march madness

brace yourselves...another very full month of life to recap. it's so hard to remember a month once its over. ;)

What's new with Sasha? she's had another bit of a growth spurt and last we measured a few weeks ago she was over 39 inches tall! So now we've moved up to the next level of car seat and she is no longer constrained in the toddler seat. a month 'til her 3rd bday and she is as tall as most of the 4 and 5 year olds in her daycare.

Speaking of daycare, her teachers have told us recently that she has really started to come out of her shell now and is making friends, socializing well and having a lot of fun. yay! She was pretty shy the first while but now she likes it so much she often gives Mark a hard time about going home at the end of the day when he picks her up, hehe.

At home she continues to love playing daycare and naptime, and the one role play game she seems to be favouring more lately is doctor. every time someone she knows gets sick or hurts themselves, she will be nursing us and all her dollies for the same ailments. recently Grandma Penny hurt her back and then all Sasha wanted to do was fix our backs "is your back a little bit sore? here. let me help your back, come see me at my doctors office." even if you say "no thanks, I feel great" she'll reply with "no, I think your back hurts and you need to see the doctor. come on" LOL. runny noses, flu bugs, bandaids for cuts and bruises...she has either spent too much time at doctors appointments, or she is going to follow in her Aunty Karli's footsteps as a healer. :)

Though she has been exposed to the computer on a rare occasion, this was the month that she finally realized just how much fun she can have with online games at cbc and pbs all by herself. Now she asks for computer time every day!! I usually indulge her most days for a 1/2 hour and play with her while marveling at all the things she can do on her own! Most of the games involve letters, words and other skills while providing fun, so the preschool stuff I'm not too worried about. It just set in the reality that she will likely be like all other kids and want more games, etc from now on...a baby no longer. Fortunately she seems ok with getting off the computer (though sometimes we need to ask a few times) and will close the windows and get down when asked.

She has always been a pretty good questioner of all things, but she has finally hit the big "why?" stage...why? why? why? It's really hard not to get to the point where you just respond "because, that's why" when I run out of answers. Determined to nurture her inquiring mind though, I love her curiosity! ...even when patience runs thin from constant third degrees to my knowledge base, hehe

Early in March we had a great time at Keyan's carnival birthday party. My fave pic is Sasha's expression in defending her sundae. this girl likes her chocolate and ice cream. she says who needs a spoon? lol


This year was our turn to have Che for march break, though he spent the first few days at his grandparents cabin up the sunshine coast. Nice treat to have him show up with a big bag of prawns caught that morning before he came home! mmmmm, fresh prawns from the straight!

Overall the weather wasn't so great so we kinda hibernated for the rest of the week. We enjoyed another family swim at Brit, and when the sun finally shone over the weekend we got good and dirty and cleaned up a large portion of all our tiers, tilling the soil and getting ready to do some planting. I have a regular at Brit pool that has been so generous in sharing seeds from her own garden and I can't wait to watch some food grow on our patio again! Mark and Che also got distracted throwing a plane back and forth over the fence while I made lunch. I love our kitchen window overlooking our patio!


here's a cute random shot of Sasha and her friends hogging our bed. once in a while she comes up early in the a.m. and joins us for some snuggle and extra sleep time. but, it doesn't leave much room for us when she spreads out as you can see.

After the break, Che and his band "the Cheese" (as they play cheesy music, hehe) performed at his schools talent show. Unfortunately we didn't find out about it 'til the night before (still working on those communication gaps...) so I wasn't able to go, but Granma came and picked up Che and Mark and the reviews were that his band is awesome. And thankfully his mom recorded it so we can all enjoy the show! He's a natural on stage, and his ukelele skills have come a long way...i'm looking forward to my chance to check them out live! Too bad they only got to play one song (a long line up for the evening, 26 acts, 21 of which were hip hop or some other dance routine. next year hope they'll aim for some more balance in the line up)

Sasha and I had a moment of performance this month too. I ended up doing an interview for the CBC for their coverage on a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on BC's Growing Gap. The report is not only about the income inequality gap that exists today, but also covers information on how our generation earns less than our parents generation. Factor in inflation and the majority of us have less spending power then folks back in the 70's had. The video segment that made it to the 6 o'clock news included 30 sec of footage of me and Sasha playing on the playground across the street from her daycare, and a 10 sec soundbite from me "I was under the impression that things are supposed to improve from one generation to the next, and when I see what things are like for my generation it makes me worry for what Sasha's generation will be dealing with". Read the summary, full report and find other resources on BC's Growing Gap: Family Income Inequality, 1976-2006. And I have a copy of the news clip if you'd like to see it sometime (the CBC doesn't archive vid clips on their site very long so too late to see it now online)

My brother-in-law arrived in town for his first visit with us just a couple of hours before the interview at the park with Tanya Beja, so he got to watch the whole thing. Sasha is crazy about her Uncle Fraser, and now that he is working with a trucking company based out of Surrey he will be a regular visitor. Wonderful to have him stay with us while he's in town, and look forward to a time when Manda comes across country with him for a visit too! Here's Sasha in his truck, showing him all her bath toys and getting him to read a story to her and all her stuffies. (A cute little vid clip of Sasha revealing all her treats in her bag to be seen at the end of this post) :)


One thing I've been up to since the fall that I haven't written about is Team Green Brit. Last summer when it was a quiet time in the Info Centre at Britannia, I got bored and needed a project. Brenda let me take over a bulletin board for a space where Brit staff could share resources on all things "green" and sustainable. My idea was simply to provide a space where we could see what all of our small individual efforts looked like collectively.

Then I decided that the copier room was not an inclusive enough as the Brit complex is huge, and the majority of the staff don't use that space...so I created a little blog to share an interactive online space for staff with the same intent as the bulletin board. A debate started up through email over whether or not we should keep our water coolers, which led to me facilitating a vote on the matter, and writing a report for the association board to review, and researching water filtration alternatives as it turned out the majority of the staff were in favour of switching away from the water bottle coolers.

Then I asked what everyone wanted to debate next, and the number one thing was recycling. Our huge complex does not have a comprehensive recycling plan, and the public have next to no options but the garbage (if they don't think to ask staff, which many people do thankfully) So I surveyed the staff again, and am working on another report for the board.

The exciting thing though is that this month we actually had our first team meeting and I am no longer the only keener on this project! Our plan is to start with identifying barriers within the complex, one area at a time. We are making desk-based recylcing kits for everyone in the Info centre, and have many other ideas for the long run. Fun and exciting, and wonderful to bring people together over something positive. :)

Since organizing and outreach, research and report writing have become something I just seem compelled to do, I enjoy the work and seem to come by the skillset naturally, I've been thinking a lot about the kind of work I want to do long term. At some point my hours I've been coasting on at Brit will dwindle to too few to sustain us, so my job search continues (and also a reason I'm extra happy the Team Green Brit initiative has grown so quickly into a group that will sustain it without me) and this month I decided to take a plunge and apply for an organizer position. I figure I might as well see what I'm capable of when it is my job to organize and I can put all of my energy into it, rather than piecing my organizing efforts in a few hours at a time as I'm able...I think I've got the passion and determination to get some good work done.

With some super support and constructive help from my awesome Daub darling friends over brunch one day, I polished my advocacy resume and tossed my hat in for the position of the Living Wage Campaign Organizer position for First Call BC's Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition. I kinda thought I'd at least make the short list, though figured my competition would be too great for me to really win the job. For me it seemed worth it to try, because now I have genuine confidence in the skillset I've been developing, and I'm more confident that I'm finally on the right path towards meeting my potential one day (though still undecided on what that will actually look like...maybe by 40 I'll have it figured out?) It also reconnected my motivation to get CPEN involved with the First call coalition too, which I can, and will, still do at some point.

Funny story on how I found out I didn't make the cut: my friend Jessie asked me to touch base with her, and when I called her she first asked if I was still on good terms with First Call. I had worked there a few years back, but being a non-profit in a funding crunch they had condensed two of us part-timers into one full time position, which I wasn't qualified for having no financial background to be a true office manager type. And at the time, after knowing my job was on the line for about 6 months it was a relief to have it end. That was not stress I liked, and I didn't end up doing the best job I could in my last few months because I was unhappy there. (and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not cut out for desk jobs long term...too much energy) But I loved working for the organization and was proud to be a part of it, and especially loved working with one my all time fave ladies of inspiration Adrienne Montani. First Call is an amazing coalition of organizations that aspire to improve things for children and youth.

Anyways, I then said I was super keen to work with First Call again and had applied for the organizer position, then Jessie says "this is awkward...I was calling to see if you'd be my reference as I have an interview for the job tomorrow" and my response was "well, I guess I didn't get short-listed then!" what a small world. And no wonder I didn't make the cut if I was up against the likes of her. I'm hoping she gets it because she will do an incredible job! Mark and I met Jessie when she was teaching a course called Globalization 101, and over the years I have come to love her and her hubby Marc for their continued inspiration to Mark and I. I could gush for quite awhile over all the things this couple have done that has provided me with positive motivation...so to find out under this circumstance, though Jessie felt awful about being the messenger of bad news, that she is the perfect person for the job really softened the blow ;)

And maybe it wasn't meant to be. After all, I am trying to produce a documentary on the privatization of our education system in my 'spare' time...perhaps my energies are supposed to be focusing on one big thing at at time, and maybe organizing a living wage campaign for the lower mainland is not a challenge I'm not meant to have right now? Well, on the producer front I received some great inspiration from the free panel discussions I attended during the Women in Film Festival early in the month. Wonderful stories from women who have made careers for themselves in an industry predominately full of male success.

I also learned a few new things to help me get through the next couple of years on my own film project. After months of hard work finalizing the story, script notes and proposal package our fate for "Educate Me!?" is once again in the hands of the production committee of the National Film Board. We have officially resubmitted our idea, and I am feeling really confident that we were able to tell the story in a way that will convince them it needs to be a film, and it needs to be an NFB production! I will hear back from one of the producers after they have reviewed, even if it is Teri letting me down while providing more constructive criticism for improvement (she was the woman who gave me all the amazing feedback after my November submission.) If it's not them, it's gonna be somebody...but I'll keep you posted regardless. Fingers crossed everyone!! ;P

April is the month our little one turns 3 years old! She is very excited about her bday party already and wants a blueberry cake...mmmmmmm. details on the her special day and our April adventures in the next post...for now, enjoy a couple of cute video clips :)

vids this month - "my blueberries" and showing some stuff to uncle Fraser

times of transition

I can't believe it...this my 101 post since I began this blog. The contrast of life since I found out I was pregnant (first post) and today is crazy, but in a good way. hehe. And our baby has come along way so far. Here's Sasha before starting her first full day in the over 3's side of her daycare!

A whole month ago...and though she still toys with the emotional dilemma of wanting to be a big girl while she still wants to be "a little bit of a baby", overall she has been a pretty happy camper with the big kids. This will be the first of many transitions for her from the top to bottom of the 'age group' 'experience level', etc. So many hurdles we learn from in life, and so far she has proven adept at these curves in her path.

She tends to internalize things for a bit while expressing her shy side, but once she has made up her mind about something she is amazingly articulate on her thoughts on the matter and how she thinks things should happen. Look out if you have a different way of doing something...you're in for one heck of a debate. lol

The highlights of our February began with a nice damp Chinese new years parade. See how much the kids enjoyed it? Actually they do love the dragons and many other elements...but their tolerence for hanging out in the rain has its limits. as do ours!

Some good news to share on Sasha's progress with her vision. Her new lens prescription is not as strong as her old lenses, so her vision is officially improving somewhat. Now she can't argue with us over the one hour patching a day because we simply say that Dr. K's advice was working and we're gonna stick with it until we hear otherwise. It certainly doesn't hurt, and once the patch is on she forgets about it and would wear it all day if we didn't notice. She's learning to pick her battles. One at a time, hehe

Mark earned some brownie points by organizing a date night for us on Valentines day. First time ever he came up with an idea (live music featuring local talent we haven't seen, at the Main over dinner & drinks, a nice walk) organized it and covered child care for the evening with Grandma...all before telling me a thing! teehee. nice surprise and it was a wonderful night out and sleep in next day much needed.

I've been lucky to have a few other nights out this month (exhausting social life I have I say). An evening of networking, hugging (gotta love a huge room full of people who like a good squish!) and inspiration from the thoughtful speaker Maher Arar at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) fundraiser for our friends at the BC office (celebrating 12 years of hard work busting the myth that there 'is no alternative'! love'em!) Then I finished the month with a girls night out with two of my fave ladies Kirsten and Kristen over fruity drinks and yummy food at the Reef!

In between was a group brainstorm at the pub over bevvies and snacks with our Saucy Side Productions team. I'm feeling super confident in the proposal changes that have developed in the past few months for "Educate Me!?", and very happy to have Flick and Dave as members of our team! We're just about ready to resubmit our whole package...

Most of my spare time this month was concentrated on updating the CPEN web site for launching our 5th Anniversary membership drive! I am thrilled with the progress of our organization, and that the principles express in the Charter for Public Education continue to provide a basis for meaningful dialogue in communities all over the province and beyond. It's quite exciting for me having been a part of it all from the beginning, but I'm even more excited about all the things we'll be doing in the future. You know you can find updates here...but you can also visit the new site - get a membership and be a part of the movement too!! ;)

I feel like I'm working a lot these days, but its all stuff I love...how lucky am I? I'm also lucky to have hours to coast along on at Britannia so I don't have to leave quite yet. With the hiring freeze in the city, a cutback on auxilary hours all over the place, and a horrible time to be looking for work...so I have revamped my resume and am on the hunt for stability in my employment. Hah...what's that?

Even exciting community projects are facing instability...and the garden I so enthusiastically mentioned in my last post has suffered a setback as the lease arrangements fell through. drat. I was really stoked about that, but I think the organizers have some tricks up their sleeves and we've not seen the last of them yet! I'm on their list and eagerly await news on what they're up to next...aside from all the great work Evergreen is already doing! hmmm, maybe i'll just send a note to the Vancouver Greenest City Action Team to ask they look into a new space for them...

At least we still have our awesome tiers around our patio to garden in...so next sunny weekend will involve a mega clean up our garden tiers to prepare for planting our new crops! (our patio has suffered huge neglect and is full of dead plant debris) We learned a lot from experimenting last year, and I'm eager to get an early start this year to maximize our potential food harvest success :)

too many words...need more pics. ok. I'll insert a couple of random Sasha in motion pics: singing in the tub and chasing me down the street. lol


I maintained my commitment to carry through on the weekly actions from my Mothers Acting Up agenda. Ones I accomplished by the end of this month were: buy nothing one day deliberately to feel what it is like to chose to do so...and reflect on www.thestoryofstuff.com -> check (and I have been spreading the gospel of the Story of Stuff for a while now. one of my fave resources, and also my 'polical view' on my facebook profile, hehe); contact your local politicians to make them aware of your support for the Millenium Development Goals around poverty -EndPoverty2015.org and here I will add another great link to check out, the in my name campaign and video), and an education for all children - sendmyfriend.org and campaignforeducation.org -> partial check (joined the online campaigns, drafted note to politicians needs to be sent...gettin' on it); read Dr Suess to children on his bday (march 1st), to teach the importance of compassion, fairness and playfulness -> check...Sasha is a big fan of Dr Suess :)

Next week is the celebration of International Women's Day. I want to express some love & gratitude to all the women of courage who have shaped the positive alternatives for women of my generation. A legacy I aim to build on to benefit my own daughter, and the other young women-to-be in our tribe. And love & gratitude to all the women in my life who have inspired me and continue to do so. Cheers to the strength you provide ladies! :)


I'll finish off my February update with some pics to highlight the wonderfully faboo weekend in Whistler with the ladies of my Petrich clan!

I booked a car for a weekend and Sasha and I had a road trip with Tanta Christa. Monica had found a 2 bedroom suite for us to stay in, and our suite was sweet! Sasha and I slept in a king bed and I couldn't believe with 2/3rds of it to herself she actually fell off the bed in the middle of the night! omg! but she was fine and fell back to sleep in my arms within about 30 sec. like she didn't even notice.

Our cousins supplied a wonderful dinner, an awesome waffle breakfast (thanks to chef Deano), and we all had a great time chilling together and also splashing around in the hottubs and pool under the snow just outside our door. A gondola ride to the tubing park, Sasha's first tube ride - on an icy slope...and her only comment at the bottom was "too fast". wanna go again? "no thanks". so she hung with Monica while I got to do a couple more runs with Cheyenne from the big hills. fun! Lunch in the village before our road trip back to Vancouver...what a marvelous quality time! Can't wait to do that again! :)



(notice the little amount of snow on our first trip up...and the almost whiteout of the snow on our 2nd run!)

Mark missed out on the fun in the snow due to his double workshop Sunday for Board members of our co-op. It was a great learning experience for him, and gave our Board some great motivation to move forward on a bunch of things in the year to come. Seems we also need a plan for transitioning off funding from federal housing grants, as all of these agreements will come to an end by 2020. I need to educate myself a bit more on all of this...glad one of us has the time to be involved in it! And thankful to our family who watch Sasha for us on nights we are both busy working/meeting. I know we go to a lot of meetings because Sasha now includes "meetings" in her repitoire of play activities. "You stay here and play while I go to a meeting" she says...oy. Wonder if she remembers all those Kensington community association, CPEN and other meetings I used to bring her to when she was a babe?

I'll have lots to update on by end of March...the first week alone is full up of fun to come!

new thrills in a new year

This year has been great so far! A whole month whizzed by just like that...and here's the recap:

our 2008 ended on a wonderful high note with a night of dancing and meeting new people (as well as hugging many familiar faces) at the Michael Franti & Spearhead show at the Vogue theatre. awesome and inspiring as always :)

We celebrated the turn of the year with a few of our favorite folks in our co-op. Sasha and the other little girls had a tea party and all the kids tired themselves out running and playing. once it became more work than fun for us adults we all tidied up and headed home. Just about everyone did the same thing...put children to bed...pop in movie...flake out and cheers the new year groggily around 1am on the way to bed. wild party animals we are, hehe

The new year has already brought big change for Sasha as she has been transitioning into the 3-5 year old side of her day care...and on monday the 2nd she is officially in the over 3's!! Still 3 months from her 3rd bday she has been going through a bit of emotional back-and-forth as she toys with the notion of being a big girl, while she still kinda wants to be a baby. So sweet, and yet another stage requiring plenty 'o patience. ;)

Next post will have more stories on her day care transition. Other Sasha news from the past month begins with her eye follow up which went really well. We have a new prescription for her lenses ("to give them a tune up") and a this point we are to continue the patching and monitoring to see if her vision strengthens/weakens. At this point Dr K is still happy with her progress. He was amazed at how well she knew her letters and how articulate she is, which is also a helpful tool to hear from Sasha herself what she can & can't see. Her next eye check up will be on her bday...good thing this is the doctor she actually likes to go visit! lol

Our family doctor is not so lucky...Sasha hates going there. Probably has something to do with the fact that her first 4 visits to Dr. A all included needles. aaaaagh. I'd be worried going there too. haha. Well, this month, after a period of time that we noticed her pee smelled quite funky (oh, the joys of parenting and all the opportunites to talk about the pees and poos of our children...ahahahaha!) we had a visit with Dr. A that required no pokes. However I did have to catch some of her pee for a sample to send to the lab (oh ya, I know you're jealous), and she did end up having another urine infection. A week of antibiotics (and a follow up pee sample the week after to send to the lab) seemed to do the trick and all seems back to normal for now. just go with the flow so long as she seems happy and healthy...which she is!

Time with friends and family this month included a potluck dinner with Kirsten & Carl (Sasha talks about Kirsten all the time, especially when she wears the sweater that she knitted) which was a quality time night much needed, and I had a party night at Ali's with some of my fave folks from the pool (we played Cranium and I had an insane time warp experience being in the very same apartment that Mark & I lived in 10 years ago!! small world).

A spontaneous gathering at Dad & Liz's gave me a chance to see Karli, Elise and Brett, who I had missed during their brief visit before christmas. Sasha was thrilled by the evening opportunity to see all 3 of her Whittam grandparents, her aunty and her cousins. This is one tot who adores her clan! I love the contrast of these pics: the totally stiff posed version...and the "ok, make a funny face" version. gotta love 'm :)



After a few weeks of snow and the chaos that came with it (not something our fair city was prepared for at all!!) there was a weekend of brilliant sunshine, so we spent the bulk of it playing in all of our neighbourhood parks, including the new park that was installed at the end of our co-op!



A couple of my fave random shots: this pic of Sasha with a ponytail (we'll be giving her hair a trim soon as her bangs are now hanging in her face); an action shot of her testing out her Dora sit & spin (she owes big hugs to her cousins in Whistler for this one!); and Sasha achieving new heights on the rope climber...and the awesome pic of brother and sister on their perch mid-way!


I began the year declaring my complete gratitude for a life near perfect...and then murphy reminds me of the fragility of all things 'perfect'...and I received word that my stable employment, aka known as the job-share, would be over before the end of the month...and now it is complete.

So i'm drifting along as an auxilary again. Currently filling hours left vacant after one of our full time staff retired after serving the Britannia community for about 30 years. (a fantastic woman who I have thoroughly enjoyed working with over the past 4-5 years! cheers!)

I've been thinking a lot now about what to do next. The instability of the feast or famine life of auxilary work for the city makes me crazy now that our whole family has to juggle schedules to accomodate this. No longer an option.

Through all of my volunteer hats I have acquired skills I really want to put to use, so I'm searching for something in which I can grow, challenge myself, benefit an organization I care about, and meet new potential within. But part-time so i can actually finish my documentary too.

Does such a thing exist?? I have ideas and it's the Year of the Ox...my year if ever their was one. (she says stubbornly trying to prepare for whatever path the stars have in store) So I'm having a little faith in murphy, appreciating that I have enough hours to coast on for a while to take time to search for new possibilities, and trying to have confidence in myself that I can achieve my overachieving goals.

breathe. remember to breathe. and practise the guitar...that helps too. Especially now that I have an expanding group of songs to practise. Thanks to a couple of more lessons with my friends, and now having the music to my other song, I am now hooked and loving playing music every day!

I am happy I acquired a new dayplanner for the year that was put out by Mothers Acting Up. I really want to keep my work on Educate Me!? and CPEN organized...not to mention time with family and friends! So the dayplanner does a great stand in for 'my brain'. But this MAU calendar is also fully loaded with inspiration from tales of dynamic folks (mainly marvelous mothers acting up, of course) making a difference, plus weekly actions to follow through on. This month included: watching the "I have a dream" speech by MLK and learning more about his role in the civil rights movement and beyond-check; tell everyone you know about Cesar Chavez and the work he did as an organizer-working on it...visit www.chavezfoundation.org to see what work carries on as a part of his legacy; reading "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson and make a family commitment to actions we can take to reduce our footprint on mama earth-a partial check (that book has long been on my 'to read' list...one day).

Wrapping up last year, we had decided that we were going to take another step in our evolution as 'locavores' by sourcing even more local businesses and farms to support with our money...and word of mouth (you know I can put my babbling to good use too, eh). We are committed to taking our local spending to the extreme this year as we have become firm believers in the importance of supporting strong local economies with sustainable local food sources for our family to feast upon. Seems extra important in these times of global economic uncertainty...

How timely that I should spontaneously come across a poster for a new community garden to be developed at the Great Northern Way Campus across the street from us! So I finished the month off with a visit with our friend Margot to an info session about the planned project...and I am so excited about the possibility of being a part of this community garden! We'll find out by end of Feb if we will get a plot (many more interested than there are plots available) but even if we don't, I'll keep visiting to watch it bloom! Here is the vacant parking lot where the raised-beds garden will begin. All the industrial land to the right will soon be a part of the multi-university complex, and Evergreen has many other plans in store for this space. I have a feeling this space is gonna become a regular feature in my updates ;)


Despite a wee bit of anxiety around what the heck I'm gonna do for a paycheque, I'm still full of hope for this new year. No other complaints out of me. (now that the 3 week cronic headpain has passed) These are exciting times, if not a wee bit tense, with the new leadership of President Obama to the south. (I love the stimulation of the trade debate! we should all be looking to strengthen our local economies! within the global context. stop complaining Harper and inspire Canadians to "buy Canadian" instead!!)

And at my loved Britannia community centre, we will have a new leader starting next week, with Cynthia Low taking the helm as our new ED, who I believe will have a positive impact on the future of our complex complex. I look forward to seeing how she uses her energy at Brit!

and...Perhaps we'll have more positive leadership in BC after the elections in May too?

On that note, here's a clip of Sasha singing her 'slippery fish' song. hehe

wrap up another year!

crikey! bear with me as it's been 2 months since the last post. the longest break I've taken from writing (on the blog anyways) here's a flurry of some of the tales to tell and pics from our adventures in wrapping up 2008:

Here is Sasha up the hill of China Creek park (her day care in the background at bottom of hill) one of the best toboggan hills in the city! This was taken a few days into the non-stop snow we had for over a week.

Despite Sasha and I taking turns being quite sicky (one really bad week including fevers and many days here and there of leftover sniffles and coughs) we have managed to squeeze in a fair bit of family fun including another morning of swimming. One new years promise is to get her in a pool more often, maybe even for some swim lessons since many of the lifeguards I work with are eager to splash around with her :)

As always, we're pretty good at filling our time, but as we're in the rainy season - er...snowy season now! - we've also spent a lot of time just chillin at home. Sasha is so much fun to play with I'd say we're really enjoying this hibernation period! here are some random pics of her imaginative playtime. one of her fave things to do is bake cakes for everyone, setting up a skytrain, and put people down for naps after reading stories and changing her teddies diapers. so cute!




More Sasha update: since my last post she is officially 38 1/4 inches tall now. Still having fun with the potty training, and until we get a booster seat she's back in the high chair. In january she has a follow up appointment with the eye doctor and we'll see if the hour of patching every day is helping to strengthen the vision in her right eye. She becomes more and more articulate every day and constantly amazes us with her quick thinking. A very tough little negotiator...which I'm ok with as long as she's using her words and not screaming and flopping around, which she also does well when all else fails. lol

What else have we been up to? hmmmm. Right! Around the time of Mum's bday (for which we had a really nice night out for dinner at Provence restaurant with Penny and all her kids) we had a visit from Kelly who is Mark's cousin from South Africa. What a wonderful time getting to know her, and Sasha was quite taken with her (though this pic doesn't show it, teehee)



In comparison to all the stress at the end of last year between the move into storage and then our new home here in the co-op, and then my Grandpa passing away around Christmas, this year has seemed to be a pure relaxing time indeed. Though life is great with me, this holiday season will be touched by some sadness for all my loved ones dealing with the first Christmas without my Grandpa Herbert and also my Grandpa Jack who passed away last month. This has added to my procrastination on all things (such as this blog) while I mourn his loss. Losing 2 elders in less than a year (2 grandfathers) has had me deep in reflection the past few weeks, and reconnecting with all I've learned from witnessing over 30 funerals/wakes/memorials in my life. I wish I had been there with the Holland clan to gather in remembrance of Jack, but that branch of my tribe continues to be in my heart and thoughts knowing the loss they will feel with him gone. I am happy Sasha got to meet her great-grandpas before they passed away and am full of gratitude for all I learned from both of these men.

One thing most people hate about losing loved ones is the regrets that come about...all the "I wish I had said..." "I hope he knew..." "if only I had..."- this is one reason why I tend to express my gratitude so often (and I know some of you even think I'm a bit over-the-top sometimes) as I always want people to know what they mean to me in the moment...not to share what I value once you're gone! Well, since my last post I came across a big regret in my mind. When Peter passed away earlier in the fall I decided I needed to take action on this regret.

The guitar that I have, and have been kinda trying to learn to play over the past few years by pickin it up now and then, used to belong to Peter. Every time he saw me he'd ask "so how's the guitar playing comin along?" and he very clearly loved this instrument and wanted to hear me play it. Only he never got to hear me play it...hence my regret. So I have taken action on this and finally organized some lessons for myself to take my learning to the next level! Between two dear friends - Pat and Gord - I have had two lessons and learned very different things. (Pat had showed me a few things on the picket line last year and taught me a couple of good ol' protest songs) Now I have a few fun songs to play for Sasha, and thanks to Gord I now have music to play to one song I wrote a few years ago!

In the new year Gord will help me put music to the other song I wrote, and with enough practise some of you may actually hear me sing and play it for you some day soon. Can't even begin to express how great it feels to have music to play with my songs that have been in my head for years! 'Amazing' doesn't cut it. But for sure, I am full of desire to play my guitar now, and am not giving it up again ;)

Back to other things that fill our life with joy. We had more fun last month hangin with Gilly, Merlin and Rob and their new pooch. Wish we could get our families together more often, but with this group its all about the quality of the time! The pic of me being cheesy was taken by Sasha...gettin' pretty good with a camera, so we got her one of her own for Christmas :)





This year we also got to attend one of our staff holiday parties, and we had a great time celebrating with fellow Britannia folks. A good turn out (considering the roads were crazy and it was a Thursday night) with many of my favorite people from all over our community complex: board members, Info Centre, pool, library, programmers, instructors, child care staff aplenty - such fun and lots of dancing!! I didn't get oo many good pics, but here are just some of the fabulous people I love working with at Brit - and the band features one of our long time saver of lives at the pool - Steve on the bass! Great music, good food and a very late night as we partied after the party and got home around 2am...not a common occurance for us anymore!




some more pics of our winter wonderland: outside our front door, Sasha and Mark walking up the hill (snow is up to her waist!) and the patio...not a cozy outside room for us these days ;)



Christmas this year was a bit of a challenge due to the weather and the chaotic schedules of our busy clans. Before Cheyenne headed off to Winnipeg for the holidays, we had a gathering of my family at Tampopo sushi restaurant which was fabulous! here's a cute pic of Sasha and her big cuz sharing some mango ice cream, yum! and to your left a pic of her first attempt at eating with chopsticks (soon foregone for finger style instead)

due to the road conditions we didnt end up seeing everyone on Christmas eve as planned, but we look forward to a snow day in Whistler with our cousins and Tante early in the new year to finish our Christmas celebrations. :)

The weather created quite a drama to get the Whittams together this year. While Karli and her clan visiting from the states were here, we managed to get all the cousins (our kids and our nieces and nephews - 7 in all) in a room together for the first time ever in Sasha's life. The stars don't often align for all of us to get together at once, especially when we have Che with us. He never seems to be free when the rest of us manage to gather. This time I missed out as I was working, but am so happy everyone else saw one another...even though it turned to be a short and sweet visit. next year Heathen is recommending we have a big family fun day instead - and we are all over this idea!!

On Christmas eve we had the drama of getting to mum's in north van once again. Mark and I experienced a little instant karma really...after spending time laughing at comical efforts of drivers trying to get up the insane slippy hill outside our home, and digging and pushing each other out of piles...well, we ended up victims in our own comic tragedies trying to cope with the insane roads en route to Penny's and back home again.
Due to skytrain shut downs (trees falling on tracks and apparently no quick means to deal with it) and again the crazy roads which buses weren't able to cope with (perhaps Vancouver will now invest in some snow plows for next year, or solidify some contracts in advance to help clear more roads...any roads for that matter!) the trek there on the 24th was an adventure. Thanks to a pick up downtown by Heath it ended positively. Then, there was a power outage over night, but fortunately the power came back in time for lunch and the cooking of our festive feast!

Some choice pics from our holiday fun are the tree trimming here at home, opening stocking on Christmas morning, hanging with daddy by the warm fire, present time with family and playing some tunes on the piano.


In our attempt to get home I have another moment of drama to share with you all (the rest of our karmic payback) - the tale of Sasha trapped in the car for almost an hour on boxing day! After digging Mum's car out of the snow, getting unstuck a mere block from home, and finally making it outside our co-op, the automatic locking doors were closed behind Mark and Penny before they realized what happened. Below is a pic I took (from Sasha's bedroom window) of Mum keeping our poor tyke company while I was on the phone with the emergency rescue staff trying to get someone to come get her out. With the weather being the nightmare it was for the roads, the tow truck wasn't expected for a minimum of a 1/2 hour! We had traffic blocked for a time, and at least the car was running so she stayed warm inside while waiting. Many kind people offered help and one guy even shared some chocolate with us in an effort to raise our spirits...as always renewing my faith in the kindness of people. I was the one who really got upset as this wasn't the first time she had been locked in the car!! (bad deja vu just over a year later, but I was happy I wasn't alone to cope with it this time) Though Sasha got upset for a little while (after having an accident and wanting a drink) for the most part she stayed calm and in good spirits and handled it all like the brave little trooper she always seems to be. Kids are more resilient than us parents are, hehe. A wee bit on the clingy side the past couple of days...but otherwise a-ok :)

Since our municipal election results became clear in november I am full of hope for Vancouver's potential in the next few years. Many of my friends and mentors are now members of our city council, school board and parks board and I intend to keep them full of awareness of their potential to create positive change. They have big dreams and it is nice to have leadership with ideas for alternatives to our local problems. But, as always, the proof will be in the pudding so they say. I was choked the last time progressives had power and let ego battles ruin it...not gonna let them get away with that behaviour again if I can stop it ;)

My focus will continue to be on public education issues in the new year, and with provincial elections upcoming in May, one new hat I will be wearing is as a member of the Coalition for Public Education. A group of provincial organizations which will try to influence public opinions on education issues in our province. I'm happy to be working with CPEN in this coalition!

Work will continue on the documentary. The feedback I received from the NFB after our november submission has been exactly what we needed to take our doc proposal to the next level. I gained a confidence boost hearing that they were fond of the idea (Kathy on the quest to spark national debate on the privatization of public education, and how much should we fear the notion that "our schools are up for sale"?) and what we are shaping is the visual aspects of what it will look like on film. Our team will be working hard to get the proposal ready for submission by March (when most funding agencies have money again, hehe) and we will continue filming, researching and networking as we go.

I have found my writing groove and after having my editorial on "Why your school trustee vote matters" published around BC in many community papers (and one paper had an editorial quoting my piece) I will be sure to attempt more of this in the new year. With my monthly newsletter articles I'm getting more practice at writing for deadlines too. You'd think I have enough to keep me challenged for the year to come...a pretty full plate of interesting things to learn and grow from...not to mention an adorable toddler - soon to be preschooler to keep me on my creative parenting toes! Gotta say I am still lovin life and lookin forward to all in store for 2009!!

Mark will have his hands full between his union executive, being a delegate to the Vancouver District Labour Council (VDLC) and now an official member of the board for our co-op as well! Sasha and Che will continue to be busy in their evolution of being, and our family will be sure to encounter many more ups downs and inbetweens. Seems I'll have more tales to share with you all...thank you for caring enough about the life of our family to read along - we love you!

To end our year with a ton of fun, Mark and I have a date night to see our fave artist Michael Franti at the Vogue theatre, and for new years eve we'll be having a multi-family party in our co-op common room! weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I'll end the year with a couple of vid clips sure to put a smile on your face, and wish for all of you the peace of good health, fun with family and friends, and the security of food on your table every day in the new year!! cheers :)
Sasha sings "we wish you a merry xmas" while we trim the tree


"story time" - Sasha 'reading' from Sylvie & True by David McPhail