seeing stars

In the midst of Abby's horse show during the fair the local news showed up to film some live, on location stuff for the news at noon. They interviewed some key fair related people as well as Jenna Rae and Stuart Walker, the brother and sister duo that make up The Reklaws a up and coming country music act that were performing at the fair.



Abby had some down time when they filmed The Reklaws' segment and before I knew it she was front and center at the rail watching them sing. Mom, they are so great can we go see them play? I promised her we could.



Saturday night found Abby and I down at the main stage for her first live music experience where we ran into one of my best cousin friends. Abby was absolutely beside her self with excitement. She kept telling everyone it was her first concert! True to Abby's word, The Reklaws were great! They played a lot of covers and really knocked them out of the park. Their original stuff was fantastic as well. Mike ended up joining us part way through the show and he was an instant fan as well. So the show as a live music experience was really great and that would have been enough. Abby got to clap and cheer and sing-a-long to a bunch of songs she knew, but then they took a short break and Abby asked me if she could buy a CD.

Now here's where it gets cool......

The day before I wasn't really paying attention to the lady who fell in love with Star at the horse show. She told Grandma Sandi how much her kids would love to ride him and so on.... her kids........ none other than The Reklaws. When Abby went to ask about CD's the very nice lady said, hey you're the girl from yesterday with the horse! So they had a little chat and Abby found out the CD's were $8. Mike took her back to buy one and this happened.....



With many thanks to our friend Michelle, The Abster got to meet these wonderfully talented folks who were happy to pose for a picture, sign a shirt and her CD. They took the time to tell her she was beautiful and that they needed more people like her in their lives. It goes without saying that she was over the moon for days.... still is over the moon. She sings Reklaw songs all the time and those few moments cemented the Revills as being Reklaw (and Michelle) fans for life.

Check them out on the itunes.

*hat tip to my pal TQ for the photo

saddle up

When you commit to join a 4H club the outline is fairly simple, you take part in the meetings which usually work out to six, two hour meetings and you wrap up with your achievement day. In our photography club, for example, achievement day was judging day at the fair. The kids had to submit pictures on the chosen topics which we then had judged. For Glee Club the kids put on a performance for their invited guests. You get the general idea.

Abby recently completed her first 4H horse club and achievement day required her to participate in a horse show. Now if you know Abby you know that this caused much anxiety and almost kept her from signing up for the club at all. The week before the show, which was taking place the Friday morning of the fair, she was a bundle of nerves wondering just how she was going to pull it off and fairly certain that the whole experience was going to be the opposite of fun.



We had to scramble a bit to put together a suitable show outfit, many thanks to Grandma Sandi for the clothes and the alterations and Sarah for the loan of the jacket, but in the end we got her looking right spiffy. Of course none of it would be possible if not for one of the club leaders trailering the world's most fantastic pony Star over to the fairgrounds!



Abby remained uncertain through the show on the subject of whether or not she was having fun. Horse shows, I am quickly learning, are a lot of hurry up and wait. So there was much down time, which Abby spent practicing when she could and Star spent grazing on all that delicious grass right at his feet when he could.



By the end of the day Abby had racked up two fourths, a fifth and a sixth (and I scored a wicked sun/wind burn) and, despite her thinking to the contrary, had a fabulous time and is fairly certain she's going to join the club again next year. It goes without saying how proud we are that she was able to have fun despite the nerves. Abby's experience that day really cemented what I find so fantastic about 4H as an organization. She was in a group of her peers where she's making lasting friendships, where she was supported and encouraged to do her best by her leaders and her fellow club members, and she left with a true feeling of accomplishment and increased confidence in herself. Win, win, win.

and that's a wrap

It is the end of an era, that's for sure.



I just finished sending an email that expressed Maya's intention to continue riding lessons in the fall session and Abby's intention to not continue riding lessons in the fall session. After five years of weekly lessons (and three falls), Abby felt it was something she was ready to let go of.



So does that mean she's done with horses? No, absolutely not. She loves to ride, but she does not love the idea of Horse Shows. It's not something she has any interest in doing and at this point of her lessons they are more focused on preparing her to compete.



Luckily Grandma Sandi has Star living the high life, just around the corner from our place so pleasure riding for Abby is definitely in her future. I'm not going to lie it's an adjustment for me. It might be different once lessons get going, but right now it seems so weird for her not to be doing something she loves so much.



Truly it wasn't a decision she made lightly. It came after much thought and conversation, but she's happy with it. She is starting middle school in the fall and I think she's going in nervous, but at the same time willing to make the absolute most of the new opportunities. You know, Mom, she said to me, I just want to try some new things. I wish I could have been more like her at 12... heck I wish I could be like her now.



Looking forward to seeing what new things middle school brings us.

short cut take two

Just to make life ridiculously easy our baby sitter also cuts hair, so when Abby was complaining about the state of her mop top yesterday morning Mike suggested she ask the sitter for a cut while she was there that day.

Neither of us were expecting this...



Mike was a little shocked at how short she went, but she LOVES it and she has two pony tails (that kid has crazy thick hair!!) to send along to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths! Hat tip to her little sister for the inspiration.

it's a parent's job to educate

Mike and I recently began this fun little project with Abby, introducing her to our favourite childhood movies. We started out with the Indiana Jones series, which she loved and we moved on to the Back to the Future series. We watched the first one this past weekend and she has declared it the best movie ever.

This project... which again, so much fun! I suggest you do this if you have suitably aged children. Maya didn't watch Indy with us, but did enjoy Back to the Future...... anyway this project has resulted in endless conversations between Mike and I about which movies should be on the list. So far it includes Ferris Bueller (for Mike as much as Abby as he hasn't seen it either!), Jurrasic Park, Gremlins, The Goonies (again Mike hasn't seen!!) and that brings us of course to Star Wars.

My question to Mike was do we show her the movies in chronological order beginning with episode one or do we show her them in the order they were released? He says we show her Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and that's it. We ignore the other three movies. So my question to you, internet friends, is what would you do. Also a bonus question for those out there in the same age bracket... what other movies would you show her?

no kidding kiddo

I think the time has come. I need to start wrapping The Abster in bubble wrap. You'd think I would have done that after the broken thumb and the ripped off toenail, but I figured her luck had to change and it's been pretty good... until today.

This afternoon she rode the biggest horse at the stable for her lesson, jumping him many many times without a blink. It was afterwards as she took him back to the field that he stepped on her foot and stopped. She's got two swollen toes and a bit of a limp for her trouble. If this past year has taught me anything it's this.... if you can wiggle it without dying, you're probably okay.

So we brought her home and propped her foot up, she popped an advil and out came the frozen mixed veggies. Now I'm not sure if it was the limp that did it or what, but just a little bit ago she tripped over the area rug in the living room and landed ribs first across the edge of the coffee table. Her ribs seem to be intact, she can breathe just fine and didn't protest very much when I poked around. I administered some more advil and sent her in the direction of bed before anything else could happen to her.

You know Mom, I'm just an accident waiting to happen!

kindness and caring

I have been heard to say many times that if I don't manage to send my girls out into this world to be kind, caring and polite people...... I may as well just hang it up right now. To that end I try to model that behaviour to the best of my ability. I'm far from perfect and it's a constant work in progress, but I do the best I can.

So you can imagine I was busting at the seams on Tuesday when I got a call from the Principal at Abby's school.... I just wanted to let you know that we're going to be recognizing Abby at an assembly tomorrow because she really exemplifies this month's character trait, kindness and caring.

I'm not going to lie to you... it's all smoke and mirrors over here. It may look like I have this Mom thing locked down, but really I'm just winging it and hoping that they're paying attention to the really important stuff. Moments like this call for a little fist pump because... YES! She gets it well enough that other people realize she gets it. That's a parenting win right there!



I wish I could have been there for the assembly, but Mike was able to sneak away from work for a bit to see her get her certificate and text me pictures and for that I am thankful for both our sakes. School has been a bit of a struggle for Abby the last couple of years, but I can honestly say I don't think there is any kind of grade or mark she could bring home from school that would make me any prouder of her than I am right now.

we love the library

I came home this afternoon to a message on the phone from our local library. My first thought was.... crap one of the kids must have something horrendously overdue, but no. Turns out The Abster had won the summer lego contest and would she mind stop by the front desk and picking up her prize. Well of course she would!!

Our library is only open until 5pm on Thursdays and normally the kids get off the bus at 4:10, except this is the first week of school and we have a new bus company/driver, so it was more like 4:20 when they finally strolled up the driveway. Hurry up, hop in the car we have to go to the library! Only to be met with a chorus of groans... but Mom, we're hungreeeeeee. Can't we get a snack first? My plan was to say nothing about the phone call, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So I told them we had to go because the library had called saying they needed to see Abby as soon as possible! It took about 47 seconds for her to work out that she may have possibly won one of the summer contests.



Over the summer the library had a lego scene set up and quiz based on what was depicted in the scene. Abby answered the questions with no help from me and handed in her paper back in the beginning of August. Excuse me, the librarian called us back, you've missed the first question. Did you realize that? I mean if you didn't know the answer that's okay, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't accidentally forget to fill it out. Abby had in fact missed the first question, so she took her paper back to the lego scene and completed the quiz, including the bonus question... the only part I ended up helping with. She's never seen any of the star wars movies so how was she supposed to know that was an x-wing fighter? Looking back, I'm thankful she pointed Abby's oversight out.

Abby was suddenly very nonchalant when we got to the library. Apparently checking out the dvds was the most important part of the trip, no need to introduce herself at the front desk. Mike coaxed her back and the librarian was only too happy to hand over Abby's winnings!



Inside her super cool messenger bag was a couple of packs of lined paper, an HPL pen and pencil, six bookmarks, headphones, a Brave (the Disney movie) journal a shirt, a notebook, some thanksgiving paper puppets and a Legend of the Guardians chapter book. Not a bad little haul for one happy little girl!

she forgot he had basic math skills

Abby's first day on the job found her and Poppa picking up an extra lawn as a one time deal. Poppa being the guy that he is declared the payment to be found money and he let Abby keep it. Well the amount equaled out to a King's ransom for an eleven year old. At that point Abby and Poppa hadn't yet worked out how much she would be getting paid an hour and those two things led to Mike "suggesting" to Poppa that he couldn't just give her a King's ransom, but rather a fair wage for the work she was doing. Poppa's opinion on the subject was that Mike should mind his own business. Lest you think this had turned into some sort of fight, nothing could be further from the truth. It was a simple case of parent versus grandparent. It's one side's job to be indulgent and the other side's job to be completely ignored when they complain about aforementioned indulgence. You know how it goes.

Finally employer and employee settled on the terms of employment, but the details of the contract were hush hush... at least where Michael was concerned. Mike and Poppa love to give each other the gears. Abby, however is a horrible secret keeper. She cornered me in the bathroom almost immediately to tell me how much she'd be making per hour, but made me pinky swear not to tell her Dad. Of course Mike tried everything he could to get her to crack, but she kept her lip zipped.

Fast forward to her four and a half hour work day when she came home and threw herself in the recliner because she was beat.

Abby: Well, I made $22.50 today!
Mike stops what he's doing to shoot a smirk her way.
Me: You realize you just told your Dad how much you're making an hour.
Abby: Crap!

summer job

So Abby has a couple of weeks of her summer job under her belt and she still seems happy about going to work, so I guess we can call it a win. It is ridiculously cute to have her come home after her four and a half hours of work and fling herself in the recliner telling us she's beat. Also adorable... as we plan out our summer activities Abby stands shoulder to shoulder with me at the calendar predicting which days she's going to have to work.

What Maya is finding not so adorable, conversations like this..... Abby: You're going to have to set the table tonight. I just got home from work.

like her mama

Oh my gosh, she looks so much like Mike. That's what we hear about Abby. All the time. It turns out though, that Abby may have a little of her rule following Mama in her as well. Tell me if you notice the similarity........

A month and a half after my birthday I suddenly remember that I was due to renew my health card, you guessed it, on my birthday. Oy. We had holidays coming up in a week and a half so I left it until then. Renewing your health card used to be a pain in the ass when you had to schlep all the way downtown and make an appointment and even still probably wait. Now you can pop on over to the local small town licensing office and it's all over in no time. As an added bonus it's  just down the street from our favourite breakfast place, so win win. Here's the kicker though..... I was almost two months late in getting my health card renewed. That kind of thing is a pretty big anxiety trigger for me. I spent hours before we went down there rehearsing the speech I was going to give about why I was late to renew. Of course we got stuck in traffic on the way there.... so much for small town living....... which didn't help matters at all.

Finally I'm in line, only one person ahead of me and I'm praying that I can pull off the whole life is so busy, project deadlines, kids, work, lost track of time blah blah blah and you know what happened next right? She took my paperwork, took my picture and processed it through without breaking her conversation with the nice lady two wickets over. I don't even think she looked at my paper work if we're being completely honest. She certainly didn't seem to notice I was two months late and like a friend said to me afterwards.... Shan, she doesn't care.

Now two weeks ago I get a warning email from the library saying that Abby was very late returning a book. I remembered her taking the book out, but after that was a blank except for her asking me if she could take the book to school. I didn't think that was such a great idea, but she assured me that she was responsible enough. Now we can't find the book and Abby is afraid that she returned it to the resource teacher at the school, a teacher who has now left our school. She asked me what would happen if she couldn't find the book and I explained that she would have to pay to replace the book. That led to a couple of somewhat sleepless nights as she worried about that. As luck would have it she did end up finding the book tucked into a seldom used drawer and there was much dancing and jubilation, but we still had to deal with that library fine.

Mom, will I be in trouble? Mom, will they be mad at me? Mom, what are they going to say to me? Mom, will you come with me to pay it?

Sound familiar?

Of course they took her money and didn't look twice at her. Took her $1.60 and told her not to forget to unlock her dvd cases on the way out, have a nice day, thanks for stopping by, see you next week.

All that worry for nothing.

poor abby

Abby was only home from school for about 10 minutes when she tripped over my shoes. I didn't see her fall I was in the kitchen answering some email and she fell by the back door. I definitely heard her and knew she had gone down hard and then she started to scream. You know that scream I'm talking about. The one that makes your stomach drop to your knees when it's coming out of your kid. So I run to the back door, she's in a heap on the floor cradling her hand. Yes, the same hand. The broken thumb hand. My stomach drops further.

Is it your thumb? Did you hit your thumb? I'm asking her, but she is borderline hysterical. I manage to get her calm enough to tell and show me that her thumb is okay, but, she says, my toe really hurts. I peel off her sock and oh my gosh. My stomach could drop no further. The toenail on her big toe had been more or less completely ripped up and bent back over her toe. Abby lost her ever loving mind when she saw it.

Mike was in the yard cutting the grass and I went out to get him at a dead run leaving poor Abby screaming by herself in the house. I was almost at Mike, close enough to touch him when I fell. My foot went into a sinkhole and I went down hard on my stomach. I had already put my hand out to touch Mike and I hit him on the way down. He turns to find me in a heap at his feet. He's making sure I'm okay and I'm saying not me Abby. Go see Abby. Who's still screaming.

We ended up calling TeleHealth because we weren't quite sure what to do. She was in a tremendous amount of pain and then there was the blood, not a lot, but enough given the circumstances. TeleHealth advised skipping the hospital and soaking her foot in cold water to soften the nail up enough to trim it then coat it with polysporin and wrap her toe in gauze. By the time we got off the phone with the very helpful nurse Abby was suffering from shock. She had the shakes and was freezing. So we wrapped her in blankets and stuck her foot in some cool water and then we called in ML.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love that chick. I called her up and told her what was going on. She had just been past my house, but that didn't stop her from turning around and coming right back. She took a look at Abby's toe and agreed with the TeleHealth nurse's recommendations and the best part, she helped Mike with the nail removal. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it. The nurse on the phone had instructed me to get a cold wet cloth and apply pressure to her toe and it was all I could do to do that. I was so afraid to hurt her even further.

The nail removal went about as well as one would expect it to go. There was some discomfort, but it was over fairly quickly. She was still shaky, weepy and cold so I kept her bundled up with her foot elevated. Even still it was a long rough evening. Abby told me several times that she'd much rather have the broken thumb than the toe thing.... lucky girl has both now. By bedtime we had her toe polysporined, gauzed, bandaged and the advil had kicked in. She's not walking very well, but I have my fingers crossed that she'll be able to sleep okay.

Just never a dull moment around here.

instagram monday - broken

Hi, Mr. Revill, we have your daughter here. She hurt herself in gym class, we think she may have broken her thumb.

Not the kind of call you want to get at 3:25 in the afternoon, but we've gotten this call before. It was the end of the school day, from where she was to where we were it made just as much sense for her to come home on the bus. Mike spoke with the secretary Abby seemed okay, had an ice pack and was fine to come home.

We got home within minutes of each other and I checked Abby over..... her thumb was swollen and she was complaining about the pain. I asked her to move it and she either couldn't or wouldn't. I say that only because we've been down this road twice before with Maya and both times we went to the hospital to find that she could, but wouldn't move her hand.... that means not broken. I brushed the end of Abby's thumb only to have her wince at the slightest touch. She needed to go to the hospital. Mike thought maybe we should leave it for a bit and see. Thanks to Maya we are well versed in the rush to the hospital to find out nothing's wrong scenario. So of course I called ML to get her expert opinion, she didn't even bother to come over to look.... take her, she said. You don't want to mess around with the thumb.



Two hours later she came home with this.

I'm still a bit fuzzy on the details of how exactly it happened, but the jist of it is this.... they were doing soccer drills in gym she went after the ball for her group and another kid went after the ball for his group and they collided, foot to thumb. We see the plastic surgeon in a week and we'll go from there. Abby is feeling okay and really stoked about the cast, of course.

I have to say I'm surprised, I had money on Maya being the first one of our children to be sporting a cast.

twinkle

Friday... what can I say about Friday? I really have no words. Just utter heartbreak. Those poor families. That poor community. Just heartbreaking to proportions I cannot even fathom. I squeezed my kids long and hard when they got home from school. Squeezed them until they asked me why I was acting so strange. Then we headed over to church for the first showing of the annual Christmas pageant and I tried very hard not to feel guilty for being able to enjoy it.

For the second year in a row Maya took to the stage and actually participated in the production. She was the oldest angel and as such was "in charge" of the other angels, a job she took very seriously cough micro-manager cough.She sang all the parts she was supposed and a few of the parts she wasn't, all with a big smile on her face.

Abby was asked to sing a solo, something she was incredibly nervous about, but she pulled it off. Of course she did! So proud of my girls.

mystery solved

Many weeks ago Maya and Abby had their school pictures taken. The proofs came home, we chose our favourite picture and sent them back with cheques attached. Shortly after I noticed one of the cheques had been cashed and Maya came home with her school pictures. Abby came home with nothing.

Every other day we have the same conversation....
Me: Did you get your pictures today?
Abby: No.
Me: Hmmmmm.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Last week the other cheque for pictures was finally cashed so I've been asking Abby just about every day if she got her pictures yet and the answer is always the same, until yesterday....

Me: Did you get your pictures today?
Abby: Nope.
Me: Well I think I'm going to email Mrs. Principal and see what I should do.
Abby: Ummmm
Me: Ummm what?
Abby: Well, I handed in my picture form late.
Me: What's this now?
Abby: I forgot I had to hand it in, so I didn't give it to them until the came back on picture retake day.
Me: Really?!
Abby: They said it was fine and I would get my pictures when they sent the retakes back.
Me: Really?! Why didn't you just tell me that the first 75 times I asked you about it?
Abby: I thought you'd be mad at me.

I have to admit I'm still baffled why she didn't just explain to me what was going on. I'm far from an ogre. I don't routinely lose my shit about the little stuff like that. It certainly would have cleared up, very quickly and easily I might add, the biggest mystery I had going on in my life right now... I mean besides how they get the caramel in the caramilk bar. Kids.

congrats abbers

I am so proud of my Abby girl. Our school holds one fundraiser per year that we ask the students to fund raise for, the Halloween Dance-a-thon. Our Parent Council offers class and individual prizes for top fundraisers.

This year Abby took charge of her own fundraising efforts and with Grandma Linda by her side for moral support, she talked to pretty much the entire congregation at church and managed to raise $253 for her school. Good enough to be the second highest fundraiser out of all the students.

She came off the bus with the world's biggest smile and a brand new red Nintendo dsi. She is incredibly proud of herself, as are her Dad and I. Who knows, maybe she has a career in the not for profit sector in her future!

yay for reading

It's no secret I love to read! I've read almost 30 books so far this year. Now as any reader knows, what makes books even greater is sharing the story with a friend. When the girls were born I couldn't wait until they were old enough to read all the books I fell in love with when I was a little girl. Books by Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Laura Ingalls.

As Abby got older and her struggles with reading became apparent reading was about the last thing on the planet she wanted to spend any extra time doing. She was not a girl who was interested in reading for fun. She took part in an intense reading program at her school and really overcame a lot of her struggles, but still had no real interest in reading as a recreational activity.

Then Blockbuster closed and downloading movies was not an option for us and then I got a kobo which led to a library card. This summer we've been making weekly trips to the library to pick out dvds and books. As the summer has progressed I've noticed Abby disappearing with her book more and more. I'll find her curled up on the couch or laying across her bed, nosed buried in her book. She's been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, which she's enjoyed. I haven't read the books, but I've seen two of the movies and liked them.

This week at the library Abby picked out Fudge-a-mania by Judy Blume. I was so excited. One of my very favourite authors when I was Abby's age. She's loving the book so far and has asked me to put a hold on another fudge book. I am loving having the opportunity to enjoy my favourite books again through her, but more than that I am thrilled she's becoming a reader.

What were your favourite childhood books?

first day

Well what kind of mommy blogger would I be if I hadn't documented the kids' first day of school? I did have to work today, so I did what I could. Which was to snap some pictures of them as they got off the bus. Still the first day... it all counts.



The Abster, she started grade 5 today. Oh my. Only two years until she's all done at our little school. Hold me, I'm scared already. Abby was excited about going back to school, looking forward to her teacher this year. Gone are the days of kleenex and ziploc bags. This year's supply list includes a memory stick and a french english dictionary.



MyPie, she started grade 1 and was over the moon about having a desk of her very own. She's excited about the group she's in and can't wait for that homework to start coming home. Ahhh my little nerd. She loves her teacher and is beyond thrilled to be a "big kid".



How was the first day of school at your house?

a little bit of peer pressure

I remember being ten and begging my parents to let me get my ears pierced. It took me quite a while to convince them. I don't wear earrings all that often these days, but boy I really wanted them done back then. Many years later I had daughters of my own and about a year or so ago I told Abby whenever she wanted to get her ears pierced to say the word and we'd go. She refused then and has taken every opportunity to remind me that she does NOT want to get her ears pierced.

Fast forward to four months ago and Little MyPie says... I want to get my ears pierced. Huh and further more, what? I asked her if she was sure. She was. I told her it would hurt for a minute. She said she knew. I asked her again if she was sure. She was. She really really was. So I told her when school was over we'd go and then life got kind of busy and we never got to the mall. So I promised her, pinky swore, that we would go when she got back from camping. Apparently that promise was mentioned more than once the week she roughing it in the wilderness of the provincial park.

Yesterday was the day. Off to the mall we went, Abby still emphatically refusing to even consider getting her's pierced and would you just get off my back about it already, geez! Before we left the house I asked twitter what the odds were she'd come back with pierced ears. Maya is nothing if not a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. We got to the mall, and I asked her...are you sure? Yep. In front of the store.... are you sure? Yep. Then she was in the store picking out her studs. Hop up in the chair when you're ready they told her. And she did.....



Seconds later and with barely a blink from MyPie, she had pierced ears.



How did it feel I asked her afterwards? Kinda like someone was punching a hole in my ear, but meh.

That's all big sister needed to see and hear.



Afterwards Abby said, I was going to ask to hold your hand, but Maya didn't need to so I wasn't going to either!

The are both insanely proud and have been flashing their ears at everyone they come across. Been a pretty great summer so far.

bazinga

Me: I went to the movies Friday night with Robin and Iona. Do you know what we saw?
Abby: No, what?
Me: Magic Mike. Do you know what that's about?
Abby: Nope.
Me: It's about your Dad.
she turns to Mike
Abby: So people show up to see a movie about you farting, eating, sleeping and scratching yourself?