We Made it Through Another Recital Day!

And what a fabulous day it was! The recital is always an ordeal. Getting downtown on time, getting Sid into the change room and ready to go on stage 6 numbers before her dance. Costumes, makeup, perfect hair. and months of learning and practicing the dance. This year, being our third recital, was different. Sid's dance was second in the second act so dropping her off was a breeze. We had the entire intermission to have her ready and I didn't have to sneak in and out of the packed auditorium. The transitions went beautifully and our ballerina danced her heart out. This year they were crayons and danced to a Colour Your World Crayola song. Very, very cute. Sadly two partners got mixed up while walking on stage and the dance came to a complete halt. For the first minute 17 kids just stood there looking at each other. Sid did her part at the other end of the line and waited to skip around the stage. It all took shape eventually and the kids pulled off the second half of the dance.
I was so proud of Sid, she kept on going through the entire thing and once again was not afraid of dancing in front of 1000 people. Not something I could EVER do! The most rewarding part is meeting Sid back in the change room where she is waiting with a huge "I did it!" smile spread across her face. Such well deserved joy and pride. Good for you Sid, you danced beautifully once again and Mom and Dad are so proud of you! xoxoxox

We watched the second half of the show and then planned to take Sid out to lunch, however Sid wanted to go right to drama class instead. We thought we would miss it because of the recital but surprisingly we had enough time to make it and Sid was ecstatic to spend time her best friend. While the girls were in class, the parents came up with a great plan! Dad's would take the girls to see Kung Fu Panda in 3D and mom's would take themselves over to the Pow Wow and we'd all meet back at 5:00.

The girls (and Dad's) loved the movie and said the 3D was awesome. The girls particularly liked the glasses :)

Here Sid is saying "We're going to shout Best Sisters on three!"

"BEST SISTERS!!!!"

Once again she's got this whole flower child vibe going on.

The Pow Wow was very cool with all the drumming, singing and regalia. The sun even came out for a few photo ops.

What a memorable day for everyone!

New Growth

One of the most rewarding parts of being a homeschooling family is having the time to sort out our dreams and follow them. Every day seems to be filled with moments of growth and passion.

Anyone who has been around Sidney in the last 4 months will know and understand her love for Kung Fu. She has gone on and on and on about it. She teaches it to her friends, Master Shifu (Kung Fu Panda) lives with us and Sid is prepared to dish it out if anyone tries anything worthy of a little Kung Fuing! Today we pursued that love. Sid went to a mixed martial arts club and tried a class for free. It was an experience. She LOVED the kicking, punches, floor work and stances but was not at all pleased with the yelling. We will have to let the experience be processed a bit more to determine if martial arts is still a calling for her. At this point she says "It was fun but I never want to go back." We'll see how she is feeling after a nights sleep.

Around home Ken got the garden all planted and ready to grow. We also had the chance to do a bit of 4 wheeling and dirt biking over the long weekend. This always brings a bigggggg smile to Sid. She loves it but so do Mom and Dad so she comes by it honestly. I had the chance to boot around our back trails and charge through foot deep by 6 foot long muddle puddles on the dirt bike. This stuff is like glue and it was soooooooo fun. Mud spraying all over, the bike careening around corners. Ah... yes, mom gets a smile on her face too when she is wearing her helmet!

Todd and Francine took us out for a LOVELY breakfast on Monday. We hadn't done that in years. Then they came back to our home for a quick spin on the 4 wheeler. It was Francines first time on a 4 wheeler and she had fun.

Around home we are now hearing and contributing to the buzzing of lawn tractors. Tis the season, everything is growing and green. Everything is coming out including the dog pool! This makes Groovy one very happy dog.

Garden box planted with tomatoes, beans, carrots, radishes and onions. Yay Kenny :) Thank you!

Another one of Sid's very recent passions is Harry Potter. We just finished the first book the Philosopher's Stone and will hold our reading there for the time being. Sid and her friend Bella are completely ensconced in Harry Potter. I made Sid the Hogwarts robe with secret inside wand pocket and inside spell book pocket. She has her Hedwig snowy owl and a Nibus 2000 broom for quidditch. She leaves the house dressed like this quite often and always gets grins and nods and "HEY! Harry Potter!". When her and Bella get together they are lost in the world of Hogwarts for hours. It truly is magical to them.

Everyday there are new things popping up around the yard. The weeping crab apple, the apple tree and the lilac are in full bloom. They smell so good and attract hundreds of bees a day. We are shocked at how many bees seem to be around this year!

Out back we have three types of daffodils and two types of Narcissus blooming randomly through the grass.

The bleeding hearts are bigger and stronger this year than they have ever been. The rain has been very good to the plants so far this season.

Our deep red peonies are starting to show and I was amazed that even before the flower blooms, these gorgeous buds are already covered in ants. Why??? They don't seem to eat them.

Daily we marvel in the life springing into existence around us and try and take time to reflect how lucky we are to have these moments to admire. Life is Good!

Long Weekend Memories

Friday marked the first time Sid had a friend over for a sleepover and the first time her friend ever came to a sleepover. It was such an amazing 24hours!!!!

First off, I have to say I am continuously stunned at how amazing this friendship is. If everyone in the world could have one Bella or one Sid type friend in their lives then the world would be a better place.

This is the girls wrestling on the trampoline while I got the campfire going (sort of). The wood was WET but we got flames and smoke to clear out the mosquito's and the kids played on the swings and trampoline between moments of helping me to keep the fire burning.

They swam/splashed/dove into the dog wading pool and then had their evening bath at 4:00! Followed by "After we play Harry Potter, let's pretend to have a sleepover! We'll see how cute we look all tucked into bed!" (it was very early in the day still but wow they were excited!)

Pretending to sleep before dinner!

Back out at the campfire.....

What an incredible evening. Although the mosquito's tried to drive us in, we lasted two and a half hours outside and then came in for snacks and a quick movie before bed. at 10:00 we were in jammies, teeth brushed and ready for the sandman. Ok... I was ready for the sandman but nope I was trapped in a king size bed with two 5 year old comedians telling Knock Knock jokes.

"Knock, Knock"

"who's there?"

"Jar"

"Jar Who?"

"Jar opens its own lid jar"

Bahahahahahahahahha

Bahahahhahahahahhaha'

Bahhahahhahahahhahah

Bahahahahhahaha

Mom: Knock Knock

Kids: Who's there?

Mom: GO TO SLEEP

Kids: Go to sleep who (giggle, giggle)

MoM: Go to sleep NOW

bahahahahahha

bhahahahahhahahahah

bahahahahahhah

Seriously if it hadn't been so ridiculously like being 5 all over again at a sleep over, I would have thought it was some new form or parental torture. We laughed, we giggled, Sid slept on the floor for about 15 minutes then we shut down and they were asleep. *sigh* It was just so fun, lovely and heartwarming.

We started with Sid and Mom on the outsides and Bella in the middle but at 4 in the morning I played musical bed. I sat up and saw Sid, Bella and Mom all on 4 feet of bed real estate while 3 ft of gaping space beckoned me on the other side of the bed. I snuck out of bed, ran around to the other side and crawled back in undetected. Ah... more sleep until 8:00 a.m.

Meanwhile Kenny and his friend Todd had big plans for Saturday. They borrowed another friends 4 wheeler and loaded up two trailers and headed for kilometers of trail riding fun! They were gone from 12 hours and had a blast! The only unplanned incident was that Kenny lost his glasses but luckily he doesn't need them for driving! Tomorrow the family has big plans to hit the mall and get Dad new glasses :) Upon our return we hope to get the garden put in. All plants and seeds are waiting to be sowed.

These pics of the girls were taken by Magda Saturday afternoon when we brought Bella back home. After more than 24 hours the girls are still laughing, playing and just best, best, best "sisters". (they even invented a best sisters cheer!)

Finally one last pic! While the girls were playing on Friday and Todd and Ken were packing up for their trip, I was lucky enough to have my friend Francine hanging out keeping me company. Here she is below in a pic I titled "Best Friends." Don't be fooled, Groovy isn't the best friend, the Canon is :P

Happy Long Weekend! Hope to have garden pics to post by Monday.

Look Up! It's a Bird... It's a Plane.... It's a....

SQUIRREL!!

Oh poor Maggie has found her calling. This is the dog that hates.... no, despises the rain. She will keep her legs crossed for hours and only go out in the rain at the very last possible minute if she absolutely has to. Until yesterday.

We have a pesky squirrel that has been emptying our feeders. He starts on the post feeder then runs through the yard to the big bird feeder. I stand on the deck and yell "Squirrel!!! Squirrel!!! Groovy, Maggie GET IT!!!!!" and the dogs nonchalantly look around at the grass, at the fence, but never at the squirrel. Sid fixed this problem by taking Maggie out in the rain and then showed her our fluffy chattering friend now perched on top of the 30 ft clothes line post.

Maggie sat down in the bone soaking rain and did not move for 3 hours!!!! The pictures were all taken at about 30 minute intervals. I would open the door and Groovy would run out, bark at the squirrel, run around Maggie and the post then come back in. Maggie sat and stared. In hindsight, the Good, The Bad and the Ugly theme music would have been perfect to set the mood.

In the end, my neck was killing me from watching her sit like that for 180 minutes. Sid went out and lured Maggie back to the house with some cheese. Maggie got lots of praise and a nice neck massage with the percussion massager. To show her appreciation, Maggies stubby little tail was wiggling a mile a minute during her post match rub down.

So in the end, round one concluded with Squirrel - 1 Maggie - 0 but I think Maggie might have a new tolerance for wet weather so Mr. SQ better watch out!

Of Friends and Flowers

Friday was simply perfect. We had our regular meeting with our friends at the Arboretum and Sid and I thought is would be the perfect opportunity to bring our bikes and take off to the tulip festival.

We hooked up the trail gator so Sid's bike was attached to mine and we were not disappointed with the sights! Gorgeous tulips in full bloom, crowds of people armed with cameras and flower bed after flower bed bursting with colour.

We even saw some amazing double and new varieties of tulips I had never seen before. I am so glad we went.

Back at the arboretum with our friends I heard "Wow I just saw a fish and it was huge!!!" and it was. The carp were spawning in the shallow water and making a real racket! I kept looking over my shoulders to see if any kids had fallen in the pond, but all was well, it was just noisy happy fish.

What our classroom looks like.

Tree School

Hey Mom! I see you.

Sid's "best sister" dressed as a werewolf. The girls are such good friends but it gets complicated when they introduce themselves as sisters with two moms and two dads. :0)

Back at home today Sid asked me to play hide and seek. These games are usually fairly quick since we have exhausted most hiding spots in our tiny house. Today she stumped me. I heard her call me from her room but I didn't find her right away. This is what I found....

I can't believe she fit in there! What a riot.