First Snow

O the excitement of the first snow fall. C had to go outside and play in it even though very little had fallen.

Grandpa's Retirement

Last Saturday night, we went to visit my dad. As we sat around the table doing a puzzle, the conversation turned to retirement...

"I don't want grandpa to retire!"

"Why"

"Because he would run out of money."

"No he won't. He'll go live with Aunt B." (my sis has an in law setup that we hint about)

"That's not fair! Aunt B gets all the good people!" (...not sure who the other good people are...)

Under my breath..."She's making my dad's day"

"What does that mean? Grandpa doesn't want to live with Aunt B?"...turning to my dad..."You can live with us. We have a spare room...and it would be a lot less noisy." (my sis has 4 kids)

I couldn't help but notice the smile on my dad's face which warmed my heart...seeing my daughter fill my dad's love tank.

C's Treasure Box

A couple of weeks ago, C was given a treasure box assignment at school. She had to decorate a shoe box, place 5 special-to-her items in the box along with her published autobiography, and then give a 5 minute speech about her box, and its contents, on presentation day.

C and I brainstormed about ideas for decorating the box...paint it, wrap it...but the idea she liked best was to cover the box with pictures of herself. We went through photo albums, and digital pictures to find her favourites. It was an interesting task as she often rejected my favourites because she deemed the photo was too embarrassing to show her class mates. I couldn't convince her that at 18 months, diaper photos are not embarrassing. In the end, I was only able to convince her to allow me to OK any pictures she put of me on the box.

C picked out 6 things to put into the box: T-shirt from Old Navy with the words Break Dance on it (reminds her of her favourite hip hop band Manafest); her very first Webkinz; a picture of Georgina, her guinea pig; her softball medal; her Build-a-Bear (named after our last Irish homestay); and her lullaby (which we have to wind up every night when we tuck her in).

I think the best part of the project was her published autobiography.

Hi, my name is C. I live in Ontario. I live with my mom and dad. I also have a pet guinea pig. My dad's name is G. He was born and raised in S-town. My mom's name is Cheri. She was born and raised in B-town.

I like a lot of colours. They are pink, blue and lime green. I like to make crafts for my friends and other things too. My favourite holidays are Christmas and Easter. I like my birthday too. My birthday is July 5th.

My family likes to do stuff together. We like to watch movies and my mom reads me bedtime stories. We also have a Bible time. We like to go to my grandma and grandpa's trailer.

My family is special because my parents know what is best for me.

I read it and then had to ask her if she really wrote the last line as I wondered if it had been prompted by the teacher...but no, that was her idea. I think I might have to frame it.

Thanksgiving at the Family Zoo

Family gatherings on my side usually seem like a visit to the zoo. I have 3 siblings and between the 4 of us, there are 10 kids. The oldest is 9 and the youngest 3. Seven girls and 3 boys...and all of them have lots of energy.

The minute we arrive at any family event, my sisters 4 kids race from the house squealing "C is here, C is here!" and surround her with a giggling group hug. It's not always well received (sometimes she locks herself in the car), but it always makes me smile to see it happen EVERY time.

The kids don't always get along as the older ones have to work out who's the boss, but it's always interesting to see and hear them play.

This year I asked my sister in law (who I think is a pretty good photographer) if she'd be willing to take some family photos of Hubby, C and I. We have very few family photos and I thought it would be fun to get some outdoor shots. Fun...it was more like crazy. Some of the other kids came along too and having just had dessert...they were pretty pumped full of sugar...including C. My sister in law still managed to get some good photos including one of my favourites below which really captures C's personality.


After the annual group family shot, my dad got a ladder and climbed the tree in the backyard. The girls then climbed the tree too to get some unique pictures with grandpa. I wonder how many of the neighbours were watching and wondering if we were crazy. We can be...

My sister shared with us how her 3 year old kept putting his fingers in her home made pumpkin pies that were meant for other people. So, as soon as she left the kitchen my dad turned to me and said..."You should put your finger in her pies." That was all the arm twisting I needed.

I Won Coffee

Back in June I won a cool Gevalia coffee lovin' gift pack over at Crumbs in the Minivan. The gift pack included two boxes of Gevalia coffee (one was decafe), 2 coffee mugs, a travel mug, a stainless steel scoop, filters and cleaner. Yeah! I love coffee and could not wait for it to arrive in the mail. Unfortunately I had to wait a little longer because the first package never arrived (I wonder if the postal workers enjoyed it). Gevalia mailed another package which arrived mid September and I have to say the wait was worth it. The coffee was amazing...very smooth...probably the best coffee I have tasted. It was so good that Hubby looked at the grinds in the coffee maker and said..."I wonder what the coffee would taste like if I ran water through the coffee maker again." He wanted to make the grinds last as long as possible.

The Newest Member of the Family

We caved and got a pet...a guinea pig named Georgina.


C loves animals and has been pleading with us for a few years now to get a pet. I know her first choice would probably have been either a cat, dog or horse, but hubby and I felt we would start small and let her have a guinea pig. Neither of us are pet people and would be quite happy to never have one, but we see the deep desire and love our daughter has for animals and felt we needed to fill it.

One of the first things that C wanted to purchase for Georgina was a leash. Her cousin has a leash for her rabbits, and C wanted one too. We went to 3 stores to find the identical leash, and spent about 20 minutes getting the harness on Georgina only to discover that guinea pigs are not really walkable.


C tried to coax her with food...or tug on the leash, but Georgina was not going to move. People would walk by and say..."Such a small dog"..."or I didn't know you could walk guinea pigs". Eventually C accepted that the only way Georgina was going to make it around the block was if she was carried.

C loves to wrap her up and carry her around the house or let her sit in her lap while watching TV. We really hoped that the guinea pig would fill her desire for a pet, but she is already asking for a dog. If only the guinea pig would walk around the block on a leash.

Back to School - Grade 3

Yesterday was C's first day of grade 3. She was so excited to find out she was in a portable and that some of her friends were in her class. I'm sure the portable novelty will wear off once the colder weather is here and she has to go outside just to get to the washroom or library.

As we walked to school she wanted to hold my hand but when we got on the playground...she let go. Then she grabbed it again for a few seconds and let go again. It was like there was this internal dilemma being played out in her mind...she wanted to hold my hand but wanted to look mature also.

C wanted to look pretty on her first day and asked me the night before to put her hair in rollers. She created an outfit from her favourite pieces and presented it to me about 20 minutes before we were to leave for school...brown leopard print skirt, flowered top, socks and her new black Barbie runners.

I tried to convince her that her skirt and top would not go...but she argued saying that all the colours matched. Normally I would just let her wear it...not a battle I need to win...but on the first day I wanted to take pictures and the photographer in me did not want a clashing outfit. I knew the only way to win was to present her with a new favourite skirt that would match her top....and I had just the item in my bought-ahead clothes bin...an orange skort. I also told her she could wear her good sandals for the first day...which she gladly traded her running shoes in for since the good shoes had little heels on them.


Then there was the second day of school....the first day of many days to come where I don't say anything. She put together a new shirt with black ratty pants that are way too short. She thought it was OK if her socks made up the rest of the distance. When I asked her if she really wanted to wear those pants (in a tone that suggested I didn't approve) she responded with "Yes...and it's not about what other people think." I hate when they give you a taste of your own medicine.
In keeping with my trend from previous years (grade 1, grade 2), here is my grade 3 picture. Grade 3 was the last year for my trade mark ringlet pig tails. I cut my hair short in grade 4...and even shorter in grade 5. I asked C what she thought of my grade 4/5 pictures....she said "Ahh...you look OK...but you look a lot better now." I'd have to agree...I look at those pictures and wonder "Why did I do that?".

New Camera

I got a new camera...a Canon Rebel XSi.

This is my first time shooting with a DSLR and I love it. My previous digital camera was a little Kodak EasyShare point and shoot that has done me well for over 5 years...but it was time for an upgrade.

I spent a long time deciding on which camera I wanted to buy. Nikon or Canon? A higher end Point and Shoot or SLR? Video? What model? I read review after review, and asked people lots of questions (so many I'm sure some were tired of me asking). I've never spent more than $200 on a camera and I wanted to make sure I made the right decision for me. In the end, I went with my heart's desire...an SLR...and a Canon. Nikon has a superior warranty compared to Canon, but in the reviews I'd read and photo comparisons I'd seen, Canon had better image clarity. (I can already hear protests from all the die hard Nikon users...but that's ok, we can have different opinions and still be blog friends...right?)

C has been looking forward to the day I purchased a new camera so that she could claim my old camera. I purchased my new camera just before leaving on our 18 day vacation out west (stories to come soon), so C was able to use the old camera on our vacation. It was pretty entertaining to see what she chose to take pictures of....close up of toys, candid photos of me (need to be promptly deleted), dogs (whether on magazines or lease when the owners aren't looking). Our plans are to eventually print and frame some of her better pictures and hang them in her room.

Conquering the Jungle

The previous owner of our home was an avid gardener...we are not. We had no clue when we purchased our home the amount of effort and time it would require to maintain the gardens. We put little energy into them in the first couple of years, so it didn't take long for the backyard to turn into a jungle.


Weeds and plants were growing into the lawn, the Black Eyed Susans were crowding out all the other plants, and we discovered that we had a few rather large ant nests in the garden.

This is our rock garden, except you can't see it because of all the weeds.

After 5 years of letting the gardens go wild, I'd had enough. I was determined this year to get them under control. I spent hours and hours digging out all the weeds and unwanted plants from the gardens around the perimeter of the yard. Then we laid down 7 yards of mulch.

We are done for now, but not finished. We plan to rip out the middle garden and re-sod. We would like more grass area for kids to run around in. The rock garden needs a little more attention...we might actually take it out completely and put a shed there.

One of my goals this year too was to plant a vegetable garden. So I ripped everything out along the left side of the yard and planted corn, zucchini, peas and lettuce. Everything is growing really well...except the lettuce did not sprout at all.

I'm quite pleased with how the yard looks and I love looking out the window at it or checking in on the vegetable garden. I used to hate every second I was out in the garden, but now I enjoy it as I see the fruit of my labour. Next year we hope to take on the front yard where an evil plant we tried to dig out of the garden has decided to grow in the lawn instead and is creeping closer to our neighbours perfectly manicured/weedless lawn.

C's Softball Season

Back in the winter, C requested that we sign her up for baseball. She had been reading the junior Nancy Drew books and discovered that Nancy Drew played baseball, so she wanted to also. I was a little hesitant as soccer last year wasn't a big hit. But she was adamant that she wanted to play baseball, so we signed her up for a girls minor softball team.


C has never played baseball before, so we were quite thrilled when after a few team practices...she hit her first ball and made it to first base. C liked softball because of the variety (catching, batting, running bases) it offered compared to soccer...and she improved each week.

Partway through the season she had an amazing game...playing first base she got 2 players out, and then playing the pitcher position, she caught a line drive off the bat. She didn't mean to catch it...she was standing in the ready position and the ball slammed into her mitt...she didn't more her arm or drop the ball. She then threw to first (which I didn't see because my jaw was still on the ground) and got the player at first out. Four outs in one game...who's kid is this? Funny thing is, it was this game that she finally started to understand the game as she said to me..."I didn't know you could get people out. I thought it was just a bunch of standing around. I want to do that again."


And then...the very next game she got hit hard in the cheek with the ball. It was all I could do to get her back out on the field. And if that wasn't enough...she kept getting hit at the following practices. She was now very nervous of the ball...no longer wanted to play bases, catch balls in the air...or get anywhere near the girl who accidentally drilled her with the first ball.

As a parent, it was very frustrating to sit and watch the downward spiral...to see little to no effort put into the game...to listen to her say how she disliked baseball so much and couldn't wait for it to be over...to hear the coach say that she thought C was just batting to get out.

It was time for a talk.

We sat down with C and explained to her how we understood that she didn't want to play baseball next year, but she needed to fulfill her commitment this year and not let her team down. We couldn't go out and celebrate a successful season if she refused to participate on the team. We also gave her a little example of what it would look like if other kids were letting her down and how would that make her feel?


C seemed to understand...and made a great comeback...even the coaches were surprised. Part of it could be the "incentive" I implemented for the last week of practices and tournament games...gumballs for getting on first, bottle cap candy when you cross home plate, and gum to chew on the way home if you've participated well. Some people would call it a bribe, but I call it an incentive...I knew she was really nervous of being hit and I was hoping the candy fun would help her to push past her fear of the ball. And it did work...by the last few games, she was back to trying to catch the ball in the air as opposed to only wanting to catch grounders.

C had a couple of really great moments in the end of season tournament too. Playing catcher, she caught a foul ball to get the batter out. I asked her if she had planned to catch the ball, she said..."Not really, I just put my glove out and it dropped in". Then in the semi-finals, she was up to bat with the bases loaded and 2 outs. It was a tie game and the bottom of the last inning. She made the hit that got the winning run home.


C's team won second place in the end of season tournament. She loves her medal and thinks 2nd place is pretty good since she "only got 4th place in soccer last year and 2nd is better than 4th."


Will C do softball next year? She has said "maybe". I'm kind of hoping she does.