Happy Halloween

We had such a busy day yesterday that I was a bit slow with the camera. We spent much of the day at the Snyder Family Farm. We picked through the dregs of the pumpkin patch for an hour but still managed to find some perfect pumpkins. Meghan rode a pony, but the highlight for her was the tractor/wagon ride because it was dressed up as a train.

We returned home around 4:30, which gave us just enough time to decorate before the real madness began. We live on the quiet part of the street so we probably only got half the kids. I heard the other side was just crazy. We still had somewhere around 300-350 kids though. I turned off the light at 9:00 so I could save a few of "the good treats" for David and I.

Mostly these are aftermath pictures but you get the idea...

The original plan was for a Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde lab but the wind wasn't cooperating. This is how we improvised at the last minute. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

The funniest part of the night for me was watching a little girl, about Meghan's age, talk to the inflatable tree we had on the lawn (for at least 10 minutes). She was quite concerned that it didn't respond to her and she told me so.

David tells me that Meghan was a model trick-or-treater. The strangest/saddest part was realizing that she knows more people in the area than we do.

Can you do the boneyard dance?

Name my Snobby girl

Please help me name this character. She is 10 years old, elitist, snobby, and Queen of her class.

School Pictures Are In

printed copies will be distributed in the coming months

NaNoWriMo

I've signed up for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. This is a test of the progress meter I intend to use...

If you want to try too, I'm listed as marcie8. Add me as a buddy.

One Last Hurrah on Lake Muldrew

Ontario Place

Some pictures from our day at Ontario Place

At the 680 News "Traffic School" kids drove around a track set up like a real system of roads, complete with road signs and traffic lights.

Without instruction, each drove exclusively on the right-hand side of the road, stopped at every stop sign, looked both ways before crossing or turning onto a street, and obeyed the traffic lights.

Some, like Meghan, didn't know which set of lights to obey when turning, so they treated the intersection like a four-way stop. During the 10 or so minutes that Meghan was on the course there was only one accident: one kid playing bumper cars. The rest took the experience very seriously.

Another memorable experience was navigating this kid-sized maze.






Meghan crawled through the clear-bottom tubes slowly, but eventually did make it without help. Perhaps next year we'll try her on the glass floor in the CN tower.

Meghan also loved the ATVs. She picked a dragon bike with a mouth she could open and close.

Other favourites included the FreeFall (that tall tower that drops) and the really big slide.

First Day of School

Meghan joined the ranks of schoolbound kids on Sept 17. The morning started out rough.

Those on Facebook can view the video here

(Blogger doesn't allow me to embed videos in the posts anymore)

She felt a bit better when we put the backpack on her and started to leave.

By the end of the driveway she was all smiles.

The bus barely stopped before she jumped on.

Meghan sat with "the girl in the red coat" and made her first new friend.

Fast forward seven hours to when David and I met the after-school bus. All the other kids get off the bus. David and I wait. Meghan is still in her seat with "the girl in the red coat". The driver looks like he's about to pull away. Finally, Meghan realizes that she should get off and does. (She had been looking across the street where the morning bus picked her up. Since she didn't see us there, she didn't think it was her stop).

"What did you do at school today, Meghan?

"I played and played and played and I didn't kick any boys."

There was a note from her teacher in Meghan's backpack: Meghan kicked a boy today and had a time out...I'm sure it won't happen again.

Too Big for that Baby Stuff

Earlier this week I naively put on a former favourite music disk of Meghan's to listen to while we cleaned up. Upon hearing the first couple notes of the very first song (The Wheels on the Bus I believe), Meghan turned to me, put her hand on her hip and said (snarled really) in her most 'I'm annoyed and insulted' voice "Mommy (pronounced mom-may), I'm too big for that Baby Stuff!"

Apparently, my 4 year old has a more sophisticated ear. Her current favourites are mostly by Canadian Indie artists:

1. Help I'm Alive by Metric
2. The Truck Got Stuck by Corb Lund
3. So What by P!nk (not so happy about this one)

Perhaps we should have named her Vanna

Summer Has Finally Arrived

Going to School Haircut

Big Girl Bike

Santa's Village

Vacation on Lake Muldrew

Happy 4th Birthday Meghan (on June 21st)

We're a bit behind with the posts but here are a few pics from Meghan's birthday

Meghan's Off-Switch

Anyone who's met Meghan understands her two nicknames - "the Tornado" and "the Energizer Bunny" - and has at some point wondered where the "off switch" is. I think I found the formula.

Yesterday, Meghan's day went like this:
8 am - up, dressed, breakfast
9 - swimming - where she swam and floated by herself for a few seconds and realized that she did it + jumped off the big diving board all by herself after a brief few seconds of a fear of heights
10-3 - snacks, play, and learning intermittenly by herself and with Mommy
3-5 - play outside
5-6 dinner
6 clean up time
7-9:30 go to school (more on this after the schedule)
9:30 sing Happy Birthday to Grandpa and tell him all about her day
9:45 bath
10pm - bed but can't sleep
11pm - finally asleep
7am the next morning - wants to know if it's time to go to Daddy's baseball game yet - falls asleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed with a "no, not yet"
8:30am - washroom break then back to her own bed
10am - still dead to the world (after two tries of the get-up routine)
10:30 - Mommy plans to try the get-up routine again (everything she can think of - most of which doesn't work, the rest of which makes for a really cranky girl)

School Last Night
- Meghan found the classroom and was in playing with the toys and other kids before Mommy and Daddy even made it halfway down the hall.
- Mommy and Daddy thought they should at least go into the classroom, so they do - no point, they can't even get Meghan to acknowledge their presence
- after the meeting, Mommy and Daddy take their time getting back to the classroom because they know that unless Meghan is the last one there, some kicking and screaming will be involved.
- Forever later, when it's just us and the janitor left in the entire school - we finally convince Meghan to leave (though not quickly)

More Adventures of Craft Girl

Obituary

Notice: David's 1998 Sunfire with nearly 375,000 KMs will be laid to rest next Tuesday. He has replaced his "other love" with a younger model (a 2009 navy blue Elantra).

A eulogy may come at a later date. But for now, you may pay your respects in the comments section of this posting.