Sneaking in one last post before MARCH!

Our kitchen window frosts over when it's really cold. Despite the fact that it means the window isn't sealing properly, it does create quite a beautiful sight.

I haven't been very meticulous about blogging this month. I've also been quite remiss at taking photos. But here's a quick run down of our activities:

We had a successful preschool open house for Malmo. There are a couple of spots left and room on the waiting list if anyone is interested!

The girls have been doing very well in ballet, preparing for their recital.

Claire had a couple of bad ear aches that resulted in a few missed days of school and quite a bit of yuckiness.

Both girls had fun Valentine's day parties at school. They were excited to hand out their cards and were thrilled to get some from their classmates!

Ryan had a successful Teacher's Conference and had lots of fun with Jason and his fellow teachers, including Greg, Val and Nelda!

Claire got checked out at the Glenrose Physical Medicine clinic for her yearly appointment and was a wiggly customer during her back x-ray.

We visited a special school program at Hardisty to see if it might be a good fit for Claire next year. We're still in the process of making a choice as to which environment will be best for her.

Madeline had a fun "Hat Day" at school and got to wear her floppy sun hat with a gorgeous flower on the top.

I had the opportunity to accompany a group of singers for GRIT's Hope & Harmony fundraiser at the Museum. It was lots of fun for a good cause!

Ryan's been very busy at school and at work. He and his young men did a couple of fun videos for one of their activities recently:

Here is their video.

Here is what they looked like while making their video.

We attended Noah's blessing and had a good (but quick!) visit with family and friends.

Seeing Madeline organize her Valentine's Day Smarties made me laugh. I do exactly the same thing whenever I eat candies of varied colour - I organize them first!

Ryan was very thoughtful and got us all roses for Valentine's day - white for me, pink for Claire and red for Madeline.

Daddy daughter dance date

Ryan (a.k.a. DJ Samurai) turned out the tunes at his elementary school dance celebrating Carnaval. Here are the girls enjoying the atmosphere and the music.

Of course Ryan wore his velvet suit and of course Madeline was up on the stage with him almost the entire time. He was a great entertainer for the kids.

Oh ring pops - how I hate thee.

This is one activity we often do on snowy days. Good parenting, hey?

Our happy girls :)

And a few Maddie-isms to round things out:

"Boys stand up to go pee and girls sit down to go pee. They both have different talents."

"I'm allergic to pants."

She was playing with playdough, pretending that she was making supper. I asked what she was making and she said, "Butterflies." When I asked what butterflies taste like, she said, "Like chicken and muffins."

Random words from this post: Samurai, raft, guns, rails, blue, elusive, superfluous

We've had a lot of fun lately. That seems to be our lot in life and I shall accept it.

Ryan's school year is winding down. Report cards are done, the last week of school is progressing nicely. Last week they had a family dance and Ryan got to DJ. He had tons of fun playing with a DJ program on the computer and I got to help pick some songs. We attended for about half the dance and then had to head home, but it was great fun and Ryan did a great job.

DJ Samurai and his minion. You better believe he wore his velvet suit.


Cutting a rug on the dance floor. I realized I like dances much better when I have a say in the entire playlist.


Ryan giving me a tutorial on the bike. I actually got it into second gear this time and went farther than I ever have before. Woo! Now I just have to figure out how to signal...hee hee.


I went rafting with Mel and Val and some other ladies from Wetaskiwin. I went for the first time last year and had a blast.

Here's our group before we got in the raft.


I stole these rafting photos from another rafter (that's why they're so small) but I will hopefully have more to share later. Here's our first rapid of the day.


It started out lovely, then we got rained and hailed on, then the day ended lovely. It was so much fun!


While I was gone, Ryan and the girls enjoyed the company of Jason, Kate and their family as well as Jeff. We're sad that this was Jeff's last weekend staying at Chez Layton! We're happy that he and his family are starting their new adventure down south. The boys had an extremely manly night out - shooting guns, eating steak, riding motorbikes and watching Austin Powers.

Father's day was a good chance for us to celebrate Ryan and our dads. We had a big breakfast before everyone had to leave in the morning, the enjoyed a lovely day with family.

Maddie couldn't quite make it out to Wetaskiwin without falling asleep. She was up early to say goodbye to Ben and Brigham.


Visiting with Ryan's family out on their railless deck. Nobody wants to put rails on because it seems so roomy!


Grandpa and Madeline seriously discussing the societal implications of Prince of Egypt.


Ryan enjoying a well-deserved snooze.


Claire and Grandma


The two dads, pondering life and the meaning of it all. Little did we know at this moment, but another future dad should have been included in the picture.


Congratulations Greg & Steph! Such exciting news!


A typical family picture. Love it.


Blue steel.


Ryan enjoying the spoils of the day. Yay for new tools!


Grandpa getting some help from Maddie.


Claire's riding class has also finished for the spring. We'll be back at it again in the fall though. It's such a great program and she's learned and grown so much from it.

Maddie saying "hi" to the elusive cat that we chase at riding every week.


Claire enjoying her walk with Babe. She's even done trotting a few times this year!


Claire's riding group this year. This photo is priceless. They were in the blazing sun, one girl was upset and needed her dad in the picture, two girls were wiggly, one girl was trying to chew on another girl's shoe and Claire, if you can believe it, was the best one! I think it was because she was in her comfy chair.


Other activities that don't correspond with photos: Claire went out several times with Lisa for special things like the last GRIT playgroup, the Snoezelen room at Capilano School and the GRIT zoo day. We've finished the transition meetings for her move to kindergarten, met her aide for next year (she's great!) and feel like everything will be very positive. I got a night out with Kathy and we enjoyed the Olive Garden and some good conversation. Lisa and I took the girls swimming. I am 28 years old and had my first professional manicure/pedicure from Natalie for a birthday present. I'm afraid that it was wonderful and I now have another superfluous thing that I want to spend money on!

Speaking of style...here's Claire getting a tag-team haircut. We're so glad to have talented stylists in our family!


The short, summer cut.


We're looking forward to a lovely summer holiday!

Insert interesting title HERE

So another childhood dream (for me) was fulfilled this week. My mom and I brought Claire and Madeline to a Charlotte Diamond concert. I listened to her music when I was growing up and recently have introduced it to the girls. When I saw on her website that she was coming to Edmonton, we made sure to get tickets. I was totally geeking out about the whole situation. Who would have thought that I would be in my twenties before seeing the likes of Sharon (no Lois) and Bram, Fred Penner and now Charlotte Diamond. Is Raffi still doing concerts? If so I should probably see him too.

10 Carrot Diamond Poster


Eagerly awaiting the concert.


I wanted a picture with Miss Claire and it only took about 15 attempts!


Front row seats. Thanks Claire! But honestly, wheelchair seating is always a gamble. You're either right in the front or way in the back. There doesn't seem to be much in between.


Yay for Charlotte!


Some anticipatory news to share. SONIC BOOM. We're going. We're going to have fun. WEEZER!

We (and when I say "we" I mean Ryan) have begun the Battle of the Lawn. So far, so good. Power raked (Thanks Trevor!), mowed, fertilized, watered and now a couple days of rain. It's all very promising. Updates to follow.

Also, we are hoping to build a small (but epic) deck off the dining room and are excited about the prospect. Again, updates to follow.

Maybe I should only blog about things that have actually happened instead of what will happen. Otherwise I won't have anything to write about in the future.

Claire's new wheelchair is in the works. The frame will be expanded, a new seat insert, lowered footrests, bigger wheels, etc. They're going to situate the seat so she'll be able to start pushing her wheels (a.k.a. self propulsion) someday. Luckily we have pretty good programs to help cover the costs. It's just a lot of paperwork.

We've had a few other comings and goings this past little while. We had our last CNIB music therapy class and are looking forward to the fun Spring/Summer activities that the CNIB always provides for the kids. I attended an Inclusion For Life workshop at GRIT which was quite encouraging. Two parents of older children who have taken the inclusion route spoke about their experiences and challenges and triumphs with their children who have disabilities. It's always good to hear that other people have done it and survived and been successful overall. Ryan just took part in an Etiquette Night with the youth at church where they had a fancy dinner and lessons on manners. He and his "boys" (as Maddie calls them) made a video of how NOT to act on dates, at dinner, etc. to show at the gala. It was quite funny. Also, another Parents Association Meeting for me. It's fun to be on a board like that.

Also, as a side note, you know you're getting old when your university calls you to ask for donations as an alumni. That happened to both Ryan and I this week.

Horses, Halloween, Holidays, Happy Happy Joy Joy

(Linky link blog entry - click on any underlined word for a link to a webpage)

I've found a new hobby - blog hopping. I find it very interesting to read blogs that deal with new recipes, home decorating, photography, saving money and mom-related dialogues. Some of the ladies whose blogs I check regularly are so clever and creative it's a bit daunting to try and write my own blog!

We've had a lot of fun with horses lately. We've put Claire on the waiting list for the Little Bits riding program that allows children with disabilities to take riding lessons. The wait list is almost 2 years though but maybe that will give her more time to be physically ready to sit on a horse. We went to observe a class to see exactly what it was all about. They have three volunteers that help each child - two on either side to provide support/balance and one person leading the horse. It was such a neat atmosphere and everyone was so kind - I'm looking forward to trying it out with Claire. We also had another Hearts and Hooves activity at the CNIB where the girls had a chance to brush and play with ponies. It was great!

(As a side note - I've realized that one of my favourite and probably over-used punctuation marks is the --DASH--I can't get enough of it)

We started with a new GRIT worker in October and she's great. We loved our first lady, but because of back/knee problems, she was having troubles lifting Claire, especially when we would be at play groups/singing groups where we'd have to sit on the floor. Our new girl, Janelle, is very kind and we have enjoyed getting to know her in the past few weeks. We also have had Claire's first IPP meeting with GRIT which was encouraging and attended the annual general meeting and had some great Greek food as part of the bargain.

Ryan hosted a super-fun EQ activity at our place complete with outdoor soccer, Rockband and 10 pizzas. The girls and I spent the day out in Wetaskiwin raking pine needles and cleaning the garage. It was so fun to be outside all day even though it was a bit chilly.

We also had fun at Olivia's Alberta reception. It was fun to get to know Rob a bit more - we like him! Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the bride and groom since our camera had a little accident and tried to commit suicide by jumping onto the hardwood floor at the Rutherford House. We got a few pictures before that happened though.

Here we are with Lorne and Carrie and Broc - enjoying some chatting and good desserts.

We've had numerous meetings for church things, GRIT things, school things, etc. It seems that we have something going on every single night of the week.

We had a great Halloween. Click here to see some pictures.

Our big news is that Ryan and I are going to Mexico in a week, for a week. We had wanted to go during Spring break in March/April but decided at the last minute to go during Winter break in November. We're staying at the Catalonia Yucatan Beach resort and I'm so excited! We're so lucky to have family who are willing to take the girls so that we can have our first vacation together since our honeymoon almost 6 years ago!

Here are some fun pictures from the past few weeks.

Madeline and her experiments with blue Smarties

Here is Claire wearing her Beetlejuice pants doing some good standing in her standing frame.

Madeline love piling things up and laying on them. Her bed is full of blankets that she lays on top of.

Boxes are the most fun!

Maddie's first shiner. I'm surprised she hasn't hurt herself more because she climbs and jumps off so many things.

Goofy goof

More goofy goofing around

Claire has been so funny lately - this is how she falls asleep every night. No matter how many times we go in and turn her around and flip her over, she isn't comfortable until she is laying like this.

Do you like see-food?

Ah, the joys of managing our apartment building. Raking leaves/garbage/cigarette butts from our side lawn.

Luckily we had lots of help!

Here is Madeline practicing her wrestling moves on me.

Funny bunnies on the floor

Claire's lovely, spontaneous and infectious smile!

Here is the next rockstar drummer. Whenever we are playing, she always wants to hit the drums or the foot pedal. We have to confiscate the drum sticks most of the time though in order to protect our valuables from being smashed.