Fall Family Days

A few weeks ago we went to Brantford for the weekend for a wedding and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary. The kids enjoyed seeing their relatives. We got some great pictures on town square in Brantford as well as Grace with her Great Grandmother Beth.

I'm a big kid now

For some time now Liam has resented ordering off the children's menu in restaurants. So it was with an air of vindication that he pointed out he was too old for the kids menu at Paradiso ( a North Dakota chain of Mexican restaurants) and ordered the chicken caesar salad. He even told the waiter it was really good and he ate the tomatoes. (Usually he remains mute when he's questioned by strangers.) Luke had an after dinner mint for the first time and Grace worked on her straw technique, which she mastered yesterday. That's it from Fargo. No sign of Marg Gunderson.

News Update!

So, it is the middle of May. I won't even check when my last post was but I know it was before Grace could officially walk. She started walking - as a mode of getting around (rather than here and there) about a week after Easter. Just after she turned 14 months and now, she never stops!! I think her feet have finally grown or maybe they've just spread out from the walking. She has delicate, small feet like her Grandma. She can still fit into a size 3 which is about 6-9 month size...though she is almost a 4 now (6-12 month size). When I was shopping for Liam's pioneer outfit at Value Village the other day I came across some size 3 hot pink Mickey Crocs for Grace. She will often take off her runners and bring me her CROCS to put on. Very cute! (And no, I didn't actually find anything for Liam that day...but Grace also got a nice GAP raincoat for the fall - $4.99)

Other stuff...Luke's 7th birthday. Yes, SEVEN!! We had another Webkinz party because Luke wanted what Liam had. Luke's friends were not as into the "Webkinz" part of the party but they still had a great time. Despite a dismal weather forecast and many tears (from Luke) every time he saw the weather report it turned out to be a sunny and hot day! Go figure! Even up until the night before they were forecasting solid rain for the day.

(Great) Grandpa turned 85 on Saturday so we went out to Ancaster for a nice get together with everyone. Dan says that Grandpa appears to have the same energy and life as when he met him almost 21 years ago. It would've been Mema's birthday on that same day so we had some memories of her while we drove home. And today is (Great) Grandma's birthday!

Dan is taking another course - twice a week - and then he is done his Masters of Education which is great. I don't love being a single parent two nights a week but I'm sure this is preferable to him taking a fall course once I'm back at work (I just don't know that I prefer this yet...) One upside is that I've finally learned and remember how to use the latte machine so I can make my lattes when Dan has class...they still taste better when Dan makes them for me ; )

And...Liam is finished choir for the year. He had his big final concert on May 1st. It really was truly wonderful and then his choir did a fun family concert on the 3rd. Luke has also auditioned for the choir. We may be very busy next year! We haven't decided about hockey yet. It really is nice having those weekends free again but the boys need the exercise and it is only for about six months of the year. I know for sure that I am playing hockey again!

That's about it. I am still in perpetual sleep-deprivation mode. Grace wakes normally 2-3 times a night. Plus, I have been staying up way too late working on my ETSY shop, Princess Grace Bowtique.

So far I've had 68 sales in 6 weeks. At first, most of my customers were American but in the last couple of weeks I've had lots of Canadian orders. There is a niche for this in Canada as there aren't as many people selling this kind of quality product at these prices. However, I've had some shocks at the post office when I go to mail an $11 order of bows to Vancouver and it costs over $12...However, people would be pretty scared off at a $12 shipping fee! (this exact same box ships anywhere to the US for $6.94 - sigh). I need to use a box if someone orders lots of bows or they get squished...though now I have been sneaking one or two small bows into an envelope...and hoping they arrive in one piece! ($1.22 versus $10+ in Canada!)

Finally, here are some photos: Liam's pioneer day, Luke's party... and some of our adorable princess. I'll have to get my new FLIP video footage uploaded so you can see her run!

Liam's Birthday Party

Liam had his much anticipated Webkinz party last weekend. He invited three kids from school that were also serious Webkinz fanatics like Luke and himself. We set out the afternoon just like how it would be on Webkinz except there were activities every 15 minutes instead of every hour. We made real-life versions of the online games and the kids had to win games to get Kinzcash to spend at the "W-shop." They were pretty serious about the whole thing!

For the cake, I did my best interpretation of the "Wheel of Wow". I am quite happy to be done with the February birthday month. We celebrated Liam and Grace's birthdays several times each! Now onto the other boys of the family for March: Big Peter (Dad) - today!, Little Peter (19th) and Tim (11th).

One Hundred Days of School

The first Friday of February marked the 100th day of school. As a teacher, this is a great sign that the year is half way done!!

In many primary classes, students count the days of school as a part of their math program. They look at patterns in a hundreds chart and use it to count by twos, fives and tens. They mark every day with a straw (or something similar) and then every ten days they bundle them together to make a group of ten. This is a great way to practice tens and ones. In my classroom, I like to take it one step further by relating it to money. Each day is a penny and then as the days pass, we trade in for nickels, dimes, quarters and finally a loonie on the one hundredth day of school. This way students can see the worth of one dime, for example, is equal to that of ten pennies. Kids are learners...they often think having all those pennies is worth way more than a small dime...simply because there are more of them!

So back to the purpose of this posting...
Liam and Luke both had homework assignments to mark the 100th day of school. Liam had to collect 100 objects and group them in some way. He had a clever idea (with the help of his Mom...to collect 100 items that Grace could choke on! He then grouped them by 5's and labelled according to categories like: money, game pieces, food etc.) Luke had to build a free-standing structure with 100 popsicle sticks. Here are their final products.

GO CANADA GO!

We are enjoying many late nights watching the Olympics in Vancouver. Liam and Luke are really into it this year. Luke's favourite sport is the skeleton and Liam really loves the speed and figure skating.

Last night we watched the Canadian men kick butt against the Russians in hockey and tonight the women will prevail! During the games, Grace and her brothers were playing a little hockey in the living room. Grace was using a mini Toronto Marlies stick. Who says you can't play hockey before you can walk?

Big Girl!

Do you know that jingle "I'm a big kid now!" from some diaper commercial? That is what Luke has been singing to Grace lately.

The other day Grace had her first chocolate chip cookie, ate pizza in the "big girl" chair with her brothers, did a little walking, put on a bow on her doll, read some of her CHIRP magazine and played a little D.S.

Snow

Finally it looks like we'll be having some accumulating snow. The weather has been so dry that I've been able to ride everyday to work. It was really dry this morning, but the flakes started to swirl around at about 2:00 p.m. Liam took these pictures as I walked the boys home from school.

Grace's First Birthday!

This evening we had a small chocolate cake to celebrate Grace's real birthday. She was in bed by 7:30 and I went off to my hockey game. Her birthday party is on Saturday.

I can't believe she is one year old already. What a wonderful year we've had! But where did the time go? Part of me wishes to do it all over again (minus the 14 week recovery pain and a year of sleepless nights) but I also love it as she gets older too...In fact, I've been saying this all along with the boys and I still haven't reached an age I dislike or like less than the previous.

Hanging on the bathroom wall we have a photo of each boy in the bath after eating their first birthday cakes - so here's the one of Grace!

Have I mentioned that Grace is a super fast stair climber? She is really quick on her feet! She also has two new teeth on the top - they are just in so you can't really see them next to the two big ones but they have been affecting her sleep again...

Happy New Year!

I can't believe a decade has past since our Y2K party at our apartment on Yonge Street. Lots of changes have happened: two houses, three kids, two sister-in-laws, a niece and two nephews, my parents moving to Edmonton and a new teaching career are among the highlights.

For New Years, we spent four quiet days up north where there was lots of snow. Grace mastered climbing the stairs and kept saying "No, no, no" to the fireplace! She is also blowing people kisses which is really cute. Grace is saying so many words these days along with cruising along the furniture and trying to open cupboards. I should write her words down before I forget. Some of them are: baby, book, milk, nose, head, hat, clap, Miam (Liam), Mama, Dadda, up, nap, night-night and NO! And her favourite sentence is "No night-night!" Yes, we are still working on that. She did not enjoy sleeping in the Pack and Play at the cottage. In fact, I am pretty sure she cried each and every time, including for naps. Well, I guess we were bound to have one child who is a difficult sleeper. I keep saying one of the reasons we have 3 kids is because Luke was such an angel baby (Liam was sweet too but Luke really was an angel).

Luke is a different kind of angel now and he sure is funny even when he doesn't realize it. On our long journey home from the cottage (snowstorm) Dan pointed out some wild turkeys at the side of the road. Luke exclaimed "Oh, those are the turkeys that survived Thanksgiving!"

Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

Merry Christmas!

Here is the Merry Christmas post I started on Christmas! Merry Belated Christmas - as Luke would say...

The boys were super excited and were spoiled as usual. They got a Wii which was really the only item on their minds the last few months. It seems to be less addictive than the D.S. (so far) and we have played lots of family games: bowling, dancing, cycling, archery, ping pong and Toy Story. In fact, with the boys having to "earn" their Wii time by practicing, doing homework and exercising etc. - they actually seem to do more of that with less of a fuss, which is nice for us.

Grace, of course, knew something was different and exciting and had a great time playing with the wrapping paper and with her new toys. She also enjoyed a full turkey dinner with a Christmas cracker crown and all.

Here are some photos. The first one is of Liam doing his Dance Revolution moves with Dad as Luke (chilling out) and Grace watch. It is just like Guitar Hero but with dance moves. Very fun and a pretty good workout for a -20 day when you don't want to go outside for a walk. The bottom photo is of the kids with the beautiful stockings Aunt Kathy made. Luke is putting on a camera face...pretending he is not excited for Santa to come.

Random photos

1. My brother is so funny...
2. Halloween mail!
3. More mail!
4. I love blueberries!
5. Sleeping on the kitchen floor. H1N1 or a tired Grade 1 boy? (Not H1N1...we got the vaccine...Luke was just worn out with a mild fever on a Friday night)

Outside pictures

We did manage to spend some time outside at the cottage. Here we have pictures of each of the kids with Buck Lake providing a scenic back drop. I've also included a picture of Liam from Thanksgiving 2002. My how he's changed in seven years.