Tired

 Have you ever watched the show Mantracker?  It is a Canadian production of an hour's length in which a man who specialises in tracking people and animals is given the task of finding a team of two, the prey, before they reach the finish line which is usually a two day's trek through the wilds of North America.  The kids love it.  Thus, Mantracker has become a favourite game to play in the bush behind our house and both Benjamin and Joseph have decided that they want to grow up to be prey.  I don't think they understand the full ramifications of that desire.  Anyway, the above picture is that of Benjamin's legs after an intense game of Mantracker in which he decided that it was better to wade through knee-high icy water filled with dead raspberry canes (while wearing shorts) than to be caught by his father.  He insisted that the photo be taken for the viewing pleasure of his grandfather and godfather who would both appreciate the pain that he endured in a bid to make it to the finishing line.  Pretty brutal, eh?  All I could do was apply some aloe vera cream and allow him to stay home from school the next day so that no one would see his legs!

 And then there's these two.  Hannah really is his second mother and he spends much time in her arms despite weighing only 27 pounds less than her.  He is also the first of our singletons to share Jacob's intense love of books.  Any literate member of the family is not allowed to sit down in the living room without Isaac arriving at his or her side with a book in hand.

 Pardon the pink soother.  It was anti-bullying day in Ontario.

He's reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which is one of our favourites.  On a side note, I wouldn't mind some prayer as I seem to be sharing a lot in common with dear Alexander these days due to some pretty bad sleep.  If you wouldn't mind saying a prayer or two that I would sleep a little better, I will consider naming this baby after you; or, perhaps I will consider your suggestion for baby names as we are still in the dark regarding Baby Girl Afelskie.

Unreal

Not St. Joseph

 Absolutely unreal, the weather, that is.  It is March 19th, 
the Feast of St. Joseph, and the normal high for 
today is 3 degrees.  It hit 24 degrees today and 
such temperatures are forecast for the rest of the 
week.  The kids are in shorts and crocs and it feels 
like we are only days away from summer vacation 
rather than just heading back after March Break.

We ate s'mores on the back deck for dessert to celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph.  There were mosquitoes.  We also went to mass where I heard Jacob whisper meaningfully to Joseph that mass was in honour of Saint Joseph not Joseph Afelskie.  They then had some sort of physical exchange which Dave ended by gripping Joseph tightly to his chest.  St. Joe has his work cut out for him.

 I feel like we cheated at winter.  Where has it gone?  Will it be back?

 Despite Hannah's penchant for desserts, she has an incredibly slow growth rate and seems to be following in the footsteps of my oldest sister who is a negative dress size.  The great thing about Hannah's tinyness is that I very rarely need to buy her new summer clothes.  She still has a pair of 24 month capris into which she fits.

 Ben is also incredibly thin and is eating desperate amounts of food as his body tries to put on at least an ounce of body fat in order to accommodate yet another growth spurt.   The other day he ate three boiled eggs for breakfast, two large pieces of bread spread thickly with butter and a bowl of cereal; he was back within two hours for more.  I shudder at the teenage years.

 This was Isaac's first s'more experience.  (Actually, it was also mine.)

 He wasn't entirely sure what to do with the sticky creation, at first.

But then he figured it out.

A bit more regular: posting, that is

 I didn't expect the relationship between Joseph and Isaac to develop so happily this year.  I knew that they would be the only two home during the day but I doubted that they would play together much as there is nearly three years between them.  My mother, however, assured me otherwise; and she was right.  Nevertheless, we are a little wary of Isaac learning too much under the tutelage of the Joe-minator.  (After looking at this picture again, I feel the need to reassure you that Joe's head is not really shaped like that - the camera must have distorted it slightly.)

 Isaac does enjoy when his other siblings arrive home from school.  Excuse the red makeup around Ben's eyes.  It was dress-up-as-your-favourite-animal day at school and Ben went as a fox.  My makeup removal techniques need a bit more refining.

 Dave insisted that some documentary proof of this pregnancy be provided.  I am not too happy with the results - as you can tell by my expression.  Mostly, I am in need of a haircut; but I am nervous of going under the scissors as I never seem to know what the result will be.

 And just so you believe me when I say that we have been sick:  here is photographic proof.  I am unsure who was sick at the time, but I think that it is quite apparent that I was.

 Oooh, blurriness.  The yearly spelling bee came round again and both Hannah and Jacob competed.  The field was a lot larger this year and somewhat tougher.  Jacob is first on the left and Hannah is third on the left.

 Their bench positioning was obviously prophetic as Jacob placed first with the word opposite.  (Sarah-Grace:  was this word not the antidisestablishmentarianism of yesteryear?)  And Hannah came in third with a frenchifying of usual - usuel.  I always thought that she had a certain Parisian style.

 Jacob eyeing up the competition.

 And then March Break started and the snow came back (although it is now gone again - whew!).  This was before 8am on the first Saturday of March Break.  I awoke to find the four oldest across the street shovelling the driveway of our 94-year-old neighbours.  Before your jaw drops to the floor at the sheer altruism demonstrated by our children, I must inform you that these neighbours pay in chocolate.  They insist.

We went to Ottawa yesterday for the day where we used-clothing shopped (boys blow through the knees of their pants at astonishing rates), ate at various fast-food establishments and watched The Adventures of Tintin.  Well, I and the oldest four kids watched the movie (which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend).  Dave graciously drove around with a sleeping Isaac and then did some computer-stuff buying.  The above scene is from the drive home:  brothers paying homage to the one who paves the way; or:  Joe and Ben fall asleep without pillows.

Mid-Lenten Updates

I could blame my absence on a million little things; however, the two big things have been a general Lenten fast from the blog world combined with two months of stomach flues.  Seriously, I think that someone has been throwing up most weekends since the beginning of February.  The stomach scourges seem to have passed and Dave somehow made it through unscathed.  We are looking forward to a healthy March Break.

During the brief breaks between stomach flues we managed to speak at the two weekends that comprise our local marriage prep.  These are always tiring times but well worth it on so many levels.  Dave and I really enjoy working in marriage ministry and these weekends serve as a good shot in the arm to our own marriage.  The spin-off from this last weekend is that I will finally become fully certified as a Billings Ovulation instructor and can start offering a course to those interested.  I find this very exciting as NFP is one of the greatest hidden treasures of the Church.  My heart is overwhelmed each time I watch women learn about the inner workings of their bodies and wonder, Why did no one tell me this before?

But, on to more humorous updates. I took the five kids out for a sort-of-springtime walk yesterday after school.  We started off in sweatshirts and rainboots but the weather quickly cooled and Ben, our thinnest by far, ended in his original sweatshirt plus my winter hat and scarf.  He looked like a slightly androgynous kindergartner - at least my outerwear tastes tend towards black and navy blue.  As we were starting to walk Jacob asked me if many boys chased after me when I was younger.  I laughed and said, "No.  Rather the opposite, actually."  "Why?" he asked.  "Well, I was a lot chubbier then than I am now,"  I replied.  He responded that he would have still chased after me.  What devotion.  He then said, "Mom, if I saw you now, I would gawk."  I took this as a compliment thinking that we were still operating along the same conversational vein as before.  I asked why and he replied, "All these kids!  If I didn't know you I might think that you were crazy."

On another walk a few weeks ago I took Jacob and Hannah for some one-on-one time.  We were talking about some topic which I can't remember and Jacob threw up his hands and said, "Women!  I'll never understand you!"  Poor Jacob, he has only been trying to understand for eight years so far.  Despite his lack of understanding, he has a fiercely loyal devotion to his twin sister.  If he were a knight, she would surely be his lady.  Hannah, on the other hand, would be much happier with remaining a twin sister rather than an object of devotion.  Nevertheless, despite Jacob's fondness for his womb-mate, he can still find a few character faults in his sister.  At supper the other night he said to Hannah, "When I get married I won't marry a woman with a fiery temper like yours!"  She coolly responded with a roll of the eyes, "Yeah, but she'll have a really big womb, right?"

And the last word belongs to Joseph who adamantly tells all that he can't wait for Baby Nichola to arrive.  Nichola?  Perhaps he's on to something.  We have explained to him that the way that we choose baby names is by praying about them and then asking God what He wants the baby to be called.  Joseph loves me to then tell him how he was named.  I then tell him the story of how we thought his name was Simon Andrew; but then God told Mommy that his name was really Joseph Michael; and when Mommy told Daddy, Daddy said, "I already knew that,  I was just waiting for you to tell me."  Usually Joseph's face erupts in a huge smile and he hugs me in response.  However, this time, when I told him the name story, he added a sequel:  "And then I prayed to God and God told me that your name is Mommy-Elena, so that's what I called you."  Sometimes there is no arguing with our alpha-child.