screamingweasels.net

2010-02-17T11:06:00.001-05:00

Mike: I told Celeste to sleep in Bri's bed tonight because there's still some crap (books) on it.
Me: Oh, I'm just going to put that crap in Katie's room.
Katie (from her room): I don't want the crap!

Hahaha, sooo funny.

2010-02-05T11:05:00.004-05:00

Hmm. Apparently it's been a REALLY long time since I updated here. Facebook is where I put most of the pictures now, and I guess it's sort of like mini-life updates there too. My harddrive died and all the pics I had scanned in of 2009 were lost, so those will not appear on this site. I'll run down the kid list I guess.

Brianna is doing well in school as usual. She's still enjoying tap, tae kwon do and Brownies. She did belt testing in January and is now a yellow belt. She'd like to take piano lessons too, and we're trying to figure out if this is a possibility. I need to get our piano fixed first. For Christmas she got a telescope. We've been trying to use it, but for the most part, all we've found is the moon. We need spring so we can fiddle with it without freezing to death.

Celeste is doing very well in school. She enjoys it, and is reading far above grade level. She doesn't like reading the way Brianna does, but that's ok. She's really into art stuff right now. She makes incredible things out of PlayMais. She likes dance and sparks ok, tae kwon do is still her favourite activity. She cried through belt testing, but still managed to show off her moves and get a yellow belt.

Little Katie is going to be registered for JK next week. She's so tiny, it's hard to beleive she'll be going to school next Sept. She LOVES her dancing class. She's finally started to get rid of diapers, just last week. We're not out of them completely yet, but hopefully soon. She also really likes to colour and play with her "princess girls" - a collection of disney princess figures.

Wesley is a fat lazy moose. He started taking steps Dec 28. However, he STILL doesn't walk much. Prefers to crawl. Won't give over to sippy cups and doesn't speak english. He was 26lbs in January.

Halloween was good, we had a Starfy, fairy, cinderella and a lawn gnome. Christmas was also good, the kids were spoiled as usual. Now we're heading up to Bri's 9th birthday. Crazy.

2009-10-31T13:13:00.002-04:00

It's been forever and six weeks since I updated here.

We didn't end up doing another session of swim lessons. Neither did I, the kids' dance studio was offering Adult Ballet so I took that instead. Katie missed her last two lessons due to camp pick up and being sick so I don't know if she officially passed. She's at the age for solo lessons now anyways.

Camp went ok. Bri had a great time as usual, but CeeCee didn't warm up to soccer. She loved the swimming in the afternoon, but just hated the soccer portion. It really surprised us. They gave everyone a medal at the end, and that made her say she wanted to go back next year. We've been talking about art camp instead maybe.

The older two girls spent two weeks in Newfoundland at the end of August, right after camp. As usual they were kind of tight lipped about it, but I think they had fun.

Somewhere in the summer Celeste got her ears pierced which was a bit of a disaster. So.much.screaming. I was just about to give up when she finally let them do it.

Katie's birthday was right before the girls left. It was small, but she got tasty ice cream cake.

School started, Celeste was a little aprehensive about that for some reason. She still goes every other day, she's in SK now. She started reading near the end of last year, but isn't all the interested in it.

Wesley had his birthday, which was an even smaller party than Katie's. He also got ice cream cake because at the time he wasn't eating solid food all that well. He's doing better at eating now, but still chokes fairly often. Still isn't walking or talking, though he crawls like a proper baby now.

Sparks and Brownies is going. Bri loves Brownies, and CeeCee sometimes likes Sparks. I'm the Brownie leader, so I have to spend a fair bit of time organizing that.

The suprise activity ended up being Tae Kwon Do. A studio opened up in the same plaza as dance. I got my hands on a flyer for their class schedule and noticed the times were pretty convenient for us and thought Celeste might like it. She flipped a lid when I merely suggested it, she was scared she'd have to break boards with her hands. Turns out, they start with their feet, ha! I managed to convince her to go watch a class while Brianna took dance, and halfway through she decided to join in. She LOVED it. Brianna said she wasn't interested in it at all, but after Celeste came home and said it was totally awesome she changed her mind. Mike somehow got sucked in too, and now some combination of them goes nearly every day of the week. Their first opportunity for belt testing is next Thursday. I don't know that any of them will be ready, but maybe. Brianna broke a board with her foot today. Celeste was too apprehensive. She kicked at it a few times, but not with hardly any force. She kicks the foam targets much harder.

As for me, I still go to yoga once a week. I'd like to go twice, but it's just been too busy. I have a midterm on Monday, school seems to be going well, but my mark on that will prove it. Ballet is fun, but I'm not sure how long she'll keep offering the class, it's pretty small. It's just me and her best friend. :)

2009-08-15T13:37:00.002-04:00

The next set of lessons is finished for kid 1 and 2. Neither of them passed. CeeCee was the smallest kid in her class and one of her problems was just she can't quite swim the 10m required to move up. However, she can apparently swim those 9m straight down, ha. She went the furthest in the deep end out of her class. Katie's lessons are still going, she has two more. She easily went in the pool all by herself though, so she should have no problem moving on to Sea Turtle. Normally we'd quit swim now because Dance and Girl Guides start up in Sept, but Mike is thinking they should do one more before the snow hits, so we'll see. It depends on when I can set them up. I am also going to take the first set of adult lessons, but those are at 9pm, so no conflicts there. And I'd also like to sign Bri up for a class in stop-motion photography...there's so many cool things to do and not enough time/money.

Camp starts next week. Bri is excited, CeeCee is a little aprehensive. I'm sure she'll have fun though.

Wesley is humongous, he stands up and cruises the furniture now. He still crawls funny though. He won't eat anything solid, unless he finds it on the floor.

We do have guppy babies, born today!

2009-07-24T09:38:00.002-04:00

The kids finished their swim lesssons. Neither passed (except that CeeCee passed 1 on the first day), so Bri will do SK3 again and CeeCee SK2. Bri doesn't have much to work on, so I am thinking she may pass it this next time. They start another 2 week set next week. Katie is doing well at swimming, I think. Mike's been taking her the last couple times. This week she is supposed to spend half the class without a parent in the pool, so we'll see.

Somehow the kids made faces at Mike or something and we have a bunch of fish. We have six guppies. Perhaps we will have guppy babies.

2009-07-07T18:19:00.002-04:00

The 2008 pics should all be in working order now. I hope to work on the 2009 set sometime next week maybe. But let's not expect miracles here.

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***
Serena changed her name to Celeste (which is her middle name), or she will accept CeeCee as a nickname. She asked for a year, so whatever.

The kids started swimming lesssons this week. Katie goes weekly on Sats, it's a transitional program where she's supposed to end up without a parent in the water with her. She still freaks when the instructors touch her, so we'll see on that. Bri and CeeCee are doing a daily set for the next two weeks. CeeCee's instructor told me after her first class today that she is very good and will be working on SK2 programming instead of 1. So she skipped a level. It makes her very happy, and Bri not so much. Poor Bri.

2009-07-02T15:46:00.003-04:00

My webspace is such a pain. It doesn't tell you when it's full. Instead, it pretends to upload things (the file name will appear in the list). So frustrating. I deleted 2005, but that's still not enough. I'll have to take out 2006 too. I don't have time right now, so who knows when that'll happen. There's some pics there now, about half, most from the early part of 08.

2009-07-02T12:26:00.002-04:00

Working on getting the pics from 2008 up. Sad that a whole year was negelcted. My webspace is kind of a pain, so we'll see what happens. Blogger isn't showing the 2008/2009 tabs (for me anyways) yet either. There is nothing in 2009 yet, so don't bother looking. Might get to those before 2011. :P

2009-06-25T15:52:00.002-04:00

Ok, it's been a long time. I know. I'm busy.

Wes had that 6 month check, and he was only 17 1/2lbs. Katie was a shocking 27lbs, so I guess it might take him longer than we thought to catch up to her. Wes is now 9 months old, and looking very fat. He "crawls" in this weird way, but he gets where he wants. He pushes with one foot while holding his other leg in the air. His tummy never leaves the ground. He got three new teeth a few weeks ago.

Serena had her 5th birthday. My mom was in town that week by coincidence, so she got a sushi dinner. We also went back to the butterfly conservatory. She had a tea party of all things with a couple of her school friends. Her favourite present was a remote controlled tarantula. She's a weird kid. She's learned how to read, and likes to do so, but needs prodding to try new books. She'll be in SK in the fall with the same M/W ever other Friday configuration as this year.

Katie is still a terror. If she doesn't get her way there are lots of fits. She has asked to use the toilet a few times, but hasn't actually done anything while there. Darn. She has been horribly traumatized by Mike's mowing of "her flowers" - the dandelions.

Bri is kind of huge. It's hard to beleive she's going to be in grade 3 next year. We've just found out she'll be in the 3/4 split (thank god). But she won't be in the same class as her best friend anymore. She did another 3 days at the enrichment center and this time I got a report back saying they love her and would be happy to have her back again next year.

All the girls just finished a set of swimming lessons. Katie loves the pool now, but isn't all that interested in the lessons part. She's signed up to do a transition from parent and tot to just tot. Considering she wigged every time the last instructor got anywhere near her, I'm not holding my breath. Serena passed her Salamader (3rd try) and will be doing Sunfish. Salamander + Sunfish = Swim Kids 1, it's just for the younger group. Bri passed SK2 on her second try and will be moving up to SK3. I think 4 will probably be the level I want them to pass before they can opt out of lessons. I still want to take some of my own.

I am still doing hot yoga once or twice a week and enjoying that. I finished my Stats class and did suprisingly well. I'm in a holding pattern again now as I wait to see if I can switch majors (from arts to science, still psychology). It's nice to have the summer off anyways. I signed on to help lead Brianna's Brownie troup in the fall as well, because I'm not busy enough. Otherwise, they would have shut down and that would have been lousy.

Mike is mostly finished with the major house stuff, he does have to redo the old roof but is now kicking himself for waiting for the actual summer weather to arrive.

2009-06-18T21:52:00.000-04:00

testing to see if Rob broke my website again.

2009-03-19T17:29:00.002-04:00

Bri went and turned 8, which I do not appreciate. She had a tie dye party that seemed to go well, especially since Jenn came and did teacher-y weirdness with the kids while I ran around getting everything totally set up/cleaned up. Bri had wanted an ice cream cake since Katie had one, and she was so excited to eat it, she blew out the candles before we'd even finished singing. She got some money for her birthday and wanted to go to Chapters and get some books. With some prodding we got her out of the 5-7 section (many of her fav series' are there) and into the 8-11. She's just started her first book that she can't possibly read in one sitting. It's Inkheart, which is supposed to be good. I haven't read it yet, but she says it is.

Wesley is soooooo fat. He's wearing some 9 month clothes now. We'll find out how fat he really is Monday, but we suspect over 20lbs. He's happily eating fruit for lunch now, with veggies for dinner and cereal at bedtime. I'd like to move the cereal to the morning, but there's no time for that while school's in.

It's March Break and we have been doing some March Breaky stuff. We went to the butterfly place to eat bugs (small amounts of bugs, but bugs) and tonight we're going swimming. Yesterday it was nice out, so we went to the park - but today it is snowing!

2009-03-06T17:40:00.001-05:00

*watching show about praying mantises that opens with the allusion they will eat you*
Me: Praying mantises won't eat you.
Bri: Wouldn't they though? Wouldn't they if they had the chance?

Haha, it was just the way she said it. Won't somebody think of the children?

2009-02-27T11:08:00.002-05:00

Wesley is a big fat baby who loves food. He finished off his box of rice cereal and moved on to oats, which he doesn't seem to like as much. He also tried sweet potatoes the same day (24th) and loves those. Today is a new veggie day...probably squash. He has a second tooth that is almost through but not quite.

Big news is we're allowed to move into our addition any time now. Just working on getting some carpet down and doors on the bedrooms. Hopefully we'll all have new rooms this weekend.

2009-02-13T17:37:00.002-05:00

I think this is the longest I have gone between blog posts. I have to get better at that, as this is primarily a means to keep memories for me. Before the kids all grow up and I forget everything.

Things have been very busy, between the house and my school stuff. I don't really seem to get a lot of free moments where I am not holding a baby, cooking or doing laundry. There's a lot of laundry. The good news is, the house is soooooo close to move in ready. That will make a dramatic difference in our day to day lives.

Brianna got three more badges at Brownies, one for cooking, dancing and taking care of a pet. She is really enjoying that group. She is also still enjoying her dance class very much. I'm glad to see she hasn't picked up my bad trait of "if I suck at this, I'm just not going to do it". For Christmas, she got a present from Santa she didn't think she was allowed to have (a DS game, she wasn't previously allowed to use my DS) and she just said "Here mom, I'm not allowed to play this, so you can." No tantrum. I'm pretty sure I would have thrown a tantrum. I haven't heard any more about gifted opportunities for her this year, but I am going to speak to her teacher/VP very soon about that.

Serena had a report card, and while she claims to hate school, she is doing quite well there. The teacher says she likes to play in the "house" area the most. She is also still doing dance and likes it. Her energy is hard to control though, I think she may be better suited to something else, but I'm kind of aprehensive to put her in martial arts. ;) For Christmas Serena got a robotic bug which she thinks is the best thing ever.

Katie is getting more verbal, and says very funny things. Our favourite is "I can't like it!" She still wants to dance, but has to wait until Sept. Swimming lessons are probably still out as in December she refused to get anywhere near a pool. She is the little mommy and likes to help take care of Wesley. I don't think she's grown in the past year, she is still so tiny. Katie loves her giant makka pakka she got for Christmas, as well as the talking Upsy Daisy.

Wesley, obviously, has changed the most. He is growing so quickly. He is now 16lbs. He caught a cold from his sisters and ended up visiting the hospital for nebulizer treatments for RSV. He's all better now. He can roll in both directions, though he doesn't do it often. He reaches for stuff, but almost exclusively with his right arm. He loves rice cereal and just grew himself a tooth today. He is just the happiest little baby, him.

I know I have mumbled something about pictures repeatedly, and I'm sure it'll happen eventually. Maybe after I finish this stupid math class.

2008-12-05T17:05:00.002-05:00

Wesley is the fattest baby ever. I'm not basing this on anything scientific, merely on looks. He hasn't been weighed since he was six weeks. But he's pudgy. He had his shots and hardly complained. Katie didn't complain much either. Serena went all drama queen though and complained for three days.

Bri got another Brownie badge for cooking. Even though she burnt it. Heh.

Bri got a report card (she gets three, but Serena only gets two so I'll get hers later) and I had parent teacher interviews in the twlight zone today. Bri's wasn't, we knew she is both a genius and a jerk. She apparently makes snide comments now when other kids get the answers wrong. Which is not cool, but I can't help laughing. Her teacher said she has started looking into the enrichment stuff again, but that's the VPs job, and due to some upheaval in the school office right now it looks like that might have gotten shelved for right this second. She'll bring it up again in the new year. Serena, on the other hand, what the hell. Her teacher probably thinks I'm some sort of hardass that doesn't tolerate less than military precision. The whole time she went on and on about how awesome Serena is, always doing what she's supposed to be doing and paying attention and helping others and is the world's most dependable kid. And I'm like are there two Serena's in this class? Am I being Punk'd? I come home and she's hanging from the ceiling fan screaming and throwing little people at her sisters. She's good for everyone but me and then people think she's so hard done by. Evil kid.

Katie is becoming a tiny diva. She regulary demands chocolate, coffee and shopping.

2008-11-16T09:29:00.002-05:00

As usual, I meant to come here and post about something weeks ago and am just now getting around to it.

Wes had a six week appt wherein he was 11lbs 9oz. He is a very fat baby. He's sleeping through the night more often than not now, which is excellent. I am sleepy. He gets his first set of shots (and Katie and Serena for good measure) tomorrow. Mainly because I pitched a fit about calling over a week in advance for an appointment anytime during an entire week's span and was told I still couldn't have one. Hello, what's the point of having a doctor if I can't see her?

Bri did her badge testing at Brownies and got a badge for rock collecting. She was in the parade this weekend with them as well. I didn't go watch because it was pouring rain and I'm mean like that.

Serena went to her first birthday party and apparently had fun.

Katie is talking more. Her favourite thing is to go shopping. The best thing she says right now is she calls her detangling spray "my hairpoo". Heh. She also informed me yesterday "No Baby K! Katie!" So I guess she doesn't want to be a baby anymore.

I have the pics all scanned in now, I just have to code them. There's some more than the ones I put on Facebook, but it could still be awhile.

2008-10-26T16:41:00.002-04:00

A week and a half ago, I took Wes in for a 4 week appt. They don't usually do those things, but they wanted to get the hearing test done. He hears just fine, and was 10lbs 2oz. We have the disharge appt this week, then it's on to our new family doctor, who last I heard was booking appointments into 2010.

Bri also had Brownie enrollment which was cute. She took it very seriously and practiced the stuff she had to recite even though it was written down in front of her. She is really enjoying Brownies and the leaders are really good again. She made a bird feeder last week. Next week is badge testing.

I know everyone wants more pictures of everyone, and I have two rolls of film to scan and put up. Wes is starting to settle into more of a schedule and allowing me to put him down more, so I may actually manage to do that before next year. We did take the kids for professional pics, but they were all uncooperative and they didn't turn out so hot.

The house is continuing. Mike has done a good chunk of the drywall and we hope to be moved in before Christmas. We'll see.

2008-10-04T14:23:00.002-04:00

Wes had his two week check up on Weds. He's doing just fine, up to 9lbs 1oz. He couldn't do the hearing test though, as it requires the baby to be quiet and still (ie sleeping) and he wasn't.

The older kids love school, and dance. Bri is enjoying Brownies as well.

2008-09-21T21:42:00.002-04:00

Hooray, I finally had a baby! Wesley Michael decided to show up at 2:31am on Sept 17. He was 8lbs 8oz and 20.5" long, our biggest yet. So far he's a very good baby and the girls are just all over him. They all want to feed him, and Katie is very interested in making sure he is ok. We went out today, and Mike was just going to walk Katie to the door and come back for the baby, but Katie wouldn't go until he got Wes out too. She was afraid we were going to leave him in the car. The birth went well, I'll put the full birth story down next, so don't read it if you're squeamish. Other than that, kids are still going to school and the house is still being built.

Wesley's Birth Story

I started having sporadic contractions on the morning of the 16th. It felt a whole lot like when I had Katie, so I was quite certain that the baby was coming that evening. I went to meet the teacher night and finished my laundry and stuff. At 9pm I decided to start timing my contractions. They were five minutes apart, so I decided to page Michelle because of my history of fast labours. She got here at 10, and I was 4cm dilated, so we count that as the start of active labour. My contractions kept up at 4-5min apart for the next couple hours. They were definitely contractions, but they weren�t that painful. I wasn�t able to walk through them, but I could still talk through them. At about 12:30am (so it�s now the 17th) she checked me again, and I was 5cm, stretchable to 6. Which was kind of disappointing. We decided that since it was late, we�d go ahead and break my waters. I�m sure he still would have come before morning, even if we hadn�t, but it probably would have taken 2-3 more hours. For another hour or so my contractions got more intense. I think I pushed for half an hour, Mike thinks it was more like 10 minutes � I�ll ask the midwife when she gets here (forgot to ask). Anyways, I found my bed to be very uncomfortable for baby having, it is just too squishy. Michelle sent me to the bathroom to try pushing on the toilet a couple times because I had a small lip of cervix left. I didn�t really like that much either, but I did it. I decided to try lying down, sort of on my side. Two or three more pushes and his head was out. I remember Katie�s head being much easier and hurting less � but Mike says I remember things nicer than they were, so who knows. His head is of a normal size, but it�s probably bigger than Katie�s was. Then everyone went a little nutso, and they yanked my legs back. Carole (the second midwife) apologized for pushing on my stomach later, but I don�t remember her doing that. I remember Michelle reaching in, and me being like WTF? And none too happy about it. Apparently he attempted to be born both shoulders at once, and there was concern he�d get stuck. He popped out pretty quick with the yanking, but showed his displeasure by pooping immediately. Wesley Michael was born at home at 2:31am Sept 17. He was a ginormous 8lbs 8oz and 20.5� long.

Post-partum wise, I had no tearing, which I think is amazing considering his size and preferred method of exit. I did however have a bit of a hemmorhage again, which sucked (did check this with the midwife, it was 700mL, which was less than with Serena). This time I got two shots of oxytocin and uterine massage, hooray. I narrowly avoided an IV. It was decided that my bladder was in the way of my uterus shrinking because after I went to the bathroom I stopped bleeding.

Wes has hair, but it�s not as dark or abundant as Katie�s was. We�ll see what it looks like after a bath. I think he will have blue eyes like the girls, his eyes don�t look the way Katie�s did. IMO, he doesn�t currently look anything like any of them either. The midwives think he looks like Mike, but I�m not sure of that. All Mike�s baby pictures are unfortunately packed too, so I can�t even go look. The girls are quite enamoured with him, Serena especially. They are all dying to hold and feed him. Katie gave him kisses and named all his body parts.

2008-09-14T19:26:00.002-04:00

No, there's no baby yet. I'm now overdue which is kind of weird. But whatever, the baby will come when it comes.

Bri has had almost two weeks of school now. She's happy with her class. Meet the teacher night is Tues, so maybe I'll get to go to that and see what's up.

Serena had her first day and said it was really great. She starts her regular schedule of every other day and alternate fridays tomorrow. She hates that she doesn't get to go everyday, at least so far. That may change. Her teacher said she was really eager to do the "school" type activities and seemed disappointed when they did free play stuff.

They started dance yesterday. Both are in the tap/jazz combo class again. Serena's class is only two, so she better stick with it this year! Katie really wants to dance, but she has to wait. There will be a mom and toddler class starting up in October that we are going to sign up for.

Bri's Brownies starts Weds night, and that pretty much fills us up for extra curriculars for this year. The nice thing is if next year Serena wants to do Sparks, it's at the same time as Brownies in the same place.

2008-08-31T08:49:00.002-04:00

Back to school starts Tuesday. Bri starts grade 2 that day, but Serena doesn't start going until the 10th. She has meet the teacher on the 3rd though, which she's looking forward to. I haven't seen the kindergarten rooms at this school, so I'm looking forward to it too.

They finished their swimming lessons last week as well. Neither of them passed, I didn't expect them to. Bri missed two classes, which didn't help. Bri got just over half the requirements for Swim Kids 2, it'll still probably take two more classes to pass because she'll need the first one as a refresher in the spring. No more swimming until then as we'll be too busy with Brownies and Dance. Serena only had four deficiencies, so she might pass next time. I have a choice whether to put her in Salamander again or Swim Kids 1, the difference being age groups. I'll probably keep her with the younger kids, but it's nice to have the option for scheduling purposes.

Katie turned two last weekend and got her usual third kid crappy party, ha. Mike's mom and Fred were here, so at least she had guests this year. She had cupcakes that looked like frogs. I got her some toys from a show she likes (unfortunately, it's like Teletubbies - I love the Brits, but their children's programming is horrible) and she hasn't put them down all week. She's starting to talk a lot more now, which is making life easier.

I've got 2 weeks left until my due date. My midwife is quite convinced this won't be another due date baby, but I have too much to do between now and then, so it had better be. ;)

2008-08-16T12:06:00.002-04:00

Picked up Bri from camp. She apparently had a good time, but I think it's going to take her a few days to regulate to normal. They were up and doing stuff at 7:30am every day, and Bri isn't really a morning person. I heard she was the last to get up today. She had a bit of a meltdown because she ran out of money and didn't make a Build-a-Bear - but seriously here. One, I sent her with $40, she picked herself a tshirt, a different stuffed toy and a boatload of candy. Two, WTF is Build-a-Bear doing at camp? Anyways. She also didn't want to leave, which between that and the lack of sleep all week was probably more of the problem.

As usual getting info out of her is like getting blood from a stone, but I have learned that she does want to go back next year. It rained too much and she didn't get to do a few things because of it, one being the rock wall. She doesn't like snorkeling (though I got a card saying she passed the first level) but loves the water trampoline.

School starts up in a couple of weeks, it's hard to beleive summer is over.

2008-08-11T10:21:00.001-04:00

So we shipped Bri off to camp this morning. She's gone until Saturday afternoon. Hope she has fun!

2008-08-05T09:33:00.002-04:00

I've been meaning to come and post about stuff here for awhile, but I never quite get around to it. Sigh. We've been having a moderately busy summer.

We went to the zoo at the end of June, which was really fun. It was Katie's first time at the zoo, and she claims we saw cows, dogs, cats and mice. I'm not quite sure how a giraffe looks like a cow, but I can sort of see how a wallaby looks like a mouse. The best part was the stingray exhibit. You get to go stick your arms in a big tank and poke at stingrays. Katie thought it was awesome. She kept saying "they're coming! Nice fishy!" and then laughing hysterically when they swam by. Could have stayed in there all day. She and Serena also rode a pony and Bri rode a camel again. I am working on the pictures, but I'm still at Christmas in my album. :/

Bri did two overnight camping trips, one for one night and one for two. Both were with Girl Guides. The first she got eaten by mosquitos, but is apparently very lucky as she didn't itch at all. The second was real camping in tents. She got a touch of dehydration or heat stroke and didn't feel very well one day, but otherwise had a good time. She came home with badges to put on her brownie uniform she doesn't even have yet. She is going for a week of away camp on Monday. This one is through the YMCA and she'll get in a group to write and produce a play as well as do "normal" camp stuff. She's been looking forward to it.

We also went on vacation to Manitoulin island for a friend's wedding last weekend. We were kind of worried about the amount of time in the car and we were sharing a hotel room for two nights. But everything went so much better than could be expected. The kids were up late with wedding activities and crashed out easily. They sat quietly for the wedding and the parts of the reception they needed to. Bri caught the bouquet, and Katie stayed up late dancing. It was a little chilly, so we didn't get to swim much. We took the ferry there, but went around on the way home so we could stop at Science North. The kids enjoyed it, and if we lived anywhere near the place we'd go more often. They had lots of neat stuff that you could spend a day playing with. We also didn't have time to go to Dynamic Earth, so we'll have to go back again someday.

I had that ultrasound, and the baby is definitely a boy. I don't know about the kidneys, though I'm guessing since my midwife just called with my iron level results and didn't mention it, it's fine. My iron is low as usual, so I just need to up the suppliments.

The house is getting closer to finished. The siding is done for this year, and Mike's moved on to insulating. I think maybe we'll get in around October. The drywall and stairs will probably take some time.

2008-06-28T11:28:00.002-04:00

School is finally out. Hurray! No more getting up in the morning. Bri's report card was all good as expected. Straight A+ in reading. Her lowest mark this term was a B (in art of all things) and overall a B- (that was first term gym). She's annoyed that her art mark went from an A- to a B, but she is sloppy and rushes stuff a lot (sound familiar anyone?). They learned what teacher they are getting next year, I'm pretty sure she'll be in the grade 2/3 split.

Serena's first day of school will be Sept 10. Should be interesting. I got the days I wanted, she'll be going every Monday and Wednesday as well as alternate Fridays. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be easier than every day half days, but my choices are limited to send her, try to drive her somewhere else or not send her to school at all. Bah. Let's take bets on how often I send her the wrong Friday or forget it's her Friday.

They finished their swimming yesterday, and Bri is very excited that she finally passed Swim Kids 1. She's done that one three times. Of course, that messed up my nice little schedule for the summer as they don't have SK2 at the same time and they won't allow her to attend Katie's class with me. So, Katie got dropped from swimming this summer, poor kid. I went back and looked at Serena's swim report card from last class because something looked kind of weird - it appears she is getting worse at swimming, ha. The session she finished three weeks ago she had 4 deficiencies. The one she finished yesterday, she had 11. Heh. Different teachers, and it doesn't really matter how many things she's unable to do, she's not ready to move up a level, period. She's just not relaxed in the water. The new session starts the week after next and goes until the end of August, and that'll be the last swimming until next year. Bri has Brownies and Dance already, and Serena may do Dance as well again.