25 things we've done this summer...

1. We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary by going to Saskatoon without our kids.

2. We went to Cirque Du Soleil.

3. We've gotten into the nice habit of going swimming at the ymca every Sunday afternoon.

4. We invited Maya to come over and swim in our kiddie pool.

5. We took Maya to the splash park.6. We jumped on Grandma's trampoline.7. We baked bread in our bread machine.

8. We bought fresh strawberries and corn on the cob from the fruit stand.

9. We went to Regina Beach on Canada Day.

10. We went out to Rick's parent's cottage for a day.

11. We went to visit Great-Grandpa and all the great Aunties and Uncles.

12. We visited great Auntie Rose's farm.

13. We got to sit in a combine and pull the horn on a semi truck.

14. Matthew read 20 books by himself and got to go to Book and Briar to pick out some new books.

15. Matthew's been reading alot on his own.

16. Caleb got some new hats.

17. Matthew has been building with his lego sets.

18. Caleb got a new ninja turtle costume.

19. I've read four books so far this summer.

20. We've played waterpark in the backyard with our kiddie pool and wacky sprinkler.

21. We went to the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.

22. I embroidered a robot. Not sure what to do with him... maybe make a book bag for one of the boys.

23. We've gone to storytime at the library each Tuesday morning.

24. We went to a magic show at the library and Matthew got to be the assistant!

25. We've been having a great summer! How about you?

caleb

Last night, Caleb was looking at the cover of this book: and he said "Isn't the baby chimp cute?" And then he said "I wish that I could jump inside this book, then I could feel how soft he is"

:)

Notice anything different about him?

No more soother! It was time, but I'm amazed at how easy it was! He loved that soother. Right around Matthew's birthday, Caleb started complaining that his soother was "prickly" and he didn't want it anymore. It was tough for him to go to sleep for a couple of nights, but now he's gotten used to it.

What a big boy! Remind you of anyone else? (pay no attention to the sucked-on shirt, it's a side effect of the soother withdrawal)

Ka-chow!

Matthew's CARS party
Phew! Are we ever tuckered out after a busy birthday weekend! Matthew invited 8 of his little friends (7 boys and one girl) over for a Lightning McQueen/Cars party. Can you say "active"?

Yikes!

Here are the racetrack cake and the Lightning McQueen pinata. The craft for the party was to make these cute t-shirts. Here's Caleb's.
And here's Matthew's.
We also had races in the backyard and a pinata. It was lots of fun!

That's all for now, things are really busy around here. School is almost out and I'm busy working on report cards and stuff like that.

an interview with an almost five year old

What is your favourite colour?

Purple

What is your favourite tv show?
Magic School Bus What is your favourite song?

The Magic School Bus song. You know the one I mean, right?

What is your.... ummm...

My favourite new birthday present?

Ummm, yes.

I like them all.

Who is your best friend?

Will

Who is your best, best friend?

Caleb

What is your favourite food?

Pizza

What are you going to be when you grow up?

A builder

Happy 5th Birthday to Matthew tomorrow!

(birthday party photos will be posted soon-we had so much fun!)

Thanks, Jenny L.

Thanks to Jenny, I am now officially addicted to goodreads!

:)

preschool graduation

Dear Matthew,

Last week, you graduated from preschool. And this was the real thing (not like last year when you pretended to, and you were still so young and you threw your cap up in the air way before it was time and everyone laughed and took pictures of you).

When you woke up on your graduation day last week, you seemed to sense my need to have you stay a preschooler for just a bit longer. You asked to snuggle before breakfast and you wanted me to read The Kissing Hand to you. Just like I used to when you first started preschool.

You looked so grown up at your graduation. You showed Daddy around your classroom and goofed around a bit with your buddies before the program started. You did all the actions and sang all the songs so well. When Mrs. Brown talked about how much the kids had changed and grown over the last two years, Daddy and I knew she was talking about you. You really have grown and changed so much.On the way home you were trying to find a way to spend another year at preschool. You figured that it would be fun to be in preschool with Caleb. And it would be fun, but you are on to bigger and brighter things, my dear.

And when we got home and looked through your folder, I sniffled a bit when I found the note that Mrs. Brown had kept and included with your art projects. You really have grown up so much. I am so proud of you, Matthew.

(this note is one of the many that I would write to you when you were three and you would keep it close by at school to help you to not miss me-it's a kissing hand)

Love,

Mommy

ten on tuesday

1. Caleb is so cute, he calls grilled cheese sandwiches, "girl cheese".

2. When we went out for lunch on Saturday, Caleb asked:

"Is it called 'girl cheese' because a girl made it for me?"

3. And now, I fear he may never call it girl cheese again, because I had to explain it to him. Didn't I? That was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

4. We let Matthew ride his bike (with training wheels) around the block with a friend and his dad, but without us. He's growing up.

5. I bought some new clothes on the weekend.

6. We are having nice warm weather, but we still need to cover our plants at night because of the risk of frost. I'm not a big fan of that.

7. I did a bit of sewing. But didn't quite finish my project yet.

8. Matthew's preschool graduation is coming up soon. I can't believe he's almost in kindergarten.

9. The show and tell theme in my class this week is "occupations". The kids can dress up if they like. It's my favourite theme of the year. Today, we had a science teacher (he even brought an experiment!), a ballerina, a mom and a teacher.

10. I'm planning a "Cars" (the movie) birthday party for Matthew's fifth birthday.

That's it for today. Have a great week!

may long

Happy May long weekend!

This weekend, we...

- took our sketchbooks outside and drew pictures. - picked up KFC and had a picnic in the park. Unfortunately, it was so windy that our food kept blowing away! But fortunately, a little gopher kept coming to visit us and the boys thought it was so much fun! And we played too!

- planted a garden in our backyard. This is the first time I've ever planted vegetables. We planted peas, radishes, carrots and lettuce. We also planted some sunflowers! Matthew was a big help and he is looking forward to seeing some plants soon.- Rick and I went out for Chinese food. I've been wanting Chinese food for a long time, but Rick often gets it at his lunch meetings for work, so he never feels like having it. So yummy! And thanks Grandma, for watching the boys.

- took Caleb to the doctor. He hasn't been feeling well and then he had a bunch of nosebleeds (he had never had a nosebleed). The doctor says it's just a cold and maybe some allergies. But at least I don't have to worry. By the way, Caleb does not like the sight of blood. At all. Poor guy.

- finished my cards for the card of every other month club. My inspiration for my cards was this quilt. I'll share my cards a bit later. Now I need to pack them up and get to the post office.

- bought my bedding plants and put them in. I have a flower bed in the front and some pots in the backyard. I also made a little herb garden in a container on the deck.

Bonus photos:

This one loves being outside:

Caleb and Daddy at the park:Caleb talked me into making strawberry daiquiris while we drew outside! I hope you all had a nice weekend too! What did you do?

petting farm

Matthew's preschool class went on a field trip to a petting farm yesterday. Caleb and I joined them. We enjoyed seeing the calves, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, bunnies, llamas and even guinea pigs!It was Matthew's helper day, so he got to carry Franklin around the farm

I got alot of shots of the back of their heads! (Matthew is the one crouched down)

I feel so bad, because halfway through the field trip, I realized that Caleb wasn't feeling well. He was such a little trooper though.After the farm, the class had a little picnic in the park. I brought farm animal cupcakes! The kids thought they were fun.

happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you! And to my mom, too! We all know that she had the best Mother's Day ever, because all three of her munchkins were sitting on her lap at the same time.




I think Caleb might be "grandma's boy" :)

Thanks for the great visit, Faye and Maya.

********

Matthew made sure that I had a happy Mother's Day. He made me breakfast in bed... whatever I wanted. I chose toast with jam and a bowl of strawberries. Daddy helped him make it. I opened my gifts in bed too. Matthew made me a shadow box at preschool. And the boys bought me a plant and a recipe magazine.

We went to Church and after mass, Matthew (and Daddy) made the waffles. They surprised me with some cinnamon knots that they had bought from the bakery. We also visited Rick's mom and had supper at my mom's (see photos, above)

It was a very happy Mother's Day!

zippered pouch

Well, I finished my embroidery. I got the pattern from Doodle-stitching and I like how it turned out. I definitely need to work on my stitching skills, but it was a fun first project.

So what to do with a piece of embroidery? (is that what you call it? 'a piece of embroidery?')

Pull out Bend the Rules Sewing and make a zippered pouch,of course! Also remember that my sewing skills are at the beginner level.

Ta da!