Attwood Family

Okay, I have stepped back from the hustle and bustle to catch my breath and get you caught up too.  What have we been up to since the parade?  Well, we saw Moana while Katrine went to Fantastic Beasts with a friend.  Elspeth went climbing once with a friend.  There was also the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe play as the girls had earned tickets at this year’s library read-a-thon.  It was actually quite a good production and we followed it up at a ramen restaurant with friends we hadn’t seen since the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On top of that we have been sick, been busy with the usual holiday events (concerts, rehersals).  We have the trees up and the house decorated.  We also have a yard full of snow that Elspeth has been fully enjoying.  And that is the highlights of December thus far.

 

This year the local parade became a night time event and both girls were able to participate.  Katrine with her school band who won an award and Elsepth with the Brownies.  A bit chilly but a lot of fun.

Making pumpkin pie with dad and other fall fun.

 

 

Here are some photos taken by a proud mom.

I know that the blog has not been updated for a while but now we are back on line so it is time for some updates.  Between back to school and sickness we have been a bit out of sorts.  I also thought that I had completely lost my camera for about a week (with about 345 photos on it) which literally had me in tears until Katrine found it in a place I had checked twice (my hero!). Hopefully that is the end of that and we are moving on to good things in this new month.  Now, what have you missed?

Obviously, there was back to school.  The girls enjoyed their summer but I think that they were both happy to get back to school and see their friends.  September also brought our yearly trip to the apple orchard and the Autumn Moon Festival which meant waaayyy too many moon cakes for the girls.  We also celebrated our nephew, Charles’, birthday with a trip to Medival Times which was lots of fun as well as gluten free for me!!  It also meant the start of Brownies for Elspeth and two months in, she is LOVING it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October started with Markham Fair where a lot of our gluten free goodies placed in the top ten.  Yippeee!  Most importantly the girls had fun doing the baking but come on, when gluten free goes out and kicks some gluteny butt, it is pretty darn exciting.  I also entered this year and brought home a second place for my GF chocolate cake which tasted heavenly but needed better icing.  Of course, Elspeth turned 7 but that is another post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were also lucky to be able to go to the convention center when the special Lego show was in town.  The girls both had a lot of fun and walked out of the building with sore finger from building so much Lego.  It really got Elspeth’s creative juices going and she has been Legoing quite a bit since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from Halloween, that has been our month.  I will say that I am very proud of how the girls dealt with me being so ill for like two weeks.  It messed with the normal routine.  Thank goodness I have been blessed with them and Glenn because it could have been a lot less pleasant.

 

Can you believe it?  7  Wasn’t that a while back?  Well yes but it has been a “fun” month full of a mix of wonderful items and not so fabulous items.  Elspeth’s birthday falls into the wonderful category.

She had a lot of fun at her princess birthday party with her friends.  There were games, crafts and laughter to be had by all.  She also loved her ice cream cake (block of ice creams covered with cream and sprinkles made for a simple yet declicious “cake”).  She had more birthday fun over the Thanksgiving with our extended family before it was her actual birthday.  I think that one of her favourite presents was the new penguin hat and mittens.  Got them just in time for the switch in temperatures.  Happy birthday sweetie!

Okay, I thought it was just another show.  A new thing for the girls to see.  I spent the whole time being amazed and thinking “What would their mothers think?”  I apparently underestimated the appeal of parkour because Elspeth is currently smitten.  Thank goodness she is limiting the tricks to reasonably small stuff.  For instance, she would already climb all over the railings while waiting for Katrine but now she does it “parkour-style”.  Of course I had a bad mom moment capturing it in a picture before sternly telling her to get down but saints preserve me all from a show!

It was back to the CNE this year and this time Elspeth was big enough for the rides!!!

On both of our adoption journies we have been blessed to have traveled with some amazing families.  This past weekend we got to celebrate our 5 year-iversary together.  Good company and happy kids.

I friend of ours recommended that we try a restaurant in Newmarket and we were recently able to.  MMMMMMM.  The burger was delicious and I will definetely be having it again just without the GF bun.  You see, in their effort to avoid as much cross contamination as possible (yeah!) they do not toast their buns.  I really appreciate the attention to detail but as many of you know, an untoasted GF bun is just, well, mlea.  The grilled corn was beyond delicious as were the GF fries and the GF appetizer of potatoe skins.  We will certainly be going on another visit.