Here is an interesting video that all parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and mentors should watch. It is long(over an hour), and the picture quality is very poor, but the information and ideas just make sense. I have already thought of some things that I could do differently with my children...with one in particular, and maybe she wouldn't act out with violence towards her sisters as much. He talks about how children's behaviors are directly related to attachment, particularlily their attachment to parents or other adult figures, or the the lack of attachment to them.
If you don't have an hour to watch it now, bookmark it, save it whatever you need to do, and watch it later, I think you'll find it interesting too.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
It's so quiet around here.
I've been busy the past two days sewing things for the kids to head back to school with. The best part is that I only used what I already had on hand to make all of the following creations.
The girls have been so excited to go back to school. They carefully laid out there chosen outfits last night. They went to bed so good last night and were up bright and early this morning.
Kymberly starts Pre-K this year, but she has to wait until the 12th. So she is home with me and we are going to make cookies today. With a high of only 11C(how is that possible when yesterday it was 27C?) today it will be a good day for baking. With the change in weather it really does feel like summer is suddenly over. I don't know how I feel about that. We've had a GORGEOUS summer with tonnes of fun. I'm hoping that we get a beautiful Indian Summer(can you still say that?) this year...it's supposed to be back up to 28C by Sunday so it's possible.
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| Lunch bags and pencil cases |
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| Snack bags and sandwich bags |
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| Backpack and Messenger bag to carry everything in. |
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| Tansley and her giant backpack(I didn't use a pattern, I just eyeballed it and it ended up HUGE) |
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| Kathryn and her messenger bag(didn't have a pattern for this one either, but it ended up perfect) |
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| Two sisters ready for school. |
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Kathryn's Creation
It's possible that I may be rubbing off on my oldest daughter. It is also possible that I may encourage it. She has started her own little fabric collection. When we are out shopping she sometimes drools over fabric much like her mother has been know to do. When she has a little money she'll buy a fat quarter or two. For Christmas last year I bought her a real sewing machine, the Janome Sew Mini. It's a fabulous little machine, just right for beginners.
When we were in Wal-mart the other day she saw this fabric that she just had to have. She bought it and asked me If I would help her sew a pencil case. Today I finally made time to help her, one day before school starts.
She sewed the entire thing all on her own. I just sat and supervised and gave direction. She did so great. She has really improved since our last sewing session. She is much more patient and so much more careful to make sure the lines are straight.
Here she is with her finished pencil case. She did such an awesome job. Yeah, she takes after her mother.
When we were in Wal-mart the other day she saw this fabric that she just had to have. She bought it and asked me If I would help her sew a pencil case. Today I finally made time to help her, one day before school starts.
TP
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Our Little Adventure
About a month or so ago we received a little white envelope in the mail from the City of Red Deer. In that envelope was a parking ticket with my husbands name on it, but with out a license plate number, and the date of May 17th. My husband was busy at work that day...in Lethbridge(3 or 4 hours south of Red Deer) with his car. I was busy at home(5 or so hours south of Red Deer) with 2 kids in school and 2 kids at home with the van parked quietly in the driveway. Sooo.....which vehicle could have possible been parked in Red Deer that day to receive a parking ticket? Very good, neither of them. The ticket was only $35, but why should we pay for an offense that we did not commit? Daniel had no intentions of doing so. His court date was set for Aug 22 at 9:30am.
On the afternoon of Sunday Aug 21, we packed up the van with a few camping essentials and a cooler of food and made our way north for what we told this kids was going to be an adventure. We drove to Stettler and set up camp in their Lions Campground. We brought our coleman stove so I could cook dinner and warm water while Daniel set up camp. All we took was Kathryn's little two man tent, two air mattresses and some blankets and pillows. We put the three girls in the tent and then we cleared everything out of the van, put down the stow and go seats and put in an air mattress( a double fits perfectly in the back of our van) We put James on a pile of blankets at the foot of the air mattress and Daniel and I slept comfortably in the back. We were up and packed the next morning by 8am and made our way to Red Deer, with Daniel showered and dressed in his suit.
We arrived at the Red Deer Courthouse just before 9:30am and we found a parking spot right in front. Daniel went in and I told him we would wait for ten minutes in case the lady at the desk quashed the case because he had overwhelming evidence that he had not been in Red Deer on the date that the ticket was issued. The plan was that if he wasn't back in ten minutes that the kids and I would go find a park to play at and we would be back to get him at 11am. Just as we were getting ready to go, Daniel came out of the Courthouse shouting something in a exuberant tone.
When he first got inside he was told that because he was pleading not guilty, he would need to wait in this other line to register his ticket and set a court date for two months away. So he went and stood in that line and when the lady tried to register his ticket, she couldn't find it in the computer. And then she said "this ticket was paid for on the 15th of July". Obviously the person who actually got the parking ticket had the original that was put on their windshield and had paid it. When the handwritten ticket had been entered into the computer for some reason or another the wrong license plate number must have been entered in, resulting in the ticket that was mailed to our house. It seemed that we had come all the way to Red Deer for nothing. But since we were done before the morning had really even begun we decided that we could have all kinds of fun.
We had driven through Drumheller and the Badlands the day before and the kids were fascinated by "Dinosaur land" as they called it. So they wanted to know if we could go back to "Dinosaur land and see the museum". So Daniel headed off in that direction but would not say what his plan was. We stopped and had lunch at Horseshoe Canyon. If the wind hadn't been blowing it would have been unbearably hot. We then headed on our way.
We drove through Drumheller on to what is called Atlas Coal Mine. Daniel wanted to check it out. It was so very hot there. And I guess Daniel decided that the kids weren't old enough to really enjoy it(the girls that had been crying in the van as we drove out of Drumheller and away from "Dinosaur land" may have had something to do with his decision to turn back). So we headed back to Drumheller and to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
WOW, was it ever busy. But the girls had a blast walking through and seeing all of the dinosaur bones and skeletons and displays. It was so amazing. I just wished that it hadn't been so busy. We just always felt like we had to keep going. It was a constant flow of people. It was so crowded that I didn't feel like I could take James out of his stroller and let him crawl around which meant that if we weren't moving he was restless. So we missed out on watching all of the little videos and reading all of the signs and things. But, all in all it was a super experience and the girls loved every minute of it.
When we were finished admiring the dinosaurs we headed on our way. We stopped at the Bassano Dam to have a picnic supper and stretch our legs and then continued on home. It was a lot of driving! All the kids did really great, except for when they would inform us that they had to go to the bathroom...15 minutes after pulling away from the gas station, but this allowed us to check out the Rosedale Suspension Bridge.(sorry no picture)
It was fun, definitely an adventure, and not something that I want to ever do again in a non air conditioned vehicle.
On the afternoon of Sunday Aug 21, we packed up the van with a few camping essentials and a cooler of food and made our way north for what we told this kids was going to be an adventure. We drove to Stettler and set up camp in their Lions Campground. We brought our coleman stove so I could cook dinner and warm water while Daniel set up camp. All we took was Kathryn's little two man tent, two air mattresses and some blankets and pillows. We put the three girls in the tent and then we cleared everything out of the van, put down the stow and go seats and put in an air mattress( a double fits perfectly in the back of our van) We put James on a pile of blankets at the foot of the air mattress and Daniel and I slept comfortably in the back. We were up and packed the next morning by 8am and made our way to Red Deer, with Daniel showered and dressed in his suit.
We arrived at the Red Deer Courthouse just before 9:30am and we found a parking spot right in front. Daniel went in and I told him we would wait for ten minutes in case the lady at the desk quashed the case because he had overwhelming evidence that he had not been in Red Deer on the date that the ticket was issued. The plan was that if he wasn't back in ten minutes that the kids and I would go find a park to play at and we would be back to get him at 11am. Just as we were getting ready to go, Daniel came out of the Courthouse shouting something in a exuberant tone.
When he first got inside he was told that because he was pleading not guilty, he would need to wait in this other line to register his ticket and set a court date for two months away. So he went and stood in that line and when the lady tried to register his ticket, she couldn't find it in the computer. And then she said "this ticket was paid for on the 15th of July". Obviously the person who actually got the parking ticket had the original that was put on their windshield and had paid it. When the handwritten ticket had been entered into the computer for some reason or another the wrong license plate number must have been entered in, resulting in the ticket that was mailed to our house. It seemed that we had come all the way to Red Deer for nothing. But since we were done before the morning had really even begun we decided that we could have all kinds of fun.
We had driven through Drumheller and the Badlands the day before and the kids were fascinated by "Dinosaur land" as they called it. So they wanted to know if we could go back to "Dinosaur land and see the museum". So Daniel headed off in that direction but would not say what his plan was. We stopped and had lunch at Horseshoe Canyon. If the wind hadn't been blowing it would have been unbearably hot. We then headed on our way.
We drove through Drumheller on to what is called Atlas Coal Mine. Daniel wanted to check it out. It was so very hot there. And I guess Daniel decided that the kids weren't old enough to really enjoy it(the girls that had been crying in the van as we drove out of Drumheller and away from "Dinosaur land" may have had something to do with his decision to turn back). So we headed back to Drumheller and to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
WOW, was it ever busy. But the girls had a blast walking through and seeing all of the dinosaur bones and skeletons and displays. It was so amazing. I just wished that it hadn't been so busy. We just always felt like we had to keep going. It was a constant flow of people. It was so crowded that I didn't feel like I could take James out of his stroller and let him crawl around which meant that if we weren't moving he was restless. So we missed out on watching all of the little videos and reading all of the signs and things. But, all in all it was a super experience and the girls loved every minute of it.
When we were finished admiring the dinosaurs we headed on our way. We stopped at the Bassano Dam to have a picnic supper and stretch our legs and then continued on home. It was a lot of driving! All the kids did really great, except for when they would inform us that they had to go to the bathroom...15 minutes after pulling away from the gas station, but this allowed us to check out the Rosedale Suspension Bridge.(sorry no picture) |
| Pretty Prairie Sunset |
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Writing lessons
How To Write Badly Well: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
My cousin posted a link to this blog on Facebook. I clicked on it. I was astounded. The writer is simply brilliant...errr...something. It really is mind boggling. If you have some time on your hands so should go check it out and read some of his posts. In some amusing way I wish that I could write this well...badly...whatever.
So far, of the posts I have read, this one is by far my favorite.
My cousin posted a link to this blog on Facebook. I clicked on it. I was astounded. The writer is simply brilliant...errr...something. It really is mind boggling. If you have some time on your hands so should go check it out and read some of his posts. In some amusing way I wish that I could write this well...badly...whatever.
So far, of the posts I have read, this one is by far my favorite.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
So far behind
I am so far behind in my blog posts. What can I say? We've been having so much fun DOING, that I haven't taken the time to blog about it. I have a tonne of pictures to go through and all kinds of things that I want to post about. So I've decided to take this beautiful relaxing Sunday afternoon and try to catch up. I'll be back dating the posts so that they all show up in order and because I also use this blog as a sort of journal. So check out some of the "older" posts to see what we've been doing this summer.
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