Our next door neighbor is a bit of an eccentric guy. He’s lived in the same house for all but three years of his life. We moved here about 3.5 yrs ago (seems like a lot longer). When we bought our house, we assumed the house next door was vacant. The lawn was overgrown to say the least. Over the years, we’ve come to know our neighbor. In the summer he always stops on his way home from work to talk to Lydia and her friends, whether we are inside or out. They like to watch the window for him. He comes for holiday dinners as we usually opt to stay home. Each summer, Jeff has mowed a bit more of his yard. First it was the piece between our driveways, then it was his front lawn. The backyard, at full height is between 4 and 5 ft high. We’ve often discussed what it would take to tackle it. What would be the best way to go about it? We didn’t want to be insulting. Jeff volunteers with a youth group and thought he could recruit one of the boys to help….until he younger brothers found out. We got the neighbors OK to do it today while he was at work. So this afternoon we had three extra boys. “J”, helped Jeff with the big stuff, “N” seemed to pair up with Hannah, raking and filling bags. “I” and Parker kept Lydia occupied. When we borrowed some gardening tools from another neighbor, he ended up helping for a while. Jeff and I are in agony after pulling out trees, pruning wild rose bushes, raking and mowing. Oh to be kids again. We filled 14 large paper yard waste bags, two compost cans and three garbage cans. There’s still some tidying up to do but we ran out of room for branches. Now we’ll help keep up the yard next door, a mom had an afternoon off and the kids got to learn about community service.

All worth the aches and pains. And the six pizzas that the kids devoured.

Make a Smilebox postcard

pour a beer.  A NB pub starts serving beer on the water in the midst of flooding.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/285393

Lydia is quickly becoming the most independant little girl.  She potty trained within a couple of days.  She’ll use the bathroom anywhere.  She’s figured out doorknobs, can get the fridge door open, dumps her potty herself, opens the van doors, washes the floor while pouring her own water from a 4 L jug…..

Anyway today was a PD day….again.  Jeff left for work at 7:15 and the kids were all watching tv.  No one had had breakfast.  At 7:40, Lydia climbs up on the bed insisting that I get up.  She’s got what looks like yogurt on her face.  Usually when she’s finished eating, she puts her dishes in the dishwasher, gets a facecloth and washes her face.  She wants to cuddle and give me kisses.    So I get up to wash her face first.  I ask the kids who got breakfast for her.  No one.  IM Jeff at work.  He didn’t.  Lydia has at her little table, a plate (she can’t reach the cupboard so it proabably came from the dishwasher) with a hamburger bun, coated with  strawberry cream cheese.  She left the cream cheese out but did put her dirty knife in the sink.  I know she’d start cooking if I’d let her.

Oh and a couple of weeks ago I asked Parker too put dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher.  He used dish soap.  After about 4 cycles, I finally got rid of the bubble.  Lydia knows which one to use though.  She fills the dispenser everytime she sees it empty.  She’ll turn it on too.

New Brunswick is flooding along the Saint John River.  The legislature is closed due to the flooding so no new news today except this picture.

That would be our esteemed Premier and Minister of Education.

My oldest child can ride her bike.  Yes she is 11.  Last weekend Hannah finally managed to get both feet on the pedals and go about the length of the driveway.  You might not think this is a huge accomplishment but it is.  Last summer, MIL bought the kids new bikes.  After a couple of attempts, they sat in the shed all year.  When Hannah was about four she took a nasty fall off her bike with training wheels.  She pretty much scalped her knee caps and it took all summer to heal.  It was a long summer of cleaning her wounds after going to the beach..  Since then she has been absolutely petrified to ride a bike.  Hannah is a very smart kid.  She’s an excellent debater, fluent in french, top marks in her class.  She loves dance, drama, yoga and golf.  But give her a physical challenge, and she’s a different kid.  She doesn’t like any sports where balls might come towards her or anything that requires a lot of balance.

So finally she has managed to balance herself on a bike, long enough to pedal.  i think maybe it was the threat of her 2 yr old sister learning to ride that spurred her on.  Or maybe that she would be allowed to ride on her own at the school next door.  By the time middle school starts in Sept, she should be sailing.