Ice Skating & Curling

The winter was taken up by Ice Skating and Curling.  C opted out of ice skating this year.  I made him finish the first year last year, telling him he'd be deported if he didn't take one year and learn the basics of skating.  H opted to do another year because he enjoyed it so much last year and V was excited to finally be old enough to skate. They do start at age 3, however last year she wasn't into the idea.

Both of them loved ice skating.  They both jumped right in the car to lessons when I said it was time to go and H is thinking of doing Power Skate next year because he earned his Level 1 & 2 badges.

 

The boys did curling again, V will be old enough in fall of 2016 to play.  They both improved their game.  H curls with little rocks on a 1/2 sheet of ice while C moved up to regular rocks on a full sheet.

 

 

Gymnastics

In the fall and part of winter the little kids took gymnastics-they had an open house at the end of the season and both do well at it.

Back to life... tax season is over!

The best part of tax season being over is freedom of time!  I'm back to blogging and have lots to update you all on.  I lost my camera card reader and have been working a ton of overtime this tax season.  My favorite part of tax season ending and when school starts up in September are pleasant weather and time to spring clean and reorganize.

The project this week I was helped on by the whole family.  The kids have been talking about wanting to sleep in the same room for awhile now. We moved here and got a house big enough for everyone to have their own room and now they all want to share. Go figure. If I put them to bed in their own rooms, by morning they are all sleeping in one twin bed.  So we brainstormed and came to the conclusion to mix it up.  The original master bedroom the oldest was in was changed to a bunkhouse and boys' change room, the middle child's small bedroom is now the playroom and the little girls' room is now a library/doll room/girl change room.  We also got rid of two giant boxes of toys, clothes, etc. and I'm $90 richer from the consignment store.  I figure we'll keep the arrangement for a few years before the eldest wants his own room back to try and sneak in the ladies to make out with them, but for now we'll see how it goes.

Room 1-the original master-we rebunked the boys' beds and put in a trundle from our couch downstairs for the girl.  There are two bedstands, the boys share one with two drawers (drawer for each) and V has one with a drawer. Everyone has a collapsable hamper for stuffies (stuffed animals) and the stuffies collection must fit on your bed + the container or you have to start purging. We did not purge this time around as they did last time and going through the toys and having my sentimental middle child give up some things I've not seen him play with in a year was enough for me.  The boys' dressers are in here and there's shelving in the closet for the arsenal (bows, swords, shields, Nerf guns) as well as a rod for hanging clothes-I have 2-1 they can reach, the higher is  for out of season coats, stuff that's just a little too big for them, etc.

 

Room 2-the playroom.  The previous owners used this as an office and it unfortunately has a smaller window than I would like.  The lego table is in there with a fuzzy rug and their misc building and other toys.  I can close the door and my toes can be barefoot without stepping on legos :D

 

 

I'm tempted to move the doll stuff from the Pink room into this room as there is some space and put the dress up stuff in the pink room, but that's a job for another day. We also recently got C a new dresser and the old one is in the garage begging me for  Pinterest makeover to make a dress up armoire, so there's another reason to possibly move the dress up stuff in the blue playroom.

 

The last room is the library/doll room (maybe dress up room, still a work in process!)  V's huge bed is in here and we'll put all our throw and extra pillows on it for a reading nest.  This is still her dressing room and there are books in the white cabinet (mostly C's) in the smaller bookshelf (mostly H's) and in the shelves in the closet (mostly V's).  H had a great idea of designating a shelf (probably the top of the bookshelf with the lamp on it) for library books so they don't get mixed in with our collection.

 

 

 

The kids were so excited when they got home and they helped me go through and put away the last of the toys.  Hubby helped me with lifting, vacuuming, decision making and made dinner while the kids and I finished up!

 

Why I gave up keeping them separated:

 

 

So this one time, I ran a marathon.....

It's been 2 months since my first marathon, so I've had enough distance to reflect on it and share about it.

I think the first question I should answer is, "how did the girl who used to hate the Friday mile in PE run a whole marathon?"  Well, it's been about 13 years in the making.  Get back in the way back machine as my boss likes to call it and go back to 2001.  After my romantic relationship crashed and burned and I got laid off a month after 9/11 I had a chance to take stock in my life and change some things.  First I had to get a new job fast and I had to figure out how to pay a mortgage on that salary since I'd just bought the house with said relationship about 5 months prior.  A co-worker from my job I'd gotten laid off at moved in as she began a new chapter in her life from moving out from her parents home and I found a new job.

The roommate got some information from Team in Training which is a program that teaches you how to run in exchange for you raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Somehow she convinced me that we should train together.  So we did-we woke up early on Saturdays to go on long runs with a coach. We ran in the rain. We ran in the dark. We ran on hills.  I did not enjoy it. The first time we went on a 10 mile training run I called my dad to brag about my accomplishment.  It took him a bit to understand what had happened. He was sure I was calling because my car had broken down and I'd had to walk 10 miles to a phone.  I'm pretty sure the fact that I'd run 10 miles of my own free will was not really on his radar at the time.  At the 12 mile mark during the race someone from the sideline actually came out and asked my roommate if I was ok (I wheezed a bit at the time when I ran).   But we made it.  In 2: 22 we crossed the finish line and I figured I'd never run again.

Fast forward to having 2 small children, staying at home full time and needing some exercise.  Another neighborhood mom had the same issue so we traded off kids 1-2 times a week so the other could put in some headphones and run around our (very hilly) neighborhood.  I still didn't enjoy it but I did like listening to loud music and having a break from loud children.

Fast forward more to 2013.  We moved to Canada. I knew very few people and needed to get to know my way around town and needed an outlet for my loneliness and away to shed the stress pounds I'd gained during the move.  Curling season hadn't started yet, so I looked around after unpacking the house and there it was-a very flat running trail that ran behind my house.  So I started running again.  This time, I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed being outside.  I enjoyed the endorphins.  I enjoyed challenging myself to go further with each run.  I found a website that would track my times and my courses.  I was able to run further.  In the fall of 2013 I'd run a 5k a few times a week.  Then winter hit. I curled 2 times a week.  The sun came back in the spring of 2014 and I started running again and same thing, I'd run a little further until I could go a 10k.   Winter hit and I curled 3-4 times a week. 

This spring I ran here and there in March and some weekends. I then worked full time in tax season and went down to curling only 1 time per week. After tax season was over I felt freedom.  I felt tired of sitting.  So I stared at my 5k, then 6k, then 7k, then 10k, then I switched to miles-I ran 5 miles, 7 miles 10 miles.  Sometimes I'd meet up with my husband's cousin's wife who was thinking of running the Niagara Falls Half Marathon. She mentioned that the full went over the border from the US to Canada (symbolic, right?).  When I'd run 12 miles my knees would hurt. I mentioned it to my BIL who was running and he took one look at my shoes and noted there wasn't any tread left-

 

When I headed to the running store and talked to her about the issue and mentioned I was running 12 miles on my long runs she asked, "What are you training for?" I replied, "to see how far I can run."  She said, "you should be training for a marathon if you are already at 12 miles."  So I thought about it.  I looked into the Niagara Falls Marathon. There was a catch-in order to run over the border you had to fun the full marathon.  I looked online to see if this was even possible.  I found a 12 week training program for people who were at 10 mile long runs. I was 13 weeks away from the NF marathon.  I thought about it for a week and signed up.  I felt good, I was 2 weeks ahead of schedule which I figured was good because I'd be taking the kids for 3 weeks back to WA state and didn't know how much running I'd get in.

 

Training went well. I ran all over the farmland around us.  I ran and ran and ran. I lost a few pounds.

 

 

 I went to WA in August. I ran on hills and pavement from my parents' place to my very good friends' place while my Mom drove the kids past me on a great 14 mile run.  Then I took a shower and sat around all day.  The next day and for 3 more days every time I stepped on my left leg it felt like an ice pick grinding into my hip.  I took Ibuprophen like it was candy, I tried a few short 5 mile runs that almost made me cry.   For 3 weeks I couldn't properly train.  Every run felt like agony.

 

I went to a retreat with a massage therapist.  I don't know what ju ju she did but she fixed me (note for future, if it happens again, immediately go to massage therapist!).  I ran one time around the lake at the retreat (about 4 miles) on Saturday and one time Saturday. It wasn't the 8 miles that I had wanted to run, but I ran and I didn't want to die afterwards. 

 

I got back up to speed. I had someone at the retreat recommend a supplement called Thrive by a company called Le-Vel and started taking it. (It's a 3 step vitamin system consisting of one capsule in the morning-it's got just enough caffeine I stopped drinking coffee, a vitamin patch and a powder I throw in the smoothie I had already been having for breakfast every morning for the last 3 1/2 years-that's it!  I'm happy to give anyone more info if they are interested-it got me off a weight plateau and my run times started getting faster). I got a new pair of shoes.  I started beating my personal best times.

 

I did my long runs-14 miles, 16 miles, 18 miles, 20 miles (two 10 mile laps around the house so I could refill my water and pee), 16 miles, 14 miles.  This for me was the difference between a half marathon and a long marathon-for 6 weeks, every weekend I was basically running an unsupported (ie: no Porta Potties, no water stations, etc.) 1/2 marathon.  It's a huge mind game to get yourself through that part of the training.  I changed up playlists, I made new routes, anything to get me out there.

 

Race Day came. 

   I got up about 5:30am and it was freezing (55F after training in up to 80-90F), but no rain. I spent the morning waiting for the 10am start with a woman who is a dual citizen who was born in Montreal who spent... about 17 years living in Bothell, WA!

I finished in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 16 seconds.  The 4:15 marathon pace bunny (runners who run with watches with hats that have bunny ears and a sign saying what pace they are going) passed me shortly after the 1/2 and I was ok with that.  I did the first half in 2:05: 24. Considering 13 years ago I did one in 2:22 I was feeling pretty good about myself at the 1/2 way mark.  2.2 miles from the finish line the 4:30 pace bunny caught up to me and I was going to be damned if that bunny crossed before me (luckily he was a 10 min run: 1 min walk bunny, so I made sure I walked less than 1 minute when I walked).  Also luckily there were 2 small downhills near the end that allowed me to get just a little extra push. I also sprinted over both the 1/2 marathon timing pad and the final pad when I saw what my time was at. I'm so happy about my times. My goal had been to finish in 5 hours. 

If you want to see Race photos you can go to https://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/home.py and put in my bib number (see above) and 2015 Niagara Falls Marathon.  I look like I'm in pain in all of them but the best one is going over Peace Bridge. It was the only true downhill and I ran in front of the pack the whole way down :)

Overall this is how I finished:
In the 30-39 women's group I finished 38 out of 80.
My first 1/2 was 2:05:24 my second 1/2 was 2:23:53 which is a pace of 6:24/km or 10:18/mi
I finished 139th out of all females.
There were 882 entrants, only 721 finished.
491 of those entrants were male, only 408 finished.
391 of them were female, 313 finished.

Out of the 721 that finished, I was in 425th place.

So basically, my first marathon I finished right in the middle. I'm totally fine with that!  For those curious, in order to QUALIFY for the Boston Marathon for my age group, I need to finish a marathon in 3 hours and 40 minutes, which is an 8:23/mile time.  I don't think it's going to happen, though I have been getting faster as I've been running since a 2 week break after the marathon.  I'm lucky so far this winter that it's been much better weather than last year. Last year we had snow from November until April.

For instance, December 4 I ran 15 1/2 km (9.75 miles) and knocked 14 minutes off my previous time on the same route back in June! 5:17/km 8:31/mi.  I also do a 5k as fast as I can every once in awhile.  This week I did it in 23:03 which is 1:15 faster than the last time I did it-that's 4:50/km pace 7:25/mi.  So if I can KEEP the pace up.....

The best part besides feeling good about my accomplishments is that my asthma is in much better control.  I do occasionally get wheezy on a speed day when it's 30-45F out, but this year I've played 3 curling games in 1 day and had no problem making it through all of them without being overly tired or needing to sit and I can BREATHE when I sweep like crazy.  So much better than I've ever felt!

I'm excited to keep it up as long as I can over the summer and hopefully through another tax season. It will be interesting to see what next summer may bring.

2015 reading list

Another year of reading a book a week-

1) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (very good, meaty book-historical fiction, part of a series and also spawned a TV series, I've not ready any more of the books nor seen the show)
2) Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth, VC Andrews
3) Family Storms, VC Andrews
4) Cloudburst, VC Andrews
Note: I loved VC Andrews books as a teen. She passed away many years ago, but the family has hired a ghostwriter to finish several story outlines that she'd made at her death.  I read these 3 books and wasn't impressed, I think my love affair with VC Andrews has come full circle and is over, sigh.
5) My Father's Wives, Mike Greenberg
6) The Magician's Lie, Greer McAlister
7) Have a Little Faith, Mitch Album
8) Look Again, Lisa Scottoline
9) Come Home, Lisa Scottoline
10) Rescue Me, Lisa Scottoline (love this author!)
11) I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
12) Land of Stories, Chris Colfer (who played Kurt on Glee-a series of really great stories based on fairy tales-We read them with C and all enjoy them very much)
13) Betrayed
14) Tidying Up-Kon Mari
15) At Home in Mitford (I do like the Mitford books having grown up Episcopal, attended United Methodist church as an adult and currently Anglican.  These are light, enjoyable books)
16) The Lord of the City by Bryan Gregory (that would be my brother!)
17) Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple (my good friend recommended this book about a family from Seattle and I LOVED it)
18) The BFG, Ronald Dahl (read with C)
19) You Take it from Here
20) The Angry Optimist: Life & Times of Jon Stewart (a few days later, I answered a Jeopardy question based on this book and the hubs was amazed with my trivia knowledge!)
21) Fifth Business, Robertson Davies
22) The Manticore, Roberson Davies (not my favorite books- a bit dark)
23) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I did enjoy this and the next one is on my bedside table for 2016)
24) Dad is Fat, Joe Gaffigan
25) Girl on the Train
26) Amelia Peabody (Egyptian 1920s era book)
27) Dear Mr. Knightly (I enjoyed this one)
28)A Light in the Window by Jan Karon (Another Mitford book)
29) Why do Men Have Nipples? (bought for me by a friend)
30) The Racketeer-John Grisham (enjoyed in my hammock this summer)
31) Out to Canaan-Jan Karon
32) In the Unlikely Event, Judy Blume (based on a real, historical event from the author's life-I was enthralled by this one)
33) Yes, Please-Amy Poehler
34) The Lowlands
35) The Enchantress Returns- Chris Colfer (2nd book)
36) Wicked- it was ok, I don't know that it lived up to the hype, however
37) Divergent-Roth-Liked it but I've not read the other books in the series or seen the movie-I'm afraid to break the spell of how much I enjoyed this book
38) Love Anthony, Lisa Genova (also wrote Still Alice, a book about Autism)
39) Inside the O'Briens, Lisa Genova (about Huntington's Disease)
40) Things You Won't Say, Sarah Pekkanen
41) Looking for Alaska, John Green (teen book but good, quick read)
42) Friendship, Emily Gould
43) The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende-based in South America in 1920 or 1940s
44) An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
45) Paper Towns, John Green
46) Furiously Happy, Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess, her first book Let's Pretend this Never Happened is much funnier, but this one is a great mix of funny stories and explaining how depression feels)
47) Is Everyone Hanging out without me? Mindy Kaling (ok)
48) The Last Time We say Goodbye, Cynthia Hard
49) The Mountain Story, Lori Lansens (like Unbroken, I didn't want to like this story of survival, but I really got into the book)
50)  Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
51) Library of Souls, Ransom Riggs (the 3rd book of Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children-like the others-fast moving, riviting and really need to pay attention due to all the "peculiar" terms)
52) The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I truly, Completely Lost It, Lisa Shanahan
53) A Perfect Match, Jody Picolt-Like her other books well written and keeps you holding on for the ride, but I kind of figured out the main turning point of the story about 1/4 of the way through.  A twist at the end I didn't figure out though.

Fall Routines

Fall for us ramps up slowly.  First, the kids go back to school.  Then they bring home from school the requisite homework for the parents.  About 2 weeks later they start after-school activities, then a few weeks later they start the winter after school activities, then finally, mid-October (our Thanksgiving here in Canada) curling starts.  Since P and I are both at home right now many people wonder what we do all day.  Before curling starts up, we have time to play board games together, run errands together, bake or, more likely, have lunch together. A typical week  right now goes something like this:

Monday-go for a run after I drop off the kids at school, clean up the house after everyone being home on the weekend, P and I both curl in our club’s competitive league this evening so we’re either dropping the kids off at my inlaws after school if we curl at the same time, or flying solo through dinner and switching the kids between us at the curling club on the other side of town so the adult who didn’t prepare dinner can put the kids to bed.

Tuesday-I go to H’s class and listen to his classmates read their family reading books to me in the morning, then I’ve been heading over to my sister-in-law’s house for an abdominal workout,  then in the afternoon have a curling game. After school V has gymnastics the same time C has kickboxing so I spend the evening dropping V off, then C, then picking up V, then C.  I usually have a whole 15 minutes I can pick up something at the grocery store in this back and forth.

Wednesday- another run after I drop off the kids, then there’s a pickup league in the afternoon if we want some extra curling practice, or often I will go over to the US to do some shopping-usually stuff that the kids like that is either expensive (say ink for my printer) or hard to find over here (Ritz in a sleeve instead of thrown all together in a bag).  In the evening C has kickboxing with a friend and we alternate who does the driving.

Thursday-I have a curling game in the morning, the afternoon is usually spent running around grocery shopping or running or, there is an adult ice skating time at our local arena (I’ve taken advantage in the past, but so far not this year) or taking care of any other errands that I want to get done without kids in tow. After school H has gymnastics and either C takes another kickboxing class (he can take as many as he’s qualified for of kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu for one monthly price) or P or I will substitute in the curling league on Thursday nights.

Friday-Usually a run after dropping off the kids, taking care of anything that needs to be taken care of before the weekend and then the little kids have ice skating lessons in the evening. They both seem to enjoy it-V is starting to slide instead of walk on the ice and H races around like a speed demon.  He’ll probably skate better than I can by the spring.

Weekends we either have free time, in which case I am thankful I can usually rally the troops to do a 60-90 minute full on house mid-Saturday morning pick up if the house needs it.  There may be a birthday party or P may have a bonspiel with his team that he hopes to play down for US Nationals with again this year.  Sunday we try to make it to church in the morning, curling for the boys in the afternoon (C’s finally getting his stride and is playing short games this year- he’s also talked his friend into joining him) and then many times we have dinner with my inlaws before heading home to get ready to do it all again.

Some videos from Ice skating: H's got the black coat with lightning bolts on his helmet-V has a pink hood and snowflakes on her helmet.

In this one V falls and when she realizes H has helped her up she hugs him.

H wiggling backwards skating

 

 

V is really starting to get it

 

 

H is becoming a little bit of a show-off!

 

The boys participated in the kids' holiday curling bonspeil. C's team won first place and he was the skip-he's really starting to come along in his game!  H's team won 2nd and his skip didn't want to give a speech, so H very excitedly took the microphone and exclaimed, "this was a really great bonspeil and they have really great prizes!"  Santa then showed up and asked H if he'd been good. He explained, "well, not all the time, but I really try to be good, but sometimes it's hard.  I don't try to be bad, though."

Halloween

The kids were pretty solid in their choices of Halloween costumes and activities this year.  V wanted to be Elsa from Frozen (perfect-have the costume, her cousin was Elsa last year so we have a wig available)  H wanted to be a stickman (doable due to his still fitting in his skeleton pajamas from last year or the year before and the fact that I have the rest of a 100 pack of glow sticks from V wanting them as a handout for her classmates for her birthday last spring).  C wanted to be the Headless Horseman.  I have no idea what inspired this, but we have the cape my mom made my nephew several years ago that he’s used for a few costumes I just needed to figure out the head.  After thinking about the pinterest posts that have popped up about making ghosts using cheesecloth (available at our Bulk Barn & dollar stores) and liquid starch (this was a little trickier, I tracked some down at Walmart.com and had it mailed to a friend in the US) over a balloon (dollar store).  My first attempt did work, but painting it orange was taking all my paint and time.  So I used the other ½ of the package of cheese cloth and found orange paint at the dollar store and smashed the cloth into the paint until it was saturated, squeezed out the excess, put it over the first attempt then sprayed the starch over it and voila!  Pumpkin head!  Added some black paint for the face, cut out with scissors and added some fabric leaves I had in my scrapbook stash and we were in business.

The school was having a “work to rule” strike meaning the teachers are only working to their job descriptions, no extras until their negotiations for their contracts were secure.  Among other things, this meant no field trips, including no field trips to the Pumpkin patch.  On the last Saturday before Halloween I told the kids that if we were going to do pumpkins, this was our last chance.  They all looked up from playing and unanimously decided to skip the carving this year.  Yes, it was a little sad, but we really didn’t miss the mess and time, etc.  our small front entry way is  where most of our Halloween decorations go and it was full and festive even without them.  Incidentally, shortly after Halloween, the teachers quit doing after school activities and 2 days later the contract was hammered out and the partial strike over.

Before Halloween we had a very lovely Thanksgiving over at my in-laws with plenty of food and cheer.  While having Thanksgiving and Halloween in the same month seems a little rushed, I enjoy having almost a full 2 months between Halloween and Christmas.  Remembrance Day (Canadian version of Veteran’s Day) is given it’s solemnity in November, but the only preparation is for assemblies and to make sure to get your poppy pin.

Now that we have gotten into our fall routine it’s time for me to take a girl’s weekend away for scrapbooking convention in Seattle.  I was also able to have a weekend away shortly after school started in NY for scrapbooking where I was able to catch up through the late spring with the kids’ and our family photo books. I have summer and fall pictures to scrapbook, but this weekend is mostly classes and enjoying being myself with friends.  Honestly, I just didn’t get around to packing up what it would take to actually work on my current pictures and I made my Christmas cards between the kids going back to school and curling starting up. I know I’ll be bringing plenty of luggage back between the latest scrapbook supplies from the vendor fair, my class projects, Christmas goodies for the kids from my parents and all our U.S. Mail that has arrived since our summer trip.  With a busy household, it takes a legion of post-its, an understanding husband (I hold down the fort while he’s curling long weekends and he holds down the fort when I need to have a weekend away) and in-laws on call for this to happen.  It’s worth the prep though to remind myself who I am outside of my daily life and my family gets back a happy, refreshed Mom.

 Halloween pictures & video of Henri's glow in the dark stick man.

 

 

We also went to the free first day at the local pumpkin farm

 

They also got haircuts. V wanted hers cut even shorter but I told her if she still wants it cut shorter in Spring I'll let her do it...