I learned that Matthew is famous today...

...at school at least. We found out that this picture of him was taken at recess by a teacher (note the full gear AND flip flops - only in Canada eh?) and it is now the screen saver on all of the computers at school! (Yes library, classrooms etc!)

Summer comes to a close

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new school year. It seems odd but the weather has changed just in the last few days - maybe just to get us all in the mood for change. I don't know. I think it helps. It is always hard to go back when the weather is beautiful and warm. I know that we will get some more nice weather but it seems to make it easier to go back when the air is more crisp and cool.


The lunches are made, the outfits are out, the bags are ready at the door. The morning expectations have been discussed. We will see what tomorrow brings.


It will certainly mean changes. Marlee goes every day all day. She keeps saying she is not looking forward to it but we will see. I know that she will be separated from her best friend, who is in JK and will continue part time until next year. I wonder what it will mean for her. There were 4 grade one teachers last year, any of which will be good for Marlee - all quite different from each other but each with a strength that could work for Marlee. I've left it in God's hands as to who will be best for her. She is my homebody and if I were to consider home schooling it would be because of her. I'm praying she will find her niche and that she will soon enjoy school and learning and all that it can bring.


Matthew is excited to get back. he has missed his main friend for most of the summer. They were only able to get together for one play date over the summer and he even missed his birthday party because of family obligations. I do not know any of the grade three teachers so again, we are praying for a good match. I am also praying that he will be molded into the positive leader that I know he can be. He has been having some challenges at home lately with listening, with temper and with hands on. I am feeling the need to be firmer and more strict with him in order to curb this before it gets out of hand. I hope that he has a teacher that is clear with his/her expectations.


Cierra goes with the flow. She seems to be excited to go back but then she is always ready for the next thing to begin. She is already talking about camp next year (did she stop talking about it actually?). This will be her final year at highschool so talk of transition and what that means next year will be forefront. Her family is sure to be much more involved this year as well so that could mean more changes too. Time will tell.


So where did the summer go? Let's see. We checked quite a few things off our list. So I guess that is where. We visited quite a few new parks. We met with friends. We had a sleepover. We attended camp. We went up north. Cierra visited mom. Before you know it it went. Just like that.

End of the Year and Teacher Thank yous

She made it! Marlee has graduated from kindergarten and is officially in grade one. All day every day next year!
The school had a little ceremony which consisted of the kids singing a song (Together), each receiving a "diploma" and the principal relaying what they would like to be when they grow up. They ended with a good bye song with participation from the audience (Tony Chestnut). We met in the classroom afterwards for a few minutes before leaving them. We've had this particular teacher now for 4 years so it will be a bit of a change next year.

End of the school year also means teacher thank yous. I struggled with this for a few years before we have now settled into a routine. It can be somewhat expensive from year to year but we have really had such great teachers that it is certainly justified.

Basically we give gift certificates. Not extremely creative or original but hopefully useful and well, I like to give consumable gifts. To add a little personality we add some homemade goodies, which ideally, the kids help make. Skor bars have been very popular, as well as Mars Bar Squares. If I have time I make a little bag topper to spice it up.

This year our teachers got $20 gift cards for Michael's or Chapters and the EA in the classroom got $10 for Chapters. We recognized them at Christmas and at year end. They also got a Tim Horton's card back on Teacher Recognition Day. They have been exceptional teachers this year and all did lots of extras for the classroom. We hope they all have a great summer. Now we wait until the Friday before class starts in September to start it all over again. But for now, 2 months of ????

We'll be sitting down on Monday to brainstorm about what we'd like to do all summer. We are somewhat limited in that I don't have the space in the car to drive every day but we are again fortunate that there are lots of things to do around the neighbourhood. I have a few ideas of my own but it will be interesting to see what the kids come up with. We already have "ride the city bus" on the list.

Now I'm off to the leftover goodies...

Kisses

I walked the kids to school today as I usually do and went on to walk the girls to their side. Matt was already off interacting with a friend. I went up to him and told him I was taking the girls over and could I have a kiss goodbye? He was pretty preoccupied so I pretty much hugged him from behind and then started walking on saying "Have a good day... see you after school". He then stopped what he was doing, and came over and hugged me and said, "I'll never not kiss you - unless we are out of time!" and then gave me a proper big kiss goodbye. I told him "Wow - thank you so much" - and high fived him. What a kid! I know plenty of moms with much younger kids who have stopped kissing goodbye at school already. Trust me - I'll take this as long as I can! It totally made my day!

Growing up

Today I learned that Marlee is growing up. I am seeing such a change in her. Today it was raining and I didn't have any other kids to walk so I decided (gasp) to drive them. There was a lot of room in the parking lot but Marlee was quite content to go into the school with Matt all on her own. This is big!

Slow down, you move too fast

I want to make the moment last.

When you want things to go fast, life inevitably slows down. And I'm glad. Life has a way of teaching us that it has its own pace. For a reason.

I had a day at home today. How I love these. I didn't particularly accomplish much. I had a good run (10 and 1's!) and then puttered in the garden (finally trimmed the tree) and picked Cierra up for a doctor's appointment. I had a lot I wanted to accomplish today and really didn't get to any of it. Life has a way of doing that to me. It's almost like when my to do list is too long, I'll get into a good book. Or my run will be good I make it longer. Or alternately, I'll get sidetracked into surfing the net for too long. Either way, it's a reminder at the end of the day that these kind of days are okay. We need some days to just step back and enjoy. Take part in the day. For they pass so quickly.

On another note, it was meet the teacher barbq at school today. I hope the time so far this year is a good indication of how the year will go. The kids had a great time showing us around- and again I am reminded of what a nice community of families we have around here. I finally met the neighbours on the corner and Drew was reaquainted with a family in the court. We did talk about missing J and B though. They were our "Steadies" at these type of functions. I'll have to put their number in my cell phone.