Back at School

I was recently hired on at the Champion School to work with a specific boy in the kindergarten!  I LOVE it!!! I will miss the pharmacy but I love the hours with this job and the fact I will be off the days our kids are off!! I LOVE the teacher and the classroom assistant!! They are both wonderful ladies and even I can feel the love they have for each of the children! They are so patient and compassionate, I am learning so much from them! I love how one will break out into a fun song and instantly the other one joins in! I love how they joke with each other and just make the room come to life with their own giggles!! I love the children, I love how excited they get from what I think is a very simple thing!!! I love how when reading a story about a cat who loves his white shoes can also love his shoes even if he steps in blueberries and they turn blue, and one little girl very innocently says he will love them even if he steps in poop?!!! I love their squeaky little voices, and their shoulder tapping to get your attention!!! I am so thankful for this opportunity and I can't wait for what the rest of the year has in store!!! 

My Most Favourite Time of the Year

Autumn is my most favourite season!!! It seems to be much too short, but when Mother Nature cooperates and we get a long Indian summer I feel as though I have died and gone to heaven!!! I love the crisp cool nights and the long hot days!  I love the beautiful colours the leaves turn on the trees and the bushes!! I love the decorations for autumn too, the kids and I put out all our fall decorations and I love the cozy feeling it brings to our home!!!

Back to School

Emry started Grade 5 and Calum started Grade 1 on Tuesday!!!!!! Two kids in school full time makes for one happy momma!!!!! After they left on Tuesday Armin turns to me and gives me a great big hug and says "it's just us!!!!" Having just him around has been so easy, he loves to play all by himself so it allows me to gets lots done!! 

Grandma Puzey cut Calum's hair the night before the first day of school and it made him look so grown up!!! 

Leah and Blake get on the bus right after our kids!! Calum was so excited to have Blake sit with him on the bus and Emry was beside herself with excitement to sit with her bestest friend in the whole entire world, Leah!! 

It sounds like it was a terrific first day!! Calum loves his teacher, I met her too, Miss Whittaker, and she seems like the type of teacher Calum needs!!! Emry likes her teacher too, a man, Mr. Wood!!! It was a great day for me too, I had an interview at the school as a teaching aid and I got it!!!! I will be working 11 hours a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays in the kindergarten with a specific little boy!!! Calum saw me at the school and ran and gave me a hug!!! The Principal this year is new and it sounds like Calum and him had a bit of an experience already!! Calum's class was lined up along the wall outside the office going on a little tour of the school and Mr. Rollingson came out of his office to give all the kids a high five and say hi!! Calum looks at him, and he could tell Calum was thinking real hard, when Calum blurts out "you have no hair!" Mr. Rollingson said he knows, and again Calum says, "No, you have no hair!" Mr. Rollingson answers, "well, you have lots of hair so maybe I can have some of yours!"  Calum thinks about it and instead of answering he runs into Mr. Rollingson and wraps his arms around his legs to give him a big hug, he let's go briefly to pull on some of the other kids to have them join and the next thing Mr. Rollingson knows he is in the middle of a grade 1/2 group hug!!! That's our Calum, full of surprises!!

The week has been long for him but it has also been full of fun and friends, learning and games!! I would say this school year is off to a great start!!! Monday Armin starts his first full afternoon of preschool!! He will be able to ride the bus home with Emry and Calum, something he is super excited about!! At his hour long orientation on Wednesday he was totally in awe of where he was and all he was able to do!! A great success for him too!!!!!

That morning we all got up early enough to enjoy a breakfast of fresh baked muffins and fruit and there was even time for Jared to give the kids a back to school fathers blessing!!! They were wonderful blessings and it gave the kids just that little bit extra they need to be strong to withstand the temptations and pressures from their friends they will surely be bombarded with.  All three of them sat so good and really seemed to listen to the things daddy had to say!! I am grateful for a husband who is worthy to hold the preisthood and for the time he takes to shield our children with such a special gift!

We have been consistent with our eating breakfast as a family and I love it, I feel it gives us the good start we need to conquer all the day has in store for us!! I have been able to walk with Char when we are both available and have loved it!! This year truly is starting of exactly right!!!!

Rocking out!!!

The other night Jared came in from working to have some supper and while I was getting it ready he sat down and started playing his guitar!! I love it when he does that, he is really good, much better then he gives himself credit for!!! While he was sitting there playing Armin pulled a chair up right next to him and sat down with his toy guitar and started to jam with dad!!  It was really quite a sight to see!!

Time With Grandpa

My dad recently took our kids to spend the weekend with him!! It was the best gift Jared and I have been given!! We've had weekends away but we have never had a weekend at our house without kids!!! We really enjoyed it and it was most definitely something we desperately needed!! We went suit shopping for Jared since his old one (from the thrift store!!!) no longer fits him!! We went out to eat, I won the movie choice and took him to "If I Stay"...sooooooo good, though Jared did say it totally felt like he spent two hours in a hospital watching family members dying!! We were able to finish hauling bales off the quarter the cows so generously moved themselves to a week ago!! And we enjoyed our church meetings without the distraction of our little rug rats!!! Though lots of people did come up to us after to see what we were missing!!!! 

The kids went to the Southland Leisure Centre with Grandpa and got completely worn out, Armin was asleep for the night by 6:00pm!!! They went shopping and to Prince's Island Park where they ran free and were totally in their element!!! Nature and our boys go hand in hand!!! It was a great getaway for them too!!! Thanks Dad for the great, and much needed weekend to ourselves!! And thanks for making memories the kids will never forget!!!!

Girl's Club

Grandpa Glen held his annual girls club with Lily and Emry!! This year he wanted to do something totally different so he took them horseback riding!!! Emry was pretty excited since it is her ultimate dream to own her own horse!! They went on a two hour trail ride in the hills, or the "foothills" as Emry politely corrected me!!! Both girls loved their horses and especially loved feeding them carrots after they were all done! It was a huge hit and I think it will fast become a tradition with Grandpa and his girls!!!

The black horse was named Moon!!! I wonder why?!!!!!

Reuniting With an Old Friend

The kids and I had a great day visiting with old friends!!! We headed up to Okotoks to spend an afternoon at the beach with the Stasiuks!!! Warren and Tanya moved from Champion to Okotoks 2 years ago and we have only gotten together one other time since!  The main reason for going to see Tanya was to pick up a shelf I bought from her but I can't tell Jared that ;) Tanya has started her own little furniture restoration called Sweet Repeats Furniture!!! The stuff she does is amazing and totally my style!!! So she said if we were coming up anyway to get the shelf we might as well stay and go to their community beach!! The kids had a blast and it was neat to see them reconnect with long lost friends!

Emry and Hudson, who are the same age, did better than they ever have!! Their very first meeting involved teeth marks and tears!!! Tanya and were reminiscing about that first day, yet we were thankful this meeting did NOT involve teeth marks or tears!!!! It was so much fun visiting with her, it's like we haven't been apart for two years!! 

Armin played with his tractors in the sand, Calum swam to the dock with Lincoln, and Emry just hung out with everyone, Marley, Landry and Hudson!!! When it was time to go I had a really tough time getting our kids out of the water!! But we left with the promise that we would be back again much sooner!! In fact, in the next couple of weeks since I bought a cabinet Tanya redid!!! 

When we got home I had to help Jared finish up with the baling! I raked while he baled!! A storm started brewing and we cut it very close but we were able to get it all finished!! On my back to the house the sunset was absolutely gorgeous and since I had my camera handy I couldn't resist taking some pictures!!

Best pals, Fender and Gibson!!!!!