OUR SESAME SEED
In week 5 your baby is about the size of a sesame seed
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas Morn 2009
Stocking: Grandma W (my mom)
Cookies: Scotty
Presents: Santa
The theme this year seems to be Lightning McQueen (from the Disney/Pixar movie "Cars"). Scott was wearing his Cars pajamas and opened quite a number of Cars-related presents.
My particular favourite was this matching curtain and quilt cover sewed by none other than mommy. That was a labour of love, if I've ever seen one.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Chrismas Eve Traditions - Part 2 - Handbells
I'm not really sure where the handbell tradition started, but I love it. At first encounter, it might seem a little juvenile to sit around ringing rainbow-coloured toy bells, but it is always the highlight of the evening for me. Sure, everyone enjoys the mini talent show and trombones and stuff, but with handbells, everyone is a star.
So, before you can play the bells, you have to warm up with some carols.
After a thorough dose of carols, it time for the bells!
My favourite bell is probably the yellow one, because it sees lots of action. For example, Jingle Bells is almost a yellow-bell solo. Of course, you usually get two bells, so it's nice to get a yellow and an orange, or maybe a nice yellow/blue combo.
This year, I picked nearly last and ended up with only one bell -- a red one. Red is a great-looking colour and it appears in plenty of songs. However, I found out as we started to play a song that I didn't have the regular red (Low C), I had the DARK red one (High C). Some songs don't have a single note for the dark red bell (usually I would only play on the final chord), and I didn't have a second bell, so I felt a bit cheated. I know I shouldn't feel that way on Christmas Eve, so I consoled myself by taking extra pictures until it was time to hit a high chord.
(Uncle Terry had a dark red bell too -- that's why he's staring at the ceiling.)
With my free time, I was also able to capture some video of Santa Claus is Coming To Town. This partially captures that inevitable moment following each song when everybody rings their bells willy-nilly and creates a truly deafening cacophony. I pretend to plug my ears, but secretly I love it.
So, before you can play the bells, you have to warm up with some carols.
After a thorough dose of carols, it time for the bells!
My favourite bell is probably the yellow one, because it sees lots of action. For example, Jingle Bells is almost a yellow-bell solo. Of course, you usually get two bells, so it's nice to get a yellow and an orange, or maybe a nice yellow/blue combo.
This year, I picked nearly last and ended up with only one bell -- a red one. Red is a great-looking colour and it appears in plenty of songs. However, I found out as we started to play a song that I didn't have the regular red (Low C), I had the DARK red one (High C). Some songs don't have a single note for the dark red bell (usually I would only play on the final chord), and I didn't have a second bell, so I felt a bit cheated. I know I shouldn't feel that way on Christmas Eve, so I consoled myself by taking extra pictures until it was time to hit a high chord.
(Uncle Terry had a dark red bell too -- that's why he's staring at the ceiling.)
With my free time, I was also able to capture some video of Santa Claus is Coming To Town. This partially captures that inevitable moment following each song when everybody rings their bells willy-nilly and creates a truly deafening cacophony. I pretend to plug my ears, but secretly I love it.
Chrismas Eve Traditions - Part 1 - Tree Decorations
R's family (on her dad's side) mostly live in Calgary, and they get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas without fail. Turkey dinner at Thanksgiving is pretty much self-explanatory, but the Christmas traditions deserve a more fulsome treatment here. The events come in two parts: 1) Christmas Eve Get-Together; and 2) Christmas Dinner
CHRISTMAS EVE
This year everyone came over to R's parents' place for the standard Christmas Eve singing and bell-ringing; however, before everyone else arrived, R's immediate family gathered for dinner and a new tradition, Making tree decorations:
Decorating Wreaths with Stickers
Colouring Wooden Ornaments
Decorating Cookies
Handbells are next!
CHRISTMAS EVE
This year everyone came over to R's parents' place for the standard Christmas Eve singing and bell-ringing; however, before everyone else arrived, R's immediate family gathered for dinner and a new tradition, Making tree decorations:
Decorating Wreaths with Stickers
Colouring Wooden Ornaments
Decorating Cookies
Handbells are next!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Hunting Christmas Trees
Scott likes to tell people about his Christmas tree. He tells them that it came from the forest. Sometimes he mentions that we have two trees. I prefer to tell the story a different way.
And I prefer to use pictures.
Last year we didn't even have a tree. This is not because we are scroogesque villains -- it's because we went away for nearly two weeks for Christmas and we didn't want to come home to a dead tree and a host of dead needles. We couldn't live with the guilt... or the mess.
However, this year we heard that R's sister J and her family were going out to forest to hunt wild trees, so we went along. Wrapped in thick layers of clothing and toting plastic sleds, our hunting party was prepared for anything winter could throw at us -- except for what we got.
It's much harder to pull a sled across dirt than across snow.
We found a good tree for our living room, and nearby we found a good tree for Scotty's room. Once I cut his little tree down, he told us that it wasn't the one he wanted. I hid the tree from view while I propped it up somewhere else and then asked him what he thought of it -- hoping that I could win his approval without cutting down another tree.
He wasn't fooled, but I think he appreciated the gesture and he allowed us to load the little tree into his cousin's blue plastic sled. This actually turned out to be an unfortunate move, since the sled constantly caught on various fallen logs or low-hanging branches. However, Scott's determination/stubbornness knew no bounds.
This was one of seven patches of snow observed that day.
Roof rack in action.
Trees that seem smaller in the forest look a lot bigger once you get them home. I had to cut about four feet off of the bottom of this one to make it fit in our living room.
Scott's tree required no such adjustments. In fact, it was so small, we could hardly find a string of lights small enough that it didn't overwhelm the slender branches. In his "Gym & Craft" class at the YMCA, he made two candy canes out of pipe cleaner and coloured beads. I showed him how to hang one on a branch of his tree, then I gave it back to him so he could try. He hung it in exactly the spot I had used, and then he hung the second one right next to it -- so close that they were touching. I guess he'll appreciate a little variety as he gets older.
A little tree doubles as a festive night light.
So, Scott likes to tell people about his Christmas tree. He tells them that it came from the forest. Sometimes he mentions that we have two trees. It is true.
And I prefer to use pictures.
Last year we didn't even have a tree. This is not because we are scroogesque villains -- it's because we went away for nearly two weeks for Christmas and we didn't want to come home to a dead tree and a host of dead needles. We couldn't live with the guilt... or the mess.
However, this year we heard that R's sister J and her family were going out to forest to hunt wild trees, so we went along. Wrapped in thick layers of clothing and toting plastic sleds, our hunting party was prepared for anything winter could throw at us -- except for what we got.
It's much harder to pull a sled across dirt than across snow.
We found a good tree for our living room, and nearby we found a good tree for Scotty's room. Once I cut his little tree down, he told us that it wasn't the one he wanted. I hid the tree from view while I propped it up somewhere else and then asked him what he thought of it -- hoping that I could win his approval without cutting down another tree.
He wasn't fooled, but I think he appreciated the gesture and he allowed us to load the little tree into his cousin's blue plastic sled. This actually turned out to be an unfortunate move, since the sled constantly caught on various fallen logs or low-hanging branches. However, Scott's determination/stubbornness knew no bounds.
This was one of seven patches of snow observed that day.
Roof rack in action.
Trees that seem smaller in the forest look a lot bigger once you get them home. I had to cut about four feet off of the bottom of this one to make it fit in our living room.
Scott's tree required no such adjustments. In fact, it was so small, we could hardly find a string of lights small enough that it didn't overwhelm the slender branches. In his "Gym & Craft" class at the YMCA, he made two candy canes out of pipe cleaner and coloured beads. I showed him how to hang one on a branch of his tree, then I gave it back to him so he could try. He hung it in exactly the spot I had used, and then he hung the second one right next to it -- so close that they were touching. I guess he'll appreciate a little variety as he gets older.
A little tree doubles as a festive night light.
So, Scott likes to tell people about his Christmas tree. He tells them that it came from the forest. Sometimes he mentions that we have two trees. It is true.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
It Came Out Of My Mouth
11/12/09
The other night when I came home from work Scott looked over at me from playing and said, "O my lucky!" I imagine I might have said this around him before, but probably not that recently. Apparently, he said it all day long today.
------------
Then later that night when he was jumping around on the couch he stopped and shouted, "Hoist the sails!" This is from a pirate book that we read several weeks ago.
------------
Saturday morning we were in the yard playing with a ball and watching some birds in the big pine tree out front, when R announced that it was time to eat lunch. Scott said he preferred to stay outside and play. I used a favourite technique to try to get him moving.
I said, "Tell the bird that you're going inside to drink some grape juice." Usually, he would do exactly what I suggested, and we would head inside. This time was different.
He turned to me and said, "The bird says 'not quite yet.'"
Clever.
------------
Probably best of all is this video, where I captured Scotty making one of his many sound effects. I thought it sounded kind of like a car or a train engine, but I was mistaken:
"What makes that sound?"
"Scotty makes that sound.
It came out of my mouth."
The other night when I came home from work Scott looked over at me from playing and said, "O my lucky!" I imagine I might have said this around him before, but probably not that recently. Apparently, he said it all day long today.
------------
Then later that night when he was jumping around on the couch he stopped and shouted, "Hoist the sails!" This is from a pirate book that we read several weeks ago.
------------
Saturday morning we were in the yard playing with a ball and watching some birds in the big pine tree out front, when R announced that it was time to eat lunch. Scott said he preferred to stay outside and play. I used a favourite technique to try to get him moving.
I said, "Tell the bird that you're going inside to drink some grape juice." Usually, he would do exactly what I suggested, and we would head inside. This time was different.
He turned to me and said, "The bird says 'not quite yet.'"
Clever.
------------
Probably best of all is this video, where I captured Scotty making one of his many sound effects. I thought it sounded kind of like a car or a train engine, but I was mistaken:
"What makes that sound?"
"Scotty makes that sound.
It came out of my mouth."
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