Peach is 7.

Our baby girl has turned 7. Somehow I still think of both of ours as little tiny kidlets but then I see their long legs and watch them reading books and doing all kinds of things and realize that they really are growing up. Its exciting, fulfilling, fun, and a little bit heart wrenching. I'm so glad they are still cuddly, even if it is getting harder and harder to pick them up. Just tonight Kai wanted a carry to bed so I proved to myself that I can still carry him, even if he nearly comes up to my chin.

Last year was the bunny birthday. This year T has been all about horses. And just like she negotiated for a bunny for her 6th birthday, she has somehow negotiated for a horse for her 10th. Or at least she thinks she has. We have never agreed to this proposition but she is full steam ahead. The big positive is that it has turned our little spender into a saver. She even avoids toy stores knowing that she'll be tempted to spend some of her precious horse fund. For her birthday this year she wanted only horse stuff, money for her horse fund and a horse party.

She's been riding at a stable since the summer and so we booked her party there. The big day arrived, in the midst of 3 days of storm warnings. We were all battening down the hatch preparing for the worst storm since 1962, according to weather reports. But like a lot of things, it was all about the hype and we were underwhelmed by the remnants of Typhoon Songda. We had some rain, we had some wind, but it wasn't the worst we've seen, even this year. It did prompt us to make some room in the garage to actually get the van inside for the first time since we moved in 10 months ago. Eventually our luck with windstorms and tree boughs and cars in the driveway is going to run out.

But T's party was postponed nonetheless. She was a rockstar about it and lucky for us, most of her friends could make it a day later once the storm had blown over. Unlucky for us is that we were registered for a crossfondo: an endurance cyclocross race, for that same morning. So Greg and I arrived at T's party muddy, smelly and a little bit exhausted. But if you have to arrive dirty to your child's birthday party, best it be in a barn.

The party started with some children and goats and sheep romping in a field. That was enjoyed by all until some of the sheep got a little overly frisky and started leaping nearly over children and throwing themselves into fences.

Then we moved onto brushing and putting stickers on some dear patient mini horses who nearly fell asleep amidst all the loving attention being lavished on them.

The big event was the pony ride. Some of the kids had never ridden a horse before so it was pretty exciting for them. Kai was stoked to be riding again, his first time since our last spring in San Diego. T enjoyed wearing her very own riding helmet which we'd given her as an early birthday gift. She loved that helmet so much that she wore it for about 5 hours straight the day before.

Of course horseback riding was followed by a horse cake and some very loud singing. But a good time was had by all. I should mention this was a twoonie party, so the horse fund was well supplemented. And showers at 7 pm that night felt so good. 

T's actual birthday fell on a school day. She had a birthday sleepover with her brother and came home after school to open presents that she had requested be hidden for her. She opened her new equestrian outfit, hoof pick, horses brushes, horse books, more contributions to her horse fund, and to her delight, some horse lego as well. She had a great day at school reveling in being the birthday girl and then headed out to her riding lesson after school. Our lovely neighbors made her birthday cupcakes so we really didn't have to do anything extra to make her day special. She was beaming from start to finish.  

I don't know if this horse thing will stick but for now it is certainly one of T's #1 passions. She is a tenacious and persistent little one, so perhaps there is a horse somewhere in her future. Its hard to convey in a blog post how much we love our Peach. She adds a special sparkle to everyday. I'm excited for her future; she has big ideas and big dreams and seems to already know what is important in life. But for now, we're enjoying her just turned 7 year old self who insists on reading her comics at the dinner table, never cleans up after her creative art storms, has befriended all of the neighbors (and their pets), is busy building a beaver dam on the school playground, and is the only one in our family who can catch and pick up Snuggles. Best. Girl. Ever. Happy 7th Birthday! 

Misadventures in Bunny Parenting

A few months ago Snuggles, our bunny, got her outside home when Greg spent a few weekends building this:

He even roofed it in cedar shingles. Quite a shack for a bunny who cost $25. Snuggles settled in quite well and somehow, in negotiations about prolonging the purchase of a puppy, we somehow agreed/offered to purchase another $25 bunny. We figured, the $500 shack is up, how hard could it be to get another bunny.

So we got busy researching how to introduce a new bunny to a male bunny (a buck) already comfy in his abode (supposed to be easy). And we booked his neuter. The big day arrived and we took Snuggles to the vet for his snip. Shortly after I dropped him off my phone rang. Our randy little buck is actually a doe. So I agreed to a spay instead of a neuter b/c what choice did I have when our little pet was already laid out on the operating table? Strangely, it took me awhile to get used to the idea that he is actually a she. And I wondered how the kids would take it. Kai was astounded and kept saying to me "What the HECK???" While Teia took quite a long time to switch pronouns.

We picked our groggy bun up at the end of the day and took HER home with instructions to keep her fairly still and away from her incision for TEN days. Um, okay. By Friday morning (less than 2 days later) her incision looked like this.

So back to the vet we went (on the last day of school, as if it wasn't already emotional enough). This time they stitched poor Snugs up b/c I guess the glue they used the first time didn't stick that well. And we were sent home with a cone for her head and orders to buy "apple bitters" to spray "near the incision but not on it." Um, okay. Again. And we had to stop at the compounding pharmacy to pick up Snuggles' antibiotics b/c the vet decided she was infected. $25 bunny's original $150 procedure is now clocking in near $600. Cha-Ching!

So what did Snuggles, our "difficult bunny" (just ask the vet) think of all this? Well, drugged or not, she had that cone off before we were even back to our house. And apple bitters? Well apparently she'd rather be clean than avoid the taste of that stuff. So now to figure out how to keep a cone-less bunny who doesn't mind apple bitters from chewing on her incision and still work, and make dinner and take care of the kids etc. You kinda just gotta hope for the best.

Pretty soon her wound looked like this....kinda nasty.

But she was safely taking her sweet banana flavored antibiotic like a good bunny and otherwise seemed okay. The vet was available to view emailed pictures of the evolution of her non-healing-chewed up wound and during one little chat, she recommended some polysporin. So diligently we managed to trick our smart bun to stand up and dab her with the polysporin. What happened next was likely slightly traumatic to the kids, rather traumatic to Snuggles and clearly traumatic to us parents. She went nutso. Snuggles became wild Snuggles attacking her poor belly. I'll spare you the photos of that. The only way we could stop her as she chewed and stomped angrily around her cage was to bring the entire thing upstairs to a new venue where she could be temporarily distracted. Then Greg and I took shifts to keep her away from it. Not knowing what she might do to herself.

The next day I called dear Vet and told her what happened. "Oh, there was lidocaine in your polysporin? Oh, I meant only the PLAIN polysporin. I guess I should have mentioned that....note to self." Note to self??? Note to self??? Our summer vacation to Hornby was hanging in the balance b/c of this never-ending spay saga of a bunny supposed to be a boy and she says "note to self??????" That was in my thinking bubble. In reality I just said something more polite.

But we did go on vacation and on day 2 dear Vet decided our bunny sitter should bring Snuggles in for another surgery. We decided to take instead the advice of a friend who happens to be a human doctor and who did not think the wound was infected and wasn't quite sure what another stitching up would accomplish. Turns out human doctor was right and Snuggles healed just fine. Poor little bun was a bit traumatized though from all the extra confinement time and the sore belly and constant harassment from her human friends to stop.chewing.herself!

So we all made it through the world's most epic bunny spay - all the way from gender switching, to extra surgery, to supposed infections to a healed bunny. And then it was time to follow through on the promise of bunny #2, who now had to be a male. And we found ourselves in the less than optimal position of having to introduce a boy bunny into a girl bunny's turf. And we missed out on the opportunity to let Snuggles have her own babies and just keep one.

Turns out the family of a friend in T's class at school breeds bunnies. So we decided the easiest thing was to buy one of their's. Off we went to their house where Kai had a choice b/tw two little baby boy bunnies. He was decisive and took one look at them before deciding - THAT one.

But he wasn't quite ready to hold him yet, leaving that to his experienced bunny owner sister. 

So that is how Jam Airplane Ferry Kahloke became Snuggles' bunny soulmate whether she liked it or not. Little Jam came with his own pedigree for his steep $75 price tag. 

We couldn't bring Jam home yet, even though he was already 10 weeks old b/c we had a camping trip planned. And we had the good fortune of camping across from the only family in BC who takes their bunny camping - on a leash. There was a lot of hand wringing and explaining and negotiating about why our family was not going to be taking our bunnies camping. And a few tears. But we got through it. Then on August 1st, as we unpacked the car from camping, Jam arrived at his new home. 

Two pretty excited little kids. Jam wasn't quite so sure about this turn of events. But he settled in quickly, having quite an adventurous little personality, much squirmier than Snuggles but rather enthusiastic and puppy-like. 

And stinkin' cute. We all fell for him pretty quickly. He was a fast learner and potty trained himself right away. Who knew that bunnies could be potty trained? I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't already seen it 2X. We have not been able to train him to stop throwing his food and water bowls around every chance he can get. Small but mighty. 

We were very excited to introduce Jam to Snuggles once he had settled in. We had read everything we could about bonding bunnies and we were ready. Spray bottle in hand, broom in the other, gardening gloves and shoes on. Granddad with the video. Unfortunately it can't be posted here b/c it is x-rated. It seems that 12 week old bunnies are more than ready to make more bunnies. Poor Snuggles wasn't sure what to make of this. She'd hardly gotten used to us calling her a girl and now this. Bunny bonding failure. Jam had a one track mind. 

So time to find another (more competent) vet to neuter still tiny baby Jam. And this time we were sure he was a boy. Not only was this vet able to definitively sex spunky little Jam prior to surgery, there were thankfully NO complications. Then we had to wait, 4 to 6 weeks, for his hormone levels to drop. Our kids have had quite the reproductive biology lessons over the past few months, watching this bunny drama unfold. They can describe to you testicles, ovaries, uteri....

At the 4 week mark (end of September - remember this bunny arrived on August 1st!) we began the re-introductions. They have gone quite well so far. Jam's frat party days seem behind him and he and  Snuggles are now on more civilized coffee dates. We chaperone still armed with brooms and gloves, just in case, and try to interpret their rather obscure bunny body language to see how things are going.  Jam has exerted his little self as the dominant bunny and our bigger Snugs is quite meek and demure. After about 6 or 7 such dates that now involve Snuggles grooming Jam, we decided to put them both in the outside pen. Female bunnies are known for being territorial but since Snugs has groomed Jam (a sure sign of bunny love, so we've read) we felt confident. 

Greg has proven he is up to this bunny dating task as both bunnies just love him and he has the nerves of steel required. So he has been the designated outdoor chaperone and its a good thing b/c Snuggles has turned a little bit aggressive outside, lunging a bit at Jam and not being so sure she is ready for the commitment of full co-habitation. Today went a little better but we are resigned that we can't quite sweep up all of the indoor hay yet. Future bunny parents be warned...these little guys will suck you in with their cuteness and adept potty training skills. But don't fall for it. Why did we listen to everyone who said a dog would be too much work?

NINE.

The last single digit number. He's 9. For some reason Kai's birthdays are always a bit emotional for me. Maybe because he is baby #1. And he's growing up far too fast for my liking. I know he's a tall skinny kid with a bunch of adult teeth but I swear he hasn't changed a bit from the platinum blonde toddler who loved 'unnies.

This guy....

has become this guy...

Kai had a 3 part birthday celebration this year. After we explained that I did not plan for his birthday to be on a school day, he was okay with celebrating on a different day. Months earlier he had requested a gymnastics birthday party so we were already booked and ready to go. It was actually pretty low maintenance for me as far as birthday parties go: order some pizza, buy some fruit and veggie trays, sit back and let the gymnastics teachers run the party. That is, until the actual eating the food part. We've reached the age where parents sometimes drop their kids at parties so we were pitifully outnumbered when it came to serving up the food. Thank goodness for kind friends/fellow parents who stuck around to help to mitigate the chaos. 

This year marked the first since Kai's 2nd birthday (when he had a bunny on his cake) that he wanted a cake that was not vehicular. 

This beautiful cake disappeared rather quickly into the mouths of 8 to 9 year old boys! There are two Kais at school: our's and one who spells his name with a C. So they've been know as "K Kai" and "C Cai." When it came time to sing happy birthday, the kids stared chanting "K Kai, K Kai, K Kai." Our little buddy was all smiles (yes, he desperately needs a haircut). 

There is a great custom in Victoria of having "toonie parties" for kids' birthdays. This means instead of a ton of wrapping paper and gifts, the birthday child receives a bunch of (often homemade) cards and some toonies. I can't think of a better idea. Its environmentally friendly, is a huge time and stress saver when you're attending a birthday party, the kiddo can choose something meaningful to them to do with the money, and they can practice their math skills (always looking for a way to slide that in - skip counting anyone?) Kai clearly has generous classmates and friends as he walked away from his toonie party nearly $70 richer!!!! Since he is not a spender, we can all go to the bank of Kai if we need some spending money :-). 

Birthday part #2 happened a few days later when we visited the SPCA to donate some money. We decided not to spend money on goodie bags at Kai's party and instead to give the friends a little note saying we'd donate that money to the SPCA to help dogs, in keeping with Kai's dog-themed party. We were lucky in that one of the substitute teachers at the kids' school works at the SPCA and arranged a special tour for K & T. So they got to visit rats, bunnies, dogs and cats and get their photo taken with a great big cheque which was then posted on the SPCA FB page. They were little celebrities! 

T fell hopelessly in love with a fat black and white cat named Moo whom she drew pictures and wrote books about for a few days afterwards. Kai decided that he will be getting his new dog from the SPCA. Let's hope they can find a female, yellow lab puppy to fit his specifications. 

Then finally the "real" day arrived and Kai reveled in it. He does love birthdays. We set out some presents in the morning and let him decide when he wanted to open them. He opened a few before breakfast. He had been waiting for a special gift and he knew the big yellow box contained it.

 In a display of self-control, he decided he'd wait until dinnertime to open that box, so Daddy could be home. 

He was very pleased with all of his gifts. But he was particularly pleased to finally receive his Easy Bake Oven. The 2016 version looks nothing like the 1970s version I had - no doors to open, no visible lightbulb. No, this version is safe. There is nowhere that little hands can reach in and get burnt. Its kind of an oven-like capsule: slide the tiny tray in one side and 15 minutes later (after cooling down in a "cooling chamber" - for extra safety), slightly cooked gooey miniature cookies come out.  But Kai looked very stylin' while he baked in his snazzy, personalized apron courtesy of Auntie Aynsley and Uncle Meeko. 

For his birthday dinner, he chose baked salmon. The boy is growing up! Maybe next year he'll add a vegetable. We can hope. This was followed by birthday cupcakes, made lovingly by the sweetest Daddy a boy could ask for. My plan was to stop by a cupcake store but Kai made it clear - he wanted his birthday cupcakes to be homemade. (These baker types have high standards). Since they had still not materialized by 8 pm the night before, I was preparing to go to the store to buy an add water mix and a can of icing - artificial chemicals galore! But that is how wiped I was by all of these birthday celebrations. Then Greg came to the rescue and whipped up homemade chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing. The birthday boy was not disappointed, as you can see from his smile. 

We've got big plans for celebrating #10 next year........ In the meantime, we'll enjoy our 9 year old sweet boy. He's grown into an incredible protective, loving big brother and he's inquisitive and funny and amazing. Happy Birthday Buds....you've got mommy all misty-eyed now....

Snowy Adventure

We finally took Teia to the snow. Poor kid has been hopefully looking up at the sky all winter. Living in Victoria is a bit tricky that way. It isn't a sure thing that it won't snow, but no guarantee that it will either. With all this ambiguity, our little optimist has been regularly letting us know when she thinks it will snow. But she's been wrong every time. No snow in Vic this year.

We were a bit hopeful over the Christmas holidays when it was really chilly. But it seems that temperature and precipitation have an inverse relationship here, at least during this El Nino influenced winter. So the colder it got, the more the sun shone. The warmer it got, the more it rained.

So we planned a last minute weekend away to Mt. Washington. The kids were excited, their traveling itch about to be scratched by an adventure somewhere new (and snowy). We arrived in the dark on Friday night and had to hike/tow our supplies into the little townhouse we rented. The original Alpine village at Mt. W is a no car zone in the winter. This is actually really great except when you are schlepping stuff in and out.

The kids could not, no actually, would not, wait to play in the snow. Now the temps had been hovering around zero or a little above and the precip had been mixed all week so you can imagine this wasn't the light fluffy stuff of their daydreams. And it was nearing (or past) their bedtime. But there was no telling them and they just had to get out there and play. All was well until Teia lost a boot. The snow was deep and we were thankful it was just her boot and not her whole self. This snowbank could have easily consumed a 6 year old child. This boot was being held under by the cement-like stuff and I had to dig and dig...while Greg held our wailing child up so her foot would stay relatively dry. This gave me renewed respect for the power of an avalanche, particularly in spring skiing conditions. Yikes.

Her enthusiasm for snow returned in the morning. She got up early, threw open the curtains and launched into verse "its snowed, it snowed, it snowed last night...." even though it clearly hadn't. Forever our little optimist.

Saturday morning arrived as a "bluebird day" (in the words of our favorite Kiwi), which was perfect for the littles' first ever ski lesson. We actually laid down the money for a stranger to attempt to teach our kids to ski for two hours so we could ski ourselves. Risky. We weren't sure how this would go; they were excited and maybe a little nervous so we dropped them off and hopped on the chairlift and away we went for 2 hours of ski hill freedom.

I think the excitement of skiing with Greg sans kids in the sunshine with spectacular views went to my head b/c I did, like, the stupidest thing ever. Greg explains it with some kind of physics equation about mass =ing speed and weight ya da, ya da. Whatever, it was stupid. You see Greg snowboards and snowboards ain't so easy to get up hills. We were trying to get from one run to another via some kind of alley run. Greg figured he'd spotted it and scooted in, only to find himself going up hill and then....stopping....b/c that is what snowboards do. I was skiing behind him and thought that I'd help him out with a little push, after all, its easier to ski/skate/pole up a hill than crawl up pathetically and slowly as snowboarders do, or even worse, have to clip out completely and then walk. And we were pressed for time. That kids' ski lesson clock was ticking.

So I smacked right into the back of him. It didn't go as a I envisioned. He didn't proceed to smoothly coast up the hill while I stopped and then gracefully pole/skated up behind him (as skiers can do). Nope. I smacked into the back of him. And he didn't move. Except maybe to lose his balance with surprise at being hit from behind and sorta fall on me. So now we're both sliding back down the hill except that my legs are bent at angles that legs aren't supposed to bend at, straddled on either side of him. So I start screaming and he somehow gets up and I keep sliding for a bit, fetal-position now, hoping that that parts of my knees are still attached. I didn't feel any ripping, just a lot of stretching in parts that probably weren't supposed to stretch that way or that far. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. It could have been bad.

Oh, and my bindings didn't release. Maybe that is what I get for skiing on gear that is 17 years old. My poles, however, those babies are pushing 30 years old and they worked just fine. My boots were dropping bits of black plastic everywhere I went. Nasty.

(One of my fav things about Mt. W is that you can look down on the ocean and green valley while up on a snow covered mountain top).

I managed to ski the rest of the time that we had. A little cautiously and gingerly maybe, but I skied. This kid-free ski time was too precious to give up just b/c I nearly tore both of my MCLs, right? This was the 3rd half day of skiing since 2008, we just had to do it.

So then it was pick up the kids time. They were laid out on the snow like little wet socks. Thank goodness it was warm. They claimed that they had fun and the instructor said they reached level "bear." Apparently this equates to - got down the bunny hill and used crashing as their preferred method of stopping. We were really proud of them :-) Teia decided that it was really fun to be a penguin and slide down all the hills in the busy lodge area on her belly. She seemed to have more enthusiasm for this than for skiing itself. We ate some sticky beavertails and packed it in. I limped home to ibuprofen and ice packs.

The kids spent the afternoon playing "snowy foxes" in the ice/snow/slush/cement around our townhouse. Greg headed back to the slopes for an evening of night snowboarding. Leaving his wife who makes bad decisions, home to take care of kids and nurse knees.

Sunday we decided the safest activity for my knees would be snowshoeing. The kids weren't impressed, wanting nothing more than to play "snowy foxes" outside the townhouse again. We convinced them that snowshoes would make them even more snowy fox-like. Once we forked out the 70$ or whatever it was to rent snowshoes and get trail passes, T stood with a less than impressed look on her face. "Mom, these do NOT look like snowy fox feet." Clearly, she felt betrayed. But once she was traipsing through the forest on her foxy snow feet she was all smiles. Until she wasn't, about 15 minutes later, tired and whining to go back. Kai was keen to keep on truckin' but little sis's complaints were loud so we abandoned our 2.5K ambitions and headed back to the lodge for hot chocolate. Then back to the townhouse where the kids could play snowy fox and eat snow (b/c apparently this is highly enjoyable), to their hearts' content until it was time to go. And they added a character named "stone grinder" to their snowy games who sounded rather scary. Kai drew it for me later and it looked strangely like a wood stove, while Teia's version looked like something from Where the Wild Things Are, going poop.

To top off a really fabulous weekend (despite the elements of misadventure) was a real snowfall for the last hour or so while they played and tobogganed outside. Huge smiles, rosy cheeks, wet hair. Sheer happiness. So worth it.

Merry Christmas!

I think we've just come through the busiest year of our life (she writes optimistically....thinking next year can't possibly be so busy, nor the next.....). But we made it to Christmas, in our new home. And although we still sit amid unpacked boxes and some degree of chaos, it feels good to be home, to know we're not unpacking only to pack up again in another 3-4 years.

We've had lots of help along the way with Grandma and Poppa Mike here to help us settle in and now Granddad here for the Christmas season, almost single handedly installing our new wooden floor. This house we bought had a room we affectionately nicknamed the "stinky room." And as such, high priority flooring change out was the first order of business.

Victoria offers a fair number of festive activities and we haven't managed to take them all in given our current level of busyness. But we did manage a few fun activities, and squeezed in our annual kids' cookie decorating party at the last minute.

Decorating the house, or at least the main room, was also a priority even though we're not really unpacked. The kids did an excellent job of decorating our 7+ foot tree and we fancied up our fireplace  which was made to be festive.

The kids worked on their Christmas spirit by carrying out little assignments doled out each morning by Dasher, the giving deer, who visits daily from the North Pole during the Advent. They enjoyed buying some stocking stuffers and delivering them to the ladies at the wishing tree at the local mall but I think their favorite was being candy cane bandits on Christmas Eve and "caning" as many cars as they could. A man who saw Teia placing candy canes declared "Oh look! Just like a little Christmas Elf!" 

Despite colds, we made it out for an evening horse drawn trolley ride around Victoria which was quite magical, if not chilly, despite our blankets brought from home. 

Christmas Eve started early for me. Up and out to join up with a group ride a few minutes after 6 am where I got to appreciate the almost full moon. 100ish km down by 9 am meant I could indulge in Christmas goodies without guilt. This might have to become another one of our Christmas Eve traditions. 

Much later in the day, we braved the crowds once again at Butchart Gardens to enjoy the spectacular lights and some skating. Teia discovered she could skate on her own which was her Christmas Eve highlight. Then we headed home for dinner and our yearly chocolate fondue. The kids opened a few early gifts and were thrilled with their footed pjs, which I think they wore for about the next 36 hours. 

Teia was quite concerned that Santa not forget Snuggles so was busy writing notes for Santa and making sure Snuggles had a stocking too. 

Her first stop in the morning was to check that Santa did not forget and came bounding into our room, willow balls dangling from her hands "Mama! Look what Snuggles got!!!" Imagine her delight when she discovered a bunny tunnel under the tree. That lucky Snuggles! 

Santa didn't forget the rest of us either. 

He even left a Christmas train set. 

My Christmas day photos are pretty lean this year. I'd had a nagging feeling of not being quite right for a few days but by Christmas morning it was clear that I was good and sick. Spent most of the day chilled and feverish but managed to drag myself out of bed for all the important gift opening and eating stuff but wasn't quite what I had in mind. The kids didn't mind too much. They had Granddad and Daddy to keep them occupied and a few new toys as well. 

Kudos to my wonderful hubs who managed all of the hard Christmas labor and cooked an entire turkey dinner, complete with dessert, by himself. 

Hopefully next year we'll be well settled in our new home and our new rhythm and will approach Christmas from a calm and peaceful frame of mind. But despite the chaos and sickness, I think we'd all agree that it was a wonderful Christmas. It doesn't really matter where you are, or how many boxes surround you, so long as you have loved ones near. And you get that smelly carpet up.