108 posts tagged “parenting”
christmas is just three days away. it's unbelievable how time has flown. these past three months have been like a blur.
what have we been up to to make time go so fast?
well, in the past few weeks:
as noted previously, the first saturday of the month, we found ourselves at what is fast becoming the annual christmas party for our friends. steve and cor hosted the deep fried turkey and kid's secret santa exchange at their place. as usually - yummy food and great memories.
the weekend after, we went to see stuart mclean's christmas show. for those of you unfamiliar with this author, i suggest you give him a go. the first book i ever read of his was vinyl cafe: unplugged. both sweet and funny. he doesn't write novels, really. more like short stories. but the short story centres around one family - dave, morley, sam, stephanie and arthur, the dog. as well as some neighbours that seem to cross paths with dave and morley's family quite a bit. his earlier work seemed a bit rough so i would probably not start off with his first couple of publications.
anyway, the concert was a hit. he brought the house down with a story from his most recent book, "extreme vinyl cafe." he also featured two canadian musicians. one whom i really liked by the name of matt anderson, who has a booming voice. anderson did probably the best 'holy night' i've ever heard.
this past friday night, i threw my best friend, ada, a surprise party, congratulating her on obtaining her ph D. she thought i was throwing a christmas party with just her friends but had no clue that i had also invited two of her cousins (and their respective spouses and kids), her parents, her younger brother and her best friend from dragon boating.
when she walked in and saw what we had done, she actually had to walk back out, turn to her husband and ask in complete shock, "hoa... do you know what's going on? what's going on? what's happening?"
awesome! i was stressed that she would find out and it's been difficult because i had been seeing her every weekend since the last weekend of november. i was so worried i'd let something slip.
anyway, the party was great. i haven't hosted such a large event (24 adults and 12 kids) in such a long time (not including chaeli's birthday parties held at indoor playgrounds where we get a host or two to do a lot of the leg work) that i found myself a bit lost in what to do. and planning a party for an adult is so very different, in my opinion, from throwing a party for a preschooler. and the last time i threw such a party mainly for an adult (or adults) was back several years back - the 2000 new years party and the jack and jill for ada/hoa. i've had bbq gatherings and potlucks since then, but those were of a smaller group.
so yes - i found myself quite nervous.
i think it went well, though. everyone seemed to have a good time. i tried to keep it casual - nothing too fancy. it was meant to just be a nice, intimate and cozy gathering.
the next day, the saturday, doug, chaeli and i went downtown by subway to watch disney on ice.
we've seen this one before two years ago - the princess classics. but even the 2nd time around, it was good. in fact, it was better. we bought better seats - a section better which ended up being only $39 ea. and 12 rows from the rink. not bad, considering the first 3 rows right at the rink are $80 ea.
afterwards, we went right back uptown and stopped at a small japanese restaurant for some really good, quality food for a very decent price.
chaeli was so tired. she hardly slepted the night before and because the show was at 3pm, she missed her nap. by the end of our meal, her eyes were almost half shut. but it was some of her favourite food and she was hungry. so she forced herself to stay awake just to eat as much as she could.
by the time we drove underground into our parking lot, she was out.
she slept almost 14 hours that night.
i've been busy.
and it's been fun stuff but the one thing i'm missing is having down time. i mean, the christmas tree and all the other decorations are up, but i haven't had the time to be able to enjoy it. i would love a full weekend where we have ample opportunity to sit in our living room, listening to christmas tunes and do some craft together. or read. or play board games.
this sunday might give us that opportunity, as will christmas eve. but that is all.
and i'll take that over nothing.
i was just talking to my girlfriend about christmas eve and christmas day. and how it's managed with extended family, as well as our immediate family.
we both agreed that we need at portion of time to be with just the husband and our kids - to set aside at least christmas eve and/or christmas morning for us to build our own annual traditions.
it's not always easy though - family politics can come into play. for example - if you come from two large familes (or worse, if your side and his side are like oil and water), how do you decide on how to split it up AND reserve that special time for just your nuclear family?
my in-laws do not live in the same city as us but if they did, both sides are small enough to have christmas dinner together. and i would have no problem having them over late in the morning to open presents with chaeli. but i would still want christmas eve pretty much to ourselves. a drop by from a friend is no big deal, so long as we get to stay where we are. at home.
so i want to hear from those out there - how do you do it? what's your idea christmas?
note: to all those replying, it seems as though people think that i'm having family politics over the holidays and i just want to clarify, that i'm not. but i notice it's common amongst a lot of people i know. :)
this past saturday, we had our annual 'deep fried turkey and kid's secret santa exchange' party at steve and cor's house.
what a good party - i just felt like a huge release being there with good friends. laughing and talking and best of all - the kids are so good at playing on their own now. they spent most of the time in the basement with each other. ah bliss!
an important lesson learned within five minutes of arriving - even though i think people never read my facebook status updates, they SO read them.
within the first hour, the following facebook statuses by yours truely was discussed:
- that i admitted to staring at zac efron's 6-pack in '17 again'
- that i love red, orange and yellow peppers, but am not fond of green peppers
- that i almost went to see 'new moon' on my own
i think the highlight of the night was the guys chin-up contest. boys will be boys, after all.
afterwards, steve l. said, "i'm very disppointed with myself. hoa! i should hire you to train me back into shape."
to which hoa's reply was, "okay. but you HAVE to listen to me. if i tell you to do a push-up, you can't just say, 'bah! why bother?'"
hoa totally had steve l. pinned on that one because that's EXACTLY the type of thing steve l. would say.
and i think it's these little conversations of parties that seems to stick with me the most. the kind where a smaller group is off to the side, chatting and having a good laugh or two.
we were sitting in the living room, doug and i, while chaeli was playing pinball on the wii with my aunt.
out of nowhere, we hear chaeli yell out, "ALRIGHT! ROCK 'N ROLL!"
rock. and. roll.
i have no idea where she got that from
***
at the zoo, chaeli went up to the educational table, which are always manned by volunteers.
she stood there for a few seconds and then asked the lady, very loudly i might add, "DID YOU KILL ALL THESE BUTTERFLIES AND BUGS? JUST TO SHOW IT ON THIS TABLE???"
ack!
***
for such little person, she clogs up the toilet the MOST in our household.
our plans changed for the weekend and ended up being a very quiet one at home. which was just as well - we have so many busy weekends up ahead so a little break won't hurt.
i ended up being the first to be awake on a saturday morning. i quickly packed my gym bag and away i went to my bodypump class. and because the women's gym was on top of the 2nd floor of the superstore, i decided to do some grocery shopping afterwards. convenience at it's finest!
the rest of the afternoon was lazy. after lunch, we were all in the living room... chaeli playing her leapster games, doug reading the paper and me... well, i was reading something. but my eyes were so heavy that after awhile, i just leaned into doug and closed them for a bit.
i think that was my favourite part of the day. sitting on that couch with the two people that i love, just taking in the quietness and peace. but... i couldn't take it much longer. i was just that tired. i ended up going up stairs and napping for almost an hour an a half!
being completely lazy, we ordered in swiss chalet and then watched Up.
sunday wasn't as lazy, though. we got up and went to the zoo for a stroll, and then went shopping. i ended up treating myself to DDR3 for the wii and man... i suck! hopefully, with practice, i'll be a dancing queen but until then, lets just say i'm glad that i'm doing this in the privacy of my basement, away from the public eye.
anyway, it was one of those interesting weekends where nothing significant happened. instead, it was filled with a lot of little things. but for whatever reason, it's those little things that sometimes gives me that exhilerated feeling.
actually, the peppermient mocha at starbucks is a tad too sweet for my taste. but i love the minty flavour so it's hard to resist.
the heaven part really isn't just the drink. it's that i took the day off, got the house cleaning done in the morning (so i know it's out of the way for the weekend), gone for a very good, strength-circuit class from hell, had a very yummy turkey sandwich with sparkling water and am now listing to tunes while surfing at starbucks (god bless 2 hour free hotspot a day here).
the mocha latte is my dessert.
and i have about 2.5 hrs more before i have to go pick up little miss.
i'm loving it!
so we ordered chaeli some chocolate ice cream after dining at a local german restaurant this past friday night.
about halfway through, chaeli starts to moosh up her ice cream.
my mom asks, "chaeli, what are you doing?"
chaeli mumbles, "i'm making food."
"you're making food?"
"no - i'm making POO!"
so exactly when did my sweet little girl turn into little miss disgustington?
but... if it's even possible, i love her even more then when she was first born.
how often does halloween fall on a saturday night? not often enough!
it was so nice not to have to race home from work along with all the other parents doing the same thing, thereby making rush hour even crazier. and then, not having to rush dinner to leave time for trick-or-treating.
and then, it was just so very nice not having to try and rush the whole bedtime routine knowing that it's a school night.
what made the night even better was that we got to spend it with friends. di and rick hosted a little halloween party which ended up being just as fun for the adults as for the kids.
noisey neighbours are driving me crazy!
on one side, we have 'the children of the corn' (they like to stand motionless beside each other and just stare at us when we're out doing stuff on our patio - i can not tell you how un-nerving and a tad creepy it is). they don't seem to have a bedtime because they can be up until 11pm on a school night (sometimes even up to midnight), even though they are 8 and 4 years of age. which is fine - none of my business, right? except that they run around the house. and when i mean run, i mean they stomp the ground as if they have lead feet and are purposely trying to damage the floor. of course, the vibration also travels as the floor is connected to our floor and our walls (which really are not that thin to begin with so you can imagine how noisy they generally are) of our townhouse.
on the other side of us are neighbours that tend to like to wake up around 3am to have sex. now, i gotta say, the sex isn't that loud. and i only hear it if i happen to be up visiting the loo. but when i'm tired and grouchy, which i'm always grouchy when tired, the last thing i want to here is the bed springs squeeking as i sit on the toilet.
having said that, i would prefer the bed springs over the children of the corn anyday. not because i'm a perve but because the bed spring action doesn't keep me awake and is over within 30 minutes, if not less. the stomping around can sometimes continue from the time they get home from school until the time they go to bed, which evidently, is after my bedtime.
so as far as the children of the corn are concerned, i'm not sure whether or not i should complain or not. it's a strange situation. it's not the children's fault and as a parent, i know it's difficult to get children to be completely quiet. so i'm not asking them to stop completely. i just wish that from, lets say, 9 pm and onwards, that they are more mindful.
i don't know - suggestions?
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