heeelllloooooo - anybody there?

I'm back - Inspired by a few things, I am feeling an itch in the finger-tips. I feel some stories brewing...let's see if I can get this spark going.

Beauty is Four

What is your favourite part about turning four?
Bridget - my own desk and playdough

Now that you're four how are you different from when you were three?
Bridget - I'm taller

Now that you're four, what would you like to do?
Bridget - Homework

What is a four year old's favourite things?
Bridget - Candy, ice cream, fruit and corn

'pause

"Mama - do chickens pee?"



Happy Birthday - I love you Bridgy xo

reach for it

Tonight, while going through the nightly ritual with Sophie which typically includes some back scratching, some hair twirling and stroking, a book and a list of math questions, I asked Soph why she liked math so much. True to the style of most seven-year-olds, the response was "'cause".

However, after a moment of silence, she said "I really want to do more multiplication and my goal by Tuesday next week is to finish my 100 questions". Wow. Hearing my daughter explain that she had a goal and a timeline to complete it was both amazing and inspiring.

I love learning and being in awe of my children - they are just such wonders.

wherever you go...

We never really knew where Marmalade went. Grandma and I used to always wonder if the orange and white tabby cat that we saw bounding through the field, as we drove away from the farm, past the old drive-in theatre, might have been the farm cat we named together. We never found out, but Grandma used to say "I'm sure that wherever he has gone, he is happy". That was all that she needed to say to put my ridiculously sentimental and sensitive little heart to rest.

So today, April 11th, 2010, the day after my sweet and strong, little grandma passed away, I am thinking about those words that she said to me and believing (in my older but still ridiculously sentimental and sensitive heart) that "wherever she is, she is happy".

I love you Grandma.

Nand xox

BLINK...

and then she was seven

Salt of the Earth

You know what they say about people from the prairies? It's true. You really couldn't find more down-to-earth, hard working, humble and welcoming people than those whose back yards are fields of wheat and whose winters are spent skating on frozen lakes and rivers. I am proud to be the daughter of my prairie hero - my Dad. A retired RCMP, brother, son, Uncle, husband, Granddad and Dad, he is Prairie through-and-through.

I was lucky enough, in October of 2009, to be able to take a couple of days to join my Dad in Saskatchewan for my cousins wedding. Not only was it a beautiful wedding but in the 36 hours I was there, I packed in time with my grandma, visits with cousins, uncles and aunts, a trip to the old farm (that my Grandma and Grandpa had owned and run and I had known as a child) and many good chats with my Dad as we drove the Trans Canada to and from different events.

People who haven't spent time in the prairies often have some kind of idea that they aren't missing anything - they couldn't be more wrong. There is something so incredibly powerful and beautiful about the prairies. Whenever I am there, I yearn for more time - time to explore the little towns that haven't changed in 150 years and "pop" up every 20 miles along the historically rich CPR, time to walk through the fields of my Uncle and Aunts farm, time to explore the abandoned homesteads, time to watch all the wildlife that make the prairies their home.

One day, I promise to take my children to the prairies so that they too can be charmed by the people, the countryside, the smells and the sky that goes on forever. As you can see, I am proud to be a "little bit prairie".

sweetness is a three-year-old ballerina

On Thursday of last week, Bridget enjoyed her first ballet class in her very own, new, ballet outfit and new ballet slippers. Not slippers soft and worn from her big sisters' use and not a slightly pilled ballet outfit, stretched a bit in the bottom because of Sophie's constant wear. Brand new everything.

I have been trying to be very sensitive to the role of "the second child" - especially when the children are of the same sex. It must be very hard to always walk in the shadow of a larger and louder older sibling. Bridget, with the perfect combination of sweet and strong, wants nothing more than to tell stories like sister, dress like sister, read like sister, have the same friends as sister - BE like sister. My heart catches a little bit when I watch the rapture on her face when she is watching Sophie accomplish something or tell a story that everyone finds funny. She just adores her sister.

When I told Bridget, after Christmas, that she might like to think about doing a class if some kind - she looked at me and said "just like Sophie taking ballet and gymnastics and soccer?". "Yes, you can choose anything you like and we will take you and be proud of you and take pictures of you and come to your recitals and final matches and closing presentations". All she did was flash me one of her incredible smiles and say "thank you, Mamma. I like you a lot."

Ballet was the choice. This was said with complete certainty and without hesitation. Two days before her first class, I made a special trip to two locations and bought a little pink ballet outfit and perfect little pink ballet slippers. When I picked Bridgy up from pre-school, I told her that there was something special in the car for her. She scrambled into the car and held out her little hands and closed her eyes. I put the package in her hands and told her to open it. Just as though she knew it was a moment that I needed to savour, she opened the paper wrapped around her new outfit very carefully and slowly (especially for a three year old) and then announced "thank you Mama, it is what I always wanted - but why isn't it from Sophie?"

I was a bit confused thinking that she meant "why didn't Sophie give this gift to me?" not realizing that what she actually meant, the sweet second child, was "it didn't belong to Sophie before me".

I promise, to both my first and my second - I will continue to try to make each of your lives uniquely your own and to nurture the love of such wonderful sisters.