These three gems all from this morning - but if I waited until later, they would vanish from my sieve-like memory.
1. Riding our bikes through preparations for the Scottish Festival. Passing by dozens of people in kilts and marching band uniforms. Jacob remarks "Why are there so many Indians here today?". Yeah, we have a little work to do on the cultural awareness front.
2. In the coffee shop:
Jacob: Is it hard to marry?
Me: I don't know. What do you mean?
Jacob: Well, you meet so many girls who you want to marry. How can you choose which one?
Me: (Nodding wistfully)
Correction
Me: When you meet the right one, you'll know Jacob. It's magic.
3. Riding home. Molly falls off her bike.
Me: What happened
Molly: Jacob told me to take my hands off the handle bars and I fell off
Me: If Jacob told you to jump off a cliff, would you do that too?
Molly: Jacob would never tell me to jump off a cliff.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Loving My Summery Kids
This seems to be the summer of leaps and bounds for Zoë. A month ago, she could barely get her balance bike to the bridge. Now she rides a 2-wheeler with training wheels a mile each way to the beach every day. And a parent has to jog to keep up. A month ago she refused to go in the water. Now she can swim out to the water trampoline with only a noodle to keep her afloat.
The other two are having a great summer too. When we're not at the beach (every morning) or in our part of the lake (every afternoon), they're reading books, doing Reading Eggs on the computer (learn-to-read program), or writing cards/stories/letters/etc. They seem to be improving every day. They're also riding their 2-wheelers faster than I can jog and one of their regular requests is "time me on a running race" as they dart off to the bridge and back. They call all of these efforts their triathlon training (gotta be like mom) and their Kids of Steel race is coming up next weekend. Because we inevitably compare them with each other all the time, I tend to focus on all the ways in which they're different. So it's funny when strangers comment on how close to identical they are, or, like this morning, when I asked each of them to step on the scales and both of them weighed exactly 42.2 lbs. Molly's about 1/2 inch taller though!
We went down to Sick Kids on Monday for Molly's 6 month post-surgery check-up. The surgeon was impressed enough with her progress that he called in every resident and fellow he could find to show off his handiwork. She has about 20 degrees of flex in her ankles that weren't there before. As a result, her running gait has completely transformed, so she no longer looks like a speed-walker when she runs. She's getting seriously fast, and her balance is improving. Seems like quite a success story.
I spent part of the morning glued to the computer "watching" my niece Erin compete at the diving junior nationals. After a difficult competition yesterday, she rebounded to finish 5th in the country today. And she still has another year in the 10-11 age group. As always, she is our athletic and general kick-ass role model.
Here's Jacob belting out an ad-libbed pirate tune, while grasping his noodle. Most people won't be able to pick out the lyrics, but they include "I'm a pirate on the open sea. A parrot on my shoulder. My only company." His talents are unique.
The other two are having a great summer too. When we're not at the beach (every morning) or in our part of the lake (every afternoon), they're reading books, doing Reading Eggs on the computer (learn-to-read program), or writing cards/stories/letters/etc. They seem to be improving every day. They're also riding their 2-wheelers faster than I can jog and one of their regular requests is "time me on a running race" as they dart off to the bridge and back. They call all of these efforts their triathlon training (gotta be like mom) and their Kids of Steel race is coming up next weekend. Because we inevitably compare them with each other all the time, I tend to focus on all the ways in which they're different. So it's funny when strangers comment on how close to identical they are, or, like this morning, when I asked each of them to step on the scales and both of them weighed exactly 42.2 lbs. Molly's about 1/2 inch taller though!
We went down to Sick Kids on Monday for Molly's 6 month post-surgery check-up. The surgeon was impressed enough with her progress that he called in every resident and fellow he could find to show off his handiwork. She has about 20 degrees of flex in her ankles that weren't there before. As a result, her running gait has completely transformed, so she no longer looks like a speed-walker when she runs. She's getting seriously fast, and her balance is improving. Seems like quite a success story.
I spent part of the morning glued to the computer "watching" my niece Erin compete at the diving junior nationals. After a difficult competition yesterday, she rebounded to finish 5th in the country today. And she still has another year in the 10-11 age group. As always, she is our athletic and general kick-ass role model.
Here's Jacob belting out an ad-libbed pirate tune, while grasping his noodle. Most people won't be able to pick out the lyrics, but they include "I'm a pirate on the open sea. A parrot on my shoulder. My only company." His talents are unique.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Early Summer Wrap-U
Family celebration of the twins' 5th birthday. Zoë spent the whole time asking when her birthday is, and describing what kind of cake she would like, party details, present requests, etc.
Sometimes, all you really need for a good birthday is a chocolate cupcake.
The big family gift for the summer/birthdays was a water trampoline. Here are Molly and Jacob demonstrating how to have fun on a trampoline. Followed by Kate demonstrating a graceful dismount.
Birthday party was themed knights & princesses. Began with decorating shields, followed by knights' training, slaying of the balloon dragon, decorating the castle cake, swimming the moat, etc, etc. Fun was had by all. No tears at a 5 year-old party?
Zoë hanging out on the dock.
Greg and Benjamin visited for the Canada Day weekend. On a related note, sea monster was spotted menacing the children with his noodles.
Fireworks from our dock, with the Whites and Averys joining the festivities.
Nice picture of Jacob in his Messi shirt
We embarked on an ambitious garden project, a sunflower house. The flowers are planted in a rectangle and are supposed to grow large enough to form a kids' secret playhouse. We cleared out a patch of garden, dug a trench, mixed the soil, spread the woodchips, planted the seeds and small plants. Were very proud. And then some rodent has come along and eaten every flower in the garden. Rabbits and groundhogs are the chief suspects. At least one of the sunflowers got beheaded while I slept in the tent with the kids right next to the garden. Our efforts at guarding the treasure ended, as they always do, with the sentry falling asleep. Oops.
Sometimes, all you really need for a good birthday is a chocolate cupcake.
The big family gift for the summer/birthdays was a water trampoline. Here are Molly and Jacob demonstrating how to have fun on a trampoline. Followed by Kate demonstrating a graceful dismount.
Birthday party was themed knights & princesses. Began with decorating shields, followed by knights' training, slaying of the balloon dragon, decorating the castle cake, swimming the moat, etc, etc. Fun was had by all. No tears at a 5 year-old party?
Zoë hanging out on the dock.
Greg and Benjamin visited for the Canada Day weekend. On a related note, sea monster was spotted menacing the children with his noodles.
Fireworks from our dock, with the Whites and Averys joining the festivities.
Nice picture of Jacob in his Messi shirt
We embarked on an ambitious garden project, a sunflower house. The flowers are planted in a rectangle and are supposed to grow large enough to form a kids' secret playhouse. We cleared out a patch of garden, dug a trench, mixed the soil, spread the woodchips, planted the seeds and small plants. Were very proud. And then some rodent has come along and eaten every flower in the garden. Rabbits and groundhogs are the chief suspects. At least one of the sunflowers got beheaded while I slept in the tent with the kids right next to the garden. Our efforts at guarding the treasure ended, as they always do, with the sentry falling asleep. Oops.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Folk Festival
We spent the weekend at Mariposa, listening to music in the evenings and playing in the kids' area during the day. The weather was glorious, the little ones had a glorious time. Just like last year, M&J wanted to spend most of their time listening to the storyteller recounting Frog & Toad, The Hockey Sweater, First Nations stories, etc. Whenever we wandered off to another activity or stage, Jacob would insist, "Can we go back to the fairy-teller?".
A perennial highlight is the face-painting
Yes, he's a knight-warrior, at a hippy music festival. Oh well.
The mime created the most conversation. Why is his face painted? Why can't he talk? Does he talk to his family when he gets home? There's Jacob on-stage in the big hat.
And when it was all over, we came home and slept in the tent, listening to the waves. You may be able to see the arsenal of weapons in the foreground of the photo - water pistols and hockey stick. Our new sunflower garden (photos to follow in next posting) was marauded by a flower-beheading rodent of some sort. So Jacob wanted to camp out to guard the garden and attack the critter if it dared return. He is a modern-day knight.
A perennial highlight is the face-painting
Yes, he's a knight-warrior, at a hippy music festival. Oh well.
The mime created the most conversation. Why is his face painted? Why can't he talk? Does he talk to his family when he gets home? There's Jacob on-stage in the big hat.
And when it was all over, we came home and slept in the tent, listening to the waves. You may be able to see the arsenal of weapons in the foreground of the photo - water pistols and hockey stick. Our new sunflower garden (photos to follow in next posting) was marauded by a flower-beheading rodent of some sort. So Jacob wanted to camp out to guard the garden and attack the critter if it dared return. He is a modern-day knight.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Kate's Back!!
Kate is home from her week in Ottawa, and while we're trying to play it cool about how well we managed without her, let's be honest, we were all hanging on by very thin threads.
- I tried to get Jacob on-side Team England at the Euros, but he seemed more enamored of the ever-stylish Cristiano. Here's his artistic ode to Ronaldo, complete with the backwards #7 on the jersey.
- Zoë had her nursery school graduation party. We'll all miss Miss Laurie next year as Zoë is off to Montessori for a year.
- Here's a series of Zoë being a goofball on the dock
- It was a big week of graduation, as we had our last Chinese class of the year. Zoë will be moving on from parent & tot next year, freeing up me and Kate to take an adult class. Do you think Kate will be competitive about being in a Chinese class with me?
- And on Saturday afternoon, Jacob and I went to the Toronto FC game. The home team blew a 2-0 lead, but as you can see, that didn't affect our enthusiasm
- I tried to get Jacob on-side Team England at the Euros, but he seemed more enamored of the ever-stylish Cristiano. Here's his artistic ode to Ronaldo, complete with the backwards #7 on the jersey.
- Zoë had her nursery school graduation party. We'll all miss Miss Laurie next year as Zoë is off to Montessori for a year.
- Here's a series of Zoë being a goofball on the dock
- It was a big week of graduation, as we had our last Chinese class of the year. Zoë will be moving on from parent & tot next year, freeing up me and Kate to take an adult class. Do you think Kate will be competitive about being in a Chinese class with me?
- And on Saturday afternoon, Jacob and I went to the Toronto FC game. The home team blew a 2-0 lead, but as you can see, that didn't affect our enthusiasm
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
New Playground
Just in time for summer, our new playground by the beach is open. We christened the park yesterday and it got three thumbs up from my little ones.
In other news, Kate is in Ottawa for 6 days at a conference. Zoë cried herself to sleep the first night saying that she wanted to go with mama. But all has gone well since then. Tonight we even completed the back-to-back end-of-year school BBQ and soccer game. All in the crazy heat. The highlight of the former event was apparently seeing their principal get wet in the dunk tank. My highlight was hearing Zoë refer to said Principal as Mr. Alligator (it's Halliday). And then at the soccer, both twins got on the scoresheet (thankfully they don't actually keep score, or have goalies, and they play 3 or 4 a side) and were excited about it. Next week I'll try to capture video evidence of Jacob's goal celebration, whereby he sprints the length of the field pointing one, or both, elbows straight out in front of him. This will catch on.
It was also Zoë's last day of nursery school today, which means my allotment of weekly free time just vanished. But it's about to be replaced with daily excursions to the beach, so life is good.
In other news, Kate is in Ottawa for 6 days at a conference. Zoë cried herself to sleep the first night saying that she wanted to go with mama. But all has gone well since then. Tonight we even completed the back-to-back end-of-year school BBQ and soccer game. All in the crazy heat. The highlight of the former event was apparently seeing their principal get wet in the dunk tank. My highlight was hearing Zoë refer to said Principal as Mr. Alligator (it's Halliday). And then at the soccer, both twins got on the scoresheet (thankfully they don't actually keep score, or have goalies, and they play 3 or 4 a side) and were excited about it. Next week I'll try to capture video evidence of Jacob's goal celebration, whereby he sprints the length of the field pointing one, or both, elbows straight out in front of him. This will catch on.
It was also Zoë's last day of nursery school today, which means my allotment of weekly free time just vanished. But it's about to be replaced with daily excursions to the beach, so life is good.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Father's Day Cake
We're very responsive here at the Hazelblog. The Whites asked about the chocolate cake. So, here's a photo, with bonus coverage of me singing with a knife in my mouth, plus a Tinkerbell gift bag. Yes, it was a testosterone-filled Father's Day.
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