school is out, summer is here

This playset has been much anticipated. It has literally sat in our garage for almost two years.  Grandpa Ed bought it for the girls as a joint birthday gift but we didn't get grass until this past August because of the conflict between the city/builder/developer BUT we can finally play in our backyard! Graham went on a solo building mission and hammered out 30+ hours putting this crazy thing together. He is a work horse, is a guy who works until the task is complete and we are thankful for it. The next morning the girls ran out before they even ate breakfast, I just had to let them ;)

I have been dreaming of doing a chalkboard for the back yard and am super thankful for a husband who helps my dreams become reality.

Yup, bring on summer! 

We're ready for ya.

~ Mrs. P

last days as a kinder kid

I love this picture of our ladies ready for a day at the Spray Park! I know the matching won't go on forever but it is so sweet when they ask to match.  I just love these darling ladies!!!!

Amelia has had a great year in kindergarten!

It has been a  blast to watch her grow and learn new things, eager to show me and eager to return home to play after working hard at school.  Her teacher and aid have been great, truly Miss Russell and Mrs. Dunmore have chosen the perfect careers and rock 'em!!!!  There were high expectations and a lot of encouragement in her class, both of which I love. I so enjoyed the opportunities to volunteer and to get to be in 'Amelia's school world'.  I have felt like Stella and I were there a lot this spring; swimming lessons meant we brought the wagon and walked with the class as they went the three blocks to and from swimming (Amelia was often tired after swimming because of our muscle condition), the class had a field trip to the zoo and a wrap up party at the Spray Park. Stella was a fabulous sidekick and pretty much fit in with the kindergarten class, she is such a great little listener and will be a stellar student when it is her turn in another year.  It was such a great June full of fun stuff!!

I think these two pictures below sum up Amelia's love for school hahahahaha!!!!  The one on the left is her last day standing by our countdown in the mudroom, there were real tears in the morning before she went for her last day and real tears as she left her teachers. It was a little sad actually but I think she will smile when she is 15 and CAN'T WAIT for summer vacation.  The one on the right was her first day, looking so pumped up giving me the thumbs up after she found her locker.  Oh my baby!

Just when I get the hang of something as a parent it changes. Gosh having Mia gone for the morning was a big change and I just started to get use to it and now in a few months she will be gone the WHOLE day! (She tells me that she is excited but is "really gonna miss me" oh tear!  It is weird to think about others having her for a majority of her day as she goes off to grade one in the fall.  I just hope and pray we have given her a good foundation.  I know that experience is essential to our growth, but it is hard to let go I tell ya!!! 

I am in LOVE with this picture of my women from September. We were walking Mia to her class, we hold hands a lot in our family and it was just so sweet to have them walking hand in hand off a head of me.

 

Summer vacation here we come!!!!!

~ Momma P

Farmer's Market

 There is something so awesome about the Farmer's Market.  Even if we don't buy anything (which is rare) just being there is so great!  I love meeting the artisans in our community and who doesn't love not having to cook dinner, hello hot dogs n pop ;)

~ Momma P

Happy Father's Day

Mr.P is pretty rad and we are lucky to have him!!  The girls each made cute gifts at Joy School and Kindergarten, paired with some Oilers stuff and 'Dad' books I think he felt special.

Stella made a little box full of 'KISSES' and it was really hard to wait to give them to him, it was seriously cute. 

Lots of love for this guy!

The girls wore their 'Dad' shirts to church and it was so fun to see their excitement to celebrate the day with him. 

I must also pay tribute to my dad and the wonderful guy he is.  He has a good heart and although he appears to be a gruff old guy with his beard, he is a total softie and totally adored by his family. The girls love his teasing, love his special pancakes and love when he has fires when they go to visit. They have some special little things they do together.

This guy, Graham's dad he is a hard worker and very driven. He passed those things along to his children. The girls enjoy when he stops by.

It is great to have a day to reflect on the Dads in our life. We are lucky to have them all!

~ Mrs. P

a wild party for 6 & 4

Everyday is non stop around our place it seems. I have been in Amelia's class as her class walks to swimming lessons (little woman does not enough energy to walk back to school after swimming an hour), so Stella and I bring the wagon walking to and from the pool twice a week. For Young Women's it seems like lately each Tuesday activity has been prep work, super cool though was an Amazing Race we did with the youth in Sherwood Park...100 Kids!!! Also, when I teach on Sunday the lessons are laid out now so you NEED to prepare and ponder what to share, create your own lesson plan, wonderful but work. There have been wrap up activities for Joy School, violin and ballet. Tball goes right to the end of school.   I co-hosted a Norwex/Tupperware party with my sister so it literally seems like one thing after another to prepare for soooooooo it has taken me a bit to get around to clearing off our big camera for party pics :) Each night it seems I just zone out in our bed watching netflix....as I leave baskets of unfolded laundry against the wall in our bedroom cough, cough.  Enough complaining about the craziness and on to record the fun of our crazy party.

Saying all of that we had a WONDERFULLY WILD PARTY!!!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Amelia 
Happy 4th Birthday Stella

I can't remember where I heard about Zoo2U but it was awesome!!  The neat thing is that they bring animals to your home for the kids to learn about and enjoy, they aren't your typical pets :) We had an:

African Tortoise, 

Chincilla, 

Pot Bellied Pig, 

Rose Haired Tarantula,

 Hedgehog, 

Netherlands Dwarf Rabbit,  

Panther Cameleon,
Moluccan Cockatoo

Lots of love for Pascal the Cameleon! Every child had an opportunity to hold him on their arm if they wanted, super cool.

Stella was crazy brave to be the first one to hold the Tarantula.

Patty the pig had many fans.   Lettuce was scattered around the circle so each little kiddos had a chance to pet her as she nibbled on her snack. Soooooo cute!!

The tortoise was totally adorable and from Madagascar, which we found on our world map. It is from very far away!

I LOVED the excitement of the children and really wish that I had snagged a group picture of everyone on the stairs because our house was FULL! It was such fun and I really wanted each of our little friends to get to be in on this unique experience. So we ended up having 26 kids, plus the 2 birthday girls and 10 adults here to celebrate. The weather was drizzly so we all had to stay inside. It was totally worth the craziness!!!

If I could pick another pet I would want a hedgehog, seriously so darn adorable!

My girls would probably pick a chincilla! They kept saying how soft it was.

The bird was our final critter and was the perfect animal to wrap up the party with. She was beautiful and actually full of personality.  Each kiddo had the opportunity to have her on their shoulder but while Madison (the owner) was talking about her she hopped around the circle and got some love, cutest thing ever! Totally funny was that as children had their turn to hold her they would run off and the basement kept getting louder and louder and she got more and more excited, dancing and spreading her beautiful feathers. It was abosolutely awesome!!!

The cakes were bought, so simple and stress free for me but I was pleased with how they turned out. I decorated them using my home made bunting tied to paper straws and they each chose an animal to sit on the cake.

I kept decorations simple and at minimal cost because we were having the animals come. The kids painted rocks and made pom pom caterpillars (all stuff I already had) and had either animal crackers or bear paws for a loot bag. Simple simple!

I was so pleased with the bunting, all scrap fabric I had in the basement (I should have ironed it but whateves!)  We also have a tradition of doing yearly birthday pictures. I make the girls shirts to wear with their age and then do pictures, sometimes professional sometimes not but we always display them because I love seeing how they have changed.

The flamingos were a silly but fun touch to add to our front yard so school friends who didn't know our house would recognize where the party was happening. I love the planning and decorating part of parties and really hope my girls will know I love doing this for them.

I can not believe how quickly our babies have grown. Of course they have moments like any other children but I think they are pretty SPECTACULAR kids! They are kind and each spirited in their own way, they are creative and such good friends.  We are incredibly proud of the women they are becoming. Love them!

~ Momma P

stitches are the worst!

So our baby girl got stitches AGAIN!!!! Yes, again the poor woman. Just six weeks ago Stella fell on our neighbors drive way and needed to go to emergency for stitches, then this morning shortly after 6am she fell off of our bed and hit the night stand....again I knew immediately that she needed stitches....in the exact same spot ouch!  This time Graham was home so our whole family went in, Amelia is pretty interested in this kind of stuff (I have been known to faint so she clearly gets her strong stomach from Graham).  I just can't let my babies be there without me. Stella was a  ROCKSTAR!!!! There were tears but she is so calm, it is impressive.  The whole thing sucks though!!!  When she fell and I scooped her up I knew she needed stitches and exclaimed, "this is the worst!"  Amelia, ever the optimist exclaimed, "no, dead is the worst!"  She is correct but stitches do suck!!!!!!!

Our stitch count in now:
Stella - 9
Amleia - 4
Each has had to go 3 times.

I have a friend who is a nurse so comes to our house to take out the stitches, we are soooooo grateful we don't have to go back to the hospital or to our doctor.  It is crazy though because over the last few months our playdates have been centered around her coming over to take out stitches, for reals!!!!!
Anyway it could be worse as Amelia corrected me. It is still hard on the nerves.

~Momma P

morning rides

This big girl of ours is a morning person.  

She is by far the happiest girl I have ever met in the morning.  My Grandpa Hudkins is also a happy morning person and I am thankful that my little Amelia has that attribute too. 

Somethings are certainly a choice and we can work at and develop traits but somethings we are born with and her happy morning attitude is certainly just part of who she is. Amelia is always the first one up at our house, 6:30am is considered a sleep in for the girl.  On the morning these were taken Graham came home from work a bit early, 7am and Amelia asked if they could go for a bike ride, so they did.

 

Love it! 

What a girl. What a good dad.

~ Momma P

gardeners

You could call the Polischuk peeps gardeners now!  Mr. P with all of his awesome skills made us two raised beds and I planned out our beds doing the square foot garden method. I have a good friend Emma who I sought out help from and her enthusiasm was contagious. We shall see.  I have this dream of my ladies playing in the back yard and going to grab a pea or carrot, something that they helped grow. The internet has a ton of information and I have found marvelous kiddo activities on pinterest, you know to go along with 'growing' ;)

~ Mrs. P