September Seventh

Also known as the "first day of school" around our parts... it was a good morning and everyone is psyched! Elijah started grade 2. Samuel and Gabriella were both starting their Music Class that morning so they were excited and thinking it was time to go too and even packed a snack to have while the other was in their class...
It's hard to believe Elijah is in Grade 2 already - wow. This was the first year I didn't cry or even tear up letting him go into the School Year!
Samuel is excited to get back to his second year of Orff Music - ready with his Binder and playing the Tick Tock Block
And Gabi started her first year in Orff. I knew it might be sketchy as whether or not she'd stay on her own, though mentally she was very prepared. And yes, as it was I wasn't able to leave her so Sam joined Gabi's class since he of course, was with me with no where to go...Erin is in Gabi's class too, but that didn't make a difference for herWhen the second class came (they each go 1/week for 50min.) Gabi was going to be brave (all in her head again) - but in reality started to freak out when it was time to go in... I knew she was capable, so I had to say 'you're going in or else' and she did... now she's been to about 5 classes and she is so brave and wants me to go home during the class not just for a walk with Sam. Very cute. And I am thankful!

drip drip drop

On June 25 Elijah had Fun Day - and thankfully the weather turned out great for it.
All the grades started by trying to break a guiness world record (unless the PE Teacher was just saying that) to have the most people doing the (whatever this dance is called) at the same time:The first game Elijah's class played was 'drip drip drop' like 'duck duck goose' but with a cup of water - Hailey just got a drip from Elijah:Elijah's last day of school was Monday June 28th.

year end party

{end of June}
For all the three classes of Elijah's grade, they had a combined year end party at ML. I was a driver and supervisor during the fieldtrip. We first walked around the lake and then stopped at the water park (or splash park for you Saskers) -then we had a picnic for lunch and games for the kids after that - one of the games was to dress up in all this fishing gear and race to the other side... hard to do with rubber boots up to or past the knees on some of these kids!it was a great day!

reader's theatre

Back to the beginning of June, I went to Eljiah's class to listen to "readers theatre" that they've been working on for the last month or so. Elijah's was "the gingerbread man" and he was the cow. It was really adorable - and I had the honor of practicing with his group and other groups when I would go in to help out on Mondays.

Heart 2 Heart

In May our elementary school does an annual fundraising for Heart to Heart in Haiti. I set Elijah up with his first Lemonade Stand - he made $39 (not including the cost of the juice/cookies) in honor of Heart to Heart, which we thought was great!

dancing with the stars

In May, Parent's were invited to watch and participate in PE Class at the end of the dancing unit. It was a lot of fun learning this dance with the kids...

Red and White Day

Elijah's school had a Spirit Day on the 12th of February, the day of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics! Of course, it was Red and White dress-up day!! Yea, Canada!!! Here's my boy with lots of school spirit and Canadian Patriotism! (I altered this Burger King crown so he became the King of Canada; and his teddy bear accompanied him to school too because it had a Canada sweater on!)
He's with his good friend T from his class -and to their chapel that day they had two Dads of Student's come in for a quick hello with their torches which they carried - one of which I graduated with - that was neat!
While Elijah had this at school, Sam and Gabi had swim lessons and then we stayed at the Rec Center to watch the Russian Figure Skaters practice - they were here for 2 weeks prior to the Olympics praticing! Very cool -and here's Gabi taking photos too! If you remember years ago now, when we last visited Disneyland my little 12month old Samuel pulled my camera into the hot tub on our first day in Anaheim - well, this has since been a play camera and Gabi likes it as her own -

spirit day

Last week the kids had Book Character Dress Up day! We were thankful for this opportunity when it came to Kelly and Lily being able to dress up since their group heads back for home (Beijing) on Halloween Day morning! How lame!! So at least they go to get a costume and dress up last week a bit!
From left to right: Anna (Alexa's student) is Queen Esther; Lily is Anne of Green Gables; Kelly is an Angel from the Bible and Elijah is a Lion, since we had that costume for him for this year... so he could have been Alex from Madagascar or Aslan (though he doesn't know about Narnia yet) or Lion King...

spirit day

On Wednesday, Sept 30th the kids' school had spirit day - wear blue and yellow! So this is what the three looked like.

And on that day Elijah brought a birthday treat with him to share in his class. I found lego Cookies online and thought that's exactly what I'd do - it was a hit amongst Mom's looking on in the hall and the kids! (for his cake I used m&ms; for these I just made a sugar cookies and used skittles)

me in a box

For the first round of special helpers in Elijah's class, on their day they get to bring in this large cooler-box and use it to hold special things to them to share!
So the six things he put in were:

1. picture of his family
2. Odyssey CD - he listens to this every night when he goes to bed
3. Over the Hedge DVD - not sure why he picked that one, he has a lot of favourites and I guess this particular moment was this movie
4. baseball
5. Webkinz - his chocolate lab named Brownie
6. Swim Shorts - because he loves swimming!

music class

The same day that Elijah went back to school, Samuel started Music Class. This is the same program/teacher with whom Elijah took when he was ages 3 and 4. Now it's Sammy's turn. I didn't know how he'd do since during the summer in a 4-week T-ball class I had him in, that was parent participation, he really clung to me... BUT thankfully he went in with no problem and LOVES it. He has had 4 classes so far (he goes 1/week for 50min) and already refers to "clicks" and "scapes" (which are families of instruments) when he makes a sound with his toys "that sounds like a click!".
Gabi and I either go for a walk during his class or quickly run to do some grocery shopping. Sammy is in the age 4 class due to scheduling - I have kept Wednesdays open (which the 3 year old class is on) so that I can attend our church's Women's Ministry - hopefully it actually gets going soon since I can actually attend this year! We'll see!
I don't have Samuel in preschool this fall yet. I figure with his advancement in speech, thought and conversation ability combined with his early-in-the-year birthday that I will wait til he is 4 to put him into preschool as to not possibly contribute to boredom in Kindergarten. As it is he will be closer to 6 years old, by the time he goes to Kindergarten! (In Canada our cut-off for School Entry is Dec 31... whereas in the USA it's sometime in the summer/early fall? Is that right?)

I love having him home anyway - he plays well with Gabi and on his own while she naps. Such a joy!
Here he is getting settled in on his second class:

back to school

well, it's already October and I'm finally getting to this post! Sheesh! What is changing around here that I am blogging less? Not sure! LOL. Jason has officially taken over a new (existing) brokerage as of yesterday, so things in that department of our life have changed hugely - but otherwise my roles of Mom of 5, Homemaker, Wife... have not changed all that much... not sure where my time is going!
Oh well... I'll get back to this regularly soon, I hope!

So waaaay back in September, though not until the 8th, Elijah went back to school. So sad - I really loved our first summer (meaning all summers up to this point really didn't mean it was our only "down time" since we weren't into the school system yet). I knew Elijah would do well entering grade 1 - no problems - however I did shed some tears as we entered the room on his first day.as we entered the room, me batting away tears, the Teacher wanted a picture of us so I am suprised to see I really did make my tears flee, you can hardly tell I was emotional!His first assignment: 'I'm a First Grader' hat! NO, that's not what it says, does it!! LOL, haha, my American readers - this is how we CandAdians say it: "I'm a grade oner!"Elijah has two teachers. One who teaches 4 days each week and the other who teaches just on Thursdays. They are great teachers - very organized with a website and all - right up my alley! I have been in the classroom once already helping out and am due there every other week for an hour, which I am looking forward to!

A week later we went to an Open House/Meet the Teacher night at school. Elijah showed me how they use the pointer to do the calendar...and this drawing was up on the wall that night, which I find funny because for both fairs we went to this summer we didn't do a single ride! LOL. I guess the "rides" we did partake of were in Seaside in which we went on the carousel and the mini-train... oh well!

polka dot graduation

On June 23, Elijah had his final day of Kindergarten and a Graduation in the evening for his class. I had volunteered to be on the Parent Team to come up with a theme and decorate! After visiting a local Party Decor store, I fell in love with some polka dot balloons - and this is how our theme was chosen - who doesn't love polka dots?!
This is how we decorated the Music Room where the 'ceremony' was held -we had one polka dot gift bag for each Kindergartener and in it we had a picture of the child with cap on in a frame. Here is our polka dot path down the aisle!the polka dot theme was extended into the cupcakes since one of the other Moms (Heather) on our "decorating team" loves to use fondant and had polka dot cutters! They turned out great - so adorable!Elijah's Teacher did the program which included the children singing many songs interspersed by the children saying Bible verses in groupswe were sitting in the front row feet away from Elijah - here is a face I've noticed he makes in this last year when performing and he catches our eye ~Since their Bible verse leading up to the end of school was Galations 5:17, the fruits of the spirit verse, Mrs. N found one of the fruits that stuck out at her for each child in the class. For example she said “patience” and then had the children whom demonstrate that fruit most, stand and say something about them - Elijah and Zoe were recognized for displaying "peace" (as soon as that was said I could hear my Grandma and my Mom snicker beside me since peace is exactly opposite of what they witness!) -Proud Brother and Sister...ConGRADulations Eljiah!!

Year End Party and T-Ball

Elijah's class had a year end swim party at one of their classmates homes. I joined this fieldtrip for the day (which is another reason I didn't feel so bad for not attending Elijah's sports day the following day rather went to the zoo) - on Thursday, June 18. It was a fun time for the kids to swim together and then have a hotdog lunch and Mr. Freezies.Then that night we had another hotdog BBQ to attend - the T-Ball Family Finale. Here are Alise and Elijah holding up their awards, group photo and box of Smarties!Busy day, but great times!

Christmas Concert

So Elijah's School's concert was postponed on the 17th and re-scheduled for the morning of the 19th. Thankfully the snow stopped so there was school on the last day before Christmas Break! Here are the four classes of Kindergartens singing three songs led by the Music Teacher, Mrs. B.Elijah walked right past us on the way out of the gym; he knew he was to be quiet so he was doing this "shhh" poseThat afternoon I returned to the school to volunteer in Elijah's class. They had a little Birthday Party for Jesus: they each brought a wrapped book and exchanged with each other, and played some games like the following picture, I think his Teacher called it "musical shares" meaning they had to share the chairs when the music stopped and she kept taking a chair out like musical chairs - it was cute and fun for the kids!they decorated cookies and had a great ol' time.