INXS Revival at my house!

2 days ago I was browsing at Home Sense, thinking about ways to spruce up my living room when I realized I was singing along with the piped in music. "Do do do do do, do do do, do do do do do do, do do do do..."  You get the picture and if you're really good, you get the song too.  INXS!  I haven't heard INXS in years.  They were once a mainstay in my musical rotation.  One of my favorite bands from Listen Like Thieves to Elegantly Wasted I was there.  I know they are still around and performing, but not like they once were.  Sorry J.D. Fortune and Jon Stevens, but Michael Hutchence will forever be missed and it's just not the same.  I had the privilege of seeing INXS live in Sept. 1997, 2 months before Hutchence died.  Ironically that was the weekend of Princess Diana's death and he paid tribute to her as a terrible, tragic loss.  The show was forever memorable as Hutchence had the magnetism to hold the crowd captive and wow them with the largeness of the music and yet still make it personal, taking an arena event to feel like a small cafe at times.  He was a fantastic performer.
Two nights ago I pulled out a couple of my old INXS CDs and imported them to my itunes and had a little INXS revival of my own.  The music was just so good.  No auto tune, no computer gimmicks, just good, solid music.  Love it, miss it.
For anyone wondering about my mystery song that kicked in memory over this way and haven't figured it out yet, here it is.  Feel free to sing along.

 

6 years

This morning I caught my almost 8 year old sitting in his sister's Tigger chair.

It brought me back 6 years to a picture I have of him sitting in his Elmo chair.

My incredible growing boy.
 

Mom moments to remember

About a week or so ago, I was really needing a boost. I didn't realize it would come from my kids. After bedtime prayers with my 5 year old he looked at me and said, "Mom, you sound just like an angel when you pray" As if that wasn't enough to melt my heart, that same evening his 2 year old sister cuddled into me during her bedtime tuck tucks and said, "Mama, you're the whole wide world". I am truly blessed.

Coffee

I mentioned in yesterday's post that on our recent trip to Toronto my husband and I went to Ethiopian House for dinner.  It was a restaurant that came highly recommended and along with the recommendation was "don't miss the coffee ceremony".  Now I'm a tea drinker from way back.  I love tea.  I never have coffee.  I have a bad association with it in writing a Spanish final that I knew didn't go well back in university and really haven't touched it since.
Well as they say, when in Rome...
So we ordered the coffee ceremony.  After our meal our server came round with a pan of roasting coffee beans and had us smell the aroma.  She then brought out a bowl of popcorn "coffee snack" she declared.  The coffee was then presented to us on this box, holding the coffee pot, two cups, spoons, sugar and a container of burning incense.  It was really neat. 

Then came the moment of truth, would I actually drink the stuff?  I was actually quite nervous about it.  I thought after all of this coolness of experience, what if I really hate it?  I took a sip, and then another.  I loved it.  And matched my husband cup for cup drinking it all up.  Isn't this a cute little cup?

Since we've been back, I've started having coffee cravings.  I've tried a few kinds, love Tim's, not so much a fan of the Starbucks Sumatra (though J assures me there's a blend for me there).  So it's true, while I'm a tea granny at heart, I've found a place for coffee in my life after all.

Mom and Dad Getaway!

My husband and I have not had a vacation just the two of us since before we had children.  Our oldest will be 8 this summer, so I think we were a little overdue.  We have had the occasional night away, but those have been few and far between.  My Mom very generously offered to fly out to care for the kids so that we could take a trip to Toronto for J's graduation.   This was my first time away from our 2 year old ever.

Being away just us was something of a treat.  I slept in and not the Mommy sleep in of 7am instead of 6, but like 9am.  We went out for drinks at 10 a few times (past bedtime).  And I got to have a good wander and shop around Toronto - (the joy of buying shoes without little ones bored in the store).

Here's a little pictorial from our 4 days away.

 Waiting at the airport to go - we're a little excited, can you tell?

Outside our hotel on Queen Street W. in Toronto

The view from our room, 26th floor, looking out to the CN Tower

Looking down to the pool - we had a nice little afternoon dip the day we arrived.

Gyros in Greektown - yummy treat!

Lunch the next day at Chipotle.

Little wander around downtown.  They were doing some on site filming for the Oprah Winfrey Network that day.

Afternoon martini - something we never do :)

At our anniversary dinner at Ethiopia House - so glad we went here and tried it out.  What a fantastic restaurant experience!

Dinner at Ethiopia House - we had a mixed share plate - no utensils, just the bread

We completed the meal with the coffee ceremony afterwards - more on that on a future post!

Graduation supper before the ceremony.

Here he is all graduated!

Farewell Toronto.


 

My Life as an Art Teacher

This past year I have been having a blast teaching Art 8.  It is a change from Music which has been my usual subject for the past 7 years.  I am still teaching music, but have this one block of Art each week.  It has been such a joy to be creative with these kids.  Here are a few of our recent projects that I'm so proud of.  They are a result of the art of faces. 
The first is a face made entirely of pipe cleaners.  I gave them a few ideas and off they went.

 The second self-portrait, pencil drawn.  They then cut off the top, and opened it up, adding in drawings of things they think about.

 This last was Warhol style pop art.  I took a picture of each of them, then photocopied it 4 times.  We used highlighters to colour in.  The rule was that each had to look slightly different from each other.

 

Our kids notice everything we do so...

I've noticed an increase in the volume of my children. They are loud. It drives me bananas sometimes. And I go, "why can't you just be quieter?"

"Why must you yell and shout at each other?"

"Stop it!"

And then my husband and I were having one of those deep meaningful parenting talks that we get into sometimes when the kids are sleeping.  And he mentioned that he noticed us having shorter tempers with the kids.  Our tendency has been to raise our own voices.  No wonder the kids are being loud, they are just doing what we have been modelling for them.  I know it sounds cliche, but actions speak louder than words.  Kids do what they see, not necessarily what they are being told. 

We made the decision to do something about it.  We've started off with small steps.  Example, when it's dinner time, instead of yelling up the stairs for the kids, I take the trek up to their room, knock on their doors and very politely let them know that dinner is ready.  Another example: when my son's friend's mom came to pick him up one afternoon, I didn't yell up to the boys that L's mom was here, I went upstairs, knocked on the door and (again) politely, let them know L's mom was there, they had 5 minutes to clean up so she could get him home for supper.

Amazingly enough (or maybe not so amazingly), the volume of the house has gone down, way down!  There's less protesting from the kids because I'm treating them with respect.  They are speaking kinder to each other because I'm speaking kinder to them.  I'm also taking the time to givepositive time outs and demand (again politely) respect.  If one son starts to yell at the other, I will ask that child to come see me and explain that we do not yell at each other, we need to speak respectfully and listen to each other.  If one child snaps at me and speaks to me rudely, I will point blank tell him that I do not deserve to be spoken to in such a manner.  I will be glad to speak and talk through whatever is bothering him, when he uses a polite tone.  And it's working!

Today, I went to use the main bathroom and saw that there were toothpaste streaks all over the mirror.  It was obvious that one child had gotten toothpaste on it and used a facecloth to try to get it off, but all they ended up with was a big mess.  Now, in previous times I would have yelled down the stairs for both boys to come up and explain it and then probably bawl them out for doing it.  Today, I walked down and in a very kind voice asked if one of them knew what happened to the mirror.  At first, they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about, so I asked them to follow me up the stairs, bringing the Windex and a cloth along.  I just explained that it had to have been one of them, and that the considerate thing to do if that happens is to clean the mirror properly so that others could use it, all they have to do is ask for help.  My oldest then spoke up and said that it was him and that it was an accident, he didn't know what to do and thought he'd be in trouble.  I told him there was no trouble, and we cleaned off the mess together.  He then returned to what he was doing before and both of us stayed relaxed and content.  What a difference!  I think this is really going to work.  I just have to remember to keep it up and keep my own cool!  After all, it's up to me to teach my children about respect and manners and if I'm not modelling it for them, then what?