Oh Happy Day

The boys finished up school today. They could have been at school a full day but since it was my day off anyhow, I decided to pick them up right after their award assemblies. They liked that!

Both of them achieved excellent report cards and I'm darn proud of their success. The best part of the report cards are the comments and to see that teachers can identify the traits you've been instilling in your child is a good feeling indeed. Nathan's teacher called him 'kind and compassionate' and Chad's teacher said he was a joy to have in his class because of his 'cheerful, positive attitude towards learning'.

I felt a little bitter sweet as we walked out of ATMS for the last time. I never really got involved with Nathan's middle school due to my own job taking up so much of my time. But I really loved the teachers there and we had many friends that had been with Nathan since the early years of King Traditional. One of the moms told me that her daughter and Nathan had been in class together since grade one. When I told her that Nathan would not be returning in the fall she said: 'Oh I hate MEI. They take away all the nice kids.' But she said it with a smile and wished us well. Nathan said he would miss his friends but wasn't too sentimental about leaving school today. I promised him to have his buddies over during the summer and that was good enough to put the smile back on his face.

I treated the boys to lunch out as a celebration of the last day of school. I encouraged them (decided for them) that Wendy's would be a good choice so I could enjoy a yummy Baja salad. They happily ate their fries dipped in a Frosty and thanked me profusely. Now for cleaning out those smelly backpacks, tossing papers, sorting out leftover supplies and filing awards and report cards!

Wrapping It Up

Life is going really fast right now! I've not felt very 'bloggy' lately in case you were wondering. Perhaps you were not!

I am busy at school getting ready to wrap things up for summer (prepping the summer mail out, putting programs in place, doing up letters, getting awards day set up, ordering supplies etc) and also getting things ready for our return in late August. I'm very excited to have six weeks off. I love my job, don't get me wrong but I am mostly looking forward to not having to be out the door at 7:35 am every morning! I know that Liam will appreciate more than 5 minutes between being pulled out of bed and getting tossed into the car seat!

The boys too, are looking forward to the break. Chad is signed up for a week of day camp at our church which will be really fun. They have some great activities planned including a day out at Burnaby Village. Nathan is going to be saying 'farewell' to ATMS as he will head to school with old mom this fall at MEI Middle. He's just beyond excited and isn't even giving ATMS a backwards glance. I'm really glad our circumstances are allowing for him to make this transition. I hope it will live up to his expectations!!! They are both done school on Wednesday.

I am going to sign up both boys for a week of tennis lessons this summer as well. Both are keen to play and show some good skill in their game. I'm sure a week of lessons will give them a good start to becoming good players. Tennis has always been something I've enjoyed and I hope that we can play regularly as a family.

Keith has been over burdened at work with office politics which is really crappy. He comes home in a funk most days which is just super. Darn you, management! There. I feel better. Not really.

We are taking a mini-vacation to Vancouver Island in mid-July to visit Keith's sister and her fiance in Comox. I'm really looking forward to exploring a new place as I've never really been beyond Victoria.

Keith has borrowed a compressor nail gun from a co-worker and has been busily measuring, cutting and nailing on the new baseboards here. It's looking so great and is the 'last' thing to do before we can say these renos are finished! Well, they just need a lick of paint but I have painters to do that part for us!

So, there you have it. We're going full force for a few more days and then....ahhhhhh! Time to slow down and recharge the batteries!

Escape

Keith and I went away for the weekend. Can you guess where by looking at this photo? It is the ONLY picture I took all weekend. I cannot offer a reward if you guess correctly. All my money was used to stimulate a certain country's economy!

Thank you to Uncle Andrew who stayed with the boys and Nana and Grandad who cared for Liam....couldn't have done it without them!

Scallywags!

Ahoy! Our last dress up day of the year was pirates!

N & C & L

Chad did us proud today at his zone track meet. He came home with four ribbons...three of them first place. Well done!

And not to leave Nathan out, he has achieved great things this month too! He successfully auditioned once again for A.C.T. and secured the role of 'Charlie' in 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' which is a fairly significant role. Well done Nate!

Let's not leave out our little Liam either! He's crossed to the other side of toilet training. He can and does both pee and poop where he should and wakes up dry from all naps and most nights too. Well done big boy!

'Tis Good

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake from MGCC....so easy and a hit with birthday boys of any age!

Sunday Scenes

Lunch on the deck after church

Liam is over-joyed with his child sized shovel and rake from the Dollar Store.

Pretty flowers to smell

Somersault demos in the front yard.

Turtles to pet

Flowers to pose with

Cuteness to behold

And around the corner is a beautiful yard in which I am soaking up the sun!

Me Brudder

Happy Birthday to Andrew!

I might not have been the nicest sister while we were growing up but I am pretty nice now. Right, Andrew?

Hope you have a wonderful year ahead!!!

So Close

How do you like my new color? The back of the house (kitchen, family room, den and bathroom) are being painted in Interlude. It's starting to look quite nice and it goes without saying that I am looking forward to moving past this 'renovation' stage of our lives.

The rest of the house will be painted in Weimeraner which is the same color we had in our old place. It did not go with the kitchen cabinets or it would have been the only color in the house. I like having a nice classic wall color and then being able to decorate around that.

The backyard lawn is growing in nicely. All that rain really helped the grass seed get started. That's the only nice thing I will say about our wet spring. My mom and I planted all my planters last weekend and I am enjoying looking at their loveliness each time I am outside (which is anytime it is sunny!).

Friday Follies

After 6 weeks of waiting, our new sectional for the basement finally arrived today. Sadly the truck broke down right in front of our house and had to be towed away. Quite happy it decided to break down AFTER our delivery!

So here it is after having picked fabric twice! After the original order we got a call a few weeks later to say it was no longer available. I was not happy to see they order the wrong 'feet' for the couch. The correct ones are on their way.
So that will be Keith's man cave. The room below is the kids rec room. We bought a used air hockey table for them and they've got their video games. All set up for friends and good times!
You'd think I'd maybe straighten up before I took a picture?! This is how lazy I am.