Last day of school is finally here!

Every year the kids look forward to that day at the end of June when school is done and summer vacation begins.  This year I think I was looking forward to it even moreso than my kids.  Jeff and I have quite a surprise up our sleeves for our 3 little monkeys.

Kyle had a fantastic teacher this year.  His classroom was part of the literacy @ school program which means a large chunk of their day was spent on technology.  I was thrilled he no longer had a paper agenda to bring home each night (or forget in his desk each night...).  Instead they used an online program called Edmodo which I was able to access as well and see right there in realtime when his teacher added a homework assignment (try telling me you don't have homework now!).  This was a great tool for Kyle, he is very tech savvy and being able to do his homework on the laptop, and sometimes even submit online, made homework time much easier in this house for sure.  He still has some struggles with school...Kyle has some amazing gifts academically but also has quite a few things he needs to continually work on and improve.  Kyle had some great accomplishments this year... he participated in his first mathletics competition (and came in 7th out of 45!), participated in a k'nex and lego bridge building competition and was in the chess club.  He continued with tennis lessons and gymnastics class.  I'm so proud of you Kyle, you are growing up so fast and I love the young man you are turning into!
Jillian also had a great teacher, she is sweet and patient, a perfect teacher for my little teacher's pet.  Jillian's report card is glowing with her accomplishments this year!  Jillian joined choir again and loves to sing, she improved her french and english reading skills and excelled in every subject.  She is an excellent student, all teachers love having her in their class because she is helpful and kind.  I'm in awe of my social girl, being confident and social never came naturally to me whereas Jillian is a natural.  And to top it off she made the Honour Roll this year!  She loved her art class, continued with gymnastics, did another session of rhythmic gymnastics and even gave taekwondo a try.  Jillian, you are adventurous and excel in everything you do, I'm so proud of you!

Leah's preschool teacher was pretty good but had moments of frustration (it was my first year teaching after all!).  Both Kyle and Jillian were in preschool leading up to their JK year so doing preschool at home full-time was new to me.  Being home this year with Leah has been such a blessing for myself and our whole family.  I will admit though I did worry about how well prepared Leah would be for school.  And now I'm not worried at all, I know she is more than ready!  Leah has mastered all upper and lower case letters, she knows all the letter sounds and her printing is coming along nicely.  She can easily count objects up to 15 (sometimes 20, but a few numbers are sometimes skipped), she is working on printing letters now and doing very well.  I made sure to keep her active and out and about with her friends.  We had a weekly routine that included dance class, preschool playgroup, gymnastics and many playdates.  Leah loves her activities, especially gymnastics.  She loves doing arts and crafts and loves playtime with her friends.  I'm certain she will fit in at school without any problems.  Leah I love spending my days with you and will miss you once school starts in the fall.  But I'm happy you will be able to make new friends and finally get to go to school in the morning just like your big brother and big sister...thanks for making me smile and laugh every day!

First day of school - September 2011

they've both grown up and changed so much this year

And now after more than a year of planning our very exciting 2012 summer vacation is finally here...check back in a little while for an update and many pictures.  Leah is sick and I'm hoping she feels better very soon with the antibiotics so she is able to fully enjoy all the fun!

friendship

What do you get when you have your friend Ellia over for craft time?  If you're Leah you end up with an Ellia castle of course.

Ellia and her sweet baby sister came over for playtime, dressup, crafts and lunch.  Well, for Leah and Ellia at least...Keira spent most of her time trying to eat lego.  Here you see Leah working on her Ellia castle while Ellia creates her own masterpiece.

How cute is this little munchkin?!  Right now she's in that fun stage of putting anything and everything in her mouth.  Which means staying on top of her in my house since we are no longer baby friendly now that Leah is far, far away from that stage.

Freezies after a hard few hours of playtime.

The finished product with a little construction paper for background and the addition of a rainbow from Jillian.  It is now hanging in the hallway and Leah said whistfully "I love my Ellia castle" each time she passed by tonight.

It was a great playdate...the girls play together so very nicely, I got my baby fix and enjoyed chatting with Jill.  I'm thankful Jill was willing to say yes when the loud, chatty mom (aka me) asked her and Ellia over for lunch after just a few dance classes!

notable quotes

some notable quotes heard around our house lately

"not fair!"
-- Jillian, when the rules of our mancala game meant I ended up with more rocks than her (this is a common quote from Jillian used almost every day when she feels there has been an injustice against her...which is often)

"what's the point of that?"
-- Kyle, when I told him even though we had computers back when I was in school, the internet didn't exist yet

"what's the point of that?"
-- also Kyle, when he found an old 500MB USB key...he wondered why they made one so small

"it's Kyle's fault!"
-- Jillian, when I told her to stop flipping over the couch (I should note at the time she said this Kyle was sitting at the other end of the couch playing his video game...)

"STOP JUMPING ON THE COUCH!"
-- me, to Leah, several times a day

"it's okay that you yell sometimes mommy, we all make mistakes"
-- Leah, when I apologized for losing my temper and yelling when I got frustrated (my sweetie-pie!)

"I know"
-- Leah, whenever I tell her she's smart, sweet, funny or anything along those lines...gotta love the confidence of a 4 year old

"for 2 matching hair ponies, is it okay if one yellow has sparkles and one doesn't?"
-- Jillian, while braiding Leah's hair

And my favourite...

"I tried a tall blond but I didn't like it"
-- Jeff (a non-coffee, non-tea drinker), when he told me what he ordered at starbucks during a breakfast meeting...I suggested he stick with short brunettes

bbq bash, haircut, tea party, games and other stuff

 

Some random goings-on around our house this weekend...

On Friday night we had a fun BBQ Bash at the school.  The food was delicious, we had great music (including karaoke with the kids, fun!) and overall it was a great time for the kids and parents.  By far the most popular area was the photo booth.  My kids each took a few turns in there and I love the candid pictures with their friends.

 Kyle has kept his long-ish hair for a while now but decided it was time to go back to short for the summer...

before

after

Leah set up this lovely tea party slash pengaloo game for us to play...we played by rolling the dice and taking a sip of tea before searching for the coloured eggs.

Jillian with our lovely craft area...remember when it was all neat and tidy?  Yeah, me too.  Those were the days.

A yummy treat we made this weekend (thank you pinterest).  What's better than chocolate dipped strawberries?  Chocolate dipped ritz peanut butter sandwiches!

 Jillian and Leah circling many, many items in the TRU flyer...Leah tells me in the most animated way how much she NEEDS each item.  They have continued on with this activity throughout the weekend despite being told several times we aren't actually purchasing anything from the flyer.

chocolate monster

Leah's Wednesday morning playgroup is ending for the summer which meant a potluck lunch.  We brought some chocolate dipped strawberries with candy sprinkles...Leah did the dipping and sprinkling.

Here's the chocolate monster I found in the kitchen after leaving Leah with the bowl of leftover melted chocolate.

"which finger will be the tastiest?"

a garden of my own

After years of talking about it I finally dug up a little garden.  There was a half-hearted attempt a couple of years ago but I didn't dig it out properly and soon after yielding a few cucumbers I was no longer able to find my plants among the weeds (that's bad, right?).  This year I dug out an area, lined it, filled it with nice new triple mix and planted some yummy food.

We have tomatoes, 2 varieties of peppers, squash, cucumbers and watermelon!

Around the other side of the house I planted some raspberry bushes...I know we won't get much (if any) this year but I'm looking foward to lots of fresh raspberries next year.

But just to show you my thumb is still mostly not green, here's a wide shot of the garden with the weeds in the background...yep, still have some serious garden cleanup to do.

Next year's goal?  More veggies planted and make some neat veggie markers I found on Pinterest.





Out front things are growing along nicely too...

Leah checking out the flowers, in her pjs, with her morning apple (ah, the life of a 4 year old!)

My day lillies are blooming

the little tree that could...Jillian's tree she brought home from school and planted all by herself is growing nicely.  I'm sure within 2 years it will outgrow this little garden spot and will be moved to a new home in our yard.

Father's Day fun

Our day started out with gifts and homemade cards in the morning.  After church we had a chocolate chip pankcake brunch.  Then it was off to the local fun fair.

The fun fair had it all...midway rides, petting zoo, pony ride for Jillian, a skateboarding fire-twirling busker, local vendors, magic show, face painting for the girls, snake air-brushed tattoo for Kyle and balloon animals.

Home for an early dinner (sausages and mashed potatoes...one of Jeff's favourites).  A swim.  A campfire s'more themed father's day cake and movie night.

Happy Father's Day Daddy...we love you s'more!

I am blessed to have 3 wonderful fathers in my life to celebrate today...my Dad, my Father-in-law and Jeff.

Happy Father's day to my Dad...hard-working, funny and taught me I can do anything.

Happy Father's day to my Father-in-law...we miss you, it's so nice to hear your voice every Sunday night and the kids look forward to their next visit with Grandpa.

Happy Father's day to my wonderful husband, I couldn't ask for a better partner in this crazy parenthood journey!!

my favourite cute things

little keens for my 4 year old (I seriously think tiny shoes will be one of the things I miss most once I no longer have a little one in the house).

little swimmer in her puddle jumper

little girls in my backyard doing this when I looked outside...brings back memories of my own childhood with girlfriends and doing our hair

freckles on Jillian

ice cream face

CUTE!

outside until the lights come on...

Some of my favourite childhood memories revolve around the small crescent where I grew up.  We moved to that street from another province when I was 5 years old and stayed for 7 years.  Those years were spent playing outside with the neighbourhood kids until all hours, our parents gathered on one porch chatting while we played hide-and-go-seek, rode our bikes and hung out at the playground at the end of our street.  That's the childhood I remember.

Fast forward *ahem* many years, now I live on a small street with my own kids.  And nothing makes me happier than seeing them outside playing with the kids who live on our street.  Some of them go to the same school, others don't but everyone gets along so nicely.  We've had a few good friends move from our street so the friendships have changed a bit over the years, but one thing doesn't change and that is my kids LOVE being outside playing.  The girls are out front playing chalk or in one of the backyards (often ours!) catching bugs and playing in the playhouse.  The boys are on bikes or scooters.  Being almost 11 means Kyle has a bit more freedom and can roam the whole street and be at his friend Zach's house which is out of sight.  The girls are restricted to a boundary of our house to 3 houses down where these 2 sweet girls live and get along so well with Jillian and Leah.

I'd be lying if I didn't add sometimes the chaos of kids in and out of the house and constant knocking on the door asking for Kyle or Jillian drives me just a bit crazy at times.  But overall it makes me happy to see my kids getting to enjoy the same kind of carefree childhood I enjoyed.  I just make sure the freezer is stocked with freezies the fridge with juice boxes to keep everyone happy!

The girls doing gymnastics and sharing blueberries in the backyard