little miss ballet

a whole year of creative ballet celebrated. it was a great relaxed and non-competitive introduction to ballet. we are still unsure what or if she will do dance next year. i really liked that the program did not have dance recitals and expensive-wear-once costumes.



the year end costume were pajamas! i think they would have looked cute with their tutus on, but my opinion was not asked for. the girls were as thrilled with their brand new "ballet pajamas" as they were with their tutus.



the song was 'Pajama Time' based on the book by Sandra Boynton. you can listen to part of it here.



the girls took it very seriously.



i think they were supposed to be pretending to sleep. the girl on the left just turned 4, and the girl on the right is 5. by watching their motions you could totally guess their maturity level. girls!



i think she REALLY enjoyed this part.



love that smile. they practiced the dance for at least a month. each week a different teddy bear joined her. lucky bear to be picked for the recital dance.



and now she lives in these pajamas!



mommy got to dance with her again.



daddy got a turn too. another chance to show off his 80's moves!



Aidan even got a turn. how lucky can one girl be?!

sadness and thankfulness

shocked over the news today.

{photos from CTV and Global News}

it isn't unusual to hear of fires in the vicinity of Slave Lake. northern Alberta has many forests and is susceptible to fires. i believe the initial fire was small enough that it did not really make any local news here. from what i understand it didn't concern the residents of the area a whole lot either, because it was small. for the last half of the week we have all had very strong winds, 30-50 km/hr. yesterday it was even worse. apparently they were experiencing gusts of up to 100km/hr which had disastrous results.

thankfully there are no reports of injuries or death. however many families have lost their homes. there was very little warning to the residents. i could guess that everyone has a respect for forest fires and the ability to change very quickly.

{arial view of destroyed homes. photo from ctv}

i had caught some details on facebook last night, but had no idea the situation was so terrible. some reports are that 40% of Slave Lake is burned to the ground. buildings such as the library and only radio station are gone. the news reports that various highways had been closed during the weekend and residents only had a few ways to actually flee the area. 

the story is that there was not even a formal evacuation order. it moved that quickly. it really is a miracle that the situation has not been worse.

i came across a blog that has phone numbers and addresses for donations or locating residents now displaced. 

Slave Lake was one of our favourite places to camp with our kids. 

the lake is so big and there are many campgrounds on the shoreline.

there was a section of land that had been burned by Chisholm in 2001. last summer you could see that growth of vegetation was visible while driving by enroute to our campground on Slave Lake. however you could still see how devastating it was.

sad to hear of more devastation. terribly sad for those who have lost their homes. thankful that lives have not been lost. hope that the fire is soon under control.

anticipation

the sun has been shining for a few weeks now.

do i dare say that this spring, the weather seems to be more normal?!

in the past few years, we've had a few super nice days....then the weather starts to act like fall....with strong cold winds and dark clouds. sadly the weather just couldn't turn back to sunshine and get some good, long-standing warmth back! making us endure some long and yucky summers.






i've been looking at some summer photos from years past the last few weeks. talk about entering nostalgia....oh. my. realizing how much our kids have grown in the past few years. given the number of outgrown clothes....bags of new and bigger sizes coming into the house...this is no surprise. the surprise is in looking back at great memories.

i am so thankful for the number of photos we have. there are still other memories that don't have a photo to go with it. i love looking at the kids expressions. the smiles. the grumpy frowns. the ecstatic grins.

we are coming up to our 2 year anniversary of our "big move". i see it as a major landmark for the kids. Aidan's move from preschool to kindergarten. Kiara's move from being just a toddler to a preschool kid. at the time THREE years old seemed like such an old age.....now it just seems so young! one of our new neighbours had just had a baby when we moved in. she is now 25 months old. it is still shocking to all of us that Kiara was only 8 months older when we moved here.

i am a completely visual person. i really have to see it myself in order to understand. {one of the reasons i stayed far away from any scientific field!!}

to see this little girl and think of her as a baby....then to look at my big girl and think of her as a little girl. and to realize how little she was when we moved. comparing what our wee neighbour is doing and what Kiara was doing that summer. then to think of the changes in the next few years. this "baby" will be out on the walking trail with the rest of the girls and playing together happily. {well....as happy as kids can be for periods of time!} at that time it won't be as obvious of the age gap between them.

it makes me thankful for the different activities we all did together. especially when i think back to how busy the days were!