Clara Turns Three

Clara was so excited for her birthday!

We went to church in the morning, and then we drove out of town for Scott's Grandmother's visitation and funeral.

We did get to enjoy some cupcakes in Nursery and again in the van later that night.

Scott decided to bring home an ice cream cake a few days later so that she could blow out her magic wand princess candles and open her cards and gifts.

Clara is such a joy to have in our family.

She loves to play dress up and play princesses.  She loves to sing and dance.  She loves to paint, colour, draw, and make crafts.

She adores her big sister Samantha.  One day during the first week of school, she saw Samantha come home after school.  She ran over to her and said, "Samantha!  You came back!  I'm so proud of you!".

She loves going to Nursery.

She loves her family, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

She loves her special purple blanket.  She loves sucking her two fingers and snuggling her blanket at bedtime.

She likes to pretend to be a puppy, and will crawl around the house barking.  We try to avoid picking her up, as that will likely result in a slobbery "puppy kiss" on the cheek.

Clara will make friends with anyone who gives her attention, which is pretty much everyone she meets.

We love Clara so much and can't imagine life without her.

Back to School

I'm always surprised at how quickly summer is over and school is here again.





Samantha is in Grade 6 this year.  Grade 6!

Brett is in Grade 4 and is in a 4/5 split class.

JD is in Grade 3 and is in a 3/4 split class.  This has been a HUGE change from his grade 1/2 split from last year.  

(The French Immersion section of this school is quite small, so there are a lot of split classes.  So different from their old school which had over 750 students in french immersion)

Nathan started JK this year.  He was so excited and ready to tackle school.

We drove him on his first day, which was almost 2 weeks after the other kids started.

As soon as we parked the van, he jumped out, grabbed his backpack, said "Bye Mom!" and started walking off confidently in the general direction of the portables.

We had to chase him down and explain that his class was in the main school building - in the opposite direction - and that we'd go with him to meet his teacher and get him settled before leaving.

He came home after the first day and said that his teacher's short name was Jones.  But that he usually called her by her long name.  When asked what her long name was he replied: Mrs. Jones.

(Oh, Mrs. Jones.  You have no idea what you are in for this year....)

Nathan goes to school all day, every other day.  I think Clara and I are going to enjoy some good quality time together on our 2-3 days a week without Nathan.

I'm a Proud Aunt (AGAIN!)

My sister had a baby yesterday. A sweet baby girl, named Keira, who weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz.

She was born on their Wedding Anniversary.

I can't wait to go meet her in a couple of weeks!!

Sunglasses

Clara loves her sunglasses.

Whenever we are driving on a sunny day, she tells me the sun is in her eyes, and that she needs her sunglasses.

If we don't have her sunglasses with us, she will insist on wearing mine, or any one else's.

She love to tell us that her sunglasses are pink. With butterflies.

Ordinary things in life are so much more exciting through the eyes of a two year old.

If they happen to be pink, that helps too.

Palmyra Pageant

We love going to the outdoor Pageant in Palmyra.

The boys did a great job cleaning out the van before we left.

This year when we arrived, the first cast members we ran into were friends of Scott's sisters family that we had met 12 years ago when they lived in Ontario.

Waiting for the show to start... Eating the famous Pageant Potatoes. They were as good as we remembered.

The cast was huge this year - over 750 cast members.

Afterwards we drove to Rochester and stayed in a hotel with a pool. We arrived quite late, but went for a swim in the morning, then made another quick stop at the outlets in Niagara Falls before heading home.

It was wonderful to go on our first family trip of the summer!