Category: Skating

Three days left

I am going to take a step out of our crazy life and post a pre-Christmas update.

Glenn:  Glenn has one final day of work and then he is off until the first Monday in January.  He has also been busy getting a gift ready for Elspeth.  He has built her a really cool, suitably short water table which she will love.  He is geering up to brine and cook our traditional turkey.

Me:  I finished picking all of the sequins and tape that I had originally sewn onto Katrine’s solo dress and am almost ready to start over.  You see, I made a HUGE mistake…I forgot to have her try it on before doing all of the sewing so when everything was on it looked great but would no longer fit.  Sigh.  On the upside, finished embroidering the stocking that my mom made for Elspeth.  I am also in the process of confirming or dismissing my previous diagnosis of asthma as well as my multiple food allergies.  Wouldn’t that be a great gift.  Katrine had her last gymnastics class yesterday and I am eagerly looking forward to the one night a week that will now be free. (Oh the joys of not having to be somewhere at a specific time)

Katrine:  Katrine has a break from skating nights until the second of January.  However, she volunteered to be part of the show that her morning skating school is putting on the first week of January so our “break from skating” will be spent….skating.  (Bet you can’t say that you are surprised)  It is nice to see how she lights up when she steps on the ice.  She really does enjoy it.  Tonight she did her first skating exam – the Dutch Waltz and, much to her relief, she passed.   She is also going to be something in the church’s Christmas Eve pagent but she won’t know what until Friday’s rehersal.

This week saw the dreaded family tree assignment arrive home.  The amount of work was appropriate for a Grade 2 student but it made Katrine upset that there were not enough spaces for all of her family.  Off we went to google translate to locate the French terms for birthparents, birthfamily and forever family. (Not sure we got them right but I should get points for navigating that with one child while keeping the two year old occupied)  Then she began fretting again about where to write the information and we worked that out; only to have her begin to worry that her teacher would be upset that we altered the assignment.  After working through that I thought to check the messages on the phone.  Well, wasn’t there a message on the phone from Katrine’s Social Studies teacher explaining that the wrong sheet was sent home and she could make all of the changes that we had just made.  Played the message for Katrine and all was right again.  Guess that will teach me to check the phone for messages before beginning homework.  Sigh.

Elspeth: Elspeth is fascinated with puzzles right now.  She will do the same four puzzles multiple times in one afternoon and always get frustrated at the same parts.  I have been wanting to bang my head against the wall by the fifth time doing the same four puzzles in a row so I took her and bought her two new puzzles.  Sounds great right?  Now she will do all four puzzles and then tidy them up, stop, take all of the pieces out of the two new puzzles before beginning again at the beginning leaving me to put the two new puzzles back together.  Oh well, at least it is a new pattern.

She has dug her heels in with the potty training.  Her stuffed animals frequently visit the toy potty but she tends to go when Katrine goes or she feels the need to hear “Upp-a-da” which is more commonly known as “Up on the Rooftop”.  She will however, bardge into the bathroom whenever someone it is in use and cheer for you.  You want to say, “Get out” but can’t because you are laughing at how darn cute she is.

She is also copying Katrine.  When Katrine is up walking through her solo to the music, Miss Elspeth must be up to trying to mimic all of her moves.  Our personal favourite is Elspeth’s version of the spiral.  Please notice that she looks like a little puppy going to the bathroom when she does it independently.  Her form is much more standard when someone helps.  I am beginning to worry that we will have a second figure skater on our hands; in which case, we should just buy ourselves an arena.

"I've gotta go."
"Stretch a little bit more Baba. I want to be just like Katrine."

Some Elspeth news

Okay, first I just want to reassure that our tree is up and looks “pwettie” (to quote Elspeth).  Now for the real reason for this post – Elspeth.

Two days ago our Early Interventionist came for another home visit.  She gave us some great ideas for forcing Elspeth to talk.  For instance, we have now put the puzzle pieces for each puzzle into its own glad screw top container.  That way she has to talk in order to get at the pieces.  Then when she puts it in have her repeat the name of the picture on the piece.  Simple but effective.  She comes back in about two weeks to conduct a more through assessment.

Then yesterday she reached 100 individual words(yes, I am that anal which should be no real surprise).  It is interesting to note that car, plane and tractor were among her first 100 words.  If you remember our post about her cousin Charles’ birthday in September you might recall an extremely satisfied little girl sitting proudly on his new mini ATV.  I am getting a feeling that we may not have too much of a girly girl on our hands.  Although, she does like to put things in her hair and play with stuffed animals.  Hmmm.

You all know that we spend a lot of time outside in the winter skating.  Well, in two weeks the free outdoor skating trail near our house should be open and we will be going…ALL of us.  Yes that’s right, Elspeth actually skated today.  Not far, not with finesse, nor with any speed worth mentioning.  No she can not yet stand up when she falls but she does try to get up.  So cute with her helmet down on the ice, her skates on the ice and her bum up in the air making a little triangle that she can’t get out of without help.  A friend of ours is trying to find an old pair of single blade skates that should be just a bit big for Elspeth so we might try those out in December but really, I don’t care because now that she can move, our family skating outings are safe.  Enjoy our newest little skating piglet.  🙂

First Skating Competition of the Season

So this afternoon (after skating class this morning mind you), we all piled into the car and drove up to Georgina for the KIS Invitational skating competition.  Before I go further I have to tell you that it was really well organized and ran very smoothly.  They also had a nice lobby attached to the rink where Katrine was skating which helped to corral Elspeth while we waited for Katrine’s turn.  They also had the cutest wall of kisses leading to the awards area.  The kisses were organized by club with one kiss for each skater.  You got to write little messages on any of the kisses.  What a creative way to boost club spirit.  At the end, the girls got to take them home.  Katrine’s is already hanging up on her wall.

This time Katrine was doing “big girl” elements.  This is basic moves like the past two years but instead of a group of girls being on the ice together and doing each move in turn, the girls did a sort of mini program with the moves strung together but without music.  Katrine’s group was pretty darn good and there were some cute skaters (one little girl was dressed up as Dorothy completed with ruby slipper boot covers!)  Anyways, Katrine surprised us all and took first in her group.

And how do you celebrate winning first at skating?  Go skating.  Yes, this evening saw Katrine and some friends skating at a local PJ Skate dressed up in comfy pjs.  She had a blast.  I however did not fair so well having fallen quite hard on my hip when a girl wiped out in front of me.  I think that I will be very sore decorating the tree tomorrow.

Then to finish off, a few fall photos for you to enjoy.

Wall of kisses
Cute in pjs.

Cold morning at the marsh lands near our house.

Two outings

A cute Halloween spider to start us off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been a busy two days for us.  Yesterday I sprung Katrine from school in the afternoon (surprising conduct for me I know) so that we could go to watch the Skate Canada International competition in Mississauga.  We got to see the ladies and pairs short programs.  Katrine loved the ladies dressed.   She particularly liked watching Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, the 14 year old Russian skater.  She couldn’t believe that this awesome skater is just 7 years older than her.  During intermission we were walking to get snacks and saw a pair from the Chinese team warming up.  Katrine thought that was pretty cool.  A pair from where she was born skating where she lived and she got to see them.  I have to say that the pairs were awesome.  Wow!  I am so glad that Katrine is so ticklish and likely won’t ever be a pairs skater because man do those girls fly.  Pretty and spectacular when it is not my kid.  The only thing that disappointed Katrine was that she didn’t get to see Patrick Chan skate.  She has a bit of hero worship going on there.  Watching Katrine’s reaction to the ladies was really fun for me because it reassured me that all of the time we spend at the rink is what she wants.  I mean look at the photo and you will see it.

Oh ya, she also woke up and got dressed before 6:30 because she was "just too excited."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we decided to try something new and headed out to the Community Safety Village.  The safety village is an awesome place for a school field trip because there are a lot of opportunities for them to learn safety rules, like the kids apply safety rules while driving battery powered jeeps around kid sized rodes.  That said, I was not sure what to expect with it being a community event.  Was kind of hoping that they would walk away having met a police officer, played in the village and got one piece of candy.  It was so much better.  There was a wagon ride which was the first time Elspeth has ever seen horses up close.  Then there was a craft area, Dora cartoons, all of the decorations and a Haunted House…and that was just inside.  Outside there were the various community helper mascots (which scared Elspeth but delighted Katrine), the parks, a maze, bouncy castles, fire truck AND trick or treating at each of the little village houses.  It was awesome as it gave Elspeth a chance to experience trick or treating in day light before we try it on Monday night.  She parroted “tick” at the first house and then her eyes bugged out when she was given candy.  After that she was sold.  “Tick, tick, tick”  I hope that she has as much fun at tomorrow’s party and Monday night but if not, at least she had today.

After we got home we did the whole pumpkin thing.  Katrine was an awesome big sister.  She assumed the role that my brother held – pumpkin gut handler- reaching right in to the pumpkin and tearing the guts out with her hands.  She even convinced neat freak Elspeth (seriously, she complains if there is a mark on her hand still) to touch a small bit of the inners.  What an awesome big sis.  So proud of her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Seriously, you want me to touch the inside of that thing?"
"Maybe you are not crazy. This isn't too bad."
"Ya know, if one spoon is good; then two will be awesome!"
Look at her grabbing the guts. I hated that as a kid. So proud of her for not being girly like me.
"Now we have to play with the guts."

What is new with us

Only three more weeks until we leave for China!! Very exciting.  Everyone is being really suportive and we appreciate it.  It has been a long road, but no longer than the road to Katrine in some ways, and we are almost at the end.  We got a treat a week ago.  It was given to us by a family who had traveled to Elspeth’s orphanage in the spring.  More photos.  Such a serious little girl.  What a gift they gave us with these photos.  It is like a window into her life for two years.  I don’t know if they will every know how truly thankful we are for their willingness to take and share these precious photos.

We have planted our garden as per usual.  However, this year we chose slightly different crops given our travel plans.  We planted mainly squash and potatoes.  We do have two watermelon plants so we will wait and see what happens there.  Right now everything is looking green and leafy but we do not have any flowers yet on any of the plants which is a bit concerning.

We have also been busy out front of the house.  The “Pony House” has made its yearly reappearance.  This year the ponies have been able to upgrade their accomodations.  They now have actual walls (thanks to our new hedge trimmer which works great for trimming unrully flowering trees) and beds (actually piles of dry grass cuttings).  Overall a comfortable abode.

 

What else?  Oh yes, Katrine spent the first week of her summer vacation at skating camp.  Her choice I might add.  She had a grand old time skating at least two and a half hours a day plus off ice training for five days straight.  She must have gone to sleep easily each night! No way, not our girl.  That said, she was always easy to get up and raring to go.  Glenn was at work of course and I spent my first week of holidays organizing our house and getting things ready for us to go.  It will be really nice when the house is finally sorted and the basement set up.

A weekend of fun

It has been a nice weekend.  Katrine got her Canskater of the year medal on Saturday along with a nice framed certificate.  Her proud Grammy took her to the RHFSC’s end of the year banquet.  She was just beaming about it.  In fact, when she came home she went right upstairs and hung her medal up on her bulletin board.

On Saturday,Glenn and I got to attend an absolutely lovely wedding.  The weather held so the service was held outside and at the beginning of the service, the clouds parted and the sun shone through.  It was beautiful.  The groom and ushers looked smart in their formal wear as did the bridesmaids.  The bride looked breathtaking.  A delicious dinner and fabulous dancing with friends.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening.

Today we headed out for a family movie day.  Kung Fu Panda 2!!  It was a really good movie.  I liked how it approached the two families of adoption and how each can love you.  Katrine cried a bit, laughed a lot, had fun.  We had some good discussion tonight about her two families and the similarities and differences btween their stories.

Now for our final piece of news.  Our referral is on a plane from China.  We are hoping to have it in our hot little hands by Wednesday or Thursday.  Katrine is pretty excited.  Glenn and I are like little ducks.  Calm on the outside but paddling furiously underneath.  Keep your eyes open for more news.  We will share as it arrives.

What else? The robins have hatched and are getting bigger.  Unfortunately they are fairly protective so we can’t get any really nice pictures of them.

We have also managed to get our garden planted in amongst all of the rain.  Flowers out front and veges out back.  We have sunflowers (for the seeds…we hope), carrots, watermelon and two types of squash (summer and acorn).  In addition, the strawberry plants that we planted last year are growing like crazy.  I expect that Katrine will soon be picking of the berries while she is playing outside.

Have a great week.

Skate Canada Award Show

Today we are crashing on the couch after a long day yesterday.  How was it?  Awesome!

Katrine had a lot of fun practising for the show with the other CanSkaters.  Three hours in skates followed by another hour and a half in skates for the real show without a complaint.  Think she was happy?  I suppose the second clue was the huge smile on her face the whole time.

Their number was adorable.  She also did really well receiving her award and bursary from the Figure Skating Boutique.  Seemed to take it in stride instead of being overwhelmed.  She was so eager to show off her trophy, certificate and new necklace.  That said, I think that the real highlight of the day was meeting Patrick Chan.  She was glowing afterwards.  Here is some photos for you to enjoy.

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!)

Halloween-2009 (21 of 23)

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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.

Halloween-2009 (19 of 23)

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.