Regina Brett’s 45 Life Lessons and 5 to grow on
Someone sent this to me in an email and I was so good for the soul, I decided that I had to share it. It is a column written by Regina Brett when she turned 50, so there is an extra 5 life lessons.
Gluten Free Diet
Everywhere I go, I seem to be seeing “gluten free” this and “gluten free” that. I understood when people cannot digest it but I was wondering about it for myself. What was it exactly, it is good? Is it bad?
Matthew asked to learn to cook
Wow, last night Matthew decided that he wanted to help me in the kitchen. When he was little he would help me with baking cookies and muffins, after all his first big word was “spatula”. It has been a while since he has helped me in the kitchen and he asked to do it last night. What blew me away was his comment “I need to learn to cook sometime”. Grab the opportunity, do it when they want to.
Great Canadian Chill Ottawa, 2012
We got an email from our friend Eric inviting us for a dip in the Ottawa River to raise money for Children’s cancer on January 1st. It was forecast to be +4C so Kyle said “Why Not”. What a way to start the Year!
What Love means to a 4-8 year old
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined See what you think:
Christmas 2011
Wow it is that time of the year again. What a wonderful year we have had, full of adventures and stories.
What we learned from Barbara Coloroso in Ottawa
Kyle and I had the privilege of listening to Barbara Coloroso speak here in Ottawa last night. She is full of information. I had watch a video of her a few years ago and the biggest thing that we learned then was that kid don’t get much of a chance to make decisions. Decision making helps them to learn to think for themselves. So if it is not morally degrading or life threatening, let them do it. That is what we have been using when it comes to out kids. This was very evident in their choice of clothes. “I did not dress them!”
Halloween – use your creativity
A few weeks earlier, I went into St Vincent de Paul, a second hand store and noticed that they had quite a bit of halloween costumes. I figured that it was a good time to bring the kids in to find a costume. When I took them to the store, Natalie and Andrew found something on the rack. Matthew said that he couldn’t find anything. I told him to use his creativity and find something as I didn’t want to spend too much on a costume. A few minutes later, he comes along with a cowboy hat and says that he is going to be a cowboy. We find him a nice red shirt and a costume has been found.
Fall Apples in Ottawa
Since we are in Ottawa this fall, we havn’t had a chance to enjoy the wonderful apples from my mum’s tree in Winnipeg. But we have had our share of yummy free apples here. When the kids returned back to school in September we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the tree right in front of the school was an apple tree. Imagine my excitement of being able to make those apple pies and apple crumble.
Happy Thanksgiving 2011
I have much to be thankful for. Life is good.
I love long weekends. This weekend, the kids and I cleaned out their bedrooms, it was long overdue. We started on Saturday, took a break in the afternoon and finished on Sunday. So now the deal is that they have to clean up every night before they go to bed. I think we have said that many times before. I need to put down my foot down more and not let the kids take advantage with excuses. Tonight Natalie had a fit when we told her she had to put her toys away even though we helped her she didn’t have to do it herself. The tears… So their room is now tidy. The goal is to make sure they keep it that way! I am thankful for clean and tidy rooms.
