birthday wrap up

Ahh, the 6th birthday is history. Sophie had a great day yesterday with her friends at the pool. We did her thank you cards last night and delivered them today.

All wrapped up!

super 6!

Sophie woke up today and found that I had decorated her room with a heart shaped banner for over her window.

Downstairs, Dad offered her pancakes however she opted for her usual cereal. She was dressed up in her little Lands End skirt, leggings and top. She happily let me take her to daycare early so she could catch the van into school. At around 2:00pm, I popped down to the daycare to watch her cut into the cake Karen had made for her. She did a great job of the Polly Pocket theme.

After daycare we took Sophie and Fynn to dinner at Boston Pizza, her favourite place and she got to have a "special" drink, an orange slushie. Then she opened up her two gifts. She got her much anticipated Nintendo DS and THE most adorable little outfit for her American Girl doll. Vic and I went out for about 2 hours to a fundraiser and she had one of her favourite sitters over. She went to bed a very happy little 6 year old.

much too much

Today was my day of CRAZINESS.

- woke up at 5:40am so I could get to my fitness class;
- at 6:30am got back home because I needed to get showered and dressed as
we were all leaving the house at 7:30am today so we could get Sophie over to the daycare so she could catch the daycare van to her school;
-at 8am Vic and I head up to Kamloops. I had a workshop to attend and Vic had some running around he needed to do up there;
-at promptly 12noon Vic picked me up from my workshop so we could head back down to Salmon Arm again (just over an hour drive) as he had to get back to work and I had to get to a meeting by 1pm (which I knew I would be late for and was okay with that;)
-he bought me a latte from Starbucks and a flax bar because we knew we would both miss lunch so that is what we ate on the way back to Salmon Arm;
-get to my meeting for 1:10pm -- didn't miss too much
- work, Vic picks me up at 5pm with the kids;
-back home for dinner and then I was off again at 6pm to meet the consultant who is working with me on some HR staffing plans right now. We had a productive session from 6-7:30pm at which time I needed to get back home so Vic could go biking;
-7:30pm bathe kids, read stories, help Sophie figure out what she is going to wear for her birthday tomorrow (she is over the top excited about that)
- 9pm - sit on the couch and breathe ahhhh...

the boredom problem

I have told Sophie and Fynn that I am not a 3 ring circus, a dog and pony show, or a party entertainer. I am their mom. Sometimes they will have to figure out how to entertain themselves. I like what this blogger says about it: we can't expect them to stop saying "I'm bored" but we can expect them to figure out ways to entertain themselves.

We took them to Vernon today for a quick trip. Vic went in to Future Shop to pick up Sophie's birthday gift (the irony of my first paragraph) while I had him drop the 3 of us off at the Vernon branch of the Okanagan Regional Library. I wanted someplace for us to go that did not involve spending money or perpetuating Sophie's "mommy buy me-itis." The library works quite well.

When we got home they got to watch an Authur DVD that the library had. After that Sophie wanted me to construct some type of skyscraper she had seen on TV. While I love the show Art Attack I am not a freakin graphic/industrial/textile designer. I think somehow these shows are presented as easy things that parents can do with their kids when really they are shows that primarily are meant for entertainment. I told her she had a very nice sketch book that she could go draw in. That resulted in heavy pouting but eventually she realized that she better figure this one out on her own since I wasn't about to take on her skyscraper project. Later when she came downstairs in that glumpy way that bored kids do, I said, fine, we can work on some French homework. Not much to be bored about.

friday

Vic and I haven't skied in about 2 years. It is tough to do when Sophie and Fynn are at varying levels in their physical development. Sophie has tried a couple of lessons and seems a bit lukewarm about the whole thing. I think Fynn would enjoy it, but he is not ready in terms of his body size and strength.

So, we booked a day off work (legitimately) and went up to Silver Star with Bryan and Patti. The weather was great - only about minus 1 and clear visibility. Very small lines, too, since it was a Friday. Afterwards we came back home, picked up the kids from daycare, sat in the hot tub, and had dinner.

Here is Sophie making spring rolls with Patti.

torch relay

10 of us crammed into a corner office today on the 3rd floor of our building and watched the Olympic torch relay go by. It was pretty cool. The noise, excitement and general "over-the-topness" of the Olympics. Even in my sometimes cynical thinking about the 2010 games in Vancouver, it is hard not to get into the spirit when the torch goes by.

Speaking of torches, I went to my first Partylite party tonight at Barb's house. Some of the products were quite nice. Part of my goal for this year is saying "yes" to get-togethers like this. It gets me out of the house and around other women who are dealing with kids, work, and the usual stuff of life. Plus, there is always wine :)

olympic cookies

Today I noticed a sign on the daycare indicating that they would be taking kids to see the Olympic torch at city hall as it passes through Salmon Arm tomorrow morning. Hmmm, I thought. Sophie will be in Kindergarten. Do I let her miss a day and send her to daycare so she can go with the kids to see the torch. Yep. The whole torch thing doesn't happen very often and who knows when she will see it again.

I picked up these Pillsbury Ready-to-Bake "Olympic" cookies tonight and Sophie had fun baking them. We will bring them to daycare tomorrow as a special treat. Appropriate for the morning's events.