Back to dance...

After a year off, the girls went back to dance classes this week. As you can see, they were very happy to go back! Susannah was thrilled to be told that she was so good that the teacher wanted to move her up a class, but she has made the difficult decision to stay in the class she is in. She made this choice because her friend is in the same class, and her friend is in the class after opting to be in dance to be with Susannah! So as much as Susannah was excited to and proud to be asked to move up a class, she feels she can't now leave her friend on her own in the lower class.

Not an easy choice when you're 10!!!! But like we remind her, she's in the dance class for fun and to be with her friend! Thats the main thing!!!! So hopefully she will see that and gain from that each week! We also suggested she speak with her teacher about the possibility of them BOTH moving up in a few weeks!

The girls are both doing tap until Christmas and then will do Jazz!

Brother and Sister...

Just before Abigail left for her dance class on Tuesday, Christopher asked if he could have a picture taken with her! I thought they came out nicely :) I faded the colour in these but kept some in the original format too.....

Sams first day at Pre-K!!!

Sam started Pre-K on Tuesday. He goes twice a week for full afternoons. Tuesdays are focused mainly on play and crafts. They also get half an hour of fun in the indoor playground. Then on Thursdays the focus is on ABC's and 123's - preparing for Kindergarten next year! I have to say that I am VERY impressed with this class already - the teachers are GREAT and the things he has come home with already this first week have been wonderful! They even get homework!!! Now as you all know I have been LESS than impressed with Parks and Rec classes in the past and I KNOW how they work and how they hire!!! But I will be the first to say that they have really done well this time :) Im so pleased!

To be honest the main reason I put Sam in this class was to get 5 hours to myself each week! I figured he'd get to play with some children in a safe environment and I'd be able to go running and swimming by myself - get some Christmas shopping done and maybe go to the scrapbook store by myself - meet a friend or two for coffee etc etc

I wasn't planning on having Sam learn much there as the classes aren't often that great (unless my friend Samantha is teaching!!) so it's wonderful that there are great teachers who are REALLY teaching and Sam is LOVING it there!

Picking dinner from the garden....

Sam helped me pick a few things from the garden today - some more of the purple carrots (which just proves that there REALLY are purple carrots in there lol - yesterday I pulled one up t show Vals Son and it wasn't very purple at all lol)!!! and some tomatoes. We also watered the pumpkins which are still changing colour and the sqyash which are still out there......the last of the lettuce came out too. I think after this last lot of sunshine the tomatoes will be done..there are soooooo many out there and we could pick them all and let them go red in brown bags inside but I can't be bothered to be honest.......so we'll let this gorgeous weather ripen them and have all the red ones and then be done with it - we've done very well - we've had a LOT of tomatoes this year really :) I'm more than happy! They're delicious too! Almost daily we go out and bring a tub in for sandwiches and salads...

My Dino hunter!!!!

Sam LOVES these little things! You get to dig for fossils and surprises in sand or stones with little tools! The weather was GORGEOUS today again so we sat out on the porch and Sam dug in the stone for a dinosaur! My little paleontologist!! He was thrilled when he saw a little red spot in the grit and then he kept on digging until he rescued the dino from the stone :)

From Stacey!!!!

Answer in one word!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Your significant other? gorgeous
3. Your hair? short
4. Your mother? telephone
5. Your father? asleep
6. Your favorite thing? Lloyd
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? bellini
9. Your dream/goal? Japan
10. The room you're in? study
11. Your hobby? beekeeping
12. Your fear? loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Lloyd
14. Where were you last night? Lloyd
15. What you're not? unhappy
16. Muffins? nutty
17. One of your wish list items? paper
18. Where you grew up? England
19. The last thing you did? wrote
20. What are you wearing? boots
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? bees
23. Your computer? mac
24. Your life? lucky
25. Your mood? jumpy
26. Missing someone? yes
27. Your car? dirty
28. Something you're not wearing? jewelry
29. Favorite store? Reitmans
30. Your summer? stressful
31. Like someone? many
32.Your favorite color? turquoise
33. When is the last time you laughed? tonight
34. Last time you cried? unsure
35. Who will blog this? VAL!!!!

Me again.....

You can probably tell by all the recent pictures of me that I am loving having lost all this weight - another 3lbs gone and today I bought some more clothes for Fall and all in my new small size - it's so nice being in size 7 and 8 size pants and all my tops right now are mediums (not sure my boobs will ever fit in a small sadly no matter how much weight I lose)!

Anyway this is me playing about with iphoto a few minutes ago to see what I look like in my new top which I bought because its the same colour as my eyes - yes Sam and I have grey-blue eyes....and Sam has a new coat the same colour as this top too and it's the same colour as my cat Grayson so I can cuddle him and not worry about the cat hairs before I go anywhere ;) lol!

The reason the pictures look so dorky is because I was doing them myself and anyone with iphoto knows that you only get like three seconds from the time you click the button so I was clicking the mouse and then running across the room and then trying to get into position and remembering to look at the the green light and everything - NOT as easy as it seems in three seconds HONESTLY!!!!! :) lol!

Sam starts Pre-K this week which for me means hitting the indoor running track twice a week - the specific reason I put him in classes where I did!

Pottery

This week I started my pottery classes - I'm taking classes locally for beginners :)

Its a 10 week course and this week we learned how to create 'pinchpots' which is the oldest form of pot making - and one of the most difficult (we were told afterwards lol). We could decide what to make and some people are making piggybanks - others are making garlic pots, vases etc etc. I'm just making a pot for my writing desk and it will probably have a tilted neck and it has rosettes on it. Like little emblems attached to it.

The class went well and I know one of the girls in my class - she was actually Susannahs grade 1 teacher!!!

Next week we are making welcome signs. One week we will make sushi dishes, another week snowmen, another week plates...I can't remember what else. By the end of the course we will be proficient on the wheel. All pieces will be fired and glazed before we leave.

It was fun :)

Guinea pigs galore......

The Zoo now has this amazing Guinea pigs exhibit with like a million guinea pigs!!!!! They are all in there running about and hiding in things and under things and then the keepers come along and throw food in and all of a sudden the piggies start squealing and come running out and all huddle together to feed!!! It's adorable!!! There are fully grown piggies and teeny tiny babies!!! The Keeper held a tiny baby up for Sam to stroke! We couldn't believe quite how many piggies there were!!

The year of the frog.....

I thought these guys were the strangest frogs in the 'year of the frog' exhibit.....

Lucy takes a wander........

Lemurs...

Kind of cute I guess....although I'm still put off by the fact that they wipe their butts on the walls and then lick the walls clean afterwards.....yuck :( And they just look so sad :( kind of depressing creatures really!

Red Pandas...

These cuties are just adorable...they remind me of Edinburgh Zoo where I first saw them. I just wanted to bring them home with me :) Aren't they adorable?

Day at the Zoo......

The weather forecast today was GORGEOUS! There was no WAY we were going to waste it, so I planned to take Sam to the zoo - we were going to go last week when Lloyd was home, but it rained on the Friday and we ended up driving on passed the zoo and going to the glow golf instead! So we decided to go to the zoo today instead!

While I was sat in bed drinking my coffee this morning, the phone rang and it was Lloyd phoning from work! He said that he had finished the work he needed to do and so he was coming home and was coming to the zoo with us!!! Yay!!

So off we went to the zoo for the day :) The weather was soooo lovely with this really strong WARM breeze that was just so nice. By the time we were on our way home, the car was saying it was 27c outside!!!! Of course it's been so much cooler lately and we've had a few frosts already so the leaves have started to change and the colours everywhere are so pretty - the leaves were falling from the trees and it's very pretty everywhere! I wore my Fall boots and after an hour or so my feet were HOT :( I think I should have worn my sandals and my cropped pants instead!!!! ;)

Family chalk drawings......by Abigail and Sam!

Grandma Terry and Grandad Chris by Abigail:


Grandma Spicer and Grandpa Spicer by Abigail:


Daddy by Sam: