who loves all things childish.  

I love God and I'm proud to be a Canadian.  

Ernie and I have been married for nearly 14 years.  Ernie had a stroke 5 years ago that has left him permanently disabled due to cognitive symptoms so life for us is complicated and stressful much of the time.  When times are good we love spending time together as a family -- having fun and making memories... 

I enjoy learning and helping my kids learn in fun and creative ways.  

We are often reading, singing, biking, watching movies, climbing trees and making crafts together. 

Desiree (7) is a budding author -- she writes books and diary entries in bed at night when other children in our time zone are fast asleep. 

Elijah (5) is an actor in the making -- he has lately taken to wearing his Superman pajama top in public and making a curl in the middle of his forehead.  

    

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

And, of course, Happy Independence Day to my American friends too...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Joy in the Journey -- Ultimate Blog Party 2011!!!

Hi!  I'm Chelsey -- an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom who loves all things childish.  I love playing and imagining -- and encouraging my kids to do the same.  I dislike housework and would rather play a board game or watch an animated movie with my family than scrub my house spotless.  Incidentally, I love incidental learning.

2008

Ernie and I, have been married for nearly 14 years.  Ernie had a stroke for unexplained reasons five years ago.  His stroke (and the resulting brain damage) is often overwhelming so I don't blog about it much.  



We don't know why things in life happen as they do, but we trust and love God despite (or because?) of it all.  

We look for the joy in the journey...

Desiree (7) & Elijah (5) love drawing, crafting, climbing trees and pretending.

Desiree is a budding author -- she writes books in bed at night when other children in our time zone are fast asleep.


Elijah is an actor in the making -- he answers to names such as Spiderman or Woody and likes to wear fedoras and superhero capes (but never at the same time).  




I love taking pictures, but get stressed out when it comes to uploading them.  We have more recent family pictures, but that one from 2008 was right there on my computer.  See how the kids have grown?  Yes, that was my goal all along...
  

I'm all about finding balance these days -- I don't want to waste time trying to make things "perfect".  I want to spend time with my family -- having fun and making memories and maybe blogging a little about it along the way...    

   

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Fishing off the Balcony -- Thankfulness

More things I'm thankful for:

34. Vacation Bible School -- the kids has a blast at Space VBS this year. Now that Elijah is four, this was his first time participating officially (and not via the nursery with me) so it was monumental for him.

Unfortunately, the first day when I attempted to "let go" a little and let Elijah go with his group and teacher without me, he ended up outside... alone... He finished a robot craft and then was told he had to leave it there. Poor Elijah didn't know he would get his robot back at the end of the day... After that I shadowed his group for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll let go next year...

It was great watching my kids and all the other kids learn about God and about creation! I especially loved the singing time and love hearing my kids continue to sing the songs they learned there.

35. Boating on the lake in our inflatable dinghies. We went out two by two -- boys in one boat and girls in the other and then Desiree and I watched as those boys flew across the lake thanks to Daddy's muscles. Desiree commented a time or two about it and I told her clearly she had picked the wrong boat to go in if she wanted to go fast.

On the return trip it was even worse because the wind was against us. I honestly wasn't sure if we'd make it back to shore without being towed by a motor boat. But -- we finally did! The silver lining is that Desiree learned a lot about rowing through first hand experience (when I needed to take breaks) and the lake was so beautiful.

36. Watching the kids practice fishing off the balcony. Desiree (6) had one particular amazing cast that landed her fish weight right in the neighbour's tree! Daddy said "Kiss it goodbye", but Mommy (that's me) climbed the fence and then the neighbour's tree up to about 15 feet and rescued the fish weight. Interestingly, climbing that tree worked more muscles than the 2+ hours rowing out on the lake did?!?!

37. Fishing for real at the lake. Now this was technically a horrible day because Ernie had a meltdown (due to his stroke symptoms) and didn't actually fish with us after all, but if you look at the pictures it looks like we've had the time of our lives... Parts were great. I fished with the kids and rescued snagged hooks (although Elijah didn't get the benefit of a real hook due to age and impulsivity!).

Desiree's attitude impressed me most of all. After saying all day "I'll be so disappointed if I don't catch a fish" she left the lake saying "At least I got to feed a fish!" One tiny 3 inch fish nipped her bait off the hook and swam away...

38. Matching outfits. See in the fishing trip pictures how Desiree and Elijah have matching shirts? I love matching outfits...

I know some people are upset when they find out what they're wearing matches someone else, but not me... When I was growing up my Grandma would make matching dresses for my two cousins and me. We'd plan intentionally to match. Being an only child for 11 years I think it was important to me because it symbolized belonging.

PS: At my wedding, my mom and my mother in law unintentionally had matching brocade dresses in two different shades of blue. Thankfully both of them are like me when it comes to matching and they thought it was so neat (and funny) that they matched!!!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Spending Time with Oma -- Thankfulness

The continuation of thankfulness...

27. Desiree "reminding" us that it was the birthday of her stuffed cat, Meows. We went to an event at a farmer's market with face painting, hot dogs, corn on the cob and watermelon (all free!). We called this event Meows' "birthday party". Maybe your family doesn't celebrate the birthdays of stuffed animals, but we do and we have great fun doing it!

28. Desiree's reaction to finding rhubarb at the produce store: "Mom!!!! Come and see!!!! They have rhubarb!!!" She was ecstatic! We also grow it in our backyard, but mostly pencil sized. Desiree, Elijah and I made a rhubarb meringue when my parents were here for a one night stop over on their way home. My dad loves rhubarb, but his reaction was quite subdued compared with Desiree's.

29. Being given a baby butterfly to take home from school. The class had hatched butterflies and when it was time to let them go this one wouldn't fly away. I carefully carried it all the way home and protected it from the wind. We took pictures with it and then let it free on a snapdragon plant in our backyard -- never to be seen again...

30. Time with "the cousins" -- my cousin, her husband and their kids who came from Alberta to visit for a couple days. My kids have never met their first cousins so these third cousins are quite a big deal! They had water fights, played Wii and we all had a trip to the water park together.

31. Going to the school's Beach day -- it was dreary and windy, but good fun still. Elijah crying as if his heart were broken when he saw a dead crab with no legs... Elijah yelling excitedly when he saw a live crab in the wild for the first time (that's his expression in the collage). Me convincing the kids that it was okay to catch them!

32. The little girl in the center of this photo from Ernie's 36km run. We asked her dad to take a photo for us so we wouldn't have a person missing from the picture and she automatically ran into the picture. How cute is that? She figured if her dad was taking the picture she should be in it!

33. Ernie's mom, Oma, coming from Ontario for a long-awaited visit and to see Ernie's run. It had been two years since we'd seen her last so the kids (now 4 and 6) were super excited. While she was here she gave me a tutorial on my sewing machine, baked all sorts of goodies for us, learned how to play Wii, gardened with Ernie and went for a hike at the river with the family. We all miss her now that she's back in Ontario...

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July...

Happy Canada day to my fellow Canadians. I know I'm late to join the fun, but better late than never?

(This is Elijah as we waited for the Olympic Torch earlier this year)


Due to the kids and I having dreadful colds we celebrated at home small scale. My mother in law, visiting from Ontario, made cheesecake and we all watched "Perfect Strangers" and laughed and laughed. In the evening I watched the fireworks from our living room window as is tradition.


Happy 4th of July to my American friends.

I hope everyone had fun celebrating the country they love!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Scheduling Family Fun.

Life is challenging for us because of my husband's stroke symptoms. So... I decided we needed some structure in our chaotic life -- a bit of predictability and things to look forward to. Here's the schedule I've come up with:


Tuesday -- crafts
Wii Wednesday
Thursday -- Awana (or theater class)
Friday -- Family sleepover and movie
Saturday -- board games
Sunday -- church & Little House on the Prairie





Monday has ended up being a day where we do whatever we may have missed throughout the prior week. ie: if we go out Saturday night we can do board games on Monday instead. We're flexible, but it's nice to have a schedule to work around.

The kids most look forward to Wii Wednesday and Family sleepovers (which technically only include the kids and I for the sleepover portion). My husband watches the movie with us, but he tried staying for a sleepover once and got annoyed that Desiree and I were whispering. I told him: "Whispering is what sleepovers are all about!"

Even though life may be unpredictable for us, having a weekly schedule (essentially a weekly set of traditions) has given us something to look forward to -- a lot of quality time together.

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~

Ultimate Blog Party 2010!!!

Hi! I'm Chelsey. This is my first time ever participating in the Ultimate Blog Party so thanks for mingling with me in the corner of the virtual room.



When I was little I told my mom when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher, a singer, an artist, an author & a mom. My mom asked how I was going to do all that & I told her "Well, I'm going to be a mom & a mom IS all those things!"
Now I know how true that was! I am currently an elementary teacher turned stay at home mom. I'm singing, drawing, making up stories & teaching my kids every moment I get & loving nearly every minute of it! (See how honest I was to add "nearly"? lol)


My husband, Ernie, and I met when we were both counselors at a Kid's Camp. We have been married for 13 years this summer. It's unbelievable how fast time flies!

Ernie had a stroke for unexplained reasons at the age of 33 when our son was only 3 months old. He is permanently disabled because of the effects of the stroke -- comprehension, memory, impulsivity, insomnia & mood management issues as well as random balance issues & seizures (which took a year to get under control with medication).

Despite all the daily struggles my husband & I continue to love one another, love our kids & love God.

Desiree(6) is in grade one and loves singing, drawing, climbing trees and pretending. Elijah (4) loves doing the same things -- especially with his big sister. Desiree is sensitive and crafty. Elijah is mischievous and cuddly. Life with them is always interesting!


I love all things childish (watching animated movies, browsing in the toy section, etc). I like reading (kid and adult books) and love crafting in random moments of free time (knitting, crocheting, paper crafts...). I especially love making memories with my family. On this blog I post about a bit of everything -- the fun childish things, the simple things and every so often (I hope) something profound.

If you're interested, please feel free to follow me!

~❀~ Chelsey ~❀~