Spring Break in pictures.

Photos worth sharing

Toria gives her teacher, 'the look', prior to beginning her Science Experiment. Toria demonstrated how an electric current worked by using a battery and electrical cables to run a fan and a light bulb.


Professor Toria responds to questions.


Did you know that Tomas got a hockey trophy?

What a smile! The next NHL All-star.

First Protest

Toria says "Open the Library Please"
Tomas says "Get the Library Open Please"
---------------------------------------
ALL the libraries in my city are CLOSED!!

The politicians LOCKED OUT the Librarians over 5 weeks ago. Nor will the politicians even negotiate. Today there was a rally to force both parties to binding arbitration (the librarians have been willing to do anything to get to a resolution).

Binding arbitration uses an unbiased party to determine a fair solution but the politicians said "No, we don't want to do anything that may force us to do something we don't want". AHHHH. Technically, I am one of the bosses of these politicians and they are really THICK.

Fortunately today's Rally was peaceful and we were not arrested.

Diabetes question.

This is a question for those familiar with diabetes:

We have a absolutely fantastic sitter (no, you can't have her name!) but came across an opportunity to use an almost 16-year-old boy to look after the kids last night. This boy has had diabetes for almost 5 years and uses the syringe/pens. I left a note outlining what the kids should have for their snack (at 7:45), what time for bed (8:30), etc. I verbally confirmed that Tomas should be tested before his snack and whenever he or the sitter think he needs to be tested. I left my cell phone number and said we were just going for supper to a nearby restaurant so he should feel free to call anytime. [I didn't mention insulin because in the past when we've been out for supper we just give it to him when we get home (9:00 at the latest). That way the sitter doesn't have to give the needle or calculate the amount.]

When we came home (8:30 - ya ya - we're party animals). I told Todd that I would drive the sitter home and he could give Tomas his bedtime insulin. The sitter said "Oh, I gave him 3 units at snack time. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to give it to him so we found his log book and I just figured it out and gave him the 3." (Which is totally what I would've given him).

The sitter uses NpH (cloudy) but Tomas has switched to Levemir (clear) for his night insulin but this didn't seem to phase the sitter. He said "Tomas said he uses the green pen for bed. So that is what I used". Again, this is true.

OK, am I an overreacting parent because the sitter gave Tomas insulin or should I be thrilled? My husband thinks that this is totally fine and because the boy lives it - it's like second nature to him - he probably didn't even think twice about giving the insulin. I think - if he wasn't sure what to do - he could have called.

In any event, the kids love playing with him (he can throw a grape up and catch it in his mouth on the way down; they played hockey and in fact, were watching hockey on the TV when we came home). I figure I'll just have to be more specific next time although I must say that what he did was totally correct and that it is kind of a nice to have a sitter that just knows.

My son, the Rocket Scientist

Tomas has received his report card and I am proud to say that he is doing awesome!

Tomas' teacher says that he enjoys his friendships and is continuing to work hard in class. He shows self-confidence in Math as he is always raising his hand enthusiastically, to answer questions. (In fact, she verbally told me that he doesn't understand why the other kids can't figure out the answer - to him it is so simple.)

Tomas fully meets expectations of his grade level in Reading (He's up a whopping 16 levels since the beginning of the school year!). He fully meets expectations in the areas covered this term in Math. He selects and applies the appropriate processes to solve simple problems (using 'regrouping' when adding and subtracting double digit numbers.
....
He often omits punctuation and capital letters, or uses capital letters inconsistently. (I laughed when I read this - the fact that Tomas is putting pencil to paper and printing is a huge step for him! I figure if he chooses not to become a rocket scientist but rather a writer ... his editor can figure the details out for him.)

And I learned from the other parents that they study the spelling words each and every night (the kids do a pre-test at school on Monday then bring the words home to study for the actual test on the Friday). Tomas will not practice the words by printing them but he usually spells them out loud on Thursday night. I tried to get him to do (i.e. bribe) the 5 'challenge' words each week (outside the requirements) but he figures he might actually have to study for those so alas, I've had no luck so far. Oh ya, did I mention that the only grades he has gotten on the pre-tests ALL YEAR is either a 9/10 or 10/10.

Tomas' teacher ended her comments with Way to go, Tomas!

Indeed Tomas - Way to go!

Brave Ones

Toria was at her friend S's house when S wound up to throw a ball for the family dog to chase. Unfortunately she threw the ball directly into Toria's cheek. Hard.

S started to cry because she felt bad but Toria was a brave girl and told her friend that it was OK.

S's mom said to Toria "Toria, you are a brave girl. That must've hurt."

Toria responded "Yes, I am brave but my brother is even braver. He gets 3 or 4 needles a day and then he gets lots and lots of finger pokes. He has diabetes and he is really brave."

The mom said "Wow, it sounds like you're both very brave."

Toria added "And sometimes my brother has to get needles in his cheeks. (points to her smiling cheeks) And not these kinda cheeks!!"

----------------------------

I love those brave kids!

My daughter, the brain surgeon

Toria received her report card today. Here is what her teacher said:

Toria is making very good progress in the K program. During our one-on-one meeting she identifed the names of all her classmates, teachers, and suppport staff. She printed her own sentence, which is not actually true, but she really wanted to write it.

"Mi MOM ES LAT FOWR SOWL EVRE DA"

10 bucks to the first person who can figure that out.

Just kidding. I'll tell you... at the end of my blog. Here's what else her teacher said

Toria accurately computes the sums of doubles (4 + 4, 5 + 5, 6 + 6, etc), and has an excellent understanding of the Power of Ten. She is able to 'add on' and to subtract to find a given total. This is excellent.

During "Center" (free play) time she enjoys playing in the classroom store. She has taken the role of a shopper, shelf stocker and grocery bagger. Her favourite role is being the cashier!

It is a great pleasure sharing my day with Toria. I am very proud of you.

WAY TO GO TORIA. We are also very proud of you.
Even if:

My Mom is late for school every day.

Boys Weekend Away, Girls Party On.

We booted those boys OFF THE ISLAND and over to Vancouver for this past Saturday night. Tomas was the only white-tail Beaver (almost a Cub) that went with the big-kid Cubs to the Planetarium, Bird-Watching and spent the night at Science World (for anyone who went to Expo 86 - it is in the big silver round ball).

This was a well-planned out event as all events are that are planned by men. Yes, it was lights out at midnight but with 400 boys aged 7 - 10 year-old it wasn't actually quiet enough to sleep until 1:00am. Then of course, Science World must get the troops up and out quickly in the morning so they can open to the general public. Yes,wakey wakey was at 6:00 am. Oh ya, and there was a time change. They slept for FOUR HOURS. How do you spell C H E E R Y?

In all seriousness, Tomas had an absolute blast and can't wait to be a full-fledged cub. Tomas is in the bright orange jacket!


With GM Place (go Vancouver Canucks GO) and BC Place (boo to the BC Lions, Go Roughriders Go Roughriders) in the background. (Tomas is on the grounds of Science World)

Science World is in the background - look at that face!


Feeding the ducks at the Bird Sanctuary on Sunday morning. One of the things about getting up at 6:00am is that you can feed the birds by 8:00. Tomas had so much fun that he had Todd buy him an extra bag of bird feed!


I'd love to show you pictures of what us girls did but (a) we didn't have the camera and (b) we had too much fun polishing our nails, doing our hair, and watching princess movies!

Spring is in the air...

I present the final results of the

32nd Annual Victoria Flower Count:

2,437,696,512

Now, before you go "Oh wow" I'll let you into a little secret. Here's the scoring chart:
Small tree full of blossoms : 250,000 blossoms
Medium tree full of blossoms: 500,000
Large tree full of blossoms: 750,000
Small Heather bush: 500
Medium Heather bush: 1,000
Large Heather bush: 2,000
... oh ya, and some trees may be counted once, twice, or 300 times.

However, this years total pales in comparison to last year: 3,364,658,680
Or the record-shattering year of 2002: 8,521,514,876

But I don't post this news because I want to gloat. (Me. Gloat. Never.) Although Jack Knox, a local columnist for the newspaper, wrote a great bit on the Flower count that I recommend every Easterner read: Smell 'em and weep, Toronto

No, the reason that I post this is because TOMAS' CLASS counted:

526,005,399 blooms

and won a trip on a luxury coach bus-ride to Butchart Gardens for a guided tour.

Tomas' teacher told me that he did an excellent job of adding the numbers of blooms for the class... Who knew all the carb. counting for diabetes would come in handy?

Congratulations Tomas!

Next to the Shout! and beside the Tide...

I'm sure everyone has seen this already but apparently I've been living under a mound of post-vacation laundry and I had no idea! So, just in case you missed it too - I thought I'd post the link to Sarah Silverman's video to her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel and then his retaliation video.

I kid you not - I fell off of the kitchen stool laughing when I watched these. EDITED TO ADD: Todd, on the other hand, didn't have the same response tonight when he watched the clips. Alas, you may laugh or you may cry, but first you've gotta try!

WARNING: Do Not Watch while young children are around.



And the response:



(yes, that is Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams,Cameron Diaz, Don Cheadle, Huey Lewis, Rebecca Romijn, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, "Lost" star Dominic Monaghan, Joel and Benji Madden, Josh Groban, Christina Applegate, Meat Loaf, Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell, Lance Bass, Joan Jett, "Superbad" thespian Christopher Mintz-Plasse and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' Dicky Barret)

Oops, heard the beep of the dryer - must go fold laundry. Enjoy!