Catching Up!

Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad!! (even though I'm a day late posting this) They were married on July 22, 1972 and yesterday celebrated 34 years of marriage! I wish I'd have one of their wedding photo's to scan and post. I'll have to borrow one the next time I'm at home visiting them - they were pretty young and cute! I don't even have a recent photo of my parents on my computer except at my brother's wedding in May so that's why Chad is also stuck in that photo above!

Happy Birthday to my Grandpa Roth!! He turns 86 years old today on July 23rd. That's a big milestone!!

Two of my family members have required medical attention and hospital care towards the end of last week. A brief overview....
* My sister-in-law Donna is pregnant with her second child. She is approx 30 weeks. Due to a few complications, she is now on bedrest at the hospital until the little one is born. The goal is to have the little one stay inside for as long as possible. At times like this I reeeeeally wish I lived closer to our extended family so that I could help out with her little boy during the day and visit her so she doesn't get too bored!
* My grandpa had an accident a number of weeks ago involving his hand and a table saw. Yikes! His hand has been healing quite well. But now, he has been experiencing some other difficulties that are unrelated to the accident. He will be meeting with a specialist later this week to determine the treatment.

Please keep both Donna and my Grandpa Roth in your thoughts and prayers - I know they would deeply appreciate it.

In other news around here...the strike that I mentioned in an earlier post is indeed on. We received a phone call yesterday that Max's little sports camp was cancelled completely. All recreation centres, sports complexes (swimming, etc) and programs are closed...thankfully the libraries seem to be unaffected at this point. I'm sure their programs will be BUSY!! And as for the garbage...oh boy. Let's not even think about it....really...can you imagine not having your garbage picked up for weeks on end? And it's too bad because this is prime tourist season here in Vancouver and I can only imagine what tourists are going to think. Wouldn't impress me, that's for sure.

Weather wise it's been more of the same - cool temps and lots of rain. Hearing rumours that as of tomorrow that should change and we'll be back to our sunny warm weather again.

Yesterday afternoon we were invited to one of Keith's coworker's for dinner. It was a very unique experience and we had a wonderful time. Laithe and his family emigrated here from the United Arab Emirates two years ago. He speaks very good English. His wife Hindt (not quite sure of the spelling of her name)is learning and does very well. They have 2 daughters who are 7 and 4 and a son who is 1. Max gets along famously with his daughters!! This past winter, we would meet them at the arena every Sunday afternoon to go skating. So needless to say the kids had a blast when we were visiting them yesterday. Dinner was delicious - they served us traditional Iraqi dishes which were very tasty.
*Chicken and rice dish. The rice was served in a big bowl. The rice did have seasonings but I'm not sure what it was. Raisins, cashews and some other nuts had been sauted (i think) and sprinkled on top of the rice. Arranged on top of the rice were chicken drumsticks and hard boiled eggs that had been fried. It was very tasty!!
Green salad. It was made up of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and mint leaves. I've never eaten mint leaves before! They are very bitter but add an interesting taste to the other veggies that are sweet.
*Hummus and Babba Gannoush served with flat bread - have you had this before? I have and I like them both. Hummus is a dip made up of chickpeas and Babba Gannoush is a dip made up of eggplant.
*Meatloaf - I'm not sure what they called this dish but it reminded us meatloaf.
*Pickled veggies (carrots, broccoli, eggplant)- very sour and good!
*Fresh fruit for dessert - watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries & grapes

Later on once the kids were off playing and the main course dishes were cleared away, the adults sat down for tea and dessert. The tea is served in tall (tempered)glass cups. I think it was orange pekoe tea and then they added freshly ground cardamom to it. It's hard to describe but it kind of had a licorice taste - but not really. It was good! Oh and then we had pastries that Hindt had prepared with date fillings and walnut fillings - also very good!

So there you have it - we were served delicious food and had a very nice time visiting and learning about their culture. I can't even imagine how big of a culture shock it was for them when they moved here. I know how different it was for me and I only moved across the country!

And finally, here are my two little tips for making summertime vacation the best it can be for my little Maxter (and me!)

Tip 1: We have a big chart hanging on our fridge called "Max's Summertime Chore Chart". On the left hand side, there are a whole bunch of chores and activites listed. When he does these things each day he gets a sticker for each item. Once the entire chart is filled with stickers, we are going to the toy store where he gets to pick out a toy (he has his eyes on some of the new CARS toys). This is GREAT motivation! And believe me...it will take him all summer to get his little chart filled since he doesn't do each thing every day. So what do we have listed? Things like:
*get dressed by myself
*brushing my teeth & combing my hair,
*sleeping in my bed all night (this is a biggie because he likes to crawl into our bed in the middle of the night. A reminder about getting his sticker goes a long way here!)
*setting the table (I get down all the plates, cutlery, glasses etc. and put them on the counter and then he takes them one by one and sets the table to perfection!)
*devotions (we generally have family devotions in the evening after dinner)
*talking on the phone (oddly enough he has never liked to chat on the phone - much to the dismay of his grandparents, aunts and uncles. However with the introduction of this chart - there is NEVER a problem getting him to talk on the phone and he can sure chat up a storm!)
*eating his dinner
*listening to mommy & daddy
*going to bed nicely, etc.
We listed things on the chart that were "problem areas" or things we wanted him to work on and start good habits early and it has sure worked great. Initially we planned that he would have to get a sticker for each item every day. But life never works on a perfect schedule. So we just decided to give a sticker at the end of the day for all tasks that were completed and he knows that when the entire chart is completed he gets his reward. It's working so well, I think we'll probably introduce another chart for the fall.

Tip 2: Max's preschool does the Scholastic Book Orders a few times a year. The last order was just before preschool was over for the summertime. I bought a whole bunch of books and kept them stashed away in a cupboard. Now whenever the summertime boredom blues threaten the horizon (about once every two weeks) we go to the cupboard and get out a brand new book and read it together. And each and every time, I have found that it triggers him to go and get out all his other books and start reading and voilà! No more boredom blues! This has evolved into the game "library" where he sets books up all over his bedroom and I have to come in and borrow the books. Except that he charges me money. And asks for my debit card (which is a hockey card) and swipes away like crazy. Then he tells me which books I'm allowed to sign out. And which ones I'm not. And how many. And then when I leave the "library" he says "Have a happy reading!" It's quite funny to tell you the truth!