Another skating season brings with it another outfit. I thought that I would switch things up a bit and take you on a journey through the creation of this next costume (the kid better not grow too much).
It started with a simple dress which I found while browsing in a local second hand shop. (Yes, I have sewed before but the largest thing I created was a toddler jumper dress which I had to call my mother in law in to help with so I have not worked up the courage to try to actually sew one of these things). It may have been simple, but I saw potential. Plans started to form.
I got the bright idea that I should try something different and instead of gluing the ornamentation onto the outfit, I should hand stitch and bead it. Wouldn’t that look great? Use the same gold as in the sleeve trim for the design, keep it simple. Let the contrast pop.
Originally the design was to be of a twisting style chinese dragon with the head and upper torso on the front. The body would wind around the outfit so that it continued with the tail on the back. Unfortunately I forgot to actually double check the finished dimensions of the design before I began to stitch soooo, it ended up looking different that what I had originally seen in my mind.
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.
I am so very happy that Katrine got to wear her blue outfit again. It is just so cute. Her and her “secret agent” team mate took second for team elements. It was also much calmer without the side kick. Two days down, one to go and then we are out of skating competitions and into dance. Sigh. At least dance competitions are usually outside.
If you have seen Glenn’s status update on facebook you will already know today’s results. For those of you who haven’t…skip to the photos. Summary of the day? Elspeth was exhausted and spent a good deal of time crying. As a result, Glenn and her will be skipping tomorrow’s event for Father-Daughter bonding without drama. Katrine was super nervous this morning but calmed down after spending time with her coach (which freed me up to spend time with Glenn, his mom and cranky toddler). She skated really well. A few things to work on before the final competition of the season in two weeks but we are proud of her. Fingers crossed that tomorrow goes well.
After the last post all about Elspeth, thought that there should be a post about Katrine. Since we spent the pre-school hour at the rink for another workshop, this one with Manon Perron. Anyways onto random photos of Katrine practisig her jumps. Are they any good? No clue but it is fun to stand outside in the sun and watch her fly and the pictures are pretty cool.
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?
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.
We have shared a lot of video of Katrine skating and thought that it was about time for you to see our Elspeth in action. Here she is, making her single blade skating debut…..Little Sister!!
As you may guess, much of this school vacation (aside from actual Christmas festivities) was spent on the ice. Partially that was because we went skating as a family on the local trail (good way to work off all of those goodies); and partly because Katrine was preparing for an ice show at the center where she skates mornings. The first week wasn’t so bad as Glenn was off as well so we were able to divide and conquer. Plus, who ever got the privelege of sitting in the cold also got the precious gift of an hour to themself!! This week was a different story. Try keeping a two year old entertained for an hour and a half, at an arena for four days running. At times it was good and at times…painful. No matter though as all of Katrine’s hard work, Elspeth’s ability to find interesting things in the mundane and my willingness to go crazy pointing out the mundane resulted in a wonderful evening spent with the grandparents.
The show itself was really well put together and ran almost exactly according to plan. All of the skaters knew what they were doing and ended up looking great on the ice (not surprising really as only dedicated skaters are on the ice five mornings a week before school and over their holidays). The parent volunteers (sadly, to my shame, I was not one of them as I figured I had already put in my time keeping the wee one from tearing everything apart all week) put together a lovely gallery with bios of each skater, a professional looking program and great costumes. The older skaters did the younger girls hair and make up. As a parent, you got to see all of these great up and coming skaters looking their best and skating their hearts out and there is your child, among them. It made us proud.
Elspeth lasted until just after Katrine skated her first time before she was done with seats, floors, candy, activities and grandparents (which is saying a lot as they are among her favourite people). She was also suffering from mommy-itis (yeah attachment) so I had to miss the end of the show to bring her home to bed. When he got home, Glenn told me that all of the kids in the dressing room were laughing and smiling when he went down to pick up Katrine at the end of the show. They were all so excited at having been part of it all. This morning Katrine told me that she loved doing the show with all of the stars (decorations), lights and clapping. “It was so awesome. I love, love, loved it.” Guess that says it all.
Oh ya, sorry about the photos but with them skating so fast, all I got were some blurs.
First I put on the dragon and fire ball which I outlined in red.
Then, I added a faux chengsan style closure at the neck.
Next, I added beads around the bottom of the skirt for that extra bit of sparkle.
Finally, matching beading around the key hole back.
