Back to work...

Now our trip to England is done, and we are over our jetlag, we are back to work again!! Abigail has finished her social book ad her 'community' studies...so we need to go and get another workbook for her when we are near that store....she is working through her workbooks pretty fast and doing well....the only thing we don't do regularly is reading together - we start books but don't often finish them....I really need to do better at that! And we need to finish her diorama as we haven't finished that since our trip!!! Maybe this weekend!

We are back into our routine of swimming etc when Sam is at school....and Sam is signed up for his Pre K again after Easter so we will continue with our swimming and running/ skating etc after Easter too as I enjoy this as our phys ed. activities together.

Today we signed Abigail up for a series of art classes after Easter - I'm so happy as we got ALL the classes we wanted for her :) Lloyd was at work early especially so he could get online to get the classes we wanted. I must write and thank Jennifer for letting me know about them! I must find out about the library group too and take Abigail along to that! And along to the picnics too....once they start in the better weather as she will enjoy seeing her friends....

I want to find a better math book for her though as I don't like the one we are using right now.....at all.....so I think we will look for another when we go to Education Station.

I'm loving the poetry reading comprehension book though and Abigail is really enjoying it too and asking to do several pages a day instead of just one....

Sams math has come on in leaps and bounds in the last couple of weeks too.

All in all it's nice to be back in the old routine - and with the nicer temperatures at last things are looking cheerier :)

Trip to England

Abigail recently came with me to England. During our stay we went to London for a day. We went on the London Eye, visited the Hamleys toy store (where we had lunch with Aunty Karen), rode on a double decker bus, saw Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament and rode on a train and the underground/ tube. We also had to go to the Canadian Embassy to get our return visas.

On the way from Heathrow to Abigails Grandparents house, we stopped at Stonehenge.

We visited the seaside - West Bay and enjoyed splashing in the waves despite it being February. We even managed to see snow in March - and crocuses and snowdrops!

Abigail saw all four Grandparents AND visited her Great Grandmother, Nanny Spicer! She had 2 sleepovers with her cousin Isaac who she hadn't seen since she was 7 months old, and she spent time with both her Aunts. She saw the house that her Grandma Spicer grew up in and she met my cousin Lynn and her Great Aunt Pat. She learned that Lynns little boy Evan is a whole head smaller than her even though he is a month older! She really liked this news!

The flight to England was a night flight and Abigail didn't enjoy it too much as it was difficult to get comfortable in the seats - and the television screens weren't working at all times....

the return flight was more fun as the staff were more friendly and the people on the flight were also much more friendly and chatty - more children on the flight and the people more child oriented! The tv's worked and the food was better and the flight was day time too! Both Abigail and Sam were very well behaved on the flights though - I was really proud of them.

Abigail was a little obsessed with double decker buses on the trip and took almost an entire disposable camera full of pictures of them! It will be interesting to see the pictures she took - I even bought a miniature bus in London just to remind myself of her on the trip :)

Home reno blog...

Our Home Renovation blog has been updated :

home-renos.blogspot.com/

Congratulations!!

Congrats to my Sister Karen who heard today that she got a new job that she wanted - out of about 90 applicants they got it down to 5 that they interviewed and then they chose Karen!! The job comes with a rent free, three bed apartment!! So Karen and Sean plan to rent out their home while they live in the apartment.....definitely a great thing during the recession in the UK!!! Karen drove me over to see where the new job is, so I would have an idea of where they would be living IF she got the job!!!

Congratulations and good luck with the new job! I don't know the exact title but it's like Manager of an Assisted Living Apartment Building....(ie looking after a retirement home) I'm not sure how you would describe it here so maybe Karen can reply in the comments

Woof......

Me and ????

This is me with one of my sisters dogs...but to be honest I don't know which one.....I know you can tell by looking at their tails - one has a pinkish bum lol....but I can't remember which one - and one of them WON'T lick her sweaty feet (the sensible one lol) but I don't remember which one....she has two Daisy-May and Milly.....and they annoy her cat Purdy (NOT named after our amazingly delicious chocolate by the way lol).......

more pics to follow..

most of the pics I'm posting were taken by my iphone so I apologise for the quality...it was REALLY convenient though while on holiday!!! :) especially in London!!

Abigail and Sam with all their Grandparents!!

When Lloyds Mom and Dad came to visit for the day, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of Abigail and Sam with All four Grandparents as I don't know when the next chance will be!!! So here they are with my Mom and Dad (Josie and Ken) on the right and Lloyds Mom and Dad (Terry and Chris) on the left.

And a picture of me with Lloyds Mom and Dad - and Abigail not looking too happy with something Sam is doing ;)

Sam today.....

This is Sams schoolwork for today.......an 'Emergency workers' picture he has worked on - my Mom bought it for him while we were in the UK and he worked on it while Abigail did her social work on ' the community'. He has now hung it on the wall in the girls bedroom :)

We missed Tim Hortons!!!!

First thing we did as soon as I got through passport control....immigration (nighmare as they both took forever because of the line ups as three planes landed at the same time and also because of my residency cards) and customs (thankfully I went straight through that as the line ups in there were LONG) and out to Lloyd and the children was hit Timmy's and I had to get a large double double.... :)

Hotel breakfast....

Breakfast in the hotel in Richmond was lovely...it was just a buffet but was delicious - wish we had more time to enjoy it but we were in a rush - I had a 'create your own granola and yogurt followed by the most INCREDIBLE crossiant.....Abigail had 4 fried eggs and then scrambled eggs, bacon too and toast and croissants....juice......it was yummy.....then we had to catch the tube in to central London. The parking lot (car park) for the car just for the day was 14 pounds ($30) !!!!!! the tube at rush hour was crazy busy - and horribly dirty.....and you forget what its like - I used to have to do that daily when I worked in Kingston :( YUCK :(

Hamleys with Aunty Karen.....

We went to London as we had to go to the Canadian Embassy to get travel documents to return to Canada (our residency cards had expired) and as we had some extra time to kill we went to Hamleys - the toy store - and had lunch there. Abby loved playing in the bubbles there too!

My Lloyd

Pictures of My Lloyd that I took to England on my iphone :)

My Sister Clare and her family.....

Clare with her boys Daniel, Oliver and Isaac......

A walk to Nash Priory....

Nash Priory is an old house along the lane from my parents home and the Sunday after I arrived, we took a walk down there with the children and with Lloyds Terry and Chris......I think Abby and Sam thought a Princess lived in the old house ;)

Sitting amid the Snowdrops....