Surprise hit of Christmas

Gwendolyn has already played with and enjoyed all of her new toys, but one in particular has captured her interest. It's a very simple board game with a twist: it's cooperative, not competitive. And it's made in Canada! Highly recommended for the 4 to 7 set... Thanks, Family Pastimes!

Christmas Day photos

Gwendolyn has been dealing with a cold for the past few days, which made Christmas Day a rather low key celebration. There were multiple naps, although the being tired part was likely equal parts the cold and a lack of sleep due to pre-Christmas excitement. Nevertheless, it was a fun day:

Checking out her stocking loot, courtesy of Santa

I wonder what could be in this big box?

Playing with her new Playmobil set: a pony riding school (complete with horse poop!)

Reading her new story book with Daddy

Christmas dinner: Cheers, Mama!

Gwendolyn's official Christmas message

This originally appeared in a card addressed to Mama and Daddy, but they're more than happy to share the love:

Christmas Eve

What does one do with an excited four year old on the day before Christmas? Well, we spent a good part of the day making cookies and visiting the Christmas displays at various venues downtown.

The stockings are now hung, Santa's snack is ready, and the little one is in bed -- hopefully sleeping soundly. It's time for Mama and Daddy to settle down for that long winter's nap...

A peaceful and joyful Christmas to you all.

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas...

We wait until after Gwendolyn's birthday to begin our preparations for Christmas, the most important of which is decorating the tree. We finally got to that pleasant task this past Saturday morning, and for the first time Gwendolyn was a very active participant.

Don't worry -- the star/angel was straightened out eventually

Carefully choosing just the right branch for her ornament

The next morning, Gwendolyn serenaded our lovely little tree with a verse from her favourite carol:

Note that she prefers the modern "stable of wood" lyric which is heard on her favourite recording of children's carols, rather than the traditional "stable rude." Daddy likes it better, too.

Out with the threes, in with the fours

This was a busy birthday weekend for Gwendolyn. On Saturday, she hosted a gang of her friends at a local swimming pool for her official birthday party. Today was her true birthday, and she celebrated quietly at home, opening gifts, connecting with family, and playing with Grandma Ronaghan who came over for a visit. And it's not done yet: tomorrow, Gwendolyn will enjoy another celebration at school.

A birthday well celebrated? You better believe it! Happy, happy birthday, Gwendolyn.

Enjoying some pre-swimming sticker fun at her birthday party

Splashing good fun!

The birthday girl wearing her new, official birthday crown

Now a birthday princess, and reading poems with Grandma R.

After a lovely birthday dinner, it was pumpkin pie for dessert!

(She had her cake with the kids on Saturday.)

Making music, Gwendolyn-style

We recently hooked up headphones to our keyboard -- a welcome sanity saver when little hands want to bang away on the keys -- and Gwendolyn has taken right to them. (Don't worry -- we're careful she doesn't turn up the volume too much.)

Here's a video of one of her latest performances. It's too bad we can only hear Gwendolyn's singing accompaniment (along with the somewhat distracting chant music in the background -- sorry folks). Sounds like it's a love song, yes?

Watching this video reminds Daddy of this gem from nearly three years ago...

Recent artwork

We're sure you won't be surprised to learn that Gwendolyn is still drawing and painting up a storm:

Birds singing about love

A girl and her blue and green violin. This might be Gwendolyn, as she has stated recently that the violin is her favourite instrument.

A snail playing with his ball in the sunshine

Flowers in the -- what else? -- sunshine

Pretty self-explanatory, no? By the way, forming letters and numbers is a very important activity these days, especially when we play school. Which is often. Very, very often.

Our Lady of the Trades

We're not sure where this came from, but a few nights ago at dinner Gwendolyn announced:

"When I grow up I'm going to be a plumber. And I'm not changing my mind."

A few minutes later, she informed us:

"I've changed my mind. I'm going to be a builder."

Now Daddy has visions of a family company -- Gwendolyn and Dad Construction -- that will design and build small, fantastically plumbed houses.

'tis the season...

It's that time of year again, and this year Daddy has introduced a Christmas tradition from his childhood -- the Advent wreath. In our house, the four white candles represent Peace, Joy, Hope and Love. Each one will be lit on a Sunday leading up to Christmas Day. The centre candle will be lit on December 25th in celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus, which is what this Christmas thing is all about, yes?

We started one week late on account of Daddy's poor calendar reading skills, but are on track with two candles lit this evening: Peace and Love. (Or was it Joy and Hope...?)

Happy Advent, everyone.

Lighting candle #1

Gwendolyn striking an appropriately beatific pose for the occasion

2011 Hallowe'en costume reveal

Drum roll please... Presenting Gwendolyn the penguin!

(To be specific, it's a male Emperor penguin -- note the egg resting on "his" foot.)

Once again, thank goodness for Mama and her sewing talents!

Oh Cana... huh?

Gwendolyn still loves singing our national anthem. Recently, she made a wee change to the lyrics, namely:

Official version: "...in all thy sons' command"

G version: "...and our sons will always come in"

Perhaps we should let Canadian Heritage know. Given Gwendolyn's powers of persuasion, we might see her version surge in popularity among the "3 and 3/4" set.

...and a few more photos

Playing with Cedrine on the tractor at Van Dusen Gardens

Rainy day fun with Zoey

Getting the hang of this bicycle thing. This afternoon witnessed a huge breakthrough for Gwendolyn as far as riding the bike is concerned. Daddy can't wait to post a video of G. speeding along the neighbourhood sidewalks!

Helping Mama put away the cutlery. Giving Gwendolyn little household jobs like this contributes to her growing independence and desire to help, and are a nice complement to her activities at Montessori pre-school.

Two more videos...

First up -- and as promised in a recent posting -- is a video of Gwendolyn travelling along the rings at our local playground. Learning this skill became Gwendolyn's summer project, with a little progress made with each visit to the playground. First, she hung from two rings; next was learning to transfer from ring one to ring two; then we managed three in a row, then four, then all the way across, then all the way across and back. This little girl is strong and determined, that's for sure.

Now, if you happen to be a spectator at the playground, Gwendolyn will introduce herself and ask, "Do you want to see my great ring work?"

And just for fun, here's a little dance to celebrate the arrival of some recent rainy weather:

Whoopsie-Daisy!

Here's more fun from our morning at Jericho Beach. When at first you don't succeed...

A month in photos

All right -- no more excuses from Daddy to explain the lack of posts here. Instead, how about some nifty photos from the last month?

Hanging out with Zoey at the Southlands Country Fair

ANOTHER pony ride???

A morning at Jericho Beach

Preparing a needle for some button sewing

Making friends with Ms. Ladybug

And what else are we doing now? Well. aside from school, there's Arts Umbrella (another round of Dress Up Drama) and Jump Gymnastics. Oh yes, and lots of playground time -- all the better to perfect our "ring work." (More details on that later.)

First day of school: year two

Someone was very excited about getting back to school today. And why not, with old friends and favourite teachers to catch up with -- and new outfits to wear? Happy times...

Hip new duds!

Of course, preparations for a new school year entail some updating of one's wardrobe. Here is Gwendolyn modeling one of the cool new outfits bought for her on a summer trip to visit family in the States. Looking great, and looking 6 or 7 years old, too?!?

(Those aren't jeans she's wearing, by the way -- they're "jeggings." Daddy had no idea... Thank goodness Mama is in charge of the fashion department. )

Summer holidays are over...

...and we're back to blogging. We'll have to figure out how to bring you up to speed on Gwendolyn's adventures since mid-July; perhaps a "what I did on my summer vacation" report is in order? Stay tuned...

Close ups!

And just for fun...

Tell me I look like Lisa Loeb in these glasses...

Not sure about this "getting wet for fun" thing -- that waterpark water is c-c-cold!

Visitors from the east

That sounds a bit like the Three Wise Men, doesn't it? Well, the Ronaghan family did entertain three distinguished guests earlier this month: Gwendolyn's Meme (Grandma) Cecily, Aunt Monica and Cousin Rose.

It was a short, fun, and somewhat exhausting visit. The exhausting part was courtesy of regular jousting matches between two very strong-willed young ladies over... well, just about everything. Now we have first hand experience of how hard it could be with a second child born just 18 months after the first!

Overall, the girls seemed to enjoy each other's company, although it was clear who was the boss of the visit. (Hint: it wasn't the star of this blog.) It should be fun to see what happens when Gwendolyn and Rose renew acquaintances later this summer...

Big smiles for Aunt Monica

Rose giving Gwendolyn the evil eye (Gwendolyn doesn't look all that impressed either)

In their "boats" and busy with their cellphones

Art adventures

Waiting for the first day of camp to begin!

Sorry folks -- we've been busy these past couple of weeks and frankly, Daddy has been too tired to post in the evenings. To start our catching up, we'll tell you about Gwendolyn's first summer camp adventure.

For two hours each morning, from Monday to Friday during the first two weeks of July, Gwendolyn headed to Arts Umbrella on Granville Island. There she honed her art skills in "Art Start" and let her imagination loose in "Dress Up Drama." She and her mates had a grand time doing everything from painting with rollers, making clay fish and drawing with pastels, to dressing up as a fairies and cats and hunting for ghosts and trolls.

Daddy is sure it won't be the last time Gwendolyn visits the fun bunch at Arts Umbrella...

Little girls and horses

A neighbour in our complex is well connected to the local equestrian scene: his daughter runs a riding school in town. This afternoon, at Amelia's invitation, Gwendolyn paid a visit with Daddy. Here are a few photos, and a short video of the highlight of the afternoon: a pony ride on Duffy.

Two stable residents enjoying a relaxing afternoon

Horse's head = Gwendolyn's height!!!

Sitting tall in the saddle

Last minute instructions from Amelia

The verdict: love with a capital "L". Mama and Daddy may need to start saving their pennies for riding lessons...