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| Fun in the stream |
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| Cooling off |
School is over - yay! It ended well and the boys' teachers did a fantastic job but it will be nice for all of us to have a break from that routine. Isaac's teachers dropped off a package for him with a nice certificate and Kohen was part of a Google-meet and slideshow to celebrate the end of kindergarten.
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| Graham gave them each a Daddy-date on Saturday |
It is a tradition in our home (thankfully Isaac told us this last year) that Graham walks the boys home on the last day of school (stopping at a store to buy slushies). So, this year we all drove to the abandoned school on the last day, took photos, and then I drove home with Lily-Anna while Graham walked with the boys. Part of the tradition is also that the boys want to buy something for Lily-Anna so she ended up with a chocolate bar (most of which she has forgotten in the fridge).
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| Last day of school |
One of my favourite parts of being together more (due to Covid-19), is the read-aloud books. We started with Pollyanna, then Helen Keller, The Secret Garden, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I also read aloud Ember's End to Isaac as it is the final book in a four-book series we have read together. Wonderful, heroic, rabbits with swords. I cried. So good. We need a new book to start. Thankfully we are now able to take out books from the library.
Our bubble expanded to include both sets of grandparents as soon as the Premier gave the go-ahead. It is certainly nice to be able to have hugs again and also have two additional homes to visit.
Now that summer is here, we have started a new chore schedule from Monday to Saturday. One of the chores is to help prepare dinner. Each child has two days when it is their turn to help with dinner. In general, I find the kids much more content to do the jobs as they are listed on their charts. Of course, we started the new schedule yesterday so this may be the honeymoon period. Hopefully they will become interested in picking out the meals but that will also involve some organization on my part as we try to shop once a week.
It's been fun exploring nature. We have a stream with large and small rocks to walk on at the bottom of our street where the kids like to play and there is a pond and forest within biking distance. We saw two snapping turtles yesterday. It's been nice to go there after dinner all together, though it leads to increased drama at bedtime for an overtired Lily-Anna. Today Kohen wanted to fly a kite so we were able to do that this afternoon and after dinner while Graham and Isaac kicked the soccer ball.
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| Kohen flying a kite |
Both Isaac and Kohen were part of their first online piano recitals. Isaac's piece was prerecorded and Kohen played live. Isaac will have four lessons in the summer and he has also asked to be Kohen's teacher over the summer.
I can hear fireworks outside. It's Canada Day tomorrow and also my cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday Natasha!
Other enjoyments: Reading The Sensible Shoes series by Sharon Garlough Brown (I made snickerdoodles for the first time because of these books), listening to JJ Heller's podcast Instrumental, braiding Lily-Anna's hair, puzzles, new games.
Oh yes, I am still following the Auto-Immune Protocol (AIP). The inflammation and stiffness in my joints is manageable without medication. I am going to try to further reduce my sugar intake to see if that helps (after we eat the strawberries I didn't freeze). In addition to snickerdoodles, I also made chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese. I didn't try either but I was told they were great.
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| Tea party |
Blessings,
Elizabeth
1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all that you do be done in love.
P.S. I almost forgot - I was chatting with Lily-Anna and we were remembering camping on Vancouver Island last summer (so great!). I said we were in a tent and then I asked her what we slept in. She confidently said, "Suitcases."
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| Great big brother |
