here we go again

today is Kiara's orientation for kindergarten. the day she has been waiting for. for years.



her main goal - it seems, at times - is to catch up to her big brother!

i still remember her at the age of 11 months when i dropped Aidan off at playschool for the first time. her tearful babble seemed to tell me that we were forgetting someone. during Aidan's second year of playschool she hated to leave and come home. i was always thankful that his time at playschool coincided with her naptime. she sometimes whimpered herself to sleep in her frustration! the day Aidan rode off in the bus destined for kindergarten she also wanted to ride with him. it helped that she was finally at the age to be enrolled in playschool herself.

i have a suspicion that she will either end up teaching one day. or she may fall in love with being a student and always attend school. {let's just hope she gets those scholarships and well-paying summer jobs!}




the difficult part has been to explain that her time spent in kindergarten today will be super-duper-short!

another concept she hadn't quite understood is that kindergarten does not start 'for real' for nearly 3 months.

sigh. although i am thankful that she is of the mind to be excited for this new phase and know that she will most likely enjoy school.

yesterday i mixed up some cornstarch with water. added some food colouring. {ran out of red and yellow! apparently we use those alot?} gave her a paint brush. she also had a couple of friends join in.



an old muffin tin was perfect. much less spillage.

i also use less than ideal paintbrushes. the concrete/asphalt is pretty tough on the bristles!




this girl of mine is so creative. lately her art projects have had some incredible maturity in them. it has been interesting. to say the least! i do feel bad for the Costco employee who is lucky to have us pass by them when we check out our groceries. they always give the kids a 'happy face' and they have always loved it. Kiara, however, has been more specific and wanting pictures drawn with more skill. we have yet to meet a Costco employee to meet her standards in Sharpie-10 second-receipt-sketch talent. yesterday the poor woman was blasted by the 4 year old for putting a happy face on a flower....flowers don't have happy faces!! i dread those embarrassing moments....and they have to be dealt with. as soon as we have her 'on track' with one issue...there is a brand new issue to take us off guard again. one thing is for certain, Kiara definitely knows when to say "I'm sorry". if only there was a quick and easy way to teach her how to AVOID situations where she will have to use those words!!

so she comes home and paints a flower. with. a. happy. face.

seriously?




this is cute!  although the number of fingers on the hands freak me out a little.

well, off to walk through the rain to school. and a whole new era for this mother.

wish us both luck.

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.