He is 5!

 At Alouette Lake, end of March.

 A brother and sister who love each other very, very much!

 Holding his new friend Kate, who is 3 weeks old.

 He just loves her so much!

This was the first of his birthday celebrations.  Because his birthday fell mid-week, he had a birthday dinner on his actual day.  His Daddy barbequed hamburgers for his Grandma's and his Grandpa, and because Chase's parents were working late that day, he came with me and Hubby too.  These cousins are such very good friends!

 Birthday Boy on April 4th, 2013.  Five years old!

And on the weekend following his actual day, he had his family and friends over for an Open House.  Cake and presents were so much fun......with almost 50 people in attendance!

And because he is five, this was his official "friend party."  He went to the bowling alley with 6 of his little buddies and they all had a wonderful time!  He is always very pleased when he tells people that he had three birthday parties!  Lucky boy!

 Playing with goop, aka cornstarch and water.

 This time he has shaving cream......he loves to get messy!

But more than anything, he really loves to play ball.  Here he is, goofing around with the baseball bat. 

Oh that's better.  In position and ready to hit the ball.  He and his Daddy spend lots of time practicing baseball.  He loves hitting the ball and he is very good at it too!

 Posing for the camera!

He graduated from pre-school last Wednesday.  And yes, he came down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance, looking a little bit sheepish but he was very proud.  So were we!
 

Ready for kindergarten in September!  Oh, he is growing up way too fast!

Music 2013

Tuesday was our last Music Class for the year and as usual, the children all sang and danced and showed off what they learned.  I was missing a couple of children.......Lucas is on holidays and Chase wasn't scheduled.  And I did a toddler-trade with #3, just because Sweetheart co-operates so much more than my guy who is 21 months.  That being said, I did feel a tad bit guilty for not bringing my littlest friend, but he is just not the best listener right now.  As much as he likes Music, structure is tough on him and it made it so that I was able to really enjoy myself and take some pictures.  He needs constant direction......and really does like to go......but he can be so unfocused. Yes, I do know that he isn't even 2 yet, but Sweetheart enjoyed herself so much the previous week, and I didn't have enough seatbelts to allow all 7 of them to come.    It was so much fun for ME, as all my other guys are fabulous listeners and I was truly able to have an absolutely wonderful last Music Class of the year! 

 Here are two 2 year olds, clapping to the beat. 

 Happy kids!  Look at Jade's expression!

 More joy!  I just love the expressions on the two boys' faces!

 Concentrating and listening to their teacher!

This one makes me laugh.  It is an action song and everyone is a beat or two behind the teacher.  They all know it and they all love it, but they won't win any awards for their choreography.  LOL

 Keeping the beat with sticks!

 And now with the bells!

This is the hammer song......Each hand is a hammer and so are their feet.  There are five hammers hammering by the end of the song, the head is going up and down too.  Good for core-strength!  And they are all pretty good at it too.  I usually do it along with them and can honestly say that they all are better at it than me!

Two of my favourite people!

The parachute always comes out at the end of the class.

The children sing their Good-bye song.....Singing high.....

Singing low......

And then they all get to run underneath it at the end.......I totally fluked this picture as I didn't even know what I was taking as I was taking it. (All the action shots are hit and miss, as everyone is always moving)  But I love how well it shows the joy on the children's faces!  Good-bye Surekha, see you in September!

Some Pictures

In no particular order........here are some of the things that we have done in the last few months.  I don't have a working camera right now, so I depend on my iPhone.  And it is only a 4, so the pictures are okay, but certainly not as good as my camera would take.  It doesn't really feel like I am all that newsworthy right now, but the children who I love are still very special!  The one nice thing about toddlers is that they tend to sleep in the afternoon.  And for the last couple of months, I have been pretty lucky about getting them all down at the same time.......it leaves me some quiet afternoons with one or two older ones.  I have learned to really value my quiet time!  Jade had lots of fun with the stuffies and the Duplo blocks one afternoon.

Yes, I live in the country.  My house is only two blocks from the farms and greenbelt, and so when the little horses were practicing drills outside my house one day, it made for great entertainment for a 1, 2 and 3 year old.

Grandson and Sweetheart went to Vancouver on Easter Monday to visit a friend who had had a new baby.  Grandson LOVES babies!

Two 2-year olds enjoying one of our beautiful Spring afternoons.  I have the perfect cul-de-sac for riding bikes, and the children and I spend a lot of time out there.

Two little princesses playing Dress-up at one of our Monday Family Dinner Nights.

 We all love the Manners game.  We play a lot of games at Daycare. 

The children all love MyGym.  This is my busy boy.  My very, very busy 20 month old boy.  I love that I got him to sit for longer than 2 seconds. 

Sweetheart noticed that it was going to be Circle Time before the instructor called all of the other children over.  She was very intrigued by the turtle puppet and lucked into some one on one time, before all of her friends came running over to join her.

This was the last baseball game of the season.  They are lined up to do the Dragon race around the bases at the end.......truly the highlight of their whole evening!  And did I ever mention that SIL was the coach?  He is an excellent baseball coach and did magnificently, especially considering it was his very first time and these were 4, 5 and 6 year olds.  Not always the best listeners, but they sure learned a lot in 3 months......a true credit to their coach.

Here is Grandson with his very first trophy.  He was so, so happy and so, so proud!

The Giants and their coach on Rally Cap Saturday.  It was a very fun, but short season.  I can hardly wait until next year........Grandson loves baseball and I know that he will be playing again!

 Saturday morning Snuggle time.  She absolutely adores her big brother.....

Sweetheart came to Music with us this week and she was a very good listener.  The song goes like this, "Touch your ears, and touch your nose, wiggle your arms and wiggle your toes, bend your knees and give yourself a hug, and curl up like a ladybug."  She did it perfectly.

Colouring

She is 2!

She is two!  And she has one of the sweetest little personalities that I have ever known.  So easy-going.  And obedient. And funny!  Two year olds are naturally cute, no matter what.......and her Mommy likes to tell me that she is cheeky.  Yeah......probably a little bit, but not for anyone but her Mommy and Daddy.  Funny Story........and it was quite a few months ago now.  She was being disciplined at dinnertime for throwing her food on the floor.  Her Daddy pointed his finger at her and told her "No."  So she proceeded to grab hold of his finger and pull it while singing, "row, row, row."  We all laughed about that.

She talks.  And she talks really well.  Had trouble with L when she was first learning and she can say it very clearly now.  I liked it when she called herself Hattie......and lots of her friends still call her Howie......but she can say her name perfectly.  She loves all of her people.....she is very social, and her idol is still her big brother.  She can count to 14.....sometimes to 17.......and she can recite the entire alphabet.  She recognizes some of the numbers and letters and knows all of her colours.  Loves books, dolls and colouring, and when she comes to Grandma and Grandpa's she always asks to play on the iPad.  She has one at home now too, and she and her brother both enjoy their screen time.  I marvel at how well that she can navigate a tablet......she is only 2, after all!.

She is a copycat.  Her brother played t-ball this Spring and she was always there to cheer for him. I especially love it when she does her 'ready position', (crouched with her hands on her knees) and she always liked putting on the catcher's equipment.  She has always enjoyed being outdoors and especially loves playing in the sand. 

Gender Reveal



Have you ever been to a gender reveal party?  Me neither.  Until last weekend.  It was very special and extremely fun. 

My niece had an ultrasound on June 5th.  Her technician put the information in an envelope and she took it to her friend who was to bake the cake......Pink or Blue?  We were to all come on the following Sunday to the gender reveal, and even my niece and her husband didn't know the results.  To make it fun, we were supposed to guess what we thought it would be, and wear pink or blue.  I wore blue.......

And I even surprised myself......and guessed right!  It's a boy!  Due on his brother's birthday, October 14th!

Busy and Social

It has been a busy week......especially on the weekend.  The weeks tend to fly by at the best of time, as my little group of children are getting less and less needy as the months go on, but they are still demanding of my time.  Especially my almost-2 year old.  He is probably the busiest boy that I have ever taken care of, and I know that I have met other busy children, but I haven't ever taken them on 4 days a week.  It makes a difference.  And it doesn't seem to help that I am not getting any younger.

I went out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night........to my niece's dance recital on Friday, birthday dinner for Miracle #4 on Saturday, and Father's Day dinner on Sunday.  And I guess it caught up with me as I woke up with a cold yesterday.  Felt the sore throat coming on Sunday night and was coughing and feeling achy all day yesterday.  Feel much better today, and Hubby commented today that he thinks that I have been sicker this year than in the first 30 years that we were married.  He had a point, as I never ever used to get the colds and flus that everyone else got.  Now, I seem to catch everything that comes in my door.  And it seems like a lot of colds come in my door!

We also went over to Langley on Sunday afternoon, to celebrate another milestone.  My nephew is graduating from high school this year so my sister had us all over for lunch.  He had his dinner and dry grad last night and his commencement is next week.  The high school kids have all finished their classes for the year and have final exams this week and next.........elementary school kids are finished next Wednesday.  It's June.  It is the first year in a very long time that I don't really have any after-school kids, so July doesn't really change all that much as far as more children in care.  I am not even looking all that forward to our activities ending for the summer as it doesn't really feel like I am racing around as much.  I really don't......the tank of gas in my van lasts over six weeks.......so you can tell that I am not out and about as much as I used to be.

I know that I promised to put some more pictures up, but uploading to this old computer takes forever, so I only have one for you.......My almost-16 year old niece and my 2 year old grand-daughter.....Aren't they both so very, very lovely?



She is Three!

Pretty Girl with her very favourite friend.  She was on her way to get her pictures taken when she told her Mommy that she thought that Eeyore should get his picture taken too. "Yeah, he has a great smile.  See?"  Yes he does, Pretty Girl.....yes, he does.......and so do you!  So glad that he is in your picture with you.

It is hard to imagine that just a few months ago, she resisted sitting in front of the camera. Now that she is older, she is quite happy to pose.

I know that these pictures were taken a couple of months before her official birthday, but they are just so adorable.  She is so sweet, full of energy and determination, hugs and kisses and compassion.  I just love her to the moon and back again!