Paige turns 6!

Happy 6th Birthday Paige!!!

Paige wanted a birthday party at  home so we had Crock-a-Doodle come to the house.  The girls and I love going to the studio and I noticed they did at home parties so I thought it was a great activity for us to do for her party.  The girls were able to choose either a butterfly or a cupcake container to paint.  Afterwards we had pizza, cake, fun with a piñata, and present opening.  It was a little less chaotic than last year, but a bunch of hyper girls together means lots of talking and screaming. 

Paige at 6?

Easy going, even tempered, fun loving, caring, and happy.  She's the kind of kid that if you have to say no to her, she gets over it quick and doesn't pout or get upset.  She still loves animals, and pretend play with animals.  You'll usually see her in a cozy outfit and basic brushed straight hair.  She's not too into girly clothes, accessories, or anything uncomfortable.  She's easily amped up and can get hyper and loud and crazy.  She loves riding her new bike, swimming, looking at magazines, watching 'Survivorman' and 'Man Tracker' with Daddy, desserts, crafts, video games, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop....

She has grown a ton in the last year.  Still the smallest of her friends, but looking a lot more grown up then when she was 5.  I can hardly believe she's going into grade 1!

Love you so much Paige!!

Into the new house...

I thought it would be stressful moving, and of course it was.  Really stressful.  A house full of boxes with 3 kids, one of which needs to be held most of the time, and a dog is actually not very fun.  But there were other things I wasn't expecting that became a stress. Not knowing where things are, trying to create new routines, figure out where the kids should play when you're busy, getting the dog adjusted to the rules of a new space... all these things weren't in my mind when I thought about the new house. Not to mention that we still need to get the locks changed, the underground sprinkler system was busted, our microwave was broken, internet barely works, we need a pool guy, etc etc.  This has made for service people to be constantly popping by to fix things or look at stuff.  Well, the broken microwave has to be replaced by the previous owners.. Still waiting for that.

Anyway, we are now a couple of weeks in as I write this and things are slowly settling in.  House wise.  Henry is another story, but at least we are feeling more comfortable and at home here.

A few random photos:

Using the pool every day

Loving our new backyard.  Scout loves it. 

Wildlife in the pool--didn't let Scout see this

Still waiting to be awake enough at night for a night swim...

My side of the closet.  A big chore to unpack all of the wardrobe boxes

Family room in the early days

Living room was a disaster for a while

Installing a sound system

Uncle Greg came to help with the TV

Loving walks with Scout...there is actually shade...this street is amazing

Family room now with new furniture. Cozy. 

New bedroom furniture--king size bed. 

Since the pool photos above we have put the pool fence up for safety.  Also good as Scout can't get in it.  She fell/jumped in once to get her ball.  Mike had to jump in and get her out as there is no real ledge for a dog to get out. The main areas of the house are unpacked.  The office looks crappy, but we are getting a built in desk to wrap around the room with drawers and cupboards.  It should be amazing.  I'm quite enjoying climbing into a king size bed the million times I climb back into bed every night.

The only real project left around here is to unpack a few more things in the basement and organize it.  Really though it's the basement so we don't need to rush.  We also have to set up the guestroom, but no guests are imminently coming, so again not a huge concern.  We did need to purchase a new TV to fit in the cabinet, as well as a few various other gardening items, and a new BBQ which mike is currently out purchasing.

I'll update again on the house with more photos soon....

Moving out

After a few ridiculous months of buying a house, then purging and tidying and selling a house at 9 months pregnant, it all came to fruition when the packers came and packed up all of our possessions.

I had stressed about it for a few weeks even though there wasn't a ton for us to do.  Basically we had to pack a couple of suitcases for the night before the move, as well as pack up any lose things..like pens and paperclips and all that junk that doesn't need to be flying around.  Essentially all of the pre took a day while the girls went to hang out with the grandparents.  It was really rough for me to see the house in boxes and rock my final baby to sleep in our baby room one last time.  Kind of a tear jerker.

We ended up dropping Paige off at school on the day the packers came, and then went to the new house to drop off a few things we were bringing over on our own.  We also had a few errands to run.  By the time we returned to the house in the evening after eating a pizza at the new house it looked just the way it did when we moved in almost 8 years ago (with a few more stains, paint colours and chips, and general wear and tear of course!...and the boxes were a lot better packed then they were when we moved ourselves in).  Kind of freaky and makes you think about how much life has changed since then.  The girls don't really know at their young age about all the memories we have of them growing up in there.  For them it's just a house and I have to think of it that way too.  Pretty sad though.

After one last sleep in the house we woke up bright and early and got ourselves organized as the movers came at 8am.  We headed off to Cora's as breakfast at home wasn't an option (well it would have been if we wanted to leave out a few bowls and spoons and stuff--but honestly). 

Again I'll say that it was sad leaving the house but we did have over a week with it still in our possession so it's not like it was the final time we would leave the house.

Here are some scenes from our new empty house from the day of the packing and day of the move:

Kindergarten graduation

Paige is an official Kindergarten Graduate! Each class had a small ceremony in their classrooms where the kids sang a few songs and then the teacher presented them with a certificate.  It definitely did feel a little sad as I really liked her teacher, as did Paige, and she is moving onto a new school next year. 

Paige, Keianna, Mrs. Thompson, and Rebekah

After the classroom presentation everyone headed out for picnic snacks with their families, and a splash party.  Paige had mentioned way back that she wanted a water gun for the party this year unlike last year when she wanted to play but was getting sprayed.

Rose had a suit too, but didn't really want to go in the splash area.  She spent a lot of time playing in the sand.

Mike was able to take the time off to be there, and Henry was very well behaved.  A super hot day too which was great for the kids with their water play time.

So that is it! She's officially a grade 1 student.  Unbelievable.  I feel really positive about her kindergarten experience this year.  She did well on her report card again.  Everything was positive, and the things she has to "work on", are basically just continuing to read more challenging books, and challenging herself mathematically.  Essentially she was doing really well.  I see a big difference in her this year at the end of the year.  Her friendships are stronger and she is way more confident.  Sometimes she can be a tiny bit shy but at the school she's calling out to friends and even teachers.  After school the other day she popped her head back in the school and yelled, "Hi Mr. Connely!".  I never would have done that.  I always thought the grade 1's looked so much older than the kindergartens, and I can now see that she's there.  She may be small, but she has definitely grown up so much over the year.

Congrats Paige!!

Smiles

Henry started smiling around 6 weeks.  They're not super consistent as he's often over tired or in need of a nap, but when they do happen it is the cutest thing.

Bike riding...

Big success! Back in April Paige learned how to ride her two wheeler with no training wheels!

She started off riding it occasionally, but as it didn't take long for her to become confident she started riding her bike daily! Rose hops on her trike too and off they zoom around the street. Chloe from across the street and Marissa from next door are usually out there as well, and sometimes Emily from 3 doors down (2.5, 3, and 2 years old) The three trike riders swap trikes and blast around. The neighbors have other ride on toys too that the girls love to borrow. We all have water tables, so someone usually gets one out. If I can get Henry to sleep properly it is very relaxing to just watch the girls play while soaking up the nice weather with a coffee and a snack. The monitor works all the way down to Emily's house so we can wander around between houses. 

Sad that we'll be leaving behind a nice group of friends for both the girls and I. Plus it is Rose's first time to have friends her age to play with regularly. 

Back to the bikes though. I love love love that the girls are getting outside in the morning while its not to hot and actually getting exercise! We were cooped up for so long with the cold weather and the pregnancy that its so great for them. So proud of Paige that she just jumped on that bike and learned so fast. 

Bedtime reading...

Paige has been looking at "Where's Waldo" in bed every night with a flashlight. She can basically read everything now and is onto finding the extra items listed in the back of the book. 

I am so so so impressed with her reading skills. 

Henry at exactly 1 month...