tiffany's spot

There is a community speaking arts festival coming up in April. A couple of weeks ago, a sign up sheet came home for any parents who wanted to sign their kids up. I put the paper into one of the paper "piles" and kind of forgot about it. Then the other night at gymnastics I was talking to another parent and she had signed her boys up. Then I started really thinking about it. You sign your kid up. You pay $8 for the privilege. Your kid memorizes a poem that he picks out with the help of his teacher. Your kid recites the poem on stage, getting a chance for a little public speaking and a teeny performance. I really started thinking about Mitchell and how shy he can be. Wouldn't it be awesome if he could choose a short four or five line poem, memorize it, feel good about it, and perform it? I know! The answer is yes! Fast forward to the next day in the van. Me : Hey guys, there's this thing you can sign up for where you get to pick out a poem, memorize it and then p...

We had to make up for our lazy Saturday with a slightly more adventurous Sunday! This morning our friends Amy and Kevin and their three lovely children came over for pancake breakfast. We ate a giant heap of pancakes, fruit, sausages and bacon and washed it all down with litres of coffee and good conversation. I'm thinking even the youngest of the bunch was totally thrilled. This afternoon we met up with our other friends Mike and Sunny and their kids and we stood at the top of the snow hill pretending to be outdoorsy while our kids traveled up and down the ridiculously icy hill. We have had some nice spring-type weather lately, and the crazy back and forth of thawing and freezing has made the hill a little like a luge run. The kids thought it was awesome, and flew down the hill over and over at breakneck speeds. We lasted a full hour until Elliot finally slipped and smacked her face on the hill (who'd have thought the first injury would be walking up the hill?), ...

We are having the laziest Saturday ever , and I love it. We had no soccer at 9 this morning, and I skipped my 7am bootcamp class because I coughed myself awake all night, and sleeping in until 9 was nice. We told the kids we would take them sledding or snowshoeing or something this morning since we had no soccer, but it's now 2:30pm and we haven't done much of anything. No laundry. No floors. No bathrooms. I'm supposed to get groceries and bake a cake some point today, so I suppose we will have to move around eventually. My kids have been running all over the house today, playing some sort of all-house games, alternated with a little bickering, and they seem to enjoy the day at home. Our weeks are pretty busy between school, gymnastics, soccer and piano lessons, and pajama Saturdays are a welcome break. This is what they're up to right now. Jordan has been reading all day. All. Day. Lately it's the Percy Jackson series. I'm glad she found a new series ...

I really should never really surf Amazon, because then I want things. I know I probably should have come up with this before Christmas, but how awesome does this look: Each page has a date (minus the year), and a question about your day, what you think about something, how you feel about something, etc. Following that, there are five places to enter an answer. You fill in the first one. Then the next day you fill in the first answer on the next page, and when you get to the end of the book, you go back to the beginning and fill in the next blank under the same question. There are 365 days. Cool eh? I saw this at school today, and I want it too: The book is made up of literally, 642 things to write about, and writing space for each of them. It is literally, English homework for grownups! I know! You are all clicking the link right now and ordering it! Why is it that I always have a way better wish list in January than I do in November?

Elliot comes up from the basement, her face lit up with excitement. "Mommy!" She says, "Tennyson and Mitchell said you have treats hidden for me!" I take her little face in my hands. "Aw honey, I don't," I say. "I think they just made that up." Her brows furrow as realization sets in. "They were just trying to make me go away?" I nod. "Yep. That's not very nice is it?" She shakes her head no.  "You know what?" I say, "I'll find you a treat. Just for you." Elliot skips around my feet, delighted, "and not Tennyson and Mitchell?" She is practically glowing with her newfound privilege.  "Nope," I say, before rummaging through the cupboard and giving her two Oreos.  The boys have since realized what has happened and the dialogue drifting up the basement stairwell sounds downright mutinous.  Stinkers had it coming. 

Back to the grind this frigid January morning. It took me 15 minutes to get to the babysitter's from my house because I had to follow a snow plow all the way down crescent at 12kph. I'm not even kidding. You can imagine the wonderful lessons in road rage that I'm teaching my kids.  I finally parked at the high school (on time actually, bc road rage pays). As I was walking in, I noticed kids wearing sneakers and thought that boots would be warmer, but being that they would be inside all day, it wasn't surprising.  Because teenagers aren't really that dumb. Right? Until I noticed the number of them arriving at school WITH NO JACKETS on. What is wrong with people? You do not look cool! You look like idiots! The windchill right now is -37!  My kids will lose serious rights and privileges if I ever catch them running around without fricking winter jackets.  (Super fun aside: the other day Elliot was storming around the hall, angry because someone locked her out of the ma...

 I ordered The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman for my book club. Imagine my pleasant surprise when Amazon sent me a signed copy! Also, this is definitely what I'll be doing for the rest of this morning. If you haven't read it I suggest doing so.