A Winter day in pictures

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Sherry

On Friday when Hayley got home from school both kids wanted to go outside. It was blowing snow like nobody’s business out there but I did what a mom has to do and bundled them – and myself – up as much as possible and ventured out. We only lasted about half an hour because the wind was brutal, dropping the temps down to -16 C (3F). Also, I need new boots because the ones I have are great for grip when it’s icy out but they only come above the ankles so when I’m in deep snow it all packs in there and my feet freeze.

Canada is fun in the winter, yes indeed!

Still, the kids had fun and I had fun watching them make snow angels and try to slide down the wee hill on the complex (next time we’ll take their sleds). And when I came back inside and got the dog, she had fun out in the snow too. Now that she’s over her, “wait, I don’t remember what this cold white stuff is” shock she goes completely crazy the second I open the door and take her out.

I’m trying not to count down to spring. Luckily the weekend saw an end to the wind so it’s not quite so bad.

Some photos from Friday:

I’d still rather be on a hot, sunny beach while I cool my feet in the Atlantic. How many more days until our next summer visit to Halifax?

The things I didn't do, the things I did

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Sherry

Today I had a sudden urge to clean up in a major way. Unless these types of urges hit me at inappropriate times (such as 11 pm or 15 minutes before I have to walk out the door) I generally try to run with them because to be perfectly honest I don’t love cleaning. Our home isn’t filthy but it’s often messy and I do the basics because I have to, not because cleaning is something that I naturally enjoy (I hear there are people who actually do enjoy it. I think they may be certifiably insane, but I can’t be sure.).

In the end I washed the breakfast and lunch dishes, made supper, and washed those dishes. I didn’t de-clutter or fold laundry or dust or any of the things that floated through my head in the morning. Hayley went out with her aunt and grandparents and they were coming back to pick Breanna up in the afternoon for supper. In the meantime she had nothing to do and was bored and lonely.

Instead of cleaning I helped Breanna make some soap with the (kid-safe) soap activity kit that her aunt gave her for her birthday. Then she had a huge bubble bath that contained more bubble than bath – though she decided not to use her new soaps so that she wouldn’t ruin them.

After that she helped me make some scrambled eggs for her lunch and once I had eaten a couple of sandwiches we embarked upon an epic Wii extravaganza, playing some party games and then some sports. Much to my embarrassment she kicked my ass at bowling. In the worst of the games she scored 178 while I managed 119. And I swear, I wasn’t trying to lose to make her feel better.

As if it’s not enough that she beats me at bowling she also laughs when I miss a spare and trash talks me while I set myself up. Sheesh.

In the end, my kitchen is clean. My living room is tidy as long as you don’t look at the fluff and dog hair and other things that spring up on the carpet at will. Beyond that, laundry still waits, papers are still unfiled, and my bedroom still resembles a warehouse more than a haven of great sleep.

But I don’t care because I made my daughter laugh (even if it was AT my expense) and we had fun. That’s more important.

One tired Friday

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Sherry

Have you ever just instantly felt completely exhausted? It’s not quite like the hit-by-a-truck sensation of the flu. The abrupt tired feeling I had was more like that sudden shift between enjoying a drink and realizing you shouldn’t have had that last one. I was fine today, albeit a bit tired, and then all of a sudden it was all I could do to move.

It’s probably related to the fact that I got up and went into the school for 7:30 this morning to have a meeting with the regional coordinator for the Breakfast Club. Although the club was finally able to start up they still sort of need more volunteers and I’m happy to help out once a week. I met with her and will probably get started next week, otherwise it will be the first week after Christmas break.

After that wrapped up I went upstairs and helped three other moms on the PPO because it was the day for counting up the money for the once-a-month pizza day. They were also counting up the money for the recent bread drive that they did (I can’t wait to get ours, the bread was so good last year). When two of the moms left, I went with the other one to the storage room to pick out some prizes to give to the top fundraisers, it will be fun to hand those out to the kids.

I didn’t get home until lunch time and FINALLY got a cup of coffee which was much-needed judging by the pounding in my head – ah, caffeine withdrawal, you are a massive bitch.

I got a few things for work done and then crazily took the kids out to play in the snow after Hayley got home. It was insane because although the base temperature was perfect, there was so much wind that it felt much colder, plus snow kept blowing in our faces. All we could handle was about 30 minutes.

I managed to go right back out with the dog and as soon as I could we came back in. Somehow I got the kitchen cleaned up and made supper, then cleaned up again since George’s sister and dad were coming over to visit.

By that point I was Done with a capital D. DONE. I went into the girls’ room to get Breanna’s pajamas and I ended up sitting on Hayley’s bed for a few minutes just because I couldn’t get back up. Had I gone to bed right then I would have slept like the dead.

Of course I didn’t and then caught a second wind so George and I watched two re-runs of Criminal Minds, but I can feel the sleepiness setting in slowly. I think I’d better get to bed before I experience a third wind. Bed sounds like a better idea.

Canadian pride

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Sherry

Normally I’m a quasi-Olympics fan. I like to watch them but won’t go out of my way to do it. I keep track of how Canada is doing, and if there are athletes competing that I particularly like then I check up on how they’re doing as well.

However, with the 2010 Winter Olympics being held in my own country (albeit at the complete opposite end!), there’s a certain level of excitement that I can’t ignore and I’m really looking forward to watching – and hoping that we don’t end up an embarrassed nation. There’s nothing more sad than the host country doing poorly!

In particular I enjoy watching the aerial skiing, alpine skiing, luge, and figure skating. Hockey is always fun too and seriously, Canada should totally win at that one so here’s hoping.

Today the Olympic Torch was coming to an area that allowed me to go and see it. I didn’t follow the torch route (though I might have for part of it if the kids were older) but the four of us went together to the end of the relay route to wait for its arrival. Yes, we kept Hayley out of school; I felt like it was a historic event that was really important for her to see and we wanted to see it as a family.

It was REALLY cold. It wasn’t technically that bad, but with the wind it was nuts, especially just standing around. Luckily the kids were well bundled up.

They also had a stage set up with some entertainment, including these guys who played drums and got the crowd all hyped up.

And then finally, after a lot of shivering, and after Hayley got to the point where she was just really cold, the Olympic Torch showed up. With it came a huge surprise for me. I had looked up the path and the destination and the schedule for the torch but I never looked to see who was going to be carrying it. It was mostly because I had figured it would be a local person I had never heard of. I was so excited when I found out it was being brought in by Josee Chouinard who is one of my favorite Canadian athletes.

I wish I could have gotten closer to take a picture without all the chains and stuff, but it was really packed. Still, it was really exciting to see the torch and to see her. I shouldn’t have been surprised since I tend to cry at the drop of a hat, but I was actually a bit unprepared for how emotional the whole thing was. It was so amazing to be there and I’m glad we got to go.

Next on my list of things I want to do to show my support – I desperately want the official red Olympic torch bearer mitts!

I know that today was probably not quite as exciting for Hayley (Breanna didn’t care, she was just happily playing in the snow the whole time) because of her age, but I think she’ll be happy to look back on it when she gets older and knows that she got to take part in a historical Canadian event.

I guess we were due by now

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Sherry

Our November was amazing by Eastern Canadian terms. The temperatures weren’t unbearable and we didn’t even get any snow (at least not any that stuck to the ground) until the very last day.

So I guess that we were finally due to get a big kick-your-ass blizzard. Which we did. The big disappointment was that while we were all hoping for a snow day (hello, sleeping in!) the snow didn’t actually start until almost 8 am so they remained open.

The thing is, although it got a late start, it didn’t stop all day. In fact, just over 12 hours later, it’s still coming down and hard. These two photos were taken about four hours apart. The first one was about two hours into the snowfall (the table had been bare prior to today) and the second one was four hours after that. Which was about four hours ago from this very moment that I’m typing at 8 pm.

(It’s higher now and the wind has blown up so high against the sliding doors that I can no longer see out unless I stand up.)

The worst part is the wind. Just plain old snow wouldn’t be the end of the world but the wind is blowing it every which way. In these photos of the streets, that’s not blur or overexposure or what have you, that’s snow being blasted straight across the street. Yep.

Of course it wasn’t enough to stop me at 7:30 tonight when I realized that a) I desperately wanted chips and b) we had exactly zero chips anywhere. My salt addiction is such that, after about four days without any, I had to have some tonight and so I bundled up, leashed Pearl, and walked to the store. In a blizzard. Out on the street because we have no sidewalks right now. And I did it willingly.

That’s dedication.

Here’s hoping that it stops sometime overnight but the forecast says otherwise. Ah well. It IS December and this IS Eastern Canada. At least we’re faring better than the prairies at -30C and worse. See? It really can always be worse (stay warm if that’s where you are right now!).

How’s your weather right now?

Our Advent activity calendar so far

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Sherry

This season, inspired by Andrea, I created an advent calendar full of activities instead of chocolate (the kids aren’t deprived, they still have the chocolate one too), with one thing for each day up until December 25th. I thought it was such a great idea, so I used a variety of papers and leftover gift bags to make envelopes, strung up a cord across our living room entertainment unit, and used clothes pegs to hang them.

So far they’ve been a big hit, even if some of the activities are quieter than the others. On day one we started simple, doing manicures and pedicures for Hayley and Breanna. They loved that, especially Breanna who is becoming very girly about makeovers and whatnot.

On day two we wrote letters to Santa. Hayley decided she’d like a Fur Real dog to go with the cat she got last year and Breanna wanted a rocket ship. I’m sure Santa will be able to find both lying around his workshop.

Day three brought out the scissors and they made some paper snowflakes, some of which are decorating the wall over the couch:

Day four was a HUGE hit (and was not photographed for obvious reasons) because they got to have a candlelit bubble bath. They thought it was the coolest thing ever and unfortunately it has caused them to become completely unimpressed with regular old run-of-the-mill baths now. Alas.

For day five we had Family Game Night – Wii Edition. We played a couple of party games that I had received for review (look for that on the review blog later this week), then moved on to Wii Sports. Somehow it seems that my kids are bowling demons and they showed up both George and myself. Hayley threw numerous strikes and Breanna nearly made me faint as she ended up throwing turkeys (three strikes in a row) with ease. We played in teams; Breanna and I won both games against George and Hayley and I fully confess that our win had very little to do with me.

Day six was the day we decorated the Christmas tree, something that always goes over well. This year was especially fun since they’re now both old enough to understand that you generally put one ornament per branch instead of, you know, ten on one branch like other years.

Yesterday was day seven and I needed something relatively quick and easy since I had a Governing Board meeting at the school. I slipped in the paper for making pine cone bird feeders. Those are fun and so simple to do, albeit a bit messy.

All you need to do is tie a string to the top of a pine cone, coat the edges with peanut butter, and then just roll the whole thing in a bowl of birdseed. Once they were both done with their feeders (two each), I tied them all to a cord and strung them out on the balcony.

Today we ended up doing a pizza picnic in the living room with a movie (George chose Monsters Inc. since we’re saving Christmas movies/shows for another Advent day). The kids love having picnics in the living room and naturally pizza is always a hit so that worked out well.

I haven’t decided which activity to slip inside tomorrow’s envelope. If we get the big snowfall we’re supposed to be getting, maybe we’ll go for building a snowman.

I’m loving this Advent Calendar and will definitely keep all my envelopes to use again next year!

Putting the holly in the jolly

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Sherry

On Sunday I was finally able to turn the living room from “meh” to “holly jolly”. In fact there’s so much holly and so much jolly that I can’t stop smiling when I walk in the room and really, I don’t do that often.

I pulled the boxes out of storage in the morning and when I let the kids read their activity in their Advent Calendar it told them we were going to decorate the tree. They were pretty excited and they love to help. While I do dream of one day owning a ginormous tree, I must admit that the 4-foot tree is really the perfect height for young kids; even Breanna can reach the top branches when it’s on the floor, and I have to say it’s nice to move it up out of the way so that no one falls into it while running around or playing with the dog (not that anything of that sort would ever happen here, I’m sure, ahem).

I also have the lights up around my china hutch which is one of my favorite decorations and I usually keep lighting that up well into the late winter just because it looks pretty and gives the living room some nice soft light. In the meantime, I had a few spare strings of lights so I even put one in the corner of the kids’ room, another in the main bedroom, and one in over the kids’ computer in the living room.

Combined with the other decorations (homemade paper snowflakes, wreath on the door, Santa’s clothesline, snowmen, etc), it’s all I can do to keep from blasting Christmas music all day long. I’m feeling so festive it’s disgusting.

But don’t worry, it will pass. Nothing kills the holiday spirit like knowing you still need to do all your Christmas shopping.

*******

Just like every year since it began, I’m taking part in Holidailies and will be updating most days (probably not all days since it is the holiday season) between December 7th and January 6th so you can expect a lot of ~~total drivel~~ brilliance over here throughout. Are you taking part too?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Sherry

So, although it all melted by today, it snowed yesterday. This didn’t thrill me too much, especially since it required me to haul snowsuits and winter boots out of the cupboard at 6:30 in the morning. However, there was one very excited person in this family.

For a good month Breanna has been waiting only semi-patiently for the snow to arrive. She was so ecstatic that I ended up taking outside before 10 am just so she could go and play. It wasn’t a ton of snow but it was enough for her to make snow angels, build a snow creature (it wasn’t quite enough for a snowman!), and generally have a ball.

I have to admit it wasn’t all bad. I suppose. At least it was pretty.

Okay fine, I lived. Just ask me how I feel about it by March.

*******

All this snow is a good way to get me to participate in the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge today. Every day there’s a theme and since I’ll be doing Holidailies like I generally do every December it will come in handy from time to time.

Today’s theme is “Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?” Well. Let me think about that. Ummm. Hmmm. Oh right. Duh, that would be our three week trip to Halifax.

I mean really. I got to attend my sister’s wedding, hang out with George’s cousin, and spent a lot of time looking at the ocean. The seafood was pretty good too.

Yes, I would definitely say that my trip to Halifax was by far the best trip I’ve taken in YEARS, let alone in 2009.

How about you?

(It should be stated for the record that looking at all of my photos of Halifax make my heart ache.)

Like aunt, like niece

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Sherry

It’s not uncommon to – even involuntarily – compare your kids to their parents. Is she more like Mom or more like Dad? When it comes to Breanna though, she has a habit that always reminds me of my sister which is funny since they don’t see each other very often due to Geography so it’s not something that she picked up from her aunt.

When Amanda was younger and going to school I vividly remember that my mother had a particular way of packing her lunch on certain days. My sister loved a ham and cheese sandwich. However, she didn’t care for it as an actual sandwich. My mom would pack a couple of slices of buttered bread, a few slices of deli ham, and a slice of cheese. All the pieces you need to make a ham and cheese sandwich, but they had to be packed separately.

Once it was lunch time, Amanda would then eat the individual pieces of her non-sandwich and she loved it. God forbid you actually built the sandwich for her though, because then she lost interest. It was a funny quirk and from what I remember it was only that particular sandwich that had to remain disassembled. Also, as far as I know she now eats all her sandwiches as actual, you know, sandwiches.

Fast forward many years (not too many, we’re not THAT old. Much. Yet.) and here we have Breanna. Breanna loves when we order Chinese food although in truth she mostly only wants the egg rolls. She’ll eat a few bites of other random things but the egg rolls are the main attraction and she’s been known to devour many of them in one sitting and then eat the leftovers for breakfast. I know.

Last night she wanted us to order Chinese but to be more budget-friendly we bought a box of frozen egg rolls and I just made those with some rice and vegetables. That was just as good as far as Breanna was concerned – more egg rolls for her!

Regardless of whether it’s take-out or frozen egg rolls, Breanna has a particular way of eating them. She won’t pick them up and eat them like your average person will. She bites the end off and then she essentially peels it. As she goes on through her meal she will eat the battered “peel” of the egg roll and then she eats the inside.

Essentially she’s eating the entire egg roll in one sitting, just not in one piece. It’s weird to me but she likes it that way and she doesn’t waste any of the food so I can’t complain. However, as I watched her eat one at lunch today it struck me that she’s just like my sister in that way, at least at a young age.

Kids are peculiar beings. I wonder if she’ll eat them that way forever or if she’ll eventually eat the whole thing at once.

(Then again I used to nibble the cheese off of my cheesies before eating the middle so what can I say? Maybe my family just breeds strange eaters?)

Did you have any weird eating habits as a kid?

Lazy can be a virtue too

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Sherry

Last night we went to a birthday party and had such a great time that we somehow ended up staying until just before 1 am. We never intended to stay so long but the kids were quietly playing together with absolutely no issues and the adults were all hanging out in the kitchen having great conversations and we all lost track of time. As a bonus, both our kids went to sleep very quickly when we got home (obviously) and we all slept in until about 9 or so this morning, so that was a nice bonus too.

I’ve often said that Sunday never really gets to be as lazy and relaxing as it used to be, but today was pretty close. We lazed around for awhile and George made us brunch (bacon and eggs), then I think that the biggest effort I made was when I went out for about half an hour with the dog. The rest of the time I worked a bit, hung out with Breanna while George and Hayley went grocery shopping, and generally enjoyed the day.

It seems like all that time I was mourning the lack of lazy Sundays all I needed to do was keep the kids up until some ridiculous hour at a party. Who knew?

Chaos Theory

Author Archives: Sherry