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.

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.

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.

Christmas in the summer

We spent last weekend in Tofield at my parents' place.  It was our family's annual 'Christmas in the summer time' weekend.  There are just too many of us to try to get together in one house in the winter when we can't send the kids outside.  This has proved to be a nice alternative.  My sister and one brother each brought their RVs and my other brother was staying with his in laws.  That left just us to stay at my Mom and Dad's, which worked out nice.  It also happened to be my uncle's 60th birthday, so my grandparents and all my Mom's brothers were in town too.  It was a good weekend for visiting and reconnecting. 

We spent our first evening at my sister's RV, around the campfire, playing bingo and eating smores.  Good times.  Ginny was a little freaked out by the fire (we don't exactly camp much...or at all), but CeCe was oblivious and kept walking too close for comfort.  Everyone made in out unscathed except for the marshmallows. 

The next day we had turkey, stuffing and all the fixings - it was Christmas after all.  The grandkids exchanged presents and we hung out some more.  CeCe was playing with her cousin Carson, who is a year older than her.  There was a disagreement over a plastic meatball.  He had it, she had it, he had it.  Finally CeCe had had enough and lost her cool.  "Bad baby!" she yelled.  "You go to the corner.  NOW!"  Maybe not the best way to handle the situation, but standing back and watching them, it was pretty funny.  Especially since the baby was a year older than her. 

That night was my uncle's party.  He had rented the curling rink for the festivities and even had some live musicians.  The girls had a blast running around in the open space playing with their cousins and then dancing the night away with their one girl cousin their age.  One lonely guitar player and four little girls proved to be pretty good entertainment.  Probably not the usual bar crowd he was used to.

Sunday we headed home and then it was back to work on Monday.  We've been letting Jorja stay up a bit later than Ginny this past week.  Sometimes we let her read in her room or sometimes downstairs with us.  Last night, after having read downstairs with us for a while after Ginny was in bed, we told her it was time for bed.  I went up with her to tuck her in.  Her asthma has been really bad this year, so she does her puffer every night before bed.  Just before putting it to her mouth, she asked how come she gets to stay up later than the other girls.  As she is puffing away, I tell her that she is older.  It seems to be a revelation.  She just realized that this may have benefits.  Her eyes lit up, the corners of her mouth curled up around her inhaler, and seeing as how she couldn't talk at that moment, she gave me a thumbs up.  What a kid.  Later. 

Vegas, baby

We had to go to Costco on Sunday to pick up a few things. We've been going there more often lately and the girls are starting to enjoy the samples. Some days are better than others though and this fact has not eluded them. When I take them first thing Friday morning, the sampling is not too great. So as we were getting in the car to head out there, Ginny said she hoped there would be samples. Jorja piped up, "Of course there will be. It's the weekend."

I realize I haven't written yet since I turned 40. I have to say I don't really feel any different, which is good I guess. My party was awesome. I had some great friends and family out. The weather was great. Julie surprised me with a child-free trip to Vegas in November. I was shocked and ecstatic. It had been our goal/hope/dream to go this year, but I had pretty much given up. Then her cousin volunteered to watch the kids, she booked some flights and hotels and we're off. Well we will be anyway. Pretty cool.

I'm trying something new today. I set up my blog to be able to post from email so I am typing on my iPhone during my lunch. Hopefully it works ok. I'll have to check out the formatting when I get home. Anyway, beer calls. Later.

Sent from my iPhone

Olympics, spilled milk, iPhone and turning 40

We are nearing the end of our second and final week of holidays for the summer.  We spent this second week at home just hanging out.  The girls had some appointments - Ginny got her four year shots finally (there were a few tears but she did pretty good) and Jorja had her seven year doctor check-up and dentist check-up (no cavities!! - given my dental history, that is monumental). 

We've also watched a lot of the Olympics.  Julie and I both love watching the Olympics and the girls really got into it this year too.  They would go outside and play on the trampoline and play Olympics.  They did running events around the edge of it, as well as swimming.  They did diving by doing various jumping routines.  It was quite entertaining to watch and listen to.  Jorja shows her patriotic spirit and always represents Canada.  Ginny would apparently defect for whoever is winning.  She was representing China for most of the games, but has now switched to the USA as they are in the lead for medals.  Somehow they were both able to both win gold medals in all their events though.  Yesterday I overheard Jorja say, "Maybe someone else should win a medal now.  How about the Netherlands?"  I'm not sure where that came from, but it's nice to see she thinks everyone should win something.  However she does have some competitiveness in her.  She was asking where Canada was in the total medal standings today and I told her twelfth.  She got a funny look on her face.  "That's pretty good, isn't it?" I said.  She scrunched up her nose, shook her head and said "No."  Oh well.

The other day we had an interesting breakfast.  The girls were all having cereal.  Jorja and Ginny were almost done, and fooling around.  In the process, they spilled most of Ginny's milk all over the table.  I was not impressed.  I told them they were now done breakfast and that they should just go wash up.  As I was going to get a rag to wipe up their spill, CeCe decided to throw her entire bowlful of milk onto the floor.  Wow, unimpressed does not begin to explain how I felt at that moment.  There was some corner time after that.  The funny thing is that that night CeCe brought me a book to read her.  It's about a baby bear asking his Mom about how much she loved him.  On the second page, the little bear asked, "Will you still love me even if a make a great big mess?"  How fitting.  The mother bear still loved her little bear and so did I.

I do a lot on my iPhone.  Texting, surfing the web, facebook.  I really am becoming addicted to the autocorrect function it has.  I will find myself typing on the computer and pausing after I know I've made a typo waiting for the correct word to pop up.  It doesn't and I realize I will have to correct it myself.  Or I'll be typing and come to the end of a sentence and just double space.  When you double space on the iPhone, it puts a period in for you and capitalizes the next letter.  Very handy, but it makes typing on the computer very annoying.  Can't Microsoft just know what I want to do?  Is that too much to ask? 

I am typing this tonight on the eve of my fortieth birthday.  I don't really think I feel forty.  Well, I guess I don't know how that feels yet.  I don't think it bothers me either - I guess we'll see tomorrow.  Other than the fact that I've got less hair on my head and more in my nose and ears and on my shoulders and back, I feel pretty good.  I had my yearly physical a little while ago, and I think I am in better health than I have been in most of my adult life.  I don't smoke anymore.  I have a healthy weight now.  My blood sugar levels are good.  My bad cholesterol is low.  My good cholesterol is high.  My blood pressure is medicated, but under control.  And I asked my family doc when my physicals had to get a little more personal and she said not till I'm 50, unless I have trouble.  Woot woot! 

We're having a party tomorrow - I think about 20 people will be here, so it should be a good time.  For the last time as a thirty-something year old, later.

Holiday Road part 2

We left Calgary early in Wednesday morning.  Early because our children cannot sleep in.  It doesn't matter what time they go to bed, they are up between six and seven.  Holidays were no exception.  Probably worse than normal actually.  So we got up, packed and headed for the mountains.  Before going to Canmore, we went through the Banff first and took a trip up the gondola.  We all had fun and it wasn't even too scary.  Here we are on the way up.

After the gondola, we headed back to Canmore and spent the next three nights there.  We met up with my sister and her family who have a condo there.  We did some more shopping, some walking and spent some time in the pool.  The weather was still pretty good although we did have some rain.  It was nice enough for ice cream one afternoon though.



Saturday morning we packed up again and made the long trek back to Saskatoon.  The girls have seen Julie put her feet up on the dashboard a few too many times, to they thought they should stretch out too.  Here's Jorja's foot behind my head.

 

And what would a holiday be without our theme song.  We sang it at the start of every leg of our journey.  Look out Griswolds, here come the Kroekers.

Later.