chilliwack.

Hunter and I are off tomorrow morning bright and early (5:45 am) to Chillliwack for the Western Synchro Skating Championships. The club is taking 2 buses for 6 teams and we will be driving thru the rocky mountains of Jasper. The trip will take about 10 hours. We have lots of snacks packed, as well as a pillow and blanket. Tyler is quite excited about the "boys" weekend.
Hunter has an on ice and off ice practice on Friday, and her team skates on Saturday. We are looking forward to visiting Chilliwack for the very first time. Nothing like a little weekend away in the middle of a long winter.

birthday party planning...

I cannot believe that January is almost finished. I am glad because I have grown quite tired of winter. I have been busy the last few weeks finishing up my duties with the fundraising job with Hunter's skating club. Every couple of years, I see to take on a volunteer job that just totally burns me out and this JOB did it. Managing 10 campaigns for over 100 skaters was a lot of work, but it was the total bitchiness of some of the parents that just blew me away. No thanks. No appreciation. I don't think I will be taking on a volunteer job in the skating world for a long time. I don't have the thick skin required to deal with some of those people.
Mr. Tyler's birthday is approaching and we have booked a party for him at Chuck E. Cheese, which is essentially a very cheesy casino for kids. Each child gets a cup of tokens and then gets to visit the various games and machines for entertainment. Tyler was invited to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's almost a year ago, and he's been talking about it ever since. I am happy about this party because 10 little boys will be happy and occupied until it's time for cake. Hunter's little friends were always content to make a craft as a party activity, but that doesn't quite cut it for Tyler. Plus, girls will spent hours on a craft, but boys are done in 5 minutes, at least my boy is anyway. I actually think Ron is just as excited about this party as Tyler. I wish I would have remembered to take Grampie to Chuck E. Cheese's when he was here. Right up his ally for a little mind candy.

mr. snaggletooth...

So a week before Christmas, I was helping Tyler brush his teeth when I noticed something white behind his bottom teeth. I got him to hold still to take a peek and there was a brand new tooth emerging through the skin behind the baby teeth. I touched the baby tooth in front of the new tooth and it wiggled. I was astonished. I said, "Tyler, did you notice that you have a wiggley tooth?" He touched it with his finger and he said, "Oh yeah! I do!". This surprised me because for about two years he has been telling me that he has a "wiggley" tooth because he wanted the tooth fairy to visit him just like Hunter. So I wiggled his tooth again and asked if he wanted me to pull it so the tooth fairy could come. And he said, "Yes....pull it out...... hey Mom!..... can we get some string and try the slam the door thing?" I told him that that was probably not a good idea since it is hard to tie a piece of string around a wet tooth (besides that a chicken like me would never want to do something like that). With a quick twist, the tooth came out quite easily, and the tooth fairy was able to visit. Of course, the very first tooth is worth some money....$5. Hunter commented that now she only gets $1 or $2 from the tooth fairy. But she has lost 12 teeth. The tooth fairy would have to get a day job if she had to pay $5 for each tooth. Both my kids have lost their first tooth about 2 months before their 6th birthday.

french peasant soup...

On Sunday, it was chilly and I was feeling in a soup mood, so I dug out my many recipes from cooking class a few years back and made this hearty soup. It starts off with pancetta browned in the pan, then onion, garlic and shredded cabbage is added and cooked just until translucent and then rosemary, bay leaves, chicken stock, potatoe, sausage and white kidney beans are added and simmered just until the pototoes are fork-soft. Then I called the kids to the table for supper.

Hunter sits down and immediately says, "Mmmmm. Looks soooo good Mom!".

Tyler sits down and immediately says, "Do we have any Kraft Dinner?".

Hunter is my adventuresome eater. She has a wonderful appetite and eats almost anything. She has no aversion to anything new.

Tyler is my sensitive palate eater. Does not like strong smells or tastes and gags quite easily. One of the reasons I made this soup was because it had sausage in it and he loves sausage. So I gave him basically broth and sausage.

I am trying to get away from all the chemicals and preservatives in food. I like to make things from scratch if possible and then I know what's in it. It really is not hard to cook from scratch-the hard part is getting Tyler to taste or try it. I don't know how he ended up with such warped taste buds that he prefers chemical-laden, plastic cheese full of preservatives and salt Kraft Dinner over homemade with fresh ingredients, no preservatives soup. He is the source of much exasperation at the dinner table. Good thing he's so cute the rest of the time.

dress rehearsal.

The synchro club held their annual dress rehearsal yesterday for family & friends of the club. All 7 teams skated their programs in full costume to get ready for the competition season which begins in two weeks with the first competition in Calgary. Hunter skated first with the club's youngest team(black & white dress). This program is a "Music Box Dancer" ballet inspired program. The second team that Hunter skates with is a 9-12 year old category, and that team skated to a very upbeat "ragtime" number with a costume of red and white top with black skirt. This team had an *awesome* skate and we are hoping that they will place in the top 4 in their category when we go to Calgary. It was such a fun day to watch all the teams' programs and we were so grateful to have 6 friends come to watch Hunter.

let the games begin...

Since Tyler had a special day on Tuesday when we went to the Science Museum, Hunter had a special day yesterday with a board game party. We decided she would invite 5 friends for an afternoon of board games, and everyone made it except one friend. Each friend was asked to bring his/her favorite board game, and we had games and snacks. They played: Silly Sentences, Charades, Kids Trivial Pursuit and the game that Tyler got for Christmas: Piraanha Panic. Seriously, everyone had a great time, played board games that were new to them, and no passive electronics like mp3 players, ipods, game cubes, tv and the like were involved. Sometimes I feel the children we are bringing up today don't have enough opportunites to just hang out with their friends, enjoy each other and find things to entertain themselves. We are such slaves to schedules of extra-curricular activities and homework, that kids don't have time to hang out and just be. I also like that a game board party didn't cost anyone any money. (Unlike the Science Museum where it was $50 just to walk thru the door.) Tyler had a fun afternoon as well, as two of Hunter's friends came with little brothers to play with. And one mom joined me for tea for the afternoon and we chatted about scrapbooking and other stuff. Her son is a great friend of Hunter's. He is in her class at school, in her Book Club and hangs out with the girls quite often. He is what I call an "old soul" in a young body. Just a great all around kid.

I try not to post pictures of other people's children on my blog without permission. The creative challenge was trying to capture this day with the camera but without faces, which is I how I came up with the shot of the hands on the game board, which I really like. Sometimes thinking outside the box works out so well.

whales....

Happy 2007!!

Ron was back at work today and the kids and I had just finished breakfast when a friend called and asked if we would like to join them on a trip to the museum today. Her little boy and Tyler are good friends. So after my doctor's appt. and x-ray to deal with my sinus infection, we set off to meet them. We went to the Science Museum, which is not very far away. This museum houses many interesting science-based exhibits, and an Imax Theatre is part of the facilitites. So today we visited the Imax for the very first time to see "Whales". This was a beautiful documentary on whales shot off the coasts of Alaska, Hawaii and Newfoundland. Tyler loved it as he has a special interest in sharks, whales and all things related to the sea in general. Viewing the whales on the large screen was awesome as you could really feel their massive size and hear their beautiful "singing". As I was sitting beside Tyler in the darkened theatre, I kept looking at him in disbelief at how much he has grown since last Christmas. His little legs hang well over the edge of the seat. He doesn't want a booster seat in the theatre anymore. Then when I looked to the other side of me to see this girl who is almost as tall as me sitting there, I felt completely overwhelmed. How did she get to be 10 years old already? Our conversations are almost eye to eye now and that's scary, but scary in a good way. The average height of a female in Canada is 4'4" and if she reaches that, I will be so happy!

We enjoyed our trip today so much that we purchased a one year family pass, which includes half-price admission to Imax movies. It is so cool to live in a large city and be able to take advantage of some of this stuff. At home, the nearest Imax was over an hour's drive away, which is not easily accessible, when you consider road conditions, time, etc. Now we are only 15 min. drive from the Imax. It was a great day to get out of the house as we did not go anywhere yesterday.