What's up with Glenn, Heather, Katrine, and Elspeth
Can you believe it? 12 years ago Katrine was wee! Now turning 13 in a matter of weeks. (Okay, I am really behind in my blog posts. Her Gotchaversary is February!).
Each year we do something special to mark this day. Katrine chose to go for dessert at a local “matcha” cafe. Yup, all matcha desserts and she loved it.
The weather was glorious this weekend and we took a step back from the daily grind to head north to my parents. It was well worth it and we all had fun…perhaps Elspeth most of all.
There was cross country skiing,
animal tracks and
some time in the snow enjoying the sunshine. Great start to the weekend.
As Katrine’s competitive season in Juvenile draws to a close, I thought that I would share some photos from her final competition. She ended with a personal best score for the season which was not to bad coming back from a sprained ankle. Now on to preparing for next season.
It has been a busy start to the year between Glenn getting a new car, Elspeth skating, my birthday, Chinese New Year and life in general. I felt it was time to give you a glimpse into our month.
My birthday was super fun. A special thank you for all of the birthday wishes. They made me feel special.
Here is a look at what is likely Elspeth’s last skating competition (second last if she changes her mind). She brought home a silver ribbon and had fun doing it.
Chinese New Year festivities were low key this year and involved scratch and win tickets. Unfortunately, no one won but we had some good laughs scratching.
Both girls are enjoying lego and finished up some of the projects they got for Christmas.
Katrine was given the best health assignment ever – make a 3 course meal from scratch for your whole family taking into account my food allergies and celiac…well they each had to chose a health issue and she chose those. She also wanted to challenge herself and produced lentil & veggie soup, GF chicken potpie with homemade pastry and fruit parfaits. It was delicious.
Just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a happy start to 2017!
We welcomed the new year up at my parents. There was our final Christmas, a kids party and the adult party which was a fun dance put on by the local Lions club. They threw a wonderful event and we all had a great time.
It began with a fun Christmas Eve service. The Junior choir did a great job and Elspeth sang her heart out. The girls were both great in the play and the play itself was wonderful. Home to set out snacks and stockings before bed.
Santa did a great job of bringing what the girls had wanted. Fluffy, pink unicorn and unicorn slippers and it was the start of a theme for one of the girls.
Glenn’s mom arrived in time for church service (we realised a long time ago that the girls do best on Christmas – and by that I mean, have more fun- if the day is broken up). After some spiced cider it was home for lunch and presents, another break outside in the snow before presents were enjoyed. Then dinner and cuddles. No crackling fire in the fire place because it was too warm but we did watch Miracle on 34th Street.
On Boxing Day my parents headed home and we picked up Glenn’s mom for his extended family’s celebration. The next day was our final day of Christmas which took us to Glenn’s brother and his fiancee’s house for a most delicious turkey dinner.
As I mentioned previously, we have broken out my Nana’s sewing machine for Elspeth on the weekend. She has already managed to finish her first two projects: an upcycled pillow and a pen cozy. I see a lot more sewing in our future.
The weekend has been busy but fun. It began with the girls at their ice show. They both did a great job and we were really proud of them. Their Grammy was able to join us and throughly enjoyed the show. After the show was done, it was time for family skate which meant that I finally got in my first skate of the season. Yeah!! Then it was time for Santa to arrive with his elves. As you can see, one of the elves looked remarkably like our big.
Then it was home for some cookie decorating with Grammy followed by homework for Katrine and baking for Elspeth. She was thrilled to have a chance to bake with her Baba and Grammy. This year we tried a gluten free version of one of Glenn’s grandma’s recipes – Rocks.  They have nuts so I can’t confirm that they are tasty but they got thumbs up by the other three testers so they can’t be too bad.
At church this morning, the girls got to practise the Christmas Eve play. Below is a sneak peak. Katrine is to be a judge and Elspeth the Virgin Mary. It will be really cute.
While Katrine was working on a group project this afternoon, Elspeth had some snowy fun with a friend and began to learn how to sew on the sewing machine. She turned a t-shirt that she had grown out of (a favourite) into a pillow…with a little help from mom. To say she is proud of herself is an understatement. I see more sewing in our future.
Okay, I have stepped back from the hustle and bustle to catch my breath and get you caught up too. What have we been up to since the parade? Well, we saw Moana while Katrine went to Fantastic Beasts with a friend. Elspeth went climbing once with a friend. There was also the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe play as the girls had earned tickets at this year’s library read-a-thon. It was actually quite a good production and we followed it up at a ramen restaurant with friends we hadn’t seen since the summer.
On top of that we have been sick, been busy with the usual holiday events (concerts, rehersals). We have the trees up and the house decorated. We also have a yard full of snow that Elspeth has been fully enjoying. And that is the highlights of December thus far.
