Week In The Life -- Saturday

So as I mentioned on Friday, for the next seven days I will be blogging everything I do for a week. It's fun for me to go back and read these posts and find out what my life was like with younger kids. I've been doing this since 2011 and I usually do it in November sometime. I'm a bit late this year :)

7:48 -- Rachel and Sam crawl into bed with us. This isn't as fun as it sounds because we only have a double bed. We all doze/jump around until 8:15 or so, when Dave takes the kids downstairs. I fully wake up around 8:30. I do dishes, take a shower, drink some smoothie, and generally get ready to go. Since I'm fighting a cold I also ask Dave to make a pot of tea so I can drink that instead of my normal weekend coffee-hot chocolate mix.

9:51 -- We head out the door to Tot Shabbat. This is the Jewish version of Sunday School. We get there about fifteen minutes late since Sam and Rachel don't understand how the concept of time works and we get sick of rushing them out the door :) Today the kids learned about mitzvot (commandments or good deeds) and they made sugar cookies for the fellowship time after the service.

11:35 -- We leave Tot Shabbat and head to the mall. We were attempting to get flu shots but kids under age six can't get them at pharmacies; we need to make a doctor's appointment. Boo. We eat lunch at the food court, do some miscellaneous errands like buying stamps and soap and winter boots for Rachel, and play on the iPads at The Apple Store. We also checked out the beautifully decorated Christmas Trees which are being raffled off as a fundraiser. Sam especially liked the Lego one!

A Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Team tree and a Frozen tree.
 
 

3:04 -- We get home and Dave heads out to deliver the flyers which I didn't get done yesterday. I put away our purchases and the kids eat popcorn and watch a Fireman Sam video. I do some blogging, some photo sorting, and help Dave make supper. I also take a brief nap.

4:57 -- We eat supper and head out to the opening night of Wonders Of Winter, our city's annual light display in the park. We each get to carry a candle, we sing songs, and we watch an amazing fireworks display. Sam and I get to meet our new mayor and our ward councillor. After being reassured that he is indeed alive, but won't bite, Rachel also meets our new mayor. (We think maybe she thought the mayor was a "bear" which I guess sounds similar to "mayor.") Ironically, we didn't see many of the light displays, nor did we get to ride the horse drawn cart through the park, but we will go back again sometime in December. We had a really great time and decided to make opening night an annual tradition.

I'm so excited about how these fireworks pictures turned out. I love them!

Most of the light displays are of secular Christmas scenes or kids' characters, but I wanted to get a picture of this one.

6:55 -- We stop to buy socks, hats and mittens for our church's Advent Tree. Every Sunday we will bring these up during our offering time to decorate our tree. They get donated to a local subsidized housing community near our church.

8:05 -- I put Rachel to bed. She'd rather it was Dave's turn and has a major meltdown, so it does not go well at first. Eventually she falls asleep in my arms as I rock her.

8:43 -- I finish writing this blog post.

9:42 -- I throw a load of laundry in the dryer and head off to read in bed. Normally I would stay up later on a Saturday night but I'm not feeling well and tomorrow is another full day.

Clay And Glass Please Don't Break Anything Gallery

Our city has an Activities Guide that tells us about various happenings in our area. I am such a nerd that I look through it to find interesting things for our family to do. Then I write them down and make a schedule of how we will fit them all in. This makes "fun" sound like a lot of work, and a little regimented, but it really isn't :)

 

One of the things I found for us to do was "Play With Clay" at The Clay and Glass Gallery. After visiting the gallery, Dave decided it should really be re-named "The Clay And Please Don't Break Anything Gallery" especially when visiting with young children. The description for "Play With Clay" said that it was "for all ages" and I did check if Rachel was too young. The people in charge assured me she wasn't.

We were given a little instruction but not a lot of direction. Sam and Rachel decided they wanted to make "smoothie cups." A few months ago Janice and I had been browsing in a store and we'd seen these little vases all attached to the same base. We both fell in love with them. I saw some similar pieces at the gallery and was inspired to try to make some of my own. Dave worked with Rachel on her piece.

Sam did okay rolling out pieces for his cup, but soon lost interest. Rachel had fun just poking at the clay and doing her own thing. She especially loved using the toothbrush to brush water onto the clay! I was impressed that Dave basically created a smoothie cup (or possibly a vase) for Rachel and a little snowman, all with Rachel sitting on his lap. Also the people who assured us that this was a good thing to do with a 3 year old lied, although I guess Rachel did technically "play with clay."

Sam gave me a lot of direction and so, while I did most of the actual work on this cup, the design is all his idea.

And I created this:

 

It is not the most elegant, or delicate piece of artwork ever, but I am very much looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's fired and glazed. Some of the instruction was how to add texture to our work so I used some of the materials available to add a little interest to my piece. This was my inspiration. I came close, right?!? Maybe the glazing will help...

We're hoping to go back on Sunday to paint them. I think Sam and Rachel will get more out of glazing their pieces then they did out of creating them. Realistically though, I think this would be a great activity for our family two years from now, when the kids are a little older.

Note to my readers: Tomorrow I am beginning what many of you may find the most boring week ever on my blog :) Yes, it's time for "Day In The Life" for a week. I love looking back on my annual documenting of a week and seeing how much my life changes from year to year. And how much doesn't change too! After that I will be giving you a word break and only posting a photo a day for a week. I'll be back to "regular blogging" in two weeks.

Homework, Now Fun For The Whole Family!

Sam's teachers sent home the above sheet at the beginning of this month. One quiet Saturday, we decided to start crossing some things off. First on the list was "sorting your Hallowe'en candy." Rachel wanted to get in on the action too!

Rachel was sorting hers by colour and Sam sorted his by type.

Sam then sorted his by "hard packages" and "soft packages"...

...and lastly, by colour.

Then, he needed to collect something from nature and create an art project. He also needed to write his name with five different writing tools. We'd already collected these leaves for LOGOS and had extras so I explained the phrase "Killing two birds with one stone" to Sam and we created an art project by "writing" his name in leaves! Then he wrote his name in dot markers, pen, pencil, and pencil crayon!

Lastly he had to write down the names of the people in his family. Writing is not Sam's strength so I really had to encourage him to do this one. He also did some less camera friendly things like reading a book to Dave and finding rhyming words, although I supposed I could have videoed that one!

One thing I've discovered about Sam is that he is just like his mommy. He LOVES finishing something off this sheet and then crossing it off. He likes the sense of accomplishment as much as I do! Neither of us can wait until the next time Sam's teachers send home a homework sheet. After all, it's been fun for the whole family!

Project 364: Days 320 Through 325

Last week I was sick or incredibly, and somewhat unexpectedly, busy, and it seems like my Project 364 suffered. I apologize in advance for what are likely some of the most boring pictures I've taken this whole year. Although Rachel is featured a little more prominently this week.

November 17, 2014 -- I was really sick this day so spent almost the entire day on the couch, wrapped up in blankets, reading, and making liberal use of Kleenex.

November 18, 2014 -- Technically, I suppose, this picture was taken on Wednesday morning as I was heading out the door to watch my friends' kids while they had a baby, but I am counting it as Tuesday's picture because 1) I didn't take any other pictures on Tuesday, and 2) It was my Tuesday night's sleep which was interrupted.

November 19, 2014 -- Sam and his friend were all set up for their sleepover. (His friend is blognonymous or I would have included a picture of the two of them.)

November 20, 2014 -- This day Miss Fashionista Rachel and I spent some time dealing with all the white stuff which had suddenly appeared. For those who care, it was 12C (53F) on Monday and there is no evidence (besides this picture) that this stuff ever existed.

November 21, 2014 -- It was Family Celebration Night at Rachel's preschool. Rachel wanted to wear her holiday dress and enjoyed "ice fishing."

November 22, 2014 -- On Saturday we went straight from a Bat Mitzvah (Jewish coming of age service) in Hamilton to the kids' party for Dave's work. Rachel was thrilled with her present of a Cabbage Patch Kid!

"It's Like An Overload Of Cuteness!"

A couple of weeks ago Rachel had her dance class observation. Normally, I get to watch as much of the class as I want through the window, but this week we were invited into the class to watch. 

Rachel was super-excited that Dave came to watch too.

At the end of the lesson Dave commented that every thing the class did just got cuter and cuter. "It's like an overload of cuteness!" he commented. I think there is no such thing as "an overload of cuteness" but we have agreed to disagree on that one :) I love how you can see Rachel's pointed toes in the picture on the right.

Rachel isn't supposed to be holding her skirt above her waist, but I like how it allows us to see her perfect plie! Also, all the girls' played with their skirts throughout the class. At one point Rachel's was right up at her armpits :)

The girls were showing us how they could travel and their teacher encouraged them to "smile at your moms and dads!" This is Rachel's attempt to move and smile at the same time. She is just as coordinated as her mommy!

Rachel wasn't so sure about bowing at the end. Ha ha ha!!!

And now, to convince you that it's worth the trip to Canada to see this ballerina in action, here is a short clip. (To those of you who are Facebook friends, I'm sorry for the repeat.)