Up to Speed

They are growing up far too fast.  I can clearly see shades of the men that they are becoming.

And here is almost the same grouping of kids to show you just how much they are growing.  This photo is from 7 years ago.  The twins are almost 7 and Isaac wasn't even in-utero.  And Joe was so very, very blond.

 These two love one another deeply.  One can never guess at the depth, meaning or significance of sibling relationships.

The annual Partridge Race held at the start of October.  Isaac is the second orange shirt from the right.  It's fair to say that he trounced the competition finishing a full 30 seconds ahead of the next runner.  With only ten minutes recovery he then ran the 3000 metre open race against kids in grades 4-8.  He finished fifth.  If I hadn't been at his birth, I would say he had been born in Africa.

 Why do I have no photos of Joe and Ben?  Joe surprised us all and showed that training pays off when he finished second in his division.  He was in first place until the finish line when the second-place runner reached out his hand and beat Joe by a few fingers.  Joe was fourth in the 3000 metre finishing ahead of Isaac and two places behind Ben.  Ben placed second in his grade division and second in the 3000 metre.  Proud mama.

 And then Halloween and All Saints Day arrived.  Isaac and Sarah attended an All Saints Day party at a friend's house.  Because I have a box of costumes from which we fashion all saint and Halloween costumes, they too dressed as St. Scholastica and St. Benedict, a repeat of the twins from years before.  Granted, Sarah looks far more like an Italian widow than a Catholic nun.

 And Isaac bore a strong resemblance to the Grim Reaper.

 Next came Mariana's second birthday on November 4th.  Because she doesn't know better yet, we were able to celebrate her birthday by dressing her in a snowsuit and dragging her to a cross-country race an hour away in frigid temperatures.  Your third birthday might be better, Mariana.

 Two local teens were racing in the provincial championships and we couldn't miss the chance to see them finish fourth in the senior division.

 We did, however, come home to a good supper and a great cake.  Thank you, Grandma for the cake.  Mariana, it goes without saying: little girl, we love you to the moon and back.

Well, that was long

 The three middle boys started school (gr. 6, 5 and 2) at the start of the fall.  (Jacob and Hannah are attending high school on-line and at home.  Outside of having these 7 kids, the decision to school the twins this way has been one of our best decisions in 15 years.)  But, then a funny thing happened.

 Summer came back with a rollicking wave of heat that made up for a cool and soggy summer.  Sort of like a house guest that stays too long, but leaves behind an unexpected and lavish gift thanking you for the hospitality.  It was nice.

 We headed to the beach to bask in the remains of summer leisure.

 Not a stand-up paddle board - just a kayak re-purposed a la Joe.  The funny thing is that the kayak has a weight limit that is one pound less than Jacob's actual weight.  When Jacob uses the kayak, it sinks to water level and he looks like he is sitting atop the waves.

 I almost forgot:  before the end of the real summer, Joe and Ben acted in a play.  A friend of ours wrote a play about the role of the railway in our town.  It starred many locals and was a delightful combination of music, storytelling and rain.  Sigh to the last one.  Anyway, Joe and Ben's official titles were "local scamps" and they were told by the Irish stationmaster to, "Git on with ya, ya little buggers."  This line never failed to delight Isaac and Sarah.  As it turns out, the two local scamps are actually quite fine actors and memorised their lines and delivered them well.  I wish I could say that they put on the Barry's Bay accents, but those are real.

 Back to fake summer and Mariana in her bathing costume.

 "Hey, don't I know you?"  Twins passing on the beach.  This looks staged; it wasn't.

 Dad watching children in water and wondering at his wife and the camera.  The man behind it all.

Grainy - but I can never resist a photo of a big brother holding a much smaller sister.  Plus, the pigtails!

Isaac's and Dave's Birthdays

 Isaac turned 7 on August 30th; here he is wearing his new hoodie.  Isaac is an extremely sporty and active little guy.  I am not exaggerating when I write that, with the exception of sleep, he literally does not stop moving.  And when he sleeps, he sleeps hard.  He often falls asleep in the midst of a family evening crashed out on the couch.  Noise and lights do not bother him and he is out for the count.  When the other boys head to bed, Jacob carries him down the basement stairs and into his bottom bunk where he wakes up in the morning surprised to find that he has made his way to bed.

 He is aptly named (Isaac means joy or laughter) and he is one happy little guy.  I keep referring to him as little because he is rather slight which undoubtedly contributes to his running prowess.  He is the whitest African that I have ever seen.  He recently won his cross country race by a full 30 seconds.  I filmed the race and had to wait an awful long time until another child appeared near the finishing chute.  His race technique is very simple - get to the front and stay there for as long and as hard as need be.  He also competed in the Open 3000 metre race.  He was by far the youngest kid (by at least 3-4 grades) and he finished 6th.  He ran this race back-to-back with his previous race and simply found his older brothers in the pack and followed them.

 Joe made him an axe for his birthday and was his very best friend for the whole day.  This is highly unusual behaviour and had far more to do with Isaac's new walkie-talkies than with brotherly love.

 My parents moved to town at the beginning of August and Mom seems to have taken over making birthday cakes for us.  I hope.  The Smarties spell Isaac.

 That smile.  I have loved that smile since the moment it appeared a few weeks into his life.  His eyes light up each and every time he smiles and the left side of his mouth droops ever so much.  Far too cute.

 We can't forget this guy.  Dave's birthday is September 1st and has been eclipsed by that of his fifth child.  This really doesn't bother him as he is a man with few and very difficult to discern needs.  Birthday gifts are excruciating and I have officially thrown in the towel.  As he says, "The gift will only appear on my Mastercard anyway."  Touche.  The nanaimo bar cake looked like a good idea at the grocery store, but was more of a gag-you-with-sweetness with a side of wax sort of cake.

Isaac moving into eclipse mode.

Images of Summer, Part Two

 Not Mariana's first ice cream, but these photos definitely showcase her delight in the iconic summer treat.

 No words.

 She has become quite blonde this summer, but I imagine it will disappear just like it did for many of her older siblings.

 Sarah would gladly relinquish all food in order to live off of ice cream and chips.

 This was the summer that, when I cut Dave's hair, he suddenly became grey.  The inevitable march of time is unstoppable.

 Reading should not be species-specific.  Dog lives matter.

 We went for exactly one hike this summer at nearby Algonquin Park.  The trail we chose was the site of a tornado warning one week later!  This was Mariana's one happy moment on the trail.  She spent the rest of the time trying to launch herself out of the backpack carrier.  She was absolutely insistent that she could hike 3 km uphill and approach dangerous cliffs without the aid of adult hands.   And pick blueberries that weren't actually blueberries.  It was a happy time.

 My dear sister, Sr. Ilaria/Martha, was with us for three weeks this summer and she donned her sisterly athletic gear for many runs, hikes and games with the kids.  This was our ice cream stop on the way back from the Algonquin hike.  $1.50 a scoop - best place in the world.  Hannah had to hold the owner's baby while the owner scooped ice creams, but Hannah is emphatic that we got bigger scoops due to her babysitting skills.  This was also my first taste of ice cream in one year.  I have had to follow a crazy anti-candida diet for a year (no sugar and no carbohydrates) to rid myself of a nasty nursing infection.  Sad to say, the ice cream was disappointing.  And so was the weight gain.

Images of Summer, Part One

 I've procrastinated long enough in the blogging department.  I wanted to compose a beautiful post about the twins' graduation from grade eight, but I have still not loaded the photos from the iPhone onto the computer.  One day when I complete that task I will tell you all about that fateful eve when the reality of our life spent swimming against the current hit me smack dab in the face.  As a shout out to the twins, I will tell you that Hannah was the valedictorian and Jacob won highest average for the class.  And we got exactly one photo of the whole thing.  On to other things.

 Like Canada Day.  Summer was disappointing in the weather department.  Following on a spring of record rain and flooding, we were assaulted by an early summer of record black flies, followed by little reprieve brought by a summer of low temperatures and much rain.  It was depressing.  However, when the sun shone we tried to make the most of it.  We celebrated Canada's 150th with some free pony rides and watching the fireworks at a friends' house.  From our attire, you might also guess that we went swimming.

 Tallest five-year-old girl in town.

 One of the kids snapped this and I included it in a nod to the "make sure mommy is in the photos of family life" movement.

This summer was extraordinarily busy as Dave went from the busyness of June to teaching an accelerated gr. 11 summer course on-line while also finishing his Religion Specialist course.  The first course was to help ease the summer finances while the second was his last stop before taking his principal papers in the fall.  I somehow missed the memo that this was what July would look like, so he also faced the wrath of his wife, despite the fact that he was ably providing for our family and carving out a better path for the future.  Thus, when he could, he slept.  In a blur.

 Through it all Mariana remained very cute.  She is by far the most aggressive of any of our girls and resembles both Jacob and Joe as toddlers.  Euphemisms abound:  full of energy, advanced, assertive etc.etc.  Read between the lines.

 Sort of a trashy shot, both literally and figuratively.  This was the summer that I decided that I would hook up the Chariot stroller to the mountain bike and pull both girls around town.  80 pounds of girl.  My nagging plantar fasciitis has cut running completely out of my life, so this was also the season of the bike.  Dave finally convinced me to transfer to the road bike and I have spent many happy hours biking to Combermere and back.  I've also fallen off three times, almost breaking an elbow.  My lower legs are permanently bruised from pedals and falls.  One must somehow add spice to life.

Speaking of spice ... Jacob conquered cinnamon rolls this summer; several times and much to the delight of his siblings.  My one rule is that kitchen cannot be trashed when he is finished.  I choose to go for a long bike ride when he bakes.  Thus, when I arrive home, all is well and the dish rack is full.

Sarah's Birthday

Oh dear, am I ever behind!  Sarah turned five on June 6th and, well, this is six weeks later.  However, to make up for my tardiness, I will post multiple photos of our beloved daughter to demonstrate how much we love and cherish this little girl.  Then, one day, when she moves into the realms of literacy, she will read this post and forgive her dear mother for almost failing to document her special day.  But, isn't she cute?  I am so fond of this little girl.  I remember when the idea of another child so soon after Isaac was first proposed.  I thought the proposal was ludicrous.  But, yet, that proposal was Sarah.  How easily I could have missed out on this fabulous child; how much better are God's plans than my own!

The problem with posting so late is that I have nearly forgotten how we spent the day.  What I do know is that there was ice cream cake.  Ridiculously priced ice cream cake.  Why do we shell out so much for so little?
Sarah is everything you could ask for in a five year old girl.  She is full of fun and kindness.  Every single morning she hops out of bed with a smile.  When she finds me, she hugs me tightly around the legs and asks for a cup of tea.  She insists on wearing a dress every single day and loves when Hannah braids and curls her hair.  She is extremely easy-going and easy to get along with.  She has a real gift of friendship and is extremely extroverted.  She really is a brand new personality to us and we delight in Sarah - or, as Dave calls her, the little girler.

Also, at some point in the day, Sarah's good friend Ella came to play and joined us for supper and cake.  I also recall lots of jumping on the trampoline and being chased by older brothers.  Ella's mother is the sixth child in a family of 12.  I often think of Ella's mother and the life that she and her husband have established when I think of Sarah.  Sarah is our sixth child and one day she too will lead a life separate from us that bears fruit in its own unique way.  Mysterious.

I think that Ben somehow appears in the background of almost every sibling birthday photo.  Dave has a thing about taking pictures of the birthday cake.  We sing Happy Birthday while Hannah carries over the cake.  Then, without fail (years of without fail), Dave stops the show just as the cake is placed before the birthday child, instructs them to tip the cake slightly upward and takes a shot of child and cake.  I wonder if he realises how unfailingly he performs this ritual?

The other inevitable ritual is that all the other kids (minus two who happen to be slightly better-mannered) clamour for the first piece.  They are told forcefully to sit back down and wait while the birthday girl and her guest are served (and I console myself that this behaviour is strong character in our children and not the result of bad parenting).

Late Spring

 Despite the fact that I am very far behind in regards to syncing our lives with the blog, I am sad to say that the weather still feels a lot like late spring.  There is a large and heavy cloud that has taken up residence over this part of Ontario for the summer and there has hardly been a day that passes without a major downpour.  Dave and his father have been unable to get on the fields to start taking the hay off and, in places, that hay is over 7 feet tall.  A child's dreamworld, a farmer's nightmare.

 I took these photos in late May (or was it early May?) before my parents headed back out east to prep their house for selling.  We had gathered together for a campfire with marshmallows and blackflies.  Blackflies are one of the curses of this part of the world.  Unfortunately, the extremely wet spring yielded a plague-like crop of blackflies.  I have photos of the backs of the kids' necks, but I will spare you.  Suffice to say that many of the boys' t-shirts are stained by blood and the school proclaimed indoor recess on many a day due to the bugs.  We know how to make our kids tough!

 I just like the lighting in this photo.

 And I like the girl in this one.  I suppose she is far more a young woman than a girl now.  At times I feel like my life's work has become organising her babysitting and coaching schedule.  She and Jacob are also taking their Bronze Medallion swimming badge this summer.  Hannah refuses to go on after this level as she is only 5'2 and barely 100 pounds and doesn't feel she has the strength to rescue anyone in the water.  "Too many people would die on my watch, Mom."  Jacob, however, is growing at an astronomical rate and has surpassed me on all fronts - height, foot size and almost weight.  I'll be happy when the last milestone is reached!  He is a fish in water and is going to pursue his swimming instructor certification.

 Sarah seems to be entirely composed of energy.  She bounces out of her bed in the morning and only bounces back under a heavy hand close to 9:30.  Sigh, only 5 years old.  I will have to enter her in an Olympic training program to get through the teenage years.

 These two have become very close friends now that Mariana is approaching two.

Nevertheless, their blossoming friendship cannot always contain our youngest.