according.to.kim

31/12/12

Our 12th family photo this year -- and the end of my December Daily photo project. Hooray! We took this picture when I got home from work. The girls were excited to wear their new hoodies which they purchased with Christmas money at Urban Planet. (Georgia's hoodie says, "Monsters need hugs too," and Madeline's says, "Free polar bear hugs.")

Our family pictures got much easier through the year. The last two were very quick and easy. My tips for a project like this: use a tripod, use the 10 continuous shots setting on the timer, don't pull children into it until the camera is completely ready, and let them act silly for at least one set of 10 shots. Sometimes those are the best shots (like this one). Now that everyone cooperates easily -- because they know it only takes a minute of their time -- I think we'll keep going with these monthly photos. :)

In spite of December being crazy full, as always, this was one of the easiest daily photo projects I've done -- and I've done many! The reasons are clear to me: I wasn't trying to follow another person's prompts (which are fun when I have more time to experiment); and, near the beginning, I roughly planned out the whole month of picture ideas (my own prompts) based on our calendar -- where would I be each day? what pictures did I really want to get? when could I be flexible? This worked well!

For our New Years' Eve, we ate turkey dinner leftovers for supper and now we're all going to watch Brave on the big TV downstairs. Happy New Year to all! I hope you have a fantastic 2013.

P.S. After the movie, we all played a game of Cranium and two games of Clue Carnival (which Georgia won at school recently). Neil and I still had to strain our turkey broth so we were up until midnight. The girls were more awake than I was at that time!

30/12/12

Today was turkey day at our house. Along with our roast turkey, we enjoyed dressing, potatoes, gravy, cranberry-orange sauce, cabbage rolls (made by my brother - thanks for sharing!), mashed rutabaga, coleslaw, and raw veggies. For dessert, we were lucky to have apple pie and saskatoon pie - both made by Neil's mom and kept in our freezer (unbaked) since they left for Texas in November. Thanks Donna! The girls, who ate less pie than the adults, also had a little more of Neil's homemade chocolate ice cream. We're glad Laurel was able to join us for dinner (unfortunately, B is still in TO) and a few games of Bananagrams. Also, Sophia played four Christmas songs on the trombone for Laurel -- because she was required to perform for someone over the holidays.

29/12/12

It's no wonder Madeline fell asleep while reading at 6 pm. She stayed overnight with a friend last night, and reported they stayed up until 2 am! Today, she had a fun event with her ringette team: they played ringette in a gym, along with some parents and siblings (Neil, Sophia, and I played), ate lunch, crafted some team flags for their fans to wave at games, and then went swimming -- all at the Northwest Leisure Centre.

Also, I'm proud of Madeline's diligence in reading French this month! She did not come close to her goal for French reading minutes in both October and November (despite frequent reminders from me) and was very upset about it. She really made a point of working toward her goal of 320 minutes in December, and now has only 15 minutes left to reach it. Bravo!

28/12/12

We're dog sitting for my brother and his family while they're on vacation this week. Their dogs, Charlie and Miley, are on the couch, while our dog, Dash, is on a desk (where he very often lays looking out the window). I had wanted to get a picture of all three dogs, but wasn't sure I could get them all to sit still together. What luck that they did this on their own and all I had to do was say Dash's name to get him to look at me. :) We enjoy having these dogs at our house. The only problem we've had is with Dash getting mad when one of the girls gives attention to Charlie (the big guy).

A note about our retro sofa which I would prefer not capture in photos... As much as I'd like to have a more attractive couch, it makes perfect sense to keep this one for now when several children and dogs use it on a daily basis, and when the children do silly things such as leaving a full, but opened, drink bag (taken home from a party last evening) laying on the couch, where a dog will most certainly inspect it and squirt grape Kool-Aid on the cushions. Just one example. Why bother getting a nicer couch at this time?

P.S. I'm taking down the Christmas tree today!

27/12/12

Sophia's ringette team had a Christmas potluck at 5:30 this evening. Before the party, a few families met at Mount Pleasant for tobogganing. Strangely, I have never taken the kids tobogganing before! And Neil has only taken them once -- to the ditch near Chapters, along with neighbours who were going. I guess we've always had other things to do. (We're much more likely to go outdoor skating, for example.) Perhaps we'll go sledding again sometime! It would be nice, though, for three children to have more than one toboggan/saucer on the hill. We do have two others, but one is broken and the other was nowhere to be found before we had to leave. (Sophia is in the picture.)

26/12/12

We celebrated Neil's 43rd birthday today. He enjoyed watching some Junior Hockey and reading The 4-Hour Chef, a book he received for Christmas. For his birthday cake, I made Super-Moist Chocolate Spelt Cake which turned out well. Instead of frosting it, we put chunks of cake into bowls and drizzled it with Chocolate Glaze and vanilla whipped cream. It was decadent!

25/12/12

Neil, Madeline, and I were up for awhile before Sophia and Georgia woke up, so I took the opportunity to photograph the girls' gifts from Santa. Sophia received a $25 iTunes gift card; Madeline received a Kobo Touch e-reader; and Georgia received a Magna Color set. All were thrilled! (I'm so glad because Sophia had asked for an iPhone.) Amazingly, Santa's elves have been wrapping their gifts in the same gold paper for six years straight! (see Daily pic: 25 Dec 07) :)

24/12/12

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve hosted by my brother and his family. We enjoyed seeing them along with my parents, Grandma M, Aunts Colleen and Bev, and cousin Richy and his family. I'm glad I was able to snap this just seconds before we sat down to a delicious meal. Now I need to get myself to bed. Santa is on his way! Merry Christmas everyone!

23/12/12

Neil made this delicious soup for lunch today: Corn and Red Bell Pepper Chowder with Kielbasa - using our homemade bison-pork kielbasa sausage, bison stock (in place of chicken stock), and both red and yellow peppers. The recipe is from a perennial favourite of ours, The Big Book of Soups and Stews.

22/12/12

Every year, I give a Christmas ornament to each of the girls. These are their 2012 ornaments -- cut from actual computer motherboards! Cool, huh? I bought them at the Mackenzie Art Gallery gift shop after Christmas last year. I gave the peace symbol to Madeline, angel to Georgia, and star to Sophia. (This year, I realized I've given Sophia several stars over the years, unintentionally, so now she has a nice collection. This is why I chose the star for her.)

21/12/12

I wrapped gifts today while the girls were at school. I'm thankful for this rare kid-free opportunity! Since I get up so early now, I can no longer do things like this after the girls go to bed. After school, we exchanged gifts with our niece since she's going to Ontario tomorrow. The girls have already pulled all the gifts out from under the tree, sorted them by recipient, and put them back that way. I wonder how many more times they'll pull them out before Christmas.

20/12/12

This happens every day about 5:15 am, except Sundays (and stat holidays). It wasn't much fun the first week when we didn't know the ropes, but now it's quick and easy to deliver the Leader-Post. (We started October 31.) I quite like doing it, actually! (Which is rather surprising because I would not go for a daily walk otherwise!) We don't even need our address lists any more. Neil and I split the route -- 24 for him and 22 for me, plus 2 more that we drop off on our way home. It only takes about 20-25 minutes for the actual walking delivery part -- and about the same amount of time to get up, get dressed, count the papers, fill our bags, gear up (iPods are essential), and get to our starting point.

19/12/12

We enjoyed Georgia's first piano recital this evening. Instead of playing in a church for their families only, as both Madeline and Sophia did for their recitals, Mrs. Young arranged for the children to perform at Victoria Park Personal Care Community. Georgia played Jingle Bells on piano with one of her classmates, played a small drum in the rhythm ensemble with four other children (Jolly Old St. Nicholas), and sang two songs, Special Times and December Medley, with a larger group of children.

This afternoon, Neil and I saw Sophia sing in the school's "Christmas Spirit in Action" program at Wintergreene Estates seniors' residence. Last Friday, we saw Madeline and Bronwyn sing at Chartwell Retirement Residence, and tomorrow, we'll see Georgia sing at Selo Gardens Care Home. I'm really enjoying the school's selection of songs this year. My favourite is Le dernier mois de l'année; the kids sing it with great enthusiasm! Such a fun Christmas song. Each group (at each location) includes three grades of children and they sing the same five or six songs. It's nice to see the show three times! :)

18/12/12

We enjoyed watching Madeline and her team, White Out, play ringette at the Co-op tonight. It was a tie -- after nine straight wins! She is #19, with the ring.

17/12/12

I keep these three pieces of Christmas artwork at work to decorate my office each December. The first one (handprint) was made by Georgia with help from her preschool teacher (2009), the second was made by Madeline in grade one (2009), and the third was made by Sophia in grade two (2008).

16/12/12

My new local photo club, Prairie Snappers, planned to meet at Government House today. It's extra lovely at Christmas time! Coincidentally, Georgia and her class are going there tomorrow. Neil is going, too.

15/12/12

I was heading to bed when I remembered I hadn't posted today's picture. I'll make this quick because I'm super tired! I took this at 5:37 pm and it wasn't quite this dark out; the shot is a little underexposed. I wanted to capture the sky and moon with the trees in silhouette. I love seeing the sky over the park near our house!

14/12/12

Sunshine! It seems like we haven't seen any for weeks! Or, did I just miss it while I was at work? As soon I as saw today's beautiful brightness (and hoar frost), I knew I had to capture it for my daily picture.

{Just before posting this, I learned about the horrible, senseless tragedy that took place in Connecticut today. About two minutes later, my beautiful precious children walked in the door... home from school; safe and sound. I feel like the luckiest person on earth right now -- while my heart breaks for those facing the unimaginable.}

P.S. I must also mention something about today: This morning at work, I finished a project I've been working on for more than a year (with much more focus over the past 2-3 months)! I have reviewed and edited every page on www.sasktel.com/support -- and I'm proud of our site! It isn't perfect and I'll continue making improvements, but as of today, it's pretty damn good. :)

13/12/12

This is what I see when I leave my office, as I walk to my parking spot. The lights in the middle are from the refinery/upgrader.

I had planned to get today's photo at my set dancing class this evening -- and I did take a few photos there -- but I also took this emergency backup photo on my iPad when I left work today. I'm glad I did because my photos from set dancing wouldn't work for blog posting (people shots). We had a bit of a Christmas party at set dancing tonight, with a snack/dessert potluck and some singing and musical entertainment from various members of the class. With a few extra guests, we had three full sets (8 couples per set) and we danced the Connemara, Clare Lancer, and Antrim Square sets, plus the Circle Waltz (one of my favourites) and another two-hand dance. I really enjoy set dancing and will join again after Christmas!

12/12/12

Me on 12/12/12 (close to 12:12 pm) when I took a whole Wednesday off work to do scrapbooking! (Photo taken in my basement; lit by the natural-tone OTT light I use for scrapping.) I had prepared photos and other supplies in advance so I could follow along with BPC's first live event, Mini Albums on Maui, from which they broadcast live every hour on the hour for 12 hours -- 11 am to 10 pm in my time zone. Each segment was about 10-15 minutes long. Neil set up his laptop and Apple TV, so I could see the broadcasts on our big TV. I worked on my 2012 Yearbook album all day, barely taking time to eat! My whole album is set up now and looks great, but I still have to lots of writing to do to complete it. Stacy gave writing assignments for all 12 sections of the book. I'm so impressed with the level of thought and detail that went into the instructions for this project. It'll be an awesome reflection of 2012!