Elf on the Shelf | Ruff Ruminations

Recently I was asking on Facebook and Twitter what people's favorite traditions for Christmas were as this year we really wanted to start some with Grady now that he is at that age where he believes in magic and Santa and all that. One of the top ideas was Elf on the Shelf if you haven't heard of it already it is pretty cute and fast become this years "must" do/have. Basically it is an Elf that visits your house at Christmas time and reports back to Santa each night whether you have been good or bad. I decided this would be a super fun tradition...

My video is acting up so you are stuck with pics for now :D

I don't know how he did it but Santa must have blown off course on Sunday due to the windstorm, we had level 1 hurricane winds that day so I'm not surprised! Lucky for him and us we were out in Airdrie watching the Grey Cup. And wouldn't you know it we heard some jingle bells and this is what we found on the porch! Some snowy footprints mixed with sparkle fairy dust and a package! How did that get there? Well Grady knew right away and he told me it was Santa's footprints and he had left us a package!

Here Grady is reading the letter from Santa that came with the package.

What could it be?

An ELF! Sent by Santa how lucky was the Brooks Family?

So we read the story and found out about naming our Elf and how she would fly back to Santa each night to report and then return to a new place each morning. Boy are we going to have fun looking for her every day up until Christmas!

Grady thought she was pretty neat and named her "Nemo".

He's not so keen on talking to her yet and knows not to touch her or she'll lose her magic. But mom and Dad talk to Nemo sometimes to explain that Grady is a good boy but he makes mistakes like any other little one. I'm sure as he gets used to her being around he'll stop being shy and let her know all to good things he did each day and what he wants for Christmas.

When Your Kid Cuts Their Own Hair | Ruff Ruminations

This is what my cute little boy used to look like! This is his official school picture, what a cutie! You can tell he has been in front of a camera once or twice before :D

But then we decided he needed a haircut because it was getting pretty shaggy. Last year we bought a set of clippers from Costco and have been cutting Grady's hair ourselves and it has been going pretty good and saving us some dosh since a kids cut can be $15! I did a pretty good job this time and even recieved some compliments on Grady's new hair cut.

BUT THEN...

This happened!

Grady came downstairs the other day and said "Mommy do ya like my haircut?" Oh My! Of course I took a pic with my phone and documented it on twitter and facebook :D If you can believe it he did this with a pair of kids craft scissors. He sure got it short! So I wondered what to do? Leave it to grow out a bit and then try to blend it? Grandma suggested a comb over but since it was already quite short that wasn't going to work. So do I cut it or leave him to be embarrased for the next few months?

I decided to cut it. You can see how he felt about that!

So we started with the longest guard and moved down in stages trying to not shave his head completely, but he did get it seriously short with those scissors! I let him have a go with the clippers to get rid of that angry face and make the process a little less painful (and loud)!

He is totally going to be one of those people who buz cuts their own hair! He had fun with the clippers.

Still not short enough! We take breaks every so often and use my big power brush to dust the hair off him and the bathtub. I think that is probably his favorite part.

And in the end? I had to go down to the #1 guard anyways and you can still see the place where he cut it himself but it is a lot less noticable. And he won't look silly in his Santa photo this weekend, but he will need a warm hat for the rest of winter :D

Blue Melons Duvet Cover | Ruff Ruminations

You might remember me working on this project a while back. It was meant to be completed between June and October as a joint birthday gift for my Brother and Sister-in-Law but having such a long deadline meant it often took a backseat to other sewing projects. I got it done finally in mid November so not too late :D

In any case it started out as 150ish little square with melon shapes machine appliqued on top (because I DID NOT have time to do them by hand!) 

Then it became this on my design board so that I could start to get a feel for how to piece it all together.

Then this once all the little pieces were put together in rows and all the rows sewn together.

Then this! Once I added on the framing strips, at this point I nearly kept it for myself it was so pretty!

And finally here it is in its new home. I hope it lasts as long as the duvet cover I made for them for their wedding!

A Chinook Kinda day at the Calgary Zoo | Ruff Ruminations

Yesterday we went to the Zoo. Thank goodness a Chinook was blowing in and the -20 from the weekend was gone because we were meeting a friend and it was not a visit I wanted to cancel once I had already told Grady we we going. I'm glad we went! It was windy but there was almost no one there and so it was a great visit!

Grady is becoming a typical routine based preschooler, he likes things to go as predicted so here he is standing the same rock as our previous visit to the hippos on Foggy's Birthday.

Which of course also meant posing in front of this guy again too. I couldn't get him to do something different so the photo is pretty much the same as last time but with different clothes. Ah silly kids...

But since it wasn't busy we got a very special treat! This window into the hippo enclosure is usually packed with adults and kids trying to get an up close look. Not this time! The window was nice and clean and so was the water so we got an beautful clear view of Foggy and Sparky. And then...

I know! How often does this happen? A full on dental inspection for your preschooler? Talk about getting your money's worth with a membership! If we only went once a year we may never get to see the inside of a hippo's mouth UP CLOSE. So grad yourself a membership because even if you go for an hour your kids might be lucky enough to see something they'll never see again! What a moment to remember.

What else do I like about going to the zoo so much? It is a great place to walk around that is not the mall. So if you have a baby in a stroller like my friend or a preschooler who needs to get out you can go and not spend a dime but get some exercise and enjoy some amazing sights. Here Grady was exploring the upper level in the rainforest all by himself. We could hear him chatting the whole way up the stairs, across the bridge and down again.I think he really liked the independance and I really liked that the zoo offers safe places for kids to explore without having to worry about what they may get into.

At this point Grady was tired of having his photo taken...can't you tell :D Even though all 4 Colobus Monkeys were up close to the glass he was having none of me getting a good photo of it!

We also ventured over to see the elephants...

Again super happy about the photos (sorry bubba's but mama's gotta put SOMETHING up on the blog)

We got to see the pirahnas getting fed which was also pretty cool. Although my steller photo skills don't show it off well. (I tried my best to get a good no flash shot, guess I need a certain fabulous photographer to give me some lessons!)

And what do you think of this last photo of the Condor? Pretty good eh? I didn't take it! If you can believe it Grady got this shot all by himself after asking for me to hand over the camera! Better watch out Auntie Amanda you've got another budding photographer nephew on your hands :D

Giving Gifts to Teachers | Ruff Ruminations

Recently I was with some former and current teachers that were discussing receiving gifts from students at Christmas time. I always knew that teachers got gifts but I thought it was mostly elementary teachers and usually things like boxes of chocolates. You know “small” gifts to show appreciation. I was shocked to find gift giving now extends to junior high school and even high school teachers and that on average parents are giving $15 per teacher sometimes up to $50 or more! I couldn’t believe it.

It made me start to question things. Is it an expectation to give your child’s teacher gifts each Christmas and then again year end? Does what you give affect how that teacher educates your child? Do parents think it does and that is why they are often more than generous? It seems like an awful lot of expense especially for large families. If you just take into consideration the basic classes and assume a different teacher for each subject a child could have 5 or more teachers at an average of $15 per teacher that is $60 per child at Christmas and then another $60 at year end! Really? Is a simple thank you or Christmas card no longer good enough?

I honestly don’t remember giving my teachers gifts as a child. I am sure I did, or maybe I didn’t since I grew up in a small town and my mom was a faculty member. But even if I did I assume the gift giving stopped soon after elementary when you just had one core teacher and then at most only extended to your homeroom teacher in years beyond that.

If you take into account an average classroom having 25 students that means each teacher is receiving $375 worth of gifts from a single class! And I know city school teachers have far more student than that! So we are talking potentially a thousand dollars per teacher! I’m not saying our educators don’t appreciate a thank you and a job well done, But a $2000 bonus per year?

You hear all the time about how schools are underfunded and teachers have to buy supplies out of their own pockets. But you don’t often hear what a teacher’s actual wage is $21-53 per hour according to the Alberta wage survey. Or if the supplies a teacher is purchasing are “must haves” in order to properly educate their students rather than “nice to haves” which make their classrooms more attractive etc. Now no one should have to pay for supplies out of their own pocket in any job but you also don’t thank many of those average Joes either with a monetary gift.

What I garnered from this conversation from the teachers was:

-          Often they do not use or like to receive the gift cards as they are for items like coffee or restaurants and one can only go to the same place so often or they might not even drink coffee or like to take luxurious bathes.

-          They prefer the gifts with meaning that are handmade

-          They feel uncomfortable receive expensive gifts

But what I didn’t get answers to was:

-          Why don’t schools have policies about gifts? Both giving and receiving?

o   Why not set a limit so that all socioeconomic backgrounds are balanced?

o   Or ban giving gifts? Or suggest gifts of school supplies/donations to the school?

-          Do teachers expect a gift? If they don’t get a gift does it affect how they teach your child?

o   I doubt any would assert the former or state the latter

So what do I suggest? A return to handmade meaningful gifts and simple thank you cards, if you feel you must give your teacher something substantial give them something that helps them educate your child. Otherwise where does it stop? And don’t the other people working in the school deserve a thank you too? Do teachers share their gifts with the janitor or office administrators?

So many questions I would love to know how you feel...

Organizing My Space | Ruff Ruminations

I have been organzing lately to (of course) create more useable space in our house and make it easier to find everything, as well as hopefully have a little less dusting and things for Grady to get into :D

Our new key hooks and front door organizing. It seems like a lot of hooks but as you can see we use them all. And I lowered our old hooks to a space where grady to hang his own things. Hopefully this keeps the 1/2 wall a little less cluttered!

Jewellery Organiztion! This is a kitchen shelf from Ikea that I added hooks to so that I can hang my necklaces. There is still space on top for braclets and bangles. And a bucket on the side for watches and things too delicate for the rack on top. Much better than the line of 3m hooks I used to have!

This is our new closet organizer so hopefully we now have more space for shoes and coats and junk. Maybe one day we will get some doors back on it!

My newly reorganzed craft space so that I could move the sewing machine off the kitchen table! Especially since one machine has already been pulled off onto the floor. So now my machines will be much safer and I can close the door on the mess. That is my mom's Alaska quilt on the table that I am just trying to get finished off before moving on to more Hippo Hug samples.

And I moved over most of those necklace 3M hooks to behind the bedroom door to hanging my excessive collection of zip hoodies and light jackets.

Next up? Finding a useful replacement for our 1960's room divider at the side of the entrance, we are thinking of one of those large bookcases from Ikea that is all square and then I can quilt boxes to fill some of the square for storage :D

Finger Painting | Ruff Ruminations

As you know a while back Isabel came to visit. Here are some pictures of the finger painting that they did together one afternoon. As you can see two very different painting styles!

Isabel never got more than that one finger dirty!

Grady of course got everything dirty!

Grady was a speed painter finishing twice the amount as Isabel.

Serious stuff! It was hard to get her to crack a smile, guess I was messing with her creative process!

Wordless Wednesday Hosted by the fabulous Merry as always! Go check her out!

Uncle Ed and Auntie Amanda Visit | Ruff Ruminations

A while back Auntie Amanda and Uncle Ed came for a visit so that Amanda could do three photo shoots in one day! It was so nice to have them both down for the weekend.

Auntie Amanda was very nice and read Grady story after story until he didn't want anymore. He loves all the extra attention he gets when she shows up!

He's been read Alpha Oops so many times I'm sure he must know it by heart now. A pretty cute book that we got from his preschool's first scholastic order.

Uncle Ed did some research on Calgary and found a few gems that we didn't really know about. One was Booker's BBQ Grill & Crab Shack. So we convinced them to stay until supper time on Monday so that we could all go together since Sunday had been previously booked up with putting winter tires on Brian's family's cars.

 Best part? Pretty kids friendly place and food was super yummy. There were lots of things to share between two or four people. Amanda and Ed's plate was so big they couldn't eat it all! I got the Brisket and it was really good, Grady had chicken fingers and fries (surprise! not really) and ate it up so fast. It was not busy and we didn't feel like we were putting anyone out by having a kid there. They also were doing all you can eat ribs or crab but none of us partook.

Two of Amanda's photo shoots were booked for the zoo so we got down there a bit after she started so we could spend some time at the zoo between shoots. She did the Freckleton Family in the early morning and then the Madore/Chandra Family just before lunch.

We had a nice short visit to the zoo. But as always a good one.

Mom and Grady by the lions

Doesn't Grady look like he really enjoyed spending time with Francis? (not at all!) I dunno why he looks so put out in this photo, I promise you he liked getting together with Francis again :D

One of the highlights of the trip to the zoo? The new gift shop was open and boy is it purdy. With lots of neat and not too expensive products that I have not seen anywhere else. The downside? The new restaurant is actually barely a cafe and serves the same food as the cafeteria, so Zoo Fail on that one. I still don't know why the chef at the zoo would want this awful food to represent them on a day to day basis...

Grady and Emma wanted to climb on the metal animals so we obliged in return for some cute photos.

These guys are good buds and love seeing each other!

Uncle Ed snapped this cool dude in our back seat on the way to the zoo. He (Grady) insisted on set of sunglasses for himself when he saw everyone else had some. He kept complaining about the sun in his eyes, even though it was on the other side of the car!

After the zoo Amanda and Ed headed off to meet some friends that had travelled from Lethbridge to get together and they also checked another unknown but great place in the city The Silk Road Spice Merchant. They said the selection was great and were able to find more things to buy than they had money for!

After lunch Amanda stopped at the house for a quick break before heading off to do some newborn photos of the LeBlanc Family and their newest addition. Did you check out the links? Don't you think all the pictures turned out amazing? You should book Amanda for your next set of family photos, she comes to Calgary regularly and we love to see her so give her an excuse to make the trip!