The Iceland tour is nearing the end  so the  girls will soon be home.  B10 and I have worked hard on his room in their absence.  The wall paper removal spread over two days.  We managed to pull the printed front of the wall paper off in many strips.  To remove the brown paper backing still clinging to the wall took a lot of water and patience.  B10 chose and painted sample squares of Dill Pickle and Jalapeno Pepper then picked Dill Pickle for his walls.

While I worked I listened to various things but mainly one episode after another of Stuart McLeans’ The Vinyl Cafe.  I learnt bits and pieces about places all over Canada, was entertained by the amusing stories Stuart tells of Dave and Morley and enjoyed music by some  lesser known but very talented Canadian musicians. When B10 and I were both working on the room we had some random and rather ridiculous conversations, some of them involving his inventive ideas about better ways to complete whatever tedious task we were doing at the time.

In the lead up to the Iceland trip I knew B10 would be moving out of his room for the painting so I didn’t  push the keep it tidy routine.  When we moved all his stuff out I stressed that unnecessary junk would not be returning to his room at the end.  Together we culled quite a few books, and he hardened his heart to some precious but past their prime and close to useless items.  Of all my children he is the worst hoarder by far so I was proud when he was able to throw away the broken dragonfly and other sundry items.

Tomorrow we will put the room back together so I thought I would post the “before” shot tonight.

My true love said to me, “Happy Anniversary”

Today we are celebrating 21 happy years, lived together in two countries,  five houses, with (eventually) three delightful children.

I have a post in draft mode letting you know what has been going on in our family lately, reassuring you that we are actually preparing for Christmas. The new header is a glimpse of the Lego nativity B10 made for me. There is baking and decorating happening as well. But while you wait for that, watch this:

Don’t you love that star they are following, and the expressions on Joseph and Mary’s faces?

Created by http://www.youtube.com/user/stpaulsartsandmedia

B9 turned 10 this week, making him, of course B10.  As it was a Saturday he was the first one up, it is the only day we can sleep in so we do.  But once everyone dragged themselves out of bed he was able to open his presents and eat egg and bacon muffins that Andrew made.

He left no doubt in our minds about what he wanted for his birthday.  Both boys across the road have one of these and they have kindly shared for the last month and a half.  The three of them have even rehearsed a show together, but it requires them all to have one of these items.  And now B10 has one.  He also has a magic set complete with instructional dvd, some new techdeck and some clever white board sheets that stick anywhere.  He and his buddy across the road had a happy Saturday with the pogos and the mini skateboards before hamburgers and Karate Kid, the new version.  We watched the old version a while back so the kids would get some of the connection jokes.  Well, it turns out that they didn’t really change much  in the remake, but as it was set in Beijing it was fun to watch and remember places we had been in 2008.

The celebrating isn’t over yet;  we have a party still to come next Saturday.