last post of 2013!

It's 2014 - tomorrow! Which is strange, since the 2000s don't really seem like that far away... nor do the 90s, really, for that matter. However, every time I say/think something like that, I have to acknowledge the polar opposite; because so much has happened say, since 2001, it's all quite understandable that we are here, at 2014, ready to welcome another year. So much has happened this year! And in the past two years and three years that if you told me that it was 2019 I'd have to believe you (but not believe that my kids were - how old will they be then? - nine and seven!). Anyways, the year has been good to us, as all of our years have been - we came home from China to clean air and open skies, and family. And future. And I am ever so thankful for all of these things and the many other things that we so often take for granted here in Canada. May all of our years, this one and those too, that lie ahead in wait, be full of health, happiness, love and support. And workouts. (And smooth transitions. And good books.)

Many of these things, workouts and good books included, were all a part of this past weekend; Steve and I spent three kid-free days in Niagara on the Lake where we lunched with friends (Dan and Milka), went to a movie (American Hustle - I'd give it 3 1/2 stars/5), went to yoga (just me) and feasted and feasted and feasted. I love breakfast buffets, but really when it comes down to digging in and getting my money's worth at the trough, I can't compete - though most people seemed to eat in moderation, the idea of overconsumption and pig-outery that happens at buffets is a bit mmmm off-putting. Even though I like having the option of going hog wild (har-har), in reality it's my eyeballs that enjoy doing the feasting. And there is my unintentional blurb on buffets. Anyways! We had a great time, and even though I missed the kids like crazy (Alana especially), it was great to get away from it all.

And then yesterday afternoon it was great to get back to it all! And Alana has been a little cling-machine ever since - though I'm sure the cold that she's working her way through isn't helping any. She did have a solid sleep last night, so that was the best welcome home I could have asked for. We went skating this morning, and Alana cried her way through her first (and last) five minutes on the ice. Hendrik, on the other hand, showed his best-yet performance, and managed to get himself skating! There were no - zero - frozen statue moments, and Steve spent minimal time hunched over and/or on his knees trying to get the kid going. Is it a Grandma and Gramps charm? Maybe. They were there and I was off-ice walking around with Alana, until she fell asleep on my shoulder, the darling.

Though we have no big plans for the night, I'm guessing we'll stay up and watch the countdown and cheers cheers and hug and then go to bed at 12:15. To all those near and far, all the best in 2014... see you next year!

 

Christmas 2013

My, my, Christmas has come and gone. Well... it might not have entirely made its way from present to past - there are leftovers in the fridge, Christmas goodies to be eaten and even a few presents under the tree yet to be opened. There was stormy weather and ice ice ice, there were power outages and presents galore - add food, family, fresh snow and voila, it's a year to remember! Plus, it was the first time that Hendrik left goodies for Santa and his equine crew; on Christmas morning he crept out with shiny eyes to see nanaimo bar crumbs and chewed carrot stubs, and watching him put it all together was more than a little bit magical.

the night before and the morning of - plus stocking contents, below!

Hendrik's stocking on the left, Alana's on the right

In the Brinkman family presents are usually exchanged on Christmas Eve, so we - the big kids - decided to follow tradition. After a candlelight service at church, we put the kids to bed, fixed ourselves some drinks and got to it. From my secret santa (we drew names for gifts this year) I got a few books (The Silver Spoon and Crafts for Kids) and a recipe box (thank you Freddy!) and a surprise mega-gift from Steve - a weekend away! This weekend. Away. No kids. Eeek! I opened a gift bag and pulled out a very old pair of flip flops and a bathing suit - cue confused look on my face..... but there was an envelope that explained all. We'll make our way to Niagara on the Lake's Pillar and Post tomorrow afternoon, and we won't come back until Monday - ! My first reaction was that I'd miss Alana - after all, I've spent just one night away, and we are somewhat attached at the hip. But..... it will be good for both of us and I'll get to read and work out and hang out with Steve and sleep! I'll get to sleep. It. will. be. fabulous. SLEEP!

new slippers!

Okay, now to Christmas day. The kids awoke and we opened stockings - Hendrik loved the books (we had to read them as we opened) and his Brontosaurus periscope and his Canada gloves (and more I'm sure)... there was mucho in there - Santa's sleigh was full of toys for these kiddos. After breakfast they opened a few more presents, with highlights being, for Alana, a new baby with a crib, bottle and pillow and blankie (from my parents) and for Hendrik a new car (from Auntie Erin and Uncle Fred), play-doh (G-parents B) and.... ? There were so many gifts that I'm drawing a blank. Pam and Bob showed up for the Annual GGG (Gift Grab Game) with gifts for the kids - a Cabbage Patch Kid for Alana (and a pink Leafs shirt) and a hockey net and set for Hendrik, and the trucks and Jenga (for H) and books and apron set (for A) from Aunt and Unc were also a hit. There were presents galore (from us: books, a stroller for baby) and there are even more under the tree..... can we just save them for next year? Hm. Maybe.

with bob and her new CPK (with whom she shares a birthday!) and in her new chef's kit

our girl.... so adorable!

So, presents aside (/piled up everywhere), we had the GGG here with goodies and coffee and then appetizers - plus a charged round of Left-Right-Center (Steve won $24) - and then made for the Tukkers for a feast: turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, brussel sprouts, broccoli, stuffing, buns, green bean casserole, tutti frutti (see 2nd paragraph here), red cabbage, mashed potatoes, applesauce, corn, and then sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was delicious! Probably one of the best turkey dinners I've had..... yum. The kids did a great job of staying awake and keeping happy, and Hendrik entertained the crowd with jokes and stories (though we're yet to hear the "flipsy-flopsy" story). Man oh man am I ever thankful for the people I have in my life, and that includes family in Vancouver and Denver, and too, our friends around the world - many of whom find themselves far from family at the end of the year. I have more on my mind and more to write about, but I'd better get to the photos and save something for the one last post that I might have time for this year... and then it's 2014, eeeek!

GGG: formalities, Steve with his best wrapped gift, our boy and perusing presents
Dinner:good food good times!

reading with dad, nanaimos with gramps and hockey with justin
shuffleboard, with Dylan and books with dad

the ice

photos and a few videos, on a snowy, snowy night!

back at the museum of nature!

making faces

A few things:

It has been snowing here non. stop. All day. And there are travel advisories and storm warnings (snow, freezing rain, ice) ringing in the weekend. But you know what? Playing in the snow is fun, and temperatures have been much milder than the minus twenty-somethings that we saw earlier in the week.... so, if we do get stuck here for a few days, I'll just go out and play in the snow. Right?

or i could eat cookies and look this happy - ! love it!

Hendrik is day-potty-trained and it's great - BUT he leaves the seat up. He's three! And he's leaving the seat up! When Steve reads this I'm sure he'll snicker, and I'll have to deal with the seat-up/seat-down debate... again. Bleh!

We went to a preschool holiday family sing-a-long on Thursday, and seeing our two blondies sitting beside each other so nicely was just the loveliest thing. Aren't they adorable?

 Hendrik with a special present: tile art, thanks to preschool... it's a keeeeeeeper!

And now... dishes.

A few vids from the day before yesterday:

busy busy busy!

I can't believe I've only posted twice this month... things have been busy busy busy around here with volleyball stuff (coaching for me, training for Steve), preschool, museum visits and Christmas baking - and eating Christmas baking. This is what the goodie box contains this year: jam diagonals, candy-cane cake balls, sugar cookies, nanaimo bars, mint chocolate chip chocolate cookies, gingerbread, aaand I think that's it. So yeah, now that all of that fat and sugar are mixed together into glorious goodness... what do we do with it all? There is mucho to eat, so I suppose we might bring it with us to Bowmanville this weekend to add to the Christmas bounty that surely awaits us. If only it weren't -20something degrees outside and I could get everyone out without their skin freezing I might be able to get a bit more exercise in... man, I am not used to this frigid weather.

SO, because outdoor activities are somewhat limited, you know, with frostbite advisories and all, I purchased a membership to the Museum of Nature last week, and feel like it was the best thing I've done in a while. Both kids were as happy as they get, walking around and ogling at dinosaurs and fish and little creatures in caves. We might try and stop in again before we head to B-ville on Saturday - the trick is balancing a schedule that works for the kids, for Steve and with the traffic to and fro.

Anyways! I'm neglecting the kids. And dishes. I have my last night of vb tonight - a scrimmage against the U18 girls team I'm helping coach... should be fun!

recap

"wake me up for breakfast!" says Hendrik, lying on a mini-pillow, just like the dino in this Syd Hoff book

We had a doctor's appointment for Alana this morning, so Hendrik and Miss Miss and I headed all the way out to Orleans to see what we could see; she was due for a shot, and the nurse measured and weighed and listened, and here is the news: she is a champ with shots (no fuss) and she is off the charts in height and 95th percentile in weight. She's big, we're big, Hendrik's big... it all makes sense, no?

And to get back to the weekend - it was great; we split our Thursday-Sunday time away from home between Bowmanville and Toronto and were both with kids and without kids, thanks to les grandparents. I coached an 18U Ottawa girls club team in a tourney on Saturday, and that was really fun - fun especially because even though there were the usual ups and downs, we finished on a high note and won to stay in the division. After that wrapped itself up, I drove into the city, checked in at an "urban resort" (see here and decide for yourself) and got into bed and read my book (this one - it's good!). Steve joined me after a night out with his buddies, but stayed tucked in tight in the morning while I walked over to the Ontario Sport Alliance building for a Learning Facilitator workshop. Essentially, I can now coach beginner coaches and get them started in their coaching education... I just have to get my individual presentation going and feel good about it, and then I can start delivering courses. We drove home on Monday morning and it took us SEVEN hours - seven! (It usually takes 4/5... bleh.) The 401 was closed due to an accident (no injuries) and we were rerouted and it took for-ever... but at least the kids were happy and we had food and the boys peed by the side of the road. Happy trails, right?

The kids had an great time with the Brinkmans, and were busy with Christmas stuff and ice cream bars and the regular fun with grandparents stuff. Some pictures (+ vid):

I've been baking, and we finally got a few Christmas decos up around the house - I'll try to get a video up before the blog goes to post. Oh, and what you won't see is the WORD that Hendrik wrote on the other side of our front-door snowman... m-o-m-m-y! Can you find it? The "y" is a bit questionable, but the other letters are legit:

We had a women's league game last night and it was SO much FUN... I'm so happy to be back in the gym and playing a bit, even if it is just once a week. Well, that's misleading because I'm actually in the gym thrice a week, with coaching on Monday and Thursday nights. It's one of those hand off the kids and run things, as practice is way out on the other side of the city, and with Steve home late from practice, there's nothing else I can really do to make it (sort of) on time. Anyways, fun. Volleyball is the best the best the best! (And so is Christmas baking. We made sugar cookies today... YUMS!)

And to wrap it up here, I'll share something really, really strange that happened today: my phone rang some time after lunch and Steve answered it to find a frantic woman on the other end of the line shouting, "My kids! My kids are gone I'm shopping and they're gone oh my god oh my god my kids my kids" and then she hang up. Really? Really! It was weird....

this that the other

This is going to be one sprint-through-it blog - how does it get so late so quickly? And how does that list of things-to-do never get any shorter? Mrrrrr. This is the thing: if I could count on Alana sleeping through the night, I could would might stay up a little later to attack the must-do section BUT... I sure can't count on her getting a half-decent nights sleep, unfortunately. Every morning I remind myself that it could be worse...... but I will so oh so so so SO welcome that uninterrupted sleep when it comes... but when? When? When when when? She's teething and she's always wanting me - you should her hear scream (like someone is ripping off her arms) when Steve goes in to get her - and she wants into our bed, which is our last-ditch effort to get some sleep. Anyways.......

we've had much much fun with all of the snow - alana isn't so sure, but hendrik LOVES it!

We're in the Christmas spirit, but I just put up the first of the decorations today (a red and green paper chain) and festive baking is still a work in progress (nanaimos, jam diagonals and gingerbread, made; sugar cookies, vegan nanaimos (just because I'm curious) and candy cane cake balls, yet-to-be-made). Because we're heading to B-ville this weekend and then again in a few weeks for Christmas, we're not going to put up a tree, but I still do want to get a bit of holiday spirit up in colour on our walls; we'll chip away at it, I suppose. There's more I could be writing about, but I'll just post a few pics and get to bed. It's late late late!

hendrik's first jam diagonal was circular... ish!

a new, grandma-b fait birthday duvet - with dinos and franklin... it's a hit!

happy 3rd!

Our big boy is THREE! It's one of those can't believe it things, but ... well... yeah, I can believe it - that three years have passed since he joined the party; so much has happened! And the fun keeps right on going. He was in fine form on Thursday, and over the moon that he woke up to a big special day complete with Grandparents Brinkman here to take him to preschool, and then presents and beef and rice and a cake covered with Smarties. All in all, it was a good one, and he was spoiled silly with gifts. Big hits for us are his new winter coat (it was -17 this morning, uggh!) and his tool table, made by none other than Grandpa Brinks - a favourite that he'd claim for his his own first. He also loooooves his new, very own flashlight, and then there are the blocks and books and magnets and play breakfast food and dino colouring pad and more more more. And I did remember - one day late awhoops - to record the birthday list (read last year's interview here), so here it is:

who is your best friend? "from Franklin?" he asked. "Snail."
what is your favourite thing to do? "go in my room and play"
what’s your favourite colour? "red and orange"
what’s your favourite food? "broccoli."
what do you like to do with mommy and daddy? "play volleyball"
what’s your favourite game? "soccer"
what do you want to be when you grow up? "a big boy"
what’s your favourite book? "Franklin books"
what’s your favourite number? "three"
what’s your favourite animal? "dog" (again!)

He was eating the Smarties and chocolate icing off of his square vanilla cake (as requested) as we conducted our b-day interview... and don't ask me where that broccoli answer came from - I was fully expecting chocolate, chocolate icing, cake or Smarties to be his answer!

And Alana enjoyed the big day too; the food and balloons and presents - she even had a little gifty of her own, another baby! This girl loves babies and lets everyone know, with her "baby bay-bee, bay-BEE" - I'd say it's a top word, rivaled only by cookie for top said-with-enthusiasm marks. Now, a few pictures of le birthday: it's bed early for me (I hope) tonight; I had a vb clinic this morning out in Nepean that started at 8:00, and that 6:45 alarm came way too soon. (That being said, our Miss slept through the night last night, and I am oh so thankful for that. Here's to another good night tonight...!)

opening presents

tools!

love this series of pics: Hendrik is mr. serious, and Alana is computing....

on the left, still serious; on the right "CAKE... NOW!!!!!"

blowin' out the candles.... the poor guy almost feel asleep eating cake he was so tired!

A big thanks to everyone near and far who made this day so special!

in short...

Is there such a thing as a kitchen table with built-in shopvac or mop-bot? I need one. Yesterday morning we (me and the kids) had a vacuum "party" and despite just a dry clean (no swiffer/mop business), the floor looked pretty good... until the next meal arrived. And silly me - I fed the kids quinoa for dinner, and what was the first thing - and I mean the very first thing - that Alana did when I put the goods on her tray? She splayed her hands back and forth and back and forth, sending quinoa flying ev-er-y-where. So, the floor stayed clean for five minutes, big deal. With our dark floors, food under the table is black-on-white visible which, whatever - if the mess is there I suppose it's nice to see it so it can be cleaned up instead of built-up / tracked anywhere and everywhere but... this means that I'm on my hands and knees wiping food off the floor after every meal. It could always be worse....

And recovery - is going very well. Hendrik was a bit out of sorts on Saturday morning, but other than that is and has been his normal self since Friday evening. Even though he doesn't think/feel like he should be taking it easy, we're trying to keep activities low key... but I'm not sure how long this will last, as we're all going a little stir crazy. I was away all day Saturday and Sunday shadowing a course, so Steve was cooped up - enforcing the stay-home watch-Franklin chill-out rules we were given by les docteurs. But now... three - four? - days later, we're all feeling like it's time to start getting out and doing things again - staying home is the easy thing, but without at least one out-of-the-house activity every day, I do feel a little cooped and crazy. Tonight is rec vball for me (yay!) and Grandma and Gramps B come tomorrow (yay!) and THEN it's Hendrik's third birthday on Thursday (yay yay yay!). We're going to try and see if Hendrik wants to take our two visitors to preschool on Thursday, as I'm sure everyone would enjoy seeing, exploring and showing this part of Hendrik's fall/winter routine.

Christmas baking is on my list of things to do, and with Alana napping and Steve and Hendrik on a park plus Canadian Tire snowpant search, that's just what I should be doing. Nanaimo bars are up first, YUM!

a big day..... (updated!)

And the weeks go by...

Big news of the day of the week is that Hendrik is having his second eye surgery today; he's at the hospital with Steve as I type, with one hour to go til operation time. I feel fine - but more importantly Hendrik felt fine this morning and was his usual chipper self, playing and pretending; he didn't even seem bothered by the no-breakfast rule. The boys should be home by early afternoon, so stay tuned - I'll try to post an update at the bottom of this entry.

I meant to get a quick blog up last night but time ran out... or ran into other things. I was all excited about putting together this advent calendar but got the red light when it all came out of the box: I need a glue gun to put the thing together, and approximately five hours to sand all pieces and get them perfectly in place. UGH. So I'm going to send it back and do something else. Mrrrrrr....

Alana's newest favourite word is COOKIE. It is also her second (or first?) favourite food (I'll just go ahead and speak for her); cheese still takes first place, but the gusto with which she belts out COO-KIE! is really something. Hendrik and I made a big batch of chocolate chippers a few days ago, and when she laid eyes on them all cooling off on the rack there in the kitchen she lost her mind and began belting out cookie cookie cookie! with some serious urgency (and crazy eyes). I kind of agree though... cookies are good!


Update!
Hendrik did so well with the surgery, and so far his recovery is much like April's round one, and I'm wondering if the guys hit the espresso bar on the way home from the hospital. After an hour of Franklin, Hendrik was back to his usual self running around and asking for someone to play volleyball and/or soccer with..... let's hope all mends well!

photo-flashback

November 17, 2011 | Trento (we were digging into some seriously delicious club sandwiches)

November 17, 2012 | Beijing

November 17, 2013 | Gatineau

November 17, 2013 | Gatineau

I'd have gone further back with the photos, but the pre-2011 organization levels are pretty paltry, and there's not much time (or patience) for searching and digging through folders for exact dates. I did dig up a few other gems that I'll share another time.

What've we been up to? Steve and Hendrik went "skating" this afternoon, and you can refer to the first two frames just above here to take a look at Steve's imitation of Hendrik's on-ice activities - he was statuesque. He acted like a frozen, immobile statue, both with and without a little push cart thing. I got the low down while Hendrik was passed out (see next frame) and then the first hand account from the boy himself when he woke up: "I walked this far. I didn't skate but I walked this far." Steve said it was painful.

We've been to the museum (of Science and Nature), downtown, to the park (it was super mild here this weekend), to a friend's house, and Steve and I even had a night out (just us!) - though our big date was to a fundraiser for Hendrik's preschool. Our babysitters (Duff and his girl) somehow managed to get both kids to sleep through the night - something that is becoming quite the rare occurrence (unfortunately). We've been enjoying egg nog lattes in the morning (homemade ones are SO much better than Starb's) and have Christmas and Christmas presents on the brain. Hendrik has his surgery coming up this Friday - but other than that, it's been life as usual around here. Steve heads back to training tomorrow - and we'll miss having him around all the time. Time to get going - books and lists await!

in short...

It has been feeling tres wintery here - the big coats are out for all. Yesterday's preschool was as routine as the week before: there were no tears, and this time Hendrik was in no hurry to find me when the parents started trickling in at closing time. After a month (ish, I think), it seems as though he's finally getting comfortable with the people and the place, so it's a bit of a shame that he'll miss 1-2 weeks after his eye surgery... ooooh well, he'll roll with it. This has to be short - Steve and I are going to watch a movie and there are few things calling my name. I just have to say that I bought these boots (after some hemming and hawing) and just applied for this mini job. I leave you with some multimedia - the kids were on fire last night!

15-minute day (yesterday) + a poop story

starting at 7:00
1. mama mama mama | hendrik in our big bed | getting breakfast together | eating
2. trying to get people dressed | hen watching franklin (b/c of a poop on the potty) | books | in the car on time!
3. driving to preschool | drop-off at 9:15 - no tears! (a first) | arriving a la grocery-store | shopping
4. checking out | driving to kiddie 2nd hand store | checking out the winter boots | playing with gloves in MEC

 

I missed a grocery store pic in the first series, so actually at 11:00 I was......
1. watching Alana play with gloves in MEC | arriving at preschool for pick-up | leaving | driving
2. schlepping (hendrik was asleep in the car | groceries away with A, H is passed out | Alana lunch | me lunch
3. playing (H still sleeping) | more playing | more playing | cleaning up
4. H is awake! and eating | Alana wants to eat more too | skype with Steve | skype with Steve

starting at 3:00
1. facebook | organizing books (A napping) | about to read books in newly minted fort | reading and picking :)
2. cake make | apple grate (recipe below) | dancing | I forget... Hen might be in the crib?
3. A is up and crying - post head butt from H | dinner on the go (leftovers) | reading and hiding (under red blanket) | dinner
4. a clean dessert bowl! | clean-up avec leech on leg | bath time | chaos (more on this below)

starting at 7:00
1. chaos | cuddles with A | reading A bedtime stories and H comes in with oven mitts on | A to bed (she's crying)
2. picking stories (A is still crying) | smiles! | Blueberries for Sal | hanging up diapers
3. something online | planning for vb clinic | planning for vb clinic... bed at 10:30

Two things happened while Alana was in the bath: 1. Hendrik put on a show (pictures just below) and there was poop and more poop and more poop.

I'm watching from the in front of the bathtub and he keeps coming back saying, "Tada!" and wearing a different getup. "You're funny!" I say, laughing laughing laughing. "Yeah, I am funny," he'd say. It was the sunshine before the poopstorm.

I have to preface this next part with a fact about our boy: he has a very, very, very sensitive nose - a keen sense of smell. Poop smells make him gag, and he's thrown up a few times as a result of a serious odorous offering (his own). And, you know, he's not too into seeing it either... but really, who is? So when Alana pooped in the bath with him in serious proximity, I immediately asked him to stay out stay out stay OUT! of the bathroom. "Why? Why mommy did Alana do a poop?" Yes, yes she sure did. I drained the bath and got her out and wiped off... and it wasn't as bad as I thought - I let her run off after her brother, and paper-toweled out the tub. I gave Hendrik the all clear (get in here!), and into the bathroom he comes with the black basket on his head... when I see Alana, in the hall (where Hendrik is standing in the above pictures) about to lose it all over the white pillow you see in the last frame. I somehow managed to get the pillow halfway out of the way, so it's a some-on-the-floor some-on-the-pillow type of situation. Until she steps in it. Meanwhile Hendrik is asking if Alana pooped again because I'm saying something like this: "oh Alana oh stop okay Alana Alana Hendrik don't look Hendrik just stay there Alana Alana" as I'm scooping her up and putting her back in the wiped-down tub. Hendrik declares that he'll just "hide in his shell" (the black basket) until it's all cleaned up, and I encourage him to do so. Meanwhile, I'm furiously scooping poop up off the floor and Alana is furiously smearing it all over her body (thankfully she left her face and hair alone). Hendrik is still hiding in his shell while I arms-length-scrunched-face helicopter her over to the shower - and she is trying to FLING it off her hands ... so shit is literally flying everywhere. Have I mentioned that Hendrik is gagging in his shell? And that we've just eaten dinner? This moment was the high? or low? point in the evening's poop saga. I hosed Alana down and then cleaned up flecks while she was sucking on a (closed) bottle of shampoo (water off). I immediately took her to her room (towel on) and put a diaper on. Only then, when we came back from a brief bathroom hiatus, did Hendrik ask if it was okay to come out of his shell: "no more poop?" No more poop.

Apple-pie cake recipe?
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp (heaping) cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
2 1/2 cups shredded apple (3-5)
slurp of milk (2 tbsp-ish)
1 tsp vanilla
Bake in a greased pie plate at 350 for 45 minutes.