We had a busy month. There's a 5 year old in the house! CC had a lengthy b-day bash... a family party, friend party and a date with dad and mom. Best comment; "Sweet, a $20 bill!" after opening her b-day card from G & G Taylor. She wanted to go to Build-a-Bear for her date night and for sushi. Guess which was more expensive. She chose a lovely sparkling blue bear and named her Violet Colleen Taylor. For her friend party we had lunch and rode horses and CC loved the week long b-day celebrating.
Then it was my turn - 35 year old and my parents "surprised" me by coming to Canada. We went out to eat, shopping and somehow one week went by in like one hour.
Another highlight of the month - the Steve Nash Youth Basketball program. The girls have been doing this since mid October and it has been a blast for me. I LOVE watching them play. Cala is actually good and had more steals than I could count. She doesn't like to shoot but, when everyone yells "Shoot it Cala!" She will. It's great watching the look on her face when the ball actually goes in. I hope we have a long bball watching career over these next few years. It's a blast.
Then Chelsea. She brought the program to it's knees. We had to alter her jersey so it would not drag on the floor or fall off her shoulders. She's the smallest one there and the most entertaining. My favorite comment... she said to her coach/ref during the game, "Um, can we play something else? Just for a few minutes." Awesome. She would also come home at night telling us random facts about Steve Nash. "Mom, do you know Steve Nash had a dream? Do you know what that dream was? He wanted to be the best basketball player ever and do you know how he chieved that? He practiced." (Obviously taken word for word from her coach... who I hope will return after his most challenging 8 weeks on the court ever... I can't believe they didn't make me pay more money. CC would also go up to the girl coaches and asked to be carried and would yell "SUB" whenever she was on the court and didn't feel like playing anymore. She also spent lots of time spinning around in circles, rolling on the floor, balancing on one foot and running with her arms in the jersey... all during games. Whenever she wanted the ball, she would just run up to whoever had it and yell - "Pass" She would follow them around until they gave it to her. The coach also made a few special rules for her that the rest of the team knew. If Chelsea had the ball, no one was allowed to steal it from her. They all just had to let her dribble up and down the court for a few seconds before she either got tired or it bounced away. She would then run over to me and ask, "How many points did I score." The day the coach talked about defense, I knew it. I walked into the gym and there was CC running the court with her arms stretched right out in front of her. She didn't put them down - ever. But, she can actually dribble, knows a few different types of passes, knows all about Steve Nash, knows what an assist is, and never wants to play basketball again. Don't worry - she's going to... I can't miss out on the humor.
Also, we found out something about Chelsea this month. She's basically blind in one eye. When they say you should take your kid to the eye doctor at about age 3 - it really is a good thing. Because when you wait until they are five, they have to have really strong prescription and wear a patch to try and correct it. We'll keep you posted on that front... the glasses aren't in yet but hopefully they'll work. We feel really bad about all the times we said, "Chelsea, pick that up - what are you blind?" We also feel bad for laughing when she would just randomly fall off chairs, down the stairs or trip for no reason... turns out she's really not clumsy. Our "Parents of the Year Award" has now been postponed another year.
And - Connor is really growing up. This month, he started to really chat it up... "No, daddy, mamma, MINE, ni-nite, Daz (Daisy, the dog) all added to his growing vocab. Also, he's in this phase where he want to wear the girls hair elastic on his wrists. I had to get rid of all the really small ones and do "hand checks" every time I pick him up to make sure he hasn't found a stray. In this pic. Darren got him up from a nap to find he put one of his socks on his hands. He still loves to organize things and this month we lost, a set of keys, one of his friends shoes, and CC's basketball. They've all turned up except the keys. Also, he stashes random snacks everywhere. The other day I opened the jar where I store cotton balls... what do you know, a rice cake. He now refuses to eat in his high chair and it's been great fun cleaning up food from everywhere. He loves Darren and being outside. Today he got to ride the quad. He insisted Darren put his coat on... I had to take him out in the cold to see his dad before he would allow his coat to be put on... he was sure I was just going to put him in the car.
And speaking of cars. We will no longer be running a rodent hotel in the Honda Pilot. The mouse mobile has been turned in and traded for this baby. I have given up the extra seating and have come to terms with the fact that I like speed. Darren is so proud. We're hoping mice don't like German imports like the love the Japanese imports. Fingers crossed.
The Cunninghams also came for Thanksgiving. We shopped, cooked and Darren and Scott went camping. (crazy) But a great time! KC keeps me laughing.
Everything is just racing by and I'm continuing to get more and more behind. But, I think this is just how it's going to be for a while. Whenever I feel like this, I just start throwing things away. So we've gotten rid of a lot of stuff. This probably has some meaning to it but I have no time to look into it. And.... there was our November! Whew.
