Blogging Backlog: Preston's birthday and party

On March 22nd, our baby, Preston, turned 5. For a birthday gift, we broke down and bought him a Nintendo DS, hoping that having this portable game system might make it easier for him to agree to accompany Becky for grocery shopping in Lethbridge and to visiting teaching visits, etc. So far, on that count it works like a charm. I just hope we can keep its use under control. I'm not the master of setting limits.

Preston also had a birthday party, the Saturday after his birthday. He had 5 friends over. It was probably the best birthday party I've evern hosted and I give credit for that to Alyssa and Austin who both helped with various segments of the party. Austin kept the kids busy for about half an hour playing trampoline games.

Blogging Backlog: Austin's Final Kub Kar Rally

For the Kub Kar Rally this year, Rob helped Austin build a sports car. Rob wanted to do a bobsled car, but alas the actual Cub prevailed. Austin's car was pretty fast this year. He won 3 of his 4 races, losing only to the kids who was the ultimate winner, but by some fluke, he didn't end up in the final four. Still it felt good to have a fast car and a pretty styling one too. Good work, Austin.

Blog backlog: Alyssa's music festival

A few weeks ago, Alyssa's Gr. 7 band performed at the music festival in Cardston. A couple of weeks later they performed at the school concert, and then the week before spring break, they performed the same pieces at the Lethbridge music festival. They gradually improved in their playing, and when they performed in Lethbridge, they earned a "superior" grade and a right to participate in the province-wide music festival in Red Deer in May.

Alyssa also played the piano at the Cardston music festival. Her first piece was a Fantasia by Teleman. It had some very quiet parts, in contrast to some louder parts. When she went to play, the piano, a Yamaha had a very firm touch and her soft notes didn't play quite like she wanted. She still did really well, but came in 2nd. She was especially nervous because that was her stronger piece, but she practiced really hard all evening and the next morning, and nailed her second piece, The Wild Horseman by Schumann, getting 1st place. Alyssa accomplished all of this while she was fairly sick with a cold.

I did make videos of the band performance, but haven't been able to get them to download.

Austin gets first place in the storytelling contest!

This is Austin telling the story "Mmm Cookies" by Robert Munsch at the story telling contest put on at the school through the local Lion's club. A professional adjudacator judged the stories. Austin got 1st place among the grade 5 kids! I thought he did great! He gets a cash prize too, but, not until the next school assembly!

Part 1

Part 2

March comes in like a lamb....

It's a nice day out today--sunny, 15 celsius and no wind!--so Preston and I went out to play. First we played on the trampoline and then when Mark got home from school Preston rode his bike in the front yard. Some people say this isn't really spring and that when more winter comes we'll be disappointed. I say, it's a nice day so lets enjoy it for the day it is without getting too worried about the future! If Preston gets lots of earky spring practice on the bike with training wheels, maybe in a few months we can try and teach him to two wheel it!

Vancouver Olympics open the flood gates of Canadian patriotism

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have given Canada an outlet for growing and pent up national pride that has been building for several years. Canada has (so far) tied the record for the most gold medals at a winter olympic games--13, and has surpassed its best ever total medal count of 24 from Turin with 25. In addition, Canada has had strong competitors in almost every event, even those where we didn't get medals. Add to all that the fact that these Olympics are being held right here in Canada and in fine style and it's no surprise it would be a proud moment for Canada.

Still, I have never seen anything like the flag waving, the partying in the streets, the sea of red and white, and the spontaneous breaking into O Canada in random places that I have seen here. The Olympic television ratings are through the roof, and the sales of the promotional wear are astounding. What's interesting is that this wave of pride went before the great accomplishments of Canada in these games. Even in the first few days of the Olympics when there were more disappointments than triumphs, the national fervour was already off the charts. I think it is safe to say that the national pride we are experiencing goes beyond the athletic achievements of the games. It's as if this Olympics gave us the excuse to express what we were already feeling inside. Finally, as a country, we aren't embarrassed to express our patiotism openly because, finally, we are grown up and confident in ourselves and the position of our country relative to the world.

Putting it in perspective, when I was growing up, Canada had a massive inferiority complex relative to the United States which manifested itself by the constant attempts to define ourselves as different from them, and to notice their irritating points and justify our existence by the absence of those attributes. In reality, we were jealous that the US had more accomplishments, lower unemployment, stronger currency, more wealth, more stars, better weather and on and on. And we resented being in the American shadow, constantly vulnerable to its whims, endlessly being outshone and underappreciated.

Now things have changed. We are now developing our own sense of self, a positive sense of pride in being (to steal the Conservative Party slogan) "The True North Strong and Free." Our country has weathered the economic storm better than any other western country. We now have strong currency, lower debt and unemployment, and with all this a sense of confidence and a new role of leadership on the world stage. Our regulated banking and financial system has been vindicated. Our national leadership is strong. And we have accomplished all this while still providing health care to all our citizens and having relatively safe and clean cities.

We are finally recognizing our potential for greatness. We now have our own banner to wave to the world; our own model for how to organize a society and an economy. And, our country is beautiful and majestic and free. And somehow, magically, these Olympics have given us permission to express our pent up feelings of love for our country...and we will never be the same.

Alyssa's bedroom, before and after

Before

After

For a long time, Alyssa and I have been talking about painting her room, but we have not proceeded because we have been at an impasse. I suggest taupe, she suggests candy apple red. I suggest beige, she suggests crayon orange. After a fair bit of discussion, I consulted Sherylee who suggested picking bedding first, and perhaps getting bold colors in bedding to satiate her desire for the extreme and then go with something a little more neutral in the walls. This week we were down in Kalispell and found the comforter you see pictured here. It matches the throw blanket Granny gave Alyssa for Christmas (notice it covering her round chair). The picture that came with the comforter showed yellow throw pillows and yellow sheets which made me suggest yellow to Alyssa as the wall colour. She agreed and we went to work painting.

I thought I would save a trip to Lethbridge and buy the paint at Home Hardware. Remind me to never do that again! I painted 4, that's right 4 coats on the bottom half to get it to cover the blue. I am certain that 2 coats of Behr paint would have covered it easily, as it only took one coat in my room to look really good. Anyway, I think it turned out pretty well, and while I would not choose bright yellow myself, preferring calm colours, I think it suits Alyssa and I hope she likes it even as she matures. Now we have to find one or two things to go on her walls, and maybe make some pillows and a cover for her chair. She's considering getting vinyl lettering that says "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today."