Today

I was greeted with this little fistful of dandelions when he walked in the door afterschool.

We've all been sick. Easter weekend consisted of a lot of lying around, watching a few movies, washing sheets, and a lot more lying around. It started with Hudson on Friday morning and it worked it's way through all of us. Reagan and I are fighting the end of it today. Tony has, so far, managed to avoid it.
We did manage to celebrate some Easter on Friday with Mum, Mary, Jake and Rochelle. Haven't had the energy to edit those photos yet so I will post them soon. Easter brunch was meant to be held here on Sunday with the Brauns, but unfortunately we had to cancel. The sick part was not fun at all, but one thing I did appreciate was that it made us all chill out and relax. Probably the most relaxing weekend I can remember. It really shouldn't take a stomach flu to get us to slow down, should it?

Snowballs, snow, space, and science

The snowballs I refer to are actually Eskimo snowballs and they look nothing like real snowballs, but Reagan insisted on making them one day. It was a recipe she had learned from her teacher and she was sure she knew exactly how to do it and I didn't need to help her at all. I realized that she did know all of the ingredients, only she didn't know how much of anything, so after just a little bit of help with googling the recipe she was off and running.
Eskimo snowballs: a mixture of butter, sugar, oats, and cocoa


Had I known the making of snowballs would actually result in real snow, I may have thought twice. Seriously, this is so not what I expected to see out my window this morning. I'm pretty sure this snail isn't too excited about it either. Reagan actually cried when she saw the snow. The thought of digging out her snowboots was just too much.

Space school - a morning of fun space-themed activities with Reagan's class. She had been looking forward to it all week and the snow that morning threatened it's postponement, but the outdoor activities were moved to the gym and it was a go.

A Science Fair accomplishment for Cooper. His project made it to the regional Science Fair at the University and he won the "Young Innovator's Award" and (more importantly) a cheque for $75.

Never a dull week around here. Wonder what this one will bring.

Field Trip

Hudson's Grade 5 class went on a field trip to Victoria and I got to go along. The bus left the school not-so-bright and early at 4:50am. There were stars in the sky so we were anticipating a great day with no rain. After a long trip of bus-ferry-bus we arrived at the Parliament Buildings for the first part of our day. We enjoyed a tour there with a very entertaining tour guide named Maxim. At least, I thought he was entertaining, not so sure about the kids.
From there we had a little free time so I took my group of 5 boys on a little tour up Government Street. I told them the first one to spot a Starbucks got a dollar, so that kept them busy for the first 10 minutes. One boy was finally $1 richer and I finally had my mocha (and hot chocolates for the boys). We spent a little while in a novelty/joke shop and then found a street entertainer magician that kept their interest until it was time to head back to meet the group for lunch.
After lunch it was off to the Royal BC Museum where we spent about 3 hours. Then it was time for our long journey home.
The ferry was a definite highlight, I think, for Hudson. Lots of time spent outside with his buddies, playing tag on the top deck. Unfortunately the photos of the day are mostly of Hudson and his friends, as that is the only way he would cooperate with my camera. If I could get a friend to go, he would go too. I don't like to post photos of other kids unless I have permission, so this is all I have of just him.

We arrived home at about 8:15, happy and exhausted.

Help!

I have a teenager.
Do I need to say more?
Cooper celebrated his 13th birthday last weekend and it has taken me a week to post. Maybe I am in denial.
Anyways, we all had a great day celebrating with him.




Happy Birthday Cooper! We love you!

Sunday morning

I woke today to the sweet voice of Taggart reading aloud in his bed. I lied there for a while listening to his stories and then saw Hudson wrapped in his blanket quietly tiptoe across the hall. I thought to myself this might be the end of the reading, but to my pleasant surprise, it continued almost without interruption. This is how I found them a few minutes later. A happy start to a rainy Sunday.

After dinner hockey

I absolutely love this time of year. Even though it is raining this morning and it still felt too cold to be walking to school without gloves on, there are sure signs that warmers days are on the horizon.
Days when the kids play outside from morning until night. I love those days.
A sure sign is when the rollerblades get strapped on and a quick game of hockey takes place on the driveway....after dinner. Playing outside after dinner is one of my favorite things about spring.






With the flames on his shoes and on his eye patch,  no wonder that stick is just a blur with his mean slapshot.

Taggart eye update: He is now down to only half an hour of patching a day. That is down from 3 hours when we first started this. His eye is just about up to 20/20 vision and the need for glasses now seems to have become non-existent. Yippee!

And just in case those warmer spring days need a little encouragement to show up a little more often, I hung this on my front door yesterday. I am really enjoying the look of these yarn wrapped wreaths I am seeing all over the craft blogs lately. You might remember the one I hung up in the fall. So I tried my hand at a spring version, even the little branch is wrapped in yarn. Cute, huh?!

Edit: I realized, after some searching that I never posted my fall wreath, so you won't remember it. Unless you knocked on my door during October or November. Here it is for those that are interested.