High Tech Valentines

Everybody picked their design from some templates I had and Honey asked that I change hers from a picture of a flower to a monkey. Her classroom has a monkey theme, her teacher loves monkeys and it was quite important to incorporate this design element. Thank goodness for Google and free clip art!!! Lovey was thrilled that hers had her favourite colours, red & black and didn't need to change anything.  Sweetie browsed my selection of templates and chose the pinkest one she could find. 

We're planning to go out to dinner to have a nice night out. I thought we'd get a babysitter or catch Grammie some time she was in town but that was met with quite an outcry! "valentine's day is about love, and you love us so you should take us!" They worded it much better and intricately than that and had us laughing too  hard to protest any further. Family Valentine's dinner to be held soon I guess!

I hope everyone else had a much less anxious, dramatic and hectic day than we did!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Busy day yesterday with all the bullying drama (see other post) and I was also babysitting the two girls next door at the time and had to leave the house by 5:30 to volunteer at the church fundraising dinner downtown. A little hectic and rushed but all under control!

The girls all enjoyed their valentines and treats and were excited to give their own out. They got lots of nice comments. The other kids were amazed that their mom "who does stuff with pictures" as Honey put it when she couldn't remember the word "photographer at school LOL, got their FACES  on the valentine. Not sure why it was amazing this year, it's the 4th time they've given out this type! Lovey's party wasn't until today as their Tuesday schedule was too busy to fit it in.

The girls got a parcel in the mail from Nanny & Grampy with some little surprises and treats. They got cards & stickers from Grammie & Grandad and more stuff from school. It wasn't an excessive amount this year which was nice since they're still working on Halloween candy here!

I taped sparkly cupids to the inside cover of their lunchboxes and put a marshmallow heart for their dessert so it was quite a surprise when they opened it up at school. I also surprised Murray by making lobster sandwiches and sneaking some Lindt raspberry chocolates in there when he wasn't looking. I had the whole lunch packed and ready (cupid in there and everything!) at the top of the stairs so he wouldn't need to open it in the kitchen. He grabbed it on the way by and totally burst my bubble by reminding me that he didn't need a lunch as they were having meetings that day and ordering in pizza. Uh oh. 2 day old lobster sandwiches wouldn't be very good.... but I didn't want to say anything and spoil the surprise. My concerned look and lack of words tipped him off though. He opened  his lunch as soon as he got there and had the sandwiches at 8:30! I guess that's still a success right?

We had to rush through dinner since I had to leave early. The fundraiser went well and my photography coupon got a good price so I was happy to get that donation for the church. The event was oversold and they raised a lot of money for the renovations we need done. But what a late night! We were there cleaning up, dismantling and doing dishes til after 11pm. We left even though there were still 3 or 4 loads to put through the dishwasher! So much for the 7:30/8ish I'd told Murray when I left. oops!

I got my valentine's surprise early! Murray took the girls shopping on Saturday while I was at Acorn's house for their photoshoot! A gorgeous bouquet was waiting on the table when I got home, woohoo!!

Even though I had to skip out early, I still had a nice dinner for us! Or so I thought! Sweetie and Lovey had trouble getting their scallops down and did not get to have their strawberries dipped in chocolate and didn't get to have any of the red velvet cupcakes with creamcheese frosting! more for us!!!

Mean Girls

The girls got home from school yesterday and Sweetie had had a problem at school & on the ride home. Another little girl was making fun of her and enlisting others, including Tulip! They would pretend she was a monster and every time she went near them to play or even looked their way, they all pretended she was hideous/scary and would shriek in mock fear until she went away. If she asked to play with them, the girl would immediately tell her "Sorry Sweetie, this is only a 2 player game". and so on.

The first time it happened, she wasn't too upset and I told her to ignore her and find her other friends to play with. The next time it happened, Sweetie told the girl that it made her sad when they acted like that and the girl tossed out a saucy "So?!?" and got mad and meaner so Sweetie didn't want to do anything about it for fear of it getting worse. As soon as the other girl wasn't around, Tulip felt bad and apologized and promised not to do it ever again. Then yesterday was at least the 3rd time they played the "monster game" and were "terrified" of Sweetie. They'd look at her and giggle and whisper back and forth and scream etc. The girl goes to a babysitter on our street so she's on the bus the entire way home and hard to avoid. Again Tulip apologized and promised again not to play the monster game anymore. She was afraid to go against the girl because she would get mad and then be mean to Tulip. She gets upset on the playground when they don't play her game or if she doesn't get her way and all 4 girls said that she gets really mean and they're afraid to make her mad at them and don't want to tell a teacher. Sweetie said that after she got to her babysitter's house that Sweetie felt a tear run down her cheek even though she didn't mean to cry.

That was enough for me. I phoned Tulip's mom to find out more details from Tulip's perspective. Was this girl as intimidating as my girls were claiming? Was Sweetie just being oversensitive? dramatic? (because that's not really out of the question around here!) As soon as Penny got on the phone, Tulip was excited and thought I was calling to invite her over and I could hear her right beside her mom, "can I go over???? can I??? can I Mom????". Then I asked Penny if she could ask Tulip what the monster game was about, I heard "Monster game???..... Tulip do you know..... hey? where did you go? Tulip?" Aha. It wasn't harmless if she felt the need to disappear that fast! Tulip said the same things, she didn't like to do that but if she didn't then the girl would get mad and be mean to her and she was afraid not to. Penny immediately said "and what is that called when someone does that???? they're being a ......?" Tulip finished it for her "bully". Since Tulip usually plays really well with the girls, I didn't really think this game was her idea so it was good to know where it was coming from and why she was involved.

I decided to email the teacher and ask what we should do. I didn't want Sweetie shedding even ONE more tear because of this. At bed time she was a mess of tears, so worried about how mad this girl was going to be or how mean she'd be if they got her in trouble. Eventually Murray got her to sleep.

Today her teacher replied to my email and said she'd talk to the girls and phone me after school. I waited for the bus anxiously today. Sweetie came down the steps looking happy and at ease which was a huge relief! She told me that the teacher had take the two girls into another classroom to talk about what was going on. She asked them each questions and checked with Sweetie to see if what the other girl was saying was true and for the most part it all went well. Sweetie did say that the other girl tried to make it sound like it didn't happen as often as it did but other than that she admitted to everything Sweetie had said. Miss D flat out told the girl "what you're doing is bullying." It made me feel so much better to know that the teacher agreed with me. I wasn't jumping the gun and throwing in the B word prematurely. It was exactly what I'd thought. She did phone me later and said she felt bad that Sweetie had gone through that and that she is a kind and sweet girl who wouldn't have done anything to hurt or upset the other girl."I've been her teacher since September, I know her."

Sweetie was very happy to have everything taken care of and feels so much better about the whole situation. She made Miss D a special card to say thank you for helping her. :) I hope that this is the end of it, or will the other girl be mad and retaliate now???

Fundraising!

Our church is very old and has gorgeous stonework on the exterior. Unfortunately, it's so old that some of the masonry needs redone, roofing repaired, stained glass fixed etc. As you can imagine, it's all very expensive. To help with this, a fundraising dinner was held. The committee thought it would be nice for the Sunday School kids to make thank you cards for the donors for preserving the church for the kids' future.

I somehow got on this committee (how do these things happen??? LOL) and worked with the kids on the cards. As I introduced the project, I explained that their church needed a lot of work and with out the repairs, it could eventually all fall apart and that in order for the church to be there when they grew up, we needed a lot of money to pay for the work. I then asked them if they could pay for it. Lots of little blank, apprehensive faces stared back at me. I explained that the grown ups were trying to take care of the problems and that people were buying tickets for the dinner and that money would help pay for the repairs. Next I told them they could help by making nice thank yous for those who were coming to the dinner. It was a rough 20 minutes, circling their knee high little table, ensuring they cranked out those cards (over 130 between 9 kids and did I mention the 20 minute thing???) There wasn't a moment to spare!!! but they got it done and had time for a cookie at the end.

As I gathered up the cards, I came across this one made by Lovey. Can't say it any better than that can you?

Weekend.....? what weekend???

I must have blined and missed it! It's Sunday night already? really???? I had a to do list on Friday that I was pretty sure would never get done!

Step Class 9am

Model at gym 10am

go to grocery store

go to bank

pick up books for MOM on bedrest

drop off photography coupon for church auction

hair appt noon

I was even a couple minutes early for my appointment and made all my planned stops. And yes, you read correctly, they needed someone to pose for pictures at they gym for their new website. I'm just not sure whether it's going to encourage any new business! I don't know that "keepin' it real" is always a plus in advertising...

I got done at the hairdresser's and got home with time to spare to meet the kids getting home from school. Immediately they wanted to have friends over. It was a gorgeous day out so I said she could come but they were playing outdoors Grumbled acceptance was heard. A few minutes later Tulip calls to see if she can come and I tell her to head down. She also wanted to know if  Sweetie's BFF next door is also coming but I told her she wasn't & then we hung up. I told the girls to get their stuff on to go out and a few minutes later Tulip is at the door and they all head out to play. Then the phone rings again. It's BFF's dad. "Hi Kelly, ummm it's Ian.. Tulip phoned to ask if BFF could come over to your house...."  Seriously? not a huge deal but rather odd isn't it????? How does Tulip know I want the whole neighbourhood here? what if it wasn't a good day? luckily it didn't really matter too much since they had to play outside so I told him to send her over.

Everyone was outdoors when I heard someone come in and go in to the bathroom. Ok no problem, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go right? They were in there a good long while & I went about my stuff, prepping supper etc. Suddenly someone is standing at my side. It's BFF's big sister who got home from middle school. "Hi Kelly!" Oh. hi!..... awkward silence as she just stands there and watches me. Ummmm the kids are all out in the backyard. "yeah. I know." more standing and watching. I kept working. she kept standing and then starts telling me their exciting plans for the weekend. 

BFF & her sister had to head home around 4 to get started on their big night out so it was just Tulip and my three left and they came barreling in at 4:45, ready to ditch their winter gear and come in and wreck play in the house. unh unh! I reminded them it was an outdoor playdate only. *insert chorus of whining here*  I really didn't want a mess so I told them to watch for Murray coming and to walk Tulip home. Then Tulip pipes up "well WHY can't I stay for supper??????????" ummmm because it's weird to invite yourself over???? Murray got home just in the nick of time as I was getting slightly exasperated! He trucked them off and came back just in time to sit down to dinner. 

Right after I ate I went to see my friend Stacey who was in town for her grandfather's funeral. That night was the visitation so I went to be with her as they were having a hard time. I kept her company til it was over and she said it wasn't nearly as horrible as she'd been dreading. 

When I got home I decided I needed a new facebook profile pic and no time like hair appointment day!

Acorn's parents decided to hire me for some family photos so I packed up my gear Friday night and headed to their place Saturday morning. I got trigger happy and we had wardrobe changes, various set ups indoors and outdoors. Before I knew it, 3 hours had gone by! I had meant to finish up around 1pm and then bring Acorn home with me to make up for not bringing Lovey when I came over! Acorn kept asking "is it time for you to kidnap me yet?" Finally it was time to hit the road and she was a very willing victim :)

Lovey & the girls flew to the door as soon as I drove in honking. Acorn enjoyed the attention and opened her door and just sat there enjoying the whooping and hollering for a minute before racing in to join them. Or perhaps she was reconsidering her decision to come at all!!!

 

The weather was a bit iffy so Acorn had packed a bag just in case she "HAD" to sleepover. At supper I announced the bad news that the weather wasn't bad enough to trap us at home. Groans of disappointment filled the room!

We dropped her off to meet her dad at her sister's dance lesson and then we all went to a hockey game! The kids had free tickets so we decided it was a good night to all go. Lovey & Sweetie were ok with the 1st two periods but by the 3rd, they'd completely lost interest (roughly around the same time the popcorn and cotton candy ran out strangely enough...) At ten minutes left in the 3rd, I took the 2 of them out to get the van cleaned off and ready to go. Honey & Murray stayed til the end as the home team never loses while Honey's there and we didn't want to jinx them.

By the time we got home it was 10 and then 10:30 by the time everyone was tucked in, prayed with, hugged and kissed. I was pretty tired myself but we were expecting company for lunch on Sunday so needed to prep some food and I also haaaaaaaaaaaaaad to have a peek at the images from the session and then there's always some facebook catch up to do.... 1am came way too fast and I packed it in and slept like a log!

Check out the amazing juggling seen at lunch time. Murray can totally kill it with 2 oranges but that's the limit so far. The kids are really impressed with his mad skillz though and frequently request that he juggle for them. They ooh and ahhhh and it all cracks me up every time.

 

Honey tried her hand at it and came up with this deep thought:: if juggling was just one orange, it would be pretty easy. but not every entertaining.