Last Days of Fall

 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):

First Skate

 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:

The First Snow Has Melted

 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:

No Trick or Treating, No Problem!

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:

Watching a scary movie

Getting ready for Halloween

 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:

A Day Off

 On Thanksgiving Monday, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll, raked some leaves, painted some lovely art and enjoyed a home cooked dinner:

Kids portion: cauliflower rice, veggie noodles and Grandma’s turkey

Bike Ride With School

 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:

Outside the ice cream shop

The ice cream shop