Friday, December 27, 2013

Boxing Day

There is a tradition at the Fritzke farm each Boxing Day that keeps growing. Julie came up with the name, and each year we hit the 'red neck slopes.'  If you're CeCe, this is a giant mountain for sledding. If you're an adult, it's a nice hill in the pasture. 

The first year consisted of a toboggan being pulled behind the backhoe. The next year we made it into the hills. Last year there was a fire and some roasting of hotdogs and marshmallows. This year was a feast consisting of hotdogs, smokies, oranges, cookies, marshmallows, juice boxes, pop and thermoses of coffee. We were joined by Julie's uncle and his family this year as well. Julie's other uncle drive out her great granny to watch too. Being 92, she chose to just watch the sledding.  
She enjoyed a hotdog and a juice box and visiting with everyone though. Here are some more pics of the festivities:
Yes, the event is definitely growing. Julie's Dad spent the day before plowing a path out there, so everyone could drive out. I believe we had two cars, two SUVs, a truck, a quad, and the backhoe. 

Everyone had a blast, and other than a few sore muscles on some of us older bodies, there were no injuries. Needless to say, the girls had no problem falling asleep. Later. 










Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, we set out for Julie's parents' place. It's about a three and a half hour drive which can seem like a lot more depending on how the girls are doing. The drive started out alright. Jorja and Ginny decided that they were going to look out the window to 'see the beauty of the world around us.'  The next few kilometers were filled with 'look, a barn' and 'cows!' and 'look at the trees. They're like a real forest.'  It's amazing what you see when you turn the tv off. The novelty of all this nature was pretty much worn off by Delisle though (maybe half an hour) and then the DVD player came on. There was still a lot if 'are we there yet?' from CeCe before she fell asleep. 

We arrived late afternoon in time for a feast and then more Christmas presents. Jorja read the Christmas story his year. 
Theses next few pictures are actually from our Christmas in Saskatoon, but I just found them on Julie's phone:
As you can see, everything was a hit. Merry Christmas everyone. Later. 




Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas Eve

Christmas for us starts on Christmas Eve. We went to a beautiful service at church which told the story of Jesus through the eyes of various characters. The actors all did a great job delivering this powerful message. The service always concludes with a candle light singing of silent night. One candle is lit in the front of the church and passed from person to person until every light is lit. This picture doesn't do it justice but it's pretty special to be there. 
We came home and opened our presents. This always starts with everyone getting new pjs. 
Once everyone is changed and settled into some comfy sleepwear, we continue and open the rest of the gifts. It's so much fun watching the kids. Especially CeCe. She's so precious at this age. She said 'this is the best Christmas ever' several times. Then she looked at her stocking, paused, tilted her head to the side, put her hand on her chin and said, 'it's perfect.'  It really was a perfect night. I couldn't have said it better CeCe. Later. 


Monday, December 23, 2013

As you wish

This morning I told CeCe to put the lid back on her marker before she left the table. She said, 'As you wish.' I love that kid too. 

We had a Christmas party for some of our friends this weekend. We started looking at who we would like to invite a while ago and realized our house would not be big enough. So we rented the school gym. That has to have been the best idea ever. I think the mix was about half adult, half kids with a total of 30 people there. The kids all had a blast. Maybe it's the fact they've been cooped up inside for so long with this cold weather, but just running around with a few balls in the gym provided hours of entertainment. They were close, but not too close, so we could visit too. It was a great time. 

Needless to say everyone was a little overtired the next day.  The two little girls were up at their usual 7:00, but Jorja of all people slept till 8:20! That is unheard of for her. Maybe she's hitting her teenage years early. Maybe not, because she was the first one up again this morning. 

So yesterday after our party was a bit of a lazy day. CeCe wanted to relax and watch a movie, so I put Barbie's 'A Perfect Christmas' on for her.  I just put it on and walked away. A few minutes later I heard 'Daddy! Daddy, I need you!' coming up the stairs. I said to Julie that if I went down, CeCe would want me to hit play on the DVD because it was now stopped on the menu screen. I went downstairs and this is what I found. 
She wanted me to hit play. How could I refuse that, all snuggled in already.  As you wish CeCe, as you wish. Later. 

Friday, December 20, 2013

A happy day, a sad day

Today at the supper table, my heart broke a little bit. The girls started playing a 'guess what number I'm thinking of between one and one hundred' game. It was my turn to pick a number so I did and gave them a hint.  The hint was Wayne Gretzky. They looked at me and said 'we have no idea who that is' and proceeded to laugh hysterically. Apparently I have some history to teach. 

Today was also the last day of school and my last day of work until next year. Julie still has to work Monday which kind of sucks, but the rest of us are off.  It will be nice to have a break and enjoy the Christmas season. Stay safe and warm and I'll try to keep my sanity. Later. 

Friday, December 13, 2013

Well played

Jorja and Ginny sit beside each other at the supper table. Sometimes eating takes a backseat to other shenanigans. In order to prevent certain behavior, today I told them that if I had to 'talk' to them at all during the meal, there would be five minutes of cleanup time. They were actually quite well behaved (better than usual) but did have one little hiccup. So they each ended up with a five minute sentence. I told them I would set the timer on my phone while they went about their business. I was upstairs and the timer went off. They were busy cleaning away, so I didn't bother disturbing them. Soon they came up and said they were all done. 'Great job!' I said. Then they asked if their five minutes were up. I sheepishly said that they went overtime. Jorja gave me a look and said, 'Well played Dad, well played.'  It was all I could do to keep it together. 

Fast forward a little bit into the evening. Jorja and Ginny were sitting side by side in the recliner watching tv. I came downstairs and they both started giggling. I wasn't sure what was up and they weren't telling me. Anyway, their show ended and I told them it was time for a shower and bed. At this point, Jorja proceeded to let out a big fart. Then the two of them started killing themselves laughing. Jorja said, 'You played a trick on us, we played a trick on you.'  At that point she pulled my toque out from under her butt and handed me the freshly farted on piece of headwear. (They were beside themselves laughing now.) I've got to hand it to them. Well played Jorja. Well played. Later. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Christmas party

We spent this past Sunday afternoon at the Great Western kids' Christmas party.  Instead of having it at the Fun Factory as we had the past few years, we had it at the brewery this year in our old hospitality room.  We went back to some old time stuff - cookie decorating, crafts, colouring and a fish pond.  And of course there was an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus as well.  The girls all had a blast getting hopped up on sugar and Christmas spirit.  Here are some of the highlights:








The next little while should prove to be interesting as well.  We had our church Life Group Christmas supper on Sunday as well.  (So the babysitter got the hopped up kids.)  Thursday is my Christmas party, Saturday is Julie's and the following Tuesday is the school concert.  Busy, busy, busy.  But then it should be all over and we can just enjoy the season and getting ready for the real meaning of Christmas.  Later.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Tooth Fairy, home alone and flushed away (not movie reviews)

It has been forever since I've written again.  I guess my birthday resolution isn't panning out all that well.  Let me try to catch up on some things.

A while back, I took the older two girls to the dentist.  So far, so good.  Jorja is eight and still has no cavities.  Definitely doesn't take after me, but that's a good thing.  Jorja has no issues, but Ginny is a bit more tentative in the chair.  She got a little freaked out trying to get xrays last year, and didn't do much better this year.  Still no xrays taken, and no fluoride treatment.  Since that trip, she has lost three teeth and two permanent ones have grown in, all on the bottom in the front.  The baby teeth were loose for a while, and needed to come out, as the permanent ones were coming up already.  Julie got the first one out without too much trouble.  There were some tears, but not too bad.  I managed to get the second one out.  For as loose and wiggly as it was, it seemed to still have a tap root deep seated in there.  I pulled it out, and Ginny was crying and then the blood came.  I've seen quite a few baby teeth pulled, and there's usually a little blood, but this was different.  The space between her lip and gums was filling up.  I was a little freaked out, but tried to keep cool.  Jorja was watching the situation, and the more blood she saw in Ginny's mouth, the more drained from her face.  She was white.  (Might have to rethink that doctor career goal.)  I led Ginny to the bathroom to get her over the sink.  As I was leading her there, I looked at Julie and mouthed the words, "why is there so much blood?!"  She didn't know.  I thought the poor girl was going to bleed out.  I was thinking it was going to look pretty strange heading to the hospital over a pulled tooth.  But we made it to the bathroom, wet a facecloth and got her to bite on that.  Eventually, the flow of blood was staunched and we were able to celebrate the upcoming tooth fairy visit.  I think the tooth fairy might have been a bit more generous that time, but its not every day you suffer an arterial wound from a tooth.

Jorja likes to come home from school by herself on Fridays when I'm home, and I think that's great.  It means I don't have to pack the other two up and drag them along to wait for Jorja.  However, there was a time before the snow came that I had the idea of taking the little two to the playground and just waiting for Jorja.  Jorja wasn't expecting us to be there, so I was on the lookout.  The bell rang and I watched the door.  I didn't see her come out.  Pretty soon the flow of kids was diminishing and still no Jorja.  She's usually a bit poky, so I wasn't too concerned.  We went into the school and checked her room.  Her teacher said she left already.  Oh great, this was not good.  I grabbed the other two and started hurrying for home.  I picked CeCe up and we ran most of the way, but Jorja had beaten us there.  She was banging on the door and no one was answering.  She was almost into panic mode when we got there.  I felt so bad.  There were a lot of tears, and it took a few weeks before she trusted coming home by herself again.  No more surprises from me now.  That was another one of those 'parent of the year' moments.  It was no snowball to the face mind you,but still, probably more emotionally scarring.

I was upstairs doing something with CeCe a while back when Jorja came up to find me.  She was in hysterics.  She dropped something into the toilet.  I have no idea how many rolls of toilet paper  have had to fish out of the toilet in the last year, but it's quite a few.  This was no mere roll of toilet paper though.  This was toothpaste.  I got her calmed down (and decided that this toothpaste would not be used again) and went down to retrieve it.  I looked in the bowl and didn't see anything.  It was a sample tube of toothpaste from the dentist visit, so it wasn't that big.  Jorja said it was in there, just in that 'out of sight' area poop sometimes disappears into.  Great.  I got gloved up and went in.  Only there was nothing there.  I asked her if she was sure it fell into the toilet.  She assured me that it did.  I then asked her if it fell while she was flushing.  Again, she said yes.  I asked her again if it fell in mid-flush.  She said yes.  So we flushed the toothpaste.  That's a first.  At least we didn't have to worry about using it again after.

Kids have an interesting perspective on things.  We were driving somewhere the other day and saw a car with a roof top carrier.  Ginny said, "Look, that car has a helmet."  I guess it does look that way.

We had the girls parent teacher interviews today.  Even if the kids make me pull out the little bit of hair I have left at home, I'm glad to hear how well they do at school.  Jorja continues to excel and now reads at a grade 7 level.  Not bad for someone in grade three.  She's doing a lot better at recess this year too.  There seems to be a lot less drama than the last two years as far as kids excluding her.  Ginny in doing great too.  She is best friends with a boy in her class that goes to the same daycare.  Together, they seem to be able to get into a bit of trouble, but other than that, all is well.  Ginny gets along good with everyone, listens well and is kind and considerate.  We're pretty proud parents.  Later.

 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

CeCe's sunshine

Putting CeCe to bed usually starts off like this:
'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamt I held you in my arms
When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head, and I cried'

It is her favorite bedtime song, but it usually has some questions to go with it. It's a fairly regular routine, but one night recently she gave me a bit of a surprise at the end. It went something like this: 
CeCe:  why you wanna cry?
Me: because his sunshine wasn't there
CeCe: where's the sunshine?
Me:  I don't know. He had a dream he was hugging her, but when he woke up, she wasn't there. 
CeCe:  were'd she go?
Me: I don't know. 
CeCe: why you wanna cry?
Me:  his sunshine wasn't there. 
CeCe:  hmm. I've been there. You?
Me:  yeah, I've been there before too. 
Later. 

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Ginny is awesome

We are now through the first full week of school and hopefully settling into a bit of a routine.  I guess Ginny hasn't had a full week yet - they were eased into kindergarten pretty gradually.  First an hour with a parent there, then a full morning with only half the class, then finally the whole class for the whole morning.  Piano lessons started last Monday evening for the older two girls, so they have their second lesson tomorrow.  They even got a bit of practicing in this week.  Sunday school was also back into full swing this morning.  Ginny and CeCe were both a bit hesitant to go to new classes.  I had to pry CeCe off my leg, but she was fine after I left.  So I was told anyway.  She seemed fine when I picked her up anyway.

Jorja has a new girl in her class at school this year.  It turns out this girl is from Poland and doesn't speak very much English.  Jorja came home with the news that she was going to tutor this girl for the last recess every day.  That is so like Jorja.  After a few days, I asked her how the English lessons were coming.  She said they were good and I asked her if she taught the new girl to say 'Jorja is awesome.'  "No!!" was the response I Jorja gave me.  (A good thing I guess)  However, Ginny had a different idea.  She said, "Dad, it's pronounced 'Ginny is awesome.'"  I think she might cause a little more trouble than Jorja.  Later.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Back to school again.

Every time I try to blog from my phone with pictures, it screws up. We are currently without a computer, so it's frustrating. This is what I meant to say along with the pictures in the previous post:
>
> The kids went back to school this week. Well, Jorja went back (into grade 3) and Ginny started kindergarten.
>
> Jorja ended up with the teacher that she was hoping for and was a wee bit excited. By a wee bit, I mean vibrating.
>
> Ginny was a little more nervous, but once the day came and we went, she was pretty excited too.
>
> Ginny has only gone for a part day so far and goes for her first full morning on Tuesday. Jorja is gone for her third full day right now. She wanted to go by herself, but I talked her into letting me take her first thing this morning. She came home for lunch by herself and went back for the afternoon by herself. Soon she will come home all by herself. I guess I'm no longer needed. It's hard to believe how big she is.
>
> I think it's going to be a great year. Later.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Back to school

The kids went back to school this week. Well, Jorja went back (into grade 3) and Ginny started kindergarten.

Jorja ended up with the teacher that she was hoping for and was a wee bit excited. By a wee bit, I mean vibrating.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Ninja warriors

This summer, the girls have been watching a show called 'American ninja warrior'. Basically, contestants have to make it through a series of obstacles. There's hanging, climbing, balancing, and other feats of strength involved. There were qualifying events in four cities, with the finals culminating in Las Vegas. I think the finals should be on pretty soon. Anyway, since watching the show, a trip to the park is no longer just a trip to the park.  The jungle gym is now a giant training ground for the next ninja warrior. (Which is going to be one of my daughters). Walls are scaled, monkey bars traversed, walkways spanned by a human bridge. It's pretty impressive actually. I don't know if I should be proud or just afraid for their lives and limbs. So far, we have been lucky, but each trip seems to involve more daring feats. On the upside, summer is almost over. As long as we make it through without a trip to the ER,  I'll be happy. Here are some of the stunts I've witnessed.
 





Later.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Vacuuming and Miley

When I got home from work yesterday, I wanted the girls to clean up their toys so I could vacuum later. I got Jorja to vacuum once before and she thought that was pretty special, so she wanted to do it again. Then Ginny decided she wanted to vacuum too. I told them that when they were done, they could both vacuum some. (I wonder how long they will fight about wanting to vacuum?) As I was getting supper ready, Jorja came up to complain that Ginny wasn't helping clean up. It was then that I found myself saying, "Well, if she doesn't help clean up, she doesn't get to vacuum." I must have slipped into some alternate reality there. Weird.

Jorja and Ginny have been discovering their own music lately. They have progressed from watching the Disney junior channel to watching the Family channel. Between shows, music videos are periodically shown. Our lives will no longer be the same. Jorja came home from daycare one day and asked to turn on the computer to listen to some music. I said sure. I was making supper when I heard Miley Cyrus's 'the climb' blasting up the stairs. We had eight good years of musical influence I guess. I hope it's enough. At supper I commented on her music choice. She looked at me with wonder. "You like Miley Cyrus?" was what she said, but her look told me she was thinking 'how could someone as old as you know Miley Cyrus?' I didn't say I liked her, just that I had heard the song before. I know there were many times my Dad cringed as he watched 'Good rockin tonight' with me every Friday night. (That was a video show in the 80s for those of us without cable and MTV). But he watched anyway. And every once in a while said, 'this is sick'. Back then, sick didn't mean good. I too will keep an open mind as the kids grow up and express themselves through their music. Even if I cringe now and again. (Or always) Later.

Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Family Pics

We had some pictures taken a little while ago and got them back now.  They were taken by an incredibly talented local photographer, Sasha Libby.  We are super happy with them.  Here are a few of my favorites:







Four beautiful ladies in my life.  I am blessed.  Later.


Monday, August 12, 2013

A new year

So yesterday I turned 41. I thought maybe this would be a good time to get back on track. Seeing as how my New Years resolution to write more regularly failed miserably, maybe a birthday resolution will work.

Lets start with my birthday. It was a pretty great day. Ginny made me a picture of a birthday cake and wrote happy birthday on it. Jorja wrote me a little letter in which she quoted the first four verses of psalm 23. She looked it up all on her own and wrote it all out. I was quite impressed. Ginny also got me a bag if mini Skor bars. She knows me well. Julie got me three awesome tshirts - one darth vader, one yoda and one from the princess bride that says 'as you wish'. She also got me some new cologne so I can smell good. CeCe said happy birthday to me countless times. All my girls made me feel pretty special and loved. I'm a lucky guy.

After lunch I took the girls to the park while Julie started to make my birthday supper. To fully appreciate this, you need to know how Julie feels about meat. She could really take it or leave it. When it comes to raw meat, she could definitely leave it. Anyway, for my birthday, she bought me a rack of ribs. One of her coworkers had given her a really good recipe, so she gave it a try. So while I was gone, she touched these raw ribs and cut them apart. She put them in a pot and boiled them. Now I love ribs but the thought of boiling them seems gross even to me. Apparently the smell isn't that great either. But by the time I got home, they were in the oven, in the roaster, and smelling wonderful in their sauce/marinade. She really does love me. When supper time came, Julie even tried a couple. I tried the rest.

A couple of days ago, the girls were all outside jumping on the trampoline. None of them are overly fond of bugs. By that I mean there's a lot of screaming and yelling for me when they see one. CeCe was jumping away when she spotted a bug. She yelled, "A bug! A bug! Daddy, shoot it!!" ( I have no idea where she got that from). Before I could respond, Ginny handled the situation for me. She said, "Daddy can't shoot it. He doesn't even have a gun." It's tough to argue with that.

This evening Ginny asked me why girls have to wipe and boys don't. 'Like, when they pee?' I said. She replied, 'yes.' I said because boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. ( we've always just called things what they are) She thought about it for a moment and then nodded and said, 'Yeah, a guess girls have it wipe something longer. And it wouldn't make sense to wipe something all circley and slippery.' Again, it's tough to argue with that. Later.

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Too quick

Some things just seem to happen too fast.  Jorja has experienced a couple of things this month that mean she is growing up way too fast.

She has decided that she wants to walk home from school on Fridays by herself (the other days she walks to daycare with other kids).  So a couple of weeks ago, I said she could.  The other girls and I walked her there, and then waited as she was due home for lunch.  It's not very far, but it involves crossing a fairly major road.  So Ginny and I sat on the step.  And waited.  CeCe wasn't too concerned.  Jorja is a poky kid getting ready to come home at the best of times, so I'm not sure why I was waiting the minute school let out.  I paced.  I walked to the edge of the yard and looked around the corner.  Nothing.  I guess it had only been a minute.  So I sat back down and waited.  Sure enough, there she came.  She rounded the corner into sight with the biggest grin possible on her face.  She was pretty proud of herself.  I was proud too.  A little nervous, but proud.  She wanted to walk back to school, but I wasn't ready for that yet.  If she's coming home, I know when she gets there.  How do I know if she makes it back to school?  That would just be too long of an afternoon.  I guess she's more ready than me.

Jorja also had her first sleepover.  She was invited to a birthday party sleepover and really wanted to go.  So we said yes, and off she went.  There was no midnight call to come get her (maybe because they were still up doing whatever 8 year old girls do till after midnight).  No call at three in the morning.  No call first thing in the morning.  She was fine.  Again, a little more ready for these things than her parents.

Ginny is also growing up quickly.  On Friday, I took her to the kindergarten open house at school.  She was pretty excited to go and 'check things out.'  The principal talked to the parents while the teacher took all the students for almost an hour.  She was gone and never looked back.  She may be a little more hesitant come September as there will be a new teacher that we've never met.  Hopefully not.  I'm sure her parents will be hesitant enough for everyone.

CeCe's potty training continues to progress.  (This is one thing I won't be upset to be grown out of.) We're down to just night time diapers.  She has conquered the pooping in the toilet fear.  It turns out, she just likes her privacy.  Every time she announced she had to go and someone went with her, she would get stage fright and clam right up.  So now she has just started sneaking off by herself and doing the deed, then proudly announcing when it's over.  Whatever works.  She even does that business in the big toilet so we don't have to dump the poop out of the little potty.  Bonus!  She still pees in the little one, which is oval shaped.  I mention the shape because whenever she goes, she stands up, looks down at it and triumphantly declares, "I peed and egg!"  Later.



Saturday, June 8, 2013

Seventy

Seventy. It seems a little surreal. I guess I've never really given it too much thought, but it seems like an age associated with grandparents. Well, now it is an age associated with parents. One of them anyway. My Dad turns 70 today.

My grandpa was in his 70's when he passed away. I was a teenager then, but he always seemed like a little old man. I don't really have a changing picture of my grandpa. In my mind (and memory), he always kind of looked the same. At that time, I thought he was pretty old when he died. Now I don't think so. I see my other grandpa and Julie's grandma who are 90 now. It's weird, but that grandpa has always kind of looked the same too.

Maybe that's why I have a hard time seeing my Dad as 70. To me he is still the same guy who tied my skates, taught me to drive when I could barely reach the pedals, chopped and hauled wood, shoveled shit, fixed my cars and lawn mowers, and was always there when I needed him.

My Dad has had some health issues over the past several years. Quite a few years already I guess because he was forced to retire early for health reasons. To be perfectly honest, there were times when I didn't think my Dad would still be here. He probably wasn't that much older than me when he lost his Dad. It was Christmas morning and I can still see him crying when he got the news. I am not ready for that kind of news yet.

So Dad, if you're reading this, I want you to know how much I love you and appreciate you. I pray for you and thank God your still here. Happy birthday. And here's to many more. Later.


Sent from my iPhone

Friday, May 31, 2013

May

Here we are, the last day of May already. It's been a pretty big month for us.

Ginny has now graduated from preschool. She had her final concert/graduation on the 22nd and then still had a few more days of school. I was able to go on her last field trip with her which also happened to be her 'special' day. Special days usually involve some unpleasantries for the parent helper - clean up, craft prep, and bathroom trips. The bathroom trips are my least favorite, but since we were on a field trip, there was none if this!  And there were four other moms there to play the hero should the need arise.
Here's Ginny riding the bus.

And here she is during share time, telling all about her cat, shadow.

At the end of the day, the teacher explained there were only two more days left. One little boy must be sick if school already. He let out a big 'cha-ching!'  Not quite the same reaction as Ginny, who had been crying off and on the past couple if weeks because she doesn't want preschool to end.

More big news from May - CeCe has finally started potty training. She wears panties every day now and only switches to diapers for sleeping. We have even managed a trip out for lunch, going to superstore and going to Sunday school. We have returned home from all our outings unscathed, which is good. There is still the occasional accident at home, and we haven't managed to poop in the toilet yet, but the end is in sight. After almost 8 years of continuous diapers in this house, be end is in sight. It's hard to believe.

If our cat, Layla, doesn't get lost this summer, it will be a miracle. She sprints out the door when there is the slightest crack, and she ventures further away every time and does not want to be caught. With three kids going in and out and not always shutting the door, you can only imagine. Jorja (bless her tender heart) goes unto near hysterics when Layla gets out. It's not pretty. There's shrieking and wailing and running and sobbing. On Sunday afternoon, I was on the phone, talking to my mom. CeCe had gone outside to jump on the trampoline. Jorja and Ginny were already outside. Two minutes after going out, CeCe came back in because she had an accident. So as I was standing there in the entrance, tying to hold the phone between my shoulder and my ear and change CeCe's pants and underwear, Jorja came in and let the cat. I only had CeCe undressed at this point. Jorja went into the ugly cry 'Layla's out! Layla's out' and we took off after her. Jorja in the lead shrieking, CeCe's bare butt next, and me in the rear, trying to put clothes on CeCe and still talk on the phone. Jorja yelled, 'Leave CeCe dad, Layla's more important!'  Finally I said, 'I'm going to  have to call you back mom.'  In the meantime, Layla had found a crack in the fence and was under the cedars in the front yard. After luring with a cat treat, we finally captures the rogue animal and got her back in the house. At this point I realized CeCe was now in the front yard and still half naked. We got that taken care of too and have now had strict conversations about watching the door when coming and going. Later.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Allowance, boys and swimming

I'm typing on our old desktop computer tonight.  It's old and slow and pretty much just used by the kids playing computer games.  I forgot how slow it was.  Our laptop died on Sunday.  It has been giving us a warning for a while.  It told us to back everything up because hard drive failure was imminent.  That didn't sound good.  But we got almost four months before the imminent failure happened.  I turned it on Sunday afternoon and it told me the hard drive did not exist.  I'm not as expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not good.  So now we're looking for a laptop.  Fun, fun.

Jorja has been helping out a lot around the house lately.  She is super keen to clean the table off after meals and even cleans the litter box once in a while.  We decided that since she was starting to show some responsibility that we would give her an allowance.  So we started at the beginning of April - $5/week.  To her credit, she knows what she wants and can save till she gets it.  She's had her eye on some clay charm-making craft book/kit at Indigo for some time now.  It was $23.99.  She had a bit of money from before the allowance started, so she saved every week, and when she had enough, she asked if she could go and buy it.  So we did.  She brought her own wallet along with all her money.  I thought her chest might explode when she was up at the till paying for her stuff with her money by herself.  It was pretty awesome to see.  We had a chat before we started this about how saving is important, but that giving is also important.  I asked her if she had $10, what would be a good amount to give away, and she said a dollar.  Sounds like 10% to me.  So she's been taking a loonie every other Sunday to church.  She's a pretty awesome kid and we're pretty proud of her.

Of course Ginny sees the allowance thing and it didn't really hit home until Jorja bought her own thing.  Ginny was pretty upset that day.  So we had a chat with her too, and if she helps out and does her part, she could have an allowance too.  Not as much as Jorja, but a start.  The first couple days after the chat was a bit much.  Dad, what can I do now?  Mom, what do you need done now?  Should I dust?  Should I clean up?  Should I make my bed?  If only the enthusiasm would last.  She's pretty good about doing her part too though.

Ginny and CeCe both seem to be better friends with boys than girls.  Maybe it's just that there have been more boys than girls their ages at daycare.  I'm not sure, but Ginny is best friends with a boy from daycare who is also in her preschool class.  They play well together and have a great time.  The boy, I'll call him C, came to Ginny's birthday party.  As Julie was curling Ginny's hair that day, Ginny said, "I bet C has never seen me with curled hair before."  As it turns out, she is not the only one concerned with her appearance.  We had C over one weekend for a play date and he got his Mom to do his hair for the occasion too.  It was all gelled up and spiky.  Pretty cute.  They were playing for a while and then C seemed to be quite taken with our piano.  He really enjoyed playing it.  So he was plunking away for a while and Ginny was sitting on the steps not very impressed.  I guess when you have a piano in your house and take lessons, some of the thrill wears off.  After a while he looked up and saw the look on Ginny's face.  He said, "All right Ginny, I can see that I'm annoying you.  What would you like me to do now?"  The boy's learning young.

CeCe has a little friend in Sunday school.  I'll call him Z.  We're friends with one of the volunteers in their class, so we get some behind the scenes info that we normally wouldn't.  One morning we walked in, and Z yelled from across the room, "Hi CeCe!"  I guess he had been asking before we showed up if CeCe would be there.  Our friend figured that we must be friends with Z and hang out outside Sunday school, but that is not the case.  He only gets an hour a week, but he likes to make the most of it.  Last week, the two of them were sitting side by side and he looked over and said, "You've got pretty flowers on your dress CeCe."  CeCe didn't miss a beat and replied, "I know!"  That's all she had to say about that.

The older girls finished up their skating lessons and both made huge improvements.  Jorja went from just walking on the ice to actually gliding and almost doing cross overs.  Ginny went from not being able to stand up to going with now walker and moving up a level in her class. 

Now we're into swimming lessons.  All three of them this time though.  They all love it, but CeCe talks about it all the time.  "I'm going swimming?"  Not today, Friday.  "I'm going swimming on Friday?"  The lessons themselves worked out awesome.  All three girls in different lessons in the same half hour time slot.  We'll probably never be so lucky again.  They all look like they are having a blast when they're out there.

Hopefully my next post will be sooner coming than this one was.  Later.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Ginny turns five

Ginny turned 5 on March 7th.  She is a pretty amazing kid.  She is smart, funny, sensitive and independent.  She has a wicked sense of humor and one of the most infectious laughs you will ever hear.  She definitely marches to her own beat.  Her fashion sense is in a word - monochromatic.  Her top has to match the bottom.  She loves to play with Jorja, but is also starting to enjoy her little sister's company as well.  The three of them all play fairly well together most days.
 
Leading up to her birthday, there was a lot of discussion about what she wanted for a gift.  When we looked in stores, it pretty much boiled down to she wanted everything.  Obviously, this wasn't going to happen.  After doing some Internet research, she decided she would like some Lego.  That works for me - I love Lego.  We got her a couple of sets, and nine days later, she is still playing with it.  That's a good sign.  Today, she built something with no instructions.  Awesome!  That's what Lego is supposed to be about.  Sets are nice, but we got most of our enjoyment just building stuff ourselves.  Here she is with some of her stuff.
Her birthday fell on a Thursday, so we didn't do much that day.  We asked what she wanted for her birthday supper and she said Montana's.  That sounded good, so we headed there after work.  We asked her beforehand if she wanted the waiters and waitresses to sing to her and she said yes, but she didn't wan to wear 'the hat'.  For those of you not familiar with Montana's, they have a big Moose antler hat they make the 'lucky' person wear.  Personally, it grosses me out.  How do I know the sanitary state of the scalp that was in there before mine.  So I was glad she didn't want the hat.  We conveyed this wish to our hostess, but the message got lost along the way.  When the group of servers came out to sing, they had the hat with them.  Ginny went into ugly cry.  "I don't want to wear the hat!"  They apologized of course, but to say the moment wasn't the same after that would be a bit of an understatement.  She did manage to quiet her sobs while they chanted out their version of happy birthday, but the sparkler in her ice cream had long gone out.  The video is not exactly happy.

Fast forward to the Sunday after her actual birthday to her party.  She invited 7 friends from preschool to a gymnastics party.  They all had a blast and we had some tired, sweaty girls when we were done.


Parachutes, relay races, and trampolines filled the better part of two hours.  I took a lot of pictures, but realized that all I had were a lot of blurry kids.  I guess the iPhone doesn't capture the action trampoline shots that well.  The relay race was quite amusing.  When they finally got the hang of passing the baton, they waited till the competition was back before the next person would go.  Whatever lead one team had was gone as they waited politely for their competitor to come back.
Then came cake and presents.
It was a Barbie theme and Julie did an awesome job on the cake.

Everyone was really thirsty by the time we headed home.
Another great party in the books (and not in our house).  Later.