Poppa turns 100

It's been a busy week.

Gramma arrived and visited for several days as we bustled around to our various activities.

Thursday we drove down to Vancouver.

We stopped at Fort Langley on the way and it was a great place to visit.  One of the most interactive places we've been to, more so than Barkerville or Hat Creek Ranch.

 After Fort Langley, we drove to the home to visit with Poppa and Gigi.  It was wonderful to spend time with them.

Alex initiated a game of "pass the balloon" with this resident and they both had huge smiles on their faces.

Costco, dinner, swim.

Kids LOVED the pool at the hotel.  They kept saying that this was not a Best Western plus, but a Best Western Premium!!  :)

Friday morning, after another swim, we went on a sky train ride downtown.  This was the youngest threes first time.  They had so much fun.  We stopped downtown, had lunch, and then head back to the hotel to get ready for the party.  The boys made two friends on the skytrain ride back and chatted the entire time.

Poppa is 100! 

 It was amazing to smile Poppa smile a lot and even get involved in the Karoke (arm swinging away)  The oldest three played the piano, we had cake and then sang karaoke with the residents.  When we first arrived, we even got to join in a music class with the residents.  That was really enjoyable.

Food Court at metrotown........bad idea on a Friday night, at 6pm, with overtired kids and too many choices!!!!  We left shortly after this photo was taken with dinner in bags to be consumed in the car on the way back to the hotel!

Swim, then bed.

Saturday, we drove to Great Auntie Margaret and Ina's house.  Auntie Margaret will be 100 in January and was looking as amazing as ever.  These ladies are so special.  Still living on their own!!

We enjoyed our visit with them.  

A looooooong, tired drive home. I find our drives home are always pretty brutal but it seems to be much like child birth and we always forget this until we are in the midst of it.

 A little Gravol induced silliness.

Unsuccessful egg collection

Alex:   "Caileigh, don't I look like a super cool army guy?!"

Caileigh:    "Actually, you look like a kid with a hockey helmet and backpack."

School of 5

We're a month into school and finding our rhythm.  Our days are busy and challenging, but good.  

I seem to go between efficiently busy and overwhelmingly frazzled!

The first couple of weeks were all about developing a routine and now we seem to be in a good place.  We've continued in piano this year with the older three and are looking at starting the boys after Christmas.  The girls have started back to gymnastics and the little boys will be taking gymnastics after Christmas as well.  Their class is called Little Ninjas and they are super excited, although perhaps a little less so when I explained that it wasn't actually ninja school and more of a movement class:)

The kids and I attend an evening bible study one night a week and Awana on another.  The kids are loving Awana so much!  I'm enjoying leading the sparks group which includes my youngest three.  It's a super busy, fast paced evening and we're all pretty exhausted the next day!  I've been doubling up on our school days leading up to Awana night so we can take it a little easier the day following Awana.  It's become a bit of our field trip day with more project based learning.  

I'm continuing to teach sunday school this year as well as a cooking/baking class with a couple of other homeschoolers.  We're looking at the possibility of the oldest three attending archery or cross country skiing.  So many good things to choose but always trying to decide what are the best things.

I've always believed in not over scheduling but I can see that this will continually be a challenge as the kids get older and develop such different interests.  In an effort to combat this, I've tried to develop "yellow square" days.  This is literally a yellow square drawn on my calendar, one day each week.  My goal is to not schedule activities or appointments on this day so there is room each week to recharge.  We can still do activities on this day, but I won't schedule ahead of time.  Today is my yellow square day and it includes tasks such as school planning, baking, organizing for Awana, bike riding with the kids, etc. 

What does a typical school day look like?

Ideally, I like to start at 7 with breakfast and devotions.  We review memory verses for sunday school and Awana.   We also read a chapter of our current read aloud.  After breakfast, kids get started on chores, getting dressed and preparing for the day.  The kids make their way to the table and get started on their school.  Each child as a notebook that includes a checklist of the daily activities.  I rotate myself through the kids to offer help and keep everyone on track. Some days this makes my head spin!!!  

 We try to have a little break around 10 and complete a family activity.  Each day is a little different.  Monday is poetry/shakespeare, Tuesday/Wednesday is science or socials, Thursday is geography/Story of the World and Friday is health/co-op.  The little guys can typically handle up to 2 hours of activity and then spend the rest of their morning playing or colouring etc.  The older three have been schooling up to lunch time while using the afternoon to complete reading assignments or projects.  Caileigh recently made a model of a fur trade fort and Aiden has created a Lego model of the Victoria tubular bridge.  Mikayla just completed a study on two Canadian provinces.

Our afternoons/evenings typically hold an additional activity.

I look forward to Fridays when we have movie night and everyone gets a well deserved break.

I try to keep Saturdays clear for my yellow square.

My goal for this year is to fill it with rich learning, fun family activities and a balanced work load.  Lofty goals:)

(kids made dinner night! Pizza)

(Reading buddies)

(Floor school)

Apple pie made by the youngest three.

Fall Fair craft

Pancake helper

Brownie chefs

Practicing Awana verses

 Field trip to the apple orchard.

Painting for fall fair.  Picture of people around the world.

Cooking class.

Exhausted Awana Attenders.