up-date

I'm reading these novels - because they belong to a genre I don't usually read (it's for school) - so far so good!

September is almost OVER! Crazy. I'm going to divide this post up into a per-person summary, just to help with organization - I am a seriously tired mamacita these days trying to get to everything, and am just going to give in and read tonight (instead of doing any schoolwork). Here goes...

two boys building

Steve

Steve left for Palm Springs bright and early this morning armed with his golf clubs, ready to get some quality time in with his buddies before the BIG WEDDING happening next Friday night. Our most amazing friends Freddie and Shanti are tying the knot (and I can't WAIT to get down there myself) and it is going to one helluva week of pre-wedding festivities. Steve's been busy around the house planning and doing projects, the latest and greatest of which is attending to a dysfunctional storage area in the basement; seeing as how there's scant storage in this ancient home (closing in on 100 years old!), it's a pretty big deal. He moved access from inside the storage cubby (always stuffed with stuff - making access a non sequitur) to the wall, and he'll get a homemade barn door up to cover what will be a pantry and accessible (imagine!) storage area. He starts hockey soon, is coaching once a week at McMaster and is busy with the kids when I'm at school. Next!

photo creds: alana

ME
Ugh! Life is crazy busy, but I can't and wouldn't want to drop anything. School is alright - I have two classes I really like and two that I'm so-so on - and I really need to get going with assignments as I know they'll start piling up as the semester rolls on (but not tonight!). I'm coaching once or twice a week at Western again and will be the interim head coach come January - when the head coach has her first baby (eek!). I'm excited and a little nervous about it - but way more excited. I'll drop down to part time with school and then will have just one course left to finish my program. And then? We'll see... Other than that life is full of house stuff, kid stuff and making meals and cleaning up from meals. Bah!

Alana took 40 pictures at Home Depot the other day, including these two gems :)

Alana
This one is sloughing off the baby and toddler label and becoming a kid. She's made huge advances on the potty training front (which is amazing), and it happened pretty suddenly; she won't even wear a diaper to bed and insists on doing everything by herself (sound like anyone you know Mom and Dad?) and is doing a fine job of it all. She's in preschool three mornings a week and seems to be loving that - she only cried a little bit when I dropped her off on Thursday which, of course, broke my heart a little bit; and then when she bravely let go of my hand and went inside with her teacher - tears still in her eyes - I was proud too. She has big feet and is tall and strong - she holds her own with Hendrik, and will fit in just fine with the Grade 1s when she starts Junior Kindergarten next year (she's as big if not bigger than most kids in Hendrik's class). She's still attached to Robyn Doggy and prides herself in distributing Fruit-to-go snacks to everyone on weekday mornings, making sure everyone has a snack for school.

Hendrik
I didn't mention that the kids have been actually playing together and getting along really well, and it's so nice! We find we don't need to intervene as much, and they've come up with their own games and pretend worlds; it's very cute. Forgive me if this doesn't make any sense, but they've been playing pretend TV, which involves Hendrik measuring how much TV they are allowed to watch (literally measuring with Steve's tape measure) - "Okay it's 58 inches of TV now Alana and that's it!") - and then the two of them will sit on the basement steps and laugh and point at the pretend TV they're watching... I love it! School is going well too, though we never get much information out of the dude; he's in swimming lessons once a week and has mastered the deep end swim - we have a swimmer! He's still super into dinosaurs and loves jumping on the trampoline morning noon and night, and is a good reader. I can't believe he'll be five soon - !

Okay that's it for now - here's a peek at the in-progress basement storage reno (major excitement, I know).

some london, some greece

We've survived the first week and a half of school - and while we're dreaming of our Greek vacation, life in all of its busy-ness has brought us back to reality. Though schedules are fairly basic and the kids are in very few activities outside of school, the combination of their schedules, my school schedule, my coaching schedule and Steve's coaching schedule make things feel fairly hectic most days. I feel like I could use a personal assistant to prioritize and remind me of all of the things I need to do / should do - but if such a person were to exist in my life, I'd probably just make them take the meat out of the freezer (and plan meals and make them) and vacuum - and schedule time for homework and planning. Bah! I'm in a Reader's Advisory class and for some crazy reason was motivated to take a NOVEL out of the library (on campus) just in case I could find time / make time to read in the evenings. Usually I'm starting my homework at 8:30 (when the kids go to bed) but tonight, since I'm just recently back from a coaching mini-job (doing clinics for adults), I might just skip the schoolwork tonight and go read something that I don't HAVE to read. Doing something you don't have to do? Sounds nice.

News on the house front: Steve is re-seeding the lawn tomorrow (grow grass grow), and we're having a few people come and tell us how much new windows might set us back. The main pane popped out of one of Alana's windows a few days ago, and since the glass was already cracked and the window won't open (it's an original 1920s window), we're looking into replacing it and all of the others in the house. Hopefully we can find something that fits the character of the home and isn't outrageously pricey, and then we might just do one or two at a time. Since all I can think about is going to bed, I'm going to cut this short. I'll finish with a few pics of Greece that got missed (and should be in that final Greek vacation post - that I will (??) get to one day...)...

These photos were taken while we walked up the river Acheron, a canyon that had many small underground or in-mountain springs offering ice cold water to the running river. It was beautiful, and Steve and I kept going when deeper waters forced us to swim; if we didn't have a group of friends waiting for us where we started, we would have kept going and going and going.

first day of school!

We survived the first day of school! It was a big day for Hendrik (starting SK), Alana (starting preschool) and for myself (starting my fourth semester of grad school), and there were only a few tears. Hendrik did really well at drop off and was his usual dawdly self at pickup, and Alana, despite major excitement and anticipation, was a bit teary and clingy when it was time to say goodbye (for 2 hours) and head on into her class. I was not teary but instead very sweaty - it's been hot hot hot here (and humid humid humid), so I was thankful for a well air-conditioned building after my 10 minute ride to school. More to come soon, I just wanted to share a few "first day" pics!

and she's three!

the birthday girl and her cake, finally! another Grandma B creation...

I can't believe we are FIVE days into September! We've had a few big days around here, the most notable of which was Alana's birthday earlier this week - our little girl is three years old! Looking back on earlier birthday blog posts, it's hard to believe we're already at the three year mark. She woke up asking for cake (of course she did), and asked for cake again for lunch and dinner, and was pleased as punch that she was having a party - just for her! Highlights were opening presents, playing pin the tail on the doggy, getting to eat icing off of a few pieces of a beautiful pink doggy birthday cake (her request, made by Grandma B), and having some of her favourite people in our back yard to celebrate with her (Grandma and Gramps were there, along with Aunt and Unc, Liz, Sandra, Sofia and her two girls Adriana and Chrysoula, Paul and Ahan and Bipasha, Maeve, Kari and Paul, and the rest of her immediate family). Steve did a great job on the BBQ feeding the crowd, and though rain threatened, those that were able to take the heat and humidity stayed outside for food and activities. Top presents include a doggy game that we haven't figured out yet - but there are six little plush doggies and she loves them!, a battery-powered bubble blower, a vintage Fisher Price purse (she was using the lipstick as a screwdriver this morning to fix handrails upstairs), little George (a cat stuffy), a Magna Doodle, and books (both kids are loving Tools Rule! and I'm especially into Black Cat White Cat). It was an amazing day, and here are her answers to the annual round of birthday questions:

What's your favourite animal? Emu and ostrich (I was sure she'd say doggy)
Favourite colour? Pink
Favourite food? Quesadillas (surprise!)
Who's your best friend? "these guys," she said, referring to little George and Chrissy dog (a plush doggy from Chrysoula and her sister).
Who's your best friend - person? "You!" (mommy)
What's your favourite place to go? The YMCA.
What's your favourite book? My Favorite Run

with her new vintage FP purse + contents

Her latest thing is giving me hugs ... all the time. In the car she'll ask for an "arm huggy" and at dinner she face plants into my lap to give me a hug - even in the middle of the night she wakes up and wants to give me a hug. I love it. I love it a bit less in the middle of the night, but it's still adorable.

And another latest thing that is starting on Tuesday is PRESCHOOL! The littlest one is also going to school, just down the street from Hendrik's elementary school. Hendrik and I also start school on Tuesday, so it will be one busy day; I'm hoping it'll be relatively stress-free, calm, and without incident. We've been talking about school with Hendrik for quite a while (we're even doing the sleeps countdown), and he seems excited to go back (though whether or not he realizes what going back to school is or means, we're not sure). We've had a few get togethers with some kids from his class, so at least there will be a few familiar faces. I have a list of things to get to, so should run... Happy September!