Ethan's Birthday Party....in October????

Yes, I had his birthday party in October. And why is this such a crime? Well....Ethan turned 7 in August....the BEGINNING of August. So, yes, I'm a little late.

Anyone who has August babies, (I have 2) knows that planning a birthday party in the summer months is a royal pain in the butt. Trying to get hold of kids in the summer, when you don't even know all the their last names, let alone where they live COMBINED with the fact that IF you locate them, at least half will be on vacation...ug...Too much hassle.
BUT, my dear son was expecting and planning a party. Sure, we had a family party...but, we are just not all that cool.
So, I convince Ethan that we wait until after school starts, people are back from vacation and it is MUCH easier to get the invitations out. He was not really excited with this plan. WHY???? Because I convinced him of the very same thing last year and guess what....It never happened! By February, this sweet little boy looks at me and says " I guess I'm not having a birthday party" (it took him 6 months to accept this fact)
Yes, that would be my millionth "Motherhood of the year" award.

SOOOOO I swore that would not happen again this year. And all through september, and into october it was a game of.... "ok, what about this weekend; nope, Erinn has a volley ball tournament....what about the next weekend; nope Daddy is out of town. How about the weekend after that; Nope, Nicholo (another buddy) is having his party that day...."'

Finally I just said, ENOUGH, the party will be on the 24, we are going to see Astroboy at the movie theatres, hopefully someone can come!

So out go the invitations and it finally happens. It was NUTS lol. Erinn did have a volleyball tournament that day so james stayed to watch her and I dealt with 8 little boys and 3 little girls at the theatres. Having had my two sons 11 years apart, I had quickly forgotten that putting 8 little boys in a confined space results in a one hour wrestltling match accented with fart noises, belches and armpit squeaks, and since they were eating hotdogs for dinner, many giggling references to weiners. Wow.....it's amazing the human race continues....boys are gross. LOL I sat with the three little girls and stared in unbelief at the chaos before us. Then the sweet theatre employee marched us down to get popcorn and into the movie we go....(my husband shows up at this point...thanks for the HELP honey!)

BUT, I don't care how chaotic or loud or crazy the kids were, I fulfilled my promise and had a party to celebrate my son's birthday. He will not know that my blood pressure topped the charts that day, he will not know I thanked God multiple times that he was my last child!....all he will know and remember, is that I did what I said I would do. The big hug and "thank you Mommy" will stay with me forever.

See my gray hair???

.....I didn't have this much gray hair last week.... I blame Jordan , ....for crashing her car

and she managed to flip it too...

in a ditch...

ON SOME TREES....(narrowly missing a telephone pole)

She still has some seatbelt marks, a bruised and cut left wrist...oh right,...she broke her right arm too...
(and she's right handed, ....That's great for the school thing.) She has to see a specialist next week...Possible surgery?

I'm still is shock. I think she is doing better.
Somedays, I wish my children were small again so I can keep them close and protect them.

But I think someone else was protecting her....

and again, I can't thank Him enough.....



Most of you have seen the pics on facebook already but I just wanted to document it all on the blog.

And this cartoon came through some forwarded mail and made me smile...cause now it means something to me.

Bill Waves

Actually, the waves caused by Bill....

We decided to go for a drive down the Purcell's Cove Rd on Sunday evening (as did many many MANY other people) so we could get a look at the waves caused by our recent brush with hurricane Bill.

I have to say....after having recently visited the mountains for the first time in my life, I was reflecting on the great wonders of nature. The mountains were amazing, very surreal.... overwhelmingly BIG and oh so peaceful. But, after coming out to see the waves, I have decided that I am in love with the ocean. The mountains were incredible, but ah, the sound and smell of the ocean...I just couldn't live without it! I could sit for hours and listen to the crashing waves, the squawking gulls, preferably(but not neccesary) with a sunbeam on my face, and be completely content. The sound of the ocean is a comfort to my soul...When life is the toughest, I guarantee you that you will find me at Peggy's Cove or some other rock or beach near the ocean. I find the tension within me eases and I breath deeper until things seem ok again.

So,we took the camera, the kids and the dog and enjoyed a few minutes (actually about 2 hours) watching an angry sea. It was breathtaking!

And before anyone comments, the kids were always a safe distance from the violent waves....the camera just doesn't give you the same perspective. Don't worry, I was a very paranoid mother!

(A lot of the pictures are of Christian because he seemed to be the one who would stop and stand to watch the water long enough for me to get some good shots.)




Erinn joined him in this next shot.



The surf crashing way, way out.


These huge waves would come out of nowhere and race across the middle of the Harbour .

These teenagers (not mine of course!) were sitting a little too close and ended up having to scramble as the waves crashed in. They got pretty wet here, and hopefully learned a lesson.

So Close to Disaster

Other parents out there.....ever had a moment when your child hurts themselves but you can see how it could have been SO much worse....like how Christian fell, when he was 5, against our closet shelf and cut his face about a 1/4 inch below his eye...he could have been blinded, or how Erinn, when she was 8, fell 15 feet out of a tree but because she caught her ankle in the branches on the way down, was slowed down enough, and hit the ground at the right angle, to only break her arm, as opposed to her back or neck.

Well, we had they kind of week. Ethan was staying over night at his friend's house and they were enjoying an outdoor fire with the other child's parents,...until my Ethan tripped on a piece of wood and fell into the fire. It had a steel grate across the top of it and he managed to get a hand out and push off it before the rest of him made contact with it. He has now got second degree burns on his left hand,... every finger is blistered and the palm of his hand at the base of his index finger is pretty bad. But OH, how much worse it could have been. It could have been his face, his clothes could have caught of fire, if he hadn't have pushed off so quickly, it could have been 3rd degree burns.
I have seen too many close calls as a parent to not be thankful to my Heavenly Father that my children are still alive and healthy. They have been spared many times, and I don't question why, I only say thank-you.

SO, Ethan has adjusted to being one handed....we call the left hand his paw, since he is all bandaged up. He will be wrapped for a week and will back to the docter to have it checked out next week.

Here are a couple of pictures. He can still use a laptop so he thinks life is good!

....So when you tuck your little ones in tonight, say thank you, that they are all in one piece. Phew!

The Fun of Family Pictures

So, before Jordan and Erinn and I headed out west, and my 2 youngest headed for Liverpool, my husband wanted to get a family picture with all of us ....just in case anything happened to anyone. Since we haven't gotten a family portrait done in eons, we decided to get Lynn (james' mom) to take one after church last week. This is the best we could do... lol


Now then....you have to understand, to get all of us smiling, looking in the same direction and not fighting,...that's a huge request. We looked like we just stood there and snapped a shot, amazing eh? Well, I thought I would post you some of the before pictures. The Drages at their best (minus me of course, I'm taking these shots.) Laugh if you want, but to me, this is my family!





Ah yes, the fun of family portraits.

Happy Birthday Ethan

We celebrated Ethan's birthday today with the family. He was so excited all day, waiting for everyone to come over. Chris brought home pizza's from work, and Lynn brought an ice cream cake...Ethan's requests for his birthday dinner.


Ally got him a bakugan launcher (unless you have a 6-11 year old boy, don't even ask what that is!)and got a great big hug from him. (Love the look on Ally's face)


Erinn got him his own jug of chocolate milk....Kinda of a running joke in our family.


Uncle Stephen got him G.I. Joe action figures. Awesome...a new fad to get him hooked on.



James and Ethan have been having fun using Chris' dart board to play darts so we bought Ethan his own set of darts. He also got a new Lego star wars set. ....



....... and a great big box of Smarties.



And you can't have a birthday without getting some money from the grandparents!


He had a great day, reminding us every few minutes that he was now 7. It will take a while for me to get used to it.

Me and My Freaky Eyes

Because of complications from an infection, I have to keep my left eye dilated with the use of drops for 3 weeks. I look a little like a bad drug trip with my pupils 2 different sizes!....My kids say my dirty look is not very effective anymore, 'cause they laugh at me when I glare at them. So, I took a picture to document my "freaky" eyes (as Ethan calls them). Nothing like an honest 6 year old to make you feel great about yourself!