Dance!

I love to watch Dylan dance. He has such intuitive rhythm. Unfortunately he does not want to continue pursuing ballet lessons due to peer pressure. This is a shame because, although he is no Baryshnokov, he certainly is an original.

Baby Nathan Arrives!!!

Anita and Brent were pleased to announce the birth of their son yesterday, Nathan Alexander Archibald. He weighs 7lbs 16oz and measures 58 cm. Anita and baby are home and doing great! Here is a picture of the proud parents!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

Dylan's teeth are dropping like flies. He has lost four teeth already. And, God bless his innocence, he still believes in the tooth fairy. He was very intrigued to fine a loonie under his pillow after he lost his first tooth. It came in a special "tooth fairy box" with a small note from his fairy named "Silver". Dylan remarked that he was more interested in gaining new knowledge about the tooth fairy rather than receiving money. So, with his next tooth, a correpondance began between him and Silver. Notes were exchanged and he learned all sorts of information (such as why his tooth box has a bar code and a "made in China" mark). Everything was explained to his satisfaction. I think he was challenged on this beliefs in class the next day (he came home wanting further explanations) but after some discussion he was more than happy to hang on to his dream about tooth fairies (and his childhood innocence) a little longer.

Remembrance Day Weekend

It was a fairly quiet weekend. Every Friday after school Dylan has several boys over at our house for a "boy's club" (more on that at a later date). As part of this week's activities, the boys made SLIME in our kitchen.

After the b0ys left, our evening guests arrived (JACK and BRENDA). We had such a good time playing with the leftover SLIME. This stuff is so neat. It is made with two parts cornstarch and one part water with food colouring.

It is easy to clean which is a good thing as our kitchen was a disaster after boy's club.

After dinner we all retired to the outdoor deck and spent a very frosty night sitting in front of the firepit. Furtrapper hats and blankets were all pulled out of storage as winter has arrived.

Saturday was Rembrance Day and we watched a small procession in The Beach. This year there were only a handful of WWII veterans (originally from The Beach) walking behind the bagpipers and drummers and parade officials. As I watched these men walk by I was reminded of mom telling me about the excitement of Liberation Day and seeing all the Canadian soldiers come through their town in tanks and uniform, distributing chocolate and food. She said that the Canadian soldiers were seen as the handsomest men in the world.

After the parade we went for Dim Sum in Chinatown.

In church the next morning, Dylan and the other children were given the opportunity to help with all the service responsibilities. Dylan helped to collect the offering (all monies were present and accounted for).

Sunday evening was spent having dinner with my brother and his family. But I have saved that for another story (blog).........

LA FAMIGLIA

As many of you may know, I have recently discovered my father's side of the family. After my mother passed away I began to feel very isolated. I suddenly felt like a true "only child". I'd look at my beautiful boy and worry about the lack aunties, uncles, and cousins in his "only child" life. So, with great nervousness, I made contact for the first time with my birth father; and I am so glad that I did. The response has been tremendously positive. I have discovered a brother and a sister as well as a father. I have five nieces/nephews and Dylan now has cousins!

I must admit that I felt an instant kinship with my sister Sandra. She has a wicked sense of humour and can articulate her thoughts and feelings in a manner that makes me envious. As a child she jumped grades and went through the gifted school program. Later, she entered into math sciences at university (unfortunately I did not inherit any of the math genes but there is hope for Dylan yet). In the immortal words of Anne of Green Gables, I recognize Sandra to be a "kindred spirit" and I have enjoyed getting to know her. Ironically she and I married very similar men....both are from Ottawa, both are WASP, both are mechanically inclined whether it is bicycle or motorbicycle engineering, both are computer geeks and have the same taste in dark European beers. Sandra has two children. Her daughter is a year older than Dylan and they get along great. Her son is 12 years old, also in the gifted program and is a such a great conversationalist.

My brother and his family came over for dinner this past weekend. He also is a very thoughtful and intelligent guy. I made the comment that it is reassuring to know that my missing gene pool is of such sound stock. His wife and children are so lovely. We had a good time teaching the children how to make sushi for our appetizers.

In September, the whole family gathered at a taurant for my 8-year old niece's birthday. I must admit, looking down the very long table with all the people eating together, it felt nice to be part of such a large gathering. This is a picture of Sandra and her husband Donald as well as Dylan and Sarah.

My father just turned 70 years old this October. My hope is that my relationship with my father, sister and brother will continue for many years to come.

Reading

Tonight Dylan and I were laying on the bed reading our respective books. I am so grateful that he has developed a vorvacious appetite for reading. I remember what pleasure and comfort I have had over the years from my books and I am glad to bestow this gift upon him.

My greatest memory of Dylan, which I will take to my deathbed, is of our late night storytelling in the dark. This was probably a bad habit which I encouraged, but every night when he was a toddler he would wake up around 2:00pm. Together he and I would snuggle alone on the couch in the darkness and I would tell him stories. By the light of the outdoor streetlamp I could watch his eyes widen in wonder as I recalled the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur and Superman etc...When he was older I would tell about Oma and Grandma the brave during the war and what it must have been like living with bombs exploding around you. I truly looked forward to these nighttime adventures and I know Dylan did too. Now, when he tells me stories I hear the such intonation and expression in his speech and you can see that he is visualizing the characters, plot, scenery as he orates his story.

Great readers are the result of great coaches. So thank you to all of you who took the time to make a difference in his life.

I have pulled out some photos of my boy picture gazing and reading through the ages as a reminder to myself of these happy times.

Krista and Brock in Toronto

Toronto suffered a severe blow when socialites extraordinaire, Krista and Brock moved to Vancouver for her new job. However, they were back in town this weekend and we made the most of it with an evening out in trendy Bloor Village. After an evening of pleas made for them to return to Toronto....could they be swayed???

This is a picture of "Mary Antoinette" at the guillotine.

Anita's Baby Shower

My lovely cousin Anita is expecting a baby this December!! A surprise baby shower was held at her mom's house (Auntie Greta). Anita was truly surprised by the event. She many many items such as clothing, diaper genie etc.... She and husband Brent are very exited about their soon-to-be blessed event.

This is a photo of Edwin's girlfriend Sharon beside Auntie Greta and Anita. Sharon baked the special cake.

Track 3 Fundraiser

As many of you know, Andrew and I have been volunteers with the Track 3 Ski Association for over 10 years. Every winter we teach skiing for 7 weekends to various children with a range of abilities. Some children may have Down's Syndrome, or spina bifida, or amputee etc...but they all have a strong desire to learn skiing. Through the use of adaptive equipment no child is turned away from the program.


The program relies on volunteers and fundraising to keep going. Friday night was our dance and silent auction. We made $15,000 towards this ski season! It was a fun event.

As I looked around the room I realized that over the years we have chosen our lawyer, electrician, financial advisor etc.. all from these volunteers. Essentially all the people that we trust the most have come through this program; and we count them among our best friends.
Below you will see that I am the proud owner of a set of artwork painted by our dear friend Jack who enjoys painting acrylic sunflowers on old barn wood. I purchased these through the silent auction.

Is this not the world's most authentic Sinter Klaus? He is actually one of the parents of a child in our program. He asked that this photo be taken again just in case it didn't come out right the first time! Naughty Santa!

FINALLY I HAVE A BLOG

Welcome to my first blog. When my child was born I made a resolution to create an ongoing journal documenting his life, his first words, his first steps, his first day of school.... Well, he is now 7 years old and my journal is embarassingly sparce. So, I look forward to using this blog to fulfill my promise to him (and myself).

I would like to thank two people for getting me to this blog arena. First, my dear sister-in-law Arleen who has her own site and was the inspiration for this idea. I had never even seen a blog until she began emailing her images and the moment I saw it, I was hooked. Second, thank you to my bookclub friend Bal who prompted me on how to initiate my own blog (she is a computer geek and I am not).

Although I'd love to do alot of blog backtracking (my husband has 17,000 digital photos on file), I think I might stick to the present and digress only on occasion when I stumble across a photo which has a special sentimentality.

Since we just finished hallowe'en, I will start with this milestone.

What a great time in the Hood. First, we kickstarted hallowe'en with a children's party at our house.

10 children came to play games like: mummy wrap, spooky scavenger hunt, spin a web. We finished the party with a spooky story complete with props (peeled grapes for eyeballs, a frozen water-filled latex glove as a dismembered hand, chicken bones and of course, the old classic of sphagetti as worms).




On the actual hallowe'en night we had a friend sit at our house to hand our candy while we went trick or treating with Dylan. We had bought 400 pieces of candy and RAN OUT by 8:00pm.

The streets were so alive with children running and laughing. Most parents were also in costume and there was such a carnival atmosphere. Two streets away there were six houses which had banded together to create an enclosed haunted house. They collected donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and in turn you could visit the spooky (actually quite graphically gross) house. They had two t.v. news crews there too.

Do recognize Andrew as "DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER"? He won 2nd place in a work costume party.