February's Party Day

It was Party Day at preschool again... Hannah's class sang 4 songs they have been practising. It is always cute to watch all the kids singing together :-)

Teacher Vanessa also announced today that between all of the Wind and Tide Preschool locations the kids raised over $60,000 with their Dance A Thon for World Vision! No that is not a typo.... that is $60,000 (SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!) The online donations still need to be calculated so that number will increase when they get all the final totals in. Thanks to everyone who supported Hannah and her class - $60,000 is going to help a lot of kids in underdeveloped countries :-)

Brad Paisley

Last night was the Brad Paisley concert... It was a pretty good show :-) I think everyone enjoyed it and had a good time. I agreed to drive so that everyone could ride together and save on parking downtown since we only had one VIP parking pass. See... there is a benefit to driving a van! But I really dislike driving downtown and let's just say that my driving was a bit of entertainment before and after the concert for my passengers! I did however get everyone there and back safely... and I even had to park the big 'land yacht' beside a concrete pillar in the underground parking lot!

Thanks again Rhonda for giving us the tickets... concerts are always a fun night out :-)

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Tonight is Boot Camp night and it is SNOWING! I'll keep you posted on my boot camp experience in the snow.....

Boot Camp in the Rain!

Tonight was boot camp night again and it was raining! I was secretly hoping that we would get to hang out in the covered area out of the rain. Nope. We had to work out in the rain and muck.

By the time we finished I looked like 'Pigpen' from The Peanuts. I was covered in dirt and grime and my hair was all frizzy and out of control from the rain. When I got home Dave took one look at me and started laughing... then he had to take a picture of me looking like a homeless person.


Boot Camp is getting a little better. Other than the rain it wasn't nearly as awful as last week was. I even finished the 1km run / walk 20 seconds faster than last Monday. I know it's only 20 seconds but it is an improvement :-)

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Tomorrow night is the Brad Paisley concert! Rhonda scored some tickets to her brother in-law's suite and I am bringing Mandy and Brad with me. Should be fun :-) Thanks Rhonda!

Pond, Playground, Pajamas & Popcorn!

One of the intersections Dave usually travels through on his way to meet his carpool for work has been closed so Dave has been having to take a bunch of back roads to get around the closed intersection lately. While driving he discovered a new duck pond in one of the new subdivisions up the hill from our place. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday and take the kids there to feed the ducks.

Before we left we gave Hannah some slices of bread which she tore up and divided into 2 bags, one for herself and one for Victoria. The kids were pretty excited to feed the ducks!

I was surprised at how close this pond is to our house and I didn't even know about it! On a nice day we can walk there and it would make a nice outing.

The pond had lots of ducks and Canada Geese swimming around... when they saw Hannah and Victoria with food they all came up quite close to the kids to eat the bread :-) Hannah was talking away to the ducks and geese. Victoria was a little more cautious... every time one of them slashed loudly in the water she ran back a few steps.

After we ran out of bread we took the kids over to the park. Victoria loves to go really high in the swing! Hannah is learning how to pump her legs on the big swing and she is very serious about it as you can tell from her face in the picture below.

Rebecca and Natalie came over for a 'Pajama Party' at our house last night while Mandy and Will went for dinner downtown with some of their friends. The girls all had a great time :-) We ordered in pizza and all the kids chowed down. Afterwards the big girls played with Play Doh for a while before everyone got changed into their pajamas.

The kids all lined up on the couch to watch Madagascar and eat popcorn. As you can see popcorn and a movie is a great way to keep 4 kids entertained! Not a peep out of them :-)

Mandy and Will came to pick their girls up at 10pm... Victoria and Natalie were both sound asleep. Rebecca and Hannah on the other hand were still giggling and goofing around in Hannah's bed. It was their first little 'sleep over' and they were enjoying themselves :-)

Victoria's Almost 'Amber Alert'

I took the girls to Go Bananas tonight for Tyler's 2nd birthday party. The girls had lots of fun running around with all their friends. Hannah is getting so good at climbing her way through the mazes and tunnels. Victoria will not be left behind... she climbs her way up right behind Hannah!

Towards the end of the party I was looking for Victoria in the play area where I had seen her last. I couldn't see her. I asked some of my friends if they had seen her and they all were glancing around looking for her. Nobody could see Victoria.

Victoria had wandered upstairs to the party room to try and bum cake of another party a couple times while we were there so I figured that she had probably sneaked away up there again. I went upstairs and she wasn't up there. From the landing upstairs you can see the whole play area. I started looking around and still could not see Victoria anywhere. At this point I started getting a little concerned. I knew she could not get out of the play area because there is a gate that can only be opened by a staff member but you never know...

I headed back downstairs and checked with everyone else... nobody had found Victoria yet. I asked Hannah to go around the tunnels and mazes looking for her sister. Hannah was very good, she was calling Victoria's name and looking for her all over the play area. But still no Victoria.

I thought that maybe because it was getting late she may be tired and maybe she curled up somewhere to go to sleep or something. Everyone was looking under the tables, behind the kiddie rides etc. Now I was really getting a sick feeling in my stomach.

We finally found Victoria! She had wandered into the women's washroom and closed the door behind her. Then she opened up the cupboards under the sink (despite the child locks!) and she climbed inside! She was squirting liquid soap all over the rolls of toilet paper she had unraveled!

So now she is at home in bed, safe and sound, smelling like a bathroom soap dispenser. Never a dull moment around here....

Sore.

That is the one word that sums up how I am feeling today! I started my first night of 'boot camp' last night and it was hard. I suffered through the hour (which felt like an eternity!) and I left knowing that I would be feeling the pain today. I have been hobbling around all day today! There are muscles in my body that I did not know existed! I am thankful to have today off and I am dreading going back tomorrow night! I really hope it gets less painful as the weeks go by and my body gets used to the torture.

Gotta go take more Advil....

Dance - A - Thon!

Hannah's class had their 'Dance - A- Thon' for World Vision today :-) The kids all danced for the whole class (2 and a half hours!) with a break for a snack and water part way through. Hannah had lots of fun and she seems pretty tired this afternoon.

Hannah raised $190 for World Vision (or 'The Hungry Kids' as she calls it) we will find out her class total at Party Day at the end of the month. Thanks to everyone who donated!

The kids also gave each other Valentines cards... Hannah spent a lot of time after lunch looking at all the cards she received. Rebecca gave Hannah a 'Diamond Castle Barbie' and she LOVES it. It sings songs and I am already so tired of listening to the thing! (Thanks Mandy.) But I can see that Hannah will get hours and hours of play with it :-)

Victoria has 2 new words.... 'Aunty' and 'Unka' - Brad and Kara will be excited :-) We are working on 'Buggy' but it isn't happening yet... sorry Mom!

I'll end this with a funny Victoria story.... I got a new cell phone a couple weeks ago and since Victoria likes to try and steal my cell phone out of my purse all the time I gave her my old one to play with. Now my old cell phone was a pay and talk so I figured since there were no minutes left on it it would be fine for her to play with. Victoria was so happy to finally get to push buttons on the cell phone and pretend she was talking to people (mainly Papa!) The other day Victoria was playing with her phone and I could hear someone talking to her!! I grabbed the phone and discovered that she had contacted a Telus customer service agent! She had dialed 611 ans hit 'send'... apparently 611 is a free call to make even with no minutes left on the phone. I had to explain to the lady that Victoria was playing with the phone and apologized for the call. Thank goodness she didn't dial 911... we could have ended up with all kinds of emergency vehicles showing up!

I'm Back!

I got home late last night from my weekend with Christy and Jeff in California. It was lots of fun packed into 4 days!

The weather was rainy on and off but rain in California is WAY different than rain here! It sprinkles for a few minutes and then stops and it is still warm out! But it did rain pretty heavily at night. Jeff kept telling me it was the worst 'storm' in a long time... but really only in California would you call that a 'storm' :-)

I arrived Thursday night in San Diego with lots of great stories courtesy of the 'yahoos' sitting behind me on the plane. After Christy picked me up we headed up to her place with a pit stop at 'In-N-Out' on the way :-) Yummy!

On Friday Christy and Jeff both had to work so I borrowed Christy's truck and braved the California roads. Armed with my makeshift map of all the local malls and shopping hot spots I spent the day driving around Orange County shopping :-) People sure drive FAST down there! I was a bit nervous at first but I made my way around pretty good and I even made 2 U-turns (they are legal there)!

After I picked Christy up from work we met Jeff back at the house and we all went for dinner to this nice little Italian restaurant. Then we came back to the house and Michele came over for some wine and to chat. Jeff went to bed early but told me the next day that us girls sounded like a bunch of cackling hens!

Saturday we went to Laguna Beach and had brunch at this cute little place that was on old house turned into a restaurant. Then we walked along the beach and did a bit of rock climbing along the way. We found a lobster tail that was almost as big as my foot! Laguna Beach is so beautiful.



After the beach we stopped by South Coast Plaza to check out all the ritzy stores and people. People walking around with bags full of expensive Armani, Gucci, Jimmy Choo etc. purchases. It was so busy too! I thought the US economy was in the toilet? Apparently the people of Orange County didn't get the memo ;-)

Saturday night we went to Riptide a really nice restaurant and popular 'hotspot'. There was 7 of us that went and it was lots of fun. The food was really good and they make it right in front of you. Check out how big the bill was!



Sunday Christy and I spent the day shopping at the Carlsbad Outlets on our way down to San Diego. We spent a little while at Balboa Park which was really cool. I want to go back there again and spend some more time looking around. Then Christy dropped me off at the airport for my flight home.

Such a fun weekend... I can't wait to do it again :-)

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Dave and the kids had a good weekend too... Dave went to the Canucks game Saturday night and got to see the Canucks beat the Blackhawks 7-3!! It's about time they started winning!

Victoria pooped on the potty twice this weekend while I was away too! She has yet to do it since I have been back so it may just be a made up story......

January's Party Day

Last Thursday was Hannah's 'Party Day' at school. Their 'biology' curriculum for January was all about bears and hibernation. So for party day they all wore hats with bear ears on them while they sang a song about bears going for a long sleep... hibernation. Or 'innberation' as Hannah calls it.

On the biting front.... Victoria has nipped Hannah a couple of times in the past couple of days. The other day Hannah bit Victoria back and hard too! Victoria has quite the mark on her arm! I hope the biting war is over now that they both know it hurts.

(Click on the above picture to enlarge and see Hannah's big bite mark on Victoria's arm!)

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I am getting ready for my trip to California..... I leave on Thursday! Christy said the weather has been around 80 degrees all week! I hope it is HOT this weekend :-)