The North Pole

Today we had a chance to visit the North Pole! Yes, it's a busy time of year for Santa but they do make time to give boys and girls in the Lower Mainland a chance to see where all the magic happens. Actually, the logistics of getting to and from the North Pole is too much, so Santa arranged for the elves to bring the North Pole to us. They set it all up right in Lynn Valley Mall actually. It looks just like the real thing, I'm sure.

It was a super fun experience. The kids got to see the post office, where all their letters have gone to Santa. They learned how to fly the reindeer and sleigh, met an actual elf who invents many of the toys, decorated cookies at the bakery, met Mr. and Mrs. Claus, help to make some toys in the workshop and even made the wrapping paper for all the gifts. Enjoy the pictures!

 Reindeer flying school

 Chatting it up with Mrs. Claus. She reported that Santa is sleeping a lot, but that we could wake him up.

 Helping the elves to make some toys.

 A group shot in the toy workshop

 Santa needs some wrapping paper.

I had to add this last shot in. We went to a sushi restaurant for lunch afterwards. The kids sat at a table all by themselves while the 5 moms sat at the adults table. Can you believe that?!?! A first, not to mention a Christmas miracle in and of itself!

"Toys for the Naughty Children"

I've always wanted to go to the Children's Wish Breakfast. For those of you who are not from the Lower Mainland, it's toy drive for the holiday season. The idea is you bring an unwrapped toy and they put on a buffet breakfast. It was held at the Pan Pacific Hotel and runs from 6-9am. All the other years, I've always held back because it's all the way downtown and I'd never make it back in time for school. This year I decided that we'd go for since we are homeschooling and don't have to rush to be...well...anywhere! I brought up the idea with the kids about a month ago. They have different jars for different saving reasons. One of the jars is a 'Sharing' jar with the idea that this money is used for charity. When the kids get money, they split it up and put it into the four jars. I introduced the idea that mama and papa would match whatever money they had in the Sharing Jar and they could go to the store and buy a toy so that a needy child would have something to open on Christmas Day. Maddy understood the idea, Ethan needed a bit more convincing. He came around eventually and off we went to Target to find the presents. The title of this post comes from Ethan. Whenever he mentioned the toys he always said "Toys for the naughty children" instead. The phrase 'needy children' doesn't make sense to him, I guess he is still naive enough to not understand that everyone isn't as lucky as he is.

Yesterday we set our alarms to 6am and were able to leave the house by 7am. That is a record for us homeschoolers! :) The organizers did an amazing job with the logistics of getting so many people through the hotel, donate the toy and fed breakfast. The line up was very long and snaked around the lobby of the hotel. I was impressed with how quickly the line was moving. Anyway, it was a fun morning and it's something that I'd really like to do again with the kids. Hopefully by next year we'll be able to clear up the whole 'naughty/needy children' thing with Ethan!

 Standing in the line up.

 Finally made it to the front to drop off our toys.

 Sitting down to breakfast. Surprisingly Ethan didn't even eat. Early morning. He wasn't in the best of moods.

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas visited our house this weekend. Oma wrote to tell him that they and Auntie Lyn would also be in town this weekend, so he was sure to pack presents and chocolate letters for everyone. The kids put their shoes outside the front door and we watched a video of Sinterklaas arriving in Holland while we waited for him to come. Suddenly there was a LOUD knock (read: pounding) at our front door. The kids rushed to the door, but Sinterklaas was so fast we didn't see him. Oma said she thought she saw the swish of the tail of his horse, but she can't be sure. The package was brought inside the house and the kids yelled a 'thank you' out into the night. The pictures say enough.

 Maddy loves the fancy dress she got for her Taryn doll.

 I think he likes it, but we can't tell for sure.

 

 This was Ethan's first time building 'small Lego'. He loved it and was so proud of himself.

Thank you for coming Sinterklaas! We love you!

Maddy's Choir Concert

Maddy joined the Zing! Children's Choir in September of this year. We liked the idea of her getting some musical exposure, she already loves to sing and it is a place she can make friends throughout the year (The program runs the entire year long, so kids are registered for a year at time). It has been a hit and she loves to go each week. The choir is split into 3 sections depending on age and Maddy is in the youngest RiZing group.

This past weekend was the choir's big Christmas Concert. Maddy was super excited for the concert and begged me to practice with her. I had to pull out my rusty piano skills to get the basic melody for one of the songs and thank goodness for YouTube to find the other. We practiced and practiced until she claimed that she was ready. Maddy was also very excited because both sets of grandparents AND Auntie Lyn were coming for the concert. What a treat!

Watching Maddy was so cool. It's amazing to see how confident she is becoming. The look of pride on her face was just priceless. After the concert there was a little reception in a separate room and Maddy just took off with her friends. I really love that she has the chance to develop friendships at her various after school activities. She's really coming into her own.

 This is the RiZing group. 

 The RiZing sang "Must Be Santa" with the ZingOne and Zing Two groups.

 With her friends at the reception.

DIDO at Burnaby Village Museum

Our most recent DIDO was organized by Liezel and Ed. Ed introduced us to a great Indian dosa restaurant that happens to be very close to our house. The food there brought me right back to our trip to India. Josh and I were in heaven! After stuffing ourselves we went over to the Burnaby Village Museum and carousel. It was all decorated and ready for the holiday season. It was a great day. The kids had a chance to sit and talk to Father Christmas, I accidently offended the gingerbread man and was roped into dancing with it and the kids had a great time on the carousel. A fun day all-around. Thanks to Ed and Liezel for organizing. Enjoy the pictures!

Mama's Dream Come True

Since the kids were born, I've had to put away my scrapbooking/card making supplies away. I do get the odd chance here and there when they are in bed, but who are we kidding right? I've dreamed of the day when Maddy was old enough to craft with me and that day sort of came a couple of weeks ago.

Maddy's Sparks group was having a fundraiser and needed families to contribute simple, cheap items for a craft or bake sale. I decided to make some paper ornaments that I made with my students from school one year. Maddy and I made some during homeschooling when Ethan was in preschool. Unfortunately, when Ethan came home and saw the crafts, he REALLY wanted to make some too. I told him that we could make some together to decorate our own house. I was pleasantly surprised when the whole crafting morning didn't turn into a gong show. It did help that Maddy already had experience with the craft from the day before. Ethan did really well and was really concentrating on the task for a long time.

I'm officially adding a craft room to my 'dream house' wish list!

Family Game Night

Occasionally, we get the chance to have a family game night. We've been trying to build our stock of games in the last few years. The trick is to find games that are fun for both the adults and kids. We have some standard games like Candyland, Guess Who?, Junior Monopoly and Trouble. However, I've always liked Sequence for Kids and now Qwirkle.

The funny thing about Trouble is that EVERY time Ethan plays, it's like he has horseshoes up his butt. So much so that he'll actually say, "That ok, I have horseshoes in my butt." I'm referring to the rule of having to roll a 6 to get your next man out and into the game. Strategy would tell you to move a man out whenever you roll a six because you never want to be 'stuck' at home solely because you couldn't roll a six. If Ethan happens to roll a 6 when he already has a man out, he insists on moving his current man 6 spaces instead of taking a second player out. It never stops he though. It seems that whenever he has needed it, the 6 comes up. Very frustrating yet hilarious for the rest of us.

The other night we played Qwirkle for the first time as a whole family. We've owned it since last Christmas and Maddy and I tried to play it, but I think we were playing with the wrong set of rules because the points seemed to be way too high. So Josh took a swing at it with the two kids one night and they seemed to 'get it'. The next night we tried it as a family. Let's just say that nothing beats having your @ss kicked by a 6 and 4 year old! In my defence, I did have the added job of keeping score, so I couldn't FULLY concentrate on the game at all times. (At least that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) Half way through I realized that they were really beating me to I was REALLY, TRYING to concentrate. My brain actually hurt as I was trying to find those double-scoring moves, all the while there's Ethan and Maddy singing and joking about and then scoring double points without barely trying. Anyway next time I'll make Josh keep track of the score. ;)

BOOOOOO to Hallowe'en

Where to even start? I guess it was the Monday before Hallowe'en. I started to feel as though a flu was coming on. Just really feeling like I should crawl into bed to try and avoid getting REALLY sick. Seems I was bit too late. By Tuesday,  I was still able to get Ethan to and from preschool school, but homeschooling was bare minimum. Wednesday, the kids basically found scraps of paper and started decorating the house for Hallowe'en to entertain themselves, while I slept on the couch. So by the time Thursday came around I knew that Hallowe'en was going to be baaaaaad this year. Ethan's school had a party that day and Maddy and I were supposed to go, but by then I was so sick and Maddy was beginning to get sick that we had to bail. Josh took the day off so that Ethan could still go. Thank goodness another parent made weiner wraps for the party, because when I told Ethan that we wouldn't be having weiner wraps this year, he was devastated.

My mom came over for the day to help out as well because by then Josh was beginning to feel under the weather too. Basically everyone was sick except for Ethan. The look on his face when he came home from the Hallowe'en party was priceless. Just so happy and content, while the rest of us felt like CR@P. Josh managed to carve the pumpkins with the kids and he took them to a few houses for trick-o-treating. When they came home, Josh went to bed and I stayed with the kids to open the door. Thankfully we only had 7 knocks on the door (the kids were counting).

By the weekend things were not good and it turned out it wasn't just the flu. I had pneumonia. OK, I'll just say that pneumonia REALLY sucks. Every coughing fit wipes you of all energy and by the time you recover, you have the cough again. I was ONE. HOT. MESS.  Josh and Maddy were still sick and our kitchen counter was just filled with everything from Advil/Tylenol (both adult and children's versions), Sinutab, Cold FX, antibiotics and even Pei Pa Koa (A chinese cough syrup). We were in dire straights. Thank goodness for my mom who came over everyday to take care of all of us and even on the weekends so that Josh could rest too. Mom, I don't know what we would've done without you. Thank you so much!

By Remembrance Day, I still wasn't fully on the mend and only now (Nov. 18th) am I beginning to take over looking after the kids on a full time basis. We are so behind in all aspects of life, it's not even funny. The cough is still there, though it's getting easier, but I still feel winded after the tiniest bit of exertion. So though I know it's way past Hallowe'en here are the few pictures we managed to get. The up side? Christmas feels like it's just around the corner now, and hopefully by then, we'll all be healthy enough to fully enjoy it.

Counting on Two Hands

I cannot believe that Maddy is six years old. I distinctly remember being six and now that my own daughter is six, I'm in shock. Crazy to think how quickly six years have flown by and it really does feel like a she's passed a milestone now that she has to use both hands to show how old she is.

Maddy is really coming into her own this year. She really enjoys learning and is always asking questions about how things work or asking for clarification as she tries to put ideas and concepts together in her head. The other day as I was putting her to bed, she said to me, "Mama, I have a question..." In my head, I was thinking, "Here we go, she's trying to stall bedtime." Then she continues to ask me about what cats eat. I launch into a speech about the dietary needs of wild cats vs. house cats and she sits quietly listening to me go on. When I'm done she asks, "But I thought cats are mammals." I told her that yes they are mammals. "Well if they are mammals, don't they drink milk from the mamas?" Ooooohhhh, finally the lightbulb goes on for me. After quickly reminding her that she only had milk as a baby, I pointed out that kittens only have milk from the mother for a short period of time too. A smile spread across her face as though I had made the world right for her again and now she could go to sleep. That is Maddy right now, trying to piece it all together.

Another way that Maddy is trying to make her way in the world is through learning to do things that she perceives as 'grown up'. She is now reading fairly easily and she is really beginning to love reading. I LOVE our reading time during school. We do it everyday after lunch. Ethan is always home from preschool by then, and miraculously he loves to listen to his big sister read, so we just cuddle up on the couch and Maddy reads to us. She loves to be 'The One Who Can Read' and will read to him even when I'm busy. Another 'grown up' thing is tying her shoes. This fall when we were buying shoes for the kids for the season, we purposely bought Maddy shoes with laces. She was showing interest in learning to tie her laces last year and was somewhat able to do it, but without constant practice it would never improve. It's getting better, and takes less time, but what I'm most impressed with is her desire to keep pushing through even though it's extra work. Lastly, for her birthday we told her that we would be getting her a watch. It was kind of supposed to be a special, "You're a big girl" milestone gift. During school time I started to teach her to tell the time. There were quite a few steps like reading each of the hands separately and learning to count by fives, but just last week, she mastered it and today when she received her watch she was so proud that she started to announce the time. 9:05, 9:10, 9:15...Yes, it was a long morning!

Maddy is involved in a lot of after school activities this year and seeing her go off to them with such confidence makes me so happy. She is in her second year of Sparks (Girl Guides), choir, swimming, Mandarin and will start skating soon. It sounds like a lot but it's also nice for her to get out of the comfort of home and some of the lessons give her some experience of being "in school". She doesn't hesitate to go into unfamiliar situations and though she isn't totally outgoing to begin with, she does find her own way once she begins to feel comfortable. It's great to see her meet up with her friends in each of the different activities and then run off without so much of a backward glance.

For her birthday we celebrated with a low key party. Oma, Opa, Gong Gong and Po Po all came over to celebrate. I'm really enjoying these birthdays, much more of a chance to enjoy the moment and way less stress! :) We started with cake for tea, then presents and dinner to follow. Maddy let me decide on the type of cake to make for her, so we opted for cupcakes. I made 10 cupcakes, one for each person and just two left over, instead of our usual 'I can't eat anymore cake, just throw it out' debacle.

Happy 6th birthday Maddy, we love you so much and we are so proud of you! xoxo

Happy Fall!

I know today is Maddy's birthday and I do plan to write more about that later, but today we also took advantage of the gorgeous weather to get some fall pictures done. The leaves were beautiful and not to mention dry, so before heading to the pool (Maddy's pick) we snuck in a few shots.

Enjoy!

Ethan's Birthday

The other day Ethan day said to me, "Mama, is my birthday finished now?" I think that's because it felt like he had a birthweek again this year. His real birthday was on Tuesday the 10th. We celebrated by doing our usual tradition of waking him with a special breakfast in bed. Well, he knew all about that by now, so he made sure not to come out of his room and into our bed in the morning. That day he got to eat all his meals on the 'birthday plate' and I let him have a candle with every meal to blow out.

Had to snap this photo quickly because the candle kept tipping over in the mac and cheese.

Although Tuesday was his actual birthday, he kept insisting that it wasn't his real birthday. In his mind his REAL birthday was going to be on Saturday the 14th when Gong Gong, Po Po, Oma and Opa came to have cake and presents. Oh the excitement!! I'm sure he  must have been slighted distracted sitting for 3 hours in Chinese school, but FINALLY the time had come for him. By the time my parents came we couldn't hold him back any longer. We dove right into opening presents and cake. The poor boy had been waiting close to 3 weeks for this.

 I just loved this moment. Maddy was so proud to give him her present. She made a car for him out of a yogurt container, "Because I know he really likes cars."

Ethan's expression as he opened the gift was like she'd just given him the world.

 He played for so long with both his tractor and garbage truck. He even went to sleep with them in his bed. It was 10pm before he finallly crashed. Actually his eyes were blood-shot and puffy he was so tired, but kept insisting he wasn't sleepy at all.

  He asked for a garbage truck cake this year. After a lot of Googling and both Josh and I working on it, this is what we came up with. 

It weighed a ton. Ethan was a bit sad to see that the back of the truck wasn't filled with actual garbage when we cut into it!

After cake and presents the kids were happily playing with the toys and the adults had a chance to chat. We had a nice dinner and then more cake before bed time. It was a lovely, stress-free birthday.

This past Tuesday we brought cupcakes to preschool to share with his new friends. Initially, I wasn't planning to do this since his birthday was before school even started, but I thought that just in case he refused to go to the new school, it would be handy to have the excuse of cupcakes to 'lure' him there. 

I love the serious look on his face. It's like he's willing himself to be taller.

We are now so 'done' with cake. Josh took so many little cupcakes to work, and I was still  throwing some out at home, along with a 1/2 eaten garbage truck. Though the excitement of his birthday is wearing off, he did ask me today in the car, "Mama, how many days until me next birthday."

Happy birthday Ethan!! We love you soooooo much. xoxo

Back to School

Aside from missing our relaxing summer routine, back to school this year was fantastic. I loved being able to just focus on the kids this year instead of rushing off to work and the kids loved doing homeschooling again. Many people ask if I still did any homeschooling during the summer and I'm so glad we didn't now. Having taken the break all summer long the kids and I are totally refreshed and ready to begin the new year.

I have to admit that on the Tuesday after Labour day I did feel a little sad about not returning to work. More just because I knew the first day would be about reconnecting with everyone at work and hearing about summer vacations. I'm glad to say that the sadness lasted only one day and I'm so happy to be home with the kids full time now. Our first week of school was mostly about getting into the routine of our homeschooling. We went to the the Not-Back-To-School picnic of the Lower Mainland homeschoolers, but other than that we just eased ourselves into the curriculum. We didn't have any extra-curriculars to go to yet. Since that first week, we've started choir, Chinese school and swimming lessons. Still waiting for Sparks and skating to start up so it's been a nice way to ease into the Fall routine as well.

 

Happy Back-to-School everyone!!