Fiona's Birthday Party

L.O.L dolls. Fiona picked out her theme ages ago, and she stuck with it! Sometimes I wish that her birthday was closer to her sisters' birthdays, but it is what it is! Fiona starts talking about and planning her birthday when Kate has her birthday in January.

We made the invitations.

We were very excited because Fiona only invited four friends, and they were all able to come. Fiona requested a L.O.L. pinata and a L.O.L. cake.

The party got off to a "funny" start. Everyone was late. I had forgotten that one of her friends was coming after a class, one friend got lost, and we later learned that one friend wouldn't be coming at all because she and her Mom had been involved in a car accident. (Thankfully no one was hurt in the crash!) So at first it seemed that no one was coming.

Kate and Ken made up an awesome scavenger hunt to find the hidden pinata, and Fiona and her friends loved it. Kate did an awesome job leading the girls through the clues.

Ken, ever the brave Daddy, held the pinata pole, and was only smacked in the hand once! We did two rounds of everyone whacking the pinata until Kate was allowed to demolish it!

 

We had snacks and pizza.

 Then Fiona opened her presents.

Emily did some dancing and entertaining - she pretended she was a princess and the girls were screaming and laughing with delight.

Then it was cake time.

Fiona loved her party and had a really fun day. I love our low-key homemade birthday parties.

The Birthday Questions - Fiona - Age 6

1. What is your favourite color?  Purple

2. What is your favourite toy? LOL Hair goals

3. What is your favourite fruit? Honeydew melon

4. What is your favourite tv show? Lolirock

5. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch? Mini wheats with whipped cream

 6. What is your favourite outfit? My star dress

7. What is your favourite game? Hide and Go Seek

8. What is your favourite snack? Ritz bitz crackers

9. What is your favourite animal? Bunny

10. What is your favourite song? The song from Lolirock

11. What is your favourite book? The Book With No Pictures

12. Who is your best friend? Andrea

13. What is your favourite cereal? Lucky Charms

14. What is your favourite thing to do outside? Run around and be crazy

15. What is your favourite drink? Strawberry Fruitopia

16. What is your favourite holiday? Winter break

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Narwhal

18. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast? Ginormous pancakes with sprinkles inside.

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Wendy’s (the restaurant)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Homeroom Kindergarten Teacher

Fiona's Birth-Day

Fiona's "birth"day fun started the night before. On Wednesday night while her sisters were at Activity Days, Fiona and I went shopping. She picked out her birthday presents (we did the same thing last year), picked up loot-bag stuff, and all the party supplies.

 After the girls went to bed I started the pinata.

 

On Thursday, I asked Ken if he replayed Fiona's birth day, on her birthday. He said no. I figure this must be a mom thing. Fiona opened up her presents in the morning before I left for work. She knew that she picked out L.O.L. dolls, but of course the doll is always a surprise!

After school I picked up the girls, Ken met us at home, and then we all just stopped moving. The plan was to go to Grandma's, picking up Wendy's on the way - Fiona's choice for dinner, eat, and then leave the girls for the night with Grandma. There was a P.D. Day for the girls on Friday and neither Ken nor I could take the day - yay for Grandma!

Before we left Fiona and I took a couple of pictures outside.

Things did pretty much go according to plan. Except that everyone was a little tired, and everything happened a little later. Fiona was clearly over-tired, either that, or she had a case of "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to".

Fiona gave Grandma a run for her money at bedtime, but eventually the girls all fell asleep, and Grandma got to sleep too!

Fiona is our funny monkey. She is feisty and loving, funny and silly, she loves to play, she loves her sisters. She has very strong opinions. I can't imagine our family without her.  Happy 6th Birthday!!

The Rom and so many other days

We had a quiet morning, set out far too late in the afternoon, had crazy subway/bus adventures, spent an hour and a half at the ROM, had dinner at Fran's on college and well, it was just a fun day spending time together as a family.

We don't have oodles of fun every day but we do have lots of fun with each other when we do things together. We saw "Treasures of a Desert Kingdom: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur India" today. It was beautiful, and interesting, kind of light. The girls enjoyed it, we all did.

After India, we went briefly to China, then briefly to Egypt, then we were done. It was a quick trip. We had dinner and then made our way back. There was a subway shut down on Line 2 - the east west line that we take, we hadn't known about it, which made traveling back and forth very long.

(Kate told me later that she was watching some poeple making out in Egypt. She said when they noticed her watching they stopped, and then she said to herself "I guess I'll go look at a dead body now." It was cute.)

It wasn't a remarkable day, nothing out of the ordinary, and I can't possibly document every day, I can't, even though secretly (or not so secretly) I want to. I love re-reading my blog posts. I love looking through the pictures, remembering the good and the bad. I love my family so much. I love my life, and I am so thankful for it. Happy Saturday!

100,000 kms

Tonight coming home from swimming lessons I looked at the odometer and realized it was almost 100,000 kms. In 2002 (I can't remember when exactly, I just know it was when Ken and I were dating) Ken and I drove around Toronto until Petunia went over 100,000 kms. It was a funny night - I can't remember exactly how far away we were, maybe 30 kms. Highway driving, 30 kms goes fast, but driving around Toronto - it took ages. It seemed like a fun idea and then it seemed like an annoying waste of time. Either way the memory makes me giggle.

So tonight we only had 8 kms to go, so we drove an extra few blocks. The girls squealed with me as we got closer and closer. It was cute and silly and fun. The girls didn't understand exactly why I was taking pictures of my odometer, or why exactly I thought this was fun, but they cheered when we got to 100,000 kms.

I love making silly little memories!

Gratitude and Privilege

Last night at the dentist's office I had to pay $13.00. That was my only charge, the insurance paid the rest. I made some flippant remark when I said I'd pay using debit - "because it was so much" - said with a smirk. I was just being silly. Honestly, as soon as I said it I kind of felt ungrateful. Then when the woman behind me was figuring out the bill, she was asked if she had insurance and she said "I wish". She looked tired.

Oy. If I could have eaten my words. I felt so ungrateful. I'm generally not. Gratitude is really, really important to me, but in that moment I felt so obnoxious, so undeserving.

Tonight my Mom was telling me about a friend of hers with an adult daughter that keeps asking for money. The daughter is going to school and raising a child. My Mom's friend is unable to keep bailing her out, and has told her she's on her own, she has to get a job and figure things out. I don't know either of these people, but I feel kind of terrified for the daughter, and just kind of sad.

Life is so hard sometimes. Money is so hard sometimes. I haven't had to worry about money, not really. My Grandmother left me money to go to school. I graduated and immediately had a job, and have had the same job ever since. I am so very, very grateful for this. I try to be a wise steward, but well, I think I fall very short.

It hurts so much that so many people don't have enough. I don't know what to do with that sometimes. I give to charity, but do I give enough? What more can I do? What more should I do? What is my responsibility and am I fulfilling it?

I'm so grateful that my kids are healthy, that they have enough to eat, that I have access to great medical and dental care, that they have access to a great education. I wish taking care of each other as humans, wasn't so difficult.