Life in Colour

Octoberfest at Oldfield Orchard & Bakery

2010-10-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Every year we go to a local farm to do the autumn hay ride, choose pumpkins to carve for Hallowe'en, and do lots of other fun stuff.

This year, we chose to try a different location. We usually go to Galey Farm but this year we tried Oldfield.

We were greeted with a delicious pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie - yum!

The whole thing was geared towards smaller children, I think, but Jaymi still had a lot of fun there.

There were two miniature 'train rides'.

There were games to play (to win prizes) like a scavenger hunt,

fishing,

pumpkin bowling,

and a ring toss.

Jaymi noticed right away that we got a ticket (with admission) for a haunted house. So this year was the first year she was ready to try that sort of thing out.

She wanted to go in but got really nervous anticipating in line.

She was mostly scared of it being so dark in the haunted house, and held my hand nice and tight!

She liked it, but definitely didn't like the people who jumped and said "Boo!" once in a while as we walked through.

I don't think she'd do it again.

There were lots of places to pose for pictures :)

There was a hay maze to crawl through,

and a hay ride of course.

Jaymi chose a pumpkin to bring home, and she won another one as well.

And Mark chose a strawberry-rhubarb pie. :D

A Sewing Project for Us

2010-10-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Jaymi helped me to make a toy for our cats the other day.

It's a crinkly mat. You know how cats like things that make crinkly noises? Well, it was so easy and cheap to make.

I found this cute fabric at a thrift store, with cats all over it. I think it used to be a curtain or something.

Jaymi cut it to the right size and we both pinned it together (wrong sides out). We sewed three of the sides together and left one open. We then flipped the whole thing the right way around and stuffed it with a few layers of flattened plastic shopping bags.

It's a fantastic recycling project if you have those kind of bags hanging around in your house!

I showed Jaymi how to use the sewing machine too. She learned how to thread the machine, how to thread a bobbin, and how to sew a straight hem, taking the pins out as she went.

She did very well!

We then closed up the 4th side and stitched a few seam lines across the whole thing, so that the bags wouldn't shift around on the inside.

We also sprinkled some cat nip on it (next time, we're going to put lots of cat nip in it instead) and the cats love it!

We have to make one more now, because we only made one mat and our second cat is a bit peeved. ;)

2010-10-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Creepy Halloween Recipes

2010-10-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

Jaymi is enjoying my ideas, as Hallowe'en is approaching, for some interesting spooky recipes.

This was a favourite of mine, that I wanted to try. It went over well with my family. :D

Spaghetti with Alfredo sauce, put in orange pepper jack-o-lantern bowls.

Fun!

We also made eyeball eggs for Jaymi's lunch.

She loved them!

Just take half of a boiled egg, put it in a mini muffin liner, and paint the eyeball details on with food colouring and a paintbrush.

Autumn Colours

2010-10-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Every autumn I take Jaymi out for a photo shoot with the autumn leaves. We have lots of fun with this, and I get some fantastic pictures from it.

We did it yesterday, and I found the perfect spot!

It has a little bridge, beautiful trees and a pathway for walking or bike riding, and tons of fallen leaves as well as leaves that were still falling.

She had fun throwing leaves at me.

We saw this huge stuffed bear that someone had placed in a tree. :)

She wanted me to bury her in leaves...so I did.

She laid in the leaves.

Of course, we did our tradition of throwing the leaves in the air. Jaymi loves doing that.

She tried to take as many leaves as she could in her arms and tossed them all up in the air.

She made leaf piles to jump in.

We always do this particular pose, which is a fun one to look at through the years, as she gets older.

And for a long time, Jaymi tried to catch a falling leaf. This is difficult to do because you never know which tree is going to drop a leaf next, then you have to run for it and try to catch it.

She began watching one specific leaf that fell partway and then came to rest on a very small branch.

It's the orange one in the middle of this picture.

She named it "Leafy".

She begged it to come down so that she could catch it.

She pleaded with it.

She yelled at it.

She waited patiently for it.

(Look way up high at the top-right-hand corner of the picture...it's the orange leaf. And she is at the bottom-left-corner.)

She finally gave up on it.

It just did NOT want to let go of it's delicate balanced position.

It was a fun afternoon - full of laughter and smiles.

All Dressed Up

2010-10-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Jaymi has such a unique sense of her own style, and I love seeing what she is choosing to dress in each morning. Some mornings it's 'regular' clothes...leggings or pants, a shirt...often mixing patterns and colours. Sometimes it's lots of accessories...bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc....and sometimes it's very 'girly' outfits like the two following outfits from this week.

This is her absolute FAVOURITE dress, and we bought it for her birthday. Not for her party (for that, she will be wearing her Cinderella dress because it's a princess party) but for our family birthday celebration. This particular day she was wearing this pink dress along with tights and lots of accessories (like the giant flower in the hair??). She had dressed up one of her Webkinz kittens to come with her to school as well. In a tutu, of course. The kitten even had a bow hairclip on its tail!

On another day, Jaymi wanted to wear another favourite dress of hers. It's a white satin dress that we found at a garage sale this summer - for $1!

She loves fabrics like silk and satin, and of course, she decided to pair the dress with a dress-up halo.

We made play dough!

2010-10-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've never made play dough with Jaymi before, but have always wanted to.

So a few days ago, we did it!

We mixed everything together...(she commented that it looked kind of like mashed potatoes or Cream of Wheat), and cooked it on the stove until it got stickier and pulled away from the sides of the pot...

...we rolled it into balls to get ready to add colour...

...we added food colouring to each one, trying to make all different colours. Jaymi was surprised at how long it took to completely get the colour to integrate into the dough...

...and we even added different scents for each one. Some were peppermint, some were cinnamon (my favourite), some were lemon (we added lemon juice, which doesn't really end up being a nice smell, mixed in with the natural smell of the play dough, at all), and we added maple. We also left one as just natural.

It's in our fridge now, and is awesome!

Congratulations Jaymi!

2010-10-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

We have been trying out tae-kwon-do lessons for Jaymi, for several reasons. And she has been loving it!

After doing it now, for about 2 months, she is wanting to go to as many classes as she can go to, each week, and in her words, "I get this excited feeling inside me when I'm on my way there".

I love the mood it puts her in - makes her feel so good about herself.

I also love the attitude that it gives her at home, afterwards. She is always so kind and polite after tae-kwon-do.

It's also fantastic for the following reasons:

exercise - she is often panting at the end of the class ;)

balance

things she used to do in Occupational Therapy last year, like motor planning, and sequencing

respect & discipline

listening skills

confidence

politeness

self-defense

co-ordination

strength and endurance

I also like how they constantly emphasize how important it is do your best in school, to NEVER act like you're better than others, to make others feel good, to be a good leader, to aspire to be better, and to respect everyone you meet.

She is so motivated right now, to earn her stripes and get to the point where she can earn a new belt (yellow).

They give beginners these stripes, to motivate them.

Gold stripes are given each time they attend a class.

Red stripes are given each time she completes forms that keep track of things like...reading every day at home...doing respectful things at home...taking of things (teeth/bedroom/schoolwork/etc.)...practicing tae-kwon-do.

White stripes are given if they attend a stripe test but don't qualify for a new stripe yet.

And black stripes are awarded when they are tested at a stripe test, and are deemed ready to earn a stripe.

Students need 2 black stripes before becoming eligible to test for a new belt.

Jaymi has filled up one side of her belt with gold and red stripes, and is working her way up the other side of the belt.

Last week, she was eligible for stripe testing, and earned her first black stripe. She was so thrilled!

One of the things I love about Jaymi, is how unique she is.

She showed up to tae-kwon-do with this pretty pink bow-headband in her hair a couple of times, recently, and her hair perfectly brushed.

She insisted on having perfect hair and a pretty bow in it, while doing her tae-kwon-do moves.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend is our Thanksgiving weekend.

I have a lot to be thankful for. This year has been such a good year, compared to the last few years.
Jaymi has done amazing, recovering from her brain surgery last year. She has come such a long way and worked so hard. She is so happy and healthy this year, and I am very thankful that she is doing so well.
I am thankful for the various doctors and therapists that have worked with and for Jaymi in the past year-and-a-half.
I am thankful for my family and my wonderful friends.
I am thankful for Jaymi's amazing school and the fact that we are able to have her in that school with some fantastic teachers.
I am thankful that we are able to have Jaymi in classes that she loves, like dance.
I am thankful that we live in this beautiful city and get to enjoy the ocean and the mountains.
I am thankful that I don't have to worry about basics like food and shelter.
I am thankful that I have a strong faith in God and that he takes such good care of all of us.

We went up to my mother-in-law's house for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.
It's always nice for Jaymi to be able to spend some time with her cousin, Lucas.

Of course, it's getting more and more difficult each year, to get them to pose for a decent picture together.
;)

Their dog, Oliver, came along to dinner this time.

My mother-in-law played a few ping-pong games with Jaymi and Lucas.

And I made a couple of lemon meringue pies that everyone enjoyed (as far as I know) for dinner.

Another friend turns 8...

2010-10-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Jaymi's oldest friend just turned 8. They went to preschool together, and when that school shut down (just as they were going into kindergarten) we chose a different school than they did. But since then, they have had a weekly playdate almost every weekend. They have stayed close, and consider each other best friends, and old friends. They are more like cousins...family...and I love that they have stayed close.

So today was his birthday party, and his mom made the best cake ever! They both share a love for Garfield, so Jaymi was thrilled when she saw that the cake was a big Garfield cake.

The party was at a play place where the kids always get so hot - lots of exercise, running around, sliding, etc..

We have also watched his little sister grow up from an 8-month-old baby girl to a 5-yr-old kindergartner.

Jaymi gave him a Webkinz bald eagle, which he loved,

and she made him a Garfield placemat too.

Cross-Stitching

2010-10-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

Look who's learning to cross-stitch :)

New Glasses

2010-10-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

Jaymi's glasses (the frames) broke last Monday, so I rushed over to the optometrist to see if they were under a warranty (I couldn't remember if the frames were). They were, thankfully. So we had to wait a couple of days until the frames were ordered in. She actually had the choice of two different colours this time, because they happened to have these dark pink frames that were the exact same ones, and she ended up liking them. So she has new glasses now.

Also, she went to the ophthalmologist's office for a more in depth look at her eyes, because she has complaining that she can't see as well WITH her glasses on now. So they are upping the prescription in one eye, and hopefully that will help.

My Cinderella

2010-10-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Jaymi is very much into princesses right now. She used to be sooo into construction (when she was little) and refused to wear dresses or skirts for so long. Now, she loves to wear big, poofy, girly dresses and is loving playing princess pretend games.

Online, I saw someone in town selling a dress-up Cinderella dress that has hoops and everything, for a really good price (it was their daughter's dress and she was the same age as Jaymi). She will probably wear it for her birthday party coming up, which she has decided, will be a Princess Spa Sleepover party. She LOVED it when I surprised her with it.

The start of the birthdays.......

2010-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is always a busy month for our family, because many of Jaymi's friends have their birthdays between late September and early December, especially during the month of October, including Jaymi herself. And of course, Halloween and Thanksgiving are in there as well.

So yesterday was the start of the birthday parties. Beginning with one of the new girls in Jaymi's class this year - a princess tea party.

New Things

2010-09-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

NEW YEAR in Brownies (Jaymi's 4th year in Girl Guides, all together...2nd year in Brownies).

* By the way, Girl Guide cookies (the chocolate mint ones) arrive in October (which is just over a week away), so anyone who is interested in buying some from Jaymi, please let us know and we'll put you on the order list. Yum!

NEW SKIRT (made out of a flannel nightgown that Jaymi wore at Christmas time in 2005).

NEW GAME, that has us balancing pencils on our foreheads, telling everyone what our favourite childhood memory is, making difficult ethical decisions, and imagining what our own designed theme park would look like. A fun family game!

NEW DECADE. Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary. We have been together for 17 years...married for 10. Wow. We can't believe that we have made it through all of the tough stuff that has happened over those 10 years. We look forward to the next 10 years together.

(The next two pictures are scratch and win tickets that I made for Mark to 'win' things. Jaymi had a blast helping to scratch them as well.)

A Dad's Life

2010-09-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

I just came across this video - it's hilarious!
Perfect. :)

Anyone who is a mom or a dad HAS to watch this.

A miracle rainbow for us :)

2010-09-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I decided to begin a Sunday tradition of discussing a bible story with Jaymi.
Today, I let her choose her favourite bible story, and she chose Noah's Ark. So, we discussed the animals, and how silly Noah would have looked to his neighbours, building this huge boat and talking about God talked to him, etc..
Then, we discussed the rainbow's meaning (a promise and a reminder from God).

The really strange thing was...later...about a half-hour later...I glanced outside and happened to see the most beautiful, brilliant, solid rainbow stretched across the sky!

We ran outside and looked at it, and talked about how weird that was - that it must have been God, showing us a demonstration of what we had just discussed. :)

And Jaymi pointed out that it hadn't even rained at all today! So we decided that it was a miracle rainbow.

International snacks, ballet, pom-poms, and lots of reading.

2010-09-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

This week, Jaymi has been a bit more tired, adjusting to the school routine once again. She is LOVING being back at school, especially having her old friends back as well as some new ones this year.

She has been very much into reading lately - even more than usual (which was a lot). There are many days this week, where she has come from school, read for hours, and then of course, read again as she is in bed, going to sleep. She was just saying today, that she wishes her room was completely made of books. ;)
Yesterday, she announced her plans for Sunday (tomorrow) afternoon.....reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, eat dinner, storytime (with me & Mark), more reading and then go to sleep.

We tried something fun this week. We made up "International Snack Week". Each day of the school week, I had a snack waiting for her, after school, from a different country.

Monday was shortbread from Scotland.
Tuesday was a steamed pudding (called Spotted Dick) from England.
Wednesday was honey cake from Holland.
Thursday was seaweed crunchies from Japan.
Friday was lemon wafers from Italy.

We also had cheese fondue (Swiss) for dinner on Friday night.

I also have to mention that we have been having some fantastic meals lately - trying out some new recipes, and some old favourites.
Mark made Beef Wellington last week, and it was amazing, as usual.

He is getting really good at cooking it!
Here is the link to the recipe.

Yesterday we learned how to make pom-poms.
This little one was okay, but we quickly learned that it is much easier to just a stiff hand (like a piece of cardboard) instead of that half-moon plastic tool.

And this is one of Jaymi's favourite outfits. She, being all into fashion now, thinks that fabrics like silk & satin are just wonderful, so this black sating skirt is a favourite.

Optical Illusions

2010-09-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Jaymi and got interested in looking at some optical illusions online. It was fun, and she had never seen any of these before.

Like this one.

And this one.

And this one.

And this one.

She even tried to draw some of them.

She was amazed by this one...the endless triangle.

We made a flip book,

and she learned a few magic tricks too.
Like this one, where you cut a straw with a string inside, and the string magically gets pulled out, whole.

And this one, where you cover a quarter up with a piece of paper, and then scrunch up the piece of paper, proving that the coin has disappeared.

We found some great websites too.

Trying to get back into a routine

2010-09-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Things are settling into a routine, little by little, around here. Jaymi is struggling to go to sleep earlier than she did in the summer, and to get up earlier as well.

She announced on the first day of school, that she 'insisted' on wearing a dress every day. She quickly realized that she also wants to be able to climb the monkey bars and hang upside down, so one day, she showed up at our room in this outfit that she put together.

Yep. She's wearing a pretty black and white dress, a black velvet cropped jacket, yellow capris pants, and multi-coloured striped knee socks.

Ballet started up again, which she loved.

And Gramma and John finally came home, after a long summer away.

Gramma finished knitting "Lovey #4".

Lovey (Jaymi's special blanket) has been with her for her whole life. Actually, the first Lovey was her pink blanket. That was followed by the purple blanket. Lovey #3 was a multi-coloured blanket that Gramma knitted that has lasted the longest. Jaymi not only sleeps with it every night, but it is a great source of comfort for her. She still goes and gets it when she is shy, upset, or worried. It even went into brain surgery with her last year.
It has been falling apart for a long time, and Gramma had promised to knit a new one. So it finally was finished and Jaymi is thrilled.

Gramma & John also brought back some clothes for Jaymi. Here was the favourite, by far.

Very Jaymi-ish.

She wore it to school yesterday, and the clothes she chose to go with it were very interesting.

So...let's get this straight.
A multicoloured tutu skirt, a brown sparkly shirt, a turquoise fleece jacket, and multicoloured polka-dot knee socks.

That girl definitely has her own unique style!

Today, I began turning the upper landing into a reading area. We moved a wooden storage unit into the corner for books (which Jaymi quickly filled up as soon as she discovered it), put a blanket on the couch, a plant in the other corner, and a wonderful new reading area was born!

Later this afternoon, we noticed that Jaymi seemed quite tired (yesterday as well). She actually read in the new reading area for 2 solid hours (from about 3:30 - after school - to 6:00). Then, she came downstairs, went looking for a sheet and a blanket and a pillow, set up a makeshift bed for herself on the kitchen floor, and promptly laid down to sleep. She was sooo tired.
We kept her awake through dinner, which turned out to be a mistake. This resulted in a huge meltdown near the end of dinner.

So, we are adjusting to the routine - mostly successfully.
;)

Grade 3 - Time Flies!!

2010-09-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

So, my little girl is in Gr. 3 beginning today. Wow - that sounds so strange. I still struggle to remember that she was in Gr. 2 when people ask, and now I have to switch my mind-set to think "Grade 3".

She has changed so much over the years, and we have loved every minute of it.
She has her own unique, quirky personality, and I love hearing how her mind works, and seeing what she comes up with.

So, here is an update on Jaymi, at age 7 - almost 8 years old...now a happy Gr. 3 student:

She LOVES dresses (she said, just tonight before bed, "I INSIST on wearing a dress every day", especially big, poofy ones with full, long skirts. Yeah, I know - go figure. This is the same child who wouldn't touch a dress or skirt with a 10-ft. pole a few years ago, and lived in "Cars" and construction clothing for about 3 years!

She loves sparkles and colourful clothing.

She still won't wear jeans.
She loves to spin.

She still mismatches her socks, and still hates wearing underwear.

She likes peace signs.

She loves girly stuff like purses, jewellery, sparkles, pink, dresses, princesses, and shoes.

She loves dancing, especially ballet and tap.

She likes to hang upside-down.

She loves games, including cribbage, Scrabble Apple, Boggle, and trivia games.

She likes the Magic Treehouse series, the Babysitter's Club series, Garfield books, Disney Princess books, any of the Rainbow Fairies series, and tons of other books.

She still absolutely LOVES to learn.

She is trying out Tae-kwon-do.

She wears glasses now - with very cool, turquoise and brown frames.

She wants to be an artist when she grows up. She draws and colours constantly! She is getting really good at drawing Garfield especially.

She likes to wear accessories - scarves, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hair clips, etc. - she loves fashion.

She is very specific about what is 'fashionable' and what is not.

Her favourite places to go are bookstores, thrift stores and garage sales, Rona or Home Depot, Quiznos, Claire's, and Starbucks.

She still likes Garfield, Webkinz, cats, and fairies, but is longer into turtles.
She loves princesses at the moment, especially Cinderella and Snow White.

She loves to dress up, pretend, put on plays, dance, sing songs, and perform for us.

She is still shy with new situations, new people, and lots of other things, but at home she is so outgoing
and talkative, it sometimes drives us crazy!
She calls out when she sees a Mustang or a Corvette, no matter where we are.
She is the pickiest she has ever been, regarding food. Her favourites are pasta, cereal, chocolate, marshmallows, Sun Chips, cheese buns, goat cheese, raw green beans (thanks to our garden this year), milk, and pomegranate juice. Her pizza must have ONLY pineapple and cheese but NO sauce, her pasta must have either cheese sauce or Alfredo sauce but NO tomato sauce, and her sandwiches must NOT have mayo, mustard, or any type of spread on the bread. ;)
She reads constantly,

rarely plays on the computer or watches tv,

loves to go Quiznos with Mark,

loves school,

loves to shop (especially at thrift shops and garage sales),

and likes to do crossword puzzles or jigsaw puzzles with me.

She is still a whiz at reading and math.
She is very emotional and melts down sometimes, at the smallest thing.

She is an excellent swimmer and could spend all day in a pool.

She is terrified of wasps (after being stung 2 summers in a row).
She beginning her 2nd year of Brownies.

She will pick up lizards, slugs, etc., with no problem at all.
She is very affectionate.
She has lost 7 of her baby teeth so far.

She is not very patient, can be a bit bossy, and has trouble focusing this past year.
She can make ANYTHING into a wonderful adventure. She has an amazing imagination. She has pretended that practically ANYTHING is an animated object - a coffee bean, a screw, a ball of hair, and even air! Yes, air.

:D

Randomness...

2010-09-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Tidbits of the past few days...

Jaymi decided to make a cape, and did a great job, after finding a piece of pink of fleece in my sewing room, trimming the edge the way she wanted to, cutting to make a tie at the front, and voila!

We also had a nice surprise in the mail...a postcard from Jaymi's absolute FAVOURITE counsellor at Camp Qwanoes - Sarah. She adored her, and although Sarah told her that she wanted to keep in touch with us, you never know. Sometimes people just don't follow through. But she did, and Jaymi was thrilled to get the postcard in the mail. Sarah doesn't have a mailing address yet, so she provided us with her email and Jaymi set out right away, emailing her.

And as I took these pictures of her while she emailed, I was struck by how old she looks in some photos.
Wow - she's growing up!

More when she is serious and concentrating.

When she is being a goof like she is most of the time, she looks like a 7-yr-old. :)

Like here, when she was showing the camera her latest lost tooth (that makes 3 teeth in one summer!) that she lost last week.

Wrapping Up

2010-09-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

So, there aren't many swimming days left here. School starts tomorrow, and the forecast is already showing temperatures in the high teens (Celsius) coming up. So now is the time to enjoy some swimming when we can, before shutting the pool down.

Family getaway to end the summer

2010-09-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Last week the three of us went on a brief family vacation to Parksville.

It was too short, and had a few unexpected 'adventures' (#1 - Mark burned the top of his foot with a hot oil splash from making dinner, #2 - Jaymi banged her head pretty hard on a countertop, and #3 - we witnessed a bunch of young children freaking out while getting stung by a swarm of wasps) but it was nice to get away and we had lots of fun together.

The playground was fun, with lots of stuff to climb on, swing from, slide down, etc., and we also played ping-pong and basketball together.

One of the days we were there, we went to Nanaimo (20 minutes away) to the mall and shopped. We enjoyed an ice cream while we were there,

went to Chapters,

and Jaymi made a wish in the big clock water fountain. (She wished for Mark's foot to get better.)

We all went to one of the local resort attractions - mini-golf and bumper boats (with sprayers). That was lots of fun. Jaymi actually got 2 holes-in-one!!

And of course, staying in our resort was fun too, taking walks, swimming in the pool,

making special breakfasts and dinners in our room,

making forts,

and playing games.

Excuse the bed-head ;)

We also introduced Jaymi to a new thing that she had never had before (a childhood memory for both of us) - mini cereal boxes that you have to cut open to eat. :)

I finished making Jaymi the tutu I was working on (a no-sew project). She loves it.

In this picture, she is holding one of her favourite stuffies that she has had for many years. She has a fantastic stuffie set of a family of green peas in a pod (a mom, dad, and kid). She brought with her, one of the peas...attached it to a leash for a while, took it for walks, made a ribbon headband for it, etc..

I also began a new sewing project that she wanted me to make - a mermaid skirt.

One evening, we also did a spa night for ourselves. We soaked our feet (in whatever containers we could find), I did her nails, and we did face masks.

She actually wanted to do another mask the next night, so I did a drying cucumber mask on her, that she got to peel off. :)

The tide goes out soooo far in Parksville, so it's always a must whenever anyone is there, to take a walk on the beach waaay out.

Giant pencil stuffie, ice cream bars, float planes, and another lost tooth.

2010-08-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

So far, it has been a relaxed and fun week. We haven't had anything planned at all for this week, other than a few flexible things that could be done any day of the week.
Other than that, I have been able to take Jaymi's lead with some of her ideas, and run with them.

Like this morning, she decided that she wanted to make her own stuffie pencil. A no.2 pencil, to be exact. So she asked me if we had the correct colours of fabric, and some stuffing, and after I said yes, she went up to the sewing area and gathered everything she would need - her fabric scissors, pins & pincushion, needle & thread, fabric, fabric marker, and stuffing).

I am so proud of her, because she did nearly the whole project by herself! She already layed out the fabric, cut a double layer of each piece that she wanted, lined it up, and pinned it herself.

Then, she threaded the needle herself and did almost all of the sewing, with me helping when the thread got tangled up or when the more difficult parts came up (like sewing 4 layers together).

I flipped the whole thing right-side in and then her and I stuffed it. After that, she finished the last sewing bit and she even cut out and sewed on a little number '2' (backwards by accident - but she wants to keep it that way).

She loves this pencil. Called it 'pencily', of course, and is sleeping with it tonight. It is exactly her size, and she loves to pretend to write and erase with it.

She loves that she can make her own stuffie. :)

We had a great mother-daughter day this week as well.

We went downtown to sit on the rocks and watch the float planes take off and land.

It was such a nice afternoon. We sat there, drank some lemonade and ate a bag of chips,

and enjoyed watching the planes.

While we waited for the next plane, we watched people, boats, harbour ferries, kayakers, and just had fun together.

She even waved to the planes as they taxied to take off.

We also saw a ladybug fly right past us, saw a flock of geese fly by, and Jaymi climbed the stone pyramid-like structures in her pretty pink dress.

By the way, we went to Value Village before that, and had a blast in the changeroom, trying on clothes, and ended up finding Jaymi's possible Halloween costume (at the very least, it's a costume for her dress-up bin), a dress for her birthday (which she is IN LOVE with), a dress for Christmas, the pink dress she is wearing in these pictures, and a bunch of books.

After watching the planes, we went to a convenience store to buy an ice-cream bar, and sat on the grass to enjoy it together.

She also lost another tooth this week. Finally. This tooth was so loose that it could lay flat against her bottom lip. She pulled it out herself. So now she has two gaps - one on each side of her bottom front teeth.

Week #8 of the summer

2010-08-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

Wow.
Only a couple more weeks left of our summer, and then we are back to 'normal'!

So, last week was mostly filled with Jaymi's last summer camp. It was called "Acting Out" and it was a great little day camp that taught her about acting. She really enjoyed it. On the last day, the group did a bunch of little performances for parents. Jaymi was in two of the skits. In the first one, she played Gretel (from "Hansel and Gretel"), so I did her hair in braids, at her request. (She has NEVER wanted braids - always says that she hates braids because they feel strange.) I jumped at the chance. They looked adorable.

For the other skit, she played a sign. A weather sign, to be more precise. ;)

We spent a bit of Saturday hunting down a few garage sales, and found very little. I bought a big container of bubbles and Jaymi chose a small bunch of jewelry (necklaces, rings, bracelets) for herself. She loves accessories. In fact, when we got home, we tried to organize the area where she has a mirror in her room and her hair accessories. We have decided to do a bit more with it, and she is going to call it her fashion wall.

Sometimes she spends quite a while trying to figure out what to wear. She also changes a few times a days sometimes! A few days ago, she asked us to help her decided which outfit to wear, and modeled three entire outfits (complete with accessories) to choose from.
We ended up choosing the first one.

Of course, Jaymi also swam this past week, although not as much, because of her camp schedule (9-4) and the weather was a bit cooler.

She lost another tooth tonight too - one that was wiggly for sooo long. I'll take a picture of her new tooth gap soon.

Today, Jaymi decided that she wanted to be a princess, and for most of the day, our whole family had to be royalty. Mark was the king, I was the queen and Jaymi was the princess. She kept reminding me to walk like a princess ("princesses do not thump"), speak like a princess ("princesses do not say 'uh-huh' or 'wanna'"), and to sit like a princess. We had to use napkins properly, and sip drinks properly. I, of course (as a mom) was loving this pretend game, because of the fantastic manners that come with it!

I've been busy myself, preparing some premade meals to pack the freezer with, in order to make things a bit easier once the school year begins.
Beside learning to pickle, I have also been attempting to learn how to can. I canned peaches for the first time!
I also baked a batch of blueberry pancake muffins, a batch of chocolate chip pancake muffins, and a batch of yummy cinnamon-maple donut bites.
I made lemon meringue pie for the first time, and my own creation of chocolate/marshmallow/cornflake squares (basically like rice krispie squares, except I didn't have rice krispies and I added chocolate).
I made a big batch of hamburger patties to freeze, 3 mini-meatloaves to freeze, and two full baking sheets full of cooked meatballs to freeze for lunches, spaghetti & meatballs, or meatball stew.
I also have been enjoying making and eating fruit salads. Yum - one of my favourites for the summer! Apples, peaches, bananas, and grapes.

And we have had fun looking at some very old photos and videos of our family and friends.
I'll share a few of the photos with you. They're so much fun to look at.

Week #7 of our summer

2010-08-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

Last week, Jaymi had a half-day summer camp called Taste of Dance. She wanted to take this camp because she loves to dance (she has been through one year of ballet, which she loves), and wants to take tap this coming September. Taste of Dance allowed her to learn a little bit of 5 different types of dance.

They did a wonderful little performance at the end of the week, that the parents had a chance to watch.

She also had 3 Tae-kwon-do lessons in the past week and a bit. At the fair last month, she spun a wheel and won a free month of Tae-kwon-do lessons, and we thought we'd try it just to see if she'd like it or not.

She loves it! There are so many benefits to taking this, and we're trying to sort out whether she will be taking it or not (she's already in a bunch of other classes this coming year).
It will help her balance and co-ordination, her strength, her focus, releasing some frustration and anger in a positive way, and respect. One of the things I like about this school in particular, is that they give out belt stripes and rewards for reading, helping out at home, acting respectfully at home and at school, and they also check with the teacher as well as the parents before the child can earn the next belt. They encourage each child to use eye contact when speaking to someone, and act respectfully with integrity, WHEREVER they are.

So, while after Jaymi's first lesson at Tae-kwon-do, we went outside to look at the new fountain that they have built inside the new round-about. It's timed to music and everything - very cool.

I introduced Jaymi to the game of Yahtzee last week. That was so much fun. Actually, fun for all of us to play together. Good game for strategy.

We also all had fun together in the pool. We have had the best, hot humid weather lately and have been enjoying it. Jaymi loved having us all in the pool together.

Jaymi rediscovered her dressup wedding dress. She has had it for years, in her dressup bin, but has never been interested in it. She suddenly wanted to wear it, and wanted to see our wedding photo album as well.

Jaymi has always wanted to marry her Daddy, of course, and wanted to have a pretend wedding with him. So we did a little pretend wedding. Also, when she asked if Mark still had his tux, and I told her that, although he didn't (of course, it was rented), I still have my dress, she was sooo excited. She was dying to see it, and then I let her try it on and she loved it!
It was fun, sharing my memories of our wedding with her.

I have also been busy making some new things that I have never tried before.
I made homemade freezies with our vacuum sealer!

I made homemade strawberry-apple fruit leather.

And I made homemade pickles! And they taste like real pickles too!

Bad news for last week though - Jaymi got stung by a wasp. She got stung last summer too, and that time, it just came right after her, even though she did the exact right thing by staying very still. This time, she suddenly started to scream like crazy (our neighbours must have wondered what we were doing to her!) and we realized she was stung on her back. We have found 4 wasp nests around our house this summer!

Summer 2010 - Week #6 - Camp Qwanoes :D

2010-08-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

Last week Jaymi and I had a wonderful, 7-day vacation at an awesome camp in Crofton, called Camp Qwanoes.

It was the best!

It was so nice to get away and relax, and it was a such a fantastic place to unwind and get in touch with ourselves. I can't even explain how amazing it was, how much fun we had, and how relaxed and happy we were, coming back home. I came home with motivation to declutter my house, simplify a few things, and do some good things for myself and my family.

Since we have been back, we've been listening to the camp music each morning (it's a great way to start our day), remembering our wonderful memories from camp, and trying to live each day with the same happiness that we had while we were there. The new friends we made and the staff that took care of us were such happy, uplifting, friendly people, and it was wonderful to be around them.

We began each day with breakfast together, followed by Q-Town (songs, skits, a video of the activities the day before, then the kids joined up with their various groups to do crafts, and other fun stuff while adults listened to some more music and a speaker, if they wanted).

After that, was Family All-Star Games - each day was different, and ALWAYS so much fun.

One day, there was this awesome staff member who made balloons into animals/characters, that were made of, say, 5 balloons or something. They were amazing!

He made the Cookie Monster,

Pluto,

and Jaymi got a flower.

Then we had lunch, and after that, the main activities were available for the afternoon.
The activities were endless, and amazing!
There was:

sailing,

fishing,
low ropes course,

high ropes course,
the Skyscraper (where, tethered in above you of course, you free-fall from 80 feet high and swing),

the Breathtaker (another free-fall, tethered in, swing, but without the swing seat and it was only for one person),
Jaymi wanted to do this, and climbed the huge tree, sat up there with her favourite counsellor Sarah, and then decided to climb back down. I was so proud of her, though, for doing that whole climb and considering it.

the Screamer (a double zip-line, for two 'racers'),
archery (we both tried this for the first time and ended up doing it almost every day),

skateboarding,

mountain boarding,
mountain biking,
arts & crafts,

kayaking,
canoeing,
swimming,

Then there was Water Smorg (a collection of inflatable fun),

which included:
the Blob (an amazing giant inflatable tube where one person would sit on one end while someone else would dive off a high platform, bouncing on the beginning of the Blob and causing the first person to be bounced right off of the end),
two water trampolines,

the sidewalks,

Castaway Castle,

the giant waterslide (soooo much fun and sooo high!),

the Iceberg,

and the tubing and skiing options, which included:
the Rocket,

the Rock 'n' Roll,

the Double Biscuit,
the chair,
kneeboarding,
waterskiing,
and a ton of other options, like basketball, soccer, beach volleyball, trampoline, etc..

There was also an indoor place called Club Cocoa, which had couches to hang out on, a milkshake/coffee/smoothie bar, table tennis, foosball table, a fun top-spinning game and more.

There was a place to get ice cream, of course.

Or you could have some fun throwing a frisbee, tossing a ball around, rolling in the grass, or spinning around. :)

There was a great playground that Jaymi spent a lot of time on, playing with her new friends.

She made a few new friends.

Sienna,

Alex (her best friend there)

and her favourite counsellor, who she absolutely LOVED, was Sarah.

After all of the activities were closed at 5pm, we all headed to dinner for 5:30, and then another set of Family All-Star games.

After that was Family Fireside (a campfire with songs, skits, and a brief talk)

followed by Mugup (a snack and drink for the kids).

The younger kids were then put to bed and the older ones went off to their own Q-Town while the adults had the option of having a babysitter look after their kids while there was an adult Q-Town.

Everything was optional, which was nice.
Absolutely NOTHING was pushed on us at all.

And of course, we spent a bit of time in our room, having some relaxing, down time (playing a game or enjoying kid-fun in the room, like sliding off of the bed or hanging out the window).

Jaymi also spent some time practicing her drawing, working very hard at learning to draw Garfield characters. She is getting very serious about art lately.

Jaymi and I made a promise to each other, to try something new every day. Something we had never tried before. And we did it! We were so proud of each other and ourselves, every day. It was exhilarating.

Definitely one of the best weeks of the summer.

Summer 2010 - Week #5

2010-07-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a slower week last week.
We haven't done much, but it has been an easy, enjoyable week.

We have been to three library programs,

one free Tae-kwon-do lesson (which she absolutely LOVED),

one market and one park,

one art gallery,

Jaymi has built a fort in the backyard (with Mark's help and lots of power tools),

we have had one dinner outside,

we have watched the making of a beautiful, elaborate local fountain,

we have been princesses together for a day, which involved:
talking like princesses ("farewell" instead of "goodbye", "after you!" when we go through doorways, "I adore you" instead of "I love you", walking on tip-toes, walking softly and NOT thumping, holding our purses correctly and standing with our feet together, and sitting properly).
Jaymi has been 'teaching' me about how to be a princess.

And she has bought her very own little adult-like purse from the dollar store. She had a lot of fun while we sat outside of Starbucks, organizing what goes in each pocket (she was happy to find a purse with THREE pockets). She has the following in her purse:
- keys-house and car (they are really those tiny keys that come with diaries)
- lip balm (to keep a princess's lips soft)
- sunscreen (to protect the princess's soft skin)
- mirror and comb (she says that princesses like to look at themselves)
- kleenex
- cell phone
- cards (her pretend credit card, pretend coupon, and hotel key from a vacation we took - pretending it's another card)
- change

Summer 2010 - Week #4

2010-07-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Wow - I can't believe we've alread week #4 already, of our summer!

I got to do some promotional pictures for a friend last week, which was fun. Here are a few of my favourites.

We began our week with Mark having some surgery done on his face - under his nose, specifically. Many of you know that a few years ago, he was attacked by a pit bull and has undergone many, many operations since then, on his face. This is hopefully the last one, and was a minor one. Our family is so used to him going into surgery, unfortunately. Jaymi has actually formed a club that includes the two of them, since her brain surgery last year. She collects his hospital bracelets (along with her own - each time she has an MRI as well). Anyway, we drove him to the hospital and picked him when he was ready to come home. In the meantime, while waiting, we visited the new Walmart superstore. I found it huge, but not fantastic. A lot like our Great Canadian Superstore, with clothing, housewares, etc., and now produce, meat, etc..

Jaymi loved it, especially what she alls the 'cartilator' (the little escalator just for carts).

We also found a great park near the hospital, where Jaymi had lots of fun while we waited. There was this fantastic climbing area where Jaymi needs lots of arm strength to climb it.

A couple of days before Mark's surgery, my car's brakes started to make a very bad grinding sound, so after Mark went into surgery, I called to get an appointment to bring it in. I got the appointment for Tuesday and the brakes got fixed. Jaymi and I dropped the car off at the dealership and then we were planning a downtown adventure - scavenger hunt, etc..

But, friends of ours ended up offering us a ride back near home, and we ended up spending some time with them at the lagoon.

Jaymi made dinner for us one night this week. She made pasta (I handled the pot on the stove) but she started the burner, filled the pot, watched the pasta cook, tested it to see if it was ready, grated the cheese, portioned it out, poured milk for all of us, etc..

Jaymi and I did a small study of teeth last week. It was so much fun. We have studied teeth before, 3 years ago, but she doesn't remember that.

I found the BEST tooth book!

We played Tic Tac Tooth,

And read another book about teeth,

She played some of the fun games on the Colgate website.

And we made apple mouths, with anatomically correct teeth made of marshmallows, then ate them, of course.

(Here is the same picture, by the way, from when Jaymi was 4 years old and we did the same study)

We set up a pretend dentist's office and treated patients.
And Jaymi spent one evening brushing hr teeth for 8 minutes! She sat on the toilet lid, reading her tooth book, making sure she brushed absolutely correctly, restarting her electric toothbrush each time it ran out.
She has been so careful to floss and brush properly since our study. :)

The last time we studied teeth, we made a giant tooth out of foam board.

This time, Mark made a big wooden tooth (a molar) covered in blue laminate. She loves it, and brushes it and takes care of it. :)

They went on to make another wooden tooth, this time, an incisor, and they plan to make a canine tooth as well.

On Saturday, we went to some garage sales, and Jaymi found this cute little cropped jean jacket. :)

and this awesome turquoise eyelet dress!

On Sunday there was a Farm Tour day going on around town. A bunch of local farms had open houses, with tours and samples, etc.

The first farm we went to was Saanich Christmas Tree Farm. Obviously they grow Christmas trees, but much more as well.

They grow strawberries, garlic, dahlias, apples, and lots more.

We ate the best ice cream with fresh strawberries on top.

The next farm was a corn farm with a huge market, as well as goats that Jaymi fed, and a mother duck with baby ducklings.

The next farm was Dan's Farm, where we enjoyed another serving of ice cream - this time, in a cone!

Last on the list for the day, was Babe's Honey Farm, where there was a lot to see and do.

We learned all about how honey is collected, what the beekeepers wear, etc..

We tasted about 15 different types of honey (from various plants). One of our favourites was the wildflower honey. We bought a little tube of honey that Jaymi enjoyed.

Jaymi got to make a candle out of beeswax.

We tasted bread dipped in balsamic honey vinegar, and I tasted mead (which is made from honey) too.

Of course, last week, again, there was lots of swimming, including friends coming over to swim with Jaymi.

Jaymi has been experimenting with doing different things in the pool, like....

snorkeling,

and blowing bubbles.

She made me laugh one day, when she showed up ready to swim, wearing a full UV suit and this funny headband that she found at one of the garage sales.

We tried out a new board game together - Upwords.

We had a lot of fun, ate too much ice cream, and stayed up way too late last week. :D

Pool pictures from this week

2010-07-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Jaymi has been enjoying the pool so much this summer. She has been in the pool every day - most of the time spent at home has been in the pool!

She has taught herself how to snorkel, somersault forwards and backwards, she's trying to cartwheel underwater, she has learned how to do a handstand, glide along the bottom of the pool, and her favourite thing to do is cannonballing into the pool!

She has had friends over on various days, to swim with, and they have also enjoyed the Slip n' Slide together.

Another favourite thing that Jaymi and her friends have discovered, is if it is a bit cool in a breeze when they get out of the pool, it's nice to warm up by laying on the deck. :)

Summer 2010 - Week #3

2010-07-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'll start by adding in one thing from last week that I haven't posted yet. On Sunday, we went to our city's annual Strawberry Festival.

Although Jaymi didn't end up wanting to stay for long, it was still fun. There is a lot for kids to do, including a ton of bouncy castle-type structures.

There is face painting, games for kids, food to eat, a fire truck to climb on and look at, and watermelon of course.

Every year we always go home and eat our own strawberries and ice cream (rather than waiting in the huge line-up for the over-priced strawberries & ice cream at the festival). This year we stopped at a little stand on the way home to purchase our farm-fresh strawberries. They smelled wonderful! At home, we decided to puree them to make strawberry sauce (soooo sweet!) and poured it on top of vanilla ice cream...all in a waffle bowl - yum!

We have been having a fantastic time riding everywhere in the convertible with the top down - one of our favourite summer things to do.

Jaymi had a few playdates last week, which I will post more about, soon.

We had this AWESOME giant Quiznos balloon that we gave to Jaymi last week. She LOVED it! It was so huge! Unfortunately, she got a piece of tape stuck on and Mark tried to take it off, it popped and she burst out crying. She only got to play with it for about 1 minute. Mark felt so terrible. :(

We met up with some schoolmates at the lagoon for a few hours.

We went to one of our local markets to check out the fresh produce and crafts there.

We spent one morning "in the life of a cat".
Jaymi ate like a cat (for breakfast) - WITH the cats. ;)

She slept like a cat (in the patch of sun on the floor).

She walked around the house like a cat.

And she brought in a pretend rat, like a cat. LOL

She even wrote a list of things she 'did' during the day, in the life of a cat.

Of course, Jaymi is always doing lots of reading, and continuing with the library reading program.

We found some fantastic thrift store goodies, including this $1 dress which Jaymi just loves!

She says it's the most wonderful curtseying dress ever!

As always, it's interesting to see what outfit she puts together every morning. She came out of her room the other day, dressed so beautifully, in an outfit complete with necklace, polka-dot tights, her new polka-dot dress, a pretty floral tiara/crown that her Granna had made for her birthday last year, etc..

Her newest fashion obsession is the peace sign. She loves anything with peace signs on it!

We have been trying this summer, to take a family walk 2-3 times per week, after dinner.

Just a little walk. Jaymi loves it, and insists on doing stretches beforehand. One particular evening, she decided on this white satin dress for our walk. ;)

Jaymi has been wanting to learn some more cursive writing, and I said I would teach her, so I finally go around to it last week. She spent hours practicing! She loves doing it. She has a notebook that she practices in, and she worked very hard on perfecting these words, especially.

She is also still loving her glasses, and has made a 'glasses world' in the house a couple of times. ;)

This past Sunday was another local summer festival. It was a small one, but fun for something to go to. We ate there, won a couple of frisbees, got some safety goodies, a mini-recycling bin for Jaymi, and Jaymi looked at a vendor's jewelry for sale (she loved the diamonds and rubies).

Most of what Jaymi did all week, was swim....and swim....and swim. :D
She spent hours and hours in the pool. If she's at home, she is wanting to be in the pool. It's great!
I'll post pool pictures within the next few days.

A-gardening we will go...:)

2010-07-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of years we have tried our hands (well, Mark's mostly) at vegetable gardening, and successfully grew tons of radishes, chives, and a few things.

This year, we decided to grow more.
Most of what we planted is not very successful yet. The unseasonable cold May and June we had made some of our veggies unhappy and they are having trouble growing.

However, this year, we have food and herb plants growing in various places around our yard, including our main deck (where the deer can't get at them).

We have lots of chives, and a few herbs. I love sending Jaymi outside as I'm preparing dinner, to fetch some chives to use. It reminds me of growing up, when I used to do the same thing.

We have a bunch of strawberry plants (the upside-down ones) hanging on our main deck.

We have a couple of cherry tomato plants (upside-down as well) hanging on the deck.

We have lots of regular tomato plants in planters too.

Jaymi has her own garden box this year. It isn't doing extremely well, but some of it is okay. Mark built the box, she painted it, they both stapled lining in it, and she waters it every day. She decided on planting a mix of flowers, as well as cat grass.

We have lots of sunflowers planted,

and lots of beans everywhere too.

Of course, tons of other flowers and plants,

and lots that I didn't take pictures of.

The Summer of 2010 - Week #2

2010-07-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Week #2 was full of summer camp for Jaymi. She went to a full-day camp (9-3) called SOAR Art & Nature Camp, where they did tons of artwork and nature walks each day.

Just for fun, I took a picture of Jaymi each day of camp, in her chosen outfit for the day.

They ended the week (on a very hot and humid day) with some water fun and sculpting an ice cream block into a volcano (complete with caramel and chocolate sauce) and then eating it, of course!

She had friends in the camp, so that was great for her to see them every day.

She did a lot of drawing,
including chalk drawing (self-portraits) after camp.

She made a chain out of grass (her idea).

Although camp was great for her (lots of sun, activity, exercise, friends, fun, imagination, etc.) she was soooo cranky later in the evening every day!

We also finally opened the pool!

Jaymi can reach the bottom of the pool this year - just barely!

We usually open it June 1st, but this year it just didn't happen, which was okay, because June was so unseasonably cold anyway.

But, we have had beautiful weather this past week, with lots of heat - perfect pool weather. Jaymi has had fun in the pool every day, both by herself and with friends.

And of course, it's great popsicle weather too!

She also played on our Slip n Slide for the first time this summer.

And we made up a fun water obstacle course for her.
The steps were:
- slide down the Slip n Slide

- jump through two hula hoops

- use the cherry pitter and eat the cherry

- use the other hula hoop

- run through the sprinkler

- dump a bucket of water over her head

- refill the bucket

And to make it interesting, after doing it a bunch of times, we made a theme each cycle.
She had to do the course:
- ballet style

- with her hands up in the air

- with no hands at all

I was particularly impressed with the way she figured out how to do this one - dumping a bucket of water over her head, WITHOUT using her hands!

- backwards

- sitting down

- extra fast

- and extra slow

She has read quite a few books in the past week as well, going through so many books each day.
This was a favourite of hers last week.

We went to Hanna & Leah's 4th birthday party on the weekend.

And inside, we worked on a very cool circular undersea puzzle together, many days staying up late after dinner because we just couldn't pull ourselves away from it!