Love craigslist...

Bruce replaced the hand rail on our back deck ages ago as it was not child friendly. Big gaps between the aluminum rails. It was a "marine style" deck rail. I tried to sell it for $50 on craigslist. No takers. Listed it in the free section... it was gone within about 12 hours! Seriously. At least we didn't have to transport it to the dump or Habitat for Humanity Re-use store.

Hawaiian Coco

Coco is really into Hawaiian dancing at the moment. We made a real flower necklace - ???Lea????. She has an instructional video that she got out of the library to watch and practice her moves. Adorable.

Sat morning crafts day

Everyone busy working on their projects...

Fine Arts Certificate

Last class os last course complete!

Really happy with my final project entitled "18 Cellphones". Inspired by the work of Andy Warhol.

Also did a really cool hand mould. Might be a hat hook. We'll see.

Plastics

Wouldn't it be great if we could get some plastic out of our life...

Came across this blog when I was looking at a link to glass drinking straws.

http://fakeplasticfish.com/

Will post more on my efforts to reduce plastics in my life...

The latest from Coco

Coco has been trying out a few new words and concepts...

She says (about her toy person) "He's an animal researcher. He blogs about animals. He buys wild animal movies".

In her Super Science class, they watch a movies or documentaries or episodes about science stuff. Not exactly what you want to be paying a teacher to do, but Coco loves it and she is learning and it is only once per week.

Art

My final art project is about mutiples and/or ready made. Very difficult to create something which isn't too simplistic or obvious. This is pretty obvious so I'm digging deeper this week. The project is due on Thursday so I better get the synapses firing.

cool scrabble game

Hazel, Coco, Bruce and I played this fun Dora/Diego scrabble game. Hazel mostly got in the way but we actually played one game and Coco won.

Pic of the deck

This kid at the park...

There is this kid at my local park. I've seen him there twice with his nanny. The first time he threw a metal car and hit my 4 year old in the head. The second time, he would not stop walking in front of the swings and then proceeded to violently rip the hair out of my dog when he "pet" her. His nanny was wonderful. "No gentle", she said. And luckily my dog is super or I wouldn't bring her to the park in the first place. I showed him the proper way to pet a dog but he just did not get it. The boy was around 2 I'm guessing.

I think he may have been autistic or something. I only say that as I was recently at a birthday party where there was an autistic child. The parents had to monitor that kid all party. He was very hyper and inappropriate behaviour. At first, I thought he was just an active kid then later my friend explained.

So all this leads me to say... When you are at the park, you need to watch your own kids but you also have to keep an eye on other kids too.

This little boy may pulled Hazel off the thing she was climbing. I'll never know, but his behaviour leads me to believe that he is capable of doing it.

I appreciate any thoughts on this touchy subject. Anyone had any similar experiences?

My fave book

"The Good Food Book For Families" by Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch. Apologies if I have posted about this book before. No, I am not making royalties off the sales. I just find the recipes easy and nutritious and they speak a lot about nutrition in easy to read format. I just learnt that glucose fuels the brain and little kids need 3 meals and 3 small snacks a day for brain energy. Luckily I have been doing this. Whew.

Lots of stuff happening...

The cherry blossoms are out in full force.

Bruce made our deck low maintenance so hopefully this will be the last time, for a while, that he'll have to spend time on it. Old design required lifted the boards off to clean under the deck twice a year. New design just needs sweeping of the leaves.

Hazel said "yuck, that's disgusting" about onions or something and then later, "I'm eating a booger" which really is disgusting.

Coco's new thing is "I need more research books" and "I'm feeling guilty". A new concept which a 4 year old doesn't quite get. We aren't Catholic either. She just heard this word and is trying it out in relation to her neck injury, which possibly resulted from head butting with Kieren or just sleeping on it funny.

We saw a marvelous play today called 'A Year With Frog and Toad". I bought tickets back in November to the preview show. It is a musical. Hazel had a chair but sat on my lap, as the chair was folding her up. Anyway, she didn't move for the entire 55 min. play and clapped at the appropriate times. She's 2 years, 4 months. I wasn't sure if she was ready for live theatre but obviously she is! Coco and Bruce loved it too.

will post pics later.

Some funny things

At least three times a day, Hazel says "frogit?" and smiles sweetly. It always catches me by surprise. She means CHOCOLATE. Once I made her an egg for breakfast. Oh, she cried when I put it on the table in front of her. She had meant a chocolate egg!

Hazel also likes to say "boy pants" and "boy jacket". We got some hand me downs from a boy. Sometimes she will wear pink or a dress. Oh well, everything is stained anyway.

Smoothie gone wrong

Coco and Hazel were enjoying their smoothies at the table then I turned around...

Coco calls this "Hazel's pink princess paint".

Painting project

I made these cool bird moulds in my art class. They are plaster. My 2 little artists had a blast painting them. Hazel got a little over zealous with the paint brush... as usual.

Hazel's leg

Hazel broke her leg. I am not a helicopter parent but I am starting to think I have to pay a bit more attention to Hazel as she climbs around the park which means less time for Lucky. I was throwing the ball for Lucky when the accident happened. Lucky is almost 9 and needs less exercise. Hazel is 2 and climbs everything.

She is doing really well with her cast. And is so cute when she explains to everyone that she "went to the hospital" and "fell at the park".

Last class

I am 2 classes away from finishing my last course at Emily Carr to complete my Certificate in Fine Art Techniques. It is "Materials and Media in Fine Art Practice".

It is a lot of fun as we are doing plastic modelling, wire sculpture, and this other cool moulding with a sea weed material and plaster. Here are a few things so far. Stay posted for more.

Hazel

Today Hazel said "I'm not real mama. Just fake"

Le French

Seems the French are giving the Greeks a run for their money in my neighbourhood. First there was a perfect little pastry shop beside the 7 11, then there was my favourite cafe, Coco et Olive, then there was Simply French on 10th near Classy Kids and now a bakery called something Baguette, opposite the Block Buster on Broadway. Must try that one soon.

We also have a Vietnemese resturant called Gold Train Express. It is on Broadway near the Block Buster. Love it.

We also have a store devoted to all things knitting. That is by the dog washing place on Broadway.

Can you tell, I LOVE BROADWAY!

ORGANISATION

If you are not organised, you can really spend A LOT of time looking for things. ESPECIALLY paper. Then it just becomes a vicious cycle of looking for things instead of using the time to organise things.

All of sudden, I find I am keeping track of classes,RESPs, medical records, etc for 2 children, plus myself, plus 1 house and 1 dog and luckily Bruce can manage his own stuff.

Wish me luck in my on going battle of the paper.