"Spring Break" (March 23-31)

Considering how winterish it still felt and because any parent with school-aged kids knows it's not really a break, quotation marks seem suitable.  And yet, it was a break from the usual routine of getting out the door early to school.  I at least had S's company on Saturday when we took the kids and our friends Rathy and Vani to the "Festival of Fools" at the Forks Market.  A free event, it involved various magic shows and entertainers, as well as tables for the kids to make Easter-themed crafts.

Such beautiful brown eyes!

Contemplating whether he'll get his face painted or not

Decision made easy when it was the clown who was next available!

Not afraid of too much, Izzy went with the clown who did a nice job!

It's no surprise what A asked for.
She's never had her face painted and not been a feline of some form . . . 

After lunch, we headed out of the Market and S took Ai over to the toboggan hill while the girls tried ice skating.  Without any chair support and a Mom trying to support the younger kid, A didn't accomplish too much getting around this time.  Iz totally impressed me, however, with her determined attitude.  Over and over she'd fall.  I'd help her up but she'd quickly shake off my holding hand and try to do it alone again.  Made me want to place my bets that once we have some pavement and can get the kids on bikes, she'll be the first without training wheels.  Looking forward to that experience!

The work week started off with the not-so-fun start of a minor visit to Children's Hospital's ER with Ai.  My friend, Chantal, had kindly invited me on a Costco run Monday afternoon.  Ai has chemistry with her son, Salem, and the two are very boy-ish together.  Would have been better for us to meet up where they could play as they wanted to be active.  So after ticking-off a few sample ladies and customers, we made it out with our groceries an hour later.  While distractedly giving my goodbyes to Chantal, I hadn't noticed Ai had dropped his penny under the cart.  Thinking the buggy wheel was sideways or that I'd hit a rock chunk, I pushed against the resistance, then I heard his scream.  Sadly, his middle finger had skin ripped up and hanging off at the top. :(  Rushed him back in the store to grab tissues and bandaids, but their emergency box had none.  The four women behind the desk asked to look, so I pulled back my tight grip and they all gasped and advised to head straight for emergency, then kindly stuck a handful of lollipops in my pocket.  Quick change of plans and vans with Chantal taking mine back to my place with the three kids and me taking hers with screaming Ai.  Once he stopped crying after ten minutes or so, it was my turn to quietly start.  I felt so badly about what had happened.  Anyway - made the right choice not to go to a clinic, as I only had two people waiting ahead of me.  Within 15 minutes of waiting, the doctor was cleaning his wound and dressing it - not needing any stitches.  What a relief!  Once again, I'm amazed by how quickly an accident can happen . . . but also amazed that with all that kids do, they don't happen more often.  As is, I'm guessing his skin will heal before he agrees to let me take off the ID band from his wrist.  He's rather proud of his hospital experience . . .

Tuesday was no less eventful, but in a much more positive way.  After a mellow morning inside, we walked over to the West End Cultural Centre for a free kids concert by "Seanster and the Monsters."

So fun!  A local band, but with such creative (well-played) songs and a great way of connecting with kids and parents alike.  It was so pleasurable to be in a kid-friendly venue and not have to restrain their enthusiasm.  We met up with Abby's school friend, Lilly, and she and Mom, Adina, came over afterward to play and visit, then stay for dinner.  We had to rush them out the door after 6:30 as a friend had given us five complimentary tickets to the Super Spring Break Circus at the MTS Centre downtown.

I'm not so sure I'd have called it "super" - certainly wouldn't have paid the $110 cost to purchase tickets for our family!  Though we were impressed by some of the talented trapeze artists, hoopers and other performers' abilities, we didn't find it be a particularly family-oriented event.  The females were in skimpy costumes, the music was loud and teen-oriented, the ringmaster's language not understandable by kids.  It didn't help that animal-welfare activists were outside the entrance when we entered and that both S and I would support what they are doing!  I have no idea what modern North American animal training is like - I'm sure not nearly as bad as it was in the past.  But still, it doesn't seem humane for animals to be forced to do such unnatural things, nor live in such a habitat.   Seeing the singular female elephant at the end left me sad, as elephants have such strong family connections by nature.  Captivity and solitary living just doesn't seem right.  Sigh.  Anyway, last time we'll be doing that though the kids had a fun time despite it being so very late at night.

Crazy photo taken by A as we waited in line at Tim Hortons

Wednesday was mellow as A came down with a cold and everyone was a little tired.  The highlight was going puddle-jumping before bed, despite the temperature being -3 C.  After five whole months of not seeing a puddle, the kids couldn't resist!  Ended with crying once someone fell in and realized how freezing cold it was, but they've been asking to go out and do it again since.  Just waiting for the boots to dry and the puddles to re-thaw . . . 

Thursday was a trip to the zoo to see Hudson, the new polar bear.  After a good walk to his exhibit, we discovered he'd gone into his cave for a little nap.  Meant for some disgruntled kids, but after another 15 minute walk, we made it to the indoor playground and all was well again.

By afternoon, I had two more kids down with colds so Friday was pretty mellow.  We didn't make it to a service, though we did have S's co-worker friend over for dinner with her family.  Happened to be their daughter's birthday, so that was fun to celebrate.

Paul and Nyomen were fantastic sports when the kids invited them up to their "Rock-star Cat Show" and even participated when they called for volunteers from the audience.  This time, they'd extended their show to include jumping from the desk on to the bed while meowing loudly.

The impressive part was watching Iz do it as she doesn't bend her knees or get her arms out to break the fall - just throws herself whole-heartedly into it.  Something the others, by nature, just couldn't emulate!

Saturday deserves its own post, as it was a good and different sort of day.  I'll get to that later.

As for Easter, this year won't be one to remember (hopefully).  I've always had a funny relationship with big holidays - wanting them to be as special as my memories and past associations but buckling under the pressure to make it be special.  I'm sure my family and any old roommates/friends can recall instances of me being just kind of weird, weepy or even angry on birthdays, graduations, Easter.  I'll spare you the examples that come to mind for me . . . It's one of my not-so-wonderful personality quirks I find hard to explain.  Anyway, I hadn't emotionally prepared myself for my Easter baggage, so found myself scrambling Sunday morning to find something nice enough to wear.  Practicality won when I saw the falling snow so back into jeans (it was depressingly cold!).  But I'd still made a mess and killed precious time - time needed to find Easter-worthy clothes for the girls!  Found myself digging in the totes of hand-me-downs in the basement as Iz has grown this winter and her pretty dresses were all too small.  It all added up to us being late, me being frazzled unnecessarily and burdened with guilty thoughts remembering that Sundays are not to be about clothing and looking good enough.  I hadn't set up the morning well, so my disappointment was great when the joyful Easter songs I look forward to singing each year weren't sung.  I am glad we're part of the church community that we are, but one thing that just doesn't jive for me is their more formal style of music.  I found myself holding back tears in the pew as I sang nothing familiar.  Seems pathetic now, but such was Sunday.  It's no wonder S had a headache through the afternoon and had to stay home when we went over for dinner at Sue and Harley's later that afternoon:  I'd been a bit much.  So no photos of the day.  The consolation was going out with Ai  later this afternoon to buy Easter chocolate at 50%.  The kids were able to do an Easter egg hunt in the living room this evening - as happy as if it'd happened the day it was supposed to!  I'm so thankful their expectations aren't too high and they'll just remember from this holiday that we had a special dinner with friends and they hunted for eggs.  As for me, I think I'll just have to sit at the piano this week and plunk out the favourite songs I didn't get to sing this weekend (while eating Lindt eggs):  then all shall be well again.

Happy belated Easter from us to you.  I hope yours was holier than mine was. :)