10 Acts of Kindness... update

Beth must have been watching Oprah... she came up with the idea for the family to do "10 Acts of Kindness" around the Christmas season. Oprah or not, it's a good idea. We brainstormed with the girls and they came up with some great ideas (Abby even offered to give away one of her Christmas presents... too cute). I've "translated" the ideas below (along with updates on each task), but here's Abby's list:

1. Pickup garbage at the park
Update: Complete! We spent an hour in the park picking up garbage and recycling. It didn't look like there was too much garbage at first, but it's a big park, and by the end of the hour, we'd filled 4 grocery bags full of garbage and recycling. Awesome!

2. Shovel the driveway for an old person
Update: Complete! We shoveled Steve and Rick's driveway, and I think there's going to be a few more opportunities to do it again!

3. Give cookies to Steve, Rick and Sharon and John
Update: Complete! Cookies were baked and dropped off yesterday. These are out neighbours. Both Steve and John are elderly men who live alone - Steve's wife Pauline recently passed away and he's been having a tough time with it

4. Give old clothes to people who can use them
Update: Complete! We collected a bunch of Abby and Robin's clothes and toys and gave them to Caitlin (John's granddaughter).

5. Buy some presents for kids that will go without them this Christmas
Update: Complete! We bought 3 presents at Costco (Papa matched that with 3 more presents and dropped them off at the fire station.

6. Make a card for Steve and Uncle Neil
Update: Complete! Abby made the picture for Steve and gave it to him, it read "I am sorry that Pauline died so I am bringing you cookies". Wow. Nana brought Uncle Neil a card on her last visit.

7. Give food to the foodbank
Update: Complete! We took the kids and Papa to Costco and let them pick out non-perishable food items (with some guidance!) and carted a van full of food (well, not quite full) over to the fire station. The kids got to take a close look and sit in the two fire trucks in the garage... they were very impressed!

8. Make a picture for your teacher
Update: Complete! Abby made a card for Mrs. Romeo and gave it to her.

9. Cook dinner for people.

10. Give a card to Emily
Update: Complete! Abby made a card and gave it to her friend Emily at school.

Santa at the Movies

We went to the Tale of Despereaux tonight (good movie for the kids) and were lucky enough to see Santa there. He reminded the girls that they should have one hour of quiet time every day until Christmas - awesome - thanks Santa!

Snow!

We got hit with a whack of snow yesterday!

Girls Christmas Concert

The girls had their Christmas concert tonight... a very impressive, though hilarious annual event. This was Robin's first and she did quite well.

My Dear

Robin had a play date over last week (Kaylee). They were playing very well together upstairs - colouring and drawing in books. They were pretty hilarious actually - similar in many ways. Here's a direct quote from their recent conversation:

Robin: "Here you go Kaylee, here's the pink marker."
Kaylee: "Oh. Thank you my dear!"
Robin: "Oh Kaylee, aren't you so cute."

Bike to Work Program

I wish Ontario/Canada would do something like this...

LINK

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Must Be Santa

Who wears a hat that's long and red? We stopped in at the mall to see the big guy tonight - the girls were so excited. I think this is the first year that one of them didn't cry, so that was nice.

The Tree is up!

We put the tree up today! That and starting our advent calendar that Gram and Banka fill every year is the sign that Christmas is just around the corner!

Clowns & Mom

Bolt!

We went to Bolt (in 3D) tonight with Emily and Owen. The movie was good, but "Rhino" the hamster in the ball stole the show... "I'll get my ball"

Wednesday Skate

We went public skating again tonight... very fun. Robin is really starting to skate well, and Abby is getting faster.

Flower Girl

Beth's cousin is getting married next summer, and they've asked if Robin and Abby could be flower girls.

Yesterday, Abby brought home a new book from the library called "Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl". So, while on the phone to Nana, I ask both girls how they feel about being flower girls.

Abby replies eagerly "GREAT!"

Robin says, "Great." pause..."Not."

So, I ask "Why not?"

She says, "I like brides better than flower girls." then pauses and says "I wanna be the bride."

We let Nana get back to dinner and I followed Robin into her room and said, "why don't you like being a flower girl?" and she replied "I hate the flowers on the dress and I don't like pink.". So, I said "The dresses are usually white, what about that?" to which she replied "Yep. That'll do!"

(I then reminded her that it was still the bride's choice to which she reminded me that she wanted to be the big bride anyway...)

Wish you could see it with the facial expressions all rolled into it...very humourous indeed!

Family at the Falls

Robin dancing to Rihanna

Crazy Hair Day

It's crazy hair day at school!

Family skate

Here's Robin helping Quincy out...

Halloween Letter

Abby's grade 1 teacher is awesome about posting updates on her website about what's going on in the class. Yesterday, she posted this letter that Abby wrote about her Halloween experience this year:

The Movie Star

My Tour for Kids girl!

Backpack

Rob always asks for a "backpack" (a piggy back) when going for a late night run to the bathroom.

Boo at the Zoo

Rat Tea Party

When we first got Remy and Emile for the girls, we weren't sure if they would enjoy them or get bored quickly... It has quickly become a "treat" to play with the rats! Here they are having a rat tea party

Darth Pumpkin

So Robin chose to go as Darth Vader for Halloween this year, as will I. I thought it appropriate to carve a Darth Vader pumpkin to match!

Decorating for Halloween

The pumpkin is back!

Award