Category: Heather

A weekend of fun

It has been a nice weekend.  Katrine got her Canskater of the year medal on Saturday along with a nice framed certificate.  Her proud Grammy took her to the RHFSC’s end of the year banquet.  She was just beaming about it.  In fact, when she came home she went right upstairs and hung her medal up on her bulletin board.

On Saturday,Glenn and I got to attend an absolutely lovely wedding.  The weather held so the service was held outside and at the beginning of the service, the clouds parted and the sun shone through.  It was beautiful.  The groom and ushers looked smart in their formal wear as did the bridesmaids.  The bride looked breathtaking.  A delicious dinner and fabulous dancing with friends.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening.

Today we headed out for a family movie day.  Kung Fu Panda 2!!  It was a really good movie.  I liked how it approached the two families of adoption and how each can love you.  Katrine cried a bit, laughed a lot, had fun.  We had some good discussion tonight about her two families and the similarities and differences btween their stories.

Now for our final piece of news.  Our referral is on a plane from China.  We are hoping to have it in our hot little hands by Wednesday or Thursday.  Katrine is pretty excited.  Glenn and I are like little ducks.  Calm on the outside but paddling furiously underneath.  Keep your eyes open for more news.  We will share as it arrives.

What else? The robins have hatched and are getting bigger.  Unfortunately they are fairly protective so we can’t get any really nice pictures of them.

We have also managed to get our garden planted in amongst all of the rain.  Flowers out front and veges out back.  We have sunflowers (for the seeds…we hope), carrots, watermelon and two types of squash (summer and acorn).  In addition, the strawberry plants that we planted last year are growing like crazy.  I expect that Katrine will soon be picking of the berries while she is playing outside.

Have a great week.

Science North

What a day.  Katrine was so busy that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow (which almost never happens).  She thought Science North was fabulous.  “Mom, I just LOVE it.”  I think that she did close to every experiment or activity that they offered.

My favourites three:

1.When she made a contraption to safely carry her egg to the ground when dropped from 5 feet in the air.  Needless to say poo Eggy didn’t make it.  By the end of his crash landing there was yolk everywhere.  I still think that the results would have been more favourable if she had listened to mom and attached a balloon or two.  Maybe they would have slowed it down some.

2.Rock polishing.  She chose a piece of white quartz which turned out pretty shiny in the end.  It actually was a lot of fun sitting there watching as she ground it and polished it.  I also didn’t worry as much as I thought I would about her grinding or polishing her fingers so it turned out to be more relaxing than anticipated.

3.Sodering together a little Easter circuit board.  I have never do that before and I likely never will again.  If Katrine is going to soder anything else together it will have to be with Glenn.  I am just not that technical a person.

We also did the height prediction thing (the same one that was there when we were kids).  Guess what?  Katrine is going to be short.  Big surprise aye?  Lucky for her though, not as short as me.  Five foot 2 vs five foot.  Those two inches might make it easier for her to find pants…then again, she is also unlikely to have my hips which also might make it easier for her to find pants.

Now off to bed so that I will be ready for a day of egg dyeing, egg hunting and chasing around a chocolate filled child.  Gotta love Easter.

Oh, one more thing.  Why do people put pussy willows inside?  They are just fuzzy sacks of pollen designed to make an indoor space icky with air borne allergens.  They don’t even smell so why would a restaurant need to put them inside?  Bluck!  Now I feel icky (in their defence, I didn’t notice them until I started to get itchy and looked around to identify  the cause).

Happy Year of the Rabbit!!

Happy Lunar New Year! The year of the rabbit began with a lot of celebration.  We went to the FCC New Year’s Banquet at the end of January.  It was throughly enjoyed by all.  The food was yummy and the company even better.  It really is a fun evening because alot of the Toronto area families from Katrine’s travel group go as well.  We have a chance to reconnect.  Plus, whenever the girls get together there is definetely free entertainment.  The icing on the cake for that evening (for Katrine at least) was the lion dance.  Once the real dancers are done, they let the girls use their lions.  This year Katrine got to go around the restaurant in the head.

On New Year’s Eve we had just a family evening.  I made a few chinese dishes at home (as you can see from the photo, many less than most years because I am still smarting from my spectacular fall at skating class).  It was a great family evening nonetheless.  Katrine loved her hongbao.  She stuffed all of her new years money into her piggie bank for use in China.

Normally I don’t have anything exciting to report about our second adoption.  For the past few years, my updates have basically been that we are still waiting.  Yes, we are still waiting BUT they are now into the files registered in China during the month of June 2006.  That is our month!!  We are hoping that the year of the rabbit will bring us our referral and trip back to China.

Happy New Year!

Heather and Katrine Dance Together

Chorus:
Oh! Campbeltown Loch, Ah wish ye were whisky!
Campbeltown Loch, Och Aye!
Campbeltown Loch, I wish ye were whisky!
Ah wid drink ye dry.

Now Campbeltown Loch is a beautiful place,
But the price of the whisky is grim.
How nice it would be if the whisky was free
And the Loch was filled up to the brim.

I’d buy a yacht with the money I’ve got
And I’d anchor it out in the bay.
If I wanted a nip I’d go in for a dip
I’d be swimmin’ by night and by day.

We’d have a gathering of the clans
They’d come from near and far
I can see them grin as they’re wading in
And shouting “Slàinte mhòr!”.

But what if the boat should overturn
And drowned in the Loch was I?
You’d hear me shout, you’d hear me call out
“What a wonderful way to die !”

But what’s this I see, ochone for me
It’s a vision to make your blood freeze.
It’s the police afloat in a dirty big boat
And they’re shouting: “Time, gentlemen, please!”

Robbie Burns Day

After skating class on Saturday, we headed up to my parents’ house in Victoria Harbour.  Even though my mom had just got home from Scotland on Thursday (more about that in a future post), all five of us were heading to the Midland legion for a Robbie Burns night celebration.  Ever since Katrine began to take dance lessons, she and I have provided the dancing portion of the entertainment for this event.  This year we did two dances together and she wowed the crowd with two solo dances.  She can be quite the show-woman when she sets her mind to it (wish that would translate into her not complaining about having to practise, sigh).  The highlight for me was when we did a dance that was coreographed by our dance teacher back when I was maybe 10 (no old lady jokes needed).  It is just a fun dance; both to watch and do.  Plus, you gotta love the choice of music.

I do have to say that the rest of the party was looking pretty sharp.  Dad had on his Drummond tartan tie which is about as Scottish as he gets (not bad for a Sassenach spouse).  Mom had brought home a Drummond plaid skirt from one of her earlier trips home and the evening gave her the perfect excuse to wear it.  I have to tell you that Glenn was looking good in his new black Stewart kilt.  He doesn’t quite have the full outfit yet but he worked with what he had.

Now that Robbie Burns is over, we have started to put up the Chinese New Year decorations.  Yes, it is almost that time of year again.  The year of the Rabbit dawns on February 3rd.  Guess what we will be having for dinner that night?

Happy January!

I could have started this post in a number or ways:  Happy new year! Happy Birthday to me!  Happy report card season!  Happy snowy weather!  But seeing as how it is the wonderful month of January, I settled on Happy January!  (Those of you who have known me for a long time, know how much I love winter…especially January -snow, cold, dead mold, no smog, skating, my birthday = simply awesome.).

We had a really nice Christmas with the exception that Glenn missed out on a lot of the celebrations as he was home sick.  Katrine and I escaped his germs by heading up to my parents to celebrate Christmas.  It was awesome seeing mom and dad plus my brother’s family.  The kids always have a great time when they are together.  The fact that my parents had an oodle of snow helped as much as their piles of new toys.  After each of our outings, my mom was there plying them with homemade cookies and hot chocolate (in Katrine and Charles’ case lukewarm chocolate).

We took them to the local ice rink one day.  Grandpa, Charles and Scott watched as we took to the ice.  Katrine had an audience cheering her on as she did tricks; which worked out well as it got her practising her salchow and kept her busy as I skated with Virginia.  This was Virginia’s first time out in hockey skates (having just recently out grown her figure skates, these were the only ones in the house which fit).  She was nervous to start with but did really well once she got going.  She was really proud of herself and rightfully so.  Once she had sat down to take a break, Katrine had me skating as part of a pair.  Nothing too fancy, stroking holding hands (not really in time with eachother but we tried), changing sides with a flourish, side by side spirals and then the big finish – one foot spins and a bow.  It was fun.

Then it was off to the sledding hill which is literally next door to the rink.  And what a hill!!  They whizzed down, spinning around on their crazy carpets…until Katrine took Charles out at the knees.  He was walking up the hill and failed to get out of the way, while her sled had spun her around backwards and she had no idea where she was headed.  No one was hurt and Grandma gave them an extra cookie so alls well that ends well.

On our last day there, I took Katrine cross-country skiing at the Wye Marsh.  She did really well for her first time on skis.  Lasted an hour and a quarter.  Plus, became somewhat of an expert at getting up after having fallen.  Most importantly, we had fun and I may finally have someone to go cross country skiing with.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Don’t feel to sorry for Glenn though.   We celebrated with his family before he got sick.  The whole crew of us went out for hot pot.  MMMMMMMM!  Then back to his sister’s house for dessert, gifts and a really great visit.  Plus, we came home bearing him gifts.  The best of which was his very own kilt.  It is the same tartan that he wore to our wedding.  I must say that he will look darn good in it once it is hemmed (Can you believe that it was too long on him?).  I can’t wait to see him in it on Robbie Burns Day later this month.

I will be making my birthday cake tomorrow.  I was suppose to order it but the bakery I bought from last year is closed while they move to a larger facility.  So, this year is self-serve I am afraid.  I am going to take my red velvet cake recipe, leave out the cocoa (allergic-big surprise) and turn it purple instead because purple is a happy colour.  Then  I will plop a nice, big pile of white frosting on top.  It should be delicious as well as pretty.

I wish all of you a fabulous 2011.  May it bring us all what we need and at least some of what we desire.

The snow was so soft.

This is Katrine’s new kilt.  Grandma T made her the socks.  She will be looking good for Robbie Burns this year if she can get past the fact the the socks itch and feel a bit wierd.

This was the present that Katrine made for Santa.  She wanted him to feel appreciated because he works so hard to give others stuff.

Here is the obligatory skating photo.  I had to put it in because she looks so pulled together in it…which is not always the case.

And this she learned from her cousin Dalia.  Yeah for babysitters!  Mommy can’t do this.  Couldn’t even as a child.

Isn’t the scenery beautiful?  I hadn’t been on skis since the winter before Katrine came home.

A successful gluten free, egg free pie!!

Okay, this is really just a braggin post but heck, when you have been trying to make edible gluten free pastry for years and then found out that all of that work was for nothing because…gasp…you could no longer use egg; you have something to brag about. (and a run-on sentence to write)  To prove that I was successful I have attached some photos.  Now, I don’t have one of actually eating the pie but rest assured that we have been.  It was a nice success for a very fibro-type of day for me.

July comes in with some fun!

Well, school is finished for the year and we celebrated by having some fun…mostly. On Canada Day we headed off to Embro for a dance competition.  Us go to a dance competition again?  I know, its schocking.  Embro really is a great competition.  On top of the dancing they have sheep hurding, bands, tug-of-war and fresh squeezed lemonade (Glenn and Katrine’s favourite).  There were two highlights for us this year: 1. There was a surprise fly-by during the awards ceremony which was fun to watch and 2. I did not break anything this year so no visit to the ER for us on Canada Day.  I will admit that alone helped to make this year’s Canada Day better than last year.  Katrine also danced really well which was an added bonus.  She was thrilled with her new medals and is continuing to work hard at practising her dancing.  Our next competition is actually next weekend and then it will be a nice long break until our final competition of the season in August.

The day after Embro, Katrine and I piled into the car and headed to Ottawa to visit with friends.  The trip was a bit of a breakthrough for Katrine as both families have large and friendly dogs.  This time she didn’t whine and try to run away.  She actually stayed calm.  Maybe, just maybe, we are turning a corner in terms of her being super afraid of dogs  Anyways, Katrine had a blast watching the hand-crank locks being worked in Merrickville.  She also found the glass blower pretty interesting.  There was some really nice shopping at the glass blowers which was good for mommy.  We had the most delicious meal, gluten free of course, at a local restaurant in Kemptville called the Branches.  I can’t thank Catherine and Gary enough for suggesting that we eat there.  I can sum it up in one word as YUM!

We also had the joy of visiting with one of the Yongning families;  the very one that we went to Disney with.  A delicious barbeque on Friday night and a whole fun filled day at Suanders Farm on Sunday.  I had a great visit, as well as some much needed relaxation, and Katrine had an absolute blast with her friend.  It was fabulous watching the girls play together and bond.  On Sunday night they hauled the hose around to the backyard and turned it on.  The two of them made a glorious mud puddle and then they proceeded to jump, splash and roll in it too their hearts content.  They had pure, uncomplicated fun.

What else are we up to?  Glenn has started to take swimming lessons.  He has sore arms but is enjoying it.  Katrine is also taking swimming lessons.  She actually swam a while using her arms.  She still has to work on her back strock though because she sinks quite well.  Me?  I am taking skating lessons at the same time as Katrine.  The teacher was showing on of the other students a simple waltz jump.  It looked sooo cool but I have promised Glenn and Katrine that I wouldn’t jump just in case we had a repeat of last year’s Canada Day adventure.  Instead, I am sticking to working on cross-overs and backwards skating.

Happy Halloween!

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We had a fun Halloween. Three costumes for Katrine and one each for Glenn and I…and WAY to much left over candy(guess that I should have listened to Glenn and not bought that second bag of chocolate bars).  The fun started on Thursday when “The Christmas Fairy” appeared in her Kindergarten class to enjoy the festivities.  The next day “The Ladybug Fairy” enjoyed some fun at Daycare.  Yesterday morning, “The Snowflake Fairy” appeared at skating where she actually won a little teddy bear for her costume.(More importantly, she actually bent her knees while skating!)

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Then we went to the zoo where Glenn and “The Christmas Fairy” took part in a costume parade.  I missed it because I had managed to lock the keys in the trunk of the car and had to wait for CAA.  She was tickled because they gave each of the children in costume a little stuffed toy at the end of the parade.  Then they had a musician perform who was wonderful.  He handed out insturments to all of the kids and had then play along.  One of the songs that he sang was Down By The Bay, which just happens to be her favourite song at the moment.  He let her come up to the microphone and she belted it out as proud as can be.  It was too cute.

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Trick or treating got off to a rocky start because she was “afraid to go to the strangers houses” but then she saw the candy and we were off and running.  Now the question is, what do we do with all of the candy?  Can one little girl eat all of the haul?  I suppose that we will see.

I will finish by answering the oft asked question:  No.  There is no news from China.  Yes. We are still waiting.  And no. We don’t know when our referral will come.  Rest assured that we will pass on any news as soon as we have some.  Enjoy the photos.

Summer Memories and back to school

Let me begin by finishing the story of our garden which Glenn began to blog about in the early spring.  Most of it has been harvested.  In fact, this afternoon we dug up all dozen potatoes and the handful of red onions.  Our corn didn’t grow tall and only produced fist-sized cobs, but the kernels were juicy.  Besides, we got to eat them before the local urban wildlife so it was not a complete failure.  Our harvest of cucumbers has been much better than in past years.  In fact, we couldn’t pull out the plant because it has one last lonely bud.  Got to wait and see if anything grows from it especially as the weather seems to be staying warm.  The biggest success of this year’s garden are the tomatoe plants.  We have already made countless batches of salsa and two pots of the freshest, most delicious tomatoe sauce.  Glenn will post photos of the corn later.

It was a busy summer.  Katrine enjoyed visiting her aunt’s cottage(that is where the swiming photo is from…it seems that the swimming lessons are paying off), playing endless rounds of Barbie and searching for mushrooms.  This summer was a roaring success in terms of mushroom hunting.  We have photographed twice as many types as last year so now it is up to mom to figure out what type they are.  The funny thing about looking for mushrooms is that once you begin to notice that there is such a variety of sizes, colours and shapes you can’t help but see them when you go out walking. While visiting my parents in Victoria Harbour, we had the chance to attend Tug Fest.  Yes a festival for tug boats.  I know that it sounds a bit unusual but it was actually pretty fascinating. I really never stopped to think about how many different types of tug boats there are.  Katrine’s favourite part was the nightime parade of lit-up tugboats because the largest one set off fireworks.

The highlight of August for Katrine was definetely Culture Camp at the Chinese Canadian Culture Center in Scarborough.  She is fascinated with all things China right now because “it is the best!  I was born there!” so camp was right up her alley.  She got to sing in Mandarin, do some kungfu, dance and do crafts.  Plus, two of her cousins and two of her Yongning sisters were there with her.  They put on a performance on the last day of camp, which was absolutely adorable, and we saw her in make-up for the first time.  Oh my goodness, that was a bit of a surprise.

So that brings us to September and back to school.  Katrine is now in Senior Kindergarten and I am currently teaching an SK-Grade 1.  Katrine has a new teacher this year but she seems to be liking her and is excited about going to school in the morning so what more can I ask for.  Last night I waited almost two hours to enroll her in Mandarin language classes which begin next week.  Plus, she will be starting back up with Highland dance and figure skating classes.  Yes, the carpool of mom will be busy.

That pretty much brings you up-to-date.  Enjoy the photos.

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I just like this photo.

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She is really good at belly flops.

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A glimpse of the future.

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Do you see what I meant about the mushrooms?