First Day of Primary (Kindergarden)

Well, summer came and went again. Here we are and it's almost fall again. Everyone tells you how quickly life goes with children, but it never seems like it until that first day of school when you wonder to yourself, "where did that last five years go?"

I didn't feel any sadness dropping her off (I didn't even cry!) just pride and happiness. Not in that "yes! one down,  one to go!" way but in a "wow, my little girl is so big and mature and I'm so proud of her!" She is really ready and seems to be adjusting well.

Packing up our gear in the morning

Not wanting a photo taken on the walk to school

Ron caught her off guard

This one sums up her feelings right before the bell rang. This one kind of breaks my heart.

Just before we left the classroom

The succession of pictures shows her mood changing the closer we got to school. She was definitely nervous and probably overwhelmed the first morning, but she came running out with a big smile at the end of the day and I knew everything was great.

She has a few little buddies in school with her, one who is in her class, and hopefully more friends to come. Like me, she's shy so I'm working on helping her learn how to talk to other kids and ask if they want to play. It's so much easier to learn those things when you are (almost) five than when you are in your thirties.

Speaking of almost five, I'm going to have pictures in a few weeks of a 5th birthday! I'll also post pictures of Ember's first day of preschool next Tuesday.

Rain rain go away... seriously.

I'm trying to stop complaining about, well, everything, so instead here is a list of good things about all the rain we get here in the Maritimes:

1. We don't need to water the garden or the grass
2. We save money on sunscreen and almost no risk of sunburn
3. The grass grows green and lush with no work at all
4. The car gets washed with no effort from us
5. The chance of forest fires in this province: 0.0005% * (approximately)
6.  You get year-round use out of your Bogs** - lord knows you paid enough for them!
7. Although there are probably lots of breeding grounds for mosquitos, none of them can fly when it's raining.
8. Puddle jumping is an official sport in Nova Scotia
9. There is literally no chance of any lakes ever drying out. Ever.
10. Damp officially becomes a "colour" - as in: "Do those Bogs come in damp?"

Not bad for my first try in being positive, eh?

I tried to upload a video of the rain but it didn't work and I'm too lazy to figure out how to do it properly (I think it needs to be converted to a different format and that sounds like too much work!) So instead here are some random photos from the past few weeks when it didn't rain.

Ember's fabulous outfit

Face painting at the Lebanese festival

Unicorns!

Lebanese Festival

A birthday party at Superstore where they each got to take home a cake. We had a lot of cake that weekend.

A warm day at the park

Enjoying cotton candy at the Brookhouse Elementary BBQ

Ember with her pockets stuffed with rocks - she was holding her shorts up, or they would have fallen off. 

* this is not a factual figure, just one I made up :)
** Bogs are over-priced hybrid rubber/winter boots that are almost essential in Nova Scotia, they come in cool colours and designs, for which you pay dearly.

Sew fun!

Just thought I would post pictures of what we made today. The girls each chose what to make, and which fabrics to use. Ember made a bird and Amelia made a rose and an ice cream cone. They stitched them (mostly) by hand (with a little help from Mommy) and even threaded the needles by themselves (as I held the needle steady). I think all their projects turned out great!

The irony was lost on me until I was telling Ron about it afterwards, but when I asked the girls what music they wanted to listen to while we crafted, Ember asked for Kraftwerk. Awesome!!!

Work in progress

Since I have moved my sewing room upstairs into the spare room, I have been able to do so many new projects as well as finish some old ones. I just wanted to share some of my work.

I've made a teapot "sweater", a plastic bag holder, and a hot water bottle cover - which is made from an upcycled felted wool sweater. I've also made some rain pants for Amelia, and crocheted a pile of dish cloths. I almost forgot- I finally made some curtains for the bathroom window, so no more flashing the neighbours! They are a beautiful, simple, white linen than I did a drawn thread technique on. They are quite lovely, but I might stitch on a ribbon for some color.

I love having my own space on the main floor, it's awesome! I can duck in and work on a project if I only have just a few minutes, since I can leave my projects on the table. The girls sometimes like to come in and visit but today they played happily almost all day with each other and I was able to make a complete project. I'm building myself up to trying some more projects with them, but it is much easier to do when I can work one on one with them.

Earth Day

Good deeds should not go unnoticed, so here was our good deed for Earth day. We went and picked up garbage around our park at the end of the street. There was a surprising (or unsurprising) amount of trash, depending on how cynical you are.

Haircuts!

Some new haircuts for my fabulous little ladies! Of course I forgot to take a picture of the two of them before the actual hair cut, but here are some recent photos showing the length and style.

Before:

After:

I'm a good singer!

Ron has been pestering me to put up this video he took a few weeks ago of Ember singing. It is pretty cute, I just never think of doing blog posts on a regular basis. As soon as I get on the computer the girls get in here and start pushing random buttons and making me crazy.

Here it is, enjoy.