School's Out!

Today was the first day of summer vacation for the kiddies. 3 girls slept over last night so Hannah's a little exhausted, but other than that, the day went rather smoothly. One bloody elbow (3 guesses whose!) and a trip to the grocery store where Jack & Henry took 10 minutes to locate a box of jello and Hannah never did find pound cake....hmmm, some help they're going to be! The last day of school was bitter-sweet when it suddenly hit me that I don't have anyone in kindergarten anymore. Henry's teacher for the past 2 years has really helped him out and he's come so far...yes, I may have shed a tear. What really got me crying was the "clap out". All the kids in the school line the hallway and cheer and clap as the grade 8 graduates leave the school for the last time...what am I going to do when that's my kid if it brings me to tears watching kids I hardly know?!

Field Trip!!

I can't tell you the last time I rode on a school bus. I got that excited feeling of going on a field trip...hoping there would be something special packed in my lunch...feeling so excited to see my teacher outside of school...having a feeling in the pit of my stomach that somehow I was cheating my way out of class. Anyway, it was Henry's field trip, not mine, but on most field trips when I've accompanied my kids, I've driven. Henry was so excited to have me sitting with him on the bus. We played Rock, Paper, Scissors and I Spy most of the way there. The farm tour couldn't have been given by a more energetic guy who was so in tune with kindergarteners. Poop jokes and all!

Long Weekend

So I think I'm almost caught up to real life with my blog posts. This one is from the long weekend. It was the weekend we always went to Windsor for Jason's Dad's birthday and everyone decided that we should still get together out at Jason's brother's farm. His brother just finished a huge renovation on his old farm house and it was a great excuse for us to all get together and see the "new" house. We decided that we would all plant a tree for his Dad on his brother's property & John surprised everyone by buying 2 trees that would flower in May...one for his Dad & one for his Mom who also had a birthday in May. Beautiful idea and a beautiful day! The kids always love it out at Uncle John's farm and they love getting together with all their cousins - 10 of them between the ages of 6 and 12!!

One of the things I love when everyone gets together is that the cousins mix & match who they play with. It doesn't matter age, gender or which family you belong to, everyone gets along!

Hannah especially loves it at the farm. Here she is in her element! Toad in one hand, cheesies in the other, covered in mud!

There was quite a bit of toad catching going on!

It's rare we get a photo of Jack with a true smile on his face...this may not look like much of a smile, but if you know Jack well, this is him REALLY happy!

Everyone got involved in the tree planting. Every kid took a turn digging, every kid helped bring water up from the pond and every kid got their hands right into the mud!

The setting, weather and mood were idyllic! The day couldn't have been more beautiful.