We had the joy of introducing Elspeth to the Easter bunny. Didn’t take much to sell her on the concept. Our bunny brings small toys instead of mounds of candy.
Elspeth: “Zooble! Headbum!” aka I always wanted a zooble and a new headband. This bunny thing is good.
This year however, Grandpa Bunny had a special contribution to make. You see, way back on Easter 2005 he was pivotal in the delivery of a giant chocolate egg to a certain little girl celebrating her first Easter. Of course, a second little girl’s first Easter could not be allowed to pass without a similarly large egg. That sealed the deal.
Elspeth: “Big. Easta egg. Big.” aka holy cow, you mean I get this all to myself? Rockin!
Hope that all of you are having a very matzoh Passover or have had a relaxing Easter.
Due to excessive flowers, Easter Sunday service is out, so we try to keep the reason alive in little things.
It was a lovely morning so we went for a walk. Looks like we might have a goose nest nearby.
Easter dresses and new necklaces from our Great Uncle Stewart who we adore.
It was such a lovely day today that we decided to spend it outside. So, we packed up and went to the zoo. It was really busy being Easter weekend combined with the fact that they have clues hidden around the zoo and are giving away chocolate to the kids. The crowds overwhelmed Elspeth at times but otherwise it was fun.
Katrine had a blast trying to figure out all of the riddles and then watching the otters at play while Elspeth asked to see the “baby” when we got to the polar bears and clapped her hands at the flamingos. As you can guess, the real highlight was being given a sizeable chocolate egg and then being allowed to eat it in the car on the way home.
We finished the day with more playing outside and some easter egg dying. It is nice to be able to dye them and know that as long as they are hard boiled, they will get eaten. I figured out that if you crack the shells before you dye them, it gives the eggs a marbled look and the kids feel like they are eating easter eggs.
Let’s start with an Elspeth-ism. See if you can guess what she is saying? I will give you a clue, it is something you eat: “hambagung” Have you figured it out? That is how she says hamburger. Too cute.
Hope that everyone has been enjoying our early burst of spring. The bulbs infront of our house are up so here is hoping that if it decides to snow again that it is just a flurry. We took full advantage of the weather this week after being cooped up inside the house for so long due to illness.
We visited the zoo and this time Elspeth actually enjoyed it. On our previous visits, she was very over whelmed by the crowds and insisted on being carried or riding in the stroller. This week our little girl tried to walk the whole time with her sister. She also got right up to the glass. We saw the bears, orangutans and tree kangaroo being very active and she was more interested than scared. I have to say that I love going to the zoo at March Break. Yes, you get camps and daycares but there is always something for the kids to do when you need a break from looking at the animals. This year there was a whole interactive section on bats. The girls made adorable bat clips. Then while Elspeth coloured, Katrine had a chance to actually talk with a keeper about bats. I think that she discovered that she shared the same wing span as a type of brown bat.
Tree kangaroo. Taken by Katrine
Another morning was spent exploring a section of the Oak Ridges trail. It was a nice day and a friend invited us so we tagged along. What a lovely trail. We spent about 2 1/2 hours walking in the sunshine, breaking the ice on the edge of the pond and splashing in puddles. Did Elspeth last that long? No, but her stamina is building every day. I figure that I carried her for about 45 minutes out of the walk so she did quite well. We left refreshed and then spent the whole afternoon outside playing with friends. Elspeth is getting good at peddling her trike….when going downhill! Oh, and as you can see, sometimes she even comvinces her sister for a ride.
One afternoon Katrine attended a skating workshop out in Scarboro. She had the chance to skate with Marina Zoueva who is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s coach. It was an awesome workshop which challenged her to think about the artistic side of her sport. Did she enjoy it? Yes and no. She loved the workshop itself and the things that they worked on on-ice, but she was sad that none of her friends went. That can sometimes be a very big thing to a 7 year old; even one as outgoing as Katrine.
Stopped at the mall one day. The girls loved the bear mowing the store.
Then there were the playdates. I am so glad that we were able to schedule these. Katrine has missed so much school in the last few weeks. As much as she loves us all, spending countless hours at home is not the same as being with friends. It was nice to see her just having fun again.
Elspeth really loves her sheep. It has been everywhere with her this week.
Today both girls got some one on one time with a parent to wrap up the break. Glenn took Elspeth to the Home Show while I took Katrine to a dance competition. According to Glenn, the highlight of the show for Elspeth was the giant mushroom shaped water fountain. She came home with a sleepy smile on her face, so she must have had fun with her Baba. We registered Katrine in the dance competition back in January. With how ill she was,we were not expecting anything from her (I mean, she only practised one week out of the last 5). Boy were we pleasantly surprised. She got through all of the dances and walked away with three medals and another stamp. Only three more stamps and she is out of Beginners. Dance exams in May and no more dance competitions until June.
A 3rd, 4th and 5th and a proud little girl.
This week? Back to the regular schedule of dance and school. Highlights look to be Elspeth’s weigh in at the doctor’s tomorrow (fingers crossed that we are still in the third percentile) and then the Sweetwater festival this weekend. Wishing all of you a nice week.
After the last update, Katrine spent one whole week well before picking up a virus so now she is sick once more. During that single week of wellness, she competed at March Mania in Innisfil because we had already registered her so what the he**. We were hoping that she would go, have fun and stay up right on her skates (I mean, in three weeks she had only been on the ice three times for a total of 2 hours of ice time where she normally clocks at least 5 a week). Well she goes and does have fun and manages to stay up right through out her solo. She also manages to come in 4th!! Pretty darn proud of her. When Elspeth saw her getting her make up on, she had to get in on the action too. Do you think that the pink eye shadow is a bit much for a two year old? We tried to convince her of that but she was pretty adament and proud of herself.
Opening sequence
She also has hot pink nailpolish on because I did it on Katrine to help her feel better. Sometimes it is good to be the younger sister.
Elspeth has grown over the last month so during the lull last week we pulled out Katrine’s old red trike to see if she was now tall enough for it. Yep! She seems to grasp the concept of peddling and can make it go forward or back for about three peddles. Think that there are going to be many days spent outside with that little red bike once her legs get strong enough.
Are the rest of us healthy? We think that Elspeth may have had a virus at some point in time because she woke up super cranky but with that being the only symptom it is hard to conclusively say. Glenn has had a couple days where he has been simply exhausted so we think that he was maybe fighting it off. Me? Thought that I had an ear infection last week but it turned out to just be a virus or cold. Found out though that I really should not take Tyl**ol decongestant. No, it did its job its just that I am wierd. In my normal Heather fashion I walked around in a dazed and exhausted state for two days until Glenn hid it and put me to bed. I am still really tired but not congested anymore. Plus, it is much safer for the kidlets to just have a cranky mom. That’s how it stands for us leading up to the March Break. Wishing Elspeth had a Canadian passport and we were heading somewhere sunny and warm to play by a pool and rest. Instead, not sure what we will be doing because spending vast quantities of time outdoors in the cold is seeming like an unwise choice. Suggestions?
Still no photos of Katrine because she is still sick…with Scarlett fever. Yes you read that right. When I first heard the doctor say the diagnosis I had a Little House on the Prarie flashback…except with chinese girls. I think that TV show and books are the only places I have heard of people getting it. Well, guess it is a modern day illness too.
Katrine has been one sick girl. After a day on antibiotics her fever is no longer super high, but it is still around. Her rash is starting to fade but regular doses of Benadryl are needed along with cool showers to keep the itching at bay. Throat and nose are looking marginally better but her cough is the same. Energy level? I will describe it this way – our active, go go go girl has spent all of the week on the couch. Elspeth is now familiar with all of the non-cable children’s cartoons. On the plus side, Katrine is too weak from not eating and fighting this off to care about doing anything other than watching TV and it seems to be helping Elspeth’s speech because she is coming out with more multi word combos. (I guess that could be from all of the books we are reading when I can’t stand TV anymore). The doctor said that she is no longer contageous today but I don’t think that she will be up to going out for much until the weekend which is okay as we are going to be spending the weekend getting her caught up on all of the school work that she has missed. It is really shaping up to be a fun weekend. Beat you wish you were here!
And now I will end on a lighter note, with some random cuteness from February. Have a great weekend.
(Yes I am procrastinating again, but this time lets call it deciding on the best assignement to complete. The plus side is, that you get another photo update.)
We didn’t have this blog running when we adopted Katrine 7 years ago so I thought that I would put up some photos of our first day as a family. I was originally going to wait and post up to date photos of us with Katrine so you could compare but, she is still sick and I promised her I wouldn’t so enjoy these old ones from the day that our family was born.
This is how our day started. Waking up to this empty crib.After a speech by an official assuring us that the girls would adjust, the babies started coming. As they brought her through the door, we knew she was ours. I got to hold her first.This day the tears came from us. Katrine took it all in solemnly until the nannies came in to say good bye. Then she was all smiles.First family photo. As soon as the nannies left, Katrine started to shut down. It is exhausting going through an emotional upheaval.The day ended with her showing off her crawling skills. Now that was unexpected.
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.
Elspeth gave herself third for excellent form when cheering.
A great morning. My mom and dad were able to come down to watch Katrine which she was thrilled about. Again she put in focus and effort, coming home with four medals between 4th and 6th. The biggest surprise is that she pulled a medal in the reel. Today was the first time that she did the reel in competition. Plus, she had the dreeded inside spot (dreeded because you not only have to dance around three other dancers, but change spots through out the dance). All things considered, she did remarkably well in it. Didn’t knock anyone over. Ended up in the right spot. She was really proud of herself.
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.
