Back to school!

Whoohoo!! I am always bitter sweet about heading back to school. I love getting back into a routine. I hate getting up early. This year was a bit harder, as the wee Sophia was starting JK!! Amazingly there were no tears (from ME, not her! LOL!).

We had a fabulous first day... The kids got to school early, we found their teachers without hassle, and they all got settled.

Here are some photos from the day!


Are they excited or what?! LOL!


JA started grade three today... where has the time gone?! Wasn't it only last year that I sent her off, tearfully to JK!?


SK bound!


JK bound!!


The JK/SK teacher... she's phenomanol! I'm sure today was not an easy day for her!


I arrived back at school to take a couple more photos, and to make sure that the kids all got on the bus like there were supposed to. Sophia turned to me and nearly shouted (while pointing accusingly at me!)... "YOU!!!! GO BACK HOME!!! I am taking the bus." And that was that. She did let me take some photos tho

They all reported having had a great first day back to school! JA had a wee bit of homework already, but I am SURE that is b/c she is so social.... LOL! It's going to be a good year... :D

Thunder, Lightening and Soccer...

They just really do not mix. Period. The coaches manual even says that the games go ahead in RAIN... but as soon as there is ONE boom of thunder and/or one crack of lightening, the game is to be called. Makes perfect sense. Apparently, they don't always teach their TWELVE YEAR OLD referees how to make these kinds of life altering decisions. :roll:

So we get to soccer (Zachary's) for 5:30, and the clouds look menacing. My friend (another soccer mom) who took some meteoroligy classes in uni., said "oh, those are thunder clouds, no mistaking it!" But the game started, as there had been no lights or sounds.

Fast forward about 1.5 minutes. boom...... Boom.... BOom.... BOOOOM! Along with that came sheet and bolts of lightening. The game goes on. UM NO!! The 12 year old who has reffed for only 3 weeks simply doesn't make the call. The parents are kinda wondering. A couple parents start pulling their kids off the field. I try to be one, but Zachary doesn't pay attention, or can't hear me. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt! LOL!

I then step in. I'm not the coach, but Michael is. I tell him "YOU get out there and call this game, RIGHT NOW!" For Pete's sake (man he takes a lot that Pete!)... CALL THE FREAKIN' GAME!! I get the attention of the other two coaches and tell them the rules state, you know it, now get out there and get that kid to call the game. They talk to him, he says "I will defer to you as coaches." COP OUT. So *I* call the game! LOL! Then the ref does, and the other teams coaches agree that it's not safe. WELL DUH! The other game going on beside us continues, but when they see OUR game is over, they call theirs too.

That isn't the end!! LOL A parent from the other team is like "oh come on, this is ridiculous!" She was pissed for them calling the game!! I turned to her and said "it's only ridiculous until YOUR child, or another child or adult gets struck by lightening. It won't be so ridiculous then. It's in the coaches handbooks, the game is called on account of lightening." She just miffed at me. :eyeroll: Honestly... really!?? The 'storm' continued for a while... so the game would have been called anyway!

NOW we are off to JA's game, and see how it goes! LOL!

The Last Day of school!

I am about a week and a half behind in posting this, but thought, better late then never :D

So here are photos of the kids and their teachers.

JA finished grade two, and she had a fabulous teacher in Mr. Reimer! At the end of grade 1 JA and her friend P. didn't want to have Mr. Reimer for a teacher... he called one Elvis, and the other Julie-Wahnah! LOL Of course, both girls ended up in his class come September. By the end of the first day, you could not have asked these girls to change classes! Thank you Mr. Reimer for a fabulous year!



Zachary had Mrs. Goodman this year. She was JA's teacher for her two years in Kindergarten. Mrs. Goodman retired this year!! HAPPY RETIRMENT Mrs. Goodman!!





Both kids passed into the next grade, and Sophia will join them when she enters Junior Kindy in September... may how time has flown by!

Father's Day!

It was family Sunday at church yesterday, and the kids Sunday School classes got up and sang together. One of the little girls who is 8.5 years old, got up and played the piano to accompany the kids singing "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock." She was excellent!!

Of course, Sophia and Zachary did not sing. Sophia informed me when she didn't sing at the pre-school graduation that "I didn't need to, my friends were singing!" LOL Zachary just doesn't do well sometimes... it's hit or miss.

So here are some photos of them!


The whole group - aged 3-12


Mr. McColl on guitar, with the 'singing, whistling, clapping' singers doing "This Is The Day!"


Grumpy Gus.


Finally enjoying himself! LOL!

The most expensive toothbrush ever!

Hello!? I'm sure I must have read wrong. Surely it wasn't $44.36 to BRUSH TEETH!? Zachary went to the pediatric dentist today. Holy freaking cow!! The hygenist brushed his teeth... yes, I said brushed, NOT polished. She had him pick out a Mater toothbrush, and used SpongeBob Crest and BRUSHED HIS TEETH!! We were in and out and HOME in about 30 minutes. The printout for me/insurance said "polishing $44.36" yes, it said polishing. I told them that the charge was excessive, that *I* could BRUSH his teeth for $44.36! Give me a freakin' break. No wonder folks without insurance don't go to the dentist when they rip you off like that!! I'm feeling like it was FRAUD to charge that much for 'polishing' when clearly it was NOT polishing they did. Freak.

11,714

That's how many steps the pedometer says I took today!! 3906 of them were 'aerobic' apparently! :D :D :D I burned 500 calories, and walked nearly 6km today. I did get to Curves today as well!

The weather was fantastic today, so I got in a few walks. Zachary spent the afternoon with his buddy, so we walked him over (Zachary and Sophia rode their bikes, Michael and I walked). Then Sophia rode her bike while I walked to school to pick up Julie-Anna. That's where I got the aerobic steps in! We picked up JA, her little friend, walked to her friend's house, picked up the friend's little sister, and went to the park, then mosey'd do another park! It was great!!

Tomorrow the weather is proving to be more of the same, so we'll ride/walk again, and hopefully I'll get lots of steps in there too!!

Mike is taking his bike in for a tune up, gearing up for the riding season! WHOOOHOOO!!!

On that note, however, it has come to our attention that Zachary really and truly needs a new bike. Ugh... he's growing like a weed!!! His clothes are getting too small, his bike is too small... will it ever end?! My Mom commented the other day that we will always need a van, just to get the groceries home for the kids!! :D

Happy Birthday Zachary!!

Wow, my baby boy is FIVE today! I can hardly believe that just 5 years ago, we had only the wee JA. I remember a few weeks before Zachary was born, that Mike and I were relaxing on the couch... and JA toddled in. I said "are we crazy to do this again!?" I was thinking that JA could do almost everything for herself... and here we were starting all over from scratch. Of course we weren't crazy, we are parents! Zachary was a BIG baby (10lb .5oz) and he has stayed big!! He's among the tallest in his class at school and in Sunday School. He's active, and cannot wait to start playing soccer this year!

We had a little friends party for him on Saturday. He had a lot of fun! I made a Lightning McQueen cake which was a huge hit! We played Pin the logo on the L McQ poster, the kids spent a bit of time colouring some Cars pages, they made their own 'wheel' pizzas on english muffins, and Michael hid a bunch of puzzle pieces around the living room, and the kids found them and assembled the puzzle :) The kids were quite well behaved, which was such a blessing!! :)

Day 2

Of Zachary being sick. Ugh. Yesterday he fell asleep in the hallway at school while waited for JA to be released from class (it was early release day). It was so cute, and I so wish I had my camera! So we came home, he whined. He got his jammies on, and crawled into my bed to watch TV. He skipped lunch. He slept. He came down and flaked on the couch. He barfed. On my bed. On my pillow. On his jammies. On the floor. He missed Cubbies. He was generally quiet (and for those who know him, that is SO not him! LOL). He barfed again. Inside the girls 'front' door. Inside the girls 'back' door. In the toilet. He slept all night. He woke up, he said he wanted to go to school... and later skipped breakfast and went to my bed. He missed school, and his Valentine's Day party. I will send the treats I made to school tomorrow.

Saturday is his birthday party. I hope he's better by then. I suspect he's almost fine now, as he's been a bit more lively in the past hour or so.

Happy Valentines Day to me! LOL! Here's hoping nobody else gets this!!