I think we're finding our rhythm again.  It always seems that after a summer of long days spent outdoors, it takes some time to adjust to the shorter, cold days of autumn.  We're settling in to various activities during the day and although there is always that, "oh my goodness, I need to get these kids outside right now!" moments, all in all things are good.  

I am learning that the most successful type of "school" is that which includes all the kids.  

There is a fantastic curriculum that shares great ideas of how to bring books to life and create activities based on the book and we're trying to work with this more often.

When reading about a book that takes place during medieval times, we made castles.  

 {Mikayla's castle, and very proud of it!}

{Aiden and Caileigh worked as a team on theirs}

When the character in the book makes a cake, we made a cake.

"A lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake!"

(insert lesson on alliteration)

We've been working on helping one of our children to listen better.  While creating this picture, the child said to me, "I'm drawing a picture of you Mommy.  You're smiling because I listened!"

Apparently I am also extremely limber.

Aiden and his friend next door came up with an idea to have a costume party.

I didn't realize they were serious until Aiden wrote on the calendar, "costume party".  We invited some friends over and enjoyed spending time together.  

The older three kids each made a piñata, (two pieces of paper stapled together filled with candy) and it was good for laughs watching the kids try to whack it open.  My brave neighbour took over the supervision of the "whacker" and I think she did a fabulous job.

The girls must have changed their minds a dozen times leading up to the event but finally they settled on an outfit and were happy with their choices. 

{practicing make up last week}

 

{Ladybug.....such a versatile outfit!}

{princess}

{Luke Skywalker....Aiden put this costume together himself and borrowed the lightsaber from his friend}

 {Jordan lasted 30 seconds as an elephant}

{Surprisingly Alex stayed dressed up like a pig for hours!}

 {Waiting for the piñata}

{See what I mean?  Brave neighbour!}

It has warmed up this afternoon and the snow is nearly gone.  Mikayla looked out the window and exclaimed, "Wow!  I can't believe it's Spring already!"

Snow Day

I had some happy kids this morning!!

{Jordan is mastering "cheese"}

{Oh dear, I should remind her what happened last year when she licked a frozen pole}

Family Vacation 2012

Back in September, we realized that Sean had a week of holidays coming up.  We mulled around a few ideas of what we could do when we finally decided that we would get out of town for a few nights.  The plan was to spend a night inWhistler, and 3 nights in Vancouver.  We redeemed a ton of Air Miles and were able to get our hotels paid for, as well as admission to the aquarium and the zoo.  Last Monday, having packing the van to the top, we set off on our little adventure.

We really enjoyed our time in Whistler.  The hotel was perfect to accommodate us and we enjoyed wandering the village, playing at the park, and going on the peak-to-peak gondola.  We would love to go back again and spend some more time exploring.

{Bears climbing the trees in Pemberton}

{Top of Whistler}

{We took the peak-to-peak from Whistler to Blackcomb.  After the first picture, the rest were taken from Aiden as I wasn't really into looking around too much!}

{Love this picture....too bad Aiden cut Sean's head off}

{3am}

{Coffee, sippy cups and TV.  What else do you need at 6am?}

Tuesday we started heading towards Vancouver.  We stopped at the Britannia Mines and everyone enjoyed this, especially Aiden.

My Mom met us in Vancouver and we spent the night downtown in English Bay.  We enjoyed walking along the sea wall and playing at park.

Wednesday we went to the Aquarium in the morning and then visited my grandparents and Metrotown in the afternoon.
 This is around the time that Sean and I started to feel the exhaustion set in.  The kids had been to bed after 10 each night and up before 5 each morning.  We had been in 3 different hotel rooms in 3 nights.  We were going from morning to night and the kid's were getting cranky and difficult to manage.  It was because of all this that we made the decision that we would head home the next day, a day early.

Thursday morning, we packed up and stopped in at my grandparents for dougnuts and coffee and to sing Happy Birthday to my 97 year old Grandpa!

As we were driving along the highway intending to stop in at the zoo, we looked behind to discover that we had some very tired children!  We kept driving and made it home before dinner.

Because we came home a day early, we decided to make Friday our holiday at home day.  We spent the day in our pyjamas, watched TV, ate good food, and just enjoyed some downtime in our own home.  It was heaven and I think we are going to make this a monthly tradition!

All in all, our adventure was grand.  We have learned some things that we will do differently next time (pick one hotel and stay there, do less each day, etc.) and discovered what things work.  Although the memory is still too fresh to think about our next holiday, I'm sure that it will be just as great as this one...........plus we still have a zoo admission to use up:)

All day, every day, this is Mikayla's choice outfit.  It doesn't matter the weather, or temperature, whether we are inside or out, this is how you will find her these days.  The "most beautiful princess" in the world.

Last week the kids and I were at the beach in high 20's temperatures.  Today, it is snowing.  You gotta love the Cariboo!!