Re-Living the Olympics...

Grade 5 has been a big year for Olivia!  The workload has increased, and the projects are more intense.  Add in sports, music and clubs and it's one heavy load for a 10 year old!  We are especially proud of Olivia this year.  She has shown consistent effort in everything she's done.  Olivia has to work really hard to get her good grades.  She has made the honour roll and continues to bring home great marks!  I know that many of us have kids that bring home great grades, but our girl really has to work hard for hers and it is her effort that matters most to us! 
This year the students had to do a history fair project.  This is similar to a science fair project.  The project was ongoing for months.  Olivia's teacher has been great and has prepared the students for every stage of the report with clear expectations and tools to get there.  The kids were allowed to choose whatever topic they wanted.  Olivia chose the Canadian Winter Olympics.  As the Olympics were held here in Vancouver last year, it was still fresh in our minds and still an interest worth researching.  Olivia knew a few people who had been involved in the Olympics so this proved valuable for the part of the project that required an interview!  (Thank you Mr.Collins for your generous donation of time and souvenirs!)  Olivia worked really hard on her project.  With the exception of some construction to hold up her Olympic rings on her display board (thank you daddy) she did the majority of the work all herself.  She was greatly rewarded when she found out that she'd qualified for regional judging.  12 kids out of 60 were chosen to set up their projects in a separate room for judging on history fair day.  Although she didn't make it to regionals, we still consider it an honour that she was considered.  As parents this experience has been a great tool to teach our child about striving for the best even if though she didn't make it regionals as she'd hoped to.  Way to go Livi..this has been just one of many milestones for you this year.  Keep up the good work!

For Olivia's 'creative element' to her project, she chose to wear her Olympic hoodie, a pair of 'authentic' moose antlers that were used in the opening ceremonies in 2010, and her creative table display included an Olympic coin collection, tickets from Olympic events, a mascot for the upcoming 2014 Olympics, a family guide to planning your time at the Olympics, a volunteer manual from the 2010 Olympics, a ski to sea highway pass for cars to travel to the Olympic athletes village, and several pictures of athletes in action!

Oli Does Volley...

Olivia joined the volleyball team this year.  It's so great to see her getting out there and enjoying herself.  She gets a little nervous come game time, but she loves the teamwork and hanging out with friends.  Today was their tournament with a bunch of the local teams.  Abby, Isaac and I rotated our chairs all over the gym to watch her play her games.  It was a fun day...but I have to admit, I don't miss the smell of an elementary school gym filled with hundreds of sweaty little bodies...nope, don't miss it at all.

Makin' Good on a Promise...

Olivia's school is a big supporter of local events, and especially charity events.  For 12 consecutive years, King Traditional has participated in the annual Abbotsford Police Challenge Run.  This year was the 20th anniversary of this event.  Our local police raise money for The ALS Society, United Way, and the Special Olympics.  Last year Olivia brought home all the paperwork for the event and asked me to do it with her.  I had been stepping it up in terms of trying to stay in shape and felt like I could do it with her, until we realized the day of the run was the same day that I had to be in a sale at a local fair that I had already comitted to.  Olivia was really disappointed and asked me to promise to do the run with her next year...which brings us to the here and now.  I had completely forgotten all about this.  But, sure enough, first week of school she came home with all the registration info and reminded me about my promise.  There was a part of me that thought she needed to understand that I wasn't up for it this year.  I'm still nursing an injury from ball this past spring, and I hadn't been doing great with my running.  But, the promise prevailed.  This wasn't about my ability.  This was about keeping my promise to my daughter.  We would only be doing the 5km...not the 10km.  I knew deep down that I could easily walk it if I had to.  But, with only 2 weeks notice, I dragged myself out to the track 3 times each week until I was up to running 4.5 km at a time...I know, peanuts for some of ya'll, but huge for me. 

So, we did it.  One week ago today. The rain held off, our bibs were pinned in place, our micro-chips attached to our shoes and away we went.  There were approx. 100 participants alone from our school, winning us the award for the highest represented school at the run for the 12th year straight.  Olivia will tell you that I held her back...that's her story and she's stickin to it.  She managed to beat me by a full minute.  But, I did it....and, I managed to run most of it.  A few short walk breaks prevailed, but all in all I ran.  I had a fellow friend, Sarah, along to keep me encouraged and running when our kids took off on us.
Now, posting these pics kill me.  I look absolutely awful...but, it's a memory made that's worth the hit to my pride.  So, don't look close, just look at Livi..and the smile of accomplishment on her face!  Hubby and 2 youngest were there to cheer us on through the last stretch..and snap away with the camera of course.   Next year you ask?  Absolutely...and I'm going to beat my time by at least 5 minutes.  That's my promise to myself!

We managed to find a couple of friends from church who participated in the run too...so here's a shot of the Heritage Gang!

The Entertainer....

It's so hard to believe that Olivia was our child who refused to sing in public, and would cry and have a tantrum whenever there was a musical concert at school or church. Now, she loves to perform for anyone who will listen. Now, that's not to say that it comes easy to her, but she's overcome the fear. As she got older she seemed to gain confidence from watching others around her. I nearly fell off my chair when she told me she wanted to audition for the school play and talent show this year! I think there are two reasons why she has done such a '180' in her attitude towards performing...first, I think it was just an age thing, second, we sent her to drama camp last summer, via her request, where she had an absolute blast and gained overall confidence in herself. (will post more later on drama camp)
Olivia expressed an interest in learning piano this past year. My Mom is an amazing pianist and she mainly plays by ear so we thought it would be best for Olivia to learn to read music from an early age and then combine it with any 'ear talent'. We signed her up for piano in October and she hasn't looked back! She loves her weekly lessons and her sweetheart of a teacher, 'Miss' Charity. Olivia is constantly asking to learn musical pieces that are above her lesson level. For her year end recital she chose to play 'The Entertainer'. She practiced and practiced without any reminder from me. On the day of her recital she played it flawlessly and we were so proud! Then, we were pleasantly surprised when she was 1 of 3 kids who received an award. She received the award for the most enthusiastic student. Miss Charity announced that Olivia always shows up with a smile, is eager to learn, and is playing above her level by request! Wow, what a booster for her self-esteem! We are so proud of this little lady who is becoming more and more a lady every day. Love you Livi! We definitely think she has some of Grandma's musical talent built into her!

It's been a while......

Hello All...well, I've been entirely lazy in my posting...but it is that time of year when time itself is scarce.My daughter's been begging me to post her latest creative outlet...blocks! I bought this box of Kapla blocks years ago when I used to work in preschool/daycare. The kids love them and find them so theraputic. My girls love them....they're always thinking of something creative to construct. It doesn't matter who's visiting...Uncle Ken, friends, Grampa and Gramma...everyone loves the blocks! If Uncle Ken is here then the blocks are building airports and towers and hangers....if friends are here then it's animals and names being built, if it's Grampa and Gramma then it's going to be cars and roads.

On this particular day Olivia chose to build Madagascar characters...she had just seen Madagascar the 2nd with friends the previous day and was 'in the mood' to create. She kept telling me to come check out her blocks and I kept putting it off because I was busy with something...but when I finally took the time to go and look I was totally impressed with what she had done...the characters were easy to make out....so this post is for you Livi!

Hard to believe...

Yep, it's hard to believe that my 'little' girl turned 8 last Saturday! We celebrated her b-day while we were in Osoyoos. We had fresh homeade waffles then headed down to 'Rattlesnake Canyon' amusement park where Olivia chose the bumper boats as her birthday ride...she got soaked!!! Olivia is a pleasure to parent...she's so patient, loving and kind, not to mention a wonderful big sister to Abby and Isaac! Well, enough of tooting my child's horn....here's a few facts on Livi at the age of 8: She is already 4'9", she loves the color blue, her favorite food is pineapple pizza, she loves to play on club penguin and webkinz for her computer time, and she especially loves to play outside on the trampoline and in her fort!

For Olivia's 8th b-day we let her get her ears pierced...she did great! (see pics)