The three oldest kids are back at school today and so is Dave. I am resolved to no longer call him poor Dave on the blog as I realised recently that 'poor Dave' is the way that I most often refer to him when blogging. So, I will call him rich Dave. No, I think that I will stick with Dave as he is neither poor nor very rich, especially after the purchase of a brand new van over the Christmas break. We purchased a Toyota Sienna in Salsa Red (that seats 8) and I am afraid to drive it, especially in and out of the garage.
We had to drive home from Ottawa (the place of purchase) in tandem and I chose to drive the old silver van. Our drive home (2.5 hours) occurred quite close to my bedtime so Jacob was assigned to me to keep his old mother awake. Jacob is the only child who can be trusted to willingly talk for 2.5 hours straight at any time of night or day. I was amazed by the diversity of subjects covered. At one point I asked him what he liked about each of his grandparents. He told me that he loved Dave's mother's "slow and easy ways"; however, he saved the best for last when it came to my own mother (who is awaiting a hip replacement and thus has a bit of an, ahem, adjusted gait.) Jacob said, and I quote: "I love Grandma Julie because I love the way she walks. It's as if she's grooving to the beat." And then I cracked up laughing and he added: "She also has the same laugh as you."
When we were about 40 minutes from home and in the middle of nowhere - which, in these parts, can qualify as most places, (Golden Lake for you locals), I ran out of gas. Well, I had some fumes left: enough to get me to the paternal farm where fuel runs freely. The good part about running out of gas was that I too was running out of steam and the sub-zero pull-over necessitated by the ding of the fuel gauge was enough to wake me up to drive the rest of the way home. Jacob said, "I told you that you should have filled up, woman!" Woman? Dave was very gentlemanly about the whole affair and, I think, that he secretly enjoyed the chance to show off his new van to his parents.
So, the Christmas break is finished and it was very good and very refreshing - two things that it usually isn't. I am buckling down to make it through the wilds of January and February and repeating things to myself like, "At least you don't live in Siberia." And what have we to look forward to this year? I imagine that I will have a second ultrasound sometime within the next month. We will do our best to ascertain whether or not this baby is pink or blue and we will share the news with whomever wishes to hear it. We hope for our annual March Break trek to Halifax but this will depend on my mother's hip surgery. If she is still grooving to the beat, I imagine that we will stay put. I have also started officially schooling Joseph in preparation for his school entry in the Fall. We began this morning with the letters m and s. I was able to identify both.
I have yet to fake any Christmas photos but I will get something up here soon.
6 comments:
I had a good laugh over Jacob's description of your mother's gait. As my own mother has had one hip done and is awaiting replacement of at least one knee, she, too, grooves to some silent and fantastic beat. Our moms are awesome - and so is Jacob.
Sincerely,
Van-Envious in Russell
P.S. Jesus addressed His mother as "woman" - I'm sure that's where Jacob picked it up.
Jac, I believe that Jesus said, "Woman, what is it to me?", not, "Woman, I told you that you should have filled up!" (Which, I suppose, has significance when it comes to both gas tanks and wine jugs.) But, yes, I imagine that my precious son was alluding to Scripture when he addressed me so forthrightly. Thanks for pointing out the reference;) And, yes, I agree, our moms are awesome.
A swagger wagon! Ooooh I am impressed, Afelskie clan! I think you need to make a trip to the East Coast simply to show off your new hip van (wow, I am closing in on 30 quickly, now that I can use the words "hip" and "van" in the same sentence).
Jacob must be one of the most amusing kids in the world. I get a kick out of him! And I have noticed that all Culshaw women have that laugh; it is infectious and wonderful.
I just love Jacob.
Rebecca, You'll love him even more when you hear what he said about you. I asked him what he loved about his Aunt Rebecca, and he said, "I can't explain it. She just overwhelms you and you can't help but love her." "Overwhelms you" was meant in a very good way, sort of the way love can overwhelm you.
I forgot to tell you how cute Jacob was at the library the other day. We were discussing Pearl Harbour, since Madeleine found a history book about it to fulfill her father's requirement that she read some history in addition to the 6 volumes of Nancy Drew she often comes home with. I told Jacob that our kids paternal great-grandfather was stationed in Pearl Harbour, but was called away to California to testify in court. "Wow, Mrs. Nicholson. I guess that was a blessing in disguise!" he said. He and Madeleine are just so alike. She could easily keep me awake in a car for 2 hours. In fact she often does keep me awake longer than I want to at night...
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