Spring Concert tonight ........... 70+ dancers entertained over 200 people who came out to see them.

On stage is definately where my kiddos love to be!

Her face says it all

and he had a blast.

I'm proud of them and the whole club. They ALL deserved standing ovations!

Silver! Gold! Gold! Gold!

The kids brought home the hardware this weekend!


I'm so proud of them for dancing with all their heart and determination....medals are just icing.



They ROCKED!





It's great that they are rewarded for a job well done with high marks, praise and medals of any colour from the adjudicators --- but as their instructor says if you're happy with your performance and you had fun that is all that matters.


My reward is seeing them on stage where I know they love to be. I will also admit I love listening to the people around me when they comment about the kids on stage when they just happen to be mine....or ones that I know.


Big proud moments this weekend watching all our kids ROCK IT!




Other highlights of the weekend included me loosing my mind Friday morning before leaving the house....not a proud moment but it happens occasionally. Feeding the kids donuts for supper on Saturday night....again not a mom-o-the-year moment but they didn't seem to mind. Some of the better moments were getting to play with the kids in the pool and taking pics of the kids playing in the pool on Friday night and then managing to squeeze in one more hour of awesome pool time for them Saturday afternoon......and since Owen was miraculously comfortable in this particular pool, we were able to sit on the deck and watch them play....together....without fighting....all 4 of them. Awesome! A rare occasion where teens and young'uns all got along. It lasted all of an hour but I'll take it where I get it.


The weekend wasn't insanely rush-rush which was nice and the hotel being right across the street from the competition site was perfect. We ended up staying the 2nd night afterall and popping over to Al's cousins' hotel so the kids could swim and play together (and I could accidently drink a bottle of wine) and relax. Unfortunately I found out when we checked out that the quoted price for our hotel room wasn't the actual price and we ended up paying more than expected but without having the actual email with the quoted price on it with me what could I do. It was an expensive weekend so that extra $50 doesn't make that much difference...and the huge (and I do mean huge) room and the location made it worth it.

Competition weekend is over for another year. Where will we go next year? Brandon again? Yorkton? Next up - Spring Concert in a couple weeks.....and then we are done till September.

Off to finish up the last of the weekend laundry. Have a good afternoon.


~K

It's a good thing he's cute

Owen: Dad why did you marry Mom?

Dad: Because I thought she was cute.

Owen: I think I'm going to puke.

End of conversation.

I'm speechless.

It's a good thing he's cute.

Owen is 6 !!!

Okay so the little man, my youngest, my baby isn't so much a baby anymore. He's 6 already! Happy Birthday Dude. His birthday was last Tuesday and we had a rocking good party for him that afternoon. Of course he wanted a Bowling party and he invited a pile of friends (which i'm happy to report didn't all show up...cuz quite frankly that would have frazzled me beyond repair). I also invited the older sisters of a couple of his friends along to play with Emily too. All together there were 12 kids...can you say CHAOS! They had a great time bowling and eating and opening presents - which all took way less time than I'd thought so we then had to entertain and keep the kids busy for 25minutes before their parents came to pick them up. Fun Stuff Baby!

Owen had a great year this past year and has really grown so much in so many ways. He had a rough go of Kindergarden last year with quite a few moments of stress, with him not wanting to get up in the mornings or go to school at all. He had some issues with a bully of sorts in his class room and at daycare which has all been sorted out. This year is completely different. He's up and eager to go to school each day (except for the pile of days he's been sick...which is a whole lot!) At some point over the summer we discovered the little critter could read! Totally shocked us. I'm so happy to have one more 'reader' in my house. He loves to read and takes great pride in it. I was worried that all the school he'd missed the first few months of the year would set him back but he's ahead of where he needs to be reading wise so all is good. Last year was his first year of YBC bowling and he did amazingly well. He's back in bowling again this year and loves it and of course he is Ukrainain Dancing again this year too. Right now he's loves playing with Webkinz and also with his Nintendo DS games - most recently his new Pokemon Diamond game. He loves all things Pokemon especially the 'action figure' type toys. Any kind of plastic figurine that he can make up pretend games with is what he really loves. His imagination is really something so witness. Our little guy is really growing up. Not the shy little thing he used to be, hiding any time anyone spoke to him. He's really come out of his shell. It's hard to believe but my baby's growing up more and more each day and turning into a confident, funny (way funny), imaginative young boy. Happy Birthday Owen. Momma Loves You!!!

and then the boy said.....

"oh mom, you always come thru for me."

and i am speechless

how do you repond to that other than to grin and feel like somebody loves you and everything you do for them...even the little things

and what brought forth this tidbit of love from my 5 (and a half) year old son's mouth

i handed him a banana sandwich

a banana sandwich he hadn't asked for

a meal he didn't whine for (unlike his sister who was hungry in mid afternoon.....possibly because she didn't bother listening to me when i said 'have breakfast' a few hours earlier like he did)

i'd made her a banana sandwich - cuz really those couple of remaining bananas were destined for the garbage sooner rather than later anyway and cuz i haven't been grocery shopping in a week and the pantry is BARE!

i made him one just because if i was making one i may as well make two.

i walked into the living room, handed him the sandwich muttering 'here - eat this' half expecting him to grumble that he didn't want it and as i walked away he floored me with his loving words

ahhhh it's good to be loved - and i so needed it this afternoon

and i'm speechless

because once again i'm thinking 'where the heck does he come up with these things he says'

he's a funny kid.

and i love him

and he loves me

and some days that's enough to get you through

especially on those days when other children, who shall remain nameless, are whining....i'm bored; i don't want to help cut the grass; or take the sheets off my bed for washing; make my own breakfast. i want to go to town; amma's; gramma's; aunty georgie's; cherie's; alex's basically anywhere but here - cuz i'm bored and don't want to help cut the grass or clean my room or put my laundry away or any of the other millions of ways that might be thought up to torture their poor pitiful souls.

A man's home may be his castle but....

to my son, a dog kennel is his castle.

I spotted him as I passed by an upstairs window yesterday afternoon. I raced downstairs to get my camera and back upstairs to catch some pics on the sly. Honestly I was laughing so hard I'm surprised the pictures turned out so clear. He was just sitting in that kennel talking to himself but I was too high up and couldn't hear what he was saying. Then Aarica came out the back door and he turned to look at her, reached over and closed the kennel door as if to keep her out. It was so funny I couldnt' stop laughing. Eventually he got out of the kennel and ran across the yard - a boy on a mission, but by the time I got downstairs and outside he was back in there and quite happily posed for some closeups of him inside. He even answered a few quick interview questions (i like to get a glimps inside that mind of his every once in awhile. it's quite entertaining)

mom: Owen sweetie, what are you doing in the kennel?

owen: playing (duh!)

mom: Cool. Who are you today? a tiger, a bear - an armoured bear? (he's big on The Golden Compass right now and he wants to be an armoured bear)

owen: No. I'm Bowser and this is my castle. (I dont' think he get's it that Bowser - from MarioBros for those not Nintendo savy, is a badguy)

Whoever said tv and video games squash a childs creativity has never had a conversation with my son. He can play for hours like this. (Honestly, this was the longest I'd seen him since he got home from school 3hours earlier) He doesnt' necessarily have an imaginary friend like his brother did at his age but he makes up games and stories with all the characters from his favorite movies and tv shows and games. He's got quite the collection of 'friends' and they play some pretty interesting things together. Some days he's a tiger or a dog, some days he's an armoured bear or a MarioBros character or Ron Stopable or any number of characters.

Often times I find myself asking 'where does this kid get this stuff from' and i'll admit sometimes it's a spinoff of something he's seen on tv or a video game but other times it's straight out of that head of his. Last week he told me that he wouldn't be home on Friday because he was performing his Sword Dance in Montreal. He said it matter of factly, like it was no big deal. To him, Montreal is just a name he's heard (probably from hockey) so he know's it's an actual place he could go to and well the sword dance thing - that's just wishful thinking because the older dancers do one and he wants to be just like them. He's one funny little kid.

Advocacy 101

Where was that chapter in all the parenting books I read when my kids were young?

I think all parents - whether they have a special needs child or not, should take a class on being an effective advocate for your child(ren).

The A word - Advocate - seems to be smacking me in the face alot lately, from a couple different directions. I'm 'sort of' used to it with Aarica and I'm the first to admit I'm not the best advocate when it comes to her as I should be --- but I'm learning and trying to pick up the slack I've created. There have been some issues regarding her lately. This whole highschool thing is just new stuff for me and it's taking awhile to learn the ropes and a whole new way of doing things compared to life in middle school. While I've learned to not expect the world from CSS over the years, I've never had more than a mild complaint or two about how things work through the school system and I've never felt my daughter has needed me to stick my nose in and question what's going on. We've been truely blessed throughout the years with wonderful people to help us. We've had wonderful daycare staff that to this day are a gift, good resource coordinators at the school, amazing teachers and awesome TA support with many of these people going above and beyond to help and support not only our daughter but also me (and my sanity) as well as our family. All of a sudden i'm in uncharted waters. HighSchool is a whole different ball game and I'm struggling........ but that is why I've scheduled a meeting with the resource coordinator at the HighSchool to get a few things off my chest about some issues and I am determined to help my daughter and not drop the ball.

But it's not just Aarica I've got to be an advocate for lately. It seems our youngest is also struggling with some issues both at school and at daycare and now I've stepped up to the plate to help him too. Owen is dealing with a bully of sorts - someone in both his kindergarden class and his daycare group and I'm feeling like I've come full circle. 10 years ago, I'm sure there was a parent just like me, talking to teachers about how their child is having problems with our daughter and now I'm talking to teachers about problems my son is having with another child. I almost feel like a hipocrite, complaining about some of the very same things Aarica has more than likely done to other kids over the years - but I know I would never have questioned any other parent for sticking up for their kid ....it's just odd to be on the other side of the fence for a change. No matter which side of the fence I'm on though - this advocacy thing is tough stuff. Lets just hope things all work out in the end.