Update on Fiona and the Lake

As Fiona stomped out of the room screaming today {or something like that, I've lost track} my {pregnant} friend Jenna commented that "this is why they don't come out 4."

There could not be a more true comment.

I remember when Fiona was first born we had a friend from Calgary stay with us for a while.

I agreed to watch her 4 year old daughter on the days she went to work.

She was a sweet girl but I remember at the time thinking that I would never have enough energy to parent a preschooler, ever.

At the time I certainly did not.  

But only because I was the mother of a barely crawling baby.

I had yet to be broken in.

I hadn't had to run after/ reason with/ argue with/ reprimand/ hand out consequences to/ have my feelings hurt by a child yet.

I only knew how to parent an 8 month old, it's all I needed to know.

Now I have this beautiful girl who will be attending public school in only a year's time and I still find myself wondering if I am doing the best I possibly can for her.

At least now I have the energy.

Fiona loves dressing like a princess {just ask the cashiers at the grocery store}.

Fiona loves to sing and dance but only on her terms, if you ask for a performance you will most likely get a no.

She starts many sentences with "Well, most-blee..." or "And even I..."

She still loves eating at a "res-iss-trant" and can often out-eat us all.

She's a fast runner and has recently started choosing a scooter as her mode of transportation.

She's so funny but this side of her personality stays most-blee at home.

She is cautious but will at times take some {calculated} risks.

She surprised me the other day by going down the big waterslide at our pool all by herself.

Months ago she shocked me by doing this for the first time then a fall on the way out made her rethink the decision, until now.

She is constantly surprising me.

She is a breath of fresh air.

 Until she's not.

Fiona likes to do things like colour all over her body or cut chunks of her hair off.

Don't even mention what I'm in for in her teens, I know.

 Then moments later she'll do something so sweet like pick me a bouquet of "flowers" or line them up the steps.

 She still needs more sleep than most children much younger and has reverted to taking a daily nap.

Pretty much anywhere.

 She loves the lake and can't wait to break out the pink lifejacket.

We're one step closer since we got the dock in a couple weeks ago.

This was one of our big projects out there since we turned the large section into a floating dock.

We managed to get it done in a day since the kids cooperated and it cost us a total of $10 for materials since we already had 2 barrels.

Now we're just praying that it holds up.

 We toyed with the idea of investing in running water {with tanks} and approached the bank for an equity line of credit to do so.

We have almost two hundred thousand in equity but found ourselves having to fight a little too hard for the loan.

According to the bank, Jeff's salary cannot count towards our income since he is "self-employed". 

Never mind that Jeff is payed a monthly salary by our company with multiple shareholders.

Never mind that we provide work to 8 people and have written letters of employment for their financing.

In the end we dropped it since the frustration wasn't worth the end result.

At this point I would much rather haul a couple of water jugs and use the outhouse than plead our case to another banker.