Christmas Crazy

The Holiday season was as crazy as ever in our house, but I think even though we did not have any family visit with us this year that we managed to pull it off. Girls are on their first winter break since starting back to Public school and so lots of sleeping in and just plain vegging out. Presents were a hit and we managed to have great excitement over all of them down to the little stocking suffers. We now face the task of taking down the decorations before the New Year begins. Luckily the girls do not make resolutions so we face no disappointments on that front…. I am sure I will make the same ones that I do every year and break them the very next day, here’s to tradition. As we have more picture takers in the family now I stand a good chance of getting some memories taken. So as I sit down to think about the New Year here is what Christmas looked like. 

Road Trip!

We took a trip down memory lane this past week when we went to visit my husband’s old stomping grounds. Terry’s choir directors from when he was a boy where being honored for all the lives that they had touched with their music. It was amazing to hear the choir come together after 40 ish years and one rehearsal, it sounded wonderful full of love and reverence.  We travelled with all our snacks and electronics and car bingo cards !!!!!  We stayed in a hotel and swam in the pool and it was a great break for everyone. I think that is always good to show your children your roots and your friends from your childhood, it gives them a better view of you as a whole person and not just mom and dad.  

Technology, Love it! Hate it!

I love the random photos that I find on my cell, I love that I can get in touch with my kids or leave them some kind of tech message. I also like that if we have a school project,( yes we are back in public School)  that we can research online. Then I hate that technology disturbs dinner time, I hate that it isolates us when we all go to our rooms.

I do like that we have managed to encompass tech into our latest project of working on a game App for the Treetop Sisters... So do I love technology or do I hate technology...... Jury is out!

New Chapter

Starting a new chapter, after some years of homeschooling our family is heading back into the public school system. So we are finishing off our summer and everyone is excited about what the new school year has to offer. We started trying to get on a schedule this week as we are Ballet bound. So far so good 2 days in everyone is dressed, some fed and some not. Coffee for me and in the minivan we go. One thing that has come to mind is that the van will need to have a good cleaning.

Growing Too Fast!

This weekend we spent a lot of time cleaning out paperwork and generally moving things on to Charity shops where they can bless other people and not clutter the house. But we kept stopping when we come across photos, generally of the girls but also some of us in our past lives. It is frightening how quickly your children grow up in front of your eyes! Glad that someone in the house likes to take pictures. Also the girls now have taken up the challenge of documenting our day to day lives, Jade takes is the artistic one and takes 14 photos of her belly button, great! Sometimes there are too many photos especially when it catches me in a not so glamour’s view. Oh well hopefully I will look back in 10 years and laugh at them as we did yesterday.

Summer is coming !!!!

Well, it would seem that we are into monsoon season around here... and summer fun at the same time. As the girls are growing they have more separate activities so I have become the mom taxi. I am not sure how long this is going to be a fun activity for me !!!! but glad that all the girls have a separate group of friends also.  I am becoming a wiz at changing the channel on the radio between radio disney and BBC World news... who would have thunk it.

Pool fun

Maybe some decorating this summer!  

Puppet Show

Art at Crystal Bridges

Monsoon Season 

Dance, Dance, Dance !

Sometimes I think that our lives are consumed by dance, and it probably is . But I know the love and support that my girls get there and also the friends that they make. And just the life experiences that they get from being in that setting. I am always glad when recital is done and then within the next few days I am ready to start off again. With this in mind we are going to enjoy our summer and get ready to begin a new chapter. Hopefully filled with lots of dance and singing and creative stuff.

Testing the Brain !

Testing time is here again and to add to the drama I wrote down the wrong day for outside testing. So as we are walking around getting groceries I receive a call asking me why Jade was not in testing this morning. My brain went numb and my mouth went dry and I had that sick in my stomach feeling. But as sometimes happens, everything turns out for the best. We were able to take an online test at home which covered more ground than the usual testing. The girls were very calm in their  surroundings and so I think that I got a better sense of what they had learned in the past year.

We are all glad that it is over and the girls did well, what impressed me most was that once we were finished each one of them came up with something that they needed to work on for the next school year. So now we continue  finishing off our year with a heavy focus on math for some and reading for others. They know who they are!

Road Trip

Well competitive dance season has come to an end! The girls worked really hard and had a lot of fun and to tell you the truth the scoring is great because it feels like everyone is rewarded. I like that as a mom, don’t get me wrong there are clear winners but there is lots of encouragement and rewards for others. Let’s face it how many of these young girls and boys are going to go on to a career In dance? A very small percentage I would imagine, but to watch all the effort, enjoyment and accomplishment that comes from being part of a group or duo etc. You know that things that they have learned in class and on that competitive stage will last them a lifetime and follow them to whatever path  they choose.

Most of our dances where on Saturday and by the end of the day I think that we realized we need more stamina and that I would not be a very good long distance truck driver !!!  But we stayed in a hotel and swam in the pool and had a fun girl’s weekend.

d.