Did you think I had fallen off the face of the earth?? Well, I sort of did, but here we are. We just got back from a great family weekend away to Ottawa for Winterlude.

Highlights included: skating on the canal, eating BeaverTa1ls, swimming, watching Sierra swim at Regionals, going down a VERY slippery ice slide, stopping in at Dee-Dee's, and having a cousin visit before heading home. It was a wonderful winter getaway :)

Happy Birthday Sophie and Alice!!!

Sophie had a fabulous 4th birthday. The day started with excitement---we have a new member of our family! Alice Hope and Sophie have the same birthday. Sophie was so proud to tell her friends that she got a new cousin for her birthday. We couldn't be happier to have this precious sweetheart to welcome.

Soph and I decorated some kitty cat cupcakes for her to take to school and had a really great b-day dinner. I still look at her sometimes and have to look again--it feels like I just blinked and now she's four. And what a bright light in our lives.

Hallowe'en :)

What a great Halloween. The girls were definitely old enough to 'get it'. Sophie tore from house to house with her friend and neighbour Ben and didn't complain once of tired feet (or should I say paws). Clara walked behind saying 'me me' (aka, don't forget about me), and would slowly climb up each set of stairs and dig right into the candy (I don't even think she knows what's inside those lovely wrappers!).

Earlier in the afternoon we had our second annual Halloween parade for our two streets. There were probably 30 kids there, and it had definitely grown from last year. Cousin Bodhi was added to the group this year, as an adorable centipede. It was so great to have him there. Once again, Sophie wasn't a big fan of the parade. I think she gets overwhelmed with all the people in costumes and gets overwhelmed, grumpy, and very quiet. When we got home and reminded her of the candy to come, the storm cloud lifted extremely quickly!

Grandpa and Kookum offered to give out candy for us, so both Brett and I could trick or treat. That was a real treat for us (thanks G and K). We came back to the house with WAY too much candy. We're going to need a gradual 'candy disappearing' act (and hopefully NOT disappearing into ME) Last night we all sampled some treats when we came home (some of us more than others....I figure you have to eat a LOT of those little chocolate bars before you amount to anything substantial!) and then hit the hay.

And that was that. Today is November 1st. Fall back. Today everyone is cheering wildy for an extra hour of sleep...EXCEPT people with young children. We started our day at 4:50 this morning. Psychologically, that's not a good time to start the day. But this year I'm changing my attitude. Thinking of it as an extra hour of playtime with my kids, instead of sleep. Now that I'm working again this time is more precious than ever.

I've heard lots of tips about helping kids adjust to the time change, such bedtimes 15mins each night for two weeks before, etc. Well, I have a new strategy. Don't change the clock in your bedrooms for a few days. This year I changed all the clocks except our bedroom ones. So at least I didn't have to SEE the 4 until I came downstairs. One day I will get that extra hour of sleep again, and then I'm sure when that day comes I'll miss having little girls in one piece pajamas throw their arms around my neck with a good morning smile and kiss.

Maria Found!!

How much trouble can a little turtle be?? This little turtle became Sophie's favourite friend last year sometime. She carried it with her everywhere she went. She always seemed to have it clutched in her hand. Always.

We went to Kanata on March Break to visit Linny and her family. And we lost Maria. I looked high and low in Linda's house for her, but when your favourite friend is an inch long, it's tricky. My poor sister spent even more hours looking for the silly turtle time and time again. Every visit when we'd see Linda and her family, Maria was bound to come up. So Linda would go home and look again for our tiny turtle pal.

Months pass. This fall Sophie started talking about Maria again. Still missing her. I couldn't believe she'd still remember, but she did. So I started looking around for a 'replacement' Maria. Not such an easy task. I checked on ebay_ and some other places, but no luck. Until today.

My nephew Carson called today with some wonderful news. He found Maria!! He was looking for his Hallowe'en costume in his dress-up clothes in the basement and there she was. It's been a bit of a challenging week for our family, with me going back to work (well, for me anyway) and this was definitely the highlight of all of our day!

Maria is going to be put in the mail tomorrow and should be here early next week. And Linda politely said that perhaps Maria should not come visit her house again in the future. Point taken.

Workin' Girl

Well, they took me at half time! So as of tomorrow morning I have a sort of job! Sort of, in that it's a maternity leave until the end of the year, not permanent. But, hey, it's a foot in the old door :)

I had totally not anticipated this. I guess in this regard I am a very glass 'half-empty' and just assumed they would want to go with someone else full-time. All weekend Brett was telling me that he thought they would still be interested, but I had totally written it off in my head.

They want me for mornings, which is a bit to get my head around, because afternoons would have suited our family a bit better. But it's a job, in my field, NO MORE 6AM STOMACH ACHES about going to random places, a consistent job at a nearby school (I can even bike there if I am bundled up!) working with sweet kindergarten kids.

The receptionist is the nicest person EVER and we have a connection with her (our good friend Mike's mom is her best friend) and she made me feel so welcome. The principal seems really nice as well. She said the school is the 'best kept secret in this board' a 'jewel'. That's always nice to hear.

This afternoon I am going to a staff meeting to be introduced to the staff. Talk about diving in. And I start tomorrow morning.

I have wonderful worry-free childcare lined up. Mary-Kate is going to be here with the kiddos, and Clara will be thrilled to have mornings with cousin Bodhi (one of her favourite people on the planet).

There is a chance that once I start I will have the flexibility to switch to full days (2 days one week 3 days the next) so that's pretty exciting too. I think that would be an even better fit with our family right now. So we will see. I anticipate some challenges in the next days ahead as we all make the transition. But we'll get there. One day at a time.

In Limbo

Well, I should be celebrating. On Friday I had my interview, and later that afternoon they offered me the job. But they want me to take full time instead of half time (they advertised it as two half time positions).

The principal asked me to think about it over the weekend. Which I did. And I decided that I just can't do it right now. When Clara is in school I am ready to be full tilt back in the workplace, but right now I feel I need to be at home as long/much as I can.

So I just called him and told him that. He said that the principal is looking for one person, but he would call her and get back to me. So we wait. All weekend I had a stomach ache but now it's just a slow small ache. It feels good to have officially made the decision.

So we wait.

Soph is home with a fever today. She's actually kind of loving drinking lots of juice and watching way too much TV. There are some perks of being sick :)

Biker Chick!

Sophie magically just began riding her bike. Full tilt riding. We haven't done a whole lot of bike riding this summer, mainly because Sophie expressed little interest, and when she did have a seat on her bike she generally wanted to be pushed down the street like a princess. (which wasn't my favourite activity!!).
Yesterday we had a play date with a boy from her class--who is one of the sweetest little guys ever. He wanted to try Sophie's bike. Well, there is nothing to spur an action from a kid than someone else coveting your stuff! Soon enough, Sophie was desperate to have a turn on her (dusty from lack of use) bicycle. And sure enough, she pedalled down the street. Actually zoomed! She has the whole steering thing down pat. So much for the 'try try and you shall succeed' mantra. This one is more like "don't do something for a very long time, and then one day try it, and you'll just do it"

This morning it was drizzling and looking ominous so I told Sophie we would drive to school. Nope. Sophie wanted to bike. Considering the past two mornings she has been not wanting to go to school at all, I wasn't going to let a little drizzle ruin our party so off we went. Clara in the backpack (when did she get so big?!!! I was pooped when I got home!! But it was still pretty lovely to have her so close giving me neck hugs and chattering in my ear). She biked to and from school like she'd been doing it all year. I actually was jogging at certain points because she was booting it so quickly. I LOVED IT. Especially because she was so happy doing it. And the huge smile of pride on her face was just so sweet.

I am going to try to remember to bring my camera tomorrow and then upload a shot of my big girl. When did my kids get so big?? It seems like a moment ago they were so wee. Life is good.

PS--I have a job interview next Friday morning. Butterflies.