She cut her hair.

In case you haven't seen my Facebook status update, Lillian cut her hair yesterday. It was only upon closer observation today that I realized that she scalped herself. Now, her saving grace is that she did it underneath some longer hair. You can only tell if you look at her hair a certain way. I guess this is a certain rite of passage. Everyone seems to have a story from their childhood where either they or a sibling were involved in some sort of snipping incident. (It is interesting to note that typically only one sibling is involved in such an incident. Does this mean that Elijah and Nora are safe from any future hair events?) I vaguely remember my own snipping incident at the age of four. I cut my bangs. I don't think I actually remember the event. I've just seen enough pictures that I'm somehow convinced that I remember it. So I think that Lillian has learned her lesson about hair cutting. When I asked her who could cut her hair she said "only mommy or daddy or dramma (grandma) or my other dramma.". She was curious what would happen if she cut it. Now she knows.

Soccer

Our month of May has been full with Elijah and Lillian taking swimming lessons and Elijah playing soccer twice a week.  Swimming lessons have finished and now we're in the home stretch with soccer. 

I am glad to say that Elijah has gotten more confident in his attempts to get the ball and he will proudly tell you that he scored a goal.  (OK, it was against the parents and they let him score, but still.  It was a huge boost to his confidence.)

Here are some pictures of his game tonight.

I have also included a picture of Lillian and the branch she found.  She was walking around edge of the field waving her branch saying "Hosanna Hosanna".  Guess whose kid goes to church?

Blogging on the iPad

We got an iPad several months ago. We love it. I have enjoyed having something to do while feeding Nora (which unfortunately often also includes involvement in a vary addictive Smurfs game that is my son's. I'm only helping him. Really. I don't care about the outcome of the game at all.)

It only occurred to me yesterday that I could also be using it to blog. I'm kind of tied down when I'm feeding so I may as well try it out. The only issue I have is that typing is rather cumbersome.

As someone who got her very first typewriter in grade eight, I have been using both hands to type for a long time. The location of the keys is second nature to me so one hand typing seems to take a long time. I'm getting better at it.

It seems as though Nora is done eating. I guess that's the end of my blogging for tonight. I have to quickly go check on the Smurfs game. For Elijah.

Nora - 5 months

Day at the farm

Elijah's pre-school class went to have a day at the farm a few weeks ago. He had a great time and keeps asking when we're going back to the farm. I'm glad that they have family farm days that we can just go visit and not commit to raising cattle. I don't think I'd do well with that.

(On a side note: It was funny to find out that the farm that we were visiting was run by a friend of mine from high school. She has six kids. One of which is 14. That made me feel old. At least I feel wise too.)

Eliajh's first fish

I went away this weekend for a fun weekend with the girls in Fargo.  While I was gone, Trevor took the kids to the lake and Elijah caught his first fish.  He was very, very proud.  As was I.  Here are some pictures of the great event.

Gardening

The one thing that I miss about our old house is the garden. I loved the garden. It was big and had wonderful soil. And it had raspberries. I love fresh picked raspberries.

As a child I was often sent to pick the raspberries in our garden. This was not a task I particularly enjoyed. I didn't like how scratchy the bushes were and I definitely didn't enjoy the bugs. Somehow it seemed as though mosquitos were always lingering there, waiting for me to show up. Knowing that my blood was particularly tasty. I have memories of being sent back outside to finish picking. "Remember, you need to MOVE the branches."

So the raspberry bushes at our first home were a bit of a pleasant surprise when we realized how plentiful and tasty they were. For a few brief weeks in the summer we got to enjoy their gift to us. The size of our garden was also a gift. We could plant more produce than we ever needed. It was fun to share and have others enjoy the tomato plants that seemed to explode in our backyard. (We also got the chance to offer a fresh tomato to our neighbour boy who had no idea what it was. That still stands out as an odd moment to me.)

And then we moved to to our current home. Everything was bigger and better. Except our garden. Less sunlight and less good soil.

But we have been trying. Last year we made a garden that gave us some fresh stuff. This year we've learned a few lessons that will hopefully increase the fresh stuff at our table. It brings a smile to my heart to see my kids wandering around the backyard, eating a tomato like an apple. I love the thought that my kids have no room for supper because they were too busy filling their tummies with the good stuff from our garden.

This afternoon we repainted our garden sticks to mark out where our rows are. I'm looking forward to our garden this year.

Oh yeah, and on Saturday, we went to the Green House and got some raspberry plants. They are now safely planted in our backyard. I'm looking forward to sending my kids out to pick them.