Back Woods Wife

I’ve moved!

backwoodswife — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:46:49 +0000

www.backwoodswife.ca

Grouting the Shower

backwoodswife — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Yes, spring is here and our septic system is thawing out after a very cold, very long winter. We had trouble with our leaching pit freezing partway through the winter and as a result we have had running water but have not been able to drain it through the pipes. This has meant Dwayne carrying out bucket after bucket of wash water every day. It has also meant that we have not showered in our own house yet! When we first moved in our hot water heater had not yet arrived. Then the hot water heater arrived but the installation kit was back ordered. For MONTHS. Shortly after the installation kit arrived our septic system froze up. Since December we have been showering at my parents’ and my sister and brother-in-law’s homes. We have really appreciated being able to shower, believe me, but it will be nice to shower in our own home, both for us and for our families as well. All of this bucketing has been quite time consuming and each shower trip takes roughly 1-2 hours depending on how many errands we tag onto the trip. The leaching pit’s thawing will give us the gift of time and Dwayne’s burly arms a break. The ground is also thawing nicely and soon it will be thawed deep enough down that we can bring in some heavy equipment to dig up the system and bury it deeper to prevent freezing next winter. A day or two of work will well be worth it come October!

It’s Official!

backwoodswife — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:14:00 +0000

We have a third thumb-s*cker in the family!

Happy Mother’s Day!

backwoodswife — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:20:00 +0000

We are enjoying a quiet afternoon today. Dwayne made french toast for lunch and now we are all in various states of repose.

Abby is alternating between dozing and wakefulness,

Hendrik is singing and playing with his trains,

Riley is napping,

Dwayne is reading,

and I am blogging and catching up on the news.

In a little while we are heading over to Mom and Dad’s for a Mother’s Day BBQ. BBQ photos to follow…

A Boy and His Shirts

backwoodswife — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:17:00 +0000

You know how a lot of kids have a stuffed toy or a blanket that they really love? Hendrik has his shirts. Technically they’re my shirts but he has absconded them and would actually have several more if I didn’t convince him that I actually do need to wear shirts.

I think it all started when he began sleeping on his own in his big boy bed. He wasn’t too keen on the idea as he was used to sleeping with us for at least a portion of the night. I offered him one of my shirts as I couldn’t sleep in the bed with him. He took it and has had it every night since (the blue one). Later on he decided that he should also have my green shirt. Both of these shirts are made of a silky cotton blend and any shirt that has a similar feel is one that I have to fight to keep! Many of my maternity shirts were of this composition so any chance he got he would try to convince me to give him another shirt.

These shirts are naptime and bedtime essentials and are very precious to him. Occasionally Riley will streak past him and snatch one and toddle away as fast as her little legs will carry her. She knows she’s got something that her brother thinks is good and she wants in on it. This doesn’t tend to go over well with Hendrik. However, on occasion when he is in a benevolent mood, he will share one of his shirts with Riley. Every day this week he has woken up and offered one of his shirts to Abby “to snuggle wif” for a little while. Very sweet.

He loves his little sisters, sharing his shirts says so.

Our Little Sunbeam

backwoodswife — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:11:00 +0000

Life is good when you have a cookie in one hand and a toothbrush in the other.

Gardening tools!

backwoodswife — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:27:00 +0000

Today a box arrived in the mail from Lee Valley Tools. We are big fans of Lee Valley Tools in this family. Great quality tools and gardening supplies and great books and gift ideas as well. I ordered a little hand rake, cultivator for myself and a set of colourful moulded plastic garden tools for the kids.

Photo from LeeValleyTools.com

Riley and Hendrik were both thrilled. We plan to test them out later on this afternoon in the yard. There are a lot of little sticks and pine cones and things that need to be swept up.

Right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot

backwoodswife — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:13:00 +0000

Last week I mentioned to Hendrik that he had a right hand and a left hand, a right foot and a left foot. I didn’t know if really understood what I was talking about but I thought it worth trying anyhow. Today he came up to me and said, “Mommy, this is my right hand and this is my left hand. This is my right foot and this is my left foot.” He had it right. I was suprised that he had remembered as I had only told him about this once. Later on I asked him to show me which hands and feet were left and right and he again did it correctly. I tried another time later in the day with the same result. “Great!”, I thought. “He already knows right and left, this will helpful for getting his shoes and boots on properly.”

I excitedly phoned my mom and told her the good news. She was appropriately impressed and proud of her grandchild as grandmas tend to be.

This evening we went to visit my parents and I thought I would demonstrate his new found left/right identification skills. I asked him to show Grandma his right hand. Lifting up his left hand he said, “This is my right hand.” Then he lifted up his right hand and said, “This is my left hand.”

Repeat with the feet.

Mom was pretty amused but told Hendrik what a great job he did as grandmas tend to do no matter the outcome.

Note to self: Pride commeth before the fall.

The past week…

backwoodswife — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:39:00 +0000

- A lovely visit with Dwayne’s parents
- A visit to the snake pits
- A Sunday afternoon potluck at a good friend’s new home
- Abby turned 2 months old (already!)
- Riley says “Neigh” while playing with toy horses
- Hendrik has used his potty twice
- The little cabin now has a proper tin roof

Today I got a call from my former piano teacher. She told me she was thinking of holding a garage sale but then decided it would be too much of a hassle and thought my sister and I could use some of the items she had planned to sell. It worked out perfectly. Many of the items that she gave us were things we had been looking for or wishing for in our homes. Area rugs, hall runners, light fixtures, small appliances, a much needed storage unit for DVDs and CDs…wonderful!

Paper trains

backwoodswife — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:49:00 +0000

Our little guy loves the “Thomas the Train” series of books and DVDs and loves to reenact the stories with the train characters that he has. Those that he doesn’t have we cut out of the brochure that comes with each train you purchase. Those 3 page spreads are precious to our boy and he insists on cutting out the pictures of the trains that he likes. In fact, as I type now, I am being approached. “Can you cut Edward and Henry out Mommy?” Once they are cut out they will be affectionately known as “Paper Edward” and “Paper Henry”. Those little paper bits are every bit as important to him as the actual trains that he has. Dwayne and I have been driven to distraction a few times when one of his favourite paper trains has gone missing. There is great sadness from Hendrik and great persistence to find the missing train as well. Some days he will walk around with paper trains pinched in between all of his fingers on both hands. Sometimes he won’t let go of them until he falls asleep! I love that he is using his imagination and it is so much fun to watch him interact with these “toys”.