Spring is here - goodbye Winter

 

New wheels: getting around the neighbourhood in record time.  This is almost home after a 5 km ride to the library and back.  We had to stop at the playground at the school for a bit.  2 hours.

 

Getting better balance!

Chance with face paint for 100th day of school.  They were to dress as if they were 100 years old.  He is a Grumpy Old Man.  This is pretty good.....by the time we got to school the makeup was starting to run....he looks like a castmember for The Walking Dead later on in the day!

 

 

Have been enjoying spring time weather for last few days.  We did a fair amount of skiing this winter and usually got out most weekends for a day.  Got into a nice little routine of packing the night before, waking up early, stopping at Tim Horton's on the way out of town for coffee and bagels (and TimBits).  Only forgot our packed lunch on the kitchen counter once.  We had good luck putting Karin into the daycare for the morning and then picking her up at lunch time.  After eating, we'd go out to use the tube park either as a family or while Chance got in a few more runs with either Cam or myself.  She'd be good for about 6-10 tube runs and then it would be 3:00, time to go home.  Towards the end of the winter with weather improving, we tried her on skis.  First time was an epic FAILURE, with tears and tantrums after 2 runs down the bunny hill.  Next time around, she was much better, a little more patient, and able to do the green runs on the Bronze chairlift (with assistance).  Everyone under the age of 30 would be asleep before we hit the first roadcut on Hwy 40.



2013 Wrap Up

Well....that weekly posting thing worked out to 3 or 4 posts...

This year was busy.  I remember being told "oh when the kids get older your life will be really busy" but I think I laughed it off.

I'm not laughing now.

We'll start skiing in January with Chance for sure and Karin may get up on a pair of skis this year too.  I'm sure that will provide us with lots of stories (hopefully happy stories and not stories of broken bones).

Oh well -- I hope next year I'll be better at this.  I'll have to figure out some sort of strategy to stay on top of it.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Slow news week......menu planning and Tuppergeek moment

A trick my mom taught me was to write down your menu for a year and then when you can't think of what to have for supper, just turn back to the date 1 year ago & let the decision be made for you.

This week is for the week of Sept. 21-27

Saturday: falafels
Sunday: honey-mustard curry chicken
Monday:turkey chicken
Tuesday: pulled pork sandwiches (slow cooker)
Wednesday:  Tuscan white bean and bacon soup
Thursday: pulled pork leftovers - flatbread on BBQ perhaps
Friday: "TGIF" I never plan Friday meals as we are usually too tired to do much more than scrounge for leftovers, have an easy meal out of the freezer, etc. 

Also I am super excited as I found these Tupperware containers online (I know this is extremely lame) -- I have an old one from the 1980's that my mom gave me and I use it nearly every day and get cranky when Chance tries to take it in his school lunch.  Love these little guys, they are the perfect size, never leak.  Can't wait to order them!

Two 10K races this week

This week Cam and I both ran our first 10K races.  I ran mine at the Calgary Corporate Challenge with my work colleagues.  We took the silver medal for the event, I can't believe it!  The first kilometer was equal parts terrifying and eerie: I was scared that I would get left in the dust immediately and it was so strange to have a perfectly quiet run with nearly 1000 people.  Very intense!  It was about 500 m into the run when I realized that I was breathing up in my throat and had to refocus on getting air down through my lungs.  Nerves!  The day was foggy and overcast when the race started but it quickly got sunny & humid!  I was WAY too hot in my long sleeved shirt - learnings for next time.  Which is funny, because when I crossed the finish line my only thought was "NEVER again!"  I think next year I'll give it a go again, and hopefully beat my time of 55 min 37 seconds!

 



 My colleague Jeff, who stayed back with me and made sure I didn't over-pace myself out of the race and talked me through the tough spots.  What a great team member!  He also offered me a nasty tasting sport gel pack that nearly made me lose my breakfast at the 8km mark!  Things to learn for next time! This is 9.5 km into the race and I am DYING!

 

Team TAQA, pre-race: Sean, Phil, me, Jody

 

 Cam's 10K route in Eau Claire.  Gorgeous day for a race.  200 runners in the CSPG race.  The kids and I grabbed a sandwich and ate in the park while we waited for Cam to come past.

 Go Cam, go!  The kids were so proud to see their dad running at his top speed.  Cam finished the course in 44 minutes!

 

Picking up after leaving off...

I guess that last bit of the 2012 school year was a doozy.  I didn't get much time to write, and the year just flew by.  I got better at packing lunches, finding library books (& remembering to get Chance to actually bring them to school), teaching Chance how to read and write, planning meals and even at taking the odd breather for myself.  I'm sure the job switch helped out a great deal, I moved away from my old company in June 2012 and started at a new place.  The energy level is different and the people are great. 

OK -- will try to sit down and write 1x a week from now on.  Really, really try. 

Recap photos from this spring: April - I love this photo -- Karin was caught colouring herself with a semi-permanent marker (thank goodness only her hands, not face, furniture or walls).  Chance FINALLY got to play T-ball, he was on the Yellow Leopards team. Cam signed up as a parent coach, so that was pretty cool for Chance.

 "I won't do this again.....for a little while!"

Very excited to go play ball.

Kindergarten Class

Kindergarten Afternoon Class -- my that was a fast year!!

Soccer Photos!

This year we got in on the Marda Loop Community Association's Peanuts Soccer League.  Chance was on Team Navy (teams were named for the colours of their shirts, other options were Team Light Blue, Team Green, Team Yellow, Team Orange, Team Red, and Team Chocolate (brown)).  Chance's team really gelled and their coaches were awesome, too bad he will be too old for this league next year!  The photos are a bit washed out, the scanner settings I think, will mess with it another time.

Broken Arm Saga - lite

Chance broke his arm in late April.  All it took was a tumble on the sidewalk.  I told him to run back to the park to grab his forgotten sand bucket....yeesh Mommy guilt.  After 5 weeks, Chance's arm was deemed fit enough to have his cast removed.  He wore a splint for 4 weeks and then had a follow up x-ray and the doctor said things were looking really good.  Now it's 3 weeks later and so far he hasn't complained of any pain, but he scares me nearly every other day doing typical 5 year old stuff....jerking on his arm at the playground, whacking pillows (karate style) etc. 

Kindergarten Ducklings

Chance's kindergarten class had some special newcomers a few weeks ago: some duck eggs from a teacher's farm.  The eggs hatched (three of them) and the kids got to vote on names.  Chance's suggestion was successfully voted in: Sharktooth.  Must have been a biter.  Anyways, Sharktooth was a runty little duckling and unfortunately failed to thrive...must have been some sad kids in Kindergarten that day.  Chance has been having nightmares as of late about birds and ducks coming to eat him.  Not sure if that's related or not.

We are able to bring the ducklings for an overnight visit...still trying to decide if this is a good idea or  bad idea (considering the cat might try to eat them, and that by the time it's our turn to have the ducklings, they will be nearly full grown ducks - Chance's teacher has warned us that they are getting "quite" large).

p.s. we got the ducks a week early, and a good thing too!  A day after we had them, the stinkers figured out how to jump out of their plastic bin, and I am so thankful that I didn't have to wake up to duck poop everywhere in my porch!  They were pretty cute though...

Karin Says...

Mommy home me.  (Mommy will take me home)

I want my hewmet (helmet) . -- bike helmet.

I don't like this one dress.  I don't like this one shoes.  I want this one. (usually pajamas).

Nodda wan.  The other one.

Playing Catch Up, 2012

 Pony joined us at the table for many a meal in February-March...

 She gets her own carrot...

 Little Shutterbug.  He was taking pictures of birds checking out our birdhouse

(they didn't stay though, too bad!).

 I spy, over the edge of the tub.

 Zombie attack.

 Enjoying first nice spring days...out in backyard with their "horsies".

 Enjoying a painting session...

 Settling down for afternoon tea.

Easter bunnies!   Chance taught us how to make our own ears.

Endeavouring into Potty Training...we are successful in AM and before PM and can go for an hour or two without a diaper...just have to be disciplined enough now to make the effort throughout the day.

Chance broke his arm on April 20th.  He will visit the Children's Hospital and see if his cast is ready to be removed next Wednesday.

More Vocab...Karin at 2 1/2

Chance came home from Kindergarten and just HAD to get this stuff dumped out of his brain. We walked into the house and he started demanding construction paper and markers, urgently. He sat at the window and drew and drew and drew and then said I "had to come write down what he said right now" because he didn't want to forget.




I bought this dress for $3. It's a ladies dress but I think I can alter it to fit Karin. She calls it her princess dress.

Cookie time....

Cuddles at night..

"Knock knockwho's there" (knockwho's is all one word)

"I tired...."

"No Daddy!"

"Wanna watcha moobie" (movie)

"My poopy" (I've just wet myself.) When she's actually poopy...she's silent.

"MY DUMP TRUCK". As in, now!

Life very busy but looking like it will slow down a bit. Already had a solid week of taking lunch hours and going to the gym...feeling quite good about that. Cut another 2" of hair off....not much left now!! Someone told me today I look 2o years younger, not sure if that's exactly correct but I'll take it! No more Pill Pudding, I guess.

Chance's report card came in, he is doing well but still needs work on ABC's. Speech therapist wants (?) maybe to work with him on his "s" and "z" words. Phone tag with the gal is fun.

Karin's perfected the art of being two....hello tantrums, whining, shrieking.....all weekend long I heard at top volume: "Mummy? Mummy? Mum? Mummy??! MUMMY!!" Took to wearing earplugs by bathtime on Saturday. Sunday was a bit better, Chance had a friend over to play and so she was entertained by observing the boys, throwing mud and snow in backyard and building lego. Starting to really get a knack for that stuff, has stopped trying to ingest. Nice.

Sibling Rashalry

Karin seems to be just like her brother, prone to massive eczema breakouts. Looks like she gets them a bit easier though, as she went from just a couple of spots on her back to full body rash in 24 hours. Massive systemic eczema...we're supposed to rub her head to toe with Protopic, and put Fucidin cream on her hands and chin, where the spots have become infected with what looks like impetigo.

My poor beautiful daughter looks like she has chicken pox or something....she's pretty tolerant of the situation, but occasionally cries and says it's "owwie / itchy".

Photos coming when I find the camera cord....sigh.

Christmas Holiday Wrap Up

Had a great Christmas vacation this year. Everyone in our family was healthy, amidst many of our friends who had the flu. After last Christmas, we will never take being healthy for the holidays for granted again!

Enjoyed a good deal of time outside on the toboggan hill and got Chance out for a cross country ski. The weather has been very warm and we're nearly out of snow now, so glad we took advantage of the outdoor time over the holidays. Here is Karin sacked out after a sled hill excursion:

Christmas morning joys: cups of tea for everyone!

I think they were aiming at the cat when I took this photo...

I stuffed my first huge turkey for Boxing Day dinner with Cam's parents. Usually we stick with smaller chickens....so wrassling this thing was a bit of a challenge but it was pretty tasty. Got a little crazy and cut off all my hair a few days before Xmas....still loving having "easy" hair. I'm sure the "growing out" phase will drive me just as crazy as the long hair maintainance.

Cam absorbing the Christmas Mess....we really tried to keep things organized (red bag for wrapping paper, boxes for taking gifts up to bedrooms after opening, etc.) but it really didn't help much...haha.

We rang in the New Year with friends from home, it was a great time. Got to meet the latest addition as friends welcomed their daughter into the world just a few days before Xmas....babies sure are amazing little creatures. The kids made it to 11 PM and then were showing signs of getting wound up to the point of no return and/or critical meltdown, so we made the decision to go home and let the car ride settle them down for bed. Cam and I did our smooch on the couch watching the Calgary New Years fireworks on the TV.

Well now we've been back at work for the first week of 2012 and I can say there's a night and day difference in how I feel, so must mean we had a relaxing time. Cam started a new job and is having a good time so far I think. His new office is more centrally located, so it's making life a bit easier in the way of commute / getting together for lunch / going to the gym. Karin's birthday is just around the corner and so we're looking forward to a visit with my parents then, as well as hopefully some skiing out in the mountains and thinking we're going to introduce Chance to the bunny hill at COP. Chance is just dying to get back to school, he misses his teacher and friends there, so Monday will be really exciting for him.

Winter Baby

"Holy Cow, that's a lot of snow!"


"I mean, just look at it all!!"

"Good thing I'm too little to shovel...."

Photos from a few weeks ago when we had a big snowfall. These days it's not quite so white, but we do have some lingering icy snowbanks...and our snowman hung in there to the very last moment.

Trimming the Tree!

Proud of their accomplishment! I can't say I helped much this year, was laid up with a cold that made me want to curl up and sleep for 400 years, so just sat in the corner with my camera. Kids had a wonderful time and every day there's a few extra ornaments that get created at school or at home that end up on the tree.

Chance: "Mom, your skin looks like Pill Pudding's".

Me: "Who is Pill Pudding?"

Chance: "Like on Star Wars 3 when Anakin goes to rescue Pill Pudding" (Palpatine).

Why isn't this stuff on anti-aging commercials??? I'm only 31 (OK nearly 32) years old!!