Went to J's first basketball game last night and she got a basket! She's number two and was so excited she did a happy dance but got in trouble for that so from now on she has to party in her mind until after the game. J's always loved basketball but never joined the team because it always interfered with the play and she loves acting more than anything. This year was her year to join and she seems to be having fun- getting up at 6am when you don't have school for practice is dedication! Two games one ended 21-6 for us and the other was 29-12 for us... pretty good for a group of girls that felt they weren't prepared to play yet!
My dog jack is a tiny 10 lb boy that is usually not this fluffy. He looks like he's around 20 lbs now when you look at him. I try to brush him so he doesn't matte... I just don't want to get him a haircut while it's -25 outside because he'll freeze! Right now he doesn't mind being out for a bit because he's got his big coat on but he does look ridiculous with all of this hair! When I measure his hair it's as long as my index finger...I sure hope when I take him in for a haircut they don't shave him because of mattes... he doesn't look good like that!
The painting is almost done downstairs. It was the only room in the house that we haven't painted since we moved in. It was a dark green colour and extremely dated. We didn't paint it before because we always thought we'd like to get the room drywalled and make it more modern and finished looking. Well the likeliness of that happening due to cost, and time and effort- takes a lot of time to cut and put up all the drywall and then we'd need someone to come in and finish it as it never looks as nice done by amateurs! So finally I convinced Andrew to paint. We have one dark brown wall and three that are a Tuscan white (sort of a very light coral). I am very happy with the colours and love that it makes the room so much brighter and more modern looking. Can't wait for the furniture to arrive!
Today we bought some new chairs for the sunroom. We used to have a loveseat in there but it was rarely used as people don't tend to sit next to each other on it and talk... I'm thinking that two chairs are better for this. The room can be quite cosy when the fire is going in the winter so I guess we'll see if this helps with making the room more useable. We got up early and went to Home Depot as there was quite a deal on these chairs and I didn't want to miss out. We bought new furniture for our family room already and I just needed something inexpensive but nice looking for our upstairs room (the loveseat was moving downstairs so it was going to be empty). I just need to find a small table to go in the middle and we will be all set. The furniture for downstairs arrives on Friday!!! Yeah only two years of waiting to get something....
K's balloon is still floating above her chair. She seems to like that I bought it for her. We don't usually buy helium balloons so I thought it made her big day more special... I'm sure she thinks so too. I really liked this one as it wasn't the foil look... looked nicer and more girly. Today was Friday and it will be so nice to have a break and be the weekend. The weeks seem to go by so quickly with everything the girls have to do. The next couple of weeks will be strange as K and J stay home to study for exams. The rest of us will get up and leave the house for work/school and they will be left to their own devices- hopefully studying!
Today my oldest turned 16! Wow I'm not sure how the time went so fast. I was just at the hospital being induced and waiting forever for the drugs to kick in to get it going..... now here is this grown up young lady ready to take on life. She is definately something to be proud of. The head on her shoulders is extremely well adjusted and she rarely deviates from the "right" path. In fact sometimes I can't believe how mature she is. I am also getting a little sad as she grows up as I know my time with her is dwindling- sure she'll come home and be with us on occasion but once she leaves for university it will always be different than it is now. Right now she is all ours- soon we'll have to share her....
Today when I got home from work I whipped up a batch of K's favorite chocolate chip cookies. They have pudding in the recipe and are to die for. Tomorrow is her 16th birthday and I thought she'd love finding these cookies in her lunch at school. Luckily none of the girls smelled the cookies when they got home from school. I thought for sure at least one of them would have. They are all tucked away in the zippered fabric bags waiting for school tomorrow (the rest are hiding in a container in the freezer). She'll be so happy when she pulls them out! I wish I was there to see her face.
I've been a little more creative than I was before the Christmas break and I'm actually making something for the girls before they get home from school. For awhile it was grab an apple or whatever you can find. I guess from the plate you can tell something about me.... I'm a health food nut, hmmm freak, not sure what I'd call myself but I know my kids border on enjoying it and asking why we can't be like "normal" families. Sigh... I just try to do what I think is best for them. Heck we do have ice cream in the freezer (we usually don't but right now we do). The girls actually did like that I'd made this healthy snack for them and all of them sat down and it disappeared quickly. On to homework and then dinner... the never ending roller coaster of life.
My little one came home yesterday to find a package by her spot at the breakfast bar in the kitchen... the package was due to arrive on Wednesday so she was really excited. Racing to pull off her jacket, slip off her boots, dump her backpack she raced for.... the bathroom first! Then back to the package and tore it open. For Christmas from her great grandma she got some money to spend in whatever way she wanted. For her it was a camera. After looking at many different ones she decided on this red one. It's shock proof, waterproof and freeze proof- all good things when thinking of children. She can't wait to try out the waterproof feature as she loves to swim and loves ocean life. The number of pictures she's taken already is big and I'm sure this is the view we will have of her for the next week or so!
Tomorrow is the first day back to school. Basketball practice is at 7:15 so J has to be up by 5:45 to get ready and take the bus. Over the break we bought some basketball shoes. She's quite happy with them. While getting ready tonight she labels her shoes. The girls are partially excited and partially sad about the holidays being over. For me I am sad... the time went quickly and we had such a nice time being together as a family. The girls are all at ages where you can do things that you all like together. We had many a night staying up watching movies till far later than I'd ever thought to be up with them in the past. I'm sad now that it's time to go back to rush rush rush and often misunderstandings and just not enough time to really listen. All the homework, practices, errands, housework..... Why can't we always be on vacation??!!
Well it's New Years Day and time to put away the decorations for another year. The house always looks so empty and it feels kinda depressing to be done with the holidays. There is such a build up in anticipation.... and it seems over so quickly.The pointsetta is the last of the decorations- along with the Christmas cards on the closet doors that I will take down in the next week. Some to keep and some to cut up to make labels for presents for next year. After taking down all the decorations, throwing the tree in the lane to be picked up and vacuuming up the needles we all take a walk in the snow and then settle in with some appies and the last of the Christmas movies to watch. New Year here we come.....
