after the cardboard box...

comes the bucket

All good costumes start with

a cardboard box

Declaration day was last Wednesday. Sophie is opting to be a Ninja and Seb a Lego man. I am traveling the whole week, but fortunately, their dad is the annual costume hero.

Random photo that makes me smile - 2

Love letters are long gone

Love notes are a thing of the past. Today`s one and only exchange between me 

and my love went like this: 

 -----Original Message-----
From: J
To: M
 
Sent: 10/17/2012 5:09:32 PM
Subject: book report for school
 
 
If my memory serves me right, Seb's book report is due tomorrow. Can you 

follow through tonight if you haven't already? 
 
Thx and XO
 
-----------------------------------------------

REPLY
       

We've been working on it bit by bit thru the week, and literally seconds ago 

he just finished it. It's been a pretty positive experience. He was pretty 

intimidated at first by it, but then he initiated a good goal-setting plan 

(breaking it down to 3 achievable bits to do over 3 days). Had a bit of a 

hiccup when he concluded the book he'd chosen was not one he'd read recently 

enough to recall, chose another one. Did a draft, with quite good spelling, 

finished last night. I went over it with him tonight, prompting him for 

spelling corrections, and he copied it out almost flawlessly, and fixed the 

little problems (both about word spacing) without getting overwrought. 

Couldn`t love either of them more! 
     

Saved any children today, Mum?

Their dad has been coaching them to ask me from time to time. And then they spotted this poster yesterday. Made me laugh!

Posted from Amman.

Hosting book club

The kids getting into the spirit prior

Much wine was consumed but also remained. Too bad about the book...

always yummy leftovers

Finally Cirque du Soleil!

Trying on masks in the intermission

Some of the set

My dates with the world's largest popcorn.

What can we say? We went, we watched, we were conquered. Amaluna is a great show - from the water act to the male-female acrobatic rivalry, from the amazing aerial hoop artist to the woman who balanced a dozen wooden bones - picking each one up with her toes and adding it one at a time.

Photos from our marathon hike 2 weeks ago.

met horses on the trail

gal and her new boots

Thanksgiving's Saturday

That is one heavy pumpkin & a cute one too

had to take my turn

learning to drive

The fabulous, converted Alton Mill - industrial and social history meet living artists, plus a great cafe to boot..

Art in the marsh

Fall colours

Hanging out with Ros and her crew

hiking the pond trail with a treasure

texting from the Pinnacle

the pre-sleepover

That's what you call the evening a young friend spends with you before going home at 8:15 p.m. in pyjamas with newly-brushed teeth. It involves a board game and book, dinner with special dessert, play time with the resident big brother, another short board game and an even shorter episode of Mr Benn, the red Knight.

We sure know how to rock on a Saturday night.

So how is school going?

That's the question of the past month, especially for Sophie finally in all day schooling. Sophie told her dad one evening this week:

"Wow, my head was busy all day, and then my body was busy at after-school care; and then my head has to be busy tomorrow too"

But she seems to be lapping it all up, counts by 2s and 3s (with effort), still reading up a storm and is on track to be invited to every classmate's birthday party and then some!

Rally for teachers

The kids took the streetcar to our provincial legislature this morning. They went to the PLAY FAIR rally to support our teachers. The message was for the Premier to back down from the law that now prevents teachers from striking over a wage freeze and sick day claw back; it won't pass a charter of rights test in the courts. But until then, teachers have suspended extra-curricular activities like choir and sports teams, as one of the few ways they can legally protest.

Seb was under strict orders not to approach media and not to give out his surname ;) Sophie would rather dig a hole and bury herself than talk to media. We had discussed the right to strike last week and this morning over breakfast, read through our age-appropriate picture book about a striking single mum, and of course, Seb remembers the political elements of Billy Elliott.

The turnout was so-so (there had been a separate rally on Saturday) but the photo op of kids warming up and running races at Queen's Park brought out the cameras. Oh and you can see Seb's pink sign "I love my teachers" in the photo (but by its height, I doubt he was holding it).