according.to.kim

Daily pic: 30 Apr 07

Neil and Georgia watching hockey playoffs. This has become an almost-daily ritual. And Georgia actually likes going downstairs to "watch hockey" with her dad. She sits on his lap most of the time but gets off every once in awhile to go get a toy or other object from the playroom. She takes it back to explore while she sits on Neil's lap again. The nice thing about this is that I usually get a couple of minutes of peace and quiet while Georgia is downstairs with Neil and Sophia and Madeline play outside. I've got to find the good in this hockey playoff business -- it's not going to disappear anytime soon! (As I wistfully recall the NHL strike of '04/05...)

P.S. The tooth fairy is visiting again tonight. Sophia's fifth tooth came out during her dance class today.

Daily pic: 29 Apr 07

Our little artists were busy this weekend. This was the result of just one of their painting sessions. The only thing not done by the artist herself was Sophia's star outline as she asked me to do that for her. Neil and I both mused how much more mature they've both become since the last time they painted at home. Most notably, Madeline did not paint all over her face and torso this weekend!

Daily pic: 28 Apr 07

First skating lesson. The girls didn't have quite as much fun as they were hoping. This was one of the rare moments when Madeline (in dark pink) was actually standing upright. She had a lot of trouble getting up after falling but was a pretty good sport about it. She had never been on skates before.

Early in the lesson, Sophia fell and hurt her knee and was quite unhappy for the first half. Later she complained that the male coach was mean because he told her to get up when her mitt was stuck to the ice. Sophia had only skated once before, but didn't have too much trouble staying on her feet.

Bronwyn didn't have much fun either. She was self-conscious about her pink skates and was also more advanced than the rest of the class as she's been skating ten times before. The coach is moving her into the next level.

Oh well. Learning to skate isn't easy! It'll take some time, but I'm sure they'll enjoy it soon.

The week in review

Highlights:

• Going to Mom's the Word at The Globe with friends.
• Sophia looking forward to her first skating lesson and understanding how many days she had to wait. She'd look at the calendar every day and count the days.
• Winning a week of free lunches at my work cafeteria.
• Warmer weather.

Lowlights:

• Sophia having an unexplained fever Tuesday night.
• Our babysitter being sick Thursday and Friday.
• Hearing about the flooding in east-central SK. We know at least five families with cabins at Fishing Lake. I'm thinking of them and hoping for the best.
• Getting sick with a stomach bug on Friday...

I started feeling ill on the way home from work. How's that for crappy timing? I felt good all day and was so looking forward to the weekend. I'm feeling better now, but was pretty wiped for most of today. I haven't accomplished much since work yesterday and that drives me crazy!

Well, I can't say I'm surprised I caught something. Georgia was sick all last week (but diarrhea only; no vomiting), at least three other kids at our babysitter were sick last week and the week before, and our babysitter, nephew Cole, and aunt Glenys have all had a stomach bug this week. Is it all related? Who knows. I wish I could rewind my life and find out exactly how I caught it and where it came from.

Daily pic: 27 Apr 07

The boy. Sherlock was at the farm for the better part of two months and just came home yesterday (the 27th). The girls are always excited to bring him home. I took this photo at 8:27 p.m. Hooray for longer days!

Daily pic: 26 Apr 07

Our Timber-Bilt play structure was such a great investment! Neil and I built it three years ago. There will no doubt be many more pictures of the kids playing on it before the summer is through. We also have a baby swing, trapeze bar/rings, and another regular swing that we can interchange with the "outrigger" double swing that's now in the middle.

Daily pic: 25 Apr 07

Three colours of pears in our bin today. Now I need to hide them from the kids for a couple days until they're ripe.

Natural insect control

We're considering getting some Praying Mantis eggs for our garden. Could be interesting, don't you think?
I see photo opportunities!

Not yet!

Last week at the farm, Madeline came to the dinner table to show everyone her freshly made-up face. We couldn't help but be instantly amused. Neil's mom asked Madeline, "Where did you get that lipstick?" and she replied, "It's yours." 

"Oh, I see. Did you ask Grandma if you could use her lipstick?"

"Not yet!"

Daily pic: 24 Apr 07

I guess I'd rather take her picture than stop her from making a bigger hole in the screen!

Daily pic: 23 Apr 07

Guess who wanted a picture of her new friend. It wasn't easy to get one -- this little critter moves awfully fast!

Daily pic: 22 Apr 07

I love these colours (and I didn't alter this photo at all). I think I'll have to try this shot again in different light though. The angle of the sun at 5:15 p.m. created some harsh shadows on Sophia's face.

Daily pic: 21 Apr 07

Madeline made a little crown for Barbie out of paper and Scotch tape. (You know what I really love about this photo? It's how you can see one of the places we still have no baseboard almost five years after our kitchen renovation. Uh-huh.)

Daily pic: 20 Apr 07

Bad thing about this net: photos are slightly less pleasing.
Good thing about this net: my kid can't fly off the trampoline and crack her head open on a brick.

Daily pic: 19 Apr 07

Looking toward the farm from about a mile and a half away. I wanted to capture the sun's rays. I took this photo on our way home in the late afternoon yesterday and the wind almost knocked me over when I got out of the van to take it.

I'd like to show you how this photo differs from the one straight out of the camera...

Daily pic: 18 Apr 07

Farm auction sale. Hmmm. What can I say? The circumstances, the weather, the sale... they could've been better (for sure), but they could've been worse. That's all I'm going to say about that. (I think.)

Daily pic: 17 Apr 07

My 1000th post. Posted from the farm.

Daily pic: 16 Apr 07

Our cookbooks that live above the microwave (we have more elsewhere). Why photograph this? Well, mostly because the day was almost over and I hadn't photographed anything else... but hey, I love cookbooks so I'm glad I thought of it. When we renovated our kitchen in 2002, I planned this open shelf unit specifically for cookbooks.

(I'm on vacation now until next Monday. Yay!)

Life. An update.

• The farm has been sold. The papers were signed yesterday. This is good.
• The auction sale is in three days. Fingers crossed for nice weather and a great turnout!
• We seem to be in better spirits than we were a few weeks ago (which is a pleasant surprise).
• Neil wrote his farm real estate exam on April 2 and did very well. He's now certified to sell farm land. He writes his appraisal exam tomorrow. He also wrapped up another five-week Century 21 course last week.
• Even though I worked all last week, I enjoyed the Easter break because there was no dance class or Sparks. It's so nice to have a break from extra activities.
• I played volleyball in the playoff tourney this weekend. Sadly, we were knocked out early, but it wasn't surprising since we had only five players the 2nd day.
• We just registered Sophia and Madeline for skating lessons (to begin April 28). Yup, skating. We completely missed registration for soccer. (Does anyone have size 10 hockey skates we could buy or borrow for Madeline?)
• I spent some time this weekend sorting and backing up photos. I always feel relieved when I get caught up on that task -- especially since I was way behind.

Daily pic: 15 Apr 07

Sophia lost her fourth baby tooth today. She was quite excited that it came out when she was eating a bagel and that it didn't bleed at all today. (That's how loose it was!)