Only 4 More Days Of School!

The classroom is starting to look a little bare with all the art work coming down. It must be the end of school. Rachael had lots of fun in her first year of French Immersion and she's looking forward to going to school all day next year in Grade 1.

Oh, my goodness! Did I just say Grade 1? That's way too big! We keep asking her if she can stay little for a while longer but she doesn't go for that.

The eight Kindergarten Kids in Rachael's class sit at tables while the grade one's get desks. And there's always lots of carpet time.

Kaitlyn has loved going to school almost weekly to help out in the classroom. Most of the time she'll simply watch what the older kids are doing, but once in a while she gets involved. She's become the resident-little-sister of the class. At least I'll still have one little girl at home to keep me company. At least for one more year.

Sports Day

I know this will be hard to believe, but - the weather man was wrong! Again! All week the forcast for Sports Day was sunny, and then this morning he changed his mind, because it sure wasn't sunny when we woke up! But, seeing as this is the last Friday of school, there wasn't really anywhere to postpone Sports Day too, so we had it anyway.

Wouldn't you know, the first station they went to was the Freezie station. Freezies in the rain. It was a good thought. A freezie at the end of a long fun day of running in the sun would have been very refreshing, but first thing in the morning in the rain wasn't ideal.

After freezing with Freezies they did ring toss and then a water relay race. Again, had the weather been nicer this would have been more enjoyable. But the kids didn't mind so it's all good. It's officially summer now anyway, at least according to the calendar. You might not know it to look outside. There was the Grab-everything-you-can relay, Sack Races, Pass-the-Baton relay and the Shoe Scramble. On wet grass. Soggy socks anyone? The kindergartens got an added bonus of getting to stay at school all day for Sports Day. Who wants to go home early when there's more fun to be had? After lunch the sun did try to make an appearance, and when it did it was quite warm. There were more water-relays, a bouncy-castle thing, more freezies, sidewalk chalk and very fun-looking red bouncy ball things you ride on. That looked like the most fun of a very fun day.

Cute Kids

Nothing really to say in this post. Just took some cute pics of my girls and thought I'd post them. In case you forgot how cute they are!

It's a Zoo Out There!

We picked the one good weather day this week to go on a Field Trip to the zoo! Rachael got to ride on the bus but Mommy and Kaitlyn drove in the car.
When we got there we divided the kids into groups with two parents. We had 5 kids (plus Kaitlyn) and that was plenty to keep track of!
We walked around and saw all the animals, stopped for lunch and played in the playground for a bit. It was more of a zoo in the playground than it was in the rest of the place! I counted 5 school busses plus all the other people so it was a little crowded! Then we hopped on the train for a ride around the park, saw a few more animals and headed back home. Fun times at the zoo.

Kaitlyn's First Hair Cut

Last week I gave Rachael a haircut, and now Kaitlyn wanted one, too. This is how long her hair was before (it's wet):And here's here short hair After. Ok, it's not super short but still.
She likes her short hair. I think it makes her look a little more grown up. But, I guess she is three and a half already!

Smarties

Well, she's taking after her big sister all right. Kaitlyn's only three and a half years old and already she can write her name and about half of the capital letters of the alphabet.
Rachael's doing really well in school. She's almost done kindergarten and then next year she's gone all day to grade one. *sniff* She just got her interim report card and she's doing great - not that we expected anything less. And she's on level 3 reading. She can read quite well in French and English.

What a bunch of smarties!

Bunk Beds

Guess what Rachael and Kaitlyn got???

I'll give you a hint...

...they're real sleepy...

...it's bunk beds!!!

The girls were so excited to get them! They actually wanted to go to bed! (How often does that happen?)

Sleepy Head

I guess Kaitlyn isn't quite done with naps just yet. This first picture was taken a few weeks ago when she just couldn't keep her eyelids open any longer. (And what could be more cozy than snuggling with Daddy?)
These pictures were taken today. "Do you need to have a nap today?" "No, I'm not sleepy." Well, maybe just a little bit. But not too much!
Aren't kids cute when they're sleeping?

Playing it Cool

Rachael and Kaitlyn are playing it cool in their big playroom. And yes, a toy box is for playing in, not for keeping toys in!

We've Moved

So, here they are - the much-awaited pictures of the new house. (This pic isn't the best - we're getting a new roof and there's all the shingles up on the roof!)
The kitchen is small. Not much cupboard space and in desperate need of new countertops, cupboards and flooring. But not too bad. At least it's not all grungy like some we saw!
This is the living room. It's kind of an akward shape but it has nice big windows and a vaulted ceiling.
There are three bedrooms upstairs. The girls are sharing a room and the other room is the office. This is a (not very good) picture of the all-important craft room downstairs! (I'm excited :-)
And the girls love having a huge playroom downstairs, too. Complete with a little fort behind the wall of boxes.

It seems like a good house and we're happy here. Quiet street, double car garage, covered deck, fenced back yard and a front entry that's got room for more than one person!!! (Those of you with cathedral-entranced homes will know what I'm talking about! :-p )

So stop by and see us one day!

Egg-celent Cookies!

Auntie Kendra made great big egg-shaped cookies for everyone to decorate and seven or eight fun colored icings!There were some very creative (and tasty) eggs made.
A finger-licking good time!

Hoppy Easter!

We had a big turn out for Auntie Kendra's annual Easter Egg Hunt. We had great weather for it, too! We were forced indoors the last two years so it was great to be back in the great outdoors again.This year the hunt was held at Auntie Milena's house. There were so many great hiding places that not all the eggs were found! I guess their dog will be finding the rest!
Lots of goodies - lots of fun!

Lots of Lambs

Every year, since the day she was born, Rachael gets a lamb from Auntie Kendra on her birthday. That's because "Rachael" means "Little Lamb." This is the birthday collection.

Somebody's Six!

Somebody's six? Oh, my goodness, that's WAY too big! But, you can't change the fact that Rachael IS six. She had her first "friends" birthday party and it was a crafty one! These are the people that were there:
They made foamy Princess crowns, played some games, opened presents, made cute pompom animals and of course ate birthday cake. Once again Auntie Kendra pulled through and made an amazing birthday cake! But, then, we expected no less! It's Liz the lizard from Magic School Bus, with VeggieTales balloons! How cute is that!
Thanks Kendra for all your help with the crafts!

Fun times were had by all.

Worms and Dirt! Yummy!

Rachael wanted Worms and Dirt for her "pretend" birthday at Gramps and Gram's house. We even added a frog or two to the mess.
Auntie Kendra is making her a "Liz" (from Magic School Bus) the lizard cake for her real birthday. I'm noticing a reptile/amphibian trend here. This not normal for a 6 year old girl! Oh, well, at least she's not asking for any as pets!
Gramps and Gram gave Rachael exactly what she always wanted! A puppy that came with a travel cage and - most importantly - Doctor tools! Now she can be a vet, just like she wants to be when she grows up!

Leapin Lizards!

Now that we're done with being sick (cross your fingers!) we can actually have some fun this second week of Spring Break!.

At the mall "Safari Jeff and Shannon" had an Animal Kingdom show and brought out all kinds of reptiles and

amphibians. At the end of the show they brought out some of the animals to touch!





Rachael and Kaitlyn both touched an albino snake of some long variety and Rachael touched a big lizard. Then they brought out a baby crocodile that we could only look at.
Rachael loved it, and Kaitlyn tolerated it as long as Mom wasn't too far away.

It's finally Spring!

I get to enjoy at least some of the flowers I planted in my garden before we move!

Yesterday was so sunny and warm it made me forget all about the snow we had a week ago! Hopefully we'll have some of that nice sunny weather for Spring Break the next two weeks!

Dino Lego

Rachael was reading one of her favorite books: Magic School Bus. On this adventure the students went back in time and saw real dinosaurs. Then they came back to class and made pictures of

"Real Dinosaurs We'd Like To See": They are Bananasaurus Rex, Sockosaur, Potosaurus and Frizzeratops. Daddy thought they could make those dinsoaurs out of Duplo and Lego and here are their creations:
Daddy made the yellow Bananasaurus Rex, Rachael made the green Sockosaur and Kaitlyn made the blue Potosaurus. Nobody attempted the Frizzeratops.