Your never too big for dress up time!

After receiving new dress up clothes from Chloe's friends Natalie and Melissa the "big boys" thought they would get into the Halloween dress up mood by doing a little fashion show before school!

A day at the apple farm

Nathan found this mini pumpkin when we first walked through the gate. He caried it all over the farm the entire time we stayed there.

Even though some of the corn that the kids picked wasn't big enough to eat, the ones that we had for dinner that night were the best corn that I have tasted in a long time!

Amelia enjoyed her fresh picked apple SO much that all that has left to hand back to me was the stem.

Seconds after this photo was taken drew got his first bee sting just under his neck.

All the kids enjoyed checking out all the animals in the barns.

Now thats a pumpkin!

Just looking at the photos brings me back to the warmth of the day. We couldn't ask for a nicer way to spend the first Pro D day of the new school year. Other than Drew and Chloe getting stung by a bee, it was a fun filled day. I think feeding the goats was the highlight for a few people, but my favorite part was definatly biting into the Honney Crisp apple that had dew on one side and felt warm from the sun on the other. Yummmmm!

A somersault day

Its a somersault kind of day!

Phoenix showed all his friends how to do a somersault on the side of the little hill in the back yard today. Everyone wanted to give it a try including Nathan who only got as far as falling over sideways, but still spent 20 minutes trying .

Noah

Noah........ohhh Noah....... what can I say. Keeping up to you is such a challenge some days!Your exuberance and imagination fill everyday with so much. Some days you open the door and you remind me of a Tasmanian whirlwind with the way you can instantly raise the bar on the activity level, the noise level, the excitement level, and bring everyone into your rough and tumble world of play. But then on some days, days like today, you sit beside at story time and blow me away by you reading a book to me! How did that happen!?!

Watching you grow and change from this round little baby who just sat outside with us on the grass and watched the world go by (taking notes I'm sure) to this confident, energetic, playful, smart, imaginative, silly and loving big grade 1er! This only reinforces the notion that I truly DO have the best job in the whole world! I thank all of the little people who have touched my life because thanks to you, it's not just a job, it's a privilege.

strawberry fields forever

Ahhhhh....... for me strawberry picking always marks the beginning of summer. While walking out to our spot to start picking we noticed how funny it seemed that every year it's someone different who gets to ride in the wagon with all the buckets because it's their turn to be the little kid.


I still think the berry field would make more of a profit if they weighed the children, not the buckets.
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This year was really neat because we found a hidden treasure amongst the strawberries.... a little bird nest with eggs!

a beach day

Our first trip to the beach for this summer was spent exploring the rocks, looking for baby crabs, building sand castles, feeling the warm summer sun on our bare toes as we squished them into the wet sand, and of course playing in waves and getting just a little wet!

One of the first things we discovered at the beach was a jelly fish swimming in the water close to the shore. we caught it in a bucket so everyone could have a chance to see it up close. That poor jellyfish was poked at for at least 20 minutes before we set him back into the ocean . Everyone had a great time at the beach even Hazel who got to play with a few dogs that we met while eating our picnic up on the grass field over looking the ocean.

Amelia

Amelia is such an awesome walker/runner/skipper, she amazes me on a daily basis! Every afternoon she gets woken from her nap, runners and a hat thrown on her and told "come on!.... let's go"! She is such a brave trooper, she climbs like a mountain goat up the grass hill (always choosing the hardest way), helps me push the stroller up the steep part of the townhouse complex, mostly keeps pace with me walking up the fire road, and then, when we finally reach the top...... look out, the race is on!

Amelia holds her own with the race to each lamp post on our way to the school. She is so much fun to watch as she races ahead then slows down just enough and does a little hop! Some days she sings a little song as she hops down along the road. Some days she just races full speed ahead to the next post and can't wait until she hears me say "on your mark... get set.... GO!". Some days, once we have raced down the hill, she just wants to come and hold my hand. The past few weeks she has seemed extra fast, I think she just wants to get far enough ahead so she can get to the salmon berries before anyone else does! Her strength and coordination is amazing for a little girl of her age. I am often surprised at some of the things she is capable of doing. I love having Amelia as part of our day, she always brings lots of enthusiasm and wonder and joy into our day.

Layla

Layla has always had a great love for books ever since she was small. I recall many winter nights when it's already dark outside, they are the last two kids to be picked up and sitting with her on one side and Noah on the other side reading book after book until their mother finished work. They never seem to get tired of hearing stories. As Layla has grown older ( the ripe old age of 3) one of my favorite things she does still while at daycare is to sit in the story corner and read out loud to herself. I sat and listened to the story she was telling and these are her favorite story lines;

"oh my, oh my"

"then he said"

"no...I'm not"

"he's serious"

"doggie everywhere"

"my brother!"

"I'm a big girl now"

and my personal favorite

"goodness!"

I wonder if she will grow up to be a writer?

Jamie

Today when I brought out the laundry to hang it on the line, i put the basket down on the grass, took down the clips and set the bucket on the path beside me. Jamie was riding his trike by when he noticed the bucket full of clips. He got off his bike, grabbed a handful of the clips and head for the patio. He sat and squeezed clips onto all the fingers on the one hand and then tried for a few seconds to figure out how to put them onto his other hand when the one hand already was covered with clips.
When I asked him "what are you doing Jamie" he told me he was turning into a monster. I then asked him "doesn't that hurt" and he answered " no". I stood and watched while he tried unsuccessfully to ride the trike again with the one hand covered in laundry clips, then he tried to run over to his friend Phoenix who ran away from him and didn't want any part in the "monster" game. All this took only a few moments before Jamie came running over to me and asked for help to remove the clip saying "ya Donna, these do hurt".

I guess it's not as much fun to pinch your fingers without your friends Noah or Max who love to normally play the "laundry clip game".

Phoenix

After no one even looking twice at the hula hoops all winter and spring, I added two new ones and taadaaa ......... all of the sudden everyone wants to hula!
After I sat and watched then praised Amelia for learning the Hula hoops, Phoenix calmly walked over and said "yaa, I can hula better than that". He then picked up the hula hoop and unsuccessfully tried to do it. He kept on trying for at least 15 minutes before he finally got the hang of it. On each attempt he would say "Donna, watch me , I got it" By then, every one wanted in on the action and there was a line up for your turn with one of the hula hoops.