First Day Recap. . .and more lunch. . .

So we survived the first day back to school! Yay!

I really hate the first day because generally speaking it feels incredibly unorganized and hectic. There are tonnes of parents and kids all squished into a small space together who are all trying to figure out who their child's teacher is at the same time through some lists that are posted to the wall of the school 15 minutes before the bell is scheduled to ring. Personally it makes me feel claustrophobic and I'm sure it doesn't do anything for my daughter's anxiety levels either.

On the bright side, we found our list relatively quickly this year and then E's teacher who she luckily recognized in the school yard.

AND. . .

IT DIDN'T RAIN!!

The last couple of years it has rained on the first day of school and adding umbrellas to all this chaos seems to take crazy to a whole new level.

So, as for lunch. . .

The lunchable was mostly a hit. . .she loved the Kolbassa, the cheese string, apple sauce, popcorn, and juice box. Unfortunately her crackers some how managed to get soggy and she didn't find them very edible. We've decided to try something different for tomorrow. . .

So here goes. . .

For tomorrow's lunch we decided to go with meatballs (President's Choice Blue Menu Gluten Free) and mashed potatoes, baby tomatoes, a Black Diamond Cheese String, a strawberry Iogo yogurt, Tostitos corn chips and a Minute Maid Fruit Punch.

Hopefully everything will taste good by lunch time.

Guess we'll see. . .

Another School Year Begins. . .

Our eldest starts grade 3 tomorrow! It's hard to believe that, considering it feels like she just started Junior Kindergarten yesterday!  She has her clothes laid out for tomorrow, lunch has been packed and is waiting to add to her new backpack by the front door.

She went with a purple and blue American girl backpack this year, she said she didn't want a character, but she did choose a princess lunch box and found matching accessories, such as a pencil case and erasers, so she's not all grown up quite yet.

 The more she grows up the more I notice that she wants to be like her friends. A lot of them apparently bring Lunchables for lunch but Lunchables contain gluten and, due to her having Celiac disease, are not an option for her. So I did the next best thing. I made a home made "Lunchable" for tomorrow.  Her version may be a little bit healthier, though honestly I think it's debatable so don't feel bad if your kid is eating the name brand. lol

Our "Lunchable" knock off includes Rice Crackers (Hot Kid Brand), Piller's Turkey Kolbassa, Black Diamond Cheese string, Act 2 Microwave popcorn, President's Choice Strawberry Applesauce, and a Five Alive juice box.

Hopefully it's as much of a hit as my 71/2 year old expects. She's quite excited for lunch tomorrow and of course nervous and excited to start a new school year.

We'll find out officially at 8:45am tomorrow who her new teacher will be. Here's hoping it's a good one!

A Day at The Fair

Heavy Horse Show at the Fair

I can remember going to the fair practically every year as a child. I looked forward to it.  I loved going on the Scrambler and the Dragon Rollercoaster and popping balloons to win a prize.  The balloon pop was my favourite game. I usually played it twice.

I remember fair food, sitting on the grand stands watching some kind of cow or sheep show while eating a pile of french fries with a french fry fork.

By the end of the day we were tired, sometimes cold and wet, and as we got older, actually pretty cranky. I'm not sure if we were always cranky by the end of the day but I can remember as an early teen that my parents always bought too many ride tickets and kept pushing us to go on more rides so they didn't go to waste. Unfortunately they'd buy the "deal" and by our teens we were more interested in playing carnival games rather than going on a tea cup ride.

Still, as a mom, I find joy in the fair.

I really don't have an interest in riding on the Dragon Rollercoaster or the Scrambler any more, but I do love the look of glee that was on my daughter's face today as she experienced the fair for the first time.

She went not knowing what to expect. In fact, she told me she was worried that it wouldn't be fun. I guess I didn't hype it up enough. haha.

She's 5 1/2 now and 43 inches tall so she was finally tall enough to ride something. We told her we weren't sure how many rides they would have for kids her height and as we entered the midway she started to get concerned.  She kept picking big kid rides, standing beside large rulers to measure herself and finding out she wasn't quite there yet. :)

However, as we turned the corner we found the Kiddieland area and I got excited. haha.

There was the DRAGON ROLLERCOASTER! 

She IMMEDIATELY started picking out things she wanted to do. She wanted to play all of the games. She wanted to ride all of the rides. She wanted all of the prizes. She was a little excited!

We took a twirl around the Kiddie area and made a plan then bought some ride tickets.

First she went on the Dragon Rollercoaster. She wasn't sure if she wanted to or not as it looked kind of "scary" but she would go if Daddy would go with her and my husband agreed to ride with her off they went.  When she came off she was jumping up and down and smiling.  It was "SO MUCH FUN!"

The rest of the rides she was able to go on by herself - a carousel, a flying dog, a flying bee, and the spinning strawberries. I've never been a fan of anything that spins so she must take after my sister or her dad when it comes to that department. I couldn't even watch lest I get sick. haha.

Bee Ride

After that she settled on playing the balloon game.  She won a butterfly but begged us to let her play again. So she came home with a stuffed giraffe. She played twice of course. I couldn't say no.

Before leaving the midway she climbed the fun house with Daddy. We debated sending her on her own but we had only 4 tickets left and it took 3 and assisting parents could get in for 1 ticket. I'm not sure if she needed the assist but we were a bit concerned that she might get scared at the top and it's not like my husband complained. I don't think he minded climbing in there at all. :)

Then we checked out the giant pumpkins (300 something lb winner!) before heading to the car.

A good day at the fair. :)

. . .And we said Good Bye

On the first day we met her she didn't come with much.  A small diaper bag, a soother stuffed in her mouth, a bottle and a scruffy blanket.  We were leaving to go camping in two days and life had happened and so she was sent to us.  We weren't really sure what to expect but soon we were introduced to a whirlwind of joy that hit the floor running.  We found ourselves at Walmart at 10pm buying clothes for a child we'd just met.  She wasn't our biggest fan then. She didn't like shopping carts, she didn't know us, and things were a little crazy. . .after all we were going camping in two days and she didn't really have any clothes to wear.

She was only a toddler and she was a busy one at that and that camping trip was one of the most memorable, and least organized ones I have ever been on in my life but the kids had fun! Bubbles were blown, rocks discovered, there was swimming and precious hand clapping, and dancing from a new little child shaking her tiny bum back and forth and circling in dizzy circles in a camp church hall. She just couldn't stay away from the music!

Yes, that weekend was crazy.  A weekend stay turned into a week and we settled into routine, a week into a month and a month into nearly six.  It's crazy how time flies!

There was joy and, of course, there were challenges.  Sisterly fights, temper tantrums, bad dreams, bumps and bruises and illness.

She felt as much my child as our own even though unlike our daughter she rarely wanted to be hugged, though every night before bed we offered and almost every night she hid under her blanket and said "no".

So that day, as I stood in our hallway and helped gather her bags and told her I loved her and that she was going to go home, this time for good, I watched, to my surprise, as her arms wrapped around me in the tightest hug, head on my shoulder, warmth of her body encompassing my body and she held me there tightly as if she truly understood, until it was time to leave.

Her worker came back then and I handed her over and she smiled and waved and said "Bye Mommy and Daddy."

Those words melted my heart and I fought back tears as I watched the door close.

Good bye little one!

Good luck!

We'll miss you!

We hope you have a wonderful life with your family with many many happy memories!

A "Trouble Maker"

5.) A blog post inspired by the word: glistening

When I was twelve I volunteered to help out for a week at a church day camp. I was put in the role of teacher's assistant and during that week created some memories that I never forgot.

It was a Tuesday morning and the campers were headed inside. She was there sitting beside the jungle gym. She was probably six or seven. Her big round eyes looked down at me, tears sliding down her cheeks, glistening as the light caught them.

She was a "trouble maker", the leader said. "Good luck with her. You'll probably just have to stay outside with her until her mom comes this afternoon" and with that she went inside. I could see from the girl's face that something was wrong and that she was hurting inside.

I was only a child myself but I wanted to help, even if I didn't know the right thing to say.

"Don't leave me" she said and I stared back at her "I'll stay".

She looked me over as I sat on the cement stairs leading up to the playground.  She'd climbed up now and she was perched on the top, her legs dangling through blue bars.

"Aren't you going to leave? They all left!" she challenged. I answered back, "I'm not going anywhere."

We sat staring at each other for a long while and then suddenly after a while she crawled down and sat down beside me, gradually getting closer until I was shocked to find her head on my shoulder, sobbing now, I held her as she cried, a cloud of anger had lifted, and the storm was over. We sat there for a while. She talked, I mostly listened. I really can't remember what about but I must have said something that made her feel better.

"If I go inside will you stay with me?" She asked. "Of course" I answered and with that a tentative smile graced her face, she wiped her tears and we went in together.

Summer Bucket List

2.) 10 Things you hope to accomplish this summer.

1) Survive tent camping with a four year old.
Last year we rented a trailer for camping as I wasn't sure we were ready to camp without a washroom in the same building, a night light, and a microwave, among other things. I'm still not sure we're ready but we've purchased a family sized tent and booked a site. We're going for two nights. I'm feeling a bit nervous. Hubby and I haven't been tent camping since 2008. However, E is getting more excited by the day so hopefully it will be a lot of fun.

2) Make time to read more books.
Last year I took the Random House book Bingo challenge and by this time last year I had read close to 14 books. This year I've read five! I'm feeling kind of embarrassed about that. Maybe I'll have time to read while camping.

3) Take E to the Beach.
We went to a small, muddy beach last year at the camp ground we were staying at and built a sand castle and she loved it but I'd really love to take E to a nice sandy beach similar to Wasaga, Sauble or Grand Bend.

4) Date Night
Drive in movies, frozen yogurt, outdoor patios, etc. Hoping for some summery dates with hubby!

5) Check out Double Decker Iced Cream
There's this cool ice cream parlour that's inside an old double decker bus. This year they're offering gluten free cones so it seems like the perfect time to check it out!

6) Freezer Cooking.

The more I can precook, the more time I'll hopefully have for doing fun summer activities with E (and hubby when he's on vacation). It should also cut back on fast food consumption and give hubby something more interesting and appetizing to take to work for lunch. 

7) Write a Children's Book

E is always asking me to tell her a story and I'll make one up on the spot and then she'll ask me to repeat it and I won't remember what I said. So I should probably record myself sometime and then actually write it down.

8) Get a hair cut.

I've been talking about doing it for months but haven't gotten around to it. E actually told me I'm "not allowed" to cut my hair but I have a love hate relationship with it. Some days I love how it looks but others I find it just gets in the way and putting my hair in a pony tail doesn't really put it up any more.  I think I should probably get at least a few inches cut off. 

9) Be more creative in the kitchen.

I used to be more creative and make, in my opinion, more edible food and then E was born. She loves bland and tasteless food and if I use spices she says it's yucky. Tough crowd. Then there's hubby who basically disgusts and upsets me by covering subtle, delicate flavours with mass amounts of hot sauce, often before tasting them. So I've given up for the most part and succumbed to microwaving frozen vegetables and basically creating cafeteria style meals. So this summer I hope to find a way to make something that satisfies everyone. (. . .and perhaps hide the hot sauce. ;))

10) Remember the past.

It's not really a bucket list item I guess, as it happens most days, but family vacations set kind of a higher bar I guess. I love sharing stories with E about camping trips, vacations, etc and teaching her through my own experiences and creating new special memories and I hope her experiences are as good or better than my own. I'm hoping to create some great memories this summer. :)

Bringing Back Childhood Memories

I don't know what made E ask about this the other day but out of the blue she came to me and said, "Mama, can I try Sparks?"

Sparks is not something I did as a child, I'm not actually sure it even existed at the time but I definitely have memories of Brownies, Girl Guides and Pathfinders.

So, next thing you know I'm googling. . "Girl Guides of Canada. Here we go", I say. "Oh wow, they've really changed the uniforms!" E asks me what my uniform looked like. I recall a brown dress, tights, a purse for dues - 25 cents every week, a neck tie, a sash with badges. . .E interrupts my reminiscing, "What's a sash?", I tell her. "How do you get badges? Can you buy them?" I chuckle, "You have to earn them." and I explain how.

Me flying up to Guides

Suddenly I find myself telling stories of camping trips, of getting caught in the rain but despite of it having an awesome time; of hiking through the woods, eating outside, crafts on picnic tables, games of capture the flag; the glow of the camp fire in the black of the night, happy faces singing songs, marshmallows, friends, and earning my wings as I flew up to Guides.

As I finish, I feel a bit like I've made a sales pitch. "So can I?" she says. I think I might have gotten carried away. I bite my lip a bit. "I'll have to talk it over with Daddy."

. . .Meanwhile I'm googling to find out which Unit is closest to our house, and debating to myself how a Celiac child would feel about selling cookies she couldn't eat. . .

This post was inspired by a blog prompt: 5) Talk about a club from your childhood you belonged to.

Travelling

When I was growing up I never went to Disney World like all the other kids I knew. 

In the early years I mostly remember rented cottages or tent or trailer camping, gravelly beaches, cutting my toe open in the water, blood sucking fish, boating, fishing, paddle boats, chasing frogs and sitting on the end of the dock watching the sun set.

When I was 15 my family decided to take our first cross country trip. 4 kids, one mini van, 2 parents driving from Ontario to Prince Edward Island. I remember a lot of fighting on that trip! However, despite the bickering amongst us kids it was a great experience to see more of our country. We stopped in a few places in each province along the way and Halifax, especially, left a lasting impression on me.  It strangely felt like home. I hope to take our family there someday.

At 18 a family reunion took us to the west coast of Canada. Though we drove again, my parents must have learned something from the first trip and rented an RV. It was much more enjoyable not being so crammed in! This time we drove through the United States on the way to Alberta and through Canada on the way back. Visiting Medora, North Dakota was my favourite part of the trip. It felt like a real "wild west". The badlands were vast, there were wild bison and horses, etc. Alberta paled in comparison.

In 2006 I flew for the first time. After a quick flight to Toronto we eventually boarded a large plane for an 8 hour flight to Warsaw, Poland.

Once in Poland we stayed in 2 hotels spending part of the week touring in and around Warsaw and part of it in and around Krakow. 

During our trip we realized we had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. I was really unsure if I wanted to go but in the end I'm glad we did. I had studied the camp as part of history class in high school but it was really crazy, almost surreal to see it with my own eyes. Seeing "Work will set you free" inscribed over the entrance was especially moving.

In 2007 I took one more opportunity to go on a family vacation with my parents and siblings. My now husband and I had been getting pretty serious in our relationship and I suspected he might propose. The distance made the trip really hard on me as I would have liked to share it with him but I had a really great time seeing Portugal. 

We stayed in Lisbon the whole time in a beautiful hotel with a great view of the city.

We also got to travel to Cascais, a beautiful coastal town. I would have loved to have explored it more thoroughly but we were with a tour group.

Since my trip to Portugal I haven't really left our country. Maybe some day but in the mean time there's so much of Canada our 4 year old hasn't seen.

This blog post was inspired by Mama Kat's blog prompt number 3: What countries have you traveled to?

Her First Poutine

We stayed out way too late last night, well past E's bedtime. On our way home I could tell E was getting tired as she was tugging on her hair to stay wake and she was getting grumpier by the second. However she was also complaining of being "starving" so it was unlikely that she'd fall asleep on the drive home.

The suggestion of crackers or a bowl of cereal wasn't well received because apparently she wanted "dinner" and I wasn't up to making something extensive when we got home so I offered up the suggestion of french fries from McDonald's.

We're not a family who eats a lot of fast food - my husband does but the rest of us can count on one hand how many times we've been to McDonald's in the last year. The last time was likely July for ice cream so this was exciting!

We arrived at the restaurant around 8 o'clock. E, previously sleepy, bounded out of the car and bounced into the restaurant with a huge smile on her face. There was no line and the staff quickly helped us.  A quick glance at an ingredient list confirmed what I'd heard, that the Poutine was also gluten free, not just the fries!

We debated buying E her own Poutine but it was $3.99 and we weren't sure if she'd like it so we got a small fry, a Poutine and 2 forks.

E dove into her french fries and then, glancing over at what Daddy was eating, asked if she could have some of his too, offering to share some of her fries in exchange.

Daddy suggested I take pictures of her first taste of Poutine as a Canadian right of passage of sorts so I did.

The whole evening made me smile. From the gathering we'd just left, to the simple joys of childhood. It warmed my heart.

Written with inspiration from Mama Kat's  prompt #5: Something that made you smile this week.

My Favourite Candy As a Child

A favourite candy when you were a child. Is it still a favourite?

Every year at Halloween as a child I would come home and dump out my trick-or-treat bag and sort it into piles.  The caramels went into the yuck my parents can eat that pile, as did some of the chocolate bars and the cheesies and then I'd find one or two boxes of candy sticks (I'm fairly certain they were called candy cigarettes at the time) and the few bags of Twizzlers Nibs.

I loved Nibs.  They were my absolute favourite candy.  I looked forward to getting them every year and there never seemed to be enough of them in the bag.

By the time I left home for college I wasn't into eating as much candy as my parents rarely had it in the house.

However, that changed when I got a summer job after my first year of college.  I was determined not to go home after first year so I needed to find something.  I applied at a lot of places and had all but given up on a summer job when I came across a small movie theatre in the local mall.

I wasn't sure how to apply so I found myself wandering in aimlessly looking for someone.  I came across a brunette who told me I needed to talk to a man named Sharoam in the office.

Sharoam was a unique man.  He asked me a couple of questions and told me to come in the next day for an interview.  It has to be among the strangest interviews I've ever had but I got the job.  I was told to come in in a couple of days and to wear a white dress shirt, black pants and a black bow tie.  As uniforms go I loved it though I may have looked ridiculous I'm not sure.  I still don't understand how on my break random strangers would ask me where things were in Canadian Tire.. .I thought I was a little overdressed to work there.

At any rate, with the job came some perks.  I got to see all the free movies I wanted, as long as I wasn't working at the time.  I also got all the free popcorn I wanted while on shift and if candy bags broke open we got to eat them!  Unfortunately Nibs rarely broke open.

However, spending so much time in a movie theatre meant I started to buy things at concession before movies.  So started the tradition.   I would buy a package of Nibs and this strange echinacea enhanced fruit drink we sold.  I don't know, it tasted good.

After a few months of working there I ended up leaving but the tradition continued no matter what theatre I went to, except most theatres didn't have the strange echinacea drink so I chose Sprite instead.

In 2008 this all changed of course when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease.  I quickly learned that Nibs unfortunately contained flour which contained wheat which meant they were no longer safe for me to eat.

These days when I go to the movie theatre I just order a Sprite or a bottle of water and look at the Nibs behind the counter and wish I could eat them.

The writing prompt for this post came from:

Blackie

A Childhood Pet . . .Where are they now?

When I was in grade seven my family drove to a house in the country to see some kittens.  We planned to choose one kitten but when we got there there were 2 balls of fur running around and rolling on the floor. One, a little girl tabby and the other a black kitten boy with 2 white tufts - one at his neck and one near his bikini.  

We went home with both.  We named them Blackie and Rajah.

Despite being a family pet, Blackie became "my" cat.  He slept on my bed, he ate fake plants in my room, he laid on my home work, and he chased my toes while I was trying to sleep.

As I got older my parents joked about how I would handle college without him.  As I've mentioned in a previous post, in anticipation of my leaving for college, my parents bought me a stuffed teddy bear to make up for Blackie not coming along with me.  It was never really my thing, it wasn't my cat, it didn't move or get excited when I got back from high school.

My last year of high school had finally arrived and I eagerly anticipated leaving home for the first time.

However, one night I was petting Blackie and I felt something funny.  He had a lump.

I told my mom that he had a lump on his back and she petted him as well and said she couldn't feel anything at all.  I continued to try to convince myself that it was nothing until it started getting bigger. . .and bigger. . .until my mom said she thought maybe she should take him to the vet.

It was cancer.

I went away to college excited but at the same time concerned about my cat.  I thought of him daily as he started treatments for his cancer.

When I came home that October for Thanksgiving I saw him in his usual spot laying on my bed. However, he wasn't the same cat I'd left.  He was thin now and his black coat wasn't as shiny as before.  He looked sickly and I was afraid to touch him as he lifted his weak head to greet me. My mom had laid a blanket on top of the bed because, as I now saw, his tumour was much larger and was now leaking grey fluid everywhere.  I cried when I saw him.

Before I left home to return to school I told him I loved him, I told him I'd see him soon, I told him to get better.

About one week later I was walking back to my dorm room from the variety store nearby when a feeling swept over me.  It's the weirdest thing I've ever felt, like a twitch in my heart, a tug, and I knew at that moment that he was gone.

As I returned to my room my bedroom phone was ringing.  My mom confirmed my suspicions.  Blackie had died "peacefully" only a few minutes before.

I couldn't sit in my room.  I went into the stairwell of the residence tears pouring from my eyes, heavy sobs shaking my body.

I think I'll always miss him.  Years later I was in a shelter and I saw a cat who reminded me of him.  He had the same colouring - matching black with a little tuft of white on his neck and a little tuft near his bikini.  I took him home that day and he became my own.  We've been through a lot together.

Though I renamed him Scamper, his original name when he came into the shelter was Blackie.

The idea for this blog post came from a writing prompt from:

Punched

Throughout my life I haven't really been a person who likes a lot of conflict and for the most part I've been able to avoid it so when I thought of being punched I was having a hard time finding examples to go on.

In terms of actual incidents I can really only think of one.  It was back when I was in grade 10.

In grade 9 I became friends with a group of about 6 girls who I'd met during grade 9 orientation when we'd almost immediately hit it off.  Having not had very many friends in elementary school I was thrilled to be beginning my high school "career" with a feeling of belonging.  We had lunch together every day and goofed around, enjoying our time together.  I felt important.  I enjoyed their company and they enjoyed mine.

And then I entered grade 10.  For some reason some people just don't like me or feel threatened by me or something.  I'm generally actually a shy person and I wouldn't consider myself particularly cool and I was never really popular, but perhaps these girls were.  I'm not sure.  At any rate one day this girl "S" joined our group.  I came to our hall at lunch and she was sitting there with everyone else.  She immediately told me to go away.  My friends, who I'd hung out with for a year at that point, said "no, stay!"  She glared at me but I stayed.

The next day I received more glares and you could tell, for whatever reason, that she didn't want me there.

On the way to class in the afternoon her and another girl, found me in a stairwell and pushed me up against a wall.  S told me to smoke a cigarette right there if I wanted to stay in the group.  She tried to put it in my mouth and light it, I spat it out.  I managed to slide away from the wall and as she held the loop on the back of my back pack I struggled, legs treading in the air until I fell to the ground and she threw my backpack at me.  I leapt to my feet eager to get away.  She yelled behind me "If you're at your locker after school you're gonna get it!"

Of course this was right before my last class of the day and I had no choice but to go to my locker after school.  I hoped she wouldn't be there.

I remember leaving my last class, heart thumping in my chest, walking down the hall passing the blue, red and grey walls towards my locker and praying inside that she wouldn't be there.  "Please God let her not be there.  Please!" There was a lump in my throat as I neared and saw her standing beside my locker.  "I told you not to come" she said.  She looked harmless enough, blond hair, freckles and glasses but there was a sort of power and hatred flashing through her eyes.

I started to unlock my locker and she shoved me.  I persisted, ignoring she was there.  It cracked open and she opened it fully, shoving me into it and punching her fists at my chest and kicking at my legs but I pushed back.  I got out of the locker.  I gathered my things.  I turned toward the large crowd of other students and headed towards my bus trying to ignore her.  She shoved me with all her might and I lost my balance but managed to regain my footing and continued on my way.  She came after me shouting "Run away you wuss!"

Once I'd gotten through the double doors towards the school cafeteria I'd lost her.  Tears stung my cheeks as I headed to my bus to go home.

I didn't understand what we were fighting for. For the right to be friends with these people, my friends? Couldn't we share? How could she hate someone so much that she'd never even met?  Was she jealous of me, of a person she thought I was?

In the end, with a set of new classes in second semester, I ended up on a new lunch later that school year and made a new group of friends.  In time I drifted apart from that original group of girls.  Ironically, after all the work she'd put into protecting her spot in that group, they also drifted apart from S.  So I wonder, was hurting me really worth it?

This blog post idea came from a writing prompt from:

Lost but Found

Someone might think I've lost my mind, dancing around my kitchen to imagined music, quacking with a duck puppet on my hand, crawling around on my hands and knees and meowing like a cat or jumping out from behind a counter yelling "Boo!" as loud as I can.

But she's here.

Four years old, bouncing off the wall, giggling with glee and squealing, "Mommy Mommy! Do it again! Do it again!"

I've lost the me I used to be.  I've always been weird but perhaps I've come to accept it more these days and have allowed myself to become immersed in her world.  I'm slowly losing my inhibitions.

I'm having fun despite looking like a complete fool and if someone, anyone off the street, walked into my house today they might think I'd lost my mind.  Heck, I might think I'd lost my mind.  But I do it for her because it's important to her.  It's important to play and the more I play the more I get into the fun of it.

It makes me feel happy to be lost in her energy and her imagination.  She's only little once and for today, I've set aside my housework for a while to pretend to be a cat or build a tower, or play peek-a-boo.

I'm participating in a writer's workshop with:

My Favourite Childhood Book

When I was a kid I loved books.  Every night before bed one of my parents would read my siblings and I a book, or maybe a couple, depending on how long they were.

Two books particularly stand out as my favourite childhood books:

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton. . .

and Jenny and Jupie by Gyo Fujikawa

The Going to Bed book takes the reader through the story of a bunch of animals getting ready for bed.  At the end of the particular copy of the book that my family owned, there was a song about Hippos dancing in mud.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a copy of the song but it still plays in my head immediately when I think of the book, though unfortunately I can't remember all of the words.

Shortly after my daughter was born my mom purchased a copy of the Going to Bed book in board book form for her.  I still love reading it and it's one of her favourite's too.

As for Jenny and Jupie, it was a huge favourite of mine though apparently pretty long as kid's books go.  I haven't read it now in years but I remember absolutely loving the pictures.  It was the story of a little girl who takes off on a space adventure with an alien.  As a child I always thought it would be really fun to have an adventure like that.

Do you have any favourite childhood books? What did you love about them?

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 14

Your Earliest Memory.

Honestly my childhood is a bit of a blur.

I remember making tents out of blankets, playing dinosaur with my dad (he was the dinosaur we rode on his back), and playing "sandwich" with a chair my parents had that folded out.  Sandwich was when you went in between the cushions of the fold out chair and people sat on top of the chair creating a "sandwiching" affect.  You would then tickle the person stuck in the chair until they screamed to stop.

I'm sure I have memories from before grade 2 but they aren't as vivid as this one.

So I'll take you back to Pigeon Lake. . .

The year was 1989 and I was in grade 2.  Our family, at the time my parents, brother, sister and I were going to our first cottage as a family.  I was extremely excited.

My mom had written me a note to get out of school a few days early for summer vacation.  It was a long car ride up there.  If anyone is familiar with Ontario you'll know that on the way up north there are A LOT of pink rocks.  I still hate pink rocks.  They still make me feel car sick to this day. lol.  Anyway, enough about that.

I don't remember that much about the car ride other than I believe we took the Brown Chevy and I can remember the smell of crayons melting in the window.  Such an awful smell!

I remember going to the zoo on that vacation but I don't remember much about that.  I think it was in Peterborough but I can't be sure.  What I do remember is the rainy day that we played with an Origami book.  I remember trying to fold a fox but all I could manage to make was a paper cup.  So I made A LOT of paper cups.

I remember the swings outside, and the kids that we met from the cottage next door.  I don't remember much about them other than they were fun to play with and I remember discussing that our cottage had mice and they said that their cottage had snakes.  We decided mice were better.

My mom hated the cottage experience.  She whined about cleaning and she whined about the mice.  She complained that she had to wash the dishes every morning before we could have breakfast.  I don't know why she didn't just put the dishes in a protective container of some sort. lol.

I remember the dock.  Unfortunately the brochure for the cottage had mentioned a beach and there was one but it wasn't very good for swimming as there was a lot of plant life in the water.  We did get to play in the sand though and I remember going on a paddle boat.

I believe this is where my love of cottages originally grew from.  Although it wasn't necessarily the perfect experience for everyone, I still love cottaging and someday hope to take our daughter to a cottage and possibly own one as well. :)

What was your earliest memory?

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 7

So I can see this being a very long post.  Day 7 of the 30 day Blog Challenge is on your favourite childhood toys.  Anyway, I couldn't really think of anything initially but then I searched on Google and typed the name of one item next thing I knew another thing, and another, and another kept coming up.  It was walk back down  memory lane in the 1980s mostly.


So. . .my favourite childhood toys in no particular order:


Ice Capades Barbie.  I got this Barbie as a gift at one point.  Unfortunately I don't remember the year but I'm sure my Barbie collector friends would probably know.  It was my absolute favourite Barbie doll at the time.  I named her Jessica. lol.

I remember dragging my Fisher Price phone around the house as a child.  It was definitely a favourite of mine.  Plus, I loved to spin the dial.  I'm kind of surprised that they're making new versions of the same phone now.

Hungry Hungry Hippo.  We didn't own one of these ourselves but my Grandpa & Grandma did and we LOVED playing it every time we'd go to their house.

Koosh Ball.  I had one of these.  I remember still kicking it around in high school but I'm not actually sure what year they came out.

We had a Discovery Toys Marble Run as kids.  This is a much smaller version than the one we had but I haven't found the same one online this one is close.  I believe it was technically my brother's toy but we all loved playing with it.

My Little Pony - I had a number of My Little Pony Ponies as a child.  I loved playing with them in combination with my Barbies.

Polly Pocket.  I'm saddened to see what happened to Polly Pocket.  It's unfortunate that they had to make them so big!  The whole point of Polly Pocket was so that it could fit in your pocket!  We used to play with these at Recess in public school.  I had the style that is pictured here.

Slap Bracelets! I looved mine.  I remember being disappointed when our school banned them.  I think eventually there was a total ban and they were re-released made of plastic.  I still think the metal ones snapped better. :)

My brother had a couple of different Super Soakers when we were kids.  I never actually owned one myself but my brother would often let me play with his and it was a lot of fun to have that kind of water power. :)

Toys of today are a bit more disappointing to me but I think that comes from growing up in the 80s.  There was so much stuff back then that isn't available now.  I could list off a bunch more but I don't want to make a huge blog post today. :) What were some of your favourite toys from your childhood?