Winter has finally arrived, and we had a fun-filled week: making snow-angels, building snowmen, sipping on hot chocolate, skating, hiking and roasting marshmallows on an outdoor fire at auntie’s house. The snow has since been washed away by the rain, but we will simply do it all over again next week.
This years school photos are finally in. Due to COVID-related restrictions, they took place outdoors. Here they are:
Our 8-year old was tasked with making a musical instrument and brining it to class last week. I asked Papa to help her out as I was already overwhelmed with other more traditional homework for the three girls. And so it was that they created a 4-string electric guitar from an old tennis racket...It proved to be a big hit in class even though it meant that I had to carry a heavy amplifier to school on Friday...
What to do when all of the regular activities except for school are cancelled? Skate during public skating, swim during lap swim, and rock of course!
After many years of sharing a room with one of her siblings, our first born finally got her own room. Over the last few weeks we have been decorating and furnishing our rarely-used guest room. The room colour is “Swimming” by Benjamin Moore, and a nod to one of her favourite sports. We are still waiting for her new grey bed to arrive, but here are a few photos of the work in progress:
Having raked all of the leaves, the children have tuned to practicing gymnastics on the grass. Here are the two youngest in the fields behind our house (the little one is wearing a pair of play eye glasses):
Theoretically, they have skated this season, but this was their first family skate since ringette and hockey and all team sports were put on hold:
Early Tuesday morning my 7-year old woke me up to announce that it had snowed! The girls quickly changed, ate their breakfast, and were ready for school much earlier than usual. They dressed in their snow suits for the first time since last winter. The snow has since melted, and we have had some very warm weather...Here they are in the short-lived snow:
While our province did not ban trick-or-treating this year, they did place restrictions: No opening doors for trick-or-treaters, no ringing of doorbells, leave candy out in a basket, and only trick-or-treat with family members. So we decided to forgo the trick-or-treating, and instead had a party with just our immediate family members. We dressed up, had dinner, told scary stories, decorated Halloween-themed cookies, told jokes for candy, then watched a family-friendly Halloween movie. Here are a few photos:
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| Watching a scary movie |
A few days ago, I got home from work to find that my kids had decorated the house for Halloween. My 10 year-old spear-headed the project, and the younger ones helped out. It seems that just last year, I was doing most of the work... the little one even dressed her doll up. Here are some of the results:
On Thanksgiving Monday, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll, raked some leaves, painted some lovely art and enjoyed a home cooked dinner:
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| Kids portion: cauliflower rice, veggie noodles and Grandma’s turkey |
While public school-related field trips have been banned in our province for as few years, the schools are still able to go on sports outings. And so it was that this Monday, our 10-year old went on a bike ride with her gym class. 15km total. They stopped at an ice cream shop for an icy treat. I wasn’t able to attend, but my sister was out walking when she came across the group. Here she is:
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| Outside the ice cream shop |
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| The ice cream shop |
With social distancing measures in place, our children are spending more time outdoors at school. Here is our #2 with her outdoor classroom (front right in navy blue).
The girls had their first Pedagogical Day on Friday, however they had no interest in sleeping-in. After plenty of free-time and a little homework, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll and a bicycle ride. Their long week-end included a few other activities, but probably the most memorable was roasting marshmallows over the fire in their aunt and uncle’s backyard:
It’s hard to believe that the girls have already been back to school for three full weeks! Homework has restarted, and a few other activities have also begun. We had a very busy weekend...soccer season is ongoing, “winter”swimming has begun, and the ringette season has just kicked off. After many months of limited activities, we are embracing the busy schedule. Here is the youngest one on the ice for the second time this season:
The first full week back to school was a success. The girls reconnected with their classmates, made new friends, met their teachers and got their back-to-school haircuts. We even stopped for a cool snack:
