George!!!!!!

This has been a busy week with many highlights but one especially stands out, I guess because it was so unexpected and made me so happy at the same time!!

After I graduated university, I decided I'd better do something with a degree that majored in Spanish! I found a job teaching English at a private school in México and stayed there for 2 years. It was a wild & crazy time & I learned so much, travelled all over the country and got close to a few families there.

George & I on the last day before Christmas vacation 1994

In my second year, there was one little boy that I just could NOT keep his name straight (Andrés). After the first week, I still wanted to call him Jorge all the time and although I'd pretty much learned all the other names, I was stuck on this one and couldn't figure it out. Then one day, he looked up at me, peeking through a little tuft of bangs on his forehead and it came to me. This cute little guy reminded me of Curious George!!! I gave up trying to use his real name & sat him down & told him he reminded me of one of my favourite story books when I was a little girl and for the rest of the year, he was "George". He learned to write "George" in his books & on all his tests & papers he took home. Then I realized I would now have to explain to some mother that I thought her kid looked like a monkey!!!!!! I'd found an old Curious George storybook & showed it to her one day and when his own mother laughed & agreed there was a resemblance, I knew we'd get along fine!

George & I at the year end party 1995

He was a sweet little boy & I loved to pick him up & get his hugs & kisses everyday. I had a lot of fun with that class & they were all affectionate & cute but there was just something about George that I just adored.


Before I left, I visited him and gave him a few trinkets that I'd had with me while I lived there. Then a year after I'd moved home, I ended up going back down to visit another family who'd semi-adopted me. I only had a little time in that city before the Campos family & I left on a trip elsewhere. When I phoned Susana to tell her I was in town for the day, George found out & insisted that she bring him right over for a visit. He came through the door & I scooped him up so fast, his head probably spun. I got as many squeezes in as I could & gave him one of my old Curious George books that I'd brought from home. He loved it & I think he was as happy to see me as I was to see him! I last saw him in 1996, he was almost 6 years old then. I sent him a card & letter every year at Christmas and he wrote me back once when he was 10. He told me he was in 4th grade & I was still his favourite teacher : ))) (see? pretty darn cute huh?) but that was the last I heard from him. I knew he was just a little boy and figured he'd gotten older and forgotten or lost interest in his old preschool teacher.



He sent me an email this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That little stinker reads this blog & never got around to sending me a message til now. I was soooooooo excited to hear from him & know he still loves me afterall : ))))) He's turning 19 in a few weeks and is still so adorable I could eat him up with a spoon!

he loves his mom !

and says his little sister is "is an essential part for me to live, I love her"

and anybody who loves their dog has to be a good guy! Dogs as pets aren't common in México, they mostly live on the streets, unowned. This was the only family I knew that had one as a pet. He adopted this dog off the street.

He kept all the little things I gave him & I don't want to embarrass the poor guy but I have to put this in: Also my ex-girlfriend as a gift give me another 3 books of Curious George when she know that I like him because of you, and the special meaning it has to me!

Ok, that's it, I've got to find a girl to marry him off to up here!!!! How cute is he??!?!?!??!??? What 19 yr old could be bothered to write to his old preschool teacher? or even remember her enough to know if he ever even liked her in the first place???? I wish I could still scoop him up and get another of those sweet hugs. Maybe someday!

Palling Around....

We had a great visit from Teena & Boo on Tuesday and they played Polly Pockets and dress up and we went for a walk down to check out the building progress on Tulip's new house. They played there for a long time, climbing on this rock pile, discovering bugs, searching for berries and just hanging around!
Lovey was checking out the flowers in our garden, good thing she's not allergic to pollen!!
Honey was showing Teena some of her dance moves.
Big fight over the insect. Boo had one on this stick & everyone wanted to look at it but she was afraid they would hurt it and was trying to protect it, the others got upset that she kept pulling the stick away and so on and so on. Bugs today, boys tomorrow???
Lovey captures the bug for a few minutes!

We've got wedding on the brain this week! My cousin Daniel is getting married tomorrow night and I'm making the wedding cake & taking the pictures for the wedding so the kids have been having lots of wedding scenarios lately. Yesterday they all got their own wedding dresses on, veils and all & today we stopped at the church so I could do some practice shots of this dark interior that has me verrrrrrrrrrry worried. (the wedding's supposed to be outdoors but it's looking like rain sooooooo this could be where I have to shoot) Sweetie & Lovey agreed to pose for me as bride & groom but then Lovey got upset because she didn't want to be a boy so then they both had to be the bride or the whole deal was off!

and our little songstress has been working up a few new numbers lately!

It's like trying to fight the tide... you just can't win.

Not sure if you all remember our dear friend Maggie, she worked with the girls when we were in the Early Intervention program & our regular interventionist was on mat leave. I'm not sure what I did to her but she apparently has had it in for me ever since. I think her plan began when I posted this after Christmas:

I would like to personally thank any and all who considered Polly Pocket sets
this year for my girls and decided against it. They can't possibly look after
them or keep track of them at this age and it would be absolutely hellish every
time Polly lost her beebee sized shoe! So the moral of the story here is: REAL
friends (or insert "aunt", "grandmother" etc here) don't buy Polly Pockets for
other people's children!

She came yesterday, toting a garbage bag FULL of Polly Pocket Paraphernalia. We now own 47 pairs of pea sized shoes, 12 Polly's, a Polly hotel complete with hot tub & swimming pool & front desk! , a Polly sized laptop, various softdrinks, outfits, pets and stuff you just wouldn't believe.
The girls are in absolute heaven. I am totally outnumbered in my anti-Polly stance. They woke up this morning and instead of "Mumma, I'm hungry, will you get my breakfast?" it was "Mumma, can we play Polly Pocket?????" I told them they had to do all 4 jobs first (eat, brush teeth, get dressed, make beds) and they were so keen, they didn't even wait for me after they ate, clothes were on, beds done & they even brushed their teeth themselves they were so anxious to get at it!!

One girl's trash is 3 other girls' treasure!!!! Maggie greatly enjoyed her visit & the girls are loving Polly Pocket world! Thank you Maggie! They are taking good care of the stuff & I've threatened to vaccuum up every little piece they leave behind and they're taking it very seriously. I also told them that if they can't play nicely with them, they're outta here (the toys that is, apparently you're not allowed to just throw your kids out....). Today I heard the beginnings of a squabble and somebody quickly said "oh, that's ok, I'll use this instead or we won't get to keep them!!!"

Junior Geeks

We took the kids on an outing on Tuesday & went to check out the Science Museum in town. I'd never gone before, I figured all the exhibits and info would be too complicated and over their heads & thought it would be better for them when they got older.
I thought this thing was pretty cool! I am standing directly across from him on another platform identical to the one G-man is on and I could hear everything he said when he spoke into the dish. Just don't ask me how/why it works!

This sand spirograph would have been interesting but it was a bit windy so the patterns didn't really take shape as the sand blew away as soon as the funnel started swinging. The kids enjoyed it anyway though.


There was a lot of stuff there that they enjoyed and they all had a great time checking things out and getting some hands on fun. I don't think they really learned much "theory" or understood much of the "science" part but they certainly enjoyed the fun stuff.

The tug of war really intrigued them. The ropes go through a box & the one on the girls' side doubles back on a pulley thing somehow making their side easier for them to pull & G-man's side is just a single rope and he couldn't budge anybody! However, even one little girl could hold her own against anybody in this game!
There was a great playground outside the museum with a couple of working water pumps to try.



Earlier in the day we took all the kids for a bike ride. Sweetie had gone with Murray on Sunday morning while the rest of us were at church (don't even ask, argh!) for TWO hours. She covered 5 km even if it was a slow pace. I couldn't believe she biked that far or that long. They went down to the farm and back & then out to the main road and back. Murray was pretty amazed with it & by the end she was able to brake and everything. However having 6 kids of varying speeds and skill levels was a disaster. G-man was always ahead and having to wait for the slowpokes, Sweetie wanted to take off with him but wouldn't necessarily stay on the side of the road, Lovey & Honey kept falling off their bikes. Once Honey got on a bit of a hill and got going too fast & I couldn't catch up to her soon enough (just caught the tail end of her hair) before she tipped over.... Bike rides will have to be one on one for awhile until we have equal abilities. At one point Sweetie wasn't listening and G-man had to grab her because she was in teh middle of the road again and not listening to any of the "STOP! WAIT! GET ON THE SIDE!" commands. He just stood there holding her handle bar & she immediately pitched a huge fit, screaming her head off. Tory called to him "It's ok, just ignore her!" and he said "Don't worry Mom, I AM!"

These two gave up on their bikes and walked along with us instead. Sooooo cute!!


That evening the inspector paid a visit and found there was still more sanding to do and we worked at that for about an hour and a half. Apparently our contractor was a little generous with his application of crackfill. We finally finished that & then Tory & I put on a coat of primer. It's starting to look more & more finished! The inspector came back this morning and approved the priming & gave the go ahead to continue! Thanks Dad, you're the BEST!


The kids ar enjoying the trailer and one day had a "girl party" out there. No boys allowed!

The end is near!

Normally this is not a good announcement but when you're talking about our new entryway, it sure is!!!! Joel came while we were on vacation and then again this past weekend and we only need to prime, paint & add trim & some closet doors and Voila! We'll have our project complete.

Anybody know much about drywall?!?!?!?! I'm sanding and sanding and have no idea if I'm done yet....

Purrrrrrrrrrrfect Friends

Mum & Dad got a couple new kittens before we left on vacation and the girls were in love with them! Sweetie has Gidget & I'm not sure who Honey's got here. There are only 2 so they had to swap them around a bit. Strangley, Mum didn't go for my suggestion of 3 kittens... maybe suriving baby triplets once is enough for her too!


Lovey, holding Luci. She's a rather mischievous bordering on evil sort of kitten so I suggested they call her Lucifer but since it's a girl, they went with "Luci".

I'm not sure the kittens returned the same amount of affection though! They kept trying to escape these darling little clutches. Lovey was disappointed that the kittens didn't want to stay with her but Honey informed her that "they're still learning about us"

The Last of the Vacation Photos

Highlights of the vacation included: Spending time with my nephew! I was 2 for 2 in the "getting baby to nap" game! Aunt Kelly's still got it!!!

Seeing my daughters enjoy themselves tremendously, day after day!

Watching other people make them happy (Aunt Cynia picked up these simple pinwheels that had them in awe)

Nanny gave them sparklers & they were a big hit!
We got to go out to a nice restaurant for a family dinner on Rick's birthday & as we left, the restaurant manager put his hand on my arm to stop me and leaned in and told me very seriously, "YOU have GOOD kids!" I was soooooo proud of our girls!!!
Only Honey would pose for the family picture. I think I have almost the same picture from last year actually!

Rick checking out some beachfront condos that he'll never buy....

going for simple walks & seeing what we could find.

Seeing the girls' delight in the beautiful sunsets, they insisted on gathering everyone together most nights to watch the sun go down.

This was our best cottage trip with the kids so far. Last year was only half the time & they were twice as miserable. The weather was cold & windy so beach time was very limited and we made trips in to town to keep them entertained. We didn't have to do that at all this year but a couple days ago when we were saying prayers, Lovey said she was tired of the cottage & she started asking to go home & the others started mentioning it too. Maybe there is such a thing as too much of a good thing? Murray & I definitely enjoyed our time, we shamelessly abused the grandparental access and went out to dinner tonight at a steak place I've been anxious to go to for a few years and we had a massive dinner & enjoyed our date! We spent a good portion of it planning what other outings we should have now that we've got a couple of babysitters we can call on at home. We also got to go for walks on our own & I went biking with Murray on his runs a couple times and there was always someone willing to play with the kids when we wanted to sit & read or otherwise be an absentee parent! The girls LOVED having Daddy around all the time & are going to be sad on Monday morning when he goes back to his office!