Jadzia's New 'Do

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Fun times at Ikea

I found my Twister game.

Yesterday I was having dinner at a friend's house and we were thinking how fun it would be to challenge each other to a game of Twister.  Well, today I found my old Twister mat, along with the warped cardboard spinner very biased to the left hand.  Luckily I  also have this old Flash program I made to spin for us.  Next time somebody challenges me to Twister, I'll be ready!

I also have a video  (which I may post later) Adam took of the kids and I playing (very challenging when you're too short to reach the dots and don't know your left from your right, or the rules, or your colours).

Now I just have to find the painting I did in university of people playing Twister naked.

Happy Valentine's Day

Or as it's known at our house, the day before William's birthday.  Yesterday we had family and friends over to celebrate his big day.  The kids and I made the cake the day before, green with hotwheels driving around a chocolate road.  His friends have had bowling birthdays, indoor playground birthdays, museum birthdays, magician birthdays, but when I asked him what he wanted to do, he said "I want to run around with all my friends and play hotwheels and jump on my bed."  So that's what we planned.

And it was a blast, a house full of people we love snacking and gabbing together.  Mobs of children gathered around, not happy to simply observe the opening of presents.  One racetrack delighted them all so much that they nearly came to blows. No indoor play place would have been better.

Tommorrow my little boy turns 4.  He's already so grown up that I couldn't really think of him as 3.  He's smart, kind, gentle, funny.  He's a loving brother and a wonderful son.  He owns a ridiculous amount of hotwheels tracks.

Happy Birthday William!

So Grown Up

Today I registered my son for junior kindergarten.  The whole process took about an hour and involved gathering together some random forms and identification, dressing everyone in snow pants, walking through the snow at the pace of bundled two-year-old, and filling out a small stack of forms while my children ate crackers and grapes (with a brief break to visit the staff washroom). While we were snacking and form-filling, nutrition break started and my nephew Hunter greeted us in the hall.  The kids got hugs.  I got a "Hi Auntie Jen" and a "Bye Auntie Jen." 

I was all excited about William's passage into manhood, so I got William to tell my husband where we went.  His interpretation: "My Mom just wrote and we ate crackers."  Okay, maybe he'll be more excited when we go to meet his teacher.

Since this is a post about William, I must mention what a wonderful boy he is.  Yesterday we went to one of those indoor play places with his friends.  He helped his sister up and down the equipment, taking her by the hand and gently leading her.  He helped his friend who is a little more timid than he is (William is fearless).  Sometimes he went and got her Mom, sometimes he would help her himself and then tell her Mom: "That's okay, we don't need you now."  I was so proud that he acted so grown-up, so kind, so gentle, so brave. 

He's going to rule Junior Kindergarten!

Jadzia sleeps in a big girl bed. Night 1.

Adam has plans to build Jadzia a canopy princess bed to compete with William's car bed.  In the mean-time my parents had a comfy mattress and box spring they wanted to get rid of.  It's the same bed I slept on as a teenager and it's very, very comfy.  Adam is going to modify his bed design to accomadate the mattress, which is a double, not a single like William's, and takes up 80% of her bedroom.

Yesterday was a day of birthday partying, no napping, and temper tantrums, so I decided to put her to bed early.  So just after dinner I managed to get the tantruming sesame street addict to brush her teeth, then I took her to her room to read her stories.  When I said "story" she ran out of her bedroom towards the basement and freaked out when I brought her back.  She thought I meant "Toy Story" and screamed "Toy Story Three Buzz!"

I calmed her down and got back to the business of reading stories.  Normally I read two or three stories and then put her in her crib.  This time, Jadzia was boss, jumping out of bed to pick another book sometimes when I was in the middle of reading one.  I read almost every book in her book bin, and read several of them twice. 

By the end, I was reading each book EXTRA SLOWLY, like a robot running out of batteries, and she was sucking her thumb and jumping out of bed less often.  When she looked dozey enough, I shut the light and started singing "Hush little baby", just like I do every night.

I sang it lying down.
I sang it standing up.
I sang it while sitting on the floor.

Jadzia kept almost sort of pretending to sleep, then waking up grinning at me.  Finally, two hours after I began the process, she fell asleep sideways on the bed, which still left enough space for me to lie beside her.  It's a big bed for a little girl.

She slept all night, all the way to nine.  Her brother woke up at 5 am because he "needed" someone to sleep with him.

Creative Arts Awards

Well I'm back from the Creative Burlington First Annual Arts Appreciation Awards.  Apparently the even will be shown on Cogeco Cable at some time in the future, so those of you who couldn't afford the $65 to attend can curl up on the couch and watch the event. Alas, the "light fare" has all been eaten, so no deep fried scallops, peppers, or spring rolls for you (unless you cook your own to make your viewing experience more authentic).

If an evening of community television isn't your style, you could skip ahead to the most important part of the night, the literary arts award. Watch the video below (ahem, technical difficulties have prevented me from posting the video below just yet)

My clip is at about 4:56.


Congratulations to my Mom, Sylvia McNicoll, for winning the award.  The most diserving person definitely won.  Mom is a highly accomplished author with twenty-eight or more books published.  I am an über-procrastinator with zero books published.  The third finalist, Bobbie, is a very friendly woman who smiles a lot.

Highlights:

Mom and I cornered the mayor at the reception and chatted at him.  It's not every day you get to make awkward small talk with the leader of your city. 

All the finalists, myself included, got certificates.  This is because there really are no winners and losers and even the non-awards-recipients should get something. Mine is going in my rah-rah for me binder.

I was totally embarrassed to see my video interview.  Even when other interviews were being shown, I was mortified because I knew I was next.  Everyone said I did okay though.  (You can judge for yourself when I get that gosh darn video posted).

We arranged for all the literary artists to sit at the same table.  Bobbie brought some of her friends who all seemed nice, one of them even had pinky red hair.  It was fun to have a literary table.  And even though Bobbie and I didn't receive the award, we got to touch it because we were sitting with my Mom.  We all agreed that it should say "Literary Artist of the Year" on it, instead of ricipient of whatever.

Thank you to Natalie for watching the kids and putting them to bed.  Love you babe.