School is Out!!

Today was the last day of school for both Aidan and Michael. Aidan is now a graduate of kindergarten and as you will see from the picture, he has officicially jumped into Grade 1. He has had a great year and we are super proud of him. Next year will be a big year for him as he starts out in french immersion. He seems to be excited about this new challenge and is looking forward to being able to speak without us understanding. :)

Michael officially finished his first year of preschool with a big sports day. We were both sad that I had to miss the first part of this but he recovered quickly when he got to go with his friend Kyle. He had a great time getting to do all the relays and crafts with his friends and teachers.

To celebrate the end of school, we picked up a movie and slurpies and came home for a lazy afternoon eating popcorn and slurping slurpees for lunch! I think we're all ready for some summer fun!

Aidan is 6 (tomorrow)

Aidan is 6 years old tomorrow. I'm not sure where those 6 years went! But I am sure happy to have a healthy, energetic, and happy 6 year old running around my house. A couple of things I love about Aidan at this time of his life: He gives lots of hugs and kisses, he can read the birthday card I wrote for him, he voluntarily says we are the best mommy and daddy in the world, he loves to be read to from the Hobbit, he can ride his bike like a maniac, he is helpful, he is (generally) kind to his siblings, he is independent, he loves to learn, he thinks his daddy is the smartest person in the universe, he thinks his mommy is best cook every, he can wash his own hair, clean his own bum, brush his own teeth, pour his own water, put on his own shoes, he loves transformers and lego, he loves his friends and is just plain loveable.

Yesterday, we had a birthday party for him and 5 of his friends. The theme was an Alien Space Party. We made alka seltzer rockets (very cool), had an alien war (I made aliens out of garbage bags and the kids attacked them with water guns. This was by far the highlight), Saved the Planet (water relay game to gather enough water to save the planet from the alien attack), and a few other crazy games. It was definitely a party fit for boys although the one girl who came seemed to enjoy herself. You will notice a picture of Keira below that tells you how excited she was about all the boys craziness! Tomorrow is his real birthday so waffles with strawberries for breakfast and a trip to the water park are in the plans!

Dandelions

I love the effort my children give to picking dandelions for me. Today they spent half an hour gathering flowers for a centerpiece for the table. We decided to decorate the railing of the deck instead to avoid ants in our food. Check out their beautiful masterpieces.

Keira's New Haircut

Michael's Four Years

Michael has made us laugh since he was a baby. I remember as a baby he would always stick out his tongue whenever he smiled. Hmmm...I also remember long nights doing deep knee bends, cleaning up puke and trying all sorts of bazaar ways to soothe him. We have seen him grow from a very dependant little guy to a fiercely independent boy. He has strong emotions whether it is extreme excitment or extreme distress. He loves to play on his own and absolutely everything he does is a story--from going to the bathroom to eating to drawing to playing. He adores his big brother and enjoys playing with his little sister. Although he gets frustrated easily when he can't do something, with lots of encouragement, he will try something until he gets it. He loves to play games and he loves his friends. My favorite thing he says to me right now is "I love you as big as the ocean. Now you say it to me Mom." He is also into challenging me to sing a different song to him every night and consistently catches me when I try to repeat myself. He loves to sleep with his teddy bears and I love to go look at him sleeping while he clutches 3 or 4 stuffies. He is learning to write his name and wanting to learn to read like Aidan. Michael provides our family with lots of entertainment and we are excited to see his personality continue to develop.

Michael's Fourth Birthday

Recently, we had Michael's fourth birthday party. After much discussion, he settled on a Firefighter's birthday party. The whole week before, Jason worked away on building an awesome firetruck out of a cardboard box. When the kids arrived they all played in the pretend firetruck and made siren noises for the camera. They then played "Pin the Dalmation on the Firetruck", a musical Stop, Drop and Roll game, a fire truck search game in the backyard, and a big obstacle course in the backyard complete with rescuing an animal off a ladder, dragging a hose and putting out a fire (dumping water on a lit candle). The kids then came in for fire juice (red juice drunk with a straw) and fire truck cake. For some reason, the fire juice was big hit with all the kids. Michael loved all the attention though you wouldn't have been able to tell from looking at him most of the party. Apparently, a party is a very serious thing to him. It was a great group of kids and made me thankful for all the good little friends my little boy has.

Cross-eyed

Here is Michael's new trick. There is really not much I can say about it except the first time I saw him do this, I wasn't sure if I really saw what I thought I saw. Freaky!