Story Time With Katie

One day R came into the kitchen to find that Katie had arranged all her dolls and stuffed animals on the stairs as an attentive audience while she sat opposite on a chair and pretended to read them a story. Very cute. This is just one example of how Katie often likes to go off and do her own thing. Sometimes you can hear her giving voices to her dolls and animals. Often, she will ask you not to watch her, because she gets a little self-conscious.

Katie Singing, Sleeping & Painting

Sleep-painting



I caught Katie drifting to sleep while painting recently. This doesn't happen very often, but she is definitely more likely than Scott to fall asleep somewhere other than her bed. Often times at night she says, "I am SO SLEEPY" and she just wants you to carry her up to bed. Scott always has energy enough to keep playing, no matter what time the clock says.




Katie Singing

If you ask Katie to sing a song, she will go into her squeaky "baby voice", but if you catch her singing to herself, then she goes into a fairly impressive full voice. We got a video example of each one -- including a very cute song she made up on the spot about grandmas and grandpas and great grandmas and great grandpas.

Open Gym

We had some free time to kill on a Saturday so I went with the kids to the YMCA for open gym. Scott and I did pretty well with the badminton set, while Katie explored the gymnastics mats; however, the real fun began when the kids found tricycles on the other half of the gym. They discovered that there was a little storage compartment in the back of the trikes and they put all the badminton birdies and hockey pucks in there.

Local Celebrities

On Family Day we went to a rally to raise awareness about the prospects for a middle school in our community. It was pretty much the only cold day we had in all of February, so we bundled up in bulky coats and braved the elements in support of our cause. We also ate some chocolate chip cookies and played around on the ice rink.



While we were there a reporter from a free-circulation newspaper asked us some questions and we ended up with our quote being used in one article and our picture being used in another:



At least three people saw the article and told us about it, so that pretty much makes us famous. Hopefully, we aren't known best for our public protests and righteous indignation. Hopefully, I am known best for my fabulous beard.

Quotes from Family Day Weekend

We were able to swing a babysitting deal while we went out Friday evening for dinner. The kids said some funny things at bedtime while we were gone.

Katie was saying that mom lets her do something-
S: Katie didn't actually do that. Lying is against the commandments. 'Thou shalt not lie.'

Trying to get Katie to go potty-
K: I'm going to go downstairs and be a bad girl and you can tell my mom.

Scott was (once again) worried about coyotes. He said, "Dad told me they come inside and eat babies." I said no such thing. I told him that coyotes have no idea how to open a door. There's a difference.

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On Family Day

The waitress at the diner said "Hi baby" to Katie.
K: Why did she say 'hi baby?' I'm not a baby. I'm growing up. I'm three.

Scott coming back from a playdate at a friend's house
S: There was an older girl there too. She rides the bus.
R: You recognized her?
S: I recognized her head.
R: Her head?
S: Yeah. Not Her clothes.

D: Katie, count to ten.
K: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30.
D: Wow Katie! I didn't know you could count to 30! (I didn't know she could count to 10)

Coming downstairs at Grandma's house to find auntie K still in her workout clothes, including a sleeveless shirt-
S: Why are you wearing a shirt with no sleeves?!
K: I just finished working out.
S: Why are you still wearing it?
K: I just finished when you got here.
S: Are you going to wear that all day?
K: Do you think I should?
S: No.
(Scott would prefer to wear shorts and a short-sleeve shirt every day of the year, so we have had to teach him that he must wear a long-sleeve shirt and pants during the winter. He is somewhat draconian in enforcing this principle upon others.)

Wedding Party

R's cousin B got married and we took the kids to the reception. As usual, Katie was very excited to see the pretty white dress and to wear her own "wedding dress" that she got for her uncle Brad's wedding in December. She also liked to dance out on the floor with the fancy big band playing.



Scott mostly liked that he could eat plate after plate of fruit... plus the occasional brownie.

Date Night: Gluten Free, Crowd Free

February date night was scheduled for the day after Valentine's Day, hopefully to avoid the crowds of nannies and romantics (and romantic nannies). As it turns out, crowds were still an issue -- we really could have used a few more people to fill the space.



We had dinner at Calgary's first and only all-gluten-free restaurant: Heaven Artisan GF Cuisine on 17th Avenue. I had purchased some vouchers recently that got us $40 worth of food credit for only $20, and I figured there would be a lot of other people crawling over each other to use the vouchers, so I made a reservation for 7pm. Good thing. It is possible that they could have chosen to close the place early if they didn't know we were coming. Actually, there were two other couples in the place when we arrived, but eventually we were the only ones left in there, and we were severely outnumbered.



The food was absolutely fabulous. We got a fabulous sampler appetizer, R got an enormously cheesey lasagna and I got a plate of 4 different tacos (the shrimp taco was the best). We followed it up with a great dessert of fried plantains in a sweet cinnamon syrup. We will definitely be going back.



Afterwards, we enjoyed some time alone in the Eau Claire cinema, waiting for The Quartet to begin. Eventually, another few couples came in just before the show started, so we didn't have the whole place to ourselves. I shouldn't be surprised, since the film was about a retirement home full of former professional musicians, but we were several decades younger than the average age in there.



The movie was lots of fun and the food was fabulous. A wonderful date night with my Valentine.

Valentine's Day

Everybody knows that Valentine's Day is a crazy day to try to go out for dinner. So we went out for lunch instead and stayed home for dinner.



There was no school that day (Teacher's Convention) so R brought the kids downtown on the train and we ate together at the food court on the top floor of the Eaton's Centre. It was a pretty lively day there at the mall, with part of the 2nd-level concourse turned into a dance floor.



The kids got a chance to see the Devonian Gardens (including several enormous fish) and took LOTS of turns going down the slide at the severely crowded indoor playground. Apparently, everyone goes out for dinner in the evening on Valentine's Day, but all the nannies take their charges to the indoor playground for lunch.



In the evening we had a Valentine-themed dinner where everything was shaped as a heart, from strawberries and ice cubes right down to the salmon. Scott really enjoys having "fancy" dinners, so he loves these occasions.





I love these occasions because I get cute notes from the kids and new tube socks.



Date night was officially set for the following evening. Hopefully all the nannies will stay home and we can have the playground to ourselves.

Bishop

The ward primary president (head of the children's Sunday school in our congregration) was changed on Sunday. The lady who had been serving in the position for the last few years stood at the podium and shared her feelings in our church service on Sunday. I told Scott that she was a bit emotional because she wasn't going to be the leader anymore and would miss being with all the kids. He said,
"She actually likes me. Because she is in our class."

He was a bit confused why she would change. I explained that even the bishop (head of the congregation) can change sometimes. I told him that our bishop from our old ward (Scott describes him as the one whose hair has slid down to the sides of his head) is not the bishop anymore, but someone else is the bishop there now. I told him that both his grandpas had been bishops before, but now they are not.

S: Were you ever bishop dad?
D: No. Would you want me to be Bishop?
S: Yes.
D: Why? Then I would have to sit up at the front and not with you.
S: But then you would know all the candies that I like.
(In both this ward and our previous ward the bishop has handed out candies to the kids after church.)

I had to fight not to laugh out loud.

Surf's Up

Sledding

There is a great sled hill just down the block from our house. One day Scott and I had the whole place to ourselves so we even tried out some jumps. Here is our conversation when he came back up the hill--

S: Dad! I did it! It wasn't bad. It was a jump and I did it! Now you do it!
D: No way.
S: I did hurt my bum. It is so fun! Now you do it!