Ready for church. Good looking group aye? 🙂
Baby Jesus’ birthday cake looks a little….hmmm…colourful. Yes, lets go with that.
You put marshmallows in here! Sweet! Gotta get the last one.
Category: Heather
Snacks for the big guy.Christmas Eve Catch-up
Just realised how far behind I was in updating so here goes:
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.Some Christmas fun
This is just a random post of Christmassy stuff we are doing. I have been pretty stressed over Katrine as well as Elspeth’s upcoming speech assessment (hoping it is the last) so this post is a way of helping me to focus on some of the positives happening right now.
1. Christmas nails: Now it was suggested that I try to paint reindeer on my nails but that seems a bit out of my level of expertise. Instead I chose to go with a candy cane focus…at least for this week.
2. Christmas Treats: It might seem small potatoes to some but I was out at a doctor’s appointment with Katrine this week and when we stopped for a snack I was able to buy one. A nice cup of pepperminty yogurty goodnes. Yum! Gotta love it when companies are smart and mark gluten free on a product’s poster! 🙂
3. Cookie/House decorating: I haven’t yet mastered gluten free sugar cookies but you can get great premade cookies and then let the kids at it. Here are their interpretations of decorated cookies. One done by Elspeth and the other by Katrine and a friend. Can you guess whose is whose?
Santa – a unique take
Last year a local big chain outdoor store had a Santa who you could go fishing with. Elspeth would have nothing to do with it but Katrine was game. We thought that this year, perhaps…maybe…if mommy was nearby, Elspeth might give it a go too. Well things got changed up a little as you will see and neither girl got to fish with Santa. However, they did get to shoot arrows, air guns, drive 4 wheelers and race cars while waiting to see the big guy.
My grandpa T would not have been very impressed with us; duck hunter that he was. All of the wooden ducks were laughing as we marrily missed them all. The floor, as you can see, was pummeled into submission by streams of arrows. (No, I didn’t let Katrine go out without pants of a skirt. We had come from skating and she refused to take off her jacket so it just looks….interesting).
He he. The gun is camouflaged by her jacket.
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.
Waubaushene Santa Claus Parade (aka the parade Grandpa missed)
Okay, it is Grey Cup weekend. What is the wife of a man with Grey Cup tickets to do on Grey Cup weekend? Drive up north for a Santa Claus parade of course!
The girls and I set off to my parents house right after Elspeth’s swimming class on Saturday morning. We stopped in Brechin and the Orillia for short but wonderful playdates with a group 204/5 and a group 268 China sisters. Seeing my girls reconnect with family is always a nice experience. The fact that I too get a chance to chat with other moms is the cherry on the cake.
We ended up at my parents in time for dinner to hear that my dad is simply too ill to ride on his intended float. The girls were disappointed they wouldn’t get to see him on the float but more concerned about his health.(He is getting better but still looks and sounds horrible.) After a short drive to admire the various neighbourhood lights and a bath it was off to bed.
The highlight of today was the parade itself which was made even more special by the presence of fresh snow on the ground. Snow which begged to be played in and thrown. Katrine actually managed to make a pretty good snowball which hit me soundly in the side of the head – guess all of the catch we played this past summer did some good. Her aim is improving. Elspeth showed none of her reluctance from the start of winter last year. Nope, much more curious this go round. Will have to discuss with her the importance of not eating snow off of ones boot. Apparently it is “yum, yum, good.”
Okay, we saw the floats at the top of the hill and knew that it was show time. Bundled the girls into their chairs and they were happy as pie – even more happy once the candy canes began to arrive.
Now as I mentioned earlier, my dad was suppose to be riding on a float but had to bow out at the last minute due to health. He did however do a lot of work to help create said float and I think that they did a great job. It was one of the best in the parade (I may be a bit biased being a daddy’s girl and all).
He is a member of the Loyal Order of the Pumpkin which is a fancy sounding name for a group of fun loving people who get together to celebrate pumpkins. In the spring they have a party and pass out seeds.(The pumpkin which we grew and subsequently carved at Halloween came from this year’s batch of seeds.) The various order members plant and tend the seeds hoping to grow the biggest pumpkin. While waiting for said seeds to grow they participate in the area Canada Day parade. Then come October, the pumpkins are harvested and the biggest wins a prize. The celebrations are completed with the order’s participation in the local Santa Claus parade. Such a simple way to have tons of fun. The order created a brand new float this year honouring the cartoon classic – Charlie Brown’s Christmas.
The little wagon at the very back was the girls’ favourite part. I think it was pretty ingenious myself.
Shortly after we saw the big guy arrive.
They we went just down the street to the local fire hall where the festivities continued (we don’t have anything like this round where we live but it was lovely to see the community coming together). There was hot chocolate and timbits for the kids. Balloon animals and face painting. There was also the big man himself sitting in the corner ready to listen to the holiday wishes of all the waiting children. Katrine was raring to go whereas Elspeth is still not sure of the whole Santa-as-a-real-guy thing. I would suggest that you enjoy the group photo with Santa as it may be the only time that I can get Elspeth near him all season.
I must add that an old family friend played Santa and did an exceptional job. When Elspeth was too busy clinging to me to say what she wanted, he thought to ask her big sister for help. Katrine left him with a huge smile on her face feeling extra important…and that was before she learned that this Santa gave out real gifts!!! As you can see from Katrine’s face she was thrilled. Elspeth refused to look at the camera, being super tired by this point, so you will have to be satisfied with this side view.
Christmas arrives!!
I absolutely love Santa Claus parade weekend. To me it spells the start of Christmas as it provides the perfect excuse to begin setting up the tree and all of my decorations. I love how festive the house feels once everything is in place. Makes me smile thinking about what memories we will build with family and friends over the next few weeks. Plus to be perfectly honest it also marks the lead up to my birthday and you know how I love my birthday.
Here are the girls Christmas letters. My favourite part of Katrine’s is where she tells Santa that it is okay if he only brings her 3 or 4 things (way to compromise). Now our eldest is smart. She has it all figured out. Apparently she plans on visiting a number of different Santas over the next few weeks and only aksing for one thing from her list. That way she will not seem greedy but will still get to ask for everything. Gotta love her plan. Wonder how it will work out for her? Elspeth’s list is simple. Candy for her Om Nom. I can almost guarantee that wish will come true seeing as how in all of my living recollection I have never received a stocking totally devoid of candy. Unfortunately, Elspeth is still only in love with the concept of Santa so I will have to work hard to get my coveted photo of the girls.
I also managed to get matching dresses for them. Of course, once the mandatory Christmas card photo was done, Elspeth had to put back on her fairy princess wings. 🙂
PS My thumb is much better. It still hurts like crazy when I hit or bump it (which being me is far too often) but at least it is no longer throbbing!
Adventures in cooking class
I have been able to take Elspeth to cooking class the last two weeks because they have not made anything gluteny. It is nice to see her learning by doing and then enjoying the fruits of her labour. She has a great time; can’t you tell?
She made cheesy apple melts and fruity coleslaw last week. The highlight of which was getting to cut and cut and cut until everything was practically diced. Great week!
This week apple mock-tinis, apple cookie pizza and stuffed apples were on the menu. She had fun. The class started off well…
Looks yummy doesn’t it? All of the chocolate-apple-cinnamoness topped with caramel sauce simply had to taste great as did her mock-tini. Elspeth finished the class enjoying her apple stuffed with cheese, sunflower seeds and raisins. Yippee!
Didn’t need lunch because she ate it all (not exactly balanced but oh well). There was however, an unfortunate mishap on route to the creation of this edible delight. It involved an apple and a corer. Oh, and my thumb as well as a trip to emerg. Luckily I didn ‘t need stitches (lucky me, I had pretty much sliced the skin clean off so there wasn’t anything to stitch) but I do have a pretty inpressive bandage right now.
Now no need to worry. Katrine had her skating competition simulation tonight and even with the bandage I was able to do reasonably good hair. Thank you to Ashley (her coach) for tieing her skates. :-)  Another special thank you to my hero of the day – my wonderful mother-in-law. She came right away when I called. Went to the ER and kept Elspeth entertained for almost two hours while I was being taken care of. Helped fasten and unfasten car seats, containers, bobby pins and snaps. Mom, you rock. 🙂
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.
