Huh? MJ? You're asking, what's he got to do with TracyKM? LOL. I was never a huge fan although I recognized he was talented. However, I watched the Oprah episode after he died, when she looked back on her earlier interview with him. It was one of those "I don't really need to watch this, but it's interesting". However, he said something that I found extremely profound, meaningful to my life. He was responding to Oprah's question about what he thought his purpose on earth was.
"I believe that all art has as it's ultimate goal, the union between the material and the spiritual; the human and the divine; I believe that to be the reason for the very existence of art; and I feel I was chosen as an instrument to just give music, love and harmony to world".
When I'm playing an instrument, I feel that there is something greater than me, greater than the notes on the page, greater than the sound in the air, vibrating around me. I'm not a believer of "God" (in the sense of a spirit that created earth and life), but I am a believer in spirit, in energy, both good and bad. Music can bring out the good spirit in anyone. Sometimes I think too much...about how we look at these 5 lines/4 spaces and little circles and squiggles, and I get lost in the amazingness that it can all become something that I can understand and share and that others can understand what I am sharing. I feel spirit in me, and the need to share it.
I hope, when you hear (good) music, that you feel the spirit too. And I hope that you let the music-giver know. It means a lot to us.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Aging
You often hear people comment that they'd rather have another birthday then the alternative. I suppose so.
Recently Oprah had an episode with some supermodels from the 70s/80s. One of them, Paulina Porizkova (the one who married Ric Ocasek, from "The Cars"), had a very interesting comment:
"Aging is not a birthright. It is a privilege."
Wow.
Recently Oprah had an episode with some supermodels from the 70s/80s. One of them, Paulina Porizkova (the one who married Ric Ocasek, from "The Cars"), had a very interesting comment:
"Aging is not a birthright. It is a privilege."
Wow.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
She's Funny!!
Every so often, one gets a little bored with the blogging world. You know...you look at your list of favourites, and you feel you've gotten all you can from them, that another post would just be a repeat of what you've read before. You realize that half of your knitting blog list rarely even talks about knitting, that your list of 'healthy' blogs just makes you feel guilty, that you spend way too much time reading things that just don't inspire you, or aren't really your area of interest anymore....
Recently, I was trying to find some more machine knitting blogs, and some how came across one...through comments on other blogs, or links, or something. Anyway, she had commented on my knitting blog a couple times, and one day I couldn't remember which of my many recently added favourites was her's, so I clicked her name on my comments and looked at her profile. I found her knitting blog, and under "other blogs" there was one with an interesting title "Breakfast at IHOP". What? LOL. I had to check it out. The first post I read had me laughing my head off (it is a little difficult to read against the background, and the lack of paragraphing, but it's worth it!!). I went back to read a bit more of the blog....just take that link, click on the header which will bring the blog back to the whole blog, instead of the one post, and then scroll down to her post "Don't Bug Me"----I'm using my new laptop and highlighting is tricky to me).
She talks about telemarketers, and how she likes to play with them. Oh, she's clever! I was thinking about the things I say to telemarketers. Our first house was only 3 years old when we moved in. We frequently got calls for replacing windows, doors, shingles, etc. I'd say that I'd never buy from a company that doesn't do it's market research, because they're wasting their money with the telemarketing, so obviously their prices have to reflect that. If Rob answered, he'd give them the address of the new school across the street and say, come for an estimate. Later, when we moved to an older house, I had to get more clever. I'd say anything. "We don't have carpets/just got hardwood....etc". Calls about duct cleaning were fun..."we don't have central heat" was good, but one day, I was in a strange mood, and I can't believe what came out of my mouth "when they seem dusty I send our little furry dog through the ducts on a long leash. He does a great job!". LOL! The last window call was similar "We have no windows. We live in a earthen dome".
Charities are touchy though. Often staffed by volunteers, I don't want to upset them. "No, I can't afford to take my kids to the circus....so no, I can't sponsor someone else's kids--how can I get my kids on the list?". "I've used my charitable donation for the year already" (works well in September onwards, but not so well in January). "I don't respond to charities/retailers/services that cold call". I'd like to hear your come back lines for charity calls!
Once, Rob answered a call and he actually was interested in the service/product, but couldn't understand a word of the heavily accented speaker. He told them they should invest in employees that can speak English well enough for English people to understand, if they wanted business. A few minutes later, someone with better English phoned him back! But he was still hard to understand, and we just don't "respond to cold calls". He also gets frustrated when he answers and the caller can't pronounce our last name...it's an instant red flag and he doesn't usually let them go further. (I've lost my mouse pointer....argh...a ha! While wiping off the dog hair I touched the touchpad lock button!)
Once, I got a call from a water testing company. I said no, they went on, I said we're educated enough to know if our water needs testing and we'll find our own company....the caller responded that obviously I was not educated. I hung up. A few minutes later, "someone" calls back and utters a few mean sounding things and hangs up! Did I get crank called by a telemarketer?
Recently, I was trying to find some more machine knitting blogs, and some how came across one...through comments on other blogs, or links, or something. Anyway, she had commented on my knitting blog a couple times, and one day I couldn't remember which of my many recently added favourites was her's, so I clicked her name on my comments and looked at her profile. I found her knitting blog, and under "other blogs" there was one with an interesting title "Breakfast at IHOP". What? LOL. I had to check it out. The first post I read had me laughing my head off (it is a little difficult to read against the background, and the lack of paragraphing, but it's worth it!!). I went back to read a bit more of the blog....just take that link, click on the header which will bring the blog back to the whole blog, instead of the one post, and then scroll down to her post "Don't Bug Me"----I'm using my new laptop and highlighting is tricky to me).
She talks about telemarketers, and how she likes to play with them. Oh, she's clever! I was thinking about the things I say to telemarketers. Our first house was only 3 years old when we moved in. We frequently got calls for replacing windows, doors, shingles, etc. I'd say that I'd never buy from a company that doesn't do it's market research, because they're wasting their money with the telemarketing, so obviously their prices have to reflect that. If Rob answered, he'd give them the address of the new school across the street and say, come for an estimate. Later, when we moved to an older house, I had to get more clever. I'd say anything. "We don't have carpets/just got hardwood....etc". Calls about duct cleaning were fun..."we don't have central heat" was good, but one day, I was in a strange mood, and I can't believe what came out of my mouth "when they seem dusty I send our little furry dog through the ducts on a long leash. He does a great job!". LOL! The last window call was similar "We have no windows. We live in a earthen dome".
Charities are touchy though. Often staffed by volunteers, I don't want to upset them. "No, I can't afford to take my kids to the circus....so no, I can't sponsor someone else's kids--how can I get my kids on the list?". "I've used my charitable donation for the year already" (works well in September onwards, but not so well in January). "I don't respond to charities/retailers/services that cold call". I'd like to hear your come back lines for charity calls!
Once, Rob answered a call and he actually was interested in the service/product, but couldn't understand a word of the heavily accented speaker. He told them they should invest in employees that can speak English well enough for English people to understand, if they wanted business. A few minutes later, someone with better English phoned him back! But he was still hard to understand, and we just don't "respond to cold calls". He also gets frustrated when he answers and the caller can't pronounce our last name...it's an instant red flag and he doesn't usually let them go further. (I've lost my mouse pointer....argh...a ha! While wiping off the dog hair I touched the touchpad lock button!)
Once, I got a call from a water testing company. I said no, they went on, I said we're educated enough to know if our water needs testing and we'll find our own company....the caller responded that obviously I was not educated. I hung up. A few minutes later, "someone" calls back and utters a few mean sounding things and hangs up! Did I get crank called by a telemarketer?
Monday, January 31, 2011
Potty "Training"
I get so frustrated when I hear of a parent letting their kid(s) run the show. I know, I have a strong-willed child (or two) and sometimes, it's easier to let her think she's getting what she wants, but it's usually about fairly insignificant things....what she wears, for example. What I'm really talking about is when parents say things like "My kid is 3 and has no interest in the potty so we haven't tried potty training".
Well, Mom...you HAVE potty trained him...to use diapers.
Now, if you know me, you're thinking...hey...your kids weren't exactly early potty learners. Hugh's sensory processing issues created unique challenges. Meg...well, she's a unique challenge all on her own. But my intentions were good. I truly tried. And if I could do things over again, there are definitely things I'd do differently.
Like, "EC". It means "elimination communication". Or, a fancy way to say...teaching your child about elimination from day one, the same way our great-grandparents would have, and the same way much of the world still does. Babies don't like to be wet or dirty; it's not something they knew about before birth. It's kinda scary to them to suddenly have their body doing these things. They give us cues that they need to, or are, eliminating. Many parents learn these cues ("oh, he always makes that face before he poops"), but they don't do anything about it. If you know your child is about to poop, why not put them on a potty or over a bowl? Even if baby is only a few weeks old? Doesn't that make sense? Why spend the money on the diaper that just gets thrown away (in most cases). Doesn't it seem easier to hold baby on a potty then to change a stinky, messy, diaper?
Well, Mom...you HAVE potty trained him...to use diapers.
Now, if you know me, you're thinking...hey...your kids weren't exactly early potty learners. Hugh's sensory processing issues created unique challenges. Meg...well, she's a unique challenge all on her own. But my intentions were good. I truly tried. And if I could do things over again, there are definitely things I'd do differently.
Like, "EC". It means "elimination communication". Or, a fancy way to say...teaching your child about elimination from day one, the same way our great-grandparents would have, and the same way much of the world still does. Babies don't like to be wet or dirty; it's not something they knew about before birth. It's kinda scary to them to suddenly have their body doing these things. They give us cues that they need to, or are, eliminating. Many parents learn these cues ("oh, he always makes that face before he poops"), but they don't do anything about it. If you know your child is about to poop, why not put them on a potty or over a bowl? Even if baby is only a few weeks old? Doesn't that make sense? Why spend the money on the diaper that just gets thrown away (in most cases). Doesn't it seem easier to hold baby on a potty then to change a stinky, messy, diaper?
People say that babies have no control over their bladders/bowel. But others say that they do, and even a young baby (6 months) who has been taught since birth that pee goes in a potty, will learn to "hold it" until given the chance to use the potty.
Others say that there's no point in potty training until the child is mobile and can deal with their clothes themselves. That same parent is probably helping their child get dressed in the morning, so what's different about after a potty trip? A child is mobile once they can crawl, and if you teach signing, they can be making the sign for potty pretty young. And, if you're already tuned into their signals, you can get them to the potty yourself. Doesn't it seem easier to pick up a baby and take them to the potty, then to pick up a stinky, leaking, crying, kicking baby and try to change them?
EC is one of the things I really wish I had given a try. It makes sense...you teach your baby from day one about other things, why not about where we eventually want them to always put their pee? It's not like we allow hitting and biting until the day they start school and THEN suddenly say "oh, that's not acceptable now, you must change your behaviour instantly, and not have any accidental bitings". 
But Tracy, you say...my child is 28 months old and shows no interest in the potty, why should I potty train her now? I understand! With my kids, I had the notion that it was easier to change diapers than to clean the carpets. I often hear "my kid is toilet-trained and has only 2 accidents a day!". Well, I don't think that's something to brag about (unless your child is 12 months old).
A lot of parents also find that "the terrible twos" don't happen...but then the child turns 3 and is suddenly someone else. You've missed the window of opportunity when the child still wants to please momma and is more co-operative...even if she doesn't show any interest in the potty. And often, how do you show interest in something that you've never been shown that you should show interest in?
I often hear "My son always hides behind the couch when he needs to poop! It's so cute!"....that same mom, when the kid is 3, 3 1/2, 4....is saying "I can't get him to poop on the potty, he'll only poop behind the couch". Well, sorry to say, but you taught him that it was acceptable.
I hadn't heard, formally, of EC until Meg (child #3, and last) was almost 6 months old. I had heard previously that if you put a baby on a (cold) potty, they will usually pee...and I did do this with Lucy at times. I had also read about "old fashioned" potty training, how our grandparents trained our parents to be diaper-free by 12 months, and the debate about whether it's the parent that's trained or the child that's trained. But who cares---being diaper free is a good thing in all aspects!
When Meg was around 4 months I joined a Yahoo Group "Slightly Crunchy Attachment Parenting". One member was EmiLy, who owns http://www.theecstore.com/. Who knew there was a whole "industry" around NOT using diapers? LOL. She's a great lady, very hard working, and awesome at promoting EC. It's a great place to start if you want to learn more. As I said, it's one thing I wish I had known about before having kids. I don't know to what extent I would have done it, but gosh, any time not using diapers is great!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Lucy-isms
Lucy is an interesting girl. Very bright and precocious, she lacks common sense sometimes, but her cuteness saves her.
1) Lego Set (any Lego set would be fine)
Although her name is Lucy (and was named after our last dog's sister), we usually call her Lu, or Lu Lu (or YoYo...). It's fascinating though, that she looks SO much like her Aunt Lou!
(Not the best picture to show the resemblance, but I can't find the other ones!).
I love having the kids come home for lunch, for many reasons:
Hugh walks in the front door and says "It helps you walk on top of the snow".
Lucy followed him in the door (rare) and replies "But what if you're carrying a dead horse?"
Huh?
Lucy's class is studying pioneers, like all good grade 3 classes in Ontario since before I was even in grade 3. They were going to have a project where the teacher assigns the kids a "pioneer job" and they have to do a report. Lucy's first choice of jobs: banker.
Last year, Lucy made a Christmas Wish List:
1) Lego Set (any Lego set would be fine)
2) Laptop
3) $200 or $250
4) A magic wand
5) A table for my room
6) My own house (just a little house)
7) Lots of candy
8) a driver's licence (a car for my drivers license)
9) an electric guitar
10) A band (a place to rock out)
11) Sana's autograph
12) A TV for my room
She did get a couple things on the list...but not her own house.
A few years ago, I found a pair of RipZone snowboarding pants at the Salvation Army. They were a little big for Huey, but the price was great. After a while, we noticed a jingling sound. There appeared to be some coins stuck between layers of the pants. One day recently Lucy borrowed the pants. During recess, she tried to figure out what coins were in there, based on sound and size. She decided on a Toonie and a penny. Her friend says "Lucy, you know your money too well!"
Although her name is Lucy (and was named after our last dog's sister), we usually call her Lu, or Lu Lu (or YoYo...). It's fascinating though, that she looks SO much like her Aunt Lou!(Not the best picture to show the resemblance, but I can't find the other ones!).Thursday, January 20, 2011
December 2010
Ah. December. Christmas "break". I was really worried this year since the kids had a whole week off before Christmas. It turned out to be not a bad week before Christmas, but it was all down hill after that!
First dip in the hot tub!!
December started out with my Community Concert Band of Whitby concert. It got off to a rocky start, but got better as the show went on. It's too bad we have such a small turn out. The last week of school flew by as I was making a batch of brownies every single night for the kids and Rob to take to their parties! The kids had their school concert, which was quite nice, esp. since this year, they left the lights on, LOL. I had no idea of what Hugh's class was doing for the show (or even Meg's class!), so their performance was a neat surprise!
The day after school got out (Sat.), we headed up to the country for the Vetzal family Christmas. The most chattiest member of the family, and a few of the others, were absent. It was quite a quiet affair, and it was so nice to be able to get home at a reasonable time instead of having a 3 hour drive after. And, just like almost every other year, there was a blizzard, LOL!
The Monday of the break, Meg had a doctor's appointment as she had been not well for a month. I had the babysitter come over to watch Lucy (and Hugh). Meg was diagnosed with a sinus infection and since I mentioned that I wasn't feeling well either, she looked me over and gave me a sinus infection AND ear infection diagnosis. Wow. I thought, since we were over that way, that we'd just "pop" in to Michaels and pick up some yarn. It should have been a 5 minute drive. It turned into 1/2 hour! There was an accident and the lane I was in (eventually, a left turn lane), was blocked. I had also wanted to get some groceries on the way back, but we were hungry. Got home, asked the babysitter if she could stay while I went to Wal-Mart to get the meds. Sure, no problem. I got to Wal-Mart and found I had no wallet. Dropped the meds scripts off, came home, got the wallet and headed back. And waited. And waited. Eventually they told me they were waiting for a fax from the doctor. She had put Meg's name on both prescriptions...they were for the same anti-biotic, but one in liquid and one in adult capsules...Finally, they gave up and filled it anyway. I was there nearly an hour. I wish they had said something when they first faxed it, as I would have just gotten Meg's and came back after dinner for mine!
Tuesday was a get together for my family. With the passing of my aunt in the summer, no one knew what to do about Christmas. She had been hosting it for over 30 years, although last year she didn't for a number of reasons. We didn't want to exclude my cousin, but we also felt it was time for our immediate family--my two brothers and our parents--to have their own celebration. Since all the children live down here, and our parents live "up north", it seemed logical to do it here. We have the biggest house, and the biggest brood, and I really wanted to do something new. Rob, however, did NOT want a party, with two extra dogs and 5 kids, and people he's not fond off....so I planned it for the afternoon, while he was at work. No meal to prepare, serve, clean up, etc, a time deadline for everyone leaving....LOL. It was a wonderful afternoon, although I think we need a better family room. With the piano in the house, there's not much room for seating in the 'living' room, the family room is awkward too, the 'dining room' is where we tend to hang out, but the seats are hard....Anyway, I hope we do it again next year, and I hope Rob will join us :)
Wednesday was the only day that we were all home (except Rob)! I don't remember the day, but after the kids went to bed I went to Wal-Mart (after 9pm). I was surprised by how busy it was, but stunned at how few cashiers were open. It was a LONG wait in line.
Thursday, the kids went in the afternoon to see a play with their grandparents, so I wrapped presents. After 2 1/2 hours, I realized I did not need to be hiding in the cold basement, I could have been using the dining room table! LOL! I got almost everything wrapped, but sadly, forgot that fact and found out late on Friday night that there were still some significant things to wrap!
Friday, Rob was home, although I think he probably went out shopping; I think he took Lucy....
Saturday was Christmas, and this is what the kids saw when they got up (plus their stockings):
Yes, the window is horrifically filthy with handprints. Yes, John looks bored out his mind. Yes, I knit those socks their mother is wearing :)
The big gift I got Huey was a "real" photo and video editing program. I made sure it would accept QuickTime videos as that's what his camera makes and our program doesn't like them. I saw that it could use Vista. I saw something about Service Pack 2....had heard about that before, but didn't know about it. Turns out, we didn't have SP2....and Microsoft had stopped supporting Vista. "We" had tried to download the updates before, but it wouldn't work. Rob spent all afternoon on the Tuesday trying to get it uploaded, and it finally worked. There were many updates we were missing. I don't think things run any better, but I was able to finally upload the disc from Lucy's camera! Her and I went to the music store while Rob worked on the computer. It was very busy! Got her string changed, and then she had a meltdown when she looked in the new book and saw she was going to have to actually work to learn to play the guitar! LOL.
The rest of the week is a blur...late nights with Meg screaming, Rob working on his truck, me working on some belated Christmas presents....there was no public skating unfortunately, no snow, nothing to do!! We all stayed up on New Year's Eve, then Meg had a tantrum that was epic. What a way to start the new year!
First dip in the hot tub!!
December started out with my Community Concert Band of Whitby concert. It got off to a rocky start, but got better as the show went on. It's too bad we have such a small turn out. The last week of school flew by as I was making a batch of brownies every single night for the kids and Rob to take to their parties! The kids had their school concert, which was quite nice, esp. since this year, they left the lights on, LOL. I had no idea of what Hugh's class was doing for the show (or even Meg's class!), so their performance was a neat surprise!
The day after school got out (Sat.), we headed up to the country for the Vetzal family Christmas. The most chattiest member of the family, and a few of the others, were absent. It was quite a quiet affair, and it was so nice to be able to get home at a reasonable time instead of having a 3 hour drive after. And, just like almost every other year, there was a blizzard, LOL!
The Monday of the break, Meg had a doctor's appointment as she had been not well for a month. I had the babysitter come over to watch Lucy (and Hugh). Meg was diagnosed with a sinus infection and since I mentioned that I wasn't feeling well either, she looked me over and gave me a sinus infection AND ear infection diagnosis. Wow. I thought, since we were over that way, that we'd just "pop" in to Michaels and pick up some yarn. It should have been a 5 minute drive. It turned into 1/2 hour! There was an accident and the lane I was in (eventually, a left turn lane), was blocked. I had also wanted to get some groceries on the way back, but we were hungry. Got home, asked the babysitter if she could stay while I went to Wal-Mart to get the meds. Sure, no problem. I got to Wal-Mart and found I had no wallet. Dropped the meds scripts off, came home, got the wallet and headed back. And waited. And waited. Eventually they told me they were waiting for a fax from the doctor. She had put Meg's name on both prescriptions...they were for the same anti-biotic, but one in liquid and one in adult capsules...Finally, they gave up and filled it anyway. I was there nearly an hour. I wish they had said something when they first faxed it, as I would have just gotten Meg's and came back after dinner for mine!
Tuesday was a get together for my family. With the passing of my aunt in the summer, no one knew what to do about Christmas. She had been hosting it for over 30 years, although last year she didn't for a number of reasons. We didn't want to exclude my cousin, but we also felt it was time for our immediate family--my two brothers and our parents--to have their own celebration. Since all the children live down here, and our parents live "up north", it seemed logical to do it here. We have the biggest house, and the biggest brood, and I really wanted to do something new. Rob, however, did NOT want a party, with two extra dogs and 5 kids, and people he's not fond off....so I planned it for the afternoon, while he was at work. No meal to prepare, serve, clean up, etc, a time deadline for everyone leaving....LOL. It was a wonderful afternoon, although I think we need a better family room. With the piano in the house, there's not much room for seating in the 'living' room, the family room is awkward too, the 'dining room' is where we tend to hang out, but the seats are hard....Anyway, I hope we do it again next year, and I hope Rob will join us :)
Wednesday was the only day that we were all home (except Rob)! I don't remember the day, but after the kids went to bed I went to Wal-Mart (after 9pm). I was surprised by how busy it was, but stunned at how few cashiers were open. It was a LONG wait in line.
Thursday, the kids went in the afternoon to see a play with their grandparents, so I wrapped presents. After 2 1/2 hours, I realized I did not need to be hiding in the cold basement, I could have been using the dining room table! LOL! I got almost everything wrapped, but sadly, forgot that fact and found out late on Friday night that there were still some significant things to wrap!
Friday, Rob was home, although I think he probably went out shopping; I think he took Lucy....
Saturday was Christmas, and this is what the kids saw when they got up (plus their stockings):
Yes, we used our little mini tree again. We didn't want to try even the fake tree with the crazy puppy.
Lucy got a guitar for Christmas...I had been trying since her birthday! After lunch, I tried to tune it. I found a website, and it said the 6th string gets tuned to E below middle C on the piano. So I did that, using my tuner. I thought it seemed like a high note for the 6th string. Then I tried the 5th string....and broke it!!!! I felt terrible, Lucy was furious. Turns out that the 6th string is an OCTAVE below that E. Then, I tried to get her new camera working. It didn't seem to realize there was a memory card in it. I tried loading the disc to get the real manual, but it wouldn't load. The website wasn't working right. It wasn't till after everyone went home that I just happened to open the camera from a different angle and was able to push the memory card in further. But then, it was putting an annoying date stamp on each picture...still couldn't load the disc the next day.
Rob's parents and his brother came over. I took too few pictures, being stuck in the kitchen, even though I thought I had everything planned out well. This is the moment before the picture above (which was cropped!).
Yes, the window is horrifically filthy with handprints. Yes, John looks bored out his mind. Yes, I knit those socks their mother is wearing :)The big gift I got Huey was a "real" photo and video editing program. I made sure it would accept QuickTime videos as that's what his camera makes and our program doesn't like them. I saw that it could use Vista. I saw something about Service Pack 2....had heard about that before, but didn't know about it. Turns out, we didn't have SP2....and Microsoft had stopped supporting Vista. "We" had tried to download the updates before, but it wouldn't work. Rob spent all afternoon on the Tuesday trying to get it uploaded, and it finally worked. There were many updates we were missing. I don't think things run any better, but I was able to finally upload the disc from Lucy's camera! Her and I went to the music store while Rob worked on the computer. It was very busy! Got her string changed, and then she had a meltdown when she looked in the new book and saw she was going to have to actually work to learn to play the guitar! LOL.
The rest of the week is a blur...late nights with Meg screaming, Rob working on his truck, me working on some belated Christmas presents....there was no public skating unfortunately, no snow, nothing to do!! We all stayed up on New Year's Eve, then Meg had a tantrum that was epic. What a way to start the new year!
This Year in Review---November
I really want to start blogging here more about our lives. I use Facebook a lot, but often want to get more into the meat of the status update....but I get sidetracked, LOL. It's easier to post pictures on FB too. We recently got our yearly family newsletter from my relative....got to hear about all her trips, all her kids' trips, her puppies, her baby ducks, her new kitchen, her new pool....I'm not going to fill you in on our last year (ie...if there could be a problem, there was a problem), but here's what's been going on the last couple months.
Meg got the monthly character award for her class, on wacky hat day. The award was for "empathy" which she is surprisingly really good at (although she still has times where it seems impossible for her to be so clueless as how her actions affect other people!). There are only 8 kids in Meg's JK/SK class, and 3 of them are girls. At snack time, all the kids went to sit at one table, but there wasn't enough room for one girl so she went to another table. Meg saw her alone, and went to sit with her!
Lucy had a party for her birthday. We couldn't think of a theme, and then it hit me...how about "Diva/Red Carpet"? She felt a little too old for Princess theme, but did actually wear her princess ball gown. We had a red carpet, and punch in (plastic) wine cups, and hors d'oevers, and dangly stars, and make your own pizza (which was supposed to be on "crystal" plates but I forgot), and cupcakes cause they're all the rage (they were NOT arranged into some vaguely identifiable shape). The girls were supposed to watch a movie....but, as you can see in the picture...it was all a big blur.Shortly after Lucy's birthday is Meg's. With only 2 other girls in her class, we decided to invite 2 or 3 girls that had moved on to grade 1. None of them responded with either a yes or a no. How rude! One of the two girls in her class couldn't come, and her cousins couldn't come either. So, only the last girl (the girl in the empathy story) could come, which was great for her as it was her first friend's birthday! The four kids decorated gingerbread houses. I had put them together the night before, and realized I didn't have anything to actually put them on, esp. for the girl to take home! Dug out some trays! It started off scary as Hayley grabbed the icing bag and squeezed in the middle, without twisting the top, and icing came flying out of the bag! But she got the rhythm quickly after that.
Sorry about the sideways picture! Don't know how that happened! I was really impressed with Meg's house. She sat beside Hugh, and at first, she just started globbing on the icing. Then she saw what he was doing with outlining the shingle lines, and copied him...all on her own!
Her actual birthday was mid-week, so we invited Grandma and Grandpa over, and she wanted cupcakes like Lucy (for her party, I made her a 5 cake like Lucy had when she turned 5...just a big 5 on the cake (Rob made the stencil), filled in with pink sparkles). Since her birthday was on a Wednesday, we got to go skating too!
The very end of November brought us our hot tub! After 15 months of indecision, Rob finally made up his mind. It's an "Alaskan" tub, the "lower end" of Arctic Spas, pretty basic model, but an 8 seater with two pumps, instead of the 7 seater, one pump model of their 'regular' line that would have still cost more. It's been lovely, although I'm still not keen on the position of the tub, LOL.
Sorry about the sideways picture! Don't know how that happened! I was really impressed with Meg's house. She sat beside Hugh, and at first, she just started globbing on the icing. Then she saw what he was doing with outlining the shingle lines, and copied him...all on her own!Her actual birthday was mid-week, so we invited Grandma and Grandpa over, and she wanted cupcakes like Lucy (for her party, I made her a 5 cake like Lucy had when she turned 5...just a big 5 on the cake (Rob made the stencil), filled in with pink sparkles). Since her birthday was on a Wednesday, we got to go skating too!Hard to believe this is public "Parent and Tot" skate. There is usually less than 10 kids there. I wish I could have taken the other kids when they were young. I've seen some pretty tiny "real" skates here, and I wish I had known they came that small! With the outdoor rinks in Orangeville, we could have really got them going sooner if I had known!
The very end of November brought us our hot tub! After 15 months of indecision, Rob finally made up his mind. It's an "Alaskan" tub, the "lower end" of Arctic Spas, pretty basic model, but an 8 seater with two pumps, instead of the 7 seater, one pump model of their 'regular' line that would have still cost more. It's been lovely, although I'm still not keen on the position of the tub, LOL.
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