The Drage Diaries

Blog Move

2011-04-07T00:40:00.002-03:00

I am moving my blog to a new site due to email issues connected with this blog. The Drage Diaries will now be located at Life's a Zoo. See you there.

How?

2010-09-14T11:15:00.013-03:00

So, I haven't had a blog entry since, what, last February??....and part of the reason is because I just sit and look at the screen and say HOW?....How do you catch up on all the important stuff between then and now....So, here's the last 10 months in memo form....

March.... Family vacay to Florida:
Seaworld, Discovery Cove, Everglade tours and alligator spotting, Florida Keys with Para Sailing and Reef Snorkeling
April: Jordan Turns 17 and the horse shows begin.

May: James and I are a year older.... no pics necessary. Trip to Boston to a Jack Canfield seminar. (Chicken Soup for the Soul guy) Very motivating...got to meet Jack. Nice guy.

June: Erinn off to Bahrain for International Children's Games for Volley ball. James and I head for a weekend seminar in North Carolina.
Chris' mission call comes while we are away.... Nanny hides it until we get home for him to open it.....He's off to Edmonton Alberta Sept 1st .
July: Jordan heads to Poland for Coalition for Kids, Canadian teens volunteering for a program similar to the children's wish foundation.
Camping trip to Risser's beach with the Fraser's! August: August was insane. James and I reached 20 years of marriage...but had NO time to celebrate. Erinn leaves for EFY in Calgary, James takes the kids and heads for New York and picks up Jordan who is passing through New York on the way back from Poland. He then heads to Toronto and Ottawa with them. I have a few days to collect my thoughts and then I am off to Calgary to pick up Erinn and we head to Edmonton...to spend 3 days in the West Edmonton Mall. We come home in time to see James and Chris off...on their way to Guatemala to see the Mayan ruins....a special father/son trip before Chris' mission. I have one day to wash and repack, then off camping with my sister in PEI. We get back , James and Chris return, my sister niece and nephew stay for another 5 days....We say goodbye to them and quickly prepare for Chris farewell and Ethans baptism. Thank goodness for good friends who planned and prepared so much for us. It was an amazing night. Then reality hits.... one week until Chris leaves. Lots of packing, shopping, crying, and preparing...Then, we drive Chris to the airport on Monday Aug 31. Very emotional.

That brings me to Sept.... In the midst of sniffling that Chris is gone, I need to prepare Jordan for her journey. Heading to Neuchatel Switzerland for her senior year of High school. On the 7th, I flew with her to Toronto, got her where she needed to go, said a sad goodbye and then flew home.
Three weeks later, Chris arrives home from Edmonton, on medical leave from his mission. Very emotional for everyone on all sorts of levels.
Two weeks after that, mid October, we head to Europe... Chris too, for a two week vacation and visit to Jordan. We stopped over in Morocco and Paris before heading to Neuchatel Switzerland.
Arrive home Nov 3 to the news that Jordan is in ICU in critical condition...I fly back to Switzerland Nov 4 to stay with Jordan for 4 weeks (2 in hospital, 2 afterwards) while she recovered from a nasty strep infection causing multi organ failures! Scary stuff. But she's all good now! That brings me to the end of November.
Back in time for Christmas shopping, decorating and traditions of the season...Dec 2o, Jordan heads to Kenya(from Switzerland) on a school trip with a charity organization to build a school for an impoverished village, so we don't have her home for Christmas.....then Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day traditions and family visits....... And then a week of recovery until today...New year's eve. PHEW
SO...that's how you catch up a year of blogging in one post. (I stopped adding pics to get through it all !)

Volleyball mom

2010-02-05T12:27:00.009-04:00

Each of my children have something they love or excel at....and I've posted on a couple of them...Ethan and Aikido, Jordan and horseback riding....

Today, it's Erinn and the sport of volleyball.
She started in grade 7...couldn't serve a ball over the net...was so short she could almost walk UNDER the net!.. but boy has she ever developed into one talented volleyball player. She played for her school team for the 3 years of Junior High...This year on the "A" team. And for 3 years she has played for a metro club called Armview Storm. I love watching her and her team play together. They're great.

Erinn is on the right, receiving a serve.

Another serve receive..the ball is a blur just in front of her arms.

Her given position, and what she does best... Setting the ball.

Her, on the left jumping for a block.Took a lot of practice to get high enough to
get her hands above the net!! She still has some growing to do.
I'm glad she has a love of a sport to keep her busy and out of trouble. Very very important during these teenage years!

Facebookless....a new word?

2009-12-15T15:07:00.006-04:00

My name is Lis Drage....I was a facebook-aholic.

A few weeks ago, I was feeling particularly grumpy and antisocial so for whatever reason, I deactivated my facebook account. I found I was spending way too much time on it, my email was overflowing with post reports, and honestly...did I need to know what was going on in the 200+ friends lives at any given moment....ummmm no.
I have my moments of withdrawl.... I have a couple of people who noticed I fell off the face of , well , facebook. I get more done now and don't feel the guilt of wasted time on the computer....(so what do I do? turn to blogging!...)
I will probably reactivate it though. I am a social creature at heart..it's a sad comment that it makes you feel connected to the world but I do I feel in the dark right now. The key would be to set a limit of a reasonable amount of time...stop in, catch up on what's going on, and log out!

Anyone else getting sucked into the vortex of computer usage? Facebook, blogging, twitter? What do you think is a reasonable amount of "social use" on the computer? I'm curious to know what others think.

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

2009-11-02T11:04:00.005-04:00

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???

2009-08-29T21:03:00.009-03:00

.....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

2009-08-24T18:39:00.013-03:00

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

2009-08-20T20:09:00.005-03:00

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

2009-08-16T22:53:00.008-03:00

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

2009-08-06T22:38:00.010-03:00

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

2009-07-27T09:40:00.006-03:00

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!

De-Braced!

2009-07-14T23:12:00.012-03:00

The day finally arrived...after 4 long years of orthodontic work, Jordan is brace free!.... It's been 4 years, with pain, tenderness, fights over head-gear usage, elastics, appointments, broken brackets, fights over what foods NOT to eat, more appointments,(not to mention thousands of dollars).... But, take a look, it's ALL worth it in the end.

This is Jordan when it all began about 5 years ago. She had a teeny jaw and huge teeth, bad combination.

This was a side view of her teeth. Huge over bite, no space for the teeth waiting to come in. Hard to believe that these little bits of metal, wire and plastic can have such amazing results!

And now , at 16 years old, the finished product!!!

Patiently enduring the "after " pictures the dentist was taking.

And one last smile for the camera.

We are so pleased with the final results. There was question of whether they would have room for all her adult teeth and whether or not they would have to do surgery. But, they managed to save all her teeth, no surgery needed. Now we start the retainer-wearing battles but it's only for 6 months of full time use, and then only at night after that. The end is in sight! YAY!

Get back in the saddle!

2009-07-01T20:51:00.008-03:00

I did a whole post earlier on my daughter and her love of riding and her talent at it, but I thought I would add this video of the not so fun moments in equine sports. This is when a mother hides her eyes and utters a silent prayer.
Jordan went in another show just this past week. It was her first jumper show, which means you are timed and faulted for mistakes (as opposed to the hunter show, where you are judged for appearance and control of your horse)....a jumper show is a little faster moving, tighter corners etc. There were a bunch of new jumps and a flappy tent and loud people and dogs....enough to spook the horse a little ....and it only takes a little to unfocus a horse and it's rider which leads to this.....

Then you get to play the game of "catch the horse who knows it's free"! A little embarrassing while everyone is watching you!
Jordan came away with some sore muscles and minor leather burn on one arm ...but she still smiled through it. Another adventure for her, one mild heart attack for me!

Where did all the in-between go?

2009-06-10T07:27:00.023-03:00

My little boy turned 18 this month and 2 weeks later was handed his high school diploma. My heart is aching. I am so proud of him for sticking through school even though it was hard for him, and relieved that we have gotten through 18 years without any major disasters or upsets..... but then I realize that my time with him at home will be gone before I know it. I know I'm supposed to let go, but I don't want to. A LONG time ago, on my first mother's day, Chris (and james) gave me a picture for his bedroom wall with a image of a little boy's bedroom full of little boy toys scattered around, and this poem was written underneath. I have added the pictures throughout it.

"I remember when you were my little boy.

An extension of my very being. My every waking moment belonged to you.

One evening, when I called you to supper, you came to the table all grown up. Where did all the in-between go? Too soon I was to let you go. Now, I should always call you "my son," but in my heart,you will always be... My Little Boy"

I can't ever read this without sniffling.... even now when I am posting it. It is truly unbelievable how fast the time has gone.

Here are a few more shots from his prom and graduation.This is Chris and his best friends in order from the left..... Jeff, Ian and Kenny

This is Chris and Hypatia at the prom.

And making that final trip across the stage to get his diploma. Congrats Christian.

Yay or Neigh?

2009-06-04T14:24:00.019-03:00

Ever since Jordan was a little, LITTLE girl, she has loved horses. Actually, she started with an obsession for unicorns, but when she finally realized she would never own one of those, she dropped the horn and moved onto horses. She had always wanted to ride and she started at Bengal Lancers in Halifax when she was 8 years old. She was so short at the time, that her boots didn't reach past the leather sides of the saddle, so when she was supposed to be kicking the horse, she was kicking saddle, so the horse would just stand there and ignore her. But as time went on, she grew and so did her passion for riding. She went from walking, to trotting to cantering and on occasion, galloping, although not on purpose and then onto jumping. This picture is her riding "Babe", a pony, who she doesn't even fit on anymore! This is one of the first shows she jumped in. She is jumping cross rails, the lowest and easiest jump to do (most of the horses walk over them because jumping is just too much effort!)

She also rode a sweet horse named Panda, who was a gentle horse to ride, although in her day she apparently lived up to her show name "Pandamoneum" . Jordan was very sad the day that Panda left the barn to be put down from complications of old age...sniff.

So now, here we are 8 years later, and she is still passionate about all things horsey. I bought her a T-shirt that says "I'd rather be in a stall, than in a mall". So true.... This year, she has become the most interested in horses, the barn and showing than at any time before now. How many kids do you know who.....skip school (with permission) to go watch a horse get fluid drained from his hawks, and then spend hours by his side as he recovers from the anesthetic....or get excited to see a horse get his teeth filed, .....or be ecstatic to learn how to administer medication to a horse with a needle! She dreams of one day owning a horse, a dream we hope see come to life someday. She will be showing all summer in a number of different horse shows around the province on Bucky. Here of some pictures of Bucky (his show name is Batman because he is black) Bucky is a beauty but he's a big chicken, scared of crowds, tents, lampposts, flowers, strollers, you name it. So riding him in a show is a challenge just to keep him focused on what he is doing and not on all the scary things around him. The next few pictures are of Jordan on Bucky in the last couple of shows.

Aikido anyone?

2009-06-03T10:15:00.000-03:00

Ethan, my youngest is now in Aikido, a form of Japanese marshal arts. Aikido translates as "the Way of harmonious spirit." As much as we stress to Ethan that it is a disciplined class for self defense only, his goal in life (he says with a grin on his face) is to beat up his older brother Christian. Chris is 11 years older than Ethan, and loves to torture him on a regular basis. Ethan is out for revenge...so watch out Chris.
So, he started out as a white belt and caught on very quickly. This week, he was tested to receive his yellow belt . The other girl in the video was a volunteer who went through the moves with him so he wouldn't be all alone. He was SO excited to learn he had passed! He already has his sights on an orange belt!

A ding-a-ling at heart....

2009-06-02T16:20:00.000-03:00

So, I escaped the chaos of family life last weekend, to go away to Moncton NB for a handbell festival. Sounds odd to some, I'm sure. So I will explain...
Bell Education 101: The handbell has a rich history going back several centuries to England, where huge bells were rung in church steeples. As the steeple bells gained popularity, so did the difficulty level of the tunes they rang. It was very difficult to practice on steeple bells , so a smaller set of tuned bells was created, so the bell ringers could compose and practice the ringing sounds they would use on the larger steeple bells....and so the handbells were born.
Since each individual bell has a sound, you need many people working together as a choir or ensemble to ring all the sounds that one musical instrument would normally play. The bells are laid out on foam on top of tables from smallest (highest tones), to the largest (lowest tones). With all the bells lined up like this, it is kind of like looking at a large piano....each bell representing a black or white key on the keyboard. A piano keyboard has 7 1/2 octaves, or 88 keys. Our choir has 4 octaves of bells, that's' 49 bells split between 8-9 people (some choirs have the full 7 octaves and need 15-16 people to ring that many). So, as a bell ringer, when looking at sheet music in front of you, you are only responsible for usually 2 notes throughout the music along with their accidental sharps and flats....usually about 4 bells, although some of us ring up to 10-12 depending on your capabilities and the size of the bells you are ringing. And if you think bells can only be rung, you're wrong...they can be plunked on the table, shaken, waved, swung, played with a mallet and more, all to achieve different sounds. Gloves are always worn when ringing because the oils from your skin can affect the sound of the bell over time.
So we get together once a week to practice and each year, in the spring, one choir hosts a "spring ring" or festival, when many choirs combine to play pieces together and individually. The festival in Moncton had space for 11 choirs...that equalled 122 people ringing approximately 550 bells.

The first video is of a piece called "Thine is the Glory". It was during one of the rehearsals so you can hear the director giving instructions at times. The sound is not great, since this was only videoed on a point and shoot digital camera, but it will give you an idea of what I was a part of. (if the sound is too harsh, turn the volume down a little). The other video "Joyful Reflections" is just me but you can hear the rest of the bells in the background....the camera is sitting on my music stand so it isn't picking up all the sound from the bells, but it gives you an idea of how each person is part of the whole effect. I play B, C sharp and Middle C in that piece.

So there you have it... A part of me that most people did not know, or maybe fully understand. I first played bells when I was 11 years old and have been playing with this choir for about 16 years now. I love it!

New on the blog scene.

2009-06-01T20:09:00.000-03:00

So, I am new at this whole blogging thing. I usually consider myself fairly adept with technology and the trends of the day....but I will be the first one to admit that this whole blogging thing intimidates me! BUT, since I am incapacitated today, flat on my back from a vertigo spell, what better time to overcome my aversion. I created this blog a couple of months ago...was very proud of myself for accomplishing that much, but I guess the whole purpose of a blog is to post things every once in a while, right? SO, here it goes.
(awkward silence here)
Where do you start? That is probably what has been the biggest cause of my blogging procrastination. I just don't know where to start. ...from the beginning? The beginning of what? my life?, my marriage? motherhood? senility? Well, all of that is just too overwhelming and time consuming so I will start with today.
I had such plans for the day but ended up in bed most of it because of a darn vertigo spell. For anyone who doesn't understand what a vertigo spell is, compare it to jumping off an out of control merry go round and then having to plant your feet in one spot while the rest of the world keeps spinning. It is nauseating and exhausting. I have had these random spells for about 16 years now for no apparent reason. I have been tested for brain issues but it seems to be working fine (no, you may not argue that statement)....so I have been diagnosed with benign vertigo.....dizzy for no apparent reason. I suppose that's a good thing, yet frustrating at the same time.
So, Monday June 1st, I officially start a blog. I will be expecting help from friends over the coming months to tutor me in the finer details of blogging, like how to get the pretty backgrounds, video, photos etc. I am not to proud to ask for help. If I figure some of that out, I will share a little of this past weekend with you...the handbell festival I attended in Moncton New Brunswick.