First Day of School!

Today was our first day of school for the 2011/2012 year. We often start a week earlier than the public schools so we can take time off later in the fall without feeling badly or falling behind. We had some here who were very excited and wanting to begin (Emmi) and some who would be happy to wait until November - or later, as long as they didn't need to catch up next spring (Tim). I have made up new schedules, and new lists, and the first day went fairly well. It helps that we are sticking pretty close to what we have done in other years, so the previous year's schedule just needed a little tweaking. It is always daunting to open up the new book (math in particular!) and start lesson 1, of 123 or so! However, I hope the children are learning, as I am learning, that once you begin and work steadily away at something, you get through it. I needed to remind myself of this lesson as I left them to work independently this afternoon, and came out to do house painting!

Harvesting

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

Sometimes it is really hard to keep going! In some ways, I am in that state right now, there's a lot going on. However, we do have the promise from the Bible, and we do see this principle in real life. Emmi and Ben were able to harvest their radishes some weeks ago. They were really yummy! And now we have zucchini, beans and tomatoes coming in (and a few cucumbers). Pip is watching, rather impatiently, a pumpkin on his vine that is starting to turn orange.

The summer has been busy. Lots of good going on, the children have just finished week 5 of 6 weeks of swimming lessons. And our big project is painting the house (exterior). I need to get some photos of that! We are also turning our eyes to the calendar and starting to think about school! It seems to have gone so fast, but I think I say that every year! Stay tuned, and keep on keeping on!

Fresh Air Fund

 We've had our visit from our Fresh Air Fund girl, Janelle. This was her third visit with us, and it was a great one! We did a lot with her, some of which doesn't feel important enough to mention, but is the type of thing that the FAF tells us is good for the children like hanging out at home in the back yard and playing in the sprinkler. In the above photo, Emmi and Janelle are rolling out pastry to make pies. Emmi's was blueberry, and Janelle's was sour cherry. Both were excellent!

One highlight of the visit was a trip to Toronto. We went to the Toronto Islands and took a picnic supper. After swimming we ate supper, visited Franklin's Garden and then rode the ferry back across to the city.

The group in front of a large fountain!

Emmi and Janelle waiting for the ferry.

In the meantime...

Hello Friends,

I know it has been a while since I updated! We had a great trip to Maine in June, and we've had a visitor from New York City from the Fresh Air Fund for two weeks, and celebrated my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, and we had Agape Valley Bible Camp (daycamp) for a week, AND we're now in swim lessons and all sorts of summer activities!! Wow!

So, I am hoping to put up some photos from the Maine trip at some point; it was a wonderful vacation. But in the meantime here's a a couple of our friend Janelle (from Queens NY) and our children after some face painting!

Flying high at Pearson

Daddy David has been in California on a business trip this week, he came home today! Usually he flies out of Buffalo, but this time he went from Pearson International and we went to pick him up. It was the first time the children had been to Pearson, and it was a pretty exciting adventure!


Pearson seems to have lots of cool things to look at: hanging from the ceiling, on the walls, and like this tank/sculpture, right in the middle of the floor. This nifty tank thing had plastic cubes in it, and jets of water would turn on and off and make the cubes drift around inside the tank. It was also fun to look at it from different sides, and to wave at your siblings through it.

But perhaps the best part about the visit to the airport from the children's perspective was that it was profitable! We found lots of baggage carts that hadn't been returned to the cart kiosks, and for every cart we returned, we made $0.25. After we left, we counted the haul (a large fistful of quarters!) and we had returned 24 carts! So each child has an extra $1.50 in their pockets right now!

Actually the best part (of course) was meeting Daddy again! He almost got knocked down when he appeared by the big sliding doors! We had some fish and chips on the way home, and he is reading stories to them right now. All's right with the world again!

Recitals

It seems to be recital season here. We had a recital with our homeschool group (called a Showcase) with students playing or singing or reciting. Three of the Marshwiggles played piano pieces, and all did very well.

Ben has just finished his first piano book, so he played the last piece in the book. The piece is also written as a duet, so I went up to play with him. I think it helped his nerves having me beside him softly singing along with the piece.

Emmi has been preparing for her Grade 3 Royal Conservatory exam, so this was a good opportunity for her to try out one of her pieces. She played a study called "Arabesque" that is quite dramatic and ends with a lovely decending crescendo to a final chord. A crowd pleaser!

Tim has been making progress this year with piano, and has started playing pieces that require movement in his hands (from position to position). He played a piece called "The Galway Piper" and pulled it off nicely.

The other students did well also, and we had a time of snacks in the church basement after - always welcome after the stress of performing!

Orthodontics Have Arrived!

Tim has been seeing the orthodontist for quite a while now, but I don't think anyone else would notice. In April he had a nifty gizmo (a palate expander) put in place that I get to wind up every night to widen his top jaw. Well the orthodontist thought we'd wound him up enough, so he decided to put braces on. Here's Tim before the visit (above) and after (below).



Keep an eye on him and you may see the front gap get smaller!