Pop Bang!

We had an awesome Canada Day! The kids saw their first fireworks and loved it. I was surprised they were able to stay awake, but I guess the excitement kept them going. Amazing considering they bombed around Sherwood Park all day too taking in pony rides, bouncy castles and slides, and all sorts of other fun stuff with Saoirse and Brighid.

Oi!

Happy Canada Day, eh?

Mika: (for the 16th time) Why did the butterfly poop on you?
Me: Because I'm special.
Mika: Well you're not the bestest special thing. I am.
Me: I know.
Mika: Why didn't the butterfly poop on me?
Me: It just wasn't your lucky day, I guess.

Playdate with Sammi

Mika takes a wee tumble.

note: fixed the incorrect link. ewps!

Break

Here's my attempt at an update while the boyo eats cereal:

Mika is one class away from finishing her cooking classes. She's had a lot of fun and made some great new friends. Her anxiety about it faded away after the second class - w00t!
Soccer will be done at the end of the month too (i think) and the girl has done an awesome job. She runs like mad and is a great keeper. We tried to get her boyfriend on the team yesterday, but it didn't happen. Sam's Mom is going to contact the league boss and see if she can get him on the team despite how late it is in the season.
Mika and Declan have had some wonderful playdates with various kids and we're looking forward to more.
Summer is kind of here - Edmonton style. The garden is growing well aside from the hops. The leaves are turning dark green and shriveling up. Infestation of some sort? I have no clue. I think I'll stick to potatoes or something next year. Mika's flower boxes are in good shape as are the tomatoes and peppers from Baba and Grandpa Ted. The strawberry patch is showing a couple of flowers. The lawn is disappearing, dandelions are doing well - haha.
The kids love being in the yard - playing basketball, soccer, lacrosse, or tending to the rocks. They have a mania for rocks. Sometimes the rocks are just rocks, "This is my rock friend - her name is Rocky Rock Rock", other times they take on other, uh, personalities such as Pokemon or a cheerleader.
Both kids are currently obsessed with High School Musical. Declan loves dancing as much as his sister.

We hit the International Children's Festival last week and loved it. Mika and I saw a performance called O Cano. We dug it. Mika got to sit next to the hand puppet performance group from Peru - she felt like a bit of a star herself.

Ah, the boy has made his way to his sister's room and by the screams and shouts, I gotta go!

summer

The summer got off to a good start - until the snow returned yesterday.
Mika's soccer season got off to a wonky start. She refused to speak to anyone or play because she was "too scared". She got it together last week and actually played a game. She loved it! The only problem is Declan. He really wants to play too and we can't keep him off the field.
Declan is a superhero all the time now. He alternates between The Hulk, Spiderman, and Batman. It's problematic to try and get him out of his PJ's featuring one of the aforementioned heroes and dressed for the day, so he often just wears PJ's all day. Superheros prerogative. He loves watching the youtube videos for the old Adam West Batman series from the 60's and the old Spiderman cartoon theme. He sings that Spiderman theme about 100 times a day. He still loves hockey too.

I had a big long post in mind, but the kids are wanting a second helping of breakfast. Meh!

soccer star

soccer star
Originally uploaded by MamaT

The crew

The crew
Originally uploaded by MamaT

The recital went over really well. Mika had a few emotional moments, but managed to get herself onstage and dance for her class' number and the finale. She's standing to the immediate right of her teacher and proud as can be. The girl standing to the left of the teacher is the oldest daughter of my best friend from kindergarten. I hadn't seen my friend in years and years - until she approached me one morning at dance and asked if it was me. Small world indeed.

rockstar

gah! i broke down and bought mika one hannah montana song. i've kept it at bay despite mika's longing for well over a year now. i wonder how long before she discovers the tv show and movie?

better times

Mika went to her cooking class on Friday and managed to participate without needing a parent with her - phew. As I figured, her reward for a job well-done was forgotten in her excitement of the victory over social anxiety. Mika burst out of the classroom and immediately announced to me that she spoke to two different kids all by herself - meaning that she initiated conversation. Ah grand. She's coming along nicely.

Tonight was Mika's dress rehearsal for her first dance recital this coming Saturday. The kid has been having breakdowns about going to class claiming that she is too scared. There were no changes that caused this - seems out of the blue. The couple of times we made her go against her will, the teacher told me that Mika refused to dance. The class is almost an hour - an hour of my kid standing with her arms folded glaring at the world and refusing to communicate with anyone. Whee! I asked Mika how is she going to know her moves for the recital if she doesn't dance in class? - she told me that she knew all the moves and showed off for me. Huh - so I was hooped there.

Nana took Mika to her final class last Saturday because I was working a bingo for Mika's soccer team. It seemed to work for the kid because she danced and participated like anyone else. Tonight she pranced and danced on stage like it was made for her. There was a 1.5 hour wait between Mika's class routine and the finale and these wee kids handled it just fine. I was aching for a coffee.

Mika planned to quit dance after this year, but her interest is renewed after seeing the teachers and big kids dance. "Mum, I wanna go back to dance next year. I'm gonna learn ALL those fancy moves because I'll need them when I'm a rock star...or maybe people can just dance around me while I sing...but I still wanna know those fancy moves like the big kids..."

Oi.

good times

So...cooking class was a bit of a bust. Mika was too scared to go in by herself. Her cousin was late and that threw her off because she expected to walk in with him. I had to stay with Mika for the entire 2 hour class. It was a challenge to say the least: keeping her from crying and breaking down while encouraging or helping her participate as I held Declan and tried to keep him out of trouble. Ever tried to hold back a freakishly strong and determined two year old boy while a group of kids runs around playing and singing and dancing? Yeah. Not so fun. Mika assures me that she will go by herself and have fun this week. She's bringing one of her webkinz (stuffy) with her for support. Otherwise, it's a great class and the kids are all kinds of wonderful - I think once she gets into it, Mika will have a blast.
Saturday was Mika's second last dance class. She was excited to go and show off her Pirate-ized leotard. As soon as we got to the door, she lost it. Tears aflowing and claims of being too scared to go in. She ended up going in (the teacher almost had to drag her). I figured Mika would be back out within minutes. After about 10, I peeked in the room to see how she was doing. The teacher was leading Mika by the hand going over their entrance and exit moves, so I thought all was well. At the end of class, the wee ballerinas exploded out of the room - all except mine. The teacher led a very angry looking Mika out of the room and said "She refused to dance all class". Lovely.
In other news, we had a fun and windy Saturday afternoon at Hawrelak Park with Wayne and Lauren and their two kids, Jackson and Sophia. Sammi came down to meet us as well and Mika proposed marriage: "Sammi? Do you want to marry together?" His response was something like "I don't know."
We dropped the kids at Nana's on Sunday and had a grand walk up and down Whyte ave. Much needed respite.

...and the kids are fighting. This referee has to run...