First Day of Grade 1

I picked Katrine up at After School Care today and was told that school was AWESOME!!  She thinks that her teacher is great, which always helps.  What did she learn?  “A few words in French, that I can’t remember. How to have respect for our school and we used clay…and I played with A***y at the park.”

I was pretty proud of her this morning.  An older girl was waiting at the bus stop with her.  The girl said, “You look adopted.” (Granted Glenn and I were waiting with her)  Katrine responds, “I’m not adopted.  I was born in China and then adopted.  Are you adopted?” Girl, “Um, no.  These are my real parents.”  The meaning of the last remark seems to have escaped her but that could be because she noticed the school bus coming down the road.  Sigh, I hope that we have prepared her well for the questions that seem to be croping up already.

To end on a happier note, I hope that you enjoy the photo.

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.

Demolition Derby

We just go home from visiting my brother’s family in Glencoe.  It was my nephew, Charles’, family birthday celebration as well as their local fair.  (My neice, Virginia, took two first place ribbons for an old-tool creature and beaded bracelet,  We are so proud of her.  The creature was really cool.)  My nephew’s favourite part of the fair is the Demolition Derby so in honour of his birthday we had to stay for that.  I thought it was awesome.  At one point a car managed to drive on top of another competitor’s car.  Really cool…just goes to prove that I am my brother’s sister.  Katrine however was scared to go to sleep tonight because she might dream of the smash-up cars.  It seems like it will be a while until we go back to the fair or at least the derby.  Sigh!  A fun weekend with a freshly tramatized child.  What’s a mother to do?

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?

Bring on the inventions!

It appears that Katrine has developed a new interest…inventions.  In this video, she can be seen beside her frozen treat machine.  It is a pretty straightforward machine; put stuff in one end and the treat comes out the other.  What makes this video special is that it is mostly a safety training video for those who would like to work her machine.  Enjoy!

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Events of Canada Day

Once again we spent Canada Day at the Highland Games in Embro.  Katrine did really well.  She actually won a first and second!!  She also did a great job on her fling, which she couldn’t do at all three weeks ago, except that her feet got tangled up during one turn and she fell.  But, she got right back up and started dancing again.  We were really proud of her. She was really upset that we were not able to stay around for the medal ceremony (more details below) and I am not sure that she really understands where she ranked only that she won two medals for good dancing.

Did I dance?  Well, technically yes.  I did the full first step of the Irish Jig and on the second side of the second step I hopped and ended up with a sharp pain in my insoles.  I managed six steps off of the stage and then sat on a bench while the Saint John’s Ambulance people put my foot into a splint.  Then it was off to the hospital in Ingersoll for x-rays.  Nothing is broken but I seem to have sprained it yet again.  So it will be back to physio for me and this will likely mark the end of my Highland Dance career.  Can you say hello Scottish Country Dance?

Welcome to May!

Let me begin by telling you that we ended April with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls for a reunion with Katrine’s orphanage “sisters”. It was amazing to see how all of the children have grown. This time they really played with each other and interacted. For us adults it was the perfect time to reconnect with the other families who shared the birth of our family with us. As you can see from the pictures it was also a time for Katrine to get some serious crafting in. She was unimpressed with the water slide but really enjoyed the lazy river and wave pool. My favourite part was stopping in Niagara on the Lake for lunch. They have a store called the Irish Shop that has a little cafe at the back which sells gluten-free lunches AND desserts. This time it was salmon cake, cauliflower soup and lemon pie! I was full to bursting but it was heaven.
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Now I must tell you an interesting Katrine story. All of last week Katrine and I played school. The game would still be going on but when I lost my voice I made her tidy up. Anyways, she had taken every Barbie, pony and stuffed animal out of their box and arranged them around a variety of books to form classes.(Check out the first picture below) These classes covered every inch of floor in her playroom. The other photo shows the class who went on a field trip to the professor’s house, a much loved dishwasher box. The professor is the monkey in the lab coat.
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April – What a month

April has been an emotional month thus far. As you know, Glenn’s dad passed away at the beginning of the month. It wasn’t completely unexpected but hard nevertheless.
Since then we have been busy with previously made commitments for Katrine. She passed the First Steps level of her Highland Dancing exams (Actually, my mom and dad took her to her exam while Glenn and I went back to work).
This past weekend was her fifth birthday. In spite of everything we decided to go ahead with her party because she had been so looking forward to it. Thank goodness Glenn had convinced me not to have the party at home this year. We went to the local community center and used their gym and party room. Thirteen little kidlets running around in pirate hats and fairy wings. It was a fun day for Katrine. My favourite part was dinner out with my parents and Glenn’s mom. Spending time with family builds the sweetest memories.
Sunday was her actual birthday. We made pizza at Glenn’s mom’s and ate cupcakes while enjoying eachother’s company and her HUGE collection of teddies. Katrine loves arranging them into a school or piling them up to make a store. I prefer using a bunch of them as a pillow. Quite sqoushy and comfy. The morning was spent at her second skating competition. She skated against five other skaters this time and had to do five moves as compared to last competition’s three. I was really nervous as she has been quite up and down coping with her recent loss but she was on. She even managed to get her two footed turn (although she had a pretty nice spill on her first attempt). The best part was watching her do her gliding jump. Man she got some air. She was so proud of herself for trying her best and then she got a medal.
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Look at that air!
Look at that air!

Oops!
Oops!

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