Sparks Camp!!

Our children all attend the Awana Program. Zachary and Sophia were both Cubbies this year (3 and 4 year olds) and Julie-Anna has been a Spark for the past 3 years (and Cubbie for the 2 years before that!). Upon completion of their 3rd book in Sparks, they earn a trip to Sparks Camp-A-Rama! So this past Saturday we teamed up with another little girl (Emily) and her Mom (Millie) and drove to Cambridge to attend the camp day. It was a lot of fun! The sun wasn't too hot, and the mosquitoes were only slightly less than all the armies of the world. Can you tell I don't like mosquitoes, but they sure loved me!!!

There were two teams of approx 15 Sparks each, so each group did their own thing all day, to avoid congestion! Camp consisted of opening ceremonies, game time (we played Crows and Cranes, Rabbit in the Hole - which is dodgeball, did an obstacle course, and some other game with balls and stuff, which I don't know the name of!). We split off after that, and the RED TEAM went to a Bible lesson time with Mr. Mike. After that we zipped over to make a placemat. The kids had to colour the front, and on the back they mac tacked on some leaves and flowers from the nearby forrest. After that was lunch! Lunch was a hotdog (or two!), a wee bag of chips, drink box, a little cup of baby carrots (Way to go Sparkie leaders!), and a big M & M cookie!! After lunch we went on a Sparkie Hike. Ok, so I went. I listend as Mr. Froom talked about nature and whatnot. Then we left the little clearing to go hiking. I need to preface that I had lubed up TWICE with bug spray. When we got into the forrest, Mr. Froom found these cool 'popping flowers' whichwe had fun popping. Then we got deeper into the forrest. That's when I nearly got carried out by the mosquitoes! Holy Hannah they were out in full force! I was dancing, and itching and going crazy. So I abandoned Julie-Anna asked Emily's mom to keep her eye on JA and I left the forrest rather quickly! :D

After the hike, where the girls collected up a little bunch of burrs of all things, we zipped into the screened in cabin for a Bible lesson, songs, and fun!! "Trickey Mickey" was the speaker, and he so kept their attention. He is a 'magician' teaching Bible stories. The lesson was "God Loves Our Enemies" and he taught the story of Jonah with some cool tricks thrown in, some word games, and activities. The kids really enjoyed him! I enjoyed him!! LOL! All the kids got a treat at the end of the day as a reward for the 4 Up's - Sit up, Listen Up, Look Up and ZIP UP!!! LOVE IT!!

We headed home after that, and the two girls conked out in the back seat about 30+ mins from home! As much as I had a good time, MICHAEL will be taking Zachary when it's his turn! LOL!

Here are a few photos from the day!

Mommy and JA


Lots of games!


JA and her new friend



Silly girls and their burrs!


This Bible started off with blank pages. Next it had line drawings. Lastly the line drawings were all coloured in! The kids were wowed!


The lesson about Jonah.


We saw a turtle on the camp road on our way out. So we stopped to take photos and rescue it! The girls freaked when it peed on Emily! LOL!

A Trip to the Carousel!

The preschool took a field trip to the Carousel last week. Wow, we had a great time! The kids did a craft, had a snack, played games, and had many rides on the carousel!! The Carousel is amazing. All the horses and animals are handmade, and I believe it's over 100 years old! To this day, it's only 5c a ride! :D


First ride of the season on the Carousel


Wow, this thing goes up and down!!

She insisted on riding this one, even though it did not go up and down. She called it "the beautiful one' and rode it several times! It had some purple on it, and of course that is her favourite colour now!


...and loving every minute of it!

Pre-School Graduate!

Well, I have another Graduate!!
Last Tuesday, the Sweet Sophia graduated from Pre-School!! It was an amazing year with an absolutely amazing teacher! Mrs. Foley, we have known you for 2 years now, and have loved you more each day! Our children (even JA!) are all the better for having known you and having your wisdom imparted to them. I am pleased to call you my friend! We trust you to have a fabulous summer!

Without further ado, here are a few photos of the Big Girl and her class!


Waiting to start

The kids did a song - "When Sophia is a big girl, 20 years old, she will be a PRINCESS, so I'm told!" It's too cute, and a princess she is!

Getting her diploma from Mrs. Foley, then shouting out "I DID IT!!"

The cute Grad in the cap I made her :)

Looking up to Mrs. Foley... with lots of love!

Just 'Phia and Mrs. Foley!

Some words of wisdom from Mrs. Foley (but really, she's just telling her to look at me, but that is wise,right?!)

So we have just two more days of school with Mrs. Foley, and one of them is a field trip (which I will dutifully report on later!)

Do you ever wanna do THIS?

I saw this today at Dawn's Blog (Because I Said So) and sometimes it is just so what I want to do!! LOL!

We have grass!!

YAHOO!!! We have all the sod laid. Michael even cut the first stuff this afternoon. Part of the lawn looks like a golf course, the other part, not so much. We are hoping with all the rain and watering that it will catch up!! :D

I started weeding the gardens this afternoon as well. Gotta get the old lilacs pulled out, and plant some stuff from around the yard. I'm mostly container gardening with the veggies this year. I have 3 tomatoes and a pepper plant on the deck. I did plant a hill of cukes in front of the deck. I have containers with flowers - marigolds, snap dragons, dalias, gerbera daisies... I think that's it. It's coming along nicely.

Michael put the bistro table and chairs together this afternoon after cutting the lawn. They match the house so well!! It's in taupes, whites, and another colour, which I'll say is a sage green, but I forget right now. I can't wait till it's outside!! I hope we sit at it lots... with the marigolds keeping the mosquitoes at bay! :D This photo is similar to what we purchased. We had a 25$ gift card, and money on the CTC M/C so the thing was FREE!! My mom can't wait to come and play Boggle outside now :D

Dora!

Sophia got to meet Dora today!! We broke the rules and went 'shopping' today. It was the grand reopening of a local Canadian Tire store. They had Diego there on Friday, but we couldn't make it. So today we went for Dora. She was just leaving for a rest (man, I have been that person inside those costumes, the heads are HEAVY and they are HOT!)... but we talked them into letting Sophia see Dora just for a minute. I got a couple pics (still on the camera, I'll share them tomorrow!)... and she was THRILLED!! Usually she's terrified of big dressed up stuff, but I guess Dora just isn't the same as all the others. Zachary on the other hand... he was shaking like a leaf, and would NOT get out of the cart! LOL!

OK, here are the promised photos! :)

1000 visitors!

I see that today sometime, I surpassed 1000 visitors to my blog! YAY!! What fun is that. What motivation to keep posting, and try to post more frequently :D