creating

The ladies have moments when they are BFFs 

and then moments when it seems like they will fight to the death 

over a toy!!! oh siblings hahahaha

We have been adjusting to our new school life around here and it continues to be bittersweet. Bitter that our big girl is away for the mornings but sweet to hear her stories and excitement all the way home.  Truthfully I have shed a few tears.  The first time was the classic first school day sitting in the car after drop off (my tears only she is totally brave). The second happened when they sat down to paint the day I snapped this picture, gosh the tears began to flow.  I had a moment where I thought she was missing out on mornings of painting....yeah I was a bit emotional....she doesn't miss out, she gets to have a blast at school learning and growing there. Three cheers for growth!!!!

~ Mrs. P

games and a great-grandma

Had some fun with Great-Gran Hinko.

  An afternoon at the farm, some games of 'Spot It' and pizza.

Baby Grace joined us, oh and Beth, Jim and Ethan too.  It was a good afternoon and always nice to get to hang out at the farm.

~ Jenny

autumn is here

 It is officially fall and I LOVE watching the leaves change, 

LOVE when the chill makes you want to cuddle in sweaters and cute boots. 

Yeah for the beauty of the season. 

 I came across this poem, had to put it on our mantle.

 These two ladies they make me smile.  They hold hands often and goodness it warms it my heart.

There has been a lot of leaf crunching happening.  We also have a yard finally so have been enjoying grass...just in time for winter ha! No really we have been enjoying the nice fall weather and our grass.

~ Mrs. P

end of summer

Well we managed to cross a few things off our summer bucket list!  Not nearly enough, but a few things.  Summer rocks and we LOVE the freedom. The past few summers we made a list of all the fun things we wanted to try and do in and around the city.   We had many fun adventures, many of which we didn't plan or write down but goodness what fun summer has been :)  So as the leaves start to turn colour and I pull out mittens, down came this list :(  Bring on fall, bring on schedule.

~ Mrs. P

kindergarten girl

It has been an incredible few weeks for our family with tons of fun things and big changes.  

Our big girl Amelia Ann headed off to kindergarten.  They do a staggered entry/parent orientation at her school, so her first day was Tuesday after Labor Day with 10 of her fellow classmates. She was soooooo pumped up!!!   It was cool that there was just a small group but kinda uncool that the staggered entry meant she had to wait a whole week to have her second day.  It was a long week.  It was pretty special to watch her enthusiasm.   I LOVE school, clearly - I became a teacher but it has been sooooo fun to see her LOVE of school!

Amelia Ann is so brave!  Far more bold and courageous then me and I admire her for it. On her first day of school, once we found her locker spot and then her name tag on the table she told me "that I really didn't need to sit with her".  Gosh I wanted to sit by her and told her so ha.  Amelia loved everything that Miss Russell told them and when it was time for the school tour she stayed at the front of the pack.  As we drove home, just the two of us she told me she "would be fine and that I didn't need to come anymore".....tear!!!!!!  So I actually didn't cry when she said that, tears came but didn't roll until the following Monday when I left her for reals at the school.    

I feel like the word BITTERSWEET is the perfect word to describe this new step in our lives.   It is so sad and bitter to let her go but yet so sweet and exciting to watch her grow.

Everyday we pick her up and she has been full of stories and smiles.  Stella and I drive her and pick her up from school each day and it is a pleasure.  We continue to rock out to the FROZEN sound track on our drive and Stella likes when she gets to sit in sister's car seat when Amelia is at school.

We are so proud of Amelia and thrilled for her to have taken this new step in her life.

~ Mrs. P

Joy School

I don't know if my heart can handle this growing up business. 

Our little girl started Joy School this week!!!  Stella has patiently waited for her turn.  The Joy School philosophy is beautiful and I love the idea that different momma's take turns hosting so my precious little girlie is always being loved on by a momma, in a home.  Recently she has seemed to grow leaps and bounds in her skills, maturity and independence, gosh we are so proud of her!  We hosted the first Joy School which is pretty cool because then Stella got to help with the calendar and weather, special stuff.  It is so crazy to me that she is working on writing her name and recognizing letters because she is still my baby.

The mornings are full of a lot of this...

We miss big sister but are having a blast, just the two of us!

~ Mrs. P

best of friends

There aren't really words. 

A piece of my heart goes off to kindergarten each morning.  

Little sister and I miss her but know she is having fun, rocking it!

~ Momma P

violin music

  Music or something very close to squeaky music has been permeating the house lately.  

Our Amelia has started violin lessons and boy is she thrilled!!!!!

 ~ Mrs. P

ovarian cancer walk

We walked again this year in memory of our beloved Ann.

We miss her and await the day we will get to see her again.

Families can be together forever.

~ Jenny

back to school dinner

We started a new tradition - a Back to School Dinner!!!!

I had been thinking about what I wanted to share with our girls on our special night.   Graham and I talked about the things we wanted to convey to our wee ones, especially our big girl as she went off to school for the first time.  The girls wanted us to have spaghetti with meatballs, yummy salad, bread and rootbeer floats of course.   We read the 'Kissing Hand' and 'We Like Kindergarten' both of which are darling.  For the 'Kissing Hand' I drew hearts on Stella and Amelia's hand and then they each took turns drawing on ours....yup I was holding in the tears.  We didn't get the 'Have You Filled A Bucket'' but we have read it since as it is a philosophy used at Mia's school.  I had a few favourite parts of the evening but one was giving each of the girls a  necklace with CTR, for Choose The Right.  They have been worn daily :). It was a lovely, lovely night.

The girls got a blessing from Graham and it was the perfect way to finish off our special dinner.  Love them so much and feel blessed!!!!

~ Mrs. P

Jesse n Pam wedding celebration

 

Yup, I am a lover of weddings and cry at everyone!!!!!!  

It has been a busy spring/summer wedding hoping.  We wrapped up the summer with my cousin Jesse marrying his sweet Pamela.  It is always fun to gather together with family and this being my dad's side made it all the more sweeter as we are a small bunch that don't gather super often.

It was evident that there was great love between Pam and Jesse! She looked lovely and I secretly adore watching the groom get emotional at the sight of his lady.  Jesse did not disappoint!  It was sweet.

Kind of special is that Alyson ended up playing the piano for the ceremony, we were so proud of her.  The day was spent visiting, smiling, laughing with our extended family and it was so very nice.  I will say that I was fighting a fever and totally on tylonel, aside from that it was a beautiful day.

~ Mrs. P