cousins

The kids had a Pro-D yesterday and went to the Revelstoke indoor pool with the daycare. Sophie isn't officially in daycare anymore, but was still able to go along for the trip. After that they had an overnight sleepover at the daycare. Scavenger hunts, movies, popcorn, friends - lots of fun.

Vic and I headed down to Vernon last night for dinner with our friends Veronica and Mike and two other couples. We went to this restaurant. The food was excellent. I love Thai food! This morning, with the kids at daycare, we were able to head out for a good 7 km run followed by a latte and then we picked them up.

Vic's brother and his wife and son came over for dinner tonight along with Vic's cousin and his wife and their two kids. The kids are all close enough in age that they had a great time playing in the basement. Nice to see them all getting along.

A reason to celebrate...

Our September daycare bill came in today and it is half of what it has been for the past several years. With Fynn starting full day Kindergarten our total bill is now $515 (varies a bit by month depending on number of days in the month) instead of $1000.

The extra money can now finally be allocated to paying down our mortgage and savings.

On another note, we took the kids out to Margaret Falls tonight - a last trip to the falls for the summer and a chance to do something together after another full day of work for us

and waterslides for them (with their daycare).

Becky's baby shower

One of the daycare staff, Becky had her baby in June and Sophie and I went to her baby shower tonight. Little Teegan is 3 weeks old and he is extremely sweet.

I forgot my camera so had to settle for my phone (which I really hate taking pictures with).

Sophie was nervous at first of holding Teegan, but once she got the hang of it she asked to hold him 4 or 5 times. I see a future babysitter in the making.

A milestone

Fynn passed a milestone today. He "graduated" from his preschool class. I don't think he has quite comprehended that he won't be going back to preschool anymore, but he did figure out that today was a special day. The look on his face when he saw mom, and then dad arrive for his graduation ceremony was very adorable.

There were several times over the past year where I thought to myself that I should just cancel him in preschool and just continue to let him go to the regular daycare program he is in. The daycare and preschool are side by side, run by the same society. I pay an extra $80 per month for Fynn to attend preschool. In the end, I am glad we stuck it out. His behavior as measured by his lack of participation during his Christmas concert and his increased participation today was significant -- so I think that is a good indicator of success.

Vic and I are literally counting down the next two months. Only two more months (July and August) of when we will pay full daycare fees for Fynn. Once September rolls around he will be in full day Kindergarten, and our fees will go down by a good 30-40%. We will just be paying for the two kids in after school care then.
When we consider that daycare runs us about $850 - $1,000 per month, this is a big deal

for us. Vic and I are thinking we need to have a celebration come September 1!!
While we know we are very fortunate to have good quality care for the kids, we also know that the financial impact it has had on our family's budget is a big one.

Day 31

My final day of my Picture the Holidays Class. It was fun, a learning experience and was a great way to capture the images of the final month of the year. This photo is about some things I love: great design, quality furniture, my camera and New York.

It's a special month, but not without its stressors. Today around 11am turned into a time when I knew I had to get Sophie and Fynn out of the house to save myself. I had intended to go into work for a couple of hours to check email so Tuesday wasn't such a jolt. I was waiting for Vic to come back home from work so we could do the trade off. They were fighting, being bored, lethargic, watching too much TV - all the usual stuff that happens to kids on the final days of an extended vacation. I was snapping at them.

I called the daycare and asked if they had room for them. They did (plus I had prepaid for their spots), so I told them to get on their boots and coats. Of course, there was much crying as they had not intended on this happening. I wasn't doing it as a punishment. Far from it, actually. I knew that often times daycare provides the outlet they need - playing with their friends, different toys, different snacks, grown ups they are not me and Vic. I came back at 3:30pm to find them smiling with rosy cheeks and playing outside. I said "did you have fun?" Of course they did. Now they are back at home and are chilling out with cartoons. I'm okay with that. I know that sometimes I am not the only one who can entertain them, calm them, play with them and lift their little spirits.

I got to get caught up at work and then Vic and I had lunch together. A rare treat. We all feel good now :)

parade

The day began with Sophie sitting on the daycare float in the Fall Fair parade. Cute parade. Fynn was all over the tractors. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. Later we invited Ella and Ada and their dad Ray (Vic's coworker) over for a last dip in the pool. Vic had cranked the heat, but the little mermaids only lasted a few minutes. Pool season is officially over for us.

making party mix

Our daycare had a holiday baking fundraiser where people could place orders for goodies and the daycare would pay for the supplies, staff and parents would bake and any profit goes to the daycare.

I wasn't confident about baking something like shortbread so I volunteered to do my mom's party mix recipe. Lo and behold we had 34 orders for party mix! More than we thought. We doubled the recipe and still didn't have enough to fill all of the orders tonight. Chris and Shelly, two of the daycare teachers came over to help me put it together and bag it. Vic and I need to get some more supplies this weekend and finish off the 12 or so bags that are left.

I feel as exhausted as I look in the photo. I am trying to leave more time for the kids at night so I'm waking up at 5:45am to hit the gym. This morning I did a spin class. It feels great to have my working out over with and not have to worry about it later, but it makes for a very long day.

where do the days go?

I've had a busy, busy week.

After work today Vic and I headed down to the daycare for the annual summer BBQ. We were a bit late as we had to drive out of our way to buy a decent watermelon which we said we'd bring. It was a fun time - the kids got to play, we had some dinner and everyone was pooped when we got home.

Fynn NEEDED to ride his little play bike (not a real bike) for a bit and Sophie was anxiously waiting to see if our neighbour Maggie would be home so she could play with her. By now it was about 7:30pm and while I was running Fynn's bath, Sophie had located Maggie and they were playing outside with their Webkins.

Before long Maggie and Sophie wanted to come in and play Barbies. By then we were pushing 8pm and getting close to bath time. They got in some play time and just after 8, Maggie had to go home. It is nice to see her play with someone who lives so close by. She's a little older than Sophie (going into Grade 1), but they seem to have bridged the age difference.

Chores to do, sleep, then I have a presentation tomorrow at 8:30am in Sorrento. Off to Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow afternoon.

Running around like a crazy woman, reminds me of this quote:

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: WOO HOO, WHAT A RIDE!

amen.

Dec 21 - Despereaux

Sophie and Fynn's daycare didn't have their annual Christmas party this year. Instead, they rented an old movie theatre and watched Despeareux. Some loveable, misfit characters -- but Vic and I thought it was a little dark for kids.

Dec 18 - little reindeers

On Wednesday, Sophie's daycare had a little performance of the kids singing their Christmas songs. Sophie was still recovering from her tongue incident so she wasn't in much of a mood to sing, but she did her best.

Preschool grand opening

Last Friday, Fynn, Sophie and I attended Sophie's preschool grand opening. Her preschool is part of the same society that runs her and Fynn's daycare. The staff and parents of the daycare have done a tremendous amount of fundraising in the past 2years to make the new expansion happen.

Vic and I have a special place in our heart for the daycare and the staff that run it. I have never worried about either of them while I'm at work. I often think they are safer there than with me (especially after Fynn's staircase fall last month).

We had fun at the grand opening and our MLA George Abbott even made an appearance.
Fynn of course hammed it up.

Daytrip #2

Our day started early when we (Vic) volunteered to do some landscaping for a couple who had bid on the a "workbee" party composed of daycare parents at the Rotary Auction. For $400, the woman bought about 8 adults to help build an Allenblock wall, paint planks for her shed, and shovelling bark mulch. We were there about 1.5 hours. The wall alone was probably worth about 30 hours of work (needless to say, the wall didn't get finished today).

They had some neat miniature ponies that Sophie and I fed.

***
Slightly before lunch we headed out to Revelstoke, a town of about 3,000 about 75 minutes east of us. We wandered around their downtown, poking into a few little shops. We had a nice lunch at the Modern Bakery. Cute place.
We also bought one of these at a kitchen shop. Now there is no excuse for me not slicing apples.