What's up with Glenn, Heather, Katrine, and Elspeth
As you know, Elspeth loves Katrine’s old penguin costume. Last week she insisted on wearing it to nursery school. All of the kids were super excited when we arrived and I must admit that I wondered why (they are usually happy to see her but not quite so over the top). Well, turns out that they are studying artic animals and here was their own real live penguin. What are the odds?
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.
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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!
Both girls love to use our ipad; particularly Cut the Rope. They play the game, watch the youtube stories, read the comic, wear the shirts. The star attraction of all aspects of this game being On Nom. Glenn thought that Elspeth might have some fun if we got her an On Nom for her birthday. Well, fun has been had by both girls.
Each meal finds this little critter sitting beside the table in his “multi-purpose” seat (yes, we have had discussions about what poop composed entirely of candy would look like). He will also watch tv from this seat and of course it doubles as a potty.
Being the candy eater that he is, our Om Nom asked the girls if he could accompany them on a brief Halloween outing. Well, he would need a costume of course because being a green creature was not creative enough. Turned out pretty cute.
Wishing you all a happy, turkey filled weekend.
Happy Moon Festival to everyone!
We started our celebrations off with dimsum with Tim and Heather. The actually had congee (rice porridge) so I got to eat too. Then last night we were invited to a wonderful party in honour of the Moon Festival. It was great to mean all of the new people and the girls had a blast making lanterns and eating “moon cookies” (I was thrilled to see that we are not the only family who has created a non-traditional dessert in honour of this occassion). Then the girls got to join the rest of the kids in a lantern parade through the neighbourhood which was a nice change as they are use to parading alone in front of our house.
Today we stayed close to home with the exception of church and Elspeth’s kungfu class. Dinner was chinese food of course and along with the traditional moon cakes we had “moon cupcakes” (which are much tastier if you ask me. Maybe one year I will get a traditional moon cake mold and play around at making a gluten free version that actually looks like the traditional variety). We had bought Katrine’s favourite variety of moon cake; the ones that she had at least half of at every breakfast in China last year only to be told by her that she couldn’t eat her favourite part as it was not fresh enough – darn shipping. Then it was off outisde to use our muscial lanterns before it rained and look at the setting sun….sorry, I mean moon, and talk about the people in China who love us and who we love. Of course the outside time was not long enough so the girls brought their lanterns inside and danced around for another half hour with the annoying, no I mean joyful, music playing non-stop. Not sure that the musical lanterns were the best choice we ever made. At least the girls enjoy them.
Every year we go to my brother’s for the weekend to celebrate my nephews birthday. For the last few years (with the exception of last year where Elspeth was not really ready to do crowds) we have helped him celebrate at the local fall fair by checking out the displays, the baking (my sister in law and neice both won prizes this year!!!!), the rides, parade and demolition derby. This year we added lawn tractor racing to the itinerary. Aside from being FREEZING we had a wonderful time as a family.
Displays that stuck out to me:
Cuteness:
As you can tell from the last photo, it was really quite chilly as we were taking in the entertainment:
By now, you all know how much time we spend at the arena each week. This season there are multiple or extended visits in a day. If it was just me, I would easily find any number of ways to relax and have some fun. But what exactly can a two year old do to kill time for an hour or more in an arena when she is not allowed to skate. I am posting some of my favourite photos to give you a snapshot of what life is like while Katrine skates.
We have a very simple daily schedule:
1. Snack
2. Read a book (I mean, you can never do too much to encourage vocabulary growth and a love of books)
3. A page of “homework” which is really a page of colouring, cutting or such. One of her favourite activities right now it to practise copying shapes.
4. Some other activity from her bag or the ipad or her Calico Critters house. On very long days I lug that as well as as the other bags into the arena and we spend the time arranging the furniture or making food or giving baths. We thought that we needed to branch out and try to incorporate some imaginative play along with the other activities. I really miss the Duplo wall which was at the arena we frequented this summer. It got daily use at both drop off and pick up.
Now I am hoping that once December comes, Elspeth and I will be able to hit the ice trail while Katrine is skating. That would nicely change it up. The trail is there right now but there is no way that I am trying to pack a scooter or trike along with everything else. Even I have my limits. Check out the photos and if you have other simple, and light, suggestions for activities please share.
We were so excited to get away this weekend up to visit Glenn’s sister at her cottage. We were also excited to introduce Elspeth to cottage fun. She was a bit nervous when we were driving in on Friday night but when we announced that we would be going back next weekend she broke into a big smile.
A large portion of the weekend was spent either inside or walking in the rain.
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Then we broke out the Lincoln Logs. Of course, once the town was done we had to play in it. Saw all of those Little House books at work as an array of finger puppets went shopping in the general store and had to trade in their furs for goods or when the whole town came out for a pig roast. “Do you have the pig in your freezer in the store?” asks Puppet 1. “Of course not. It is in my barn. Just wait while I kill it and then we can cook it.” answers Puppet 2. Yep, think someone is going to kick butt in Social Studies this year at school.
Drizzle has become a down pour. Kids bored…time to head to town for some ice cream.
Look! The rain has stopped! Yippee! Off we go to the lake for a dip. Of course, along the way we met a little amphibian who had escaped notice on our earlier outing.
Went to bed hoping that this morning would be a better sunnier day. No luck. Rain. Okay, lazy around. As you can see, the girls broke out the popcorn and older sister decided to teach younger how to make an innovative sort of table.
Okay, rain ends. Skies grey. Time to fish. Katrine still needs to learn to put a worm on her own hook but she knows what to do otherwise. In fact, she caught the only fish. Elspeth loves her fishing pole, She loves to put it in the water and take it out. She loves reeling it in. She seems to think that the faster you reel the better it is – almost like it is a race. No surprise, there were no fast swimming fish in the lake this morning. Perhaps they will spruce up their fins for next weekend (although to get her worms they will need to upgrade to the Nascar of fins). Alot of fun though. Fingers crossed that it will be nice and clear next weekend.
