The First Annual Caronport Parade

 

    

This spring the village of Caronport decided to organise a Community Day Parade. This was a bit of a running joke for Sean and I, as I am sure you can imagine. Don’t even get me started on the fact that there don’t seem to be enough people living here to be in the parade and to watch the parade at the same time. I imagined three people cheering on the floats as they came down Centre St. and those same three people running to Birch St. to wave and cheer again. But Brookie and Rosie were asked to be in the parade for their Ballet class, so Sean and I made our way over Saturday morning to have a look.

Surprisingly, it was a lot of fun! Our own part-time police officer led the way in his cruiser, clowns, little ballet dancers, local businesses represented with various “homemade” floats, banners and fire trucks spraying water onto the crowd. Yes – there was, in fact, a crowd. Who knew all these people lived here!. Brookie and Rosie did an amazing job walking quite a distance and holding up their signs. And I really wanted a picture of the fire fighters in their truck so I literally stopped the procession in order to get a shot. That is one really good thing about small towns – no security to stop nuts like me! All in all, it was a very successful first annual parade. ~Mandy

Little China Girls

 

  

Sean’s dad, Pops, brought these wonderful Chinese outfits back with him from a business trip and had given them to the girls months ago. Rosie was initially a bit disappointed that hers wasn’t pink. They had tried them on, worn them a couple of times around the house and then they disappeared into the back of their closet. Last Sunday Brookie found hers and wanted to wear it to church. Rosie quickly followed suit and before we knew it, they were beautiful, little China girls. They had many compliments throughout the morning. Thanks again, Pops. It is so nice to have a little international moment here in Caronport.   ~Mandy

A Moment with Rosie

 

                                                                                                                                                                                    

The other day, Rosie and I were hanging out on the couch together and chatting about life. She said something funny. I gave her a big hug and said, “Rosie, I really like you.” She replied with barely a pause, “I really like peanut butter.”

~Mandy

Happy Mother’s Day

 

It was a perfect day for celebrating mothers. Our day began with the girls presenting me with flowers. Brookie made me a card that she made all by herself. She sounded out all the words herself and even attached a “lucky penny” on the back with tape. Rosie gave me two lovely Hello Kitty colouring pages that she had done especially for me. After church, we had time together as a family which is a wonderful present in itself. I wanted to go to my favourite place for ice cream in the afternoon but it was closed so we went for a “scenic”drive and wound up having popsicles at home instead.

I still can’t actually believe I am a mother. But here I am. And now when Mother’s Day comes around, I tend to think about all the mothers that have shaped me into the mother I am becoming. There is my Grandma who had more strength and energy than I can believe. She worked tirelessly at keeping her home, walked to work every day and still had time to make everything from scratch. She is a mother I admire. My aunt has two children and I grew up watching her create birthdays to rival anything in Martha Stewart. She gave herself over to raising her son and daughter, putting aside many of her own dreams in the process. She is a mother I admire. Of course there is Sean’s mom who spent many long weeks alone with two small boys and later balanced work and family, always stopping to listen to her sons when they wanted to talk. She is a mother I admire. And then there is my mom. She raised two young daughters alone in a house that was barely standing up and managed to fill my growing up time with countless memories of laughter, joy and love. She is a mother I admire. Thank you. On days when things seem difficult or tiresome or frustrating or crazy, thank you that I have such tremendous examples of moms who worked and played and laughed and loved in spite of the difficulties. Happy Mother’s Day.

And even as I write, Rosie snuggled up beside me and whispered, “Love you, Mommy.” She kissed my elbow. Happy Mother’s Day indeed.    ~Mandy

Convocation 2009

This year, thanks to many loved ones, Dr. Andrew Sean Davidson made his first appearance at the Briercrest graduation in style. Here he is sporting the cap, gown and hood of an official McMaster PhD. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.

And let me take this time to say how truly proud we are of our Doctor.

While I normally skip the convocation ceremony for obvious reasons (obvious to anyone who has ever attended one of these ceremonies), I thought it might be fun to bring the girls over so they could see all the pomp and circumstance and Daddy in his new duds. They loved watching the processional. Rosie kept saying, “I see Doctor Daddy!”. And they were just as keen on the recessional but the part in between didn’t really capture their interest. But it was an important event for me. I got to see Sean, my husband of 16 years, walk down the aisle having finally completed this academic milestone that at times we thought might crush us both. I saw countless students whom we have gotten to know so well finally at the end of this part of their academic journey. It made me realise that although I will never enjoy living on the prairies and will continue to hope for a new adventure for us elsewhere, good things are happening here. Sean is an important part of those good things. He is loved and respected by so many students and colleagues alike. It was just good to take it all in. I am more proud of him for that than for finally being able to wear the funny hat.

~Mandy

Super Hero Day

One afternoon in April, Brookie came home to inform us that the next day at school was Super Hero Day. She was a bit concerned because we didn’t have any super hero costumes and everybody was going to dress up. After dismissing my first idea of her going to school dressed as me – the superhero mom – I suggested that perhaps we could make up our own hero called “Super Brookie”. We brainstormed about her powers and costume. Pretty soon, we had created the best super hero ever. Super Brookie has the power to help anyone in need. She can run really fast and she uses her magic wand to help her in tricky situations. We went with a minimalist logo but I think it has real punch. Of course Brookie couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have her face painted. Rosie would not be left out. And let’s face it, every great super hero needs a trusty sidekick. Meet “Wonder Rosie” – helpful when helping people in need, can climb anything while in high heels and can change her clothes more times in a day than anyone else. This is quite a powerful (and adorable) duo!

~Mandy

Easter Sunday

 

The girls posed grudgingly before they began their annual search

  Here Rosie stops to admire her bottle of bubbles

The classic sister photo

 

Rosie and Brookie in their Easter dresses

And a couple of family shots just before leaving for church

~Mandy

Highland Dancing Recital

April brought with it snow, colder than normal temperatures and the final recital for the girls' highland dance class. There were little girls in kilts everywhere you looked. The recital was held in our friends' living room and all the parents crowded in with cameras poised. It was very "small town" in the best sense.

Brookie getting ready to "fling"
Brookie and her very small class

Rosie concentrating on her next move

Rosie again


and again

Each group of dancers showed us their much-practiced routines and received lots of clapping and hurraying. Afterwards, all the kids crowded around the kitchen table for ice cream sundaes complete with gummie bears, marshmallows and lots of chocolate sauce. What a marvelous celebration! These are the times when living in the middle of nowhere is actually . . . I don't know . . . nice. ~Mandy

Circus Day At Preschool

Rosie’s preschool teacher organised a circus performance for the parents. All the kids were involved in the various circus acts.

   

She was dressed in her circus finery to show the audience some amazing and death-defying stunts. She was the “strong woman” and she balanced beautifully in the big top as a skilled tightrope walker. I was so proud of her! After the show, we had popcorn and candy apples while the kids showed us all around. Their classroom had been transformed into a real big top, complete with red and white stripes. Rosie held my hand tightly while chewing away on her popcorn. I don’t think I need to worry about her running away to join the circus any time too soon.  ~Mandy

Various March/April Photos

 

    

Brookie and Rosie enjoying life together – there is nothing better!

~Mandy

Highland Dancers

Sometime this past winter, Brookie and Rosie's higland dance class was asked to perform at an international dinner. They were fantastic.

~Mandy

The First Annual Puzzle Night

Sometime after Moet left, the family got a hankering to do some puzzles. But the kids puzzles we have were just too easy for us. So that is when we decided to do every puzzle we had! And thus, Puzzle Night was born.

Here Sean, Rosie, Brookie and I are just getting started. An important part of Puzzle Night is snacks. One of our favourites is sliced apple sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

And here are all the puzzles.

We put pieces together, laughed, ate apple slices, talked about our favourite movies, about why some kids are mean at school and which puzzle we liked the best. I think we stumbled upon a new tradition.
~Mandy

The Dog Whisperer

Sometime in February, friends of ours asked if we could dog sit for them. Let me be clear - I am not a dog person. But the girls LOVE anything in the animal kingdom, so we agreed. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to show the kids what having a dog is like. So we were dog owners for two weeks. Our dog friend is Moet. I basically ignored Moet as much as possible, fed him and cleaned up after him. Sean wasn't much more connected to the dog. But the girls were incredible. They were so gentle with Moet and could calm him down just like professionals. They each had their own way of speaking Moet's language. Though they did comment on how hard it is to have a dog, neither of them could be persuaded from dreaming about one day owning their own dog. And dreaming about a dog is okay with me.

~Mandy

Brooklyn's 5th Birthday Party

Our Brooklyn Grace turned 5 on December 18, 2008. But because Sean and Rosie left early for Ontario, we didn't have time for her birthday until January. She and her friend, Myaleah, decided it would be fun to have a joint birthday. So the planning began. We chose a "Winter fun" theme, complete with tobogganing, a bonfire, an outside hotdog roast, snowman cupcakes for dessert and hot chocolate. It was sunny and snowy and cold and lots of fun.

Brookie and her friend, Carlie

Brookie and Carlie and Sean on the slopes

Rosie, Brookie, Kiarra, Rachel and Carlie

Kiarra and Brookie at the top of the hill, chillin' (literally)

We drove to this great farm nearby to toboggan and on the way, one of our vehicles got stuck. When we got it unstuck and arrived to the farm, the local dog ate an entire plate of our snowman cupcakes and a package of hotdogs before we even all got out of the cars. And on the way home, there were a number of other "stuck in snow" incidents. But the birthday girls and their friends had a great time. Although Brookie has already asked for a swimming party next year.

~Mandy