Category: Curie Months

In February, Erin had her birthday and her parents and her sister and her sister’s husband and us all pitched in to buy Erin Mario Kart 8, of course the fact that we had nothing to play it on meant that we had to buy a Nintendo Switch and all the relevant accessories too. What we didn’t know is that Curie could play Mario Kart almost immediately. Perhaps she had played it with Isabella, but we were amazed because when we were visiting the Yischons we are fairly certain that Chen Jing couldn’t or wouldn’t play at a similar age. In any case, Curie is fairly competitive, as is Elia, and so what we thought would be the adults playing and the kids watching, turned into the kids playing and the adults participating. As expected Steve and Julie wanted to play, but in a pleasant surprise Jim wanted to learn and played as well! Continue reading “Curie February 2019”

For New Year’s Eve we did not go over to the Hoaglands for the first time in years because they were away diving in South Africa. We instead had the Tamanahas over for New Year’s Eve. As a Christmas gift, they brought over a game where you had to try not to step into the poo, which was a great hit. The kids stayed up for New Years and we took our first picture of the year.  Albert opened his Solo Stove Bonfire and we found out how hard it was to actually light a good fire without some practice, but Curie loved the marshmallows. Continue reading “Curie January 2019”

So it is remarkable how life can envelope your time especially during the holidays and beyond, which is to say, we are behind in blogging again. For the record, it has been a month since this blog was supposed to be written, and so now we are relying on memory and pictures to recount what happened. The winter holidays are not as carefree as they might be when you work at a non-profit. It is the end of the year and it is an important time to solicit donors who are also thinking about charitable giving in relation to their taxes and tax brackets; so Erin especially has a lot of work at the end of a year.  Continue reading “Curie December 2018”

We made a decision before Chicago not to get the flu shot because we were worried that we would feel sick on the trip. That was a bad decision because Curie got sick after and ended up with pneumonia. This was October. We planned on getting flu shots after but one by one each of us were sick, even though we knew we needed to get the flu shot. Then Curie came down with a fever again, and was out from school for another week. Getting the flu without the flu shot is a 5 day affair, with the flu shot is only 3. After she was over the flu we immediately went to go get it, but the pediatrician didn’t have any availability. We went to CVS, but they were closing so we went to Giant where it was a terrible ordeal. Elia was not allowed to get a shot at Giant because she was not 5 yet, so she got hers later at an urgent care. 

Continue reading “Curie November 2018”

September was some time ago, and there is a temptation to write about October instead. In September we went to Meadowlark with Susie, Isabella, and Olivia,  with the entire family dressed in purple. Both kids loved the fact that we were dressed in a themed color, which is not something they will do for much longer, so we took advantage and had a great time.

This month Curie and Elia really got into two cooking shows on Amazon Prime; they watched Kids Try, which has kids trying different foods over the past 100 years, and a show called Little Kitchen which has kids watching recipes online Continue reading “Curie September 2018”

August was a big month for us. New house, start of the second grade, and lots and lots of work. House, work, camp, and the start of school. Renovations got mostly completed on August 13th, we moved on August 15, Curie started second grad on August 28th. The whole summer we did not take our vacation or do many of the summer things we would normally do. We DID to out to Butler Orchards and pick vegetables and dig up potatoes, which was amazing, but now we have fruit flies in our house because of it. Continue reading “Curie August 2018”

Summer has come and gone, and it seems like an instant when you are buying and renovating a house for a move. It also seems like an eternity when you are feeling guilty about not doing the summer things you might normally do, like get away at some point to take the kids somewhere. July was all about Camp for Curie. This year Curie did Congo Camp the entire summer with two rounds of pony camp. Someone told us that we would be sucked into the pony thing the moment we bought pony toys. We likely won’t be able to afford riding lessons, much less a pony, but we are glad we are able to let Curie do things like pony camp. It was in 2016 that we first let the kids ride ponies in Toronto and it has definitely been something that they have loved. Continue reading “Curie July 2018”

Geez, we are really behind in our blogging. At the time of writing it is already July 21, 2018, so we will have to work to recount the happenings of June. At the beginning of June, Curie had yet to finish first grade, and with our challenges in her reading, there was some concern, however in the last two months, she went from an 8 or 10 reading level to a 12 and 14, coming just short of the 16 she was supposed to achieve. We enrolled her into a reading program for the summer so as not to lose anything and hopefully jumpstart second grade. It seems to be working as she is starting to read signs and various words and subtitles.  Continue reading “Curie June 2018”

In this day and age where Facebook artificially filters a rosy picture of life and social media allows us the illusion of community while fostering new kind of loneliness, it is important to underscore that our blogs are written to capture the beauty and memory of childhood for Curie and Elia. We are thankful for the family and lives we have but to assume that it is easy or somehow more idyllic than another family would be a mistake. All families have their triumphs and challenges, every person has their achievements and their crosses to bear. We struggle to hold it together and muddle through life and parenting like any other family. It is however the celebration of joy that helps us get through the trials we are given and it is beauty of the mundane that keeps the dreariness of routine at bay. We are just as jealous of beach resort vacations and trips abroad that others have, but that does not keep us from wringing every drop of happiness we can from each ordinary day with our family. Continue reading “Curie May 2018”

It has been a filled month, Erin starts a new job soon, it looks like we are buying a house, Albert has budgets and a Board meeting, Erin has a Board meeting for her old job and one for her new job. As stressful as it gets, being mindful of family always helps. Even then, we worry about reading, and school, and sleep, and calcium, and screen time and everything else that comes with parenting.

The kids are excited about the new house, and we have tried to keep up with things to do as the weather starts to warm. We began our month with Easter at Pinstripes, which was too expensive again, and went to the river to do an Easter egg hunt with Isabella’s family. Continue reading “Curie April 2018”