Monday, May 30, 2011

Preschool Graduate

Kieran's preschool graduation was last week. Hard to believe another Winchester is all done preschool. He is so looking forward to kindergarten and Bridget simply cannot wait to start preschool in the fall!

Kieran had been counting down the days to his concert. I'm sure he was excited for the concert part but a big part of the day was the ice cream party afterward. Give a kid a bowl of ice cream and about 10 toppings to pile on himself and he's a pretty happy boy :) He did well with the concert too...singing and doing the actions. Much better than Riley, who, I think took his shoe off and began inspecting it along with the girl beside him. Maybe that was when he was in the 3 year old class... Either way, Riley was never really into performing but Kieran loves it.

The songs and poems all went really well, the kids did an awesome job! The last 'surprise' song was slippery fish. If you care to know the song you can click here. At the end of the song a whale burps, which was part of the surprise for parents. The kids, of course, all think it's hilarious and are laughing hysterically when the whale uses his manners and says, "pardon me". Funny how they don't catch that part. Anywhoo...when the teacher says to listen for the surprise at the end, Kieran's best friend starts yelling, "he burps! he burps! he burps!!!!!" LOL! It was too funny. I think I caught it on my ipod, but the battery is dead and I can't check for sure :) Kieran then, in the middle of the song, starts explaining that his mommy knows what happens because I've done duty when they've sung the song. It was all quite funny. But we made it through, he officially graduated, diploma and all and proceeded to stuff himself with ice cream.

No idea why he insisted on crossing his arms all day, but at least I got him to lose the serious look :) Btw, that orange shirt was a fave all year...he wore it the first day, picture day and now for his last day.

The best teachers EVER!!

Diploma time! This was the best picture I could get before he ran away, lol. Guess he was afraid they'd change their mind and he'd be held back :)

Performing takes a lot out of you...time to recharge :)

It's also exhausting pretending you are in preschool...Bridget needed a recharge as well!

Best friends!

After preschool Grammie and Grampie took Bridget to their place so Kieran could have Mommy and Daddy time. We took him to Indigo to spend a gift card he had. He bought some armour for his zhu zhu pet (yes, boy zhu zhus have armour and weapons and traps...how nice :)). He also bought a couple of books...Cars and Superman, Kieran favourites! Then we went to East Side Marios for lunch. Surprisingly enough, Kieran wasn't that hungry, but Mommy and Daddy were starving! Kieran's lunch came with 3 little ice cream cones too, haha. He shared with Kevin and me though so it wasn't too much more for him. This after eating only french fries for lunch. Not a stellar eating day for Kieran, but you only graduate from preschool once. Hopefully. At least you do when you run away with your diploma.

The day was rounded out with picking Riley and Kieran up and heading to a playground. Of course, about 5 minutes after we get there, Bridget has to go to the bathroom. No porta potties in sight so we head home because I feared a #2 situation and the woods wasn't an option. This is after making her go right before we left. Sigh. Then we finally do all that, get back to the playground and play for 5 minutes before boys are ready to head home. I think they were hot (this was on one of the precious few sunny days we've had this spring) and tired and Riley just wanted to read his new book (Percy Jackson...I'm reading it to him and we are LOVING it!). Grammie and Grampie fed us supper, so no cooking for me that day, woohoo! It was a really fun day! So nice to play hookie from chores and have the day with family. It's always fun too when we get to spend one on one time with the kids. Kieran loved his special day.

Ok, I'm very sleepy so I can't write anymore. I feel like this post is pretty boring to people who aren't me anyway. I will be back with more from this past weekend. It was our first family run all together :) I'll also have the first (and, hopefully, last) installment of the secret lives of cats, specifically the Winchester cats.

I know, I know, you can't wait! But you have to!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Kieran's Birthday...a couple of weeks late

My poor neglected blog. At the end of the day sometimes it's just not what I want to do. I'm spent. Wasted. I sit in front of the tv in a coma. Ok, sometimes I muster some energy to read or craft. But in general, my mind is not in a place of writing. At least not anything that anyone would want to read. But here I am. I may be in that place even now. If so, feel free to move on to another place. I recommend Pinterest...that's where I've been spending much of my time, haha.

Kieran's birthday this year was bug themed. Ok, ok, the kid wanted a penguin themed party, but I convinced him to do bugs. Where on earth was I going to find penguins in May?! The kid sure loves penguins though. In exchange for doing a bug party now I had to promise him that we could have a winter penguin party where they could each invite a couple of friends just for fun....with a penguin cake, sliding, hot chocolate, the whole shebang! He seemed ok with that and I'm sure he won't let me forget. SO, bugs it was!

The morning of Kieran's birthday was a preschool day. But not just any old preschool day, his 'special day' where he gets to pick and bring the snack and have everyone sing Happy Birthday. But, but, not just any special day...it was field trip day! This was the morning of his birthday....

I am FIVE!!! And I'm going to....

the FIRE STATION!!!

Dude, this stuff is heavy!

Beep! Beep! Bridget liked it too :)

The kids had a blast and the firefighter who led the group was amazing! So friendly and funny. He welcomed all the kids to come back and visit anytime. He may regret that by the end of the summer...

Supper was a family party with hot dogs, what else?? That kid would live on hot dogs and pancakes... And bug cupcakes for dessert.

Mmm....Bugs!

Tastes like chicken.

The following weekend was Kieran's friend party...this involved on kid crying half the time and one asking to go home many times, one that was sick and couldn't come and 2 that actually had fun (well, 3 if you count Kieran). I guess as long as he had fun it was ok. I think some kids were having an 'off' day. Who can blame them with all the rain we'd been having. Ah well, when they complained I just gave them some more treats and sent them on their way...sorry moms :)I was hoping to do the party outside and get to look for actual bugs but that was a no-go. So, we had a hunt for plastic bugs which they got to keep (I guess the moms probably preferred this to real bugs and dirt going home :)). We also played pin the spider on the web and Kevin made *ahem* *cough, cough* balloon animals. Ok, so it was our first ever attempt and he's braver than I am. I'm scared to twist balloons. So...feast your eyes upon...

Guesses, anyone? This is a bee. This is by far the best animal made that day I think. And, I still have 2 more pictures to go, haha. Seriously, I'm actually laughing as I type. Next...

Guesses on this one??? LOL! This is a, um...ladybug. I know, I know. Kevin had a little more practice and had it actually looking more like a ladybug by the end of the party. We didn't get any pics though because our dollar store balloons started breaking. Shocking.

And, last but not, well ok, I guess it IS least

The WORM! :) I think this was actually a bee that was formed and reformed and finally B decided she just wanted a worm. Smart girl :)

There were some other wild creations but alas, I didn't get any pictures. There go my hopes to start renting Kevin out as a clown!

I think the bees actually look better on the wall :)

The cake was a dirt cake. By far the easiest cake ever in life. I mean, it is SUPPOSED to look like DIRT. Easy peasy! So, some cake, some pudding some whip cream, cream cheese and cookie crumbs, mix them up, throw them on a platter with some bugs and a shovel and we are good to go! Love it! Kevin also said it was the best tasting cake I've ever made. I wasn't sure whether I should be happy or insulted. But, it WAS chocolate and Kevin loves chocolate so I guess that was why. I wouldn't let him take the leftovers to work though because I thought the dirt cake looked even worse all smooshed into a tupperware container. I mean, his co-workers don't know I could actually make a decent cake if I tried! I can! Maybe I should have sent him with the left overs and pictures of previous cakes to make me feel better :)

The party favours were cute but again, I don't think I got any pictures. Apparently I was slacking off that day. We got little bug catcher containers from the dollar store and little magnifying glasses. They were fun. Add some bug candies, a squirt gun, some stickers and it was a nice little treat box :)

So, another birthday down! Phew! Now I have until October :) Riley already wants to have his birthday party at the museum so we may do that. Seems totally up his alley.

In other news, yesterday, the sun came out!!! Woohooo!!! Man, it has been raining and cloudy and gross for weeks! But, the blackflies were so bad you could hardly stand outside. We can't win! Today was a bit better. Half a day of sun and fewer flies. Maybe a nice summer will come.

When we couldn't enjoy the weather outside I threw the kids outside with boots and umbrellas to play. I ran out, took some quick pics and then watched from my nice warm, dry house :) They had a blast though and then some warm baths!

Now, people were saying what a great mom I was for doing this. Umm, seriously people, I threw my kids out in the cold rain and shut the door! LOL! Yup, Mom of the Year here. Where's do I pick up my award?

And, the forecast for tomorrow...rain! Phew, good thing, I was starting to get heat stroke with all that sun. I think see the Cullens moving in across the street!