Saturday, September 29, 2012

Fall morning 2

>> I'm not sure why this didn't send with my picture, but this was what I wrote while watching the kids play:

>> Our Saturday mornings now involve music lessons for CeCe and Ginny. CeCe starts at 9:30 and Ginny at 10:00. It's across town so we've all been going along for the morning. Julie takes CeCe and I kill time with the older two and then I take Ginny while Julie hangs out with Jorja and CeCe. There aren't many stores open on broadway before 10, so walking down the street was getting a little old. Today I found a park a couple of blocks away. Jorja and Ginny are having a blast and I'm enjoying a cup of coffee listening to the sounds of their laughter and enjoying the fall scenery. There probably won't be many more days like this this year. I'm going to enjoy a few more minutes watching them have fun before I have to leave. Later.
>> Sent from my iPhone

Fall morning

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Drama

Is this day over yet?  Wowsers, do we have some emotional, overtired little ladies here.

CeCe has basically cut out napping, but she could still use one a couple of times a week.  She gets so overtired by supper, she doesn't know what to do with herself.  She freaks out at the drop of a hat, hits, pulls hair.  It's not pretty.  At any rate, by 6:30 and she was fast asleep.  Tomorrow will be a nap day for her.

Jorja had a field trip today and spent the entire day outside.  All that fresh air and exercise for a full day makes for one tired girl.  Throw into the mix some boy sitting behind her on the bus reaching over the seat and pinching her, and she was a mess.  (Why do little boys think hitting and pinching girls is an acceptable form of flirting?)  Anyway, they went to Blackstrap, which is a little man-made ski 'mountain' outside Saskatoon.  She hiked, touched a tame garter snake, saw a frog, saw a badger hole, and tripped and fell and skinned her hand.  She took a pretty good chunk out of her palm and it was still pretty dirty tonight.  So it had to be cleaned.  Well, you would not believe the tears and wailing that ensued.  She does not deal well with pain, especially when she's overtired.  You'd have thought I amputated it when I put the peroxide on.  She was in bed before 7 too, reading until 7:15, instead of the usual 7:45. 

Ginny was a bit off today too.  Adjusting to preschool is taking a lot out of her.  Tonight when it was almost bedtime, she discovered a little sliver on her thumb.  I mean tiny, and close to the surface.  One good scratch would have it out.  But I tried to be gentle at first, and then she went into full blown hysterics.  I never did get the sliver out.  After the other two, my fight was gone.  It will probably rub out tomorrow when she's playing anyway.

At any rate, it is now 7:00 and all is quiet.  And I'm spent.  I've got to get that man cave built before they're all teenagers.  (Or parent cave - I agreed to let Julie in too.)  Later.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Biking, Sunday school, Barbie and Bumps

Last Saturday turned out to be a pretty big day for Jorja.  She finally rode her bike with no training wheels.  She and Ginny wanted to bike to the park, so I told her that if she figured out how to ride her bike, we would go.  It took two laps around our crescent (I was beat - that's a lot of running behind a bike), but she got it.  She's not super confident yet, and she kind of needs most of the street to herself, but she was doing it.

Sunday marked the beginning of our Sunday School programs at church.  This is CeCe's first year in Sunday school, but she had no issues.  I took her to her room, signed her in, the teacher came over and said, "Hi CeCe!  Do you want to come play with some play dough?"  She was gone and never looked back.  When I got there to pick her up, she saw me and came running across the room with a big smile on her face.  "Hi Daddy!"  "Did you have a good time?" I asked her.  "Yup!"  That was easy.  Ginny is still our shiest and most nervous in new situations.  She was pretty tentative when I dropped her off, but she didn't cry, so that was good.  Jorja was fine. 

Our church has two services, and Sunday School runs during the first service.  Julie was playing piano this week, which meant she had to stay and play for both services.  After the girls and I were done, it was only 10:30.  We needed a few things at Costco, so I thought I'd head out there.  Alone with three kids on a weekend - I thought I may be taking my life into my own hands.  There is never a time when our Costco is not a zoo, but weekends are even worse.  When I got there, the parking lot confirmed my fear.  It was busy already.  But I was already there, so we ventured in.  It was busy, but the girls got to have a couple of samples, so they were happy.  And pretty much all the tills were open, so even that didn't take too long.

Now that CeCe is cutting out napping, it is cutting into Julie's and my Sunday afternoon nap.  By cutting into it, I mean eliminating it.  However, when you are a father of three girls, you just know certain things, like the release dates of the latest Barbie movie on DVD.  There just so happened to be one this week.  'Barbie:  The Princess and the Pop Star' in case anyone is dying to see it.  Anyway, back to the point of this whole Barbie movie story.  While in Costco, I got to thinking, 'what is the cost of an afternoon nap?'  It turns out that it's $13.49.  Yes, we own the new Barbie movie, but more importantly, Julie and I had an uninterrupted hour and sixteen minutes.  Too bad the next one doesn't come out until the spring.

After work today on the way home from the sitter, I had to stop behind a car.  I guess there's not usually much traffic between here and the sitter's (it is only a few blocks) because this was somewhat of an abnormality.  Ginny looked ahead and said, "Dad, don't bump that car."  I was already stopped, and I wasn't that close to it.  I wasn't going to bump the car, and I told her that.  Then she said, "Yeah, but remember that time when you DID bump a car?"  Yes Ginny, I remember.  Thanks for bringing it up.  Later.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Back to School

I really need to start writing more regularly again.  September is almost half over.  Crazy.

September has meant the start of school.  Jorja is now in grade two and Ginny started preschool.  Julie took Ginny for an hour last Friday for the first day/orientation (where the parents stay).  Then I took Monday afternoon off work to take her for her first day on her own.  We were a little worried about how she would react, but she did really well - no tears.  I could tell she was close, but she kept it together.  After I left her, I realized I was pretty close too.  It's hard to believe how fast they grow up.  She had a good first day though and was excited to show off her first craft.  Apparently 'circle time' is kind of boring though.  I hope she doesn't find it too boring in general.  I guess we'll see.  Hopefully she can make a couple new friends.  As I was tucking her in last night, I said I was excited to hear about how her second day of preschool was.  (It's today - she goes every other afternoon.)  She look up at me and said, "Yeah, but it will probably be just like the first day.  If there's anything new, I'll tell you."  What a kid.

I am pleased to report that the younger two girls love of Neil Diamond is not waning.  Every day when I pick them up from work, they ask for a song.  I'm gradually broadening their song range too.  CeCe's favourite at the moment seems to be Shilo and Ginny's is 'Salvation Show'.  CeCe is also a big fan of 'New Jeans' (which is Forever in blue jeans) and America.  Jorja still claims she doesn't like any of it, but I think she's just saying that.  Who could resist Neil?  The other night when I was tucking CeCe into bed, I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song.  Julie usually puts her to bed and sings her a song.  Jesus Loves Me, You and my Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle and some of her usual requests.  She asked me to sing Shilo.  What a moment. 

Speaking of music, the girls all really like the song Springsteen by Eric Church.  I took this opportunity to explain to them that it was about an actual singer named Bruce Spingsteen.  Then I played some Springsteen.  I am happy to say that the younger two are now hooked on Darlington County.  Good stuff.

We went to Julie's folks' place for the long weekend.  They were busy with harvest, so the older two girls each got to go for a combine ride.  They thought that was pretty cool.  CeCe went in the truck, but it was tough to get her out of the grain testing shed.  Jorja was lucky enough to get a handful of grain.  She was really proud of that.  She carried it from the field back to the farm (sharing some with Ginny along the way) and then asked Nanny for a bag, so she could keep it.  City kids.

Here's some pictures from the last little while:

Ginny after her first day of preschool

CeCe the grain tester at Julie's parents' farm at harvest

Jorja reading with great grandma

Ginny playing some campfire bingo

Jorja on her first day of Grade 2


Jorja playing frisbee
 Later.