We took our children (8 and 10 years old) to their first wedding last weekend.  It was a family affair and we thought they were finally old enough to enjoy it.  The whole process was so fun!  We had to go buy new outfits for them, and I got to do my daughter’s hair in an updo, and use sparkle spray!  They both looked so cute. 

At the ceremony they watched everything with big eyes and my son even read a bit in the boring parts.  At the cocktail reception they looked like they thought, “really?  this is it?”  Then for the actual reception, they really cut loose.  My daughter hung out with her cousins and we barely saw her.  She danced the night away and really had a great time.  My son tried out some break dancing moves on the dance floor and made giant structures out of glow bracelets.  They both had such a blast.   My husband and I enjoyed ourselves so much more for having them there.  It really was a wonderful experience.

I cannot believe my beautiful little girl has turned 10 years old today.  I can still really vividly remember the day she was born.  Or should I say evening.  After way too many hours of labour to write down here, she was put in my arms, and I immediately fell so in love.  I spent a few hours just trying to understand how she got there…

I always knew that I wanted to be a Mom, but I still never imagined being a mother could be so amazing.  My girl brings me so much joy every single day.  I love her creativity, and spirit, generosity, humour and heart.  She is fiery, intelligent and strong.  She is SUCH a cool kid. 

I am so privileged to have a front seat to watch her grow and develop into the young lady she is becoming.  I cannot wait to see what the next 10 years bring.  Happy Birthday to the joy of my life!

My wonderful boy turns 8 today.  It is so hard to believe that my baby is 8 whole years old.  I can’ t believe it has been so long since I held him as a tiny little newborn.  He captured my heart from the very first instant, and is to this day my captor.  His sweetness and sensitivity are unparalleled.  His brilliance is inspiring.  He is completely his own person, absolutely marching to his own drum and following his true path.  Sometimes this leads to stalemates, but in the big picture, it is pretty cool.  I am so proud of my sweet boy!  I love you and Happy Birthday!!

There is something absolutely magical about the end of each school year.  I can vividly remember anticipating the last day of school with every fibre of my being…the miserable cold winter giving way to hot scorching days, and still being stuck in school.  And then the last couple of weeks filled with fun end of year trips, and performances, and happy times in class.  Saying goodbye to all my school friends for the summer… 

Now I see my children living their last week of the school year.  Each day they count down how many days are left.  They have brought home tons of completed school work that we will carefully file away to look at many years from now.  They are giddy with glee at fun hair day tomorrow!  and only HALF a day on Friday – then freedom!!!

My husband shared this great story about my children with me this morning.

As he was driving them to school they were arguing about who knows more. My husband told them to stop fighting and that very soon, they’ll both be smarter than Daddy. He added that when that happens, they’ll have to get good jobs and make lots of money so that they can take care of him. He said he will need to be taken care of because he would have to sell all of his stuff to pay for two PhDs and would then have to live in a cardboard box on the side of the road.

there was a pause…

and then our 7 year old son pipes up, “It’s OK Daddy…you’ll still be smart when we’re smarter than you.  We’ll take care of you and Mommy either way. You guys won’t have to live in a box.

What a cute kid!

My children had a really wonderful weekend. My son had his last hockey tournament of the year and they made it all the way to the finals, which they lost.  He even got an assist on the only goal scored in the semi-final game. I was so proud. He played with heart, style and enthusiasm. What a wonderful thing to watch!

My daughter also had a dance competition this weekend. Her dancing was so fantastic and energetic and sharp! They got great marks for all 4 dances and we were very proud. The surprise came at the end of the competition when their jazz number came in second overall for their age group. We were all thrilled! Her lyrical number continues to reduce me and all the other mothers to tears each time we see it. When I watch that dance I am in awe of my daughter’s grace, beauty, poise, and most of all her dedication to dance.

I am a very proud mommy this morning

My daughter had a dance competition this weekend and it was so much fun. This is her fourth year competing and I love it more every year. The whole dance team just matures so much in a year. I find myself teary eyed watching her dance on stage. One of her numbers, which is a lyrical dance called Never Alone, had all of us moms crying while we watched. Afterwards, the judges awarded it a special award for “Poetry in Motion” and said that it brought tears to their eyes. I am always amazed at how she has the energy to hang out for 12-15 hours in that environment and then still give a perfect, energetic performance at the end of the day. I never saw myself as a dance mom, but I have surely become one. Watching my daughter’s grace, beauty and poise onstage never fails to amaze me.

A great new thing I saw at this year’s competition was the Rac n Roll bag. A couple of the moms from our studio saw them last year and ordered them online.  This bag is amazing! It has its own rack for holding costumes (so you aren’t digging around in a bag trying to find things, or trying to find something to hang your garment bag on). It also has enough room and pockets for all your extra tights, hair pieces, make-up etc…It was designed by a dance mom. I just ordered one and am hoping it arrives in time for this weekend’s dance competition.

This week is March Break for my children and wow are they having a great time.  For the first time that I can remember the weather has been INCREDIBLE all week.  It has been sunny and really warm each day – up to 14 degrees celsius yesterday.  That is just unheard of for March weather around here.

Because of this fabulous weather my kids are having what I think of as a throw back vacation.  Every day they are getting up early and taking the dog for a really long walk on a nature trail near our house.  Then they are spending the rest of the day riding their bikes, going to the park, and playing with all the other kids on our street.

Those are the activities I remember doing as a child, and it seems like no one does them anymore as there just isn’t time in our crazy scheduled life.  How nice for the kids to experience this for a whole week.  They are loving every minute of it!!  Yea for nice weather on March Break!

I think the maternal instinct is downright creepy.  Time and again my actions prove that it really does exist.  It doesn’t seem to work in the same way for fathers, well at least my husband as he is the extent of my research on this subject .

The most recent occurence of this phenomenon was last night.  My son has been very sick all week with a terrible cough and all the things that go with it.  We went to the doctor and got some extra strong cough syrup.  I find that once we put him to bed at night he is pretty good until about 5am when he awakes coughing again.  So I have just been following our normal routine all week which is checking on him (and my daughter) when we go to bed.

Last night, inexplicably, I got this weird urge to check on him at 9:30pm.  I NEVER do this.  I got up and went upstairs and checked him and he was burning up.  Got out the thermometer and he had a fever of 104.  I immediately plied him with Advil and put him back to bed.  He was still responsive and talkative so I wasn’t freaking out.  I checked on him every half hour after that and the fever kept going down so I knew he was going to be okay.  I then also set my internal alarm to check him at 3am, when the fever was gone but just in case I gave him extra Tylenol.  Still sick, but no high fever this morning…we will be watching him closely tonight.

All of this to say that it is creepy how I just seem to know when they are sick and need me to go check on them.  This maternal instinct thing is pretty good .