WEEKEND

(Daddy and some Daddy friends went to Pasley this past weekend to re-shingle our roof. For those Daddies who read my blog, thank you!! I understand that it was not a traditional "boys weekend" of drinking and leisure and a morning of golf, but rather a weekend of hard manual labour in the pouring rain. Anyway, we are very thankful to have a new roof over our heads).

So while Daddy was roofing in the rain, the kids and I spent Saturday with Annie and her girls over in her hood.

My kids love cats. Maybe because we we don't have one, and never will have one.

We saw the movie "Despicable Me" and I laughed my butt off. It was so funny, despite being anxious that Will wouldn't wear his 3D glasses and essentially watched an hour and a half of fuzziness.

(I had nothing to do with Sam wearing black socks with his crocs).

And my sister took Clara skating twice. Despite our efforts not to start up any sort of hockey program (we are encouraging summer water activities), sissy also took Clara to a hockey drop in (which she loved).

And I can't believe how old she looks in this picture (waaaa!)

CLARA AND KIT

Clara and Kit have been reunited after a summer apart. They have hardly left each other's side these past 5 days.

(overexposed, but I love it anyway)

SUMMER

I posted this on my photo blog, but it makes me feel happy. What amazing summer we had. Please bare with me while I do some catching up. Apparently I took a lot of photos in July and August...

SAM'S FIRST 2 HOURS

Day 3.

It is unclear when Sam's actual official first day of school is. Was it the apple juice and muffins in the gymnasium on Tuesday? or the afternoon stint on Wednesday? or the 2 hours this morning? Regardless, some more rushed pics on our front doorstep from the morning, this time with Sam and his new backpack.

Will really wanted a backpack too...

So I quickly found one in the closet for him...

Which he wore for the rest of the day.

FIRST HOUR OF SCHOOL

Well, the morning went surprisingly well. Clara was up and dressed (all on her own) by 7:24am. Despite the good start, we still were running down the hill to make the bell at 8:35am. Consequently I only got a few quick pics.

The token doorstep pic:

Running down the hill. Will brought a suitcase:

Sam and Will and their buddies (while waiting for Clara to finish her hour of school):

Tomorrow, is a full day for my girl, and Sam has a brief afternoon shift at Kindergarten. Soon it will be just me and Will...

THE END

We are home. The summer has ended. Tomorrow, school starts for 2 of my 3.

Supplies have been labeled, outfits have been chosen and laid out on the floor, kids have been bathed and nails clipped, tags from the new backpacks have been removed, lunch kits have been decorated with stickers...

The house is completely engulfed in dirty laundry and duffel bag contents.

Bedtime didn't go very smoothly. There was not enough room in the bunk bed for all of us to read the book side by side. Clara fell out and Will hit Sam in the head with a car. No one wanted to go to bed and Clara finally fell asleep at 10:03pm.

Today was rainy and cold, which I thought was a good way to end the summer. We even lit a fire at the cabin and played cards and roasted marshmallows. It was a good transition for me from cabin life to real life.

Anyway, off to bed I go...we have a busy today tomorrow.

2

It has come to my attention, after just recently photographing a 4 day old, that Will is not, in fact a baby.

He is actually pretty big. And I am utterly smitten with him right now.

When you ask him how old he is, he tells you 2. And when you ask him what his name is he tells you 2 (not to be confused with Sue).

Jake was just commenting on how much he has changed over the summer. He is taller, poops in the toilet, talks more, plays with his siblings, counts to 5, makes motor noises with his boat, jumps on the trampoline, runs fast, rides his trike even faster...

But he is also still soft and squishy and cuddly, and still my baby.

He got some dirt in his eye here.

This is actually a baby (my friend's new little guy). I'm kind of smitten with this size too.