Dogs and African Cats

Hi, this is Charissa.

Two things happened today.

The first thing that happened was that we went to look at dogs at the animal shelter. Unfortunately, we did not find a pet of our own there, at least not yet. Dogs at the shelter come in and then get adopted out very fast - so they only had one dog at the time, and he was a really lovely large Newfoundland dog. We really liked him and he seemed like a good pet, but Blakeney said we didn't have enough space for a dog that size and it wouldn't be fair to him to cram him into our apartment. We hope he finds a good home. There was a married couple with a toddler meeting him after we did. They seemed nice, and it sounded like they were going to take him home, so it looks like a happy ending for him.

We're going to go back and look another day, and the rescue where I've been volunteering is keeping an eye out for a gentle family pet for us, too. Someday we'll have a dog!

We were kind of disappointed not to get a pet today, but we made it up to ourselves by going to see a movie. We saw African Cats! It was really great! I love animal movies. Some parts were scary but it was really interesting, and the big cats were beautiful. (We weren't impressed with Fang. He was a jerk lion. If you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. We thought Sita and her cubs and Mara were awesome, though.) It was cool how they showed the scenery and lots of different animals in the region. It even had a somewhat happy ending! We were glad we saw it.

Hopefully soon we will be posting good news about our dog soon. For now, at least it was a good day. :-)

Love,
Charissa

Spring Break (For Some)

Hi, this is Kaya.

Because we go to different schools, we don't all have spring break at the same time. This week is spring break for Kirsten, Bree, Charissa, and me. We all had Monday off because of the holiday, but everyone else had to go off to school like normal today. Poor them! They'll be the ones gloating when they get time off later and we don't, though.

So, what are we doing with our free time? Well, Kirsten and Bree are kind of being stereotypical teenagers, sleeping late and not doing very much. Bree and I have been watching a bunch of old Star Trek, Stargate, and Doctor Who episodes, though. It's great to have a sister who likes sci fi like I do!

Besides that I've been working hard, but not on school stuff. My dance recital is coming up soon, and now I'm in five dances! It's going to be crazy! Three of them are ballet and two are modern. I love dancing. It's a lot of effort to get ready, but it'll be worth it.

Charissa started volunteering with an animal rescue group a couple of times a week. This week they're sending her and some other volunteers to a workshop about how to train dogs. (And they're paying.) It's so the volunteers can help when the rescue gets dogs that have very bad manners or poor training. The volunteers will teach them to be good dogs before they go to their new families - and Charissa gets to help.

By the way, speaking of dogs... we're getting one in just a couple of days! We're so excited! :-)

Love,
Kaya

P.S. Bree wanted to give you guys some news that she forgot to tell you. She did make the running team, but she decided not to do it because she has Literary Society and Drama Club, plus normal homework. (I think she was also kind of freaked out by what happened at the tryout.) At least she can know she was a success, though!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Today we went to church in the morning and then had lunch with our upstairs neighbour and her relatives. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and salt beef. Then for dessert we had these cute little chocolate cakes.

It was really fun!

After lunch we hid Easter eggs for each other (in the house - it was raining!) and hunted them, then ate some of the candy from our Easter baskets. We had leftovers and tea for supper.

What about the rest of you? Did you do anything interesting and fun? Do you have any Easter traditions your family does?

Hope you all had a nice holiday! For those - like us - who have tomorrow off school or work, have a great long weekend!

Love,
The Green Girls

Making Easter Eggs

Today Bree taught us how to make Easter eggs in a very special way. In the past we've always hard boiled them and dyed them, but Bree says they'll last much longer the way she showed us, and we can use them as decorations rather than having to leave them in the fridge.

First she rinsed off the eggs, then she took a sharp nail and poked a hole in the top and bottom part of the egg she was going to work with. Then she put it against her mouth and blew into it until the insides came out into a bowl. It was a little bit gross but also extremely cool. Then she ran cold water over and through the egg, and blew it out again so it was empty.

Once we saw how Bree did it, we all tried our own eggs. That was even more fun than watching. Bree said you can feel a little pop when the egg gets empty, so you know you're finished. It took us a couple of tries to get used to what the pop was like, but then it got a lot easier.

When all the eggs were empty and dry, we dyed them like usual. Then we arranged them in a basket on our table. They're so pretty! All the colours of the rainbow!

Bree said if we wanted to some other time, we could also put wire or thread into the top and make them hang. You can even make a little tree of eggs. We decided to put ours in a basket instead, though, because it's going to be a centerpiece for our Easter dinner and we don't want a big tree in the way when people are chatting across the table.

The eggs will last till Easter, and make a great decoration! How fun! :-)

Love,
The Green Girls

A strange day for two...

Two of us had weird days, separately, for different reasons. We're starting to think that our haunted house theory is off. But we aren't sure what's going on, because Bree's weird thing wasn't at home, and Josefina's was... well, you'll see. ;-)


Bree:

Today was the first really warm day. We've seen hints of sunlight up till this point, but today seems like it was the definitive turning point for spring. There may be little patches of snow on the ground, but winter is on the way out!

So today, my school decided to have the tryouts for Track and Field and Cross Country for next year, so we people can start training and practicing over the summer. I've never officially been on an athletic team before, but I decided to try out because I enjoy running.

I was really nervous. Reeeally nervous. Running for fun is one thing; a tryout is another. I heard the bang and started going with the others, but I was so frozen mentally that I started lagging behind almost immediately. It wasn't that my body wasn't fast enough. My brain was holding me back. That made me frustrated with myself.

Suddenly, I started to go faster. It was like I found the motivation, because I didn't want to be my own biggest sabotage anymore. Before long, I was catching up to the last person back. Then the next. Then the next. And so on. I didn't really notice I was winning until my toes crossed the line.

My friends seemed proud of me, but they also seemed surprised. Like I shouldn't have been able to pull ahead. People said I was just a blur. There were even whispers from a few people that I cheated. That part wasn't too fun.

Tomorrow we'll find out who got on the team. I'm not not sure if I'll be on the list. Yeah, I came in first, but if people felt I was dishonest, that won't be worth anything. I was never sure I wanted to be on the team, because I have homework and other afterschool clubs. I don't want to be too busy. But I don't want it to end under a cloud of accusation, either.

Ugh. This was weird.



Josefina:


So, I've been reading more about poltergeists. The more I read, the more I think that maybe the reason my paper caught on fire that time was because I was angry at my homework. Maybe I made it happen? It was a strange thing to think about.

So I tried to do it again. I took a blank piece of notebook paper, set it in the shower just in case, and willed it to catch on fire.

Nothing happened.

I laughed at myself, and looked around to see if any of my sisters witnessed this embarrassing display. They hadn't. The door was still closed. So I tried again...

Again nothing happened. Nor did it the four or five tries that followed it.

I had really thought I was onto something. It was annoying to admit I was wrong. I was really, really irritated that I had suckered myself into such a ridiculous theory of supernatural stuff...

Suddenly there was a flame. I couldn't believe it. I just stared at it for a minute before I had the presence of mind to run the shower and put it out, so I wouldn't set off the smoke alarm again.

Coincidence? Or did I make it happen somehow?

Trouble for Fiona

The junior high and high school Greens observed the Day of Silence at school... but the elementary girls' day didn't go quite like they planned it, because of an (unrelated) incident during the school day.

When Evelyn got ready to come home from school, she was going to wait with Fiona like usual until they got picked up. Her teacher told her Fiona wasn't coming - she had gotten in trouble and was sent home early!

It's not like none of us have been in trouble in school before, but never so badly we were sent home. We knew it had to be something really terrible. Evelyn found out from the other students that Fiona had gotten in a fight on the playground with a girl from her class. (She's in Grade Five and Evelyn is in Grade Three, so they aren't in the same classroom.) She had the other girl on her back on the mud, and was punching her. She even scratched her and bit her! Blakeney was pretty upset, and we were all really shocked.

No matter how many times she was asked, Fiona wouldn't say what they were fighting about. She just sat at the kitchen table with her arms folded, and shook her head whenever someone brought it up. The only thing she said was that she didn't care what her consequence was for what she did.

Blakeney phoned the teacher, and the teacher thought Fiona just attacked the girl for no reason. The teacher said it was because Fiona has bipolar disorder - but Bree didn't think that was true, because Fiona never hit anyone at school before. We couldn't figure out what had happened, though, and Fiona wasn't saying. It was weird that she had done something violent like that!

A couple of hours later, the father of one of Fiona's classmates called and asked to speak to Blakeney. He said that his daughter had overheard what led to the fight, and it wasn't just nothing. The girl Fiona was punching had been saying mean things about Evelyn because she's black. Blakeney didn't repeat any of it to us, and neither did Fiona, but apparently it was really hateful and racist. Fiona told the girl to stop and she wouldn't, so they got in a fight.

Blakeney told Fiona that next time she was supposed to tell her teacher instead of hitting, but she didn't punish her besides that. I think she secretly thought the other girl needed to learn her lesson. We know we should try not to get in fights... but we can't blame Fiona for standing up for her little sister!

-Kirsten

Day of Silence

We are participating in the Day of Silence to fight bullying and harassment against gay and lesbian students in our schools. Whether a person is gay or straight, we all deserve a safe and supportive environment. The goal of Day of Silence is respect for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. Mutual respect is something we all can and should believe in.

If you choose to participate in the Day of Silence, we're standing with you. If not, that's alright too. We hope you'll still be supportive of those who do participate, and that we'll all give thought today to respecting and valuing everyone who shares our world... and shares our schools.

http://www.dayofsilence.org/

Love,
The Green Girls

Naming the (Future) Dog

We're trying to decide what to name our future dog, and we can't seem to agree! All of us put in our ideas. This is what each of us wanted...

Kirsten: Carter (after Jimmy)
Bree: Elphaba for girl or Fiyero for boy
Felicity: Sweetbriar
Josefina: Nummy Muffin Coocol Butter
Molly: Van Gogh
Kaya: Sage
Charissa: Sport
Fiona: Magic
Evelyn: Sunflower

Finally we decided that we will have to wait and see the dog before we decide. Maybe we'll come up with something completely different. Otherwise someone is going to have to give in, because our dog can't have nine different names!

Love,
The Green Girls

Summer Plans

One of the posters on AGPT asked a really good question: Are people's girls going to summer camp?

Blakeney realized, then, that she had not made any summer plans for us! She didn't really think about it because it sure doesn't feel like summer here. (It snowed a little last night and it's supposed to in the morning, too.) Now she's been scrambling to find activities we will all enjoy.

Kirsten is doing a Model UN "seminar" which she says is totally different from day camp, because day camp is for little kids and this is "serious." She'll be learning about politics and doing simulations about diplomacy and current events. Right up her alley!

Felicity, Bree, and Josefina are all going to workshops sponsored by the local public library. Felicity and Bree are going for writing, while Josefina will be doing photography.

Molly is of course going to an art camp the provincial museum is running. She goes there every year, and she says it's always fun.

Kaya's taking some dance workshops over the summer, but she's also going to attend an environmental science day program with Parks Canada.

Fiona, Charissa, and Evelyn have all decided to go to sleep away camp! And they're the youngest! That seems so brave. The camp is mainly the "traditional" kind: hiking, swimming, campfires and ghost stories, learning about nature, doing crafts... that sort of thing. They're going for two weeks, though, and for one of those weeks they're supposed to pick a "major" - meaning something to concentrate on and learn more about. Charissa chose sports and athletics, Fiona chose drama, and Evelyn of course chose horses. Sounds like fun!

All of us will of course be going on several camping trips during the summer - as a family and with our friends. That's a very popular activity in our province, and it's common for girls our age. It would be weird for us to spend the whole summer in the city! There are lots of great provincial parks within a fairly short distance, and we like to visit them, go for hikes, and sleep in our tent.

We still have months to go before summer. Now we have something to look forward to, though! :-)

Love,

The Green (and excited for summer!) Girls


P.S. Blakeney said when she gets paid WE CAN GET A DOG! She's going soft in her old age. (Just kidding, Blakeney!) We're so excited! :-)

Interview With Fiona

Our last interview - with Bree - seemed pretty popular with our readers, so we're doing it again! This time, we're interviewing our newnew sister Fiona. (Bree is our oldnew sister now, I guess?) Like before, we tried to each stick to one question. I guess we're rebels, though. ;-)

On to the interview...

Kirsten: How did you feel when you found out you were coming to live with us?

Fiona: Excited, I guess. And nervous. I wanted to be with Bree, but it was far away, and I wasn't sure if the rest of you would be nice.

Kirsten: Are we?

Fiona: Yeah, I like you girls.


Felicity: What was your favourite part of the trip here?


Fiona: Taking the ferry. I've never been on such a big boat before. I think it would have been more fun in the summer so I could go outside, but I liked looking out the window.

Bree: Are you still a picky eater like you used to be?

Fiona: I'm not picky! I just... don't like very many things. It's not my fault not many foods taste good.

[Bree sticks out her tongue; Fiona makes a face]


Josefina: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Fiona: Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Ireland is where my ancestors mostly came from, and Scotland and Wales would be interesting and fun. I'd like to see standing stones and maybe some fairies.

Felicity: Did you know that in the British Isles people sometimes eat--

Bree: She reeeeally doesn't need to know that! Ever.

Felicity: You don't even know what I was going to say!

Bree: If it wasn't potatoes or noodles, she'll just say "Ew!" Don't put her off world travel prematurely.


Molly: Fiona, would you rather freeze to death or be burned alive?

Bree: She asked me that too. She's harmless, don't worry.

Molly: Mostly harmless, you mean. So, to answer the question...?

Fiona: Fire.

Molly: Really? No one ever chooses fire!

Kirsten: Then why to do you keep asking, Molly, if people always answer the same way...?

Fiona: That was just my first impulse of which to say, I guess. People have always said I'm like a fire. I think the worst way would be drowning.


Kaya: If the laws of trespassing were suspended for one day, where would you go?

Fiona: A Broadway theatre on a day it's closed. I'd go on stage, even though it was empty. And I'd sing, just for me.


Charissa: Do you have a secret hidden talent no one knows about?

Fiona: Yeah, I can balance spoons on my hand.

Molly: Um, balancing one flat thing on another flat thing really isn't that difficult...

Fiona: No, with the spoon standing up. Like this.

[Fiona demonstrates; the girls are suitably impressed]


Molly: Wow, that's really cool, actually!


Evelyn: What do you wish you knew how to do, but you don't?

Fiona: Play a musical instrument. Especially the trombone.

Evelyn: Why the trombone?

Fiona: I don't know. I just like it. I guess the way they do the slide and stuff, it seems like a full performance, rather than just sitting there playing.


Kirsten: Now traditionally, at the end of the interview...

Bree: You mean having done this once before...?

Kirsten: Whatever. It's a new tradition. At the end of the interview, the interviewee gets to ask us one question back.

Fiona: I've been wondering, ever since I came to Canada and moved in with you...

Felicity: Yes?

Fiona: What is "hydro"?

All: Electricity.

Fiona: Weird.




And that concludes our interview! As always, stay tuned for more of all of us - including Fiona - here in the future! ;-)

Love,
The Now Nine Green Girls

Off to a bad start...

"But the notes are sour,

Where is the power

You once had to ignite the air...?" -Rent

Today was off to a bad start.

The start of the start was that the power kept going off in the late night/early morning. It was really windy, so that's probably why - although a lot of times it just seems random when it goes out.

The first two times, we knew it... oh how we knew it... because when it came back on the central vac roared, the TV came on and started blaring the cable help channel, and the alarm system started going crazy. Impossible to miss. So we would get up and stumble sleepily to calm the racket, and go back to bed.

Even with that, it wouldn't have been a restful night. And yet somehow, the third time the power went out and came back on, it did so completely silently. (Or maybe we just slept through the roar because we were so tired after the first two.) So we slept peacefully, oblivious.

Once we woke up, we had no idea what time it actually was. Blakeney checked the time on her Nook reader and discovered we had badly overslept. So instead of a nice morning, we all rushed around.

Kirsten was late for a math test in her first class (which she may or may not have watched The Vampire Diaries instead of studying for, so maybe it didn't matter so much.) Bree didn't miss anything major but she was really embarrassed to do the late-for-school walk of shame, and her teacher was really sarcastic about it. Felicity and Josefina missed their bus and their transfer, so they were even later and missed their whole first class. Evelyn was grumpy all day because she didn't eat enough breakfast - and probably also because her arm is in a cast. Charissa forgot her homework in the ruckus and got in trouble. Poor Fiona had this happen on only her second day of her new school!

Not the most auspicious day, to say the least. Now the internet is having problems, to top it off.

Hopefully we'll have time (and improved internet connection) to post the interview we've been working on. We asked Fiona some questions, and if all goes well, we'll be revealing her answers tonight.

Love,
The Green Girls

Wanted: Dog. Position available immediately.

Hello. This is Charissa.

For a long time, I've wanted a dog. My sisters thought having a dog would be neat too, but I was the one who really wanted one. It would be so fun! I could train it and take care of it and everything. I love animals.

I kept telling my sisters how great it would be, and putting up pictures of cute dogs in my room. Sometimes I'd leave those pictures in the living room, too, so they'd happen to see them. Now I've won them all over. They started looking stuff up on the internet, and now they think we'd be good dog owners. (I think it helped that our blog friend Taylor got one and posted adorable photos of him.) They all want one too!

Now we just have to convince our guardian. That has been a lot harder than just leaving cute pictures lying around. Blakeney says dogs are expensive, messy, and a lot of work. She points out that we don't have a very big apartment, and our (shared) yard is tiny. I think we could still have a dog, though! Couldn't we?

Love,
Charissa

P.S. Fiona is settling in. The first night she was here, she and Bree went off and had a long talk. The rest of us were a little bit jealous because we were afraid Fiona would always like Bree better than us. It actually made things better, though. Whatever Bree told her, Fiona relaxed a lot afterward.

It's really fun to compare how they look. Their faces are very alike, but Bree's hair is a lot darker, while Fiona's is light brown. Bree's hair is chin length (she cut it herself! you can kind of tell...) and Fiona's is down to her butt. Bree is really skinny and Fiona is more average build. You can tell they're related for sure, though. I don't look as much like Kirsten, Felicity, and Molly.

Brief Blog Business

For the moment, we've removed our blog roll while we decide what to do with it. It may or may not be returning in the future. There are a couple of reasons we made that decision.

For one thing, we've found out that several of our friends have had material stolen from their blogs and copied by other people, and we don't want to help people with bad intentions find the people we like.

For another, we follow a lot of blogs, and we're constantly adding more as more of our forum friends make them. It's not practical to have every blog we like in our blog roll, but we're having trouble being selective without seeming like we're playing favourites.

So how about this. If you would like to have your blog featured in our blog roll, reply to this or contact Blakeney. Otherwise, we will still follow you but we will assume you would prefer some privacy regarding the list. :-)

Love,
The Green Girls

And then there were... nine! :-)

Yesterday, we asked Blakeney if we could stay home and keep Evelyn (and her broken arm) company while she was off school for the day to rest. Blakeney said no way; we didn't have broken arms, so the rest of us weren't allowed to miss time from our studies. We were disappointed, but it's fair. It's not like Ev was taking the day off having fun, either.

This morning, Blakeney said she had changed her mind and none of us were going to school. We all kind of exchanged looks, because we couldn't figure out the reason behind sudden shift in priorities from academia to leisure. Then she grinned and let it slip.

Today we got to go pick Fiona up! :-)

Instead of splitting up to bus or walk to our various schools, we all went down to the family centre to meet our new (well, not-so-new for Bree) sister. It was really exciting! We were giggling and talking and speculating the whole way.

When we met Fiona, she seemed really, really quiet. Bree said Fiona isn't usually that way; she was just nervous. Normally she's a chatterbox.

After some awkward introductions, we all went home, and showed Fiona her new room - she's sharing with Charissa and Evelyn. Fiona still didn't really say much, but she seemed to be doing alright.

At supper, though, she had a total meltdown. We couldn't really figure out what was going on. It seemed to be about not liking green beans, which is far from a huge deal. None of us could make much progress with her - until Felicity somehow managed to calm her down. I don't think even Felicity has any clue how she did that. We were all kind of awkward after the tantrum, but Blakeney told us that Fiona was just overwhelmed by being in a new place. Hopefully that's true!

Now that supper is over, things are going better. Fiona played Candyland with Ev and Charissa for awhile, and she seemed to have fun. Now we're watching The Princess and the Frog again because Fiona hasn't seen it and we still have the copy we borrowed. Overall, it didn't go too badly.

Finally, all nine sisters are here now! Yay! :-)

Love,
The Green Girls

Evelyn Can't Fly

This was not the best day ever for the Green Family.

When we left for school this morning, it was sunny. Not warm, but it felt like spring because there was so much light. It put everyone in a good mood - maybe too good. By afternoon, it was snowing again in a gross sort of half-melty way, but the sunshine induced crazies hadn't quite worn off.

We can't really blame Evelyn for not being careful. She and her friends were running back and forth outside once school was over, chasing each other, and apparently Ev slipped on the wet pavement and wiped out. Unfortunately, it wasn't only her dignity and her jeans that were wounded. She landed at just the wrong angle, and broke her wrist.

Obviously, we had to take her to Emergency. Luckily there's a hospital only about five blocks from our house, and it's only a little bit farther in the opposite direction from her school. We didn't have to wait too long for an x-ray and a doctor, but any time feels like a lot of time when you have a broken arm. Ev was really brave, but it was obviously hurting her a lot.

The seven of us girls had to stay in the waiting room, and Blakeney went with Evelyn. Ev says they took some x-ray films of her arm, then moved her to a room and hooked her up to a heart monitor. When they did that she was afraid they were going to make her stay overnight, but the doctor said they just have to put patients on the monitor whenever they have anaesthesia. Once the painkillers kicked in, the orthopaedic surgeon set her bones and then put a cast on her arm. They let her pick what colour to get it in, and she got purple. It looks kind of cool, actually.

Finally we got to take her home. Evelyn said her arm didn't hurt anymore - it was numb and she didn't really feel anything from it except a few prickles. She seemed really groggy from the meds they gave her, though, so we put her on the couch and right now we're watching a movie with her. We even let her pick since she was hurt. She chose The Princess and the Frog, which none of us minded seeing again. Hopefully tomorrow she'll feel better.

So that was our day! Whew! We've been joking with Ev that she needs to stop trying to fly, so she won't fall on the sidewalk again. ;-)

Love,
The Green Girls

Don't you have parents?

We get asked this sometimes - not on the blog yet, but by people we know. Do we have parents? Why do we call the person we live with our guardian instead? Is our living situation permanent?

The answer to the first part is that yes, we all have biological parents, obviously, just like everyone else. Some of us have or had good relationships with them - like Josefina, whose mother died - and some of us don't. We don't live with them, though. For different reasons, none of our original families remained intact. Now we live with our guardian.

Why don't we call our guardian our mother? There are several reasons. For one thing, we were all old enough when we came here that we had strong memories of our biological parents - and for some of us, bad associations with all things parental - and we didn't necessarily want new ones. She gave us a choice, and this is what we chose, knowing she would love us either way. For another, our guardian isn't that much older than us. She's an adult and we're minors, but the age difference isn't huge - she was not even a teenager yet when the oldest of us were born. Lastly, the four of us who came here first (Kirsten, Felicity, Molly, and Charissa) already knew her as a relative rather than a mother long before we moved in, and the girls who came later just kind of followed suit.

Is our living situation permanent? Yes. All of us are here as legal adoptions or permanent legal guardianships. Our home is as permanent as someone who lives with a parent. We just choose to call our guardian by her first name instead. This isn't what would work for everyone, but it does for us.

Sometimes it sets us apart or makes people think we're weird. But if it wasn't this, it would be something else that made us odd. No one - and no family - is exactly like another. Our family isn't conventional, but that's OK. We are a family, no matter what.

Love,
The Green Girls

Dossiers: Added Fiona

Like we did before with Bree, we're adding Fiona to our big long dossier post. We want to have a central location for those. Once again, though, in case you don't want to wade through the whole thing to read about our newest addition, here's just Fiona's. :-)

***

Name: Fiona

Age: 10

Where he/she attends school: Anglican parish elementary school

Favorite color: Pink and peach

Favorite food: Plain noodles with butter

Personal Causes: Foster child rights, juvenile mental health, the arts

Favorite passtime: Jumping rope, playing with dolls and stuffed animals, singing, musical theatre

Three words YOU would use to describe their personality: Spontaneous, fun, mercurial

Three words HE/SHE would use to describe his/her personality: Exciting, happy, star

Favorite Quote: "There's always something." -Violet Baudelaire

Brief biography in 250 words or less: Fiona is Bree's biological sister, though they often lived separately when the family split up. Fiona ended up in foster care when her mother wasn't able to care for her properly or keep her safe. She was located again by the Green Family, and now lives with them. Fiona is an energetic and interesting kid. She loves theatre, musicals, and dance. She has some challenges, though, in that she has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and sometimes acts out in response to her traumatic past. She is fun friend and a good sister, and has ambitions of Broadway someday.

Blogging leads to my first/last/only date with my crush

Hi, this is Josefina. I was nervous to go to school Friday because I know some of my friends from my classes read this blog from time to time, and I was afraid someone would have seen Molly's little info dump about my crush on a boy named David Ryan. I walked into the building with my head held high, but I could just feel the gossip in the air.

Everyone knew. Including David! Once I decided I wasn't going to die or sink into the floor with embarrassment, I actually listened to what he was saying - and it turned out he liked me too! He asked if I wanted to go for coffee that night! I told him no because it was Bree's party (as we already blogged about,) but we rescheduled for tonight, Saturday.

Tonight, I had my date. I put on my nice white blouse and a pair of jeans my sisters say looks good, and met him at Tim Horton's for hot drinks. At least... that was the theory. I knew my date wasn't going to go well because he was forty minutes late, and told me he was having a "bad hair day." I get those too - everyone does - but I still live my life! Sheesh! I figured he was just nervous, rather than as vain as that sounded.

It didn't take me long to realize the date wasn't going well. He thought I was pretty; I thought he was handsome. But the fact was, we didn't have anything else in common. All he wanted to talk about was sports. Did I watch the World Cup? This team or that one was his favourite for baseball and football and whatever. And on and on. Now, I don't dislike sports, but they aren't one of my interests. My knowledge of the topic (and frankly, my attention span regarding the subject) was pretty quickly exhausted.

After that, we talked about school... but our hearts just weren't in it. Who wants to go out on a Saturday night and have nothing to talk about besides classes and homework and our other friends? Eventually we were just pretty much sitting in silence, with him sipping his cappuccino and me with my hot chocolate. We weren't mad at each other but there was just nothing else left to say.

So once we were done with our drinks, we said goodnight. I think we both knew there wasn't going to be a second date. (And yes, he gave me permission to tell my blog friends about it.) I think it was worth going, though. It made me more confident to see that I could interest someone, even if it didn't work out. I was reminded of a valuable lesson, too... romance has to be more than skin deep. Maybe next time, it'll be more right.

Love,
Josefina

Control

This is Bree again.

On the post about my birthday (which was a massive amount of fun - I had such a good time!) my sisters mentioned in an offhand way that I don't eat very much. I didn't want to make that post or the comments really heavy with the difficult stuff, but I wanted to talk a little about why that is.

It's not quite an eating disorder in the clinical sense... but it is a pattern of disordered eating, and an unhealthy relationship with food. I know it's a problem. It just never seemed as pressing as the other stuff that was going on. It's been this way for awhile. Now I'm going to really start working to get better, though.

When I was younger, a lot of times we didn't have enough to eat. I could tell it made my parents feel stressed, and it scared me a lot too. So I taught myself to go without. I thought that meant being strong. The less I ate, the more likely it was that my (reduced) need for food would be met. I got used to it. It set a pattern.

As I got older, life seemed more and more out of control. Almost everything that happened was an adult's decision. I felt like I had no power. There was one thing I did have complete control over, though. Whether I put food into my body. It doesn't make a lot of sense when you apply logic to it, but somehow it made me feel better.

No one really noticed. Not till I came here. My sisters were surprised by how thin I am, and it matters to them if I eat or not. They expressed concern. I started to realize that maybe I should be concerned, too.

So, I'm going to work on it. It may take awhile to get my mind back on track. But I need to find ways to feel like I'm in control of my own life and my own future, without doing things that are bad for me.

Love,
Bree

April Fools Day!

For posterity, this was our April Fools Day joke banner in 2011. :-)

Love,

The Green Blue Girls

Happy Birthday, Bree!

The Green Girls, reporting live from our sister Bree's slumber party! Happy birthday, Bree! Sweet sixteen today!

:-)

We've been having a really good time. It's actually a pretty big party, because Bree invited two of the friends she's been eating lunch with at school - Krista and Kelly - plus our family. (The other kids she sits with are boys, and you can't have boys at a girls' slumber party!)

We made pizza for supper, which was fun even though we ended up with a huge mess. We made four different kids of pizza, and it all tasted great. Then we made ice cream sundaes for dessert. Bree never eats much, but she had some and she said it was good, too. It was fun that we all worked on the food together, and since we all helped with cleaning up, it didn't take that long.

After supper we played games. For the occasion we had borrowed Trivial Pursuit, Risk, and Apples to Apples. Bree won Trivial Pursuit (fair and square; we didn't let her win even though she was the birthday girl,) Kirsten of course won Risk like she always does, and Felicity and Kaya tied in Apples to Apples. Josefina was a little sulky because she wanted to win that one too, but she got over it.

For presents, we gave Bree some new clothes, a set of Firefly DVDs, some books she wanted, a Great Big Sea CD, and a necklace we made for her. The necklace has a pretty painted bead with a bird of paradise on it; we explained that it was because we want her to feel happy in our house. Bree just said "thanks" but there were tears in her eyes, so we think it meant a lot to her. It seems like she liked all her gifts.

Then we popped popcorn - not that we really needed more to eat - and watched some Firefly episodes. Now it's time for movies. We're going to watch Fellowship of the Ring and Holes. If we're not too tired - and we're pretty wired! - we'll watch Labyrinth and Princess Bride, because those are the birthday girl's favourites.

Fun party! Wheeee! :-)

Love,
The Green Girls