Attwood Family

Ten years!! Ten whole years!  It is hard to believe that ten years ago today Glenn and I woke up as a couple and went to sleep as parents.  It was a long awaited day for us, the end of a journey that had many unexpected twists that had served to lead us to this place where we couldn’t have been happier to be.  For our Miss Katrine…perhaps no so anticipated or longed for.   The end of our journey to each other marked the beginning of our journey as a family.  For all of us, definitely emotional.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were blessed to have the opportunity to share this portion of our journey with a truly wonderful group of people. That day both our smaller family and larger family were formed and bonded together.  Different stories becoming forever linked.  The girls (and boy and subsequent siblings) who are part of Katrine’s China family are all unique but all important to each other.  When they are together they make each other laugh and smile….they are family.  That day in Nanning we were very lucky to gain not only our eldest but also the honour of touching and being touched by each of their lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten years ago, Glenn and I were sitting in the Gotcha Room.  He restlessly set up and adjusted the video camera so it would be just right while I was shaking and crying.  Then we heard them, the cries and baby sounds.  Our children were just outside.  It was torture to wait those few brief moments while the official walked in and gave a speech about how the children would come to love and accept us if we were patient and kind.  It was the nicest kind of torment when the babies began arriving and we got to witness the birth of many other families and then, there she was.  Full head of hair, chubby cheeks and red sweatshirt.  Our Katrine.  Our baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she was in my arms and I was a mom, Glenn a dad, us a family.  Just like that.  What did we do?  Well, snuck off to our little slice of corner and tuned everyone out.  When Glenn held her it made my heart happy.   Katrine was beautiful.  More beautiful that we had ever dreamed and for some reason, we were going to have the honour of parenting her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Gotcha Day since then we have taken photos of us.  Looking back, it is amazing to see just how much she has grown. (We are missing 2012 as that is the year she had scarlet fever, poor mite.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or Year of the Aleigh as it is currently being called by our Elspeth given how much she loves her little sheep.  We had quite the Chinese New Year meal this year.  Really easy in fact because I went to T&T to buy frozen goodies which meant a whole lotta nuking with a little bit of cooking.  The veggies, ants climbing a tree and black bean chicken were from scratch and that is it!!  Dinner was on the table in half an hour and there was enough leftover for dinner last night.  Now that is the way to start the new year.  My gluten free dumplings?  No wrappers to be found this year and the ones I tried to make by hand in the fall….UGH.  That really helped me to take the easy route.

Wishes for good luck and prosperity for you in the Year of the Sheep.

The girls enjoyed the mounds of snow at their grandparents this weekend.  I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Okay, the fact that I am really sore is allowing me to take time off from school prep (my mind just wouldn’t be in it) and I am using it to post some extra random cuteness from yesterday.  Elspeth had a lot of fun in the snow while the driveway was being shovelled and her sister was at a playdate.  She is super proud of her snow castle with it’s snow marker decorations.

It was a double competition weekend so it was busy.

I got to take Elspeth to her club competition.  She was pretty excited but also a bit nervous.  She went in nervous that they would ask her to do something that she wasn’t good at and then came off of the ice absolutely delighted because she could do everything that was asked.  At the end of the afternoon she was doing the happy dance over her mini pile of awards.  She didn’t really care what place she came in only that she got prizes to hand on her bulletin board.  The other highlight for her was getting a small marble maze in her loot bag.  To be a kid again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenn took Katrine to her competition.  She has worked really hard this season learning how to compete with calmness and focus.  She has made great progress in this and we couldn’t be more proud of her.  She also finished the season with some funky make-up thanks to her coach because really, so not my strong point.

Okay, now it is Elspeth’s turn.  Here she is performing with the band at Burns night.  Not bad for a tired 5 year old.

 

This is the link to the video of her solo.  Fingers crossed that it works.

 

It was finally time to buy some new skates for Katrine.  She was really pumped (aside from when she had to stand still for 15 minutes to mold them to her feet).  We had to order the blades and they will take a bit to come in so right now she is just enjoying looking at them.  If I am honest so am I.  I know that once she starts wearing them they will never look so smooth and shiny again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was the first competition of the season that I have managed to go to (as opposed to the first competition).  Katrine looked beautiful and I was very proud.  She came 5th in her flight and landed her highest score of the season.

We were back out to celebrate the birthday of the famous Scottish poet after a hiatus this year.  You see, our wee Elspeth was to drum with her band.  Not to mention the fact that Glenn had a hankering for some haggis.  Off we went to the local Legion.

As you can see, dinner was enjoyed.  Elspeth seems to agree with Glenn that haggis is rather tasty.  Katrine however is on my side which is – YUCK!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once dinner was done Elspeth got ready to play with her band.  By that time it was about 9:15.  Considering that she is usually in bed by 7:30 she did amazingly well.  So well in fact that she made my mom cry because she was so proud.  More important though, Elspeth had fun and finished the show smiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed for some of the dancing and when we got home it took little miss all of ten minutes to fall asleep.  All in all a fun way to celebrate Burns’ birthday.

Boy does Elspeth love her penguins.  As you may recall, back when she was toilet training Elspeth dressed up her penguins in underwear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, her fascination has not ended.  Here are some of the penguin schemanigans she has got into this past week.