April Fools!

April 1st is one day that we really look forward to each year. Caleb still laughs about the frozen cereal trick I pulled on him last year, and he has been scheming with Alan for weeks to come up with a good prank for me. I knew I had to up my game from last year, especially knowing how suspicious Caleb was going to be. So, after searching the internet, I set my plans in motion and we pulled off a pretty successful morning.

My favourite trick of the day -  is that fruit juice in your mug...or jello?!? Odin didn't know what to make of it (having never seen jello before), but Caleb really got a kick out of this one!

After the jello trick, we pulled out the cereal which had been switched into different boxes (Odin's favourite joke of the day),  and followed that up with a plate of homemade  brownies (which were actually brown construction paper letter Es cut out....brown Es) and finally we pranked Alan by stuffing his shoes with kleenex. The best part of this joke was Caleb commenting on how much Alan had grown overnight (especially his feet), before asking him to put on his shoes and come outside! Haha! The joke Caleb and Alan had been plotting all week turned out to be the old 'wrap tape around the sink hose nozzle' so that when I turned on the water, the hose *almost* squirted me. Pretty good! Now I need to start thinking of things for next year! 

We've also been enjoying the warmer weather and volunteering with the organization of Annapolis Royal's big Easter celebrations which consists of 10,000 eggs hidden at the Fort, crafts, zumba, a magician and a free movie at the theatre. I brought the boys with me to the local Nursing Home last night to have the seniors help stuff some eggs for the big hunt. We had a great time, especially Odin, who managed to sit beside a sweet little old lady who, instead of stuffing the plastic eggs with chocolate, decided to  unwrap the chocolate and feed them to Odin instead! They had quite a pile of wrappers beside them before I noticed! 

New friends

Kids hike to Mickey Hill Provincial Park

Bingo!

Note I found from Caleb - "To Odin. Here's 80 cents for you. Youre a great bro!' Accompanied by a big old bag of pennies that Cale clearly wanted to get rid of! Sweet and hilarious. 

March Break

Alan's birthday shot with his Mackinaw twin

My parents bravely (and incredibly generously) offered to take both of our children to Fredericton for March Break this year. Alan and I immediately accepted. A week at home with no children?!? The last time we had a few days on our own seems like a very far off distant memory. And we immediately had plans - Operation remove pansy wallpaper borders and get some painting done. It was the first chance we had to tackle a few small things to make our house really feel like our own. It was not nearly as glamorous as an HGTV show, and plaster walls are trickier than I had anticipated, but we got it done...well, one and a half rooms, anyway! And we went out to dinner TWICE and spent a day touring around second hand shopping in the Valley, which is one of my absolute favourite things to do.

Bathroom blitz

Drywall coating the toy room. I didn't even realize this was a necessary step, or the sanding that followed...so I was VERY ready to put the paint on when the time finally came. Turns out we chose a very similar color to the original wall so the kids didn't even notice a change after all of our hard work! Haha!

 The boys, of course, had a blast. We got to skype with them every night, and as happy as I was for Odin to be able to spend a week without me, it would have been nice if he missed me even just a tiny bit! But no, they were having too much fun. Alan's aunt Teresa took Caleb and  his cousin Monica to Crabbe Mt skiing twice - his first time ever on skis, and he now he is absolutely hooked. He made it down the big hill and back up the chair lift, which is a great accomplishment for such a cautious guy. We were seriously proud of him. The boys also had lots of cousin time, a snow day to build forts and donuts for breakfast. Pretty good week if you ask me!

Ski team!

Meeting baby cousin Daniel

Baby love, and grandchild number 9 for the Jeffries side! (Hey Kathy - you made the blog!!) 

UNB hockey game with Uncle Jay (2017 National Champs!) Odin was happy to share his popcorn, but would only hand out one piece at a time! 

Alan and I went to pick them up this weekend and we were so glad to also be home for the memorial of Jim Myles, an amazing man and father of the Myles boys who Alan has grown very close to over the years. We were also able to help with removing the final few loads of things from my uncle Mike's house, who we lost in January. It was an emotional few days for us, for sure. One of the items I took from Mike's was a bunch of old deer antlers. We weren't sure what to do with them so I offered them up on facebook and within 20 minutes had found a friend who wanted to give them a good home.

Today, after getting off the ferry, I went for a quick beach walk before heading into the office. I hadn;t been beachcoming in a few days and I really needed some time on my own to reflect in the fresh air. I was walking around slowly, thinking of Mike and Jim, when I looked down and found a deer antler on the beach. It was the first one I've ever found in my life, despite all the times I've spent at Moosecall and in the woods (often actively looking for antlers). I couldn't quite believe it as I bent down to pick it up. It was small, from a young buck and it brought tears to my eyes. Just an hour earlier we had unpacked our trunk and the only thing that remained was a box of deer antlers to bring to my friend in Halifax. And now in my hand, I held one more antler. I'm not an overly spiritual person, but I felt such comfort at that moment and I knew that this antler would be coming home with me.

Today's beach glass and pottery finds, including my lucky antler. 

New family member

The time has come. After years of wavering, we've made the plunge and added a feline friend to our family. We adopted an adorable 2 year old cat who Caleb has named Coral. She's the boy's first pet and she is fitting in very well to our family. Coral has a great personality. She cuddles, purrs and alternates which bed she wants to sleep in most nights, much to the delight of Caleb and Odin. She is incredibly tolerant of Odin, even when he puts his face right up against hers. She'll gently rub into him before quickly skirting away when she's had enough. I think we picked a great one!

The first day we had Coral home, she hid among Alan's record collection for a good hour before Caleb was the one to finally coax her out. This is when he was rewarded with his first Coral cuddles. The look on his face is pure bliss! After this picture we decided to give the cat a break and head to the grocery store. When we came home, we couldn't find her for 2 whole hours, which is one downside to our big old house- too many nooks and crannies! Turns out she was hiding inside one of Alan's amplifiers...the one place I definitely did not look. She no longer hides, and we can always find her curled up in bed or on a comfy chair somewhere. 

Coral seems to love Odin's crib and happily jumps in to cuddle with him at bedtime. He can hardly believe the 'kitty cat' is in his bed. We've had to remove Coral a couple of times when Odin just couldn't fall asleep due to all the excitement!

In other exciting news - the Patriots did it again! Superbowl LI champs after a stunning come from behind win. I, of course, did a quick photo shoot before the game and some of Odin's poses captured my range of feelings during the game!

Not even Tom Brady can pull this come back off....can he?!?

Holy moly, they are doing it!!

Trying to hold it together during overtime (and no, he was not still awake!)

Finally, we've been experiencing a week full of crazy snow storms and blizzard-like conditions.Thankfully we've been able to stay safe, warm and at home most of the time. Alan and I have become extremely fit due to the relentless shoveling, but we've also managed to build some pretty epic forts, caves and sliding hills. It's been fun, but next year we will be purchasing a snowblower.

Photo credit goes to my friend Marissa!

After snowstorm #1. We've since added another 50 +cm!

Seven!!

Caleb turned 7 on Jan 29, and because he is such an incredibly kind, thoughtful, inquisitive, generous, caring and amazing little fella we dedicated 4 full days in his honour. To kick things off, the family joined me on a work trip to Halifax which means a day full of big city fun! A stayed in a hotel room on the 15th floor, swam in the pool, made a mandatory visit to Caleb's favourite candy store, the Freak Lunchbox, ran through a network of skywalks and ended up at the waterfront playground, visited a giant indoor playground,  AND had an amazing birthday dinner party with Lydia and family. And that was all in the first 8 hours of arriving! 

Saturday was our official birthday party day. We rented out the local gym so the kids could raid the equipment room and fun free for an hour before heading back to our place for snacks and a double layered strawberry cake (Caleb's special request). Caleb had long ago asked for an 'Earth Rangers' themed party and wanted his friends to donate some money to the environmental conservation campaign of this choice instead of receiving gifts. He was ecstatic to raise $75 to protect Pine Marten habitat and I think we really impressed the kids with our version of Pin the Tail on the Pine Marten! Birthday party night was capped off with an hour long candlelit glow stick-filled bath which was a real hit for both kids. Thanks Pinterest!

By Sunday, we had to dig a bit deeper to make sure his *actual* birthday topped all the excitement of the previous few days. We started out with presents, a birthday breakfast where he could choose any items off of our special menu. Banana pancakes, bacon, fruit salads and orange juice all around! Caleb and I hit our local theatre for a showing of the movie Sing in the afternoon and ended things off with a make your own pizza party. Whew! It was a lot, but it was very worth it to make Caleb feel extra special, because he is truly an incredible person and it's been an honour being his mom for the past 7 years. 

Photos and Birthday video below!!

Party #1 with the Fudge/Billingsley clan!

A room on the 15th floor overlooking the police station - what more could two boys ask for!

Hop! Skip! Jump! received two thumbs up from Odin and Cale!

Party at our place!

Birthday breakfast!

7 year old laughter during birthday dinner

Some of the money Caleb received was specially allotted towards a birthday shopping spree where a new bball net was purchased. 

And now for Caleb's annual birthday video. He wasn't in the best mood to be recorded at the start, but once Odin jumped in, the genuine smiles came out!

The Christmas Mouse

Here is a true story written by Caleb that tells the tale of some unexpected Christmas Day excitement! I've left most of the original spelling in!

The Christmas Mouse (by Caleb Jeffries)

On December 25, 2016, my brother Odin was SCREMING! It wasint untl somwon wint up that we notist a mouse in his room!!!!

He said 'Odin say hi mouse.'

So we took him out. When we wok up he said 'Wars (wheres) Odies mouse go?'

We didn't take him vary far.

We don't know if he cam back or we had 2 mise.

But we fawnd (found) a mouse agane (again)!!!!

We acsadintly chast it into a wall and codint get it owt!  (We accidently chased it into a wall and couldn't get it out)

Evrytime that we sat a mouse trap it got the food off it and it didn't close.

We didn't find him aftr that!

The End

Update: This story didn't capture the moment when Caleb, Odin and Linda were all huddled screaming on my bed as Alan and Greg chased the mouse around the room!  We did catch him a few days later, but another one was spotted a few days after. Time for a cat, I think!!

2017 Here we come!

Our Christmas festivities kicked off with a Santa visit at daycare. Party #1 of the season.

We were so happy that Greggy and Linda came to spend the big day with us! 

Christmas eve cheese and chocolate fondue! 

Christmas dinner made by Alan!

Stocking time!

Paw Patrol Christmas pjs got this guy in the spirit!

Lining up some of the new cars and trucks for a Christmas Day race! 

Best shot I could get of the Jeffries boys in front of our tree!

Gift of the year - we surprised Alan with a 1965 Gibson, a gift from us, my folks and Alan's folks. He was speechless! I was proud of Caleb for keeping the secret for 2 whole months. He was so excited to give this wonderful gift. 

Christmas concerts all around!

Board games and building toys for days!

Caleb received so many amazing kits to build - like this solar system mobile. The lucky boy also received a rocket (that shoots 1000 ft), lego, kinex, and more!

Happy New Year!

 New Years Eve Day hike with friends

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

My parents asked once again for a photo with the grandkids, while Adam and I  longingly looked on! 

We spent a wonderful weekend in Fredericton celebrating the holidays with family. Odin and I returned home yesterday to Alan who was patiently waiting to see us after being away for the past few weeks. The fire was on, supper was cooking, the tree was lit and it felt great to have my husband back! Caleb stayed in Fredericton for a few extra days and will come home on Thursday, along with my parents, who will be spending Christmas with us in our new home this year. We are so excited for our family vacation to begin!

Caleb and I took a vacation day together last week to get our tree, finish up our shopping and spend some quality time with each other. It was wonderful, and you've got to love those 6 year old smiles!!

Fredericton was wonderful, as always. We had a great time with the Jeffries family for a pizza party and cousin play date. Caleb was busy writing Santa's 'Naughty' and 'Nice' lists. I nearly fell off my chair laughing when he read off, in all seriousness, the naughty list which mostly included made up names, but also one Mr. Donald Trump. That's my boy!

Ice cream party!

We also joined my family for their annual Kings Landing supper, which was a night filled with great food, company and music. Odin was in love with the musicians and jumped out of his seat to sing a dance for everyone in attendance. We returned home to perhaps the greatest gift of all. While we were on our way to dinner, my brother stopped by my parents' house and set up a full sized 'leg lamp' on display in their front window (an exact replica from the one in the classic movie Christmas Story). It was a hilarious sight to return home to and made for a great story for us to tell for years to come!!

Glorious! Or at least my dad thinks so, my mom quickly moved this from the FRONT window, to a more discreet location! 

Odin stealing the show!

All the kids joined in for this carol

With his buddy, Aunt Colleen!

Christmas spirit!

Odin has been pulling out this ridiculous pose quite often - turns out it is his Grinch impression!

Here he is with my preferred pose!

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone!!