Back to School - Grade 2

Last week C started Grade 2. She was so excited to be going back to school, and even more excited that a couple of her friends were in her class. I'm not sure if I'm ready for grade 2...she's growing up way too quickly. At least she still wants to hold my hand as we walk to school...even on the playground.

To continue what I started last year, here is my grade 2 school photo. Same ringlets...just a little longer...and it looks like mom did a better job on my bangs (or perhaps I start still better). I'm not sure how long I'll continue this tradition of posting my school photos...it starts to go downhill around grade 5 when I cut all my hair off and started wearing glasses that were half the size of my head.

Missing Daddy

Hubby went away to a conference a couple of weeks ago and was gone for five days. C was quite upset the first night that he left, even hovering over the answering machine to hear his voice on the message he left to tell us he had safely arrived at his destination. When it came time for bed C had a tearful request that melted my heart.

"Can I sleep in one of daddy's shirts?"

"Sure. Go pick out one of his T-shirts from the closet."

"Which shirt does he wear the most?"

"I'm not sure C. Why don't you look and see which one you remember him wearing the most."

"I think it's the sail boat one."

"Alright, wear that one. Why do you want to wear the one that he wears the most?"

"Because then it feels like his arms are around me giving me a hug."

Wordless Wednesday - Toothless

Thanks to my sis for the pic.

Soccer Season I

Back in March hubby said..."I think we should sign C up for soccer. She needs an outlet for all her energy". At first I wasn't keen on the idea as there were practices or games twice a week. But after some thought I realized that it was only for 2 months and it didn't hurt to try it. It would be good to expose her to sports so that she wasn't sports challenged like her mother. I was always picked last for school gym teams and avoided most sport activities like the plague as I have no confidence or skill. The last time I was coaxed to play a sport (family friendly church baseball game), I ended up in emergency getting 3 stitches. I tried to catch hubby's pop fly, but missed and caught it with the side of my head.

It was a good soccer season and I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed watching the games. We were also really impressed with how well C was doing by the end of the season. Every once in a while she would get a burst of energy and on a breakaway would take the ball up the field and try to score a goal. Pretty proud parents we were. We would love for her to play again next year, but we doubt that that will happen as we realize that soccer is not something that overly interests her...we'll see what she says next year. But at least with one season under her belt, she has more sports ability than her mother.

Proverbs 3

"C, God tells us in the Bible that if we follow his commands it will go well with us...and we'll live a long life. Do you want it to go well with you?"

"Yes"

"Do you want to live a long life?"

"Well....I do want to see Grandma..."

Father's Day Coupons

C could not wait to give hubby his Father's Day gift that she made him at school. So Friday after she came home, she requested if she could give the present to him early. She was just too excited to wait. She had made a coupon book in class of things that hubby could "rip a coupon out and ask for". Hubby and I had a good laugh reading them.

This coupon is good for...

...Dad's day out
...make breakfast in bed
...I'll take you out for dinner
...games
...back scratch
...tuck him in at night
...me making lunch
...Tickle party
...bedtime story
...movie and popcorn

It was so cute, because in her mind I'm sure she was thinking that she enjoys these things...so daddy would too.

Quest for Curls

A few weeks ago our church organized a Princess Tea Party for all the daughters of the King. C was very excited about going to the party. We planned to wear matching dresses (thanks to my sister who had made C a dress for Christmas from the material left over from her wedding) and C wanted to have her hair curly for the event. Now C did not get my curly hair...she got hubby's dead straight hair. I didn't think it would be that difficult to curl her hair, but I was so wrong and very glad that we experimented ahead of time.

First I tried to curl C's hair with a curling iron. This has always worked very well for me, but curling curly hair is totally different than trying to curl straight hair. I wrapped her hair around the curling iron and waited a little bit. When I released her hair, there was only a little curve at the very bottom of her hair. I wrapped the hair around the curling iron again and waited longer. This time I got a little more curl...but not a lot. After about 5 minutes, I gave up on the curling iron.


I then tried to curl C's hair using hot rollers. I've never used hot rollers before and didn't really know how to use them. My initial attempt looked pretty pathetic. My second attempt was better as I figured out how the pin worked to keep the roller in place. The hot rollers did give more curl than the curling iron, but the curl quickly fell out.


My sister-in-law told me to try rolling C's hair in foam rollers and have her sleep on them. So I went and purchased foam rollers from the Dollar store and rolled C's wet hair in them. In the morning, C was quite happy with the outcome and I was impressed with how well the foam rollers worked.


The curl stayed in longer, but by mid afternoon it was droopy. I figured if I used more rollers and put less hair in each one, I would be able to get a tighter curl. So the night before the Princess Tea party, I put 30 rollers in C's wet hair.

I thought the curl would fall out of her hair if I took the rollers out too early, so I waited until 45 minutes before we were to leave for the Tea Party to take the rollers out. We both got the shock of our lives as the curl was so tight, her hair sprang up above her ears.

She was NOT impressed and quite upset. I tried to stay calm and reassure her I could fix it (even though I wasn't convinced I could). I tried to pulled some of the curl out by running my fingers though it to separate it. But it was still really tight. So I pinned the sides up so that they didn't fall in her face and hoped the curl in her hair would start relaxing soon. It did and looked great.

The Garden Battle

Here are the gardens in our backyard. Actually, just half of them as there are more gardens along the back of the house and in the front yard. The previous owners planted them all.


You probably think it looks really nice...except maybe the sandbox in the middle. Lets take a closer look.



The weeds and plants are out of control. Every year we battle to keep the weeds out of the garden and the plants out of the lawn...but it looks like this year they have already won. It looks awful and extremely overwhelming. We have avoided using pesticides for the last 3 years thinking we could control weeds without the use of chemicals...but now realize it's impossible unless we plan to spend all our free time in the garden. So this year, we were going to use pesticides to regain control of the yard...but can't because pesticides have been banned in our area. So all I can do now is covet my neighbour's beautiful garden free backyard which also has a really nice deck and shed.


Although the task is daunting, I still love to see the new growth of the wanted plants coming back.


C was a great help in the garden this weekend...digging weeds and pulling out dead growth. I was a little shocked though at what she chose to do when she wasn't helping...cutting worms with a stick, or cutting an ant with the snipers, or poking holes in snail shells because she wanted the slug to come out. After I requested numerous times for her to be nicer to the bugs, she got upset and told me I never let her do stuff like this.

Sharing Jesus

The other day C told me about how she tried to witness to a friend on the school playground. It went something like this...

"I asked L ... Do you go to church? She said ... Sometimes. I said ... cause if you go to church then you are going to come with me to a new earth because this earth will be destroyed by bad people. L started to freak and said ...I CAN'T leave my mom and dad!! I told her...Your mom and dad are coming too! L kept freaking and then told the teacher. The teacher said...Some people go to church and some people don't. It's our job to be nice to each other. That's not true. It's our job to tell other people about Jesus!"

I was then amazed by the question C asked me after her story was done....

"Should I tell my other friend about Jesus?"

She was not going to let the teacher's, or L's, reaction discourage her from telling others. I asked her why she wanted to tell her friends about Jesus. I was curious to know what the motivating force was...or rather how she would explain it. She became emotional and said that they were her best friends and she didn't want to leave them behind.

There are some days where I don't know what to do with my feisty firecracker of a kid...and then there are days like this where I see her boldness funnelled in a good direction. I have to smile as I realize she's getting it...the important it. She might not get it yet that bedtime is not the time to be goofing around...but she understands that people need Jesus.

Wordless Wednesday - Love at First Sight