July 28, 2010 by Barbara.

Reid spends much of her time with Dylan, Zachary, Damien and Madisyn - her little cousins - but her big cousins are fun to be with, too.

View More Wordless Wednesday Participants, look at my previous Wordless Wednesday entries, or check out the cute babies and kids at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Posted in Wordless Wednesday, Vacation, Barbara's family | Print | 1 Comment »

July 25, 2010 by Barbara.

Reid is at Grandma Joyce’s today, in the middle of an almost two week visit. I’m home alone and am remembering how much she has changed in her six (six!) years. I have to say that my collection of Reid’s birthday pictures doesn’t represent the best pics I’ve ever taken, may even show some of the worst ones, but here they are:

2004 - July 25ishReid seemed so tiny when she was born, despite being 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

For Reid’s 1st birthday, we had pizza (the proof is one her face). Her grin shows that she was eager to get her fingers into her cake.

 
The American Girl princess dress Reid received for her 2nd birthday was very well received.

These yellow boots with a firefighters’ emblem on them were the hit of Reid’s 3rd birthday.

We were in Toronto to send Ken off on his first Afghanistan mission for Reid’s 4th birthday.

Once Reid stopped playing in her cake, she decided she didn’t like it. Pie was on the menu for Reid’s 5th birthday.

This isn’t Reid’s 6th birthday picture but since I’m here and she is there, I’ll stare at this one a bit.

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July 23, 2010 by Barbara.

My mom called today and left a mesage. She told me that Reid is doing well with riding her bike without training wheels. I’m not supposed to mention it so that Reid can surprise me when I get there.

As you know, though, Reid can be a bit of a slacker when it comes to learning new skills. (Think hockey ;+)

Reid and Uncle Roger had a date after camp one day to practice riding. Reid winged a bit and Mom offered her $2 to go out and practice without complaint. And, Mom said, “Don’t tell anyone.” Reid went outside, put in a good effort and made good progress. When she got back in, Reid said, “I told Uncle Roger about the money. But only him.” I guess Mom should have said, “Don’t tell anyone, especially Uncle Roger.” ;+) When they finished riding the next day, Roger asked Mom what the bribe had been for that session. Mom confessed that she’d let Reid eat in front of the tv.

All of this bothers me a bit. I want Reid to do things because she should and all that. But what I really want to know is why I was never offered money when I was a child?!

Posted in Growing up, Barbara's family | Print | 2 Comments »

July 15, 2010 by Barbara.

My sister Karin, usually known here as “Aunt Karin” wrote this story in an email to Ken and then decided to send it to me, too. I wanted to capture it here because it’s very funny because Reid is 6 instead of 16. I’m not considering that it might be foreshadowing anything.

On Tuesday, Dave called me at work and in a  DEADLY CALM VOICE asks me If I’ve seen Shea’s nipple.  Shea has had swollen lymph nodes due to mono so I thought great, now he has a swollen boob?  I said, ”No, I’ve haven’t seen it, what’s wrong?”  Dave said, “He got his nipple pierced, I told him to pack his bags”, still calm.  I said, ”Dave, there’s worse things than that” then my phone rings and I have to go. I called Dave back when I could and said, “Calm down.”  He said, ”I’ve always been calm,” then he said ”I guess there are worse things.”  

Shea had been to Grand Bend overnight and a friend, who already has both nipples pierced, told Shea (who’s a big chicken) that if he got it done right then and there that he would pay for it. Shea asked the man how much it. When he found out it cost $100, he told his friend to pay and he would do it. I think he thought his friend would back down and if not then Shea would do it.  I asked him who signed his permission form and he informed me that at 16 you don’t need parental permission for a piercing, but tattoos can’t be done without parental consent till age 18. Good to know!

Since your daughter is fast approaching her 16th birthday, I thought I’d share my story.

Posted in Growing up, Holidays, Barbara's family, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

July 8, 2010 by Barbara.

Reid made a fridge magnet at Cosmic Adventures camp on Wednesday. As we drove away, she asked for a piece of paper and a pen. A couple of minutes later, she asked if I had a metal water bottle in the car. I handed it back to her and she stuck her magnet to it. That little light that floats above my head went on. Reid was testing different things to see if they were “magnetic”. She had developed a chart with an “M” at one side and an “N” at the other and was tracking the results of her experiment. She tried a couple of other things and declared that non-magnetic “won”. I bet adult scientists don’t have contests in the midst of their experiments.

* For some reason, the Littlest Hobo came into my head as I wrote this title.

Posted in Career, Pastimes | Print | 1 Comment »