December 5, 2008
Merry Christmas, and I hope this finds you and your family healthy and happy.
This is the golden age of childhood. Their favorite toys are still Mommy and Daddy, they’ll play anything as long as it’s with us or a grandparent. We are treasuring this time, and we make sure we spend lots of time playing with the kids. They’re growing up, playing with toys like lego and Knex that are a little old for the kids, but fun with Mommy and Daddy’s help. Calvin is nuts for farming, construction vehicles, assembling toys with instructions and sand boxes, and Matthew loves movies, reading, drawing, singing, other languages and making lego creations of his own. Two very different kids, but they play very well together, thank goodness. We make pancakes and cookies together, and the kids are on their way to loving to cook like we do. If only they loved vegetables! We have 1 on 1 parent time with the kids, alternating which kids is with what parent, so sibling rivalry will hopefully be kept to a minimum. Summer was a lot of fun, visiting Calaway Park near Calgary almost every week, going to visit friends, going camping, going to the zoo with family and with friends. Camping is still a struggle, Calvin wakes in the middle of the night crying, and we’re not sure why. We’ll keep trying every year, until it works for the whole family, since it’s something Mike and I love to do.
Christmas last year was one of those defining moments, when we were tripping over toys in every room of the house, Mike and I were juggling working 32hrs a week shifts, trying to get in at least 3 hour productive stretches, but taking turns with childcare to keep the kids out of daycare, stretching to cover the many organizational days, and days they aren’t in playschool, making meals, cleaning house. We reorganized the house so all the toys are stored in the basement, toys and clothes they’ve grown out of found a good home, ‘stuff’ and furniture that doesn’t get used got sold, given away, or thrown away, making room to breathe and keeping the house tidy easier. We made a cool playroom in the basement, and gravity helps keep the toys there, except the toy being played with at the moment upstairs.
We found a cool book called ‘Getting things Done’, and with both of us using the same system, things are manageable, and breakdowns like unscheduled sickness can be managed. Mike and I meet every week now to plan our week, including work hours, errands, finances, fun stuff to do, and I’m finally won over at the value of having a plan for every day, much as I wasn’t born that way <grin>. I am way more organized, with a system with advanced warning built in for bills, important events, reminders to shop for presents, send birthday cards, processing email and long term planning conversations so I’m ready with carefully thought-out answers and lots of input, and breaking down big tasks so they are manageable. I’ve become a better manager at work, and manager of my life, planning more and reacting at the last minute less. We do a dayhome now about 6 hours a week to help with childcare for those oddball days they don’t have playschool, and to help me make sure I get my 8 hours of working at home in. My Mom still comes in once a week except during calving and summer haying, with lots of walks to play at the playgrounds in the neighbourhood, playing in the garden, on the trampoline, making cookies and horsing around.
Oh and did I mention that the kids went through a phase of one being a night owl, and the other an early bird? Whoever was awake would wake the other to play. Mike’s office was looking like it was in serious danger of being taken over to split the kids up. Thankfully we developed a system of putting one kid to bed in our bed to fall asleep, and after 3 or 4 months they grew out of it and they fall asleep and wake in the same bedroom.
We had some great vacations this year. Spring break we took the kids to Disneyland and a roadtrip to San Jose to stay with Mike’s boss and family, and visit friends we knew when we lived there, missing out on seeing a couple people, but we’ll catch you next time! It was great to see everyone, and Disneyland memories get better with age J. Matthew in particular had no patience for lines, and I don’t blame him, but we managed by breaking our days up into a couple hours at the park then a nap then the park again for a couple hours, and seeking out fun places in the park without lines like Tom Sawyer island, and the Redwood forest with loads of climbing and slides to be had.
Our friends Kathy, Tom and their two boys Michael (5) and Benjamin (2) came up for 2 weeks to visit us from Minnesota. We had lots of relaxed fun playing around the neighborhood, then taking special trips to the Tyrrell Dinosaur park and museum, and going for a short hike at Lake Louise. Kathy taught me how to make jewelry, and I’ve dabbled since making funky earrings and necklaces, a less demanding hobby than quilting and painting.
Mike and I like to take a vacation without the kids every year, this year we went on a cruise to Alaska. Beautiful scenery, relaxing, great food, great entertainment, and lots of us time. We went on two hikes and got Mike up to dizzying heights with a ziplining excusion through very tall trees.
We bought a minivan this year, which made our trip to Nanaimo to visit Mike’s grandparents more comfortable than our car trip to Utah last year. We brought along our computers to play computer games, toys for the kids, our keyboard to practice piano, my crafting stuff, swim gear to visit the wave pool and the pools in the hotels on the way there and the way back, food, kitchen knives – everything to make it home away from home. Even though the weather wasn’t nice, we went to an indoor play gym called Jumpin’ Jimminy’s every day, went to the wave pool twice, and the kids watched treehouse at the house we rented – a treat since we gave up cable tv a year ago.
Mike has taken his running to the next level, and he’s slim and FAST. He did a half marathon race in Los Gatos, CA in 1:38:54 and a 10km race in 44:17. Mike also participated in the Banff Jasper relay again this year, with all participants being very fast athletes, and where their team showed very well, faster than last year, despite awful weather and a 50km/hr headwind.
I have taken up card making as a hobby this year, and a bit of jewelry making, and I’ve managed to read many non-4-year-old books, seen lots of movies with Mike, and watched a space opera or two.
Mike and I made it a priority this year to have us time every day, and make sure to get the kids to bed and asleep by 8 so the evening is ours. We have played a lot of Rock Band this year, me on drums or voice, and Mike plays a wicked guitar.
We still do game night and dinner at our place on Fridays, and have our regulars Stu, Aerin, Steve and Nicole, and various friends and coworkers keep the mix interesting. Bringing friends to us is practical, no sitter required, and after the kids are in bed, the game is on. Lots of board games, Rock Band, and Wii games. We had a Rock Band Halloween – come as your avatar. See our blog and photo gallery, which we’re updating weekly now, at www.hendersfamily.com.
The kids are four now, and we had two birthday parties, one in Airdrie at an indoor play place with friends, and the adults actually got to visit, and dinner at our place for family. Happily, they don’t have many tantrums or whining any longer, thanks to Mike getting Mommy trained in not tolerating them. They are both in swimming and gymnastics, graduating this year from parented swimming and parented gymnastics to non-life-preserver swimming in the little pool and gymnastics with a small class and 2 teachers. A little known side effect of the confidence they got from gymnastics was turning the entire house into something that must be climbed and all playgrounds must be climbed to their highest point, and the fast rides at the amusement park, thank you!
The kids are super-excited about Christmas, we’re going to my company kids Christmas party this Sunday, where they’ll get to see Santa. Santa and decorating the tree wasn’t nearly as exciting as this year. As soon as the Christmas lights went up in the community, the kids have been asking every day ‘Is it Christmas today?’ We’ll be celebrating at Mom’s this year, and celebrating Christmas Eve with Peter and Elvira at our house.
Have a great holiday with your family, and we’ll talk to you or see you soon.
Love Mike, Angela, Matthew and Calvin