First Day of School

7:50am - Successfully out the door on time!

8:00am - In the cours d'ecole waiting to find out which class she'll be in this year.

12:45pm - Finally Leo's turn to go to school for a half day.

Last day of Summer Vacation!

Today has been a day of highs and lows. Okay, what day is not but just for fun lets see how things went on the last day of the summer break...

High: Spent a lovely day at the park with our friends
Low: No one wanted to leave their friends
High: Bike ride was fun and made the kids happy
Low: I was tired and a bit cranky by the time we made it home again
High: Leo's first tooth became loose while eating corn on the cob!
Low: Leo cried HARD after I read page 3 of Babar. He was so, so, so sad that Babar's mother was killed by a hunter.
High: we put Babar away and Leo opted for the safety and comfort of Green Eggs and Ham instead
High: Clara went to bed without showing much anxiety at all about her first day of grade three. She's been worrying for a few days but tonight she seemed pretty settled.

Now everyone is tucked into bed and I have a lunch to make (a high & a low).

What a great Summer we've had.

La Fete des Enfants on Ile Jean Drapeau was a big hit for us this year. We went one other time, several years back and were frightened off by the gigantic lineups everywhere! This year I brought the kids on Friday, it was still pretty packed but we managed to have fun despite the throngs. Leo's absolute favorite thing to do was play Katag. It is basically a game of team tag in which you touch the opposing team members with a duct tape sword! Leo "battled" for well over an hour, he absolutely loved it. Right next to the katag field was a demonstration by a cheer-leading team. Clara watched and was then encouraged to come and try a few of the moves they'd presented. She said it was pretty scary to be held so high in the air but she ran back to me with that proud flush in her cheeks that told me it wasn't too scary.

Katag

CHARGE!

Clara on the zip line (Leo went by so fast i didn't get a picture)

Testing out a few cheer-leading moves.

La Minerve weekend means the anniversary of Leo's seizure a year ago. This year we spent a beautiful weekend with friends enjoying the sun, sand, and water. Much better than spending a fear filled day in the ER!

One of the several frogs Clara caught.

Happy frog catcher

I think Vanessa got caught in the middle of a water fight between Leo, Olaf, and Marc.

First time playing Settlers of Catan

Day two of Laurel's day camp has started off well. The girls are playing with sticker mosaics and the boys have played Mousetrap and are now repeatedly trapping various small household objects. Not a bad start to a rainy day!

The Lost Fingers played a concert at the Jazz Festival tonight. How could I not take my girl to a show I knew she'd love on her birthday?

See that smile?

Mother-daughter self portrait during the show (I was holding her on my hip!!!)

Nice night to be 8!

We were only about 10 people back from the front of the stage - it was a great show!

Happy Birthday my Clara B!

Clara celebrated her 8th birthday yesterday with 15 of her closest friends! She planned a party with games that required lots of kids; Bulldog couleur and Kick Ball. We spent about an hour playing in the school yard and then it was back home for cupcakes in the backyard.

Clara "pitching" the ball during the game of Kick Ball

Ravenous kids waiting for strawberry cupcakes

The after-party at St Hubert BBQ

Today is her real birthday. I'm not sure how we can possibly top yesterday's events. If Clara and Leo are not too tired I'd like to take them to the Lost Fingers concert at the Jazz festival tonight - I think that would be an appropriate celebration of growing another year older and another year taller!