Catch Up

Here it is the end of the first week of a new school year and I haven't done a post about Daniel's 1st day back to school! So here is his unofficial "First Day Back to School" post!

Here is my little boy, who is not so little anymore, proud to be in Grade 2!

Daniel - almost 7yrs old

And to top it off, if you didn't notice from the picture, Daniel lost another tooth a week or so ago. It's his top front tooth. We were at McDonald's and his tooth became extra loose. I asked him if he wanted me to try to gently pull it out. He agreed, so with little effort, his tooth popped right out! He was so excited!

Another sign my son is growing up!

Thankful Thursday

Once again I remembered about Thursday Thankful while reading other blogs this morning! So here goes:

• My son being excited about starting grade. He's such a social butterfly and was so excited to see his friends again.
• The way God is providing for our needs. September is such an expensive month for us - we've just finished buying back-to-school supplies, our van and house insurances are both due and it's Daniel's birthday at the end of the month. But through being diligent and saving throughout the year, plus what God has provided for us in the past 2 days, we should have enough to pay for our insurances and Daniel's party! It's been awhile since we've finished September in the black!
• The comfort that God is giving us as we search for a new church family.
• Medication! It's amazing what a tiny little blue thyroid pill can do!
• The sunshine that is back!

For more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris at Sting My Heart.

Sports Day

Today was Daniel's sports day. I bundled up the kids, packed lots of snacks and hoped for the best. When we going out to the van, "my little guy" that I take care of had a big yawn! It was getting closer to his nap time, but I really wanted to see Daniel participate & cheer him and his class on. "My little guy" did great! He stayed in the stroller fine and didn't really squawk. I think he was too enamored watching all the kids doing amazing tricks.

Daniel was so surprised & happy to see us. I love his enthusiasm! It sure warms a mom's heart on a windy day!

Here are some pictures from his sports day! Enjoy!

Daniel awaiting his turn to carry a golf ball on a spoon

Digging for uncooked pasta in the sand

Waiting his turn

Loving the potato sack race

Don't drop the badminton birdie!

Trying to find a blue beanbag while blindfolded & listening to his partner's instructions

The freezie station would have been more enjoyable if it was warm!

Squeezing water from a sponge into the pop bottle

My proud son displaying his ribbon

Happy Birthday to Daniel's Teacher!

I am on the Staff Appreciation Committee at Daniel's school. It's an easy committee to belong to because you only have to provide snacks for the staff once during the school year. I chose to bring the snacks on Daniel's teacher's birthday, which is today!

Yesterday I was trying to think of what to make. My imagination was getting very extravagent but reality set in and I settled for a rather simple birthday cake and a plate of fruit. Last night after the kids were in bed, I went shopping for the things I needed. I came home and began mixing ingredients before realizing that I was pretty much out of cocoa! I was planning to do a double layer cake which meant doubling the batch. So much for that idea! I quickly called my Mom. The line was busy so I called my sister. She saved the day! She recommended that I use hot chocolate mix in place of the cocoa! In the end, I was able to scrape about 4 1/2 Tbsp of the 6 Tbsp that I needed so I didn't need to substitute with very much hot chocolate mix. That's when I scrapped the idea of a double layer cake. I guess I won't need to second container of icing I bought last night (I decided not to spend the time making home-made icing)!

I iced and decorated (nothing fancy) the cake and prepared the fruit this morning and managed to get it to the staff room just before the recess bell rang. Of course I forgot the birthday card I bought last night so I quickly touched base with Daniel's teacher to let her know it was from the Staff Appreciation Committee.

I quickly took a picture of it before whisking it off to the school. Of course, Rebecca & Elliott wanted to "help" so I humored them by taking a picture of them with the goodies!

Now I'm changing gears and thinking frozen suppers! I'm going to a baby shower tonight for a lady in our church. She is pregnant with her third child so instead of giving them more clothes (they already have a boy and a girl) or toys, we're showering them with gifts of dinners that can be put in the freezer. That way when the baby is born she won't have to worry about making supper for her family for a couple weeks. That's probably better than any gift!

Officially Sick!

Daniel is officially sick!

He missed school yesterday an today. I never did take him yesterday to the walk-in clinic. Just as we were about to go out the door he went to the bathroom and got sick! I didn't really want to take him in the van if he was going to be sick. And I figured if he was sick then he didn't have strep throat (although my friend said that her daughter got sick when she had strep).

Today as the day went on he faded more and more. After he finally had a nap, I took him to the walk-in clinic and after a quick check at my almost lethargic son, the doctor deduced that it was Strep Throat. I know they are supposed to take a swab and wait for the results before treating but I was happy today to get the prescription for Daniel. I'm hoping by tomorrow evening Daniel will be on the mend. Tomorrow night's church service is quite important and I'd like to be there.

It's almost midnight and Daniel just woke up. His back was itchy. It looks like there's a bit of a rash. I gave him another dose of his medicine. Hopefully by tomorrow things will begin to look up!

I'm off to bed, hopefully for a good night's rest!

Almost six weeks ago, I posted some pictures of Daniel's loose tooth. Well...


This morning as Daniel was eating an apple he excitedly called me into the bathroom.

"Mommy! Mommy! My tooth came out!"

And sure enough, Daniel's first tooth has come out. Thankfully his gums didn't bleed too much. Normally if Daniel gets hurt, he doesn't cry until he sees the blood. But this morning there wasn't any crying in sight! I was waiting for it but all I got was an excited 6 1/2yr old boy proudly showing us the gap in his teeth.

The tooth was carefully rinsed off (don't want it falling down the drain), put it in a little container and off it went with him to school today. He was so excited about sharing his good news with his classmates.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jeremy's days off got switched around a bit for this week so he was off yesterday. He took advantage of that and took Rebecca out for lunch - just her and Daddy! When he first asked her if she would like to go out for lunch just the two of them, she said, "No! I want to go with just Mommy!" Are you kidding me?! You're with me every day, all day, you don't see Daddy at all during the days and you still want to hang out with me?! Aaaaggghhh! (Don't worry - I didn't say that to her - it was just loud and clear in my thoughts!). One thing I'm learning about my daughter is that she is a lot like me - doesn't like change. So, when I look at her answer from that perspective, I can understand why she said "No!".

After a little convincing from Daddy, she began getting excited about their special date! She got to choose where they would go. She immediately chose the restaurant - they give the kids a little box of Smarties at the end! What kid wouldn't like that?!

First thing in the morning, Becca had her long, pretty purple dress on. She was ready to go by 7:30 in the morning! I put her hair into ponytails and off she went with Daddy for their lunch date. I still had "my little guy" for the day so I wasn't completely free.

Here are some pictures Jeremy and Becca took while on their date!

Jeremy took this of Becca

Becca took this of Jeremy

Daddy & Becca enjoying their special date together!

Meanwhile, Daniel was at school exchanging Valentine cards, enjoying a "Friendship Fruit Salad" with his class, Pizza Day for lunch and choir after school. Jeremy and Becca picked him up after choir. They went shopping and bought me this pretty necklace! Shortly after, our babysitter came and Jeremy and I headed out for the evening. We had a wonderful dinner. Here is a picture our waitress took of us.After we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant with our leftovers in tow, we had about 1 1/2hrs until we were to meet some friends for coffee. What do you do when you have time to kill but are too full to do anything active? Shop, of course! Jeremy went in one direction and I went to Reitman's (my favorite clothing store!). I wasn't going to buy anything unless it fit perfectly, needed it, loved it and was on sale. I happened to find a light grey, super soft sweater. I'm always looking for warm cozy tops. I did restrain myself somewhat and put another top back. Anyway, after that quick shopping and meeting up with each other for a little browsing / dreaming at Linens 'n Things, we went to meet our friends for coffee. We had a great time visiting with them and ended up staying until the coffee shop closed! We were both tired when we got home but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the evening.

Today I am working on Jeremy's gift and will give it to him tonight. I can't give any clues in case he reads this but I might just write about it tomorrow.

I hope you had an enjoyable Valentine's Day whether you spent it with your sweetie, your kids, friends or by yourself.