The battle of a pair of scissors

I don't have any before pictures. All I have is after.. when the peace has settled... Today I finally took the kids to get an overdue haircut. It wasn't pretty. I thought the only way Benjo will sit in one of those haircutting chairs is if I brought him to Melonhead's... turns out he still didn't want to sit. Saturday morning must be the time every kid in Markham gets their hair cut because every barber chair was taken when Benjo sat down for his cut. Let me tell you what a struggle it was. I gave him gum, let him pick out toys from the basket, tried to get him to watch treehouse on the tv's. But still, the lady and I had to hold him down to sit still why she shaved off his elvis-like side burns. And it didn't help that every other kid who was getting their hair cut were sitting pretty like angels without a fuss. Yes Euge, next time we'll wait for you to do his fade for free. But you gotta admit, look at that face... it was definitely worth the 20 dollar (plus $10 tip! she was soo patient!) haircut in the end! Goodbye bedhead, hello buzzcut!!

Hannah on the other hand was great in the chair. Before, her battle wasn't the pair of scissors but the brush she would put to her hair every morning before school! Hannah is great getting herself together in the morning for school. She makes her own breakfast, packs her own lunch, picks out her own clothes. But when it comes to her hair, she's had many a fight with the adults that are home in the morning. So to my sister, my mother and Auntie Marie, this haircut's for you!

Over the Hill

As this may be the last birthday that my sister is celebrating up north, here is my tribute to my sister who today is almost up the hill. For someone who is only ** yrs old, she has been through enough in the last 10 yrs to last a lifetime. And so as she begins another year at life, I wish her all the happiness and blessings that she soo long awaited for. I have to admit that we have our ups and downs but I will miss her and the girls when they leave us for the sunshine of California. It's hard to imagine that we will no longer be raising our kids together (words from my best friend whom I already lost to the sunny south!) but as she is starting her new life and making a new family, the possibilities for her are endless...I can only wish her the best. Happy Birthday, Renn!!

Woes of the GO train commuter

As someone that takes the GO train to and from work each and everyday, I was quite upset when my mother came home 3/4 months ago with a ticket stating she had not cancelled her ride. If anyone has ever met my mom, she is the most honest person in the world as well as the most punctual! I used to ride the train with her everyday and I have to admit it used to annoy me. When getting dropped off at the station in the morning, she would have a fit if we were to leave any later than 20 minutes before the train arrives. And if you've come to our place (north of 16th!) you would know that it literally takes 30 seconds by car to get to our station! And as she was leaving too early for me, I had to stop taking the train with her. Since my mom gets to the station so early, the first thing she would do is get out of the car to cancel the ticket and then back in the car again to wait for the train. I have to wonder, had I kept taking the train with her, would she still have gotten that ticket? I don't think she had put up that much of a fight with the inspector as I would have, had I been with her that fateful morning in November when she got it. Even until now, she still refuses to sit in that same compartment out of fear of embarassment of seeing the same people that were sitting beside her when she got the ticket. I hope that now since she had gotten her case withdrawn from the court (damn right she fought it!) she'll have a little more courage to board that 5:35 out of Mount Joy again. Maybe one day I'll have to get up that much earlier again if it will help her overcome her fears to have a train buddy again. N.B. It's too bad I can't be as passionate about the ticket my dad got for failing to stop while they were on their way to the courthouse today, but as someone who doesn't drive, I can't say that I relate!

winter wonderland

The past week has seen the GTA with about a 30cm snowfall. And what's a snowfall without the kids going for a romp out in the snow. This was actually Benjo's first time out in the snow as every other snowfall this winter Benjo's been sick with a cold and/or fever. I've been looking forward to Benjo going out as I didn't want that 40 bucks I spent on snow pants to go to waste! Hannah made the usual snow angels and fort while the first little bit Benjo was afraid to move about in the snow! Of course once he got used to it, he didn't wanted to come back inside as he was having too much fun! Hannah, on the other came back inside too early as she was pouting that grandpa wasn't helping her with her fort. Either way, they both had fun and enjoyed the cup of hot chocolate waiting for them when they got inside.

Best of Both Worlds

Yesterday I was finally able to take Hannah to the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert, in 3D! If you haven't heard the story yet, back in September I tried to get Hannah tickets to see the concert as a gift for her birthday/Christmas present. I was online the minute they had gone on sale and had tickets right away. But the selfish mom that I am (or selfless, as I only wanted the best for my girl!) wanted to get better seats. After several attempts to find better seats and 10 minutes later... the concert was sold out! I had entered every contest in the city (I can only call so many radio staions while at work) and just not enough money in my pocket to outbid anyone on ebay, I was more upset than Hannah was that we weren't able to go. Nevertheless, yesterday was bittersweet. As I was singing along with Hannah and the girls to every song, I couldn't help but think that it would have been much better live in concert... Sure ...Hannah Montana was pretty much singing in my lap with the 3D effect but sitting and eating popcorn wasn't as fun had we been able to get up and dance and sing had we been at the concert. After watching the movie yesterday, I realized... I'm just as big a fan as Hannah is! Whether the kids are around or not during my evening workouts, I'd still have the Miley Cyrus cd playing on my playlist! And sometimes, I even secretly hope that the kids will ask their dad to put her cd in when we get in the car! I can only hope and pray that this childhood star won't turn into another Britney or Jamie Lynn Spears... cuz for right now, I appreciate her as a role model my daughter can look up to.

Peer Pressure

After much urging from a certain lunch buddy... I've finally decided to enter the blogger world. So welcome to Life up North.... life up in Canada... life up in Markham... life north of 16th Ave! I'm not very good at these sort of things so to the blogger police out there... don't bother pulling me over cuz i don't drive anyway!! And let's not get into the driving thing just yet, i think i'll leave that for a later post...