life lessons | Lessons from my daughter

I love reading about tiny houses and minimalist living… Sometimes I wish we could do it but than we turn around and buy something else we probably (most certainly) could do without.

A couple of weeks ago, my little brother was visiting with his family. We looked into kayaking which reminded me that we have a waterproof digital camera. I located the camera fairly easily and to our surprise, we found pictures…

This prompted us to locate other cameras and find more treasures and many selfies of Emily and even more pictures of Bratz dolls, American girl dolls and Chipmunks.

Some pictures go as far back as 2008…

Leave it to us, the consumers of too many things and always the newest gadget, we almost lost some precious pictures.

Here are some of my favorites:

Meeting my godson. I loved him instantly and he is now 5!

Our godson’s christening! My girl looking super lovely for the occasion!

Tiny Maple… not so tiny anymore. She’s a big 15lbs and the vet says she should lost 5 of those pounds…

Christmas morning

Bermuda! We stayed at both the Fairmont Hamilton and Fairmont Southampton Princess.

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First time putting her toes in the sand. The video is quite funny…!

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We even got Emily to play in the water! The custom guy didn’t believe we would be in the water in November. We are Canadians, this was summer weather for us and the water was fabulous.

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A trip to Dallas. The girls were so little. We miss our traveling buddies! Bestie, we need to do this again! Well… maybe not Dallas but I am sure we can find somewhere to go with our girls!

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Those crazy “Canadians” again, in the outdoor pool at the Fairmont Dallas in winter… Let’s be honest, winter in Dallas is slightly colder than our summer so this was actually lovely!

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Discovering Krispy Kreme donuts. To this day, this is still the only time I have had those donuts and they were delicious!

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Attending a NHL game. Dallas-Chicago

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My nephews are growing up. That’s our godson standing on the trampoline!

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And holding a drill 🙂

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Road trip to Chicoutimi for one of my dear friend’s wedding. Small stop at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu on the way there 🙂

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All dolled-up for the wedding

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There was hundreds of pictures, some I had been wondering where they were, others, I had forgotten…

We are such consumers of the new gadget on the market that we almost lost those priceless pictures.

Sometimes I wonder, if we could just eliminate some of our stuff… not enough to move in a tiny house but enough to know what we have…

I told you before about Emily’s desire to be a cheerleader… if you recall, our first attempt wasn’t successful and our second attempt looked somewhat promising but didn’t quite made my girl feel like a cheerleader.

You can read a little about those attempts in one of my older post: To be a cheerleader

Over the last year, the same club where we tried that second time, moved into their own gym and added classes. This summer they decided to give themselves another chance at creating a team of kids with various abilities.

Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to try… Actually I believe she said she couldn’t be a cheerleader.

That broke my heart as although I know she might not be a top cheerleader ( I certainly wasn’t cheerleader material at her age) I feel she deserves a fair shot at it. I feel quite strongly that she should be allowed to try and have fun.

Entered the new and improved Cheer Olympia

Emily’s cheer team is 2 other girls with special needs and 3 coaches. All 6 girls are around the same age and they all look like they are having a blast.

Emily feels so comfortable and included that she made a painting for the gym.

Her team are the Pillars and this is Colleen with Emily’s painting! It is displayed at the gym, which makes Emily really happy.

Now that my girl is a happy cheerleader and that the gym has confirmed that they are not only continuing but also expanding their program in the fall, Emily asked if “we” could make cheer bows for her team!

We…

I always fall for the we, when in theory, I should know by now that it means, I will do it, whatever “it” is.

We in our house means me!

We looked-up a you tube video and went to get supplies!

The most important step in making cheer bow, is the first one! Pour yourself a glass of wine and gather the supplies!

Our (my) project was a no-sow project as I don’t sow. And as a disclaimer, I am not crafty!

Please enjoy the pictures showing the steps, including the moment, we officially became just me 🙂

Beginners mistake #1. Verify that you buy enough ribbon. One of our roll was shorter…..

Off to the store we went. Again!

Somehow when we returned, Emily was more interested in her book than in helping. That is the official moment when this became my project!

Beginner mistake #2. Don’t use newspaper, use parchemin paper… paint and glue on thin ribbon ends up sticking to newspaper… I guess I should have known that!