Saturday fun

Isaac and Norah had their last swimming lesson of the session today. Isaac is very close to being out of Salamander, and is doing well. Norah, the 'spark plug', and second youngest of her group has passed out of Sea Turtle into Salamander. She is quite the little swimmer. However, Salamander is a non-parent participation class. We're not quite sure if we're ok with that, especially given her total lack of fear.

Although soccer season may preempt signing up for the next set of Saturday lessons, games are Saturday mornings. Ruby, however, would really enjoy lessons. She came to watch the siblings today, and tried to go for a swim herself. More than once. She was not impressed with being stuck on the side with mom.

The boys in Isaac's swim class are all going to be in French next fall, and hopefully some of them will end up in the rotation for Kindergarten. They are all also going into soccer, so it would be great if he ends up on the same team with a couple of them. Nick, Carson and Drew could be a fun bunch of buddies for Isaac who has mostly been surrounded by little girls since we moved here.

The snow continues to melt. Lake Rectory is forming under the swing set again. We are playing in the garage a lot. Which brings us to today's fun.

The garage has a nice amount of junk in it, junk that predates our living here. Including a piece of furniture that once was probably a nice sideboard. However, covered with dust, cobwebs, an ugly board nailed on the top and being slightly moldy in one corner, it is no longer a nice sideboard. I was tired of looking at it, and seeing it taking up space in our garage. Not wanting to plan a trip to the dump to get rid of something that isn't even ours, I decided to take action.

One hammer and some brute strength, and a half hour later, we no longer have a icky sideboard in the garage. We have some of the boards still in there, but most of it is in our garbage bin. A few good whacks, some pulled nails and some serious pulling and prying, and it's dealt with. Now to continue on the plan to make the garage our ideal "out, but not quite outside" playspace.

Miss Dressup herself

Norah came upstairs as I was cooking dinner tonight to show me her outfit. I took some pics.

Norah-isms

- I didn't poop, I only peeped

- I do it myself (said while wagging a finger at you)

- (this one is for Auntie Jen) green beans blecch! said while spitting them out.

- "Norah, you are naked in the dining room." "ya, I know, and I love it! woo hoo!"

- I like praise music (singing) "our God is an awesome dog"

- no, I can't, I just can't (read that over-dramatically, and you are part way there)

- I drink coffee when I a big girl?

- I dress up now, I be right back

Sunshine and puddles

Another beautiful day, and we are now pretty much living on lakefront property. The puddle out front of our house is soon going to need to be named...to say nothing of what we know awaits us under the still-deep snow in the backyard.

Today though, we got to try out the new 'big toy'. The wagon. Thanks to Poppie for this treat. It's big enough to fit all 3 kids....which also has it's downside. That's about 100 pounds of kid to pull around. Mom is now tired, but it was lots of fun.


That ball of fire in the sky is burning our eyes!










A slightly better shot, around the corner. Today we also broke in the new spring jackets that Dorothy made the kids.


Today was the perfect day to play in the garage. If only Dad can see the 'vision' of doing some work in there to make it a decent playspace. It's perfect for wet ground days - lots of sunlight, but no mud. Great for driving around big cars and bicycles, and pushing doll strollers.

Spring calls

The days are getting longer, and we are hoping that the snow will eventually melt. There is a garden out back that needs to be planted. Summer vacation plans to be thought of and dates planned. Soccer season will be upon us, and Isaac is excited about getting to play on a real team.

We dream of putting away sweaters, mittens and boots. The children all have beautiful, new, handmade spring jackets awaiting their first use. We are checking out summer clothes on the websites, and imagining that the day will come that we could actually dress the children and ourselves in such things as short sleeves and sandals. The Land's End website beckons with beautiful playdresses and little boy polo shirts and we think that maybe the days of playing in a backyard free from snow could be in the future. Oh if only we could afford all the shopping, and if the shopping brought about the weather appropriate for the purchases!

it's official!

Guess who is starting French Immersion Kindergarten this Fall?

Skating Carnival!

Most of the performance, up until Tinkerbell's solo. Isaac is the Peter Pan who doesn't fall, isn't wearing a visor/face guard and looks like he is running on the ice. See if you can pick him out. He's the skater who is mostly closest to following the lead skater.


Slightly better resolution, and shorter. Isaac is the Peter Pan right behind the "leader"

from today

silly pictures from today

not quite climbing the walls...

the other day, Ruby decided to climb the stove - and hang there. Tried to get some good photos of it, but only got these.

Saskatchewan's Nancy Sinatra

minidress and boots. Apparently, these boots were made for dancing.

new layout

as you can tell, we've fiddled with our layout and colours a bit. Hope you like it!

Plans for a garden

As we are still optimistic that spring will come, despite us getting snow almost every day for close to 2 weeks, we discussed garden plans with the kids over dinner the other night. We decided that we should grow cucumbers and zucchini, as we eat a lot of them. Pumpkins, because it's neat to grow pumpkins. Potatoes were also requested.

Then we asked Norah what she thought we should grow. She paused, thought for a minute and responded "muffins, we grow muffins". Hmmm...anyone know where we can pick up some muffin seeds?

Some pics from the last week

Isaac and Norah on the roller slide in Saskatoon.














A trio of musicians.











Rain boots! Everyone got to pick out their own, in anticipation of spring eventually arriving. (if it ever stops snowing that is)











Ruby, sick with a cold (still couldn't keep a shirt on her) but having fun in mom's boots.

well that just hits a bit too close to home