Category: Katrine

Dim Sum for Everyone…including stuffies

The girls got a bit bored with the ordinary tea party so they suggested that we should do a dim sum party instead complete with food on carts.  So we did; although it was a touch more picnic style than traditional restaurant style.  Berries became dumplings, cheese stringers became tripe, crackers became taro cake.  Their creativity was limited only by the number of small snacks that were available to fill the small plates.  I was elected to be the server who refilled the teapot and pushed the chair, sorry cart, full of dishes for them to chose from.  Even the stuffies appeared to enjoy themselves.  One moment their little plates were piled high with dumplings, rice cakes and assorted goodies and the next they were empty.  No one complained about the bill either and this here waitress got some hugs as a tip so everyone left happy.

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Double Flip

Katrine had to settle for ice cream this time though as all of the close yogurt places have closed and Elspeth was fading fast.

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Katrine and coaches have been working hard this summer and have all earned a well deserved break.  She has done her first two Pre-Juvenile competitions yet I have never seen her solo in person.  You see, I was voted out of the competitions in favour of Baba.  Apparently he makes her less nervous so how can I argue?  She has worked hard and is gaining confidence.  At the end of the day, that is what is important.  Proud of you!

Making Bread with Grammy

This year we were lucky to have Grammy come for a visit on her birthday.  While she was here, we picked her brain on making bread.  Way back in my previous gluteny existence I could make cake, pastry, cookies with the best of them.  I never made gluteny bread though.  When I began baking gluten free it was a whole new ballpark for those things that I was good at previously so I never tackled bread.  Recently I was asked by my sister in law if I knew of a good gluten free bread recipe as she was hoping to enter a loaf in the local fair this fall.  My immediate answer was no but the girls and I have been having fun playing around with food this summer so I thought that I would give it a go….with some help.  This is where mom came in.  Unfortunately, even with her insights the loaf came out looking good but tasting YUCK.  Oh well.

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Climbing Sisters

This week Katrine got out of skating early so we decided to do something totally unrelated to ice – rock climbing.  Elspeth has been enjoying it so Katrine wanted to give it a spin.  Off we went for two hours of climbing with periodic ball pit breaks.  Fun was had by both girls.  Katrine tackled all but two walls in the place.  Her favourites were the ones with over hangs.  Elspeth finally made it up to the very top of the yellow wall and was able to ring the bell.  She was so proud of herself that she then proceeded to climb the wall three times in succession.  A delightful change of pace.

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Third Gotchaversary for our Elspeth

A happy gotchaversary to our travel crew!  Three years!  What a difference it makes.  Yesterday we celebrated with some mini golf, family time and treats at the park.

2011 in Nanchang.
2011 in Nanchang.
Yup, not sold on this people.
Yup, not sold on this people.
2014...
2014…
...smiles.
…smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was Elspeth’s Forever Family day and the girls decided that they would bake cookies in honour of the occassion.  A day of smiles which is a world away from this day three years ago.  Time has helped to lay the foundation of trust and love.

 

 

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Here are two cute mini putt photos to cap it off.

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A cloudy with a chance of rain longweekend

How do you spend an August long weekend? Swim class, old friends and a bit of park time squeezed in between showers.

Elspeth is in the middle of retaking her current level at swimming.  She is continuing to struggle with any skill that requires her to have her face in the water for any period of time.  That is not to say that she hasn’t made gains.  Oh no, she certainly has.  At the start of the summer she wouldn’t even put her face in the water or jump in.  So she is getting there but it is slow going.  Her friend from the previous session is along for the ride once again so she has been having almost daily park playdates after swim class.

 

Okay, gotta fix these goggles. (Spiderman this session)
Okay, gotta fix these goggles. (Spiderman this session)
"Maybe I will practise my kicking while I wait."
“Maybe I will practise my kicking while I wait.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we set out to try a new park.  It has a really cool climbing section.  According to Katrine it is quite a challenge as all of the various parts move.  Elspeth was not as impressed with that part.  Instead, she tried to flip herself over at the hanging rings.

 

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It has also been a weekend for reconnecting with old friends.  Today we shared a lovely barbeque meal with a friend who I have had from grade school.  The girls had a blast sharing their latest antics with her and then while Glenn took care of dinner we had a chance to reconnect.  Yesterday saw us out for Korean barbeque (which as you can see involved too much food of questionable glutenfree-ness) followed by dessert with a friend from Hong Kong.  I love my new friends but it is also wonderful to spend time with those friends who  have seen you through stuff and just get you.IMG_2528 IMG_2530

Shaved strawberry ice with berries and lychee.
Shaved strawberry ice with berries and lychee.

Horsecapades

While looking into what is going on at the CNE this year I came across an ad for Horsecapades.  Most importantly it is FREE.  Now who can turn down free activities?  In this case it was free-tastic!!

We took Grammy along for the ride.
We took Grammy along for the ride.

 

 

 

 

The girls got a chance to ride a mechanical horse (which is as close as they will get to riding a horse for a while).  Elspeth was ready to go until she learned that one of us would have to hold onto to her because she is so small.  Katrine decided to name her horse Blackie.

 

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There was also a couple of educational displays about horses (with the exception of a section with general farm activities – hence the pig photo cause they were so very cute).  Elspeth was quite pleased with her horse hat and pretended to be Baby Horse for the rest of the day.  Katrine enjoyed looking at the life-sized insides of a horse display and was thoroughly grossed about by the section on horse parasites.  The girls also got to touch and feed various horses.  I think that the Minature Horse named Pablo was their favourite.

Aren't they cute?
Aren’t they cute?
Baby Horse
Baby Horse

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UGH!
UGH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight was definitely the horse show.  What gorgeous creatures.  They both loved the unicorn being ridden by a fairy.  Elspeth enjoyed the lasso and trick riding portions while Katrine enjoyed the horse races and musical poles (aka chairs) game.

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We topped it off with some peddle sulky rides.

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Pastry 101

When I was a teenager, my mom taught me how to make pastry.  Nice gluteny pastry.  Flakey, tasty goodness.  She had learned from her father who was a baker so you know she is a pastry pro.  Way back in the day I could make top notch lard or shortening pastry.  Then it happened – Celiac.  Since my diagnosis I have not been successful at making pastry from scratch.  It just hasn’t turned out right.  When Katrine asked to make butter tarts I knew that it was time to contact the pro.  This past week while up at her grandparents Katrine made tarts from scratch in all their gluteny goodness.  Apparently they were flaky and suitably buttery.

 

Katrine's first pastry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She inspired me to try again.  I thought it was going okay but it was an epic fail.  The pastry was suitably flaky but way too grainy to be tasty.  The key lime filling for the pie was limey but didn’t set.  Neither did the egg tart filling.  Sigh.  Time to try again.

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New rooms for the pair

First, some random cuteness which I could not bear to leave unposted.

 

Cuteness too sweet not to share.
Cuteness too sweet not to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenn has a few weeks of holidays this summer.  This week the girls are up at their grandparents for a few days and we are not relaxing.  Nope.  We are painting bedrooms – pink.  Before dropping off the pair, we put them to work helping to tape the trim and then paint the closet.  Pain got in the hair, on the hands but they had a bit of fun until they lost interest.  I will post some photos of the finished rooms.

Our very own handyman.
Our very own handyman.
"Mommy, I got some on my hand."
“Mommy, I got some on my hand.”

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Totally into it until she almost stepped in the paint tray. Oops.
Totally into it until she almost stepped in the paint tray. Oops.
New wall colour.
New wall colour.