skipping school

Mimi is an expert with a skipping rope now. She LOVES it! She can skip forward and backward, two legs jumping, hopping on one foot, alternating feet, kicking off her shoes while skipping and even skipping while on the trampoline. She loves to skip in the kitchen while I am cooking and we get to have a good conversation at the same time. She skips in the hall, dining room, living room, outside, upstairs, basement, church etc etc.
This week she had 2 days off school- one for pro-D day and one for the funeral of a teacher at her school who unexpectedly died last week.
I think a 3 day school week suits her just fine!

Mimi organized all of the shoes in our house yesterday. It made a very interesting installation in our front hall. I hope she is not too crushed when we have to clean it up tomorrow!

Mimi has joined the Girl Scout Troop (Daisy level) that was organized by some mothers of other girls in her class at school. They meet every other Monday or so in her Kindergarten classroom. She is super jazzed about it and we now have her uniform all organised for the acquisition of badges!!! The seed she planted on Monday has already sprouted. Can life get any better than that?


(and yes, I bought her skipping rope at Other Mothers!!)

Good Will Shopping

I've always been keen on buying things. Second hand.
I never articulated why it is that I like things that are antique or have just been owned by someone else. I always thought that it was just because i liked to save money (which i do). However, I am thinking these days that there a few other factors that give me a thrill when I shop like this.
I think I like the thrill of the "hunt". One must hold goals very loosely when shopping like this although having an idea of what I want/need is very helpful. When I find something super awesome I feel so victorious (see past posts on numerous occasions!).
I think my reasons for enjoying second hand shopping are more than the thrill. It is ecologically so sound, you get better products (older stuff is often made better) and you don't have to go to the Mall. Often you are supporting great causes and/or small businesses plus you are actually saving lots of money.

Lately I have been spending a bunch of time searching out things at the Good Will here in Spokane. This is a remarkably awesome store and my average on getting an "Awesome Find" is quite high. I have acquired curtains, furniture (a cool vintage oval card table - perfect for games in the livingroom), kitchen items, toys, shoes, 3 pairs of slippers, 2 pairs of nice dress pants for Martin, and fabric for some sheer curtains among other things. This week my find was a beautiful sewing machine. Now I was really looking for a table to put my already existing sewing machine on but this sewing machine was waiting for me in the furniture section. I bought it thinking it would be perfect for the kids to have to use instead of giving me heart attacks by using mine. Then bought some fabric/pillow cases and the total bill was about $15. The fun and learning is priceless.



PS: There is something else I bought this week  which i feel very excited about but the blog post reveal will have to wait until i get it home from the good will. . .

Mysterious milestones

When we left the room, Timo would be lying on his back. Mysteriously when we returned to the room we would find him on his tummy. Mimi and I spent quite a long time trying to film him doing his new trick. He kept not doing it. Mimi had the idea to leave the room and keep the camera running to see if he would do it when we were in the kitchen. Mimi was sure that he was just shy about doing his trick. 

So here is the footage of our time stirring the spaghetti!

He hasn't figured out the next milestone yet. Reversibility!

a WAY bigger triumph

I have had dreams about this boy walking. This is my friend Amy's boy Cypress. He is 3.5 years old. Even though I believed it would happen one day, actually seeing him walking moves me so profoundly. I want the world to know about his story.  You wouldn't necessarily know it from watching this video but he has cerebral palsy.  Amy and Sean were told all sorts of dire things about how he would never crawl, stand, talk, eat, have a pincer grasp, walk etc.

The prognosticators were wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong.

They didn't know the power of belief, love, persistence and the Anat Baniel Method.

I wonder what Cypress will do with his awesome life. I just hope I get to go shopping with him some day- or at least dance with him at his wedding.

triumphs

I went to a fun event this evening over at the cathedral. It was a fundraiser hosted by one of the guilds at the cathedral in aid or an organization called Crosswalk which is a shelter for homeless teens. It was spearheaded by a Mom at the cathedral and it was a very simple concept. The entry "fee" was a donation of $5 plus clothes that you culled from your closet. All the clothes were laid out and everyone went "shopping" and enjoyed donated foods and wonderfully created goodies in a festive atmosphere. There was also a small silent auction.

Now I thought I might just leave without going "shopping" because the mounds of clothes were intimidating and I was feeling hesitant about what would fit me etc. However, after having a few visits and then trying on a fleecy zip-up hoodie I was hooked. I filled the bag I brought with more than I had brought (I hope that's ok!) and then headed home. Now the really dreamy part.... After I put the kids to bed I tried on my "finds" and they ALL ARE AWESOME!!! I got 4 pairs of perfectly fitting pants (4!!!), a whole bunch of tops, a sweater, a fleece, a fuzzy jacket, and a pair of dress flats (they are a bit squeezy but it's for beauty right?). And I didn't have to go into a horrible change room with horrible lighting and stare despondently in the mirror plus fork out however much that would have cost me to purchase new.

Plus earlier today I went with a couple of other Moms (plus kids) to a "Pickers Delight" warehouse event (basically a big space filled with mostly things that should just go in the garbage) and I found 3 awesome things. An emergency radio/flashlight/windup-wunderbox, a bunch of large art paper and a song book that is going to be great for Martin's work. Camp songs, worship songs, etc with chords and melody lines. Lots of old favourites in there.

It snowed about 6 inches of beautiful wet flaky snow today. Lots to be thankful for.

the latest

We have a case of the sick going through our house right now and Ami is the most effected by it. High temperatures, the H-F Chest, coughing, grogginess, lots of sleeping and a fair dose of whine.

Martin had a particularly busy weekend this weekend because the Dean is away. M got to perform his first wedding yesterday which was very special for him. He thinks that he got a few eyebrows raised and some conceptions shattered when he mentioned in his homily that we lived together before we got married.
It snowed a bit this morning which makes everything brighter and cleaner.

Mimi went to see a play with some folks from church yesterday. It was really short notice and when I asked her if she would like to go (without me or Martin) she said "Yes, I am brave". That about sums her up! She has been very brave these days with a hard visit to the dentist and then getting sick and all. I just wish she would stop asking if I have a baby in my belly. I guess my poochy tummy is giving her the WRONG idea!!!!

"Mimi is so fun to look at!"

Timo is totally cute these days. He likes to blow bubbles and he just beams when Mimi is near. He is really good at going to sleep by himself during the day. He seems to have avoided the cold but who can say. All I know is that he still wanted to nurse every 2 hours in the night last night. I think I have had enough of that.

I got some items at the auction yesterday which I am very pleased about. It will mean better storage for books and kid things. Now I will need to get some storage situation for all my ABM props. I worked on a little girl from Grand Forks a couple of weeks ago and she will come again this week for three lessons. I need to find a few other kids to practice on so I can really learn ABM!

Ami was presented with an award for citizenship at his school (Citizen of the Month... there were about 5-8 citizens from every grade). He was very pleased with it and Martin and I and Mimi and Timo were all there to cheer him on at the assembly. He is wishing his life were different these days. Maybe things will be better when the cold/fever is gone.

awwwwww

Sometimes Martin doesn't take Bodhi with him when he walks Ami to school in the mornings because he doesn't like the sound that little kids make when they see our dog. I agree that it can be really annoying but he misses out on other things too. Today when I had Bodhi with me a very little boy with big brown eyes and a Paddingon-esque coat said to me "your cute is (pause) dog". I think he wasn't expecting to say anything outloud but it just poured out of him. You only get that kind of random cuteness if you walk the dog to an elementary school in the mornings.