Wordless Wednesday - Whale Watching

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Just a few little things I wanted to blog about over the summer but never got around to it...

Our 15-year old international student went home at the end of June. C was quite sad to see her go as she enjoyed having a big sister. When we told C she was going to move into our student's room while we painted her room she asked..."Can I have the desk?". This question surprised us at first but we soon realized why she wanted the desk. We found her "working" (aka creating artwork) at the desk and sipping from a water bottle. She was imitating what she had seen our student do in the room. We enjoyed having a break from hosting during the summer but we are now preparing to host another Irish work placement student. She arrives tomorrow and stays for 8 weeks.

C turned 5 at the beginning of July and her birthday was celebrated with parties for both sides of the family, as well as a little friend party. I was not overly prepared for the friend party as we were on vacation the week prior to the party. We had planned to keep it pretty simple with games, hot dogs, cupcakes and presents. The night before the party I was shopping for a few last minute things when I stumbled across party supplies that were drastically reduced. I was able to purchase activity sheets, hats, cups, cutlery, decorations and favour bag items all in the Strawberry Shortcake theme for a fraction of the cost. What a blessing. The kids had a great time and C was thrilled that her cousin K gave her a littlest pony.

We did not succeed this year at preventing our garden from turning into a jungle. Earlier in the season we had our landscaper friend re-edge all the garden borders. We tried to maintain the edges but this effort exceeded what time allowed us to do. It did not take long for parts of the garden to grow into the trench and our lawn. Perhaps we will be more successful next year otherwise we may remove some of the gardens and plant grass. Our neighbour has already been eyeing up our plants...offering to take them.

C enjoyed her experience at Vacation Bible school this summer. The first day she came home with her face painted and a CD of kids songs. By the end of the week, Awesome God had bumped Freedom (Nicole C. Mullen) from it's position as her favourite song. I downloaded the Rich Mullins version of Awesome God onto my ipod and every car trip we had to listen to it while she sang along. The song ends with string instruments playing and she always yells from the back seat...."That's my favourite part!" C tells us she wants to learn to play the cello.

Wordless Wednesday - Her Baby on a Bike Ride

How Marketing Influences C

"Lucky Charms have grains in them."

"Oh yeah?"

"That means they are healthy and I can eat them!"

Wordless Wednesday - Sunset on the Beach

Shoelaces and Facebook

These two things really have nothing to do with each other…unless you are a 5 year old.

Today is C's first day of senior kindergarten and in preparation for back to school, I retrieved a new pair of running shoes from my "grow into" bin that were her size. These running shoes had real tie-up laces instead of velcro and I had purchased them a couple of years ago in hopes that when it came time for her to wear them, she would be old enough to learn how to tie her own laces. I have a friend with a daughter who learned how to tie shoelaces at age 5, so I knew that it was feasible.

C was excited about the new shoes and that they had real laces, so after supper last night we sat together and I showed her how to tie shoe laces. After about 10 failed attempts, she flopped the shoe down and said "I can't do it! I'll never be able to do it! Maybe you should just get me velcro shoes…". I told her that it takes practice to learn how to tie your own shoes and that I knew she would be able to do it. That even mommy had to practice too when she was a little girl. C asked me how many times I had to practice before I was able to tie my own shoes. Two? Three? Ten? I told her probably around 100. I really don't remember learning to tie my own shoes, but I knew I had to say a large, yet reasonable number to keep her motivated.

I told her that she should practice for 5 more minutes and then we would continue practicing another day. She seemed satisfied with this response and sat back down to try again. A minute later I heard her exclaim "I DID IT! I DID IT!" I looked and sure enough... the shoe laces were tied into a bow on one of the shoes. I was quite surprised and amazed since moments before she had been ready to quit. I told her that she did a GREAT job and that she would have to show daddy when he came home. She immediately jumped up, eyes wide with excitement and said...

"I know! You can put it on Facebook! You can tell everyone that I can tie my own shoelaces! Tell Ruth and Aunt Becky! Please!!! Please put it on Facebook!"

I sat there staring at her. I could not believe what I had just heard. How could my 5 year old have any comprehension about what Facebook was? It's not like I'm on Facebook as much as other people I know. She must be listening and understanding when I am talking to hubby about what I read or saw on Facebook.

Wordless Wednesday - Making Mud

C's Favourite Food

Today is C's first day at her new daycare provider. Last night when my hubby mentioned that she would be going to her new daycare today she immediately protested and burst into tears. "I want to stay home with you guys!" She has enjoyed being home with daddy this summer. We told her that daddy had to go back to work and neither of us would be home...but still she sobbed. After she calmed down enough to be able to listen, I explained to her that she would only be going to the new daycare 3-4 days a week for a few hours after school. She would be able to play with all the new toys and games we had seen there. I then mentioned that this daycare provider sometimes took the kids to the park and bbq'd hot dogs. When she heard the word hot dogs, she sat up in the bed with a big grin and bounced with excitement. "YEAH!" We then finished her prayers and she drifted off to sleep without further protest...with visions of hot dogs dancing in her head.