a little bit of here and there (part 3)

evidence of growing up

We've had an exciting past few days this week … celebrating Walter's end of Preschool and Henry's end of Kindergarten. And I loved taking their end-of-year photos to see just how much they really have grown. Just look at those sweet faced little First Day boys! … and now? … older, smarter, taller, and more angular but thankfully with slightly bigger feet now so as to fit those same shoes better, ha! Next year we will have two in full day school and one lonely boy still at home. More changes, more growing up, more First Day photos, more of everything which makes me feel overwhelmed in this thing we call parenthood. But tonight it feels good to just breathe and know I have a break from making lunches and rushing breakfasts and driving back and forth to school three times a day. Tonight I'm so thankful for the fantastic, loving teachers both boys have had this year. And grateful for the group of sweet faced little friends we know and love now, friends we plan to grow up together with year after year. Something I never had in my childhood and so I'm determined to give my kids that continuity. It's been a wonderful beginning so far … and we're all excited for Kindergarten and Grade 1 in September!

happy father's day, sam (our three blue-eyed bear cubs love you so much!)

arrr, mateys

This weekend is Buccaneer Days here in Esquimalt - a yearly tribute to our connection to the navy and the sea and a fantastic community celebration. The whole town is encouraged to dress up in naval or pirate attire and it was great fun to see a good portion of kids and adults take this challenge seriously! Our boys did their part though we will certainly try to better our costumes next year. We had a great time watching the parade sitting just outside one of our favourite parks and then we headed over to the children's Pirate's Den afterwards for more games and face painting. We sought out friends we know in the community and spied familiar faces in the crowd from the library and businesses close to us … a good feeling as we really start to feel a part of something here. Two items to note: Felix spent most of the parade looking through the spyglass the wrong way much to the amusement of those we sat next to and also to those waving from the parade floats. And he had his first lollipop ever - hence that look of pure joy on his face!

the road to the world cup

It's been quite a month! I've been living with 4 boys with World Cup on the brain since mid-May (let's face it … 4 years for Sam!) and it has been fun! And today, at last, the wait is over … Brazil vs Croatia in game 1 of so, so many to come. I fully expect I won't have access to the TV for the next month! Thankfully I like soccer and I love the worldwide obsession with this "everyman's game". I love the commercials. I love the crazy, passionate, patriotic fans. And I love the glimmer of hope each time, thinking ahead to who will win, who will dominate, who will surprise. Sam has been teaching the boys well, about the game, the players, the countries, and the excitement for World Cup. Every day for the past month they have each opened up a pack a day of collectible stickers for their 2014 books, filling it up player by player and trading between themselves whenever "Double!" is yelled out. It has been amazing to watch Henry and Walter completely know exactly who they have so far … and shocking to even watch Felix flip to exactly the right page as he looks at the jersey colours and just knows. How does that happen? While we watched the game today we had a funny, simple hot dog supper but fabulous cupcakes for dessert … yum … if there's one thing I know, it's how to make any event cupcake-worthy! In this house of 4 football crazy boys, I'm loving my role of soccer jammies finder, cupcake maker and picture taker. All the while cheering for the Netherlands, you'd better believe it!