Meanest Teacher

This morning was Mikah's first day of Kindergarten and Lukas' first day of pre-school.

Lukas was returning for his second year, so he happily marched into the classroom, put his stuff in his old locker (stubbornly ignoring the fact that his locker space had moved over the summer), refused to acknowledge either of his teachers (except with a slight smirk - that boy loves to make the women work for his attention), and commenced playing. Oh, then he looked at me and said, "you can pick me up later mom but I'm only a little bit excited to be here." Okey-dokey Lukas...  His teachers find him hilarious, me, not so much.

Mikah was actually very excited about Kindergarten, not that anyone would have been able to tell that by looking at his expressionless face. However, we marched into the room, found his name at one of the tables, put his supplies down, and sat right down and got to work showing his new teacher how he can write his name. He wondered when I was leaving, when I would be back, and if he would get to eat lunch at school this year. Soon; 2:40; and yes. He was busy working when I slipped out of the classroom. I'm hoping that by the end of today he'll be able to make eye-contact with his teacher (at least once), and verbally respond (at least some of the time) when they ask him a question. I know, I might be hoping for a miracle...

As I was leaving Mikah's classroom his teacher slipped me an envelope and said that she hoped I would have a nice day. I figured the envelope contained kindergarten information, but no, when I opened it in the van I found this letter tucked inside.

Wow. After successfully leaving the house, arriving at school, and exiting the classroom with dry eyes; Mikah's teacher made me cry all the way home. What a big-fat-meanie-head.

Family Vacation

In the spring the grandparents put forth a desire to take Alek and their granddaughter to Drumheller in the summer for a little vacation. The idea sounded great, and me being me, I invited the rest of us along too! We've always wanted to take the boys there, but honestly, couldn't face the trip when the little boys were younger. With Alek going on 12, our opportunity for full-family enjoyment was slipping away and we're glad that they graciously accepted our self-imposed invitation to tag along.

We got up nice and early and caravanned our way across Saskatchewan and part of Alberta to Drumheller. We stopped for a nice picnic lunch, stretched our legs, re-charged the air-conditioning in the van (ugh!), and kept on trucking. 

It was so much fun to watch Mikah and Lukas when we finally made our way down into Drumheller and they saw the dinosaur statues placed throughout the town. The noise in the van alternated between absolute silence and shouts of "there's another one! I see another dinosaur!" 

We checked into the hotel, some of us hit up the pool, some of us relaxed, and some of us (Lukas and I) couldn't sit still and had to go and check out the huge T-Rex in the centre of town. When we initially drove past the huge landmark I mentioned that people could climb it and Mikah said that there was no way he would be doing that! Lukas was determined to climb it and show Mikah that it wasn't so scary and that he would be able to do it too.

The best part came when Lukas realized that there were stairs! He was pretty sure that this would make Mikah feel better too. Maybe they thought they would have to climb up Fred Flintstone style; funny little boys. He wasn't too keen on hanging around once he made it to the mouth though. 

After supper we took the whole family back so that everyone could give it a go. 

Day 1 complete. Stay tuned for Day 2...

Tuesday Tunes

I'm not sure how I've missed Ian Britt until now...

Bumper Boats

Alek and his friends have been enjoying the heck out of the pool this summer, so I'm glad that we decided to put it up after all. Mikah has been slow to warm up to swimming, and Lukas has been almost impossible to get into the pool. I guess our next door neighbour noticed, and he brought over a present for the little boys today. He thought these motorized water-gun boats might entice them to get in the pool.

And boy did they! Check out these happy little faces. I think they spent about an hour cruising the water. And wow, do my boys have good aim. I was starting to tell Mikah not to squirt me because I was going to be taking some pictures, and the little fart squirted me right in the mouth! Yuck! Salt water does not taste the greatest.

New Family Members

We recently had two new additions to our family. Naming them took awhile, and eventually I just gave in to the silly names that the kids wanted them to have. Their names kind of remind me of this craziness from Friends...

So, here are...

            Nibbler Cute Yum-Yums                    and            Zoidberg Yum-Yums Cute

Obviously we haven't been as vigilant about television monitoring as we should have been. Can you tell what parts of their names Lukas had a say in???

They are really sweet (for the most part), and we're really happy to cuddle them and watch them cavort crazily through out the the house (usually).

Pre-School Grad 2012

Mikah and Lukas had their last day of pre-school on June 26th. The teachers they had this year were awesome! I'm amazed at all of the outings they planned and all of the learning that went on in the classroom. Both of my boys are able to print their first and last name, and copy most other letters. Lukas also learned how to write Lloyd (wonder why LOL), and Lev. The boys sang quite a few songs to us, and really like to do interpretive dances to the songs that they practiced at school. Unfortunately, neither of my boys would have received a participation award because they sure don't like to show that they are enjoying school at all when they are there. Ugh. I literally had to show their teachers pictures of them smiling and videos of them singing the songs at home just so that they would know that the boys could do those things. We had many laughs over the year about the ridiculousness of Mikah and Lukas :)

The boys did tend to loosen up over the year though (somewhat, and sometimes unfortunately); and we're really looking forward to seeing how much they grow next year when they are finally separated for part of every day. Who knows, a participation award might even be in their futures!

Here are some pictures of their first and last days of Pre-School...

At the knee of the Master

I was going through some pictures today and I found these ones that I forgot to post. I think these were taken last year on one of the many visits to Grandma and Grandpa O's.

The boys had quite a little band going with their grandpa. The love that the boys have for their grandpa sure is evident in their eyes. It was a magical experience :)

This was taken just minutes after pulling out of their driveway. I love that they still had the flowers that their grandma gave them gripped tight in their little hands. On a side-note, I love the trips that start with two passed out little boys - it makes for a much more pleasant traveling experience.

Overheard From the back of the Van

"I've finally figured it out mom! Air tastes just like water, and I know it because I just had a lick!" ~Lukas

Summer Fun

Well, the kids are officially on the first day of summer holidays! 

Thanks to some inspiration on Pinterest, and our desire to try and accomplish things this summer - I made my own version of Things-to-do-With-Kids-in-the-Summer. I tried to make it somewhat realistic, since the Mr. and I are lucky enough to have to work pretty much all summer. Blech.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and now I just have to raid my stash of glass fronted frames, matte it, and hang it on the wall. This way we can cross activities off as we do them (just like a dry erase board).

Bison's "Switzerland"

While enjoying this awesome track from Bison (who has a free downloadable album on Noisetrade here by the way) I heard this quotable quote from my Mr...

"I've been a big fan of banjo music ever since I ever saw Kermit the Frog play one on the big screen." ~The Mr.

Overheard From the Back of the Van

Mikah:   Lukas, what if those eggs in our classroom don't turn into 
               chicks.
Lukas:   Yeah. Like, what if they are actually alligators or crocodiles...
Mikah:   That wouldn't be good.
Lukas:   Nope. Not good...
Mikah:   But... maybe really cool.
Lukas:   Yeah. But maybe one of them will be a dinosaur, or a baby 
               helicopter. That would be REALLY cool!


Sigh. So smart and yet...

Overheard From the Back of the Van

The Mr had this experience with Mikah and Lukas yesterday when he picked them up from the babysitter.

He told me that they had made it the usual block before the fighting started. I guess that Lukas took off one of his boots and started hitting Mikah with it. For some reason Mikah took offence to this and he started kicking Lukas. Lukas started crying. Mikah saw that Lukas was distracted, so he grabbed the boot Lukas was using.

By this point both boys were wailing, and the Mr said he figured the boys should have to work some of this stuff out for themselves and this was a good opportunity to let them try (plus we get damn tired of refereeing). It's a good thing that he kept quiet or else this conversation might not have taken place.

Lukas:    Give me my boot back!
Mikah:    You have to say your sorry and apologize.
Lukas (says in a monotone voice):    Fine. I'm. sorry.
Mikah:   That's not sorry enough.
Lukas (sighs, and says in an extremely exasperated tone)    I'm sorry and I love you?
Mikah:    More sorry.
Lukas:   I'm sorry, and I love you, and you're beautiful?


~there is silence for a moment~

Mikah:   ... did you mean awesome?
Lukas:    yeah... awesome.
Mikah:   Okay.


This seemed to be acceptable and Mikah gave Lukas back his boot. A minute later the hitting, kicking and crying recommenced. Don't feel sorry for the Mr though, he laughed the rest of the way home.

Happy Birthday Lukas

Lukas,


Today you, my last baby, turned four years old! Where, oh where did the time go? I think I'm feeling a bit melancholy about this birthday because I know what big changes happen between years 4 and 5. At three, you were still a toddler, true the outer edge of toddlerhood, but your poor mama could grasp onto that whenever I needed to feel that you weren't growing up so fast. But, I know that you are itching to keep up to your brothers and so I must let you go.


You have been so excited about this birthday and you have been counting down since January 2nd. For the last week you have been telling everyone you meet that, "it's soon going to be my birthday and I'm goin to be four!" You even picked out the cake that you wanted me to bake for you. I'm glad that it was the first thing on your mind this morning, and that my version of your vision measured up. You wanted cake for breakfast, cake for a school snack, and cake for supper. And upon reflection, it probably wouldn't have killed me to grant your wish this one time.


I'm glad that you had a great day and that your presents and little family party were such a big hit. I'm looking forward, with slight trepidation, to see what you will build with your tools in the following year. I'm also nervously excited for your dare-devil antics on your new 2 wheel bike. Hmm... I think I had better stock up on superhero bandaids next time I'm at Costco...


Love you little man.


Mama

Now We're in Trouble

Someone (we won't mention Grandma and Grandpa O here) just gave mister Lukas a tool kit for his fourth birthday. A real Stanley tool kit. So far, he has taken apart and put back together...

• the level that came in the kit
• the tape measure that came in the kit
• a old hard drive
• a toy robot
• and he fixed broken 'stuffs' in the fort outside

Oh, and he's measured stuff. Lots of stuff. He has been one happy little boy this afternoon!

Stay That Way

Toronto band Three Metre Day

Love Comes Tumbling Down

Found. Loved. Shared.

Sounds of a Saturday Night

Overheard From the Back of the Van

"I know what sexy means. It means beautiful. Like a giraffe."

~Lukas



Thoughts on Michael Jackson

We've been listening to an old Michael Jackson tape A LOT in the van lately. Alek found my old cassette tape of Bad in an old 'high school junk trunk' awhile ago and somehow it made it's way into the cassette player in the van. The boys insist on blasting Bad over and over again every time we have to go anywhere. So, if you happen to be walking, or even driving along, and you think you can hear Bad and  you start to worry that maybe you are having a stroke - because really, who plays that anymore - don't worry, it just means that the kids are I are close by.

Hmm, evil thought... next time they are being uber-obnoxious, maybe Michael should take a trip out the window! I wouldn't have to listen to the song again!!! Although with my luck I'd toss it out the window and hit a cop car. So, maybe not.

Anywho... Mikah has been asking a lot of questions about "this Michael Jackson guy" lately, and being the awesomely cool mom that I am, I offered to play them a video on YouTube. We just watched the Bad video and these were Mikah's observations...

• Um, who is this girl?
• Michael Jackson is a girl?
• Oh, she's a boy.
• Why is the song called Bad? I thought it was because she was dangerous. But she sure doesn't look dangerous - she's wearing a sparkly suit!
• Why are they dancing like that? Those guys behind her are acrobats right?
• Whens the bad guy going to come?
• Let's shut it off and watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl.

I'm thinking (and hoping) that the spell has been broken for Mikah. Hopefully I've converted one of them to my side...

And, just because I like to share the joy (I'm sweet like that)....

Overheard From the Back of the Van

"I farted, and that means you're it!" ~ Lukas



Overheard From the Back of the Van

"Police and cops are like sisters."  ~Lukas



Overheard From the Back of the Van

We had mucho driving to do tonight thanks to the DH's car being temporarily out of commission. And if you know kids, or have spent any amount of time trapped in a vehicle with them right before mealtime - you can imagine what an awesome experience it was. The kids were bickering about anything and everything, and Senior Instigator (please pronounce in a Spanish accent) was busy telling Lukas how adorable he was. As you can imagine, this did not go over well. Apparently Lukas has decided that he is no longer cute, adorable or funny, and being called any of those atrocious names makes him unleash an obscene amount of wailing. After slamming on the brakes and threatening to throw them all out in a snowbank to cool off (and it would have since it's -49C or -56F for my American friends), wonderful silence finally filled the van.

After about 2 minutes of calm Lukas pipes up in the most irritated and aggravated tone of voice I've ever heard and says...

"Seriously, I am NOT adorabubble!"

Hell hath no fury compared to Lukas after we laughed at how truly "adordabubble" we think he is!