When you were six...............

Moo and Huffle both had their medicine before bed and slept very very well. Both are feeling a little bit better.

The temperature was in the positive figures again today but our driveway was treacherous. We decided, once we got rid of all the boys, to find an ice chopper. This will help us to break up the very thick ice and attempt to get rid of it. I visited countless websites and rang many shops and only found one about half an hour away. I tried to call them to check if their website was correct but all I got was an automated response from a chinese man. We chose to drive there and see for ourselves. Of course, there was no ice chopper, their website was incorrect and they were very sorry!! We did some food shopping, where I asked a fellow lady shopper if she knew which apples to buy for cooking with. She said a make that they didn't sell and then laughed as she said "I should know, I was brought up on an Apple Farm". She was very helpful.

We stopped for a coffee and a muffin (we did share) and came home chopperless! I put salt down to help a little but we really do need to get rid of the ice properly. It melts a bit and then freezes again.

We made Leek and Potato Soup and a Tomato and Carrot Soup and a lovely Many Seedy Bread, had a few games of table tennis and while Moo wiped down the kitchen cupboards, I painted some. I also painted a bit of the wall to see if it would look okay white, but it doesn't so we are thinking maybe a creamy, off white colour.

The boys came home and after a mad run around the house (why aren't they tired after a full day at school?), they did their homework. Small did his Maths upstairs in his room and Smallest did his presentation to me and then to Moo. It was very good. He is presenting to his class tomorrow. He also had some questions for Moo about life when she was six. You know like penny farthings and horse and carts and writing on slate.

Huffle came home and after a game of table tennis with the kids, we all ate our soup and bread. It was yummy. Moo also made us a gorgeous Apple and strawberry crumble which we had with custard.

Moo and I played table tennis, the boys watched TV and Huffle cut his hair. Shhhhh don't tell Moo but I finished the puzzle while she was upstairs reading to the kids and I hid a piece!!!!

 

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I went to Canada and all I got was this lousy Laryngitis!

Last night we sat there watching "Peter Andre's My Life" reality show. Pete was standing outside his house, emotionally summing up his ten series on ITV and saying how much he will miss it. He walked back into his house, the theme music played and Moo said "Prat!, who does he think he is?".......

During the night Moo coughed and coughed and coughed so we decided to go to the doctors this morning. Huffle went off to work and the boys went to school. Our drive was like an ice rink but it was only 2* today (positive figures not minus!) in fact I walked around without my coat today.

After breakfast Moo and I drove to the walk-in surgery. She had to pay $100 to see the doctor and we had to wait for about an half and hour. We saw a lovely doctor who explained that Moo had a 'very bad cold' and laryngitis. He explained how our vocal chords worked, checked her blood pressure, pulse and temperature and listened to her lungs. All good. What an expensive cold she has. He did give her a prescription for some cough medicine with sudafed in and we picked it up at the pharmascist. We picked up a few things and drove home via the bank. I wanted to set up some accounts here for the kids but I have to have an appointment with an Account Manager so I took a card and said I would call back.

Moo and I had dinner at home and I left her to go to school for the "á chef l'ècole" with Small's class. There was a chef Suzette and a couple of classes of kids.

She spoke everything very slowly in French and the class had to copy her. They were split between four tables and had seven cards each. Each card had french written instructions on. They made Chocolate Lava cakes. They didn't need a lot of help but it was fun being there and watching them. I helped whisk some eggs and cleared some spills. The chef gave me some cloths for coming and helping. The cakes were late going in the oven and came out after the bell had rung so it was a bit of a rush getting the cakes to them, eating them and getting away from a school.

I made sure Smallest knew to get on the bus on his own and then took Small straight to his friends house where a group of them had to film their French play "louis la grenouille". Small was the narrater again.

When I got back Moo, Smallest and I played Mousetrap. We couldn't get the mousetrap to trap any mice and tried many many times. Huffle came home early and we all got ready and went to pick up Small to take the boys to Rock Climbing for Cubs and Beavers.

I had never been before so I had a lesson in 'belaying'. It was quite hard and tough as I didn't quite believe that the rope wouldn't go through my hands.

I belayed Smallest, and Huffle belayed Small. They both did very well though their descents were not elegant. They climbed many walls and then Moo decided to have a go.

She got some proper shoes on and I belayed her while she climbed to the top. Wahooo.

She tried another wall but it was a bit too hard. We ran out of time and came home. It was very late and the boys were tired. They went straight to bed.

We watched the Great British Bake Off with toast and tea. It was very funny. Johnny Vaughan baked his biscuits under the grill and Michael Vaughan's cricket pitch was hilarious.

What a tiring day.

 

 

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Alf and Fred the old men!

This morning we were treated to Scrambled Eggs for breakfast by Small Chef. Apart from the egg he dropped on the floor, he made a lovely job. Both boys were up too late last night and up far too early this morning. This meant they were both tired, sensitive and emotional. BOOOOO!

Smallest carried on with his homework and practised his presentation to his teddies and Huffle. He got upset by this because he was making too much of it! Huffle talked him through it and he said he would practise again in the week.

We all played Disney monopoly together though Smallest disappeared part way through because he was bored. Huffle won. Smallest and Moo played table tennis and catch in the basement. Huffle watched his football. Small and I played his new Pokemon Battle game.

We had a lovely Roast Dinner and played some more. We went out for a walk late afternoon and didn't get back until it was dark. We walked past the new HUGE houses and round the Hamlet.

When we got back the boys soaked their feet in Epsom Salts and had hot chocolate with a sandwich - the old men! We watched the end of the film OZ the great and powerful, a game of Stack 'em up and while the boys watched TV, the grown ups played Ticket to Ride.

The boys went to bed early. Today the temperature has been in positive figures but the paths are really slippy. Tomorrow is supposed to be a whole 6*. Wish this snow would just melt away now - though we did have flood warnings earlier!!!!

 

 

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A Pea Souper

Another very foggy day. We spent the morning showering, eating croissants (apparantly I promised!) and doing homework. Small had Readers Response to do and had to write about the book he is reading and draw a picture. Smallest had to make a 'Timeline Necklace'. He used paperclips to make the necklace and then attached six recipe cards with coloured paperclips. These recipe cards had photos or other momentos attached and a description of what the event was. Small chose 1) being born. In 2007 2) 1st Birthday in 2008. 3) 2nd Christmas receiving his big bear 2008. 4) starting school in England in 2011 5) moving to Canada in 2011. 6) going to Disney in 2012. He made a good job but now he has to do a presentation to his class.

This was Smallest's interpretation of 'getting dressed'

Huffle went off to the doctors and Moo, the boys and I went in search of wellies for Smallest. He came home with very wet feet from school and had to go to his swimming lessons in trainers (bearing in mind there is still a lot of snow about and now it is melting it is very slushy and wet out there). Because of the fog, we struggled with driving but we got to the shops and bought him a pair of snow boots in the sale and a bigger pair of wellies in the hope that they will fit him for longer. The boys also perused the toy aisle and spent some of their money. Small bought a Pokemon Trainer set and Smallest bought a Lord of the Rings lego set. Moo also bought Smallest a birthday present which he chose (more Pokemon stuff). We couldn't decide where to go for lunch so we came home and had a sandwhich in front of the start of the film 'Oz the Great and Powerful'. Moo was falling asleep so we stopped it and played with Small's Pokemon game. We played it for the next three hours. Huffle came home with some antibiotic pills - he has Inflamed Lungs.

Smallest built his lego and then we had dinner. After dinner we watched a bit more of the film, until it was the boys bedtime.

Moo is still coughing plenty and her voice keeps changing into a 'Mrs NoQuotey's voice.

 

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Poor Bunnies

Huffle kept me awake most of he night, coughing, blowing his nose or making strange noises (though he said he didn't sleep at all!!). Moo slept very well but still spent most of the day coughing.

The boys went to school. Today the temperature started at -7 but got into positive figures later in the day. It snowed during the night. It was a gloomy day with a lot of fog and grey miserly fine rain.

Moo and I left Huffle at home and went to knitting. I carried on with Thrum sock no2 and Moo continued her hat. The table was full today and it was very noisy with many conversations going on at once. I bought some lovely wool to make Moo some mittens for next Christmas (a bit early but will no doubt be knitting lots again). El was giving away Angora wool today and I managed to come home with about six balls (worth about $90) the reason it was given to us was something to do with the morals of whether the Angora rabbits had their wool taken 'properly'. I also got a free nail polish.

We left there and went for lunch at the Cupcake cafe where we had Cauliflower Soup and a Fromage a trios sandwich. It was very very nice and we sat and chatted for England. We tried to get Huffle a cake from the bakery but it was closed so we went to the thrifty shop instead where we bought a couple of puzzles and a one person teapot for Huffle's strange teas. We popped to the shop on the way back to look for a coat in the sale for Moo but ended up buying tops for the boys instead.

We drove home in the gloomy fog and did some of the jigsaw. Huffle was on the sofa wrapped in a blanket. When the boys came home we had a mad dash of making pizza for that evening's dinner and setting the oven to come on while we were out, sorting the boys out with their swimming kit, looking for wellies and then we went off to swimming.

Both boys had new teachers. Smallest is in a class of just two. A boy of similar age with a normal name for once (not a Bucket or a Brainy or a Barry Beaver). Small was in a bigger class of about eight others. They both did well. Smallest did a particularly good dive which I have not seen him perfect before. Small seems to think he is having to swim more metres than last time. On the way home it was very very foggy, dark and miserly. We couldn't see the road, it's bad at the best of times as we don't have cats eyes in the middle of the road because of the snow ploughs. This time of the year you can't see the passenger side of the road because it is full of snow and the oncoming cars blind you so its difficult to see the middle line. In the fog and in the dark it is an absolute nightmare. We had no cars to follow either. I told the boys it was like driving blindfolded!

Once home we all ate pizza in front of a film called "Alex Rider Stormbreaker" which was quite good. A few names in there. The boys went to bed and I read Horrid Henry to Smallest and Harry Potter to Small. I am the only fit one left to read at the moment. Moo's voice keeps disappearing and its quite funny when she decides to squeak.

 

 

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A Plethora of Wildlife

When I woke this morning, Huffle was still in bed. I woke him to check if he should have gone to work but he was feeling ill and decided to work from home today.

The boys went off to school. Today's temperature was -9* with sunshine.

Huffle found Mouse poo in one of the drawers so another huge washing marathon was done on all the cutlery and the graters and choppers. Vaccuuming and disinfecting was done and lots of things moved to other more enclosed spaces. What a nightmare! Huffle later filled in more holes and set a couple of traps, before sitting up in bed with his fleece and blanket wrapped around him and making some business calls.

Moo too, still felt ill but I decided to give her a 'Grandad Ic' walk (not up the top of Big John like we did back in the UK, but our new equivalent, along the Conservation Walk and on to the beach. We packed a lunch and a flask of hot chocolate, put on our thermals and drove to the walk.

The temperature had gone down to -5 and the sun was beautifully warming (whilst we were in the car). As we got closer, the clouds were getting darker and darker. The walk was lovely and snowy.

The dog wood was very very red and the chickadees came and perched on our hand again. We didn't have anything for them so they didn't stay. It was a hardish walk because of the snow and we soon got warm. There were many Canadian Geese, flying and calling to each other.

Once we got to the beach we were amazed. The whole beach had been swallowed up by ice which was about a metre high. There was ice in the water. It looked like waves but they were frozen ones. Very stange.

It was very hard walking on the ice beach as it was slippery but managed to get as close to the edge as possible. There were a lot of geese, ducks and swans in the water and we were worried that they would want to come and eat our lunch so we sat ourselves on the bench to eat.

The clouds were still very black but there was a lovely sun on the horizon that was creating orangey stripes on the lake. We sat on our picnic rug to keep our bums warm and drank our hot choclate from our mugs. We must have looked very strange sitting there. We did meet a couple of 'intrepid explorers' while we were there but they didn't hang around (unlike us!).

When we got cold we turned around and walked part of the way back and then went on a different route we hadn't been on before. We were followed by a group of four chickadees who flew around us. We had saved a few of the sesame seeds from our bagel so we put them on our hands. They were lovely little things, so sweet.

We wandered through with the chickadees following after us when we spotted something in the woods. Moo thought it was a dog but we crept quietly towards it. It was a beautiful deer. A really big one. It obviously didn't want to be near us but stood very still watching us and then crossed our path, really close to us.

My foot was hurting and we decided to turn back. We had walked quite a way and didn't realise how far we had come. The chickadees still followed and we went back to the route we started on. As we were nearing the end and were warm again we stopped for the rest of our Hot Choclate and a muffin but we got too cold so the muffin had to go back in the bag and we carried on to the car.

All in all we had been out for two hours. Moo didn't cough much outside but once back in home it started again. Huffle was still feeling ill and sat and watched a documentary on skiing while Moo and I jigsawed.

The boys came home and had their showers and tidied their rooms while Moo and I made Beef Burgers for the Carnivore boys and Carrot and Bean Burgers for the Veggie Girls. Yum yum.

The cooker is performing very well and is coping with many pans and different temperatures. However, I did drop the beef burgers off the tray and onto the bottom of the oven, luckily it missed the inside and just dropped mainly into the warming drawer. What a mess though - I wanted to keep it all shiny and new looking! We did have an email from Samsung this morning asking us to return the damaged item as it had been seven days since they requested it. DID THEY? SEVEN DAYS AGO? WHAT A BUNCH OF MUPPETS. They have our credit card details in case we didn't return it. Best check we haven't been charged for it again!

Small and I played Mastermind and then he watched Wrestling with Huffle and Moo and Smallest played table tennis.

MICE, CHICKADEES, CANADA GEESE, we might have seen a falcon, and we saw two female Cardinals, SWANS, DUCKS, DEER and a small brown lump of snow we nearly ran over but avoided because we thought it was a small animal. That's definitely a plethora!

The other day Moo and I saw a strange sight in the sky. It was like a rainbow but was inverted and straight up. One side of it was sunshine and the other side was dark cloud. We think it was a Snowbow - being part of the 'geoffrey' family, I obviously looked this up and found there is no such thing but it could have been a snow halo. I wish I had taken a photo but I was driving at the time.

 

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No Flagpoling for us

A bit warmer today at -17*. Funny how we get a bit complacent as the temperature goes up. Small said "-17? Not bad! He went off to school today and visited the City Hall to question the Mayor on subjects like the proposed airport, which, in fact, the Mayor thinks is a good idea!!! He doesn't live in The Hamlet then!

Moo woke up this morning feeling ill. A cough, achy, full of cold. We sent the boys to school and there was a mad dash as the bus was early. I went off to my first Aerobics of the year. It was held in ExerciseNic's loft so it was very cosy. It was hard work and I had zero coordination today. I enjoyed it though. I left Moo at home resting. When I got back we sorted through stuff for Charity and stuff for my friends little one and then went for an afternoon's jaunt.

First we dropped the stuff off at the Thrifty Store and then visited it. We bought a new puzzle and asked about ski's. They are not allowed to sell them anymore as it is a Health and safety risk. Damn, we should have bought them before when they had loads of them!

We visited the Consignment store and they recognised us from before (oh dear). There was a nice quilt (I have to go back to check it out in February) and an 'end of bed bench' (to go back in June). We went for lunch in a coffee shop. It was very nice.

Next we did some food shopping and bumped into ClownRose and had a chat. We popped in to The Tire to look for an ice-breaker and a boot warmer but we couldn't find anything so we came home, put the shopping away and started the new puzzle. The last one had to go, it was too hard. It was a half dozen reindeer on the snow.

The boys came home, Small did his homework and told us about seeing the Mayor. Smallest played on the computer and Moo and I made Leek and Cheese sausages for our dinner. Yum yum. Huffle came home and we all ate.

Huffle recently got an extension to his Work permit. Even though it was originally for three years, it only lasted as long as his passport which runs out this February. We thought we would have to 'flagpole' which means we take our new papers and passports to the border of Canada. There is apparantly, a bridge in Niagara where you drive across, show your papers and turn around. You don't leave Canada or enter America. We were planning on taking a trip there on Saturday and check out Niagara Falls with ice but we now don't need to. The falls also don't ice up we have been told so it probably would have just been a long cold trip.

 

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