Swamped

Well, James did end up making it to daycare.(only through much cooersion- he is looking forward to tomorrow when they are having a 'Beach Day'
Today at work I had to do up a plan for the summer and it seems enormous! I know I can do it, but it's more work than I thought, and loads of writing.
Today I spend researching thermocouples for a project to put together for the students.
I was hoping to only work 4 days a week and paint the house on the 5th day, but I'm thinking that won't happen until at least August.
I picked James up early from the daycare and we came home, got the laundry in and have been eagerly doing lessons from this learning package we got about a month ago.
We are working on consonant sounds in the phonics factory and working on learning addition in the math factory.
Back to lessons now!

3 generations of Rogers boys 

No daycare?

James decided he didn't want to go to daycare this morning.
So I said that Mommy was working at home today and if he stayed on his bed and played quietly he could stay home. I figured he would last 2 minutes and then be begging to go to the daycare. So far 1/2 hour. Before he headed off for his self-imposed exile he did inquire if he could eat lunch with we when I had my lunch. I did let him know I would feed him. I wonder how long this will last? Do I no longer have to pay babysitting fees? Lol.

Name that song

I have just gone through the gazillion photos I took and posted a few, in no particular order. (I could have organized them but I just posted them in the order the 'hello' photo service gave them to me.)

Hopefully, they give a bit of a snapshot of our vacation. I'll email a pile of them to Mike too because I said I would. (Sorry for clogging your Inbox Mike + Heather!)

I've had this song in my head and I can't remember what the song is or where I heard it- if anyone knows more about the song let me know:

My Redeemer is faithful and true
...
His Grace is sufficient
His Grace it will win
His Grace is enough for my doubt and my sin

I'd sing it for you but that might be scary! Just have to see if anyone knows it from the words!

James and his grannie  

James with his rocks by the water 

James with cousins 

James on the rocks by the water. 

James after getting a haircut. (He did not enjoy his first trip to a real barber, but it was very fast!) 

Family picture at Marla's 

James enjoyed all his time by the water 

Back!

We made the 20 hour trek back.
I have lots to post about but can't really think where to start.
I will post many pictures soon.
We saw so many relatives and so much of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
I wrote a few posts in my head but am too tired to go digging for them up there.

A funny story from the zoo.
Myron's hat blew off and into the fenced area between the people and these crazy peacock-like birds. The birds went nuts hissing at the thing. The hat really freaked them out. Myron jumping the fence to retrieve said hat did not bother them at all.

Moncton

We are currently at Myron's brother Mike's house for some sort of family turkey dinner. I believe they eat the turkey not the family.
We drove to Nova Scotia yesterday and had a wonderful evening with Myron's friends Andrew and Karen and their 3 children. We drove back from Nova Scotia today.
We spent the weekend at Myron's Mom's place down by the ocean. I love going to the ocean early in the morning with noone about.
James loved the 20 hour train ride down and likes all the driving around we do now.
Tomorrow we are to see Myrons Dad, then back to Myron's mom place for Thursday and to the zoo and the train back on Friday.
Will do a more detailed update when we are back!

Up early

I was up at 5am because that's when our alarm normally goes off of late.
James was up at 5:45am- about 1/2 an hour earlier than usual.
He packed his lion backpack (after his morning snuggle) and declared he was ready to go.
I told him we couldn't go until after lunch.
Then he declared he was ready for lunch. (and this was way before 7am)
Can we spell eager?

Bye bye birdies

I hung out with Kim this evening. We went to her Church and then she came by my house to pick up our birdies for their 'vacation'. James was still awake when we came in and he was happy to see all of us. I got a big hug from him. Sweet boy. I had explained to him earlier about the birds going on vacation and he was o.k. with it, but when it came to rubber meets the road time, he shed some tears asking if they were going to come back. (Rachel, I don't think this is the type of boy who will beat squirrels as in your awful, awful story.)
When I assured him that they would come back, he was o.k.
Then I put him back to bed and talked over what would be in store tomorrow and he happily fell asleep.

Kim's Church is a very interesting space to be in. The pastor is teaching about using gifts from God for God. He talked about how God uses imperfect people (because we all are imperfect) to work His Perfect work. And how God KNOWS us and so He gives us spiritual gifts that suit us.

Tomorrow I have to head down to the bank to sort out a minor problem with our mortgage, then finish packing the food, then figure out how we are getting to the station. We have to be there an hour before the train leaves to check the bagage. James didn't much like waiting for Lorna's train, but he never seems to mind waiting for his own. Hopefully, a lot of freight trains go by while we are waiting. He likes those.

Myron is hoping to take the computer in to the store tomorrow so I may not have a computer to post on. I probably wouldn't have time anyway, so I'll say goodbye now. Off to a week out East. (Glad to hear Carl is home Bea!)

Bird cages

The bird cages were disgusting, but now they are clean!
I did another set of dishes (that makes a total of 3 today so far and still more to go!)
I have to sort through all the laundry, find some lost games that I packed away to take, but apparently packed too well, and make a chicken casserole.
2 hours left before the boy returns from daycare.

Still going

Thank you Bob, for reminding me about the excitement.
I am neither anxious or excited at this time- just trying to get practical things done!
So far I've packed the clothing bag for James and I (Myron is pretty picky about what he wears, so I let him pack his own. Maybe 'let' is the wrong word)
I've put batteries in things we are bringing (a travel lite brite set and our cameras, etc.)
I've started the bread, washed dishes, hung out laundry and eaten my lunch.
I am having trouble with the weather forecast for Moncton. A few days ago it said that on Friday (when we get there) the high would be 14, now the high is listed as 25. I'm trying to bring a mixture of clothing.

Where to start?

Today James is in the daycare and I am madly preparing for our trip. Well, maybe not madly yet, but will be soon.
It is hard to decide where to start.
I have to pack clothes toys and food.
I have to get the birds cleaned up for their vacation over at Kimmie's.
I have to bake bread as we will have sandwiches for dinner tomorrow on the train.
If I'm going to bake bread, I have to do the dishes first.
Then I'd like to get the house cleaned up before we go, as I've been so busy working, I have done no cleaning!

Goodbye Dawna

Goodbye Dawna! Have a great time flying in the Prairies. We sure will miss you :)  

If God were a D.J.

This is a hilarious 8 minute video.

Today at Rustle I learned that having a sharp scraper is more useful than having a dull scraper. I started with the dull scraper trying to scrape black goo off the wall. It came off but there was a large amount of black residue left. Then Craig's new scraper was brought in. This scraper was sharp and completely removed the black goo from the wall- it also removed part of the wall, but who needs that? It made me think, sometimes we go at things in our life with a dull scraper and leave all kinds of sticky residue. We need to upgrade to sharper minds and lives! And leave the residue behind.

We saw Jared and Kath for a few short minutes and it was interesting to see that Soren was as intent on 'playing' as James is. I wake up every morning to 'Will you play with me?' James and I did play a lot today and did loads of laundry and dishes. I marked a few books after he went to bed, but I am so tired I couldn't keep it up for long.

Barney

Barney the purple dinosaur showed up and amazed the huge crowd of kiddies (not seen in the photo) James only knew one song - something about raindrops into gumdrops- which he sang along to- but after that he didn't care much for it.
 

After Barney, we went to a pet store and James enjoyed watching the kittens. 

Preparing for Barney

Yes, the big purple dinosaur will arrive in Kingston tomorrow. I have taken a day off for this big event.
There seem to be many big events (bigger than Barney) these days. Call the Butlers for theirs. My brothers' is a job offer in Cape Breton. I am so proud of him. It would be a huge move for he and Karrie from Hamilton if they take it. But, hey, James says he likes 20 hour train rides so we would still see you!

I talked with my supervisor at work and we have mapped out my work for the rest of the summer, most of which will be project development. We also talked about the summer course for next year and have agreed that I likely will not do it. I think they expect more grad students next year, and so the need for me to fill this spot is not so great. Also, I will be working on helping with the CASCA conference next summer, so it would be quite difficult for me to do both, so it all works out.

Today we went over to see the Butlers and James enjoyed playing with Tara. After we got home and had dinner we made chocolate chip & M&M cookies (a mix). I bet Bob won't be asking for these though as I don't think he likes chocolate! And I washed heaps of dishes while James played with trains.

Then we worked on this new learning plan that we have. We have been working for the past week on 'visual discrimination'. James is really good at this. But then I think the starting lesson is geared at kids younger than James' age, so I'm not sure if this is saying much. He is presented with a row of images and is asked to indicate which is different from the rest or which is the same, or the most similar depending on the question.

James has a bit of a cough tonight, so I've Vicksed him up (rubbed the vicks lotion on him)

Myron is working late tonight. He called and said he thought he would be home by 9pm but now it is 9:40 and still no sign. He must have got caught up in something or another.

Stay tuned for pictures of the giant purple beast!

Marking, marking, marking

Yesterday I spent marking a heap of exams, but they are done and ready to hand back today.
I also marked lab books and I am about 1/2 way through that. The last lab will be on Friday so my marking will be done by Monday and I will finish up the course on Monday. Tuesday I'll be at RMC (where I think my boss is none too pleased that he never sees me!) Wednesday, James is in daycare so I can prepare for our Moncton trip. Thursday, we take the train away. James is very much looking forward to the 20 hour train ride. I am not so enthousiastic!
But that is all next week. On to this week.
Today Kim and Zully are coming for lunch from 11:30-12. (I made Italian wedding soup and apparently made enough to feed an entire Italian wedding. My first time cooking with kale. And my soup is not spicy. Otherwise Kim wouldn't come) Then I have my class all afternoon (I'll spend the morning doing prep for the class). Myron is working late, so it'll just be James and I for dinner (more Italian wedding!). Tomorrow, James is not in daycare because he wanted to see Barney at the Cataraqui Centre (for those in Kingston with kids- Barney has shows Thurs 2:30, 6:30pm and same times on Friday as well). We'll call Tara tonight and see if she is free tomorrow too. Friday I have morking to do in the morning and then the last lab in the aft.

We bought a new learning program for James. It includes stuff like learning to write, learning math, learning research skills (it's supposed to cover 10 years, so lots of stuff) I think it will help James with his confidence.

Myron has all kinds of ideas for the Moncton trip, like going to Wolfville, Fredericton- but he hasn't told any of the people we plan to visit that he's planning this! They don't even know we'll be out east! I said to Myron yesterday- maybe it's time to make some phone calls? I don't think he minds having a planned out vacation, but he's not keen on planning it. I like itineraries (right Lorna?)

Joanna

Joanna formally graduated from Queen's on Friday and for all her hard work she invited some of us to her house for a party. I don't know if she had a good time (though she probably did- she generally does :) but James had a BLAST! He got to jump on her trampoline and he sat on a raft in her pool for ages. He was wiped by the time he got home. Thanks so much Joanna! (I would have pictures but I managed to lock myself out of my house so couldn't pick up my camera or even James' swimming trunks before the party- James was on the raft in his Nemo underwear)

Another special treat we had today was that Jared spoke in the Sunday service. It was so nice to hear him again. Like old times, but yet not as his outlook seems more 'apostolic' now. He spoke from Amos 5:21-+ reminding us that God is pleased when Churches take care of the poor and the marginalized. He said that "the Church exists to teach people to serve the kingdom of God".

This really resonated with me as yesterday I had been reading Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life"- I happened to start in Chapter 33 (because I was just flipping through, not actually reading) that is entitled "How real servants act" that starts by saying "We serve God by serving others" His main points were that servants make themselves available, pay attention to the needs of others, they do their best with what they have, do every task with equal dedication and are faithful.
The book is very easy to read, yet filled with all kinds of interesting things like the above.

Also, when we were at Kim's church on Wednesday, the speaker talked about Saul from 1 Samuel and how though he 'repented' when he was under some pressure he did not really want to change - he wanted relief. Rick Warren says "There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of the old ways in order to experiance the new. We fear these losses, even if our old ways were self-defeating, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar."
Saul wasn't willing to change and he lost God's favor.

Cyling at more than one speed.

When I was growing up the bike that I rode only had one speed. Now, I have a bike with many speeds. I have had this bike for a couple of years now and I have only just started using the different speeds. Mainly due to ignorance- I didn't know what the different speeds were for. I was very pleased to make it up a big hill this past week by taking it down to 1st speed.

Change is good.

At the train station

James takes time away from looking for the train to pose with Lorna 

Good bye Lorna!

We took Lorna to the train yesterday. I hope she has a good rest of the trip in Canada.
I thought James would enjoy being at the train station, but I guess waiting for someone else's train is not the same as waiting for one you get to go on. So we were on the bus when her train arrived, but we did get to see it go and then got to head straight home, which was good.

I have done more shopping with her than I probably have all year. I bought clothes (I generally have James with me so I don't because it's hard to look for things and try them on)
I bought books:
A novel- the Widow's Club by Joyce Livingston
2 Max Lucados- Cure for the Common Life and It's not about me
1 Cloud and Townsend that we didn't have (I'm currently reading their 'God will make a way'
Rick Warren- The purpose driven life
2 CDs-one recorded in England called live and unreserved that was produced by Matt Redman
-one from Vineyard Christian Fellowship Nashville that has hooked me on their song "Fall on Me"

I am swamped with work now to try to catch up on my life!
Myrons bike was stolen last Thursday.
We leave for Moncton in 2 weeks.

Question of the day

James asked me this morning:

Mommy when I grow big like you can I touch chemicals?