A Preference for Pajamas

During the month of August, Leila was very much into wearing pajamas during the day, every day. Good thing she's got some rocking PJ's!

Here are a few of the kids playing in a little house at Chelsea playground.

On the way home from Chelsea playground, we also hit Lithuania Park. It started to rain, but it was warm out, so we just went with it. The kids got especially dirty because we were playing in wet, rained on sand.

Since Thomas was the only daycare kid that day, I asked them if they wanted to go home and play in the bath. Did they ever!

Another day, another pair of pajamas.

And another.....

It has been a couple of years since I have taken the kids on a field trip to the fire station. A visit was definitely in order. Apparently Shivani has been on many trips to the fire station, so she was especially bold in this setting. She is our first firefighter.

Next we have Riley....

Then Leila on mommy's lap....

And finally, Thomas on my lap.

Shivani and Riley had lots of good questions to ask the firefighter.

And Leila and Thomas were understandably uncertain.



Riley and Shivani tried to slide on the fire pole.



Child and toddler fire safety, 101.





We confirmed once again what to do if we ever have a fire in the apartment building (our home daycare). Stay put! (Unless, of course, the fire is in our actual apartment!) People put themselves in more danger by trying to climb down smoky stairwells. (I have heard stories from our landlord which proves this point.)

The fireman let the kids hold one of the tools they use during fire emergencies. Notice though, that he does not remove his hand from the ax. Smart man. ;)

And onto other excitement....making Thomas's birthday cake, with the help of the birthday boy himself!

The kids all got to lick some of the batter off of spoons, of course.

The next day they iced the cake....and licked the frosting off the spoons....

Next, we decorated the cake with Smarties. This was Thomas's request: chocolate cake, vanilla icing, smarties.

They were allowed to eat some of the Smarties too. Thomas is an incredibly smart boy. He let the girls decorate the cake, while he focused on eating the Smarties.

Beautifully done, no?

And more of the little princesses. :)

And the prince. :)

And finally, celebration day! Thomas's 3rd birthday celebration, home daycare style! (One day before he actually turned 3). We (myself and all the daycare kids) gave Thomas his birthday gift: a Spiderman costume, and a Spiderman toy car. He especially loved the costume!



And, my helper had her own gift for Thomas: taking everyone on the High Park train!

I think this was the perfect gift for Thomas, don't you?!

I just love how Shivani was the only one who kept her party hat on. So cute. She was determined to celebrate, and didn't care whether the others kept wearing their party hats or not. She also made a sweet birthday card for Thomas at home. Very thoughtful!

My mother and father were over for the day, and they joined us on the High Park train as well. They sat with Noah at the back of the train, since there wasn't enough room in the front.

THIS is one of my best shots ever. THIS is Thomas. On our way to and from the playground each day, he climbs, he runs, and especially, he jumps. And I love how my helper has her hand extended to help him, and yet Thomas is already on his way. He's very self-assured in his athletic abilities. And so he should be. He is very skilled!

Happy 3rd birthday Thomas! We love you!

Below are a couple of pictures of a little pond we made one day. We put bath toys, sea shells, and sea creatures in to play with!

I had to represent "tractor-man", finally, in one of my blog posts. From the beginning of the daycare, the kids have always waved to tractor man. He is so friendly. He always smiles and waves to the kids. Basically, he works moving dumpsters around at the many apartment buildings in the area. It is so exciting for the kids, and it is so great that he seems to understand this, and makes the special effort to be sincerely friendly, every day.

Our homemade river at the playground is becoming an annual event for the daycare kids. We dig a river in the sand, and then bring buckets of water up from the wading pool.

And, of course, put toys in it!

We do so many crafts during the rest of the year, but the summertime is the one time of year that we take a rest from this, for the most part. Here is one rainbow fishy craft we did though. Easy to make, and so cute!

Noah got a Leap Frog pen, along with this map, a few years ago, from his Oma. Well, one particular afternoon, the older kids and I were addicted to playing one of the map games. Countries are named and you have to touch that country with the Leap Frog pen as quickly as possible. You reach different levels if you do it fast enough I think Shivani and Noah's knowledge of world countries increased ten-fold, that afternoon! I have to say, I learned a lot too! ;)

And now I present to you, our last hurrah of summer....the Friday before Labour Day weekend. We only had one daycare child this day, and so we got a little more adventurous.

First we walked to the Castle Playground in High Park.

Notice princess Riley in the tower above.

We were going to go back home afterwards, but the kids had learned how close we were to the beach, and begged me into submission. We were a little unprepared. Riley had had her first wardrobe change at the playground (she has about 6 wardrobe changes per day), but we had brought pants for her instead of shorts, and it had surprisingly warmed up quite a bit. We didn't have bathing suits or a swimming diaper for Leila either. But we were sun-screened, and had plenty of food and water.

What a gorgeous day it was for the beach!

Later on, my husband Dan and his parents (who were visiting from Kelowna) met us at the beach for ice cream. Then Noah left with his dad and his grandparents to go out for lunch, and I was left with just the two girls.

The water quality at Sunnyside beach was terrible, so this is the closest to the lake the girls could get. They threw rocks into the water for a while....

Then we got pizza for lunch as a special treat, and headed back to the east side of the beach, where we had started out.

This is where Riley had declared that these dinosaurs were her pets. She was delighted to be back with them, and told them so.

It was finally time to head home, so we walked back through High Park (okay, I walked, they lounged in the wagon). We decided to walk back through the High Park Zoo.

Riley and Leila had special bonding time. Leila seemed like a much bigger girl on this particular afternoon.

I don't think I've ever had kids lying down in the wagon. But on this day, they had the space, and used every bit of it! They were having such a great time....Leila couldn't stop giggling.

Now that we are into September, we have quite a few changes at the daycare. First, Noah is now in school full days. He is more than ready. Here he is on his first day of grade 1. Second, Riley is also in full-day kindergarten. She is loving it, and her teacher (Noah's old kindergarten teacher) adores her, as I knew she would! And lastly, Shivani is also back at school. I have seen her in the school yard and she already has a little gang of kids she hangs around with. I'm so proud of all these guys!

So now, it is just Thomas, Leila, and Amadea at the daycare, with a little bit of Noah near the end of each day, and a little bit of Riley at the end of some days. We are ready to add to our group, and are hoping to find a 'good fit' soon!