Monday 21 January 2013

A New Author

One day a week, at school, Wilhelmina gets paired up with two girls from an older grade to work on reading.  They are called her "reading buddies."  She really loves "reading buddies day."  A little while ago her "reading buddies" wrote and illustrated a little 6 page book and gave it to her.  It is called "Snowball's Big Day" and is about a polar bear named Snowball who tries to find a way to play with her Tiger and Duck friends.  It is super cute.

Wilhelmina decided that she wanted to write them a story in return and she talked a little about it before bed a couple days ago, but we didn't get around to trying it til this morning before school on her "reading buddies" day.  I stapled 3 pages of paper together for her and wrote down what she told me to while she illustrated the pages.  And so we have Wilhelmina's first book called "Snowball's Great Day of Spring."  And here it is...






I can't wait to pick her up after school and find out how her experience of sharing her story with her "reading buddies" went!

Friday 18 January 2013

Our Sweet and Silly Girl




This is my 4 year old daughter, Wilhelmina.  She just started junior kindergarten this year.  Where does the time go?  My baby girl is getting so big!  She is a bundle of energy.  She had a dream the other day that we had monkey bars and a swing hanging from our ceiling.  That would suit her perfectly.  She could live in a jungle gym.  It takes quite a bit of work to convince her that she can't climb everything she sees and balance on all the furniture.  The response is almost always, "Yes, I can Mama. See?"
Right now she is taking a very introductory gymnastics class and I can definitely see her going further in this direction.  Or maybe soccer.  Or maybe Aikido.  Or maybe something else, but there is definitely a lot of physical activity in this girl's future.  It is kind of funny really that we have a child with such a physical NEED when both of her parents are very much the opposite.  She will drag us along with her though, kicking and screaming.  She is very determined, and I love that about her.



She is very silly, our girl.  She loves having her picture taken but it almost always turns out like this.  She loves making faces.  She loves jokes.  She loves doing "magic" by making things disappear and, if we are lucky, re-appear.  She likes to play tricks on us.  She loves to play hide and seek.  She loves to make up funny stories.  She loves to jump and dance. She is filled with laughter and smiles.  She is also quite a sensitive soul.  She is always very concerned when someone is upset, and she is one of the first to run up to a kid at the playground who is crying to see if they are alright.  Sometimes I forget how sensitive she can be, but then I will see her run out of the room (or hide behind a chair) when someone is mean to someone else on a TV show, and I remember. That doesn't mean she can't dish it out sometimes herself, but that sensitive child is always there.

Her favourite colour is red.  It has been red for awhile.  She is loud and bold, and full of energy so I think red suits her quite well.  She likes to have "red days" where she wears all red clothes.  Occasionally she has other colour days, but if red is an option that is always the first choice.  She loves "Gangnam Style" and "Jingle Bells", and so many other songs.  She loves Busytown Mysteries, Kipper, Blue's Clues, Madeline, Stella and Sam, and Curious George.  Princesses are, so far, not really on her radar and I'm quite glad for it.  I thought that might change as soon as she hit school and started spending more time with princess-loving girls, but so far it hasn't.  She still likes what she likes, and there is no changing her. I hope she always stays true to herself.


Thursday 17 January 2013

A Small Square Package

Today I received a package in the mail.  I knew it was coming and I knew what the contents would be in general, but it still made me laugh when I opened it and discovered...



...hair.

Well, really it is raw wool fibre that has yet to be cleaned, carded, dyed or spun.  My friend Ellen got a lot of fibre recently and decided to send me some to play with.  She said that the darker fleece is New Zealand Romney, medium grey with fawn tips and a 4-5" staple.  The light/dark blend is from an Icelandic named Ruby.

I admit I'm not entirely sure where to begin but I'm sure the process will be interesting to say the least.  I suppose it also means that I either have to buy a new drop spindle or spinning wheel, or finish the fibre that is currently on my spindle.  My spindle currently holds my first "real" attempt at spinning - some lovely fibre called "Fairytale Forest" that has been dyed by Tanis Fiber Arts.


 
I have a very real addiction to Tanis' yarn.  I can't help it.  I figured that at least this way my yarn would be beautiful even if my spinning left much to be desired.  I still have quite a bit left to spin though so I have time to figure out the processing of the wool fibre that came today.  Something to look forward to! 

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Trying something new

I have had several journals online, but never a "blog" and so I have decided to give it a try.  I think I will use this space mostly to keep in touch with family and friends, but only time will tell!