according.to.kim

PI 29/52: Where I stand

Where I stand, there's no end to the number of things that need to be done. Sunday afternoon I painted the bathroom wall and a piece of trim (MDF) so we could reinstall the towel bar and hooks. The towel bar and one of two hooks had (in separate incidents) become detached from the wall -- taking a bunch of the wall with them. Lovely. About six coats of compound later, we decided we needed a better way to secure the bar and hooks, so we screwed the board to the wall (to three studs) and then attached the towel bar and hooks to that. They aren't going anywhere now!

It looks and feels (in more ways than one) like Fall has arrived. The weather turned chilly this week. We went from six days of 30C+ weather to 18, and then 12. We had to cover our tomatoes overnight for the first time this year.

Our full calendar is another reminder that Fall is here (essentially). We've been super busy this month, and I can't believe it's the 15th already.

Sophia is running in cross country again this year. She's been to a few practices and two of four multi-school meets. She's doing very well, placing 9th last Thursday and 3rd today. Dozens compete (more than 75, I think), so it's quite an accomplishment to place in the top 10!

Sophia and Madeline have been to ringette conditioning camp nine of 12 times already. It ends next week on the 22nd, and then we'll have a week or two break before evaluations begin. (Yay!) Madeline also participated in the Come Try Ringette event last Saturday. Happily, her name was drawn for a new stick so we don't have to buy one for her. Sophia won a stick at the same event last year.

Irish dance lessons started this week for all three girls. This is Georgia's first year and she's very excited to finally have her turn! She's been waiting her whole life. This is Sophia's 7th year and Madeline's 5th. We'll be heading to the dance studio four times a week this year: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Ack! It's Madeline's first year of hard shoe, and she has separate classes for soft shoe and hard shoe. Sophia's soft shoe and hard shoe lessons are back-to-back.

Sophia is also taking piano lessons which is just once a week, thankfully. It hasn't been easy to get her to practice the past three weeks with the fantastic weather we were having and being so busy with ringette camp. I hope we can get her into an acceptable routine with this. She wanted to continue with piano this year, so she needs to put some effort into it! We've already decided this will be her last year in piano as she can participate in band at school next year.

In summary, Georgia has one activity, Madeline has two, and Sophia has three, plus cross-country in September and track in May. Sophia seems to need more organized activities, so I think this is fine for her, but she also has much more homework than ever before -- which is challenging for all of us! I spent a full hour helping her with homework this evening, and we didn't even finish. She'll have to finish it before her 8:00 am cross-country practice tomorrow.

Technicolor vision

I took many photos at the Irish pavilion yesterday where my daughters danced and my husband and I volunteered. While our pavilion is very lively and fun, it's certainly not one of the most colourful. This was the best I could do for my Picture Color prompt! But the scene does offer "a kind of technicolor merriment," don't you think?

I'm glad to have this photo because it represents our evening quite well. Neil was behind the bar from about 6:00 p.m. to midnight, and I sold bar tickets from 8:30 to 11:15 p.m. That was a new experience for me. I've never handled so much money in my life! We had three tills running with six people (one to make change and one to give tickets for each till). The line was solid almost the entire 2.75 hours, and we were selling tickets pretty darn fast. The volume was incredible.

Our day at the pavilion started much earlier, though. We ran the Children's Program from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We had two crafts: a shamrock keychain (made with pony beads, pipe cleaner, and key ring) and an Irish flag bracelet (made with pony beads, cord, and lanyard hook).We also had Irish dancers from Prairie Gael in full costume (including our own children) teaching basic dance steps. We estimate over 80 kids participated which was a great turn out. Many thanks to Laurel, Bronwyn, and Donna for helping with the crafts!

Sophia and Madeline also performed on stage in the 2:05 and 4:15 shows, while our niece Bronwyn danced at 3:05 and 5:30 p.m. They all danced so well! I love watching them. All four girls (and Dash) went to Avonlea with their grandparents after B's performance. This allowed Laurel, Neil, and me to volunteer all evening. Fun and exhausting! The pavilion closed at midnight, and then we helped clean up/tear down for over an hour. I didn't get to bed until 2:00 a.m. Long, long day.

I'm not going into too much detail about our 2011 Mosaic. I wrote an epic post about it last year: Mosaic 2010. The main differences from last year are: I didn't dance (this year was so much easier; huge difference!); Sophia and Bronwyn didn't dance together (for the first time in 6 years); Sophia and Bronwyn performed hard shoe dances; I volunteered for bar tickets (last year, I cleaned tables all evening); and we were able to go to more pavilions this year (Greek, Filipino, Chinese, Francophone, Brazilian, and Korean).

Changing of the guard

One of my tulips today. It'll be the first to bloom in our little patch. Yes, they're quite late! I was lucky to have a few minutes to shoot this photo between getting home from the conference and the kids coming home from school.

As soon as Sophia and Madeline were home from school, they got into their dresses and I got their hair ready for their dance performances at Mosaic (5:05 and 6:05 pm). Sophia performed her fast reel (soft shoe) with Sarah, and St. Patrick's Day (hard shoe) solo. Madeline danced in a large ceili choreography with nine others. They both danced very well! We're glad L&B were there, as well as Darren, Ali, Gabe, and Avery for the second performance. After that, we went to a couple other pavilions: Francophone and Brazilian. Bronwyn came with us and Laurel met us at the Brazilian pavilion just in time for the 9:00 pm show. Wowza! What a show at the Brazilian pavilion! Truly amazing, and totally worth the 45-minute wait.

PI 11/52: In the distance

Taken Saturday en route to Avonlea to have dinner at Donna and Lou's. The sky wasn't what I had hoped to capture for this prompt. Oh well; I didn't have time to go for another shot on a brighter day. This photo was extremey dull SOOC, but I hit it with some Pioneer Woman actions: lighten, sharpen, boost, and edge burn at 50% opacity. (And it's still pretty dull!) Two things strike me about this shot: (1) That it was May 7 and there's not a speck of green in sight. Seeding was delayed this year due to the very wet spring; and (2) The old barn and graineries make it seem like this photo could have been taken 50 years ago.

My mother-in-law, Donna, had knee replacement surgery on Monday (her second one) and I hope she's doing well. I know she was in a great deal of pain the first day, but I think it's a little better now. I wish her speedy healing!

P.S. On Tuesday, Sophia had another quad meet (four schools). She got 3rd in triple jump and 4th in 200m.

On Wednesday evening, I took Madeline to her last Music for Young Children class. Over the past two years, she learned a great deal about music in Sunbeams 1 and 2 (and so did I!), but it was time to close the book on this one. I don't know why, but Madeline started detesting piano practice around the beginning of 2011. She would complain and cry through the whole thing, every time. It was painful and we're both glad it's over! She's going to play ringette and continue Irish dancing next year, so I think it would have been too much anyway. Sophia, on the other hand, will be doing all three (piano, ringette, and dance), but I'll think she'll be fine with it, as it's no change from this year.

On Thursday evening (May 12), Neil and I took Madeline, Sophia, and Bronwyn to dance at a fundraising dinner. They performed at 6:00 p.m., so it was a bit of a scramble after I arrived home at 5:15 p.m., but we made it. I didn't do their hair at all (no wigs), so that was a big time saver. We just ensured it was off their faces. Madeline danced a beginner reel and single jig, a couple of dances she knew well at one time but hasn't practiced recently. She had a few mistakes in both and was a little upset about it backstage. Sophia and Bronwyn performed St. Patrick's Day (hard shoe) for the first time in front of an audience, as well as the slip jig and their new reel (soft shoe). Sophia had a little mistake in St. Patrick's Day, but she recovered very well and continued in sync to the end. Bernie was impressed. :)

Also, Neil helped tie rosaries at school for both Sophia and Madeline's classes, on two separate days.

PI 4/52: How things stack up

This week, Tracey encouraged us to actively create our image (rather than wait to discover something stacked). I had just made a scrapbook layout with a bunch of buttons on it, and I remembered a great photo of stacked buttons from one of the previous Picture classes. Plus, I like rainbows!

***

Sophia (grade 4) and Madeline (grade 2) received their second report cards yesterday. They are both doing very well in school. Sophia "excels" in physical education, arts education, mathematics, and science (not every single point within these categories, but most of them). Sophia has always been very physical and active, and her artistic abilities amaze me, so it was nice (and not surprising) to see these things reflected on her report card. It's also great to see the math and science items! Madeline "excels" in almost every area except physical education (she's "meeting outcomes" in that area).

***

I found this stack as is; I didn't touch a thing. (My dear husband deals with all of the lunch packing and unpacking. Yes, I'm very grateful!) Normally, I would hesitate to take a photo using the flash, but it was already dark and I wanted to capture this slice of our current life, so I took the photo and I'm glad I did. (The little one on top is used for Georgia's preschool snack.)

***

Last night, in the middle of the night, Georgia asked me what day spring starts. I said it started a couple days ago, to which she replied, "Okay, then what day is the snow going to be gone?" Other than being awakened at 4:00 a.m., I thought it was funny that she was thinking about this in the middle of the night. (What's not funny is that winter has returned! It's going to be -27 C with the wind chill tonight. Sheesh.)

***

When I put a hair net over Sophia's curly dance wig on the weekend, I was surprised and impressed with how the ringlets appeared. Only when I was looking through my photos on the computer did they strike me as looking like stacks of curls.

Last busy weekend (for now)

On Saturday afternoon, Sophia and Madeline performed at the William Booth Special Care Home. There were just 12 dancers and it was a long show (almost 40 minutes), so they each did three dances. One of the dance instructors, David, also played two songs on the flute. It was a really nice show, and the girls danced well. I enjoyed it! Plus, this was the first time the show was longer than the time I spent on the girls' hair! I think that made it even better for me. When Sophia and Madeline saw this photo, they both said they liked the man on the far left because he clapped while they were dancing. I thought that was cute and nice that they noticed.

On Sunday, we went to Spring Free From Racism at noon. Sophia's friend Meghan came with us. The girls danced at 1:00 p.m. (10-minute show) and then we stayed for another couple hours, eating some great food and watching other dance groups. For awhile, the girls sat on the floor in front of the first row of seats so they could have a good view. They also got their faces painted just before we left. We have been going to this event for many years now (I'm guessing 7 or 8 years) and I noticed that it's getting easier as the girls get older. I've always enjoyed this event, but it was never very easy to be there with little ones (as I think about diapers and spills and such). Now they can go to the washroom and peruse the vendors on their own. Amazing!

From Spring Free, we went straight to the Cooperators Centre for Sophia's fourth play-off game. Sophia had her heart set on not playing goal as she believed it was their last game and she wanted to "skate around," but the coach wanted her to play goal. She was quite unhappy as she got ready to play. I tried my best to cheer her up and explain that the team needed her to do this important job. It was tough. Plus, they were short three of their top players due to illness and travel, and that makes a huge difference. The Sticks of Fury lost 7-3. It was kind of a sad way to end the season. At least we have a good wind-up planned (three weeks away), so the girls will get to have some fun together once again.

PI 3/52: What's your motif?

This lovely star burst marks the spot where I fill my coffee cup every morning. I'm glad I found this motif during the week. I think it suits me -- I love circles. And coffee. :)

I've been wanting to post more frequently with shorter posts, but for some reason I'm having trouble doing that. I know it's partly because I'm doing more scrapbooking with BSS, but I still want to blog more often. I do so much better when I connect blogging to another commitment such as daily photos. The Picture Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter series were great for that, but I'm not prepared to do daily photos all year. I'm trying to come up with another device to help me write more regularly. Perhaps I'll take these classes. I'm intrigued!

Let's see, what has happened since the 10th?

Sophia has played three play-off games (ringette). They lost the first one, with Sophia in net. It was a pretty good game for the most part. The Sticks of Fury were down just 2-0 at the break, and it ended 9-4 with many of the goals happening near the end. Sophia's team won their second game, 10-7. Sophia scored two goals and had a nice assist in that one. That was a fun game to watch, and I was the scorekeeper. The third game was terrible. The Sticks of Fury lost badly to a team they had just defeated 10 days earlier (Mar 6). The final score was 13-6, but it was more like 20-6 (they only mark a 7-point difference during the play-offs, and it's only 5 during the regular season). Sophia's team was missing three players for that game, and two of them are top players. They play their fourth play-off game tomorrow on the 20th. Wish them luck!

Sophia and Madeline, and three other students at their school, performed a few Irish dances during assembly and later in their classrooms on March 16 (no school on the 17th or 18th). The girls were very excited to do this. They wore their Prairie Gael dresses, bubble socks, and gillies. Neil was there running the music for them. They're also performing at a nursing home this afternoon and at Spring Free From Racism tomorrow. We're always busy with performances the week of St.Patrick's Day and Spring Free (always near March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination).

Otherwise, it's been business as usual at work and home, with a sprinkling of scrapbooking excitement for me. I will write more about those things later. One thing I will mention, though, is that Bite-sized Scrapbooking now has subscribers in six countries: Australia, Canada, England, Japan, New Zealand, and United States. Isn't that cool?!

PI 2/52: Finding a little rhythm

Rhythm: Harmonious sequences or patterns... I spotted these ones on Georgia's mitten on Saturday.

Last weekend was pretty busy, but not overly crazy. I'll start with Thursday evening since Sophia had a ringette game. They played one of the top teams and lost 9-4. Sophia played goal.

I had Friday off work (the last of a good long stretch of Fridays off) and the kids had no school. Neil took Sophia to her piano lesson at 2:15 (moved from Saturday to accommodate ringette practice) and all three girls went to K4J in the evening. I managed to get a few things done that day, including my monthly photo tasks for February pictures. Very good to have that done so early in the month!

On Saturday, I took photos every waking hour, starting at 7:00 a.m. Why? Ella Publishing had issued a page call for a photo-an-hour layout to be submitted by March 17. I've never submitted a layout for anything before, so that wasn't the impetus for me; I just thought, yeah, it would be good to document a whole day again, so I'll do it! (I have "one day in my life" layouts from May 2006 and Nov 2009, and both are very detailed in words but not photos.) I chose Saturday since I knew we had a variety of things going on, and I set my calendar to email me every hour. Even with reminders, this was challenging! I managed to take over 280 photos on Saturday, but there was one hour in which I only took two photos. Happily, they turned out well. I am now working on my layout (digital), bit by bit, hoping to complete it by the 17th. It's good to have a deadline and I may as well send it in!

In the morning, we went to the Farmer's Market in the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre to pick up eggs for my mom, and then to Sophia's ringette practice. I could have taken Sophia by myself, but the other girls really wanted to go, too, so we all went. Madeline and Georgia were bored the whole time. Why did they want to go? Why didn't we take something for them to do? Mysteries of the unexplained. The older sister of another player kindly let Georgia play games on her iPod Touch for a little while.

After lunch, we all went to my niece's ringette game. (This time, I grabbed two DSis on my way out the door and then learned they were both dead on the way to the game. Gah!) It was the Icebreaker's last regular season game (and B's last game since she'll be away during the play-offs) and it was a great one to watch. The Icebreakers came from behind and were up by one point with just a minute or two left, and then the other team tied the game with 5 seconds left on the clock!

After the game, we headed home and cleaned up the living room knowing our friend Steve and his dog, Chloe, were coming over at 4 p.m. for a doggie play date. Plus, all the girls showered or bathed to get ready for their evening dance performance. After supper, I spent some time getting the curly hair pieces attached to Sophia and Madeline's hair. With so much less hair on their heads now, it was quite a challenge! The hair pieces are designed to work with a bun, so I had to attach a fake bun (a doughnut-shaped form) to Madeline's head and then attach the curly hair piece to that. I used about 25 bobby pins in her hair alone, but it worked! The girls got dressed at home and we headed to Holy Trinity.

We arrived at 7:30 p.m. for the 8:00 p.m. dance performance. It was an Irish/St. Patrick's Day-themed fundraiser for the church. Sophia and Bronwyn performed three dances together (their new reel, single jig, and slip jig), and Madeline danced three times with various other students (light jig and beginner reel twice). The show was 30 minutes long which is very long for Irish dance because the dances are so short. Afterward, Sophia stayed overnight at L&B's.

Here's another photo representing rhythm (I distorted the girls' faces for public sharing). Madeline is on the far right.

Sunday afternoon, Madeline had her friend, Mattea, over for a play date. Madeline was thrilled about this as she hadn't had anyone over for a very long time. We all went to Sophia's ringette game mid-afternoon. It was their last regular season game. Mom and Dad came to watch the game on their way home from North Battleford. Laurel and Bronwyn were there, too. The Sticks of Fury won 7-5 and Sophia scored a hat trick (her second this year)! Great game to have extra fans in attendance! Madeline, Mattea, and Georgia didn't watch the game, but they had fun sipping hot chocolate, sharing a slushy drink, and playing with some other ringette siblings. After the game, Mom and Dad picked up their dog, Buffy, who had been at our house since Friday morning.

Many repeating patterns inside the Cooperators Centre.

 

On Monday, Laurel called me after lunch and reminded me that she was taking me to see Sarah McLachlan that evening! I had forgotten completely, so that was a nice surprise. (Note to self: Always email important info to myself!) We ate supper at our house, then Neil took all the girls to Sophia and Bronwyn's dance class, while Laurel and I went to the concert. It was a great evening and concert. Sarah shared the stage with two other singers, Melissa McClelland and Butterfly Boucher, for nearly three hours. Rather than having a separate opening act, the three women sang and played back-up for each other throughout the entire concert. That was cool and they worked very well together. I also enjoyed Sarah's Q&A segments, in which she answered questions written down by audience members before the show and during intermission. My favourite part of the concert was Sarah's encore performance of Angel. (Surfacing is the only album of hers that I'm familiar with, and I listened to it a lot back in the day.)

I don't know why, but I was in a bit of funk over the past week. Nothing major; just feeling a little weary and lackluster. Perhaps it was a touch of the winter blues. While I'm not a fan of the cold weather (hot summer days are my favourite!), it usually doesn't bother me -- I have good warm clothes and I don't have to spend a lot of time outside -- but on Monday morning when I heard the wind chill was -37, I was totally disgusted. I thought, 'are you kidding me?! this winter is never going to end!' And I grumbled as I left the house.

Well, I'm already feeling better. Spring is just around the corner, right? Sophia has her first play-off game tonight, and I'm looking forward to this weekend with only one activity on the calendar (Sophia's piano lesson). Amazing!

State of the union

For the past five months (October through February), we have been extremely busy. The busiest time of our life -- so far. (I won't say it can't get busier because every year proves otherwise!) With ringette (plus other activities), Christmas season, birthday season, building and launching BSS, and two weekend trips to Alberta (Edmonton in November and Medicine Hat in February), we have not had much time for regular household chores or projects -- and it shows. Oh, does it show. I can hardly stand it. I'm really itching to get some things done around the house, and I'm hoping to have more time for that in the coming months. But will I? Let's see...

Ringette is winding down. Sophia's team has just one practice and six games left on the schedule at this point (2 regular season and 4 play-off games), and perhaps another game or two if they advance. In any case, ringette will end in March, and this will be a significant change. I really love watching ringette but it will be great to get that time back! (Both Sophia and Madeline will play next season. We absolutely must get some house projects completed before October!)

The girls have a couple dance performances scheduled in March, so those are extra things on the calendar. And they will probably have a couple more shows before Mosaic, as well. Speaking of Mosaic, Neil and I will need to do some work to prepare the Children's Program. This begins in March as we look for discounted St. Patrick's Day craft materials. Also, I should start going to my dance class again if I'm going to dance at Mosaic. I had thought I would participate in a group dance, but now I'm on the fence about it. I really could use those Tuesday evenings!

What else?

• Bite-sized Scrapbooking is moving along nicely. I have ongoing work to do for this, but it is not as time- consuming as the building phase. Plus, I'm making a layout every week. I love that!
• I'm going to have to set aside some time to do our taxes, aren't I? Boo.
• The girls only have ten piano lessons left! Their recital is in mid-May, and we need to do a lot more practicing over the next ten weeks. This has really been neglected the past few months.
• I'm planning to get the 20th volume of my blog (September-December 2010) printed in a Blurb book this month. This always takes a few hours. And before long, I'll have January-April 2011 to do. I want to get caught up on this!
• We have decided not to enroll the kids in any spring activities. We parents need a time and budget break, and I think the kids could use more spare time, too. I will put the girls in summer swimming lessons, though. Plus, we'll consider skating lessons or ringette camp, but maybe not until September.
• I am taking a week off work in May (the week of Victoria Day). This will be the first time EVER that I will have a week off that we're not going somewhere. Seriously, I have never been off work AND home for an entire week! I am determined to stay home during that week. All I want is to do is tackle some house projects. I can't wait!

So, it looks like our calendar will still be quite full for March, but then April, May, and June (except Mosaic week) are looking pretty good, time-wise. The summer months should be great! There's always more yard work to do, but no evening activities, and (like the past two years) I'm planning to have every Friday off from June to mid-October.

Player of the Game X2

Sophia played two more ringette games today. They lost the first and won the second. In the second game, Sophia played goal and earned Player of the Game on her team! The Sticks of Fury defeated the Blue Jaguars from Saskatoon with a score of 9-6. It was a great way to finish the tournament for these girls. They lost two, tied one, and won one. We're pretty sure they aren't advancing to the play-offs.

Bronwyn's team also won their fourth game (they lost three and won one) and Bronwyn earned Player of the Game on her team, too! It's so cool that these cousins, both in their first year of ringette, both received this honour today. So cool. :)

P.S. We went home between games and got Madeline ready for her dance performance. Friends picked her up at 11:30 a.m. Madeline, Maren, and Desirae performed their Slip Jig at the Cornwall Centre at 12:20. for the Mid-Winter Ceilidh. Afterward, Madeline stayed with Maren and her family. They had lunch downtown and then went back to their house. Madeline really enjoyed her time with them. Meanwhile, after Sophia's last game, the Sticks of Fury team (and families) gathered at Dairy Queen for ice cream.

P.P.S. This evening, I went to the Globe Theatre with my friend, Maureen. We saw Having Hope at Home. I really enjoyed it! Thanks again, MJ!

I <3 ringette and BSS

After Picture Winter, I joined a group called Prompt Addicts, formed by some of my Picture Winter classmates. It's free and there's just one prompt per week so I'm going to try to participate. So far, so good! The first prompt was hearts. I was rather surprised by the dark background in this photo because the room was pretty well lit (morning sun through the back door) and I used ISO 800. I like how it turned out, though. (These candies were given to us by a cousin who had too many after making a craft, I think. I tried one and I think crafting is the best use for them!)

We had a big day today. I was off work. Georgia and Henry (Neil's childcare child and Georgia's friend) were supposed to go to preschool this morning, but it was cancelled. I managed to get a little housework done, plus some work on BSS despite the power being out for a little while.

Sophia is playing in a ringette tournament in Regina this weekend and it started today. She got to miss school all afternoon. Her first game was at 2:00, and I had rescheduled her piano lesson to 12:30 today due to a ringette conflict tomorrow. I picked her up from school and took her to piano, then straight to her game. They didn't play their best and lost 9-2. Neil, Georgia, and Henry had come to watch, too. After the game, they picked up Madeline from school and went home. Madeline needed to practice her Slip Jig as she's performing in the Mid-Winter Ceilidh tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Sophia and I stayed at the Co-op Centre between games, where there are three ringette tournaments going on (three different age groups). L&B were there this afternoon, too, as Bronwyn was playing and Laurel was scorekeeping several games to raise funds for their team. Sophia played again at 5:45 against a team from Saskatoon. Neil, Madeline, and Georgia came to watch. Sophia had volunteered to play goal, much to our surprise (as she's always been clear about not wanting to do it). What a game! It was close all the way through and ended in a tie: 9-9. Nerve wracking! It was only Sophia's third time as goaltender and she did great!

In other news, the very first layout for the first week of Bite-sized Scrapbooking was posted in the gallery this evening! This is so exciting and rewarding for me. Love it! :)

Jan 11: Warm your heart

With three girls in the house, there is no shortage of hearts around here. :) My daughter is holding part of a craft she made in preschool. I was lucky to get this photo. The light was fading fast and Georgia wouldn't stand still. This was the only good one out of 44 shots!

I went to my dance class this evening. I hadn't been to one since the end of November. I enjoyed it because we just worked on a group dance called Walls of Limerick. I think I'm done with solo dances. I have no time, desire, or brain capacity to work on that right now. I told them I'll attend class sporadically over the next two months as Sophia has several ringette games on Tuesday evenings, plus I may be too busy as my business gets started, but after that I will go and learn the group dance for Mosaic.

Jan 10: Seeking balance

I didn't capture the spirit of Tracey's prompt, but I was short on ideas and "balance" made me think of Irish dancing which the older girls have been doing for several years now. At least it's something they do in the winter! Sophia is in her sixth year and Madeline in her fourth. These are Madeline's feet. Sophia is at her dance class right now.

Back to schedule

Where has the past week gone?! I meant to post sooner, but the days seemed to vanish quickly. I sure appreciated having my desk cleared and my calendar updated, as I had an onslaught of forms to complete, dates to record, and cheques to write. 'Tis the season!

The girls started school on Wednesday, September 1. Neil attended assembly while I went to work. (I would have preferred to go to school, but it wasn't a good day for me to do that.) Sophia and Madeline insisted that Neil not call and tell me who their teachers were, so they could tell me themselves, in person. I was curious, but it was worth the wait. They were so excited to tell me the name of their teacher and which of their friends were assigned to the same classroom. All in all, the girls are very happy. Most of their closest friends are in their classes and they're both thrilled with their teacher. A great start to the school year!

Wednesday evening, Neil took the girls to an open house for new students at the dance studio. Sophia, Madeline, and Bronwyn danced for two hours off and on to give newcomers an idea of what to expect. Meanwhile, I attended the AGM for Georgia's preschool. I was (and am) very aware that this will be the last year I'll have a child attending preschool. (They each had two years of preschool, so this is the sixth year for us.) Eager to get some time in the classroom with Georgia, I snapped up a couple of my Fridays off on the parent-helper sign-up sheets.

After work on Thursday, Madeline and I attended her second piano lesson of the season (her 2nd year). We started August 26, which seemed awfully early! Well, I guess it's good to have a staggered start to all the activities. Madeline's music classes are an hour long and I have to be in the class with her. Sophia also started piano lessons this week (Saturday morning). She was considering bagpipe lessons, but decided on piano. The bagpipe lessons would have been a little more convenient for us, and easier on the ol' pocket book, but I think piano was a good decision anyway. She is taking private lessons with the same teacher that Madeline has. I sat in on her first class to find out what her lesson was like and what she needed to do at home, but will not do so in the future. I look forward to reading for 30 minutes!

Irish dance starts this week. I am taking dance again (my 4th year), but I think it'll be my last year since Georgia will start next year. All I want to do this year is get my four beginner soft-shoe dances down pat, maybe one or both of the more advanced soft-shoe dances I started learning last year, and the two hard-shoe dances I've worked on. I am not interested in learning any new solo dances, but I will participate in all the ceili (group) dances. Sophia and Madeline are starting their 6th and 4th years, respectively.

So, how about that third activity we agreed the girls could do? They are not doing Girl Guides again because they want to try other things. Honestly, I feel a tiny bit of regret over that decision because it is a good program, and very inexpensive, but they had to choose. I do support their choices, though, especially since they are both physical activities. Madeline is planning to take Taekwondo this year. She had mentioned it several times over the past six months, so I inquired about the program through the South Zone Club. The days and times work for us and the location is convenient. There are five time slots (four of which work with our schedule) and she should attend two per week. It starts October 1st.

Sophia and her cousin Bronwyn are planning to play ringette this year. This will be a very new experience for them as it's not like anything they've done before. Other than the time involved and the cost of equipment, I'm pretty excited that they're doing this! I played ringette for several years when I was a kid and I loved it. Like Sophia, I was nine when I started (but I had a lot more skating experience before that). They're registered for a Come Try Ringette event on the 18th, and the season (or evaluations) begins in October. I'm glad we have a few more weeks to round up the equipment she needs! All we have are elbow pads, and maybe pants. Anyone around here have used ringette/hockey equipment for sale that would fit a 9 or 10 year old (I think she needs 12" shin pads)? Size 4 hockey skates? If so, please let me know!

Sophia also started cross-country (long-distance running) on Friday. She has two practices and one meet every week in September. This is always right before and after school, so it does not affect our evenings and weekends. For the meet this week, she has to be able to run for four minutes straight. This is not a problem for Sophia!

In other, non-extracurricular-activity news...

Friday evening, Neil and the girls went to the first of four U of R Rams football games at Mosaic stadium. Neil won season tickets and he can take up to four children to each game for free. It sounds like the girls really enjoyed it -- especially watching the cheerleaders and the mascot, Rampage! They had their picture taken with Rampage and the cheerleaders hoisted each one of them up in the air. I'm so glad I sent the camera with Neil!

Saturday morning, we all attended the annual pancake breakfast for Science Centre members. The girls showed me some of the newer stuff inside the Science Centre before Sophia and I had to leave for her piano lesson. Neil takes them quite often, but I rarely get there. We definitely get our money's worth from our annual membership.

Neil attended the 'Labour Day Classic' Rider game on Sunday. I'm glad the Riders won, and even more happy that Avonlea won the title of Riderville! It's awesome that the smallest community garnered the most votes. They deserved it!

P.S. How could I forget? We had a lot of rain on Sunday evening (I heard 70mm on the radio) and water ran into our basement in three places. Basically, it came in around three of the four windows -- near the stairs, in the bathroom, and in the toy storage room. Fortunately, after having water in the toy room in late June, we kept that part of the room free of stuff, so it was easy to pull off the baseboard and pull up the carpet again. Neil sucked up a bunch of water with the Shop Vac and put down towels in all three places to keep the water from advancing overnight as it continued to rain all night. Prior to this, we had a large dehumidifier running for two months straight (nearly 24/7) and it was still collecting water. I guess we'll have it on for at least another two months.

Mosaic 2010

The following is a long, detailed account (too much for most people, I'm sure!) because I wanted to record for myself what it's like for our family to volunteer and perform at Mosaic, as well as what we did this year specifically. I included a few photos just to show what the pavilion looks like, a few Prairie Gael dancers on stage (Sophia is the one in front), and the crafts we had for the Children's Program.

Before Mosaic

We are quite involved with the Irish pavilion, so our Mosaic experience starts long before opening night. Sophia has been dancing at Mosaic since 2006 (this was her 5th year -- wow!), but we became much more involved two years ago when our dance school, Prairie Gael School of Irish Dance, partnered with the Irish Club of Regina to host the Irish pavilion. Neil is on the organizing committee, so he has attended several meetings since January. His main responsibility (and therefore, mine as well) is to run the children's program on Saturday afternoon at Mosaic, so around St. Patrick's Day in March, we plan a couple crafts for younger and older children and then shop for supplies locally and online. We like this job and will continue doing it.

During the week of Mosaic, Neil spends several hours Monday through Wednesday hauling things and helping set up the pavilion (and on Sunday, he helps tear down and haul stuff back to storage). He also delivers some things from the dance studio, as well as a few items from our house (such as a cooler and yard wagon). Since the girls and I perform at Mosaic, we also have rehearsals to attend. In addition to our regular practices Monday and Tuesday evening, all three of us rehearsed on stage at the pavilion on Wednesday evening.

Also on Wednesday, Neil picked up Madeline's new dress and shawl from the seamstress; I pinned shawls and brooches to the girls' dresses (which takes more time than you might think!); and Neil polished all three pairs of our dancing shoes with black shoe polish. Finally, we gathered all of the things we would need for our dance performances: dresses, shorts, bubble socks, tights (for me), glue stick (for preventing socks from falling down), gillies (soft shoes), Croc-type shoes (for keeping dust off the gillies), elastics, bobby pins, hairspray, curly hair pieces, hair bands, lip balm, and water bottles.

Thursday, June 3

The doors opened at 5:00 p.m. and Madeline's first performance was at 5:05 p.m. This year, I wasn't able to take the whole afternoon off as I had wanted, but I was able to leave work at 4:00 p.m. As soon as I got home, Madeline put on her dress and I put a bun in her hair (because her curly hair piece attaches to a bun). We all headed to the pavilion and were there at 4:30 p.m. For each performance, I help Sophia or Madeline get dressed, tie their shoes, glue their socks, and do their hair (and then un-do everything afterward). It takes about 15-20 minutes before and 10-15 after. There are lockers in the dressing room at the Callie and I took a lock this year, so we were able to leave our things there all weekend.

After watching Madeline perform (each Prairie Gael show is 15 minutes), we had a drink and ate some food at the Irish pavilion. Brewsters provided the catering this year and I think they did a good job. By the end of the weekend, I had sampled almost everything they offered and I liked it all! Since the pavilion had just opened, Neil was also busy running here and there, helping out where needed (such as fetching stir sticks from the storage facility). Madeline performed again at 6:30, so I did not make her change between performances. Between shows, the girls became rather enchanted (or, obsessed) with the wares of the imported candy vendor (whom I think did very well this weekend!).

After Madeline's second performance and the un-doing of her hair, dress, shoes, etc., the five of us left the Irish pavilion and went to the Indian and Chilean pavilions. We arrived at the Indian pavilion at 7:30 just in time to catch the show. This is always one of the girls' favourite pavilions for the dancing and costumes. Neil and I shared a meal there, too. I love Indian food! At the Chilean pavilion, we were lucky to catch most of the show. We went home from there, and I headed back to the Irish pavilion right away for my first performance. I got ready and danced at 9:30 p.m. It went well! After our show was over, I stayed and watched a 30-minute dance performance by the Irish Club of Regina before changing back to my regular clothes. I got home at 10:45 p.m.

Friday, June 4

I took Friday off work and was able to do some much-needed housework. The girls had no school that day either, and Bronwyn was at our house until 3:00 p.m. when Laurel picked her up to get ready for dancing. Sophia and Bronwyn performed at 5:05 and 6:30 p.m. on Friday. We arrived at the pavilion 30 minutes before the first show, and I helped Sophia get ready. The curly hair pieces I bought for the girls are awesome! It was so nice not to spend hours this weekend curling the girls' hair, taking the rollers out, spraying, etc.

Neil's parents and Grandma Louise came to watch the girls and I dance on Friday, and they secured a table right in front of the stage. They were there from before 5:00 p.m. until after my performance at 8:00 p.m. This was the only opportunity for Neil and the girls to see me dance as well, so we all stayed at the Irish pavilion throughout that time. We ate supper there again. Also, the girls had broken open their piggy banks (cheap ones from Dollarama) and were intent on spending their coins on candy (driving me nuts in the process!).

After my dance, Donna and Lou took all four girls to our house. (Lou took Bronwyn home after a little while, and Donna stayed with our girls.) This was so very nice for us as we were able to stay and enjoy the pavilion and help out. Laurel and I cleaned tables for a couple hours since no one had volunteered for clean-up on the late shift. Neil helped where needed. We also helped someone do a cash run (counting cash from the tills and taking it to a secure place). Laurel took me home at 11:45 p.m. and Neil got home around 1:00 a.m.

Saturday, June 5

We didn't do too much in the morning except make sure we were all clean, fed, and ready for a long day ahead. Plus, Neil washed the girls' bubble socks for their Saturday performances. And, oh yes, Georgia was sick to her stomach from about 8:30 a.m. until noonish. Lovely! So, we also washed sheets, put new sheets on the bed, cleaned her up, etc. Very thankfully, she popped up from the couch around noon and was all better! I'm not sure what we'd have done if she had continued to be ill into the afternoon.

The pavilion opened at 2:00 p.m. and we needed to be there at 1:00 p.m. to set up the Children's Program. First, we moved some tables and chairs into the area where we were going to entertain the children -- behind the glass (curling rink viewing area), so we wouldn't have to compete with loud music from the stage as we did last year. We had two crafts prepared: for smaller children, a small (about 3x3") Irish-themed fuzzy picture (shamrock or leprechaun) to colour with markers and then add a magnet to the back; and for older children, an Irish-flag zipper pull made with pony beads. There were four basic steps to this craft, so the girls and I made four of them up to different stages and taped them to a plastic poster board. I was happy to see that Madeline and Sophia picked up the technique quickly and were able to make the craft with just a bit of help. Perfect! We also set up an iPod dock with speakers so the girls could demonstrate some Irish dance steps to interested children.

The Children's Program ran for a couple hours and we had a steady stream of children and their parents. I think it went very well! We ran out of our 54 magnet crafts after 90 minutes (Of course, we realized too late that we must get better at communicating ONE per child! It's almost always a parent that grabs an extra one or two without asking. No kidding!) Almost 50 bead crafts were made, as well. Girls and boys alike seemed quite pleased with their little flags. We also gave away green, orange, and white rubber bracelets with Irish sayings on them. The dance demonstrations went very well, too! I'm so glad we had that idea, and I think a few might sign up for lessons in the fall as a result. We also brought several short Irish stories and had borrowed a book of Irish fairy tales that we had intended to use for a story-telling time, but we found we couldn't manage this. Neil and I were too busy helping with the crafts and directing people to be able to move away from the tables and tell a story. We would have to have another person dedicated to that task. (We did have a story teller last year and she couldn't make it this year, but I think she will be there next year.) 

Also on Saturday, Neil's parents were selling bar tickets and Laurel and Shelley (friend) were cleaning tables from 2-5 p.m. At 3:45, I took Madeline to get her ready for her performance at 4:15 p.m. Meanwhile, my parents arrived to watch the girls perform. We closed the Children's Program at 4:00 p.m., put all of our things away, and then joined Mom and Dad at their table for the show. I enjoyed watching Madeline's two-hand reel. As with all three Prairie Gael shows, there were a variety of ages and skill levels performing. They're all fun to watch!

After I got Madeline back into regular clothes, and after the girls and Mom took Buffy for a walk, Mom and Dad, L&B, and the five us went over to the Laos pavilion on the other side of the Callie. Some of us had a bite to eat, and Sophia and Madeline learned some Laotian dance moves. We headed back to the Irish pavilion at 6:00 p.m. to get Sophia and Bronwyn ready for their 6:30 performance. I really loved seeing Sophia and Bronwyn perform their "four square" dance this weekend. They were always smiling. They enjoy performing and it really shows! After this show, we also enjoyed watching the Scottish step dancers from Music in the House. I saw them a few times this weekend and was riveted each time. They're awesome!

Madeline performed again at 7:45 p.m. and I wanted to get a picture of both her and Sophia in their dresses, so I got Madeline dressed in her costume before getting Sophia out of hers. After a few quick photos, I helped Sophia out of her costume (and hair piece). After Madeline's final performance, Mom and Dad left, I helped Madeline out of her costume, and then hauled all of our things to the van. (Yes, I spent a lot of time in the dressing room this weekend!) Thankfully, Neil's parents once again took all four girls back to our house around 8:30 p.m. Sophia really wanted to go to another pavilion, but I thought they had all had enough at this point. It was too bad we only made it to three other pavilions this year.

With the kids gone home, Laurel, Neil, and I were once again free to pitch in where needed. Neil worked behind the bar for a big chunk of the evening, while Laurel and I cleaned tables again. The pavilion was very busy! I also took over the job of one of my dance classmates while she performed at 9:30 p.m. We enjoyed helping out, as well as watching many dancers and the band Rogairi (my dance instructor's band) perform throughout the evening. It's a very fun atmosphere at the Irish pavilion! Totally exhausted, Laurel and I left just before midnight (when the pavilion closed), while Neil stayed to help shut down the pavilion and begin clean up. Laurel took me home and picked up her mom from our house. The previous two nights, I didn't want to go to bed right away after getting home, but on this third night of Mosaic, I went straight to bed. SO tired! Neil came home around 2:00 a.m. (And then the next day, after we had brunch with Donna, Lou, L&B, Neil went back to the pavilion at noon and worked until about 5:00 p.m.)

It was a long, exhausting, and fun weekend! I'm glad it's over now, but I'll be happy to do it all again next year!

Wrapping up May

LOAD accomplishments

I really enjoyed participating in LOAD again. I did not complete a layout every single day this time, but I matched February and made 28! When I see them, it totally blows me away how many things I managed to record in one month. :) Plus, the theme of this load was "Find Your Style" and I really learned a lot about what I like and don't like and what I will and won't do on my scrapbook pages. For example, I rarely tilt things. It's not that I don't like seeing tilted items on other people's pages; I just can't seem to do it myself (or I will likely have to get out the Un-do and straighten it out!). But once in awhile, I can make an exception and it works for me:

This LOAD, I made 16 one-page layouts and 12 two-page spreads, and used 122 photos (92 from already-printed 4x6s). I tackled a bunch of older photos this time; many from 2004. I will definitely do LOAD again. The next one is in October!

Bison meat

This spring, we sold five halves of bison (the sixth half for ourselves), and on Saturday, we finished up all the work for that endeavor. Neil went to Weyburn to pick up the meat and then delivered it to everyone in Regina. So glad to have this done before our crazy Mosaic week!

Sleepovers

Two weekends ago, all three of the girls went for a sleepover at Laurel and Bronwyn's house. This past weekend, Sophia and Bronwyn went to Avonlea and stayed over one night. It sounds like they had lots of fun. On the way out, they made a schedule of activities for themselves. Yesterday, Neil took Georgia and Dash out to Avonlea for a couple days so he'd be free to haul things and help set up the Irish pavilion for Mosaic. We're told Dash has been very attached to Georgia and he was going berserk in his crate last night, so he slept with Georgia rather than in his crate. I guess it's not surprising since Australian Shepherds are very protective of their family.

Children's program

On the weekend, we finalized our craft plans for the children's program at the Irish pavilion (2-4 pm Saturday, June 5). Our original idea fell through a bit when we learned the beads we had ordered online would not work (very inexpensive, so no big deal), so we just needed to come up with a plan B. It came together very quickly on Sunday, so we're all set!

The weather

This May has been awfully cold and rainy (or I am just thinking of the past week?). I can't believe I haven't done ANY yard work yet, and there's much to do. The back yard is a mess! (Neil has cut the front lawn a couple times, though.) On the bright side, I had plenty of stuff to do inside the house and I did get quite a bit done. Usually, I'm able to get out and do a really good clean up by now, but it has been too wet. The ground next to our garage has been flooded for several days now. Also, there was a risk of frost on the 30th and 31st, so we brought our bedding plants inside. I'm glad we haven't put them in the garden yet.

Extra dance practices

Sophia had a couple extra practices on Sundays and I had a couple on Saturdays. I have not seen the dances that Sophia (&B) or Madeline will be performing and I can't wait to see them! I was very happy to have extra practices because I would not have been ready without them. Our 8-person dance is fast and fairly complicated (in my mind anyway), so we must know the sequence without a second thought. I have been going over and over and over this in my head and on paper (I write it down a couple times a day). Each of these steps are 8 or 16 bars (about three minutes total):

1. Advance retire, half house (x2)
2. Bus stop
3. Swing in place - swing hold
4. Pass through
5. Swing in place - polka hold
6. Ladies chain
7. Zombie chain
8. Slide
9. Rings - R, L, L, R
10. Grand chain
11. Psycho skip across
12. Swing in place - ceili hold
13. Half house & finish

Sounds like fun, huh? I dance at 9:30 on Thursday and 8:00 on Friday. Madeline dances at 5:05 and 6:30 on Thursday, and 4:15 and 7:45 on Saturday. Sophia dances at 5:05 and 6:30 on Friday, and 6:30 on Saturday. Also, Madeline is excited to get her brand new dance dress this week.

Okay, I'm off to my last real dance practice for the season (all three of us have a quick rehearsal on stage tomorrow evening), and I won't be be back here (on the blog) until after Mosaic. Have a great week and weekend everyone!

Our May, so far - part 3

Last Sparks and Brownies

On May 4, Madeline had her last Sparks meeting after three years as a Spark! We all attended the event initially (including Bronwyn for awhile), then Neil and Sophia had to leave for Brownies. The kids played games and then we had supper: hot dogs plus potluck for everything else. I stayed about an hour before going to my dance class. Unfortunately, I had to leave right before the graduation ceremony. Neil had been giving a talk about bison to Sophia's Brownies group, but he made it back in time for Madeline's ceremony. She received a bunch more badges. I think she could be in the running for Most Decorated Spark Ever. Her entire badge sash is right full, and she has about 25 more badges!

On May 11, Sophia had her final Brownies meeting and fly up ceremony. We all attended the ceremony. They have a number of rituals for the Brownie fly up. At the end, Sophia received a candle and three long-stemmed orange roses (Brownies have orange uniforms), and then cookies and juice were served. It was a nice evening. I skipped my dance class that night. They overlapped too much.

Strawberry Social

On Saturday, May 8, Sophia, Madeline, and Bronwyn danced at the Save the Children Strawberry Social -- a small event at which they've danced for several years now. Sophia and Bronwyn did their two-hand reel very nicely. I love watching them do this dance! It is so nice. Sophia also performed a solo slip jig for the first time in front of an audience. Her teacher asked the audience for extra applause for that. :) Madeline (and Desirae) danced the light jig and they did a great job, too. Neil's mom and dad came to see the performances. Also, CTV showed up and filmed a bunch of the Strawberry Social. It was on the news at 11:30 that night. They showed Sophia and Bronwyn dancing quite a bit, and then Laurel, Georgia, and me at our table (I'm sure because we were laughing, and it was obvious we were having a good time). Madeline was quite upset that they didn't show her dancing.

In the morning, I had made some calls to dance supply stores and inquired about curly dance wigs for the girls. I simply did not have it in me to go to all the effort of curling their hair that day! It's so time consuming and then very frustrating each and every time because the curls fall out way too fast unless they've had the rollers in for 10 hours. Just two hours before the girls' performance time, Sophia, Madeline, and I rushed over to Dancer's Den and bought curls for each of them! The colour matches their hair very well and the curls look quite natural. I am very pleased with them! The girls' dance teacher was impressed, too. I am so happy about this. It will make Mosaic that much easier this year!

Mother's Day

We stayed home for Mother's Day. I had the most special morning. The girls served me breakfast in bed! That was a first. (Later, I found a sheet of paper with each of their assignments on it, in Sophia's hand writing. It was very nice of them to assign the cooking to Neil!) They brought me eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee, along with one of the trays they use for colouring in the van (on long trips). I received many lovely gifts, too! Sophia gave me a potted pansy which is blooming very nicely in our kitchen window, and a laminated heart-shaped card. Georgia gave me a round plaster stepping-stone-like decoration, and a sweet picture made with her fingerprints. Madeline gave me a nice card which she had made at home the day before, since she had not made something for me in school like the other two had.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day was not quite as enjoyable since I had some annoying, but totally unavoidable, work to do. Oh well, at least I got it done!

Wrapping up April

Since I spent so much time posting photos this month, I didn't have time to post a few other things that happened.

Madeline is getting much better at reading in English and I'm very excited for her! She's been reading well in French for quite some time now, but struggling with English reading. It's understandable since she doesn't learn any English at school. I knew she would get it eventually, but I was hoping it would happen a little sooner. It's hard to see her stuck on something! It's wonderful to see her trying so hard and making real progress now. Slowly, but surely, she's sounding out and figuring out the words she sees all around her.

The girls had annual checkups in mid April. They're all fine and growing well. (Georgia is 17.5 kg/38 lbs and 103 cm/40.5 inches; Madeline is 21.2 kg/47 lbs and 117 cm/46 inches; and Sophia is 34.5 kg/75 lbs and 137 cm/54 inches.) The only notable things were: (1) We learned Sophia was supposed to be getting speech therapy at school (recommended by Dr. O'Grady) because she has nodes on her vocal chords and her voice is a bit hoarse (it always has been); however, we haven't heard from the speech therapist who should have received the recommendation in January. And (2) Madeline has a wart on the bottom of her foot, so we're treating it with duct tape and it seems to be shrinking.

Sophia's class is participating in an online hockey pool at Pickuphockey.com. Each student chose their own players and they're supposed to check the standings each day. The kids are very excited about it. Sophia's strategy was to pick the top 10 of the top 150 players (as ranked by TSN). She was tied for first place for most of the first round, and is now in second place (with only six players left). We'll see how far her strategy will take her!

She's her father's daughter... Now that hockey play-offs are on, Georgia insists on watching hockey with Neil (rather than go to her bed) so she gets to snuggle up on his lap watching hockey until she falls asleep. Also, last week, out of the blue, she announced that she wants to have a Roughrider birthday party (with a green and white cake and pom-poms!) for her next birthday. I guess spending day after day with Neil is having a certain effect on Georgia!

Sophia and Madeline (and Bronwyn) started Girls in the Game last week. They'll be doing track and field activities in the gym for the first three weeks, then golf outside for three weeks, and then I'm not sure what for the final two weeks. Meanwhile -- this was a nice surprise -- the parents get two free passes every week to use the gym while waiting for the girls (or anytime). I wasn't prepared with the right footwear last week, but this week I enjoyed walking around the track with Laurel for 20 mintues. Also, the track is the only place from which parents can see their daughter(s) participating in the program, so it's nice to go in there and take a peek.

Over the past two weeks, Neil enjoyed showing artifacts and speaking about bison (past and present), and prehistoric hunting techniques, weapons, and tools (including demos of pressure flaking which sometimes involved real blood from Neil's hands!) to all of the classes at the girls' school. He received some very nice compliments from several teachers and a thank you card from the school. Sophia and Madeline really liked having their dad as a guest speaker, too. Neil has talked about bison and farming to the girls' classes in past years, but this was the first time he had been invited to talk to all classes, grades one to eight, plus one kindergarten class.

Neil and I watched all six parts of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. (I think it's the only TV I watched this month). This subject is very interesting to me. Unlike some children in the show, I'm pretty sure mine could name the vast majority of vegetables! They certainly don't like them all, but they have been introduced to many different veggies. Georgia warmed my heart this afternoon when she sang out, "If you give me some broccoli and dip, it will be my favourite thing! I'll eat it up! I'll chomp it up!" (which was her funny way of asking) and then she really did eat a bunch of broccoli.

Sophia had an orthodontist appointment this morning. We were surprised to learn that the alignment of Sophia's teeth has actually improved slightly since last July, so she will not be getting an expander and night-time head gear right now, as expected. Great news! Dr. Olfert said if it doesn't get worse, he may be able to adjust everything with braces later on and total treatment over two years instead of three. Now she just needs to go back every six months so he can monitor her bite, which could change for better or worse fairly quickly. The nice thing is that these check-ups don't cost anything.

All three girls had dentist appointments this morning for a check-up and cleaning. Sophia has a cavity in a baby tooth that's going to fall out soon, so there's no reason to fill it. Madeline's teeth are very crowded, so she'll need to see an orthodontist pretty soon. Georgia, we just learned, has a behaviour called tongue thrust in which she pushes her tongue out when she swallows, which in turn pushes her teeth out. We had no idea this was happening. (And here I thought it was wonderful that she had some space between her teeth; i.e., lots of room for adult teeth!) Apparently, it's not too much of a problem now, but it will be a big problem if she still has tongue thrust when her permanent teeth are coming in. To prevent this, we need to try teaching her not to do that (which is difficult for a 4-year old to learn) or she may need a special appliance to protect her teeth. :(

Madeline has been preparing for her spring piano recital on May 2. She has one little piece of music to play on the piano and a part in a rhythm ensemble. Also, my dance class, along with the beginner adult class, has been working on our performance piece for Mosaic. It's a lively and unique (choreographed by our teacher) 8-person set dance and then ceili dance with no break in between. It's quite fun, as well as challenging to learn. I think it's going to look great. I don't even know what dances the girls will be doing at Mosaic. As always, I look forward to seeing them perform! Madeline's piano solo and the music for my Mosaic dance are always popping into my mind these days.

The next two months

May and June are going to be crazy for us. We have soccer four nights a week for the next eight weeks {cringe*}, dance classes two nights a week (as usual) for the next five weeks, and weekend commitments for the next seven weekends in a row -- several of those involve Irish dance as we gear up for Mosaic. (Thankfully, both Sparks and Brownies end next week.) On top of all that, I'm desperate to keep working on things at home -- my paper clutter class (four more weeks), other organizing and purging projects (so many things I want to get done NOW), yard work (oh, the yard work!), printing my backlog of photos (four more weeks), my Library of Memories class (four more weeks -- this is the scrapbooking part of the class and I was really hoping to participate!)... arrrgggghhhh. Obviously, some things are simply not going to happen. Notice I didn't even mention regular housework. Without a doubt, our house will not be very tidy over the next two months! When I do have time to work on something, I would rather move forward on some bigger projects than tidy up a space that will look just the same within a day or two. (Of course, the mess will drive me nuts at some point!)

*How'd that happen? / What the H-E-double-hockey-stick were we thinking?! Well, all three girls wanted to play soccer this year; Georgia is excited that she can finally do something her sisters are doing; we haven't done soccer since 2006; and it's pretty hard to say no to an activity that gives children lots of fresh air and exercise, and is both inexpensive and close to home (the soccer fields are only half a block from our house), don't you agree?! Of course, the girls are in three different age groups and I thought there might be some overlap in their games (which would have been good), but no -- there's no overlap whatsoever! Madeline's games are M/W, Sophia's games are T/Th, and Georgia's are Thursday, before Sophia's. I sure won't complain if we have the odd cancellation due to rain, but I do not look forward to the crappy cold and windy weather that's sure to happen, especially in May. Nice weather will go a long way toward making this a pleasant experience for all of us! Fingers crossed.

Correction (May 1): Just learned that soccer runs for seven weeks, not eight -- yay!

Giving myself a break

After the mother-daughter Spark Sleepover this weekend, and Sophia and Madeline dancing at 6:00 p.m. today (both of which are ten times more work for the parents than for the participant/performers!), plus doing housework whenever I had a chance this weekend, I'm far too tired to write up my highlights of the week. Hopefully tomorrow night.