Over at Leif's game, he was THE MAN for the multitude of corner kick opportunities they had. (Also in the red hat)
I has been freezing cold here for a week now, so our outside time has been limited. We've been sure to get some sun on our faces any chance we can, and get some fresh air busting up the ice on our pond. But overall it's been another inside kinda' week. We've spent it opening advent doors and seeing the treasures inside (Harry Potter lego, tickets to a great Christmas Pageant, Noodle box family take out), doing our Holiday baking (this year it's Peppermint Bark, Nanaimo Bars and Ginger squares) and playing an odd, ever-changing game with bouncy balls. Let me back up.
Kit's birthday was on Friday, and Hannah managed to finish the third Harry Potter on Thursday night, so much excitement was had as we celebrated with Kit; we were wathcing the third movie after his birthday dinner. Things are changing in the movie, as the actors age with the storyline (between filming) and their faces take on a different look as they enter their teen years. The storyline is also more challenging, as Hermione travels back in time and sees herself in her present. Hannah really had a hard time understanding that, still does actually. And we've realised that while we understand it, trying to explain it leaves us at a loss for words about mid-way through. But it is really cool to watch and think about, and maybe the wheels are still turning away in Hannah's head on this one. She launched this one at us the other day:
"You know that Chirp joke about "What flies but has no wings? And the answer is time? I get it now. It's because (big arm waving here) time is a thing, and when it's outside, it's flying, like a bird, but it doesn't really have wings, but inside it's different, so it's all about how we see time and where we are during it."
Sort of.
Reading Harry Potter has brought up some things for Leif as well. He's just finished the 5th book, and it's a tough one. First, there's a really evil (like child abuser evil) teacher at Hogwarts this year, and she makes Harry write lines in her office, makes his hand do it whether he wants to or not. And as he writes, the script is getting carved 'magicaly' into his hand, which hurts and bleeds, then heals and carves again with the next thing he writes. So he's basically reading from the point of view of watching torture, watching a child be abused by an adult with intent. Great. And he brought it up to me (I'd forgotten all about this evil wench of a character) because he said he felt wierd reading that part, that he felt physically not-okay about it as he read it. And we discussed why that was, at least in a basic way. Because he knows what wrong is, and he could see it happening in the story, and his instinct is to stop that injustice, to make it go away, and the sick feeling is because he is not alright with it yet cannot affect it *and* still has to witness it, because he wants to move on in the story. Ugh. I'm starting to worry about these books, as I now what lies ahead.
A side note, another parent brought up to me that they cannot find much in the pre-teen boys genre of ficton that is NOT like the HPotter series, in regards to young boy battling evil forces, darkness all around. I hadn't made this connection, yet I have seen other series that Leif could move on to after these. And I wonder if I can get him to move away from this sort of thing. I know his next chosen read will be The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. More boys battling evil. I wonder if he'd willingly leave this genre after reading nothing but for over a year at that point?
At the end of the fifith book he was confused about a conversation Dumbledore had with Harry. the point of it was that, out of love for Harry, Dumbledore went against his creed and kept information from Harry because he knew it would harm him, it would be too big of a burden for a young boy to carry. How Dumbledore was sad for this fate that is Harry's, that the boy had yet to learn about. That he felt a familial kinship with Harry and thus wanted to protect him. It was heavy stuff and hard to explain. Our language has such a dirth of negative descriptors, adjectives, yet for feelings of love and joy and happiness or friendship, we have some similes, some metaphors . . . but you end up sounding like a Hallmark card and the child you're explaining it to is still waiting for the punchline of information he seeks to make it all make sense.
I love a good long sentence.
The bouncy ball game is good for hours of fun, yet I am very much unclear on the rules or the strategy involved. It's about bouncing your little rubber ball around the kitchen (as your mother cooks and bites her tongue not to screech to get the hell out of the kitchen!) and trying to get it to go between the stove and the cupboard, or knock over a golf tee set up under the island cart. They play it for hours!
Another fun thing lately is CADOO, the Cranium game for kids and parents. Hannah's been playing with Kit and it's cool to see her brain figure stuff out fast. "Go get something round you can balance on your head for 30 seconds". Hannah thinks for a second, then runs into the kitchen, and comes back with a mandarin orange on her head. Nice.
We went on a forest walk with Taro and Leah and found relics from the old lime mine that was once in operation out in Brentwood Bay.
We learned that the sunken gardens at Buchart (which is directly behind the park we hiked in) are the old lime mines, which sank over the years after the mine was shut down. You can still see the big smokestack in the distance.
And we found cool mushrooms.
Some pictures of our wintertime-preparations.
Fetching our tree means a visit to the tree farm in Saanich, where they have lovely Clydesdales.
Then we need to hunt for 'my' tree. It looks like this, and we call it a noble fir, though it is slightly different.
They seem to be harder and harder to find each year, and it turns out that is because they are afflicted with an aphid from Europe that totaly messes up their growth, and so they are planted less and less. Damn non-native bastard bugs.
The tree at home, all decked out.
The Lighted Truck Parade is the best parade ever, and my favorite holiday activity bar none. I LOVE it! Cement mixers, flatbeds, big rigs, all decked out in lights from grill to hitch, driven by big guys with beards and smiles for the kids. My kind of manly.
One year we'll get our small big truck in there. But not this year. :)
And me? I'm excited. Excited because Kit is off as of next week, and I can find joy in going for a run every day. Excited because I'm helping Shona with her fabulous Community Love-in Wedding Fair, which is in January, but we have much behind-the-scenes crafting to do. Excited because I've ordered two great knitting patterns from Magpie Patterns and I can't wait to get started on them in the New Year. Excited because I've cleared out one end of the basement so I can sew and now I have loads of ideas for things I want to make. Excited because the kids want to read and play Scrabble and watch movies with me all winter. Excited because life is what you make of it, and I'm determined to make mine shine.
Ho ho ho.
C
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