Summer vacation has started and the pool is perfect right on time! We've been taking it easy and getting organised before our trip home to Nova Scotia in a week. Wesley had his Kindergarten graduation and seems to be excited about heading off to grade one next year. Isobel has also been talking about going

to kindergarten in September and for now seems to be excited about it ;) the last few mornings they have been a bit confused about not having to get ready to walk to school but are happy to stay at home. Wesley got a new Lego set with money he has been saving and carries it room to room depending on were we all are. Isobel has been busy helping me rearrange her room. Ian will be painting it when we are in NS are she wants her ' big girl room' yellow.
For those of you wondering about the chickadee babies they have all fledged. Six eggs and six successful fledged. We were all pretty excited but a bit sad to see them go. They all had such a presence in the back yard with the constant feeding and chirping.

chickadee babies

The last few weeks the chickadees have been working hard in the back yard. They have been stuffing a bird house that Wesley put up a few years ago with moss, soft fir, feathers and grasses. The pair are very fast and efficient. I think she started laying her eggs around the 26th and has been sitting on the at least since 29th of May. We peeked a few days ago when I knew the mother wasn't in there and guess what? EGGS!!! We are crazy excited and the female has been sitting on the eggs most of her day. Her mate comes every now and then and calls to her from the trees. He sometimes brings her food and sometimes she goes to hang out with him for five or ten minutes at a time. I'll keep you posted, but so far it looks like there are four eggs. Yeah for chickadee babies!  (hatch date somewhere between the 6th and the 10th).

Paint paint and more paint

spray bottle and scrub brushes

Isobel's favourite thing to do right now is paint. She would paint for hours every day. Beyond just brushes and paper she seems to want to cover herself in it and thoroughly experience it with all her senses :) I have been trying to introduce some new painting methods and have been letting her revisit  the techniques whenever she wants. She often chooses the simplest ones and has yet to show any interest in a product. She does not wish to talk to me about what she is doing. She is completely immersed in the process of texture, colour and pattern...very interesting to watch :)

paint mixed with glitter

foot painting

paint and brushes

April

For the month of April I'm going to observing what the kids play with and what their interests are right now. I'm hoping to pull a few project ideas out for the summer and document what their up to all the same time :) soo...


What are the kids into so far this month
Wesley

• Lego -star wars, ships, buildings,weapons,dramatic reenactments 
• Rocks- collecting, sorting, displaying, books, 
• Outside - snow, digging, water flow, storm drains, signs of spring
• Magnetics
• Art Materials ( pencils, markers, paper)
• Science experiments involving chemical reactions 

Some mixing experiments

Isobel 

• Babies, strollers, doll cloths, diapers
• Watching for the birds
• Cars -parking lots, organising, ramps
• Duplo- cars and people
• Outside - climbing and tricycle 
• Art and sensory - poster paint, glue, pencil, water bins, mixing materials 
• Baking of any kind
• Planting seeds

bird watching

Wesleys favorite things

Here are some pics of Wesleys favorite things this winter :)

Lego

more lego

snow forts

even more lego

snow and lego together

skating

Isobels favorite things

Here are some pictures of Isobels favorite things this winter :)

Birthday Cake

cars and painting

dolls and strollers

Gymnastics

Kenny

november december catch up :)

November was a busy month, with Isobel's 3rd birthday and Christmas preparations. She had a great time and was very excited to turn three. Her favourite present was her double stroller from granny and her new baby Stella doll 'Sit' and extra baby Stella clothes.

 

December was a bit of blurry (kinda like our attempt at family Christmas pictures:) The kids had a great time over the break, we all played Lot's of trains, cars and Lego. Wesley was busy working on star wars ships and we all worked together on making an ATAT walker. Isobel was busy with the Thomas trains, painting and her dolls and strollers. We got outside tons, and made it for a few walks in Lemoine Point to feed the birds.

 

 

 

waiting for Halloween

Things have settled into a fall routine at our house. Isobel and I are busy baking, playing with her babies and shuttling kiddies back and forth to school. Wesley seems to have settled in to school and shares some small bits of his day when he's in the mood ;) The weather has been great but this week took a turn and we've had the fireplace going all weekend...reading our library books, drawing pictures and making starwars lego ships.
The Halloween costumes are ready to go and the kids are starting to get the pre Halloween crazed look. Wesley is a ninja Turtle and Isobel is "NOT A PRINCESS! I'm a Dog for Halloween". So be warned if you meet her in the grocery store or chat with her on the phone don't sugjest a princess costume, you will get a death look :)

Summer ...we miss you already!

   We've had a lovely summer and I'm finally feeling like I can come up for air after a very busy September :) so much to catch up on...but I'll post some few pictures of our summer filled with lots of biking, exploring, science experiments, nature watching and swimming.  Enjoy!

we grew some sunflowers...

found some black swallowtail chrysalis in the garden

about an hour after hatch :)

We also found a monarch caterpillar!



making a J



magical!

getting ready to emerge

voila...a beautiful butterfly

We did lots of relaxing

Wesley turned 5 and wanted a "science experiment" party...tons of messy fun for all!

Isobel learnt to drive her tricycle!

butterfly magic

   We've been lucky enough over the past few years to see some amazing butterfly transformations and this year has been no exception :) We found two Black Swallowtail caterpillars in our yard a month back munching on the dill in the back yard.

 

 

Then we found two chrysalis  and after doing some reading about their hatch times (about 10 days early in the summer) we decided to bring them inside to keep watch. We did a monarch last year, but found tons of information on line about others doing them. The swallowtails made me a little more nervous because later in the summer they 'overwinter' and that kind of sounds technical :)

 

 

 

so we waited and watched...

 

First hatch in the kitchen

 

We carried him outside and watched him fly after a few hours

 

second hatch the next day just a few seconds after he came out of the chrysalis
 

two hours later he was still working on pumping up his wings



We're now watching a tinny swallowtail caterpillar that hatched from a pin sizes egg on some dill we have on the kitchen counter. The egg was so small I had a hard time getting a photo of it, but we were lucky to catch that hatch too for the first time. That caterpillar will overwinter so we'll keep him inside for a while, and then let him find some digs to overwinter in...from what I've read a sturdy stick under some cover. Nature sure is fascinating!

 

smaller then a grain of rice!

 

HOLD ON A SECOND!

Before 

Wesley has been working on his bottom front tooth for a few weeks now. A few nights ago while brushing his teeth got a horrified look on his face, put his finger in his mouth and pulled out a tooth. The only words he could muster were "Hold on a second, that's my tooth!" There was no way he was putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy, he has in a silver box on his bureau :)

After