First day of school, part 2

Last Wednesday, all the boys finally went back to school and the autumn routine started again... the lunches, the homework, the curriculum nights, the back to school shopping, the after school activities rush and the "it is no longer summer so you have to go to bed at a reasonable time" arguments ;) I am happy that I can now throw $5 at 2/3 boys when I don't feel like making lunch (the high school has a cafeteria). Oliver is pretty simple because all he likes to eat for lunch are salami sandwiches with cucumbers on the side or pepperoni sticks with cucumbers on the side (do you see a trend?) ;) I think that I finally am (relatively) organized for my own semester... but I am pretty sure that I am wrong and something will come up next week. This period is always extremely chaotic but I think that we are now settling in...

Hope your transition to the autumn routine is going well xox

Checking in

Hello all! Just checking in ;) I have been a very crappy at keeping up this blog lately... oops! Everything seems to be busy on every level. The boys are already into their football and rugby seasons. Andreas and I are starting summer soccer now. At work, we just transitioned from winter to summer semesters. Oliver had his birthday party. The boys' school years are winding down. I am preparing for my trip to Denmark (more on that later). Anyway, you get the idea ;) 

Here are some pictures of the past week or so... I promise to check in more often... and I know that I have said that a few times lately ;) Hope you are all doing well and have the patience to also check in here from time to time xox

Oliver at football

Oliver's birthday party

Nicka at his graduating class car wash

Alexander's rugby game

Thanks for checking in :)

Flooding... again....

In 2017, some neighbouring towns ended up flooded (see here). It was really terrible and many people lost their homes because of it. Even more terrible is that many people finally rebuilt only to have more flooding over the past few days. Can you imagine? After finally fixing your home, it floods again. So awful!
So, today, Alexander, Nicklas and I went to help bag sand so that those affected by the rising waters could protect their homes and those that already had some flooding could minimize the amount of water coming in. Although the initial intent was so that they could burn off a bit of energy, not fight and stay away from video games, it was sobering to see so many come to pick up sandbags for their homes. We were really happy to see that quite a few people came out to help. The event was so well coordinated and we felt blessed that we could help out. They both said that it felt good to have filled so many bags with sand... and that filled my heart.

Thinking of all those who are trying their best to save their homes... again....

Thankful to be able to help out on such a beautiful day

Team work

Look! No fighting ;)

Water filling up the streets near where we were bagging sand

So many who needed bags and, thankfully, so many who came to fill them

More sand to put into bags

Joker in the genes

Andreas is a joker and the boys are proving that they have the same joker genes. Do you remember when Nicklas broke his arm in the autumn (see here) and I got some make-your-mother-panick-with-all-the-drama photos? Anyway, they went back for his 6 month post cast removal check up and, guess what? More drama photos 😉 Now, you know why I drink wine 😉 Actually, there are many reasons but this is just one of them 😉

Hope you all had a good Monday! Tomorrow, we are off to Ottawa to get our fill of museums (read: getting the boys off their screens). I will let you know how this goes! Wish me luck! xox

Drama pose #1

Drama pose #2... he is actually pretty good at these ;)

Haha! You got me, kid ;)

Saturday

Since the boys have been sick all week, I fell behind in a lot of home and work stuff so, today, I made myself a very long to-do list. It is filled with all sorts of important stuff like 1) correct manuscript for submission to journal, 2) prepare lecture for Monday's class, 3) finish folding laundry, 4) shovel balcony in back of house because I am sick of seeing all the snow on it, 4) take dogs out for longer walk because I was in no mood to do it this morning so they got stuck with a quick pee exit, 5) vacuum, 6) banking (because I am sure that I am late for something... just haven't had the time to figure out what yet), 7) organize trip to Netherlands (yes, Ageeth, I am still coming!), 8) sit with Alexander to get homework organized for Monday, 8) vacuum again because I am sure that someone has messed the house up since the last time I did it- see item 5, 9) have more coffee because the first pot will not be enough and 10) pick up Andreas from the airport (yes, he is on his way home... just in time to clean up the latest snowfall)!

Wish me luck! This list is about as high as our snowbanks! Happy Saturday to you all xox

Random internet image... but, oh, so true!

The memory of a mother

Actually, the title of this blog post is a complete misnomer. This mother has absolutely NO memory left. Or, rather, I should say that I have a very selective memory. For example, I cannot remember what I am supposed to do in the next 20 minutes, nor do I remember the names of my children (aren't they all named after the cat?) BUT I can remember the words to most songs from the 1980s. I will look blankly at Andreas when he asks where I will be going on Saturday afternoon BUT I remember the name of my friend's dog from 1975 (it was Rusty). I am very good at forgetting when bills are due (sorry cell phone company!) but will always remember the birthdays of people that I haven't seen in about 20 years and the name of my kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Brabant at Willowdale).

To be honest, sometimes my poor memory worries me (my apologies to my student who has been in about 5 of my classes and I still couldn't remember her name!). I am feeling the need to write things down more and more and my agenda has become my new best friend (that is, if I remember to put it in my bag in the morning). I am hoping that my memory is just hiding somewhere between the lunch requests, grocery lists, play dates, doctor appointments, work meetings and Oliver waking me up in the middle of the night because he had a bad dream ;) Or maybe it just froze in our beautiful winter weather ;)

Oh yeah- the name of the song is Heart of Glass and the band is Blondie ;)

Happy Wednesday xox

Random... but appropriate... thing that I found on the internet ;)

Why I have grey hair, part 2: homework

The boys spend way more energy AVOIDING their homework than actually DOING it. In turn, I spend WAY more energy nagging them to do it than it is actually worth ;) When they eventually sit down and start working, they get mad at me. Like it is my fault they have homework. Only MY students can get mad at me... I deserve that ;) If they are not silently simmering, then they like to fool around. Homework is only fun when you can piss your brother off in the process ;) I am either the nag... or the ref ;)

Wishing you all a happy Monday xox

Asking for trouble....

I feel another grey hair developing ;)

Why I have grey hair- part 1: my husband

This past Saturday, I had to work. So- what does any normal OCD mother do when she is away and the house is full of boys? She texts them from work. Honestly, I should know better....

Wishing you all a great day! xox

Some of Andreas' message does not appear on my screen shot because it was too long... but you get the idea ;)

Cooling down

... and, suddenly, it is Thursday ;)

The past week or so has been very warm... like summer warm... and I have been enjoying it (Andreas, not so much) ;) I was on a mission to absorb as much heat as possible because, you know, we are about 3 months away from winter (boo!). Today, the temperature dropped... from heat wave to seasonal.. I guess seasonal is still good ;) For the end of September, it is still amazingly green... I will take that!

Our family life has been pretty busy lately. We haven't even started the heavy winter activity period for the kids so we'll see how many more grey hairs I will be getting ;) I am pretty thankful that Alexander is not swimming this year.. I would be living in my car if that was the case ;)

Hope you are all doing well! I have tried repeatedly to come here and write something but, as always, something comes up (like boy homework or dinner prep) and I end up flaking out on the couch before having the chance to log on ;)

Wish you all a happy Thursday xox

Now, here are some random Montreal photos ;)

In the bad books ;)

My boys are not big fans of reading. Actually, Nicklas is not bad. He has some favourite authors and, if I ask him to read, he does... and willingly. The other two are terrible! Alexander, when he was little, loved books. Suddenly, in grade 4, his love of reading was suddenly over :( Now, it is like pulling teeth to get him to read anything. Oliver is even worse: he has decided that he cannot read and, no matter what I do, he is not changing his mind. All summer, I have been trying to do little 10 minute manageable blocks of reading time and it has just ended up being a form of mother-torture ;) I took him to the library to choose his own books (because the 5 million books that I bought while trying to get the other 2 boys to read were just not enough) and- still- he is not into reading. I try to make it more fun by playing reading games while we trudge through the book. I also try to alternate between me reading a page and him reading a page, just so it isn't so tiring for him. I provide French books (he is in French immersion), English books, comic books, space books, fiction books, non-fiction books, reptile books, cheetah books, dog books, Pokemon books, karate books, adventure books and he is still not into them. I have borrowed reading technique books from friends who have children who are good readers (I guess I was hoping for osmosis?). I guess I just have to accept that Oliver will read when he is good and ready. Or, considering that he tells me that Ninjas don't need to read**, I might have to wait until he changes career choices ;)

**Yes, I do tell him that Ninjas have to be able to read the instructions that come from their Samurai Masters but Oliver tells me that they just know it all by magic. No reading required ;)

Happy Friday to you all xox

Unexpected shopping

Yesterday was a kind of Murphy's Law day: Andreas had to go to work for a few hours so he left with our "back up" car. The plan was that I would, while he was gone, get ready and head out to Ikea when Andreas got home. About 20 minutes after he left, Alexander answered the phone for me. It was Andreas, insisting to talk to me... Oh oh... that didn't sound like good news! I took the phone, only to find out that our old car had died on the highway in a dramatic "all lights flickering on the dashboard, with loss of breaks and steering kind of way". Luckily, Andreas managed to get off the highway and onto the service road. Frantically calling roadside assistance, I had a bad feeling that we would end up buying more than a small carpet and set of dishes from Ikea ;)

Anyway, 3 hours later, we had almost $400 in our pockets from the scrap yard and a signed contract for a new (well... new to us) car. I will show the pictures when we get it next week....

Welcome back to the post-holiday reality ;) xox

Our final few minutes with the car...

This experience was total boy cool ;)

Bye bye, Mazda!

Things that I have learned from boys....

I have learned that boys are really noisy... like punching each other.... like to make farting noises..... and fight about really dumb things. Really. Dumb. Things.

So, I am sitting in front of my computer, drinking an iced coffee and writing my blog post... and learning that the happy place in my head is a good place to be ;)

Love to you all xox

Let the craziness begin ;)

Today, Andreas left for a few week's sabbatical in Copenhagen. He will be there for over 3 weeks before he heads to his parents' home in Sweden and we will join him there. I an really looking forward to that but, in the mean time, I will most likely lose all of my marbles ;) It is the most chaotic time of the year (end of school, soccer, soccer, soccer, exams, meetings, more soccer, dog duties, catching up on work before the holidays, packing, getting organized for our trip... on top of the regular family craziness) and- guess what?- I get to do it all by myself ;) Yes, I love my husband... and if he ever doubts it, I will show him all the additional grey hairs that I will earn over the next 3 weeks ;)

Wish me luck... and bring me some wine ;) xox

Forgetfulness

Since having kids, I have become forgetful. It could also be that having kids coincided with going through my 30s and into my 40s.... but I prefer to blame the kids ;)
I used to have an awesome memory: Phone numbers? No problem. I will call you! Agenda? No need! I will remember! Faces? I could always remember your name and how I met you. Birthdays? Let me pick up the phone and wish you a happy day on the right day... Now, I can barely remember my name, whether I need to get a certain kid to a certain place at a certain time (plus or minus half an hour) and if I turned off the stove ;)
I remember coming back to my PhD studies after my mat leave with Alexander. Someone visiting our lab asked me what my project was about and I totally blanked. I had no idea... even after spending the last 3 years on it. I think I made something up... seriously. At that very moment, I panicked... What happened to my memory?!??! Flash forward 12 years and I have become somewhat accustomed to it ;) Well, at least, I can laugh about it ;) Or I can just blame the kids ;)

Wishing you all a happy Monday... I mean, Tuesday... Wednesday? Who cares.... as long as it is happy ;) xox

Waters receding

Today was, luckily, a dry day. Heck, we even had sun :) The flood waters are very slowly receding. Good news- yes- but it is also a point in time where people start to realize what they lost :( I volunteered at the boys' school today (they had a fun run around the block) and, when I was outside, a boy came up to me and asked when the kids would be running. I told him soon and asked if he was one of our students. He said no and proceeded to tell me that he was visiting his aunt and uncle because his house was full of water. Ugh! How do you answer to that one? Poor family!

One good thing about this flood: it is nice to see people wanting to help each other. This afternoon, I picked up some toiletries to donate and the lady at the cash was actually suggesting things that other people had not bought yet. Imagine- a live grocery list ;)

It will probably take months for some of these families to get some sort of normal back to their lives. Terrible, yes, but I hope that they can feel that others care...

Happy Wednesday to you all! xox

This is one of the fields where I play soccer in the summer. No, it doesn't usually look like that. (Picture found on the net)

No break

It is still raining... :(

My mother sent me these pictures today, taken from a drone (I have no idea who actually took them so my apologies for the lack of photo credits). It shows part of the flooded area, about a 15 minute drive from our house. Actually, on Saturday, my weekend soccer game was cancelled because the place where we play (about 5 minute walk from the area in the pictures) was deemed dangerous to bring people into :(

On the top picture, the actual river is on the right hand side. On the bottom one, the river is at the bottom of the image. The rest of the water is the flood.. and covering parking lots, streets and peoples' properties :(

If you can, please send positive "dry" thoughts to our neighbours. It is really appreciated!

xox to you all!