a sad day in the neighbourhood

Two weeks have elapsed again since my last post. Pretty pathetic. Life seems to be getting in the way (and internet connectivity problems not helping either, arghhh).

I'd have so many fun and happy things to talk about. But an event here yesterday has overshadowed all of that. There was a fire at a neighbor's house. A huge fire. No one got hurt, thank God. It fills me with sadness. Its a house we went to over the years, where we had many happy moments filled with laughter. We never really got to know the new owners who have been here for the past 3 years or so. Needless to say, this event has led to a lot of talks in the neighborhood and in our household, many inquisitive questions from our kids.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And praying that this never happens to any of you.

the bulleted post

• smiling busy SAHM trying to keep up with it all and wondering where the last 2 weeks went
  
• smiling for my quick trip to Montreal to meet up with some special girlfriends and replenish my soul
• smiling for my new found love of chocolate martinis ;)
• smiling with my new MGW t-shirt and new scarf
• smiling at the fun nature walk I had with SCM this week
  
• smiling for the Senators hockey game we attended last week where we saw the son of very good friends stand with the hockey players on the ice during the national anthem
  
• smiling for baby boy who is progressing so rapidly in his hockey skills, he's a joy to watch
• smiling for baby girl who participated in her first Ontario Development Program for gymnasts and did great and had loads of fun
• smiling at the fact that the twins and I have joined a ski club
  
• smiling (widely) for the twins who turned 6 and had a fun and noisy b day party with all their friends and a quiet intimate celebration at home
• smiling at the fact that I've now organized 18 birthday parties and am working on the 19th
  
• smiling for big sis who spent Career Day working at the Montessori school she went to so many years ago and absolutely loved it and the kids have all been asking for her to come back
• smiling for big sis who started working on the school's radio station
• frowning at the amount of projects big sis has
• smiling that I'm able to help with all these projects and that she accepts my help willingly
• frowning that it's parent-teacher meetings for big sis again, hate those
• frowning at the thought that I have a cardiologist appointment coming up and will be on a monitor for 24 hours
  
• smiling for the great news that my friend just received: the lump in her breast is benign
• frowning for the wait we are enduring to find out about the lump in MIL's breast
• frowning for the results we just found out: baby girl is allergic to peanuts as well, as allergic as her brother
• frowning at the amount of money I'm spending on epi-pens
• smiling ate the positive results for my shoulder, nothing serious, will just need tons of physio, sigh
• frowning at having to deal with ALL these health issues
• smiling at the thought of the big ass 40th bday party we are going to this coming week-end
  

• frowning at the fact that hubby and the twins are in Florida for the week
• smiling knowing that they are having a good time and that the weather is good
• smiling at having spent so much one on one time with big sis and doing girlie things together
  
• smiling at the amount of organizing I've done around the house while they were gone
• smiling looking at close to 40 picture albums I filled over the past 3 days
• smiling knowing my babies are coming back home in 2 sleeps

Good thing there's a whole lot more to smile about than frown about/

its a crazy world out there

You'll hear a news story on the radio and vaguely pay attention to it. Its normal. You live content in knowing that your world is not permeated closely by that situation.

Till it hits home.

There has been several incidents since September of prank 911 calls to local high schools with hoax threats of bombs and arms. It has created a multitude of lockdown situations. Yesterday, it happened at big sis' school. She stayed hidden behind a couch (she was in drama class) for THREE hours. Just imagine the range of emotions going through everyone's heads. Students and teachers alike. They had had drills and discussions about codes to be used in certain situations. Yesterday, they soon realized that it wasn't a drill. It was the real thing. The cops came. Went through the whole school. Checked classrooms one by one and students one by one. Ultimately, it turned out to be a hoax. Yet again, another distorted mind with nothing else better to do with their lives than seek a cheap thrill at the expense of others. Ruin a multitude of people's days. Instill unnecessary fright. Will they get caught? And if they do, what will happen to them? Protected under the young offender's act we'll never really hear much more of it. Does it make others feel like doing it too since there's no retribution after the fact?

As for big sis, she was freaked at first, naturally. She kept thinking of her siblings whom she hoped would never have to go through this (they just had received a notice that they will go through a lockdown procedures discussion next week). She was thinking of her friends in other classrooms. She was thinking of me at home and her dad at work who would worry about her. She was thinking of all the little wee ones in the daycare attached to her high school. But poor thing, she really really had to go pee and couldn't go to the washroom. So apart from her mental anguish, she was physically suffering. Plus they had all worked so hard to organize this Halloween party/dance that never ended up happening because of some lost distorted soul. A real bummer for them all.

As a mother, you always worry about your kids. Now just sending them to school, your worries are elevated to a whole new level. We hugged a lot last night and discussed this all over with her. Of course, as a mom I just want to keep them home where I know they are safe. BUT we must not let them live in fear of going places and doing things either. That is too paralyzing.

Let's pray that all our kids come home safely today and everyday.