Family Time

Today was supposed to be family fun at the apple farm.  It wasn't supposed to rain all day.  BOO!  Oh well.  Instead of family fun with apples, we had family fun at Lisa and Ken's.  I love watching the cousins playing.  Ken and Lisa have sweet kids.  Laura, Joaquin and William came too.  We had a lovely afternoon/evening.  After get-togethers like this, I always think, why don't we do this more often? 

Kate goes to ballet class.

Kate's friend Marisol takes ballet.  Today was take a friend day and she picked Kate.  Marisol had an extra set of clothing - tights, leotard and dance slippers - yay! 

As we were leaving the studio I asked Kate how the class was.  She told me that there were a lot of steps and that she was tired of steps.  I was sad but relieved.  Sad that she thought it was too much, but relieved that she didn't want to be signed up for dance classes.  Then I realized she wasn't talking about dance class... she was talking about the staircase that we were walking down!

When we got outside I asked her again if she liked the dance class.  Without hesitation she told me that she loved it!

Kate goes to school.

Let's see.  What to say about school?

This is the picture that Kate painted on her first day of school.  When I asked her what it was supposed to be she said that it was what artists do.

She seems to like it.  She has yet to go for a full week.  During the first full week of school I kept her on the Wednesday because we were going to meet friends at the indoor play place in Alliston and Kate wanted to come.  This past week I kept her home on Wednesday because her friend Ava - who is in all day/every other day, was coming to visit with her Mom.  Perhaps next week she'll go all five days?

Eating lunch at school, trying to pack her a lunch... I wonder how long it will be before she's bored of eating the things I put in it... but she only eats a few different things?!

I feel in someways that I'm kind of over it.  I miss her.  And I'm home and I want her home with me.  We drove past the school today during lunch recess and I saw her on the yard.  She looked so little.

She brought home her first library book tonight.  I was so excited that it was a non-fiction text.  I also love that it's about sharks.  The title is "What Do Sharks Eat For Dinner?".

It really has been an easy transition for her so far.  She likes her class and her teachers.  And she comes home chattering about all the things she's learning.  Really, so far so good.  So why can't I just be happy?  I need to shake the sad out of me.  I just miss my little girl!

Liverpool Fans

I'm not into soccer, not even if you call it football.  I'm not sure why I ever played soccer as a kid, but that definitely sealed the deal on that one.  But if my footie loving brother wants to get a cute shirt for his niece to wear, who am I not to support him?!  And because we can, here is the trio of cute nieces all wearing the Liverpool shirt!

Kate

Alice

Fiona

Going for a walk in Palgrave is not always possible!

I'm not a hiker.  I think I have dreams that one day I will be some sort of hiker.  One of our neighbours is always going on walks with her dogs in the woods.  I mentioned to Ken the other day that I wanted to go on a hike/walk and so it was decided that today would be the day!

Our first mistake was not leaving the house early enough.  Our second mistake was going all the way over to Airport Road instead of Hwy 50, because we forgot where Palgrave was.  Our biggest mistake however was trying to take Kate on a walk when there was "business" to be taken care of.

The plan was to take a trail but to go in the forest a little.  (Oh, here's another mistake... it was a little cool and I didn't have proper attire for the baby - not sufficient to take her out of her car seat anyway.) We had the stroller so we weren't sure how far we were going to get exactly and it was almost lunch and we had neglected to bring any snacks.  (Oh, yet another mistake... no snacks!)

We parked the car at the Rotary Park in Palgrave.  There's a cute little pavilion.

The girls danced around the pavilion, re-enacting the first time we took Kate there.  It was really cute.  Then we set out on the path. 

It was really muddy by the water but we went to look anyway.

And then Kate started doing a different dance and was doing an awkward, panicked walk back to the car.  

And thus ended our first attempt at a family hike.  We will try again.  I'm not sure when as our weekends the next little while are a little full, but we will try again!

Going to a Dance

In church last Sunday they announced that there was going to be a dance on the coming Friday.  It was a family activity.  Kate looked at me with wide eyes.  She wanted to go.  She asked to go.  Ken and I thought, why not?

Both girls napped on the way up to Barrie.  I did a little shopping, we had dinner.  And then we went to the dance.  Kate was really excited.  We got there before it officially started.  Alice started dancing right away.  Did I mention that Alice's idea of dancing is to run in circles? 

After the opening prayer when the activity was officially going, that's when the dance really started.  That's when they turned the music up.  So we went to decorate cookies.  I was sad that Kate, who was so excited about the dance, wasn't actually going to dance because the music was just too loud. 

Ask and ye shall receive!  Someone asked, and the music was turned down.  Kate and Alice danced up a storm with their Dad.  They just loved it.

It was really cute!

Orangeville Babies

There was a shower for a dear friend today.  She's having her fourth boy in a couple of weeks.  I was excited to celebrate and to recreate a moment from a party in the same house a year and a half ago.

This was us, the Moms and the 2011 babies taken at a Valentine Party in February of 2012.

And now here we are today.  

I hope that these wonderful associations will continue and that we'll be taking this picture again in a few years!

Fiona is Three Months Old

There were two firsts this week.  Fiona's first swim - on Saturday, August 31, and Fiona's first ride on a swing - Wednesday, September 4th.

She's a cutie!!  Of course, I took the posed three month shot and some more for fun!  We love our little Fiona. Oh, and I really think she's going to roll over sooner than later.  She's doing now what her sisters did at four months.  We'll see though, it might take her another few weeks for her to complete a rotation.  When I put her on her back, she rolls to her side and then starts trying to get to her tummy.

It was a beautiful evening tonight, made even more beautiful by my beauties!  I love my girlies!