Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Update with a Merry Christmas!

 Wow has it been busy around here since the last week of November! We started with a visit from Wayne's mom who flew out from Ottawa for his birthday. We had a surprise party for him joined by the rest of his family - even his cousins flew out from Calgary and fun was had by all! Then our festivities wound down when Sam and I got sick with colds/flu. Trying to prepare for Christmas and hoping Wayne's mom wouldn't catch it, we managed to get through it, antibiotics and all. Soon we will be heading to Vernon for Christmas and we're so excited to celebrate with family for the first time in 3 years! Please pray for a safe trip through the mountain passes, as the weather is supposed to be pretty unsettled. Thank you!!
From Wayne and Yours Truly, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best in the new year!
Sammy and her 'YaYa' sure did a lot of baking!
A sick Sammy with her best pal Max looking after her.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

First Snow Storm

Vancouver got hit with 15cm of snow a couple of days ago, thanks to La Nina -  
cooler than normal waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. We had this 2 years ago where snow accumulated to 60cm in a week. This weekend we are back to our normal seasonal temperatures with typical west coast rain. Sammy sure had a fun time in the snow while it lasted, while my palms and bananas were all snug in their beds.



isn't she lovely


snow princess

she even has eyelashes!

Monday, November 08, 2010

Sparks Mother/Daughter Sleepover

Friday was Sam's first ever sleepover. The our Sparks had a Mother/Daughter spa-themed event where we painted picture frames, colored Shrinky Dinks, applied beauty masks, painted nails, sipped on hot chocolate with marshmallows and watched a movie before bed. The next morning we made bath salts, decorated our painted frames and had a fashion show. This was interesting; we wrapped the girls in toilet paper dresses, decorated them with princess accessories and added a bit of makeup. They paraded around the room once, waving and pretending to be on the runway. so cute!  What a great experience for the girls....and the moms had fun too, despite a not-so-great sleep, but it was worth it.



Shrinky Dinks!

Mug Up!

"Hot Cocoa!"

The Princess and the Frog

Making memories.

Mother/Daughter memory frame

Bath Salts

shake shake shake!

Toilet paper dress

15 min. of beauty queen fame

Friday, November 05, 2010

I Promise...


 This week Samantha had her Sparks enrollment and was officially sworn in as a Girl Guide. The ceremony was so cute, with all of the little Sparks so proud of themselves. Afterward they got to enjoy a yummy rainbow cake, which I think was Sam's favorite part of course.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pumpkin Patch

 Sam's kindergarten class made a trip to the pumpkin patch on Friday. It was a bit cold but the many attractions kept the kiddies warmer than the parents. There was everything from a tractor ride to a corn maze, animal farms to woodland trails, eating snacks in a tee pee and even panning for gold.

The donkey was one of her favorite animals besides the turkey, which she found to be absolutely hilarious.

My little farmer
                                                 

Tee pee snacks
                                                
Mushroom forest full of gnomes and fairies
At the end Sam picked the perfect pumpkin.
...and this is how we carved it!
                     

Giant Banana Leaves!

Today I trimmed down all of my Cannas and mulched, then put plastic over top. I then decided while I'm at it I might as well get the banana trees ready to protect at any given moment. As I hacked away at the leaves I couldn't believe the size of them so I added Sam for comparison.



Sunday, October 24, 2010

Bracing Ourselves for Winter

This year it's predicted that western Canada will be seeing the worst winter we've had in 50 years. More or less like the one we had 2 years ago when we got an unusual snowfall of 60cm in a week! However accurate they are, I'm going to be prepared! I've stocked up on winter gear for Sam and had Wayne busy last weekend making snow/rain shelters for the palm trees.



Friday, October 08, 2010

Our Busy Little Spark!

Finally after a month of a new school year we've managed to somewhat get used to a new routine of extracurricular activities. While Sam has started piano and swimming lessons, I decided to add Girl Guides to the mix. With volunteering at the school and being bombarded with ridiculous amounts of fund-raisers (what is up with that anyway??) it is all definitely more than enough for us to handle! I'm thinking when swim lessons are done at the end of Oct. we will be happy just with Guides and piano for a while. 

Sam is in Sparks, the new age group of 5-6 yr olds, unlike when we were kids you started as a Brownie around 7 or 8-ish. The uniforms are pink with the Sparks Promise written on the T-Shirt: "I promise to share and be a friend." (pics to come in her uniform once received in the mail).
So my little Spark started her first day this week selling delicious mint cookies! (too bad Grandpa and Grandma Hagen don't live next door, I'll bet these would be grandpa's favorite!) We went with our group, split up and went door to door and sold an entire case in 15 min at the most. Who can resist three little cute faces with squeaky little voices! Sam is also really looking forward to all of the events taking place in the near future; Mother/Daughter sleep-overs in the church, Halloween Party, swearing in as a Girl Guide and especially getting to be in the Remembrance Day parade! EVEN BETTER - she has one of her best girlfriends from preschool in her unit, PLUS a friend from her kindergarten class! I think this is so great in helping her transition to kindergarten, as it's been quite a struggle for her. Needless to say this short period of time has taken a bit of a toll on my patience (and mental well-being.. ha ha), but I keep believing as it gets easier for Sam, it will also ease up for me. Everything new takes time.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Good Ol' Friends


After a long couple of weeks struggling with the transition to kindergarten and missing her preschool buddies, Sam finally got to see them at a birthday party today. Here she is SO HAPPY to be back with her good ol' friends, just like the days of yore.

   
The two Sammies





Perhaps a couple of friends are getting tired of the two Sams
 


Brooklyn helps Sam at the drinking hole.

Sam with the birthday girl Ashlyn.
                     
Even I missed my preschool mom friends!
                            

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Super Harvest Moon



Samantha and I were walking home from a movie at the school gym when we saw this big and beautifully bright moon in the clear night sky. I didn't know it was a Super Harvest Moon until I read it today, but this is exactly what we saw....we were in awe! (not my pic by the way but it's taken in our area).

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Piano Lessons

Sam has always taken interest in music, since I can remember. When we moved to Vancouver 3.5 yrs ago, we bought a piano off our neighbor hoping to put Sam into lessons eventually. I remember her being so excited when that piano was hauled up that huge flight of front stairs and into the living room. She's been plunking on the keys ever since and even sounded out a couple of little songs like Twinkle Twinkle.

A little over a year ago I saw a sign down the street in someone's front yard advertising Piano Lessons. I thought how convenient it was to be so close to home. It only took me a year to inquire but we thought Sam would be in dance or some kind of martial arts. She'll always be in swim lessons so we asked her what else she'd like to take and she yelled 'PIANO!' So I picked up the phone and arranged for her first lesson today. I was afraid she wouldn't be focused for 30 min. straight, but that's all that mattered to her when we got there. The teacher was quite impressed and I'm excited she's so eager!

Thursday, September 09, 2010

First Day of Kindergarten

Well the day has finally come and I took Sam to her first day of kindergarten. As a preschool mom friend of mine said, I don't think it's sunk in yet. It seems a bit surreal to me too. I was really nervous yesterday, but I wouldn't let Sam know it. She was pretty nervous too before we left, so I gave her a little pep talk. Our first day only was a half hour long, basically a meet and greet. Once she knew I wasn't going to leave she was fine. We're lucky to only be a block away and when we got there I started to choked up...I thought "Oh no don't start now!" lol Sam made friends right away while we waited to go in. She seemed to make herself right at home. Today we have off and she's back tomorrow with the rest of the half of the class. They're asking us to stay for the first 10 minutes for a couple more days. The real test is when I let her go on her own all day next week! Here are some crazy typical Sammy shots I took before we left.