Greeceward bound

The kids packed on the pounds at dinner tonight, literally... and I'd wager that it was the milkshake's fault. Alana (18 months) walked away from the table weighing 31 pounds, and Hendrik did the same at 41 pounds. Sure, they enjoyed the rice and fish and veggies, but that second helping of vanilla goodness takes the cake; their combined weight is 70+ pounds!! This boggles my mind. And I do sometimes carry them both around - mmmaybe I should stop doing that. We had the scale out to weigh bags, as our trip to Greece happens TOMORROW! We fly at 7pm, and I'm hoping we have an extra seat and that the kids sleep; too much to ask? We'll see. I'm almost organized, and almost packed; umbrella stroller was purchased on the way home from a successful weekend/day-and-a-half-in-Ottawa (merci Jump volleyball for having me), and diapers and passports are carry-on-packed. Next post from Patras!

Hendrik's Stegasaurus, complete with head, legs, feet and H's name (spot it?) - and my fish :)

tada!

Today is World Book Day... did you know? I didn't, and I suppose that means I should get off the computer and stop doing work and get at one of the two books I hope to finish before we fly off and away (this one and this one). I know this only because I follow Phaidon (publisher) on Instagram, and they're having (/had?) a 20% off sale on all of their books - !!! today, in honour of thee day. I want to buy every single last one of the children's books in their store. Well, okay, not every last one, but near enough; their stuff is golden. If I weren't leaving in five days and if shipping didn't cost $15 and negate the whole save! it's a sale! thing, I just might indulge myself. Perhaps I'll browse Amazon if and when I find the time, and see if I can find any of the gems up for sale on the publisher's website.

So... who talked my kids into reading my last blog? Because they sure aren't sleeping; are they trying to condition me into needing less sleep? Doing me a favour are they? Hmph. Each night is worse than the one before it, and I'll blame teething or dreams... or ? the cling-factor? My fingers and toes and arms and legs are all crossed - tonight will be a good night, yes? YES! I drive to Ottawa/Gatineau tomorrow to meet and see family and talk volleyball and coaching volleyball before driving back here to Bowmanville on Saturday afternoon. Le sigh.... at least maybe I'll get a good night's sleep at home?  I hope so.                                   

no signs of spring here!

How great would it be, if your body and mind and all the rest of it only needed, say, four hours of sleep every night? I know someone like that, and she thought of it as a gift from God; that she had been gifted two lives instead of one, because she had so much more time. I'm thinking of this now because of a few things: I only posted six times last month (which seems a bit paltry), there are too many things I need to want to do at the end of the day (when the tank is near empty), and the week ahead will be busy and full. But the reality is that I dearly need some shut-eye, so I'll keep this on the short side, cross something off of my list, do some laundry and then either watch tv or read or look at a magazine.

there were some serious snowbanks in this town... spring has not sprung!

So! This past weekend was bu-sy. Busy busy busy, gym-busy. A bus picked me up in Newcastle on Thursday, and on we went to our Ontario Winter Games hotspot in Midland, waylaid by an accident that involved 96 cars (see here). This meant that the drive was a bit longer than it should have been (we had to take back roads and there were accidents galore there too), that the opening ceremonies were cancelled, and too, that we were able to be in bed at a decent hour in preparation for three capacity-full days of volleyball. How'd it go? We won one game and lost eight = it was challenging. The other regions were stronger and had bigger and better players, and watching the other teams warm up - especially on day one - was intimidating for our girls. That being said, on-court team play wasn't totally out of our league, but other teams made fewer errors, controlled their nerves (or didn't have any), and were able to capitalize on big kills and big runs and finish us off. We had some great moments, and it was a really good learning experience for everyone, myself included. The team saw stronger players and better teams and the exposure to next-level play was good, and I think everyone left feeling positive about the whole experience... thank goodness! I got dropped off last night just after dinner, and came home to two very happy children, who hadn't missed me much but have sure leached on since. I love them to bits, and I love them just as much when they are tucked in tight and sleeping away. Since Alana was up twice last night (ugh), I should join them here soon. Here's to hoping I can get more than six posts in this month; I'll have nothing to do in Greece but eat and blog, right?

how cute is this girl!?!

my welcome home hug - huge smiles!

how the latter half of the day went

more housecoat

with mucho to do i blog...

See above: Patras, and where our new place is in the city. Steve is in - to a modern, new, one-bedroom apartment. Might be close quarters, but with a fridge full of feta and fresh produce, we'll manage... ")

Even though organizing is well under way here, we aren't packed, the to-do list is long and scribbly, and all I really want to do is summon a genie to snap her fingers and presto change-o have the car packed, while I join Hendrik for a nap on the couch.

The weekend of coaching was amazing - the girls, a 15U team, earned second place (and a medal!) in a 16U tourney - and exhausting. I wondered, does coaching tire one out more than playing does? I was beat, and had to cancel sushi plans with my women's team... sad face sad face. However, I do - happy face! - get to sneak one more game in tonight, which means that I won't get home until 10:30-11:00 which means that I should be packing and loading the car now, while both kids are horizontal.

This coming weekend is the Winter Games, so I'll be kid-free and immersed in volleyball. Should be good! Hopefully I'll find some time to get to my school stuff and read... plan, blog; we'll see. Off to do jobs!

Coach Irena, Maiyah, Rachel, Sarah, Emily, Rebecca, Kendra, Alex, Me, Coach Erin
Sydney, Holly, Amy, Grace and Mel

on wednesday

Too! Much! To Write About! Flights are booked to Greece (March 11-May 6), Steve's team got a big win for themselves last Saturday, my Valentine spoiled me with beautiful flowers on Friday, the weekend of coaching went well, the Brinkmans are coming to visit this weekend, I'm coaching all day Saturday, we've been watching some Olympics, Hendrik can say the alphabet in French, and I just got the kids in bed in less than 20 minutes, after a late-ish practice for the club team I'm coaching this weekend. And I played women's league last night and it was so super fun, even though we lost in five sets and I didn't get home until 11:00. PM. My downstairs neighbors watch les enfants, and I am tired. Is this the reality of having little kids? On your own? Oui ma cherie, oui...

I also have a zillion - okay, maybe not a zillion but it feels like a zillion - tabs open. In multiple browsers, and here they are:

• The Questions That Will Save Your Relationships (HuffPost article - yet to read)
•  The How Are You? Culture Clash (NewYorkTimes article - yet to read)
• An Antidote for Mindlessness (New Yorker - yet to read)
• ALA Online Learning
• Smashball: A Cool New Youth Volleyball Experience 
• 15 Reasons We Absolutely Have to Keep Books Alive
• Cabin Porn 
• Panachaiki FC Wikipedia page (Steve's club in Greece)
• Raymond Briggs Wikipedia page
• Perfectly Flawed: [Lionel Shriver] explores the appeal of the unappealing (Financial Times)
• LOVE: Lost and Found on Craigslist (love this!!)
• The 13 Best Children's, Illustrated and Picture Books of 2013
  (I could read about books all day - I could have a zillion zillion tabs open about books... but when would I read all of the tabs? And how to get to all of the books?)
• The Isaac Foundation: Running Events
• Dad on School Run Can't Stop Laughing at Pupils Slipping on Ice 
• Western MLIS 

Here are a few photos from today, yesterday, and the days just before. I'm due for a 15-minute-a-day post - maybe I can remember to sleep with the camera beside me so I can catch the beauty of being woken early by these adorable early-risers.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Books, books, books; Valentine's books! We are big into the special holiday books around here, and that's in large part thanks to my mom; I remember getting excited about the special books that'd be brought out just before a holiday, and then put away again... and she has gifted (along with my dad, bien sur) a sizable stack of Valentine's Day tomes. The kids have a few favourites, and though we read all ten of them on the couch tonight before bed (I was in such a happy place with the two of them crowded close, all ears and smiles) the ones that come out on top are Arthur's Valentine, Louanne Pig in the Mysterious Valentine, Franklin's Valentines and Love Bugs. At preschool this morning the kids mailed each other Valentines, and we must've read some of our holiday books ten + times; Hendrik was feeling it when, unprompted (I didn't hug him first), he gave me a huge hug, and then a few minutes later said, "I LOVE Valentine's Day. Do you see how big my smile is?" How cute is that?! I'm excited for them to wake up IN THE MORNING and see the valentines that are waiting for them (inspired by Arthur):

The sleep isn't much better than it was, well, any time in the last few weeks, but last night Hendrik slept all night and Alana was just up twice. A good night is due down the tracks pretty soon here, and I'd love it if it was on it's way NOW. Right right now.

I will post videos and then.... I need sleep. Because of recent nights - all recent nights - and because I have a big weekend of coaching coming up: Saturday, Sunday, all day, in preparation for the Ontario Winter Games.

Happy Valentine's Day people!!

pics and bullets

Every day around here is so full of so many blog-worthy things that I can't keep track of them all. And when this kind of situation gets dire, it's time for bullets (but photos first: for some reason they'll only load here, at the beginning of the post!):

a pause in futon-jump action

my getting-bigger girl

where's waldo? | cookies! | cousins

snowy, cold days around here!

cup on the foot

we found some non-buried swings :)

the meal that inspired a grocery shop

mailing valentines

Steve, in Patras, at a cafe that we used to go to; like the view, the sun, the weather, the man!

• These days, giving my children a bath is like giving them a bath in a tub full of caffeinated Skittles and telling them to eat their way out; they come out of there on fire. ON FIRE. They run the full length of our apartment and then jump up and down on the futon and then do BIG jumps off of it THUMP onto the floor. They would jump on there for an hour, I'm sure, if I let them. And maybe I should? Except Alana wants to jump and jump off of there too, and I know that someone Alana would get hurt - especially because Hendrik does Rambo jumps off and on to the futon, and his little body is getting bigger; he can hurl himself through space at a pretty decent clip. I watch with eyes bugging out of my head. "IT'S TIME TO CALM DOWN" is all I can say, over and over and over again.
• I went for a run today and it felt so good to move, outside, on my own. It was freezing and I was as slow as mud, but the sun was shining and I was running... all good!
• Not so good, the sitchy-ation around here, last night. Nope, no no no, nothing dire; just the only social plans - a party! - I've had in, well, months, were foiled. Hendrik had a minor meltdown after dinner and then fell asleep in my arms whilst recovering - at the very moment that I'd planned to leave the house. Oh, and Alana didn't nap. At all. I put Hendrik to bed, then tried to diaper him 45 minutes later, and he woke up and was none too pleased about it. His sister was in full whine mode, and all I wanted to do was hide. So, I tried looking on the bright side (it wasn't easy - positivity had expired) and went to bed early, at 10:15. Alana woke up at 10:20 and didn't go back down until close to 11:30, and then was up multiple times in the night. And then when morning came, she was ready to go - 7:08! Happy and awake! Not me. I tried cartoons, but Alana wanted to sit on my head instead. Literally.
• My cousin Spencer, who I haven't seen in years and years and years called me on Wednesday with the "I'm in town!" so we got together the next day. I was inspired (by a play food meal) to buy bacon and lettuce and big tomatoes and make a killer sandwich, so that's what we did... made a good lunch, chilled with my chillies, and then made sugar cookies - heart shapes! And I used beet juice (concentrated) to dye the icing pink... no trace of beety taste whatsoever. This is a trick I'd like to keep up my sleeve - and not forget about.
• We have a small slew of Valentine's Day books and the kids are loving them. There is one in particular that they both like - Arthur's Valentine, and as a result of several reads a day, every time Alana hears the word valentine, she says, "arthur"... it is tres cute.
  
  
• Since our January return from Bowmanville, Hendrik has taken it upon himself to say grace every night before dinner, even though much of it is unintelligible; what you can make out - and you don't have to listen closely - is "two thousand and four-TEEN" (as in the year), and sometimes, if you listen very very closely, you can hear him say "bless this food". Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right Gramps? Alana has joined in with the hands-clasping thing, and has also started saying a 17-month old version of Amen. (I'll post a video tomorrow.....)
• Alana is into throwing her food, and we've had spills (at least one) at every meal. Hendrik likes to do jobs and pick up her food, but it might just encourage her more. And she puts her cup (or bowl or whatever) on her foot as much as she can. Cute, right?
• I made Reese's Peanut Butter squares to take to the party I was supposed to go to last night, and they are SO GOOD. But so dangereux... one look at the ingredients will explain all; why they are as tasty as can be and why I don't want them in my house. YUM!
• Steve is doing well, and we skype at least once a day, hurray. It's great for him, for the kids, for me... and speaking of Steve and of Greece, I want to go to Elofonisos (google it). We will look into flights in the next few weeks once we figure out how long we'll stay for and if we're hoping to have Hendrik back in preschool here before the school year ends.
• Hendrik had an eye appointment on Monday, and it wasn't much of a surprise when the doctor started talking about a third surgery. Alignment is getting better and better with each operation, but it's not where he thinks it should/could be. We were given the option of taking a bit of a breather (operation, time out!) and waiting a year or so, but it's not going to get any easier plus we're not too sure where we'll be at this time next year (or the year after or the year after that). So it looks like the date will come up in May or June, and we'll be ready for it. Hopefully this will be one of those third-time's-a-charm things...

That's a wrap!

dinos + dancing

still good, still good.....

Life... is still good! Exhausting, but good. I found two grey hairs on my head tonight! While the kids were in the bath, and I swear they weren't there the last time I  - checked? I don't check, they just happened to be sticking out sticking up, begging to be pulled out. They might have something to do with the happenings of the last few days - here goes...

So, on Tuesday I made a game-time decision to drive to Toronto - Paul and Steph and Jimmy were in town, plus all of the other B-ville regulars (minus the Gramps-parents), and I was thinking that it'd be good to see everyone, have some company and get west before the library conference started (due to begin on Wednesday evening, running through Saturday). We left at 2:06, and by the time we hit the 417 (an hour's drive, more or less) we'd also hit a blizzard. I'm no pro at winter driving, but I do know that I do not want to be driving in white-out conditions (with the kids), with transport trucks flying by. It got better and then it got worse and I could barely see the tanker truck in front of me, so I got off in Kingston and found a hotel. I presented it to the kids as a super fun night in a hotel, yay for us! We get to stay in a hotel! They were both in good spirits, and I was just happy to not be behind the wheel; it was dark and snowing hard, and there were warnings to stay off the roads due to whiteouts and snow squalls (= "sudden moderately heavy snow fall with blowing snow and strong, gusty surface winds"). We stayed here, and it was great - for $139 we got a room with two beds, a fireplace, a hot buffet breakfast, parking, and free internet.

Great? Sleep not great. I knew it would be a bit of a rodeo getting everyone to sleep, and it surrrrre was. We were "in bed" around 9:00 (boy in one bed, girls in the other), and Hendrik's running commentary went something like this (oh if only, somehow, it had all been transcribed):

Hendrik: "mommy? mommy! It's 9:06. Oh! Mommy! Mommy? Mommy! Now it's 9:07! And do you see that? Look! Loooook it's a mouse! It's a pretend mouse! Where's it going? Mommy, you shouldn't talk when you're trying to sleep, Alana shouldn't talk when it's night-time."
me: "Hendrik, SHH. Alana isn't talking and it is night-time.... and you're talking. You shouldn't be talking. Sleep!"
Hendrik: "But I'm not talking! Alana's talking, she shouldn't be talking now, it's time to sleep. Mommy! Mommy? Mommy! Now it's 9:08! Wow. Look at the clock mommy. Do you see my face? Do you see my smile? It's this big! Mommy? Did you see? Did you see that? Mommy? Are you there? LOOK, ! it's nine oh NINE!"

and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Meanwhile Alana was doing bum-drops on the bed and I was trying not to fall asleep because I knew she'd fly off the bed and I probably wouldn't wake up and then I'd find her asleep under the bed or something. I tried corralling her, got a bloody lip (really), sang, told stories ("Mommy you shouldn't talk shh go to sleep" says Hendrik). Anyways, we finally did get some shut-eye and whatever, it was better than white-knuckling it on the 401.

The next morning the highways were closed (multiple accidents in both directions, including this one - 100 cars!), and conditions looked horrible, so we called my sister's ex's parents and paid them a visit. The padre insisted we stay there and I was so glad to have the company, a crib for Alana and a bed for Hendrik; it definitely saved some of my sanity (conversations with an adult! in person!) and made sleeping a lot more functional. On Thursday the roads were clear so we headed for home instead of Bowmanville; with more bad weather scheduled for the weekend, I figured I wouldn't want to chance a blizzard on the road again.

And here we are, Saturday, February. Since our return home on Thursday afternoon, we hit day one of Winterlude, paid Costco a visit, went to the library (where there was this: reading, I have to pee!, check out, pay unexpected fine, walk to car, hat is lost, back to library, find hat, get dressed, walk to car, I have to pee - !!!), Michael's, made Valentine's, put together an Ikea kiddie kitchen, and picked up a few essentials from the grocery store (milk, broccoli and coffee cream). The kids are great, but days are exhausting, and by the time they're in bed all I really want to do is check out. Shower, exercise, to-do lists - all of these things require a double-down effort, and more often than not, don't happen. Meh. I'll shower tonight, and exercise later (or not). To-do lists tomorrow night... and now, bed!

life. is. good.

What a day! It was cold and felt colder colder than the temp gauge told me, and busy and full of goodness: I took the kids out to meet volleyball friends for brunch at Art Is In (it was awesome! I can't wait to go back), then on to check out a double jogging stroller (the cheapest I could find on kijiji was $100, no tires!) but it was frozen solid and I couldn't get it in the car (COLD); next, to Ikea for lunch and playtime (I bought this for the kids - can't wait to set it up! - tomorrow, when I'm not so tired). Apres, it was back here to Skype with Steve and then a nap for Alana and jobs for me, followed by dinner (non-dinner dinners are the only good thing about Steve being gone - I don't have to cook!), a splashy bath, football (I throw the ball to Hendrik, he catches it and runs the length of the apartment to score a touchdown in his room - love it!), stories and sleep. Please please please let both of these kids sleep all night! They're taking turns with multiple (FOUR last night for H) wake-ups, and I just want to go to bed, go to sleep, and wake up in the morning. Oh so much to ask, I know.

And how are things flying sola? Fine. Good. Hendrik has been such a good boy, and Alana knows how to go with the flow. I'm lucky, to have these two beings in my life - and lucky to be making some friends and finding time to eat a croissant with new teammates, to talk to my sisters, to stay in touch with faraway (but close!) friends. I'll say it again, life is good!

quotes of the day: with Alana saying dada dada a bit more (now that he's gone - !), Hendrik has commented that he thinks Alana misses daddy and, "I think Alana wants daddy to come back." Me: "Do you want daddy to come back? Do you miss him?" Hendrik: "No. I don't miss him, I just love him." CUTE! Also, when I asked him what his favourite part of the day was (mine was Art Is In) he said, "skype with daddy." Love it.

news....

this, right before we left for the airport: Hendrik was singing, Alana bawling, and Steve: "I'm going to Greece!"

I'll just go ahead and blurt it out: Steve is in Greece! Patras, Greece, and he left yesterday after we decided the day before yesterday that we could make it all work and that his answer should be would be yes. There had been a few jobs in the works, but you never know if things will pan out until an offer is made and a contract offered up, and let me just say that it wasn't an easy decision; he leaves, I stay here with the kids on my own, and then pack it all up for a month or two after having (sort of) settled into a bit of a routine (Hendrik has preschool, I'm coaching and playing). However, a few months in Greece? Sure! And the plan is this (I think - we didn't have much time to make one): Steve leaves yesterday (check) while I hold on to my sanity (so far, check) and follow through on my Ontario Winter Games coaching duties. When those are all wrapped up (beginning of March), we get on a plane and make for warmer climes in western Greece. Hendrik was ready to pack his bags today, and to tell you the truth, I was too; it was -24 this morning - which is downright frigid... I mean, really really really cold. Too cold, in fact, for our stroller. It snapped. A plastic (I think it's plastic) hinge thing (I think that's what it was - it was too cold!)) actually snapped, and now we have a bit of a dangly footrest for our chiles. I'll pick up some superglue and see what I can do - and I'll keep the thing inside from here on out, though hauling it in along with two kiddies and whatever other paraphernalia we happen to have along (groceries, purse, backpack etc) might be challenging.

Anyways, Patras! We lived here when Steve played for EAP in 2006-2007, and even though this job is with a different team, I can still look forward to the food, to spending time with our good friend Nick, to enjoying warmer weather, the beaches... it's the place where these photos were taken (in 2005):

Yeah, right? I mean, why are we not on our way to the airport!?

And here's a fun fact: it's where my blog was born! The first few posts were pretty paltry if I do say so myself, but it was the start of something great for me - I know I'll look back at this log and be so thankful that I kept a record of some of our overseas stints.

one of her signature moves: food in the milk

And I'll be thankful that I'm keeping a record of Miss Supereater (see video: she's fully charged!) and our resident artiste and scallywag, Hendrik. I called Alana a scallywag (what a word!) and Hendrik said, "I am 150 tons more scallywag than Alana is. I am WAY more scallywag, 150 tons more." Yes you are Hendrik, yes you are. Though you wouldn't be able to tell from any of these pictures, would you?

art from preschool plus "alana" at the far right

"moooooose!" and alana's attempt at antlers :)

highlights of the week!

meet Lennon Margaret Marianne, our new niece!

congrats!!

It's late and I'm tired and I need to shower, but I also need to get a big congrats out to Steve's sister Erin and her husband Freddie and their new baby! Baby Lennon, born this morning... amazing! No matter how horrible the previous hours of labour and delivery may have been, those first moments are so magical and powerful; welcoming a new life - a little person!, so dependent and attached already - man oh man I remember. And then the little person gets bigger. And bigger.... Here are a few shots of ours; growing, growing, growing! Really, it's all magical - how much we love our little ones!

happy birthday steve!

Oh, and I must add that the chocolate cake that is on the cover of this month's  Canadian Living magazine is delicious; I made it for Steve's birthday (happy belated!), but opted for vanilla icing - and a big merci goes out to Mrs Martha Stewart for this recipe... it was ah-mazing! Also, as of today Alana is calling Hendrik "hekky" instead of "Hek" and it is adorbs: (and then that's it that's all!)

photos: christmas catch-up + family update

helping clean off the car | xmas hat! | frozen toyota chunk that fell off the car  | morning stories by the tree

a rare moment of sibling serenity | slippers! | dad and his girl | looking looking!

alana is on the map! | on new years day, with oliebollen and appelflappen (YUM!) | post winter classic nap | originally $130, this kidkraft dollhouse was tagged for $15 at target - supposed to be on sale for $75! (mispriced, awoops!)

And here come the family updates; I'll start with myself!

Big news for me big news for me - I finished my photobook last night! I bought a groupon a looooong time ago, thinking I could quickly and creatively assemble all photos from our time in Trento/Vela, and that I'd have the book done and ordered, you know, a few months later, at max. Oh boy oh boy was I mistaken! I spent way too many hours on this thing, but it's finally finished and when it arrives I will be one happy camper. The proofs looked good and I'll be happy to have all of the pictures from our incredible year in northern Italy in one place - as opposed to the eight folders they live in in iphoto. Anyways, it was fun to do and great that the book is on its way yadda yadda, but I really feel relieved - like I can get on with my life! It's something I've been wanting to cross off of the to-do list for months - literally, months... and now it's done, woopwoop!!

In other news, I'm back into coaching action after a very nice calm, nothing pressing no-commitments break. It looks like I might be taking on a 15U team and I'm excited about it! That plus the Ontario Winter Games thing might keep me pretty busy - hopefully not too busy; and hopefully not too busy for Steve, who will be taking care of the kiddies while I'm dans le gym. As long as we can get more sleep than we did last night and avoid some of the three-year old meltdowns that have been ruffling all of our feathers, I'm sure it's all doable. Ummmmm... what else... I bought a panettone at Shoppers yesterday - a real Italian panettone - and I am excited to eat it. One day. It will sit in our pantry until some time later this month, and then I'll attack. First, I have to make a birthday cake (I'm thinking this one) and eat that. Does it come as a surprise that my new recipe box has more cake entries than anything else? It's true. Cake and cookies - these folders hold the most goods. No news there!

A few other things, in short: I'm going to a library conference at the end of the month (I'm thinking networking, career exploration etc) which will be awesome; I watched - with Bob and Marg and Steve - the Leafs/Red Wings 24/7 thing, and loved it. I love sport and it made me want to be an athlete again, to work hard and train and sweat and play a game I love for a living. It was a bit inspirational in that way, thought I found myself thinking that it's a bit of a shame that young female athletes can't turn on the TV and see women playing the game they love in front of tens of thousands of fans. With the exception of big Games (Olympics, Pan-Ams), female athletes don't get TV time; there are no big leagues here - for many reasons. This isn't an easy change - here. In Indonesia, we played in front of a full, crowded house, and in Europe, young athletes have role models that get their pictures in the paper on a regular basis (as opposed to sidebar mini-paragraphs here). Money is spent more locally, and teams receive municipal and provincial funding; there are no big league sports, though some pursuits are more popular than others. Sport pages are full of (mostly) soccer, but finding write-ups and pictures of men and women playing water polo, volleyball, basketball, handball and more, isn't an unusual thing. It all comes down to money, no? Anyways, I loved the 24/7 shows and love sport and love that more girls are involved in sport now than ever before; may that trend continue to grow!

Steve
Has a birthday coming up! The cake is for him, and I bought him a small birthday present this morning, hurray. He's back in the gym and trying to figure out if anything will come up contract-wise this year, and it looks like there are a few possibilities floating around, but still nothing concrete. At this very moment he's asleep on the couch with Hendrik (I just took a pic - above) - both boys are tired from full mornings of work and play. There must be more - but for now I'm drawing a blank; time to move on!

drinking tea and "reading papers" - I love it! great time spent with my boy :)

Hendrik 3
Terrible two - what? Terrible three is more like it. Okay okay, most of the time the kid is good as gold but he's had a few tantrums and flip-out freak-outs in the last few weeks, and it has seriously tested our patience and our eyeballs - popping out of our heads at the wild and crazy antics of a flailing boy. He loved being in Bowmanville and loved sneaking down the stairs every morning to join Grandma and Gramps in bed, where (I think?) they'd read stories and talk. And watch the clock. Now that we're back home, he's had a tantrum or two more, and gets up and walks around in the morning on his own while we reluctantly think about getting out of bed. He started back at preschool on Tuesday with his mom on as the duty parent; it was a good way to ease back into things (for both of us) after a three-week hiatus. This morning he was a bit quivery at drop-off (heart-string-TUG), but apparently was just fine as soon as we parted ways. I just read him The Colour Kittens and Pussy Willow twice (each), though his favourite book might be a Tonka Truck book (or bird books), and dinosaurs, trucks, sea friends (ocean puppets), writing (with a pen) and play food - and tools - count as favourites. We still haven't unpacked any of the Christmas toys, as we're going to start a rotation - to deal with the recent influx of stuff (good stuff, all good stuff). What else? He's not eating too much these days, unless presented with a plate of beef and rice; it's his favourite thing to eat, hands down - besides Smarties and the top two layers of a nanaimo bar, of course. As for how he feels about his sister, he tolerates her, and is sometimes mean and sometimes very sweet. So... it could be worse! And it just might be getting better....

in Bowmanville, enjoying the sled :)

Alana, 16 months
She eats all of us under the table! And then asks for more. Soon I'm going to have to start making double batches of their favourite meal (beef and rice); last night Steve, Hendrik and Alana almost polished off a full casserole dish of a meal meant for two adults and two kids. Yikes... those teenage years might require grocery store robbery! And the sleep... oh, the (lack of) sleep. She was up quite a bit last night - maybe it's those teeth again? Arrrrrr. Her favourite words are mama (I feel like she says it five zillion times a day), no, me, cookie, that, that one (more like "dat one") and she loves playing with baby, reading books and doing whatever Hendrik is doing. She loves the bath and loves brushing her teeth, and will play with and cling to a crumpled up piece of paper like it's beef and rice essence (I was going to say that she clings to it like it's a piece of gold but a chunk of gold would be super boring for a baby, no?). Over Christmas she was really into Alphablock, but has requested ("dat one!") A Book of Sleep, I Am a Bunny and The House in the Night for two nights straight. This means nothing, except that I get to read books that I like! Hurrah. For now, that's it!

2014 and first post recaps

And here is my first post of 2014, entry #679. It's been a while since I've looked back, so I thought I'd take a gander at my first posts of the year which carry me back to 2008; here's a recap, avec links to the original posts:

2008: We were on our way to Yaroslavl, and Living Like a Local was still a baby. I'd just started the year before, from Greece, but entries were few and far between... I was just getting started!

2009: Posted from Romania, but after a solid Christmas spent here in Bowmanville with a full house. This is one long blog, but so worth reading (for me, maybe not for you) - the events of those two weeks spent right here don't seem too far behind us; we had so much fun! We were all over the wedding planning thing, I found a gorgeous dress, we ate too much, drank too much, went to a musical and actually went to a party on New Year's Eve. FUN!

2010: This might be my all-time favourite New Year's Eve - spent in Tokyo, Japan. When the clock struck twelve we were at a shrine, and the Fab Four were right there with us (yes yes yes, really, it's you four that were the highlight ;)). I LOVED living in Tokyo and I wish we could go back and eat and eat and travel. One day, maybe.

2011: This one starts off with a mini-recap of the first decade of the 2000s, and I kind of wanted to do the same for the year that's just behind us. Anyways! Here's our first January 1st as parents, and the post is short and I am tired. Sigh... oh how I remember those days!

2012: This is a photos-only post, but what you see sure is easy on the eyes. Northern Italy, my home away from home, is not so far behind Canada in my heart as a place that I could see myself calling home forever and ever and ever. I loved living in Japan for a season, but I loved living in Northern Italy, and could have done so (/could do so) forever. Did I already say that? This New Year was also a special one because our little lady was newly known to us, as a wee tiny speck growing in my body. Vela, Trento, Italy, I miss you......

2013: China! We were in China, and the only things I really miss about it are having Shanti two floors away and Club Oasis in our basement. I haven't looked back at these pics for a while - I should revisit them more often; oh the days when Hendrik tolerated his baby sister, and the terrible threes were nowhere to be seen.

And then here we are, in 2014! I was hoping to do a family update sort of post, but I'll have to save that for another day; it's late and I'm tired! All the best to all of you in 2014, wherever you may be!