Category Archives: Kids

Getting out there

Posted on by

For a variety of reasons my headspace has not been at its best lately. One of the best things to do in a case like that is to take your head and move it somewhere else. Today would have been a good time to head to the beach or even Point Pleasant Park just to see the ocean but it wasn’t in the cards so I did the next best thing and got the kids, some of their toys, and we headed to the park for an hour.

It was a little above freezing, technically, but when you factored in the wind chill it was a little, er, brisk out there (-2C or 28F). Still, it just seemed like we hadn’t been spending enough time outside and even the kids had been stuck indoors for recess at school a fair amount because of rain. An hour was all I could handle but it was good enough to give the three of us some fresh air, a little sunshine, and some exercise.

I took my camera and two lenses with the full intention of taking pictures and then spending some time this evening editing them while watching the SAG awards, but when we arrived I discovered that thing that annoys me to no end – I turned my camera on and got the dreaded “no card” message. I HATE when I forget that my memory card is sitting in my laptop’s card reader. Boo! Luckily cell phones have some pretty decent cameras these days so I captured some photos anyway, courtesy of my wee HTC phone.

They brought their doll strollers with them. I love that Hayley is 9 and still loves dolls. Too many kids her age grow up way too fast.

IMAG0683.jpg

IMAG0684.jpg

IMAG0685.jpg

IMAG0686.jpg

It was cold but it was fun and it was exactly what we all needed. Too bad the fresh air didn’t completely help since it’s now almost 10 pm and yet they haven’t fallen asleep yet. Sigh. Tomorrow should be fun when it’s time to drag them out of bed for school.

As for me, I have high hopes for this week. I came down with the flu back on January 20th and even stayed home that day, even though I hate calling in sick on Friday or Monday (because I worry people will assume I’m just stretching out my weekend). I just felt completely run down and unable to function. By the time I went back to work on Monday I was mostly fine but I had a very annoying cough. On Friday I all but completely lost by voice and by the end of the day I was pretty much just squeaking at everyone. Not my idea of fun, that’s for sure.

Luckily my voice seems to have returned and so I’m hoping the week will go well for all of us.

I hope you had a great weekend! Stay tuned – tomorrow I’m going to post a recipe for my favourite thing to take for lunch before my shift starts!

The hardest thing to get used to

Posted on by

I enjoy my job. I do. I’ve mentioned it many times. This week I’ve been working on some development things and it’s made me enjoy it even more.

That doesn’t mean that going from working as a freelance writer to a full time out-of-the-house employee has been all easy. There have been adjustments galore and one of my hardest moments came today.

Breanna had a terrible stomach ache and after she cried that she couldn’t go to school, we decided to have her stay home since George was able to be home with her. Breanna loves school like nobody’s business and looks forward to it constantly so I knew that if she didn’t want to go she wasn’t kidding about not feeling well. I remembered Hayley having a bad stomach ache before Christmas, staying home, and then throwing up and how relieved I was that we had kept her home, so I thought we’d err on the side of caution. Luckily it didn’t end up going that far but Breanna was in pain and I was glad she could stay home.

I got myself ready for work, snuggled her on the couch for a bit, and then left for work. As is my usual habit, once I got downtown and reached my building I called George to tell him I had arrived and also to check on Breanna. He said she was okay but wanted to say hi to me.

When she got on the phone, she burst into tears. “I want you to come back and stay at home with me,” she wailed. I took a deep breath, told her I had a meeting today and couldn’t stay home but that Daddy was there and that the next time she was sick I would take a turn staying home with her. I told her I loved her and would talk to her later, and asked her to pass the phone back to George. After saying she loved me too, she passed the phone off and George came back on the line.

Well. It’s a ton of fun being in the middle of a very busy area with people bustling back and forth, blubbering into a phone, crying because I wanted to be immediately transported à la Star Trek back to my home so I could take care of Breanna. I knew George was more than capable – she was in good hands with her father, not a random babysitter, so she was fine. But I just really wished in that moment that I could be there.

That’s the hard part. Loving where I work and missing what’s at home all at the same time.

Once I got up to my own office I saw one of my co-workers, a great girl who is also a mother and I told her what had just happened, tears filling up in my eyes yet again. She smiled with understanding, having been there herself too, and she joked, “what were you thinking? You never call home! Never EVER call home, then they can’t break your heart!”

I told her I’ve only been doing this whole working out of the home thing since July and I just haven’t gotten used to this yet. She smiled again and said, “I don’t think you ever do. I haven’t.”

I probably never will. I’ll keep reaching for that balance and most of the time it works, but as I’ve learned from doing yoga for two years, sometimes you balance topples and you’ll never ever control that 100%.

I guess I’ll just have to get used to THAT instead.

Breanna turns six!

Posted on by

Today, although I tried to be in denial, Breanna went and turned six years old. When she woke up, the first thing out of her mouth after stretching and looking down at herself was, “I didn’t grow!” I guess she was expecting to actively grow in a noticeable way but I assured her that based on the things she’s been outgrowing lately she has indeed been growing!

This afternoon we had some family over to celebrate her special day with supper (spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad), cake, and good times. She was very eager to open her gifts but she managed to hold off until after we ate – but before the cake!

Gift time!

She got some very nice gifts including cards with money to buy her own presents, a cute outfit, a bathrobe, some DVDs, and a dinosaur Play-Doh kit. Hayley gave her a pink Yoshi doll which she loves, and George and I got her Just Dance 3 for the Wii; Breanna loves to dance and enjoyed the first one so she was very excited to get this version.

Birthday gift

Breanna had asked for a chocolate cake from the store so we got her one with her name on it and she was very proud to have us all sing to her and bring it lit up for her to blow the candles out.

Happy birthday!

Making a wish

Six years old

After people left I went down into the basement with the kids and the three of us played four rounds of the new Wii game and although I did win twice, Breanna kicked ass and scored more than double what I did on one of them. I’ll bet she’ll be playing it after school tomorrow.

Six years ago I went through a fast labour that was under four hours from start to finish and I always said that Breanna was just too eager to get on with life to wait any longer. That was more or less the way she treated today – too eager to have fun to bother with sitting around waiting for fun to come to her.

It was a good day. Breanna said it was the best birthday ever. That’s good enough for me.

I went downstairs

Things I love about our new school

Posted on by

I’m going to open this with a very important disclosure: I miss our old school. I miss it terribly. I miss the people I got to know, the PPO, being on the Governing Board, volunteering, a lot of the great kids, and some of the rules. One of the rules I miss is the healthy food guideline. Our old school was pretty strict on insisting on no junk and our current school is much more lenient. In the end it doesn’t matter I suppose because it doesn’t change what I pack for my own kids (sandwiches, cheese, yogurt, vegetables, fruit) but it does mean I sometimes have to listen to complaints about what everyone else brings from home. Meh. If everyone jumps off a bridge, etc etc.

So anyway yes, I miss the school back home quite a lot and I still check in regularly for new pictures and I took a peek to see who had replaced me as PPO secretary and Vice-Chair of the Governing Board. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some AMAZING things about the new school. For instance:

1. Art taught by a trained art teacher. Instead of just doing some basic artwork with the homeroom teacher, they’re taught by someone who teaches nothing but art, period. At Breanna’s level it’s just stuff in the classroom with her regular teacher because they’re still really young but Hayley has a teacher who graduated with an art degree and not only teaches them new techniques but also teaches art theory and history to them so they understand what and why they’re doing something. I really love that.

2. Music! They have a regular music program as part of their curriculum and each of them gets taught music twice a week. There was no music at the old school and I was always kind of sad about that. It makes me happy to know that they’re learning some age-appropriate music theory and about various instruments.

3. Violin. Seriously. Hayley is taking violin at the school right now. Once a week she goes to violin for one period of her day and every second week she has an extra lunch hour of violin. By the new year, if the kids taking it are still enjoying it they can continue with a bit more practice and will get to start bringing their instruments home to practice. I find this very exciting that something that can cost a fortune to study is being offered for free in the school. Hayley is enjoying it tremendously.

4. Choir. Do you sense a theme? Lots of creativity in this school! Hayley has joined the school choir and practices once a week as part of their music program and today she had her first performance at the school for their in-school Remembrance Day assembly. She told me she did really well and Hayley loves to sing so when she brought the permission slip home I didn’t even hesitate before signing her up. Dressed in black and white for choir:

Hayley dressed for choir in black and white.

5. No homework. No joke! Breanna’s only homework is to read two books with us and keep a reading log. I read with her every morning after breakfast and fill the reading log out and that’s it. That’s something we’d be doing anyway so it’s barely even work. Hayley also has a reading log to hand in once every two weeks and it’s not much work either because Hayley reads a lot all on her own anyway. She’s also had one presentation project to prepare but it didn’t take much time and last year she did presentations once a month on a variety of topics so it wasn’t too tough for her to do.

Other than that, there’s just no homework. No sheets of math to do or verbs to study. They get their work done in class. If they ever goofed off too much and didn’t finish up I think they’d have some extra catch-up to do but that’s it and it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t mind important homework but I hate obligatory busy-work and so I’m loving this school’s approach. It gives kids more time to be, you know, kids.

*******

Speaking of school, I’d like to take a moment to do the bragging Mom thing. The school had their parent-teacher night on Wednesday and although I couldn’t attend, George went and brought back excellent reports. Breanna’s doing very well, meeting all the expected targets for her grade and age and although she’s a bit shy sometimes she’s adjusted super well.

As for Hayley, she was described as being well above average in her class, very intelligent, and having a lot of talent for different subjects. There was one shock that came out on parent-teacher night about her. A few weeks ago one of her teachers spoke to George about the fact that Hayley is a bit too chatty in class and talks to her friends sometimes instead of paying attention. This isn’t news as this has been something we’ve heard before so we spoke to her about how important it is to really be there and listen and save chatting for outside.

The shock was when the same teacher told George on Wednesday that last week Hayley came up to her – without any prodding or suggestions from us – and said, “Miss, I know that sometimes I talk to much when I should be listening or doing my school work. I just want you to know that I’m going to work on not doing that.”

It blew me away, that was such a grown up thing to do and I had no idea until George told me. I told her I was very proud of her!

So thus far everything is going quite well with both girls in the new school and I’m fully expecting excellent report cards in a couple of weeks.

Learning to read

Posted on by

I still remember back when Hayley first started to learn to read back in 2008. It was so exciting to hear her putting those words together and making the connections of the sounds.

39/365

(And wow, is she ever small in that picture!)

Breanna doesn’t quite read fully yet but she’s starting to recognize words and as a result of that combined with some memorization, she’s just about there. Every Monday morning each kid in her class picks a small basket of books for the week. From that basket she picks two books to bring home to read.

Since I’m not home to do reading at bedtime I read to her every morning before school and fill out her reading log for her. Sometimes, though, she reads to me. She got a book called Hedgehog is Hungry on Thursday, practiced it a few times at school, then read it to me this morning when we finished doing breakfast and getting ready.

I love listening to her read to me.

If you’re curious, Hayley does all her reading at night. She reads chapters in her books or flips through a handful of her old favorite storybooks. Therefore, her thing in the morning is that she gets ready for school and as long as she’s all done in time she can play on the computer for about ten minutes.

Growing up is sad sometimes because you kind of want them to stay little, but learning to read is pretty exciting.

*******

Don’t forget to vote – it’s still open! I’m currently in third place which is pretty awesome. You can vote over here once every 24 hours until it closes. Thanks!

Catching up#1 – Hayley’s 9th birthday

Posted on by

Between learning a whole other brainful of new stuff at work and the fact that I’m now on a 1pm to 9pm shift, I’ve been sadly neglecting this site. I always mean to update in the mornings or on the weekends but mornings are when I try to squeeze in my yoga before catching my bus and weekends have been filled with other activities. By the time I get home from work I am definitely too tired to update at that hour and I prefer to spend the two hours before bedtime hanging out with George. Still, I hate losing so many days that I really do want to remember so I’m going to play a bit of catch-up over the next several days.

All the way back in September, September 20th to be precise, Hayley entered her last year of single digits by turning nine years old. It was a school day but she didn’t mind because she had already made some really good friends and one of them even gave her a few gifts, including a book and a necklace. The principal gave her a special birthday pencil and she got a notepad and card from her homeroom teachers.

As for me, luckily I was still on either my 8:30-4:30 or my 9-5 shift (I forget which now) so I was home in plenty of time to watch Hayley open presents and to enjoy a birthday dinner with her. George’s parents were still in town as well because they had come down for George’s cousin’s wedding, so they came for dinner along with George’s aunt, so we were able to have a little family party.

IMG_6279

Breanna picked out a cute little princess set with fancy shoes and a handbag; so many kids are growing up so much faster than we want them to so I’m very happy that Hayley still likes to play dress-up with princess gear.

IMG_6280

She also got some nice clothes to wear. That’s always handy because now that she doesn’t have to wear a uniform to school, I have to think more about what she’ll put on each morning. Then she opened her present from us, which was a pretty big hit. Since Hayley loves to sing (she even joined the choir at her school, I’m so happy about that!) we got her the Disney Karaoke game for the Wii which comes with a USB mic. She knows quite a few of the songs and has done pretty well in the scoring.

IMG_6284

(For the record I’d like to point out that I belted out Nick Jonas’ “Who I Am” and the Wii said I was – and I quote – AWESOME. So there.)

She also got a few, er, monetary gifts. I love how insane she looks here.

IMG_6287

She ended up using most of her birthday funds to go and buy herself a nice mp3 player that also plays video and has a camera (both still shots and video).

After a nice supper of pasta, as per the birthday girl’s request, we sand “Happy Birthday” to her and she got a nice big piece of cake.

IMG_6294

IMG_6296

IMG_6314

IMG_6315

All in all, she had a great day from morning straight through until bedtime.

IMG_6317

Still, though. Nine. NINE. I haven’t quite figured out how that’s possible, but nine it is!

The very first day

Posted on by

Today was a big day in our household since it was the first day of school. It meant the first day in a new school for Hayley and the first day ever for Breanna.

IMG_6086

(Hayley’s bag is on the left with a keychain she got at the end of last year from Breakfast Club and Breanna’s is the one with Super Mario on it.)

I was so incredibly happy that I got to come into work an hour (or so) later just so I wouldn’t have to rush off and miss the first day. We got to take them right to the school and go in with them. I think that helped with the nerves a little bit – theirs AND ours!

The kids each picked out their own outfits when we went shopping. Hayley’s choice:

First day!

Breanna’s sparkly choice:

First day!

Outside, ready to go with a combination of excitement and apprehension:

Ready to go

Since each of the kids needed to be in different areas of the building George and I split up; he took Hayley with him and I took Breanna. As a result I don’t have many pictures of Hayley but I think George might have taken a few extras on his phone so I’ll have to get those.

Breanna and I went to the gym with all the younger grades and she looked so small sitting on the floor amid so many other kids. She was very quiet, just looking around and taking it all in. I offered to take her sweater and stick it in her bag since it was quite warm but she knew she had a hook outside her classroom and insisted on wearing it until she could go hang it up in her designated spot.

Little

Once they called her name for her teacher’s class, she got up and filed out of the gym to go to her classroom for the first time. By then Hayley had also gone over to her own classroom so George headed over and got to see Breanna in her class before we left. I helped her find her desk, put her name tag on, and then she went to sit on the floor in front of her teacher.

Nerves

We said goodbye and then left so we could get to work and class could start. I’m very proud that I didn’t bawl. I did tear up but not until I had left. 🙂

I was actually quite happy to have to go to work since it gave me a distraction. Had I been home (I would have taken the whole day off if I could have) I would have ended up pacing most of the day until school was over.

It was so exciting to come home and hear all about their day. Hayley had been pretty nervous about being the new girl but she wasn’t the only one who was new to the school and all of her stories were positive. Her teachers are very nice and friendly and were eager to help her get settled, and she already had a few names of girls that she had talked to, including one that had asked her to play at recess.

Meanwhile Breanna was just brimming with excitement, telling me about how her teacher had read them three stories, including The Kissing Hand which was apropos since I had kissed their hands before taking them to school. Breanna even brought home her very first piece of school-made artwork based on the story.

First drawing

She also told me all about the toys in the classroom and that she had played with the wooden kitchen, some wooden blocks, and the sand table. She also ate every bit of food that I had sent her, not a surprise to me!

I’m so happy that they both had a good day. I know it will take a little while to really get settled in, but the school has a good vibe for me and I’m pleased with the teachers and the vice-principal that I met so far. We have a curriculum night coming up in a couple of weeks so I’ll get to know more about everything then, but so far so good.

I can’t believe I have two kids in school now!

A quiet Mother’s Day works for me

Posted on by

I had a nice quiet Mother’s Day so far today and honestly that’s exactly what I needed and wanted. It started off a little more exciting than I really needed though; just before 6 am I was woken up by a puking Breanna and that’s just never a good thing. It happened twice in the space of an hour and if you happened to hear a strange shattering sort of sound followed by tinkling that would have been my heart breaking when she tearfully asked me, “did I ruin Mother’s Day?”

After reassuring her that being sick most certainly did not ruin anything, I got her cleaned up and back to sleep for a little longer until she finally got up a little past 8 am. At that point she sat in the living room with Hayley and George and I snoozed a bit longer until George woke me up to tell me he was off to the store to get some bacon for brunch. Upon his return he brought me some coffee in bed and I laid back and read a bit (reading this book which is every bit as amazing as everyone has said) until I was called to the living room for brunch. Cooked by George and served by the kids.

Good morning

The kids also gave me their homemade cards and Hayley had made a couple of things in school; the nice thing about having classes in English and in French is you get double the stuff! They also both have a tradition of presenting us with something we already own and love (I don’t know if this is of their own brainstorming or if they got the idea from the Caillou Christmas DVD but either way it makes me smile every holiday) so Breanna had wrapped up one of my books and Hayley had wrapped up a photo of her as a week-old baby. I don’t know, I know that commercialism has attacked Mother’s Day much like it has done with other holidays and there’s some belief that you need to be showered with jewelry and whatnot but as nice as those things are, it’s the homemade presents that stand out to me.

Crafty

I had thought of maybe going to the park for an hour or two but with Breanna not feeling well I decided to pass on that. We did end up making it over to see George’s parents for a brief visit though we didn’t stay too long since they were going out for supper and we still weren’t sure whether Breanna was sick from a virus or just something that she ate.

When we got back, George made supper for us. Poor Breanna’s appetite was pretty low so she had a bowl of soup and we ate some delicious pasta. Afterwards we settled on the couch to watch some TV together but in the end Breanna wanted to go to bed earlier than usual. After a quick bedtime story she was passed out in under five minutes, a bucket on the floor beside her just in case. Unfortunately Hayley was starting to feel a bit off herself so I’m thinking the odds of this being food-related are pretty slim and it’s starting to look like a virus.

We were supposed to go see my parents tomorrow; we usually go on the Saturday but George had to work. At this rate though I’m not sure we’ll be able to. If everyone’s sick they’re not going to handle being in a car very well. We’ll see in the morning.

Strange sickness aside, it was a good Mother’s Day anyway. I had no humongous plans in store so nothing had to be put on the back burner (not that I would have minded anyway) and all I wanted to do was take it easy today which is exactly what I got to do for a large part of the day. Pretty good if you ask me.

Happy Mother's Day

In fact I still want to take it easy and there’s a cup of chamomile tea, a couple of chocolate chip cookies, and a book waiting for me. Happy Mother’s Day to anyone who is a mother, was a mother, wants to be a mother, has a mother, or had a mother. I hope your day was special in some way too.

Busy short week

Posted on by

This is going to be one of those fly-by weeks I think. First of all, Monday went by quickly even though I don’t really know why. I didn’t do anything in particular to move it along. I didn’t even pack anything since I’m running low on boxes. Still, I can’t believe that it’s almost time for bed.

On Tuesday I have a Governing Board meeting and I have no idea how long it will be; we missed our last meeting because it ended up canceled so we may have to catch up on a few extra items. Then I have a PPO meeting on Wednesday which is probably going to be short and sweet. Still, two meetings in a row this month!

As if I won’t spend enough time up at the school with those meetings, I then have Breakfast Club bright (dark) and early on Thursday morning. Whew!

I’m quite happy that at least Hayley’s off for Good Friday and Easter Monday so it’s just a four-day week, a nice four-day weekend, and another four-day week. I like that.

The weekend may be a blur too; on Friday we’re going to visit my parents to hook my dad up with a new-to-him computer since he’s been without a functioning PC for almost a year now. While we’re there I’m going to give him a lesson in how to use gmail, how to find both my blog and my sister’s blog, and remind him of how to use Facebook so he can get back into things online.

Then of course there’s Easter dinner at George’s parents’ house on Sunday and I don’t know if the kids will maybe be over there on Saturday as well, so it seems like it just might be busy busy. We’re picking up some boxes from a friend on the way home from seeing my parents so I’ll be able to get some more packing done at least!

*******

The good thing about getting my dad back online is that he and my mom will be able to go “ooh” and “ahh” over their newest granddaughter. My sister had her baby on April 9th and you can go read her birth story and see how beautiful my niece Claire is. I can’t wait to get out there and hold her for the first time! I wish I could see her in person now but she’ll only be about three months when I get there. That’s one of my favorite baby ages, really. At three months they’re still non-mobile so you can put them down in the middle of your living room floor, go get a drink of water, come back, and they’re still exactly where you left them. Meanwhile, they also becoming more and more interactive with the laughing and seeking out your face and it just a wonderful age. Auntie Sherry might need an intervention to put her down!

*******

On that note I should probably think about getting myself to bed since it’s almost 11 and I’m pretty tired.

End of year, beginning of summer

Posted on by

This week Hayley only had three days of school but they were pretty action-packed. In fact, the past week was pretty busy. We spent our Saturday swimming (well, okay, all the kids swam, I just hung out on my friends’ deck and hopped in the hot tub at their neighbor’s house) and then enjoyed dinner and an evening full of laughter among adults while the kids played downstairs.

Wee!

On Sunday there was a slight flurry of activity in the kitchen as the kids prepared breakfast in bed for George for father’s day; Hayley scrambled the eggs, Breanna made and (peanut)buttered the toast, and I handled the coffee. That was followed by visiting my dad and then having Chinese food over at George’s parents’ house for supper.

Father's Day breakfast

Father's Day breakfast

On Monday I was up bright and early because the school was having their annual Play Day. The kids were outside all day other than snack time and lunch time. The PPO rented bouncies (I was in charge of that and the two I chose were so much fun!), a dunk tank (a lot of grade six kids had a blast volunteering to be dunked), and a DJ for the gym. There was also a watermelon and freezies station, face painting, soccer, tug of war, hurdles, and other fun activities.

I was stationed at the face painting table and it ended up being perfect because due to the makeup we had to be in the shade to keep it from melting so I didn’t get overheated by the bright sun. At lunch we served hot dogs and that was a big hit.

Space Assault

Jurassic Survivor

I channeled my inner child by playing on the bouncies whenever the kids went inside. I can not lie, they were ridiculously awesome and I had fun.

Tuesday found me putting on (gasp!) a little black dress and heading out with some of the ladies from the PPO for dinner at a great restaurant for some end-of-year relaxation. The food was delicious (lobster tacos and homemade chips & sesame sticks with guacamole and hummus for appetizers, a glass of Pinot Noir, and I ordered salmon roasted in Pinot Noir and sea salt for my main meal, yummy), the atmosphere was very nice, and the company was outstanding. I’ll miss them over the summer and will especially miss the two who will not be returning next year since their kids are off to high school. Sniff.

Snackage

Dinner

Damn, we’re a bunch of good looking women. We were joined by the owner and of course I offered up my food-snapping photo services if he needs any, ahem. I’ll work for reasonable rates and more salmon.

PPO ladies

Finally, Wednesday rolled around and lo and behold it was the last day of school. The last day is always emotional. The bus drivers honk as they leave, the kids wave out the windows, and the teachers all line up on the sidewalk to wave them off. Last year was a tear-fest because our principal was leaving, and this year wasn’t much better because Hayley’s math teacher was retiring. I took a photo of her with Hayley and I warned her that if she cried I’d cry; she dabbed her eyes and informed me she’d been crying for at least half an hour so I was out of luck. I’ll miss her, because she was a tough teacher but she was a great match for Hayley last year for homeroom (she was a big help in the adjustment from Kindergarten to grade one) and Hayley learned a lot about math from her this year.

Alas, my photos are all still on my camera right now.

Hayley’s report card was very good and most of her marks went up from last term, so that’s great. Her teachers had wonderful remarks for each subject and I was especially pleased to see her French grades since Hayley was so worried about it at the beginning of the year.

I can’t believe that in a couple of months she’ll be getting ready for her first day of grade THREE. In the meantime though, there is sun and fun to enjoy over the summer and I’m very happy to get a break from 6:30 wake-ups (and 5:30 wake-ups on breakfast club days). Summer is a good thing!

Whew. There you go, we’re all caught up now! What have YOU been up to?