Letter from Max

Yesterday when I went to pick up the mail there was an envelope addressed to Shel and I.

I recognized the handwriting as Maxies.

He went on a class trip to the post office and sent us a letter.

Inside was a valentine for us.

I LOVE being a parent.

So much has happened, culminating in a visit to the ER!

It's been a while since we spent a day in the emergency room but our track record ended yesterday when CJ fell through a window pane and cut his knee badly.
He was outside and in his Ski pants AND pants and was cut through both of them. My poor little guy was a real trouper though. AS we sat in the hospital waiting for the doctor he played games on my phone. He REALLY wants a motorcycle, but the time to try and convince Shel of that was NOT while we were waiting to get him stitched up!
I must say that the WORST part of parenting has to be seeing your kids in pain. I held him while the doc was putting in the freezing and he SCREAMED. He was looking at me with these HUGE crocodile tears streaming down his face. I was just holding him saying "Sorry buddy, sorry buddy, it will stop hurting soon."
This morning he said his knee was "good" and Max was following him around telling him not to run, so he will be well looked after these next two weeks as we wait for stitches to be removed.

making a rink

It's shameful I know, we live in the Great White North and our boys don't know how to skate. Give me SOME slack - neither Shel nor I skate either!

We have in our yard a dugout. A perfect place to teach the boys to skate. It does take some work to maintain an outdoor rink though you know. It isn't as easy as opening a tap and letting water flood the yard. (and I dont know how people do that anyway, I am terrified of pipes freezing)

I decided this year that I need to teach the boys how to skate and since we have our own pond we have the perfect opportunity to do it right in our own yard.

When I got home from work the other evening I thought we would clear off a spot and then this weekend get some skates for the boys. Clearing a spot would have been made easier if I had two things - a shovel for myself (we have one shovel but Max is apparently the "boss" of it and so he would not let me shovel more than one row at a time) and easier access to some water - because even a pond does not have perfect ice beneath the snow. I have a feeling I will know more about pond ice by the end of the winter than I ever thought I would know.

The weather has has been REALLY mild lately, so I also hope it stays cold enough to get some skating done before the ice melts.