Happy birthday-and-a-quarter, Button!

This post is only three months out of date, as Button celebrated his birthday at the end of May. But we were travelling on a birthday surprise trip at the time, and I hadn’t gotten the post ready in advance. Then once we got back, end-of-school-year busyness took over, and holiday preparations… so there you go.

In the past two years Button has grown (now over 4’2”/125cm tall!), developed, matured (still a ways to go…) and been lots of fun.



The birthday surprise went like this: I walked the kids to school in the morning. I had already written a note for their teacher that someone would pick them up to come home. That someone was me!!! The note to the teachers had specified that we were heading off for a trip to Stratford to see Peter Pan and Kiss Me Kate, so the children would miss two days of school, but that it was a SURPRISE so not to say a word to either of them about it.

When I showed up at 2:30 the kids were both very surprised to see me. Button’s teacher wished them a “good weekend” which they found surprising as it was only the middle of the week, but she covered it up by saying “Well, I won’t be seeing your Mom before the weekend.” Once we got into the car I told them we were heading off on a trip!! We stopped at home just long enough to drop off their backpacks and load some food from the fridge and then we hit the road!!

It’s a long drive, and after a mere 200km I was tired and getting sleepy, as I’d gone to bed late the night before. But a bite of supper, a cup of tea, and an iced cap from Timmy’s revived me and off we set again. We stopped for the night in Toronto and stayed with a family we’d met last November when they spent a few nights with us. The next morning we took off by nine and made the rest of the journey without stopping. Our Stratford accommodation was provided by a family on an acreage outside the town – their property was lovely, complete with pond, forest, lawns, dog, cat and rabbits.

Our friend Chuckles met us there and we traveled together to see Peter Pan that afternoon. The impetus for the trip was that the Festival was offering free tickets to Peter Pan on a child’s birthday – so Button benefitted from that (as did my pocketbook). The production was excellent and we all enjoyed the acting, staging, and story. After the play we headed off to a local pizza joint for a birthday supper, complete with cake and singing.

Friday was a free day – we spent most of the day just enjoying the acreage, but headed into town in the late afternoon to do some shopping, watch the swans and geese (we saw goslings and a mama swan sitting on her next), and have a bite of supper – which mostly consisted of a huge ice cream cone for each of us!

Saturday morning we went to the neighbouring town for the Mennonite Relief Sale. This is a huge event where quilts and other items are auctioned off to help raise funds for relief and development work overseas. There are also numerous food booths, which were the main beneficiary of my funds. I gave the kids their allowances to spend there: Mustang found a nice necklace while Button purchased a lovely small pouch from Nepal. We met Chuckles there and took off after lunch for our second show, Kiss Me Kate. This one was more complex and I’m sure the kids had a bit of trouble following the storyline, but it was still fun.

On Sunday we took of fairly early for the long drive home. Chuckles was with us so she took a spell driving. We stopped twice – once for a stretch and once for lunch – and arrived home a bit before 5pm. It was a good trip all around!

Double-digit kid!

Happy birthday Mustang!

We celebrated her TENTH birthday today! Can you believe it? My girl is 10!!!!!!!

She woke up before the alarm rang this morning, eager to head downstairs and see the two little presents I said I’d set out at breakfast (for both her and Button, whose birthday comes in a mere six days…). She climbed into bed beside me until the radio came on and I said she could wake her brother and go check out the prezzies: one from me (a Littlest Pet Shop critter) and one from Lovely (a ball thrower with some balls).

Nanny had baked cupcakes yesterday, at my request, so I drove the kids to school so we could carry the two huge containers into the classroom easily. Today was Jump Rope for Heart day at their school, so they had that as well as cupcakes (in Mustang’s classroom) to look forward to.

Our friend Giggles said she’d come over this evening after supper and bring Mustang her present, so there’s that to look forward to. We won’t do anything much else special, as Lovely has her training session tonight from 8-9.

Tomorrow will be the big party day – each kid invited three friends and I’ve spent the past week getting things organized. (Didn’t really start thinking of what to do until Monday, so it’s come together in short order!) It’s a joint Littlest Pet Shop-Pokemon themed party. Having a theme always helps! Kids have been helpful in getting things organized – and I decided to purchase a cake – though not the fancy custom-decorated one, just a regular $10 Happy Birthday variety.

Mustang at 7

Mustang at 8

Mustang at 9

and Mustang at 10!!!

Nanny's birthday

Our Nanny celebrated her birthday on Monday, April 26th. The day before the kids and I baked a chocolate layer cake – from scratch! They bought her a Webkinz for her birthday present. (I just gave her a bonus.) Mondays she stays with us for supper as Button has music after and she either takes him while I stay home with Mustang or vice versa. So we had a nice supper together and then brought out the cake! She was impressed that we’d made it from scratch!!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

It has long been a tradition in my family to leave our Christmas tree and decorations up until 7 January, which is my birthday. Now we have an added reason to do so: 7 January is also Ethiopian Christmas!

This year I decided to add another “layer” to the celebrations. Similarly to how we have preceded Christmas Day with the celebration of Advent, we are succeeding it by celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas, leading up to Epiphany or Three Kings Day on 6 January.

There are two ways of counting the “Twelve Days.” The first is to make Christmas Day the first day, with the twelfth day falling on 5 January (Twelfth Night), the eve of Epiphany. The second begins counting on the evening of 25 December with the “first day” continuing until the afternoon of the 26th, so the twelfth day begins on the evening of 5 January and continues through the afternoon of the sixth.

What we’re doing is closest to the second tradition: since there are twelve days between western Christmas and Ethiopian Christmas (my birthday), we are starting to count on 26 December and the twelfth day falls on 6 January: Epiphany/ Ethiopian Christmas Eve. We then have a final celebration on 7 January (Ethiopian Christmas/ my birthday) and then the celebrations are finally over.

This provides a bit of an extension to the season, which helps to avoid the big post-Christmas-Day-letdown, provides a bit of a gentle wind-down to Christmas, and means you don’t have to do “everything” on Christmas Day. If there’s something celebratory you want to do, it can happen during the following twelve days.

What I’ve instituted this year, to help “guide” the celebration, is a “Twelve Days” calendar, similar to the Advent calendar. This one is composed of twelve small bags I sewed to a long banner. A small surprise or clue leading to a surprise is contained in each bag, and one bag is opened each day.

Again, to minimize the amount of “stuff,” most of the surprises related to activities or events rather than more gifts. This year we hosted a tea party on Sunday 4 January, so at least half of the surprises related to preparations for the tea party: the first day we prepared invitations and mailed them out; one day we made decorations; on three days we baked treats (tarts, Rice Krispie squares, and scones) and then one day’s “surprise” was, of course, hosting the tea party!

Laolao also told us about the Mexican tradition, one they experienced while wintering in Oaxaca a couple of winters, of baking a King’s Cake with a coin in it, and whoever gets the piece of cake with the coin has to bring the cake to the next party! I managed to find time to do that, too.

The remaining days’ surprises have related to celebrating Button’s Family Day (another reason to extend the season!) and New Year’s (a “scavenger hunt” to treats for a late-night New Year’s Eve movie-watching evening), and, on the first day back to school, they each received a little gift.

We invited about eight friends to our Tea Party and spent the time chatting and playing games by the fireside and Christmas tree. It was a lovely last-day-before-school afternoon!

Button's Family Day!!!

December 31, 2007, was the day Button joined our family. It has been a year filled with learning, laughter, and love. From not wanting to spend much time with me he has turned into a little boy who loves his Mommy very much, likes to hug and snuggle me, and wants Mommy to be around as much as possible.

Button then:

... and now...

We celebrated on Monday night (the last night Laolao and Laoye were with us) but going out for Chinese food.


Yep, Chinese. We’ve had Ethiopian a few times recently and Laoye didn’t want to eat injera again (tsk, tsk, Laoye!). But it’s been some time since we’ve gone out for Chinese, and Button likes it, too, so that’s where we went. We discovered that our favourite Chinese restaurant is closed on Mondays (I think we’ve discovered that before, but it doesn’t seem to stick!) so we went across the street to a Vietnamese fusion restaurant and very much enjoyed it. Then drove downtown, parked, and walked around to see the Christmas lights.




Here is a bit of a look back. I started writing the following lists in January 2008. I had originally meant it to be a post on the first two weeks. Then three. Then four. Then one month back in Canada (Feb 16, 2008). Then two months. Then three… Well, here it is, one year later… Two kids keep you busy!

A little bit of the “Me-me” game, for the three of us.

Button (since he’s the newest)

1. His favourite colour is yellow. Pink, red, and orange are close seconds.
2. He is stubborn.
3. He has perseverance - sometimes. When learning to skate (Jan 2008), he didn’t let the falling stop him. He would get up again and again and again and keep doggedly trying. He saw the other boys - some about his own age - skating effortlessly, handling their sticks and shooting the puck, and he wanted to do it to. Our friends gave him a little stick and he would shoot his own puck, shuffle across the ice to it, and shoot it again. He found his balance fairly easily (using his sister’s out-grown pink figure skates) but has yet to figure out the push and glide part. But when we tried him with some friends’ out-grown hockey skates, he didn’t like them – harder to balance on.
4. He knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to say it. Okay. But when he doesn’t get his own way, he tends to sulk. Or scream. [Dec 2008: The screaming is now rare. The sulking has improved a lot, too.]
5. He is very into things with buttons, switches, dials, knobs… He has to press them, turn them, click them… He wants to figure out how things work – and generally can, fairly quickly (as long as the machine being operated is not so complex as to be beyond his cognitive capacity as a four-year-old!). Yesterday in the car, I drew his attention to the windshield wipers and fluid on the back window. His question: “Ma, window wash, which one button? (i.e. which button do you press to clean the window?)
6. He is half vegetarian. Or at least not a fan of most kinds of meat. But a great lover of fruit and most vegetables, dry cereals, potatoes, rice and noodles. Oh, and injera. He will call pancakes injera, though they’re not quite the same!
7. He has an Ethiopian accent. (For now.) We noticed, when there, that people usually would add an extra vowel between certain consonant groups, and before the plural s after a consonant at the end of a word. So “six” is pronounced “sickis” and “chips” would be “chipis.” He also pronounces “this” and “that” as “zis” and ‘zatSeeing as his first English teaches were fellow Ethiopians, it makes sense, but he’ll have to unlearn that! I took him to McDonalds one day for lunch. He’d already been with Laolao and Laoye, and he asked me for “chiss.” I took this to mean “cheese,” so I asked him “cheeseburger?” and he said yes. Given #6 above, I couldn’t really see him eating a cheeseburger, so I ordered French fries, chicken nuggets, and apple slices, despite his saying “chicken yucky, French fries yucky.” When he saw the fries, he said “yum, chiss!” Oh, you mean “chips!” So we spent a few minutes practicing the word “chips.” I have also had him practice “coat” and “cat” which sounded very similar when he said them. And we’re working on the proper “th” sounds for “this,” “that” and “mouth” (rather than “zis,” “zat” and “mouse”). His latest phrase, picked up from his sister and practiced extensively a few days ago: “What the heck!” [Dec ’08: His speech is, of course, much, much improved. Gone is the extra vowel as in “chipis” and “sickis.” But he still does tend to miss the “th” sometimes, though it’s now usually “dis” and “dat.”]
8. He loves cars, trucks, airplanes, and any kind of toy vehicle. And he can really kick a ball!
9. He also wants to play with his sister’s My Little Ponies. But she says they’re “mine!” and he is not to touch, so she’s had me put them in inaccessible locations where he can’t get at them. When he got a new big truck on Friday, he had me do the same with it. Hmmm, how can we get over the “mine, mine” syndrome? [Dec ’08: The My Little Ponies came out of hiding a few months ago, and there isn’t too too much of the “mine” – on either side. Thank goodness!]
10. He can recite the alphabet and count fairly accurately from 1 to 20. But present him with a letter or number in isolation and he can’t always recognize it. Though he does know M (his letter), T (his sister’s), R (mine), as well as A, B and C, and he’s learned S (for snake). Like many kids, he hasn’t yet figured out the difference between M and W. [Dec ’08: Significant improvement here. He knows all the letters, pretty much, and numbers, too, though generally skips 15 when counting from 1 to 20! He can write most letters, though some are not as neat as others, and can do simple math. His kindergarten teacher says he’ll be ready for Grade 1 for sure. I think he’s generally more academically inclined than Mustang.]

Mustang

1. Her favourite colours are purple, blue, and pink. Followed by white and red. Oh, and yellow, green and orange.
2. She is stubborn.
3. She is creative. She likes drawing, colouring, painting, and most anything artsy. (When reading through the Grade 1 curriculum documents last year, I thought the only subjects she was likely to get an A in were the arts. I was right.) She’s come up with some very interesting Lego creations – yesterday she built a “model” of my office building, complete with tall tower, park benches, flower garden, and pathways. She’s built lots of little Lego animals. On the beach, she’s a paragon of sand-castle building industry.
4. She likes to be in control. More than she is capable of being, as a 7-year-old. The end result is often a loss of temper. (Hers, mine, or both.) [Dec ’08: Some progress here, thank goodness.]
5. She LOVES horses. She has a half dozen horse stuffies, about 50 or 60 plastic horses of varying sizes, multiple horse books, horse pictures. All that’s lacking is the real thing. A friend did take her for a pony ride once, and she was in seventh heaven. Last year she attended the rodeo in western Canada with Laolao and Laoye, and they were camped right next to the horse pasture. She would go over and feed the horses (grasses she picked) as often as she could. Last summer, Laolao found a set of matched mother and baby horses at Value Village. She had to read one book to earn a mother and baby. She tore through the books like nobody’s business, she wanted those little horses so bad! She now keeps them in a little music box decorated with horses, given to her by an observant friend for her 7th birthday. [Dec ’08: In spring she started Horsemanship lessons and did a second round in fall. This involves learning about tack, grooming the horses, and learning to saddle and bridle a horse. In Nov-Dec she did a first round of horse riding lessons and very much enjoyed it. We’ll take a break over winter and she’ll start again in spring.]
6. She loves animals of all kinds. At the library, in addition to the usual storybooks, she likes to take out books about different kinds of animals and have me read them to her. She knows the names of many different breeds of dogs and their characteristics, different kinds of horses and what they do. She is an expert butterfly catcher, and last summer caught a dragonfly and a praying mantis. She has caught multiple frogs, and found a rabbit nest (with eight very young baby bunnies) in a neighbour’s yard last spring. When she grows up, she wants to be a Wild Girl in western Canada and help look after hurt animals.
7. She has an excellent memory for things that interest her. She remembers the details about the animal books we’ve read, places she’s been and things she’s seen.
8. She has a keen interest in the natural world. Animals in particular, but also bugs, plants, flowers, and more recently planets, stars and space. I try to feed this interest and keep alive her love of learning.
9. She is NOT into academics. The “core subjects” – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic – are not her forte. Where she does much better is in the “applied” subjects – social studies, science, health, gym, and of course the arts. (I call them “applied” because that’s where the core skills are applied in a way that results in learning things of substance.) Of course, in order to continue to make progress in the “applied” subjects she will need to attain a certain mastery of the core subjects. I just hope that school doesn’t kill her love of learning before she gets there. [Dec ’08: She has made great strides in reading. Still stumbles and requires assistance; still somewhat below expected grade level, but much, much better. She read 26 chapter books over the summer!!! (with Mommy’s assistance and pushing) and has continued with more in the fall. Now we need to work more on math, too.]
10. She loves stories. When we’re in the car travelling somewhere or sitting at the dinner table starting dessert, her opening line often is “Mommy, tell me a story.” She then proceeds to tell me which characters should be in it (usually animals), how they should interact, and the main plotline. I am to furnish the details, the drama, and the descriptive language. As the story progresses, she furnishes further plot. But I have to retell what she’s told me to say, preferably adding description and drama - if I simply take what she’s said as part of the story and try to move on, she will often get upset. To date, the most common story theme has been animals meeting, mating, and producing babies. (It is of little import whether this involves two dogs or, say, a cat and an elephant…) I sometimes try to get her to tell me a story but she usually resists. Though I’ve had some success at doing a rotating story (i.e. we take turns adding a sentence). But she can tell a pretty good story herself. On Christmas Eve (2007), we has Christmas story time. I read the Bible account from Mark 2, Laolao read an Ethiopian Christmas story, and Mustang told the Biblical Christmas story in great detail and with expression (and without any prompting), all the way from the angel’s announcement to Mary to the family’s flight to Egypt.

Mama

1. My favourite colour is green. Followed by orange and yellow. The more smashing, the better.
2. I am stubborn.
3. Language and writing are my things. (In case you hadn’t noticed, all you eye-candy-hungry blog readers out there…) I have had several short stories and some poems published in various Canadian literary magazines. But nothing in the last ten years or so. Got too busy at work, and lately with adoptions and parenting. This skill has, however, proven useful in responding to Giggles’ story requests, though my strength is in story-writing not telling. Given her penchant for ordering the story and the single-theme focus, the story-telling results are not stellar literary accomplishments. In three years of story-telling, I have come up with two stories that I have thought could actually be good ones if written down. But I didn’t do so. One (about cats, aliens, and rubber bands) I might be able to recreate, the other (about camels, a crocodile, and an oasis) is so far past it’s mostly lost in the depths of memory. You will note that neither story involves meeting, mating, and producing babies. I think she gave me more free reign with these two…
4. I enjoy photography and in my early teens even toyed with the idea of becoming a photographer. (Something you eye-candy-hungry blog readers may find hard to believe!!! But the shortage of photos has more to do with the fact I still use ancient technology that require filling a film and taking it to a store for processing, and the fact that we spent a month in Ethiopia, where they gave me a CD with upside-down photos on it, than anything else.) I have produced a few decent photos in my time, and still enjoy trying to get an artistic shot. Though most of the photography these days is to record the lives, antics and accomplishments of two little munchkins. [Dec ’08: As you have seen recently, the newly acquired digital camera has resulted in a great proliferation of eye-candy. Hope you like some of my attempts at artistic shots, too.]
5. I have generally thought I had a great deal of patience with people (if not with things). Life with two munchkins is testing that. I find I have less patience than I thought I did (though still a pretty reasonable amount, I hope) and get angry faster than I thought I did. But the big thing – and it is the BIG thing – is controlling one’s anger, not doing anything rash, and NOT staying angry. At one of the adoption parenting seminars I attended, the mantra the speaker gave us was “Stay connected to your child.” That has stuck in my mind and it is my touchstone. I am still building connections to Button, but Mustang and I are well connected and any occasions where temper arises end quickly and with hugs and kisses. [Dec ’08: I still find it somewhat easier to connect to Mustang, likely because Button tends to shut down when upset, whereas Mustang is a talker. But the Button connections are real and continuing to deepen.]
   
   [The following points were added in Dec ’08, as this is the point where I ran out of steam last winter.]
6. I love to travel. I wish I didn’t have to work but could take my kids all over the place – Canada, the world! Our western vacation was a testament to that. Next summer will be more local holidays, since I hope to take them to China in 2010.
7. I have rheumatoid arthritis. It is in many ways not a huge factor in parenting, though in others it is. I don’t participate in athletics, so my kids take skating and skiing lessons rather than have me teach them. When we go sledding I stand and watch and cheer them on. I don’t even ride bike – I used to, but my knees don’t bend enough (haven’t for the past 25 years) so I count on friends to take the kids for bike rides. Mustang, when we’re out walking on icy streets or on forest paths, is very good at taking care of her Mommy and giving me a hand.
8. I have no siblings, so – since they don’t have a dad – my kids don’t have any aunts, uncles, or cousins. I’m trying to give my kids a sense of the larger extended family (seeing as I have about 25 uncles and aunts and close to 40 cousins) but it’s hard for them to really get to know the family since we live so far away and rarely see them. Members of our church have become our extended family.
9. I’m very organized and a bit of a neat-freak. Not clean – things can get dirty and it doesn’t bother me – but I like things neat. (Button is fairly tidy and organized by nature, too, though not Mustang, at least not regularly. Her teachers say she keeps her desk tidy and well-organized. Huh? Is that my kid you’re talking about?!!?)
10. I love being a mom.

One month until Christmas

… and when we woke up this morning, a winter wonderland awaited us outside our doors, with a good 10 cm of snow blanketing the ground. (If I had a digital camera yet, I’d show you what it looks like…)

Mustang and Button are getting hepped up for the holidays. I took them shopping for each other’s Christmas present on Saturday – on my own! Not easy when they’re each looking for things and trying to hide them from the other. They shopped in different aisles of the store and once a selection had been made, we hid it in the shopping cart under their coat. Then at the checkout the one whose present was being paid for had to turn away and close his or her eyes… An observant fellow shopper, in line behind us, pointed out to the cashier that she should double-bag the items if they were to be hidden, as the bags were rather see-through.

Then on Sunday afternoon I did some shopping sans kids. When I returned home, I found a good half-dozen Christmas bags filled with prezzies hidden under the sewing table in the croft – prezzies for the stuffies, that is…

I have four days left to finish the first round of Christmas sewing projects. That’s because this year, instead of having a whole mountain of prezzies (I try to limit it, but it always seems to end up as a mountain) on Christmas day, we’re going to split things up into smaller, manageable quantities and give one or two (max three!!) prezzies each Sunday of Advent. Christmas day we will find the Christmas stockings and that’s it. Rather than presents, the focus of Christmas day will (I hope) shift to Christ’s birth and the fellowship of friends and family.

Happy Birthday, Laoye!

No, Laoye didn’t have eye surgery today. But it is his birthday!! Happy 73^rd, Laoye!

I was given firm instructions that there was to be no birthday party. Well, except for a family celebration. (Why would I plan a party? He’s only 73 – you need a significant year to rate a party!! Maybe in two years’ time I can catch him off guard…)

The picture is from our trip west this summer. Laoye had a wrinkled retina and the beginnings of a cataract. Both were fixed and he’s seeing fine again.

Advent Calendar activities

I, like many people, have an Advent calendar for the kids. Ours was made by Laolao and features a small pocket for a small surprise to be opened each day from December 1st to 24th.

I’ve always felt an Advent calendar should start on the first Sunday of Advent. I suppose that would get complicated, as the number of Advent days would vary from 22 – if Christmas falls on a Monday – to 28 – if Christmas falls on a Sunday. This year the December 1st-24th convention is not far off, as the first Sunday of Advent falls on November 30th. But one of these years I may make my own calendar that takes into account the varying number of Advent days.

Finding 24 small surprises or gifts can get both complicated (to think of that many different things!) and expensive. But the surprise doesn’t always have to be a purchased gift. Last year, Grace posted a number of ideas for incorporating seasonal actvities as the surprises in an Advent calendar (and other ideas for non-purchased gifts). I was already thinking along similar lines and used some of her suggestions last year. This year I’ve done the same, and added some activities we like to do.

So my list this year includes things like:

• draw pictures and wrap gifts for our three overseas sponsored children (Ethiopia, China, Indonesia);
• make Christmas gift tags using cardstock and stickers;
• get our Christmas tree (we always go to a local tree farm to enjoy the fresh air, a horse (or tractor) & buggy ride, and some hot chocolate);
• make tree ornaments and popcorn & cranberry or paper chain garlands;
• decorate the Christmas tree;
• shop with Laolao for Mommy’s Christmas present;
• make our Advent banners (good for 3 or 4 days!);
• see the holiday lights downtown;
• take a moonlit walk on the night of the full moon (13 December this year);
• make cookies, nuts and bolts, a gingerbread house, etc (good for a few days’ activities);
• make chili one day for an Advent dinner with some friends;
• make invitations to a tea party;
• prepare treats for the tea party;
• host the tea party (see, you can make some things last!);
• go sledding;
• go for a country-side walk;
• special late-night movie night at home;
• a treasure hunt to find movie-night treats.

Not everything is an activity. We do have a few actual gifts, including things like these:

• an Advent bulb plant like an Amaryllis (thanks to Grace for this idea)
• a few little gifts purchased last winter in Ethiopia
• a few little gifts remaining from our trip to China almost four years ago!!
• a new Christmas movie
• some hair ties for Mustang, a little pouch for Button
• a Christmas story written by Mommy (presuming I can get it done in time…)

And when we make craft projects the craft supplies will be gifts, too!

Much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving has passed and I have, indeed, much to be thankful for.

This was Button's first Thanksgiving and, while it's not a major major celebration in our family, I do like to keep up some traditions. We had friends over for a more-or-less traditional dinner on Sunday (chicken rather than turkey), and visited other friends for an outdoor soup lunch on Monday. The weather was fine (over 20 above both days!) - could hardly ask for better on a mid-October weekend. We went for a walk with friends and dogs after Sunday dinner, and at the Monday lunch, the kids enjoyed raking up leaves into a huge pile and jumping wildly in, then burying each other in leaves. The joys of childhood!

What, in particular, am I thankful for?

• two beautiful, creative, active, smart kids who get along really well (most of the time!)
• reading, and that Mustang is getting better at it (she read almost three chapters of a chapter book entirely without assistance and on her own initative over the weekend!)
• a good neighbourhood in a beautiful city
• the wildlife that lives nearby and sometimes even graces our yard with their presence (squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, rabbits, all kinds of songbirds, even the crows!)
• good friends - from church, and from the neighbourhood
• my parents and that they remain healthy, active, and love to stay with us and do things with Mustang and Button
• the ability to sew and be creative/ crafty
• health that enables me to be pretty active with my kids
• a good job that allows us to have everything we need and almost everything we might want, as well as to share with those less fortunate
• our Nanny, who looks after the household and frees me from those responsiblities, giving me more time (and energy) to devote to the kids

The kids are looking forwards to Hallowe'en and after that it's on the road to Christmas... Mustang is already keen for snow and lights!

I'm back!

I certainly never meant this hiatus to last five months!!! But May was busy with birthdays and getting ready for our big summer trip, then June was busy with more holiday prep and actually leaving on the trip, July we were travelling (not that I couldn’t have updated on-the-road), August was busy with getting settled back home and back-to-school prep, September was busy with getting settled into school, trying to get as much done around the house as possible before going back to work, welcoming our Nanny, a visit from grandparents… And here we are in October already. A full nine months since Button joined the family. Yikes.

So, what’s happened in the last five months? (Other than being busy with all of the above...)

I’ll give you a few brief snapshots, with (appropriately!) pictures:

Animal rescue

Early in May Mustang noticed a sparrow on our street that wasn’t flying well. She was very concerned. When I went out it had made it to a neighbour’s second-storey window awning, so I thought it was okay. But then it fluttered down and flopped about on the road, showing it obviously wasn’t okay. So, using my Tilley hat, Mustang managed to capture the poor critter. We brought it inside and put it in a box with a bit of birdseed and water (and some soft blankets so it would be comfy).

Here is Ms. Sparrow in her box. (It turned out she had a wing infection.)

On Saturday we took it to the bird rescue centre in the southwest section of the city, in the middle of a large, undeveloped wooded area. It was a lovely day, so we took advantage of the opportunity to hike down one of the trails and saw many other wild creatures.

A Canada goose was enjoying the day as much as we were!

it took some doing to catch the bluejay in action. We would put a peanut on the railing by the lookout over the marsh, and he would swoop down, grab it, and fly off in one big blur. I tried following him with the camer, but he moved too fast. So I trained my camera on the peanut and waited, and waited. This was the result.

The squirrels loved the peanuts, too.

As did the chipmunks!

I think this was a turtle shell, sans turtle, lying on the rocks by the base of the marsh lookout.

Watersnake - this was a marshy area and Mr. Snake was quite happy slithering aobut in the water.

Of course, to watch a water snake you gotta get close...

To top it all off, just as we got back to the parking lot, three deer delighted us with their presence.

May is birthday month

Our friend A has her birthday on the 7th. Mustang’s is the 21st. Button’s is the 27th. Laolao’s is the 28th. A’s dad, P, has his on the 30th. So from the beginning of the month, it was birthday planning non-stop! Laolao and Laoye had gone home at the end of March, but they flew out for another visit to celebrate all the birthdays (especially as it was Button’s first Canadian birthday). They arrived on May 20th and stayed until the partying was done on June 5th, this time taking their car that had lived here since October 2006!

Mustang turns 8

This was the first year she had a birthday party with her school friends (and two church friends as well). Mustang really wanted a unicorn cake - and not just a picture of a unicorn, but shaped like a unicorn! So Mommy worked some magic, and this was the result. Not the most elegant-looking of cakes, but Mustang was very happy with it.

Button turns 5

We had a fairly small celebration with a few grown-up church friends and neighbourhood friends. (Actually we had two, with church friends and one with our neighbourhood dog-walking friends (see below).) Since Mustang had a cool cake, Button needed one too. He wanted a tiger, but I didn't have to cut out the tiger shape, so I just decorated it fiercely.





We might have gone a bit overboard with the presents, but it was his first birthday in Canada and he didn't have a lot of toys that were distinctly "his." And I hadn't yet spent any of the "welcome-home" money from friends. So anyhow...

Laolao turns 70

Aoout a week before Laolao and Laoye arrived, it occurred to me that Laolao was having a "milestone" birthday this year. I would have liked to organize a big bash, but didn't have energy or time. So contacted our good friend L and asked if she might host a "surprise" celebration. We did it as a lunch on Laolao's birthday, with lady friends she's made during her manye extended stays. About a dozen ladies came, and it was a nice surprise. And a nice end-of-May day for a lunch in the garden.

A turns 15, P turns 52, and D turns 18!!!

With a combined total of five birthdays in seven weeks (D’s is near the end of June), and a busy life with two teenage kids (them) and two little kids (us), and since they hadn't made it to Button's birthday celebration, we decided to have a “family” birthday party with prezzies for all (except the Moms and Laoye - we're the oddballs in the birthday schedule).

Big D and bigger D. (Used to be big D and little D... but that was ages ago!)

Walking dogs

Mustang yearns for a “real” pet. She plays with Calico on occasion, but being a guinea pig, Calico needs gentle play and isn’t particularly responsive. (She’s also rather timid- perhaps as a result of too vigourous play when we first got her? Or perhaps it’s just her nature.) Anyhow, Mustang would LOVE to have a dog. Of course, now that Button is around, he’d LOVE to have a dog too. Or a cat. Or a rabbit. Or a lizard…

Anyhow, after Mustang’s pleading one day in early May, I suggested she could try walking some of the neighbours’ dogs – get some experience, see if she really liked the dogs, get some exercise... “Sure!” she said, “who can we ask?”

There are certainly plenty of dogs in the neighbourhood. The trick is to find a person or family that doesn’t mind. Enter G and C. They live across the street, have three lovely Australian shepherd dogs, and – better yet – G is home much of the time, as he’s retired/on disability. And they like kids.

So I took Mustang and Button across the street and rang the bell. G answered, and we asked if they could walk the dogs. Of course, the dogs are a handful – small (well, medium-sized) but strong. Each of them probably weighs about the same as Button, and they’re low to the ground and powerful. So G gave each kid one dog and took one himself. I went, too, to see how things went.

Holly, at 12, is the oldest and also the gentlest. She was rescued from an illegal puppy mill and has lots of mother instinct. She doesn’t pull much at all, and tends to walk, not run. (She’s the one with the white ruff around her neck.)

Madison is 5 and is quite energetic. A beautiful golden colour, she loves to run, but doesn’t pull too too hard. At least, not compared to 3-year-old Nicky, the most rambunctious of the bunch. Nicky is constantly straining at the leash and wants to go fast, far, and furious.

For about two weeks Mustang and Button faithfully went and rang the bell almost every day after school to go walk the dogs. I was quite impressed! Then it diminished a bit, but not completely. Of course, we were gone most of the summer, and when we got back G&C were gone for a while. But now that school’s back in session, they’ve gone a few times for a dog-walking treat.

And in the process, we’ve made some new friends.

Odds and sods

When we hauled the bikes out in late March (as soon as the roads were clear of snow) I had put training wheels on Button’s bike. Within three weeks he had gotten his balance, learned to start and turn well, and didn’t need them anymore.

Look, Ma! No training wheels!

Spring is time to get out the bubble juice. A source of endless entertainment. Mustang still enjoys it, and so do I! We have a “millions of bubbles” gadget that does what it says – well, hundreds is more likely. But to a four-year-old, it sure seems like a hundred-million-thousand bubbles!!!

Well, if you can't get a real live bunny, a stuffy bunny will do. Welcome to Poppyseed...

On the last day of Tulip Festival, on the May long weekend, we went to the festival central and wandered around, taking in a few performances and enjoying an ice cream. But the highlight (for the kids at least) was riding this merry-go-round. They went two or three times!

There’s a nice garden just outside the city where they sell lots of herbs. We made a spring pilgrimage and, besides enjoying the garden, the kids had fun playing in the playground and just running around.