Welcome to November!

And so we enter the second last month of 2013 with some fun.  This past week, Katrine had a really fun homework project.  She brought home the class pet – a stuffed frog.  She wrote in his journal each day and the assignment resulted in some of her best writing.  In fact, it was the first time that I have ever seen her assume another’s voice when writing.  More importantly, she genuinely had fun doing homework.  I am considering if there is a way that I can use this with my own class.  The question being what is a cool “pet” for a group of students between the ages of 7 and 10 mostly boys?  Suggestions welcome.

They did homework together.  Yes, Katrine actually made up a homework assignment for the frog and then corrected it!

He acquired a pair of glasses after commenting on hers.

Then he had a sleepover with all of her webkinz.  Think that she has a few?

The final night of his stay we went out for Vietnamese.  According to his journal, this particular restaurant served delicious fly pho!!
Elspeth continues to enjoy Kindergarten although she has been fighting off a bit of a cold this week.  Yesterday was photo day at swimming.  It was hard to get photos with none of the other children in them.  Hence the single photo below.  She is having a lot of fun and is doing much better with her floats.  Still hates to put her face in though.  That is okay, learning to swim is a process.

Finishing Up Halloween

Okay, we carved our pumpkins the day before Halloween.  Katrine actually managed to convince Elspeth that she should put her hand inside the pumpkin.  Numerous squeals and exclamations over how gross it was followed but in the end they were hollowed out ready to carve.  As you can see, we made two pumpkins.  The face on each was planned out by the girls while Glenn channeled his inner carver to finish them off.  I thought that they were pretty darn cut.  Then during trick or treating we ran into the final two creations.

This Halloween, Katrine had two costumes.  At school she was an angel but we told her that it was not a good costume for trick or treating give how cold it usually gets as no one would be able to see her costume.  One of our friends gave us some dress up clothes recently and in the batch there was a gorgeous asian style dress.  Then while at the dollarstore picking up her angel set, Katrine fell in love with a mardi gras mask.  So in the evening she was a “Mardi Gras Princess”.  It worked out perfectly as her rain coat fit underneath (you can’t tell but Elspeth also had raingear under her costume).  The dress came home oh so wet but the child was toasty cozy.

Elspeth had her Kindergarten Halloween celebration on the Wednesday because they spent Halloween Day at the farm.  A whole day in the rain.  That said, she was super happy and pleased as punch to show off the mini pumpkin she had chosen for herself.  She was once again an adorable penguin.

Ready for her first field trip ever!

Halloween Skating

Here is your first set of Halloween photos.  On Monday, Katrine celebrated Halloween at skating.  With us getting home late and me forgetting to have her put it on her to do list, all that was dug up on Monday morning was a pair of devil’s horns in the dress up box.  Well her coach came to the rescue with these cute ladybug accesories.  Katrine had a lot of fun and came home the proud owner of clapper hands (yeah, not candy!!).

Elspeth’s Halloween skate was this evening.  She was super excited to wear her penguin (also known as Mimi which I still don’t understand) costume.  She thought it was fun that her coach was dressed up as a piece of bread and jam.  “Like a snack.”

Even pretended to eat her.

Happy Bar Mitzvah Elan!

You won’t get any photos of the birthday dude but sending him birthday wishes anyways.  He did a fabulous job and we are super proud of him.  So very neat to have watched him grow up over the last 13 years.  It was also great to bask in his parents pride as he performed the religious aspects.  Rightly so as he did amazingly.

In addition to celebrating a momentous occasion with good friends, Glenn and I were able to sneak in a weekend away together…you see, the bar mitzvah was in Winnipeg!  The girls got quality grandparent time while we flew out west to relax, eat, drink and dance with friends who we haven’t seen in far to long.  The fact that the beds at the Fort Garry were beyond comfortable really aided in the relaxation aspect of the trip.

Before flying home on the Sunday, we went for a walk at the Forks where the Red and Assinaboine Rivers meet.  It was a bit chilly but nice to stretch our legs before the plane ride home.

The hotel was built in 1912 near the railroad tracks.  It even has a resident ghost who we gladly did not meet.

Some photos from the Forks.

The mall’s ode to Winnie the Pooh of literary fame who was named after Winnipeg.

We saw this big guy at the airport and I had to get a photo with him.

Thanksgiving Birthday Weekend

Yup, we combined many fun things this weekend.  It was busy and lots of fun.

We started the weekend with some leaf fun.  It is really nice that my parents get so many leaves at their house because we don’t have that many at our place.  Plus my parents got free labour as the kids raked and raked…of course all of it was for nothing after they started jumping into their pile.  Fun!

That evening was our family Thanksgiving dinner.  Mmmm, turkey and all the fixings meant full tummies.  The next day we took the kids to the Marsh so that they could work off the previous evening’s dinner as well as work up an appetite for more food.  You see, October is a double birthday month for our family with Elspeth turning 4 and my sister in law 40.  We finished the weekend with dinner with Glenn’s brother and sister in law where there was more cake and a brand new calico house which is being used with the new sweetie cart, train and rowboat also received over the past few days.

Here is how the sugar shack looks without all of the snow.

More leaf time and some net fishing with her uncle.  All any of the kids caught was weeds.

Pre-dinner gifts.

My mom had made up some adorable cupcakes.  Coupled with the 4 candle we had one delighted kidlet on our hands.
Okay,  random cuteness to end it all.

Elspeth made a Thankful tree at After School Care.  Apparently she is thankful for us and candy. (Hence the sweetie cart for her calicos)

Plus, Katrine landed her double toe which meant a trip out for frozen yogurt.

4th Birthday Party

With Elspeth’s 4th birthday falling on Thanksgiving Sunday we decided to hold her party a week earyl.  Now this has confused her in that she can not understand how she is still three if she has had the cake and presents.  :)  This year’s theme was Ponies…as in My Little Pony.  There were ponies everywhere.  We used books, toys and printed pictures to decorate.  The only item we had to buy was the Pin the Cutie Mark on the Pony game.  I guess it pays to keep all of the elder daughter’s stuff sometimes.

The kids started by making headbands.  A month ago our littlest could not print her name.  Now, she is a pro….well except for the spider E.  All of the kids got in on the action.  They even made hats for Glenn and I!

Then there was the game, running around like crazy, playing with balloons and toys, talking, dressing up and making bookmarks.  I don’t think that Elspeth stopped smiling once and Katrine was a great big sister.  She tried to make sure everyone was having fun while also having fun herself.  The fact that some of Elspeth’s China family were able to join us for the celebration made it extra special for both girls.

The party wrapped up with the gift unwrapping.  It is hilarious to watch three year olds exchange gifts.  They all want to help the birthday girl unwrap what they brought so more often than not there were at least two sets of hands on a present at any given time.  We do have one photo of her unwrapping a gift by herself so it did happen.  That said, Elspeth couldn’t care less if someone was helping or not.  She was over the moon to simply be getting presents from her friends and family.

Can you  believe that in 7 days she will be 4?

Richmond Hill Fire Department Open House

We had a great Saturday morning.  The rain held off and there was a nice fall feel to the air (aka nicely cool).  So we headed off to the community event at the local fire station.  It was a lot of fun.  There was a really cool train set up beside the train safety booth.  Free popcorn and cotton candy.  Sparky the mascot who Elspeth eagerly waved at but would not so much as take a single step towards.  Add in balloon animals, games and of course fire trucks and it was a winning combination for both girls.

I really enjoyed seeing each of them use a hose to put out a pretend fire.  Of course, they both had help from an actual fire fighter (especially Elspeth who is still tiny).  Huge smiles on their faces.  Katrine played a fishing game and became the proud owner of a bingo set while Elspeth got to ride on a battery powered bike.  She could actually reach the pedals!  AND, to top it off she wasn’t half bad at steering.

Post lunch was spent getting ready for the next day’s birthday part with cake icing and a trip to Longo’s for fancy cheese. (That is where the pumpkin photo is from.  Outside of the Longos).

Glencoe Fair

I just realized that I am behind in my posts so it is time to catch up. (I was sick this past week and acutally had to take a day off of work!  Guess that I no longer have a school grade immune system.)

Last weekend was the family’s weekend to celebrate Charles’ birthday.  That meant that Saturday monring saw us climbing into the car and off to Glencoe.  One big difference this year was that I was able to join the family in getting Tims as they now carry a gluten free option (Yippee!!!).

We arrived just in time for the parade.  Both kids were thrilled.  Elspeth was once again blown away by the size of some of the tractors.

After lunch we went to visit an egg farm much to the girl’s delight.  We are big egg eaters.  Well, all except for me that is.  Elspeth learned  the word silo and “big machine” while Katrine got a chance to ask every possible question about the machinery carrying the eggs along.  There were fresh eggs to top it off too.

Then it was off to the fair itself.  Sarah’s pies looked as tasty as usual and she did pretty darn well.  This year’s theme was the Fifties.  One category was a decorated pumpkin.  My particular favourite was the Elvis pumpkin.  I thought it was smashing.  We decided to save the rides until Sunday as it had poured and the following day was suppose to have nice weather.  Well the forecast was wrong.  It rained Sunday so we missed the demolition derby and the rides.  Instead we spent a little while longer with the family.

Overall a great outing.

 

Happy Moon Festival!

No good photos of food this year.  After two years off it is just rough getting through the week at times so this year’s dinner was more simple than other years.  We did (one of the few times I say yippee to being gluten free) have moon cakes for dessert and the girls gobbled those down.  After dinner we had our annual lantern parade outside.  Katrine is an awesome big sister and took her job of showing Elspeth how to holding her lantern, turn it on and joining in on Elspeth’s “parades”; all with a huge smile on her face.  To top it off the moon was beautiful.  A happy Chinese thanksgiving to all of you.

Apple Picking and Kitchen Fun

The fall always brings with it a trip to the apple orchard.  We decided not to make our big batches of apple sauce, crumbles and pies this year.  With me back at work in a new school and job that was simply too much.  Instead we picked small apples perfect for the girls’ lunches and enjoyed the sunshine but cooler temperatures.  We also went to pick fall raspberries.  However, we went in the afternoon (because I slept in; thank you Glenn).  As a result, the berries had been picked over and there were not many left.  Oh well, Elspeth got to see where raspberries come from and the few that we did find were sweet and delicious.

Of course, we had to take the occasional taste test to ensure quality.  This involves the old “wipe it on your shirt” trick.

“Mom look! Just enough for our lunch!”

The orchard was also selling pie pumpkins.  Now a few years back, Katrine and Glenn made pumpkin pies and ice cream from scratch.  I think it was a year where both Katrine and I took trips to the pumpkin patch and we ended up with a half dozen pie pumpkins.  Well, didn’t she remember and beg him to do with her and her sister once again.  He, being a great dad did just that.

Then I put the girls to work today making their own lunch. (which doubles as school lunch tomorrow too)

Plus, the helped to fold dumplings for Thrusday’s moon festival dinner. Gluten free dumplings!! (If I could eat gluten, I would just be buying the things and steaming them.)