Our 5-Year-Old's Bedroom Gets an Update

A few months ago, we moved our 5-year old back into her original bedroom. She had been in there as a baby, but at age 2, we had moved her into her 31/2 year old sister's room.  At the time, her 5-year old sister was starting school and needed to be up much earlier than the other two...Fast forward 3 years; all are at the same school, however the older two share a more similar schedule of extra-curricular activities.

She initially protested, but when she realized her room would be pink, and that she would enjoy a large bed such that her parents could put her to sleep (and share her bed), she was very excited. The room upgrade came together over a few months and included some shiny pink handles for her dresser, a pink chandelier (expertly installed by her uncle), a cute decal, a doll wardrobe, and some hand-painted ballet-themed canvases (painted by Mama with inspiration from Pinterest). Here are the results:

Mama Attends Her First Ringette Game

The girls' first ringette season just ended today, and Mama finally made it to her first match.

The games and practices mostly coincided with my work, and until this last Wednesday, I was unable to attend.

The game took place in a small, cold rink, in the context of the "Montreal Games". The two younger ones were with Papa at the pool, and so it was that Mama was able to attend her 9 year old's match.

The girls made a valiant effort, coming back from 0-2 to lead 4-3, only to be outscored in the second half. The final score was 11-4 for the other team!

The team was none-the-less pleased with their offensive effort in the first half, as they hadn't led in some time!

Here is a sweet photo of a few of the team members in a post-game huddle:

Goofy Girls

Practically every day, our girls act rather goofy. Here are two recent examples. In the first, I was drying my hair after a shower when in walked my two older girls. They wore skirts around their necks and donned ear-muffs. I believe they were trying to act as teenagers! In the second, my youngest was playing with her stuffies. I am not entirely sure what she was doing with her leg, as I was at work at the time...

Mama is the Mystery Reader

Every year in kindergarten, the parents are invited into class to read the children a book and to do a craft related to the book. We submit "clues" ahead of time so that the children can try to guess who the reader is. So it was that last Friday, I stood behind the closed classroom door and listened to the clues. The children usually get very excited, and hope their parent will be the "mystery reader".

The clues started off very general:

-J'aime lire
-J'aime courir
-J'aime faire les arts

Then the two remaining clues narrowed it down:

-J'ai trois filles
-Leurs noms commencent avec un "S"

At this point, I could hear the teacher explain to a few kids who thought the criteria fit their parent, that in fact that was not the case...

I was greeted by a huge hug from my daughter. Next, I read a french book called "Je veux un monstre"  about a little girl who convinces her father to let her get a pet monster.

For the craft, the children had to put the right number of googly eyes on the monster; there were 4 in total, labeled from 1-4. After writing their names on their monster craft and putting them away, the children got to decorate cupcakes with candies in order to make them look like scary monsters. And finally, they were able to enjoy their edible craft!

Back to School, Really Early!

Back to school after a week off was tough, especially with little time to get used to the time change. For the first time in a long time, I woke up before the girls (with some help from my alarm clock). Thankfully, the school had set up the gym with climbing walls, a Zip-line and a Tarzan rope. Each class got to enjoy the gym several times during the week, and every day, the set-up was different. I was able to volunteer on the Friday, and captured some cute faces:

March Break, Finally...

It proved to be a nice break from the daily chores of making lunches, doing homework with three kids and driving them to and from school and countless activities. The girls enjoyed themselves as well; we visited Ottawa for three days, skated on the world's largest skating rink, feasted on Beaver's Tails, and enjoyed pool and hot-tub time. We even got back on time for our annual Disney on Ice tradition...

February Finally Finishes

For the shortest month of the year, February certainly proved to be a very full month for us. Two big school projects, 4 parties, 2 swim meets, 2 ringette tournaments, and two ear infections. But we made it through, and ended on a high note: Winter Carnival at school. We found out rather last minute that we had to freeze three 2L cartons full of water and colour, but the end result was lovely:

The three girls, their two friends, and a colourful ice castle