Monday, September 29, 2008

Kiah turns 2


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KIAH
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Here are some sweet photos of this little angel to share with you:


And here she is...1 year ago...

We wish you a very happy birthday sweetie. Wish we could be there to help you celebrate.
Auntie Jen, Uncle Adrian, Owen & Isabelle
xoxoxo

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

PM Routine

Owen’s PM Routine

We have a few weeks of school under our belts and I feel it is time to document our nightly routine. Isabelle either is cutting teeth or has a cold coming on and went to bed very early tonight, so she is not featured here...watch for another post of her routine in the coming weeks.

After dinner he does a few pages of homework. This is brand new this year and he is quite excited about the homework at this point. There are pages he prefers to do, matching, sequencing and sudoku rate pretty high, printing rates pretty low...but he soldiers on...dutifully doing his printing homework.
Then we head outdoors for some play time with the neighbourhood kids. We are lucky to live in an area where there are so many kids and lots of friends for Owen and Isabelle. Last night the kids played road hockey, rode bikes and scooters, Isabelle pushed around her stroller for a while and then had a ride in it.

Next is the lengthy bedtime routine. We have discovered over the years, that Owen needs time to wind down from the day, time to talk about his favourite moments, time to talk about any struggles, time to check the calendar and discover what is happening tomorrow:
A peek out the window to find the perfect star to wish on. I love to listen to his sweet little voice saying the poem and can only wonder what he wishes about every night.
“Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might; have this wish I wish tonight.” Eyes closed and face scrunched while he concentrates on his wish.
A bowl of porridge over 2 stories. Generally I read one and then he reads one. He picked 2 tonight that were more geared to an adult reading, but he did his best and read most of the SpongeBob book, pointed to the words he did not know and I read those. So amazed with his reading right now.


Into the bathroom for a final pee and brush teeth.

Back to bed to choose a CD to listen to while he falls asleep. Lately the favourite has been: Owen’s Christmas CD. This is a lovely compilation made by my friend Leslie of all of Owen's favourite Christmas songs. It is so sonderful to listen to I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas in September. And it is not playing quietly in the background…oh no…it must be turned up quite loud…the tunes are rocking. Often in the middle of the night, if he wakes up, he will press play and we get serenaded at 2am by The Jackson 5 singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
Tucked into the Spidey Bed…"like a mermaid" please mama…notice the tight tuck all the way down his legs.
A quick wrestle, hug and kiss from dad when he gets in from work. I love how tightly he is hanging onto daddy's neck...his fingers gripping tightly...they have such a great bond...I see such fierce love in this photo.
Then after tossing and turning for twenty minutes or so, he drifts off to sleep with the lights on and the music blasting…so peaceful…so Owen.
Sweet Dreams my AngelBoy…mama loves you!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Accessorize...



Summer Girly Girl

We had a lovely weekend and Isabelle played outside with all the neighbourhood kids, holding her own, following in Owen’s every footstep. She is a real girly girl who loves to accessorize…hats, bags, sunglasses, nail polish and shoes….oh the shoes. There are times when it takes over 15 minutes to get out the door, she has to choose her shoes, try on a few, select the perfect pair...and then start the process all over again.

Here are a few of my favourite pics from Sunday.







Monday, September 22, 2008

Terry Fox Walk

Two weekends ago was the Terry Fox walk. Hundreds of people walking, running, biking and roller blading along the lake to raise money for this wonderful charity. What could be better than that?

The coolest parts of the day:
1. Watching Isabelle walk over half of the 5k route. She climbed in and out of the stroller on her own time, she is showing such signs of independence these days. She loved to walk right along the middle line, giggling and running and wanting us to chase her.
2. Getting to see Owen on his scooter, liking being the first in our group…being first is very big for him right now and on the scooter he could ensure that he was up front…leading the pack. Then when he had had enough, he would have a ride in the wagon and rest a while.
3. It was inspiring to see how many people came out for the event, young and old, families and individuals….simply wonderful.
4. At one point the kids were climbing on some rocks and Owen found a snail in a puddle of water…he rescued it and put it on the lawn. Then he and Isabelle searched for more snails to rescue. Later we found a caterpillar on the path that needed rescuing and some ladybugs and worms. I love that the kids have compassion for these small creatures.

There were breaks on the benches, sips of Gatorade and lots of fun! We are looking forward to next years walk already.







Sunday, September 21, 2008

Meet the teacher

A few days ago we had one of those days. Owen had had a rough day...full of screams, meltdowns and tears...he changed into jammies and had climbed into bed at 4pm when his friend Jackson from down the street came over and that turned the day around. He hopped out of bed, rode his bike down the street, played for an hour and ended up staying for dinner. Then it was Meet the Teacher night...jammies and all. He was so very proud to show Mama and Daddy around his classroom...he was in his element and it was so nice to see.

This is Owen in the Listening Center...there are many books on disk that the children can listen to with headphones:
He read us the official Class Agreement:
He showed us his favourite toy:

and his favourite puzzles:

we finished with a bike ride home in the dark

A wonderful end to a pretty tough day.

pizza anyone???

I always thought that having Owen first prepared us for anything...he was a busy baby, he climbed a lot, he walked before he was a year old, he climbed out of his crib before he was two...but he never prepared us for this...Hurricane Isabelle. She may look like a dainty sweet little girl...but then you put a pizza in front of her and you get:



And our busy boy? Clean as a whistle:



last glimpse of summer

Just a little peek at our lives today. Abandoned bikes and helmets. Sidewalk chalk spilled all over the driveway. Socks and crocs. Freezies. Playing on the green box. Scooters, wagons, skateboards and strollers. Hockey sticks, net and ball. Evidence of fun and play everywhere.

A good day.