Category: Glenn

Good Friday in the Sugar Bush

This year we had the opportunity to spend a chunk of Good Friday helping my dad at the sugar shack.  Both girls enthusiastically helped but I think that Katrine’s level of excitement was a bit higher given that she actually understood what they were doing.  They are already on me to whip up a batch of GF pancakes so that they can use the maple sirop “that they made”.  Let me take you through our afternoon.

1. We arrive at the bush and are greated by rows of tapped trees.

2. Stop in at the sugar shack to get the fire started, take a nice close look at the equipment without the usual layer of steam and collect our buckets.

3. Okay, the troops are ready to go.  Off into the bush to check which buckets are full, collect the sap into our pails and the haul it back to the shack.  In total we collected about 13 gallons (45 litres) of sap.

Katrine tried to do it all by herself but then the red pail got to heavy and then mom had to lug it about while she continued to fill it up.

Katrine took her big sister duties quite seriously.  At every stop she would check the various buckets and leave the one with the smallest amount of sap for Elspeth.  As you can see, Elspeth still needed help but she gave it her all.

4. Then we went to look at the swans, geese and ducks while it was being boiled (not the actual sap we collected but shh don’t tell my girls).  By the time we came back there was some sap ready to be poured off.  This is the first time that the girls have ever got to see this part of the process.  Usually when they visit, Grandpa is boiling water for tour groups so that they can see the process regardless of how the sap has been running. Anyways, they got to see how it is poured through a strainer into a large container and then bottled.

That is my dad filling the sirop bottle.

5.  Topped the whole experience off with some hot chocolate and a homemade turkey dinner.

 

 

Home from North Bay

After a long drive we are finally home.  The most exciting part of the drive?  Why seeing the sign for Katrine, Ontario of course?  Katrine sees her name in very few places so it is always exciting.

Have you guessed why we were all the way up north?  For skating of course.  This weekend North Bay is hosting the Make it a Date to Skate competition.  It seemed like a good idea to shake things up and get away from it for a bit so we signed up.  It was fun!  Mostly because a group of Katrine’s coaches skaters went up and we stayed together.  So it was not just about the skating but about the girls having fun.  Katrine with her friends and Elspeth playing at being a big girl.

(One of Katrine’s fellow skaters took the photos with the words.  I don’t have that kinda technology.  Looks really nice doesn’t it.  The one of my two cuties is from the pizza party last night.)

I suppose I should fill you in on the skating itself.  Katrine placed 8th for her spins (she kinda mucked one up…in that she did the wrong thing which makes it near impossible to actually win anything).  Then 2nd for elements.  Then 5th for her solo.  She was pretty happy with that place given that there were “really big girls in my group” (aka a few were at least 16).  Most important though, she was proud of her overall effort as were we.  Now a full month without competitions.  Sigh.  Notice, not without skating only no competitions.  Hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Adventures with Baba

Baba began a new project with the girls preparing his saltwater fishtank for our “library” (really our room full of my school books and the fireplace).  As you can see, it is just in its beginning stages but it was a fun thing for them to do over the Family Day weekend.

1. First we tape.

2. Then we paint the edges.

3. Now the fun part! Painting with the roller.

Swim Time with Baba

Elspeth has been enjoying her Saturday morning swim class with her Baba.  They go and play; it is fun.  She is making progress with her floats but is stilling working up the courage to actually jump in.

1. Okay, I am ready to go.

2. Now this I like!  Who needs to work on floating, jumping and kicking?  Bring on the water toys.

3. Do you think if I water Baba enough that he will grow even taller?

Finally, a snow day

We finally got a sizable snowfall.  🙂 The girls are loving it.  I am glad that I am still off so got to enjoy the snow instead of driving in it.  Glenn felt much the same until he had shoveled the driveway for the third time.  Well, Katrine is totally into it but poor Elspeth is a bit uncertain.  Probably due to the fact that we have gotten so much snow that she is having difficulty walking through it.  Both girls happily played and wore themselves out.  As a result, it is a quiet night in our house.  🙂

Oh ya, they also buried me in the snow.  Apparently that is really funny.  From my point of view it was quite comfy.  That is some really fluffy snow.

We thawed out by painting, making lip gloss (Christmas gift) and getting ready for Valentines Day.  Elspeth got a lot of practise printing her name.  Can’t always read it but she really tried.

 

Happy Robbie Burns Day

As usual, we went up to my parents this past weekend to celebrate Burns’ birthday.  Highlights:

 

1.Elspeth likes haggis. (ugh) So does Glenn but Katrine is wise and refuses to touch the stuff. 🙂

2. Both girls danced.  Unfortunately there were technical issues so we have neither photos or video of them.  Katrine did two dances and was awesome.  I have worked with Elspeth on a little routine of basic moves and between that and her overall cuteness she got some cheers and left the floor with a big smile on her face.

3. This year I managed to find Burns colouring pages and I doubt that he ever looked quite so…interesting.  Elspeth even gave him an extra ear complete with an earring.

I will end with a family photo.

Happy Birthday!

I have to admit, I love my birthday.  I also love celebrating everyone else’s birthdays too.  This past week has been a very interesting but ultimately fun birthday.  I did not have my usual skating party with friends because I am still coping with the after effects of whiplash.  I am usually good and can get through the day with the help of pain killers and caffeine (I am not sleeping so well).

We spent the first weekend of 2013 up at my parents enjoying their ample supply of snow with some snowmen, a bit of backyard sledding and Glenn & Katrine went skiing.

I was feeling a bit sad because it took all of my will power to crawl around in the snow helping to fill pails to create the snow pair and push the girls on the wee hill.  No skiing for me. :(  Well, didn’t my parents turn it around.  A special dinner, gifts and GF cake!  Who can feel down when there is cake?

My actual birthday was wonderful. I went for lunch with Elspeth and my fabulous mother in law before enjoying dinner at home.  It was great to watch how excited both of the girls were for my birthday this year.  Katrine loves celebrating things and has always been enthusiastic which is wonderful to enjoy.  Last year Elspeth watched but this year she participated.  All day she was like, “It mama birthday.  I give surprise toe nail polish.  You do my toe nails?”  Okay, she still has to work on the concept of what constitues a surprise but at least she was eager to celebrate.

The gift theme this year was chocolate (oh, and nail polish).  Mmmmm.  Chocolate tea, chocolate soap, chocolate lip gloss, chocolate coloured drapes 🙂 and of course chocolate cake.  It smellt SOOOO good.  Then to top it off the girls made cards which were adorable.  Katrine made hers pop-up while Elspeth managed to copy To mama and print the current version of her name.  I love my girls.

 

Did I mention that I got chocolate cake?  Yes?  Well this was a particularly awesome cake.  First, Glenn made it as a surprise.  Second, it has a half pound of butter and 6 eggs so that alone should make it delicious.  Third, devil’s food cake.  Fourth, it is absolutely adorable.  Glenn made me a gigantic cupcake cake.  As you can see, I could hardly wait to dig in. (Oh and my new scarf was a Mama T creation)

So here I am, 39 and proud.  I have enjoyed every year and earned every wrinkle.  I can hardly wait to see what this year will hold.

 

 

Merry Christmas to all.

We hope that you all had a wonderful day today.  It was quite a nice day here with us.  The morning began with stockings and the girls must have been very good this year because Santa delivered – Calico critter house and a new Om Nom had Elspeth smiling while Katrine was doing a happy dance over her new bedset (complete with fluffy pillows) and Moshi Monster guide.  After a delicious breakfast it was off for presents.  Elspeth did much better this year.  She gets the whole “gifts are meant to be unwrapped and hold good stuff” this year.  Two of the girls’ favourite gifts were their new glasses with their names (a big deal because you pretty much never find stuff with either Katrine or Elspeth on it).  Glenn?  Can’t you tell that he absolutely LOVED the Santa mask that Katrine made him out of pipe cleaners? :-)   Me?  A ticket to the gala performance of the WorldFigure Skating Championships for next year!!!

Once the gifts were done, the kids were pretty wired.  Left my parents and Glenn inside to work on getting the turkey in and lunch ready and went outside to play in the snow with them.  It was awesome.  Our finished product was as cute as the fake snowman one of my gifts came in.

Of course, the day ended with LOTS of food and some games as a family.