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Oh. Ok. The tree farms near me all seemed to be doing well. I have almost 100 acres of forest. If i wanted a real tree it wouldn't be difficult. I just prefer artificial.

And yeah i know all about global supply chains.

I put in an exotics order before covid. Then the pandemic hit. No flights, permits expired. What a bloody mess. Just got my order a couple weeks ago. My "hatchling" ended up being more like two feet of monster lol. What a handful. Still happy as ever. Hes beautiful. The other part of the order were all hatchlings and are adorable.

Its not like the trees stopped growing during the pandemic.

Labor crunch affecting cutting and trimming the trees. The trees themselves are basically free. Only real cost is time and land. Plus higher fuel costs and other inflationary costs.

Fuel costs always go up

Labour. Many have been back to work for ages now. I do know theres a problem keeping workers. Most don't want to actually WORK for the money. Where wh works they have hired at least 20 people in the last couple of months and only TWO have stayed. Two!

I prefer not to cut down a tree and i only have one stipulation about an artificial tree. That its not white or pink. Blah!

New mares are now here. Pretty uneventful actually. They have met my four. Not even a single whinny from any of them.

I discovered my water trough frozen. I have two cords coming from the house. Where they join its melted together and black...just hoping my heater isnt fried as well. Luckily i have rubber containers that I'll fill for today. Easy enough to break up any ice that forms. I have two other cords but they arent long enough.

Kids are off for four days after today. DS is all go go go on cleaning the living room, moving things around and setting up the tree.

Apparently i wasn't the only parent confused about Fridays holiday.

The school board sent out emails, texts and calls to clarify how this holiday came about.

"The ministry of education provides a set of parameters that directs each school board when they structure their school calender".

The holiday came about as a means to balance the number of school days in each semester. 🤔

Parent teacher phone interviews were last night. I got scheduled for the same block of time for two teachers. That was a fun juggling act.

I didnt get a full interview with DD's teacher as she had a family emergency and had to go. We will reschedule.

Little M is actually doing so much better this year BUT is bossy, buds in when she shouldn't and appears to have memory recall issues.

DS is doing better. His teacher is really advocating for him and has gotten him into out of class help. He has almost grade level comprehension when he is read to but reading himself is a huge challenge. The testing from the pediatrician should help get him the specialized testing to pinpoint his learning challenge.

Big D. Oh Big D. He brought home a report from his in school OT. I asked if any of her recommendations had been implemented in class and his teacher said she hadn't even seen the report but would address that as soon as she was done on the phone with me. D has fine and gross motor issues. Mainly a lack of strength. When he writes or draws its very light. So light in fact it did NOT show up on the smart board back in jK. Thats when his referral to OT was sent. We have things we do here at homr as per his OT he saw over the summer.

He is also fidgeting alot, gets up, never sits still. He has been like that ever since he figured out how to sit up and stand. He never says he is in pain but he appears uncomfortable. He is getting referred to the pediatrician for his joints AND that i cannot get him to gain weight at all.

A pencil grip and a bouncy band will be ready for him Monday.

Big D loves dinosaurs. Wh showed him a trailer for the newest Jurassic World movie. It starts in the age of dinos with two alphas fighting (trex and something else) one killed the other and it fades out from the dead one to a helicopter flying chasing a Trex. The words "65 million years later" appear on the screen. Big D read that out loud...

There is nothing wrong with his reading!!!

Two of my DGDs (ages 9 and 5) have proprioceptive sensory processing disorder. Neither have reading/academic issues. They both have difficulty sitting still and focusing and the little one loves crashing into stuff. She's very tiny for a five-year-old and her core strength is poor.

OT and their 504 plans (one step up from an IEP in the US) have helped tremendously and I see the improvement in DGD 9 over the past five years as she was just like her little sis is now.