Live it!

School is OUT

...and just like that summer is upon us and school is out for another year. Both the kids had great years at school and brought home wonderful report cards for all their hard work. Next year they move on to Grade 3 and Grade 6 which seems crazy to me.

Keaton was excited for the last day to get here because he is looking forward to sleeping in, days around the pool, our trip to the Muskoka's and lots of golfing.

Chloe was excited for another reason: the 'talent show' that her class would be participating in. She came home from school the day before in a frenzy... looking for just the right outfit to wear for her dance. She decided to do an unrehearsed ballet solo and found just the right clothes in her dress up trunk to play the part. She insisted on wearing the outfit to school and caught the bus dressed like a royal Diva. She makes me chuckle... all confident and carefree and doing whatever her heart tells her to do. I made it to her dance and she got a bit shy once she had to get up and dance ... I videotaped it and I'm sure she'll look back on it and have a good laugh some day. My girl has gusto!

 

 

Meg woke up... saw Chloe getting dressed up and found what she felt was an appropriate matching costume to see them off to school in. She waved goodbye as they got on the bus and I promised her that come the next day, our house would be a lot funner, louder and crazier.

It is now 930am on the first full day of summer vacation and my promise is proving true already - at least the louder part.

Dance, Dance

Chloe had her dance recital on Sunday which just happened to be the evening of Father's Day. She told Shaune it was his special gift she was giving him for  his day. We sat through 16 other acts in anticipation of her appearance on the stage and she didn't disappoint. She did great and looked adorable dancing her hip-hop routine to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This". We got a good chuckle as she pranced around on stage and she didn't seem shy to perform at all. Camera's weren't allowed in the theatre so we grabbed a few before and after the show. Her friend Paige was part of her dance class and I had to get a shot of the 2 of them after the show sporting their matching bouquets of flowers... apparently Shaune and Scott both shop at the same flower store. The girls thought it was funny that they had matching flowers.

 

Annual TDH Picnic

This year the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful day to enjoy the TDH (our Vietnam adoption agency) annual picnic. It is held at the Sandbanks Provincial Park, which is great since it is in our neck of the woods. We are usually travelling to Toronto for adoption group gatherings so we love that this one is so close to home.

There was a great turn out and we got there a little late because Keaton had a golf clinic in the morning before we could leave. It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces and seeing how much the children have all grown over the year. We were especially thrilled to see Renny and George again with little Lia - they were travel mates of ours while we were in Vietnam and we love them dearly. Lia is doing wonderful and I can't believe she'll be turning 3 in a couple weeks time! I remember celebrating her first birthday around the pool at the hotel in Vietnam! Time flies.

Meg had a blast and she really loves the beach and all that sand. She was in the water a few times but spent most of her time digging holes in the sand and running water in buckets back and forth to the different sand castles she was working on. Keaton and Chloe love being around all the kids and had a blast too.

Thank you to Dorinda and her family for organizing another fantastic get-together.

 

Chloe = 8

How did that happen so quickly? I remember the day she came into our world... an uneventful c-section ended with a screaming surprise - we had a daughter, even though I was sure for most of my pregnancy that she would be a brother for Keaton. What a wonderful pink bundle of beautiful she was! Her dad rushed out and bought her her very first girl clothing since everything we had was blue, green or yellow. She needed something pink and right away!

 

Fast forward 8 whole years and I wonder where the time has went? Chloe is such a joy! A tad bit dramatic at times - but I don't know many girls that aren't. She is so fun to be with and her zest for life is contagious... as is her sweet (and very loud) giggle. She loves learning new things, she is as smart as a whip. She is still young enough to love Barbie's and stuffed animals but is now old enough to enjoy a little clothes shopping with Mom! She likes to play with her friends, watch movies (she is a big fan of Anne of Green Gables movies right now), horseback ride and swim.

We celebrated her birthday with what has become a tradition: sushi lunch at her favourite restaurant. I picked up Keaton and Chloe at school at lunch and we headed to Aji Sai - where Chloe managed to gulp down about 16 pieces of her favourite kind of sushi rolls: tempura shrimp roll and dynamite roll. Meg, Keaton, Nana Emerson, Daddy and myself joined her for her feast. Afterwards I took her to Bridle Path tack shop where she picked out a riding helmet, western riding shirt (Uncle Cory bought her the shirt) and a brand new pair of sweet cowgirl boots for riding. She was beyond thrilled.

 

We spent the afternoon swimming and then she had to get ready for her horseback riding lesson... the perfect way to end her birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

District Track and Field Meet

Keaton has really grown to love running track at school. He is a fast runner and loves the sprints the best. He qualified to compete yesterday at the District level in 3 different events. Our district is made up of some 47 schools and each school group allows only 2 competetors (1st and 2nd place standings at their ASG meets) in each event to continue on to District. Yesterday, Keaton ran in the 100m, 200m and 400m. All are fast races and he ran FAST! He did terrific and I got tired just watching him run race after race (5 in total including finals). He brought home a ribbon in all 3 of his events. He placed 4th in the 200m, 6th in 400m and 7th in the 100m.

I was there for the day cheering him on and was so proud of how hard he tried. It is a big accomplishment to make it to District and then another to place in the top 8 of any event. He still wishes he'd gotten 1st place in all his races but I reminded him that he did his best and that District represented the best of the best so he had some really tough competition. He made me chuckle when after his final race he said to me: "Man, I think some of these kids have got to be on sterriods!" 

 

Party like it's your birthday!

Chloe's 8th birthday is in a few days and she had her 3 besties over this past weekend for a little celebrating and swimming and feasting and fun. She is horse crazy and so of course that was her party theme. We surprised her with an adorable horse cake made by my friend and talented cake maker: Diana Martin. She loved the cake and it was so delicious - we are still eating it days later!

Her besties: Paige, Erin and Natalie have been her constant friends for so many years now at school. She could not wait for her party to start and to have her friends over. The weather cooperated this year - we didn't have to swim in the rain! They rotated back and forth from the hot tub to the pool and took some time outs to eat, open presents, paint some flower pots to take home. They finished the party off with a very wet water balloon fight!

Chloe thanked me for her party afterwards and told me it was the best time "ever". I can't believe she is almost 8 years old, I really CAN'T! I'm glad she loved her party because I sure love her.

 

 

 
 

Quick little get-away

We booked a little surprise get-away for our family and had a blast. We sent the kids off to school on Tuesday and then quickly packed our bags and the truck and then surprised them by pulling them out of class and hitting the road. They saw the suitcase in the back and by the time we hit the highway they had guessed where we were headed: Great Wolf Lodge and Niagara Falls.  They were so excited and even Meg got into the fun by yelling "yay, yay... we going!"

We had a Kid Kamp suite with a little bunk bed area (which the kids didn't end up sleeping in!) and quickly checked into our room and went down to enjoy the water park. It was a beautiful day on Tuesday so we spent a few hours on the water slides and then the kids spent the rest of the day outdoors at the outside pool. They made friends with other kids and tossed the ball around for hours in the pool. Meg liked the frog slide and she walked around the wading pool from baby to baby saying "hi baby". We ate supper at the buffet and then the three kids sat down for Story time (yes, even Keaton did... for Meg's sake I think) in the main lobby. We stayed up late playing games at the arcade and having a  blast. Chloe just had to have a new 'stuffie' and picked out a pink wolf she stuffed herself. She named her: "Lily Howl Wolf" and she loves her so much.

Did I mention I have a wicked case of poison ivy? It didn't take well to the chlorine and by Day 2 of our trip I was a scratching mess and I couldn't go in the water again. So, I grabbed my camera and took some photos of the kids having fun.

 

After we went down to Niagara Falls for a quick peak - Meg's first time to the Falls. It was another beautiful day to be a tourist in a tourist town. We had a great little 2 day get-away and I can't wait to do it again... next time, minus the poison ivy!

 

June's "Craft It Forward" from Scrapbooks etc

I realize it has been FOREVER since I shared any of my scrapbooking or crafting projects on my blog. Today's blog hop gave me the inspiration I needed to create something just for the fun of it.

Lisa Storms did the super creative patriotic "Craft it forward" cards featured in June's issue of Scrapbooks etc, as well as online.  I am always looking for quick and easy card designs. I like to have a stash of generic cards on hand for all the year's events, celebrations and 'just because' times too.  Lisa's cards were so easy to pull inspiration from. My card has the overall 'look' of Card #2 but I went with a different theme and colours.

To make the card I started off with Hero Arts folded notecards and added a graphic circle rub-on to the top (by Fancy Pants). Along the bottom I used my cuttlebug machine and an embossing folder to create the raised dot pattern on blue paper. The message is a sticker, the pink eyelet trim is by Doodlebug and the metal star is a brad embellishment that I removed the prongs from and stuck on using glue dots. This card (thanks to Lisa's inspiration) went together in about 3 minutes - seriously!

 
 

Did you know Scrapbooks etc. is giving away $500 for you and a $500 donation to your favorite charity every month?!    Go here for all the details.