DeFender

The xmas basement went over really well. Both kids were absolutely delighted. Mika already made us muffins in her easy bake oven. Both kids are having a blast with the carpet skates - especially Declan as he has become hockey obsessed. ALL that kid wants to do is play hockey or 'wockey' as he says it. When he's not chasing a ball or a puck up and down the hall, he is checking out his hockey cards and happily talking about the "wockey payers" or "wockey man". Declan digs watching hockey on TV too - he cries if you turn it off before the game ends.
Mika received a very special present from her Uncle Lucas: a Fender Squier Mini guitar. She wants to learn Layla as her first song. I'm thinking Twinkle Twinkle Little Star might be more appropriate. Or maybe some Dire Straits...who knows?
Another very special present that Mika received is her Nana's Ilse doll, now renamed Molly. Ilse was the doll that Nana carried in her arms all the way from Germany when they came after the second world war. Molly originally belonged to Nana's great-aunt, was passed down to Ur-Oma (Nana's Mom), then to Nana, and now to Mika. Molly was 'born' sometime in the late 1800's.

Merry Christmas!

from all of us to anyone out there.

I cleaned up the basement last week and made a bunch of space (yay!). Daddy brought in a real tree the day before last. It's been in hiding. We brought it out last night after the kids were asleep and decorated up the basement. They woke this morning to their stockings where the biggest treat was a Wall-E pez dispenser. Mika is eternally grateful for what she received in her stocking and we could almost skip out the motherload of presents in the basement I think. She seems entirely happy with the pez dispenser. :)

Kids are filling themselves with yogurt before we show them the basement...

Kids Greetings

Mika wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and Declan says "Ho Ho Ho Ho". That's about all he has said for the past two days. :)

Stay warm and peaceful!

Cinderella

Mika wishes it to be known that upon her 18th birthday, she is going to "get some money" and legally change her name to Cinderella.

Mika Claus

Posing with her donations
Originally uploaded by MamaT

Mika and I spent a morning at the Stollery Children's Hospital last Monday. I requested and received a copy of their Wish List in early November. We tried to get a good range of the items with our limited budget. Mika loved picking out things for kids that she herself would enjoy if she had to stay at the hospital. The one item she absolutely insisted upon was a copy of Wall-E.
We met the Child Life co-ordinator on the main floor of the hospital where she presented us with Stollery Bear pins and told Mika a bit about the place. We all went upstairs to one of the play areas called The Beach and Mika unloaded her bags under their tree. Alicia, another staff member, snapped a picture of Mika and printed a copy for her to take home.
Mika LOVED this experience. She glowed with pride and was eager and happy to talk to anyone and everyone she encountered at the hospital - usually she stares at her feet and refuses to speak to people. Mika said she felt really good that the sick and hurt kids would have things to watch, do, and play with over the holidays.
To celebrate her job-well-done, I told Mika we could stop for a snack at the hospital cafe where she could have anything at all that she wanted. Instead of french fries, muffins, krispie squares, etc., the girl chose a yogurt and soy milk - strawberry on both counts, of course: "I want to stay healthy, Mommy."

DS

So much to post, so little time...despite being officially unemployed!

We took the kids to the work xmas party yesterday. Declan was freaked out by Santa while Mika happily climbed on his lap for a chat. (Mika loved going to see the mall Santa this year too. No amusing photos of her screaming her face off.) The party was at the leisure centre - after lunch and Santa's visit, we laced up and hit the ice. Mika did really well. Within 15 mins, she went from crying because she was scared to go on the ice to skating by herself. We didn't notice that one of the straps for Declan's bobskates was missing until we got there. Declan's ice time was limited to flying around in Daddy's arms.

Mika is a rocker. I was playing Christmas music as we put up the tree and she asked: "Isn't there any Christmas music that's exciting and loud?".
We were having a dance party the other night and the girl announced: "I only like party music."
Right now, she loves Eric Clapton, AC/DC, and Blink182. I downloaded an Alvin and the Chipmunks version of All The Small Things by Blink182 and the girl was greatly offended. She wants an electric guitar pretty badly and practices her co-ordination by air guitaring. She's working pretty hard to get those wee hands under control. She likes having her right hand free to make the devil horn sign.

Declan is still all about singing and dancing.

Declan's new found passion is hockey. Mika's dance class is held behind closed doors in a room in an arena. While she dances, Declan and Daddy watch kids playing hockey. The guy gets excited when he sees a game on TV too. He loves going up and down the hall with his stick knocking pictures off the wall. He also loves clearing the debris from the kitchen island with one hearty swoop of the stick. In addition to that, he *can* handle a ball up and down the hall, but it's not as fun.

Mika is SO excited for Christmas this year. She's asked Santa for an Easy Bake Oven (it seemed to really please the mall santa that she asked for that - he said he hasn't heard anyone ask for one in at least five years) and an electric guitar. We got her the oven. Both kids are obsessed with Transformers and Wall-E, but their evil mother has limited it to the Wall-E movie and one small Transformer each. I think despite their seeming lameness in comparison, the kids will like the hobby horses we got them. Right?

Declan is finally into books! He loves Goodnight Moon and can recite it from memory. He also really loves Charlie Parker Played Be Bop - his sisters favorite for years.
Mika's getting really good at sounding out words so she can spell them out. Her brain seems to work faster than her hands - she can verbally recite spellings, but has trouble printing letters. Sheena has been teaching the kids signs and they really get into signing too. Very cute. Have I mentioned lately that we love Sheena? We do. Mucho.

Mika and Sammi are still going strong - they haven't seen each other in over a month, but have talked on the phone. Sammi's mother told me that the photos of the kids have been making their way around Slovakia, her mother country, and delighting all who see them. Oi.

Electronic babysitter not doing it's job - damn Backyardigans and their inability to capture my kids' attention....:)