Introducing....grade 2

Faith ventured off to the world of grade 2 this morning, full of all the fears that naturally befall her quiet demeanor. (I'll have to say my name in class! In front of EVERYONE!)

For the first time, I didn't drop her off for the first day. George got the pleasure this time, and was generally appalled by the mob scene at the primary school door. This is, in fact, normal, as I think families recruit extra relatives to drop off their kids for the first day of school.

Faith was her normal quiet, sober self entering school. She told me that she tried not to cry when Dad left, but she had one tear come down her cheek. (Sniff.)

But, the rest of the day went very well. The grade ones in her split 1/2 class are "learning how to be quiet". And, she wants to do harder work. She's also very excited that she gets to do four days of French this year including counting to 100 en francais. The best part apparently, was recess in which her friends came and found her to play with. This was her big fear the night before, that no one would play with her at recess. (Sniff.)
I swear that school is just another way of reliving all the angst of your own school years, only this time squeezed through the eyes of your kids.

But, all in all, we were pretty happy with how the first day turned out, and Faith celebrated with a new webkinz, and a trip to McDonald's.

Oh, all you'll note that Faith is wearing a nice sweater from her Uncle Duncan. It was chilly this morning, but about 28 degrees C when I picked her up. Yes, the first week of school has turned into summer around here.

A living fence

Ryan arrived on Monday to put in a "living fence" for us. Melissa, his fiancee, designed it, but Ryan got to do the grunt work. :) Here's the before picture of the bed that Ryan dug out. Apparently our ground was too hard for the rototiller, so he had to do most of this by hand.

This is the bed after the plants were all in, but before mulching and edging. He had Faith and our neighbour helping out by getting rid of the grass he'd pulled our earlier. Faith decided that she should be paid 25 cents for her work...cheap if you ask me.

And, here is the finished product. It will take about three years to fill out completely, but I'm really happy with how it looks now. The bed has forsythia, weigilia, zebra grass, snowball, and some other stuff I can't remember now.


Thanks to Ryan and Melissa for all the hard work...and to Ryan for dealing with our grumpy neighbour (hint, hint...the reason for the living fence).

Not my kid!

One of my favourite treats are macaroons and their various incarnations in cookie form, such as haystacks. I love the combination of chocolate and coconut. Our local cafe sells a particularly luscious version of this treat called Tits of the Andes (seriously). It's basically a giant, dark chocolate haystack full of coconut goodness and topped off with a white chocolate "snow cap", which has a chocolate dab in the middle. (I'd show a picture, but I already ate it.)

Anyway, besides the great name, they also have a great taste. So, as a treat I picked one up today. After supper, I pulled it out and broke off a little bit to give to Blake. The kid loves anything chocolate.

I put the chocolate in this mouth, and instead of asking for more, he promptly spit it out and said, "Bleah." Bleah! I couldn't believe it! He obviously takes after the non-coconut lovers in the family (including his Dad). I swear this is a genetic defect as coconut is such a delightful treat.

On the plus side, this meant I got to eat the whole cookie myself. Yum.

Budding artists

Faith is passing along her artistic talent to her brother.

Trot, trot, and more trot

Faith did it! She trotted on her own tonight...a lot. The main trick is getting her lazy-ass pony to actually move, but she can do it. It's the command, cluck, kick, kick, kick, kick....kick that gets little Texas going. She even got to use the "pony smacker", or crop in the vernacular.

I was quite fun to watch actually. :)

TV habits

George was watching The Good, the bad and the ugly on tv the other night when Faith came downstairs. Her first words, "Is this appropriate for me to be watching?"

Blake's 18th month

To Blake:

We have entered a whole new era now. The chairs are laying on the floor around the kitchen table. Any time one gets left upright, you're immediately on it. I just caught you literally trying to jump from a chair that was just a little too far from the table for you to easily make the transfer.


And, you've discovered that you can THROW things...anything, everything. In church on Sunday (a whole adventure in itself), he was playing with a purple plastic lid when suddenly his arm went up and he whipped it, baseball player style, down the pew and into the center aisle. Hello!

You are also turning into a chatter box. Cookie, cracker, cheese, milk (a theme is developing here), doggy, kitty, duck, Faith, Karen, hat, and many more. Yet, this doesn't stop you from grunting and pointing either. We're working on this. You're also using some sentences.

Me: "Who made this mess?"
You: "I did it."

At least you're honest.

You have developed a newfound love of the water. At the cottage on the long weekend you walked in and out and in and out of FREEZING COLD Lake Huron water. Even when you did a face plant, it didn't stop you. In our own backyard, you love to splash in the mud puddle at the back of the yard. Of course, when you bed over to slurp up the puddle water like a little puppy, that's when it gets gross.

You are also a good locator now too. Daddy asked you where you hid the clicker and you trotted off into the bedroom only to come back with the remote control. Today at Karen's house, they asked where Oliver's soother is (just talking aloud really) and you walked over to the pile of toys and pulled out the soother....as if to say "Voila!"

And, strangely enough, you've started sitting on the potty. Whenever I hit the bathroom, you insist on having your turn, no diaper on, sitting on the potty. Mostly this is because you like to take the toilet paper and "wipe your bum", but we may get luckly one day and you'll actually go. Although, frankly, I'm not quite sure how to get you to sit so I won't get hit in the eye with a stream of pee once you do let loose. This may be a learning experience for both of us.

Yes, you are a daily adventure. Mostly I'm wondering when you'll either get stitches or break our leg. As long as it isn't both at once I'll be somewhat relieved.

Love,
Mom