mother days

When one of your children is born just a few days before Mother's Day, it's pretty hard to top that! But this year, my sweet girls (and their fabulous Daddy) gave me one that was just terrific.

Leading up to Sunday, the girls would give me little hints about the crafts and surprises they were making at school and daycare, struggling to keep the secrets for nearly a week! The newly minted 4-year-old, Lady A, kept telling me that "Mother Days" was coming on Sunday, and it was so cute that I tried not to correct her too often!

Sunday morning began with the girls telling me I had to stay in bed, and I could hear all of the effort that was being put into my breakfast just one floor below. Perhaps Lady M was down there helping (or directing) Cal, but Lady A spent much of the prep time up in my room telling me exactly what breakfast I could expect - chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, strawberries, bananas and tea. When she got tired of me being in bed, she asked if I could come play Mouse Trap with her, and so I did - and hustled back to bed when I heard the others coming up the stairs with my special delivery.

With kids who are 4 & 6 I truly think the best part of Mother's Day is the homemade crafts. Lady M proudly gave me a handmade potted plant, paper flower and a necklace with three handmade charms: a star, a heart and a flower. Lady A gave me a variety of paper crafts including a big flower pot with a picture of her in it, a paper purse that had all of 'my favourite things' in it, and a handmade card. I loved each thing they made for me, and I love even more how excited they are to give it. I was even serenaded with a song that Lady M learned in school - listen/watch here!

These homemade gifts really are special. To this day, my dad still has a giant tie that my older brother made for him one Father's Day hanging in his walk-in closet. If I remember correctly, it's an acrostic poem that Greg wrote using Dad's name, Richard. Goes to show that these sweet crafts really do mean a lot! My brother is 36 after all...

As a quick aside since we are on the subject: I would be remiss not to mention that my Dad doesn't seem to have any of MY Father's Day creations adorning his closet. Might have to have a conversation with him about that. Maybe mum has some of my things hidden in her drawers, little gems she's been keeping safe since the 80's...

In any case, back to this year's crafts! Here are a few of the adorable items I received:

Lady A's gift bag for me

The inside of Lady A's card

Handmade charms by Lady M

My flower from Lady M in my office window 

The sweet note from Lady M

We spent the rest of the day together as a family, and had our usual Sunday adventures to the pool (kids swimming lessons) and the baseball diamond (adults softball game). It was a perfectly lovely Mother's Day made absolutely wonderful by the two little ladies who made me a mum, and my sweet husband too.

christmas comes this time each year

Ahh, the magic of Christmas time. With a 6 year old and 3 1/2 year old in the family, this was one of the most exciting years yet, that's for sure. Lady M is enamoured with the holidays, and loves everything about it. This year, she happily helped her little sister remember the many traditions we have over the holiday season. Lady A didn't remember much from Christmas past, but this will be the year that she really starts remembering everything, which is super fun.

I could recount a million different stories over the past couple of weeks, but I thought perhaps I should make a little point form list to bring you up to speed on our Christmas season, and to serve as wonderful memories for our family when we look back on 2014 one day.

So here are some things that made our family Christmas magical this year, in no particular order...

• Lady M's spirit of generosity (see: A Tale of Giving, if you missed it!)
• Both girls singing duets of this year's favourite Christmas songs, including I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and the 12 Days of Christmas. 
• Holidays crafts - this year, along with some crafts done at home, one of my girlfriends put on an amazing craft day for Ladies A & M. She has two older daughters who my girls think the world of, and they were so excited to spend a whole day with them making ornaments, christmas trees, sparkle jars, and more! 

• Our tree (though put up extremely late this year - we're talking, like, the 23rd of December) filled with beautiful handmade ornaments that the girls have made over the years
• Lady M's Irish Dance recital - after four short months of dancing, she's rocking it! More importantly, she is sooooo happy when she's dancing...and super adorable. 
• A visit to Mountsberg Christmastown with our friends - a very magical night filled with a horse-drawn wagon ride singing carols, cookie decorating, and capped off with a visit to Mrs. Claus and the big guy! 

• Christmas brunch with my mum and dad
• Our annual shopping bonanza day - Cal and I save it all until the 11th hour, then embark on a marathon shopping trip. Some people think we're a little crazy for leaving it so late, but seeing as I have a list that's been cultivated over a 2-month period, complete with gifts, prices, and order of stores we are going to visit, it's just a really fun (and well organized) day! Don't worry though, there are several random purchases that jump into our carts too...it wouldn't be fun if it were totally regimented! 
• Finding the girls' most-wanted gifts - this year, Lady M wanted holiday barbie (easy!) and Lady A wanted a stuffed hippopotamus - a little more challenging. But, we did it! Thank you, Hallie the Hippo from Doc McStuffins. (Last year all she wanted was a stuffed "baccoon"...let me tell you that raccoon was not easy to find...but we did!)

• Lady M's holiday recital at school - her first in French. She sang Petit Papa Noel with her classmates, then they narrated a little play. Lady M had quite a long solo line, and nailed it! We listened to her practice her line (backwards and forwards!) for about two weeks, so she was well prepared! 
• The beautiful fire burning on Christmas morning... ok, we don't have a fireplace, but this Netflix fire was the next best thing...

• Putting up the Christmas lights - again, this one was done quite late this year, but the house looked festive, just in time! 
• Christmas dinner with my family
• Lady A squealing with excitement when she saw her new baby that Santa brought her
• Christmas movies! My favourite has always been National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, so Cal and I watch that one on Christmas Eve every year while finishing wrapping our presents. Love Actually is my other favourite. The Santa Clause is a favourite with the girls, among many others! 

• Matching Christmas pyjamas for the girls. I figure they'll grow out of this eventually, but I'll enjoy this every year I can until then! 
• Annual Christmas cookie exchange with my girlfriends
• Time off from work to spend time with my sweet family
• The mess of toys in our home on Boxing Day, mixed with the happiness and exhaustion of the holidays

We are now blissfully worn out, and happy to be spending a day at home together with no plans at all. 

miss manners

I wholeheartedly believe in instilling proper manners in my daughters. I am a big fan of both 'please' and 'thank you', and believe that there is nothing sweeter than a child with nice, genuinely good manners. I like to think that Lady M even remembers to say these little pleasantries without prompting when I'm not around.

When I moved to Sweden for school I was completely taken aback when I learned that there is no direct translation for the word 'please' in the Swedish language. WHAT?! It was one of the first words, after 'hello' (hej), 'goodbye' (hejdo) and 'thank you' (tack) that I felt I had to learn in my newly acquired home. So, imagine my surprise when I learned this news. How would I communicate? How would I express my manners to people I came in contact with?

Well, I supposed I could hold doors for people when entering or exiting a room or building, right? That was a nice idea, in theory. In fact, Swedes find it rude when you hold the door for them because somehow you are robbing them of their general life liberties. So, I couldn't say 'please', I couldn't hold doors...what was left?! Well, traveling to countries where manners were valued, and not stressing about it when I was in Sweden, that's what was left. And that's how I dealt with it.

In any case, back to present day. Tonight Lady M and I went to the Pita Pit to pick up some dinner. It was a no-cooking-kind-of-night, and the pitas just across the road beckoned. Off we went, and we worked our way along the counter, placing our order, then selecting our vegetables, cheese and sauce. Lady M indicated each of her desired toppings, then politely said "thank you" to the young girl behind the counter. The Pita Pit girl didn't hear her, so Lady M politely said it again. "Thank you!" came her sweet little voice, but because of the glass separating them, and her sometimes rather soft voice, she couldn't be heard.

She tried one last polite little time to say thank you to the kind girl who had loaded the peppers, cucumbers and cheese into her whole wheat pita, and kindly put the tzatziki in a little container on the side, to no avail. Apparently she didn't like the fact that she didn't get a response because the next thing I heard out of her well mannered little voice, was "HEY LADY! I SAID THANK YOU!"

I almost fell over. The girl seemed to look up and giggle a little, but I'm not totally sure whether she heard that comment either. But, I did my best to contain my laughter while letting Lady M know that she really didn't need to say something like that. Just one thank you would do the trick.

So, perhaps you can go a little too far with the whole manners thing, but I still believe in them. And I want my girls to believe in them too...we'll just have to work on when to stop saying thank you.

Have a read...and make a difference!

My friend Kirsten had a rotten experience on the train the other morning where a new immigrant mum from Ireland, and her three little girls, were made to feel like they didn't belong by some horrible, unkind man who should have chosen a different train car that morning.

Please have a look at the post Kirsten wrote entitled "Let's Do Something Really Wonderful", and if you feel so inclined, you can leave a message for this mum and let her know that's she's awesome, and didn't deserve to be treated the way she was. It only takes a moment!

It's appalling to me that people think its okay to treat a stranger so poorly. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, and that's just the point that Kirsten is trying to convey. Please take a couple minutes to read her post, and leave a comment.

Thanks!!