8/52

"a portrait of, and quote from my children, once a week, every week, in 2015"

Jackson: I forgot to talk about something I witnessed last week when dropping the kids off at school. We were walking up the steps to the school yard while a group of girls from his class stood at the top watching. Just as we were nearing the top, one of the girls came down the few steps and got right in his face, literally inches away. She said "Hey Jackson, it's my birthday today. What do you have to say to me? Hey Jackson, aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday? Come on Jackson, you know you want to." His cheeks went a little pink and he shook his head a tiny bit and walked past her mumbling goodbye to me as he went the opposite direction. The girl is very cute and honestly reminded me of Sally from Peanuts the way she talked to him. I wished her a happy day and continued on to Lily's classroom. I asked him later why he didn't say anything to her and he told me he had already sent her a snap chat wishing her HB that morning. Suddenly my boy seemed so old. The photo above is him headed into the arena Saturday morning at 6:45am. Hockey is his world. It's almost always been. His only quote this week is from when he came storming into the bathroom early one morning pushing to use it so he could get back to the tv "Mom, the Canucks actually won last night. I NEED to watch the highlights right now!"

Lily: I chose the photo above because it shows some of her awesome sass but also how tired the poor little woman is. Her worries are taking over and keeping us awake at night. She has many concerns like if she eats sugar she will get diabetes and if she spends too much time in front of a screen, she will go blind.  She has always had a problem with nose bleeds but last week things got crazy. She needed to have one nostril cauterized in the doctors office and then wound up in emergency around midnight on Thursday as the other side was bleeding so badly it also had to be cauterized. We are tired and regardless of all the reassurances we give her, she gets crazy with fear at night time. She has lived in this same house her whole life and we've had a woodstove the whole time and suddenly she is very afraid of it. I'm like a broken record on how amazing she is during the day but nighttime is the worst. When she is alone with her thoughts, her fear comes out. No amount of exercise or bedtime reading seems to help.  She doesn't watch any news or scary programs. She reads sweet books and has really lovely little friends. I don't know where it is all coming from but we are determined to help her as best we can. Somehow we will find something to ease her mind of worry. Anyone have any tips? 

From last week but forgot to include it, "This may come as some sort of shock to you, but I've decided to become a vegetarian. I want to love animals not eat them."

 At breakfast, "Muffets? Dad, why'd you even buy those? Just a total waste of money."

While reading, "Some people aren't so particular but I try not to miss any pages."

While on a big walk on Sunday "Someone as simple as a pharmacist could be a bad guy."

Just before supper was served, "Hey Mom, remember something, I like forks."

Living Arrows and Practising Simplicity