Our friends

We have known these girls their whole lives. Sebastian and M really are different in many ways but they are so familiar and comfortable with each other that they continually find new ways to connect and share their various interests with each other. Sebastian adores N, and she adores him, it's a win-win relationship. Ayla is really starting to find her groove with M and N and is becoming very fond of them (she's been extremely fond of their mother her entire life!). I need to work on getting shots of the kids together but I have some favorites of our friends!

Visitors from Calgary!!

My cousin Josie is down with her two children. We were so excited to go and visit with them. Josie and I spent much time together as teenagers, driving back and forth from swim practices. I love to spend time with her and it is just made all that much better as we now get to watch the kids get to know each other!

The only thing better than mud is...

mud with friends!!

Ayla wasn't interested in getting quite as muddy but found her own fun.





Hey, Platts-boyle family, look closely at the first pic of Ayla - do you think that's the net we lost down the river when we were playing with you in the river last summer??

Oscar and Ayla went for an evening walk in the woods last night. Ayla rushed in all excited when they got home. They had run into the neighbours who were walking the dog. The dog dug up some old turtle eggs. Ayla and Oscar had brought them home to dissect. Oscar set the kids up at the table with the eggs and some scalpels. They eagerly cut in. Ayla alternated between being very intrigued and yelling "ewwww" in a very disgusted voice. It was rather amusing to watch her! She was holding them and showing me things and then getting all disgusted. Sebastian cut his turtle out of the egg. He separated the yolk from the turtle. He then ran up to his room for a potion he has been brewing for a few weeks. And then, ugh, he proceeded to add some of the yolk to his potion. He wanted to add the turtle but I nixed that. I do have some limits!

When the kids were done, they decided to bury them. Well, they actually decided to cremate them. We had a bit of a ceremony in the backyard, sang "For they were jolly good turtles" and "Amazing grace". Ayla had lots of questions about why the little turtles didn't live. We talked about the possibilities several times before bed.

Sebastian and Ayla have just finished up their dance classes. Both are eager to start the next session. Ayla asks several times a week when her next dance class is!

I haven't felt much like posting here for the past few months. I've been reading lots of other blogs but have been avoiding this space. I've been thinking about writing here again more and more the past few weeks though so hopefully, I'll get back into it. I love looking back at the past entries and hope that the kids will too one day.

This winter has been an interesting and busy one! Both of the kids have grown and changed so much. Ayla's imagination has just taken off and it has been such a joy to watch who she is becoming. She really likes for us to play with her in many (many!) games of store, doctor, bus driver... She spends much time caring for her babies and organizing her belongings into various bags. She is learning to have more respect for Sebastian's belongings and space. This has led, of course, to a large reduction in the amount of bickering between them. They spend much more time playing and laughing with each other than they do arguing now.

Sebastian went through a period just before Christmas of wanting to go to school. I had agreed to set up a few days for him to go try it out after the holidays as his desire appeared so strong. However, while playing in the school yard one day, he looked in the window of a classroom. He asked what it was and I told him it was the grade two classroom and that was where he would go, if he went to school. He then said, "In that case, I'm never going to school!" He hasn't mentioned wanted to visit the school since.

He did tell me that he wanted to work more on learning to read. We talked a bit about the different ways we could go about that and he said that he would like a "program" to work through. He likes the "Starfall" website, so I ordered the learning to read package. He has happily worked on it several times a week since. His confidence has soared, he is always reading words whenever he sees them now. He likes to practice reading now, and can work his way successfully through beginner books. I am so happy that we took the approach that we did, and let him come to it in his own time and manner. Sebastian has also been working through his math book, and has been getting rather interested in it. He is eager to work in it, and usually works past the number of pages we had informally decided to do at each sitting. We don't worry about sitting down every day to do his reading and math, if he has plans or is just feeling drawn to other activites , I respect that.

Sebastian has been building amazing things out of lego (elaborate space ships usually, although he has been branching out a bit). Still loving books on tape. He has also been spending more time drawing and writing. Oh, I can't forget "Harry Potter". He is loving all things "HP" these days (thanks Aunt Michelle :) ).

OK, I think that's enough for now but I'm pledging to return here on a more regular basis (and with pics!)