Colette
Back to Preschool for Mason (2
nd year) and
Ronan's official 1st day of school!
Mason is a pro at preschool. Before he was old enough, he had spent a year going to drop
Ronan off and it was always a fight to get him out of there, then finally it was his turn!! The boys spent all of last year together in Preschool at Creative Edge School of Arts. They did so well together, I have to admit I was unsure as to how Mason would cope without his older brother there to keep him company! Well, I guess all the time he has spent there and with that routine, he had no worries. We dropped him off and he said goodbye and settled in at one of his favourite play centers, and that was it! I'm excited to see him learn to manage socially on his own!
Ronan's school, Mountain Elementary, has a very minimal staggered entry. Yesterday we had a one hour session together, today, it's cold turkey! He goes all by himself today, no mommy to keep him company. It's only for an hour and with half of his class mates. It will be like this for a week, then they will combine all the kids for an hour and a half for 2 days, then it's the full 2 1/2 hour block with everyone. He was pretty nervous, but I assured him that I would be waiting outside for him and not to worry. He did FABULOUS!! I did too for that matter! No tears from either party!
Colette
Enough said right?! I have anxiously been waiting for this day since Ronan was born. I LOVE to see my kids learn and grow and thrive in life. For me, and as for most people, education is super important, and so, to finally be entering this new era of life is very exciting!
All through the Summer prior to his first day I began to feel that feeling of wanting to stop time, to hold on to my little baby as tight as I could. I didn't think I would have these feelings, but they crept up on me. I was still excited for Kindergarten, but sometimes (usually when I was on my own) I was overwhelmed with the loss of my baby. It is so official, so definite, such a turning point in both of our lives. He is no longer my
Ronan-cakes (he hates it when I call him that now!!
hahaha) It's such an important and amazing step and as sad as I am to see him "go" I am so happy for him. He is so grown up and handsome!
His first day was only an hour long, we got to check out his school, the music room, the K-classrooms, the Library...here he is in the computer lab and settled right into a game. He was quite nervous when we first arrived, but warmed up to the environment quickly!! I'm so proud of him!!
The gym was the last stop on our tour. This was by far his favourite place to be! He shot hoops, walked a balance beam several times and played some football. He was right at home here!
It's a happy, bitter-sweet day. I will miss him terribly, but will also be so happy to see him go each day into a world I know he will thrive in.
Ronan is always full of questions and absorbs everything he sees and hears. He loves to learn and I know he will fit right. Good luck to my precious baby! <3
Colette
This year, Mason requested a bug theme. At first I found it a hard theme to find anything to go with it, but it eventally came together. Since it is getting closer to halloween, I found this........cute(???) paper to make the invitations out of:
On the inside it said: "Mason is turning 4! Please join with us in celebrating at his bug party! Creep by on: ... In Our Ant Hill: ... Infestation Time: ... Hope to see you there!! Buzzzzzzzzz us at: ..."
This was the place setting. Each kid got a huge bug with their names attached, binoculars (I had hoped for magnifying glasses, but couldn't find any...) and a bug collector for our bug hunt later on.
These are the little critters I made to dress up the table center. Just styrofoam balls painted and then I used toothpicks to hold them together and pipe cleaners for the legs and eyes. Super easy to do and didn't take very long to make!! And they turned out so cute!
The decor! I was really happy with this colour scheme. It made me feel super happy!! haha We have this giant "window" from our kitchen to dining room and I always get creative with streamers. I like doing this mostly because it blocks out the mess beyond from the party area, but also because it looks A-MA-ZA-ZING!
The craft! These little hats used to be aliens, but I peeled off their eyes and mouths and glued on googley eyes and made wings out of firm, adhesive felt. The kids got to stick on glitter bugs and flowers and I also had the letters of their name in baggies for them to put on their hats as well.
The goody bag! As well as the items on the table, they also go a "Bug's Life" book, skittles, a mini Chocolate bar, stickers and some Buggy Graham Crackers that I found in the states! Score!!
For ice cubes in their drinks I froze gummy Tarantulas in a mini muffin pan.
The kids doing their craft. The only good sport was Westin, he wore his hat for quite awhile...the others...well...their boys. We should just be please that they did the craft. haha
Mason's brief hat wearing moment. You can see he's already going to take it off in the pic!
Before the cake, we played a game. I hid bugs all around the party area and told the kids that while they were doing the craft downstairs we had a bug infestation upstairs!! So they got their little containers and found all the bugs. Cute!!
This was the cake. I didn't get a good picture of it! Waaaaa!! I painted a flower pot and lined it with paper, then built a "Dirt Cake" inside. Layers of Chocolate cake, pudding and crumbled oreo cooking (for the dirt) and I burried gummy worms and tarantulas in it as well. teehee!
Present time!! Always the biggest hit! It was really crazy cuz all the kids matched the colour scheme and each other in one way or another, AND their presents matched too!! All were blue or green or both! It was funny! We had a good time, Mason had lots of fun and was very thankful for his presents. I love party planning!!! Time to start the next!!
Colette
While we were in Idaho, we came across a "Bumblebee" bike that was the right size for Mason. We had seen this one advertised back home, but it was never in stock, it was also priced for about half the cost!! So, in the presence of our soon to be 4 year old, we purchased the bike. And with no where to stash it, it was no surprise to him that it was for his birthday. So, just to make it official and to satisfy my need to throw birthday parties, I planned an "un-birthday" for him so that we could actually give him his present. We also wanted to give it to him a bit early so that we could squeeze as much ride time as we could before the fall and winter came along. I prepared his favourite: homemade (aka "real macaroni") and we had fresh, homemade blueberry pie instead of cake.
I think he likes it...
It's funny...he had seen this bike before, even had a try riding it in the store, but we kept in "hidden" for about a week and I guess the time apart was enough to make it seem almost like he was actually surprised!
haha
They are all ready and decked out in their biking gear. After dinner and dessert we took them up to Mountain Park to have a go.
He did really well and is already a pro!
Colette
Slade's Uncle and Aunt, George and Lucy Bates, celebrated their 50th anniversary this year in Trail, BC! We made a last minute decision and decided to attend the festivities! Unfortunately I forgot my camera at the hotel and so I don't have any pictures from the event. It was nicely decorated and had a really great program with lots of singing from the family! What a talented family!!! I was amazed and had a good time hanging with Slade's extended family and getting to know them better. We only get to see them once every 3 years, so things change a lot from then until now. They had a dance afterwards and Summer was in her glory!! That girl has got some moves! I wish so badly I had my camera there to take some pics and video. She was hilarious and had the best time of her life up to that point I'm sure!! She particularly like the old school songs from the 50's! After the reunion we headed down to Couer d'Alene, ID. We had been to an amusement park there called Silverwood and Boulder Park years ago when Ronan was only 6 months old, so we wanted to go back and check it out again. It is an amusement park mixed in with water slides! Your entry gets you into both parks. We started out at Silverwood and got right into the rides. Ronan and I went on this ride first. It was fun and Ronan got a real kick out of it!
The boys REALLY liked this ride. They went on it a few times, especially once it got later and the crowds started to thin out.
I, being a mean mother, forced the boys onto this rapid raft ride.
teehee! It is by far one of the most calm raft rides I've ever been on. They plugged their ears the whole way down!
We got soaked, so we decided to hit up the water slides and let our clothes dry out in the sun for awhile. I had fun, but I don't think the boys were too impressed!
There weren't any rides there for our little princess to ride on, however, this was her throne for the day! We only had our umbrella stroller with us and we figured this was a better option so the boys could swap in and out when they got tired. It's a huge park and there was lots of walking involved. And no...I didn't let her drink all of that
slurpee!! She just looked so cute holding this cup that was almost as big as her!!
Boys will be boys...they absolutely loved taking turns driving this antique car! They actually got to push the gas and break pedals and steer! There was a track that ran down the middle of the road to keep the car from going off the road, but they could
maneuver it around slightly. The thrills!!
Poor Sum-bum, watching on. She was having a blast drinking blue
slurpee and watching her shadow as she walked.
This was
Ronan's second and Mason's first ride on the scrambler!! I
videoed them as the ride went. Too fun!!
I had to include this. Mason says: "Mommy watch this trick!" He then hooks his elbows in his shirt, like this and laughs his head off!! Alright....(???) My
Mase...so cute!
We got the kids a little gift from the gift shops to remember
Silverwood. They both picked these frogs that had
velcro on their hands and feet. The were thrilled to give their frogs a "
froggy-back ride." Best buds, they are so sweet together!
We had a good trip. The kids travelled perfectly as usual! I am so blessed to have kids that love going on long car rides. Summer had a bit of a hard time, she doesn't sleep well when she isn't in her crib, so nights were a bit difficult and she didn't sleep a whole lot in the car. I had to spend lots of time in the back keeping her busy. But we managed and had a nice time together.
Colette
Coming into the home stretch of the summer, you start to run out of ideas for things to do. We'd been to the lake LOTS, parks, spray parks, swimming pools, play dates, shopping...we were running out of ideas and the kids were starting to feel bored with the mundane. So Irene phoned up one morning with the great idea to go check out the Dinosaur Exhibit at Metrotown! So after some planning, packing and getting ready to go we met up and headed out to Surrey to catch the sky train. We could have just drove, but we thought this would add to the fun. Just as we arrived at the Scott Road Train Station, Summer puked all over herself. This was confirmation that my little baby gets car sick!!!! Sucky!! So after I cleaned her and her seat up as much as possible, we got our tickets and headed off.
Summer slept through the whole thing except for the sky train ride!
The kids got to "dig for bones". It was pretty cute! Lots of sand flying everywhere!
There was a
dino there that was "remote control". So the kids each took a turn pushing these buttons that made the
dino do different things. It was fun, but a bit frustrating. Kids kept running up out of turn and pushing extra buttons which would freeze up the machine. But they still enjoyed themselves, so
whatevers right???
The kids were a little bit
leery of this guy at first! He moved and roared every now and then. We had to spend a few minutes explaining to them that it wasn't real!! So cute!!!
Okay, everyone be goofy!! Well....okay, just Jared be goofy!! What a good sport!
haha
The
dino bones on display were pretty cool! It always blows my mind to think of the enormity of these animals and that they lives SO long ago. It is also amazing that humans have found these bones and were able to piece them together!! A-ma-
za-zing!!
It was a pretty fun trip! The kids were tired and ready to leave after awhile. It was hard to leave that place without stopping into every store there!!! I need to go shopping!! Goodbye Metrotown! I will miss you!
Colette
We are spoiled during the summer because Slade gets all kinds of free tickets from Avenue Machinery to events throughout the summer/year. So, as usual, we had some tickets to go to the air show! We met up with the Leavitt's and had some fun.
Slade and the boys checking out a big huge jet!!
The noise was pretty intense and both our families called it quits after only a couple hours!
Me and Ronan in a huge cargo plane.
Colette
Slade had the opportunity to play baseball with the fire department in the World Police and Fire Games! The team was organized and started practise in March. It was pretty exciting for him and I was happy to see him tapping into something that he has loved and missed. Slade played baseball all through his childhood and youth. He got to play first base with his team and did a really great job! I went out to watch 3 of his 7 games, the first one in Surrey and the next two in Burnaby. It was lots of fun, and I was thankful for the good weather! Glad it wasn't raining and glad it wasn't 45 degrees out! I love watching sports, but I really miss playing sports as well. It was fun to watch Slade and his buddies pull it together. They went up against the team from Montreal that won the gold medal in last years WPFG!! So yeah...they got beat pretty bad for their first game. Their final game would determine who would go on to play for the bronze medal! They were so close and only lost by one run! It was a good game, an exciting experience and he had fun playing anyways. :) Here are some shots of the action:
Colette
I'm getting behind in my blogging agin. I really like blogging and am finding it a lot more exciting to journal my life this way! HOWEVER; I would be up to date, but my camera has decided to go on the fritz I think. Either that or it's my sweet little computer. I can't seem to access my memory card through a USB connection or even through the memory card! I'm technoloically challenged to a certain degree...I can do most of the typical things on a computer, but this...I'm at a loss. Blogging without the photos to go along with it seems kind of pointless...but then again...maybe it's not!
