Author: Heather

Cottage Get-away

We were so excited to get away this weekend up to visit Glenn’s sister at her cottage.  We were also excited to introduce Elspeth to cottage fun.  She was a bit nervous when we were driving in on Friday night but when we announced that we would be going back next weekend she broke into a big smile.

A large portion of the weekend was spent either inside or walking in the rain.

We

Went frog hunting in the drizzle but didn't find anything. Guess it was too wet for the little guys...or maybe we didn't look hard enough. Instead we threw stones into the lake.

Then we broke out the Lincoln Logs.  Of course, once the town was done we had to play in it.  Saw all of those Little House books at work as an array of finger puppets went shopping in the general store and had to trade in their furs for goods or when the whole town came out for a pig roast.  “Do you have the pig in your freezer in the store?” asks Puppet 1.  “Of course not.  It is in my barn.  Just wait while I kill it and then we can cook it.” answers Puppet 2.  Yep, think someone is going to kick butt in Social Studies this year at school.

Drizzle has become a down pour.  Kids bored…time to head to town for some ice cream.

This store knows cottagers. They even have a toddler sized scoop. Happy kids.

Look!  The rain has stopped!  Yippee!  Off we go to the lake for a dip.  Of course, along the way we met a little amphibian who had escaped notice on our earlier outing.

Went to bed hoping that this morning would be a better sunnier day.  No luck.  Rain.  Okay, lazy around.  As you can see, the girls broke out the popcorn and older sister decided to teach younger how to make an innovative sort of table.

Okay, rain ends.  Skies grey.  Time to fish.  Katrine still needs to learn to put a worm on her own hook but she knows what to do otherwise.  In fact, she caught the only fish.  Elspeth loves her fishing pole,  She loves to put it in the water and take it out.  She loves reeling it in.  She seems to think that the faster you reel the better it is – almost like it is a race.  No surprise, there were no fast swimming fish in the lake this morning.  Perhaps they will spruce up their fins for next weekend (although to get her worms they will need to upgrade to the Nascar of fins).  Alot of fun though.  Fingers crossed that it will be nice and clear next weekend.

Superhero Day

Katrine has really been enjoying skating camp.  One of the things the do is have Feature Fridays.  Last week it was Wacky Tacky day.  When Elspeth saw Katrine’s funky hair, well she just had to have some.  This week it is Superhero Day.  When trying to get Katrine to pick a superhero I knew that I would also have to create something for Elspeth.

I tried hard to get Katrine to pick Jubilee from Xmen.  I mean, her costume would have been jean shorts, a t-shirt and sunglasses – simple.  Apparently having the ability to shot fireworks from your fingertips is “not cool enough”.  Okay, Jubilee is out.  X-23 (also easy as she dresses in all black) out.  “She can only fight.”  Okay, next.  “How about the White White moms?”  Hmmm, NO.  If you have ever seen a picture of the White Witch you will understand why she was out.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Marvel Superhero Universe I will explain it this way.  Most female superheros, and villians for that matter, dress a certain way which would appeal to the primary audience of young males. (In all fairness, a number of characters designed with young females are also scantily clothed).  Anyways, no White Witch.

Keep looking.  Finally she settles on Polaris who controls the power of magnetism because then she will be able to control what everyone’s blades are doing on the ice…oh and fly.  I will still have to modify the outfit to make it more conservative but it is duable.  The original has green hair and wears a green body suit with cut-outs along with green tights.  Here is my version.

For Elspeth, we went with Super Toddler or Super EB.  Super Toddler is Polaris’ new sidekick.  She has the power of distraction – she can make a mess in under two second flat and her power tantrums have been know to drive villians to run away screaming.  When using her powers, she cries “POWWWEEERRRR!”  They make quite a team.

 

One Year Ago

A year ago today we waited in the lobby of the Gloria Hotel in Nanchang for the arrival of a little girl in a onsie, stockings and sandals.  We anxiously watched for incoming cars looking to see if she might just be in that one.  Then there she was, our little girl.  Next came the tears.

How much can change in a year.  She woke up all smiles this morning.  Helped to pick out her clothes, told us what she wanted for breakfast.  We have played Duplos for over an hour.  Ran around at the park and mostly just been happy.  What a change.

 

Happy first Gotchaversary Elspeth!

 

The next skating dress is done!

Another skating season brings with it another outfit.  I thought that I would switch things up a bit and take you on a journey through the creation of this next costume (the kid better not grow too much).

It started with a simple dress which I found while browsing in a local second hand shop. (Yes, I have sewed before but the largest thing I created was a toddler jumper dress which I had to call my mother in law in to help with so I have not worked up the courage to try to actually sew one of these things).  It may have been simple, but I saw potential.  Plans started to form.

I got the bright idea that I should try something different and instead of gluing the ornamentation onto the outfit, I should hand stitch and bead it.  Wouldn’t that look great?  Use the same gold as in the sleeve trim for the design, keep it simple.  Let the contrast pop.

Originally the design was to be of a twisting style chinese dragon with the head and upper torso on the front.  The body would wind around the outfit so that it continued with the tail on the back.  Unfortunately I forgot to actually double check the finished dimensions of the design before I began to stitch soooo, it ended up looking different that what I had originally seen in my mind.

First I put on the dragon and fire ball which I outlined in red.

Then, I added a faux chengsan style closure at the neck.

Next, I added beads around the bottom of the skirt for that extra bit of sparkle.

Finally, matching beading around the key hole back.

As I said, I started to work on this at the beginning of May and I just finished tonight.  Beading the bottom of the skirt took at least 6 hours (granted, I was also watching the Olympics at the same time).  I am tired yet content with how it looks.  The question now is: Will it sparkle enough when she is out on the ice skating or will it look drab and plain?

Oh, there is one more thing which you can’t see in the above photo.  I hide part of Katrine’s chinese name on her dress.  It is on the back of the neck above the key hole.  A tiny little red Fu.  It means lucky.  Fingers crossed that it brings some luck her way.  Now what to do with her hair……

 

 

The last dance competition

Yes, the title says it all.  Katrine’s Highland Dance career drew to a close this past weekend.  She really wants to make a go of figure skating and with an increased level of commitment and focus on that, there will be little or no time left for dance so it had to go.  I am sad because dance has always been my passion.  I even danced at Embro with her one year….well tried to as that was the Canada Day where I managed to break a toe while dancing and more or less end my own career.  As I said, it is my passion not hers.  Rightly so, she is leaving to follow her heart and we are commited to being there supporting her.  I am still sad though.

Katrine has been blessed with a great dance teachers who helped her learn and grow.  To her it was a physical challenge but more importantly fun and interesting.  This past birthday Katrine did not ask for presents.  Instead, she asked that we give her money towards Highland Dance camp, even though she knew that she would not be dancing in the fall.  All because her teacher made it fun and she dances with an awesome group of girls.  I know that at eight she doesn’t really grasp that she won’t really spend time with her dance friends now that she is not dancing; but as parents we know that she has been truly blessed to have danced with this group of girls.

Katrine started dancing fall of 2007 and did her first competition the following summer in June.  She was always jumping and bouncing so it seemed like the perfect fit.

Last summer she left the goodie bags and medals of Primary behind and moved into Beginners.  More competitions, more dances, more prizes followed.  As you know, she has finished Beginners with a bang this summer winning trophies in her last three Beginners competitions.  This past weekend was not only her final competition, it was also her first competition as a Novice dancer.  She brought home her first medal as a Novice taking 5th in the Reel.

Dance competitions have not been all work though.  After the dancing and awards are done, we normally explore.  As this was to be our last for a while, we tried to take in everything.  The bands, heavy events, kids area, clan booths and I got my final can of Iron Bru (ahh, memories of childhood visits to my grandma).

So this is the last dance update ever?  No.  Katrine has already commited to doing another Robbie Burns night show.  Meaning, that you can look forward to one more group of photos in January but other than that, we are done. Sigh, bring on the ice rinks!

 

Black Creek

(My last up date, I promise that I am now up to date!)

I just like this photo.

Katrine will be studying pioneers in social studies this coming year.  In preparation (yes, I know throughly Heather), we have been reading the first three Little House books (accompanied with ALOT of discussions about how pioneers lived but also how times and views have rightly changed…some pretty heavy discussions have stemmed from these books).  Thought it would be great to provide a text to world connection for Katrine by visiting our local heritage village (wow, I really am a teacher aren’t I?).  So today we packed up ourselves and our Grammy and headed out to spend the day wandering around exploring the world of pioneers.

"No Elspeth. We should go this way."

I must admit that I was a bit concerned about how the day would unfold for Elspeth.  Would she be overwhelmed by the differentness of the place -wooden buildings, animals, people dressed funny? Or, would she take it in stride?  The truth was somewhere between the two.  I spent a good deal of time carrying my little one around thanking my stars that she is so dainty.  From the safety of my arms, she eagerly looked at the carpenter using the table saw, the wheels turning loudly in the mill and the tin smith banging away to create punched squares.  Her favourite parts were watching the horse drawn carriage roll by and exploring in the hands on section (as you can see below).  All in all, she behaved much better than anticipated. 😮

 

"Look Mama, we build a log cabin and Elspeth can actually fit through the door."

Katrine also had a great time (which I expected as we have been once before when she was quite a bit younger).  What surprised me were the number of connections that she made between what we saw and had read.  I mean, I had hoped she would make a few connections herself but had anticipated that I would spend a great deal of time pointing out said connections.  What a pleasant surprise it was to see her not only making connections independently but also to see the excitement on her face as the books and history can alive inside her mind.

Oh, I think that the highlights of the day were spending time with Grammy (who, having grown up on a farm, without electricity until highschool, had great, first hand insight into a number of things we saw today) and getting a candy stick at the end of the day.

A trip to Marineland and an anniversary

Glenn and I celebrated out 14th wedding anniversary on Wednesday (I am a few days behind so bear with me).  We decided that this year we would spend it doing something as a family.  What to do with an 8 and 2 year old?  It needed to be a fun, family activity.  Hmmm….. Well, we settled on Marineland because well “everyone loves Marineland”.  Turns out that our girls are no exception and we had a wonderful day.

We started the day off early by hitting the kiddie rides.  This worked out well as the line ups for the rides are much shorter first thing in the morning.  In fact, we managed to do a total of  six rides in about an hour.  It was Elspeth’s first foray into rides and it was a hit (both in terms of her enjoying them and us enjoying her smiles).  I think that the ladybug rollercoaster was her absolute favourite which was fine with Katrine and I as this was our favourite ride too.  We dragged Glenn on once but that was it.  Felt sorry for him, sitting in the small car with his legs jammed under the bar.  It is hard being really tall and wanting to enjoy an outing with your kids fully.  Poor guy.

After the rides it was off to see the animals and the show.  Katrine LOVED the show.  Particulary the dolphins (it was pretty cool).  Elspeth’s attention was not really held at all by the show.  The dolphins would jump, she would watch, then it was back to trying to climb on all of us.  That was not so bad except that it was a packed house and everytime that she climbed her feet came with in inches of the heads of those in front of us.  Made it difficult for the rest of us to enjoy.  Her reaction at the whales was easier on all of us; meaning we all got a chance to actually look at them.  In one pool there was a group of Beluga moms and babies.  The babies were adorable!  Elspeth now knows the meaning of the word whale!

Thefocus for both girls at times was poop. Katrine was watching the Beluga whales poop before her eyes.  While Elspeth spent the whole time with the deer pointing out their poop on the ground. Guess all of the time spent reading Everybody Poops to the girls has created an increased awareness of the world of bodily waste.  In Elspeth’s case it came in handy for keeping her from stepping in said poop!

After leaving the park over heated and tired, we headed to Niagara on the Lake for our anniversary dinner.  As you can see in the photos, Elspeth crashed and crashed hard.  The rest of us enjoyed a delicious, totally gluten free dinner at the Irish Tea Room.  Did I mention that we even had dessert!  It was so special to be able to  eat a complete, not to mention delicious, meal like I did 14 years ago with my wonderful hubby and eldest firecracker for company.  We topped dinner off with a splash in the park’s fountain/pool (not sure that we were suppose to but other kids were actually swimming in it so it couldn’t be wrong for us to relax in it’s refreshing waters) and a little playing in the nearby playground before trucking back home.

It was a wonderful anniversary spent with three of the best things in my life.  I am a very lucky wife.

Our two blessings