holiday family magic

I posted these pics to facebook fairly soon after the holidays...but reality is - not all of my friends and family are on there yet! Most of you...but not all ;)

Tho I worked more than I wanted to over the holidays (lots of hours for auxilary staff when others take holiday time), we did enjoy a fair bit of quality family time as well. By new years eve I didn't even have the energy to make it to our co-op common room to celebrate with our neighbours and friends. Nice quiet couch night for us to end the year!

A quick recap with photos from holiday magic time with the Whittams, and our cousins too.

Morning story time; kids enjoying their presents; favorite gift for Sasha was the doctors kit from Santa (she saw this in a store when we were shopping for others, and for the first time ever said "I want to leave the store with this!". We snuck it into our pile of things to purchase after telling her we were only there to pick out gifts for our family. Then when she opened it up she was soooo surprised and asked "how did Santa know I wanted this?!"); Mark the happy camper opening his tix for a Canucks game; hugs of gratitude for Grandma :)

Sasha playing doctor with everyone willing to be her patient; Brett trying to teach Sasha how to wrestle;



this year we chose a 'green' theme. literally, everything was the colour green ;)
'ewww. I don't want to be caught snuggling with my sister!' haha

'umm. like, when can we go back to watching Lost?'
'Whoa' (imagine a big blue flame on the cake)



For fun with our cousins we had a laid back fondu nite, with yum chocolate truffle dessert. Love this silly pic of the 'little' cousins.


And a few games of wacky Jenga :D







Love all the family in our life and gratitude for all of our time with them! Best gift ever :)

thankful for our treasures :)

Another year wrapping up for us wacky Whittam folks, hehe. Apparently Mark and I were the only ones in the mood for the 'silly' pic of our family this year. So funny considering how long it took us to get Che to restrain from funny faces for every pic we tried.

Well its been an overwhelming few months, with plenty of stories to tell. More to write about than I can remember really, so I'll simply plug away at an update...letting the pics guide me through it and hope I capture the best of our life in highlights.

Way back in early October Mark was away for a week in Montreal for the National CUPE Convention, so Sasha and I had a week of quality mom and daughter time starting with a weekend visit to Whistler.

Always a good time visiting our cousins, tho we missed Cheyenne who was on an adventure with friends that weekend.

Aside from chillin in their home by the river, Monica and Dean also spoiled us with yum food and a couple of walking adventures! Sasha was really into pirates and treasure, so Dean went and planted a treasure at 'Pirates Cove' and we had a grand time trekking through the woods to the secret map location...and Sasha was soooooo surprised that we actually found treasure she was stunned for a wee bit! lol, talk about blurring that line between reality and fantasy (which is already pretty blurry for 3 year olds, hehe). She still plays with the beautiful little treasure box she found that day, and it was a truly wonderful weekend! :)

A few more pics to help us remember the fun: trek through the woods; Sasha having a moment with a huge tree; 'look at me'; Walter; 'Pirates Cove'; Sasha helping to make apple crumble; trying out the roller blades not as much fun at the skate park...boys on BMX and skateboards are too distracting; and a couple of pics taken by Sasha.




I worked a lot the week Mark was away, so the rest of the week was pretty routine. However we had one other noteworthy night when we went to the Ghost Train in Stanley Park. What a fun time we had, and as it was dusk when we were there it wasn't too dark or scary for her. She was a bit apprehensive about going somewhere with ghosts, but she enjoyed the lights and the train ride. And the hot chocolate of course!

Soon after Mark's return we had a small Whittam clan gathering for Thanksgiving. 3 kids, 3 parents, and 3 grandparents. The pic of the cool kids taken by me, the pics of the grandparents taken by Sasha.


October was also the month of an international day of action on climate change, and we attended our local Bridge to a Cool Planet event on the Cambie Bridge. A great turn out and the idea of the banner drop with a bridge loaded with people was perfect for a photo op...however, organizers kinda trapped everyone on the bridge (it became so full that many people with kids and bikes couldn't leave, and the patience of children who feel caged was definetly not factored into things), with a small stage set up in the middle which the majority of the crowd couldn't see or hear as they were stretched out on both sides.

We were most fortunate to run into our friends Dan, Joanne and Saskia who we spent some nice time catching up with! Poor Saskia was terrified by the big red bird (guys on stilts seen at most family friendly events around town...and who scares many children unintentionally) so our timing in finding each other was perfect! Not surprisingly we ran into other friendly faces, such as Rob and his traveling solar panel.
Sasha took this one of the red scooter which I love!


A parade to Science World, with play time at the park and a chance to visit many sustainable tables - and most exciting was the RV all decked out to leave little impact on the world during its journeys...yup, got my wheels turning about our own road trip adventure next year! I'm gonna conspire with my most knowledgable eco-friends and find out what kind of set up we can organize for the doc journey! :D

The banner dropped over the Cambie Bridge, seen in the distance from the park below, says "Canadians Care - Climate Action Now". After the recent climate talks in Copenhagen we certainly aren't being heard by our leadership on this issue! But that's a post for another day...more pics instead of rant, hehe ;P






That day we hung outside and convinced Sasha it was closed, but since then we've had a couple of rainy day visits to Science World. One with Mark, and one just me and Sasha. Small world that day as we ran into four other families we know from around the lower mainland!


Most excited that we finally reached the first Halloween where Sasha actually understood what was going on and she had a blast following Keyan (the older and more experienced trick or treater) up to all the doors for candy a plenty. The butterfly and magician scored full bags of goods, which we rationed out over the next while. Our co-op neighbours were crazy generous with handfuls of stuff (and playdough from David and Margot) then we weaved our way up to 10th ave. For those of you in town...check it out cuz this street totally rocked! One of those streets with ginormous trees, old character homes and just about every one of them completely decked out in cobwebs, pumpkins, etc. Scary music blaring from a few of them gave the whole street a wild ambiance!

Wish I had gotten better pics, and with thanks to Kristina I actually have these few to show our adventure for you. The creepy clown was from an awesome haunted house place complete with statues and folks dressed up as things that would jump out at you and managed to freak just about everyone out. Sasha was made a bit scared by the toy witch at the top of the stairs stirring a cauldron, and with a woman speaking into a mic from within the house (so Sasha couldn't see her and really thought the witch was talking to her) who teased about eating her butterfly wings.



Our co-op social committee pulled off another fabulous potluck with an Autumn Harvest meal with many of our neighbours. In our 2 years here now (wow!) we have come to feel a strong part of this community and really enjoy getting to know people over time, especially at gathering such as this one!! We also hung out for a while at a friday pizza and movie but Sasha diesn't think thats a very fun party yet (the pizza & movie social nite we enjoyed a portion of a few weeks later isn't her cup of tea yet either). ;)

Mark has been using a lot of his evenings for meetings and more meetings between his union executive and co-op board member hats. One night his work day started with a meeting, and then he left work to go to Library Board meeting for a presentation his union was making, and then sped home for an important co-op general meeting. Fun day that was for him.

In the past few months I've only been to a few meetings, and other than the doc my biggest focus has been CPEN. (I've kind of dropped my green team hats since the fall...back to that in the new year) We had a point in early fall where the questions starting rising on whether our organization should fold or go on. This caused me to do a lot of reflecting on the Charter for Public Education and my life since I had the priviledge to be apart of the process to create it. This is another issue that feels like a whole post in itself...and the thought of the organization ending left me a bit breathless. CPEN was founded to maintain the dialogue begun with the Charter process...we were meant to continue to breathe life into the principles of public education articulated to us by over 1500 people around the province of BC. We are the only organization that ANY person can be a part of (no need to belong to any of the stakeholder groups...just gotta believe in public education and protecting it as a sacred trust), with a tool for discussion that everyone can use.

During our debate on the relevance of CPEN, one of the folks who feel our organization has no purpose mentioned that he felt like he was "killing Kathy's dog". A metaphor that carried through the rest of the discussion, and which quite iritated me becasue in my opinion it is not about me. The Charter was not my idea, I simply lucked out in being able to participate in its development becasue one woman in particular saw a spark in me she thought would be perfect for the job. But I remain committed to making sure there is a voice in public debate that stays focused on what public education CAN be, and should be. I feel committed to all the people who shared their thoughts, concerns and visions with us on our travels in 2002-03, and everyone I've discussed education issues with since then, and compeled to work towards positive change in the systems we use to educate the future of our society...and all the children in my life!

As you can probably tell I'm just a little bit passionate about all of this, and in fact am using this energy to motivate myself on the documentary to get all Canadians talking about these issues. (FYI - I created a little video Invitation to Canadians to help spread the word...feel free to share with your networks! please!) But my other point to the group was that I alone am not a movement and CPEN really doesn't have relevancy if I'm the only one who believes in it. Fortunately, I'm not the only one who believes in it and we've recently had our AGM, and with new energy and a realistic set of things to do, I believe CPEN will continue to grow and influence change in its own ways. YEEPA!

The funniest thing about having someone reference 'killing my dog' was Mark's response when I told him about the meeting: "Do any of them remember after the Charter was published and you got bit in the face by Bailey, and then spent 6 months working on finding him a new home when everyone else thought he should be put down for biting your face?!" Made me laugh so hard!

Turns out I'm stubborn about helping things stay alive when I believe in them ;)

Stressful times tend to take their toll after a while and complete burnout came close for me a couple of times in the past few months. Other than quality family time, you have probably figured out by now that my fave cure-all for stressful times are spontaneous ladies nites with faboo friends. As I'm still sane at this point you can tell they provided the balance I needed, and I've enjoyed helping Elaine (group shot from her bday dinner), Victoria and Tanya celebrate their happy days, and finally learned how to play poker with Teresa and Charlene! :D

Sasha has had some quality time with friends as well. Aside from trick or treatin with Keyan, Sasha also had fun with friends new and old. Aubrey is one of her best playmates from daycare and her bday party was a great time for her, and Mark and I also enjoyed getting to know some of the other daycare parents who were there. Gotta love this pic of Sasha and Aubrey in a hug. awww

We also had a fantastic visit with Merlin, Gilly and Rob. I love watching these two play and still marvel at how much they have both grown since Gilly and I first lay them down side by side 3 years ago!

Just so you know that we still enjoy a fair amount of chill time at home, here are a few random pics: dancing, her photo of her boot, and playing with my box o beads (here's a patience tester for you: watch as box o beads drops out of hands of little one...and all those beads bouncing and scattering around the living room! great teamwork in the clean up helped me not go coocoo...I'm a wee bit OCD when it comes to organizing those by colour, hehe)



peaceful Karma kat...purrrrrr


November brought the finale of the POWER 2 project that Che had auditioned for early in the summer (and his twice weekly rehearsals were the reason he wasn't able to join us for camping fun on Saturna and Mayne islands) What an amazing performance by him and rest of the cast of youth!! Each of the cast had a solo monologue piece, and then there were ensemble pieces as well. Che's monologue, about his Grandpa who passed away last year from lung cancer, was brilliant and moving. He even did some hip hop in the group piece! Mark went with Mum on one night, and I went with Dad & Liz on another night. I was happy to be there the night I was because I got to see a few other folks I knew and as the final performance the energy was really outstanding. The woman who directed it has plans for a documentary DVD about the process of POWER, and when it is available (she told Che about 2 years. it is a process that spans a few years and budget funding is sparse these days, so it will be ready when it can be) I will post about it and anyone who wants copies can get one then. Visit the web site if you wanna learn more about the POWER project too! www.miscellaneous-inc.org

Early in December we caved to Sasha's requests to put up the Christmas tree. I love this time of year with a 3 year old! Back to the excitement of singing holiday tunes and all the joy of the season. :)

Decorating with our little family is always entertaining, and gave me a nice dose of holiday spirit for the final preparations for the Britannia Staff & Board Party, which I was the organizer of this year. After great work by Sandy for so many years, I had big shoes to fill. So I booked one of our fave party spaces- the WISE Hall, wrote a letter to businesses on the Drive and managed to acquire some fantastic raffle prizes (a spa package being the creme de la creme), found a fun DJ and an absolutely fabulous caterer - Just Catering (honestly one of the best buffet meals I've ever had!!) and challenged my fellow staff to a song competition between all the areas. Thankfully 4 groups rose to the challenge and came up with awesome tunes, and I broke the musical ice by sharing my songs first. I'm really thankful that everyone liked them and was moved by all the positive feedback I received for the whole evening. My best support, with set up and providing musical backup to my songs, was Charlene...could not have done it without her!

I had a blast mc'ing the nite, and planning the whole thing...the only things I would change in hindsight (always something to learn after an event is over) is recruiting bodies to help with set up. I did a whole lot of table moving on my own which had my body aching for days. But the bruises were worth it cuz I had everything set up just as the first folks were coming in the door, and a good time was had by everyone! My camera is not good for dark indoor pics (or maybe it is and I just need to learn how to use it properly,hehe) but here are some to showcase a few precious moments and some of my fave Britannia folks. Cheers to the faboo Britsters I'm lucky enough to work with :D



Seriously...do yourself a favour and hire Just catering if you're in need for an event. Great organization, and devine catering!


This is what happens to you when you've worked at Brit since day one, you dance like Steve ;)
DJ Tarek
...and who knew so many people knew the dance from the Thriller video? So cool to see all the folks on the dance floor doing the same moves...I thought that only happened in the movies, heh

The downside to the total body pain for a few days after the party set up was that I couldn't lift my arm without hurting and missed my first chance to try curling. But I went for the evening of fun with my fellow pool staff and friends celebrating with a Christmas party at the Marpole Curling Club (and by chance ran into my buddy Carl and got in an extra friend hug!) and had a blast watching everyone else try. lol



I missed the MOV xmas party when I had to stay home with Sasha who had to stay home a couple of days when she developed a case of pink eye. She has certainly become the little queen of all types of infections from head to toe in her short life so far. I still can't believe how many things are 'common' ailments for children that you never hear about until you have one in your home! I just feel gratitude that everything she has had to deal with so far has been easy to heal, and she handles all appointments, medicines or whatever the case may be with total resiliency.

After another eye appointment in early December we know her vision continues to improve and with her next appointment, if she can finally see that bottom teeny tiny row of letters in the vision test, we can probably stop the 2 hour patching every day that gives her right eye the extra workout. Yay!

I'm sure I've missed a detail or two...but I'm also sure that is more than enough updating on our wacky life for now. Christmas is fully upon us and we're looking forward to more time with all of our family. Happy to have Che with us this holiday season, and though I'm working more than I'd like to be (steady hours in the Info Centre will be up in January so not sure about finances for the new year at this point...breathe Kathy...breathe) we'll have plenty of time for family fun in the next couple of weeks. :D

As this year comes to an end I find myself crazy full of gratitude for all the treasures in our life, and hope that all of you get a healthy dose of fun & hugs with those you love this holiday season, and that your life is full of many treasures to keep you going in these crazy times.

much love & many hugs...and a cute little moment of play after dinner for your viewing pleasure.