Sonya's Blog - Day 134 - Gymnastics with Simon and Supper by Natasha

Sonya’s Blog - Day 134 - November 3rd - Gymnastics with Simon and Supper by Natasha

Today we had some things on the agenda. Suzanne and Adam had Parent/Teacher Interviews at 7:30 AM, so we watched the kids and fed them breakfast. Claire has no school today because there is a municipal election today (all schools are closed). Kizmet and Bowser were getting groomed at 9. Simon and Kate had gymnastics at 9:15 and Blake and Isaac had haircuts at 10:30.

We managed to get everyone fed. Miraculously Claire and Kate at their breakfast and Simon would not. Usually, It is difficult to get Claire and Kate to eat and Simon cannot shovel the food into his mouth fast enough, but they decided to switch it up today.

When Suzanne got home, it was time to get ready to head out for the dog’s grooming appointments and gymnastics. I was going with Suzanne and her kids and Blake was staying back with our kids. We managed to make the grooming appointment on time. The dogs were not so excited to be going in, but they both need to get cleaned up.

We were just on time for gymnastics and I went in with Simon, because he is just little and is still in parented gymnastics. Simon knew exactly what he was doing, which made it easy for me. He ran over and grabbed his mat and found a seat on the floor, so I sat with him. They start with a song, where you wiggle your toes, feet, knees, etc. The instructor then goes through the stations and how to play on them and the rules. Simon was raring to go and was off like a bullet. He is very agile and has no problem with the ladders, beams, climbing, jumping and hanging off the bar. He had a busy little time making sure he got on every single thing as many times as he could. When activity time was over, the kids sang the Finger Popping song. Simon really likes this song and was very engaged. The parachute came out next, a standard in small fry gymnastics. Simon likes the parachute and had fun shaking it and playing under it. The kids then had to sit in a chair to get their stamp for the day. Simon was a little upset (so he starts to hit) that the boy next to him had his arms on his chair, so I had to move him over one chair to keep the peace. Everything went smoothly after that and Simon got stamps on both hands, both feet and his belly. He was very happy with this. We went and found his sister’s and his Mum. Kate had a good gymnastics class as well, so we all hopped in the van and headed back to the house.

As soon as we got back, it was time for Blake and Isaac to go to their haircut appointments. Natasha and I joined them in their walk down to Walnut Street (about 5 minutes away). Natasha did not manage to find new jeans yesterday, so she wanted to look in a few more stores. She managed to find some and they were on sale so that made it a huge bonus. They were 40% off their last marked down price, so it was a good deal. Natasha also needed to get some leggings because she is down to one pair and she managed to find some of those as well and they were also on sale. It was a successful day for Natasha. Blake and Isaac’s haircuts were both good. Isaac got a really nice cut this time and he thinks that Barber Shop is the best ever.

I had to leave everyone on Walnut Street to finish up their business and I hustled back to Suzanne’s because it was time to pick up Kizmet and Bowser. Kate and Claire were playing at the neighbours house, so I had to stay back and watch Simon while Suzanne went and picked up the dogs. Suzanne got back with the dogs at the same time that Blake, Isaac and Natasha got back, so it was pandemonium. Kizmet was so proud of herself and pranced around for attention. Bowser got completely shaved, so he looks like a different dog altogether.

Everyone had some lunch and I put Simon down for his nap. He could barely keep his eyes open after his super busy morning. He went straight to sleep and then I worked with Isaac to try and get his blog postings up to date. We were quite successful, but there are some gaps still. He will get caught up tomorrow and Thursday, which will be nice. It is a continuing theme in our lives right now. I need Natasha to get caught up as well, but Isaac is more work.

Suzanne had to take Claire to her music class and I wanted to take the dogs out for a good walk. Suzanne to Claire to music and Blake and I took Kate and Simon on their walk. We walked through Chatham University, because they have lovely grounds. The kids got out of the stroller and ran and played in the leaves. It was just another beautiful afternoon. It was still 20 out and had hit 23 earlier in the day. We were out for about an hour, so the dogs got a good walk in.

It was Natasha’s turn to prepare a meal all by herself. She had been working on the details all day and had even done up a menu. Picture of menu here:

When we got back from out walk, she had not started the prep work yet so I knew we would be having a late supper. That is all part of the learning process. I got her going on the meal and helped her decide where to start. I didn’t want to help her, because I tend to take over, but I needed to stay nearby for questions that she may have. It was going to be a 3-course meal, so it was quite involved. She started prepping the dishes that were going to take the longest to cook. This gave me a chance to run up and deal with the laundry. I needed to wash all of her new clothes because she will want to wear them right away. Suzanne and Adam have a 3 story house with an attic and the laundry is on the top floor. The kitchen is on the main floor, so I did a lot of running up and down the stairs.

Natasha was making stuffed peppers, so everything had to be cooked before it was put in the peppers and into the oven. This allowed Suzanne to prepare plates of foods for her kids with the individual ingredients, because they probably wouldn’t eat stuffed peppers anyhow. While Natasha assembled everything for the final phase the little one’s had their supper. She then started on the salad and we had salad while the main courses finished cooking. Everything was really good, Natasha did a really good job. It was just very late when we ate, so she learned a lot about prepping and starting things earlier. The two main dishes could have been prepared earlier in the day and then just put in oven when it was close to supper. These are things that are learned with practice doing everything yourself a few times. Natasha then started on the dessert, which was mainly prepped. She just had to do the filling for the apples and throw them in the oven.

I took the dogs for their night walk and Simon figured he was coming too. So I was joined by Blake and Suzanne and then I made Isaac come with us as well. It was still really nice out and it was a beautiful walk up and down the street. We met a nice couple with a Corgi and chatted with them for a bit.

When we got back it was time for Simon to go to bed and dessert was ready. The baked apples were really good. Natasha had bought local apples at the Farmer’s Market, so they were not a kind we had ever tried before. They were not huge apples, so they were the perfect size for dessert.

Our kids then went to bed and Blake and I taught Suzanne and Adam 120’s. I was Adam’s partner and we won the first match and then Suzanne and Blake won the second match. It was too late for me after that and I went to bed.

Sonya