A March Break a.k.a I Traded in My Mom Jeans

This weekend, Captain Canada and I were fortunate to get a little unexpected March Break.  In the past, March break meant a break from teaching or school work, but this weekend it meant a little adult get away and a break from the kids.

We did a house swap this weekend.  My in-laws came and stayed at our place with the kids and Captain Canada and I zipped over to the island and stayed in their house.  I traded in my mom jeans for a weekend gig of seeing the sights around Victoria and posing for Captain Canada.  Our weekend was truly not child friendly and while we missed our kids, we enjoyed every minute of it.

We ate several meals at bakeries and the four main food groups were nowhere in sight.  If you are ever in Sidney, be sure to check out Lunn's Pastries, Deli and Coffee Shop.  Yummy pastries and they make their own chocolate.  In Victoria, be sure to check out The Dutch Bakery.  They serve a mean breakfast and you can take pastries to go.

We drank hot coffee at our leisure.

We acted like tourists and hit up all of the popular tourist attractions.  We took our time as we had no schedule.  Dreamy.

I wandered in and out of gift shops loving the over priced purses and useless trinkets.  The wind kicked the crap out of my hair, so I bought a hat.

"Hi there, nice to meet you.  I liked your hat so much, I bought one just like it."

We strolled leisurely down the pier, eating pastries and watching other people exercise.

At the end of the day, we ordered take out, got into your pajamas and watched the whole Canucks' game, without interruption.  O.k. the truth is I watched the Canucks game, followed my twitter newsfeed and read a book all at the same time.  It was bliss.

Have you taken a March break lately?

A nice little Saturday

You it hear it all the time, being a parent is tough. You read about it in magazines and chat about it with friends, being a parent tests your will, your patience and your endurance.  In the newborn stage, it is generally lack of sleep and lots of crying.  As babies grow, it can still be about lack of sleep, tantrums and potty training and a whole host of other stages. It's true there are moments when being a mom tests my patience more than anything else, when I think surely I am going crazy because I feel like screaming in frustration.  But I can't forget that a lot of the time being a parent is fun and it gives me the best feeling in the world.  That warm fuzzy feeling of pride, love and joy when my cheeks are hurting from the great big grin that is taking over my entire face.  That is how I felt last weekend, when we started our adventures with as Will Ferrel would call it, "a nice little Saturday."

We experienced the thrill of riding the sky train.  It never gets old.

Science World is one of our favourite weekend outings. Watching the sweetness of Jack and Sarah marching, hand in hand, towards our destination makes me happy.

Three's company (an ode to Captain Canada's favourite t.v. show).

Lots of time to play and learn and more importantly for snuggles.

They love each other to bits, but they are just a little competitive.  Jack and Sarah never miss an opportunity to race.

On Sunday, we headed to Bear Creek park.  Jack loved the ups and downs of the teeter totter.

He was not a fan of the fast spinning on this climbing apparatus.

Spinning on Daddy seems a lot safer.

Spinning with his sister is just the right speed.

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."
-Marianne Williamson

Wordless Wednesday: It's All About the Face

Captain Canada bought a new face painting kit.  The kids put in their order and he delivers.

Sarah asked for a Christmas tree with presents.

Jack asked for a scary dragon.

Happy Wednesday.

The Boy Bell Curve

Warning: To begin, this post may be an overgeneralization and may offend some people.  Secondly there may be some whining involved so cue the violin and crack open the cheese.

I am sure many of you have faced by the good old bell curve.  You know the one where you are compared to your peers and not necessarily graded on a set of criteria.  If you were in the top 7% of your class and got the A, grading on the curve may not have been too bad. But if you came out in the middle, you may have only received a C and the bell curve may have been less than satisfactory.

During a conversation that Captain Canada and I had the other night, he thinks there should be a boy bell curve and when compared with his peers, he strongly believes he would be in the top of his class.

I  We were talking about the double standard that exists between men and woman, working outside the home and working inside the home.

Exhibit A: After a full day of work outside the home on an evening that Captain Canada works late, I come home and put on the t.v. entertain the children, make dinner, bath the kids and put them to bed.  After that I will generally clean up the kitchen, make lunches for the next day and do a bit of laundry and after that sit down for a little down time.  To be fair Captain Canada has a longer work day, so by the time he gets home he is pretty dead to the world.

Exhibit B:  On my day off, I feel pressure (that I put on myself) to do fun things with the kids, get through some laundry and a small amount of housework and make a nice dinner.  On Captain Canada's day off he does fun things with the kids and often unloads the dishwasher and tidies up around the house.  He claims to be allergic to doing laundry and his idea of making dinner means that he will drive to Dominoes instead of having it delivered.

Many of these expectations I put on myself.  I recognize that.  But I don't want to do these tasks on weekends when I could be spending time with my family.  Swimming, skating, Science World, the possibilities are endless.

This is how our conversation ended:

C.C. "Sweetie, I don't think you should be comparing me to you.  I think you should be comparing me to other husbands and fathers.  Relative to my peers, I am pretty awesome."

Me:  "What is this a boy bell curve?'

C.C. "Exactly"

So how do you feel about the boy bell curve?
Any double standards at your house?

Sisters

"Having a sister is like having a best friends that you can't get rid of.  You know whatever you do, they'll still be there."  -Amy Li

Wordless Wednesday- Rink Rats

Most Sunday mornings you can find us slip, slip, sliding away on the ice at our local rink.  

Sarah likes to show off her strength by pulling me around the rink.

On Recognizing Our Strengths

Image taken from Gray Static Media

This quote is at the heart of my teaching.  Everyone has different strengths and these strengths do not always transfer into traditional style learning where kids show what they know through perfectly written sentences and beautiful pictures with pencil and paper.  Embracing different learning styles and celebrating a variety of talents is key to enabling children to flourish.