Author: Heather

Fall Arrives

September saw Katrine beginning Junior Kindergarten. Glenn walked her to school on her first day and she went in without tears!! And so began her love affair with school. Her favourite game is school and of course I have to be her teacher(not Mrs Attwood Kindergarten teacher but the carbon copy of her “real” teacher! “That’s not the way Ms. V…does it”)

Fall also brings with it the traditional Attwood family apple picking trip. Although, this year Katrine has asked that we go back because we went when there were only Macs out and she is more of a sweet apple girl. She has really been getting into baking; even pretending to read recipes when she is cooking in her kitchen. We have already made pie, applesauce and two apple cakes together. I think that apple muffins with butterscotch chippits will be our next endevour.

She has also got immense pleasure out of our garden harvest. She still won’t eat tomatoes; of which we got a bumper crop this year, but she has enjoyed our pink potatoes (yes, if you are imagining pink mashed potatoes that would be the correct image), multicoloured carrots and cucumbers – with the seeds cut out. I think that we will do less tomatoes next year and maybe some bush beans to see if we can get her to give beans a try. Katrine has really enjoyed fishing this summer so we often looked for worms and bugs in our garden to use as bait. Never could seem to find any of a reasonable size…until harvest time. Then we dug up long juicy worms and fat slugs. Oh well!

Update #3

Okay, I am going to try and get us caught up with this post.

The highlight of March was our annual visit to the Wye Marsh Sweetwater Festival in Victoria Harbour. Katrine just loves seeing my dad making maple sirop. This year we were joined by my brother and his kids so it was extra special for Katrine because she also got to play with her cousins. My dad got the bright idea of getting a cardboard box out of his garage and letting the kids use it to slide down the huge snowbank beside the driveway…until it split open. I guess that all good things must come to an end.

The highlight of April was Katrine’s 4th birthday. This year her party was on her actual birthday which was kind of neat. The party had a Backyardigans theme. She had a blast playing pin the tie on Pablo and using a Backyardigans playdough set. I think that aside from the cake(which was based on her favourite surfing episode) she loved the pinata best. Glenn set it up so that instead of whacking it, the kids could just pull strings to open it. The first time they pulled it and the string broke but it didn’t open. Then Glenn held it and it opened up. What a frenzy! We got her a new purple bike which she is delighted with. She has since announced that she wants to learn to ride without training wheels so you will probably hear about that in a future post.

May was Mother’s Day, Glenn’s birthday and renewing our paperwork with the Ministry for our second adoption(which is moving along at a snail’s pace!). If things continue to move at this rate, Elspeth will not be home until late 2010 or even into 2011. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Thank you to everyone for your continued support. There are days when it is really difficult to be patient. Katrine has taken to drawing family pictures with three people and then a fourth way off to the side because her Meimei is still far away in China. I guess somethings just don’t turn out as you plan.

June has been a bit of a sunnier month. Katrine had her first Highland competition. We thought that she might get overwhelmed and cry or really mess up but she was all business on stage. She walked on, bowed(totally serious face), did 15 of the 16 pas de basques, bowed, walked off calmly before breaking into a huge smile. She was ever so proud of herself. Well, when they did the prizes we were surprised too. We knew that she would get a ribbon simply for being there BUT she also won a sixth!! She left the stage with a medal as well. She wanted to know when her next competition would be and when she would be old enough to win a trophy. I also dance(yes, I know it is amazing that I still can). I managed to double sprain an ankle but somehow won a 7th out of 21 dancers for one dance. Now that was a shock.

The only other exciting thing that we have been doing is working on our garden. It is doing really well due to all of the rain that we have had. If this keeps up we will get a really nice crop. Especially of potatoes.

That is us up-to-date. I will try to not let it get as far behind again.

Catch-up post #2: February

At the beginning of February, we celebrated Chinese New Year and the arrival of the year of the Rat. We found a company that makes gluten-free dumpling skins and made sui mai and beef pot sticks from scratch. The sui mai were really quite good, although they looked like simple dumplings and not actual sui mai. We have found a recipe for vegetable dumplings which we will try the next time we feel like standing by a steamer for a while. Anyways, we attending the FCC new years banquet with some friends and had a fabulous time as usual. It is always nice to see Katrine experiencing Chinese culture while also having fun playing with friends. Aside from her friends and ample supplies of Chinese food, Katrine loved the candied fruits (particularly the carrots and winter melon) and hong bao (especially those with chocolate money).
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Katrine has a very mean mommy who made her cut out and decorate valentines for her whole class. Mommy wanted to do them in batchs – cut now, decorate later, print names still later. Katrine however felt that it was necessary to do it all at once, so it turned into an hour of solid work. They looked quite cute at the end of it all. She had a great time at daycare and carried her heart full of valentines around the house for the next two weeks.

Katrine took Preschool C swimming this winter. Unfortunately we will be repeating this level because she is still not comfortable floating on her back. It was not a waste though because she is now confident enough to swim underwater for short lenghts.
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Another highlight of our month was our trip to Ottawa for Winterlude. We went over the Family Day weekend and had a great time. The ice and snow sculptures were beautiful. It was fun watching Katrine and Glenn ride the huge ice slides. We all had fun skating on the Rideau. Katrine skated with us the first day but on the second we rented a push sled and skated while she rode. Our trip also provided us with the chance to catch-up with some of Katrine’s orphanage sisters which is always welcome.
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The high point of our month though, was celebrating Katrine’s third Forever Family Day. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it has been three years since we became a family in Nanning.

Happy New Year!

I am finally taking a moment to wish everyone all the best in 2008!

The holidays were busy for the Attwood clan. The highlight for Katrine was the pink digital camera that Santa brought her. Some of her pictures are actually quite good. For us it was new years eve at the zoo. It gave us the chance to see the nocturnal animals moving all around. Plus, the had a really good kid friendly show on as well. Even better, it got us out and moving after all of that turkey. We have also had alot of fun playing in the snow. I mean, you never know when it will melt away. Today, Katrine had particular fun building a snowman which she named Frosty.
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Cookie decorating party

The last few weeks have been rough on us, so it was nice to have a fun diversion. This time around it was cookie decorating. A group of my girlfriends and their kids came over and we baked and decorated cookies. Most were consumed during this process but a few made it home with the little worker bees. When they were done with the cookies, all of the children ran around and played. It got loud but they had a lot of fun. For me it was nice to have a chance to chat and visit with friends. Glenn? He escaped the madness by going shopping for new skates for Katrine. He actually managed to find her a pink and white pair that fit perfectly. Now we can go skating again!!
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Making a Pumpkin Pie

For most people, making pumpkin pie means opening up a tin and going from there. Well this time around, it was a bit different. Between Katrine’s 1 trip to the farm and my 2 we ended up with three pie pumpkins that needed a purpose. What do you do with pie pumpkins? Make pie of course. Glenn dug up a recipe on the internet and we dug in – literally. Here is the story of this adventure…

Dig out those gutts. We then nuked them and whizzed them in the blender but no photos of that. Glenn did manage to knock a pot lid off the counter onto his foot during that process and was hobbling around for most of the week.
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Pour stuff into a big bowl and mix.
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Bake.
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Lastly, enjoy.
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Glenn found it too fluffy but Katrine seemed to like it. She did object to the lack of whip cream and the fact that they were eating pumpkin pies when it was not Thanksgiving.
We put the tree up today(I know but I LOVE Christmas) and she was simply trembling with anticipation. When we put out the nativity she started to sing Jesus loves me(…”and you do too”) and announced that we couldn’t forget Baby Jesus’ birthday cake. Then she wrote her first letter to Santa asking for a camera: “I w a c” and a wobbly rectangle. We are hoping that Santa can read preschooler. Tomorrow we are heading out to the local Santa Claus parade(not Glenn though because of football playoffs).

Happy Halloween!

Katrine was really excited about Halloween. She had us decorating pumpkins, cutting out ghosts, icing cookies, the works. We went to Boo at the zoo with one of Katrine’s friends on Sunday and she had a blast. I think that watching the otters swim around like lunatics with her friend was the highlight of our visit. Last night she went to her Grandfather’s nursing home in her costume and came home with some goodies. Today at school they ate cake, wore costumes and went trick or treating around the room. We thought that she would be all gung-ho for tonight. Well, the main event was a bit anti-climactic. She went to four houses and declared it too scary. Then she spent the rest of the night watching TV while munching orange popcorn.
At least she looked cute. This past summer we went to see Surf’s Up in the theater. She didn’t move at all during the movie and insisted that we stay until the last credit had rolled off the screen. So, she was a surfing penguin. She tolerated the costume but loved the surf board that Glenn made for her. I think that it will get a lot of use before it crumbles to bits.
Happy Halloween everyone!
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Happy Thanksgiving

The fall has been full of changes…some pleasant and others not. Glenn began a new job the first full week of September. It has been a good move and he is enjoying the new challenges. The second week of September, my Nana passed away at 95. Her funeral was lovely and the support of family and friends was overwhelming. September also saw Katrine return to gymnastics, me to dance and Glenn to hockey (he has already scored a goal this time around!!), Katrine also started to take Highland dance lessons. Thus far she has mastered most of the basic positions and highcuts. We are worked on bowing. Most important though, she is having fun and burning off steam. October has dawned with unseasonably high temperatures and beautiful sunshine.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

First day of School!

Katrine began preschool on Monday. She loves it. Every morning she puts on her little Strawberry Shortcake backpack and heads out to the car. She talks about her nameless friends, the blocks and bikes. Today she even told us about making cupcakes…and not the gluten-free kind that we have to make at home but real gooey, gluteny things that they will eat tomorrow. She had her first school injury yesterday when she fell down going outside for a fire drill and bit her lip. She really surprised all of the teachers when she didn’t cry too long but dusted herself off instead. I have to tell you that the school’s lack of freezies to treat mouth booboos troubled her deeply. It was all that she could talk about last night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this love affair continues.
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The summer draws to a close

August has been a very busy but fun month for all of us.
We traveled to Ottawa over the long weekend for the Children’s Bridge Picnic. While there we visited a few museums. Our favourite was the display of Chinese artifacts at the Museum of Civilization. It was extremely interesting. Katrine however, was not impressed. She much prefered the children’s section of the museum and had to be pried away at naptime. We also explored the Museum of Technology. We actually had a wee ride on a steam engine which was pretty cool. During our visit we were lucky enough to be able to meet up with one of the families who adopted from the same orphanage. The girls had a wonderful time playing together.
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A calligraphy brush. This was displayed alongside some scrolls. It was really interesting to look at the product capable of being produced with such a utensil.
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We were also lucky enough to be invited to spend a weekend at Glenn’s sister’s cottage which was super relaxing. Katrine actually went in the lake this year, thanks to her floaty bathing suit. (It is a swimsuit that has pockets that hold blocks of foam which allow the child to float. It gave Katrine enough confidence to risk the lake and she ended up having a great time.) She also went fishing with her cousins. Both of them caught fish while Katrine enjoyed going through the motions.
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This month has also seen us journey to the Lantern Festival, attend soccer games, picnic with friends and generally have a wonderful time. Katrine passed Preschool B swimming and was super proud of herself. She has also learned how to ride a two wheeler with training wheels. I guess that next year will see her with a few more scrapped knees as she works on not using training wheels…I think we will just enjoy this phase.
Katrine starts preschool tomorrow. She is both excited and nervous. I am setting up my classroom starting tomorrow and Glenn starts a new job next week!!!! Katrine will also have her first Highland Dance class in two weeks time (we will see how that goes, keep your fingers crossed) and will go back to Chinese and gymnastics. Hopefully it will help her sleep to be so active.