Another birthday, another attempt to keep blogging!

Wow...it's been a while since I've been here. I think I'm over thinking the whole thing! I have been hesitant and unsure how to proceed with this 'journal'. Bronwyn is old enough to go on line and read for herself. River is old enough too and I have become conscious of privacy and safety and other factors that go with putting content on the Internet for anyone to read. Should I just do it anyway? That, in large part, is what stops me from posting the things that I want to. But on the other hand I have missed so much and, when I was going strong, I really did enjoy posting. So even though I've missed a lot, I will not dwell on flashbacks...but maybe I'll just continue anyway.

Speaking of Bronwyn being old enough. She just turned 12; a true Tween. The plan for this year's birthday was a beach party (which we organized last year). Sadly, the weather did not cooperate and so we swung into 'plan b'. Plan B was fully arranged by Bronwyn. She asked me to let her send invitations etc., and also to make myself scarce during the celebrations. So she did it; arranged her own birthday celebrations! She sent out invitations, organized everyone to go to swimming at UBC (via bus and car), and arranged for everyone to get back to the house in time for cake and presents. I was fully expecting to intervene, but apparently the prospect of me involving myself in her birthday was all the incentive she needed to do a great job organizing it herself! Why kids assume that you want to hang out with them and their 12 year-old friends is beyond me. Really, there are other things I like to do. Not that there is anything wrong with 12 year olds...but well, let's just say I'm not anxious to hang out and talk about Kylie Cosmetics and boys, or alternatively feel how old and outdated I am in everything I think. My presence is a mutually dissatisfying experience...well, apart from when I listen in on their conversations which are often a mixture of cute, funny, and mildly disturbing.

 

She's a smart and caring girl. She writes amazing poetry (if she lets me I will post a couple) and is great at art. In fact, this year's birthday present was some quality art supplies (watercolours and pencil crayons). Last week we had a day out downtown; art gallery and shopping - we had a lot of fun and she is great company! Happy Birthday to our wonderful daughter - we love you!

 

  

 

How time flies

I finished another Pinata! This time a cactus pinata: to tie in with Bronwyn's continued fascination with the desert. I am able to make them quite quickly and easily now and Bronwyn suggested I make them to sell. I wonder if that would work. I will try to dig up pictures of the pinatas I have made.

Here's a couple of recent pictures:

Crab Fishing at Jericho

In other news: we said goodbye to Cactus the gerbil who lived to over 5 years old. Bronwyn and I took him to the woods and buried him beside Ellee. Here is last picture of Caci, Bronwyn's beloved gerbil. And here is the embroidery she did and buried with him. It was very sad, but it seemed as though he was at death's door for so long that it was almost a relief.

 

Mark suffered a heart attack in January, which was surprising and upsetting for everyone. He had two stints put in and is now recovered. But it was a very stressful time, particularly for the kids (and Mark!). I had a hysterectomy in May which wasn't that much fun. Maybe more on that another time. I am mostly back to my variation on 'normal'. I will try my best to update a bit more regularly.

Merry, Happy, Xmas, New Year, Valentine, Easter etc. etc.

BIG time lapse in blogging. A multitude of reasons, none of which I will blog about. Happy New Year 2012! We had a relatively good Christmas, not without its difficult moments. Trini and Lorne came over for Christmas dinner (this year we bought a delicious organic turkey pie from Aphrodites to save on cooking). It was a fun day. River loved Christmas this year; the lights, the tree, all the decorations and, of course, the presents! This was the first year that he took an active role in opening his presents...and everyone elses. "Ohhh, I love it!" he exclaimed when he opened the sandwich toaster that my sister and her husband had got for Mark and I. The main thing for him was the actual opening of the wrapping paper! It was great to see him so involved. Bronwyn had fun too. She still believes in Santa, even though I have, in preparation for the inevitable, expressed some doubts. She has proof apparently; a rusty bell that she found by the Christmas tree last year. No one knows how it got there (true!). Some pics:

Christmas morning

What was left of Rudolph's carrot

Diva!

Beautiful boy!

With auntie Trini

Mi babbies

Christmas merriment!

You may not remember that we had offered a major bribe Bronwyn in order for her to take sedative and get tons of work done on her teeth, only to discover that she loves Demerol and was fine getting the work done. She had to have additional work the day before Christmas Eve. We hummed and hahhed about what to get, all the while cursing our hasty bribe. I discouraged a Wii player as I could see it would be yet another thing that would require ME to do something. I foresaw that I would be roped into playing a bunch of tedious games....no thanks. I'm aiming for a less-is-more style of parenting. Then we were trying to decide between gerbils and fish. For some reason Mark and I thought fish would be easier and look better. Wrong, wrong, WRONG. In ignorance, we went out and bought a starter tropical fish tank and all the accessories. Ka-ching!...$140! Then we discovered that the stand for the aquarium (which would weigh about 100lbs when full) would cost an additional $100! That is before we purchased any fish. Then there were ph balances, bacteria levels, algae build up, gravel cleaning, ratios of fish...we panicked. We have problems with 'pet commitment'.  "Let's cut our losses, sell the fish gear, and get gerbils!" I said. What were we thinking??? So if you're interested in starting a aquarium look no further than here. We will give you a good deal. So we now have two new resident gerbils; Scorpion and Cactus. Bronwyn adores them. More on them later.