sienna

Pictures of Sienna

Happy Birthday Sienna

On our last day in Brussels Sienna turned twelve. We celebrated her birthday at a little brunch place called “Oma’s”. Sienna had been hesitant to break her life-long tradition of going to Tivoli with mormor on her birthday, so Elliot and I put extra thought and attention into ensuring that she still felt like it was a special day. As it is very clear from the pictures, Elliot hit spot on with the present that he had gotten for her. The food was good too, although they were very cheap with the pastries so Sienna and I made sure to fill up on an excellent Crème Brûlée.

Happy 10th Birthday to Sienna

It was one very happy 10-year old who got out of bed this morning. She started out the day with some nice new clothes including some cool neon items, which she will need for the neon-themed birthday party we are throwing for her class at the end of May. She also got some rolling shoes from her cousins in Canada and she got a weekend trip to Barcelona from us. After opening the presents there was time for some cinnamon waffles with ice cream and sprinkles. After that she was off to school. To commemorate the day, she brought homemade party puppies to her teachers and all of her class mates. Before lunch I picked her up from school again, and as tradition goes we headed to Tivoli to celebrate the big day with Mormor.

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Entrepreneurship

Sienna is becoming the little entrepreneur of the family. With some help from her dad she has found a good place to by merchandise such as jewellery, watches, and sun glasses, which she intends to sell at flea markets. Here she is with her part-time co-worker Elliot at the local garden centre. They invited kids to come by and set up their stands but as they didn’t advertise the event, and because everyone is away on vacation these days, the turnout was very limited. At the end of the day, however, Sienna had a revenue of 40$ which was not bad at all, considering. She has already re-invested this money in new merchandise and she is keeping track of her finances in an Excel sheet. Her parents are very proud of the initiative and skill she is showing.

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Speaking of “keeping track” I have made it almost impossible to follow the blog, because I am so behind with the sorting and posting of pictures. Although it may seem like I haven’t posted anything for a very long time, I actually have. All the posts are backdated, though, as I want them to appear in the months they took place. There are pictures from Halloween, our trip to Ireland, a picture from when Sienna won 1st place in the skating club, and pictures from Christmas and Christmas morning. Finally, there are also pictures from a cookie decorating session with my sister, from when Sienna made a snowman with the very little snow we got this winter, and from one of Elliot’s hockey training sessions.

29th of April

When Sienna turned nine, she had the same traditional birthday as she has had pretty much all of her life. Breakfast and presents in the morning, then off to school with a tray of cupcakes (this time in the shape of little owls or birds of some sort). After school it was time to go to Tivoli to celebrate with Mormor. A great day as usual.

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Crime Scene Investigations

In October it was time for Sienna to have a new playgroup from school over. I wanted to make sure that the kids did an activity which required them to really work together. Earlier in the month Sienna and I had tried to do a gimmick for Halloween which didn’t work out, so I had a picture of her with a bullet hole in her head lying around. This gave me the idea to devise a crime scene game. Each kid got an identity card which also announced which area they were specialists within. They then had to figure out who shot the victim by solving various tasks, such as breaking codes and identifying fingerprints and bodily fluids left by the assailant. I was both happy and surprised to see how much the kids got into the game. After they successfully solved the crime they decided to stay in their new roles of detectives and investigators and three hours later when it was time to go home, everybody wanted to stay longer.

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Ready to go

One of the last pictures from April features a very excited 5 year old the day before he goes to school all by himself. Together with his proud big sister he is double checking if his school bag fits properly even when sitting down. The other picture is of Sienna in the Indian outfit she wore at the end-of-term show at the skating club. Just two days before the show I was told that she needed to appear as an Indian in the show, and as the end of April is not exactly the ideal time to go shopping for Indian outfits, I had to throw something together with the materials at hand. The old thick curtains that were used to black out the kids’ room at the old apartment came in handy and even ensured that she could stay warm in the cold rink.

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29th of April

Sienna’s actual birthday was on a Tuesday this year so she had to go to school. She brought little homemade chicken cookies for all her class mates, and as soon as school had ended I picked her up so that we could go downtown and meet Mormor at Tivoli like we always do on her birthday. It was once again a nice and sunny Spring day and Sienna got a lot of rides in and a birthday dinner of her free choice.  sienna_29_04_2014

Sienna’s 8th Family Birthday Party

The entire family showed up for Sienna’s 8th birthday party so lots of food was needed. Sienna took complete charge of her own birthday cake, right from selecting a recipe to cooking and decorating it. Mormor did show up a little bit earlier than the rest of the guests to offer her support and Elliot also gave a helpful hand. Sienna got to open Mormor’s and BC’s present first, which was a basket for the brand new bike we had snuck in to her room. Both presents were very well received and she immediately took the new bike for a spin. Sienna got lots of different nail polish from Moster and the Lego Cruise Boat from her cousins/aunts/uncles and as the pictures show these presents were also a big hit.
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