Category: Mom & Dad T.

Happy Birthday!

I have to admit, I love my birthday.  I also love celebrating everyone else’s birthdays too.  This past week has been a very interesting but ultimately fun birthday.  I did not have my usual skating party with friends because I am still coping with the after effects of whiplash.  I am usually good and can get through the day with the help of pain killers and caffeine (I am not sleeping so well).

We spent the first weekend of 2013 up at my parents enjoying their ample supply of snow with some snowmen, a bit of backyard sledding and Glenn & Katrine went skiing.

I was feeling a bit sad because it took all of my will power to crawl around in the snow helping to fill pails to create the snow pair and push the girls on the wee hill.  No skiing for me. :(  Well, didn’t my parents turn it around.  A special dinner, gifts and GF cake!  Who can feel down when there is cake?

My actual birthday was wonderful. I went for lunch with Elspeth and my fabulous mother in law before enjoying dinner at home.  It was great to watch how excited both of the girls were for my birthday this year.  Katrine loves celebrating things and has always been enthusiastic which is wonderful to enjoy.  Last year Elspeth watched but this year she participated.  All day she was like, “It mama birthday.  I give surprise toe nail polish.  You do my toe nails?”  Okay, she still has to work on the concept of what constitues a surprise but at least she was eager to celebrate.

The gift theme this year was chocolate (oh, and nail polish).  Mmmmm.  Chocolate tea, chocolate soap, chocolate lip gloss, chocolate coloured drapes 🙂 and of course chocolate cake.  It smellt SOOOO good.  Then to top it off the girls made cards which were adorable.  Katrine made hers pop-up while Elspeth managed to copy To mama and print the current version of her name.  I love my girls.

 

Did I mention that I got chocolate cake?  Yes?  Well this was a particularly awesome cake.  First, Glenn made it as a surprise.  Second, it has a half pound of butter and 6 eggs so that alone should make it delicious.  Third, devil’s food cake.  Fourth, it is absolutely adorable.  Glenn made me a gigantic cupcake cake.  As you can see, I could hardly wait to dig in. (Oh and my new scarf was a Mama T creation)

So here I am, 39 and proud.  I have enjoyed every year and earned every wrinkle.  I can hardly wait to see what this year will hold.

 

 

Merry Christmas to all.

We hope that you all had a wonderful day today.  It was quite a nice day here with us.  The morning began with stockings and the girls must have been very good this year because Santa delivered – Calico critter house and a new Om Nom had Elspeth smiling while Katrine was doing a happy dance over her new bedset (complete with fluffy pillows) and Moshi Monster guide.  After a delicious breakfast it was off for presents.  Elspeth did much better this year.  She gets the whole “gifts are meant to be unwrapped and hold good stuff” this year.  Two of the girls’ favourite gifts were their new glasses with their names (a big deal because you pretty much never find stuff with either Katrine or Elspeth on it).  Glenn?  Can’t you tell that he absolutely LOVED the Santa mask that Katrine made him out of pipe cleaners? :-)   Me?  A ticket to the gala performance of the WorldFigure Skating Championships for next year!!!

Once the gifts were done, the kids were pretty wired.  Left my parents and Glenn inside to work on getting the turkey in and lunch ready and went outside to play in the snow with them.  It was awesome.  Our finished product was as cute as the fake snowman one of my gifts came in.

Of course, the day ended with LOTS of food and some games as a family.

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.

Today we will be cleaning and doing some last minute prep before heading out to church.  Then it is set up for Santa which is a big deal for me as I know that Katrine’s days of believing in Santa are quickly ticking away so I want to treasure it while I still can.  Then tomorrow and the next day will be Christmas present chaos.  Then Thursday is the big day with the neurologist.

That pretty much brings you up to date.  Have a great Christmas if you are celebrating and if not, enjoy the little bit of snow that we actually have thus far.

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.

 

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.

 

A 10th Birthday and a Fall Fair

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:

This hula pumpkin may not have won the ribbon but I thought that it was adorable.
One of the children's categories was to make an ear of corn. Can you believe that some child was patient enough to string together this ear of corn entirely out of beads?

Cuteness:

As you can tell from the last photo, it was really quite chilly as we were taking in the entertainment:

Both Elspeth and Katrine really enjoyed these races.

 

The demolition derby was more my speed but a little confusing for Elspeth while Katrine once again spent the entire time worrying about the drivers. (Glad she missed the car which threatened to go up in flames while she was at the bathroom with Grandma).

 

 

A fabu-tropious day at Georgina!

What a way to start our summer competitive season.  I will let the photos tell the story but it was a great day.  Sunny and warm but with ample shade and a slight breeze to make it comfortable.  A wonderful group from Katrine’s dance school as well as my parents.  Then an ice cold Iron Bru to round out the day (gotta have at least one over the course of the summer to bring back the memories of Scotland).

If you look closely you can see my dad's new moustache. In 38 years I have never seen him with one. Kinda cute.

 

The girls put Grandma to work. That is what they are for isn't it?

How did Elspeth like it all?  She seemed to enjoy watching Katrine dance but I think that her favourite part was watching the mass bands during the opening ceremonies.  Could we have another Scot at heart on our hands?  Must be the effect of celtic name.

This is one way that Elspeth filled her time today.

 

Oh ya, there was also some dancing done….

which resulted in 3 firsts and a third as well as Katrine’s first overall trophy for the Beginner’s 9 and under group.  She is pretty proud that all of her hard work paid off and she finally won a coveted trophy.  The fact that it is taller than any of the overall trophies (of which there is a grand total of 5 from 30ish years of dancing) that mommy won was icing on the cake.

 

An outing and the final skate of the season

On Thursday, Katrine had a great opportunity.  She skipped school for the day to attend university.  Well, sort of.  She spent the day at the Take Your Child to Work Day with Glenn.  She had a fabulous time.  First she explored Glenn’s work space (as you can see in the diagram below, he works in quite a small space).  Then she walked around with campus security learning about stranger awareness and sitting in their patrol car .  Next it was off to thespider lab for a workshop on spider communication.  Her big learning was that female Black Widow spiders are larger than males.  Who knew?  After a lunch date with Baba (does it get any better?) it was off to the gym to learn about healthy eating and do some circuit training.  The day ended with her favourite event of the day: a visit to the chemistry lab.  They made ice cream using dry ice and got to eat it!!!!! Someone knew what they were doing when they planned that experiment.

Today was our last skating competition of the season.  This means that we no longer have to listen to the Annie medley. :-)   However, it was also the last time that little miss gets to wear the outfit that I put so many hours into.  😥 I suppose that it will soon be time to get started on the next outfit…maybe something in black and gold so it is super shiny.

Anyways, we were at the Ursula Leming Skate in Scarboro.  It was really well organized and we had a lot of fun.  My parents even drove in because they have not been able to make it to any other competitions.  They got a treat.  Katrine decided to finish the season with a bang.  She skated her tush off and brought home a second.  You can see in the photo how proud of herself she is.

Do we get a break from skating now?  Ha!  Her club lessons run until the end of May and then there is a break for June meaning happy mummy before summer camp begins.  Five weeks this year as opposed to last summer’s two.  I am not happy about the driving but I am looking at it as more time for Elspeth.

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! xin nian kuai le

This new year feels especially sweet as it is the first that we have shared as a family of four.  We actually started the celebration yesterday at my parents when they gave the girls hong bao.  Grandparents know their grandchildren so well.  Katrine got her money in toonies while Elspeth got her’s in nickels and dimes because she absolutely loves to put money into her piggie bank.  Then when we got home we finished putting up the decorations with 3M squares because the tape was just not cutting it.  Katrine donated her two stuffed dragons/dinosaurs to the cause and they are proudly sitting underneath our flower vase in the livingroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually on New Year’s day I cook a big meal, even making the dumplings from scratch.  With a new two year old I was not sure how abundant food preparation would go so we simplified things by buying pre-made dumplings (Mama’s still taste better and I have been instructed that I need to make them again next year) and wonton soup.  We also cut out the noodles (horror – guess we might be short on long life this year) and the fish.  Even with the cuts there was still a lot of yummy food and the house smells of chinese food.  I did get creative with dessert.  We had some of the traditional candied vegetables (acquired taste but boy do the girls love the coconut) and cookies arranged to look like a dragon.  We also got dressed up for dinner which thrilled Katrine.  Elspeth could’ve cared less what she was wearing, she just wanted to colour the new year’s pictures.  The celebration ended with more hong bao and piggie bank feeding.  Then Elspeth went to bed and Katrine to the arena.  Our new year’s festivities will not be over until our annual FCC chapter banquet in two weeks.  Katrine can hardly contain her excitement at being able to share a meal with some of her China sisters.

The most creative part of our meal.

Katrine fit into this dress on her first new years...she was not yet 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To all of our family and friends, we wish you prosperity and happiness in the coming year.