Lesson 4

Horse riding lessons are going great. Our weekly 1 hour lesson has never been less than 1.5 hours so we are more than getting our moneys worth!! Today T2 tried trotting and loved it even though she found it a bit scary. I am doing OK so far - walking is fine, trotting is fine but anything more crazy and I might not be able to watch!!

She comes home exhausted - barely speaks but has to draw a few pictures so the lessons must give her inspiration. She would like to have a bath now rather than tonight but our water has now been off for over 7 hours due to maintenance aaaargh

I We love living near a beach

We live 1 mile from Lake Erie and have a really nice stretch of sand. There's always plenty to see. T1 stayed home because he wasn't feeling 100%. T2 couldn't resist the water even though it was quite chilly. The dogs only get to come when G comes too because they pull like crazy with excitement and as G is off this week we were able to take them.

Crazy, busy and fun!

When my parents come to visit we try to fit a year of memory making into two short weeks because that is all the time we get with them each year. We hang out, go out and about, we talk a lot, wine gets consumed, the kids show them their treasures, their new skills, how their height compares to 5ft 0" Grandma (T1 is now 5'2.5") and we eat....lots! We probably overwhelm them with our noise and chaos, the hearing loss that comes with age sometimes slows the conversation, the kids' accents and use of North American words sometimes stump them even after close to 20 years of trips to Canada and USA but we still have a great time and miss them so very much when they leave. Technology might be great and we can chat on the phone, email and skype but it will never be equal to breathing the same air.

Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, a best friend's Birthday party at a treehouse in the woods, a cool tree stump - I fully intend to count those rings!, Lukadoodle stretched out on me for a belly rub, Toronto skyline with Grandad, My three lovelies on a bench and a girl and her guitar.

In case you are wondering...

...what that amazing smell is - it's my slow cooker. I've got skinless, boneless chicken breasts in there with 4tbsp dijon mustard and 2tbsp lime juice. They've been cooking all day. I love using the slow cooker - its so nice to know dinner is taken care of so early in the day. I won't know what these taste like because I won't be eating them but we'll see what G and T1 think. T2 is pretty much vegetarian. I will have two other taste testers because my parents are on their way for their annual visit from UK. We are all so excited that they will be here for dinner and staying for 16 days!!!

Trying so hard

My little girl is struggling so much with this reading and writing gig but she's trying really hard because she wants it so badly. We started a new journal on September first. Right now she is tracking the date and weather but once she masters that she can start to add something of her own (or before if she wants to try). Back in Kindergarten she, like the other kids in the class, were encouraged to try to write - even if the result barely had anything in common with the actual word. Most of the kids were eager to try and despite missing vowels, managed to get a couple of consonants down and with an accompanying illustration it was fairly easy to decipher. This doesn't fly with T2 even now as she enters grade 2. As soon as paper and a pencil appear it seems her brain freezes. Words that she can recognize again and again when she sees them - she can't produce them. For example 'my' she knows it - she has known it since Junior Kindergarten three years ago Ask her to write it and she can't even think what it begins with. It is so frustrating for her. For now I have an index card with the sentences she needs to write such as 'today is' and she uses a calendar to copy the day and month, weather and season. She likes it - I hope soon she won't need to look at the cards for every single letter and we'll have moved forward another step.

May I take your order?

The Butterfly Cafe is up and running in our basement - all dolls and stuffies are welcome!

A crafty nook

Having a creative crafty kid is awesome except for one thing...THE MESS! T2 starts projects all over the house - her bedroom floor, craft room, dining table, family room floor, den, the car.... This means piles of paper cuttings and discarded failed attempts, containers with chosen supplies in that never return to their home, sparkles - need I say more? We have a craft room in the basement but apparently that isn't near enough to where I can usually be found on the main floor. About 2 years ago we made her a craft nook in the front hallway closet - we never enter the house through that door and we use the laundry room for coats, boots, shoes etc. The hallway closet was barely used so with the help of my Dad who was visiting with my Mum at the time from UK, we converted it by installing shelves and moving the most often used craft stuff into it and put a chair there for her. It doesn't get used as much as I would like because as soon as the main surface gets messy, she moves to another zone and starts a project there. It certainly didn't solve the problem but when it is tidy she returns to it and I not only love to see her crafting there but I love when I look around and see an absence of abandoned projects elsewhere. One day I might miss those piles of paper snippets and glitter - nah! I will miss the completed projects though!

Today the project is a menu for her restaurant in the basement