Just realised how far behind I was in updating so here goes:
Category: Glenn
Elspeth’s nursery school hosted a ‘Cocoa Party’ one afternoon last week. The girls were quite happy to decorate a cookie (Katrine ate all of hers while Elspeth just picked off the candies), drink hot chocolate (Elspeth actually just poked at the floating marshmallows and giggled) and eat treats. Me? I was thrilled to get a photo of all of us together!
We celebrated Christmas at my brother and sister in laws two weeks ago and it was a blast -yummy food, great company, and decorated sheep. I suppose everyone loves to be festively dressed on special occassions.
For said celebration I was asked to bring dessert. My mom had mentioned seeing a photo of cupcakes in mason jars in a magazine. Well , I figured that I should do something creative and designed a mental picture of a beautifully stacked red, white and green cupcake jar of yumminess. Hmmm. Didn’t work out quite as I had invisioned. Funny thing is, just saw on the cover of a magazine while waiting at the check out that they had instructions for making….red, white and green cupcakes in jars! The featured cupcakes looked just like my vision. Sigh.
Although Katrine is taking a break from the ice, I had Elspeth out the skating trail this past week. One time her beloved blanket sheep had to accompany us and skate.
Yesterday we went to celebrate Christmas with Glenn’s extended family. It was fabulous. The girls have been blessed with a great group of cousins once removed (?)/second cousins (?). Anyways, for five hours there was laughter, play and smiles. Plus, Glenn and I got to partake in adult conversation and get caught up.Advent Begins
Yesterday marked the beginning of the count down to Christmas — Advent. We had to light the candle in our advent wreath at breakfast because we were not going to be home for dinner. Sitting at the table looking at the wreath it is obvious that we will need to upgrade next year. The artificial greenery simply didn’t bounce back as in years past. Never the less, the girls liked it. Katrine declared it pretty while Elspeth tried to blow it out like a candle on a birthday cake.
Why weren’t we home at dinner? Well we were busy crafting at our church for their annual advent craft night. Basically, you get to take your kids and have them do a bunch of fully prepared Christmas crafts. Then enjoy a potluck dinner with friends before a brief kid targeted service. The crafts as usually were fabulous but I think that my favourite part this year was the service. It consisted of two prayers, three carols, movement and a lit candle (which Elspeth again blew out but that said, at least she didn’t manage to burn anything). It was the perfect mixture to hold the kids attention and it ended before they got stir crazy.
We took a roundabout route to get home so that we could soak in some of the local lights. It is much more fun this year as Elspeth is finally tall enough to see out her window instead of simply getting mad that Katrine could see something which was hidden from her view.
I think that this was the funniest craft of the evening. At this table the kids were suppose to make cards for shut-in seniors. Well when there is gold paint and glitter on a table, Elspeth is your girl. I love the upside down Noel and gloopy holly. Unfortunately I did not get a photo once she had attacked it with the various shades of glitter glue but it was certainly a unique Christmas card. I did tell the lady running the table that she might want to put a rider on the card stating that it had been made by a three year old.
Halloween
Wow, am I ever behind. Okay Halloween. Lets see…we will start with the pumpkins. Both girls had fun working on the pumpkins. I think that it helped that our pumpkins’ guts were more solid than stringy so the girls were willing to touch them. We grew the pumpkins large enough this year that we did not have to buy pumpkins but were able to use our homegrown ones instead. After cutting it open we actually scooped out large chunks of flesh with these giant seeds imbedded in it. The seeds were so nice and plump and large that we rinsed, salted and roasted them. Man are they good. Seeing as how we had two, each girl got to design and carve their own pumpkin which made it much more enjoyable for Glenn and I (no bickering).
The night before Halloween Elspeth had her skating lesson and they were allowed to come in costume. She was so excited to have yet another excuse to wear her EB sheep costume. Halloween morning saw her baking up a storm with my mom at a local cooking class. They made spider buns and black cat(chocolate) cookie pops which were half the size of her head. After nap, she was off to her nursery school for their Halloween party which she enjoyed until an older boy came in with a mask and she hid, quaking, under a table. This week she is still nervous to go back to nursery in case he walks through the door again. I am looking at the positive. She will likely never be a fan of scary movies. Yippee!
Katrine missed out on a lot of the Halloween activities in her school due to concussion related issues; which seem to have resolved themselves (thank goodness). She spent a large chunk of Halloween afternoon at home with her grandparents and I playing board games infront of the fire. I think that basking in a sea of undivided attention helped to take the sting out of missing out.
After a quick dinner, my mom, Glenn and I took them out in the drizzle trick or treating. The girls had fun and came home with too much candy which is slowly being eaten.
Getting caught up
1. Concussion: Well, Katrine is better…mostly. She is back at school full time and skated again for the first time last night, just some stroking but something. She was mortified because doctor’s orders were for her to wear her helmet this week to make sure that she didn’t rehurt herself. If that was not bad enough, she had to borrow her sister’s helmet AND as I was putting it on, Patrick Chan (her hero) walked by. Poor thing.
Thank goodness that she is able to get up and get moving again. It is really hard trying to get that girl to sit still without TV or computer to distract her. The first thing she told her teacher upon going back to school was that I had spent the week saying “Stop jumping.”, “Don’t run around.”, “Put that book down.” Sigh. The photos below show how I tried to make the time less trying for all of us. The best was the mani pedi. Two hours of having to sit still. Well worth the money.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that the last few things resolve themselves and she can be ready for her first skating competition in four weeks (she will be crushed if she isn’t).
2. Elspeth skating: Okay, that girl loves her skating. She is doing really well but the smile on her face when she puts her skates on and her reluctance to get off the ice makes me happy.
3. Halloween: We decided to get out this past Sunday for some pre-Halloween fun at the zoo. We took our black cat and our E.B. sheep as well as a friend and his kids along with us. The kids had a blast trick or treating (not for candy!!!) through the tundra section but the highlight was definetely watching Hudson swim in the water. They were able to get right up to the glass with him diving and paddling infront of them.
I hurt my back lifting Elspeth up to see the gorrillas at play but it seems to be getting better gradually. Katrine enjoyed going in to the Critter Cave to look at all of the bugs; particularly the giant snails. Elspeth on the other hand absolutely refused to set foot inside – not a big fan of bugs. 😎
We ended up doing a costume parade where each of the kids got a giant panda flag which was the highlight of the event for Elspeth. Overall great family fun.
Happy Autumn Moon
Happy Moon Festival to everyone!
We started our celebrations off with dimsum with Tim and Heather. The actually had congee (rice porridge) so I got to eat too. Then last night we were invited to a wonderful party in honour of the Moon Festival. It was great to mean all of the new people and the girls had a blast making lanterns and eating “moon cookies” (I was thrilled to see that we are not the only family who has created a non-traditional dessert in honour of this occassion). Then the girls got to join the rest of the kids in a lantern parade through the neighbourhood which was a nice change as they are use to parading alone in front of our house.
Today we stayed close to home with the exception of church and Elspeth’s kungfu class. Dinner was chinese food of course and along with the traditional moon cakes we had “moon cupcakes” (which are much tastier if you ask me. Maybe one year I will get a traditional moon cake mold and play around at making a gluten free version that actually looks like the traditional variety). We had bought Katrine’s favourite variety of moon cake; the ones that she had at least half of at every breakfast in China last year only to be told by her that she couldn’t eat her favourite part as it was not fresh enough – darn shipping. Then it was off outisde to use our muscial lanterns before it rained and look at the setting sun….sorry, I mean moon, and talk about the people in China who love us and who we love. Of course the outside time was not long enough so the girls brought their lanterns inside and danced around for another half hour with the annoying, no I mean joyful, music playing non-stop. Not sure that the musical lanterns were the best choice we ever made. At least the girls enjoy them.
A 10th Birthday and a Fall Fair
Every year we go to my brother’s for the weekend to celebrate my nephews birthday. For the last few years (with the exception of last year where Elspeth was not really ready to do crowds) we have helped him celebrate at the local fall fair by checking out the displays, the baking (my sister in law and neice both won prizes this year!!!!), the rides, parade and demolition derby. This year we added lawn tractor racing to the itinerary. Aside from being FREEZING we had a wonderful time as a family.
Displays that stuck out to me:
Cuteness:
As you can tell from the last photo, it was really quite chilly as we were taking in the entertainment:
Trying out kung fu
Okay, we are a busy family. Inspite of that fact we have added on yet another activity…at least until the end of October at which time we will actually have to commit for real. Kung fu – a truly chinese martial art.
Why kung fu? Well, a few years ago Katrine went to culture camp run by our local FCC chapter. One of the activities was kung fu and she loved it. We looked and the only places we found offering kung fu were downtown or in Scarborough. Neither of which worked with our schedules. No kung fu.
Well, we have a reasonably close kung fu school so off we went to check it out. Now we hoped that Elspeth would like it and that Katrine might be interested in picking up a relaxed, non-competitive physical activity. We were not expecting to all sign up but that is exactly what happened…at least until the end of October.
I must say that I am having fun. Both Glenn and I get to go once a week by ourself and then another time with Katrine. It is hard (at least for “huggable” me; Glenn is already awesome after all of those years of karate) and today I hurt horribly from yesterday’s class but we might just stick with it as long as we can maintain our schedule.
No photos of me modelling my fashionable uniform but cuteness in the form of my three sweeties.
I bet that you noticed that Elspeth’s outfit doesn’t quite fit. Turns out that their xtra small t-shirt was not meant for a child taking size 24 months. One of these days I will get around to hemming it.
Apple Picking Time
We decided that we should head out to our favourite apple orchard as early as possible this year given the warm temperatures followed by the late frost. Luckily, “our” orchard managed to save a number of varieties which flowered later. The remaining apples are delicious and crisp.
Gingercrsip:
Paula Red:
Katrine loves to go picking almost as much as she loves eating fresh from the tree apples (they have a more crunchy texture). After many years she knows how to spot good apples which are on the small size (aka perfect for lunchs in that they will actually get eaten instead of thrown in the trash). Elspeth started to bounce in her car seat as we pulled in saying “pick apples, pick apples”. This year she not only ate apples but also picked a few. It is nice that she is enjoying this family tradition. I was a bit disappointed that the Macs are not yet ready but I had fun watching the girls, dreaming about apple recipes yet to be made and soaking up the sunshine. Glenn liked the fresh apple fritters and playing with the girls on the piles of hay bales. Overall, a high point of the summer.
Tug Fest, Wasaga and a Playdate
And come they did. Katrine enjoyed this so much when it was up at my parents three years ago that she begged to go back when she heard that it was coming back. The highlight of Tug Fest for Elspeth was the tug parade on the Friday night. Everytime a boat passed she would wave, clap and bounce up and down. I think that for Katrine it was getting to visit each of the tugs. One family had build their tug from scratch and documented the whole process in a photo album. I think that Katrine would have spent much more time going over the album and asking questions if there had not been two rather large dogs on board. Her other favourite was the huge tug. I mean, she insisted on waiting at least half an hour to get on the boat even though it was swelteringly hot.
Sunday we head to Wasaga for some family relaxation and fresh air. We spend so much time indoors at arenas or driving to and from them that we just need to get outdoors sometimes. The day was a success capped off with even more ice cream (seems to be a theme this summer).
Just to bring you up to speed, we also drove up to Orillia for a playdate with one of Elspeth’s China sisters. To be able to arrange for the pair of girls to speed time together, while also being able to ensure that Katrine wasn’t bored was certainly provided by the renovated park and beach at Couchiching Park. We went there for a few reunion playdates when Katrine was younger and it was getting warn but still fine. Now, WOW!!! Fancy. Definetely had something for all ages. I regret that Elspeth hasn’t been able to spend as much time with her China family as Katrine. They are more spread out geographically (both across Ontario and into the US)which presents a few more challenges. Plus, for us at least, school schedules, a child who only stopped crying and screaming in a car within the last 4 months (thank you Dora CD and electronic gaming devices) and of course weekend skating add to the obstacles. Glenn and I are continuing to look for possible solutions that will allow Elspeth to continue to stregthen these bonds.
Back to Nature
We were thrilled to be invited back up to Glenn’s sister’s cottage this weekend. With better weather we not only managed to stay dry but had a few more adventures.
1. A butterfly hunt. As you can see below, not only did the girls go and find butterflies that their aunt had hung from trees around the cottage but they also had a blast decorating themselves with them too. Gotta love a game which can be enjoyed in multiple forms.
2. Frog hunting. Our original plan last weekend (which got rained out) was to not only go to the cottage but attend the local fair. At said fair, the girls were going to enter the frog contest – biggest frog, ugliest frog, longest jump; before re-releasing said frogs. You’d think that with all of the moisture it would have been easy to find two frogs. Nope. They were smart and stayed hidden. So here we were with two decorated bug catchers and nothing inside (hey, two girls, we decorate everthing). As you can see, only one litte frog (toad actually) was found. After a brief stay in her plastic home, Toad-ette was freed. Elspeth had a more eclectic display in her catcher. It captures the essence of her many walks in the woods. The only thing that fascinated her which was not included were mushrooms.
3. Mushrooms. Of course, Katrine had to go on her traditional mushroom hunt thereby introducing her sister to the fascinating world of fungus. With a two year old the hunt goes like this: “Mama, mushroom!” “No, sweetie fern.” “Mushroom!” “No darling, dirty stone.” “Mushroom! Mushroom!” “Yes, that is a gill mushroom.” Maybe it is time to show her Katrine’s mushroom photo album.
4. Haliburton County Fair. To make up for having missed the fair last weekend on account of pouring rain, we drove over to the fair in Minden on Saturday. It was alot like the fair that we will be going to in September for my nephew’s birthday – FUN! The handicraft and children’s exhibits were excellent. I am always amaxed at the obvious time and effort put into the various entries. Then you look at the children’s entries and are blown away by the creativity. Katrine was really interested in the vegetable entries; particularly the huge zucchinnis while Elspeth really enjoyed looking at the sheep. There was a display put on by the army and both girls climbed up onto the tank. Katrine was blown away by all of the technology inside (gadget girl). Elspeth got up and got scared but didn’t want to come down. So, of course when Glenn lifted her down there was a kicking, screaming tantrum much to the soldiers amusement. Of course, as with any fair, you have to top it off with some ice cream.
5. Fishing. Okay, if you read last week’s post, you will know that Elspeth is a speed fisher. Mama baits hook, Baba casts, Elspeth reels like it is a race and is then confused that there is no fish on the hook. Well, this week her aunt and Grammy found the perfect rod for her which might just allow her to final catch something…if she can manage to stand still while holding it. She got a few nibbles but Katrine landed the catch of the day. I will let the photo tell the tale but she was thrilled.
