what we're reading

I love to read, I've been an avid reader since I was a child.  I don't get the chance to read now as often as I would like (busy life with 3 kids and all...).  Recently I was able to get away for a girls weekend with some of my best friends including an afternoon at a relaxing spa...it.was.amazing.  For part of the afternoon at the spa I sat outside beside a fire reading with total silence around me (heavenly!).  I read Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet.  I love this book, very interesting.  I highly recommend it, especially to anyone who is close to someone with aspergers/autism.  I just picked up The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I'm looking forward to reading this as a few friends have said it's a great book.

My kids are all readers as well.  Kyle has been reading from a very early age, and is also a very fast reader with high comprehension.  By the time he finished Kindergarten he was reading chapter books to himself and no longer wanted us to read to him at bedtime.  Funny story, when he was younger he would read the smaller chapter books very fast.  So fast that I didn't believe that he had actually read the whole book.  I would pick up the book and flip through, quizzing him as I randomly picked pages, and then I realized he was indeed reading the whole book and taking in all the information.  In grade 3 we got the results from the gifted testing, and it was no shock to me his comprehension level was exceptionally high.  This was great because he was able to read well above his grade level.  But it made things difficult in choosing appropriate books when he was 6,7,8 years old, as the books at his reading level were not neccessarily appropriate for his age.  Now that he is almost 10 choosing books is much easier, there is a large selection of fiction geared towards preteens that he is enjoying.  He often has more than one book on the go, I went up to his reading spot under his bed and this is what he is currently reading...Le Code W, The Keys to the Kingsom - Mister Monday and Pokemon Platinum.

Jillian wasn't as quick to start reading, but this past year her reading has really taken off and she is now reading above grade level (in both english and french).  I have a good friend who's daughter is the same age as Kyle, and now has 2 younger boys.  She generously gave us a large box filled with lots and lots of books from the Rainbow Magic collection and Jillian is absolutely loving these books!  A few months ago I started reading them to Jillian at bedtime.  Now she is able to read them to herself but still prefers to have us read to her, so we do 1-2 chapters each night at bedtime.  We've made our way through a few of the series and are currently working on the Pet series.

Leah is at that age where she wants the same books over and over again.  Lately it's these Barbie books.  I like them because the sentences are simple for Leah to easily follow along, and there's only 1-2 sentences per page so she doesn't lose interest.  We have been reading these over and over again for over a week now.  Leah has them mostly memorized so now I can let her finish the sentences as I point to the word she is saying.  She is starting to put together the concept of letters and words, and is starting to recognize familiar words (mostly her own name, or letters from her own name).

As for Jeff, well his reading list is predetermined and personally, I don't find it interesting at all (that's what happens when you are working towards an MBA). 

Last day of school!

Kyle had a fantastic grade 4 year - I'm so proud of his report card because he showed improvement in all areas, especially learning skills and work habits (staying focused on classwork, needing less redirection, appropriate group work with peers, etc).  His grades were incredible, and he received an award this morning at the school assembly for Respect.

Jillian was a star student this year in grade 1.  Her first year in french immersion and she excelled in every way!  She is reading above her grade level in both english and french, her grades were incredible and her teacher just adored having Jillian in her class.

Leah recently finished her first year in preschool.  Unlike her older brother and sister, Leah was at home with myself and then our nanny for her first 2.5 years.  She jumped into preschool in the fall with both feet, she joined in group events in the class easily, participated in all the activities happily and did a great job of learning lots of new skills on her own (getting dressed to go outside, put toys away, etc).

The day started out with a 1-1 chat with each of the kids telling them how proud Jeff and I are of them and talking about their achievements this schoolyear. 

As a little good-job-gift they each got a new placemat for the kitchen table (princess for Jillian, tinkerbell for Leah and a world map with fun facts for Kyle).  Along with a new watch and 2 books - 1 english and 1 french for each of them.

Then to school for the last assembly of the year to see Kyle receive his award.  The principal had also asked his class to perform their Fireworks dance again for the school.

Since it was a half-day of school, for lunch we had some friends over for McDs, then swimming (brrr, it was a bit chilly but thankfully we have a heater on the pool so the water was warm!) and ice cream sundaes.

We are having a bit of downtime now - which means naptime for Leah, Wii time for Kyle and Jillian and computer time for me.  Later this evening the kids are heading over to their friends house, a neighbour, complete with pjs and pillows for a movie night. 

What a great day to end a great schoolyear.

Just for comparison here they are in September on the first day of school...

princess

Here's my conversation with Leah this morning after she picked out this dress to wear and picked out these accessories and put them on...

me: "what would you like for breakfast honey?"

Leah: "you are supposed to say Princess"

me: "oh, sorry...what would you like for breakfast Princess?"

Leah: "rice krispies please"

Sometimes I see a tomboy in Leah with her interest in cars and trains.   But she's definately a little princess...she loves to wear dresses and fancy shoes!

we're ready for vegas baby

What's the best way to practice math skills with a 6 year old? Play 21 of course!  The players are...

The Beginner (or was she?  she seemed to win quite often)

The Dealer

And The Instructor

yep, this is family fun gamenight in our house (our job as parents is to prepare our children for the real world afterall...you can't win money in Vegas playing Uno).   There was no betting tonight but I did overhear Jeff suggest playing for cookies, some oreos might be in play next time.

lounging

This is what Leah does when she first wakes up...she lounges on the couch for a little while, watching some treehouse tv.  Never in a rush to eat breakfast, she needs a little wakeup time before getting started for the day (just like Mommy!).  Leah comes down the stairs with her sheep pillow, fuzzy blanket and pink bunny.  Usually it's in pjs but today she was keen to get dressed right away and picked this outfit.

This outfit is part of the first set of matching clothes the girls had.  I bought it for Jillian 3 years ago, and then by pure chance a neighbour bought the baby sized one for Leah as a gift.  So here is a picture of Leah lounging on the couch in the same outfit in June 2008...so cute!  And my matching girls together.  In these pictures I definately see the similarities between the girls, Leah looks a lot like her big sister did 3 years ago!

* note to Wendy if you are reading this...blogging is so much more fun than cleaning ;-)

so true

I had to smile and nod my head while reading the latest post in a blog I read titled Natural/Attachment Parenting is for the Lazy. Yes, I said it.

It is so true!  Laziness definately played a part in my parenting style.  The only thing on that list which doesn't apply to me is the cloth diapers, I have to admit I did use disposable for all 3 of my kids.  But the breastfeeding, co-sleeping and baby-wearing were all me.  And I found it increased with each child.  By the time Leah came around she was in the carrier and then sling for her first year, and I slept with her almost every night in the spare bed in her nursery (formally the spare room, how handy).

I was fortunate to have no problems at all with breastfeeding, all 3 of my children were exclusively breastfed for a full 6 months, and then we continued well past the one year mark.  I weaned Kyle around 14 months.  When Jillian was born I decided I would let her decide when to wean...and 26 months later she was FINALLY ready.  Leah I also let self-wean, she lasted 19 months.  I have had so many friends and family comment over the years about what a trooper I am, super-mom, etc for not using bottles and extended breastfeeding.  And I've had the same response over and over again...it was so much easier than the alternative!  Yes, I am a fan of the benefits of breastfeeding and I'm very happy I had no problems.  But it also came down to laziness, rolling over in the middle of the night is so much easier than making bottles.  Nursing Jillian for 3 minutes in the evening at age 2 and having her go straight to sleep was so much easier than listening to an hour of crying.  Wearing Leah in the sling meant I was able to volunteer in Jillian's kindergarten classroom, take the kids to the park during Leah's naptime, and attend evening parent council meetings at the school without worrying about Leah screaming because I'm not at home holding her.  And co-sleeping for me was born purely out of wanting to get back to sleep, laying down with Kyle was the only way for me to get sleep so that's what I did. 

Now I have a 10 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old who go to sleep without any problem (for the most part), and spend the whole night in their own beds sleeping peacefully.  It almost makes me forget the 9 years of never having more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep.

berry good

One of my favourite things about summer is all the berries, even organic ones, are reasonably priced.  I love having a nice selection in the fridge!  Last night I finished off the strawberries in a yummy milkshake :-)

Father's Day

We spent this past weekend at the cottage. Owning a cottage has been a dream of Jeff's for quite a while, so it was really neat to wake up there together on Sunday morning and spend Father's Day together at the beach. We had a nice lazy morning and once we were all fed and dressed we took a short drive to Midland to walk around the marina.

Then it was back to the cottage for lunch and we spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach.  Jeff and Kyle played one of Jeff's gifts, a beach game.  Jillian decided to write in the sand and enjoyed collecting shells.  Leah loves everything about the beach, she is all over playing with sand toys and the water, and loved doing boat races with Kyle down a little river on the beach.

 

Definately lots of family fun.  Jeff is the most amazing Dad...he is fun, always willing to play a game, go to the playground, sit down on the couch to read books and answer to the kids questions.  He works very hard to provide a comfortable life for all of us, he is very dedicated to our little family and I hope he knows just how much Kyle, Jillian, Leah and I appreciate everything he does!  Hope you had a great Father's Day Jeff!

summer fun has begun

Recently Leah and I went to the park to meet some friends (ahhh, how I love going to the playground in the middle of the day with Leah, definately one of the best perks about being a SAHM).  It was sunny and warm so the girls played around in the splash pad for ages.

I found out Lands End ships to Canada and free shipping codes apply (I have a personal rule and very rarely pay for shipping).  They have the best swimwear for kids, I found these adorable swim skirts for the girls and stocked up since they were on clearance for a ridiculously low price. 

Could this really be it?

We are finally done with buying diapers!  Leah has been insisting for a few weeks now she wants to wear underwear to bed "like Jillian and Kyle" (ahhh, the life of a third child - forever trying to catch up).  She has been fully daytime potty trained for months now, and I told her she needed to have 5 mornings in a row with dry pullups to try underwear at night.  She was determined and soon had success with cheers and a big high five in the morning. 

Now for the past two nights my big girl has slept in underwear and stayed dry all night!  To show just how determined she is to be a big girl, the past 2 nights shortly before bed Leah has asked for a drink.  I told her she would need to choose, either a drink before bed with a pullup on, or wear underwear and wait until morning for a drink.  Both times she shrugged and said "I will wait until morning for my drink". 

And so ends a decade of buying diapers and pullups.  Ten years ago to this day I was 7 and a half months pregnant with Kyle.  I distinctly remember being so excited about buying a pack of newborn diapers.  I had a little corner in our bedroom set up with the change table, diapers and all those cute little baby neccessities.  At the time we still lived in our 1 bedroom apartment downtown so our firstborn was entitled to a corner of the room rather than an actual nursery.  Little did I know at the time it was the start of 10 years worth of diapers (I don't even want to do the math on how much we have spent!).  On the plus side I never had to buy diapers for more than 1 child at a time...just as Kyle and Jillian had each moved into underwear for day and night, I was ready to welcome a new baby and had already purchased a pack of those adorable newborn diapers (which seemed smaller each time, as the older kids got bigger!).

That's one more big babyhood milestone behind us...way to go Leah!!