Parties, Rome, Baseball, Tennis and Piano

Navia was invited to her friend Brooke's birthday party and she was soooo excited! Brooke is a little princess, just like Navia, so for a gift I ran out and bought a tank top with sparkles on the straps and then a women's pink t-shirt (I didn't have time to run to the fabric store). From that I took the women's t-shirt and cut off the bottom part, using the bottom seam as the bottom seam for the skirt, added an elastic for the waistband and then cut up an old pink shirt to make the ruffle on the bottom. I used the extra t-shirt material to applique a 'B' on the front. Then we topped it off with pink sparkly nail-polish and pink sunglasses with "diamonds". It was fun doing a quick project like this that was easy to do and the cost was great.

Brooke's party was held at the upstairs of the grocery store where the kids made their own pizza, fruit salad and decorated cupcakes. They had a blast!

Navia in her chef's hat

Navia and Brooke cutting up the fruit for the salad

Braden had a new experience this past month too - a trip to Rome and back that took 4 days!!! He left on Tuesday and was back on Friday! He's been working on a McDonald's job for Europe McDonald's and they had a conference in Rome in which he showed them what they'd done and pitched another job as well. He came home exhausted, but it sounds like he had fun! His hotel was only a 20 minute walk from the Coliseum so he had fun site-seeing on foot. He came home with hats for the kids and they LOVED them . . . well . . .

Navia loved hers after a little bit, her first reaction was disbelief, not wanting to touch it, cuddling into me and crying because daddy didn't by her any princess things (on the phone she had asked him to bring back a princess dress, diamond earrings, diamond necklace and glass slippers). Poor Braden didn't know what to do! She warmed up though and soon wouldn't let anyone else touch it.

Baseball season has begun in our neck of the woods. Emma is on the Gloucester Youth Girl's Mite team and at the first practice the coach couldn't believe that she hadn't been on a team before or had never pitched in her life. I guess she's kinda a natural and after hitting a home run and getting 3 girls home with it her coach called her "home-run girl"! Yep - she loves it and has been coming home dirty as anything because she believes in sliding too!

Just after Emma hit the ball

Emma running the bases - black outfit, red batters helmet

Emma all ready in the outfield

Emma pitching

Emma's not the only one in baseball though - Kaleb is too! He's on the ROMSA 5-Pitch Co-Ed team and although he's only had 1 game so far he's loving it too! His league is non-competitive and more for learning the sport so they don't keep score and the pitcher is actually the other team's coach while a boy stands at the mound to catch anything that might be hit that way. I guess Kaleb was really getting into the pitching with "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE ONE", "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE TWO", "STRIIIIIIIIIIIKE THREE - YOOU'RE OOOOOUUUUUUT" - sounds like he was so much into it that the coach had to ask him to not be so enthusiastic about it! LOL!

"Striiiiiike Two!"

Kaleb ready at first base

Kaleb getting the ball before the runner - "You're Ouuuuut!"

Kaleb at bat

Now baseball isn't the only sport that we're doing right now - we enrolled the kids in TENNIS!!! The only thing - when we got there on Saturday we realized that we enrolled them in 'family' tennis, which meant that one of us had to join as well - so I ran back to the house and picked up Brade's shoes and shorts for him so that he could play along. The three of them had a lot of fun learning how to serve, backhand, and other tennis things that I just don't have a clue about.

Notice the ball flying after Emma backhanded it

Kaleb's got this one too!

And Daddy, well, he hit it right out of my shot!

And what were Navia and I doing during this time??? Sitting in the van watching {sigh}. Yep, Navia had a cough and wet hair (as we had just come back from swimming lessons) and had to stay in the van instead of go to the playground that was right beside the tennis court. Next time though!

Posing with HER tennis racket

The last half of the game was spent putting what they learned into action - with a real game - the instructor and Emma vs. Daddy and Kaleb - no keeping score though! They did really great and can't wait until next weekend to learn more. I'm thinking that this just might be the new 'family' sport that we can do - the courts are just a couple blocks away and the kids are enjoying it . . . so maybe?!?!

This afternoon was my MYC Spring Recital . . . which means that after today I only have my Monday classes to teach for 2 more weeks and then I'm off for the summer!!! Although Kaleb and Emma are quite excited that they are officially done right now!!! I taught 48 students this year so had to break my recital into 2 recitals and had them at the Riverside United Church. The kids all did great and I only had 5 who couldn't make it!

Emma playing 'Shortenin' Bread" - notice the hand crossing over - yep - she's good!!!

My 2:00 recital crew . . . ages 4 - 9 (Emma's in this one)

Kaleb playing 'Joyful Times', a fiddling tune which he rocked!!!

My 3:30 recital crew (Kaleb's in this one - back row)

So, that's what we've been up to lately. Now that teaching is done (or almost done) I can concentrate more on the gardening, making sure the kids get to all their baseball games and just hanging out with my family and friends. I've already booked a trip to the nursery with a friend to shop for my new front garden!!! Can't wait!!!

Oh, and can you believe that we have the kids in swimming, baseball AND tennis all at the same time?!?!?! I don't think that will be happening again, but it does make it so that we're never bored!!!

hmmm . . .

this post is a bit different that others, so you'll just have to bear with me, but sometimes i have thots in my head that are just wanting to come out and this is one of those times. every family is different and everyone parents differently, but tonight this is what's running through my head and my heart . . .

there is a struggle that so many parents face - work and family. you need to work in order to provide for your family, but then there are those times that because of work you miss what is important to someone in your family. how does that make sense?

right now braden is in italy for work and today was the day of making sure that i went to all the kids' things - but i missed one. I've spent over 9 years making sure that i was always at my children's activities and special events and this past year i haven't been able to make it to anything that was in the evening due to my work. i met emma's teacher for the first time today - and it's may! what's with that?!?!? today i made it to emma's student led conference at 10am, then to kaleb's at 1pm, but then at 5:30 i needed to go to work and the kids went to awana. i thought that i did good.

Kaleb's project on the Canada Goose

Emma's project on bridges - its a retractable one!

when the kids came home and went to bed i was putting away navia's bag when out dropped a paper. it was an invitation to the cubbies awards ceremonies - may 6 - tonite! i guess last week i just put her bag away without looking inside and then we just grabbed it today for awana. i sent her without even knowing that tonight was her awards night. i guess there a program with presentations and awards and navia even came home with a little cubbie award badge for me to sew onto her cubbie vest. each family even brought refreshments to share with everyone afterwards. i can just picture navia as the only little girl there without parents there. she didn't get to sit or eat with her parents or show them what she's been doing all year. i know she's only 4 and won't really remember this, but i will. when the note fell out i came upstairs and asked emma if there were a lot of families there tonight and she told me that there were tons of parents in navia's class and if i could please come next week because it's her's and kaleb's awards ceremony. hmmm. i think emma doesn't want to be like navia was tonight.

i know that this isn't the first time that work has interfered with family, but it is the first time it has with navia - she's the only one that i've always been there for - and now i guess the time has come that she's going to realize that i can't be there for her all the time either. it just sucks! i know that this is going to happen more, especially because i'm going to be teaching more next year, but it doesn't make it any easier.

out of this i've also realized that i couldn't be a single parent or have a husband that is away a lot. brade is only gone for 4 days - really not long at all - and emma and kaleb have both missed their first baseball games and navia had no one to watch her get her very first awana badge. and that's just in 4 days . . . how in the world would it be like if i didn't have the supportive husband and father that is around all the time and will come home just to take a sick kid to the doctors if i'm working and can't. God really blessed us with him and although i'm sure that i take him for granted often, i really need to watch it, because we're pretty lucky - he is our gift - and an amazing one!

so, maybe i make sure to look in my kids' bags so that i don't miss important things, maybe i spend more time with them doing what they want and not what i want, maybe i spend time just talking with them as individuals, maybe i spend more time praying with them and for them, and maybe i accept the fact that work is something that needs to be done, but there is a lot of time in the day that i can take out for my children - and sometimes i'll miss something that is important to them, but they know that i love them - fully and completely . . . . . (and they'll take lots of pictures for me so they can show me what happened!)

This video below is Kaleb showing telling us the story of The Three Little Pigs in French. It looks like he's reading something, but he really isn't - he did amazing and I had no idea that my little boy could talk this well in another language - especially one that I don't understand!

Love & Navia

This morning I was sitting at the computer working on my lesson plans and Navia came up, pushed my hair behind my ears and started kissing both my cheeks, over and over again. I asked why she was doing it and she replied, "because I love you". So, being curious I asked her why she loves me and she replied, "Because you love Daddy and Emma and Kaleb and you came from heaven to love me." I think I feel just a little more special this morning because of my 4 year old.

When I asked her how she knows that I love her - "Cause you tell me all the days that you love me!" was the response in an exasperated tone - yep, she thought I should just know the answer to that one - hehehe!

So, now I'm procrastinating with my lessons plans so that I can make sure to remember this forever and always remember how lucky I am to have the 3 most amazing kids in the world and the best husband ever (sorry, I know how other wives feel, but reeeeeaaaalllly . . . I do have the most amazing husband!!!)

Easter Weekend Oddities

So far our Easter weekend has been unusual in it's weather (which the average high for this time of month is 8) . . . and I'm NOT complaining!!! On Good Friday it was 24 degrees Celsius - so it was shorts and outside the entire day! We did remote control cars (and yes, they work really well in the water too!!!), kite flying, gardening and just hanging out with all five of us!

Daddy pushing Navia at the park closest to our house

Emma flying her kite

Kaleb doing the "boy" thing - throwing rocks!!!

Kaleb having fun with his car and the water

Navia has a turn at flying the kite - and she does very, very well!

Then today we had another gorgeous day - 29 degrees Celsius (felt like 33!!!)! So it was off with the shorts and tank tops and on with the BATHING SUITS!!! Yep - April 3 and the kids are outside in the sprinkler - who'da'thunk?!?!?!!

Kaleb, Navia and a neighbor friend making silly faces

Kaleb "stealing" water for a mud puddle he was creating

Happy April Fool's Day

Well, April Fool's Day jokes are now officially over, but I thought I'd share a few that made their way into our house today. . .

The day started off early with Braden getting up to get to work earlier than normal. After his shower he went to get new underwear (yes, my husband changes his underwear - hehehe!) and found that his underwear drawer was full of my underwear! He asked ME what I did with his and I didn't know what he was talking about so he had to go ask the kids. Seems like those sneaky little kids got out of bed last night and switched Brade's underwear to Navia's drawer, Navia's to mine and mine to Brade's. Yep - they got us good (and the best part - it wasn't destructive and didn't take long to switch back!!!)

Before they headed off to school I sat the kids down and told them that we had signed them up for a summer camp and handed them this brouchure.

If you look closely at the writing you'll see that it is for "Adventure Getaway CHORE Camp" - you can learn how to make beds, wash dishes without getting water spots and more!!! I thought it would be fun for them, they didn't all agree and not everyone wanted to go. After I told them it was just a joke Kaleb got a bit upset because he said that it kinda sounded like fun!!! Hmmmm? Does this mean that he has fun cleaning his room?

Then I made their snack - cheese squares and corn - not too interesting . . . but it you look closer you might notice something . . .

Yep - it's not real cheese OR real corn - they're made from Starburst candy! Emma (who stayed home today because she's not feeling well) and Navia thought it was a fun trick . . . I have no idea what Kaleb will say when he goes to eat his snack - hopefully he'll like it though!

But it now is after 12 so the tricks must stop - until next year!!!

Preschool, Firetrucks and Cookies!!!

Navia has been going to Preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. She LOVES it and the teachers are great! Yesterday I was the "duty parent" and of course I came armed with a camera!!! It was a busy day because they just brought out new dress-up clothes that were clamored over by all the girls, and even a couple boys. They also made cookies as a group and got to ice them and eat them as a snack - which was very yummy (and very messy!!!)

(Navia is leaning over with the pink tights)

Yummy!

Check out Ms. Princess, cape, muffins and all!

I went to take a picture of Navia and suddenly all the kids wanted to be in it too - soooo cute!

Last month the school went on a field trip to the Firehall in Manotick and all the parents could come along. Navia had a blast and was very, very fast!!! They could explore 2 different firetrucks and an ambulance and she was popping in and out of each one as I was having to go around each one.

Navia was enjoying the firemen UNTIL they put on the masks and started breathing like Darth Vader. When the fireman asked the kids if they were in a fire and saw a fireman dressed like this and sounding like this what would they do . . . Navia's response wasn't the right one . . . she thought she should go under her bed. Yep - she's now scared of firemen!!! So I'm thinking that we're going to be going to meet a few more of these guys to help her get over her fear. I guess the field trip wasn't exactly helping my little girl, although it did for so many others!

It took a long time to get Navia this close to the fireman - and even then it was just for a second!

How to Train Your Dragon

Tonight was the night that we decided to take the family on our date night to the theater to watch "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D. What a great decision!!! The kids had a blast watching it - all THREE of them - and Navia loved how "cuddly" the dragon Toothless was (one shown in picture) It was also nice to watch a movie together without wanting to get out of there because the movie was bad - nope - GREAT movie!

In the middle of the movie Kaleb leaned over to me and said in an excited whisper, "Mom, I thought this was a great movie but it just keeps getting better and better" and he turned back, glued to the screen.

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet, but the really cool thing is that today we bought the book by the same title, which is the first in the series - and we didn't buy it for Emma. Nope! This book is for Kaleb and he can't wait to start reading it tomorrow to see what is the same and what is different from the movie! And . . . this isn't a "child's" book - it is 224 pages long with 19 chapters!!! YAY!!! I think we just might have found a series that Kaleb will enjoy, but we'll see. He actually was tested last month on his reading capabilities and it looks like he's reading at an end of Grade Three level!

So, we'll see if we're purchasing number 2 in this series sometime soon - I sure hope so because it's great to see the kids reading like this - kinda reminds me of how I was when I was younger.

"A Note from Hiccup -

There were dragons when I was a boy.

There were great, grim, sky dragons that nested on the cliff tops like gigantic scary bird. Little, brown, scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rates in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge Sea Dragons that were twenty times as big as the Big Blue Whale and who killed for the fun of it.

You will have to take my word for it, for the dragons are disappearing so fast they may soon become extinct.

Nobody knows what is happening. They are crawling back into the sea from whence they came, leaving not a bone, not a fang, in the earth for the men of the future to remember them by.

So, in order that these amazing creatures should not be forgotten, I will tell this true story from my childhood.

I was not the sort of boy who could train a dragon with the mere lifting of an eyebrow. I was not a natural at the Heroism business. I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.

- Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third" (excerpt from beginning of book)