Back to School 2012 (Part 2)

Today we woke up to a ton of fog, so the kids had a 2 hour bus delay.

That left us lots of time for longer baths, and a big hot breakfast before heading off to the bus.  

I took about 10 shots, but still couldn't get one with everyone's eyes open at the same time. 

Individual shots again on day two... why not?

  

One of Clayton in the stroller... just to prove that he was there. 

Throwing around the football while waiting for the bus.

Memorable moments of the morning:

On the walk to the bus when Clara realized - with great disappointment - that Samantha, Brett, Jesse & Nathan weren't actually going to be in her class. 

Jesse saying to me: Mom, I think Clara is going to spend a lot of time in the principal's office this year... for yelling. 

The house seemed terribly quiet all day.  But was wonderful to have lots of one-on-one time with Clayton.  Scott commented that it was so nice to let Clayton play on the floor on a blanket without worrying about him getting smothered or trampled to death. 

Back to School 2012 (Part 1)

Hard to believe it's that time of year already.  This summer went by surprisingly fast.  

I was so sad to see my three oldest kids leave for school today.  I'm going to miss them!  

Samantha is going into Grade 7.  Grade SEVEN!  I remember my first day of Grade 7... it wasn't that long ago.  

Brett is going into Grade 5.  Scary.  

And Jesse, Grade 4.  I have no words.  Just one question.  How can this be possible?  

At least it was only three of them that left today and not all five at once.  That would have been too much.  

Last night it hit me as the kids were packing lunches.  Clara, never one to be left out, grabbed her new lunch bag and starting filling it with food.  I had to walk away until I could blink back the tears.  

She will start Junior Kindergarten tomorrow.  

Nathan will be starting Senior Kindergarten, and his first year of French Immersion.   

At least they are only gone every other day.  Two days a week, sometimes three.  But tomorrow morning I will be dying inside as my little Clara gets onto that big yellow bus.  

And I will head home with my box of Kleenex, hugging Clayton, and wondering why motherhood has to be so heart-wrenching.  

Family Fun Run

Samantha, Brett, Jesse & Nathan ran their first race yesterday at the London Children's Museum Family Fun run.

Nathan participated in the Dino Dash - 500 m, while the older kids did the Raptor Run - 1 km. There was also a 5 km run, and a total of about 100 runners participating in all three races.

It really was a fun run, so their races weren't timed or anything.  Nathan finished 7th in his race, and Jesse, Samantha, and Brett finished 2nd, 6th, and 8th respectively in their race.

Jesse was quite upset when he crossed the finish line because he accidentally followed the 5 km runners a bit too far, instead of turning around at the tunnel like he was supposed to.  He was a good sport about it afterwards, but it was a good learning experience.

We had a lot of fun and they even made the front page in the London Community News:

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/08/night-at-the-museum-fundraising-run/

Summer Is Here

It's the last week of school, the last weekend of our 8-week event season, the last week of 3 on 3 hockey for the boys, last week of cubs and youth activities, and tonight is the last piano lesson until September.

It feels like things should be winding down a little bit, but really it's just on to the next set of activities... 

Soccer, the cottage, girls camp, weddings, family activities / visits / trips and... one more little thing, what was it again?  

Oh, right.  Six kids home all day with no school for 9 weeks.  

No big deal.  

I just moved bedtime up to 1:30 PM so I think we are all set.

I'm really going to miss my Mom when she disappears to Alberta for a month.  

Here are a few photos with some things we've been up to lately.

Clayton's first hockey game (Brett & JD's 3 on 3).  Clara was yelling so loud, cheering for her brothers, that the people in front of us decided to move seats.  Thank goodness they don't sell out at Novice Boys Rec. League hockey games.

JD had a school performance - he was one of three circus clowns.  Here he is afterwards showing off his brother to all his friends.  Poor little Clayton was so hot.  Their school doesn't have AC (crazy!) and this day it was nearly 40 degrees out!  

The play was super cute... only I couldn't understand 99.9% of it because it was in French.  

Samantha's class performed Macbeth.  In English.  

I understood most of it.  Just not the lines that were in iambic pentameter.  

Samantha played the part of the doctor that pronounced Lady Macbeth dead.  

We planned to do outdoor cooking for our last day of Cubs.  We had prepped five different foods to cook - so the boys could earn their cooking badges.  

Approximately 1 hour before the activity, we started getting torrential downpours, thunder, and lighting.  So we moved the whole thing into the Church kitchen at the last minute.  It was a little chaotic, but the boys still had fun.  

Baked apples...  stuffed and ready for the oven. 

Saturday our kids had a total of 4 soccer games and one hockey game between them.  

Clara got sick last week with a terrible cough, stuffy nose, and slight fever.  

I wanted to feel bad for her, but I was too busy enjoying the peace and quiet while she was sleeping 18 hours a day.  

This little snowman attached to a square of soft and silky blanket fabric was Nathan's favourite when he was a baby.  About 4 months ago he decided he would give it to the new baby when he was born.  So whenever he sees Clayton sleeping he insists on making sure he has his snuggle toy.  

And don't forget the neck support cushion stuck on his head like a hat.  

Clayton had to get used to his carseat really quickly and has already spent a lot of time in it going from one activity to the next.  

Don't worry, we have Clara to make sure he does't get bored... 

My sweet boys.  

Looking forward to a fun and busy summer! 

JD's Theory Exam

JD wrote the Preliminary Rudiments Royal Conservatory Exam for Music Theory last month.

He studied really hard for this exam.  The morning of the exam he was so nervous!  

He was the first one into the exam room and I watched him through the window in the door while the rest of the 75 or so students were admitted into the exam room. He was super anxious.  

When he came out after it was over, I asked him if there was anything he didn't know and he said, "I didn't know one of the vocabulary words because it was in cursive and I can't read cursive very well yet."  

That made me laugh because it's such a typical JD thing to say, and also made me think about how young he is and what a huge accomplishment this was.  

Here he is celebrating afterwards with a Tim Horton's egg sandwich and a donut.  

I couldn't be prouder!

League Champs

A while ago I posted about our boys' hockey team and the playoffs.  Against all odds, their team came back and won Game 4 and Game 5, which tied us up with Strathroy.  I'm proud to say that the first goal in Game 4 was scored by Jesse, and the whole team just got fired up after that.  Game 5 we won 4-0.

The two teams met yesterday to play in the Championship Game.  We scored early in the game, and held on to the 1-0 lead until the last 2 minutes of the third period when Strathroy scored a goal to tie it up.  I thought for sure we would see some overtime.  But with 11 seconds to go, we managed to get the puck over the line (barely) and win the series and the League Championships!  

Jesse won the Award for Most Sportsmanlike Player and Brett won the Award for Most Improved Player.

The coaches were very emotional when they presented Brett's Medal, and the whole dressing room exploded in applause and cheering.  Hard to believe that only a few months ago he could barely stand up in ice skates...

We were so happy to have Grandma, Nana & Papa and our good friends all come out to the game to support the boys.

What a great season! 

Hockey Update

Brett and Jesse have been playing hockey together this year.  It's been quite a rewarding experience watching Brett learn how to skate and play hockey in just a few short months.  He literally gets better with each game, and the difference is noticeable.

But it didn't start out that way...

When Brett found out Scott had signed him up for hockey in the fall, he was mad.   He did not want to play.  As much as he loves watching hockey, and playing hockey (off of the ice), he had never learned to skate.   Brett has always been uncomfortable doing things that he isn't great at.  He likes to do well at everything, so if he thinks he won't excel at something, he avoids it completely.

Scott told Brett that he needed to give it a try and that after 10 games, if he didn't like it, he could quit.  He reluctantly agreed.  The very first practice was a scrimmage to determine where to place players on the various teams.  Brett couldn't go more than 2-3 seconds on the ice without falling down.  Scott said he was like a baby giraffe, which is pretty accurate.

Kids 2-3 years younger than him were literally skating circles around him.  Jesse scored 2 goals during the game.

I was in the stands worrying about what Brett was going to say when it was over.  When they came off the ice, Brett was grinning.  I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how much fun he had and he said 9.5!

From then on it was an uphill battle each game and practice.  He worked so hard to learn to skate forwards, backwards, to stop, to turn.  He gave it his all, and did his best to master the defence position he had been assigned on the team.  Even though he still couldn't catch up with the other players, he started to become more solid.  We could tell that mentally he knew what to do, and it was just a matter of time before his body could follow through.

Within a few months, there were some changes and Brett got a new position - winger.  He was nervous but he tried really hard to learn the position.

One Saturday about 3 months into the season we had 2 games in one day.  It was during the first game that Brett scored his very first goal!

Jesse scored a goal in the second game that day, which was awesome.  I think that was his 12th goal of the season up until that time.

Right now we are in the final round of our playoffs.  First team to 6 points wins.  (2 points for a win, 1 for a tie)

We are up against a really strong and well-coached team from Strathroy.

In Game One we were down 2-0.  Jesse played amazing and managed to score not once, but twice, giving our team the tie.

Game Two:  We're down 2-0 again.  Jesse scores, then a teammate scores and the game is once again tied at 2-2.  Then we had 2 horrible line changes, resulting in a 4-2 loss for our team.  It was such a close game and a tough loss.

Then we took a break from the playoffs for a few days and attended a March Break Tournament a few hours away.  As luck would have it, we faced this same Strathroy team in Game 3 of the tournament.  We played hard and beat them 2-1.  Unfortunately, this game didn't count in our Playoff Series.

Also, I would like to mention that in Game 1 of this same tournament, Brett scored his second goal of the season!  I think both Scott and I were having a hard time holding back the tears in the stands.  Jesse didn't do too bad either - scoring 4 goals in one week.

Yesterday we were back to the playoffs, Game Three.  Strathroy came back strong, and by the third period we were down 2-0.  Again.

Then with only 1:24 to go in the Third, we scored a goal and got back in the game.

Miraculously with 59 seconds left, we pulled our goalie and scored again!  I could not believe we were going to tie!  What a game!  Only a few seconds left to hold on...

Then, somehow, with 12 seconds left, one of our defencemen found himself alone with three Strathroy players charging the net.  He tried to swipe the puck away but fumbled, or got disoriented, or something.  He ended up putting the puck right between the goalie's legs and into our own net!

What a devastating loss that was.  We have Game Four coming up later this week and I think the boys are pretty discouraged going into it with the series now at 5-1 for Strathroy.

But no matter what happens, it has been an amazing season and so much fun to watch.  I know they won't go down without a fight.

Going to watch the boys' games has definitely been one of the highlights of my week, every week!  We have been so blessed to have Samantha watch Nathan & Clara to allow both Scott and I to watch each and every game.

I look forward to another great season next year!

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.