What's up with Glenn, Heather, Katrine, and Elspeth
And no, I didn’t mean rap. Did I get your attention though?
This morning Elspeth came out with a request that went something like this, “Mama, mama…..cra*, cra*!” Well that stopped me in my tracks. No, she was not having a potty emergency. When I didn’t get it, she said in an exasperated tone, “Sparky. Painty……*rap.” Okay, CRAFTS. She wanted to break out the art supplies so we did. We may need to work on her prounciation of the word craft though.
It was a very long yet fun day today spent almost exclusively at the arena due to RHFSC’s club competition. Of course, Katrine wanted to participate in everything and skated in 6 different events for which she had 3 costumes. I think that my favourite was the extreme costume because it was so shiny on the ice, plus I loved her funky hair. How did she do? Well, she put in a lot of focus and effort today. She placed 4th in her Dutch Waltz and Solo (funny thing about skating – when you add too many jumps you lose points, lesson learned) and 6th in her Extreme spin. She got 3rd for her Introductory Elements (collection of skating moves), and then a 1st for Longest Waltz jump (funny ’cause she was the shortest by a lot) and 2nd for Longest spiral from sheer determination. She held that thing until she stopped moving. Katrine was tickled pink to walk away with a “full set of medals”. Here are some photos and video. Enjoy and come back tomorrow for news on the dance competition.
Katrine’s really looooooong spiral
Katrine’s Solo to “Little Orphan Anne”
Never had one growing up but apparently they make good tables. Both seem to be happy though. 6 months!!! Can you believe it?
We had a wonderful time at the FCC Toronto New Years Banquet tonight. If you have been following us for a while, you know that this is an annual event. Katrine has been checking the calendar regularly for the last two weeks to make sure that we were not going to miss it. It is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect and get caught up. All of the girls are so busy, there is a lot to get caught up on. Plus, it gives the girls yet another chance to just bond between chatting, eating and running around like crazy.
This year was even more special because we filled up 4 seats not just 3. It was fun watching Elspeth join in the general craziness of the evening by twirling, jumping and dancing on the stage. She was also spoiled rotten by her various Aies and managed to consume vast quantities of chocolate from her red envelopes (we usually do chocolate coins instead of money). Then she had Glenn working over time cutting up items from various dishes. She couldn’t get the food in fast enough – duck, mushrooms, chicken, more mushrooms, beans. I don’t think that she slowed down until we were on about the 6th course and then by dessert she barely managed a bite of her almond cookie.
This year there was a Chinese folkdance troop for entertainment. The girls dance well and put on a really nice show which was made even better by the fact that one of Katrine’s China sisters danced with her Chinese folkdance troop. Watching them made me wish that we had more money and time so that our two could give it a whirl. Oh well, only so much time and mental and physical resources. At least we got to enjoy their performance.
The evening drew to a close with the lion dance. Katrine was right in there. Touching, dancing, playing the cymbals. Elspeth was not so fond of the chaos and noise which accompanied the lions. At one point Glenn had to take her outside because being held was not enough to help her feel safe. Once the lions stopped walking around the restaurant she was able to relax enough to come back in. Katrine reacted much the same to the lions when she was two and now you almost have to pry her away from them. Hopefully next year it will be easier for Elspeth.
This new year feels especially sweet as it is the first that we have shared as a family of four. We actually started the celebration yesterday at my parents when they gave the girls hong bao. Grandparents know their grandchildren so well. Katrine got her money in toonies while Elspeth got her’s in nickels and dimes because she absolutely loves to put money into her piggie bank. Then when we got home we finished putting up the decorations with 3M squares because the tape was just not cutting it. Katrine donated her two stuffed dragons/dinosaurs to the cause and they are proudly sitting underneath our flower vase in the livingroom.
Usually on New Year’s day I cook a big meal, even making the dumplings from scratch. With a new two year old I was not sure how abundant food preparation would go so we simplified things by buying pre-made dumplings (Mama’s still taste better and I have been instructed that I need to make them again next year) and wonton soup. We also cut out the noodles (horror – guess we might be short on long life this year) and the fish. Even with the cuts there was still a lot of yummy food and the house smells of chinese food. I did get creative with dessert. We had some of the traditional candied vegetables (acquired taste but boy do the girls love the coconut) and cookies arranged to look like a dragon. We also got dressed up for dinner which thrilled Katrine. Elspeth could’ve cared less what she was wearing, she just wanted to colour the new year’s pictures. The celebration ended with more hong bao and piggie bank feeding. Then Elspeth went to bed and Katrine to the arena. Our new year’s festivities will not be over until our annual FCC chapter banquet in two weeks. Katrine can hardly contain her excitement at being able to share a meal with some of her China sisters.
To all of our family and friends, we wish you prosperity and happiness in the coming year.
Actually, it is a bit early as his birthday is not until Wednesday but we celebrated yesterday so I am typing this up tonight. We did our usual thing and drove up to my parents house so that we could all go the party at the Midland Legion. Katrine was so excited about going to dance and hear the pipes that she even had me put a bun in her doll Lily’s hair (anyone know how to get bobby pins to stick into fake hair? Mine kept falling out). Elspeth was a bit over whelmed and spent most of the night in someone’s arms clutching her penguin Meme and her sheep Aleigh. That said, she looked super cute in tartan, bounced along when the pipes played (vs crying), waved enthusiastically when Katrine and I danced AND not only tried haggis but gobbled up a large serving. Guess we will make a Scots out of her yet! She also learned a new word which will come in immensely handy this summer but little else…piper. Our other girl? Glowed from all of the praise about her dancing. I think that she particularly enjoyed hearing from the lady who told her, “I remember the very first time you danced and jumped side to side. Now look at how big you are and you were wonderful.” By about 9:00 poor Elspeth was hanging on to wakefullness by sheer will power so we started to pack her up. Well, Katrine would have none of that because the pipe band had yet to play. So, I drove Elspeth back to my parents house and ended up with a whole hour to myself…happy sigh.
This morning we enjoyed the snow. Elspeth got to go sledding for the first time sitting on my lap. It was only a wee hill but she was clapping at the bottom. She was also much more willing to actually walk in the snow and touch it. After tobogganing she pulled the sled around and when she got tired she put Glenn to work pulling her all around the yard until a dog barked, scared her and she insisted on going inside. Katrine has fun trying to coax Elspeth into walking on the snow but lost interest after tobogganing for a bit. Then the neighbour kids came out and she was off. More sledding followed as well as using riding on their ATV. I thought that she would find it scary but not her, “Awesome” was her description. Her only disappointment about the visit was that the ice was too thin to go ice fishing with Grandpa and we weren’t staying long enough to go skiing. Guess we will simply have to head back up soon.
As the Year of the Rabbit draws to a close, I will finish off with one of Burns’ graces (kindof symbollic of the melding of cultures in our family – Burns one day, New Years the next):
| SOME hae meat, and canna eat, | |
| And some wad eat that want it ; | |
| But we hae meat, and we can eat, | |
| And sae the Lord be thankit.
  
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We have shared a lot of video of Katrine skating and thought that it was about time for you to see our Elspeth in action. Here she is, making her single blade skating debut…..Little Sister!!
Happy Santa Day! Have you been good? The girls (aka Katrine worrying for both of them) are keeping their fingers crossed that they made it onto the nice list. We also spent the last two days baking cookies to make sure that we had enough sweet stuff to tempt the big guy. On the plus side, Katrine went to sleep super quickly tonight, or at least pretended to.
Round 1:
Last night was Elspeth’s first real taste of the Christmas tradition of celebrating family. Glenn’s side of the family got together at his sister’s house for a nice dinner, awesome cookies provided by the other Heather, gifts and family. The dinner and drinks were a hit with the grown ups, while Katrine loved her aunt’s white chocolate peppermint bark. Elspeth spent a good portion of the beginning of the evening fretting about their small shitzu. Now Casey is a sweetie who loves to play. The worst thing she could possibly do is lick you to death. Just the same Elspeth could not be far enough away from her. All through dinner she was checking under the table to make sure that she wasn’t lurking there or climbing into my lap for comfort at the hint of a bark (great for bonding though). Katrine is not a big fan of dogs as you all know. When she was younger she was quite scared of them, especially big ones but upon meeting Casey her fear has become managable. She can now tolerate most dogs and refuses to let them get in the way of her fun. Elspeth’s reaction to dogs makes young Katrine look like a dog lover. She loves the concept of dogs when they are wayyyyy down the block or squishy stuffed animals just not when they are alive and within a two house width radius of her. Then terror hits. Her eyes get huge, she tenses, scans the area, clings (yeah), uses us as physical barriers (yeah). We have a lot of family and friends with dogs so this presents a real problem. It is also quite remarkable given that there were free roaming small dogs at the orphanage. We have wondered if her little scar on her leg was the result of a burn but perhaps it was a dog bite. The later would explain her intense fear. Now the question becomes how to help her reach the place where Katrine is with regards to dogs. Suggestions?
Elspeth relaxed once the presents began to be handed out. Maybe because of the presents and maybe because she didn’t know that Casey was downstairs as she was so quiet. Both girls had a lot of fun tearing into the paper. Katrine was also thrilled to be able to hand out some gifts that she had purchased with her own allowance. This is the first year that she had money to spend on presents and was quite proud of herself.
Round 2: After a day of last minute jobs, we headed to church for family service. Katrine was an adorable star in the children’s play. She walked in, skipped around and then sat prettily until the end of the play. She told me that she was glad to be a star because she got to wear a yellow headband and do a little dance. The joys of being 7.
I am going to take a step out of our crazy life and post a pre-Christmas update.
Glenn: Glenn has one final day of work and then he is off until the first Monday in January. He has also been busy getting a gift ready for Elspeth. He has built her a really cool, suitably short water table which she will love. He is geering up to brine and cook our traditional turkey.
Me: I finished picking all of the sequins and tape that I had originally sewn onto Katrine’s solo dress and am almost ready to start over. You see, I made a HUGE mistake…I forgot to have her try it on before doing all of the sewing so when everything was on it looked great but would no longer fit. Sigh. On the upside, finished embroidering the stocking that my mom made for Elspeth. I am also in the process of confirming or dismissing my previous diagnosis of asthma as well as my multiple food allergies. Wouldn’t that be a great gift. Katrine had her last gymnastics class yesterday and I am eagerly looking forward to the one night a week that will now be free. (Oh the joys of not having to be somewhere at a specific time)
Katrine: Katrine has a break from skating nights until the second of January. However, she volunteered to be part of the show that her morning skating school is putting on the first week of January so our “break from skating” will be spent….skating. (Bet you can’t say that you are surprised) It is nice to see how she lights up when she steps on the ice. She really does enjoy it. Tonight she did her first skating exam – the Dutch Waltz and, much to her relief, she passed.  She is also going to be something in the church’s Christmas Eve pagent but she won’t know what until Friday’s rehersal.
This week saw the dreaded family tree assignment arrive home. The amount of work was appropriate for a Grade 2 student but it made Katrine upset that there were not enough spaces for all of her family. Off we went to google translate to locate the French terms for birthparents, birthfamily and forever family. (Not sure we got them right but I should get points for navigating that with one child while keeping the two year old occupied) Then she began fretting again about where to write the information and we worked that out; only to have her begin to worry that her teacher would be upset that we altered the assignment. After working through that I thought to check the messages on the phone. Well, wasn’t there a message on the phone from Katrine’s Social Studies teacher explaining that the wrong sheet was sent home and she could make all of the changes that we had just made. Played the message for Katrine and all was right again. Guess that will teach me to check the phone for messages before beginning homework. Sigh.
Elspeth: Elspeth is fascinated with puzzles right now. She will do the same four puzzles multiple times in one afternoon and always get frustrated at the same parts. I have been wanting to bang my head against the wall by the fifth time doing the same four puzzles in a row so I took her and bought her two new puzzles. Sounds great right? Now she will do all four puzzles and then tidy them up, stop, take all of the pieces out of the two new puzzles before beginning again at the beginning leaving me to put the two new puzzles back together. Oh well, at least it is a new pattern.
She has dug her heels in with the potty training. Her stuffed animals frequently visit the toy potty but she tends to go when Katrine goes or she feels the need to hear “Upp-a-da” which is more commonly known as “Up on the Rooftop”. She will however, bardge into the bathroom whenever someone it is in use and cheer for you. You want to say, “Get out” but can’t because you are laughing at how darn cute she is.
She is also copying Katrine. When Katrine is up walking through her solo to the music, Miss Elspeth must be up to trying to mimic all of her moves. Our personal favourite is Elspeth’s version of the spiral. Please notice that she looks like a little puppy going to the bathroom when she does it independently. Her form is much more standard when someone helps. I am beginning to worry that we will have a second figure skater on our hands; in which case, we should just buy ourselves an arena.
