Special dinner night!

Paige and I went out for a mother daughter dinner night at Montana's on the first day of school.  We decided that when Rose was at gymnastics I would take Paige for a special dinner, and then Mike would have a turn in the future.  Then when Paige is at Brownies, we'll do the same for Rose.  Paige was really excited to have the special dinner, and Rose is really looking forward to her nights too.  As much as I was worried about the summer, it was really awesome, and the dinners will be a great way to connect one on one, now that the summer is over and they're at school so much.

Riding lessons

Paige started her riding lessons yesterday.  What a happy girl.  She was right in her element: totally confident, and loving every minute.  She picked Shadow to ride, and I think she'll be riding her every lesson.  I'm glad that we can let her pursue this interest.  She liked the horse camps but was always bummed out that she got so little time on the horses every day.  Now that she's in private lessons she basically gets a full hour each time which is probably about the same as she got in the entire week of camp.  It was really fun to watch and the instructor said we (Rose, Henry and I) could come for a walk with them at the end of the lesson, which was great.  It's a little tricky to bring Henry there as he gets into trouble, so he probably won't come every time...but fun for Rose and we've already discussed bringing hot chocolates when the weather gets cold.

To Rose on her first day of Kindergarten!

My sweet little Rose is at Kindergarten.  Full day Kindergarten has begun at all Ontario schools now, which means that for the next 2 years, Rose will be in Kindergarten all day everyday (unlike Paige who only had 2 or 3 days a week).  I wonder if she will be surprised by how much time she will spend at school.  At the age of 4, I don't believe she truly realizes what to expect. My confident Rose lined right up with her class, and had no worries at all about the day ahead.  Although she is shy, she makes friends easily, and is a fun girl who gets along well with everyone.  I know she will be fine at school.

To my little Rose: your school journey begins today.  Although you may not realize it, you will be learning new things every day.  Mommy and Daddy, (and Paige and Henry), and your days at preschool, have taught you many things about the world, but there are still so many more things for you to discover.  You will learn about friendships, writing, reading, art, new sports, about the country that you live in, and the rest of the world.  Maybe one day you'll be interested in Anthropology, or computers, but if not, that's ok too.  I want you to be happy and discover your own path.  So dance, sing, twirl, and swim, and everything else that brings you joy.  I will miss you at home every day, but I know you will have so much fun.

Can't wait to hear about your day, and every day that follows!
xoxo
Mommy

Paige's first day of Grade 2!

Paige and Amy

Paige was a little nervous heading off to grade 2.  She started the day after labour day. She was worried that she would be in a class of all new kids and I kept reassuring her that she would know most of them. Ahem.... Only knew Amy and 2 other boys.  Whoops! For whatever reason the classes from last year were fully split up into the 5 grade 2 classes.  I remember going through school with essentially the same kids so I just assumed it would be similar.  Everything seemed to go well though, and her teachers seem to be really fun and have a lot of great ideas for keeping the kids interested and engaged.  The first week sounded like fun to me! Looks like it'll be a great year!

Henry books

Henry has finally caught the reading bug.  For the last month or so he has been really into his bedtime books.  Before that he had little patience and just pushed them out of my hand or chucked them on the ground.  His favourite is "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?".  He once asked me to read it 12 times in a row, no exaggeration.  His "asking" is a noise like "ah? ah?" while shoving the book in my face.

Visit with the Pugsleys!

What a great visit with the Pugsley's! We barely saw the girls though as they were just off playing the entire time! We took them to Springridge for the first time, as well as the waterfront, a couple of parks, and an indoor playground. We spent a lot of time in the pool and backyard too, although the weather was kind of cooler while they were here. It's just so neat for the cousins to be able to spend lots of time together to bond at a young age.  And soon we'll be enroute to St. Albert for a few days!

 Lizzy took about 200 selfies secretly with the iPod

Why don't they just move here....???

Grandma Val visit!

So great for Grandma Val to come in the summer! Lots to do and so fun to have the pool to use.  Her last visit was in December, so this was quite different!

Mike had to go to the UK for a week, and GV arrived midway through his absence for some Girl Time (and Henry).  We had a very relaxing week, and only did one large outing to the science centre. The photos below are mainly from that day.  So nice to see GV and good thing we'll see her again next month in Edmonton again because the kids miss her. 

Mike's birthday. Family selfie.

Mikes gluten free birthday brownies with pumpkin in them.  So tasty!

Tooth loss July 31

Paige lost another bottom tooth! It came out just as her friends were leaving from a playdate, so it was quite exciting.  Look what the tooth fairy left.  The note and receipt were quite glittery.

Words

So far Henry isn't saying any real words.  He does say the same things over and over again though.

2 weeks ago he was saying this:
"Guppy guppy guppy"

Now he says this constantly:
"Ess go bah! Ess go bah!!

It doesn't mean anything at all, he just likes to say it.  One thing he does say though is "Scout"....but it sounds nothing like Scout and I'm not even sure he is trying to say Scout, or if he's just come up with a new word for that thing that is a dog.  It is "Gah-gah!".  He says it for all dogs.  We'll be in the store and a seeing eye dog will walk by and he says "GAH-GAH!!!" and does an extreme point.

So I think he's ramping up to talking one day.  He definitely understand a TON, and can follow commands, just doesn't have the need/want/understanding that he can talk yet.