Breaking Eggs

I spent my entire evening last night baking with my daughter. We were making cakes for her Halloween party.... and it was the best time we've spent together - ever.

After accepting the fact that there was no way I could manage to get done the amount of baking I needed to do if I waited until after the kids were bed, I just decided to devote the entire night to making the baking a "family" project.

I'm so glad I did.

Even though baking with a toddler means every step of the process is going to take longer, we had all the time in the world. After mixing the first cake and popping it in the oven, we had time to clean our tools, ever-so-slowly and carefully add all the ingredients for the next one and get it ready to go in. There was plenty of time to get it all done.

In fact, we had enough time to prepare the next cake and the 3 dozen cupecakes to go in.

Measuring, pouring in, mixing, coloring, stirring, scraping out the bowl into the pan.... I let her do it all.

She loved every minute of it.

Especially breaking the eggs. It took her until the 8th or 9th egg to really get the hang of opening an egg instead of just crushing it in her hand after cracking it. She never lost interest in our activities all night. The look of concentration on her face was priceless - and I was impressed with how well we did (with the exception of one.... but I'm pretty sure I got all the shells out from that early disaster!).

I put her to bed after probably the most satisfying evening with her that I can remember. Not once did she whine or stomp or cry for a thing. But why should she? She had my undivided attention all night... and we were doing something together. (Well isn't that a bit of a wake-up call?)

I loved every minute of it too.

It made me see my daughter in a different light - brought to the fore the fact that she's not a baby anymore, this little girl of mine. I've been underestimating her. She's smart. And capable of so much more than I've been offering her.

I can't wait for the evenings to come.....

Top 3 Things

... To love about having a little girl in our house:

#3 - Every thing is so much brighter. Little bits of pink have infiltrated pretty much every room in the house.... it's pretty and fun, and a daily reminder of the loveliness that just surrounds little girls.

#2 - I'm no longer the only one with painted toenails. Nor am I the only one who cares about their hair or whether my clothes look pretty. From the pig tails or hair clips down to her pretty little toes.... cute as a button!

And my #1 thing to love about having a little girl in the house? I have HELP! She likes doing laundry with me, shopping with me... and my newest personal favorite: She LIKES to change the toilet paper roll! Finally - I am not alone!

Spinning....

Spinning my wheels, spinning in circles.... constantly running and never seeming to keep up with it all is just my flavour of the day right now.... or maybe flavour of the month - or year.

God there just aren't enough hours in a day! It's scary how time is flying... we're whizzing through life... years go by in a blink.

I remember when time moved slow.

I remember as a little girl how the weekend was SO far off when I arrived at school on another Monday. I remember the eternity from one birthday to another.... or how it seemed like Halloween (or Christmas, or Easter) would never get here! Every time I hear my children making similar comments it takes me back.... and makes me think.

What I don't remember was when that changed.

At point point did the world start spinning faster on it's axis? At what age did days turn into months turn into years? Does it ever slow down again?

I'm fixated on this. I ask almost every older person I run into at some point or another.... and you know what they all say?

"Nope"

Apparently this is nothing. I guess time is relative and less you have left of it, the faster it continues to slip through your fingers .... until *poof*.... it runs out.

I'm trying to hang onto as much as I can of it.... through the whirlwind of our day to day lives I try to take a moment to appreciate something pretty or funny or enchanting. Get into a conversation with my kids, instead of just nodding and 'um-humming' while I make a mental list of where I'm going or what I need to do next. Laugh with them... go for a walk with no destination....

I take pictures.... I try to remember to snap the mundane along with the special occasions... the faces around the breakfast table... lounging on the couch watching TV - or wrestling in our bed. Because I know what I'll want to look back on is not just the special times but the way we were.... everyday.

I'm making the time to write this all down. I wonder what I'll think of myself when I look back. Will I laugh at my *young-ish* self one day - like I do when I think back to some of my thoughts/feelings/beliefs when I was in high school? Or am I done becoming "Me".... who I am, never to change now? I can't know. The only thing I can know is that if I don't take the time to document it, I won't even have the opportunity to reminisce. Memory is fickle.... I know some of my childhood memories have evolved over the years... and even though I "remember" them to be true, they may not resemble actual past happenings as much as I think they do (something that's been pointed out to me by older people in my family ;)

But this is real. Solid. Black & White. True.

So much time has past already... so many days that are only memories - with nothing to remind me of how I felt .... to take me back. And even with the desire to HOLD that my evolving realization of how time works brings me, I'm still letting days go by! I'll try to do better... more consistent... more memories.

For me and maybe for my children.... a way to remember these passing-ever-faster days.

Management

Well now I've gone and done it.

With two boys in hockey, my husband has always taken an interest in helping out with the kids. Last year he held the position of trainer with our oldest son's team. It was a great group and they had a wonderful season.

But with our younger son, the involvement was limited to taking him to any games or practices that didn't conflict with the team he was trainer for.

What can you do... there's only one of him to go around and it's not possible to hold a roster position on more than team because, inevitably, we're going two different directions at the same time for their games - and he can't be two places at once.

So this year he was hoping to have more of an involvement with our younger son's team (even the odds, so to speak). Maybe an assistant coach position or something. He's already an on ice official for the initial program - working with the group our little man is in.

So I thought maybe I could have a little more involvement in our eldest's team.... to make up for my husband not being there all the time like he was for him last year.

I mentioned my desire to help out when the coach called around to introduce himself.... asked if he already had all his help in place and let him know that I'd be willing to lend a hand if he needed it or no one else volunteered. He said 'thanks' and said looking for volunteers was something we would be discussing at the up coming team meeting.

The team meeting that we took our son to on Thursday.... where they handed out a sheet with information for the team.

A sheet of paper that had my name on it.... listed as the team manager!

Wow.

Apparently I missed the "talking about volunteers at the meeting" part and skipped directly to Management.

Not sure if it's as glorious as it sounds though. We'll see.

I am now the manager of a 9 year olds hockey team. I've never done anything like this before.... and maybe I've still got my rose-colored glasses on, but I'm actually looking forward to it.

Got my accounting spreadsheet done, collected money from the majority of the players already, made a few phone calls on behalf of the team - and built my email set.

Easy Peasy.

Right?

My Turkey

Or monkey.... or make that Panda Bear...

So they divide the kids at my daughter's daycare into animal themed groups... she just recently graduated up to the preschool room and joined the Panda Bear group. They even have a theme song.... she wanders around the house chanting this tune... and I can't quite catch the words through her version until she gets to the rising crescendo part of "panda bears, Panda Bears, PANDA BEARS!"

And she's really taken the identity to heart.

We were playing and she was being silly and as I was catching her to tickle I told her "you're such a monkey!"

"No mommy, I a Panda Bear!"

Oh, my mistake ;)

Saying Goodbye

For another season....

One last time to sit on our rocky shore and admire the reflections in the water.

The fall foliage is really starting to shine.

Sad to think we won't be back for probably seven months. God winter is long.... and cottage season too short. We actually enjoyed some time here this year... learning our way around the area and our new cottage community. It'll only get better as the kids get older.

I already can't wait for next year!

Bye Bye Lake.....

I never want to forget

How sombre and sincere my oldest is when he cracks his fortune cookie... how he pulls that little scrap of paper and slowly reads the words out loud as if they hold some deep mystic truth... how he asks what it means and then repeats the words to himself over and over in the van on the way home from Chinese Food.

He's charming. I love it.

It'll be a sad day when he gets a repeat or finally figures out that they're mass produced by the millions in some shabby factory overseas.... probably not even China, lol....

Ah well, no bursting that bubble for now, it's too much fun to watch :)

Things I don't need to know about you

You ever have a stranger start an in depth conversation with you? One of those awkward "why the hell are you talking to me" conversations?

I don't mean those friendly smiles or "hello"s from a stranger in passing - I have no problem with those... nor do I have issues with random comments like "Oh, I love your bag, where did you find it?" - that's all just normal people being nice.

But creepy, too familiar commentary and rants from complete strangers are just a little to much for me. I could have happily done without on my trip to the store today.

Why on Earth the only noticeable wack-job in the store had to find a place in line behind me, I'll never know. I was just innocently trying to get my milk and juice out of the store so I could go pick up my kid and continue on with my daily grind. Then this kook stepped into line behind me...

He started by complaining about the lady at the front of the line using a credit card to make her purchase. Apparently he has issues with credit cards being used to buy food - "you know that just means they have no money - right?"

I guess my raised eyebrows and averted gaze wasn't a bold enough cue that I was NOT interested in a conversation with him... because he just moved on....

Ranting about people buying stuff on credit cards that they couldn't afford and all the problems in the world and yadda yadda yadda... and have you tried to buy a house lately? (Huh??)

I was trapped and he was a little off.... if you know what I mean.... I just kinda nodded and hummed and tried to ignore him and load my items onto the conveyor - I don't think my body language could have screamed "you're creeping me out man, back off!!" any louder.... but I guess the kind of folks who just start cornering innocent bystanders into unsolicited conversations are oblivious to such cues...

"They're going to jack interest rates on credit cards right away - then they'll all be in trouble. Not everyone has a low interest card - mine's only 7.5% and I've had it for years....they tell me that I have one of the only ones of those cards left" (why the heck couldn't that lady have been paying cash? And why the heck didn't I go to the freakin express lane today?)

"They're going to reassess everyone's house too and raise our taxes" (if you are getting absolutely NO response from the person you're yammering at, why the hell do you keep talking?)

"House prices are crazy.... I bought my house for $50,000 and it's worth $230,000 now.... jeez, unless you have a perfect credit score, like me - 950, you can't hardly buy a house now" (Seriously? Too much information. Probably bull-shit and even if it isn't, who the heck blathers their credit score to complete strangers?? Seriously off.)

"I've never had more than $395 owing on my credit card in my life." (This one I thought was kinda sad... but still ignored).

My escape from the pessimist with the perfect credit score, highly appreciated home and no life couldn't come fast enough.

I high-tailed it (paid with Debit!) and left the poor clerk next in the line of fire.

Freak.

Season's Changing

Summer is officially done here. I've given up hope of seeing any more blissfully warm days. If we break 20 again I'll be surprised (take a breath my American friends, I'm talking Celsius - we're not that cold up here ;). And while the boys can get away with wearing shorts in these last few afternoons getting up to the high teens (as long as they stay in the sun, lol), it's really not warm enough. It's over. We hit -2 night before last... and there's no turning back once you've had that first frost or hit that first negative temperature.

Don't get me wrong, I really don't mind fall.... the cool crisp morning air and the comfortable afternoons.... the cold nights finally chasing the mosquitoes away so we can enjoy some last evening outdoors. Harvest and Thanksgiving and all things Autumn. The trees along the river on my drive to work are beautiful - it's a great time of year, really.

It's just hard to appreciate it because my mind keeps fast-forwarding... the unmistakable signs of fall mean winter is just around the corner.

My girl likes to play outside every day when we get home. We swing and slide and build castles in the sandbox - she especially loves playing in the sandbox. It's already getting cool by that time of day.... and I can't help thinking of how disappointed she'll be, one day soon, when the sandbox is frozen and our yard is blanketed with snow. I'm sure she doesn't even remember snow.

We've got hockey every weekend already... and it's just a countdown over the next two months until the outdoor ice can be ready enough for practices. Out Door Ice. As in real cold, all the time, enough for ice to stay frozen. Within the next two months.

I shouldn't be shocked, it's just that I'm not ready. I feel like we barely had a summer.

The kids already have their Halloween costumes, and we have snow on the ground for Halloween as often as not... can't kid myself anymore.

Might as well embrace it. Hopefully my husband will reinstate the ice slide in our back yard after last year's hiatus... my girl would love that - and we can keep some of those sand toys out for building snow castles instead!

Ra-ta-ta-ta...

My boy is dancing up a storm. He is absolutely loving dance class... and the toes just tap when he's got those shoes on - he can't help himself ;) I'm so glad I finally signed him up!

Flowers for me too!

My husband surprised me. He brought me flowers for our anniversary.

White roses, with a card referring to himself as "Mr. Right"

(well, at least he got bringing a girl flowers right ;)