Happy Canada Day and Happy Birthday Natasha! For the first time, we have been able to celebrate my cousin's birthday with her (albeit two days early). She happened to be in Canada and was kind enough to make the trek to Waterloo. It's always nice to see her and my aunt and uncle.
Actually, my oldest nephew turns 15 today - Happy Birthday Kieran! His age is easy to remember as he was born shortly after our wedding. We were able to enjoy a lovely dinner out for our anniversary while the kids were looked after by one of their awesome cousins.
For Graham's birthday we went to the Keg as someone blessed us with a gift certificate (I had never been there before and Graham can't remember going). We loved it (both of us really enjoy steak). We were surprised when our waitress brought us a delicious dessert because of Graham's birthday. We thoroughly enjoyed the dessert but it did make us late for the Marriage Night event at our church (and we skipped the gourmet desserts there). We were heading to a B&B that night so we left the event before the final session (which was definitely the wisdom of God as the road to the B&B turned out to be closed and I didn't have an address but Shopper's was still open and a lovely woman drove us to the road we needed). After we left the marriage event, Graham's name was drawn to win the big door prize of ... a gift certificate to the Keg! Everyone at the event was so kind and wanted us to still get the prize even though we had left! Thus, we were able to go to the Keg for our anniversary as well! Thank You Lord!
I'm typing this on the big table by our window, listening to fireworks and seeing glimpses in the sky. I saw some really beautiful ones on my ride home tonight. Fireworks are a nice tradition.
I knew Graham was taking this Tuesday off work but he surprised me and also took last Friday off, the boys first day home from school. That evening we took the bus downtown to ride the Ion, Grand River Transit's new LRT (light rail transit). It's free until July 2. We all had fun.
Friday morning the kids and I went to the cemetery to plant some flowers and do some bike riding. We need to teach Kohen to ride a regular bike and thankfully he seems ready to learn now.
We took the kids to the circus this month. We enjoyed our outing. It was fun to see Lily-Anna's eyes light up in wonder. The boys really liked the BMX bikes and the motorbikes riding in a sphere. I was a fan of the couple who changed their outfits super fast!
Isaac graduated from his piano program, Music for Young Children and he also did his level one piano exam. We don't have the results yet but before the exam he said, "I'm excited!" and after the exam he said, "That was fun!" when he came out from his time with the examiner! That reminds me, he wrote on a school paper that one of his favourite things about Grade 3 was the EQAO - that's the grade three testing! (I think he actually really enjoyed the worksheets the teacher gave them after they were finished doing the test sections each day.)
As a musical treat for Isaac for all his hard work in piano, I took him to see the musical Annie. It was his first time attending live theatre and he really enjoyed it. My mom also went with us.
We enjoyed watching the Raptors make history! Isaac stayed up until after the first quarter, at which point Graham went to our church to help and see it on the big screen. With two minutes left in the game (well, apart from three time outs), I picked up Kohen from his bed and took him downstairs (Isaac had told me not to wake him up). Thankfully, Kohen didn't mind being woken up and we enjoyed celebrating and seeing the trophies presented.
Kohen also had a Kindergarten celebration that Graham and I were able to attend. It was nice to spend some time just with him. He will head into SK in September.
The boys are happy to be home from school and I am happy not to make lunches at night or early in the morning. They'll have this week off, followed by a week of VBS and then two weeks with swimming lessons. Lily-Anna passed her swimming lessons this month so she will now do all her lessons solo.
I was telling Kohen that we would be getting a new neighbour.
Kohen: Will Angela still be our neighbour?
Me: No, she is moving.
Kohen: Well, I'll still be her neighbour.
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There are a number of songs that Lily-Anna calls "our song," such as "Jesus Loves Me," "Our Father," and my personalized version of "Jesus Loves The Little Children." Last week I walked to the kitchen where music was playing. She said, "Mommy, that's our song! Let's dance!" The song was "Great is Thy Faithfulness." We danced!
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It's time to head to bed. Thanks for any prayers, including for my mother who heads in for another hip surgery next week on her other hip.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
Psalm 34:10
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
