Winter Fun

 Getting ready for Chinese New Year 2012!  The kids made Dragon masks to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

 At the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for the show Charlie the Cello.

 After the CPO we wandered Olympic Plaza.  The owner of the Mediterranean Deli was very taken with Poppy and took her aside to give her a free ice cream.  Luckily she was in a loving mood and shared with Rowan.  The dress she is wearing was made by Zoe for Christmas.  Poppy refused to wear it for quite some time but it is so beautiful (the print is all poppies in case it is hard to tell from the photo) and looks so lovely on her! (Oh, and yes this was taken in Winter in Calgary.  Poppy has a very high tolerance for cold and would not wear a jacket but as you can see, doesn't look bothered by that very much!)

 In February we drove Zoe out to Olds to begin her training as a Race Horse Groom!  She was very hesitant about going but has been enjoying it immensely ever since.  She moved from Olds to Edmonton to the Race Track to continue her training for a few more months.

 Celebrating Rand and Nathalie's February birthdays.  Caramel cheesecake for Rand and strawberry cheesecake for Auntie Nathalie!

 First time using the toboggans from Santa.  We just have not had much snow this year to get out tobogganing as much as we would have liked.  There must be a trick to getting these toboggans to slide quickly because these were pretty slow.  We ended up going back to the cheap ones after a few tries because they were much faster.

 First skate of the year at Olympic Plaza.  Rowan is signed up for a home school skating class so we thought we better get a little practice in before he started.  The kids have asked many times to skate at Olympic Plaza when we've walked by so we made a special trip downtown to skate.  It was perfect ice and we shared it with no more than 4 people at a time.  Ahhhh....the life of a homeschooler!

 Poppy wearing Rowan's old bob skates.

 A winter picnic lunch and hot chocolate!

 Poppy tested her helmet, particularly the cage, several times (also a hand me down from Rowan!)

 This is hard work!

 I'm up!

 Skating lessons at the Rec Centre.  Rowan LOVED the first and second lesson.  He learned so much in just 30 minutes.  There were 4 children initially in the class and one of the girls had such a struggle.  She could not, no matter how hard she tried (and she was trying SO hard!) stay upright on her skates.  Fall after fall after fall.  The Instructor helped her several times but even hanging on to him she slipped and fell.  You could see her discouragement mounting and her trying so hard to hold back her tears.  Eventually her Dad went out on the ice and she led him away from the class but he appeared to be trying to encourage her to continue.   It was so hard to watch her because it was clear she was trying so hard but it was just a skill that was so difficult for her.  She left the class early and was crying in the change room when we went back to take off Rowan's skates.  I made a point of telling her how we all noticed her work so hard on the ice and it was very hard work to get up again and again, and boy did she ever do a good job out there.  She just whimpered.  Her Mom and Dad were quietly encouraging her and supporting her but she didn't return to the class.  I am relieved to see parents being encouraging of their children but also supportive of where they are at at the same time, rather than pushing too hard and contributing to more discouragement on the part of the child.

Rowan is now asking if I can sign him up to play with the Hitmen.  Luckily, it's not that easy!  He prefers skating over swimming at this time so we'll stick with it for a while.

We're continuing with music but both getting tired of regular practice and classes in the evening. Any activity that lasts the whole year can get very tiring - it's a long time to participate in one thing.  Rowan finished another french play series with our homeschooling teacher-trained neighbour.  It was a performance of The Three Bears.  Rowan loved the classes (which included many of his friends) and was the star of the show playing the part of Goldilocks.  One more class of gymnastics for Rowan which he has also really loved this session.

Spring is around the corner and we're looking forward to sunny days outside, Dance class for Rowan, more Music for both Rowan and Poppy, a trip to Edmonton to visit Zoe, a trip to Drumheller to see the Tyrell Museum, a home school day at Fort Calgary, and some Easter festivities.